#or at least well executed

[pileontheyears]

“So Ryan and Laura...” (Lovers Card Analysis)

I know people talk about Ryan and Laura not having any romantic chemistry and it’s bizarre to say that there was any romance between them. And while I agree about they're not really being chemistry, I do think the writers were trying to make them love interests (and did a terrible job). So I decided to do an analysis of their relationship (this is what I'm using my English degree for) and I thought I’d share my thoughts because boy I’ve got some stuff to say.

And of course feel free to take this all with a grain of salt, these are just my interpretations and I'm also by no means an expert in tarot (I'm really not all that familiar and any familiarity comes from a google search). Just wanted to make those quick notes so that if you don't agree I totally get it! I do try to address the most common points for why people don't see Ryan and Laura in a romantic light and while I agree I try to show what I think the writers might have been Attempting to do.

The more obvious points are of course from the script itself. How there’s “sexy sparks” between the two, how Laura begrudgingly says trauma can bring people together (as if to say it didn’t bring her and Max together), how Laura brings up Ryan’s relationship to Kaitlyn and his reply of “maybe neither” to whether he likes Kaitlyn or Dylan perhaps insinuating his choice is going to be Laura.

And it's... bad writing. For instance, Laura pins Ryan as a “brooding loner” when she’s known him for an hour and in that time he’s been talkative/around people/acting as leader. How would she know he's a brooding loner? Not to mention her saying Kaitlyn seems to look up to him when it’s the opposite of what she’s seen? (Ryan potentially asking Kaitlyn what he should do, her scolding him for pointing the gun at Laura). But all of that is not the point of this post. I’m bringing these moments up to say this relationship is a lot of tell with little show, (and what we're told we've already been shown the opposite).

If you didn’t pick up there was “chemistry” then Dylan and Kaitlyn will tell you that. If you think Ryan is interested in Dylan because you chose to grow that relationship, Ryan is going to say no. (Of course you could interpret the "after tonight I don't know" line that Ryan is understandably not sure of anything given the circumstances, I myself interpret it that way however the "maybe neither" definitely is this additional "Ryan chooses neither Kaitlyn nor Dylan" and perhaps there is an unasked question of will he then choose Laura?) That being said, I don't think if any of the “these guys are into each other” lines were in the script people would have even thought they were flirting/interested in each other (it would still be a ship some people like based on how they work together to survive akin to Sam and Mike but again at least that script didn't constantly point out romantic/sexual tension in between horror scenarios).

So when people say there’s no chemistry and the relationship is more “we have to work together but I’m gonna bitch at you the whole time" I agree, but the game kind of throws Laura at Ryan (her literally falling on top of him) after revealing the Lovers card depicting Laura biting Ryan’s arm. We know it, we hate it, but this is where my analysis comes in.

Aside from the obvious fact that Ryan and Laura are labeled as the lovers, the card itself has a few layers to it that I’ll go through.

The first being choices, specifically choices in relationships/partners. Now when I first read that I thought “Great, that doesn’t mean Ryan is her choice perhaps he just is one choice.” But the context makes it so he’s kind of her only choice if Ryan is going to survive. The context being Ryan can let Laura bite him in order to save him from blood loss, or he can refuse which leads her to reuniting with Max. There is no way for her to reunite with Max without Ryan dying. What that insinuates with the context of choice of suitor is... yikes. Basically Laura “choosing” Max comes from Ryan dying, and the implication that in order for Ryan to survive that he and Laura are somehow bonded romantically from that point on. Hate both of those, actually.

Now we move onto the next meaning of this card, temptation. This is where we go full analysis mode. The original Lovers card depicts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. After all what better example of temptation than Adam and Eve biting into the forbidden fruit. And what does Laura do? She bites Ryan. He is her forbidden fruit. And where does this scene take place? The Hackett greenhouse.

A garden.

It’s not exactly subtle. There’s also the parallel of Ryan being stabbed in the ribs, Eve being made from the rib of Adam. 

So alright, they’re drawing parallels between Adam and Eve and Ryan and Laura (bringing about the downfall of humanity/the Hacketts). But does this mean that Laura is “giving into temptation” by saving Ryan’s life? I mean that sounds stupid. And maybe her "temptation" is more-so the werewolf curse and giving into that but then why point out "sexy sparks?" Why have Laura ask if Ryan is flirting with her? Why label them lovers? It may just be that stupid because I also found this in Chris’s office when playing as Dylan. This book is right by Ryan, right where Dylan asks if he has a girlfriend or boyfriend. 

Maybe it's a reference to the love triangle between Ryan, Dylan, and Kaitlyn. But the title? ...The King of My Gardens?

Not looking like a coincidence anymore. They were planting this seed early on. And the fact that the only foreshadowing of Ryan and Laura is this book cover that no one is going to see (unless they scower through each corner of the game like I do) that’s not even writing.

