#i liked the game but i have some opinions™

[kodorki]

forever upset the route system in fates was done as poorly as it was because had it been done in any normal way, i would have liked this game significantly more and significantly earlier than now

[alyakthedorklord]

Batman the Playboy

Justice League, not quite early days but before proper identity reveals, though everyone knows Batman knows theirs, bc he has Opinions™ and Constructive Criticisms™ on their secret-keeping.

The issue is brought up on random occasions. The most notable incident- the Justice League, including Batman, being Drunk for Bonding, (or hit with some kind of drug while out saving the world) and Batman, in a fit of paranoid good intentions because he CARES about these idiots, damnit, why must they be so careless, starts insulting them.

Batman, leaning heavily on the table: “GL, you’re a mess, I don’t even know where to start with you. And Arrow! Your goatee is so distinctive, it’s a wonder no one has called you out on it-“

Green Arrow, also drunk: “Alright, there’s no need to insult my awesome facial hair-”

Batman, in despair: “It’s so ugly.”

Green Arrow: (offended noises)

Green Lantern: “Okay, the only reason you know our secret identities is because you’re a rude nosy bastard who needs to know everything about us like a creepy stalker who needs an ego boost! We’re not stupid, Spooky, we’re just polite. We could figure you out easily if we wanted to. Superman can see right through your mask!”

Usually, Batman would have a good response to that. Something smart and reasonable like “villains won’t care for your privacy, I’m testing you,” or something cutting like “I don’t care enough about you to go digging, I set your secret identity as a training exercise for Robin.”

However, Batman is Drunk, because for some reason imbibing drugs that dampen higher brain function is socially acceptable and often, for some reason, expected, because it’s “team bonding” and “come on just loosen up a bit.” (Also for him, drunk=Brucie)

So what Batman ends up saying is: “I could kiss you full on the lips in my secret identity and you wouldn’t know a thing.”

Superman, plucking the glass from Batman’s hand: “Aaaand that is enough alcohol for you!”

Batman nods. Thank God. He wants to go home and sleep. But first: “Superman, yours is so stupid it’s almost impressive-”

———

Of course, Green Lantern has smelled a challenge. And Green Lantern must annoy Batman. It’s his true superpower. So, the next time they meet (sober) he brings up the issue again.

GL: “So about what you said at the party… the part where you could kiss us full on the lips without us knowing. You still confident in that without liquid courage, Spooky? Bet you your real name you can’t do it.”

Batman, regretting the fact that alcohol has ever passed his lips: “I could do it, but I will not.”

Flash, curious: “Why’s that?”

Batman: “Informed Consent. I will not risk making any of you feel violated, or manipulated, for the sake of a stupid bet and my ego.”

GA, still offended by the goatee comment, trying to back Batman into a corner: “So if we give consent, we’re fair game? Try me, Batman. Even you can’t pull this off. Anyone else game?”

Some of the Justice League laughs, raising their hands.

Flash: “Come get me, hot stuff! I’ll call you out!”

Wonder Woman: “It could be amusing.”

Martian Manhunter: “I would be far too difficult a target.”

Green Arrow: “Not just you. C’mon, Spooky, flirting well enough to get a kiss from me? I’m a classy lady.”

Black Canary: “D-class, maybe.”

Superman, wants a kiss in on the fun: 🙋🏻‍♂️

“So that’s it then!” Green Lantern says smugly. “Batman, if you can kiss… how many people raised their hands? Ah yes- HALF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE, without anyone realizing it’s you, then you win.”

Batman scoffs and walks out, leaving the Justice League in stitches at their joke. Because- Batman? Being good enough at flirting to land a kiss on half the league, without it being forced or awkward, without them recognizing his body language, his voice, his build? How ridiculous!

The Batman is Autistic. The Batman does not understand jokes, especially not ones that are half truths. The Batman has consent, and something to prove.

And Bruce Wayne, billionaire, playboy, and sexy DILF, has targets.

(Please tell me how you think he gets each League member.)

Edit: there have been a bunch of awesome additions in the notes! My own take here.

[a-darling-thing]

Like I 100% appreciate why so many people wish they could hug Astarion right after he finally stops the ritual, kills Cazador and takes back his freedom, but as someone who has been through some shit ™ l honestly think the way the game decided to handle that was right.

When you are in that really delicate phase of coming out the back side of a chronic abuse situation and you have just had to face down your abuser (and almost been revictimized), and your nervous system is that keyed up, a hug is like the last thing you need.

I mean the poor guy has just stabbed Cazador like 20 times in a frenzied fit of grief and rage and is still standing there covered in his blood, sobbing in relief, and in a complete daze. He’s talking by the time you leave the palace, but he’s clearly not ok (thanks again for your stunning voice work Neil Newbon).

I would personally feel like a hug was something I just had to endure to make the other person happy. I think Astarion would probably snappishly draw a firm boundary, with one of his terse ‘don’t touch me.’s, cause he’s actually pretty good at that. But still…. Why make him have to muster the energy for that after everything he’s just been through. The hugs can come later.

In reality the hugs would probably come days, weeks or months later, but like ‘game pacing’, so I think having that gap of time where Astarion gets to talk to Tav about it all before the graveyard scene, hit a happy balance that gave at least the impression of the passage of time and that he had begun to process it all.

I do actually agree with others that have said him proposing sex with Tav that soon after the whole business also seems unrealistic, but again, the writers had to pace his full story to fit within the timeframe of the game, and I felt they did alright given those constraints.

This is all personal opinion, mind, and opinions may differ, but I like how they handled it.

[philosophiums]

Megumi Rant bc I'm So Tired

I was gonna talk about 271 and the ending chapters of JJK in general, specifically focusing on how Shonen Jump puts a hard end date on each series it publishes (which are based on conversations with the mangakas, sure, but with no leeway once it’s determined because SJ wants to keep cycling through new publications in order to keep making money - and those hard line end dates cannot possibly account for, say, sudden illness that would prevent a mangaka from releasing a chapter) and how it’s the best end to the series that many fans could have asked for given that info, but I’m tired and I don’t feel like yelling at a wall, so here’s a rebuttal aimed at a lot of Megumi hot takes™ I’ve seen since, really, 269 dropped.

Obligatory thing up front bc I know the JJK fandom hates reading and critical thought more than anything in the world, and that it operates on a very "but what about me" mentality: It's totally fine if you are dissatisfied with JJK in general or even just the ending. It's totally fine if you have mixed feelings about the way the story was wrapped up. It's totally fine if you think it could have been handled better even given the above information in the link above on how SJ operates. I'm not telling you to feel a certain way, but I'm walking you through the end of the story (read: Megumi's character specifically) bc I am so fucking tired of reading bad takes about "Gege hating Megumi" or whatever.

Holding everyone's hands as I go through these. Let's take these steps in shedding directionless rage together.

(Forewarning that this is long as hell. Gomen.)

Common Argument Number 1: Megumi didn’t have a character arc/didn't grow as a character

The first thing that needs to be understood to realize why this is wrong is that all of the characters in JJK have arcs based around power - gaining it, losing it, being overwhelmed by it, and so on. This is not new information as of the last few chapters; we've known for years now that JJK isn't a story that's focused on deep introspection nor prolonged emotional development. Power. Cursed Techniques. That's where Gege kept his focus. However, it's impossible to write a story with heavy themes of loss and fear and love without touching into a character's emotions at all, some of which become central enough to turn into arcs. (We'll circle back to this in just a moment.) The second thing that needs to be understood here is that, in the general sense of All Media (and not just JJK), not all character arcs have to span the entire length of a story. A full and complete character arc (which is to say, the movement that happens while a character is actively changing) can happen in half of a story or less, and it is no less satisfying for having done so. Now, what does all of that have to do with Megumi? Very explicitly, it means that Megumi not only experiences growth as a character, but that he also goes through not one, but two character arcs. ((He's not the only character with two arcs, but he's the reason for this post, so you guys can track down the others on your own.)) Both of his arcs are complete, in my opinion, even if they're not 100% satisfying. But satisfaction isn't the argument here, so we can touch on that later. Maybe. Megumi's first arc (his power arc) starts right out of the gate, but it doesn't begin to take shape until the chapters at the detention center (I would argue it specifically starts to become an "arc" [which is to say, experiences movement] right at the point where Yuuji dies - this is the inciting incident in Megumi's story), and it concludes during the Culling Games (the exact place of it's conclusion is a little waffle-y for me but it's between either the moment he is able to use his technique to beat someone solo within the depths of his shadows OR the exact moment that Sukuna looks at him and thinks that he's strong enough now to be Sukuna's vessel). This arc follows Megumi coming to terms with the reality that if he wants to save people, he needs to get stronger and he needs to get more in touch with the side of himself that is/creates his CT. And he accomplishes that. Is there more growth in this department that he could have had? Yes, absolutely. Taming Mahoraga, a fully realized domain expansion, etc. All of that could have happened, but none of that needs to happen in order for this arc to be complete. He sought power, he got power, and he used it to save people. That's a fully realized and completed arc. Megumi's second arc (his emotional arc) happens during the time Sukuna is wearing him like a suit. This arc has nothing at all to do with anything that happens before this point in time (it has nothing to do with power, nothing to do with fighting, nothing to do with saving people). Before this, Megumi's emotional state is fairly stagnant; any goals and/or momentum that he has outside of wanting to become stronger are usually skipped over or not acknowledged at all. Once his bodily autonomy is stripped from him, all that's left is emotion. And we get to see a complete emotional arc here - starting in stagnation, inciting incident of being possessed, and then the slow chipping away of his resolve as Sukuna kills his sister and performs a ritual to suppress Megumi's soul completely. Megumi is at his lowest point here, but he overcomes it and chooses to live. That's a complete arc. That's a conclusion. No amount of wanting him to mourn Gojo or of wishing for This, That, or The Other things change the fact that his arcs do in fact reach natural conclusions within the story.

