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too-antigonish · 4 months ago

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The Great S7 Rewrite: 14 July 2024 Update

So here's a brief summary of where we're at so far plus new ideas:

Bone of Contention #1: Opera Rules

So far:

Keep and maybe even go a little crazy with Opera Rules

Possibly feature more of the opera written for S7

Possibly include opera theme towpath murders

NEW:

@oeuvrinarydurian

Throwing this out here because so many of these options are potentially hysterical. https://tropedia.fandom.com/wiki/Opera

I will also suggest looking at TV Tropes Opera page. I’d also recommend checking out the various tvtropes pages for individual operas by title.

Bone of Contention #2: Ludo and Violetta?

So far:

Give them an evil plan that actually makes logical sense

And also make them people that Morse would actually want to be friends/lovers with

Consider extent to which Violetta is “Unattainable Fantasy Woman”

Make Ludo a music journalist, etc.

NEW:

Keeping Ludo and Violetta

@oeuvrinarydurian

Violetta works better as a character if we turn her more aggressively into a black widow, who is fully on board with whatever overall plan the two of them have

Could work fine in Operaville if the various lures Ludo throws out include Violetta and her magical vajayjay.

Part of the fun and engagement is finding a way to make them work. I think it is cheating if we get rid of everything we hate.

I’m leaning towards making them much more loathsome and true operatic villains.

@fanficrocks

Agrees we should keep Ludo and Violetta but ramp up their villainy… not necessarily in an overt way

Making them on the surface believable as friend and paramour respectively for Morse; but beneath, they are fully invested in their villainy

@astridcontramundum

Agrees that they could both be villains.

That’s what she did with them in her “After-comers” AU.

Violetta was actually more of the mastermind in that story, because Ludo tended to give the game away with his theatrics 😂

Specific Ideas for Ludo and Violetta

Fanfic

Loves Ludo as music columnist covering the premiere of a new opera in Venice for the first meeting/supposedly short affair between Violetta and Morse.

Maybe Ludo attends pretending to be a single man because that is the only way he stands a chance at a real coup - an interview with the prima Donna starring as the female lead in the opera (she is well known for brushing off all other women, esp younger & prettier)

Astrid

Likes the ideas we have for how Ludo, Violetta and Morse meet! (I do think we need to keep them—we need a damsel and a villain.

The trouble for me in S7 was that Violetta’s storyline made no sense. If she was really afraid, it seemed she had ample time alone in which she could tell Morse the truth.

And I didn’t mind Ludo as a villain��I had too much fun having Ludo and Bixby go head-to-head in my AU, I think. 😂)

Ludo’s Outfits

Astrid

…Ludo tended to give the game away with his theatrics 😂

Durian

…not to mention his outfits.

mystifying sweater vest and patterned shirt combination that’s burnt into my brain that I find incredibly upsetting. It’s so horrible, even by 70s standards, and I can’t quite figure out what the point of it is thematically . Do you know the one I mean? It’s godawful. I think it’s what he’s wearing when Morse goes over for “dinner“ and Violetta is there. I think M’s wearing his Emo Black Turtle.

Ludo’s outfits, one after the other, just get worse and worse and worse. We have to put together an outfit montage of stills for our storyboard as we craft our villain s/l. Perhaps we can all drop some LSD. Whoever was dressing him clearly was taking psychedelic drugs.

Antigonish

We *must* now include Ludo and Violetta's increasingly obnoxious outfits as a sign of their escalating villainy. Emo black turtleneck Morse should be oblivious and baffled by their fashion choices.

Durian

Elton John's fashion evolution

Bone of Contention #3: Towpath Storyline

So far:

Streamline very cluttered storyline

Focus mostly on is the murderer Carl or is it not Carl

Possibly make them opera related so it is universe within universe for towpath killings. Deranged fan? Thwarted performer? Gives more scope for Thursday/Morse conflict.

Make conflict between Morse and Thursday believable by providing adequate motivation—possibly Morse’s increasingly reckless behavior and lack of care for his safety

While there was a reconciliation at the end of S6, Morse would have still been carrying resentment about having been pushed aside

NEW:

Morse/Thursday Conflict

Astrid

And as for the Morse/Thursday conflict—since Morse is having this affair, and since the case is veering towards the operatic, perhaps Morse gets reckless, putting himself inti danger?

Thursday might think of how he had just gone off to Wicklesham Quarry alone and feel angry that Morse has learned nothing from S6.

Fanfic

Likes the idea of Morse rushing into danger in a parallel with the S6 finale. It is sort of what he did at the very end of Zenana, but if it happens earlier like the middle of Oracle, it would give us a very solid reason for their increasingly acrimonious relationship

Bone of Contention #4: The Episodic Storylines

Raga:

Fanfic

Simplify to story of intra-family tension resulting in the killing of an employee who is also a friend and thus has opinions on the matter.

Move the actual killing to a street corner or alleyway so that the political backdrop (hate-fueled campaign, race-based attack on the Asian teenager) works as an effective red herring

Then leaves the gay wrestlers story to be woven in - potentially as a second red herring overlapping with the first one of race hate (as several of the wrestlers in the group were persons of color).

Loves Thursday’s disparaging parallel between wrestling and opera, and can see how that will really rile Morse

Astrid

Glad you like the wrestlers! I was thinking maybe their falling out could be over who was getting the starring role? Over who would get to play the lead “face?”

Between the wrestlers, and the family drama (love you all’s ideas for them!) and the Ludo/Morse/Violetta storyline, we could have a theme of jealousy and thwarted love and temptation running throughout all of the layers, linking them all together. And tying in to the opera, too, framing it all into one?

Antigonish

If we make the family Bengali, they would work with the idea of incorporating the political tensions in the lead-up to Bangladesh's independence in '71.

Durian

I love what everybody’s throwing out as far as Raga.

I think we could get rid of the poker and debt storylines as well and completely concentrate on some iteration of intra-family political divisions .

If we’ve got to have a murder about money, we can come up with a better reason… Maybe funding some kind of Pro-Bangladeshi political or social cause?

Zenana:

Fanfic

The only bit in the entire episode that has anything at all to do with the title is the Lady Matilda’s college theme… limiting it to women only, and the women looking after their own (so to speak) when they trap, or more accurately try to inflict vigilante justice on, the copycat towpath killer

Durian

I am fully on board with jettisoning the Lady Matilda‘s storyline. It’s awkward.

Overall S7 Themes

Astrid

That quote from Ludo* would be great to use too! I had forgotten he said that...that also brings all of the cast of characters together.

*Ludo sums it up—while also perhaps referring to his crimes—by saying to Morse, “Life, death, rich, poor. It's all a roll of the dice, Morse. There's no reason to any of it. You're not responsible. Some people are just unlucky.”

OK. Next up: a strategy for actually getting this done.

#itv endeavour #endeavour morse #the s7 rewrite #endeavour: oracle #endeavour: raga #endeavour: zenana #endeavour: series 7

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tunashei · 1 year ago

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First impressions of Animoprhs!

I'm listening to the Animorphs series while I work, through Animorphs Aloud - a fan made reading of the series. Here are my first impressions/random thoughts about them! Spoilers below if you haven't read them.

Book 7: The Stranger

I often think how you'd REALLY react if you were faced with something paranormal or magical, because it wouldn't just be the monster or ghost or superhero you have to contend with - but your entire knowledge of the universe flipping on it's head. Legit consider how insane you'd go if you found out monsters were *really* real. And they do this to a random person in the start of most books! Ha.

Kind of surprised they consider a human-alien relationship with any sort of seriousness. How progressive. But then there's been a few hints towards Rachel liking Tobias and he's...a bird. Rachel is very open minded.

Somehow I have my doubts Rachel will move away. The clue is the 47 books that come after this.

Man I feel for Tobias, having to spend the rest of his life as a hawk while potentially watching his friends move on. It's not like he can make new friends. Also how long does he even live? Does he have a hawk lifespan now of 10-15 years?

Rachel wants more firepower and she skips the POLAR BEARS? GIRL. Those things are fucking terrifying! Though I did do a bit of research and turns out when Polar Bears and Grizzlies compete for food it's usually the Polar Bears that leave.

Also I have a hard time believing a bear has more 'firepower' than an elephant. Bit easier to move around and get into places as a bear though.

Still can't get over the frequent use of the slang 'hooked up' to mean meeting. Very different meaning nowadays.

The mental image of them fitting pretty much a centaur into a dressing room is very funny.

Wow. Stopping time definitely blindsided me. This Ellimist is like a god?? Was not expecting that.

The descriptions when the Ellimist is showing off the beauty of earth make me very sad I will likely not get to experience it. It's so sad to know coral reefs exist out there, beauty unparalleled, and you can't simply go and see them. Not without money. It's a cruel joke that we're placed on such an amazing planet and yet how little of it we'll see.

Man this is a genuinely tough decision. I really like Cassie's perspective, that humans are now the endangered animals potentially rejecting the one thing that could save them. Honestly if what seemed like a literal god told me the fight is unwinnable I'd probably give in and tell them to take me to a new planet.

Aaaand now the kids are getting eaten alive. I LOVE the amount of traumatising scenarios in these books. Main reason I started em. Feel a bit bad for the Taxon, imagine eating some innocuous snack and it swells up and bursts you from the inside.

Ax has a thing for cutting off people's arms.

