#well it was on stream so its not that much of a big spoiler but still

[solarockk]

i love the new skin

[writingunderneathawillow]

blue valentine

- the four times bucky makes you cry + the one time you make him cry content warnings: heavy angst, bucky’s trauma, mental health plays a big part here, depression, ptsd, unwanted advances towards reader (not bucky), accidental violence against reader, crying, insecurities, hurt/comfort, very minor thunderbolts* spoilers word count: 3.3k a/n: inspired by nessa barrett’s song blue valentine, lyrics are in italics, this is unedited cause i’m lazy but i’ll try to get around to it tomorrow

you play it so damn cool, 'cause baby, you are Bucky was a quiet lover. He would send you flowers at the end of the week, little gifts on special occasions and he’d spend time with you, either tucked away in tranquil corners of restaurants or curled up together in dark corners and sequestered rooms of the tower. Most of the time however, you spent at your apartment. He had told you he was a private person when you met, and you had understood that. Sometimes you wanted to show him off just a little – introduce him to your parents and friends, kiss his cheek on his birthday – but you were patient and held out on such things. Instead, you relished in your shared secrecy. Keeping things just to yourself had its benefits as well. Most of the time.

But once you hit the six-months-mark in your relationship, things got a little rocky. Your friends were pushing to meet him, and you were eager to share your joy with them. Bucky protested the way only he could: With smooth words and even smoother kisses. “Doll, I just want us to stay us for a little longer. I like having you all to myself,” he explained, his voice dipped in soft honey. He pulled you in closer and kissed the corner of your mouth. His stubble tickled your skin and managed to produce a little giggle from your lips.  “Well, baby, you still have all of me to yourself even if you meet some of my friends. They’re really curious about you and wanna know who I spend all of my time with,” you retorted and pushed him away just a little to look at him.�� Those ocean blue eyes, usually filled with so much warmth when he looked at you, clouded just a tiny bit when he noticed your reluctance to drop the topic.

He stayed quiet for a few seconds, and you felt the need to shrink away under his piercing stare, but you didn’t give up. “They’d love you.” “Sweetheart,” he began, “I wanna meet them. That’s not it. I just- I think I’m not ready to go there yet.”  Something in you cracked – just a little. It would be easy to smooth it over, to fill the fracture in your heart and piece it back together, if he just added a few more soothing words, so that you wouldn’t feel like an idiot for wanting your boyfriend to meet your loved ones. But his lips remained sealed and he simply ran a hand over your cheek. “Yeah?” He asked once he had noticed that you hadn’t answered.

No. Not yeah.  The words almost spilled out, but you clamped your teeth shut against each other, biting away the tears which threatened to fall.  “Okay, baby,” you said instead and nodded for good measure, ignoring the blistering pain, lit by insecurities, that burned its way through your mind. Bucky didn’t notice the way your waterline began to swim. He either genuinely thought that things were fine this way or he chose to ignore the way you mumbled a quick excuse to take a shower. Either option worsened the hurt you were already feeling.

In the bathroom you let the tears fall. You turned on the shower and stripped off your clothes as the salt streamed down your face. Your brain was working overtime as you wondered what was holding him back. Six months was already a long time to not have met your friends, but now, turning down your explicit request – it stung even more.  Little by little, moments of the last half year came back to you, rushing onto you like a thunderstorm.  His birthday when you had not been allowed to throw a party for him (“I’m fine celebrating just with my best girl”).  Turned down dinner invitations with his friends (“You’ll meet them soon, doll, don’t worry, just not tonight”).  A quick getaway from the bar he had taken you to once he had spotted Sam (“I’ll introduce you soon but not now, it’s not right”). The shower hid your sobs and blended right into your tears, so when you stepped out and rejoined Bucky in your bedroom, you made up some story about getting soap in your eyes to explain away the red rims.  I burn red for you Just a few weeks later, he splintered your already cracked heart. A simple night out, just the two of you of course, had gone sideways. A guy in a bar, drunk out of his mind and an asshole in general just to top it off, had wandering hands.  While Bucky sat at one of the tables, you had begged him to let you choose a drink for him and after successfully convincing him, you had made your way to the bartender. The drunk idiot next to you called out to you, shouting over the music to ask for, or much rather demand, your number. Despite ignoring him and then outright rejecting him, he didn’t get the hint and refused to give up.  His hands were on your arm for less than five seconds before he was ripped away with the flash of vibranium arm and his head collided with a brick wall.  Bucky’s chest heaved as he landed a few punches, two to the gut and multiple to the creep’s face, before all three of you were thrown out of the bar.  For a second you didn’t recognise the man before you. Fire raged in his eyes as he wrapped his metal fist around your wrist and pulled you down the street – to what he presumed safety. “Baby,” you winced, trying to free your arm from his tight grip. “Baby, please let go.” But he didn’t hear you. His body shielded you from the outside world when he led you, practically teared you, into an alleyway. Pushed against the wall, his fingers still wrapped around your wrist, he frantically checked you for injuries and stopped abruptly when he saw the tears welling up in your eyes.  “Sweetheart?” He asked, neck craning to search for threats, “What? What is it?” You wiggled your fingers hopelessly and whispered: “You’re hurting me.” No other feeling will ever compare to the one that swallowed you whole once your words had processed in his mind. His entire face dropped, and he put about ten feet between the two of you.  His gaze was glued to your arm where angry red marks, shaped and moulded to his fingerprints, sat accusatory.  “Sweetheart, I’m- I’m so sorry,” he murmured and stepped forwards, but he stopped himself before closing any real distance. “I’m- I didn’t mean to- I just saw his hands on you and I- fuck, I’m so sorry.” You exhaled deeply, trying to collect yourself, and wiped away the streaks on your face.  “It’s okay, Bucky,” you mumbled and walked towards him.  He shook his head and took another step back only to collide with the wall.  “No, it’s not okay. I- fuck- I hurt you.” Bucky’s voice trembled and his hands – both metal and flesh – closed into fists. “I’m so fucking sorry. I… I can’t explain it and there’s no excuse, but I- I saw how he touched you and it- I-,” he stumbled over his words, trying to make you understand, not seeing that you already did.  “I saw red. Nothing else. The only thing on my mind was getting you outta there.”

“I get it,” you replied gently and pulled your sleeves down, a feeble attempt at hiding the remnants of his grip.  You managed a smile and softened your voice. “It’s not your fault. But we’re safe. We’re okay. Alright?”  Feels like nobody knows The L-word had been on the tip of your tongue for months now. Pretty much since you had started dating. Bucky was easy to fall for. It took a little more effort to stay there with his closed off demeanour and reluctance to fully enter your world – he still hadn’t offered to introduce you to his friends and turned down any instance where he could have met yours. But it was worth it to you. You were royally whipped for him.  So, the word dangled between the two of you, unspoken but mutually felt – or so you hoped. It was another late night, cozied up together on your bed while a movie played in the background. Neither of you was paying much attention to the plot, instead the focus had drifted into a heated make-out session. His hands rested below your shirt, warmth seeping into your skin as he traced shapes onto your bare back.  You pulled away for a few seconds to take him in. Lips kissed rosy and swollen, a faint trace of a cocky smile on his face. His hair was messy from how often you had run your hands through it and a love-drunk haze veiled his eyes. 

It felt right to say it then. There was no doubt in you, no fears that you might be knocking on a closed door.  You breathed in deeply and placed another sweet kiss on his cheek before you said it.  “I love you.”

He froze.  You felt every single one of his muscles come to a halt below you. The thighs that had supported your weight on his lap went taut with tension and his fingers stopped moving. 

You had heard of fight or flight before, experienced it yourself a couple of times and had seen it in action on Bucky. But he had always chosen fight so far.  A punch thrown, a blow landed, a bullet shot.  But he had never frozen.  He sat below you, eyes trained on a spot behind you, and you were wondering if you needed to call Sam. Or 911.  He seemed almost catatonic, like a deer in headlights. You wished you were the deer and the headlights would come a little faster towards you. 

“Bucky?” You asked quietly, slowly easing off of his lap and his head snapped to you so quickly that it made you jump. “What?” His voice was hoarse, and you prayed that the ground would open up to swallow you.  “Did, uh, did you hear me?” You hated the way your voice shook, already feeling the prickling in your eyes.

He didn’t answer but he nodded slowly.  You hadn’t confessed your love to that many people yet in your life, but this was certainly the worst way it had ever gone.  “Uh, okay,” you whispered. There was a sharp crack on the last syllable of your words, and you instinctively covered your mouth with your hands.  You didn’t want to cry. You didn’t want to guilt-trip him into saying it back. You just wanted him to feel it, too.  “Doll,” he began, an apologetic tone tinging his voice, but you interrupted him.  “No, no, Bucky, I’m- I’m sorry, I, uh, you don’t need to say it back. It’s okay.”

It really, really wasn’t. Nine months, that’s how long you two were together now. Nine months of getting to know each other in and out, of spending days on end with each other and learning to love one another – at least that’s what you had thought.  You scrambled up from the couch, clutching the hem of your shirt in an attempt to bring yourself back to earth and to hinder the tears from falling. Bucky stayed in his spot, his eyes helplessly tracking your movements as you increased the distance between the two of you – not enough to translate the emotional distance you felt right now.

“Sweetheart, it’s not- fuck, I mean, it’s not that I don’t… you know. But I… I can’t,” Bucky urged quietly. His words made little sense to your mind as it was consumed by grief. Grief for what should have been.  “It’s fine,” you maintained and as if the universe was playing a cruel joke on you to undermine your words, a single tear breached forward and slipped down your cheek. Do you really love me? Or just love to make me cry?

The following days were cruel. Both of you shut down completely.  Conversations were rare and seeing each other even rarer. You walked through your own apartment like a ghost, staring at your phone like it might light up with an apology, or an explanation or anything. But no, radio silence. You heard from Bucky twice. The first time, he sent you a quick text to tell you that he was needed for a mission and would be back in a few days. Then, the second message came once he’d returned from the mission, asking you if he could come over.  A ‘we need to talk’- text was rarely a good sign but you did. You needed to talk.  It had been a sleepless night for you already, so you said yes, despite the fact that it was a little after 1 a.m. and anxiety rolled over you in waves at the thought of him ending everything you two had worked towards.  The knock on your front door was accompanied by the loud boom of thunder. Rain hit the windows almost horizontally and wind rattled the glass.  When you opened the door, you saw that Bucky had just barely escaped the worst of the storm. A few drops pearled down from his leather jacket onto your door mat and you – curse your stupid heart – immediately ushered him inside and went to get him a towel.

The silence stretched in between you. He dried off quickly but kept his shoes on. One foot out the door already.  His boots squeaked as he walked towards you, and you saw it in his eyes. This would be your worst heartbreak to date. “Doll,” that wretched nickname, which usually gave you butterflies, now turned your stomach around, “I think… it’s… I-“

You listened to his stammers, his attempts at forming a sentence. Bucky usually seemed like the type of guy to have prepared a speech on the way here, but he was at a loss for words. He seemed like he was trying to spare you the heartache but there were no words invented for that. “Do you want to break up with me?” You asked bluntly.  He looked at the floor, then at you and then back at the floor. Barely perceptible, he shook his head. “No.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “But we should.” For a second, you closed your eyes. Blood rushed through your ears, quieting everything around you, and for just a moment you could pretend that he wasn’t here. That he hadn’t just said that. “Why?” You deserved to know at least that. You didn’t want to be left with no explanation, only the what-ifs and if-onlys to keep you comfort.  Another sigh, and you felt propelled to scream in his face. To yell at him, to slap him and to throw him out of your apartment. “I can’t do this- us,” he stammered. “Why, Bucky? Why?” You tried to swallow the tears, tried to suppress the voice crack but the air in your lungs didn’t suffice, not with the lump in your throat. 

He couldn’t look at you, instead he faintly shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t… I don’t know. I just…,” he trailed off, gesturing loosely to you before dropping his arms to his sides. “Do you not love me? Did I do something?” “No, sweeth-, no, that’s not it.” “Then what?” “I want to want this but I…,” he shrugged helplessly and for a second you caught his eyes, filled with despair and vulnerability. “But you don’t,” you finished his sentence for him. He shook his head again and this time kept up the eye contact. “No, I just can’t.” More tears fell and you wiped at them furiously, rubbing the skin on your cheeks raw. When you looked at him again, the only thing you saw was self-hatred. And you couldn’t stand it. You turned around. You heard movements, and begged God, the universe, anyone that he’d walk to you. The door slammed.  Lying next to you, ‘cause all you ever do is make me blue The continuous pitter patter of the rain lulled you to sleep in the early morning hours, the sky just shy of turning orange.