Common Argument Number 2: Megumi didn't have a satisfying conclusion

I think this argument is a bit of a pull from a misunderstanding that revolves around argument number one. People are looking for an arc that is wrapping up in the final chapters, and they're upset that they're not finding it. And the reason they're not finding it is because, as mentioned above, Megumi's arcs concluded before he regained consciousness post-Shinjuku. Also, this may come as a shock to some people, but "satisfying" is relative. Which also means that I can't exactly argue against what people are feeling, because in this specific instance, it's all feelings based. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try!! I already covered that Megumi fully concluded both of his arcs, so it's not that he's lacking in power or emotional development. I think what people get stuck on is what Megumi says before he begins to fight back against Sukuna: that he wants to try to live for someone else. A lot of readers seem to take this as a step backwards for him, a return to who he was before everything in the story, but I disagree. I think it's actually a large step forward for him and, beyond that, I think it's realistic beyond simply satisfying the narrative. At the beginning of the story, Megumi is living for nothing. It's common for the fandom to think he's living for Tsumiki, but she's fully comatose and cursed; I doubt that he's living for her. At most he's living just in case a miracle happens and she wakes up, but that's not living for her. He's in what I think of as a transitional space, and he's stuck there. He's the only one in his year at Jujutsu Tech, he's not trying to develop his CT, he's just existing - going on missions and rolling his eyes at Gojo and doing school work. At the end of the story, Megumi actively chooses life. He had a way out, he felt that in many ways he was already dead - or at the very least, that he was irredeemable and better off dead. But he chooses to live. He chooses to fight back. And, more than that, he chooses to become an active participant in life. Yes, for him that means living for Yuuji, but even that still requires wanting to keep going, wanting to keep putting one foot in front of the other. He wants to face the world and all it has to offer - despite all the bad, and maybe in spite everything he went through. That's a satisfying character conclusion in my eyes. Everyone wants realistic representation of the struggle surrounding mental illness and how victories with them are not as "grand" as for neurotypical people until they're actually presented with realistic representation. Then all of a sudden it's "bad writing" and "unsatisfying" because the character didn't end the story without any gaps or holes and with a perfect little bow wrapped around their neck. God forbid there be an implication that a character gets to continue to live and grow beyond the last page. Anyway, just because he didn't have the conclusion you wanted for him that you built up in your head after years of living with the fanon version of Megumi you created doesn't mean his conclusion was bad or unsatisfying.

Common Argument Number 3: Megumi's characterization went right back to how it was during the Culling Game arc

...Duh??? I mean... where else was his personality and his behavior supposed to go? He spent a month completely suppressed by Sukuna. The only thing he was going to do without intervention is regress, not progress. What happened to Megumi when Yuuji reached out to him was him coming back to himself - and the only "himself" he had in recent memory was who he was immediately before Sukuna took over. Character progression cannot happen in stagnation, and stagnation is all Megumi had while he was suppressed in the bath™. Expecting any of that to change him for the better or to push him in any "forward" momentum is, quite honestly, ridiculous. The only direction Megumi could have gone is backwards, and he is (which means also we are) just lucky that he was able to be dragged into the version of himself that had already grown and that was waiting for his return.

Common Argument Number 4: Megumi didn't do anything during the fight against Sukuna

What gets me about this stance is that it seems to be the only one shared between the "shonen bros" who only read manga for the fight scenes and the hardcore Megumi stans who wish so desperately that he was the main character of the series. But like... what do you want him to do, here, exactly? Somehow find within himself the urge to get up and fight what seems to be a losing battle after watching his own hands kill not only his sister but the most prominent adult figure in his life? Resist all on his own (with no prior arc moments to support it) whatever mystical magical bs makes the bath™ work in keeping his soul suppressed? Do you want a good and well-structured character arc with logical emotional weight, or do you just want your favorite character to defeat a villain that is not "his" villain? I'll wait. Megumi's struggles during this story arc are internal, and his inability to fight is reflective of that. If he were to be resisting against Sukuna the whole time - trying to wrest control of his CT back or attempting to attack Sukuna's soul himself - then we would still be sitting in his power arc during this time. Megumi's inaction is physical representation of the inner turmoil and struggle that he was in during the fight, and I don't think that's very hard to understand. He is fighting; it's just that he's fighting himself. And he wins that fight. And he does do something in the fight against Sukuna. I firmly believe that Megumi choosing to live sealed the deal on Sukuna's death. Why else would Sukuna have been panicking so hard and doing everything he could to keep Megumi depressed and stuck in the ruts of his mind? If Megumi hadn't chosen life, hadn't decided he wanted to keep fighting in that moment, Sukuna would still be kicking. I don't think it's a stretch, actually, to say that Megumi delivered the blow that weakened Sukuna to Yuuji's kill shot. Megumi was integral to the fight - he just needed to go through his emotional arc first.

I'm sure I'm missing things, I'm sure I forgot things. But this isn't college and I'm not writing for a grade. What I am is tired of both Megumi hate and Gege hate. Megumi is a well-written character who is good representation of depression (at minimum), and who is also not the fucking main character. Like, I'm sorry that the character you project your mental illness onto acts mentally ill, and I'm sorry your favorite character is a side character who is written like a side character. These things tend to happen.

Yes, obviously, more could have been done with him and the wrapping of his character (and all of the characters) if the ending wasn't rushed, but that's not Gege's fault. Blame capitalism if you want to point fingers. JJK isn't the first manga with a rushed ending for exactly that reason, and it won't be the last.

Okay, I have to force myself to stop talking or we'll be here forever but:

The ending of JJK is not "bad writing," it's the best outcome that could have happened given the time constraints and publication constraints.

I agree that it would have been nice to see acknowledgements from the characters of the trauma they went through, but also I think that those things realistically take time. I don't think it's unreasonable that their first instinct would be to pretend that everything is normal for as long as they can. However, Megumi was not handled poorly, and he was not abandoned by Gege, and Gege does not hate him. He was well-written start to finish, and he was given a lovely ending that leaves his future wide open for possibilities.

Take a deep breath and stop trying to be the loudest voice in the room. Look at the text and supplement it with reality and the hard truths of a really shitty work culture, and understand that being upset is valid, but it's not valid enough to justify seething hatred for a mangaka whose entire work you probably read for free <3

[copypasteking]

Ok, I don't usually post about these kinds of things, but I think I want to briefly talk about the new Overwatch hero because I've barely seen anyone talk about it yet.

So this is Juno, the newest addition to the Overwatch 2 roster, we currently don't know much about her. Now, don't get me wrong, I think the design is appealing enough, pretty cute even - in a vacuum (hehe), it would be fine. However... if you've been following the development of Overwatch at all and seen the other heroes, especially the female characters, you may see why this design is frustrating to me.

Why yes, it's another conventionally attractive young woman in a skin tight suit, despite being some sort of astronaut. Damn, must be some amazing future tech that allows people to wear space suits that look like body paint and yet still provide protection against radiation, vacuum and extreme temperatures. One could argue that this isn't her full suit and she is just wearing this in-game because combat, but come on. I want to add that having a body like this isn't bad, of course, it's more so the fact that the women in this game are rarely allowed different proportions or facial features.

And yea, I wasn't kidding when I said skin tight.. Certainly she also has movement animations with gratuitous hip-swaying to accompany this certified Blizzard-Moment™ of a design. The animations are cool, but this combo left me stunned when I watched the trailer haha.

The sexualisation part isn't the only thing that bothered me, of course. I actually liked this concept art much more - it provided a bit of bulk and visual interest while still retaining that sleekness that they wanted to have in there.

But for some reason, they stripped her of this, leaving it almost a bit under-designed, especially for Overwatch 2 standards.

All of this is just my opinion, and I want to emphasize that I don't fully hate the design. I'm just lamenting what could have been and the fact that, for a new hero, they just made cute Overwatch girl number 12 again. In the end, they want to market to straight gamer boys so eh, it is what it is.

[beekeeperspicnic]

Having a celebratory "the game is 80% cast now" pizza! It's kind of just the lead roles left.

I want to wait until everything is 100% definite and signed off and official before making any proper announcements, but here's some fun...

**Provisional** Beekeeper's Picnic cast vagueposting:

One member of the cast was in the Granada Sherlock Holmes series

One member of the cast was in The Sandman

Two members of the cast played siblings in a podcast I like.

A ridiculous percentage of the cast have been in Doctor Who in some form, but they are mostly British actors so I guess that's to be expected.

My official opinion as a Mycroft Fan™ is that our Mycroft is the best Mycroft ever, but I guess I am biased.

They're all so good. SO good. Aaaa. So good.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

Oh no. Sir I believe I'm going to need you to explain that Dragon Age 2 opinion, that is a BLAZING hot take

I really don't think it is. Although of course all of this is personal opinion, not some sort of divine proclamation on high about which video games people are allowed to prefer, so take please it in the spirit it is offered.

