#i want to talk about that more someday

[transmandrake]

Feel like face blindness is underestimated as a thing that Completely Fucks Up your ability to socialise and make friends, especially when its combined with time blindness.

Want friends but cant recognise people and have no idea when you last talked to someone?

The only way you can do that is to be in a situation where the same people show up in the same place at the same time, or/AND where said people approach you first and frequently enough to where you can figure out a way to find them that doesnt involve needing to know what they look like.

Oh, you already did that? Well now you have to actually remember they exist and contact them. Regularly. And pretend you care. You wish you did.

Even worse if you're depressed or otherwise emotionally suppressed naturally or otherwise. As a lot of autistic people are. Its not at all surprising no one makes an effort to hang out with someone who never recognises them, never contacts them, and if they do has nothing they want to say and has no response to anything you do or say, and shows no sign they even like you at all.

But people are still really cool. Wish my brain actually wanted anything to do with them sometimes. Would be nice.

[egophiliac]

so on the subject of the "Crowley is secretly Revaan/Laverne/Levin/please Twst give us his name" theory, I think my feelings are best summed up as "I don't really buy it, but it's funny". like, in all seriousness, I'm not opposed to it; I have enjoyed the writing in Twst so far and I'm willing to trust that whatever happens will, you know, make sense and not be terrible. but I'm just not really convinced by the current evidence! maybe that'll change once we learn more, we'll see!

with that said, may I propose a few alternate theories about the possible Crowley/Revaan connection:

[beanghostprincess]

Usopp obtaining Conqueror's haki makes so much sense to me and I genuinely think he deserves it on Elbaf please please please

[skrunksthatwunk]

man. y'know that scene where little hiei realizes the bandits are afraid of him bc he kept killing them? how he thought it was fine because they were killing others and he thought they understood, that their system of might makes right would be consistent no matter his actions, until all at once the only family he's ever had shuts him out for doing what he thought would help him fit in? for doing what he thought they wanted from him, at least to some extent? sigh. heartbreaking levels of autism in this small faggot

[qalrey]

her night

[cerenemuxse]

my 2x5 ramble because of this post

"Even though you weren't the engine on the poster, you are still really useful." - Edward didn't have to tell him this, YET HE FUCKING DID. Other engines wouldn't DARE say anything because all they think is "This'll only rub his ego," but Edward doesn't. He sees the layers of complexity that make up James and addresses it so subtly. He KNOWS that somewhere within that vain red engine, James feels guilty for what happened and he's quick to express that.

Others would brush it off or take his apology and move on, but Edward doesn't. He "gives" James a space where the latter can also be satisfied with how he was able to make up for his mistakes.

And do you know where ELSE Edward says something of this degree, of this reassurance, to James?

"All in Vain"

"You do look splendid tonight, James!" - He didn't HAVE to tell him this. No one asked him to. James didn't even prompt something to say this. No one prompted Edward to say it.

Had Edward not said something, James wouldn't be in this spot. I've talked about this before but because its so important to these two, no matter the type of relationship they have, platonic or romantic. (To me, this is very much platonic but it provides a starting point for these two.)

Both of these instances come off as "See? Everything turned out okay! You're still a really useful engine!" (JtSB) and "Oh, everything turned out okay! This is great! I'm happy for you" (AiV) respectively. The tones are different but the intentions are the same. These compliments are hidden reassurances, and James understands them. He appreciates them.

I say that the tones are different because of previous context within both episodes, coming down to how James is able to make up for his mistakes.

"James the Second Best" - James was present and the one to ask for a chance to make up for his mistake.

"All in Vain" - James was not present when Edward told the Mayor and Sir Topham Hatt about James' predicament. He doesn't know how the conversation went down. He doesn't know what exactly was said. So when Sir Topham Hatt says, "But! Edward told me all about what happened," James looks reasonable frightened. And when James leaves to go to the works? Edward just... stares at James, as if he's rethinking whether or not telling Sir Topham Hatt about James' situation was such a good idea.

