#maybe start replaying portal 2 or something idk | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

abcdosaka · 5 years ago

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life update

i’ve been making a lot of random textposts lately but they’re all kinda vague and complainy so i thought i’d write about stuff i’ve done recently

i dyed my hair tips red finally...and it looks really good like better than green actually. i feel like the dye i used will fade fast but i think it will fade to a coral colour which i don’t hate ^^ ill bleach my bangs soon enough but i need to do the math and figure out the ratio of bleach powder to developer

lately i’ve been using twitter through a separate account from my main and i don’t interact with anybody but i like to read threads and whatever its pretty interesting but...there’s so much drama and even though i’m not even involved im already tired of it. i’m pretty much done with tumblr except for this blog but not using twitter anymore either would be really nice...and i never use ig either. one day the only social media apps ill use are texting apps and im looking forward to that. but also how am i gonna get my daily dose of jhope fr my life is kinda lame rn and he makes me happy

i turned my old old 2012 laptop back on so i could play skyrim and its so slow and combat is really hard bc it lags so much which is really unfortunate...but i don’t want to download skyrim onto my new laptop so ill just have to figure out a way to make it faster. i did disk cleanup and defragmenter and hopefully that helps. i think if i allocate more ram to graphics it might be better (or something like that i dont rly remember but ik ur supposed to do it in bios). anyway the laptop is old as fuck and i only used it for games which i barely even play nowadays...although i want to spend my time playing video games instead of social media. i should try to get back into minecraft bc i literally spent like $40 on it... and ttr (i didnt spend money on it but i made a friend like 2 months ago and havent talked to her since....@ her im sorry...)... and i said i wanted to replay portal 2 right

i actually have a shitton of games i own that ive never played. like fucking fez... apparently that game is really good and ive owned it for like 6 years now and i just never played it

also im trying to write a story. ive had the whole story plotted out for like 3 months but ive only started writing it now and i think i have ~800 words? still on chapter 1 or whatever. writing is really hard bc even starting i felt like “oh this is so cringy wow i’m really writing? a FANTASY story??” but tbh so many ppl write fantasy and its fun seeing people with cool powers doing crazy shit. anyways theres hoes out there writing about the most disgusting shit imaginable so i’m trying to convince myself im not cringe and having a hobby like this is a good thing

im not as terrible at it as i thought maybe bc ive been reading a bit lately but idk how to get the patience for it. i just wish i could mentally transfer my ideas onto the page without having to type..like in that saiki k ep where he uses his powers to transfer the manga writer’s idea onto paper without waiting for him to draw it.

i havent really talked to my friends for a while... i guess in actuality its been like a week and a half which is not as bad as it could be but i miss hanging out with my friends in person

i watched the first ep of s2 of bon voyage where they go to hawaii and it made me miss sri lanka so much. like when they landed and walked off the plane i felt so much nostalgia for the air there and just the whole vibe. sri lanka is obvs not the best place in the world but something abt it just hits different. like its just refreshing. i still like toronto tho

id like to go to hawaii one day. and new zealand too. they both seem like really cool places

oh and i made 2 tiktoks that was just like me restoring old white shoes lol. i’m not done there’s still more to do but making tiktoks is so hard and annoying to edit. it makes me not want to continue restoring my shoes since ik im gonna have to film it...

honestly i dont think ive done much else other than study bio and do the pd course... i feel a bit better bc i wrote so much even tho its only technically like 5 things that are notable but still it makes me feel like ive done something lately.

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xaeneron · 7 years ago

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On Path of Fire

I haven’t done one of these in a while (or rather I wrote them and then forgot to post them lel), so maybe I’ll actually post this one for the new GW2 expansion after spending the week running around.

Overall, I found the expansion to be pretty solid; the maps are beautiful, the mounts are hilarious and well-implemented, the story was interesting and decently paced, and I’m still experimenting with the new elite specs. Massive spoilers below the cut!

Questions on anything I wrote, thoughts of your own? Feel free to boop me; I know I wrote a lot.

But really, don’t say I didn’t warn you. There are a LOT of bullet points beneath that cut. xD

On the maps

Obligatory: they are huge. It’s fitting since they were designed against HoT’s verticality and more geared towards the use of mounts, so it’s more of an observation, less of a complaint. There’s a lot of detail and a lot of little things here and there, and it’s incredibly fun to see what you can get away with using mounts to get around the terrain.