The tears had only found their end once you fell into a restless dream. Splatters of the fight, mixed with distorted visions of a future with Bucky that seemed out of reach forever broke forth from your subconscious and kept you from getting any rest.  Half drifted off, you registered the sounds of your door opening but you were in too deep to fully distinguish between your dream and the real world. But the warmth was real. The dip of the mattress was real. The shaky hand, flesh not metal, that rested timidly on your arm, was real.  You woke with a flinch, and it took a few seconds for your eyes to clear enough to see Bucky.  Disoriented and questioning if you were maybe hallucinating, you sat up. But no, he truly was here. Your vocal cords didn’t cooperate as you tried to say his name “I’m sorry.” He looked at you, and what you would have thought were leftovers of the rain, turned out to be tears on his cheeks.  “I’m sorry,” he repeated as you stayed quiet.  “You’re back,” you finally managed to say, the disbelief in your words unmistakable. “Yeah,” he confirmed quietly, “I shouldn’t have left in the first place.” “Then why did you?” He stayed silent for a beat, then began talking. “I broke your heart. And I couldn’t keep looking at you while you were… looking at me like that.” You tried to intercept, but he raised his hand slowly, asking you to let him continue. “I should have stayed. Because I want to. I want to be in your life. I just don’t know if I can allow myself to do that.” You shifted in bed, straightening up a little.  “I want you. I… I love you,” he whispered, “But I don’t get to have good things. Good people like you. They die or they leave. And I can’t let that happen to you. I need you to live forever.”

Theoretically, you would do anything for him. But that was a request you couldn’t fulfil. “Bucky,” you began, but he shook his head again. “No, I know. I know, okay? It’s unfair of me to say that. But it’s true. I won’t survive if you die, or if you leave. And that scares me. So, I pushed you away. And I’m sorry for that. But I just… I can’t put you through that. A life with me is not something you want.” “That’s not your choice,” you implored quietly. Now it was your turn to shush him when he tried to protest. “No, Bucky, really. It’s not your choice. It wasn’t even my choice. But I fell for you. I love you and if I could have chosen, I’d do it again.” “I can’t give you anything. Stability. Promises. A future.” “I don’t want anything. I just want you.” Your words came out a little louder, a little harsher. But something had to penetrate that thick wall in his head that he had spent way too long building. “I want you. Now. Today. Tomorrow. Forever. When you make me laugh and even when you make me cry.” You leaned forward and gently grabbed his chin, swiping at the tears that had made their descent into his beard.  “Do you hear me?”  “Yes, ma’am. I hear you. I just… I don’t know how to accept it.” “I’ll help you. I’ll make you accept it. Now, come lie down.” He shrugged of his jacket and took off his boots. Then, slowly he eased himself into bed next to you and after a moment of hesitation, he wrapped his arms around you. “I’m sorry for making you cry,” he whispered against your hair. “It’s okay. You cried, too,” you replied quietly and pressed a kiss against his skin.

thank you for reading :) gentle reminder that likes are more than appreciated but comments and reblogs make the dream work

[sourscheming]

Why the Tacomic scene in II 2 17 isnt as bad as some of you are making it out to be

II 2 17 SPOILERS BELOW!!

ive seen many people say they absolutely despise the tacomic scene in ii 2 17 due to many reasons. mainly being that the scene felt too rushed or that microphone was heavily out of character.

and while i can agree with these claims when looking at this scene from a first glance, ive realized this scene requires a lot more additional context and reflection to fully understand, using tiny bits and pieces left for us. and its my job to help glue them up! hope you enjoy my rambling :)

Arguement 1: Mic is very OOC

when first looking at this scene i can agree that yes microphone is very out of character. her acting so nonchalant, just playing off tacos actions. but let me tell you why shes not as ooc as some of you might think. first: a tweet from brian

“mic had always had a tendency to let taco off the hook” and this is very true! she will always try and play off taco’s actions due to how much she cares about her. and. with this being a life or death situation, she really didnt want to make a mountain out of a molehill and potentially die without any closure with taco. her playing off tacos actions might feel like its ooc, but it makes so much more sense whennyou consider their history and the fact thst in someways microphone still yearns and loves taco. she yearns for taco a 7/10 it used to be higher!! (source: brians streams) she still really loves taco despite everything.

i know what pissed many people off was microphone acting so… natural. she wasnt mad or anything. she was just so chill about it all when she shouldve been mad, right? i definitely agree with that, but most people seem to be forgetting this line

(nice callback to this scene btw)

but back to the point; mic hears everything. microphone always knew taco was in the hotel because she heard her. and doing this she had time to reflect and gather her thoughts so she wasn’t screaming at taco or getting mad irrationally. and keep in mind microphone most likely heard taco crying and screaming about pickle dying, i dont think she wanted to push her to do that again. hearing taco, the one who presented herself to be so strong and evil, just sobbing her heart out mustve been terrifying.

now i also wanted to bring up this:

microphone knows about the events of episode 15 and was most likely told taco died and why. she knows taco can die due to heavy emotional distress. acting angry and irrational and not sitting down to talk about wouldve stressed her out more and they couldve potentially lost her too. the reason why shes so chill about isnt because shes not upset about everything, it was because if she was, she risked the chance of loosing taco.

another tweet from brian to show microhone doesnt forgive taco yet, but she definitely woud in the future if taco proved herself:

and again it may not look like this in the episode, but microphones nonchalant attitude comes with a lot of jabs at taco, showing that she doesnt truly forgive her. plus, microphone never utters the words “i forgive you” once.

but the reason why shes able to move on so easily is because of how well she knows taco. taco had always struggled with apologizing, as seen in episode 13. she’s almost never used the word sorry consciously.

microphone had always been a big softie for taco being at least a bit sincere, so imagine how she felt when taco went fully sincere. and she knew she couldn’t just hug her and say i forgive you on a whim, so she sorta had to play it off to keep everything on track.

and this scene is so. impactful because of just what it represents. microphone had always been about “doing the right thing” and taco begrudgingly respected her wishes. but to see taco DOING the right thing mustve been such a turning point for microphone. shown her that taco CAN change, that she wants to. it solidifies that the care that microphone had wasnt one sided, taco LEARNED something from her. shes learning how to be better. shes trying because she wants to be with microphone. i think thats what really strikes a chord, she gained something, a friend.

Arguement 2: The scene felt really rushed

oh i definitely agreed with this at first. this segment will be much shorter because it’s basically hammering into your head that HEY they were in a LIFE OR DEATH SITUATION!!!

microphone needed to quickly rush taco out in order to keep her safe, they needed to do it quickly so they wouldnt die. again, mic wouldve reached out sooner but the situation was so stressful she only did it now. taco probably wouldve died if she didnt come out, and they all knew the onpy way they could pry her out was with someone she cared about.

do i wish they got 5 more minutes to talk? fuck yes, but also keep in mind they barely had time to do anything, so much was happening all at once they had to shoehorn something in. and with the points i listed earlier again, this was probably the best they could do due to circumstance.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

overall, while i do think this scene was rushed, theres still beauty to be had with it. its still really impactful when reflecting on it and i dont think it devalues the tacomic arc as much as some of you make it out to.

i wish there was more to this scene but i think what we got was pretty substantial especially considering everything that happened in ii 2 17.

they both still care for eachother, they both loved eachother so much, that they were able to put their grievances aside so they could spend their final moments together.

thanks for reading <3

[nabnab-official]

Yarnaby's Tragic Untold Backstory

most information here was provided during the chapter 4 arg, which can be found fully archived here over on the Poppy Playtime wiki. THIS WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 4

-🧶

much like chapter 3, chapter 4 had an accompanying ARG leading up to its release which provided information about the upcoming chapter, its characters, and revealed lore tidbits via puzzles.

yarnaby was one of the characters revealed during the ARG, and his backstory was actually fully revealed there before we even knew what he looked like, similar to catnap. I decided to cover it here, since his full backstory isn't explicitly said in game, and I find it very interesting.

-🧶

before the ARG, there was actually a leak that revealed the names of all chapter 4's characters. people found mobs trademarkia account, where the names of these characters were already trademarked, including yarnaby, all the nightmare critters, and doey. not really related to anything, but just kind of an interesting thing that happened.

but to start off, lets cover yarnaby's toy form. mob actually released a bunch of character bios over on their website, which includes the characters from chapter 4 like yarnaby.

yarnaby was released in the 1970s as part of a wildlife conservation campaign, and he is actually supposed to resemble a lion. it seems like he was a pretty popular toy if he got regular releases and keeps selling. it makes sense yarnaby is a cat, because the growling/roaring noises he makes reminds me of the sounds big cats make.

yarnaby also has a commercial, which can't actually be seen in game but was uploaded to YouTube. you can hear the jingle from it in game though, in yarnaby's cutout voice lines, but its very distorted and bad quality.

while not explicitly mentioned in the commercial itself, it seems like yarnaby has the ability to play music, because he does so in his bigger body form. you can hear him do it at the end of the chase here and in the trailer he was revealed in.

during the ARG, mob set up a geocache puzzle that held the first big reveal about yarnaby. YouTuber sheeprampage found one of these geocache prizes and opened and solved it on stream. heres a video he made covering it.

it was a little lunchbox with stickers, and inside was a huggy plush and a bunch of yarn. upon cutting over the plush, there were notes hidden inside of it.

the notes are gamestation assessment reports, which have been revealed in-game to be the way the scientists assess the orphans skills and determine which toy they are fit for, and if they are fit for the operation at all.

this was the first official reveal of yarnaby's name, as well as the reveal of the child used to create him, Quinn navidson. we will learn more about Quinn and his personality in future documents, so I'll refrain from speaking about it yet.

the second note has no proper scan on the wiki, so I just attached an image of the direct transcript instead. the first assessment sheet is assessing quinn while he is still human, providing average results by the scientists standards. the second one seems to take place after quinn has been turned into yarnaby, as the behaviour described is animalistic and feral. further evidence is that sawyer notes that yarnaby "[is not] able to properly handle a grabpack", which makes sense as yarnaby has paws and lacks opposable thumbs. despite this, Sawyer rewards yarnaby with a rather generous score, despite him biting the heads off the huggys in wack-a-wuggy and making a break for it and hiding in the foam pit for 15 minutes in statues.

theres also a sticky note that provides yarnaby's experiment number, 1166. its also an answer to another puzzle in the ARG, and when entering 1166 as the passcode in the terminal, more files are recovered.

accessing 1166's files gives 3 new notes, an assessment transcript, a prisoner profile and a weekly checkup. the prisoner profile actually made it into the game, and the blacked out parts are filled in in-game, so i'll add the extra transcript for clarity when touching upon this part.

the first file is a transcript of a conversation between Quinn and Harley. the document is titled 'assessment of' and then cuts off, but I assume with the information we have that this is an assessment of Quinns character and whether he would be a good fit for yarnaby.

backing this up, way back in the chapter 3 ARG, there was a several page document detailing what catnaps bigger body was supposed to be like, and at the end there was a list of possible candidates deemed suitable for catnap. I think its fair to say that this assessment was part of the process of deciding who was going to be made into yarnaby. going back to the transcript, we get more insight into Quinn's character. Harley says that the counselors in playcare are concerned about Quinn's odd behaviours, like taking apart and putting toys back together to make them 'prettier'. however Harley doesn't think theres anything wrong with that, and says he just thinks Quinn sees the world in a different way. harley also states that he thinks Quinn is holding himself back. Quote "I think you mess up to make others have lesser expectations of you." This lines up with the game station report about Quinn, where Quinn got average results, making several mistakes and even missing targets numerous times in wack-a-wuggy. based on Harleys statement its possible Quinn makes these mistakes on purpose in order to be overlooked and slip under the radar. Harley appeals to Quinn, telling him he is smart and capable, and he sees and understands him, wanting the same 'prettier world' that Quinn does. I think its fair to assume that Harley may see himself in Quinn, as we know Harley was once part of the young geniuses program and was mentored by Elliot Ludwig himself. I think this plays into why Quinn was picked to be yarnaby, as Harley likely hoped that Quinn's inquisitive, intelligent personality would carry over. i also think its important to note that Quinn says he doesn't know what the world assessment means, indicating he must be pretty young.

