#it takes a lot for me to get this mad vis a vis tech support but like you shouldnt almost accidentally factory reset a laptop

[chromoluminary]

seething. seething and holding back tears at the world's dumbest ordeal.

[crustaceousfaggot]

Hey did anyone else notice like a weird amount of parallels between the Arcane ending and the RQG ending or was that just me

Takes place in a magi-tech society that blends elements of sci-fi and high fantasy with elements of British industrial revolution aesthetics. The bulk of the story takes place in a city which is divided in two - a wealthy and entrepreneurial upper city, and a poor and dangerous undercity ruled by organized crime.

One of our protagonists is an emotionally volatile young woman, raised in the lower city by a powerful crime lord who acts as her surrogate father. She believes that her only worth to the world is her talent for violence, and over the course of the story learns to trust again and care for (an) adopted kid(s). This character has a natural talent for engineering and makes her own bombs.

Another of our protagonists is a nepo-baby from a powerful family who eventually learns that they're a sorcerer with a hidden magical bloodline. This bloodline manifests, among other ways, with their skin becoming more metallic. As this is happening, the character decides to step away from their family legacy and inherited power to become their own person.

The catalyst for the plot is a brilliant scientist pioneering a new kind of magi-tech which he believes will revolutionize humanity and make life better for everyone.

Through a bizarre series of unintended dominoes, this magi-tech (which just so happens to be blue) entirely loses control, leading to the creation of a spreading gestalt hivemind which threatens to overtake the entire world.

Quick break from this to watch a couple of our characters get thrown into another dimension. They'll be fine don't worry (lying)

The final battle involves a very large cast of characters doing cool shit but essentially revolves around "we need to kill the center of the hive mind". Part of this involves taking down a Big Powerful Beast that got infected.

Despite this, the conflict isn't resolved just through combat, but through a scene where a character gets sucked into the Hive Mind Dimension and has a conversation with the entity controlling it. The entity genuinely believes that what it is doing is for the betterment of humanity, and has to be convinced that human weaknesses and differences are something to be embraced rather than eliminated.

Also idk the parallels between the "we'll finish this together" moment and the "we've got this" moment.

From a thematic perspective, a lot of the really interesting stuff set up early on about societal inequality, corrupt but well-meant leadership, and growing tensions between the upper and lower cities gets kiiinda overshadowed in the end by the whole "we all need to band together to deal with this goddamn hivemind" thing, and (in my opinion) doesn't get an especially satisfying conclusion in either case.

Smaller stuff

Amputees with magi-tech prosthetics

Magic Twink that dies and gets revived multiple times (at least once by his partner) and ends up with cool white hair.

"What If We Had A Gay Love Confession In Your Post-Death Mind Palace"

Kooky old mad scientist side character who actually ends up being pretty plot relevant and having some surprisingly solid emotional beats.

Moral debate over whether or not it's worth it to shut down the Very Sketchy Dangerous Machine that also supports a huge chunk of this world's economy and infrastructure.

Various orbs

Evil (?) magic flower

Post-canon lesbian domestic bliss!!!

"It's fun when a Lawful Good character edges over the line into full-blown fascism"

Zolf is Vi but I can't explain that one. It just is

Rqg still wins because Arcane doesn't have Mr Ceiling or Bertie MacGuffingham. And frankly I'm disappointed by the lack of blokes

[official-ua-updates]

Vi, sit this one out. There’s a whole lot of people approaching.

Then let me find my staff.

No. They’re a bunch of idiots—decked out in support gear from head to toe. The plan must have been to take me out while being plugged in made me vulnerable, then move in with everything.

Seiji.

I see that look. Don’t worry, Kara. I trust you to put me back together if need be, but everyone else is too far away or doesn't stand nearly as much of a chance.

I’m the damn reason you’re the last line of defense. You’re still unstable from whatever drug that man gave you to lock you into a trance, and... and from what I did-

And it wasn’t fair of me to get mad when you warned me anyway.