That being said I do miss the verticality of HoT maps. Maybe a combination of both pls? :3

I kind of wish there were more large obvious meta events, but I haven’t gotten to see all of the sort of meta events that go on in the PoF zones. I do think the large metas add replay value, but again a balance is a good thing.

We spur-of-the-moment yolo’ed the Ruptured Heart meta with 11 people. It was actually pretty fun. Also so many cannonades ;-;

Hearts feel like they take just a little bit too long. Some of them are amusing, but when trekking through zones doing map comp (or redoing hearts to get collection items) they drag on a bit. Guild chatter about hearts was fantastic though:

“These nobles are useless. What should I do with the chamber pot, throw it off the side or throw it at one of them?”

“I’m throwing flowers at people and making them happy?”

“Matchmaker heart best heart.”

Bounties are hilariously fun? Sometimes you get unfortunate bullshit combinations of modifiers (anti-stacking fleas + pls stack in the bubble to actually be able to hit the boss mob, I’m looking at you), but overall they’re quite fun. We spent a good few hours trekking through all five zones murdering things and getting murdered.

These actually look super promising for replayability; our goal/challenge as a group has always been to optimize and work together, so it should be fun to go track down bounties and see what kind of dumb shenanigans we can get up to.

I actually find these really fun in small groups of 5-10. Zergs sound...unfun. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The caffeinated skritt is...kind of annoying. Mostly because it doesn’t operate like the treasure mushroom in HoT and you have to be on the class you want the collection item on, and the maps are so large someone could trigger a chest and no one would be the wiser.

A tip though for people wanting to complete multiple collections: you only need to loot the last bag it drops. If you’re wandering around with friends and they’re nice enough to chill at the bag, you can reload with other characters and grab the bag again for another collection item (until it despawns). I have no idea if this was intended, but I burned a few TP to friends on this for the lulz.

I had a lot of GW1 feels running through these maps, especially going down to the Desolation and Vabbi. I appreciate that these places still exist but have changed with the years, and it’s nice to see what happened.

Although Vabbi is one weird-ass place now.

BUUUUUUT Zomoros’ lair was hilarious.

I haven’t explored for the sake of exploring in a very long time and it was really, really nice.

CHOYA PINATA.

On the elite specializations

I haven’t actually gotten to try all of them yet, but I’m also not super enthused about all of them (Spellbreaker, I’m looking at you). Also a gentle reminder that my opinions are mainly based on my background as a PvE player and moreso as a raider. Also they’re just initial opinions. Opinions change.

I started with thief (duh), and proceeded to do the entire story with Daredevil. I’m not particularly a fan of Deadeye; I appreciate the archetype but I don’t really see rifle having a place with a game designed more around active response in combat. Also as someone who still can’t shake the seaweed salad dance, rifle just feels really static and dull to me. But we’ll see. Maybe I’ll have to make the Predator hue. D/D Deadeye also felt strange, so idk. But we’ll keep fiddling with it.

Mirage still feels kind of odd but I need to get poor Naois the spec since he’s actually specced for condi, unlike Eet. It seems like an upgrade to condi mesmer, and the triple blink is hilarious.

I really hope Scourge ends up with some sort of place. Initial benchmarks look hilarious (but then, so did Soulbeast/Weaver/Firebrand ones), but I took out Richter again for Scourge and I’m actually really happy to play him again. It’s been so long ;-;

My brother told me, “do yourself a favor and put down a sand shade near some enemies, then press F4.” I tried it. I laughed pretty hard.

Weaver is so much button-pressing but it’s really fun? I’m still getting the hang of it but I do like it a lot. At least it’s more challenging than condi tempest. *grumbles eternally*

Soulbeast looks promising, although I hope it doesn’t lead to another “let’s use condi ranger/thief on absolutely everything” situation again. The new pets are also...interesting.

Although when it comes to ranger I’m a druid at heart, so we’ll see. Not that I’m usually conscripted for DPS roles anyway

Firebrand looks silly. And broken. I’m all for alternative sources of quickness (and alacrity in the case of other specs), but I don’t really want to see raid meta go to 2x PS 2x druid 2x chrono 2x firebrand (or something like that) with only 2 flex spots. That doesn’t sound fun at all.

Also I’m guessing Firebrand will be the first to get the nerfbat. The damage numbers people are getting are bonkers.

And hey look, they got the nerfbat. Down to 33-35k. At least that’s better than 50k? Ugh.

