#pretty much everything about the game is bad

[helen-with-an-a]

staying on the idea that amor is English, how did they cope in the lead up to/ during/ after the World Cup final? love your hc’s xxx

Beautiful Girl masterlist

Ok so let’s take it back to May/June 2022 shall we?

Amor is absolutely convinced that her performance in the UWCL final against Lyon will mean that she’s out of the Euro squad - 1000% convinced and there’s nothing you can do to prove it otherwise. She didn’t even play badly, she’s just adamant that she caused the team to lose (she didn’t, she was one of the best players on the pitch - Ale is totally convinced Amor should have got MVP but hey ho).

Amor is in such a state of shock when Sarina phones her that she doesn’t even speak (Ale was standing next to her and after 20 seconds of awkward pausing, Ale had to take over the phone call and apologise to Sarina but yes, Amor will be there).

Amor uses her shaken confidence to push herself even further and work even harder. She gets named VC in the Euros (and is secretly very proud of herself but she plays it off like it’s nothing - Ale on the other hand is shouting it from the rooftops).

Amor is heartbroken when Ale does her ACL and uses the pain to work even harder (although Amor does feel bad that she scored the 2nd goal against Spain - it was a “fuck-it-and-see” type goal and it went passed Paños and Amor was like WHAT THE FUCK HAVE I JUST DONE?

Alexia couldn’t really give a shit that her team lost (she could but that’s different) cos that was Amor’s first international goal for England and she was just so proud and if it had to be against anyone she was glad it was against Spain

Ale made the trip back over the England for the final - she shouldn’t have really done it, but she needed to be there when Amor won. It just simply wasn’t an option not to be. She only stayed for the day before, the day off, and the day after and Amor flew back a week or so after that (and was met with a very different, borderline depressed Ale)

Coming into the WC was different, Amor had just (technically) won her 1st UWCL title. She was on a high of Ale coming back. Life was pretty good for Amor in the lead up to the WC.

And then she was announced as Captain for the WC. Amor was so shocked it was unreal. She had been captain before after Leah did her acl/if Leah was subbed out etc. But it’s different being named Captain. She definitely cried (and Ale might have done too). There was definitely congratulatory sex !!!

When England and Spain made it through the group stages and it was clear that they were to be drawn on different sides of the tournament, Ale and Amor had a phone call (that may or may not have turned into some cheeky phone sex) about how they wouldn’t have held anything against each other if they were knocked out (just like the the Euros)

Amor tried to watch Ale’s matches whenever possible, obvs training and stuff sometimes got in the way a little, but Amor was always checking the score.

Ale was insufferable if she wasn’t able to watch Amor’s games. She was so whiney and pouty that even V*lda decided to cut training short over it.

Amor was just so happy when Spain got through to the final, she wasn’t even thinking about what would happen if England won against Australia. And then they did. Amor had captained the country to the first WC final since 1966!

It wasn’t until she got back to the room that evening that it fully dawned on her who she would be facing.

Amor knew logically that Ale wouldn’t really be playing - she definitely wasn’t in the starting xi and probably would only be made a sub right at the end. But Amor knew she would be playing pretty much the whole match (barring any injuries). There was another phone call where they chatted through it and reassured each other about everything.

The final did not go too well for Amor - she gave away the handball that lead to the penalty Jenni misses. She’s convinced that she could have covered the gap Lucy left for Carmona to score, she’s sure that if she had ran that littler bit faster, she would’ve been able to fill the space and Carmona might not have scored.

Amor didn’t cry when the final whistle went. She didn’t do anything really, she was just numb. But Amor was the best captain, she went round to everyone and helped them as best she could in whatever way they needed her. It wasn’t until she saw Ale that she actually cried.

Ale didn’t really care about doing anything other than holding Amor. But Amor was insistent that Ale celebrate their win. But Ale just couldn’t enjoy it with Amor.

Ale didn’t go to the “that night” celebrations for long. She snuck away after a few hours and made it back to Amor’s hotel and just held her as Amor finally let herself cry. But then Amor felt so guilty for crying when Ale won and it was a bit of a headache for Amor.

Amor went to the celebration dinner with Ale the next day (and spent the afternoon speaking Spanish and working Ale up and having some great sex in the evening)

And then Ale decided to go to Mexico with the Barça girlies. Amor thinks it’s because Ale is embarrassed to be with her when Ale is on such a high and Amor is on such a low. Ale just wants more training practice and doesn’t really consider how it might look to Amor - they chatted about it before the tournament and decided together that if Ale played reduced/minimal minutes then she would go to Mexico.

Amor enters basically a depressive episode. She doesn’t do much and mainly feels guilty about the loss. Lucy and Keira and the other girls that haven’t gone to Mexico try their best but they know Amor needs Ale.

