#the exception to this is when games are specifically meant to alienate you from the main character

[halfmaskshadow]

I personally think that the best way to enjoy a video game is to forge an emotional connection to the main character in a such a way that while playing you are near indistinguishable in such a way that you are simply them but more

So anyway that’s ive started hallucinating bats while playing Batman Arkham

[mysteryevolution]

5, for the hatchling ask game? (could also be taken as a free space to share hearthian specbio headcanons if you'd like :D )

Oh. Oh boy! Thank you for the ask because this is gonna be fun! Long rant incoming, so I'll go ahead and put this all below a read more.

Prepare to learn about nictating membranes, gills, brachial hearts, scale coloration/patterns, why I think Hearthians have four eyes, and how those eyes function. Not quite in that exact order.

Eyes, Color Vision, and Nictating Membranes -

So, the reason some aquatic organisms on earth developed four eyes or mechanisms adjacent to four eyes (such as split pupils) was to see above and below water at the same time. This is likely the same reason Hearthians evolutionarily have four eyes. (If you don’t already know about them, check out some photos of anableps, also called the “four-eyed fish.” A lot of my science for this post was inspired by anableps .)

Proto-Hearthians are mentioned to have resided in pools of water within caves, and it’s likely that those pools contained debris that could be stirred up by movement, such as a loose sediment, and they would need a way to protect their eyes while retaining visual acuity. Hence, Hearthians have a nictitating membrane: not quite a third eyelid! But kind of. It's close. It's there to help with underwater navigation via not letting silt directly hit the eyeball.

Additionally, a Hearthian’s top eyes and bottom eyes have different color receptors. One of the best colors for penetrating murky/lower visibility water is yellow light. As such, their lower eyes, which are meant to spend more time below water, contain red and green color receptors to create the illusion of yellow by mixing the two light wavelengths! The top eyes contain blue and green color receptors, and their brains essentially piecemeal the information from both sets of eyes to create “true color” vision. 

(This means not only is Gossan’s depth perception messed up, so is their color vision. Or it’s at least somewhat skewed, unfortunately for them. Oops?)

Gills, Three Hearts, and a Little Bit of Metamorphosis -

Hearthians have gills along their sides/ribs. And you may be thinking, hey? Doesn’t Hatchling drown in the game if they jump into water? Why would you give them gills? That's weird.

Yes. But by all appearances, Hearthians are amphibious, and it would make sense that Hatchling would know how to swim. Hatchling clearly does not, but that's a whole different can of worms. Of course, amphibians on Earth don’t retain gills unless they remain in their larval form, such as axolotls, but I have to have a little fun deviating from Earth norms when it comes to aliens. We (I) slap neoteny on things here (in my headcanons). 

Graphite “the worst amphibian on the entire planet” is an outlier and should not be included in data. The fact they drown so quickly, however, inclines me to believe that to remain game accurate, I must account for why the gills…are so very bad at their job. (It's either that or Graphite/Hatchling specifically just forgets how breathing works. Let me be real here, they would.)

How the gills are orientated: they run horizontally from a hand’s length below the shoulder blade to the front of the body. Pretend to draw a line vertically from where the hip bone meets the femur. That's approximately where the gill slits stop. There are two sets on either side of the body. 

These gills are not useless to the point of vestigial, per se, but they’re not the most functional organ either. There are two brachial hearts that branch off the main heart, one on the left gills and one on the right gills, (a mechanism observed in many real fish! Examples include cuttlefish - my main inspiration here - as well as hagfish (except they have four hearts), and octopi). Most real reptiles and amphibians have three chambered hearts as opposed to the mammalian four chambered heart, so the brachial heart structure used here is essentially just a more extreme version of spacing out those bits. The brachial hearts help move oxygen more efficiently into the bloodstream when it is taken in by the gills.

Gills are a remnant from the completely aquatic tadpole stage of the Hearthian lifecycle. Tadpoles have cute little webbed fingers and toes, a tail, very prominent gills, and lack of external ears. They still have internal ear canals, but sound travels much farther through water, and external ear shells aren't necessary for picking up vibrations. If anything, they'd create more drag when swimming, and that's counterproductive to survival. This stage lasts for about a year until the tadpole is ready to fully transition onto the land. They'll undergo a metamorphosis as they get closer to the one-year mark, losing most of their tails and webbing, growing proper air-breathing lungs, and developing external ears. Once they can breathe air, they're considered a hatchling.

Culturally, there's two stages to hatchlinghood: "you've still got some of your tail left" stage, and the "you no longer have a tail" stage, or, in human terms, pre-teen and teen.

Even though the gills and brachial hearts remain throughout all life stages, they don’t increase proportionally to body size once the tadpole stage is over. This means they don't have the capability to keep up with the energy demands of an adult body. The main heart is doing most of the cardiovascular work now.

Additionally, a lot of the water they might find themself swimming in isn’t oxygen rich. Breathing through gills will only provide a very meager amount of supplemental oxygen. They can, however, breathe better in cold water because of the higher concentration of dissolved oxygen available. You would think this is counterintuitive because, well, warm water is a better solute, right? And you'd be correct. But that also means warmer water contains a higher amount of CO2 than cold water, the same reason warm sodas go flat. The CO2 that couldn't dissolve before at lower temperatures suddenly can dissolve. This is not good for breathing.

When a hatchling or adult does breathe through their gills, picture it like this: you’re running, and you get a stitch in your side. You continue running while trying to breathe, and your breaths become fast and shallow. The balance of CO2 and oxygen is thrown off by breathing in this way, even though it’s a mechanism meant to try and disperse the buildup of lactic acid from your muscles. As such, you’re breathing, but you are not breathing efficiently. It can't be sustained for long. That, and in this analogy, you're breathing in a liquid, and you'd have to exhale underwater before you try breathing air again. Otherwise, you will start choking. Drowning. One of the two. It’s not the world’s best pulmonary system.

Scale Patterns and Coloration -

So, there’s this very fun form of camouflage present in many real animals called countershading. Countershading is exactly what it sounds like: two different colors working to provide protection in different environmental contexts simultaneously. Thinking mainly of birds and fish here, these organisms often have lighter bellies (ventral coloration) and darker backs (dorsal coloration). This is because when viewed from below, they are backdropped against the sky, or the top of the water column, lit by the sun, which is brighter than the rest of their surroundings. When viewed from above, they are seen backdropped against the darker colors of the ground or the depths of the waters. I think Hearthians should get lighter colored scales (off white/yellow-ish) on their tummies as a treat. 

As for scale patterns, why have patterns at all? What’s the point? There are two answers here, and I will only go into detail with the latter: attraction of mates and more camouflage!

Essentially, like many real animals, it’s likely that their spots/scale patches are a form of camouflage. And in my mind since the Hearthians all have mineral names (or names related to geological features, looking at Esker and Moraine there, lol), the naming convention stems from the idea that tadpoles are initially covered in spots to blend in with the rocky bottom of the pools they hatch in! These spots develop into more complex patterns as they age. …I also imagine their eggs look like rocks in all likelihood. Prevent predation by pretending to be rocks, y’all. No one wants to eat those. 

In short: Proto-Hearthian had spots because rocky bottom of habitat + outside pressures necessitating them = pebble-like spots on tadpoles = oooh, pretty scale patterns in modern Hearthians.

If you made it through this post, kudos to you! No seriously. Thank you for reading. If you want to hear my thoughts about Hearthian egg development, courtship rituals, child rearing structures, or pretty much anything else, my asks are open. I have speculative evolution-based rants for all of that stuff. Also, plants. I have so many thoughts about space plants.

[bloodyshadow1]

I know it's a bit late in the season to do this, but I have adhd and finally got my meds so I can put stuff down on paper. This is a list of things I want and dont' want to happen on the 4th season of lower decks. And of course these are just my thoughts on the series, please don't try to yell at me about how my opinions are wrong. I would love to discuss anything here in a civilized manner, even if I have to speak like Mark Twain

Wants:

I want a mariner and Rutherford episode. Not a trio episode, but the an episode where the two of them have an A or B plot story to themselves. They're the only 2 of the original 4 to not have a story for just the 2 of them. I know they're friends and kind of close, but we only get it when they're attached to Tendi or Boimler. I just want them interacting as a pair so we can see their relationship, maybe they don't get along well together when they're not with other people. It's been 4 seasons, they deserve an episode together. (I dont' count the least dangerous game, because while their plots interact, and Mariner specifically tries to break the rules to rescue him, they don't interact as characters)

Tendi and Mariner getting into a fight, like a fist fight for real. Mariner is amazing in a fight, we've seen it multiple times and she's able to trounce Boimler and Rutherford at the same time easily. Tendi is a secret monster too when it comes to battle curbstomping 4 Romulan guards on her own when the mission didn't even come to that, other Orions are terrified of her and while she 'lost' the fight with her super assassin younger sister, the sister had an actual sword and wasn't tired from running around on the planet looking for her 'kidnapped' sister. I don't want it to be a super emotional thing, though it could be

I'm on the fence about wanting any romance, I think Mariner and Jennifer was done terribly, like one of the worst ways to write romance (I'll get to that on my don't wants). But as a lesbian woman, I am always thirsty for sci-fi sapphics. I would love a love story between 2 (or more) women, cis/trans/or nonbinary, even if I'm not sure I can trust the writers do do it justice. I'm just built the way I am. I would also like two or more men in the similar way, it's not my thing, but it's somebodies, and I'm always here for more queer rep.

I'd like to see Boimler and Rutherford interact with Shax more. I know they're not security but they are official members of the bear pack and he seems to have a soft spot for them. I really like that side of him and I like that the two soft but underestimated boys of the original 4 bring out that side of him.

Something Something Enterprise related. I was a very casual view of Enterprise growing up, I didn't watch a lot of star trek just episodes that my brother watched when he got the chance to. But I watched a few of enterprise and it has a soft spot in my heart. Lower Decks is full of easter eggs and references, I hope they have some for enterprise as they had a whole episode about Deep Space Nine and Voyager in the series already. I don't have a particular care, since I'm more of a lower decks fan than star trek, but I know Enterprise isn't everyone's cup of tea but I liked what I saw, (except for the finale)

Something the series always does really good is introducing or reintroducing different alien races that they don't really do any more on the live action because makeup and cgi take time and money and even then can look fake or uncanny valley, but that's the beauty of animation (not that it doesn't cost money, just that you can add any alien race to any scene and it feels like they're meant to be there and they live in that world). It's just really cool to see the variety of aliens that populate the star trek universe and it's easier to include them in Lower Decks than anything.

Scene between Mariner and her mother. I feel like the ending was rushed in season 3 and brushed off as Mariner making the mistakes. When the season her character development was that she could admit that she loved the Cerritos and the people aboard only to be judged and stabbed in the back by her own mother and basically kicked out of her home. Carol had her own reasons, and I get it if it was season 1 mariner, but it rubbed me the wrong way and was done too quickly.

Don't want:

Jennifer to come back in any speaking capacity, especially with Mariner. This is probably controversial, but it's how I feel. I actually liked the character before season 3 and still do really, but I feel like the writers didn't know what to do with her and wrote one of the worst romantic relationships I've ever seen. I can go on and on about this, and probably will on another post I've been saving since season3 ended, but after watching Mike McMahan's interview with Jessie gender (on her youtube channel jessie Gender after dark, I highly recommend it and the rest of her videos, I'm a huge fan) I genuinely don't think that they put much thought into the relationship other than they're going to break up. I don't think if they wrote a scene with Jennifer talking to Mariner they could ever do it justice. Even if it's just been as a background character Jennifer has already been in as many episodes as she was in season 3 which says enough about how little screen time their relationship got. Let it just be dead and let Jennifer be a background character with a cool design

No romance between the main 4. I don't really like the idea of romance between the original 4 lower deckers, (Tendi and Rutherford kind of get a pass since they were genuinely sweet but I haven't gotten any ship tease moments from them in season 3 so maybe the writers forgot about them) I love romantic relationships, but I also love platonic relationships too and the 4 of them are genuinely sweet as friends. I'm not going to hate the show or stop watching it, but I will sigh because for the most part it always seems like 'romantic tension' amounts to this is a boy and this is a girl and they're going to get together because that's life. Which as a queer woman isn't really for me. Note T'lyn is not part of this, she can be with any of the main 4 as long as it feels right and naturally written for all I care. I like her character but she doesn't have the history that the other 4 have that would make me dislike it. Hell let her date all 4 of them and have them remain platonic dating their awesome Vulcan girlfriend

No Peanut Hamper like episodes in season 3 please. I don't even think the episode was bad, it was very funny and very star trek. The issue is that when the older shows did the bizzaro/lower decks/character we never thought of episodes, they had over 20 episodes in their seasons, and I believe were 40 minutes long, (it's been so long since I've seen older live action star trek), they had time to do these episodes without taking time form the plot or the characters that we love. Lower decks has 10 episodes a season like SNW, as is the modern season for networks. 1/10 of the time of the season devoted to a character that some might consider annoying feels like a huge waste in a short season. I know they're probably setting up something for this season's finale or next seasons plot like since Peanut Hamper went to the Daystrom institute with the other evil super intelligences, but it still felt like a lot of time to spend on her when there was to flesh out with characters I liked.

