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pochapal · 2 years

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umineko thoughts/speculation [as of episode 1 chapter 6]

making public my observations and theorizing because i have been told this may be of interest for people to see. i’m willing to do this at regular intervals whenever i have more thoughts to please let me know if you’d like more of this.

caveat that this is very off the cuff and based off in the moment observations, but other than that here’s where i’m at with this story so far:

first major thought that’s been bouncing around my head for a while is that there’s Something happening with the narration, specifically the narration when battler is the focal point - the narrative will shift from first to third person at seemingly random points which feels like a Thing given how meticulous everything in this vn is. not sure if it’s just done for emotional effect or if there’s some kind of deliberate reason for it happening but the perspective surrounding battler feels slippery.

thing number two that is screaming to me is that there’s like. definitely fascist subtext to kinzo here. right. like the dude’s got an obsession with western occultism dating back to his dealing with western occupiers during the war and like. if we’re talking mid 20th century european nations with an affinity for esoteric occult thought....Yeah. and that’s without getting into the theory that beatrice’s portrait is a whitewashing of a wealthy japanese patron like. something’s stinky mr ushiromiya kinzo and i’m not liking the stench.

next thing is whatever is up with shannon in that there is definitely Something up. this is more based on content than meaning so whatever i’m saying here is more wishy-washy but Why is an abused servant wearing the ushiromiya eagle and as a tattoo nonetheless. like, the fact that it’s blaring on her sprite after the whole scene where shreds were torn out of natsuhi because she does not have the right to bear the ushiromiya eagle and therefore has no authority in ushiromiya discussions is. hm. her character bio also makes a point of saying “shannon” is actually a pseudonym so. something is here beyond the low hanging “shannon is a secret ushiromiya who has actually been chosen by kinzo as the true successor over his worthless loser offspring” theory that feels way too blatant to be the case.

also gonna talk about the epitaph kinda. had this whole running theory that the epitaph isn’t actually about terrible and violent things but then kinzo the alleged author of the epitaph goes ahead and spells it out (unless kinzo did not actually come up with the epitaph and then that means he’s as trapped in a false interpretation as everyone else..hm.) so i’m not sure what’s going on with it. but i am interested in keeping track of who immediately insists that the epitaph must be solves using blood magic and sacrifice and murder of live human beings because unless there’s something missing in translation the epitaph...never literally says “btw murder a human being to revive beatrice and get the gold” and yet this is the consensus everyone seems to be landing towards.

getting into more thematic territory now but i need to highlight for my own understanding the emphasis on metaphor and veiled narrative and fantastical obfuscations of truth. the ushiromiya siblings are pretty united on kinzo’s gold story being a double bluff metaphor-within-a-metaphor to disguise a more mundane and perhaps scandalous origin of his wealth (aside again: kinzo and the war. hm.) and yet despite that truth being lost and irrelevant the fabrication is still enough to grant them what they want. similarly beatrice and witches in general are highlighted as maria’s dream. shannon tells the kids of a servants’ ghost story. stories and metaphors and fictionally augmented realities. there’s something here.

small point that arose after seeing the natsuhi/shannon and the rosa/maria scenes: there is definitely a deliberate statement happening in this story about proximity to power equalling proximity to abuse. natsuhi and rosa are weaker links in the ushiromiya hierarchy and yet both also exist in a great position of power over others and similarly abuse as they in turn are stepped on. george, the oldest ushiromiya child and thus the closest to the ushiromiya power vortex is the first to loudly excuse and look the other way from maria’s abuse and uses that position to silence and redirect battler and jessica from causing a scene. it’s all very rotten over there.

finally: magic. magic is money. beatrice is capitalism. an arcade toy is a magic protection charm just as much as a sheet of paper can become an all-powerful war bond just as much as a story about alchemist’s gold can bail out a sinking family from financial ruin. both magical and capitalist thought require total faith in the unseeable and immaterial, to permit something that doesn’t “exist” total dominion over your self and your reality, something that grows stronger the greater the shared collective delusional belief in its absolute power. a witch’s spell is stronger the more everyone believes in the power of its effects. a stock market share makes you richer the more that everyone believes it to have a greater intrinsic monetary worth. likewise, they share the same paradox: total protection from the ruination each system can cause upon you also requires total belief in the material existence of said system. doesn’t matter how much you state money is fake - the capitalist machine is real and will kill you irrespective of your belief. the gold will only protect you from financial destruction if you acknowledge the capitalist machine to be real and capable of inflicting such harms on you. likewise, your charm can only protect you from the witch’s wrath if you acknowledge the witch to be real and capable of killing you.

the gag here being that while the above metaphor is true, magic is also literally real and there is also a vengeful murderwitch beatrice who will fuck these people up at the same time as whatever all that other stuff will lead into. beatrice being a pluralistic entity within this story - beatrice the literal witch who is summoned with blood magic and also “beatrice the witch”, the guise for the iron steamrolled death drive of capitalist desperation. the fun will be figuring out which beatrice is responsible for which horrors once they start inevitably happening.

#umineko #umineko spoilers #1000 words of thoughts and the plot hasn't even really kicked in yet #this is gonna be a mammoth undertaking isn't it #umineko liveblog #umineko writeup

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glutko · 6 months

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New CD-i Zelda lore dropped, y'all

So, ogarvey from the Arzette Discord server found out that the CD-i catalog that came with Laser Lords had some early plot writeups for Hotel Mario, Super Mario's Wacky Worlds, and the Animation Magic Zelda games.

There's a lot to unpack here. We have an actual plot and early world names for SMWW... Yoshi would've been kidnapped instead of Peach in Hotel Mario... and the typos. Kuluan? World of Gamelon? Triface of Courage? Good job.

However, the description of Link: The Faces of Evil contains some interesting differences. First, it implies that Koridai is part of Hyrule or, less likely, that it was originally set in the kingdom itself. Secondly, it dedicates most of its second half to how the gentle giant Kuluan, or Kulvan, has been captured by Ganon.

For reference, Kulvan is the blacksmith that got chained up to a mountainside. He isn't that important to the game apart from tempering Link's sword and his daughter giving the boi a Life Heart. It's vaguely implied in the cutscene that he's taller than Link, but not to the point of being a giant. However, he is shown to be a giant on the title screen - about tall as Morshu's store, as this bad edit will show:

Furthermore, I had made a half-jesting theory on my CD-i Nintendo iceberg chart that Koridai had been inhabited by an extinct (or so I thought) race of giants. I pointed to examples such as massive skeletons being found in Ganon's Lair, and the massive suit of armor that Militron wore:

I genuinely can't believe that the theory has some truth. And it's from a promo flyer that calls the Triforce the "Triface".

#not corruption #cdi zelda #long post #the legend of zelda #loz

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aviivix · 11 months

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IMPORTANT EDIT MAY 18 2024

A lot about this has changed since I originally wrote this up, especially around act 3 since while right now it’s still up in the air between a few different ideas, the act 3 in this post is cringe-tier and I’m embarrassed for having wrote it. Another significant enough change to mention here is that old Agent 3 and Agent 8 now join Off the Hook as antagonists, and recruiting “enemy” Octolings is now a core mechanic that the story anchors around more heavily. Also, Cy actually looks good now.

I’ll do a revised writeup of this at some point, but for now, take most of this with a grain of salt! A lot has changed. Now, flashback to about a year ago!

Soooo... I’ve been dead for a while and that’s because I’ve been fixated entirely on Splatoon 3 basically since it launched and all this time I’ve been working on an AU/HC/Fanfic/Something Like That called Culture Shock.

