#i'm all for reusing things and that way i wouldn't have to get anything other than some fabric

[coimbrabertone]

Offtopic Offseason #5 - CoimbraBertone and the Indiana Jones Blogpost.

So, I watched the first three Indiana Jones movies for the first time these last few weeks. Those being Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade. Also, before that, I was watching my friend Andy play through the video game, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. I have thoughts.

Plus, the Super Bowl was last weekend and that's kinda an unavoidable black hole devouring anything else that could've happened that weekend, so there isn't much racing news to discuss right now.

Indycar aired some commercials during it which hopefully draw people in, but until we get to St. Pete for the first race, it's hard to say how effective they were.

So, onto Indiana Jones.

I liked them. Raiders of the Lost Ark and Last Crusade are both great movies, Temple of Doom isn't as good, but it still has plenty of iconic moments and I enjoyed it well enough.

My first impression was honestly...wow, I've seen so much references to this stuff. Like there were moments I knew were from Indiana Jones, like the giant boulder chasing Indy, opening the Ark and it melting the Nazi faces, and the minecart chase from Temple, but there other things I didn't realize.

Like in Family Guy, Road to Germany, they do the whole escape the plane in a raft thing, with Stewie even making fun of one of Willie's lines. I didn't know that was from Indiana Jones. The motorcycle chase in that episode is probably a reference to Last Crusade as well, albeit a bit less 1 to 1.

So yeah, iconic movies that I've seen referenced a lot, and now I finally understand those references.

So, Raiders of the Lost Ark...

I liked Belloq as a villain. His Egypt clothes with the way his hair looked kept making me think of Alain Prost even though objectively he doesn't look all that much like Prost, but there's where my brain went. I like that he's a different kind of evil than the Nazis around him - he doesn't have a cause, he's just self-interested and wants to get one over on Jones - but he is still very much evil.

Toht is another fun character because he's just so ridiculous. The coat hanger scene made me burst out laughing.

Colonel Dietrich is probably the flattest of the villains, but I get that they needed more of a straight-up Wehrmacht guy to be the direct threat that neither Belloq nor Toht could really be.

As for the heroic characters, I have to admit, with everything I heard about Marion from watching the game and reading up on the movies a bit, she is not at all what I was expecting. For some reason I kinda thought she was gonna be a non-action rich girl who is the daughter of a rich gentleman type - and in fairness, Ravenwood does seem like it would be an old money name - but instead she's a lot more of a rougher and more confrontational character.

And I suppose that is more interesting.

Sallah's fun, John-Rhys Davies has a great voice, and I was happy to see him back in Last Crusade.

Some of the effects are very dated and the sounds - especially the punch sounds - are as well, but it's an old movie so what are you gonna do? I accepted that as a relic of the time and enjoyed the movie in spite of that.

Something dated that's a bit harder to forgive is Temple of Doom.

Let's start with the positives: Lao Che's club is a lot of fun. I think his club is a reused set from Return of the Jedi because with how white and smooth it is, along with the seating bowl we see in one of the shots, it reminds me a lot of the Mon Calamari cruises from Episode VI. I could be wrong about that, but they were filmed a year apart and Lucas literally named it Club Obi-Wan, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if the whole thing is a redressed Star Wars set.

Willie's a bit grating. There's no way around that, I'm sorry.

Short Round though...yeah, he has a few annoying moments, but I actually found him endearing. The ways that he looks up and mimics Indy - sorry, Dr. Jones - are fun, and it's nice to see Indy cares about him too.

The portrayal of India though...oof.

Spielberg and Lucas have apparently said that the whole dinner scene with the eels and eyeballs and monkey brains and all that is supposed to be a ploy to scare off Indy and the British officer dude, but...they did not do a good job of conveying that at all. It just feels like over the top orientalism.

Same thing with the Thuggee cult in general. Mola Ram's costume is all over the place and with his skull helmet off, that red paint on his forehead feels a lot more like the other type of Indian. It's like a storm of foreign culture cliches thrown together at random and it's pretty damn jarring. They even got the Maharaja torturing Indy with a voodoo doll which...okay then, I guess we really are just throwing anything and everything at this, huh?

From what I understand their portrayal of Kali is also completely off.

There's also a lot of brown face in that movie. The late Pat Roach was playing the slavemaster, for instance.

Then making the British Army show up at the end to save Indy & co...sheesh. No wonder this movie got banned in India for awhile.

Still, if you can get past all that and see it as a product of its time, it's a fun enough movie. It's the weakest of the trilogy though.

Onto Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, what else do you need?

No seriously, that's it. It's good, watch it.

...

...

...

Okay fine, I'll talk about it.

I like this one a lot. I know Raiders is the classic one that everyone loves, but this one might be my favorite.

Venice, Austria, Berlin, Antioch, down to Petra in Jordan...it's a lot of fun set locations and set pieces. I really enjoyed Elsa as the "Indy girl" of this movie, I really enjoyed the banter back and forth between Henry Sr. and Indiana, and I think the Nazis in this movie are just great antagonists.

They look evil as fuck, they have the Hugo Boss fit on fleek, Vogel is a great villain, the modified World War I tank was a great set piece, and we have plenty of old car porn in this one - particularly the old Rolls Royce, which is not, in fact, a Phantom II - so what's not to like?

Well, Donovan probably goes down a bit too easy. I know that these movies are big on the whole villains are destroyed for trying to harness a power they cannot understand, but he does die pretty quickly and pretty stupidly. I guess the Vogel fight was pretty long, so a long Donovan fight probably would've bogged the ending down a lot, but it was a bit disappointing to see him easily duped into killing himself.

Elsa's end, meanwhile, i thought was fitting. She couldn't let go of her obsession, and in the end, the grail's spell got to her. It almost got to Indy too, but then Henry gave him the fatherly love which is what he really wanted. And yeah, that's a bit schlocky, but who cares? it's nice and meaningful.

So yeah, none of them are perfect movies, but I enjoyed them a lot.

The Great Circle fits in among the movies quite nicely, I think. Gina fits as another "Indy girl" and is probably my favorite when adding her in to the classic movies, and Troy Baker does such a great job as Indy that even Harrison Ford gave him his blessing.

Plus ending on karate fighting a Nazi on the top of Noah's Ark is exactly the type of goofy shit these movies would come up with and I mean that in the best way possible.

Oh, one other thing I wanted to yap about: there are a lot of scenes in these movies where the guns are very clearly not firing anything, and again, I get it, old movie, but wow, sometimes it's really obvious. There was a bit in Last Crusade where Indy thrashed around an MP40 that wasn't doing anything, and it straight up took me a second to realize they were trying to show him shooting.

Old movies gonna old movie.

I'm gonna watch the next two movies soon, probably this week, but from what I hear, they're not quite up to snuff. Let me know if you guys want my thoughts, otherwise, this is probably gonna be the last Offtopic Offseason for awhile because it's the Daytona 500 this weekend. They'll be a NASCAR race every weekend from now until November, and once NASCAR starts, the likes of MotoGP, F1, and Indycar aren't far behind.

Looking forward to the Henry Jones Jr.polis 500.

[umilily]

having terrible diy ideas at 2 am...

[thiefof-trefl]

So I haven't seen anyone compare the (alleged) UHC Shooter to Rodion Rascolnikov, and maybe I'm delusional but that's all I can think about every time new info is released.

Ok so it started when I saw this post

And told my friend "wouldn't it be funny if he saw the og post and it was the last straw? Like when Rascolnikov went to that bar in the beginning of the book and heard other people complaining about that usurer?"

Then I started really thinking about it and maybe I'm doing too much and they're not that similar but this is Tumblr, hear me out:

1. They're hot. Seems silly but being attractive can really change how public views you. Characters in the book often acknowledge Rodion's good looks while being very open and revealing in conversations with him. And sure Tumblr would probably be thirsting after "the Adjuster" even if he weren't conventionally attractive, but the overall public perception of him was greatly positive and I believe it is also due to the halo effect.

