#it will be interesting to look back on this once Prime 4 does come out

[coldgoldlazarus]

Metroid Prime 4 Wishlist: Remastered

I decided to look back at this old list again, and while I more-or-less stand by what I said at the time, I still wanted to get a bit more in-depth with some of it, as well as discuss new thoughts I hadn't had at the time. So in the spirit of Prime's recentish remaster and Echoes' hopefully upcoming rerelease, here's a new and improved wishlist of things I would like to see in Prime 4. I'm certainly not expecting all of this, and I won't even be too disappointed if most of it doesn't come true. But still, here's what I'm personally hoping for, at least.

World Design & Exploration

1. One Interconnected World: While I respect Corruption's efforts to broaden the scope with multiple planets, and it did fit that particular story well, I still would rather sticking with one planet and getting to know it more intimately, like in Prime and Echoes. A possible compromise of approaches could be to have a main planet with multiple regions and then some orbiting moons with their own isolated biomes that wouldn't fit with the rest, but either way I want a smaller scope and a bigger, more complex map.

2. Naturalistic Layout, Smooth Progression: Prime's world layout was interesting and unpredictable, but the pacing and smoothness of progression was marred by Magmoor and the frequent ping-ponging through it. Meanwhile, Echoes had a generally much more consistent progression, but achieved through a very straightforward and artificial world layout. I feel like a nice sweet spot between would be ideal, capitalizing on the advantages of both approaches while mitigating the downsides.

3. Splitting/Parallel Progression Paths: One of the things Hollow Knight did very well was in balancing the metroidvania upgrade loop against the freedom to explore. (To a certain extent Super Metroid had this as well, but not to the same degree.) Meanwhile the first three Prime games, much as I love them, suffer in replayability due to having a very defined and fairly railroaded progression path obscured by the backtracking.

I would like Prime 4 to try loosening that path and allow for upgrades to be obtained and bosses to be fought in different orders, (at the very minimum, intentionally allowed sequence breaking like in Super and Dread, without relying on stuff like the Scandash glitch) while maintaining enough structure for the progression to follow the intended story. Again, Hollow Knight is a strong example to look to.

4: Gunship As Fast-Travel: While I again favor a single-planet approach to exploration, I still think Corruption's heavier use of the gunship should be carried forward, and one of the ways that could happen would also address the problems in backtracking that Prime had. Having the ability to discover and clear access to other landing pads on-foot that the gunship could then be called to and travel between would be immensely useful. It could make late-game cleanup easier, reduce padding, and keep the ship relevant, rather than gathering dust in the far corner.

Ideally these pads would still be fairly spaced out, I think one per major region would fit the bill, but it would still be a nice way of reducing frustration in the lategame without completely trivializing exploration beforehand. (Just don't play the arrival fanfare Every Single Time she steps out of it, please)

5: Diverse Area/Room Layouts: One of Echoes' strengths, I feel, is in how the individual regions were constructed to each have their own distinct feeling. Prime's areas were either fairly gridlike (Ruins, Phendrana) with some occasional unconventional parts, or long hallways; (Magmoor, Mines) (yes the mines were a hallway it was just curled up) while Corruption's were all mostly just hallways, aside from the Pirate Homeworld; but with Echoes every region had their own style.

The Temple grounds were a big ring, with some branches and the Federation tunnels off to the side and the temple in the center, while Sanctuary Fortress was a pair of T-intersection halls stacked atop each other. Agon Wastes was a huge spread-out grid of big arenas connected by narrow corridors, while Torvus Bog was a tight, heavily interconnected web that had you going in dizzying spirals until more shortcuts were unlocked. Every one stood out not just in aesthetic, but in how it felt to actually traverse them, and I hope Prime 4 maintains that sort of variety.

6. More Verticality: While elevators afford some semblance of topography, and Prime's Phazon Mines and Echoes' Sanctuary Fortress in particular had some of this proper going on, I would love to see Retro take full advantage of the third dimension. From individual rooms, to broad areas, to the world as a whole, I want to see something more layered and topographically interesting, adding literally a new dimension to exploring throughout.

7. Mazelike Complexity, Grounded By Strong Landmarks: One of the things Samus Returns and Dread did that admittedly many don't like, but that I kinda do, is taking advantage of newer hardware to create a bigger, more complex map overall than prior 2D games, making for a more dense and mazey feeling. I personally would like to see Prime 4 do something similar, making each area bigger and with more rooms each, for a more complex layout on the whole with more to explore and discover.

However, where I do agree that this approach somewhat hampered SR and Dread was the aesthetic being overly-consistent (particularly in EMMI zones) and aside from a few specific rooms, not much in the way of memorable landmarks to use in navigation. While it had a more detailed map (and more railroading by blocking off prior areas) to lean on to mitigate this, it still makes navigation confusing rather than fun.

I feel like Prime 4 has an opportunity to rectify that with both more distinct individual rooms, and use of big landmarks (or even parts of other visitable areas) visible from multiple different rooms, (such as the shielded seed on Bryyo in Corruption) to keep navigation intuitive despite the greater complexity of the layout.

Upgrades & Features

1. Extremely Customizable Map Screen: Dread was a step in the right direction with the ability to place personal markers wherever, (which I definitely want to see here too,) but some have also said the level of detail in it can either be too easy or too overwhelming. I would like the ability to control the level of detail of what the map shows, whether it's Dread's positive deluge of information, the Prime trilogy's more straightforward marking of door types and simplified room layouts, Super's simple boxes, or even no map at all like in the original Metroid. Similarly, a feature like Corruption's Skytown Observatory, to mark uncollected upgrades in the map once you've progressed to a certain point in the game, but also still very optional.

Similarly, I would want map stations to be clearly delineated, (as I once attempted a playthrough of Prime with only the map showing places I had already been, only to mistake a map room for a missile refill and ruin it for myself,) and for the hint system to be able to be turned off like in Prime and Echoes, rather than mandatory like in Fusion, Zero Mission, and Corruption. In general, let people decide how much assistance they do or don't want in their exploration.

2. Retain Beam Swapping: While I know many people will likely disagree with me on this one, I personally favor the Prime/Echoes approach of swapping between distinct beams, rather than the flat stacking of effects like in Corruption and the 2D games.

While combat is honestly a secondary concern to me, I still feel like needing to change back and forth based on different enemies and contexts gave it a more engaging feeling compared to simply growing more straightforwardly powerful in Corruption. (Ironic given that one was the most combat-oriented of the three.) I will agree that the color-coding in parts of Prime wasn't the most exciting way of doing it, but Echoes' light/dark system was implemented better/more subtly, and I trust Prime 4 could similarly keep it fresh and interesting.

Alternatively, a good compromise between the two could be done like I said in another post a while back; having both specific beam types (IE wave, ice, plasma, dark & light) that need to be swapped between, and other stacking upgrades (such as the long beam, spazer, diffusion, etc) that impact how it fires. This could be a good way to have our cake and eat it, having that feeling of growth and evolution while maintaining the slightly deeper context switching system as well.

2.5. No Beam Ammo: While I do honestly like that as a feature in Echoes and felt it fit well there and added to the experience, I also feel like it is probably best kept there for now, unless Prime 4 somehow winds up involving the Luminoth again.

3. Keep Scanning Big, Freshen Up Other Visors: This is a more straightforward one. Again, I love the Scan Visor and I hope it remains a central feature of the game.

However, I'll also agree with those who have said that the trilogy thus far has kinda struggled with what to do with later visor upgrades. Prime's Thermal visor, while functional enough, still has few fans, and Echoes' Dark visor is a more limited and extremely contextual version of the X-Ray.

The Echo visor, meanwhile, I feel was an absolute win in terms of concept, but hamstrung by also being very limited in its actual utility. I realize there was only so much that could be done with it given an already-ambitious game running on the Gamecube's limited hardware, but given how pervasive sound actually is, I wish it had been given its full dues. Similarly, I think Corruption's Command visor was an interesting and smart addition, but also felt somewhat limited in the same way the Gunship as a whole was.

If either of those two make a comeback I hope they do more with them. If they introduce new visors, I hope those can also be unique and interesting additions; and given enough varied use-cases to be utilized throughout the game, rather than simply a handful of extremely specific moments.

4: More Original Upgrades And Suits: On that note, I hope Prime 4 maintains the trilogy's trend of adding new upgrades and even new upgrade branches (such as the visors and gunship), rather than simply falling back on the tried-and-true collection from Super. Especially nice in Echoes and Corruption were the new suits, and I particularly hope for Prime 4 to add some new interesting designs, off of the beaten Power/Varia/Gravity progression path.

5. Bring Back The Speed Booster: As hypocritical as this may be coming off of the last point, I hope to see an implementation of the speed booster and shinespark in 3D. Other M of all games managed to pull this off well, and I see no reason why Prime 4 couldn't do the same. Shinespark puzzles may have to be simpler than in the 2D games, admittedly, but I feel like it could still be utilized well enough to be worth that.

Furthermore, while some people insist this could only work in a third-person perspective, I personally disagree, and hope Retro will be daring enough to let the speed be felt from inside the helmet. (Though bear in mind my bias as a weirdo, who likes to play racing games from an inside-vehicle PoV when able.) Dread's Fast EMMI cutscene was a good tease of what this could be like.

6. Run Button & Parkour: Speed Booster or not, I feel like another way to alleviate the pacing complaints with the prior Prime games would just be allowing Samus to move a bit faster and be more agile, to make traversal and backtracking less of a slog, and bring it a bit more in-line with the 2D games. (Different planet gravities could be an easy way to justify the discrepancy.)

Similarly, this could take at least some cues from Mirror's Edge for how to make the first-person platforming a bit less clunky and more interesting. On the whole, I would want the generally more relaxed pacing of the Prime series to remain the primary vibe, but the option to move faster and take shortcuts when wanted would be nice to have.

7. Toggleable Upgrades: This is a minor one and probably what I'm least married to overall, but in the spirit of options, it would be fun to bring back the ability to toggle upgrades on and off like in Super and AM2R. They could even make use of it with certain rooms to traverse, or puzzles that require or at least are easier to do with certain ones being temporarily turned off.

Gameplay & Mechanics

1. Control Customization & Quality Of Life: This is a pretty broad and loaded topic to try to cover under a single point, but looking back on the prior trilogy and all of their respective strengths and flaws, it still felt like it warranted mention.

For the controls, Prime Remastered feels like a pretty strong indicator of what to expect, and I do like the ability to choose between the new control scheme and the Gamecube and Wii versions. (And hopefully they'll retain lock-on as a feature even with the gamecube limitations that necessitated it in the rearview, it's just a nice thing to have.) I also feel like they could be taken further, though, with button mapping, and (if possible, I know this is more of a hardware issue with the Switch) stronger and more consistent Gyro controls; given I played the trilogy on the Wii, that is most likely how I will be playing 4 as well, if all goes well.

As far as general quality of life features go, that's a bit harder to discuss in brevity and without foreknowledge of what issues might crop up in Prime 4, so this is mainly based off the precedent of the trilogy. I appreciate some decisions Corruption made in this area, (like the divots in spots where morph ball bomb-jumping will be required, something the Spider Guardian in Echoes could have benefitted from) while feeling others came off as too hand-holdy, so a tactful employment of that sort of thing could be very nice, while something more haphazard could really harm the game.

1.5: Avert Past Mistakes: In a similar fashion, there were certain recurring trends in the first couple that I feel Prime 4 would do well to learn from and avoid repeating. The Chozo Ghosts and Pirate Commandos as frustrating mini-boss-level enemies that reappear in certain rooms and lock you in with them were a consistent irritating time-waster that eventually frayed even my patience. The Cloaked Drone in the Phazon Mines being unscannable was irritating, and in general certain logbook scans and enemies only being obtainable within certain sections of the games were a consistent thorn in my side given my completionism. (And would be especially important to avoid if this winds up being as loose in sequencing as I would hope for.) This one is again more of a world layout issue already covered, but hopefully this can avoid the Magmoor problem. There are other examples escaping me right now, but hopefully this gets the point across.

2. Restrained Keyhunt (If Used): On that note, while I don't mind the endgame keyunts of the trilogy as much as some do, I still agree that they could be A Bit Much. (Particularly in Echoes.) It's possible that Prime 4 could simply choose not to do this at all, given the amount of criticism leveled at the concept, but I feel like it is a fun way to encourage cleanup and isn't inherently terrible. If they do decide to do this, I would hope it takes the best from the Prime and Corruption approaches.

With Prime, they were all out of the way and not mandatory to acquire until the end, but if you were keeping an eye out or knew where to look, the vast majority could be obtainable ahead of time, and there was a consistent spread of what upgrades would be needed for each, allowing one to basically drip-feed them pretty consistently across a playthrough. With Corruption, both the mere fact of only needing two-thirds of the total amount to progress to the finale, and the implementation of a dedicated penultimate area in which they could be used to unlock additional rooms and upgade-expansions, was a nice way of mitigating frustration while rewarding completionism. I feel like a combination of these two features would be a great way to redeem the concept.

3. Introduce New Unique Mechanics, Tactfully: Another thing I like about the latter two games is the way they branched out mechanically from Prime, even outside of the Upgrades. Even if I feel that was handled much better in Echoes with the Dark World, than in Corruption with Hypermode, I respect both attempts. I hope Prime 4 will have a similar unique, defining "Gimmick" to set it apart, but I also would want Retro to implement it with care and restraint, so it doesn't wind up throwing the whole experience off in a "damned if you do damned if you don't" way like with Hypermode. Similarly, more blatant gimmicks like all the motion-control busywork should be avoided.

4. Do More With The Gunship: I've already touched on this a couple times, but one of the mechanics from Corruption I hope sticks around is the Command Visor and making use of the gunship. I appreciate that they held back with it there so as to not be too obnoxious, but I also feel like with that proof-of-concept under their belt, there's room to expand on the whole idea and integrate it more, beyond its use in travel and infrequent bombing runs. Exactly what form that may take I'm not sure, but I am very certain that there is something.

Also, bringing back the dashboard trophies/decorations couldn't hurt! Add more customization than that, even?

5. Bounty Hunting Sidequests: I don't remember where I heard/saw this, but I remember learning that Corruption was planned to have the optional mechanic of a bounty board, where Samus could track down and capture specific targets and so actually fullfill on the whole Bounty Hunter title. It wound up having to be cut early on, and I think narratively it was a good call to leave out, given the urgency of the Phazon Crisis.

But now, assuming Prime 4 is more dialed-back again, (and takes place somewhere more populated, given the Sylux-vs-Federation stuff that's likely to feature) I feel like this would be an opportune time to try that again. (Plus mechanically, it could feed into the gunship customization idea on the last bullet point.)

While the general Metroidvania format of course does limit it slightly, I feel like a good way to handle it would be having bounties show up once you've got the right upgrade to access whatever area a target would be making base in. In the spirit of sidequests it would be purely optional and the targets would only show up in those rooms/handful of rooms if you've signed up for their bounty on the board, but it could be a good way to add some variety to the experience, flesh out Samus's more mundane missions, and even tell some interesting self-contained stories and do some worldbuilding.

6. In-Depth Multi-Room Puzzles: While we're on this track of Corruption-related bullet points, one really interesting thing it did was that bridge puzzle on Bryyo. Using the gunship's grapple beam to reassemble a Mogenar and move a power generator between a few different rooms, to access and bring together two halves of a bridge, and so create a shortcut between two previously-disconnected areas.

While the whole thing took place lategame enough that you didn't really get anything out of it other than another power core key to the GFS Valhalla, on its own it was still a really neat concept. Again, I would like to see Prime 4 try more of that sort of thing again, but able to be done earlier so it feels more useful.

7. Grandiose, Challenging Bosses: IE the Echoes approach. This one is pretty self-explanatory; while none of the trilogy have exactly struggled with giving their bosses epic scale, Prime's suffered from being too bullet-spongey and drawn-out, while many of Corruption's irritatingly forced you to use Hypermode to get anywhere. Echoes' bosses simply worked, being mechanically involved and requiring you to use the full arsenal of upgrades obtained to that point, while the built-in time-limit of the Dark World prevented them from being able to be as much of a slog as the ones in Prime. Even the Spider Guardian, while flawed and frustrating in execution, was a great concept. Prime 4 would definitely do well to take this approach.

