#the vas are KILLING IT at their performance

[syncogon]

hibike euphonium s3 ep 12 - HOLY SHIT

i was doing the "can i guess who's who" and from both narrative and sound editing and in-universe-vote perspective i was pretty sure kumiko was the second player so when rEINA PICKED THE FIRST-

[misstoodles-doodles]

I have no mouth and I must scream

Bonus line art

[todayisafridaynight]

Snap: Omg my DB blog had been gone for years guys get over it!!!

*Daima Exists*

Snap: Okay you know when I said…

they gave my boy yamcha a modicum of melanin back and he's a teeny lil cutie of COURSE im gonna talk about tb oh my GODDDDD

[fandaniel]

huge fan of all the small changes hermes/fandaniel/amon/zodiark have while being the same voice 👍

[tea-cat-arts]

Now that Honkai part 1 is over, I really hope Mihoyo dubs it in more languages. I know that it’d be a lot of catch-up work, but it’s just a very text heavy game and it’s an absolute bitch to get through if you’re like me and have both adhd and eye tracking issues so I think it would make the game a lot more accessible

[icharchivist]

I love how Feather is always at 120% all the time

HE'S SO INTENSE it's SO MUCH. Boy has never known chill in his entire life. Calm is a state of being he only vaguely heard about. He's just hyper all the time. I adore him, i get exhausted of keeping up with him in like 10 minutes but by god is he amazing.

i love him so much. he's so so damn much. but what a guy. what a guy!

And the cosplayers managing to keep track of this energy is never going to not be funny to me. the way his cosplayer is a massive menace who's always running in some way or picking fight is amazing to me. I don't know how he does it but i admire it.

what a lad!

[themoomoorn]

Unsolicited Tier List on FE Lord/Avatar English Performances

Caveats and Addendums:

Greg Chun's Ike falls in the "Awful" category; this "Great" listing is for Jason Adkins, who voiced him in the original duology.

Subsequently, Lani Minella's Micaiah is in the "Inoffensive" category.

All of the Robin and Corrin VA performances (as there were multiple options in their base games) fall under the categories I slotted them in. This also applies to Lauren Landa's female Robin, as she was not a voice option in Awakening.

Marth actually got an English voice for the 2-Episode FE3 OVA released in 1997, and it was Spike Spencer. He's in the Great Performance category almost out of sheer meme power.

Presumably because of Laura Bailey's increasing star power as a VA, Alexis Tipton replaced her starting with some FEH variants and also voices her in both the OG Warriors and Engage. She fits the "Solid" category.

For anyone who remembers that Chris Niosi initially voiced Male Byleth and was subsequently patched out of both the game and Heroes, he also falls in the Wet Sock category.

[sovaharbor]

mr koji really put his whole pussy into hien

[loverdotpng]

I'm having a category 5 blonde man moment

[transshion]

ok i just woke up and Remembered, and im not done talking about this AUUGH

dd2 and ddda spoilers under the cut

the way this scene nearly directly mirrors the end scene from the first game, with your two characters, your pawn and arisen, in free-fall. In the first dragon's dogma, your pawn watched you plummet from above, reaching out to you because you ended your own life to grant them a chance at their own life.

in the second game, its the opposite, with your pawn reaching out to you from below. your pawn tells you that they now have their own will, thanks to you, and reassures you that they are now acting out of their own volition, and that they want to sacrifice themselves for you. unclear whether or not your pawn survives, but they still sacrifice themselves to help you end the great will's/watching one's cycle and restart the world fresh.

(and in my scenario, where im playing as my pawn from the first game, with my first arisen as my main pawn, it makes for a very very painful repeat of events but in different contexts)

bringing me to what i really really like about dd2, which is how your main pawn is established as a main character before the ending even happens. in ddda, your pawn kinda exists on the sidelines and plays a minor part until the very end when they literally become You, whereas in dd2, your main pawn inserts themselves into the story.

like one of the reasons this line strikes a nerve in me is because its not just them reminiscing and looking fondly on your journey; its also them claiming ownership of it. literally saying "this is my story, too!"

in the end they literally use their newfound will to defy the fate set for them to allow the arisen to break the cycle. i do think that dd2's ending is a little weird compared to the first (not that the first game's ending wasn't), but it is still very much an emotional rollercoaster lol.

tldr: i gonna miss my boy real bad 🥹🥹😭😭

thank you game for basically recreating this scene but making it a hundred times more painful for me

[bloominglegumes]

judging earthspark s3

contains spoilers!!!

