#i think when a monster in a setting like this works vs doesnt work is when it ADDS to the mystery versus possibly provides an explanation

[caramel-mousse]

This is completely brought on by the last post but it really bugs me when people are so insistent that a story needs Monsters or Extra Terrestrial Beings to be scary.

The two examples used were Infinite Ikea and the Backrooms but like. At very least to me the addition of monsters just makes the story go from really good to fucking boring so quickly.

The horror is being stuck in an overly familiar place that you would expect to have an exit and being unable to find one. It's being seemingly infinitely lost in a place you would normally be able to traverse with no issues. It's like... weaponizing the familiarity of places you know and making what was once thought to be safe, possibly dangerous.

You put a monster in it and you just turn that whole idea into just "What if you were in the Minotaurs labyrinth would that be fucked up or what"

[bestygogirl]

BEST YGO GIRL: ROUND 4, GROUP C

Match 2

please use this as an opportunity to say why you like a character, not why you don't.

Propaganda under the cut!

Mana

mana is the apprentice to mahad and her ka is dark magician girl. she is the basis for apprentice illusion magician. she is the first one to inherit the millennium ring after mahad, while it allegedly has yami bakura in it. her fate is left up to the viewer. another fun fact is she teases atem like he's her big brother and hides in vases. she makes fun of set's stupid hat and turns it in magical hats. she's a fun loving child who is put in a position where she needs to fight a war. and like. she's my daughter please vote for her.

Isis Ishtar

gorgeous, very caring sister, strong duelist, and the only woman to ever make Seto Kaiba squirm

anyways. not only as mentioned above is she the first woman to make kaiba squirm, but she was by all means going to beat him if not for the millennium rod's millennium interference. yami marik admits that she's a strong duelist with a strategy that's been working for literal years-- and given that she's not like, a professional duelist, thats pretty impressive

she also recently got some really cool meta bumps and let me point out that an "ishizu deck" now includes obelisk the tormentor-- which we knew she had prior to giving it to kaiba, but i think it only solidifies my opinion that she very much could wield an Egyptian God Card, an exclusive little club for top tier duelists

as a character she presents herself with an amazing amount of poise and grace, shes compassionate and kind and stays with mai and serenity even though she only just met them. shes struggling through living the past 5 years of her life drowning in guilt for her family's tragedy just because she wanted to make her little brother happy and shadi is a fucking liar. shes foretold her own death and marches towards it grimly but with so much love in her heart. and even then shes 20 years old and holds an important position in the egyptian government that typically requires a doctorate degree AND has been dealing with mariks off-and-on bullshit entirely by her lonesome. she also likes to flex her fortunetelling a little which is awesome i think she should do that more that scene where she tells the guy exactly how the stele is being transported was so everything

speaking of shes got such an attitude. "is it your destiny to waste my time?" iconic. never seen before will never be seen again. watch the duel between her va and joeys its so fucking funny

shes excult. shes doesnt flinch in the face of god nor death. seto kaiba and yami marik respect her. shes so sad and so sweet and battle city couldnt have happened without her.

also her parallels with kaiba are what motivate kaiba to give yugi the card he needed to beat marik.

kaiba, in duelist kingdom, was ready to jump off a ledge if yugi didnt let him through to face pegasus while trying to save mokuba out of sheer desperation to save his little brother. he KNOWS what that dedication feels like and the iron kind of will you need to have to make that kind of gamble. isis is being so fucking legit with what shes saying and he respects that and her judgement enough to change his mind and not only watch the duel, but give yugi a card that eventually helps him win, even if he has no real confidence in the odds. but theres a CHANCE, which is the same thing he taught her when he beat her in a duel. the layers its her faith that moves him to act. which is so crazy

anyway vote isis shes my best friend forever and a real rep for all the 20 year olds who honest to god did not sign up for this bullshit

[bugsinthebayou]

okay how do i get into the mechs ... i would like to know about these robots now i think

GRINS. HI. HELLO.

The Mechanisms are a steampunk space pirate storytelling band!! they are compromised of 9 members (up until one of them left). they retell myths n legends in space, tragic, and queer

they have four main story albums, a single, and two extra albums for extra stories

for the four main albums, you have to listen to all the tracks in order so i recommend listening on youtube

Once Upon A Time (In Space) is their first album. its fairy tales retold as an intergalactic war

Ulysses Dies At Dawn is their second one. this one is greek mythology

High Noon Over Camelot. oh boy high noon over camelot. my favorite mechs album and my favorite album just in general. arthurian legend retold as a space western

The Bifrost Incident. norse myth but eldritch horror

their single is Frankenstein (frankenstein except the monster is an AI), and their other two albums are Tales To Be Told volumes I and II. theyre both collections of extra songs that either work as standalone stories or fit into the same setting as one of the main albums but doesnt follow along the main plotline

they also have Death to the Mechanisms, which was a performance of some of their songs live plus a song of the same name as the album that describes how they died a final time. this was because they split up. no more mechs music </3

out of all of them i recommend hnoc the most. cuz its my favorite <3

i apologize for not explaining the albums further, but you asked about the mechs themselves so im gonna put more focus into explaining those guys

the mechanisms themselves are 9 immortal space pirates. they are immortal due to their mechanisms, mechanical replacements of certain body parts. they travel the galaxy on the starship known as Aurora, who is infact sentient and also dating the ship's engineer. they like to "have fun, violence, adventure, violence. violence." according to jonny

Jonny d'Ville - he/him. he's claims he's the ships captain. hes the first mate. he is the narrator to all of the albums and plays a number of characters. King Cole (ouat(is)), Ulysses (udad), Lancelot (hnoc), Galahad (hnoc), and the void (tbi) are a few. there's more, but theyre more minor. hes pretty shooty and has canonically committed every crime (that existed on a planet) except the sexual ones. his mechanism is his heart!

Gunpowder Tim - he/him. master at arms! hes another one that sings often. he also plays the guitar. a few characters hes been are Oedipus (udad), Gawain (hnoc), and Loki (tbi). his mechanism is his eyes. hes also on the violent side. he blew up the moon, as detailed in the song Gunpowder Tim vs The Moon Kaiser from the ttbt vol 1

Ashes o'Reilly - they/them. quartermaster. they sing often and their voice is beautiful <3 they play bass aswell. some characters theyve played are Hades/themself (udad), Mordred (hnoc), and Sigyn (tbi). their mechanism is their lungs. theyre also a mob boss and arsonist and have been since they were 12 years old, described in their backstory song Lucky Sevens

Drumbot Brian - he/him. pilot. he doesnt sing as often but its great when he does! he plays a few different instruments. a couple of his characters are Merlin/himself (hnoc) and the robot spouse in Stranger (ttbt vol 2). everything except his heart is mechanical. he was thrown into space because he brought someone back to life

The Toy Soldier - it/its. its just there!! it sings often and plays the mandolin. some characters are Cinders (ouat(is)), Orpheus (udad), and Guinevere (hnoc). its a toy soldier. it was never human it just started walking one day

Raphaella la Cognizi - she/her. science officer. she is another singer!! and pianist!! her voice is heavenly tbh. notable roles are Ariadne (udad), Ygraine (hnoc (one song but it Slaps)), and Odin (tbi). her mechanism is a pair of wings!

Marius von Raum - he/him. doctor (not even a doctor). he sings and plays violin. and mandolin the wiki says. Heracles (udad), Arthur (hnoc), Thor (tbi). his mechanism is his right arm

Ivy Alexandria - she/her. archivist. she plays a few wind instruments, no singing. her mechanism is her brain

Nastya Rasputina - she/her. engineer. she is in gay love with the sentient starship <3. she plays violin, no singing. her mechanism is her blood, which is mercury. she decided to go Out (she believed that aurora was no longer the same starship she fell in love with because of all the repairs over the centuries theyve been alive, so she takes the final piece of the original aurora and exits out of the airlock, never to be seen again) sometime after hnoc

and there you are!! them!!

despite me giving some examples to who they play in the albums, thats not all the characters they play. theres also extra characters in narration i didnt mention (ivy and nastya both have been in narration tracks before) and theres also characters they play in the extra songs in the tales to be told volumes

i hope you end up liking them <333 heres a photo of them all together for u

[ID: A group shot of the Mechanisms. End ID]

[ganondoodle]

so, i have thought more about what we now know about botw2 and honestly, setting aside the smaller things i am not a fan of (like the building aspect) my biggest gripes about it are the plot looking like its gonna be very generic, especially regarding ganondorf, while i hoped it would perhaps finally give us a little more interesting take instead good vs evil; and the oh so mysterious figure you see in in the trailer very likely to be hylia, since shes mentioned constantly in the first game (among other things like her design being pretty much a carbon copy of zelda for the most boring reasons imaginable)

and no its not just bc of my stupid little fanworks (that i do bc i love the franchise, as much as i am critical of it, it comes from being very passionate about it, hence me working my fan lore around the canon so it doesnt disturb it much, its more meant to expand it on parts i think are a little lacking without me trying to sound superior, literally just as an act of love (and a little spite ill admit that) to add something to it)- BUT bc i have little hope they would do anything more than just going full blown "this monstrous beast is pure inherently evil, and this is the pure inherently good white little girl goddess whos just protecting her god given perfect and unshakable good tm monarchy" with no little to no nuance (theres also alot more to be critical of the general structure and implications like racism, orientalism, nationalism, that while i can see alot of wrong or questionable things in the games i lack the eloquence to talk about in its full range) yes i am personally biased bc i just .. hate that kind of story/worldbuilding structure, but i dont think im the only one who would think of it as boring and .. disappointing?

i dont need ganondorf to be redeemed, i dont need him to be the good himbo bf that some people think all ganondorf stans want, i just want him to be more than to shout "i will conquor this kingdom bc i am evil and want it" and send a horde of monsters after you, at the very least id want the game to just aknowledge that there must be a reason for it, why it turned out like this

the zelda series and its world has so much potential, which is probably a reason for its popularity in fanworks, but also keeps not using it, no i dont expect a company like nintendo to deliver on all my hopes, of course not, im not that delusional, but the further i think and learn about this universe and concepts they created i find myself asking "why" more and more where the games never elaborate, never question

i like a clear structure, i like when your choices dont have a big or any impact on the story bc i want to live the story, not worry about every decision like i already do every second of my life IRL, i want to partake in a movie, in a theater piece i can influence the pace of but not change the outcome, yet i feel kind of ... ignored? let down? asking why and how, how do they know this is right and this is wrong, how do they keep enacting this seeing it never works out, keep saying defeat this evil, but evil yet returns stronger than before over and over, how do they never ask "is this the right way?", they say "we need to kill it more next time"

i know they are fictional little characters made up to sell a game, with a convevient plot point to ever repeat the same structure, but it cant be wrong to say "i love this world, i want to see and know more, i want to see it grow and change, break the cycle and be better, show me characters not puppets"

theres very surely nuances and ideas i am sorely missing bc i lack the knowledge of japanese as a language, culture, and mythology, but i dont think it invalidates all that i feel for it ..