This is all for me for now, I'd like to get peoples opinons on this and honestly anything for lower decks. I like talking with other fans even if it's just through reblogs and replies

[earlyspringtranscendence]

Sometimes I'm normal but usually I run around screaming about such things as Wit + Jasnah or Renarin or Shallan like

Wit and Jasnah are canon now which like I'm crazy about that OBVIOUSLY but I didn't even mean that I meant it more in thr sense of just general... Idk. Insanity. Like in the way that Jasnah Shallan and Renarin resemble each other, namely how their unique traits alienate them (I'm talking about autism, asexuality and whatever nebulous quality combines them both) but specifically in a way that other king's wits would (presumably) exploit but THIS Wit doesn't (BC. You know. He is himself in many ways far more alien than any of them will ever be and that + his age puts him above even the nebulous quality of autismic asexuality (I'm not making sense here but what I mean is that when you are an ancient creature who it could be argued stands above or at least Without gods because of what he knows, why would you care about such things as social rules or social dynamics) (=I don't think wit is necessarily autistic or ace at all but that he no longer cares enough to play the game) which for the record is also why being a wit is the best role he's played in this whole thing so far because that's exactly what position a wit takes on within the Alethi society)

Basically I'm re reading way of kings after having just finished rhythm of war and the way Wit makes fun of Renarin is actually Wit making sure Renarin ISNT further alienated from the class of people he runs with (everyone thinks Renarin is either too weak to take it (dalinar) or so strange Wit should only ever be concerned with him (like everyone else other than adolin and maybe elhokar) so the fact Wit just treats him same as anyone else is, like, meaningful) and then in. Oathbringer I think? When Wit has that insanity inducing moment with Shallan where he actually breaks down his walls a bit just to offer her comfort (INSANE) and then I think with Jasnah what strikes me most of all is he's not any specific way with her at all he just. Is.

And I guess in a way he's like that with kal too (he's like that with everyone really) except I don't count it because kal is a soldier and he's not alienated from polite society other than by being a darkeyes (but that's not true alienation that's just not being part of the 1% kind of) like even if kal FEELS alienated because of his trauma he doesn't actively take on that position as opposed to everyone else mentioned in this post (which btw part of how Jasnah does that is by being a heretic too)

Idk. End of sentence. I just go mad about these interactions. And I go double mad about Renarin and Jasnah and how they are... So similar. So different. So supremely Brother And Sister even when they're not

[elementroar]

This wasn’t how I expected to see anyone mention Lost Odyssey again, but this jostled some memories.

Kaim kept trying to settle down and have regular families but kept outliving them cos he’s Immortal, due to actually being an alien from an alternate dimension using a human body, possibly even remotely. So his immortality is not genetic and that means his kids are unfortunately just regular mortal humans. After a certain point, watching all his families die made him really jaded.

Up till he apparently, by pure coincidence, ran into one of the other Immortals - Sarah Sisulart - near the end of their 1000 year mission. And they hit it off SO well, that they decided to have a kid together (still just a mortal despite having two immortal parents) IN THE LAST TEN YEARS OF THEIR MISSION. Which of course meant they didn’t want to go back home to their dimension, not until their daughter grew up at least.

And the thing is, Kaim and Sarah should’ve been aware of each other long before finally marrying each other in the very last few decades of their 1000 year mission, because there were two other Immortals who kept more in constant contact. They all entered the game world together.

It’s implied Sarah simply spent all her time focused on magic research cos that was partially their collective mission - find out why magic in this world was killing their home world. Meanwhile Kaim simply wandered around and wanted to have families (not like in a ‘breeding’ plan, mainly cos he was lonely). She even said she pretty much holed up in her mansion until one day Kaim just…arrives, and enters her life.

And like, I dunno if it’s romantic, or more like they’re both old souls who decided to settle? Sarah says Kaim is basically her great love, and possibly ONLY love, after 1000 years. There’s another Immortal who kept having kids too like Kaim, another who became an Immortal Queen who possibly had consorts over the centuries. Sarah just seemed to NEVER pursue any relationship up till Kaim showed up and it’s never really said whether he was looking for her specifically or it was a coincidence.

And maybe it’s cos Kaim finally realized the obvious idea that at least if you marry a fellow Immortal, you won’t outlive your kids alone; and Sarah deciding she WANTS the full human experience and have a kid with him, that led to them kinda foolishly having a child when their mission is JUST about to wrap up.

That’s just their backstory. Sarah then gets amnesia and IS NEVER CURED OF IT FOR THE ENTIRE GAME. She literally only knows about Kaim because she read her own journals about their life together. She never remembers their daughter and never got to see her one last time that Kaim at least got to. She assumes the role of grandma to her grandkids, because that’s what she assumes she has to be.

And about their grandkids. Yeah so after Kaim got to talk to his daughter before she dies, she asks him to take care of her kids, as well he’s their grandpa, of course he would. Except like, well. Let’s see he lets grandkids in as party members of the RPG, so that means they’re constantly being beaten up, heck his like 10 year old grandson is a FRONTLINE character.

The true brilliance of his grandparenting is when he manages to lose both grandchildren in a frozen over city, forcing him and his amnesiac wife to fight a train to get them back.

And I dunno why I wrote all this. I think cos Kaim and Sarah’s relationship, or lack of, is oddly fascinating? Cos it reads like they were both not initially interested in each other enough to even think about a relationship, up till near the end of their mission and Kaim realizes the most obvious solution to his ‘outliving spouse’ problem and Sarah wants to actually feel love and have a relationship; but they end up kinda ‘abandoning’ the mission, or delaying it for their daughter, and the big bad used their daughter as a weak point for his masterplan.

And then you see how they’re pretty bad at protecting literally their only two grandkids, how Kaim never bothers to cure his wife of amnesia cos she seems chill with being with him even though he’s effectively a total stranger again to her. And like, where’s the love, really? I played the game, outside of when Kaim is desperately trying to save her initially at her mansion, they don’t ever really have an emotional conversation or moment. Not even when the two have their ‘solo’ mission to rescue their grandkids.

That always disappointed me honestly. Cos it’s fascinating backstory when you get down to it. Like imagine two Immortal beings who decide to settle down together, the emotions that got into deciding to have a child they know they’d both outlive, or at least never see again once they return to their home world.

And in the end, they stayed behind and never returned to their home world, so they watch their offspring and descendants grow old and die as they stay constant. Like two perpetual patriarch and matriarch of an eventually huge family pyramid over time.

There’s lots of potential and unfortunately the game never wants to touch it. Sarah never laments her lost memories ffs.

This was just a long rant to clear my head.

[glapplebloom]

Like the one Jaidenanimation played...

Master Research Link

What I’ve learned...

So I started with the three Gameboy Color Games... When I said quick cash grab this is what I meant. It’s basically the same game three times in 4 months. With the only difference being the bosses. And they did this on purpose because Blossom’s game (the first one) references Bubbles' game (the last one). And man, they definitely look as bad as Jaiden explained it.

HIM and Seek looks fun, and has the best sprites for the Powerpuff Girls made by a game company. In fact, HIM and Mojo Jojo sprites I use are edited/reshaded versions of these. And man, this game has a lot of great assets I could really use for the Powerpuff Girls side of GLAB. Meanwhile Mojo Jojo a Go Go looks so so and is a shmup.

Chemical X-Traction has some amazingly good CGI Animations for a PS1 era game. And you thought Pinkie Pie was the one who coined the phrased Baked Bads, but it was Bubbles who first uttered those words. Shame that’s probably the best thing about it. The Load times are long, it’s an arena fighter before it became more publicly known and it doesn’t look fun to play. 

Relish Rampage, their final console game, the graphics reminds me of Dance Pants, except not as artistic. Honestly, I like the CGI cutscenes of the PS1 era game better. So technically the Powerpuff Girls rigged an election in favor of the Mayor. While Mojo mind controlled citizens to vote for him, they took out ballot boxes containing those votes. Then there are Pickled Aliens invading. Other than that, nothing really of note other than Dynamo Suits that does... Something?

I was worried there wouldn’t be anything good from the games, but DANG Gamesville pulled through. HIM basically turned all of Townsville into a video game and brought back the Broccoli Aliens from the Dead. Not only did he threaten to erase Townsville and make it so the girls couldn’t do anything specific, he also destroyed that dimension that all the data was being sucked into. Thank you PC Gaming! 

Princess Snorbucks is similar to Mojo Jojo’s Clone zone, except mostly everything was done in a dream. Still, the cutscenes were pretty good for an educational game. Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion is basically the plot of Learning with Pibby. Other than that, not much besides fun interactions. And finally, the Powerpuff Girls: Defenders of Townsville is the last Major Powerpuff Game released. It’s based on Dance Pants but you can unlock the OG designs.

And thanks to Archive.org, I found one of the missing DC Comics. #48 has Sedusa making all of Townsville into a reality show so while they focus on being the star, she robs them blind. And when it was revealed the Professor doesn’t watch TV (which is a lie), Sedusa seduces him. The Girls beat her. The second story has Mojo having a garage sale. It's another story that becomes the plot of an episode. Granted, no Gangreen Gang. But Mojo still goes to jail despite stopping the moon from crashing.

Archive also has this presumably unpublished comic for DC... But I don’t buy it considering the art doesn’t match DCs as well as its an issue about the girls being naked (with nothing shown)..

Best Feat I found... 

It has to be HIM destroying that Dimension he was using to suck up all the data of Townsville. It’s basically the proof that he can pretty much erase something fully. If it wasn’t for that, it would have probably been the Powerpuff Girls beating the Beat Alls.

Next Time...

The Movie, original shorts, and some other stuff.

[the-acid-pear]

I dreamt with this Danganronpa game except it wasn't really Danganronpa, in any way. Sure there was ONE Danganronpa character that being Bandai (from Mirai Hen) but then it was filled w misc characters from non existent dr games. One was very cool to there were this group of young girls but I selected specifically one that was this purple and black glowing rock alien who was I insist a little girl like middle school or some shit but was kinda ripped by virtue of being made of rock I guess and her flavor text said something about her not giving a fuck.

I guess it's worth mentioning that the point of this game was to accuse someone but at fucking random I guess, or with what you already knew of the characters. I remember clicking on Bandai for this reason, who btw was notably ooc bc how on edge he was, and the flavour text shamed me like "are you going to accuse him when he didn't even get to read his letter?". But nothing else that is notable happened here.

This did transition to this blonde anime boy who had showed up earlier who has this weird blocky stylized hair and his lower jaw was like caved in but not consistently, kept glitching in and out, like a doll being inflated and deflated. He was talking to this girl who I also think was blonde, but blonder, longer hair too, and he explained that apparently the baras (his word) had beaten him up and that was why he had his face like that but it was ok and kinda was like so um wanna go out with me? And she agreed.

And here's a funny part because they went into this big futbol field and it seems like in my dream universe there was this argentine meme that came from an Instagram post of two futbol players back to back all romantic and one had a t-shirt with a 4 (no clue if this is a number used in futbol I don't like the sport) and like it was captioned like 4(for) MI PUTO ❤️ and so now these guys from the team were giving out umbrellas 4 tu puto and I guess diversity won bc they gave it to this seemingly straight couple. Being someone's puto goes beyond gender I guess.

After that the dream got a bit dark tho, and it's shorter because I forgot details, but I was watching this documentary about this horror movie's creator who apparently had developed schizophrenia and while at first it was manageable it was slowly consuming him. The narrator explained he was specifically terrified of these "evil orbs" that lives inside his closet. One remarkable shot was our guy sculpting or looking down at this sculpture (like one of those paintings with 3D elements) of an unicorn in a setting akin to the one from the birth of Venus, with such colors and vibe. But the before beautiful and peaceful sculpture was now infected by these evil balls, spreading all over the lower right corner of the frame, crawling up the horse's leg.

After this I walked away from the documentary but I was like "haha just like me except balls instead of liquid" and as I stepped closer to my desktop I saw it covered in this bleeding, dripping, darkness. My chair was barely visible on it. I thought for a second of my oc Shira, but I'm unsure what that meant. Maybe she too is terrified of these liquids? Might be canon. I have no idea if it was tangible or dream me was genuinely aware of it being just a hallucination, but I was still scared enough to not go closer, instead diverting my attention to my cat Vito, who was now nothing like him. Short dirty hair, even fatter, big circular face, and had an eye patch. I don't know how I reached this assumption but I was sure he too was schizophrenic and I got very stressed because I guess I didn't want my cat to be as miserable as he was at the moment (his movement was also Weird his neck twisted almost like a human one).

