#the road to el dorado headcanons

[witchthewriter]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐓𝐨 𝐄𝐥 𝐃𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐨 & 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡:

This has been one of my favourite movies since I can remember...I think it has really influenced my sexuality a bit too ... 🌈

ᴹᵃˢᵗᵉʳˡᶤˢᵗ | ᴹᵃˢᵗᵉʳˡᶤˢᵗ ᴵᴵ

𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒍 & 𝐒𝐲𝐫𝐚𝐱 ⋆˚࿔

Chel Chel Chel...her personality is clever, resourceful, and god, can she be seductive. She is able to manipulate situations to her advantage - yet she has a heart of gold.

Syrax is honestly the perfect dragon for Chel. The She-Dragon is elegant, strong but not as aggressive as other dragons.

Chel and Syrax would make a power duo—graceful but capable of immense strength when needed. Their bond is playful, but extremely strong.

Chel would easily figure out that a bond with a dragon isn't just about getting on their back and barking orders. It's so much deeper than that. It's tuning into each other. Spending time together. And ultimately, mastering tone and emotion...basically syncing energies.

𝑻𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒐 & 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 ⋆⭒˚.⋆

The thinker. The planner. Tulio is constantly weighing risks and making sure there's an exit plan. However, he does have a hidden streak of bravery and moments of spontaneity.

Tulio would bond with Vermithor, the Bronze Fury. The largest and one of the eldest dragons, Vermithor is a physical representation of power, strength and free-will.

This would be the ultimate 'Brains Meets Brawn,' dynamic; Tulio is all about strategy and cleverness. Vermithor is a powerhouse, built for destruction and dominance.

Vermithor would have a lot of influence over Tulio; and there would be a lot of character development (whether Tulio wants it or not).

𝑴𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒍 & 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐱𝐞𝐬 ⋆˙⟡

Miguel is driven by passion, he's the heart of the duo; leading with his emotions rather than logic.

Chaotic Good Meets Chaotic Dragon: Miguel is the very definition of Chaotic Good. Caraxes would mirror that energy. The Blood Wyrm is known for his aggressive, unpredictable nature - but he embodies something to the core...freedom.

Miguel and Caraxes are the ultimate wild card duo; chaotic, passionate, and full of life. They embody freedom, emotion, and the thrill of adventure, making them a perfect match. Their bond isn’t about control or dominance; it’s about embracing the wildness within.

𝑻𝒛𝒆𝒌𝒆𝒍-𝑲𝒂𝒏 & 𝐕𝐡𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐫 ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ

Tzekel-Kan can only be described as ambitious and someone who craves absolute power.

His obsession with magic, blood rituals and the dark arts, would gravitate him toward Vhagar. (There had been rumours that Vhagar's first rider - Visenya, dabbled in magic as well).

For Tzekel-Kan, bonding with Vhagar isn’t just about having a dragon - it’s about ascending to godhood. In his mind, taming such a brutal dragon validates his belief that he’s chosen by the gods. The very sight of Vhagar would send shivers down his spine—not from fear, but from twisted admiration.

[sukalaap]

[yourfavusescontradictorylabels]

Tulio from the road to el dorado is cis genderfluid,pan lesbian who uses he/it pronouns

Tulio from The Road to El Dorado is a cis genderfluid, pan lesbian who uses he/it pronouns!

[ur-fav-bpd]

Tzekel-Kan from The Road to El Dorado has BPD!

(requested by @xxthroatslitterxx2 ^_^)

[queen-rainy-love]

Time for an Incorrect Quote!

Muscle: You fight like my sister!

Crunchy Chip: I've fought your sister! That's a compliment!

