do you have hc's for death duo?? if you just have more q!phil hc's i would enjoy them as well!!

Previous qPhil headcanons

YES HELLO these took me a hot second, I wanted to do Missa justice bc the fandom tends to just reduce him to nice wet cat in love with Phil. Unfortunately he gets on so little, I don't have a lot more than that to run with, so what you see is what you get and they're more Phil-POV'd. 😭

Also these are platonic bc you asked for Deathduo rather than Pissa!

Listen man. Missa's place in Phil's silly polycule? It's not strictly romantic (if at all) and not strictly platonic, it's a secret third thing. I don't hc Phil or Missa as aro but what they've got going on is def smth some aros would enjoy. The best way to explain it is Kiss The Homies. Except there's a massive crush on Missa's end.

Phil loves doing literally everything with Missa. Exploring, egg care, goofing around, whatever. Quality time and gift giving are his love languages no matter the type of love. He just loves hanging out.

Phil can do no wrong in Missa's eyes. He's this amazing (and very pretty), smart, caring and powerful guy. He cares so much about people, how could he possibly do wrong? Missa is the #3 Philza Minecraft defender (he concedes that Chayanne & Tallulah are #1 and #2).

Missa doesn't understand the whole Bolas thing but he's happy it seems to make Phil happy. He thinks? (The word he's looking for isn't happy, it's manic /lh)

Being away so often sucks, but Missa loves coming back and getting stories from Phil. ... The good ones, not the [lore] ones. Those scare him.

They love exaggeratedly rping nuclear family to tease Chayanne. Holding each other making kissy noises like OoOoH MiSsA I LoOoOvE yOu! OoOoOh PhiLzA I LoOoOvE yOu tOoOoOo! And then Chayanne starts (lovingly) hitting them

The rare times Phil is doing something that doesn't require him to move around, Missa gets a free lap pillow. Phil's good at playing with hair, Missa knocks right the fuck out

And Missa likes putting little braids n stuff in Phil's hair. Actually he looks damn good with those little side ones tbh.

There's something funny about the Angel of Death and a reaper being so close. When the kids are asleep, they swap stories about Missa's past reaping jobs and Phil's,, adventures

Speaking of Phil's past, Missa hasn't doubted him for a single second about what little of the hardcore gods Phil has shared with him. El Ender King es una pequeña perra. >:(

Actually he REALLY wants a full-on lore dump from Phil. The stories sound so fascinating. He wants to know more.

One of Phil's favorite things about Missa is how easy to startle he is. Missa screeches never get old.

Dependable as ever, Phil is the first one Missa goes to when he's missing information or scared. Phil always has answers and he can always protect him!! (*is heavily implying angst here, no Phil can't :)*)

Usually it happens when Phil is 100% alone but he does genuinely get a lil depressed when he misses Missa badly. He wanders to distract himself

Idk man if I was Missa I'd get a little 😳 seeing Phil spattered in blood after a battle where he obliterated whatever the fuck it is he's up against. Scary crow man being a badass motherfucker and then his bloodied ass's first question is if you're okay?? HOO. Would not blame Missa for acting unwise about it

Assorted thoughts about Astarion's epilogue that I have only seen in video because patch 4 broke my save files and I have to replay the whole thing to get there.

From what I've seen everyone's good endings seem a little... overly good and free of consequence? But at the same time I haven't seen everything with my own eyes and everyone deserves to be happy, so whatever. If I want angst, there's fic.

Sooo... is it that unromanced Astarion disappeared after the scene at the docks and nobody could find him, or did you assholes just not try? I will be generous and assume the former.

Stop stabbing the table you little gremlin. ...although I'd probably enjoy doing that, if I could get away with it.

I still hate that outfit with the ruff.

Not surprised Larian is doubling down on the "no cure" angle. I don't really care if Astarion remains a vampire or if he goes the cure route, so long as he's happy - although I do think in his shoes I'd look for some way to day-walk anyway, on practical grounds alone.

Hiding a knife behind his back while asking an unromanced Durge if they're showing any signs of being under Bhaal's control... I adore a pragmatic bastard.

---"I could've told you that [you can kill people in a socially acceptable manner]" ---"You realise I don't actually pay attention when you talk, right?" ^This is why I both love him with all my soul and also want to push him off a roof.^

Delighted and validated by Astarion feeding by taking jobs as a bounty hunter or something like that. That was 100% what Vel was suggesting to him post game. Like "Hey, have you considered bounty hunting? if my memories of killing people for fun and profit, and the last month or two of everyone suddenly celebrating instead of getting mad when I murder has taught me anything; if you eat the people the majority want dead, you can have all the blood and money you can get your teeth into and nobody will have a problem with it."

And then there's Ascended Astarion... who I will put under a read more to save space and for those who'd like to avoid the uglier side of endings.

So I don't think Larian read the supplement Van RIchten's Guide to Vampires (it's from 1992, but as far as I know it's also still the most comprehensive write up of D&D vampire lore, and some of it still looks to apply here (or at least, it can).)

But the first thing I thought of, watching him constantly turn into a bat, is that it reminded me of the vampire psychological development stages. Stage one is where a vampire is drunk on their shiny new powers and just will not stop showing them off. (Stage two is the "find out" stage of the fuck around process, where the vampire discovers they're not as invincible as they believed and descends into full blown, paranoid monstrosity.)

Then "I will be watching." "I/We need to eavesdrop on everybody."... Oh, the paranoia. How's that thing where the curse of vampirism is twisting the trauma and fear going for you, my dude?

"I'll never forget the time we spent together, though. And I know you'll never forget about me. Until next time, darling." ...might be his expression or the datamined epilogues where he still wants his ex, but that feels like a threat to me? Might just be a jab after being dumped...

And, oh yeah, we're definitely looking at vampire bride/groom tier stuff here: Just sit on the decorative pedestal I built for you and look pretty until I'm in the mood to take you down and play with you. Stop complaining about how you're bored and want freedom!

The PC isn't weak by any measure, they could become a rival.. AA isn't my ending of choice, but I am morbidly fascinated with the concept of Tav and Astarion as toxic vampire divorcees: Two angry, powerful "lovers to enemies" vampire lords "sharing" territory; passing the centuries obsessing over each other; fighting each other; sometimes maybe hate-fucking, and generally making their bad relationship everyone's problem.

Bloodborne questions rattling in my head -

Why does the shaman bone blade have shaman in its name? That's such a specific, almost regional term. Just a translation quirk?

How seriously do you take cut content in studying lore? I just learned about the Great One Beast, and there's a hell of a lot going on in that name alone. A Great One that became a beast? A beast that became a great one? Maybe just a placeholder name since file names refer to it as a silverbeast? Or, as it never made it in, should it be essentially ignored entirely?

ok business as usual, pure speculation is in italics.

this first answer is going to suck so bad: i basically don't have a single clue. the japanese word they chose to translate as "shaman" (祭祀者) doesnt appear on jisho or literally anywhere else in the game. like i just did a ctrl-f on the re-translation text dumps and found nothing. they seem equally baffled but one of the two translators notes that it's used to describe people involved in ancestor worship. the full word is "祭祀者の骨の刃". so like literally "_____'s bone knife".

there's no surprise ambiguity in the description. it doesn't resemble anything else in the game. the green goo (not blood, notably) oozing from it is not seen elsewhere. that emerald green color is unique to the blade.

what the fuck! they are also extraordinarily rare: the only place you can find them are in the nightmare of mensis in the "nightmare apostles" (big spider) room, where you can pick up six from the corpse of a healing church doctor in front of a little vestibule containing nothing. the only remarkable thing about this room is that it once contained a cut version of the giant nightmare apostle with the head still on. this is interesting only because it suggests that they're not just giant spiders, they are giant HEADLESS spiders. the connection the player was supposed to draw, perhaps, is that the headless nightmare apostles seen throughout the game have already been harvested for their goods.

