#not to mention how mortals try to recreate things with their limited power

[gierosajie]

Okay now I'm kinda wondering if there was a way to input photographs into the Akasha way back when Rukkhadevata first made it and if so, then that would mean digital photography was a thing way before analog photography was invented on Teyvat

[trans-ruffboi]

so my Opp Onion is that Anders' Martyr spell (and entire Vengeance mode) is functionally the same thing as blood magic in that it's Justice using Anders' actual life force, because the way that mortals do blood magic is effectively an (occasionally clumsy) out-of-Fade recreation of how spirits/demons do magic, but Anders and Justice cannot accept this because of their own (valid due to circumstances but misled) fears.

like, spirits are made entirely of magic and the Fade itself, and they can cast spells or use magical effects because of that. more powerful spirits can use more powerful spells. and when they're in the Fade, this is NBD because the magic they're using is easily replaced by absorbing more of the Fade's ambient energy, and the world is incredibly mutable. and even out of the Fade, there is ambient magic around that they can recover with, but it takes longer and is more difficult. (this gets all sorts of fucked up by the Breach but that's later)

but where blood magic comes in is that, to a creature made of magic, mana and life force aren't all that different. so if a spirit like, say, Audacity, were to teach a mage their magic, how they get power and use it, then large amounts that power would likely have to come from the life force because mortals are limited in mana in a way that spirits aren't. like Merrill said, she'd use lyrium if she had buckets of the stuff, but she doesn't, so she's working with blood. and if a spirit like, say, my best friend Justice over here, were to help his mage use magic, or use magic through him, converting the life force spent in battle into mana that Anders knows how to use seems like a very natural thing for them to do.

and even mortals have a connection between mana and life force. there's a physical draw on connecting to the Fade for magic, and it's mentioned in the codex "Mana and the Use of Magic" from the Mage Origin and in Merrill's home in DA2 (wow a link between life force and mana in Merrill's house in particular?) that a mage can overtax their mana and start burning their life force and hurt themselves.

blood magic is just directly accessing that life force instead of reaching into the Fade and burning the whole mana pool first. but Anders and Justice don't see what they do as blood magic the way Merrill sees hers as blood magic because blood magic is what demons do, and Justice isn't (CAN'T be) a demon.

as we see from spirits like Justice or Cole, many spirits don't even really know the difference between spirits and demons (Justice pretty directly says that for him it's because of fear that understanding demons will bring him closer to becoming one), but blood magic is associated with demons because spirits believe teaching it is something a demon does, that demons are the ones over-concerned about mortals and have mortals use their own bodies separate from the pure Fade to do magic wrong. you see Anders' question Merrill trying to see if she could've done blood magic without a demon telling her because to him that'd be relatively okay, and I definitely think a lot of his hatred for blood magic isn't just the indoctrination or his palatability argument, it's because Justice is very much afraid of being a demon.

and these are all beliefs shaped by mortals as well, because what exists in and shapes the Fade reflects the mortal world. spirits' fears of demons are shaped by mortals' fears of demons, and how spirits manifest to interact with mortals and each other is shaped by mortal feelings and actions.

anyways, Anders is the loml and also a big hypocrite. but he has to deny that part because he and Justice are running on at least 25% fear at all times. they both want to help each other so so badly, but they don't quite understand what they're doing. and even if I don't buy that Anders' rage perverted Justice, them both being afraid of themselves, and each other, and of hurting each other, is definitely holding themselves back and causing them pain.

[kagrenacs]

Explaining the Iceberg #8

In which the theories get worse as you delve deeper. (some content is cut because it’s not appropriate/something I would want to discuss)

Coldharbour/Clockwork Tamriel: Coldharbour has many locations that resemble Tamriel, and often are outright taken from it. C0Da seems to indicate Sotha Sil’s final goals for the clockwork city is to recreate and ‘perfect’ Tamriel.

The Crimson Ship: During the Knahaten Flu, the Kothringi were hit particularly hard, and the Crimson Ship was full of refugees trying to find a new home. They were turned away at every port, until reaching Hammerfell. After being turned away once again, they sailed out to sea. Some years later, pirates found the ship full of corpses.

Storming of the citadel: Unsure of this, the wording is too general. It could possibly refer to the Morrowind Mainquest, when you take back the profane tools, A Covenant quest in Elder Scrolls Cnline, or the Main quest in Elder Scrolls Online

Altmeri formwars: Mentioned in an MK short story. Possibly a war from a previous Kalpa that involved the Dreugh

Yagrum Bagarn made the Numidium: He states he was a Tonal Architect under Kagrenac, there’s a possibility he may have worked on the Numidium as well.

Sons of Hora: Mentioned in the Nu-hatta, related to mantling. ‘this is the death children bring as son’s of Hora’. My guess is that it’s the ability of mortals (sons of Lorkhan, Hora?) to actually mantle deities and understand their limits.