.. right?

[kozykricket]

okay im gonna make a Post about this actually, instead of just rambling to it about people occasionally. So, ever since we got trial chambers, ive really seen nether fortresses as like, a really neat Parallel to them. not only in having elemental constructs created by spawners, but in... their general structure, being almost liminal in a sense. if you play either on peaceful mode, i say you get a backroomsy vibe. (concrete halls - c418 real) but... this got me thinking. one thing i love with the trial chambers is the theming of the mace. think about it. you get a heavy core as the thing to combine with a breeze rod. its a theming of duality! the breeze and its wind... something as light as air, that jumps into the air with the absolute opposite of heaviness... paired with an extremely heavy... uh, core. whatever a core is :P

anyways, i think its really thematically cool that theres that duality between Light and Heavy. so what if blaze rods could be combined with something in a similar sense of duality? something to work with Fire

We could choose the opposite of heat, sure... that could be interesting. freezeflame areas in games are cool, and soul fire is... in a peculiar space where its both hot and cold. basalt (cooled lava) is found in soul sand valleys... etc. but yknow what i think works far more elegantly, and can be twisted in an interesting way? Fire is destructive and dangerous. So, lets have the duality be... Decay/Destruction (fits the wither effect and also fire) paired with healing or creation creation is complex and odd for a weapon, but maybe necromancy could be an interesting way for someone else to take it. but im going to go into the opposite of destruction being healing ...but instead of just saying "oh its a lifesteal weapon. hit stuff and heal" lets... think about how the duality works with the mace. to best make use of its power of heaviness, you can use wind charges, the power of bounciness so... what if this hypothetical nether fortress weapon empowered itself the more you took damage while holding it? This would make it pair well with fire charges, because being on fire is a good way to make yourself take chip damage... which might be one of the best ways to fuel the weapon. I've thought of calling it a Soul Siphon for now... but anyways, what would it do with enough fuel/charge? I say, that is where the rejuvenation, the healing... comes in. Have it be a staff that fires off orbs of instant health Wanna know what makes that even cooler? It's still a good weapon, because instant health, despite being healing, does damage to undead monsters. so it'd really help fight wither skeletons, or the wither itself even! or you could use it to heal your friends up. just set yourself on fire and now you're healin up your friends. maybe you wouldn't be able to heal yourself with the weapon, or maybe you would. I'm not quite sure yet! Haven't thought out all of the details on it. I think it using 3 blaze rods that rotate like blaze rods on the blaze do... for like, magical-rotational power , would be a cool way for the staff to look. but uh, yeah. theres some ideas i think if i were to redo the nether fort, i'd theme it after like... well, i'd have it simultaneously decayed and somewhat destroyed, while still being in far better shape than bastions, to show their dominance over piglins. I am a piglin defender, the wither skeletons are their oppressors. their eternal oppressors, thanks to the power of necromancy. messed up stuff.

if this inspires you to think up more of your own concepts or expand on these with the themings of like. rejuvenation vs destruction (i mean hey the wither destroys stuff but regenerates its health when its spawning, doesnt it?) then thats p cool. id love to hear them :) im very normal about the potential of wither skeletons and nether fortresses

[sanchoyo]

arc v 22 - 30 thoughts!!! whew these eps. set up stuff is important. also, good masumi yuzu moments.

-my god. yuya literally accidentally taking yuzus polymerization card from her and making it his thing when she practiced so hard with it. FUCKing apt metaphor for how I feel she should be the protag and shes being robbed of her role (im sorry I genuinely have nothing against yuya but shes so much more interesting to me! she feels like a classic protag!) im glad he gave it back at least…I was afraid she'd refuse it for some reason…

-I do love yuyas random ITS SHOWTIME english. tmm moment. (theres a lot of random english mixed into this series actually and it always makes me like :D!!! lol I understand!!! hehe)

-uhhh the tall fortune teller lady trying to look at yuyas fate fr and the glass ball SHATTERING AND BREAKING IN HALF IS PROBABLY BAD, THOUGH.

-24 gave some veeeery interesting implications. yuto tells yuzu fusion is the 'enemy' and weve SEEN a synchro (guy on motorcycle, so I assume synchro at least) fighting yuto too!! so. oh my god it is all the dimensions vs xyz. WHAT DID XYZ DO. THATS MY FAV CMON!!! -also very um. interesting in the implications of gx and 5ds being on different timelines I think since the implication is theyre pulling from diff dimensions all at once, right? (possibly diff timelines on top of that, since im p sure even tho I havent seen him, that ive heard arc v kaito is Kind of a Different Kaito from Zexal Kaito. whatever that may mean. canon/timeline divergence???? im SO confused LMAO I thought 5ds was a straight shootoff from gx/dm! I know zexal makes things a bit fucky since I think it implied 5ds didnt Happen, but?? before that I assumed it was a straight line...am I wrong tho...(dont actually answer I wanna figure it out on my own..)

-masumi!!!! being a BOSS at dueling and her two lil dudes being SUCH hypemen for her. we love itttt

-idk if theyre setting shun up as a bad guy or whatever or deeply traumatized. but everytime he xyz summons im like yessss king slay (but not my girl masumi!!!) 16400 attack monster!!!!! with an epic fire bird!!! im obsessed w his aesthetics if nothing else. kinda epic hes putting ppl in cards actually to draw reiji out and wants to take him hostage. i think i side with him bc hes at least cool about it. if youre gonna be morally questionable your vibes better fuck severely, and his do.

-yuzu kinda having a hotgirl summer moment by falling in love with an emo version of her bff LOL get it girl!!!

-oh shit LMAO REIJI STRAIGHT UP SAYING 'no my dad doesnt give a shit about me, taking me hostage would not work' with a straight face!!! DUDE U OK. this IS ygo so daddy issues come standard with every character but CHRIST. and shun being like 'wtf do u mean' HE SAID IT OUTRIGHT DUDE. DONT BE DENSE.

-shun getting told by reiji 'i have ONE condition' then WALKING AWAY BEFORE TELLING HIM and shun being like HEY?? dude this guy has been assaulting ppl/trapping them in cards and ur just?? walking away??? reiji has massive balls and is so funny (I know its more intended to be a cliffhanger, but its ygo. the solution is gonna be to do a series of duels, of course)

-junior, jr youth, youth in the tournament, so being like, little kids (I assume like 5-12ish?) then middle schoolers 13-15? then the youth class beng teenagers up to 18? thats my assumption bc 'pros' seems to indicate adults, and pros arent in the tournament. reiji specifies this is a tournament to find 'spears to fight' for him. WHY are you using CHILDREN instead of pros dude??? christ with your resources theres no NEED for that right???

-but hes fighting his dad and claims to be on the same side as shun, which. surprised me ngl. reiji team xyz!!!! win for the gays everywhere!!! and he has daddy issues!!!!!!!!!!! king.

-honestly, it raises the question of who the 'good' guys are in this battle? reijis up to use child soldiers and to work with a guy who is willing to trap ppl in cards. yet yuto made a point to say its bc they lost friends and want to protect ppl. we dont know what the other side is fighting for. it FEELS like both sides are willing to do Whatever Morally Grey things they need to, which is SUPER interesting. I mean, we havent SEEN the other side at length yet! except sora, who it was on SIGHT for when he saw yuto! so I'm willing to bet hes got the same 'whatever it takes' attitude…I want to know WHYYYY theyre fighting!!!)

-theres a duel school where idols go to learn to duel??? THATS SO CUTE. mikiyo naname ilu i know ur gonna show up ONE time but cute design

-no one told yuya hed be doing the lil pre-tournament speech!! yes he might want to be an entertainer but my god anyone would be anxious with like zero prep or warning! tf nico

-one of the announcers says juniors solid vision ar stuff is 'very soft like a sponge' why the hell is all of it not like that?? its fine for anyone over like 13 to get injured dueling ig! lmao!

-omg masumi being like 'tf are u talking abt shun has always been on our team' GASLIGHT GATEKEEP GIRLBOSS MOMENT LMAOO (or some level of brainwashing, who knows, it IS yugioh)

-its refreshing to see some good parents in ygo who are involved for once, lol, all the kids parents there to watch them duel and cheer them on is sweet!