Renegade feels pretty decent. Revenant has always been in a weird “built around elite specs” class, and that hasn’t changed. I’m not sure how I feel about condi rev being more of a thing and less of a meme, but ayyy

Holosmith seems like it would be a lot more relevant if the transform wasn’t currently borked. Scaling damage to a level 76 fine weapon is...sad. If it’s fixed power Holosmith could be something legit? Maybe? Overall though I like the theme and look of it. Also lol lightsaber.

Spellbreaker I...idk. Thematically I like it a lot; I was a big fan of mesmer and shut down mechanics in GW1 and I like the idea of Spellbreaker, but from a mostly PvE perspective, it’s just kind of...eh? WvW and PvP I see it being incredibly useful but with limited boons to nom in PvE it doesn’t really look particularly great (especially with condi berserker getting tuned through the roof).

On mounts

I keep dyeing them funny colors. Yes Quill’s are all some shade of yellow.

I honestly think they were well done. I was never a supporter of adding them to the game (not against, but not for them either), but now that they’re here, I’m pretty okay with them.

I like that each mount is useful in some specific capacity - raptor for flat open stretches, springer for verticality, skimmer for no touchy floor, jackal for portals and evasion through high mob density areas, and griffon for the absolute lulz of flying.

I keep getting the “mount doesn’t render so your character model is riding away sunk in the ground while your camera remains in place” bug (I think it’s attached to trying to mount up before things are completely loaded), and while it’s funny, it’s kind of frustrating.

Mount swapping is a bit awkward, although binding each mount to its own key helps a lot.

I appreciate that the starting mount (the raptor) is still relevant even when you pick up the other three (four), as it’s definitely the fastest mount on flat ground and it’s improved leap is hilariously long.

Also it’s a giant scaly puppy so I have no problems with this.

The springer is hilarious. And super terrain-breaking. High cliff? No problem, bunny hop. Core and HoT map comp probably just got much, much simpler. Also JPs that don’t have mount restrictions.

The skimmer is adorable, and riding it around is strangely...calming? idk. Also as one of my guildies put it: “maybe this is Anet’s answer to underwater combat: glide right over it.” rip.

Of the four core mounts I think the jackal (blink doge) is my favorite. It has a gorgeous design and the blink/portals are super cool. Although the blink can get a bit titchy if you’re trigger happy with the jump button.

Of course I have the griffon.

IT’S SO FLUFFY.

I think it handles a little strangely (esp when you can’t dismount quickly, although you can divebomb), but it’s pretty solid. And adorable.

250g was entirely worth it.

Also that Tahlkora cameo hit me right in the feels.

On the story

I’d get here eventually! Eventually...;-;

All salad-shaped biases aside, the male sylvari VO is still my favorite and no one can convince me otherwise. There was a good amount of sass, seriousness, and everything inbetween. Ive is one to take everything with a “hahahaha you’re kidding what am I doing here help,” so overall the voice acting and dialogue fit him fairly well.

I’m a little disappointed by the lack of race-specific dialogue. Humans don’t seem to have any special dialogue with or concerning Balthazar, and everyone else doesn’t really have a chance to comment as an outsider. I know it’s more work and I still enjoyed the story as is, but it would have been a nice touch.

Like Ive would literally not give a shit about half of the things brought up. Not because he doesn’t care about others, but because he has no clue what anyone is talking about.

This was particularly funny with Joko in the Domain of the Lost, because his whole tirade about the PC not knowing who he is could quickly be shut down with “I’m a salad, I have no idea who the fuck you are.”

The “decisions” were interesting, although unsurprisingly they had very little impact on the game as a whole (maybe in the future? Doubt it). I did appreciate that depending on the order the “decide on Amnoon’s independence” steps are done in, the dialogue changes.

I admit that I’ve gotten a little less partial to Taimi as she’s edged closer to Deus Ex Machina territory, but her dialogue and conversations (both with the PC and with others like Phlunt later on) are quite funny.

I wish there were more Vlast/Gleam before he died. It’s sad that he showed up and just...died, but I can understand why they chose that path as well.

Although some of that was my own fault; the chapter with the Exalted and Vlast’s upbringing I got supremely distracted by the jumping puzzle and spinning around on my new skimmer.

Still. More Vlast!

RYTLOCK. RYTLOCK WHY. Nice job breaking it hero. Surely you would know better than to accept help in the Mists from a random shackled man who CONVENIENTLY knows how to relight your magic sword. Sigh.