I stopped freaking out when I looked out the window, previously covered by the dark liquid and saw daylight and I was like Right it's 7 pm it's too early to freak out! And the clock did say 19:01 and then I just woke up.

[meg-noel-art]

hi!! i wanna preface by saying i agree with you, i just want to add one thing bc i don't want to make my own post or be perceived in any meaningful way

i feel like the nature of specifically horizon's dlcs is a direct continuation of aloy's story. frozen wilds was how we got truly introduced to the heph storyline and why we know we need to go after it, also introduction/context behind apex machines etc. when i first played forbidden west i was surprised that it took the DLC so strongly into account, which led me to believe it was meant to be a necessary step in aloy's story bc it didn't felt like exposition - it felt like assumed, already known information (which it would not be if you didn't play frozen wilds).

i also think that's what they were going for with burning shores. unfortunately, GG alienated a large portion of their playership by making it ps5 exclusive (whatever their reasoning may be, likely technological) - also the points you brought up about other reasons players can't get a dlc. I'm not saying it's a good model to base a franchise on, but that is the sense i got.

i have nothing to say about the shipping aspect bc it truly does not matter to the overarching narrative outside of hooray!! representation that is important for a lot of people!! shipping wars are stupid as hell. you're playing barbie with other people's characters, everyone, calm down

Yes I've gotten multiple asks bringing up the Frozen Wilds, but it only proves my point. So in that sense I still disagree with you and others. FWs is still not necessary to play. It adds dramatic context. But all of it's lore is still re-explained, admittedly to a lesser degree, in HFW.

Heph running wild is still reiterated via exposition during the plot of Forbidden West. Characters that were important to implementing the lore never make a return - CYAN is mentioned once in a dialogue wheel with GAIA. Aratak is a battle easter egg. Ourea is dead. Even Gildun is not an exception. His reappearance was EASTER EGGED in HFW and then he ONLY showed up in -- another DLC, which is again, optional.

I'm not making up rules here folks. This is how DLC works for any franchise. They can absolutely expand lore, tack on characters and important plot points but at the end of the day they are NOT necessary to play the main story. And will always be rehashed/reexplained for players who did not play the DLC. Or who couldn't.

That's one of the reasons they made up another Zenith that somehow escaped the final battle. Londra is entirely expendable as a villian. One off monster of the week special episode villain.

Look how hard Guerrilla pushed the Sunhawk comic, going so far as to include it digitally in an edition of HFW -- and still Talanah's entire quest retells the events of the comic via dialogue wheels.

Because ---- Guerrilla HAS to account for the fact that s o m e fans may not have read it and won't know what's going on. And every fan must be allowed to be clued in.

Mass Effect DLCs are another great example - and ME is even MORE open choice than Horizon is.

I completely agree with you that Guerrilla narrowed what it can do with Burning Shores moving forward bc of the ps5 exclusivity as well. For whatever reason they did it doesn't really matter the point is it restricts it's audience from playing.

I ALSO had an issue with the writing in HFW because it was written very very obviously to allow NEW players into the series. To START with HFW, not HZD, and not be totally lost. Even past the first cutscene, Aloy spends a ton of time rehashing events with old characters. I think 3 will play out much the same way. Because they have to develop it like that. Their goal as a company is to appeal to a large crowd of gamers, for money. Capitalism, they do not want their games to fail. Especially after queer clapback. So three will rehash undoubtedly the events of HFW, HZD AND BS. And that's a lot to cram in without forcing players to have played or make assumptions.

I have nothing to say about the shipping aspect either. Despite the many asks today for some reason interpreting my objective take on the nature of a DLC is an attack on representation OR the ship in general - i have zero issue with it. I will say yet AGAIN, i thought it was cute and enioyed the story.

That does not change the fact that a DLC is skippable, choices with Seyka were in a flashpoint aka optional, THIS IS NOT DENYING THE ROMANCE - but Aloy's reaction to it is different and would effect a player's game -- and at most I assume she'll be reintergrated in a fashion similar to Gildun. Because again, Guerrilla MUST account for the fact that THEY chose to introduce her in a DLC and thus people/new players will not know her or the story.

That's how it works, sorry about it.

Thank you for the courteous tone of your ask! This is, however, the last BS ask I will answer.

Take care 🫶

[nikatyler]

Those of you who weren’t around when I was posting these, no worries, I’ve got you. These two are Josie and Lucian.

Lucian has been quite an interesting plot twist to my game. I had just gotten his parents engaged, they went home, instantly after the lot loaded, Caleb got abducted (for the second time in this legacy, first time was planned by me, second was not) and...Lucian was the result, fully an alien, no sign of vampirism inherited from his father. (Side note look how cute he was as a toddler 😭)

So yeah, alien, raised by two vampires, but living mostly as a human. Years later, he became friends with Josie, and the two wanted to form a band. Except then Josie inherited her dead aunt’s (not entirely sure if it was an aunt lol but yeah dead relative) house in Glimmerbrook and decided to move there. Lucian, at this point her boyfriend, joined her. Long story short, the two found their way to the magic realm and decided to become spellcasters. (I don’t think I really touched this anywhere in the story but I’ve always imagined that Josie actually descended from spellcasters, she just didn’t know.) Becoming a spellcaster meant that Lucian had to give up everything that made him alien (not that he mourned that loss too much, as I said, he already pretty much lived as a human). No more dreams of making it big in the music industry, now they focused on magic.

And Lucian specifically...focused on one, let’s say, very dark side of the untamed magic. You see, when he was a teenager, one very easily distracted watcher forgot vampires and sun don’t really go together. Sure, Ross made it back from hell quite fast because love conquers all, yada yada, and a certain watcher just couldn’t imagine the legacy without him anyway, but he only made it back as a ghost. He wasn’t alive alive. Lucian wanted to fix that and started researching magic of life and death. And he was successful, he actually brought his father back to life. Everyone say thank you Lucian.

That’s pretty much all you need to know I think? Oh, and they had two cats, Apollo and Onyx. And a daughter, Selina, who, as I’ve said already, was supposed to be shown more on this blog but then I just kinda didn’t enjoy her save as much as I expected. But hey, never say never, maybe I’ll come back to it someday, and then I’ll play with these guys again as well.

[amuelia]

How do you think Roose will meet his demise? Or will he survive? What's your best Roose end game predictions?

Thank you for the question! This will be a long post under the readmore, going into my thoughts on the show ending and exploring what the books may have set up in regards to themes and characterization, as well as a bit of general analysis of Roose' story arc in a Dance with Dragons (and some speculation about Ramsay as well).

If you click on the readmore i will have divided the post into sections with bolded Headers, if you want to only read my specific endgame ideas you can skip ahead to the "His Endgame?" section.

In The Show

The show had him get killed by Ramsay in s6, which informs a lot of the fandom speculation about this storyline.

I am not a fan of the show's scenario as it was both similar to tywin and tyrion as well as a mirror of robb's death; it would also be offscreen in the books since neither of the characters are PoVs and Ramsay would need to do the act in secret. This would ultimately undercut Roose' role and impact, being a death scene that is not very unique and also isn't shown to the reader directly. Since no PoV is even in Winterfell currently, we would just hear of it from afar and not witness the consequences.

The show also has a different dynamic in the Bolton storyline, emphasizing Ramsay as the "main character" of this arc, and elevating him to the main villain for s5-6 to fill Joffrey's shoes as an evil character played by a very charismatic actor. Ramsay's show writing is informed by the needs of a TV setting that wants shocking moments and capitalizes on "fan favourite" actors; his rising importance in the show thus is not necessarily an indicator of his book importance. The show was also missing many central characters like the northern lords and the Frey men in Winterfell.

The show had a tendency to kill off characters early when they wanted to cull storylines or had no plans to adapt more of the character's story (like Stannis, Barristan, possibly the Tyrells...); In Mance Rayder we have the most obvious example, where they killed him off for real in a scene that in the book was a misdirection. We also have characters like Jorah where it appears the showrunners had their own choice of how they want his storyline to end, even if Grrm has his own ending in mind.

"For a long time we wanted Ser Jorah to be there at The Wall in the end," writer Dave Hill says. "The three coming out of the tunnel would be Jon and Jorah and Tormund. But [...] Jorah should have the noble death he craves defending the woman he loves." - Dave Hill for Entertainment Weekly

So a death in the show does not need to be an indicator that the books will feature an equivalent scene, even if it gives a hint as to what may happen. By s5 the show has become its own beast, and the butterfly effects from radical changes they made as well as the different characterizations results in the show having to cater to its own needs in many cases when it gets to resolving a plotline.

"We reconceived the role to make it worthy of the actor's talents." - Benioff and Weiss for the s5 DVD commentary, on Indira Varma's casting as Ellaria

In The Books

(Since this post was getting out of hand in length a lot of these arguments are a little shortened/not as in-depth as i'd like! Feel free to inquire more via ask if something is unclear or you disagree)

In the books i find it hard to make a concrete guess as to how it will end. Occam's razor would be to assume the show sort of got it right and that it will vaguely end the same, which could very well happen and i will not discount the possibility; Ramsay is cruel, desires the Dreadfort rule, and is a suspected kinslayer and has no qualms to commit immoral violence.

"Ramsay killed [his brother]. A sickness of the bowels, Maester Uthor says, but I say poison." - Reek III, aDwD

Reek saw the way Ramsay's mouth twisted, the spittle glistening between his lips. He feared he might leap the table with his dagger in his hand [to attack his father]. - Reek III, aDwD

Arguments against this or for a different endgame come down to interpretations of the themes in the story arc and opinions on dramatic structure/grrm's writing, and are thus very subjective.

The way the story currently is going, Ramsay killing Roose treats Roose almost as a plot device; his death brings no change or development to Ramsay's character as we already know his motivations and cruelty align with such an act, and we can assume that he would feel no remorse about it either. The results of such a scene would be firmly on a story level, as it brings political changes and moves the plot along into a specific direction. Roose himself cannot have any relevant character development about it as he does not have a PoV and we would not be able to witness his reaction from the outside.

“The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.” - William Faulkner, often quoted by Grrm

Further, killing his father is very difficult to pull off in secret (Roose is frequently described as very cautious, and employs many guardsmen). And even if Ramsay pulls it off (people often interpret Ramsay as Roose' blind spot, assuming he might be caught by surprise, not expecting Ramsay would bite the hand that feeds him), Roose is the one that holds his entire alliance together; The Freys would be alienated by Ramsay who would antagonize Walda and her son as his rivals, The Ryswell bloc appears to dislike Ramsay (especially Barbrey), and the other northmen are implied to not even like Roose himself. Killing Roose would quickly combust the entire northern faction, and hinder Ramsay's further plans (another reason why I am not convinced of a book version of the "Battle of Bastards"). Though this might of course, if we look at it from the other side, be grrm's plan to quickly dissolve this plot and move the northern story forwards.

"Ramsay will kill [Walda's children], of course. [...] [She] will grieve to see them die, though." - Reek III, aDwD

"How many of our grudging friends do you imagine we'd retain if the truth were known? Only Lady Barbrey, whom you would turn into a pair of boots … inferior boots." - Reek III, aDwD

"Fear is what keeps a man alive in this world of treachery and deceit. Even here in Barrowton the crows are circling, waiting to feast upon our flesh. The Cerwyns and the Tallharts are not to be relied on, my fat friend Lord Wyman plots betrayal, and Whoresbane … the Umbers may seem simple, but they are not without a certain low cunning. Ramsay should fear them all, as I do." - Reek III, aDwD

Roose' death at Ramsay's hand also removes him thematically from the Red Wedding, as we can assume such a death might have happened regardless of his participation in the event (seeing as Ramsay is getting provoked by Roose constantly in normal dialogue, and has a general violent disposition). Roose already took Ramsay in before aGoT started, and married Walda very early in the war, which is already most of the buildup that the show's scenario had. It also has little to do with the The North Remembers plot except set dressing, since the northmen are presumably neither collaborating with/egging on Ramsay nor would they appreciate the development.

Themes: Ned Stark and the rule over the North

Roose is treated as a foil to Eddard; They are often contrasted in morals and ruling styles, while also having many superficial similarities that further connect them (they are seen as cold by people, grey eyed, patriarchs of rivalling northern houses, etc...).

Pale as morning mist, his eyes concealed more than they told. Jaime misliked those eyes. They reminded him of the day at King's Landing when Ned Stark had found him seated on the Iron Throne. - Jaime IV, aSoS

They both have a "bastard son" that they handle very differently; Roose treating Ramsay in the way that is seen as common in their society. Ramsay and Jon as a comparison are meant to show that Catelyn had a reason to see a bastard as a threat (since Domeric was antagonized by his bastard brother), but also shows that her suggested plan for Jon would not have stopped any danger either (as Ramsay being raised away from the castle didn't help).

