#v: post tftbl

[companyenvy]

@companywrath / continued

"You don't have to do all- Actually, yeah, cool, keep it up. This is the right reaction to be having right now." He's not really checking in for any particular reason- Mostly just to be nosy. He likes to know what Rhys's friends are up to, even if he hasn't seen them since the whole vault key incident. The most recent vault key incident. He's had an above average amount of vault key incidents, hasn't he? "Maybe I picked the wrong dweeb to get involved with. Shit would've run a lot smoother if I was in your head."

So this was what was in that cybernetic eye Rhys had torn out but not destroyed? Some Jack AI? Wow. Vaughn laughed nervously. This was the right reaction. keep it up. He'd be repeating that to himself the whole damn conversation. I mean, this was THE Handsome Jack! The CEO! The President! The Hero! Everyone in Hyperion wanted to be like him, even the people like Vaughn who tried to pretend otherwise! He had it all: money, power, fawning partners aplenty to choose from. That was the life. Even now, as a Child of Helios, where he was considered someone who helped free former Hyperions from their former corporate shackles, some part of him missed the normalcy of the white collar world. It all seemed so quaint now.

"You think so?"

He asked, smoothing out his hair a bit. Before he'd come here, nobody listened to a thing he had to say. Hell, up until he left Cassius' lab, nobody listened to him, not even Cassius himself at times. And he'd given enough of a damn not to try and kill him when it felt like the whole world wanted that.

"I mean-- I'm totally flattered you would say that, Sir, as I am pretty clever, but I can't take all the credit. If it weren't for Rhys, Fiona, and Sasha, I would have died out on Pandora a long time ago. Practically as soon as we took that ten million bucks and chained it to my arm...."

[pateretfilia]

[I'm not the same helpless little girl I used to be. Now I can finally defend myself against you.] at AI jack?

"Defend yourself against me?" Jack laughed, his blue body-projection briefly flickering. "Cupcake, you can't even touch me now! I'll wait here, bide my sweet time— and then, when you're least expecting it? I'm gonna kill you. Slowly."

There was so much technology all around Pandorans at all times— oh, he'd find a way.

@threadsandwings

[pateretfilia]

"Son of a—!" Jack growled, trying uselessly, multiple times, to grasp at Troy's throat. His blue hand phased through and the whole body, a veritable light projection, intangible, flickered for a moment. "Ohh, if I could touch you, you'd be so dead. You'd be choking on your own entrails right now, and I'd laugh."

Nobody spraypainted his face and got away with it. Not some nobody punk who didn't even know who the hell he was! Why did you think he made 'verbal littering' punishable by death in Opportunity? That's right, because nobody, nobody talked shit about Handsome Jack. He'd earned his place at the top. Sheep had no place questioning the wolf — though to him it was fat less like sheep and wolves, and far more like bugs and boots. Hated those little bastards.

"Why the fuck does it matter to you why I'm a hologram? You just told me you don't know who I am," he commented, rolling his eyes. "Listen. Kid. If you're expecting me to, like, divulge the secrets of the universe to you right now, then you're shit out of luck. I'd say I'm sorry, but, you know: I'm not."

[continued from here]

@pateretfilia

The AI lunges for Troy's throat and he flinches hard, despite the fact that he's also laughing. He's jumpy, but he's not feeling particularly threatened. It's like a haunted house; the scare actors aren't allowed to touch you.

If he's being honest with himself, this guy does look familiar. He can't quite place it, though. Handsome Jack exists in a notable gap in Troy's knowledge of the world. Up to about thirty years ago, he knows most of the basics of the past from his dad's old history books. Despite the fact that he'd always had more of an interest in fantasy, when he was younger he would read anything he could get his hands on.

He's been on Pandora for six years now, since just after Jack's death. The time between Jack working at Hyperion, taking over Hyperion, and dying is right smack in the middle of the void. The closest he's experienced to living on a Pandora ruled by Handsome Jack are the relics left behind. It dawns on him then that that's where he recognizes this asshole from.

"Oh! You're the guy from the billboards! Holy shit, dude! I've spray painted so many mustaches on you! Why the fuck are you a hologram?"