(my own opinion + not that serious :))

not in order bc i sketch-wrote these down while watching first but guys im so im so .head in hands

-15 pts for the character development, relationships, ideas, etc set up in s1 that were thrown out in s2 and s3. war trauma, immigrant experience, ghost aftermath, individuality, healing process, autobot guilt, byebye. so much character assassination still happening

+1 for following through i guess

+1 shockwave 'all are dead' comic cover reference and having him react to it

+5 every appearance of frenzy and laserbeak. theyre professional hecklers i love them

-1 bc of how the art direction was already established having 2d handdrawn effects but obv their animation has been toned down, there are quite a few instances of 3d smoke made to look like 2d shading which is not necessarily bad on its own but doesnt feel like it fits here

+1 rage virus had nice potential for bringing simmering resentments to surface,, wish the show delved deeper into the characters thoughts + fallout

-1 megatron's va sounds like he was given direction to hold back somehow on his delivery ?? idk it just feels like forced gentleness compared to earlier performance like his lines don't fit him

-2 animation lacking feeling of weight, movements are stiff, unnatural esp for huge guys made of metal. how in the world did twitch push megatron over

-2 fight choreo is more generic and plain,, characters tend to fight in similar ways when they wouldnt, considering different sizes, abilities, personalities etc,, everyone is just tossing each other around

-2 teasing us with breakbee and then actually setting it on fire and then killing bumblebee's personality too and while we're here thrash and mo as well

+1 escape room ep overall was kinda fun. i like the idea of leaning into twitchs big sister role but like u dont have to water down the others when highlighting one character?? the maltos are kids, but theyre not like.stupid

+1 optimus pushing megatron down to protect him and megs glancing down where optimus' hand is on him. someone in story room is pushing megop

+1 prowl being a skilled Hater on entrance

+1 "organics" (derogatory)

-1 optimus tells prowl that the war is over in defence of megatron but literally theyre fighting decepticons again two seconds later so make up your mind earthspark

-5 what are the autobots and decepticons even fighting for at this point? let's shoot them into space so we don't have to worry about that conflict anymore except megatron but he's our friend so don't think about that trust us this is earthspark our show was formed on the basis of being the aftermath of the war hasbro im going to kill you

+1 constructicon mention

+3 prowl being huggable and pickuppable (+1 optimus, +1 elita, +1 arcee)

+1 "terran thrash" "terran nightshade" "stygi-terran" "clan malto" can't tell me thats not objectively cute

+5 blaster feature

+2 megop being deeply embarrassing about robby's weird girlfriend

+5 dramatic megop fight. intense music, personal arguments, falling through the ice sinking to the bottom of the lake together, if i'm going down you're coming with me etc i love it

-1 grimmy not having a single speaking line?? am i tripping

+1 thrash throwing the hat perfectly onto prowls antler tip

-2 duller lighting and colours overall </3 my guy was seriously looking grey in ep 6..,.

+1 "romantic entanglements have hobbled many a soldier. ask optimus." thank u es writers

+1 "there are no implications. there are only facts." banger

+1 multiple pronouns used for the shapeshifting quintesson i just thought it was fun

-1 thrash's character being largely reduced to That One Kid

-1 might just be me but the whole plot with the fake girlfriend was just weird as hell ?? what purpose does it have in robby's character development,,,

-1 dot and alex being less compelling as caring responsible parents. like they're still nice,, but the way they've been written just feels less careful

-1 that movie and confession scene sorry i know it was on purpose but i could not handle the secondhand embarrassment

+1 mole-bots tbh i thought they were going to pull scraplets but they were fun

-4 starscream neglect. where is the justice. nothing but a silhouette all season and then finally all he does is go crazy and get pulled back to jail??wtf

+1 quintesson ship entrance

-1 generic character body language/performance

+1 weird al yankovic going so hard

+1 saving civilians

-2 quintus powers being suddenly able to save the day when they need it because plot

-2 how the chaos terrans are not written

-1 environments are sometimes not that fitting for the action taking place there?? like for the final fight i know theyd need a lot of space for the titan but seriously just a green grassy field and blue sky come on?? give us some artistry,..,.