the next document is a prisoner profile for yarnaby, so Quinn has been turned into yarnaby at this point. as stated above I added the in-game transcript to fill in the blanked out parts of the text. this is basically Harleys assessment of yarnaby. the prison is a place where the "failed" experiments were kept, until the problems they had were either fixed or they stayed as a permanent resident. its likely yarnaby spent his whole life in the prison, especially after what Harley chose to do about him. harley states that yarnaby is animalistic. Though he is strong and nimble he has an "acute lack of higher cognitive function." we know this about yarnaby as we see his behaviours exhibited in game. this is also something that tends to be true about a lot of the earlier experiments, and we know yarnaby was created fairly early on because his number is 1166. harley also says he hoped to have a 'greater mind' behind yarnaby, which ties back to Quinn. he probably hoped that Quinn's intelligence and curiousity would carry over, but that doesn't seem to have happened.

yarnaby exhibits loyalty to some of the security staff, who feel sympathy for him. Harley compares yarnaby and the way staff feel towards him to domestic dogs and cats, and decides that because of yarnaby's behavior he is going to isolate him in the hopes of making yarnaby dependent on him. we know this works, as we see it in game. yarnaby is completely loyal to Sawyer, doing whatever he tells him to without a second thought, even when it costs him his life at the end.

essentially, Harley isolates yarnaby so he only has contact with him, in the hopes that it will make yarnaby completely dependent on and loyal to him. the reason why he decided to do this is unclear, though he states he thinks he'll get a good laugh out of it so its quite possible it was just for his own sadistic enjoyment. Harley finds yarnaby amusing in a mocking, belittling way, and seems to care little for his actual wellbeing or character. while the other staff seem to take genuine pity on yarnaby, Harley sees yarnaby's weaknesses and wishes to exploit them for his own fun.

yarnaby lacks many of his former human traits, unlike some other experiments which still retain the ability to speak, or memories of their past lives. this is common with the earlier experiments. boxy boo was deemed the first ever success, and his number was 1160. though he lacks complex thought and the ability to speak, he is perfectly physically fit. he is similar to yarnaby in a lot of ways, who is only 6 experiments ahead of him. Harley also turned boxy into a killing machine on purpose, using him to get rid of bodies and kill insubordinate employees. huggy, 1170, is deemed as the ideal because he has complex thought, is physically adept, but is also obedient and loyal [or they thought he was]. so yarnaby is somewhere in the middle.

the last note takes place after Harley is turned into the computer. this note in particular is rather sad.

yarnaby is noted to have entered a state of depression from grief after Harley disappeared. despite Harley having not cared for him at all, yarnaby bonded with him anyway, and is now suffering from that loss. the note states that he "truly just doesn't care anymore". another very interesting thing is that whoever is writing this note doesn't see yarnaby as FULLY an animal, despite his behaviour. quote "whatever boy there is deep inside, i think hes scared, broken down by isolation over too long a time for us to salvage much from what's still there." so Harley pretty much broke yarnaby. the note also states he is a "design made flawed by paranoid and ego. In that he's a failure by design." essentially, everything relating to yarnaby is Harleys fault. it is Harleys fault that yarnaby even came to be to begin with, taking away Quinn's life. its Harleys fault he decided to isolate him and take away what little humanity he has left. it is all Harleys fault.

Quinn is gone, and again it is Harleys fault. and yet he still doesn't seem content in letting it end there, and decides to torment yarnaby further with his isolation. I think its also interesting to note that the scientist in this note refers to yarnaby with much more humanity, calling him a he, and Harley refers to yarnaby in a much more dehumanizing manner, calling him an it and referring to him as a creature.

The end of the note puts this better than I can. Quote "He can sulk and spend his days wishing for a master that, I can guarentee you, didn't care for him at all." harley never cared for yarnaby, but pretended to to gain yarnaby's favor, simply taking amusement in yarnaby in a sick, condescending way. yarnaby grew attached anyway, likely comforted by some kind of positive attention in this scary place.

at the end, we know what happened, yarnaby died. and Harley doesn't care. the only thing he has to say about it after yarnaby dies is this line. yarnaby meant nothing to him, only to dance and suffer for his amusement. another interesting thing to note is that yarnaby is not in good condition. I got my screenshot from this video. he is missing patches of fur, has chipped claws and teeth, and his legs are covered in scars. Harley clearly doesn't look out for him or care for his well-being. we don't know where he got these scars from, maybe clumsiness, fighting other toys, or even Harley.

-🧶 in conclusion, yarnaby has had a very sad life, and there is no happy ending. we all know how evil Harley is, but I think yarnaby shows the height of it all, just how sick and sadistic he can truly be. its possible that yarnaby could have been different, should he have been treated with more care. whatever humanity he had left, Harley snuffed that out by tormenting him simply for his own sick amusement.

[mono-blogs-art]

Pluto - Family, Love, and Forgiveness

A tale of two estranged sisters turns into a who-did-what mystery full of twists and turns. Wrapped up in it is an impossible sapphic love story where no one gets away without being hurt. "Pluto" is beautiful, heart-breaking, and introspective - a character-driven drama that sets a new standard for Thai GL going forward.

Here's my full review, with a short spoiler-free version first and a much longer spoilery part under the cut. I'm sorry - there's just so much to talk about here, and it's impossible to do that without giving away the major twists!

Summary: Overall: 9/10 - I'm gonna need to tweak my scale going forward because of this show, I can't keep giving out such high scores... but this really is the best Thai GL I've watched so far. By a significant margin. Genre: Family Drama, Romance Watch if you are looking for... : complex familial relationships, a bonkers story that somehow works and takes its time to explore characters and their complicated feelings Watch out for... : homophobia from family, assault, a main character is blind and a minor character is in a wheelchair and the series doesn't consistently handle those topics well Length: 12 episodes averaging about 55 minutes each Where to watch: GMMTV YouTube channel, whole show is free to watch with subtitles in multiple languages. It's also on streaming service viu if that's available in your country.

"Pluto", full title Pluto: นิทาน ดวงดาว ความรัก (Tales, Stars, Love) is a 2024 Thai drama series based on the novel by the same name by author Chao Planoy, who (in)famously also wrote the novels for GAP, Blank, Affair, and many others in the modern Thai GL genre. It stars Namtan Tipnaree in a double role as twins Ai and Oom, and Film Rachanun as love interest May. The show is GMMTV's second big entry into the GL world after "23.5" earlier this year.

Identical twins Ai and Oom could not be more different: While Ai is a good-for-nothing with no real job, Oom is successful and about to get married to her rich boyfriend. However, on the wedding night, Oom reveals to Ai that she's actually secretly still dating someone else, and asks her twin to impersonate her to break up with her sidepiece. Shocked, Ai refuses, and the two sisters part in strife. When Oom gets into a severe car crash that puts her in a coma, Ai's entire life comes crashing down. In an attempt to fulfill her duties as older sister, she honors Oom's request - only to find out that May, Oom's other lover, is a woman. And a wealthy lawyer at that. And also blind. What happened between her sister and May? Ai can't bring herself to go through with the break-up and keeps impersonating her sister, falling deeper into the lies. And the circumstances of Oom's accident seem more and more suspicious. What exactly happened to Oom on her wedding night? And who the hell is May?

... that was my best attempt at summarizing the first half of episode 1. Yeah. It's a lot.

Pluto is somewhat infamous for being one of the more "problematic" Planoy novels. To say that the adaption process was hard is probably an understatement. Despite all that, what the scriptwriters and director put together in these 12 episodes is - although still clumsy in parts and stumbling over the finish line - an overall loving piece of sapphic media that draws you in and holds you close until the end.

In the past year I've seen quite a bit of Thai GL dramas and oftentimes what was missing for me in the writing was proper care for the characters. Room for the mains to breathe, to show rather than tell us their lives, and let them sit down and process whatever drama they've experienced.

Pluto does this really, really well.

This goes mainly for the twins and May, although most side characters also get space to bloom. It's not perfect and in some parts left me wanting more but the show only has 12 episodes and already needs to fit a lot of twists in those somehow. I'll talk more in depth about specific characters and why I loved them in the spoiler zone.

Snap25, the writers and the director really outdid themselves, judging within the genre conventions. There are still the usual hiccups in the audio department and troubles with color grading (which has been improved for streaming), but Pluto feels, looks, and sounds great.

The show does a lot of beautiful Show Don't Tell and lets the actors' performances and the shot compositions speak for themselves. There's still room to improve but there was a clear intention and art direction behind it.

Namtan Tipnaree as both Oom and Ai is the immediate star and her performance was seriously impressive; from Ai's laid-back coolness and emotional depth to Oom's bitterness and insecurity. Likewise, Film Rachanun is so charming as May - whether it's the troubled, stern May of the past or the warm but mysterious May of the present - you can't help but fall in love with her the same way Ai does. And as we watch the two come together, they have a familiarity and softness building between them that just melts your heart.

The show is well structured and keeps you on your toes as it unveils the mystery at hand piece by piece. Questions that you may have in episode 1 may only get an answer in episode 10 - but they do get answered, and we see things from every perspective until the full picture forms.

There is a lesbian love triangle happening in the background that provides a bit of emotional relief from Ai and May's heavy drama, but it ultimately, unfortunately, feels kind of pointless and unfit to support the main narrative. The finale also feels rushed, contrasting the otherwise satisfying pace the show keeps to let its characters breathe, but in my opinion, the show still ties up satisfyingly.

Conclusion:

Pluto is about forgiveness - both seeking it for yourself, and giving it to people who've hurt you. Every character hurts or lies to someone, often to devastating results, but it's almost always to protect someone in some way. It's a tragedy that makes you feel for every character in this web of deceit.

It's about family, or the lack thereof, and how the scars from that shape you as an adult. All main characters yearn desperately for love, a love that's unconditional, and we watch them struggle and fall in the pursuit of it.

I loved Pluto, and although there's a full essay waiting for you under this cut, there are still many more things I could talk about, both positively and critically. But there's no denying that it moved me in a way I'd been craving from this genre for a long time. And I hope to feel that again. Until then, I must subject all of you to it - so go watch it! Now! And say Hi to my best friend Ai-oon for me!!

Thanks for reading - now it's time for spoilers!!

Character Focus - now with full spoilers!

As previously mentioned, one of my favorite things about the show is how lovingly it treats its characters, so let me just tell you about some of my highlights.

Grandma Duean fulfills the adversarial parent role in the show and characters of that type almost never get to be a full character in this genre. So imagine my surprise when she’s actually allowed to have complex feelings about her two grandchildren, her legacy, her family pride and traditions. It’s like I’m asking for the bare minimum and being surprised to actually get a full meal consisting of an interesting old woman in a show revolving mostly around a bunch of dysfunctional 20-somethings.

Speaking of which, I couldn’t leave this review without raving about my best friend in the whole world, Ai-oon. Easily snatching the top spot of favorite protagonists of the GL genre for now, Ai is relatable, endearing, and just having the worst fucking time of her life. The whole show doesn’t work unless you can sell that Ai would care to do anything for her sister - and later on for May. So we get Ai, who feels guilty about what her grandmother sacrificed for her and the situation she and her sister are stuck in. Ai, who’s so desperate for love and affection because she grew up believing herself to be the family disappointment from the get-go. And then; May, who is so willing to give that affection and does it immediately upon meeting Ai - not just because touching is one of her primary ways to get around in the world, but also because she genuinely cares for her. Ai is completely overwhelmed with the amount of care that suddenly falls into her lap and succumbs to it. She has no other choice but to impersonate Oom and to defend May, not just because she feels bad for May, but also because she can’t resist her selfish wish of being loved so unconditionally.