-layra is like. Deeply Traumatized and just seeing the councilwomen sends them into a PANIC I need to run into traffic to protect them (the subs call them a boy but?? quick google says girl so for NOW I'm being neutral w pronouns until further confirmation from the show ig) they were up there with reiji earlier too! tf are u making a traumatized child duel for dude! losing favor points with me very quickly reiji. putting ppl into cards is nbd but traumatizing kids? no. gotta draw the line somewhere man

-ayu's deck is aquarium themed!!! my god thats SO cute all the kids have rly cute themes. but she forgot she cant attack on turn one…girlie thats the basics…(everyone was cheering her on for the mistakes and encouraging her which is sweet tho)

-then its extra sad when ayu loses and still has ppl comforting her and being sweet and layra having NO ONE ???? EXCEPT REIJI WHO JUST OFFERS (1) HEADPAT. also 'niisama' yeah I expected as much, ygo rival Standard. give ur sib a HUG or something. (maybe theyre touch adverse, I dont know. they do seem. Deeply Traumatized sjfkjnkh)

-lmaooo sora and yuzus friendship Continues to grow on me. his pic of her in his contacts is her smacking yuya with her fan! and she calls him to be like 'YOU BETTER COME ROOT FOR ME OR ELSE' i love how she combats his very wishy washy noncommittal attitude…he says its bc hes her teacher but cmon u guys are friends, prob more than anyone shes soras friend fr by now right?

-YESSS YUZU MASUMI DUEL theyre both doing great I LOVE their dynamic in my mind THIS is what a ygo protag and rival should feel like (sorry to reiji, but he just doesnt feel rival-y enough yet to me!! cannot even explain it) the gay instinct to have a rival. the whole 'im better than you' attitude, the fiery competitiveness…wanting to prove them wrong, the thinking abt them so much u can predict their moves..its SO spicy. then the giving of the red rose card after getting saved by yuzu…masumi? are u perhaps. fellow gay?

-despite all of my efforts sora is growing on me. hes SUCH a brat and is honest about it (and doesnt rly do the whole fake cutesty thing as much as Id expected he would) I think hes actually been as honest as he can, maybe? like I assume theres a good reason he hasnt told the others hes..involved in some kind of?? inter-dimensional battle?? situation??? Im not entirely sure I think hes gonna be a full out traitor or anything, but the others will prob be upset when they find out he's been withholding info…but I 100% think hes some kind of child soldier who BELIEVES his side is right, just like im sure shun feels real justified sealing ppl into cards! (and unlike shun we havent SEEN sora DO anything bad yet. I just kinda think he HAS based on his deck being so creepycute and him not being straightforward, but again, him continuously asking if he was even allowed to be teachign yuzu stuff makes me think hes taking orders from..someone...) him so mad shun didnt stick around to see yuzu's duel was so funny. I dont WANT him and yuzu's silly lil friendship to end! im attached now! even tho I KNOWWW hes sus! :(

-in the crowd you can see ppl wearing cute duel monster accessories, like one girl had a dark magician girl headband/visor thing! very cute, wish we saw more things like that. in pokemon anime they do that a lot and its always such a delight…I want more duel monster cosplay moments! or references in charas outfits!

-ok yuya being the damsel during gongenzakas duel while yuzu is the one yelling, telling gon not to worry is……furthering my idea that yuzu is main chara and yuya is in the position of side character of different gender than main character (who is often a damsel or person to worry over the most). hes the anzu/kotori of the show. to me. JKJSDH (also, gongenzaka, is perfectly nice and fine but its so hard for me to care deeply about him aaaahg even with the episodes centered around him…hes so straightforward and steady, tho. good for him.)

-….the guy who gongenzaka's dueling should be disqualified. he had his goons try and jump yuya! god why isnt he automatically disqualified! doesnt the broadcast pick up audio?? he like, admits to it!

-....is shingo supposed to be yuya's rival actually, instead of reiji? ...he doesnt feel like a rival either though!!! or if he is it feels one-sided!!! yuzu was more ready to fight him than yuya was!!! jkahjkf anyway that duel is up next episode which I wont start tonight...but I'm excited to see more shingo. bc I think despite his best attempts at being a threat hes super silly actually...

[bigmeandragonlady]

WELL IF YOU INSIST ... my turn to go a little insane with reaching. they really did layer a lot of symbolism onto the green boy - i didn't miss the little alchemical symbol for earth they worked into his design, the really big and obvious triple goddess belt buckle, the snake/8 or infinity/ouroboros theme, association w nature/plants and whats under the streets (the little tree peeking out of the sewer? or whatever it is in the bg mainly used for the street his bars on caught my eye), or the way they keep showing him in churches and how the. little white thing over his shirt makes it look a bit like a reversed clerical collar. the (maybe) ritual knife and the little knife earring with one of two red points on his design. gold and its connotations of perfection in alchemy (which is the metal he and kuras share while everyone else is silver 🤔🤔). white lilies being a funeral flower and also about faith and rebirth. just a lot of things pointing to distinct faces/masks + wisdom/knowledge + cycles/death/breaking cycles/rebirth. given one of the aspects of the triple goddess is the nymph/matron and how he seems to have a reputation for flings but everyone else important hates him in a sense/he doesnt seem to have any actual *close* relationships it seems to point to maaayyybe an aspect of his story is breaking self destructive interpersonal habits (i certainly expect a breaking of cycles in some sense, though maybe its just life+death if the idea about him being undead is right. and a lot of things seemingly point to that right now lol!)

since the game seems like it might draw a lot on alchemy, given one of the bgs, kuras, leander and mhin all are involved with it ahve have some kind of alchemical symbolism going on one way or another, other alchemy symbols might be interesting to think about irt them, especially the green lion devouring the sun for leander, which is basically a metaphor for how aqua regia dissolves gold. all of THIS bit is absolutely just my nerd ass reaching, but i think its also neat how each of the five characters could be applied to one of the major alchemical colors (green, black, white, red, gold). green is obviously leander but the rest could be fought over

his thing with vere especially interests me since it seems like something went down there that went REALLY bad. like we know leander has a savior complex (evident enough in what we see in game but also called out by name in the promo material) and thinks vere is gorgeous, he must have projected some damsel in distress shit onto him that vere didn't like but vere despite his bluster seems (at least in the day we know him) pretty bad at setting concrete boundaries (he always dances around it and keeps it vague before snapping! going 'you'll know if' 'if i didnt want you to i wouldnt let you' saying one question then letting you get multiple in before putting his foot down etc etc but i played a week ago i might be misremembering). despite it going bad leander seems to still think hes on okay terms with vere, and i think its interesting how before the twenty questions he asks you your opinion on the others, and if you're too negative he talks them all up (he apparently thinks theyre his friends after all!) and if you're too positive he warns you about how dangerous they are (makes sense given they. are. and he might feel guilty about letting you go wandering in a town known for its monsters alone). ive seen people trying to spin that as manipulative of him but currently to me it more just reads like trying to defend his friends vs trying to look out for you. but maybe i am just colorblind!

speakingof the questions though given the whole 'information is currency' thing and the fact you have an option to end the questions early i wonder if theyre a variable that will have an affect later... you ask too many questions there, you accrue some sort of debt

I DIDNT MEAN TO WRITE THIS MUCH ABOUT JUST HIM LMAO this is what i mean when i say it got me. im thinking thoughts. i want to know what his problem is so bad. anyway to end not JUST talking about him i like how ais' bracelet vaguely looks like a shimenawa, and i like how specifically its on the arm that doesnt have the tentacle 'tattoo' 🤔 also something i like about the flowers they gave them all is leander's is white lily but they gave ais the spider lily. extremely toxic, and a notorious symbol of the afterlife growing along the shores of a river that connects it to ours, but also like very associated w yanderes by anime lmao which seems to run contrary to what we've seen of him so far. i also think its fun here that part of its japanese name, higan, means the far shore. i think its connotations of the dead + remembering of the dead (since it blooms around the time of ohigan) feels like it fits with how the people who drink from the spring are technically preserved and remembered inside tha groupmind

the flower choices are very fun since only leander, ais and vere got toxic plants... kuras got a medicinal one and mhin got one with bitter but technically edible berries. alright the last thing ive wanted to mention to someone is that to treat us at the start it's obvious kuras would have had to touch our hands/arms, even if only accidentally, given we wake up without a shirt or bandages, but we never are given the chance to realize that and that he's unaffected too. actually we aren't told how we got to the clinic, are we? maybe im just forgetting. did he just happen to walk out there and see us, did another named character, was it known about or a complete accident to discover? id talk about my ideas for the curse but i didnt mean to send you five paragraphssss

OK... leaves this essay in ur inbox and runs. ty for your time, can you tell youre the first person ive been able to talk about this game to lmfao

hey Leander how about we find out what the fuck your deal is over dinner some time.

No, but i dig the amount of symbolism the team has put in these characters. Gives stuff to chew on while waiting and im a slut for symbolism.

I can see why Leander is like this with Vere, everyone seems to have issues with the Senobium and Vere is literally and metaphorically tied to their will. having such an old and powerful (dangerous) being would pull at his savior complex imo, regardless of what may have happened between them. (can you imagine leander saying/trying to break the enchantment on vere's collar, failling, and vere holding a grudge b/c he seems like the type)

Leander has some odd relationships imo, even compared to the others. he's got a real friends with everyone but is emotionally distant + avoid conflict (as seen repeatedly in the bar) vibe. he's one of the cast who's been around the city the longest (after vere and kuras) and i've been wondering why he targets Ais specifically with murder attempts. is it just 'i hate your vibe, you wanna make out after i poison you a few times?' is it really just the groupmind? In the oracle bg you can feel/hear something under the earth as you near the seaspring and i wonder if leader's thing (plants growing out of the grates + the silent crypt that keeps getting mentioned + 'as above so below' on the hound flyers) isn't kind of competing with it, creating a rivalry in that way. i'm dying to know what the fuck their deal is.

