#post game stuff so it really doesn't matter much imo

[laugtherhyena]

Busts down the door.

Thabk you for the birthday wishes :3.

Anyways!! Idea just came to mind about Ando being super fatherly in general and it results in Kizuna crying after meeting him.

Thats all i have to say :3

Ngl i feel like after the 6.5 cast gets rescued by the foundation Kizuna is much more excited to meet Ando and the rest of Kanata's family than she is excited to see Minako again-

They just got some unresolved issues and she had heard great thinks about Kanata so family for their talks during her recovery so,, yeah ^^'

[telluricdog]

kingisle whenever they need to coax older players back: HEY YOU PERSON WITH A WALLET!!! REMEMBER DRAGONSPYRE?!? REMEMBER HOW SAD THE LAST ACT MADE YOU FEEL? HERE'S SOMETHING REFERENCING DRAGONSPYRE!! ISNT THAT YOUR FAVORITE?!

[thecruellestmonth]

Remembering stuff like Alfred having Bruce and cutting his hair and and dressing him. Which could mean anything but really reinforce the upstairs/downstairs servile relationship. The lack of modesty or shame a rich person has around their staff is something else. And it’s just a like. Almost a Caste system where Alfred is second class and can never BE on Bruce’s level as an equal let alone authority figure. And Alfred is happy with that! Because that’s the story and he is, after all, the butler

[laufire's cool post on Alfred & Bruce]

Yeah, Alfred is not Bruce's father. Bruce is the pater familias of his household like his father before him, and Alfred is his very cherished manservant. Alfred can be a caretaker and a confidant, he can even be parental (-ish), but he's not a parent. (Note to self: rant about the awkward and aggressively enforced line between "parental" and "parent" in Batman mythos.)

IMO one of the most compact arguments on Alfred's role is in Batman: Year One (IIRC the very comic that established Alfred as an old servant of the Wayne family, instead of his original story of being hired by Bruce). Grant Morrison was on some podcast (I think either Kevin Smith's podcast or "Hypertime to Podcast"?) talking about the significance of how Bruce's first act as Batman is to ring a bell to ask for Alfred to help him. We see Morrison emphasize this moment in The Return of Bruce Wayne, where The Bell is a relic on the same level as The Pearls and The Gun.

I can agree it's a defining moment. To some extent I'm willing to accept Morrison's suggestion that Bruce ringing the bell symbolizes the value of asking for help, teamwork, comradery, family, humility, etc—and most fans would be happy to sprint with that interpretation. But I can also juggle a separate interpretation that branches off and veers to the left...

You do not ring a bell to ask for help from your parent or friends or family—you ring a bell to summon a servant.

Bruce becoming Batman in Year One is the story of a prince reclaiming his kingdom. (The Return of Bruce Wayne is a renewal of that story.) Summoning the family manservant is the act of Bruce finally accepting his royal inheritance, after his foolish attempt to slum it with the rabble. A good king is kind and attentive to his subjects, and considers the opinions of his advisors—but they're never his equals or his superiors, no matter how much he cherishes them. They're his subordinates. Nobody is on Bruce's level as an equal, nobody can win a case against his authority, in Gotham. Bruce is the rightful heir of his kingdom. The king and queen are dead, long live the king.

—I know some vocal fans are very critical of Miller, but there's no disputing that Miller's Batman: Year One is the definitive Post-Crisis story of Bruce's invention of Batman, and pretty much every modern comic writer and fan recognizes it. It's likely no comic writer or story has had as much enduring influence on the Batman mythos since Miller wrote Year One and The Dark Knight Returns. Case in point: Alfred.

So yeah. Alfred isn't Bruce's dad. The Gotham TV series probably makes the strongest case for Alfred as Bruce's dad, and even then I personally think there is wiggle room to say eh they're family and they love each other but they're not quite parent & child. Everything else—Batman '66, BTAS, the Nolan movies, Lego Batman, Battinson—ultimately doesn't Alfred cast as Bruce's dad, for the best. Recent comics and the later Arkhamverse games try to force the father-son thing, but it's cheap and unearned.

[teafourbirds]

Please take a moment to admire Tiny Baby Roy Harper who is Trying So Hard to organize his notes and finish his book report while Ollie cheerfully smokes a pipe and distracts him with random facts.

It is my firm headcanon that Ollie goes on to derail the writing of the book report by reading Connecticut Yankee out loud, substituting himself and Roy for Hank Morgan, and that the whole of the following comic (later described as "maybe a dream????") is actually his retelling (Chitty-chitty Bang Bang-esque, for anyone old enough to have grown up on that movie). Because really, what else is Ollie's dream (especially this clean-shaven young Ollie) but to be an old-fashioned hero saving villagers from wild boars and emptying slaves from the dungeons of evil queens?

Adventure Comics #268

There will just never be enough early Ollie-tiny Roy content on this earth to suit me, and one of my favorite games to play is building out their golden/silver age stuff in my head to fit with the later comics. I still haven't read very much past the early 2000s (and almost nothing post-Flashpoint) but one of the major exceptions is the 2022 "Earn It Back" story, which is the loveliest Roy-Ollie relationship, where Ollie is Trying So Hard to be a good parent for Roy but also is clearly uncertain about what a good parent looks like, vacillating between being overly permissive and overly strict.

(Ollie's lack of parental figures growing up is another of those astonishingly under-explored stories, IMO. The few interactions we see involve him begging to be allowed to travel with his parents, and his father telling him to "toughen up" when he doesn't want to go hunting. This followed almost immediately by his parents getting mauled by lions in front of him, and then getting shipped off to boarding school by an unnamed uncle. Of course Ollie doesn't know what he's doing. Bruce, the famous orphan, had Alfred from the beginning - who did Ollie have? What does he know about being a parent? I think he goes in with a lot of love and no game plan, except maybe for his firm conviction that Roy is strong and capable and resilient. That he'll be okay no matter what Ollie does. That he probably doesn't really need Ollie at all except as a partner in crime.)

