#minor spoilers under the cut

[noteguk]

idk if anybody’s said this before already but bi! jk x oc shower sex.. just thinking about it

Funny that you mention that because... bad karma

[thebowcollector]

hey tumblr, long time no see

I'll probs put a post up as a lil summary for this year in dec just as a log for myself but for now, i wanna talk about a new game ive played!

its called ikenfell and most of it will be under the cut cos spoilers. all you need to know is if youre looking for a good magic mystery rpg that may or may not take a dark turn, this game is for you. 

many people have been comparing it to be hogwarts but without the influence of a terf and theyre right! the ikenfell world is filled to the brim with magic, spells, and alchemy. the story bases on a girl whose sister went missing in the magical school, ikenfell, and decides to look for her there. 

i loved how as the story progresses, it gets more muddled and tangled with the school’s history and how magic works in this world. even in this short game, youre introduced to deities of the world that unravels the origin of magic and its system so youre provided with enough context. 

the environments are also so beautiful and charming in the game. i particularly liked the twilight forest and astronomy tower because of its twinkling lights and the fireflies that follow you around!! so gorgeous. other dungeons were also superb in setting the mood for the story, when paired with the music. this was especially so in the stacks. 

the puzzles you get through are so interesting and satisfying once you solve them! each dungeon has different puzzle types, but none too difficult. they also lend a hand in building up the mystery aspect of the game. most of the puzzles were also designed to fit into the different context of the dungeons and acts as a tool for storytelling, really well thought out! 

fight sequences are also so interesting!! the enemies are creative and have attacks that reflect what they are. the battle mechanic is also refreshing as its not only a time-based fight but also a strategy-based one. each of your attacks are not mana caped but planning out your moves play an important role in determining if you’ll win or lose. 

and the music! oh, the music was so charming! as it was done by the same team that did steven universe, you can expect similar chiptune meets piano style of scores. but it still distinct from the show, so it doesnt feel like it was an extension of it. and theres singing and really good lyrics!! 

a big selling point of the game though, i think are the characters. they all have such great character development throughout the story. they each have issues and problem they must deal with. topics like self confidence, isolation, relationships with others, and even ptsd are explored carefully and respectfully. the amount of effort put into presenting a healthy way others can react to those topics are superb. i think the most outstanding one was when maritte approached perty as she was experiencing symptoms of the ptsd. although maritte went against perty’s will so that she could pull her to safety, she went back to apologize to perty. respecting one’s boundaries is important, no matter the circumstances and im so glad this game addressed it. 

another aspect of the characters i need to talk about is how none of them are straight. in the main cast of playable characters, half of them are non binary and the rest are either gay or bi and i am living for it. and its all so natural when its indicated that character is gay or nb, they didnt make a big fuss by saying things like, btw, xx is gay or xx uses they/them or ze/zir. it all shown in how each character react when they meet each other and im in love. another thing the game handled really well was when someone misgendered a character. rook just straight up corrected her “excuse you, im non binary.” the game said that we shouldnt be apologetic when someone misgenders us because its how we identify ourselves, its who we are. finally, ive always identified with petronella as they is nb and shy. but something maritte said about them in the epilogue that completely broke me was “you dont do relationships, right?” i havent come across any media that has an aromantic character and i was just so overcome with joy i burst into tears. there are ace rep, but aromantic? oh boy. 

this game is so filled with love and creativity and charm. did i mention that you can pet all the cats? yea. 

[minamctc]

If Yui had a shadow, do you have any thoughts on what that might look like?

Boy do I.

Unlike Yu, the Investigation Team actually has to fight Yui’s Shadow at a late point in the story, and when it finally goes berserk, the Shadow itself isn’t all that threatening, in sharp contrast to Yui. Shadow Yui takes the appearance of a giant woman bound in spider silk, fastened with belts as if she were in a straight jacket. She’s almost completely bound, save for one of her eyes and her ponytail being visible, and she’s attached to the ceiling via spider silk from her feet, causing her to hang upside-down, where all she can do is sway. While you’d expect her to still be able to cast magic or something, the Shadow Self is almost completely immobile and harmless in itself.

The danger comes from the fact that it’s a Shadow born from an end-game Wild Card user.

