#i was a trainwreck for other reasons but at least work wasn't part of it

[disco-lizard]

today was so ASS, we had 6 people call in 💀 on a saturday... plus the system decided to randomly give our store 20% more workload for god knows what reason... hardly any freight was taken care of so we had to dig and dig and dig in the back for shit that people ordered. thank god i don't give a fuck abt my numbers anymore bc otherwise i would've been a trainwreck today

[lunas-otome-blog]

Luna's Review: Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~

Official Summary:

Venture into a reimagined steampunk version of 19th century London. Follow the adventures of the poison-skinned maiden Cardia, the men trying to help her, and the mysterious organization intent on capturing her.

Experience a visual novel adventure brimming with literary and historical characters including Victor Frankenstein and Abraham van Helsing. Will Cardia find love, or destroy those she cares for? Her story is in your hands.

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(Spoiler-Free) Luna's Thoughts

This game was ok! It wasn't the trainwreck that was "even if Tempest," nor was its storyline as convoluted as "Cafe Enchante." I liked the historical figures and other fictional references, and the art was lovely.

A small thing that annoyed me is that they keep referring to Cardia's skin as "poisonous." I believe poison has to be ingested, so it would be more correct to say she is "acidic," but I guess that's not very charming to say lol. There are also a few plot points that seem a bit silly, and I didn't think the true end character necessarily deserved that role.

But overall, this was a solid game. The steampunk London setting was cool AF and I enjoyed the emphasis on airships and steam power. All the routes were pretty different, and though I would have liked to see more crossover between them, none of them felt extremely out of line like in some other games I've played.

I wasn't excited enough about it to bother with the ample supply of bonus content on offer, but I did like it and would consider playing it again in the future.

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(SPOILERS) Common Route

Honestly, Cardia's backstory is the weakest part of the game as writers scramble to explain why she can't wear normal clothes or stay in one room for long. She can't eat with normal utensils, for example, but nobody is concerned that she might melt through her bed because her hair covers her back and her hair isn't poisonous for some reason. Some details were given a lot of thought and some are just explained away with "science" that happens off screen.

None of that is truly an issue, but I feel like it could have easily been more streamlined to say, for example, that Cardia can melt living things. That would still have the effect of making her isolated, alone, treated like a freak and unable to interact with humans. But it would do away with some of the more contrived details such as how she avoids melting into the ground.

The scene that should have been one of the most emotional — when Cardia tells the story of how she was trapped in a cave and accidentally killed her mother figure — ends up feeling frustrating, as you yell "just melt the rock!" at the screen the entire time. She does, but not until too late. "But she didn't know she created toxic air!" you say. Ok, but surely she didn't want to sit in the cave indefinitely? She could have just started work to melt the rock immediately. Maybe the result would have been the same, but at least it would seem more logical.

I thought the first choice to ignore Lupin's offer, which dead ends the game as Cardia sets out on her own adventure, was very funny. I also liked how she starts becoming more expressive as she spends time with her boys. My favorite part is how it shows her gaining skills and learning to fight and defend herself. That's refreshing compared to some other series where the protagonist is always being protected.

Below follows some thoughts on the actual routes, in the order I played them.

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(SPOILERS) Impey Barbicane

What I thought was going to be my least favorite route ended up being my favorite. Impey is the flirt archetype, and also the genki character of the game. His route was the lightest, as he carries the least baggage of all the characters, but his sincere nature got to me.

Unfortunately, his flirtiness makes him annoying in other routes. Like, boy, I'm romancing someone else, back off!!

I do wish Impey being a vampire was more relevant to the game in general. I know that angsting over the fate of the vampires was more for Victor, Helsing and Delacroix II, but having Impey be a vampire was basically thrown in for shock value and didn't end up being super relevant.

I did think Nemo was an extremely fun villain and his design and speech pattern are so unique. He was a good foil for Impey, as they have similar reasons for becoming engineers, but he becomes the typical "mad scientist" here and takes everything a little too far.

I'd say Impey's route was the simplest of the five, but for that reason, I also thought it was the most solid, and the one that left me with the least questions.