-1 slightly weird voice effects for quintesson characters but that might just be me

+1 sharkticon pit plucked right out of g1 movie i love it

+1 mo being so polite "mr optimus" "ms elita" "mr prowl sir" sweetheart

+5 what the fuck do you mean "i appreciate you, megatron"

+1 hard confirmation prowl is a hugger

+1 epic titan fusion

+1 prowl being nice. dialogue with bee in that scene felt kind of in your face but it was cute

-1 arresting starscream. girlie was probably starving in there

+1 "little bird"

+1 i'm just happy to have an animated prowl having so much relevance to the main story again.tfa prowl i miss u every day

-2 tarantulas never being seen nor heard from ever again. he had an awesome design, fantastic voice acting, super well written just for hasbro to be cowards

-1 again for just dropping pretty big story points from season 1 for unclear reasons. like i said,, current state of earthspark works fine as a kid's show alone but after how mature and well-handled season 1 was it feels like watching the tv spinoff series to the actual thing. sorry but like zero integrity to the shows basis and values and what the original writing had set up for the world and the characters

[axiian19-art]

SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP WTF

everyone was expecting her fight to be her testing / training the Traveler BUT THIS!?!?!

(spoilers for Lyney / Lynette / Freminet lore, it's found in their character bios / voicelines but doesn't spoil anything in the archon quests)

The siblings standing up to her and her fighting them???!??! This is so insane I—

It definitely looks serious considering that she's gone into her crazy balemoon form, and the fact that Freminet is blocking her very deadly looking strike and also going straight for her head

I know Lyney has a voiceline about having to become the next head of the House of the Hearth, and not wanting us to tell his siblings because they'll worry

Perhaps they find out here and all 3 decide to convince Arle to let Lyney make his own decision about that matter

It also seems that they got assigned a mission they don't want to complete, perhaps involving someone they know or don't want to kill (Freminet saying Lyney is hiding the person Father is looking for, Lynette asking why Arle's backed them into a corner, etc)

Judging by the opening lines of the trailer (some familiar faces not being present, etc) and details in the siblings' voicelines it's clear they're sent on dangerous missions and are always avoiding death by the skin of their teeth, and definitely aren't living normal lives

Also Freminet says that crying is looked down on / considered weak by Arle, so he always bottles up his emotions and lets them out at the literal bottom of the ocean; their childhood was definitely not great, even if Arle saved them from even worse fates

Like they never really experienced a normal childhood so I doubt they realize that the stuff going on in the House of the Hearth isn't anywhere near ideal

The special program also implies that Arle is very strict and the siblings have been affected negatively by this (stuff Daman / Lyney's VA says, etc)

I really hope that Arle sees their logic and backs down so I don't feel entirely terrible about pulling for her / liking her character because if she's willing to kill any of the siblings I'm going to be absolutely furious at her—

We do know she cares about them and gets very angry when they're mistreated or when they want to risk their lives when their are other options (her anger at people in Freminet / Lynette's past and when Lyney wants to risk his life and get a delusion to be able to perform on the same level as Lynette, before he got his vision)

ALSO I'm not going to ramble abt this as much but CYNO'S STORY QUEST!??!?!? From what I gather it seems Sethos was another candidate to receive the god's power (that Cyno has) and feels that he should have gotten it rather than Cyno for some reason?? Can't wait to see what's up with that as well

(also not Cyno and Yoimiya getting second story quests before Venti help—)

trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYZW7wH3pVM&t=58s

[mageknight14]

Sometimes I often think about Nagi Usui and how she’s one of the best characters to have come out in the past few years.

-One of her main motivations to get back into the real world is so she can play more of her mobile gacha game.

-She gains an instant crush on someone just because he resembles one of the main characters from said mobile gacha game.

-She’s the only one of her team to actually like the Grilled Alligator meal from SBY BBQ.

-The kanji on her shirt changes for every situation she finds herself in whether it’s for fights or eating.

-Some of her other kanji shirts reference The Art of War, kendo, Buddhist proverbs, JRPG terminology, and chuuni terms, among other things.

-One of sayings on her shirt translates to "Now I'm motivated" when in battle which means that yes, Nagi is a DMC Vergil fan.

-In the Field Walk RPG, Rindo wonders about how the letters of her shirt keep changing and Nagi tells him that she changes her shirts in between fights and food. He then wonders about how he never notices and Nagi tells him that she’s mastered the art of changing them in a millisecond before saying that she’s just joking.

-Is the only one out of the team with a dedicated maid outfit.

-Brags about being a one time Quiz Academy Queen Quizster after going head-to-head with a DRS member over the title and winning over him in the manga category.

-Accidentally intimidates other EleStra fans from approaching her through sheer aura.

-Her English VA based her performance off of Peridot from Steven Universe and Entrapta from She-Ra.

-Said VA also confirmed that Nagi would most definitely be a Sonic fan, with her being a fan of Shadow the Hedgehog in particular.