this is uninteresting because there's 7 headless spiders in the room, not 6. maybe one broke?

the only other places you can find them are in the pthumerian labyrinth root dungeons in, specifically, treasure coffins. only after obtaining the lower pthumeru chalice will the item be added to the insight shop, so whatever those shamans were doing, it was very secret and very ancient. they are a 5% drop from brainsuckers...except for the ones in the cathedral ward and the orphanage, which are 2%. hey i never noticed that before. so that's where those brainsuckers running around yharnam came from.

the creation of this item is apparently linked to augurs/phantasms.

the spider guys are their own. thing. i haven't even touched them yet because, segueing into your next question, so much surrounding them was cut. there's a bunch of stuff in the game, especially relating to byrgenwerth, about reflections and symmetry that kind of hangs in the air awkwardly unless you start poking around under the hood and start looking at how much spider-related shit there is. and like. isn't a spider an invertebrate. isn't "apostle" another word for "messenger". anyone else seeing this. aren't these things augurs?

not for nothing, but amygdala is referred to as the "lost apostle" in the alpha.

when it comes to cut content, i take a very liberal approach and inhale all of it into my brain where i can sort it and determine what bits are even useful. i think this kind of thing comes entirely down to personal taste; some people think the completed project in its retail form is what should be analyzed on the reasonable basis that it's the story we were intended to experience. i don't disagree with this approach; my approach is like if i wanted to read "pride and prejudice" and decided after reading it to analyze all of jane austen's letters and biographies. like it's absolutely not required to enjoy or understand the story and themes of bloodborne; it's just a good example of how much a reading of a text can differ depending on how you approach it.

i wish we knew why the great one beast was cut because it was basically finished outside the textures being low-res. people have hacked a working version into the game and it looks like a hell of a fight. and you're right, it raises a lot of questions about what the hell a great one is. prior to this it was assumed that beasts were the opposite of great ones. but...maybe beasts are ONLY intended be compared and contrasted with kin. and a kin is not a great one. very mysterious.

Does Arguebhald / Argie have any background story or lore or interesting traits?

I think they look really really cool and I'm kinda obsessed rn.

I AM SO HAPPY YOU LIKE ARGIE !! I had a lot of fun with her backstory so djshds

ARGUEBHALD LORE DUMP

Argie is 24 years and is 186 cm tall.

The LANCER ttrpg setting is sci-fi thousands of years into the future and consists of players that are elite mech pilots called Lancers.

IN SHORT: Basically, after her parent's divorce, on top of her neurodivergence and counselor, Arguebhald grew up into someone who isn't capable of caring for people, or anything really. I came up with this because the players other than myself have all mostly good-intentioned characters who want to help people to some extent. Arguebhald is not a LANCER because she wants to do good, she's a lancer because it's the only thing she ever found interesting. She does right/good things purely for the sake of them being the right thing to do and not because she wants to be a good person. She's extremly nosy from " trauma " of her parents hiding everything from her. She wants to know what's going on, where people are going, where they're from and what they're up to, for her own feeling of comfort and safety. She is curious of people, as if they were fun stories, not because she cares about them. She goes along with whatever people around her are doing because she's not bothered enough to care about making decisions. She didn't have a goal in life or ambitions.

the long ramble, it's not very clear i'm sorry:

Personality -Looks high as fuck/kinda out there -Chill and calm, not especially expressive but not a resting bitch face either -Nosy, wants to know what's going on  -Going with the flow, they drift through the days, mind straying away. -Tend to go along with whatever people are doing around her -Can be active in conversations, hang out, they ask questions out of curiosity but not because they care. -Weirdly very intimidating at times -autistic as shit

Beliefs/values

-Does not care about people, but is curious and interested in knowing about some of them.* -Does good things because it is the right thing to do, not because they are a good person -Enjoys taking risks and not knowing what comes next -Cares about harmony and good taste

*They will be pushy if they want to get information about someone if they deem them interesting >ex. If someone states they don't wish for any sort of help, she will not ever bother pushing

Backstory Context:

Argie grew up in a place where every single need was met as they're basic human rights: food, shelter, access to work. She's one weird kid, for her childhood was basically a stale line with no challenge or interest. She couldn't connect with peoples, sucked at getting social clues. But she still used to be happy, or so she thinks. Until one day her parents announced " divorce " overnight, and she was lost. Overnight they stopped sharing things with her or telling her about anything. Life became even dryer and stale and Arguebhald kind of turned off her brain and started drifting through the days.

Overnight her parents took her to another planet- they had to escape, they did something bad, but Argie had no clue what. It was one of the drastic points of her childhood, she realised she never really knew her parents, even before the divorce. She found a bit of thrill on the new place she lived at: basic human rights were not granted, you had to work to survive, she found a challenge.

She started seeing a counselor, one from her school, because the teachers were worried about her not getting along with other kids. He's a weird dude who gave Argie her beliefs and reinforced them: caring only leads to getting hurt, that argie was just fine the way she was. She shouldn't care, because it only leads to bad things, but if she wants to blend in she should still do things because theyre right.

She moves out of her parent's place at 17, lives by herself somewhere, spends most days laying in bed doing nothing, staring at the ceiling, waiting for time to pass. She survives and that's about it. She started gambling, and enjoyed it, the risks were thrilling. She lives on gambled money and odd jobs here and there. Somewhere during that time she enters med school and drops it a few years later because it was too much of a bother.

At 23 years old she ends up joining MSMC, a mech-pilot mercenary company who does shady jobs. During her first mission, she takes a first hit- there's blood, it hurts. She's scared of dying. For the first time in her life, she felt true thrill, and she was FOCUSED on something, for hours on end at that. She was focused on not dying and completing her mission. On her second mission, a tough one, her teammates end up bailing on her and leaving her for dead after getting ambushed. She gets rescued by a member of the Black Ties, and organisation of LANCERS, elite mech pilots. She joins them after proving her worth, as she wants to keep following the path of mech piloting.

Also, enjoy me and my partner being monkeys with a keyboard when we were writing her character sheet:

ok ok matthews family lore idc idc idc

natalie thompson, the youngest of five, grew up in hatchetfield her whole life. she attended hatchetfield high and was with her high school sweetheart, kenneth, starting in her freshman year up to her graduation. he dumped her in the middle of the summer before they went to college, because he was going to get out of hatchetfield, and she had no interest in leaving.

she attended hatchetfield college for psychology, and in her freshman year there, she met bobby matthews, who was attending for history.

robert “bobby” matthews was the oldest of two, and had lost his mother when he was only five. he spent his whole life trying to learn more about her, which led to a passion in general for learning about the past. he attended sycamore high, and absolutely loved it there. he knew his school was considered lesser, but he loved it. he had no previous relationships before meeting nat, who he became quickly smitten with.

the two began dating a few months after meeting, agreeing to take things slow, since nat wasn’t completely over kenneth. however, when they started dating, she was swept off her feet by him quickly. they bonded over their love of learning and of hatchetfield. they were entranced with each other, the most annoying couple to be around when you were single. all their friends would laugh that they found their soulmate at orientation, you lucky bastards.

they moved in together their junior year, getting a small college apartment, and discussed the future. they wanted to spend their lives together, and they both knew it. bobby planned a big surprise with all nat’s friends, her parents, her siblings, everyone important to her, and had a big public grand gesture proposal on the hatchetfield beach. she said yes, of course.

they waited until after college graduation to get married, because they wanted their own house first. it being the 80s, they got one relatively easily as bobby got a steady salesman job in town. nat continued going to college. the two were the perfect stereotypical newlyweds, absolutely obsessed with each other. she was pregnant before their first anniversary passed.