You're the second largest carnivore on land Rachel, Polar Bears got you beat.

Also Rachel totally just murdered a bunch of human people.

Now...time travel? Hm not a big fan of time travel.

Damn the Yeerks invested in free, superfast and wide-covering public transport? I'd vote for them.

This is why I don't like time travel. Is it deterministic? Can it be changed? Boggles the mind. The implication is they refuse the Ellimist's offer and stay and fight, and lose, and Rachel becomes a controller. But why would Ax being there mean the future has changed? Did future-Rachel lie about there being six humans to Visser-Three? Why?

PFFFF I'm sorry but as horrifying as the idea of them killing and consuming Tobias after being infected and turned into controllers is, it's also like Disney-level villainy.

If this is the future and it can be changed, why can't Visser-Three kill them? Sure he wouldn't have controller Rachel so the future would be different but the goal of invading would work?

Well this is looking bleak.

I wonder who is keeping Ellimists in check that they even need rules.

Surprisingly quick and efficient mission! And that's the end of that one. A bit confusing, but I wonder if the Ellimist stuff will get clearer later on.

#animorphs #animorphs aloud #book #reading #audio book #first impressions

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styrmwb · 4 months ago

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I beat Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail (for now)

Just in case my tags didn't work there's spoilers here don't read if that scares you!!!

Critically acclaimed MMO returns! I took a break from the game for a good while due to burnout, but I've been looking forward to this expansion release since I heard the first trailer theme. While I might not be super into the MMO gameplay right now, XIV has always captured my heart with the story and the "first-time" experience. Not to mention, being an FF fan who's played all the mainline games, XIV's theme park setting is really fun for me to point and be like "yoooo that's from this game!!!!" Dawntrail was no different in this regard.

Obviously, since this is an MMO expansion, I know more stuff is gonna be released later down the line. This is just me writing for the base experience available on release day. I'm also gonna format this a little different than I usually do.

The Good Parts

Characters

I really did love everyone this expansion. When it comes to people we already knew, I loved how Krile and Erenville got more of a spotlight. Krile I feel has always been a sort of... There scion, which makes me sad (I also never finished Eureka so that's on me!), so it made me happy to have here there the whole time. I thought her story arc was really cool, and I was astounded, being all like "holy shit she's from another reflection???? what???????". I was skeptical on Erenville being a main character at first, cause he didn't really grasp me in Endwalker, but that quickly went away here in Dawntrail. I liked his sane man bit, and his arc in the latter half of the story with his home and mother really hit me hard (and I mean HARD.)

New people!

Wuk Lamat is our main character this time, and I really did love her from the moment I saw her. It was really nice to see a more silly character in the beach episode expansion, and I'm a sucker for the person who's power is heart, rather than anything else.

Gulool Ja Ja is the second person who really caught me. This man is a friendly loving mexican grandpa, and the game continued to show that he was like, the best dude ever (which is really funny considering his name! (this joke will be clearer later)). I want him to be MY dad, I swear. Unfortunately, nobody that cool and awesome can stay around, which makes me really sad.

Koana was unexpectedly great, and I can always relate to a loving brother.

Bakool Ja Ja was SUCH an unexpected role; I loved his initial cartoon villainy, but then for him to turn around to be something greater, and knowing his struggle, was really entertaining.

I HATE Zoraal Ja (in a good way), and the entire second half I wanted nothing more than to destroy him.

Sphene was interesting. I couldn't ever place what she was at any point in her story, but I did overall think she was a really cool character for the story. I felt for her.

Gulool Ja is a precious child who has done no wrong and I want the lizard baby to smile forever. He didn't deserve ANY of this.

Those are all of the major characters I think deserve individual talking points, but everyone else was really great in some way. I loved the Hanuhanu a lot more than I thought, especially considering that I didn't care much for the Vanu; Wuk Evu's stupid bit of freaking out then Immediately being fine always tickled me; The Yok Tuy were super cool, I loved their culture and role in the lore; Ketenramm was such an unexpected surprise, and since my character is also a Sea Wolf I get excited whenever one becomes plot relevant. Otis is Steiner, and we love him for that. Finally, I loved the unique energy Cahciua brought to the table, and she CRUSHED me at the end.

Gameplay

God damn! They showed up this time for real! All of the big fights felt like they were really bringing their all for mechanics; they felt harder than usual, and I felt invested in each fight rather than feeling like I was running the motions again. I'm very very excited to see what the future raids are going to look like, if the base dungeons and trials are any sign.

Story

Getting brought to a new place, and having the core of the story being "learn about new cultures" I thought was really cool, and very befitting of a "cool down after saving the world" expansion. I really loved the contest (or Amazing Race as a friend of mine put it) style of the Succession. The second half was absolutely insane; once you finish cowboys it goes insane, and I was IN for the ride. It hit me with heavy emotions for characters I hadn't even met yet, I got angry with the ones who instigated all of the needless pain; I felt Invested. Really though, to kinda bring it back to my first point, the coolest part about the story was

The World

Ha, see what I did there? Maybe not a great transition, but whatever. I think Tural is one of the coolest places in the game in the sense of it really ties together the planet, and completes a picture of representing our real life world in fantasy. I LOVE when games veer away from the classic European or Japanese into more cultures, and Dawntrail did that PERFECTLY. Having the main city and areas be inspired off of Latin America was super cool, and then once you go north you hit the southern US with American accents and Native American theming!? Dude! Every single zone was a pleasure to see its real world counterpart, especially since this time everything was closer to home to me.

Music

It's Final Fantasy XIV. I could literally end the section there. I think I'll make a full on list way later when the whole soundtrack is out, but from the first trailer I was hooked. Other than the main theme, a couple standouts for me personally are the Yak T'el day theme, which had a wonderful vocal track and melody, and Zoraal Ja's trial theme, which got me pumped with Metal Gear Rising vibes. I think this expansion's motif game was VERY strong overall.

Graphics and Visuals

I'm not much of a graphics guy, and hell, I had to play my game on the lowest possible setting cause my computer sucks, but I could STILL tell this expansion looked great. The colors, the textures, the models, and the visual design of everything captivated me. The realism/lower tech fantasy of Tural, and the futuristic cyberpunk/apocalypse of Alexandria; it was all so cool to look at. I was also amazed by the cutscene technology this time around! I feel like the animators hyperpowered up with Hildibrand, and they really showed their skills! The action, the transitions, it was all so so impressive and I can't believe that it's only going to get better from here.

Another very important part of any XIV content, that really ties into all of the above, is

The Soul of Previous Final Fantasies

Does that title make sense? I dunno. I really do think I might make a separate post on this one, but Dawntrail feels like two previous mainline games: IX and XI (really unfortunate to read out but let's ignore the obvious jokes yeah?) put together. The expansion as a whole feels like XI, more specifically Treasures of Aht Urhgan, and having knowledge of that story was something I could use while playing this story, and I had a blast to see how many plotlines I could predict. The latter half is where all the IX comes in, and since that's one of my favorite FFs, I am not complaining. From the literal presence of straight up Alexandria (holy shit!!!) to the themes of death and souls, it was a joy to see IX finally get a whole spotlight in XIV. VI got a little love with Pictomancer and Valigarmanda being in there, but that was really about it (still awesome though!) I'm very excited to get more XI goodness in the raid series.

The Not so Good Parts

Bleh. I usually like to be really positive when I'm writing about a game, cause we have enough negativity when it comes to talking about games (there's whole youtube channels where their identity is just to talk shit), and like, it's exhausting to keep doing that. But unfortunately, I do think Dawntrail suffers in some key areas that soured my experience.

Gameplay

So, like I mentioned at the start, I took a break from XIV due to burnout. Something that XIV noticeably has, is a pattern. This is a very formulaic game, which like... isn't by itself bad? But I feel for an MMO, you gotta have some shakeups. But here we are again, with an MSQ that's mainly dialogue, and walking. I feel like I'm a person that like, usually doesn't mind this! But even I could see the fact that there were places they really could have turned into gameplay segments, and could have gotten more risky with their quest design (XVI also had this same issue, and this was my same struggle with that game). Let me cook the tacos myself. Let me shoot the enemies on the train. Final Fantasy has stupid one off minigames, bring that into this. I think giving the story more interactivity would have done it justice. I know they can kill it!

Story

You might notice that I went pretty short with what I liked about the characters up top. I really, truly enjoyed the cast! But there is a glaring problem, and that is the balance of screen time. Wuk Lamat is the central, strongest focus, for the entire expansion. I love her! But like... maybe instead of always pairing me with her, I could get paired with my other friends? Maybe I could get Erenville for more than a zone and a half? Maybe Krile, who desperately needs more screen time, could have gotten... more screen time? (this is the one that REALLY gets me the most) I didn't hate anyone, but even I could feel that the balance of who was on screen getting focus was really off, and it hurts the story as a whole I think. They advertise us rivaling Thancred and Urianger, and the worst thing they did was block off a path before going right back to being friends with us, and I think rearranging how things were balanced could have helped that. Also like... why were the twins there if they barely got to appear? I wish they stuck back to grow (literally), while maybe G'raha could continue to stick around. The main thing this caused was fatigue, and that's something I hate feeling in a game that I love.