Given this has been something I’ve been working on for a LONG time, and given it’s entirely tied to Octarians, I figure I might as well make a big post about it before Side Order totally invalidates it! (Though I’ll keep working on this as an AU even if I don’t like how it interacts with Side Order.)

Details and more art under the break! (Though the quality will vary greatly as, again, I’ve been doing stuff with this since Splatoon 3 came out.) This is an extremely long story concept and if you read the whole thing I officially owe you my soul

There's a LOT to this (as there is with any hyperfixation concept like this) but I'll try to keep it somewhat light on details. Of course, it’s subject to change, and the exact plot progression is still kind of in the air. A big part is whether the climax of Act II should actually happen at the end of Act I... But here’s what I’ve developed so far.

The Story

Prologue

Culture Shock is designed as a DLC story mode set a year after the end of Splatoon 3's main story. The Squid Sisters have disappeared at some point in that time (a familiar situation), and ol' Cuttlefish has called in all of the agents-- plus Pearl and Marina-- to join forces against the Octarians that are undoubtedly behind it. Rather than going into stages alone, the levels are designed for you to do them with CPU teammates.

It's pretty quickly made certain that Octarians were involved, and thus the group is airlifted by Off the Hook into Octo Valley to find Callie and Marie. Upon landing, the player is ambushed by a group of Octolings -- that is, until one member in the backline pulls down her mask and excitedly calls out. It’s Callie? And though she doesn’t immediately unmask, Marie is definitely next to her.

After some confusion and accusations from both sides, the Squid Sisters assure the Squidbeak Splatoon that they’re not brainwashed, and offer to explain everything. Though Marie warns that it’s a long story, so the group settle down by ol’ Cuttlefish’s shack for a massive flashback played from the perspective of the Squid Sisters.

(Gameplay-wise, this whole setup is to allow the player to interrupt the Squid Sisters’ sequence at any time, and then pick up where they left off. It being a flashback also means it’s easy to replay missions or go for 100% by just asking Callie to repeat something.)

Funny title card, and the real story officially starts. I’m gonna skip through things a lot more, since at this pace it would take WAY too long to summarize every little scene and there are a lot of things not really settled on. I’ll be keeping detail for the introduction, as well as some key scenes, but for any less important/in-between type stuff, I’ll be summarizing what happens. Even doing this it will be extremely long, though Act I is far bigger than Acts II and III because it’s primarily setting up the world and motivations.

Act I

Introductory cutscene, in which the Squid Sisters find themselves stuck in purple ink, locked in an Octarian vault. The Octarians who squidnapped them keep their distance, though one particular Octoling does try to chat (to the annoyance of the others).

She claims that the Octarians will let them go in time, and that they won’t be hurt - though the Squid Sisters are suspicious at best. And, after noticing their discomfort in the Octarian ink, she offers them her Octoshot to paint the ground their own color. As the Octoling goes back to standing guard, Callie inks the floor and the two slump over, one of them idly singing the Calamari Inkantation under her breath.

Fade to when the Octoling swaps guard duty with another Octoling, who leans up against the wall and, after the first Octoling leaves, promptly falls asleep. Callie realizes she still has the Octoshot from before, and suggests slipping through the keyhole in squid form. With help from Marie, she’s able to get out on her own, and sets out to find the key to the vault. (This serves as a tutorial for stealth missions - though the guard will not wake up even if you fail.)

After freeing Marie, the two of them head towards the door, whispering about how crazy it was that the guard slept through all of that. The guard then dully tells them that he wasn’t asleep. The Squid Sisters prepare for a fight, but the guard barely has his eyes open and has not moved. After some back and forth with Callie, this Wendy’s employee of an Octoling just assures them that if he could beat them, it wouldn’t have even gotten to this point, and tells them to do whatever they want - just warning them that the other Octarians wouldn’t be so lenient.

An Octoling watches them come out, but just looks around frantically before running up to meet them. Marie declares that they’re breaking out, and prepares for a fight... but the Octoling starts freaking out instead, first worrying that they’ll get hurt trying to escape, and then worrying about what the rest of the Octarians are going to do with the Squid Sisters gone.

Before either Inkling can interject, a much more stern Octoling calls out while angrily marching up to the group. Through this conversation the Squid Sisters learn that the worried Octoling is named Aris, the tired Octoling is named Oregil, and this new more angry Octoling is named Cy. What originally seemed to be a jailbreak quickly turns into some (rather silly) negotiations with Cy, the Squid Sisters trying to convince her that Aris didn’t do anything wrong, and that Oregil totally did all he could to stop them.

Though Cy clearly doesn’t buy it, she lets it go, returning Aris’s Octoshot but also warning the Squid Sisters that their squadron’s mission is of utmost importance, and if the rest of them won’t do their jobs properly, she will. That said, the two of them just broke out of the only vault they had. So now, the Squid Sisters have to just stay in camp under Cy’s supervision.

With no more weapon to brandish and a clearly blown cover, the two of them kind of have no choice but to agree. Though Marie alludes to how dysfunctional this squad appears to be, and how easy it will probably be to escape.

Though before the conversation ends, Aris asks if “Tetra” will be okay with this. There’s a sort of tension in the air immediately upon mention of the name, immediately pierced by an intimidating voice asking what was going on. This was an Elite Octoling, apparently Tetra. After a recap from Cy, Tetra turns to the surrounded Squid Sisters, and tells them in no uncertain terms to always remember that they are prisoners - they are not one of them.

From here on out, the rest of Act I is a sort of slow burn. At the start, it’s purely the Squid Sisters looking for ways to escape. But as time goes on, they learn more about these Octarians by sort of living their life, and through learning about the octo squad themselves.

Aris is kind, possibly to a fault. While she’s committed to the squadron and their goals, she’s also the most both-sides-ist of the bunch. She wants to think that everyone is trying their best, and does everything she can to avoid conflict, but as a result she doesn’t speak up as much when the Squid Sisters make faulty assumptions about them, and she uninentionally hinders their growth at the start by letting them hide behind her leniency. Over the course of Act I, she eventually has to realize she can’t just hold everyone’s opinion equally - the Squid Sisters are making judgements off of bad information, and she realizes that her enabling that is making it harder for everyone.

Cy is the opposite. Cy is deeply passionate about their situation, and takes any opportunity to show the Squid Sisters what they get wrong. She especially butts heads with Marie, having little patience for the various non-solutions to their problems, or for the ignorance about Octarian culture. She’s extremely well connected among Octarians, even having worked with Octavio himself, although she doesn’t seem thrilled about it. Thus, despite coming across as very headstrong and aggressive, she also is the source of a lot of information about Octarian life.

Oregil is a self-proclaimed realist - in actuality, a doomer. He doesn’t say much, but what he does say is not particularly hopeful. When put in charge of something, he doesn’t tend to have a lot of energy behind it, as he’s become convinced that, in the end, Octarians cannot be saved. That said, it would be wrong to call him fully complacent. He still sticks with the team, even if he doesn’t have much energy to contribute, and would rather go down with his sinking ship than abandon his friends and family. Though he always seems to be napping on the job, he never actually does, though not for lack of trying. He has insomnia, and it’s rare to find him asleep at all even when laying in bed.

The Elite Octoling Tetra rarely shows herself. The only things the Squid Sisters have seen of her is that she’s intimidating, and not to be reckoned with. But the way the others talk about her and interact with her betray a different story. Oregil is flippant about her commands and doesn’t actually give anything his all. Cy goes along with Tetra’s commands, but seemingly only due to her own reasons aligning with Tetra’s rather than out of any respect for her authority. Aris obeys, but the way she acts and talks about it makes it almost feel like she’s obeying out of pity.