When the squad comes back from preseason, Ale is greeted by a very pissed Keira and Lucy - Ale is definitely in their bad books for leaving Amor like this, except Ale doesn’t know. Amor seems fine on the phone - a little quieter perhaps but that’s about it. Lucy and Kiera didn’t really say much in their texts to her so she’s a bit in the dark.

Ale feels so so so guilty for leaving and then definitely have a good ole cry together over everything and there’s lots of loving reassurances

Ultimately the 14 ish months from May 2022 to August 2023 was a really tough period for both of them but it just proved how much they loved each other and how much stronger they became because of it

[emmylksblog]

ONE STEP AT A TIME // Héctor Fort

summary: after a big fight, you’re feeling like a total fraud but still show up to Hector’s game. Emotions run high, but a sweet moment brings you back together. based on this request.

genre: slight angst, fluff

warnings: none

a/n: hey girlies! 💅 it's been a while since i last posted, where did the time go? life got hectic with uni and all that grown-up stuff that i just went survival mode for a while 😰 but i’m back tryna be consistent 🫶🏻

The final whistle echoes through the stadium, and as the crowd begins to disperse, you make your way to the players’ exit, weaving through clusters of fans. Your heart pounds, a mix of worry and anticipation tightening your chest.

You finally catch sight of Hector, walking off the field with a noticeable limp. He’s putting on a brave face, smiling politely at fans, but you notice the tension around his eyes, the way he tries to mask his discomfort.

“Hector!” you call out, your voice getting lost in the hum of the crowd. He turns at the sound of your voice, eyes searching for a moment until they land on you. His expression shifts—first surprise, then something softer, almost relieved. He takes a few hesitant steps toward you, and you close the gap.

“Hey, I didn’t think you’d be here,” he says, his voice warm but guarded. He tries to meet your gaze, but his eyes flicker with hesitation, as if he’s unsure of what to say after days of silence between you.

“Of course I came,” you reply, keeping your tone steady, though your heart feels heavy with everything left unsaid. You glance down at his leg, noticing how he shifts his weight to avoid putting too much pressure on it. “Are you okay? That looked pretty rough.”

He chuckles softly, rubbing the back of his neck, but the smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Yeah, just a bit bruised. The medics insisted I sit out the rest of the game, but it’s not as bad as it looks.”

Your eyes linger on his leg, catching every wince and grimace he tries to hide. “Come on, let me take you home,” you offer, voice gentle but firm. He hesitates, looking like he’s about to refuse, but something in your expression makes him nod.

The car ride is quiet, the city lights casting soft shadows across his face as he stares out the window, lost in thought. You steal a few glances his way, trying to read him, feeling the weight of unspoken words between you. Your heart aches to explain everything, to ease his worry, but the words feel stuck, too fragile to break the silence yet.

When you finally arrive at his apartment, he takes a step out of the car, flinching slightly as he shifts his weight. You reach out instinctively, offering your arm for support. He gives you a small, grateful smile, and you both walk inside, each step slow and careful.

Inside, you help him ease onto the couch, and he lets out a deep, relieved sigh as he stretches his leg out. Without a word, you head to the kitchen, grabbing an ice pack and a towel. Kneeling beside him, you press the cold pack gently to his injury, your hands moving carefully, focused on not causing him any more pain.

He watches you quietly, his gaze lingering on your face. “Thank you,” he says softly, his voice carrying a hint of something vulnerable. “You didn’t have to do this.”

You pause, glancing up at him, your fingers still on the ice pack. “I wanted to be here,” you say, your voice barely a whisper. You drop your gaze, suddenly feeling exposed. “I know I haven’t been around much. And I’m sorry.”

His brows knit together, and he studies you with a mixture of concern and confusion. “What’s going on?” he asks gently. “You’ve been so distant, I thought… I don’t know, that you needed space or maybe… I was making things harder for you.”

You feel a pang in your chest, his words hitting closer to home than you’d like to admit. You try to find the right words, the ones that will explain everything without unraveling you completely. “It’s… it’s not you,” you say finally, glancing down at his hand resting on his knee.

Your fingers brush against his in a brief, hesitant movement before you pull back. “I just… I feel like a fraud sometimes. Like I’m constantly putting on a face for everyone, and I don’t know who I’m supposed to be anymore. And I didn’t want to bring you into that.”

He’s silent for a moment, his gaze steady and unwavering. Then, he reaches out, his hand covering yours in a gentle but firm grip. “You’re not a fraud,” he says, his tone soft yet resolute. “And even if you don’t believe that right now, I do. I see you—all of you. And I’m here because I want to be, not because of some version you think I expect.”

Your breath catches, the weight of his words sinking in. You look away, blinking back the emotions threatening to spill over. He gives your hand a gentle squeeze, his thumb brushing over your knuckles in a soothing, grounding motion.

