#its also reminding me of Dev. i am so sorry dev.

[sux2be]

taking my heart out and stomping into the ground dont you dare get another friend crush. dont fucking do it.

[squidsmakemedelusional]

i might be tripping but i have some thoughts about the side order artbook

so let me start off with the Parallel canon design that we got

what kinda was interesting for me was the rose left to PC, and the overall style of them. It seemed very fantasy inspired. its giving musketeer vibes lowkey.

or this other design that reminds me a lot of an duelist kind of figure (which is so fkn cool!!))

(sorry for the bad quality) and that seems to be Eight with an sword!!

so what am i thinking? maybe that side order was going for a more fantasy/shoujo-inspired-feel! What would not be farfetched because Marina herself is really really into Shoujo manga so ofc she would theme her project around that, duh.

also theres this dev diary that i found interesting:

"

storybook princess? we KNOW what you are, Marina.

but all of that speculating is very vague, because all of the other concept arts we have seen were very very different in style than these. so take it with a grand of salt.

well thats it, ill give someone else my tinfoiled hat

[sky-swimmer]

helloo it's me grassthehopper!! unfortunately i cant figure out how to change my secondary blog into primary blog 😔 but i believe you could still follow me there @grassthehopper also im so glad you really liked apple cider by beabadoobee for your devzel fic so i've come with more songs that i relate to devzel in general hehe 🙂‍↕️ - harvey by her's: a lot of ppl already made the connection but istg this is literally their song!! its super catchy and cute, and it goes well with hazel's name too - no.1 party anthem by artic monkeys: specifically the part "sunglasses indoors" which is so dev lmao but also the yearning vibe of this song fits so well with them!! - bags by clairo: its the hesistance of waiting for the other, longing stolen glances, along with heavy bags to deal with, ...yeah - forwards beckon rebound by adrianne lenker: basically the course of their friendship that pulls and pushes, every improvement of their bond has its setbacks but with a promise of an intimate connection. at least, to my interpretation anyway😗 - bonus song that reminds of my baby hazel: teenage girl by cherry glazerr this is already pretty long so i'll stop there haha oops.. i apologize for the particularly long ask 😅

HELLO GRASSTHEHOPPER!!! Thank you so much for finding me here! And I'm so SO sorry about the delayed reply. I had such a busy Christmas season, and then I wanted to listen to what you suggested so I could give my thoughts on it!

First of all, yes I'm still reeling about apple cider, and I LOVED EVERYTHING ELSE I JUST LISTENED TO. TIME FOR OVER ANALYSIS UNDER THE CUT

1. Harvey by hers: Yeah, so when the chorus came on???

"Harvey, Nobody knows what I see, Nobody knows I'm waiting, Waiting for you to call"

MY SOUL LEVITATED OUT OF MY BODY. Immaculate choice!!! Sobbing and screaming. The yearning AKAKSKSKSJDJHHDHDJ THE YEARNING

2. No.1 Party Anthem: the yearning again but also just the vibes... AgH. The hype title of the song and the juxtaposition of the actual melody and lyrics... It's like... feeding me. Idk the intent of the song, but to me it almost gives an underlying sense of hopelessness / dread about your feelings, but forcing yourself to go through the motions because you know you can't outrun it. Which for Hazel and Dev??? 😭🤧 I can't even go there. Realizing you have feelings for your friend is not always great, especially if you're scared of losing what you have, or you think the other person won't like you back.

3. Bags by clairo: AIGHT- love it. As you mentioned, yearning, but also agshshd there's so much uncertainty in the song and waiting for the other person to make a move, waiting for the other person to figure out you like them so they can decide what to do about it iejfjrjfjrjfjrbgfh I AM GOBBLING IT UP. Devzel coded ofc!! The awkward pining stage yesyes

4. Forwards beckon rebound: oKAY I am living for your words on it. I love the push and pull of their friendship... And yes omg the lyrics to me also lean into eventually opening yourself up to someone and allowing yourself to trust them, even if it's scary or difficult I just- no explanation needed as to why that's so cute for Devzel *sobs* you've wounded me greatly. I love it.

5. Teenage girl by cherry glazerr: *eats this delicious morsel.* This is such a fun and goofy song I LOVE it for Hazel!!! Yes yes. Immaculate choices all of themm

And also NEVER apologize for a long ask. Each word adds 10 years to my lifespan. I love that you took the time to share all this with me 😭😭😭 especially after I said I was in a drought of Devzel / ANW hc songs!!! And I loved all your choices!! I had never heard any of them but they're all going into my playlist freak yes 😤😤💪💪💪💪 THANK YOU THIS WAS LITERALLY SUCH A WONDERFUL MESSAGE TO RECEIVE IN MY INBOX

Omw to follow you rn!!!! 🚨🚨 More fop content on my feed!!!!

[sundayeleith]

I agree sm with your takes and especially with the most recent one about the smut in touchstarved and how ppl can just make fanfiction istead of taking it out on the devs or mischaracterizing the cast

it reminded me of a convo i had with a friend of mine, some ppl are literal porn addicts, their inability to comsume media that doesnt include porn is baffling, cant pass one comment section in a +18 game or book without people asking if there is porn and when there isnts they get disappointed, its literally so insane to me

I am sorry i am yapping so much but its truly such a problem for me and you put it so nicely into words that i had to spill my guts too, touchstarved has so much potential and i hope the devs dont get swayed by the fandom, i also hope it never goes mainstream amen 🤞🤞🤞🤞 We dont need more illiterate people

Honestly I totally agree with you, and dw I yap a lot too lmao (look at all I wrote... And I tried to make it short. I did, I promise 💀)

I don't like to shame or judge one's consuption of certain media and anyone can seek out smut if they want ! But acting that entittled and horribly when a piece of media is devoided of such content is not it at all. It's insane to me to act like this really, it's not like there's no smut on the internet of all places. Like people in general since 2020 are completly out of touch and chronically online. If one piece of media they find isn't exactly to their expectations or tastes they get out of control instead of just- dropping it and looking elsewhere 😭They expect to have smut everywhere to a point it's almost ridiculous, not every +18 media is about sex nor is every media with queer rep about sex.

On my previous post I had someone reblog it with tags saying how some people lost their marbles when the devs said they won't include full on smut adult scenes and called them scammers when like it was stated nowhere they'll make scenes like this. Like that is INSANE behavior either I didn't see it at the time or don't remember but damn- 💀

I did assume there may be some smut like many, but honesly I didn't mind the absence of it I shrugged it off like It's fine I'm not here for that anyways I'm here for the plot and rizz the deranged master manipulator mage with big man boobs and if I do want smut with my beautiful wife Leander in it I take my pretty ass to AO3 and look it up or I look here 🤷‍♂️ Or better anyone can write something ! They could do like most of us and put their energy into writing or art but no they'd rather be online bullies and ruin things for everyone with that sort of negative attitude (and I feel like this term is an understatement)

Thank god most of the fandom is just normally regulated people, I do hope we won't have any other major issue in the fandom in the future. Between all this shit, the queerphobia and the patreon backlash I can't e_e Ok I'll stop there it's long enough already isfhbisuohfosf

[zkylearnstherope]

Lemme write some updates for some fellas here.