I thought a lot about the Herald of Balthazar after finding the notes in Night of Fires. I went back to it after talking to my brother and came to a very similar conclusion as a theorizer on the GW2 subreddit. If that theory is true, that makes me very sad.

Pls say it’s true I like gut-punch feels.

Speaking of gut-punch feels, The Departing was amazing. It was super disorienting not having access to the inventory or the minimap, but it was a very well-done instance and I enjoyed it immensely. I appreciated that they stuck to the “you lost your name and purpose” thing to the point of replacing your character name (including in the hero panel) with Lost Spirit.

Balthazar murdering the PC was pretty neat.

Also Aurene showing up exactly on time was both cliche and NO BALTHAZAR BAD STAY AWAY FROM BABY DRAGON.

This, like a few other story missions later on, is super awkward to do as a group. It’s supposed to be rather personal, and so the not-instance owners are reduced to buffing wisps (like later on in the thrall party instance, not-instance owners are just awakened thralls), and idk I was lucky I was instance owner but that seems rather :|

Ive had a lot of feels hearing everyone’s voices again. Also the feels of him not exactly remembering everything and having to follow his purpose through his own memories and not quite remembering everything. Including Trahearne.

Also tfw the story mission is essentially Full Circle (as a sub-section of Closure) with a bit of bonus Balthazar.

Joko is being very obviously set up as a “you left me in a cage I swear vengeance rahhhhhh” villain. Or Anet is going to pull a fast one and he will never show up again, which would be hilarious.

Bonus feels for everyone else surviving and Ive being the only one dead (think Eet).

Backtracking slightly, I’ve never liked Kormir. I still don’t like Kormir. And the human gods are miserably terrible people. At this point there’s not much questioning as to whether or not they exist, but with the extent of their influence, their decision to just kind of peace is...rather appropriately god-like, for better or for worse.

Seriously though, gods pls. I can see some of the logic of “world will be destroyed anyway if god attempts to fight god,” but surely there are other things that need be maintained.

Also I like how Kormir notes that Balthazar had been stripped of his powers, and yet he still curbstomps the PC (unless it was entirely the imprisonment in the Mists that just locked his powers away, but Kormir’s dialogue suggests otherwise).

I would kill for a library like that. Seriously. So jelly.

The “let’s disguise ourselves as the Archon and go and convince Palawa Joko’s army to fight for us” part was so incredibly stupid that of course it worked. We spent the entire time laughing at how incredulous it was.

The battle at Kodash Bazaar was actually kind of awesome? There was stuff everywhere and my only inclination for the first part of the instance was “go hit things.”

It was incredibly weird to just have Sohothin for the entire instance. Yes I’m aware I could have dropped it. But it was hilarious in a Caladbolg sort of way. With less idiotic knockback, and more 300s cooldown skills.

AURENE. Balthazar stop hurting my dragon >:(

Also because he just yolo killed her other brother before she had a chance to meet him in person? rip.

Although now that I think about it, how would that meeting even go? Talking to the Exalted indicates that Vlast was isolated and not well-acclimated to the world around him, so by the time they realized he should be interacting with other races it was too late for him to form any empathy for anyone. His dialogue seems to imply that his motivation was simply the fulfillment of a goal; he seemed far more interested in fulfilling his legacy as Glint’s son than the reason why she needed him and Aurene to do anything in particular. He doesn’t really have a reason for what he’s doing, he just does.

Aurene is implied to have an empathic link with Vlast similar to her connection to the PC, but idk, it just seems like any actual meeting between the two of them would just be incredibly awkward.

I very much enjoyed both the penultimate and ultimate fight against Balthazar. Also because if you turned around, you could see Kralkatorrik’s massive face just chilling in the sky because oh shit angry elder dragon. It was...quite something.

I understand the PC’s current caution about killing elder dragons because of magic imbalance, and I also understand the need to stop Balthazar from being a total moron. I also understand that there’s not much you can do to stop a mad god besides killing him (since those with the means to imprison him decided to float on). But uh. I’m not sure what anyone expected would happen if you kill the god who absorbed two dragons’ worth of magic with another dragon just chilling nearby. Surely Kralkatorrik absorbing everything and flying off into the sunset while extending the Brand wasn’t a surprise.

Seriously though what did you think was going to happen.

Baby dragon absorb magik and is not quite so baby anymore. Aurene come back I miss you already ;-;

I commend you if you actually read all of that. xD

Overall, a solid expansion with quite a bit of content. We’ll see how replayable it ends up being as time goes on, but I am still quite amused by it and have plenty to do as it stands. The story was fairly solid (although sometimes strange with questionable logic, as always), and I’m looking forward to where they take it with LWS4.