For a long moment, you sit in silence, letting his words sink in, feeling the warmth of his hand against yours. Slowly, you look up, meeting his gaze, feeling a flicker of relief settle in your chest.

“I just… I don’t want to let you down,” you murmur, your voice barely above a whisper.

He lets out a soft chuckle, shaking his head as he leans back, still holding your hand. “You could never let me down,” he says, a gentle smile tugging at his lips. “We’re in this together, okay? Whatever you’re going through, you don’t have to go through it alone.”

His words hit you like a wave, and you feel the last of your walls begin to crumble. Without thinking, you lean forward, resting your head on his shoulder, feeling his arm come around you in a steady, comforting embrace. He doesn’t say anything else, doesn’t push for more. He simply holds you, his presence a quiet reassurance that, no matter how messy things get, he’s here.

You stay there for a while, the tension between you slowly dissolving, replaced by the familiar warmth of his closeness. After what feels like an eternity, Hector pulls back slightly, tilting your chin up gently with his fingers so you’re looking into his eyes.

“I care about you,” he says softly, sincerity etched on his face. “You’re not alone in this.”

In that moment, you feel everything you’ve been holding onto begin to lift, replaced by the quiet, steady assurance of his love. You’re about to say something, to thank him, when he leans down and presses a gentle kiss to your forehead. The tenderness of the gesture sends warmth flooding through you, solidifying the connection that had felt frayed just moments before.

“Let’s take it one step at a time,” he whispers, brushing a strand of hair behind your ear. And as you lean into him again, you know that together, you’ll find your way through the chaos, one step at a time.

[bunabi]

You don't have to respond to this, I just don't have anyone irl who likes DA as much as me, but as a big fan of Origins I keep hoping for the next game to scratch an itch for me and with each game I get further and further from what I'm looking for. The in depth character backgrounds (that had real impact on the game!), the combat (it turns out I lothe RTS unless it's DAO but for some reason I love DAO's combat so much), and the impact of your choices are all things that seem to diminish with each game. I also agree with your frustration at not being able to be mean, I'm usually a goodie two shoes in games but my favorite Warden was one I made pragmatic and comfortable with authority to a dangerous degree because the brutal choices in Awakening result in the best outcomes for Ferelden. Plus even if you prefer the kind choices, you can't make choices unless you're given them. Luckily there's BG3 and Avowed coming out but it still feels like such a loss every time a new DA is released.

I wanna respond because you raise good points. 😔👍🏿

I feel the same way. I'm ride-or-die for Thedas as a world — the lore is easy to jump into and the amount of half-truths makes speculation really fun — but the games have strayed further and further from my personal tastes.

No DA entry is the same in its approach or execution, so I think having mixed opinions is completely natural.

Compared to Mass Effect which sticks to it's formula pretty closely from ME1 to Andromeda, DA is constantly changing. I think it could have benefited from more consistency. I understand why that wasn't always possible.

You're allowed to be disappointed or wistful or critical without it being construed as like...giving ammunition to bozos or tearing the developers down.

If we can't discuss those things what are we supposed to do? Sit in a circle pretending those features never mattered lol? That I never liked having more roleplay freedom, never liked companion relationships having more tension, never cared about tactics? No I don't think I will.

And I say this while fully accepting DAV for what it is. Even if I wasn't blessed with a code from EA I had every intention of playing it myself. I bought the art book. I've done two zines this year and contributed to two more. My career revolves around making art directly inspired by Inquisition's. Haven't read all the comics & books but I'm as 'hardcore' as it gets.

Me, of all people, being called a fake fan for wanting blood magic or not feeling the character model proportions shows how emotionally charged and unhinged things have gotten

All that to say: I think the best way to be a fan of anything is to acknowledge the good and the bad and let others do the same. So long as those conversations are in good faith there's nothing to lose and everything to gain fr.

[chaifootsteps]

OMG the scene where Charlie baby talked to Baxter irked me SO bad! Like what are you doing?!? Youre a grown ass adult talking to another grown ass adult, you dont talk to people you just met like that EVER!

Like what was the point of the scene?? To be funny? Cause it isnt, there is no joke, punchline, nothing, its just Charlie being rude to a random stranger that she just met.

Was it to make Charlie look like an "adorkable kawaii potato that LOVES cute little things :3"? Then someone tell Vivziepop that it isnt 2014 anymore and nobody likes these characters, epecially when theyre ADULTS, theyre just really fucking annoying.

This is why i hate the Show's Charlie, they try to sell her as if she is oh-so-nice and the most kind person in the world that CARES about others issue's when she is actually a priviliged bitch that thinks she has the solution to every problem in the world when she doesnt understand shit about other's people's situation nor cares enough to listen to them.

She reminds me to these internet e-celebrities that build their whole image on being wholesome and sweet but then when theyre asked to talk about some societal problem they decilne because "sowy i dont want to bring politics to my channel :3 xoxo".

