#But man does it make for a shit turn-based RPG to approach things that way. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hellyeahomeland · 4 years

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“Fucker Shot Me”: an HYH recap

A day after Haqqani turns himself over to the Americans, the Americans are turning him over to G’ulom. Saul and Haqqani pull up to Ghazi Stadium, where G’ulom has been holding the Taliban fighters.

G’ulom is standing outside, in a cape, like he’s Andre Leon Fucking Talley (to be clear, we stan). Haqqani says he’s ready and Saul gets out of the car to give another speech that G’ulom is definitely not listening to about Justice and Due Process and Integrity. G’ulom fulfills his end of the bargain, releasing the prisoners, who all make a beeline for Haqqani because, well, he’s the Emir! Saul warns G’ulom that if he doesn’t treat Haqqani with respect, “your world will explode.” So that’s coming.

Saul goes back to Kabul station and Mike and Jenna have something to tell him.

Jenna: Remember how yesterday I had one job, which was to get Carrie on the plane to Germany? Saul: Yeah… Jenna: Well, I fucked that up. Mike: Carrie was photographed at the airport getting in a car with everyone’s favorite Russian hunk. Yevgeny Gromov! Can you believe it? Saul: Yes. I mean, no! How surprising. Mike: They could be halfway to Moscow by now. Saul: First, chill. Second, doubtful. Carrie is all about saving her friend Max. She’s probably somewhere in Pakistan. Mike: This is an outrage. Rules! I must follow them! I’m referring this to the FBI. Saul: Whatever. Send me a text or something when you find her ok byeeeeee

Carrie and Yevgeny are somewhere in Pakistan, it turns out. They’re listening to the radio, which is such a quaint thing for two lovers frenemies to do together. The radio report is about Haqqani turning himself in, and they get to talking about the CIA’s working theory that Carrie is a traitor who told her Russian handler—Yevgeny—about the president’s helicopter so that he could alert Haqqani who could fire an RPG! Phew. That’s a lot. They’re both like “yeah that didn’t happen” but also realize the, like, component of weirdness of the situation since they’re off on this road trip together and look extra double super suspicious now. “Ironic,” Carrie says while gazing out the window.

They pull up to a checkpoint. Yevgeny gets out of the car because he is In Charge. He approaches two guys, who are actually his homies, inquiring about where “the American” (Max) is. They have a line on him.

Carrie and Yevgeny’s next stop is a small Pakistani village. Again Yevgeny gets out of the car and instructs Carrie to stay. But we all know (and he should too by now!) that if you tell Carrie not to do something, she turns into a four-year-old child who instantly must do that thing. Plus her spidey senses are tingling. Maybe she recognizes some of these structures? She hops out of the car and ends up at a gravesite. Rows upon rows of graves with the year “2014” etched across the bottom. Uh oh. A few split-second flashbacks later and… yep, these are the graves of the people she dropped a bomb on in “The Drone Queen.”

Carrie: Quit fucking with me. Yevgeny: Heh? Carrie: Quit 👏 fucking 👏 with 👏 me Yevgeny: I’m not fucking with you. Carrie: Coolio, so we just happened to end up at the village I decimated four years ago in the event that probably more than any other haunts my waking nights? Yevgeny: What do you think happens after you decimate a village with a bomb, Carrie? We come in, help them rebuild the mosque, and develop contacts. It’s not a coincidence we’re here. But I’m not fucking with you. Carrie: I’m changing the subject now. What did the imam say? Yevgeny: He knows where Max is. Come on.

Saul, resident hottie Scott Ryan, and Not Martha Boyd are gathered around a conference table in Kabul station, talking to Linus and his homies back at the White House. They’re all very concerned that Haqqani’s trial will be a sham, he’ll be put up against a wall and shot, and that will mean more violence and more instability, and certainly not an end to “The Forever War.” Not Martha mentions that the lead judge is a woman she knows from some embassy events and she’s fair and independent so they can probably influence her (umm… what?)! Their meeting is interrupted by Hayes, who’s apparently just wandering the halls of the West Wing searching for something to do. He’s generally displeased this is all taking place behind his back, but no one thinks he can do anything, so it’s understandable. He flatly denies Saul’s request to declassify some intelligence that could prove Haqqani is innocent, asks again for the “action plan” to kill more brown people, and storms out.

Back in Carrie/Yevgeny land, Yevgeny continues to pry about the drone strike. He says again he didn’t put two and two together, then proceeds to ask actual personal questions like, “so is that why you left the CIA?” Carrie explains her mental state in season four, which is not something she’s ever done, but it’s interesting nonetheless. She catches herself at the end again questioning whether he’s being truthful or not, because if he is, she doesn’t know why. Poor Carrie has no concept of a personal relationship that’s not transactional.

They eventually arrive at the house where Max is being kept. Again, Yevgeny does all the talking. Carrie storms in to find Max, sprawled out on a mattress, one arm still handcuffed to the bed frame. Immediately she springs into nurturing, concerned Carrie, which is not a hat she wears often (side note: when will Carrie wear another hat?). Max says he’s fine but the narsty wound they show in close-up confirms otherwise. He explains that he doesn’t have the flight recorder anymore but he didn’t want to make a big deal about it, lest it suggest the flight recorder was not just some random red boxy thing. “You did good,” Carrie assures him.

Unfortunately, their touching moment ends right there because a few trucks full of Taliban soldiers pull up to the house. They uncuff Max and then cart him off. Yevgeny looks on helpless. Carrie tells Max she will find him. Then she goes off on the dude who let them in. Yevgeny has to physically restrain her. He looks in her eyes, tells her he’ll take care of this while Carrie attempts to calm her breathing. Did anyone else get the indication he has definitely done this before? He was too effective for that to be a rookie attempt. Anyhoozles, Yevgeny finally gets the location where they took Max, so it’s off to stop #3.

At Dover Air Force Base, Hayes is asking Linus for his unconditional loyalty, which is always something you want a president to be asking for. He’s really miffed that people are going behind his back but Linus says something like “we gotta be in the information flow, man.” Hayes repeats the phrase back, and you definitely get the indication he’s the type of person who uses words and phrases wrong all the time without realizing. Again, he’s the president! Don’t you feel safe?

Oh, the reason they’re at the base is because Hayes had an empty casket shipped back on Air Force One for a photo op. And surprise, surprise! G’ulom came over too. I’m sure they’ll have tons to talk about.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, Saul is grasping at straws and goes to Bunny’s home. Tasneem is there, because they have no secrets between them. Saul pleads for their help coming up with a way to help Haqqani. If they don’t, there will be another war, right at their border, and that’s not great for America, but they’re 7000 miles away. It’s really not great for Pakistan, because it’ll be right on their doorstep. Bunny is having none of it. The Americans play hot and cold with Pakistan, asking for their help whenever it suits them and in the interim killing their citizens, withholding aid, and generally being massive dicks. Enough already!

Saul sees himself out, but Tasneem surprisingly comes knocking on his car window. She’ll help him. Why? She doesn’t want to watch the world burn. This is a surprise because I thought that was Tasneem’s defining quality.

Carrie and Yevgeny arrive at stop #3, which is a field just above where Max is being kept. Carrie scopes out the house. It’s barely being guarded, but who knows how long that’ll last. She decides to phone a friend, but Saul never answers his damn phone. So she decides to phone a Single White Female.

Jenna: Carrie? What the hell? You made me look like an idiot. Carrie: Made you? Lol ok. Anyway, please listen. Mike: What are you doing, Carrie? Carrie: Oh, great, you again. I found Max. Y’know, that thing you guys were doing anything in your power to accomplish? I did it in like 12 hours. Mike: Who are you with? Carrie: ...Breezing by that question. Anyway, here are the coordinates. Will you call special ops? Max is in critical condition, I don’t know how much longer he can make it. Mike: Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in? Carrie: Do you have any idea how much I don’t give a fuck? Just call special ops. Bye. [click] Mike: You are now a fugitive, your case is with the FBI, Carrie…? CARRIE?

