#i wish this game had a first person mode

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

[i-yap]

Can I get your thoughts on a gn reader who’s dating Grayson and is like a parent figure or older sibling to Damien, so they have a soft spot for him ( so does Damien ) ?

Dick grayson x gn!y/n x platonic!Damian

this is my first time writing a gn reader so like I'm sorry if I write something stupid or offensive, just comment it and ill fix it.

if you are dating dick then damian will stalk you extensively at first. Dick is his favorite sibling ( in most comics) and if dick is serious about you, stalking is just how the batfam shows love.

He will be rude , he will be mean and sarcastic but dick warned you and you understand where dami's coming from. So you kindly and patiently deal with him and dick obviously doesn't let Dami cross the line when it comes to you.

One night dick had to rush out for a really scary mission and told you to stay at the manor because its the safest place to be.

Damian was the only other person that was left behind since the mission required everyone else on the team and bruce did not think damian was ready for such a high risk mission just yet.

so damian was really frustrated and also worried for the rest of the family. you walk past Dami's room to see him staring off in the distance while fidgeting or biting his nails. You ask alfred for a chess set ( or any other board/card game) and bring it to dami's room. While playing , he opens up about his frustrations and you patiently listen . Not a lot of people in his family are as warm and caring as you are ( maybe dick but even he is really busy)

After that night the roles are reversed. Now damian thinks dick is undeserving of you and his snarky comments are directed to him. You just find it funny while dick is left confused. "I thought he liked me more man, why the sudden switch?" " he got enlightened dickie boy muhahah" " you are mind controlling him arent you"

One-on-one time in the manor- haha dick wishes. So he tries only calling you when dami is at school or training or patrol. ofc you and dami catch on soon which means you and dami chasing him with katanas.

talking about katanas, dami loves showing you his art and his pets and if you share an interest in either of them he gets even more excited.

you and dick become dami's honorary parents. might as well adopt him since bruce and talia are obviously not doing a very good job ( in most comics) .

whenever dami is mad at bruce or simply upset or bored he comes to you and dick's apartment. You and dick are the fun warm loving couple that spend the night playing board games and watching stupid movies . you introduce him to all the major pop culture shows and movies and dick teaches him how to just dance randomly. your apartment is so different from the gloomy , filled with blood stains, fights and training manor. its filled with music and love and warm lights cooking together in funny pjs and dancing badly to pop songs.

it is watching you and dick that dami realizes what love is supposed to look like. and what a normal household looks like( sort of normal) and it affects the way he grows up. I wont be surprised if he comes to you for parents teacher meeting days or to sign his field trips or for advice on normal things

and the canon where dami is being bullied in school, while you go full on protective mode ,dick tries teaching him how to be better in social situations.

overall dami is just counting down days dick marries you and you'all unofficially adopt him.

[ubeb0nes]

Sevika x fem!bar owner!reader

Pt. 2

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a/n: sorry this took so long lmao. I completely scrapped the first version i wrote of this because it just got too damn long

regardless, we're here now and i hope you enjoy!!

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"So… what is it exactly that you do?"

You'd asked her the question on yet another night where she'd stayed extra late, long after the last patrons had bid you a good night (or very early morning) and all the chairs had gone up.

(Sevika had put them up, even after you'd distinctly told her not to before you went into the kitchen. Your fault, really)

She ponders the question, wondering if you're playing at something more or really just asking. She knows you're smart. It's why she likes you. But she just doesn't know how smart.

"I hurt people, usually," she said casually. If the answer offended you, you displayed the opposite of it.

Your glasses clinking was the only sound to clash with the jukebox, ringing in a gentle sense of understanding on your part.

"A lucrative business here," you say.

"In the long-term. Better be, at least."

For someone who's known as The Lioness of the Lanes, it's a while before you ever see her lion'ing about or whatnot.

She's never violent in your establishment. But you know bad people, you know how to pick up someone's capacity for violence. Sevika has a huge one.

But you understand quickly that there's a reason she's called 'Lioness' and not 'hyena', or something. Her violence is never undue. If she bares her teeth, it's to protect.

Physical altercations aren't at all uncommon in your bar. It's the Undercity after all, these things happen but people always move on from it quickly.

You've noticed that people always seem to... "act right" whenever Sevika's at your bar that night. The meanest-looking men in your bar straighten their posture when she walks by their table, others greeting her with a nod of respect (or submission).

"Wow. I'm glad you like me, at least," you say as she sits down, right in front of you like always.

"Says who?" And she always gives that smug little smile when you laugh in response.

While she's watched/admired you put more than one customer on their ass for trying to cause a scene in your establishment, it's always with a protective posture.

She goes into guard dog mode the moment you cross out from behind the protection of your bar to tell a drunkard off. Her poker buddies poke fun at her for it.

She intervenes before you even get the chance to one time. Perhaps it's because the man keeps drunkenly bumping into her shoulder, or because his boisterous voice keeps causing her head to snap over to him.

You're busy laughing at her expense when the man turns his antics on you. You're perfectly content to brush off whatever rudeness he spouts at you, but Sevika clearly isn't when her hand shoots out and grabs the back of his neck.

He'd called you a dumbass or something of the sort in a more distasteful manner when you'd cut him off. Sevika's eyes had flared with a personal, wrathful anger before she'd grabbed him by the scruff.

"You know better," she snaps. It would be as if she were lecturing a child if it weren't for the man's face pressed against the bar. She's pressing him into the surface with nothing but the strength of her human arm, her large body looming over his as he slurs out an apology.

God, you wished she would grab you like that- who said that??

The next time she comes in, you insist her whiskey's on the house.

"Consider it compensation for dealing with that guy last night." She rolls her eyes at you as she lights her cigarillo on the lighter you offer, and throws a few bills on the bartop anyway (hot).

You throw them back at her with a playful glare, and subsequently earn yourself a real one. You feel a shiver run down your spine that's for any reason but fear.

"Don't play this game with me, you'll lose." To you, that really didn't sound all that bad.

Before you can even think, she's leaning forward and tucking the bills into the pocket of your apron in the middle of your sternum. The look she wears is challenging as she sits back, almost expectant of a reaction.

You don't disappoint, reaching out with two fingers to pluck the cigarillo from her lips and taking your own drag. Your eyes never leave hers, watching her shamelessly stare at that damn cigarillo with a burning jealousy.

"Hm. I picked a good brand, didn't I?" "Yeah, yeah, hand it back before you choke, princess."

You try not to let it get to your head (and heart) how it makes you feel when she calls you that, or any other name like 'baby', 'sweetheart', or 'beautiful'.

And you try not to let it get to your head how you seem to be the only one here who she calls those things.

Neither of you had any idea how hopelessly hers you already were.

While Sevika's "occupation" slowly becomes clearer to you, the amount of energy she puts into protecting you is completely out of sight and mind.

She tries to convince herself that her reasoning for continually lying in Silco's face is purely pragmatic; you're good for the community, providing a warm reprieve for the kids in the city against the harsh reality of Silco's slow revolution. As far as she's concerned, Zaun profits more from your continued thriving than any amount of money she could intimidate out of you.

The idea of ever coming into your bar for collections makes her a little sick, if she's honest. Never you. It's far too late for that now.

So when Silco sends her to do exactly that (because you're just that savvy at running your business), she feels her heart churn. She can only say no to Silco so many times and in so many ways. There's no way around this one without raising his suspicions, and she doesn't have the backing to combat that yet.

Your unfailing smile when you see her comes in makes her want to punch her own face in. She hates that she's fond of you.