Which kind of leads into why i think Mhin is so so hostile with Ais: we know Mhin has some weird curse of their own involving a fucked up bird thing and i wonder if that entity is causing friction with Ocdeus. b/c mhin and vere's dynamic is pretty different, meaning it's not just a monster thing.

then again Ais might be lying to us about the whole 'for no reason' thing and we have no idea what happened between the five of them before we got there.

I always kind of assumed Kuras had gloves on while dealing with us since he's a (hopefully, maybe) a responsible doctor. but initially when he finds us? does he know more then he's pretending to with our curse? does it effect divine beings??? i need to know

thank you for the asks! you are also the first person I've talked to about this game lol

[larrythefloridaman]

Also i know she said she wasnt sure why she hugged crimson and got all touchy feely with him, but i think i do. Even beyond just the above thing.

Dani is someone who is prone to needing to verbalize her thoughts and feelings and actively consider them to successfully sort and identify them, otherwise she tends to act sort of... instinctively, even when it comes to her words. Her filter is shit and she needs to put things back through the filter On Purpose to catch the Implications Of What Shes Saying and Doing, sometimes. she is, despite her arrogant coolgirl facade, a blindly sincere, almost naive person who will put her foot in her mouth spitting out her first thought without consideration for how it sounds and commit to it even if what she said sucks as a matter of pride if she's not being Very Intentional and Conscious about herself. Which would be exhausting to do constantly! so sometimes, she just doesnt, and sometimes, this leads to her saying and doing cruel things she doesnt mean when these lapses in her judgement and the constraints of this persona unfortunately align. And the godkiller reputation inflated her ego and by extension this persona to the point its hurting her and people she loves and shes often tempted to wield power and cruelty like a cudgel under sufficient stress to impair her better judgement.

Crimson, and the gods, sit in a mental category of 'monster' to her- dangerous, powerful, an Acceptable Target and a Threat she is Uniquely Qualified to Disarm, that Mortals are occasionally able to convince to work in their favor, Chartreuse in particular i think being processed like. more of an exception to the rule than proof that these categories, this mortals vs. Gods (monsters) type us vs. them mentality about these things dont work, especially when she, yknow. stops being a god.

And Dani... the thing about the hug is that in that interaction, in crimson's unintentional confession and the subsequent conversation with Prism, i think Dani is made to realize 3 things-

Crimson can't be written off as just a monster, but also cannot be fully seperated from his monstrousness- he was raised by a 'monster' (in both the not human and ethical senses of the word,) who insists she isnt one, and hes like this for very specific, very 'human' reasons and he still has enough heart left to know that he's done wrong and that other people do not deserve what hes gone through, enough to warn her, someone who's threatened him more than once, and so little self-respect left he can't extend himself the same basic compassion, every scrap of 'humanity' shes seen from him in the time shes known him were the sincere part, the monster is the lie, but also, he unavoidably did try to take over the tournament, kill someone, tried to kill other someones, possessed multiple people, and is older than the goddamn sun and his nature is infinitely more complex than the average mortal mind can fully wrap their head around. And yet hes also still just some aggravatingly normal vain little prick with a black hole for a stomach and a trash mammal mentality picking fights with randoms you could meet by chance stealing extra ketchup packets from a restaurant

She has failed to be the kind of person who feels safe to talk to about things with this kind of weight. Crimson's confession is largely matter-of-fact, blunt and without melodrama or self-pity, and Crimson's first assumption remains that she's going to call him a crybaby for admitting he was abused in a private setting where he has nothing to gain. And considering her genuinely unhinged flippant comment about how she hopes cobalt doesnt have kids because distributing their match might qualify as emotional child abuse in The Very Same NCCT, I Get Why He Thinks That! Its a subject matter she throws around like it doesnt mean anything! She has an impossibly high standard for herself she clearly hasnt made clear enough she applies to noone else and she lashes out at others when her real problem is internal! Even knowing shes kinder than that, everything about how she presents herself to other people screams that her reaction to something like this would be 'tough shit. just handle it.' Her compassion surprises crimson, catches him off-guard, he freezes up in shock for a moment before relaxing into it. could something have been done sooner? Had crimson had people he felt truly safe with before things were done that could not be taken back, would anything have been able to change? These are questions that dont need answers, the past is the past- but theyre worth asking. We learn to make our futures better through examining our pasts and presents.

With just a bit more bad luck... different circumstances... she couldve been a lot like him. Many times over. She asks why some deaths are treated with more weight than others, and Prism lets her know she was all too ready to kill him, and tries to make it all okay with the fact that none of them are real and the suggestion that some lives simply dont hold the same weight. The Grunk, crimson's victim, has killed without regret or mercy and expects celebration for the act. She couldve killed monday mark by accident if cobalt were not there to warn her how close she was. The Grunk's death was an accident, crimson talks about it flippantly now but in the squad strike he speaks of the incident as 'messy' when caught off-guard with the topic, tone a bit nauseous as he says he 'doesnt want to do that again.' During orange he is distinctly, noticeably more openly self-loathing than usual (intermittently alongside comical performed ego, he 'shamelessly' expresses that hes trash you shouldn't associate yourself with,) as he siccs an ineffective assassin on his partner in crime looking at birds a thousand miles away just trying to not get trapped in him again because cobalt couldnt just drop it when Prism let him out. Dani is swept up in Prism's manipulations terribly easily, and the cruelty that came out of her mouth after just a taste of what prism can do compared against an impossibly long lifetime of the same- its a wonder, a testament to his resilience and will, that crimson has any compassion or standards left in him at all. Crimson is a bitter pragmatist who laughs at the absurd cruelty of it all to make it through, not a heartless senseless killer and manipulator who derives joy from random meaningless suffering. He values life. He's technically saved more people that we've seen than he's killed! He's calm and realistic and organized in a crisis situation where survival is on the line. hes good with children and animals and they love him. He has redeeming qualities. And Dani is beloved too- her training partners respect and admire her, her friends love and support her (even if larry can be an obnoxious little bastard at times. lol,) and no amount of prism appealing to her fears of failure and desire to win and her difficulty treating certain things with real weight can win out against the fact she thinks people should be free to live their lives, because SHE values life more than she fears loss.

Crimson and Dani arent even two sides of the same coin- theyre the same side of two different coins tied together in the trunk of prism's adorable rainbow barbie car, they both regard themselves as too Special for their own good, Dani uniquely above others even if it hurts and doesnt make sense and Crimson uniquely below others even When it hurts and doesnt make sense, and crimson's the only one who knew what was going on there for a while and was too busy ruining his teeth trying to chew through the ropes to ask for help? This metaphor's gotten away from me

And she hugged Crimson because, when these things all click into place, her instinct is to extend sympathy. They call it pity. They both call it pity. But its compassion for the other side of the mirror. Its understanding.

And all this being what it is, I think these realizations have guided a subtle growth in Dani. Shes learning that she needs to be more Intentional. To tell people what she thinks and that she thinks it, and not just assume people know how she feels about things and why just because she thinks it and feels it. She needs to make herself a Safe Person. In ncct2, she manages to win, just barely stopping Danthony from getting a reverse threestock, telling him never to try that again, offers him tissues for the tears when she takes the win. All very mean, very unsportsmanlike, very... spiteful. Even if shes just acting on anger at herself, its kind of hard to watch.

But then... after some time for the emotional contents of the last dream to settle into the dreamers minds, danthony gets past her. she has her tantrum in ncct3 when danthony surpasses her in the tournament, and then, once she's cooled down... and, if i recall correctly, after Danthony's tried to confront Prism on her behalf... well. She considers. She reflects. She wonders if Danthony really understands how proud of him she is. She decides she has to tell him how proud of him she is, despite how much losing got to her, still gets to her. Will keep getting to her. She needs to make her feelings known. She cant just hope he can sense it, she cant just assume people understand how she feels about things without her communicating them anymore, the illusion that that was ever enough has been broken. So she gives him a hug and tells him exactly that. And THATS when Danthony cries <3

Smthn about dani i think is fun is how she simultaneously kinda unconsciously puts people into black and white competing categories/'teams' (winners and losers, people and monsters, etcetera) while also seemingly being most drawn to people who confuse and baffle them. Her old friendship with larry, her new friendship with bing (who she fondly describes as having a mind she Does Not Understand,) prism at first, Chartreuse, definitely Crimson shes slightly obsessed with that little freak i dont even mean this in a crimtoinette way at the moment i mean this in a 'she jumps at pretty much every chance she gets to fight him again and seemed really bored at the raid (aka not a crimson problem) before things broke bad for her but was Very Eager to jump in when she heard about Crimson getting up to some shit again before it blew up in his face and The Arm Thing was pretty directly prism punishing her for focusing on and caring too much about him potentially causing problems rather than enjoying their little popcorn date in the stands seperate from it all before quad stepped in to check on them and then she jumped to rescuing him from the closet peppermint had him cornered in' way. She likes weird people. She is very sure shes winning the being normal and fine contest but she very much likes weird people. Its why she likes cpu kerfuffle and also feels the need to be away from it 90% of the time.

