#it's not like there's nothing there to develop it's just that they did it bad. I'm fine with adding a sad song about leaving home but ffs

[milonogiannis]

Since late August of 2022, Barry Topping and I have been working on a shoot ‘em up game called BIRDCAGE.

Now 2024 is wrapping up and – surprisingly – so is the production phase of BIRDCAGE. There’s still plenty of work to be done, but the game itself is all there, playable and asset complete.

Now we’re left with an ever-growing lernaean hydra list of other tasks to handle – emails, wider testing, stability, updating store presences, promotional stuff and in general, just trying to maximize the reach and polish of what we’ve made.

The final stretch of production (roughly the last 5 months?) was really fun. The game had matured enough that we just instinctively knew what would work and what wouldn’t.

We’d become comfortable enough with the tools we built and our process where we’d just be constantly in hyper mode. The game really came together in this final leg of development.

POLYGON BIRD, our studio name, and EXCEL Framework, the name given to the "shmup tools" we made for the game.

I was expecting ending full-on production on BC to be frustrating and depressing, but some switch flipped in my head and now all I want to do is email people about the game, optimize our Steam tags and figure out how to get this in people’s hands – and I’m finding that fun, at least for now. The game isn’t this ideal brainchild piece of art to me, suddenly. We did the work to make the thing, now it’s time the thing worked for us.

It surprises me how often I find myself thinking ridiculous things like “we need to activate our discord members” – but I’ll take this over the usual pit of despair I fall into after finishing a big project.

I guess this is what motivated me to write down these thoughts in the first place – I was bracing to be fully depressed and lost right about now, resenting the game and the time we spent on it. Maybe this will serve as a reminder that finishing a thing doesn’t have to feel so bad?

So now we’re kind of going back into uncharted waters – promoting, releasing, dealing with feedback, hotfixes and support. There’s going to be a lot of “learning on the job”, I guess, but I’m excited to see that aspect of game dev.

I’m really glad we were able to hit our goal of wrapping up this phase of BIRDCAGE as the year comes to a close – it makes it easy to look back on the past 2 years as a whole and see how much we’ve learned. I can’t wait for us to make another game, knowing what we know now.

There is still nothing to announce regarding the release of the game, but it still felt important to make note of this milestone.

For now, just know we’ve made a game and are working on getting it out there! We should have a lot more to say soon.

In the meantime, you can help us out by adding BIRDCAGE to your Steam wishlist.

Thanks for sticking around all these years.

Happy holidays!

-G

[fulcrums501st]

yea there are some insane Caitlyn takes. The discussion should be critiquing how the show wrote and handled these important political issues and how s2 robbed Caitlyn’s arc of the development necessary for her redemption to feel earned in the end. But that’s the writers rushing and not handling these themes with care, plus a lot of the bad stuff Caitlyn did felt sorta out of character or at least like they rushed her character to get to that place (police brutality montage COUGH COUGH) so I feel like Caitlyn’s arc is another victim of the less thought through, rushed writing of s2. Her character deserved more. Those themes deserved more. But seeing some people completely villainize Caitlyn is just…weird. Cuz I feel like the main issue is the writing didn’t do her arc justice, not “omg Caitlyn’s just an evil facist now” like what. She’s a driving force in s1 for trying to get the council to listen to the needs of the undercity. She says “this city needs healing, more than I’ve ever realized” . S2 felt like it rushed through the story beats of her starting to fall down that path, and then especially rushed her getting out of it, making all the problematic stuff she did feel unresolved despite what understandable and good intentions Cait may have had.

I don’t want arcane s2 critiques to become “x character is just evil” or “x character did nothing wrong ever” or “s2 was literally 100% bad” or “s2 was a perfect masterpiece” cuz that has never been the point of the show. The show isn’t black and white. And the issues with s2 aren’t just black and white.

This why I will never wholeheartedly say I stan anything or am a certified hater

So... I wanted to write about the Caitlyn hate train because it's flooding my twt.

First I'd like to start by saying that you're entitled to dislike a character. Arcane is a work of art, but it's also just cartoons -whatever, just hate the cartoon character. I don't even like Caitlyn that much, mostly I find her arc very compelling.

But. The amount of hate and the shape it takes, for me, is very clearly influenced by a few factors.

With Caitlyn I feel like half of the folks are just regurgitating discourse they read before and try to earn internet morality/politics points while very much forgetting to touch grass. There is no"I don't like her", there is a sense of rightgeousness in disliking her that doesn't make much sense. "She's literally Hitler!" Please think. There are real life fascists and nazis over here. This is a cartoon who's the bad guy for like four and a half episodes.