And if his seed quickened, she expected he would see to the child's needs. He did more than that. The Starks were not like other men. Ned brought his bastard home with him, and called him "son" for all the north to see. - Catelyn II, aGoT

"Each year I sent the woman some piglets and chickens and a bag of stars, on the understanding that she was never to tell the boy who had fathered him. A peaceful land, a quiet people, that has always been my rule." - Reek III, aDwD

It appears to me that Roose' story functions in some ways as an inversion to Ned. He makes an attempt to grab a power he was not destined to (becoming warden of the north), where Ned did not want the responsiblity thrust upon him ("It was all meant for Brandon. [...] I never asked for this cup to pass to me." - Cat II, aGoT). Where Ned rules successfully and his northmen honor his legacy ("What do you think passes through their heads when they hear the new bride weeping? Valiant Ned's precious little girl." - The Turncloak, aDwD), the Boltons are largely hated and there are several plots conspiring against them ("Let me bathe in Bolton blood before I die." - The King's Prize, aDwD).

It seems possible to me that in terms of their family and legacy, Roose might also live through an inverted version of Ned's story; where Ned died first, leaving his family behind, Roose already lived to see the death of his wives and trueborn heir, and might thus also live to see Ramsay's death. Ned leaves behind well raised children and a North who still respects his name, and even though he dies it will presumably all be "in good hands" in the end (in broad strokes, obviously this is all much more morally complex). Roose however built up a bad and toxic legacy, and also built his way of life around evading consequences; it makes sense to me that he would be forced by the story to finally endure all the consequences of his actions and witness the fall of his house firsthand. After all we already have Tywin who fulfils the purpose of dying before his children while his legacy falls to ruins, and a Feast for Crows explores this aspect thoroughly.

Roose' arc in A Dance With Dragons

The story repeatedly builds up the situation unravelling around Roose, and him slowly losing a grip on it and becoming more stressed and anxious.

Reek wondered if Roose Bolton ever cried. If so, do the tears feel cold upon his cheeks? - Reek II, aDwD

Roose Bolton said nothing at all. But Theon Greyjoy saw a look in his pale eyes that he had never seen before—an uneasiness, even a hint of fear. [...] That night the new stable collapsed beneath the weight of the snow that had buried it. - a Ghost in Winterfell, aDwD

Lady Walda gave a shriek and clutched at her lord husband's arm. "Stop," Roose Bolton shouted. "Stop this madness." His own men rushed forward as the Manderlys vaulted over the benches to get at the Freys. - Theon I, aDwD

It also directly presents him as a parallel to Theon's rule in aCoK, who similarly experienced a very unpopular rule and his subjects slowly turning against him. Presumably, the point of this comparison will not just be "Ramsay comes in at the end and unexpectedly whacks them on the head". Both Theon and Roose invited Ramsay into their lives, giving him more power than he deserves, and causing Ramsay to make choices that increasingly alienate others from them (the death of the miller's boys for example has repercussions for both Theon and Roose). Grrm is likely steering this towards a difference in how they will deal with this situation.

It all seemed so familiar, like a mummer show that he had seen before. Only the mummers had changed. Roose Bolton was playing the part that Theon had played the last time round, and the dead men were playing the parts of Aggar, Gynir Rednose, and Gelmarr the Grim. Reek was there too, he remembered, but he was a different Reek, a Reek with bloody hands and lies dripping from his lips, sweet as honey. - a Ghost in Winterfell, aDwD

"Stark's little wolflings are dead," said Ramsay, sloshing some more ale into his cup, "and they'll stay dead. Let them show their ugly faces, and my girls will rip those wolves of theirs to pieces. The sooner they turn up, the sooner I kill them again." - The elder Bolton sighed. "Again? Surely you misspeak. You never slew Lord Eddard's sons, those two sweet boys we loved so well. That was Theon Turncloak's work, remember? How many of our grudging friends do you imagine we'd retain if the truth were known?" - Reek III, aDwD

Roose' arc is deeply connected to the relations he shares to the other northern lords, which has been heavily impacted by the Red Wedding. It stands to reason that they are going to be an important part of his downfall, and we see many hints of them plotting to betray him.

The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummer's farce is almost done. My son is home." - Davos IV, aDwD

Themes: Stannis and kinslaying

The books set up Roose and Stannis as foils as well; Both lack charisma and have trouble winnning the people's support, Stannis and Roose both parallel and contrast Ned, Stannis appears as a "lesser Robert" where Roose is a "lesser Ned", Stannis represents the fire where Roose represents the ice, both struggle over dominion in a land that doesnt particularly want either of them, etc... What i find interesting is how they are contrasted over kinslaying:

"Only Renly could vex me so with a piece of fruit. He brought his doom on himself with his treason, but I did love him, Davos. I know that now. I swear, I will go to my grave thinking of my brother's peach." - Davos II, aCoK

"I should've had the mother whipped and thrown her child down a well … but the babe did have my eyes." [...] "Now [Domeric's] bones lie beneath the Dreadfort with the bones of his brothers, who died still in the cradle, and I am left with Ramsay. Tell me, my lord … if the kinslayer is accursed, what is a father to do when one son slays another?" - Reek III, aCoK

Stannis is set up as someone who is very thorough and strict in following his own code and his "duty", even if he does not like what it forces him to do.

Stannis ground his teeth again. "I never asked for this crown. Gold is cold and heavy on the head, but so long as I am the king, I have a duty . . . If I must sacrifice one child to the flames to save a million from the dark . . . Sacrifice . . . is never easy, Davos. Or it is no true sacrifice. Tell him, my lady." - Davos IV, aSoS

The armorer considered that a moment. "Robert was the true steel. Stannis is pure iron, black and hard and strong, yes, but brittle, the way iron gets. He'll break before he bends." - Jon I, aCoK

Roose however is frequently characterized as someone who tries to get as much as he can while avoiding negative consequences, and who does not have a consistent moral code and instead bends rules to his benefit to be the most comfortable to him.

It is often theorized that Stannis will end up burning his daughter Shireen; the Ramsay issue might then serve to contrast the two men. If Grrm intends it to be compared by the reader, I can see it going two ways: Either Roose will be forced to finally act in a drastic way after avoiding his responsibility in regards to Ramsay and he will be forced to get rid of his son, making him break the only moral hurdle he has presented adhering to during the story (though analyzing his character, the kinslaying taboo is probably less a sign of moral fortitude and more him using the guise of morals to explain a selfish motivation). Or he might not act against Ramsay and suffer the consequences, presenting an interesting moral situation where some readers might consider his action "better" or more relatable than Stannis', breaking up the otherwise very black and white moral comparison between the two men. It serves as an interesting conflict of the morality of kinslaying compared to what readers might see as a moral obligation of getting rid of a monster such as Ramsay; contrasting Shireen whose death would not be seen as worth it by most. Ramsay as a bastard (who was almost killed at birth if he hadnt been able to prove his paternity) also makes for an interesting verbal parallel with the bastard Edric Storm, and might be used for a look at the utilitarian principle of killing a child (baby ramsay/edric) to save countless people from suffering that underpinned Edric's story.

"As Faulkner says, all of us have the capacity in us for great good and for great evil, for love but also for hate. I wanted to write those kinds of complex character in a fantasy, and not just have all the good people get together to fight the bad guy." - Grrm

"Robert, I ask you, what did we rise against Aerys Targaryen for, if not to put an end to the murder of children?" - Eddard VIII, aGoT

"If Joffrey should die . . . what is the life of one bastard boy against a kingdom?" - "Everything," said Davos, softly. - Davos V, aSoS

However Grrm decides to present these conflicts or which actions the characters will take in the end, it will result in interesting discussion and analysis for the readers.

His Endgame?

Looking at the trends of the past books, it is probably going to be hard to predict any specific outcome; every book introduces new characters and plot elements that were impossible to predict from the last book even if their thematic importance or setup was aptly foreshadowed.

Roose has a lot of plot importance and characterization that has, in my opinion, not yet been properly resolved in a way that would be unique and poignant to the specific purpose his character appears to fulfil. However I also have a bias in that i did not like the show's writing of that scene which makes me averse to see a version of it in the books, and i really like Roose as a character and want to see him have more scenes in the next book(s). This leads me to discount plot speculation that cuts his character arc short offscreen early. Roose is only a side character; however, i have trust in grrm's writing abilities and that he would give him a proper sendoff that feels satisfying to a fan of the character.

"…even the [characters] who are complete bastards, nasty, twisted, deeply flawed human beings with serious psychological problems… When I get inside their skin and look out through their eyes, I have to feel a certain — if not sympathy, certainly empathy for them. I have to try to perceive the world as they do, and that creates a certain amount of affection." — George Martin

Considering my earlier analyis, there is a case to be made for Roose killing Ramsay; however it appears grrm might have a different endgame in mind for Ramsay, foreshadowed in Chett's prologue:

There'd be no lord's life for the leechman's son, no keep to call his own, no wives nor crowns. Only a wildling's sword in his belly, and then an unmarked grave. The snow's taken it all from me . . . the bloody snow . . . - Chett, aSoS

I tend to think something might happen to Roose/the Bolton bloc later in the book that would cause Ramsay to attempt to flee the scene again like he did back in aCoK fleeing Rodrik's justice; perhaps Ramsay is sent out to battle but then flees it like a coward, or he sees his cause as lost. This time, the fleeing and potentially disguised Ramsay would not make it out to safety though, and get killed without being recognized as Ramsay, dying forgotten. This would serve as dramatic irony since Ramsay so strongly desired to be recognized and respected as a Lord of Bolton, without being too on the nose.

As for Roose, i could see him getting captured and somehow brought to justice (either when someone takes Winterfell or in some sort of battle). I see it unlikely that he will be backstabbed like Robb was, because it seems very "eye for an eye" and ultimately doesn't teach much of a lesson except "he had it coming"; But the various people conspiring against him could lead to his capture by betraying him (giving a payoff to the northern conspiracies and the red wedding). I would find a scene of him standing trial interesting since i believe we didn't have one of these for a true non-pov villain yet, and it would be an interesting confrontation that he cannot escape from (he also loves to talk so it would be a good read to see him make a case for himself).

I assume Roose will be out of the picture when the Other plot finally properly kicks into gear (whether dead or "in prison"). With Stannis as a false Azor Ahai and Roose as a false Other (with his pale, cold features), their struggle in the north seems to be a representation of the false "Game of Thrones" that distracts people from the "real threat" of the Others.

As always this is just my opinion, and it could all go very differently in the books! There could always be something that completely uproots my analysis and goes into a direction i did not expect from the material we had; But i have fate that Grrm as a writer will deliver and give me something i can be satisfied with.

[just-a-real-human]

Stress

(heya! this is my first story and i’m still not that good, so keep that in mind as you read ‘^^ please give any constructive critisism you can give to help me improve! i’ll write in mostly metric to make it easier on myself, let’s chalk it up to the translator being extra nice today) (extra note, i’m Dutch and English is actually my second language, so keep that in mind as well)

The classroom was filled to the brim with all kinds of aliens, from the wonderful to the weird, speaking in all their exotic languages. all the conversations differed and the translators they had really started to prove their worth! the only thing that truly stayed constant was the subject of their conversations...Humans. That was because this was a special class all about Humans, given by the head of research on humans, or ‘anthropology’ as the humans call it, an alien called Kr’kn. Kr’kn was one of the first to spend an extended amount of time in the company of humans, going on to become a famous figure in the galaxy.

After a couple minutes of this exitement in the classroom, it all suddenly went silent as two figures walked onto the speaking platform. the first being Dr. Kr’kn himself, a Molusk-like creature having some resemblance to an earth octopus, but with about 12 tentacles, 4 for locomotion, which are place under his body, giving him an upright gait and making him stand about 1.4M tall and 8 tentacles for manipulating the environment. But perhaps even more exiting, behind him followed a Human! The human followed Kr’kn closely, fidgeting with something grey in his hands. when they reached the speaking platform, The human promptly took seat in a chair next to the speaking platform, continuing to play with the thing it was holding, yet hiding it from view, looking around the room, but never looking directly at any of the students. Dr. Kr’Kn looked over the room and took a deep breath before saying.

“Humans, strange creatures aren’t they? Very, very complicated ones as well, there is much more to them then any sensory organ could perceive. They are loud, but can be almost entirely silent. They are social, but they need privacy and alone time frequently. They are tall, yet can blend with many environments, even without technology. I could go on for HOURS about the uniqueness of humans, and i probably will sometime! But not now, because over the course of these months i will teach you all i know of humans, starting not with the very basics, but the more advanced things as through (their equivalent of internet), reading and lessons you’ve learned the basics of them. So let us start with a subject not often touched on in education, stress and, unavoidably, rage.”

The students sat, watching the doctor, and occasionally the human, with wide eyes. they had indeed learned the basics of human biology. they had briefly touched on hysterical strength and subjects like that, yet they still didn’t have a very good understanding of humans, simply because nobody had. Except of course them one teaching them.