Vibes

1. Compromise Of Aesthetic Consistency & Variety: Another case of wanting a mix of prior games' conflicting approaches, I like both Prime's vibrancy and variety, and Echoes' bleak consistency. While I do feel Echoes still managed to give the light world versions of each area enough distinctiveness to work more than people give it credit for, they all still shared a certain drabness, (while the Dark World aesthetic definitely overrode their counterparts) while Prime instead suffered from frequent whiplash transitioning between areas.

So a nice midpoint between the two, along with an injection of Corruption's sheer grandiose scale, I feel would serve Prime 4 well. Give it an overarching aesthetic and avoid Prime's level of whiplash, (except when done intentionally, so it hits all the harder when it comes) but let each region be distinct and memorable regardless.

2. New, Fresh Types Of Biomes: This is more in like, comparison to prior games than within itself.

The usual formula of enviroments has worked so far:

Caves: Crateria, Brinstar, Temple Grounds, all of SR-388, SRX, NOC, Artaria

Jungle: Brinstar again, Tallon Overworld, Torvus, Bryyo, TRO, Ghavoran

Desert/Ruins: Chozodia, Chozo Ruins, Temple Grounds again, Agon, PYR, kinda-sorta Ferenia

Lava: Norfair, Magmoor, Bryyo again, PYR again, Cataris

Glacier: Phendrana, Bryyo yet again, ARC, Artaria again

Underwater: Phendrana again, Sunken Frigate Orpheon, Torvus again, kinda-sorta Phaaze, Maridia, AQA, Burenia

Industrial: Tourian, Derelict Frigate Orpheon, Phendrana yet again, Phazon Mines, Temple Grounds yet again, Sanctuary Fortress, Norion, Pirate Homeworld, Wrecked Ship, Main Deck, Dairon, Hanubia

(Though in fairness a few stand out from the usual vibes to some degree or another; Impact Crater, Sanctuary Fortress, Norion, Pirate Homeworld, Phaaze, and Ferenia in particular, though it's worth noting that half of them instead have Phazon in common)

I feel like we could benefit from branching out a bit from that? If not whole new types of biomes entirely, then at least fresh variations on stuff. Beach episode when?

3. Populated Places & Federation Location: While this kinda goes up against the whole isolation vibes Metroid typically has, (though IMO Samus could and would still feel alone in a crowd) I think it would be interesting to actually get a look at what the Federation is like outside of the military stuff, (and again, this would enable the bounty hunting sidequest mechanic I mentioned,) and hopefully get to see more friendly races instead of just all humans like in Corruption.

So yeah, even if probably not a full-on city planet like Daiban in the ZM manga, it would be cool if Prime 4 took place on a colony planet with a Federation city that would comprise at least one or two of the areas, while the rest is still wild. Plus, if Sylux is involved, it would just make sense to face off against them someplace where the Federation is a relevant factor.

4. Darker Tone & Atmosphere: While this may conflict somewhat with the above wish, I'm kinda hoping for this to lean more on the eerie and horror-influenced end of the series' tonal spectrum; perhaps not as dark and intense as Echoes, but still more in that neighborhood than the bombast and action focus of stuff like Zero Mission and the first half of Corruption.

5. Utilize Hostile Gameplay Design For Tension: Kinda similar to the above, one thing I really like about Metroid II, Echoes, and Dread is how they use stuff like the gameboy's monochrome and small screen, the idea of the Dark Aether atmosphere dealing constant damage, and the EMMI and their zones. (And by contrast, Phaaze was a little bit disappointing on this front.) The aesthetic aspects of the environment are intensified by gameplay or design elements that work against you, making for a more tense and challenging experience. Again, I would like to see Prime 4 do something like this as well, hopefully something new but achieving the same effect, in the areas where Retro really wants to stress us out.

6. Speed Up The Pace, Still Smell The Flowers: As I already said with the run button suggestion, I personally really like Prime's relaxed pace, but I also know many do not, and even I have had times where I've wished for things to hurry up a bit more. In the same vein as Samus's movement, I would want this to apply to the pacing overall; letting me still take my time, but allowing those who want to move a bit quicker on the whole do so.

7. Strong Soundtrack!!!: I originally got into this series purely because of the Metroid Prime soundtrack, so my bias is clear, but I hope they really aim for that kind of strength in the music again. I would want new tracks rather than recycling old themes, of course, but the same blend of melodic strength and dense atmosphere.

Dread's OST isn't bad, and I've come around on a lot of it, but I feel like it definitely suffers from favoring unsteadiness in the notes and consistency in the progression too much, fading into the background a lot of the time, while the boss themes largely blur together in being loud and chaotic and not much else. Burenia does stand out for being a lot more melodic in comparison to the rest, and a few of the other tracks have grown on me anyway, but on the whole, I hope they stray away from that sort of style.

Some of Samus Returns' remixes of the original Metroid II soundtrack work magic in making memorable and atmospheric tracks of the assorted ambient bleep bloops, and I really like the sound design there in general, so if we're sticking with something more modern, that could be the way to go. But of course, ideally, I would hope for this to take after Prime and Echoes (but especially Prime) in creating memorable, gorgeous themes to accompany the game's environments, and strong powerful boss music that won't leave my head for weeks if not months afterward.

Narrative, Worldbuilding, & Characters

1. Direct But Restrained Conveyance: Once again using prior games as a point of comparison, while I think Fusion and Corruption's directness fit well for the stories they told, I think something more restrained like Echoes and Dread would be ideal; a few key scenes of dialogue, and then a lot more conveyed indirectly through subtext, body language, and of course the scan visor. Of course, it does ultimately depend on what sort of story will be told, and if Sylux and the Federation are indeed a big factor, it could make more sense to take Fusion's approach; if that's the case I probably won't be too disappointed. Besides, thanks to Other M, they already know what not to do.

2. Scanning & Same Depth Of Worldbuilding: As I already said, I want the scan visor to remain a big deal, and for there to be a lot of it. They could maybe put a twist on it, do a thing like Arknights's operator files or Nier Automata's weapon stories with the Main logbook entries. The way I'm picturing it, you could scan an entry early on, only to find parts of it still blocked out; then after certain thresholds in the story progression have been reached, (or simply something like gaining higher security clearance levels like in Fusion,) the classified sections become readable, adding new information to what was there before, or completely recontextualizing it.

But honestly, even if they just stuck with the same format as the first three games, that would be plenty fine by me, so long as they don't skimp out on the scans. In general, I think the biggest strength of the Prime series is the way it has expanded the universe and worldbuilding in comparison to the 2D games' much tighter focus, (which to be clear isn't a knock against those, just different but equally valid approaches) and I want them to keep that energy going here as well.

3. Proactive Samus With Agency, Sylux Given Nuance: Samus's side of this is pretty straightforward, but still felt like it was worth mentioning. In Corruption, Super, Fusion, and Dread she's put more in reactive scenarios, which IMO works well there, but I would like to see her acting more proactively again to some degree, like the setups for Zero Mission, Prime, Echoes, and Return Of Samus. The second part is more important to me either way, but I'm not too concerned about something like Other M happening again. And of course, remember body language is key; while I hope she gets at least a few lines like in Dread, I also think she's generally best served when speaking through her actions.

If Sylux is indeed the main antagonist here, I hope they're not painted as just a one-dimensional bad guy with no valid points about the Federation. While I love the more utopian vibe it was described with back in the Metroid NES manual, and would like to see at least some elements of that original vision brought back; as of Fusion and to a lesser extent Corruption, they're clearly not the flawless paragon faction they once were treated as, and it would just be weird to try to ignore that now. Don't get me wrong, I love all the truly evil villains of this series too, but at least based on how they were set up in Hunters, I feel like a more complicated portrayal would just make more sense where Sylux is concerned.

I'm also interested in how the Federation Force end scene with the stolen Metroid egg could factor into things, and that could be a good avenue to indirectly tell us some things about Sylux's character, and even draw parallels (or contrasts) with Samus.

4. Other New Characters, Given Time In Moderation: Similar to what I said about worldbuilding, I feel like another thing the prior Prime games have done fairly well with, is in introducing new characters to populate the universe, without (for the most part) intruding on the loneliness that's a big part of the series' identity.

I've seen some people hoping for Prime 4 to make a hard pivot away from Corruption's direction with the other hunters and leave Samus completely on her own again, but personally I wouldn't mind more friendly/neutral characters like them, U-Mos, and Admiral Dane. Again, it would be ideal if this is employed with restraint, and ultimately comes down to what would best fit the story and setting they wind up giving us.

By the same token, if they do go this route, I would hope the characters would still be given just enough room to breathe without becoming intrusive. The hunters in Corruption were pretty well-handled despite being painted in broad strokes, leaving us wanting a bit more, but the hunters in Hunters were ironically not so well-served by their game, intriguing hooks to bigger stories (literally in Sylux's case) but not really given too much beyond the bare minimum there. Again, so long as they can hit that "just enough" sweet spot between "not enough" and "too much", I look forward to meeting some new faces 4 could bring to the table.

5. Other Friendly (And An Unfriendly) Species: This one is pretty straightforward. Going back to what I said about the NES Manual (and ZM manga) depiction of the Federation as a multi-species conglomerate, compared to the all-human presentation of Corruption and Other M, I would hope to see more friendly alien races. Even if this winds up departing from my idea of a colony city in favor of a more remote world, something like the Luminoth would be welcome.

The other part of this is, (especially if we're already bringing Sylux out of Obscure Spinoff hell,) I want to see something of the Kriken, big or small. Even if they wind up not making a direct appearance, then at least further mention of them would be appreciated. Maybe clarification of their place in things, while we're at it, given how Hunters implied them to be a pretty big deal, but their presence is otherwise completely absent from the series.

Also, while I'm generally not fond of nostalgia for its own sake, Kihunters could be cool to finally see more of.

6. Feel Unique And Well-Defined: While I'm always in favor of a balance between building on (or twisting around) existing ideas and introducing new ones, I also hope that with its story and overall presentation, Prime 4 has a distinct identity within the series.

Prime had its beauty and the tale of a dying planet, Echoes had its oppressive darkness and the losing struggle against the Ing, and Corruption had its grandeur and climactic feeling amidst the urgency of the Phazon Crisis. The 2D games also largely do this; (IMO Super is a debatable case, revisiting and reusing Zebes but adding plenty of new stuff) while the much longer gaps between releases are an influencing factor, even without that they all still have their own distinct vibes and developments. (Hell, Other M even has a distinct identity, even if for all the wrong reasons.)

So in that vein, whatever Prime 4 does, I hope it does something that I can point to and say "This is the [Fill in the blank] one."

7. Surprise Me: Above all, I just want to be surprised. While there are a few specific things I'd like to see, yes, (I have this whole wishlist of them after all,) in general I've still been talking in pretty broad terms. That's because I want to go into this and get something new out of the experience; something that still fits with the rest, but that I could never have thought to predict on my own.

Final Wishes:

1. Emphasis On Exploration: Much as I love Dread, the way it blocks off prior areas to push you along in particular, is (for me) a big blemish on an otherwise excellent game. Similarly, Corruption and Fusion, for all their other narrative strength and ambition, are also more focused on combat, and give frequent, non-optional directions on where to go. And in fairness that approach works for what they're doing! But I hope Prime 4 won't follow in that route.

I hope for it to return to the Super/Prime/Echoes approach of just dropping you in the world and letting you figure stuff out yourself, with minimal handholding if any, (again, hint system optional, please!) and very little if any backtrack prevention, either. I just want to wander and become acquainted with this world on my own terms like I did with the first two Primes.

2. Maintain FPS View & Immersion Focus: This seems maybe a little redundant, but I'm putting it down anyway just to be safe. Some people have expressed wanting a third-person perspective, and even setting aside my personal hangups against that format, I just don't understand the appeal of making such a shift. The trilogy as a whole (and Prime in particular) hangs its hat on literally putting you in Samus's shoes in every way that matters, and I want Prime 4 to do the same. I don't seriously expect Retro to try changing it up like this, but I also hope they won't anyway, just in case.

3. Wait To Release: I hope it comes soon, yes, but not before the end of the year at least, lol. Partially because I have no money right now, and I want to be able to play it on release day! And partially because I would want Retro to be able to really take their time and polish it up into something beautiful.

[rookiesbookies]

Hi i love the empress and male!concubines idea with the COD boys, I def think that it'll be interesting to see more hcs for this idea/au?

Alright my little anon. Truthfully I should have given more details in the og post (it also started as a rant about how I couldn’t handle a poly relationship because of my anxiety (I also saw a post about a girl who had 4 partners and didn’t get any attention and it made me sad so that's also way).) I have been stewing on this idea though so here’s some hc. Might do more if people are still interested in it or want more, I do love talking about my AUs (like this one and the Greek god one, so let me know if you want me to go more bc stuff like this rattles around my brain)

Also apparently there is a term for a male concubine and they’re called concubinatus or a concubinus. Honestly I took Latin and the fact I didn’t expect this lowkey brings me pain.

General HC?

The first empress in a long time. And the first empress to like her concubinuses (hope that's right) more than the idea of marrying for an emperor. So the council decided to bring you only the best warriors to keep. They of course still must serve occasionally but they have been elevated in status to there is lower risk anything will happen. Mostly kept as tacticians or kept to train the new boys joining the country’s military.

Konig and Krueger were taken as trophies of war for the Empress. They were two of the largest, smartest, and strongest men from the battlefield.

When the two were adjusting, it was difficult. The empress was gracious with them, mentioning how she wouldn’t dare make them do anything, apologizing for the war and the loss. Truthfully trying to get them comfortable, and the two were honestly shocked but I’ll get into that more in their sections.

Keegan was sent as a gift by a neighboring nation looking for peace and protection. He had a good time adjusting, sometimes making comments about how this treatment is too good for nasty military dogs like all of them but I’ll touch on that more later.

Price

Price was probably the first concubinus. He had been a strong warrior and was deemed by the council to be a good fit for what they were hoping for. He also, however, did not intend to retire from his position so they had to find an alternate reason to stop him from getting in trouble.

For him it was awkward. His empress was a bit younger than him, however he did crave to be a father. While the empress didn’t intend to fall pregnant yet, he would be on his best behavior when the opportunity came.

The chance to be the father of the next royal was something he couldn’t miss.

Soap

Both him and Gaz were best in their class, breaking records, so it only made sense it seems to send them to the empress once they got their prime years out of them.

He was probably the last concubinus to come in before the gift and the trophies of war. He has the more vicious puppy eyes. He waits for you like a dog every time you leave and enter. Always talks about how much more comfortable your bed is and how nice it is to lay with you. Definitely sweet talks you even though he’s already a concubinus.

Will literally do anything you say and it’s partially because he thinks he will get sent back to the military full time if he doesn’t.

Ghost

Definitely does checks on all the palace guards to make sure they’re up to spec. If even one slacks he uses his power to make them run.

This is all because of how gracious the empress has been with him. When he had a fit of ptsd (i'm thinking anxiety attack or something) she invited him into her room and away from the others so he didn’t feel embarrassed and comforted him as best she could before making him some tea. With an empire that stretches across Europe he was impressed she had the time to stop and care about a random concubinus.

Definitely was surprised he told you as much as he did and how you listened and comforted him. Telling him you’d never make him do anything he wasn’t comfortable with was something he appreciated.

Gaz

See the first paragraph of Soap’s bc Im not copying it again.

Since I feel like Gaz is the older of the two (he seems to have a maturity I dont see as much in Soap idk?) He was sent to her first of the two for his ‘semi-retirement’. Now they just need them to occasionally train incoming recruits.

He definitely enjoyed adjusting to the cushy life of the castle. He liked being able to keep his weapons since he did double as a personal guard for the empress. But he likes that he and the other concubinus get a hot tub more, definitely likes all the fancy clothes.

His job is the have sex with his sexy empress, what’s not to love?

Konig

Truthfully, when he was being cocky toward the other concubinus and you pulled him away into a separate room to tell him you knew he was compensating for his anxiety, he was more than shocked. He was stunned into silence.

So when you reached your hands under his hood and rubbed his cheeks, telling him it was ok and he didn’t need to act out, he melted. He had never truly been shown such softness, so to be shown it by the empress of the enemy? He was so conflicted. With a pat on his chest you told him he could take on his position fully when he was more comfortable and that you were concerned for him and there if he needed to talk. He was still quiet.