[supoysoup]

a very silly/dumb idea i had for a while. what if a slightly younger tulio looked kinda like the pirate king (played by his va). ofc tulio lacks kevin kline's glorious chest hair unfortunately

[rose-n-gunses]

chrissy and eddie dress as miguel and tulio from the road to el dorado for Halloween the year the movie comes out

[audreyscribes]

Ω PJO MISC. DEMIGOD HEADCANONS: 🌟URANIA: MUSE GODDESS OF ASTRONOMY, ASTRONOMICAL WRITINGS🌠

a/n: I maaaaay have went overboard with this and channeled too much of my interest in astrology into this. Whoops? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ [PJO MISC + MUSE DEMIGOD H/CS MASTERIST: [AO3] \\ [TUMBLR]

Out of all the muses, you’re not the most inclined to be the musical or artsy type; where you mostly prefer to sketch out astrological charts and poise out philosophical thoughts. If you do find yourself in a musical or artsy mood, nothing gets you more inspired than using astrology and astronomy more often than not. Which when you tap into your musical talents, you provide philosophical and imaginative inspiration to your audience, lifting peoples’ spirits as if to heavenly revelation.

You’re great at directions, time, the changing of the seasons, and the like as many of which uses astronomy as a key figure. You can figure any of the which just by looking at the night sky or even just looking at the shadows of objects projected by the sun.  So you’re never lost, whether on land or on sea. Although it’s not usually needed, you carry a golden compass around that is a related symbol of Urania. Your compass isn’t one of those ordinary compasses as it’s a timepiece with not only moving dials but it also shows the occasional movement of the planets. Sometimes though, if you look into it long enough, you feel like you can see the future.

In some cases, you are also able to predict the weather to some degree just by sheer connection of the planetary alignment, the earth’s rotation, and so forth. What’s special is that you are also able to somewhat predict even the lightning strikes and rumbles of the gods; to which Mr. D and Chiron appreciate the heads up for.

As ironic as it sounds, you’re either also into astrology or become interested in it. Y’know those horoscope pages that you see? Yeah that, except it's more or less accurate and is basically foresight but slightly below it. Like Urania, you’re able to foretell the future by the arrangement of the stars.

However, if you want to foretell an individual’s future, you’re requirement is a bit more specific as you have to ask what the individuals’ natal signs are. For those who don’t know, finding out your natal sign requires you to know the date and time you were born, where you were born in, to find out what your signs are; that include not only your SUN, MOON, MERCURY, RISING, MIDHEAVEN, VENUS, MARS signs. Those are easy to find out but the key parts is finding the signs people forget about, like their TRUTH NORTH NODE is. The more information your client knows about, the more you can discern their future.

You know the “The Road to El Dorado” stars meme? Yeah, that’s basically you’re literally saying “The Stars are not in position for this” and going “Stars. Can’t Do it. Not Today” either seriously or whenever something inconvenient happens. 

Because you have a connection with the stars, you are able to connect with them and talk to them to gather their wisdom and insight, and if you have a deep enough connection, you are able to borrow their skill and/or power. Your own natal signs that fall underneath them or relate to them is also influential to which ones you have a stronger connection with. It also helps that you know which stars are above you at the time and place, and whichever is in orbit is stronger to talk to.

For example, you had to gather and listen to the stories of Zoe Nightshade, the previous lieutenant of Artemis, and hear about her backstory and history. The more you learned about her, you were able to talk to her from the stars and she often gives you insight and guides your hand when you wield a bow and arrow. Now whether or not you listen to her about her opinion on men is another thing. 

You also have a slight connection with the hunters of Artemis, where they talk about astrology and astronomy with you, as they rely on it for directions and the stars are in the same plane as Artemis' moon. There's also this one hunter though among them that is a bit different and when you recount your interaction or conversations with Zoe, she gives you a relieved yet melancholy smile and thanks you. You haven't noticed it yet that there's a slight silver shine to you.

[maluustrawberry]

Malu's masterlist :*¨༺

Requests are open!

I write about everything.

English is not my native language so sorry for any writing errors and please correct me.

─•❥❥❥•─

My biggest treasure

The road to El Dorado fanfiction

Tulio X Fem! Reader X Miguel

{Part 1} // {Part 2} // {Part 3} // {Part 4} // {Part 5} (There will be more soon...)

─•❥❥❥•─

Red like fire...

The Hunchback of Notre Dame fanfiction.

Claude Frollo X Edith X Phoebus.

{Part. 1} (There will be more soon...)

─•❥❥❥•─

DISNEY/PIXAR characters.