Kaleidocules: ‘Leaky Creatia’  the power of creation, magical possibility 

Ayleids=Bird people: A race of unnamed bird people Topal the Pilot was said to have met on his journey across Tamriel. Since they occupy the same region as Ayleids did (although they seem to have been present before the Ayleids and subsequently died out), and since Ayleids have recurring bird motifs within their armor and art, it’s thought that these two groups may be one in the same.

Dragon Tusk: The name of the oversoul (cumulation of all aspects) of Akatosh/Auri-el ect. Is Aka or Aka-Tusk.

Lorkhan’s heart the egg of time: In Morrowind, the egg of time is a rebuttal paper to Kagrenac’s theories on the use of the tools on the heart of lorkhan.

Khajiit ??? Genetic memory: I can’t make out if that says lactable as in the infant formula for babies, or something else. 

The Prisoner: A name for all playable characters in tes, revolves around the concept of seeing past barriers formed previously (the prison) and overcoming these obstacles to change things.

82nd Crodo: Mentioned in the redguard forums, a community in Alinor.

City of Rockcreek: In Arena, there is a city called Rockpark. A glitch in town generation happened, and the palace to Rockpark was blocked off, rendering it inaccessible. In Daggerfall, the developers referenced this glitch in ‘Ius the Animal God’ But misspelled Rockpark as ‘Rockcreek’

Atmora-Aldmeris Invasion: Not quite sure what this references, my best guess is the invasion of the Atmorans and Aldmer from their respective continents to Tamriel.

1008 weapons of rapture: 1008 or 108 is usually in reference to Cyrodill (8+1 gods), in Et’Ada, Eight Aedra, Eat the Dreamer, there is mention of 1008 weapons of rapture. This could possibly refer to the Divines, the Middle Dawn that lasted 1008 years, or perhaps 1008 literal weapons.

Thalmor UFOs: Seems to have originated on the iceberg

King Harald and Talos die at 108: There goes that numerology again

Adamantia Scroll rocket: While this seems to have originated on the iceberg once again, there is a group of tes LARPers with the shared name Adamantia

Ghartoki: Mentioned in what my beloved taught me after Vivec reads a symbol on Nerevar’s palms (possibly some sigil, scars or just reading palms). Ghartok in Ehlnofey means hand, and in the sermons it’s often associated with the word Padhome, or change.

Thalmor and Jyggalag: The Altmer are orderly so they worship Jyggalag.

Motheaters: A little song mentioned in this thread https://www.imperial-library.info/content/forum-archives-unknown-posts

Klecksographic Lyg: Another iceberg original, Klecksography is the art of making art from inkblots, essentially this is just saying how lyg was created in a fancy way

Ha-Note is Mehrunes Dagon: https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/3o0uwk/nanote_dagon/ the original theory is here, TL;DR Ha-Note, a monster born from Vivec, renamed itself ‘City-Face’ and fled to Lyg. The ‘grabbers’ grabbed it, because they can’t create things of their own and said they’d build a Hope-Tower upon it’s face. In the Commentaries of Mankar Cameron, he states Mehrunes Dagon was built from hope.

Zurin Arctus=Versidue Shae: An apparently deleted theory, mentioned only in this post debunking it https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/9rs2ad/what_were_the_motives_of_versidue_shaie/

The King’s Cough: Mentioned in Sermon 29, another name for the Thu’um

The Catalyst: The driving force that starts an Enantiomorph 

Tsaescence: A tsaesci word from We ate it to become it, MK states it means it’s the Tsaesci word of “High Perception” In context, seems to mean something similar to CHIM.

Hero of Kvatch=Pelinal Whitestrake: See the Knights of the Nine DLC. (To expand further, there are many similarities between the two, force of change, knight to the emperor/empress)

Amiel Arctus: An old screen name for Michael Kirkbride

The Space Gods: Found in the last song of Pelinal and Eight Aedra Eat the Dreamer, like many things in tes, it’s Lorkhan.

Uriel V: The father of Uriel VI, tried his best to invade Akavir.

Otherkin: You are reading this on tumblr. You know what this is. MK made a lengthy forum post about how Tosh Raka hates the Otherkin for some reason.

Falmer are Hermaified: Horrible word, but there are resemblances between Hermaeus Mora’s shrines, and Falmer shrines.

Invisible Dragons: In morrowind, if you ask M’aiq about dragons, he’ll state they’re too high up to see. Or invisible

Alien Ayleids: A relic from the since deleted bethesda forums. MK wanted to have a plot twist where Ayleids were Aliens.

The insect god: Mentioned in the Adabal-a, or Morhaius’s memoirs. May be a since-retconned god, could possibly be Lorkhan due to his frequent connection with Scarabs.

Suicide Trolls: An easter egg in Oblivion, a poorly scrawled note and a troll found dead under a bridge across the bridge from Bravil.  

