#it's entirely possible that the other joker is either a clone from the network or some multiversal fuckery or something else. who knows

[clownprince]

GUYS GUYSGUYS OH MY GOD. OHMMYGOD I JUST FIGURED SOMETHING OUT

so after joker gets hit by a train solomon gives him this mysterious green liquid. i've been wondering what it was, my first though was maybe there was an undiscovered lazarus pit in the sewers or something like that. but i was rereading task force z and

it's lazarus resin!!!

maybe grundy grabbed a vial when he tackled bloom? but either way that is definitely the same type of vial and the color is similar (not identical but that's likely bc different artists/colorists!)

my running assumption has been that this line was metaphorical but it's not! it's literal!!! joker DID die when he got hit by the train but grundy brought him back with a vial of lazarus resin!

and i've been making mental connections between tfz and tmwsl the entire time but it was kinda theoretical (and still is!) but the lazarus resin thing makes my theories more plausible for sure imo

so in tfz there are clones, amelia, delia, and celia. the powers company has cloning tech. and they also have memory replacement tech!!! that's what they did with the fake bane! they tampered with his memories. the thinker says that he has cognitive profiles of metahumans but in issue 12 bloom manages to resurrect a dead corpse with the powers company resources and make it think that it's jason todd/red hood, who is definitely not a meta, so evidently they have tech to do the same for non-metas

so my theories are that either:

1. they cloned joker and implanted memories in the clone. this could maybe connect to the network plot in the joker (2021)

2. they found a very fresh corpse with a striking resemblance to joker, and then maybe gave him a nice acid bath and implanted the memories (or they found a way to do this with living people)

i think it's highly likely at this point that sewer rat undead!joker is the real joker, especially after knight terrors. so now the question is: if i'm right about this, who's behind the other (LA) joker? harvey? did bloom somehow survive? geri powers? maybe even waller? and what are they up to? is LA joker an escaped experiment or does whoever's controlling him have an agenda?

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 3 replay, part one of the Citadel DLC:

-I normally do the Citadel DLC right after picking up Tali, but I wanted to do the Rannoch arc in one go so I put it off.

Now seems like a good time – after Rannoch the Normandy probably needed repairs anyway, and the asari Councilor’s called me back to the Citadel.

Meeting Joker

-In the Grissom Academy mission, Anderson and Kahlee haven’t seen each other for years.

At the start of this mission, Anderson says Kahlee had wanted them to settle down in the apartment. In one of the audio logs he speaks to her directly.

So, retcon?

-How does Anderson connect to the apartment? Or to Shepard in general?

I thought QEC worked so one point connected directly to another point. So you can’t pick another point to connect to; it can only connect to a preset transmitter.

Ergo, Anderson should not be able to wander around Earth and connect to the Normandy or his apartment whenever he happens past a QEC transmitter. That QEC transmitter should only be able to connect to its pair.

It’s entirely possible I’m misunderstanding how QEC work, but that’s what I take away from the Codex entry: “the system’s exclusively point-to-point nature precludes peer-to-peer networking and data dissemination through the galactic extranet.”

-The audio logs in the apartment have excellent information, but needing to listen to them is painful. Just present a text entry that I can choose to read or listen to. I can read much faster than Anderson can speak. Easier to reference, too.

-I can understand why this apartment is huge; admiral or Councilor, I’m sure Anderson brings in a nice salary.

But why the hell does it have three beds? Two upstairs, one downstairs? Did Anderson have roommates?

-The turian pointing at the fish at the sushi place is so, so cute.

-This place must do both levo and dextro food. I see a mixed crowd eating.

-I wanted to complain that the mercenaries are all human, but we learn later Brooks is a human supremacist so that adds up.

-As a power user, this section should be easy. I normally don’t use my gun at all.

However, the M-11 suppressor during this section is heavy, so my powers recharge much more slowly than normal.

That makes this section very frustrating.

I don’t know why they did that; the M-11 you receive later is light.

-The attack on the sushi place is odd.