In the Oval Office, Hayes and G’ulom meet for an “unofficial summit.” Hayes reads a headline on his iPad that declares “The Two Presidents,” which… is certainly a true thing about them. Hayes hems and haws about going back to war with the Taliban, and G’ulom says some manipulative stuff about the US being all-powerful fighters who could totally put them away in two to three weeks. Hayes doesn’t even know he’s being manipulated though and plays right into G’ulom’s hand. He eats this shit up! He loves hearing about American dominance and how he could be the steward of it. If it means murdering even more brown people, that’s just a bonus!

Saul and his new BFF Tasneem arrive at the home of the lead judge for Haqqani’s trial and plead with her that he’s innocent. She asks for literally any evidence and their response is “just trust us, two perfect strangers who barged into your house late at night.” She’s highly skeptical until Tasneem pulls up a news article about the RPG that hit one of the Taliban caravans back in episode two. That was meant for Haqqani, because he wanted peace and the ISI didn’t, and he still agreed to the peace deal. This is apparently enough to sway her, so she agrees to a continuance for one week while Saul and Tasneem figure out what to do.

Carrie is taking a light nap in the back seat of Yevgeny’s truck when he wakes her. Some more cars have arrived at the house where Max is. She peers through the binoculars to see Jalal Haqqani rolling up with his crew. Shit. Jalal enters the room where Max is being held and asks him who shot down the helicopters. “What helicopters?” Max cooly replies. Max 4 President!

Above, Carrie is panicked and phones Mike again. Mike admits that no, special ops isn’t coming. It’s too risky, they haven’t scouted the site, etc. Carrie, totally missing the point, offers to scout the site herself. The issue, of course, isn’t with the site, it’s with Carrie herself. She’s a rogue agent, calling from a Russian sat phone. Who else is even listening in on this call? Carrie says, verbatim, “I don’t underestimate the difficulty.” Whenever Carrie goes searching for euphemisms (“That is a mischaracterization!”) you know she’s in deep shit and that she knows she’s in deep shit. She pleads with Mike that Max is one of ours and we can’t just abandon him. He says they’re doing all they can, which is of course a lie. This must all feel eerily reminiscent of Brody and Tehran for her, a slow-motion car crash she’s powerless to stop.

In need of something, anything, to do, Carrie asks Yevgeny for his gun. She’s going to scout the site herself, at least see if Max is still alive. Yevgeny reluctantly agrees but vows to book it if she gets in trouble, which is also of course a lie.

In Kabul, Saul visits Haqqani in his cell, which is also eerily reminiscent of the cage they kept Brody in in season three. He tells him of the continuance he secured and Haqqani is like, “bro, why are you doing all this?” Saul says it’s because he’s innocent. Haqqani knows the truth though: after forty of years of war, none of them are still innocent.

In the court room, one by one the judges file in. The last and presiding one, however, is not the woman Tasneem and Saul met the night prior. That’s right, G’ulom pulled the ol’ trial judge switcheroo! This new guy is definitely not ordering a continuance. He gives a speech about the pain and suffering Haqqani has inflicted on thousands of people. How he killed both presidents. He sentences him to death. Saul looks on horrified. He calls Linus, who informs him that Hayes has asked for new perspectives on Afghanistan, and John Zabel is in the Oval Office meeting with him as they speak. They are extremely disgusted, so we know John Zabel must suck. Outside the courthouse, crowds have gathered in celebration of the announcement of Haqqani’s inevitable execution.

In the Oval Office, Linus interrupts the meeting between Hayes and John Zab—oh my god, it’s Hugh Dancy! Ok, ok, we all knew it would be Hugh Dancy, but it’s still exciting! He has a terrible haircut, awful facial hair, and gives off general vibes of hot evilness. He makes a few incredibly racist remarks, praises Hayes’ quick action in avenging Beau Bridge’s death, and talks about next steps. Linus comes thisclose to doing a Jim Halpert on The Office impression.

A few Taliban soldiers come into Max’s room and drag him up. He groans and yells. Outside, Carrie, gun in hand, makes her way to the perimeter of the house. They’ve carried Max into the courtyard and are pulling an orange jumpsuit on him. He screams in protest, doing everything he can to resist. Jalal stands in front, camera and tripod at the ready. Carrie watches in horror, beginning to put the pieces together. They pull Max’s glasses off and she pulls her pistol up, ready to shoot.

Suddenly, Yevgeny grabs her from behind, his hand over her mouth, muzzling her cries. He puts her against a wall (why is this so sexual??) and stares into her eyes. “No,” he whipsers. For once, she listens.

#homeland #an hyh recap #fucker shot me #*#by: sara

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janethepegasus · 6 years

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BMC Miraculous Ladybug AU RP Thing: RPG

An RP me and @pika-ace did relating to the BMC Miraculous Ladybug AU, where our main seven go through an RPG world thanks to an akuma named Queen Alexia.

(The main seven enter an empty warehouse, looking around for the Akuma) Leo: Okay, that weird queen lady has GOT to be here somewhere! (They look around until Owl spots a TV with an NES sitting on a box)

Owl: What's this? Hound: Ooooh retro!

(They approach the TV and it turned on by itself)

Leo: Ooooh. :o

(It showed static at first, but then it showed a title screen for an RPG game called "Miraculous Quest")

Swan: A game? Hound: I like the sound of this already :3c

(Suddenly, two hands emerge out of the screen and grabs the main seven)

Dasher: AHH!! Leo: Holy shit we're being Jumanji'd!!!

(The hands dragged them and into the TV) (Then there was a bright flash of light) (A couple of seconds later, the main seven, who are now their normal selves, stir) Jeremy: Owwww.....

Michael: Aw man...ow... Eric: *winces* Everyone alright?

Post: Yeah...!

Jordan: Shit...we changed back...? Why?

???: Because you're in my RPG game of course! :3

(They all look up to see the akuma, standing on a large rock over them)

Queen Alexia: And you seven are gonna go through the WHOLE thing! From beginning to end! >:3

Jeremy: Holy shit, we actually WERE Jumanji'd!

Queen Alexia: Well, not “Jumanji’d” but rather....you all became an RPG class! (They look over themselves and saw that Jeremy is a Fighter, Michael is an Archer, Eric is a Mage, Jordan is a Knight, Post is a healer, Lin is a Rouge/Thief, and Joe is a Mage)

Michael: ...I am strangely excited about this 8)c

Jeremy: Me too! 8)c

Jordan: *looks at his armor* I don't think we covered this during our game nights...

Post: I-I'm a healer...? M-Makes sense... :/

Joe: *to Eric* It seems you and I are...spell casters?

Eric: *to Joe* Seems like it...

Lin: I'm digging this hood and the black...I feel very edgy

Michael: But don't get TOO edgy Lin! X3c Queen Alexia: AAAAANYWAY, now that you all saw that you're in your RPG classes, let me explain a few rules...

Jeremy: Oh, I am READY for this! :D Michael: Same; I am ON BOARD!

Queen Alexia: First off, your Miraculous, they're not taken, yet, but you cannot use them at a lower level, you have to unlock the ability at a certain level! Wanna take a few guesses on what Level you unlock it? :3c

Post: uhh...10?

Queen Alexia: Nope! 35! :3c

Michael: WHAT?! D:< Jeremy: That's BS! >:(

Queen Alexia: Hey! I can't have rookie players in my game gain access to a powerful ability from the start! It would make things too easy! >:(

(Jeremy and Michael groan)

Queen Alexia: Second, you all have three lives! If you run out of HP, you loose a life! But if you loose all three lives, then you'll die both in game and in real life! >:)

(Everyone tenses) Post: Oh god...we've been sword art online'd too?!

