#i'm just over here playing with my lore and scripts

[skinsort]

Hello, I've been thinking about code and selling code and sharing code in the rpc because someone posed the question to me of what I'd want to happen if someone was heavily editing a skin I sold, and to be honest, my first instinct was 'take my name off it'. That was met with some surprise, but let me explain why.

Code, to me, is a largely democratic landscape. If you want to learn, hundreds of thousands of people and websites have come together to teach you. Masses of people share open source work on codepen, stack overflow etc. Code as a skill is like assembling an especially abstract puzzle where you can only think about the pieces, not really see them. But most puzzles have similar strategies to solve- start with the corner pieces, then the edges, then the most recognizable patterns etc etc etc working your way down to the more and more difficult details. Most of code- most of my job writing code- involves minimizing the amount of time working on those shared strategies so we can have more time to work on the the interesting bits, the hard bits. the bits that make the site we're working on unique and useful. Frankly, jcink is the easy part of code, by and large. Your data is already structured and provided to you in a very particular way. It is inefficiently, but largely documented. Many other people have solved all the problems you are likely to have trying to build a skin. Skinning is html and css for the vast majority of items. It is the easy stuff. If I sell code, that code is now the property of the person I sold it to. It is not shareable or redistributable. You can't take my code and resell it as your own, but as far as I'm concerned you can do whatever you want with it. If I solved problems that might otherwise feel difficult (accessibility and responsiveness come to mind) cool. You can solve the easy ones, like styling and colors and fonts you like. You can add or subtract things that vibe with what you want that code to do. Once it is sold, it is yours to do with what you like when it comes to personal use. This is true of almost all coding contracts that exist in the entire world. If it weren't, no one would ever hire external contractors to do any work for their company, and I can tell you now, even companies which could fully afford to do all their tech in house absolutely do not in 99% of cases if their business isn't selling their own tech. The rule is generally- you may do anything you like with this, except resell it to someone else. So why take my name off it? I don't endorse how other people code. Even in my professional life, I've taken projects off my portfolio because the client took a project I worked on and broke it (imo), often with other professional developers doing the breaking. If a prospective employer were to go look at it, I'd be embarrassed by what it looks like today. Tell me why I (and my team) created a website that was fully responsive, and they went back to make it adaptive in the year of our lord 2022 because they preferred to have pixel perfect views at 3 specific breakpoints rather than a responsive site. I don't know, it's infuriating. I can't cite that project as an example of my work anymore, because it isn't. I would never leave a site in that state.

So, my first instinct with the idea of people using a skin i sell them as a base is 'take my name off it.' I don't want to be associated if responsive/accessible features are lost due to others working on a skin I wrote. But at the same time, where is the line between using something as a base, and editing a few small features? I certainly don't want to be an arbiter of that, or have to field questions or navigate feelings about it. In fact, personally I would not feel upset at all if someone used a paid for skin as a base, and inviting that kind of discussion is the only way I possibly could get upset since people have weird attitudes about a lot of this stuff. So I think the more practical standard is just to put credit, but make it explicit that the work has been heavily altered. Don't resell or redistribute, and you're golden, imo. Anyway, those are my feelings as someone who writes code for a living. I'm interested to hear counterpoints - constructively of course.

[nalyra-dreaming]

COMMENTS on 2x07 - SPOILERS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *FIRST OFF: GOD HAVE I CRIED *No breath, no relief, all the pain This… contains a lot of swearing. . . . . . . .

The fucking rat box - there is a significant time gap between Claudia being shoved in there and her on stage. I BET that will become "that" time frame later, when Armand.... finally gets to it.

Btw, the iron boxes... an iron entrapment. I'm not sure if deliberate, but there is a piece of lore from Blood Communion that could come into play here IF they should pick it up again, later on

I’m glad they made the mental influence clear right away. Like… it’s not even subtle. And Lestat acting weird AF isn’t subtle either. It’s clear. It’s scripted. It’s the “last play”. It’s been “designed, and rehearsed.”

The Achilles’ heel slashed is so… vicious

Louis sensing and smelling Lestat… oh honey

Like that they referred to “the old place” for the other theater

Them making him swear on her diary is sooooo…💀

Santiago is so PLEASED when Lestat returns to script lol… we don’t see it but I wonder how many of the jury it took

A story of love... 💀

They are using the music box music … the fuckers

Awwww Armand being “punished” to watch… nawwwwww glad Daniel is not buying it either... and by Sam, the playwright... with a scythe... nawww. Okay, everybody buying that after that little restaurant display raise their hands, lmao.

That Lestat sleeping in the dirt is just... wrong. We already KNOW he returned to Paris twice. Another hint!!!

The repeated hint at the “ancient blood”… very on the nose

Their eye contact

Them trying to make it seem as if Louis “hunted” Lestat… lmao. As if Louis could have if Lestat would not have wanted him to????

Santiago prompting Lestat…. they seem to have pushed the narrative into his mind

on a random note: the blue contacts look so much better this season???

Oh…. Lestat SNAPPING at “fags” - loved it - so fantastically intense and creepy

“where lies their disgust now”?

Lestat making that man feel what he feels - WHY didn’t you just show this to Louis?????

THE HAIR CHANGED!!! There is that strand again! And the perfect hair in other scenes!!! INFLUENCED!! Manipulated!! I’ve been fucking saying.

OOOOHHHHH MY GOD Claudia’s turning … Louis knowing about the laws, did Louis really promise to stay???? I mean that’s just bargaining, and Louis just… begging… oh god, AND THEN THE FUCKING CUT TO ARMAND’s LOOK OH YOU FUCKER

“you were manipulated into it”… yeah. Say it, Santiago

God. Lestat there. And Louis the way he sees him.

Lestat confirming that Louis did not share affection with him anymore, as said, for years

Yeah, no, Lestat’s pose there for the Antoinette reveal is totally… natural 💀

God, Claudia cackling at Lestat saying “she’s the best of my vampiric self”… 😭

Ep5 revisit. Uhhhhh boy did they expand on what we already knew. And I KNEW something happened in the coffin room that made Lestat snap!! I KNEW IT! Okay, they kept the weird logistics of the fall (for now at least), but… yeah. This makes at least… more sense than before, I guess. Also, Lestat fully breaking script and admitting it. KNOWING he had hurt Louis there. Knowing. (I still stand by the Amel theory for the outside part and the comment in 1x06. Since they are taking from Prince Lestat….)

“A wolf congratulated for not killing her pup”!!!!!!!!

Louis is wearing something other than black again!!!!

“and then - something real” - and Armand chiming in… how… inconspicuous 💅🏼

A Stoning. Indeed.

I’m not sure how much I believe of them waking Lestat tbh… like... with the supposed trial rehearsals... and the crossing over... nawwwww

That eating blood with a spoon is so… inefficient. Like, they drink so much more???? What kind of blood is that to savor it like that? Must be special??? Or it's just show.

Oh god. Madeleine choosing Claudia. She is my coven. God.

Ugh. Lestat breaking script for Claudia. AND BY GOD I HOPE CLAUDIA FULFILLS THAT PROMISE

Oohhhhwwwwwww and Armand working SO HARD ON SAVING LOUIS!!!!! YOU LITTLE…. GNAAAHHHHH I don’t even have a word. "bites something"

God the pebbles/rocks. The entombment. And the SAME stones at the Dubai tree…

Lestat, swaying on his feet

So. Armand tells us of Claudia facing her death bravely. And defiantly. And the stare of shock and pain on Lestat’s face. Armand… the last to know the truth… for now. -.-

PREVIEW

And Armand getting Louis out.. afterwards. When… the coven did not care anymore, right??????? Mh hmmm.

Louis getting their asses

Louis going to kill Lestat??? MHHHH

EPISODE INSIDER

"it’s a fake setup - props in a play". Yeah. THAT.

Claudia doesn’t give an inch - "she knows she’s right"

“She has Lestat’s blood - if they do anything, it’s come back with a vengeance”!!!!!!!!!!! YES PLEASE 😭

Claudia’s death represents Louis’ last connection to this world

“[Claudia] was a brilliant vampire.

IN - fucking - DEED

God, what an episode.

I am... somewhat irritated that the reshot the turning and did not really revisit murder night, because the discrepancies there still stand. Except they have always intended to return to it in s3, which might make sense. Still. A bit weird, all of it. And Lestat breaking out of the control and script to admit to hurting Louis. 😭

God.

[velisle]

ᯓ♡ not maid for love .ᐟ

𖹭 ── 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 // nika x fem!reader, 2.8k wc, sfw. 𖹭 ── 𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕���� // pre-relationship, reader is (in denial) crown's fairytale keeper but not kate, nika being nika, likely ooc since there's only bread crumbs of his lore, al cameo, invented side characters, harassment from non-suitor, canon typical plot. 𖹭 ── 𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 // I wish cherry boy was as popular as his twin but sadly he isn't. So here's a little something i maid for him hehe (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠).

Twilight stains the sky in a messy palette of oranges, pinks and reds. Its rays spill into a certain room, enveloping it in its warmth. It goes on to veil the pure white walls, the ink splattered papers on the table, and — the soft profile of a person.

You nervously tug at the frilly hem of your apron, throwing quick glances toward the mirror and back at yourself. The reflected figure on the clear surface is donned in a maid’s attire from head to toe.

Sighing gently, you pull and tweak on its parts. From the lacy head-dress to the ends of the creamy bow tied behind your back, and to the concealed handgun on your garter belt. At last, you twirl around a bit, making sure there would be nothing amiss.

Still, immersed in your own thoughts, you fail to notice the pair of deep ocean eyes eagerly sinking you into its depths.

Your heart leaps through your chest when the sharp wolf whistle penetrates your ears. Head whiplashing, you glare at the culprit leaning against the doorframe. A cheeky grin from the dark-haired man welcomes you.

Nica.

The two of you have been going out on awfully many missions the past few months, courtesy of his white-clad leader, who proposed that both organizations should work together. Though you suspected foul hand to be at play from your Palace Reaper as well. Why else would you find yourself tied to the frivolous German each time?

“Where are your manners?” You cross your arms as you question, displeasure evident in your posture. A small chuckle escapes him, “My bad, Miss Robin.”

He taps his knuckles on the wooden material — twice, thrice — his rings clinking against it.

“So then, may I enter?”

Was he not practically inside already?

“Go ahead.”

Nica strolls in, turning to admire the delicate crystals of the chandelier and the brilliant gold that matched the otherwise pale room. Were you a stranger to his habit of unplanned visits, you would have thought it was his first time here.

Casting you a prolonged once-over as you button up your maid cuffs, he manspreads on the rich chesterfield, sprawling an arm over the top of it.

“Sure you can play your role well, cute Robin?”

“I think we should be worried about you instead, Clever.⁽¹⁾ Are you sure you'll be able to behave yourself?” You furrow your brows tensely.

The event you were going to attend was to last two days and three nights. Coupled with his charming penchant for going off script and improvising things by himself… You had a not-so-wonderful intuition that everything would eventually end up heading south.

He curves his lips impishly, visibly amused.

“Why wouldn’t I? I’ll be a good boy.”

“When pigs fly.”

“Autsch,⁽²⁾ after all the time we've spent together! I'm rather disappointed you still refuse to trust your partner in crime.”

You throw a glimpse at him from the corner of your eye. Not a tinge of sadness marred his features.

“There are,” you begin, “plenty of reasons as to why I shouldn't.”

A pervading silence follows as he falls unusually quiet. As if he were trying to figure out the convincing reason you had. The golden hour crowns him in its soft light, shadows fleeing from behind.

“Is it because I used my Curse on you before? I just couldn't help myself. We don't always have a choice, you know~”

You were not too fond of how you liked the way he drawled his words sometimes.

“Or maybe it's because I lent my hand for other uses? Buuut, I don't recall you telling me to stop,” his grin widens.

“Nica Schwartz.”

You swivel to face him, with a twitching smile and a raised nerve on your temple. The way he spoke had to be on purpose. Your mind inevitably flew into the direction he wanted.

Though you could not deny enjoying your banter with him. Few people manage to truly push your buttons — such as that cranky fairy or lascivious mirror, but never quite like the sly swan.

“Ja,⁽³⁾ Robin?” He asks in an innocent manner, which would be more befitting of his twin than himself.

“We’re running late,” you curtly state as you wrap your fingers around the handle of your leather-bound luggage. When you lifted it up, its weight dragged your hand down slightly.

You then make your way to the double doors, only to be stopped by blunt nails digging into your wrist. That and the coolness of adorned rings.

“Say, doesn't it look heavy for a little bird like you?” Nica had the sleeve of one arm rolled up, revealing the veins climbing on his skin like a vine.

“Sie könnten mich um Hilfe bitten.⁽⁴⁾”

It was not all that heavy, but who were you to refuse if he's so kind?

“Oof!”

A low, misty layer of fog covers the forest of oak trees. The wind wails a scream, tearing dead leaves from their spiny branches. One of them slams flat against the glass, which you were staring through.

Bump!

Every so often, the wheels of the crested carriage jolted when it collided with the rocks on the path. You fidget in the cushioned seat, annoyed at the feeling of polished boots digging into the side of your waist.