Lastly, there is also a fifth mysterious Octoling that the Squid Sisters will occasionally grab a passing glimpse of. They don’t know who this Octoling is, and whenever she’s mentioned, the others assure them that “she’s nobody”.

As the act goes on, Callie especially pries deeply into the hows and whys of a lot of Octo stuff. She had been in Octarian territory before in Splatoon 2, sure, but she was being brainwashed by DJ Octavio himself and held up as a superstar. This time, she was fully aware of herself, and living the life of the average Octoling soldier in the time between Octavio’s Zapfish heists.

The two of them wonder why the sun hasn’t come up, and learn that without the Great Zapfish, the kettle’s “sun” cannot shine. It’s a land of eternal night. The Octolings seem to live on a diet of mostly power eggs and salmon, which they learn is because without light, most crops don’t grow. Many little things like this illustrating just how resource-starved this nation is.

There are a lot of assumptions made and corrected. A lot of complaints put into perspective when the things they find uncomfortable or annoying are things these Octarians have had to deal with every day. But one of the biggest things is their ideas of resolution. An early question being, “Why don’t you just leave? Inkopolis is a stone’s throw away.”

There are a lot of answers that are given to this, but to some effect, they all boil down to “culture”. Inkopolis isn’t the same as Octaria. It has different people, different history, different fashion, different food, different expectations... it’s just a totally different place.

Oregil’s lived in Octarian society his whole life - it’s his home. Cy is an artist, she makes distinctly Octarian music and sees firsthand how it connects those in Octarian communities. Aris knows Octolings are “accepted”, but only insofaras they appeal to Inkling expectations. It’s hard to express their culture without being seen as weird or other. Even little things like how they look - Octolings in Inkopolis tending to make their hair slimmer, straighter, adding patterns and minimizing the amount of visible suckers. Plus, how many non-Octoling Octarians do you see in Inkopolis and beyond? Maybe an Octoling can fit in, but what about an Octotrooper?

The most impactful realization for the Squid Sisters as well, is just how few Octarians are even there anymore. Between the exodus in Octo Valley, the bigger exodus in Octo Canyon, the horrors of Octo Expansion, and just recently the similar horrors of Alterna... all stacked on top of the nation itself being less and less hospitable year by year? Since the events of Splatoon 1, so many Octarians have been lost. Within the squad they’re in, pictures and murmurings from the rest of them tell the stories of at least four other Octolings that were previously in their squadron.

So then the other aspect of the Squid Sisters’ arc is... if they don’t think Octarians should be stealing the Great Zapfish or dealing with Salmonids or anything like that... what should they be doing?

Because so far, nothing has worked for them. Negotiations fail, because Inklings don’t know enough about Octarian society to understand why they need so much support. They don’t know enough about the history of Inklings and Octolings to realize that Inkadia is largely the reason they’re suffering. The average Inkling doesn’t know enough to realize there’s a problem, and the average Octarian doesn’t have a loud enough voice.

All this compounded onto the fact that now, the only Octolings Inkadia sees are the ones who decided that Octarians were oppressing themselves, to the point where they abandoned everything they knew to live in the nation that started this in the first place.

Though, it’s hard to blame them when life in Octaria is practically nonexistent. Losing so many people, living in such horrible conditions, led by an egomaniac whose awareness of his people is performative at best... but most Octolings can’t let that take away from who they are as a people. They don’t let it tear their communities apart, or sever the bonds they have with people. Their lived experiences show them that it’s worth fighting for. Well... except in one scenario we’ll get into later.

The final important thing that comes to light over this period... This whole time Octavio has barely come up, because he doesn’t even know the Squid Sisters are there. The squadron are a real squadron in the Octarian army, but this whole mysterious operation involving the Squid Sisters is entirely outside Octavio’s control. In fact, it becomes apparent that the Octarians at least in this squadron or associated with this squadron, hate Octavio and everything he’s been doing to their society as a whole.

They’ve always seen the Zapfish heists as a horrible, horrible ego trip. An extremely hollow, expensive move that only plants targets on the backs of Octarians. But even in feeling that way, Aris and Oregil both admit that there isn’t much else offering them hope. If not for Octavio stealing the Zapfish for those couple days of “sun”light, what would they be doing? Though Cy has a much more strong opinion there, asserting that doing nothing would have put those resources into survival rather than gambling it all on a fool’s errand.

Needless to say, the Squid Sisters get a bit wrapped up in this stuff. Talking to these Octolings, learning about their life, living it, offering to help (gameplay sections), and all around having a lot of beliefs challenged. It’s a lot of stuff that they are only able to wrap their mind around from actually knowing what it’s like to live through it, without the option to just leave when it gets too rough.

While at the beginning they were just looking for an opening to escape, by the halfway point they aren’t even really being watched anymore, let alone trying to break out. Tetra may call them prisoners, but by that point they’ve had so many opportunities to just walk away. The only thing keeping them there is the fact that if they leave, what will happen? And can they confidently say that it’s the Octarians’ fault for it happening?

By the end, their primary objective is to find something they can do to actually give them a shot. And for that... they’ll need more than just the two of them. The idea of bringing in the Squidbeak Splatoon is immediately dismissed as insane by Cy - especially the idea of bringing in THE Agent 3. But after a little while, with Oregil indifferent as always and Aris on board, she comes around, though warning that Tetra will not like it, and they could be accidentally luring Agent 3 into a death trap. But it’s a risk they decide to let the Captain decide for themself.

Act II

Acts II and III are far less elaborate, because this is after all the characters have been established, and the world has been largely explored.

Act II kicks off with there being a lot of reactions. (As a note, the Octolings with the Squid Sisters at the present time are Oregil, Aris, and Cy. In their own ways, they’re uncomfortable in the presence of Captain 3. Cy and Oregil also seem to have an attitude with how they look at Marina.) A lot of disbelief, but also, to some degree, understanding. Naturally, Captain 3 is skeptical, taking a moment to contemplate what they’re being asked to do.

But around this time, Marina cuts in, asserting that regardless of the cause, Octarian society is inherently a problem. That’s why she left. She accuses the squadron of perpetuating DJ Octavio’s oppressive rule, and that they could have their cake and eat it too just by moving to Inkopolis.

The group go back and forth, with escalating emotions and accusations, until Pearl declares that, whatever they’re plotting, Off the Hook and the Squidbeak Splatoon will put a stop to it. Silence falls over the group, until Marie retaliates saying that she doesn’t think she can in good conscience fight against people who are only trying to exist.

The other agents start taking the Octarians’ side, even Agent 8 who, despite hesitating given their trust in Off the Hook, still resonates too strongly with the plight of the Octarians to turn their back on them fully. Pearl is taken aback, but after a glance at a very betrayed Marina, declares the Squidbeak Splatoon their enemy too, Marina locking eyes with Agent 8 before Off the Hook take their leave.

Cy remarks that it’s a shame, but she understands exactly why Marina is acting this way. Callie asks why, but Cy just assures her that Marina isn’t stupid, so if everything goes right, she’ll come around. Aris tells the player where the kettle’s entrance is, and at their leisure, they can join the Octarians there.

Upon entering the kettle as the player Cy assumes you know how things work, and there are a few filler travel stages to break the story up a little, before eventually the group return to see Tetra emerge for the first time, locking eyes with Captain 3, removing her goggles for the first time, and immediately going on the attack. Captain 3 drops their weapon and holds up their hands, but Tetra still rushes them down, holding both Dark Tetra Dualies up to their face.