I love nothing more than when writers put in extra effort with little things like this that a casual viewer won’t see but it just goes to show that even if you do that it can’t make up for bad writing and a lack of chemistry. I’m sure some people like the pairing but to me it’s introduced way too late after the player has invested time in other relationships.

Perhaps Dylan and Kaitlyn aren't reliable when they talk about Laura and Ryan, and if that was the Only instance the game tries to put Ryan and Laura together I would agree but twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern and man is there a pattern here.

As for Laura yes she is going through all of this for Max but it depends on the players choices how that relationship is going. After all, she could have left him at the very beginning of the game. While Laura's choice to save Max is always the same in order for the story to stay on track, her motive could be from love or perhaps a sense of loyalty/duty (Ryan's and Laura's loyalty being what brings these two together, be it romantically or out of admiration but I can see that's probably why the writers were trying to put them together because they respect how far they're willing to go for the people in their lives).

So if the player's choices hurt Laura and Max's relationship and she starts bonding with Ryan, the camera lingering on her smiling after Ryan says "maybe neither" could be read as her being interested. After all she asks (curiously? hopefully?) how close he is with Kaitlyn, insinuating she's trying to figure out if he's available. Maybe that's not the case or maybe it's due to her werewolf infection but the game doesn't show her fighting back against it so it seems to be presented as genuine. Regardless of the viewer's interpretation the relationship as a whole could have been presented better (let their be an option if the player really doesn't want Ryan with either Dylan or Kaitlyn to turn them both down early on and if Laura's relationship with Max has also plummeted then sure add another relationship path, but let the player choose which relationships will become romantic).

And I know these games aren’t dating sims, the point of these horror survival games is, well, survival. But literally every other Supermassive Game puts just as much emphasis on character relationships (and a lot of emphasis on romantic relationships) as they do survival (Chris and Ashley, Alex and Julia, etc.) And for a game to be all about how your choices matter and then have them not really matter when it comes to the relationships they bring attention to? When they do in every other game? 

It feels like Supermassive just told me “It’s Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve.”

[zorosdimples]

mdni. cw: hybrids. takes place a little before this drabble.

it’s not his fault you smell so good—that’s what your tiger hybrid tells himself, anyway.

yuuji does what he can while you’re at work: he cleans the apartment, exercises, and bathes (though he struggles to reach the base of his tail). he even makes food for you—what little he can, anyway, given the sad state of your kitchen. the rest of the day is his own, and is usually spent daydreaming about you.

that’s why he’s frantically rutting against the pillow on your bed. he knows it’s wrong, knows you would flip out if you caught him humping your pillow as if his life depended on it. but his cock aches for you; every time you cross his mind, every time he thinks about your soft skin and warm smile and shimmering eyes, he leaks a mess in his shorts.

usually, yuuji buries a nose in your sheets to soak in your scent while he jerks himself off. but your pillowcase is smooth and cool to the touch, the insert deliciously plush. it makes him think of you, how he wants to mount you—to put his full weight on your back and feel the friction of your dewy flesh against his. to fill you up yet leave you craving more.

but he can’t have you. so he fucks your pillow the way he yearns to fuck you. he can smell you everywhere; your scent embraces him, makes him feel like you’re there as he shuts his honey deep eyes and pants raggedly. and when he climaxes, he does it with the sweetest cry, one that would surely have you stroking his rosy ears.

yuuji whines as he floats back to reality, rolling onto his back. he’s still hard and thobbing, though he doesn’t want to deal with it, and your pillow is covered in his creamy spend. he makes a mental note to wash your bedding before you come home (he’ll frame it as a surprise). but for now, he curls up and drifts off to thoughts of you.

[beaft]

i follow a facebook page called "terrible art found in charity shops" and so many of the paintings that get posted on there are just... abstract art. not terrible, just unusual or stylised in a clearly intentional way. and the people who post them always add the most obnoxious captions like "well, i don't know who this 'picasso' is, but it's time he learned that women's eyes don't live in the sides of their heads! 😜" idk like i just think the world would be a better place if we got over this idea that art must be hyperrealistic and aesthetically pleasing in order to be good lol

[notmoreflippingelves]

Actually going insane over the implications of Jason asking Dick to be the Robin to his Batman in Battle for the Cowl.

Like I initially took it at the purely surface-level of Jason wanting a partner in the general sense. Which made sense, it's a huge responsibility and a lonely one so an assistant/sidekick/partner seems a no-brainer if you can get one.

But then I really thought about it, because Jason is not asking Dick to be his partner in the general sense; he's not even asking Dick to be his Nightwing. He's asking Dick to be his Robin.