Origins is a worldbuilding walking tour as much about explaining its own in-universe lore and fantasy history as it is about either its characters or the actual story that is happening in the game. It's a cool world! With some great lore! But also it is built entirely around Generic Fantasy Plot Structure #1 and never particularly seems interested in innovating, or surprising the player. On top of which, a lot of its setting and lore is pretty weakly sketched and doesn't really get developed into something either visually or narratively compelling until it gets built out in later games.

And while Inquisition has some genuinely fantastic characters, everything else about the game suffers very badly from the plague of BioWare Magic™, i.e. the production was an absolute mess up until the last minute when five hundred extremely overworked and underpaid creative geniuses somehow managed to wring a functional experience out of the trainwreck. It was made with fucking Frostbite of all things, jesus christ, it's holding together with spit and duct tape.

Now, Dragon Age 2 shares a bunch of the problems of Origins and Inquisition. It too bears the hallmarks of "our executives couldn't plan a healthy game production cycle if their lives depended on it" with a lot of unfinished content, half-assed sidequests and a truly frustrating over-reliance on a combat system that isn't half as engaging to use as it needed to be.

But Dragon Age 2 also has something neither of its siblings could ever even hope to match: an actual compelling protagonist.

Like, listen, I know people adore their headcanons about their Wardens and Inquisitors, and it has made for some truly amazing fanworks, but Hawke is literally the only actual character out of all of them. Hawke has conflicts, problems, needs and drives that actually inform and push the story forward, they have a family and a history and a reason to give a sh** about the central conflict of the narrative.

In Origins and Inquisition both, your character becomes the main character of the story entirely because of fate and random chance. You are the Chosen One and you are the only one who can Save The World because you're the last of the super special elite fantasy Hero Squad, or because you got some green magic stuck in your hand by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Because the character is a complete blank slate onto which the player is expected to project themselves, random chance and circumstance are the only tools the plot can use to position them as main characters. There is no character to drive them to it.

In Dragon Age 2, Hawke becomes the champion because they're trying to build a new life for their family in Kirkwall, and end up embroiled in the chaos and politics that befall the city as a natural consequence of living in it and dealing with the conditions of it. Hawke and their family's needs and wants drive their actions, and push them to engage in endeavors that influence the course of history. They have agency (in the conceit of the narrative, at least) over how their life turns out, they make choices that have consequences, rather than being dictated into the position of Main Character by a literal looming apocalypse that permits no other course of action.

And I'm not about to sit here and claim that Dragon Age 2's story is perfect or that every character is a masterpiece or that every plotline is amazing. No, there's plenty of scuff and jank and things that have aged poorly and unresolved plot threads and all the rest of it.

And I am definitely not forgetting the godsdamned DLC where BioWare threw it all overboard by inventing a Special Bloodline Plot where oops it turns out Hawke actually IS a special chosen one specially chosen by a special fate to have a special role in Saving The World because they're special because of fate and destiny and blah blah, I still think that was phenomenally stupid (especially when Corypheus wasn't even Hawke's goddamn main villain to deal with what was any of this supposed to add to their character ffs BioWare)

But even with all its problems, the simple fact that Hawke is a character you can give a shit about independent of your own projection as a player - the fact that Hawke isn't just an empty bland blank slate with no personality, no traits, no wants or needs or drives - that has made Dragon Age 2 infinitely more memorable to me than either Origins and Inquisition. I think about it to this day. I think about Hawke to this day. I care about what happens to the character in a way that I just simply could never bring myself to do with either my Wardens or my Inquisitors.

[carlyraejepsans]

UTY!Flowey, "lore" and how to criticize a fan prequel without being an insufferable pedantic, a guide by Biscia.

(for my muskless fellows, here's a transcript of my thread on Undertale Yellow that I posted on Twitter. enjoy!)

There's this really frustrating attitude in fan spaces i like to call "lorepilling" where people are substantially more concerned with encyclopedic knowledge of details & minutiae (so called "lore") in place of full-text thematic/narrative analysis as if the two are mutually interchangeable.

It's especially common in large franchises and story heavy videogames, and it's like... Are You Treating This Piece Of Art Like A Trivia Battle Or Are You Treating It Like A Story

This is coming from a person who is also deeply autistic about UTDR trivia btw, I'm just saying that when it comes to transformative *stories*, depending on the impact it has on character, themes, and narrative structure... lore is expendable.

Ultimately this is why most of the UTY criticism i see (on twitter specifically) falls flat. What does it matter if "lore" means Flowey couldn't chronologically be there when the justice human fell, as long as the game narratively justified his presence in the story in a compelling way?

The real criticism, in the end, is that it didn't.

He's a plot central, main cast character from the canon returning in a cast of mostly OCs and what does he have to show for it? An admittedly sick boss battle in 1/3 endings, sure but... not much else. He has no significant "presence" in the story, no tie, interaction, or even just... an opinion on the rest of the cast. Which is a huge miss when Flowey's meta role is to be Thee completionist player mirror. He's the OG lorepilled UT fan! He's an opinionated little shit!

This isn't to say that UTY *didn't* engage w/ his metanarrative. When me and @a-town-called-hometown first started playing the game (we were both skeptical of Flowey's inclusion), he immediately said "It would be really cool if they made it so this has been going on for a while and Clover has no idea". Which is precisely what the game did in the neutral ending, and what I will openly say was the most well written & well executed part of this game's story...

...a part we almost didn't see, because the pacifist ending disappointed us so much we lost all will to replay.

To put it in the words of my friend Mel @clowwwnbytes, there's a deafening hollowness to UTY Flowey's motivations & core principles where his guilt towards Chara—and resulting black and white thinking—should be. You're telling me Mr Kill-or-be-killed, "sacrificing yourself to do the right thing is stupid", would stand there after 1000s of failed attempts to make Clover survive, look on as they make the same mistake Asriel he did, and fondly call them friend? Cue the guitar, roll the credits?

He would lose it. Oh my god he would lose his goddamn mind, he would throw the nastiest temper tantrum in the world. Are you serious? How dare you. How DARE you. All this effort, all my patience, and you just let yourself DIE for a few worthless idiots? I should've let you ROT!

*clears throat* sorry got a bit too into character. as i was saying.

I can understand a UT prequel wanting to distance itself from the canon Chara storyline in order to form its own identity, but then turning around and choosing Insane About Chara The Character™ for a sidekick is... far from optimal. In the end, Flowey comes across as underutilized and inconsistent, with a whole lot of wasted potential.

This is an issue I have with UTY's character writing (original AND returning) and story structure as a whole. Lots of inconsistent character arcs, tonal dissonance, overuse of situational sadness... it's an amateurish work, after all, and you can feel it. There's no shame in that.

(Though, there ARE some issues that i take more seriously with its writing, especially when it comes to its two main female characters—Ceroba's lack of narrative agency and depth borders on misogynistic writing imo. But that's a topic for another day)

Over all, UTY was an incredible piece of collaborative transformative work, with gorgeous art and a genuinely incredible OST, which... would have benefited from more experienced writers. But hey, you can only ever learn by trying!

For all it could've been a better story, it certainly did not fail to entertain: both when my friend was playing it, and after in our many discussions of its writing, its faults and how it could've been improved (royal scientist!ceroba character fix you will always be famous. to ME!)

I'm sure this project served as an incredible source of experience for the developers: as individual creators AND as a team. I look forward to their future projects!

but also if i have to see another person say UTY is better than Undertale i might turn into The Jonker.

end of the essay! really couldn't stand any of the pedantic ""criticism"" I'd seen of this fangame so far, so i had to say my piece as someone more versed in analysis. happy to elaborate on anything in the replies or in my inbox!

[theamberplumbob]

My Thoughts on Inzoi

I figured since my post about the whole Inzoi terms of service debacle blew up in a way that I never would have predicted, I should probably give a more nuanced explanation of my stance on the game and the discourse around it in general.

First off, I will just say right off the bat that I am not a fan of Inzoi, and unless some very big changes are made to the game, I am not interested in playing it.

I also want to make clear that my dislike of Inzoi is NOT motivated by any sort of love or loyalty to EA or The Sims. If there's one good thing to come out of Inzoi its breaking the monopoly that EA has over the life sim genera and giving The Sims competition. I also want to say that I despise EA for what it has done to the Sims franchise, and while I have played an absurd amount of hours in The Sims 4, I think it is objectively a bad product.

My biggest problem with Inzoi, first and foremost, is it's the use of AI. Inzoi allows players to use generative AI to make custom textures, designs, and paintings within the game. You may not agree with me on this but I am fully of the opinion that real artists should have been hired and paid to create all of the textures/paintings/designs for this game. Allowing players to upload their own photos and videos is one thing, but Krafton, a multi billion dollar company, chose to not support real, professional artists so they could save what is essentially pennies to them. All this results in, frankly, ugly and uncanny looking generated designs plastered all over the furniture and decor. For this reason alone I do not support Inzoi, but there's so much more to it than that.

There's also the fact that we have no idea how their AI is trained. Krafton apparently has an "AI Ethics Committee," but we have no clue what their actual code of ethics are. While it's bad faith to assume, they could be using stolen artwork for their AI. It is also very likely that whatever images you upload into the game, as well as any use of their facial scanning feature, could also be used as material to train their AI. This could lead to all sorts of ethical and legal issues I don't even know where to begin.