Queen Alexia: Well not quite but, it'll seem that way if you loose your last life! ;)

Lin: In hindsight, we kinda asked for this when we asked Raven Claw to up his game...

Joe: Yes, now we ALL have to pay the price...

Queen Alexia: Also, all of you start at Level 1! So if you wanna beat the final boss, you gotta farm those EXP from battles! >:3

Michael: Oh, lovely >:(

Queen Alexia: Good luck! >:3 *disappears*

Jeremy: Welp, looks like we get to live the DnD cartoon

Post and Jordan: The what? :/c

Michael: The old cartoon based on Dungeons and Dragons.

Post: .....Never heard of it. :/c

Jeremy: We'll educate you later; right now, we better build up our EXP

Michael: Yeah! >:)

Eric: And how exactly do we do that? Jeremy: Beat the shit out of enemies of course!

Michael: Yeah! Beat em up and gain EXP! That's basically what makes an RPG.....an RPG!

Jordan: *looks completely lost* Uhhhh... Michael: You’ll get the hang of it

Joe: Well then, shall we start our quest? :)

Post: Y-Yeah! Jeremy: Onward!

(They begin their journey through the RPG land)

(Jeremy and Michael take the lead, being more experienced in RPGs)

(While the others are behind them) (After a couple of minutes, they encountered their first monster)

Jeremy: Ooooh boy, here we go!! Let's see what we can do!

(They get into position to fight)

Jordan: So how does this work exactly?! Michael: Just attack, like we usually do in the real world, dad, it's not hard!

Lin: Sooo....beat it up until it’s dead? :/c

Jeremy: Exactly!

Joe: Alright then, it may take some time to learn our new powers but we’ll manage!

Michael: I'll go first; my thing is pretty straight forward *gets his bow and arrows* Though I wish we took archery in gym class...

(He aims his arrow and releases it towards the monster)

(The arrow hits and the monster staggers a bit)

Michael: Woo! Did it on the first try! :D

Jeremy: Okay, I'll go next; I'm a fighter, soooo I guess I'll just punch him

(He approaches the monster and punches it)

(The monster staggers and Jeremy again and Jeremy leaps back to his position) Post: Heh, this is pretty easy! Jeremy: Well this IS a level one monster

Michael: Yeah, cause if we go into the later levels, they’ll get harder to beat!

Post: I'll go next but...I'm a Healer. Can I even attack?

Michael: Eeeeeehhhhh......kinda? :/

Jeremy: Give it a try, just...don't heal him

Post: O-Okay... (Post walks up to the monster and hits it with the stick end of his healing staff)

(The monster staggers again) Michael: There ya go!

Post: Yay! :D

Eric: Um, is there a reason this thing isn't fighting back? Jeremy: We all gotta take turns; once we all go, then he can go

Eric: .....Are you serious? -_-

Jeremy: Yep, that's how it works; be glad we're not in an MMO or else it'd be a free for all

Michael: Yeah!

Jordan: What the hell is an MMO?????! Michael: Later, dad, it's your turn, slash the monster or something!

Jordan: A-Alright then!

(Jordan gets out his sword and slashes at the monster)

(The monster staggers again, looking like it was gonna faint)

Jeremy: Almost there! Who's gonna take the finishing blow?

Joe: I will!

Joe: Now, if I'm a Mage then I suppose I can just... (He forms a spell in his hands and fires it at the monster)

(The monster falls and is defeated)

Michael: Woo! Victory!

Jeremy: Yeah!! :D

Post: So have we leveled up now? Michael: Oh, if only it were that easy

Post: Huh?

Jeremy: It takes a LOT of EXP to level up, and beating one monster isn't gonna be enough; we gotta beat up more.

Eric: .....Are you fucking serious? >:/

Michael: 'Fraid so, man.

(Eric sighs in annoyance)

Jeremy: Speaking of, we should probably look for GROUPS of monsters to fight to speed things up; Eric probably got barely any EXP since he didn't get to attack

Michael: Yeah, if we wanna best the final boss TOGETHER, we gotta be strong enough to both survive and win this thing!

Jordan: This is too much for my brain to handle...

Lin: You’ll get the hang of it eventually Tank! ;)

(They head on their way, fighting as many monsters as they can)

(They spent an hour or so fighting monsters and leveling up) (When they got to the entrance of a forest level, they were suddenly approached by a man in a long cloak) Magic Seller: Hello weary travelers!

Jeremy: Uh, hey

Magic Seller: Would you care to buy *quickly pulls out a potion* some of these??? :3c

Michael: *squints* What does it do?

Magic Seller: It makes you go fast *pause* Like Sonic the Bloody Hedgehog

Jeremy: Oh well in that case :D

(Jeremy takes the magic potion from the magic seller’s hands)

Eric: Are you sure about this? Michael: This is part of the game dude; you gotta get potions and junk

Jeremy: Yeah!

(They buy a few more potions)

Michael: Thanks for the potions man! :D Magic Seller: Ya welcome kid!

(They head on their way through the forest)

(They fought a few monsters as they went but all of the sudden, they felt the ground shake a little)

Jordan: What's that?!

(The shaking fades out and comes back, as if something big and heavy was coming towards them)

Jeremy: If Jurassic Park has taught us anything...that can't be a good sign...

(The stomping becomes louder and louder until a giant moving tree with large arms and a face comes into view)

Michael: Ooooh...goooood...

(The giant tree monster looks at them and roars loudly, then it starts charging towards them)

Joe: MOVE!!

(They run as fast as they can to get away from the tree monster)

(The monster chases them for a while, until it reaches out with one of its branches and grabs Eric)

Jordan: PEACH!!

(Everyone skids to a halt; Eric struggles and tries hitting it with magic, but they barely do anything, and the monster keeps his tight grip on him)

(Eric screams in pain as the monster tightens his hold on him)

(The monster roars and starts stomping away with Eric) Jeremy: Get back here, Treebeard!!

(They chase after the tree monster)

Post: Why aren't we doing the usual thing where it stays still and fights us?! Michael: This must be a cutscene or something!!

Jordan: A What?!

Jeremy: You know, like when those video scenes play in other games to move the story!

Jordan: *blinks* Oh, right.

Michael: Yeah; this must be a boss if he's getting a cutscene!

Lin: Then let’s follow him and beat that guy! >:)

Jordan: No need to tell me twice! >:(

(They chase after the monster)

(They eventually reach a forest clearing; the monster is waiting, and Eric is dangling from another tree, tied up with tree roots)

Jordan: Will!

Eric: Jordan!

(The monster roars at the six, getting ready for battle)

Post: Okay, NOW it's doing the thing.. Michael: Be careful, this is a boss, he's gonna be tough!

Jeremy: Yeah!

(They start fighting)

janethepegasus (They gave it all they got on their turn, while they try to dodge the monster’s attacks on its turn. This goes on for a couple of rounds) (Eventually, they were still holding on but Jordan had it rough, he was just a couple HP points away from losing his first life)

Eric: Jordan! Jeremy: Post, can you heal him on your next turn? Post: I....I don't have enough magic!!

Jeremy: Crap! He’s gonna loose his first life if he gets hit!

Michael: I...I guess we just hope the monster decides to hit one of us instead

Jeremy: I hope...

(They finish their turns and the monster takes its turn to attack)

(It raises its large arms and slams them down at Jordan)

Eric: NO!!!!

(It lands and the monster picks up Jordan, and then it throws him straight into the ground) (When Jordan landed, he looked like a bloody mess)

Eric: *struggling while tearing up* JORDAN!!! Michael: Holy fuck...!