Rather than attacking directly, Shadow Yui is accompanied by a mass of smaller, cocoon-like spider sacs around her. To the surprise of the party, these sacs occasionally leak pools of the ichor that Shadow Selves seem to be formed of, and when they amass on the ground, they take the form of the various berserk forms of the IT’s own Shadow Selves (without being their actual Shadows, as the team is relieved to discover) - in essence, Shadow Yui is a Mook Maker boss that endlessly spawns weaker bosses in order to protect her and fight for her.

This is because of how Yui sees herself by that point; to her, she’s horribly reliant on the rest of her team and her friends. Her Shadow embodies how much she doesn’t want to be without them, how weak she sees herself without them to support her, and how helpless she’d feel without them. To her, she’s nothing without them, and her Shadow reflects this (while being a nod to the Arcana she represents, the Hanged Man).

[agirlandherowl]

is this the point where every wicdiv issue is just going to be depressing from now on? because it sure seems that way

also: minerva going “I’m not going to fall apart. I’m not going to become another teenage cautionary tale.” and then IMMEDIATELY drinking..................... just rip my heart out why don’t you

[wolf-skins]

I’m watching Ashe’s spoiler MEA talk and I’m!! interested again... I think. 

It’ll be great to romance non-companions bc it’s a different dynamic. I’m excited for Vetra and Lexi (potential romance) and Liam tbh. I’m a gay. Hopefully they are a gay too.

[pasiphile]

omg omg omg

RUBY AND SAPPHIRE ARE LITERALLY TOO GAY TO FUNCTION

YOU USELESS LESBIANS

[jbluphin]

Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen was an enjoyable read! A few thoughts under the cut.

It was a lovely read, but wasn’t nearly as plot driven as a lot of the Vorkosigan books. The driven conflicts were all personal/life decision type ones, with no drama other than... dealing with family, and career choices, and loss.  This is not a bad thing --- I would happily read 300 pages about Cordelia going shopping and her diplomatic duties, with no other conflicts whatsoever, just Cordelia being Cordelia, and Jole was an interesting character who’s POV I really enjoyed. However, I suspect this is a book I’ll enjoy more on the reread than I did the first time. I admit I was expecting a more driving drama than two (very interesting) characters figuring out what they’re going to be doing with their lives --- I kept kind of waiting, while I was reading it, for some other shoe to drop, where we suddenly had to deal with issues on a planetary scale. Wondering if it was going to be a Cetaganda issue, or the thing with the construction crews maybe sabotaging something. And it never did. When I reread this, when I get my pre-ordered hard-back copy (or, let’s be honest here, very possibly sooner than that), I will know what to expect, to a certain degree, and will therefore just enjoy the writing and the characters more in their own right. 

But! More thoughts! It was soooooo nice to see Cordelia again, to get a story from her POV. And to see Aral from other people viewpoints, and get more insight into the marriage. And just, gah. Overall? It was really a sweet book. And MILES. It’s GREAT to see Miles from other people’s perspective.

OH GOD AND THE REFERENCE TO BEL. 

And ALL the references, really, to so many past events that we never saw anyone else’s perspective of? Just, fantastic!

[ohthewhomanity]

Finally saw Mad Max: Fury Road

Immediately started comparing it to the various female-representation tests out there

Was very pleased

The Bechdel Test

Does your story have at least two named women in it who talk to each other about something besides a man?

Yes

Hell yes

The names are strange and go by pretty quickly but they exist and there are at least eight of them and they spend a lot of time talking to each other

We’ve got conversations about the green place, conversations about each other, conversations about Furiosa’s past, a brief conversation about god

Basically this movie passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors. But why stop there when there are so many other wonderful tests?

The Sexy Lamp Test

If you replace your female character(s) with a sexy lamp, does the story still work?

Oh my god, yes!

Could a sexy lamp drive that War Rig? Could a sexy lamp plan and enact the kidnap/rescue of the wives? Could a sexy lamp order around the War Boys? Could a sexy lamp be an ace sniper? Could a sexy lamp keep Max from falling out of aforementioned truck? Could a sexy lamp sneak into another truck to kill a warlord?

And moving away from Furiosa for a moment, could a sexy lamp demand freedom and better treatment? Could a sexy lamp insist that she is not a thing, and then act on that assertion? Could a sexy lamp protect Max by putting herself in the warlord’s line of fire? Could a bunch of sexy lamps bite and claw at whoever dared attack Furiosa? Could a bunch of sexy lamps be mothers, history-tellers, seed-keepers, ace shots?

No sexy lamps in this movie, thank you very much.

The Ellen Willis Test

If you flip the genders, does the story make sense, or are the roles too dependent on gender stereotypes?