Claude Frollo X Female Reader

{Part 1} // {Part 2}

─•❥❥❥•─

DREAMWORKS characters.

Pitch Black X Female Reader

"My Dear Cupid"

Bunnymund X Female Reader

Headcanons you are the guardian of spring

Miguel X Female Reader (Smuts)

"Love?"

Pitch Black

NFSW Alphabet

I plan to make more fanfiction and post it here, Enjoy! ♡

[still-not-over-transformers]

Could I get headcanons (or a oneshot if you prefer) of tfp ratchet and tfp optimus (seperate or together, to quote road to el dorado: both, both is good) with a male human reader who courts them via love letters.

This was fun and I loved it!!!

TFP Ratchet & Optimus x Male Human Reader

Word Count: 500+

Optimus:

The Prime was taken by shock when he received and read the first letter you had sent him. Your words of adoration were eloquent and poetic, painting himself in a light he had never seen himself in. Optimus was ever humble and focused on being a just leader, concerned with being fair to his fellow comrades. He hadn’t given much thought to romance, as there had not been the time nor the right bot/person present. After a tough day or an arduous battle with the Decepticons, sometimes he would find a new letter from his mysterious admirer. After time passed, Optimus found comfort and a bit of excitement from receiving your letters. 

The words on the frail paper were powerful yet soft and sensual declarations of your love and adoration for the Prime, and were especially soothing after a hard day. Of course, he would only read these letters in absolute privacy, keeping them just as close as the Matrix of Leadership. Near his spark. Romance was something normally not in the cards for any Prime, as duty always came first. But oh how he wanted nothing more than to reach through the pages and reciprocate the love you had shown him. You knew him so well, so… intimately, and Optimus began to desire you in the same way, even if he might never achieve it. 

He would dream of being with you, seeing your face, and he imagined how handsome such a face would be. Such sweet and loving words could only come from the lips of what he had come to know as an angel…

Ratchet: 

Ratchet was a mech of science, and often found such ideals as romance and affection to be unnecessary distractions from his work. Yet when a mysterious letter addressed to himself was placed on his desk, he couldn’t help but at least open it. After all, how many letters do Autobots get? His curiosity piqued, Ratchet would open and read the first letter, albeit first taking note of the artistic calligraphy which embossed his name on the cover of the letter. He opened the letter in the middle of the base, casually reading through the letter before the flowery prose and words made him a bit red in the faceplate. This would lead him into excusing himself from the others and heading into a storage room to continue to read and process the words you had inked into the paper. 

At first, the medic refused to believe that simple words could get such a rise from him. But as more of your letters arrived on his desk, the medic would resign himself to scheduled “breaks” to sneak off to the storage wing to read your sweet and often sensual words. Ratchet would never let anyone else see him like this, akin to as Jack put it, ‘a giddy highschool girl with a crush.’ Honestly, the aging medic would have never thought romance was something he would desire, yet here were your letters and intoxicating words. 

He would fantasize what you looked like. From eons of experience, he could tell you undoubtedly had to be attractive, especially your soul. Ratchet would most definitely try to figure out who and where you were, as he was far too curious now.  

[toweroftickles]

I regularly think about your old tickle headcanons post that mentioned Chel from Road to El Dorado. Chel's belly regularly occupies my mind and I long to tickle it until she's cry laughing so your tickle headcanons for her really appealed to me!

Look, I’m flattered that you enjoy my writing. Really. Thank you for that.

But I’m sorry…the more you send me anonymous asks where you drool over Chel like a horny mastiff, the less inclined I am to write anything with her. This is like the 10th note you’ve sent me about this.

Please stop. It’s cool that you like her, that’s great, but I’m not interested.

[witchthewriter]

𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐥 𝐃𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐨

𝑻𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒐

Oscar Isaac

𝑴𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒍

Pedro Pascal

Not 100% sure who to cast as Chel though. This also means I will be adding them to the list of who I write for! (Including Chel!)