Estinien was fine though lmao he's so funny when he barely appears, absolute chad he's the best character in the game

Audience and Simplicity

This one... might be a bit more subjective. XIV has definitely been simplifying itself in recent years, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But... I feel like in this expansion, simplicity is getting to the point where the story seems to be hitting you with callbacks and removing subtlety where I think I could have gotten the meaning of what they were saying myself? I don't think you need to keep repeating that the Milalla ran from snow. But... they did, and I feel as though this might be because the general audience of this game will complain when they do branch out, or will complain that they don't understand this, or that. It reminds me of how Pokemon Black and White were completely dunked on, and then look what we continued to get for years, and I think it's showing on XIV. I think the gameplay also suffers from this, as it almost feels like they're afraid to branch out because people won't like it. Sure, the fights are getting harder, but I can't help but wonder how many complaints I'll see on that, and how people are like "I only get 2 minutes a day to play I can't be thinking about where the sword will go".

I'm not great with being negative and critical I feel, so I'm sure my statements here are half-baked and lacking hard evidence, but these are posts about my feelings! Let me ramble. I really really do hope that the game can veer away from the path it's taking, because I think it'll be better in the long run, and it'll create a product that I KNOW can be amazing.

7.9/10. Amazing world, challenging fights, and incredibly impressive technology that shows how much the game has grown since the start, but also suffering from stale formulas, issues with balancing of characters, and writing struggles that make the great parts harder to appreciate.

#final fantasy #final fantasy xiv #textpost #games i beat in 2024 #jared's game ramblings #dawntrail spoilers

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thevindicativevordan · 2 months ago

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Comics this week? (Specially The Ultimates #4)

Anonymous asked: Comics this week ?

My Adventures With Superman #4 - I know the DCAU JLU Christmas episode is popular, but I've always been put off by it. I can't help seeing an air of condescension in how it treats Superman being a grown man who still believes in Santa, I get a "yes he's dumb and gullible, but isn't that wholesome?" takeaway from it all. Meanwhile I loved how Josie Campbell explored celebrating Christmas here as an expression of love and family. Ma and Pa adopted Clark as their son even though he wasn't blood, then the comic expands that to touch on how Lois and Jimmy have become "family" too. Even extends it right up to Amazo getting treated by Clark as a brother in a touching moment where Superman willingly shares his powers with Amazo so they both can kick Bloodsport and Deathstroke's asses, and Amazo tells Clark he thinks of Clark as family also. It's all very sweet right up until Deathstroke blows a hole in Amazo at the end. Bloodsport is the coolest he has ever been here, when he brings out the big guns I was hooting and hollering. I think this might be my favorite take on Amazo now too. I dug his DCAU incarnation but this is the first time I'm really invested in him as a character, and there's tension because he might not make it out alive.

Absolute Power #3 - Waid is trying to weave together the disparate threads of the past year into a cohesive whole, while simultaneously trying to shuffle the detritus of the past year off the board. End result is a mess of stitched together moments that don't work imo. Example of that is Nightwing "stepping up" as a leader, yet his push feeling hollow when his team failed to take the League's place. A number of other characters like Barda and Mid-Nite get written out of character so that Dick as the avatar of the Silver Age ethos can prove them wrong. Oh and if I have to read another issue of Waid going HEART is our REAL superpower, I think my eyes might be permanently stuck in a cycle of rolling.

Ultimates #4 - Ultimates #4 reminded me of reading Ruins. Exceptionally bleak from beginning to end, poor 6160 Reed. It avoids being nihilistic at least because there is a malicious bad actor in Maker who is making sure that everything turns out as bad as it possibly can, rather than it simply being the nature of the world. Sets up an Ultimate F4 book for sure, but given how Doom is outright skirting the edge of villainy with how he ominously says he’s adhering to Tony’s moral rules for now, I’m wondering if he won’t actually be a part of the team. Maybe he’s the one who gets captured and Tony creates an Ultimate F4 of entirely new people to go save him? Otherwise I see their failure to beat Hulk being the point at which Doom bails on the Ultimates team. I’d prefer Doom be part of the Ultimate F4 though, he’s simply too interesting as a Reed who is massively messed up but is trying to be a hero. If they do end up making him a villain that would be an utter waste of potential. Maker is already the broken Reed, Doom needs to be the Reed who is bent but not broken. Seeing him walk the tightrope is more interesting than seeing him fall off.

#weekly reviews #ultimates

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x-neurotoxin-x · 7 months ago

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thoughts on the new BNHA chapter if you've seen it

Imma be so real, i haven't been all that invested in the recent chapters. I've kept up with them but I don't find them all that interesting to me personally. I'll share my thoughts, just fair warning i may have some unpopular opinions;

First of all Izuku losing is arms is crazy. That panel is brutal. I do think there's a possibility of it being reversed/healed/etc bc I don't see Hori committing much when it comes to maiming or killing off the students, so I think he'll be okay

I'm also 100% positive Shigaraki is not dead, won't be permanently possessed, and will be fine. He's basically the only safe villain that isn't going to be killed off and will be given a redemption no matter what.

Those two points are kinda why I find this fight boring. There isn't any real stakes imo because neither of them will die and they're just kinda doing the same "fight, talk, fight, talk" thing the whole time. I find it uninteresting.

I also have no idea why afo is here again. Didn't he reverse to a fetus? Why are you here? That being said, he's silly and dramatic and i kinda love his evil mastermind swag, he makes it a little more bearable between Tomura "woe is me" shigaraki and Izuku "I need to be Morally Right even if I'm killing myself to do it" Midoryia.

Afo being revealed to have a hand in literally all of Tomura's upbringing down to his birth is SUCH a dumb plot point imo. It takes away all of the responsibly factor from Tomura's villainy, shoots a HUGE hole in the "one bad day" theme with the rest of the villains since it wasnt his choice - something that makes every other villain relatable and complex, they all (Dabi, Toga, Twice, Spinner, etc) were dealt terrible hands and subjected to horrible upbringings too but they fell into these paths of villainy by their own choices, and let it shape them. It makes them all very deep while Tomura... Just kinda ruined that theme by making nothing his choice. It's lame and unnecessary, imo.

Speaking of the other villains and plotlines, I really wanna go back to them and I DO NOT WANT them to be pulled into the Shigaraki vs deku thing. None of them are in the place for that physically (they're all half dead), none of its necessary since Shigaraki *is* being saved and has been met with more sympathy from characters/narrative than the rest of the villains, and their character plotlines are still not finished. Toga's fight was rushed, the "acceptance" she received was forced, and we don't know if either of them are okay. Last we saw Dabi he was possibly dying while cursing the entire family and saying he wants to die, none of the todofam stuff is resolved at all and if it gets off screened for the main fight I'm gonna be upset because there's so many complex layers to everything there. Last we saw Spinner he collapsed on the ground somewhere, he may very well be dead. No villains arcs have been finished, properly handled, or wrapped up and it's unnecessary and stupid to have their stuff be tossed aside for "saving Tomura." THEY need to be saved. How about Shigaraki vs deku gets wrapped up and Shigaraki saves THEM. That would fit the narrative better then them being used for more Tomura man pain.

That was a rant wow

Uh what else???

Idk. Im hoping everything gets wrapped up in this chapter bc this war arc has been... Shitty tbh. I wanna hope the aftermath arc is better.

I know everybody freaking out that my hero is coming to an end but I think we still got at least another arc to tie things together and wrap up all the mess of the war arc.

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myfaveisfuckable · 1 year ago

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Rants under the read more

obi wan/grievous: Ok so this is a HUGE crackship and some people are not going to agree but like, Obi-Wan is what comes to mind when you think of the jedi and Grievous hates the jedi as a whole because he believes them to the cause of his mutilation and the suffering of his people, but the jedi are not the ones who did this. Grievous is a pawn in the game of the sith and he doesn't realize that his mind has been altered against his wishes or that he will be desposed of as soon as the war ends. Obi-Wan is a compassionate man and is able to consistently go toe to toe with Grievous, making him a rival Grievous can't help but respect in a weird way (his people are warriors, for all we know, fighting could be a method of flirting to his people yaknow? And obiwan genuienly flirts as a way to throw off his enemies, think of the comedic potential if Obi-Wan didnt realize how MUCH hes been a flirt or if Grevious acctualy gets flustered by it because obiwan is such a competent fighter and IF ONLY HE WASNT THE ENEMY-) If Obi-Wan knew what happened he would have tried to make amends and help his people, and if Grievous learned that it was Dooku (a former jedi turned sith) who turned him into a monster against his will, he'd probably be willing to team up with Obi-Wan to bring down Dooku and the Sith plans for Galactic domination to avenge and to protect his people, and they would be an absolute powerhouse since they are already familiar with eachothers way of fighting and from a writers point of view its filled with so much potential angst and drama, and hijinks, and even enhances the plot and creates parallels between the two that the franchise has never bothered to make and it has so much potential even if they don't fall in love they could be really good friends/partners/allies and if order 66 goes as planned they would be badass rebels its such an overlooked possible dynamic PLEASE 🥺

Sephitoph:

I made this one up as a joke but now i'm invested. ummm i'm just gonna c-p the rant I made on discord

ME:

they both have bright green eyes....

that's it, that's all i got ...

you probably won't like me for this, but i think it's funnier as a ship

SISTER:

...okay, explain 😂

ME:

er, not even funny, like i think they could make a good couple!

or at least an entertaining one

two ways you could take this, depending on whether you go w/ pre-breakdown Sephiroth, or post-breakdown, sadistic alien ghost who just wants to burn the world and torment cloud

for the latter, that's crackier but i'm just saying Toph is down w/ dramatic villainy and destruction

[insert: I AM MELON-LORD *maniacal laughter* gif]

(ok maybe not for real, but it would make a funny crack fic)

but pre-Nibelheim Seph (with the caveat that my understanding of his character is 90% from fanfic) he kinda personality of Zuko, circumstances of Azula

eh,,, ,that's not really on the mark

but anyways I know Zuko/Toph can be a great ship, i've seen it.

i think you'd could write a similar dynamic here

Sephiroth had his whole life laid out for him and he excelled at everything he was expected to do, but it's never been really about what he wants, like he's never really gotten to express himself. Or, like, develop a personality?? He's very isolated.