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(SPOILERS) Saint-Germaine

Call me nitpicky, but Saint-Germain is the character with the most baffling design choices IMHO. His hair is ridiculous. He only wears half of his coat the entire time. He has watches all over his arms that seem to do nothing. Truly some odd decisions were made during his creation.

Aside from Victor, I'd say his route was the most angsty as he rebels against his job and his nature to save Cardia. Unfortunately, this results in him being off screen for a lot of his route as he kills his way through the other members of Idea to save Cardia.

I thought the whole route felt a bit overkill-y. This is a man who essentially caused the Black Plague, who knows what one bad decision can do, and yet instead of choosing to stay by her side and defend her, he abandons her to preemptively fight the other Idea members, none of whom are given a sprite except Guinivere. (Side note: I adore Guinivere. Easily one of the most rad characters of the game.)

What's stopping any other of the Idea members from attacking Cardia while she's left defenseless? It falls apart under scrutiny. Perhaps this is because Saint-Germain's attraction to Cardia was the least convincing for me. I just didn't feel much of a connection there.

I do love how you basically only see his eyes on his route. It makes it all the more threatening when you do. And despite how critical I'm being, I did think the concept of the Apostles of Idea was pretty cool. I just thought it was a little far reaching for the framework of this particular game.

While one of the more interesting routes, I'd call Saint-Germain's route the least romantic.

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(SPOILERS) Victor Frankenstein

Personality-wise, Victor is my favorite character. He's got baggage but desperately wants to reverse the damage he's done inadvertently. And he's so sweet and wears glasses! I did want to know what was up with his headphones but they're never addressed.

Victor's route is the one where you have to deal the most with Queen Victoria, and at least for me, this kind of ruined her character for me. You learn she was the instigation behind a lot of dark incidents and has an even darker one planned that basically equates to genocide. While in the true ending she fesses up and seems to have grown as a character, it was hard for me to get behind her again after seeing how needlessly cruel she was in Victor's route.

I absolutely adored the development of the Queen's relationship with Leonhardt in this route. Honestly I ship them more than most of the characters in this game with Cardia. Even if you want to interpret them as having a more father-daughter relationship, it's still really sweet. He clearly cares so much for her and just wants to guide her down the right path.

But back to Victor. I like that, despite being the gentle nerd of the game, he can still fight in his own way, and even teaches Cardia to do the same. It was nice to see him come out of his shell and become more confident as the game progresses.

Victor's route was solid and his relationship with Cardia is very believable. After all, he's done so much for her. He's the reason, in every route, that she can eat with the boys and wear different outfits. Cardia returns the favor by forgiving him for being involved in her creation. I did think the brief "is Victor my father" storyline was pretty funny. I mean, he kinda is though.

All in all, one of the better routes in my opinion.

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(SPOILERS) Abraham Van Helsing

Man, I wanted to like this route more than I did.

Van Helsing is the closest thing to a tsundere in this game, so I thought I'd like him and saved him for last before the true end. Unfortunately, he's so cool and collected that he rarely breaks, and he comes across as cruel a lot of the time, even when it's revealed that he's doing so to keep Cardia out of it. She's kept at arms' length so much that I didn't feel the relationship developed naturally. She isn't present for a lot of the conversations, either, though we do get to see them off-screen.

Helsing's route is also the one that's least connected to the rest of the storyline. He's got a few tie-ins, most notably to the Vampire War, but his dealings with Aleister didn't relate to the overall mission. It felt a little disjointed to me.

I also thought we'd see more of Delacroix II in this route. I figured it would be Cardia helping the two of them become friends. Delacroix needed to learn that Helsing regretted his actions. But we honestly don't get a lot of that. I also figured it would be more angsty, with Helsing's death wish being relevant, but again, that didn't come up a lot.

I do find it extremely endearing that he can't cook to save his life. And I feel bad that his is the only route that ends without him being able to touch Cardia.

I don't think this was a bad route. It just wasn't what I was expecting so it made me a little disappointed.

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(SPOILERS) Arsene Lupin

Lupin's route was ok. My gripes are mainly the same as with the true end of Collar x Malice: I don't think he's fitting for a true end character.

Not only is he visually the least interesting character, but his backstory is also not particularly interesting or impactful. A lot of stuff happens on his route just because it's the true end, and we have to wrap up the game. Lupin himself isn't particularly relevant to that.