Secondly, I have to say, looking at the early access footage from youtubers and everything else I've heard about the game, it feels like its only going to repeat most of TS4's mistakes. In youtuber NotMalcolm's most recent video he discusses Inzoi's overly sanitized approach to various aspects of life, most notably that you can't try for a baby unless you are already married (source). Just like TS4, Inzoi is appealing to a younger demographic and sanding down the rougher aspects of life in order to cater to them. I fear that Krafton is likely taking it a step further and not only watering down the game for the sake of potential child players, but also using them as an excuse to enforcing extremely traditional values on its players. I have no interest in playing a life sim that only allows me to play out a single, socially acceptable way of living.

It also, like TS4, feels like a Young Adult Wish Fulfillment Sim™. The gameplay looks shallow, and it feels like it exists more to make aesthetic screenshots than it does to be an actual game.

I think when people say that Inzoi is missing the "quirky weirdness" of the Sims, what they actually mean is that Inzoi is devoid of personality. One thing that stuck out to me immediately is that the animations are so stiff, robotic, and lifeless. Again, everything is made to be ~*Aesthetic*~ with no regard to an actual sense of identity or personality.

I know people will say that its only in early access, but given how close public early access is to release, I highly doubt any significant changes are going to be made to improve what will be given to us when the time comes.

On a similar note, there's the fact that Krafton has never made a game before now that hasn't been riddled with micro transactions. I personally predict that Inzoi's monetization strategy will be just as, if not more predatory than TS4's is. The fact that we are drawing so close to public early access and have not heard a single word on their method of monetization speaks volumes. I simply do not trust it.

Now, of course, I need to elaborate on the whole Terms of Service Situation. I understand fully that Krafton's terms of service is industry standard and not too dissimilar to EAs, however, this post highlights that whats really concerning about Krafton's ToS is how difficult and confusing it is for players to access and review it. I find it understandable that Krafton's proud use of AI makes people a lot more nervous as to what their data could potentially be used for, and are going to be a lot more weary of Inzoi's ToS. Though I understand that it is only speculation, many have made the assumption that Krafton may use user's personal data to train AI.

I did not expect my post on the subject to make so much traction, and I now regret how impulsively I made the post. I feel I've contributed to fear mongering, even though I feel my concerns at the time were valid and I felt like people had the right to know. I could have done more research and given more of an explanation for what my concerns were instead of basically saying "Yikes..." and leaving it at that.

I was also told through an anonymous ask that the auto accepting of the ToS on closing the game was a bug that had apparently been fixed the first day the character creation trial was available. I of course cannot verify this myself, but I will take them on good faith.

I would also like to touch on two other talking points that have been very prevalent in the Inzoi discourse:

Diversity - I think this links back to my previous point about the game's goal of being as ~*aesthetic*~ (and marketable) as possible at the detriment of everything else. The game is clearly catering to a very specific, very pale and thin standard of Korean beauty, and I think that everything that doesn't conform to that standard was sidelined as a result. I will be fair and say that the Inzoi team still has ample opportunity to fix this and add more options over time. TS4 was also severely lacking on release, but over the years has made great strides in regards to representation. However I would have hoped that Inzoi, a game planning to release in early access in 2024, would do a lot better than a game that was initially released in 2014.

Partnership with Curseforge - I've seen many people accuse critics of Inzoi's partnership with Curseforge of being hypocritical, since TS4 also has a partnership with them. Of course, one would have to ignore the massive, community wide boycott of Curseforge, and the pressure the community has put on CC creators to stop using the platform for that claim to hold any water. I also think there is a notable difference in EA choosing to partner with Curseforge before the Israel/Palestine conflict began, and Krafton actively choosing to partner with Curseforge now, during an active genocide taking place, in which Curseforge's parent company, Overwolf, actively advocates for and donates to those committing said genocide.

In conclusion, there are a lot of valid reasons to not like/be suspicious of Inzoi. Of course I can't tell you what to do or what games you play, nor can I force you to agree with me, but don't be so quick to write off or demonize those who are simply trying to raise awareness or drawing boundaries regarding Inzoi and those who choose to make content with it.

I also encourage you to consider the points I've made and maybe think twice before investing yourself in yet another game that will very likely exploit your attachment to it in the very same way that EA and the Sims has. You need to make them deserve your time and money, which is why I'm encouraging you to advocate for a better and more ethical game.

You deserve better. We all do.

[whorbidmore]

okay, so, I've fallen victim to the leon kennedy brainrot steadily overtaking me, following me from Tumblr to Pinterest, to Instagram and even the absolutely fucking dreaded application of TikTok. I don't even use it that often??? and the algorithm is just like 'wow, yeah, this little fuckers gay as hell send in the 40 year old meow meow!!' and having watched Death Island fairly recently, I'm gonna have my opinions on what this dude would be like. Cus my brain loves to rationalize shit and think ab 'what if this mf was someone real?' so... fuck it.

Leon Soft Kennedy Headcanons

SFW

accidentally bigoted. - im sorry but let's be so fucking real here. he's a 40 something year old man who spent the majority of his life in either the military, a police training academy in the 90's, or otherwise working under the U.S Federal System with minimal/no time between missions to unpack absolutely everything he's got going on... the guys gonna have some problematic tendencies. Obviously that doesn't mean he means any of that or is incapable of change, etc. etc., but I know for damn certain this dude would laugh a little at Bill Burr's borderline to blatantly misogynistic material and has probably chuckled unironically at the attack helicopter jokes. But, he's not a complete dick, and would definitely become more critical of those kinds of jokes if it's pointed out to him.

honest to God, Dad Without Kids™ - it's not simply enough for me to leave it at 'but it's the vibes!!' so, I'm gonna break this shit down. Leon is absolutely Gen X incarnate. I can fucking guarantee you that on his off days he accidentally ends up dressing as an undercover cop; I'm talking cargo shorts, light blue button up, those fucking standard issue boots cus "they're perfectly good shoes" and those stupid ass sunglasses... you know the ones I'm talking about. Let's say you're living with him, right? And you're... you, and you wanna watch something on TV. This dude would strain himself getting up like a turtle fallen backwards on its shell, stand up, walk right in front of the TV screen and stand there with his hands on his hips. It doesn't matter that he had to piss, he needs to get a better look of what's happening! Does those really loud, obnoxious coughs and sneezes, absolutely blows his back out doing one at least five times a year.

Only watches British Reality TV - Considering he's canonically a film buff, I'll say that this is purely for whatever he gravitates towards on general streaming services. I honestly don't see him being the type to regularly tune in to standard American cable TV, or only does so under specific circumstances like American Ninja Warrior or maybe Forged in Fire if there's absolutely nothing else. It's not something that's exclusive to Americans, — I'm from New Zealand and I do this too, — but Leon absolutely falls into the category of watching British Reality and Game shows purely because of the accents. I'm talking Jeremy Kyle, The Big Fat Quiz of Everything, Taskmaster, The Great British Bake Off and so on and so forth. It doesn't matter that baking isn't his forté or a passion of his, if Josephine curdles her buttercream by over mixing, his hands are in his hair in utter disappointment. 100% tries to mimic their accents too. We all do it, don't lie.

Has... very dated music tastes - I don't know if you could guess, but the last paragraph included me calling myself out and name dropping some shows I watch anyway or grew up watching, and I'm just saying that this is gonna be no different. If anything? This'll be worse! Since I'm very passionate about the music I listen to and have the inability to keep my interests separated from the other, of course my love of particular bands will bleed over into my interpretation of Leon's character! Anyway, all that for me to say that Leon fucking LOVES 90's grunge musicians, specifically Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, as well as early nu metal bands like Korn (their dubstep phase did not happen.), TOOL, and Rage Against the Machine — and no, he unfortunately doesn't see the irony of him being a fed and listening to Rage, — but would also have a soft spot for psych rock, post-punk and shoegaze. My man's definitely laid awake at night, sobbing without expression as he struggles to accept that Ada never really wanted him like he wanted her while listening to fucking Slowdive. My hottest take here is that he doesn't really listen to Deftones. Like he'll occasionally blast My Own Summer, Change, Bored or Rosemary, but anything outside of those? He just didn't listen to 'em. My second hottest take is that he does NOT like Slipknot, which kind of pains me 'cus I do, but I fucking bet you this dude would actually adopt one piece of "Gen Z lingo" or whatever just call them cringe. Though admittedly he would've been jamming the fuck out to Psychosocial and The Devil in I when they came out. Went off the deep end in Vendetta, obviously, and drunk-cried himself to sleep on the couch listening to Linkin Park.

Very confusing spending habits - On one hand, we all understand that Leon came from money, — he was implied to have been born into a mob family from my understanding? And I doubt he'd ever really had to worry about being fully, irrevocably broke, — but I'm sure that growing up in the U.S Foster Care System made him at least a little more cautious of where his money comes from, where it's going, what he's spending it on, etc. So, on the one hand, he's apprehensive to spend recklessly, particularly on perishables. But also, if he can drop over $100,000USD on a motorcycle that got absolutely fucking cheese grated into the road, and spend a perceived, metric fuck ton of money on designer leather jackets and massive watches, it's gonna be hard for me to call him 'financially conscious'. On one hand, he gets apprehensive on spending more money than he needs to on food since he's "just gonna shit it out later", but if he sees a cool watch or a nice suit in a shop window? Money's suddenly not an issue! Not because he's materialistic, but because the one thing he really maintains a sense of control over in his life are his possessions and the way he dresses. The D.S.O can call him in for another months long mission whenever they please, and all he can realistically do is allow the government to tug on his leash and put him where he's needed. He may as well spend their money on things he wants!