[hcndsomejck]

cp verse thots and ponderings.

ever since mina / @neuroslayyer​ answered that ask [i am vibrating] i have been ferally thinking about the different types of verses jack would have in cp2077. mind you i have not finished the game (my adhd makes it hella difficult to bulldoze thru games, but i love it so much, pls be patient with me) but HAVE gotten to anders hellman so!

he is literally so easy to port over.

verse one: he’s a corpo codemonkey pretty much like his position in tps. corpo suits are very hyperion in nature from my observations [my main v is corpo]. arasaka especially from what i have gathered. it’s a very man-eat-man world even in the shiny, ‘civilised’ towers. [it’s a mirror of the streets, just played on a board meant for 4-dimensional chess.]

story may be relatively similar to tps as well; a suit desperately wanting to climb, being instead climbed himself by those around him until he manages to outmaneuver an exec or director and gets to sit in the cushy seats. [OR] he could be in the throes of lording himself over the rungs below him. 

perhaps not as delusionally insane as in borderlands? i’d love to examine jack in a space where he errs closer to sane than ‘emblazoned by eldritch vault magic making his already massive issues larger than a fucking planet’[1] (see below).

verse two: he’s an engram, akin to tftbl but given how engrams seem to be literal copies of living memory, personality, and soul matter (to my knowledge) it’s less an AI and more actually jack himself. cue anyone getting to suffer his delusional (or not so much as stated before) hero complex, sadism, and flippant disregard for certain groups’ wellbeings!

a few ideas for this one could be for v’s. another jack-in (puns!) gets them a second engram that may, or may not fix their issue w/silverhand. jack erasing/easing johnny’s hold and cruelly shoving him in a box? he’s a hero- he’ll save you! it’s ‘what he does’! jack and johnny fighting and v holding the mental popcorn and despertely needing a drink? 

i don’t think he’d actually replace johnny- unless it’s a post-game verse where; because v has had an engram before, something just easily moves in? johnny and his bits are too integral to the story (it literally drives it) to overwrite him entirely.

UNLESS it’s an au where jack himself basically takes johnny’s place as the anti-corpo, larger-than-life, narcissistic ‘hero complex badass’- where... .... well i just realised they are rather similar aren’t they? HMMM.

borderlands may be an insane space western but it can also be shifted to cyberpunk easily and idk i am noodling and yelling into the void.

[1] -  pls talk to me about a verse where he is actually soft for his angel in the way a more healthy society defines it, rather than [genuinely] thinking entrapment is protection and abusive ‘tough love’ is actually fine. (yes victims can become like their abusers without help but what if- what if his defiant bullshit served him well there? idk. the victim to villain trope IS more convoluted than how most tend to write it.) 

i am notorious for giving layers to shitty father figures [eg; professor hojo in ffvii]. like fuck yes he’d still be awful but staunchly refusing to do to angel what his grandmother did to him.

[willczek-art]

Hi!! I saw you were taking ship art requests so maybe a TFTBL Rhys/Zer0? ^^ Just,, something soft and shippy w Rhys being a flustered mess maybe? Also I love your art so much!! Do you take commissions?

You have no idea how much I love you for this request!!

Thats one ship I definitely have to draw more of, I love them so much

Happy Valentines Day!! C:

[artttho]

i really just wanted to practice drawing his hair but uhh,,

[coolspacequips]

Need to destress....... Gonna try to indulge in a video game and will INEVITABLY be meditating on AUs while I do it lol

I've been like, thinking about Pikashi/Fantasy!Shance a lot lately tbh, and so I'm tempted to like give this one fantasy game a try since I've been thinking abt those tropes and conventions a lot .......

At the same time tho I've been thinking about blands lately too lol, and I just love that brand of sci-fi/fantasy and I've mentioned before that I have an au..... Brewing.......... We've talked about who Lance would main before, but what sort of class would he be if he were IN it.... 🤔🤔🤔🤔

Anyway, I'm just feeling tense and haven't rly played games in a long time so we'll see, in kinda searching for inspiration and maybe a laugh so blands might be the way 2 go...

[glassesbrc-blog]

(click for higher res!)