Krueger

Was not interested. No matter how many compliments you gave him or gifts you sent, he wouldn’t budge. He was grumpy and hostile. So much so he made the other concubinus nervous especially for you.

It wasn’t until you pulled him into your room that night that he relaxed quite a bit under your soft hands and apologies. Massaging his tired muscles, and lulling him into a sense of security. Now he understood how Konig folded so easily.

He offered to return the favor but you told him not until he was more comfortable and made him promise to play nice. He agreed but only to be a bit nicer.

Keegan

He honestly believes this treatment is too good for all of them. They were dogs of war, animals trained to kill, and now they’re dressed in fancy clothes? With an empress who dotes on them when they should be doting on her? Truthfully he baffles him. He isn’t ungrateful, he just didn’t expect to become a concubinus when sent here. He expected a joint military operation or to be a representative. He hit it off quickly with the group from the empire’s military.

The two from the war keep to themselves and the shorter one threatened to bite him.

Often feels the most out of place because he is the only one from his area, but he doesn’t complain. He gets nice gifts and is invited into your room pretty often, so he appreciates every moment. He wonders if it would be proper or allowed for him to get you gifts?

I was surprising more eager to write this ask than I thought. Let me know if yall want me to do formal parts to this? Maybe an actual fic for this au?

Masterlist is pinned on profile as always, don’t forget to leave me a comment or a request in my inbox to let me know what yall want to see!

[thingsseenandheard]

As promised I am here to write the third installment in my Cazador meta essay collection about identity self perception and the fact that I don't believe Cazador has a concept of who he is as a person and continually despises himself but he copes with it by behaving as though the "versions" of himself that he despises are literally different people

At a basic level, Cazador hates weakness. I think it probably follows that Cazador hates his younger self - pre vamp and spawn - for being weak because it was through finally besting Vellioth that he became strong. That was the only real moment of successful strength amidst all of that, at least in his eyes, and I think that was the turning point where Cazador became Lord Szarr. (I have a LOT to say about Vellioth's death but I'll save that for Cazalore essay #4)

However Cazador is obviously unbelievably self centered and egotistical, & I'm going to be making the case that he's a narcissist in the actual clinical sense rather than just the "oh that person is very selfish" sense because it ties in with this very well because Cazador's confidence & ego rely completely on the fact that he is extremely deluded & detatched from reality. And more on that in my next post too regarding Vellioth's death. If Cazador's delusion is cracked even a little bit I think he crumbles, because he has successfully avoided being forced to face the reality of his past and his actions and who he is as a person for centuries, and I don't think that mentally he could handle being forced to come to terms with the fact that he is not special. And he is not innately "better" than Vellioth just because he's the one who came out on top. And the fact that he is able to successfully compartmentalize all his bad weak feelings does not make him superior. His entire persona, Lord Szarr, is so flimsy it's a miracle he's managed to keep it together this long. Because his persona is built on thinking he is special and inherently superior and better than everyone else because he isn't fucking weak. At least, not anymore.

But he used to be. And he must hate that. How does a person as unstable and detatched as Cazador is cope with the fact that he was once everything he now hates? He just doesn't think about it. It's one more thing he pushes away and refuses to acknowledge and I think perhaps the easiest way for him to do that is separating "Cazador" from Lord Szarr. Because Cazador is weak, Cazador was so stupid he got taken in by Vellioth in the first place, Cazador wasn't strong enough to kill Vellioth the first time, Cazador wasn't clever enough to escape. All of these things are traits that he clearly reviles in others, Astarion being a prime example. It's unthinkable to him that he used to be that, so actually, no he wasn't. That was some other guy. Lord Szarr actually has always been very strong and smart and steadfast and he has never been pathetic or weak and he has never begged for mercy once in his life, no sir, not ever.

I always find it so interesting when there's a character like this who you can clearly see the distinction between who they are now and who they used to be and who they have the potential to become, especially when they're as deluded as Caz because there's no way he is at peace with all of that! There is no way he's looking back at himself as a spawn or pre-vampire and is okay with the person he used to be. (And if he could see the future pre-vampire or as a spawn, there is no way he would have been at peace with the person he was going to become.)

So he pretends that wasn't him. It's the path of least resistance, because who's going to correct him? Vellioth's dead, and there's nobody else alive and in his vicinity and with the courage it would take to say no, actually, that was still you. The easiest way he can find to cope with this and preserve his extremely fragile and shallow persona that's really just a rebrand of Vellioth with less impalement is by acting like his past self is a literal actual completely different person, because then it's not hating himself, it's not hating the mighty Lord Szarr, it's hating Cazador, and that's okay because they're different, and Lord Szarr is strong where Cazador was weak.

And the separating of himself into these different people doesn't help with the fact that the mighty Lord Cazador Szarr is not a person, he's a shell. He's a mask, meticulously crafted to cover up all the weakness and instability and fear that never really left him. And at some level, just like I think he knows he would return to Vellioth, I think he knows this, too. But this, coming to terms with the fact that he doesn't know who he is and the versions of himself that he hates are the same as who he is now, it's too much. I don't think he can handle it.

And there's even more to it than that, because as I've said before, Cazador has become Vellioth. Not better than Vellioth, he is Vellioth. After everything Vellioth put him through, can we honeslty say he would be happy to realise that? Absolutely not. So despite the fact that he absolutely hates who he used to be, he is still clinging to parts of that version of him because so long as he can preserve some of that, he is not Vellioth. And he doesn't have to come to terms with the fact that actually, yeah he is. And that this is exactly what Vellioth wanted him to be. Cruel, selfish, egotistical, everything a Vampire Lord is supposed to be. Everything Vellioth was. Everything Cazador is now. So I think that even though he goes to such incredible lengths and does so many mental gymnastics to avoid hating Lord Szarr because Lord Szarr is supposed to be the perfect Vampire Lord and he is supposed to be better than Vellioth, he still has to hate his current self too because his current self is Vellioth whether he is capable of recognizing that or not, and god knows he hated Vellioth. But also he didn't, because he loved Vellioth, but Cazador doesn't know what love is. The only love he knows is the love Vellioth taught him. So he has this horrible toxic relationship with himself that only he can break out of but he just can't do it, because he is still that hurt, terrified, weak young man and he is still that docile, compliant spawn because he knows what'll happen if he's not, and he is still the cruel, self-centered Vampire Lord that Vellioth knew he could become. And all of these things coexist within him and he simply cannot take it. And he doesn't know how to deal with any of it, so he doesn't.

And I am putting so much emphasis on Lord Szarr being distinct from Cazador both because I think that's how he sees himself and because only one of those two people is actually real. Lord Szarr doesn't really exist. He is a fabrication mean to cover up all of Cazador's shortcomings. And Cazador is so dead terrified of being anything that Vellioth would have punished him for that it's literally easier to act like his past self is dead and gone than it is to accept that every version of Cazador is him and he is every version of Cazador, and he's so trapped within himself because he simply cannot come to terms with any of that. But of course, the flip side of that is I think he is also dead terrified of being Vellioth, which is why he has to hold on desperately to this separate, past, dead and gone version of himself at least a little bit, because that is the absolute last thing, in his eyes, standing between him and truly becoming his own Master. He can't be Cazador, and he can't be Vellioth, so who the hell is he?

It's a question that only he can answer, but he is completely incapable of doing so.

[garnettfox]

Miracubots AU

Sooooo, me and a friend reconnected after a few years of silence (Thanks depression) and discovered not only do we still share similar old fandom brainrot, but we share NEW fandom brain rot and have very similar opinions about the Miraculous series, which lead into the brainrots fusing and with their permission. I present. THE MIRACUBOTS AU

AKA What if we took the cool and interesting magic system and initial set up of Miraculous....AKA the only good bits, and put it in a show with great writing and characters who we love and who deserve to go feral on a villain every now and again?

The AU takes place instead of the canon season four, Cody is aged up a little to 14/15, Doctor Morroco never lost his Verns device to Madeline Pynch so he's still around to be a menace, and the Prime bots...We haven't fully established if Prime is still happening, or if it's after RiD but the Autobots are still around and mentioned occasionally. And since it's a different version of season 4, the bots are still undercover to the town, only the family knowing they are sentient.

Madeline takes stage as the main villain of the series having acquired the Butterfly Miraculous and after discovering Nooroo and it's power, forcing the Kwami to tell her all about the other Miraculous, including the fact that using two of them, the Ladybug and Black Cat together gives one the power to alter reality.

Seeing an easy way to get her goal of being the riches and most powerful person on the planet, she forces Nooroo to tell her where the Miracle box is, but the poor Kwami can only confirm he senses it on Griffin Rock. With her goal in mind Pynch uses the Butterfly to become Swallowtail creating her first Akuma to draw out the guardian and hopefully the Miraculous she seeks.

Master Fu once he realizes what is happening, charges Tikki and Plagg to find two children they resinate strongly with to become the new holders of their Miraculous, reasoning that Children will be easy to teach and control, and he'd be better able to take the Miraculous back from children if the pair chose poorly.

To no one in this fandom's surprise, Cody Burns is who's picked by Tikki to be her holder. He does try to convince her to go to his dad or siblings so they can protect her after she tells him she's what the Akuma is after. But Tikki insists that she picked the right person to be her holder able to sence Cody having a loving heart full of courage.

Cody becomes the new Ladybug Hero Beetletron! looking very much like a miniature version of one of the Rescuebots, though one with a beetle Altmord, when he asks about it Tikki explains that it's because well, the Rescuebots have more or lest become his mental image of what a hero should *be* and thus the Miraculous copied their form. The name comes from Cody trying to think of a Cybertronian sounding name and vaguely remembering hearing the bots talk about some important mech from Cybertron....something-tron? Well it sounds robotic and he's a beetle so, Beetletron!

Fighting against the Akuma he's joined by another hero, a girl in a cyber punk looking get up, dark leathers and neon greens with a head covering mask, she even has a USB cable acting as a tail that she can use with her tech knowhow to hack! The new Black Cat introduces herself as Felidae Fatale, named for the scientific cat family Felidae, and well, she might not be the classic version of a Femme Fatale, she'll prove she can be just as badass as they can be.

Working together feeling like they've known each other for years though they just met, they beat the Akuma, and when Swallowtail makes her threat to claim their Miraculous's they confidently announce they'll make sure a villain like her, never wins.

In the aftermath the pair meet up and agree, keeping a secret identity from the other would be pretty silly considering the life and death danger their in, so. Reveal themselves.

And Cody laughs crying as he hugs his best friend Frankie, as there really could be no other person it would be.

Feel free to tell me or ask me about this AU, We have a TON of stuff planned out, what Miraculous's people get, Akuma forms for almost everyone. Admitedly have some self-indulgent stuff like putting in OC's we love to use XD but it's all in good fun

[gloomverse-theories]

How Cirrus’ childish behaviour is symptomatic of the problems in stratoversian society

Stratoverse is a foreign country with a culture still clouded in mystery, but we were given snippets into its inner working thanks to Indigo, Virga, Nim and Cirrus. So far, all of the stratoversian with screentime displayed various levels of immaturity, more or less subtly. Before I can dive into those, let’s define something.

What is Maturity?

“Maturity” is a buzzword that gets thrown around, but people would be hard pressed to give it a clear definition. How do you define maturity? It’s the state of being mature, says one dictionary, proving its uselessness. Maturity is being an adult, but Cirrus insisting that “he is an adult so you can’t make him do anything” is ironically a big sign of immaturity.

Being mature is a list of behaviours, such as:

Managing your own emotions

Recognizing other people’s emotions

Taking responsibility for your actions

Establishing your boundaries and respecting other’s

Being able to apologise

Being able to handle failure, rejection, or being wrong

Being open-minded

Maturity is not only a virtue, but also a skill. It’s one that is expected out of adults and even older teens, but no one is perfect, no one is mature at all times. Being mature is hard work, being responsible is difficult, admitting you were wrong can seem impossible, but it’s still something everyone needs to strive to in order to live in society. It becomes a problem if the moments of immaturity outweigh the moments of maturity. It becomes an even bigger problem when you give someone like that power.

The thing about power is that you can ignore your responsibilities if you have enough (sorry Uncle Ben), and Stratoversian society is built on power.

Let’s take a look at Cirrus, as he is the prime example of an immature Stratoversian

Cirrus’ immaturity

Our first impression of Cirrus is that of a stuck-up jerk who belittles people for something as trivial as wearing shoes. Our second impression of Cirrus is that of a man-child giving himself a headache after throwing the aforementioned tantrum. It is not a brilliant introduction, he is made to be unlikeable, so unlikeable that even the one character he interacts with is glad to see him gone.

From the get-go, he demonstrates that

1. He is not able to manage his emotions and even hurts himself with how he expresses them

2. He does not recognize he was wrong for getting angry or apologises, instead he “ignores” her “disgrace” for a moment

3. He does not respect the president’s order to stay out of Gloomverse, showing that he does not care for the consequences of his actions and does not take responsibility for them

4. He is very close minded of anything outside of Stratoversian norms

And that’s just from his first appearance! Without even mentioning his catastrophic rapport to Nim!

In his second appearance, Purple aptly remarks that Cirrus “act like a five year old”, and he is right.

Cirrus insists on coming with Nim to Wallis’ show, claiming interest in the culture. He promised to behave, but forced Nim in a position where she had to accept his demand or risk having him show up without being supervised. Fast-forward to the time of the show, and all of his previous claims fall through. He is still belittling the culture and Nim needs to remind him of the very real consequences for Her in order to get him to settle down. The show starts, Seaweed shows up, and Cirrus gets a teenager crush, and proves once again what little handle he has on his emotions. Cakegirl arrives, and Cirrus does his good action of the day by saving Harold from a fall to the death.

When the world conference rolls around, Cirrus spent three weeks in jail, and it did not teach him anything. He finally crosses the line with Nim and gets an overdue call out on his behaviour. She establishes some very clear boundaries here. She’s tired of babysitting him! Unfortunately, this does not stick, because Cirrus follows her back to the ruins. He literally has no valid reason for doing this. What’s more, we have yet to hear a single apology from this guy.

Then, the Beach Episode comes. Cirrus does not miss the opportunity to show off his wonderful temper. But we get a little more this time, we get a crack. For the first time, he manages to keep a straight face as he recites a law of Stratoverse. This happens once again in A Day on the Town when cirrus talks about his fathers’ ranch. You can tell it’s a sore topic because he remains emotionless.  After all his exuberant display of outrage, this is the one topic where he doesn’t allow himself to feel anything.

And we will unpack that later!

Indigo as a parallel

Indigo doesn’t get revealed as Stratoversian right away. He’s a working DJ, he’s the president’s personal hitman, he’s a delusional playboy… He is a lot of things, depending on what he needs! Overall, Indigo is selfish. He does not care what others are going through, or the consequences of his actions on them as long as he comes out unscathed.

Contrarily to Cirrus, Indigo has his emotions in check. He does not care about what other people do if it doesn’t affect him, while Cirrus gets introduced by yelling at Nim for touching the ground. Indigo is smiling most times and even if he is an “open book”, his emotions are not the burden of others. That is, unless you press a sensitive point, like his sense of self. On the other hand, Cirrus’ temper is something everyone else has to deal with and tip toe around. The only time when he can keep it together is when it’s something he’s sensitive about.

Where Cirrus shuts down, Indigo flares up, and so they make for interesting parallels.

Indigo’s immaturity is different from Cirrus, because they had different lives, but the root of the problem is once again Stratoverse. Thanks to Indigo, we got context for Stratoversian childhood and expectations. And it’s pretty terrible.

Let’s talk about it!

Cirrus’ childhood

Stratoverse has some kind of incentive to make every citizen gain weather magic. The reason why is still a mystery and worthy of plenty of theories, but it is not today’s focus.

Indigo explains pretty well how this happens. Children are separated from their families, given to caretakers and taught about the weather cycle. Nim mentions that she got “floated” a lot as a kid, so it’s not a full no-contact situation - at least not for everyone - but it’s still rather isolating. Indigo tells us that he “wanted to live in the sky with [his] parents”, and so did most other kids.

