#the great don paolo

[melcsmedleyofmalarkey]

HEADPHONE WARNING

Nightcore with an Anime Girl in the thumbnail, or something, idk

[archiewantsheetmetal]

What about the Great Don Paolo?

WHAT ABOUT ME??

[rhysdarbinizedarby]

Rhys Darby has ‘not an ounce of scaredness’ about son’s band dreams

NZ actor Rhys Darby and his musician son Finn interview each other. VIDEO CREDIT: David White/Stuff

Rhys Darby is proudly listing career moments - but they’re not his own.

He’s recalling watching his son Finn’s band, Great Big Cow, “absolutely rock” iconic LA venue Troubadour to sold-out crowds.

As a parent, “you worry about a bit of nepotism,” he admits.

“Are we just ‘yay, our boys!’ when really they’re dreadful?”

But, he says, the band’s indie folk rock is “brilliant”, and keeps getting better. And, he insists, people are paying attention.

“We’re shocked as parents a little bit,” he jokes.

The band, Rhys and I are nestled between a Street Fighter arcade game and a pinball machine, in a dark corner of Auckland’s Whammy Bar. The US-based teen band has been sound-checking for their first international show.

Rhys has donned weathered jeans and a plaid jacket - approved by Finn. His son is wearing Dad’s socks for the night. While Rhys talks, Finn pulls faces and shares quiet in-jokes with his band mates. There are plenty of laughs.

Finn, Paolo Pesce, Will Angarola and Wyatt Nash originally played together in a school jazz combo, and went on to form Great Big Cow in 2022.

Rhys Darby, left, watches his son Finn’s band dreams without “an ounce of scaredness”. DAVID WHITE/STUFF

Now, Rhys insists, they have a growing fanbase. Some of whom “[do] that thing where you dance really closely … Moshing”. He points to my notebook.

“Put down there that I did know what moshing is.”

Sure, Rhys Darby - one of New Zealand’s most well-known comedy exports - helped the band get bums on seats and lock in bigger venues, but they were also recently featured on LA public radio station KCRW’s Young Creators Project, can be found on Spotify and their mainstay is house parties.

“I think because I'm a bigger deal [in NZ], it might have been a little different. In LA, no-one really gives a shit about who I am,” he laughs, looking over at Finn who’s patiently had his hand raised while Dad spoke.

There are people and groups in LA that have helped the band too, says Finn, and he’s not sure those opportunities would have happened back in NZ.

“I would have got you on bFM for sure,” Rhys quips back.

He looks on at Finn’s creative path with, “not an ounce of scaredness”.

“Obviously as a child I had many different dreams, but at the base of everything was art and performance,” he says, describing his younger self as a “dreamer” who wanted to entertain.

Rhys Darby with son Finn before Great Big Cow played Auckland’s Whammy Bar. DAVID WHITE/STUFF

“When it comes to [my kids], I see different ambitions, but they have the artistic talent - I’m completely open to whatever they want to do. I’ll always be there for them.”

Where New Zealand has a bit of a reputation for tall poppy syndrome and an air of negativity, LA is hugely positive, says Rhys - especially for fostering young talent.

And it was in LA, at a house party, that Finn recalls being caught up in the “electric energy” of playing live.

“The whole audience was moving. And I think two people got lifted up above the crowd and surfed around above the crowd,” he says.

Finn’s not the only Darby putting in some work while in Aotearoa. Following Rhys’s joint 50th celebration with wife Rosie, he’ll be returning to the local stage, performing his Rhys Darby 25 Years stand-up show at Waiheke Island’s Wild Estate on April 3.

It encompasses the best bits from his previous shows, but performing it at Waiheke is “just another excuse to put on a show, really”, and to show his US mates another part of Auckland.

Rhys Darby, following a stint in the army and then university, kicked off his career with stand-up, before becoming a household name with an impressive TV and film CV, including Flight of the Conchords, Yes Man, The Boat that Rocked and Our Flag Means Death.

As for whether he still loves stand-up, “love is a strong word”, he laughs.

“I still enjoy it. But it's it's less of a thrill than it used to be.”

What he’s really loving is throwing himself into acting, and challenging himself with more dramatic roles - different to the very physical, crazy “shenanigans on stage”, requiring more focus for the comedian and “not just being a silly bugger”.

Plus, he’s 50 now.

“It’s much easier to do the stuff where I'm just sitting down,” he laughs.

Still, there’s no denying he’s been part of a movement that threw New Zealand comedy into the wider world, and he speaks proudly about his own work, but also that of other Kiwis such as filmmaker Taika Waititi and actor Rose Matafeo.

It’s a type of comedy, he says, that “has a signature” and can’t be copied.

Rhys Darby and son Finn at Auckland’s Whammy Bar. DAVID WHITE/STUFF

“I think it’s that positivity thing, which is ironic coming from a place with tall poppy syndrome. We don’t like each other but you guys love us, eh?”

It’s one of the reasons Darby is still living in LA, “still waving the flag [and] not changing my accent”.

And while Darby’s big break may have been the role of band manager Murray, when it comes to Great Big Cow he and Rosie “don’t want to be helicopter parents too much”.

“We're there when they have a question.”

And while Rhys says he can’t talk about any of his own projects, Finn interrupts with a quiet word about vague plans for a comedy musical theatre show featuring Rhys and the band.

Looking back at his own career, the highlight was breaking into the US market - name-dropping X Files and Our Flag Means Death as highlights.

“What's next? It's all peaks and troughs,” he says - mentioning Hollywood is turning to AI, but “thankfully, there's no one that can do a better robot impression than me”.

Still, the changing industry is worrying.

“People are losing their jobs, and AI is having a lot to do with it,” he says - dropping the quips and gags for a moment.

“After the strikes, I know, it's taken a while to get the industry back on its feet, but I'm hoping that it will get there,” he says.