Dr Kr’kn continued. “We all know stress, most species have it. But in humans it can be especially prevalent. Stress in humans can drastically affect their mood, emotion, sexual interest, concentration and even lifespan. It can induce depression and loss of interest and a whole managerie of different effect on humans, nearly none being benificial. Often stress quickly can lead to anger, and is oftened compared to a rubber band, each thing that stresses them out tightening the band and if they are too stressed, they get angry. Humans have dubbed this stress-overload as ‘snapping’, and it can range from shouting at someone to assault and even death, both for the human and the one who made them ‘snap’.  Humans can be quite easily stressed, for instance my dear friend here gets stressed by crowds, eye contact and meeting strangers, as well as a looong list of other things. this is partially due to mental disorders, but mostly due to personal differences.”

Many of the class nervously eyed the human after he said this, the human did seem a bit uncomfortable, what if he ‘snapped’ here? This seemed to be a stressfull environment, why would he be here? Was he forced?

The Doctor looked around, noticing the nervous glances and chuckled. “No worries, my friend here is calm as can be. This actually leads very well into the next part, how do humans relieve stress? Well, there’s some ways, that you’ve probably already learnt, and seeing as that’d be a little embaressing to go over for my friend, i’ll go to the less well known ones. A very popular one, maybe even more popular then any other, is music. An immense amount of emotion can be transferred into music, ranging from happiness to sadness, even anger can be put into music! The best example of ‘angry’ music is probaly a kind of music humans dub ‘metal’. Anyone sensitive to rythms, loud noises or things like that, please cover your ears.” He said, swiping a few times on the tablet infont of him, a large hologram raising infont of them before saying once more “I repeat again, if you are sensitive to fast rythms or loud noises, please cover your ears!”

He then pressed the play button and the music started playing, and indeed, as he said, the pure rage put in that music was so overwhelming some students actually seemed afraid, as if the humans on the hologram could jump out and attack at any moment! The human accompanying Kr’kn seemed to enjoy it, moving his head up and down in the rythm of the music a little.

Dr. Kr’kn paused the music, swiping it away. “Well, i suppose you get what i mean about anger being conveyed in the music? And despite its seemingly simple nature, metal often has deep symbolism, especially compared to the simple first impression. It also happens to be one of the most difficult forms of music to play. Another good way to relieve stress for humans are video games, especially either calm and cute ones, or the most violent ones they can create!”

The class laughed a little, assuming the doctor was making a joke. As a reaction the doctor pulled up another hologram, showing the class a cute, calm game about finding many orb like creatures with (human) smiles on their faces. It seemed to be a good example of what the doctor meant.

“now, if you are bad with blood, violence or dismemberment, please look away, and if you are sensitive to rythms and loud noises, cover your ears again.”

He then pulled up a video as one specific game, one set in a red, fleshy cityscape, destroyed and overrun with the most disturbing creatures you could imagine. But worst of all, a human was running through! With more of that ‘metal’ in the background the man was running through the creatures, shooting them with ballistic weapons, energy weapons and cutting them apart! It even ripped them apart with its bare hands! Many students looked at it, horrified, some even needing to look away. Kr’kn laughed, swiping away the hologram. “that there is a favorite game among many humans, including my friend here, he is quite skilled at it, in fact, the footage there is my friend playing that game!”

The students looked at the human, terrified. Humans ENJOYED murder and destruction!? They liked such violence and that music?

Dr. Kr’kn laughed again. “Anyways, yet another way of relieving stress, or more accurately, prevent stress, is in the form of a mental support thing. Often that is an object, like in the case of my friend here! If you would please look to him, he will show what his emotional support object is.”

The human seemed a bit aprehensive before revealing the grey thing he was holding and had been playing with...it was a small, grey teddybear with a white scarf. it was clearly quite old, it was clear it used to be coloured something else then grey, but due to years of hugging and washing, it had lost it’s colour, only it’s snout being a little brighter grey with a brown nose.

“Yes, that little thing is one of the most important things in my friends life, so important, in fact, that he has once killed someone for taking it.“

The students gasped, looking at the human, who looked away a bit, now holding the bear closely, clearly regretting what happened back there, and speaking for the first time. “Not JUST for taking teddy...he was a pirate”

Kr’kn laughed, shaking his head “True, true, the fact remains that it is an incredibly important object to him, anything else and he would have waited to sneak up on him, but he instead took the pirate on without bothering to sneak, he shouted so loud the pirate was stunned for a moment before my friend here beat him with a glass and stabbed him to death with the shards! none of us would dare approach him for hours after that...well, the humans kept their distance claiming he needed time alone, but we all noticed even the humans were fearfull. He only truly calmed down when his chosen mate, or ‘girlfriend’ went to speak to him. And that brings me to the most important and effective ways for a human to relieve stress.

Kr’kn let the students stare at the human for a little bit, he knew how they must have felt, humans were terrifying when you learn such stories, and even more if you experience them!

“there are 4 most important ways for a humans to release stress. And they are: Screaming, crying, talking and love. Screaming lets them simply release all the rage in their system in a simple roar, it can be one scream or many, but they are almost always effective. Talking means to simply share their troubles with someone, be it human or not, even talking to a pet, friendly wild animal or book(by writing it down) will help them as they aren’t the only ones stuck with it anymore, and the other might be able to help in some way. And now the two most important ones, Crying and love. Crying is a strange thing, humans will leak water out of their eyes and make a repeating sound, often accompanying screaming, but even more often it is silent, and they usually cry when safe. It releases all their stress and sadness over a period of time and is a very clear way for others to see how they feel, and Love is often a result of it, or what causes it, which is good. For instance the previous story, my friend here told his Girlfriend everything, and a human often gets repetitive when telling something, which you should deal with if you truly care for them. He then simply got a hug, which is one of the most primally loving and caring things a human can do. You all know kissing is something that human mates do, but a hug can be done by any human they care about. Physical contact is important for a human, and a good hug will often make a human cry their worries away, which is an important part of bonding and caring. Now do not go about hugging humans every chance you get, it’s something special, and not every human likes it. For instance my friend is a bit sensitive, so there are few people he allows to hug him, and i just so happen to be one of them.” He said the last part with a certain pride, having his race’s version of a smile as he looked at the human.

“Anyways, this is where my job ends for today, and yours starts. I want you to write a simple list of stress-relieving things for a human, write it as accurately as you can. And even if it isn’t very accurate, as long as your tried, it’ll be good enough for me. Next time i will go over the dangers of a human and what you should do to avoid it. I hope you have a good day and enjoy your time, goodbye!”

The students wished him farewell and Kr’kn walked away, the human joining him, still holding the bear closely. The students exitedly started talking to one another, having learned many things about humans that they didn’t know before. After many minutes of conversation, they slowly started to leave, and after about an hour or so the classroom was entirely empty.

WELL! that was my first story, i hope you enjoy it! again, give your opinions and constructive critisism down there, any ideas and suggestions are welcome as well! have a nice day c:

Good news! I fixed the comments (i think). :D

[definitelynotplanetfall]

fun erica lore time.

i made a game based on a dream, where there is a floydish sidekick named susan. i changed her name in later games because later i had a teacher named susan and she was mediumkey a fake love interest.

i changed her name in subsequent games to "gnome42" because at the time i was obsessed with the hitchhiker's guide, and because it was a family injoke to say "gnooooooooomes" in the voice of mr. tweety.

i intended to keep this as a placeholder but got attached to it. i later named a not very interesting character a silly anagram of "gnome forty two" because I am bad at names.

in the first game you will die if you get too hungry or depressed. solving puzzles will make you less depressed, or you can buy antidepressants or kiss susan. the protagonist is explicitly a teenager and susan is explicitly an adult

susan's full name is "susan x. yzzy". this is both the worst reference ever and also to make her initials SXY

your estranged dad is in a secret lab trying to create a dragon to kill everyone. i don't remember if this ever comes up in the game but at least in my mental worldbuilding this was a secret plot by an evil insurance company (?)

susan wears a spacesuit which exists in the game as a separate object, so there is a bunch of logic and responses for trying to get her to take it off. the spacesuit has no description and cannot be interacted with except to make susan yell at you for trying to interact with the spacesuit

when i said floydlike i meant it. aside from the kisses (which are not needed to beat the game) the only puzzle that requires susan is turning off a bunch of high voltage switches. the player cannot do this because only susan has gloves. your dad kills her at the end of the first game, then you kill your dad, then you spend the second game doing a ritual to resurrect her.

susan does not show up until you complete a very obtuse puzzle which involves putting a complicated machine in the correct state, which involves divining the meaning of some blinking lights that are randomized each game. there is no indication once you put the machine in that state. you have to wait for a very specific time and then she shows up. if you put the machine in the correct state after that point, she does not show up ever. there is no indication that that point has passed if she does not show up.

you can order susan to eat any object and she will

susan has been living on an alien planet researching a plague that has devastated every society except earth. when she arrives she brings the plague with her. the reason you need to resurrect her is to finish the research to save earth, but then in the course of the second game they discover the cure without her.

the ritual in the second game is very strange. you need to get 12 of susan's friends to attend. you also need to put 12 colored rocks on 12 spikes on an altar. these rocks are often random junk found around town rather than mystical artifacts. to get the rocks on the spikes you need to drill the rocks, and therefore must collect 12 different colored laser drill bits for your laser drill. some colors also let you open specific doors by drilling them. it is very painfully obviously inspired by spellbreaker while not understanding what about spellbreaker is good.

the plague is canonically not a disease, but a series of spacetime distortions that disrupt cellular functions. however they infect people like a regular disease, there is one scene where a cleansuit protects you from a plague patient, and the cure is a chemical drug.

you die instantly if you go in the plague patient's room without the cleansuit, however he is one of the people for the ritual and everyone is completely unharmed at the end.

the cure for the plague is synthesized by exposing "ytterbium-palladium silichlorogen" to electricity, a compound i made up with no chemistry knowledge by pointing randomly at the periodic table.

looking through this it seems this was something i did a lot. some guards have a "molybdenum sulfoxide laser gun" that you can dismantle to obtain platinum to create one of the drill bits

the 2nd game is made in 5Z71 so it cannot be run in modern inform without big changes to the source. the blorb i have of it has you blocked very early on by a door that you cannot refer to for some reason. this being 5Z71 you do not automatically open unlocked doors you try to go through.

AND THEY TOOK TWENTY SEVEN EI

inventory limits are enforced in the second game and take mass into account. to get around this you have to buy a gadget that stores items digitally and is cumbersome to use. to get money you have to sell items, but it is not obvious which items are important. selling items is irreversible. there are locations that you need to bring specific non-obvious items to, or you cannot get out.

there is a babelfish-style puzzle where you have to block an item from going down a hole, except you only get one shot at it and how the machine works isn't clear until you fail it.

the third game is the first where she is called gnome42. you have to go to a space station to synthesize the cure.

the space station has suffered a pirate attack so parts are missing from key systems. different crew members are responsible for different systems, so they will wander the station and steal parts from other systems to repair theirs. if all the parts are removed from one system, you have to put all the parts back in time or some disaster happens and you die. this was the most technically complex part of the game because the station is composed of separate floors connected by an elevator. because there are enough parts on the station to keep most of the systems completely full, each of the crew members targets random systems and moves at the same speed, these crises rarely happen.

characters on the space station include chief engineer orion (get it? like the irish guy who suffers a lot?) and dr. salt (get it? like the mythical (nonexistent) dr. pepper? perchance.) orion is gnome42's dad

the captain is also stealing parts to create a gun. then she tries to kill a random character because she is in league with the plague due to her religion (?????) and they are in critical condition. then you need to repair the medical robot using the existing spare parts system in order for the victim to survive. if salt or orion are still up, they will fix the robot instead of their normal jobs, and the timer is generous enough that they cannot fail unless you actively sabotage them.

if orion dies, gnome42 kills you in anger and vice versa. if salt dies, you can continue but the game is unwinnable.

you cannot win until the captain attempts murder. this is because you are given a monetary reward if you stop her escape, which you use to buy decrystalization compound from a vending machine. you then use the decrystalization compound to convert dr. salt into sodium and chlorine, in order to make ytterbium-palladium silichlorogen. nobody takes issue with you killing dr. salt. you also get to keep the captain's shuttle and her id card that unlocks it, which is how you leave once you make the cure.

the lump of palladium you need to make the cure is called (and only referrable to as) a lump of platinum until you examine it closely, BREVVEN

the 4th and 5th game were never finished and barely started. the 4th was about breaking out of jail after you and gnome42 are arrested by space customs for drug smuggling when trying to bring the cure to earth.

this game was entirely inspired by a dream i had the night before a big math league competition (i made these games when i was 13-14) about a puzzle game where you break out of prison by controlling colored doors. it was a very good puzzle in the dream, honest.

it's not clear how a tiny amount of cure synthesized on a space station was supposed to help earth. surely the recipe would be enough to bring back.

the 5th game was going to be about bringing the cure back to earth for real. iirc, there was something about a fleet that came to earth to warn them about the plague but there was a misunderstanding so you also had to stop the fleet from glassing the planet? i remember few concrete plans for this one beyond "big ambitions for a big and complicated finale." as you do when you're 13.

the 6th game

Finally got around to installing the modern version of Inform 7 that doesn't rely on ancient, broken libraries. Not sure exactly what to make and I'm kind of restless and have had trouble focusing on any sort of game or project but it's something I haven't touched in a long while so it should feel fresh. Inshallah.