Since I can’t wait to do anything, here’s a little surprise holiday set for the lovely @harriedwritings! They write the sweetest and truest Janey Springs ever and I just HAD TO do something cute with the (soon to be) Moon Buddies!

[timothylawrence]

Top 5 tftbl moments ;)

EEE A GREAT ONE!!!! 5. The scene in episode 3 that takes place post helios falling and it’s like, rhys and fiona in the future after he explains about how he sided with her/not jack over and over again and fiona makes a shitty joke but rhys jokes goes ): lIKE UGHHH

4. the Flower Scene + the scene where rhys thinks hes going to kill sasha if he lets her go LMFAO. theyre so fucking cute and just seeing their slow blossoming (haha) romance and the way sasha opens up to rhys and i just... its so precious and it makes me so happy. (sobs) 3. Vaughn and Rhys reunion.... because i almost cried my eyes out with how sweet and authentic rhys was... the way he picks him up... ;-; 2. The fourth episode opening. Just all of it. the way rhys looks at sasha, fionas hilarious glare. SCOOOOTTEERRRR..... also just the lead up to whats to come. its one of the best openings imo and i loveeeee it. its so beautiful to watch and wow... were in SPACE!! THINGS ARE GETTING SERIOUS. 1. Am i allowed to put episode 5 in it’s entirety? LMAO? if not, it’s gotta be the Rhys v Handsome Jack final scene. it was great to see rhys finally win and just... the lighting... the dialogue... Seeing a renowned villain begging on his knees and being the final nail on the coffin... it was great. it was such a good scene and it makes my stomach twist every time i play/watch it. got some great quotes out of it and got to put handsome jack in the dirt AGAIN. 10/10.

[daz4i]

What’s the difference between handsome jack and Timothy and like that other guy 🤭

jack is a dictator and a bitch, tim is an actor and valid, and i assume the other guy in question is rhys :? he’s a bottom

asdfkjdfhgfd ok but fr i assume this is about my post abt wanting to go off about their parallels? but like. backwards, with differences? bc that’s also an interesting take and idk if you expected me to start rambling but i WILL either way so lemme put it under a read more bc it gets long like all my rambles

update after i finished typing this: this turned into a full-on essay i am so sorry. also there’s big spoilers for bl2, bl:tps, tftbl, bl3 and the bl3 dlc. so everything, basically hehe.

their driving forces are different: jack’s is, technically, wanting to make the world a better place (that’s what he genuinely thinks he’s doing, even tho he’s coming at it from the wrong direction). he just thinks killing like, most of pandora’s citizens counts as making it better, and he views order as his top goal basically, and wants to achieve it at any cost (which i will elaborate on soon too!)

rhys’s driving force is kind of selfish? success, honestly. of course it gets deeper and more complex as the story goes along, and he’s got more time-limited goals, but at the end of the day his dream is to run a company, and then when he achieves it his goal is to keep his company safe

tim’s driving force is mostly just. to survive. he takes the body double job to pay off his student loans (bc unfortunately you need money to survive), he kills other body doubles in the casino as self defense, he cuts off his own hand to stay alive and get out of the casino (and well. for moxxi and other people in it. but let’s focus on the staying alive part)

there’s also the whole thing of how they achieve their goals (i said i’ll elaborate on it. and here we are) 

jack, as i mentioned, wants to achieve his goal at any cost. he stops at nothing. he kills countless people - one of them being roland, wipes out entire towns, enslaves his own daughter, kidnaps lilith, all to get to his goal of solving pandora’s problem, aka its residents. he doesn’t value other people’s life, and puts his own life and his own goal before others

rhys and tim both however, lean more into the sacrificing agenda, both giving up actual parts of their bodies to achieve small-time goals (ending jack, saving the casino) that eventually factor into their main ones, and in order to keep other people and themselves safe. BUT! they also kill people on the way. because that’s how borderlands is, really

but other than that, tim sacrificed his entire self to keep living even before the whole casino thing. he technically sold his identity - you could argue he also stops at nothing to achieve his goal, but only when the cost is himself, and he hurts other people only when the moment or the small-time goal calls for it

rhys is a mix of them both, technically, but this is also his development. he starts like jack, stopping at nothing to get his goal - backstabbing, stealing, using people - but in the end falls into that sacrificing role like tim, but also into a different role: working with others. you could argue both tim and jack also worked with others during their stories and development, and while it’s technically true, it wasn’t a significant part of their story (well. for jack i guess it was the betrayal by the people he worked with that helped turn him into something else, but i’m talking more abt people like nisha and wilhelm) like it was for rhys. 