There are interesting conversations to have about how Caitlyn's actions mirror real life oppression, as many also point out as a reason to hate her. It's fair that you dislike her those actions, to be honest. But 1) stories are not made to be morally perfect but to explore themes and emotions -characters will do bad, even evil things; 2) critical consumption of media exists; 3) using political language to hate on a fictional character with no real political critique/analysis behind makes me think you don't really believe that much what you're saying & you just want to use buzzwords you learned on the internet.

Takes like this are tinted with some sort of attempt to a moral high ground for disliking a fictional character for political reasons, while simultaneously refusing to understand the narrative of the character and think critically about what it is trying to say about real world politics.

To analyse a story you have to engage with it. See what it wants to tell you. See how it does it. See how it fails. You can dislike Caitlyn and tbh disliking her because of her role in the story is more than fair. But that doesn't equal media analysis. And I'm sorry but not liking a character doesn't make you more politically committed than the rest.

There are so many interesting things to say about Arcane's flawed portrayal of politics. How it uses the aesthetics of oppression to tell a story without deeply analysing the oppression itself within the narrative, how the context in which it was created and the beliefs held by its authors afect the portrayal of themes... Among all these, "Caitlyn is evil and irredeemable because we saw a montage of her and Vi doing police violence" is a very superficial take. Please, please, pleeease analyse those montages frame by frame and discuss how they showcase police violence, what bias they have, what purpose it serves. Analyse how it takes from real life events in a way that is insensitive. I'd love it sooo much to see posts like this.

On the other side, I've seen people say both that say Caitlyn is evil because of the acts she commits and then say that Silco is a revolutionaire. What? Silco WAS a revolutionaire, and he still had a motivation to make Zaun free, but his motivations do not match his actions and that's pretty obvious. "Sometimes revolution requires violent resistance" = "Silco is a revolution hero" showcases a very shallow level understanding of the first phrase there. Silco flooded the streets of Zaun with drugs. The Firelights were born out of willingness to defend zaunites from Silco and Jinx. Silco did not do violent resistance against Piltover, not since the rebellion he had led with Vander. He tried to invent shimmer as a weapon to fight again and the only thing he managed is to make many people misserable and dependent on it -and he didn't care. His character and his actions are quite more complicated than "he's doing everything for revolution"; but again, another character reduced to a catchphrase that fails to actually engage with his story. Only difference between these people's opinions on Silco and Caitlyn is that Silco's character has the word "revolution" near in the script and Caitlyn's script includes "cop".

Another thing is, why hate Caitlyn so much and not say a single thing about Ambessa? I can think of a few reasons but I'll summarise like this:

1) Not being aware that Ambessa is always the one calling the shots here even if Caitlyn is given the title of Commander. Even though the show is very much making this clear.

2) Because Caitlyn gets a redemption and Ambessa gets "punished" aka is a villain and dies. As if humans where not more complex than good and evil.

3) Caitlyn's more popular than Ambessa I guess? It's always more fun to hate on the popular character. Also she's a main character so she'd obviously get more more attention.

3) Some people just want women to be perfectly moral all the time, and in wlw relationships even more. I didn't want to bring up fandom misoginy & lesbophobia but I can tell if it was Jayce having her narrative and redemption the discourse would be quite different.

Anyway. Acab and long live critical thinking. I guess I just want to say please send some nuanced Caitlyn takes my way because I'd really love to read those.

[iamnodens]

Okay hear me out, I get that you guys love reading ambises with submissive, soft, oblivious, etc. because we all want a the muscle lady toshow off her strength and pin us up against the wall and be naturally dominant us and so on butttt.....

I know that Ambessa has a penchant for naughty and taming kinks and let me give you an idea.

What about the reader? They are shapeshifters, with a background from the city of Zaun or maybe from a bad city because honestly I haven't seen the majority, but in any case their background is not good and they grew up in poverty and survival, they used to earn their daily living by stealing from the rich and taking advantage of their abilities as shapeshifters to their advantage in infiltrating or doing missions for a fee, but nothing serious that might cause their identity to be revealed.