(The monster finishes it’s turn and now it was their turn to attack)

Eric: *nearly crying* No...no, Jordan...! Joe: *angrily* You BASTARD!! (They take their turns, hitting the monster with their strongest attacks)

(Once their attacks hit on their turn, they managed to defeat the tree monster)

(The roots around Eric disappear and he falls to the ground, and everyone looks at Jordan's remains)

Jeremy: Holy fuck... (Eric manages to get up and race towards Jordan)

(Eric kneels next to him, tears falling and his hands shaking) Eric: Oh god...Jordan...no...please, please no...!

(Eric bursts into tears as he’s next to Jordan)

(Everyone else tears up at the sight, when Jordan's body starts to disappear)

Eric: *sobbing* No..! No no no no, please...Jordan...DON’T LEAVE ME!!!

(Jordan's body vanishes and a spotlight shines down from the sky; a few seconds later, Jordan is literally dropped right back into the world, falling on his face) Everyone: HUH?! Jordan: OW! FUCK, that hurt!!

Eric: *looks up* Jordan?!

(Jordan gets onto all fours and looks around at the scene) Jordan: Huh? Did we win?

Jeremy: Uhh....yeah we did.

Jordan: Oh... *sees everyone looking shocked* Uh, did I miss something? Eric: JORDAN!! *runs over and just about tackles him, tears running down his face*

Jordan: Woah! You okay there Peach?

Eric: You're alive...oh thank GOD you're alive!!

Jordan: Wh-What?? D-Did....Did I die?!

Michael: Y-Yeah...that tree just about made fertilizer out of you... Eric: I thought I'd lost you, I...god I was so scared, Jordan...!

Jordan: Oh Will.... *hugs Eric*

Post: But, how did you...oh...right...I forgot...

Lin: Oh yeah, the lifes thing....riiiiiight...

Michael: Wow...guess the adrenaline made us forget...

Jeremy: Yeah....

Joe: So that means Jordan has two lives left; now I see that we have to save as many as possible; three lives isn't a lot

Jeremy: Yeah, cause if we lost all three, we’re dead, like....for real.

Michael: And that was only the first boss...oh boy...

Post: Yeah...

(Eric and Jordan stand up, Eric still clinging to Jordan)

Jordan: You gonna be okay Peach...?

Eric: I...I think so...

Jordan: *wipes Eric's tears* Good...

Eric: Just...stay alive...please...

Jordan: I will, promise...

(Jordan kisses him on the forehead)

(Eric smiles)

Joe: Well then...shall we continue? Lin: Yeah, let's get out of this place...

(They walk forward and continue on their journey)

(They travel through many levels, slowly getting stronger as they go, but still having quite a few close calls as the fights get tougher)

(During one fight against a tough monster, Joe and Lin were trying their best not to get hit again, as they didn't want to loose their remaining HP with one hit)

Michael: Get ready!! (The monster roars and attacks Joe, and he falls down dead)

Everyone: JOE!!!!

Jordan: DAMMIT!! (They take their turns and attack as hard as they can, trying to end the fight quickly)

(As soon as the monster disappears, everyone rushes over to Joe)

Post: Dad!! Oh god dad, no!

Eric: Joe.....

(Joe's body disappears and he's then dropped back into the world)

(He falls on his back)

(Joe slowly gets up and looks around) Joe: Well, that was a bizarre experience... Post: DAD!

(Post hugs Joe tightly)

Lin: Well we made it THIS far without anyone losing a life; I'd call that progress

Jeremy: Yeah; hopefully we reach the final boss pretty soon...

Michael: What level are we on now? I think I've kinda been losing track, I think we're...in the twenties?

Joe: I believe so...

Eric: I guess we'll just have to keep going until the akuma tells us to stop

Jeremy: Yeah, pretty much.

(They get up and keep on going)

(They kept on going, fighting a lot of monsters as they went, getting stronger and managing to keep their lives. Until finally, the main seven reached Level 35, where they unlocked the ability to use their Miraculous)

Eric: FINALLY!!

Jeremy: Yeah! It took us a couple of hours just to get there!

Michael: Oh this'll make fighting WAY more fun! >:3

Lin: Hell yeah! >:3

Post: Onward! To the next fight! >:3

(They move on forward)

(They keep climbing the levels, their Miraculous abilities helping immensely in fights)

(Eventually, after many battles against monsters and bosses, they finally reached the final level, standing in front of the gates of a large castle)

Jordan: Oh thank god it's almost over... Eric: How are we doing on lives?

Jordan, Joe, and Lin: Two Michael and Jeremy: We got three!

Jeremy: How about you, Post?

Post: Um....I-I-I....i got one left.... :(

Michael: Oh fuck... Jordan: And...Will? How about you?

Eric: Two.

Jeremy: Okay...okay, so we just gotta watch Post's health more than anything

Michael: We don't wanna loose our precious baby! XS

Post: 'M not a baby... >:(

Jeremy: You are in our eyes! Michael: You precious cinnamon roll!

Joe: They're not wrong, son ;)

Post: T-True...

Jordan: Welp...let's go de-throne this Queen

Michael: Hell yeah, let's do this!

(They enter the final level and start slowly working their way up)

(Eventually, they managed to make their way to the top, where Queen Alexia is sitting on her throne)

Alexia: You finally made it...and with your whole party! Impressive!

Jeremy: Yeah, it was hard, but we fucking made it!

Michael: And now we're taking you down!! Alexia: Figures, the ones will ALL their lives are the ones running the show; you two have CLEARLY played RPGs before

Jeremy: Well DUH! >:(

Michael: Also, dropping our rookie friends into this with semi-perma-death? Not cool, lady! >:(

Queen Alexia: It's an RPG, they should've known better! ;)

Jeremy: Not everyone's a fan of RPGs, lady!! Michael: And not everyone are gamers!! Some people don't even know what RPGs are!!

Queen Alexia: *scoffs* Whatever. Anyway, you get the face the final boss to this game, me! So get ready cause i won't hold anything back! >:)

(They get into position and the fight begins)

(Both sides gave it all they got, landing powerful attacks) (However, during Alexia's turn, she tries a powerful attack at Jordan) (It hits and he's knocked out)

Eric: JORDAN!! Jeremy: It's okay, he's still got a little health left and two lives!

(Jordan struggles to get up)

Michael: Post! Give her a status spell! Stun her so we can get some extra hits in!

Post: O-Okay!

(Post hits Alexia with a stunning spell and she can't move for two turns)

Jeremy: Alright! Now we can get our extra hit! >:)

Jeremy: Don't hit her with the ultra big ones yet, we gotta save magic energy!

Eric: Right!

(They all hit her with decently powerful attacks and get a good chunk of her health down to almost red)

Michael: Almost there!

Jeremy: Alright, Post, you heal the party including yourself in case this somehow goes wrong! Michael: Everyone else, time for the big guns!

Lin: Hell yeah, let's do this! >:)

(They all use their Miraculous abilities and use their biggest spells and Alexia's health drops to zero)

All: YEAH!!!

(Alexia falls over and their levels skyrocket due to all the EXP) Michael: Ahhh that's the best feeling in the world! X3c

Jeremy: Hell yeah it does! X3c

(Eric walks up to Alexia's fallen form and gets her akuma) Eric: That was QUITE the payoff, I must say

Jordan: Yeah, it was rough going through the whole thing, but we did it!

Joe: That was a VERY satisfying journey...and I think we owe it all to you, Jeremy and Michael. Without your leadership and expertise...I don't think any of us would have made it out

Post: Yeah... Lin: Thanks for your knowledge of the genre Mikey! <3

Jordan: I didn't think you had in ya; you two may not know it, but you're born leaders

(Jeremy and Michael blush) Jeremy: Thanks guys

Michael: Never thought we'd be leading the victory charge through a giant RPG

Jeremy: Me neither. Yet here we are.