2. Personal feelings covered by ideology. I'm not saying the shooting was purely selfish. It had a great impact on the industry and was something many thank him for. But from what we know Mr Luigi had a major back surgery and suffered from back pain. It is very possible his own experience with the healthcare and Insurance industry was what first pushed him to see it as a problem. Rascolnikov struggled financially and kept on borrowing from the usurer leaving every valuable thing in his possession as pledge. His resentment towards her and his own circumstances was converted into an ideology about people superior and people lesser, which validated his decision to murder her.

3. Masterplan and stupid decisions. It's easy to see how brilliant the execution of the assassination was. The place, the timing, the escape. He even managed to leave New York during the manhunt. But there were missteps along the way. Going to Starbucks, flirting with the hostess, reusing the fake id, wearing the same clothes. Dumb little things that could be written off to both stress and arrogance. Reminds me of silly mistakes Rascolnikov did after murder. Dropping a jewellery box on the way out, keeping the bloodied sock, coming back to the murder scene. But that's where I also see a big difference. While Rodion was overcome with paranoia and fear, I suspect (just an educated guess, I don't know him personally) that our Shooter might have felt too... Proud of himself? The assassination succeeded, he escaped the police, left the state and the public at large loves him! I know it would make me feel invincible.

4. Game of cat and mouse. This one's not as big, just a small similarity. They both mock the police. Rascolnikov during in person conversations and the Adjuster by leaving the backpack full of monopoly money. Hilarious in both cases.

And finally

5. Letting the police catch them. It's just a theory, not really backed up by anything other than conjectures, but I can see why it might be true. Rodion Rascolnikov tired of constant paranoia and guilt driving him crazy goes to the police and confesses to murder. The alleged UHC CEO Shooter Luigi Mangione was arrested after being recognised by a McDonald's customer. He was wearing the exact same get up as during the shooting. And though he used a fake id at first he then admitted his real name. One might think he gave up. It's disappointing but I can't blame him if that was his decision. Living on the run is exhausting. In just two days he had already left so many traces and clues. And he killed a rich guy at that, which we all know is not the same as killing a normal person. The family and police would spare no resources to find him and it would go on for a long time. Years of fear and hiding- that's no life. Right now we can only hope the evidence will be found insufficient and he won't get convinced.

So yeah, had to get it out of my head. Sorry for any mistakes and words used in a wrong way, translating long thoughts into English isn as easy as I thought.

Please, please, please let me know what you think, does it make sense or am I crazy?

[aihoshiino]

seeing takes saying ai is a selfish liar while ruby is a selfless liar who does it for the sake of the fans as if she doesn't turn out to be ai 2.0 at the end LMAOOO

and even then that's wrong lol. at least ai tells her lies with the hope that they'll come true someday. ruby's motivations for going on are... what, exactly??

"to the future that mama and aqua illuminated" as if they both weren't victims that had their lives tragically taken away (aqua's case is different, yea, but only akane knowsbthat)

minor detail also, but as a fellow ai wifeguy, aren't the two pics of ai at ruby's bitchass merch shrine rehashes of prev art?? ai when she first takes off the hat in the hospital (this one is especially obvious to me) & the pic of her in the shampoo commercial but just edited a bit. same goes for thr aqua pic, looks like his cover art from vol 3

anon before i say anything else i need you to know that the combo of the words "fellow ai wife guy" and "bitchass merch shrine" took me out so hard. i was eating spicy noodles when i read this ask and it almost killed me. ig i don't blame mengo for reusing the linework for what are just throwaway background elements but it is kind of funny. like. yeah, girl. i wouldn't have put any extra effort into this chapter either lolo

Anyway yeah lol the idea of interpreting Ai as 'selfish' in that sense is kind of incomprehensible to me because tbh one of Ai's major issues as a character is that she isn't selfish. She feels obligated to endlessly contort herself to match the shapes other people want her to take - I mentioned it in my episode 1 liveblog but there's this constant underlying theme in Ai's arc of her doing her best to be every single contradictory thing that was asked of her, succeeding against all odds and being punished for it anyway. She doesn't value herself and her own happiness enough to choose it over continuing to be the version of herself other people ask her to be. TBH, that's another way that Ai and Aqua parallel each other - they both view not just their happiness but their entire lives as being ancillary at best to the people around them. Ai is at least able to understand that she wants and deserves to have happiness when she decides to have the twins, but she still undervalues herself to a shocking degree.

As for Ruby.............. honestly, Ruby's endgame characterization is so undercooked that I don't even really know what to make of her. But it's not as though she's a pure selfless angel who's getting nothing out of being an idol - this is the dream she's had for two lifetimes now and she's at the peak of her success. She's talked all series about wanting to be famous, etc etc. I'm sure it's hard and she's not always having an easy time and that it's probably frustrating for her to have to compartmentalize her feelings, but like...

Ruby could quit! She could just walk out!!! Hit da bricks!!!! It's nothing at all like Ai's situation where the combo of socioeconomic and interpersonal factors that contributed to her success also essentially trapped her in the entertainment industry with no safety net and nobody to help her find her footing in everyday life. If Ruby wanted to quit Tomorrow, she could and she'd have an endless amount of people who would help her adjust. As such, I can only assume Ruby is an idol because she still wants to be an idol. Which is fine! But this selfishness vs selflessness stuff is just not in the text.

And even if it was..................... again, who cares lol. Selflessness is not and inherently morally righteous quality and neither is selfishness inherently bad. Aqua and Ai again are both prime examples of how self destructive selflessness at the cost of the self is.

[jennyun-sooyun]

My Critique/Thoughts/Rant about Rayman

(Leading up to "Captain Laserhawk")

I know! Random…

But this has been on my mind since I saw Captain Laserhawk, which I'm going to say off the bat that I don't like it but to each their own.

But that's not the focus. (Cyberpunk Edgerunners was miles better)

The focus is on the character, Rayman.

Now, I know what some of you are going to be thinking…I might be hearing comments like:

"You're just letting nostalgia blind you."

"Get over it, it was the right direction, you're just old!"

Yes, I've been playing Rayman since it came out on the PS1, then onward to Rayman: The Great Escape and Hoodlum Havoc. He is my all time favorite character growing up as a kid. I even played the stupid (misused) Rabbids idea of "Rayman 4" being robbed from us of the original concept -- and turned into a cheap party Wii mini game instead.

(I did not play Origins or Legends from here -- I did not like the direction personally)

But now on the direction of the character, I just felt it had all gone downhill since the Rabbids. I didn't mind the concept of the Rabbids existing, it's how they WROTE them in the same space with Rayman. I feel like they just made the Rabbids the main characters/protagonist(s), but not Rayman himself. Then reusing the character into the Captain Lazerhawk show that way…

I felt his character was just GREATLY disrespected, and the fans of Rayman (or what's left of us) were not given that respect either in a way for our limbless hero.

NOW! I am NOT against Rayman's ending where he turned into "Ramone" -- but it's HOW he got there.

Like…seriously?

….

Rayman…resorting to alcoholism, drugs, etc, and resorting to acting like a pathetic loser who wanted to be a desperate people pleaser? Say what you want but I feel that's just almost completely out of character for him. I feel like the writers just wanted to write him in a way for the sake of being edgy/modern -- or "Hey, this is what a lot of character nowadays are written like for the sake of making it an adult show!"

Listen, listen, that's just MY take on it, okay.

If it's any other character besides Rayman, I'd be totally fine with it -- because it'll just be another tragic character in another show.

…

First of all, Rayman was NEVER really a simp-y people pleaser in that sense. I wouldn't think he'd be the kind of character to be on TV for Eden to appeal to people, or even care to go up on stages for any other reason other than just messing around.

If anything, the character would've been relieved to hear that he could finally get some peace and sleep, because he kept being interrupted every time something happens. In many cases, he just wants it done and out and he could go back to sleeping in his favorite spots seen in Rayman 1-3. He was always dragged into the fray.