AU Content

I don't know who's been keeping up with my stories, but the one I used to call, Void Walkers [AU] has been rewritten far too many times that it has now become its own series. It will NOT be an AvA AU anymore.

It will now be just called, Void Walkers.

You may notice that there are sticks there that look like victim and Agent, but they are separate fellas.

vic is taller than canon victim. Always has been. I just sucked at drawing the first Height Chart. And Gent as well. Both of their colors are different from the canon although it's barely noticeable.

I plan to remake their whole designs more, because I want them to be completely separate from AvA.

Why? It started with me being too tired of seeing the victim x Agent ships, when I see them as father and son. I cannot hate the art, because they are genuinely really good, but the pit in my stomach grows bigger with every piece I see.

One of the first solutions I came up with, is to make vic and Gent as separate characters. After I did that, the story just took a life of its own.

I used to think of H as a borrowed OC, but I am now claiming him as mine. He looks far too different now, I think I deserve that.

All of them got a life outside of AvA, and I'm 100% going through with it.

Now, what about Interrogation? If cowboy vic and H will be removed from AvA, what happens to that one?

I paused working on that one because of two reasons:

One was because I was waiting for a dev update for the animation software I am using. That update was released hours ago.

Second reason was because I was conflicted with the story. The flow doesn't make sense. Maybe it would, if it's still an AvA AU.

I only finished 14 seconds after working on it for two weeks, and during that time, I redesigned and posted here the new designs (but still not finalized) for Gent and vic.

After that, I reworked their designs again, wrote a few more stories, and each story just felt right on its own (without the AvA influence).

I still plan to work on Interrogation, but I would most probably, start from scratch. Sorry to disappoint those who were waiting for half a year now.

Am I still gonna do AvA stuff?

Yes. But I don't know if A and H would be in it.

Some of you have probably read my Shepherd vic poem. I plan to make that a really short AU. Again, I will not ship Agent and vic there.

Shepherd of the Lost Lambs AU

I will explain more about this one in the future.

There's also that victim vs Agent animation that I promised, and the lesbian ChoDark animation as well.

Now what's with all these updates?

Because a lot of you probably followed me for the AvA content, but then I started to go back to writing. I am not sure if you guys liked the kinky stuff or you liked seeing A, but all those things will still exist, but NOT in AvA / AvM context. Sure, my style would be there but it will not be intentional anymore.

I honestly lost interest because of that Reddit IA incident a few months ago. 😒

All the AvA stuff I have planned, I want them to go on YouTube, and I need to hold back on the kinky if I plan to do that, obviously.

One of them is even AvM S3 themed. I think you guys will love that one. My brain won't stop coming up with ideas, I swear...

So, AvA stuff, yes. Kinky no. Will A and H still be there? I am still thinking about it.

New Blog

Because I want Void Walkers to be a separate thing from AvA, I want to make a separate blog for it. Besides, it will be a lot of text based content, and that's a lot of reading. I tried to post writing here too and I don't think anyone reads them. Maybe people do? I am not sure.

But yeah, I want to make a new separate blog for Void Walkers.

Someone asked me the other day if Gent and H are in a comic, because they "seemed interesting". It made me happy hearing that. It reminded me of the comics from last year. Why don't I just make more of those short stories, right?

Lastly, not only was I 🪽 writing Void Walkers, I 🌟 also started to write about The True Kingdom again. I have big plans for TR. So that other blog will be repurposed for it.

I never got to finish that art of The Wise Wolf of The Fog. I wasn't skilled enough, so I just gave up at some point. But I will draw her again, maybe next year. Then write an official lore for The Fog.

Conclusion

I started writing this post with the intention of asking you fellas, what you think, or perhaps even making a poll.

As I am currently typing this, I have made up my mind. Void Walkers will be a separate blog and I will keep working on that and The Collectors series that I love.

Anyway, 'til next time. I'm going to bed.

[crescencestudio]

after i noticed the enchanted demo release i did a whole ass lap around the house and when i tell you im so close to biting my table every time the scenes change... THE ATMOSPHERE?? THE ART??? THE ENTIRE THINGYS?!?! i wanna bundle this all up and like,. absorb it, eat it even. I played through it straight, no pause no nothin'. im REPLAYING IT even and trying not to run laps around the rooms here. my brain chemistry has been altered. i saw the divine. i am not the same person i was like 2 hours ago. the love, the skill, the gui, the art, the writing the all of it, it's amazing, divine even. like, i want this painted on my ceiling. like im not joking i want this entire game painted on my ceiling.. i remember playing the very first demo and being FLOORED bc hello??? banger plot banger characters whats not to love (the #gayforkayn from like 2 years ago has a whole section in my heart LMAO). and now the enchanted demo is release, and im still so in love no even more in love with the game. seeing the work being done on alaris has been the one of the highlights throughout the time ive been around, and im so happy for you! so a big congrats to this milestone and all the work that has been done to get here! im writing this in a like half awake moment so dunno how much makes sense and also im sorry if this got long i swear it wasnt like this when i started. i be remembering and writing but the enchanted demo gives me the best shakes someone could get. but seriously, i can feel the love that went into this. my heart and soul are happy, and once again a massive congrats to this milestone and every bit of work done to reach it. the entire demo has so much love poured into it and every little piece of the game just makes me get those good shakes in my heart (if that makes sense). (I also did not mean for this to get a little bit long but, im just so proud and happy for you)

KARMA U R ONE OF THE OGS….. i literally remember u still from like the two years that have passed since the first demo. IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY TO KNOW U LIKE THIS VERSION TOO!!!!

revamping everything has honestly been a crazy and Extremely Tiring experience. i never would’ve imagined two years ago i would’ve been able to replace everything i have. the different vfx (snowblossom my beloved), text effects, assets, and just everything took up so much time to replace. a lot of times i wondered if it was even worth it since the changes felt small. but i rly do feel like seeing the end product now, it feels so different from the og and in a way the demo is a reminder of how far i’ve come on my dev journey compared to the og release 😭

so thankful as always for the ppl (new and old) who have watched over alaris’s development. it means a lot to know the ppl who have played the new demo can see how much work has been put into it and like it 💖 i sometimes get self conscious comparing alaris to intertwine since a lot of new ppl came here bc of intertwine. but its def moments like this that remind me how special alaris is to me just by virtue of it being my OG project. like this is literally my child

SO GLAD U LIKE IT KARMA (and whoever else plays!!) IT FEELS SO CRAZY TO HAVE BEEN ON THIS JOURNEY W U FOR SO LONG!!!’