-Surprisingly, she has the most connections on the Social Network outside of Rindo due to her natural ability to understand people

-Gets into a pissing contest in Another Day with a ojou-sama, metalhead fan over who’s the bigger Takeharu Ishimoto fan

-Owns and is raising at least 10 snakes in Another Day

-Only knows how to cook sunny-side up fried eggs from the box, with the yolks described as 'frozen' and the eggs described as unpleasantly chewy.

-Is insanely competitive at fighting games

-She considers video game arcades to be the perfect date location.

-All of her "gurgly sounds" combined make for more than two minutes straight of audio.

-In Japanese, her personal pronoun is a neetspeak version of a pronoun usually used by sagely old male characters.

-In general, she uses a lot of netslang, including the Japanese equivalent of "kek" basically.

-She's too anxious to use a phone and to work a job that requires her to interact with people regularly such as retail.

-She’s the most bloodthirsty of the Wicked Twisters when it comes to fighting Noise and even lets out an evil laugh when unleashing a Grenade Launcher pin

-She really likes jigsaw puzzles and finds them calming; more specifically, the "1000-piece" type of jigsaw puzzles.

-Even with her eccentricities, she’s one of the most emotionally intelligent and empathetic characters in the series, and is never once treated as off-putting for her interests and actually uses the life lessons she took from EleStra to help out others in need.

-Is more than capable of killing a man with her psychic mind powers.

[screamofdespair]

An An Magazine N°2394 (17/04/2024) : Interview with Miyamura Yūko (Kazuha's VA) & Horikawa Ryō (Heiji's VA)

General & Movie 27 (The Million-dollar Pentagram)

[宮村優子 Miyamura Yūko as 遠山 和葉 Tōyama Kazuha]

M.Y : Please, propose to me as soon as possible (laughs).

Can you tell us what you like about Toyama Kazuha ?

Kazuha-chan is a calm and peaceful character who almost never gets involved in incidents or crimes, unlike Heiji. She’s genuinely sweet and cheerful and her love for Heiji is sincere and deep. She’s so fixated on him that she doesn’t realize when other men are interested in her. I think she’s quite popular, though...

Kazuha is a character who speaks Kansai dialect, is Miyamura-san also from Kansai ?

I myself am from Kobe, so i can speak the Kobe dialect, but Kazuha-chan is from Neyagawa in Osaka, and speaks Kansai dialect. Actually, there are various types of Kansai dialect and the one she speaks is a very strong, somewhat classical version of it. I used to hear it a lot when i was a child. I think it's probably the Kansai dialect that my father's generation spoke, and that’s what i have in mind when portraying her.

How do you see the relationship between Heiji and Kazuha ? 

When will these two realize that they have mutual feelings for each other ? (laughs). I really don’t mind about finding a nice romantic setting for their confession... I just want them to confess as soon as possible. I hope they both jump straight to a proposal! (laughs). And honestly, Kazuha-chan seems to be giving off a bit of a resigned vibe lately...

When you heard that Kazuha will appear as a main character in this movie, how did you feel ?

I'm really hoping for some progress in their romance, so please make it happen! (laughs).

What do you like about Heiji ?

First of all, his sparkling eyes when he solves mysteries! Then, how cool he looks when he’s riding his bike. It’s also adorable to see that despite his abilities, he becomes clumsy in the presence of the girl he likes. Heiji also gives us the impression that he comes from a good family. My favorite moment between Heiji and Kazuha is when they are on the bike together, and Heiji says, 'If you let go, I’ll kill you! To me, that felt like a proposal on the level of ‘stay with me forever’.

What advice would you give to the two of them, who aren’t making much progress, as someone with more life experience like you ?

Well... to begin with, i think Heiji should hurry and go greet Kazuha's parents with a greeting like : Please, let me take care of your daughter!

By the way, there’s an episode where Kazuha carries a matching charm with Heiji. Do you have something similar that you carry around, like a charm ? 

I don’t have a charm, but i maintain my peace of mind by looking at pictures of my pet dog on my smartphone. (laughs).

Do you have any thoughts on the relationship between Kazuha and Ran ?

When there is progress in the relationship between Shinichi and Ran in the original work (manga), i'm as happy as if it were my own. Even during the recording sessions the scenes where they support each other's love are really fun and cute. I think there’s something only Kazuha and Ran can understand, like the ‘struggles of falling in love with a detective’. But at the same time, i also wish for Ai Haibara’s happiness. So, i want Dr. Agasa to develop cloning technology that can create multiple Shinichis (laughs). Also, there aren’t enough Conans compared to the crime rate! So i hope they increase the number of Conans as well. If it’s Dr. Agasa, he should definitely be able to do it!