As for how they met Ambessa, here comes the tea, given the nature of the reader and their tendency to risk their lives and live on the adrenaline of thefts and mocking the lives of the rich as if it would pump their blood, they saw that stealing from the powerful and majestic war princess Ambessa was like an irreplaceable treasure, so they started to change like one of her guards and sneak into her palace or tent or lands in general and steal some things that are not noticed at first, then the situation developed after they saw that they got away the first times and after that they started stealing and messing with other things just to leave a signature that they were able to steal from the famous general and sometimes left written notes for her to mock that despite her majestic ability to wage wars and conquer kingdoms, neither her guards nor she are completely safe and I am just in a high place so that she cannot see below (which means that she is very tall and also rich, a double meaning)

Finally, she caught Ambessa's attention and it started to make her angry to catch the little thief or mouse who sneaks in and messes with her belongings and steals from her, until one day she sets a trap by leaving her precious daggers in the readers to catch them and this leads to the mission because the readers have been changed to one of the guards who were not on guard duty today and Ambessa noticed that and the little thief did not realize their mistake, until she saw the same guard sneaking into her headquarters..... You can decide the rest

There are some additions that I wrote, which is to make the thief from a rare species and has always been a target for hunting by the rich, whether for research or entertainment, etc. This is what adds to making their background harsh in hiding and not revealing themselves so that they are not caught, and an additional point is how do you detect a shapeshifter Which is the protruding fangs, it is the only thing that no one from the virtue of shapeshifter can do, and I added it because I want to plant my fangs in the shoulder and hand of Ambessa, frankly, so it will be a great addition

I have no motivation to write the story, but if anyone wants to borrow the idea and turn it into a series or a long story, please do so. There is also no objection, but I prefer to add the names to it.

what do you think ?

[sonderblade]

SONIC MOVIE 3 SPOILERS AHEAD!

SCROLL NOW YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

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Okay so we all know that Shadows survives at the end but I was thinking about if they went down the path of Shadow feeling extremely guilty for almost destroying the world and doing the opposite of what Maria wanted but I also was thinking about Shadow having strong guilt towards SONIC considering he almost made Sonic lose someone so important to him and Sonic ends up talking it out with him and helps him despite everything.

So I’m thinking about this AU where Shadow gets ambushed by GUN agents and there we see that soldier lady (who was very efficient in messing up everybody’s plans😭😭go queen, I Stan her) and he’s in a terrorgation room with no cuffs, nothing, just her and him. She approaches him saying that he wouldn’t have come willingly because he most likely would’ve thought they were ambushing him anywYs blah blah blah- we get to the point where she guilt-trips him using Maria, him almost destroying millions of innocent lives, and then she brings up Sonic and how he put aside his hatred and helped him instead and how good of person Sonic is and that Shadow didn’t deserve someone like Sonic to be good to him- that he didn’t deserve a second chance. And she does this WELL. She doesn’t yell, she’s calm and she has such a sure face that it messes with Shadow despite him trying really hard to not take everything to heart and agreeing WITH it. She says that he could EARN that second chance if he starts helping GUN because “today’s GUN isn’t the same GUN as before”. And adds,

“if not for the world, then for her.”

And THAT gets him on board, although still reluctant.

Then we can time skip into shadow having a REALLY bad time where he’s constantly switching from mission to mission to fighting in an underground illegal fighting ring because he can’t stand being at GUN’s room for him and he needs to let out his emotions. He’s in between fighting as an agent and as a bloodied fighter(he lets himself get beat bc he thinks he deserves it) and he’s seeing hallucinations of Maria but also starts to see hallucinations of Sonic and he begins to consume his mind because why??? Why help him??? Why console him? Why choose to understand him? Why did he smile at him knowing all the things he’s done? Why laugh and talk with him like they’ve known each other forever?

And he CANNOT get Sonic out of his mind. He’ll be fighting bad guys on missions and Sonic’s smile flashes or he can hear him laugh. And shadow doesn’t know how to feel about it. He barely knows the guy!!! But it doesn’t click until he gets a talk from someone in the locker room for the fighting ring where she tells him, “when someone looks at you with care even though you’ve done nothing to deserve it… it’s hard not to think about warmth after years of freezing.”

And it clicks. Sonic’s the only other warmth he’s felt besides Maria. But Sonic’s different, he isn’t someone to be like family- like Maria, it’s something else entirely and he’s so confused at the feeling. But he thinks of him anyway. And he dreams of new times with him anyway. And he’ll never plan to visit him.

Until a new foe arrives which causes the Sonic team+ Amy (so excited to see her!!)+ Shadow & GUN. Sonic and Amy are getting along fine but Sonic is just. So. Glad that Shadow is in fact alive. He introduces her, they talk about what happened but Sonic is all like “it’s all in the past, who cares??!!!!!” “Sonic, he almost killed Tom and you tried to kill him” “it’s all in the past!!!!!”