After a long moment of them staring each other down, Tetra narrows her eyes, throws her arms down in a burst of anger, and leaves without saying anything else. After a few sighs of relief across the group, the tone lightens up, and Cy guesses that Tetra won’t be bothering them - which is a relief.

The bulk of Act II itself is actually fairly underdeveloped story-wise and is a lot more gameplay focused. It reinforces a lot of the character stuff from Act I, but a big ongoing theme is repeatedly clashing with Off the Hook in various places, and getting more glimpses of the strange fifth Octoling and getting more hints as to what it really is that the squadron is planning, and why they’ve kept it hidden.

While their convictions are still the same, there is a growing level of uncertainty among the group as they feel less okay with being kept in the dark. Eventually, the Squid Sisters, Cap 3, and Agent 8 catch a glimpse of the mystery Octoling leaving, and watch them enter a building off the edge of the camp alongside the other Octolings. The Squid Sisters take the opportunity to snoop around the building, which appears to be a laboratory of some sort.

As the group search deeper within for answers, strange, distorted music can be heard - with oddly familiar vocals. It turns into a full stealth mission, until eventually towards the end you’re spotted and confronted by all four of the squadron members. Tetra warns that they were not supposed to come here, Cy is quiet for once, Aris is quiet as usual, and Oregil... actually looks motivated to stop you.

Of course this is a video game and you win that horrible 4v4, breaking through into the room ahead to find that fifth Octoling in a room full of synthesizers, speakers and computers. She calls for Cy, before turning around and realizing who it actually is.

Marie asks the obvious question, of what the hell this is, and the fifth Octoling who introduces herself as Sock, answers that this is a studio, actually. Well, a lab and a studio. Maybe it should be called a studyo. Weirdly lighthearted for what the group was expecting.

Cy, having respawned and entered behind them, is audibly defeated as she guesses an explanation can’t be avoided.

The studio was used over this entire period to study the effects of a song whose influence is as potent as it is destructive... the Calamari Inkantation. It’s the song that spawned not one, but two mass exoduses. It has an undeniable impact on the cephaling psyche. And, as they know, it’s one of the most important songs to not only the Squid Sisters, but Inkadia as a whole.

The fact that the Inkantation can grab the mind so easily when it isn’t being actively fought, and cause such extremely psychological changes... it was, and still is, one of the biggest problems Octaria has had to deal with. And up until recently, there was little you could do about the Inkantation besides actively study its influence.

What they found, was that it was able to simply cloud out your own lived experience. It would walk you down mental shortcuts, take advantage of the simplicity of certain ideas, and corrupt experiences that contradicted it. Causing Octolings to simply leave their struggling communities, their memories twisted with the idea that they’ve somehow invented their own struggle, corrupted only to enable the Octoling to gravitate towards assimilation without dissonance.

The only Octolings welcome in Inkadia are those who have listened to and internalized the Inkantation... those who, consciously or not, allow it to twist their memories and reshape who they are as people.

It’s a lot. Some Octolings are more resistant than others, and some, like Sock here, have managed to reverse engineer it and escape that way. Sock, an Octoling raised in Inkopolis, raised with the Inkantation, and only later exposed to its flaws - without memories of Octaria to have been twisted by it, she was only able to create new ones, to learn from those who live Octaria every day, rather than being stuck behind a layer of cognitive dissonance.

Of course, other Octolings simply could not leave. The new experiences formed after the Inkantation constantly falsify the old, corrupted memories, and reinforce the reality. But many Octolings, upon being swayed by the Inkantation, simply left and assimilated into Inkling societies.

The idea that the Inkantation is not only not good, but actively a corrupting force, was not something Cy nor any of the squadron were confident the Squid Sisters or anyone else exposed to the Inkantation would be able to process. And without that, how else would they understand the importance of their mission - to reverse the effects of the Inkantation using the strange, distorted song the group have been hearing.

Taking a lot of voice samples from the Squid Sisters was the only way they would be able to relpicate the sound that originally entranced those under the Inkantation’s effects. That’s why they needed to go for broke and resort to squidnapping. The Inkantation being a strong corrupting force meant that it was unpredictable how they would react to learning the truth behind the song, while still at least partially under the effects of it.

And that’s also why Cy said of Marina that she understands why she’s so hostile - Marina is one of the most deeply Inkantationed Octolings.

A lot of the breakdowns of how the Inkantation affects Octolings also resonates extremely strongly with Agent 8 - who, despite how prominent and overpowering the Inkantation was, was still able to hold onto friendly feelings around Octarians, and frustrations around their place in Inkling society. So many weird, dissonant feelings, are starting to make sense. But also, a lot of really awful feelings are starting to surface as well - traumatic feelings, now that they’re starting to think back on their life, and counterbalancing that to the horrors they witnessed in the Deepsea Metro. Horrifying, but... real. So, so, horribly real.

This is their last shot. If they can reverse the Inkantation across Inkopolis... who knows what it would achieve. But the plan, at the very least, is unity and community. Cy admits that in all likelihood, most Octolings will stay in Inkopolis even after the Inkantation is cleared. That’s their home now - they have new friends, new commitments, a new life... and there’s not much of a home to return to in Octaria.

But, maybe, some Octolings come to visit. Maybe some Octolings come back. Maybe those that don’t, can at least use their new life in Inkopolis to raise the voices of those suffering back home, and create a real partnership - no egotistical DJ required. And not just turning Octolings into Inklings with funny hair.

Act III

Well, once this whole reveal happens, there is a lot of internal conflict, but on the face of it, there’s really nothing to argue. There’s the disgust and to a degree personal insult felt at the idea that this song that was so important to them, that became a cornerstone of Inkadia, was harmful. That they the Squid Sisters enacted that harm onto tens of thousands of Octolings.

But it’s all there. Their minds want to deny it, but there’s nothing to stand on.

At the very least, they have a rare opportunity to set things almost entirely right. And so, they take it.

The plan is simple: Do what the Inkantation did. Blast the song out to as many Octolings as possible, and then... maybe overthrow Octavio for fun just as a bonus lol

The Squid Sisters are already popstars - they can just take the song into the Inkopolis News Station, perform it live, and get it playing all over, such is how Inkopolis is with its new music. Or well, that’s how it COULD work... if there wasn’t a sudden “NEVER GONNA HAPPEN” and muffled “Pearl--!!” coming from Agent 8′s earpiece, that they forgot to take out.

So... the easy walk-in walk-out strategy just turned into a big climactic final battle for the station. The specifics of which........ are still being ironed out, sORRY!

But generally, Pearl and Marina get backup in on the situation, and it’s a lot of small missions in one building, split across multiple teams, some stealth, some just battle, some objectives, and the final battle being a survival section over the Squid Sisters performing the song (playing as the squid sisters is cool but its not quite a Splatoon Final Boss if the Squid Sisters aren’t singing some variant of the Calamari Inkantation over it except that one time) including Pearl and Marina themselves getting in on the battle.

I’m not musical enough to think of how this would work, but it would be kinda crazy for it to sort of be objective-based by whether the Squid Sisters’ reverse-Inkantation or perhaps even Off the Hook singing the normal Inkantation is playing for more time - like a dueling song of some sort

After it’s over and you win, there’s this sort of both relief and confusion since it feels like not much happened - but it affects Marina. Like, god, does it affect Marina after everything that happened to her after the Inkantation. A lot of what she knew, the people she was close to, her life in general, all just flooding back. Suddenly realizing that these were not shadowy monsters that were out to get her, they weren’t evil clones trying to destroy the world. They were people she knew, old friends, family even, that were just trying to get by as best they could without leaving their friends and family in the dust. And then she let herself be swayed by a song, and then suddenly... how could she have just left them like that? What did she do to them? What did she do to herself?