And that brings us finally to May. The show needs to sell us that May has a really, really good reason to believe Ai’s lies, otherwise the entire plot falls apart - while at the same time letting us feel that there’s something more behind that. She’s just sort of cute and quirky at first, but episode by episode we peel back the layers to reveal May’s true intention. May falling for Ai’s deceit is the central element that holds Pluto together, and as we learn about the whole backstory things click into place. At her core, May is vulnerable and her walls are so thick that she’s become calculating, bordering on manipulative, and desperate. She needs someone to prove themselves before letting them in, and letting in and being truly loved is all she wants. And oh girl, she puts Ai to the test. On the other hand, May is strong and genuinely kind, a philanthropist who wants to use some of the privilege she was born with to help others. As we learn that it was actually May who’s been deceiving Ai all this time, her lies and searching for that girl that was nice to her just because all these years ago, fully expose a complex woman stuck in constant conflict. She’s a multi-layered character that crawled her way into my heart despite all of the shit she does, and the story manages to center her tender heart enough for it all to hold together. And for that, I applaud it.

Although Oom is absent for most of the series at first, she gets to shine in the later half. She’s Ai’s foil, sharing her insecurities but translating them the opposite way. While Ai is a self-destructive altruist, Oom is prideful, petty and manipulative. She’s the major “villain” of this story, the central antagonist standing in between May and Ai, although that flattens her character in a way she doesn’t deserve. When she wakes up to threaten our two mains’ relationship, I actually really liked Oom. The show does a great job of showing us her conflict of heart between May and Paul, and always feeling lesser than her sister, but desiring nothing more than to be loved by Ai. Oom gets to grieve and despair and although it’s ugly, it feels real and touching. Her PTSD gets handled semi-well in the show and sort of hand-waved away in the finale, but ultimately Oom gets to be a full character driving her own life forward, rather than just a spiteful obstacle, and I loved that.

Family Before All:

The strongest part of Pluto is the relationship between the twins, and between the twins and Grandma Duean. That to me is the heart of the show. It’s the connecting piece that makes all make sense - why Ai and Oom do what they do. They grew up without their parents with only their poor grandma to take care of them, and still she provided them with all they needed and then some. But there’s also misery festering because Ai is street-smart while Oom is booksmart - and both of them think the other one is grandma’s favorite. They do things for each other in silence because they can’t properly communicate, but still care for each other. They both keep secrets from their grandma so as to not upset her. But in between it all are moments of warmth, cuddling, eating food and joking together. And at the end of the day, all three of them are given the time to look back at what they did and process their feelings. There are many quiet moments where Ai is allowed to just sit and cry, for herself, for her sister, for what cards she’s been dealt. And I really loved that.

On the contrary, May’s family is cold and manipulative. And also filthy rich. She’s an only child with an abusive father and a mother who can’t say no to him, and her upbringing was loveless. It contrasts nicely with Ai and Oom’s warm family and explains a lot of why May becomes desperate for a love that’s truly unconditional as an adult. Unlike Ai, she cares little about her family and tries to be as independent as possible. She’s s been manipulated, blackmailed, and alienated for being a lesbian. But even then her feelings are complicated, and when she suspects something may have happened to her parents she immediately seeks them out. In the end, she can’t bring herself to not care at all. When her father eventually seeks her forgiveness and offers reconciliation, she’s confused - but accepts him. May’s kindness and ability to forgive others is tied to her arc of learning to forgive herself.

Forgiveness and Atonement:

Seeking forgiveness and atonement for your sins are the driving forces behind the characters actions. Ai seeks forgiveness for being a useless granddaughter and older sister, and later also for unintentionally causing May’s assault. May seeks forgiveness for letting herself be blackmailed into defending Batman to win his case, which led to Ben’s family losing their money and his mother to commit suicide, ruining two innocent lives. Oom believes she was the cause of their parents deaths, a debt so huge she can’t even talk to her sister about it and that makes her desperate for validation and stability. And Grandma, who believes she failed to raise the twins and is the cause of all their pain, eventually realizes she unintentionally fueled the rivalry between them that destroyed their relationship. Even minor characters like May’s father or Kosol’s stories end in seeking forgiveness.

Letting your pain go and forgive someone is incredibly hard. At the climax, Ai can’t let her heart win over her responsibility to her family, and she sides with Oom over May. She has to. And May, even if it destroys her, understands. It takes a whole year of therapy for Oom to let go and accept her new life, to rebuild her relationship with her family and most importantly herself after the accident. Only then is she finally able to let May go - and let Ai be with her. At Ai and May’s wedding, Oom is there because she’s family, despite everything. Pluto shows the characters’ quests for atonement as well as their struggles to forgive others beautifully and with a lot of heart, and it feels like the characters deserve the spots they end up on.

Missed Opportunities, But a Step in the Right Direction:

Pluto also falters, especially towards the end. While I think that episode 10 & 11 are the highlights of the series, episode 12 (the finale) is the weakest by a landslide. May seems to, at least partially, see her assault and her resulting blindness from it as karmic punishment for her mistakes. May’s father does a complete 180 with no build-up after the time jump in the finale and is suddenly trying to rebuild the relationship with his daughter - and Ai-oon, who he even explicitly accepts to take care of May in his stead. Although Oom’s journey is wonderful, the time jump is so sudden and the finale so badly paced overall that it lands shakily. And I don’t even know what to say about the Pim-Jan-Pang love triangle. I’ll admit that I wasn’t really invested at first, but it built up nicely and climaxed in a super interesting confrontation with a three-way kiss - and then in the finale we just don’t address that complexity again. Jan and Pang are just together because they realized that those feelings were the most stable. I’m not saying that this is unrealistic or even bad in-universe, I’m just saying that as a viewer with the way it was presented to me it was frankly boring.

Now, all of this was to reiterate my previous point, which is that Pluto as a source material is just a mess. Disabilities are used as plot devices, character relationships are built on flimsy deceits that only make sense if everyone involved swallows a bunch of stupid pills, and queerness in itself is not really addressed unless it’s characters being homophobic. It’s a fantasy world that’s really fucking hard to pin back down to reality.

But on God, they tried and did it, and I’ll forgive them for a lot of the fumbles along the way because as a whole, this show is good.

No wonder it took the writers so long to finish the script after the project’s announcement in 2023. There was near silence about the project until a month before it was set to premiere, and comparing the final trailer to the pilot already showed that it had done leaps in development. Not only did the project suddenly have an art direction, we also got the character focus and emotional depth it desperately needed. And on top of that, over the 1+ year development the leads had built up an incredible chemistry that just makes you fall in love with Ai-oon and May’s relationship. And it paid off, because while Pluto was barely starting out, Namtan and Film were already announced to be continuing their on-screen partnership for the big ensemble GL “Girl Rules”. I hope that they continue to put focus and care into this genre, because with 23.5 and Pluto they’ve really put out two of the best lesbian series of 2024. In my opinion!

I’m very, very excited to see how this show will shape the future of Thai GL, or at least set the standard for future GMMTV shows.

Thank you for reading - I’m truly passionate about this show and I hope to see more of Namtan & Film’s new project(s?) very soon. Cheers!

^ me smooching your little nose for having read all that <3

[ladadee195]

Character Backstories.

I want to bring up a subject I've noticed now after watching 5 out all 7 main campaigns that Legends of Avantris offers, within the actual world of Avantris (so that doesn't include Uprooted, WFRP, and Stardust. Though I could also talk about Uprooted but I wont, unless someone wants me too lol)

(spoilers for BDW, COS, EOM, OUAW, and Icebound beyond this line)

The subject of family and parents is something seen a little more and little less through out the 5 campaigns.

I'm a little bit half way through ep10 of BDW so I'm quit a few years back in they're live play style. Not yet having gotten the hang of live streaming or even character creation though their role play imo seems to always have been amazing? I definitely think this is a product of amateur character creation and how close they stuck to 5Erules. But ALL 6 characters have some ties to parents or family.

Felix is looking for his brother, Hyrja has a good relationship with her mom and is looking for her dad. Iris, yes a pharaoh's daughter, but talks about her father constantly, even if its just the "my father will hear about this!." Lufiti doesn't know her parents but from spoilers I think she meets her mum? Caprice has a family with a reputation and seems upset over his mom. Toa, hasn't mentioned his parents much only his tribe but I assume they are part of it. Either way, bad or good, family and parents are a big important subject for BDW.

In COS its there but less. They all have a soft spot for Arabelle. Theres all that stuff with Victoria's father. Theres Shepard's back story of loosing his parents to religious fanatics. Clayton never mentioning his wife and daughter. Kana had a family but they shunned her and of course Sarnax probably has no idea who his parents are and doesn't care to know. Even the backstory with Strahdanya has a whole shit load of stuff with her parents and brother. Again, its this big subject but its lesser, treated as a footnote rather then a plot point.

IceBound and OUAW is somewhere between BDW and COS in this subject. Taishen obviously is his nieces only parental figure and hasn't, to my knowledge mentioned what happened to her parents. Barnabos backstory has a lot of family/parent plot points. Like looking for her father and such. Queenie willingly left her whole family for her feywild friends. Skrimm's mentioned his many siblings, with some concerning distain . An of course I'm sure whatever family Jornir had, they're gone. The subject matter is there, and its treated with sadness, with longing. with regret rather then wanting to forget about it.

OUAW is much the same but on the flip side. There are levels with them, from Kremy and Gricko being close with their mothers but ultimately leaving them probably forever. But Gricko chooses to try and be the best father he can for Hootsie anyway. Like thats huge. An then theres Gideon maybe having a good relationship with his father but again probably never going to see him again, though no fault of his own. Frost hardly remembers his parents and probably never will. Torbek least of all probably never remembers and will never find out. Its 50/50 sadness and tension, of having it but not wanting it, of wanting it but never having that again.

An then there's Edge of Midnight. I doubt, with every fiber of my being that any of them remember ever having parents in the first place. Certainly not Jericho, who's only parental figures in that new form were his best gals. Briggsy talked about his dad but idk if that was just Richie being silly. Yorgrim might have had parents but obviously they're dead. Its not even a footnote, its entirely not a subject. Despite a lot of instances of child abuse and death, but maybe thats why?

ALL in ALL I think its interesting that while the subject through all the campaigns (even ones I haven't seen) has its ups and downs it still leads them to the corner stone of D&D parties and thats found family. An they do it very well no matter if its a plot point or not.

[blueikeproductions]

Well it’s official: EarthSpark is dead. The next cartoon is being worked on as we speak.

Via Protoman of the Slag Podcast on TFW2005:

“All I will say is my source is someone working on the next Transformers series and *spoiler* it's not Earthspark.  Ratings were bad, toys have had a very soft distribution restocking (It's not about how much that Wave 1 is ordered, it's how much gets reordered after by retail wave after wave) and well....... better luck next time.”

If he says it’s dead, it’s dead.

What’s next?

As of typing, we dunno.

The only successful non toy media currently are the Skybound comics, and while TFONE is coming out this September, we have no idea how well that will do. The general confusion and backlash from the more comedically cut first trailer doesn’t … bode well from normies and hard cores.

One is said to have tested well, but so did RotB and it didn’t do so hot in theaters despite people liking it better. It’s still doing VERY well on Paramount+, but I don’t know if that means anything because P+ is the red headed step child of streaming… Also Paramount’s current… EVERYTHING.

So big coin flip really.

A cartoon based more directly on what One sets up makes sense, a lot of people have said it looks like a pilot for a future cartoon anyway.

An anime adaption of the Energon Universe is also possible, but it’s a little … too soon and if they adapted it now it would basically be the first Dragonball Z and first FMA anime, taking liberties and going its own direction because it couldn’t realistically keep up with the manga.

Best case scenario: a new co produced Transformers anime that uses TFONE & Skybound as a spring board for its own ideas.

What becomes of the Terrans in the future? I hope you weren’t attached to them being their own species because I guarantee it’s gonna be like post Beast Wars stuff.

The Terrans will largely just be Autobots and Decepticons like how the Maximals and Predacons tend to be like Cyberverse Cheetor and EarthSpark’s own Tarantulas.

RotB at the very least reinvigorated the Maximals as a faction, but the Predacons are largely missing from modern televised and comic media. They’re kinda there post WFC, but Transmetal II Megatron is curiously labeled a Prime Predacon…

The Prime Predacons are great but still…

Hasbro remains very weird about non Autobots and Decepticons. Mini-Cons kinda luck out by having the Cassettes be retroactively be Mini-Cons, but screw you if you want proper Maximals, Terrans, Predacons. Terrorcons are another current anomaly that I don’t know will make the cut either.