So I'm eternally fascinated by going through the old World's Finest/Adventure Comics (which is nearly all we have of young Roy-Ollie) and imagining how those dynamics fit together. Little Roy, who collects stamps and stands up to bullies and is the secretary of the school's Green Arrow Fan Club (lmao) and is saving up to buy a sailboat and tries SO HARD to prove himself. Ollie, who trusts Roy to pull himself up but still follows him to make sure he's safe when he’s been gone to long, who whisks Roy away from school and homework to save the world, who doesn't realize the extent of his influence over Roy, who trusts that Roy has everything under control because of course he does, because Roy is just that great.

Adventure Comics 262 // Green Lantern (1960) #85

Anyway, all that is to say, enjoy a bit of Ollie trying to be helpful by distracting Roy from his homework with stories of heroism and bravery. They are everything to me.

Adventure Comics 264

[mochamoth]

samarina magical girl headcanons?

I have a few headcanons so far and the whole plot is kinda done! Uhh sorry this is a bit of a rant in advance! Feel free to just skip to the headcanons, the order doesn't matter too much (also mild spoilers for the canon gamee!!)

Backstory:

So this takes place sometime in the early 2000s, not modern but also not the canon 1940s time era. The backstories are pretty much the same except the Ninth Circle has an even sharper eye on Samarie. At some point Marina catches Samarie stalking her and gives her a talking to. But, after several apologies and begging from Samarie, Marina decided to get to know her a lil better. They slowly become friends overtime until some plot stuff happens and they die. I don't have a solid idea yet but I was thinking what if the Ninth Circle was more of a lab than a "school". Still a cult but y'know the vibes are a bit different. They catch the two running away and threaten to shoot Marina if she doesn't turn Samarie back in. Marina refuses, they shoot, Samarie takes the shot for her but unfortunately they just shoot Marina anyways afterwards.

Somewhat luckily Samarie was close enough with the Gods to make some sorta deal with Rher specifically (for arguments sake let's pretend in this au Rher is still semi close with humans). Marina and her would be allowed to live and be resurrected, in exchange for.. Well idk yet. I was thinking something to do with Moonscorching. Maybe every night they turn, or every few days, full moon, you know something like that.

So they're brought back to life, but both have MUCH stronger magic. Not only that but Samarie doesn't feel as sick as she used to be. The two later on realize they're stereotypical ✨️magical girls✨️ and fight against "villains" ig. The villains would be actual enemies from the games. Uhh I might add other characters to this au later on, but for now it's just my own little corny ship indulgent au so yeah!

(Sorry for any grammar errors I am tired lol)

Actual Headcanons:

Samarie uses a Star themed staff while Marina uses a Moon themed staff. I just thought it fit their souls aesthetic wise!

Samarie has extremely powerful magic, but is a terrible fighter. She's clumsy, messy, and a nervous wreck. Marina is a bit weaker magic-wise, but is wayy better in combat. She's more confident, focused, and skilled.

I think it'd be funny as shit to make Black Kalev their little sidekick.

They're constantly saving eachother. Usually it's Marina saving Samarie, but if Marina is in danger Samarie fucking kicks ass. She's still a crazy girl after all.

They have more stereotypical sparkly magic cuz.. Well magical girl. But they can still use other canon spells. It's just less convenient.

Their staffs will transform when they do. When they're not in their combat fits the staffs both turn into crystals. Both wear them around their necks like necklaces.

They can't use the gifted magic without the staffs. Basically they're witches in a way.

They do flirt on the battlefield cuz that's romantic imo. It's more Marina flirting and Samarie being a gay mess but that still counts!

In this au they're not dating (yet). Samarie obviously has a massive crush (or obsession) with Marina, and again after becoming friends Marina develops a crush back on her.

This has nothing, and I mean NOTHING to do with the au, Samarie has autism. I didn't know where else I'd share that hc so taking my chance rn.

Samarie still isn't used to the outfit change. Especially Marina's outfit (she is a lesbian disaster).

They rest and cuddle together after long battles. It'd be cute okay?

I might add more later (in which case I will post), and yes this is out of character. Sorry abt that. Uhh also I've never seen a magical girl anime. Like ever! I want to. I really wanna watch a few, just haven't gotten around to it.

[ar3s-r4t-qu33n]

Some observations about our new victims (I unfortunately don't have many of these)

• Appear FROM A DISTANCE to all be be female, which would make sense since this appears to be a Sorority House and Johnny's got a thing for messing with girls, as Cook so eloquently put it.

• Blondie at the front door reminds me of a TCM OC I've seen on Instagram named Bree O'Malley by @/oabeelha and she has also posted some interesting things on her story the day of the teaser, but obviously that could be in reference to her personal plans for Bree in her own headcanon, not anything affiliated with the game, just something I've noticed. It would be super cool even if she isn't actually Bree for her to be inspired visually by her because there's been a big movement to get Bree in the game, but who knows, only time will tell on that one

• The girl beside her - is that June, Sonny's girlfriend? I mean, let's be honest, ANY of them could be June, June doesn't have to be black because Sonny is black. But also we're finally getting a black woman in this game!! I've been saying it for a while now, I know it's the 70s but I literally do not care, representation matters and it's not like the Family care about blood relation!! If they declare you family, you are family, I really hope we see some new folks of more diverse backgrounds on the family's side in the future, but I THINK two of the women in this trailer are black and that would be super cool!! Also, we don't have any Asian characters (yet, obviously we're still waiting on details about our new cast) in the game yet and that's also important. I'm obviously white (she says, faceless profile) so I'm not gonna harp on this too much, but it IS important and I hope for more in the future, especially in the main gameplay!!