If you plug in again—if you even use your quirk on that scale normally—you might never use Tech Wizard again. Even I can only do so much. The brain is delicate-

If this is the last thing I ever do with my quirk, it’s worth it.

[realfinemood]

Ryder Appreciation Week Meme!

Questions are from here. I’m going to do all of them instead of waiting for asks because apparently I have A LOT of stuff I want to say about Gwendolyn Ryder.

1. Does your Ryder like their father?

It’s complicated. She loves him, because… he’s her dad. But she can’t really say she particularly liked him. That would require him actually being around, or being present when he was. She can admit that she worked harder in school partly out of a desire for his approval, but the fact that she was more interested in science and tech than becoming an N7 like him didn’t really help. The fact that Scott tried even harder for his approval and still failed bothered her more than anything. She’s not a big fan of how he treats other people in general. (She knows she’s not super great with emotions either, but she likes to think she handles it better.)

It was getting better with the Initiative, though she had to work through her own anger that Dad’s work had ruined her own standing with a career she loved. That he saved her life at the cost of his own is a shock to her, one that she feels completely guilty about, and the fact that she can’t talk to Scott - the only person who’d really understand - makes it worse. The memories make things even more confusing, and hearing Cora talk about things she really should already know makes her feel even more guilty, but it’s at least made her understand her father a bit more.

2. How does your Ryder feel about their sibling?

Gwendolyn adores her baby brother. She knows she’s not really older than him in any important way, but she’s always been overprotective of him, even more so the more distant Dad grew. (Scott grumbles about it, but knows that’s her way of showing she cares.) Growing up they were partners in crime, but she’d always take the blame and claimed she talked him into it, especially if Mom was particularly mad about whatever it was. When they got older and he got a bit angrier/more emotional, she’d often let him just vent at her about everything, or bail him out when needed.

3. If given the chance, do you think your Ryder would be a good Nexus Director?

Not remotely. She didn’t fly 600 years to a different galaxy just to sit around playing school principal. The politics she has to deal with as Pathfinder are bad enough, thanks.

4. What’s your Ryder’s favorite weapon?

Gwen’s not really a weapon fangirl in any way? But when she saw that she could make a Black Widow that wouldn’t break her arm to use, she had to have it. That and whatever pistol she can find works for her.

5. What’s your Ryder’s fighting style/class? (biotic sniper can be a thing now!)

Her main fighting style is "build as manly tech toys as she can.” Her omnitool back in the Milky Way was modded with everything she could think up, but she needed a new one to integrate with Sam and the scanner. When she figured out how to get a flamethrower from it, it was love. When she got a shiny Remnant VI to replace her turret, Peebee became her new best friend. 

6. Does your Ryder get along well with Tann, Addison, Kandros or Kesh?

She sympathized with Tann at first - having a job that you’re not remotely prepared for? Totally understand. But the political bullshit got old fast. She gave Addison shit but knew she was completely right to distrust her ability to be Pathfinder. After having to do clean up on so many of her screw-ups though, Ryder’s general opinion of Addison is just to roll her eyes. Kandros is great - the fact that he knew everything that was going on was a lot for her and offered her a friendly shoulder meant a lot, even if they don’t agree on much. She really likes Kesh and considers her a friend, which is why the fact that even she didn’t stand up for her about going to Meridian hurt more than she expected it to.

7. Is your Ryder good at driving the Nomad?

She is and her squad can shut it. No but really, she drives fine. A slight tendency to drive up things that are clearly too steep to be climbed, but that’s what six wheels are for and you never know until you try, right?

8. What is the one Pathfinder task that your Ryder hates?

The speeches Addison makes her give everytime they start up an outpost. There’s things to explore and science to do and the galaxy is at least a tiny bit more stable. Either people will see that or they won’t, she doesn’t really get how making an awkward speech about it will help. Keri’s interviews she gets and just telling the truth is easy enough. But the speeches are time she could be spending doing literally anything else, and surely there’s people who could do a much better job of explaining.

