#joko on fire

[flamingomausi]

Der erzwungene Lachanfall

Das Duell um die Welt - Team Joko gegen Team Klaas, S07E01, 2024

[jollycryptid]

Path of Fire & Living World Season 4 did a number on my poor lad.

[gw2-correct-quotes]

"If you prefer, you can die and help me. The order doesn't matter."

~Palawa Joko

[koko-online]

Palawa Joko is by far the best villain GW2 has had so far.

The dragons, and to a slightly lesser extent, Balthazar were written like forces of nature. They're just doing what they're doing. Which is fine, it's just not super compelling. Like, we literally saved two of them. They're just deathly inconveniences, more than anything.

Joko wants something, he's theatrical, he's self-aggrandizing, he won't take anything seriously because that would be boring. He's played as a joke, which undercuts the narrative a lot, but that's also true to form. Overall like a 6/10 villain, but that's incredible by GW2 standards. Reminds me a lot of Scarlet Briar and LWS1/2, which was the most interesting the game has been narratively.

[commanderfloppy]

Ok so you just get concept sketches for now bc I was hanging out with family today but

Meet my Vampire Cowboy

His name is Adir, he just woke up from an ~500 year long nap and is very mad Joko is somehow back.

He has a pistol and a scythe, and likes protecting farms and beating the shit out of Joko’s awakened.

[thatoctokittenclutchinganotebook]

I think of my commander as having a place at the Grove, Dreamers terrace where her brother and other friends live. Officially it's her home but she hardly ever lives there. When she's been through so much, she doesn't feel right returning to the Grove. Aurene is her priority. She will try to find lodging near Aurene where she can and when she knows where Aurene is. She also worries that after Mordremoth she'll be seen as different or a monster because she's a dragon champion. She feels, because of her trauma, that she doesn't belong around the innocent new saplings.

Officially, Dreamer's Terrace is her home. She's always welcome there. In reality, it's her brother Islwyn's home and she spends her time travelling.

Does anyone's Commander have a permanent residence? I'm thinking about Alba and how the Grove has never been his home, because he's lived in active warzones half his life, and spent the other half in those same places cleaning up post-war. The idea of dreamers terrace being "his" home is almost laughable. At most he may have laid his head there a night or two as a sapling. It's like if you couch surfed at your cousin's house twice in your youth and people later started calling it your house as a result.

Personally I view the home instances not as "where the Commander lives" or "Commander’s house" but as "a community the Commander is welcome to visit and stay in," i.e. that cousin you can couchsurf with temporarily, but I don't consider Alba as having any permanent residence and don't want him to honestly. 🧍‍♂️ But I'm curious to see if anyone else views it differently, i.e. does your comm live in one specific place, do they own a house or other residence, do they return there after every adventure, etc.

[scourgeblooms]

wanted to do a physical timeline for my commander and highlight how he’s changed through the years. this is mostly for my own entertainment BUT I do enjoy seeing the same thing from other folks so I’m posting it here in the hopes that other people share my sentiment. 

(I was ALSO totally inspired by @/manasurge’s hair timeline. it kicks ass. go look at it.) 

elaboration/rambling below the cut!

Personal Story, LW1-2: Popped out of the pod blunt, solicitous, and already maybe a little too paranoid for someone who was born yesterday, but all those traits made him uniquely qualified for a position in military leadership.  Healthy and floral, soft aspen-bark-like skin, delicate petals. black anthers produce pollen. undergoes more fashion changes than physical transformations during this time. gets a little banged up here and there (and maybe has some lasting respiratory effects from the toxic alliance era) but overall feelin a-okay. 

Heart of Thorns: it’s all gone to shit. took a spectacular headdive in both a physical and mental sense with breakneck speed. never “officially” answered mordremoth’s call, but anyone who spent time around him would notice a distinct lack of self control and logical thinking. took on a more sickly pallor, stress caused leaves to shrivel, rot, and decay. lost his lil flower top notch and ability to produce pollen. pupils narrowed to take on a more animalistic look, and enamel growth resulted in sharper, larger teeth. fingers also elongated into claws. never fully physically and mentally recovered from the hell jungle. 