#guild wars 2 #path of fire #path of fire spoilers #seriously all the spoilers #the artist rambles #a lot #that was really long #and still not all of it but ayyy #bullet points

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firebunnylover · 7 years ago

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Hannah Watches LoSH - Brain Drain

Brain Drain

I’m so sorry this took so long to finish. A lot of IRL issues been going on. I had to address those before putting full attention on reviews. July sucked.

This episode was another one I livestreamed. Twice. With no regrets. And the featured guests for the stream are @fade-steppin, @peskyshortcake, @cyclone-rachel and @legionworldproject

So the opening to this episode is Superman and Lightning Lad talking to Saturn Girl and Timber Wolf about Brainy acting weird in the last few days, staying inside his room/lab.

Gee, maybe it’s got something to do with the subtext from the last episode?

When Saturn Girl is telling them they shouldn’t have to assume something weird is going on, Brainy comes out of his room.

Why did he do that?!

Superman finally acts on his concern and goes to knock on Brainy’s door, although Brainy tells him to go away.

Yeah, I’m sorry but I need to assume he’s upset about the chemistry between Superman and Lightning Lad last episode.

Superman tells Computo to override the door’s lock, and the group finally sees what Brainy has been working on. A containment chamber. For Brainy.

Superman tells Brainy to explain what’s going on, and Brainy finally does so. Stating that Coluans undergo an alignment every 2 solar cycles that share their intellegence, but that B5’s process will be different because he’s no longer part of the Coluan Hive Mind. And will be unpredictable for 10 hours.

Okay so we finally learn more about Colu. And we finally know what the hologram Coluans from Fear Factory meant by “One with us again”. They were talking about the Hive Mind. Oof.

When questioned about why he didn’t tell anyone, Brainy admits it’s his first time separated for this process, and that it will be embarrassing.

Aww, my self-concious nerd.

Saturn Girl reassures him that he doesn’t have to go through this event alone, which makes him smile.

My baby~

Just as the Alignment is about to begin, Brainy gives final instructions to the others not to let him out.

At first, nothing much seems to happen. But after a few hours, it happens.

I love these parts so much. Brainy is so expressive.

When the Alignment finishes though, Brainy is still acting different from his usual self.

Superman suggests it might be normal, and then the containment unit starts to act up.

Okay, I keep replaying this part, but I'm not entirely sure if that’s what he actually says. Forgive me.

Superman goes to save Brainy from the unit before it blows from a power overload.

Platonic friendship in the background ~

The best animation.

Later, we see that Superman has Brainy wrapped in metal as he’s still incredibly active. Saturn Girl tells the group that his neuron pathways are degrading, and if it continues he will permanently shut down.

Computo tells the group that Brainy needs Zuunium radiation to reverse the alignment’s effect on him. While Brainy says he likes Timber Wolf’s pants.

Oh Brainy.

Computo then states that Zunium is only found in one place, which Timber Wolf instantly recognizes, calling it Zuun.

Brainy then has a particular reaction that at first, just seems like him being a nutcase, but makes more sense afterwards.

No one seems to pay Brainy any mind to his comments though.

Because Timber Wolf admits that he grew up on Zuun, and is then chosen to lead the mission.

I would like to know more about the transmatter gate. Why doesn't the legion have one in the HQ? Are they expensive? It would be convenient.

At the Gate Station (idk what else to call it), we see a Jabba-the-Hut inspired character runs the place and laughs at the Legion’s request at using the gate. When he relinquishes, he gives Saturn Girl a broom, calling the needed gate, Gate 11, “Old Chompy”.

Mm.

Never change B5.

Starting up the gate is nerve wracking for both Superman and Saturn Girl as it immediately sparks.

But we see Timber Wolf show a softer side to him.

Okay, this is the first time he makes a joke on the show. He’s come so far… my puppy…

Timber Wolf goes through first, followed by Superman, who is reported to be a little gate sick. When it’s Brainy’s turn, he objects as Lightning Lad carries him to the portal.

Wow. Great care skills.

However, the machine sparks. A lot.

He’s so mortified.

It turns out that not only did Brainy loose his body, but Superman has lost his powers.

After we see Superman in a suit similar to the one Timber Wolf is wearing, Brainy starts rambling again.