ANOTHER ASPECT!!!!! if i already mentioned working with others!!!! is trust, and betrayal! 

i’m gonna start with the one i have least to say about regarding that aspect, and that’s tim, because it’s not a very prominent part of his story. even when one betrayal gets him VERY screwed in thjp dlc, he’s... technically not the main one getting betrayed? or rather, the way that part if written and played n all, it doesn’t feel like it, even though he’s the one that suffers most from it in the end. the betrayal itself doesn’t sting as much, because i doubt there was much trust there in the first place.

gonna move on the jack bc the betrayals he’s suffered are p straight forward: everyone he trusted. he even says it in tftbl, to make it clearer (”i’ve been betrayed by everybody i gave a rat’s ass about”). those betrayals turned him worse, made him care less, but not trust less, is the thing - and he ended up getting betrayed again and again, because he didn’t learn from them and kept hurting people or doing such terrible things that made others not want to associate with him and take him down. 

rhys’s whole trust thing is really interesting and this is where i become that one image bc i’m bringing up my favorite arc from bl3 to both play and analyze, but starting with tftbl! (this is going to be so much longer i’m sorry) rhys comes from an environment that basically forces him to doubt people. hyperion is full of backstabbing and people trying to one-up each other - hell, the first time we see him is when vasquez screws him over. and then, throughout the rest of tftbl all the way to the last episode, we see rhys getting betrayed or think he’s being betrayed over and over. with vaughn (thinking he’d sell him out to vasquez), with yvette (actually selling him out to vasquez), with sasha and fiona (thinking they ditched him on helios), with jack (just. all of ch4′s ending and ch5′s beggining). H O W E V E R despite all that!!!! he keeps on trusting people. you get a chance to forgive all of these people except for jack, you get a chance to mend your broken connections later on, and. well. now comes my favorite part of bl3: you see rhys blindly trusting someone, no matter how many people tell him not to the writing in bl3 is far from perfect, including in that part, and most of it is for comedy honestly, but i still love it and what it says abt rhys’s character, even though it became a bit flatter. he trusts zer0, and he refuses to listen to anyone trying to make him question them, even though it puts him and his driving force - now being keeping atlas safe - at risk. of course, that trust ends up paying up at the end - and well. that’s also a repeating motif in the betrayals rhys experiences, and part of it might be the reasoning for them

jack experiences those betrayals because he’s a dick and keeps hurting people. rhys experiences those betrayals because he’s got stuff people need and is kind of unlucky (and also half of those betrayals aren’t even real but rather just Look like ones), that’s why they get resolved, and that’s why he keeps trusting people. and well, as i said about tim, he doesn’t really get betrayed in a way that affects or is affected by his character, but the one he does experience is the same as rhys - because he’s got something someone needs and is kind of unlucky. 

ok i!!! think i ran out of things to say. for now. it’s 4:30 am and i worte an essay comparing borderlands characters. but i had fun so it’s okay. thank you for the ask anon and shoutout to anyone who read through the whole thing :P 

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

That behind closed doors vid eh? I took the time to change the angle/darkness on them for my own viewing so by comparing them to the other videos, my screengrabs might seem a little different, but that’s just bc i changed the pitch and yaw settings and adjusted the brightness.

spoilers technically bc this wasn’t released to the public by gearbox, so venture forth at your own risk. nothing story-wise, as far as i’m aware, though.

alright it took me a while to get things settled as i had to keep adjusting the saturation and stuff for different scenes but i am here and i am ready to ANALYZE

as we pop into sanctuary-III we notice a new quest which I am like 40% sure is named “Going Rogue” which... is a pretty interesting name. “Being Reguo” is what I actually see but I don’t think that’s it.

we also have a couple of guns in the vending machine

+3- Weapon Charge Speed so we know Maliwan guns have charge time so I’m glad there are perks to reduce that.

a sniper sold by Amara

more reduced charge speed + melee damage

Jakobs Assault Rifle! Bonus crit damage (hoping ARs are actually viable this time around), weapon accuracy, melee. 