Do you have any memorable moments from the recording sessions of this movie that you’d like to share ? 

Minami Takayama, who voices Conan, is always amazing, and this time was no different, she was incredible as ever. I even took notes, listing what exactly made her performance so impressive. It was just astonishing...

Each character in Conan is very popular. Do you hear such feedback from fans ?

Of course! As a fan myself, i watch the show with my Conan fan friends all the time. Every character is charming, and the story is interesting no matter where you dive in. Sometimes, there are occasional small plot elements, so i can't take my eyes off it from start to finish. Personally, i really enjoy the scenes where Kogoro looks competent, and even though Gin and Vodka don’t appear in this movie, their buddy dynamic is something that i love. Oh, and i was really moved by the relationship between Inspector Nakamori and Kid.

Finally, can you please share the highlights of this year's movie to our readers ?

This time, the culprit and the mystery-solving aspects are very intriguing, but there’s also... Kid’s secret!!! Look forward to it!

[堀川 りょう Horikawa Ryō as 服部 平次 Hattori Heiji]

H.R : I believe there's a certain appeal in things that are not easily achieved (laughs).

Can you tell us what you like about Hattori Heiji ?

First of all, he doesn't back down. Heiji gets really annoyed with people who give in and say things like "it doesent matter." That kind of passion is very much like him, and i like that. By the way, although he is the greatest detective in the West, he becomes a complete failure when it comes to Kazuha-chan. She is his weakness. That’s definitely where to hit him!

Heiji is a character who speaks in Kansai dialect. Horikawa-san is from Kansai, isn't he ?

You know, while portraying Heiji, i sometimes think, ‘nobody talks like that in Kansai these days!’ (laughs). Expressions like 'seyakate,' 'souden ga na,' and 'chaiman ga na' you wouldn’t hear them even if you crossed the street in Kansai these days (laughs). As a high school student, what era is Heiji even from? But well, since it’s fiction, i understand the desire to exaggerate a bit. This time, the story takes place in Hakodate, and the Hokkaido dialect 'waya' is used.

When you heard that Heiji would appear as a main character in this movie, how did you feel ? 

Here we go again! (laughs). I was really excited. Especially because there wasn’t any talk about him being a main character next year. About a year ago, i got a call saying, ‘sorry, we need to record a preview for next year’, and i thought, ‘wait, does that mean... next year?’ ‘Yes, that's right.’ That’s how i found out. I was really happy.

How do you see the relationship between Heiji and Kazuha ?

In the previous movie, ‘The Crimson Love Letter’, Heiji said to Kazuha, 'If you let go... I’ll kill you.' To me, that’s basically a confession. It’s almost equivalent to saying, ‘i love you’, so i think his feelings have been conveyed... But i wonder if they’ve actually reached her. It doesn’t seem like it, does it? (laughs).

What do you like about Kazuha ? 

She often scolds Heiji with some harsh words, but from my perspective, they are just messing around like a married couple's quarrel. I’m always like, ‘oh, they’re at it again’. But actually, i don't mind being scolded like that, as does Heiji. During the recording sessions, i often think, ‘she’s so cute’. Honestly, i wouldn’t mind if she scolded him a bit more… (laughs).

What advice would you give to the two of them, who aren’t making much progress, as someone with more life experience like you ?

I think their feelings have already been conveyed, so isn’t that enough ? (laughs). Of course, i’d love for them to finally get together, but that slow progress seems so typical of Heiji and Kazuha, don’t you think? (laughs).

Do you have any memorable moments from the recording sessions of this movie that you’d like to share ?

There’s a scene where my character has to fight an opponent in an unbelievable location, something that could only happen in an anime. It’s a completely unrealistic situation, but the characters are fighting with all their might. So, as voice actors, we have to give the same level of effort to make it work. That particular scene left me really exhausted during the recording sessions. But that’s exactly what made it so entertaining. Being able to immerse yourself in the role to the point where it feels like you’re stepping into the picture is one of the best parts of this job. The feeling of accomplishment and the exhaustion afterward were incredibly satisfying.

Each character in Conan is very popular. Do you hear such feedback from fans ? 

Yes… but it’s a bit embarrassing (laughs). Well, there’s no denying that all the characters are really cool. But if people feel that the appeal comes not just from the way they look, but also from the acting, i think it’s because all the actors aren’t trying to ‘be cool’. We’re just giving it our all. I truly believe that fully committing to the role is what makes it come off as cool.