Arkay=Arnand the Fox=Zurin Arctus: Zurin Arctus is sometimes called Arnand the Fox (Seen in where were you when the dragon broke) Shor is also represented as the fox, which makes sense since Zurin is a Shezzarine. This connects to Arkay by Malacath/Orkey/Arkay, who is a trickster god (fox like) in Nordic pantheons. Malacath also got compared to a fox once. I never said these theories were well backed up.

Dwarf-Orc theory: referring to Dumac, who is sometimes called Dumalacath, or Dumac Dwarf-Orc, suggesting he has an orcish and dwemer parents. This also may imply there are cross cultural connections between the two groups (especially when you consider the Rourken clan having Volenfell, Malacath’s hammer.), meaning Dwemer blood could still be present within Orcish clans.

Tosh Raka: The Dragon-God of the Ka’Po’Tun. Became a dragon through unknown means (possibly through Dracocrysalis?) Hates the otherkin I guess.

A worn and weathered note: A curious note from Morrowind. https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:A_worn_and_weathered_note

TalOS: Talos is called a virus by Jubal in C0da. If you think of the Aurbis as a computer, Talos could be considered analogous to a Trojan Virus when you look at his place in the pantheon of Divines. He used the mantella to cheat-code the universe into accepting it as Lorkhan’s new heart to power the Numidium. An error occurred, and now the universe considers TalOS the new Lorkhan.

King of Worms = The Underking: Both are liches, both are undead, that’s about it. May stem from initial confusion of MK saying there were ‘multiple underkings’ when he meant there were multiple copies of the same person in the dragon break.

500 companions were dragons: the 500 mighty companions, an obscure text calls at least one of the companions a dragon, and some of the names were draconic sounding.

Dreamer can’t wake up: Straight from the mouth of MK, this might mean ‘the Godhead isn’t literal’ or it might literally mean, the universe can’t cease to be because the Godhead just stops.

[paodequeijofeliz-blog]

Let me tell you a good story

Bloodbound Fanfiction (characters and main story belongs to Pixelberry Studios).

Pairing: Kamilah Sayeed and MC (Annie)

Information:  this takes place after Bloodbound 3, here I’m recreating how Kamilah and MC would meet if she had never gone to Raines Corporation right away.

Summary: Thirty years after meeting Annie for the first time, Kamilah is now a wife and a mother. During a regular family dinner, she decides to tell her daughter and their new son-in-law the story of how she fell in love with Annie after an unusual meeting through the hallways of NYU.

Warnings: there’s a little bit about sexual harassment at work in the beginning of this part, but nothing too graphic. 

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 6

Let me tell you a good story - Part 5

March 2nd, 2048

Eventually, the family had to move from the dining table to the couch, so they would feel more comfortable. Lysia and Drake sat together, his arm enlacing the girl’s shoulders, while Kamilah went to her usual armchair by the window and Anna ended up sitting on the floor, the head resting on her wife’s knee. Adrian was right next to them, preferring to stay up and lean on the small window ledge.

“Why did you get fired?” Drake still had tears on his eyes. His heart was made of butter, as they all already knew by them. It’s one of the reasons why Lysia instantly fell in love with him.

“Because of professor Walker.” Anna lowered her gaze, still holding tight on Kamilah’s leg. “He used to hit on me constantly, trying to offer me rides home, asking me out for a coffee or a movie, nothing actually scary, just annoying considering I had refused it so many times and yet he kept going on. Until one night, I was working late, and he went too far.”

Kamilah’s grip tightened on the armchair. She still remembered the first time Annie told her about what happened at NYU. It was days before their first kiss, during a morning they spent together organizing some files. The Egyptian could feel all her skin cells boiling of anger back then, and the reaction didn’t change over the years. At least, he got what he deserved. Revenge came one night and Kamilah was happy to be the one to deliver it.

“He tried to touch her.” Lysia whispered, her fingers brushing against Drake’s arms. His eyes, already tearful, widened even more.

“He didn’t succeed.” Anna’s voice became stronger, secure. “I hit him with a lamp and ran away. Walker didn’t like it though. He was powerful at NYU and found a way to get me fired.”

Adrian and Kamilah’s eyes darkened for a while. Annie didn’t need to look at then to know that. But the slightest movement of her fingers on the second one’s legs together with the sweet smile she offered to the first, it was all it took to make them calm back.

“I think it’s time we move on to our first kiss, don’t you…” the historian got interrupted by a yawn in the middle of the sentence. “… think babe? Why don’t you tell them?”

Kamilah softly caressed her wife’s hair, a little concerned by the hour. “Maybe there was enough telling for tonight. It’s getting late.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, please. I’m not sleepy. I swear.”

“Yeah, Mom. Just a little more. Let’s get to the happy part!”

Lysia and Anna were both doing the same puppy face. It was easily done since one was the faithful copy of the other. When they did the insemination, none of them wanted to see how the donor looked like. And it seemed even less important later. The child got everything from Annie: hair, face, eyes, body, height. Except for the personality. Even though she learned how to use Anna’s tricks, such as the puppy face, usually Lysia was more like Kamilah. Her first word was even “mortal”.