As it stands, expect Twitch and Spitfire to be Mini-Cons, Aftermath a Decepticon, and everyone else an Autobot, with Jawbreaker specifically as a Dinobot. Whether he gets used just as much as Slash remains to be seen. -sarcastic-

[mizuki-foreshadowing]

One sentiment I see reflected a lot about the movie, is that it's disorienting to see it without knowing who the characters are. And, yeah that makes some sense. Their options would have been, give each character and unit more of an introduction, cutting into time, or to make it so the plot doesn't actually need any context of who each of the units are, but I think they found a different solution entirely.

(spoilers under the cut)

Watching the movie, right away we learn that there's a new SEKAI involved, so I try and study the NPCs who look like their problems are getting some focus, the student with the sister, the broken up band, the injured athlete, the exhausted businessman, I thought those characters would get a spotlight as the new Miku's four people she's reaching out to. I also had that experience viewers going in blind would have, of, shit go back that was an important detail to learn about that character wasn't it, which they would be experiencing for each of the twenty main characters.

But then the movie dives into its themes. We learn the new Miku's SEKAI reaches out to countless people, each one of them lost and struggling. Windows breaking one at a time as more dust piles up around her was beautifully well-done. That was a person she'll never be able to reach, who we will never know the story of. The movie is about the central theme: We don't have context. Everybody, everyone, whether the viewers who know the game already see them as important or not, or if they're people fans are scrambling to learn more about after getting signalled these NPCs have full characters too, everyone, has a rich inner life. The movie isn't about those lives, the movie is how about everybody has a full and complex, complete life like that.

We see the five main SEKAI, their VS's and how wildly different they are from each other, we see the dizzying amount of SEKAI that the new Miku swims past, so many true feelings exist, united privately by music and passion. As far-reaching and devastating as Ichika's worst nightmare was, we also get the distinct feeling that it hit much further than the five main units' SEKAI, much further than real world songs and advertisements.

It reframes the game itself. We aren't following the five stories unfolding in Shibuya, we only know five stories unfolding in Shibuya.

The way the units converge with no coordination on the music festival, it implies they weren't the only ones doing so. Who can say how many other people united in their own SEKAI, resolved on their own to give that new Miku they met, their all on the date of that festival. Every performance may have been that good, may have carried with it that same message told in a unique way.

We saw the new Miku's POV, where the members of each unit weren't invisible to each other, and sure it looks like there were just the twenty people when everything fell apart, and maybe there were, but, if there were really more than twenty people there, could we really be sure? They'd be invisible to us. The Miku certainly visited everybody she ever possibly could have, after all.

Project SEKAI is a deeply personal game; it's a single-player story that deals with emotion and different stories in really powerful ways. I like to say that it tries to be about characters who people don't think there are stories written for. More than that, the movie is in Japanese with English subtitles, for fans of a mobile game, that, while it has a good following, is far from ubiquitous, made for the big screen rather than straight to streaming. This means, so many people, who feel alone and isolated in their private meaningful relationship with the game and own internal emotional journey, will see each other in person and have a connection they don't have in their lives. What is happening right there in the movie? Exactly that; each of the members of that Miku's SEKAI feel alone; they need connection, they need to find each other. But finally, the last scene closes with the SEKAI becoming complete and the characters from other units being sent away. What happens after that? The Aftershow. We are the members of that Miku's SEKAI.

[flighter312]

I dunno if ya do asks or not. But, looking at your KronFau parents au with Ceci is just making me think of baby Ame just randomly coming home with an automaton

KF: whatcha got there?

Ame, half dragging a semi unwinded Ceci: mud!!

HI im late because i never really check tumblr, and i dont know how to do asks in general so i hope this works, but im taking a small break from drawing rn, HOWEVER i will give you this brainrot that turned out to be longer than i expected but i need to yap

an kronfau parents, baby ame au where maybe ame is very ""isolated"" from her peers (probably due to being constantly dirty and having a fascination with small living creatures and being a completely yapper over them(takes after fauna)), so shes used to playing by herself

you didnt specify what type of age cece would have, so im choosing to imagine she appears to be a few years older than ame (spoiler: kronii learns mechanics and always fixes cece up so she also ages with ame, but thats later on)

but maybe kfa moves to a secluded area because they are not made for the city (no matter how much kronii wishes they were), but fauna's happy because at least theres a cottage, and ame's happy because they live near a creek which means DIRT! AND BUGS! AND SNAKES- (and kronfau has a heart attack the first time ame brings one in)

but theyve gotten a little used to ame bringing in lots of creatures (which she eventually has to say bye bye to on the porch because kf is NOT hosting bugs in this home)

however, one day ame is following maybe a tiny spider and ventures off a little more than she's used to, narrating her whole journey, maybe like-

Mama said not to go too far without permission! BUT- she didn't specify who's! [in a high voice] "Ame, can i have YOUR permission to go off beyond the river? (a one foot wide stream of water)" [in a deep voice] "Why, yes Ame! But only if you bring back something fun in return!" [normal voice] "Well, if you say so!" and she skips along and splashes through the puddles

of course, the creek looks the same (but ame NEVER gets lost! right...?), and maybe ame shouldn't have lost track of the (tiny) river, but uh, its fine! eventually mama fauna will call out to her and she'll use her voice to come back home-

and then she trips on a rock.

but then its a very weird rock. like.. weeeiiiiirrd. like. a leg- OH MY GOD

oh no need to worry, its still attached to its person- OH MY GOD

ame probably hides behind a tree or something but after nothing happens, she decides to grab a stick and poke the person. still, nothing happens, so ame decides, yup! thats safe! and inspects it, and what do yknow? this person has "one of em windy- thingies" on their head, and ame knows what to do with that!

so she ends up carefully grabbing it, and then twisting it! or trying. but it doesnt budge. so ame thinks-

"Mum's super strong. What does she do before lifting heavy things...?" And she widens her stance- "ALL IN THE LEGS BABY-"

and the key finally budges and ame falls onto the person's lap. and when she looks up, the thing looks back at her and- OH MY GOD!!!

a friend!!

and ame introduces herself and the robot asks her if she could wind her more, but ame says its too heavy (she tries again, to no avail), but she knows someone SUPER strong!! (mum kronii, of course), and they can ask her for help!

"Where is she then?" "...Good question!"

but ame knows because ame NEVER gets lost and ... ames lost. but its okay! because right on time, fauna starts calling out for ame. however, it sounds like the voice is coming all around them, and.. it appears ame's plan is falling apart. but ame doesn't panic! she NEVER panics! especially when its gonna get dark soon, and ame's afraid of the dark, and shes all alone in this big forest creek whatever-

but she's not alone.

and when this strange person robot windy toy asks if ame is trying to find the voice, ame says yes, because her moms taught her to not lie (and she doesnt feel like lying right now).

so, moss peels away, cobwebs fall apart, and leaves rustle towards the ground - and ame's friend stands up.

next thing you know, kronii's getting ready to go out into the creek because fauna's getting worried that ame hasn't showed up, until ame calls out-

"MAMA! LOOK WHAT I FOUND!" "Oh, thank goodness, my heart- ... Amelia. What is that." and uh oh! fauna told ame to try and not get dirty today! (she says that everyday, but whos keeping track) but still, ame can't really lie in this scenario, so- "Mud!!"

and kronii and fauna just stare at this robot girl because. what. the fuck.

"Kronii! No cursing!" "I THINK THIS ONCE I SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO."

and wouldn't you know it. kronfau adopts another daughter.

something like that :) hope this is fine! also sorry for being late, i really dont check tumblr but i should more often! this is fun haha

[thought-knot]

Assorted Pantheon thoughts

Just recently finished watching the show and wanted to put my thoughts down somewhere, full spoilers under the cut

Going to be forever salty with how poorly this series was treated by AMC, between being stuck on their shitty streaming service and being written off for tax purposes

Overall I think the first season is a bit stronger than the second, the emotional hook of Maddie's relation with her dad was amazing and I don't think the second season was able to get something quite as compelling

that said I do think it was the right call to kill off David at the end of the first season

In general I feel the first two episodes are an incredible start

One of the best complements I can give to the first two episodes is that they were able to get my mom who never watches animated stuff like this onboard with the show

Chanda's uploading scene was disturbing in the best way possible

I really liked Chanda's role in the first season even when he turns in an antagonist you can understand his logic and motivations

Unfortunately he felt underutilized in season 2

Wonder if Chanda and the others could have fought Holstrom alongside Caspian, they could still have the same fate but it would make them feel like they have more of a contribution instead of something that needs to be gotten out of the way before the main event

The direction of the show was consistently amazing, a few moments that stood out to me was Chanda looping the virtual office, Laurie's message getting cut off transitioning to the credits of episode 7, Caspian exploring Yair's removed memories, and Maddie with all the simulated realities in dyson sphere

In general I feel like they did I good job making the digital world feel different from the real world with the editing, the more actiony fight scenes for the uploaded characters, and the more crazy digital character designs both before and after the 20 year time skip

In particular I like how the fight at the end of season one looked with Chanda and David modifying their appearances, exemplified that the feeling of difference between the worlds really well

Caspian's fake abusive family was really interesting to watch play out over the first half of season 1 and the reveal of him being a clone felt shocking yet makes perfect sense

really liked the unstated horror that Hanna/Rachel was probably going to be killed to push Caspian

I need merch of rice cooker MIST yesterday

Seriously look at her

Middle of season two felt maybe a little formulaic, with them trying to find a UI that would be the right one to cure over several episodes

That said I feel the ideas they explored with the various UI's where really interesting so I don't think its that big of an issue

From what I understand the show was always meant to be two seasons and the cancellation did not effect that, but I really wish the last two episodes could have been a whole season, there is so much interesting stuff going on there

Though I am impressed how much they managed to fit in those two episodes, in particular I liked seeing what Maddie was doing over the 20 years

Really wish we could have gotten a scene of Maddie deciding to upload if nothing else

definitely plan to rewatch the show at some point to see what I catch on a second go around

it might sound like I am being a bit more negative on season two, but I still really enjoyed it, and it got me thinking a lot, especially the last two episodes

Overall I would give it a 9/10

Seriously fuck AMC

[inairthings]

Is hope the last thing to be lost?

This post is going to have a lot of SPOILERS for Season 8 of 9-1-1 and it's going to be very long, so I'll keep all of its content hidden. There are so many things I have to say, much of it will be repeated, and also much I'm going to forget, so I'm going to go point by point so I can keep things more or less organized and try to forget as few things as possible.

My English is not perfect so I apologize for the likely numerous mistakes there will be.

POST IN SPANISH

To start with everything that's happened in the last few episodes, I don't know what to feel. Yes, I'm sad that Bobby died, but I think that feeling is overshadowed by a stronger one: anger. An anger caused by the way Peter Krause was removed from the series, a decision that everything points to not being his but creative, a whim by Tim Minear to give the series realism, a controversial and very botched decision that didn't go down well. In addition to the mistreatment of another character who, if well written, could almost be the most powerful of all: Eddie.

TIM MINEAR The guru, the big boss, or so he pretends to be, a guy who's already getting a bit tired with his rather controversial decisions. I have a feeling he doesn't like taking on more than one project at a time, or I don't know what's going on with him anymore. FOX cancels 911: Lone Star, a series with an already solid foundation, good ratings, and actors with charisma, and months later they announce a spin-off starring Chris O'Donnell and Jessica Capshaw, set in Nashville, to be broadcast on ABC. Are you canceling an established series to create a new one? Even though it's broadcast by different networks, the owners are the same. If they know that FOX probably no longer wants Lone Star on its schedule, why don't they move it to ABC? I feel like this point is related to the rest, because thinking very badly, I dare say that Tim Minear's goal is to get 911 canceled, one of the highest-rated series currently. No, it definitely wouldn't be too strange to think that Tim Minear is boycotting his own series, but why is he doing it when it has been renewed for Season 9? Isn't it better to do it now and give a closed and happy ending?.