Cirrus is an exception though, because his fathers live on the mainland in a ranch. They do not have magic and they can’t live in the cloud city. There’s no one waiting for Cirrus in the clouds. When other children finally regroup with their family upon getting magic, Cirrus would be leaving his behind forever. As he loves to remind people, it’s shameful to touch the ground. He still holds them dear in his heart, as shown when he punched the president for badmouthing magicless people, or when he almost cracked after Rylie’s question. Nevertheless, it still got ingrained in him that he should be ashamed of his origins, from how meek he was when talking about his dads’ ranch. Stratoversian propaganda is very effective if it can convince a country kid that a leaf is actually disgusting and touching the ground a disgrace.

Cirrus is powerful, he probably got magic early on. Let’s say 12 years old. From that age on, he grew up with no parents, no guardians, no caretakers. It’s during teenage years that people learn to be mature, to manage their emotions, to handle conflict and to respect others. They can either learn it in school, from teachers or peers, or from their family. Cirrus had neither. He can’t go to his family and he doesn’t have any friends if his attachment to Nim is anything to go by.

Speaking of, let’s focus on Nim and Cirrus for a little bit now.

Cirrus’ attachment to Nim

Cirrus and Nim are both grown adult, and they’re both royalties. They’re not siblings however, and don’t know much about each other. For all due purposes, they are colleagues. Cirrus seems to have some years of anteriority over Nim, but other than that they’re equals. They have no need to interact, and Nim would even prefer if they didn’t. Despite that, Cirrus clings to her with force. We know from Virga that the trip back and forth to Gloomverse takes a full day. Cirrus come visit her multiple times, and his first visit (that we know of) lasted less than an hour. He clearly doesn’t approve of what Nim is doing, but that doesn’t stop him from checking up on her.

Why?

Because he is a fucking desperate for a human connection, except he has no clue how to go about it, so he clings to the only proper relationship he has in his life: his royal colleague!

He can’t turn to Virga because she’s already proven herself to be unsafe by punching him and making fun of his ideas, and he can’t be around the king because everyone expects him to dethrone (and kill) him, so Nim is the only one he has left. She’s also polite and nice enough to tolerate him, and he takes it as the greenlight to be even more clingy. He’s unconsciously forcing her to mom him, and she has to be responsible for the two of them.

Nim is stuck trying to appease him and maintain a cordial relationship because her own situation is unprecedented and precarious, and there’s a high chance he could jeopardize her passports and permits if she actually spoke her mind! At the world conference, she finally speak up because she literally has nothing to lose. She spent three weeks in jail because of her association with Cirrus, and her passports and permits to study have been thrown out the window. So when he belittles her and her interests, she snaps, because she can.

Their relationship is not a balanced one, but it’s progressively becoming better. Now that nothing is at stakes, she can be honest and actually tell him off, which she does!

Royal Responsibilities

You may have already read a few pieces about it (like this rant), but the prince and princess titles doesn’t seem to come with a lot of responsibilities. It seems that only the king and queen can make any meaningful decisions, and the prince and princess’ role is to support those decisions.

Cirrus is interested in making life better for the magicless. He has family at stake even. Yet he is shown running away from any responsibilities he might have in Stratoverse to follow Nim, and aggravating the tense relationship between Gloomverse and Stratoverse by punching the president. It’s not really his fault though, because that’s the way Stratoverse’s society is built: the most powerful have the most power, and the ones with power can do what they want because they’re powerful. You don’t agree with a political decision? Duke it out with the politician. Someone made a mistake? Punch them to teach them a lesson. That’s what he learned, that’s what he does.

And what he does is selfish and immature, because that’s what the system thrives on. People are encouraged to remain immature, to act on instinct, to punch the people they don’t like, to be selfish and not think of others. The system relies on Stratoversian being too busy fighting to survive, too selfish and immature to give a damn what others are going through. It keeps people from organizing and rebelling. It keeps the system going.

Summary

This went in a different direction than what I thought it would. Here’s a summary:

Stratoversians, especially Cirrus, have been regularly characterised by their immaturity – especially when it comes to handling their emotions. They resort to show of force, they establish dominance with their magic, their bodies, their voice. Even Indigo resort to it when pushed to the brink. The way children are raised in Stratoverse often leads to immature adults because of a lack of appropriate education and doing the equivalent of giving a teenager a gun. Stratoverse culture is one of power, where rationality is dismissed in favour of strength. This keep people from trying to change the system: the people in power benefits from it, and if someone were to try and change things, a punch in the face will put a stop to it.

Cirrus is a product of that society: immature, impulsive, careless, and full of prejudice. So were Nim and Indigo, and they’re all on a journey to unlearn those things, albeit at different speeds.

[steampunkforever]

Looking back at the latest run of movies I've filmposted on, you might be tempted to think I'm only watching the good stuff these days. Let me dispel any thought that I've abandoned horrendous cinema as we tackle what I believe to be the reason George Lucas is the way he is: the Star Wars Holiday Special.

For the uninitiated (people who became Star Wars fans around the time the term "Reylo" was minted) let me set the stage. It's 1977, and the world has been changed by the arrival of Jedi to the silver screen. Lucas et al. can now afford more matte paintings than ever before, and are busy planning out the thrilling sequels to carry on the Star Wars saga ("Planning the Star Wars sequels" is a sentence that will not be uttered again in studio conference rooms until 2017, at which JJ Abrams will precede the sentence with the words "We will not be"). CBS approaches Lucas with a revolutionary concept: worldbuilding for the Star Wars universe by developing discrete self-contained stories through the medium of Television (the book of bobos, coming soon).

Lucas says yes, develops an allegedly solid script off his idea for an all-wookie movie, and then will not budge on his idea for a movie entirely focused on a species of alien that grunts with no subtitles. He's just put out one of the biggest movies to hit the screen ever, and furthermore is a man of great artistic vision. With Lucas at the helm this is set to be a hit.

Except Lucas needs to move studios to fit all the matte paintings he can now afford. So Lucas drops the story in the hands of the ever capable CBS and heads to the matte painting store, leaving them to find another director after the first guy quit after finishing the Jefferson Starship concert and "Bea Arthur sings at the Cantina" scenes.

Lucas' trust was, to be blunt, misplaced. CBS' finished cut was simply terrible (with the exception of a charming animated segment), and Lucas even offered to pay them to keep the abomination off air. They declined, but the Holiday Special was only aired once, at which point all copies were destroyed at Lucas' behest. At this point Lucas is at the top of his creative game and we haven't been subject to anything like Indiana Jones 4 yet, so you can imagine what a blow this is to the man who has yet to mastermind Jar Jar Binks.

Much like the preservation of HBO originals in the present day, the Holiday Special was only preserved and propagated through outright piracy, to the point that Holiday Special bootlegs became a known fandom trope. And so this week, for the second time in my life, I watched a rip of the Star Wars Holiday Special made somewhere around Baltimore on that fateful night in 1978, slotting in right before Wonder Woman. It was bad, yes, just not spectacularly so.

There is no question in my mind: The Star Wars Holiday Special killed George Lucas' directing career more so than the runaway success of the first movie.

In my writings on film, there runs a throughline (often utilizing Lucas as a prime example) that discourages sequels. I'll admit that this comes predominantly from my upbringing in a world of shared universes and IP sprawl, but it's a pretty agreed upon point that A) serialization only serves as a chance to tarnish an otherwise solid first film and B) new, discrete stories are more interesting. That said, sequels are not bad, and my analysis of Star Wars does not lay blame on the fact that we got to see what happened after the Yavin Award Ceremony.

You see, beyond being bad, The Holiday Special taught Lucas all the wrong things with its failure. Artistic control is paramount, yes, but what his experience with CBS taught Lucas was that in order to secure his legacy, he had to chain himself to the Carbonite slab that was Star Wars and micromanage it for the rest of his life to ensure the world he'd created would maintain the quality he intended for it.

Looking at the state of Star Wars in the years after Lucas cut the series loose, I don't think this was an incorrect statement, but a singular devotion to guiding his store-brand Flash Gordon empire is what led to a 22 year hiatus between directorial efforts. Even after this, as much as I personally find the prequels to be misunderstood, they lacked the same spark Lucas had, making me wonder what he could have put out in his most creatively charged years had he not lashed himself to the helm of a franchise that's abandoned most of the work he spent years tailoring to his vision in favor of Baby Yoda.

The Star Wars Holiday Special is truly what separates Lucas from Coppola. Without that harsh lesson in trusting Star Wars to someone else, Lucas might've focused on directing future projects of his own rather than managing those of people expanding his space wizard universe.

Or maybe if you'd swapped their places Coppola would have Don Corleone meet up with cheerful Gungan Jar Jar Binks.

Of course this is all conjecture. Lucas has put out some of his best work as a writer and story lead working on projects like Indiana Jones and Willow, but it's sad to see one of the most influential film workers in the world, whose work I truly admire, with only a half dozen directing credits despite having all the matte painting money he could ever desire to make passion project films. Coppola went broke, but at least 2/3rds of his filmography didn't get coopted to sell Disney streaming packages.

Then again if I'd just put out three revolutionary films in a row and then saw what CBS did with my high concept wookie script, maybe I wouldn't be seeing things so clearly.

We're about a dozen paragraphs too long for a filmpost on the Star Wars Holiday Special, so I'll wrap up now: I can't say I recommend it.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

The EU is Forever

April 25, 2014, was a dark-ass day for those of us who loved the Star Wars Expanded Universe canon. I was literally in the middle of the end of my first year as an MA student, and 2/3 of the bookshelves in the apartment my then-fiance, now-husband, shared held my Star Wars books. I'm not here to say that every book was great (lookin' at you, Splinter of the Mind's Eye), or even that every bad book was in so-bad-its-good territory (heart eyes at Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor), but the Star Wars EU got me through high school. So let's talk Young Jedi Knights.

There is no "these were the first Star Wars books I picked up and fell instantly in love with" story with these books, my journey to the Star Wars books was random as all hell, partly because this was the franchise that really taught me how to marshall and organize a sprawling set of books, do the research to read them in something like an order, and really start to engage deeply and take notes. (There may have been a 4-inch binder full of notes. It might still live in my Dad's house.)

I actually was first introduced to Star Wars (the original trilogy) when I was TA-ing in 8th grade and that teacher needed something to keep her class occupied for a couple of days. In the last week of school that year, I basically lived in the library and read the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy. Needless to say, I had QUESTIONS. Because I still hadn't figured out book research, I then picked up Vector Prime, and STILL had massive questions, once I got over *that* scene.

Young Jedi Knights wasn't the first Jacen and Jaina I picked up--I started with some of the novels earlier when they're younger--but I loved this series. This particular cohort of Jedi ended up being so crucial for so many reasons to the EU timeline, and seeing their training, their friendship, their mishaps, and how they interact with the galaxy made the later novels just so much more poignant.

There was a sense of YA speedrunning a lot of pretty common coming-of-age tropes (lookin' at you, Zekk... honestly, he and Kyp Durron needed to learn to BACK OFF and take no as a goddamn answer) and a boarding-school-in-space vibe, but there were also a few things that I thought were done particularly well. I wouldn't be me if I didn't call out with how much nuance Tenel Ka's arm loss was handled, particularly in terms of letting her have time to grieve and allowing her to adapt on her own without bowing to Ta'a Chume's frankly ableist attempt to use the incident to pull her graddaughter further into her Hapan heritage at the cost of her Dathomiri one. Seriously, for a YA book published in 1996, this was learning to live with a disability done really well. And I appreciated the hell out of Tenel Ka herself not letting Jacen do the guilty hovering and overcompensating with unnecessary and unwanted help. That was an excellent boundary to set, and quite frankly is something that people TODAY are terrible at, so this whole storyline was well done.

Equally well done was the fleshing out of Raynar and Lowbacca in the Diversity Alliance arc. Poor Raynar started so pompous and so absolutely unconsciously privileged, but watching your father self-sacrifice to protect humanity at large is a stiff price to pay to learn a little humility. (The absolute kicker is what happens during the Yuuzhan Vong War and subsequent Swarm War; poor Raynar does NOT have an easy run of life).

Lowbacca was an interesting look at friends/siblings dragging you into an extremist perepecting and RAPIDLY getting in over your head. There is also an interesting look at those who choose to stay in those organizations and those who choose to escape. And again, this was 1997, so the massive resurgence in fascism, right-wing extremism, and incel-ness wasn't the monstrosity it is in the year of our lord 2022. The Diversity Alliance arc just got more relevant the older I got, not less.

The Solo twins are, objectively, the marquee characters in these books, because the EU objective was the Skywalker/Solo show. Just straight out, Jaina is my favorite Solo kid. No contest. Her entire arc over the EU was twisty, detailed, nuanced, and never anything less than fascinating, and that began from the first books that focused on the kids. Her training on Yavin 4 in these books really solidifies her as technical. Jaina likes machines; she likes to take things apart, put them back together, and make them better. She is, like her father and uncle, a pilot at heart. That said, I'd be lying if I didn't say that both she and Jacen are a little one-note 1990s YA protagonists. They have their one major things (she's a mechanic, he's basically the Star Wars Kratt Brothers) and their things and relationships drive everything. They are arguably not the most interesting characters in these books, but they do tend to drive the books because they are the Solo twins.

That said, the plots, side characters, and general vibe of these books made them some of my favorites, and the nostalgia is strong with these books.

[enfyswanders]

London, Part 2: June 23-26, 2024

My friends, have you heard about our Lord and Savior, ABBA Voyage?

My friends Molly and Josh encouraged me to check it out. I like several ABBA songs, so I decided one of my big splurges for the trip would be a dance booth ticket for a matinée.

I was expecting a high-tech concert experience. I was not expecting to sob for the first 20 minutes.

But let me back up. What the heck is ABBA Voyage? It's a concert featuring holograms of the band ABBA in their heyday. Their prerecorded vocals and instruments are backed up by a live band that's shrouded in shadow for much of the show, but is occasionally brought out and featured. The venue is an arena specifically built for this show, in London's outskirts.

Walking into the arena, my first impression was "This is Pride for women in their 60s and 70s." The sheer joy from that demographic, with many of them wearing colorful, spangled jumpsuits, brought joy to my heart. (I didn't get a photo of any of the bejumpsuited people., but trust me, there were a lot of them. A fair number of them under 30, too!)

The dance booth ticket, while one of the priciest ticket tiers, was worth it. The dance booth is an area for 12 people that includes a cushioned bench for seating, plus a lower level open area for dancing, and you get a private bar and table service, too. I had two delicious passionfruit cocktails waiting for the show to begin.

When the show started, I got emotionally overwhelmed in a way I absolutely did not expect.

Feeling 1: This is the biggest arena show I've been to since well before the pandemic. There's something beautiful about so many people gathered to enjoy music together.

Feeling 2: I'm both excited and terrified for the implications this event has on the future of musical performance. On the one hand, it could make it much easier to see acts more places and after people have passed on. On the other hand, we lose the authenticity of live performance. Not a hair was out of place, no flubbed lyrics, no sweaty sheen on the performers' faces. They lampshaded the concept a little by doing a bit about a costume change gone wrong, but it kind of made me cringe. The show is, and will always be, perfect. In removing the precious ephemeral nature of live musical performance, what else are we losing?

Feeling 3: This is the closest I have ever come to a true time machine experience, and wow was it moving to "see" ABBA in their prime, something I could only do on video before.

Feeling 4: Traveling is Just So Much. I needed a release after everything from the first week.

So I cried for the first 20 minutes, huddled in a corner of the dance booth bench. I don't cry very often, so it really took me by surprise. Once I was done, I got up and danced a whole bunch.

Some interesting pieces of the show were having three femme vocalists from the live band perform "Does Your Mother Know"; an animated two-part short; some fun banter from ABBA; clips from their 1974 Eurovision entry; and at the end, there are holograms that come out for a curtain call that look like the band members do today, which I think was a nice touch.

Honestly, the whole thing was a religious experience. I was deeply moved and it made me think about the world in a different way. I will forgive them not playing my favorite ABBA song, "Take a Chance on Me," because the whole thing was just so amazing.

After the show, I had my first of many Adventures in Doing Laundry on the trip. I found a few coin-op laundry places near my hotel, but based on reviews they only took coins, specifically £1 coins, which is complicated because most businesses in London are contactless or card payment only, so I didn't get a lot of change. I asked at my hotel if I could buy some £1 coins, but all they had were £2 coins, which I took, and hoped for the best. Some of the online reviews mentioned that staff at the coin-ops could make change.