“Fine.” The vampire queen gave in. It was impossible to resist both at the same time. “But we’ll go to bed when that clock strikes midnight. No matter in which part of the story we’re in.”

“Deal!” Annie hugged her leg, excited. “Go on, babe.”

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 12th, 2018

             Two weeks can go fast when you are distracted with work. For Annie, those fourteen days seemed like a couple of hours. Ever since she stepped inside Raines Corporation that Saturday morning and signed the papers, time flew by. Once the historian said yes, she was finally able to know what the research was about. And honestly, she still didn’t understand why so much secrecy. For her, it was just books and artifacts leading to an old vampire tale, a bedtime story, nothing remotely dangerous… No matter how many times Lily went on with her vampire CEO’s conspiracy theory.

The plan was to start with Adrian’s basement, and move onto Kamilah’s only when the first one was finished. But both had documents that completed each other, so Annie needed to mix things a little bit, going from one to the other all the time. That’s why she had a special card to access both buildings whenever it was needed. Securities soon became familiar with her face, especially considering how sweet she was. It wasn’t common to see someone so cheerful and patient working among businesspeople. And although a few employees loved her, people on higher positions started to complain a lot about the liberty Kamilah had given to the new girl.

“She’s doing an important job, Carl. And it’s none of your concern.” The Egyptian answered coldly when one of her small associates started to suggest limiting Anna’s access.

“I just don’t understand why she needs to be here all the time…”

“Because that’s not for you to understand, but for me to manage it. Now leave. You have a conference in five minutes. Focus.”

Kamilah was getting annoyed by all of them. It was amazing how they felt threatened by Annie, just because she was the only one with permission to go through the CEO’s stuff and walk into her office at any time. Of course, it’s understandable how unusual it looked, especially because no one knew what exactly she was doing.

“Excuse me.” Speaking of the devil… “Can I get that Oxford catalogue back? I think I’ve got a new lead.”

Kamilah lifted her eyes from the laptop to see Anna’s head popping behind the door. “Be my guest. It’s on the shelf.”

She squeezed herself in and closed the door as lightly as possible. Two weeks and Annie already knew how much the Egyptian hated loud noises, so chitchats were never an option. She didn’t say a word, just quietly going went to the shelf, unaware of Kamilah’s intense gaze on her back. The historian was a short woman, unable to reach the book by herself, even though she was trying to stay on her tiptoes. The sight of her struggling to only brush the point of the fingers at the cover amused the CEO.

“You could ask for help.” Kamilah slowly closed the laptop, but didn’t stand up, waiting for the request.

Annie clenched her jaw. She could be too competitive sometimes. “I got it. Focus on your work. I don’t want to be a distraction.”

One more time, the historian tried to stand on her tiptoes, stretching her arm as much as possible. The book was there, brushing against her fingers, but barely moving. Suddenly, she felt a low breeze on her back, followed by the warm of Kamilah’s body smoothly touching hers while the woman simply lifted an arm and took the book out of the shelf. The Egyptian’s voice on Annie’s ear made her shiver and immediately try to suffocate all the dirty dreams she had been having for days. “You’re always a distraction.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You really had to mention the dirty dreams part? Seriously?” Anna interrupted the story with blushed cheeks.

“Well, I must stick fair to the facts. You were having sex dreams about me.”

By the window, Adrian was laughing. He vividly remembered the way Annie would watch Kamilah walking through the hallways, hypnotized. “I don’t blame you, Ann. She was wearing her best clothes just to impress.”

“I might be wrong, sir, but something tells me Mrs. Annie wasn’t picturing Mrs. Kamilah with any clothes on, no matter how good they looked.” Drake’s silly joke made Lysia hide her face but earned a strong and honest laugh out of Kamilah.

“Oh boy, just please go on with it…” Annie pinched her wife’s leg. “And save the dirty details. Our daughter doesn’t need to know them.”

“Yes!” Lysia’s muffled voice agreed.

“Fine, fine. Let me see what I can do.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You’re always a distraction.”

Kamilah was still holding the book for her. Slowly, the historian took it, not brave enough to lift her gaze.

“Something’s wrong?” the CEO’s tone seemed teasing. “You’re tense.”

Anna shook her head so lightly, it was barely a movement. “Nothing.”

If her heart was already pounding inside the chest, it raced dangerously when Kamilah held the historian’s chin with two fingers, forcing their eyes to lock on each other. There was something she realized about Annie after a while. It didn’t matter what sort of emotions were going on there, her black shining eyes would always have this flame on them, burning constantly like hot coal. They matched Anna’s black wavy hair like the perfect set to seduce Kamilah. That fire was attracting the Egyptian day by day, certainly not causing any kind of dirty thoughts that would embarrass their daughter to hear them in the future.