(His expression is hard to tell because of the shit quality. That's just what I'm able to make out.)

English translation is in the parenthesis. It's a direct translation.

CLIP 01

JAMES: Lo siento, senor... (I'm sorry, sir...)

SIR TOPHAM HATT: Pero- Edward me dijo todo lo que paso. (But- Edward told me all about what happened.)

CLIP 02

JAMES: Si, senor. Lo siento, senor. (Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.)

And here's the kicker: They're both unaware of what they're feeling respectively. James doesn't know that Edward meant well. It FEELS out of place but when you think about how often James was in a situation where he gets in trouble because others told on him, it makes sense.

In that SAME season, the same thing happens in Pouty James, where Sir Topham Hatt finds out about James' attitude towards others BECAUSE the other engines told him.

(And what if Edward was one of those engines? A bit of a stretch considering Edward was assigned James' passenger work, but its plausible. And again, James doesn't know who exactly told on him like we do, but unlike us, he has an idea of who it was, thinking they all had the same intention: getting him in trouble and reprimanded. Keep in mind, Edward's said nothing to James when the latter returned to the sheds, absolutely pissed off, when James was being made fun of, and the following morning, so its possible that this gave him the idea that Edward could possible be the same way as the others.)

Meanwhile, Edward left in a spot where he starts to wonder if telling Sir Topham Hatt about James' situation was such a good idea. He has good intentions, but now he wonders if James knows that. Sir Topham Hatt clearly does. The other engines might or might not. But what about James? What about him? When the other engines start laughing as James leaves and knowing how James takes in that sort of reaction, the way the problem was handled was now something Edward was beginning to regret.

Edward had good intentions. He didn't mean for James to get into trouble or be laughed at. Yes, the situation was silly but to James, it meant a lot. Being given the chance to transport an important passenger has always been something James enjoys, more than most other engines.

So for it to all go down hill over a small inconvenience is heartbreaking. Even after James tries to make up for the mistake, he has to wait to see if his "make up" did something. But when he gets his answer, its too late. Could he have let his thoughts consume him during the long hours of waiting for Sir Topham Hatt's reaction to the situation?

James is a character who will do what he can to make up for his mistakes, and that's something Edward wants James to know that is valued of him. Edward knows that the best he can do is to provide a space for James to be able to do so, or in this instance, agree to help out.

Final Note: Oddly enough, most of their (on-screen) interactions are in James-centric episodes/stories.

(RWS) James and the Top Hat

(RWS + TVS) Troublesome Trucks

(RWS + TVS) Trouble in the Shed

(TVS) James Goes Too Far

(TVS) Keeping Up with James (also Edward-centric)

(TVS) James the Second Best

(TVS) James Works It Out

(TVS) Tickled Pink (implied tho. this is what made me think about their interactions in the first place)

(TVS) James in the Dark

(TVS) All in Vain

(TVS) James and the Trouble with Trees

(TVS) Pouty James

(TVS Annual: 1985 + 1994) James' Rest Cure

Stories that aren't James-centric but are Edward-centric.

(RWS + TVS) Old Iron

(RWS + TVS) Edward's Exploit

(RWS + TVS) Edward and the Cabbages

(TVS) Edward the Great

(TVS) A Shed for Edward

There's episode I haven't added since its like- 1 second of interaction or not Edward or James centric. but here's a list anyways (i also need it for reference hsagjk)

(TVS) Edward the Really Useful Engine

(TVS) The Beast of Sodor

(TVS) Hero of the Rails

(TVS) Misty Island Rescue

(TVS) Journey Beyond Sodor

Thomas Noisy Book: Edward's Fire

there's definitely more that i haven't mentioned but these were just the main ones i could find and remember

(from here on out, this is my HC so feel free to just disregard)

this snippet is more HC heavy. for context: Edward wasn't exactly the best engine at the time of James' arrival. stuff happened that led to mistrust and tension between the two until 1931, when my version of "Pouty James" takes place, where Edward starts to understand James, and vice versa. Emily's also involved but she's not important rn.

