#obviously there are many things that i would have liked to see happen with maya and carina but that’s the case for most episodes

[tallest-tiptoes]

as far as finals go, this one wasn’t half bad. the action parts were done pretty well. it’s nice that we got to see carina delivering one last baby on the show (in a firefighter suit no less). the joy that was radiating from her whenever she thought about being pregnant and her sharing this happiness with maya after she told her the news was everything after all they’ve been through these past two/three years.

personally, i prefer tv shows to end without substantial flash forwards as i find it gives a certain finality to the ending that i’d rather not have and it more often than not feels unearned. so, to me, everything that happened in the timeline after vic and travis had left is only a suggestion. (also the haircuts were so incredibly bad that it can’t possibly be real)

my feelings towards this show are weird and complex. i love it but i also hate it. i’ll miss it but i also won’t. it all comes down to station 19 having many high highs but just as many low lows. and yet, there was always something that had me coming back to the show, and i’m glad i did.

so long, 19.

[styrmwb]

References to Previous Final Fantasies in Dawntrail

Or, how 9 + 11 + 6 = 14, somehow. (SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY)

I've played every mainline FF, plus a few others, so one of my favorite things about playing XIV is seeing what they do with previous FFs, and how they incorporate it into the world/story. Dawntrail very very much did this, to the point that I could literally predict plot points before they happened. (THIS IS NOT A COMPLAINT I LOVED THIS)

So I figured I would put down my fanboying in text form, for people to read the insanity of a madman who has played too many JRPGs from a single series.

Note: I have not completed every single side quest, but I have done the entire MSQ, every dungeon, and 3/5 of the role quests. This isn't a complete collection, just what I noticed :)

V

Krile's "real name" is Maya. The original Krile in FFV was Krile Meyer Baldesion. (XIV might also have the middle name but I don't remember! I'm gonna put it here regardless!)

VI

Valigarmanda is the first Esper you encounter in VI, right at the start of the game. Its summon attack is Tri-Disaster. I really liked how they kept it frozen in ice, just like the original, and because Tri-Disaster is a SMN ability, they changed it to Tulidisaster to fit the Tural location.

Pictomancer was first in VI as well, being Relm's job. She even got to be in XIV as well, being credited as the Archon who created the art (HA). Shoutouts to the Relm reborn joke it needed to happen

IX

One of the two most important games in this expansion. There is A Lot here.

The preorder bonus/deluxe edition had a Wind-Up Zidane and Garnet, the two main protagonists of FFIX.

Alexandria is lifted directly from IX. The name, the style of the buildings, and even the castle with the crystal popping out of the top, shown in the dungeon and in Yesterland in Living Memory.

(This is the Dissidia NT version, but I wanted a picture that showed the castle and the roof architecture)

Solution Nine is named after one of Zidane's Dyne abilities. While not direct, Living Memory, the final zone, is very reminiscent of Memoria, the final dungeon of IX. I wonder if you can get a special sword by completing the entire MSQ in under 2 hours?

Living Memory also features quite a few locations from IX. The Canal Town looks very similar to Treno, and features a location called the Daguerreo Medical Collection, named after the city as well. Underneath Proto Alexandria in Yesterland, where the data terminal lies, looks very similar to the part of Alexandria Castle where Steiner can grind to level 99 (I don't know how else to describe it if you know you know). In the Windspath Gardens lies the Cleyra Museum of Nature, also named after the IX city.

Some quest text in Living Memory tells you about other locations in the Unlost World. Lindblum, the city that holds hunts and is very technologically advanced; Conde Petie, where the Dwarves are from (mentioned by a Milalla who said he was from there), and the Iifa Tree. There might even be more here, that I either missed or haven't done yet.

Another quest has you go on a treasure hunt for a password. This password? "I Want to Be Your Canary", the play from FFIX.

Solution Nine has a couple buildings with monsters from IX as signs. One building features a Mu (Which is also mentioned in Living Memory), and another building features Yans, both friendly and not friendly.

Another monster that I noticed a reference to was the Gimme Cat, which is featured on the popcorn in Living Memory. It's also mentioned as an energy drink, but called a "Gimme Bat" instead? I guess it does have bat wings.

While XIV doesn't have any direct plot important characters from IX, the ones we do have are very reminiscent of its cast, and clearly are done like that on purpose.

Otis is Steiner (with maybe a little tiny bit of Beatrix depending on how you look at it). Captain of the Knights of Alexandria, he speaks in an older fashion, similar to Steiner, and is very loyal to his princess.

Sphene is an interesting mix. The most obvious one is Garnet, both being Queens of Alexandria, being named after stones, and loving their people. The other one, which might be argued isn't intended, is Garland.

(No, not those guys. The other one.)

Garland in IX is an artificial being whose purpose is to continue his world's life. To do this, he would try to fuse Terra (his planet), with Gaia (the main planet), and control Gaian souls for Terra instead. What did Sphene do? Try to fuse her reflection with the Source, to use their souls for her own people. I personally think this is a very clear similarity.

In general, because of this similarity, the latter half of Dawntrail shares very similar themes with IX's plots, dealing with death and souls. I also think it's pretty funny that both start out pretty happy and cartoony, and end fairly depressing and existential.

Another plot point used in the MSQ is the play sequence. While IX's is based off love, and XIV's is the history of Alexandria, both feature a sword fight scene. (99 out of 100 nobles approve).

Finally, several songs from IX are used in Dawntrail. In the above mentioned play, Swords of Fury plays, just like the original. And a few scenes later, Vamo'alla Flamenco (previously used for the DNC quests) plays, though it should have been during the sword fight!! Prima Vista Orchestra and Fleeting Life are used in several scenes, usually involving Sphene. Something to Protect also appears, but in a scene I can't recall. Finally, the Court Jesters' theme gets a remix as the main song in the Strayborough Deadwalk.

X

There is a singular joke in Heritage Found made about dodging lightning bolts right before the flash so they don't hit you. The person who wrote this line wanted to induce PTSD in as many people as they could with only a single line of dialogue.

XI

The other most important game in the expansion. In a way, Dawntrail FEELS like it could have been an XI expansion in another lifetime. I might be looking too much into it, but I feel as though this was foreshadowed back in the first patch of Endwalker, as Dawntrail takes A LOT from the Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion.

In Endwalker, the Alzadaal's Legacy dungeon was based off of the Alzadaal Underwater Ruins in Aht Urhgan. The dungeon used many models from XI, such as the Rampart, the Xzomit (hell yes!), and the Acrolith. The dungeon had a visual similarity, as well as the areas in the dungeon being named after zones in Aht Urhgan (Bhaflau Thickets, Arrapago Reef, and Mount Zhayolm). I know this is Endwalker and not Dawntrail but trust me it's important for the foreshadowing.

Gulool Ja Ja was a boss in the Besieged mode of ToAU, leading the Mamool Ja Savages to assault Al Zahbi. Both incarnations of this character are VERY different from each other.

Similarly, Gurfurlur was also a boss in Besieged, leading the Troll Mercenaries. It's very funny to me that both of these warmongers became such nice people in Tural.

The Yok Huy as a whole are actually Trolls from XI. The different name I assume coming from the fact that Trolls are already an enemy in XIV, in Labyrinthos.

While this isn't direct, and is probably unintentional, the fact that the final boss in Vanguard was a naga/lamia like entity only makes me wonder if it was somehow a callback to Medusa and the Undead Swarm, the last remaining Besieged invaders.

Zoraal Ja is a Notorious Monster in the areas around Aht Urhgan.

To continue on with Mamool Ja facts, Mamook is an area in ToAU. They don't look very similar, but they do both share the title of Autarch as their ruler. Mamool Ja in general come from XI, so it's no surprise that in the expansion that well, expands on them, it uses XI for inspiration.

This next one might be a little insane. The general plot of Treasures of Aht Urhgan, is that after killing Promathia, a god that wishes to end all life, the Adventurer goes to a completely different area to have a relatively calmer adventure. Here, they meet a female member of royalty named Aphmau. Her brother, Razfahd, unable to rule over the country, has a conquering nature, and uses an Automaton body to control Alexander for his goals. This... can't be a coincidence, right?? We kill the Endsinger, who wanted to end all life, go to a completely different area to have a relatively calmer adventure with our female member of royalty, Wuk Lamat, and we fight against Zoraal Ja, her war hungry brother that is unable to rule, so he uses the power of Alexandria (a mech suit) for his goals. You... you see what I'm cooking here right??? RIGHT!?!?!

To piggyback off of this, Wuk Lamat very much fits the role of the XI heroine. A girl who is very clearly the main character of the story, and hangs around you more than anyone else.

Edit: one last thing that I forgot to put down before posting, one of the hunts uses the Magic Pot model from XI. We love Magic Pot.

I THINK that should be everything I found? I know for a fact we're going to get more since the Alliance Raids are based of off XI (I'm so excited)

XIII

A couple enemy models were used from XIII.

The Silver Lobos in Urqopacha use the XIII model. I'm fairly sure they've never been used in XIV yet, but I could be wrong.

Similarly, the Strayborough Deadwalk uses the Gremlin/Ahriman enemies. I do not think they've been used before this, feel free to yell at me if I'm wrong :)

Type-0

While not like, direct, the concept of erasing the memories of anyone who has died (especially seen as a blessing) was a major plot point of Type-0's world.

I think that's everything? My memory isn't the greatest, so I'm sure there's something I noticed that I missed, and again; I haven't done everything, so there might be even more out there that I've yet to find!

Please, feel free to comment anything else that you may have noticed, and hopefully you enjoyed reading :)

[magics-neptunes-things]

Feelings (2)

Hi!

This is the second part of Feelings, I hope you will like it too :)

I'm taking things slow for now, but some other things would happens in the next chapter.

Feel free to let me think what you think about it.

And enjoy! ♥

TW : Mention of smut

PART 1 |

______________________________________________________________

The next day, when you woke up, you stay with your eyes closed. You remember perfectly what happened last night, but you are scared. Scared that it was a dream or that Alessia was in reality drunk and thought you take advantage of her. You would never do something like that obviously, you asked her several times yesterday if she was ok and if what you are doing is ok too. And asks for her consent before each new movement too.

And you know you are not dreaming; you have some aches that are particular of this kind of activities.

When you open your eyes, Alessia is still in your bed. Lying on her side, she’s looking at you. And you are straight in the light blue of her eyes, but you can’t determine what feelings are in it.

“Hi” you say softly.

“Hello” she answers only.

“Did you sleep well?”

She nods, before rolling on her back to rub her eyes. She putted her shirt back during the night, but that’s not what you realize. She seems a little strange this morning, like something is bothering her. Once again, you don’t expect everything from her, maybe it was just a one-time thing for her. So you get up from your bed, looking for your clothes too.

With a shirt, you fell better to have a difficult conversation. You sit on the bed right after, looking at Alessia. You can’t remember how many times you told her that she’s beautiful yesterday. But she is this morning too. You don’t say it anyway, only looking at her. She seems nervous and almost breathless when she finally talks.

“Look Y/N…”

She seems lost too and you already have understood. You raise your hand and she looks at you.

“It’s ok, Lessi. If you want to pretend that nothing ever happened… It’s ok.”

“It’s not that I didn’t want to yesterday or even today. But I feel like this is maybe not the right time to start something like this. We are at the beginning of the World Cup and…”

“It’s ok” you repeat, cutting her again.

The bitterness that fills your mouth make you unable to offer her a real smile, the one you are making now must looks like a grimace to be honest. You don’t know what she understood about your feelings yesterday, and you don’t know if the way she looks really sorry helps you or not.

“I better go.”

You only nod, not being able to speak or even look at her when she takes her other clothes, all around the room on the floor. She kisses your cheek softly and left the room soon after. And you never feel so empty in your life.

********

Some days passed. You and your team played other games and managed to qualify for the next round of the tournament. You never talk to Alessia again after that morning and you can’t even just look at her. You told her that it was ok, and you really thought that you were going to be ok. One night with her was way more than what you ever expected.

But you were wrong. What’s happening to you right now is way more difficult to deal with than your breakup with Alma. People don’t come to talk to you, assuming that you were struggling with that. It was a good excuse.

You only talk about what happened to Maya and Sofia, a good friend you made in Spain. Maya met her several times when she came to Barcelona to see you. You even make some videos call the three of you, your friends trying to ease your mind.

“But she said basically that it wasn’t the right time. It means that maybe when the World Cup is ending…” was saying Sofia.

“There is no way that it’s happening, Sofia. She doesn’t even look at me.”

It would be stupid of yourself to still be hopeful about something like this. The only time you had eyes contact, she looks the other way so fast that her eyes must have burn.

“Maybe she regrets what happened between us” you sigh, pinching your nose.

“No, I know Less” Maya answers. “She would have told you if it was something like this. She doesn’t take things so easy, making a think to regret it the day after. She only had two boyfriends and sleeping around isn’t her thing.”

Maya knows Alessia well, they played together for years in Manchester United. You are a little jealous sometimes, but in another way, it would be harder to see her every day. You feel a little better hearing Maya and for one time you fall asleep without too much struggle.

Next morning, like every morning, you get for a walk on the beach after the breakfast. You ate with Georgia and Keira, who takes you under their wing, probably at Leah’s request. But they were still busy, and you don’t want to be a burden for them.

You were sitting on the beach you discovered at your first day here when you feel a presence behind you. Turning, you realize that it’s Lucy.

“You alright Kiddo?” she asks, and you answer with a smile. “Mind if I sit with you?”

“Nah, please do.”

Lucy sits and looks at the water in front of you when you resume your looking. Some peaceful minutes passed before Lucy talks.

“I know I’m not the most observant person in the world, but I see how much you struggle those days. You’re making a good job hiding it and I probably wouldn’t be able to realize it if I never passed by the same things.”

Curious, you look at Lucy. You were close with her, more than with Keira to be honest. You are the only three English at Barcelona, it helps to create a great bond.

“When Keira and I broke up…”

“Oh. No Luce, I stop you right there. It has nothing to do with my breakup with Alma.”

Lucy looks at you curiously too, her arms around her knees.

“What I wanted to say, it’s that maybe you can think it’s the end of your world. But life has sometimes something better looking for you. Look at my old ass, I still found something even better that what I had.”

“Ona?” you ask with a smirk.

You can’t help but laugh when you see the light red coloring Lucy’s cheeks.

“Lucy Bronze, are you blushing?”

“I’m trying to help you and you give it back to me by making fun of me?”

She looks disappointed but you know that she is only joking. You laugh softly and decide to tease her a little bit.

“Ok, when do you present her to me then if she’s so perfect? I’m way closer to her age than you are.”

“Shut up.”

She throws you some sand and you laugh a little more before looking up at the sky. It’s bright blue, the sun is shinning and you really love the Australian vibes. But you think about Lucy’s words, and you decide to ask her the question that is running in your mind.

“What am I supposed to do if Life gave me the best thing and take it back from me?”

Lucy stays silenced for some times, and you know that she’s looking at the best answer she can give you.

“If it’s the one thing you have to have, then you will have it back. Maybe it wasn’t the right time now.”

It’s funny that it’s almost the same words than Alessia said. But ���maybe” is the keyword of the sentence and you can’t hope it anymore. So you just hum before sighting.

Little did you know that Alessia was actually talking about you too, finally.

********

“I kissed Y/N.”

Ella was peacefully drinking her coffee and spit it around, making Mary grunt. Alessia was holding this information for too long, she needed to take it out. And she trusts no one more than Ella and Mary.

“What did you just say?!” Ella almost shout when she can breathe again.

“Ella” Mary growls.

Mary realized that something was off with Alessia, but she didn’t want to push the younger girl to confess anything. She was far from imagine that it was something like that though.

“Sorry, sorry. I mean, did you kiss her or did she kiss you?” Ella asks.

“I don’t know? We kiss each other I guess; it was a mutual thing.”

Alessia shrugs, looking at her best friend with attention. Like Maya told you at the phone, she only had two relationships and only with boys. And she never said anything about being gay or having a crush on a girl.

“Is it why you are all weird those days? Are you regretting it or something?”

Mary facepalm at Tooney’s lack of tact. For the good of everyone, she decides to take the lead of this conversation.

“Have you talk to her since the kiss?” Mary asks gently.

“No, not really. We just are very busy and… well maybe I kind of ignore her.”

Alessia seems lost, so is Ella, for once unable to say anything. So Mary just put a comforting hand on Alessia’s knee, trying to be the most soft possible.

“You know that it’s ok right? Kissing girl?”

“Yeah” Alessia mumble.

“Of course it is!” Ella exclaimed herself. “Don’t let anyone or yourself saying you otherwise. You have to do what you need to do to be happy. Only your happiness matter.”

“I hate to say that, but she’s right” Mary smirks.

Alessia laughs hearing her friends, feeling a little lighter. Maybe it’s because of her confession, maybe it’s because of their reaction. Or maybe the two. But she’s way more at ease when someone from the staff came to take Ella for some physical exercises. Alessia stays with Mary only and give her a look before talking again.

“We didn’t only kiss” Alessia whispers, looking at her fingers “I… We slept together too.”

Mary doesn’t say that she thought it was the case, but she kind of knew it. In her opinion, Alessia’s reaction would have been a little too much is it would have involved only one kiss.

“Was she good?” Mary asks with an angelic air.

“Mary!”

“What? I’m just asking!”

She raises both of her hand and Alessia rolls her eyes, unable to hide a little smile. This conversation is taking an unexpected turn.

“She was good. She was so sweet and gentle… And very affectionate and careful. I didn’t know it was possible to be this and… I don’t know, very hot and sensual at the same time?”

“Well you’re a lucky girl.” Mary laughs.

Alessia have red cheeks but seems interested by Mary’s comment. She won’t say at loud, but what she shared with you that night was better than everything of her precedents “bedroom stuff”, how she likes to name it.

“Is it always like this?”

“Mh all girls aren’t good too, I think. Like in straight world, you can find everything.”

“How can sex with a girl feels so different?”

Mary smiles softly, touched by Alessia’s naivety and cuteness. She doesn’t know why Alessia chose not to talk about it with Ella around, but she’s determined to be a good friend and advise her instead of teasing her.

“I don’t know Love, I never been with a man before. But have you thought that maybe it’s not because of the gender of the person, but the person herself?”

Alessia raise her eyes on Mary, biting her lips. Her cheeks are now a little redder and Mary understands quickly that she was kind of right. Like your other teammates, Mary knows you like girls. Everyone knows. You had some flings with other players, but the goalkeeper don’t know a lot about your love life.

“What happened after you slept with her?” Mary asks softly.

“I told her that it wasn’t the right moment to start something serious. She told me that it was ok, but she still seems strange don’t you think?”

“A little, yes. Why isn’t it the right moment?”

Alessia shrugs and looks away this time. She wasn’t really proud of her behavior with you, but it was to protect herself in a way. She is scared about her feelings for you and the way you make her feel that night.

“Because we are literally at the World Cup? And she’s living in Spain, I don’t think I can do a long-distance relationship… And… Well, I never been with a girl before. It’s kind of scary. And she just broke up with her girlfriend who cheated on her.”

“If you are sure that it’s the good choice for you, then you were right to do it Less. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

Alessia nods and hug her friend when Mary extends her arms to her. She’s not really sure if it’s the good choice to make actually. But she can’t go back to the morning after. She’s grateful for Mary though, even if she chooses a way that Mary wouldn’t, the goalkeeper never tries to change her mind. She adapts herself at the other person.

********

The game against Nigeria is the worst memory of your tournament. You came in for Lauren Hemp at the second period, but with LJ’s red card it was a though game. You are exhausted at the end of the second prolongation, but you still have your penalty to shoot. Georgia missed hers and you are the last of the five on Sarina’s list to take your shoot.

Your hands are shaking when you put the ball on the ground, and you try to breath correctly when the referee talks to the other goalkeeper. You look at the bench and it was the first time that you really crossed Alessia’s gaze since you slept together. Her eyes are even more blue than you remember. She nods at you and gives you a half-smile. You don’t answer to her, but this contact as small as it was, gives you some confidence back. You have this. You can do it.

Taking a deep breath, you take three big steps back and look right in the other goalkeeper’s eyes. Some seconds after you start to run, hit the ball who go straight in the left corner of the net.

You feel your knees gives up when Lucy jumps on your back and soon you are with other players on top of you. The relief is amazing, and you are still shacking when someone takes your hand to help you getting up. You realize when she hugs you that it’s Keira.

“Well done” Sarina says to you when she pats your back.

When she calls you later, Leah was a little more polite about your achievements, and told you to shut up when you answer that it was a teamwork. You laugh though, happy to hear your friend.

“You are sure you still don’t want to come to play at Arsenal?”

“No Leah, stop” you laugh.

“Whatever. I will have Alessia next season anyway, she makes good choice, unlike you.”

You can her Leah’s smirk while she talks, but it’s not the information that stay in your head.

“Lessi is coming to Arsenal?”

“Oh shit. Yes, it supposed to be a secret, please don’t say anything to anyone. I’m not even supposed to know it myself.”

“What did you do Williamson?” you grin.

You don’t know why this information is disturbing to you. Maybe because you have hopped that the blonde would like to come to Barcelona? But you know that she won’t do it, her family is in England, and she has another bond with them than you have. Plus, she already left to the USA before, she probably wants to stay as close as possible to them.

Thanks God, you have Leah’s adventures tonight to keep you entertained and to help you a little to forget about this information. You don’t talk to her about what happened with Alessia, you don’t really know why. Maybe because she knows the girl, but in reality, you prefer to have an advice from someone in front of you.

[trlvsn]

thoughts on the queen mia fey

oh, many.

first of all, i feel like her role as a mentor gets underestimated simply because she is a woman and people are not used to seeing that. many see her as a funny older sister to phoenix who listens to him pining for miles, some straight up ship phoenix and mia, and i rarely see her being recognized for the person who taught phoenix how to be a lawyer despite that part being so heavily emphasized in ace attorney, especially when phoenix and the ghost of mia object at the same time in the aa3 final case. phoenix has her tactics and her mannerisms, and mia is forever in the hearts and minds of many, but at the same time, she was a very interesting separate person.

i think her relationship with maya was flawed, but good overall, and i think some things maya will never know about her. mia fey left to become a defense attorney for many reasons, but one of them canonically was to avoid family competition and let her sister become master in peace. did maya really want that? would maya rather just have her sister by her side? "i'm lonely without you", says maya on the phone, "just kidding", she adds, but she's very obviously not. mia does what she thinks is right and what she thinks is best: she cares so, so much and her determination can easily be compared to phoenix's, but it's interesting to me how many things she ended up doing alone. research on redd white? alone. maya, keep that clock for me, but i won't even tell you about the papers inside it. finding the truth of what happened with her mother? alone. haven't heard from you in a while, maya, thanks for calling. once she has done everything to teach phoenix as a ghost, she also leaves, and while that is a perfectly logical thing to do, i just can't shake off that feeling of her being a tad more independent than one should be

[snowingclouds]

I need to yap about Prototype, specifically Alex's change in Prototype 2:

Obviously, heavy prototype 2 spoilers:

What the fuck happened, man?!?!? In the first game, sure, the dude is willing to kill on sight. There's a civilian death counter. The scene after the Greene boss fight? That was so good. He didn't care, just slammed her ass. Anyways: despite all this, he sounds remorseful and dealing with some tangled up shit, yk? There's a line in the helicopter mission where he shouts "Damn you! Damn you for making me do this!" Like, hello? This virus in the shape of some dude can and does feel remorse and turmoil! He hijacked a helicopter to make sure the city didn't explode, and nearly died in the process.

But then comes Prototype 2:

And suddenly Alex is all about infecting everyone and their mother, spreading his virus, and has Blackwatch in his pocket through his Evolved. No remorse, no care for anyone anymore. Isn't there supposed to be like a 2 year difference between the first outbreak and Prototype 2?? Did he just lose his marbles in that time? Did the nuke scramble his brain a bit? Like, what happened??

I get that Alex is a mass murdering, people eating, viral biomass with Mercer's face, but I keep thinking back to the helicopter mission in the first game. His VA sounds like his whole body was put into that line, and it takes place even after he finds out the truth of everything (except Cross, for the time being).

Heller and him have a very similar "kill on sight" rage that I think makes the games fun, and comparing the two between games, theres so many parallels. It's just odd how Mercer has this 180 behavior.

Tbh, I don't mind prototype 2. Without it, we wouldn't have a boss fight with Heller calling Mercer an "emo fuck" and "bitch" like five times. I totally did not get my shit rocked the first time I tried that fight and kept thinking "James shut your mouth I'm getting bodied here". But all in all, it was fun. I think it would be more fun to explore their relationship considering Heller was military and trusted Blackwatch so deeply. Mercer (before Blacklight) knew shit was going down, and then Blacklight/Alex is immediately hunted by Blackwatch and literally eats his way through the ranks. They could've had so much potential for distrust and betrayal on a deeper level than just "muhahaha! Infect the town!", you know?

And another smaller thing:

In prototype one, there's a thing about how Alex isn't Mercer anymore. He has his face, but he's actually just the virus, and Mercer has been dead a while. They're two separate but not people. See the whole thing about "I'm not human, I never was". But in prototype 2, James doesn't have that same thing happen. The whole time, every one of the Evolved seem to be infected people, not people that the virus is wearing as a face, and that's an important distinction. Maybe not so important when you're slaughtering Evolved, but in the scenes with Heller and Maya? That's pretty fucking important. Maya is scared of him at first, and I don't think we're given enough of Heller's thoughts during that. Yeah, he looks distraught in that scene, but imagine how much more so it would've been if they re-explored the whole "not human virus wearing a face" thing some more, especially in relation to his kid.

And sure; maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe even Heller's internal thoughts would've been "who cares" as long as he has the memories of Heller and took off right where he left off, but I still would've really liked to see that come up again.

[persephoneflouwers]

My sisters informed me of the news and my reaction was similar to yours. I’d been so worried for Liam for ages and he seemed very unwell recently. The stuff with Maya of course did not help but he seemed to be in a really bad place for awhile now. So I just said to my sisters that it was extremely sad news but not a shock. In some ways I guess I was expecting something awful to happen but I didn’t know what exactly. I was really hoping to be wrong, it was hard to watch him clearly struggling so publicly. And I don’t like how so many people are still fighting for the most morally correct and pure hot take: he’s dead. He died, he fucking died and it was horrible how much he suffered even as he died. Now I simply hope he has found peace. 🤍

Yeah uhm I’m crying all over again.

I think so many things at once…

I want to block every single one of them that hated on him for every thing he did, spitting vitriol and bullying and just not giving him a fucking break. And when you look back, you sort of see he’s was trying to get attention, he wanted to be seen as part of the band, as part of something. He constantly seek solace in 1D and their fans because he knew they would have his back somehow.

But even they had turned on him, around the book publication sort of I guess and obviously lately with hate train that lost all the control. That hate was sooo much. So much. I genuinely feel sick thinking about some nasty things people have said (I barely knew anything because I was busy with my father’s heart surgery and stuff) and oh my fucking god. If you think how little it takes to people on X or tiktok to deactivate after a stupid thing they say or do, can you imagine what such pressure and negativity all the hate for many many many years now can do to a celebrity who is struggling with depression and anxiety and addiction and alcoholism?

And I hate that those people are now either pretending they were never nasty or being all woke with the morality takes of this is not on the abusers victim, this is not anyone’s fault, he didn’t want help or whatever lie they tell themselves to excuse their vitriolic rhetoric.

Sorry I’m ranting. I am just so incredibly mad. I wonder how much time is going to take me to work on my anger. There’s so much of it. I keep blocking any blog/acc that I see talking about Liam the way I cant understand.

Take care, angel anon. I hope you’re trying the best you can to be safe 🌷

[fancyfade]

Hi I read your post about the bat boys dynamics, now how the fandom been handling it for years been pissing me off as someone in a blended family.

Now I have a step-turned adopted brother, him and I meet when he was 4 and I was 9. We’re currently estranged, but for the most part it took me….I want to say a year to see him as my brother properly. Not saying I hated him, but to form a bond.

Now the problem with the bat boys, well I want to say Damian histories with them in general. Is writers BARELY gives depth into their bonds and most of the time it seem meaningless. Vs how you and even Arabian batboy pointed out how their bonds with female characters seem more fleshed out as the writers put effort in making their bonds…for the most part…looking at you Williamson.

I am no eugenic, but there a difference between my bond with bio sister vs my bonds with adopted siblings

My issues is how the Batfamily fandom try to force a nuclear family dynamic into the Batclan…when writers clearly show that half of the time they see them as a militia vs a found family.

Oh and the writers personal bias, like in Gotham war where Tim told Damian he always saved Bruce vs the latter only fighting him….is there any goddamn archives at dc for writers to check up on characters lore?

Sorry I just want to air this out, because this bat brothers fanon been driving me up the wall. They are brothers on paper, but none of them are each other keepers if that make sense?

I think it makes sense. I'm sorry to hear about your estrangement.

And yeah a lot of time fandom wants to act as if the fact that they're all adopted (or biologically related) to Bruce on paper means that they'd have the exact same relationship people might have if they grew up together in the same house, but like... that's a drastically over-simplified thing. like i remember getting into an argument* with someone who was adamant that Damian should fanboy or look up to Tim b/c Tim is his older brother and people do that stuff IRL. But like... a) not everyone does b) Damian did not actually live in the same house as Tim, his dynamic was not the same as someone who grew up with an older brother, they clearly had many canon interactions indicating the opposite!

and also like: Obviously you shared your experience with how long it took you to form a bond, and realistically it would also take Damian time to form a bond. If his interactions are antagonistic, like they are with Tim, it would take work for them to get close, and panel time we do not see. This isn't to say they can't consider each other brothers, we see evidence at least Tim considers Damian his little brother and Damian's no longer antagonistic to him** and respects him some, but they definitely wouldn't have a super close bond like we see Damian have with Maya or Dick.

And yeah so many of the writers have personal bias its cringe to read. Except like. I have never seen Tim portrayed really negatively in Damian's comics. In general, it's to put Damian down. I analyzed it in general here (link)

And like. WRT personal experiences I'm sure there are some people who view their adopted siblings as similar to their bio siblings... but also WRT not simplifying everything -- that doesn't mean it's the same for everyone, and it definitely doesn't mean that that means every single Batfam member who is adopted by Bruce has the same relationship that people who are all raised in the same house in general at the same time, since they were babies might have. Like it'd be oversimplifying and trying to flatten out dynamics to act as if that's how it did happen.

Also if you are the same blended family anon as earlier, I do want to say I got a long anon ask from you ages ago but forgot to answer it sorry :C then I couldn't tell if too long had passed and it was weird to answer it

*act surprised, I was in an argument /j

**current canon shows more evidence for Tim being antagonistic to Damian than vice versa.

[vastunknownsea]

okay, so I got the (one sided) crack ship outta the way (SkaterDawg) (Olivia and Adam) so now it’s time to get (not) serious

there aren’t many character options, only six teens and a few adults. I don’t know anything about adults so ima just ignore them for now (although Park’s and Dolly’s interactions in the show are mighty sus if you ask me just saying) (but I don’t ship it really)

two of these six are taken already (Maya and Frank) so that just leaves Moppington, Olive Oil, Dawg Bro, and The Mechanic. Or engineer whatever.

Three of these options low key don’t seem like they’d even care for relationships, but who cares! Shipping there must be. So let’s see every option!

Olivia and Stanford;

(SkaterMop?)

Can’t really see them tbh. Their cringe fail may cancel each other out, but their dynamic seems more like a platonic, “here’s my friends, plus that one loser I know” or like … something. Just not romantic (in my eyes anyway)

Olivia and Adam;

(SkaterDawg)(I already did this stuff but eh)

💀 he calls her Karen dawg

Stanford and Adam Williams;

(Uhhh… )(WillFord?)(that sounds so goofy 😭)(MopDawg)

💀 a disaster waiting to happen, Stanford will lose brain cells around him

Stanford and Ava;

(IStanAvaPatel)(who doesn’t)(mopmech)(im tired of ship names already)

Eh, it could work, I guess. Most likely option to happen tbh. Tho I very much like the idea of them just staying friends, they would be cute I guess. Low key highkey all that shizzle. Classic bff becoming love interest stuff. They would commit crimes together (they already have) will break into abandoned places (or not abandoned) as date ideas and play video games (Ava always wins)

Olivia and Ava;

(SkaterMech?)(HeroMech?) (Ava is kind of a mechanic right?)(eh she’s an engineer but wordplay or whatever)

This one would be the most interesting in concept, I think. Classic “my ex-boss’s daughter be kinda…” thing. Or, “my dad controls your paycheck” “ha, not anymore,”

both their social battery’s will run out ten minutes into the first date. They both find Clark annoying and will bully him together. Ava would harass General Park relentlessly as Olivia just begs her to stop exposing every single general to exist (she knows all of them personally) Ava could fix those daddy issues like the amazing engineer queen she is 🤩 plus the undoubtedly goofy robo (or alternate version of HF1) Olivia will bring back with her from da shadow realm.

Their Veritas association with one another would cause some bumps in the road, though. Maybe, maybe not. (Olivia def scared the crap outta Ava in that episode 💀)

Ava and Adam;

(DoubleABatteries) (I don’t freaking know)(MechDawg)(I don’t like it)(possible) (impossible)

💀 I don’t dare to entertain the idea they don’t even know each others names. Possible if they get to know each other in season 2, since the other two will be presumably gone. Nerd jock dynamics? Same as Stanford but Ava would most likely retain her braincells

Frank and Maya being the goats per usual

What do y’all think? My own opinions are jokes obviously but now I’m interested to hear other people’s thoughts.

[arabian-batboy]

I know you mentioned wanting to talk about damian earlier so what is your ideal direction for damians character? Assume you can retcon out details of Canon events

I think I talked about this a lot on my blog here and there, but Its not like I have ONE very detailed direction for his character and honestly I'm starting to try my hardest to not think about what we could have, because I know it will probably never happen and I would just make myself sad.

As for what I want, it depends if you mean from this point-on or if I could just go back in time to a certain point since Lazarus Planet is still going and I have a feeling it will fuck up do a lot of changes to Damian, so we will have to wait to see what happens. Either ways, I personally just want everything that happened since 2016 to be undone, I don't care how, just erase it all and lets pretend like the last issue of R:SoB was just released and lets start from there.

You know what's funny, even though Damian's fanbase is extremely diverse, almost all of us have been asking for only one of two things for so many years now, which are either A) bring back Maya & Suren and have Damian form a team with them B) have Damian be forever trapped as Jon's partner in a Super Sons comic that doesn't end (which I’m obviously not here for.)

That's it, there are really no huge amount of Damian's fans who are asking for anything else, yet DC keeps doing stories that no asked for that are always forgotten about after they end. Not only have they completely discarded point A, but they actually even have the balls to semi-discard point B, which I’m actually glad about don’t get me wrong, but I’m just surprised considering how feral and loud SS’s fans are, so if THEY can’t have what they want, I’m afraid no Damian’s fan can wish for anything, even though again, we're easy to please and what we want done with his character is clear as the day (we’re are not asking for much either)

Now if I was like the CEO of DC, I will just be an asshole who ignores continuity and have Damian deaged to like maybe 11/12 years old, put him back in his classic costume and have him return to Gotham as its official Robin, who actually has a personal/civilian life and regular interaction with all Batman's related characters (the fact that the last time time he had proper one-on-one interaction with any of the Batgirls was in the 00's decade is ridiculous, especially when one of them is his literal sister)

I would have Talia taking a small amount of members from the LOS who were always more loyal to her goals and means than her father's to form her own small spy organization that focuses on saving the Earth in ways other than killing a lot of people, similar to how Talia destroyed Lex Luthor Crop during her spy era, so maybe we will see her going undercover in corporations that commit a lot of pollution and making them go bankrupt or something similar?

Maya, Suren and Goliath would be living with her, however they wouldn't really be involved in her spy work (except maybe Maya, whose stealth powers can come in handy) instead they, along with Damian who will occasionally leave Gotham to team-up with them, will play a more action-based role.

So it will be 3 books, a Talia's book about her doing spy work, a Damian's book about him being Gotham's Robin and a team-up book with him and his friends going on adventures, which I have plenty of ideas for.

From expanding on Maya's backstory and doing something with the plot-line about her mother that Gleason didn't get to write, to a story about the Darga tribe who have been teased for a while now without anything coming from it and their connection/rivalry to the Al Ghul family (maybe even have a story about Suren betraying his friends for his family before double crossing them and declaring his friends to be his real new family) and the Year of Blood's storyline is a treasure trove that can be used as basis for newer stories. For instance, a lot of the artifacts that Damian stole seem to have some kind of power/magical properties to them, so I wouldn't mind seeing a story about a villain getting their hands on them to use them for evil and our team retrieving those items from them.

And I love the character of Ruh, if they don't plan on reviving Ra's, I wouldn't mind her leading the rest of the League that Talia didn't take (lets be real, DC will never fully disband the League) and maybe Talia + the kids will act as a throne in her throat by always beating her to any newly discovered Lazarus Pit and destroying it before her League reach them (I feel like I would be able to come up with more stories after LP ends)

I have so many ideas in my brain its ridiculous, but like I said at the beginning, I know none of them would ever happen, since all of them require Talia and Damian to not be demonized and to be written as main-characters, which 90% of DC's writers are not interested in doing, so it would be better to just forget about them.

[mekatrio]

ok gushing abt the best thing ever aka case 4

was not expecting maya to get kidnapped at all... it was rly shocking to see phoenix completely lose his composure when he learned that she was kidnapped, bc this was the first time tht had ever really happened. throughout the game we had seen him act differently than usual whenever edgeworth was brought up, refusing to acknowledge him and even going as far as to snap at franziska. but to see him completely lose it and become so so panicked.. THAT WAS AWESOME!!! it was very suspenseful and unnerving in the best way like GRAGHHHHH and with some New Music too.. and it was really just emotional to see wright be so panicked and at his wit's end so many times throughout this case :( it did a really excellent job at solidifying just how much maya and phoenix mean to one another..🥲 and i was really touched by maya's (and pearl's!) unwavering faith that phoenix would save her 😭

phoenix's outburst at edgeworth was so surprising to me!!! i had absolutely no idea what edgeworth's return wouldve been like and how phoenix would react to him, but i was definitely not expecting FOR HIM TO SAY HE WISHED HE WAS DEAD LIKE BRO!!!!! but it does make sense for him to react this way, hes so fucking stressed abt maya its crazy, and edgeworth just returns smug af and speaking in riddles 💢 wright's reaction also gets further explained much later where its shown that in his grief and anger, he dealt with this loss by rationalizing that edgeworth had ran away bc phoenix dented his perfect record, and thats why he says it wouldve been better for edgeworth to have stayed dead; bc to cope, he had to characterize edgeworth as a coward. and 1.) i think its so interesting that we dont understand this until near the end, meaning we as players are left clueless abt phoenix's emotional state and 2.) THIS GIVES HIM SO MUCH DEPTH and further shows us how phoenix deals with loss, my personal interpretation w the info i have is that i think this motherfucker can barely deal with loss at all, and he had to believe that edgeworth was a coward who ran away rather than a victim of suicide or something, otherwise he wouldve lost it completely. but its open-ended enough tht it can be interpreted in a variety of ways WHICH IS AWESOME!!!! WOW!!!!!! The gradual unravelling of his emotional state is just SOOO FUCKING GOOD WHWHAHHS

speaking of edgeworth, bc he made an appearance so early in the case (i wasnt expecting him to be here day 1), i had wondered what role he would be fulfill, since we already have our prosecutor franziska.... AND THEN SHE GOT SHOT?!?!? AND EDGEWORTH IS OUR PROSECUTOR AGAIN?!?!? the stakes increased like fucking crazy.... both trial days were so good, 2nd one is my fave for reasons ill state later but this first one was still good too, bc i truly wasnt sure whether my client was guilty or not.. usually theres a more likelier culprit or the game just straight up shows the actual killer, but this time around it was so woahh cuz like andrews was very obviously lying which conveniently frames her as the killer, but then like maya got kidnapped and why would she be kidnapped if engarde is innocent.. also the fact that we needed to wrap this trial up in One Day was STRESS and then towards the end suddenly WHAT andrews is saying she isnt guilty?!?! randomly accusing people of murder is actually.. a bad thing to do?!?!? (<- sarcasm ive been criticizing phoenix for this this entire time) but yeah i was legitimately blindsided by the fact tht andrews was saying she wasnt guilty, it rly was a wake-up call for me and mr. wright cuz in every past case, unraveling inconsistencies brought us to the truth, and here we did that again, but in the panic to free maya, we didnt make our assumptions as airtight as it possibly could be and we basically almost fucking... punished an innocent person which is. insane. more on this (wright's manner of defense getting criticized) later..

also i was worried that id have to use andrews' mental illness against her to save maya which wouldve been a terrible terrible thing to do. luckily edgeworth is way edgier than i ever thought he could be and like a goddamn bastard he revealed her illness to everyone so i didnt have to. and yes towards the end that helps everyone including andrews, but at the time that was fucking FUCKEDDD up of him. my god. another note abt edgeworth, my memory is imperfect so maybe this isnt true at all, but in this trial it really did feel like edgeworth had changed a lot. like he actually gave wright multiple turns to speak, didnt rush the verdict, and when he saw wright's panic, he actually helped to prolong the trial..... like omg. hes no longer a von karma!!! THAT IS EPIC!!! but yes first trial day was crazily amazing, and when it ended with a new sprite of phoenix with his head in his hands that was really :((((( like that actually surprised tf out of me and made me so sad......

ok time to talk abt narumitsu. in this universe where every character behaves so over the top, more reigned-in and subtle emotional reactions tend to be much more striking and its bc of this reason that i find the interactions between wright and edgeworth to be soo compelling.. like its hard to explain cuz these guys do have their dramatic af moments, what with the way they are in court + faking suicide + phoenix's outburst, but their interactions are still grounded in a degree of subtlety, they dont have emotionally charged shouting matches or weep openly or whatever, and when they do lose composure, theres a gradual build-up to it. what im basically saying is that im a huge fan of the restraint in their relationship, i think it makes for an extremely interesting and enticing dynamic and their interactions in this last case was just so so good bc of this, phoenix is clearly still angry yet edgeworth is clearly trying to help him, and even tho hes still pissed wright accepts his help bc they are adults who have a job to do and its only towards the very end do they properly air out their feelings like Yesssss i love this. also!! i really liked how their roles have swapped around in this game, in the first game phoenix was saving edgeworth; he helped him realize the errors of his ways and later defended him when edgeworth was on trial, and now in this game edgeworth is returning the favor, and is making phoenix realize the error of HIS ways and is helping him to save maya... like that is GROWTH!!! and of course the way their rejection towards one another has swapped too, first game had edgeworth rejecting us and putting us down cuz we're rookies, and this time around wright is the one rejecting edgeworth cuz he thinks hes still a petty perfection-driven lawyer. but they still manage to bypass these presumptions and save one another. it came back full circle in such a great way that im like so satisfied with it to a point tht im curious if edgeworth will even do anything in the next game bc like is there anything more to be said and done??

moving on, 2nd trial is easily my favorite trial so far bc of how its such a subversion of everything ive came to expect from these trials, mia's wisdom of believing in your client no longer holds steadfast but i cant just out my client cuz 1.) i am a goddamn defense attorney and 2.) maya's life is being held ransom. and also like we have to prolong this trial for as long as possible so the cops can search for maya but we also cant just throw shit around and get penalties, we have to defend our client who we know is guilty but we cant defend him TOO well or andrews is going to the fucking gallows, god andrews... when i accused her AGAIN i prayed that she would beat the fuck out of me and edgeworth after the trial bc this poor innocent woman.. we have been putting her thru hell. and also like god wright's and edgeworth's roles has essentially been swapped around w the way i have to accuse an innocent person and edgeworth has to be the one to protect her like its CRAZY!!!! its mind games on mind games on mind games and everything is topsy turvy and so intense and still manages to be funny with phoenix throwing the phone across the goddamn courtroom but also sad with him breaking down towards the end and the TENSION with waiting for gumshoe to arrive with the evidence and FRANZISKA VON KARMA SAVING THE DAY like this last case was a such masterclass in pacing, every fucking beat just hit so precisely it was SUCH a good experience... WOAHHHH!!!

and ofc ive mentioned this already but seriously this case touched on everything i had wanted this series to touch on its like it read my mind or something hello....

like theres almost nothing i need to add on bc this case practically spelled everything out omg. throughout these past 2 games ive been giving phoenix shit for just randomly accusing witnesses of being perpetrators, and like i get it this is what phoenix has to do, bc he lives in a world where the justice system is so fucked up that people get accused w the filmiest of evidence and phoenix really does need to find the actual perpetrator to free his client, i get it. but in doing so we run the risk of accusing another innocent person of something they didnt do, bc a lot of the time we're accusing these people without decisive evidence. and thats what nearly happened in this case with ms andrews, she was innocent but we almost damned her for something she didnt do, which is greatly ironic considering that a large reason why phoenix became a lawyer was bc he was saved from a false conviction (a class trial, but still).

and the reason phoenix does this (this = somewhat baselessly accusing others of being guilty), is bc of what mia had taught him: to believe in your client. because our client is innocent, another party must be guilty. this is how we've handled every case so far. so during this engarde case, where we learn that our client actually is guilty, and phoenix starts to lose his mind… edgeworth tells wright his most vital lesson yet: that they are not heroes, they are lawyers.

brief mini tangent b4 i circle back to this idea of being a lawyer rather than a hero: while i was wrapping up that miserable experience of a third case, i was wondering to myself what the overarching message of this game would be. the only thing thts really been tying these past three cases together have been edgeworth's disappearance, compared to the first game which hinted at narumitsu's shared backstory + dl-6 which it then had its climax with. so obviously edgeworth will play a big role in this last case… but then what? what is he going to do? what message will he deliver? i didnt have a clue, and then the final case rolled in and the overarching message it delivered was this: being a lawyer isnt about saving people, nor is it about being a hero. this is why mia's belief of 'believing in your client' falls short, bc simply 'saving' someone bc u believe in their innocence isnt enough. otherwise, this would mean that those that we believe are guilty arent deserving of a defense, which is why wright was so conflicted upon learning of his client's crime. but this isnt what being a lawyer is about, instead its as edgeworth had said;

what it means to be a lawyer is to defend/prosecute to the best of your ability, regardless of your whether you believe the defendant is guilty or not. it means to have faith in the opposing party, and that if your claim is a false one, said opposing party will expose the faults in your claim. and as to whether the defendant is truly guilty or not, that can only be decided once both prosecution and defense have unveiled the truth together. this is what it means to have a fair trial, what it means to be a lawyer: it is about having faith in the ability of the opposing party, it's about being able to trust others. this is what edgeworth had learned in the year tht he's been gone, and is now here to teach to phoenix.

in this last case, wright finally learns what it fucking means to be a goddamn lawyer, what it really means to be a defense attorney. wright is able to defend engarde, despite knowing that he is guilty, bc he has faith in edgeworth's prosecuting abilities. it is thru their trust in one another that they were able to prolong the trial long enough for franziska to arrive with decisive evidence. as a lawyer, wright must be capable of defending even those who he believe may be criminals, bc a proper defense, fair trials, and justice, isnt something that can just be cherry-picked and handed out to select individuals. true justice is something that everyone deserves. justice… is.. for all…

JUSTICE FOR ALL!!!!!

this, of course, can only happen in a fair and just world, where neither defense or prosecution is corrupt with say, forged evidence and fabricated testimonies or whatever, and an unbiased judge. this world is clearly not ace attorney's world, nor is it our non-fictional world. but i still find it so remarkable that in this fictional world where the judicial system has been perverted nearly beyond recognition, these characters were still able to deliver this semblance of truth, and illustrate the purpose, function, and importance of a fair trial. i really do love it when stories use exaggerated and absurd environments to convey messages which are deeply relevant to our own world. and i find it especially neat how in the first game, it was the prosecutors who were being scrutinized; von karma's and lana skye's fabrications being brought to light, with edgeworth closely trailing behind the footsteps of these two. but this time around its the defense being scrutinized, with both phoenix's and mia's unwillingness to properly defend engarde coming back to bite them several times.

another neat thing is that i really like this dialogue from mia after the trial ends:

which is her referring to whichever choice we made right before franziska saved the day; either securing the non guilty verdict, or claiming that engarde is guilty. i was very happy to learn that mia says this regardless of which choice you pick, bc neither options are necessarily incorrect. if you say engarde is guilty, it means that being a lawyer means to believe in your own convictions and moral compass. if you secure a not guilty verdict for instead, it means being a lawyer, a defense lawyer, is about defending your client to the best of your ability, regardless of ur own personal beliefs. both of these are admirable traits to have in a lawyer which is why either choice are praised equally…. THIS CASE IS SO GOODFJSDLJFK

some other final comments before i wrap this up: i was so relieved to see andrews smile at the end of everything T_T i think shes a subtle parallel to wright, edgeworth, and franziska, as all four of them have lost their mentors and are struggling bc of it. all 4 of them were dependent on their mentors to various degrees, but by the end of the case, they are able to extract themselves from their mentors' shadows, and are able to forge a new path for themselves. wright learns that theres more to being an attorney than believing in one's client, edgeworth and franziska put von karma's legacy of perfection behind them, and andrews learns to be comfortable with herself 🥲🧡 also gumshoe was such a real one in this case…. i am so sorry for previously cussing you out when u wouldnt give me evidence. through our time together you have become a friend to me <3

[alescendants]

My Disenchanted thoughts

I know this blog is called alescendants but Disenchanted is still Disney and it makes sense to write my opinions on it here. These are my personal opinions, everyone is entitled to have their own thoughts on this movie.

I wrote a lot so it’s all hiding under the readmore:

PROS

Finally, we know why Giselle was living with animals in the woods!

Morgan calling Giselle ‘Mom’ was so pure ngl

Seeing Giselle, Robert, Edward, and Nancy all being friends years later was so sweet, and the latter two being Sofia’s godparents? My heartt 😭😭

And finally Nancy sings! I keep repeating “For through this wand from Andalasia flows the magic of our magic world to here”, and also Love Power obviously lol

"Congratulations on the increasing size of your progeny." and "Hogwashery!" in this film vs "I don't know what ‘melodramatic’ means" in the first film. Bless you, Edward, you're academic now and I am so proud of you

“Morgan, if you want to be mad, you be mad at me. But you do not talk to your mother like that!” >>>

Robert is the blueprint for all men I swear

Morgan hating the move is all the better when you remember Robert said she’s shy and doesn’t have many friends. I feel you, Morgan, I suck at making friends too 😀🤝

I don’t get why people don’t like the music, I loved all of it! It saved the movie imo.

Maya Rudolph can SINGGGGGGGG

“Nobody ever would bother to tell a tale with Maleficent and with Cruella.” That was good honestly.

Gabriella Baldacchino is so good in this! She can really sing, good for her.

CONS

Everyone saying ‘the whole cast is back’ when Nathaniel wasn't in the movie (as well as Narissa for obvious reasons) felt very weird and wrong to me

Why was Edward barely in the movie?? His himbo energy is a big part of makes the first film so great imo, and while he did steal the three scenes he was in (yes, three), he deserved to be in the movie more. Also this is a personal issue but I hate how he’s never called ‘King Edward’, as I was hoping his Disney Wiki page would be able to be retitled to that lmao. His name is King Edward of Andalasia, put some respect on his name.

And I was hoping he’d have a scene with Morgan detailing his own experiences with wicked stepmothers. But he and Nancy were missing for the whole middle act 😭, AND James Marsden deserved to sing more!

Robert too. Why did they make him an idiot knight? He’s not endearing like Edward, he just annoyed me. And they obviously kept him out of most of the film because True Love’s Kiss would undo Giselle’s wish. It pissed me off how nobody thought of doing that lmao

“We bring love from Andalasia and offer belated birthday cheer.” That was in the trailer, they filmed a part for it. It and the rest of the lyrics are in the official Spotify song, so why was it cut out of the film? So unnecessary.

Same with the Monroeville portion of the opening song, it should’ve been kept in.

The 2D animation sucks, and why did Nancy look so different? She and Idina both don’t have blue eyes, where did that even come from?

I wanted Giselle to go back to Andalasia and for Robert to go there period. We need to fully see how he looks in 2D and how Giselle changed.

And I dislike the implication that Giselle has never returned to Andalasia and shown Robert and Morgan where she grew up. As IF she’d never say goodbye to the animals who raised her. And since Morgan always asked for stories about Andalasia, why not TAKE her there? Literally what is stopping her? It’s bad writing.

And speaking of Morgan, yes teens are angsty but it still hurt to see her fight with Giselle (their relationship in the first movie is precious).

And I’m confused about the whole wicked stepmother thing? “It’s not true what they say, I have met so many kind and wonderful stepmothers.” What happened to that?

But ignoring that, Morgan calling Giselle her stepmother in the argument hurt bad. Because she knows how Giselle (apparently) feels about stepmothers and she was obviously trying to hurt her.

Giselle could’ve done her animal call and it either doesn’t work or ravens and other animals portrayed as villains (snakes, rats like in Lady and the Tramp) show up. That’d fuck her up and it’d be cool to watch! And Morgan sang the animal call in pt 2 of Fairytale Life, she should’ve done it for real.

Malvina was disappointing. I was expecting her to be an Andalasian who Narissa banished, like Giselle. Maybe they’re related (like Ursula and Morgana) and/or she was threatened by her magical competition so she sent her away. And with a name with Malvina, it made sense to me that she’d be Andalasian. Clearly that was the intention and I don’t get why the team behind the movie would trick the audience like that bc it’s the opposite of a good plot twist. Queen Narissa had way less screen time and I prefer her way better.

Plus it’d keep Narissa relevant to the plot which was not the case and I was deeply disappointed.

I predicted that with Monroeville’s slogan literally being “Your Fairy Tale starts here!”, it’d be designed by Malvina to be a trap for Andalasians to find out how they left Andalasia and if she can take their portal back there. Like there was so much potential that went wasted.

And where the hell is Malvina’s husband? (He’s on the billboard with Malvina and Tyson at the entrance of Monroeville, so he definitely existed at one point.) If he’s dead, at least just mention it once?

Why was Morgan and Tyson’s song cut? It’d give him + their relationship much needed development and it’s a cute song.

Rosaleen and Ruby were annoying. I love YNB and Jayma but their characters aggravated me.

Sofia crying after Morgan was pushed down the well could’ve been a chance for Giselle to break away from her evil self to care for her daughter. I thought that’d happen. We all did, right?

There’s probably more but I’ll stop here lol

[rivalsforlife]

Sorry I saw joker p5 and I have to ramble. His case is so weird because imo he has so much more personality than the last two protags and the game is better for it, and you can see what they were going for, to the point where I sometimes even expected him to speak lmao but it never happens (in full sentences). And it's like. He's so well characterized that it's distracting when he's shoved into the dialogue-choice box for every single game. I want them to set him free. Still love him a lot tho

I haven't played p3 yet (watched a playthrough several years ago) but yeah joker definitely has more personality even within some of the dialogue options you could make. plus anime cutscene stuff. but it genuinely threw me off after the akechi boss fight when he has this "long" internal monologue (like five dialogue boxes) about how he was wondering if akechi was alright and if they were going to keep their promise to duel again and stuff like that because we DON'T get to see him think for himself all that much.

near the beginning of the game before you get morgana you have the option to sit on the sofa in the attic and he'll think a little bit for himself but then after you do get morgana when you sit on the couch morgana will just say his thoughts instead. and that really was a letdown for me.

it is a weird thing with persona I've been thinking about. he's not a protagonist like phoenix who is telling his story and you're just along for the ride. but it's also not like, say, pokemon or something, where You Are The Protagonist, pretty much completely, where your character is customizable to yourself and you also don't say anything the entire time. with persona you can name the guy after yourself but he's also got a bit of his own defined backstory but not enough for him to be his own guy entirely separate from the player.

like if I were to write a fanfic - AA is obviously something I'd find easy to write fanfiction about, and I have a concept of Phoenix in my mind as a character that I don't feel is more influenced by my own personal experience compared to other characters like Edgeworth or Maya. I wouldn't be able to write fanfic about something like Pokemon, or at least nothing containing the protagonist, because the protagonist doesn't really exist as a character and is just a vessel for the player to enjoy the story, and their character is entirely personal experience.

p5 joker has enough of a personality that he's clearly Not Me and has enough relationships with the other characters that it would be feasible for me to write a fanfic involving him, but it would be hard to do anything particularly interesting for his character because so much of it is up to personal interpretation and my canon purist tendencies are too bad to overlook that. like so many aspects of his life including his relationships with his friends is ultimately down to the player's decision. I would struggle to figure out how to write his voice when he has so few options where he can Speak His Own Mind or whatever. or like what a conversation between him and another character would be like that isn't completely one-sided. and I'd have absolutely no idea how to tell if anything would be in character for him! if that makes sense. that's where I keep getting stuck on with him where he's clearly so important and significant to the other characters but also while there being not enough there for me to really recognize why him in particular.

(which you could do interesting stuff conceptually with I'm sure but in game it comes off as odd sometimes. hey we've talked five times and it was mostly my own monologue. let me trauma dump in the bath to you.)

like you said there's something there that he could work in a story that like AA would have the protagonist as a fully realized character. and I would like to see that. it's the weird blend of actual character and self-insert that catches me off guard. I get why, it's a video game, but still.

[mayasdeluca]

Tbh I think they're exagerating the "centric" and it just means "bigger screentime" (as Travis, beccket, Jack(?)

I do think Vic's one is *closing* on 7x5, probably she's breaking down-getting better in the same one or at least implying she gonna seek for help. For me 7x4 was all Andy and building up for Vic, Ben, Becckett and Maya's possible breakdwon (a teasing)

As for Carina let's see.those damn news...id say were just learning about the news bc it seems packed but the synopsis says "maya helps carina navigate" so im curious

I agree...people get so caught up in the word 'centric' when really it could just mean the character has more screentime than they may have normally or something big is happening in their storyline. It's an ensemble cast so there's always going to be multiple things happening in an episode. Especially this season when they have so many storylines to progress and wrap up. They haven't really had a 'centric' episode that focused on one character and other characters weren't really in it besides one scene since Travis' in Season 4 (or the Ben/Dean one when they were in the water, I forget what episode that was) I wanna say so that's obviously not happening this season when there's too much to do with everyone.

Yeah I'm curious about this news too and how much Marina we're actually getting tomorrow because it seems like there's a lot going on but you're right that it says Maya helps her navigate it so they must find out and at least talk about it a little bit. I'm also wondering if we see a FaceTime call with Maya and Carina/Liam with Maya at work before she walks in to everyone being all depressed? It looks like she was in the lounge room on her own and was all happy so that would be cute if we get that.

[eriquin]

The Prophetic D&D Game, Part 7

Last bit of the second session. Who's going to get cursed next? I wonder.

(master post)

Part 7

As they argued that this was too many different ways to split the party, Eddie got up to check on the other two. They had come up with a list of things they were investigating, based on Grant’s note. He had them roll some dice for research and talked them through some strange reports from thirty years back. He gave them the name of one suspect. Sir Englund had been accused of the murder of his family but declared insane after saying it was due to a demonic influence. He was still in the asylum, so they decided to catch up with the rest of the group and share their knowledge.

“Let me see what the freshies have come up with first,’” Eddie said. “I’ll see how hard it’ll be getting the band back together.”

“Don’t you hate juggling this many stories?” Grant asked.

“Au contraire, my friend,” Eddie said. “I am a jester at heart. I love juggling.” 

He slunk back to the main table, where the freshmen were talking quietly among themselves about what to do next. They looked up when he arrived. 

“Okay,” Mike said. “We’re going to wait until Natalia’s back to ask her if her friend had symptoms. Meanwhile, Sadie is going to break into Grace Manor to look for a diary or something while Gaten and I play lookout and possibly provide a distraction.”

“Or a quick getaway,” Dustin said. “We have horses, right?”

“I think you might have a pony,” Eddie said, ruffling his hair. “But yes, you have fine steeds for a fast escape, if need be.” 

He walked Lucas through a quick raid on a noble house. Sadie was good at hiding and sneaking through the rooms, and quickly found her way to Lady Grace’s private chambers. They’d been searched by the guards, of course, but Sadie found some clues to bring back to the others. He scribbled down a note for Lucas and passed it over. Then he had him roll some dice to escape unseen. Lucas rolled poorly.

“When Sadie leaves the manor, she hears people shouting that they see someone sneaking over the wall. Gaten and Joe are waiting just around the corner with the horses—”

“And pony,” Mike said, snickering. Dustin grumbled.

“Horses and pony.” Eddie grinned. The intra-party bickering was fun, sometimes. “What do you do?” 

“I run up to them, jump on the extra horse, and yell at them to get the lead out,” Lucas said. 

There was some more dice rolling to be had, and Eddie ruled that they managed to get away without pursuit. They regrouped near the ranger’s station outside the east gate and met up with Maya and Natalia as well. With the party back together, they checked all their notes. 

“So we have a madman who might have information about the last time this happened, which was thirty years ago,” Gareth said. 

“And we have Lady Grace’s medical diary. It looks like she was having trouble sleeping and terrible headaches for some time, and then in her last few days she got some disturbing visions. She was seeing a healer about them,” Lucas said. He frowned as Eddie started writing down a note. 

“Sure sounds like a psychic attack to me,” Dustin said. Eddie kept writing and didn’t acknowledge them. 

Grant finally got his attention. “Natalia might know if Logan had anything like that happen to him, right?” 

Eddie held up his finger. “One second,” he said. It was a very long note, and he finished it and folded it up tight. “Repeat your question, please?” 

“Does my character know if the other murder victim was also under psychic attack?” Grant asked.

Eddie leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. “You want to roll for it?” 

“Do I have to? I mean, she’s got pretty high wisdom and obviously she’s very observant.” 

“Yeah, fine,” Eddie said. Grant sometimes hated getting bogged down in the mechanics of rolling dice when role playing, so it was easier to let him present a quick argument for why, in character, he would know these things. “Do you want a note or...”

“You can just tell everyone,” he said, waving at the rest of the table. “I’m not going to keep it secret.”

“Natalia remembers Logan being squirrely and nervous about stuff. He didn’t complain about headaches, but over the past few days he was rubbing his head a lot and getting distracted. He definitely seemed off, but he didn’t talk about it.” The group nodded and started discussing what that meant, and how to figure out if more people would be affected. 

Eddie got up and stretched his shoulders. It was starting to get late. They hadn’t had any real combat this session, but the players seemed satisfied with that. With the note he’d written tucked into his hand, he walked around the edge of the group as they talked through what the psychic attacks meant and how it tied into the past murders. Grant wanted to investigate the asylum, while Dustin said they should talk to Lady Grace’s healer. Eddie stopped behind Lucas and dropped the note into his lap. When Lucas looked up, he grinned and winked at him.

Mike noticed Lucas unfolding it and reading it over and got the rest of the table to quiet down. Lucas looked up at Eddie. “This happens now?” he asked.

“Mmm-hmm,” Eddie said with a nod as he returned to his throne. “Whatcha gonna do about it?” 

Lucas gulped. “Uh, guys. I think I know who the next victim is going to be.” He gingerly tapped his own chest. 

The room exploded in protests and Eddie leaned back in his chair and cackled at the chaos. 

Tagging: @weirdandabsurd42, @10moonymhrivertam

[myimaginarywonderland]

My live thoughts on episode 7x05

Station 19 actively ruining the team is wow.

Where is Travic? You want me to believe that Beckett after everything that happened wouldn't maybe keep an eye on her? On the other hand the amount of care you can hear when Beckett ask her "Hughes" to bring her back? I am melting.

I still don't like Maya (probably never will) but Andy/Maya is truly the friendship that keeps on giving.

I could not care less about Sully and Ross and this whole marriage storyline. I am just so over it. They annoy me. I don't even hate them but this is dragging on so unnecessary for so long.

Ben self medicating??? Hello? What the hell is this storyline? Why is it here all of the sudden?

I love Jack apparently working in dispatch but would it have killed the show to maybe show how he got there? It's the last season and he is one of the main characters and we haven't gotten like anything since two episodes ago.

The amount of people that don't understand Beckett's frustration when Maya actively blackmailed him and funded his addiction is stunning. Let Beckett be pissed! But yeah he shouldn't take it out on the job. That is bad on his part. But then everyone has done that so I am not suprised. I just wish they hadn't gone that way because it is like slowly regressing his character development. Beckett showing that character growth? The whole talking it out? This is what I wanted. I needed to see Beckett talking to talk anyone besides Vic and Sully.

I love that they are showing Travis and Warren sort of in a parallel way to how Warren had to leave Travis injured. And Travis bringing him back? This is the team content I wanted to see.

I am also sort of living for the Warren/Sully friendship but I would just love some more focus on other relationships.

That scene with Jack/Warren and Sully? I am dying. Uncle Jack continues to live on and I can't wait for it.

Also Andy rushing to get her team? That is the shit I wanted to see. That is the captain she is capable of being. I just wish that they show this the whole rest of the season.

Vic obviously having a public breakdown will hopefully finally kick start things but even then, nothing of what she said is false or even bad. She has just been through a hell of a call, probably is traumatized or at least had some PTSD flashback and the legacy of her dead best friend is publicly being taken away even when it clearly has helped and supported probably hundreds of people.

As soon as I praise Andy she fucks shit up again and openly ignores warning signs. She is making the same mistake as all the other captains with not helping someone who clearly needs help. I can not believe we are seeing the same storyline multiple times and nothing changes. What is this shitty writing?

Also Theo's character flip flopping the whole seasons is just wow. What are they trying to do with him? I guess he is at least trying to reach out which is seemingly more than can be said about most characters.

I adore the flashback but I am still not Andy's biggest fan and I just wish we had some more I don't know, scenes of the OG family?

Overall I don't like the episodes this season. It just doesn't feel like a final season? Too many storylines for too less episodes, characters and relationships all over the place. Characters having sudden 180 with no development or explanation? The vibes since Miller's death have been off but I feel like since the end of season 6, they are just so weird. It almost feels like the set up is too split up the time and regress like 90% of the characters. Travis has been going downhill, they have ruined one of the most important relationships (Travic), random story arcs are dropped etc. It almost feels like a set up to actually resolve things in season 8.

[trulytiredhermit]

Evelyn, oh Evelyn, Maya and Anya absolutely love to mess with her, but you could clearly see that they would fight their whole lives to protect each other, especially Evelyn.

You miss the way she latches on to you for comfort, because with her by your side, you just know that you aren't alone, and that you could do this, if only to protect someone.

She is quiet, and shy most of the time, but honestly, you think that out of everybody in the group that you four formed, she seems to be more comfortable with you than anybody else.

She knows her limits very well, but sometimes she doesn't even know her limits because she never tries to cross those limits, she's cautious, that's for sure, and while you're happy that somebody like her is your friend, sometimes you wish that she wasn't.

Because you didn't want this to happen to her in the first place, she must be alone and scared and you couldn't be there for her..

Just absolute perfection once more. Seriously this is just *mwah* 🤌 chef’s kiss.

And the thing about Evelyn knowing her limits yet also NOT being she’s afraid to test them, amazing. And in a new world where there are so many new, and dangerous things, Evelyn is going to be ever more wary to test her limits and will want to latch onto Reader even more.

Also Reader starting to wish that they hadn’t been friends with any of their friends simply because then they would have been safe, just yes. Reader is definitely going to go through some heavy self-doubt and questioning whilst searching for her friends.

And of course, like the Anaya ask, should Reader ever meet up with Evelyn the Chain are for sure going to have a problem with Evelyn’s clinginess. I mean yeah, they can be quite clingy too, but that’s because Reader is their darling and they’re just showing their love and appreciation for Reader.

Plus, they obviously appreciate and care for Reader more than any of Reader’s friends so they’re the only ones who should be allowed to get close to reader.

Thankfully, they’ve handled people like Evelyn before. Really, all they’ve got to do is bring Evelyn to a little safe house and tell her to stay out. Perhaps, even put the idea of leaving Evelyn at a safe into Reader’s head. That way Evelyn is more inclined to go along with it.

And why wouldn’t Reader agree with Evelyn staying at a safe house. They don’t want Evelyn to get hurt out in the wild and they know how scared Evelyn can get at times. Plus, Reader is most likely thinking about how Evelyn and the rest of their friends would be far safer away from them (especially if the Chain’s yandere tendencies are appearing more frequently).

Of course even if the chain’s tendencies aren’t that much (yet) Evelyn, with her overly cautious personality, may still be able to pick up on the Chain’s antics and true intentions. She may even try to warn Reader about it, unless the Chain bully/intimidate her into silence.