Gets out... enough? But also, not really? - So, personally I've pegged Leon as more of an introverted person, — amateurly typed his MBTI as possibly ISFJ? — so he doesn't really feel the need to go out and meet new people or really hang out with anyone. If somebody invites him out? Sure, he'll go. Otherwise, it rarely occurs to him to meet up with friends or colleagues at a cafe or anywhere. I think he'd prefer to just go there alone, mostly for the sake of having somebody else cook for him as opposed to actively seeking out the atmosphere. It's pure convience in his mind. And remember when I said in the beginning about him accidentally being at least a little misogynistic? Yeah, that was me trying to say that he regularly tries to hit on younger waitresses. Not because he actually wants anything to do with them, but simply because it's an ego boost. He likes that he can make girls half his age blush or offer him their numbers, because it tells him that he's still desirable, and ultimately, that gives him the power to reject them politely and go about the rest of his day. If they don't reject him first, of course. Admittedly, Leon's audacity towards women peaked during Infinite Darkness.

Since I'm planning on posting more NSFW headcanons for this guy, — and more NSFW kinds of posts, — here is the obligatory Minors DNI attachment. For your own safety, I don't care if what I have to say is tame so far, you can hold it off I promise.

[yerimbrit]

[flufftober day 17, wc: 975] - carnival : enchanted (or not)

AS A WITCH, the witchery related attractions at carnivals made by non-witches are a sort of entertainment to you. some witches and wizards take offense to it, since there are several misconceptions that come along with the booths.

for one: witches aren’t green. you don’t know where that piece of information came from, but that one, at least, makes you queasy. you don’t know what you would do if you suddenly turned green; it would also probably scare everyone off. with this in mind, you fail to hold in your giggles when you stop by the witches and witchcraft booth at the carnival minji not-so-subtly invited you to.

(“so, there’s this carnival coming up…” 

“yeah? the one on the 17th? what about it?”

“um. just saying.”

“we can go if you want to, you know.”

“really?”

“really.”)

minji’s staring at the cauldron that is currently overflowing with fog from a fog machine, enthralled by the display. there’s someone in an exaggerated witch costume, green skin and big hat and all, stirring the pot with some generic witch laugh sound effect playing from a jbl speaker. 

she turns to you with sparkles in her eyes, not saying anything.

“what?” you smile, “say, do you think i’d look cute with green skin?”

the girl thinks for a second before shrugging. “i think you look cute either way.”

“you’re an angel. imagine if hanni had green skin.”

your girlfriend makes a face, and you have to stifle your giggle because she looks so unamused. “she’d look more like a generic witch than you do. thanks for ruining my perception of her, i won’t be able to unsee it.”

“you two, young couple flirting over there!” the witch calls, beckoning you over with her hand. she sounds suspiciously like hyein. you and minji share a look, scoffing playfully at the remark she added, before strolling over to the cauldron.

the witch (or hyein, you confirm it’s her after she accidentally adds an ‘-unnie’ at the end of addressing you again) waves a hand over the cauldron, and the sound effect of the laughter plays again, making you snort and nudge minji. “this was you a few months ago, except you failed.”

“can you stop bringing that up?” she whines, having flashbacks of the failed love potion. despite getting what she wanted in the end anyway, you still tease her for it to this day. “i didn’t need the potion in the end, anyway.”

“close your eyes, lovebirds,” witch™ whispers, and the both of you oblige. there’s a beat of shuffling and the sound of something being moved, and then you’re allowed to open your eyes again. “some candy apples for you.”

well, if the general public’s opinion of witches was that they give random couples they see, free candy apples, then you’re all the more happy to be one of those couples, especially at the way minji has this goofy smile on her face after she takes the first bite. thanks, hyein.

after leaving the booth, you walk around the carnival a while longer. there’s several game booths (which minji tried dozens of times to win at ring toss to win you a black cat plush wearing a witch hat, which you hug to your chest with your left hand, the right one holding minji’s hand) and some rides, although you’re skipping those tonight after eating some suspicious pie at another booth. keep this hush-hush, but you did hex the person who gave it to you with a spell that causes them to cough out frogs for the rest of the night.

upon approaching a strength test game (you know, with the hammer and the meter) you’re met with danielle, who fails to scare the both of you, and haerin, who gives a small nod. the werewolf is wearing fake wolf ears (which is weird because she could’ve just had her real ones out) and the vampire is wearing a black and red vampire-esque coat. very funny. you should’ve showed up with your witch hat and broom, too.

danielle insists on winning you and minji a prize from the game, and then marches over to the attendant to pay for a single play. the guy looks terrified by her booming energy.

“watch,” you point at the werewolf, “she’s gonna break it.”

danielle turns around, scowling in jest, before pointing at the three of you and winking. and, well, as expected, she breaks the stick of the hammer in half just as it makes contact with the large puck. minji has to hold onto you, shoulders shaking with laughter while haerin snickers but averts her eyes, a silent ‘i don’t know her’ written all over her face and in her posture. 

you grin, “i told you.”

the attendant is so afraid of the werewolf’s (he probably doesn’t know about that fact) strength that you guys get a prize anyway, although you’re not quite sure whether it’s because of her strength, or because he was scared of her. either way, a win in your book. and a brown bear with glasses makes its way into minji’s arms.

danielle and haerin leave, something about seeing some security guard mutter something into their walkie-talkie while staring directly at them, and you and minji decide to leave as well. 

“i feel like this is going to happen every time we go someplace like this,” you beam, swinging your intertwined hands back and forth. 

minji chuckles in amusement, “but at least we had fun, right? i really liked the fairy place.”

your head whips to her, gasping, “you prefer fairies over witches? witches are totally cooler than fairies, i’ll have you know! no offense, wonyoung,” you think of your best friend who’s also at the carnival, “she has super-hearing.”

she panics, shaking her head vehemently, “when did i ever say that!?”

you’re definitely coming back next year.

flufftober masterlist!

a/n : nod emoji

[amerricanartwork]

Hi! I just wondered if you've played Hollow Knight based off how much you like Rain World. I'd be interested in any thoughts you had on it. :)

Thanks for the ask! No, I have not yet played Hollow Knight, BUT my interest in the game has been piqued! However I still have to see if the gameplay itself seems up my alley, or get invested enough in the characters that I want to discover more than I've already found out (and I have spoiled quite a lot for myself) before I actually decide to buy the game.

Regardless, from what I do know it does seem like an interesting story, albeit one far more tragic than Rain World's in my opinion. The characters I've seen are also pretty cool, both in design and personality. In fact, it was some ship fanart I found a few weeks ago that got me interested in diving deeper into the game once I realized it was where the featured characters were from, especially since one of the characters I had remembered hearing about before.

Here's a little sketch of some characters I was thinking about and whom I've been meaning to draw for a bit! Hornet because she's very Shaped™, Quirrel because from what I've seen he's quite wholesome, and Tiso because he was the first character I heard about and I think he's kinda silly!

Also, some more comparing/contrasting thoughts about the game below:

Firstly, I like how the premise of Kollow Knight involves anthropomorphic insects! It's something I never realized until recently despite being aware of HK for at least a few years, but I usually tend to take interest in stories starring non-humanoid creatures, so it's a plus! I also enjoy the more gothic/Victorian-looking magical high fantasy aesthetic, though it's pretty different from Rain World, which I'd consider far more sci-fi and specbio-esque in its aesthetic.

Now to get into themes, so far Hollow Knight seems to share Rain World's theme of lost/dead civilizations, which is also a very interesting premise to me! However, HK seems to have a greater focus on interacting with the people of its dying civilization and as such you get far more definitive knowledge about what happened to cause it to collapse. The player character seems to take on more of a classic epic hero role, because from what I've heard about the lore and endings, they end up directly influencing the fate of Hallownest, even potentially destroying or defeating the force that caused its ruin. The visuals have this very dark, cool tint overall to sell that gloomy, mournful vibe, and the structures, while presumably old, are still mostly smooth, ornate, and not super deteriorated, with these castle or manor-like appearances more similar to real-life buildings or things in other high fantasy works. Then, the orchestral music I've heard alongside all of these elements really creates this impression in me that it's aesthetic and overall concept is more akin to a high fantasy epic tale, albeit a rather tragic one.

Meanwhile, Rain World seem to have the player take more of an anthropologist role, observing and trying to piece together the story of vast remnants of its dead civilization, which seem alien and impossibly complex because so much of the history they're from has been lost to time. One of the core themes is being very small compared to these long abandoned structures, to really sell the idea that this history is so much older and more intricate than you'll ever know. The colors of Rain World are often warmer, which can be associated with old things, and the structures are far more weathered and broken down, with the only living survivors of the people who made them being the iterators, whom we only get to hear directly from two of. Combined with the focus on simulating an ecosystem, the more directly religious ideas within, the themes of natural cycles and an entire civilization evolving, changing, and ultimately disappearing over deep time, and the overall alien, sci-fi industrial designs of the architexture and strange creature designs that look like things out of "Of Rust and Humus" or some other alien speculative biology worldbuilding project make RW fit well in with that genre of fiction in my opinion.