“But it is worrying. It's really worrying the moment.”

Source: Stuff NZ

[ym-loreposting]

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Timeline Placement

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a crossover between two mystery gaming series... Professor Layton and Ace Attorney. Officially, this game is set in its own parallel world separate from the canons of either series, as stated by Shu Takumi (the creator of Ace Attorney and a writer for the crossover itself):

4Gamer: Did you decide on a particular point in the timeline of the Gyakuten Saiban series where the Naruhodo and Mayoi in Layton Kyōju VS Gyakuten Saiban come from? Takumi:  Not really. In the Gyakuten Saiban series, there is a clearly defined timeline, but this is just a game for fun, so it is set in a parallel world that is unique to Layton Kyōju VS Gyakuken Saiban.

Despite this, there are several clues in the crossover that allow it to be placed in the timeline of both series. It is a fun exercise which I will be going over here. Spoilers for both series and the crossover follow.

The crossover in the Professor Layton Timeline

The timeline of Professor Layton consists of the six original games featuring Hershel Layton as the protagonist (Curious Village, Pandora's Box, Lost Future, Spectre's Call, Miracle Mask and Azran Legacy), the movie Eternal Diva and the titles Layton Brothers: Mystery Room and Lady Layton: Katrielle & The Millionaire's Conspiracy. These last two are set several decades after the original titles and feature Hershel's adoptive children. New World of Steam, which is set to release in 2025, is set a year after Lost Future, the original game that is set latest in the timeline.

There are no exact dates or years given for the games in the Layton series, but the time between each is more or less known. Relevant for the crossover is that Luke, Hershel Layton's apprentice, uses his design from the original three games, which are all roughly set within the same year. Layton also has the university office he has in these first three games, as opposed to the office he has in Spectre's Call, Miracle Mask and Azran Legacy (which are all set before the original three games).

Left: Luke's design in the first three Layton games and in Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Right: Layton's office in Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (top) and Layton's office in Lost Future.

Left: Luke's designs in Spectre's Call, Miracle Mask and Azran Legacy. Right: Layton's office in Azran Legacy.

A fun fact here is that in original versions of Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Luke used his design from Spectre's Call. But nonetheless, these details place the crossover somewhere between Curious Village (the first game chronologically where Luke has his original design) and Lost Future (where Luke leaves Layton's side to go live in America). We can get more specific however.

In the crossover, Layton and Inspector Chelmey of Scotland Yard know each other. This detail places the game between Pandora's Box and Lost Future, as Layton and Chelmey meet each other for the first time in Diabolical Box. Chelmey supposedly also appears in Curious Village, but is later revealed to actually be Don Paolo in disguise.

So in conclusion, a hypothetical placement of Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney in the Professor Layton timeline would look like this:

The crossover in the Ace Attorney Timeline

The Ace Attorney timeline consists of two main trilogies and two duologies of spin-offs. The first trilogy is set in the latter half of the 2010s and consists of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Justice For All and Trials and Tribulations. The second trilogy is set seven years later in the mid 2020s and consists of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice. The two spin-off duologies are the Great Ace Attorney and Investigations series, the former of which is set about 100 years ago in the late 19th century and the latter of which takes place a month after Trials and Tribulations.

The timeline of Ace Attorney is more rigidly defined, as each case in each game specified the dates it takes place and each year is known (aside from those of the two Great Ace Attorney games, but those do not really factor into the placement of the crossover as they are set in the distant past).

There are a few references to events in the Ace Attorney timeline in Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney. The first turnabout of the game, the English Turnabout, features a character called the PC Badger, the mascot of the Metropolitan Police. He is based on the Blue Badger, which received the design the PC Badger is based on in Rise from the Ashes (the final case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney), placing the crossover after.

Later, during the Golden Court, Phoenix Wright cross-examines the parrot Cracker. He comments that the situation feels oddly familiar, referencing the events of Turnabout Goodbyes (the fourth case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney), where he cross-examined the parrot Polly. But given Rise from the Ashes is after Turnabout Goodbyes chronologically, this doesn't say much.

The crossover also has references to Trials and Tribulations. Maya Fey says the catchphrase 'Zvarri' a few times, which she picked up from detective Luke Atmey in the Stolen Turnabout (the third case of Trials and Tribulations). And when they are exploring ruins under Labyrinthia, Maya can comment that some of the statues there look similar to a statue of Ami Fey at Hazakura Temple. This is a reference to Bridge to the Turnabout, the final case of Trials and Tribulations, and so would place the crossover after Trials and Tribulations. While the statue also appears in the Stolen Turnabout, Hazakura Temple is never mentioned in that case.

But this makes things complicated, as Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney can only be set during a pretty small window of the timeline. Bridge to the Turnabout takes place from February 7th to February 10th of 2019. Meanwhile, in Apollo Justice, it is shown in the flashback portion of Turnabout Succession that Phoenix lost his defense attorney's badge on April 19th of 2019. During the events of the crossover, he is still a defense attorney.

So the crossover has to take place somewhere in that two-month window, but we can narrow it down further. During the credits of the crossover, it shows Phoenix defending a case back in America and standing in court against his rival, prosecutor Miles Edgeworth.

This is notable because during Trials and Tribulations and afterwards, Edgeworth is abroad studying foreign judicial systems. He only returns briefly to America during Bridge of the Turnabout to help Phoenix during the case. In the first Ace Attorney Investigations, which is set in March of 2019, it is revealed that Edgeworth went back to traveling abroad after Bridge to the Turnabout. He only returns to America during the events of Investigations and mentions he spent the previous month away from his office.