The second time James took Edward to the works was after the events of "James the Second Best," which they talk about aomething thats bothered James. "Why exactly are we friends?" and "But we're so different." are what's been bothering James since Old Iron. James: "Does it not hurt?" Edward: "…Pardon?" James: "Does it not hurt when… What I've done?" Edward: "To think about… yes…, it does. I'd ask you the same thing." James: "You haven't hurt me-" Edward: "You know well I have, dear."

just something about this episode makes me think that it got James rethinking their relationship. Like, are they really friends? Considering how James is, I think he's the type where he needs the status of a relationship to be clarified but that's just me- :p

the following is my timeline

from 1925 to 1930, it was a rocky start.

1930 had a ton of stuff going on in general but basically:

James: "you're picking favorites!" Edward, in denial and a bad mental space because the last of his baby sisters was scrapped: "No im not!" (they're talking about Thomas. Edward is picking favorites but isn't picking up on it. He is struggling. James wishes Edward would've treated and cared for him the same way he does to Thomas.)

1931 is the first piston rod breaking incident where james is present

(1931) they began to understand each other (Pouty James rewrite) but aren't necessarily friends

(1952) Old Iron is what sets off the beginning of their friendship (or at least fixing it)

Keeping Up with James follows right after.

(1953) James the Second Best

(1962) Cold Iron is when James finds out Edward lied about Glynn. Also when edward reveals some of his pre-NWR history to him and Emily.

(1963) "He Squawks!" James discovers that Edward does in fact squawk. ("Haha, seagull," James.)

Edward fell first. All in Vain 1968 but realizes in "Like Snowflakes in December"

because of my HC, these two are in a limbo of sorts from "Pouty James" to "Old Iron." "Keeping Up with James" is an example of what their dynamic was after "Old Iron"

They start getting along but they haven't exactly defined that they're friends. it's a weird spot that neither addressed but they were both aware of it. "Old Iron" was just the spark that was needed to get the ball rolling for these two. "James the Second Best" gave them the chance to address it.

that's my two cents on these two surrounding "James the Second Best," but it turned into a convo about "All in Vain." Had i not thought about this episode, I don't think I would've noticed the similarities in my first point about the hidden reassurance thing.

[royalarchivist]

🥲

[old-skyguy]

Look.

Ace Attorney fandom.

I know why people don't like Turnabout Bigtop. I am among the people who dislike Turnabout Bigtop.

But I GET why people like the case. I'm not going to be one of those annoying people who just blindly dump on it because I hate those mfs too.

Thing about Bigtop isn't that it sucks. Thing isn't the weird grooming stuff (though that is a huge part of it). It's not that it could've been good.

It's that - in my personal OPINION - it could have been *great*.

I think it had the potential to be one of the best third cases in the trilogy. It had everything; a fun and goofy setting fit for a pretty dang goofy lawyer game - where the environment itself had jokes and quips and one-liners and mishaps and tomfoolery written all over it, it had the previous case introducing a very interesting and important plotline that gave background for one of the more well-loved characters while also introducing an equally fucked up and lovable new one who was a child forced into a shit childhood of naivete in a CIRCUS with another character who was very naive and childish - whose interactions could have been funny and cute and reflective of said shit from the previous case (seriously she becomes such an important character in the 4th case, WHY would they not include her in this one for some character development? How did they fuck up letting a CHILD explore a CIRCUS?? That would have made the interactions flow MUCH better).

They had a pretty good, sympathetic killer imo, a morally dubious victim, an asshole of a client (who was pretty flat admittedly in-game, but I like his weird, topsy-turvy reasoning for it in the anime. Also, I think Max being kinda a dick would have bode well for the themes of Farewell since most of his clients up to this point have been like...nice? Not nice, but sympathetic, but him having to defend someone who's innocent but a prick would have shown him that just because someone is an asshole, doesn't mean they deserve to suffer for it and that they have the potential to grow as people, which is almost a complete foil to what Matt was. Ultimately, I would have loved the contrast of them as clients and I think it would have also served as character development for Phoenix, especially with his low-empathy tendencies).