It’s extremely public; if Shepard died there, everyone would know. Clone Shepard doesn’t want that – they want to replace Shepard, and there would be too many questions if Shepard died at the sushi place. This is before they’ve replaced Shepard’s fingerprints.

They also want to kill all of Shepard’s close friends; they would not be able to fool them.

That’s presumably why Brooks saves Shepard at the sushi place.

But why attack them there at all? Why give the mercenaries kill orders and risk one getting off a lucky shot?

There must have been an easier means to lure everyone into a trap and obtain Shepard’s Spectre code. Some method that did not result in everyone in full combat gear.

-As usual in ME3, I have a hard time making out the broadcasts and background chatter. It’s not subtitled because fuck you if you having hearing problems.

-Why does the walk sign consist of a turian, hanar, and human?

That’s an odd choice. Turians and humans have very similar body types; you could easily switch either out with an asari.

The hanar makes sense, as they have a very different body shape.

Instead of a turian and a human, I think it would have been better to swap one out with an elcor.

-Finally, the much spoken of Fishdog Food Shack makes an appearance.

Seriously, where did that name come from? That does not sound like a human name. Did some other species start it up and advertise it as selling human food?

-I hope the skycar place has good insurance. They’re going to need it.

(I bet Citadel policies exclude acts of Spectres, the way many policies exclude acts of god.)

-It’s a nice touch that you can read the descriptions for many of the skycars for sale.

-I need to look up how this plays out if Wrex is dead; it must be very different.

-When Brooks says Shepard took out 100 guys with a pistol, Shepard does not deny it.

Well, even if they didn’t take out 100 today they have over the years.

Casino

-Elijah Khan’s name is very close to Elias Khelim, from Thane’s loyalty mission. I initially thought they were the same person.

Were they perhaps intended to be at one point, and it was changed later?

-You should have the option to take Cortez with you. He’s a love interest and there’s no combat this mission, so it wouldn’t take that much more work to include him.

-Javik should have had a new set of clothes for the Casino. We were robbed.

-Why are all of Shepard’s dresses awful?

-I love how Elspeth Murrain attracts every shady person to contribute to her campaign funds. Even Aria’s involved and she operates out of the Terminus Systems.

-At least the consort’s a bit warmer this time. Still not tremendously helpful though – is “win” really the best advice she can give?

-Columbia Rios is glorious. She reminds me of Helena Blake from ME1. Very pragmatic and straight to business.

-Hmm. I deliberately avoided speaking to Aishwarya Ashland so I could speak to her father first, but I still told him that I’d met her. Is it because I overheard her say a line? Or does Shepard always say that?

-The turian by Aishwarya is wearing a suit. Every other turian except Rolan is in other clothes. Is he her date?

-Javik dances when you speak to Jonah. It’s beautiful.

-Huh. I swear I remember some dialogue about the Patriarch, but I’ve circled the casino twice and can’t trigger it.

-Brooks, have some patience. I’ll get to you.

-You get credits after the mission. Rather amusing – the implication is that Shepard robbed the place. Hopefully just Khan’s personal funds.

Citadel Archives

-Javik says protheans did not date primitives… Except for asari.

Ah, asari. The writers screwed you over so badly. You deserved better than to be best known as the species everyone wants to fuck.

-How did the volus delivery person get into the apartment?

Even if it was unlocked – and I hope not! – I presume they would not waltz right in.

Unless James gave them the code and told them to? But why would he do that?

-And why is payment for the pizza not required before delivering it?

Everything’s digital anyway; or at least I haven’t seen any references to cash. I’d expect payment before delivery to be standard.

-Brooks makes sure everyone goes to the Citadel Archives by saying it’s a shame that not everyone can come.

If she hadn’t brought it up, someone may have stayed behind to secure the home base.

Reverse psychology at its finest.

-There are multiple biotics in the squad. Dropping weapons doesn’t disarm them.

-The archive holos are not subtitled, because I cannot emphasize enough how many fuck yous Bioware has for those with imperfect hearing.

-Of course the holo about the First Contact War would consist of two male turians and one male human, despite the species supposedly being gender equal.