[chimmyrockbison]

MASTERLIST Updated 03/20/2021

COMPLETED AO3 FICS [Kim Taehyung/Park Jimin]

1. The Sound of Your Heart

Summary: There was something so easy about it, it was almost scary. Taehyung didn’t want to feel this way, didn’t want to feel this overwhelming fondness; but not unlike his head, his heart was hard to persuade once it had decided a path. And Taehyung was scared that it had decided on the mute new boy with pretty features and a warm smile.

Words: 144,014

2. All the King's Men

Summary: Castle servants Jimin and Taehyung find themselves involved in a game with the Crown Prince.

Words: 52,531

3. golden haze

Summary: Taehyung watches Jimin’s mouth twist into a pout, forming the word ‘fucking’ with his thick lips before he’s whipping out his translation device again. Taehyung doesn’t have time to stop him when various pornographic images pop up on his holographic screen, Jimin’s eyes widening with intrigue, his mouth falling open at the suggestive images in front of him.

(or: lonely college student taehyung harbors an alien fugitive in his apartment. nothing goes as planned.)

Words: 34,850

4. Drag'on Together (Love Is Its Own Magic)

Summary: “I swear to God, Taehyung if you stop to pick up one more rock because you think it might be some sort of rare stone, I’m leaving you here,” Jimin huffs as he tries to sound intimidating.

“Jiminnie, we both know you wouldn’t survive a minute without me, so stop with the empty threats, okay?” Taehyung replies, happily ignoring his dark-haired friend.

Jimin would argue, he would, if it wasn’t for the fact that Taehyung was right.

or

The time Taehyung and Jimin finds a blue rock and it turns out to be so much more.

Words: 30,554

5. even the weariest river

Summary: It's moments like this that make Taehyung panic. The open derision on each courtier's face, the scorn of his brother as he turns from his prey. The slit of Park Jimin's eyes, just barely open and dark and hateful, as Taehyung swallows and squares his shoulders and says—

"I want to claim him."

The tides of war change, and sweep Taehyung and Jimin along with them.

Words: 152,979

6. i fell in love with the pizza delivery guy (and then i blew him in the bathroom)

Summary: Send your best delivery guy. Preferably cute, preferably packing.

“You're the one who ordered me,” Taehyung says. Not exactly a question; more of a statement.

“Well, I ordered pizza; you just happen to be a delightful bonus,” Jimin clarifies, lips drawn up in a smirk that sets Taehuyung’s blood on fire in a most delectable way. “Although, had I known a pretty face like yours was working there...maybe I would have been more specific with my instructions. At least I know for next time.”

(or, Jimin orders pizza and a little something extra, and Taehyung delivers without really knowing what he's signing up for)

Words: 18,438

7. Grand Jeté

Summary: Refusing to spend another night alone, Taehyung surprises his perfectionist of a boyfriend Jimin at his dance studio with the intent of dragging him home. But their pent-up emotions from spending time apart has the visit ending with a lot of kissing and a little experimenting.

Words: 8,200

8. Already Midnight

Summary: On New Year's Eve, Taehyung is drunk. So drunk that he doesn't recognize Jimin as his boyfriend. When Jimin kisses him at midnight, Taehyung threatens to call his man- aka Jimin.

Words: 3,951

9. Worth The Risk

Summary: The rules are simple: no kissing on the lips, no petnames, no cuddling after sex, no sleepovers, no labels, and no catching feelings.

It should be simple. In fact, it would be simple, if it weren’t for one tiny thing...Taehyung is pretty sure he’s in love with Jimin. And that’s absolutely against the rules.

Words: 23,645

10. Common Ground

Summary: Taehyung is rich, a little bit bratty, a lot a bit spoiled, and failing calculus. Jimin works full time, tutors, and is a straight-A student. There's a rulebook somewhere that states very clearly that people like Jimin should never associate with people like Taehyung. But rules are meant to be broken. And opposites always, always attract.

Words: 44,136

11. This is not a dream

Summary: He would think they were ships in the night if not for the fact that every night, Jimin lays his head in Taehyung’s lap and Taehyung runs fingers without nerve endings through his hair. If they didn't have this false, teasing closeness long enough to learn every detail of each other's lives, long enough that Jimin is the person Taehyung spends the most time with by a mile.

(Jimin leaves. Two months later, he falls in love with Taehyung.)

Words: 12,370

12. Shooting Stars and Silver Moons

Summary: Yoongi and Jimin make a bet, Taehyung makes bad decisions.

(Or: "I'm kind of pissed you didn't choose me to fake date, I'm your best friend")

Words: 20,206

13. the whole world is blue

Summary: Taehyung is not going to confess. That kind of thing never ends well. The movies are wrong. It doesn't always turn out to be mutual. Real life isn't so romantic like that.

Words: 10,829

14. Swipe Right

Summary: As a best friend, Jimin will do anything for Taehyung. This includes being his fake boyfriend to ward off the unwanted attention Taehyung is receiving after using a dating app and agreeing to meet someone.

Words: 26,085

15. Define Me in Terms of You

Summary: This is either Taehyung's greatest idea, or his worst.

“So, let me get this straight. You want me to teach you how to play guitar, join a fake band and enter a competition just so that you can impress a guy you like?"

Words: 9,808

16. i just adore you asking for more

Summary: Taehyung is a successful model looking for a discreet release. Jimin is a professional dom who won’t judge his browsing history.

Words: 90,201

17. Sirius

Summary: "Dude, our entire relationship could be an Ed Sheeran album."

Words: 16,955

18. it's your heart i wanna live (& sleep) in

Summary: The first time Jimin sleeps over at Taehyung's, it's an emergency. The other times after? That's a different story.

Words: 22,658

19. kissing up on fences (and up on walls, i don't want to fall)

Summary: They’ve always been close, Taehyung and Jimin. Where one went, it would be rare to see them without the other. This is a fact Namjoon knows better than most, having coexisted with them in close quarters for such a long time.

Namjoon had not, however, for all his proclaimed wisdom and prudence, had the foresight to see that they’d become this close.

(or: the five times the other members thought they were dating, and the one time jimin starts to wonder if they really are)

Words: 8,738

20. The Usual

Summary: Alternatively titled: The Regular

Jimin will date anyone, except for boys who serve coffee.

Words: 27,935

21. i'm so sorry but it's fake love (tbh, not really)

Summary: when chaebol/commitment anti-fan park jimin learns he's being married off, he does the smartest thing in the world: hire a fake boyfriend he found on the internet (aka Craigslist's personal ads)

all he needs is just three months with said fake boyfriend to convince his parents to leave him alone. after that, he'll get back to his regular programming.

except, not really.

Words: 209,565

22. Gravity//Oxygen

Summary: He already lost his parents.

He'll be damned if he loses Jimin's smile too.

We stay together.

Always.

Taehyung is out for revenge. And he'll do anything to get it.

Words: 180,321

23. A Screenshot of Youth

Summary: There’s a sharp intake of breath, Taehyung’s grip tightening over Jimin’s with a gentle squeeze. “Jimin,” his voice is serious, and Jimin watches him, strangely endeared. “Let’s be friends.”

And it’s like this, that they begin as friends in the heat of a sweltering summer, twelve years old and too young to think much of it, hands twined together under the blanket of a setting sun.

(In which Jimin and Taehyung grow up together.)

Words: 18,496

24. i'll take the desert, you take the coast

Summary: “Everyone I know is a candlestick nearing its demise. They’re afraid of bringing meaning into their lives, of cultivating that glow. But you, prince Park Jimin, you are different. You glow with the passion of more than a thousand suns.”

Words: 30,973

25. just to get a taste

Summary: The one where Jeongguk dares Jimin and Taehyung to kiss and it unravels a lot of feelings. But mostly more kisses.

Or the one where Jimin's heart is stupid and Jimin's best friend is actually irresistible. Who'd've thunk, huh?

Words: 24,375

26. tell them it's the end

Summary: Five months after Taehyung suddenly walked out on him, Jimin finds out that Taehyung has yet to inform his family, who absolutely loved Jimin, about their split.

Jimin tries to swallow his feelings as he once again “dates” Taehyung.

Words: 13,802

27. stay with you

Summary: Taehyung wondered why he always see this blonde man, getting wasted every night. Its such a shame seeing his pretty face wasting every single night of his life in this bar.

Until he saw his eyes, and he understood why.

(Or Jimin is broken and he wanted his happiness back.)

Words: 12,875

28. ring the changes

Summary: That's the nature of one-sided confessions. Things change.

Words: 45,248

29. summer, winter, spring (i'm falling for you)

Summary: The school starts to take notice of Jimin.

Taehyung has always noticed.

Words: 41,786

30. Make Me-al

Summary: In which Jimin starts to work at Jin's restaurant and there he meets Taehyung, the new rookie waiter that kinda gets him off his nerves (the feeling is mutual). Yet, the tension between them is hotter than the ovens from the kitchen...

Words: 26,886

31. such stuff as dreams are made on

Summary: "sir no one, may i have this dance?"

or: kim taehyung, a kitchen boy, sneaks into a royal masquerade. park jimin is the prince he never expected.

Words: 38,753

[purplecatghostposts]

Uhhh Request? ?? Frenrey watching a movie/thriller and something unexpectedly actually terrifies Benrey?

This... I can do this :)

—

It doesn’t surprise Gordon that Benrey’s favorite movie genre is horror- specifically movies with monsters in them.

It’s no secret that Benrey himself isn’t human, he makes little effort to hide it. Watching movies with big bad monsters is fun for him. The entire movie, he criticizes them for their mistakes and laughs at their attempts at being scary.

Gordon ordinarily isn’t a fan of horror of any kind but Benrey actually makes them kinda fun. It becomes more of a game than anything else- not nearly as scary as they would be had Gordon been watching them without Benrey.

(Gordon’s also half convinced that Benrey loves horror because Gordon can get clingy when he gets scared. Even before they started dating, Gordon gripped onto Benrey’s hand tightly and didn’t let go throughout the whole movie.)

Tonight, it’s Benrey’s turn to pick the movie. Gordon doesn’t even bat an eye when he presents a horror movie, but does take interest when he sees it’s also part Sci-Fi too.

“Is this an apology for blowing up the toaster?” Gordon asks, looking over the summery on the back of the box as Benrey pops the disc in. Benrey snickers to himself, popping back on the couch. Gordon puts an arm around him and Benrey leans into it without a second thought.

“They should really put a warning on those things.”

“Pretty sure most companies don’t expect people who buy their products to put the toaster in the oven so it’ll ‘Cook the bread twice as fast’, Benrey.”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“Burnt isn’t cooked.” Gordon rolls his eyes, even if the smirk on his face gives him away. “Hope you know you’re paying for that.”

Benrey laughs but doesn’t argue. Instead, he starts skipping past the previews and onto the movie. “Alright, what kinda lame alien do they got for us this time?”

“C’mon, the aliens are usually pretty cool.” Gordon absentmindedly starts playing with Benrey’s hair. Ever since he learned that Benrey really likes when he does that, Gordon does it more and more. Messing with his own is a habit of his that relaxes him. Two birds, one stone.

“If they’re not as cool as me, they’re not worth it. Thems the facts, Gordon.”

Gordon shakes his head but there’s a stupid grin stuck to his face. The movie finally starts up and Gordon waits eagerly. He’s always had a love for Sci-Fi. It’s what got him into Science in the first place.

The movie’s entertaining enough and the story starts off strong but most of the characters have pretty stereotypical arcs. It’s a little disappointing but Gordon has enough fun with seeing the technology so he doesn’t have it in him to care that much.

It takes a while but the big bad alien eventually shows up. Gordon was too engrossed in the movie to notice how quiet Benrey had gotten after that.

The main alien villain is the leader of a Hivemind. A creature who infects others and adds them to their ever growing colony, including the main cast of characters. When one of the main characters gets infected, they lose all sense of who they are. Instead, they answer to the Hivemind and only the Hivemind.

The main character is forced to kill the character who got infected. The second they do, a high pitched noise emits from Benrey.

Gordon yelps and ducks, trying to cover his ears at the sudden noise but the next thing he knows, it’s gone. And the seat besides Gordon is empty.

“...Benrey?” Gordon slowly opens his eyes. Benrey is nowhere in sight. “Did you teleport on accidental again-...”

Gordon trails off when he sees it. The Sweet Voice that hangs in the air. All of it is alarmingly bright white and Gordon nearly chokes.