They just didn't think that far ahead. They just didn't execute it well enough. They just decided to make three of the adult characters fight for the hand in marriage of a teenage girl. (Bat's part of the story was actually kinda good if he was just YOUNGER, I think him doing that for Regina would have been a stupid thing someone in the circus would do to impress their crush. Damn you Ace Attorney and your weird treatment of underage girls!!)

It just flopped and that's ok.

Even though it kinda sucked, it can still mean something to me.

Also I'm a Moe Curls apologist. I liked him, shut up.

[humanaaa]

Cellbil kills a man. Bagi finds him in the middle of the forest trying to eliminate the evidences, she just pinches the bridge of her noise, tells him that they won't move out of the town, and helps him to burry the body.

Later, when they are home and washing the blood out of their clothes, she repeats that they won't move out, they can't, this is the tenth town they moved into! They finally found a therapist for him! (a man called Doctor Simi, who, well…). So they can't move!

They both know that the actual reason she doesn't want them to move out is that she finally got the number of the girl from the tea shop, after months of crushing on her. So he says nothing, and goes to take a shower and take away his blood, and that's how the day ends.

But, the next day- while buying stuff in the supermarket, he finds the man he killed.

(The thing is- this man entire bloodline is cursed, the curse dated centuries ago. Their family is fundamentally imortal, until something kills them.

Strings will connect the parts of their body that got damaged, and they will have to have their revenge against what killed them so their damaged body parts will heal. If they don't get revenge, the string will slowly break, and so will their whole body, this is the only way they can actually die.

Maybe they will have to fight who killed them, maybe they will have to get a medicine degree and help to fight against their illness.

It had been a years since the last time someone in his family died. It happened with his grandson: a sharp sword stabbed trough his chest, revenge seemed impossible as his murderer died.

But- the guy who worked as the judge in the betrayal was still pretty alive, and it was easy to make everyone turn against him, and gave a potion to the judge, and he forget his own curse, nobody even suspects the grandson, and the grandson didn't notice the potion was swapped. The judge doesn't even believe he is cursed anymore, but if he did know, he would be surprised to know he has a twin brother, and that this is the most important part of the curse.

After the judge life was ruined, well, the grandson injury healed and his strings went away, weird how these things work, right?)

And that's how Roier meets Cellbit: he searching for his abuelo and finding the old man beating him up in a parking lot.

(And an extra information: the city is cursed, and everyone inside it is cursed too, but only a few of the citizens know about their curse)

[plushie-lovey]

Alright so. I'm getting into junk journaling. At least, I'm going to try to! I have a plan to start myself off with 2, one for personal/random shit so I don't feel so confined, and one focused on my plushies!! Not every one of my plushies will get a page but I will dedicate a page to whoever inspires me in a particular moment. I may not share every page right away. But if I fill in an entire journal I will try to show the finished results of what I created! I will also be doing this at my leisure because this new hobby is an outlet for my creatively and mainly my emotions. Shout out to @ cafe-mouse for inspiring me

[not-cool-enough-to-scuba-dive]

actually I would quite like to hear your thoughts on gender philosophy in omegaverse worldbuilding? :3

hm. anon, I fear this is a far larger can of worms than you probably anticipated. I'm going to spare you the worst of it by only giving you a short version, but be careful what you wish for.

I'm also hiding it under a cut because even the short version is embarrassingly long.