And they get to develop their relationship and Sonic’s talking about how Shadow needs to go “popular place” and needs to do “trendy cool thing” because he’s “uncultured to a horrifying degree”. They get to have teamwork, argue with each other, reconcile, laugh, bond, and it’s NOTHING like these boys have felt before. It’s so easy to share with each other but also have some sort of friendly rivalry and continue to push themselves to impress one another. It’s sportsmanship , it’s friendship, it’s romantic(tho they won’t admit it), it’s a genuine connection.

And maybe. HEAR ME OUT PLEASE. MAYBE. they have a dance scene. THIS ISNT CRAZY. THEY SHOWED SHADOW DOESNT MIND DANCING AND SONIC FUCKING LOVES IT!!!! SO!!!!!

ITS A ROMANTIC LYRICS BUT REALLY GOOD MUSIC TYPE OF SONG (think of “Ma Meilluere Ennemie” from Arcane which is SO THEM btw) BUT ANYWAYS.

I just really hope we see Shadow and Sonic become friends that everyone knows as complicated but They still Care. For one another even if they don’t want to admit it.

[hollisterhunni]

TW: ab*rtion, misc*rriages, SA, Jimmy 

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS BELOW!!

-Jimmy doesn’t acknowledge the fact that he forced himself on Anya. (Obviously, I know.) In fact, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to believe that he thinks that she was obligated to do so. -I noticed that we don’t see Anya’s baby developing or being mentioned after the crash, which lead me to three possibilities as to why:  1. The developers didn't have enough time or didn't think it was necessary to create a model of a developing Anya, since it could spoil the game. (HIGHLY LIKELY) 2. Anya may have lost the baby (had a miscarriage) when Juicy Juice disengaged autopilot and crashed the ship. OR had a miscarriage due to lack of sleep and undernourishment from limited rations. 3. Or Jimmy refuses to acknowledge the pregnancy that HE caused, because that would result in taking responsibility, so in his eyes, there IS no baby. Keep in mind that we're seeing everything through Jimmy's perspective after the crash, so some events and things are warped and perverted to fit HIS beliefs. -Yep. Jimmy might've had a warped obsession with Curly. (That's it. It's pretty self-explanatory if you play the game and really analyze their interactions. If you want me to expand on this idea, let me know! (*^‿^*) -Swansea to Daisuke: You looking to get impaled, electrocuted, and cooked?! .....If only you knew. -Jimmy wasn't genuinely attracted to Anya--romantically or sexually. We don't even see signs of him showing interest in her. I believe he coerced Anya to regain a sense of power he lacked greatly in the presence of Curly.

-I. DON'T. SEE. ENOUGH. PEOPLE. TALKING. ABOUT. THESE. PO-LI-CIES!! Less than five hours of sleep. Medical expenses will be docked from your credits. Reports of poor team synergy will be docked. You are responsible for you and the team's safety! These are the reasons WHY we have a game in the first place AND why Jimmy got away with it all! Pony Express' policies PROTECTED people like Jimmy! No wonder why he felt so comfortable doing what he did! And the dialogue from Jimmy to Curly before he crashed the ship. "You said it yourself. The ship, The crew. It's all your responsibility!" He knew. If the incident got to Pony Express, everyone--including Curly--would get penalized! - Daisuke's Parents. Lawsuit and/or Search Team? I understand that Tulpar was intended to still be on track for the next eight months. But I'd think when the Tulpar didn't return after the full eight months passed (counting the months that passed after the crash), Daisuke's parents understandably made an uproar about their son not coming home and ordered for Pony Express to find them--OR they'll get sued. (Resulting in Curly possibly getting rescued! ╰(▔∀▔)╯)   - “We’ll have a rad story to tell though! They might even write articles about us. We can be on TV!” Daisuke could make a grown man cry—this is an indicator of his painfully strong naivety and optimism despite the obviously dire situation of crashing in the middle of space without any contact. He doesn’t TRULY understand the situation! 。゜゜(´Ｏ`) ゜゜。 - During Chapter 10, before Jimmy Neutron (actually no, I'm not gonna do Jimmy Neutron dirty like that) Jangles "captured" Swansea and murdered him, we could see his hands tied behind the chair. But AFTER the graveyard sequence, Swansea's hands were freed and resting in his lap which makes me think-- MAYBE that sequence didn't go down how it was told.. Think about it. His posture in the chair. Some of the dialogue in his final words, "I've got nothing to hide. I'm ready to face the music." Swansea realized that chasing Jimmy wouldn't change what happened so he sat and waited for him in the main room. It just doesn't seem like someone who has been captured. It sounds like someone who recognized their wrongdoings and is now taking responsibility.(SOMEONE should've been taking notes--) - Anya is actually the most valuable member of the crew. The MVP. The badass. THE bad bitch. (You get the gist...XD) How in the hell did she manage to keep Curly alive with limited medical supplies when he's practically a vegetable? That's a nurse who not only knows her craft, but can apply it in creative, helpful ways. And she's extremely knowledgeable. At one point, Anya informed the crew that mouthwash wouldn't work as a disinfectant. And guess what Jingleballs DID?!