Toph also grew up very isolated, but she had kinda the opposite, where she utterly discarded the expectations people set for her (dressed up pretty helpless doll) and established her own person, wants, and goals very early on so they've got "coming from similar places but approaching things very differently", would lead to some very interesting interactions i think plus they're both down to work out emotional problems by sparring

#poll #tournament #star wars

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cloudsofbespin · 1 year ago

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15 Questions 15 Mutuals

Tagged by @dreamofme9

1. Are you named after anyone? Yep, after my maternal grandfather. My name is Romana (hence, Romi), and my grandpa’s name was Roman.

2. When was the last time you cried? Yesterday, over a Devil’s Minion post. Sometimes a girl reads, “Loving that man saved him in every way that a person can be saved,” and the floodgates open.

3. Do you have kids? No. And I honestly doubt I ever will. I feel the same about having kids now as I did a decade ago.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot? I don’t think so? I mean, except maybe the occasional “Yeah, good luck with that one.”

5. What sports do you play/have played? I used to swim and do gymnastics somewhat competitively when I was a kid. Nowadays, it’s mostly just stuff that would keep me in shape, like going to the gym and rollerblading. I love rollerblading!

6. What's the first thing you notice about people? Their eyes!!!

7. What's your eye color? Brown-ish.

8. Scary movies or happy endings? Both, I guess? It depends on the mood. But I prefer happy endings whenever I’m, like, too invested in the characters because I just really want my blorbos to be happy.

9. Any special talents? Slav squatting with a beer in one hand, a phone in the other, and a cigarette in my mouth??? Lmao.

10. Where were you born? A wretched hive of scum and villainy, also known as the Czech Republic, lmao. No, I’m kidding. Here is a pretty cool place, actually.

11. What are your hobbies? Reading, writing, traveling, and thinking about insane scenarios that would never come true.

12. Do you have pets? I have a border collie named Princess Leia.

13. How tall are you? 170 cm or 5′ 7″ in feet and inches.

14. Favorite subject in school? Social sciences!

15. Dream job? I lowkey always wanted to be a pilot. I love flying and am obsessed and fascinated with how planes work. Kinda like Armand, lmao.

Tagging: I feel like everyone’s done this already, but my darling moots, feel free to do it if you haven’t! @wheresbenni @bratpidd @birdisland @squirrellypoo @nativehueofresolution @shinka @aryastark-valarmorghulis @allegra-writes

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creativegenius22 · 2 years ago

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Not to mention all the mentions he gets by the other villains in their episodes, whether it be that he invented something for them or they’re just poking fun at him!

Overall, Zach is definitely the main antagonist of the show and the self proclaimed leader of the villains!

I just mapped out all Wild Kratts Episodes that feature a Villain (118 in Total up to Amazin' Amazon Adventure) because I have to watch these for the Change your Mind AU and...

I crunched the Numbers, approximatley 50% (51 Episodes) of all Episodes include Zach Varmitech!

Donita Donata comes next with approx. 25% (34 Episodes), Gourmand follows close by with approx. 20% (27 Episodes) and at the end of the line is Paisley with just approx. 5% (6 Episodes) of all apperances.

The Writers definitely have a "Favourite Child"

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hehicular-hanslaughter-lecter · 2 years ago

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Okay.

So. I, personally, have read the original novel, translated by Alexander Teixeira De Mattos. I've seen the ALW musical live, I've seen the 2004 movie based on the musical, I've seen the Charles Dance miniseries, I've even read Phantom by Susan Kay. I say this only to preface that I sincerely love The Phantom of the Opera, and have invested a lot of time and energy into consuming and discussing it.

Now that all of that's out of the way, this is (in my opinion that no one else has to share) the worst adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera that I've ever seen.

I am disappointed, because MazM's Jekyll and Hyde was so good--it was book-accurate, it kept all of the same themes, and it was gorgeously designed and full of suspense and intrigue. The same cannot be said for this game. I have only three major complaints, the rest aren't nearly as important to me and could be excusable if not for the previously mentioned three.

1. Erik.

Erik, Erik, Erik, this character that we call Erik. He is by far the most important character and the one this game butchers the most horrendously.

In the original novel (which is my point of reference) Erik is a pitiable man who has suffered tremendously--and I say pitiable because the book itself tells the reader to pity him. His face inspires fear and hatred in all he met, even in Christine, and for this he was ostracized and hunted. There is no mistaking, in the original novel, that he has led a miserable life that is made miserable by the torment he is subjected to by others.

But this game makes a point of changing that.

Instead of the outcast we see in the novel, MazM deigns to assert (literally, through dialogue) that the terror and hatred of his face is a self-made construct, something only one person, the Shah, ever subjected him to. Gone is the man hated by the world, with a good reason to go underground and with an even better reason to fear showing his face; instead we are given a man tortured by one individual, who is understandably afraid of further torment, who's insecurities are denied and played as "paranoia". This bizarre choice seems to stem from the narrative choice, a baffling and all-together damning choice, to make Erik a full-on villain rather than the byronic hero he was written as.

(I will also point out that, if his insecurity was merely unfounded paranoia, why was he a circus attraction, again? Surely if the Shah was the only person to loathe Erik's face, then he wouldn't have been sold and used in this way--after all, what use could a circus have for a conventional man, even if he was ugly, other than as an errand boy? This is a paradox--a raging plothole.)

This leads into my next point: Erik, in this game, does not love Christine. He doesn't even seem to like her all that much. The point of the novel was that compassion is a strength, not a weakness, and that everyone is capable of and deserves compassion. The Erik of Leroux's work chose compassion, as was the point of the novel, and let her go--because he loved her. This is how he transcends villainy and becomes a byronic hero; because he lets her go, proving he really did love her after all, because to him, her happiness was more important than his.

This Erik calls Christine worthless, talentless, and by the end of the game refers to her solely as "the devil". He has no sympathy for her pain and is completely apathetic to her emotional and even physical state, only once showing concern for her health when she feigns illness to escape his lair. In every conversation he makes an effort to showcase his villainy and cruelty, with pointless threats and constant bullying that is simply not present in the novel. In the novel, Christine and Erik are never shown interacting casually; the only conversations we are privy to are when he abducts her the first time, and when Raoul and the Daroga are listening through the torture chamber wall. Never once do we see them in a music lesson, or even when they're inside of Erik's home. This has lead to speculation about the true nature of their relationship by fans, namely the question of how Christine viewed him--did she love him in any way, were they close, how did she feel about all of this, etc. The only confirmation about her feelings we get is that she is terrified of him and wishes to escape from him. The interpretation that MazM goes with is an incredibly dull one; that Christine's feelings aren't complicated, that they don't have a real relationship, and that all she feels is resentment and terror, nothing more.

To wrap up this section, MazM's Erik is a flat, Machiavellian, loveless creature who, despite his incredible trauma and stunted emotional/moral development (not my interpretation, this is told to us), is met with disdain and malice, who ultimately dies unloved and abandoned in a "karmic" move by the writers that is entirely upsetting and unfulfilling. He makes no move for change because he's a "monster" and "monsters" don't change, do they? Instead of loving Christine, he feels nothing but possessiveness towards her and wishes to marry her to own her like a prized jewel, not because he feels a kinship with her and hopes that he can be human with her. This Erik is not the Erik that Leroux wrote; this is a cheap cartoon-villain copy.

2. Christine and Melek

I will begin this section by stating that Melek is not a character. Melek is a tool, a reason why Erik cannot and should not be redeemed.

Melek doesn't exist in the novel, which would be fine were she not such an obvious puppy for Erik to kick, but it shows in her execution. She has no purpose; she has a paltry backstory and no diversity of characterization, making her flat, 2D, lifeless. In the last two chapters she ceases to exist altogether, barely speaking to Erik or Christine except to offer vague commentary about their arguments. I know exactly why--because the conflict is between Erik and Christine, and Melek has no part to play in their confrontation. (Why they didn't have Erik throw her in the torture chamber alongside Raoul and the Daroga, I'll never know.) Furthermore, she has the honor of saying one of the cruelest sentiments this game has to offer--that Erik, who in that moment is in the midst of a flashback to his time in Iran, "deserves" to be tormented in this manner, to have PTSD and flashbacks, which is a statement I didn't think MazM was low enough to make, but apparently they are. I could condemn this character on this act alone, but fortunately for us there is more to discuss, and one of those things is her relationship with Christine.

