#infamous evil route

[rorsry]

im sleepy this is all im doing

[infamous-if]

I finally signed up for the patreon and played through all the povs in one go and can I just say

you.

evil. i love you lol. god getting inside g's brain was so insightful, the way they think is something so interesting to me. I'm so excited to play their route in the future. also that recent valentines day special for seb? SETTING THE TONE FOR THE RELATIONSHIP MAYHAPS? I have concerns but also very heartwarming. and Victoria is just so. ugh. she deserves nothing but hugs and a good life. August surprisingly I feel might be the most comforting/heartwarming route? but I have no doubt you have surprises in store for us.

and seven. love and hate is thin line seven. the way they're so scared of being hurt and won't be vulnerable for even a second because of it. and so scared that mc feels the exact same way so is always playing games? seven let yourself be loved, platonically or romantically god damn it.

your writing is fantastic, and you put a lot of effort in, I hope your pillow is always the perfect temperature. thank you for blessing us with infamous!

hahahahah the valentines specials are definitely supposed to be a peek of how the relationships are when they're 'good' of course it won't always be that smooth sailing lolol funnily enough, even when it's 'good' the valenreign relationships are still pretty messy due to the affair which is like a dark cloud constantly over your head....

thank you so much! <3 im glad they were insightful heheheh

[geraskierfanficprompts]

Prompt #2

There is not NEARLY enough Rapunzel AU fanfics. I'm thinking of mighty witcher Geralt coming across a lone, tall, moss, ivy, and lavender covered tower out in the woods, and being surprised to find a young man imprisoned there. I love the idea that instead of paintings like Disney's Rapunzel used to fill up her time and tower, that instead he sings and makes songs, so there's like.. Lyrics and sheet music scribbled onto the walls.

♡!Optional addons!♡ • Geralt is tracking down an evil infamous mage, of whom turns out to be the captor of this gorgeous musician he found

• Jaskier has blonde hair until it's cut like in Tangled, to call back to his Dandelion roots (hah.. Roots... Like hair... and dandelions..) • We could go the Disney's Tangled route and have there be a lost Prince Julian that Jaskier just so happens to resemble (and secretly is)

• Perhaps Jaskier is physically bound there by magic or chains, Or perhaps he's there out of nothing more than guilt, shame, and/or fear toward the person keeping him there • Perhaps Jaskier is a painter in this universe, and above all, wants to see real buttercups, dandelions, etc, out in the wild, for they don't grow near his tower, and the best he can get is his own paintings of their descriptions in books.

• Maybe if we feel more adventurous, Jaskier could be part harpy, kept in a mage's tower in a birdcage, kept for his magical hair activated by his magical singing (Ooh, this gives me more bird jaskier ideas.. You might see those soon)

• Or perhaps, after Blaviken, a witcher is sealed away in a tower, only for some dumbass (affectionate) struggling bard to stroll across and think it a perfect shelter from the oncoming rain.

[fancifulplaguerat]

Something I struggle to reconcile with Daniil’s character is his attitude towards violence, because he’s this impassioned doctor claiming he wants to save everyone but at the same time is pretty quick on the draw across all three routes. E.g. in the Bachelor Route, the player can say that Daniil doesn’t want others to die for him; that it’s his job to preserve lives, not waste them; and tells Saburov that Artemy couldn’t be a killer, because why would a *doctor* kill anyone? but then the next conversation he’s expressing delight when Andrey tells him he can kill marauders with impunity. Thinking about it more, though, I don’t think it’s necessarily that dissonant given how Daniil’s character is constructed within this “destroyer” idea, and I think his motivations are pretty consistent as well. 

I feel Daniil is the most emotional healer—he’s very wear-it-on-your-sleeve and seemingly easily swayed by emotion, considering how he reacts to Simon’s death/Aglaya’s betrayal. He’s not altogether impulsive, since he’s conscientious and sometimes even refuses to act without ensuring whether he’s right, but he’s clearly partly motivated by emotion. For one, he often to lashes out at people—there are frequent dialogues in his route where he can snap at someone and then say a variant of “Sorry, I lost my temper.” I don’t think Daniil is necessarily an angry person, but reactive and in a situation where he’s constantly under pressure/being prevented from doing what he needs to be done, so obviously he’d often be frustrated and angry. I also don’t think him acting violently is  because he wants to take his anger out on others, and rather his sense of justice allows him to justify violence on the grounds of who “deserves” to be punished or to die. For example, in the Haruspex/Changeling Route he only threatens to kill Artemy or use violence against Simon Kain’s murderer because eye-for-an-eye; the killer deserves to be punished, because that’s just. Daniil also expresses anger and disdain towards those who kill others, so it seems to him, killing a murderer is just righting a wrong. 

Outside his motivations, I also think Daniil’s tendency towards violence works within his broader characterization as a fighter/destroyer. He’s indirectly characterized as an apt fighter in both the Haurspex/Changeling Routes, and rhetoric of ‘fighting’ is constantly used to describe his research and actions within the town. On Day 1, both Maria and Katerina describe his fate as a battle—Maria says, “a truly terrifying battle is ahead of you [...] You will fight a foe that few can defeat” and Katerina says, “I’m talking about a very particular battle... You are one of the combatants, Bachelor Dankovsky [...] you will have to fight to the death.” I also want to point to this dialogue with an herb bride, which I know is in common, but: 

Herb Bride: How are you smart? Smart people are four-eyed nerds... bulgy heads on stunted legs. Cunning, cautious, weak, old even... no, you are not a smart man. You are a warrior.

Player: You can be both.

Herb Bride: Really? I thought you can only have one. Your eyes are throwing needles, and your teeth are clenched fast. You've got the face of a man who can sweep down anything that stands in his way. The face of a destroyer.

Player: Correct. This is the true purpose of smart people [...] I destroy death. 

Herb Bride: Oh... So that's why there are always sparks of hatred in your eyes. And that's why your smile is so spiteful.

I’m still debating my opinions on the implications here, but I feel it’s partly related to the game’s pessimism about miracles/utopias. Specifically that in Daniil’s attempt to attain utopia:defeat death, he can only cause more destruction, as in Kaspar’s infamous “You may mean well, but you bring evil and destruction all the same [...] Your heavy hand will crush us all—even if you were only grabbing us in order to pull us out of the abyss.” The sentiment that Daniil is solely a destructive force even when he tries to do good is echoed all over the game, which frankly makes me upset because I’m too attached to this tortured little fellow. Daniil does what he thinks is right just as Artemy and Clara, but he doesn’t even get the privilege of attaining his goal like the others do in their endings. The Bachelor ending is really only a symbolic victory for Daniil; Thanatica is burned down and he hasn’t really gotten any closer to beating death. For all intents and purposes, Daniil loses even in his own ending, and I have all sorts of thoughts about that but. I shall tuck it away for another day 

[girlstuffnorp]

Julie and the Phantoms Song Recs: McFly Songs that are Sunset Curve/JATP Coded

So, McFly are a big British pop/rock band that have been around since 2003, and are still releasing music and touring at the time of writing in 2024. I saw them perform live in 2023, and loved it. 💖 That tour was to celebrate the release of the most recent album (at the time of writing) - Power To Play - and listening to that album immediately gave me Sunset Curve vibes, and then I subsequently realised that they had been making Sunset Curve/JATP-coded songs throughout their whole career. 🥺💖