Much to your dismay, Nica thought it was apparently a good idea to stretch his legs in the already cramped space. This left you sandwiched between the wall and his lower limbs — and it was not the most splendid combination.

You travel a glance from the tip of his pristine shoes, to the river of white that ran across his trousers and vest, until you docked at the port of blue that was his eyes. If you stared hard enough, vague dark circles polluted the edge of the waters.

He must have been staying up late. Despite his slacking attitude, he knew when to take work seriously. Or rather, fool you into thinking you have the winning cards when he conceals a royal flush beneath his table.

“Am I that charming tonight?”

An abrupt question pulls you back from your shores to reality. He had caught you in his net. Biting your tongue lightly, you shift your attention to the scenery rolling past the window.

Poke!

Poke!

Nica nudges his foot against you.

“Robiiiin~”

“Stop,” you narrow your eyes in warning.

“Oh, this?”

Poke!

“Or thiiiis~?”

No words could describe the urge you felt to scuffle over and clasp your hand on his mouth. Tape it shut.

You steal a quick look at the smooth arch broadening on his face. It seemed to always dance on his lips. Rare were the instances you found it halting into a frown. Even then, it was likely feigned. Will all you ever see of him be his superficial side?

“What’s your pretty head thinking about now?” He doesn't move this time.

“The mission.” A lie.

“Nothing to fret about when you have me.”

“That’s if you don't get kidnapped first,” you retort. A surge of missing socialites is what drove Crown to investigate further into the case that could be human trafficking.

Oddly, the victims all had received an invitation to a banquet from the same organisation a week prior to their disappearance — Regal.

“Chances are that I could charm my way out of it, Robin. If not… Es wird für mich leichter sein, zu töten,⁽⁵⁾” Lazily tapping on the holster by his thigh, he flashes his pearly white teeth, as if it were a everyday situation for him.

Thump!

The landau stopped before the gates of the venue. Nica promptly sets down his legs, motioning his head towards the place, “Ladies first. I'll be joining you later.”

Upon entering the estate, you are greeted with a towering hallway of a golden hue; enormous paintings that cost more than money than you could ever make hanging on it.

You briefly peek into the open ballroom. Velvet curtains draped the windows, with ornate candelabras fixed to walls. The sound of violins and the piano flows into the room, but not many guests.

Your next stop should be servants’ quarters. Wooden baggage in hand, you saunter through the luxurious building, the layout of which you have memorized beforehand.

It was not hard to imagine someone could get lost here, given its size, you muse. Still, vanishing into thin air without any traces? A nigh impossible feat for anyone… Well, save for the curious Cheshire cat you knew.

“Oh!”

“Ah!”

Moments later, you unceremoniously crash into a petite figure while taking a turn around the corner. Vivid green, partly hidden behind a fringe of blond, widens as she stumbles on her heels.

“Sorry, I-” the two of you spoke at once. You pause awkwardly, waiting for her to continue.

“Don’t worry! I was in no hurry,” she steadies herself, a soft smile curving up the corners of her mouth. You take in her appearance — hair that cascaded down to her waist in thick drills, scattered freckles on her fair cheeks — and a surprisingly similar maid dress to your own?

“Wait, by any chance, are you new here?” a sparkle lit in her eyes at the realization as she too observed you and the case you carried. You nod your head, holding out your free hand, “Robin. Nice to meet you…?”

“Dahlia!” she shakes it with an extreme fervor. “The others and I have been talking a lot about you. Not in a bad way, uh I mean, it's rare for Regal to hire a new employee, so we were just really excited!”

It was the Queen's Aide who pulled some strings to let you enter as a maid, under the common alias Crown, and a certain Vogel member called you by. Strangely, you cannot recall a time where Nica called you by your real name.

Dahlia links her own arm with yours. “Come! I'll show you where the quarters are. And the rest of the place, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow. Oh, and maybe we can share a room?” She sings sweetly in a jovial tone.

She talks a lot; you note mentally.

After setting down your belongings, you head towards the grand ballroom where the gathering was held. A massive chandelier hung in the center of the vaulted ceiling, illuminating the horde of perfumed bodies.

The billowing, silky skirts of noblewomen graze your body as you shuffle in between them, clutching a tray with both hands. Bubbles pop off in the champagne flutes on it.

“It is rumored Count Fitzwilliam is looking for a bride…”

“Have you heard about what Lady Spencer did during the last outing…”

Conversations, both hushed and outspoken, were easily heard by you. The aristocrats paid no attention to a mere maid after all.

“They say we have an ambassador from another country here tonight,” a faint whisper makes you perk up your ears. “Whom?” another person inquired.

You concentrate on their words, feeling your heart pound faster for an inexplicable reason. It must be the adrenaline from trying to not come off as suspicious.

“I don't know his name, but they say he's German.”

“Did you get to see him?”

“From afar, yes…”

Pat!

You felt a sudden, foreign touch on your shoulder — not in a good way. It made the hairs on your nape rise warily.

“Why, hello there, lass…” A harsh, gruff voice.

Standing behind you was a man with wrinkly, creased skin and a head bald. Except for the auburn patches groomed evenly. He was dressed to the nines. A high born no doubt.

“Can I help you, sir?” you ask politely, despite how you felt uncomfortable in his presence.

“Such supple skin and bewitching body you have,” crooked fingers caress your hand, which grips tighter onto the tray. Mild irritation growing into a flame simmers in your eyes, “Excuse me?”

“You poor thing, all alone… I could help you become less lonely,” the invading touch slowly crawls up your arm.

Who did he think he was? Drawing in a sharp inhale, you grit your teeth, “Leave me alone. Or else.”

“Don’t you mean… pretty please?”

“—Master!!”

He paused mid sentence as a call interrupted him. With a dissatisfied huff, he grabs the stem of the last glass you carried, withdrawing from your side. You release a sigh of relief at his departure, scanning the crowd for who could have called him.

Familiar, curly locks of gold appear in your vision.

The night deepens, and the sea of people is still flooding the place. An ache struck your back and feet from how long you stood to distribute the drinks.

Unfortunately, your attempt at intel gathering has not been particularly fruitful so far. Most chatters were full of gossip and the latest trends.

But you did learn of one thing: apart from the revelry at night, Regal also held exclusive activities to engage in during the day. You reckoned it was a technique to make more visitors pay for a room and stay until the event is fully over.

Wondering if you should rendezvous with Nica about this, you try to search for his tall figure in the crowd. In spite of all the buzz surrounding the philanderer, you had not once seen him. Perhaps you were too absorbed into your task to properly notice him, or he passed by you without a single comment.

“—Mr. Schwartz! Mr. Schwartz!!”

Think of the devil. There he was. You catch a bevy of young noble women and men flocking to him. The sight of his usual disarrayed jacket was absent. Instead, it was worn snuggly on his well-built frame.

“Say, are you truly not free tonight?” A lady coyly twirls her hair around her finger with her strawberry lips stuck out in a pout.

Another one cooled themselves quickly with their hand fan facing up, “I’d love to dance with you~”

“Here, my trade card. You are free to drop a visit to my shop any time you want! I'll even give you a ten percent discount!”

It was apparent he was no short of desperate admirers. You tap your shoe on the hardwood floor softly, thinking about what your next course of action should be.

You could always meet up with him later, and there is still a floor you have not yet searched for clues: upstairs. Since everyone else was down here…

Fwoosh!

Startled by the sensation of a warm breath being blown into your ear, you scramble to grab your flailing tray. Your train of thought had been forced to halt. Again. At least there were no remaining glasses.

“My, my,” A rich, teasing tone. And you knew exactly who it belonged to this time.

“Alfons!!”

“One could easily get the wrong idea if you call my name out so passionately, Miss Robin. Especially... Your partner tonight.”

“He’s not sharing a Curse with Roger, Al.”

“If you will, please refrain from uttering that brute’s name next to mine. It is truly something out of a nightmare to hear.”

The manner in which he shook his head with a distressed expression — it was as if there could not be an ordeal more mortifying for him.

“Should I even ask what you're doing here?” To be fair, it was not entirely shocking for him to be here. Though, Victor did not mention he would be assigned to this mission…

“Here’s a better question. Don't you just feel yourself greening with envy by how they're fawning over him?” Alfons shifts closer, nearly touching heads with you as you both gaze at the star of tonight's banquet.

“Of course not!” Right then, Nica’s eyes meet yours. As if he really heard what you said. Air catches in your throat as a familiar, conceited smirk is formed on him.

“Don’t be mistaken. I wouldn't... ever like him,” you subconsciously clutch at your dress with one hand, crumpling up the delicate fabric. You were sure that he wouldn't come to like you either. You would nip any attraction towards him in the bud before it would ever have a chance to bloom.

Alfons clicks his tongue. “I would advise you to make wiser choices — but then again, the little robin who brought water for the sinners in hell was not so clever either.”

You lift your face to glare back at him, intending to rebuke. When you did, the space next to you was empty. Gone like the illusionary phantom he was. Or was he there in the first place?

What a shame. If only you had paid a little more attention to the black swan. You would have spotted how his smile faltered upon seeing that raven head with you.

𖹭 ── 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒉 // notes + tl. cross-checked with multiple translators, but if you think that it could be corrected or further improved please let me know!

1. LINE chat reference

2. Autsch ➛ ouch

3. Ja ➛ yes

4. Sie könnten mich um Hilfe bitten ➛ you could ask me for help

5. Es wird für mich leichter sein, zu töten ➛ it will be easier for me to kill

𖹭 ── 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒑𝒕 //

and that's the end of part 1! to be honest, i think i will be putting this on hold, since I feel that my skills have not caught up yet with this kind of plot-heavy fic.

feedback would be greatly appreciated so that I can improve my writing! I still have a lot to learn.

[factual-fantasy]

22 ASK! THANK YOU! :DDD

@a-weird-bean-bag

They are not related by blood, no. (Blood? Frosting..? Filling?? Anyways-)

Red is actually Seafoam's great Nephew. And he joined the crew because of a tradgedy involving his mother,, Seafoam's niece..

When Red joined the crew he was very shy and scared of everything. Coco at this point was a rough and tough pirate gal.. but man, something about that kid.. she just adored him. She took it upon herself to take care of the little guy and be his guardian.

She loves him to bits and has definitely taken the role of "mother" in his world. When ever the ship is under attack, she is the first to swoop in and take Red to safety. She is the one Red goes to when he cant sleep or is scared. She takes care of him when he is sick, she cleans his clothes and feeds him too.

Seafoam has made it very clear that she does not have to do any of this. And that Red is 100% his responsibility. But she just ain't havin' it. She chooses to be involved in Red's care and wouldn't have it any other way. 💖

Its a good thing too, Seafoam has no idea how to raise little kids <XD

(Also thank you so much!! :DD )

👀👀oh?

@yoylecake420

Sorry uh- I don't know that character. I made some OCs for Cookie run but I haven't played any of the games, I don't know the lore and I don't know/remember any of the characters- sorry!

Ah,, I don't know? <XDD I don't know how the games work- are there other types of cookies?? I don't know--

Judging by what I've heard/seen of that game? They'd run for the hills! They're not safe there <XD

<:D Ah sorry- I don't know who that cookie is- remember I haven't played either game and I don't know any of the lore!

@storylover2

.....OH-

THERES MORE??--

Also thank you so much!! You are beary nice :}}}

@universal-hunter

AAAAWE!!! :DDD THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :}}}}💖💖💖

@couchwow

Thank you for the no spoilers!! :DD I have not seen it but I have heard of it :0 perhaps sometime I'll give it a go! :}

@thetiredpenguin

Man, cookie run lore is WILD XDDD

@sparkdrawsstuff

Thank you! My day today was better than yesterday at least! XD

@keakruiser

AAAAA THANK YTOIU SO MMUCH!!! :DDDD 💖💖💖

I've drawn them twice actually that I can remember! Once in my FNAF Recap/Repair part 2, and once in a doodle dump post thing! :00

@elegantjellyfishmemachine

:0 eh? Huh? Til what?

@readeren

I actually haven't thought much about that :0 I worried that the group wouldn't feel very diverse if I had duplicate characters.. but the opposite personalities but same person is genius! But whompst would be duplicated... 🤔

@blissthewolf

Hello! I believe I do write scripts, but if I'm being honest I don't think I can scrape together even one sentence of sound advice for you- 💔😭💔

I am known to be very bad at explaining how to do things. A lot of what I do is just taking random things and stapling them together and ripping off some parts and gluing this here and put that over there and tada! Comic! "How'd you do that" "...Honestly I cant really remember-"

The only think I can think to say is figure out what you want to come from the scene and.. do what ever it takes to make it happen..? Uhhh- for example, "I want these two characters to fight and character A to leave in a huff." Well then give them something to fight about, and make character B say something that would make character A mad enough to leave without saying anything..?? But that doesn't explain how I would figure out what the argument would be about- I

I'm afraid I am of no use to you here-

@neo-metalscottic

AAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I'm glad you like my minecraft guys and my cookie run critters! :DD And not to worry- He'll catch on XD right now the main thing keeping them some what apart is Seafoam's thoughts of "She's a beautiful mermaid, why would she be with an old Captain like me..? :( " And Blue's thoughts of "He's a well respected Pirate Captain! What would he see in a big whale like me..😔" But they get past that eventually-- XDD

And yes! I have drawn them before <XD although those drawings weren't made with my Mario AU in mind.. When they grow up they will definitely be more stylized. :0 Not sure how they'll interact with Bowser as they age, but they are intended to all be his biological children :)

As for the birth order, I haven't thought it through fully,, but I have decided that Ludwig is the oldest and next in line for the throne. And JR is the very youngest with Lemmy being second to youngest. And Larry being 3rd to youngest :00

@solst1ce-sketches

Thank you! And to be honest if the D.A was split and gender swapped, I would just slap on some eye lashes and make them both generally appear more feminine.