eloise matthews was born only seven months later, early in her file very and setting a trend for life. she liked order, cleaning things up, being tidy. she was the “perfect” daughter, always getting straight a’s and never sneaking out. if she wanted alcohol, her parents would provide her so long as they knew she was safe, and everyone was happy. even as a baby, before she was in school, she’d help her mother with her homework.

she was only two when she got a little brother, paul. eloise was made to be a big sister, because she taught paul how to be orderly and tidy like she was, until they both liked structure just as much. paul was a simple kid, he liked trains as a toddler, history books as a child, and cooking as a teenager. he didn’t want for much, kept to his few friends, and hardly complained.

after paul was born, nat got a job teaching psychology at sycamore high. it was an elective class, and they also had her teach an english class, but she loved it. she adored the students there and sycamore, which (along with bobby’s love for it when he had attended) cemented to the couple that their kids would go there.

when paul was three, the youngest was born. christopher was different than his brother and sister, a little less organized and neat and tidy. he liked to follow his every whim, do whatever he wanted. chris was more adventurous than his older cautious siblings. he enjoyed the freedom his parents gave to him, was very chill. he played baseball in high school, had a good amount of friends, but wasn’t afraid to drop a friend for being shitty. once in high school, a friend said some fucked up shit about eloise’s appearance chris called him an asshole and threw him out of the house.

when eloise was fifteen, she met david lipschitz. he was not necessarily a bad boy, much more of a nerd. but the two found rebellion in each other, dating when his parents didn’t allow him to. his overbearing but loving parents were strict, so she was introduced as a friend that he was only allowed to hang out with at the library with a chaperone. (unfortunately for all of them, it was usually paul.)

when they were 18, david told his parents that he loved eloise, and he wanted to marry her. he asked their permission to date her, and they granted it. he gave her a promise ring, and they set their future plans high, applying for the same out-of-state college to leave hatchetfield and start a life together.

it came tumbling down when, just a month before graduation, eloise discovered she was pregnant. they got married over the summer and moved in with david’s parents. he was an only child, and both paul and chris still lived at him. all of both families worked together to raise money for the baby, and eloise and david both got standard boring jobs.

when they found out it was twins, david fainted. trevor lipschitz was born two hours before his brother, and he loved to act like that made him a big brother instead of a twin. the two were very different, with trevor being a cool theatre kid and richie being a nerd and a weeb, but they got along well.

the same year the twins were born, sycamore bussed paul and a bunch of other students over to hatchetfield high to see their production of brigadoon. paul was so uncomfortable the whole time, hating seeing people dance and sing. he realized how much he hates musicals, even if the lead was gorgeous. it was awesome for him when his nephew became a theatre kid.

richie had a lot of health problems, asthma, chronic joint pain, and hyperhydrosis. when he was 6, richie developed an ear infection and lost some of his hearing. the whole family learned sign language, and he knew how to read it, but his stiff joints made it hard for his hands to move quickly, so he never did it. he got diagnosed with autism at 7, and they looked into trevor not too long after to see if they shared it, but trevor had adhd.

when the boys were 14, they got a little sister. rachel was a lot like her mother, enjoying order and stability where her brothers were a little messier. she loved to read and did so constantly. anything that might happen to her, trevor and richie swore to protect her. she never told them that she could defend herself, liking that they wanted to look out for her.

paul went to hatchetfield college for technology, not because he was particularly interested in it, but because his best friend james was too. they became dorm mates, and by the end of freshman year the two had fought so badly over living conditions that they weren’t friends anymore. paul started dating a boy named wesley, who he was with for a few years. when wesley cheated on him, chris slashed three of his tires.

chris met amanda campbell his sophomore year of high school, and the two became best friends. she was considered family by the time they were in college, both going to hatchetfield. he went for architecture, and she went for art. the two insisted constantly that they had no romantic feelings for each other, but when mandy started dating some guy from one of her classes, chris would seethe. he said he just had a bad feeling about him, and his family was all kind enough not to point out that the feeling was jealousy.

the two ended up dating their senior year of college, and moving in together not long after. they waited it out as mandy finished school, becoming an elementary school art teacher, and chris started work at an architectural firm in clivesdale. he hated the commute, but it allowed him to do what he loved, and he was not moving to fucking clivesdale.

he proposed to mandy on her 25th birthday, and got married later the same year. they had the perfect story, high school best friends to lovers, slowburn. they had james “jimmy” matthews a year later, a rowdy little boy not unlike his father. he liked monster trucks, dinosaurs, and screaming. three years later, they had alexa. she was a sweet baby, liked laughing and giggling.

paul loved his family, but sometimes he felt a little lonely in it. his parents were perfectly in love and had been since they were 18. his sister and brother both found love in high school, and he was 30 years old, living with just his cat, working at a tech job he wasn’t passionate about, living for when he watched his nieces, nephews, and spiritual niece alice. all his friends he knew from work, and while his family never actively did anything to make him feel lonely, he was sometimes. he felt hopeless. after all, he couldn’t even give the beautiful barista at beanies his name, let alone ask her out.

(this is lore going up to tgwdlm, so it ends there but i want you guys to know that he takes emma’s name when they get married and name their son matt perkins, then their daughter is named addison jane, but everyone calls her aj.)

casting ideas: natalie “nat” thompson-matthews played by kim whalen, robert “bobby” matthews played by nick lang, eloise matthews-lipschitz played by jaime lyn beatty, david lipschitz played by curt mega, richard “richie” lipschitz, trevor lipschitz, and paul matthews-perkins all played by jon matteson, rachel lipschitz played by kendall nicole, christopher “chris” matthews played by jeff blim, amanda “mandy” campbell-matthews played by angela giarratana, and jimmy and alexa are like baby toddlers so i don’t have casts for them.

okayyyyyy cyno story quest 2 brain dump

tldr; very good story quest aside from a few things near the end and slow ramp up i enjoyed it immensely 👍

the beginning was reaaaaaaaaally slow ig bc they wanted to set up the scenario but once it got going oh boy did it get going!!!!!! (positive)

nice seeing al haitham and kaveh having civil and productive conversations for once LMAOOO #married

also love that al haitham just. casually knows All the secrets

god there was so much power of friendship in the first half of this. we even got AL HAITHAM saying "don't forget to ask for help if you need it." AL HAITHAM. THE MAN WHO DOESN'T WANNA DO SHIT OUTSIDE OF HIS 9-5

like I know he cares but I just found that kinda funny fnbdjskfjdkks it felt a little forced especially with the scene with dehya/candace right after where candace basically said the same thing like they really want to drive home this "you can rely on your friends" thing

also was kinda like. why wouldn't candace at least come with us to aaru village come on

I really like sethos!! honestly he's more or less exactly how I expected him to be. his (chinese) VA did a fantastic job of switching between the playful/casual and super serious/somber tones

also i actually said "DAMN" out loud to this like DAMN sethos the boy is only 16 cut him some slack!!!!!!!!

i also really loved this shot of him for some reason. i can't tell if i love or am unnerved by his eyes though tbh they really do have that monster energy drink vibe to them ajflkadjsf

i was a little miffed that like. they just conveniently had cyno not really remember anything about the temple of silence from his childhood for plot/reveal convenience but whatever this game's writing has had worse offenders

curious if anything happens if you lose both of the duels with traveler/tighnari? i didn't try lol. i feel like the game would have to force you to win at least one?