He used it to disinfect Daisuke's wounds, making them WORSE! (And he had the audacity to imply that Anya wasn't competent enough.)

Anya was the crew member that kept everyone together with her skills and knowledge. But we don't see that. Why? Because of Jimmy's sorry ass. All in all...  

[aishangotome]

[Clavis] A Love Tailored To You Part 1

Credit to @shatcey for providing the video upload.

Late at night, even in the bustling Kingdom of Lulush, silence fell––

Clavis and I, having just made love, lay facing each other in bed, cooling our flushed bodies in the moonlight streaming through the window.

Emma: Hmm... Clavis, where are you touching?

His long fingers trailed along my thighs, still damp with sweat.

Clavis: Your leg?

Emma: That's not my "leg?"

Before I knew it, his fingers had crept up to the border between my thighs and buttocks, and I swatted his "bad" hand away.

Clavis: A moment ago you showed me such a shy— no, such a lovely sight, and now you're being cold to me.

His hand left my backside, but instead, Clavis snuggled closer, as if seeking affection.

(Oh...)

Our skin, still warm with passion, touched, and a deep ache throbbed within my lower abdomen.

(My body is at its limit, but somewhere in my heart, I want to be loved by Clavis a little more.)

(Lately, the more I'm loved, the more I want... When did I become so greedy?)

Clavis: ..............

Emma: ...? Is something the matter?

Clavis: I was debating whether to tell you this or not... but I shouldn't keep secrets from my beloved fiancée.

Clavis: I think I'll confess honestly.

Clavis squeezed my hand as if making up his mind.

Clavis: ... Actually, there's something I've been worrying about. Will you listen?

(It's rare to see him with such a serious expression. Could it be a really serious problem...?)

Emma: Of course. Please tell me. I'll do anything I can to help.

Clavis: You're truly kind.

Clavis: Well, um... It's hard to say, but...

(I wonder what it is...)

Clavis: I'm having trouble developing a new product for the Lelouch Trap series.

Emma: That's terrible... Huh?

Clavis: Hm?

Emma: Traps, you say?

Clavis: Yes, and?

(...I was worried for nothing...)

Clavis: Haha, don't make such an obviously disappointed face.

Clavis: Besides, it's a more serious problem than you think. For both me and you.

Emma: Come to think of it, something like this happened before...

Emma: Clavis, you were in a slump, and then..., uh...

As I somehow managed to pull out the sunken memory from the depths of my mind, the throbbing in my lower abdomen intensified for some reason.

Clavis: That look on your face... It seems you haven't quite remembered it yet?

Clavis: It's no wonder. You were in a terrible state back then.

Emma: Wasn't it Clavis who was in a terrible state? You were agonizing over it for so long...

(Huh? Was that really all?)

Clavis: Ah, that was a painful experience for me too. After all, I made my beloved Emma furious.

Emma: I wasn't furious, and I wasn't angry about the slump.

Clavis: But it's true that you were displeased.

Emma: Displeased, or rather, a little frustrated, I guess...

Clavis: It's the same thing in that I took the smile away from my beloved fiancée's face.

Clavis: How did I get over the slump back then?

Emma: Um, let me see...

*flashback*

It was shortly after the Kingdom of Lelouch was founded, and the "lovey-dovey sweet life" that Clavis had spoken of began––

(...No doubt about it.)

I had a small errand to run, so I went to the room used as a storeroom. With my hand on the doorknob, I stood motionless, staring at the door.

(It's just a hunch... but I feel like it's been "set.")

(This room isn't that big, and the ceiling is high, making it difficult to set something up above.)

(So, if anything's coming, it'll probably be from the front. In that case...)

I made up my mind and flung the door open with force.

Emma: ...Gah!

The instant I opened the door, I quickly dodged to the side, and a gray object whizzed past my face with tremendous force.

(That was a clay doll cushion...!)

The cushion, which had slammed into the wall behind me, swelled up from the impact, growing to the size of a person, then burst, scattering ribbons and confetti.

Emma: That was close...

I breathed a sigh of relief and stepped into the storeroom, but––

Emma: Eek!

The ribbons that had scattered from the explosion tangled around my feet, and I fell forward.

A second clay doll cushion shot out from somewhere, gently catching me.

(I've been had...)