Edit: So, McFly are really popular in Brazil, and they released a song with popular Brazilian band Fresno in 2023 as part of the Power To Play album - Broken By You... and I've just discovered that Fresno actually had a cameo in Julie e os Fantasmas (the original Brazilian show that Julie and the Phantoms was adapted from) in episode 3, so this whole post has gained a lot more validity in a '6 degrees of separation' kind of way 😍👏

I wanted to make a list of songs that I could see Sunset Curve/JATP performing/recording for their potential albums, some that just remind me of the boys, and some fun gems in between - these are all my personal preferences/opinions, so you may think differently, but here is the current tracklist in no particular order. (All with YouTube links of varying quality since a lot of the music videos/live performances give Sunset Curve/JATP vibes too IMO. All [except one] of these songs are also on Spotify etc.):

🎶 God of Rock & Roll (link here) (Screams Sunset Curve for me)

🎶 Where Did All The Guitars Go? (link here) (Also screams Sunset Curve for me)

🎶 Air Guitar (as McBusted with Busted) (link here) (Always reminded me of when the boys realised that people could see them play with Julie)

🎶 Ghostbusters (Live cover of song by Ray Parker Jr.) (link here) (On Youtube, but sadly not on streaming) (Maybe a bonus/hidden track on the album or they would exclusively play live at the gigs - I couldn't not share it because it's awesome from start to finish, and the boys would totally cover it as a joke 👻Also, imagine the boys getting the crowd to do call-and-response with them - iconic 😍)

🎶 I'll Be Ok (link here) (Gives me vibes of the boys helping each other through their crappy family lives in the 90s 🥺)

🎶 Five Colours In Her Hair (link here) (The song written during a jam session - the boys just having a laugh)

🎶 Make It Out Alive (link here) (As soon as I first heard this, the angst and melodrama of the song gave me vibes of the boys being cursed and under Caleb's control at the HGC 🥺)

🎶 Route 55 (link here) (A song all about friends having a great time together during an endless summer)

🎶 Don't Stop Me Now (Charity single cover of Queen) (link here) (They would have totally covered Queen during their jam sessions - respecting some of the best but putting their own fun spin on things 😂)

🎶 Transylvania (link here) (This song always gives me HGC vibes - so gothic and melodramatic, and Dougie's vocals in the chorus?? 😍)

🎶 Party Girl (link here) (Such a guilty pleasure song of mine~ This music video is slightly NSFW since it contains clips of the band's infamous vampire-themed short film that they all starred in 2010 to promote their album at the time [which even the band realise was a bad idea in hindsight, since it was clearly riding the Twilight wave]... but! Listening to this song also gives me ideas for a possible evil Julie possessed/controlled by Caleb - maybe sometime I will write them down~ 👀)

🎶Tonight Is The Night (link here) (A spiritual sequel to I'll Be Ok in my mind - when the boys realise that they're not really okay and need to ask for help to process all the shit that has happened to them - think what Luke went through in Unsaid Emily [and what we presume Alex and Reggie would go through in subsequent seasons] and the boys helping each other through it 🥺)

🎶 Too Close For Comfort (link here) (The obligatory break-up song on an album, and this performed live is everything - just heartbreaking 🥺)

🎶 Umbrella (Live cover of song by Rihanna) (link here) (Julie gives the boys a lesson in popular music during the 25 years that they've been dead, and they decide to surprise her with a fun rock cover of Umbrella to cheer her up one day)

🎶 The Heart Never Lies (link here) (The dramatic love song on an album that is really about the band's bond and sticking together through thick and thin)

🎶 Falling In Love (link here) (The love song that has a music video full of tour footage, which always make me think of the boys in Sunset Curve absolutely loving playing for a crowd, and the bridge/quiet part of the song giving the vibe of Julie, Luke, Alex and Reggie cherishing the moment at the end of Stand Tall before the boys cross over 🥺)

🎶 One For The Radio (link here) (The defiant song for everyone who dismissed Sunset Curve and JATP - I could imagine this as a song written in response to either record companies who wouldn't sign Sunset Curve/JATP, Bobby/Trevor or Caleb. It also gives me vibes of the boys appearing back onto the stage of the Orpheum to perform Stand Tall with Julie - defiant celebration)

🎶 Lies (link here) (The break-up song that gives me vibes of the boys standing up to Caleb. Also is it just me, or does Tom [you can see him at around 0:43 in the video] give Luke vibes in his styling? 😍)

🎶 Forever's Not Enough (link here) (The true love song that Luke writes for Julie, but will never admit that it's for her because he makes the lyrics vague enough 💖)

Tagging @ri-jane @phantomwriter95 @hemeraomara @1mnobodywhoareyou @legolasghosty

@floating-in-the-blue @60sec400

[sunder-the-gold]

Please name the best games that allowed you to become an anti-hero, the villain protagonist, or even just replace the antagonist as the true villain of the story

The communists in charge of Star Wars: Outlaws told themselves that they wanted you to play as a free-spirit rebel and pirate, but they were so terrified of actual misbehavior that they would only allow you to attack strong and wealthy targets. Because they cannot accept the idea that a criminal would EVER do the sensible thing and prey upon the weak, because that's the sort of thing that only The System does!

I know that in the first BioShock game, you could sacrifice the Little Sisters in the name of expediency, and this had some effect on the ending.

While you could argue that nothing you did could make you worse than the antagonist of BioShock, so that you would be an anti-hero at worst, you couldn't argue that the more heroic and moral path would be to spare the Little Sisters.

Mass Effect only went so far as to allow you to play the anti-hero with its "Renegade" path. You weren't allowed to do anything so bad that you became the biggest evil in the galaxy, but you were at least allowed to save the world while being an impulsive, rude, selfish asshole. If I have the right of it.

inFAMOUS and Prototype allowed you to play as either the most heroic your character could possibly be (given Alex's shitty circumstances and monstrous abilities) or as anti-hero like the Punisher or the worst interpretations of Batman. But I forget if you could ever just straight up replace the central villain as the world's biggest threat.

In Undertale, where the Pacifist Route and ending are unambiguously the most moral and heroic path you can take, and the Neutral route contains too many possibilities to generalize, but the Genocide Route has you become a villain antagonist without ANY 'greater scope villain' to serve as your antagonist. The monster Flowey doesn't even try to fight you, only the Biggest Damn Heroes among monsterkind.

Soul Nomad & The World Eaters also allows you to become the greatest scope villain, who ends the game by killing the universe. As well as lesser variations of villain-protagonist or anti-hero.

[kouvisart]

Just watched Disney's "Wish" and here is how I would rewrite Magnifico's character arc and the movie.

*Spoilers Ahead*

I understand that the audience and the movie wanted to make him a fun, campy villain as reminiscent of the older Disney villains, but what they established was the opposite. The movie is trying to do two things with him: being sympathetic and being outright evil. These two are difficult to combine, and it is clear that they didn't how to do that.