Christine in the novel was a woman with a good head on her shoulders and an even greater heart. She first and foremost acted with everyone's safety in mind, obeying Erik's demands to keep Raoul and herself safe, but she also defied him by speaking with Raoul and going out of her way to protect him in cases such as the Masquerade ball. Her agency is never in question as a reader: she is doing what she must to survive and also finding ways to defy her captor at the same time. Her ultimate act of defiance, however, is not against Erik, but for him--she chooses the scorpion instead of the grasshopper. This is important--in the novel, Raoul and the Daroga both believe that she will choose the grasshopper and they all will die, not because they doubt her courage, but because they don't think anyone could or would choose the scorpion. She however defies all expectations, chooses the scorpion, and promises to be Erik's living bride, meaning she won't commit suicide to escape him, before kissing him on the forehead. This is what compels Erik to free her; this compassion. Compassion is, again, the main theme of the novel.

According to the game, however, Christine is a naive and waifish character who, as the characters are so eager to tell us, lies to Raoul and submits to the Phantom not to protect both of them, but because she wants to "change" Erik, and is too forgiving to stand up for herself. Her clever lies and omissions aren't her means of protecting herself and the man she loves, but instead they are spineless, and indicative of her "flawed" worldview: that anyone can redeem themselves and that everyone deserves compassion. (To be clear, this isn't my opinion on her actions--I personally think her actions in the majority of the game make sense--this interpretation is asserted by the characters themselves.)

This ties into the other reason why Melek exists: to facilitate Christine's character arc by telling her that those who do bad things can never do better, that good people are good and bad people are bad, and that those who hurt them deserve to die. As you can imagine, this "arc" is a downward spiral, in my book. Novel Christine was defined by her compassion, her greatest strength. She cared for all in the opera house, from the ballet corp to the stagehands to the costumers. She extended this care towards the one man who probably needed it most, and ultimately it saved quite literally everyone, including herself. MazM Christine however is defined by weakness, by her inability to stand up for herself even when it could endanger her, and her "growth" as a character is a slide into cruelty and apathy, one that not only is disappointing to watch, but is antithetical to the original novel's themes. (It also makes Erik a weaker character--he doesn't let her go because he loves her and wants her to be happy, but instead lets her go because...they bully him, I suppose? It seems that all Christine needed to do to escape him was to tell him off; this isn't my grandfather's Phantom. What happened to the Angel of Death, assassin for the Sultana?)

Melek and Christine's relationship is one that only serves Christine's development; Melek isn't made better by knowing Christine, other than being freed by her. Melek is a victim first and a person second, serving as damnation for Erik and as a rallying cause for Christine. And she's one of only three WOC in the entire game--and on that note, every WOC, that being Meg, Carlotta, and Melek, serves as a hype-man for Christine, encouraging and uplifting her without any encouragement or support in return. Out of them, only Meg has a character arc, and all three fall into uncomfortable stereotypes; Carlotta, who is Romani in the game, falls into a common caricature of black and brown women--she is dominant, aggressive, sexual (via her curves and large breasts, which she is the only character to exhibit), and mature, all counterpoint to Christine, who is waifish, thin, and young--Meg falls into a literary stereotype for black and brown women--she is the best friend, the cheerleader on the sidelines, with only a paltry attempt at her own character arc that is still centered around Christine--and Melek falls into a white savior fantasy with some ableism mixed in--she is helpless to the abuse of her not-husband Erik, and she is completely dependent on Christine, white and seeing, to plan and enact her rescue as well as finally stand up to Erik. (If there was a legitimate reason as to why Melek was incapable of the multiple escapes that Christine was able to enact, then I wouldn't have as much of a problem. Christine is able to escape into Erik's room and Melek's room from the Louis-Phillipe room, and all within her first day of being trapped there. Melek was there for ten years. What gives?)

In summary, Melek doesn't have agency or depth as a character, serving only to facilitate Erik's and Christine's characterizations, and Christine is a hollow mockery of her novel self; her character arc is antithetical to the novel's themes in every way. Speaking of Christine, that leads me to my third and final major complaint:

3. Raoul

When I was perusing sites like Tumblr to see what the general consensus on this game was, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was supposedly book-accurate and that Raoul was held accountable for his possessiveness, something never addressed in the novel.

These were lies.

I was promised a Raoul who realized his mistakes and made active strides to be a trusting, supportive partner to Christine. What I got was Erik 2.0 and a last minute "apology" that felt more like an ex-boyfriend swearing he'd changed, he went to therapy, he'd never do it again, than a legitimate recognition of his failings.

First of all, he is more novel-accurate than I'd like. By this I mean he is unbearable to watch. Raoul is the worst part of the original novel, and I don't say that lightly. In the game he is annoying, petulant, demanding, incompetent, and worst of all, all of these things while also being the endgame love interest. In the game these are inexcusable, while the novel at least has reasons for his awful characterization.

Let me clarify. The Phantom of the Opera is a mystery novel. Gaston Leroux was a prolific mystery author, and this novel is no different. Earlier I spoke of Erik and Christine's relationship being mostly undefined and hidden from the reader--this is because of the mystery surrounding who the Phantom was, the main mystery that needed to be solved by the end of the novel. Raoul is our main protagonist, though he is only one of several other narrators, those being Gaston Leroux himself, the two managers, and the Daroga. Because of his status as a mystery protagonist, he needed to be out of the loop as long as possible before discovering the truth, leading to a frustrating slog through Raoul's possessive internal monologue about Christine. The red herring that Leroux chooses to employ is simple: Raoul is absolutely certain that Christine is in a romantic affair with this "Erik" figure she speaks of, and he convinces himself that that is the reason why she won't accept his advances and is being so cryptic and distant with him. This is why he is so possessive over her to the point of jealous tantrums, because the plot needs him to not listen to Christine to stall his discovery of the Phantom's identity as long as possible. The Daroga comes in to expose the truth when they descend to the lair, and promptly his possessiveness goes away.

The game has no such need for this behavior. Not only do most people know that the Phantom and the Angel of Music are the same and are terrorizing Christine, but the game itself takes place partially from Christine's perspective, completely spoiling the mystery that necessitates Raoul's ridiculous behavior. The ALW musical had the right idea--to make him impulsive, but otherwise good-natured and completely trusting of Christine. This game however chooses to keep this jealousy for only god-knows why.

I, at first, assumed it was to make Erik a "dark mirror" for him--to make Raoul unlikable and to eventually have him see himself within Erik, and realize that he needs to either shape up or ship out. This would also explain the flattening of Erik's character, as a means to make Raoul a deeper character. But this didn't happen.

Instead I saw Raoul time and time again apologize to Christine, swear he'd changed, and then repeat those exact same mistakes again and again. Even after Erik had died and Raoul was offering Christine the train tickets at the literal end of the game, he was pressuring her, insisting on the course of action they "needed" to take, and offering no compromise, asking her to leave the country with him by the next Tuesday and leave behind everyone she'd ever known without any consideration to how she'd feel. He was still trying to control her, even after the supposed "character development" he'd had. The game tries to remedy this by having them recognize this failure and to have Raoul yet again make a promise to do better that the audience has no reason to believe. He has failed every other time to make improvements and to do better, but we're supposed to believe him this time? Why? Because she loves him and he loves her?

The concept of having Raoul be toxic at first and then learn from his mistakes is not a bad one, just one that was executed horribly here. He commits the same sins the antagonist does, the sins that earned that antagonist a death sentence, and he got to walk away with a hopefully-ever-after if you choose to leave him, and a happily-ever-after if you choose to go with him? All because of an apology we can't trust? He has none of the excuses the book Raoul does and all of the audacity. Christine's entire arc is about rejecting those who try to control her, but this sentiment is suspiciously absent whenever Raoul is involved. He is by far the most annoying and insufferable character in the game whose mere existence undermines the base themes of the game.

There are lots of little things too.

The managers are just as unbearable as Raoul, only they are minor characters and aren't literally deuteragonists. The choice to make them malicious is a strange one, as it is unnecessary and only serves to drag out the episode count. The novel's managers weren't like this, so there's no excuse. In ALW's musical, the managers were antagonistic alongside Carlotta to give the Phantom a reason to harass them, thus making him more heroic as well as making Christine more of an underdog. The choice here is completely unnecessary; it achieves nothing. They aren't more men telling Christine what to do, as she isn't part of the strike and never stands up against them, so they can't be serving the theme. They aren't making the Phantom look better, since he's a straight-up villain. Who's character arc do they serve? Raoul? He barely interacts with them after the initial complaints he tries to make against them. I suppose they're great if you like them--IF you like them. If you don't, then they are borderline painful to watch.

The Daroga's relationship with Erik is bad. The insistence by the narrative that they have a father-son dynamic instead of the friendly one they have in the novel is strange, especially because this is used to pass the blame for Erik's actions onto the Daroga. It's in conflict with what we've been told about Erik--is he responsible for his actions or not? Is the Daroga responsible or not? Is Erik a wayward child in a man's body with no understanding of right and wrong, or is he a sadistic torturer who delights in suffering and doesn't see value in morality? According to MazM, he's somehow both. He commits great sins and should be punished, but at the same time he doesn't know what sin is. How can he be condemned if he doesn't know what he's doing wrong? How can he be so delightfully cruel if he supposedly doesn't know what he's doing? How can the Daroga be blamed for "not teaching Erik properly" is he is only 6 years older than him and not responsible for another grown man? How can he be blamed for Erik's actions since they were not his own? How can he be blamed for not telling Erik that his relationship with the Shah was abusive when doing such a thing could get both of them killed--the Daroga for turning Erik against the Shah, and Erik for trying to leave? Is it not a little bit racist to make the Daroga, the only MOC, somehow responsible for Erik's bad behavior? These are all questions MazM happily ignores. The second most interesting relationship in the novel--the fraught, tense friendship between Erik and his peer, the Daroga--is spoiled in a way I really don't like. I personally loathe the removal of Erik's only equal, making all of his relationships have power imbalances.