"Hey good-lookin', you're late! What kept y-" "I'm here on business this time." "O..oh...?"

She explains Silco's tax with a coldness you've grown unfamiliar with from her. You take it like you would a slap to the face, growing angry before you can risk feeling sad.

"Sevika, what the hell is this? I've minded my damn business ever since I opened, the hell did I do to piss him off?" "It isn't personal, princess. You asked me what I do. I don't think I ever gave you the impression it was pretty." "If I knew petty extortion was what freedom-fighting meant to you, then I would've kept those cigs for myself."

You don't give her much more room to say anything after that before you're throwing a bag of coins at her and telling her to get the fuck out. She expected as much. You were hardy and quick to adapt, just like Zaun.

Sevika's done plenty of things in the name of a better future that she isn't proud of. But your money seemed to burn a hole through her hand, and the sting didn't fade even after she'd dropped it on Silco's desk.

"Good work," he said flippantly, as if she didn't always do good work. Go to hell.

She imagines it's your hand holding her lighter when she smokes through nearly half a pack later that night.

The soft voice of a shelved version of her whispers that maybe just this once, she should fight for something only she wants.

She tries to push away the thought and reason that it was always going to end up this way anyways, while you close down the bar for the night alone.

[jojo-schmo]

✿ Forgotten Land Roleswap AU ✿

✦ 3rd Anniversary ✦

I was hoping to get this Light Novel cover redraw finished by today, but I haven't been feeling well and ran out of time- but I still wanted to at least share this WIP and muse on how much things have grown during these three years, and how much this project has meant to me so far.

April 12, 2022 was the day I created posted the first doodles that would, unbeknownst to me at the time, germinate the idea that would transform into a passion project spanning multiple years. I had just finished Kirby and the Forgotten Land's story and slowly getting back into the Kirby fandom space for the first time in years. It had been a long time since a game made me feel as wonderful as Forgotten Land did. I've loved Bandana Waddle Dee since I first played Return to Dreamland on the Wii when I was a kid, and wished he had more opportunities to shine outside of directly supporting Kirby in the game. I also love "What If" and "Roleswap" AUs, so I considered what would happen if I swapped Bandana Dee and King Dedede's role in the game.

The posts didn't really get much traction at first, which was fine. But I kept going back to the idea after a few days and thinking about how to push it further. Instead of just swapping Bandee and Dedede, what if Dedede was Player 1 to increase the stakes of rescuing the kidnapped Waddle Dees? Dedede wouldn't have access to Mouthful Mode, so how would the gameplay work then? Instead of Kirby taking care of everything with his own Mouthful Mode, it could be more fun to have Meta Knight be Player 2 instead, and explore their teamwork dynamics and problem-solving methods together!

So I explored an alternative- Combo Mode! And developing and researching ideas for that lit a spark within me! I had to keep going after that!

Now I had to consider, if I'm already swapping around all the main characters, I'm starting to have an entirely new universe here! What's next to change up? For the heroes' companion, I felt like Elfilin wouldn't behave very differently in this AU than in canon, he would probably continue to be friendly and helpful and sweet. Which would be okay- but to make things more interesting for myself, what if I played around with the origin story of the missing pieces of Fecto Forgo and switched "Elfilis" and "Elfilin" around? That way there's new obstacles and possibilities there and maybe I can even surprise some people with the lore down the line!

Now I'd had my Dream Team shuffled around, a very different mysterious companion for them... And why stop there? Why not play with the Beast Council's roles too while I'm at it to make things even more interesting for myself to write?!

From the early days of this AU Project...

To my more recent work...

...Now here we are.

It'd been a long, long time since I enjoyed the creation process of anything for myself like this! I was coming out of some pretty hard times in the early 2020s, and in a lot of ways, this AU has been there alongside me during a years-long journey to get help for my mental health, to become more confident in who I am and what I can bring to the world around me, and to love myself. Now I'm the best version of myself I've ever been, and I can pour so much more into my art and writing, especially with this AU!! <3

AND MAN, does it feel good to see physical evidence of my art style's evolution side-by-side! Like comparing my first Light Novel cover redraw from 2022 with my current WIP!

Creating this AU has taught me so much about storytelling, the medium of comics, organization, and most of all, to enjoy the process and really push my personal limits in a positive way. I've met so many amazing people since starting this story, some of whom have inspired me in ways I never could've imagined. Some very key people have even helped me ponder different mediums to tell this story.... Some animatics... or maybe even more interactive storytelling...? I am slow cooking some fun ideas, dear reader....

This AU gave me the confidence to become more involved in the fandom space and find community among people who have taught me so much. I am so, so grateful for this project.

I know it's taken some time to get here. I still work full-time and now I'm pursuing a second bachelor's in hopes of a career change that will allow me more time to focus on creating someday. But for now, free time can be frustratingly limited for me. It's also taken this long because I've put a lot of thought into how to set up the metaphorical "dominos" in the forms of foreshadowing and world-building I want, to do my best to make the wait worth it for the future plot pay-offs and reveals I have planned!! I'm hoping to continue to pick up speed with updates as I increase my skill and solidify my master plan for this story... MUAHAHA....

I plan on seeing this project to the very very end, and I can't wait to continue this journey with you all. Especially with the announcement of Star-Crossed Worlds!!! I'm not too worried about it turning my AU lore upside-down quite yet since it's post-game content and my bigger lore drops are still a little bit away, so I have time to navigate that when it does drop :3

Thank you to everyone who has read, enjoyed, and supported this project in any way, whether it's a like, comment, reblog tag, dm, carrier pigeon, paper airplane- whatever!! <3 I love, appreciate, and am beyond grateful for every reader, supporter, and friend I've gained in the past three years!!

Cheers to a successful three years under my belt, and I look forward to the future!! By the end of this journey, I hope you will enjoy reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

🫧 Love, Jojo T. Schmo 🫧

★○★○★○★○★○★○★○★

♫ Laughing loud! Even if you're far apart, they're right by your side. Hearts full of love! Everyone is welcome to live in this new world. ♫

｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡

[kaile-hultner]

Help me dig upward: the Tumblr post

In which I talk a little bit about the hole I’ve been in for a hot minute—and what I want to do to dig out of it.

Hey y’all,

For the second time in a few years I’m starting a GoFundMe. This time, though, it’s not for the site, at least not explicitly. It is to help me get out from under the weight of debt that I’ve been carrying for more than a decade at this point, but which has finally gotten so bad that it’s affecting everything from my sleep patterns to my overall mental health and ability to do the thing that you likely already support me for: this website. 

If you’ve been wondering why the posting has decreased here, or reduced in quality, or why we started 2024 off publishing other writers and then just as suddenly stopped doing that again, this is why: I am out of money, I am in debt, and it feels like I’m living every day in pure, basic survival mode. 

This GFM, in which I’m asking for $10,000, is a moonshot, a Hail Mary. I don’t expect it to raise anything; it will be the last time I ask the Internet for money, whether it works or it doesn’t. If it works, obviously it’ll mean I’ll be able to post more and maybe my mental health will improve and I won’t feel like every moment is a countdown to a terrible ending, and I’ll be able to think of compelling angles to talk about video games again. If it doesn’t work, maybe I’ll figure something else out. Bankruptcy, probably. I don’t know. 

I hate doing this. I hate being in this position. I hate that I’ve already asked for money this year and people have been extremely generous and it just feels like all that generosity just went into a hole. I wish I had something to show for that generosity, or proactively for anything I gain from this campaign. So, if there is something you want me to cover or talk about or look at in exchange for your support on this campaign, just shoot me an email with proof of your donation, no matter how small. It’s kaile@noescapevg.com. I can’t promise I’ll write a bunch of magnum opuses at your request but I will do what I can just simply to show appreciation for your support. 