I can’t read it, but I am assuming this is the rare spawn notification

this seems like a hub for the rare enemy missions! that is so awesome

2 of the rare enemies we can fight i am assuming

some more. i actually thought the far left, 2nd over was zer0

“I know it sounds impossible, but you’re going to have to stop the Unstoppable”.

In-Game friend’s list

5 tabs, one of them looks like a key, maybe there are friend codes across consoles? Idk what the first tab is named, but they have 7 friends online. I believe the bottom one (Moze) is you and the top one is the person you’ll be joining? It shows what quest you’re on under your name. And for some reason there’s an icon of claptrap at the top, that very well may be the current player’s icon (as it’s also above Moze and it says gunner in the box). You can edit your status apparently, but idk what status means. there’s also a button for View Inventory.

viewing the inventory rn

edit group button below ur icon/profile

new area

the unstoppable man goliath himself

more of the new area

1 (one) fear: The Unstoppable

he can apparently throw shit at us like Bullymongs did

F in chat for Zane

You can also shoot them out of the air

“Don’t leave empty [handed?]”

zoomer is so fucking cute

he threw the tire thing and it flew behind him instead of forwards

lmao

also i 100% just noticed this but zoomer is red instead of the normal yellowish, might be bc of a perk or maybe zoomer conforms to zane’s skin as well? could’ve sworn he was wearing the basic bitch outfit tho

moze and ib

can’t tell if this is a skin or not lmao the quality is too terrible

the quest called Sanctuary

i think that is a new skin? it looks black instead of blue but again that may be the quality of the video

oooo that’s different!!!! QUEST TO CUSTOMIZE SANCTUARY FOR THE INHABITANTS PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE 

THIS IS ALSO DIFFERENT!!!!

vs the sanctuary-iii demo below

the behind the doors demo ^

the sanctuary-iii demo v

that’s a different list on the floor!!

the mail menu/tab!!!!!!

New legendary pangolin shield gives nova, storage, and health. does more weapon damage while shields are depleted

“I said bitttttttcccchhhhhh”

Also, those fucking names are brilliant. “Amara (as Amara), CalypsoKilla86 (as Zane), Fl4k (as Moze), MC Hammerlock (as unlisted), Moze (as Moze), SkagLord9000 (as Moze), Captain_Fuzz_Lipp (Offline - picture is Rhys), and Maya (Offline - I think the picture is Maya)

Maxxed-Out Sureshot++

“Thrown weapon MIRVs into 3 projectiles”

“Are you sure? Are you sure you want to send this item? Sent mail cannot be returned.”

EDGELORD ZANE FLYNT AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

GRANDPA NEVER GREW OUT OF HIS HOT TOPIC PHASE TGSHDTJYRUKJETHYRWTEQ

Moze heads! cool top hat skull

Moze skins

spooky scary. reminds me of Zer0′s pirate skin from captain scarlett

MOZE COLORS AND IT’S REAL WE GET TO PICK OUR COLOR SCHEMES THANK YOU OMG

GEARBOX ACTUALLY LET ME BE GAY IM YELLING

Moze emotes

it looks like there is a wheel for emotes!!!

so far we see finger guns and a little heart. we also know there’s a wave and we’ve seen amara do the chicken dance.

Amara, and some of her heads

birb

her hair holy shit that’s gorgeous

is that a crimson raider helmet? that’s badass as fuck goddamn

marcuS?

oh no Amara’s a furry now

drop from the rare enemy we see in the moze gameplay, maybe?

psycho cultist mask

warfstache?

Amara skins

spooky. guessing there will be a halloween skin event?

Fl4k!

i think this is their VIP reward head

Fl4k skins that change patterns

looks like a hawaiian shirt pattern on their jacket

camo

glow?

idk but it looks awesome

looks wintery to me, idk, maybe a floral print?