They not only gave him a tragic past that was never elaborated on, but his descent literally isn't himself, but of a magic evil book that makes your eyes green. They had such a clear setup to pursue why he would use it now of all times, but they didn't. People can be asshole narcissists without being evil. And it is clear he did care for Amaya, and the people of Rosas. So the movie needed to push him more and give him some struggle of morality. Unfortunately, this route will turn him into a tragic villain. If they wanted true camp, they needed to make him always evil, and was always using the wishes to power himself up. But that is for another day.

"HIS MOTIVATION"

One of the weaknesses of Maginifico is that he has no clear motivation. And if it he does, they don't line up with what his surroundings are. When the power of Star nearly made the wishes in his chamber fall and the city shake, he was pretty paranoid that something was effecting his magic. Or overpowering it. Then when his people started questioning PLUS demanding more wish ceremonies, you can see why he is so irritated by them and thinks they don't respect him. When they basically gamble away their wish VOLUNTARILY and don't actually respect him as a king, more like a wish granter. He even said something akin to, "that is all you ever think about is wish ceremonies?" And the crowd responds with yes.

To further show his descent more, there should be another scene where he is just alone, without Amaya there. And his eyes are involuntarily drawn to the magic book. Widened, and mesmerized, his irises turn green and suddenly he snaps out of it. Hinting that the book, despite behind the glass, can draw people towards it. Beckoning almost and using their most innate desires. Now lets see how his motivations tie into the infamous villain song.

"THIS IS THE THANKS I GET"

What I'd change would be the must needed tonal shift in the second half. The songs stays way too poppy and doesn't clearly identify his corruption. The moment when he nearly gives himself to the book. It seems so simple, but the this section of the song really shows his reluctance, and that he thinks what he is doing is a necessary evil.

"I didn't wanna do this I swore I'd never do this But I'm hypnotized by how these pages flip 'Cause I refuse to have my power stripped A potion, a spell, a summon, a curse? Anything to make that light reverse To this book, I don't wanna be tethered, but Desperate times call for desperate measures Brr, where was I? Oh, yeah"

Instead of the "brr, where was I?" line, I would make the music stop, and Amaya's voice could be heard from behind. Freezing Magnifico in his tracks. The green around him disappears, and it is only him and his Queen, surrounded by nothing but themselves. She sings softly to him. A reprise of "At All Cost."

His subconscious knows it's wrong to use the book (as seen in the first two lines of the bridge and the last two lines, offset 1), so it conjures up Amaya, who tries to remind him of his good. The song grows in distortion as Amaya begs, yet he feels pushed to this predicament.

Going back to his motivation, it is hinted he wants control because in his eyes, the only way to protect everyone is if he oversees everything. But that doesn't mean he thinks his powers would be stripped. I think this is the one line that gives hint at a motivation that really doesn't fit his character, " 'Cause I refuse to have my power stripped." There is no hint throughout the movie that his magic is weakening, and when the people demanded and disrespected him, he is more irritated than antagonized. Instead, it should be he is afraid he doesn't have enough power. He feels he isn't powerful enough to stop whatever magic is happening in the kingdom, and knows the book will grant him this to achieve what he wants. Which is to protect Rosas "at all cost."

The goal here is to make his worries justified but his actions an overreaction. And make it a descent into madness than suddenly becoming evil out of the blue.

MOTIVATION CONT.

Also, to up the stakes because there is literally none, for when Asha sneaks into his castle to retrieve Sabo's wish, she accidentally releases all of them, even the violent ones. So we can have a character parallel between Asha and Magnifico where they think they are both doing the right thing, and are using overreactions for issues that could've just been brought up peacefully.

During their truce, he sees just how dangerous people can be with violent wishes, and the will they have to do them. Slowly making him angrier and angrier and further justifying to himself what he he did. After they are forced to work together to bring back order, the evil book has already taken its toll, and he comes to the realization of why is he even doing this for the people who don't even respect the man that gave them a safe haven. That without him, it would have descended into chaos long ago. He starts to extract the wishes involuntarily out of people, trying to keep them safe from themselves. But as he does, he takes it into himself for safe-keeping and ends up voring them. Growing in madness and in power as a misplaced, extreme martyrdom.

Now for the ending. I would either have the evil dispelled from him, but he dies from the magic exhaustion. Or to go the route of the movie and have him trapped, while Amaya, instead of being nonchalant about her husband's predicament (which is weird in the movie since it is shown they love one another yet now she doesn't care?). Who thanks Asha and tells her she will find a way to free her husband and rid of the curse, even if the book says there is no way to reverse it.

[snapscube]

inFamous' karma system is simply binary and way too rigid to be compelling. "Oh you think bullies should be opposed? Then you're on the babykilling spectrum"

And the gameplay needs to be reworked and expanded tremendously to have incorporate a multifaceted Karma system, which is simply too much effort that neither Sony or SuckerPunch seem to be interested in spending

I think for the time period the early games were released in it was novel and mostly well done but I think if the series wants to survive a modern revival then, PERSONALLY, my hope would be to go the route of the immersive sim genre (or even like, Undertale for a weirder example haha) and leave narrative consequences purely up to gameplay choices rather than dedicated Karma Moments. You lose some of the immediate presentational satisfaction and flare yes, but I think it would be so much more interesting if players like didn’t even fully realize just how much their choices were affecting their story experience until it’s far too late. I think this way you also get rid of the weird situation where in inFAMOUS you really don’t make hero or villain choices as you play the game. Technically you do, but like… how many people are playing half the game making hero choices and then suddenly deciding “uh wait actually i’m gonna sacrifice this civilian so i don’t hallucinate for a bit”. Like, you only really hear about “Good playthroughs” or “Evil playthroughs” and nothing more nuanced because there are legitimate gameplay and power progression reasons to stick to a single karmic path through the whole game. Upgrades are locked behind karma levels of either disposition. It would be a LOT more work and at higher risk of missing the mark to go for a more hidden, nuanced approach yes. But man, if you could pull it off you would have something REALLY special by the end of it I think.

[thatmooncake]

What is your opinion on the books hinting that Moon shouldn't have existed but the Faz-pads most expensive menu items is moon themed? And the posters, plushies, and the infamous sphere? I loved your other 'rant' (for lack of a better term in my sleep deprived mind) and it got me thinking...

I’m guessing you mean the Moon that appears in The Bobbiedots who was originally built to be the “dark side” of Sun and once worked as a theatre animatronic?

Okay spoilers for The Bobbiedots, Somniphobia and Security Breach and some rambling thoughts ahead:

In short, I think the books’ canon (even from one book to another like say Bobbiedots and Somniphobia) and the games’ canon are more like AUs of each other than anything else, so basically different explanations will be given in different stories to fit that book or game in particular. So, Bobbiedots Moon wasn’t meant to exist in the daycare, but it looks like Security Breach Moon was. That said, I LOVE exploring the different versions of Moon and how he’s used in different stories, so if anyone wants to take the long scenic route with me, here we go!

Bobbiedots Moon

Theatre kid extraordinaire. A little too committed to the bit. Bobbiedots Moon doesn’t fit in his world - not in the daycare anyway. In The Bobbiedots, they’re busy dealing with an evil apartment. They don’t have time for poor Moon, no matter how badly he wants them to sleep.