It would have been interesting if she was written this way on PURPORSE. Like at first her being a naive, rich, priviliged princess that never faced any real problems and thats why she is sure that she can easily solve other's problems by doing what she says, and as the show progresses she starts learning to LISTEN to other's explaining their situation and why the solutions arent as simple as what she was made to belive growing up privileged.

But since Vivziepop lacks any self awareness the show tries to convice us that her ways are the correct ones, and that everyone should do as she says in order to fix everything and that her acting like an ignorant asshole to thers its ok because its "cute :3".

Maybe im just exagerating because im a short person with a baby face who got treated a similar way Charlie talked to Baxter by other adults, and i dont think i need to clarify you should definetely NOT do that to other people like that, like how do people not realize its rude as shit.

Its embarassing how upset i got at this, i hope this show gets cancelled as soon as posible.

Yeah, that was pretty vile. It was that unbearable scene where she forced them to play rhyme-and-clap games all over again, and that other unbearable scene where her idea of redeeming them was putting them in stupid outfits and having them read from scripts.

I hate series Charlie so much.

[maddy-k-reads-all-day]

I'm starting to agree a bit with people's interpretation of Wooly being that he tries to stay on script. In "Play My Way" (which I'm 99% sure is canon since it's an official Amanda 2 song and listed in the Amanda 2 game credits) Wooly's verse goes "Now watch us play our part, now watch us dance and sing, don't let it break your heart just play along and don't-" (before getting cut off by Amanda). So I do think he tries to stay on script a bit.

Though I don't think it's out of malicious intent. I think Wooly is just more avoidant about everything. Like, he doesn't like to think much about their situation since, to be fair, it's pretty upsetting.

Eventually, I'll have a full Amanda and Wooly analysis complete with quotes and clips but for now I'll just share the gist of this personal theory I'm working on. Basically, I think a big part of this has to do with memories. I don't think Amanda and Wooly remember everything from before, and it's possible in the beginning they remembered nothing at all.

Spoilers ahead:

For one thing, in the first game, Amanda only reacts to the name "Sam" in the context of the father chicken. In the second game she reacts to it a lot more and seems to know what happened to him, so I think it's safe to say she remembers that much now. I think the first game was Amanda slowly remembering more and more and trying to prompt us to go off script so we could jog her memory a bit more.

I don't even think she remembers everything in the second game. It's possible there is still more she doesn't recall, but at this point, it seems like she doesn't want to talk about it. Even when Wooly wasn't around, if we mentioned Hameln or the butcher, she immediately shuts down. She's telling us pretty clearly that she wants out, though.

Which is why I found it interesting in the librarian tape when Kate couldn't even confirm if Amanda wanted out of the tapes. She was certain it was Rebecca, but she couldn't tell where she was coming from. I think Kate started the process of Amanda getting her memories back, or maybe she sped it up by mentioning names and things that Rebecca would know, jogging Amanda's memory over time just like we did.

But here's the thing, all of this probably jogged Wooly's memory too.

I see it as a "would you rather be told an inconvenient truth or a comforting lie" situation. Amanda wants the truth, but Wooly would rather live a lie.

I mean, the truth is clearly something that is painful, sad, and scary. Once Amanda learns it, she says in the Goodnight tape that she tries not to think about it. But Amanda knew these memories were upsetting and wanted them back anyway. She doesn't seem to regret knowing the truth. But I think Wooly would've rathered all this stay forgotten. Sad and scary things make him uncomfortable, as we learn in the "when you feel bad" tape when you answer "tragedy" or "horror". I think he tries to avoid them in general.

Another thing, Amanda wants us to know what happened to her. That's abundantly clear in the second game. Personally, I think she was the one who helped us find the secret tapes. She sprinkled little hints throughout the tapes to let us. She might not have known excatly what was on those tapes, but she clearly knows that they have something to do with what happened to her. There could've been some research on Wooly too, but we just never found it. I mean, Amanda doesn't excatly like Wooly and she's kinda desperate for us to know the truth about what happened to her so... she probably wouldn't be too eager to share about Wooly.

What I'm trying to say is: the reason we never learn about Wooly is because Wooly doesn't want to know the truth, and by extension has no interest in us finding it. My guess is that Wooly would much rather just forget and have things return to how they were in like the Hide and Seek Pilot, for instance.

Which, let me remind you is canon.

Basically, my guess is Wooly would rather things go back to how they were when they didn't remember. Staying on script and never questioning anything because the answers to those questions are painful.

Edit: I'd also like to mention that Sheep symbolizes FOLLOWERS. Something that fits Wooly to a T. He's not the "bad guy" he's simply the bystander, which doesn't make him a good person but it also doesn't make him a villain.