i HATED that they played that one mondstadt challenge theme (make haste, partner) right before cyno and sethos' duel. like it COMPLETELY killed the vibe for me it didn't match at all the mood was way too serious for that (and at least use a sumeru track maybe???) i couldn't focus on them saying all their little determination monologues and stuff

the cutscene was fucking AWESOME though ough love love loved it they never miss with the action cutscenes ESPECIALLY when cyno is involved. literally every cutscene cyno has been in has been fucking amazing

felt a little bit of whiplash though when it suddenly went right into the huge lore dump from bamoun like okay fine yay lore but also talk about super forced??? i couldn't pay attention to it well because it felt so sudden

also really didn't like the entire conversation after being like "oh yeah bamoun and cyrus actually planned/anticipated for this to happen all along!!!" like. sigh. not everything needs to be some dude's grand scheme come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn but ig they need to make everyone a good guy on the same page at the end. how about just having people with different agendas/goals and leave it at that huh?? HUH?????

that funeral part would have been better to have the lore dump cutscene imo, like at that point i think sethos would have been very willing to share the history of the temple with everyone. but ig we as a viewer just got it all through bamoun's mind before he passed away

also lol. of course they had to somehow tie in tighnari's ancestral significance to cyno. i don't think its really necessary to make everything "fated" if you get what i mean let them be their own people in the present ya know but whatever i'm sure the shippers are going to run to hell and back with this one

also power of friendship coming back full circle cyno being like "obviously because you're my friend now sethos 🙄"

MADAME FARUZAN????????? that cameo was super random but I mean ig it is true she IS the desert exploration expert fhrhjsjdnsj

when cyno took us up to the top of the tree i was lowkey hoping for a nahida/wanderer cameo... alas just more power of friendship reminiscing. the very end with cyno and cyrus and shout out to lisa was cute though

in hindsight we got a lot of damn cameos in this story quest huh

wish the temple of silence had a map that place is HUGE but ig it's being treated like an inside area and those don't have maps. but it is awesome that it's actually a permanent area you can revisit, also love the detail that it doesn't appear on the big map (but does appear in mini map in corner)

so yeah some of the stuff at the ending docks off a bit for me but i give it like an 8.5/10 maybe idk i'm bad at rating things

started playing Persona 5 Royal after finding out i accidentally bought Persona 5 regular (i was already about 4 hours into Persona 5 on merciless and had stopped at the shop where you buy stuff for the first time after the first dungeon when i found this out) instead of Royal and jesus fucking christ, i forgot how slow this game's opening is it's like two hours long before you actually even get into the game, just like an hour of (really well made!) animated scenes and cutscenes with minor (pretty pointless) sections of walking to locations before you even get to the actual school portion, which takes another fucking hour to really get going like, oh my god, this game does not understand what the word pacing means. every scene goes on for like 10 fucking minutes longer than it has to, it's a lot of pointless (attempts at) building intrigue which don't work because you're just being bombarded with them back to back and have no idea what the status quo is for any of it to have really any impact! i know it's like a 100-hour RPG or whatever but good god, just drop me into the school instead with a lore dump and let me PLAY THE FUCKING GAME ALREADY.

like it's truly nonstop, it's just going from establishing one thing after another like oh we're a stylish thief to oh we're fighting monsters to oh we have a friend to oh we were captured by pigs to oh we were betrayed to oh police brutality to oh we have a lawyer(?) to oh we stole someone's heart to oh someone's speaking to us from another realm(?) to oh we're back in time to oh cars keep crashing randomly to oh we were sued by somebody trying to SA someone to oh there's a weird app on my phone that somehow slowed down time to oh we were sent away by the courts and our family to oh we're living above a restaurant to oh we are talking to a guy in a dream who is talking about the world being ruined like it's NON FUCKING STOP. AND THE JOKE IS YOU CAN'T REMOVE ANYTHING WITHOUT A COMPLETE REWRITE OF THE OPENING OR A STRUCTURAL OVERHAUL OR 30 MINUTES OF NONSTOP TUTORIALS OR JUST AN ENDLESSLY LONG PARAGRAPH TYPING ALL THIS LORE OUT INSTEAD OF HAVING CHARACTERS SAY IT. like the casino scene is necessary to introduce you to context sensitive actions and what combat will look like, so you can't start in the interrogation room or start with you getting captured, the interrogation scene room is necessary to establish that it's a flashback and for you to select your name and shit and to establish that you're talking to someone and a lawyer and that you're a famous criminal and to establish that this larger spirit world exists and that your character has amnesia(?), you can't remove the going to the dude's house bc it's necessary to get you acquainted to the map and neighborhood and daily routine, you can't remove the scene with the app bc it becomes a running theme soon, like the opening HAS to be this way bc otherwise you'd overwhelm every player, even ones as diligent as me and as enthusiastic about playing in menus as outside of them, and you have to dole out the story in this way because there's so many concepts they don't expect you to know and that they have to effectively and efficiently introduce to you so that the rest of the game isn't constantly bogged down in pausing every ten seconds (though somehow i get the feeling it still will) to explain shit to you your character should already know like it's maddening bc it HAS to be this way but also it kinda doesn't.

anyway, i did enjoy the new fight in the opening that wasn't there in the original, definitely does a lot for building intrigue and making the identity of the person who apparently turned us in even more suspect since we have more of a connection with one of them because we fight next to her, which makes me think it's almost guaranteed to be that person whenever the reveal happens but anyway. i'm just like really exhausted at how slow this opening is, even though i know why it is this way. and how structurally they are fucking trying their best to be effective and efficient while setting and tone and a mood and an atmosphere instead of just having you read about it in a text box. i kinda can't stand all the vague shit in the dialogue tho, it's too much intrigue building crammed into a very small space and after a point you just start spacing out or ignoring the intrigue bc you know you're not gonna get answers for quite a while.

Lore Dump: Current State of Affairs

Note: The following is a discussion on this blog's main verse and what one could expect when doing crossover threads. As the original SR series is effectively dead in the ground, and as someone who wasn't the biggest fan of how it ended, I am basing this entirely off of my own ideas regarding canon, and my revised version of the third game. Please note that at this point in time, I do not have a post that details just what exactly I've done to rework the events of the third game. So until such a post is made, feel free to send me questions regarding just about anything; from plot points, characters, the setting, and so on. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy what's spoken about here.

Something that I've always been fascinated by were the long-lasting consequences of what the Saints had done during the gang war in Steelport. Because let's be real here; the fact that a street gang was able to completely wipe out a large scale criminal organization, whose power and connections were on a global scale, and win against a paramilitary task force that was under the control and supervision of the US government, which was more than likely really fucking embarrassing for them, is monumental.

And when I say monumental, I mean do you know how fucking insane that is? Like, do you know how that's going to affect the world? I would not put it past any kind of governing body to get a wee bit paranoid over this shit. "Well, if the Saints were able to hold their own against the fucking US military, what does that tell every other criminal organization across the globe?". That's horrifying for people in high positions of power! It sets an example. Plants an idea.

So, I can see them trying to deal with this in a number of ways; either they start dumping all their money into law enforcement in order to counteract organized crime, stay vigilant and play by ear, hire outside forces (I like to consider the Masako and STAG as the catalyst for PMC's becoming much more prevalent in this world). Or, special bonus crime answer, you work with OTHER criminal organizations in order to take out what you consider a huge threat. No matter what choice is made, the end result is all of them coming off as if they're panicking like crazy.

Something to consider as well is the public's perception towards what transpired in Steelport, and the way everything was handled. While the Saints' general popularity may have waned somewhat, there's definitely people out there coming to their defense. Or, at the very least, arguing in their favor. They could be seen as arguably better than a lot of the gangs they've gone up against (something that is hinted at in NPC dialogue during the second game), and they did prevent an entire city from being demolished because the US left a dude in charge who would do absolutely anything in his power to get the job done. So, like, hmm, maybe funny purple gang is a necessary evil?

But on the contrary we have the obvious. "How can you defend a bunch of criminals? Maybe things wouldn't have escalated this badly if they weren't around. These people are scumbags! Worst of the worst! And their leader is a godforsaken psychopath (sociopath, maniac, nutcase, whatever you feel like blurting out that day)". None of it is particularly surprising. Most folk don't really like the idea of letting a gang exist, no matter what sort of perceived "good" they might have done for the community. These are also the same kind of people who may even support whatever kind of law or program may be used in order to strike back against organized crime, regardless of how it may impede upon their life or the lives of other people.