Bright white means he’s not alright. Tommy’s translation rings in his ears. He knows that particular color of Sweet Voice all too well from Benrey’s night terrors. Gordon turns off the movie and quickly starts searching around the house.

“Benrey? Benrey!” Gordon calls again and again. He gets no answer- not a straight one at least. But the same high pitched noise except slightly quieter is coming from their bedroom. Gordon rushes to it but slows down once he reaches the door. Carefully, he opens it up and steps inside.

Benrey’s hiding underneath the covers. It’s a rare sight to see, telling Gordon that whatever it is, it’s bad. Gordon sucks in a breath and gently sits down on the side of the bed. Benrey pokes his head out and doesn’t meet his gaze.

“...Benrey-”

“‘M fine.” Benrey mumbles, when he’s very obviously not. Gordon pauses but presses.

“You’re upset.”

“It’s stupid. Just got uh... Got a little freaked. It doesn’t matter.”

“Benrey, I want to help. I- I can’t do that if you don’t tell me what’s going on.”

“‘S just... Just brought up some shit, alright? Shit that doesn’t even matter anymore.”

Gordon presses his mouth into a thin line. He works to decipher what he means until Gordon finally realizes he’s talking about the movie. And once it clicks in Gordon’s head what just happened, he utters a soft, “Oh.”

Benrey doesn’t talk about his upbringing much but the few times he does, it’s almost never good. Gordon pieces it together on his own.

Benrey doesn’t say anything. Gordon swallows thickly and offers his hand to hold. Benrey takes it without a moment’s hesitation. He always does.

“...Xen’s gone.” Gordon says slowly. “They’re not getting on Earth ever again. You don’t have to be scared of them.”

“That’s why it’s stupid. It’s irrational- I just... I dunno. Brought up weird thoughts.”

“...Do you want me to..?” Gordon gestures to the other side of the bed. Benrey nods and rolls over, making room for him as he lays down. He slowly takes Benrey into his arms and they lay there for a while. Benrey groans quietly.

“Do you mind if I-?” Gordon shakes his head. Even with permission, Benrey takes a second to put his thoughts into order. “It’s just kinda fucked up. Being in a Hivemind and all. Fucks with who you are n shit. 0/10, would not recommend. And- and it just sucks to know that a lot of people just. Never got out of it alive.”

“We can make sure it never happens again.” Gordon gives him a light squeeze. “Okay? If it ever does, we’ll be ready.”

Benrey hums slightly and turns his head towards Gordon. “Can... Can we just stay like this?”

“Turn in for the night?” Benrey nods. Gordon sends him a reassuring smile. “‘Course. We don’t have to go anywhere.”

“Thanks...” Benrey breathes.

Gordon presses a kiss to his forehead. “I’ll always be around when you need me, Benrey. You’re not alone anymore.”

Benrey sinks into Gordon’s touch, resting his head on him. It’s only a matter of time before he falls asleep. If he has any nightmares, Gordon will be there when he wakes up, and that’s a comfort he’s more than happy to have.

—

Benrey being from Xen has been on my mind a lot so I ended up tying it into this. I hope this was enjoyable! Meant to get this out sooner as it was finished and just needed editing but I was a little fried the day I meant to put it out. Nonetheless, it’s finished now and thank you for the request!!

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Marauders and Kate’s (Lack of) Leadership:

One more salt post, partially inspired by this issue, but something I’ve been thinking about the series for awhile.  Not bashing on Kate here, just feeling that Duggan is, to some extent, doing her dirty just like the rest of the group.

So, Kate is the Captain of the Marauder, but much like Bobby and Christian’s relationship, or Pyro’s reputation as the violent wildcard of the crew, it’s more an informed trait than something we actually see play out in the story.  Duggan really isn’t giving Kate all that much to do as “team leader.” 

I’d expect a team leader to be dealing with strategies and giving orders during battle, as well as dealing with conflicts and issues within the team itself.  Except we see Kate do next to none of that.  Most battles the group all seems to do their own thing.  We see Kate jump in to rescue her people occasionally, especially in the fight with Donald Pierce and the racist anti-mutant group, where she pulls both Iceman and Pyro out of danger.  But we don’t really see her stop and strategize mid-battle, like, “Okay, Pyro, you draw the Sentinel’s attention with fire creations, Bishop, cover him, while I phase the hostages free and Iceman freezes it’s feet.“  I think the King in Black Marauders is one of the few times where we really see Kate giving orders and making decisions during a battle.  Most of the time, the battles just kinda happen, and either they’ve been strategized beforehand or someone else has the idea (Callisto in issue 19) or people just charge in and fight.

And to be fair, Kate certainly acts like a captain in terms of their general mission.  She decides where they’ll go and what they’ll do, and she does give orders out at sea.  But she doesn’t seem to make good use of her teams abilities during battles - mostly because Duggan doesn’t really want to write about anyone but Kate and Emma (and occasionally Callisto), so he lets the potential of the rest of the crew just sit there and rot.  He’s too focused on Kate running around doing badass things to actually show her using her crew in an intelligent fashion and making proper use of everyone.

On the second matter - Kate doesn’t really have to deal with inter-team conflict because there isn’t any.  At most, there’s some friction between Storm and Emma in the beginning, and they make up after Kate’s death.  Kate’s crew just kind of automatically forms around her with no real effort on her part.  Storm and Iceman are there specifically to protect her, Bishop has his own agenda, but he is willing to work with the Marauders to do so.  Pyro is the only one who Kate would arguably have to win over as leader, and he’s been surprisingly well-behaved.  He’s never challenged her leadership or even pushed back or argued that we’ve seen.  I guess we can assume that Kate has earned his respect, or that he really enjoys the Marauders’ gig and is toeing the line so as not to get kicked off. 

It makes a certain amount of sense, but the lack of friction also feels unrealistic.  It’s hard to believe that former villain Pyro, even with his affably evil personality, will just settle right in with the crew and not clash with anyone beyond getting on Storm’s nerves.  It’s hard to believe that Bishop, who has his own agenda to follow as a Captain of Krakoa, would never run into a situation where his mission and Kate’s mission clash and he has to walk away or disobey orders.  (That was touched upon during King in Black, but then immediately fizzled out like so many other Duggan plotlines.)  Hell, even Bobby and Storm, who are Kate’s friends and love her dearly, might disagree with a course of action at some point.  But they never do.  All is well aboard the Marauder, everyone is best friends or at least willing to tolerate each other, and they all follow Kate’s orders without question, and it feels very unearned.

But to my mind, the worst issue of Kate’s leadership is the lack of information passing down to certain members of the team.  Marauders doesn’t feel like a tight-knit team, because most of the time, half the crew has no idea what the fuck is going on.  So much of Duggan’s story is focused on Kate and Emma having adventures, making back-room deals and doing sneaky Hellfire stuff, and we’re expected to just accept that Bishop, Iceman and Pyro will be kept in the dark.

As far as I know, Iceman and Pyro have no idea that Sebastian murdered Kate.  And BIshop only knows because he did his own investigation and figured it out, then had it confirmed by Storm.  I understand the need for secrecy since Emma is trying to smack Sebastian down without making it a Council matter, but surely the rest of the crew should know about this?  Bishop is a Captain of Krakoa working with the Marauders, he should absolutely know that Sebastian is playing power games.  I can understand keeping some things from Pyro, he’s a new team-mate and former villain who joined under suspiciously convenient circumstances (fell asleep on the boat?  Really?).  But surely Pyro should at least be warned that Sebastian is not their friend.  Otherwise, what’s to stop Sebastian from inviting Pyro up for a poker night at Blackstone Keep, plying him with whiskey and cigars, and getting him to spill the beans about all the Marauders latest missions?  As far as Pyro knows, Sebastian is part of the Hellfire Co, AND a Council member, he’s got no good reason to distrust him.  Because he doesn’t know that Sebastian betrayed them.

But Bobby is the worst, I think.  He’s Kate’s good friend (they even dated briefly, although it didn’t work out for....obvious reasons).  They are supposed to be close.  And Bobby straight up mutilated a guy who he thought was part of the group responsible for Kate’s death.  (To be fair, no one knew at the time that they raided that ship).  Bobby was both devastated and furious at Kate’s death, and they’re still keeping him in the dark?  Imagine how Bobby will feel knowing that the man he maimed was....not innocent, exactly, but not guilty of what Bobby believed.  How is Bobby going to feel knowing that it was Sebastian, and Kate herself kept it from him?  Bobby deserves better than to be treated like an underling like Pyro. 

Probably the worst example, though, was this latest issue of Marauders (24), where we find out that Emma Frost conned the Mercury away from a shady alien, and that alien has it in for her.  (I don’t remember the dude’s name, so I’m calling him Fake Greedo.)  Fake Greedo tries to kill both Emma and Kate, they get saved by Sebastian (?!), which is a nice moment for him.  Sebastian suggests they solved the problem with money, and Fake Greedo accepts.  Then the whole group assembles in the Mercury for dinner, and Fake Greedo double-crosses them and sends the entire group, including Sebastian, Iceman, Bishop and Pyro, out the airlock into space. 

The problem here, is that as far as I can tell, Bishop, Iceman and Pyro had NO idea about the deal or Fake Greedo’s grudge with Emma.  Pyro literally has a line when he’s handing payment over to Fake Greedo: “I dunno who you are, or what you did to get paid, but you happy?”  In other words, Pyro doesn’t know a damn thing about the deal or the Mercury.  And I don’t think that’s just a joke about Pyro being clueless.  He, Iceman and Bishop were off doing their own thing during most of the issue.  (What were they doing?  Who knows, Duggan couldn’t be bothered to show it.)  It seems like Emma and Kate just....didn’t bother to tell half the crew about what happened.  So they ride back to Earth with an alien who has a serious grudge against Emma, and the three of them have NO idea what’s going on, and they get sucked out of the airlock to possibly die, with without knowing what’s happening or why.  They deserve better than that.  If nothing else, Bishop is a security guy, he should know what’s going on. 

If this book was written by someone better than Duggan, I would expect some repercussions from this.  I’d expect Bobby, Pyro and Bishop to be angry that they were killed (or almost killed) because of one of Emma’s backroom schemes that they didn’t even know about.  I’d expect Bobby to be especially angry that his friend Kate keeps not telling him things.  I’d expect maybe some kind of splintering of the group or at least conflict that isn’t resolved immediately, because secrets have been kept that they deserve to know.  But what will probably happen is that next issue Emma will do something cool, and any dead Marauders will get resurrected, and everyone will be totally fine with everything.

Anyways, like I said, this is not meant to drag Kate as a character, this is me discussing how Duggan is really doing her dirty by not giving her a chance to be an actual team leader.  Because he wants her to be “in charge,” but he also doesn’t really want to write a team book, he wants to write her running around in pirate cosplay having swashbuckling adventures, so she winds up looking like a negligent, unnecessarily secretive leader.  And I know she can be much better than that. 

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Posting this for @pilotkinkade​ in response to their recent post made here, regarding concerns about VLD and how it includes white savior complex or potentially smears Allura’s character with that complex. I’m not reblogging directly because this is a long response lol. Thank you pilotkinkade for chatting earlier; I hope you find this post interesting at least and would be curious of your thoughts in return!

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I do agree with your general sentiments, that VLD takes on a disquieting savior complex throughout a good portion of the show, even more so than in previous Voltron iterations. For me, it feels most apparent in the way that Voltron as an all-powerful machine in VLD is piloted by its second generation.

To compare: In the original OG alliance (Alfor, Zarkon, Trigel, Gyrgan, and Blaytz), multiple major races were represented, functioning as one to save their own collective galaxy from threats. So even among the OG paladins, there were checks and balances (maybe Zarkon had the strongest military skills personally, but Alfor had the alchemy, etc.), with mass racial diversity. This seemed like a pretty innovative and cool addition to the Voltron franchise. The s3 finale also clarifies that, unlike VLD’s second-generation, all of these paladins were leaders of their people. This meant they had political and legal authority/experience that an average warrior or citizen wouldn’t.

By removing that whole structure and retrofitting Voltron with (mostly) a group of unprepared teenagers from a single planet entirely uninvolved in the universal conflict, it created a lot of strange hierarchies...

We see much of the known universe raise up people who had zero prior experience with war, and little to no military or diplomatic training, as well as very little awareness of the traumas or people groups involved in this war. (Shiro is possibly the exception here.) But suddenly, all of these paladins also had unfettered, largely unquestioned access to ultimate power to carry out whatever vision they felt was right in the moment. Because simply “might is right,” we see even highly experienced commanders like Kolivan become castrated in authority compared to Team Voltron. Various alien groups express upset or side-eye Team Voltron’s well-meaning actions but obvious insensitivity to/ignorance of their problems or fears. Even at the paladin-level, a princess trained to fight and lead is subordinated to a boy with zero leadership training whatsoever (which is very different from previous iterations where Keith was actually very competent, more experienced, and wanted to be a leader).