Investigations takes place from March 12th to March 17th and its sequel, Prosecutor's Gambit, takes place from March 25th to April 8th. Given how busy Edgeworth is during these days and the fact Phoenix and Maya can be seen in the background doing their own things in both games (The Kidnapped Turnabout in Investigations and Turnabout for the Ages in Prosecutor's Gambit), it seems rather infeasible the crossover takes place in these time frames. That leaves the 8 days between the two Investigations games and the 11 days between Prosecutor's Gambit and Turnabout Succession as possibilities.

The crossover takes place over the course of six days (including the prologue in London). Phoenix and Maya arrive in England per plane and it takes 10 hours to go from Los Angeles to London (and about 14 to 15 from Japan if one wants to take the Japanese versions of Ace Attorney into account). So an extra day can be tacked onto that, coming out at a total of 7, as Phoenix and Maya arrive in London during the first day the game takes place on. The crossover thus most likely would take place between Prosecutor's Gambit and Turnabout Succession, as that gives a few days to spare, tough a placement between the two Investigations games is possible if one assumes that Phoenix and Maya travel to London during one of the last days of the first Investigations game.

[okaystoptellingmetomakeanaccount]

Boo Frank Miller Scrooge jumpscare

Now that i’ve got your attention:

Here look ifnonity dime thoughts im so quick whatsoit spoilers under the cut

It was first just thoughts quickly typed but then it became more of a review so enjoy the first infinity dime review on blumber i guess

So my main gripe with the comic (aside from that its short as balls) is that they skip the most interesting part. The actual traveling through the multiverse. That was what I thought me and everyone was looking forward to. To see Scrooge traveling through the multiverse and meet his other selves and react to that. But Aaron just went nah bitch: “a few weeks later”.

We have a prologue beautifully drawn by Paolo Mottura (who even though he greatly did the atmospheric dark Christmas should have done the action sequence imo) that is available to read in the previews anyways. Then chapter 2 which is half available to read in the previews as well. Little confrontation between Scrooge and evil Scrooge or whatever which is nice and all. Then we skip to the real ‘meat’ of the story and its just a really long action sequence…. Greatly drawn by Alessandro Pastrovicchio, but still just a very long action sequence. Maybe this is very usual for Marvel, i don’t know, i haven’t really read enough Marvel comics to know what is usual, but we have what is basically a 12 page long prologue, fight fight punch punch (insert don rosa reference here) and then epilogue.

And like this could mostly be due to the short page count, but had it been longer, i wonder if we would’ve just gotten a more drawn out action sequence instead of more actual story development. Because there was a very deliberate choice made to skip ahead to the fighting and have that be the main attraction. Such a fight scene should be a nice reward at the end after a buildup that makes us feel like this action-packed climax is deserved. After we see Scrooge struggle through time and universes to get to work together with himself, we see the result of that hard work in the fight scene. We can’t just skip over the build up and plop us in a “and then they punched each other for the rest of the chapter”. The action sequence would have probably been quite nice at the end of a longer story, but right now it feels like it’s taking the place of an actual storyline.

Because the entire thing is literally: there is a bad Scrooge (very well set up though). He steals from everyone including the Scrooge we know. They find a way to get to bad Scrooge. They get to bad Scrooge. They fight bad Scrooge. They defeat bad Scrooge. It’s just, they go there, they fight him, over. Everybody clap.

Bad Scrooge himself is great. Really well set up. Is it a dumb fucking Rosa thing? Yes it is, I’m my country’s biggest Rosa stan (aside from Diederik Jekel probably) whatcha gonna do about it?

“What if? Donald and the boys never arrived on Bear mountain…” is an immaculate premise. Which, though it has been done better before, is still really cleverly utilized here. It’s also a very good showing of what we mean when we say that comic Scrooge is always one step away from being a villain. He is no different than Glomgold. One is not good and the other is not evil. One just got lucky with family. The other did not.

Then the ending needed to be wholesome and redeem bad Scrooge and uhuhejshsh but sure

rosareference.cbr loaded

You have the literal multiverse at your fingertips. Then you decide to reference Don Rosa and Don Rosa only. Which I mean wasn’t a surprise I literally predicted it in that long speculation post of mine, but it still feels like a missed opportunity. When the army of Donald’s gets send in, there isn’t even one wearing an all black and white suit. Would it have been really so difficult to get a small DT17 reference in there?

What annoys me, and I find surprising considering the enormous talent of the artists, is that all the multiverse characters look the same. Like on the last page, all the Donalds look exactly the same. There is no sense of individuality for even one of them. They give more the sense that they all came out of a cloning machine.

Even Scrooge. He traveled the entire multiverse and only got one guy who isn’t himself from a different point in time? Or maybe it’s future him, could be! Why not make it a time travel story where a Scrooge from the future has gone mad with power? Because the Scrooges we see are almost all the same. It’s a fun reference of course, but this ain’t showing multiverse. And it’s not like there aren’t already established AU versions of Scrooge. Even then, a little creativity would have still been nice. For an example of such a multiverse story I would like to point to Crisis On Infinite Darkwings, which does a phenomenal job at showing multiverse diversity. Infinity Dime wouldn’t need to do all the pop culture references Crisis does, but again, a little more creativity in the designs would not have hurt at all.

And now that i’ve been yapping for long enough anyways, let’s talk about the length too. It’s not even 30 pages. It’s 29. The artists do a good job at making it feel big and grand. No matter though how epic and great they made and could have made it. If your comic is shorter than the average Donald Duck gag comic, it’s gonna be difficult to make it feel like “his greatest adventure yet”. Then comes with that the irregular layout. There are a few double page spreads and almost all pages are just a few ‘panels’. Instead of an usual 8 or 6 panels per page (and so 8 or 6 panels to develop your story) it is usually 3 or even 1. The amount of panels make the comic even shorter than it already is. Christmas on Bear mountain will likely take you longer to read through.