But cutting through it all is Pearl’s voice, asking if she’s okay. Despite what she was worried about... it’s still Pearl. It didn’t make her hate Pearl or not recognize Pearl or change anything about how she felt about Pearl. It just, cleared the fog around the other people she cared about, that she had been convinced she didn’t.

So.... yeah!! Once all is said and done, Marina assures Pearl that she’s still her, that all these fears she had, didn’t happen. Plus, some minor panic over how close she got to keeping these thoughts down forever. But she didn’t, and now that it’s all over, she can let it out to Pearl and the rest of them.

Epologue

Other Octolings throughout Inkopolis start feeling similar things, though minus the Deepsea Metro trauma, and as anticipated, some of them do return. Some come back temporarily, some just have a lot to think about. Many who come back in some form or another will also sadly realize how close Octaria is to just crumbling to the ground. But over the following days, weeks, months, and years, both Octolings and Inklings work together to both raise awareness and to help reconstruction efforts.

It’s the start of a much, much, much larger social shift - that kind of also passively involves removing Octavio from power, but that’s easy enough at this point. And of course, Pearl and Marina come up with some shenanigans to get the squadron and the Squid Sisters... off the hook.

And that’s Culture Shock, the entire story exists for that one throwaway pun at the end thank you for listening you’ve been a great audience and even if this FINDS its target audience NOBODY will be able to read this before the direct that will inevitably have Side Order content which means NOBODY except ME will have the knowledge of this before their expectations are shfited by the existence of Side Order

Okay but seriously if you somehow finished all of this like, DM me on Discord @aviivix or something because we will become best friends

Also... if you can believe it... this is like maybe HALF of like all the story stuff I’ve got in Culture Shock - each member of the Octo Squad has an arc (especially Tetra she has the biggest arc but I barely mention Tetra here) and there’s big ass history with the dead Octos and a lot of specifics I didn’t touch... if you ask me about any of it I will be your best friend no questions asked.

TYSM!!!!!!!!!

#splatoon #splatoon 3 #squid sisters #octoling #agent 3 #culture shock au

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giro-revuescope · 2 years

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The Sun Sets on the Stranger - Flower Troupe, 1978

Although Takarazuka was never able to obtain the legitimate stage rights for Goncharov (Koike is definitely still vibrating with frustration about this—it's obvious a ton of his ouevre is inspired by watching that tragically cut 1990s TV dub version on NHK) this obscure Utsumi Shigenori Bow Hall is believed to be quietly based on the film.

It's hard to tell, since the action is moved into the early 1930s (probably for the costumes) and many of the names are changed, but it would certainly explain why it's never been restaged, or made available apart from a few archival clips.

From what's known about it in the program booklets and magazine writeups, most of the violence of the film is shifted offstage, with the onstage plot focusing more on the tension of competing loyalties as the situation spirals from idealism into inevitability.

#takarazuka #goncharov #honestly i loved the way it seems the car sequence was changed to a train instead #beautiful anna karenina reference

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meanbossart · 4 months

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I came here for Drow but I've fallen for Grod. So few people play half-orcs, much less make them so incredibly sexy. Thank you. I really want to learn more about his story. I'm new to the blog so I might have missed it, but where's he come from, what does he want, what makes him tick?

(also got this ask so putting them together)

First of all: I'm absolutely delighted that multiple people are this taken by Grodderick. AS THEY SHOULD BE.

Grodderick is a character I made for the BG3 fic I'm writing called A Novel Experience, it's over 100k words long and an exercise I gave myself to improve my writing and tackle my minor but Very Irritating adult dyslexia lol (which means, if you read it, expect it to have kind of a clumsy beginning - but I'm confident in saying that my writing got a whooole lot better thanks to it, and I'm very proud of a lot of the chapters I've put out in the last couple of months)

He plays a minor part, mostly as a voice of reason and a "flipside parallel" to some cast, if that makes sense. He's mentioned super early on but only makes an appearance with spoken dialogue way later.

The story can be found here! https://archiveofourown.org/works/50551582/chapters/127702666

And I did a whole writeup on his backstory (since none of it is really relevant to the plot, so it's not a spoiler) here! https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/740147028518223872/im-so-intrigued-by-grodderick-do-you-have-any

Ps: I know im super behind on asks, i've just been very busy! I'll make another compilation of them soon

#ask #grodderick #a novel experience

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copperbadge · 11 months

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Quick note, apologies in advance for the vagueness....

Anon who sent me the ask about “joining the group of anons appreciating your takes” asking about the AO3 volunteer and CSEM situation -- I appreciate the faith in me, and I think you were sincerely looking for information and analysis. That said, I was concerned the language in the ask could be read as a bit inflammatory, so rather than reply directly I’m posting independently.

For those who aren’t familiar with the situation, OTW has released a statement on it here, responding to Rahaeli/Synedochic/Denise’s statements here. (I’d link to the specific tweets but I don’t know how to do that on Twitter, and they’re not difficult to find.) Other people are speaking about it as well but that gets real rabbit-hole real quickly and I wouldn’t know how to curate those properly.

In any case, I don’t think I’m qualified to discuss this in detail or offer an opinion. When I speak on issues related to AO3, I try to confine it to things I have working knowledge of, which tend to be in the nonprofit fundraising space. I don’t have the legal experience to speak intelligently on this one, and I don’t have a ton of knowledge about what went down, as I don’t know anyone involved very well. That said, I do have ties to some people and groups involved (on both sides) in the sense of “negative encounters in the past” which also complicates matters. There’s a contingent of fandom which enjoys reading my participation as part of a sinister plot of some kind; I suppose it’s more interesting than me just being an awkward dipshit with a history of poor decision-making. Either way, it makes it dicey to speak to wanks in fandom without being very measured.

Certainly while I’m happy to defend AO3 when I have the knowledge to do so and believe they’re in the right, I also know the organization isn’t perfect and there have been volunteer/labor issues in the past, so I would recommend hearing all sides in this case with an open mind but a critical eye. I unfortunately just...can’t speak to this one in the confidence I’ll do more good than harm.

ETA: @swords-n-spindles added a useful resource in comments, a burner Tumblr with a timeline and referenced writeup that looks super helpful.

#fandom #fandom wank #csem

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banamine-bananime · 2 months

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the forum werewolf game ever. of all time.

do you remember playing werewolf/mafia in school or at a party? the game where a few people are secretly assigned werewolf roles, each night they kill someone from the village, and each day everyone lets the mob mentality accusations fly as village tries to vote out the wolves? well, you can find communities online playing absolutely wild tricked-out role-madness elaborately-themed-with-long-writeups-and-plots versions and it's wonderful.

so a few years ago some friends and i ran a Red vs Blue theme game, mostly with friends who were not familiar with the series. we knew it was going to be a wild time but there was nothing that could have prepared us for exactly how it went down.

you see, no one knows each others' roles (the character, their affiliation, and any special abilities) in werewolf except for the wolves knowing each other. somehow, despite this and most of the players not knowing the source material, they were fucking possessed by the spirits of their roles - this is the only explanation i can find for what happened - and things got Immensely Silly. we were watching in mod chat going INSANE.

please, join me as i try to recount our crowdsourced improvisational RvB fanfiction.

so, to set the scene: the introduction

and a basic recount of the rules and mechanics of werewolf in general and this game in particular:

Each player gets assigned a role and are either village or a wolf (or sometimes, a third party). Villagers do not know each other, but wolves all share a group private message to strategize together (thus this is a game of a side with numbers advantage versus a side with information advantage)

Villagers win by eliminating all wolves, wolves win by eliminating/killing all villagers (although the game ends at the point when villagers wouldn't be able to prevent this, i.e. when there are fewer villagers than wolves). Third parties with unique win conditions may also be in a game.