Unfortunately, this was a Sunday afternoon, and no staff were present. The first laundromat I visited only took £1 coins and there was no way to make change. Fortunately, the second laundromat I checked did take £2 coins, and I got to enjoy the sticker shock that it cost £20 to do a single load of laundry (about USD$25). While I sat there, I had a nice chat with a couple from Brisbane, where I used to live, and made friends with an older woman named Sharon, who I ended up meeting up with for dinner by chance after I brought my laundry back to my hotel. She was really fun to chat with, and gave me some tips for places to eat in the area.

The next day, I visited Kew Gardens Royal Botanical Gardens, which is enormous and I sadly didn't have time to wander the whole thing, or even most of it. I did get to enjoy the treetop walk, though, which was a really neat way to see the big old trees in the park from a different perspective. They had some neat sculptures, too.

Next up, I visited some Richmond locations from Ted Lasso, including his pub (renamed on the show to the Crown & Anchor), the door to his flat, and a really tacky souvenir shop that wanted a shocking £65 for a shirt. I had some fish and chips at the pub, and honestly, I wouldn't recommend the food. I don't think they've changed their fry oil in the past decade. They were also slammed with Ted Lasso fans and the staff did not seem to be happy about that fact.

After that, I decided to go see Big Ben, just to check if off the list, since it's such an iconic site. Dear gods, never again. Up until this point, the obnoxious-tourist quotient of my trip had been pretty manageable, but when you exit the Tube near Big Ben, the sidewalk is completely slammed with tourists and con artists who have no sense of personal space.

I got a quick pic and booked it out of there, seeing the exteriors of Westminster Abbey and Parliament House quickly, and decided to return to Tate Britain, because I enjoyed it so much and it was fairly close by. I finally got a pic of my favorite piece there, a sculpture by Henry Moore called Reclining Figure:

I started my last full day in London visiting the Mithraeum, the ruins of an old temple to the Roman god Mithras, which was recommended by my friend Ron. It was super cool. There's a whole immersive light-and-sound experience with the ruins, to make you feel like you're in the temple when it was active. There's Latin chanting and everything.

Then I went to the British Museum. And if I thought the tourists outside Big Ben were obnoxious, well. There were a lot more of them at the British Museum. I mean, obviously I myself am a tourist, so I can extend some grace, but what annoys me is people who clearly don't have experience being in large crowds in cities having no spatial awareness and failing to notice that there are people trying to move around them, so they stop suddenly, that kind of thing.

The British Museum was crowded and only nominally air-conditioned in some places, so I was hot and uncomfortable the entire time. I only lasted about 90 minutes before I had to call it, which was a shame, because there is some cool stuff to see there. I think my favorite thing was the Rosetta Stone, but I didn't get a photo of that. Instead, you get to see this statue of Hermes:

After the museum, I had booked myself for high tea at a fancy place called The Wolseley, but the reservation wasn't for another hour, so I decided to check another popular destination off the list and go see Buckingham Palace.

Tea was absolutely wonderful. The warm currant scones scones were soft and moist, and the clotted cream and jam with them were absolutely scrumptious. The finger sandwiches (cucumber, salmon, chutney, curry chicken salad, and egg salad) were all very tasty, and the desserts were fantastic patisserie. I had an hibiscus herbal tea with it, and really my only complaint was that I didn't have a companion to enjoy the experience with. It was absolutely phenomenal and made me a quick convert to the joys of high tea. (And spoiled me for all future high teas on the trip, unfortunately!)

On my way back to my hotel, I spotted something a friend told me about, that I'd walked past every single day and hadn't noticed: There's a fucking TARDIS right by my Tube stop.

I guess the chameleon circuit still works okay.

This made me laugh:

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review: And Soon the Darkness (1970)

And Soon the Darkness (1970)

Rated GP (now PG)

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2024/10/review-and-soon-darkness-1970.html>

Score: 4 out of 5

And Soon the Darkness is a movie that made me never want to visit rural France. It's a thriller that starts by framing the land that its protagonists are traveling through as a picturesque locale out of a postcard or a tourism ad, but once the horror begins, it increasingly takes on an eerie feeling of a sort you'd sooner expect from a film like Deliverance set in the rural South, a forbidding place where the locals are off-putting and very clearly do not want you there while the beautiful natural scenery all around means that you're not gonna find help for miles. The characters, too, all kept me guessing, as everybody gave me reason to believe that they'd want our heroines dead for whatever reason, ultimately building to a very satisfying conclusion. It's a vintage British serial killer flick with a lot of old-school retro flair that still holds up today, its fairly flat direction and occasionally silly score aside.

Our protagonists, the sensible brunette Jane and the free-spirited blonde Cathy, are two English girls who are traveling across France by bicycle. When the two of them wind up in the middle of nowhere, they get into a spat that sees Jane run off into the nearest town. When she returns to where they split up, Cathy is gone, with evidence (her abandoned camera, for one, as well as the fact that we saw her attacked by an offscreen assailant while Jane was away) that she may be in danger, forcing Jane to turn to the townsfolk for help. However, there is reason to believe that any one of them -- the creepy farmers the Lassals, the detective Paul Salmon from out of town, the bumbling local cop, a British expat who hates tourists -- could be the one responsible for Cathy's disappearance, with no way for Jane to know who to trust.

The cast in this was impressive, with Pamela Franklin making for a likable heroine as Jane and the language gap between her and the townsfolk making for some tense situations as we know more than she does about what's going on. (Side note: the version I watched on Prime Video had all the French dialogue subtitled, but the original theatrical version left it all untranslated, putting you directly in Jane's shoes as the odd duck out.) The MVP in the cast, however, was Sandor Elès as Paul. A detective from Paris (or so he says) with a personal interest in both Cathy's disappearance and the murder of another young female tourist in the area a few years ago, Paul is presented almost from the get-go as a creep who Jane, and by extension the viewer, have very good reason to believe is lying about who he says he is. At the very least, he has absolutely no social skills, he misses important clues, he acts like a stalker towards Jane and Cathy, and his interest in what's happening, even if one is feeling charitable, is presented as that of an overeager amateur who's out of his depth and is going to get himself or somebody else hurt or worse. (You have to wonder why he's not off solving crimes in Paris.) Elès is almost too good at making me hate Paul, a guy who has so many "this is the killer" arrows pointing at him that you'd think he has to be a red herring, especially since other people in town are also acting suspicious... which only doubles back around and makes you wonder if this is exactly what the movie wants you to think.

The depiction of the town is a case in point when it comes to how this movie twists and subverts things. Initially, this is a portrait of "la France profonde" straight out of the imaginations of non-French who romanticize the country, with two girls riding down a scenic road lined with trees and farms into a village filled with tourists at a local eatery -- the image that France's tourism bureaus probably like to send of what the country looks like. We do get early shots of Paul taking an interest in the girls, but it's just one guy out of many. Once Cathy goes missing, however, those scenic vistas remain, but take on a much darker tone. Now, it feels like Jane has wandered into a place where nobody wants her around, the locals looking like the very deglamorized image of rural Midwesterners or Southerners except speaking a different language, the rusty Citroën 2CVs on the road evoking the same feeling as rusty '50s Ford trucks. It's a movie where the things that look inviting and exotic on the surface turn ugly and rotten once you actually have to spend time with them -- something that, as somebody who lived in Florida for more than ten years, I can definitely relate to.

The look of the setting wasn't the only thing that felt rough and rustic, though. This film was theatrically released, but the background of many of the people behind it was in '60s British television, and it often shows in what are generally pretty low production values. Director Robert Fuest manages to wring a lot of suspense out of it, to be sure, but it's still a very workmanlike film that moves rather slowly and doesn't really try to go above and beyond stylistically apart from letting the French scenery speak for itself. "Understated" is the word I'd use to describe this movie -- not dull by any stretch, but very much a showcase for the actors more than anything. The score could also occasionally be a bit too upbeat for its own good, especially when the end credits roll and the film's cheery opening theme is reprised to play over them after what had been a rather harrowing final showdown between Jane and the villain.

The Bottom Line

And Soon the Darkness is a hidden gem of vintage, non-Hammer British horror that, while a slow burn with some occasional late '60s/early '70s cheese, still has a lot to recommend about it for fans of this sort of thriller.

[bbs-backlog-challenge]

Games of 2023

(2022)

I barely played anything last year. Tears Of The Kingdom so wholly swallowed my attention that, once I finally brought it to a close, I just fell of playing video games for a long time, and still haven't quite picked my way back into the hobby. I'll get into it during the write-up below, but it's OBVIOUSLY going to be my Game Of The Year (and in a rare change of pace, it actually came out this year!) so I will be nominating another game as GOTY instead.

This is also the year I became a car mechanic in my spare time after crashing and totalling my beloved Beetle and instead of getting a new car like a sensible person, I decided "well, I can probably fix it". 12 months later, still driving it! And also, still fixing it.

August brought with it an incredible depression out of nowhere during which I lost the plot a bit, but I did write an awful lot of words towards my novel, so I guess that evens things out. Regardless, a combination of all of the above resulted in very few games being played this year! My count is 23, compared to recent years being in the 70-80 range. Makes this an easier read, anyway. To the games!

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Jumpgrid

Hold over from last year, I played a little further but the final few levels are less reactive and more memory tests, which is a real shame. Just remembering which direction to move and trying to time it right isn't anywhere near as fun as frenetically dashing all around the grid. Soundtrack is still legit though.

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Absolute Drift

We gave this one quite the pasting in our livestream chat- safe to say it's not for me. In the hour I gave it, I didn't get even the slightest grip on how the controls work, which seems to be the intent. I'm sure there's a moment where, if you are persistent, everything -clicks- and suddenly it all makes perfect sense, but it didn't come close to happening and the game itself wasn't compelling me enough to keep blindly headbutting it until we got there.

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Thirty Flights

Wendy's no longer offers the 4 for $4 deal. I would still argue their $5 Biggie Bag is a better deal than this, despite technically being more expensive.

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Metroid Prime Remaster

And what a remaster it is! I'd argue the original Prime still looks and plays fantastic and didn't need remastering, but this is sublime and if you missed out the first time around (holy crap it was 20 years ago augugahguaghuhgh) this is a fine way to get caught up. Surely Primes 2 and 3 are on their way as well?

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Black Mesa

Interesting juxtaposition with MP:R here, another remaster of a classic game. This is similarly excellent despite my own cognitive dissonance as described in my BBLC entry. Unfortunately let down by the end sequence- the original's Xen chapter is pretty universally regarded as an awful blight on an otherwise great game and Black Mesa's approach was to... make it five times longer? They actually reworked the whole set up but it still just wasn't quite enough to polish that turd. It does look absolutely beautiful and the soundtrack is breath-taking, but I do wish they had let the environment breathe a little instead of filling it with enemy encounters. Still well worth a look, and a monumental achievement to finally have this game in a fully complete playable state after so long in development.

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Tears Of The Kingdom

I'm sure I don't need to say much here. Game so good I stopped playing games. Masterpiece. Every aspect of it- gameplay, visuals, music, story- masterpiece. Minor spoilers, the music during the final approach towards the final boss' arena had me so worked up I needed 5 minutes to get my head back into focus. It's a fairly common thing for the actual boss fight to feel badass, but I cannot recall any other time previous that just the *approach* made me feel like a hero, bringing to an end a story that had gone on for far, far too long. I don't need to tell you any of this. It's a masterpiece beyond masterpiece.

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Time Gentlemen Please

Adventure game sequel to Ben There Dan That, which I enjoyed oh-so-many moons past, but I couldn't get far here. There's an intolerable lag between every action and movement that drove me spare, which I'm not sure if it's an engine issue or a game issue. I don't enjoy adventure games enough to put up with things like that unfortunately, though I do remember enjoying the first game a lot.

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Final Fantasy 2 (Pixel Remaster) (PC)

Oh man. Without speaking hyperbolically, I think this might be the worst game I've ever played that is technically competent. The game runs nicely, the graphics are lovely, the music is just as fantastic this early in the series as it came to be known for, but by the nine divines, what an absolute pile of stink the actual gameplay experience is. I finished the game with 100% of achievements solely so I never, ever had to pick it up again. An abysmal and frustrating mess of a game that had some interesting ideas and had no clue what to do with any of them.

[20:26] Beebs: You should all buy Final Fantasy 2 on the sale [20:26] spookiott: didn't you hate it [20:26] Beebs: I did and still do and always will [20:26] Beebs: I just don't think I should suffer alone [20:27] Beebs: I'm going for 100% achievements just so I never ever have to play it ever again [20:27] spookiott: yeah, that'll show 'em! [20:33] Beebs: I do not know how they ever got to make a Final Fantasy 3, by rights they shouldn't have [20:34] Beebs: The series should have ended here and everyone involved with it should have been arrested [20:34] Beebs: please buy it.

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Endless Space

As a space-based 4x that isn't Master Of Orion 2, Endless Space caught my attention better than most, but I only played to the end of my first galaxy before moving onto

Endless Space Two: Endlesser Space

which I think hooked me a lot stronger. I found the conquer mechanics too opaque for my liking, with my invading army of millions somehow being annihilated by a defending force that had literally been reduced to zero remaining soldiers, and no explanation of how that could happen or how I could have done it better. I think modern 4x games have leaned away from conquest being the predominant means of victory and as such it's a way to make that victory type less appealing? I don't know. It's a good game, it's just not Orion.

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Fortnite

I played Fartbutt pretty much every day all year, it is honestly a fun game, and if you are resistant to the predatory business practices of the parent company you’ll have a good time. Don’t have much else to say here- getting down to the last 5 players alive and scanning the horizon for any sign of activity is thrilling and it’s a huge adrenaline rush to trade shots with the last one standing and secure the win.

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Diddy Kong Racing

Had a few attempts at this in recent years, this is the one that finally stuck thanks to the Deck. It’s a good racer with some total BS (I literally cheated the final boss with save states to race perfectly and still couldn’t beat him with one character lol) and adds a lot of fun single player content missing from the Mario flavoured rivals. Flying around exploring the hub island is just fun and I’d love to see the concept return in a future MK game. Wizpig theme is legit.

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Master Of Orion 2

You know it and you love it. This year I tried a no-expansion game where I could only settle planets in my home system. I actually won but there was a fun challenge towards the end where two enemy systems were behind black holes that I couldn’t reach- had to manipulate them into a war with each other so they would destroy those systems for me, but also keep one from defeating the other before they had finished the job. It worked out!

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Fire Emblem N-gage

A lot of people really loved this entry. I thought it was fine. Hard mode is way overtuned IMO, mostly because of the bosses, but Normal mode is conversely far too easy. Wish there was some middle ground between the two. The Somniel stuff felt REALLY tacked on, too, like they just put it there so people who had only played Three Houses had something familiar to the monastery, but the dialogue is all repeated and it feels a bit soulless. I thought for sure I was going to marry Celine because, I mean, look at her- but she drinks floral tea which is unforgivable so I married big tiddy goth GF Ivy instead, who already told me she loved me and worshipped me like a god in just our B rank support. Healthy!

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Team Fortress 2

I only played the fun halloween maps this year (surprisingly few of them are fun) and skipped the terrible ones, resulting in significantly less playtime this year than previous. Still didn’t get my thrice-damned hat. I also spent some time earlier in the year trying the Dragon’s Fury, a weapon I never previously bothered with, and it was quite refreshing.

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Star Fox 64

Really weird that they never made another Star Fox game after this one.

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Neopets

It is absolutely WILD that this site is still running, and many parts of it unchanged since 1999. I come back every so often- it's sort of my internet birthplace. "can't take the country out of the girl", so they say. They were giving away childhood dream-item Illusen's Staff essentially for free so I had to get it, and then I just kept sticking around for a bit. It's fun but I think only nostalgia keeps these servers running any more.

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Touhou 19

It's a Vs shooter, so even though you can play as Ran I pretty much bounced off once I had seen the new girls and heard the new music. It's a shame, but vs mode simply isn't what I play touhou for. Looking forward to 20, hopefully next year but probably 2025. New Ran lore though!