BOBBY One of the most beloved characters of all is the Captain, the leader, but Tim Minear decides to kill him off without considering anyone, not even Disney executives. He did it at his own risk, a creative decision because Peter Krause didn't want to leave the series, and if, for example, the actor wanted to slow down the work rate, he would simply have to cut the number of episodes in half or even less, he can afford that luxury. If 911 was known for anything, it's for not killing off its main characters, which I think is very positive. You can kill off supporting characters, guests, but not main characters, they're sacred. But he did it, he killed Bobby Nash in a botched way. The backlash against this plot is immense, on IMDb the score for episode 8x15 is terrible, although I don't know if that website can be considered very truthful, 8x16 has a score of 2.2 / 10 at 4:20 p.m. on May 2nd, we'll have to see the ratings because 8x15 didn't have very good ones but I think they later recovered a lot thanks to streaming but many days later and it's been two weeks since the episode aired. All of this translates to the fact that what Tim Minear still thinks is an excellent idea has turned out to be the worst idea ever had in this series.

EDDIE Now let's move on to Eddie. I'm going to repeat myself and say that he's the most complicated character they've had to write due to his complexity. A character who has become too big for them, and they don't know how to write him, when they have the oportunity to bring into view through his eyes very serious real-world problems like depression, also problems related to religion, sexuality, and not knowing who you really are because all your life, due to your upbringing, you've been too repressed. In Season 7 we have a very disastrous story, a double of Shannon called Kim appears by magic, with which he becomes obsessed, causing tremendous trauma to his son, why? I think to get the actor who plays Chris out of the series partially, Gavin McHugh no longer lives in Los Angeles, and in addition to being a teenager and obviously having a busier life, he has cerebral palsy with limited mobility, which makes traveling not so easy for him either, isn't it better to get rid of this character altogether? I think so, there were many ways to get him out of the series, like going to Texas with his grandparents but by Eddie's decision, without any drama in between, or an exchange with another school that would be better for him, there were many possibilities but no, they took him away from Eddie, he went to live with his grandparents, then Eddie decides to go live in El Paso and there the firefighters don't want him, they reduce him to living in a ruined house, to being an Uber driver with a horrible Prius, to having to deal with his toxic parents, and they also prevent him from being in that double episode where Bobby dies. He didn't get the chance to say goodbye to him, and then he shows up in Los Angeles as if nothing had happened, sitting in the living room of his house (now Buck's) drinking coffee after Buck went to pick him up from the airport. We know Eddie's going to be there for the final stretch of the season, that Bobby told him he had his position there for when he returned, but what about now that Bobby's gone? Gerrard is going to be the captain, at least temporarily. Will he respect what Bobby told Eddie? Can a firefighter who is currently a civilian work as a firefighter? Would it be too far-fetched for Eddie to be the new captain of the 118th next season? At Bobby's funeral, they positioned him between Gerrard and Hen. He was a soldier, he knows about discipline, respect, and how to react with a cool head in the face of adversity. Will he be interested in being captain? I think he'd do well, but it's obviously not going to happen. My candidate is Hen.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Ryan Guzman decided to leave the show, but as long as the show lasts, which at this rate I don't think it will last past Season 9, that is if they don't decide to cut it short, it's still work, and he has two young children to support.

BUDDIE They've been showing for many years that the relationship between Eddie and Buck is much more extensive than it seems, and since Season 7 they've been selling us that they could be more than just friends. In Season 8, Buck even admitted to having feelings for Eddie but denied it because Eddie is supposedly straight. They've been giving us very powerful scenes, to the point that today, being a romantic couple, being canon, is the only possible way out for them, and also the most important long-running story the show has had and still has. But in these last three episodes, there hasn't been any progress, and seeing how the last two episodes of the season are presented, I don't think there will be either. Right now I feel that for Tim Minear Buddie has only been an end to reach a medium that is one more way to attract an audience, using a possible LGBT male couple who also have enormous chemistry as a hook to make it possible, what they call queerbaiting, which I would put more names like 911baiting, tvshowbaiting, buddiebaiting, eddiebaiting, buckbaiting ... something that would be truly scandalous, in addition the writers have had the possibility of ending a romantic Buddie definitively and they have not done it but have even fanned it more, but are they really interested in Buddie canon and are they going to continue down that path? or are they only interested in the Buddie that serves as a hook, and they are more than that, a biracial LGBT couple: Latino + white, they have something incredible on their hands, I hope ABC forces them to go ahead with them, because you would have to be really stupid to waste it.

MONEY MATTERS Is Peter Krause's forced departure from the show a financial objective? We know he's an executive producer, that after Angela Bassett, he's the highest earner per episode, that he didn't want to leave, and they've even admitted it's due to creative reasons. Is it too expensive for them to keep the actor? So why create another spin-off if you already have a series with one of the best ratings? Isn't it more interesting to keep one of the most beloved characters in the entire series? I see another character who currently makes no sense to me, and that's Maddie. Right now, I only see her as Chimney's wife and mother of his children, in addition to being Buck's sister. Yes, they're including a plot in which she's kidnapped to remind us she exists, but a character with a history of abuse, who was a nurse, could create plots that help people, just like Eddie. But they've even reduced the plots involving her work as a 911 dispatcher. Isn't it better to save money there? to get rid of this character who currently contributes very little and who I think has, Jennifer Love Hewitt, the third highest salary in the entire show, and it really angers me because Maddie is a character with tremendous potential.

Wouldn't it also be better to change some sponsors looking for others that give more money? They have made Eddie change his GMC Denali for a hideous Toyota Prius, there I see a change of sponsor and I almost dare say that Eddie's next car will be a Toyota, they have changed Buck's Jeep for a Nissan, there are also Amazon ads ... not to mention that isn't it cheaper to create personal stories that link all the characters instead of creating a mega emergency with absurd helicopter chases included, and with the insolence that Tommy was in the episode in which not even one of the protagonists appears and in which you also kill off your star?.

IS BOBBY REALLY DEAD? I'm still holding out hope that it's all a game on Tim Minear's part and that he wasn't foolish enough to kill Bobby off permanently. There are some leaks in which he's apparently buried alive and that he calls 911. Oliver Stark and Jennifer Love Hewitt posted them on Instagram, but it was on April 1st, so why would they play such a macabre joke? If that's what it was, I see it as a huge lack of respect for all the fans. One possibility is that something happened in his past or recently that we don't yet know about that forced him to enter the witness protection program. The big emergency in episodes 8x14 and 8x15 would have served to help fake his death, with Athena obviously helping create his cover. Everything would be revealed in the final minutes of Season 8, and then Season 9 would begin to provide answers. Tim Minear has alluded to the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, where Spock dies, to reveal in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock that he isn't really dead. Obviously, that's not going to happen, and I'm afraid they really did kill Bobby off.

There's still more going on, but I have so much on my mind that I can't get it all out right now. There are two episodes left in which there's supposedly another major emergency. everything points to a major earthquake. I hope they make room for personal stories, and right now the only interesting one is Buddie. I suppose Maddie will also give birth, and that's probably going to take up more time than necessary. Personally, it's a plot that doesn't appeal to me very much. What can't be done is that out of an 18-episode season, three episodes are dedicated to the same plot at the beginning, and in the second half of the season, with 10 episodes remaining, episodes 14 and 15 become one, and possibly episodes 17 and 18 as well. Double episodes focusing on the same emergency take away time from continuing to develop other stories, like Eddie's and even Buddie's, which were abruptly cut short. Although in episode 14 they could have dedicated a few minutes to definitively resolving Eddie and Chris's story with his return to Los Angeles and not continue excluding the character. I prefer emergencies that last a single episode and that combine with the stories of each character.

We'll see what happens in the final stretch of the season, if Tim is just playing with us by making us believe he's taking Bobby and possibly Buddie away from us, or if he's definitely finished killing 911.

[gladosluver]

after finishing up lobotomy corporation, i'm going to fly blind into other media! thinkin about MILGRAM next......

leave recommendations for things you wanna see me check out! preferably i'd like a game, like a visual novel, but anything is fine! i'm a real sucker for web series, ARGs, scifi, psychological horror, music, and art/multimedia projects!

i will not get into most gacha games, hoyoverse stuff, dandys world, tcoaal, jrwi, homestuck, or jjk. this is primarily because it has already been HEAVILY spoiled for me, i have checked it out before and had little interest in it, or its just. yucky. (iykyk)

unfortunately as much as i'd love to, i cant do Alien Stage cuz those mfs CANNOT go 4 seconds without blurting out every spoiler known to man (and i have an irl friend whose HUGE about it and has spoiled quiteeee a bit for me already)

i dont mind fictional/drawn gore or things where gore isn't absolutely everywhere, but frequent depictions of real blood and injury get me quite queasy. i'm also not big into real horror in general due to paranoid, anxiety, and psychosis issues that i cannot control. sucks cuz i really enjoy the genre, but can't watch any horror movie or documentary without my mind racing for the next few months LOL

here's my desktop if you need ideas! the stuff on the right are games im holding out on because they're either sequels or i just feel like playing more of their base games beforehand

i've yet to play mouthwashing, miside, ncsru, milk outside a bag of milk, arctic eggs, and ratshaker, and have yet to finish chaos head and blue refleciton. i wanted to stream them or screenshare them with friends/yall, so i've been holding off on them as well

oh, btw, if you recommend music there's basically a 100% chance i'll listen to it ;)

keep in mind, the NANOSECOND library of runia goes on sale, i WILL be halting everything and getting my ass in there... get ready..........

[cleolinda]

Silent Hill 2 commentary: Blue Creek Apartments (4)

PREVIOUSLY ON: Mirrors, knives, “Promise (Reprise),” and camera angles; Angela has been through A Lot.

Spoiler policy: Just about anything but That One Big Thing near the end of the game, particularly information about characters, their motives, and their dynamics. The game’s eight endings may also be discussed. Content notes are below the cut.

Content notes: For this video as a whole, the combat involves the usual bloodshed, acid vomit now with bonus acid explosions, monster body horror, plank and nails melee, handgun shooting. There’s an extra bathtub full of blood for no particular reason. The toilets are notably vile.

This post has Pyramid Head and a brief discussion of sexual assault in video games.

1:43:20: The Key of Resilience takes us to the area just in front of Pyramid Head's fight club. "I don't wanna go there." Massive rumbling and stomping and scraping throughout the building: Pyramid Head is on the loose. "That's why I don't wanna go there." 

All game images are ©2024 Konami Digital Entertainment, and captured from my gameplay in January-March 2025.

1:44:05: The lighting outside the "S" door is absolutely beautiful: "I love it; it's awful." Remember near the beginning of this video when I pointed out the stacks of punishment cages? They're strewn around this area as well, and you can see a few hanging from the ceiling. Take another look at Misty day, remains of the Judgment for the concept. (Does Pyramid Head just stockpile these?! He did kill eleven of my Jameses, I guess.) "Why is he like this? Like I KNOW, but WHY?" Yes, he has a rich history of executioneering. But WHY.

1:45:27: Love to see a mannequin sneak by (genuinely; I think that's so effective and creepy). But here we are at our second piece of sheet music: Alexander Scriabin's "Vers la flamme" ("Towards the flame"). 

Given that we're on our way to the moth room, I feel like the simplest explanation is that we are drawn towards the Pyramid Head confrontation "like a moth to a flame."

(Did not mention: Mary is also associated with moths through her final form in the game, and the "While I am decaying like a rotten thing / Like a garment that is moth-eaten" graffiti at the very beginning of the game. So the "flame" here could be love.)

However, the piece isn't about moths:

Like many of Scriabin's late works, the piece does not conform to classical harmony and is instead built on the mystic chord and modal transpositions of its tone center. A typical performance last 5 to 6 minutes. The piece is notorious for its difficulty, in particular the enormous leaps and long, unusual double-note trills in the final pages.  According to pianist Vladimir Horowitz, the piece was inspired by Scriabin's eccentric conviction that a constant accumulation of heat would ultimately cause the destruction of the world. The piece's title reflects the earth's fiery destruction, and the constant emotional buildup and crescendo throughout the piece lead, ultimately, "toward the flame".

So I asked Ian to talk (1:48:00 on his stream) about mystic chords and the circle of fifths (to which Scriabin had assigned a color wheel). You can actually hear that circle really clearly with the chorus of Lionel Ritchie’s “Hello” on the keyboard overlay. The music was probably chosen for the title, but of course, loops and circles and repetition continue to be a thing in this game (and something Ian says also reminded me that Bloober Team has designed the floor plans to loop back on themselves in case you get lost). We both think Scriabin's idea of fire consuming the world sounds more like Angela than James (as you'll see in Angela's final scene), and we did just encounter her, after all. Near the end of this, I piped up in the chat, "There's just all this stuff that has to be happy accidents, but there's so much of it"; neither of us can tell how intentional a lot of these "references" are, but there's so many of them.