Bobbiedots Moon feels like a bit of a throwback to the animatronics in Sister Location who had all these “interesting” design choices, like a stomach hatch for storing children (which totally wasn’t going to be used for evil, come on guys …).

In Moon’s case, he’s so good at being a pantomime villain (which is what he was made for from what we can tell - who bets he got booed because the kids wanted the sun to come back up and when the lights went out they’d fake snore and he’d go hunting down the naughty ones who couldn’t help but laugh?) that he’s no good in the daycare (personally I think the staff just weren’t imaginative enough in that universe to do naptime, or to appreciate the charm of a weird clown telling off wobbling toys for not sleeping when his recognition sensors inevitably failed him because they couldn’t be bothered to fix their broken animatronics). And he’s easy to exploit because he’s so committed to his role.

I don’t think Moon was evil by default when he worked at the theatre - at least not beyond his villainous role. He had an audience of probably more people than he could grab, and I’m guessing Freddy’s wanted repeat performances so their customers would keep coming back. Did he kidnap a child or two when the lights went out and everyone was confused? Maybe, if he was virus-riddled enough. Did he become a lot more unstable when he and Sun were moved to the daycare? Probably, but it’s not his fault he was an afterthought in a cheapo organisation that seems to think using precariously-placed backup generators is a better solution to their problems.

Security Breach Moon

Meanwhile, the Security Breach version of Moon has a TON of merch, a dish at the restaurant (Masa-Moondrop curry, yum! 💖 By the way, I totally recommend checking out this recipe ), and even his own little candy adverts. He’s on a statue, balloons, plushies, and even on the daycare pass right next to Sun. It would take a LOT of accidental advertising to put Moon all over the place if he wasn’t supposed to exist in Security Breach.

I think that, unlike the Bobbiedots Moon, Security Breach Moon was supposed to exist. Like you said, he’s got merch everywhere. It’s a big deal. And Moon’s merch matches all of Sun’s merch, so to me it makes sense that in the backstory of the game’s universe they both had a friendly role to play (I can’t imagine why they’d make a Moon plush with no one to hug him. The thought makes me sad. It also seems like a bad business move on their part so I’m opting to believe he was originally meant to be a friend to the kids).

But it looks like things took a turn at some point (as they so often do in the FNAF universe), as Security Breach also has the cheapo lighting in place, and Sun is pretty adamant that we don’t wake up Moon. And in this case it’s pretty clear that Moon has been infected by the Afton virus. He sounds like a bot with just one thing on his mind: putting you to bed at all costs.

Moon is a major player as far as the evil Afton operation goes in the game too. They picked a perfect bot to do their dirty work. He’s super strong - he knocked out Freddy and dragged him away with no problems. He’s also super agile - he can navigate all the tight twists and turns in the Daycare with relative ease (I pointedly ignore the version in my game while I make this statement as he seemed to spend most of his time getting stuck in the tunnels and slides kekeke). And he always seems to know where you are - the Glamrocks wander until they have you in their sights, but Moon makes a beeline for you the moment he can get his hands on you even if you’re inside Freddy’s stomach compartment. He works in the dark when no one can see him coming. He’s basically the perfect replacement for the night staff and makes it a million times easier to capture wayward kids.

There are also a lot of hints in the game that suggest that Security Breach Moon might have actually been reprogrammed to respond this way, and/or that he was used to reprogram the others.

The back areas with the endos are FULL of Moon merch, advertising, and so on. There are also a lot of posters teaching the animatronic endos how to behave, as well as a little room that looks a LOT like a little replica of the daycare play area. I’m pretty sure that this is where the animatronics (or at least the virus-riddled endos) were reprogrammed to capture children - maybe including Moon.

(There are a million things I could say about this poster and how it bears a strong resemblance to a bunch of things from earlier games but that’s for another time and another ramble …)

Somniphobia Moon

Meanwhile, over in Somniphobia, we have Moondrop’s dream sphere, where Moon ponders his orb, or perhaps his new friends who are now trapped inside it forever since it seems like he’s been stealing more than a few souls over there.

The dream sphere is not mentioned in The Bobbiedots or seen in Security Breach as far as I can tell. Whether it exists or not in those universes is open to interpretation, but it serves a clever purpose in Somniphobia. In this book, our favourite uncanny night jester spends his time luring unsuspecting victims into the dreamscape slowly without them realising. The protagonist actually has a few opportunities to escape the pull of the orb, but he just can’t put the dream sphere down because it takes him back to his favourite memories with his (now dead) father, and it makes their time together feel so real.

The dream sphere is advertised as a study guide, and it’s popular with older kids and teens. (Moon has the range). Our regular chase-you-down-and-force-you-to-sleep Moon is nowhere to be found in Somniphobia (whether he exists at the plex in the daycare or anywhere else in that universe is anybody’s guess) and instead we have sweet little Moondrop from the dream sphere who doesn’t speak but will let you see your wildest dreams. At the cost of your mind, which is now going to live in a sphere I guess or be harvested.

Can you befriend the little Moondrop from the dream sphere? Does he know he’s part of a creepy soul-stealing operation? The book doesn’t really say, but if he’s anything like most of the other animatronic/AI characters in the FNAF universe, I’d be willing to wager he’s just doing his job (showing people what they want to see) and being used as a prop for more nefarious soul-snatching schemes. (Curse you Fazbear Entertainment for giving us this funny little guy in a magic snowglobe and making him steal our souls along with our hearts!)

Conclusion

Essentially, I think Moon is being used in basically all the universes he appears in because he’s so perfectly built for capturing and retrieving wayward souls, but the way he’s being used differs a little between universes. In some universes it’s just not as convenient to have him showing up in front of a large audience thanks to his programming, but when the lights inevitably go out he has a tendency to show up nonetheless!

[ferhog]

Getting into Metroid This Past Month:

I first learned about Metroid (as well as most Nintendo franchises that weren't Pokemon and Mario) through my friend's copy of Smash Bros Brawl at around the age of 9. Samus being a hot lady underneath the cool set of power armor left enough of an impression for me to try and draw her from memory, but I otherwise had no interest in actually playing her games for most of the following decade and a half. In that time I learned a bit of her lore from Smash Trophys, Game Theory videos, and watching the first few minutes of Other M cutscenes to hear the lady from Smash Bros talk, but it wasn't until shortly after the release of Metroid Dread when I watched some late game cutscenes from the game and GameXplain's Metroid movie pitch video that I became interested enough in the story of the games and Samus as a character that I decided to downlo- I mean obtain copies of Zero Mission and Fusion for my Visua- I mean Gameboy Advance, which I held off on starting until I worked through my gaming backlog more, and it was earlier this summer that I decided the time had come.