I'm hardly a connoisseur of omegaverse content, nor would I consider myself anywhere near an expert. I don't want to speak for all fics as I've admittedly not read many. I did do my master's diss about legal gender recognition, so this is more about gender and philosophically sound worldbuilding than an indictment of any particular writing or story tbh.

the short answer is I find omegaverse worldbuilding really interesting, but I've never fully been able to enjoy it due to the way a/b/o identities tend to have a biological determinist slant to them imo, and tendency for a lack of real world implications of what the omegaverse does to gender and character interactions anywhere outside the bedroom. I'd love to figure out a version that's more inclusive and philosophically/ideologically consistent, both with itself and with my own views on real life gender (basically, I want to make it make more sense, have less biological determinism, and be more inclusive of the wider range of human experiences). this is a big task, and ngl I haven't achieved it and don't anticipate doing so any time soon. I have like, a concept in my head, taking apart all the key pieces and putting them together again but different, but to make it thorough enough would require more effort and time than I have because I'm like, employed 😔

I feel like someday if I ever get invited to a powerpoint night though, this could be It.

[cursezoroark]

afterthoughts

[harmonysanreads]

The urge to rebrand this blog as a library or a garden ueueueueueue

[skeletalheartattack]

Do you have a bluesky?

i do not, no.

[herrscherofmagic]

Not sure if this is a hot take, but...

I think Honkai Impact 3rd "Part 2" should have been its own game.

This has been on my mind for a while, and now that a lot of stuff has happened in the Hoyoverse (ending of HI3rd Part 2's first story arc, the end of the Fontaine arc, end of the Penacony arc, and the launch of ZZZ) I think now's a good time to share some of these thoughts.

(warning: MASSIVE wall of text bellow the cut)

I think there was a lot of uncertainty in the community when Part 2 was revealed; there were mixed feelings about the end of Part 1, and I know some folks were worried Part 2 would deviate too far from the core identity of "Honkai Impact 3rd".

However, as we're nearing the end of Part 2's first arc, I think Part 2 has actually done great on delivering a proper "Honkai Impact 3rd" experience. The writing still has much of the characteristic features of Honkai, and I think the character development has been great. It's got an interesting cast, cool setting, and it had a fairly straightforward opening story arc.

And yet, I can't help but feel like it could have been so, so much more if it weren't shackled by the older coding, gameplay, and story of HI3rd.

This isn't meant to trash on HI3rd Part 1, at least not too much. I loved Part 1 and Part 1.5, and I'd still play HI3rd regardless of whether it had Part 2 as we know it now.

But at the same time, every time I play Part 2 and I walk through Oxia, explore Langqiu, fight with the Astral Ring characters, hear the OST, read the in-game texts...

...it makes me think that Part 2 could have been an incredible game if it stood alone and was built from the ground up.

From a story perspective, I think the core themes of Part 2 would exist regardless of Part 1's presence. Since much of the important backstory of Part 2 happened literally millions of years before the events of Part 1, none of that would have to change.

Of course, as we go deeper into Part 2 (as it exists right now), there will be more and more connection with Part 1. But Oxia and Langqiu, the four continents of Luoxing, the story of the Seven Shus, the Astral Ring... these concepts all stand on their own with or without the events of Part 1.

If Part 2 were its own game, it could be set entirely in the past. There'd be no intervention from Earth because Earth would hardly even have multicellular life at this point. As for Venus (known in-game as Purusha by its prior civilization), it'd still have life at this point.

What's more, Helia and Coralie can easily be written as Luoxing natives! To keep the core theme of "two explorers are lost in the Sea of Data and get caught up in an adventure", they can come from a different bubble world instead- a bubble world that hasn't had any contact with Oxia yet.

So a lot of the things that Part 2 does well don't necessarily rely on the events on Earth. We don't need Schicksal or AE or the Herrscher of Finality, since Luoxing had its own civilization and its own organizations and its own... Herrscher? Whatever Sena's origin is, lol

For gameplay, the benefit is obvious: a brand new system.

The Astral Ring system would be its own brand-new thing, and it wouldn't be this meta-shifting chasm between the old and new in HI3rd. It'd be an equivalent to Genshin's elemental reactions, HSR's Break system, and ZZZ's anomalies (shock, corruption, etc.). So it could be more naturally implemented into the game mechanics.