[blackcherrypepper]

poppy playtime chapter 3 spoilers ( i am watching a lets play, this is a live blogging)

bioshock vibes with the radio messages.

seems pretty spooky so far. though, man, the escalation is pretty quick. poppy playtime is doing its best to beat the 'horror for children' allegations it seems.

like, the line about the dead kid in the duffle bag really isn't even. that horrifying as far as horror games go, i think? but it caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting it to be that blunt about it.

ah. the huggy from the trailer IS, in fact, a hallucination. cool

oh! kissy missy! cool! i wonder if they're going to get into the horror of Her existence. There seems to be some strong implications here.

ah. we're getting to actually hear the children talk now. that's gonna help with the horror escalation. before the kids were just... an implied reality. didn't have to really face it deeper than a surface level awareness. with visuals or audio of the kids? that is gonna help make things a lot more scary.

have the devs said how many chapters this game is going to be?? i wonder how much more there is planned for this.

wanted to make a 'would you rather be stuck in the superstar daycare (fnaf) or playcare (ppt)' but like. objectively superstar daycare is better. fazbear ent is not intentionally trying to murder children like, as a whole, they just keep having rabbit-dressed people kill people in their establishment. playtime co is actively and intentionally murdering people as a whole.

unfortunately, i gotta say, ppt is starting to fall into the batim... 'this building could not possibly be this big'. it reminds me of portal in a way, and I've never questioned how big the aperture building was, but thats because its Comedic. I am having trouble suspending my disbelief on playtime co being able to make this much underground factory without the world knowing that they HAVE that large space, even if not whats down there. batim escaped this by being semi-reality, and aperture is. comedic. but ppt has yet to justify itself to my brain. small thing though, unimportant.

oh kissy and poppy time! hi!

oh, player got tortured? interesting. mommy long legs also said player worked there, though. interesting.

(GASP) THE MIMIC PROTOTYPE!!

he trapped poppy in the case? also wow, 'god awful'. I was caught off guard by that. just didn't think she'd use that. phrase?

oh hey! huggy confirmed dead! rip huggy boy.

ollie why do you speak like dora explaining what us kids at home should do. who are you. what are you.

'why does catnap avoid the school?' because it used to be a kid. I would avoid it too.

hm. okay well dawko's title sorta spoils the name of the shadow lady from the trailer. but okay. oh wait no its brought up in the game like two minutes in. fair enough.

ohh she knows us too and also confirms player used to work there. is miss delight like. an actual person???

Ah. wanting to murder all of the children. Well, hello Mrs Afton, I guess.

oh nope she is a toy. i think? she has a cut out. probably a toy. oh. yep thats a toy. has a lights on lights off weeping angel mechanic too. neat. not that scary to me, though. partially because i cant get a good look at her dang design. partially because she's so brightly colored. sorry girl the bright blonde hair is not helping your fear factor. dawko disagrees with this opinion evidently lol.

oh oof she keeps clipping through a closed door. with her mechanic, in such a tight space, doesn't seem fair. rip dawko.

why does she have that moon laugh.sfx i know, unfair comparison, but it just sounds so much like moon's laugh but. female voice actor.

dawko brings up lack of checkpoints, and that paired with the clipping through closed gate thing makes me thing the devs thought this segment was a lot easier than it seems to actually be. partially because of that clipping bug, probably.

end of liveblogging part 1

[lulucifer-s-husband]

Okay. So I'm loosing my mind.

For context, I have my period. So I may say even more nonsense than usual because on top of mental illness, my uterus decided it would be time to murder me lol.

Anyway.

You see I have MADD(maladaptive daydreaming disorder). And yesterday as I was reccomending someone dead plate, they reminded me of the existence of Andy and Leyley's coffin, and telling me how much they hated it.... For obvious reasons.

Well, where is the problem, you gonna ask? Well my brain remembering it exist, it also reminded me how bad it wanted to faceclaim its protagonist/name claim them for daydream.

But I can't bring myself to do that. Because the dev decided to throw fucking inc3st in their fucking game. And that's highly triggering.

Rationally, I know that if I was making an AU/paracosm where Andy and Leyley aren't fucking related and aren't doing that weird Alabama thing, well no one would know CUZ WELL, no one can read my mind. No one can know about my daydreams.

Yet,

I am too obsessed with the idea of not being a bad person. I am too afraid that even when I'm alone with my own mind I have to be perfect.

So....

I was just laying in my bed yesterday. Unable to daydreaming. I hate it when my autism and MADD decide to hyperfixate on bad immoral stupid stuff. This makes me feel crappy. Idk what to do. I am tired. Sorry for the vent I am just exhausted and I feel like my brain is tired.

I wish someone would fix the game and would take out the fucking inc3st part. Why didn't the dev make them childhood friends? It could have gave them a low-key "siblings" like dynamic WITHOUT HAVING THEM ACTUALLY RELATED.

Anyway. Sorry again. I'm exhausted and so close to break down.

[jjeinn-tae]

The Immortal Sun Emperor of Loguo

The so far unnamed Emperor of LoGuo is nearly as important a character as our heroine Locca. The Emperor is the sun, and as such, created the world, in all its splendor. In his world, he saw fit to make his glorious empire, and mainly occupies his time towards bringing magnificent projects into the world.

That actually leads nicely to his name, as I'm pretty sure I've decided. As I have mentioned every LoGuo post, as kind of a meta story of it, the game is from a world where the video game crash didn't happen, and thus there was an American company competing with Nintendo for a while (their console saga probably died around when Sega's did). But in their reality, this is like, at minimum the third game in the series, it's been going on since the 80's. And while a lot of their direction with the series is a love of East Asia, the world back then was less understanding of some things, and I kind of like the idea of the Emperor having a name that just means something about him, that doesn't necessarily work. So, while they absolutely do not speak any dialect of Chinese in LoGuo, I have become fond of the word 最高 (ZuiGao, sorry my keyboard won't let me properly write the tones here) as his name. It's basically just like, "supreme" or "highest." Like, he is the greatest, that's his thing. Now, my Mandarin is quite rusty, but I think that's probably not allowed as a normal name maybe? If so that kind of works better as like, a poor translation that sounded cool to the east asiaboo devs that hypothetically existed in the 80's. It also provides potential inspiration for the name of the series outside of my working title, Zuigao's Legacy. Just imagining having the cartridge in the console, and just the constant reminder that he is greater than you. This is his story. Like, that just feels quite perfect for him.