• At least two cheerleaders!! That's exciting, their lil dance looks awesome and I hope if we get like, an opening cut scene or bigger trailer, we get to see a lil more of that because it is NOT gonna be in the gameplay

• Unless we're getting emotes like F13?? 👀

• Girlie in the top right window- is she wearing a towel, or a strappy dress? I've seen a LOT of folks thinking she's in a towel, and she could well be. But the more I've looked at this teaser (and BOY have I LOOKED), I THINK I can see some straps on her shoulders..? If not... I really hope we're not getting a Sam from Until Dawn moment with her, that would kinda suck imo

• She seems to be in a heated discussion with the other girl. An argument, it looks like? I really wanna know everyone's relationships with each other. The Cheerleaders and pair walking in both seem very close with their second, but these two? Doesn't seem like it from the 23 seconds of footage we've got-

• I highly doubt these are just random NPCs to fill the gaps and that the only two out front are playable. Gun have never made NPCs for this game, why would they waste resources when they could show off all six new characters in a very fun way by hiding four of them in the windows? That makes way more sense to me than "these are NPCs and they don't serve a purpose and aren't coming back", ESPECIALLY since they've made unique animations for all four of them. They've reused animations a million times for trailers, like Danny using Johnny's slow walk and Virginia using Sissy's in each of their trailers. Why would they go to all that trouble to make the dancing and arguing animations if the characters doing them don't mean anything??

• Also, more of a personal thing, the POTENTIAL FOR OCs that this teaser gives us?? I've already got one I made specifically for this, I'm so excited by Rush Week, I cannot WAIT to see more oh my GODDDDD

• @/SumxBonez on X/Twitter has made a list of their observations and that goes into more about Texas/the Sorority (which is all stuff I don't know about yet) so go check their thread!! They also do some really amazing artwork on Instagram and have two very cool OCs of their own so please read what they have to say, I won't parrot it here because they are their points but it's all really intriguing stuff!!

Lemme know what y'all think/have noticed too!!

[true-blue-sonic]

14,19,20 for the whole Chaotix! 👀

Thank you! <3

Vector

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

I don't know fashion nor any fashion terms XD Hmm, I guess stuff with like leather jackets and chains and big black boots and stuff? Punk? Rock? Punk rock? Spiky hair? He's got spikes and chains already, at least, haha!

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Hmm, good question. I see the Chaotix as such a close-knit group that the three of them are the best friends for each other already, if that makes sense. So I guess here it's just his boys, since it's clear Vector is quite fond of Espio and Charmy despite his gruff demeanour around them <3

Espio:

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

Cool ninja clothing! Like dark shawls, covered faces, ninja weaponry, stuff like that. I guess kinda his ninja outfit from Rivals 2 and stuff like that! Doesn't he also get a ninja outfit in that Roblox(?) game?

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

I think you know what my answer is here, hehe. I explained it in an earlier post as well, but I think Silver and Espio just have a really nice dynamic: they have similar enough traits (desires for justice and being unable to let evil have its way, plus a love for fighting) to have a connection between the two of them, but where Silver is hotheaded and readily jumps into confrontation Espio is more wary and tends to stay in the background instead. Thus, Espio does well as Silver's more level-headed companion offering guidance for big decisions, while Silver shows Espio a lot of respect and clearly values him. Since the Chaotix are often the butt of the joke, and Espio is characterised by being the very stoic and serious guy amidst two far more zany ones, I think he would appreciate having Silver's support in that sense!

Charmy:

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

I guess cute little kid stuff like funky jackets with prints and bright colours <3

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

I wouldn't call him the ideal best friend since I doubt he'd be anyone's ideal best friend, but I love the fact Charmy thinks Shadow is just so very cool and epic and the most amazing person ever. It's cute, and I think is nicely suits Charmy's upbeat demeanour and teasing nature towards his colleagues that he doesn't think either of them is The Coolest, but Shadow is. That being said, I think it would also be cute if he interacted with Cream once! They're in the same age group and definitely the little kids of the bunch, but also brave heroes in their own right. The two of them teaming up and doing stuff together that also helps save the world is an adorable thought.

Everyone:

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

I'll answer these for the whole of them, because I can only really think of one for Vector: Amy in Free Riders😬 That's neither Amy's nor Vector's fault: I'm going through the script of Free Riders right now, and man, it gives Rivals a run for its money in the "Characters are assholes to each other for no reason" department, lol. But imo Amy's and Vector's heavily flanderised personalities where they're both jerkasses, far more than in other iterations that also show more of their good sides, makes for a very unpleasant dynamic.

As for Espio and Charmy, I can't think of anything, so I guess Heavy and Bomb from Knuckles' Chaotix? But that's not so much a dislike as just sheer complete uncaring for those characters, haha.

[greycappedjester]

Hi I just wanted to let you know how much I LOVE reading about your Bart (your side story included) and I heard he's one of your favorite characters to write! So I can't help but ask how well do you think Comic!Bart and ATFO!Bart would get along or react around each other given how... different the two ended up personality wise? You know, given ATFO!Bart's much more ruthless and cautious nature and Comic!Bart more innocent outlook on the world and his more impulsive (Haha get it?) behavior.

I mean it makes sense as they both originally came from post-apocalyptic time lines but Comic!Bart was put in a VR simulation most of his childhood so he avoided the worst of it. ATFO!Bart on the other hand though? He LIVED through it for better or worst.

Not to mention, the different type of relationship they had with Wally. Do you think ATFO!Bart would be a bit jealous of the other Bart? That HIS Wally was still around but they just... don't have as close of a relationship? Or do you think he'd encourage him to listen to him more often and try to form a stronger bond?

Heck- what is Comic!Bart's thoughts on ATFO!Bart's general "everything"? Would he be a bit weirded out by his dimensional counterpart? Heh, sorry about the large question dump. I just love your story so much I'm just... a bit excited to hear your take on them lol.

Wow, I really enjoy this ask, thank you!

Sooo, I guess this gets more into first how I consider the comic!Bart who I really enjoy but honestly I feel like it's really hard to get a writer who does him completely right (imo). You either get ones who lean way too much into the goofball nature to the point that they want to make him the token "stupid" member rather than just a person who fundamentally was raised in a different world. Or you get people who lean too much into the angst and we get the better-to-forget Flash!Bart or that weird New52 run when he was a future terrorist or something, idek.

Oof, I had to dig back way in my comics for this...but, actually I feel like the truly best bit of Bart characterization comes from Impulse #1 way back in 1995.