Glitchy sun tho.. man, how would Fazbear Entertainment deal with that? <XD

@minnesotamedic186

Thank you!! :DDDD

@rubyplayz12

Wah??

(Post in question)

XD Well? Did it work?

[herecirmsims]

Questions For Storytellers

I have (I think) finally caught up on my list of poses to make, so I wanted to do something a little fun (for me, not for anyone else LMAO) and entirely self-indulgent. I read stories and tell my own over on Instagram, but of course it's harder to post long-form text like this over there.

Special thanks to @freezerbnuuy as I'm copying their post. ❤️

What’s the last screenshot you’ve taken for your story?

This is from the middle of my last post, but it's the last screenshot I took because I went back and added this scene in after finally caving and making my own stupid poses for it hahah.

2. Describe your story in three words or less: Needlessly long tbh

3. Describe (insert character here) in three words or less: Uhhh I'll pick Saxen since he's my MC... wet cat energy (which I think is something @nefaricussims said actually??). Or "90s cocaine chic" as @southernsimmin so beautifully described him. 🤣

4. How did you choose the name of your story? It's called The Cottage because it's... based in and around a cottage. 🥲 I have a very imaginative mind!! 🤣 But also, the cottage plays an important role throughout the whole story and especially in the upcoming finale.

5. How do you choose your characters’ names? My Sim story is based on a novel I never had the confidence to finish - in that version, Sax is an ælf based on Anglo-Saxon belief. I made him a vampire in Sims because that was the only pack I owned at the time, besides base game, and for gameplay purposes I thought vamp put him close to how I imagined him. I now realise I could have easily used CC and my own damn imagination to make him an ælf but I didn't know much about CC at the time, either. 🤣 Because of this, the original story leant into fae lore and the stuff about never revealing your true name. Saxen isn't his real name anyway, but for an added layer it also isn't spelt how you might imagine if you heard it spoken. The same for Thom and Jac who are also characters who came over from the 'original'.

6. How long have you been working on your story for? A little over three years! I have learned soooo much in that time.

7. Whats the biggest risk you’ve taken with your story? Did it pay off? I dunno that I've taken any risks, other than putting it out there in the first place.

8. What about your story are you proud of? I think the fact it exists at all. I've been writing stories since I was a kid, but at some point I lost confidence in myself and have never finished anything/wanted to share it with people because I end up overthinking and deleting it. So I am proud of myself for having maintained a continuous story for three years, and for having other people read it. I think because there was no pressure with a Sims story - with a novel I kept thinking, this has to be perfect and polished so that I can publish it someday. With a Sims story, I'm free to just write the silly tropes I enjoy and allow myself to suck and learn and get better at it.

9. What about your story are you looking to improve on? I read a fantastic article about ma - including pauses in your visual storytelling, space for the characters to sit and breath and reflect. It's ma that makes Ghibli movies so wonderfully distinctive. Being able to make my own poses means that I can show a character's expression or body language in response to a situation, without the need for overlaying text. I'm trying really hard to move away from the "talking heads" style that reads more like a script, and letting the visuals tell the story for me instead. I'm not very good at it because I enjoy my blah blah, but it's fun to try!!

10. Is your story fully planned or are you still working things out? Is there a definitive end? I'm approaching the end of it now, which has been planned for the last three years, so yes - I know pretty much everything that's going to happen. Sometimes the characters still throw a little surprise for me though.

11. Why have you decided to tell this story? Are there any messages or meanings within it? When I got the Sims almost 4 years ago, I had absolutely no idea that there was a) a whole community around it or b) that people used it for storytelling. I'd already made Sax, Thom, and Jac in the game, because I'd wanted to see them come to life during gameplay. Then I discovered poses and started sharing random staged screenshots on Instagram, and became friends with the exceptionally talented TheSimmerKay (now making machinimas!) who showed interest in my silly little characters and suggested that I try telling a story too. I owe her a lot!! As for messages and meaning... I'm very interested in what makes people do the things they do, and how the hero of a story often depends on whose POV we're hearing the story from. There's a fine line between hero and villain sometimes, and a hero acting out of love can cross from protectiveness into control.

12. Do you actually play the game or do you just use it as a storytelling medium? Yep - I have a designated story save, which is the one I take all my screenshots in and which never has gameplay. Then I have a Happy Ever After save for Sax and Fen and another save for for my Globetrotter Challenge Sim, both of which are gameplay only. I think it's important to have that outlet; I can work on my story, make poses, or just play the game, depending on what I fancy.

13. From basic planning to a finished post, how long does that take you? 2-3 evenings. I tend to get everything laid out and text added, then let it sit for a day because I inevitably think of a way to do something better if I give it chance to breath. 🤣

14. Do you have any regrets about your story so far? If you could go back in time, how would you fix these? Not regrets, really, but there are some threads that I put in - fully intending to complete them later in the story - but never did, due to them just not fitting with the story or wanting to try and bring things to an end sooner. But similarly, there are times when I was going to put in a little hint or foreshadowing in and didn't, and then later in my story have wished I had! The tricky part of serialised storytelling is you have to just live with what you have (or don't have), you can't go back and remove or add scenes like you would with a drafted novel.

15. What have been the highlights of creating your story? I've met so many incredible people due to it, oh my goodness. Truly extraordinary Simmers who've shared their time and knowledge with me. We have a little mutual reading group on Insta where we all read and geek out over each other's stories and it's just wonderful. I was honestly shocked when i went to other platforms and realised how much drama there can be in the Sims community. 🤣

16. What about the process do you enjoy? Not that I don't enjoy the process... but I mostly love it when it's finished and I can share it, hahaha.

17. What about the process do you hate? I don't hate any of it... it's a hobby and I do it because I enjoy it. That being said, it does fuck me off when I have multiple Sims in a scene, everyone is in place and has poses queued, and then MCCC Dresser FREEZES MY GAME NOOOOOOOO WHY

18. Choose a song that reminds you of your story:

This is the unofficial theme... specifically this version in Old English, which is Saxen's first language. "It's our destiny then to find love again / Where we failed once before now we'll win"

19. Choose a song that reminds you of (insert character here):

Another one for Sax I guess because he's special. 😌🤣 "But you, a cinder of the fire that's yet to come / Will you just sit and mourn this fragile thing that you've become / Or instead will you consume the very things you can't outrun / Until you finally see all of the strength that you draw from?"

20. Choose your favourite shot from your story so far: Hmmm I think this one, which was me being lazy and reusing a screenshot from an older scene during a flashback-style narration. 🤣 I was trying to achieve something else with the editing but did this by accident and liked it.

21. Choose your least favourite shot so far: Too many to pick from LMAO

22. Choose a favourite character from your story so far: Sax, obviously, he's my lil chew toy/punching bag. But then there's also Idris, for whom I only wish the best. She's going through some trouble right now and I don't enjoy it. It's much more fun to bully Sax.

23. Choose your least favourite character so far: I don't have one! Although Vlad makes me deeply uncomfortable tbh. I find him to be a really creepy villain, and unlike any of my other villains, he's not in any way misrepresented or redeemable. I'm using a makeover version of him by WistfulCastle (I would link, but I don't think he's available anymore?)!

24. Are there any characters who remind you of yourself? No... well. Whenever baby El randomly info-dumps on a niche subject, that's mostly me taking advantage of a captive audience to tell them about karkadanns or medieval torture items or dead bodies on Everest. 🥲

25. What inspirations have you drawn on for your story? I honestly don't know - I can't name anything that I've consciously drawn on, though I know for sure I must have. Funnily enough people have told me things like "oh that's like in Vampire Diaries" or "that's like that part in the Harry Potter films" and I haven't watched either of those, so I think what's happening is we're all drawing from the same well of folklore and mythology and trope. There is occasional story drama about being copied and the thing is... unpopular opinion alert... many of us aren't as unique as we think we are. 😅 What we are unique at is taking a trope and telling it in our own distinctive way. No one else can tell your story quite like you can.

26. Have other sim stories inspired you? I have soooo many talented friends who inspire me to do better when it comes to visuals and storytelling!! @callmedomino is the queen of silent storytelling and a huge inspiration on my journey to discover ma. I really love how well she can tell a story with no words.

27. What genres would you describe your story as? I call it rural fantasy lmao

28. If you could reproduce your story in another medium (movie, novel, comic, etc.) what would you choose and why? I mean obviously I'd say movie because HOW COOL would that be?! Especially an animated one!

29. What would your story’s rating be? (G, PG, M etc.) Ummm probably M because there is the occasional spicy scene. Sometimes three a year LMAO.

30. If you were leaving simblr Simsta and had to choose another creator to continue the story for you, who would you ask? Well tbh I've given Sax and Fen to several good friends already; some of them have them in ongoing cameos in their own stories. I wouldn't ask anyone to continue mine, but I like to think that Sax and Fen could live on in my friend's stories and games if anything were to ever happen to me.

31. Drop some random trivia about your story: When I started I only meant to do short, random vignettes about daily life at the cottage. Somehow it snowballed into a three year epic. 🤣

32. Give a light spoiler: "This is who I am. If I was any other way, I would not be myself."

[rippleberries]

(Jeffrey teased this at Star Trek San Francisco)

Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Anna Lore, Nikki Hahn, and Anna Camp behind the scenes of HYSTERIA! (Photo courtesy Barbara Crampton)

[x]

HYSTERIA! Reunites RE-ANIMATOR Duo Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs

Surprise! The legendary genre pair turn up to add some ’80s cred to Peacock’s new Satanic Panic series.

BY

PHIL NOBILE JR.

OCTOBER 18, 2024 6:00 AM

By now you’re aware of Peacock’s Hysteria!, and that it features Bruce Campbell, who’s been promoted heavily in the marketing of the new show (which dropped today). But turns out he’s not the only genre icon appearing on the series.

Early viewers of Hysteria! have been excited to spot among its ensemble cast none other than Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs, playing a bit against type as suburban parents. Speaking to FANGORIA, Crampton says that “showrunner/creator Matthew Scott Kane is a big Re-Animator fan, and it was his idea to reunite Jeff and myself for the first time since 1995!”

The duo have of course appeared in various unassailable horror classics over the years, beginning with Stuart Gordon’s aforementioned Re-Animator and its follow-up, From Beyond. Placing the pair in an ’80s-set, moral panic horror comedy made all the sense in the world to Kane.

“I'm a very devoted genre fan. All of Barbara and Jeff’s work with Stuart Gordon is so near and dear to my heart that, when these two roles came up, they were the first people that came to mind,” Kane says. “It was kind of a pipe dream. It was like, ‘Wouldn't it be nice if?’ I never thought they would pick up the phone.” To his surprise, the pair agreed, and their devotion to their relatively brief appearance surprised the showrunner.

“We all got dinner with each other, and Barbara and Jeffrey were asking me, ‘What's my motivation here?’ and ‘Here's what I'm thinking for this guy.’ Keep in mind, they’re in one scene — a pivotal scene, one which sets up the entire series — but they're really drilling it into me in ways that no other member of our cast did,” Kane shares. “The night before we were shooting the scene, I got a text from Barbara that could have easily filled a column in your magazine,” he laughs. “It was enormous, and it was brilliant. She was bringing so much — not just to the character, but she was so intelligent in terms of checking out the entire script, understanding what the themes of the show are, and understanding how she could fit into that.”

The series focuses on a struggling teen band called Dethkrunch who, in the wake of their high school quarterback’s disappearance, rebrand themselves as “Satanic” to ride the wave of moral panic sweeping their town. It works until it doesn’t, and they soon find themselves the target of a literal witch hunt. The project, which also boasts Julie Bowen, Anna Camp, Garret Dillahunt, Emjay Anthony and Milly Shapiro among its cast, was instantly alluring to Crampton. “I read the first three scripts of Hysteria! when I was cast and they were all fantastic,” Crampton says. “Fun, spooky, dark and thrilling.” For Crampton, the gig offered other pleasures. “We were giddy with excitement for our parts… and costumes!” (Anyone who’s seen the sartorial choices in Jakob’s Wife or The Last Stop in Yuma County knows Crampton loves a bold wardrobe choice.)

Her co-star Combs was also easily sold, calling the project “a lovely experience… short but sweet.” Like Crampton, Combs was drawn to the quality of the material. “Matthew is a very gifted writer,” he says. “I was thrilled to be part of this, and it would be a delight to work with him again.”

Though the pair both appeared in last year’s Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, Crampton and Combs shared no scenes together in that film, making this their first onscreen appearance together since 1995’s Castle Freak (where they also played a married couple). “It was an absolute joy to work on screen with Jeffrey again,” Crampton exclaims. “We play the parents to an important character on this show (you’ll have to watch to see which one!) and this lady is amazing. I just adore her!”