1:48:40: The sneaky mannequin is waiting for us here behind some stairs, and there’s also another Strange Photo.

A picture of the door with the number 208, and the caption “Forever together”: with who? Well, what was in 208? I’m not sure which 208—our options include the terrifying room where you find a dead James (the number "213" has been altered to look like "208"); the creepy room where you’re trapped with all the writing on the walls (V3 1:31:00); and a later hotel room that will involve yet another puzzle. There is a 208 in Blue Creek that I didn’t go inside, but I’ll see if I can go back and try it. Notably, none of these options involve Mary. “James and his guilt” is my best guess. Although I did start wondering aloud who was writing these captions, especially given that we think Pyramid Head killed the dead James in Wood Side: 

You'd think it was James, a James. It couldn’t possibly be Pyramid Head himself, could it? It couldn't. Like can he even… that handwriting is awfully neat for somebody with fingers melded together. With the Mickey Mouse gloves. Like I don't know that he could do that. But right now, it kind of looks like it's saying… [changing my mind] I don't think Pyramid Head would leave a caption about a stripper pole? Like, probably not? Or his favorite flavor of lipstick? Like, probably not. 

The pole photo, and the pole itself, are coming up in the next video. 

1:52:12: The next time we’re here, the upper landing of the stairs will be a Glimpse of the Past: the original Pyramid Fight happened here, somehow, and his exit down a stairwell filled with water (James' element) is what drains the stairs so that you can go down them yourself. Currently, we can hear Pyramid Head dragging his giant scissor-sword around in the distance. "I know, I know! I'm getting there!"

Did not mention: Remember how I said back in the barbershop that Pyramid Head's Great Knife is "a scissor"? You will get an extremely good look at it very soon.

1:53:30: We return to the clock room to set the minute hand to 2 (9:10). I read out the clue note again; "Mildred" descending indicates that it's 2, halfway down to 3, where "Scott [the second hand] lies face down." 

1:54:50: On to the "M" room for moth math. Honestly this is a very quick room. I am dismayed to realize that it's quick because they're sending us straight on to Pyramid Head afterwards: "Whatever, it's moths, stick your hand in the wall and get outta here."

1:55:15: There's a number of empty birdcages (mothcages?) in the apartment, and I think birdcages (which you also see in Lakeview Hotel) represent two different things: 1) love, due to the paired birds we see throughout the game, and by extension, Mary, who felt "caged" by the frame of her hospital bed; and 2) Pyramid Head's hanging punishment cages. There's a particularly tall cage we walk past on the way in—not quite human height, but it's very reminiscent. 

1:56:00: After a break for cold medicine, Mountain Dew, and some dog-walking, it's on to the moths. Ian mentioned that there actually weren't any moths here in the original game, which simply had a hole for James to stick his entire arm into. There are three types of moths in the apartment, including the death's head moth, famously used in Thomas Harris' Silence of the Lambs, and we did see a namesake Harris Street in South Vale. There's a second type of moth with "eyes" on the wings, and a third type with crescent moons. I checked in with my moth expert, @tamaro606, because I was convinced that the crescents were an artistic invention. But no, she said: the eyes and the crescents have most likely been adapted from Hyalophora cecropia and/or Hyalophora columbia—two species of silk moths. Cecropia are the largest moths in North America, so their size relative to James is about right. The cecropias usually have more of a reddish-orange tinge, but the in-game crescents are adapted from a real marking. Antheraea polyphemus also has "eye" markings; I've actually seen one of these in person, and they're a smidge smaller than Hyalophora, but they’re pretty big as well. I'll let you take a look at some videos of those on the side blog.

Did not mention: Again, Mary is associated with moths; see above. 

2:00:45: The puzzle itself is a combination lock on a door; to arrive at its three numbers, we need to count the skulls, eyes, and crescents, and then do some Moth Math ("skulls plus eyes," that sort of thing). I believe the math is different on each level of puzzle difficulty; what I know for sure is that I am too sick to do it. I show you how to find all the moths and count all the moths and math all the moths without actually working it out moth myself, and you're just going to have to trust me on the results. 

2:01:30: Solving the combination opens the door to our local entomologist's bedroom, with is filled with a mounted butterfly collection that Ian says evokes Alessa's in SH1. Most importantly, there is A Hole For James to Stick His Entire Arm Into. ("Well you know what you do with a hole! You know exactly what to do with that!”) This one is actually dripping neon green goo, which we'll only see in one other location: Brookhaven Hospital. Nobody knows what the green goo is supposed to be. Ian says that this might have just been a visual choice on Team Silent's part in the original game, possibly to avoid censorship by turning some dripping blood green, but this may be apocryphal. It doesn't seem to have in-story relevance. 

I truly don't know why James looks so upset about having to reach in to fish out the second hand. His jacket sleeve still looks heinous from the toilet he had to plumb. This is not the biggest problem we have dealt with today. 

2:03:00: More rumbling and stomping and scraping. "Okaaayyyy," I whimper. "There's nothing else to do, guys! There's nothing! It's on! It's fight time! I don't like it!" On our way back to the clock room, we see that Pyramid Head has ripped huge gashes in the walls. 

2:04:10: The clock room looks worse than ever; the back bedroom is now open, and we can collect a health drink and another Strange Photo. 

"How the time flies." Now, I had a very nice theory that these doors are the inside view of the doors to the room where we'll fight Pyramid Head (with a TV added in as a symbol of "a truth James should be punished for"). But the more I look at those doors, the less they look like a match to me. But I still wonder. You do go here right after you finish the clock puzzle, and the timer in the boss fight does run down faster if you do some damage. I'll continue to keep an eye out. 

2:07:00: Time to go; another look at gashes in the walls. Going out to the stairs, the landing has changed: now there's a bloody lying figure on the floor. The Glimpse of the Past here is where the original Pyramid Head fight took place; if you watched the video where I fought him 12 times, you may remember this as the area where I practiced walking James back and forth (yes, that is the level we were at back then). 

What happened in the original fight? Well, as Ashley Bardhan explains,

In Konami's 2001 game, the brief scene begins with blood-soaked Pyramid Head in a stairwell humping a moaning mannequin, who sounds like a really awful video I saw of a pufferfish gagging on a carrot. Pyramid Head dumps her body like a heavy bag of groceries when he spots protagonist James, as blond and dazed as ever, so he broods over him for a while before retreating down a submerged set of stairs. […] Bloober's remake ditches the assault entirely, which I appreciate as both a woman tired of gratuitous sexual assault in horror, and also as person who saw a pufferfish choke on a carrot.

I am very sorry to report that she is correct. 

Watching the original fight there, I honestly do not know how this was supposed to have worked. I know Pyramid Head is slow, but there shouldn't have been any getting around the guy, not with the wingspan the Great Knife gives him. Although, I suppose it is very hard to see through that helmet. 

Meanwhile, the remake goes back to the drawing board and says, "What if... not slow?" IMO, the Silent Hill 2 remake does for Pyramid Head what Rogue One did for Darth Vader: add just enough, not too much, speed and agility to put them back in your nightmares. Literally: a couple months ago, I was having half-waking nightmares while sleeping upright in a recliner with a sinus infection. Finally, I realized I was pawing the arm of the chair to “fight” a Pyramid Head I thought was in the room with me. Because, you see—I was trying to move an imaginary computer mouse. 

2:08:26: Whenever I record attempts at this boss fight, I always talk strategy for about five hours because I don't want to go in. Short version: On a timer, three minutes, doing damage runs it down faster, Nails on Stick hits surprisingly hard, stealth bonus, Always Be Dodging. Someone's actually done it with only the plank in less than 1:30, so we can get out of this pretty fast if we’re brave.

2:11:25: Attempt 1: "He's Pyramid Head, not Pyramid Dick, shoot low!" is a thing that comes out of my mouth. A strong start, and then it all goes to shit. My hands betray me. Around the time James downs a drink and starts strolling idly for God knows what reason, that's when we're doomed. "WHAT IN THE NEUROPATHY IS HAPPENING?!" 

2:13:40: Attempt 2: I somehow hit Any Button before I'm ready. A terrible start, but we prevail in the end. The fight goes almost two minutes exactly, and that time includes the game freezing when I accidentally pull up the desktop.  

I bring a certain "most aggressive mom at the Little League game" energy to these fights that I really think you don't get anywhere else. Yes, I am still scared of Pyramid Head; yes, I was whimpering about this earlier; but I find it so much more upsetting to turn my back on something scary and run from it. I would much rather talk myself into taking control of the situation and run the timer down. And so I find myself in the strange position of shouting "WHERE IS HE? GET HIM! GET HIM!!" and hunting Pyramid Head down to whack him from behind. 

In fact, I think the times I manage to hit him from behind are why the timer runs down faster than I expect: that stealth bonus. You can tell that time is passing by the environment changing: rain falling (indoors, yes), pipes exploding, the room rumbling and shaking. And the sooner those things happen, the faster you're running down the timer, which is why we get rain fairly early in the second attempt. 

(I don't know how it's raining indoors, but I have to think it relates to water being associated with James. Ian and I have discussed this a lot—rain in this game doesn't necessarily represent something obvious like grief; it shows up in a positive context with Maria. I think it's basically moments of heightened emotion that James can't express, like running for his life away from Big Scissor Man.)

Here's the best fight I ever pulled off, so of course it was on the timing run and didn't count. It's less than 1:45, depending on where you mark the "end." It is on Light Combat; I'm not saying I'm an amazing gamer, just that I’ve improved a lot since the HOW DO YOU SPRINT days. 

Listen, some people have gym gains. I have video game fights. 

2:18:00: I drag our collective ass out to the street, where there's a save point; we're done with the apartments. All apartments, always except when those apartments get manifested elsewhere, we will never be free.

Next time! Ian made good enough time with his fourth stream that he kept going through Laura’s and Maria’s first cutscenes; I’ll be starting with those. I am super hype to knock around South Vale with Maria while she nags me to stop going the wrong way but also refuses to tell me what the right way is. We are going to Pete’s Bowl-a-Rama, babe, and that’s all there is to it. We’re also getting a melee weapon upgrade, and I’m going to kill everyone with it, just to celebrate them not being Pyramid Head. 

(SH2R commentary master post)

[nyxxhexx]

Companion

5/5

Everyone go see Companion. Stop what you're doing now; stop reading this review, stop scrolling, and go buy your tickets or find a place to stream it. (Make sure you come back here when you're done, though.)

Companion was absolutely incredible. I didn't have particularly high hopes for the film; I had hoped it would be good, but primarily I went because I love Sophie Thatcher, and I'm not afraid to admit that. When I walked out of the theatre, though, I was a full-blown Companion fan, ready to preach about the film to anyone who'd listen (even though that's a different Sophie Thatcher movie that I haven't seen yet.)

It's just dark enough, just funny enough. I had a brief moment of disappointment at one point because I thought the film was pulling punches on the gore, only to be ecstatically surprised when the big reveal came later, at an even more perfect time. And the film's underlying message wasn't one I expected, but it was definitely one I appreciated.

I was concerned, at first, that seeing the trailer had ruined the film's basic premise, since trailers these days sometimes feel like watching the entire movie flat out. But there was so much more buried beneath that initial reveal. There's so much more to Companion than you think there is, I promise.

Drifting into spoiler territory, (so quit reading here if you haven't seen it yet), I didn't expect the overt nice guy incel theming of Josh, but its reveal throughout Companion was nothing less than perfect. He exposes himself nearly all at once when things don't go his way, as so many "nice guys" do, and the film perfectly handles something women know all too well: So many men will ab*se anything they can just for the sake of it. We've seen it lately with AI robots and girlfriend apps, and women have seen it our entire lives.

This is exactly the type of good for her revenge movie we should be making: not graphic s*xual ass*ult scenes (because that, too, was handled better than the majority of the genre) followed by gory murders, but women reclaiming themselves completely and walking away changed for the better, not scarred for the worst. There's enough of that in real life, especially right now.