I'm cutting this down a lot since it's a lot of pages; but, these bits in particular:

I feel like this is the essence of Bart Allen.

He is the perpetual stranger in a strange land (only no one else realizes it's strange but him). He has to learn a lot of completely new things very, very quickly and--for the most part--he does it so well that people kinda ignore the fact that that's a huge thing to ask. In all worlds, he basically had to raise himself from early in his own life (and honestly, I feel like the 90s comics really ignore how objectively horrifying it would be to constantly live in a video game...like we have multiple animes on how that's basically a horror scenario. Like that was his life, he did live through it). Despite this, he has family who he dearly loves and admires....who he nonetheless feels very disconnected from and possibly even unwanted due to how different he is from them.

But, despite all of this, Bart doesn't really complain. Like, sure, in comics he'll complain or pout about minor things from Max or teenage stuff...but, the major things like adjusting to an entirely new life, it's almost as if Bart doesn't even notice how crazy that is because really is life is just that crazy (it's the norm). Even his dialogue here, which unusually blunt compared to how he normally is written, isn't speaking of any of this stuff as any great tragedy...it's just his life.

And I think the most heartbreaking thing is the crossed out line about his Grandma Iris that implies that there's the only person he ever felt really cared for him (whether that's true or not doesn't matter, it's currently what he beleives)...and he couldn't keep her.

So back to the question at hand, I definitely went with a more mature take to ATFO!Bart because his world was more grim (with Comic!Bart the videogame consequences were presumably constantly eraased which is a different kind of existential crises). But, despite this, I think the two Barts still share a lot of similarities that would make them get along fairly well. Similarly, I think Grandma Iris is to Comics!Bart what Wally is to ATFO!Bart so I think they'd understand each other fairly well. ATFO!BArt would still enjoy seeing a Wally even if I don't think he'd be particularly hurt by that Wally not being close to his Bart since I think ATFO!BArt really does fully understand how much the difference in timelines affects people and knows it's not his Wally.

Put another way, I also don't really think Bart has an expectation of people being close to him (in any form) so isn't really surprised about Wally and Comics!Bart. Bart really does view himself apart as a norm--partly since it's so hard to connect to people when he's literally living at a different speed than them. He likes people a lot and deeply loves his friends/family; but, I think he does often stuggle to connect to them. I think this is likely true for all Barts.

That's Bart Allen. The Impossible Boy. The Too Familiar Stranger. And He's Always Smiling (Real or Not).

[its-moopoint]

We saw who were the people at the funeral. No question about T holding his son than C holding him with T next to her. We saw C and her younger brother sitting together in the same row with their mom and sisters. No son in law with them. All of them were in the second row. But, OL shippers have crossed the line of decency and sanity a long time ago to still be shocked by the lies they tell their followers. They are psychotic.

Anonymous asked:

I have some questions about the funeral pics. I haven't seen the footage myself but Ive heard that Tony was there holding the baby. Was he there with the baby? If so, wouldn't the baby want to reach for his real parents ?

odessa-2

Please refer to my previous recent post of Kevin v Sam pics. Tony was not holding a baby. In fact I do not think he was present at all. He was subsequently photoshopped into that train wreck of a photoshop 'funeral pap shot'. Kevin was the black masked bandit holding a baby. They cleverly played some musical chairs in the church in an attempt to bamboozle. It only worked on some.

They had to quickly come up with a game plan for Mr Balfe's sudden and unexpected demise and the panicked foray resulted in the ultimate revelation of the truth. We got the proof we were all finally looking for under very unfortunate and tragic circumstances.

As for the baby and to who he belonged to. I feel that it's irrelevant at this point. Sam was clearly in attendance not only merely attending his 'costar's' father's funeral, but sitting right next to her, embracing her and and comforting her mother. Whether the baby was theirs and being held by uncle Kev, or whether it was a nephew of Cait's doesn't matter.

If you watched the stream carefully, it was evident that SC did turn around to face the baby and look at him. It was also clear that Sam was very familiar with another little boy who went up to the alter. So familiar in fact that when he turned his head sideways to show us his big ol forehead (purposely imo), we saw that he was authoritatively directing the young lad and instructing him what to do. That raised my antennae. Sam even stood up. We see you Captain .

It was such an explosion of truth and such a threat to their almost 10 year whopper of a lie some serious damage control was pencilled in. Hence why they dragged out McGoul for the 40 day memorial service and vanished Sammy boy.

balfeheughanmm

i really don't like having t’s face on my blog. if you scroll down you will see that i am telling the truth. lately this has been happening because of the issues we have been talking about here, but never before. my blog is about sc.

sometimes, to talk about a truth (or a lie), we need photos to better explain the narrative. THIS IS THE POST! this explains so much, guys. as i said before, Sam Holand Heughan was there so comfortably. so we see that no lie lasts forever. we all already know the truth. some still don't want to see.

and about the paternity of these children? for god’s sake! i can't believe a narrative in which she is actually married to t and has a real child with him and cheats on him with s. that's crazy. INSANE.

the only truth i believe is: s is the father of one or more children. they are a couple. a family. and the truth about this family came out at a funeral. so sad. actually everything about this is so sad and has become increasingly sad for me. i think that's why people leave the fandom. i start to understand them. and YES, they know that we know. when will they stop?

mariaae

Reblog for the truth!

jclovely

Death has a sting, in this case TRUTH was revealed. Hope SC will stop lying. It causes destruction and more destruction. We do not wish it to them, that is why we warn them. STOP TRUTH SETS YOU FREE.

citrinesun

There was much discussion at the time about the blond child C is holding. I’m not saying that’s not her child, but this pic of the child on the right does look suspiciously similar. The baby on the right is William, Prince of Wales at at the same age, more or less.

auburncurlslass

Wigs that can be purchased off the internet. Sam was wearing a wig to hide the fact that he had recently gotten hair implants. The shortness of his hair is evidence that plugs were removed and inserted into the frontal crown of his skull. To have this procedure done, the person's hair must be nearly buzzed to the scalp. Sam wore the wig to disguise his recent procedure. The number receipt is the shape of Sam's large forehead. There's no doubt it is Sam Heughan next to Caitriona. As for those Las Vegas photos...it's called AI and/or latergrams. Remember, he's an actor...all the tools of the trade are at his disposal.