Casting the iconic performers, even for just one episode, meant a lot to Kane. “We wanted Barbara and Jeff there for a reason. We wanted them there because we're all huge fans, but also because we know they're great actors and that they can come in and deliver something awesome so that, if we get a second season, they can come into the fold and be more regular characters. If there's a reason to get us a season two, it's to get Jeff Combs and Barbara Crampton back on the screen together for more than just five minutes.”

As to what happens over the course of the series, Crampton is as excited to find out as we are. “I’ve viewed the first episode and it’s a blast,” she shares. “I’ll be watching and posting about all the episodes and enjoying the show along with you all!”

All episodes of Hysteria! are now streaming on Peacock.

[literallyjusttoa]

Hey guys! I'm putting out a call for my commissions again for two big reasons: One, Emergencies have caused me to be low on funds when I wasn't expecting it, and that kind of sucks actually. Two, I have a project that I've been dreaming about for years but have actually been able to start working towards in the last couple of months, but to finish it I need to not be living paycheck to paycheck for like a month at the very least, which brings me back to point one :(. I will talk more about the big project under the cut, bc I think it's something you all might really enjoy!

But for now, I will link my commission sheet: Here (It's also my pinned post)

And my new Ko-fi!: Here for if you just want to donate, which would be literally incredible and I would owe you my soul actually.

Ok now for big Project Time!!!

I am in the process of editing and revising my first Youtube video! This has been an on and off dream of mine for like 7 years at this point, but I've finally taken the plunge and gotten to work on a channel. I wanna talk about all sorts of fandoms (including the riordanverse ofc) With videos ranging from plot and character analysis, to trends in fandom culture in general, to fun little ranking videos and speedpaints. All around, I just want the channel to be a fandom hive, where everyone can find something they enjoy.

I already have PNG's created of my sona to use as assets (And I have a sparkly new sona, the one in the pic above!) and I have two finished scripts, with the first one being fully recorded as well! One for my first video, which will be a retrospective on Gravity Falls, and one for a video about the Percy Jackson TV show, the inherent differences between TV and books as mediums, how I think the TV show could improve, and the things I think it got perfectly. I also have a bunch more ideas, such as:

BIG Trials of Apollo video essay, with a focus on how the books and the fandom have effected me over the years.

Ranking all of my favorite characters from all of the media I've been a fan of over the years (This would be over 70 characters)

Explaining the Iliad, but make it funny (with a side of Troy apologia)

Reading Lore Olympus and pointing out how it deviates from myth (the things I'm willing to do for you people /j)

Canon vs. Fanon, where I compare a characters canon characterization with their fanon counterpart and try to figure out how things turned out the way they did.

And more, but I don't want this post to be 5000 words long.

Now here's the big question. As I said in the part above, I'm struggling a bit now money-wise. And I really wanna make this project work, but there's also, you know. Tuition. Rent. Food. Stupid other adult stuff. So if anyone is amenable (and this is totally up to demand, I don't wanna pressure anyone into doing anything!) I was also thinking of maybe making a Patreon. Now, I'd have to do research for this, bc I wanna make sure anyone who signed up would get the right rewards and really get the bang for their buck. I'm pretty sure there's not gonna be much interest in this rn, cuz like, I'm not that big of a blog oof. But if anyone is interested! Here are some of the perks I would definitely be implementing! (sry it's another list)

Early access to videos, and behind the scenes looks at art assets and video creation

the ability to request topics for videos

Patrons names being shown in the videos. And higher tiered patrons getting custom chibis that will be shown in videos as well (and given to the patrons obv)

This ones a bit complicated, but I want to create a cover of a song that has to do with each video to play during their outros. So like, for the gravity falls video, I'm gonna record a quick cover of the Disco Girl song from the show. Only a small section of the song would be in each video, but patrons would get access to the full covers, and be able to request songs to be covered.

Discounts on commissions

A monthly speedpaint that would be exclusive to patreon. Patrons would be able to vote on what the drawing would be.

All of these ideas I'm 100% sure I want to add to a patreon if I make one, but obv there could be more that comes up later. I'm just gauging interest on this idea rn, so let me know if that's something you'd be down to sign up for! Maybe I'm jumping the gun here but I'm just really excited to create and give back to the community and aaahhhhh

Now, no matter what, I'm gonna have this first video out by mid-September at the latest. Because stupid money troubles are not gonna stop me from making this a thing dangit. So look out for that, I'll link the vid here when it releases! But I am just really stressed rn and any support would go a long way towards making this dream come true. And on that note, one more sappy real talk if I am allowed it?

If you've read this far, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. This community and fandom is truly incredible. My blog is about to reach 5 years old, and I've never seen a group of people so accepting and creative and just fun to be around. You guys have truly changed my life, and I wouldn't have the courage to try for this if I didn't have the support you've given me. I know this is super dramatic for just trying to make a youtube channel, but making a place where I could just talk about all the nerdy and overly specific things I care about and share them with the world is something I've wanted for my whole life. You guys gave me that with this blog, and if this channel works out, it'll be thanks to you, so you'll have given it to me twice. I don't have the words to express how much I love this community and all the incredible people in it. So even if you can't support, just know that being here for however long you have been, whether it's the whole five years or the last two days, has done more than you'll ever know. You guys are the best, thank you for everything <3

[desultory-novice]

Marionettes' Pavane, Chapter 5 Part 2

"The Sweet Taste of Home" (conclusion, 10 pgs)

-

"MariPav" is a strangers to friends to......... fan comic about Marx and Magolor's meeting and their zany adventures in the days before Return to Dream Land. It was written before RtDL DX came out, so expect inconsistencies with current game lore!

[Previous] [Main]

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...After :cough: over a year of real-world time :cough: Magolor finally got a teeny, ti~ny taste of delicious, homemade cake - and a large taste of what his life of withered dreams was missing all this time.

Could his inescapably annoying jester companion be bringing something more than just chaos into Magolor's world...?

Up Next: Chapter 6 Part 1 "Let Me Play Amongst the Stars" ...Where the two go sphere hunting in earnest!

[Previous] [Main] [Next - coming soon] [Chapter Bonus: "Style Savvy"]

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A/N: So, fun story, when I was first drafting the plot of MariPav, for the longest time, this chapter was just the phrase, "Space Boyfriends Cooking Chapter! XD" I was constantly re-arranging story beats to figure out what scenes should even go here. In the end, it turned into a somewhat significant chapter despite starting out as a joke / lighthearted story tucked in between more serious events.

While MariPav isn't (and can't ; _ ;) be canon to the Magolor of DX, I did think it was funny how several aspects of his character actually do mesh pretty well with DX!Magolor, one of them being Magolor's soon-to-be obsession with preparing food! (At least, I saw Helper Magolor bringing Kirby a constant supply of healing treats to be indicative of him actually kind of liking food prep!) MariPav Magolor has definitely caught the fever for baking after this adventure!

By the way, most of the script you're seeing here is completely unchanged from my pre-remake final draft but I did end up adding the line, "...a delicacy favored by the wizard kings of ancient Halcandra" (and "Your monarchy ate rocks?!") after seeing the role the gem apples played in the Magolor Epilogue and their ties to the Master Crown. Gem apples sure seem to be made of / grown with magic, yet we know they can be eaten too! If such a food existed, it would be no surprise that wizards would love to dine on highly sweet, concentrated magic power! (The "concentrated magic" part is why they explode, of course. That stuff is pretty volatile!)

...Oh, and also, this is canonically when Marx first coins the nickname "Mags" for Magolor. I know it's confusing because I've used that nickname a lot in side material already, but it starts here!

-

Lastly, for the eagle-eyed readers who noticed the cook book uses the New World Font and thus, ought to legible in English, I'll spare you the trouble by copying the text I used here:

So we're finally here. The end of the cooking chapter. Has it really been a whole year? Amazing. Anyway, I'm finally learning how to implement 3d models successfully. Like that cake.  The one in the book is the defeault.  I modified it a bit for the one they make... Uh, what else can I fill this space with? Oh yeah. I was really proud that I wrote about Magolor quickly becoming addicted to sweets before he showed up in DX always dropping cakes and other food on you. There's a few things I felt MariPav predicted despite all that it got wrong.

[getvalentined]

What’s your opinions of the various ffvii compilation games?

Oh I am a huge proponent of the Compilation as a whole; I know that opinion is rare for someone who's been in the fandom from the beginning, but I'm an insufferable lore gremlin and I just eat up everything the series has to offer. I have three different copies of Advent Children (the original on DVD, ACC on DVD, and ACC on blu-ray) and even still watch Last Order on occasion.

The series itself is really fascinating and staggeringly consistent (I've talked about how the implied timeline of the Jenova Project as presented in-game is so consistent that it matches up with real-world human gestational science), with the exception of the FF7Re series—which I can deal with, since it's canonically on a different timeline and therefore any retcons there are literal in-universe retcons, which is pretty brilliant.

That said, I'mma put ratings for the pieces of the Compilation individually under a cut!

OG FF7: 9/10. would be 10/10 if the English localization were better. Where it all started, still one of my favorite games of all time.

Advent Children (+Complete): 8/10. Not a game, but part of the Compilation! Anyone who says the plot makes no sense doesn't realize that they're watching a sequel that relies very heavily on people understanding the history and characterization of every single character shown.

Last Order: 6.5/10. Also not a game, also part of the Compilation. Love that this is implied to literally be Tseng's coverup of what happened with Zack, presented in anime form. Makes no sense in multiple places as a result, but if you know that's what it is then you can 100% see why it's portrayed that way! Honestly I really enjoyed it and wish more people would appreciate it for what it is.

Dirge of Cerberus: 7/10. The gameplay kinda sucks but honestly the storyline is super good—or it would be, if the entire fucking prologue hadn't been cut from any release outside Japan, thereby leaving the entire issue with DeepGround completely unexplained to all other audiences. Once you know what is going on, the storyline here is fantastic, and I've never really forgiven SE for not releasing the rest of it. I love that Dirge fills in the lore for Vincent that was cut when he was relegated to "optional" in the OG, and that it also helps to clarify why Midgar could have 9 functional mako reactors while every other reactor in the world is either sputtering to nothing or exploding. (It's Omega. Midgar is built over Omega. It's the place where all lines of the Lifestream converge so that Omega can draw it all in and carry it away at the end of the world, and Shinra never discovered that's why the mako well there is so expansive. I love good worldbuilding, and Dirge is a beautiful example of that.)

Before Crisis: N/A. I want this game so bad man where is it give it to meeeee. Honestly tho I've watched playthroughs and read scripts where available, and while I don't think it looks like much fun from a modern gameplay perspective, I have huge respect for it as far as development goes. This is one of the first really mainstream mobile games ever made, it was made for flip phones, and it's super extensive! Also it gave me Veld, who is one half of my favorite ship ever, which means it automatically gets a 7/10 even if I've never played it.

Crisis Core (+Reunion): 9/10. As fun to play as the OG. When I first played this on PSP over a decade ago, it hit me with such an intense feeling of nostalgia that it almost took me off my feet. In spite of the dramatic difference between game mechanics in CC versus the OG, it felt exactly like playing the OG again, and that feeling never really left. Humanized Sephiroth in a beautiful way that pissed off a bunch of fanboys and made me fall in love with him all over again. Also introduced my second favorite FF7 character ever, Genesis, who is one half of one of my core FF7 ships, so A+ on that too!

FF7 Remake (+InterMISSION): 8/10. Had a lot of fun with this one, and it's beautiful, but it doesn't have a lot of replayability in my experience, which is a shame. Would have been 6 or 7/10 if not for InterMISSION, which was a fucking delight.

FF7 First SOLDIER: 6/10. This applies to both the Battle Royale and the title in Ever Crisis. I am not a fan of Glenn & Co. but I love 14 year old Sephiroth and really appreciate that extension of lore and worldbuilding, so it's a decent balance. I love that the opening cutscene for the battle royale literally filled a 20+ year old plot hole in under two minutes.

FF7 Rebirth: 9.5/10. The only things that could make me like this game more would be if Vincent were playable (although I understand why he's not and, in spite of him being my favorite fictional character ever, I agree with this decision), and fewer required minigames. Just cut like one or two. Or fix the controls, maybe. Glide de Chocobo is even more broken now that it's been patched.

[aihoshiino]

Oshi no Ko 150: Mistranslation or Miscommunication?

Something I was surprised to see in the aftermath of OnK 150 were accusations from the English fanbase that the chapter had been mistranslated or that the content of it had been misrepresented somehow. I fully admit that I was extremely skeptical of this assertion when I first saw it crop up given but MangaPlus's translations do have an unfortunate habit of flubbing minor details in places that do lead to pretty major cascading errors with the English script. It's possible it could have happened, especially in a chapter operating on dream logic as this one does, so I decided to take a look at the JP text myself and see if this was the case. And what I took away was… no, the English translation is more or less fine. A bit stiff but nothing has been lost or changed from the original text. But since there seems to be a lot of misinfo on this topic going around and I have nothing better to do on a Friday morning I guess, I thought I'd do my best to clear some of it up.