Finally, can you please share the highlights of this year's movie to our readers ?

When it comes to Heiji, it's not only about his feelings for Kazuha but also his dedication to pursuing the truth. I hope the readers can truly appreciate this admirable aspect of his character. There’s plenty of entertainment too, such as Conan-kun’s skateboard sequences, but also more profound emotions and nuances of life that adults will relate to, alongside the action and mystery-solving. This film is packed with so many elements that i recommend watching it at least three times (laughs). You really can’t catch everything in one viewing. Personally, i watch any movie at least three times!

Note : The translation might not be the most accurate word-for-word, but i did my best to make it coherent.

[margoshamangolord]

IT'S BRAVERN THURSDAY BABY. THEORY TIME

(SPOILERS) I watched the ninth episode of Bravern twice in a row (I want a third time) and I am BURNING WITH EMOTIONS.

So. We confirmed the theory that Bravern is Smith, and even the crazy conclusion that Bravern is in some sense a kid/descendant of Smith and Knuth (or I watched with my ass?? in general, after watching i thought he used her power in some way for this to happen)

This answered some questions and created new ones. Let's say, how did Bravern know Isami's name in the first episode, is Bravern a deathdrive and who is he anyway.

But then who is the Lewis Smith we have seen throughout all the previous episodes? Where did Bravern come from if Smith had not yet died there and how did he even return in time?

We still haven't been told what the rest of the Deathdrives need and who they really are. Knuth's true goal was to merge with Smith, but he did not agree in this world. If he was Bravern from the beginning and was there with himself, then perhaps it's like a loop: the Lewises die and become the new Braverns. So, maybe there is a universe in which Bravern did not appear at all?

If he had agreed to merge with Knuth, then this would have collapsed the loop and Bravern would not have appeared in the next universe, and both worlds would have died - the first because of Isami's despair and the victory of Vanitas and Pessimism over Bravern, and the second because of for Deathdrive attacks and Bravern's absence

Maybe the Lewis and Bravern loop is Knuth's selfish wish? She said that she rewinded time over and over again, "repeating their tryst”(or something like that). Perhaps the moment of Bravern's appearance was the very “tryst” that she repeated? Killing and reviving Lewis again and again for the sake of this feeling? The loop can't end there every time

FUCK I THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE A FUNNY ANIME COMEDY WITH A FUNNY HUMANPHILE ROBOT AND THERE IS THINGS HAPPENING NO WORSE THAN EVANGELION. I SHAKED AND NEARLY CRIED WHILE I WATCHED THIS SERIES I WAITED A WHOLE 168 HOURS (!!!) IT WAS UNBEARABLE

THIS IS HYPERFIX

I will miss Lewis TERRIBLY. But I know that he will remain with him, in a different form though, and that there would be no other way out, but they will still be together and will be able to fulfill the promise. He was destined to this for Isami's sake every time

Other notes:

—Knuth's VA performed MAGICALLY, just LISTEN TO THIS WHAT HER VOICE HAS

—The voice actor of Vanitas is no worse 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏HE HAS SUCH A GREAT LAUGHTER

AND AT THE END, WHEN HE MOANS IN DEATH, I NEARLY DIED MYSELF. SO MUCH EMOTION

—I’m shocked by how they changed the design of Bravern and it reminds me of the changes to Optimus from the third season of TFP. Bro went to the gym

—I realized that I prefer original to Russian voice acting because Japanese actors are not shy about YELLING.

—LULU 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞

—Lewis flies naked and glows as if he was censored

Overall I'm shocked

[homestuckreplay]

This Video Game Ended The World. Now What???

Sburb (Skaianet Systems 2009) has capacities that go far beyond what a typical video game can accomplish – but it is still a video game, bounded by rules, mechanics, quests, non-player characters and programming decisions even while it is not bounded by a digital space. Asking what the end goal of Sburb is, what skills it is trying to teach its players, and what kind of person it is trying to turn them into could shed some light on not only the future of the story, but also what Homestuck is trying to say about video games’ role in the world more generally.

In his book The World Is Born From Zero (2022), video game scholar Cameron Kunzelman discusses his concept of ‘potential labor’ within science fiction video games – where a player takes on the role of a worker and performs the day-to-day specifics of their job in an economy that does not yet exist in the real world, but may exist in the future. He argues that when playing video games, ‘players are subjectivated by a process that encompasses them and demands that they interact with the game in a certain way lest they fail immediately,’ and in his case study for potential labor, VA-11 HALL-A (2016), that ‘[players] become subjects whose entire relationship to the world is determined by the interface we use and how it asks us to labor.’ I think that Sburb is demanding a similar kind of labor from its players, and that this framework is helpful for answering John Egbert’s question of ‘to what end?’