When Timber Wolf tells Superman that it’s not too late to go back, Superman insists on staying. Just before being handed a device to monitor to check B5’s status, and B5’s head.

Back at the gate station, Saturn Girl tells the manager that the body went missing.

RUDE.

As soon as Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad get told which gate to take to where B5’s body has been running rampant, we cut back to Zuun.

This is the major indication that Brainy is trying to tell them important stuff, but is saying it in a way that is hard to interpret.

The group encounters miners, who are not to friendly, and then we learn that Zuun’s atmosphere is toxic, and that inhaling it leads to mutations. The miners attack them, and Brainy’s head is essentially taken hostage.

While Timber Wolf is busy fighting the miners all hardcore style, Superman is stuck in a game of monkey in the middle, with Brainy as the object being tossed back and forth.

Why does Brainy say “My nose ring”? He doesn’t have one.

Rather than being saved by Superman, he’s saved by Timber Wolf, who tells Superman to run, instructing him to head to the elevator.

And we see that Superman just forgot what the ring was originally for, and has to be reminded. Wow.

As soon as he takes off, Timber Wolf gets tackled by some more miners, and tosses Brainy’s had to Superman.

Superman is butterfingers.

He stops running for a moment to look back at Timber Wolf, who is still fighting, and Timber Wolf has to tell him to keep moving.

Ok this led to some of the best comments during the streams.

Then we finally see where Brainy’s body went to. Diaphus 3. Again, winging it with spelling. But I think there’s a better description for the place.

Steven Universe’s Homeworld.

Brainy’s body proceeds to terrorize the poor Guidebot 2.9 and running into the towers, destroying the place, as Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad step through. And Saturn Girl comments that he just HAD to end up in that particular place.

Back on Zuun, Superman manages to reach the elevator, and Timber Wolf manages to shake off the miners that were clinging to him…

And then Brainy does this.

NOT HELPING.

And regarding this particular moment during the stream…

PESKY GET UR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER.

But regardless of what just happened, Timber Wolf just jumps down after the elevator, like a bad ass.

I love you my puppy.

However, three miners hop down after him. One guy is kicked off the top of the elevator – he lives (I think), and Timber Wolf makes one of the other guy’s mask crack open – his mask was the one that was notably the most intact of the miners we see.

The third miner however manages to grab him, and holds him up in the air.

OH NO.

We then cut from the tense scene back to Homeworld – I mean, Diaphus 3, where the poor tour guide is screaming for security. While B5′s body is continuing to destroy the place.

Wow. For once Lightning Lad cane make a good point about something. That isn’t his brother’s bad personality.

The moment is cut short buy Lightning Lad trying to short circuit Brainy. At first, it seems to work. But then this happens.

OUCH.

Sass.

Saturn Girl tries talking to Brainy, and at first it seems to work, but then Brainy runs off after the tourbot.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

Saying it was worth at least a try, she then asks Lightning Lad if he has any other brilliant ideas.

Wait. Lightning Lad had an original GOOD idea? What did that punch DO to him?

Cutting away from a touching scene, Superman is still inside the elevator while the fight is still going on above him.

Thankfully, our beloved Puppy pops into the elevator, all in one piece.

But then we get some bad news, that without Superman’s powers, the Zuunium vault is not an option they can use for Brainy.

Oh Brainy.

And then we learn that there’s only one active mine left wher they can get the Zuunium, which is the core.

Now, before I proceed, you guys remember how much I kept ranting about the bad use of darkness and details together in the episode Fear Factory?

Well, I need to go at it again.

BECAUSE OF THE GOSHDARN CORE’S DARK SCENES.

Now there are other parts of the core’s settings that are much better drawn/painted, so this possibly bothers me much more this time because they could have followed the better design all the way through for this place. But they didn’t.

I won’t pick out particular shots to complain about, but just know that it pained me physically when making these gifs.

Not long after entering, they have to hide from a robot. It leaves without detecting them, but we get a funny line out of Brainy at least.

Superman asks what that was, to which Timber Wolf tells him it was a mining robot, aka mine-bot, which is the only thing that can survive in the core. And notes they are irritable.

And then they stumble in a huge group of them.

Give the mine-bot credits for strength and skills.

As they try to pull Superman apart, Timber Wolf manages to save him while carrying Brainy – again. But when he dodges one of the robots…

Ow. Poor B5.

Superman gets cornered into what I assume is an abandoned station that was meant for people, but finds something that makes him smile.

