#it's up in the air

[randomnameless]

I read a lot of your posts basically saying Wilheim left Adrestia after his son's death, but is it only your headcanon or somewhere in the games?

I usually try (but then i often forget) to tag the headcanon stuff with "fodlan au" or "fodlan hc", but as for Willy leaving Adrestia, it's basically in Rhea's big "did you know Wilhelm was the greatest Emperor who ever Emperor'd" infodump speech she hits Barney and Cyril with at the end of Nopes' Nabatean paralogue!

Finally, Nemesis—the leader of the opposing forces— was defeated at the Battle of Tailtean. Having achieved his chief ambition, Great Emperor Wilhelm ceded the throne to his son, Lycaon.

Nemesis died, apparently this was Willy's ambition (uh...) and after Tailtean he gave his throne to his kid, Lycaon.

Wilhelm continued to assist Lycaon in battle.

apparently they were still fighting? JP line is this "その後もヴィルヘルムは、リュカイオンの 後見として戦場に立ち続けましたが……"

But from what I can roughly understand, Willy is still around to support and help Lycaon when he has to fight.

Important thing to note : When Lycaon is Emperor, Wilhelm is still around to "assist" him.

But Lycaon perished at a young age, and Wilhelm soon retreated into the background.

Lycaon "perished" and Willy... retreats in the background. He is not around anymore when Lycaon disappears.

JP wise we have this : リュカイオンの早世によりヴィルヘルムも 役目を終え��表舞台から身を引きました。

Again, from what I understand, it's roughly the same save that the "and Wilhelm soon retreated into the background" is more like something like "so Willy retreated into the background" : Lycaon's death means the end of Willy's role, even if we know there was a successor (the Empress who dueled an Aegir for the throne!).

Other important thing to note then : When Lycaon is no more, Wilhelm fades in the background

He relinquished this shield to Seiros, and together they returned it to Indech's workshop.

We know at least after bailing out of Adrestia he and Rhea were still hanging out and they returned Seteth's shield to Indech's hamlet, what happened to him afterwards, we don't know.

-> When Lycaon is no more, Wilhelm doesn't assist the new Emperor/Empress like he did for his son. He fades in the background. He meets Seiros and they travel again.

That's the canon.

If the order of events is a bit muddled (did he say fig to Adrestia before or after returning Seteth's shield?), fact remains that he was willing to assist and support his son - a callback to the Rodrigue-Felix duo from this route? - but refused to do the same for the Emperor(s) following Lycaon and "faded" away.

[msviolacea]

So, I've been playing Ikemen Villains since its English release a week or so ago, and while I haven't finished a full route yet, I've been thinking about what I like and what I don't, so here, have an early review.

The tl;dr - I like it quite a bit, and am happy to keep playing. I don't like it quite as much as I like Sengoku, but I like it a lot more than I liked the other Ikemen games I've tried. I can recommend it to anyone who likes mobile game-type otomes with a darker tone.

The game setup: in an AU Victorian England, there's a team of men with questionable morals and fairy tale curses who work for the Queen to solve problems of even more awful moral implications. The main character is a letter carrier who accidentally witnesses their deeds and gets sucked into their world while they figure out if they can trust her not to spill their secrets.

What works for me:

The writing is top notch. It's light and fun when it needs to be, and hits the right combination of period melodrama and anachronistic modern that I enjoy in these kinds of games/stories.

The LIs are all very fun, and I'm looking forward to experiencing all of them. Even "wait, Motonari, what are you doing here, why are you alive like 300 years later and why did you change your name?" (I say this with all the love, I adore Motonari, but man I'm pretty sure they just recycled some cut dialogue from his IkeSen routes for Jude.)

I started with William's route, and I really enjoy the themes of "there's no reason to abstain from personal joy, you deserve to be your fullest self" that they're going for.

I also like the level of sensuality/sexuality they have going. If I'm playing one of these games, I want it to feel sexy!

I appreciate that they include content warnings for the darker content - one of the current event stories has a warning for potential dubcon content, which is nice. I don't mind reading the darker stuff, but I do like being prepared and being allowed to make a decision about when I want to read it.

I'm always a sucker for the fantasy Victorian aesthetic.

What works in comparison to the other Cybird games:

The chapter lengths are ... okay? One of the things that made me hard bounce off the other two Cybird games I've tried - Vampire and Prince - is that the chapters/segments felt REALLY short, in a way that felt like an over-the-top cash grab, in the "spend money to get a satisfying amount of story!" way. By contrast, the "5 tickets a day" amount I get from Sengoku feels like an acceptable amount of content - I don't know if IkeSen chapters are actually longer in terms of word count and scenes, but it feels that way, whether it's actual length or just quality of the writing/scene structure. In comparison, Villains chapters do feel shorter than Sengoku, but the content is presented in a way that feels generally satisfying to complete in the free daily tickets. I wish there was a bit more, but I'm okay with what they give overall.

The "oh no there's a time limit" plot contrivance is believable, in the context of the game and the genre. MC saw too much, they're giving her a month to prove herself trustworthy. That feels fair, with the genre conventions in mind. IkeSen's works well - Sasuke's "don't fall in love" warning is weirdly tacked on, but the actual time limit is the wormhole that would get MC home to the future, and the conflict is whether her connection to the LI/the characters in general will keep her in the past. I don't remember what Vamp's is, because I really bounced hard off of that game very early, but I remember that the Prince contrivance was the other major detail that made me ultimately abandon the game. What do you mean, the MC didn't read the whole contract she signed? All of this could be mostly solved if she'd paid attention? That just felt lazy on the part of the writers, and undermined the MC in a way that made me not want to follow her story. Anyway, I'm glad that Villains has one that makes sense and doesn't make the MC feel overly flighty.

