#reggie kagan

[door-insurance]

Life is strange sketchdump 7

victoria helping out katie with her hair

two rich kids, transitioning saved them

(their names are vincent and Natasha, thanks willow for the names! This is a silly lil headcanon btw were just having fun)

now for some double exposure mini sketches

miss diamond

dr gwen going through it

reggie being reggie and vinh

(sorry ill include more amanda next time)

SPOILERS SKETCHES:

ماي أختاه

This is the vibes safi gives off whenever she brings up maxs love life

lorettas

my beautiful husband moses.... he needs a vacation

[mal3nko]

Cut Content from Double Exposure

So I mentioned a few days ago that my friend on Discord had dug through the files of DE and found quite a bit of interesting cut content from the game, so I decided to share some of it here since I feel like a lot of it is too interesting to not reveal to a wider demographic.

It’s pretty clear that Double Exposure had a very troubled development due to the fact that Deck Nine had to suffer through three rounds of layoffs (where it ended up losing both its lead writer AND narrative director almost a year and a half before the game actually released) which led to a lot of things being cut for time/budget. The game went through an absurd amount of directional changes in regard to its story, which is why the final game is…the way that it is, unfortunately.

So here I’ll be trying my best today to breakdown a lot of the interesting cut content me and my friend have managed to find, which also includes some pages from the official artbook that my friend managed to gather as well!

Max has a fully modeled bathroom…that we never see!

Fully modeled work/hobby room in Max’s house that we also never see (this was apparently suppose to show up in Chapter 4, as the screens are turned on)

There were originally two variations of the post-credit scene, endings A and B. Ending B is the one we have in the final game where Safi finds Diamond, but ending A would have depicted Reggie finding an unconscious Diamond who had collapsed while her nose bleeds, before she eventually gets up and runs off. Here is the dialogue from the files transcribed:

The chase scene with Safi at the end of Chapter 3 was heavily nerfed in the final game, as you would have originally chased her through the now cut hedge maze section, and it would have eventually led you to the abandoned Hellerton mansion (which also got cut, but more on that later)

Speaking of the scene with Safi at the end of chapter 3, we also found out that instead of her being shapeshifted as Max like she is in the final game, she would have instead been shapeshifted as whoever you didn’t romance in chapter 3. Basically, if you romanced Amanda, you would find Safi had broken into Max’s home shapeshifted as Vinh, and if you romanced Vinh, Safi would be found shapeshifted as Amanda. If you didn’t romance anyone (and I’m assuming if you romanced both?) then it would default to Safi being shapeshifted as Max like in the final game.

Scott Wilthe (free lance concept artist who works for Deck Nine) even posted the concept art of Safi shapeshifted as Amanda falling through the ice lake on his Twitter/X account a little while ago! https://x.com/swillhite100/status/1866881491277582518?s=61

(Looks like this Max romanced Vinh 🤭)

Me and my friend believe this was cut due to budget restraints as they wanted Amanda and Vinh’s actors to play their shapeshifted roles, but ended up just settling on Safi showing up as Max in the final game when that fell through.

My friend managed to find a lot of interesting discoveries from the official artbook, which showcase even more interesting changes to the story.

Max being confronted by a man wearing the Krampus mask.

Yeah, apparently there was going to be some sort of “Krampus killer” storyline at some point, and my friend personally believes that the killer was originally Vinh (😭). This is because there is concept art somewhere out there of the Krampus mask and its various designs labeled "vinhkrampusmasks”. I haven’t personally seen this concept art yet (my friend has seen more of the artbook than I have) so take this with a grain of salt I guess.

Now time for some of the different variations of the Caledon layout that constantly changed during development!

This is from the artbook, and note how there is no observatory in this version (it’s very hard to see so I apologize). The final game would never even work out on this map.

Caledon v9. Closer to final, but still with differences. See the old mansion on the left? That would have been the abandoned Hellerton mansion I mentioned previously. Remember the bridge you see at the end of Chapter 3 when you’re chasing Safi? That was where the mansion would have originally been.

Oh hey, it’s the cut hedge maze! (it was added relatively late, and removed just as quickly, most likely due to the constant changes in the development team).

There’s actually a lot more cut content to go over, but unfortunately tumblr has an image limit and I’m getting kinda tired writing all of this out so I think I’ll make a follow up post eventually going over the rest.