Kamilah just couldn’t hold back any longer. She closed the space between then, pressing their lips in a hungry and impatient kiss. Anna didn’t even tremble. As soon as the Brazilian felt it happening, her lips parted and her body melted on Kamilah’s arms, barely standing on it’s own. At some point, the book fell from her hands and hit the floor, but they didn’t care. The Egyptian pressed her against the shelf, hands traveling along Anna’s sides to hold her waist in a tight grip, earning a moan in the middle of the kiss. In a single movement, the historian climbed Kamilah and involved her with the legs, being able to match their heights. They didn’t know how much time they spent on that kiss, but after days of exchanged looks and small not-so-innocent touches, it was hard to stop.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOR GOD’S SAKE MOM, NO DIRTY DETAILS! THAT’S ENOUGH! – cried Lysia with her face still buried on Drake’s arm.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So… After a properly modest and normal kiss, Anna backed her face away, but didn’t dare to move out of Kamilah’s arms. She had a huge and provocative smile wide opened. “If Carl already hates me for coming here all the time, imagine what Ms. Sayeed will think if she finds out I’m making out with you.”

Kamilah laughed. She had almost forgotten how Annie didn’t find out the truth yet, especially after the vampire warned everybody around her to hold their tongues. It was too damn good to see how long this would go on. 

“Oh, darling. I don’t believe Ms. Sayeed will have a problem with it.”

[mode7rap]

Thoughts about the end of the 3DS, and the Nintendo DS line of handhelds

via Game Music 4 All

It's finally the end of the DS/3DS era. Somehow it was fantastic but people still talk about the Game Boy. Remember the three pillars of Nintendo, Home Console, GBA, AND DS? There is an alternate reality where the DS bombed, Nintendo frantically shifts back to a new GBA, and all the while PSP sales just launch into space. No, the PSP could never do that. What a piece of junk.

The DS remains one of my all time favorite consoles. The 3DS is home to some of my all time favorite games as well. Can't say enough about Kid Icarus Uprising. Star Fox 64 3D was brilliant but a travesty the multiplayer wasn't online enabled. If that were the case, I might be playing it right now. Super Mario 3D Land is probably my favorite Mario platforming game since Super Mario 64. Also some of the tightest level design since Super Mario Bros 3, and maybe the most surprising Super Mario experiences since the original Super Mario Galaxy.

What is sad is that Nintendo is so unique in their console and handheld designs that it will be damn near impossible to experience these games as intended, even if Nintendo were to re-release or remaster them in some form. Touch screens are ubiquitous now, but that dual screen layout isn't sticking around any longer. Double that for the 3D screen. I feel like I was one of the only ones who played their 3DS with that 3D slider always cranked to the max. Nintendo eventually gave up on the gimmick themselves, opting to manufacture less expensive 2D screens for the Nintendo 2DS, which is not the same as the Nintendo DS, but more like the New Nintendo 3DS.

Nintendo has confusing, unintuitive names for their products? How didn't we see this Wii / Wii U fiasco coming!? Oh wait, WE ALL DID!

Not to say MS or Sony are doing great with their schemes. We got the Microsoft Xbox One S. the Xbox One X, The Xbox, The Xbox One, and the Xbox 360. You figure out the order.

Then Sony just constantly doubling down on their original unoriginality, “ We have been using the same console name and knockoff SNES controller layout for 20 years, we fired everyone creative two decades ago.”

Back to the 3DS though. Nintendo has ported some DS games to the virtual console back in the Wii U era. The Wii U is only good for two things, playing most Advance Wars titles on the TV, and playing Affordable Space Adventures. Specific to this discussion, Nintendo ported Advance Wars DS, along with plenty of other DS games, which work well with the dual screen design of the Wii U. Although Nintendo still leaves us stuck with some wonky image layouts when trying to play. Not the best solution, but an official solution. At least, if your favorite DS games are available on the Wii U, and you want to rebuy, and rebuild your progress in that game again. Also if you actually own a Nintendo Wii U, and of course you don't.

I suppose Nintendo could port them over to the Switch to play in handheld mode. It would be far off from my dream of playing them on my big screen, but at least the viability is there with the touch screen, and holding the Switch sideways. As for recreating the 3D effects of Nintendo 3DS games, I'm sure we'll never see anything official to recreate that effect, at least until Nintendo goes full VR, and also brings back the virtual console. Neither of which seem likely. I'm sure the hacker and mod community has probably come up with a few tricks to get some type of stereoscopic effect going on other screens.

So keeping these games in their exact form and factor is a definite no, but we don't go down to the arcade to get 'the real Mortal Kombat experience” anymore either. What is important is the eventual ports of classic 3DS games, eventually.