"And what about the criminal underworld? Wouldn't this affect them too? Oh, please tell me more, Andre! You're very smart and creative." Ha ha! Why thank you, Hypothetical Person. But, yes, the criminal underworld will absolutely be affected. I mean, put yourself in the position of a gang leader; how would you personally feel seeing the Saints accomplish such an incredible feat? Either you're gonna try gunning for their leader's head, find yourself inspired enough to try and be just a little bit bolder, recognize the potential threat they are to your empire, or be a real stupid motherfucker and continue to underestimate them. It's highly dependent on the gang itself and the kind of person leading them.

The Saints are in a very interesting position currently. They have cemented themselves as a criminal organization to keep an eye on. A gang that has the potential to put themselves in the history books depending on what choices they make. And knowing how ruthlessly ambitious The Boss happens to be, it is almost guaranteed that the Saints will be doing whatever possible in order to expand this empire of theirs, no matter who might stand in their way.

It is the dawn of a new era within this world, and the 3rd Street Saints are carving their path to greatness.

new FFXIV update means I'm getting pulled back into an old hyperfixation, so I'm bringing you a crossover that appeals to literally just me and no one else babey! AU where the gang are FFXIV players

Eiden: the all-rounder of all time. happily plays all roles, crafts and gathers on the side. FC leader for the rest of the clan and also raid leads the FC static.

Aster: the crafter-gatherer main of all time, king of the marketboard, island sanctuary spreadsheeter. he made sure the FC has the biggest mansion in the best location, always has the best glam, and supplies the FC static with gear/food/pots.

Morvay: omni-tank main and absolute king of "how the fuck did you survive that?". very solid player, you're always happy to see him in your party. ERPs in between raid nights and actually earns a lot of gil doing so.

Yakumo: likes healing casual content, but he mains DPS in raids because he's so afraid of holding the party back. Eiden and Olivine are encouraging him to try healing harder content, so he's thinking about playing a healer the next time they tackle a new extreme.

Edmond: wishes Paladin were a DPS. mains Paladin anyway. his character has a lore compliant name and backstory, but he doesn't talk about it because he's embarrassed about it. deeply invested in MSQ.

Olivine: omni-healer main with a preference for White Mage. he can flex roles in a pinch, but generally prefers support roles. he leans casual in terms of attitude and time commitment towards raiding, but he's the kind of healer who can salvage a really fucked up pull without missing a beat. secretly interested in ERP but has no idea how to start.

Quincy: Fisher main, but he doesn't go hard for big fish because they're too troublesome. also a retired raider and double legend, but you'd never know because he doesn't use the titles and you rarely see him on a combat job. sometimes Eiden begs him to sub in for a night in the FC static, and then Quincy will roll up on whatever role is needed, play like a god, then go back to fishing.

Kuya: Black Mage ONLY. 1.0 oldhead who still bitches about the devs removing Scholar DOTs, and swears that he would play healer if they just brought back cleric stance. you're glad cleric stance is no longer a thing because he'd spend half the instance rescue trolling the party.

Garu: the cutest Dancer main you've ever seen, but Eiden could be playing an Astrologian and Garu would still try to dance partner him. doesn't know his rotation, doesn't need to because he doesn't raid.

Karu: tries to be a big dick Samurai main but he's not very good at it. he has the capacity to be a lot better, but he's too prideful to take advice. gets mad when Dancers don't dance partner him.

Blade: a solid omnirole player, but he's an absolute beast on any DPS. casually PFs ultimates, regularly RPs, and does all the yellow sidequests. no one knows how he has the time for all of that.

Dante: doesn't have a lot of time to play, but always gives it full effort. tank/melee enjoyer. strict about punctuality and effort in the static, even though he's not the raid lead. you'd think he'd be a cutscene skipper, but he actually enjoys MSQ quite a bit.

Rei: Scholar main, but of the "fairy can deal with it" / "but did you die?" variety. you're getting absolutely no healing from him in pot windows, his fairy has been consumed and he's dumping nine aetherflow stacks into raid buffs. crafts a lot of raid food and pots, but if his static members want any they have to pay market prices.

Misc. 4.2 Archon Quest Predictions

I'm vaguely aware of how Furina and Neuvillette's little... power struggle? Is going to be resolved thanks to leaks, but until then -

I think the Gnosis is in the Oratrice. It's the reason why Fontaine's Justice system functions Like That, as well as why they can convert Belief into Power. After Sumeru's Akasha system, that makes the most sense to me.

That doesn't account for why Furina doesn't seem like an Archon, since not having her Gnosis didn't really bother Ei, so I assume she also put part of herself (?) or her authority as Archon (?) in the Oratrice as well. I don't know what exactly she did to herself, but it should be related to the Oratrice. Or depending on when the Oratrice was made, the previous Hydro Archon Did Something and Furina is saddled with it.

The Oratrice being wrapped up with the Gnosis and the Hydro Archon this way is why Neuvillette honours its judgments - even when Childe has been found guilty.

I don't expect Navia, Clorinde, Wriothesely, Lyney/Lynette or Freminet to do much more than help the people of Fontaine evacuate when the waters rise. Navia has her weird boat-shaped base, Wrio is building his own Ark, the twins+Freminet have the Magic Pockets. I'd be shocked if we got anything else from them.

I'd be shocked if Charlotte even shows up in 4.2 outside of maybe writing a news article on what happened at the end.

I really have no idea what Childe will do. Leaks from ages ago said he had no speaking lines in 4.1 and 4.2, and while he definitely didn't in 4.1 he was still present and... said things, I guess. He's definitely present in the 4.3 trailer, so maybe he'll just appear in cutscenes to fight whatever the new boss is, help hold it off for a little while or whatever, get knocked out, and then we have to step in to finish the job.

No idea what will happen with the Vision. Maybe he'll fuck off into the Abyss with Skirk and we'll keep holding onto it (lmao). It's such a weird point that we got it. I wonder if it's just to justify the Childe dream-sharing. That feels like a plot element they might want to keep around?

Who knows about Skirk. She might just be a cameo or she might dump some lore and bounce. I don't think she'll stick around after this.

We won't fight Arlecchino. I assume we would have heard something about her boss battle by now if we did. We might just end up teaming up with her entirely in this patch to fight the Abyss.

Despite the hype for the trial in the trailer, I don't think they're going to make us do another one. I hope they don't. I seriously really fucking hope they do not. Please.

So far, I've been really unimpressed with Fontaine. Unlike Sumeru, there are a lot of plot elements present in this region that could have really worked for me but so far they've flubbed every single one.

Ch1 was tedious right up until the trial, and the trial was terribly written; ch2 and ch3 were extremely poorly thought out filler that failed to use the playable cast members in meaningful ways; ch4 was... passable, if an extremely boring way to make use of all the players in Meropide. Though at that point I also just wanted to be out of Meropide.

Fuck Meropide.

I don't really expect ch5 to be a meaningful improvement, but if they can do some fun stuff with Childe I'll at least enjoy that much.

Random DST lore ideas

Basically just a myriad of thoughts and connections I made. One day I'll actually make a post/series of posts with a more well thought out timeline theory complete with images and in depth explanations but until then I'll make this less organized post where I just dump all my ideas! Enjoy ✌

Okay a quick one about Wanda. Her short doesn't tell us how she has time powers, but piecing together from her quotes, she seems to have made a deal in order to get them. Now, the thing is her deal was unlike the one of say, Wigfrid or Wilson. She didn't make it with Maxwell surely as they don't recognize eachother. We know it's someone allied with the shadows/Them rather than Alter (moon). So she probably had a deal with Them... just completely separate from Maxwell? Or she got her power like Maxwell and her tampering is also letting shadow creatures in the real world like the Codex Umbra. This isn't too big, Wanda isn't a lore relevant character, but I really like her so she gets a spot :3

This one is probably already known, but in the Walter short we can see a PR 76 in Woodies cabin. This means Woodie also made a deal with Maxwell. He probably either wanted his curse gone or Lucy back or something.