Hope whoever read all this found some of it interesting!

[krillonthegrill]

i get a really weird wave of sadness whenever the LiS YouTube channel posts things about DE bc like damn nobody gaf fr

[ratarttra]

what a man ♥

[danieesketches]

Happy birthday to Reggie, the menace to all Snapping Turtle glasses™️ 🎉✨

[platypuslappy]

reggie and vinh my favorite unexpected gay situationship with even MORE unexpected genuine development ever

[fire-in-my-woods]

REGGIE IS TO VINH WHAT VINH WAS TO SAFI SO TRUE!!! and i think this concept is fascinating because the solution isn’t ‘maybe love this person you don’t love’ but it’s to move on instead and respect yourself more. i’ll never understand the weird vinh x reggie stuff pulled at the end of the game … what happened to them being ‘bad’ for each other ?? i do not mind vinh realizing how poorly he’s treated people and trying to be better, especially after his safi revelation, but i don’t understand how this immediately equals romantic love ??? anyway. sorry. your opinions are amazing as always, and i’m so glad someone else has a similar view of them

NEVER APOLOGIZE KING UR ALWAYS CORRECT AND YOUR OPINIONS R ALWAYS RIGHT!!

[sheigarche]

Hi. do you think there's any deeper meaning to why Max asks Vinh to pose as asleep in the snapshot of him? Also, do you think he quit abraxas to spend more time with Max? Because he doesn't if Max rejects him... He wants to get a job on the West Coast... Arcadia Bay, Oregon w/ Max in the next game?

thanks

p.s. someone dm'ed the devs to ask if Moses is neurodivergent due to his hand movements so I think they might confirm Vinh has diabetes if asked. I hope they see that ppl like him enough to put him in the next game.

Hi friend.

Sorry, this ended up turning into an analysis of Vinh's character development 😅

I think Max asks him to pose as sleeping simply because he looks exhausted. Vinh texted her saying he couldn't sleep and she can comment on it too, so this is her way of joking around or teasing him that he needs to rest.

About Abraxas, I don't think he quit specifically to spend time with Max. This is all about his character development and learning to let go of the things that hurt him.

See, at the beginning of the story, Vinh only cares about two things: Safi and Abraxas. We learn more about him later, but these two things are right in the front and unironically are what cause Vinh the most pain at the moment.

Safi because of the relationship he had with her and the guilt of his actions that pushed her away and, now that she's dead, he's unable to have closure over these feelings that he doesn't even really understand.

(he only gets closure when the timelines merge and he realizes that she never felt anything for him and maybe he doesn't even love her after all).

And Abraxas because he has to live a persona and hide himself to maintain his reputation and that makes him miserable.

Every now and then Vinh lets a glimpse of who he really is slips, but there's always someone from Abraxas there to say something and remind him that he needs to keep up his mask of insensitive, mysterious bad boy. And he stands there and keeps doing it because it's the only thing he has.

There are other things adding to this too, of course, like how he gave up on his dream of being an actor and how he sleeps around and drinks to cope with his problems.

But Safi and the Abraxas are the turning point of development of his character.

Vinh's entire character arc is about him learning to let go of these things that hurt him and getting back to being who he really wants to be and stand up for himself and his feelings.

Remember one of his lines: "Did the past version of you ever feel like an alien? The things that person cared about are so worthless that you don't even remember being them."

We actually see this happening in real time in the game: Vinh slowly stopping caring about things that are now worthless to his life and moving on to new horizons.

That's one of the reasons I don't really like his relationship with Reggie. It's because a huge chunk of Vinh's character development has to be thrown away for it to happen. If we stay around to listen to the dialogues in this ending, we see that Vinh still sleeps around to cope, still hides himself behind a persona, still closes off to his feelings and gives value to those things that hurt him. And that's the version of him that Reggie likes, not the real Vinh underneath everything that he doesn't even know.

So, I think Vinh leaving Abraxas is more about his own growth as a character than his relationship with Max, although his interactions with her are of big importance for him to achieve this development.

Since Vinh is an actor, I think he would have more job opportunities on the West Coast, but I see him wanting to move there during the game (before his character development) as a way to escape his problems in Caledon. Just like Max did when she ran away from Arcadia Bay and hid from her past.

But at the end of the game, Max decided that she won't run away anymore and might go back there one day. So I believe that is true for Vinh as well.