…But fine, let's go with the original plot of Laserhawk and do it anyway.

That's just the start of it.

As the story progresses, I felt the writing was really lackluster and the characters acting…like something from a typical teenage fanfiction instead of something people would do in that situation -- with the scene of Rayman losing his temper with Red. Or days when Rayman got depressed and became an alcoholic.

Rayman alone succumbing to addictions such as cocaine, alcohol and trying to bang a cow lady was just…extremely out of character for someone like him.

In all cases, Rayman was the type of character who didn't let that take him and always surmount the challenges despite how bleak things are -- like Rayman: The Great Escape.

This is coming from a guy who was kidnapped, enslaved and had seen his friends being tortured and trafficked while he could only watch.

Yet he was able to rise above the challenge and free his entire planet.

He always had the one mindset of just doing what he does and finding things to have fun with while he does it.

DON'T get me wrong, I like the direction of Rayman being taken advantaged of to further Eden's terrible plot, and I liked the idea of Rayman becoming "Ramone" to finish the job and save Bullfrog shooting up everyone there. He still cared and still ended as a hero despite everything -- I don't mind that at all.

That, I can sit with.

It's the fact of HOW he got there was just out of characters since the beginning, at least that's how it felt for me on that.

It'll be like seeing characters like Kirby/Spyro/Sonic/Crash Bandicoot suddenly becoming a coke snorting alcoholic who becomes a desperate people pleaser trying not to be forgotten. That's how off it looks. It's completely out of character. I get characters can shift and change over time depending on what happened to them -- but it still would defeat the purpose.

Characters listed above wouldn't have done that -- because they aren't supposedly like everyone else. The whole point is that they are PROTAGONISTS with stories centered on them on why they are the focus, people that rose above situations that average people can't. -- at least that's how I feel about the idea of these types of protagonists. They were heroes that did the impossible.

So, you're telling me Rayman, the man who had been through kidnapping, slavery, trafficking, and watching his friends get tortured in Rayman 2, ...was done in and went to drugs, sex and alcoholism over a fraud case, being framed, not getting attention, and media problems? AND just fell for some really gullbile bullshit that he got himself into uncharacteristically? Just saying. I get the context from Laserhawk but...really?

Listen, I like the end design. I like him going edgy. I like his Jakified transformation in some way. But the way he was written to get there is 90% what freaking matters.

I feel the use of Rayman was constantly been misunderstood as just a joke character -- but hey, it's Ubisoft.

Should I be surprised? Perhaps not.

Do I have the right to be disappointed as a fan? Yes.

Take it with a grain of salt.

This is just my thoughts about it. I'm not saying I'm right -- I'm just disagreeing with the direction of the character.

I just don't think Rayman himself would ever get himself in those situations, unless he was dragged in against his will.

I just feel Ubisoft just doesn't understand their characters…along with other things..

----------------------------

I'm just a girl who loves her limbless baby. Okay?

----

Edit:

Someone made a good, clear point that the premise and point of "Captain Laserhawk that it's to "discard what was initially thought of the IPs, and have them wipe clean of any prior history and into clean slates to rewrite them."

(Thank you for pointing this out)

That's somehow even worse.

Sounds like a lazy plot convenience/tool to make it an excuse to write characters without honoring and looking up the source material indepth -- and fulfill a different view of what they want the character to be like despite how it's uncharacteristic of the character itself.

A lot of modern writers are doing this to existing characters alot nowadays, which is pretty sad.

[thefirstknife]

re: the tomb: i distinctly remember peering into the tomb afterwards and it was empty, hence my confusion :(

It would really help if you could remember when you did this! Went into it a little bit in a reply here.

The tomb was (in-game) only ever visited once, in Curse, in Not Even the Darkness quest. We visited the area outside of the tomb in Dawn, in Impossible Task. In Impossible Task, Saint doesn't die so we're not meant to see anything, even if you were able to peek behind the door. I personally did not beacuse I was fighting for my life in that mission so I was really not thinking about looking. Here's a screenshot from my recording of it, showing the average health I spent fighting this boss with (I have no idea why I was doing this with two sidearms):

At the end of the mission, you're kinda stuck listening to Saint and then you get yoinked out of there without the opportunity to explore. Either way, the tomb should not be there anyway in Dawn, so if you looked back then and it wasn't there, that makes sense. There was never any new Mercury content after that (besides the skybox changes), and old content was never altered.

The other user mentioned that this area was also used in adventures, but adventures were made at the same time as Curse so if the tomb isn't there, this isn't some big reveal and is more likely to just be that the area behind the door was not modelled for missions where it doesn't matter. During adventures, we're not meant to be looking at the tomb anyway so I'm not surprised the area wouldn't be entirely accurately modelled behind the door. Kinda like how you don't have to model hair on characters wearing hats. The adventures simply aren't a canonical look into the tomb. It's literally just a reused arena, not meant to show us the tomb at all. If people could peek into it from another activity, it's 100% not intended.

But either way, there is only one canonical visit to the tomb, in Curse. In Dawn, we only go to the area outside, with zero chance that they would've modelled the whole thing that wasn't meant to be seen (or that would not make sense for there to be a body in the first place). In lore, the tomb was visited by us when we discovered it (Not Even the Darkness quest) and shortly after by Osiris when he checked for himself. No one else has ever been there and both visits in lore were before we saved Saint.

[loz-furbies]

Spirit Tracks Zelda

We've reached the surprise S-tier Zelda!

Design

Her princess look is the usual reused Toon design again, and this time it bothers me extra much since the game goes out of its way to namedrop Tetra as her ancestor. If you actively want me to think of multiple Zeldas in one game, you should give them different looks!

The Phantom design isn't really what I'm usually into, but it is cute when she retains her princess personality even when using a hulking suit of armour, and the Phantom isn't made any girlier (other than a slight pinkish purple colour scheme) just because a girl is controlling it. Though I wonder how much that is affected by the risk that little boys wouldn't want to play the game if the cover art had a girly suit of armour on it.

Character

The Sprit Tracks Zelda probably has more screen presence than the other Zeldas put together, and the extensive screen time is also luckily used to make her a more interesting character.

She starts out already as a mature and responsible ruler of her people (there's no king in this game), which I think is a bit of a missed opportunity, as you could give her more character development if she wasn't already so competent at her job. Regardless, the plot starts to happen and the bad guys steal her body to use it as a vessel for the resident big bad, and her now disembodied spirit gets to show quite the range of emotions and participate in comedic scenes as well. Like her horror at having her body kidnapped for end boss resurrection is played for laughs, because her first thought is just that the whole idea is gross.

Once her body is stolen, she gets both incredibly motivated to get it back, and starts bossing other characters around while she just sits back. One of the funniest scenes in the story is when she gets closer and closer to Link's face with each sentence as she pushes him to take the job. When the mentor character Anjean says that Link needs a companion, Zelda first goes through every NPC she knows, and Anjean has to be the one to suggest that Zelda go herself.

The way she is depicted about this changes more sympathetic once she starts to look just really helpless about the situation and that her not taking more action was more about that she didn't think there was anything she could do than just selfishly demanding others to do all the work. When it's eventually settled that she'll be the one to join Link, we end the scene with Link's exasperated sigh, which does give the whole thing a somewhat "great, now we need to drag this useless annoying girl along" vibe.

For the most of the game, Zelda has a friendly and cheerful personality, and feels more energetic than many of the other Zeldas. The opening credits where she flies alongside Link's train are so cute! One of her lines when boarding the train is an excited "Aaall aboooard!" too, which I was always happy to see.

She keeps her personality in her Phantom form too, so we get to see the Phantom do a giddy pose and say lines like "eeek!" and "hee hee". And while she initially complains how unpleasant being inside hot scrap metal is, she quickly becomes excited at her new power, and starts the Phantom gameplay sections confident that together they'll be able to get through. Once she takes part in a mini boss battle she even gets a little cocky and comments how good it was that she was there to help, but this doesn't lead to any plot line about her being overconfident or anything like that.