Anyway, this feels bad to me and I’m already starting to regret it, so I’m going to wrap this up by saying thank you in advance and I owe you my life. I wish that was figurative.

Edit: here is the text of the GFM I posted. 

Hi y’all,

My name is Kaile Hultner. I am an online cultural critic who has been running the video game criticism website No Escape since 2019. My work has been featured in other places like PC Gamer, Polygon and Bullet Points Monthly. And like a lot of people, I have been deeply in debt for years. 

Debt is a very strange phenomenon. As anthropologist David Graeber demonstrated in his book Debt: The First 5000 Years, it is a phenomenon that imparts a kind of moral valence on a person; whether or not that person can pay their debts is a sign of their trustworthiness or virtue as a member of polite society. Yet you can’t go without debt: at some point, at least in the United States, you have to pick up a form of debt – credit – to establish your credit score, without which you can’t rent an apartment, buy or lease a car, or, in some cases, even get a job. Being debt-free can harm this score, as can having a credit history that is “too young.” 

I’ve been in debt for a long time. I’ve been managing my debt for over a decade. Every year for the last six or seven years in particular it feels like I’m losing progressively more and more ground. Seven years ago I had a car; I could do things like deliver Uber Eats and DoorDash and make extra money whenever I ran out. It broke down in my driveway in 2022 and I couldn’t afford to take it to a mechanic to get it fixed. I sold it for $200. I haven’t been able to replace it. I don’t know what I’ll do if I ever need a car for anything. Luckily my day job is WFH. 

Recently, I’ve been fighting with my old bank over charges it erroneously applied to my account in excess of $1000, causing it to go deep into the negatives. I’ve been slowly, slowly digging myself out of that hole thanks to some close friends and some very kind folks who follow me on the Internet. But it’s caused other debts to exacerbate. And tonight I realized that I am at the end of my rope. I can’t do this anymore. I won’t sit here and say that I’ve done everything right; certainly, more than one bad decision made out of desperation has put me here. I won’t make excuses for that. But I’m tired of being here, in this position. I’m tired of waking up in the middle of the night with heart palpitations because I got an alert from my bank that I’m in the negatives. I’m tired of getting emails and phone calls from debt collectors. I’m tired of living in basic survival mode with no discernible path forward. I’m tired of being tired, of not having the energy to be creative and do the work I’ve built an online presence around for five years. And paradoxically, I’m tired of asking people on the internet for money. 

So I’m going to ask people on the internet for money, one final time. 

I’ve set the goal at $10,000. This is far more than I’m honestly expecting to get, but if I get even a fraction of that I could finally obliterate my debts in a meaningful way. I do have specific milestones that I basically need to meet, otherwise this GFM doesn’t hit its maximum effectiveness, but otherwise the sky is the limit. If I reach the whole amount… I don’t really know what I’ll do. Cry, maybe. 

Milestones – bolded are high-priority

Milestone reached! $750 – gets my old bank account out of the negatives. Eliminates one vector of harassment, allows me to close that account and move on. 

Milestone Reached! $1800 – does the above and allows me to fully pay any late or past-due loan payments missed as a result of the bank issue.

Milestone Reached! $6000 – does the above and allows me to fully pay off all installment loans 

$8000 – does the above and allows me to pay off any remaining debts. 

$10,000 – does the above and allows me to start saving. 

$10,000+ – basically a moonshot, I have no idea what I’ll do with extra. 

I fully do not expect you to donate to this. There are people trying to escape genocides, much more abject poverty, crushing medical debt, and so much more that feel – at least to me – so much more worthy of your attention and money. But just know that if you dodonate something, you have my undying appreciation. I will quite literally owe you my life. 

I’m going to post this now before I get too emotional or lose my nerve entirely, but again: thank you. Even if all you do is read this. 

—Kaile

[oltammefru]

Civilight Eterna is an incredibly incredibly interesting character, and has so so much going on so I thought I'd share my read on her. First off, Civilight Eterna isn't Theresa. Like, at all. In her dialogue, she repeatedly says she's not Theresa, talks about Theresa as a person distinct from her, and seems uncomfortable when the Doctor treats her as if she is Theresa.

The way I see it, she is actually far more like Kal'tsit and Amiya than she is Theresa. Once you accept that, I think Civilight Eterna becomes an incredibly, incredibly interesting character who provides a large amount of great characterization to Theresa.

The real Theresa is dead and gone and erased forever now, but ironically, if anything, after ep14, the narrative is far more haunted by Theresa than it ever was. For the most part, no one is particularly happy with CE being on the landship as she is: for Kal'tsit, who had finally come to terms with her grief and loss, all CE really does is dredge up all the pain and sorrow and hatred she felt about Theresa's death.

For the Doctor, she is a source of self-doubt and guilt over their past sins.

There's also an interesting contrast between her and the Doctor, as CE spells out, with one of them being an existence entirely of memory, and the other having none at all.

Amiya is mostly ok about her, but even for her, CE a reminder of who and what she has lost. She sees CE and understands and sees her not as Theresa, but as something else, but because of her resemblance to Theresa, she can't help but be reminded that Theresa is gone, and she won't be able to see anything she's done or gone through anymore.

Theresa, herself, is gone for good now, but the shadow of her last deed hangs over them all. CE as a character takes the enormous background presence Theresa has in the narrative and she makes it a lot more personal than it already is. As a character, CE takes the ghost of Theresa that's been haunting the narrative in the background and drags it kicking and screaming into the forefront, forcing the main trio to confront it.

The person most haunted by Theresa is Civilight Eterna herself. She was made with the purpose being a replica or substitute of Theresa, with the memories of Theresa, but she's really not her, and she's in fact quite bothered by such a concept. The impression I get from her files is that her arc as a character (provided they give her continued story content and don't just throw her by the wayside) is mostly about her struggles to find an identity for herself beyond the one she was assigned and was made to be (which very much parallels much of Amiya's struggles throughout the her entire character arc!)

In most of the story, Theresa is framed as this, almost mythical, larger-than-life figure, who you hear of often and her legacy greatly influences everything that unfolds, without actually appearing except in brief glimpses and flashbacks (until the story starts peeling back the curtain on her with Babel.) For someone as existent and present as CE is, there is no way that she could actually live up to the legendary figure that Theresa was, nor does she want to. The mythos surrounding Theresa is so great that just by virtue of being made to be like Theresa, this serves to erase any identity or personhood of her own she might have (once again, parallels with Amiya.)

(This is also somewhat painfully ironic on a meta-level. If you engage with CE's content at all, it spells out the fact that she is very much not Theresa, but just because she was made to resemble her, even the playerbase of the game thinks of and sees her as Theresa!).

The thing that's juiciest about this to me is that the relationship she has with Kal'tsit. Kal'tsit is maybe the one person who can truly empathize with CE and her mode of existence: both were made and instilled with some driving, defining purpose, but wish to carve out an identity of their own; both occupy some messy, intermediate state between humanity and inhumanity; and both struggle with the risk of being subsumed by some ideal or identity far beyond what they could possibly be. But instead, Kal'tsit can't bear to see the sight of CE, she gives her the cold shoulder, and is unwilling to meet her eyes. Even if Kal'tsit does understand that CE isn't really Theresa, she can't help but see her and think of Theresa, and for CE, this is incredibly, incredibly alienating, that the one person who should be able to truly understand her and her struggles to find an identity for herself, sees her more as the person she was made in the image of and could never really be, instead of her own person.