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Age Of Empires 2 Ultra Mega Edition

There really is simply no reason at all AoE2 needed to be made into a live service game, but ignoring that festering boil this is otherwise the ultimate way to play a very old and still very good game, with a whole slew of QoL features that I'll never be able to live without now I have them (visible tower range!). It's also compatible with all custom scenarios made in the original so we can still re-live the majesty of JUSTIN TIMBERLAR.sco and all the other very-good-actually scenarios I made as a clueless 14 year old.

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Ys 8: Lacrimosa Of Dana

An unexpected late entry takes this year's GOTY (That Isn't Zelda). The incredible lull I felt after TotK didn't clear for a long time, but at the end of November I fired this up and remembered why I love games generally and Ys specifically. Falcom is an established company that still somehow feels like a doujin circle, and I’m not sure how to explain what I mean by that but I mean it positively. This one’s actually telling a pretty neat story so far too, though I haven’t finished it yet. Can a game I haven’t finished truly be named GOTY? Yes. It’s my blog and I can do what I want. One year there were three winners!

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That’s all for 2023. 2024 doesn’t look to have any big hitters, but the JPRGs are accumulating on my backlog and I’m at roughly the halfway point in writing my book, so time will tell if I manage to beat this year’s meager score.

[nirahsaooc]

So I’ve completed the main story of Diablo 4 and it was definitely interesting. It to me in ways feels like what Diablo 2 may have been like if they’d had the tech and desire to do a much more in depth story. Not that Diablo 2′s story isn’t good, just that it is a product of its time. Where gameplay was the primary thing with the story as the means to that gameplay.

The ending does seem to be setting up for an additional expansion and such, but it makes sense given what was resolved in this story versus what is still unresolved.

Below the Read More are more blatant spoilers for the game with some of my thoughts.

First of all Mephisto in this is just a delightful son of a bitch to me. Because he’s a Prime Evil you keep thinking, “Is he lying to me? What’s his game?” But he actually plays it very straight, he doesn’t really lie at all to you because he knows the truth is more motivating. Towards the end he even lampshades this saying, “I won’t lie to you, there will come a time when we are enemies. But right now, we need each other.”

The game in general is full of both hope and despair, you meet good people that are just trying to survive, and evil people that are just trying to take advantage of the situation. As well as people that were once heroes and have fallen to corruption and despair. Often because Lilith has sweet honeyed words, she knows how to tug on your desires, your hopes and dreams to the point you start to wonder “Is she right? Does she have a better idea of what to do?” But Lorath dispels this by pointing out how she is the Daughter of Hatred, Hatred is in her nature and motivates how she does things. In the end she may think her path is better but it will still be a path of hatred and not love.

Inarius wasn’t any better than Lilith, he was an arrogant angel full of vanity and so sure of what he had to to do to get back into the heaven. He wasn’t here to protect Sanctuary, we were just tools for him, a means to an end. And he didn’t even realize in the end that Heaven was silent to him because of his betrayal in making sanctuary, and that he can’t just undo that with more death.

It was interesting how the game in ways points out the folly of looking to Prophecy. Basically how no one can figure such things out, multiple different characters tried and they all had very different ideas of what the Prophecy meant and how it would end. They were all wrong, because their own innate bias let them twist the bias to fit perfectly with their world view

Also....

Holy Crap was I wrong, Diablo did not show up at all...in a Diablo game. I mean if they do any additional story via expansions or anything he undoubtedly will, but its the first time Diablo has not been the End Boss in a Diablo Game.

One of my favorite lines your character gives in the game is when Neyrelle asks you if you ever feel like you can’t do anything right, if it all feels for nothing. You respond with. “More than I’d like to admit. They call me hero. But underneath, I’m still the same person I always was. Powerful, sure. But flawed, too.”

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

This was a big part of why I stopped being interested in canon. You can't get invested in anything the show gives you because there's no guarantee that plot elements will get a payoff even if they're presented as big, massive plot elements. A prime example would be the ending of season 3 and what it meant for the temp heroes (aka, nothing).

Even when the show does deliver, it sucks at meaningful payoff. For example, Adrien apologizing for the whole "high road" advice. He gives that advice in the first episode of season 3. In the 20th episode of season 5, we get this:

Adrien: I'm sorry, Marinette. I was wrong. I shouldn't have told you to act against Lila. If you give the slightest opportunity to people like her, they'll grasp at it and cause disasters in no time. And now, you're the one who looks like a bad person.

This is absolutely horrific pacing because the Lila conflict hasn't been the focus since mid season 3. She doesn't even appear in season 4 outside of the last 3 episodes and the season 5 conflict was not about Adrien trying to encourage Marinette to leave Lila alone, so this line feels wildly out of place in terms of what's actually going on in the narrative. It's only here to appease super fans who were upset by Adrien's advice and wanted to see him apologize for it.

In a normal show, this line would have been given at some point during season 3 after the Lila conflict escalated in a way that let Adrien see how wrong he was. That's how satisfying pacing works. You present a conflict and then deal with it. Once you let a conflict fall to the side, coming back to it just feels awkward. Especially since Adrien's advice was basically ignored post Chameleon. Marinette never talks about "the high road" or wanting to make Adrien happy. She actively tries to stop Lila and happily accuses her of stuff when she can.

Do you think Adrien still has that Looking glass from the season 4 finale?

Boy not even gazing at it wondering what it does? Not even using it as a way to track Felix?

I still wonder about that. Boy had 4 Weeks after the whole destruction debacle, not once thinking about that?

[auroragothcs]

TWs and CWs: Mentions of violence, injury, cannibalism, human experimentation, disordered eating, recreational herbs and detachment to a sense of self.

| Il Dottore Headcanons (pt.1).

1. Dottore is so used to bitter and sour tastes thanks to his constant consumption of coffee and pills that he grew to have a major sweet tooth.

2. Autistic because I am and I said so.

3. Probably queer too but he either put too much thought into it to the point where he overcomplicated things and "exhausted his options" or just doesn't care enough to figure it out.

4. He relies heavily on supplements to stay healthy as he struggles with maintaining his appetite, sometimes forgetting to eat.

5. The role of one of the most essential harbingers is more of a burden than an honor for him as the pressure and responsibility make him burnout very quickly but he feels as though he couldn't possibly achieve as much as he has without an Archon by his side so he endures.

6. As a child Dottore would eat pretty much any plant he found, getting sick more often than not and still coming back to try a new species, this habit carried onto his adulthood as well.

7. His bedhead is very fluffy and soft, so much so that one of his lazier clones got nicknamed "Sheep" for giving up on taming it and just living with the messy look.

8. Dottore is almost a natural at dancing but finds it far too bothersome and tiring.

9. He has eaten sand and dirt out of curiosity and was absolutely disgusted, ate it again while traveling to a different country to "compare samples".

10. He rubs the back of his neck when he feels awkward but tugs at his fingers if he's embarrassed.

11. Hands and arms have chemical burn scars from acids melting through his gloves and clothes.

12. He's not close to any of his fellow harbingers and would usually rather be anywhere when he's around them, as far as he's aware they're not too different either.

13. Extremely skilled with his hands, be it with handling tools or writing reports to the Tsaritsa with beautiful calligraphy.

14. He rarely finds himself interested in anyone -be it of a platonic or romantic nature- but if he does it soon ends up with the poor bastard being taken to his lab as he tries to figure out just how and why that person caught his attention even though they never reciprocate.

15. Chronic back, neck and wrist pain from poor posture and continuous repetitive movement while taking notes.

16. Hates veggies with all his soul, the clones like to prank each other with it by making it so the veggies look like something else.

17. Being called "young" is far too similar to being called "underdeveloped", "naive" and "stupid" to him, he's very resentful of anyone who sees him as such.

18. He doesn't mind quiet company while he works, which is why he keeps a clone that turned out to be selectively mute around, they're both comfortable enough around each other to at least have no awkwardness.

19. Dottore sees his scars as something to be ashamed of as they all come from moments where his work failed or from when he was unable to protect himself.

20. A clone once slapped Prime awake and the glare that the poor guy received was enough for him to bolt away, the others nicknamed that glare the "prey stare" as it made nearly anyone under it want to flee.

21. He's either overworking himself into the next collapse or collapsing into his next work spree, no in-between.

22. He doesn't mind and accepts that he'll always get dirty when working on his test subjects but he stops and rushes to clean himself fully as soon as something gets on his face or hair.

23. Very fast reader and incredible when it comes to condensating information in a cohesive manner, the Tsaritsa trusts him to filter through some of her own paperwork because of this.

24. Well-moisturized hands since his scars can affect his mobility and become uncomfortable easily.

25. His legs and core are quite strong since he focused on evasion and footwork over strength and fighting skills.

The posts regarding this list will be simply copy-and-pasted in order to focus on pumping out new ones, hope it's not an issue!

[leiawritesstories]

Improbability

Rowaelin Month, Day 26: You’re seeing my roommate and accidentally walked into my shower. Featuring Sam and Rowan as roommates. :)))

Word count: 1542

Warnings: language, little bit of math gobbledygook that I stole from my stats class.