As I typed this up, I realized that there aren't a lot of definite, universally agreeable 3DS titles that would be assured a port, remaster, or inclusion on some type of anniversary collection. Perhaps some platformers like New Super Mario Bros 2, The very fun Kirby series of 3DS games. None of those were blockbusters though. If Super Mario 3D Land were to get a por to the Switch, I could see Super Mario 3D Land being remastered and included in a full package. Personally, I have been patiently waiting for ports of Star Fox 64 3D, and Kid Icarus Uprising since the Switch launched. I seriously doubt Sakurai wants to touch, and even less would allow anyone else to touch Kid Icarus: Uprising though. That 1999 interview with Sakurai mentioned how he didn't like how his creation Kirby was used as a guest in other Nintendo games (which games he is talking about, I need to look into), so I doubt he feels like taking a game he designed, wrote, and directed, and which his studio produced, then just handing it over like he lost a bet.

Star Fox 64 3D feels much more likely. Just wrangle Ubisoft since they did that Star Link game, then grab Dylan Cuthbert to lead the remake of the remake of Star Fox 64. Star Fox 64 3D Switch 2019: Forget Star Fox Zero Happened Edition.

I'm not quite as saddened by the shift from 3DS to Switch as I was from the DS to 3DS. As consoles were getting more and more powerful, and demanding longer, more complex experiences, the GBA and DS continued a legacy of great platformers, RPGs, and other classic genres and game designs of the 16 bit era. A lot of development studios who couldn't afford to make the transition to 3D modeling, longer game development cycles, and ever expanding studio sizes, were able to continue honing their sidescrolling and/or pixel graphics style of video games on Nintendo's best selling handhelds. During these years we got some great games from both large and small companies like WayForward, Treasure, Capcom, Konami, Square-Enix, and, of course Nintendo, and on and on.

Once the 3DS came out, that meant the end of an emphasis on 2D games from Nintendo, and other companies like Capcom, Square-Enix, and certainly Konami (who stopped doing anything). No longer were large publishers looking for small budget, decent profit games. All their eggs were now being dumped into ever expanding AAA titles. The shift in focus lead to a shift in the type of games and gameplay that would be most featured on Nintendo handhelds moving forward.

So not only was the 3DS in 3D, but the games were in 3D as well!

Let me rephrase that.

We are NOT talking about stereoscopic 3D now. I am talking about the 3D, polygon based models used in the games themselves. There were a fair bit of 3D games on the original DS, (hell, Super Mario 64 DS was a launch title) especially later on in the handheld's lifespan, once developers really pushed the DS to the limits. Likewise, there are plenty of great pixel based games on the 3DS. The emphasis changed with the 3DS though. With the added strength of the new handheld, smaller studios would finally be forced to expand, or switch to mobile phone development, or be Konami.

The 3DS also coincides with the rise of mobile phone games, and the increasing ease for indie developers to get their games into my consoles. Figuring out exactly how much influence the 3DS had on forcing some studios to shift direction. Companies that might have been financially limited to creating a low budget handheld game, are now free to make a game of any budget these days, and release that game to damn near every platform they like. Thanks to that, we are far far away from the dystopian, non 2D things vision of gaming I had around the beginning of the decade.

The biggest thing that has changed for me since the rise and fall of the 3DS. I, and no one else, will ever pay $30 or more for a puzzle game ever again. Remember when puzzle games cost as much as every other genre of video games. That copy of Tetris 2, or Final Fantasy III, same price buddy.

Thanks for reading! Support my work by subscribing to me on Patreon and follow me on Twitter @genoboost!

[evilprincesskeri]

Was It Time Travel?

There’s a lot of Time Travel episodes in the Supernatural catalog.  The official list of Time Travel episodes that I could find is as follows:

4.03 In the Beginning

5.04 The End

5.13 The Song Remains the Same

6.17 My Heart Will Go On

6.18 Frontierland

8.12 As Time Goes By 

7.12 Time After Time

9.21 King of the Damned

11.14 The Vessel

12.13 Family Feud

Each one of those has an overt time-travel element to them, but, one of them stands out as being different than the others in a very specific way.  Do you see it?

The End is the one that stands out for me.  And I have a theory.

Listen to Willow, kids.  Because it’s definitely not Witches or Bunnies or some Dancing Demon.  *cue Tara’s half-hearted jazz hands*

Before I dig in here, let’s talk about the different categories of wacky shit the boys have been through.  

1) Alternate Universes

There are fewer of these episodes because because of the power it takes to accomplish/justify.  I include all the wacky reality bent episodes in this category so, obviously Mystery Spot and Changing Channels are there as well as The French Mistake, but this also includes hopping dimensions ala the The Bad Place & Wayward Sisters episodes as well as all the Apocalypse/War World episodes.  I do also include My Heart Will Go On in this list because while it’s a slight alteration to the main timeline, if we take quantum theory into account this is a timeline that exists somewhere in the ‘Verse.  It shares a spot with the War World of S13, in that, a small but important alteration to the timeline (John & Mary never had Dean & Sam / The Titanic Never Sank) means that there are far-reaching world altering consequences.

Basically the idea here is that all things are possible in an infinite Universe, and extrapolating that means that anything that can happen HAS happened somewhere.  That’s bad news in terms of the War World, but, it also does mean that somewhere there’s a world where Dean and Cas are happily married raising a passel of adorable intense children who can kick your ass, just because.