He's a nice guy, sure. You can't help but like him and his positive attitude. I think his route is the one that most treats Cardia like a human, but this comes at the cost of not allowing her to do a lot. This could be seen as a positive, I suppose. She's spend most of the other routes convincing other characters that they should be forgiven, so it's fitting to have the final route involve forgiving Cardia herself for being created.

All in all, the game wraps up pretty well, and it felt like a suitable end for everyone. I just wish Lupin was a bit more interesting of a character.

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(SPOILERS) Side Characters

Here, I'm going to comment on a few side characters in the game.

Finis

No notes. Flawless character design. My theory for why he looks like this is that the original Finis and Cardia were both female. Maybe this is explained in the bonus content, idk. I've heard his hair donuts are part of the headband and not his actual hair. Either way, adorable. More male characters like this, please.

Herlock Sholmes

Upset this character wasn't a datable option. Perhaps that's for the bonus content. Either way, I wanted to see more of him. I thought he'd be more relevant in Lupin's route, and you do get to learn a bit about him, but not enough IMHO.

Queen Victoria

Who approved this outfit? I just wanna talk... Seriously, this is the worst sprite in the game. I get that her whole thing is about bees and visually there are a lot of honeycomb references, but surely we could have a black and yellow outfit that doesn't make her look like she raided an antique store.

[glorioustidalwavedefendor]

They don't do good things out of their heart. Thor only cares if he is worthy for his father, he doesn't think of his people. (...) Loki, on the other hand has the same issue, only care about being worthy, rather than doing out of his own heart.

I mean by that metric there are very few heroes in the MCU

Tony becae Iron ma to work through his guilt and also to work through his trauma ... and because he love sthe attention because he is a giant stagehog (fondly)

His movie susually revolve around him working through some personal bullshit while teh hero-ing is almost the B plot

We are never told why the fuc Bruce ended up a hero but the implication is that he also feels guilty

Same with Natasha

Clint just seems to end up in situation

The only one that is like "I don' like bullies and I want to do somethig about them" is steve and at any given time at least part of his desicions revolve around Bucky ...

And don't get me starte don teh guardians of teh galaxy, they mostly safe the universe becasue they happen to live there

Or ant-man, he was unemployed and needed a job

etc ...

Meanwhile Loki at least started half way selfless, the whole trainwreck started becasue he didn't want Thor to sit on teh Throne while he still was a thoughtless hot head that would start a war before breakfeast becaus e adiplomat looked wrong at him

And in TTDW he does agree to help for revenge but that doe snot involve proteccting Jane or risking his live for her

Like sorry, but Loki is one of the more selfless people in teh MCU ...

Another thing, if he was tired of living on others shadows, then he should have walked away. Isn't he fully aware its a losing battle? Is someone holding him back from leaving Asgard?And also HAVE THE COURAGE TO FACE ODIN. LIKE SAY" SCREW THIS SHIT , IMA DO MY OWN THING". Its the only way Loki would find peace within himself.Just like Zuko did.

Yeah, why don't abuse victimd just walk away from their toxic abusers?

Answer: becasue there are opsticles

Objective ones

subjective ones

or both

I mena you might as wel ask

If her step mother was really that bad, why didn't cinderella just leave?

Just like Zuko did

Zuko had his uncle who loved and supported him unconditionally

Something Loki never had

Even after Zuko had been single handedly responsible for Iro ending up in prison, his uncle still wasn't angry with him

Still told him that he oved him, immidiately

And even that much love and support was not enough to keep Zuko from going home the second he was allowed to

Only after that

And after he realize dthat he would never be good enough for his family he left

And only after being allowed to join team avatar and gettng from them teh love and friendship and support that e so severelly lacke din his live did he find teh strength to once and for all tell his father where he could stick it

It's not like he could have done it alone

And Loki would have had to do it alone

Zuko changes because he wants to do what's right for the world.