She also hates that she has to spend some much time killing remnant instead of studying them, though that seems to be more an “existing in Adromeda” thing than a Pathfinder thing. She’s trying to take Peebee’s “can’t study them if they kill me” motto to heart.

9. What does your Ryder enjoy about being a Pathfinder?

She gets to initiate first contact with an alien species and explore vaults and alien planets before almost anyone else from the Milky Way. That is amazing and she’s definitely not taking it for granted.

10. How does your Ryder feel about the memories they unlocked?

Seeing Mom again hurt like hell. She always told Scott that of course Dad loved Mom, he was just grieving differently, but she never really 100% believed it until she watched them. Which brought more guilt of course, and more anger that he could just be with her instead of obsessing over Sam fixing her, but it was good to actually see that for herself. The fact that they could one day get Mom back is… something she’s putting off thinking about.

11. Does your Ryder consider SAM a friend/sibling/…?

Sam was Dad’s little project that screwed over her career and the thing he’d obsess about instead of spending what little time she had left with Mom. Once he’s in her head, well. Not much she can do about it, so might as well accept it, and it’s not like she can blame him anyways. She quickly grows to trust him and “friend” is probably a good word for it, though she’s more fascinated by the process of an AI learning and comparing her and her father’s actions. And teaching him her terrible sense of humor is a nice bonus.

12. What’s your Ryder’s favorite location in Andromeda?

Havarl. Not only is it gorgeous, but the ecology and the mutation of it is fascinating. She’s glad the council didn’t force the issue of putting a colony there, but she does which she could spend more time with the scientist there to study everything that’s going on.

13. If your Ryder could give one gift to their LI (if there is one!), what would they give?

The idea that she could find it when Vetra and all her contacts couldn’t is ridiculous, but she definitely recruited Sid into a fruitless attempt to find that ugly lamp Vetra wanted so much. She attempted making one and it was so terrible but Vetra loved it anyway, once she was done hysterically laughing at it.

14. How does your Ryder feel about the fight between Kallo and Gil?

She gets why Gil did what he does, and she quite frankly agreed with him. No matter how good Kallo’s team was, Andromeda brought things they couldn’t have expected. But that didn’t give him a license to be a dick to Kallo about it, or to not share with the rest of the crew when he changed things, or to make those changes while they were in flight. By all means, fix what needs fixing. But actually remember other people have value too.

15. What does your Ryder think about Shepard?

(I have no idea if this lines up with the timeline, but I’m going with it.) Gwendolyn and Scott were on the Citadel during the geth attack, though their ward was locked away from the real action. They only have news reports and friend-of-a-friend second hand stories, but she knows that Shepard and her team are what saved the day. Even if the council dying meant the Citadel got a little less fun for humans afterwards, she still thinks Shepard was pretty badass.

16. Does your Ryder like the other Pathfinders?

Definitely. She can’t help but feel empathy for people scared and still helping or working despite their grief. She doesn’t know Hayjer as well as Vederia and Avitus, but the fact that they all stepped up and supported her means a hell of a lot.

17. What is the one lesson your Ryder learned in Andromeda?

Planning things out and taking time to think them through is great, but it’s also a luxury. She was always a look before you leap kind of person, but Andromeda has taught her the interesting new strategy of “no one else has a clue, so wing it and figure out how much trouble you’re in later.”

18. What is the hardest thing your Ryder had to do in their life?

Leaving Scott to go pathfind. It was hard enough leaving him behind when it was only going to be a short trip. But taking off in the Tempest made her feel like she was abandoning him. Sure, there was nothing she could have done, and he was in good hands with Harry, but she was supposed to protect him and she couldn’t help feeling like she’d massively failed.

19. Does your Ryder like memes?

Absolutely. She makes sure to share the best ones with Liam and the most annoying ones with the entirety of the Tempest.

20. Which song would represent your Ryder well?

A combination of Fake It Till You Make It by BRIIA and Journey (Ready to Fly) by Natasha Blume.

And another meme because I can, I did this archetypes quiz with Gwendolyn:

And one with Lalla Shepard cause why not: