#offscreen as an offhanded mention.

[lemonlumens]

crazy that they literally got married and still don’t have a trust title

[hasarjunadoneanythingwrong]

so i've seen a post that says that you can't say that karna gets treated better than arjuna, and that karna is haunted by arjuna in the narrative. I can't reblog the post but I respectfully disagree with it and I'm going to explain why.

the first point is fate/apocrypha. in this, karna compares siegfried to an opponent he once knew during their duel. in the post, it's argued that he projected siegfried onto arjuna and that's now his main interest throughout the series. however, karna's main interest in the series isn't just seigfried (although he did want to fight him again, which is why he fights sieg) but rather to have strong battles in general. it's also ignoring his confrontations with vlad, his decision to stay with the red faction and why (to protect the master he is no longer contracted to) and his interactions with Semiramis and Amakusa. his comparison of siegfried with arjuna, while significant, is not so massive that you can accurately say that it negates every other aspect of his characterization in the story. the most important thing it achieved is that it makes him very interested in fighting him, and when he decides he wants siegfried as a rival and the saber dies he later challenges sieg as he can channel the warrior. its disingenuous to say that arjuna is haunting karna's narrative when he doesnt appear at all beyond a single offhand remark.

the next point is that arjuna gets the costumes. this one is just wrong? karna has two costumes, although i hesitate to call the second one a proper costume. Burning Garment of Three Gods is in fact the first free story costume you receive in fgo, unlike most other costumes which you receive through limited time events, and the glasses costume is from an event where he again gets a (minor) role. while both arjuna's alts have a costume each that doesnt negate karna having costumes?

the next thing is a bit rough. 'arjuna gets the character arcs in fgo.' this one is true. its also because arjuna is the fgo original and karna had 2 previous fate entries to receive characterization in, so him receiving it was less of an required focus than it was for a brand new character who had nothing. at the same time, i do agree that karna needs to have more done with him in the game.

the next one is also very rough. in it, the op mentions that arjuna got a lostbelt that karna received poor treatment in. I do agree that how karna was treated, namely being dead for most of the chapter and only brought back for one big battle before being killed again was very poor handling. however....arjuna alter was also really poorly handled? he was offscreen for most of the lostbelt, his motivations were both incredibly unclear and required you to have played the interlude of another ssr, he was given no depth of character or internal consistency, and they didnt give you any greater understanding of who he was or why he behaved the way he did. he is generally agreed among most fate fans to be the most weakly written of the lostbelt kings, and its in part because rather than tell us anything about arjuna's life, indian history or mythology, or the mahabharata, they once again retrod the karna vs arjuna plotline. just because he's the lostbelt king doesnt mean he was done better than karna-if anything, his treatment was potentially worse because while karna's one dimensional handling set him up as a noble hero, arjuna alter's set him up as an unreasonable villain. saying that karna is used as a crutch for arjuna requires also acknowledging how arjuna is constantly and consistently used to enhance karna since the minute he was added to fgo, which is how you get titles he was never called by like 'the endowned hero' (it may be a poor translation of one of his actual names, Dhanañjaya, which means one who conquered wealth and gold but i doubt it) and why one of the first things that's mentioned whenever arjuna shows up is that he killed karna, when thats only one of his achievements and not even the most notable one.

which brings me to my next point: karna is handled one dimensionally in fgo. but it is always as a misunderstood hero, and arjuna is primarily handled as his supporting cast, whether as a jealous villan or long suffering straightman. if you are going to show frustration at people who are glad arjuna got content independently of karna, you need to acknowledge that out of the 23 odd events and story chapters arjuna has showed up in, only around 5 have not also included karna and out of the 8 that arjuna alter has been in, only 4 have not had karna in them. karna has been in 27 events, and 9 have not included arjuna-its not a large amount, but its still the same amount that arjuna and his alter have put together without him. Arjuna in fate, especially at the time of his creation, existed as a supplementary unit to further enhance karna's story as a hero who was oppressed by others, which is how you get things like this

while both their profiles have a heavy focus on the other, karna's talks about his actual life and history to a far higher degree than arjuna's does, while arjuna's fully devolves into his resentment and dislike of karna. he was first as foremost written as 'karna's obsessive rival' to further expand karna and karna specifically, and the later focus on trying to give him more depth was because he was popular and they wanted to do more with him. there was no consideration for who he was historically or his real personality or feats, there was no consideration for what he actually was- they wrote him as a person who would, in his own words 'become the darkness' to karna's light simply for the sake of it

THAT is why fans of arjuna want more content of him independently of karna. is it true that karna has his own issues with his writing? yes! but that doesnt change the fact that for a very long time, arjuna has been twisted from his mythogical origins in fate to make him someone that he simply isnt, and thats what people want to see less of. no amount of poorly executed ssrs or events they both get shortchanged in to emphasis them hitting each other with sticks will change the base issue with arjuna's writing until fate acknowledges this.

and to be clear, i dont think its wrong to be upset that karna doesnt get a lot of in depth expansion in fgo. but that isn't the fault of arjuna, and it's really unfair to try and say that with how often arjuna has been used as a plot device to show how unfairly biased people are at karna

[hexhomos]

hey I’m here from ur Twitter, saw some of your posts about gale/astarion mystra stuff because I haven’t played the game yet and wanted to know about TWs/if it’s handled well/etc. I don’t really mind spoilers if they’re necessary! thank you

Id say as pretty traditional DnD adaptation game there is a lot of bloody battles and i guess... disturbing implications? when it comes to things such as kidnapping/murdering/cannibalizing people and general eldritch assassin blood cult stuff that has to do with the BG series.

If your particular concern are depictions of SA/CSA the game is written in such a way that they all took place quite some time in the past, and those discussions exist mostly in the realm offhand mentions or between-the-lines presence in the dialogues of companions -- as all of the core companions in this game are in some way abused and not quite cognizant of that abuse all of the time, and the player has the option to help them.

MILD EARLY SPOILERS FOR BG3 WARNING

Gale and Astarion are the only companions where that theme of abuse/agency crosses into sexual territory; Astarion explicitly speaks about being tortured in non-sexual ways as part of being a thrall/vamp spawn (basically an eternal servant for a Real Vampire) and his romance route includes multiple discussions of those things & the atrocities he's committed under that household. The game writers do not include sexual abuse in those infodumps- that i know of- but Astarion seduced people to their doom and has a weird relationship with sex as a result. Gale is not aware that he was being groomed at all and actually believes that he's the one who did badly towards his abuser, but the other companions Will question this interpretation of events and as the story goes on if you romance/befriend Gale he is able to look back on his situation and realize the 'love' he was used to was frankly sort of rotten in comparison. idk how deep it goes if you're doing friendship only but i can attest at least in romance mode that happens.

There are other situations in game (particularly at a brothel) where allusions to their abuse are made and they seem very uncomfortable being peer pressured or propositioned to. I think for a game of this size and mainstream appeal it's handled fairly well, mostly kept offscreen, and has thematic relevance to the story as a whole and the storylines of the other companions. Multiple parts of these storylines are also incredibly optional: you have to seek out these characters to learn more about them, and some of the more telling interactions aren't *given* to the player so much as found if you pay attention, if you get what I mean. I think BG3 as a whole is very entertaining and well written but you should go in knowing a measure of gritty dark themes are a central part of this setting, and while not all of it is perfect, it's one of the Best for its genre.

as a postscript: characters in this game can literally break up with you if you cross or don't care for their boundaries.

[the-owl-tree]

Opinion on Fernsong? Even if he wasn't related to Ivypool he's a waste of a mate and I don't understand the hype with how nothing he is imo.

i'm not the biggest ivy fan (as mentioned) but rip ivy fans they shoved her in a cishet relationship so fast with one offhand dialogue that fernsong didn't even bother to follow up on. i get the whole "he probably did it offscreen" logic but you've gotta understand how baffling it is for this misogynistic book series which places such deep emphasis on the role of the mother to make a big moment out of this and then....not show it or even have bristlefrost mention being primarily raised by fernsong in the nursery. so yeah no! i'm not willing to give this series a bone! it doesn't get to sing its own praises and then not actually commit to it!!

my feelings on him are nothing. he's a nothing character, he was there to be ivypool's rushed mate so she could pump out protag babies and make a big grand statement about helping and then not actually doing it. he's a complete nobody to her story, i don't find their chemistry or relationship appealing. he isn't someone she trained with, understands what happened with the dark forest, he's like....nothing! i don't care for him and i don't care for his relationship with ivypool...which is the only thing he has going for him lol

[geminicollisionworks]

After an offhand line in an old ask of yours, I (with my Althaar-grade understanding of human intimacy) have been trying to work out who in the main cast had the mentioned brief offscreen sexual relationship that will never be acknowledged in-show but regardless affects how these characters are written.

There are easy exclusions, of course, but still many candidates. My current top candidates are Chip and Torianna, because this is something they would, I think, both end up doing, immediately regretting, and mutually swearing never to speak of ever again (though I have to wonder if Fraall, who enjoys flotting with them both, would've mentioned it by now if they had).

Now, I am not asking for an answer (unless my assessment is correct), but how would you feel about humoring me with a clue, namely between which episodes this regrettable encounter has occured?

Hmmmnnn...

Berit & Ian put a few things in Life With Althaar here and there that are... not exactly just to amuse ourselves, but as we've said, as flavor. Though it is also to amuse ourselves. And we've often wondered if any of our listeners will "figure [this background running gag] out."

But we've never actually discussed how to respond if someone does figure out one of our silly things, or comes close enough to want or warrant hints.

Like... the one thing that a certain set of non-recurring characters have in common (which, if you noticed it, would allow you to predict certain things about events involving these characters immediately upon their being introduced).

Or... the [who/what] that is quoted in every episode of Season Three (granted, there are quotes galore in all episodes, we just decided after randomly quoting the same source in 3.01 and 3.02 that we'd keep it up for the season and see if anyone noticed).

But the past "secret" relationship is considerably less random, and while not originally conceived for the show, happened organically in the writing and acting and helped in creating a dynamic between the characters that just felt right.

It is not Chip and Torianna. Though your thoughts on the "why" for them make perfect sense, and it's absolutely in character for them to have had that happen as you laid out (both Chip and Torianna have somewhat long histories and numbers of past brief unsuccessful love affairs). Alt-Universe slash-fic writers, have at it if you like! But in canon Althaariverse, nope, didn't happen. It certainly would fit a number of classic sitcom tropes, but no.

As to Frall's take on it if it had happened, yeah, they might give both parties grief about it, but I like Berit's idea that Frall wouldn't explicitly hassle Chip about the relationship specifically, but if it had happened, that would be the reason behind Frall's constantly flotting with Chip (since Torianna is Frall's closest friend, insofar as an inexplicable, nigh-omnipotent energy being has friends). Frall's actual reasons for needling Chip are, of course, thoroughly Frall-ish and inscrutable.

As to hints to what we have layered in...

It didn't happen between episodes. It happened before the show begins. Years before, in fact.

It was not a one-night-stand, but actual open dating for a short time. It was not "regrettable," but rather nice and sweet, just, in the end, not really right for either in the longer term. It ended very amicably.

Frall, of course, knows, but would never mention it to either, let alone tease. But some others know too, and it has been whispered about, but it never comes up because it would just not be cool.

There are slight verbal felicities between them they don't allow from many others, if any at all, and both have occasionally mentioned personal idiosyncrasies of the other that a friend might know, but an ex would be more likely to.

And that's enough hints. Too many? Is it obvious now?

Personally, as one of us two creators has old flames, preceding our 23 years together, who we remain close to, with no weirdness or tensions, we thought it was a nice, real dynamic that actually happens in our world that isn't so often found in the sitcom form (pace Chloe and James in our beloved Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23), and wanted to explore it, quietly.

Thanks for asking!

[mysteryloversbookshelf]

“Happily Ever Aster”

What are some of your headcanons on how some of the characters lived happily ever after? We won’t know for sure until being mentioned offhand in future seasons but it’s still fun to come up with ideas. Here is how I vision some of their happy endings. I’m putting it behind the read more in case some people still haven’t seen the season finale yet

Grace and Hannah

It’ll be weird for a minute since Edgar is dead and as terrible as he was I’m sure they’ll still have to grieve him in some way. Once that passes I see them continuing to travel together and maybe Hannah working with Grace in her antique shop. Rather than another yurt, I could see them living in a cozy cottage surrounded by more psychotropic plants. Idk if they’ll marry, but I see them adopting a baby or maybe getting a sperm donor and their baby being weird af like a mini Wednesday Addams.

Feng and Vivian

After news of Edgar’s death breaks out and people check out Kyler’s videos from the weekend, I can see a lot of people flocking to try baobing for clout but falling in love with it. They’ll get a boost in sales and Feng will end up opening even more locations. Now that he has enough money to pay off debts and etc, I see him and Vivian traveling the world together and her teaching him how to live it up. He doesn’t have to play it safe anymore so I could see him and Vivian sending Grace and Zoë pics of them both skydiving and other thrill seeking tourist stuff. Maybe offscreen Aniq and Zoë asked Vivian to help choreograph the first dance at their wedding and it turned out amazing.

Travis

Since he became the house and beat Sebastian, he can afford to fly out and visit Weronika. Does anyone remember what he does for a living? I could see him feeling inspired at actually discovering the crypto scam and taking courses so he can be a legitimate detective. Maybe he will even create an agency to help other people that have been scammed out of their crypto.

Isabel

She may not have been able to hold Edgar accountable for drugging her but she’s at least finally free. Howie is a close friend but maybe they’ll become something more at some point. With her personality I don’t expect her and Hannah to ever have a perfect relationship, but after that moment they shared while telling the mind movie, maybe they can get to a decent place. Probably not though after how she treated Grace.

Sebastian

Yeah he lost a bunch of money and was fired by Isabel, but you can’t keep a scammer like him down. He’s either about to start running cons with his cousins again or he’s going to attach himself to a wealthy older lady like Isabel and live out the rest of her life in luxury before moving on to the next one.

Aniq and Zoë

When they go see Danner in the time jump, are the rings to show that they’ve already married or are they still engaged? Either way, I don’t care to see a wedding. We’ve already been there and done that with Grace even if it did end terribly. I’m fine with seeing hilarious wedding and honeymoon photos/videos and calling it a day. It’s too bad Yasper is in prison because he would have been a really fun best man. Imagine the wedding toast 😂

Danner

Assuming season three will be the afterparty for the premiere of her movie, I hope that the person killed isn’t Jaleel White. Danner has been through enough so that would suck to do that to her character when she finally found what she wants to do in life.

Ulysses

He obviously doesn’t deserve a happy ending after trying to kill Feng. It might be too much of fan service, but the idea of him being cellmates with Yasper and them both performing together for the other criminals is hilarious to me. Knowing him, he’d probably be using his knowledge from his travels to scam the other inmates into giving him money for food and etc.

What about you guys? It would be really cool to be able to compare these headcannons to what will actually be canon in the future seasons.

[grinchthem]

seriously though they did shirley bennet so dirty. her setup was actually so interesting? she was trying to make something of her like without her husband after being a stay at home mom. but then the show hardly ever had her date? she seriously dates like a small handful of unnamed guys over the course of the whole show when the other characters get whole arcs dedicated to their dating lives. i actually kind of like that they brought up the tension of her often feeling separate from the group because of her beliefs and being a parent, but it's just kind of mentioned as a throwaway every few seasons.

i also quite liked the andre plotline, i thought it was in character. but then they completely blew it up to create drama in season 5 where shirley just kind of mentions offhand that she and andre separated again and "he took the kids," which is then NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN? you would think that this would actually be a huge deal for shirley, since her family and her kids are so important to her, but no, it's simply not mentioned.

obviously them quietly writing her off the show for some bullshit reason was disappointing, but even then like. did she take her kids with her when she moved?? did she and andre get back together offscreen (??) or did she just, like, abandon her life? (very ooc)

i feel like the writers literally forgot that she existed for long periods of time and would completely drop plotlines that they introduced for her. also she has some of the fewest lines of any of the characters per season. so disappointing

[quixoticrobotic]

who's a pair of atop the fourth wall characters you'd like to see get more screentime together?

literally all of them??????? which like i understand why we dont get that, obviously, thats a ridiculous demand. like logistically its not very doable i know this. i basically play with all the characters like dolls in my head i dont expect a ton casual slice of life character driven stuff from this show

but that being said...

off the top of my head

Mark and Linkara but like with them acting like friends and goofing around and mark actually getting to act like a teenager whos found family is a bunch of goofballs, rather than that weird dynamic where mark is just like the embodiment of patience and kindness and wisdom despite being a teenager talking to like, the first adult he ever felt safe around. like i wish the partnerfriends dynamic was a little more balanced??? like mark still has to have like thoughts and feelings and problems??? his best friend is right there!!!

Jaeris and LITERALLY EVERY REMEMBER OF THE COMICREW. like i guess its implied off-screen but like it really feels like they forgot the "to" in "enemies to mutual respect to friends" like. theres so much potential like i cant even type it all up but like.

ok so jaeris is bitter and cynical and frankly jealous that this comic book geek has ALL HIS LIL FRIENDS and ooooh cool wow thats so great you know what the power of friendship and kindness has done for jaeris? FUCKING NOTHING! and like Jaeris going from being like kinda disgusted by this group he kinda sees as like saccharine to the point of cringe like "goody two shoes and his bands of weird losers who like him" to having this big support system other other humans who he feels safe around LIKE PLEASE

nimue and eliza. like!!!! its canon nimue was the first member of the comicrew eliza really trusted that is canon! also like I know nimue just isn't very outwardly emotional and i love that for her! i think her characterization is really great! but like i'd like to see her when she's like. actually just kinda chillin, by nimue standards. and eliza is just always a really compelling and very funny character and just. i want them to hang out. also femslash

Mark and 90s Dude! smells like teen spirit and a literal teen spirit! they both have transmasc swag and i want them to goof off and be pals!

Joanna. just. any mention of joanna she has not been mentioned ONCE since her last appearance EVEN THOUGH YOU'D THINK JAERIS WOULD MENTION HIS WIFE, HIS WIFE WHO HE LOVES SO MUCH THATS WHAT POWERS HIS MAGIC GUN. HIS WIFE WHO HES MARRIED TO WHO IS PRESUMABLY WAITING FOR HIM BACK HOME WHENEVER HE SHOWS UP. IS SHE OK? IM STARTING TO WORRIED SHE'S LIKE DEAD, OR THEY GOT DIVORCED OFFSCREEN OR SHE JUST GOT RETCONNED OUT OF EXISTENCE OR SOME SHIT

tbh i wish the characters just mentioned each other more? it would help a to to make these characters feel like friends and allies who actually like each other. also it'd make it feel like the characters all have lives. like have linksano mention the romantic partners he canonically has like have him mention the fact that he went on a date, have linkara casually ask nimue if erin can still make it to bad movie night or if shes busy, have characters ask linkara how mark is doing since THE WHOLE COMICREW KNOWS MARK EXISTS, have harvey mention playing pokemon cards with linksano, LET JAERIS TALK ABOUT HIS WIFE, just like little offhanded comments that make it feel like they interact with each other

[aviculor]

Plot spoilers for the Teal Mask

I'm not surprised they were doing the "history was wrong" plot twist. In fact, it was obvious. However, it's just so hard to take the original story seriously when Ogerpon looks like that. What scary ogre? You mean this little leaf child?

I'm getting some mixed messages about the Loyal Three. So they were a trio of thieves who stole Ogerpon's masks and were killed by Ogerpon in front of the villagers who interpreted what they saw as a trio of heroes fending off an evil oni at the cost of their lives. That much I get. But why does the quest info talk about the three being worshiped by name for individual reasons, and about them becoming smart/strong/beautiful by wishing for it? Was this before or after they literally died? Someone mentioned offhand that Okidogi's mask is greener than its actual self, is that supposed to imply that the three were completely different in their original lives and what popped out of the burial site are like...deified versions, based on the people of Kitakami's conceptions of them? Maybe Kieran wished really hard that they would come back so the villagers would see them for who they really are, and the weird stories that cropped up in the centuries gone by intermingled with what he knew to be the truth? Briar did say that Kitakami flows with a similar energy as the terrastal phenomena, and it would connect to the prevailing theory that paradox pokemon are Sada/Turo's wishes given life. I suppose the real question is where did the toxic chains on them come from?

The order things played out in is a little strange. Like, we learned the truth about the loyal three before they even showed up. And with Kieran playing devil's advocate from the get-go, the pre-release information was the only time we were ever expected to buy the legend of the Loyal Three. As soon as the Festival of Masks happens, Kieran and Carmine's grandpa tells you what really happened and there's no more mystery to solve, you're just hunting down and beating up some shitheel zombies to collect Ogerpon's masks again. Kieran also managed to change the village's opinions offscreen so there was no drama to deal with there.

[tcba]

Wait, is the sex thing actually gonna happen?/gen

Offscreen, I should make it VERY clear its ALL offscreen. it's only like. offhand mentioned. But yes there is freaky mentally ill trans sex

[holmoris]

The mario rpg staff got interviewed for the remake and mentioned offhand that the mystery egg was originally supposed to be a casino prize because the casino's entire deal was being as time consuming and boring as possible, solely because they thought it'd be funny and the evilest thing ever, and I agree. If they'd actually put the mystery egg there, the process for getting the game's rarest item, Sheep Attack, would be: (smrpg spoilers, obviously) 1. Reentering booster tower and climbing halfway up to find the ball-juggle game, which appears there lategame without prompting.

2. Winning the ball-juggle game 20? times to get the casino entry card. 3. Actually finding the casino itself. Two npcs in the entire game give one-line hints to where it is and getting the actual door to appear requires an interaction that's used nowhere else in the game, in an otherwise empty room, in an area with 6 of those rooms. 4. Winning a casino game called 'look away' which is basically a coin flip 100 times. Each run is multiple dialog boxes and just smashing A+Left requires about 25 minutes of inputs to get the wins you need. Win 100 would give you the mystery egg. 5. Equipping a specific, special, expensive worthless item available in Marrymore only (the B'tub ring) on Peach and having her use the egg in fights 10 times, forfeiting her turn each time. This turns the egg into Lamb's Lure. 5. Using Lamb's Lure 10 times in fights for a 25% chance of turning an enemy into a sheep and making it float offscreen. You need to hit with it 10 times to get the 'The flock is full!' message and turn Lamb's Lure into Sheep Attack. Your reward for all this? A reusable item that causes the game to lag horribly, removes enemies from fights at random and is notorious for causing softlocks. Whee!

evil game design must never be done for money reasons. evil game design must be done for the love of evil itself

[beatricebidelaire]

actually something i’m constantly wondering about is, all the little details in canon about beatrice and olaf, the things mentioned in the books, were they …. intentional. well, maybe intentional is not the right word, it’s more like, did he put those in with the intention of hinting a history of friendship between them behind the scenes, if that makes sense. like, a lot of olaf and beatrice dynamics are our own interpretations and guesses since we don’t see them together in the same scene in the books (by same scene i mean it more in a “on screen” way like the way two characters are in a scene at the same time, instead of offhandedly mentioned that they are offscreen doing something together)

(netflix does have them on screen together, for example the opera night, but that scene is actually not as compelling b&o friendship hint/evidence compared to other scenes where they don’t actually show up together. olaf’s “remarkable woman. flammable.” is iconic. klaus’s line “mother said actors will eat anything” is interesting not just because beatrice obviously knows olaf who is an actor, but she also is one herself.)

the thing is that as much as the interpretations of their dynamic is guesswork, it’s guesswork based on canon lines. olaf’s “your mother told me the same thing ha but one day when i was 7 year old”. or when he says sunny’s beans is “worse than that salad your parents used to make”. or how ghede in ?4 told lemony that beatrice is accompanying olaf to the edge of the forest, hinting the two probably did their apprenticeship together. like when i read ?4 it made me wonder did handler put that line there wanting to hint at a deeper backstory of friendship between the two of them, considering how they were already confirmed to have known each other before the age of 7. it’s unclear if at that time they’re part of vfd or not. but it’s a possibility that they know each other before vfd. they did their apprenticeship together in their teens. she was part of the opera plot, part of the operation who murdered his parents. he hunts down after her children as revenge, more than a decade later. their lives were so revolved around each other in some way. she is his motive for revenge the revenge that drove the plot of asoue forward. they were basically childhood friends who’ve known each other forever turned enemies. was DH thinking of this when he puts the lines in. because even disregarding my personal interpretations and guesswork there’s no denying that they did at least know each other at 7, possibly earlier. did their apprenticeship together. became enemies at some point. mr handler do you know. one one hand i think there’s no way he doesn’t when i type these all out on the other hand some of the details are such trivial offhanded mentions in canon that it’s possible it’s just an afterthought and not something intentional …… or is it. mr handler pls.

[expelliarmus-percabeth]

nhie season 3 thoughts

aneesa has screamed bi vibes since her appearance but im so glad they actually made it canon! I wasn't expecting that. I'm glad they decided to scrap her and fabiola though, it was turning out to be kind of a meh ship and it felt like anessa just latched onto the nearest person for emotional support after her terrible rs with ben. also fab didn't seem to be into anessa as much as she was into her :( PLEASE GIVE ANESSA A LOVING GF IN SEASON 4!!!! my girl deserves sm better :( though i will say that it's kind of annoying they had all that "omg who's going to make the first move" tension that eventually led to nothing... it felt so half-hearted

eleanor and trent actually work together stupidly well. I love them your honour <333

fabiola's romantic storyline with eve has never interested me much i felt like it was the blandest thing i have ever watched.... glad they broke up and never mentioned eve again 💀💀💀 i really hope they don't redo that whole storyline with addison i think fab deserves more layers and nuance to her romantic relationships. also the fact that we got to see devi and eleanor lose their virginity on screen (at least the start of the scene) but fab's was just an offhand remark like "oh yeah we just did it offscreen"??? cmon.

rhyah is a terrible but unfortunately realistic character. perfect representation of people who will smile to your face and secretly thank god that they're not suffering your misfortunes. shoutout to the actress for doing such a great job I actually wanted to punch her in the face

paxton continues to steal my heart. I just wish they gave him a more concrete goal or desire other than him being a "kind and nice" person. (and tbh based on all the ghosting of the girls he had sex with wasn't even like. an EXCEPTIONALLY nice and kind person. so.)

I think the daxton breakup was handled the way it should be - the problem with the relationship was there from the start, it's that devi only sees paxton as this unattainable dream that signifies her ascending into popularity or whatever and doesn't like him as an actual person other than for his looks.

also i think it's hilarious how haley appears for like one episode to become best friends with paxton again to make devi jealous then completely disappears for the rest of the show

I don't understand why rhyah introduced des as someone who was bullied a lot and sad and lonely when it's clearly established later on that he's in the popular clique and does have friends??? There doesn't seem to be any logical reason other than for the writers to pull that "he's actually hot" twist on us... and man did not mention sea slugs ONCE

i seriously love nalini so so much.... I have a special spot in my heart for characters who act all tough but are actually soft inside. The scene where devi tells her shes not ready to leave her mom yet she just wants one more year and you know her mom was thinking the exact same thing about her daughter.... i started tearing up fr

every line out of nirmala's mouth is iconic and comedy gold. "I'm a regina" so true bestie

I really hope we get to see more of ben having more male friends in the next season bc the paxton and ben scenes were genuinely sweet. stop fighting over devi!!! just be bros

speaking of ben i go back and forth on him a lot because he's honestly really douchey at times and the way he treated anessa while they were together was just.... not it. but honestly the last scene where devi gave ben the one free boink card is going to live in my head forever. the way they didn't need to say a single word??? the way it should have been cringe but wasn't??? the way they smile at each other and slipped in???? WOW.

also the irony/character development of ben calling devi an "unfuckable nerd" in s1 to him quite possibly being her first in s3 is not lost on me

[windmill-ghost]

I saw a post where the OP mentioned offhand that they think Kris summoned the player, and I haven’t really been able to let go of that because there’s nothing really... disproving that? Especially because that would explain why... well, Kris must have taken us out of the birdcage for us to be back in control for part 2, right? As far as we know, we do not take any action that we don’t actually, you know, make happen with the gameplay, so the idea that the player got out by themselves offscreen with no input is not feasible.

Honestly, I feel like I don’t see people considering much about why we entered the story at the point where we did-- in Undertale, the player enters at the exact moment that Frisk falls down because that moment is relevant. In Deltarune, though...  Kris enters the Dark World later in the day, but that doesn’t explain why we showed up before that. In general, future events do not tend to be the cause of things that happened in the past. Unless... something actually happened the night before, which would cause out first opportunity for input to be when Kris woke up?

Of course, the timing doesn’t necessarily mean Kris got possessed on purpose, there’s a bunch of potential causes. This flavor text for the Poppup is interesting though.

[quibblesandscribbles]

Centaurworld Rewrite: A Serious Adventure AU - S1E1 Outline

I’m doing rewrite outlines, prepare for some AU. That being said, I still like several parts of Centaurworld a lot, namely Rider, Horse, Wammawink, and whatever the hell is going on with the Nowhere King, and hope there’s a second season to watch (which I will if Netflix doesn’t ruin our hopes and dreams).

Anyways, here’s like, a rewrite or whatever. I will probably post the outlines as I go, episode by episode. Will I get to them all? ADHD-willing, we’ll see. Also feel free to use these ideas/outlines? I don’t mind. 

Also assume there are songs in this even if I don’t specifically mention all of them. Also I guess this rewrite kinda chains the 1st and 2nd episodes together as a two parter? Maybe, idk.

Also I’ll preface this with this too: I ship Wammahorse, yes I SHIPSHIP it. Moving on.

Some headcanons before we start:

Warworld (*the world Rider and Horse are from) is a Low Fantasy Setting, there IS magic, but it comes in two variations, either very subtle low-powered but relatively uncommon, or Terrifyingly Powerful and so extremely rare to the point that it’s not very well known and “just myths” (usually for Big Baddies)

Ideas for Horse’s Degree of Sapience Prior to Worldhopping:

A: Horse was just a regular, non-magical horse, and their exposure to the Artifact and Centaurworld has essentially made them a Fully Uplifted Animal. - This is interesting, but ultimately a difficult idea to convey because it would require a lot more setup and wouldn’t exactly fit Horse’s characterization without some rework. This is an amazing idea, but I won’t be using it because it would slow things down too much.

B: Horse is a low-fantasy magic steed raised as warhorse/war asset, who is much smarter than your average animal steed/companion similar to a DND Ranger’s pets, or Mabari from Dragon Age, or a Ranger Horse from John Flanagan’s ‘Ranger’s Apprentice.’ The combined exposure to the Artifact and Centaurworld could account for her gaining speech and her body expressing limited physical adaptation to Centaurworld’s different physics (her body’s new extended range of motion for example) but of course I’ll be limiting this because having stakes make it more fun imho. This is my favorite, I’m using this.

Horse would’ve been considered a very valuable war asset (trained warhorses are like, historical ferraris, expensive as hell, i can only imagine what low-magical smart warhorses would be valued at), though still ultimately expendable for the war effort like anything else

Let Horse have horse behaviors (*can you tell I haven’t really left my horse phase behind lol)! Nipping and grooming behaviors as affection or warnings, ear positions to indicate mood, grazing to eat, laying down only when truly relaxed, sleeping standing up. COME ON.

Centaurworld is a High Fantasy world with an Absurdist bent but with darker undertones, similar to how Adventure Time is, with an extremely high saturation of magic, maybe you could even theorize that due to the Splitting of the Two Worlds that all the magic is being Dammed up in Centaurworld like a river or reservoir, this could be a future plot thread that could be picked up in a later season.

Basic Changes: 

Durpleton, Glendale, Ched and Zulius are supporting cast, not main

Durpleton is less stupid and more of a Kronk-expy: a little dim but ultimately kind/means well, has at least 1 life skill he’s good at buried in there though for the life of me I can’t think of one right now.

Glendale’s Narrative Framing: Glendale is amazing, but the kleptomania will be allotted ONE (or two) joke mentions but narratively isn’t treated like one after, somehow establish that her kleptomania is directly intertwined with her anxiety levels. Are there other denizens of the Valley that know the Herd? Are they mad at Glendale for stealing things? Does Wammawink have to constantly run interference to cover for Glendale? Probably.

Make Ched look like less of a pointless asshole: Have him show concern for his friends’ safety and his suspicion of outsiders, AKA Horse. If he’s going to be a jerk, at least let it serve a purpose.

Zulius can stay roughly the same - Zulius is great okay, just don’t tell me there’s backstory and then NOT TELL OR SHOW US ANY CLUES about what said backstory/history IS! (other than forcing us infer/project the headcanon[?] that him and Splendib might’ve been exes, from how they act around each other without any other context/visual/or confirming exposition we literally know nothing other than Splendib and him split/had a nasty falling out and Splendib took the glittercats and the career in the divorce.)

S1E1: Hello Rainbow Road

Opening scene in Warworld

If these episodes were allowed to be longer (shuddup it’s my AU), have the scene open with Horse sees Rider comes running out of some underground castle ruin catacombs and ominous roaring and clanging behind her as she deliberately sets off a dungeon booby trap (arrows or fire) she must’ve avoided while dungeon crawling earlier, and Horse runs towards her and circles at a canter and then Rider does a Running Mount (mounting a horse while the horse is in motion) and shoots an arrow at that flies offscreen

Smash cut to the DRAWBRIDGE door falling and Rider and Horse come galloping out while dodging some javelins and arrows and 1.5 seconds later 1-4 armored minotaurs (the lizardmen?) riding some coursers (swift horses or horselike creatures idk have fun) gallop behind in hot pursuit.

WARWORLD CHASE/FIGHT SCENE

Rider and Horse take out 2 of the pursuers on the run have Rider stay on horseback, dodge and make 1 pursuer shoot/javelin another 1 into a nasty-looking fall, and then Rider nails another 1 right through the helmet visor with an arrow. Have Rider throw a smoke bomb or something at the 2 remaining ones trying to catch up.

2 Enemies left but Horse is forced to skid to a stop as the suspension bridge approaches, then a tense moment forced to walk in order to escape safely across the suspension bridge which Rider cuts once they’re across. Maybe have 1 of the minotaur pursuers having been on the bridge somewhat behind them before Rider had to cut the line, sending the enemy hurtling down below. The remaining minotaur scout stares at them ominously from the other side before leaving.

Have Rider breath a sigh of relief

Smash cut to Horse and Rider traveling across a wartorn landscape, start Horse’s internal monologue narrative until they finally get to the hill and see the ruins of their village

Everything from this point to Horse getting transported to Centaurworld is the same as canon

Not Actually a DREAMVISION SEQUENCE: 

Shot/Animated from Horse’s 1st Person POV: Darkness, the sound of whooshing Horse falls, shimmering flash colors [if this were an actual show pls put a Epilepsy warning at the beginning of the ep], then a loud Splash as Horse falls into Dark Water. POV looks down and we see Horse’s front legs and a bottomless abyss below and a then flash of green and off-white from deep below, then look up to see blue light, see the swimming motions of Horse’s front legs and getting closer to the Blue Light

Horse wakes up, blinking, alone (no Durpleton)

Horse gets up looks around, doesn’t see Rider anywhere and starts makes Whinnying sounds (specifically, Whinnying is a social horse call, like specifically going, “Rider where are you!?” in IRL horse)

“And what are you supposed to be?” the “camera” wheels around to see Ched who has landed on Horse just within reach of her tail so Horse lets out a startled squeal (the Horse noise, not the human one) and does that thing where horses use their tails to swat away insects which sends Ched FLYING as Horse’s squealing morphs into her Talking/Yelling “what the heck is going on?!”

Horse does what panicked horses do, she runs

Horse stumbles into meeting Durpleton, who freaks her out more

Meeting kinda the same as canon but with less constant emphasis on reminding the audience that the writer’s can’t write comedy

Wammawink and Horse meet, Ched flies in and goes “hey that asshole kicked my a-I mean attacked me, but I totally beat ‘em.”

Horse tries to leave, discovers the Barrier, tries to get through, fails multiple times, but only 3-4 attempts shown with time passage show by the time of day changing, have Horse’ talking to herself a bit about how utterly weird the talking words thing is, that this is a “human” thing why is this HAPPENING she needs to get back

Waste less time on the visual gags of the Barrier repelling Horse, also get rid of the Tree Catapult scene because it doesn’t jive with Horse being a horse, why do they know how to make a catapult? Also because I hate how it basically shows us that Horse has no physical danger or chance of injury from being FLUNG around like Pokemon’s Team Rocket.

Have the rest of the centaur Herd come up to and talk to Horse while Horse is trying to get through the Barrier, and Horse talks about the outside and her world and doing things, squeeze in some convo about how there’s no (current) war in Centaurworld and how Horse thinks that that “freedom must be nice.” Anyways these conversations are what has Glendale, Zulius and Durpleton at least considering the ups of leaving.

Durpleton: Durpleton approaches Horse alone and asks about where she’s from, what’s home like, expositiony bits for Warworld and how much Horse needs to get herself and the Artifact back to Rider; Horse should say something offhand, like how she dreamed about exploring the world with Rider after the War seeing new things together, to which we’d cut to a shot of Durpleton looking thoughtful, before asking a completely unrelated question before Horse asks to be left alone. He doesn’t go originally, but gets distracted by something (butterfly?) and trots off.

Wammawink, Ched & Glendale: Atop a hill, Wammawink looks up to see stormclouds gathering off in the distance and comments that they’re going to be in for some rough weather, then goes over to offer Horse food, but gets distracted by some other Valley Denizens who are mad suspicious that Glendale is responsible for something of theirs that’s missing. Leaving Wammawink to go off and have to run interference leaving Glendale to approach Horse alone. Horse will learn that there’s no (current) war in Centaurworld but there was one historically, and Glendale will offhandedly mention that they’ve stolen everything from everyone in the Valley at least 4 times and with the unspoken implication of boredom. Ched will butt in and heckle Horse like, “could you leave any quieter?” and Horse sniping back, ears pinned back and animated horse stress behaviors. And Horse’s last failed attempt at passing the Barrier has them drop the Artifact, and we get a shot of Glendale spotting and eyes widening at seeing the Artifact unattended on the ground, then we get a smash cut of Glendale getting herded away by Ched.

Zulius: Goes over to ask about Horse’s avante garde accessories (her bridle, saddle & armor[barding]), makes comments on her style/aesthetic and asks where he could find some. Horse loses her patience, and says that she Needs to concentrate on getting back to someone they care a lot about and could you please just go away? 

Horse: (voiced as a rhetorical question) “Haven’t you ever wanted to go back to someone you loved before?”

Zulius gets a Look on his face, then he’d puff up, cover up the Armor Piercing Question’s effect on him with more bluster and then turn away as it gets later

Around sunset, Horse finally gives in to go ask Wammawink what’s up, and how can they leave.

Wammawink tries to feed them and convince them to stay, but Horse waves her off and moves away while muttering something about coming up with a plan

Speaking of plans, the Herd excluding Wammawink (& Ched) start talking about being bored, and mention Horse saying stuff about exploring the world (taken out of context, deliberately)

Wammawink, smelling the ugly head of discontent, sighs in defeat at not being able to recruit this new outcast in the Herd and approaches a grazing Horse and says she’ll help her through it with her magic(not admitting that the Barrier is her magic working in the first place because it’s not relevant right now okay) but then we get the “What’s magic?” bit from Horse and the rest of the Herd butts in with the Song. They wander off to go to bed afterwards, and Horse wants to go Now but Wammawink says that she’ll help Horse leave the Barrier but only in the morning because “you look tired”

Horse: “That doesn’t matter.” *awkward silence*

Wammawink, sadly: “Of course it does.” *Horse has already walked away*

The sun finishes setting as the wind blows the plants and through Wammawink’s fur (ominously) and she shivers, going back to the campfire

DREAM SEQUENCE: It’s dark, then we get a flashback dream of a younger Rider and Horse, idk a memory of something to showcase them either while in training or really show their Bond okay? End with them sitting around a campfire with other young soldiers and horses, someone is humming something (the first few bars of the Nowhere King’s Lullaby, no actual words yet). Then Dream!Rider turns to face Horse and asks, “how could you?”

Horse: “How could I what?”

Dream!Rider: “How could you leave me behind?” (The humming grows louder, there’s a lute being played, growing discordant)

Then Horse starts calling into the darkness/void, “I’m coming back for you, Rider! Just hang on, alright?!”

Rider: “Oh Horse, it’s already too late for me.”

“Rider!” Horse yells as they jolt awake, standing, because horses typically sleep standing up.

It’s dawn but the wind and stormy weather signs are picking up but not here yet, Wammawink walks Horse to the edge of the Valley barrier and tries to convince Horse to stay here where it’s safe, but Horse refuses to be deterred

Brief shot of Glendale hiding a bunch of things from her Tummy Hammerspace in order to simulate the feeling of stealing things again later, including the Artifact which falls on the ground

A shot of Durpleton seeing and picking up the Artifact and spotting Wammawink and Horse some distance away going toward the barrier’s edge

Wammawink hangs back on a hill, glowy hands and the magic wall flickers and disappears, and Horse immediately breaks into a gallop and disappears into the forest, Wammawink sighs and turns away

Indeterminate amount of time later, Wammawink recasts the Barrier, and Durpleton misses breakfast so Wammawink enlists Ched to help her look for him because Ched can fly

Cut to a shot of Horse dropping from a canter to a trot on the Rainbow Road, it’s grown darker and the stormclouds are in the sky. Distant thunder booms overhead, and a few scattered raindrops start to fall

“Heyyyy! You forgot your necklaceeee!” a shout from behind

Horse looks back and sees a running Durpleton holding the Artifact, and stops, he catches up to Horse and is gasping, “Wow, you run fast, hoooo, *deep breaths* you’re really *another gasp* athletic! Anyways you forgot your Necklace.”

Durpleton ties the broken string into a necklace around Horse’s neck and Horse thanks them and wishes them a safe journey back to the Valley, but as this happens the rain gradually falls harder. Then the sounds of the Rest of the Herd finally catching up happen, and Wammawink mother hens Durpleton and wants take everyone back home but then a loud BOOM of thunder and lightning overhead, and then it starts to Pour down rain, forcing Horse and co to find shelter until it lets up. Maybe have someone mention something about landslides being a possibility? Durpleton asks how they found them so fast, dim remember, then brief flashback.

FLASHBACK: Wammawink and co searching and calling out for Durpleton everywhere in the Valley, and realize that he must’ve followed Horse for some reason when Zulius FINALLY shows up and mentions that he remembers Durpleton saying he was gonna give Horse back her necklace. The recast Barrier is brought down and they leave the Valley to bring back their friend.

Back to the present where the group has taken shelter as the storm picks up more, and thunder booms overhead, Horse has some nervous horse body language going on, then we get to hear her mutter-singing or humming the “I never fear the drums of war” to calm herself down, but with more stanzas please, when asked she says it’s a battle hymn that Rider sang.

If Horse was humming, Wammawink could ask why she doesn’t sing, she’s sure that Horse has a lovely voice

Horse goes “I’m a horse, I don’t sing.”

Wammawink tries to be encouraging, Horse is resistant

Wammawink invites her to eat (AGAIN) but Horse still turns her (love and affection) down (AGAIN!) and says she’s fine with grazing and Glendale pipes in excitedly that they have decided that they want to travel with Horse (Ched pipes up that he didn’t agree to this) but pls help us convince Wammawink and Horse protests but someone points out to ask “do you even know where you’re going” and they have a point

Horse acknowledges this and relents, states some stuff about how she’s not going to slow down much however. Then Glendale, Zulius and Durpleton rejoice, Ched acts tsundere, but Wammawink looks nervous and wrings her hands together and relents that “they’ll go with Horse as far as the nearest Shaman” and Ched will go, “hey don’t you know he-” and Wammawink shushes him quickly with a gigglecake

Wammawink doubles down on the mother henning behavior

Horse doesn’t eat Wammawink’s gigglecakes but grazes by herself nearby, occasionally answering a question or two when engaged by the others (not Wammawink) and Wammawink mentions how the weather probably won’t let up for very long and they should take it slow and that Horse should bundle up

Horse disagrees but its bedtime and a bedtime song occurs in the backdrop as a restless Horse struggles to stay alert and awake but eventually falls asleep

VISION SEQUENCE: A shimmer of soft blue light, then shots of Rider ducking and weaving, her sword flashing as she tries to weave her way through a horde of enemy soldiers, blood spatters, then an enemy archer takes aim at a fleeing Rider, and Horse calls out a warning. 

Rider turns her head with a surprised look on her face suddenly just enough that the arrow buries itself into her shoulder instead the middle of her back and then she stumbles, one of her arms going limp, but everything goes dark before we can see if she fell

Everything goes dark and the din of war fades away, we get a shot of Horse’s hooves splashing and making ripples into dark water but the camera doesn’t follow her, we hear Horse’s cries for Rider fade, growing further and further away

Still dark, but in the silence we hear distant sound, drip, drip, drip, drip.

Then the episode ends and the credits roll.

[emblemxeno]

3h has deep international politics. Centuries of infighting in the Alliance vanishes over night when they get new management. Almyra stops attacking the border for fun just when Claude says to. The Kingdom stops being zealots to punish people without investigating as soon as Dimitri takes over. Commoners of the empire that have nothing but faith. Renounce that faith just because Edelgard says so. The game finds negative politics as simple to end as pressing a button on you’re tv.

I know right, they're so deeeeep /s

Lol, but yeah honestly, it's part of why I think 3H's worldbuilding and politicking isn't as great as some say it is. Claude's best moments of convincing the Alliance to work together or having Holst and Nader get along should not be offscreen! It's such a disservice! Having this stuff shown instead of mentioned offhand by NPCs or referenced in cutscenes just... makes me sad.