But the reason he is a person that wants to do the right thing is his uncle, who for yeasr heped these parts of Zukos personality survive

I doupt that Zuko would have been able to change if he had gone in to exile alone

I'm going to say something controversial, thor and loki are not good heroes at all. They don't do good things out of their heart. Thor only cares if he is worthy for his father, he doesn't think of his people. If he was, he would have been a good king and never would have given the throne to valkyrie who is way worse than both of them.She sold people for living and lived without consequences. Plus, what's wrong with being a Queen ? Is being called a king better? How inspiring for little girls everywhere.And both seemed to care about life of a warrior then being a ruler.

Loki, on the other hand has the same issue, only care about being worthy, rather than doing out of his own heart. Even in the series finale, he's simply try to please people who wouldn't do the same for him, unfortunately. Basically every sacrifice he did was for nothing. If Loki wanted to reform so much, he should have confronted Jotun rulers and the victims of 2012. There is seriously no point of talking of how much you changed when don't try to reach them. Imagine 2012 victim hearing him reducing the battle of new york to "daddy issues" in season 2.

Another thing, if he was tired of living on others shadows, then he should have walked away. Isn't he fully aware its a losing battle? Is someone holding him back from leaving Asgard?And also HAVE THE COURAGE TO FACE ODIN. LIKE SAY" SCREW THIS SHIT , IMA DO MY OWN THING". Its the only way Loki would find peace within himself.Just like Zuko did.

Thor and Loki aren't the worst heroes, since this seems to be an issue for almost every marvel hero except spiderman, who sacrificed a lot and lost many loved ones while saving others. I'm talking about spiderman ps4(including Miles Morales) by the way. Only they get to be called a hero.

Sorry, I'm just tired of people pushing 'selfishness' for 'selflessness' lately these days from the media.

Thor was a good hero from TDW to AoU for that period of time when he broke away from Odin's influence and made decisions for himself. When he was actually a teammate and friend to the Avengers. For that short period, that's when Thor was a good hero. But then Ragnarok happened, and Thor was right back to being arrogant and turning to daddy. Then Love and Thunder makes him worst in which Thor truly acks like a complete oaf, reckless in battle, insensitive and oblivious to his teammates. Not great

The thing about Loki is he's never allowed to be a hero. He is a character all about his unhealthy attachments. Everything he does is about is about other people. Either lashing out, taking for himself because those attachments didn't work out or basically martyring for those other people until he's dead. Loki does have a sense of morality, he is the most moral character in the loki series by far. But again because of how he attaches himself to others his focused of just doing things for others. Loki never develops out of this because writings thinks himself is in itself what is positive change for Loki.

We see Zuko whole journey in ATLA, there's a lot to what makes his redemptions one of the best written. We see in the Earth kingdom, interacting with others, seeing people as people and sympathizing with those who've lost something in the war. There is a moment after he's let Appa go and he's had his fever dream, Iroh gotten a tea shop and Zuko tries to put everything into being happy for Iroh, but it doesn't last. It would have never lasted or been redemption. What Zuko need was to get what he thought he wanted and realize it wasn't right. Zuko needed to confront his father, call him out and reject what he was offering. It's not just about Iroh, the Avatar or any single person. Zuko changes because he wants to do what's right for the world.

Very briefly Thor got that in TDW when he finally started to see through Odin and saw how bad he could be. Then that was forgotten even when it turned out Odin was even worse than he seemed at first.

[mizzpinkiewrites]

my Solondz deep dive/

While listening to Selma Blair's autobiography yesterday, she briefly mentioned Storytelling (2001), reminding me how much I love that movie and of the existence of its controversial (but highly esteemed) director Todd Solondz.

I decided to look at his other movies, of which I'd read detailed Wikipedia descriptions in high school, but never had the stomach to attempt screening. Starting with his beloved 1995 classic, Welcome to the Dollhouse. After devouring the first film I dove straight into Happiness, and promptly vomited at the 30-minute mark. I needed to take a long shower before I felt clean enough to continue.