2) Planes of Existence

These are different from AUs or Dream Worlds.  The various planes of existence appear to be lined up to match the events of the various AUs, or, perhaps are reflections of events on those worlds, there really isn’t enough information about any of them to do much more than write a list of what I’ve identified so far.  This includes, but is not limited to:

Heaven

Hell

Purgatory

The Astral Plane

The Axis Mundi

Death’s Private Realm

The Empty

Faerie/The Fae Realm

4) Dream Worlds

The rules here are a little bit more squishy, which make sense because because dreams are a squishy kind of thing.  The rules that apply in your dream world aren’t necessarily the same as those in mine now apply that ad-infinitum to all the dream worlds that live in all our brains.  But there does seem to be a single guiding principle to the way the Dream Worlds all work - the Dreamer is ultimately in control. Now, I personally, put a lot of stuff into this category that might seem questionable.  

Obviously, What Is And What Should Never Be is there, a Dream World specially created by the Djinn to keep their food passive.  And while the backdrop is defined by the Djinn, they do not have an excess of control about the moment by moment events in the dream world.  As the ending shows us, ultimately, the Dreamer is in control - Dean ends the dream by “killing himself” inside it.

This seems to be the only hard and fast rule within the Dream World of the SPN'Verse - whatever the outside force it is that is affecting the backdrop the Dreamer ultimately has the power to end the dream.  We’re shown this again and again, in Dream a Little Dream and Pac-Man Fever - both of which resolve when the Dreamer takes control and turns the power of the dream in on itself or regains their own agency and uses that as the means to an exit.  It is for this reason that I have always put It's a Terrible Life into this category - a Dream World, rather than an Alternate Universe although I am willing to consider Terrible Life as an AU - it’s just much more likely that it’s an AU that Zachariah saw, and, recreated as a Dream World taster for Dean to incentivize a Yes.  He even says “Hey, look what we could give you only you say yes.” But, Dean sees it for the obvious lie that it is and as soon as he does - he is released from it.

So, that brings us to...

3) Time Travel

The vast majority of the Time Travel category are travel to the past from the current time.  There are notable exceptions to this though, specifically in As Time Goes By and King of the Damned.  Both feature a person from the past being transported via mortal-magical means to the current time.  In As Time Goes By this is John’s father, Henry uses mortal magic to open a portal in time... and he dies in the current timeline.  That is an act that serves to explain his absence from John’s life (and by extension, the boys lives) but does not alter history or the timeline.  John was, essentially, fated to grow up fatherless - whether his father was killed by Abaddon in 1958 or in 2013 is essentially meaningless.  Abbadon was going to kill Henry. The when/where is not noteworthy.

In King of the Damned we’re faced with a similar situation.  The difference is that Crowley makes an attempt to thwart his son’s death by keeping him in the present.  That leads to consequences in Family Feud - which the boys end up having to put right so that the timeline is maintained.  This is a lesson they’ve learned over the course of their Time Travel adventures as far back as The Song Remains The Same.  

I mentioned, above, My Heart Will Go On, because I do consider it an AU episode, but, one that is precipitated by off-screen Time Travel.  Balthazar saves the Titanic from sinking in order for there to be more souls in the present than there were in the timeline where the boat sank.  This ultimately causes more problems than it solves, so, events must be returned to the way they were meant to go. Ahem. Fixed. Point. In. Time.  (Thank you Doctor.)

The point being that when alterations to the past are made, the boys feel it in the present almost instantaneously.  The best example of this is Frontierland where Dean goes back in time to acquire Phoenix ash to kill Eve and fails to do so, but, also leaves behind the Colt.  They despair of having failed utterly. And, in truth, bringing Phoenix ash back from the past probably isn’t possible, because things want to stay in their timelines… but, almost immediately, there’s a knock at the door and they receive a delivery of Phoenix ash ala Back To the Future.  Putting the ash firmly in place in the timeline as being a thing that waited for it’s time.

Over and over again, the past is defined as the foundation of the present.  Changing the past in big ways isn’t possible, though changing little things about how big events go is.  So - for example - the boys kill the Phoenix and meet Samuel Colt. He decides to help them, based on what little they tell him about how important these things are.  But it’s his decision, it’s not forced on him. And that is the hard and fast rule of Time Travel in the SPN’Verse.

It is, therefore, my opinion that The End is a Dream World.

If the events of the past are the foundation of the present, then the present is the foundation on which the future is built.  

When The End happens Zachariah is nearing the end of his rope.  He’s been given a task by Michael; secure Dean’s Yes.  He is supposed to convince this stubborn human to let Michael wear him to prom.  And so far every tactic he’s used from asking to bullying has failed. Now he’s trying to force the issue.    