Sorry if I seem like I kinda took a sudden shift there, but I wanted to talk about this contrast in artistic aesthetics and story genres for a moment because the "lasting impression" an art piece creates something I've recently concluded is pretty important overall in works of art, at least for mine!

But anyway, I hope these thoughts were satisfying for now! Thanks again for the ask!

[beheamothscreamoth]

Touchstarved + Pokémon Crossover

I'm a big fan of the two games, so for the heck of it, I decided to throw the main cast of Touchstarved into the world of Pokémon! I came up with some Pokémon they might use and what their roles could be if they were in it >:D

(Shoutout to @winterwhisperz-blog for encouraging me to post this!! ^w^)

Leander

Considering his role in the TS universe and how sociable he is, I think he’d make a great Gym Leader! He was probably a member of the Elite Four but he dropped out. Leander's Bloodhounds would be the trainers that fight you before you get to him! (Despite his position, he may also just be a Little Bit Evil™, kind of like Giovanni) I can see him having a more varied team, but he seems suitable for Poison/Bug type! (or Normal type to really emphasise that he’s normal guys he’s so normal- /j /lh)

His team might look something like:

Scizor

Venusaur

Nidoqueen

Ais

Honestly?? I can see him filling a lot of roles! (It's because of the protagonist energy he gives off-) I can see him being a Gym Leader like Leander, but I love the image of him being a rival to the MC! He’d probably prefer more tougher Pokémon in a fight (though I don’t think he’d shy away from Pokémon that are harder to raise), so he might lean towards Fighting and Water type. (He’d also have a dog Pokémon nicknamed Princess,,)

Part of his team might look like:

Tentacruel

Garchomp/Gyarados

Machoke/Machamp

(Lycanrock?)

Kuras

I can see him being a Pokémon Professor or Teacher! He’d probably lean towards Fairy and Normal type :D I can see him having service Pokémon (like how Nurse Joy has her Chansey), if only because he is a doctor in the original TS universe... (I also like to think that even though his team may be comprised of service Pokémon, if they were put in a fight, they would absolutely destroy the other team 💀)

His team might look like:

Blissey

Drampa

Musharna

(Gardevoir/Gallade?)

Mhin

They’d probably be a Pokémon Researcher? I don’t think they’d have that many Pokémon on their team, to be honest,, They might have a preference towards Flying + Ghost types, but I have a hard time seeing them being super into Pokémon battles - they probably only fight when it's necessary!

Their team might look like:

Corviknight

Misdreavus

Dusknoir?

(Murkrow/Honchkrow?)

Vere

I think he’d be an admin on one of the enemy teams! (Maybe the Senobium in this universe is the enemy team...?) He’d be a very skilled trainer - his Pokémon are probably more focussed on speed and attacking-- I can see him leaning towards Fire and Dark type!

His team might look like:

Houndoom

Liepard

Salazzle

(Krookodile?)

Bonus MC Insert (Please add on your own Touchstarved MC / OCs if you're interested! What Pokémon would they have? What would they do?)

Daniella

I can see her being a Pokémon Breeder! I like the image of her going off on a journey of a Pokémon Trainer and putting her duties as a breeder temporarily on hold, but I'm not entirely sure how it would kick off-- Maybe she goes on this journey to see the world, or, if we want to tie in the original game, go look for a cure to heal a mysterious illness of one of the Pokémon she looks after? I can see her team being Pokémon consisting of Psychic + Normal types!

Her team would include:

Sigilyph

Kirlia (evolves into Gardevoir)

Kadabra (evolves into Alakazam)

(Deerling [evolves into Sawsbuck])

If you guys have any other thoughts or opinions, please feel free to add them! :D

[sunderingstars]

☆━━━━━ ⋆���｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ SIMULATED UNIVERSE ⌝

sampo analysis m.list

— what the stars reveal: interpretative analysis, elation!sampo & doll!sampo, theory, op trying so deeply & calmly to keep it together and not look like a conspiracy theorist

— word count: 3.9k

— overview: (as of 2.6) a look at the aha stuffed toy, curio hacker, and the *perfect* grand challenge simulated universe occurrences!

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ AHA STUFFED TOY ⌝

This one’s a doozy, folks! As much as Curio Hacker gets passed around as a pretty obvious Sampo Occurence™ (which it is, don’t get me wrong), I feel like Aha Stuffed Toy includes just as, if not more, lore implications as to who and what Sampo might be. So, here I am to give the breakdown:

Recurring references to currency, including gaining, losing, and most notably, dispensing it. Starting with the base occurrence, we can see that the toy is said to reward you more gold coins the “worse the beating is.” This is further shown by the tiers of Cosmic Fragments awarded to the player depending on what option they choose and what percent they happen to get. Part luck, part choice, Aha Stuffed Toy makes a clear connection between violence and money.

As for Sampo, he is the character most associated with both Elation and the transactional nature of currency, so I find this an interesting connection. Additionally, the Sampo of Finnish mythology was known for “dispensing” wealth (in this case, gold & Cosmic Fragments) onto others!

Being made in Aha’s own likeness. As detailed in my Aha Splash Art Analysis, I find similarities between Sampo’s character model and the silhouette in Aha’s splash art. While I used to attribute this to a more directly Aha!Sampo theory, I am beginning to think this may be explained by the occurrence here. If Sampo, as a toy or otherwise “creation” of Elation, were to have similar features or even be the spitting image of Aha’s silhouette, any connections between their appearances would add up.

It would also make sense why Sampo gives the Express itself a wide berth — Pom-Pom may be familiar with Aha’s physical form from Their time on the Express, and may even be reluctant to believe Sampo is a different being despite sharing the same physical appearance.

Elation path option. Heading into Swarm Disaster, this is where things really start to heat up. This is probably the most “crazy red string theory” my brain gets, since there’s so much to unpack here! It’s important to note that since this is an Elation path matching an Elation occurrence, I’m more inclined to view this as our best source of understanding what’s truly going on. Starting with the options themselves, they are split cleanly in half (a 50/50 if you will). Similar to the base occurrence, Cosmic Fragments are either gained or lost depending on chance.

The text when Cosmic Fragments are lost is, well, very Sampo-aligned in my opinion. The doll, breaking the 4th wall into self-awareness, turns to look directly at you (the Trailblazer; potentially even the player of the game) and brazenly steals your currency. Moreover, the text before making the decision mentions that “only Aha knows the secret…” — Huh! Interesting! Although I am very worried about the doll’s head blowing up in the second option, it still serves as a link to Sampo’s penchant for including bombs in his kit. Overall, this is the part of the occurence I associate most with Sampo, from the stealing of currency to the self-awareness to the hint that his identity may be some secret that only Aha knows or is able to reveal. 10/10, no complaints!

Erudition path option. Erudition is also interesting, since it gives you the option to dismantle the toy, immediately giving you Cosmic Fragments. This mirrors (in a general sense, with some liberties taken) the destruction of the Sampo in Finnish mythology, as well as connects once again to the idea of being bestowed wealth. 

Venting of extreme emotions. As with the “made in Aha’s own likeness” line, I find it interesting that the doll is not only specified to have a direct purpose, but that that purpose is to… well, basically be a glorified punching bag. In an occurrence, this isn’t a huge deal, given the player probably has a passing thought of “oh, Aha’s being silly again” then continues on their way. However, if we think about the probability of these toys being real and potentially a character we know, things get trickier. Suddenly, this isn’t a fun “joke” where some pre-recorded inanimate toy acts as a stress ball, but the horrifying reality of a self-aware, sentient being who can likely feel every hit it takes — a joke taken too far, if you will.

This makes me feel much more out-of-my-depth when considering Sampo’s unknown backstory, since it may be much more traumatic than we’ve predicted so far. Also, if anyone in this game comes across as a “glorified punching bag,” I’m sorry Sampo, but my mind is immediately going to you. I’m still sad about it, though. :(

The goading. Similar to the venting of extreme emotions, this occurrence very much goads the player into getting more and more violent with the doll. “One more? There is so much frustration in your life, after all” makes me feel so yucky. Like so yucky. It almost feels like Aha (despite not being involved in the quality control process) is absentmindedly trying to push us directly towards messing this poor doll up more!

It makes sense, though, that most of our in-game dialogue with Sampo is mean or simply doesn’t have a “nice” option then — it may be Aha’s way or a result of Sampo’s own existence pushing us into that “frustration,” into that want to vent our extreme emotions.

The embedded chip. In addition to being a quite common mantra among Elation entities, the chip sticks out to me through its unique use of blended third-person references. It doesn’t feel exactly the same as when Aha refers to Themself directly in third person, but it does have that slippery feeling of the “in-between,” of a doll so at a loss for autonomy that it has no choice but to play the pre-recorded message of an entity it is bound to through no will of its own.

In a way, Aha!Sampo could still work with Doll!Sampo, albeit in a more roundabout way. Perhaps, beyond sharing physical similarities, there is also a kind of mental or referential similarity passed down through osmosis whenever a doll is created in the likeness of its creator. Perhaps, this likeness even transcends appearance.

Integer overflow. Nothing specific to say, other than that it is a useful connection to the more tech-minded “Curio Hacker” occurrence, with Aha Stuffed Toy mentioning “manufacturers” / “systems to store virtual data” and Curio Hacker mentioning virtual avatars and data forms.

Bonus: Sampo’s head-to-body ratio (despite being like every other tall male character’s body, yes, please just let me be crazy) matches with the idea of a doll whose body is several times larger than it’s head — I mean look at that man, he’s beefy and tall!