Timber Wolf is getting overpowered by the robots, and we see more goofy brainy.

WAIT. YOU HAD EXTENTIONS AND YOU DIDN'T USE THEM EARLIER?!

The problems with us watchers being adults.

When Timber Wolf is pinned down, he is saved by Superman, in what is clearly a reference to Aliens.

Nice.

I love how Timber Wolf says that.

As the two search for him, they stumble upon what at first seems like another mine-bot. But it ain’t.

My feelings too.

And another comment from Pesky.

*sigh*

Don’t change… is what I would insist on, but the monitors indicate Brainy is reaching a critical status.

Returning to Homeworld, where Brainy continues his terror, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad go through with his plan. Which is to lure Brainy to the gate with a hologram of Guidebot 2.9.

Lightning Lad, you are a constant source of bad ideas. Just look at the last episode.

Really, what did that punch do to him.

But B5 still did a lot of damage.... a lot.

Returning to Brainy’s head, the mine-bots are ganging up on them, and tearing the claw-suit Superman is using.

When Superman urgently tells Brainy that if they don’t get him to the zuunium cave, they will lose him, we get one of the best replies ever.

Superman proceeds to pick up Brainy with the claw machine while Timber Wolf keeps the mine-bots busy. Brainy however interprets Superman as a “big scary space lobster” who is trying to eat him, and pleads him to leave his brains. Even though Superman tells him to hold still, Brainy manages to destroy one claw, although is picked up by the second one.

Superman slides down into the mine, although the claw suit gets rekted. As he and Brainy go further down, Brainy starts shutting down and the suit Superman is wearing seems to be damaged by the radiation.

But that really got me in this scene is what Brainy is saying.

Oof. This stabs me in the feels.

But despite that he’s obviously being affected by the radiation, Superman picks up Brainy’s head, which fell from the robot body, and carries him to the Zuunium, even though he falls flat onto his back from several feet above while climbing down.

Superman does pass out, but does wake up when he hears Brainy calling his name.

Wow. Not gonna take that in any shippy-kinda-way…

Timber Wolf has successfully rekted all the mine-bots. What a good puppy.

Upon returning, Saturn Girl runs to Superman and asks if he’s alright, to which he replies that he thinks so. Interestingly enough, he seems to immediately bounce back as he quickly takes off the suit.

And now we have to assume that just one part of him getting exposed is enough for the effects to be reversed.

Pesky, stop.

The scene then returns to HQ, where B5 is one piece again. Literally.

Important questions.

Brainy thanks Superman for what he did, and Superman says there’s a way for him to make it up to him, to which Brainy promptly replies “Anything.”

Superman asks him to help him figure out why he lost his powers, to which Brainy immediately replies because his powers only work under a yellow sun’s light.

Now, recall what he had been rambling about earlier. Red ants. Too much red in the sun. HE WAS TRYING TO TELL SUPERMAN THAT WHILE IN CRAZY BOT MODE.

Putting that clever trick of the writers aside, Superman is shocked that Brainy knew and asks if he thinks he should be telling him stuff like that. To which Brainy says no, since there is stuff Superman needs to learn in his own time.

So final thoughts on the episode overall and characters

Plot wise, I think this is meant to be mostly a comedy episode, but the few moments that are more dramatic are deep.

So, first thing I want to discuss is Brainy and how clever the writers were with hiding accurate information on Superman’s weaknesses/backstory with his outburst. Very good. This went over my head when I first saw it. Heck, I didn't even realize the red ants part until someone brought it up a while back.

And another thing that I feel is worth mentioning is the exact order of the production episodes and what it implies. So, this episode originally came out before Lightning Storm, when the production is in reverse. In Lightning Storm, Brainy shows up briefly, but doesn’t contribute much. But with this episode, we can assume a reason why.

He was busy getting ready for the Alignment. It makes perfect sense! Lightning Lad says he had been in his lab for days, and while that can easily have been blamed on upcoming auditions and roaming kids who want to audition, it makes more sense that Brainy would have been working on the containment unit.

Although I still want to believe some of the sulky behavior was from the chemistry between Lightning Lad and Superman in the last episode.

I can’t believe this show got away with so much.

As for his personality during the Alignment, we see him go off the walls. Which we all enjoyed thoroughly. Unlike in his usual logic mode, he doesn’t hesitate to blurt out important stuff about Superman. But he does so in a way that people won’t understand easily. As for his weirder comments, hard to tell if that was revealing more of his interests, or if he was just blurting out random things.