Not that irregular layout is bad. I love irregular layouts! I love seeing them. Usually they really help elevating my enjoyment of a duck comic! But when you know you have a big story you want to tell, and a limited amount of pages, it is a risk to spread your story even thinner by having many big splash pages where the pretty drawing takes front and center instead of the story.

Then it makes it EVEN SHORTER because there is not a lot of dialogue. Mostly because half of it is action without that much talking. There is a pretty fun way of using the narrator boxes. They are quite melodramatic but I like em.

Jason Aaron’s introductory page was very sweet.

Regardless of the quality of this story, I really, really hope that these kinds of releases continue. It was very fun and special to read something like this.

If these do continue, I would absolutely love an actual comic series. A longer continuing story please! Pretty please? This page count is just not enough to tell stories like these and more pages to properly flesh out things would be absolutely wonderful. I’m personally not that looking forward to the upcoming Marvel parodies, but if original stories continued, it would be the first American comic series I followed.

I cannot overstate enough how much I want more Marvel Disney comics actually. I need them. I get what people mean now on here when they say “going absolutely feral”. I feel it.

Oh and apparently I have 100 followers now on this blog so that’s nice. Consider this the celebratory post! My review of my most anticipated comic. To end it look at the only Mangiatordi pages in here because looking at Mangiatordi art makes all well

Damn actually this one isnt even that good what happened Vitale- sorry no great comic more please marvel disney

[smash-or-pass-laytoncharacters]

Professor Layton and the Fan Favorite Smash or Pass Tournament starts tomorrow!

Below is the lineup (give me a break on the design of the match up board I've never done one of these before). Each pairing was 100% randomly generated. I had no say over which ones went where.

We'll start with the left side this week and then move to the right side next week.

I hope everyone has lots of fun with this! Looking forward to the results!

Left Match ups

Lady Violet Reinhold versus Rogue

The Great Witch Bezella versus Kira

Lucy Baker versus Professor Hershel Layton

Firth versus Don Paolo

Miles Edgeworth versus Anton Herzen

Jean Descole versus Emmy Altava

Right Match ups

Ernest Greeves versus Leonard Bloom

Granny Riddleton versus Bill Hawks

Pepper versus High Inquisitor Darklaw

Inspector Clamp Grosky versus Alfendi Layton

Clive Dove versus The Masked Gentleman

Zacharias Barnham versus Claire Foley

[layton-heritage-posts]

I’ve finished the brackets! (And the Name!)

Man, there are already a bunch of though decisions to be made… this is going to be hard. Well start the first round tomorrow! Kinda! More like a prologue to the first round. I’m gonna post only the four battles that are on the side at first, and then the actual round one will begin after that.

Each poll will last for a week, with a two day break between them.

And with that, it officially means that my Heritage Work is shut down for the remaining time of this tournament. Archive closed. Door Locked. You know how it is.

In case you have a hard time reading what’s up against what, which is fair, I wrote them all again under the cut.

Professor Laytons theme vs the winner of The Plot Thickens vs The Toy Robot

Theme of the Specters flute vs Time Travel

London Streets vs PL vs AA Opening

Guilded 7 Casino vs The Great Don Paolo

Emmy‘s Effort‘s - Emmy‘s Theme vs the winner of Conclusion vs Chinatown

Main Theme - Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy vs Folsense

Theme of the last time travel vs Folsense

The eternal diva vs iris

Norwell vs the winner of Misthallery vs A tragic Fate

Pursuit vs Black Market

Descoles theme vs theme of the diabolical box

Main theme - Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask vs Puzzle Battle

Mobile Fortress vs the winner of Toy Car vs Pursuit - Spellbreaker

Monte‘Dor Carnival Night vs The Final Battle

Future British Gentleman vs Puzzle (Specters Call)

The feelings will always be close vs The veil of night

[princesssarisa]

The Top 40 Most Popular Operas, Part 1 (#1 through #10)

A quick guide for newcomers to the genre, with links to online video recordings of complete performances with English subtitles.

Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)

The most frequently performed opera worldwide: Mozart's fascinating, philosophical fairy tale opera, which appeals to both children and adults.

San Francisco Opera, 2010 (Piotr Beczala, Dina Kuznetsoca, Christopher Maltman, Erika Miklosa, Georg Zeppenfeld; conducted by Donald Runnicles)

Verdi's La Traviata

Tragic romance with social commentary, based on Alexandre Dumas fils' novel The Lady of the Camellias, which was also the basis for the classic 1936 Greta Garbo film Camille.

Los Angeles Opera, 2006 (Renée Fleming, Rolando Villazon, Renato Bruson; conducted by James Conlon)

Bizet's Carmen

The fiery tragedy of a seductive, free-spirited Spanish Romani woman and her loves, with some of opera's most iconic music.

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 2006 (Anna Caterina Antonacci, Jonas Kaufmann, Ildebrando d'Arcancelo, Norah Ansellem; conducted by Antonio Pappano)

Puccini's La Bohéme

Relatable slice-of-life romance that blends comedy and tragedy. The inspiration for the popular musical RENT.

Studio film, 1965 (Mirella Freni, Gianni Raimondi, Rolando Panerai, Adriana Martino; conducted by Herbert von Karajan)

Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)

The best loved of Mozart's Italian operas, a great comedy of class conflict and sexual intrigue.

Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1994 (Gerald Finley, Alison Hagley, Renée Fleming, Andreas Schmidt, Marie-Ange Todorovich; conducted by Bernard Haitink)

Puccini's Tosca

Political intrigue, lust, and bloodshed amid the splendor of Rome – some call it a "shabby little shocker," others call it thrilling.

Vienna State Opera, 2019 (Sondra Radvanovsky, Piotr Beczala, Thomas Hampson; conducted by Marco Armiliato)

Mozart's Don Giovanni

Arguably the greatest retelling of the legend of Don Juan, with comedy, drama, and Mozart's glorious music.