During day phases, each player votes for who to eliminate, and the "winner" dies (note: in this community we use "yeet" for eliminate because it's silly and because the traditional forum werewolf term is "lynch" which like. we're not gonna say that.)

During night phases, wolves choose someone to kill, and any players that were given "powers roles/PRs" with actions they can perform at night can act (e.g. protecting someone so they will not die if wolves target them)

(specific to this game) Each player is assigned to red team or blue team. Reds can only vote to eliminate blues and vice versa (no teamkilling during the day!)

(specific to this game) The first day of the game will be Team Captain selection instead of an elimination. You may only vote for players on your own team.

(specific to this game) Unless otherwise noted, night actions can only be used on members of your team.

(specific to this game) You are each allowed to open one private message thread with a player of your choice on your team.

along with this introduction to the public thread where people try to convince each other of who to eliminate, each player gets their private role message thread. these roles were:

Village:

Church, blue team treestump ("Your main motivation has been to save Tex because of your history, but deep down you know that you'd lay down your life for any of the Blood Gulch Crew. Upon your death, rather than joining the rest of the dead, you will still be allowed to converse with the living on the game thread.")

Sarge, red team tinkerer ("On odd nights, you can create an item and send it to a member of your team. Item functions are subject to mod approval, so get creative! Just remember, violence is always the answer!")

Tex, blue team tracker/oneshot vigilante ("On even nights you can track a player on either team. Once during the game, you can choose to shoot first and ask questions later, killing your target instead of tracking them.")

Simmons, red team back-up ("Enthusiasm is not unrewarded in the military and you've worked your way up Sarge's colon and are the Red Team's second in command. Its clear that this job is not for you because you tend to lose your cool and break down at the slightest psychological provocation. You have no assigned ability at this time, and will inherit the ability of whoever is elected Red Team Captain.")

Tucker, blue team back-up ("If anyone can pick up chicks in a tank, its you! The war itself doesn't bother you, because you'll find any opportunity to shirk duties and spend time at your…..ahem special…rock. This is unfortunate because you seem to be the only one who has any combat ability (besides the "freelancer" mercenaries). You have no assigned ability at this time, and will inherit the ability of whomever is elected Blue Team Captain.")

Caboose, blue team wildcard ("Repeated head injuries, firefights inside your consciousness, and having an A.I. ripped out of your head have progressively deteriorated your mental state to the point where you're pretty much divorced from reality. All you know is that your friends need you! On even nights, you can pick any ability to use on any player, but the chances of failure are high.")

Grif, red team commuter ("After dropping out of Ithaca College, you decided to join up with the USNC. Flailing your way through basic, you've ended the self proclaimed "good-for-nothing-slacker" of the Red Team. Being cynical and selfish has earned you no big fans amongst your squad. Your bottom of the totem pole social status, and constantly being the butt of Sarge's jokes, doesn't stop you from laying down some lead to help your friends (but 48 snack cakes might distract you). Once during the game, you can go take a nap in the supply closet, effectively removing yourself from the game for a night. No one, including Sarge, will be able to find you.")

Sheila, blue team bulletproof ("Despite your big size, treads, and heavy weaponry, you are a kind, calm, and caring A.I. But a tank is a tank and you enjoy blowing stuff up, even if its your own teammates. It can be lonely in deep space stuck in a canyon with a bunch of idiots, but you've managed to strike up a romance with the red team robot, Lopez. You are immune to night kills.")

Donut, red team armour-colour-seer ("The red team rookie. In deep space. In the middle of a war. Surrounded by death and destruction. SOMEONE has to remind everyone what you're fighting for. Someone has to remind people of the finer things in life wine, cheese, wearing colors that match, and waxing codpieces. Growing up in rural Iowa has made you a little…..naive, but friendly. Generally bumbling and incompetent like Caboose (the blue team rookie), your geniality makes everyone tolerate your screw ups. Your armor is lightish red, not pink! On odd nights you can seer a player to find out their armor color. You must alternate teams when choosing your targets."). Donut's response to his role:

Doc, blue team protector ("Too bad you're the WORST medic there is. I mean really? CPR for a bullet wound? What happens if someone gets shot in the foot? You rub aloe vera on their neck? Damn right! You arrive months late and your patient is already dead, but because of budget cuts you are on loan to both the red team and blue team and get caught up in their antics. You take your do no harm vow seriously and are a pacifist....unless there's a murderous rage filled A.I. possessing you. On even nights you can protect a member of your team from being killed.")

Lopez, red team blocker ("You are the closest thing Sarge has to a son and he treats as such. You think Sarge is an annoying pompous jerk. Ever since Sarge damaged your speech unit while installing it you've only been able to speak in spanish and so you can only post in spanish. The blood gulch gang typically use and abuse you, which you resent but can't do anything about. You passive aggressively make comments in spanish that no one can understand. However, the language barrier hasn't stopped you from striking up a passionate romance with the blue team's tank, Sheila. On odd nights, you can block a player of your choice.")

Andy, bomb, as one would expect. ("Despite not having a mouth, you sure as hell like to run yours. The only reason anyone takes your crap is the constant threat of explosion. However, no matter how foul-mouthed, vulgar, and sometimes creative you get, Tex can get you under control. If you are attacked, you will explode, killing yourself and anyone else in the immediate vicinity.") (i also want to note this role was randomly assigned to the sweetest, cutest player possible lmfao)

Wolves:

The Meta, red team reflexive ability seer ("If anyone performs any actions on you, you will find out who they are and what they did.")

Wyoming, red team ninja/bombproof ("Ruthless, cunning, and not afraid to manipulate others to your will, you've always known what its going to take to reach your goals and nothing will stop you. This disregard for regulations and laws extend to the laws of time. Using equipment stolen from the military, you set people in time loops, and overpower them while they're confused. Time travel baffles even the smartest minds, wonder what it does to a bunch of idiots in a box canyon. On even nights you can't be tracked, and on odd nights you can diffuse the bomb - if you correctly target them, you can kill them without killing yourself.") Wyoming's response to this role assignment:

O'Malley, blue team redirector/force-kill/result-thief ("When implanted in other people, you serve to accentuate their own rage and internal desires. On even nights, you can redirect a player on the Blue team to perform their action on someone else. Once during the game you can force them to kill. Once during the game you can steal your target's night results in addition to the redirection.")

Third parties:

Vic, red team treestump jester. ("As is custom for all thing Blood Gulch, you are terrible at your job. Acting as a glorified tech support guy, you offer unhelpful advice and end up complicating things far more than necessary. You answer all calls with "hey dude" or "whats going on dude" which makes everyone question the legitimacy of the operation at hand. You are an independent third party, and will win the game if you are voted out AND the game makes it to the point that the final day has only 3 or 4 players)") [this means Vic wants to keep things even between wolves and villagers, so one side doesn't eliminate the other too quick]

Each player has a role PM that's just them and the mods.

Each player can also open a PM between themself and one person on their team. This can be opened any time and continues for the rest of the game.