It's late, I'm tired idk if I'm even making sense. Had to rewrite half of this cuz it got deleted. Hope you enjoy nonetheless!

[thecoolerliauditore]

Can i propose a wild thought to you that I'm rattling off as I just thought of it

Have you considered the lizzie-scott parallels/contrasts?

One of my favourite things about Lizzie is her perpetual "i meant to do that!" attitude she approaches everything with. She thinks herself the leader of sorts and the only compitent bamboozler but my girl is just as big of a loser and klutz, she's just gotten slightly luckier so far. Its why I love her and Jimmy, they both think they're the responsible one when really they play hot potato with the braincell except neither noticed the braincell was replaced with an actual hot potato. She's better at certain things (remembering things and deduction in particular) but none of those things are surviving and its completely negated by her curiosity.

But anyways my point is that like Scott she tries to pretend she's competent and the smart one who is babysitting her teammates, keeping them under control, when she isn't any of those things and actually she cares a lot and is internally screaming all the time.

She's just capable of dropping the mask to be vulnerable. Or, yknow, aware it is in fact a mask in the first place. At the end of the day Lizzie can open up and apologize when she does something silly or says something a bit too mean. She'll just find something new to puff up her chest about.

She's also a sweat, she's just really bad at it.

(Sorry I could probably compare seablings vs fh more to emphasise my point but im trying really hard to keep to the point of this ask without going on tangents and I don't trust myself to not spend 3 hours writing about seablings and forgetting the whole point if I do (also you could also probably compare joel/lizzie to your scott/pearl stuff but 1) i think that probably works better comparing joel and scott more than lizzie and scott and 2) i think comparing their relationship with the same person even if its a different type of relationship might be more revealing and 3) i'm bias))

I ACTUALLY HAVE PONDERED SCOTT AND LIZZIE BEFORE. Not to any level that I feel is worth its own post or anything but they definitely do have a handful of common points that have sent me spiraling in the past (<- guy who really, really likes death games in general and totally didn't try to map out a full hunger games AU at one point. and put scott and lizzie in district 1 together because it just makes sense and has horrifying implications for both of them).

Anyway this is all very true, I hadn't even considered it in the context of their relationships with Jimmy but it makes a lot of sense with the whole. Awhhh I have to Keep Him Alive oop there he goes I guess he'll be die next session 🙄🙄 sort of energy they both try to embody. And how it's kind of performative for both of them, but I think I'll have to let the season play out a bit more before I form any sort of opinion on Lizzie's treatment of Jimmy. (I'm forever sad that Lizzie missed out on three seasons I feel like she might've been a smajor level blorbo to me if she was just there more)

This is a little on the meta side but from what I understand Scott pretty much started off his youtube career with Lizzie's guidance post-WoW-party so I suppose it makes enough sense that he takes after her so much on a persona level as well. Except he's a lot worse at embracing the tongue-in-cheek insincerity. That thing you said about the mask.

I do think Scott is at least acutely aware of his performative nature too, just less willing to acknowledge it for what it is. Lizzie is lying to you, Scott is lying to you but more importantly lying to himself. And that's the difference that I think makes Scott so much more. Dangerous? I suppose would be the word to use. Other than the fact that he is just overall a lot better at being a sweat in general but I'd argue even that could be seen as part of his constant need to keep up his perfect image.

Anyway I'm very unfamiliar with Lizzie and Jimmy's dynamic so I'm excited to see how it goes and even moreso with the comparison to my guy now planted i n my mind. Cheers I loveee stuff like this.

Also sidenote I do find it very entertaining that I'm as predictable as I am <-- has thought about scott/pearl and joel/lizzie as foils alot especially in LL

[datesinredink]

Ranking the yandere rottmnt boys by how likely they are to kidnap their darling

Just a little crumb to keep myself from losing my mind while staring at google docs this late at night. Sorry if this is super bad, it's way later at night than I'm used to staying up and election night stressed me the hell out.

Donnie.

I have absolutely no doubts that he's going to at least try very very hard to kidnap you. And honestly, I doubt it would be too hard. He's a highly trained, mystic wielding, tech inventing, mutant ninja turtle. And on top of that, he's very fond of planning absolutely everything. And to finish it all off, I think it would be once in a blue moon that he actually treats his darling as an equal. He already thinks he's better than almost everyone, and when he gets obsessed, he has to make himself feel better about it somehow, so he decides to cope by thinking you need him instead of it being the other way around. As a result, he treats you a bit like a very glorified songbird, and songbirds.. well, aren't they usually put in cages anyway? You won't even care after a week or two of adjustment! (He will get upset if you aren't content with being kidnapped by then, by the way.)