Zane heads

Soldier 76 reference i am guessing? I don’t play overwatch, im talking about the gay soldier guy with the visor lmao

space dandy fucked dirk im-

there are also gun charms

amara’s arm

buttstallion’s tail iirc

claptrap charm!

... eye of the destroyer? i think? needs more teeth

i have no idea lmao

fl4k’s doggy bowl!

helios hmmm

jack’s mask D:

moxxi’s hat

psycho mask

RHYS’S MOUSTACHE LMFAO

?????

tina’s bunny

a toaster? finally i can go swimming with my guns-

gearbox logo

weapon skins:

more eden 6:

is that is that an atlas building i see? or maybe thats SUPAMAX MFG!! they said we’d find a lot of crashed ships on Eden-6 (hey shoutout to my one post that said that the ship with bugs in it was gonna be the B-Team’s crashed ship that stranded them there, I WAS SO CLOSE)

may be supamax mfg

TINA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

looks they they’ve been living in the abandoned center (Jakobs? is it actually?)

Jakobs manor in the background

“Issarians” “Sarians” I dunno but they’re lil dinosaur thingies

more jakobs manor

i like the mix of old-timey shit and holograms/neon lights

this place is fucking huge omg

there’s like a library and everything holy shit

and it all goes to shit when the CoV get in there and hang people with TVs for heads (3rd trailer)

looks like its a basement or smth

volcano?  volcano? volcano? volcano?

(also from the third trailer ^) ARE WE GONNA BLOW UP THE VOLCANO? FUCK YEAH

Jabbers! cat monkey things. they are smart and can use guns

dome - reminds me of the atlas biodome of which cassius is from

(from TFTBL ^)

but it's just empty :|

some of the abandoned ships!

definitely thinking that abandoned factory like area we see (Tina Brick and Mordy in) is SUPAMAX MFG. these ships are SUPER similar to Sanctuary-III

THAT’S SO COOL??? this is straight outta skyrim holy shit. that giant skeleton on the tree holy fuck

looks like some sort of factory area? pump/mining maybe?

omfg lmao

this looks awful lmao but they said there is a gas giant in the sky so i gotta believe them

moze standing in what looks like the main menu

“[Iron Bear] is a little bit scuffed up - she’s seen some action”

they go on to talk about stuff we’ve already seen: about Moze’s action skills (hardpoints) and her skill trees

a better look at Amara’s phasegrasp

The quest is

“Bandit Jabber Hunter Spy”

Zane and Amara running ahead

You can target your missiles to one or multiple enemies at once. that’s fuckin awesome

more of Amara’s phasegrasp

Zane’s clone in action

“Lair of the Harpy”

And that’s it so far. That’s all we got. but holy shit was it a wild ride. I’m soooooo happy we get to pick our own colors for our skin designs. Seriously. So fucking happy. 

[companyenvy]

Verses

v: hyperion moneyman

takes place prior to tftb, when Vaughn is an accountant.

v: pandoran escapades

takes place during the events of tftb.

(may add a second during-tftb verse here as well for a different part of the story)

v: child of helios

Vaughn leads the Children of Helios, refugees from the escape pods of Hyperion's crashed moon base Helios who are now living on Pandora. From the outside, they seem like a bandit camp, so few Pandorans mess with them.

v: post tftb

post-game verse. Details tbd!

au: fantasy

AU in tandem with @companywrath and @companypride. Vaughn attended the same mage college as Rhys, but when they hijack a deal "Assquez", as Vasquez calls him, made, and are ricocheted into ensuing adventures Rhys quickly finds his passion isn't in magic or accounting -- it's in fighting with swords, axes and the like, what with his secretly-swole physique hiding just under his robes till then, and how much exhilaration he feels from adventuring with Rhys and Fiona, despite the danger present.

[pateretfilia]

Blog verses — Verse descriptions are not spoiler-free and neither is this blog! Proceed with caution.

V: Presequel — takes place during and before the events of the Presequel game. Jack is a low-level programmer at Hyperion who dreams beong a hero— and gets his chance when the lunar base is attacked one day. I will likely not be using this verse much at this point, as I've not yet finished the Presequel!