As I struggled to untie the ribbons from my feet, I heard footsteps approaching.

Clavis appeared, clapping his hands in satisfaction at the sight of me sprawled on the floor at the entrance to the room.

Clavis: I'm surprised. I didn't expect you to dodge the first one.

Emma: Wasn't the second one meant to anticipate that!?

Clavis: No, the second one was meant to further amuse you as you entered the room, pouting...

Clavis: Hmm, you've become quite the trap master yourself, haven't you?

Emma: Hehe, fallen in love with me all over again?

Clavis: Yes. Just how far do you intend to make me indulge you?

(Since we started living together, I feel like I've gotten more and more used to Clavis's traps.)

(Does that mean I've become better at reading what Clavis is thinking than before?)

(It makes me a little happy to have grown as an accomplice.)

I unconsciously covered my loosened lips with my hand.

Clavis looked at me with a solemn expression as I lay there grinning on the clay doll cushion.

Emma: Clavis?

Clavis: No... don't worry about it.

Clavis: I'll always give you pleasure. You can look forward to it.

-

Several days later––

Emma: Whoa, the crackling bubbles are overflowing from the bathroom all the way out here...

Emma: It's a good thing I was suspicious and threw the linen in from outside...

-

Emma: How on earth did the table and chairs rotate along with the carpet?

Emma: If I had stayed seated, I might have been in trouble.

-

Emma: That was close; if I had been a little slower to react, I would have been hanging upside down.

Emma: I wonder how he prepared this mirror that reflects upside down. I couldn't help but stare.

-

Emma: ...Alright!

The moment I opened the window, I swiftly dodged the sticky substance that flew in from outside.

(I haven't fallen for a single trap these past few days!)

(I've truly become a Trap Master... no, perhaps a Clavis Master?)

With a feeling of pure joy and a slight sense of superiority, I smiled at Clavis, who was beside me.

Clavis: ...........

Clavis put his hand to his mouth, pondering for a moment, and––

Clavis: I'm sorry, but I'll stop setting traps for you for a while.

Emma: Eh?

(Just when I was getting the hang of overcoming the traps.)

Clavis: It pains me to do this, but it's for your own good. Forgive me.

(Well, I guess it's a good thing that the townspeople won't be troubled by the traps anymore... right?)

Even as I answered, I felt an indescribable frustration in my chest.

-

Emma: ––So that's what happened.

The next day, I told Cyril, whom I met in the hallway, how Clavis had stopped setting traps.

Cyril: You've finally been freed, congratulations!

Cyril: Let's have a lavish meal tonight. No, let's have a party!

Emma: A party would be a bit much, Clavis would feel sad.

(And, it's true that things will be peaceful, but I also feel a little lonely...)

Just then, a whistling sound came from somewhere.

Emma: Huh?

Cyril: Huh?

.

.

.

.

Part 2

If you’d like to support my translations, feel free to buy me a coffee here! :)

[ryntaia]

Persona dream

I had an interesting dream last night where the Investigation Team from P4 collectively ended up with Ren and Goro as children (I think Ren was 10 and Goro was 11), essentially adopting them both under the wing of the Investigation Team because Yu could innately tell they were both Wild Cards. Naoto found and kept Goro with her grandfather, and Yu was like...Akira's uncle who cared more about him than his parents did or something??? Yu has a lot of family apparently

Anyways it ended in a sad conversation between Yu and Naoto about how they were worried about the development of both kids and how Naoto may have found Goro too late and Goro was already displaying early signs of aggression and emotional instability (he liked Akira though). Wouldn't call Naoto or her grandpa as family, acted extremely aggressively towards other children, etc, and Akira was super withdrawn thanks to his parents being dicks who live by 'children should be seen but not heard'. He was protecting Goro from bad dreams while Yu and Naoto talked though, hugs and shit. They fell asleep in Yu's room I think.

Naoto then took Goro to Marukyu and got him some Ganmodoki (I honestly can't believe that my dream remembered that shit, but Rise was there and thought he was cute at least) and then took him to Junes where he stared awkwardly at Cashier Nanako for an hour while Naoto talked to Yosuke. I think Nanako gave him some shitty plastic ring that he really liked.

Akira went back to sleep tho

and Yu wouldn't shut up about the 'emotional memory' he had of Minato (something something Wild Cards recognize Wild Cards and nothing could truly make them forget encountering another one I dunno)

thanks to my dreams I never have to stop reading fanfiction even when I sleep yaaaayyy

iunno I just wanted to type this out I guess enjoy

[amber-in-the-rough]

why would Aaravos want a mortal vessel?

alright, so

I've watched the new season. I've already screamed and cried and rolled under the table and I have one final question left.