[a short one – only 2.2k words]

Metaphorically, Sburb is the Y2K problem. It’s the computer glitch that destabilizes the tenuous structure of the modern world we’ve built. In its main storyline, Sburb destroys planet Earth, which is ‘done for’ and cannot be saved. It transports the player to ‘The Medium,’ a space outside of time, and kidnaps and holds hostage residents of the player character’s house besides them. Within the Medium, forces of light defend endgame area Skaia and its ‘unlimited creative potential’ while forces of darkness attempt to destroy it. The player, along with their Kernelsprite, begins, influences and participates in a war between these forces. Doing so relies on the three core mechanics described next. The player is encouraged to ally with one of these forces, in John’s case the forces of light – however the forces of light are destined to lose, and the end state or win condition of the game is unknown.

Sburb has three core mechanics. These are 1) to deploy specific machines with the eventual purpose of learning ‘punch card alchemy’, a process that advances out-of-game captchalogue mechanics to create physical items from digital resources [server and client players both contribute to this process], 2) to build a house upwards (or potentially downwards) from limited resources and likely while obeying the general laws of physics in order to reach further game areas [server player is responsible for this process] and 3) to use the out of game skills of captchalogue decks and strife specibi to kill various enemies in order to obtain resources for the above processes and advance the player’s abilities and levels [client player is responsible for this process]. These three mechanics can be shorthanded as Alchemize, Build and Kill.

The genre of Sburb is highly debatable, as genres often are, but I believe it contains elements of both fantasy and science fiction. A player character entering a world unlike their own, filled with magical kingdoms and wars between good and evil, certainly reads as fantasy. However, a player character witnessing an apocalyptic event on Earth and using technology to escape the planet and to become one of a few representatives for their species, is more classically science fiction. Currently, I see the set dressing and surface message of Sburb’s story as closer to fantasy, while the deeper themes and questions the game asks are closer to science fiction. The game is currently essential to the future of humanity, or positions itself as such, and consequently is asking players to think about what that future might look like.

A huge unanswered question about Sburb is who designed the game, and why. While creators cannot directly control how a player will interact with their game or what type of person they will become from playing it, but they often have a goal in mind – an ideal player, and an ideal playthrough – that can be inferred from the game’s design. For example, original Dungeons & Dragons (1974) imagines a player who will solve conflict through violence and define their player character exclusively through numerically-based abilities. A player can instead use the game to roleplay as a medieval fantasy character, acting out how they might ‘realistically’ behave and respond to situations and placing their mechanical abilities within the framework of modern human psychology. This style of play is popular enough that it has been somewhat accounted for in later editions of the game, but does not exist in the original text.

So, who is this ideal Sburb player imagined by the unknown developer? Like in D&D, this player is somebody who overcomes problems and obstructions through violence and is rewarded with additional power and resources - a core mechanic of games throughout history, such as chess (1475), where a player can capture and remove the other player’s piece from the game board to secure an advantage for themself. This player is also someone who performs physical and material labor via a digital interface and purely mental exertion, which is already an increasingly important skill in the age of automation. Finally, this player is someone who has access to – in my interpretation of punch card alchemy, which hasn’t yet been explored in depth – technological power so advanced that it presents as magic.

Sburb's radical moves to change human existence mean that the 'potential labor' discussed above could become the real practice of labor in whatever is next for humanity after completing the game. In time, the Sburb player will probably be guided as to when and how to use these powers. But who benefits from giving people these capabilities? The game’s developers must either be extremely clever or extremely reckless, either placing strict restrictions on what players can accomplish with punch card alchemy and planning contingencies in case of cheat codes and bugs, or have failed to consider the possible consequences entirely.

Releasing this game is high risk, high reward. There is a chance that players will take the very real skills they have learned inside the game and use them to turn against the creators who are ultimately responsible for Earth’s destruction – but if the game works as intended, then its story of light vs dark, the role it places the player in with respect to these forces, and the ways it encourages players to use their alchemize, build and kill skills should shape the player into somebody who would not make that choice.

Another unanswered question is the nature of the Ultimate Riddle, the purpose that the player character is designed to fulfil in the game. I have two possible predictions as to both the nature of Sburb’s developers, and where the main storyline of Sburb will end. Both of these are based on movie posters found on John’s bedroom wall – existing works of science fiction that are known to have at least a small influence on Homestuck.