Eric: Perhaps during our next game night...we could play more RPGs, just without the threat of dying

Joe: Yes, i'm a bit interested in seeing more RPG worlds and see what they have in store for all of us.

Post: And working together like that was a lot of fun!

Lin: It was! <3

Jeremy: Hell yeah, that'd be awesome! Michael: It's a deal!

Jeremy: Next game night, more RPGs! <3

Michael: Yeah! Now let's get the hell out of here!

Eric: Right!

(Eric breaks the akuma and purifies it, and they're back in the warehouse)

Post: We're back! :D

Joe: Thank goodness

Michael: Yeah...

Jeremy: C'mon Michael; let's go home and try to narrow down which RPG we'll play first at the next game night! :Dc

Michael: Yeah! We gotta pick a GOOD one to play! :Dc

Eric: We're looking forward to it :)

Jeremy: Great! <3

#bmc miraculous ladybug au #bmc au #squip #jeremy heere #michael mell #Jordan Ellis #joe iconis #post the Squip #lin manuel miranda #rpg

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yeastofeden · 7 years

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SO LET’S TALK “WHO’S THE TRAITOR” SOME MORE

If you’ve never read my initial theory post, please do yourself a favor and check that shit out. It is a foundation for the theory that, regrettably, was missing a lot of information that I wasn’t able to get to until I was able to do a reread of the series, plus I wanted to wait for the series to develop a little further. The original post was made right after "Deku vs Kacchan 2" was released, so we’ve had about 30 chapters of development. You might be wondering how on earth 3k words isn’t enough to make my point the first time, but here I am yet again!

I might sound crazy, but believe me when I say… I am the MOST serious.

The Art of Subtlety One of the most amazing things about Horikoshi’s writing is that he is incredibly subtle. This has happened in a bazillion different places, from pointless comparisons like Horikoshi’s love of rabbits, the rabbit-like ears on Deku’s costume, and the antenna that the rabbit-ears are meant to emulate; and it can also span a much greater distance, the subtle references to Bakugou’s issues with Deku mentioned in their first fight, later making more sense in their second. Uraraka is no different. Without going into anything about traitors yet, here’s an example. Most of us might say that the very first time that Uraraka’s crush on Midoriya comes up is when Aoyama asks her about it during the midterm exam. But actually, it’s Gunhead who first teases her about it right after the Hero Killer Stain arc!

More significant moments have happened, as well. I’d like to talk two kinds of subtlety; artistic subtlety and literary subtlety. Because we’re dealing with a comic book, both art and literature ideas should be taken into account, though naturally they have expectable overlap. The following image is the entire basis for the theory that there is actually a second Twice that exists in canon right now.

Middle guy look familiar? This kind of subtlety relies a bit on artistic judgement. The figure’s hair is a light object on a dark ground, is located in the very center of the image, is the foremost, unobstructed figure in the picture, and it is the largest unobstructed figure on the page. The gradient on his suit could also be a way to guide the viewer up to the characters head. He is also located under the window which, presumably, Twice is looking out of as he tells his story. This is all a part of “artistic subtlety”, where even though we’re given no words regarding the situation, the art draws our attention to the character in the center. This, naturally, hasn’t been proven yet, but I’m sure in due time we’ll see it bears fruit.

Toga’s quirk also gets concealed by subtleties, though this time we must infer by what is written. Upon being introduced to Toga, we never find out what her quirk is. Despite this, it later becomes hinted at during her encounter with Uraraka: "You wanna be the same as the guy you like, it's only natural! so you, like, wear all of the same things! // But then you start not taking the same satisfaction as before and you start wantin' to straight up become that person! There's just no helpin' it!" (FA translation, image linked below.)

It’s subtle, but unmistakably a reference to what we would eventually find out. It’s only later on that Toga actually uses her quirk, becoming Camie - but again, we have no reason to believe that Camie could be an imposter. Nevermind the fact that Camie, for some reason, is WEIRDLY obsessed with Midoriya upon meeting him without knowing anything about him (couch, Toga’s crush on Midoriya). The other thing that I’d like to note is that Camie expresses an odd interest in Uraraka when she disappears, obviously a result of their first encounter:

All of this is enough to give the suggestion that Camie is actually Toga, and I don’t think it would have been farfetched in previous months to have made this theory. Horikoshi definitely deals heavily in subtlety.

So, this might sound like a lot of talk about Not Uraraka, but hear me out. What’s important to note here is just that the subtlety is the basis of the argument - because that’s just how Horikoshi writes. What I’ll be doing here mostly is connecting her to other things in the series, and how what we’ve seen compares to Uraraka’s behavior. Even I’ve made a subtle remark already toward a later part of the theory.

Double Double, Toil & Trouble This first one is a bit silly, but I think it’s kind of funny and curious; and also I want to make a point about "artistic subtlety.” If you take a look at the 2017 character poll for My Hero Academia, you’ll find that the characters in the image appropriately line up with the kind of role they would play in a medieval fantasy RPG. Bakugou the rogue barbarian, Deku the commoner, Iida the knight, and Todoroki the nobel they fit because of who they are in canon. Though were forced to speculate a little, we cannot doubt that each of these characters absolutely fits their role.

Then…. we get to Uraraka. The witch. Though it’s absolutely possible to claim she’s "just a mage," we should be particular about the artistic decisions made when designing her costume. The pointed cap, the rustic color scheme, the wooden staff - from experience dealing with RPGs, that usually adds up to a "black mage," which of the different types of mages most closely equates "witch." There is variation, but could Uraraka be any other kind of mage base on her costume?

What’s in a Name? Horikoshi has been fairly intentional with his naming structures, as is typical of manga and anime. This is a part of literary subtlety, similar to the queues Toga has given to her quirk and Camie’s true identity.

Just some examples of current naming sturctures: Midoriya contains the kanji 緑 (midori), which is "green" in Japanese. Bakugou’s name uses 爆 (baku), a part of the word 爆破 (bakuha), meaning "explosion." We even see characters developing naming structures in canon; Bakugou changed the meaning of “出久”, Izuku, to “Deku” - and also in the way Uraraka reappropriates the name. There’s a lot of hidden meaning and puns involved with the names in MHA. So…

We know Urarka Ochako’s name, 麗日お茶子, means "bright, beautiful" and "tea girl" respectively. Her hero name is Uravity, ウラビティ, which is again a kind of pun on her name. The two names are meant to be just subtle fun references to her personality and her quirk.

My hang up here is the interesting fact that "ura" is actually a repeating element in both names. I’m thinking of the noun 裏 (ura). I’m just going to list off a few translations using the character on its own as well as a few highlights of how it’s combined with other kanji and hirigana to give you a sense of what kind of word 裏 is.

裏(うら) (ura) 1. bottom (or another side that is hidden from view); undersurface; opposite side; reverse side 4. out of sight; behind the scenes; in the shadows 裏切る(うらぎる)(uragiru) 1. to betray; to turn traitor to; to double-cross 裏方 (うらかた)(urakata) 1. someone working behind-the-scenes; scene shifter

translations: jinsho(.)org

Obviously, 裏 is not in Uraraka’s name, the "ura" instead coming from 麗 (urara), but like… if Horikoshi actually used the other kanji it would have been a dead give and I wouldn’t be here arguing this. Covering up this naming structure seems like just the kind of thing Horikoshi would do. Given that we have uraraka and uravity being repeated as a theme, is it really far off to think perhaps there’s more meaning to it?

Envy

verb 1. desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable attribute belonging to (someone else).

As loving and kind as Uraraka is, we cannot forget that she has her flaws just as every character in MHA does, which is what makes her and so many characters in the series so great. What’s interesting, however, is that her flaws (as far as this post is concerned) have a lot to do with a particular theme that keeps repeating in the storyline: the them of admiration, imitation, and copying. Some examples from the heroes include the struggle Midoriya is constantly overcoming to separate himself from his idol, All Might; Iida nearly getting himself killed because his admiration for his brother get over his head; and the struggles Todoroki goes through trying not to become like his father.