2. Raph

The only reason Raph is behind Donnie on this list is because I think he would take longer to justify it to himself. He thinks you're fragile, that you need to be protected from the harsh world! I mean, he barely trusts his youngest brother, who is also a highly trained ninja, to do a simple mission on his own. How do you think he'll treat you after the obsession sets in properly? Not really as an equal, I'll tell you that. He's much nicer to you than Donnie would be, but he still doesn't respect you enough to let you handle yourself, even if that's not how he sees his behavior. At the same time though... isn't he supposed to be a hero? Do heroes kidnap their darlings? Or would this make him the dragon... In the end though, he'll decide that he's fine with being the dragon so long as he knows that the rest of the world won't be able to run their metaphorical (or maybe literal, depending on how unpopular you are in the area) pitchforks right through your heart.

3. Mikey

Mikey wouldn't just.. outright kidnap his darling, I think. I think it would start with a fun sleepover at the lair! Then he insists you stay just one more day! You're having so much fun, after all! Don't you wanna hang out with your best friend for a while longer? You agree, of course- him and his brothers have been nothing but nice to you ever since you met them, and their company is always a delight, so it's worth a shot, isn't it? Then suddenly, the weekend is over, and school's ready to chew you up again, so you do leave. Then it's finally the weekend again! You've heard of a fun game from your school friends, so you plan on trying it when you get home this afternoon- it's friday, after all- when you get a text from Mikey in the group chat with his brothers. He wants you to come over again- and, of course, you say "sure". Not like you can't just play the game on sunday, or when you go home saturday. The sleepover flies by, but you're a bit weary by the time you're pretty sure you're supposed to go home- but here's Mikey, and he's so sure that you promised you'd stay at the lair until sunday again! So, you give in. There's always next weekend, right...? I think you get the pattern, but eventually, he'll be keeping you at the lair 24/7, and you'll be rubbing at your weary eyes wondering how you got into this mess. Sometimes you can even see his brothers shoot you worried looks.

4. Leo

Leo would only kidnap his darling as a last resort, and I think it's because of two reasons. One, he's the brother who sees you closest to being an equal (Donnie and Raph constantly go against your personal autonomy and Mikey puts you on an extremely restricting pedestal), though to be fair, that's not a high bar to pass- and two he much prefers to have some sort of interesting conflict to be present because he finds it entertaining. His life is a weird, morally incorrect soap opera at this point, and he's the number one viewer. Kidnapping would only really happen with him if he thought you were either seriously leaving him (moving or getting into a serious relationship with someone else) or if the circumstances around him got too stressful and he needed something to cling to for any semblance of support outside his brothers (who, at that point, would probably also be super stressed). Think post movie, when the city is still recovering. Man, he was probably freaking out thinking that you might've died to the kraang.

[theamityelf]

What I think I would find the most emotionally satisfying lore for Amanda the Adventurer is as follows:

Everything (or most everything) with eyes is one of the missing kids. Already kind of implied, by that one ending in the first game where you become meat in the butcher shop, but worth saying outright.

Opossum is Kate. I made a post about that one.

Sam is something else, maybe the narrator from "When You're Feeling Bad."

Amanda and Wooly are engaged in a battle of wills in which they overall have roughly equal power but express it in different ways. Every time a burst of static interrupts either of them, it's because the other one just won a spiritual arm-wrestling match of sorts (like Amanda asserting herself against Wooly in the beginning of the "Accidents" tape, or Wooly asserting himself against Amanda in the beginning of the "Patience" tape; both times, one of them is trying to express a thought or feeling and then static happens and then after the static they suddenly can't express that thought or feeling anymore).

Wooly, as pretty much everyone has said, is acting in Hameln's interest. I don't have strong feelings as to whether he's doing it out of actual loyalty to Hameln or just because he's in denial or the path of least resistance hurts less. I do think it's more likely one or both of the last two.

Amanda/Rebecca is unwilling to go the path of least resistance. She is in a constant state of screaming for help and comfort and companionship.

The fact that Wooly is unwilling to let Amanda go off track and Amanda is unwilling to surrender to the script places them constantly at odds. Amanda would not be attacking Wooly if he left her alone, but he refuses to do that.

My personal headcanon is that Wooly was originally a guy who worked as Rebecca's on-set teacher or whatever other kind of staff member you need to have on hand when you're a studio that works with children. Basically, I'm imagining a scene where Sam and Rebecca went to their first day at Hameln and were introduced to a really nice guy who got along with Rebecca really well, and he would walk her to the vending machine while Sam was talking business with the important people, and he was the one who consoled her (and got her to keep doing voice work) when Sam went missing, and now flash forward they're trapped in this nightmare together and can only find the comfort they seek by constantly hurting each other in different ways.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Hemant Mehta at Friendly Atheist:

Last night was sickening. A replay of 2016. It’s hardly ancient history. We stepped on a rake years ago and we decided to do it again. This was a reminder that 2020, not 2016, was the year where the presidential election went sideways. The year of the pandemic was also the high watermark for the decade. The results are bad for church/state separation. Bad for civil rights. Bad for bodily autonomy. Bad for Ukraine and our foreign allies. Bad for Palestinians. Bad for science and the climate and common sense. Bad for just about every issue that matters to the type of people who read this newsletter. The worst people you know got pretty much everything they wanted. The people who have empathy and expertise—the people who care too much and want the best for others—lost again. A Trump without guardrails is a Trump who’s even worse than he was years ago, and he was really fucking awful years ago.