Doc PMs Sheila (starting day 1)

Andy PMs Doc (starting day 1)

Caboose PMs Sheila (starting day 2) (oh god. oh god the happenings as a result of this PM. it's. well. you'll see.)

Tucker PMs Caboose (starting day 3) (Tucker immediately regrets it:)

Simmons PMs Grif (starting day 3)

Lopez PMs The Meta (starting day 3)

Church PMs O'Malley (starting day 3)

Sheila PMs Tucker after Tucker bugs her for one incessantly (starting day 4) (it's really cute. I won't include snippets because they're irrelevant but they talk about DnD. blue team DnD nights when.)

The Meta PMs Grif (starting day 5)

Grif PMs Donut, on Donut's request (starting day 5)

Next: day 1

#red vs blue #rvb #red wwersus blue #alexa send post

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girlfriendsofthegalaxy · 3 months

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tuesday again 2/20/2024

i don't usually use these writeups as a memory aid, but this week it's good bc most of last week was a blur of applying to jobs and playing breath of the wild

listening

i have several playlists that are several hours long with a couple different flavors of the really specific kind of instrumental music i need to do mass quantities of data entry. these are now all poisoned by horrible memories of my last two jobs so i'm slowly building new ones. a great candidate is OASIS, off the REDLINE soundtrack. REDLINE (2009, dir. Koike) is an extremely horny anime movie about driving really fast, being true to yourself in spite of corporate overlords, sports betting, and fucking.

youtube

i think this was a scene with background club or cafe music? electronica instrumental with a little bit of a groove and a very particular mid-aughts sound. you know when powder coating is extremely matte but also extremely sparkly? spotify.

reading

Samantha Cole (previously Vice, co-founder of 404 Media) has a beat that's focused on sex tech, sex work, deplatforming of sex work, and kink community beefs that manages to be both detached and very, very kind. i trust her to write about any kink community in a respectful and fair way, and even when she visibly doesn't understand the appeal of a kink she writes about them in a respectful and fair way. a great example of this is the furry adult baby diaper community being deplatformed by patreon.

but her most recent investigation, "can this shitty vibrator actually give you malware?" is fascinating. any job that can legitimately claim vibrators as a buisness expense and perform a teardown is fascinating to me.

what a tremendous and endlessly fascinating world we live in.

watching

there are many movies on tubi that i have like. name recognition of but have never actually seen, so i'm starting to work my way through things that aren't noir or obscure westerns. like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, dir. Lee).

youtube

the practial effects in this movie are insane. the wirework is insane. wirework insane. this is the dreamiest and most beautiful chase/fight scene i've ever seen and they're zipping around a bamboo forest.

we're going to have to live with this imperfect screenshot ok this laptop is Extremely old. the interior sets often look like theater sets (complimentary). just a stunningly beautiful movie with the sickest action scenes you’ve ever seen. plot a little choppy but forgivable imo. i know this is regarded as one of the finest movies of all time, not just one of the finest martial arts movies of all times, so saying anything feels a little like giving it a dollar store plastic trophy. i liked it and i had fun. watching a critically acclaimed non-american good movie is good for the brain steeped in lackluster american westerns, i think.

playing

much like in real life, in breath of the wild i am refusing to do much towards the main quest and am mostly puttering around looking for shit to upgrade my outfits.

unlocked rudania, did not go inside.

what's with this little. sword graveyard??? on the northeastern edge of the caldera??? the only thing on that island is an octorok?? did it kill like eight guys???

finished richard scarey's tarreytown :) including that horrible rich guy who wanted me to kill some guardians for ??? reasons. i am pretty confident about killing hinox (is the plural of hinox, hinox?), wizzrobes, and most lizalfos if i can get the drop on em but i am Not confident about killing actively moving guardians without guardian arrows, which is an expensive way of doing business. due to reliably one-shotting the wizzrobes with revali's bow, i am running into the interesting problem of always having a glut of magical weapons. which leads me to go fuck around the extreme hot and cold areas those magic weapons are good for. and less fucking around the normie areas i actually want to fuck around.

got the good sword at thirteen hearts, i stopped short at twelve hearts gone and the deku tree called me a pussy. i unfontunately did not screenshot that. hey did you know there's a korok on the deku tree's head whose life's purpose seems to be riddles?

and now for quite a lot of horse talk.

dodged like four lynels taking Ganon's horse up the northern edge of the map to get a pic of the leviathan.

caught the white horse, we are such pretty pretty princesses together. i think it's very funny that the gerudo fanciest weapons and hylian royal regalia look so similar. purple and gold eternal.

did you know if you feed your horse an endura carrot you get extra spurs???

i was looking for a 5 star speed horse but after catching and releasing four different solid black horses this is the best one (4 str, 4 speed, 5 stamina) i found. maybe I’ll shoot for a bright chestnut with lots of chrome for my speedy horse, the equine equivalent of a red convertible.

very funky conincidence on the grasslands behind the lord of the mountain's spring. not identical, bc the lead horse doesn't have facial markings, but what are the odds of that huh. i wish grays in this game didn't look so chalky and washed out, i love a gray horse in real life.

i think it's some bullshit that you have to fight your way into this spring, get told "go get a dragon scale", deal with all that, fight your way BACK into the spring, and then be presented with a Major Test of Strength shrine. c'mon just give it to me!!!

game continues to be very bad at spitting out riders next to horses or donkeys EXCEPT!!! for this doctor. i didn't know hyrule had traveling doctors! i quite honestly didn't think they had the techonology, given that the state of medicine in hyrule is very mortar and pestle based!

the game gave me a tooltip like "make friends with dogs! they'll lead you to treasure!" and i was like What but it does actually work, you just have to target them in the camera first and then feed them several hunks of meat. bonkers game. how many other goddamn mechanics are there that i've missed???

next steps: shrine hunting. i have like 50 out of 120 which is wild to me. i played this game two years ago, got to about a hundred shrines, and managed to forget where they all fucking are. yes my shrine sensor is always on. there's probably at least twenty in central hyrule, which is not a place i touched much on my list playthrough, also the last two memories i need are in there. i have filled out a good chunk of the compendium (completely filled the materials pages) but idk if i will be a completionist about it. there are so so so so so many weapons variants. i am cheating a bit and looking up the animals i missed (mostly a lot of bugs and fish) but one of the entries is for patricia, the royal sand seal. i would not have ever thought to take a picture of the named sand seal, i'm sorry game but that's a bit obtuse.

making

not much progress on the cross stitch or job fronts, but since i finally have a balcony, i planted peas and beans from @shiny-good-rock and basil from @morrak than have been languishing in a box for several years, the basil had an okay germination rate so my fingers are crossed re: peas and beans.

i am a bit annoyed about marigolds. maybe it's a bit too early for them here, or maybe they're not as popular as they were in the northeast? i tried like five different big box stores and indie nurseries, only one indie nursery had any and they were very pest-ridden. i would like marigolds, as friends for my tomatoes.

it is currently 11:40 PM CST as i type this so tomorrow i'll add something with a garden layout and what varieties i planted.

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem

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half-life-citizen · 3 months

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A rundown of the flumblr Crimson peak watch party.

As you may or may not know, we recently had a watch party of the Guillmero Del Toro film Crimson Peak, I won't talk spoilers, but will mention some plot details.

It was organised by @thedeafprophet and @the-dye-stained-socialite, who streamed it in a discord.

The discord was made specially for the watch party, being set up a few days before the actual event, and invites opened at around the same time.

The setup:

As I previously mentioned, the server was open for a few days prior to the event, with a few members of the flumblr community joining, myself included.