Plus, no more "sorry guys, girls only!" for playable characters because it'd be its own game, so male characters like Baiji could have a chance at being playable. It wouldn't help the HI3rd male cast (Welt, Otto, Siegfried, etc.) become playable, but it at least unlocks the possibility of plenty of future male designs from Luoxing.

For the environment and general player experience, so many systems could be polished and developed far beyond what we have right now. Seeing what ZZZ's accomplished with its world and NPCs, if Part 2 (as a standalone) released after ZZZ, then that dev team could've built up even further on ZZZ's successes.

The UI is already pretty great, and it could just get even more features and fidelity. The navigation could be more interesting, for instance, with a better-developed map system and a similar concept to HSR's astral chart, where you could see locations like Oxia and Langqiu within the Sea of Data.

Oxia City itself could've launched with more locations, and more developed locations. The civic services, stores like Sweet Tooth and Antique Ink, the library, all these places could have more mechanics associated with them. The apartment system (the Part 2 "dorm") could be more flexible and have more variety to it. The Data Research Institute could be its own major location to visit with lots of characters to meet and interact with, too. Even Langqiu could have more locations!

We also could have more unique designs for a lot of the minor and major NPCs. There could be much more fidelity for NPC expressions and designs, and even playable characters would benefit from this too.

And don't even get me started on how great it'd be to explore more of Oxia City! Imagine if the city park we sometimes visit in the story could be its own big open location to visit. Or imagine we could use the light rail system to travel to other buildings and neighborhoods and explore more of the city that way.

Perhaps most importantly, it could develop its own unique style. Just as Genshin has its fairytail/fantasy vibe, HSR has the space opera theme going on, and ZZZ is urban life with a splash of eldritch horrors.

When I look at Oxia City, I kinda see it as the inverse of ZZZ's New Eridu.

New Eridu is similar to Oxia City in that they're both bastions of civilization in a post-apocalyptic scenario. But unlike New Eridu, Oxia City is much more tranquil (at least for now) and it's almost utopian in some ways.

It's got very developed infrastructure and research and it's not burdened by the need to invest heavily in fighting off a constant onslaught of monsters. This could change, but it at least gives a different starting point for the story's vibes.

In ZZZ, the Hollow Investigative Association and White Star Institute are the "establishment" while the Proxies and Hollow Raiders are the "underground" part of society. Since the MCs are Proxies, their behavior and lifestyle is greatly shaped by the clandestine nature of their work.

But in Oxia, it'd be different. Instead of laying low as a Proxy, the main character, Entropy is more like the researcher Ray of the White Star Institute. They wouldn't have to shy away from the authorities because they're fully part of the establishment. They get access to a lot of the resources and funding of the Data Research Institute, so this gives them a drastically different lifestyle than the Proxies of New Eridu.

This doesn't mean Oxia City has to be all prim and proper, though. It just means that we could see an MC with a different twist on the city life theme.

Plus it could have an even more cohesive OST. I already like the HI3rd Part 2 soundtracks, but there's not much of a common theme in them. It's something HI3rd's always suffered from, as it's always a collection of many disconnected pieces of music. It's pretty rare to see consistent use of musical motifs to denote locations, factions, or characters outside of literally a handful of the most important characters.

Furthermore, Part 2 has something unique about it that makes it stand out even more from all the rest of the Hoyoverse. Because most of it's backstory takes place long ago, we could have the same familiar setting of the solar system but drastically changed.

As I mentioned before, Earth would barely have developed life, and Venus/Purusha would have its own ecosystems and maybe even a civilization, a distant predecessor to the final civilization of Purusha. So even Earth itself would have a drastically different appearance due to plate tectonics and the climate. The game might start post-Great Eruption, when Oxia City is already in the Sea of Data, but as we learn about Luoxing's past we'd laso learn about its familiar-yet-unfamiliar neighbors.

This is such a unique concept, and it's a strong advantage. I think it'd be amazing if Part 2 could've been heavily marketed with this concept. There's countless examples of space exploration of the Sol system in sci-fi but very few explore the "what if?" of past life on Earth's neighbors. Part 2 filling that niche in the Hoyoverse would be simply incredible.