The villains are just as much part of this theme; however, it would appear that one of the aspects has consumed them. For example, Twice’s quirk is to make copies, which we’ve seen resulted in the identity crisis he talks about in his monologue. Toga’s ability to imitate a person, and how her own personality results in an obsession with wanting to literally become her crush. All For One is the quirk that pretty much embodies the tragedy, a man who enviously steals all quirks to inflate his own power.

Which brings me to Uraraka, who must overcome an aspect that makes her most like the villains of any other character. Namely, her crush on Midoriya is absolutely now treads on the thin line between admiration and envy.

 Toga first introduces us to the idea when she compares herself to Uraraka, talking about how they both want literally to become the person they admire. That admiration is what makes Toga’s personality “evil.” Because Toga relates her own feelings to Uraraka’s, we as the readers are meant to question the approach to Uraraka’s crush in turn. Has she envied Midoriya longer than she’s had feelings for him? Has the number of people asking if she had a crush on Midoriya affected the way she she perceives her own feelings? Did she deceive herself to believe her own envy is actually feelings of love?

Every other hero in the story has been shown exactly why imitation and admiration can be a problem and each has learned from their mistakes in order to embrace their own strengths - Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki are all learning how to embrace the strengths that were passed on to them. But none of these boys learned this lesson without going through great hardships: Midoriya’s scarred arm is proof enough; Iida watched haplessly as his friends nearly got themselves killed to defend him; and Todoroki was shamed at the sports festival resulting in a spell of dissociation and he was shamed during the provisional license exam. Bakugou goes through something similar, in the shape of jealousy; and Momo as well, envying Todoroki.

Uraraka hasn’t learned her lesson, however. In fact, we’re watching over and over again as Uraraka just barely avoids learning her lesson in order to become stronger. For example, during the provisional license exam, this happens:

Uraraka reacts this way because she is trying to mimic Midoriya's act-first-think-later attitude, nearly costing her a lot more points during the exam. Instead, Momo cuts her off, thus preventing the much more sever consequences that could have helped Uraraka learn from the situation on her own. Even though she wants to overcome her feelings for Midoriya, she hasn't actually learned anything. She continues to try and become Midoriya, thus inhibiting her own development. And worse, in this case, she's only "learned" because Momo did the thinking for her. Arguably, she would be better off embracing her crush, but Horikoshi just didn’t write it that way.

Chapter Titles and What’s to Come There are a couple of "themed" chapters in the series, notable by the syntax used in the phrasing of the chapter titles. One is "[Character]: Origin" which Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugou have each had. The "origin" chapters are typically a turning point in the title character’s development, and we can assume that this point is the most significant turning point in their storyline. Todoroki uses his fire for the first time; Bakugou works with Midoriya for the first time; Midoriya receives his quirk. Momo also has a similarly phrased chapter for herself, called “Yaoyorozu: Rising,” and she goes through a similar lesson to the aforementioned boys. Logically, Momo is likely to get her own “Origin” chapter later on.

The next is "From [Character A] to [Character B]" which Todoroki, Iida, Midoriya, "teacher" (ie, All Might and AfO), and "disciple" (ie, Shigaraki and Midoriya) are in the the titles. These chapters deal with passing something on. "From Teacher to Desciple" is the (presumed) final battle between All Might and AfO, where at the end of the battle both hero and villain are "defeated" in some way; thus the torch is passed from All Might and AfO to Midoriya and Shigaraki respectively.. Todoroki passes on what he’d learned from the sports fest to Iida; Iida passes on his trust to Midoriya in order to save Bakugou. There’s also "vs" and "and" for a couple themes, but they’re very self-explanatory. Most of these characters have been mentioned a couple of times in the titles of chapters.

Uraraka has only had one of the “themed” chapters with her name in it, titled “Bakugou vs Uraraka.” That is, currently, her pinnacle chapter; almost 100 chapters ago. For the heroine of the story, that is way too long ago. What that means for what we’ve already seen is up to you to decide, but I can say these two things for certain:

As Uraraka continues not to learn from her mistakes, she has no way to grow. She, unfortunately, needs to eat just as much dirt as Midoriya, Bakugou, Todoroki, and Iida have in order for this to happen. So, this much all depends on whether we ever see that chapter appear "From [character] to Uraraka." Similarly, we absolutely are waiting to see the very best of Uraraka, as 100 chapters of going unmentioned in the titles, you better believe that whatever "Uraraka Ochako: Origin" has in store for us is going to be a hell of a trip.

Greed The other chapter mentioning Uraraka in the title is “That’s the Idea, Ochako,” and the most pertinent panel for us is the one linked above. There's nothing wrong with wanting to do work that you love for money - plenty of people do it, and those people who do work obviously deserve to be paid for their work. There's nothing inherently wrong with Uraraka's way of thinking, and I think it's actually really cool that this is her motive for becoming a hero. I would have no problem with this line ever in a million years! Except for the fact that this gets brought up:

Hero Killer Stain is objectively wrong; utterly and miserably. But this issue was still brought up in canon as something to make us question. There are those who work for a *passion* and those who work for a *paycheck*, and those who work for a passion are, in theory, considered "superior" in their field because they are doing what they love. Whether or not you agree with this mindset is not the issue here; the issue is that this mindset exists, and Horikoshi has consciously brought this mindset into the series. So what does that make Uraraka?

Tactile relationships It’s probably about time that we start talking about Shigaraki, Overhaul, and Uraraka. You might be asking what on earth these three characters could ever have in common, but as one might have it, their quirks are all surprisingly similar, don’t you think?

From what we know, all of these characters require touch to make their quirk function. When I initially considered this relationship, we hadn't yet been introduced to Overhaul. I did, however, find it interesting that Uraraka and Shigaraki had such similarly designed quirks, to the point that I have to wonder why Horikoshi allowed them to be as similar as they are. In order for their quirks to take effect, all five fingers must be touching their subject. So, by not touching them with a single finger, as seen above, they keep their quirks at bay entirely.

Unfortunately, we don’t know exactly what his quirk is supposed to be, but based on the panel above (and a few other hints in the series) we can assume that touch is part of the requirement, meaning that all three of their quirks are dependent on a tactile relationship. This should be considered different than, say, Mineta, whose balls are always sticky without prerequisites; or Denki, whose quirk can be activated at will when making physical contact. Uraraka, unlike the two villains, can at least deactivate the quirk after the fact.

Tactile relationships appear to be a very important aspect of MHA, which makes this whole theme of quirks so interesting. Although Uraraka might not seem to have a strong, comparable relationship to Overhaul thus making him little more than a prop in this argument, the close, comparable similarities to hers and Shigaraki's quirk is just remarkable enough to make one wonder why Horikoshi, who could have designed their quirks in any way, design these two quirks so similarly.

Uraraka and Toga Honestly, you should be losing your mind over Uraraka and Toga. THERE’S SO MANY PARALLELS BETWEEN THEM IT HURTS. My deep regret here is just that I’ve said this once before and I’ve read it from others, but still I am unable to stop myself from writing about them. Uraraka and Toga’s relationship is wildly important even if Uraraka isn’t the traitor. I’m losing my mind for the chance that Uraraka and Toga interact again, because I know I’ll need like a year to recover.

Very quickly into their encounter, Toga immediately likens herself to Uraraka, explaining her own feelings so that we understand who she is. Toga has an unhealthy sense of admiration for the person she also consequently loves. She tells Uraraka this, and Uraraka's reaction is incredible. You know how it goes when someone points out a truth that one has been hiding away? They respond with anger. Not only has Toga made the comparison, but Uraraka seems to understand the truth and validity of her comparison, and for a brief moment we see the frustration build in Uraraka. Her brows are not lifted, but rather they are knitted. Toga has her pegged. Funny to note, after all this, Toga ends up with a crush on Midoriya as well - just one weird similarity between them.