Bonus-Bonus: The voyeurism of it all definitely makes the situation more fucked up! Like imagine being this doll, already born into an existence purely for the sake of getting pummeled around like a kickball, and your creator makes it abundantly clear that They want to see this happen to you! With their own two (or many, or zero) eyeballs! I’d cry, that’s for sure.

Overall, this is a lot. This is definitely a lot. I have more I could say, but to mitigate the risk of devolving into crazed rambling, I’m going to let this section speak for itself and move on to “Curio Hacker.”

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ CURIO HACKER ⌝

Divergent Universe Additions:

A lot has already been said about this occurrence, so I’ll keep it short and sweet: the “blue-haired being” is a direct connection to Sampo (who is often referred to by his blue hair in a similar way) and the self-aware nature of its actions (knowing it’s in a game and trying to replicate Curios) also matches with Sampo’s general self-awareness as a character. Now, with that out of the way, I’d like to continue into a more niche discussion — that of the Curios the hacker gives us.

Organic Heart

Story: What sticks out to me the most about the text here is the merging of two distinct objects — an apple and a heart — into a single, new existence. I think there’s something to be said here about Sampo’s potential identity; his merging of Nihility and Elation, Masked Fool and voice of reason, mortal and immortal. The combination of two separate entities into one until they are unable to be distinguished from one another, folding into each other until they are both a sum and a subtraction of all their parts, hopelessly melded into a new, unique form of existence, not a heart or an apple but a heart-apple, an apple-heart, the fruit of an organ and blood mixed with seeds mixed with juice, the crunching of something not entirely edible, not entirely rotten. Something that, according to the story, still can’t be fully defined.

Gold and Gears: In Gold and Gears, the function of Organic Heart is to remove the golden dice face for four turns, then grant two cheat attempts. This matches up with both the implications of a “hacker” — someone who cheats the system by default — and Sampo’s generally shady demeanor, always trying to find a loophole he can squeeze through. The interesting part of this is the presence of the golden dice face, particularly the removal or hiding of it for a specific period of time.

If we are continuing based off the assumption that Sampo is the hacker and the Curios give hints about his own identity, this would mean he isn’t just powerful, he is ultimately powerful. The golden face is the absolute highest the dice can go, meaning the equivalent in-universe is likely Emanator or even Aeonic status. As such, it seems that Sampo may be sacrificing, removing, or hiding this power intentionally to gain something — likely a sort of universe-breaking “cheat” to circumvent whatever he wishes.

For Doll!Sampo, this may mean escaping his own purpose or reason for existence, Emanator!Sampo may wish to be free of Elation entirely, and it is likely his wishes have something either to do with protecting Belobog, protecting himself, or, if he is very pissed off at a certain Aeon, perhaps even the murder of a god.

Divergent Universe: Organic Heart’s Divergent Universe function also adds a bit of information to this theorizing, as it increases the challenge points gained (thereby increasing the rewards and how much you “win”) while causing you to take more damage at the same time. This seems to have similar implications as Gold and Gears, implying a “reward” and a “cost” closely dependent on one another. You may be receiving more “power” and more rewards, but you are also at higher risk of dying due to taking more damage.

For Sampo, this ties in to the aspect of weakness, of trading his power for some kind of “win” if he can just survive long enough to get there. Furthermore, it implies a state of vulnerability, some kind of existence where he no longer has the full protection he used to. Much like the player who takes the Curio, he likely has to be very careful about what he involves himself in, lest he meet a premature end.

Mysterious Magnetism

Story: Interestingly enough, I find Mysterious Magnetism to go quite well with Organic Heart. There is yet again a theme of combination, this time with the Fog of Thought and Rain of Sensation (perhaps alluding to the creation of Sampo as a sentient being — thought and sensation are unique to those who are aware of their own existence) being pulled together into a lens. While Organic Heart represents the more, well, organic side of a being, Mysterious Magnetism dwells in the imperceptible; thoughts, sensation, color, and magnetism are all far more conceptual than apples and hearts. 

The “magnetic field” mentioned is also interesting, since it is said to “disturb the senses,” which Sampo very much does on a regular basis (appearing and disappearing out of thin air, not leaving footprints, misdirection, etc.) — in fact, Mysterious Magnetism seems to imply that this is a byproduct of his existence. Despite being created by the Riddlers (a faction of the Enigmata known for obscuring language), the resulting experiment simply is. This may be similar to Sampo’s own existence, where his, well, mysterious magnetism, is simply part of who he is or how he was created rather than a conscious effort on his part to achieve it. 

I also find it interesting how the Riddlers had to eventually stop because they became more and more uncertain of its “necessity” — this could, in my opinion, imply a “leaving behind” or abandonment of Sampo as a character as well.

Keyword Note: “Revelrous” implies there may be a bit of Elation involved. A little easter egg in the story, if you will.

Gold and Gears: In Gold and Gears, Mysterious Magnetism creates Elite Domains out of Combat Domains, then grants Cosmic Fragments after two of those domains. Much like Organic Heart, there is a rigor present here, an upping of the stakes for greater rewards. What would be effortless is made difficult, but if the player survives they are rewarded for their troubles. Once again, this may point towards Sampo’s exchanging of a price for a reward, a stripping away of his power that makes everything — especially combat — more difficult, but that will eventually reward him what he wants.

Divergent Universe: The occurrence here follows a slightly different “give and take” track, less focused on rewarding something after hardship, but more on gaining and losing in the same breath. Interestingly enough, the gain here is at the beginning rather than the end, awarding the player 50 Cosmic Fragments every time they enter a domain but making them lose just as much once they win a battle. 

This could be seen as the nature of currency exchange — a central part of Sampo’s character — as something that gives and takes in equal measure, or it could also be seen as a means for him to avoid conflict. Perhaps whatever plan or deal he has strongly discourages fighting, likely because of the higher stakes involved or lessened powers he has. As such, it could be seen as “losing” in general for him to engage in conflict, since it might strip away even more of his already-fraying status.

Other Notes: It’s interesting that the hacker is attempting to replicate Herta’s Curios. Given that it gives us two very specific Curios, I wonder if those are the ones it’s trying to replicate? If so, why? I’m inclined to believe Sampo may be attempting to circumvent his own fate or state of being as a doll/toy, but it could be to save Belobog or someone else for plot reasons as well (or maybe even kill Aha Themself; Aeon murder isn’t off the table, after all).

I also am intrigued by “hacker” being in quotations. Paired with the “don’t ask me who I am,” I’m reminded of the toy’s secret that only Aha knows — perhaps Sampo simply doesn’t wish to reveal himself to us here, or perhaps there’s a deeper reason his identity is obscured. Basically, it comes down to the age-old question: Won’t, or can’t?

Overall, Organic Heart and Mysterious Magnetism sum Sampo up pretty well to me: an organic being straddling the grey area between different existences, as well as an indistinct combination of concepts capable of self-awareness and magnetic thought. In my opinion, these Curios point towards heavy themes of creation, combination, and being discarded, as well as the exchanging of one’s own power for a greater benefit (or “cheat”) later on. 

My pet theory combines both the Aha Stuffed Toy occurrence and Curio Hacker, seeing Sampo as a toy created by Aha in Their own image, a combination of mortal and immortal existence meant to be beaten and bleed wealth, who seeks to free himself from the purpose of his own existence through sacrificing the very power that was granted to him with it — likely Emanator or some equivalent status — while hopefully protecting those he cares about and even getting back at his creator at the same time (otherwise known as Doll Theory).

✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ THE *PERFECT* GRAND CHALLENGE ⌝

When paired with both Aha Stuffed Toy and Curio Hacker, The *Perfect* Grand Challenge begins to paint a bigger picture. Here, a toy is once again mentioned (Aha and the Elation path seem to have a strange fixation on dolls and toys), this time as a “clay doll” trapped inside an arcade machine alongside other gacha prizes. You play through the arcade machine much like the occurrence, deciding which toy to pull and how many attempts to make. Here are a few of my notes:

Prizes: The prizes within the arcade machine include “trendy gachapon figures, ether orbs, and clay dolls,” although there are only two specific ones available: “popular gacha toy” and “clay doll.” I find it notable how the clay doll is emphasized here; despite being part of a three-item list at the beginning, the options are basically simplified down to “clay doll” and “everything else.” Additionally, the clay doll is the only item to have an extended description in the occurrence, which I will explain later.

Rewards: Each reward operates in probability, with the clay doll having a 50/50 for a regular vs. negative Curio, and the gacha toy has a 40/60 for a regular Curio vs. nothing. If we are looking at this occurrence within the context of the other two, the “clay doll” seems somewhat similar to both the Aha Stuffed Toy and Sampo himself, operating on chance to give the player either something helpful or harmful, to give or to take. Additionally, it fits with the Sampo of Finnish mythology, not having an option to not give — it must give, that is its function. And so it does.

Perfectionism: It’s a bit odd how perfectionism is a major theme of The *Perfect* Grand Challenge (hell, it’s even in the name)! I never thought of Elation as being closely intertwined with being “perfect”; in fact I always considered it to be the more chaotic of the Paths. However, there’s no escaping the fact that this occurrence not only shares the same cover art as other Elation occurrences like the Aha Stuffed Toy, but it also shares similarities like the clay doll, fun game, and “playful” programmer. 