As I touched on in my post about Locca, he seems to have some sort of plan with her. She's his very special guest that he's ensured has a rather pleasant and "high class" life in a small spiritual village on a mountain well outside the capital. She occasionally is invited to feasts and the like, and he is a gracious host. He makes an effort to introduce her to the "important people" of the various groups and cultures within the empire, so she knows the leaders of each culture (vaguely at least) even though she hasn't been to see each place (yet) as the empire is quite large. I suppose it's fitting that I am having difficulty referring to Zuigao without sidetracking how he relates to Locca, and then just her. She is the protagonist after all, but it's also a bit of that duality that pervades the setting. I'm going to have to do a spoiler post on that a bit soon.

Appearance-wise, while I have ideas for him, he's too early concept to even talk about, even though I completely side-stepped that with Locca as there's the very incomplete initial concept art that I still need to get to of her. Unfortunately, with Zuigao, every time I try to come up with anything to even start concepting towards, it just ends up basically Rengoku Kyoujurou from Kimetsu no Yaiba. Which, I definitely don't want that exactly, I'll figure something out eventually though.

[giuilily]

"But I'm not gonna complain if it gives us the possibility of getting her back in Part 3 lol" <- agree haha I was totally ready to accept her death (tbh i did not even consider that she wouldn't die this time until people were speculating about it before rebirth's release loll) but I am happy that we may get her back and also intrigued to see how they try to tie all of this together...

I think my overall feelings on Rebirth in general will depend a lot on how game 3 ends up going. Remake I feel can stand on its own a bit better since it is so contained. But truly why did we literally fight destiny at the end of Remake if things are just going to end up the same lol what was the point of all this! It also feels quite a downer to be like well you actually cannot change fate sorry lmao nice try though.

Something that concerns me with the defying fate/destiny thing is 1. Biggs dies anyway despite being saved 2. Zack ends up facing a firing squad no matter what (when he goes looking for hojo or when he goes after Biggs, although ofc in that case he chooses to throw himself into the void instead which i suppose could be seen as a change lol) so it's like... their fate is repeating itself in these different worlds, can it be changed? (I'm still confused as to the big rainbow flash on the Biggs path when Zack chooses to go to Hojo, does that mean theres a universe where Biggs goes to the reactor and Zack doesn't follow him so Biggs.. lives in that one?)

"I'm gonna hold the devs to that since no one asked them to add in new themes to an almost 30 yo game lol." <- lmfao for real. One of my biggest concerns about this whole thing was that they were going to waaay over complicate it (looking at you kingdom hearts) and I am reserving full judgement until things are complete but I def have not had my worries assuaged yet lol

Oh yes! I forgot we saw a chihuahua/spitz plush during the date. So the terrier-verse is still around but im pretty sure Zack is no longer alive in it lol unless he got sent back there again since it is the most relevant other universe. I wonder if Aerith and Cloud will ever wake up there... (maybe Saved Aerith will wake up there? if that did not create a New stamp-verse).

I agree with you on Rebirth. I did enjoy it gameplay-wise (except the moogles they can go to hell lol) and the battle system should definitely become a staple in future numbered FFs, but narrative-wise, because it's the middle part of game, there were a lot of new set-ups along with the OG story beats that we're still waiting for the pay offs in part 3, and I think they need to make it good, otherwise, if they did all of that in Rebirth and it's just gonna be the same as OG, then they just dangled Aerith's fate for suspense and marketing and nothing else. That would be pretty disrespecftul for both the character and the fans tbh.

Hmmm... I think Biggs's situation is kinda tricky in both Pug and Terrier verse because he sorta put himself in a situation where he's tempting fate. I'm kind of leaning on him dying in Terrier too since he's already at the Mako reactor already, but maybe Zack not being there to distract him puts him less at risk of getting caught by Shinra?

Biggs' death and Zack getting pulled in situations that mirror his OG death kinda reminded me of Final Destination, but I hope Nojima wasn't watching those movies while writing the Re Trilogy lol.

I think as long as they keep on putting themselves in those situations, serving their OG purpose in the narrative and facing exactly what got them killed the first time, they're basically tempting fate to finish its job. Idk how this will all play out or how they can avoid it if they need to take action.

And I'm sure Aerith will wake up in Terrier, but I'm worried about Sephiroth hunting her down in every world she's in. Cloud might find himself waking up there as well after he falls into a coma in the main world, and probably will have dreams of the place like in Rebirth, but I'm unsure if they'll wake up at the same time or not. Ngl, I would LOVE it if we form a party with him, Aerith and Zack. The potential awkward conversations would be SO funny lol.

Honestly the new worlds are so fascinating to me because the writers aren't constrained to OG in those parts. I know they'll all eventually merge, but I can't wait to see how they'll handle them and how the game will conclude!

[deviationperspective]

You know what still thinking about this fuck this game 😭 read more cause I'm gonna be really annoying about this sorry

1. I have to say this first because it's been bothering me so bad since I first saw them the timeskip designs are all some weird degree of unpleasant to look at (except for Teddie who is the exact same as before) because who the fuck are half the people in this image

2. Ok actual thoughts on the ending/whole game. Golden end TO ME is wayy too happy of a way to end a game like this it feels almost unnatural. I feel crazy too since it seems like the general consensus for p4 is that it's the 'happiest' game in the series but honestly I don't agree but also like. Aesthetically speaking I guess I get why it's seen like that... The intro is colorful and cheery (*golden's not vanilla. I love the golden intro but I kinda prefer vanilla's) lots of the music is upbeat etc but I never really felt like the atmosphere in game was very happy, even with all the silly funny and actual happy moments it didn't give me the impression that P4 is a 'happy' game and with the whole plot being centered around murders and kidnappings it definitely doesn't help lighten my perception of it LOL

The Izanami stuff was insane I really didn't think about the handshake at the beginning of the game at all so looking back and knowing that the gas station attendant dude who appeared a total of one single time throughout the whole game up until now is a god who was orchestrating literally everything this whole time is hilarious and the fight with her and finally awakening izanagi-no-okami and myriad truths was really something else even though the genesis isn't nearly as good as the almighty was but whatever. I also didn't mind Marie's addition at all either because apparently people don't like her? But I do and I thought her social link was pretty nice + one random positive thing because I do still love P4 while at the same time hating it Inaba reminds me of the place I grew up even though it wasn't really rural there was just nothing at all to do there besides going to chain stores (like Junes) and I love it it feels really familiar and it's the perfect setting. I <3 small shitty dull town

Back to being a hater apart from golden end blowing another thing that's gnawing at me is that this game handles its own themes so poorly it's kind of insane. Besides the murder plot pushing everything along, the whole premise is facing/finding yourself and having the strength to accept your shadow which is like a manifestation of those repressed negative and highly emotional and bad parts we all have as another facet that make you yourself (the whole "I am you and you are me" thing everyone has to do) which sounds like a cool concept and I love it honestly except for some fucking reason pretty much the whole IT have bizarre reverse character development ESPECIALLY IN GOLDEN END where they neatly sort themselves right back into the status quo that they started out not fitting into and just drop the aspects that made them actual interesting characters to me. I could really go on and on about the IT social links, mostly Yosuke Yukiko Naoto and Kanji (unsure of Rise I never actually finished hers SORRY), and I probably will but for now I'll say that most importantly the shit they did to Naoto was genuinely evil if you have a functioning brain and can think about the implications of what happened in his dungeon for more than 5 seconds unlike a grand majority of persona fans