[kavehpilled]

Pspsps talk about kunikidazai vs skk 👁👁🤲 /nf

SUDDENLY I AM BLUESCREENING IN THE GOOD WAY

ok so. kunikidazai is my ship of all time duh we've all known this BUT CAN I JUST SAY. IT IS FAR HEALTHIER THAN SOUKOKU

this is no disrespect to skk shippers at all (i am hiding amongst all of you) but if you take into consideration how Bad the mafia is and how kunikida basically fixed dazai without knowing it this makes sense

kunikida is honest. hes loyal, hes hard working but most of all he has a steel set of morals that he will do anything to uphold and he is very hyperempathetic. ironically dazai is the exact opposite of all these things

chuuya on the other hand has loads of unpacked trauma, hes also loyal but he has a hard time processing his emotions healthily and he also had the worst upbringing out of anyone from the series. hes a great guy, but dazai isnt the Best guy for him, but they make it work!

with kunikidazai, dazai benefits and so does kunikida. for one, dazai learned that theres more to life than suicide and kunikida pushed him to become a better person. also kuni is hot as fuck. dazai loosened up kunikidas ideals (generally speaking he just taught him to be easy on himself when things get rough) and that not everything is his fault. kunikida cant save everyone and dazai is not a monster. it works!

with soukoku chuuya gets mildly irritated by dazai but he loves him for it. theres a special bond theyve formed through being in the mafia together and by being partners and more importantly: struggling with the feeling of humanity. they both know it well which is why they can understand each other so easily. thats one flaw knkdz doesnt have, kunikida has never experienced the feelings dazai has but since hes hyperempathetic he will do absolutely anything to understand how he feels. its a good quality in my eyes

another thing to add since im mentally ill about the song; the like "your beauty never ever scared me" from mary on a cross is EXACTLY both ships but in different ways. it works interchangeably for kunikidazai, dazai never finding kunikidas faults and bloody past frightening and kunikida never thinking any less of dazai for being an ex pm executive. really it just works for soukoku as dazai to chuuya, since arahabaki plays a big part in their bond as partners

overall im a sucker for kunikidazai. their dynamic is insane and i cannot think of anything more perfect than them /lh

[jackiietaylor]

props to whoever had the idea for the mindflayer, not only is it one of the most intimidating villains EVER but it also is just such a cool fucking idea! who thinks of a shadow monster that lives in a hell like world, who is plotting to kill everyone.

well it’s very hard to create something as unique as the mind flayer and then to actually put it on screen is a whole new accomplishment. so i agree i’m not sure how they could make it without it being cgi.

lmaooo i know what you’re talking about and its sooo horrible 😭 it looks like some cartoon shit in a real life movie!

that’s what sets stranger things apart from the rest, they put time into the details! like you said, sitting there for hours doing make up aswell as creating your own upside down are things that not every show will do, and that’s why they are so successful!

yess youre right the mind flayer is such a cool villain both visually and conceptually. i think a big part of it, especially that last shot in s2, is we know how much of a threat it is and how hard it was for them to beat it before we see that, so to know that not only is it still there but it’s lurking around exactly where all the characters that just tried to stop it were makes it more intimidating, because that shows that it doesnt even need a gate to know where they are and there’s no hiding from it. im reallyy hoping that it ends up being it’s own thing and not just a puppet for vecna to control, because i think it’s way more interesting for this ancient creature whose always existed to be the one in control, or at least equally in control.

and yeah like i said the visual aspect of the mind flayer (shadow version) is what makes it so great, so there’s really no issue with it being cgi. id be extremely impressed if they were able to physically create something, but i think logistically it’s unrealistic. but so far i really problems with the cgi in stranger things. even in s3 i think the design of the mind flayer was just kinda ugly (and that’s why i prefer the shadow version) but it wasn’t bad cgi or anything, it’s just personal preference. i think the greatest issue with cgi is when it’s obviously a lazy way to get around putting real effort into the rest of the movie, which is what marvels currently doing and why everything is starting to look very cartoony. like when you reach the point that you’re not even putting your actors in real costumes or cgi-ing things like nyc that would be extremely easy to get footage of, that’s where overuse of cgi becomes problematic.

but yeah overall i think stranger things does a great job of putting in the work to make things good. like i think i saw somewhere that when they were filming the scene at the cemetery they waited until sunset to film the final shot, and i think that was so worth it because that last shot of max, lucas, dustin, and steve is gorgeous. if it was marvel (sorry to keep using marvel but it’s so easy to use as a bad example) they wouldve just shot it inside a studio and edited the sunset in later, and it wouldnt have looked anywhere near as natural. like even outside of practical effects vs cgi for things like monsters, there’s such an advantage to filming at real places or on physical sets that makes everything look way better, but it takes time and commitment and it really does pay off

[miaxeu]

      though the mist might prevent some from seeing it, MIA STOEGER is actually a descendent of DIONYSUS. it’s still a question of whether or not the TWENTY-ONE year old MYTHOLOGICAL STUDIES MAJOR from LOS ANGELES, USA has taken after HER godly parent completely, but the demigod is still known to be quite CHARISMATIC & DUPLICITOUS. 

( y’all dont deserve this real messy intro but im workin w half a bwain cell at 4am so i beg thee 4 mercy. nywyy im the excited new girl who’s hella pumped to meet all ur charas : katya ! feel free to hop in my ims to plot or drop a like and i’ll hop in urs ! x  )

POWERS

natural acting abilities — her ma’s a hollywoo agent so she started actin real early & now shes a big shot actress. there r more deetz on her career below !

chlorokinesis — it wasnt as natural as acting n she only started working on it when she turned 13 n started going to camps. b4 she just noticed shes good w plants but it wasnt super crazy or nything. its p good now tho ! shes prioritizing vine binding and manipulation 4 the self defense bc awards r cool n all but they dont rlly protecc from monsters ykwim 

levitation — shes trying her best ur honor

alcokinesis  — she cant conjure it or anything, she’s just immune to it ffff

BIO POINTS — cw: drug use ( full biography here )

her mom raised her by herself bc dionysus the party god was out of the picture immediately. she never told mia she’s a demigod & it was always just “ wow ur so talented ” or “ aww u got a green thumb ! ” but when she saw him claim 13 y/o mia by placing a weird hologram over her head while she slept, she knew she had to spill da beanz & tell her kid

ofc mia thought her mom was jus playing sum weird acting exercise w her bc her powers r so lowkey she could highkey just be a Mortal but insert sad whistle, the realizashun & the claiming meant heightened monster threat !! so yea ,,, one ended up chasing her a couple days later rip 

aside from the trauma, mia was ok. mostly bc she ended up cryin for dionysus like any child would n lo & behold he came & helped !!! as he should. nywy she made sure to go to summer camps every year after that but mostly just for protection purposes

she lowkey rlly hates this whole god business esp now that shes grown lmfao deadass thinks she got a bad deal bc life threats arent sexy !!! went to eonia eventually bc its Too Much Man. she just wants to go back to work and her life w the mortals w/o worryin for her life. would deadass fade her father if she could. may or may not be majoring in greek mythology to figure out the logistics of it all out of spite, who knows !

PERSONALITY

not ! a Drama Queen  —  dont get me wrong, shes hella Extra in the way she moves n acts sorta like shes always bein captured on film. is quick-witted & playful & can be a huge tease/flirt if she feels like it, but miss her w Real Feelings ! totally not sentimental. srsly she will try to rationalize away everything and is just,.,., not good w it. so soz folks, we just keepin it breezy here

ugh, she’s an Actress — aka she can act like she cares tho ! shes very much into keeping ppl on her good side. shes friendly n palatable to everyone bc its how shes been trained & while it doesnt seem fake, its def diff when its genuine

The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known —  lemme circle back to the first one, ok so shes good w emotions but only in theory. does intense character work with her roles so she thinks that counts as her having eq when rlly shes just emotionally stunted, projecting n repressing like an idiot

blonde, skinny, rich, & a lil bit of a Bitch — shes only a bitch inwardly or to ppl she trusts enuff to let in on the gossip. if anyone full on opposes her or becomes real emotional, then this lil diva will rear its superiority complex head n snap a lil. will most probably do it v underhandedly n w a smile but it will be Brutal

girls just wanna have FUN ! — shes the child of da party god, so ofc she a true party girl. officially off the rails when she parties. inhibitions ? we dk her. can be insensitive in that case bc smtms its truly no strings attached, tis all abt the fun. likes company a lot & it doesnt even have 2 be loud or particularly abt her, she just likes having people around n the escapism of it all. will make friends with everyone n make sure they have a jolly fun time guaranteed at dionysus parties 

Work Hard, Play Hard — real responsible when it comes to work and commitments and if she trusts/likes u enough, she’ll give it 2 u straight, no bs. def thinks Calling Out is an act of love but maybe does it a lil too harshly smtms. v much into efficiency, sentiments be damned. not the feely words type. will sit next to u or party w u or even pay 4 ur therapist if u need sum1 to talk to. she will Be There while u work thru it, so long as u dont expect her to change n be all emotional n stuff

if she seems a lil contradictory thats bc she kinda is. tis the good ol nurture vs nature. her ma’s a real no nonsense chick n her pops is a frat guy drama geek greek god whos rlly into cottagecore so u get this lil blonde bitch whos sorta teetering on the edges

OTHER INFO  — cw: drug use ( full headcanons here )

re her career, she achieved pegot status when she was 18 aka she truly b dat bitch. shes not super mainstream famous tho, more like indie sweetheart, film snobs/critics fave typa gal. if ya want a trajectory she started w baby commercials then a sitcom from 4-10 ( think modern fam’s lily ) then it was off to the big screen & the stage ! 

mia has a lil bit of a drug habit. its not abusive or dependent, but it is a staple whenever shes parties bc alcohol is useless 2 her. started a lil young too bc hollywoo. primarily uppers/hallucinogens. she smokes weed a lil more liberally but the rest is mostly just an on occasion thing ( which, ngl, is a still a lil problematic when u party a lot rip )

after she got claimed, mia ended up going to demigod camps in a lot of diff places n countries, depending on where production would take her. there was never an established place, more like wherever was nearest when they wrapped up shooting bc monsters afoot n wutnot  

she was always homeschooled but she still managed to go to a prom and homecoming bc party is life. that makes eonia uni p much her first chance at having a normal educational environment & experience and even then its anything but. still tho this is her moment !!! im lit rally begging her to get a personality that isnt her internally rolling her eyes going “ its not that deep ”

might put up a bio/stats page if im feelin sxc but i wud jus like the records to show that mia stoeger is a bi sxc babe bc me ? write a het ? no grassy ass.