Salzburg Festival, 1954 (Cesare Siepi, Otto Edelmann, Elisabeth Gr��mmer, Anton Dermota, Lisa della Casa, Erna Berger, Walter Berry Deszö Ernster; conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler)

Puccini's Madama Butterfly

Puccini's iconic "Japanese tragedy." Controversial from a racial standpoint, but a tearjerker nonetheless, and the inspiration for the musical Miss Saigon.

Feature film, 1995 (Ying Huang, Richard Troxell, Ning Liang, Richard Cowan; conducted by James Conlon)

Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)

The lighter and more madcap prequel to The Marriage of Figaro, known as the quintessential comic opera.

Vienna State Opera, 2019 (Rafael Fingerlos, Juan Diego Flórez, Margarita Gritskova, Paolo Rumetz, Sorin Coliban; conducted by Evelino Pidò)

Verdi's Rigoletto

A richly melodic tragedy of a hunchbacked jester, his daughter, a lecherous duke, and a self-fulfilling curse.

Studio film, 1982 (Ingvar Wixell, Luciano Pavarotti, Edita Gruberova; conducted by Riccardo Chailly)

[journalsouppe]

Professor Layton and the Spectre’s Call!! I actually discovered ordering the game from the UK with shipping was actually cheaper than ordering the American version of the game, there were no major differences that I could tell as they still had the original English voice actors.

I enjoyed this game!! Not my top favorite installment but I still had a great time and loved the new characters. The puzzles were well designed and had nice scaled difficulty and the mini games were really neat too. The Eternal Diva references were so blatant lmfao but I’m excited for Miracle Mask! I was also super exhausted when writing the summary so sorry there’s so many errors and I use the word fun a million times ToT

The Descole and Tea sticker are from JordyDrawsMerch! All other stickers are from Daiso. Writing typed below!

Rating: 8.3

Played: Sp 2024

Port: DS on 3DS

Favorite? Y

Replayable? Y

Recommend? Y

Series: Professor Layton

Comments

Emmy and BABY LUKE!!

OH THANK GOD IT’S CHRISTOPHER ROBIN MILLER

Ngl im so excited to watch the anime, I love the animation sm

Oh Layton is not taking Claire’s death well at all

I love how animated the background now is!!

Beautiful music as always

Does Clark have the same VA as Dmitri lol

THE WORLD WILL END? Damn Luke

The specter looks like one of those little kingdom hearts guys

Luke’s been a LaytonMobile hater since day one lmao

Luke is especially funny in this game

Layton taking Luke to the black market is so wild

THE PUPPET PLAY IS ADORABLE

I’m going to fight aunt taffy

Ooo we get to play as Emmy

Holy shit Emmy

GIRL FROG

Emmy asking if Layton always pokes lamps he sees is making me think he physically touches everything the player taps

The convo with the meowing man???

CHELMEY AND BARTON

Based anti-cop npc

THE DYNAMITE WORKS LMAO

Is Hershel gonna get a cask of amantillado’d T^T

The canals are so pretty i like the design of misthallery

Oh i do not like the police chief

I LOVE YOU EMMYYY

Grosky is very funny

Omg the cliff death police cover up reminds me of killer frequency which i just watched a playthrough of

FUCK JAKES

Where’s phoenix when you need him

JAIL BREAK JAIL BREAK!!!

I love descole’s voice

YAAA LADDER VS STEP LADDER

NESSIE???

The story book stories and animations are so CUTE!!

I wonder if Naiya was added to the game to hit at the Eternal Diva

This kinda reminds me of a pokemon movie but I don’t remember which one it was

^^ it was pokemon heroes when latias and latios were caught ^^;

AN OCARINA!!!

Creepy fucking factory music ToT

Oh dear. I seem to have stepped on a hexagonal spanner

Descole always serving massive cunt

Woah the golden garden is beautiful

Ohh so that’s why Luke was fork life certified in plvspw

ZAMN T^T

THE WAY THE SPRITES WALK KILLS ME LOL

I really like these little episodes from others POVS! ^_^

Summary

This was such a fun origin story for Luke and Layton. Very much a classic Layton game with world ending machinery and gorgeous environment design. I really liked both Emmy and Descole, there’s a more serious undertone than with Don Paolo as the main villain (even though I do love Don Paolo). Emmy is amazing!! I was afraid she would be sidelined like Flora was but I’m glad to she stands her ground and does what she wants to do. I alos like how we got to go on our own adventure as her to London, she’s a character that doesn’t need to rely on Hershel to solve everything. Meeting Luke was great, loved his blank stare. It was fun seeing his origins and how Clark and Hershel knew each other. I’m curious how the prequels will play into the New World of Steam, especially now that Luke’s family have stories and sprites (unlike in the original trilogy). Loved the ACAB story, v nice to play while I’m still so mad at what’s happening to university students currently. Descole was so fun, I am obsessed with his outfit and personality. Unfortunately I was spoiled on who he is but I’m very excited to learn more. I think similar to Ace Attorney, the fourth installment is that last game in the classic 2D style, which is sad but PLvsPW makes me very hopeful about 3D Layton. The overall story was fun, I really liked the sub plot about the Ravens - that was really fun (i was so tired writing this omfg). I wish we got a little more backstory on the rich guy who died, I feel like there’s more to the story. OO I loved the little episodes, especially the one about Chelmey. They added a lot of fun context and gave more life to the NPCs. Such a fun and classic Layton game, I can’t wait to play Miracle Mask! (And read the light novels). This wasn’t my favorite Layton game but I still really loved it and had a great time and loved the puzzles — that’s all I want from PL!

[3dsben]

THE DON PAOLO POST WAS GREAT AND IT SLIPPED INTO MY FEED SO I HAVE TO APPLAUD YOU. imagine being so petty you learn sign to shittalk

Im glad you liked it!!!!!! Thank you! SL takes you places :) In this case it takes Paolo to sign language summer camp & deaf awareness campaigns for years on end so that when he meets the man he"hates" tthe most He can tell him fuck you & to suck it

[melcsmedleyofmalarkey]

17 years ago, we were blessed with the wonderful presence of The Great Don Paolo!