But, over the course of S4 it’s easy for anyone to see that Dean is often motivated by guilt.  It’s also easy to assume that Dean is under almost constant surveillance - and so, it’s not coincidental that when Sam tells Dean about being Lucifer’s vessel, Zachariah decides to take action as soon as possible to leverage the guilt and responsibility Dean feels for Sam.  

We’ve seen over the course of the seasons that Heaven doesn’t brook failure, and doesn’t give extra chances easily.  Zachariah is on a precipice. In fact, in his next appearance we see him sitting at a bar - having been “fired”. So, it seems doubtful that Heaven, or Michael, would grant Zachariah (who is basically on his Final Written Warning) the power to transport Dean to a possible future down a timeline where Michael lost the battle.  Especially considering the ego we’ve seen Michael exhibit in later seasons - both our Michael and AU Michael do not even see it as a possibility that he can lose to Lucifer.

But, again, Zachariah is at the end of his rope.  And Dreamwalking is a simple task for Angels. Up to S5 we’ve seen Uriel, Cas, Zachariah, and Anna all do it with ease.  Altering the backdrop of a dream is almost no work at all, there is much less energy expended to alter a dream scape than to transport Dean to an uncertain and likely unstable future.  One that is a single thread among many possible futures.

The idea that it’s a dream is further supported by the way all the characters behave in the Endverse.  Future!Dean goes out of his way to tell Dean to make different choices from the ones he made. He specifically he pushes *hard* on Dean to say Yes to Michael.  That has always seemed out of character to me, and, more so now that we’ve seen the circumstances under which Dean *does* say Yes. Dean says yes out of Love, not out of Fear (which is why none of Zachariah’s tactics ever worked to begin with).  

Literally, everyone and everything in the Endverse tells Dean he should say Yes.  Even Endverse!Cas is designed to show Dean how saying “No” punishes everyone and everything he loves.  That’s... a little too on the nose to be the way the world really works. But it is in line with how Dream Worlds have been shown to work.  And, it’s all far too close to the message that Gabriel is trying to give Sam and Dean in Changing Channels; Play Your Role.  

And then there’s Chuck.  

Just... worrying about toilet paper like a regular human.  Because Zachariah does not know he is actually God he just drops Chuck into the dream like “Hey, look, you kept the Prophet along for the ride hoping you’d get some kind of benefit out of it.”  Zachariah has shown disdain for Chuck in previous interactions so it’s likely he’d set Chuck up to be comedic and petty in the dream he’s constructing.

Zachariah tells him he must be there for three days, but, the days themselves are a blur of moments that blend together - much like they would in a dream.  Dean doesn’t sleep or wake during those three days, and, of course you can argue that is pretty normal for Dean - but he usually rests out of habit at night even if he doesn’t sleep and we don’t see that.  Events happen one after another, without giving him too much time to think about what’s happening or why... and yet he’s given plenty of time to sit with Cas. To talk to himself. Plenty of time to be convinced - but  not enough time to think clearly.

The whole episode has much more in common with What Is And What Should Never Be or It’s a Terrible Life than it does with any of the Time Travel episodes.  The Time Travel episodes are revelatory. Narratively the Time Travel episodes help the boys (and the audience) to understand the history of their lives, and how they fit into the story they’re in the middle of.  But the Dream World episodes are about exploring the boys internal desires and fears. So, tell me... which goal does The End accomplish?  It certainly doesn’t reveal anything about Dean that he or the audience didn’t already know... but it DOES show us Dean’s fears in stark relief.

He fears Sam being weak and saying yes to Lucifer - and all of what that’s going to mean.  He fears being unable to stop Lucifer if that does happen. He fears for the world in general, but, he fears the consequences his loved ones will suffer most.  

Dean wakes from the dream as soon as he has made up his mind to change this outcome.  Zachariah isn’t able to keep him there because it is a Dream and ultimately, Dean is in control.  And most importantly... Zachariah is surprised and ANGRY when Dean still says no.

Finally, there is that stupid photo that shows up in the journal in S12.   You know the one:

I could go on a week long rant about everything that’s wrong with this photo as an artifact from “the future” but here’s the thing - changes made to the past have an immediate impact on the present and so too should changes to the present have an immediate impact on the future.

We know what happened.  We know the boys broke the mold - changed the script, and, yet, that picture remains?  It isn’t proof. It’s a red herring. If it WERE truly an artifact of a bleak future it would have faded/changed as changes to the present were made the way the photo Marty carries with him in Back to The Future changes based on his actions in the past.  I mean just look at all the things about that picture that are wrong.  Front and center?  Bobby in a wheelchair.  As soon as he made his deal with Crowley that should have changed.  But it didn’t.  

Which means that the picture was nothing more than a bit tangible leverage created for Dean by Zachariah, in exactly the same way he furnished and stocked beer & burgers in the fancy waiting room.  Zachariah orchestrated the dream, set up the back drop with which Dean interacted. He saw Dean pick up the photo in the dream, saw him pocket it, and fabricated a copy to leave in his pocket while he slept - well within the powerset of an Angel of almost any power level.