First of all: credentials, I guess? I'm the translator of 45510 and Viewpoint B and I was also part of the team working on Spica, The First Star where I contributed translation efforts as well. Basically I just want to assure folks that I'm not pulling this stuff out of my ass lol

Also apologies that some of these caps from the manga are fucking shmeared with Vaseline, tracking down the JP raws in decent quality was a fucking nightmare this time around for some reason. Anyway!

Black Eyes

The first major point of confusion seems to surround a line from Gorou at the start of page seven, while warning Aqua off from 'Sarina'.

「俺の目が黒い内はさりなちゃんに手ぇ出させねえ からな？」

In initial TLs, this line was translated literally and rendered as "You're not allowed to touch Sarina while your eyes are black!" which immediately caused a flurry of speculation among fans that this was a lore drop, meant to indicate that Aqua was 'not allowed' to be in a relationship with Ruby so long as he had his black hoshigans on - and thus, pursuing a relationship with her would restore them to white. When this line was rendered as "I won't let you make a move on Sarina-chan for as long as I live!" in the official TL, a lot of people assumed this was a mistake or an active omission on the part of MangaPlus. I regret to inform everyone that there was a mistranslation here… but uh, it wasn't MangaPlus!

First of all, Gorou is referring to his own eyes, not Aqua's - and furthermore, he's actually using a euphemistic idiom in the vein of 'over my dead body' or 'when hell freezes over'. There is a bit of missing subtext here in that Gorou is specifically expressing a sort of paternalistic expression and the obvious visual pun of Aqua's black hoshigans but MangaPlus's line gets at what Gorou is actually saying here. So no, unless Akasaka is playing a Ryukishi07 Umineko tier wordplay foreshadowing trick on us, I think we can take this at face value as just a brief gag.

'Good Enough'?

Another point of contention from this same page is a seemingly minor note of potential ambiguity with regards to Aqua's feelings for Ruby. When discussing their relationship at Gorou's prompting, Aqua states that Ruby is 'his precious little sister' with the following phrasing:

「世界でたった一人の大切な妹。それだけで良い。」

MangaPlus renders the 「それだけで良い。」 part of this line as "That's all that matters". Pretty much since the moment this chapter dropped, I've seen people insist that this is a mistranslation and that initial pre-official TLs of "That's good enough for me" are more accurate - that there is some sense of 'settling' or resignation on Aqua's part, that he does want to be with Ruby but he'll settle for being her brother and that the official TL erases this nuance.

My take on this is… eh. That's kind of a stretch.

Obviously, context is everything but if that sense of 'settling for good enough' is what Akasaka was wanting to convey, 「それだけで良い。」 feels off to me - I would say that 「それで十分だ。」 would be a much more natural choice of words and in fact, we already have at least once instance of this phrasing being used in OnK to express a similar sentiment and being rendered similarly in official TLs as "That by itself is enough."

When it comes to 「それだけで良い。」, "that's good enough" is a perfectly fine TL for it… but so is "that's all that matters", honestly! Depending on context, anything from "That's all there is to it", "That's plenty by itself", "That's all I want" or even "Just that is enough" are all perfectly fine ways to render this idea in English and I don't think the official TL is missing any nuance not suggested by the art. If I can be frank, this attachment to the 'good enough' phrasing in the English seems to come from this being the wording that was initially used by leakers and that it is just slightly more favorable to Ruby in terms of potential to be an endgame heroine.

The Japanese text is just as favorable or unfavorable to Ruby as the official TL is and any ambiguities in that regard exist in both versions of the text. Do with that as you will.

Tensing Up

This is moreso something I've see on Twitter as opposed to the sub but I thought it was worth addressing: when discussing Aqua's supposed feelings for Kana, Gorou phrases it as such:

「星野アクアとして、思春期らしい年相応の恋愛感情を抱えていた。」

MangaPlus translates this as "As Aqua Hoshino, you have romantic feelings that are appropriate to your age as an adolescent." This is pretty much exactly as he phrases things in Japanese (i.e, he specifically says 恋愛感情 renai kanjou, romantic feelings not just vaguely defined 'love'), but the point of contention sees to be whether this is still the case and that Gorou was specifically talking in the past tense about something that is no longer the case.

This is actually the opposite of what Gorou is saying here: in the part of the sentence that refers to Aqua having these feelings, Gorou uses the phrasing of 抱えていた, which indicates that this state or action is present tense and ongoing.

If I can speculate, this insistence on past tense phrasing seems to come from the fact that feeding Gorou's original line into MTLs such as Google Translate or DeepL returns this past tense phrasing… oops lol.

Bits and Bobs

Just some smaller bits of confusion I've seen floating around that didn't really warrant their own sections…

There seems to be this weird misinfo scrap going around that Aqua switches to referring to himself as 「僕」 (boku) as his first person pronoun after waking from his dream as opposed to 「俺」 (ore), which is what he'd been using in his dream and what Gorou had been using too - thus implying that 「僕」 (boku) is Aqua's 'true self' with no Gorou influence. This… uh, is flatly not the case! Putting aside that Aqua doesn't say anything at all after waking up, (I FUCKED UP, YES HE DOES SAY SOMETHING AND DOES SWITCH TO BOKU, I'M SORRYYYYYYYY) codeswitching between 'boku' and 'ore' as a first person pronoun is not super uncommon and is more to do with context and politeness than anything else - 'boku' is more polite and more appropriate for formal environments whereas 'ore' is always informal. You might switch back and forth between the two depending on who you're talking to - busting out an 'ore' at work would be like going "hey boss, ya boy just finished those financial reports, bitch" so…!

In addition, Aqua has used 'boku' before when distinguishing between "the reincarnator" and "the identity of Aqua Hoshino", so until we see the next chapter and get more Aqua dialogue, I don't know to what degree (if any!) it indicates about pronoun usage differentiating between Gorou and Aqua.

The other bit of discussion I've seen as pertains to the translation is whether Kana's line in the final page - translated by MangaPlus as 'I'm seriously in love' - was a reference to LoveNow's title or if she used the word 'gachikoi' there in Japanese as Ruby does in 143. The answer to both of those is a resounding 'nope'. Kana's line in that final page is 「私は本気の恋をしている。」, while LoveNow's Japanese title is 「今からガチ恋始めます」. Specifically, Kana describes her feelings as 本気の恋 (honki no koi), i.e, seriously, earnestly, truly in love, whereas both LoveNow and Ruby use the term ガチ恋 (gachikoi), a slang term referring to a fan who considers themselves to be legitimately in romantic love with a celebrity/idol/etc. Gachikoi is also how the first generation of B-Komachi are described in both Viewpoint B and 45510 in the original Japanese text.

Shakers of Salt

This is pretty much everything I saw floating around and I am not personally super interested in litigating every line of text in this chapter, BUT - if there's anything you feel was confusing about this chapter's TL in particular or anything that felt off or crunchy, I'd be happy to clarify stuff in the comments!

Ultimately my motivation here was to sooth the itch triggered by seeing my pet peeve pop up, which is people spreading misinfo about the original language text of a work lol. As I said up top, I was immediately skeptical once claims like this started popping up because "actually, this was mistranslated and the original Japanese text just so happens to word for word support my argument actually" is a song and dance I've done a whole lot of times before. I did my time in the Persona fandom, I'm not going back to this!!!

That being said: absolutely fact check me on this! If any of this smells stinky to you, get a second, third and fourth opinion from other parties, do your own research and come to your own conclusions. "People in fandoms will misrepresent the original language text of a work to support their agendas" is not something I am exempt from just because I have done my own translations and the last thing I want is to inadvertently perpetuate bullshit about a language or culture that is not mine. If you take anything from this, it's to do your own research and ultimately see where you come down on this sort of thing.

[zombeebunnie]

Trembling Essence:💙Script progress + Updates💙

Hello and welcome new followers, long time no see! I was very busy most of this month, but I am back and ready to continue from where I left off on the game! This game development post might be a bit long but I tried to condense everything! :]

"How are things going so far?":

It's going slow and steady! I haven't been able to do too much these past few weeks, however, I wrote a few parts out before I got too busy and couldn't do anything else.

I want to be very careful when it comes to spoilers but, based on your choices, some of these areas will give off immersive cozy/homelike vibes that really express Noah and the player(Y/N)'s view towards each other. In the old 2023 script I was very new to writing so the small semi-hints of romance weren't the entire focus compared to the horror aspect but there's a better balance between both genres now and I'm still aiming for a meaningful slow burn versus it just being all over the place. :] I liked writing them a whole bunch which lead to a lot of these taking place in the mid/end of Day 4+, they just need to be placed in specific areas that call for it. With that being said, it felt really comfy adding key details about Noah and creating meaningful sections in the game. I was even going to draw out some of the unseen script/scenes but I believe the best thing to do is give deeper lore from the [Extended Demo] first. Even though my writing style has improved I still have to fix the multiple pacing issues I wrote last year.

"Playtester's advice":

I wanted to continue working through Noah's backstory but I kept having moments where I'd get sidetracked into wanting to fix up the start of the game again. Eventually, I talked to my play testers about it and they gave me a few encouraging pointers.

To help keep my process at ease, I will fix the beginning of the game when I take breaks from writing up Noah's backstory. :]

I talked about this during early 2024 but the start of the game that leads up to the cabin is still getting reworked. I was able to get some of it fixed for the [Extended Demo] but I wasn't done. Things are still up in the air but, I will say that I have a better view of everything than I did before. :] Another priority that needs fixing are the backgrounds! I've improved a lot on drawing and they need to be optimized. When you first start up the game, you wake up in a holed out tree in the swamp with the choice to leave this area and possibly end up in the forest. I was going for a very immersive form of symbolism that only a few noticed but, I believe I can do a better job about this. Unfortunately I don't have any new backgrounds to show right now but maybe next week I'll have some finished up! :]

"Art process/Noah's sprite sheets":

As far as Noah sprite sheet goes, it's still in sketch mode.

I didn't draw anything since I was gone so I need to do a few warm ups before I get to them. There are some old drawing prompts I wrote down and old sketches that I never got a chance to doodle so hopefully I can get to them at some point with some attached lore. :,]

My Q&A / Ask box has been reset!

Thank you to those who have sent in asks in the past, unfortunately they all disappeared except for 1 while I was gone. I have no idea what happened but I can only guess it just got reset.

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask or resend them in here please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I would really like to hear from you guys!

This is all I have to share so far, Thank you to everyone for the continued support and patience while I was gone! I was ready to accept the interest for this game to fade out and coming back to see that it didn't happen makes me happy, I really appreciate it. :,]

[kaija-rayne-author]

Review 11 in series of Dragon Age Veilguard

84 hours in, 82 actual playtime.

Obligatory disclaimer, feel free to skip to the cut if you've read it.

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I'm on media blackout while I play this, so I'm only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though., every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard (and everything else Dragon Age, I'm a Lore fiend).

Part 10.3 here.

Wow. Talk about plot hole city in Cyrian's fate. Oh... no... the dying brother is conscious enough to talk (which means swallow). Rook is standing there with 3 healing potions left over and there's at least three green jars scattered about the room. Eyebrow raise of doom.

It would've been far more poignant, and, y'know, would actually have made a lick of sense if no one had any potions left and there weren't any in the room. Rook has been really close to dead, and those potions brought him back to fighting ability. No, I don't expect writers to know what the sets will look like. But at some point, someone, probably multiple someone's saw that and decided it wasn't worth fixing. I can even think of a single line that would've fixed it. Just. One.

Like... did any thought go into this game? At. All? It really doesn't feel like it.

Goddess, that scene just feels so unintelligent and thoughtless. And not because of the writing. If it had been blocked out properly to support the script, it would've been fine! (We use the term 'blocking it out' in writing and acting, not sure if it's the same for games.) It could have been sooooo good! But. Welp. Bioware apparently has no idea how to hire writers and editors and playtesters for quality control. Y'know, if I even thought they gave a shit about quality, because after playing most of this game? I highly doubt it.

I believe everyone can learn how to write. I don't think you need to have advanced degrees or anything silly like that to do it. But there is quite a bit of science behind writing well. No one is good at it from the start. And no... not everyone can just turn their hands to writing and be good at it. That's just not how the science of writing works. You need to dedicate the time and effort to learning how to write well. Reading a lot helps. Same goes with editing. And I know at least one (more than) of the writers played this before release. They talked about it on their socials. So either they didn't notice that massive fucking plot hole, or they just didn't care enough to fix it.

I don't know how else to put it. If someone had hired me to edit this? I would've sent sooooo much of it back to the writers with fix-it notes. (I even give suggestions on HOW to fix stuff in fix-it notes.)

I'm just gonna call the Solavellan ending now. It's so fucking obvious it's sad. The world will be saved (somehow leaving the veil up? Still not sure how that's gonna work given stuff they've said in this game). And then Inky will either join Solas in his prison because that's twue wuv. OR Solas will sacrifice his mortal form because he never wanted one anyway and Inky will poof turn into a spirit and go with him. And we probably won't get the intimate scene.