Anonymous

Was t at the funeral ?

odessa-2

Not from what I could see.

2truthsandalie5

Agree!

I read blah blah blah rubbish blah blah blah. And it all sumps up in one thought: if they are able to manipulate and lie about stuff we are all are seeing happen live imagine the fanfic they've written over the years and share as canon that never took place.

[fussystreetlight]

(Remaking this post cause I realized I didn't want to reblog from these kinds of people even when I'm reacting to them but I think some context is necessary).

It's always dispiriting to see things like this. And to see, imo, obvious nonsense get so much attention, more attention than fanartists that are not only talented but genuinely kind.

And I know I could ignore this and that I'm giving it more attention. But for my own peace of mind I wanted to add some important amendments :

Be as weird as you want about Skully. Yana Toboso and the TWST developers want you to (so you'll spend money but still...)

If you're a weirdo the game was made for you. Enjoy it however you want.

The game and developers are weird about their own characters (they knew what they were doing especially with the Union Birthday card groovies).

He's a bunch of pixels programmed to be set at an semi-arbitrary number that was chosen cause it made sense for the story, not because he's supposed to represent a person. It's like sleeping with an inflatable doll that was only made a year ago. It's a doll, how long it's been in existence doesn't matter. A very obvious not real character is not comparable to or representative of a person.

Again, he's not real, his "age" doesn't matter because he's an object, and fiction is not a 1:1 reflection of reality. If someone likes him it doesn't mean they'll prey on an actual teen. The chances of there being a correlation are really small. People who assume it does and try to stop people from liking a character; that says more about you than what liking Skully says about the person who likes him. It's like someone finding a chip that looks like a person and then someone else eats it. You're not going to call that person a cannibal and assume they want to eat people, this is the same thing. It's not comparable to a sexual predator. Seriously, why are y'all obsessed with predators, why is it always on your mind? Y'all keep bringing them up in situations that had nothing to do with them, making things about them and seeing them everywhere, and assuming everyone you meet that isn't a clone of you is one. Why is this always the first place your mind goes to? If y'all saw someone reacting the same way about murderers you'd realize they need some help so why are y'all so lacking in self-awareness?

The fact that people were simping for him before his "age reveal" and after it should have driven home the fact that it's simply that people like how this object looks and is programmed to behave, not how long it's been manufactured. Also his voice actor is an adult, so it's more like an adult acting like a younger person, i.e. this is more like a form of age play between consenting adults than a sign that people want to prey on teens (of course if antis looked at things that way then they'd have to face the realization that they are not the valiant heroes they think they are so they won't).

This attitude is what kills fandoms and makes creators not want their stuff to leave their country. It wouldn't surprise me if TWST one day shuts down because of all these antis.

And considering every anti I've come across liked something that does the very same things they claim to hate, are made by people who support the fiction they claim to hate, or like the very things that they claim to hate, I just can't make myself believe they really care about morals or being good people. At this point I genuinely believe antis are either just looking for attention or need professional help but are unwilling to admit it. Or they want to hurt people. But really, why this unhealthy obsession with sexual predators and finding them?? Especially when the people and organizations whose job it is to find actual predators have asked them to stop reporting this stuff because it doesn't count. The line should be drawn when real giving beings are getting hurt. No one is getting hurt by this no matter how much antis like to roleplay victims. Let people have their harmless innocent fun.

[void-botanist]

i’d love to hear your answers for these for demon slayer actually too!

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

From this ask game.

Aw man this is gonna be a little hard because while I love DS to death I haven't actually been involved much with the fandom (and my memory of anything before entertainment district & swordsmith village is hit and miss). So I'm using your post + various explorations on the internet to answer these and remind myself of stuff. This is truly what "[character name] all moments" videos are for lol

Also high key did not realize Sanemi is Genya's brother??? Kinda forgot about him tbh but I guess it checks out that he's sir stabs-a-lot

What is your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn’t matter if it’s canon or not)

Uzui x his wives - it's probably the most obvious choice but they're extremely sweet and I like them a lot???

Tanjiro & Zenitsu & Inosuke - you're right about this one: platonic do not separate!

Nezuko x Muichiro - my entire impression is "it's cute, I'm in".

I tried to shake out my shipless brain and come up with something for Senjuro because he is my boy but no luck. But I do love his friendship with Tanjiro so much.

Likewise Genya has such Energy but I don't know where to apply that in terms of shipping.

What's your least favorite ship for this character?

Rengoku x Akaza - you are also right about this one like. they've got nothing imo. this is not a chemistry situation no matter what Akaza does or says. not interested.

Shinobu x Mitsuri - the thing that gets me about these two is that Shinobu has a completely different variety of cheerfulness than Mitsuri, and Mitsuri has a different kind of anger. Not that it makes it impossible that they would make a decent couple but I don't see the point of connection there.

Zenitsu x Nezuko - I love Zenitsu but he gets on my nerves so quickly when he's making a big deal about Nezuko. The more I think about it the more this one annoys me even though I don't Hate it, because Nezuko is also part of the Squad - in a different way than Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu, but still. In this case I don't like the idea of intrasquad shippery.

What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

Mitsuri x Obanai - I'm willing to give Obanai a chance based on the socks thing being cute. Otherwise he's kind of an asshole and if he continues being that way he can shove off.

Muichiro x Genya - I don't really See it but they at least have some measure of shared experience.

Tanjiro x Kanao - I agree with you that it is kind of boring. I think it could be more interesting, but I don't know. My vibe with Tanjiro is that either he's very aro or there just hasn't been anyone that's really brought that spark yet. They'd have to be pretty exceptional though considering how he treats everyone.

re: your list, I feel pretty neutral about Rengoku x Uzui and Giyu x Shinobu. If I see something good of them I would enjoy it but I don't care that much either way.