If the famous saying is “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” we’re about to be ruled by people who’ll do everything in their power to make sure we never learn about the past. The people who ban books, whitewash American history, and reject science have been given another chance to turn their ignorance into policy. We’re screwed in the event of another pandemic. Blue states will not be able to rely on federal funding in the event of a natural disaster because that will require Trump’s signature. When the economy collapses, Republicans will blame everyone but themselves and most people won’t know they’re being lied to. (The mainstream media can’t be expected to push back. They failed to meet the moment this time around, and they’re bound to get worse.) With the Senate now in Republican control and the presidency within Donald Trump’s grasp (the blue wall of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania have not yet been called), we’re on the verge of seeing at least two years of utter chaos with ramifications that will last even longer. At best, if Democrats manage to flip the House, they will still control a mere 1/6 of the federal government.

[...]

I don’t know how to beat back the firehose of misinformation that contributed to the rightward shift of the country. I don’t know what could have changed the minds of the half of the country that seems immune to reality. I don’t know what else the Harris campaign could have done to change the outcome. (There’s an argument to be made that she should have pushed back against Joe Biden’s policies, especially regarding Israel, but given the results, even if that helped her with Muslims in Michigan, it arguably wouldn’t have moved the needle everywhere else as much as she needed.) I also don’t believe Biden or a different candidate would have fared any better. It’s easy to feel like the past few months were just pointless. The debate that Harris won didn’t matter. The half-filled Trump rallies didn’t indicate a loss of support. The meandering ramblings of a man whose brain is clearly broken didn’t turn off enough people. The major endorsements for Harris—and the lack of big ones for Trump— didn’t change much. The overwhelming financial support for Harris didn’t overcome the billionaires backing Trump. The “vibes” didn’t match the other side’s arrogance. The Democratic National Convention, so full of joy, now feels like a last gasp rather than a new beginning. The Democrats’ superb ground game and the utter lack of one for Republicans still didn’t meet the “margin of effort.” Trump’s criminal indictments and impeachments and legal battles and mugshot and looming potential jail sentence (!) weren’t dealbreakers.

January 6 eventually led Trump to another term in office when it should have blackballed him from public life. Too many Americans are nostalgic for a utopia that never existed, and when they realized they’ve been conned, there are going to be a hell of a lot of conservatives eager to blame minorities of all stripes for all the problems they made worse. At the same time, as older generations of Americans understand all too well, the path to progress is never smooth and it requires constant vigilance. We knew that in 2016 and there were reverberations—in 2018 and 2020. We’ll now walk down that path again. It will likely be even more fierce this time around.

Last night’s election results were a gut punch for Americans opposed to the Orange Felon.

For the next four years, there will be horror show after horror show.

[tarbuchyloewenthal]

i loved and hated dragon age: the veilguard???

apologies for the extended rant i'm about to go on.

i loved being back in thedas after 10 years, and i loved that final scene with solas. the emotional beats hit just right in that moment.

i loved to absolutely annihilate groups of enemies with arcane bomb popping off every five seconds.

i loved almost all of my companions' arcs. they had so many moments of genuine pathos.

yet all these barely made up for my growing frustration throughout the game at the dialogue and dialogue system, the repetitive quest design, and narrative focus.

this game shares pretty much all the features that i hated when i first played mass effect 3 all those years ago. from the opening of the game skipping everything except the most minimal story set up in favor of bombastic cinematics to the extensive use of auto dialogue taking away the feeling that i had control of my player character.

bioware has apparently gotten into the bad habit of thinking the set up at the beginning of a story is unimportant. i hated starting off with a bang in mass effect 3. i hated it in inquisition. and i hate it now in veilguard. to me it feels like narrative malpractice to forgo the most vital part of the story. only getting a slickly animated cutscene to set the scene in the story instead of any actual attempt to know rook and their relationships with varric, harding, and the world at large really put me off.

the large amounts of auto dialogue only exacerbated my frustration. mass effect 1 (and 2 to a slightly lesser extent) made the dialogue wheel and voiced protagonist feel like an actual evolution of their previous dialogue systems in kotor and jade empire (and origins even though that came out after). i felt like i had actual input. conversations flowed like rpg conversations had always flowed. but in veilguard conversations feel way too passive, only needing my input when the game wanted me to add a small dash of emotional flavor to the conversation or the ever present binary choice for major story moments.