[davekat-sucks]

just look up "tavros mexican" on here or twitter search bar, its a very predominant headcanon, basically their thought process is

see adiosToreador -> "omg is that spanish?" -> "which country speaks spanish... mexico right? tavros MEXICAN-CODED REAL!!!!!!"

hussie also said tavros was mexican in response to people unironically asking him if the fictional aliens born in an entirely different planet had earth nationalities, and the idiots STILL took his answer seriously. like the fat vriska or fat feferi joke

and toreador isnt even the correct term, that would be 'torero', or "matador/matador de toros". toreador is actually a made up word only used by english speakers really. interesting how i dont see anyone rushing to complain about the botched spanish like they do the botched japanese... (hint: its performative activism)

which is why i would have actually liked to see tavros or rufioh speak google spanish or spanglish, and wearing a mexican hat and maracas to poke fun of all of this, that would have been really funny

He did. Along with dodging the question about if Karkat was Mexican and that Fat Mexican Vriska has a nice ass. If people can pick up on certain jokes he makes through stuff like this as well, why can't they detect the same for Fat Vriska or Fat Feferi?

And yeah, nobody bitches about botched Spanish language. Even now, we got bullshit things like Latinx and Filipinx/Pinxy going around. XD I wouldn't mind Tavros or Rufioh dressed up like in that silly fashion and doing that. But considering the current fandom culture period we live in, I doubt it will happen any time soon. Ah well, at least this GIF of Tavros strumming the guitar like in Road to El Dorado is still good enough.

[bean5prouts]

gareth and/or dinadan 🧸👻💔

[insert road to el dorado "both is good" gif here] i'll just do all the questions for both characters individually! and also apologies in advance, this got long lol

for gareth:

🧸 A headcanon about their childhood i think gareth probably had a few silly irrational fears as a kid that his brothers would "help him get over" through like, exposure therapy while they played. cue 13 year old agravaine holding a snail in front of 5 year old gareth's face while he cries about it. i think he's probably More afraid of snails now.

👻 A headcanon about what scares them this kinda ties into the first one by accident LOL but i imagine gareth having a few minor fears of little things like bugs and heights and stuff like that, he gets into his head a lot about things that could potentially harm him and gets a bit frightened because of that. i do think his Big, All-Encompassing Fear though would be losing his loved ones in conflict. his brothers are all very revenge-prone, and lancelot is also very prone to getting revenge enacted on him. it was only a matter of time.

💔 An angsty headcanon i think the year gareth spent as beaumains kinda solidified his distance from his brothers from the getgo. the fact that they didn't even look at him or make an effort to let him know they recognized him hurt, so bad. i think it was at that point that gareth realized his family was elsewhere.

for dinadan:

🧸 A headcanon about their childhood i like to headcanon that dinadan learned to play instruments at an early age! he'd sneak out of whatever training he had for the day to go and play his guitar or whatever he was learning at that point. also i love to imagine this tiny little boy with a guitar that's way too big for him

👻 A headcanon about what scares them i think that dinadan is terrified of dying. the thought keeps him up at night sometimes, especially on quests and stuff like that where he knows his and his friends' lives are in danger. at least tournaments are a more controlled environment, but they still scare him a bit. he doesn't like getting hurt.

💔 An angsty headcanon LISTEN. LISTEN TO ME. WHERE WAS DINADAN WHEN BRUNOR SHOWED UP TO COURT. i'm just.. imagining how he felt, watching his brother ride up to the round table wearing their father's tattered and bloodied surcoat. the moment of realization seeing the stained coat of arms. i think dinadan would have been angry at brunor. and upset with himself for not being there. the grief hits all at once and he has nothing to do except just sit with it, stew in it. he tries to keep a cool attitude and stays laid-back and stuff, but i think that would have been a breaking point

thank you for the ask, sorry this got so long LOL i have a lot to say about my faves :]

[shining-scion]

Ok, here’s my thoughts/review on Pirate101 as a newcomer/someone who just beat arc 1.

I wanna start off by saying I did, overall, have a lot of fun with this game. I did. That being said—

The first thing I think is really worth addressing as a problem is just how… culturally insensitive this game gets. I’m not an expert on any of this stuff, and with Wizards I’m not sure how much is noticeable until at least Krok, but I noticed some stuff almost immediately here that I— while not an expert— am concerned about. Perhaps that’s because I’m older. I did start my Wizard playthrough very young.