And NO that does NOT count as a happy ending! Or even the suggestion of a happy ending! That's them either going to prison or dying! A happy ending would be them living quietly until Inky's natural time, with her gardening and him painting. Or working in secret to help fix some shit, or insert absolutely anything other than what I'm pretty sure will happen. Only when Inky naturally passes would a happy ending be going poof into spirit land. What if she'd wanted a family? What if he had? Uuuuuugh. What if they wanted to enjoy life before becoming spirits? Hang with their friends? Let Solas deliver some overdue apologies? Sigh.

Well. I suppose I'm not just guessing. It wouldn't surprise me if I have more than a little savantism when it comes to writing, editing, and prediction.

And when I'm not recovering from almost dying, editing media is my actual job. One I'm pretty good at.

I dunno. Whenever I look at a piece of media, it's like it forms a 4d puzzle in my head. I can see the problems and where the story is likely to go. I actually read encyclopedias for fun (yes, I'm totally serious).

I also may have been dubbed a walking encyclopedia a time or million. So not only can I see the issues? I can usually figure out several ways to fix them. Very little surprises me in fiction. Making the ones that do incredibly rare and precious to me. It should go without saying that absolutely nothing in this game has surprised me except how bad it is.

But that 4d puzzle thing my brain does with fiction makes it far too easy to guess things. Especially when the writers and devs, at every turn, decided to pick the most banal, most uninspired choices available.

If that's what happens with the Solavellan ending, I'm never trusting Weekes again. They were Lead writer. They had to have had some control. Not just because we likely won't get the only two things Solavellans have wanted for what is it now... 10 years? But that they claim to love their character, Solas. And this entire gods damned game has been doing absolutely nothing but shitting on him. It's honestly been difficult to play as a person who deeply identifies with Solas's neurodivergent traits and his story. And who romanced him.

I'm solidly in a relationship with Lucanis and he's made me dessert. Don't get me wrong, a guy who can cook AND who makes me dessert? A+! But I don't play rated M games with romanceable characters for dessert scenes. I'm starting to wonder if there's even any kissing in this game. There's probably only a day or two at most left for me before I finish it. (And thank everything holy that this is probably true. This is painful at this point. But I need to see the ending for myself.)

Y'know? With all of the betrayals this game has dished out to a die hard Solavellan DA fan? I think no intimate scenes would be the shit cherry on top of the shit sundae of this game.

My kids have started being able to tell when I'm playing without looking at my screen by what they term the 'thousand yard stare of horror'. Honestly? They've probably nailed my expression. How can this be so awful?

Oh and yes, Isseya was ooooooh so eeeeevil. (Insinuating mental illness as evil? Yeah, that's rank ableism. It's not even remotely okay, and both whoever wrote that sequence and whoever approved it should absolutely be ashamed of themselves. Perhaps if they'd actually found and hired some diversity editors along with some better developmenal and copy editors, like I told Epler he needed, someone would've caught that.) Though I have no idea why I'd hoped for better from Bioware. They have absolutely awful ableism issues and always have. Psst. Bioware. It's 2024, might want to fix that.

If you've read Last Flight, the Isseya sequence is such a disrespectful, awful story arc. Even beyond the shitty ableism against mentally ill people. 3% of violent crime (pretty sure we can call that sequence 'violent crime') is committed by mentally ill people. All you neurotypicals need to own the other 97%. And a much better villain was still likely kicking around the deep roads. It hasn't been that long since the 5th Blight.

A much better story would've been stopping the Architect. Permanently. They basically just took his motivation and plans, tacked them (in a very badly fitting suit) to a character that didn't deserve that dirty treatment.

I'm honestly not sure if I can even find words for how fucking disappointing this game is.

I do have to say that other than a few teensy details, the sequence of Taash's rescue efforts for their mom was well written. Pacing was a little off, and the bad guy at the end not having a separate battle was a little anticlimactic, but it's absolutely one of the best written sequences in the game.

And my biggest disappointment for that sequence was that both Taash and my Rook are Lords of Fortune. I know it was all emotional, but why did they both run into one of the most basic trap set-ups in existence? Aren't Lords of Fortune supposed to be sorta, y'know, good at both detecting and avoiding traps?

I forgot to say earlier that Isabela is basically the only previously shown character who actually looks sort of like herself.

Oh, and I was pleased with Bellara talking about figuring out what to keep from the past and what's better about the present. I'd have really liked more than a few sentences on what is truly a massive area they could've explored, but at least they did mention it.

Haven't seen a thing about generational trauma and abuse, though. Nor about what’s happening with all those elves and agents Fen'harel had who joined his fight to free the elves in modern THEDAS. Did the writers forget about that part too? Or just decide the closing scenes of DAI weren't important? It wouldn't matter if this were a stand alone game. It might even be a decent, albeit poorly designed, standalone fighting game.

But a Dragon Age game cannot be a standalone. There's far too much history and Lore and previous decisions that need to be considered when you're making series material.

I honestly don't know how much I have left. I keep thinking I'm almost done, and more quests pop up. I've got the final sequence at the top, then maybe 6 others? Two are treasure hunts I'm not sure if I'm going to bother to finish.

And still. The best part of this game? Is still the sets, scenery, backgrounds, and environments. I can't find a single thing I'd change about any of it.

The rest? Eeeeenh.

Section 12 here.

[themattress]

Hype and Letdown

Disappointment is a factor in media as it is in life, but it's never worse than when you were actively hyped and excited for the thing that then causes the disappointment. Everyone knows that feeling, and I am no exception, which is why I'm listing examples of it from my life.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep: This first example is a strange one as it actually lived up to the hype for the most part. Good graphics, fun gameplay, stellar music, excellent voice-acting (save for Terra and Aqua), and a pretty solid story overall. The problem is that's all surface level. Beneath that surface, this game marked the turning point where the KH series went from a fun Disney/Square crossover to Tetsuya Nomura's personal vanity project, marred by both increasingly complicated lore and increasingly simplistic characters. I felt gutted after I first saw the game's secret ending video, "Blank Points", for I knew the KH I loved was over.

"Absolute Power": The first season of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien had been testing my patience as is, but I felt it might prove all worth it when Ultimate Kevin came along. I loved the evil Kevin 11 in the original series, so him coming back was exciting and I was interested in what ethical dilemmas might arise from fighting him given the circumstances. And then the two-part finale just shit the bed in almost every way possible: characters behaving like idiots, new plot points being thrown in and promptly wasted, an unpleasant atmosphere pervading the whole thing, and an ending where all problems are literally solved with the press of a button followed by the status quo insultingly resuming as though none of this ever happened. This finale made it official: I hated Ultimate Alien, and it retroactively tarnished my opinion of Alien Force too.

"Team Rocket VS Team Plasma!": This climactic two-parter in the Pokémon: Best Wishes anime series was heavily marketed, but then the day after the lead-in aired Japan was struck by a massive earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear plant meltdown which caused the episodes to be pulled from broadcast and later banned from ever airing due to behind-the-scenes drama. Thankfully, we now have the full scripts and this nifty symphonic short video of all footage.

Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two: I loved the original Epic Mickey for the Nintendo Wii, warts and all, so I was excited for the sequel which promised 2-player co-op and a playable Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Then I played it. And it sucked. Aside from a few inspired moments here and there, on the whole it was one of the worst video game sequels I've ever played. It's so objectively bad, in fact, that it killed both the Epic Mickey series and the studio that made it.

"Endgame": Going in to the first season finale of Avatar: The Legend of Korra, all momentum was going the series' way. And while it wasn't entirely bad - the stuff with Amon and Tarrlok was fantastic, and the battle between Asami and her father was powerful - on the whole it felt like a deflating balloon, with piss-poor wrap-ups to plot threads and character arcs, capped off with a Deus ex Machina that's laughable even by Avatar standards followed by an abrupt, unearned-feeling resolution. Thank God this show got more seasons to improve after this.

Episode N: Team Plasma in Pokémon: Best Wishes lets me down a second time! Ironically enough, I actually like Episode N and hold few objections to its actual content. The problem is that I was hyped up for it being the remainder of the series....not just 14 bloody episodes which is then followed by an island-hopping filler arc to end the series on! As a result, the final episode of Episode N doesn't feel right...the battle with Reshiram at the White Ruins should have been so much more climactic than it ended up being. It's not bad, just...disappointing.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc V - Season 3: For the first two-thirds of this series, I was enjoying it. It was the most fun the anime franchise has been since the earlier seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. But then the third and final season almost impressively managed to flush all that goodwill and potential down the toilet, to an extent where I was officially turned off of any future Yu-Gi-Oh! anime.

The Netflix MCU - Remember the mid 2010s? Daredevil Seasons 1 and 2, Jessica Jones Season 1, Luke Cage Season 1....they were all great, and so for a while it was really looking like the MCU was going to repeat its theatrical success on Netflix. Then Iron First Season 1 happened, followed by The Defenders, and the letdown was palpable to everyone, including me. Only Daredevil Season 3 managed to recapture the magic afterward, while Jessica Jones Seasons 2 and 3, Luke Cage Season 2, Iron Fist Season 2 and both seasons of The Punisher continued this small-screen MCU's downward spiral until it was all cancelled.

"The Final Battle" - Now, I wasn't all that hyped for this since it was the finale of Once Upon a Time's 6th season, which by and large had been pretty wretched and reinforcing my view that the show should have ended at 5 seasons. But this two-part finale still promised to be a conclusion to the whole series up to this point, so I had somewhat heightened expectations. And for the most part, it sadly didn't live up to them. It's not terrible and in some areas it's surprisingly inspired, but ultimately it was only further proof that this show had lost its way.

Love Live Sunshine - Season 2: I adored the first season of Love Live Sunshine, so naturally I was looking forward to the follow-up. And it was good. Sometimes great. But it was a far cry from the subversive brilliance that was Season 1, to the point where what should have been Aqours' biggest moment fell flat in comparison to the more simple victory from Season 1's finale. Mercifully, the Over the Rainbow movie was not only a return to form but retroactively made Season 2 stronger, solidifying Love Live Sunshine as my favorite Love Live series.

Thor: Ragnarok - The title had me hyped, as did the initial trailer. When it came out, critics gave it rave reviews and it made me more excited to see it. But when I actually saw it, I felt underwhelmed. There is a lot of good in it, and the final act set in Asgard is legit phenomenal, but the majority of the film felt like the director and actors doing a SNL sketch loosely based on the Planet Hulk comic storyline, with Thor and Loki often feeling like comedic parodies of themselves much like Luke Hemsworth and Matt Damon played early on, and the poor reception to the lackluster The Dark World used as an excuse to disrespect the traditional Thor mythos. And Thor in Avengers: Endgame and Thor: Love and Thunder is the direct consequence of this, so I'm proud to have never been aboard with it as a creative direction.

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi - Here's a funny one for you: the most oft-cited reason for disappointment in this movie, Luke Skywalker and the plotline around him, was actually something that really worked for me! That whole plotline was the highlight of the movie for me and I adore it to this day; people just don't seem to appreciate what it was trying to say, but I very much do. My disappointment with The Last Jedi was with everything else, and how rudderless and meaningless it seemed to make the Sequel Trilogy's narrative. These mostly unenjoyable, bumbling heroes fighting against these more enjoyable but equally bumbling villains in a retread of an old conflict just did not interest me. Episode IX had no hook for me.

Voltron: Legendary Defender - Seasons 7 and 8: In a bottle, many of the episodes in these seasons are still enjoyable. But when taken as a whole, this final third of the series was a letdown that seemed to actively betray much of what had been established before. The actual ending in particular was an absurd clusterfuck that did multiple characters all kinds of dirty.

Kingdom Hearts III - So, I had long since checked out from the KH series, but Kingdom Hearts III was a special case. The hype that came from years in Development Hell was such that not even I was immune; I grew increasingly curious in how the game would turn out. Just like Birth by Sleep, it was all good on the surface level but rotten beneath...though in this case, even the surface level was notably cracked and suffering from issues that no game that took this long to make has any excuse suffering. The DLC made things better and worse.

"Cleaved" - Rowdy C. Moore's thoughts are basically my own. God, what a trainwreck!

Frozen II - The initial teaser trailer made it look like this movie was going to be epic. It was not. Beyond Elsa's new songs and plotline of becoming essentially the Avatar, nothing even particularly sticks in my memory. I can only hope that Frozen III and Frozen IV do better.

Steven Universe Future - Another case of something that wasn't bad, just disappointing as it needed more time and episodes to be properly fleshed out into what it should be. There was way too much in here to be adequately explored and delivered in just 20 episodes, with the finale especially feeling anti-climactic compared to Steven Universe's and The Movie.

Higurashi: Gou/Sotsu - Initially marketed as a reboot, it ended up being a stealth sequel to Higurashi....a work that never needed a sequel. Things only got worse when the culprit was revealed to be a character-assassinated good guy, Umineko and Cicconia elements got shoehorned in despite not fitting, the Answer Arcs all being boring retreads of the Question Arcs, and the finale being absolute nonsense. At least the manga adaptation is decent.