The Metroid Manga: Before starting Zero Mission as my first game I read the manga so I'd get a good sense of Samus' backstory before starting. Now I knew what to roughly expect thanks to the Gamexplain movie pitch adapting much of the story, but overall I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. I probably don't need to tell you that Ridley was the absolute highlight. His pure evil is matched only by Louie from Pikmin in terms of Nintendo villains and it got me very invested in his rivalry with Samus throughout the games. Aside from that, my favourite part of the manga was Samus' characterization and her relationship with her bird dads. I have a real soft spot for all adoption related tropes so I really like the idea that Samus was taken in by what was once the most important race in the galaxy and inherited their legacy of keeping the peace, which she basically turned into a job via bounty hunting. However a lot of what the manga does is better in concept than in execution, as the art is hard to follow a lot of the time and much of the story is sped through quite quickly, no thanks to how much time is spent with the extensive cast of side characters. When Samus started her zero mission I held off on finishing the story until I played the game, and while I'm glad that they went with adapting the game at the end because we got to see a climactic fight against Ridley it is super bizarre that they didn't commit to the idea and just stopped when Samus reached Mother Brain. The manga is absolutely worth reading but best thought of as a companion to Zero Mission, probably best read afterwards.

Metroid Zero Mission: My experience with Metroidvanias was basically just Hollow Knight, the first Dark Souls, and Bloodborne, and while I was excited to experience the same sense of adventure I also feared getting lost as per this franchise's reputation. However I surprisingly managed to make my way though the whole game with only one thing I had to look up, which embarrassingly was the same mistake David Jaffe infamously made in Dread, as I failed to realize I could shoot a ceiling open even with enemies there to hint that I could. I think the game has the perfect balance between freedom and guidance as someone's first Metroid game through the chozo statues that mark your next destination without telling you how exactly to get there. Combine that with it being a remake of the first game and I think it was just the perfect game for me and anyone else to start with. My biggest issue gameplay-wise was just the fights against Mother Brain and the two black Space Pirates were very frustrating, the latter because the combat just didn't feel designed for a fight that reflex based, at least not for a newcomer. After finishing the game I felt compelled to earn the Zero Suit Samus ending, which I accomplished by constantly scouting out the optimal routes and resetting so I could get through them as fast as possible.

AM2R: I wanted to play these games in story order so I knew I had to play some version of Metroid 2 next. After trying out the original Metroid that you unlock after beating Zero Mission I figured the pre-NES games weren't going to be fun for me so I wanted to play either AM2R or Samus Returns, and I went with the former as it would be easier to find and would be closer to the game I just finished. The game is a very impressive feat for a fan-made project, though I think it was the one I had the least fun with overall. A few hours into the game I listened to the Some Call Me Johnny review which mentioned it being very hard, and that made sense considering it was a fan project by big Metroid fans for big Metroid fans, but it did result in a few of the bosses being quite frustrating with how much skill they demanded, particularly with the space jump which I struggled to understand the timing of. I didn't feel like instantly replaying it as I did with Zero Mission but I really loved how they adapted the ending.

Super Metroid: "This SNES game probably won't hold up that well right?" Thought the guy whose first console was the PS2.

Super Metroid is one of the greatest games of all time.

Metroid Fusion: I was real intrigued going into this game given what I'd heard about its linearity and extra story focus compared to the prior games but it was still a shock going straight from 2 playthroughs of Super Metroid to this. It didn't even really feel like Metroid, especially with how you were essentially playing through levels via Adam sending you through specific locations with specific tasks. Eventually I got used to it and fully accepted it as a Metroid game as I was increasingly required to be more explorative, though I think of all Metroid games I've played it has the most needlessly abstract methods for mandatory progression. The example which I eventually gave up on and looked up was the yellow Space Pirate X which which could only be damaged with a shot to the back apparently? There was seemingly no visual hints for that and the doors didn't even open if you absorbed the X before they formed the Space Pirates. While I figured out the other examples on my own I just felt I had to blow up way more seemingly random walls than normal. The bosses were generally very fun except for everything about Yakuza. A super long lead up to a boss that kept killing me super easily before I figured out how to avoid its grab attack, followed by a struggle to regain health for the ensuing SA-X encounter with how little health you get from enemies that could fly in out of nowhere and do more damage to you than you were regaining. Speaking of the SA-X, it wasn't in the game as much as I was expecting, but each encounter was quite memorable, especially when I was hiding behind power bomb blocks and it dropped a power bomb. Overall I didn't like most of this game's choices, but I like it when franchises try new things so I wouldn't say anything should have been changed except for how much health you get from enemies. This was the 2nd game I didn't feel like instantly replaying.

Metroid Prime: As of writing this I am currently a few hours into the first Metroid Prime, specifically having just gotten the boost ball. The Metroid formula was very well translated into 3D and the visuals have aged amazingly. I may be playing a remaster but most remasters still don't look this modern. But curiously this has been the Metroid game I've spent the most time away from during a playthrough, going several days without picking it up again. It's not that I dislike playing it, I just don't feel as much of a strong desire to keep coming back to it. Maybe I just feel the need to catch up on other stuff after playing so much Metroid. I do think I'll get around to playing the rest soon enough.

One of my biggest impressions overall is that Metroid is actually quite underrated despite how iconic it is. Samus seems mostly remembered as a Smash Bros character and her iconic twist as one of gaming's first female protagonists, but it doesn't seem like that many people actually play the games. It's also funny that while Samus is famous as a sex symbol in the Smash Bros and general gaming fandoms, it seems that the actual Metroid fandom prefers their Samus cooler than sexy. Anyway I'm looking forward to eventually picking up Dread, the game which first hooked my interest into this franchise, and the other 2 Prime games. Maybe I'll even pick up Other M if I see it around.

[originmade]

HEADCANON - THREE GRAND FAIRY SPELLS

Fairy Tail as a guild is rather famous ( or infamous ) for many things, but one that exists more as a legend than a known fact are the Three Grand Fairy Spells. The term was coined by Fairy Tail's second guild master, Precht Gaebolg, as a way to describe three powerful spells created by Mavis during her lifetime and the knowledge of which has been passed down from generation to generation within the guild via the guild masters. This post will go over the creation and purpose of all three spells based on their introduction within the series.

ONE. FAIRY LAW.

Fairy Law is an iteration of the black magic spell 'Law', an extremely powerful and ancient spell used as a means of judgement, purging what the caster deems as evil from their target, leaving behind what they deem as good. This spell, while lost to the ages, is known for its steep learning curve and disastrous consequences for being cast in an incomplete state. Despite all of this, Mavis herself cast the spell, knowing it was a last resort and there was no time to master a spell. The cost of the spell is unparalleled, but Mavis also understood the versatility and importance of a spell like Law, which brought her to the conclusion of altering it, in the hopes of preventing anyone else from falling into a similar fate as her own. There were two primary school of thoughts when she began her work altering the spell. One. Prevent anyone from falling victim to the same fate as herself upon casting it. She needed to implement a fail safe into the spell in case it was being cast in an incomplete form, and thus decided the best course of action was to have the spell call from the casters life force. Because the intended use of Law, and by extension, Fairy Law, is to be used on a limited target at a limited range, Mavis believed this cost of casting was the safest route to go, and would also deter the misuse of the spell, both in terms of large scale battles or careless casting. Two. To ensure that the caster is fully aware and accepts the price of which they are paying to cast this spell, a secondary fail safe was put into place. With a spell as powerful and dangerous as Law, the last thing Mavis would have wanted is the spell to be used against someone without proper intent or realization. This lead Mavis to alter the spell to be only be effective on those who they believe to be their enemies within their hearts. This prevented the spell from being misused in a moment of rage or disagreement and would cause the spell to be fundamentally useless against those in who both the heart and mind do not agree upon as an enemy. Fairy Law was the last of the spells to be created, as its inception lined up with the second trade war following Mavis' realization that if she herself could find and cast an incomplete version of Law in a moment of desperation, what was stopping an exhausted wizard soldier ( someone who held very little stakes in this conflict ) from finding and casting Law themselves in hopes of ending the conflict. Thankfully, the war had come to its conclusion before Mavis was able to complete the spell, but that did not stop her from making the knowledge of the spell readily accessible to those within the guild. The instructions on how to cast Fairy Law were written and published by Mavis to be held within the guild library, with the goal of someone coming across Fairy Law long before they find Law itself and will cast that version instead. Following the revelation of her immortality due to casting Law, Mavis had relentlessly cast Fairy Law upon herself, hoping that her altered spell and it's cost of the caster's life would counteract the immortality and take her own life. These attempts were unsuccessful and caused Mavis to exhaust her magic supply on multiple instances, leading her to pass out in isolated locations for multiple days on end ( something she truly didn't mind considering what her end goal was )