This test is intended for music lyrics, I know, but it’s still good to think about here

Flip the genders, and Mad Max becomes a movie about a tortured female ex-cop who helps a warrior guy who’s trying to get a warlady’s husbands to his ancestral home

I think this movie only half-passes because while Furiosa and Max can be flipped without either losing their role integrity, the “warlady and her husband-harem” bit doesn’t quite fit

The War Boys are a male stereotype, the Wives are a female stereotype

Oh well

The Mako Mori Test

Does your story have at least one female character who gets her own narrative arc that is not about supporting a man’s story?

And we’re back to a decisive yes!

It’s Furiosa’s story, hands down. She sets out to take the Wives to the green place. She’s the one with the plan. She’s the one trying to find a home and has to react to what she finds there and build a new life after that. It’s her story.

At many points, Max’s role in the story could be called incidental at best. Often it’s just, Furiosa needs an extra set of hands on the wheels for a while while she kicks ass, come on Max be helpful

Sure, Max has a narrative arc--but it’s about him growing to trust Furiosa and deciding to help her and the Wives succeed! His narrative arc is about supporting her story, not the other way around.

The Tauriel Test

Does your story have a woman who is good at her job?

Yes. Next.

The Fridged Woman Theory

Is the sole purpose of your female character to die in order to motivate the male hero to do something heroic?

Several female characters die in Mad Max: Fury Road

None of those deaths appear to have any impact on Max’s motivation to be heroic.

Heck, the only things that those deaths seem to do is almost dangerously demotivate some of the other characters. Which makes sense given that they are seeing or hearing about someone they care about dying.

And the majority of major female characters in this movie do not die.

It’s heavily implied that Max’s angst is failing to save his family and friends (some of whom were female) from the Fury Road, and since they don’t show up otherwise in this movie their role alone is to die to provide motivation for a male character, but they are already long dead before the movie begins, and they are not the only female characters in the movie.

Woman in Tupperware

An alternate to Fridged Woman Theory: Is your female character incapacitated during the high stakes plot point and sealed away “to preserve her freshness”?

No

The girls in this movie never stay away from dangerous plot stuff for long

Honestly the closest thing that this movie has to this is when Furiosa tries to get the Wives to stay in the secret compartment of the War Rig during the first big chase scene, but it isn’t long before they disobey her and become useful--and stay useful

And there are a grand total of two scenes in which Max tells Furiosa to stay put while he goes off and does something dangerous. In one, she remained useful and in danger by continuing to drive the War Rig and fend off their pursuers, while he did maintenance on the Rig. In the other, whatever the heck Max did to that car, it was totally off-screen. In both scenes, the primary focus is kept on Furiosa, and they’re not exactly “high stakes plot points”

Furiosa is only incapacitated once, after she has already handled the high stakes plot point herself.

And the Wives who get “incapacitated” in that same scene did not stay that way for long. They were all brilliant.

Trinity Syndrome

After being introduced, does your Strong Female Character then fail to do anything fundamentally significant to the outcome of the plot? Or is she established as awesome only so that the viewer has someone to compare the male protagonist to as he gradually becomes more awesome and capable than her, while she remains static and on the sidelines?

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: THIS IS FURIOSA’S STORY.

FURIOSA DRIVES THE PLOT.

MAX IS A SIDE CHARACTER IN HER STORY.

MAX NEVER SURPASSES HER IN AWESOMENESS.

Max never surpasses any female character in this movie in awesomeness. No relative dynamics of capability change in this movie. If someone is smarter or stronger than Max, they stay smarter or stronger than Max. If Max is smarter or stronger than someone, he stays smarter or stronger than them.

Max helps Furiosa. Furiosa’s spotlight is never stolen by Max.

Furiosa is not a victim of Trinity Syndrome. She is, in fact, so awesome that there is a new test named after her:

The Furiosa Test

Does your movie incite MRAs to boycott?

Before it even hit theatres.

[aurorashard]

I just got back from AOU again....

it was worse the second time ah i am so sad. “walk it off.” :sobbing: i’m tryingggg.....

[bioticbutt]

possible inquisition spoilers under the cut

I've played about 15 hours of the game and the only main mission I've done is go to Val Royeaux. I'm not very far into the game and my opinion might change later on, but I don't know how I feel about the Templars vs. Mages.