Enjoy!

~~~~

“Mate, you alright with my girlfriend coming over today?” Sam called out to his roommate. “We’re probably going out, but I asked her over here first.”

Rowan pulled out one of his earbuds and stuck his head out his bedroom door. “Yeah, that’s totally fine, just for God’s sake warn me if you’re going to do the dirty on our couch, bud.”

“THAT WAS ONE TIME!” Sam yelled, “and I was 100 percent sure you had football!”

“It’s called soccer, Cortland!” Rowan laughed, never missing the chance to poke at his British roommate. 

“Whatever, mate. You’re good with Ae hanging out here for a bit, yeah?”

“Sure am. She’s a fun person.” Rowan put his earbud back in and returned to doing his homework, or rather, swearing at his statistics textbook. Some fifteen minutes later, he heard the door of his and Sam’s dorm open.

“Anybody home?” enquired a throaty female voice. “Someone told me he was at home, but obviously he’s too busy to go out today. Guess I’ll just go drink with the girls, then.”

“And leave me lonely?” Sam asked.

Aelin Galathynius, who’d been dating Sam for almost two years now, smiled. “Never.”

He returned the grin and pulled her into the living room, where their conversation faded into a blur of noise too dim for Rowan to interpret. Not that he minded…much. Aelin was hilarious, though, and he loved hearing her make cracks at Sam’s British habits, her friends, her day, and pretty much anything else she thought deserved a snarky comment. 

Slamming his stats book closed, Rowan huffed a sigh and decided that he could use a quick shower to relax a little before heading out to training. He grabbed his towel and a bar of soap and went into the tiny dorm shower, which was low enough that he, at 6’3,” had to crouch to fit under the shower head. Grumbling to himself about the stupidity of whatever idiot architect designed dormitory showers, he stood under the stream of hot water and tried to make sense of all he still had to do. Which was too much. After somewhere around five minutes, he stuck his head out of the shower, realizing the dorm had gone awfully quiet. 

Maybe Sam and Aelin were out, then, he thought.

Rowan turned off the shower and reached for his towel, giving himself a quick dry-off before stepping out. He was just wrapping the towel around his waist when the door swept open.

“Oh, shit, sorry, I didn’t realize you were in here!” gasped Aelin.

Rowan gaped at her, forgetting that the only thing between her and a prime view of what he may or may not have been doing in the shower was a dark green bath towel.

A too-thin green bath towel.

Aelin’s turquoise eyes traveled down his frame, decidedly not missing a single detail. A pink flush spread over her cheekbones, and she hastily backed out of the bathroom and shut the door with a firm click.

Rowan swallowed whatever he’d thought he might have said and told his raging male hormones to calm the hell down. Quickly, before anyone else could walk in on him, he pulled on his practice jersey and sweats and went back to his room, where he grabbed his soccer bag and hauled ass for the gym.

He spent the entire 90-minute workout trying and miserably failing to get the image of Aelin Galathynius in her unfairly attractive blouse and miniskirt blushing at his nearly-nude self out of his mind. When he got back to his dorm, having showered in the locker room, this time without anyone interrupting, Sam and Aelin were gone. Sam had left a note on his bedroom door, stating that he’d probably be back around three. Checking his watch, Rowan groaned. It was almost two, and he’d broken down and signed up for stats tutoring at four. 

He just hoped that whoever the tutor was, they’d be able to help him get his mathematical shit together and pass the course. 

~

Two hours later, Rowan walked into the library and took a seat in the study room marked with a sign that read “STATS 320 TUTORING 4 PM.” Nobody else was there, but to be fair, he was a little early. He plopped his textbook, notebook, and calculator onto the table and waited. 

And nearly fell off his chair when Aelin Galathynius walked into the room.

“What the hell?”

“What the hell, what?” she asked, obviously amused at his reaction. 

“I--I didn’t expect to see you here, that’s what the hell. You here for tutoring too?”

“Yes and no.” Rowan blinked in confusion. Aelin’s little smirk grew bigger. “I am the tutor, Rowan. You’re here for my assistance…and expertise.” She winked.

He felt himself flush at the image that conjured. “Yeah, expertise, in stats, right?” He knew full well he was stammering like a fourteen-year-old on his first date, but that about summed up how his roommate’s girlfriend made him feel right now.

“Correct.” Just like that, Aelin was all business. She set her backpack down, closed the door, and sat across from Rowan. “So. How can I help?”

He sighed. “I’m stuck. I need this class, it’s the last math I have to take for my major, I’m usually decent at math, and I’m fucking stuck on a concept my professor said was fucking simple.” 

Aelin listened to his mini rant without comment. She pulled out her own stats notebook and calculator from her backpack and slipped on a pair of glasses. Rowan cocked his head. 

“I didn’t know you wore glasses.”

“Reading glasses, Whitethorn. I’m supposed to wear them whenever I’m reading, on my laptop, or studying, but do I? Hell no.” She grinned. “Don’t tell my optometrist.”

“Given that I don’t know them, no problem.” He returned her grin.

She flexed her fingers and turned her attention to Rowan’s math. “Right, big bad soccer boy. Where are you stuck?”

He flipped his book to the section on conditional probability distributions. “Here. I took notes, and it seemed logical enough, but I completely tanked the quiz we just had, and I don’t know where I went wrong.”

Aelin scanned the quiz. “You’re reading the graphs wrong.”

“What?”

“Conditional probability is the probability of an event occurring given that a certain condition is satisfied.” She opened her notebook to a blank page and drew a horizontal line. “Any time you see a condition, that condition goes in the denominator.” She pointed to one of the problems he’d answered wrong on the quiz. “What’s this question asking you to determine?”

“Probability that a student chosen at random is an engineer given that the selected student is female.”

“Right. So, you take the condition, the ‘given,’ and put that number in the denominator. Remember you’re only looking at the row labeled ‘female,’ because that’s the condition. Once the condition’s written in, you find the other part of the question, in this case the number of female engineers. Put that number in the numerator, divide by the denominator, and there you have the probability. Does that make sense?”

“Condition in the denominator…” Rowan mumbled, writing it in his notes. He looked up at Aelin and smacked his hand flat on the table. “Aelin, I’m a fucking idiot. I spent so much time trying to look at the totals that I didn’t remember to keep the condition, I--goddammit, I’m stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, Rowan, lots of people struggle with conditional probability at first.”

“I’ll bet you didn’t.”

“Oh, I did. A lot.”

“Really? But you just explained this shit to me better than my professor.”

“I…I happen to like stats. Might be part of my major description, but I just find working with the numbers extremely satisfying.”

“What’s your major?” he asked, intrigued.

“Don’t judge me.”

“Nope. Promise.”

“I’m in finance.”

His eyebrows shot up. “I’m impressed.”

She blushed. “Thanks. It’s a lot of stats and spreadsheets and yelling at each other about the stock market, but I really love it.”

“You’re making me look bad; I’m just your standard pre-PT student athlete”

“Standard pre-PT student athlete,” she mocked, “don’t sell yourself short, Whitethorn. Pre-PT is nothing shabby.”

“Yeah, but not remembering a stupidly easy math concept sure as hell is.”

She snickered. “Fair enough. Is there anything else I can help you with, or is that all for this session?”

He flipped through his notes. “That’s all I had for today, but I’ll probably be back at some point whining about another tricky concept.”

Aelin grinned, closing her notebook. “Wait until you get into chi-squared models. I’ll be here then, waiting for all the stats students to come crying to me while I plug seventeen equations into my spreadsheet and hope it actually calculates the quarterly interest this time.”

Rowan shook his head. “You lost me at ‘chi-squared,’ Aelin.”

“Oh, trust me, it’s fun.”

“As much fun as you and Sam have?”

Her voice dropped to a sultry purr. “Your couch would know.”

Before he could sputter out a response, she’d shouldered her backpack and was walking out the door. Rowan watched Aelin Galathynius leave, wondering how fast he could make up an excuse to talk to his roommate’s brilliant girlfriend again.

[knchins]

Manager’s Special - Seijoh 4

Summary: Being the manager of Seijoh University's boy's volleyball team meant filling their every need. But can you satisfy all four seniors at the same time or will you break trying?

Pairing: Oikawa x Fem!Reader x Iwa x Mattsun x Makki

Rating: E+

Word Count: 5.3k

Warnings:  Degradation/Humiliation, Oral sex (giving/receiving), Vaginal Sex, Anal Sex, Double Penetration, Triple? Penetration (I technically don't view this as triple but some might), Squirting, Vaginal/Anal fingering, Unprotected sex, Gangbang (obvs), Blindfold usage, Spit (just a little), A smidgen of dubcon if you squint, Overstimulation, Mindbreak??, Aftercare, and Oikawa being a total Asshole

Notes: This is completely self indulgent and I don’t apologize for it one bit.

 Since earning the head manager position of Seijoh University’s boys volleyball team, you had learned to keep a tight schedule. It could be very hard work at times, but honestly it was very rewarding and the experience was worth the late nights and early mornings. It was an honored title that many girls strived for year after year. You had been merely an assistant your first two years of college and now, finally, your tenacity had paid off. You were number one and with it you held a whole new set of responsibilities.

 Because while you did the duties of a normal manager, at Aoba Johsai, female managers also held a very...important role. They were in charge of making sure all of the senior players kept their head in the game and stayed at the pique of physical fitness. This meant that you were in charge of making sure all of their needs were met.

 Every. Single. One.

 And you had quickly found that the four seniors you were in charge of satiating this year were particularly hungry for one thing and one thing only. You.

 Oikawa, Iwaizumi, Hanamaki, and Matsukawa all had their own unique interests and tastes. They fought for your affection, sometimes making you feel pulled into four different directions at once. It got so bad that they had to roll die to see who could have you first. There were prime time slots in your schedule, after all, and everyone wanted to be the one to hold it. Weekends were especially cut throat among them and it was finally decided on an even rotation. Oikawa, since he was the captain, got the first weekend. Mattsun was second. Iwaizumi third, and lastly Hanamaki. You never had a moment to yourself it seemed like. The core four took up the entirety of your free time.

 But you knew what the job demands were before you took it. You agreed to this. If only you had known how draining it would be. You couldn’t have imagined the sexual appetites of athletes being this overwhelming. If only there was time to recuperate. Time and time again they worked you to tears. Multiple times a week you’d be left overstimulated and so incredibly full of cum. But none of that could have prepared you for what they had in mind for this particular Saturday.

 Makki was supposed to come over to your apartment alone that evening. You had the scene set the way you knew he liked it. Lights dim with a plethora of candles scattered across the bedroom. There was chilled sparkling water set on the bedside and a new bottle of lube. You had taken time to shower, scrubbing every inch of you clean for him. After drying yourself off, fixing your hair and putting on light natural looking makeup, you stepped into a nice little sheer white baby-doll nightie with nothing but a sea foam green thong underneath.

 After a look-over in your floor length mirror, you smiled with satisfaction. Makki was the gentlest of the four and usually he pampered a little more afterwards. It was the only time you get any semblance of rest. Maybe you could convince him to go easy on you too. Take things slow. He was the easiest to reason with and you had been looking forward to this all week.

 There was a knock at your front door and immediately you were thrown off. Each player had a unique knock to them, and what you just heard wasn’t Makki’s. It was the captain’s. Holding back a groan you padded to the door and looked through the peephole, seeing all four seniors gathered in the hallway.

 Confusion washed over you as you unlocked the door and slowly opened it. Oikawa looked particularly proud of himself, something that had your thighs clenching out of sheer habit. “Oikawa-san? Did something happen?”

 Iwaizumi forced the door open, making you take a step back as all four men walked in, putting down their things in the entryway before Hanamaki closed the door. They deposited their shoes at the doorway before Oikawa gave you some sort of answer. “I hate to do this to you, Cutie, I really do, but there’s something your Captain wants you to do for him.”

 His eyes scoured every inch of your body, making you suddenly feel incredibly self conscious. His tongue swiped over his lips, his facial expression absolutely predatory. Your cunt was already aching at the thought of him pounding into you. “W-What is it?” You asked, crossing your arms over your chest.

 Oikawa began to circle around you as you noticed the others begin to slip off their shirts. You swallowed thickly, unable to look away from the sheer amount of tone muscle present before you now. You began to chew on your bottom lip, the taste of your lip gloss crawling onto your tongue. “We decided that we all want a turn with you tonight.” He said, stopping behind you and putting his hands on your hips. He pulled you back to him and you could feel his half-hard cock rutting into your ass as he leaned to speak in your ear. “They don’t think you can handle it, but I can.”

 He pressed a kiss just under your ear, teeth grazing the skin there as you felt the flimsy fabric of the thong dampen with your arousal. All four of them? At once? Your head span as you tried to conceive it, but the captain’s cock grinding into your ass was almost too distracting. He knew exactly what he was doing and you hated him for it. “I don’t think I- Ah!” He bit at your pulse point and you felt her knees begin to tremble from the sheer anticipation of him being inside you.

 One of his beautiful hands moved to push up the lightweight fabric of the baby-doll, his index finger finding your clit expertly and pressing into you with just the right amount of force that had you keening back against him. “Don’t you want to prove them right, my little manager? What happened to all of that ambition?”

 Three pairs of eyes were devouring you as Oikawa continued to press kisses into your throat. They all looked so starving. So      needy    . Who were you to deny your team? Your body was for their taking, that was what you had wanted since you were a freshman right? And now, with Oikawa’s fingers working over your swelling clit, mouth taking claim to your neck, you have no drive to tell them no. There was no chance of you resisting them. You sank into Oikawa’s hold and he knew instantly that you were admitting defeat. You’d take on all four of them, even if it broke you.

 Oikawa dragged you into the bedroom, his right hand never leaving its spot between your legs. When he finally released you, he pushed you gently onto the bed so that he could take off his shirt. The other three came into the room, Makki had already stepped out of his pants and as in nothing but his socks and boxer briefs.

 You turned onto your back, looking absolutely doe-eyed at the large men before you. Again you kept your legs pressed together, rubbing slightly to try and create some kind of friction that would lighten the ache in your core. Out of the corner of your eye you noticed Iwa pull something out of your top drawer, and again you swallowed as you knew there could only be one thing he’d be looking for in there. The black silk blindfold you kept stashed away.

 “Hajime, please,” You cooed softly, feeling fear bubble in your abdomen at being blinded. He ignored your quiet plea, knowing that there wasn’t nearly enough fight behind it to be an actual revocation of consent. He came closer to you, making it easier for you to see the outline of his erection in his pants as he covered your eyes with the cloth and tied it around the back of your head.

 “Good thinking, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa chirped as he took off his pants. “Let’s play a game then, shall we, Manager-san?” He asked, glancing at the other guys. “If you can guess whose dick is in your pretty little mouth then you can get a reward. How does that sound?”

 His irritating voice did nothing but ignite your desires even further. You were pretty certain you knew each of them well enough by now to be able to tell the difference between the four. Besides, Oikawa always held to his word and rewards with him often meant a very intense orgasm.

 You felt a hand grab you by the shoulder and by the softness of it, you assumed it was Oikawa’s. His hands were always the most meticulously kept out of all of them. He forced you to your knees and your mouth opened as you presented your tongue to whoever was first in line.

 Mattsun decided to take initiative, his cock already out as he stroked it. He stepped up to you, guiding the tip into your warm, beckoning mouth. He clenched his teeth together to keep from making any sort of sound that may give him away. Although, he already had a disadvantage. Mattsun was the biggest lengthwise and second only to Iwa when it came to girth.

 He was unable to stop himself from sliding as much in as he possibly could, his tip rubbing the back of your throat as his hand pressed onto the top of your head. His hips rocked slowly, pulling him out a fraction before rutting back in. You swirled your tongue around him, suckling lightly (though it was enough to finally pull a groan from him). You were about to reach up and grab onto his scrotum when Oikawa stopped you. “No touching, Cutie.” He chided and you put your hand back down.

 After a minute of you attempting to work him over without the help of your hands, he pulled from you completely. Oikawa asked you who it was as you were unable to stop yourself from coughing with newfound freedom. After you had collected yourself, you finally answered him with a small smile. “Issei.” You said happily, knowing you were right.

 “Good job.” Mattsun breathed out as he stroked his length to keep it from going soft. “Maybe that was too easy for you, doll.” You shook your head, trying to deny that it wasn’t easy for you to figure it out. None of them believed you.

 The next cock to enter your mouth was slimmer and you quickly narrowed it down to either Makki or Oikawa. They were almost identical, though there was one difference that would give it away. One of them had a small scar at the base of their penis where they had a shaving accident in high school.

 You greedily took him in, drool spilling over your lips and down your chin as your tongue searched every centimeter for the small white line of tissue. You tried to mask what you were doing by sucking and moaning at the small thrusts, the pubic hair at the base ticking your nose as he forced his tip to your throat. He suddenly pulled out, afraid that he wouldn’t be able to restrain himself any longer if he didn’t. “Takahiro.” You said before Oikawa could ask.

 Makki let out a small laugh. “I guess you know me too well, huh?” He asked, not expecting you to actually answer. You smiled, reaching up to rid your chin of the spit that had made its way down it. Though you were somewhat positive that it would be replaced very quickly.

 “Alright, princess, so no one gets left out you’ll do Iwa-chan and I at the same time.” Oikawa said and a small frown formed on your lips. There was no way      both     of them would fit inside of your mouth. How were you supposed to do this without your hands?

 Iwa huffed, obviously not wanting to share your mouth with his best friend but nevertheless not objecting to it. They both stepped before you. “Can I at least use my hands this time, Captain?” You asked, head tilted upwards as if you were looking up at them.

 “Yes, you can use your hands this time.” Oikawa said back, placing a delicate hand on top of your head to rub it soothingly. You were doing such a good job for him and he was making note to make sure you knew that next time you were alone together.

 Again you opened your mouth wide. Oikawa nodded to Iwa who gave a shallow thrust into your mouth. Your hand searched up the leg of the person to your left, finding the shaft of his penis and stroking it. The telltale ribbing of a small scar at the base of it. The same scar you had been searching for when you were blowing Hanamaki. Not only that but Iwa’s girth gave him away. Oikawa was slender and pretty, Iwa was thick and veiny. Telling the two apart was almost like night and day.

 You bobbed your head, keeping the same pace with your hand giving them both a moment to enjoy the sensation before switching sides. You kept one hand on the base of each cock, making it easier to switch quickly between the two. When you had finally set what you thought was the perfect rhythm, a steady hand stopped you. “Who is who?” Oikawa asked in a chipper voice, never one to be upset when his dick was getting serviced.

 “Tooru-kun, you’re on the left.” You said, “Hajime is on the right.”

 Oikawa chuckled, “Wow, what a good little manager you are. You know us all so well. Are you ready for your reward?” You nodded your head enthusiastically. “Alright, get up and lay back on the bed we’re going to take good care of you.

 He grabbed your hand, helping you to your feet and guiding you to the bed where you laid down. He wasted no time in reaching up and grabbing the thin elastic of your thing and sliding it down your legs, enjoying the sight of the middle sticking to your slick folds for a moment before pulling free.

 Mattsun took position to your right, Makki your left, and Iwa was hovering over you, grabbing either of your thighs and spreading them. His calloused hands felt like a stark contrast from Oikawa’s, a feeling that made you shiver and clench around nothing. The blindfold was taken from your eyes at once by Makki.

 Tooru lowered his face to your core, giving you a nice slow cat lick up your slit that had you quaking in Iwa’s grasp. Mattsun forced the top of your babydoll down, freeing your breasts from the see-through material. He ran a thumb over your right nipple while Makki began to kiss along the swell of your left breast.

 Your brain was in overdrive at all the different sensations going on. Oikawa’s tongue pressing into your folds, Iwa’s mouth peppering kisses along your thighs as he held them apart. Matsukawa’s fingers massaging your breast firmly while Hanamaki is sucking hickies into your other one. There was just too much going on, you felt like you were going to short circuit already. Every inch of you was quivering with delight.