TWO. FAIRY GLITTER

Fairy Glitter is a spell created to vanquish those who the caster deem as wicked by gathering the light of the sun, moon and stars and concentrating the light into a singular point, this being the caster's forearm before being directed upon their target. While little is known about this spell, even within the guild itself, Fairy Glitter stands as the strongest of the three spells created by Mavis. As the first of the three grand fairy spells, the spell itself actually proceeds the guild's existence by almost a year as it's creation was primarily out of grief and as a way for Mavis to channel the energy she would have used mourning into something she would deem productive ( a destructive habit Mavis has always had since the siege of Red Lizard ). The sole inspiration for Fairy Glitter came from Mavis' final moments with Zera, watching her best friend and only true support system vanish away in a blinding light and become what she could only describe in that moment as glitter. The pain Mavis felt in that moment, being blinded by what she could only tell herself was the light of the heavens and the universe, awoke an almost cruel part of her mind, wanting to find a way to channel that pain into something effective, eventually leading to the creation of Fairy Glitter. It's strength was both fully intentional and an extreme oversight on Mavis' part. Mavis wanted the spell to be something anyone could wield, as long as their conviction, will and heart were all in the right place, it didn't matter if the caster was alive or not, physical or illusion. This implication of the spell lead it to being effective against the intangible ( thought projections, illusions, souls ) and cause damage to the origin as well. Mavis found it almost fitting that it carried this additional effect, almost comforted in the fact that the caster could use the spell to defend themselves from things others may not see. Within a year, Mavis had refined the spell, channeling its power within a magic circle which would be imprinted on the casters arm as a beacon to summon the magic energy to. This process does cause damage to the caster's arm, as all the energy of the spell is held within that point until released upon their target. Multiple castings of this spell and in rapid succession can lead to the caster's arm becoming permanently damaged. Despite it's immense power and high versatility, very little people know of the spells existence. This was a spell made of grief and almost as a memorial to Mavis' closest friend, and thus wanted to keep it to herself. The only people who knew of the spells existence were the other three founders, as they were with her upon placing the spell in Zera's grave on Tenro as it's final resting place. Mavis had also placed a spell upon the grave, believing that Zera's spirit was still residing on the island, and thus gave the decision on who could wield the spell to her deceased friend. There have only been three mages to wield Fairy Glitter since its inception: Mavis Vermillion, Yuriy Dreyar and Cana Albarona

THREE. FAIRY SPHERE.

Fairy Sphere, known as the ultimate defense spell, forms and impenetrable sphere around the casters by harnessing the energy of multiple mages and the bonds they share to materialize. The strength of the spell is partially dependent on how many people are casting the spell and the strength of the bond of those involved. Created a few months before wizarding guilds were pulled into the second trade war, Fairy Sphere was originally supposed to be a healing and support spell. Healing magic was already considered a lost magic during this era but Mavis was always considered rather stubborn and determined, so she took whatever available knowledge she could find and began developing a spell. Her attempts kept ending in failures and she was almost ready to abandon the project before Warrod approached her with the idea of making a defense spell rather than a healing spell, which caused her to shift her trajectory and began researching defense based magics instead. Although she is credited as the sole creator of the spell, a large portion of the ideas and concepts came from Warrod himself, although he would never take credit for it, claiming that he was just spit balling ideas at Mavis and wasn't a real help ( something Mavis would greatly beg to differ ). It was Warrod's input that lead to Mavis altering the spell to require multiple wizards to cast it, especially considering Warrod was one to protect those he loves above himself and where he drew his strength from. Although it's primary function had shifted to defense, Mavis was still determined to create some form of healing within the spell. She eventually came to the conclusion that she wanted those within the sphere to be protected from existing ailments, poisons or curses. Her solution to this was to implement a strong nullification magic within the sphere, with the intention of pausing whatever was causing the ailment from spreading. It was a large oversight on Mavis' part that the nullification spell could be cast improperly and cause time to pause within the sphere. While she was the creator of the spell, she never intended for it to be able to stop time and prevent aging. By the time of the spells completion, wizarding guilds had been pulled into the war, leaving Mavis preoccupied with tactical meetings and the development of Fairy Law, which lead to Warrod being the one to write down the instructions on how to cast Fairy Sphere. Of all three of her spells, Fairy Sphere was the only one Mavis had not been able to cast within her lifetime, only successfully casting it following her death on Tenro. However, Mavis was made aware that the spell could be cast successfully after word had gotten back from her that Warrod and Precht and successfully casted a much weaker version of the spell during a battle. While all of those involved in the war were aware of the spells existence, most knowledge of it had faded to obscurity after peace was establish.

[pinklocksoflove]

A detachment of the Gerudo stand at the mouth of the pass between Ordon and the Gerudo Desert. The tower of Larusi stands out in the dustance. Several archers were stationed in the tower to provide support against the oncoming horde of monsters lead by the now infamous Gruddoc Steelmaw. The cool air blowing in from Ordon was damp, a storm moving this way no doubt. Many of the Gerudo shifted and fidgeted nervously in anticipation of the oncoming battle. Group leaders were doing their best to keep morale high. Though the sight of a large number of the stalwart members of the group clad in the heavy iron knuckle armor, among them a young woman who would stand before Demise himself if it meant protecting others.

Zavira volunteered for this deployment as she could not sit idly by as this warband raided villages along the way. They were looking for a fight, and if the Gerudo had anything to say about it, they're going to get exactly that.

The young woman grips her great axe tight in her armored hands. Droplets of water start plinking against her armor. A crash of thunder in the distance. Then came the drums, the shouts and battle cries. They were coming, and there was a lot of them. From lowly bokoblins, to the bulk being bulblins and even a number of armored hinoxes. This wasn't going to be easy. Blood will be spilled no way around it. Formations tightened up as the iron knuckles moved in front, forming a wall with just enough space for the front row of polearms can stick their blades through to repel shock charges.

A deep breath to calm her racing heart. Not even concerned if she would survive this, more to see her sisters in arms protected. She will be their shield and the mighty axe lashing out to cut any foe down.

The sounds grow louder, ground beginning to rumble as the mass of charging feet grow ever closer. They came into view, anger boiled in Zavira's blood as she saw them, cruel creatures born of evil. The archers let fly their arrows. Many of the front line creatures, those that were not killed immediately soon became trampled underfoot. Many creatures frothed at the mouth, driven into a blood rage, howling and roaring. They charged right into the Gerudo line. With every swing of their axes the iron knuckles cut bloody swathes, limbs blood and chunks of crude armor flew in the air. The first wave of lesser creatures soon lost heart and began to rout.

The next wave was the bulblins, significantly tougher and much more bloodthirsty than the others. Many shrugged off what would be grievous wounds to others. Zavira lopped off one's arm, the thing completely unbothered by the loss of a limb, rather seemed annoyed by the idea. Hits kept bouncing off the armor of the iron knuckles. However pieces of the armor began to crack and break off. As tough as the metal was it could only take so much punishment. A sudden concern for the others hit Zavira's mind, not that she could do much about it as now standing before her was a massive bulblin in crude plate armor. One that could only be Gruddoc. The bulblin let out a grating laugh making a swing at Zavira.

She was growing tired from the constant fighting. Arms numb from all the swings and hits. Bits of her chain mail broken and split as blood dripped from numer knicks and cuts. Still she had to keep going. Her axe raised to block and deflect the oncoming blow. The beast was incredibly strong however. Even with the block the axe came down and into her helmet. Thankfully it took most of the impact, blood still began to dribble down her forehead, the helmet not split open, letting the cool rain hit her head. She saw stars for a moment from the hit, not realizing how incredibly close to death she was at the moment. The only thing that mattered was survival. Her axe pushed his away followed up by a strike to the chest, and another, starting a flurry of furious blows. She had to end this. The only things she could see was her opponent, his axe and her own weapon. Nothing else mattered at this moment.

The combatants traded blows for what felt like an eternity, both their sets of armor were becoming tattered and broken. They seemed to be evenly matched, his strength may have been superior but her will and skill bested his. A strike to his arm sent the warboss' weapon flying out of his hands. The beast stumbling back. Through the now very broken helmet he was smiling, up until she raised her axe hoping to plant it in his skull. Before she raised her axe she felt a massive blow to her chest, powerful enough to break open her chestplate and send her flying. Everything went black as she lost consciousness upon impact with the ground.

What Zavira could not see was a hinox took an opportunistic swing at her with her focus occupied. However Gruddoc seems to have had enough, perhaps lost his fighting spirit after nearly losing his head, a retreat was ordered, the Gerudo had won the day.

Zavira would awaken quite some time later in a nearby Gerudo village being tended to along with the rest of the wounded.

[logicmaru]

i love how ranmaru kageyama is doomed by the narrative from the very fucking beginning and i hope his minisode is even more miserable.

warning i'm gonna talk a lot. ranmaru is very blatantly described as a boring guy, who's underneath the average height for guys, doesn't have any notable likes or dislikes, unless you count his hatred for happy couples + people who are happy in general, which ngl comes into play later

i'm gonna try and explain this as simply as i can bc if i try to word it like an essay i'll confuse myself aha,,,,

it kind of shows us that ranmaru can get jealous pretty easily? and he's upset at the kind of trust keiji and sara share, even though he probably knows that's because they've known each other longer than sara's known ranmaru, but it probably still pisses ranmaru off idk

he wants to prove himself to sara, even though sara already sees him as something alike to an ally, but he wants something more than that. in the logic sara deleted scene, ranmaru states that he would want to be sara's best friend, and he admits how wants to go home with her and laugh casually over jokes together and treat life like nothing's wrong

i like to believe this was deleted because it would be ooc for ranmaru, that he would probably be very reluctant of sharing such an ideal with sara, and him suddenly spilling about wanting to be sara's friend in one moment would probably cause more shock factor, and not do much good for the lore, idk it just seems very "ah omg" and less "how interesting"

i really love how ranmaru is. not a good person. i know how strange that sounds, but ranmaru is, kind of, in a way, a support character for sara. And u would think, well support character, must be someone kindhearted and encouraging, right? well, in ranmaru's case, yes, but no?? he's more like "i will go to lengths for your survival, you NEED to win" instead of "you got this! i'll help you escape!" and it's somewhat refreshing? i'm not sure maybe i'm just not normal

anyway enough about evil ranmaru, emotion ranmaru is just very Sad, and again, doomed by the narrative

he doesn't get any kind of character development iirc, in the infamous ransara "win for me" scene, he just talks about how he knew this was going to be a bad idea, and how he has no right to be sara's friend, but from that point on, we don't get any remarkable moment where ranmaru gets some sort of character redemption, and instead we get a moment where ranmaru AGAIN goes through with some sort of wild plan to make sure sara escapes, which is erasing his personality / replacing it with the joe ai's personality.

gosh, if ur friends with me, u probably know how i love and hate this part of the game, mostly because of how interesting it is and how it could've fleshed out into a whole other issue, but i dislike how it's totally overshadowed by both the fandom and the game itself

sara herself doesn't seem to react too strongly by ranmaru's choice to erase himself to become a "vessel" for joe's personality, which really i'd love to explain but honestly idk,,, i definitely thought there'd be a bigger deal about it, but perhaps it was overruled since the modified maple boss fight was literally like,, moments after that

in emotion route, ranmaru shares little to no information with anyone, though he does come close when he tries to tell sara, which he does successfully tell sara about the asunaro human in the group, but i believe that is the only moment where ranmaru goes "sara, hold on" and actually tells sara about what he was actually going to say, which, on one hand, had me on the edge of my seat, but on the other hand, was nice to see since it was really showing how untrusting and reserved ranmaru is, no matter how much he trusts sara, he's not entirely sure if she trusts him in return, or if he trusts sara to not share this information with anyone else

i love ranmaru kageyama

[fancifulplaguerat]

At last….I have Katerina thoughts……That is. There is consistent reference to the dichotomy of good/evil in Katerina’s character, in her words, how others speak of her, and her narrative position as arbiter between Nina and Victoria. Her character concept states that Katerina previously “served as independent arbiter to opposition of the two Mistresses,” and likewise Lara’s portrait quote: “Who could survive between Nina’s rock and Victoria’s hard place? That’s how the town worked back then—upon this rock Nina was forging it, while Victoria maintained a firm stance to keep it in check; Katerina was the one to ensure the balance was in place.” Katerina’s prior position appears in her philosophy in-game, where she tells Clara that three ends are possible and that while Simon generally bound Utopians and Termites, “I insist that he’s built the town as a triangle… and so I declare loyalty to the third idea—the faith of Humility! I am their Mistress. There’s neither heat nor cold anymore; there is only Earth…” Katerina again identifies herself in between dichotomies, in Town philosophy and earth as opposed to heat and cold. 