This happens again later on, where Toga literally takes on Uraraka’s person and imitates her during the provisional license exam. This was clearly done as a part of the storytelling mechanic, helping us to understand how well Midoriya knows Uraraka, and also to lead us into the discovery that Uraraka is Camie who, in turn, is Toga; but there is absolutely more to it. Why did Horikoshi decide that Uraraka’s blood should be taken and not, say, Asui’s, who was just as exposed as Uraraka was during their first encounter with Toga. The decision was clearly very intentional, as could be inferred from the manga cover I linked above - Uraraka and Toga/Camie are shown on parallel sides of the cover, and feature as the secondary “center” of the book cover. Uraraka and Toga are connected; their stories are going to connect again, perhaps very soon.

What is our heroine up to today? To start this section out, because I know I’m going to sound like I’m speaking the contrary: Uraraka is the heroine. In no way shape or form am I denying this, nor do I dislike that she is the heroine. Even if Uraraka turns out to be the traitor, she can still be our "heroine," it’s just super fucked up and probably cooler that way. She’s our heroine because of all the girls, she has the best relationship to Deku, naturally, and she’s also got a ton of excellent relationships with many of the other characters, such as Bakugou, Iida, Asui, and Toga. Add who you like to that list, the relationship she has with pretty much all the characters is great.

However… I find a particular "lack" of our heroine in the story. I’ve briefly touched on this before, as I mentioned that Horikoshi seems to absolutely ADORE female characters (I mentioned how populated his pixiv is with strong, female characters), so the lack of Uraraka is strange. She hasn’t been on the cover yet, she hasn’t gotten her own specialty arc yet - mainly she gets a highlight ever few chapters because she rightfully deserves it. She also seems to fall into the background during critical portions of the series. In fact, I would say her most critical moment in the series was her fight against Bakugou during the sports fest, and since then a lot more has been brooding around her than anything.

"Hold up! Uraraka has been doing a lot! She got an internship right now and everything!" Like, right??? It’s amazing! But like…. We totally didn’t get to see her in action? Compare how much we saw of Kirishima’s fight against Knives McGee to how much we saw of Uraraka’s fight. I’m not saying we need to see like 100% of every fight that ever happens in the series, and I’m vastly grateful that we don’t, but it’s been almost 100 chapters??? Bakugou vs Uraraka was a whole chapter; but Toga vs Uraraka was only a couple pages, Uraraka and Aoyama vs No. 13 was barely a fight to mention, and Camie actually stole Uraraka’s screen time in the provisional license exam. What I’m saying is, a lot of her fights are quickly wrapped up or skipped over.

I think, however, one of the most intriguing moments where Uraraka is surprisingly sparse is when they’re going to save Bakugou.

While she’s not wrong, what the hell kind of line is that? Thoughout the whole discussion, listening to the class go back and forth about whether or not to do something about Bakugou, Uraraka offers only one, very minor line pointing out their numbers. It’s not until afterward that Uraraka has anything to say. But what sort of heroine says this? What kind of hero says this?? It goes so strongly against the mold for heroes that it honestly surprises me - Uraraka does not strike me as a girl to tuck her tail and flee. I almost expect a girl in love to want to follow her crush anywhere, as I would expect from a usual shonen romance.

Were she the traitor, it makes a lot of sense that she wouldn’t want to be around the villains in an attempt to rescue Bakugou. If she’s not a traitor, she must have a serious beef with Bakugou to try to use the claim that saving him would just upset him. It’s just… unhero-like, and all around strange. It also bothers me that Uraraka was unable to say this line until after they Midoriya’s hospital room. It’s as though she could only think of it after that point or she didn’t want Midoriya to hear her say it.

After saving Bakugou and playing "King of All Room," Asui apologizes for what she said before saving Bakugou:

This whole scene with Uraraka is just weird. I’ll start with mentioning that Uraraka expresses no remorse for not going to save Bakugou - nor do we receive any indication of how Uraraka feels regarding the situation. Even if she didn’t want to risk saving Bakugou, shouldn’t she have risked going to make sure Midoriya would be okay? I mean, that’s basically why Iida went; shouldn’t the heroine and love interest of the story want to go just to protect Midoriya? At the very least, I would have expected a little soliloquy explaining her position to the reader. Similarly, Kirishima mentions that what Uraraka said was "really harsh," so I think it’s weird that when scene finishes that only Asui has apologized - I would almost expect Uraraka to want to join in on the apology so Asui feels better, but like clearly not. Uraraka either is the traitor or she has a serious beef with Bakugou.

By extension, what she does eventually say, weirdly enough, rubs me the wrong way. I would LOVE to see more translations of this scene, even just to look at the Japanese, because the way this is handled is so weird???? Why is she hesitating so apparently? What on earth does she have to be nervous about in this situation?! It’s WEIRD!!! But perhaps that’s just a personal feeling, you can be the judge of this dialogue yourself:

Short wrap-up That should be like 90% of everything I’ve ever considered related to the traitor theory regarding Uraraka specifically. Just a few final notes to close the argument:

- I am not trying to imply that Uraraka is an evil character. MHA is absolutely dealing with the gray areas of what is good and evil, a theme that has been mentioned in several places in the series, from different perspectives and in different ways. The immediate moments we figure a traitor has to have been involve are (debatably) when the "reporters" break into school grounds as a guise for the villains, during summer break where someone leaks the location, and in the most recent chapter where Overhaul already knows about the infiltration. All of these likely had nothing to do with real “dirty work,” and rather were just information sharing

- One post-script update to my previous post regarding Uraraka is Bakugou’s “heel”. First is that the better, less presumptuous term for their relationship is “foils” - however, that gets convoluted due to the fact that in canon Bakugou and Midoriya are also called “foils.” Either way, both terms are acceptable. Recent omake information has revealed that Bakugou and Uraraka’s costumes are actually made by the same company. Translation here In short, the two black dots on each of their uniforms is supposed to be the company’s way of “branding” their material. It’s just backup omake information, but I think it’s just a cute detail to add and support my earlier argument regarding them.

- Food for thought: I’m still not sure when Uraraka becomes “the traitor.” My initial belief is she must have been a traitor since the beginning in order for the reporter incident to make sense, but it’s not necessary that she was. My other theory is that she joins the league after her crushing defeat against Bakugou. It’s also entirely possible that she isn’t the only traitor in the series; while I can’t think of any suggestions that might make this apparent, Uraraka had to have been contacted some how by the villains. The only thing I could say for certain is that if she is the traitor, she would have made her contract before her feelings for Midoriya became an issue.

- More food for thought: If Uraraka is the traitor, do Toga and Uraraka know each other? And was the encounter in the woods with Asui intentional? If I’m honest, I think Toga knows who Uraraka is, but because Uraraka has been away from "HQ" for so long, she never had the chance to meet Toga. Something about their encounter in the forest feels too real for it to be an act.

If you read the theory and like it, please reblog! If you have more questions, or want to add onto it, feel free to respond. This is just a theory after all, so I really hope that even if you don’t agree she’s the traitor, you may have found that I’ve made a few good points about the peculiarities of Uraraka’s storyline, and are just as excited as me to see how she develops.

EDIT: If you want to read more observations about her character related to this theory, I have a Traitor Uraraka tag you can look through!

#my hero academia #uraraka ochako #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #dekuura #yaoyorozu momo #toga himiko #asui tsuyu #camie #shigaraki tomura #overhaul #hero killer stain #mha #me #by me #traitor uraraka

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fentonizer · 7 years

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Achievement from the comfort of your pyjamas

Horizon Zero Dawn is a “good game.”

Strap in, folks.