And when Voltron plays the unchecked judge, jury, and executioner across the entire universe, the new paladins as a whole also do not have the political or legal authority the OG pallies did in the boundaries of their own galaxy. The second-gen paladins are not authorities of their people or representative of the people groups affected in the war they’re now leading. The OG pallies built the actual legend of Voltron in less than 28 decaphoebs, clearly going beyond their 5 nations to help others suffering from natural disasters or unknown needs, which might raise some eyebrows perhaps because we don’t know what all that entailed. But while we see that the Voltron machine eventually got celebrated, the OG pallies are never shown personally soaking in some kind of savior celebration…

(Photo ID: Alfor says, “Why I joined up this band of scoundrels, I’ll never know.” Trigel responds, “Because we’re the only band of scoundrels that would have you.” Third screenshot is of the paladins celebrating their alliance win by themselves.)

…compared to second-gen paladins (or some anyway) who pretty clearly soak in the love and prestige they’ve received based off the historical and legendary precedence of the OG alliance’s work:

(Photo IDs: Lance taking selfies with aliens excited to be around paladins. A second screenshot of Lance daydreaming about being a universal savior, stomping on Zarkon, planting a flag to mark ownership, and having Allura stare up at him in worship.)

In fact, a lot of the pro-Voltron war propaganda relies heavily more on recreating the legend already built for them, than on the actual competency or experience of the current paladins:

(Photo ID: Pidge complains about the war propaganda scripts, “This isn’t even factually accurate.” Coran replies, “Well, this is the Legend of Voltron, not the documentary of Voltron.”)

On that note, we even see the scripts reverse who is actually the most competent or capable of performing.

(Photo ID: Coran says, “Ladies and gentle-aliens, bear witness as the Paladins of Voltron attack Zarkon’s base to save the helpless Princess Allura!”)

Coran’s script, however well-meant, pretty massively infantilizes Allura as someone who needs to be saved by an external force, rather than mentioning her as someone who is an active and critical ally of the Voltron paladins in this war.

Unlike Coran’s script, Princess Allura isn’t helpless. In terms of the second-generation paladins, she’s has the most war-time experience, and is also the one that the paladins lean on constantly to create a meaningful connection with other people groups who are otherwise hesitant about Voltron.

(Photo ID: Allura speaks to the Balmeran people, “Balmerans, this is Princess Allura. You don’t know me, but I am here to help. I know what it’s like to watch your home planet die.”)

Allura is the successor to the Altean monarchy and a direct victim of the OG galaxy wars. So unlike other second-gen paladins, she has some semblance of legal/political authority that she was actively trained for, as well as personal skin in the game. She is ultimately the only paladin who has experienced a mass omnicide of her home and people, similar to other victims of the Galra regime. She also still accepts the authority of her father, whose AI tells her in season 1 to be prepared to sacrifice everything to undo his mistakes.

We see Allura from that point onward functioning under that directive from her father and king—to sacrifice everything she has to end Zarkon’s regime. One could potentially make the argument that, within this structure, Allura might suffer from a certain subset of “white knight syndrome,” in which one feels they’re worthless if they’re not sacrificing for others. If I have my facts right, it’s a different psychological state from white savior complex (in which I define white savior complex as “when someone outside the issue at hand barges in to make a change that may or may not benefit the recipient, simply to make themselves feel better or appear useful, without regard to the recipient’s wishes or real needs”). But I feel even the comparison of “white knight syndrome” gets dicey. Because Allura is shown as acting happy without necessarily sacrificing things (in fact, she acts progressively depressed s7-s8, the more she has to give up intrinsic things about herself or her identity). But when Allura chooses to assist or sacrifice, the sacrifice she makes has a very relevant and functional impact for the people she helps.

In season 1, she chooses to sacrifice herself to save Shiro. Shiro was, at that time, the Black Paladin and leader of Voltron, so Allura saw herself as functionally the less important of the two to save since she did not pilot the universe’s only weapon against Zarkon.

With the Balmera, she similarly chooses to act because the Balmerans themselves acknowledge they are entirely out of options, and also because the Balmerans (and the Balmera itself) accept her help she offers. At this point in time, she has already established a deep personal connection with them by virtue of their shared trauma of losing their home planets.

(Photo IDs: Shay says, “We’re lost! All are trapped with no chance for escape!” Allura says, “We can’t give up.” Shay responds, “But what can be done?” The group realizes the Balmera is regenerating beneath the ship, and Shay wonders why. Allura says, “The Castle!”)

Here, Allura assumes that the Castle—which is powered by a Balmeran crystal itself—could be regenerating the Balmera. But a Balmeran elder corrects her:

(Photo ID: A Balmeran elder says, “Not just the Castle, but you, as well.”)

So Allura did not even recognize at first that she was in any way a part of the solution to the Balmera regenerating.

Regarding the Balmera act itself, I’m not sure it satisfies the conditions for a white savior complex? I’m curious about your thoughts here, because I guess I saw it happening differently, from a witchcraft perspective...

We know from both Coran and Shay that originally, Alteans were one of the historical races who sacrificed some of their own energy to replenish the Balmera when seeking a crystal:

(Photo ID: Coran saying, “In the days of old, when Alteans were given the gift of crystals from a Balmera, we would repay its sacrifice by performing a ceremony. A sacred Altean would re-infuse the Balmera with quintessence. In this way, we had a symbiotic relationship.”)

We see that Balmerans were a voluntary part of this energy exchange by virtue of their unique connective powers (which is likely why we see them kneeling and activating said powers during these ceremonies).

Shay herself seems to indicate she is highly aware of these old ceremonies:

(Photo ID: Rax says, “Everyone comes to Balmera and takes, but gives nothing in return!” Shay says, “In the past, those who took the Balmera’s crystals would replenish her with energy. It was an equal exchange.”)

Shay agrees that the ceremony itself involves a sacred exchange of life force.

So I would argue that in this case, the Balmerans are not kneeling to Allura specifically or worshiping someone—it seems to be just the imagery associated with magical spells/magical transfers (where one object in the middle is the main conduit/focal point, and the other objects surrounding help to create and sustain the spell/protective barrier, etc).

One of the basic practices in real-world witchcraft is casting a magic/ritual circle. The circle creates a space where the spell, ritual, or form of protection can be performed. Forgive the stock image, but here’s just a super basic example:

(Photo ID: A magic circle in the form of a pentagram, with a candle in the middle, compared to a screenshot of 5 Balmerans surrounding Allura in the form of a pentacle, creating a sacred space with Allura glowing in the center.)

The five points in particular mimic standard pentacle-based ritual circles designed to create a sacred space of some kind. We do see various configurations of witchcraft imagery used in other instances throughout the show, such as when the druids have to help Haggar sustain her spells:

(Photo ID: Haggar centered in a magic circle, surrounded by druids helping her complete the ritual. Haggar kneels against the glowing symbols to complete the ritual.)

I think, similar to the druids that Haggar relied upon to help her complete a spell, it can be argued that the Balmerans were an active part of the regeneration spell with Allura. We see across the entire Balmera that they magically connect to help sustain the energy transfer, because it’s a planet-wide, massive undertaking:

(Photo ID: Balmerans activating their connection to the Balmera in the middle of the sacred ceremony to regenerate the Balmera.)

To me, it felt like the Balmerans were necessary to complete this ceremony--without their agreement to this energy exchange, and without them connecting to the Balmera to assist the transfer, Allura might not have been able to connect her life force and transfer power to the whole planet.

And to complete the ceremony, Allura herself kneels as well, just as Haggar did and just as the Balmerans around her do, in connection with the Balmera:

(Photo ID: Allura kneeling alongside Balmerans to complete the ritual.)

(Which means she’s technically kneeling to at least three other Balmerans in front of her.)

So I think the kneeling imagery would not correlate to some white savior complex event as suggested.

One other thought I had is that I feel help from a “white savior” is often haphazard and pushed onto recipients regardless of their thoughts or real needs. In comparison, we know that the Balmerans were willing to try this spell with Allura and accepted her idea of attempting the ancient ceremony. The only person who expressed hesitancy is Coran, who warns Allura that this attempt could kill her.

(Photo ID: Coran warns Allura, “To heal an entire planet, it could take more energy than you possess.”)

I do think it could again be argued that Allura seriously undermines her own value and worth in an attempt to help everyone, no matter the cost, which potentially gets more into white knight syndrome born out of trauma than white savior complex born out of privilege. She snaps back at Coran for being concerned about her well-being, and then she proceeds to enact the ceremony, not knowing for sure whether she’d live or die. But Allura also knows that her life force is uniquely tied to Voltron and that she is the only one with this kind of connection to the Castle ship’s battle-class Balmera crystal—all of this makes her a very powerful capacitor in a lot of ways. Which is why she looks like this after the ceremony:

(Photo ID: Allura having collapsed in Shay’s arms after regenerating the Balmera, but her physical features are not otherwise affected.)

And not like this:

(Photo ID: A screenshot of an Altean named Petrulius from season 6, whose features are distorted after having had the life/quintessence sucked out of him.)

So to me, it seemed that Allura was enacting an ages-old, magical ceremony approved by and wanted by the Balmerans—simply on a scale that no one had ever before attempted. And it’s likely that no one else would or could attempt it, because Allura is the single character in the entire universe whose personal life force is tied to Voltron’s regenerative energy (by virtue of Alfor’s alchemy on her as mentioned in episode 1). It’s an even deeper tie to the whole machine than the transient bond between paladin and lion. No other Balmeran or Galran or Altean had that kind of tie in their life force. Likely, even Alfor would have died if he’d attempted this act himself without being connected to an infinite power source.

And after Allura saves the Balmera with assistance from Balmerans, we also do not see her like this with the Balmeran people:

(Photo ID: Lance soaking up a savior fantasy as previously mentioned in this meta.)

Instead, post-Balmera resurrection, we see it’s actually not even the Balmerans themselves who thank Allura. The Balmerans simply convey the will of the Balmera, which Allura cannot hear:

(Photo ID: A Balmeran says to Allura, “Yes. The Balmera lives. It thanks you.”)

So backing up for a second, I do think there are much larger issues happening in the narrative with Voltron itself, with the unequal power dynamics of having young, inexperienced people from a single planet make and enact all the big universal decisions. But in the instance with the Balmera, it seemed like Allura was openly welcomed to help save the planet, using magical ceremonies as approved by the Balmerans themselves for millennia, and that the Balmerans were not passive in those ceremonies but a necessary part of their success.  

In general, Allura doesn’t seem to embody the “white savior complex” vibe at all to me, unlike some others in the show. Even in season 8, when Allura planned to make The Really Big Sacrifice, she asked her team to keep her actions a secret. She literally didn’t care for any respect or acknowledgment or prestige in exchange for sacrificing her life. She was doing what needed to be done because she was, once again, one of the few who could even perform at that level:

(Photo ID: Shiro says to Allura, “Most of them won’t know the sacrifice you made so they could live.” Allura replies, “And they’ll never need to.”)

(As an aside, I would argue that it was entirely unnecessary that the narrative would demand Allura sacrifice herself at all when she was literally standing in the universe’s seat of power alongside other powerful beings like her own father or the billions of other magic-wielding dead people, because apparently the lines between life and death blur in that space.)

(I also think there are some questionable “master race” vibes in the VLD universe in general, given that it forcefully pushes, even against the wishes of Alteans themselves, that Alteans are the only ones who can wield the big power to do big things. It’s clear that other groups and beings can wield magical abilities, but the larger narrative very oddly pins the “purest quintessence/bluest blood” back on Alteans time and time again in later seasons, leaving Allura in basically a no-win, no-help-available situation until other Alteans come along.) 

So yeah, I hope something in this meta might help settle some concerns about Allura as a representation of white savior complex? Or at least that this would open conversation for further discussion about what could be done in future iterations to avoid that messaging. Because yeah, I agree with you that the unquestioned savior complexes in this show are a topic that can and should be discussed! And also that, despite early world-building to suggest otherwise, the narrative especially in s6-s8 pushes that Alteans have a “purer/more alive” life force compared to any other race or form. Which is just…hm. Like, the master race vibes of all that are weird and definitely not even inherent to the Voltron franchise. (In previous iterations, humans, Galrans/Drule, and Alteans could all perform incredible levels of magic. For example, in Dynamite Voltron, Keith, Lotor, and Lotor’s siblings had all been taught magic.)

There’s definitely some weird images and unnatural power dynamics in VLD at times. It seems like more often than not, the narrative does strive to make Allura sacrificing something the only viable resort for anyone ever. In those circumstances, I’m just not convinced that she herself functions as an embodiment of white savior complex, by virtue of her behavior in those instances. But it’s definitely weird that the narrative places so much weight on her when the larger Team Voltron narrative is supposed to be about found family and strength in unity.

(If you read this far, thank you! Sorry I’m not succinct.)