[zorabettwo]

okay so I have watched 2x06 uh.........way too many times and obviously Shauna, Sophie Nelisse, everything there is overwhelming. but i am fixated on how it impacts the other girls and especially Misty.

The core truth we know about Misty is that she seeks power and control and she often does this through controlling someone else's suffering. Stopping it in some cases, causing it, or just managing it. We see this with the rat in the pilot, we see it in the nursing home, it underscores so much of her character. If she can control suffering, she has power - to hurt, but also to save and to be loved. 

At the start of the birth scene, she's killed Krystal/Kristen without really meaning to (imo and the actors' anyway) and is shaken up. We don't often see her shaken up, but she lost control there. She caused suffering she didn't mean to AND she hurt herself in the process. So she's coming into it shaken, and then it's a situation she doesn't feel prepared for. 

It's not like Misty is exactly prepared to cut off a leg or any of that other stuff, but Misty is PROACTIVE, she does before thinking and has enough knowledge to make that okay. But birth is the long game, and she has no history with it, and the pressure is on there. No one really expects much of Misty in her life - but here, they are counting on her, everyone is counting on her to do the right thing. There is enough trust in her here that she broke the emergency transmitter over it.

When she comes back to the room, it's because Lottie says she can save their baby. She can do something the whole group wants, needs, and be seen as a hero, and she jumps into that mode. I fully believe she did EVERYTHING she could, wanted the baby to be okay desperately, not for Shauna or the baby but because it made her matter. 

And then....she can't. She fails at it. It's not that she hasn't failed before, but it's bigger to her. It's her spot in the group and her power and one of the times she is desperate to end suffering, she doesn't want it to happen. 

So I do believe some of what she says to Coach when she's trying not to get him to jump. Not the threats, or the words themselves, but the "I can't have another death on my hands"? Absolutely. She can't have that on her hands, or on her reputation. I think there is some genuine emotion there behind the failure, just the rawness of it, but it's also about her status and what she feels slipping away. 

All this to say that I think, of everything that happens out there, this is maybe one of the most scarring things for Misty (and everyone, but that is for another post). It's a forever mark against her, a time she failed and lost a chance. And I think she's vowed from there that she is never going to be caught unprepared again. 

The moral is that if someone needed an emergency c-section on site adult Misty could do it.

[aspd-culture]

So what would you say is crucial to aspd if the textbook criteria (usually based in ableism) isn’t always adequate? Because a lot of my issues stemmed out of pure, unadulterated rage that I (not inaccurately) attributed to developing bpd + npd as a kid and as we all know, those disorders can be intense on their own. I’m asking not out of “prove you have aspd if you don’t meet violent requirements” (idk people are weird and bad faith), but more so like seeing these anons who don’t fit the textbook criteria having realizations. I happen to be alongside the more violent urges and have been since I was a kid but I always attributed those things, again, to budding bpd and npd and autism dysregulation

I've discussed this at length in various posts throughout this blog, but pretty much every criteria of ASPD can be taken in much less literal ways than many professionals account for when evaluating for ASPD.

Aggression is a criteria, but you can be aggressive without being violent. The criteria mentions breaking social codes as a form of rule breaking/disrespect for authority, but many professionals only ask about law breaking and/or only violent crimes. Disrespecting authority doesn't always mean not listening to what they tell you (that particular explanation should be easy to find by searching baboon on my blog - I'll leave you to search for the post to find out why). You can manipulate without causing harm to other people. Lying is not always pathological and/or detrimental to anyone's life - sometimes it's as simple as BSing strangers when they ask you where you work and for some reason something in you begs you to say something blatantly untrue just to see if you can get away with it. Doing hard drvgs comes with significantly more risk to your life, liberty, and pursuit of convenience than just burning some leaves (whichever leaves are legal in your area) and/or drinking, so many of us just stick to that because why bother with the other stuff when there are so many reasons not to? Breaking my own stuff? Totally legal if a lil scary for ppl around me. Breaking other people's stuff loses me access to those people, that stuff, and possibly my own freedom, so why wouldn't I make sure if something's gonna be broken, it belongs to me?

All of these are "atypical" presentations of ASPD criteria, and yet I've found that the vast majority of pwASPD actually present "atypically" because we don't actually want to spend our lives dealing with the excess effort required to be intentionally malicious.

Something I think is seriously missing from the conversation about ASPD (traits not criteria) is the tendency it gives you to view everything you do in life from a matter of being as convenient and efficient as possible and going out of my way to be violent is gonna put me in jail which is massively inconvenient and therefore big lame to my ASPD brain.

I mean, think about it this way, why would someone with a disorder that hates boredom, can't stand authority, and has trouble with rules *willingly* put themselves into a box with bars, guards everywhere that control your life, and a strict routine you have to follow to get out of the box faster? All of that sounds like the last thing I want in life, so of course I use my limited effort to follow the law. The law is far less restrictive than the punishment for breaking it, and life is easier when I'm kind to people (and I can get what I want faster that way).

Overall, in many ways I think ASPD criteria misses the fact that most pwASPD are very aware of what the consequences to not following the rules of the game we call "civilized society" are, and know which of those rules we can break (mostly social code as opposed to legal code) without ending up dealing with more bs than when we started.

The current criteria acts like we have no forethought, and it just uses a really naïve, prosocial way of thinking about ASPD imo.

And none of this is meant to invalidate those with the "typical" presentation of these symptoms! I'm sorry if it comes off that way, because those are totally valid presentations as well. It's just frustrating bc a whole section of the community thinks that bc I prioritize avoiding behaviors that make life harder for me (would I be violent in a world that didn't consider that behind bar worthy? Yeah, of course I would), that somehow invalidates my diagnosis.

In short, I agree with many of (almost all of) the core concepts of the criteria but not the extremely literal and narrow ways that criteria is boxed into by some professionals and p much all elitists. The worst part is the actual wording of the DSM-V isn't so restrictive and does make space for non-violent and law abiding pwASPD, and some professionals ignore that fact and project their opinions of ASPD onto the criteria they use to diagnose.