In light of the fact that CE's files state Kal'tsit has been avoiding CE is so fucked actually, especially when you think about this in the context of Lone Trail. Lone Trail takes place over an (in-setting) year after CE shows up, and despite this, she is never been mentioned or referenced at all, even obliquely. Has Kal'tsit just been coping about it for an entire year straight*? Like, here's about how I imagine this goes: The Doctor mentions CE to Kal'tsit exactly once and immediately gets the hint to not do so. They don't get a lecture about this. They don't even get a Kal'tsit Stinkface Talksprite. She just looks, however minutely, a slight bit more tired and sad. And so that's the last time they ever bring it up. And the thing is, CE has the same care and love that Theresa had, and she wants so so desperately for the people Theresa (and by extension her) cares about to be happy. And so if the only thing she can do for Kal'tsit is to remain completely out of Kal'tsit's sight, existence unacknowledged, no matter how much she might want to reach out, no matter how soulcrushing and painful it might be to do so, she would do this and bear all the pain, out of the love she has for Kal'tsit.

The main way we see Theresa characterized before Babel and Ep14 is through the things and people she's left behind: the people who lived because she died, a dream, a photo of her snuck when she wasn't looking (she was looking), a flower garden, a letter, a promise, a girl made to bear the weight of the world and an apology to her. CE is the last thing she leaves behind, her last act, her last sin before she exits the story for good. In particular, I think CE as a character is some really good final characterization for Theresa, one that serves to highlight her character flaws.

As a person, Theresa is sort of messy. I mean this specifically in the sense she is a person who does great and grand things, knowing that there will be consequences (both foreseen and unforeseen), and does them anyway, often leaving a mess in the process for others to pick up. In Warfarin's 2nd operator record: her attitude towards Theresa highlights this well, to her, no matter how noble her ideals and how good her intentions might be, the fact of the matter is that she is starting a civil war who which will get people killed. In this regard, I think her creation of CE fits her character perfectly. What she does in episode 14: finally being able to free the Sarkaz from the shackles of Originium, and making CE as a final act of care to Amiya, fulfilling her promise to Amiya to always be with her, but making a huge mess in the process, serves as a perfect capstone to Theresa as a character. Even though she is now gone, the effects of her last choice and legacy still hang over those who knew her.

*Of course it could also be that they wrote LT at a time where there were no plans to have CE be a character at all, but especially when it comes to things like this, HG does generally write things years ahead of time. The ending of Lone Trail does feel very much like it was written with Babel already in mind, and Vigilo was also clearly written with Babel in mind (see: Memoria specifically) despite being released several years before Babel.

[asaka-lucy-dr-rc]

日本語版はこっち。 I made a manga of my favorite dialog between Nekomaru and Hajime from Island Mode. (I'll explain why I love it afterward.) Note: The dialog is taken directly from the game, but I’ve adjusted their expressions and some details for the manga.

Here’s my long-winded explanation:

I absolutely LOVE Hajime’s final line, “I actually want popcorn...” I think it’s just SO adorable, but I’ve never seen anyone talk about it, so I decided to draw it myself.

Technically, it’s an inner thought and not something he says out loud. But even so, Nekomaru makes that totally wild (and endearing😄) comment, “Instead of salt flavoring, I wouldn’t mind if you went with salt itself!”—and yet, Hajime doesn’t criticize that bizarre statement at all. Instead, he just quietly mutters his own wish. It’s such a quintessentially Hajime moment, and that’s what I love about it.

If this had been Makoto or Shuichi, they probably would’ve reacted differently, saying something like, “Eating salt by itself? Seriously?” or “Salt is not movie food!” They’d focus on how ridiculous the idea of eating salt is. But Hajime doesn’t do that—he doesn’t deny it at all. That subtle display of his naturally timid personality is so endearing that the moment I saw it, I just thought, Oh my gosh, this boy is just too precious! 😆💕💕 (Also, I just love how surreal the entire conversation is. Of course you’d want popcorn. Haha!)

By the way, Nekomaru was the easiest to find the correct option in Island Mode to me. I remember I chose the right option for this scene on my first try, so I think that if the characters from DR2 existed in real life, he’d probably be the one I’d get along with best. The character whose options I got most wrong was Teruteru (with Nagito a close second). Even though I love them both and was really serious about choosing the options! 😭😭😭

Thanks for reading! 💖🫶

[undead-cypress]

Some more shitposts and Jpn new game + notes

I THINK (because it's not like I have a script nor am I particularly observant) this miiiiight be the first instance of a personal pronoun? 自分 is a pretty impersonal one though, which makes sense in this context because this is the scene announcing Will's entry into the tournament. The dialogue choices here are, in response to (paraphrased because I don't remember it exactly) "Entry to the tournament? With this runt?"

> It's me who's entering

> not a runt

> don't answer a question with another question

I picked "not a runt" because it is endlessly amusing to me how obviously Will was supposed to be even younger. We're not a baby :((( not born three weeks ago :((((

(please ignore how, in my blazed out state, took me several minutes to try to type in "Jingles" - long story - on the PS4 while still forgetting to add the " to シ so now I'm stuck with "Shingles" for a mc name. Oops. The Japanese PS4 keyboard mapping is NUTS. You know how they put the English keys in alphabetical order?? When you're wired to use QWERTY?? It's kinda like that. It's hard when you're high.)

In other pronoun stuff, all the street vendors (not shop keepers though) refer to the MC as お兄さん, even though they're all universally WAY older. It's more of an informal way to show deference to a potential customer, a rank thing rather than an age or family thing.

Brigitta's pronouns for her dog are basically it/it's 😂. Mostly because she refuses to give it a name, so she refers to the dog as コレ, コイツ, etc

I think it's funny this is Strohl's default mode. I never noticed until now, when one of the ranked events had him going up to the landlord guy like this and for a second I wondered if we're supposed to interpret it as "we saw you across the street and we hate your vibes". But nah that's just his normal. Nobody else's idle pose has clenched fists, this is excellent. I've said it before but his line deliveries are a bit more aggro/seething in Japanese and maybe that's why I'm noticing.

Also, Rangief calls him Leon-bocchama. While "bocchama" translates to "young lord" it's pretty rare and embarrassing to call anyone over the age of eh.... 14 that. It does make the sub theme of Strohl's ranked episodes of coming to age as an adult come through a bit more when Rangief drops it at the end. Also it's funny. The English version places more emphasis on worthiness and responsibility rather than the growing up aspect, which I think is fine tbh because that IS the main thing. Age hierarchies matter less in the anglosphere and it would just be kind of baffling without explanation on why East Asia is obsessed with age hierarchies. And just hierarchies in general.

(it's Confucius's "trickle down ethics"'s fault)

Oh yeah the "my kind of strange" line everyone keeps screenshotting is less interesting in Japanese, it was something like "we'll get along well".

Fabienne is much more forceful sounding in Japanese and her tone was pretty scary at times. In English she comes off as more tired, but in Japanese it sounds much more like she's kind, yes, but she will beat you down with a stick with no hesitation if she must.

Bardon doesn't have an equivalent accent in Japanese and I'm not immediately picking up anything special about the way he talks. Aww. He does still sound very much like a hapless goober though.

Gloddel is even hammier, if that was possible. My god, this is what every middle schooler going through anime phase wishes they sound like.

Neuras has an accent though! He's very much still a wacky scamp.

I kept joking that Hulkenberg is horse coded so my friend made her a horse in miitopia. Then the Mind Horse (draw a horse without using references) challenge started trending again on Bluesky, and people wanted to see my mind horse. Unfortunately my mind horse is just a regular lookin horse and not very funny, so I drew Hulkenhorse instead

You're welcome?