All this on top the fucking unreal amounts of bigoted and perverted shit the devs included, like the creepy "fan service" of teenage girls and the fatphobia/everything that just makes fun of hanako and the transmisogynist "joke" segment and the transphobic nightmare surrounding naoto's whole character arc and the homophobia and though not actually an-in game thing people are NOT fucking normal about adachi like I do find him interesting as a character and for most of the game I liked him (BEFORE finding out about all the crazy shit) and I don't find it wrong to like make fun of him or draw him or whatever but he is a seriously fucked up person who abuses his power as a police detective and does horrible things purely for his own amusement including attempting to sexually assault both the women he killed, one of them being a high school girl, but he's like...baby girlified online a lot and it really weirds me out

Honestly there's probably more stuff I could complain about but that's just off the top of my head. I don't care that this game is from 2008 this shit is gross and I barely ever see anyone acknowledge half of this honestly also tumblr crashed while I was typing this shit so I need pack it up 😭

TLDR I hate persona do not play persona

P4 golden ending genuinely kinda sucks which makes sense since just like with everything else about this game it is completely and totally dedicated to ending on the most lame note possible

[sinnersandsaints-linwrites]

Hi there! I absolutely ADORED your demo omg you cannot believe. Khari is the love of my life just saying...fdjsklaf anyway what are some of your favourite IF's? Completed or otherwise, anything from paid released games, itch.io games, stuff from choicescript etc. :D

hello! <3

first of all -- THANK YOU for the kind words, and welcome to the Khari fan club, we have cookies and carrots <3

as for my favorite IFs; okay this will be a long list so brace yourself! (and I do apologise to all authors for the spam)

Most of those are demos or in development, but nevertheless they are all amazing and I replay them way too often;

Sinners (demo) by @olivewrites-if / @sinners-if - you get to romance a villain, I feel like this is enough to get most people hooked (demo)

Honor Among Thieves (demo) by @leoneliterary - fantasy with some romance and intrigue, and as I am a fan of anything that has guilds (Skyrim w/ thieves guild, Assassin's Creed and the sort) I just love this one

Superstition S1 & S2 (finished) by @13leaguestories - supernatural, found family, powers, romance, angels, demons, hunting; what more to want?

Throne of Ashes (demo) by @13leaguestories - fantasy (but with pretty mature themes), romance; there are houses (MC is from House of Phoenix) and each character is just chefs kiss imo

Unwilling Souls (demo) by @unwilling-souls-if - angels!!!! but they are not your typical "angels"!!!! and there's lots of angst, and it's just awesome

Defiled Hearts: The Barbarian (demo) by @defiledheartsblog - dark historical fiction, romance, some fantasy elements; personally I replayed it 3 times in a row and was never bored once and that says something since my attention span is like 5 minutes at best

Supernatural in New York (demo) by @llamagirl28 - lighthearted urban fantasy with romance; think Supernatural if it was actually good and diverse, it scratches my adhd brain in just the right way, and the characters are amazing

The Bastard of Camelot (demo) by @llamagirl28 - I replayed it 8 times, no joke, and I still love it and it's my comfort IF I'd say; I love the story, the characters, customisation, and the idea behind it all.

The King's Hound (demo) by @kal-down / @the-kingshound - I am a sucker for Arthurian Legends, and I'm a sucker for fantasy and historical fiction in general, and it's written so well I want to cry every time I replay it

The Abyssal (demo) by @theabyssal - you get to play as Death what more can someone want??? and it gives me god of war / mythologies vibes, so I of course replayed it over 10 times.

Water to Blood (demo) by @veirsewrites - vampire MC who owns a nightclub, I'm sorry but this is all I needed to be obsessed. it reminds me of the show Lucifer, but it's also so unique that I happily replay it all the time.

Blood Moon (demo) by @barbwritesstuff - werewolves. that's all. that's the tweet.

Absentia (demo) by @absentia-if - I'm a sucker for crime stories, and this had me hooked from the start, and I love how complex each character is.

Exile (demo) by @exilethegame - dark fantasy with pretty mature and violent themes; replayed it so many times I'm ashamed to admit the actual number.

A Mage Reborn (demo) by @mage-parivir - I've been replaying it religiously since November of 2021 so yeah, I'm obsessed, and not even sorry. Fantasy games are my jam.

Speaker (demo) by @speakergame - one of the first IFs I played I think, and I still adore it to bits; it's written so well, and I adore the detective-supernatural vibes.

Ballad of the Judgement of Night (demo) by @nikkefort-dev - it was one of first 5 IFs I ever played, and I can safely say it's one of my absolute favorites; I adore the themes of angels/demons and 'fallen ones'.

Citadel (demo) by @bouncyballcitadel - medical drama; didn't know I liked medical dramas but now I do, and I'm in love with this IF in its entirety. also made me realise I'm gayer than I thought.

Villain's Promise (demo) by @villains-promise - fantasy with romance and betrayal, that's all I need for my soul. also in the first 5 IFs I ever played, and still love it.

Wolfwater (demo) by @carrs-universe-if - first IF I ever played, got me into IFs, and I love it to bits. Psychological thriller/body horror with some supernatural themes.

The Ballad of Devil's Creek (demo) by @devilscreekballad - western with romance and angst, and unlike all westerns it's actually diverse and inclusive so of course I love it.

Larkin (demo) by @larkin-if - vampires, hunters, and general Midnight Mass vibes; I'm here for it.

These Crimson Strings (demo) by @thesecrimsonstrings-if - MC is an ancient vampire who meets their long lost (dead) soulmate reborn as someone 'new'; the angst is amazing.

A Tale of Crowns (demo) by @ataleofcrowns - no joke replayed it over 10 times, loved it every single one of them. Fantasy with some court intrigue and amazing companions.

I have more but the list is already so long, I don't want this to be dismissed/blocked as a bot message or something kjfhfd

[vermillionage]

[So I just got inspired by a conversation I had with @silver-wield about this Cloud&Tifa video below I blogged 2 days ago already, how deep Cloti's connection really is displayed, and how watching it made me feel even more convinced that we totally get endgame feels for them in these various scenes comprised. The video just shows canon material and uses only original dialogue. It made me wonder if the same feelings would be evoked by a video of Cloud and Aeriths Scenes and dialogues.]

Besides English isn't my first language, please overlook grammar and spelling mistakes. I'm sorry it there are too many.

There are many opinions who belongs with whom.

Many people who covered this also and I love and respect most of their analyses on it. Not even sure if I added anything new but here are my thoughts on Clerith endgame qualities (& a bit Cloti).