This seems pretty important. WX doesn't recognize the divining rod. This is important because it is literally a Voxola radio. Winona recognizes it. Okay, so what? Wagstaff simply made the radio after the whole WX fiasco, so after the were thrown in the Constant. But the problem is ... PR 76 , ML 77 (the gramophone), WX 78. Logically, the radio was made first, then the gramophone and THEN WX. So the radio would have ALREADY been made when WX was still around and working with Wagstaff. So this either means Wagstaff didn't tell them (which doesn't make a lot of sense? He has no reason to keep the radio of all things a secret. WX knew about the portal for Pete's sake) or Wagstaff... named his inventions in reverse order. Somehow. Which I wouldn't put past him. (Also he stops using that naming convince with his other invitations like thumper and goggles. Interesting.) Anyway this makes the Wagstaff timeline even more complicated than it already is. Yay.

Webbers dad has an alchemy engine, we know this. But he also has a pair of spectogoggles or whatever they're called. Another Wagstaff invention. Not lore relevant necessarily it just shows Wagstaff and dad were probably working for a longer time (also dont come at me with the they're related theory. Please. Those types of theories piss me off because they bring absolutely nothing substantial to the table. Also Webber would recognize Wagstaff is he were a relative.) Either that or Wagstaff is fucking Webbers dad and forgetting his shit in the guys home oops/j

CHARLIE AND MAXWELL ARE NOT METHEUS AND CYCLUM. That theory sucks and makes the potential lore of the Constant suck. They can be symbolic parallels but they're not eachother LITERALLY. Charlie and Maxwell were normal ass people before the Codex was found. I rest my case.

Charlie is trying to take over the Constant. That's her endgame. She already has the Shadow Throne powers, she only needs to take out Alter now. That's what she is doing in Axiom Visus. Trying to channel the power of the moon trough the tragic torch. Go girl fuck it up I guess

Some shit happened to Wagstaff. Like some crazy shit. Look at him in the WX short. His very... reserved. And worried. And doesn't look all that happy when he sees the consciousness transfer worked. Also he is clearly younger. He opposes WX because he is afraid of what problems their pursuit of innovation will bring. Ie the consequences of technological advances. Now look at Wagstaff in DS. The guy is insane. He is just so amazed by everything, he is fascinated when he gets attacked by Charlie, he wants to get on the Shadow Throne, he wants to bring the shadow magic to the real world for "military applications". That would absolutely bring consequences with it. Girl its 1920s they would start a fucking WAR. And he already showed being okay with transfering stuff from the Constant to the real world (see Webber short). The 2 Wagstaffs are very different. Something must have happened that made him change his mind so drastically. Klei give the old man a proper backstory I'm SO CURIOUS!!!

Wagstaff has a poster of a terrorbeak (probably an old ad for Maxwells show) in the portal room which is presumably his office (see Winona short). This could probably link him to Maxwell. Maxwells quotes for the moon storm DST event and his usage of Voxola products for access to the outside seem to show the 2 are closer than we thought.

The Forge and Gorge events may be inspired by 2 of the horsemen of the apocalypse War and Famine. This means that Pestilence and Death similar events could exist. Not a theory just a neat idea.

That's all for now! I swear one day I'll organize these. Feel free to make completions or suggestions or whatever! I need someone to nerd over this with >_<

Skinamarink (Re-Appraisal)

Okay, so this is the first time i’ve ever done this for a movie, but i couldn’t get this one out of my head. As y’all may remember, i spent my initial review mainly talking about the issues i had with it and then sending it off with a mediocre score and a lukewarm recommendation if you’re into arthouse shit.

But, for whatever reason, i couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I found myself liking the movie more and more the more distance I had from actually watching it, and the more i was just researching the (very sparse) lore and looking at tumblr posts and shit. Which seemed super weird to me, and idk that i should recommend a movie based on how it makes you feel AFTER you’re done watching it

So i watched it again last night

This time, i really thoroughly enjoyed myself. I knew what I was in for, I could follow the plot, I was prepared for the weird way it was shot so it wasn’t distracting, and the nature of the scares meant that they actually stayed pretty effective the second time around as well.

It was MUCH more emotionally effective. It made me anxious, it made me incredibly fucking depressed, it made me feel a little bit sick to tell you the truth. It actually succeeded in just about everything it set out to do. 

I also didn’t realize the first time around how...not irrelevant the visuals are, but secondary. A lot of the movie is told through sound alone, and the sound quality really is incredible and very fucking creepy. I caught myself at times wondering if you could just listen to this entire movie and still get what was going on. You couldn’t, and the visuals are important and very striking sometimes, but almost. Either way, it’s very interesting.

 I would highly recommend this movie, based on my second viewing of it, but therein lies the catch

Okay, my praise out of the way, here’s where i’m gonna start dumping all over it

Skinamarink is kinda like hypnosis. It only works if you let it. You can’t watch it like a normal movie. You have to really immerse yourself in it, i mean, in a sense you have to almost actively TRY to enjoy it, or at least try to engage with and understand it. There’s a whole section of people i know who just read that and went “Oh, well that alone makes it a shit movie.” 

Which is a valid take, and you’ll fucking hate Skinamarink.

But if you let yourself get totally immersed, watch it alone in the dark with like some very nice quality headphones and pay very close to attention to everything you see and hear (because many of the infamous static shots of random ceiling corners and shit are actually giving you some kind of information), you’ll have a really great....great’s probably the wrong word, a really tense and uncomfortable and horrifying experience.

Also, this is almost the opposite of one of those blockbuster Marvel movies where they don’t even want the actors to know what’s going on lest something be spoiled, i would honestly highly recommend going into Skinamarink already knowing the basic beats of the plot. Not y’know a scene-by-scene breakdown, but just knowing what pretty much happens greatly improved my enjoyment of it the second time.

What happens being, essentially, that a kid playing with some imaginary friend seems to fall down the stairs and hit his head. They get home from the hospital later that night and the dad goes to bed. The sister gets up later to find the dad has disappeared into thin air, along with all their house’s doors and windows. From there, it’s largely just the story of these two kids trying to make sense of and survive their situation while they’re fucked with in gradually and then very fucking dramatically escalating ways by what appears to be an omnipotent entity. Think I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream starring two kids just barely too old to be called toddlers, and no motivation or backstory is given for AM and you’ll start to understand what it’s going for.

In terms of technique, it’s shot in a deliberately frustrating and disorienting way that is often supposed to be mimicking a child’s perspective. You don’t get a good look at anyone’s face, ever. The two main characters are exclusively shot from the waist down, usually the knees down. Once in a blue moon you get the back of someone’s head.

Characters are usually completely off-screen, and so is the action. I don’t just mean the gore and scary shit. I mean almost literally everything that happens happens off-screen while the camera is pointed somewhere else. If you’re lucky, you’ll see an object get dragged on or off-screen, but that’s about it.

The dialogue that is there, and there’s not a lot, is almost entirely whispered and almost unintelligible, to the point that about half the lines are subtitled by the movie itself. It’s...not easy to follow.

Again, if that description turns you off, you’re gonna wanna give it a miss

Finally, i’d watch the director’s short film “Heck” first, it’s on youtube for free and it’s only half an hour. It’s not the same story, but it’s a very similar one with a very similar style, and serves as a very nice litmus test for your ability to put up with Skinamarink’s.....idiosyncracies.