POSSIBLE CONNECTIONS — cw: drug use ( full connections here )

omg danny devito i love ur work ! 

,,, p self explanatory sdkjfs sum1 who loves her work ! it can be lowkey/highkey fangirl to a civil admiration

OR alternatively, y/m can Not Be a fan of her work. they might think the storyline of the projects she takes on r too out of touch n highbrow yada yada yada, but yes, we love to see either of it ! 

summer camp sweetheart !  

someone she met when at camp when they were teens ? doesnt matter in what country/city, but mia was only visiting so it was truly a one summer romance typa thing. bc she was younger, im thinkin 13-17 or w/e she was probably sweeter n a lot more emotional then. was it either’s first puppy love ? first kiss ? first “ relationship ? ” idk, do yk ? truly, so many possibilities. nothin set in stone just hmu bub 

summer camp pals ! 

p much the same as above but make it Platonic

party buddies !

or druggie pals. either way works but she wud luv it if theyre both xoxo

friends w benefits !

most probably ( but not limited to ) sum1 she met at a party skdjhsjk is it exclusive ? is any1 starting to develop feelings ? im down 4 nthing n evrything

alexa play true friend by hannah montana !

give mia her college bestie ! her confidant who knows her feels and can call each other out viciously with no ounce of resentment. we stan the friendships !

omg i love ur skirt !

that is the ugliest effing skirt i've ever seen. lmao basically sum1 mia pretends to like or acts civil w but rlly ,,,, Cannot Stand for w/e rzn   

im p much braindead rn but those are just sum ideas !!! ofc the usual staples like the pals, enemies, wutnots are also v welcome we love to see it. if u also have a wc that u think mia would fit in, id luv to know more ! there are also a couple more detailed ones here, but pls feel free to shoot me a msg n we can get 2 plotting x 

( * wipes brow * how did i type so much n say so little rip. mia is also a completely new muse so pls b patient n if i fuq up from time to time, pretend u do not see >.< nywy thnx 4 readin, sweets ! feel free to hmu here or at discord if ya wanna <3333 )

FULL INFO  ||  EONIA TASKS 

[loving-n0t-heyting]

Some scattered thoughts in response:

The dynamic of exploring a dungeon vs following the river to mamon or yellow brick road to klanq seems pretty different to me! In the one, you are hunting around a maze looking for loot and monsters or, if you are taking a minimalist route, a single tile of steps down. It encourages exploration, forces a tradeoff between curiosity and risk, and maintains an element of surprise. Following the road or river otoh is just trivial, and the open plan means the enemies are all exposed from the get go aside from things like light limits, and even worse, you are exposed to all of them [eta: the rainbow wood might seem like it requires exploration instead of path following, but this is only true the first time or so when you try to navigate it by going thru the overworld. After that you just learn to enter on the ground level thru the forest parasang two parasangs beneath the centre of the wood, which is visibly different on the overworld]

Maybe i would enjoy the golem more if i had a better sense of how to usefully deploy followers, but as is my experience of recruiting followers is that they are mainly useful for either serving as bait or... using in the golem quest

I think my problem with a bunch of the quests im griping about is that, unlike the dungeon crawl quests, they both discourage lateral thinking and do not allow you to panic out and take them at yr own pace. The whodunnit (which is not procgen in its answer btw, there is no "true answer" and the choice of ending is at the discretion of the player) feels like it opens up new horizons, but really it has a very restricted range of prescripted approaches it foists on you. Whereas dungeons will always have a bunch of unintended solutions to any problem, bey lah is basically a glorified dialogue tree. Acta has the same problem but worse: not only is there no room for out of the box solutions (you need to kill them to death, thats all), you cant even nope out and return later after recalibrating. The same problem applies in one way or another to most (tho not all, eg golgotha) of the quests im criticising. While they often involve an element of "choice", it is a choice between options clearly and deliberately set out by the devs rather than an opportunity to apply yr items and powers creatively

I will also say that most of these quests felt cool to me my first time thru them. Acta especially, against which i now nurse a grudge. When the themes and surprise are fresh, theyre really fun! But this, again, is struggling against the tide of the biggest mechanic of all: this is a roguelike, if a quest works well but only the first time it doesnt work well at all

Putting down wire is probably actually very fun i just never ever do tinkering shit out of some bizarre personal neurosis, fair enough

Caves of qud, which clearly takes heavy and unabashed inspiration from classic d20 ttrpg systems, feels like a helpful illustration to me of the perils ppl describe in turning D&D into a universal roleplay platform. Coq deeply wants to be a dungeoncrawl game; the dungeoncrawls (red rock, rust wells, rusted archway, grit gate plus its lower levels, bethesda susa, the tomb, lairs, sultan sites, possibly chavvah but maybe the aesthetics are just prejudicing me) are consistently the most fun, engaging, rewarding moments in any run, and the other elements of the game are, when done well, naturally thought of as preparations and context for the dungeoncrawls

But the devs clearly want it to be more than that. Hence the shoehorning in of a grab bag other quest genres: whodunnit mixed with village politics (bey lah), multilateral negotiation (omonporch), set piece battle (acta), the perilous journey (mamon and klanq), dungeon as obstacle course (golgotha), crafting (the golem). And these dabblings are just, consistently, a real drag, even when the flavour is cool (the amaranthine prism, the rainbow wood, etc) bc theyre cutting against the grain of the mechanics and produce smth either tediously artificial or actively painful. The whole experience would be better if it could just admit to itself where its strengths lie and cut its losses, at least as far as the main quest requires

[yellowbluemoonshine]

Bnha 277; The boy who is being Left Behind

Lets talk about chapter 277.

War arc vs Gentle Arc;

First, THIS

Source; https://twitter.com/CDCubed/status/1279821074373283841

Most people pointed that they looked like Allmight and Afo but i think that scene is clearly is more like Gentle vs Deku fight.

Deku vs Shigaraki is really looks like Deku vs Gentle but difference is Deku is the one who is up, like he is kinda in villain pose or like he is the one who is trying to supress him.

Remember that Gentle is also Deku’s foil just like Shigaraki. In spor festival arc, Deku fight it to protect Eri’s smile and other people’s hard work while now Deku is fighting with another Eri.

After their fight, Gentle was redeemed and they both realized that they are kinda similar too. (Which in Izuku and Tenko’s case, their similarities are more, their origins are literally same.)

Also Deku realized that how Gentle’s existence is a light for someone else so maybe in the future, he might realize that Shigaraki’s existence is light for some people too (league).

Gentle was saved (a villain who was saved by a hero) and after the fight, he wished that Deku’s feelings can reach out to others.

(Like since their pose is very similar,and clearly meant to be parallels, maybe, those scenes might be hints for the the future encounters between Deku and Shigaraki.)

Shigaraki’s smile & Dehumanization by Proheroes;

First, it started with Miruko who enjoy by killing noumus, dead people who were kidnapped and tortured. She called Shigaraki as thing.

Aizawa who is ready kill the cat that Shirakumo/Kurogiri wished to save.

Then, there is another hero who call Shigaraki as monster, only because of this smile.

He doesnt smile to mock heroes, he smiles cause it hurts.

Shigaraki always give this reaction to pain. Smilling is how he express his pain.

He laughed when he was tortured cause he can not handle the pain of that surgery.

He smiled when the thinks he is about to die cause he was scared.

He also smiled when he remembered his origin, his worst trauma.

And Shigaraki’s smile is how he express his pain. This is also norrmal reaction for real life trauma,abuse victims.

Source; https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/healing-trauma-s-wounds/201509/why-clients-smile-when-talking-about-trauma-part-1

Also i already mentioned before how Shigaraki’s sitution is similar to Pop’s sitution from Bnha. So this is not the first time that Endeavour tried to kill a victim who should have saved.

And also Shouto is not here, yeah but Endeavour would want him to be here. Probably reason is he still wants him to carry his legacy. Notice; unlike Gran Torino or Aizawa, he didnt even say them to “stay away from Shigaraki”. Bringing children to war, fighting with them is not a big deal for Endeavour cause he is used to raising a child soldiers.

This guy is hero who supposed to save people. He is also Nana’s friend, also someone who knows a lot of things about him. He is the one who decided to neglected Nana’s son. So its also his responsibility but insteda of facing his mistakes, he didnt just dehumanize him but also he blamed Shigaraki for everything.

Let me remind you. It’s not Shigaraki’s fault for being Nana’s grandson, borning with a decay quirk, being ignored by society, being kidnapped by Afo..etc. Shigaraki’s all life is out of his control and not only he suffer more and more but he is also blamed for existing.

“Your existence brigns pain”, well, tell this to League, to people like Twice. To them, meeting with Shigaraki, league is the only blessing thing in their life.

(Even kids are blind. Tokoyami is blinded by hero society, he thinks what Hwaks did is right, thats probably why the chapter name is “Dark cloud”. Deku who wanted to save everyone fights with another Eri.)