First of all, the whole class of witchdoctor, the aesthetic… probably needs to go. I can tell it’s being sourced from “piratey” media, (wasn't the plot of one of the POTC movies that Jack Sparrow got tied up with a voodoo doll in some manner?) but it’s outdated and while I can’t speak for the cultures it affects, I’ve seen people speak out against using similar tropes. I’ve personally just replaced the class altogether in my own headcanons, but I don’t think Pirate has the budget or means to overhaul a whole class, and headcanons don’t fix canon, so I’m not sure what can be done here. I’m not an expert.

I can tell that, in general, much like Wizard, Pirate is a melting pot of different sailing/odyssey/pirate pieces of media. “The Road to El Dorado” is literally a movie.

In general, I don’t mind the media inspirations being blatant. It’s fun to see what I recognize and how passing bits and pieces of different stories make their way into the Spiral, and when it’s done well I think it gives the universe this really fun bizarro world vibe. The issue lies in the fact that popular culture is full of stereotypes, and it’s clear that those stereotypes were taken as face value and just seen as “tropes”— which, yeah, a stereotype is often used as a part of a trope, but that doesn’t make it ok. At all. Both games would need a serious rehaul to make some of this stuff passable, I’m sure.

In addition to the witchdoctor class, the whole entirety of Cool Ranch was really just awful to Native people, and so was the literal opening questline in Skull Island. Wizards has this problem at times too.

In general, Spiral worlds have a problem where they don’t take enough creative liberty from their source IRL locations. I wonder if they might have at least a little bit of an easier time with this stuff if they took the time to worldbuild each… well, world, until it’s a distinct thing from its source. They did so fairly well with Dragonspyre, and multiple pieces of fiction do the same, so I don’t see why they couldn’t except for maybe their “one world a year” cycle kind of stopping them from writing things like that as much as they want.

TDLR: KI, YOU NEED A SENSITIVITY READER. “IT’S FICTION” IS NOT AN EXCUSE. THOSE ARE REAL STEREOTYPES AND REAL HARM. YOU SHOULD BE DOING AS MUCH AS YOU CAN TO PREVENT PERPETUATING HARMFUL STEREOTYPES IN THE FUTURE.

I just wanted to hold space for that topic, because it’s important, and it’s probably my biggest worry above all else. I don’t know everything but it seemed worth mentioning.

Transitioning onto the brief background context I do have with this game, since that will affect my view…

I played Pirate101 once as a kid— in 2012, when it launched. My stepsister and I crowded around the home computer and waited with baited breath as we saw another side of the spiral for the first time…

I never got past like, level 3, and that first character currently says she’s “adrift in the spiral” on the loading screen so I can only assume she got shot by the Armada or something horrible. Anyway—

The idea of playing again was something I’d turned over in my mind as I got back into Wizards. Now that I was older, I figured I’d be able to grasp it better than I could as a kid, and I’d be able to pay for my own sub, as well. After a bit of thinking, I went for it. I’d heard a lot of things about the game’s current state, but I decided to try and push that out of my mind as much as possible and meet it on its own terms. I wanted to give it a fair shake and I wanted to experience it with all the unbridled joy I know it would have given me as a kid, without worrying about how the later content would or wouldn’t compare.

I’ll give the game this— I LOVE THE OPENING. Maybe I was just excited to cross the long awaited item off my list, or maybe my inner child was just giddy to start a new adventure in my favorite fictional world, but I could not stop smiling and laughing from the moment the curtains opened to the minute I landed in Skull Island. Escaping the ship was exciting, seeing the Armada was SO COOL— I can see why they’re a fan favorite 101 villain— and the way I got to pick my backstory was unique. When I realized a Swashbuckler was much the same as a Storm wizard, I was really happy to see that picking the choices that seemed to speak to me (in wizards, questions about my personality, here, what I thought would make for a cool backstory) landed me with a playstyle I favored. It’s a small, coincidental thing, but it worked and I settled into things fairly quickly.