Why would Aaravos want a mortal vessel? Especially now, when the Archdragons are gone. He is supposed to be infinitely stronger than any other being on Xadia. Supposed to, yeah. Did you see the so called 'master of all six primal sources' show off his mastery more than once? Because I didn't. And it pisses me off beyond measure because it really seems like bad writing to me. He just fucking didn't do anything, just stood there, waiting for his enemies to charge at him. He was easily overcome by fucking human chains and ballistas- and one archdragon- when we were said that in the past he could easily hold off against all of them! Damn. Imo, Aaravos was seriously downplayed this season.

I know, perhaps this was his plan- to get himself killed and take all of the archdragons with him. Even so, he should've put up more of a fight. NOT JUST STAND THERE WAITING TO BE SMACKED!

And still why? Why want Callum as a mortal vessel? It doesn't make any sense. Maybe the Star Council or what's they're called- maybe they have a restriction prohibiting them to hurt mortals? Which sounds rather stupid but it's the only explanation I can think of.

The creators tried to do the build-up for arc 3 and in doing so they rushed and blurred the arc 2 finale. Putting together the archdragon drama, killing Aaravos drama and Rayllum drama was a mistake. Neither got fully developed. And were they seriously trying to tell us that the main cast would have survived the nuclear burst explosion of a star while being protected only by Domina's wings??? What are the wicked things even made of?? Oceanic mithril???

The final showdown felt like a series of Chekhov's guns which never fired. They just made a lot of drama around them, then showed them to us and- that's it. I suppose, Aaravos's plan was to get stabbed by the Nova blade, then take over Callum's body (for whatever reason) as his giant form was being destroyed. But then- we return to the question of why move to another body when there's nothing stopping Ezran from stabbing Aaravos in Callum's body (aside from their brotherly bond but that's no big deal, he just needs to ask Soren or whatever-).

As a result, we got Ezran with a Nova blade which never got to be used- Callum with his coin spell which was interrupted halfway because Aaravos got charged at by a dragon and Callum's gunsight was broken??? ??? That's- I'll be honest, this is so dumb. No Nova, no dark magic. Why even bring that at all?

And finally, what did Aaravos even die from? He did not sustain any lethal damage. When Zubeia and Avizandum were lifting him up (and yes, why didn't he stop them? did he forget all of his spells and telekinesis as well??), what were they thinking?.. What were they gonna do? It looked like they were about to drop him but- this is also so dumb. I don't think that would have worked because if Aaravos is so easy to kill- Why the fuck didn't they kill him 300 years ago??? "Didn't want to?". God damn.

I won't believe that Aaravos didn't have the power to take down the archdragons and that's why he simply decided it would be easier to go boom and set off the rebirth cycle. I refuse to believe that he is so weak. After all, one, he already killed two archdragons and that went fine. And two, even humans managed to kill one! They even survived!

Overall, I am absolutely in love with the first half of the season. I loved all the conflict everywhere, the part in Silvergrove was wonderful, felt like a real holiday- The adventures of Claudia and Co were also very exciting to watch!

But after that... It got rushed, blurred and very, very odd.

At least we got a white streak Callum. And a whole lot of 1 (one) interaction between Aaravos and Callum. That's an achievement, yeah. I love when the main protagonist and the main antagonist only have two interactions throughout all of the seasons (no, I don't, I fucking hate it).

That would be all. This is entirely my humble and angry opinion so- you are welcome to disagree. But I will stand my ground. This went very oddly and some parts I unfortunately didn't like. But I am all in for arc 3. Even angry and a little disappointed, I still fucking love this show and would be more than excited to see how it all goes from here. We still have so much to learn and see. The cube, Claudia, Rayllum, Elarion, grown up and talking Zym (it was such a twist!), Harrow in a bird... Please let us see this! Please, Netflix! Aaravos is not defeated, he merely retreated, please let us see how they'll deal with him in seven years!

[puppyeared]

Why are ppl scared to call it what it is and say we’re still going thru covid on top of seasonal illness. Like. That’s pretty important right. I was watching the news and they were like oh yeah we have an unprecedented number of flu cases “as well as other sicknesses” without actually saying Covid. No announcement abt vaccinations or masking or anything. Also if I hear someone joking abt “war flashbacks” for mentioning covid I fucking hate u

[marimeeko]

Yo why the fuck is Katsuki and his relationship with Izuku getting done so dirty in this epilogue? Like he led the super suit project. He likely started it bc he couldn't dream of doing herowork without Izuku. All Might credited him when giving the suit to Izuku. He held out his hand. Izuku, I'm guessing, took his hand. Fine, good, wonderful.