So, my main question now is why? If we assume these occurrences are a manifestation of the Paths, then perhaps a subsection of Elation includes perfection. Another option is that the presence of an Erudition option points to a co-mingling of different Paths into something specific like perfection. Or, it is entirely possible that perfection is a natural emergent of Elation that we simply haven’t seen yet. Although Sampo and/or Aha don’t strike me as “perfectionist” types, there’s enough we don’t know about them that makes me think “huh, maybe they really do have some of that going on.” 

If we do, for a moment, entertain the idea that Aha may be a perfectionist in some regard, we can easily make connections between the other occurrences — for example, Sampo as a creation may have been abandoned much like Mysterious Magnetism in Aha’s pursuit of the “perfect toy”; Aha may have created toys in Their own image in the first place just to attempt a more “perfect” existence for Themself; Sampo may even be seen by Aha as in some way defective, leading to feelings of betrayal and hatred (or the opposite, Sampo being perfect enough to garner a god’s favor, which may not be a good thing when it comes to Elation).

There’s even the chance Sampo was created by another Path like Erudition (although that would cause a conflict with being “created in Aha’s likeness”) that may be more susceptible to latching onto perfection. Since the Riddlers (Enigmata) are also mentioned in Mysterious Magnetism, I wouldn’t put it beyond them either. Who knows, maybe he was a pet project collab between Aha and another Aeon!

Note: Who is the “perfect man”? Great question! It could fit in as Sampo with the idea of him sacrificing something for a reward, potentially “embarking on a challenge to become the perfect man” or it could fit in as Aha creating toys, being the “perfect man” that needs a “clay doll” like Sampo. “A perfectionist wants them all” could even allude to greed on either end, reaching beyond what is necessary in the pursuit of perfection. Or, it could be something else entirely. Who knows!

Text: As mentioned earlier, the clay doll has quite a lengthy (and worrisome, if we are comparing it to Sampo) bit of writing here. Most of the other writing sets up the scene (establishing the arcade game, the playful programmer, the game having a catch, etc.) but the clay doll is by far the most detailed and intensive play-by-play we get.

The other gacha figures either rise with the claw or drop, but the clay doll is different. If you win it, you get a short line of text with everything else, but if you lose… well…

Yeah, that’s definitely a lot! The main comparison I see is to the Aha Stuffed Toy occurrence, with the toy’s head blowing up (“the head of the doll has blown up” is actually the specific Stuffed Toy line!) and the clay doll’s head exploding with “fireworks bursting out from the head”.

Both of these events happen during extreme emotion, with the toy being created with the intent of venting emotion on and the clay doll exploding when you “lose your patience” and “give the machine a vicious kick”. With such an emphasis on the clay doll and its links to not only the stuffed toy, but to the programmer from Curio Hacker, I am officially inducting The *Perfect* Grand Challenge into the Sampo-Aligned Occurence Hall of Fame! 

I feel like this can slot in with my Doll Theory as well, taking my already mentioned timeline and adding the idea that Sampo is one of many attempts at a “perfect” recreation of Aha, one that is likely trying very desperately to escape from the dehumanization and danger of his kin. After all, two Elation-coded dolls exploding by the head in separate occurrences is not a fun precedent to follow!

Note: I mainly compared Sampo to the clay doll here given its similarity to the Aha Stuffed Toy, but it is entirely possible he is the programmer as well — hell, with the implications of Organic Heart he may as well be both!

Additional Note: There seems to be some connection between the Erudition and the Elation here, with the Aha Stuffed Toy occurrence’s only Path options being Elation and Erudition, as well as The *Perfect* Grand Challenge including an Erudition option despite having such heavy Elation influences. Creation, experimentation, and combination are in and of themselves a very Erudition-coded activity, though those very same concepts can also be creative and fun in the vein of the Elation.

Additionally, the story of Mysterious Magnetism (linked to Sampo who is very much linked with Elation) mentions the Riddlers conducting their experiment to “combat the determinacy of Erudition”. Just food for thought!

Bonus: This mention of the Aha Stuffed Toy in the Flea Market occurrence! Don’t mind me, I’ll just be crying at the “asking to be hit” part. (Also, four destructible Curios makes me think in plurality, meaning there are perhaps quite a few “stuffed toys” out there. It also implies awareness and the ability to communicate, making the toy much more likely to be a sentient / intelligent lifeform.)

Also this screenshot I caught of both occurrences & the man himself!

Okay, that’s all I have!

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ જ⁀➴ thank you for reading to the end!

☆━━━━━ ⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☾ ◯ ☽₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆ ━━━━━━☆

© analysis by sunderingstars. do not copy, repost, translate, modify, or claim my work as your own.

[thatonecrookedsmile]

You will acept your fate... Before the end..

------

Without much creativity to come up with a good line/phrase. I had to improvise.

It's been exactly 1 year since Bendy and the Dark Revival released...jeez. Already? I'm telling you, time doesn't make sense anymore, everything is going slower and faster at the same time. It's crazy!

I was in the middle of drawing something more specific for the anniversary but…I didn't finish it lol. Like always! But I have this prompt that I finished a few days ago and that I was hoping to post along with 2 more drawings. But I think today is a more ideal day to post this.

So as a anniversary present I give you guys…Angst™. With the boys. Very ideal.

I remember having another idea for this prompt but the current idea popped into my head so I decided to abandon the previous one. I found it more interesting. A "What-if" idea I had at the time the game launched partially inspired by something specific I thought about these two. Based so much on what I've seen and read about these ink creatures, and on the general idea of "2 minds in one".

I confess that in the end I started to question whether this is the way I see the relationship between these 2 and all this business of "two in one package" that they have. And I still don't know if this is really my vision. I just had a drawing idea that I thought was cool and I just stuck with it until the end. I didn't have many second thoughts until I got to the finish line.

Changing the subject: The anniversary.

I can't believe it's been 1 year since this game came out. The time flies! Good to know this finally released after 3 years.

I don't think I've ever talked abouy my thought on the game before,or at least,not the game as a whole. I wanted to leave this for the specific anniversary drawing, but hey. Why not here?

In short: I really liked it! I've been waiting for this game for a good while so when we finally got that final trailer last year, you could say I was pretty excited for the next 2 weeks until release. I don't know if I knew exactly what to expect from this game, and there's always that fear that I won't end up liking what I play when it released. But I really liked it! Loved it, I would say. I had a lot of fun and I believe I can say that, in general, I had a pretty positive experience with it.

Of course, I have my own grievances and complaints about some things in the game (some probably talked about here on Tumblr and others not) that I would like to see improved for next game,The Cage. But even with these complaints in mind, I wouldn't say that it took away my enjoyment of this game. Especially considering that the positive points (or at least what I consider positive in my opinion) for me, prevail over the negative ones.

At the end? Yeah, I really liked Bendy and the Dark Revival. Happy to see it finally released and be able to play it. I personally believe that we are in a good direction when it comes to the games, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Happy 1 year anniversary BATDR! And happy birthday to both Little Guy and Big Guy (Little Bendy and the new Ink Demon,respectively).

Love you both.

[n7cloacadestroyer]

"ACAB applies to Garrus"

I've heard this independently 3-4 times over the past week, and it strikes me as such an odd thing to say. Not because it isn't true--we know Garrus wasn't above working a suspect over if he thought it would make them talk. Like, he wasn't just a cop, he was kind of a dirty one. Not in the same way as someone like Harkin, but definitely in the "you better hope his hunch doesn't lead him to you or you're getting beaten with a rubber hose until you tell him what he wants to hear" kind of way. Which is arguably just as bad, if not worse.

No, the reason it's such an odd thing to say is that ACAB honestly applies to about half of the characters in the visible universe of Mass Effect. It's a very "save us, military industrial complex," sort of narrative in many respects--up to and including the part where all the politicians and diplomats basically have "beta cuck," or "dick dastardly's understudy," tattooed on their forehead with very few exceptions.

That's just something you have to accept if you want to enjoy the series. It's a star war, not an insightful commentary on power structures and the abuse of the people therein.

If you want to evaluate it as one, then there are quite a few bigger fish in this particular pond. The Citadel Council alone is one of the most abusable legislative mechanisms conceivable, and admission to their ranks is predicated solely on approval by the current Council. The council whose individual votes would be weakened by adding another member. Not to mention that the idea of an individual speaking for their entire species is bananas on its face.

And not to put too fine a point on it, but Shepard is a fed. Like, a "clandestine intervention and special operations" kind of fed. ACAB absolutely applies to them too.

The Point™: The Mass Effect universe was created solely to facilitate a role playing game in which the player had more narrative freedom than was typical of AAA titles at the time. If you apply any degree of knowledge regarding sociology or political science, the thing falls apart faster than the M-44 Hammerhead. Basically anybody who has spent more than five minutes thinking about it could tell you that. Anybody can also tell you that if the game mirrored an effective and equitable political process, there probably wouldn't be much call to splatter some faceless space pirate against a wall with your dark energy mind powers. If you want to be all cinemasins about it, that's your call, but I don't think you would make a very good action game going about it that way.

I'm not trying to say that you're wrong if you don't like Garrus. It's a matter of opinion, first and foremost. There are valid reasons to dislike him. Like his elevator conversations, for example. But it's more than a little disingenuous to pretend he is uniquely or egregiously problematic in his abuse of power while we control Commander Shepard--the literal avatar of abusing their power with little to no consequences.