…I did also notice that the game was a lot rougher around the edges. Small things, really— the bloom is a little too bright, some models aren’t entirely animated in the face, things like that. I didn’t mind, and honestly? It just reminded me a little bit of classic Wizard, and it grew on me within the hour.

There were a few glitches that have and continue to persist. The dialogue box when Boochbeard is psychically communicating with you, or your companions are talking while you’re doing something, is covered by the crowns shop symbol unless the menu is opened. This was a… mild problem for me, as I have an auditory processing disorder and need that text to understand what’s being said to me. As well, every time I was shown an image, it would be cut off and shown halfway above the screen. I never got to see the face of my mother. That sounds horrible out of context. Anyway—

I really enjoyed the moment you walk up to the dock in Jonah Town and see your parent’s ship. I think my little part of the game was how the chase to El Dorado often felt like you were moving in step with your parents, running beside them and only separated by time.

There’s a weird feeling of legacy and it all feels really grand in a way Wizard doesn’t. They’re both, objectively, stories about growing up and taking your place in the world, but the Young Wizard is not attached to the Spiral in the same way the Pirate is. If I were to name the difference, I’d say Wizard is about Destiny and Fate, while Pirate is much more about Legacy and Heritage. The Wizard is guided by the stars, the Pirate is guided by the echoes of the past. They’re both very different ways of addressing and justifying the great journey, but I think they work in step with each other.

Another thing that I think was done SUPER WELL is the sense of SCALE. Especially, docking at Mooshu made me realize that if anything, I hadn’t explored CRAP of the worlds I was going to. I was basically saying I explored a whole country when I was really just going to the capital. The travel times were boring and a little egregious at times, but I think they were overall needed to give a sense of just how big the Spiral really was. When you look at the illustration of the cosmos, it can almost seem sort of small, but that’s not the case at all and Pirate really wants to remind you of that.

Gear wise, I knew it was gonna be more open ended, but OH GOD. I wasn’t expecting what I got. I was waiting for a waterworks, or the Kane dungeon to be like Darkmoor, but it wasn’t like that at all. The openness was daunting, but eventually I really just pressed into the agility and attack stats, and I came through fine. Managing my companions was a little bit more of a daunting task, and I eventually realized that even on a normal playthrough, you needed to know how EVERY class played so that you could spec your companions accordingly. There’s a lot to keep up with and I don’t think the fact that I was treating it like Wizard102 helped. It took me until about Aquila to really have an idea of what I was doing.

As for Ship Things— coolest part of the game. I am REALLY impressed with how well it plays especially for the engine and when it was coded. The skyboxes are gorgeous, the fact you can run around on your boat and even get a little cabin was a pleasant surprise, and I liked the nods to Wizard’s spells with the ship combat attacks. I did play through the whole game with a partner and often rode with her, so this might not be an issue for others, but my nautical level was severely underleveled almost the entire game. I’m only on Sinbad part 1 now, but to my knowledge, I’m past the part where sailing is useful.

Now, as for purely story stuff…

This was Blind Mew’s game. I’ve heard a lot about him as a writer during my time on Wizblur, and I know he has pretty strong influence in Wizard now, but I wanted to see his writing “in his element”, so to speak.

…I really enjoyed it. I could tell that a lot of story beats were planned out in advance, with an idea of how and when exactly things would tie together. There was a thematic idea through the entire game and it stuck to that— the idea being of freedom, and choosing to seek redemption.

It was really interesting to hear this sort of idea of “redemption is an action an individual chooses to take— and it doesn’t always mean forgiveness or being allowed “back in”— it just means the person tries to do better.”

A lot of redemption arcs in the current day are very… uh… Catholic about it? You must Grovel and Suffer and Atone and only once you have Suffered and Killed All The Old Parts Of You can you be considered worthy. Pirate doesn’t do that. It kind of just says that at any point, someone can decide to turn around and do something different, and you should always give people the chance to TRY.

I know Valencia part two was rushed, but I think even then it was really good. Kane did something I really appreciated with was take the theme and add an addendum:

People can decide to turn around and do better at any point, and they deserve to be offered that chance, but some people will refuse to do better.