My feelings on Happiness were so strong that I needed to pour through reviews, many of which praised the director as a visionary and called the movie laugh-out-loud funny- a guilty pleasure, so bad its good, etc... I wasn't shocked at this because honestly, most movies in the white/ hipster/ male/ manic pixie film canon have quite a bit of subject matter that I've been immediately horrified/repulsed by, but Solondz had me feeling conflicted. There's a feeling that because he's calling the bullshit out, he's not a part of it. Is he blameless in the culture he depicts? What are the consequences of the discourse he creates? Is it..funny? are these even comedies? A self-fulfilling prophecy? Where is the line? Why would you make this movie/ what is the urge to create... this? Does it serve a purpose? Does this reflect the violent culture of this era later to be marked by the themes that his films predict, or does it instruct them? I also am perplexed by these feelings of guilty pleasure many of us find in these movies, the urge to peek through our fingers and watch, to take a shower and try again, to experience and enjoy the trainwreck.

This era of films is marked so distinctly by the way children are used to display violence, perversion, corruption and overall plain evil to drive home a message about suburbia, internet culture(sometimes), and banality. Though played out by kids of the millennium, the messages are the gospel of Gen X, cynical and ironic to a fault, playing upon their own experiences growing up, but also blending with anxieties for the generation they were watching arrive. These movies say something about "late" capitalistic trends and the depravity of white suburbia, the dream sprung from colonial acts of violence, but also seem to intend to reveal something inherent in mankind itself.

It is with these thoughts and questions that I intend to work through a deep dive into Solondz's works. Or at least the reasonably accessible ones, if my brain can stand it.

[the-acid-pear]

Holy shit that was an experience, time for some final thoughts!! Don't want to make this liveblog any fucking longer.

So, where the hell to start! This movie is a fucking trainwreck, so let's get the problems it had out of the way first.

This movie just like many sequels of action movies just completely lost the feeling the og had. In fact, this one had an oddly... edgier vibe. Lots more of slurs were thrown around (and it was not like the first were it was always awkward or visibly out of place), lots more of sexual content for some goddamn reason, and a lot more of killing.

The scrip on itself was all over the place to the point where it contradicts itself in what is trying to tell you. For example you have Rocco coming in the brothers dream, promoting toxic masculinity bc its oh so great! But what's the point of that when you have Romeo as a main character, guy who cried like 3 times? Hell even the saints cried even after that dream!

Speaking of Romeo, was it me or was his character just, greatly unused? Like he was a funny guy, i liked him, but he got completely thrown to the side during the later half of the film, which is kind of lame. I don't know what could have been done with the guy but it's not my work to think of that, just dont have him as decoration on the background, man! akfsjnjna

I do actually blame the duke for Romeo's underdevelopment as a character. I strongly hate the duke btw. Not because of how he is as a character, but because of how he is as a tool for the story. While on paper he sounds cool, he did so fucking little in both movies, to the point it just felt nearly forced in, as if he was taking away the space for other characters to shine. I also don't like how the guy that plays him acts but that's just me.

AND! Last but not least complaint, the music sucked in this movie man like holy shit. I never focus on stuff like that but when you compare this one to the previous the vibe the music creates is so much different and for worse. I don't dislike the songs but they just dont hit right.

So! With all my complaints out of the way, let's focus on the good parts! Like Romeo. I love Romeo <3

Other than Romeo, the movie was pretty fun i'll give it that. If there's something that remained from the first it's its over the topness and comical insanity, plus the stupid dialogue and the brothers' beautiful and realistic relationship.

I also absolutely loooved that fucking ending, like, Louie's whole character and the duke getting a fucking redemption arc?? That shit was amaizing. And the whole deal with Smecker actually being alive too like !! Also Bloom looks so good w dark hair bro...

I did also really enjoy the little shoutbacks to the first movie (except when it was Bloom trying to be like Smecker like i get she was influenced by him but stop, just stop).

So, overall, was this movie good? Weeelllll...... Maybe it wasn't as bad as i expected but it sure wasn't great JNASJHAJHAF the first one gets to keep the crown. I think that you should only watch this movie if you are like too big of a fan and need to see more of these brothers, otherwise don't please. It's not fucking worth the 2 hours.

As a final note it makes me super sad that that ending was hinting at a third movie that never came, because in universe the goddamn brothers just rotted in prison for all we know NJAFSHAKJSN 😢💔

They did say a third movie started being made last year so i'll sure be ready to liveblog that when it comes out! Hopefully we will get a gilfy Smecker 😳🥴 AMKSMNFSAJH

I refuse to waste the rest of my day time to watch The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day because it's about time i do so.