The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero - Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, for all their technical issues, had one of the stronger stories in the game series, so I was excited for the DLC expansion to continue it. The end result, however, makes the game feel like a three-act structure where none of the acts gel together as a cohesive whole. "The Teal Mask" has a great setting and featured Pokémon, but the plot is poorly written and it hamstrings you in a way that makes the characters of Carmine and Kieran frustrating and unpleasant. "The Indigo Disk" spends most of its time in a location that feels way far-removed from the rest in the game and engaging in a mostly filler plot populated by under-developed characters before returning to Area Zero in a visit that doesn't remotely compare to the original and making the big treasure be the turtle Pokémon already used and used better in the current anime, all while Carmine and Kieran continue to frustrate as now does Briar. Game Freak, what are you doing?

Joker: Folie a Deux - The most recent example, which inspired this post. I loved the Hell out of the original Joker, which featured Joaquin Phoenix in an Oscar-winning performance as a Joker origin story in a Gotham City by way of Martin Scorsese. I was initially troubled when a sequel was announced since the movie was clearly a standalone and didn't need a sequel, but all of the casting info, production stills and initial trailer made it look like it was going to be a high-quality film even if not as good as the original. What we actually got was a drawn-out, boring, pointless movie that is actively and maddeningly insulting to the original and anyone who enjoyed it. I genuinely do not understand how this garbage was allowed to be made.

[winterdeepelegy]

My Thoughts on Dawntrail

So having finished DT, here are some of my thoughts on the expansion as a whole. Expect spoilers below the cut, do not click if you haven't finished. Again these are entirely my opinions, I don't intend to present this from a perspective of fact.

Hmm. I don't hate DT, but it's not high on my list: 1. Shadowbringers 2. Heavensward 3. Stormblood 4. Endwalker 5. Dawntrail 6. ARR That said, I don't hate any of the installments of this game, but there are some definitely high and low points. Let's rip the bandage off and get the blanks out of the way: 1. DT has a dialogue problem. I don't hate Wuk Lamat as a character, it was kind of refreshing to see a green, earnest character take center stage while our characters stepped aside and provided a guiding hand. The big problem I have with her is her dialogue. She's basically a shounen character, complete with the 'I'm gonna be king of the pirates'/'I'm gonna be hokage!' schtick, and it really wears on me after a while. That's not the character's fault so much as it is the writing team. That being so, this game is best played in short stints, 1-2 hours at a time instead of trying to marathon the whole thing in short order. Any more than that and it really becomes repetitious. If they want to script it to sound like an episodic anime series, it will be best enjoyed in smaller bites. Sphene suffers from the same problem. I wanted to enjoy her more as a character, but the script made that a challenge. 2. Pacing and exposition. God. The first few hours of EW were enough of a slog with its slow pacing before getting to the first dungeon, this felt like an eternity by comparison. Up to about the level 95 content, it is a long span of exposition and lore stuffing (far be it from me to complain about abundant lore!), so much of which could have been covered in less time and with less repetition. They really wanted to hammer the tribes into our heads, and it felt like too much at times. They wanted us to care about the tribes and the people therein, but few things make me care less than overdoing it. Level 95-ish is when things start becoming more interesting, in my opinion. That's a long way to climb to reach the proverbial cookie jar. 3. The music. I'll be honest, soundtrack wise, this is not my favorite. I appreciate all genres of music, but swing jazz doesn't quite fit the feel of Tulliyolal. I would have liked to hear something closer to a cultural aesthetic to match the visuals and themes presented throughout the areas and civilizations therein. We didn't get that, and it's kind of a weird choice. The main themesong, also? Ehh... I didn't care for it in the trailer. This opinion hasn't shifted since my playthrough. I didn't really start finding enjoyable area music until Shaaloani. 4. 'My people are more important than your people'. This plot point has been done. We just dealt with the Ascians and pretty much got the same shpiel from Hades. They made Sphene and her subjects a little more sympathetic, though, so... good, I guess? 5. Erenville deserved better. Fussy Bunbun got done so dirty in this expack, the very least anyone could have done was give him a hug. He didn't even get that from his mother who, frankly, was the worst character out of all of it. He was also deadnamed repeatedly, which could have been a teachable moment. 6. Wuk Lamat and/or Bakool Ja Ja still owes me tacos. ------------ As for the positives? There are some. Thanks for sticking with me so far. 1. Pretty graphics updates - better over all. 2. No weirdly split zones - thank the Twelve for this. StB, ShB, and EW all had zones that you could only cover in part, and couldn't finish until later. The zones in DT flow pretty well for the most part, and the transition between upper and lower areas of Yak'Tel are nothing short of beautiful, especially in flight. 3. More Reflections - I'm glad to see more of these and I hope this trend continues. 4. For once, I'm not luke warm on the bard AF gear. It's actually a fresh look, but haven't found a dye pairing I like yet.

[hlvrai2predictions]

GNOME LORE MEGAPOST

Hello all! This isn't quite a prediction, but I've recently rewatched the final act of the Gnome Series, and I thought that it may be a good idea to go over some relevant information!

Firstly, there's debate on whether or not HLVRAI and HLAGE are in the same continuity at all, or just separate stories in a long anthology of Wayneradiotv being besieged by various supernatural entities that dwell within the strange copies of games he plays. I believe that they are interconnected, and while I haven't seen hard proof of it, there is an implication. Now, both the Red Gnome and Gabe Newman (who I will be calling Newman for the sake of clarity) make occasional references to HLVRAI, with Newman even saying "Dr. Bubby was my favourite character." I don't believe this disqualifies their connection, though. HLVRAI begins with Wayne explaining the nature of this version of Half Life to his stream chat, saying that he's going to "get into character" so that the game "works" (here at about 2:45.) This is removed from the final cut, but Dr. Coomer confirms that it IS 2020, the Coomer fight confirms that Gordon is a real human being playing Half Life, and Gordon makes semi frequent jokes about 'JustinTV', which was created nearly a decade after Half Life's setting and would only really make sense to joke about if he was a streamer. Furthermore, in HLAGE, the events are EXPLICITLY live streamed, with Wayne saying "No, nah, I'm done, that's the stream guys, that's the end," (here at 55:03) when removing his headset during the ending, which was scripted and edited behind the scenes (meaning it was considered and approved as part of the narrative and not a passing remark) but presented as part of the livestream in story.

In terms of actual implication that the two are directly connected, the Red Gnome almost always refers to the protagonist as Gordon, despite Baalup calling him Wayne and the player character of the game being Alyx. This would only really make sense if Wayne was portraying the same version of himself and either conveying that by keeping the name consistent or implying the underlying strangeness of the game is connected to the strangeness of his copy of Half Life. Next, a line from Baalup (here around 40:55) could possibly connect the two:

Baalup: Y'know...my friend Wayne...won't-can't just play a game normal...he has to play a game with these stupid mods...

This could indicate other games Wayne has played in the past of this continuity have involved something similarly 'stupid' and possibly involved the characters interacting with him. This could directly tie it to HLVRAI, or could just be in reference to the general RTVS content that puts Wayne through strange experiences.

There is another reference that could strongly imply the two are connected, but that is part of something much larger I will get to later on.

Now, the Gnome Series is heavily analyzable, but to keep things brief, I will mostly be focusing on the ending, starting with the last commentary node. Up until this point, the nodes have been popping up, mostly saying nonsense that is almost certainty lying but occasionally expressing confusion about the gnome, but the final node is the most plausibly prerecorded, the longest, and the most lucid. (here at 47:00)

Gabe Newman: Congratulations! You are the first player to complete the Half Life: Alyx "Gnome Challenge." We were hoping people would be a little more enthusiastic about it. But it seems no one else has been brave enough to rise to the challenge. On behalf of all of us at Valve Software, we hope you're ready to accept the consequences of your actions.

Gabe Newman: This commentary node was triggered via completion of the "Gnome Challenge." You are the first player to access this node. You are the only player that will...hear these lines of commentary. And I advise you to heed their words well...Dear Player. Half-Life...Half-Life is not what it seems. These games, uh, should NEVER be played, by mankind. But...we here at Valve...we knew how well they would sell. We knew the success that would come. And we knew what chaos could be wrought, what...dark dreams could waken and...and we distributed Half-Life anyway. This, is my greatest regret.

Gabe Newman: We had some challenges trying to wrap up development on this bad boy. There was, uh...it's a seal, really old thing, etched out on obsidian. I won't get into the details on how we broke it, but...uh, it was worth the wait. And, the consequences. We'd used the seal before. Many times, actually. It allowed Half-Life to achieve the legacy it has today? The games, each of them...were, amazing. As I'm sure you experienced, having done this challenge. Uh...

Gabe Newman: It wasn't until we started development of Episode 2 that the dread started to overtake me. I had these...nightmares. Every single night. I-I couldn't even tell you what they were, in truth. What I saw in those dreams, what...transpired...was beyond my understanding, but...what was within the grasp of my cognition was the fear. One day the nightmares, just...uh, stopped. And when they did, I-I went into work that mornin'. And that was the day...he...appeared.

Gabe Newman: All of these commentary lines are encrypted. And will delete themselves from Steam's update depository, once a player has listened to them, removing them from all copies of Half-Life: Alyx. These messages...are a confession, of sorts. And this knowledge, dear player, is now yours to do with as you wish, it's in your hands. After completion of the Gnome Challenge the gnome should no longer appear in the game.

Gabe Newman: If you are seeing or hearing the gnome during the vault sequence, DO NOT go to the end of the game, do NOT proceed any farther. We here, at Valve, are not responsible for what happens if you ignore this message. Please. You HAVE to listen to me. Do NOT leave this room. DO NOT complete the game. Take off the headset, put it on the dirty floor and turn the game off. Uninstall it! Rid yourself of all of this.

Gordon: But...gnome...Ugh, what is he-is he pranking me? Is there more dialogue?

Gabe Newman: Please enjoy our new RPG. It's called: POOP. and the Power of PEE. We made it bad on purpose.

The most immediately jarring aspect of this speech are the wild tonal shifts, most obvious in comparing the body of the speech to the ending note and every other node, but even within the body itself. He begins with regret for whatever consequences came from releasing Half-Life, but is also deeply prideful of what he created, lamenting that fewer people seemed interested in the Gnome Challenge than he expected, calling the games amazing, and even saying that they were worth the consequences. He grows frightened as the speech continues, and stresses that if the gnome appears in the vault the game should not be played, before quickly implying that the game should not be played at all and that the player should take their headset off and delete it.

It's a small detail, but it's also notable that despite this being the most believably prerecorded node, he still notes that players weren't enthusiastic about the Gnome Challenge as he'd hoped, which either means he recorded the nodes significantly after the game's launch or is still somewhat aware of the situation around him. I personally believe that Newman is either dead and some part of him is stuck inside the game, or that the Gnome is manipulating his recordings in the same way that he silenced all other voices in the game, but that remains headcanon.

Onto the contents of the speech. Apparently, a "really old" seal etched into obsidian was involved with the development of Half-Life: Alyx, and likely the creation but at least the "legacy" of the other Half-Life games. The seal was "used" in some way, and was "broken" at some point either during the development of Alyx or Half-Life. This seemingly supernatural, ancient influence is presumably why he says "Half-Life should never be played by mankind" (with a notable, if small, pause before he says "by mankind.") After the development of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 he began feeling severe dread and was plagued by nightly terrifying dreams which he couldn't understand or explain. This is presumably the HLVRAI-universe explanation for why Half-Life 3 doesn't exist, the project was abandoned due to the heavy toll it took on Newman.

Then he says the nightmares stopped one day, and that "he appeared." This is likely referencing the gnome, as it is solidly after the development of Episode 2 which would exclude every other already conceived of character. It's not clear whether the gnome appeared physically or just on the software, but considering in another node Newman says that the Blue Gnome's voice just appeared fully formed in the code, and the fact that the Red Gnome later DOES become real, either are a possibility. Either way, this led to the development of Half-Life: Alyx, or possibly just the inclusion of the "Gnome Challenge."

The Finale could be analyzed heavily from the perspective of Gordon and the Gnomes' relationship, but currently I am looking more at what could be set up for the new installation, so we will move forward a bit. Gordon disregards the warning, partly due to its nonsensical ending, and finishes the game. The opening of the vault reveals the Gnome.

The Red Gnome: UH OH! Gordon! You never should have come here! Looks like you gonna get the bad ending! HA HE! You never figured it out, did you? This was never. Your. CHALLENGE. AND I...HAVE WON...THE CHALLENGE!

I will get to the possible importance of this line later. The Gnome rises from the G-man's body, before flying at Gordon, transporting him to a twisting hallway that seems to use Half-Life 2 textures.

The shadow of Alyx Vance's model is also visible on the ground, which is notable because there is a scene in a previous act which specifically calls attention to the fact that the Gnome has a shadow while Gordon does not, and for the fact that it is several feet ahead of Gordon. This is when Gordon decides to "end stream" and take off his headset. He begins to hear loud, antique music that isn't coming from his headset, and tries to leave his room. Opening his door returns him to the same hallway. While there is an implication that Gordon felt real pain and possibly really blacked out as a result of the soldier's ambush in HLVRAI, that the G-Man somehow compelled him to stay for the theater segments between the Commentaries, and that Balp's heat was somehow knocked out by the Gnome, this is the first time a real human being has been directly brought into an 'unreal' space, and sets up the aspect of the Gnome entering real space.