At first Zelda appears more concerned about getting her body back than preventing the end boss from taking over the world. Also after Anjean has done the "you two escape, I'll hold the enemy back" mentor thing, Zelda expresses vague worry. The player then gets to ask if she means Anjean, and Zelda's response is a pretty dismissive "oh right, her too", which felt really weird because this is pretty late in the game and she should have bonded with Anjean more at that point and shows concern for other characters at multiple points. While she is clearly heroic in the grand finale, I wish the plot line about her initially selfish motives (or I mean I think it's pretty fair for her to want her body back but she's portrayed somewhat flippant about it) had gotten a more concrete wrap up.

Another thing that quite didn't hit the mark is the possibility that even if they manage to drive the end boss out of Zelda's body, she might not be able to return to it. Zelda is understandably worried, but all this amounts to is one encouraging line from Link/the player. This does get some payoff when she is actually incapable of entering her body again and only manages to pull it off after a pep talk from a villain-turned-ally, so the plot line isn't completely pointless. But it does feel like it sort of fizzles out.

Other notable characteristics about Zelda are that she's ready to work with the aforementioned villain ally so she appears pretty forgiving, and also shows a dorky side of herself when she starts shadowboxing the air when she claims she'll "have words" with him later. She can also stand her ground and talk back when the situation requires it, and Anjean notes that she's feisty like Tetra.

It's also nice that Zelda gets some lines to just talk about herself, like that she used to visit the ocean world village during summer and hopes to come back again to swim together with Link, or that her grandmother playing the spirit flute used to calm her down as a child, or that she misses the castle and wishes she ate more of her favourite foods while she had the chance. She also hates bugs and tells Link to go to the forest village alone, but changes her mind since she doesn't like the thought of waiting at the forest train station alone with the bugs either.

In addition to her dislike of bugs, she is also scared of mice, which becomes a gameplay mechanic when she can't move if there are mice enemies around. Having your female lead get paralysed by fear from the sight of a mouse is kind of stereotypical and I wish they would have thought of some other way, but at least it's set up first.

Finally my analysis may make her seem more selfish and flippant than she is in the actual game experience; in most of the scenes she's perfectly friendly, shows concern for others and puts in the work herself. It's just that some scenes felt somewhat inconsistent and didn't have a proper payoff. Overall Spirit Tracks Zelda is a really strong character with many sides to her, but I do wish her character development was better defined by giving her a clear moment that references her initial inelegant reaction to losing her body and makes a note that she's different now.

Role in the story

The basis of the plot is the usual fare: Zelda senses that something is up, but gets kidnapped before she can do anything about it, and in the finale she does some big magic stuff to neutralise the end boss. But as we know this is the one mainline Zelda game (before EoW that is) where you get to play as her and she is present through the whole game, which makes a huge difference. Her presence makes it easy to keep in mind what's at stake at all times, and even if many Zeldas make great (and bigger/more dramatic) efforts and sacrifices that are essential to saving the kingdom, the player getting to be an active participant in all that just hits different.

Through the whole game and especially the multi-part final battle I was holding my breath for if Zelda would be damseled after all, but luckily that was not the case and she remains playable for the whole thing. The final scene where Link is pushing the sword into the boss's head and Zelda runs over to help really hammers it home that this was a team effort. A+ for that!

During my playthrough I got an unscripted moment where I was running away from an unkillable enemy and Phantom Zelda happened to stand in the way, so she was able to hold the enemy off for a moment while I made my narrow escape. Which was one of the most memorable things to happen in the game for me, moments like that just feel so much more meaningful when they're not in a cutscene. And in the context of the loz franchise it was cute for the roles to be reversed for once since Link spends so much time rescuing Zelda.

Gameplay wise Phantom Zelda is good as well. Or the sections where she is present include a lot of stealth and it's been well documented on this blog how much I hate that, but the puzzle and action parts with two playable characters who have different abilities are pretty fun.

Also a point in Zelda's favour as a companion is that I didn't feel like she was disruptive for the gameplay. Even if an NPC is likable, if they constantly interrupt the player their presence can quickly become a bother, but I thought that Zelda's lines didn't take too much time, and generally she shows up in situations where you would be reading NPC dialogue anyway.

Relationships

This time Link and Zelda aren't already friends, and instead meet for the first time when she officiates his train engineer graduation ceremony, and then requests his help to sneak out of the castle to investigate the Spirit Tower (because you need to go there by train). Which is a pretty logical way to get them working together, like sure she does trust a total stranger pretty fast but whatever.

Their relationship doesn't really get developed during the story, and is mostly just based around the implicit knowledge that going on such an adventure together naturally brings you closer. Zelda does regularly compliment Link for doing well so there's that at least, but I think most of their relationship relies on the player growing to like Zelda through the game and transferring those feelings to Link. They do end the game holding hands, which probably puts them in the top 5 canon Zelink couples, though I'd rather see it just as two friends who have gone through a lot together finally getting some relief; I don't remember anything else in the game that could be seen as romantic. Regardless it's cute that both of them move their hands at the same time so they're clearly on the same wavelength.

As for the other characters, the mentor Anjean feels more of a mentor to Zelda than Link, since she's the one whose emotional state is discussed a lot more. Aside from that one weird comment about being seemingly dismissive about Anjean's fate (or maybe Zelda was sure she was ok and thus didn't even think to be concerned about her safety? That wasn't my reading of the scene though), they care about each other and Anjean ascending to heavens at the end hits Zelda specifically.

The villain's henchman and a former student of Anjean's becomes a somewhat important character to Zelda as well. Once he's betrayed and incapacitated by the end boss (duh) Zelda becomes concerned for his well-being immediately, though it's not really explained why. I guess she's just empathetic? Him being Anjean's former student probably helped. Zelda doesn't directly say that she has forgiven him (not that he apologised), but she does say she has a bone to pick with him after they're done with the end boss in a very non-serious way, so I feel that it's implied. He is presumably moved by this and sacrifices himself in the final battle, and the failure to save him is the big bittersweet moment for the finale. This didn't really do much for me since their relationship wasn't that developed, but I guess it's nice that he got to do something at least.

Zelda's old teacher is also a prominent NPC and the two clearly care for each other, though this doesn't really get explored that much. Zelda does comment that the teacher would have loved one of the puzzles Link solves, and hopes to bring him to see it too. She also has a mutually respectful relationship with Link's engineering teacher and a former soldier.

[splashskitty]

Hooiiiiiiiooooo it's me again with a new character!!!!! Which also means more lore time!!!! AKA lore part 5

This is Stella Salvia She/her age unown birthday also unknown she's an adult at least that's all she knows.

she is from the grim reaper AU and she is a grim reaper like Nerium she also watches over the in between heaven and hell to make sure souls go to the right places/they don't get stuck like she did.

The idea of her / thought of her was what reaper Nerium became I finally figured I could add more grim reapers and reuse the design cuz it was always brewing in the back of my head and I thought I may as well make another one.

She's supposed to be the opposite of Nerium kind of where Nerium doesn't care about people is cold-hearted and finds it fun to kill people Stella is strongly emotional and finds causing people any pain hurtful she also has a sword instead of a scythe like a normal grim reaper she's a ghost with no memories of her past she's kind hearted loves every living creature and tries to do what's best for everyone even when she has to Mercy kill them

I also realize I forgot to tell how Nerium became a grim reaper in the first place so when the god of death noticed she was killing too many people and knowing she'd be hard to just straight up stop he struck a deal that she would be able to kill only the people that were going to die anyway as long as she reap their souls she agreed making her a grim reaper he gave her the ability to sense death so that could do her job at least that's how Nerium became a grim reaper

Now for how Stella became one she was stuck between life and death in a void of nothingness the god of death told her he would only let her out if she became a grim reaper because they needed more grim reapers she disagreed at first so he left her alone being alone for so long made her begin to lose her mind little by little until she finally agreed.