Horizon Zero Dawn is peak “video games.” It is all things to all people. It is an open-world, action-adventure-rpg with resource gathering, crafting and stealth mechanics.

If you were to send one game into space so that if an alien civilisation found it they would know what human beings thought video games were all about, then Horizon Zero Dawn would be it.

None of this is praise, by the way. Not really. If you asked me to give it a score I would say that the game gets seven points out of ten points. Or I would say that it gets three and a half stars out of five stars. Or I would say that it gets sixty-eight percent (because the number sixty-nine is a meme and should be avoided in these circumstances).

Let’s take a step back. Let’s talk about open world games in general.

Open world games are a genre of video game that are as popular as they are maligned. Like most genres (of any medium), it’s kind of hard to pin down key facets that a game has to have to be open world, but I’ll try- if instead of walking the circuitous ground level path to your objective, you awkwardly try to jump up steep hills, trying to catch a piece of geometry your character can stand on, there’s a good chance you’re playing an open world game.

OK, let’s take another step back. Video games are an interactive medium. the most popular games are about either sports or shooting people with weapons. Conflict, basically. Conflict is inherently the easiest thing to make a game about as you can lose, so it’s easy to give the player a lose-condition and therefore motivation.

There are other ways to motivate the player, of course. You can tell them that there are one-hundred of a thing and they have to find a lot of them, if not all of them. This is a pretty base motivation. You could put something really difficult in the game, something that takes study and mastery to succeed at. The problem with this is that it’s much harder to make a system like that than it is to put one-hundred of a thing in a space.

Open world games often rely a lot on finding lots of a thing. I don’t know how I can say this without being rude, but open world games are generally a time sink. Without a well crafted world that you want to see, there’s no more depth in finding one-hundred of a thing in a hedge maze, or block of flats. Moreover, the only difference between an open-world game like this, and a linear story based game (something like The Last Of Us, which is more similar than you’d think) is the extracurricular padding.

Experience points is another good one to motivate people. Start at level 1, kill an enemy, get 10 experience points. Get 100 experience points and you can get to level 2, and then you’ll be strong enough to fight the thing that gives you 12exp. Get to level 5 and you'll have enough points to learn a new skill! Pretty great, huh?

Crafting is good as well. There’s a very popular game called Minecraft that, as well as lots of mining, had lots of crafting. You get some wood and that makes sticks and planks, and with some sticks and planks you can make a shitty pickaxe that can get you a few stone. Some stone gets you a better pickaxe and then you can mine coal and turn enough stone into a furnace, put the coal in it and smelt copper, and so on. The player is enticed by a branching tree of options as they find more and more things, and they are encouraged to explore and forage to build up supplies of these items.

Horizon Zero Dawn has all of this, which is why people like it. Problem is, it never gets out of the kiddie end of the pool with it. It’s the base level amount of a system, and it’s obvious how shallow it is after an hour (that’s why I said “kiddie end of the pool” because that’s the shallow end. Please fund more of this writing on Patreon).

Crafting is just some of a thing to get more space to carry stuff. That’s it. Then you can stop crafting. Levelling up gives you 10 more hit points, and 1 skill point to spend on a skill tree that is basically useless beyond 5 incredible skills that make the game a cake-walk (Double arrows/triple arrows/sneak attack/better stealth/more resources). There’s no weapon customisation beyond some modifications, but there’s no strategy here, just find the best ones (purple, because fucking obviously) and slot them in.

The story is the usual “chosen-one” power fantasy that gets bonus points for at least being about a woman. Robots threaten the world, oh no. Try to stop them ok? Second act (hugely telegraphed) plot revelation, third act triumph, post credits sequel bait. Knocked that shit out in a weekend, mate. It doesn't successfully say anything or mean anything to anyone, despite trying very hard to send a message about the dangers of hubris, or trees being super. If anything, the takeaway message is that humanity is a collection of bumbling savages and should have been consigned to extinction at the first opportunity.

To be fair, games are about systems. At least, all the games people play, are about systems. Maybe, if you want a good story, then do something like read a book, you fucker. A good story in a game is hard to come by, mostly because it’s very difficult to mesh an interactive medium with linear story telling (and even harder to do non-linear story telling).

Systems and mechanics are what keep people hooked, and differentiate the medium. But a game where the systems and mechanics can ultimately be “solved” are boring. This is the best weapon combo, this is the best armour, these are the best mods for the best weapons and best armour.

There’s some good time to be had with the gameplay, as you learn the combat. You can scan enemies and see their components, and you have you actually learn how to fight things. They’re not simply big bubbles of hit points, with a red spot on them that does double damage. There’s fuel tanks you can rupture, or you can shoot off their weapons, or tie them down, or lure them into traps, or apply statuses. And that’s fun! it really is. At least three of the aforementioned three and a half stars I would give this game come from fighting things.

The combat is good because you have to learn how to be good at it. You have to have a plan and an approach. You can’t waltz in with you spear and start whacking shit as you will lose, and personally I think that’s great. Well, fighting the machines anyway. Fighting humans is a clumsy mess, as they are actually blobs of HP with a head that takes lots of damage.

The rest of the game makes me super sad though, because it’s full of all these gamer-contrivances. It’s full of real menial shit that is only in there because most gamers (at least the most vocal ones) are time-rich kids who need something to do. So give them exp to grind, give them a map full of shit to tick off a list, none of which does anything.

Give them main story quests, side story quests, AND THEN errand type quests. Make them walk to a place, start a quest, walk to another place to talk to a person, click the now mandatory button that highlights the things you need to interact with before going to a third place to kill some dudes, before finally going back to the first person who tells you “thanks” and then to fuck off as dispassionately as the whole affair started.

Make every ledge the player character can climb obvious so when you need to scale something vertically, you’re just doing a dot-to-dot that is impossible to fail. And then make other waist-high walls insurmountable because whoever was meant to come around and paint this edge in worn white paint didn’t get here yet.

The world is large but ultimately uninteresting. There’s no sense of place or sufficient landmarks to encourage you to learn where you’re going. You rely entirely on fast travel and the numerous on-screen arrows to get around, never once did I feel lost or small, I felt the opposite. I felt like the centre of the universe, I felt like the whole place was built just for me. Which, again, comes down to the bizarre decision to make climbable objects so obvious, it breaks my immersion, because “a creator” has clearly done something.

It makes me sad, genuinely sad, because this is a “good video game.” People like it because of these things, not in spite of them. They like it because they can sit down for 3 or 4 hours and they will feel like they've achieved something... All I see, for the most part, is the total waste of time that video games are. They are the illusion of progression and achievement. They are the chips of the cultural world; objectively better than nothing at all, but ultimately of no value. No amount of “Triple-Cooked” BS is going to stop them from just being chips (triple cooked = triple-A, support me on Patreon).

If this is the height of games, if this is a masterpiece, then we truly are doomed. We don’t need to strive for better, for more meaning in our games, what we need is a dozen shallow systems that a player can indulge themselves in between school, work and masturbation breaks. That’s what gets the big bucks after all, a psychological trick-room where you’re lauded for “achievement” from the comfort of your pyjamas. You did it! Who’s good player?! It’s you! Yes it is!

And I know, I am being hugely elitist, this is a personal attack on you and the thing you like, and that makes me reprehensible. Maybe I’m just doing this to be contrarian or to be noticed. If this game had gotten bad reviews, I’d say I loved it.

A lot of people put a lot of hard work into this game and I respect that. It frequently looks stunning and... well, I don’t want to delve into consumer advice as a deflection here. It’s fine. The game is fine. It’s a fine game. Did I feel tested or challenged, did I feel I had to improve myself to overcome? Rarely. Do I feel like I learned something, anything, about the world, myself, my fellow man, or even anything about “video games?” No.

7/10. 3.5 Stars. 68%.

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