LW3: chopped off most of his leaves to encourage fresh growth. lots of physical healing during this time, though it takes quite a while for his complexion to fully recover. takes on the role of aurene’s champion with gusto. relatively unaffected by bloodstone, but feels the effects of mordremoth’s loose/uncontrolled magic deeply. continues to hear mordremoth’s “voice” and is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. 

Path of Fire: still healing from HoT. continues to grow out his leaves. glow returns, as well as some of his eye color. likes the crystal desert, but finds the harsh, dry climate to be particularly challenging; he’s definitely more of a ‘temperate’ sylvari. does not handle dying well. death only adds to his paranoia and psychosis. has an increasingly hard time picking apart what is real and what is…. not. 

LW4: let’s get ready to kill an undead lich!!!! absorbs even more magic after the death of joko and kralkatorrik, and it starts to show in a there-and-gone shimmery aura that takes on a similar appearance to ley lines. starts to suffer from migraine auras. flower top notch grows back, but stays closed and dormant. picks up a few nifty necromancy tricks from the elonians, and the tips of his fingers start to show signs of necrotic decay; all that death magic can’t be good for the complexion, can it? 

Icebrood Saga: having another dragon in his head does not help his mental health in the slightest. braided leaves (courtesy of braham <3) to protect against frostbite. his ley “aura” gets more intense, hard to miss, and is a near constant. flower topnotch remains closed due to the cold weather conditions. after being shot by bangar, his wound is covered/healed by aurene’s brand. migraines increase in frequency, makes it difficult for him to focus. a bone deep exhaustion starts to set in, and more often than not, he catches himself thinking that a nice long nap underneath a blanket of snow doesn’t sound so terrible….

End of Dragons: back in a more agreeable climate, his topnotch finally blooms, but does not grow anthers or produce pollen. easily physically corrupted by void magic, and he feels soo-won’s pain and struggle deeply. the void corruption eventually shows up in the form of darkening leaves, and seeping out of his eyes/tearducts (it’s fine. don’t worry about it.). starts to incorporate chaos magic into his own necromancy practices. has a fucking terrible time in gyala delve. has a fucking terrible time saying goodbye to aurene. 

Secrets of the Obscure: nothing feels entirely real to him anymore. still willing to help, to fight, but it’s done on autopilot at this point. this magical, floating palace in the sky looks and feels like a dream, with the kryptis acting as the encroaching, inevitable turn to a real, living nightmare. still uses a bit of leftover void in his magical practices, but most of the corruption has left his system. that respiratory illness he picked up back in kessex hills comes back to bite him in nayos. finally grows back his anthers, but instead of producing pollen, it's an outlet for void/magic energy.

[zvaigzdelasas]

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has pressed his United States counterpart Joe Biden to do more to end “atrocities” in Gaza and help bring about a ceasefire.[...]

Widodo, who is popularly known as Jokowi, attended a joint summit of Arab and Muslim leaders in Riyadh at the weekend which condemned Israel and called for a ceasefire.[...]

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim country and has seen large protests in support of the Palestinians as well as a boycott of businesses seen as linked to Israel. “Indonesia appeals to the US to do more to stop the atrocities in Gaza,” Widodo said in the Oval Office as the two presidents met in the White House in front of a roaring fire. “A ceasefire is a must for the sake of humanity.”

14 Nov 23

[i-mybrunettelady]

Replaying PoF for the Return to Event and my god is Nyra's choice for supporting Sunspears so very funny in retrospect.

She has no idea she will die in the desert; all she thinks now is "let's support the Sunspears so after we take Balthy down we will go kill Joko and everyone will cheer my name." People listen bc she knows how to speak with authority in her voice.

Best thing? She is only 24 here!