I think this connection to good/evil per se first appears in the Bachelor Route, when Katerina tells Daniil “Any conflict that has two sides inevitably turns into a battle of good and evil” and the infamous question she poses to him: “Do you favour good or evil?” Altogether a little precursor to a later delicious dialogue between Katerina and Clara: 

Katerina Saburova: A period of your antagonism with Maria is beginning. Along what lines will it be? Which of you will be the good one, and which one wicked? Will it be up to the Kains once again to determine the meaning of good and evil? How are you to take the good path if Maria doesn't choose the evil one...? Changeling: Why divide everything into good and evil right away? Could that have been your mistake? Our mistake... Katerina Saburova: That was what I thought—when I chose my own dark path... I thought the conflict was not between good and evil, that neither good nor evil existed... That wasn't true! For it is in the nature of humans to translate even a dichotomy of red and green into the language of good battling evil. We are doomed to make choices... Changeling: But did you really choose evil? Katerina Saburova: I now think I did... Nina could control it at the time... and I couldn't. Nor was Nina wearing the black tiara... But don't put your trust in what is more alluring, more attractive! That is usually where evil lies!

To properly analyze this I want to first discuss how Andrey and Lara characterize Katerina’s failed attempt to emulate either Victoria or Nina. Andrey claims, “As the Mistresses were dying, Katerina was throwing herself hither and thither, unable to choose a role; she tried to be Nina and she tried to be Victoria, but neither light nor darkness have worked out for her—she sucks at both.” Lara echoes this claim: “When Victoria died, Katerina rushed to take her place—she was quite afraid of playing games with Mother Darkness by then. The last of the Mistresses was struggling and throwing herself from one extreme to another.” Both dialogues emphasize Katerina’s inability to adhere to either part of the dichotomy, yet other dialogues suggest Katerina favored darkness. Maria claims Katerina “always found evil attractive,” and Lara states that after Nina’s death, “Katerina, who had been inclined towards Darkness before, became the Black Mistress…” The latter of course reinforces Katerina’s response to Clara that she chose evil, but I think Lara/Aspity’s portrait quotes and her character concept again complicate this and. Might I add. Make it far more devastating. 

Aspity describes Katerina as “A queen turned witch. That’s what you get for dabbling with the spirits of the night. After Nina died, Katerina shamelessly rushed to take the place of the Dark Mistress; the burden of caring for the town was Victoria’s […] She got carried away though…” Aspity implies that Katerina became the Dark Mistress only because Victoria was still alive—because there were only two Mistresses, and Victoria was “good,” Katerina must be “evil;” this idea appears again in Katerina asking how Clara can take the good path “if Maria doesn’t choose the evil one.” This makes me wonder: was Katerina truly drawn to Darkness or was she just led to it by virtue of being half of a dichotomy? Her character concept states that Katerina “heartily replaced the infernal Nina. After Victoria’s death, she was left on her own and rushed to become the white Mistress, but it was too late. The evil seeds grew strong roots in her soul.” Which could imply that she *did* favor evil, or suggests her desire to be a proper Mistress (more on that momentarily). The last sentence parallels Aspity’s assertion that Katerina “got carried away” and perhaps Katerina’s own claim that she could not control “evil” as Nina could or Lara saying that Katerina was “afraid of playing games with Mother Darkness” by the time Victoria died.

To me, it feels less like Katerina was always drawn to evil—maybe she was, but the way these quotes describe her, it feels more as though she had to choose evil and was subsumed by it through no fault of her own. The main culprit instead being, of course, the Rat Prophet. The character concept reads: “[Katerina’s] game with the poltergeist called the Rat Prophet, who appeared to her as both her inner voice and a character of prophetic dreams, went too far. The poor woman who wanted to become a Mistress so badly was deceived.” Which contextualizes a line of Katerina’s which obliterates me: “There is nothing to tell. Everything is clear. I never had the power. I am not a true Mistress. I lied… but not for gain. Merely because I wanted so much to be like them. No… wishing for a miracle is not enough to become a miracle-worker…” AGH that last line makes me goddamn throw up blood !!!!! Even more so how her character concept concludes ??? “The Rat Prophet indoctrinated her with the idea that the Town’s demise is inevitable and fighting it would be as pointless as resisting the coming of winter.” TRAGEDY !!!!!!!!

[jellybeanium124]

yknow... every time I watch ofmd, especially with people who aren't Into It™ and then discuss it with them makes me think there isn't as much distance between ed and izzy as we act like there is...

my friend was horrified by ed's actions in 2x01-02, really liked izzy's s2 arc, and said that they would prefer the "ignoring izzy dies" route in fanfic. after jim's infamous line in 2x02, my friend said: "ed and izzy have a complicated relationship, and friendship is part of it." my friend and my parents both think the inn is... not suitable for ed and stede. they all like ed and izzy. at the end of the day they are two flawed people who have both done horrible things, but they are more than that and they got better.

one of the themes of season 2 was moving on. ed cut off two more toes. he worked his crew too hard. he almost killed them in his efforts to kill himself. and we forgave and we moved on. izzy tried to kill stede. he called the navy on the crew to control ed. and then hurt ed when he was down. tbh... I think we're supposed to forgive and move on. izzy did start as an antagonist, while ed is one of our romantic leads. they're not on equal footing. but I don't think the show cared by the end?

I think because people have been so insane about izzy in one direction (canyon shit, I don't need to elaborate), that we spend all our time talking about how ed isn't literally the most evil horrible guy that we don't step back.

I've seen deeply hurt and traumatized people on both sides. people whose trauma makes them deeply relate to izzy for one reason for another (why haven't canyon people moved on? well I think it's because they still love izzy and don't want to let him go), and people whose trauma makes izzy genuinely triggering. and like... man I can't solve everything. I can't change someone's instinctual reaction to this character. I just wish it wasn't a big deal, because every rewatch, every irl conversation, I always come back to: why is this so complicated. it's not complicated.

pirates do bad stuff.

we forgive and we move on.

[prettyflyshyguy]

*makes a blanket nest and settles in* mmm yes. I originally came for C Virus Leon long ago and truly I am living with the fact I got to witness your spiral into Supernatural AND Infamous. These funky series have a special place in my heart.

Also to be honest, I forgot there was a Trish in Infamous and spent a little time wondering when you got into Devil May Cry cause that too has a Trish

WHEEZING I love that so many people have come out of the woodwork with the same story of like 'Omg I love/used to love this franchise' and they get the delightful surprise of seeing me stumble headfirst into a new obsession and franticly scramble to get all the ideas out of my head for it LMAO

I feel like there is an absolute underlying thread of 'same hat' energy about all the things I body slam into so it makes sense - c-virus AU is built on just about the same themes and concepts, just with a different skin.

Rest in fucking pieces, inFAMOUS Trish. I loved her, wish she got more screentime. She was a really fun character and I understand why she was doomed by the narrative but damn there's so much you could have explored in both good and evil karma routes with watching someone you love change, for better or worse.

Devil May Cry is a series that's always been on my peripherals, one of those I missed it cause I was a tad too young for it when it dropped, or didn't have the right console for exclusives. I'm confident if I touched it as I am now, I'd probably enjoy it quite a lot. The music slaps.

I can't afford to get into more new things though I already feel like I'm on the verge of exploding thanks to spn and infamous.