Not to mention how cool it is that we have so many allusions to the real life geography (or more specifically, areography). The four continents of Luoxing being based on four regions of Mars, the famous features like Olympus Mons and Valles Marineris being iconic locations in the Luoxing civilization, and so on.

That's already in Part 2 as it is right now but it could be expanded upon even more in a stand-alone game. Just imagine if the Part 2 main screen wasn't the elevator of HI3rd (though I love that elevator with a burning passion, don't get me wrong), but instead the main screen was a view of ancient Luoxing with it's blue oceans and green lands, the aurora, the clouds, the city lights in the night side of the world.

And so many of these locations would be the foundations for places to explore later in the Sea of Data. These Mars bubble worlds would be the Part 2 equivalent of Genshin's 7 nations, the countless worlds connecting by HSR's Star Rail, or the neighborhoods of New Eridu. So places like Langqiu could have more to see, more to do, and more to experience within them.

Despite all this rambling, I still genuinely have hope for the outlook of Part 2 as it exists right now. I think the developers still had a tremendous passion for this story and game, and I'm willing to let them cook as long as they need to.

Yet... Part 2 is burdened by so much of HI3rd's legacy content.

When I first got into ZZZ, I was blown away by how smooth and appealing so much of the player experience was. It all felt so cohesive and polished, and a lot of the activities feel so natural. Walking down Sixth Street, seeing the familiar faces of other store owners, running the video store, all of this just feels right.

I don't get quite the same feeling in Oxia. But I still love Oxia dearly, and I'd even go so far as to say that Oxia City feels more like home to me than St. Freya ever did. I can't say it has the same polish and detail of ZZZ's New Eridu, but when I explore Oxia I feel like the writers and artists and all the other developers are trying their damned hardest to make it work with what they've got.

I just wish Mihoyo could've handed the dev team a big stack of cash, a few years, and said "cook up the game of your dreams" and allowed them to come up with a brand-new experience just like ZZZ.

I don't know why Part 2 had to exist in this form. I doubt it couldn't exist without Part 1's story, but there could be other reasons. Maybe it's a cost issue, maybe they had no other ideas to continue HI3rd (APHO, though?), maybe they didn't have enough developers willing to start a new project, maybe maybe maybe...

I can't put any blame on the actual developers themselves. I don't even know if management is to blame, or if anyone is to blame. But whatever the complex web of causation truly is, the result is that Part 2 is exactly that: Part 2 of "Honkai Impact 3rd". It didn't get its own game with its own development process and its own standalone story.

That just feels like such a missed opportunity.

[redgearsmovin]

something that's been on my mind ever since i finished watching the series:

Specifically in "Aloha Nina", I really thought it would've been cool if the Movers would've maybe made Nina an honorary Mover. I saw someone's art of Nina in a pink Mover suit and just think that would've been so nice to see.

Like they acknowledged she helps them alot (in song and in other moments) and that she gets called to Mover huddles and included in a lot of what the Movers do. Warehouse Mouse had a Mover suit and was even included in a banner when he helped them out (yea i know he lives in the warehouse lol) so like, technically, why not Nina hahah.

I feel like that would've made such a big impact to the moment, even if it was actually a misunderstanding. But like, they thought Nina was leaving for good, they wanna make a attempt to convince Nina to change her mind on leaving right. And even so, being called a Honorary Mover would be such a big parting gift.

I get that she isn't a Mover, and that Imagination Movers is tied to their company/band so like, in meta analysis maybe they don't wanna cause confusion since she doesn't perform with them. but it's also why i said 'Honorary' and augh don't you agree it would've been so cool to see Nina in her own custom pink jumpsuit with the nametag and all .. doesn't even have to be pink (though that is her signature colour) i just really wanna see mover nina one time 🥲.

lol i'm rambling but if they did that i would be so emotional and the episode itself already gave me so many emotions so just imagine aaah.