I like Aerith and she is very important. I just don’t see her as the intended endgame partner for Cloud.

This is all an opinion in the end:

Don't get me wrong this relationship is heavy with feelings as well. But it's no endgame. Cloud and Tifa belong; for various reasons we all discuss daily ;). Clearith's core story is heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once. For me it's a tragic relationship on both sides.

Aerith sees a familiarity in Cloud, something reminding her of, & letting her hope for better days. She sees a strong person who resembles Zack so much. He is handsome and his eyes have the same quality.

She desperately wants to belong (like all of our 3 heroes) because she was alone most of her time. Zack was her first love and a friend. But he is gone. She is heartbroken. Even though she is beloved in the slums by many and has Elmyra, she still feels alone. Zack was someone she confided in. She can't tell anyone the extend of these feelings. Not in the beginning. Always trying to cover up with that flirty cheery attitude. She wants to move on...that much she has uttered to Cloud...but saying and going through such a loss actually are two different things. In OG it was more ambiguous and Aerith was much more determined on Cloud.

Remake gives us (or me)much more clarity. She seems to be aware that it all is flawed..her feelings ..his feelings. (I suppose she even was able to feel that something happened to Zack since she has a connection to the life stream. And it is heartbreaking.) While in OG that was not prominent. You can tell how much she likes Cloud still in the Remake ...but also how much she knows she doesn't belong with him. When she sees the flower in Tifa's Bar, when she sees Cloud and Tifa interact.. when she asks Cloud about Zack indirectly.

Clerith to me is like 'could have/ would have' all the time. If she wouldn't die. If Zack was still alive.. if Cloud actually would be able to connect the dots of Zack being her first love.. if Cloud regaining a glimpse of his past wasn't blocked by the barrier of his fake persona so often, always interrupting progress of remembering Zack, of remembering what happened. Would it be Clerith?

It more seems like in the Remake she is aware now (due to parallel time lines/timetravel...whatever) that her part in this story is not that of Clouds love interest. That's why we get that resolution scene with her. It is scripted that way for a reason. As well as the part where she spots the flower or tells Tifa to follow her heart at the pillar.

Maybe there is a wish in her to be with Cloud if only the circumstances were different. But they aren't and she is no egotistical monster bitch. She kind of backs away. And I love that the devs made me lean to believe this.

Cloud on the other hand also lacks/ misses out on many things:

5 years of his live, his home his family. He lived through torture if barely and severe trauma. He put up a fake persona to shield him from all this grief. He made himself that numb, that he rarely connects to any strong feelings a person would have usually.

Like people on anti depressants. Numb to the very high and the very low array. Just being indifferent. We meet him like that in the beginning of OG/R. When he meets Aerith in chapter 8 he already started to open up a bit to the Trio and Tifa, Marle and others. Meeting Tifa opened the Door. She is essentially his drive to move on ever since their childhood, same this time. But Tifa is more subtle in her approach. Her personality is warm and grounded, but she respects that Clouds needs space and is treading lightly, cautious because she seems to feel he is different than in their childhood. We get that in the rescue Johnny scene f.ex..

Aerith's overwhelmingly positive, coaxing personality contrasts this but also opens this crack in the door even wider. Like I said she is important. He is affected, he feels drawn to it/her.I am convinced he is, because he has no association with her. No past. It is light and bright and also not real. She, trying to overcompansate her sadness. Him, rarely being able to connect to his true self and feelings. He is unaware, she is though to a certain extend (like I mentioned above ) is aware.

His attraction also is spurred on because she is more fragile (Than Tifa and others)..he wants to protect. He is loyal. He wants to be strong and he wants to be acknowledged. Aerith asks for help, is clumsy and looks even helpless sometimes( Walk from the church over the roof tops f. ex.). I don’t say she is weak but her asking for help, he feels like he really is that persona he created for himself. And such feelings can turn into love quite easily. But these feelings to be as good as a Soldier 1st class, to protect and be the hero root in his true self's desire to be all that for Tifa. We can’t discard this either. He also helps Avalanche because Tifa asked.

So again..a pinch of could have/would have..it's heartbreaking.

And in the end it's a dead end for Clerith. Not only because she dies. But because he regains access to his true feelings again (lifestream scene)..and they are with Tifa.

Man~even while he has no access to them he is like a hen around its chick with Tifa.😊 Touching, watching, eye contact all the time (just watch this posts video below).

If anything, Aeriths death brought him further away from being with Tifa completely because he feels he failed yet another important person. A person he even might have loved because she was a friend. He hates this feeling and he blames himself for all the deaths, especially Aerith's. And he is so afraid to lose Tifa like that as well. That's why he keeps his distance later especially in Advent Children. Even though we have the Night under the High Wind.

Because if losing a person like Aerith, yes all lovely and sweet and bright and a friend, but if losing a person after several weeks, can do that to him, what would Tifas death do to him?

He doesn't want her, Marlene or Denzel to suffer if she sees that he has a supposedly terminal disease.

He doesn't trust himself to be really enough for her. He can't face her and leaves and has another episode of self isolation and self doubt. In his mind (?) he talks to Aerith ( and Zack is there as well,yaay) he seeks for forgiveness until he realizes he has to forgive himself first. Aerith and Zack reunited in the life stream, his friends, like his big brother and sister or like guardians watching over him, encouraging him as well to trust in himself the future and his loved ones. He sure loves Aerith, but it feels like a different kind of love from his love for Tifa. And this is fine. I would never say he doesn’t love Aerith. But it’s not in a romantic way. Maybe there was an attraction building when they met in sector 5, a curiosity. But for me his bond with Tifa overpowered this in various scenes before and after that section.

So Cloud leaves, nearly ghosting his family and Tifa, and as a fan of Cloti that was hard to watch, but seeing his reasons I came to accept and understand that he needed this.BIn the end yet again their bond is strong enough for pulling them back together again. He goes to stand with Tifa, his family his friends.

In the End Tifa welcomes him back and he finally starts to believe things will be better.

So for me there is no gravitational romantic pull between Aerith and Cloud but between Tifa and him.

This is a bit all over the place and I didn’t put in sources to prove my points because many others here in the fandom did in their analyses. I took a bit of additional intel from everyone's impressions and my own conclusions on the canon.

I just wanted to give my impression.

https://youtu.be/-Dn3SI4RVco

Visit her channel ❤

[saint-cichol-is-watching]

Ik you might be annoyed by now and im really sorry! Can i give my 2 cents about the lucifer birthday drama? I feel like people are forgeting that this game is new! The game was JUST released in december 2019! Its totaly normal that the game devs are gonna wanna try some new things! And I also think its possible that they might've just recently come up with the idea, and to me, it makes sence that they'd start this new thing with Lucifer! Just because he's the oldest! Idk about japan culture but+

I have no problem with you expressing your opinion to me as long as you stay polite and respectful which you did and I’m thankful for that 🥰

To respond to you I’m gonna quote some parts of your ask to make sure everything stays in order I hope you don’t mind !