V: BL2 — Takes place around or during the events of Borderlands 2. Jack is the President of the Hyperion Corporation, and de facto ruler of the planet Pandora. His ultimate goal is twofold: open the Vault of the Warrior and cleanse the world of all the bandits, such as the Crimson Raiders. This is generally the verse I will default to, given the Borderlands series lore spans planets and galaxies, Pandora, while it is where our story takes place, being only but one among them.

V: TFTBL & Post TFTBL: Following Jack's death in BL2, his consciousness continues to exist as an AI. This AI lay dormant and unused for a long time following the death of its creator, until it is one day found and used by a cybernetically-enhanced Hyperion employee, Rhys Strongfork. AI Jack manipulates Rhys into following his whims, and is able to at times control his cybernetic arm or other machinery. Once Rhys reaches the Hyperion base in the latter part of the game, AI Jack reveals that his plan all along has been to install Rhys as president, then take over his body via a contraption known as an endoskeleton, and create an army of clones of himself.

Rhys ultimately foils these plans, forcibly removing all cybernetics from his body in a brutal and bloody fashion, but in the remnants of the removed cybernetic eye implant, the AI Jack still exists, again on the void, waiting for someone to awaken him.

AU: Fantasy: Jack is an adventurer who heads the Hyperion Organization, an interconnected network of weapons dealers and spies. His abilities include the use of some magic (mostly to restrain the powers of his daughter, whom he keeps locked in a tower with the help of a collar that restrains her very powerful magic), manipulation, charisma, and swordfighting. Jack is an adventurer who heads the Hyperiron Organization, an interconnected network of weapons dealers and spies. His abilities include the use of some artificer magic (mostly to restrain the powers of his daughter, whom he keeps locked in a tower with the help of a collar that restrains her very powerful magic), manipulation, charisma, and swordfighting.

Angel, on the other hand, is locked in a tower, but even with herself and her powers restrained, she's allowed to interact with the world in one key way: her powers allow her to possess and control inanimate objects. In Angel's case, this can come in the form of attacking others from miles away, or helping them from miles away by taking control of birds or other animals and allowing herself to speak perfectly through them with her magic. Jack uses this to gather information— and lead other adventurers to their deaths— as he pursues an apocalpytic relic he believes will cleanse the world of evil the likes of which once betrayed him, forcing him to always wear a glamor over a disfigured face.

[pateretfilia]

"Life coach? Fucking LIFE COACH?!" the transparent, blue-hued AI roared. First he comes to and his hands aren't around Rhys Strongfork's scrawny little neck after he'd spent so much time BEGGING him not to crush the implant and send him back to the hell that was the void, the nothingness of it all. And now he was being called a life coach?!

Forget the void. Ah, no, THIS? This was hell. Right here, with this guy.

"How the hell do you not recognize me, kid?! I'm — THE Handsome Jack! Hyperion's hero! All that work I did to save Pandora, you're telling me you don't so much as recognize my mug? After ALL THAT?"

Fuck it. He tried to tear this guy's throat out, too. It didn't work, obviously.

"Ohh, if I had my body, you would be so dead. You have NO idea."

❛   i  don’t  think  you  realize  how  dangerous  this  game  is  , kid .   ❜ (- @hyperionhandsome)

The crash of Helios is the best thing that could've happened to the Children of the Vault. Sure, now they've got a competing cult running around, but they're not much of a threat. It's the trash that's valuable. Helios contained some of the most advanced technology in the galaxy. Most of it didn't exactly survive the crash, but that doesn't matter to Troy.

He doesn't need Hyperion branded computers that won't work at all if they're off the Hyperion system and that explode in your hands if you try to jailbreak them. He needs parts. Every scrap he's found from the crash he's gutted further, repurposing the tech into guns and other devices for the cult.

He wasn't expecting much from the crushed ECHO eye implant he'd been tinkering with. Their followers are way too expendable to shove million dollar technology into their eye holes. It's less cult business, more personal; he's always been a fan of taking things apart to see how they work. It currently sits on a work bench, hooked up to an old ECHO phone device and a skag brain suspended in liquid.