Regarding his expressions/animations during these parts, I really wished we got more stuff like this in other episodes.

And as for his serious mode, we see more of his insecurities. He doesn’t want to be embarrassed by his behavior, hence why he went to such lengths to hide what was going on.

With his whole secret hiding habits, we can under stand why with Superman’s case. No one wants the world to come to an end in this show due to time continuum getting botched up. But we see it goes beyond just Superman’s life. And if the other’s didn’t intervene, he would have died.

As for the Alignment and Colu itself, both remind me of what I said about Coluan culture in Fear Factory. Lack of individuality. There is a Hive Mind, that all Coluans are naturally linked to. Intellegences is uploaded and shared with other Coluans. That… indicates a good lack of privacy. We don’t know the extent of how much data is shared. But good chances are it’s a lot.

Brainy is a private person. That much we know. No wonder he cut himself off from the Hive Mind.

Second topic to get into is Timber Wolf.

He has grown so much from when we saw him in Phantoms. From the team’s reclusive lone wolf (get it?), who took everything seriously, to a more social being who is a bad ass leader that makes jokes and saves his teammates, repetitively.

With no complaints.

Like, every time. And tells Superman he can go back when he lost his powers.

He was… almost…

Dad-like…

Well, I guess we’ll put this in the evidence locker that Timber Wolf would make the best dad.

So, rather than spending his whole life on Raal, he spent some time on Zuun as well, possibly more because he states he grew up there.

Zuun is not a good state. It’s like, a type of Post- Apocalypse bad. Toxic air that mutates anything that breathes it? Definitely not a good sign. I’m putting my money down there was some kind of industrial/chemical disaster that ruined everything for anything organic, hence why mine-bots were so numerous. But there are still people who are stuck living there. And there are a lot of buildings standing, in good condition. Plus we don’t find out if the air can actually kill people or not.

Well, I doubt the show would have been allowed to say it outright due to censorship. But implications would have been nice.

And remember that Timber Wolf seems to lack knowledge on certain (trivial in 31st century) stuff? Seeing the state of Zuun, it’s not hard to imagine a lack of sufficient educational sources.

So Zuun is not the ideal place to live, even if it’s inhabital in some degree.

We don’t learn much about the people who still live there. Which to me is a disappointment. We could have learned more on Timber Wolf’s background before he was transformed.

Ironically, Raal is in a way the opposite. It’s biologically safe to live there. If you just look at that aspect and had to pick between that place and Zuun, you would go there in a heartbeat.

Unless you knew someone was performing illegal experiments on the wild life and his children.

Moving on.

Saturn Girl is once again the Team Mom, and we see more chemistry between her and Lightning Lad in this episode. We also see that she will attempt to talk to people first before taking more aggressive action. And we see more of that wonderful sass of hers. But not much happens with her in terms of development.

Nothing much to report on Lightning Lad… except he had an original GOOD idea. And if there’s anything we can go off from the last episode, original ideas of his own are NEVER good.

And finally down to who I really want to talk to. Superman.

This is the second time he loses his powers, although this time, there is initially no explanation. But he still insists on helping Brainy out. He is that person who will go out of his way to help others.

Even though he’s constantly the damsel in distress. Not that I’m complaining.

We also see how much he has adjusted to his powers, given that it doesn’t even occur to him to use the flight ring when the suit is too heavy to really run in.

Recall that in the first episode, he’s learning how to fly, and is shaky with it. It reminds us that he needed someplace to safely explore his powers, and that Smallville wasn’t that place.

But then there’s the part towards the end when he learns Brainy is hiding secrets from him.

Recall what Drax told him in in Phantoms, that Brainy is hiding more things than Superman is aware of. Superman doesn’t seem to take this to heart then. But now… he will. He should realize Drax was telling the truth with that.

This is definetly going to effect their relationship.

… But sadly, this aspect is hardly played in the show as much as I would have seen it go. As Rachel did mention in the chat image at the end.

The first time I watched this episode, I legitimately thought we were going to get some serious plot line, revealing Brainy’s lineage to the original Brainiac. And build way more on the Colu culture. But the writers went in a different direction. A very different direction, that was still good, but I still wish they could have delved in deeper.

Well, that’s all from me for now. Assuming I don’t get any surprise shifts from work, I hope to get the next review in two weeks at most.

#losh #hannah watches losh #legion of superheroes #brainiac 5 #superman #timber wolf #saturn girl #lightning lad

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