[autopotion]

CC is trying to do something different and I actively admire the game for that, but I don't think it all totally coalesces (long post incoming lol)

Like, it came out at the end of the 90s, which was a decade rich in console RPGs that established the formula, and it's a sequel to a game that is widely considered to be the best JRPG ever made. CC had to do some new stuff to differentiate itself. Instead of a tight party of 6 to 8 characters that doesn't really change from playthrough to playthrough, you get an enormous but less developed crew of 45 across different playthroughs. Instead of a huge world map, your exploration is limited to a compact (and very beautiful) archipelago. Standard leveling and experience points have been discarded in favor of boss-triggered stat boosts. The whole element system, which I'm not gonna go into detail about, forces you to strategize for battles in particular ways (i.e. it's actually good to use elements in lots of battles as opposed to conserving them because they're not tied to MP). On the whole I like that CC is trying something else. I respect its weirdness a lot.

But I do feel like there are places where CC doesn't commit to its own bit? Like it gets mired in the gameplay conventions it's attempting to subvert, so its fresh new ideas don't always pay off.

For instance, re: the stat boosts: everyone gets a big stat boost after most boss fights, right? And after the boss, there's a limited time in which you can gather smaller stat boosts for the rest of your party (after 5-10 battles, you'll stop getting boosts until the next star level). Without proper experience points, those smaller stat boosts are the impetus for engaging with random battles (outside of, like, element farming). They're also pretty important; CC's numbers don't go high, so every point matters. It's good practice to seek out these mini boosts. After you get all of your boosts, there isn't much point to seeking out random battles until after the next boss.

But IMO a lot of the dungeons in CC are built on the classic JRPG dungeon philosophy, which centers on experience-based leveling. You fight your way through a slightly difficult area to challenge the boss, rinse and repeat. Except if you did any sidequesting or element farming between dungeons and didn't gain a star level, the initial trek through the dungeon feels completely pointless. Since enemies (standing in for battles) are visibly rendered on the overworld, you can theoretically avoid them, but tight corridors often make that difficult or impossible... so in practice, between bosses, you wind up fighting a lot of battles that have very little material gain, except for some gold and items. You can waste 5+ minutes fighting a particularly difficult random battle and have very little to show for it.

This is in addition to CC's charming quirk of boss-stacking, where one will come shortly after another at the end of a dungeon. If you move directly between these bosses, you will miss out on the between-star level stat boosts. So what you should really be doing is retreating back into the dungeon, fighting those same random battles you had to slog through on the way here for the mini stat boosts (and switching out your party btw if you want anyone you're not maining to benefit, which could throw a wrench into your party planning because, if you're like me, you build your parties based on the kind of dungeon you're in).

So dungeon-crawling in CC, if you enter one immediately after gaining the previous star level, looks like this:

Arrange a party for the dungeon -> Fight your way through and get your minor stat boosts -> Go pack to a save point to rearrange your party to get more -> Go back to your original party, which is fully boosted, and progress to the boss, fighting more (now pointless) battles on the way -> Fight the boss -> If there's another boss, go back into the dungeon to get your minor stat boosts (assuming it lets you), then face the next boss -> Proceed to the next dungeon

Like dungeon-crawling ends up taking SO MUCH time, even more than your average 90s console RPG with random battles, and the rewards are fleeting! Random battles already have problems (they're overused in the average console RPG) but it's a guarantee you'll walk out of a battle with more experience than you had going in. Not so in CC.

The crucial difference is that in something like FFVII, for example (which has a lot in common w/ CC re: materia placement & element grids), dungeon design is all about leveling yourself up to face the next boss. The experience comes from practicing on the mooks and pipsqueaks before taking on the real thing. CC totally reversed the leveling expectations, where you get the most out of fighting bosses, not random encounters, but didn't similarly reverse encounter design. It's kind of crazy.

Like if it were me, I would actually station one boss at the beginning of every CC dungeon, and one at the end. That way the random encounters are designed around maximizing the gains from the immediately preceding boss, and you don't have to worry about fighting a ton of pointless battles if you were just off sidequesting elsewhere. Also I would lower the encounter rate significantly, but that's just me.

But yeah this is without even going into how your massive rotating party complicates this too (like constantly reassigning elements if you're swapping folks out to get the minor boosts). IMO I don't feel like the huge party is necessarily a bad thing--I think the average CC player who is not using a guide will have far fewer party members to work with than someone like me, who is very anal about not missing things in 90s RPGs--but it's just another way that the leveling system works against you.

IN SUM I think CC had a ton of cool ideas that didn't get enough time in the oven because they didn't think about changing the basic structure of a dungeon in addition to their leveling scheme, which is a huge oversight because dungeon structure informs how you level, if that makes sense. Anyway thanks for coming to my TedTalk

[thegeminisage]

tng update time. last night* we did "the outcast" and "cause and effect."

*once again i am typing this up at 1am. i'll be busy when it posts

the outcast: i had heard sooo much about this one i was kinda disappointed when like the first ten or fifteen minutes wound up being EXCRUCIATING

this is largely due to three things 1. the idea of gender and sexuality being like so fucking antiquated in 1992 or whatever or at least in the minds of the people who wrote this episode, and them also mistaking one for the other 2. gender essentialism ie when soren asks what IS a man/woman we get these ideas of like "women put color on their lips and men don't" 3. extremely horrible lines of dialogue such as "commander tell me about your sexual organs"

like, i agree with jonathan frakes that soren should have been played by a man and that they should have had chemistry anyway AND with the criticisms that the ep didn't go hard enough

THAT SAID. once we got past the initial setup. which again has aged poorly. i was shocked at how hard it DID go for something that aired in 1992. like, my mother loved tng. she watched it air live. MY MOTHER watched this in 1992 when her gay ass little daughter was barely out of diapers. did it sink in? doesn't matter. they put it in front of her eyeballs. profound.