She friends with Colocasia and Iris she mostly keeps them out of trouble because both of them love to cause chaos so much and she mostly prefers balance she lets them cause some chaos but she doesn't like seeing them hurt things she's a very sensitive little grim reaper.

She's also kind of friends with spider Lily but only in the way of going to parties and getting drunk together she doesn't really like that spider Lily eats people but they always go to each other for advice for pretty much anything they love helping each other they have a very sisterly Bond honestly.

Her dress is supposed to be lolita dresses I'm just not very good at drawing dresses and yes she has a crown she's probably not royalty though with her amnesia I guess she wouldn't know if she was

She does have powers like Nerium being able to sense death of course and when she touches living things they do die her sword also has poison in it so that if she has to kill something it's quick I may or may not give her other abilities later but those are the ones she has for sure.

And that's about it for Stella Salvia I hope you like her she's been brewing in my head for a long time now and I think she turned out quite well if there's any spelling mistakes no there's not I'm dyslexic <3

[redplayer42-blog]

On Dale's grandpa

There are a lot of missinformation in the community about the identity of Dale's grandpa in Birthday, and I feel like we need to apply some scrutiny if we want to find anything useful.

First of all, the grandpa is undeniably Aldous Vanderboom. It's very clear that it's the exact same character model, we just need to compare him to other representations of Aldous.

Here's the superposition of grandpa and Case 23's Aldous :

It's almost exactly 1 to 1.

And no, it's not just a model reuse, it literally never happens for any character in the series.

Now in order to continue, let's start by asserting one thing : Birthday is officially classified as a memory. What does that mean ? It means that no matter how you see time flowing within the cubes (that's gonna be a can of worms I'm not opening today) there are two elements to the memory:

The actual events that the memory record

Some modification that can be either internal or external

In the case of Birthday, we have a lot of elements that are explicitly external modifications made by Mr. Owl (Jacob) and Mr. Crow (Aldous), such as the message in the snow globe, the birthday present, and everything that happens with the blue cube.

Now the question is : where does grandpa Aldous fit into this ? Is he part of the original memory ? Or was he added later ?

Let's start keeping a tally of what we know for sure :

What else do we know for sure ? Well we know the shooting actually took place, as it's been confirmed in other games such as Paradox and very recently, Underground Blossom.

We also know thanks to Paradox that Mr. Rabbit (David Eilander) is actually responsible for the murder.

Rabbit also tells us the reason for the murder : he needed to get back a token of his past life. The only thing that's missing when he leaves is the content of the small box, which happens to be a flintlock pistol.

So the pistol is also part of the original memory, otherwise Rabbit wouldn't have a motive.

We can actually trace back that pistol to Ms. Pheasant, as it is the exact same pistol she had in Hotel, that she killed herself with. Considering Pheasant is Elizabeth Eilander, David's sister, it fits the bill for a token of his past life.

And so now we sandwiched grandpa quite nicely, because we ended up in a situation where we know for a fact that the pistol from Hotel ended up in this random family's house. How did that happen, if not for Dale's grandpa actually being Aldous, who took the gun with him, which is then reinforced by him using the pistol ?

It's not completely impossible for Aldous to not be part of the original memory, but it usually comes at the price of finding a convoluted way to explain the gun's presence, or a different motive for Rabbit's attack.

If you have another theory, feel free to share.

[introjavert]

I didn't realize they released some songs from Korean Hadestown, gonna geek out for a sec

In Doubt Comes In Orpheus says "Who am I?" quite literally, while the original its context was "Who am I to do anything". He says "난 누구?" because "내가 누군데" wouldn't fit.

I wonder why they kept "I'm coming" in English out of all things.. they could have just reused "wait(기다려)" and it would have fit

I did a fan translation 4 years ago and got one right!! 😂 (Symphony of Hadestown)

In the same song Hades says "I'll conduct everything (지휘 means command, doesn't have the double meaning)" instead of electric city

WHY did they get rid of "my children" in Why We Build the Wall??

3 lines I got right in Wait For Me (Literally only I care but it means a lot to me)

I knew this already but "When the chips are down" is translated to "When you face a wall"

They way Persephone says "이렇게 손을 위로 (Raise your hands like this)" is really cute

In Wedding Song Orphydice use formal speech to each other

"Way down Hadestown" -> "Dark Hadestown (어둔 하데스타운)"

Last translations I got right in Songbird + Chant

[conspire24]

Why a Kalos game actually makes sense right now (crack theory)

So, I'm super excited we're getting a Legends game in Kalos featuring Zygarde. As a longtime fan in the XY anime, I always wished Zygarde was done justice in the game side of things, and once Legends Acreus came out, I knew another Legends game would be the perfect way to give Zygarde they're dues.

That said, this was definitely out of left field! Literally everyone was guessing we were going to get a Johto or Unova game this gen, since they're the only two that have yet to be remade in 3D. At first, skipping straight to Kalos makes no sense. But the more I thought of it, the more I've noticed a pattern, a pattern that I will now present as:

THE POKEMON GENERATION MULTIPLES HYPOTHESIS

The idea is that the region that gets remade is influenced by its age as well as whether or not the region's generation number shares a common denominator (that isn't 1) with the current region's generation number. I know, I'm bringing math into this, but trust me it'll make sense when we go through it.

Let's start simple, the first gen to get remade was Kanto (gen 1) during generation 3. Easy enough, it was the first gen where it made sense to remake past games, and oh look, 3 is a multiple of 1 (though to be fair everything's a multiple of 1).

Then we get to gen 4, where after the sinnoh games, we got a remake of John (gen 2). Oddly enough, 4 is a multiple of 2.

Then there's gen 5. Now, 5 is a prime number, so the only factor 5 has is 1, but gen 1 has already been made available on DS (along with every other gen, so it's not like they could do much anyway).

But then we get to gen 6, followed by the Hoenn remakes (gen 3), and 3 is a multiple of 6. Now, 6 also a multiple of 2 and even shares a common denominator with 4 (that c.d. being 2), but it seems gen 3 takes the precedent because it is the earliest set of games to have been released, since Johto and Sinnoh had games out more recently.

We move to gen 7, and you know, I remember back in 2017 when everyone thought we were gonna get Sinnoh remakes next. But why would we? 7 isn't a multiple of 4, 4 and 7 don't share a common denominator. 7 is a prime number, it isn't a multiple of anything - except for 1. And wouldn't you know it, this is the generation where we got a set of Kanto remakes - and 1 was the only thing that could factor into 7!

As we go to gen 8, suddenly it's apparent what would get remade next. Sinnoh was the region that had been out of circulation the longest, and 4 goes into 8 just fine, meaning now is finally the time to give Sinnoh another spot in the limelight with BDSP and Legends Arceus!

And now, we have reached gen 9, and again I say we all had thought we would get a return to Johto or Unova, but why? I mean, 9 isn't a multiple of 2, or 5. Rather, 9 is a multiple of 3. And you what else is a multiple of 3? 6! And since gen 6 had come out a year before the Hoenn remakes, it seems Kalos was the earliest game to pass the threshold for a modern reimagining.

So, in short, it appears that the region that gets remade or reused next coincides with whether or not the generation number shares a common denominator greater than 1 as well as whether or not the region's last release has been longer than other regions'. If this theory holds water, gen 10 may yield some interesting results, as 10 is a multiple of both 2 and 5. Though, there has been more time since the last new Johto games than there has been since the last new Unova games, so by my logic, Johto would be the next to be remade. Though if you count the Johto VC releases on 3DS, maybe that would mean Unova has spent more time out, so maybe Unova would be next on the docket?

Either way, I just think it's interesting that all the generations' numbers line up this way. Who knows, maybe each generation, GameFreak has been playing a simple numbers game when deciding their remakes.