Sure, Neyarael is a mage herself and after facing a little bit of oppression herself, she may side more with the mages, but as a player I don't know. The other games made me sympathize for both the Templars and Mages, like I totally understand the faults and promises of both sides, but Inquisition really makes me weary about the whole subject. Instead of gaining my sympathy, I think I dislike both parties rather than actually being able to choose a side.

I really don't like either side, the Templars or Mages, because they're both too... dark? I'm not sure how to explain, but I don't really want to support either group because both sides are completely messed up. From what I've seen of the Templars, they just seem like full on bad guys, but that might also be because my Inquisitor is an elvish mage, so they might just not like her. Punching that chantry sister in the face probably wasn't a good first impression, either.

The mages on the other hand, I love mages but  i usually hate PLAYING them, but there's just something off putting about them in this game. They seem like they're conspiring something and it's going to be big and it's going to be extreme. Remember, this is all just my opinion, I haven't fully played the game, yet. Anyways, I feel like there's more under the surface than I've actually seem and honestly, the mages have kind of hit a turning point; whether or not it's a good one, we'll see. I guess I just don't trust the mages- mostly in fear that they'll do something stupid in retaliation and fuck everything over.

I know that mages have seen extreme amounts of cruelty under the hands of the Templars, but they can also be extremely dangerous if not properly trained. If there were some way to change the Templar order and maybe introduce some sort of Mage education, then I'd totally be on board with that. Mages are dangerous and they should be contained, but there's definitely a limit that the Templars have definitely over passed. The line has definitely been crossed in the treatment of Mages and I 100% do NOT agree with their treatment, but I kind of... understand? I'm definitely not advocating to what the Templars have done, but I kind of understand why. Like, I know that they are highly corrupted and they can be downright evil at points, but they originally had good cause to keep watch over the mages.

I'm definitely not saying what the Templars have done is right, but Mages are definitely not good either. Sure, individuals can be, but as a whole I don't think that I would want to support either group. I don't know if anyone else agrees with me on this, but I just wanted to write out my thoughts.

edit: take a shot every time i use the word "definitely"- you'll be smashed by the end of this post. like god damn. that's one of my crutch words. so is "overall" and some other words....

[hxneylemonarchive]

okay but honey hugging heathcliff is so cute bye

SO CUTE ???

ugh my queen pls stop being perfect i beg

also heathcliff is a champion tbh

[dorkdevil]

Still blurry but getting there...!!

Anyway, the city is slowly filling up with people which is cool but I guess I'll have to bear with the repeating adventures if I don't wait for updates!

But at least

[the-autobot-headquarters-archive]

i had nightmares after AoE

[kinigget]

so that's how gaining a red-eye ability works then

I think I know what happened now:  Both Hibiya and Hiyori died this time, and Konoha went to drag them out of the Kagerou, but was only able to bring back Hibiya

keep in mind that this is pure speculation on my part

[perichat]

It kind of bothered me that they didn't go into Flash, Green Lantern, or Captain Marvel's Shazam's origins.  It didn't have to be a whole origin story (ala Cyborg) but at least a mention of how they got their powers/power ring?  For Heaven's sake, Batman gave his whole "My Parents are dead." schpiel, which is the most rehashed story in the DC universe.

Speaking of which, it's also not explained how Hal and Barry know each other.  I get that they're friends in the comics, but everyone else was playing the "who are you?" game.  It didn't make sense for them to know each other already.

There was a lot of unnecessary swearing, at least in my opinion. I get that DC is trying to make Super-hero's "Not for kids" but there are other ways to do that besides cursing every 5 minutes.

About halfway through the movie I realized Superman's curly-que of hair was gone.  After that I couldn't help but think his hair looked like Conner's.

The whole "Steal Superman because he's Kyptonian and crazy powerful" is reeally tired.  Why is everyone always after him??The only difference I can perceive from him and Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel Shazam is the fancy vision. His whole abduction and transformations seemed unnecessary.

What was up with Billy? I get he's always been kind of the vagabond street rat type, but stealing?? And being overall gross with Diana??? That's just not him.

Diana was amazing and wonderful and her outfit rocked and I guess my only complaint is that there wasn't more of her.

ugh.. unnecessary love triangles though.  The Clark/Diana/Steve thing served no purpose at all.

I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked Barry.  He should've had more screen time too.

I still don't like Cyborg being a founding member of the Justice League. I'm stubborn, and he'll always be a Teen Titan in my heart.

Overall I guess I'd give it 2.5/4 stars.  Not bad but definitely room to improve.