(and the entirety of curious village and the series in general too I guess)

Celebrate by listening to Don Paolos Theme (Live) on repeat, lovely people!

[vg-soundtrack-showdown]

Song recs from nomination form below the cut

Professor Layton: Main Layton theme, About Town, The Unwound Future, The Veil of Night, London Streets Remapped, Folsense, The Gilded 7, The Scorpion, The Golden Garden, The Norwell Wall, The Great Don Paolo, Descole's theme, Theme for Targent

OFF: O Rosto De Um Assassino, Minuit fond la caisse, Silencio, Peppersteak, Desperately Safe, Pepper Steak, Windows Licking, Avatar Beat, Unreasonable Behavior..., Brain Plague (Rewind/Reverse), Soft Breeze, Flesh Maze Tango, Fake Orchestra, Fourteen Residents, Race of a Thousand Ants

[justkillingthyme]

Hai here’s something I wrote about one (1) time in a completely unrelated fic but

To me it was so odd that Luke never questioned Future Luke more. Like. It’s your future self. Like sure, talking about important things and future events could change the continuum or mess something up in time and space, but I’d still ask mundane questions about the little things. Or at least more information on when and why your future self is in such a predicament. Why now? Why you?

But Luke never asks and Future Luke never tells.

More with spoilers for UF/LF and both trilogies under the cut talking revolving around the Pagoda

So why is Luke not upset after the pagoda? Even if his future self hadnt figured out that ‘Future Layton’ was just Dimitri, wouldn’t that still be suspicious? Why wouldn’t Future Luke have been able to tell?

At this point they’ve been inseparable for about three years. They’ve died together. Luke and Hershel are best friends.

And yet this is right after the Layton-Paolo switch. Where even if he knows everything about his best friend, he can still be deceived. It can still be someone else under the hat.

Hershel was always the one exposing Don Paolo’s disguises. Obviously no one could’ve expected a 13 y/o to figure it out, but Luke never was the one to even suspect anything was ever wrong.

Hershel revealed Don Paolo as Chelmey with the knowledge of his wife (using both the fact that they met on chelmey’s honeymoon and the newspaper), him as Flora with his knowledge of the box, and him as Dean Delmona (Paul didn’t know about the wig) and Schrader because of the ‘little Luke’ comment.

Each and every revelation is surprising to the gentleman in training. It would be reasonable to think his future self would think and act the same, if not a bit more mature and clever.

And yet, both were blindsided by Don Paolo once again, because Layton wasn’t there to reveal it to them. Everything worked as intended, and both Lukes were left in the dark. And yet, there was nothing they could do. The only flaws in Don Paolo’s disguises are small details or flaws in logic, and only Luke’s mentor has the eye for that margin of error.

Luke doesn’t catch Don Paolo, so he can’t blame his future self for not catching Dimitri Allen. Then he’d be a hypocrite.

Especially since it would have been ten years for future Luke. Ten years in America without his best friend. While it’s not probable, Luke has seen what grief can do to a person. He’s seen it with Hershel’s friends, with Hershel’s own family. It’s not impossible that even the great Professor Layton could fall.

But then Hershel is back and they’re moving again. His future self is gone doing something urgent. Future Luke’s Layton might be gone but his is still here. At least for a little while longer.

…

N e ways so that’s my essay on why Luke is so trusting of his future self and puts up with all Clive’s vague and suspicious bullshit. I mean like. Luke did the same thing when he was 10 or something kinda similar enough that it’s plausible he’d do that.

If you’re interested here’s the piece of the fic I was talking about if you’re interested. Luke is sad and Clive is shitting bricks and flying by the seat of his pants

[hotel-japanifornia]

What are your personal thoughs on Paul aka the Great Don Paolo?

He's just a funky little guy; a silly little man. I think he and Waluigi would be friends.

[stachebracket]

Round One 'Stache Match-ups

Peppino Spaghetti (Pizza Tower) vs Professor Rowan (Pokémon) Geppetto (Pinocchio 1940) vs Tim Lockwood (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs)The Lorax (The Lorax) vs William Riker (Star Trek: Next Generation) The President (Pikmin) vs King Dice (Cuphead) Nigel Thornberry (The Wild Thornberrys) vs Kratos (God of War) Filbrick Pines (Gravity Falls) vs Mouse Kaboom (Happy Tree Friends) Tarzan's Dad (Tarzan 1999) vs Drayden (Pokémon) Morshu (Legend of Zelda) vs Magikarp (Pokémon) Luigi (Super Mario) vs Snidely Whiplash (Rocky and Bullwinkle) Dracula (Castlevania) vs Gaepora (Legend of Zelda) Hades (Hades) vs Geralt (The Witcher) Jules Winnfield (Pulp Fiction) vs Walrus Captain (A Hat in Time) Dr. Wily (Megaman) vs Charlie Swan (Twilight) King of All Cosmos (Katamari) vs Hizashi "Present Mic" Yamada (My Hero Academia) Drake (Pokémon) vs Craigor Smiff (Red Stitch Report) Blaine (Pokémon) vs Gimli (The Lord of the Rings)