He figured once he patched some things up and properly simulated the conditions usually required to power this kind of thing, it'd start pumping out confidential Hyperion information, or maybe pull up some poor dead schmucks bank account that he could transfer all the money out of and into the COV account. Instead, it… projects a hologram of some old guy. Totally useless. Cool.

"Uh, yeah, okay. I'm sure someone's gonna be super mad that someone hit a devious lick on their…. What, AI life coach? Shitty AI life coach?"

He takes off the reading glasses he'd been using to connect the delicate wires and shoves his mechanical hand straight through Jack's shoulder. "You can't even touch me. What are you gonna do, beat me up?"

[cybrneti]

「 @lunchl33ch from HERE. 」

╾ 「❝  You know … I always knew I’d die at one point ╾ but I never th-         -ought I’d die like this … I always pictured dying doing something                completely stupid ╾ like dancing in my underwear.  ❞」 He joked with a light, weak laugh, though grimacing at the feeling of the applied pressure on his wound. He couldn’t even recall how it happened, but he knew it happened all too fast. There was the slight memory of his own blood-curdling scream before he dropped to the ground like a rock. It hurt like hell, that could be noticeable by the tears that first pricked the side of his eyes before rolling down the sides of his face. God, why did it have to happen like this? Of course, he was glad to have Yvette there, but part of him wasn’t. He d- -idn’t want her to see him like this. No, this was all too traumatizing for her. But he knew if he suggested for her to leave him there to rot and wither away, she most likely would deny it. So that wasn’t an option. Even if he was currently in the process of dying, that didn’t seem to be his  biggest concern. No. Yvette was his biggest concern. The way she was p- -ancking and worrying over him, telling him he shouldn’t close his eyes no matter what ╾ just those little things made him concerned. It made him f- -eel bad … guilty. The hand on the side of his face caused him to frown, his own hand moving up to be placed on the side of her cheek. If there w- -as one thing he was going to do, it was use the last of his strength to at least attempt to calm her down. ╾ 「❝  Yvette … Hey, it’s gonna be alright.  ❞」 He told, managing to get his lips to turn up into a slight smile. Thumb ge- -ently rubbing against her cheek in an attempt to sooth her nerves. ╾ 「❝  I would tell you you’re not gonna lose me but … we both know th-          -at’s the biggest lie I’ll ever tell. But I guess now the perfect time to                        spill my guts out for you, right? No pun intended.                               Anyways, I need you to do me a favor …          As soon as I ╾ you know, go. I want you to go find Vaughn and every-         -one else … and I want you all to get the fuck out of here as fast as                                                         possible.         And I need you to promise me you won’t look back no matter what.              I don’t think I want a proper burial in the middle of all this.  ❞」 A pause, taking a deep breath before shuddering out his breath. Stay cal- -m, Rhys. Don’t cry anymore than you need to - he kept telling himself. Th- -is sucked. He didn’t want to die like this in some Atlas facility. Sadly, death was always inevitable. To no avail, he felt hot tears welling up in his eyes, trying to fight the urge to frown. He was breaking apart, even though he kn- -ew he needed to be strong. He needed to stay strong for Yvette just as m- -uch as she needed to be for him. ╾ 「❝  I’m sorry ╾ if I was ever a shitty friend to you. A - And you were al-          -ways a great friend to me … Vaughn too. And I just ╾ Oh, man …            This really sucks, you know? I don’t ╾ I don’t wanna die, Yvette.  ❞」

[oodlyenough]

vimesbootstheory replied to your post: finished the wolf among us[[MOR] this was a...

idk if you’re aware but the ribbon thing is based in an old horror story, so if you know that story it’s doubly anticlimatic. also I am very interested to know how got and gotg fare against batman in your highly esteemed opinion, because imo telltale batman is dull as shit.

Yeah I did remember the ribbon story although it only clicked to me in episode 4 when it became obvious via Nerissa(?) that the ribbon was what prevented them from speaking. then i was able to put ribbon + beheading together, lol

i’ve heard wildly mixed things about batman so i’m v curious honestly. i think i need to play something not telltale in the interim though. i basically went tftbl, twdg s3/GOTG, replaying tales, and now twau and it’s been... a lot.