Kane SHOOTING HIS OWN HEART really tied a bow on the message for me. You could probably argue “well, could he really be blamed for that if he didn’t have the conscious to tell him it was the right thing to do to accept it?” But I really don’t think the whole nature of AI and how they think thing matters here.

The ending was great. I adored how all the companions sort of came to your side in the end and even explicitly said that they were your family. I’m not sure Wizard ever has a moment where an NPC says something that… close and caring to your PC.

Overall I enjoyed the chase for the map pieces, and chipping at the Armada’s elites was really well done. I wasn’t expecting them to treat the Marleybone war with so much gravity, but they did it about as well and as seriously as a kid’s game could. The finale with Rooke at the end was amazing, the atmosphere was really well done and Rooke died to my partner’s crab, which was just… peak 101 game comedic timing.

I also really loved the “GO GO GO AND GET OUT” way they structured Valencia part 1 and 2. I was genuinely tense and nervous in part 2, wondering if being Spiral Spain’s Attaché was even going work. Being so close to Kane and watching him get SCOLDED for daring to touch me was incredibly satisfying. I wish there was more time for Royal court shenanigans so that I could get to see Kane glaring at from across the room more, but I suppose that’s what fanfiction is for.

In terms of story execution and story execution purely, I’d give arc 1 an 8/10. Every beat was there when it needed to be and early actions affected the long term narrative, which was nice to see. With some Wizard worlds I do feel like they suffer from “this could have been an email” disease, but my time was less wasted in Pirate.

…Now, as for Sinbad…

I have unfortunately noticed the increase in insane difficulty, and an increase in glitches. Last night my partner and I tried to do the tower in Mooshu to find Sinbad, and we were in there for two hours, only to get teamwiped and find no dungeon recall. I understand Pirate was made to be harder than Wizards, but that is just straight up unfair for mainline content, I’m sorry. As well, a promotion quest my partner did had enemies that were almost level eighty. If the level cap is seventy, how in the WORLD is that fair?

It didn’t bother me so much initially, but now in the endgame it really does— how much is locked behind a timer. Oh, you want to level your pet? You have to constantly be starting timers for their training, and logging in regularly to stop their training and start a new one even if you aren’t playing. If your companions get injured they’re unusable until they’ve recovered, which is mostly fine in the early levels, until they need ten hours to recover at level seventy. If you’ve been trying to fight something for ages, and you keep dying, all your companions will be bedridden and you just— can’t play anymore. It reminds me of those really formulaic mobile games where everything is on a timer and progress is so, so slow that you maybe get five minutes to do things a day. Sinbad feels impossible right now because I’ve pretty much run out of ways to improve or maximize a stat to make it easier. There’s no team up either— so am I just supposed to hope I can figure out how to cheese a rigged combat system?

I am still, overall, interested in Pirate101. I want to support the game and allow it to come back to life like the developers have been trying to do. I am interested in what’s next for the story and how they’re going to expand or do something differently from the Armada. I can understand reused assets from Wizard, I can understand a few glitches or bugs, but if I can’t keep up with the gameplay, none of that matters.

It’s possible I just suck at the game. I came for the story and for the most part, I did get to experience that. It was really impressive to see how well it stood up against Wizard— it didn't feel like an aside or lesser, it had its own identity and part of the Spiral.

I’m not sure how to end this review other than… like, I can’t tell KI how to make their games, but please have a little bit of mercy. Wizard is fairly forgiving and I understand wanting to make a harder game, but there’s hard and there’s challenging. Pirate101 is not challenging me, it’s hitting me with a brick inside of a sock. I think it really needs some balancing help.

Adoring the amount of badass coats to pick from, though.

[toxic-potions-productions]

Workplace distractions (Kimetsu Gakuen) (Source: The road to El Dorado)

Ahh, Kotohina. The master of rizzing up her boss' secretary

Funnily enough: Chel was one of my inspirations for Kotohina, both in canon & Gakuen! & she's also Kotohina's headcanon voice, but only in Kimetsu academy ^^" (Another thing, can we all agree that Chel is one hot mama? I'm tempted to watch the movie just for her 🥵)