Eggman (Sonic) vs Lando Calrissian (Star Wars) Archibald Dandy (The Adventures of Captain Wrongel) vs Walter White (Breaking Bad) Mung Daal (Chowder) vs Linebeck III (Legend of Zelda) Kingambit (Pokémon) vs Doc Louis (Punch-Out!!) Major Alex Louis Armstrong (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs Doctor Neo Cortex (Crash Bandicoot) Soichiro Yagami (Death Note) vs Murro Morton (Identity V) Baron Zeppeli (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood) vs J. Jonah Jameson (Marvel) Wulfric (Pokémon) vs Henry Henderson (Spy x Family) Gashu Satou (Your Turn to Die) vs Stanley Hudson (The Office) Alolan Golem (Pokémon) vs Landorus (Pokémon) King Harkinian (Legend of Zelda) vs Thundurus (Pokémon) Gustavo (Pizza Tower) vs Tornadus (Pokémon) Broque Monsieur (Mario & Luigi) vs Cadmus Ebcott (Red Stitch Report) Rhys Strongfork (Borderlands) vs Agustín Madrigal (Encanto) Bob Belcher (Bob's Burgers) vs Soseki Natsume (The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles) Oscar (Duolingo) vs Professor Turo (Pokémon)

Soda Popinski (Punch-Out!!) vs Mario (Super Mario) Cliff Clavin (Cheers) vs King River Butterfly (Star vs the Forces of Evil) Stoutland (Pokémon) vs Grandpa Harley (Homestuck) Von Kaiser (Punch-Out!!) vs The Captain (BBC Ghosts) Mustache Girl (A Hat in Time) vs Tobias Fünke (Arrested Development) Chat Noir (Miraculous Ladybug) vs Randy Marsh (South Park) Wario (Super Mario) vs Gandalf (The Lord of the Rings) Kevin Ayuso (Identity V) vs Mr Pickels (Happy Tree Friends) Inigo Montoya (The Princess Bride) vs Minimus Ambus (Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye) Kricketune (Pokémon) vs Eldstar (Paper Mario) Jane Crocker (clever disguise) (Homestuck) vs Advisor Mung (Hypnagogia 無限の夢 Boundless Dreams) Saguaro (Pokémon) vs Revolver Ocelot (Metal Gear Solid) GOING TO REMATCH Waluigi (Super Mario) vs Vincenzo Santorini (Atlantis: The Lost Empire) Mr. Rime (Pokémon) vs Raikou (Pokémon) Sportacus (Lazy Town) vs Ron Swanson (Parks and Recreation) Steven Magnet (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) vs Sir Humphrey Bone (BBC Ghosts) Sea Hawk (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) vs Duster (Mother 3) Varrick (The Legend of Korra) vs King Bradley (Fullmetal Alchemist) Omni-Man (Invincible) vs Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart (Doctor Who) William Murderface Murderface Murderface (Metalocalypse) vs Lolorito Nanarito (Final Fantasy XIV) Mumbo Jumbo (Hermitcraft) vs Probopass (Pokémon) The Toy Soldier (The Mechanisms) vs Chancellor Cole (Legend of Zelda) Alakazam (Pokémon) vs Entei (Pokémon) Thom Merrilin (The Wheel of Time) vs James Gordon (DC Comics) Gomez Addams (The Addams Family) vs Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid) GOING TO REMATCH Asgore Dreemurr (Undertale) vs Taryon Gary Darrington (Critical Role) Julius Pringle (Pringles) vs Netero (Hunter x Hunter) Dudley (Street Fighter) vs Barret Wallace (Final Fantasy VII) BJ Hunnicutt (M*A*S*H) vs Daruk (Legend of Zelda) Mabosstiff (Pokémon) vs Vito Corleone (The Godfather) Cervantes (Fire Emblem) vs Don Paolo (Professor Layton) Gordan Freeman (Half-Life) vs Zangief (Street Fighter)

[regallibellbright]

Honestly I think I'd hate Arthur Cantabella less if they'd simply removed the whole "Yeah no this is a government-condoned psychological experiment" aspect.

TESTING WHAT?! No, genuinely, what? Using the contaminated groundwater/weirdass Silver Fainting Allergy and/or the flower ink as a drug? Because uh, if that's the case, then I'm pretty sure using them both in conjunction contaminates your results.

Is it something about mob mentality? In-groups and out-groups with the elaborate tech crew made of convicted witches and victims maintaining the whole illusion? In that case, I think the fact that you're drugging and gaslighting the entire experiment group is also contaminating the results.

Also the whole fantasy setting is probably a confounding variable for Something.

Okay sure parents could consent to taking part in this experiment for their children, but uh, I'm pretty sure some of these kids were born AFTER the experiment began. Given the aforementioned Large Amounts of Drugging From Multiple Origins going on here, I have some concerns!

No seriously. Please. PL vs PW writers. Give me the grant proposal Arthur Cantabella submitted to get anyone to fund this project. I know it's Bill fucking Hawks, but even he's got limits! I don't see how he benefits from half this shit even if he wants to use the other half (I assume the drugs.) Why is he paying for the rest? There's a reason why Clive is established as being a lone schemer with obscene amounts of money who's keeping all his scientists in the dark and/or coerced to keep building, and it's so that we don't have anyone there questioning why he's building an elaborate fake town populated by actors in addition to his Underground Vengeance Mecha!

The fact that you somehow managed to get this cleared as a psychological experiment establishes that you know the field of psychology exists. Why in the name of all that is holy did you think building an elaborate fake fantasy town with an elaborate magic system which you make real through the power of drugging people, knocking the ENTIRE TOWN out every time a spell is used, changing things around them to simulate "magic" using the most ridiculous Renn Faire stage crew ever, and manipulating the clocks so no one's aware time is passing, with a system that prosecutes witches and burns them so that they can join the Renn Faire Stage Crew along with their victims, and positioning yourself as the all-powerful Storyteller who writes their reality into being would be a better solution than therapy?

Honestly I'd respect "I had a god complex, lol" more. Especially for that last one, but like. In general. Descole's out there living his worst life, he KNOWS he's an asshole supervillain agent of chaos, and I respect this because he has clearly CHOSEN to be Like This. You do you, man. Ditto for Don Paolo but like, less effectively.

This is not how any of this works.