[bluebirdlester]

notes & thoughts from philm club 10/19/15!

THIS IS SOOO NOSTALGIC TO ME this is the era where i was catching most younows live! i am 95% sure i saw this live at 15 years old! i am 24 now! i have included a vintage phanniecore image from the time period! lets reflect!

dan ripped his jeans at tatinof leeds. so the wad time wasnt the first time

anahita mentioned omg where is she now. with her 20 trillion younow bucks or whatever that stuff was

“you know what i mean” and fluffing his hair in that one specific way is 2015 dan’s “what can i say” while checking an invisible watch

friendiversary. oh babes......

“we’re pal creators” :)

another thing dan used to say: “this guy” while staring into the camera and gesturing at phil. nowadays he just screams

“went to sheffield, that was lols” dan loves to say shit

WHAT DID DAN WHISPER. INFURIATINGLY ALMOST AUDIBLE. LIP READING EXPERTS ?

“ive had the fire on” potential gas leak stream, love you london apartment 1

WHY DID IT TAKE THEM 30 MINUTES TO MENTION THAT APPARENTLY TABINOF HAS JUST COME OUT?

‘as if you guys have coffee tables for our book’ WE DO NOW BITCH, WE'RE OLD! (i dont. actually.)

instantly calling it the bible. well that hasnt changed. the phible

OH MY GOD I HAVE SUCH VIVID MEMORIES OF TAKING AND HAVING PICTURES OF MYSELF WITH THE INSIDE COVER OVER MY FACE LIKE THAT. BUT I JUST SPENT LIKE 20 MINUTES LOOKING AND ABSOLUTELY CANNOT FIND THEM!!!!! lost media.

i did find this though: a relic of the time. 2015 snapchat face swap filter, anyone? [i do want to post this accursed artifact bc its funny but not without having directly next to it: im a grown man now, dont she/her me]

dan describing phils eye color i could never think you were straight my 2015 king

"well done phiw" words i remember deep in my soul

not directly related to anything happening, i just thought about it: i saw a post the other day about how dan and phil spent their 20s being silly for the enjoyment of 12 year old girls on the internet and have been thinking about it ever since. i just wanna hold space for a moment of appreciation for that. idk if it was yalls experience but i got a lot of misogyny based shame of my interests because of the whole societal "anything a teen "girl" likes must be inherently ridiculous and made fun of mercilessly" thing [especially related to dnp watching] but they never had any sort of resentment for that position never did anything but be patient with us and love us and give us nice things to chew on. thank you danphil <3

"get over it. get over it. get over it. get over it. you cynic. get over it. right right right right so what? he enjoys a themed drink from a coffee chain thats everywhere. get over it, get over it." dan relax. why do i remember this specific part so vividly. was this in a vyou1 compilation that i watched over and over like cocomelon

dan on evan peters in AHS: "id be his victim" i see you

47:30 PHIL IMITATING DAN'S HAND GESTURES WHILE HE TALKS ABOUT THE WALKING DEAD I WAS LOOKING FOR THIS CLIP A FEW WEEKS AGO BUT HAD ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHERE TO GO LOOKING FOR IT!!!!!!!

god this was the era of free and haikyu real ones remember dans body pillow

pop culture of 2015 reviews

"phils got an agenda!" why do i rememeber posting "phil has the gay agenda" after he said that. we were so annoying in the 2015 times

chair quiz all depends on the first question. if im hungry its cheese and i get purple. if not its trees and i get green

phil "sneaking in" a "phil and dan" hes so cute

them snorting at each other "that was a deep sinister pig" they have never changed

(THIS POINT ONLY) TIT PRESHOW PLAYLIST SPOILERS IF ANYONE GIVES A FUCK the way they loved our singing to toxic so much that they make sure to give us a big singalong right before the show on every preshow playlist now.... hot to go <3. i heard a recording of an early show where it was good luck babe and thankfully i think they realized that good luck babe is really hard to sing and made it hot to go ever since then

time to get parasocial dan used all his phone data so he had to use phils hotspot. surely they just have the same phone plan now

WAD foreshadowing my boy is talking about the apocalypse

phil is going to go cook dinner??? an era before deliveroo??

dan talking about uploading on dinof it was a different time

ok those are my thoughts!!! im a newish phannie blog (not really. i had one on my old account in the 2015 era which i dont want to use anymore cause i was 15.) so welcome feel free to hang out etc

[salty-dracon]

My thoughts on the Hundred Line demo

First, and most important question: Did I enjoy it? My answer is, YES!!! ABSOLUTELY YES!!!! I am beyond hooked. This game's got its claws in me. I've got theories cookin', man!

And yes, the EN dub is fine. In fact, I'm very excited to hear more from it!

Under the readmore are further details about the demo and my thoughts on them. Please note that this contains major demo spoilers, and I ask that if you comment, you avoid dropping any information about leaks. Thank you for reading!

First, let's talk presentation- encompassing art style, music, and engine quirks.

I think the presentation is superb. The visual novel engine carries over some quirks from Danganronpa V3 such as having the protagonist's expression on display when they're speaking, which was one of the best things about that game and Rain Code. Not only that, but they allow movement to the side and use interesting angles to display different features of each room, while billboarding the sprites around. That's so freaking cool, and it gives the illusion of having the characters in the room around you as you're looking around, not looking like paper dolls. The art style is predictably a little more grey and mechanical than the colorful psycho-pop DR1 and DR2 and psycho-cool DRV3 and cyberpunky Rain Code. I mean, they're in an army base. That's to be expected. I think it does well to set the tone for the game.

The more colorful floors felt a bit lacking in some respects, and I disliked the sidescrolling. It didn't work for Rain Code either, and I'm curious as to why they went with this format instead of the usual DR Open World wandering. Maybe otherwise you can get stuck between the rooftop micro-habs? Or maybe there will be a horror scene later on which will require you to walk through the halls while bodies line the floor?

The music is very similar to Danganronpa, but I can't complain. DR music is almost 100% bangers, and the battle theme is original. And also a banger. TEMPO TEMPO TEMPO TEMPO-

Voice Acting

This may be controversial of me, but I like it. (Same guy who loved Triangle Strategy's dub, btw.) First, we do have some big names in here from games like Metaphor ReFantazio and various Fangans. And yes, I think of the ones we've seen, they're really good! I'd say every issue I had with the voice acting was just caused by poor voice direction. But I'm not going to let it hamper my enjoyment of the game, no matter how many assholes yell at me on stream about it. Shoutout in particular to Sirei's voice! It sounded just like an army sergeant with a little bit of Cave Johnson thrown in, and the lines were read with so much pomp and personality! Also shoutout to Darumi, Takemaru, and Hiruko, who we saw a lot of in the demo, and whose performances were all full of personality. I kept comparing Darumi to Jinx from League of Legends (not Arcane- important distinction). It helps tremendously that the localization was written so buttery smooth that every VA could take it in stride.

Oh yeah, localization. It's 10/10. That's it.

Characters

I've been following the marketing since the beginning, so I've already come to adore this cast. Everyone's a standout in their own way, but some of them defied my expectations in interesting ways.

Eito is supposedly a sickly boy who gave me Major Sus Vibes on account of his weapon being a scythe and that one CG with Takumi- you know the one. People in my circle are calling it Komahina 2 But They Actually Do It This Time. Oh god. Anyway, Eito standing up and calling out Sirei, and proving to be unpopular enough with Hiruko in the mix? I didn't expect him to be the first one to get into interpersonal drama! He seems so reasonable and so nice, but I know that facade is going to be crushed later on- I strongly suspect he'll develop some kind of one-sided obsession with either Takumi, or based on his moveset, justice and group unity, and cull anyone who poses a threat to those things. Which is to say, he's my favorite and I hope Takumi keeps interacting with him!

Hiruko was long thought of as the group's first obstacle to achieving any level of unity, and I'm definitely seeing that here with the way she threatens the others and treats them as worthless unless they're fighting with her. Girl, you may be strong, but you have 0 range- you'd get swarmed by the real baddies if you didn't have the rest of us with you! I don't see any attempt at humor with her yet- which is good, I'd hate to have that illusion shattered so early.

Darumi and Takemaru, as Takumi's first allies, are wonderful! We saw a lot of Takemaru's personality on display- he's weird, but honorable. Same with Darumi. She talks a lot of trash and acts pretty scary, but she's not just a character made to mimic a Danganronpa fan. She seems fun- and moreso, that she cares about the others enough to help them out in a pinch like with Eito's rescue.

If there are two members of the cast that may get annoying, Gaku is one and Shouma is another. WRT Gaku, this is just my own past talking but I hate characters that play Oppression Olympics to win. That being said, they asked us not to write him off as he's very kind when he locks in. As for Shouma, I just hate characters who have 1 line of dialogue followed by 2 lines of self-deprecation. But I trust the team's character writing. I trust they'll do both of them justice.

As for characters that just suck, it is so much fun watching Ima suck. Like, please stop making your sister so uncomfortable, dude, but depending on how far you go, we'll be cheering even louder when Kako hits you with a brick. (Also, not the worst guy I've ever seen in a Danganronpalike. That one goes to a certain sexist Italian Catholic.)

Anyway, I look forward to seeing more of these guys.

Gameplay

It would help if there were a clearer aggro mechanic. I don't fully remember which character had a taunt move in the first place, but it would help if I knew anyway. Otherwise, I find the gameplay super interesting, with lots of opportunity for potential strategies. Paying attention to the movement, range, attack, armor, AOE capability, etc.. of each character will be very fun in a game that's mostly mooks with one big tough boss at the end. AOE characters aren't the best in games like Fire Emblem, you know? So to be able to wipe out enemies quickly feels powerful, a bit like Unicorn Overlord.

I still feel bad about having to kill the scrunklies for enemy reasons, but they revive anyway.... won't be that bad, right? Right?

That "Finishing Blow" sequence? THAT WAS FUCKING CRAZY!!! I didn't think this game would have PVP, but GOD DAMN!!! (Can't wait for the inevitable "Shouma, you're behind on EXP, go kill the commander" moment.)

Anyway, can't wait to play Tsubasa and hit people with my car. I know we have some ideas of movesets for characters that weren't in the demo like Yugamu and Kurara, but... Tsubasa Hit and Run. Please.

I wonder what the school stats will be used for.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of board game mechanics... I was actually hoping for some brassy-sounding penis music to fit the funny looking character sprites. Didn't get that...

And most importantly, plot!

As a fan of Danganronpa, Akudama Drive, Rain Code, Zero Escape, and AI The Somnium Files, I like to think that I know enough about both Kodaka and Uchikoshi to know what the markers and cinchers are.

In three words, I am hooked.

This plot so far is very Kodaka, but I see some Uchikoshi on the horizon and sprinkled here and there, especially with the potential way they might handle 100 endings. Identity issues are very Uchikoshi, for instance, and I'm wondering if Takumi switched bodies with the ghost boy somehow.

We had our Danganronpa divergence with the complete disappearance of Sirei and his subsequent death at the end of Day 7. Who knows WHERE the plot will go from here, now that the students are essentially self-governing? And we have some interpersonal drama in there with Hiruko vs everyone who won't fight and Eito vs. Hiruko.

And what is "Cryptoglobin", the key word that appeared at the end of the most recent trailer? I know what Hemoglobin is- it's the protein that carries oxygen on your red blood cells- so... what does that mean here?

All I know is that Eito is sus. He's gonna have a serial killer arc. He's gonna somehow commit worse crimes than everyone else in the school and still do absolutely nothing wrong.

Anyway, some theories based on what we've seen:

Every character has been ripped out of their own time somehow. Takumi is from a different time period than everyone else, which is why some characters feel so old-fashioned and why almost everyone is completely disconnected from everyone else. It's because they didn't exist then- or only existed as adults.

The ghost boy is the "heart" of the Undying Flames. They appear to have a consciousness, and that consciousness wants to protect the school from the Invaders, hence why it tries to keep them out.

The flames burn through spacetime. This would explain how Takumi could see a boy he'd never met as well as why the flames only incinerate organic matter- rock doesn't deteriorate as fast as a plant, so if you sped up time around a plant, it would wither away faster than a rock would.

Rather disorganized, but those are my thoughts on the demo! I hope you enjoy!