The Omega DLC had already been released. They had no excuse for not including a female turian. Or at least making the human a woman.

-One of turians explicitly says he intends to conquer Earth.

I do love the Hierarchy being a low key empire in the background. They must pull this bullshit all the time. If they snatch up a new client race, no one will protest because it’s more work than letting it go!

The asari and salarians must be sick of it.

The real reason they were so firm that the Hierarchy couldn’t conquer humanity and had to pay reparations: They’d already aquired two other “clients” this century.

-Why is there only one image of the krogan ambassador attacking the asari and salarian Councilors at the start of the Krogan Rebellions? Is the implication supposed to be the rest of the recording was damaged in the fight?

-Why does Glyph desire combat abilities?

He’s not a full AI, so that must be part of his programming. But where the hell does it come from?

-Liara apologizes that Glyph keeps mixing up the two Shepards by saying he’s not a combat model.

What does that have to do with being a combat model or not?

I suppose combat models may have greater recognition ability because that’s extremely important in a fight, but you’d think that’s a function also critical for the Shadow Broker.

The former Shadow Broker was cheap.

-And we learn in another holo that the Council did accept that Sovereign was a Reaper. They just kept it quiet.

Interesting retcon, since the writers explicitly acknowledged and rejected this possibility earlier on by having Joker state he had hoped the Council had been denying it to Shepard because of the Cerberus connections and was disappointed to learn it was not the case.

So why retcon it now? Did the writers realize how absurdly bad it made the Council to deny it? But why would they care? They’ve always portrayed the Council in a negative light.

I suspect this was another case of “Wouldn’t it be cool if…?” and not much more thought was given to it.

-I love that the first Spectre was selected because he used civilians as bait and was fairly confident that they’d survive.

The Spectres have always been shady as fuck. I suspect paragons are more rare than renegades.

-Glyph says it’s a pity the scientists perished because he wanted to discuss the elcor mating totem with them.

Does he mean in the past? Or current day in the Archives? I don’t see any bodies.

-I suspect the Council will be pissed at the amount of damage the Archives is taking.

Here’s to hoping their backups are up to date.

-Clone Shepard is dressed the same as the Shepard in the Archive holo where they’re considered for Spectre status.

That can’t be coincidence. Someone is feeling insecure.

-In Brooks’ flashback, the signs by the door Shepard uses their Spectre code to open have text rather than the cute picture of turian/hanar/human they do in the game.

-When Clone Shepard replays the portion of the Council meeting where Shepard was made Spectre, only the asari and turian Councilors are shown. Where’s the salarian Councilor?

-Clone Shepard: The Normandy needs its captain.

Very out of character for the real Shepard. When the quarians called them captain in ME2, they specifically rejected the title since they had not reached it in the Alliance.

-Is it just me or does anyone else get the impression that Brooks seduced Clone Shepard?

Give Clone Shepard’s chronological time span, that makes me feel icky.

-The inability to open vaults from the inside is a huge safety concern.

The real contribution of humanity to the galaxy will be minimal safety requirements.

-How does Joker know about the other Shepard?

They don’t learn about that until they’re in the Archives, and Joker doesn’t join them there.

Normandy

-Clone Shepard may have changed the biometric logs, but they don’t have Shepard’s memories. They will not be able to fool anyone for long.

Also, I hope the Archive system has an audit trail that tracks when changes are made. Even better, what changes were made.

-At the start of the mission, Joker referred to the Normandy as “his” then quickly backtracked it to “ours”.

As he takes Shepard and co to the Normandy, he and Shepard refer to the ship as his repeatedly.

Nice touch.

-Javik: Don’t be stupid, human. It was clearly a clone.

Considering Javik’s been expressing incredulousness this whole time about it…

-The clone letting go of the Normandy because Brooks abandons them is tragic.

The clone’s been alive six months. Brooks is the only person they really know. Once Brooks leaves them, they’re alone in a world they barely have any experience with.

They’re a shitty person, but they’ve had barely any time to be a person. And they’ve had just about the worst guide the whole time.

I feel bad for them.

-The Normandy probably needs more repairs than when it started. Oops.