Okay, setting... ALL OF THAT aside, you're doing this because your and your best friend's young daughters are understandably incredibly traumatized because they wanted to ring the bell early and the Weirdass Groundwater-Induced "Allergy" That Makes You Faint When You Hear Silver Ringing caused them and everyone else to pass out, and as everyone in the square below was having a fire festival, this caused a massive tragic conflagration. Okay. Yeah, this is bad. (I have. MANY questions about how this bell was made, excavated, and mounted in the square without anyone ever ringing it and realizing something had happened, but we're going to gloss over those for now, it's Professor Layton and I would otherwise be all over this incredible bullshit. It's great up until it asks us to think THIS was ever a remotely reasonable idea.) One of your daughters is all but catatonic because a story you told her earlier has convinced her she either is or will be taken by The Great Witch Bezella. Sure. (You suck.) Why the FUCK is your solution based on the other one unpersoning herself to her best friend and doing all the work to make the magic real? Yeah, sure, she agreed to it. SHE'S LIKE EIGHT TO TEN. HER BEST FRIEND THINKS SHE'S AN AWFUL MONSTER AND WON'T REACT OTHERWISE. OF COURSE Eve's gonna help, but that doesn't mean you should put the entire burden on her! She is ALSO horribly traumatized to the point of repressing what happened. Get her help too. The fact that the game seems to put their actions on remotely even footing when one of them has been treated like shit since she was TEN and one of them was an adult who PURPOSEFULLY AND INTENTIONALLY set up a system that would put her in this shitty situation means that yeah, no, they fundamentally are not. Of course her decisionmaking is misguided and terrible! She's a twenty-year-old who's been horribly mistreated for more than half her life! HER DAD JUST COMMITTED SUICIDE OUT OF GUILT FOR HIS ACTIONS IN SETTING UP THIS SYSTEM.

No one's going to hold them responsible for the deaths. This was a sequence of events so thoroughly unforeseeable that literally no one could have predicted it. It won't even reflect poorly on you and Belduke, because you two somehow managed to find the bell, excavate it, and mount it without ever ringing it and realizing it knocked you out and you all had an environmentally-induced silver "allergy" and at that point this goes into "acts of a cruel and malicious Writer-God" territory.

Also it was totally predictable that this elaborate system of misogyny would not actually help Espella in the long term as she instead repressed her memories and further internalized the whole witches = evil thing so that when those memories inevitably came back she would be in EVEN WORSE shape, this is why you should have gotten an actual psychologist who could have told you this whole thing was a terrible plan to write your grant.

No like does he drug all his requests to whoever he reports to (it has to be directly to the person signing checks) in the mind-control ink? This is my only explanation here.

Why. In God's name why. Did you not. Simply. DESTROY THE FUCKING BELL TOWER. You have a crane here! What possessed ANYONE to think just covering it up with Vantablack and gaslighting so people couldn't see it was a reasonable solution to the Trauma Tower? (There may be an explanation for this, it has been ten years, but this man's problem solving has been established to be so poor I award him no points.)

And if you were going to do this, why didn't you tell Newton? Or was it just that the lightning strike burning up the Vantablack was itself a reminder to him that you can't repress the past away and he was suddenly aware of how overwhelmingly POINTLESS all this suffering was? (Edit: I think it was this. No but seriously you could’ve just taken a fucking wrecking ball to that thing while you were rebuilding the town.)

Seriously why the fuck did Newton Belduke go along with letting you use his traumatized daughter like this? What the hell, man. What an asshole.

Also. Your problem was that you had two severely traumatized little girls (even if you only acknowledged one of them was traumatized.) Your solution was... to traumatize a shitload more young girls?

TO THE POINT WHERE AT LEAST ONE OF THEM ATTEMPTED SUICIDE?!

And then your best friend actually committed suicide?!

Like. Seriously. If these are the actions of a single, seriously traumatized person, the fact that you are making Literally The Worst And Most Inexplicable Decisions Ever Which Make The Problem Worse For Literally Everyone Involved is more... well, conceivable. I buy a traumatized eighteen-year-old with an obscene amount of money building an elaborate fake London that is allegedly London ten years in the future, hiring actors to populate it, kidnapping scientists, making them build an Underground Vengeance Mecha to destroy the city, and then kidnapping the Prime Minister who is the source of that trauma and hooking the engine of the mecha up to his heart. And then roping in the one guy who could conceivably solve the whole problem and stop him and Clive would let it. It's a bad idea on EVERY conceivable level, don't get me wrong, on an UNPRECEDENTEDLY terrible scale, but it's a bad idea in which it is very clear no one at any point has asked the person what the fuck they think they're doing here, what they are trying to accomplish, and why they are doing so with this objectively absurd method. Because they have not let anyone in close enough to key them to The Full Absurd Terribleness. It's either this or become Batman.

But Arthur? Apparently his decisions have been vetted by OTHER PEOPLE, and this just boggles my mind. I refuse to believe this. I refuse to believe NO ONE went "have we considered this is like eight hundred terrible ideas bundled up into The Worst Idea Ever?" And I refuse to believe he's anything but a massive asshole when his plan had so many awful consequences for literally everyone BUT himself!

Like, don't get me wrong. There are SO MANY examples of unethical experimentation on human subjects in the real world, psychological and otherwise. But most of them are not this incredibly convoluted, implicitly expensive, and we all generally recognize these days that they were bad.

Also, none of them were enacted as an elaborate setup to (incompetently) handle the trauma of the experimenter's daughter after he told her if she was bad a scary evil witch would possess her and then she and her friend accidentally enacted a tragedy whose scale and fundamental absurdity rival the Boston Molasses Flood, but without corporate greed. There were solutions to this that were so much easier, less convoluted, less EXPENSIVE, and less harmful to... well, everyone else involved, except Arthur Cantabella.