Well regardless, I'm happy that we're getting another step into Kalos next year, and in a way, maybe the timing makes more sense than we realize. That said, definitely take this theory with a grain of salt. I highly doubt the numbering of generations (which I don't think GameFreak has ever actually acknowledged officially) truly factors into how GameFreak and the Pokemon Company greenlight what projects. But if nothing else, it's fun to notice those kinds of patterns. I'd take this in the same vein as that fire starter zodiac theory from a while back. It's probably not true, but it's funny how well it fits together!

That said, I'm calling it now, a Legends game in Johto is gonna be the game for 2028!

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals - Thriller (part 1 of 2)

(The video isn't a two-parter, but this analysis is! You can find part two HERE, but there'll also be a link at the bottom of this post!) VoicePlay's cover of Michael Jackson's Thriller was released to YouTube on the 12th of October, 2024 (and/or on the 11th - you know how it works), and features the one and only J None, back again with the group! Actually, in case you haven't fully realised it yet, of the 4 Halloween videos that VP has done since he stopped being a permanent member, J has returned for 3 out of 4 of them! (The exception being 2022's Hide And Seek/Ding Dong, ft. Lauren Paley). Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but this might be the first time Voiceplay has covered two songs by the same artist in the same year? The first obviously being The Way You Make Me Feel (which has been submitted for consideration to be maybe nominated for a Grammy in two categories!?!) But anyway, I don't wanna get off-topic, and of course I'm not actually here to talk about the music/vocals/arrangement (I did that in a separate post which you can find HERE); I'm here to talk about everything happening on screen! And boy is there a lot to talk about, such that I very quickly realised I would absolutely have to make two posts in order to mention everything (like what I did for Classical Chaos). So enough of my introductory yapping, Let's Get Into This!

Introductory shot! Actually this was the video thumbnail that Patrons got for early access (though I hit play without even looking at it anyway), so we went in way more blind than the rest of y'all did!

The moon lamp once again making an appearance in the background! Geoff first got it for his Jack's Lament video, and then VoicePlay used it for Classical Chaos earlier this year. Also I wouldn't be surprised if some of those gravestones were reused from Jack's Lament as well tbh. (And trees possibly from Be Prepared and/or Classical Chaos?)

Oh yeah and maybe you might see something on the floor behind Cesar's legs? Don't worry about it, it's probably nothing! 😉 😝

(More below the cut!)

J sings "under the moonlight...", and Cesar turns to look back at the moon! (And Layne turns his head as well)

Also the beam of light coming from the top left area shining down to the centre of the floor reminds me of the similar lighting effect from Song Of Durin ngl (as always, Eli was credited with lighting for this one - shocker to no one, and he always kills it every time!)

Also quick comment on the clothing, I like how they're all wearing black and red, but with each with their own take on it. Layne has red shoes (so does J), Cesar has red plaid pants, and J, Eli, and Geoff all have red shirts (and J has red and black trousers (or whatever they are), and Geoff has ripped jeans with red showing through underneath). And of course it's always nice when Geoff is wearing an actual proper colour other than blue! 😁😝

Not fully a visuals thing but I forgot to put it in my musical thoughts/commentary post - I like how Eli sings "you're paralysed!" and then the background vocals sing "you're para-!" but they din't finish the word, as if they've been stopped, or rather paralysed midway through singing! And this is highlighted in the video by Cesar here, so it is still kinda a visual thing as well!

Hey I think that person figure thing on the ground behind Cesar and Layne has gotten closer! It's still probably nothing though, it's fine /j

Actually nevermind, it's not fine - watch out Layne!!!

On my first watch-through of this video on Patreon, I mostly just watched it start to finish without stopping. The only two times I paused were right at the start to take in the starting shot and kind of "psych myself up" to get through the rest of it (again, not knowing anything about the video), and then I rewound a few seconds and paused to try and get a better look at who this zombie person was. And then I stayed paused for like a hot minute while I absolutely died laughing because omg KATHY!!!!! 😂🤣🤣

*YEET*

(Oh the genuine delights of frame-by-frame scrubbing 😂)

So here's some BTS info for you: Geoff was in charge of the production and direction of this video (and song arrangement) (though Tony also helped out with direction too), and apparently his initial idea was for Zombie!Kathy to "bite" Layne's leg, and then just make a face or something as if he tasted bad, and then crawl away or whatever. It was Kathy who had the idea of what actually happens in the video! Geoff wasn't sure at first, but she told Layne the idea and he loved it, and yeah it was absolutely hilarious - definitely VoicePlay Brand Of Dumb (affectionate).

Also you don't really see anything of the ""body double"" that Layne kicks away, but VoicePlay (Geoff specifically I'm presuming) decided to credit 'her' in the description: "Flying Stunt Zombie - Greta The Gruesome" 😂 (Kathy meanwhile is credited as "Production Manager and Floor Zombie")

And also despite being hardly seen, VoicePlay and crew put effort into making Kathy and the doll "Greta" (bought from a Spirit Halloween store inside the same mall as Pattycake Studios) look like each other! Kathy has since posted a couple pics from the videoshoot with her and "Greta" in full makeup and costuming on her Instagram - Here's a link!

Cesar is Concerned (and/or confused, lol)

And so yeah, Kathy was on the floor at the back right from the start! (Though I didn't notice her there at first till the second time around.) Kinda like Geoff's Monster Mash video in that regard! (someone on the Discord server (I believe it was Huldra?) made a joke about this being the result of Narrator/Scientist!Geoff's creation going horribly wrong, lol)

You doing alright there Layne?

*AAAAAAHHHH...*

*...CHOOOO!*

(Oof, rip Cesar!)

Also kinda neat how the lights change back to red right on Layne's sneeze (momentarily going purple in between as well!)

So not only did Eli maybe get some in his eye, or at least almost do so, but Cesar's wiping his sneezed-on hands on him!

Eli: Cesar dude what the heck? Cesar: Hey don't blame me! Layne was the one that sneezed in the first place!

Not exactly an air guitar, but Geoff does kinda look like he's playing some sort of invisible instrument here and it's low-key intriguing to me

A very quick sideways head/neck jerk from Cesar - the first warning sign that the zombie-ness has spread to him as well!

Yep, now it's Cesar's turn!

Shoutout to Cesar's gold painted nails! Very pretty!

And also shoutout to Layne's acting/movements in this video! In most VoicePlay videos you'll likely notice that he has "self-conducting" movements in a similar way to what Geoff does, and you might even notice similar hand movements across multiple videos. But in this video, from the moment he starts looking a bit more sickly/"zombie-like", his movements change a little as well - looking a bit more jerky and stuff, and he seems to mostly be keeping his hands open and flat like in this picture here - less bending of fingers or any sort of fluid "drumming" motions (maybe meant to represent a bit of growing rigor mortis?)

I only just thought of the rigor mortius idea/"theory" just before, and then we get this ~2 second group shot at the start of the bridge section, and Layne barely moves, despite there still being audible percussion - it definitely seems like a deliberate choice! (He's still beatboxing, or at least lip-syncing to it, but it's rare that he keeps his body so still in a video while he's still doing percussion)

Watch out Eli - I think you're next!

*Pfft* rip he's gone

(Cesar in the BTS video: "Can I go for his head?" Geoff: "If he consents to it")

"Well that's not good"

"They're out to get you..."

Geoff isn't the only person to look directly at the camera/viewer in the video, but the verse he does here definitely feels the most like an actual warning, especially with the way he conveys it on screen here, and I guess it lines up nicely with him doing the monologue later. (Also low-key "close all the windows, lock the doors, unless you're careful he'll get yours" vibes ngl)

(Oh and necklace spotted!)

Also this bit low-key reminds me of the end of VoicePlay's Running Up That Hill video, after Ashley levitates and everyone else is just practically frozen, moving only their eyes (and mouths)

Oh no Geoff watch out!!!

(But also goddamn why does he look so good here? Like even with the hands and everything, almost looks like a freaking painting!)