I don't like the designs either. Erik's design is the best, and is my second-favorite Erik design ever under the musical design. Christine having magical-girl hair is just strange. I don't know why they introduced it. It makes no sense. Meg doesn't look like she's related to Madame Giry at all--no joke, I legitimately thought the game was going to reveal that she was actually Erik and Melek's child, and that that was why Erik foretold her rise to Empressdom, because it was favoritism. Before I played the game and had only seen the art, I thought that Melek was Madame Giry because of how similar they look. Moncharmin's design feels a bit...anti-semitic, with the hooked nose, and it irks me that Richard also has one; this wouldn't be an issue if Melek wasn't the only other character to have a hooked nose. Also, Moncharmin's design is just strangely unrealistic compared to the other designs. He's in a different art style to all the other characters and it throws me. The detective looks like a Black Butler character for no reason, and this would be fine if there were other characters that looked the same. But there aren't. He's the only one.

Jammes is airheaded in a bad way. She's charming to me, thankfully, but it's a bit much at times. Also, Jammes and Sorelli are their last names. Jammes' first name is Cecile.

The only character to have PTSD is the villain. Not Melek or the Daroga, not even Christine who was abused by her father. I mean, I knew that MazM's stance on PTSD was bad, but this is just icing on the cake.

This game is a drag. It really digs in its heels. The amount of time spent on every interaction is ridiculous. The fat desperately needed to be trimmed from this story; the novel wasn't even this long, and it's over 100 years old, archaic manuscripts loved purple prose. The parts that weren't explored in the novel that could have been explored to satisfaction--mainly Erik and Christine's relationship and their characters in general--weren't explored to satisfaction.

Okay, I'm done. I've gotten all the achievements, I've spent way too long thinking about this game, I'm calling it quits here. If you enjoyed this game, that's okay--you're allowed to enjoy things even if other people don't, or even if they're problematic or genuinely bad. I believe in the power of people to take in art critically and enjoy it while still understanding its problems.

Again, Jekyll and Hyde was very good, so I know that MazM is capable of producing good art. Part of me wonders if this wasn't an attempt to separate themselves from the other POTO adaptations, and it just went off the rails from there. I can't understand it. It's not like the Phantom won in the novel--he literally dies from possible heart failure (and maybe because of untreated wounds after Raoul shot him, but its never confirmed if it was Erik's eyes that Raoul saw in the night or just a street cat) and chooses not to seek medical attention or aid, probably because he sees himself as saved by Christine's compassion and has no desire to live any longer. This isn't a win by any means. This is a final act of goodness that he decides to die after committing. That doesn't scream victory lap to me.

Anyways. If anyone's reading this, go read the novel. It took way less time--about a third of the time, actually. Go watch the miniseries, its different in strange ways but is still enjoyable. The musical is the best adaptation; ALW was right when he said that Leroux didn't know what he had when he was writing POTO. The story is so much better as a gothic romance.

Alright. Thank you for reading.

#I wrote this for steam #and found out the hard way I couldn’t put this into a review #I had to put it somewhere #mazm phantom of the opera #mazm #erik poto #erik #erik phantom #Christine #Christine Daáe #raoul de chagny #raoul #Carlotta #Meg giry #jammes #sorelli #daroga #nadir khan #the phantom of the opera

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dishwater-blondie · 3 years ago

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Hi, I absolutely love your writing and interpretations of Gabriel and Nathalie's characters. I wanted to ask, what are your thoughts on the take that Gabenath is an abusive/unfeminist ship or that it's toxic because Nathalie is throwing her life away for a man that doesn't love her? I've seen these opinions floating around among the anti-Gabenath part of the fandom. Personally, I disagree with them, but I can't quite put my thoughts into words.

Interestingly, I don’t have as much to say on this as one might expect from me.

I’ve seen this backlash too, and while the vitriol bothers me, of course, I can easily understand why some people wouldn’t take to this ship and why they make the arguments they make. It’s just that, for me, those arguments don’t hold any weight.

Frankly, I don’t think that Gabenath is a healthy relationship. I think it’s a compelling relationship. Gabriel is an emotionally neglectful, over-controlling father, stewing in his grief and repeatedly terrorizing Paris to fulfill his own personal desires - and Nathalie enables this. Unhealthy.

She is actively endangering her health because she herself values Gabriel’s happiness both over her own well-being and the safety of the city’s entire population. Unhealthy is an understatement.

What I find compelling about Gabenath as a fictional relationship is how Nathalie isn’t supporting Gabriel because she expects to earn his affections. Though Nathalie loves Gabriel, reciprocity isn’t her priority, as is the case in the vast majority of unrequited romances. You end up with this undeniably destructive pair of people with a largely callous attitude towards the world around them…and an undertone of their relationship that is characterized by utter selflessness. You have these sparse moments of tenderness where Gabriel is almost repentant, and where Nathalie brings out the best that we’ve seen in him. I like Gabenath not because I can justify it as “healthy” but because I am fascinated by the contrast of cartoonish villainy and genuine affection. Gabenath humanizes Gabriel and Nathalie, characters I might otherwise be endlessly frustrated or bored with.

And, yes, I suppose it checks some of those “unfeminist” boxes if we’re talking Woman Being in Love with Her Boss and Woman Throwing Her Life Away For Man Who Only Has Power and Intrigue Going For Him, but this is where I have to admit that I truly do not care. First, because I believe Nathalie’s low self-worth is a deliberate part of her characterization and not only an incidental factor of the tropey power dynamic between her and Gabriel. But more importantly, I don’t measure my ships based upon how progressive they are, how morally or socially acceptable they are, etc. I ship what I think is telling a good story, and there is enough there with Gabenath that I have been invested for this long.

And if and when the show falls flat on it’s face, that’s what fan works are for.

#my asks #gabenath #gabenath meta

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andromerot · 2 years ago

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Top 5 Mabel moments?

i tried answering this and i decided i will absolutely disregard the top five prompt and just say all of them. sorry.

episode four: the whole treasure hunt is amazing it really got me invested the first time i listened

episode seven: mabel's customer service voice moment. her going off at the king...amazing incredible i love her it was such a good introduction to her

episode eight point five: sometimes i think i would eat you if i could there was a witch in a story who ate a girl she loved and always there afterwards flowers fell from her open mouth i would swallow you up and you would be lobelia on my t

episode thirteen: when we and anna slowly realize who thomas is...ohhhh my god. heartbreaking

episode fourteen: don't you see? how cruel it is to be god?

episode sixteen: the answer is me. anna.

episode seventeen: the fig tree...ohhh my

episode twenty: i thought this is the girl who will eat my heart this is the girl who will come ruin me like fire

episode twenty two: literally EVERYTHING but particularly the "you cannot love me anna i am thorns and mist" monologue, the "all earth fears the purity of fire" "what" "I BROUGHT MY MATCHES WITH ME YOU STUPID USELESS BRANCH", and the moment where she chokes her

episode twenty three: ALL OF IT. ALL OF IT. ITS THE DEFINITION OF LOVE

episode twenty four: everything about ittttt ohhhh my. i've come to barter. one of us has to be the knife. youre the only one that doesnt bore me.we have different ideas of villainy im having a great time. anna and mabel fighting angstily. anna and mabel fighting playfully. and of course. a long time ago you said to me i will love you like a fire loves a forest i said you cannot keep me here and neither of them were true monolgue, one of the first insights into the king and mabels relationship. and ohhh the girls...this is the first time we see them actually together and its literally the middle of the podcast. they are so in love with each other!!! whhjfhj.

episode twenty five: VERATRINE MY BEST FRIEND!!! i love the anna mabel vera dynamic so so much i love themmm i love them. I AM A CREATURE OF MY OWN CREATION AND THAT MAKES ME GOD!!!

episode twenty six: LUNA THORNE. the man sees the girl this is the end of the world. also JACK MADRIGAL!!!

episode twenty seven: the HEARTBREAK the DISTRESS in annas voice when she finds out the extent of sallys cruelty + "it was not your fault, mabel martin" "right, not this time" "nor any other"

episode twenty eight: the whole luna and vera monologue back and forth but especially remember your own birth and is this what its like to be a mother is this what its like to be in love ALSO THE MORSE CODE <33

episode twenty nine: mabel going off at vera and anna being like whoagh i love my wife.

episode thirty: OOUGH. anna limon conquistador of my estate anna limon with the hand of god...and well. the spell anna did...ill never see her ill never know her not in this world. OH AND LUNA AND VERA RUNNING OFF TOGETHER...what then veratrine you i think...

episode thirty one: UAUAUAUAGH underrated fav. this is a nation haunted by its fictions for what do we eat if not history!!! what feeds our engines if not fairy tales!!! owning miss silver...

episode thirty two: UM EVERYTHING. the whole confrontation..."i name mabel martin my right hand my revolutionary my queen" "king"...the Acorn Of The World...brandon...and of course. this is you undiminished look at you.

infinity mirror: i love all of it but my highlights are the yew berries story, the phone call (heheh evil mabelanna moment) (farewell small girl), the way tressas isolation and dissociation starts to mirror late s1 anna and the way her tangents seem to imitate mabels, i sit with hares all unaware...the mourning dove story is heartbreaking...and then the bleeding doll house ohhhh...AND THE FINAL MONOLOGUE!! i unstitch myself from both of you...does the snake eat her own tail she does she does!!! ughh i just love im so so much

ok im gonna reblog this w s6 and s7 favs. because im getting close to the character limit. what am i doinggg

#mabel podcast #sorry i literally ignored the prompt so bad. it was a TOP FIVE. SORRY #bet u cant tell which seasons are my favourite #i literally didnt shut up between 22 and 32 jhgjkfdg #also im quoting these from memory so some stuffs probably wrong

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stellocchia · 3 years ago

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Okokok but Stell. Stell. My beloved. This has no context but like.