Small Disclaimer : I do not hate Lucifer’s character nor the Devs ! Please make sure you know and remember that before reading. 

You said : “I feel like people are forgeting that this game is new! The game was JUST released in December 2019 !”

So in a few days the games is going to be six months old, so while he is fairly new he has still been working for half a year and he also belongs to SWD who is certainly not new. Birthday events are not a new things around here so even if the Devs are different they should have heard about the birthday events before.

You said : “And I also think its possible that they might've just recently come up with the idea”

Like I said before I’m okay with the twins (my two favorite brothers) not getting anything because at the time the game was about three months old and yes maybe it was too soon for them to implement such a big event.

However when the twins birthday happened people complained about not having anything to celebrate on the game beside a special quote if only you had them on your mainscreen. So again Devs who already knew about birthday events were again reminded of them. Same happened during Levi’s birthday.

Events are confirmed to be pre-planned and there was certainly not enough time between Asmodeus’s and Lucifer’s birthday to plan a full-on event like that. Which means the development for the Lucifer event started before Asmodeus’s birthday and they just decided to deliberately ignore everything about him in favor of Lucifer as they often do, which one of the biggest issue of the game right now.

You said : “It makes sense that they'd start this new thing with Lucifer ! Just because he's the oldest”

I’m sorry I’m going to be the dumb one but where is this logical?! This excuse, for me, would have worked only if the brothers’s birthdays were scattered throughout the year in the same order as their age.

For example : Lucifer is born in January, Mammon in April, Levi in June, Satan in August, Asmo in October and finally the twins in December. 

But they are not. So why bother waiting to start with the oldest for the order to break not on the next birthday but the one after. What would have changed if they started everything with Asmo ?

Or else they’re gonna do Mammon’s birthday, then jump over Satan’s and the twins’s (a second time) to get to Levi ? And then what Asmo’s will again be ignored along with Lucifer and Mammon to get to Satan. Only to jump over the twins’s birthday a THIRD time, then Levi’s to finally get some Asmo content etc.

Doesn’t seem really practical but that’s the only way this excuse would ever sound valid. For me they could have just said we’re starting with Lucifer because we want to and I would’ve taken it better honestly. 

(I’m not gonna say anything about oldest child privileges because I don’t know every culture in the world, I would be mostly inclined to say that the youngest often have more privileges but who knows?)

THE REAL ISSUE HERE

The problem with most people here is the Devs’s blatant favoritism for Lucifer during events, during the main story or even in text messages. People are getting fed up that their favorite brother, especially Asmodeus’s and Satan’s stans, are never getting any attention when Lucifer is getting a lot of spotlight instead (and is often pushed onto MC who is always forced to find him attractive or even have feelings for him).

The birthday event only made this worse because we literally went from 0 to 1000 in the span of two/three weeks, WEEKS. The issue here is Lucifer got all of these things when Asmo, for whom the fandom was already calling out the overlook, got nothing. Nothing stopped the Devs from giving everyone 30 DPs like they did for Lucifer OR raising the odds to get Asmo cards more easily like they did for Lucifer OR holding a special sale like they did for Lucifer.

As you have seen I’ve only said “OR” because people were not asking for an entire event like they did for Lucifer they just wanted one small thing to indicate that they were thinking about implementing birthday events.

Also a big issue I personally have here is the fandom saying “It’s okay they’re gonna give it to everyone you just have to wait” and sometimes not in respectful terms. People don’t seem to realize what can happen in a year : A player could finish high school and start college, another one could start working their first full-time job, another could maybe have a baby and someone could loose someone really dear to them. With everything happening around them I could understand why they wouldn’t hold onto a game that never seemed to really care about them and their wishes just for a birthday event.  A year is a long time. This was just not a good move.

—

I hope everything I said will not be taken in a wrong way, everything I said is supposed to be respectful and I’m not in any case trying to change your opinion about things. You’re entitled to your opinion just as I am to mine. 

However I have to say, to both sides of this argument : 

DO NOT SEND HATE

Do not send hate to people who like Lucifer, do not send hate to people who dislike him, do not send hate to people who are calling out his favoritism nor to people who don’t really care about it. Just do not send hate, be respectful of everyone and their opinions and they shall be respectful to yours.

Also shameless promo but @thelazystrawberryboi​ did an awesome fan art of the four forgotten birthday brothers and I recommend you check it out.

Now goodbye I’m going back to Luci’s birthday headcanons ! ❤️

[mistresseast]

A big thing too is there is no guarantee Atlus will do anything with what they baited in Royal and I know that's why I'm frustrated. I know a lot of people don't have confidence because nothing they've done with Goro makes sense, and its based on getting fans to spend money, not because they care about a character, so it feels like sunk cost? He's still left out of things and I wouldn't feel negative about Royal if I knew for sure they would bring him back. Ppl are tired of being baited.

If you were just after commiseration: ugh! I know!! It’s so frustrating! Atlus is bad in general about payoff and the problem is on glaring display with Goro. You’d think with a whole ass remake and all the money Vanilla made, they’d have the resources to figure out how to handle a complex character in a satisfying way, but those homophobes couldn’t write their way out a wet paper bag and the brilliance of Goro Akechi was almost certainly a happy accident.

If you want my more tough love advice and analysis: expecting a big company like Atlus (ESPECIALLY one with Atlus’s reputation) to deliver on the very specific stuff that fans like us want is indeed a one-way ticket to frustration. I won’t go into speculation about how the character of Goro came to be, but I will say that he feels like a character who was developed for one purpose and then as the writing went on he adopted more importance to the story but the initial plan for what happened to him didn’t adjust to match. Stuff like that happens in writing all the time, and particularly in stories as complex and with as many people working on them as p5. So when I feel like something about Goro’s handling doesn’t make sense, I try to look at it from that perspective. It’s not a deliberate mishandling or a disregard for the character; it was just an early-development failure to accurately predict what would be necessary for his specific arc. And imo Royal put a lot of work into fixing that, but the simple fact is that a truly satisfying outcome for this character would require some significant rewrites and adjustments to the basic fabric of the game, and the devs just aren’t in a position to do that, for lots of reasons. So no matter how much I like the third semester, nothing we were going to get was ever going to feel as complete as it could. So if you are holding out for canon content to somehow justify or validate all of the energy you’ve put into this character and shuake as a ship, then I’m sorry to say you’re probably right and that nothing we get will ever feel like enough. If you feel like that means being engaged with the story and characters isn’t worth it, then you should consider putting your time into something else, to save yourself the frustration. I can’t say how much of the “baiting” around Goro’s character is intentional, but I don’t have any confidence that this lingering feeling of incompleteness is going to be resolved, and I know that people do leave fandoms for that reason. Personally, I am pleased and compelled enough by what we have to stick around, and in fact I might prefer Atlus leaving well enough alone at this point. They’re notorious for wrecking character arcs and tbh I don’t trust them not to ruin Goro Akechi. They can just hand him off to us, it’s fine. We’ll treat him better.