He has already expressed that he wants to be with her, that he hopes she will keep him. So I see it as possible, once they are both ready, to go to the West Coast. Not to run away, but to heal and live their dreams.

Also, I gathered the courage to message the devs asking about Vinh's bracelet, but I haven't heard anything back yet.

I feel so embarrassed to do this kind of thing 😅But maybe one day we'll find out for sure. Fingers crossed🤞🏾

[myleonenciso]

Max Caulfield

She is a professor at Caledon University and also works as a photographer. She suddenly awakens the ability of travel between parallel worlds, and uses it to uncover the truth behind a murder.

Safi Fayad

A friend of Max and Moses, she is a graduate student at Caledon University who aspires to be a poet. She is a bit of a joker.

Moses Murphy

A friend of Max and Safi, a graduate student at Caledon University studying stars.

Amanda Thomas

A bartender at the Snapping Turtle, a bar near Caledon University.

Vinh Lang

He is a graduate of Caledon University and currently serves as assistant to the president.

Yasmine Fayad

Safi's mother and the president of Caledon University.

Gwen Hunter

A professor at Caledon University and Safi's mentor.

Lucas Colmenero

He is a professor at Caledon University and his father is a famous author.

Diamond Washington

A student at Caledon College who aspires to be a film director.

Reggie Kagan

A student at Caledon College who is studying photography with Max.

Loretta Rice

A student at Caledon University who aspires to be a journalist.

Vince Alderman

A Vermont detective who suspects Max and Moses in a certain case.

[langfield]

What are your full thoughts on Vinh/Reggie? I’ve seen some people say that even at the end of the game Vinh still seems to not take Reggie seriously, but to me it does look like they are a bit closer than they had been previously (the smile Vinh gives Reggie right before the credits at least gives me that vibe) after the storm.

my thoughts on vinh and reggie are rather cynical, i think, and i largely contribute this towards the fact that the way the game writes them changes based on whether you romanced vinh or not as max. if you romance vinh, their dynamic doesn’t undergo any changes and remains as it always was portrayed to be : which is that reggie pines after vinh while said man couldn’t care less for him, or at best does care but treats him poorly regardless. throughout my playthroughs of the game, i felt like it was rather apparent that vinh and reggie weren’t good for each other nor were destined to be together in any way, shape, or form. reggie’s feelings towards vinh are directly compared to diamond’s feelings towards moses ( and diamond/moses is a relationship that will never happen ) and you see via crosstalk, diamond’s own words, and the likes that these two aren’t exactly close to begin with. some examples are :

when vinh posts about maya on crosstalk, reggie comments a rather insensitive question to which vinh responds with his usual tight-lipped answer.

vinh telling reggie he needs a ‘cold shower’ in regards to reggie’s comment about himself.

reggie offering vinh a solution, vinh finding an excuse not to hang out, and immediately ignoring reggie when he makes a comment about moving in with vinh at abraxas house.

vinh’s casual hookup thing, and the implication that vinh’s and reggie’s sexual relationship is treated similarly to vinh banging strangers.

another instance of vinh ignoring reggie’s unsubtle offer to drink together, as well as a general aggressive attitude when reggie jokes about visiting him.

diamond, someone who knows reggie’s side of things best, also claims that they’re bad for each other … and i agree! most of their interaction veers towards something unsatisfying and unhappy for both parties, with reggie often feeling neglected ( on top of his already horrific mental health ) and vinh seemingly annoyed at reggie’s presence in his life overall. i don’t want reggie to be with someone who treats him so poorly, seeing as vinh already forces him into grunt work with diamond ( hanging up the posters ) and gives him an abraxas box to solve as though reggie still has to earn his place amongst the group. it kills me to see reggie comment on all of vinh’s post, and to talk about him obsessively and with such an admiring tone, only for vinh to ignore him at every turn or to snap at him. it also particularly fascinates me, and makes me sad for reggie, that the only reason vinh approaches reggie at the snapping turtle in spin is literally because max has either rejected him or didn’t talk to him at all. otherwise, vinh sits there for who knows how long, knowing that reggie is in the booth beside him and miserable, and never once bothers asking him how he was doing -- or approaches him at all. he even tries using him for the smash or pass game and brings him up again as a joke to max later on :

and while some of his interactions with reggie in a ‘max rejects’ route are sort of cute, you also get noticeable comments like this :

vinh commenting on max’s photo of him and reggie to talk about her feelings towards him, in a bantering way, only for him to then ask reggie if they are happy when it’s said that they are.