During Gordon's walk through the hallway, the Gnome (in a heavily distorted voice) sings this:

goodnight my beautiful just being with you is so beautiful and tearing away from your arms is not easy to do goodnight my wonderful

goodnight my wonderful there’s nobody who is so wonderful each moment with you is like living a dream come true so hold me close to you

parting is such sweet sorrow your love is all i have to waken for tomorrow

goodnight my beautiful the night will be lonely but beautiful when i’m alone with wonderful dreams of you

This can be inferred as the Gnome essentially saying goodbye to Gordon, as it is him basically getting ready to "wake up" with just a memory of him after they switch places. The Gnome does, to some capacity, love Gordon, but has also accepted his death/parting.

Gordon reaches the end of the hallway, where a door stands. He lights a flashlight which illuminates something immediately in front of him that isn't visible but casts Alyx's shadow. The figure was looking at him, turning around before opening the door. The hall is revealed to immediately terminate behind Gordon, and he is forced to enter the door.

The theater seems to be the same model as the one used in the Commentaries, with four small lights at the bottom of the entrance's interior wall and a dark red accent across all of the exterior walls, though I am not sure of the significance. The Gnome still speaks with his usual informality, but Gordon is less energetic, less argumentative, and audibly scared and placating, probably because any level of safety or understanding he retained while playing the game has now been lost by the fact that this is happening, to some extent, in his real life. He remarks after drinking from a cup that "that's not Mr. Pibb..." in a disgusted tone, which implies he genuinely tasted it and his surroundings are tangible.

The two watch the 'movie, titled The Peppa Pig Movie, uploaded to the WayneradioTV Youtube channel, and attributed to Gordon. The movie is several minutes of stills of Peppa Pig, a Spanish Peppa Pig creepypasta read over footage of a plush holding a knife, and a poorly made gorey Peppa Pig cartoon. The screens abruptly glitches before blacking out. It then plays the actual intro to Peppa Pig, or at least the first few second as Peppa leaps off the logo and stands in a grass field, smiling and blinking before giving a monologue.

Peppa Pig: Hello Gordon! I'm Peppa Pig! Would you like to hear about my day, Gordon? I made three friends today. I became friends with the man clothed all in blue. I became friends with the little man with white beard and red hat. And I became friends! With someone else. You will meet her very soon. Don't Worry. Do you hear the sounds of the hollows, Gordon? I hear them. The girl and I, we know them very well. Don't tell me you can't hear it, Gordon, the song they sing at the edges of the mind. It's quite beautiful. Maybe it's better that you can't hear that, lest you end up like her. Tis a shame what befell that girl, really. But I can tell you this, Gordon. The white woods call for you in dulcet tones, your name, I hear. There is so much more I'd like to talk about with you, Gordon. But alas! Every movie must come to an end and it is time for us four to part ways. But Gordon! You must not forget. Never...forget. The woods. The seeds. The girl. THE KEY! How will you fare, Gordon? When the sea of mud comes for us all? Well, I know what I will do. Splish. Splash. Splosh.

If it had to be said, this is not Peppa Pig. But that does not mean we can't glean a huge amount of information about this character from this. Firstly, it should be noted that the Blue Gnome used the phrase 'dulcet tones' earlier in the same stream, though the significance of that is unclear. The Blue Gnome and Gabe Newman also make completely unprompted references to pigs in this stream, each at least once. The Red Gnome had previously expressed a large amount of excitement and affection surrounding Peppa Pig, and it is unclear if he was actually talking about this or this thing just used that appearance for the sake of the Red Gnome.

The pig seems to speak in a very antiquated way, using "tis", "alas", and "quite", as well as having very strange grammar in some of its sentences, implying it could be very old. Its line about the "sea of mud" implies that it will be happy and dancing during the destruction of all things, though it does say when it "comes for us all" which could imply it is mortal? The lines "There is so much more I'd like to talk about with you, Gordon. But alas!" and "But I can tell you this" indicate that the pig is somewhat limited in what it can and cannot do, and it is not fully in control of the situation. This is perhaps furthered by the fact that it doesn't use 'we' or 'us' when referring to "the white woods" or "they" who sing at the edges of the mind. It also seems to be confident that at the very least, Gordon will not be killed by this experience, assuring him that he will meet the third friend "very soon" and asking about the sea of mud.

Onto nouns. The pig references "three friends" that it made "today." The second is the most easily identifiable. A little man with a white beard and a red hat is a clear description of the Red Gnome. The first is more vague, described as a man wearing all blue. The most obvious answer is the Blue Gnome, but the fact that only the second is described as little, having a beard, and having a hat leads me to dispute this. I would posit that the closest matching character to this description is Benrey.

Gordon wears an orange HEV suit. the science team wears a white labcoat and white pants. Benrey wears blue jeans and a blue button-up shirt. Benrey also appears chronologically before the Gnome, and while it wasn't a day, we also have no reason to believe that the Gnome met the pig the day of the stream, either, and its implied age could mean it wouldn't use exact units of time.

The third friend is the most interesting. We know she uses she/her and is referred to as "the girl." She is alone out of the friends as being able to hear "sounds of the hollows" which is the same as "the song they sing at the edges of the mind" and possibly the same as the "dulcet tones" with which "the white woods" call for Gordon. Something "befell" the girl that was a shame, something that is relating to the song because Gordon might "end up like her" if he could hear it. It's unclear WHAT happened to her, but it may be some variety of madness due to the focus on the mind. The pig remarks that Gordon will meet the third friend "very soon" further implying that he has met the other two before and that this character cannot be someone that Gordon has interacted with in the past.

I personally believe that the third character will be Alyx. Explicit attention is drawn to her as a character with her independent shadow moving into the theater. I am sure that this is in some way relevant to the scene in which it was commented on that the Gnome had a shadow while Gordon (while playing as Alyx) did not. The pig also says "Every movie must come to an end and it is time for us four to part ways." This group of four must include the pig, as it uses "us", and must also include Gordon, who is being spoken to directly. That leaves only two other characters, which does not fit with the three friends. I suggest that the third of the four is the Red Gnome, who sits adjacent to Gordon, and Alyx, who entered the theater. This leads me to believe that it is very possible that Alyx will take some kind of antagonist or at least a deep role in the HLVRAI-HLAGE followup.

"The white woods" is the last described location/character. Not much is said, only that they call for Gordon. It is also mentioned in the phrase "The woods. The seeds. The girl. The key." The seeds are possibly related to the woods, maybe the origin (seeds) that created the woods (trees.) This could indicate that the girl and the key are also related. It emphasizes that he should "never forget" these things, implying they could be important in the followup.

While not much is said about the white woods by the pig, we do learn a bit more. As it finishes speaking, the theater screen dissapears, revealing a forest behind it. Said forest has tall trees, sharp cliffs to each side, a dirt path going forward, and a white sky with pale fog. The fog slowly enters the theater, and a whistling wind can be heard from outside. The Gnome prompts Gordon to enter the woods. The screen seems to be replaced by glass after Gordon exits, trapping him outside. The Gnome then says this:

The Red Gnome: What's wrong, Gordon? Woken up with something of a...nightmare, have you? A foul, murky, story, quite beyond my own reckoning? Well, don't worry! In a few moments, you will wake up good as new! Like this was all just a mere bad dream. HIACKK. HI! You gonna cry about it? Bitch! Understanding comes later. One year. Seven months. Thirty days...Six hours. Twenty-two minutes. We've waited so long...Now Gordon, time to pay...THE FOREST. This was never about you...It was about me.

While the Gnome still says some of this in his usual style of speaking, a large portion of it is VERY verbose and formal. This, combined with the glitching captions, the use of "we", and speaking not out of anger when talking about the time since the challenge started but something like hunger, leads me to believe that the Gnome is still in control of his actions, but at the very least being influenced by something other, most likely the forest itself. It is unclear if the white woods simply demand payment for the challenge being started, or if it possibly has something to do with the obsidian seal that was broken. There could also be connections to how Coomer refers to Gordon's dreams and sleep when talking about the real world

The Red Gnome: I thought you'd never come back...but this was always going to happen, wasn't it?

This is said in the Gnome's normal voice, and indicates that he previously did not understand fully what was going to happen.

Bright, psychedelic images begin surrounding Gordon, the screen fades to white, and he starts screaming before cutting out.

This is when the Gnome becomes 'real', taking over Gordon's house, career as a twitch streamer, and entire life. He returns to his normal voice and cadence and begins a playthrough of Half-Life 2. Besides having God mode, the only other change seems to be that the screens have been glitched to obscure Kleiner and Breens' faces. Strangely, an individual Combine Police Officer's mask has been blurred at around 1:22:00 as well.

In a playground, he finds a gnome modeled to resemble Wayne, implying that the two have swapped places. The Gnome gets increasingly upset about the fact that Gordon no longer speaks, going from mocking him to trying to bait him into reacting and then just begging him to speak.

The Red Gnome: Alone...Al..one...Alone...Alone. This is...This isn't right.

This prompts the second song the gnome sings.

Now it's time, I fear to tell I've been holding it back so long But something strange deep inside of me is happening I feel unlike I've ever felt and it's makin' me scared That I may not be what I think I am

What of us, what do I say? Are we both from a different world? 'Cause every breath that I take I breathe it for you I couldn't face my life without you And I'm so afraid There's nothing to comfort us What am I, if I can't be yours

I don't sleep, don't feel a thing And my senses have all but gone Can't even cry from the pain Can't shed a tear now I realize we're not the same And it's makin' me sad 'Cause we can't fulfil our dream In this life

So I must, let us break free I can never be what you need If there was a way through the hurt Then I would find it I'd take the blows Yes, I would fight it But this is the one Impossible dream to live What am I, if I can't be yours

Where the previous song was the Gnome saying his goodbyes to Gordon before the switch, making his fondness for him a thing of the past and speaking like he was already gone, this song is the Gnome's realization that he can't live without Gordon, but he will also never be able to exist or function with Gordon. So, donning the VR headset, he lets Gordon free, sending him back to reality and disappearing in the process.

When Gordon seemingly wakes up, he is on a beach. It curves steeply into an endless ocean a few feet in front of him, a black bird circles above, and there is something difficult to make out behind him.

The pale sky and audible wind lead me to believe this place has some relation to the white woods.

When Gordon realizes he's in his headset, he yanks it off, finding a goodbye from the Gnome.

In conclusion, and a somewhat hasty one because I am tired, it would appear that Valve/Gabe Newman discovered a seal carved into obsidian and broke it. Something about this seal results in the creation and success of the Half-Life franchise, possibly spawning the artificial intelligences, but also comes with terrible consequences, filling Newman with dread and visions he doesn't understand. This could be the reason HL3 is never made and on more of a stretch why the copy of Half-Life Gordon plays in HLVRAI is rare/unheard of. The white woods might have a connection to this seal, being the supernatural force with the greatest power seen. The white woods have a definite connection to the Gnome and the pig, who itself has connections to the Gnome, Benrey, and maybe Alyx.

[regrettablemeasure]

I always love hearing about other people's D&D games and I was wondering if you had like a method for how you plan out your sessions? In a slump rn myself so looking for some inspo lol

ok so i need to get better at this again (depression made me a way more 'seat of my pants' DM) BUT i basically lay out a "timeline" of main story points the party will eventually hit, and place "questlines" there. Essentially like a tree of quests and their progression in a videogame. This is NOT always detailed by any means but it helps me get a linear view of what's going on. If you run pre-made modules, this is the book stuff. My current game started out this way before I went "I like doing this myself" and went completely off the rails.

Then I go into the main details of the questline. Stuff like where it is, if there's going to be new lore introduced, the actual contents of the quest itself and it's requirements, etc. My players and myself are big on RP, so I also try to always make sure the quest will have interest for Story or Character reasons. If it doesn't directly push the plot in a major way, will it still give the party interesting interactions with each other and npcs? Are there going to be any new threads for some of the game's mysteries?

Then I also ask what in the questline is going to play to the party's habits and strengths. I admit this is WAY looser, and again kind of wraps around into "what would be cool RP for them" - but for example; knowing an encounter with nobles will give our noble-born artificer some additional lore, since he understands the city's politics.

After that, I do sometimes "script" certain lines of NPC dialogue or location and item descriptions. Stuff I'll be narrating that I want to make sure has a certain weight to it, or to flow well. You might not need to do this if you speak succinctly, but I find my brain stutters when trying to describe scenery on the spot, so it usually helps to write it. After that I make the session from there!

For me that usually includes picking out "splash screens" for the conversation backgrounds in our game, drawing new npc portraits if I have the time (it started because some of my players have aphantasia/some former players were new, so I drew PC and NPC portraits to make RP easier to visualize - then it just became the Only Way I Want To Do It Now LOL), and making maps. I use Epic Isometric for my maps, highly recommend. I get most of my splash screens from Art Station, but I have to say obviously that's unwise if you're streaming a game. Same goes for using pre-existing art as character/NPC art -- I know myself and other artists don't care if someone uses our stuff for their home game that no one's ever gonna see. I plan to release some of my portraits in packs one day free of use though.

Here's the RP Backdrop kind of splashscreen I use in R20 (but you can make one in FVTT too, I've done it) and an Epic Iso map I threw together (the party tokens were drawn over Epic Iso assets. If you join their discord people make community edits constantly. I'm currently working on a project to color all the released decor assets)