other details of note: GEORDI'S BEARD??? it looked good but he needed just a LEETLE more length on it imo

ik this episode was intended as a gay allegory and not a trans one (or maybe they just wanted to do a little of both) but picard being like we CAAANT interfere is such a pussy ass move. his vibes are so bad lately. yesterday he hated disabled people today he hates gay and trans people like don't you have a job. do you not have stuff to do. it's wack because normally he gets so fucking FIRED UP!!! when human (humanoid) rights are being infringed on. and lately he's just been like well whatever thats none of my business worf should kill himself. unbelievable.

obsessed with whatever will and deanna had going on in this episode. he was like "deanna i met somebody but we'll always be good friends right?" and she was like "absolutely" and then kissed him full on the mouth??? again: OBSESSED.

more riker/deanna/worf material FOR ME worf offered to go to the planet with him to get his girl. this is true brotherhood and also homosexuality. i think deanna should get kidnapped AND TREATED REALLY NICEYS please no more rape scenes but i think she should get kidnapped so they can go rescue her together. tng i am BEGGING you to feed me

oh yeah and gutpunch ending. i saw it coming but it was still so brutal :(

anyway it was an amazing episode if you can grit your teeth and ignore the bits that aged poorly. considering the time it aired and the opposition to it i think they mostly did a great job

cause and effect: TIMELOOP MY BELOVED

firstly, can i just say: two poker game eps in a row. mwah.

also? worf was right. reverse course. REVERSE COURSE. REVERSE FUCKING COURSE. seventeen times that whole ship - kids and all - got blown up in space and ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS REVERSE COURSE. seventeen TIMES worf made this suggestion and was shot down! reverse your fucking course!!!

even i got sick of the time loop by the end. it felt like a very long episode. i did love that they kept going and kept dying when i kept thinking they'd finally got it though

my favorite parts of the episode were the spooky parts. the voices in beverly's room, her ALWAYS knocking over that glass no matter where she put it (inevitability <3), data dealing up nothing but threes at the poker game, etc. the card thing literally gave me goosebumps, it was so well done

ALSO, DATA. data saving the day with his final actions TWICE <3

i thought at first the ship they were colliding with was themselves from earlier in the loop but the truth is so much cooler. loooved seeing those old uniforms. still i think that guy would have recognized the enterprise though. like the famous one that completed the first five year mission? he would have been like hold up the enterprise is captained by kirk/whoever followed kirk and that would have been more fun for me. cuz i know tmp is hard to date but kirk was definitely a super famous admiral in the year they entered the continuum. WHATEVER deny me all my fun as usual

TONIGHT: "the first duty," and also the pjo finale lol

[gamingofkenna]

Playing Thimbleweed Park, finding it absolutely delightful, and then going online to see lots of people complaining about it? Baffling. I wasn't planning on making a post-game thoughts post, but now I am anyways

*mild spoilers follow*

I'm particularly primed to enjoy meta storytelling, apparently. I don't know why, but often when I see people complaining about meta stuff in stories, it's the kind of stuff I find enjoyable or interesting. This is a meta story and maybe some aspects are annoying and I just can't see because Gilbert and I have the same style of humor

Thimbleweed Park is not an 'ironic' game, it's not making fun of gaming or 'punishing' players for buying into the game situation (a wild take imo, did we play the same game?)

Thimbleweed Park is a game that loves games. it's a game that loves making games and playing games. it's all about how fun these kinds of games are. poking fun at gaming logic even as it's completely reliant on it; it's saying 'this is silly. isn't that so fun??' you're collecting dust because isn't it fun to collect pixels?? we set up these elaborate puzzles to entice you to the ending because aren't elaborate game puzzles fun??

I don't know how to properly verbalize my thoughts on this topic, just to say that, to me, the characters acknowledging openly that they're in a game doesn't feel a like a cop-out. It feels like it was making genuine what was, up until that point, just a joke. at no point in the game was it not commenting on being a game, from 'the corpse is pixelating' to 'that highway was long, i hope we dont have to walk down it again' to 'heres a flyer about a hintline, i have no idea what that means'. but all of those comments are just kind of jokes. we laugh at the cosmic irony of knowing something the characters don't

once the characters know it, it's not ironic anymore. it's a thing that's always been true, that they've always kind of known, and that's getting directly addressed finally. and once it is, we can start thinking about the vehicle of the game medium in how the story is told

because on the one hand this is a story about free will, kind of, but it's not about how these characters don't have it because they're in a game

like, what really sells the ending to me is how every character's personal quest gets completed. we're in a game and everything's going to get wiped? well I finally got the evidence I needed to clear my father's name, and that's how I'm going to spend my last twenty minutes. Ransome spends the whole game being a scumbag, and his last act before everything is over is to acknowledge that there is a lesson to be learned from this, and to try to make up for it

my interpretation is that it's about the free will to be a better person. Uncle Chuck uses and abuses everyone around him and throughout the ending there's a part of him that's fighting the 'evil' side to beg his niece to free him. it's cheesy and overdone, but the whole genre is cheesy and overdone. Ray and Reyes are direct foils, cold and condescending vs warm and enthusiastic, but even Ray's personal quest ends by giving someone an award for being Good At Games

maybe I'm overthinking this, but for a game that spent so much time expressing how much it loved games, and fun, and cheese, saying the 'its all a game' ending is a 'so it doesn't matter' ending seems to be missing the point. it's all a game; isn't that fun??

(and I want to add that the 'final boss' of the game being the game itself, which I imagine some people will think contradicts my point, really just seems like a continuation of the theme. the characters act like this is going to work even though the player knows 'shutting down' the game isn't going to destroy it - because they're still in a game, and I still want to be able to play it

the real villain isn't the existence of the game itself, but the ideology of 'its just a game so our actions dont matter'. Chuck's evil side is brought on by the AI revealing the nature of the game (though he was a dick long before that); he kills Franklin and Boris because 'this isn't real so my actions don't matter'. he orchestrates this mystery to get Delores to break into the wireframe and shut down the whole game... but of course the game recovers itself. because the game wasn't the problem. it was the dismissal of people and their well-being that was the problem)