As for Goro being left out of stuff, maybe I just don’t pay enough attention to the tie-in media, but I’ve never been as upset by that as I know a lot of people are. It’s disappointing that he’s not in Scramble, it really, really is, and I wish he could have had at least a cameo, but I also understand why he’s not there and it’s not a malicious choice by the company. Scramble was in development at the same time as Royal, so characters whose very presence would spoil Royal obviously couldn’t be included, which also leaves Sumi and Maruki in the lurch. It’s not ideal but it is understandable. Goro is in the dancing game, as well as pq2, and he just got to be a major part of the train mystery AR game that happened a while ago. He’s even getting a lot of love in the musicals, showing up early and getting more attention at this point in the story than he did in the actual game, almost like the writers are realizing his importance should have been seeded earlier and now, with hindsight, are able to correct some mistakes. He gets a lot of fun stuff in the anime, which I generally don’t like, but their handling of Goro is one of the things I approve of. Rokuro Saito, who writes the Mementos Mission manga, obviously likes him and puts effort into his appearances. I suppose I’m not really sure what he’s been “left out of” other than promo material and like,,, some official art. Due to the nature of who he is in the story, he’s a difficult character to work into things. The people creating this content walk a thin line between not wanting to spoil Vanilla OR Royal for folks who might still spend money to buy the game, and knowing that Goro’s status as a “traitor” means it’d be weird for him to just be included in group shots of the characters. Do I wish there was more content of him? Yes, but I also don’t really see a concentrated effort to leave him out of stuff.

I’m not trying to invalidate your feelings at all, of course. I see sentiments like yours all over the fandom from people who clearly enjoy the story and care deeply about the characters, and I know exactly how frustrating and pointless it all feels. I toss and turn at night thinking about all the ways the game could have treated Goro better, treated Akira better, treated its own themes better, and sometimes I just want to claw my own skin off at all the wasted opportunities, But ultimately, I channel that discontent into my own creativity and appreciate the folks who work to make sense of the nonsense. It’s not a dealbreaker to me. These negative feelings only serve to remind me how much I love these characters, and I know none of us would rage so hard if we didn’t connect to this story in some way. But I can’t count on the source material to make me happy. That’s not the source material’s job. And in the end you have to ask yourself if it’s worth it to you to stick around for something that’s only going to keep disappointing your specific needs.

I don’t want to discourage people from coming to me to vent, but just know that I've been through the gamut with this fandom and I’ve got opinions about Everything, so if that’s not what you need, sorry! I just want to soothe negativity if at all possible but I know not everyone is interested in a lecture <3

[pendragaryen]

And FINALLY things are getting into motion! With watching episode 4 I had the strong and constant feeling that they’re finishing up all the storylines of the different pasts and begin to combine them, leading them into the present - this is so exciting! But besides that I really loved the whole introduction scenario with Hope and Dev and their shared past so much, these short five minutes were so intense - on large part bc of the beautiful soundtrack. So many emotions. And Dev definitely deserved better… I was shook… I also enjoyed the little flashback with Hope and Octavia and the story of the Hesperides. We love us some history-nerdy Blakes. ;)

And finally there’s my badass Clarke again determined to safe (her husband) her friends, acknowledging that they are most likely in gravely danger - and tossing her own safety overboard with it. WE STAN! You go girl!!! I’ve been waiting too long for this story arc. Seriously tho, I felt entertained by the first 3 eps, no doubt, but they felt like filler episodes to me compared to all of the things and actions that started now. Like Miller said: This planet sucks anyway - or what was it? MOOD. I wasn’t much into Santum even right from the start. And I’m not sad leaving it and all its story arcs (again: Sheidhedawho? Not interested). I really enjoyed the scenes with Raven and Jordan later on. Raven was in her element again, it was so good to see her joy and excitement coming back! On the other hand I really love how they handled her trauma initialized by what she had to do last episode. This HAD to be addressed and I really appreciated the little princess mechanic moment we got concerning the matter. None of us is innocent…

>Before I go on I’d like you to know, that you can always blacklist my rant about certain characters by blacklisting “anti” + the name of that character if you don’t like to see it on your dashes (sorry, that was badly written...>.<). I completely respect other opinions, but mine is very clear  - and it was from the very start in this particluar case... I disliked the character of Echo even way back in season 2, and as far as I am concerned the writers didn’t make me feel any better or different about her along the way. That scene in today’s episode, her ruthless merciless killing of these Disciples and the way she was treating the man who considered her as a FRIEND after 5 years of living together (or at least as an ally) had literally cemented my judgement about her. And yes I know literally EVERYone in this series has done horrible things to safe their own or themselves. But she’s proven time and time again that she hasn’t changed a bit and/or that she hasn’t the slightest doubt about the fact that death/killing is the only possible choice… Remorse excluded. Maybe... we’re SUPPOSED to dislike her, maybe this is the purpose of this whole character. To always question their actions. But i’m too tired for this. I’m literally done with her. I am not interested in her story arc whatsoever. End of rant.<

Returning to the much brighter notes now: No, I still can’t see anything else than friendship and understanding between Clarke and Gaia. It’s exactly like we thought: Their bond was shown and pronounced, bc it had to make sense that Clarke leaves Madi with her while she’s gone. Their mutual trust in each other had to be comprehensible.

And the man who attacked Gaia? (And it WAS a man, those strong legs and the grunting noises left no doubt about it.) I can hardly believe I’m saying this but I agree with some of your speculations here and say, that this really could be Bellamy himself… But omg… How the heavens would this make any sense?! But then again… what DOES make sense at this early point of the ride… mh… I HOPE I’m wrong, seriously. Couldn’t stand the thought of Clarke going for his rescue - just for him to return to Sanctum (and then through the wormhole) again and NOT being there when she arrives…

Finally something funny: I really have to mention my feelings when Clarkekru set foot on Nakara (is it Nakara? The ice planet?) for the first time. Does someone else maybe remember a show called “Sliders” back in the 90s? Bc hahaha… I was SO REMINDED of it, when the anomaly kinda spat out our lovelies! And it looked so poorly made, really bad CGI, like it was back then in the 90s, seriously, I really had to laugh so hard. But besides that: SHIT. Are they now STUCK on that planet bc the anomaly stone of Sanctum was destroyed? So at least a return to Sanctum seems not possible anymore. Ugh…

What an episode! I really enjoyed the watch! (And especially Gabriel in his tank-top 😉😋) But yeah... i want my Bellamy back please... *sigh*