Rejecting Nana and Afo;

Most people are happy to see that Shigaraki rejects them but unfortunately, despite rejecting them, Shigaraki also cant let them go at the same time.

Shigaraki ‘s biggest desire is freedom, a little agency but he is someone who always carry the burden of his past. Despite destroying them, he keeps remembering them againd and again.

Even after he destroyed them (because they rejected Shimura Tenko), he still take the hand besides him.

Shigaraki cant reject his family cause he cant get rid of this guilty feeling that he he had to be punished for what he did so he has to remember. So Shigaraki destroy his memories but then, he will come back to them cause he believes he had to be punished, he cant just continue his life after what he had done.

Then, we see that Afo is trying to take Shigaraki’s will, full control of him but this is too much even for him.

Look how he feels gratefull the person who ruined his entire life. Shigaraki is fighting for little agency, for his will, for the power he gained (remember how Shigaraki had to endure those full of hell-horrible surgery for this power).

Despite rejecting Afo, he is saying “i wanna be greater than you” like Shigaraki doesnt want to be Afo, yeah but he is trying to be his successor, he is still carrying his legacy anyway cause to him, he owed this to him.

Look at how he is still going after One for all, despite saying that its his own will. Shigaraki is not the one who wants One for all. Its Afo. Shigaraki is living his life for the sake of Afo. He still does what Afo wanted him to do.

(His face is not happy smile face, he is smilling cause he is afraid of loosing his will.)

Afo goes far to take Shigaraki’s only agency and Shigaraki still doesnt reject him completely. He doesnt even see this as betrayal, like this is normal to him. His only reaction is “No, this is too much.” like you already took a lot but no more. Shigaraki wont reject Afo completely. he will come back to him eventually cause thats how he used to.

Shigaraki was abused his all life and he is trapped with cycle of abuse, he will eventually return to his abuser’s hands. Despite rejecting and trying to escape from them, he will come back to them.

Shigaraki cant get out of this prison by himself but its impossible for him in those conditions. Shigaraki’s biggest desire is being treated as person but he cant see himself as person cause he was never treated as person.

(This is also i believe that will chage later when one hero saves im and league, the people who saved by Shigaraki tell him that he is not a thing, his existence is not destruction, that meeting with him is a miracle for them.)

Shigaraki was dehumanized by Afo and Ujiko.

He was dehumanized by random people he never met before.

He was dehumanized by heroes who should have saved people. He is abandoned by everyone.

Overhaul Arc vs War arc;

This was mentioned by a lot of people how this arc is opposite of overhaul arc. Since this was mentioned, i wont mention about it a lot. Just a summary;

- Heroes came to save Eri in overhaul arc, heroes came to kill Shigaraki in war arc.

- Heroes/teachers are worried about sudents in ovrehaul arc, heroes /teachers are bringig students to the war and focusing on revenge/destruction in war arc.

- Overhaul experemented on human, Eri and heroes defeated him by saving Eri and her power. Ujiko expremineted on many people, heroes killed all the victims of science and they also tried to kill Shigaraki. They didnt even really Ujiko and they didnt dehumanize him the way they did with Shigaraki, despite Shigaraki is the one who is victim here.

- Overhaul’s arc’s victim is Eri, This arc’s Eri is Shigaraki. Heroes won that arc with saving Eri, heroes are loosing in this arc cause they dehumanized Shigaraki. (Narrative punishment for heroes cause they didnt act like heroes).

- Extra; In overhaul arc, Nighteye was killed by a villain and Uraraka understood the meaning of the life, this became her own motivation to save people, just like Deku. In war arc, Twice was killed by a hero and Toga understood the meaning of life, this became her own motivation to destroy hero society, just like Shigaraki.

Conclusion;

I think meaning of this arc is to show that how far heroes can go, how they are not different from what they fought, like the true face or lets say dark side of heroes, hero society. How much they are blinded by system and dont realize what they did is horrible but also how they saved people depends on to their situtions. Saving Eri and destroying another Eri, only because one of them cant cry like another. since Shigaraki cant cry and cant ask for help, i wonder how they will see his pain.

Cause in this chapter, he showed his pain, he was distracted by Afo, pretty much was fighting for his own will, he was literally cried (yeah its crying, remember how his smile is no differen tthan his crying, its obvious that he was suffering) but heroes, all of them, even Deku ignored it.

So since this is the story of how Deku became the greatest hero and there is a clear set up for to fix the flaws of society, i think something will happen to change their perspectives. But it has to be something different like that they will feel so regret that what they have done, especially what they have done to Shigaraki. Since they are heroes.

(I might edit a little things later but for now, thats it. This became random cause i wrote analysis before but i accidently deleted it :’/ so i had to write different version of it again. Well, i hope i didnt forget to write anything. )

[littlebabycrybtch]

ok but tbh, i think one of the WORST old school tumblr takes we never talk about anymore was the ‘abusers dont deserve to be cheated on’ debate. like. . . actually ? every abuser deserves to be cheated on, and as long as it works out safely lmao its a good thing when that happens, bc it means the person they are ABUSING might have the chance to experience real healthy love and safely get Out of there with someone to protect them :) one of the biggest roadblocks abusers set up is isolation and making the victim feel like no one else would love them as much or help them out :) like im sorry but fuck their stupid ass FEELINGS dude, that person is fucking abusing their ‘partner’, the partner doesn’t have to value that and treat it like its a regular relationship or something! like thats the flaw in what people believe about this situation, they dont have to coddle that bitch or give them normal partner standards or treat them like a partner, bc they are literally not being treated like a partner. do yall not get it, their relationship is abuser vs victim, its not an actual fucking partnership. the abuser is manipulative so it feels like it and it looks like it, but even though it can be hard to recognize, that shit is Not the same. it should not be TREATED the same. that is so fucking important for everyone to understand. how you react to an abuser cannot rely on what would be morally allowed in a healthy safe relationship, bc thats not what the relationship is. its designed with manipulation from every angle, and its hurting someone. so yes frankly idc how being cheated on would make an abuser feel. not in the fucking slightest. i care abt how their victim is going to get away from them and heal.

and ngl, this type of guilt tripping and victim blaming and abuser sympathizing is what makes it so hard for ppl to leave ‘’’’’the right way’’’’’’ in the first place. as if abusers dont utilize guilt and make getting away from them hard on purpose like? listen to me, nah, that shit doesnt deserve standards on the victims part, it fully deserves to be broken in whatever means necessary. you can look back on a toxic relationship that YOU were in with whatever feelings you want, but it is fully so disturbing and gross the way ppl on the outside romanticize it like it was just a normal love ‘gone wrong’ or like it deserves to be treated with the same standards and expectations of a normal healthy relationship. absolutely not. it is an abuser and a victim. like holy SHIT, if you are literally unsafe mentally or physically with your current partner and you find yourself falling for someone who could help you out of there, take their hand and run! NEVER let yourself be discouraged from that, dont be afraid that you’re being fucking ‘immoral’, they are hurting you, Fuck them, they didnt have to do this to you, and you are saving yourself and thats all that matters, dont let ANYONE tell you you’re ‘just as bad as them’, thats Bullshit from people who genuinely just dont understand. please if you’re ok with taking the safety risk, just RUN and dont look back.

and bro like ANOTHER reason this treatment towards victims is so Bad is that, beyond the Direct effects, its so damaging for the overall brainwashing mindset that takes place when people are being abused. like rn im convinced Someone out there is gonna respond to this completely ignoring the point with some judgey discourse starting shit like ‘uhhhm wait a sec have u Cheated on an abuser?👀’ when the truth is. back then i felt like i would be a monster to even Think poorly of them. i wasnt allowed to talk to my friends or family, and i genuinely felt bad when id have to, thinking about how it would make my abuser feel. i never DREAMED of smth like cheating on them. and i shouldve, honestly. i wouldve supported that decision looking back. probably would have gotten me out of there sooner than 6 years. but at the time, thats All we think about, Their feelings. it’s all we’re allowed to think about. we’re given the task to worship them and it works as a distraction too, till we eventually forget that looking after ourselves isnt cruel. we rly need people to Combat that by supporting abuse victims even when their retaliations feel ‘immoral’. you cant look at the morals of it like a normal partnership. we are made to feel like its immoral to even FEEL abused, so when we finally realize it, you need to support us in how we deal, instead of guilting us with implications that we shouldve ‘stayed a good partner’ to someone who fucking relied on us ‘staying a good partner’ to keep fucking abusing us. and man it’s So hard when you’re being abused to remember what real love actually looks like. you straight up forget, or sometimes you dont have Anything to compare it to, so if someone else out there starts to show you what its truly supposed to look like, hold onto it. don’t let go. if you’re scared about how your abusive partner will react to you leaving, and need some time to formulate a plan to get out of there and feel ready to take it on, ngl, i think anyone who disagrees with THAT course of action is the immoral one who just doesnt have enough sympathy for others. im sorry but grow the fuck up, abusers get cheated on bc they dont just hurt people, they corner them. fuck anyone who doesnt get that. like odfjshkfjhdf stop personalizing how you’d feel or have felt being cheated on, you absolutely deserve better than that!!!!! abusers dont bc they literally dont love their victims the way you hopefully have loved other people, so the sanctity of their relationship or w/e isnt goddamn real and can get Fucked <3 

again, stay safe bc it can be a Very dangerous choice, but damn if you see a way out by cheating on your abuser ? ill be clapping for you hell yes

[evening-blossoms]

Bodyguard Chadnico AU

This is the Second time I do this post bc Tumblr deleted the first one I hate this hellsite

This AU was based of this post

Anyways!!!!! Chaddick is the spoiled, arrogant, bratty Prince of Foxwood, and Nicholas is the grumpy, cranky, impatient bodyguard.