The fact Tommy thinks he has to be the hero again isn't even wrong. Like. Don't get me wrong it sucks but the facts are that he's the only one willing to be "the hero" and someone has to be.

And of course he thinks that. He was waiting for a hero to safe him and everyone for weeks when he was in exile and noone came. Noone attempted to really help him or anything.

Even Tubbo who decided to visit him just a few days after he left wouldn't have been there to save him or anything. He would have just visited him (and like don't get me wrong that would've been amazing but still)

Tommy's whole narrative has always been about not waiting around. His inability to take proper charge is what enabled (and listen I don't blame him for this) Wilbur to blow up Lmanberg. In exile with Dream he waited for weeks for someone to help him and it just made things worse and if he hadn't managed to once again take matters into his own hands he would've died there.

Right now he has to be "the hero" again because Wilbur is going to free dream and dream will kill Tubbo and everything will go down the drain again because people on this server are lazy fucks.

I mean technoblade who for some reason made it his mission to "protect the server" from tyranny *cough cough police everybody's life's cough cough* took weeks to actually do something against the eggpire. At that point they had kidnapped several people and brainwashed even more. He was there when they locked ranboo with the egg and he just. Waited for weeks after that to actually do something. Like I'm sorry but no wonder Dream sees Tommy as special. The kid is the only one who has actual priorities.

Like I get that he's the only one with a lot of important info but jfc it's not like him telling people would actually change a lot. Like Jesus fuck. This guy is the only somewhat competent motherfucker on this server and the only actually competent one is dream.

Like yknow how we joke about how Tommy can't have a villain arc cuz he's too good? Quite frankly he can't have one because who tf would stop him, either. Like he'd have to invest 0.5 braincells and he'd have won.

No seriously

The eggpire has been doing more than just shady shit for months just getting more and more obvious. And noone was actually doing anything. Some ppl said "mmm I don't like this" and then just kinda... Watched. Again. Technoblade watched ranboo get trapped and yeah he rescued him but then they just. Fckin left. Dream invested some braincells and was able to go "undetected" in broad daylight. Showcasing his villainy and if it wasn't for Tommy he would have gotten away with it Scott free.

If Tommy actually wanted to be a villain? Bitch could do it and fckin succeed because who the actual fuck would even get off their ass to stop him if he's somewhat smart about it?

Anyways that's my rant for today c ya

I love this whole rant so much!

Also yeah, the server as a whole is made of a bunch of lazy useless f*ckers who absolutely LOVE grand epic speaches, but that are completely USELESS when it comes to actually DOING something.

Like, remember the Green Festival when Dream openly admitted in front of EVERYONE that he manipulated Tubbo that whole time just because he wanted the thing he needed to control Tommy before destroying L’Manburg and everyone’s conclusion was SOMEHOW that Tommy was the viallin in all of that?

This fricking idiots have the deduction skills of a 2 years old and the capacity for action of a new born kitten.

That’s of course unless it comes to destroying stuff and causing trauma for some people *cough cough* Techno and Phil *cough cough* by exploding countries and allying themselves with the absolute worst f*ckers in existence with zero repercussions, but I digress!

Quackity is a bit of an exception to this whole thing because he’s the only f*cker aside from Tommy who TRIES to do something! He tried to de-convert BBH, he tried to explode the Egg, he tried to get rid of Techno (justified or not, at least he was DOING something), he is trying to get the knowledge out of Dream so he won’t be useful anymore and he stopped the banquet. Man is actually useful.

But everyone else???

Like, my guys, it really WASN’T that hard to see through Dream’s or the Eggpire bullshit, both of them where actually absurdly open in their f*ckery, WHY did NO ONE ever do anything aside from Tommy and Quackity??

Like of f*cking course Tommy feels like all the responsabilities are on his shoulders, because they fricking are! Who else is gonna stop Wilbur? Phil who SOMEHOW immediately started believing him AGAIN after confronting him about lying to him for months and being persuaded that the assisted suicide was actually the best case scenario? The man who was living in New L’Manburg for WEEKS and yet somehow failed to learn ANY history about them??? Like, who is gonna do it??

#ladycatland ask #tommyinnit #dream smp #long post #this was one hell of a long ass rant from both of us #we are absolutely 100% right though #it's a nice sentiment saying that tommy 'shouldn't have to be the hero'#but truth is that everyone else is just utterly incompetent...

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necr0bvnny · 3 years ago

Text

Nuclear Fusion - Chapter 1

Pairing: Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus x Original Female Character

Genres: Action, Romance, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, From Nobody to Nightmare, Mad Scientist(s)

Content/Warnings: Fluff, First Meetings

Summary:

Dr. Kali Kavanah, a timid woman with a genius intellect, works as the head biochemist at Oscorp Industries. Her sheltered life changes when Norman Osborn assigns her to create a special formula for him with the help of Dr. Otto Octavius. What follows is a rollercoaster of romance, betrayal, and their descent into villainy.

A/N: Hi there!! This series will basically be both a Doc Ock x OC fic and the origin story for my Spider-Man villain OC! I’ll be making art for some of the chapters (plus art for my Spider-verse in general) and adding content warnings to certain ones because I do plan for this story to get graphic at times. I hope you all enjoy!! 😊💚

Link to AO3 post

————

“Do I feel happy in life? Um.. Let’s see. Well, I do hope I’m finding happiness. For me, if I can realise certain things in my work, I come the closest to being happy and I can say that also about my life. It only happens in moments, sometimes when I'm working and I’ll be able to fulfill a project successfully and then I think I'm the happiest. While I find it very stimulating to keep studying and working, I'm not just generally happy. If I'm generally anything I'd say I’m generally miserable, hehe!”

The white mice stared up curiously at Kali as she spoke to them in a tranquil tone. Of course, they said nothing back. She liked to pretend that they did though.

“.... I don't know.” She sighed.

Kali tended to work with animals more than people now ever since being promoted to head scientist. This was both a blessing and a curse however. She loved the animals dearly and valued them as lab partners, but nothing could beat real human interaction. While she was forever grateful to be given her position after years of hard work, she wished her boss would be a little more kind. Just because she has the brain power to complete every project he throws at her doesn't mean she should be doing it all alone. But she guessed this was his way of keeping her on her toes.

She lifted one of the mice up to her shoulder and rewarded it with a small piece of an apple that she had been eating, then made sure to give the others in the glass terrarium a few slices to share as well. Nobody went hungry in Dr. Kavanah's lab.

With her test subjects fed, she picked up the cage and walked to return them with the other animals. Within a few minutes Kali was back at her lab.

Upon entering, she was surprised to see her boss standing in the middle of the room waiting for her to return. Norman Osborn, CEO of Oscorp. Wearing a dark green suit so clean that it looked as though it was bought that morning, he stood tall and proud while opening a briefcase up on one of the tables.

"Good news, Kali. I have a new project to keep you busy." He handed her a document which she immediately opened with glee and began speed-reading the first page.

"Thank you, sir! What did you have in mind?"

"I’ve just struck up a deal with a veterinary pharmaceutical company. I was hoping you can create a sort of.. animal steroid for me. All of the effects they want to see are written down for you to go over later.”

Kali closed the documents and sat them down on the closest work table, sensing that that wasn’t all Norman had to say. “Of course, sir. I’ll begin as soon as possible.”

“There is one more thing you must know about this project. The company has requested that we use some benign radioactive ingredients in the formula. Seeing as how your specialty is biochemistry, I’ve hired you a lab partner that can help you with the more sensitive materials you'll be handling."

Turning around to face the entrance, Norman then half-shouted, "Come on in."

Suddenly all of Kali's attention was on the new company entering the lab. In walked Dr. Otto Octavius, head scientist at the U.S Atomic Research Center. She felt her heart get caught in her throat as he came right up to her and offered his hand with a smile.

"Good evening, Dr. Kavanah. It's a pleasure to be working with you."

"Oh, it is an honor, Dr. Octavius! I've read nearly all of your articles and interviews."

"Please, we're going to be working together for quite a while. Just call me Otto."

"Yes, sir! I-I mean Otto.. " After realizing she was still shaking his hand, she awkwardly let go, earning a quiet chuckle from him.