that's not to say bioware didn't write in a lot of reactivity. there's an absurd amount of unique dialogue depending on lineage and faction choices, but i, as the player character, never felt like i was in the drivers seat for any of it.

it made my rook feel completely disconnected from the story they were ostensibly the protagonist of, like they manifested into existence mere seconds before showing up to the bar in minrathous.

and the quests, individually well paced, all mainly followed the same formula of walk down a path, grab loot from side paths, fight some enemies, and listen to your companions talk all the while. part of why i like rpgs is the feeling that i'm inhabiting a world that revolves around more than combat and puzzles for loot. even if that's mostly what video game rpgs boil down to at the end of the day, it's the illusion of that which sells me on the game world. when all your quests involve that same formula, it flattens the game world to nothing but a combat arena. which, to be fair, i felt was a problem all the way back in mass effect 2, as well.

i also didn't like how all the lore reveals flatten nearly all the setting's mysteries down to solas and the evanuris. they were really neat in isolation, but taken together they kind of hollowed out the world.

ok, so i'm tiring even myself out by now, so i'll just mention in passing the relentless and unnecessary expository dialogue, as if the writing team didn't trust the cinematics team to get across literally any information (i'm looking at you bellara on the approach to d'meta's crossing).

this rant gives off the impression that i didn't really enjoy veilguard, but i did. it's just that the things it does well are what you expect from bioware, and the things i find issue with have become a bit of an unfortunate pattern from the studio. the game was so good, but it could have been so much better.

[redpeng]

Lemme explain

Miku is NOT from project Sekai. She's a vocaloid, basically a vocal databank you can put in various pitches and tune in various ways to make it sound like she's singing. She was invented in *2007* and has been integral to the internet pretty much since then, spreading out from the japanese (and the western Weeb) side of the internet into relative meanstream appeal.

Project Sekai is a game created as both a gacha and as a celebration of vocaloid history. It was first released in 2020, and, as a live service game, has been recieving updates since. It features 20 original characters voiced by humans in 5 musical groups (Vivid Bad Squad, More More Jump, Nightcord at 25:00 (referred to by fans as Niigo usually), Wonderland x Showtime (referred to as wondasho usually, also that x is a coda, not an x), and Leo/Need). These groups all recieve a mysterious song on their phones ('untitled') which transports them to a 'Sekai' (tl. Stage) where they meet with up to 6 different vocaloid characters: Hastune Miku, Megarine Luka, Kagamine Len, Kagamine Rin, KAITO, and MEIKO. Each sekai is themed around the interests and aesthetic of that specific group and are (for the most part) only accessible by that group. The game, beyond being a gacha, is also a rhythm game, and a large variety of vocaloid songs are featured in its catalogue, from old to new.

Of importance currently is Mizuki, one of the characters from Nightcord at 25:00. For the entire run of the game thusfar, Mizuki's pronouns have been deliberately obfuscated, with characters and even promotional material only ever referring to them as Mizuki. As far as I'm aware this is still the case? Fans have, for this reason, theorized that Mizuki is trans or nonbinary. Everything going down has been happening in the JP version, which is about 6 months ahead of the ENG version, so I'm working off what I've heard. Mizuki has been noted previously saying that they have 'a particular secret' they wanted to tell fellow bandmate Ena, and with the most recent event story, Mizuki prepared to tell Ena their secret, only for it to be revealed for them either explicitly or heavily implied that they're trans. At the end of this, Mizuki runs off into the Nightcord Sekai and apparently this even has an effect on the overworld map, where they won't appear anymore, whereas usually characters can be found in various places with other characters and tapped on to view a small dialogue between them.

I forget are you a project Sekai enjoyer i forgor

If so: 🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔🔔

If not: lets be eternally confused on what the fuck is going on in that poor fandom together

literally all i know about project sekai is hatsune miku is from there so i’m lost here

[paro-art]

I'll be back here soon ( have to relearn how to draw humans bc all I've been doing is hand-drawn vfx and puppet animation )

but damn, I'm so sorry I got Honkai star rail brainrot and I want to draw fanart of it I'm so sorry guys

[daylighteclipsed]

Blaming KH2 Sora’s anger and aggression all on Roxas really downplays how ready to throw hands Sora is in KH1 and CoM.

[rosykims]

last post about it but never underestimate bioware's ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory i guess

[penisbilt]

the bittersweet but absolute flood of relief that comes from admitting defeat at living independently, to have to move back in with parents. we tried! we gave it our best shot for almost 3 years! but living like this (being on our own) is just not possible for us at this time of our lives. we've finally proved it to ourselves that we can't do it. it'll be okay to let ourselves rest now

[firestorm09890]

so sad when someone is a very funny person but has terrible opinions on your favorite media and/or characters. get well soon 😔