if max doesn’t reject vinh, he ends up texting her about his fear of not knowing who he is due to safi’s interference, meanwhile if she does reject vinh, he posts about it publicly on crosstalk instead. did he not talk to reggie about this?

to me, there’s a noticeable difference between a vinh who gets the girl and the vinh who doesn’t. he is happier, more hopeful in the romance timline … unlike here, where there’s a quiet jaded nature about him at all times. he hardly even speaks when max visits him and reggie at the turtle, and if you listen closely to their dialogue together thereafter, he’s still dismissing serious relationships and even admits that the only reason he texted reggie instead of max was because max had ‘other things’ going on. to me, it’s explicitly made clear that vinh deciding to spend more time with reggie is him selfishly dealing with the events of the storm by doing what he’s always done : using sex as a coping mechanism, and desperately finding ways to not be alone when he can’t stand being in his own head. i won’t deny that they’re ‘closer’ because, canonically, they are … but not in a way that’s particularly deep, new, or good for either of them. they’re merely retreading old habits with one another and making no improvements, stuck in a stagnant tango, and i don’t want that for reggie or vinh, honestly. reggie deserves better and he deserves an actual apology from vinh for how he’s been treated, and vinh deserves his own healing too once he gets his head out of his ass. maybe this is the game’s fault for rushing their offscreen romance and, sure, maybe the game’s intent was to make vinh and reggie seem closer, like they’re on the path to healing together, but from everything i’ve seen … i just doubt it. what we see at the end is probably what their relationship has always been, a wooden and tentative intimacy that always felt onesided to everyone around them. reggie still worships vinh blindly, and vinh is still using reggie rather than actually seeing him … and around and around they go.

i should make it clear that i do enjoy reggie/vinh immensely, by the way! their dynamic is integral to their characters and helps you understand reggie and see vinh’s genuine flaws at their worst. i’m also a slut for toxic dynamics that make each other worse, which is very much what this relationship is to me … though despite that, i still don’t think they’d ever work in a romantic relationship and that the best thing for both of them is to move past this. maybe one day they could be friends? i’d like that for them more than whatever it is they have in vinh’s rejection route. but uh, overall? no, i don’t ‘ship’ them nor do i think they’re close no matter what path is taken.

[melonishus]

Reggie - This box is impossible [tosses it against the ground] I’m mad at it now !

Max - [picks it up] Sweet, I love children’s puzzles [solves it in several seconds]

Reggie - …

Max - You’re kind of stupid , aren’t you

—-

Writing Requests are OPEN

[fffionnfoxhell]

[mal3nko]

just realized reggie’s assignment that you can find in gwen’s office is him obviously talking about his crush on vinh. 🥺

[krillonthegrill]

things i want in the next LiS if they actually make another game because it's looking pretty bleak for the future of the IP

- DUAL protagonists. switch between Max and Diamond because if you switch to Diamond we get to see Safi more

- make the game LONGER. DE was so short. i want more Diamond and i want to know what her powers are

- MORE MOSES he's so awesome i love him

- Revenge Horse Concert Thomfield kiss scene it's not a want it's a need also Max meets Amanda's friends and they're all gay and cool

- MORE LORETTA AND REGGIE <3

- no shitty expensive DLC and better outfit choices

- Max covered in blood, i don't know why

- Safield toxic yuri i need to kiss Safi

- Safi full villain arc

- if you chose not to agree with Safi at the end of DE i want her turning into Amanda/Vinh to mess with Max (not romantically bc that's fucked i just want her using their voices and shit to freak her out)

- Vinh in a play

- more Max with a gun because it's so funny

- more Amanda in t-shirts

- more Amanda

- Amanda

[canonqueers]

Canon Queer of the Day:

Vinh Lang

Vinh Lang is a character from Life is Strange: Double Exposure! He is canonically bisexual and had feelings for Safi, though he also often flirted with Max but they never became official. Additionally, he can enter a relationship with Reggie Kagan depending on the players choices.

Submitted by @yeahhiyellow

[danieesketches]

work in progress

[Vinh and Reggie]