The Villains art style is ... fine? Again, I don't like it as much as Sengoku, but it's comparable to/better than the other games I've tried from Cybird.

Some things I don't like:

I'm sure this is a tech issue, but GOD the loading screens in this game are SO SLOW. I can feel myself aging just watching the little lamp flash.

I know this has been a staple of the non-IkeSen Cybird games, but I really dislike the card system as it's integrated into the story mechanics. There's no benefit to the gacha. Oh look, it's .... a picture? There's no story involved, a la Tears of Themis, or anything other bonus content. I'd much rather stick with IkeSen's dress-up mechanic, at least dressing up avatars is a fun mini game. I am not tempted at all to spend real money to obtain so-so pictures that I can easily find on the internet if I really want them.

Ultimately, it's nice to have another otome that has grabbed my attention, and after playing a couple of the new event stories, I'm going to sit here and wait impatiently for Victor's route because I love him. But I'm certainly not going to be tempted to spend the kind of money I spent on IkeSen - which is good, I have a mortgage now, and I don't have the excuse of wallowing in my own grief + pandemic lack of leaving the house to excuse it, lol.

[obeetlebeetle]

SHOULD i spend 25 bucks on either an old sweaty jacket or shako from my high school band (which is replacing its uniforms)? no ofc not. but WILL i?

[rhinestonesox]

When Senshi was young in the dungeon the majority of the adults he were with ostracized him. All except Gillin, who died to make sure Senshi had something to eat: unseasoned boiled meat that may or may not have been one of their comrades.

It really puts into perspective why he was so nurturing towards Chilchuck. When Chil reveals he’s 28 to the party, Senshi responds by telling him that he thought he was older. Senshi was in his 30s when he and his comrades got trapped in the dungeon, so it’s safe to assume that he thought Chil was at a similar age.

He met a young boy who was, from his perspective, forced to do dangerous work in the dungeon just like he was, and so, Senshi made an effort to look after Chilchuck in the same way Gillin looked after him.

Mind you, when Senshi was young in the dungeon he had to starve for weeks, eat the horse he loved, and finish it off spending the next i don’t know how many years wondering if he committed cannibalism.

Senshi understands first hand the value of nutrition and proper eating, so when he’s with the party he makes an effort to make sure they’re all eating a full and balanced diet. Not only that, but Senshi INVOLVES them in the process of getting food to eat, always preparing it in front of them and narrating every ingredient in the process so that there’s no doubt about what they’re eating.

[pangur-and-grim]

she has a good life

[dykealloy]

what do you mean jennifer saunder's shrek 2 cover of Holding Out for a Hero didn't play over the entirety of dressrosa arc

[anbaisai]

Blep. (Sequel to the boop)

Or alternatively titled: Snake Jamil, but even larger noodle

The species that Jamil is based on here is called the Blood Python (special thanks to @kirexa for the information!), which can reach an average of 4-6 ft in length and up to 30 lbs in weight.

Bonus panel:

[pikatik]

I just like drawing them talking

(Long haired Aziraphale again :D)

[jennydolfen]

"May I simply hold you?"

The sweetest slow-burn boys are finally in each other's arms. 🫠🫠🫠

My entire social media feed is EXPLODING with these, I'll just throw mine onto the pile. XD

[demaparbat-hp]

She will (and he'll let her)

[aledethanlast]

I know I've made this post before but it absolutely fucking kills me that Andrew's entire outlook on life was "I just have to hold on until I drag Aaron across the finish line," only for Kevin to swoop in and, between fits of hysterical sobbing, somehow still find the time to insist that Andrew has a great life ahead of him, and the breath to belligerently dismiss anybody who argues, especially Andrew.

No wonder they're so antagonistic. No wonder they're best friends. Suddenly Andrew is the one getting dragged to the finish line. If Kevin is wrong, then he's covered in mud for nothing. If he's right, then the finish line is much, much further away than just graduation.

[wavewavethoughtsonly]

IlLogical

Shockwave revealing one of his many creations to overthrow the Autobots.

While everyone assumes Shockwave is being uncharacteristically stupid, Soundwave knows he’s trying to please him.

[foldingfittedsheets]

I was talking to a coworker recently and offhandedly said I wasn’t exactly competent at a lot of things. He reared back in obvious visceral disagreement that made me stop midsentence.

“What do you mean you’re not competent?”

“I guess I mean compared to the people I’m surrounded by? I’m not very handy, I guess.”

He looked baffled.

I tried to illuminate with a story. So at the sex shop we needed to vacuum every night, right? But one time after my days off I could tell the carpets hadn’t been vacuumed since I last saw them. I asked the other girls why not. It turned out that the screw that held the handle on the vacuum had been stripped and it wouldn’t stay in. Why was that down to a single screw? Bad design.

So any attempt to vacuum meant the handle just popped off when the screw jumped ship. I looked over the vacuum. I found a junk drawer. I found the biggest screw I could that still fit in the hole wrapped it in tape to bulk it out. Then I shoved/screwed it in place. Then I duct taped the opening so that fucker couldn’t pop out. Voila, a working handle.

The other girls were utterly delighted that I’d fixed the vacuum but I was painfully aware that my solution was neither elegant nor long term.

My coworker listened. Finally he said, “I think being competent just means you have the ability to learn a skill you lack, and you can do that. Your solution worked, and you were the one that tried to fix the problem.”

I digested that and agreed, but admitted any new skill learned would prompt me to be a huge baby about it.

[montereybayaquarium]

Many hands make light work. Or in the case of the basket star — many branches catch more snacks! 

This sinuous sea star stretches its many branches into the current to skillfully snatch small crustaceans and other prey as they drift by. 

[once-delight]