Honestly I find Geoff's bit here really interesting - he's concerned/worried, but he doesn't actually look massively terrified, and he doesn't look like he's ready to run or fight. Like maybe he's almost already accepted the fact that he's next, and it's just a matter of how and when?

(That'd kinda sorta line up with the This Is Halloween video actually, in that everyone is slowly turning into creepy monsters, and Geoff appears to be the one least resistant to it (yes this video can be connected to a lot of other VoicePlay/Geoff videos, and I love it))

(Oh and I gotta give my love to his grey-white parts of Geoff's hair - truly this man ages like fine wine <3)

Not the hair!!!

And down he goes!

(And literally, he was in fact pulled straight downwards! Bent the legs, and Cesar and Layne helped support his weight so he didn't topple straight down - it was kinda amusing to see it happen in the BTS video ngl)

One last thing I will point out is that the jump across to J following this bit is actually not a cut or some fancy transition edit - Geoff's section to J's section is one continuous shot. But with that being said, this is still where I'm cutting this post off, because it's the halfway point (not counting the credits), and I've hit image limit! (I had to remove two images here to make it work but otherwise I managed!) Go find part 2 HERE!

[loveislandthegame]

thoughts on today's volume! this was certainly an experience. 🙂 for real tho, we've definitely reached the point of the season where everything starts flying off the rails

i'm putting my clown costume on & continuing my natasha route, she told MC that her and stefan are just friends (i was getting mixed signals in this volume tbh, but if stef/natasha are actually romantic if you're off their routes , i'm just gonna assume it's glitches or FB being too lazy to branch rather than her being dishonest)

unfortunately for those who thought uma being a returning islander was going to be a fake-out , hamish brought her ass back in a friendship couple (granted he would've been dumped if he didn't twist, but he seriously couldn't have picked anyone else ? 😭)

then we play whatever this challenge was, i was mentally checking out . i hyped all the guys up except finn. it really bothers me that he keeps flirting with MC no matter how many times i've pied him off, it's giving suresh

i also thought that uma was going to be dumped due to her lack of a redesign ... perhaps fixing her weirdly long broken arm & "5 seconds away from pissing herself" pose is asking too much of FB, but they could've at least given her a new hair & outfits 😭 it wouldn't fix her personality but jeez (slightly off topic but i think uma's face is gorgeous, FB did her so dirty in so many different ways)

i picked all the chill options with her. side note, i'm so bored with these rivals that just go after whoever you're coupled up with . i'd be much more invested if the drama was like: stefan trying to have a proper relationship with natasha, hamish trying to win her back, or even uma wanting to pursue her

speaking of the drama, chen randomly decides that he's somehow more compatible with somebody he's known for a grand total of two days than the person he's been madly in love with for this entire season ... really bad paraphrasing here but my jaw was on the ground when he was like "uma is actually interested in melbourne and did research about it, you shouldn't move to my home city because of me, what if you hate it🥺." mind you, my MC is also australian

FB keeps reusing this "LI and MC fighting because they had a disagreement over the most miniscule bullshit" plot point and i don't understand why . later on he apologises but it's just so...ugh . Overbearing i guess ? idk how to describe it but i think i'm done with him

my tinfoil hat theory is that FB is trying to ruin everybody's route to make finn look good by comparison, and that's just not happening for me luv, but i will say that it made me appreciate hamish more . he's a hot mess but his scenes with MC are very sweet (love a friends to lovers moment)

at least the chen drama gave me the strength to go to the hideaway with natasha without feeling guilty (that damn hyperempathy lmao)

of course we get The Box™ again, but this time there's sexy...crossword ? 😭 (like i've said before, i don't care about these scenes so i can test out whatever FB adds without being like "damnnn that was a waste of time")

it's definitely better than dice, it's not some super spicy thing, just (at least with natasha, idk if it can change) neck kisses before the option of going all the way/bits/cuddling . sexy crossword is a deeply unserious concept but i would go with it if you're tired of the other options

next up is movie night, my MC is a hoe (mainly in the sense that anybody on a wlw route can't officially be with their LI until the final recoupling, but i'm also on hamish's route now) but i didn't do anything in casa, so i wonder what her clip will be. my prediction is that it'll end up being something that can apply to all players e.g. the PDA awards drama

(can't wait for everyone to clutch their pearls over MC turning down finn for the one millionth time 😍)

[hypermascbishounen]

I honestly keep forgetting about N!Juste bc he's such a travesty, so wnv I get reminded of him I'm just as angry as day one, lol. I just mentally delete N!Juste every time I see him, like dragging a corrupted file to the recycle bin. Tbf he's easy to forget, bc he's also boring and the least of Nocturne's problems so far, but obv I'm going to dislike it a lot as fan of HoD.

What gets me most I think, is how most ideas I've seen of a post game Juste, have him in a mentor or at least respected ancestor role to Richter(if not just outright his dad, lol). Even with bad end Juste - in fact *especially* with bad end Juste - it's hard to imagine Juste being so checked out on his descendants. If anything, Juste having a controlling/overprotective streak, seems to be a possible thing with him, which you would think sudden catastrophic loss would actually make worse.

(imo a bad end Juste would react to Richter like Marlin in Finding Nemo, but forced to train him excessively instead of being able to shelter him. Especially when Richter *is so similar to Maxim, who he lost.* I think he would have every motive to try and ensure Richter has the best odds possible against anything.)

And this idea doesn't come from nowhere - A lot of elements of Juste (and Maxim) as characters, right down to gameplay, is backshadowing SoTN and Richter in particular. It's very much an implication that Richter inherits traits from the both of them, whether by blood, fate, or literally being trained by them, or relatives that already had been. Juste's connection to Richter in this way, was the only reason to even bring him into a Richter storyline in the first place.

And the Juste we know from HoD has an incredibly strong and distinctive personality. "Ooc" doesn't even really begin to describe how off N!Juste is. He's basically a reused stock archetype. He's the cookie cutter they used to make N!Trevor, thrown on the tray after they ran out of dough.

And tbh they didn't even need to do this, so it's baffling why they chose to. I can't claim to see into the genius peak minds behind nfcv, but my nearest guess is that not only do they not see No Legacy as a narrative problem for Richter, they see Legacy itself as an active threat. Bc Juste was genuinely their last Get Out of Jail Free card to give Richter a legacy and they wasted it, specifically to reinforce Belmont's as Useless. They actually could have had him just be a mentor to Richter that influenced him from a relatively safe distance in the script, while changing not a whole lot, imo.

The only other explanation is that they were just too scared have anyone as cool as game Juste or his friends anywhere near their watery product, lol. He is just full of too much prettyboy protagonist style while also being loaded to the balls full of magic power and having real Belmont swag. They could not have even a backstory version of this man that wouldn't threaten to upstage their constantly berated Richter, or their precious fanservice Alucard they just redesigned. He is too powerful.

Regardless, they felt the need to literally take away everything that makes Juste recognizable - his outfit, his powers, his friends, even his face!(that beard really is horrendous, it actually feels like it is there to hide his face istg). He can't even have his character flaws, they had to be replaced with ones that make him more suitably disaffected. All for the completely 0 pay off of another Useless Belmont.

[smaller-comfort]

⭐! Loser Takes All!

You know, I think if someone else had already written the filthy Aephorul/Resh'an tentacle smut I was craving back when I first finished the game, I might not have felt the need to write my own. I hadn't done any serious creative writing in years at that point, but the idea kept rolling around in my head and wouldn't go away. I wrote the first 2500 words of it in a draft tumblr post because typing anything in my notes app or google docs felt too real, and I had to trick my brain into thinking I wasn't actually writing anything in order to get any writing done.

It was always going to start with Aephorul's temper tantrum in the Archives, but at one point Aephorul's violence was going to take the sex in a much darker direction. That got scrapped pretty quickly, and instead there's that whole interlude where Aephorul is insistent on Resh'an's consent. I actually do think that's an important bit of characterization now, but I recognize that it might be a little immersion-breaking in some ways. And it's really in there because otherwise I was going to run up against a bunch of my own weirdly specific squicks around sex and violence. (Maybe I'll unpack that in an essay about content warnings at some point, idk. I'm not always sure where the lines are myself, honestly.)