[intimidating-fettuccine]

Hello Aubrie! Goood, I love your writing so much, and I couldn't wait to send in another request!

Could I ask for Eyeless Jack and his s/o going on a date day? How it would look like and all that? (can be sfw/nsfw)

I decided to keep it just SFW this time as I was just in a fluffy vontent mood today, but you can feel free to request date night specific spicy stuff with EJ next time if you'd like :) I hope you enjoy, I'm extra tired today so my writing may be different but I had a need for EJ fluff

Your date day actually ends up being a date night with this one, as your boyfriend is nocturnal, however, he gets up a bit earlier than normal if the two of you want to spend a "day" together. Normally waking at about 6:00 pm, Jack will get up around 4:00 on a day the two of you wish to spend together. He'll spend a little while waking up, curled up in bed with you, discussing things you want to do, getting ready to go out with you, just waiting for the sun to go down more so Jack can handle being around the light (as he can't handle visibly bright light very well, hence the nocturnal part :p).

He'll make sure you get something yummy to eat for dinner, and that's usually your first spot on your date nights. The Underworld is full of restaurants that operate 24/7, so he'll take you out to eat at whichever place you'd prefer to go to, and you'll both sit and talk for a while over food. Even with the nocturnal citizens out and about, the Underworld is a lot more quiet at night, so Jack enjoys walking through it with you, enjoying the peace of it. The two of you might window shop a bit, going into any stores that catch your eye. I think if it's warm enough you two have a tradition of getting ice cream together, because there are places that serve a mix of demon and human appropriate flavors, so you can get whichever flavor you'd prefer, and EJ can get his go-to blood ice cream so he can enjoy it as well. Following that, Jack always loves taking you for another walk, this time through the forests of the Underworld. The air is nice and fresh, and the creatures running about are usually attracted to Jack, so he always gets excited by the chance to tell you what the different animals are, and because they trust him so much you can even pet them while they sit contentedly beside him.

It's not until either the sun starts coming back up or you start to get too tired that the two of you finally begin to make your way back to the mansion together. Once you get back, Jack normally prefers to enter relaxation mode with you again. You'll take a relaxing shower together, and then put on some perfectly fluffy, soft pajamas (Jack is a connoisseur of comfortable fabrics), and curl up in bed once more. Some nights you guys might put on a show in the background, or some music, or anything you're in the mood to watch and just sit, and cuddle to the background noise. However, there are also nights like tonight, when you snuggle up and read together. It always starts with both of you reading your own preferred books in silence, but then usually one of you grows more tired faster than the other (usually you, as it's generally 5:00 am by this point), and the other person will read their own book aloud for both of you. Days like these generally end with you fast asleep in Jack's arms due to your need for sleep overcoming you, and Jack will always chuckle and set his book aside, before pulling you into his chest, and finally falling asleep himself. You usually always wake before him, unless you sleep the whole day away (sometimes Jack also just refuses to let you out of his arms on purpose but shhhh it's fine, it doesn't matter), but post date day snuggles are also mandatory in this relationship, so really, date days are like two days in one because you've gotta recoup your energy from staying up so late. Even if the two of you just spend a date day curled up inside playing board games or reading, or even just silently snuggling up, Jack doesn't mind, so long as he gets to spend as much time with you as possible, anything is fine in his opinion. He's just thankful to have you there with him.

[jester-program]

MORE ABOUT MY SILLY ISAT AU???!!!

I still need a name for it, but I’ll be furiously ignoring that fact.

First, the less spoilery info or. The meeting.

Replay shows up around another loop six while Siffrin is talking to Bonnie, Siffrin briefly sees Replay staring at them with their not-face before disappearing.

When Siffrin goes to inspect it they only find a weird doll vaguely representing Bonnie with an empty key slot like a wind up doll.

The series of events towards officially meeting replay is spotting them around the map of Dormont each loop, collecting a doll of one of the party members- plus loop- And then go through the house to find the wind up keys.

Replay’s ‘crafts’ will be mostly centered around games, like a map, being able to auto navigate, an item box and having their ‘craft dolls’.

All things referencing different components of a game being a games navigation system, inventory and character selection mode.

Now for the more spoilers about Replay’s existence.

Replay is an actual star piece cut off of the universe to help Siffrin.

They’re there to make sure Siffrin’s wish gets fulfilled and that they don’t go bonkers enough to make a wish like loop did. Hence the reason they are able to narrate Siffrin’s thoughts— feelings and things they notice.

They’re supposed to be unable to feel anything and they’re aware of that.

They don’t see themself as a person, but with loop being there and the god of change wanting change and ‘character development’ because they’re bored Replay does have the ability to feel.

Emotional maturity wise? They try to act more like an adult while in nature they’re much more childish and shy.

Their body is made out of pure craft and are completely invisible to anyone except siffrin unlike their dolls, they follow Siffrin through dormont and the house trying to help them in anyway possible when Loop can’t.

To try and keep Siffrin’s sanity up in later loops they start trying to write scripts and little plays for their dolls to show them or Replay memories Siffrin had forgotten with them as the more Siffrin forgets about their life the more Replay remembers.

That’s all I have for now✨✨ have very bad drawings of all of the dolls.

‘The failed crying housemaiden’

‘The weak feisty child’

‘The cowardly selfless fighter’

‘The abandoned curious researcher’

‘The forget-able star-touched traveller’

‘The guide’

‘The quitter’

[derangedchameleon]

Lemme rant about how Haymitch and Katniss‘ mothers shaped them for a second.

I will circle back to this bear with me.

One of the first things I did after reading sotr is start the original trilogy again. Something I noticed is that Katniss generally seems… a lot more likely to get angry than Haymitch is when he‘s her age.

Whenever Haymitch gets angry, it‘s warranted. Like Plutarch using his family like that or bringing out the cake for his birthday. Or just generally capitol abuse. Haymitch‘s rage is targeted. Aimed at the real enemy the whole way through. Even when he fights the careers, he‘s really fighting the capitol. Silka killed Wellie, but what was really the final nail in the coffin for her was the fact that she wanted to win to bring glory to the capitol. And Haymitch couldn‘t let that stand.

Katniss gets angry at the slightest provocation. Peeta waves at the crowd? He‘s fighting hard to kill her. Peeta is good at camoflage? She gets snappy. Haymitch and Peeta have a conversation without her? Haymitch is picking favorites. Haymitch calls her sweetheart (we now know that this was an accidental slip of the tongue and was probably an attempt to calm her down) after her stunt with the apple and she has been crying in her room for hours? He’s being condescending. Peeta declares his crush on her to Panem? He‘s trying to make her look weak. The instant Peeta shows any signs of teaming up with the careers she pretty much wishes a gory and long painful death upon him.

Why? She‘s in a permanent fight or flight mode. A state she hasn‘t left since that fateful mine explosion and her mother‘s retreat, a state that has now been kicked into overdrive with the Hunger Games.

When Haymitch‘s father died, he could rely on his mother. Things went bad and she stayed. Things went bad and she was there.

Katniss‘ father died and her mother retreated. This is not to shame Katniss‘ mother, but we can acknowledge Asterid‘s mental illness while still recognising how damaging this was to her children.

Haymitch learned that he could trust and rely on those that are meant to be on his side. Katniss learned that if she does this, she and her whole family will die.

Haymitch isn‘t constantly looking over his shoulder for the betrayal of an ally. So he can focus his attention on the real enemy.

The amount of times Katniss almost murders Finnick for fear of betrayal in the 75th is… a lot.