So yes, i would recommend the movie. With a lot of fucking qualifiers. If it’s not worth the trouble to you, it’s not worth the trouble to you, and that’s fine. I don’t think i’d call it y’know the BEST horror movie of the year based on just how limited the appeal is. But i do believe for a select group of weirdos and art hoes (myself included) it’s one of the most bleak, disturbing, and anxiety-provoking horror films in a while and highly enjoyable.

TL;DR My first review remains true in that if you love arthouse pretentious shit you should give it a go and if you hate arthouse pretentious shit you should give it a miss and if you’re unsure you should read the long version and use your own discretion, but i actually really liked it. Eventually. I had to warm up to it

a comprehensive guide to (mostly) every infinity kings teaser we've recieved, PART ONE (aug 6 & 19)

HI HELLO. welcome to my new series where i annoy the fuck out of you all by dumping screenshots of adam silvera's stories for theory purposes. PLEASE help me decipher what each one means cuz all i have is half a braincell and some dumbass theories :P

shoutout to the awesome people who sent in these asks and gave us these crumbs! y'all slayed.

warning for infinity son + reaper spoilers! because duh.

on to the teasers! (click the keep reading cuz this bitch hella long)

#1: infinity SONday (august 6th):

i have a theory about this. It's Bad.

talamari canon *cough* i ALSO have a theory for this one also. hey if yall are interested in my (angsty) theories hit me up!

i wheezed

L for prudom nation ANYWAYS! little more information with this one. the bronze wings commander mentioned first in this screenshot is crest! and adam also mentioned that crest makes his arrival with some "game changing news." i don't know what that is.

also does anyone know who the alchemist mentioned second to last is? my brain is saying keon, which kind of makes sense since bautista had some "screen time" in reaper. but like. someone lmk if it's someone else pls i have no idea who this could be

also LORE SCREEN TIME!!! everyone cheered

#2: spontaneous q&a time (aug 19)

this was my question. i was not worried about her before today. i am now very worried. DO NOT FRIDGE MY WIFE SIR.

and the final screenshot (warning for those of you who do not enjoy Adult Fun Time aka sex):

WHAT.

SIR.

EXCUSE ME.

okay this confused the FUCK out of me and my gf. because. THERE ARE NOT THREE DEFINED QUEER SHIPS. THERE ARE TWO. we have whatever the hell is going on with ness, emil, and wyatt (*cough* THROUPLE), and we have maritala. I DON'T KNOW. I'M CONFUSED. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN. IS BRIGHTON HAVING A GAY AWAKENING please god no that man deserves death. anyways nemyatt endgame. (no its not im fucking delulu. but delulu is the solulu)

thats all bitches hope yall have some idea what is going on cuz I Don't :P

yeah so

salty dragon age thoughts i guess

i think november last year, when I realized I was okay with parting with all the dragon age shit i'd collected over the past decade, really marked my departure from dragon age as a top-tier fave. i don't think I can ever drop it completely, but nothing about dragon age has gotten me really excited in a few years. i replayed DAO at the beginning of 2020 when I needed a comfort game, but I haven't touched any of the other games since 2018? and I don't really get that "aww i miss thedas" feeling i used to get when i'd take a break for a while.

the more time passes from inquisition, the more I just find it deeply unsatisfying, and a big part of that is the solas/high fantasy ancient elf/fade lore crap. i just don't care. solas is a condescending prick and I find everything about him extremely unappealing. he's not even fun to hate, I just want him to go away. and I just check out as soon as I encounter hardcore fade/veil lore and theories. like obviously I enjoy some degree of this stuff--i do like fantasy and magic and weird shit, and I think there are some interesting metaphysical things to consider--but it's just answering questions I don't care about. DAO and DA2 work for me because they're still so grounded against the fantasy backdrop.

today's announcement just kind of solidified for me that DA4 is gonna be a buy-on-deep-steam-sale game for me. solas was obviously always going to play a main role in it, but having the whole ass game named after his fursona just tells me DA is just not for me anymore. and yanno, that's fine. there is a part of me that does find that a little sad and disappointing, but i mean it's been 7 goddamn years. a long 7 goddamn years. (hawke knows what I'm talking about.) I got a lot of good things out of the 9ish years i was deeply invested in the series, and i'm grateful for that, but we're just on separate journeys now, i suppose.

and while i'm very glad they dumped the online service game model or whatever the fuck, I gotta say that logo reveal is super uninspiring and is ironically reminiscent of MMO aesthetics lmao. i saw someone say it looked like they were announcing the next season of fortnite, and yeeeaaah. i hope the actual cover art is more interesting.

anyway. if you're happy i'm excited for you! i just can't help but feel a little bitter, I think.

hey ! would YOU like to know more abt him? awesome because im gonna dump my design notes and lore notes for him here for funsies! i just wanted to make an info post for him! thank you for reading if you do!

its a bit of a long one btw, so apologies for thwt. i am very much open to ideas and suggestions for developing this little. interpretation? au? whatever you might call this. feel free to play around with him as u like hes not my oc :^] just a fun idea

DESIGN NOTES:

i want to make it clear most of the design stuff is bc i thought it was cool. then i bullshit my reasoning behind it. remember this.

i also dont know how exactly to organize this so smth more lore related might be in the design section and vise versa. i dont care enough to make this better

also design is still very subject to change because i enjoy constantly fiddling with things. fun! might update if its different enough.

uses mostly reds/purples to directly complement athetos's greens and blues. trace takes comfort in this, for the most part.

just a fun idea but i rhink its neat to have traces Not Human-ness be biological, to contrast with indras being entirely technological/robotic. adds to their parallels. (and both of them being physical at all is a parallel to hammond being fucking dead /j)

wonder why his mouth has those faint marks at the corners? because it can do this now!

why you might ask? i dont know. ask someone else. i thiught it was cool. the orange line on #3 is supposed to indicate where his mouth normally wouldve ended. so he has a wider mouth technically!

hes much more movement based now! since this also acts as a fun idea for what if in a future av game(s) we got gameplay that was even more abt the movement. so hes pretty good at parkour now. specifically climbing. ive been imagining he moves a lot like u do in celeste, except probably more stamina and faster climbing. less focus on dashing. but he can air dash too!

he has his gun i promise he has the gun i just dont like drawing it it sucks to draw

yea so he is covered in carapace, since ive had to scrap that with a different chatacter (if you know, you know) i get to put it on the same character but in a different direction. i can do whatever i want forever.

size comparison over his weird. tentacle things idk what ud call them exactly. they got bigger because i can do anything. also bc when i originally drew them i didnt look up a ref (i rarely use refs for charas and prefer to go off of memory unless i need to) and so i was like ok so thwyre big right? right. well turns out theyre not. but guess what. now they are. it is so awesome for him

for funsies i think trace can put stupid shit in his hair. its a tangled mess stuff will very easily stay in there. he hasnt brushed it in years man. he always forgets what he puts in there btw so its always a surprise for him

oh also his labcoat also is Different but i cant figure out what hed have that isnt already in av1. so imagine he does smth new WOW WOW SO COOL !