 Oikawa latched onto your clit like a leech, sucking so roughly that he pulled a loud moan straight from your throat. Your hips bucked, kegels flexing as you nearly creamed then and there. Iwa bit into your thigh, the pain ripping through your leg. You cried out, trying to squirm out of his grasp but it was of no use. He was stronger than you by a long shot and there was no way you could possibly overpower all four of them at once.

 “T-Toru p-p-p-please!” You cried, tears filling your eyes as Mattsun’s mouth replaced his hand. You just needed something, anything, inside you. You didn’t really care what at this point.

 He removed his mouth from you, a lewd popping sound came as a result. He knew exactly what you wanted, a lecherous smile on his wet lips. “You gonna beg me princess?”

 Your reply came in a whimper, Mattsun’s teeth grazed one nipple as Makki was sucking on your other one, tongue swirling as if he were attacking your clit instead. “I-I need yo-you inside.” You pleaded with him, the desperate need to have your pussy filled growing even more. “Your fin-fingers. Ah!” You tossed your head back as Iwa licked at your clit now. It was hard to concentrate on anything, especially getting the words you wanted out.

 Oikawa was extremely proud of the sight before him. Iwa’s sideways position gave him enough room to slip in two fingers into your throbbing cunt, The long, slender digits going in gently and deeply. “My, my, Manager-san. My fingers are waterlogged in this cute pussy of yours. Are you that desperate to get off?”

 You were unable to respond, too busy concentrating on grinding your hips against Hajime’s mouth and his fingers at the same time. Oikawa pulled his fingers out before inserting them back in, they slid with ease due to the amount of slick that had accumulated between your legs. Your eyes were rolling back, body jerking beneath the three boys that were hovering over you. All coherent thoughts were gone as the team captain because to thoroughly fuck you with his fingers, his vice captain’s tongue tracing fast shapes around your sensitive clit. That along with the two mouths on your chest had you crying and cumming in no time at all.

 Oikawa pulled his soaked fingers from you, inserting them into his mouth to clean them off with his tongue. He savored the taste of your cum, giving a small hum of appreciation at both the taste and the sight of you panting and teary-eyed. “Is our little cum dumpster okay? We haven’t even filled you up yet.”

 The sarcasm of his voice and sudden removal of Iwaizumi’s grip had your legs slamming shut, not wanting anyone to see how turned on you still were. How much you still needed them to satisfy you. The slutty desperation making your heart pound even harder within your chest. How much more of this relentless teasing could you take before breaking completely? You had no idea. “Fill...Fill me up, Captain.” You said between heavy breaths, eyes glossy with saline and want.

 He laughed, “Makki, tonight is supposed to be your night. You can choose what order we go in.” At least Oikawa could be fair when it came to his teammates. Too bad he wasn’t when it came to you.

 Hanamaki thought about it for a moment. “We should switch halves. Mattsun and I will fuck her while you two can have her hands and mouth.” He brushed your hair back, a small smile on his face. “I know she can take it.”

 He maneuvered himself so he was laying next to you so you could climb on top of him. Your teeth sank into your lip again as you positioned his tip at your entrance, slowly lowering yourself down. You couldn’t stop the moan from seeping out between your lips in the process of finally feeling completed. Makki pulled you down by your arm so your chest was against his.

 You hadn’t noticed Mattsun get up and grab the bottle of lube. He generously coated two fingers as he got behind you. He watched as Makki’s dick spread your lips apart, his dick disappearing inside of you in slow shallow thrusts. His own cock was throbbing painfully at this point, begging for release.

 Instead of touching himself, he inserted his two fingers into your ass. You let out a hiss of pain, the muscles burning at the sudden stretch. Hanamaki was whispering sweet things into your ear to help distract you, telling you how good you were doing for him. How amazing your soft pussy felt wrapped around him so tightly while Iwa was positioning himself at your head, stroking his cock is a slow languid motion.

 Oikawa had grabbed his phone and was now recording. He enjoyed nothing better than humiliating you by filming you in compromising positions. Most of the nights alone with him involved some sort of video equipment. Despite being hard and dripping precum onto your carpet, he seemed to totally ignore his erection and focus only on getting the perfect shot of you pleasuring his team.

 Mattsun continued to prep your ass, feeling your muscles beginning to relax around him. Makki kept his rhythm light, not wanting to jostle you around too much while his friend was getting you ready. His hands were on your waist, holding you still as you whimpered. He was being so gentle, too gentle. That wasn’t what you wanted. You were craving Mattsun’s brute force, the little whimpers coming from you only proving how ready you were.

 “Don’t leave her waiting, Mattsun.” Oikawa said. “She wants you to fuck her ass, can’t you see how much she needs it? Little cumslut can’t get off to just Makki treating her like a princess”

 Mattsun tutted, removing his fingers so that he could lube up his cock. Again he watched you take in every inch of Hanamaki like such a good little girl. He spit on your ass, letting it slide down your crack as he pressed his tip into your anus. Hanamaki was still as his friend pushed into you, leaving delicate kisses along your jawline.

 He let out a loud groan as his balls came into contact with your perineum. You fluttered around both of them, taking the moment to adjust to having two dicks inside of you instead of just one. And Mattsun was so big you thought he might rip you apart.

 Iwa was growing impatient, he pressed his tip against your lips and your tongue darted out to taste his precum. He grabbed a fistful of your hair as you opened her mouth fully for him. Makki and Mattsun still weren’t moving yet, simply enjoying the feeling of your body heat warming up their cocks.

 You tried to move your hips to feel something, anything. The neediness growing ever wilder within you. Oikawa watched with great delight, enjoying the muffled torture sounds coming from your mouth as you sucked on Iwa’s dick. “You want them to move, sweetheart?” He asked in a sickly sweet voice that was definitely anything but sincere.

 You whined loudly, despite your mouth being full. You attempted to nod your head but it was slight due to not wanting to hurt Iwa by accident though your teeth did graze him and he gave a warning tug on your locks. You looked up at him with an apologetic expression, gargling out a sorry that wasn’t really comprehensible.

 “You heard her, Matsukawa.” Makki said, his once sweet voice going sly. “She wants us to move.”

 Mattsun laughed darkly as he pulled back slowly before jerking his hips forward, roughly slapping into you. Searing heat and pain caused tears to once again spring to your eyes as Hanamaki began to move in sync with him with an almost equal amount of force. It took a moment for them to stop fumbling awkwardly with one another, trying to find a going pace that worked to both of their advantages. Once they found it though, it was nothing but bliss. Both your pussy and ass being fucked simultaneously while your mouth was stuff full had your eyes rolling back and drool slipping down your chin again.

 “Fuck it’s so tight.” Mattsun moaned, smacking your ass with a harsh slap before rubbing the area. “Why have you never let me fuck your ass before? You’ll be lucky if I ever use that used up pussy again.” He growled at you, making the welling tears finally fall down your face. They dripped down onto Makki, though he didn’t mind much at all.

 Iwa was forcing more and more of himself down your throat, gagging and choking you in the process until you could barely breathe. He was taking the liberty to fuck your mouth, allowing you to simply be another hole for his pleasure instead of an active participate in getting him off.

 Oikawa grabbed one of your hands and wrapped it around his dick. He knew you wouldn’t be able to stroke him due to your fucked out state of stupidity. He moved your hand for you, keeping it steady as he bounced his hips against your grip. “I get that ass next.” He said, “Iwa-chan, you can have Makki’s hole. I want her so full of cum that she won’t stop leaking for a week.”

 Makki increased his pace, forcing Mattsun to do so as well. The two dicks rubbing inside of you have a fast knot tightening in your lower abdomen. The thing that finally did you over was Makki reaching between the two of you and teasing your clit with the pads of his fingers. You were screaming around Iwa, eyes shut tight as you came for a second time, both holes spasming around your partners, pulling moans from them as you sucked them in more. It was enough to drive Makki to his peak as well, releasing inside of your cunt while Mattsun thrusted wildly, the sounds of his balls slapping against you was the loudest thing in the room at the moment. It only ceased when he finally came, pumping your ass so full of semen that it seeped out around his base.

 Iwa pulled his dick from your mouth and throat, allowing you to gasp and sob. You were already so incredibly overstimulated, you couldn’t imagine having to go yet another round. But you knew your captain and vice captain wanted to get off too. Oikawa’s dream of making you the sluttiest little cum dumpster in all of Japan was quickly coming true.

 Mattsun pulled out of you, enjoying the view one last time before stepping back and disappearing into the bathroom to clean up. Iwa moved to the side, ready to fuck you senseless again with growing impatience. Makki took one last breath, gave you one last sweet kiss, before slipping out from under you.

 Oikawa handed his phone to Makki so he could continue to film while he positioned himself under you. With Iwa’s help he had you sitting up and turned around so that your back was to him. “I think Mattsun lubed you up enough, Manager-san, don’t you think?” He asked, tip probing your dripping ass before suddenly dipping into you without warning. You cried out, almost not believing just how easily he slid right in. Since he was a bit smaller than Mattsun, it didn’t hurt at all for him to be inside all at once. The former had stretched you out too thoroughly.

 Iwa also wasted zero time in plugging you up, stopping anymore of Makki’s cum from escaping you. You were still crying and shaking, too overstimulated to say anything that made sense. Unlike Mattsun and Makki, they didn’t need time to sync up into a nice rhythm. They both went in hard and fast, almost competing with one another on who could be the most brutal.

 Oikawa’s hands were on your breasts, pulling at your nipples, “What a good girl, taking your captain and vice captain like this.” He said, holding back his own moans as he whispered into your ear. “Our little good luck charm. My cute little slut, you’ll do anything I ask of you won’t you?”

 Your answer was a strangled moan, throat still sore from Iwa’s previous abuse. You could tell Oikawa was struggling not to cum. Whenever he got too excited he had the tendency to lose control.

 Once again Iwa had a bruising grip on your thighs, keeping them nice and spread so he could easily see his handiwork, watching you take his thick cock as if it were nothing. The squelching sounds you were making had you feeling incredibly embarrassed, the way the previous boys’ cum had acted as lubricant for the two new ones. Oikawa and Iwa were pumping in and out effortlessly, working you over once again.

 “Iwa-chan, but your thumb on her clit, I bet she’ll squirt all over us if you do that.” Oikawa said, nipping at your ear as he tugged on your nipples again. Iwa reached down, pressing his thumb against the engorged bud and rubbing in fast tight circles. Your back arched, more sobs erupting as you felt another overwhelmingly powerful orgasm rip through you. You couldn’t stop the release of ejaculate as it squirted out of you, showering all three of you in the process, though Iwa got the brunt of it.

 Oikawa was laughing harshly, “Fuck princess, you’re just so goddamn dirty aren’t you? You like being stuffed like this? Will you ever be satisfied with just one again?” You shook, collapsed on top of him, unable to make any sound or even think straight. Your walls were still fluttering around him, hips jerking in tune with their thrusts. Iwa’s nails dragged across your skin, the pain not even enough to cause you to yelp like you normally would. A few pumps later and he was adding to the mess with his own cum, the warm liquid filling your pussy so beautifully for him as he pulled out.

 “Best for last.” Oikawa hissed, Flipping over so he could ravage you at a whole new angle. You couldn’t even hold yourself up, he had to do it for you as he rammed into you over and over. He wasn’t holding back anymore, hell you didn’t even know he      was     holding back before. He chased his own high, hitting his peak and pumping you full of even more white creamy liquid.

 He pulled out and gently laid your hips down onto the bed. You cried into the sheets, still feeling jerky from your own string of orgasms. It was over? Finally? You couldn’t believe that you had actually survived all four of them at once.

 Oikawa and Iwa began to clean themselves up as Makki put his captain’s phone away and went to pamper you with kisses. He turned you on to your back and spread your legs just enough so he could clean you up the best he could. Parts of the bed were soaked unfortunately, but Mattsun brought a clean towel to lay down over the puddles, moving you so that you were on top of the towel instead of the wetness.

 “Don’t forget, Makki, make sure she’s up tomorrow for practice.” Oikawa said in that sing-song voice of him. “Maybe we can have a round two in the equipment room.”

 You whimpered in protest as Hanamaki held you close to him. “He’s joking, love, don’t worry.” He whispered to you softly, knowing you were too outdone to do it again so soon.

 Iwa punched his shoulder roughly, “leave her alone, asshole.” He said threateningly, coming over to plant a light kiss on your forehead. “If you can’t come tomorrow, don’t stress it.” He said quietly enough that the only other person to hear him was Makki. He straightened up before shooting a glare at Oikawa.

 Oikawa frowned a bit at him before walking over to you. “Good job, princess. I knew you could do it. You made your captain so proud tonight.” He cooed softly, petting your head. “I’ll call you in the morning to check on you.” He placed a kiss identical to Iwa’s onto your forehead. “Makki is going to take good care of you tonight.” He assured before standing up once more. “Let’s go, Iwa-chan. I’m hungry.”

 The two started bickering as they left. Mattsun cleaned up around the room a little more before, wishing you a farewell before leaving. Hanamaki continued to whisper to you about how amazing you were and how thankful he was for letting them do this. He didn’t stop until you finally lost your battle with sleep, cuddled up next to him and clinging to him for safety.

 And the next day you definitely didn’t show up to practice.

Mobile Masterlist || Request Rules

Tag List: @dabi-hates-fish​, @hawksward​, @drxwsyni​

[soranis-sunshadow]

Entrapta deserved better

My posts are usually either detailed analysis or memes and shitposts.

I’ve re-watched the show and this will be an angry rant…  

With every viewing of the show, Entrapta’s arc makes me progressively angrier because I empathize with her so much.

She is introduced to the show as being a reclusive scientist, known throughout the Maker’s guild for her genius. Even her staff is weary of her. She spends all her time alone with her robot friends in her lab within her isolated castle.

The alliance interacts with her with the explicit purpose of recruiting her into their war effort. They want her for her ability to build weapons for them. That’s as deep as the relationship goes this far.

Entrapta has no stakes in the war, the Horde hadn’t attacked Dryl. She joins them because she wants to be their friend; she wants to help them in the only way she knows how, using her technological prowess to their benefit. Due to her isolation (and her being autistic), Entratpa struggles to understand interpersonal dynamics. Human interaction is a skill she has had little practical experience with. She understands the concepts, the rules of the game, so to speak, but she has seen it in play only as a third party rarely ever practicing it herself.

She’s invited to the Princess prom due to her princes status but she’s an outsider there too. No “friendly” princess seeks her out to hang out with her as a friend would. The only person who does so is Catra, and she does it for her own reasons…

With Glimmer abducted, the alliance mounts a half-baked rescue operation. Everything Entrapta did in this episode had a purpose, it looked like she kept getting distracted when in actuality, she was studying horde tech, rescuing Seahawk and furthering their mission and she had no time to explain herself (it also occurs to me that Entrapta might not explain herself because no one asked and no one ever understands her reasoning anyway) The princesses try to control her because she’s being “difficult”. They don’t care why she’s being difficult, they want her to conform.

Once they rescued Glimmer, they don’t even come back to check if Entrapta’s actually dead, or to get her remains and put them to rest respectfully. They allready have the princess they came for.  

Entrapta is all alone with her new robot friend Emily in the Frightzone vents, expecting that she’d get rescued because “no princess left behind” but rescue never actually comes.

Catra uses this new abandonment to convince her to switch sides. Entrapta didn’t jump ship because of her tech hyperfixation, she switched sides because Catra used her skill at pinpointing someone’s weak-spot and poking at it. 

Catra may not have been Shadow Weaver’s favorite ward (she was her scapegoat and punching bag, the poor girl) but she did learn from her and repeatedly put those skills to “good” use.

Once they find out she’s alive, the alliance wants to rescue her but she’s made new friends in the Horde and she think that they understand her fascination with science, friends that actually interact with her directly. She actually feels included here and as such, she’s not eager to return to the alliance’s side.

Entrapta befriends Catra and Scorpia but even in this trio, she is the third wheel. Catra is focused on herself, her ascension in The Horde and on her missing Adora. Scorpia is focused on Catra and on pinning for her.

Once Entrapta and Hordak start growing closer together, Catra stops talking to her. Perhaps she was hurt because Entrapta “broke her promise” to not go in Hordak’s sanctum, perhaps she was envious of her closeness to the Horde leader, or perhaps both, either way, the friendship is broken from Catra’s side. Entrapta still sees her as a friend and fights Hordak over the decision to send her to Beast Island. Despite his grouchiness, he considers her request and grants it.

As recompense for saving her life, Catra backstabs Entrapta when she tried to stop Catra from triggering a potentially world ending event and then sends her to the fate Entrapta saved her from: exile on Beast Island.

When faced with the choice between Catra and Entrapta, Scorpia choses Catra. Hordak is lied to so he doesn’t know to look for her, he believed she used him and is heartbroken about it.

You can actually pinpoint the moment his little heart breaks in this scene:

 Even so, he spends most of season 4 wanting to face her; he’d rather see her as an enemy than not see her at all.

After Catra proves herself a bad friend, (after months) Scorpia finally decides to rescue Entrapta and goes looking for help, deserting to the alliance. She has this little realization:

Adora is the only person that actually wants to go right away and rescue her. Bow wants to rescue her because they need her tech savvy and Glimmer says that they can rescue her after the war or something… (the Island she’s on is a death trap, she might not live that long for all they know)

she said this 

then this

She knows that this is a time sensitive issue but she wants to put it off  despite the urgency, if that doesn’t sound like friendship to you, then what does?  *sarcasm intensifies*

Contrast this with how the villain of the show reacted to the news of her being sent to Beast Island:

On Beast Island Bow gives her a longwinded speech about how she’s supposed to work harder at friendship. I know he’s projecting his own issues here but it still makes me so damn angry. Entrapta’s trying; she’s trying so hard, no one ever tries back! No one makes the effort to understand her (except that one clone but we’re not talking about him), she has to conform to their expectations, the reverse is never applicable.

Anyway, stuff happens and Glimmer is abducted again, by Horde Prime this time.

Then that whole “Lauch” episode happened. Entrapta is distrusted by the alliance more than Scorpia is. She is seen and cold and interested only in tech, she has to explain and redeem herself in their eyes after they treat her like rubbish. They don’t connect the fact that helping them with tech is how she shows her friendship. 

It’s the only thing she thinks she’s worth to them. She wants to be accepted by them so badly.

 Entrapta gets emotional over rescuing Glimmer! 

The person who when faced with the same prospect, said she’d do it later…

Even Catra’s apology to Entrapta for trying to kill her is a blank “I’m sorry”. Pls say what exactly you are sorry for Catra. Entrapta deserves that much. Bow received a better apology for far less of an offense.

All she ever does in the show is work towards furthering someone else’s goals, her own are always a second thought. As @cruelfeline​ pointed out, even a small scene with her discussing what happened with Hordak, her reaction to it and the gang focusing on Entrapta’s troubles for ONCE , even if it’s just offering her emotional support, would have meant so much.

Why is the show trying to tell me that Entrapta should work on being a better friend?

That's a terrible message!

She doesn't need to work harder on her friends, she NEEDS BETTER FRIENDS.

So many of us ND people end up being third wheels at best and we blame that on ourselves, we internalize the reasoning that our friendship fail because we’re weird and we’re not doing it right. That we’re the ones that have to try harder to be understood and that our concerns should come second.  That is a terrible thing to internalize, we are blaming ourselves constantly because we try to understand others and they never try to understand us back. 

With age, I’ve grown out of trying and being different so that other people would like me. They’d end up liking the mask I project, not me anyway. I’ve found people that understand me and that like me for who I am, but only after I’ve stopped trying to be “better” for others to accept me. With being honestly “weird” with those around me, I’ve been accepted far more than for trying to fit in. And I’ve realized that people that shun my otherness are not worth the effort to try and befriend in the first pace .

 That is what young autistics need to hear, not “git gud” at friendship.  You are not wrong, you are not defective or broken, you are you and you’re beautiful just the way you are. If other people don’t see that, then the failing is theirs. Don’t change, just look for people that see you.