Compared to Haymitch, Katniss was the perfect tribute. A terrified prey animal trapped in a cage, ready to lash out at anything vaguely threatening. Even if the other person is just trying to help. (The exception to this was Rue, but Rue triggered the big sis instincts)

Of course their games were different since Haymitch wasn‘t really trying to win. Ever. He had a family that would probably be okay without him, since he wasn‘t the main breadwinner. But technically, Katniss‘ family could have been okay too. Her mom had the apothecary business. But there was still always the risk of Asterid shutting down again and leaving Prim. Once again, Katniss cannot trust her to be reliable.

TLDR:

Katniss mother was unreliable -> Katniss expects betrayal from allies and can‘t focus on the real enemy

Haymitch‘s mother was reliable -> Haymitch trusts in his allies and can focus his attention on the real enemy

[porcelainseashore]

OC Deep Dive: Wynter della Passaglia

Art by @surmatants

Tagged and dividers by @diableriedoll, including:

@toreadorcaretaker @mortifying-macaroni @hlozt @informaltorching

@swoomoo @dostoevskybignaturals - Thank you, I love you all so much! <3

What common/uncommon fear do they have?

Wynter has plenty that haunt her. One of her greatest fears is being fully consumed by Aila—a prisoner to the doppelgänger where life moves on without her, and she would be invisible while Lettow neither notices nor cares. Another is that she was truly born wrong, and no one, including Lettow, will ever accept her after knowing the actual monster she is.

Other fears concern her past catching up to her. Firstly, having to face her sire, Violetta/Chiara, whom she burned bridges with and in turn, The Family, who will always want something from her. It’s not a question whether it happens, it’s a question of when. Secondly, she's scared to think if Lucien is dead, as a life without his existence is unimaginable. However, if he is alive, will he show up unannounced and secrets be spilled?

Do they have any pet peeves?

Are you the touchy-feely sort? Don't, just don't. It’s an old habit, but she avoids touch and it takes a lot for her to get accustomed to it. Some never feel right at all. She's also suspicious of people who are friendly or over-familiar, quickly resorting to her death mask, cold-hearted and impassive, emanating an unworldly aura to keep them away. Finally, if you talk too much (looking at you, Julian 🤨), then you’re really asking for a barbed remark that’ll shut you up.

What are 3 items you can find in their bedroom?

... The very same rosary she used to pray with Lucien as a child, hung haphazardly alongside a black satin bra by the dresser.

... An assortment of weapons, including her Nighthawk Custom and a sniper rifle, modelled after her father’s old hunting rifle.

... Stashed within a bundle of clippings is a torn off news piece, yellowing and curled at the edges, in faded print, detailing a terrible incident at her old family mansion.

... (Bonus) An evidence board of suspected Sabbat hotspots in Cairo.

What do they notice first in a person?

Their pulse points and heart rate, where their blood is rushing to, weak spots, what makes them uncomfortable, how do they hurt, what can she use to her advantage?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how high is their pain tolerance?

A pretty high number in general? This girl has had weird bodily aches and pains since young, things that she couldn’t control or understand. On top of that, experiencing the Hecata Kiss as a mortal is quite something. Violetta lingered an extra few, sadistically or not, to remind her of suffering and what The Family could bring if she didn’t take heed. Although Wynter works as a courier, she’s a hunter, first and foremost. She’s had her fair share of battles and the marks to prove it. Finally, Wynter is aware of the immeasurable pain that exists on a different plane to the one we live in.

Do they go into fight or flight mode when under pressure? (or freeze and fawn)

Fight, but she’ll toy with you and do you dirty from the shadows, keeping her distance and waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Don’t worry, she plays the long game and can sure hold a grudge.

What animal represents them best?

A parasite. Wynter has always felt like an entity living in a host, so much so that she’s even jokingly referred to her body as a “skin bag,” or the “skin I wear.” It has a function and purpose, and does the job. This is possibly why she has an interest in the Kuei-Jin, and wishes to find out more about her ancestral ties with them, when the Della Passaglias traded in the Orient.

She also has a methodical approach to things, and the patience to infiltrate without much fanfare. Take the auction house in Night Road for example. Let’s just say she got in and out with what she wanted, no drama except leaving Chiara and Edouard in the dust to argue with each other about whose fault it was for being blindsided.

Others see her as a parasite for latching on to Lettow, enjoying the influence that he has, where she’s the gold digger and he’s her sugar daddy. She pretends not to be affected by this, but wonders if one day she’ll drain him dry.

How would a stranger likely describe them?

“Stuck-up, pale ass bitch who gives me the heebie-jeebies. I swear, I didn’t even see her enter the room and she’s right behind me, standing there like a fucking statue. Would look prettier if she smiled.”

— Individual was found dead later due to an unknown cause.

Do they have any hobbies?

Joyriding in the desert with Elena (and Gretchen?? 😱), long walks in the outdoors (either accompanied by Lettow or alone), collecting scraps and trinkets linked to her past.

No pressure tags:

@medeaft @garygoldenbignaturals @lordturkish-robomallcop @milk-crafting

@auspex @lydia-too-late @lgbtmi @its-sixxers and any who want to do so!

[marielle555]

Astarion's story is complete.

Congratulations to all BG3 fans on the release of the final Patch 8! The story is complete, “Patch 8 will be the last game patch to introduce new content” (according to the developers themselves). I'll admit, the first thing I did after the update, was to check if Astarion was okay. And it was very pleasant to see that our Sun Lord is doing great! No new content was added, but they've already done quite a bit of good stuff for him in patch 7. It's a bit unfair, of course, that the most attractive male character in the game was deprived in terms of romance, and does not have a tender romantic line, and even a kiss and hug in the epilogue, unlike other companions. But the main thing is that Larian did the right thing and reasonably ignored the demands of haters and fans of messing up games and did not return to the game ugly bug of patch 6, which drew on the face of the player's character mimicry of a frightened victim. And no “switch” for the ability to see it in the game also did not do. And they won't. Fans of D/s romance and those wishing to add “spice” to relationships can comfortably enjoy kissing. Tav's smile in the kneeling kiss is just excellent! Perfection. For fans of classic romance and those who want to give Astarion as much love and tenderness as he deserves and really needs, there is the best mod - “Nightingale's Lord Astarion - Ascended Astarion Hugs Kisses Voiced Dialog”. I personally think this mod is just the coolest thing for all fans of Ascended Astarion, since it leaves the possibility for kissing from the original game too, and you can vary if you want. I hope that in the future, Larian will fix their issues with mod support on all platforms (it does, after all, relate to technical issues that developers have to fix, even after finalizing the game's story and gameplay), and console players will also be able to get a decent romantic fan service.

In patch 8 there are a lot of new interesting subclasses, which causes an irresistible desire to immediately start a new playthrough (I really want to try out the Swashbuckler subclass for Astarion)! And a curious photo mode. Of course, what I wanted most of all, was to change the camera angle during dialog (to bring back that wonderful angle of view that was before patch 3, when the camera during dialog remained on Astarion, and not jumped to Tav), and I was waiting for this very improvement from patch 8, but, alas, this feature was not added. But it was a loss since patch 3, and patch 8, although it did not return the lost, but added a new feature. In general, the photo mode is interesting and gives a lot of opportunities for fantasy.