And they both know exactly what Jason means: "Be the light to my darkness. Be the smile to my scowl. Be the hope to my fear. "

He's saying "Be 'Robin'; be the embodiment of Love and Justice and Goodness. Be the exceptional person that you have always been. Be the slightly-less exceptional person that I was when I wore your colors. Be the person that I was in the process of becoming and might have been (or might still be), if only Joker hadn't clipped my wings."

He's saying "I am prepared to become vengeance, become the Night. And I will go further than Bruce ever dared to, because it is what is needed. I will be the necessary evil. But you don't have to be. If Batman is Gotham's curse, Robin has always been its blessing. I will be the brutal punishment to our world, and I am asking you to be its incandescent gift."

He's saying, "Be for me, what we were for Him. Be my anchor, my comfort, my hope. Remind me what it's all for, why it's all worth it. And remind yourself as well."

He's saying "Be 'Robin' again--for both of our sakes."

[ladyloveandjustice]

I was stubbornly not wanting to cry at dandadan I was like "single mom doing sex work supporting her child backstory! obviously some guys are gonna come attack her and her kid will die or be taken I've seen this I refuse to cry for this basic ass woman suffers story wanting to tug my heartstrings I REFUSE"

but then it was so well directed and Momo's reaction and the hug and "to a kinder world" and I cried anyway. you win this one dandadan.

[freakurodani]

tell me again how famous those battles were?

redraw of something i did in 2016

[latin-dr-robotnik]

Y'know, I wouldn't mind if they actually start producing visual novels or RPGs as actual Sonic games in-between major Sonic Team releases.

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was a pretty solid game, all things considered. For a free April Fools joke it got me laughing through most of it, and I really enjoyed its touching moments, especially during the last act and the whole arc around the Conductor.

I can see them striking some gold handling projects like this with bigger dev teams and actual budgets. The fact they can use smaller games to tell short stories in Sonic's world and make it feel so alive and connected is something I've been craving for a while, and it doesn't even have to be a platformer! Ever since I discovered fangames like Sonic and the Mayhem Master years ago, I wondered if SEGA could take another shot at the RPG genre, or something more story-focused.

And sure, this time it was a visual novel, but it landed pretty close to what I had in mind. This whole experience was well worth my time, and some real cash too if they asked for it. I hope this charming little joke game can open more possibilities for the future of Sonic games.

[demigodofhoolemere]

Trying to find nice stuff for Wish but everywhere you go people are being painfully wrong in their interpretations of the movie

[doriandotexe]

Ariadne - My Curse of Strahd PC.

Class: Ranger (Gloom Stalker) Race: Eladrin (Winter) Age: 77 Gender: Female (She/Her or They/Them) Height: 5'6" Alignment: Fey Whimsy (Chaotic Evil)

Recently made her some multi-sided tokens for normal, injured and her 'normal barovian woman' disguise and i love them.

More info about Ari below if you are interested.

Ariadne is a Feywild Eladrin and a member of the Unseelie Court with bold ambitions of perhaps becoming an Archfey herself someday. Tasked with what could be considered an impossible feat - she makes her way to Barovia with the express intent to kill Strahd by any means necessary. Although she usually prefers to work alone, it becomes apparent very quickly that she may need to become a team player until her task is complete. So, with her new found "friends" - Emery, Iris, Illmaryn and Illsteryn, Ismark and Ireena - her adventure begins in the land of Barovia.

[lipstickchainsaw]

Maddie Nolan's place in this story irks me.

In Act 1, we see her speak glowingly about Vi and Caitlyn to Vi, showing her admiration for Caitlyn through how enamored she is with the stories she told about Vi, but at the same time, she calls Vi 'one of the good ones', showing that she's still very much internalised an 'us vs. them' narrative here that dehumanises the citizens of Zaun and fails to understand what's driving them to start with.

Fittingly, she's the first to support Ambessa's push to install Caitlyn as dictator to put that entire mess in order and put a stop to the attacks Piltover suffered.

So far so good, average cop behaviour.

It gets her in Caitlyn's bed as her rebound, which, also fair enough, Maddie's cute, but now she's arguing against Noxian involvement, and in favour of stepping back and scaling back the oppression?

What changed your mind? The length of the oppression? Or maybe the fact that it seems to have worked? Like yeah, they didn't catch Jinx, but also, the attacks seem to have stopped. Crime is down, as it were.

But she also seems to have developed a theory of mind of the people they're oppressing in the meantime, pointing out that, whatever happened at the checkpoint, isn't the Jinx they're hunting, and instead they've focused so much on using 'hunting Jinx' as a justification for political repression that they've turned Jinx into a symbol for the Undercity to rally around, which is pretty canny on her part.

In this episode she is acting as Caitlyn's conscience, much as she gets interrupted and overruled by Ambessa, and I'm not sure where that came from.