I didn't end up cutting much from the final story- I think I deleted most of what I didn't use, unfortunately. (Fun fact, I had originally scrapped the sounding because I was getting self conscious about it; this was my first time writing...pretty much all of the kinks in there, actually. It's @kyoukhi's fault the sounding got written back in.)

You can see the tiny handful of bits I did cut here (nsfw-ish):

(This bit is actually in my notes on the tumblr post where I link to the story. Their stupid bickering is 99% of the appeal for me, honestly.)

“An eye for an eye, isn't it? You fucked my plans in two worlds. Now I get to fuck you."

It's too much. He breaks one hand free of Aephorul's grasp, so he can cover his face with it.  “That sounded better in your head, didn't it.”

“...oh, shut up.”

----

His mouth is dry. He feels too hot, as if Aephorul's hand on his bare skin has lit a fever in him. It has been countless thousands of years since he has felt anything like this, and it is awful.

He knows that he can, actually, come from this- endless, merciless teasing- he's done it before. But it had taken weeks to get to that point, and he is not going to think about the stupid sexy games they used to play with each other before everything went to shit.

--

(I think this was actually the first bit of the sex that I wrote.)

"You're such. A. Hypocrite. Play by the rules until you can't be bothered, and then you agree so readily to whatever forfeit I want- it's almost like you enjoy this."

"Should I not?" He asks, drily. It takes quite a lot of self control to keep his voice even, while Aephorul's cock- or whatever it is- twitches. "Probably should have mentioned that at the start then- ah!"

---

(the gist of this bit is actually getting reused in Save Scum, but this is what it originally looked like):

“Do you remember-”

“No.” The word comes out in a sudden, vehement snarl.

Everything stops, which is agonizing in its own way.  His feet touch the ground, and the bindings on his arms recede. Aephorul holds him in a carefully controlled collapse to the floor.

“No,” he repeats. His eyes are still sealed shut.  “Not- not to this." He trails one hand down the nearest piece of flesh he can reach. "This is fine.”

“Is it?” Hands- tentacles, whatever- wrap around Resh'an's shoulders, massaging the aching muscles there. 

“Yes,” slightly exasperated. “Just don't- don't bring up- the way things were. Don't ask me to remember.”

“Very well.” Aephorul's voice is flat and emotionless.

[stillmonsterz]

hello. i just want to say you are both incredible writers and i've personally read both of yours and hoonie 's works.

nobody deserves to receive hate on both sides.

did she plagiarize you? who knows— maybe she had, maybe she didn't. perhaps she might have gained inspiration from your writing before without even knowing or recalling it since there are way too many fics on this site to remember every single detail from every fic you've ever read (even i feel the same. i've wanted to write before, but i've read so many to the point i'm just scared of accidentally plagiarizing someone because i unknowingly get influenced by the multiple different writings i've consumed that people have put out and i can't exactly pinpoint every single scenario that's inspired me) but sometimes, coincidences can really happen, no matter how unbelievable it may seem because it's happened way too many times and way too similarly to even think of it as a mere coincidence anymore.

situations and scenarios repeat themselves over and over again. tropes get reused over and over. i've read fics from the same fandom that get very similar with each other, but i haven't seen anyone really bat an eyelash about it because they probably haven't noticed or maybe it's just because they are all accepting at the fact that we are all a bunch of people who gain inspiration from each other on this app and just honestly here to have fun and read and write what we love and enjoy the most. (obviously unless it's all flat out copying word by word along with characters and plot)

that's how a fandom is, that's what fanfiction is. it's all supposed to be for fun to enjoy the lores we find entertainment in and have genuine adoration for. to make other people happy and enjoy your works by indulging in a hobby that you enjoy doing yourself.

you can't fight everything or accuse every single person who has a similar scenario

because how will fanfiction work if it's not to get inspired by anything or if we all haven't thought of the same exact scenario at one point? it would just be too much to do that every single time to any person who dares think or write the same sentence another person does, it's very energy draining. please don't do that to yourself also. it's like an 'agree to disagree' situation.

i'm sure if she said she hasn't, then she probably hasn't to be honest. i know it's hard to believe, but coincidences like that can really happen. even the plot of her stories were completely different from your own though, it was just in those scenes they were really similar, so it's very plausible that things like that can happen.

i am not the best at english but i really hope you get my point.

there are clearly so many people on this site, you can't keep up with everything to every single post and every single fic and look out for a million different other users to see who you might end plagiarizing on accident or not/or who might be plagiarizing you (whether on complete accident or not)

who knows maybe even yours could be eerily alike to somebody else's work too without you knowing— and that person could also just up and post the same screenshots and accuse you of plagiarism straightaway without discussing matters with you first. it definitely wouldn't be a nice feeling and it can really be detrimental to somebody's state of mind because you've worked hard on it, right, but then you end up getting accused of plagiarism in the end over something you didn't mean to do at all.

you've said "i hate engenes" and i am going to assume you know how messy it can get in this fandom, so rather than posting her @ and a screenshot of her story next to yours for everyone to see, maybe adress it to her privately from the start and clear things up with her personally before making posts about it and saying things like, "if you're going to copy my fic atleast do it well" because that's not nice to say. things wil only become messier if that's how you address the situation :( yk how crazy it can get on enhablr and how 'too much' they can be so it's not hard to believe that they will actually go and harrass the other person without thinking their actions through and through.

people won't focus on the , 'don't report her' , because you know once they see those receipts (the screenshots you've provided), they most definitely will run away with that and send any type of harsh thing they can say to that person to have it taken down immediately.

please i suggest you to take down the screenshots you posted and all the other uncalled for things you've said about her and the situation and continue these matters in private because it has genuinely affected her and her state of mind and i don't want it to start affecting you too from the guilt that might eat at you or the insulting things people throw in your inbox.

i do not want to see two amazing writers have a dispute over a situation that should be handled in private and not for the gaze of idiots to see and attack whoever seems 'right' or 'wrong' and have our own favourite writers get driven off of this app due to the unnecessary hate.

you really don't deserve the hate coming from her side of the followers as well so please, please ignore anything anyone says that just flat out insults you rather than thinking about what they're saying and talking about it rationally!!! please only mind those who are actually trying to see this in a non-biased light and want to help.

once again, you BOTH are very talented writers so i don't see the point in making a big fuss over this like please people and the followers on both their sides— if you see this just seriously stop sending hate because we are all here to enjoy and read from these gifted writers— not attack and throw around death threats at each other, wtf have we become :( that's not who we are so let's calm down and be kinder to one another :/

and i just want to remind everybody that it's just enjoyment and fanfiction at the end of the day, something we should do out of love and enjoyment for, so nothing is absolutely WORTH sending death threats or insults over. like be fr right now do you really think we should all have each other by the throats and threaten to kill one another online? that's so embarrassing, just please stop and look at yourselves 😭 if you think that way just please go outside and touch grass. please.

there is no need for competition to back up your favourite writers, they're both undeniably GOOD and that's that. don't make it seem like a competition or that they're trying to outdo each other and make the other seem better because they're both really impressive in their own writing.

i hope you resolve this with her privately and come to terms with this matter. that's all i'm hoping for. i wish you and her a very pleasant day.

1. It's been resolved. She has chosen to leave the platform, and I'm not sure if she would want to hear from me any further. I've spoken my piece, and she's spoken hers.

2. I'm keeping the screenshots up for a bit. If the similarities are so miniscule, then surely no one would be swayed by them. I'm not going to back down on my stance. I don't feel any guilt, either. I do feel remorse at the way I handled things, but I did not direct my followers to send her hate.

3. You're right that I wasn't nice. I've apologized for how I've approached this, and I've apologized to the writer directly.

This is the last time I answer an ask about this situation. I'm done with it. I've said all I've wanted to say.