Now this story is finished, and I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all those who, after patch 6, fought for Astarion and for our possibility of a happy playthrough of this game! Under the sun and with true freedom, for the right to see a happy and contented Astarion, to hear him laughing, “I feel alive, hahaha!”, banters at the mirror, happy walks in sunny Baldur, when it makes sense to fight on, when Astarion and Tav have a future that wants to be lived. And an adorable bat in the epilogue. Thank you for your letters, posts, and reviews! Thank you to the modders and youtubers for their amazing work! Without you, I would have had to leave this game with heartache, hatred and disgust. But that didn't happen. Larian listened to our feedback and arguments. With mods we have a great game that can only get better in the future with new mods. I wish everyone joyful evil and fun playthroughs, good playthroughs (helping a loved one escape from suffering - it doesn't make your Tav “evil”, it's an absolutely natural desire of any loving person, let moralists cry for every NPC they kill, if they are such moralists), gray and as far as your imagination is enough chaotic playthroughs with our beloved Sun Lord!

P.S. This video has a great selection of the best mods for Ascended Astarion (links to the mods below the video) that may please you in your game!

[glassjoeandgreattigersssimp]

do you have a personal ranking list of PO boxers from most bae to least bae

Yeah! Here it is ^^ (pretend Great Tiger is above the 10/10 category)

(Tw: me personal opinions about the top boxers ahead! If you disagree, that's okie, but it's just my opinion lol)

(Tw: also talks of sex)

- Wouldn't date King Hippo because I hc him as a straight up animal and the more I think about it... he's probably my least favorite character. I'm so sorry @ohshy

- Passing on Doc and the Ref bc they both bland imo... although I'd put Doc above the ref bc he's got a good personality and we could be friends, bit I wouldn't wanna do anything bae-like with him

- Passing on Sandy too bc he's scary and bland at the same time. He's bland in the fact that his only personality is "boxing" (off topic but I'm tired of ppl saying the other characters aren't boxers bc they too cartoony... like bruh, if you want a realistic boxing simulator with super serious straight-faced boxers, go play an ea game lol) and like... that's it. He's just the strongest, and not in a fun way. But he's also scary bc if I met him irl I'd feel too afraid to even have a normal conversation with him... nevermind find any attraction for him. Also his haircut in his title defense mode is whack

- Whoever said Bald Bull borders on being ugly and handsome is 💯 on the money. Sometimes if I think of him long enough, I could see him as hot? Especially nowadays now that I'm more engrossed into the characters... but him being bae is kinda problematic bc of the obvious issue of his rage issues... like ik Arans got that issue too but Aran is something else, and even if Bull wouldn't break my pancreas if I pissed him off, he'd be at the top of the date category at most.

- Dragon Chan is THE most Bae spo boxer. I like their hair, their build, their unqiue fighting style... I wish they had a more defined voice though... and a 3D sprite. Really, if DC was in the Wii version of punch out, they'd be way up list. They're a rough draft of what would be a smash, but with some development, DC could be soooo freaking attractive.

- Soda is tall and muscular... I love his himbo vibes, but that's about it. His skin is pinkish red (which isn't really a handsome attribute- like tf are you Patrick star-) he'd be an awesome cuddle partner, and would probably treat me right, but that's about it.

- Bear Hugger is also a great cuddle partner. First of all, stan body diverse boxers, second of all, he loves animals and nature, which is a wonderful personality trait. I like his carefree attitude, his squirrel, I like Candian-ness, and with the right art style, he could be really handsome. But there's also the obvious turn off that keep me from smashing him... he probably smells bad, no matter how much I lie to myself, that's probably the truth, and while I praised his confidence to be a boxer while also being chubby, I feel like that could get in the way of smashing... and general appeal (not saying chubby people aren't attractive! I'm chubby too, but in this particular case, it doesn't quite work!!). A one-night cuddle stand would be nice, but I wouldn't go further than that.

- Macho Man is an absolute character. He's got so much personality and spunk, I like his voice, his confidence, his half surfer persona... he's probably a poster child celebrity crush for most people in the PO verse. The thing is, I probably won't do anything long-term with him. This gray-haired, fake tan hoe is NOT loyal! He's surrounded with girls in most of his cutscenes... very, objectively beautiful ones... that sorta makes me think I, being the NOT rich, skinny Hollywood stereotypical beautiful girl I am, would either be out of his league or the first one he ditches. Basically, I'd love to at least cuddle with him and maybe have a breakfast date, buuuut I can't truly love him. He's a southern California boy, and I'm a northeastern girl.

- Piston Hondo is incredibly unproblematic. He's definitely loyal, has his values in place, he's got a great build, a handsome voice, he's strong... I absolutely see the sex appeal, Hondo fans. It's very high... but I don't think I would pursue him. I feel like if we were in a relationship, I wouldn't fully be comfortable. I feel like he'd expect a lot from me to live up to and to put it simply... he's way out of my league. Tbh, I wouldn't have a chance with ANY of these fictional boxers, but with Hondo especially, I feel like I'd be lying awake every night thinking, "He deserves soooo much better than me... I definitely did something wrong today..." So yeah, I'd almost smash, but I don't think I could commit to him. I know my reasoning is really dumb, but idk, I'd feel really nervous around him if we did become official. But damn, would he be a great cuddle partner... wonderful one night stand contender, too. Love ya Hondo, but you're TOO good, honestly.

- Our first smash! Disco Kid! Love Disco Kid... he's full of life and smiles, he dances through life like it's a party... he's good-looking, carefree, he dances, he's rich and successful, he's got a nice voice... and I absolutely love how he doesn't hold any hard feelings for Mac when he loses. He picks himself up and comes back swinging and having even more fun doing what he loves. That's so mature of him, and he's the youngest opponent you face (being 20 years old)... if everyone was like Disco Kid, the world would be a better place. There's one teensy weensy thing keeping him from the REAL baes... he's got endless energy. I feel like he'd be the type of guy that wants to party all night and then still be up for doing stuff with you the next morning. So yeah, I would love to smash with him, but nothing committed because I feel like he'd be too much for Lil introverted me.

-- And now, the top 5 baes 💜💜💜💜💜-

Don Flamenco 🇪🇸 🥀

- If you asked me what I thought of Don Flamenco when I first entered the fandom I would've been like "he's okay lol bros got that goofy ahh total drama headshape".... but now, I think Don Flamenco is a total bae. This man will shower you with attention and romance, he'll dedicate boxing moves in your name- he dances, he has a gorgeous twunk body, his voice and accent are absolutely gorgeous... Don is a dream boat. And the more I think about his story with Carmen, the funnier it is, because he takes it so seriously and goes full on emo... it's kinda pathetic, but in the best way possible. I love Don sm, and him being bald isn't a turn-off at all. Whether it's natural male baldness (that he's having at 23, oof) or if Carmen actually ripped it out of his scalp, or what not... I'd really just accept him for who he is. Isn't that what love is about? <3

Von Kaiser 🇩🇪 🔩

- There are sooooo many fucking sexy things about Von Kaiser... I have to just list them

- Absolute stud, body wise. Would 100% sleep on his chest. Also, he looks HOT ASFUUUUCK in that white tank top in his title defense cut scene!!! (You know the scene lol)

- I love his voice and accent, just like Don (voice means a lot to me, personally)

- I like that he has experience working with kids, bc as someone who also used to work with children, that's like- such a huge appeal, being able to have the maturity and ability to provide protection is so charming to me personality (I have mommy and daddy issues haha 🥲)

- Look, he's got obvious mental problems, but I kinda love him for that. It makes him deep, and it makes me root for him 10x more than I would for little Mac because I don't know what happened that messed him up... personally, I don't think it was a war, but perhaps it is some form of ptsd? I just wanna heal him... let us bang, but let me hold this man by the face and tell him he's amazing and worth it. Idfc if he's 42, he's a handsome, hurt dilf, and I want him.