[perelka-l]

Sharing a little bit of spoils~

(Sneaker Pimps on repeat for three days always does the charm trust me) (There will be shotgunning)

[bidokja]

I was joking a while back that the actor they have playing KDJ for the orv movie was too handsome for him and a friend who's read orv was like "KDJ is actually secretly attractive!!" And I just felt my soul leave my body right then

SIGHS...

Okay. Buckle in. I'm gonna finally actually address and explain and theorize about this whole...thing.

I'm not gonna cite any exact chapters cause it's like 11:30 and I've got an 8 hour drive in the morning but I'll at least make an approximate reference to where certain things are mentioned. Also, this post is just my personal interpretation for a good bit of it, but it's an interpretation I feel very solid about, so do with that what you will. Moving on to the meat of things:

There is one (1) instance in the web novel that I know of which describes specific features of Kim Dokja (especially ones other people notice). This takes place when members of KimCom are trying to make Kim Dokja presentable to give his speech at the Industrial Complex (after it's been plopped down on Earth). This is when they start really paying attention and focusing on Kim Dokja's appearance since they're putting makeup on him; I still don't think they can interpret his whole face, but they can accurately pick out and retain more features than usual. If I remember correctly they reference him having long eyelashes, smooth skin, and soft hair. These features can be viewed as (stereotypically) attractive.

Certain parts of the fandom have taken this scene and run with it at a very surface level, without realizing (or without acknowledging at the very least) that this scene is not about how Kim Dokja looks. This is, in part, due to not realizing or acknowledging why Kim Dokja's face is "censored" in the first place, and what that censoring actually means. I think it's also possible that some people are assuming the censorship works like a physical phenomena rather than an altered perception.

I'll address that last point first. The censorship of Kim Dokja's features is not something as simple as a physical phenomena. It's not a bar or scribble or mosaic over his face. If that were true it'd be very obvious to anyone looking at him that his face is hidden. But his face is not hidden to people. They can look at him and see a face. If they concentrate on his eyes, they can see where he's looking. They know when he's frowning or grinning. They see a face loud and clear. But what face are they seeing? Because it's not really his, whatever they're seeing.

No one quite agrees on what he really looks like. And if they try and think about what he looks like, they can't recall. Or if they do, it's vague, or different each time. We notice these little details throughout the series. Basically, Kim Dokja's face is cognitively obscured. Something - likely the Fourth Wall, though I can't recall if this is ever stated outright - is interfering with everyone's ability to perceive him properly. This culminated in him feeling off to others; and since they don't even realize this is happening, they surmise that he is "ugly."

Moving on to the other point about what the censorship means: To be blunt, the censorship of his face is an allegory for his disconnect from the "story" (aka: real life, and the real people at his side). The lifting - however slight - of this censorship represents him becoming more and more a part of the "story" (aka: less disconnected from the life he is living and the people at his side). The censorship's existence and lifting can represent other things - like dissociation or depersonalization or, if you want to get really meta, the fact that he is all of our faces at once - but that's how I'd sum up the main premise of it. (The Fourth Wall is a larger part of the dissociation allegory, but that's for another post).

So you see, them noticing his individual features isn't about the features. It's not about the features! It doesn't matter at all which features got listed. Because they could describe any features whatsoever and it would not change the entire point of the scene. Because the point isn't what he looks like. The point is that they can truly and clearly see these features. For the first time. They are seeing parts of him for the first time. Re-read that sentence multiple times, literally and metaphorically. What does it mean to see someone as they are?

This is an extremely significant turning point dressed up as a dress-up scene.

---

P.S. / Additionally, I'm of the opinion that Kim Dokja is not handsome, and he is not ugly. He is not pretty, and he is not ghastly. Not attractive, nor unattractive. Kim Dokja isn't any of these things. More importantly, Kim Dokja can't be any of these things. The entire point of Kim Dokja is that you cannot pick him out of a crowd; he is the crowd. He's a reader. He's the reader. Why does he need to be handsome? Why must he be pretty? Why is him being attractive necessary or relevant? He doesn't, he doesn't, it's not. He is someone deeply deeply loved and irreplaceable to those around him, and someone who cannot even begin to recognize or accept that unless it's through a love letter masquerading as a story he can read. He is the crowd, a reader, the reader. He's you, he's me. He's every single one of us.

[zero3six]

Remember to take care!

[blaithnne]

my timephoon hot take is that the episode was literally fine, it's the episodes that came AFTER it that fucked things up

[spock-adoodledoo]

i think one of the things i'll always appreciate abt maomao is that even though she's the protag, it's not really that the world revolves around her or that things always happen to her, it's more that she gets involved in things (usually at the request of other ppl but whatever) that usually don't affect her immediately. idk but it's nice that she's kind of our dispassionate window into palace life instead of the person everything happens to