But suddenly, Katsuki fucking asks him to start an agency with him so they can work together, literally their fucking DREAM SINCE THEY WERE KIDS? AND IZUKU SAYS NO?? What was this entire exercise for? What was showing us how deeply they MEAN to each other, how dependent on each other they are, just for izuku to casually shoot katsuki down with a smile, even FOR?

Please what the fuck. What the fuck am I looking at.

As far as we know yet, we dont know if the two get a conversation specifically regarding katsukis devotion to the suit project, we don't get Izuku getting to realize and appreciate what Katsuki has been doing for the last 8 years, how devoted the man is?

And yeah I know katsuki ain't doing it for clout or recognition or a pat on the back, but that doesn't t mean he doesn't deserve some form of emotional payoff for the whole thing(as well as the audience who was rooting for him!)

Ooof I know I know, I'm angry over a manga(I wasn't mad before) but this part has driven me up a wall bc...

Idk, katsuki just deserves better. He feels like n afterthought in this epilogue.

I know I know, I need to wait out the full release and see everything for myself but DAMN

I feel like he's getting done a little dirty in this.

Technically no izuku doesn't owe him for the gift HOWEVER this is a story with thematic elements and THEMATICALLY, izuku and Katsuki have been so intertwined and woven together, and played as so desperate to keep each other in their lives, to compete, to fight alongside each other, and then the PAYOFF is a SHRUG and a rejection to just that?? Thematically, this is UNSATISFYING AS FUCK.

Like, what is their entire arc if it just ends in a casual rejection?? What the fuck were we building up to and getting so emotionally invested in for their relationship? Please it's so anticlimactic. This was a story about THEM. There was no Izuku without Kacchan, there was no Kacchan without Izuku.

Katsuki Bakugou deserves better.

And 0 percent of this is about the shipping. It's simply what Horikoshi wrote when he wrote them as a duo. When he framed their relationship as the CORE, the heart and SOUL of the story. When he made "win to save, save to win" a running theme, when he made Izuku someone who would kill for Katsuki, and Katsuki someone who would die(and live) for Izuku.

Maybe as more info drops and actual releases happen, this post will age badly. Part of me really hopes it does and there's some sort of misunderstanding or something, bc I did NOT want the thread of BKDK(be it platonic, romantic or other) to end this...unfortunately.

Again. I don't give a shit about the shipping in this moment, in this rant/vent. It's not about that rn. It's literally just the setup not matching the payoff.

[greyedian]

MAN I'm seriously so sad about season 2. Bc I wish act 2 had the same emotional impact on me as it appears to have on so many others. But rn I'm just somewhere between unable to care and actively annoyed by some of those writing decisions. Seriously the more I think about it the less I like it.

[lloydfrontera]

actually i get very emotional when i think about the giant ants arc because when arcos is told that there's an entire colony of monsters that could easily destroy the estate the very first thing he asks is where lloyd is. and when he's told that he's still down in the mine he doesn't hesitate for even one second to grab his armor and go down there himself just to get to lloyd. like. those things are huge and they're vicious and there's hundreds of them and to face them is *checks notes* "to guarantee your own death". arcos hasn't even touched his sword for a decade. he's not winning that battle. but it doesn't fucking matter at all because his son is down there and arcos is going to get to him even if it kills him.

he just. he fucking loves his kid so much. and this is not even like that far ahead into the novel. lloyd is barely beginning to clean up his body's act. this is chapter 25 it's like 6% of the whole plot. and this man was already completely and unhesitatingly willing to die for his son. how am i supposed to not cry about that.

[moeblob]

Erin, to her crush: You're a dick

Mason, the crush: I won't argue! But to clarify -

[icewindandboringhorror]

I occasionally wish to reach out to old friends/acquaintances I haven't spoken to since high school/some other even earlier time in my life, but I have SOOO little social energy even for required tasks (like making dr phone calls or etc), I never have any leftover for extra ones, and it would be very odd to message someone I haven't spoken to in like 5 years out of the blue but then take 4 entire months to respond back lol.. My natural curiosity with nostalgia/collecting details of the past/etc. (literally if I were born a little earlier I would definitely do scrapbooking or something lol) is very strong, but, alas, not strong enough to beat out the Social Issues Demons apparently

[nubuckleather]

🤠

[girlivealwaysbean]

i think growing up is just life repeatedly sucker punching you and saying bitch you thought things were gonna better lmao no you're so naive and stupid for having hope in 20 years the world will be flaming bag of garbage and no matter how hard you work you'll get eliminated at some point