Aran Ryan 🇮🇪 😈

- Listen y'all... Aran Ryan is problematic, and you shouldn't be with someone like him irl... but he's still really fucking hot. Do I have to explain it? The muscles, the red hair, the ever so slight stubble he has, his Irishness oozing from his voice (Irish people are biologically based and sigma, objectively. Source: I am 0.000262% Irish 🤓/hj). He could break my pancreas if he gets angry, but he's handsome, and I would thank him for it. And yeah, I kinda like the crazed attitude, sue me. Look, straight male mfs will argue how they could "fix" stereotypically beautiful fictional women but will freak out and cry "problematic" when women acknowledge how handsome Aran is. Fuck you straight men, I LOVE ARAN RYAN!!!!

Glass Joe 🇫🇷 🥐

- Do I gotta say anything? Glass Joe has got to be the cutest damn Nintendo character ever, and I mean every word of it. He is sooooo freaking adorable and sexy. Everything about him is either beautiful or cute. I love his hair, his eyes, his adorable French accent, this skinny build which differs and is unique from the other boxers... I love his simple, ordinary life. He chills, loves pastries, he loves his home city. And bro, that black sweater on him... too cute!! But he isn't a straight weakling either. Like, he's not the strongest, but he'd definitely try to defend you if you ever run into trouble. Dates with him would be the sweetest thing, and fucking with him? Utter bliss. I love you so much, Glass Joe. You deserve your fans and your online fangirls.

Great Tiger 🇮🇳 🐅 💜

- Great Tiger is the single most sexiest man ever placed into a Nintendo game. Fucking fight me... he has everything a perfect man would have. He has a gorgeous hourglass body, well groomed facial hair, that beautiful buttery voice (Great Tiger asmr when Next Level Games???), he sings, he dances, he knows magic (which objectively makes sex better, I would know, don't ask), he's powerful, but he's also got a sense of humor... Great Tiger is just perfect. He is absolutely top PO mareiage material, nevermind bae. His only crime is being a difficult fight.

[littleeggrock]

gimme ur dream bbq theories

RIGHT! (long post, put a cut for convenience. inor spoilers for some smaller details)

FIRST AND FOREMOST:

ENA (in my opinion) IS NOT AN ENTIRE SPECIES. while understandable, i personally think this is dumb :') it really minimizes her character as a whole. though, i do not disagree with the fact that there are multiple of her. think back to what the shaman says the first time we meet him:

"one person can be in two places at once"

given multiple other things, like the easter egg in the webseries that says "FORGET YOUR PAST," the plane like things in the starting area along with the siren like ambience' in an urban/suburban-like setting, and Meanies little meltdown when talking to the vendor man ("WAIT! I'M NOT DOING WHAT YOU SAY I'M DOING!) with the bullet rain and wasteland-like area, it's led me to believe that ENA herself was once one whole person. each little split persona ENA we see show two minuscule facets of her personality. we've got the happy and the sad, the customer service voice and the one who's had enough of retail-hell bullshit.

yes, there are multiple of her. yes, they exist semi-simultaneously. No, they are not a species. They are parts of a single whole, fractured by some sort of intensely traumatic event. perhaps a war of some kind if the planes, sirens, and bullet rain are more than just abstract artistic choices meant to darken the tone of the game at certain times. I'm unsure whether this is some digital circus "TRAPPED IN THE GAME!" or something more along the likes of u m a m i's Interface and SAFE MODE, where uploading ones consciousness to a digital interface was seen as the only means of survival in an increasingly uninhabitable world. or perhaps this is simply what the world looks like for them now.

to elaborate on existing semi-simultaneously, it's important to note the fact that our familiar blue/yellow ENA shows up for a split second in the end credits scene. whether they're swapping physical location, or simply replacing the others existence is unclear.

THEORY NUMBER TWO!

While not directly related, i do believe that The Great Runas from Temptation Stairway is/was a genie. given that he's revered like some sort of godly figure, and has the ability to grant wishes, it seems obvious now that we have a name for what these deities are.

stemming from this, it's worth noting that the area we end up in after the Lonely Door begins to close appears to be the very same place as where Auction Day takes place. same cube face rock in the sky! potentially Temptation stairway as well, though the specifics aren't as clear there.

so, as for the significance of this... I'm really not sure. some of it depends on where Power of Potluck takes place timeline wise. if these are in fact in chronological order, this doesn't work at all. but if its a one off set in-between/before extinction party, auction day, and temptation stairway, oh boy.

i believe that it was the closing of whatever door powered the world ENA and Moony resided in for AD and TS that triggered the emergence of Dream BBQ ENA as we know her. the place became closed off, simply ceased to exist after the door closed, and ENA ended up changing drastically to combat it and escape. Froggy cites her "salesperson tricks" that she uses to get out of "predicaments," perhaps this version of her has some form of dimensional transport between whatever these doors are. personally I'm leaning towards a pocket dimension type deal but there's really no way to know.

THIRD, FINAL, and FAR LESS SERIOUS THEORY

when you think about it the purge route of Dream BBQ is really ENA:

joking(?) about killing their boss with a coworker

catching a taxi to an illegal party

having a BAD trip

making it to the bathroom

smashing someones bong because the smoke was bothering the aforementioned coworker

[zeondraws]

I poked a few questions at Secret Mode on their discord server and got an answer back today. Right after I came home and I can't stress how happy I got reading it.

I'll try to show my the questions and the answers together, so that people on tumblr have enough context what I asked about. Figured you guys might enjoy.

"Does Muir play the Bagpipe?" - Personally (others might disagree), I could definitely see Muir play the bagpipe (especially if he can annoy Innes with it!) but what would most likely happen is that he would bring something small that is allowed in his baggage like an harmonica.

"Something I noticed is that McLeary's name seems to be an innuendo to MacReady from The Thing, which made me wonder: Were names chosen at random or did they serve a specific purpose? Another person I know noticed Muir means "sea" while Innes means "island"." - I think the short answer is yes names have meaning and none of them were picked at random! But our philosophy is to let people draw their own conclusion as we don't want to make things "official" by giving our reasons! (we love to read/see people create their own theories so feel free to share them!)

"One small thing me and other people wondered, ingame we found a schedule for the shifts. A bunch of the crewmates seem to be listed on it, like "Derek M."? and "Joey I." Where we wondered if those were the first names of Muir and Innes?" - To my knowledge Muir and Innes have always existed in the game and can be found listed on that schedule I think although it might be hidden. Derek and Joey might be in the background without lines. - Innes' first name is Terry and Muir's name is Ewan.

"Another mini question I had was, is it possible to know who lived in the room 121? I could never find any indications thus far." - 121 was meant to be Innes and Muir's room...Innes is the one who likes reading. Seeing how much fans love them I wish we'd set dressed it more with clues about them.

"And my last goofy question is, when Muir basically yeets Innes across the deck, he is still animated when he lands inbetween the containers (I'm using a mod to look around the level a bit more). Did that have a specific reason? Did Muir just threw him across the deck or did he want to carry him?" - For Innes being animated for a bit longer, the simple answer is that our lead animator always plan to show a tiny bit more than what is shown because you never know if an angle might change...

With this I am finally able to somewhat complete my picture of the crewmate rooms. Thank you so much! I am learning so much about this game and how the developers approach the lore. I've never really been in such a community before so this is all very new for me. But a very positive experience (Since I feel extremely awkward asking questions, where I never know if I sound pushy/annoying, so I am often extremely nervous).

But this also means I have another detail to add for my video- Ooohhhh!