The first relates to Deep Impact (1998), and to the story of Noah’s Ark from Islamic, Jewish and Christian scripture. In these stories, an apocalyptic event destroys the majority of life on earth, except for a subset of humanity who are pre-selected by controlling forces due to their useful skills and/or strong moral character. These forces are then tasked with rebuilding the earth following the fallout of the apocalyptic event. In Deep Impact, the worst of the event is avoided at the last minute, but this is the situation being prepared for.

In this reading, Sburb may have been developed by a religious or political cult who are either playing God, or believe they are receiving messages from a higher power, intentionally causing a rapture-like event in order to reset humanity. Players are not pre-selected, instead, the game itself acts as a selection mechanism. The best video game players are believed to be the people who will most successfully rebuild the earth from scratch. These players will need building skills to create physical structures and civilizations, fighting skills to hunt for food and defend themselves from external threats, and alchemy skills (which likely draw upon the creative potential of Skaia) to create tools and machines, thereby developing faster than humanity did in its previous incarnation.

Here the Incipisphere functions as the ark itself – the thing protecting players from the conditions outside. Players stay here until they have completed the game and until the world has calmed from meteor impacts and is safe for humans once more. Due to the atemporaility of the Incipisphere, these two events will automatically sync, no matter the relative amount of time that they take. It’s possible that these things happen ‘years in the future, but not many,’ as the wasteland and Sburb technology in these sections of Homestuck suggest that these scenes could take place on Earth. It is also possible that the Wayward Vagabond has somehow escaped the game early, and arrived on Earth at a time before it is ready to rebuild.

The second prediction relates to Contact (1997), among other stories of alien and intergalactic societies. In this excellent movie, a scientist identifies transmissions that come from intelligent life elsewhere in the universe – a species which has identified humanity as ready for their first interstellar contact. Through decoding these transmissions, the scientist uncovers instructions for directly communicating with these aliens and advancing further towards entering intergalactic society.

In this reading, a species from beyond Earth, likely one who has already tapped into the creative potential of Skaia via their own technology, has provided humanity with the instructions for developing Sburb. The team of scientists and/or video game developers who decoded the instructions may not have known that the game would cause an apocalyptic event, but the aliens transmitting the message certainly did. By including the alchemy and digital building mechanics, this species has given humanity a way to speedrun technological advancement, at the cost of their species’ current home.

I highly doubt that this is a benevolent act, or a random act of violence. A species with access to the capabilities of Sburb wanting to annihilate Earth could do so without the complexity of the game. These aliens clearly want to maintain a small subset of human life, and are using the game to train humans to work for them, fulfilling the roles of builders and soldiers that must be necessary to their society, but that the aliens themselves either do not want to fill or do not have enough people to fill. The aliens have selected gamers as a culture to target, because many gamers are used to adapting to and working within the constraints of a set of rules and an ideological framework that they cannot challenge – a mindset that the aliens are expecting will transfer easily from video games into real life.

In either of these possible readings, the creators of Sburb are both selecting for and trying to constitute a specific type of human. Marketing the game to teenagers could also be part of this strategy, as designers may believe that younger, more impressionable players can be more easily molded to the human who alchemizes, builds and kills. Marketing the game in the United States could also be part of the strategy, as a late capitalist society which defines success through hard work already delivers the same values that Sburb hopes to reinforce.

If all this is true, then Homestuck depicts video games as a medium of limitless capability to reimagine the world, but one that can be easily exploited and used as a mechanism of control. Through John and Rose’s excitement about the game’s possibilities and through the power fantasies of alchemizing something from nothing, building an ideal home via simple button clicks, and overcoming problems through simple combat, Homestuck demonstrates an understanding of why technological advancement presents such a draw to humanity, and how dreams of an easier, more automated life let us get caught up in ideas of what technology makes possible. It is empathetic towards young people’s feelings of optimism and escapism surrounding video games, yet also highlights the dangers in this mindset.

Homestuck tells us that the direct and indirect effects of rapid technological progress can be severe, unpredictable, and lasting. It suggests that we should not deploy new technologies without first understanding what they are capable of and what they can and will be used for. It tells us that many of the forces governing futuristic technologies, such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence, are things we do not yet completely understand. And it reiterates that while there are plenty of people – or forces of light – who would take these technologies and attempt to use them to benefit humanity, there are at least as many forces of darkness who intend to destroy the creative potential of video games, taking their infinite and radical possibility and using them instead to produce soldiers and workers, indoctrinating them into the same values that our society already prizes.