LORE NOTES:

this whole hashtag Look is either from the original bioflux mutation getting worse or a few different ones. i havent decided which one i wanna go with. either way this is a gradual change. it will get worse!

see i dont have much for What hes doing because i dont have any ideas for what the rusalki are doing now so thats very much up in the air. all i have rn is that hes helping them somehow. not of his own choice really.

has a very. Not Great relationship with the rusalki. hes incredibly bitter about his situation (lack of any real control) and so. well they arent besties. hes a lot more snarky and rude to them. which is fair i think how would you feel in a situation like that huh. not so great huh.

his best friend is oracca bc shes the only person who hasnt lied to him and has only been helpful and he loves to chill with her. she never speaks or does much of anything but thats fine with trace, he doesnt mind. likes to do the rubber duck thing with her (says thing out loud to pin point whats wrong with whatever hes working on). she also doesnt mind id like to think

hes. a little more aggressive but as a defense mechanism. hes in hostile territory all the time and under incredible stress all the time, can you blame him realky? stress can make people aggressive, it turns out. crazy.

also with this, i say hes more aggressive but hes just more all bark no bite. hes like this

but if you take like, anothwr step closer hes like this

see. hes still kind of a weenie dw. i understand

he really wants to be kinder again. but hes not in a situation where he can. this kills him

also! heavy unreality issues. this is what happens when you spend months if not years thinking ur living ur life as usual until it gets revealed actually you were in a dream simulation the whole time. unrelated but i think he hates the movie inception.

the unreality is still a massive issue but he copes with it by after so long just going "ok well ill just assume Everything is a dream no matter what because the opposite would be horrifying and i have no evidence that disproves this. but i can act like i dont think this on the off chance rhat it is real. but i know its not"

doesnt come up much at all because hes not ever around someone New but he is pretty self conscious about how he is now. i think hes also a very touch swnsory person so he develops lots of touch related tics. like when nervous he starts to pick at himself, runs hands through hair a lot, etc etc. very touchy. with the parts hes most self conscious abt.

massive identity issues, especially because of his distinct lack of humanity. how can he really be trace anymore if hes changed so much, etc etc. those questions. he can feel his connection to The Trace Identity sorta fading as he becomes his own kinda guy away from this but it fucking sucks for him. because if hes not trace then what is he. who is he. if you tell him athetos hed curl up and cry

speaking of curling up and crying, thats what hes kinda doing a lot internally. he really wants to go home man and for real this time he wont want to go back to sudra this time he promises. but also if he does go back he will be 100% convinced that isnt real. which is fair

if you ask him how long hes been there he'll tell you "a few months, i think." this is not true, he has been there for years doing somethinh, couldnt tell ya what tho!

Generally Not Doing Too Great On Many Levels But Hes Dealing With It

ok thats abt all i can think of atm? ill update this if needed. otherwise hi if you read this ur very kind and i appreciate that. it feels nice when people read my stuff. makes me feel good :^] i hope you feel good today too. today is a good day

okay,, but.

1) lore/worldbuilding:

this is The reason i watch the mandalorian. I've seen most of the star wars movies, i watched a Small amount of the clone wars, but the Meat of the General Star Wars lore i'm consuming Is in fact from the mandalorian. And what can i say? it's there. It delivers. There sure fuckin are these pterodactyl-lookin dragon-things on this random unnamed desert planet. (is it named? fuck if i know). but more importantly, this sure is the way this group of people Interacts. There are habits and patterns they weave through in their day to day that are foreign to me, there are traditions they hold to and yeah, they may be impractical. They may even highlight Roadblocks that prevent their society from Functioning like the one i live in. If i could not cook someone a meal and see them enjoy it, i Would in fact scream. So much. There's a lot of worldbuilding and lore dumping in the mandalorian. Shallow, matter-of-fact things such as "hey yeah, there's at least one mythosaur on mandalore" to more inference-based things, such as "hey yeah when you're petitioning the covert, it is your turn to speak when you hold the armorer's hammer". Long story short, it's there. It delivers. It is the main attraction for me, and by God does it deliver.

2) cinematography

now i'm gonna be frank - i know Nothing about filming shit. Nothing. What i do know about is making shit up based on Vibes so you sound like you have a point. The camerawork in the mandalorian Definitely exists. It is There and it gets the story across and i have Some issues with it - but it's more pacing and probably belongs in category 3) writing, except i already know that that shit's gonna be long and i Don't want to exacerbate it more than i have to. There is too much combat per episode in season 3 than there strictly Needs to be. I get that mandalorians fight, i get that like. So much of their culture is built around that and that so long ago in the sith wars or whatever they invaded the rest of the galaxy and there were crusades and it was a Whole Thing. But (and i know it wasn't) it *feels* like either half of each episode is eaten by "oh we gots to fight, here is how we go fight, here is the fight" with various "surprise, fight time!"s sprinkled in. It just gets to be gratuitous and unnecessary and yeah, it may be the only relevant to the story thing happening in the lives of the mandalorian(s) at the time - but there are ways *around* that. My personal favorite is, if your character isn't by themselves telling a compelling story, you can shift the pov to a new character and show how the otherwise predictable plot affects them - and shift back later. They kind of do a similar thing by interspersing a second, loosely related plot with the first - but they're too loosely related and it feels jarring to swap back and forth. They're two completely different worlds, two completely different stories, they exist independently from one another and it leaves us with a kind of mystery getting chopped up by all the mandalorian action and stuff that would be Otherwise dropped to tell a concise narrative - were the show not originally about it. so we'll use that to segue into...

3) writing

the writing in the third season of the Mandalorian isn't about anything. Yet. Ok, it's about Din Djarin going to mandalore and finding a new home for his covert and in the case of bo katan it's about finding purpose - but that arc has pretty much sailed and we're back to square one with "what is the moral". In season one, the large takeaway i got was "no matter your lot in life, you can still function with a moral compass". In season two, it was about finding purpose in family. Season three is about... mandalorians. There is no consistent moral or theme to tie things together. There is no emotional pull or weight, there is nothing to invest us emotionally beyond "hey look, grogu does cute flip and Paz is a dad." and "damn i sure hope these mandalorians don't die in their next fight."

Because of this dearth of a theme, and to have some emotional investment in the story, the story has a second main plot. I don't want to call it a side plot, because it takes a Significant amount of runtime and only Loosely relates to the main plot involving the mandalorian covert. But it has this second main plot in which a Friend of moff gideon's is slowly fucking with shit and doing spy things in the new republic's requisitions office, and it's a compelling story. I very much enjoy how the main character of it is someone we see through many side characters' eyes - it paints them as distant and cold and calculating and is the Perfect setup for some behind the scenes villain shit and i am Here for it. We got to see her get close to someone she Knew could easily become a threat and then essentially kill him to protect her own back. Was both good writing and good characterization.

And especially with the end of the latest episode being "hey, mandalorians abducted moff gideon" - I can see how the two plots fit together down the road. But it's a Real fuckin stretch right now, and as i mentioned before - it's Very jarring.

What else is jarring is dialogue choices. Every episode has one or two lines that have stood out to me as "inorganic" and by god this last was no exception. In the aforementioned scene the episode ends on, the last line (or pretty close to) is something along the lines of "Do you mean that mandalorians took moff gideon?" in response to "hey there's beskar embedded in the fucking wall of this dead in the water prisoner shuttle". Now, there are two problems with this. First, yes. It's beskar. The episode gives no reason to doubt that that's the material. Mandalorians - to my limited knowlesge - are the only group of peoples that Use beskar. If a serious question is to be asked here, it shouldn't be "is it mandalorians?" because, yes. Beskar means mandalorians. That's a stupid question. If you need a question in the script, you could ask "are you sure it's beskar", because beskar is very rare and finding a shard of beskar in some random space shuttle would be Very Odd Indeed and Maybe cause to double check your readings. And if you need to spell it out to your audience that "hey, this means mandalorians took moff gideon", don't frame it as a question, it is demeaning. Have the person say "ah, must be mandalorians then" or something - treating it as a Logical Conclusion rather than a theory to field. Second, if over the equivalent of a phone call there is reason enough to doubt that mandalorians left beskar in the wall, don't ask if it's mandalorians. It's not a logical conclusion. It's juet bad.

4) conclusion

when season 3 picks up, i will be very excited. If it picks up. Which it might not. If it doesn't i will cry. But i don't know where i'm going with this, i think ibjust wanted to gut it a bit because it could be better.