"Well, now that I have you two geniuses together I should be off. Good luck." With that, Osborn was out the door before anyone could respond.

"Please, make yourself at home! The office and bathroom are that way," Kali pointed to the door and window at the far right of the laboratory.

"Ah, thank you, dear. I'll be back shortly."

Otto walked off into the office and shut the door behind him, though she couldn't see what he was doing as the window had it's blinds drawn.

Kali stood alone in the middle of the lab, still trying to process everything that was happening. She couldn't believe it. Otto Octavius himself was going to be working with her, her of all people! She had seen him in person before but only from afar at a science convention a few years ago. At that time he was first introducing the world to the concept of his masterpiece, the four-armed apparatus that he used for handling nuclear material. He had since finished it but she had only seen it in pictures. She wondered for a moment if he was going to be bringing it to her lab, and the excitement at the idea forced a little squeal out of her.

Soon enough Dr. Octavius finally exited the office holding a magazine and chuckling to himself. Once he was back in front of Kali, he showed the front cover of it to her to reveal an image of himself standing proudly in front of a mechanical arm displayed on the table behind him. Kali's cheeks burned with embarrassment.

"I see you weren't lying about being a fan. I'm guessing you may know me better as 'Doctor Octopus' as my coworkers have grown fond of calling me."

"No, sir. I believe name calling like that is a petty tactic used by the weak-minded to undermine those they don't understand."

Otto smiled wider at her words.

"Y'know, I've done my own fair share of reading about you as well. Your work is nothing short of brilliance."

Kali perked up a bit at his compliment, her cheeks burning for a different reason now. "Really?"

"Of course! I've been meaning to get in touch with you even before Osborn hired me. Seeing as how we have some free time at the moment, I'd like to get to know you better if that's alright? We are lab partners now after all."

He pulled up two chairs, sitting down in one and offering the other one to her. Kali sat down across from him with an awkward smile and thanked him.

"Um, well… I don't know what to say, hehe. I suppose you can ask me anything you're curious about!"

Kali couldn't remember the last time she had sat down with someone and talked back and forth for who knows how long, laughing and simply enjoying each other's presence. Otto asked her many questions about herself, though none too personal. Everything he wanted to know about her seemed to be trivial, things such as 'how do you like your tea?' and 'do you have any pets?'. Things Kali didn't think anyone would ever care to know about her. And yet here he was, wanting to know and seeming fully invested as she spoke about herself.

Hours passed and eventually Otto checked his watch, realizing that it was time to go home. Kali was genuinely surprised, as it only felt like minutes had gone by. As they said their goodbyes for the night, her world seemed to fade back to grey as he left the laboratory. But knowing she would see him again the next day brought a toothy smile back to her face. Moving into the office, she fell back onto the couch on the right side of the room and let out a joyous sigh. Rats may have been adorable companions, but they couldn't ask you how your day was or flash you a genuine, debonair smile like Otto could.

Her heart swelled within her chest as she spent the rest of the night thinking about her new friend.

#doctor octopus #doc ock #otto octavius #doctor octopus x oc #doc ock x oc #otto octavius x oc #original female character #spiderman #spider man #nuclear fusion #mamas babies #kali kavanah #my post #norman osborn #green goblin #spiderman oc #marvel original character

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catstailtavern · 4 years ago

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Genshin impact characters as gamers

Characters: Abedo, Kaeya, Diluc, Childe, Zhongli, Jean, Hu Tao, and Lisa

content warnings: Childe being kinda an asshole lol.

authors note: I might do more in the future! These are just my headcanons so if you don't agree that cool! Feel free to let me know what you think they're like as gamers!!

Albedo:

what they look for in a game: Albedo seems like the type to enjoy games with vast worlds that involve lots of exploration and puzzles. I also feel like he like more quiet gameplay- if that makes any sense. Very much "Show, don't tell." Likes walking simulators!

things that turn them off from a game: He dislikes when games over-explain themselves/their plots. He likes to be able to unfold the mysteries and plot threads himself instead of being spoonfed. He also dislikes voice chat bc people are mean. If there is a VC he mutes basically everyone even if it makes teamwork difficult.

how much time do they devote to videogames: Albedo really only plays videogames on days off or when alchemy research has hit a lull.

a game or games that I think they'd like: outer wilds, shadow of the colossus, and journey.

Kaeya:

what they look for in a game: Story-rich games with unique art that explore heavy topics or philosophical themes! but also really likes multiplayer games where he can troll lol.

things that turn them off from a game: If he dislikes the art he finds it hard to play or pay attention to. This doesn't mean he demands picture-perfect graphics! He's mostly into unrealistic and eye-catching graphics/art he likes games with style and flair!

how much time do they devote to video games: Kaeya likes to play after a long day of work to unwind and relax!

a game or games that I think they'd like: Disco Elysium and the persona series!

Diluc:

what they look for in a game: Diluc is a very busy man who likes to be in control of his life and the things that affect it. Therefore I have come to the conclusion that he likes simple and sweet games with low stakes where he is mostly in control if not basically god haha.

things that turn them off from a game: Games that involve him to be emotionally invested or have lots of stressors are not his thing. Games are played to relieve his stress, not make him cry over character death.

how much time do they devote to video games: He likes to play a little bit on his break when he gets the chance or a little bit after work. Doesn't like to play for too long each day or he feels unproductive!

a game or games that I think they'd like: the sims, planet zoo, my time at Portia, stardew valley, and ANIMAL CROSSING!! (I dont care if this is OOC okay. Diluc plays animal crossing on his lunch break. His favorite villagers are the bird ones. His favorite fruits are apples and cherries, and he loves terraforming his island. He finds it therapeutic.)

Childe:

what they look for in a game: loves gacha games, he's a total whale, and loves to flex his pulls. Also loves games with intense competitive multiplayer and couch co-op games. Absolutely a sore winner who everyone hates playing jack box with.

things that turn them off from a game: Dislikes the story mode of most games bc they usually fail to keep this attention. He'd much rather be making yo mama jokes and shit-talking n00bs over the mic like the little asshole gremlin he is. The only exception so far is "The Last of Us," because of one time when the internet was shitting out on him during matchmaking. He decided to play the story while his connection got itself together and ended up liking it.

how much time do they devote to video games: Stays up late playing them at night a LOT. They're usually the reason he's tired the next day.

a game or games that I think they'd like: mario kart, smash bros, arknights, mortal kombat, apex, and dead by daylight.

Zhongli:

what they look for in a game: Zhongli likes simple games with cute graphics and easy controls. Mostly a mobile gamer as he finds most console game controls confusing. Loves virtual remakes of classic games that he used to play with other people physically.

things that turn them off from a game: Really dislikes first-person shooters. He finds them loud and disorienting. Poor old man.

how much time do they devote to videogames: Barely ever plays, might play while having a cup of tea or to pass the time while waiting for something!

a game or games that I think they'd like: mahjong, solitaire, candy crush, and those lumosity games for training your brain.

Jean:

what they look for in a game: At first when jean thought of video games the only thing that came to mind was "a waste of time." As the acting grand master of the knights of Favonius she rarely has time to socialize or even date. That's when she decided to maybe just maybe give dating sims a shot. She's a bit insecure about it, but they give her butterflies without the strain of a real relationship.

things that turn them off from a game: Really dislikes games that glorify villainy or have you play as the bad guy. She also really hates horror games. Fun fact, she played doki doki literature club but missed the warning somehow and WOW she got really upset-

how much time do they devote to video games: As mentioned previously Jean is a busy gal. So she really only gets to play games on her rare days off or maybe just a little before bed.

a game or games that I think they'd like: I don't know a lot of sweet and fluffy dating sims but I feel like the sweet and fluffy ones are her favorite! I've really only played one dating sim before and that was monster prom so I'm gonna use that for the example lol. I know there's a lot of mischief in that game but she always chooses the more moral upstanding choice even if it cost her a date haha.

Hu Tao:

what they look for in a game: Hu Tao is partial to games with gothic aesthetics and horror elements! Specifically really loves psychological horror and unique creature design. Enjoys difficult gameplay and feels a sense of accomplishment when she succeeds!

things that turn them off from a game: When a game is too easy to play she gets bored rather quickly.

how much time do they devote to video games: Frequently plays really late at night while listening to a paranormal podcast or other spooky content.

a game or games that I think they'd like: Dark souls, Darkwood, The cat lady, rule of rose.

Lisa:

what they look for in a game: Like Childe, Lisa likes competitive gameplay. But she's more into fantasy MMO RPGs! She just really loves fantasy things it doesn't have to be multiplayer. Also really likes games with lots of lore and digs strategy turn-based combat! Other game types she likes are visual novels or anything with a good story-driven narrative. Loves being able to discuss fan theories online in forums.

things that turn them off from a game: Mediocre writing, poor/inconsistent world-building, or a lack of lore. She needs a story to sink her teeth into or she just won't play.

how much time do they devote to video games: Probably plays a lot. Really only pausing to correct people's behavior in the library!

a game or games that I think they'd like: World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, League of legends, Darkest dungeon, and slay the spire.

#sparkling tea (headcanons)#genshin impact #Albedo #kaeya alberich #diluc ragnvindr #Childe #tartaglia #zhongli #rex lapis #morax #jean gunnhildr #Hu tao #lisa minci #wow i was today years old when I learn Jean and Lisa's last names

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