Nico Hates this job. He Hates having to deal with that Spoiled Brat every day.

Chad Hates his new bodyguard. Who cares if Dad says hes the best one and so is the most fit to protect a Heir????? He is so annoying and did Nobody tell him that Smiles are Physically Possible???? Or does he just have a problem in that handsome face that he isnt able to smile????

But both share one thing in common - THEYRE GAY AND SO, SO, OBLIVIOUS.

Prince Cedric is a Little Less Oblivious.

Cedric: JUST FACE IT CHADDICK YOU THINK YOUR BODYGUARD IS HOT

Chad: NO I DO NOT

So Cedric decides that if Theyre not gonna do it themselves, he should set the two up. All his attempts fail.

Nicholas kinda hates everything at this point. Except for his friend, Anadil. She doesnt take shit from anyone. She is good company. And Caleb too, but thats more because literally Any Adult That Comes In Contact With That Child Decides to Adopt Him.

No seriously. He is a Little Angel. Anyone that dislikes him is a Monster.

Nico voice// If anything happened to that kid, I'd kill everyone in this castle and then myself.

Mood, Nico. Mood

Nothing Happens to Caleb tho

Id never introduce such a cinnamon roll to then make him suffer ok

IM NOT SOMAN

Nico and Chad go on that "Spoiled Prince vs Guard Who Aint Having None Of That Shit" fashion until...

PIANO LESSONS!!!!!

Chad has to take them. But he Sucks. Seriously.

Nico feels like his ears are being Brutally Assaulted Every Single Time.

So one day he's had enough. And decides to Act Out the way hes feeling.

Chad scoffs. "As if you could do any better.",

"Watch me" Nico snaps. Then he sits down. And plays Wonderfully. Like, Scalping-Chad-Via-Piano Wonderful.

So that makes Chad loose his sleep a bit.

So he decides to Make Nico Teach Him.

And at first Nico is Very Angry abt this. But he does so anyways.

So Every Night they play. And at first Nico is a very grumpy and bossy teacher, but with time, things better. Maybe because Nico actually Likes playing for Chad, although hed never admit it. Perhaps it is because of the looks of admiration and awe he always gets. Probably that.

And also bc being Closer to Nico has made Chad change a bit too. Hes less Bratty and Arrogant. He's just becomig a kinder, better person in general.

And one night...

"Think I'll have a break" Chad says, and stands up, leaning on the piano tail. Nico sits down and starts playing.

And Chad just watches him play, the moon's silver light cast over him contrasting with the warm, yellow glow of the candles. It was nice to watch him play, even if it was only by the way his expression softens and the hint of a smile that plays on his lips whenever he is playing. He wonders what Nico's smiles actually are like. Probably not much of a bright smile. More of a serene smile.

And Chad only realizes the Gay has Hit him as Gently as a Train On Max Speed when he feels his cheeks going hot. Fuck. Is he blushing too???

And then Nico stands up,

And now theyre so close, oh God, Oh Fuck,

And Chad really wants to kiss him but he doesnt know how or when or-

Nicholas kisses him. It is nice, soft, gentle kiss.

It doesnt last long as Nico realizes what he's done.

Chad doesn't give him time to wonder if he's overstepped or not, because he grabs him by the waist and kisses him back.

And when they break away again, Nico is smiling. A genuine smile. It is the first time Chad has actually seen him smile.

And Chad was right. It is a serene smile. Not bright with teeth. Just a calm, a bit subtle, but still, a smile. Chad thinks it is lovely.

"Youre actually smiling." He says. Then he smirks. "Should I call a doctor?"

"Shut up"

"I can schedule you a therapist-"

"Oh, cut it out," Nico snaps, giving him a light punch on the shoulder. But he never stops smiling. Chad is Sure he's heard a giggle.

After a few days, Cedric finds abt that kiss. He decides he can finally die in peace.

And so Chad and Nico start dating. In Secret, but still Dating.

But one thing comes in their way. Chad ends up in an arranged marriage with Princess Beatrix of Jaunt Jolie.

However, Bea is a Lesbian, and is Dating Her bodyguard, Reena.

Seriously??? For Reatrix it was Love At First Sight. 3 days into the job theyre kissing. By the time the arranged marriage happens, they had already started planning to elope and get married in secret.

So Bea and Chad decided to work together to Sabotage The Wedding.

Sadly it doesnt work. One has never seen a couple looking so miserable during a wedding when the day comes.

HOWEVER! When the priest goes "does anyone object-"

Reena and Nico stand up at the same time and start talking over each other. When they realize What is going on they change to "oh no you-" "-oh please go on-" "-oh after you-"

After some minutes of that Reena talks first. And she doesnt have the time to Finish her Passionate Declaration because Bea is already rushing from the altar to jump into her arms.

Nico is more direct. He Marches into the altar and kisses Chad Right There.

This causes enough upheaval for the Wedding to be Called Off.

But yknow what??? Bea is Already in a Wedding Dress so she decides to marry Reena right there. It is a Beautiful wedding. Chad is Absolutely Sobbing.

A few weeks later he and Nico get married. It is also a great wedding. Cedric is Chads best man. He is crying like a child at the wedding. And so is Chad. By the time he can say "I do" he's sobbing.

Aaaand thats it for the Main plot!!!!! Here are some cameos that should make it to the fic if I write it:

Tagatha has a cameo!!!! Tedros is the Also Spoiled Bratty Prince, hes Heir to the Throne Of Camelot. And similar to Chaddick, he also is in a predicament of being-attracted-to-his-bodyguard-that-he-also-hates: Agatha. First appearance is Teddy paying Chad a visit and them bitching abt the bodyguard ordeal to each other lmao. Tho one week after Reatrixs wedding Tedros comes to a visit again. And Chad catches them kissing behind a pillar.

Hestadil!!!! Ani is a guard and Nicos friend. Hester is Ani's girlfriend, and although she doesnt work at the castle, she pays Ani a visit sometimes. Shes a hunter. Also Dot is their roommate, and she sells chocolate (thought itd be a nice tie to her special talent in canon sjsjdj)

And Nicphie!!!!! Sophie is Princess of Gavaldon, she makes a cameo during the wedding along with her girlfriend Nicola.

Yara is a guard at Foxwood, and Kiko is a maid And her girlfriend. (My dumbass only thought of that 14 hours after posting this so I had to edit to make the change 😔)

So yeah thats pretty much it lmao skdkdkfm

I originally wanted to make it into a Comic but Idk if I have the skill to do so??? So I think I'll only write it But I Might end up making some short comics based on it idk

[teruthecreator]

gonna kinda share my thoughts, vis a vis the whole “npc situation: amnesty vs. balance” and what griffin talked abt today during the ttazz: 

griffin sort of gets into the difficulties of including npcs and fleshing them out in the amnesty world vs. the balance world and, for the most part, i understand where he’s coming from with it. 

he talks abt how its a little more difficult to get npcs into scenes, simply bc it wouldnt make sense based on what characters are and what they do. like, for instance, he talks abt how hes wanted to have pigeon be a bigger part in the story than what shes currently at (since she works for the local government but also 100% knows abt the existence of monsters), but hasnt been able to simply bc she works. and her job doesnt rlly allow her to just be kicking it at the lodge all hours of the day to interact w the pcs. and that i understand bc the world of amnesty is not high-fantasy like balance was. people cant just quit their day job and kick it in a bar all the time to talk to the pcs. this is a story grounded in semi-realism, so it needs to be realistic (for the most part). unless the trio goes to pigeon’s job, shes not gonna have screen time. 

and i think thats where audience contention comes to a head bc people are still stuck in this idea that balance and amnesty are one in the same. they arent; they are two completely different stories, set in two completely different worlds with completely different genres. griffin even talks abt in this ttazz how its hard bc its not like everyones on a floating moonbase together all the time. its a town; towns have space. people have businesses they need to run and houses they live in and shit to do. it isnt the BOB, where everyones under the same roof to fight bad guys. its kepler, where half the town is p sure monsters r real while the other half is killing monsters. so, for the most part, i understand the struggle of fleshing out and including npcs in amnesty. think abt if the entirety of balance took place in somewhere like neverwinter instead of on the bureau base: wouldnt that make it less likely that npcs will always be around to talk to? 

where i diverge from griffins point a bit is in reference to amnesty lodge. he doesnt rlly talk abt lodge npcs, but he half brings up my point when he talks abt stern. stern is in the lodge, always. or, pretty much always. he has the ability to interact w the pcs a lot more than he does now. but he hasnt, and i think thats where its justified to be a little “???” at the characterization gaps of certain npcs. we dont know a lot about hollis bc hollis is a townsperson, theyre not always around. jake coolice, however, is always at amnesty. so you’d think we’d know a bit more abt him other than some funny snowboarder jokes and his previous affiliation w the hornets. same goes for barclay--an npc we see actually a pretty decent amount. how much do we actually kno abt him, other than his sylvan form and some other lil vague tidbits we got in the first arc when he talked to aubrey??? in the case of the lodge npcs, i feel like theres more of a justification to have more characterization bc our most frequent setting is, by far, amnesty lodge. so stern should be doing shit. we should know shit abt dani. we should fucking see moira again. 

this isnt me going on a tangent to be mad at griffin. i think hes doing a wonderful job with story-weaving rn and i can understand the difficulties of trying to literally flesh out an entire town full of people. i just feel that if this season is gonna end by the end of 2019, we should kno a bit more abt some major-player npcs by the end of it.