Of course, what she thinks will happen WILL happen but she has no idea. She just knows bc she's Alysannyra Ainsaph and she can't possibly die to.. *checks notes* fire right

Hubris

[watobu]

i dont go into the sdmp territory anymore but i still think yahi and joko needa kiss like rlly bad. i think yaoitrio as a poly is fire. make those 3 kiss and hold hands. can we throw wuna in there with them

[conarcoin]

joko's bong rip firing squad

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Yale Environment 360:

Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country with the third largest surviving area of tropical forests, has a new strongman president. Environmentalists are concerned. They fear that, after a decade during which the country’s deforestation rates have fallen by almost two-thirds, Prabowo Subianto will unleash a new ecological orgy, cutting, burning, and despoiling some of the world’s greatest rainforests.

The 72-year-old former military man, who first rose to prominence under the country’s late-20th-century dictator President Suharto, was elected by a wide margin in February and will take office in October. He has promised to double GDP growth through expanded mining and industrial development.

Indonesia is already in the midst of a mining boom. It produces half the world’s nickel, a metal vital for the batteries used in electric vehicles. The International Energy Agency says that Indonesia could up its share of total supply, while demand for the metal expected to double by 2040.

Nickel will help other countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. But it does the opposite in Indonesia, where most of the metal is mined from beneath rainforests and is refined using energy from coal-burning power stations. On the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, over a third of the forests now lie within nickel mining concession areas, according to a study published this month by Mighty Earth, a global advocacy group which works in the country.

Now Prabowo wants to expand mining and refining further. “By processing our natural resources domestically, I’m optimistic that we would be able to witness double-digit economic growth,” he said shortly before the election.

But at what price for the rainforests? Some environmentalists fear the worst, as mines and refineries proliferate. But there are optimists who argue that the Western investors and manufacturers that Prabowo will need to fulfil his economic promises could leverage more sustainable development. “Nickel mining is a dirty industry,” says Amanda Hurowitz, who runs Mighty Earth’s program for protecting forests from commodity trades, “but with the political will, Indonesia can clean up the nickel supply chain.”

Under departing president Joko Widodo, Indonesia has often been seen as an environmental success story. Jokowi, as the one-time slum-dwelling carpenter is widely known, slowed forest loss dramatically by banning rapacious palm-oil and pulp companies from receiving new licenses for forest clearance. He also looked to restore nature and suppress forest fires by rewetting millions of acres of peat swamps that had been drained for failed agricultural and forestry projects.

[otvian]

I love path of fire cuz the commander reached maximum levels of doing insane things to save the world.

Well I havent done futher dlcs but I hope they get even crazier.

Everytime a character says "This is an insane idea" Im like yeah, what else do you expect from them?

Clear and reasonable thinking didn't kill a dragon and here we have a dragon, a god and an undead idiot (praise joko)

Go crazy commander <333

[commanderfloppy]

Oughh when you get the idea for a character but you want them to work into lore but your brain broke and the wiki isn’t enough

[sylvaridreams]

I wanna know what everyone's commanders are scared of... BEYOND "losing people" or "being a failure" what kind of fears and phobias do they have let's GO.

Alba has a "healthy respect" (discomfort and fear) of fire, (obvious reasons) heights, (because im scared of them too) and dark places. He can force himself to power through these things.

But he has an absolute phobia of giants. They petrify him. You can imagine his fear in the Raven Sanctum when he was "alone" in the dark with giants stomping around in the fog, just barely out of sight. He couldn't breathe the whole time and barely kept himself from having a panic attack.

He's also afraid of undead things to some degree - Risen and Awakened both kind of freak him out, but he can fake his way through handling them. Having to ask Kaz to disguise everyone as Awakened to steal Joko's army was not great though. Didn't like that. It's because they're visibly reanimated dead. Visibly decayed, exposed bones, etc. Doesn't like mordrem wolves or necromancer minions either, same reasoning. He gets mad when Auruim brings his wolf around, mainly because it creeps him out. Trahearne used to tease him about it too.

I think he also tends to panic in any situation where he can't move. So being held immobile by Joko was horrifying, watching him reanimate himself and approach, knowing he couldn't run or fight back no matter how badly he needed to. Something about not being able to move or act is scary.

And then of course losing people/failing/people getting hurt because of him, yada yada.