A few emotes were made, mainly joking in matter. They included some amazing art by @the-insouciant-scientist of the endgame professions.

Some channels were made about the movie, spoilers permitted in one and not the other.

As well as some lovely conversation, the testing for the jackbox games was set up, and a few games were played.

The Pre-Show

As the date; March 9th came, more people flooded into the server, and said people began to talk.

The conversation really began to pick up 2 hours before the show, with many people preparing food for the event, such as pasta, or popcorn.

But there was a casualty.

In their unending hubris; one of the event organisers, prophet, created a quiche too powerful and deadly for any human to handle, and launched a quiche blast across the Atlantic, hitting the bowl of pasta I had made, knocking it to the floor, destroying it.

I am warning you, the image of the quiche pictured below may be too horrible to imagine, to even think about without the edges of your mind falling apart like wet paper.

You have been warned.

And the unleasher of the quiche admitting to their crimes

After this horrible event, I was left scarred, but more importantly, in lack of food. I thought nothing of it and ordered food for later that night.

I thought I'd also mention the loaf of bread made by @zeebreezin

Just a good solid loaf.

After the quiche incident, the conversation just moved along from topics of food and ended up continuing until the time of the event beginning.

The Beginning:

An executive decision was made to wait 10 minutes or so for people to arrive, just to make sure nobody would miss anything.

At 8:12 IST, the watch party had begun in full swing. People sat on chairs, beds, and couches, and were all tuned into a 720p possibly illegal stream of a movie from 2015.

As previously mentioned, I won't go into spoilers in this writeup, but I will mention characters and plot points, but nothing particular.

For this write up, I will go over some of the main characters featured in this film with a simple bio.

Edith: an aspiring author who's wealthy businessman father who disapproves of her relationship with Thomas Sharpe

Thomas Sharpe: an owner of a crumbling estate slowly sinking into the clay mines below the house, he seeks funding for a digging machine to help revitalise the mines.

Lucille Sharp: Thomas's older sister, seemingly distant from the world.

Dr Alan McMicheal: Blonde doctor guy

Ferguson: appears on screen for a total of two seconds, I expected him to come back later.

The slop: liquid clay, looks tasty and probably cures anemia.

As the movie began, everybody who hadn't seen the movie before immediately distrusted Thomas Sharpe, myself included.

As the movie continued, I began keeping two counters and a constant rating.

These were

1: the gun counter

2: the violence counter

And 3: the beard rating

The gun counter was simple, every gun on screen would add 1 point to the total.

The violence counter was every scene of violence in the movie; not act of violence. So a scene of someone getting punched twice would still only count as one.

And the beard rating, where I rated all the beards visible to me during the watch.

Anyways, as the movie progressed, a common theme appeared in the chat.

Manic slop posting.

The slop (pictured below) is the liquid form of the red clay the Sharpe household is slowly sinking into, a deep and rich colour that makes your mouth water slightly.

In my personal opinion, the slop is the single best character in the movie.

I will not explain myself.

As well as slopposting™, during scenes of intense violence people would start talking about the blood; and honestly? Good for them.

I wish I could go into more detail about the events of the movie, but I really urge you to watch it yourself, it's violent and very heartfelt.

Also slop.

now, about half way through the movie, I told the chat I needed to check for the pizza I had ordered over an hour and a half prior to the movie starting, and The Powers That Be graciously granted us an intermission, we're I called my pizza place 4 times and they never picked up, so I was forced to wait another 30 minutes for my pizza.

I did get it eventually.

The rest of the watch party was not uneventful, with a lot of jokes and gasps as the movie continued telling its story.

But all good things must come to an end, and as the final scene cut to black; the end began.

The aftermath:

Most people left after the movie ended, leaving around 8 people left to play some jackbox as the night continued.

Nothing major really happened, (except for prophet finding out the truth behind Easter eggs), so here are a few funny screenshots from the games I was in, I even won one of them

As a bit of a final note, I really have to thank everybody involved. It was a really fun little event, and any more in the future, I'd be glad to participate in.

SLOP!!!!!

#not putting this in the main tag #reblog if you want #really fun time

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visenyaism · 10 months

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this is a crazy big ask lol but i would love it if sometime you were able to sit down and outline what you think the storylines for each of the characters in winds of winter will be! or any interesting plot details you think are sure to come up :))

i'm not normally a huge predictions person and i dont have it in me to do a full writeup essay like that at present but you can take this for the road :)

#asoiaf #i havent read any of the chapters other than that time char airdropped the forsaken into my notes app so i dont rlly know!

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akumajoaurora · 2 years

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Castlevania Games Do Have a Story (And Why It’s Important That It Stays Subtle)

Ok so this is basically an expanded writeup of some loose thoughts I posted to Twitter earlier today in response to the news that the God of War Ragnarok guy wants to do a Castlevania game, but this is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, so I figured it deserves to be on a long form post and not just Three Sentences Per Post Dot Com.

A big criticism of Castlevania that I hear pretty frequently is “Oh, it has no story”. However, this is untrue- Castlevania games very much do have a story, they’re just not presented in the format that most people are used to.

A lot of story-driven video games play out somewhat like a TV show or a novel. You get to watch the story play out from start to finish, with characters talking to each other, and often moving and acting as though you were watching TV. There’s nothing wrong with this format- I enjoy it a lot myself! Everyone who knows me knows I’m a big fan of Devil May Cry, after all. But this isn’t the only way to tell a story.

With the exception of a few games (mainly Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness), Castlevania has a much different format. While there are some cutscenes, they’re generally much more limited and there aren’t very many per game; In some of the really old games, there really isn’t much dialogue at all, and instead the main plot points are given to you in scrolling text at the beginning and end of the game or in the game’s manual. This is important because it pushes you, the player, to engage with the text. The story is there, but how deep does it run? How does each game play into the overall saga of Castlevania? That’s what you have to discover for yourself, and clues can often be found in the level design, the music, and flavor text.

To give an example, let’s analyze one of my personal favorites story-wise, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest.

This game takes place 7 years after the original Castlevania. Our friend Simon Belmont, now 29 years old, has already killed Dracula. However, he begins to feel gravely ill, and fears he may be on his deathbed. He goes to the family cemetery to contemplate this, and a mysterious unknown woman appears to him, who tells him that he’s been cursed by Dracula. In order to save himself, he will need to collect five scattered pieces of Dracula’s corpse, use them to resurrect Dracula, and then kill him again, all within seven days or he will die. The mystery woman then disappears.

Simon travels the land in search of the Dracula relics. Along the way he, of course, fights monsters, and also talks to the ordinary people of Transylvania in search of clues; Some of them are nice or even flirtatious towards him, but a lot are openly hostile, and will lie to him or try to scam him. Every night, Simon’s curse worsens, and the famous words “What a horrible night to have a curse...” appear as more and more monsters start to come out. During this time the player is unable to go indoors. Depending on how long it takes you to complete the game, Simon either dies fighting Dracula, or survives and frees himself from the curse. He then is seen making a grave for Dracula. This is the text of the good ending:

"The encounter with Dracula is terminated. Simon Belmont has put an end to the eternal darkness in Transylvania. His blood and sweat have penetrated the earth and will induce magic and happiness for those who walk on this land."

So, what can we get out of this short, dialogue-lite game? Let’s take a look.

Even though Simon has already defeated Dracula, the fight is not over. He can’t truly escape his family legacy, and the ongoing battle between man and vampire. Simon, like many Belmonts, is trapped within a cycle of violence- Even when he does what he’s “supposed” to do. It’s manifesting in an extremely physical way that forces him to engage with the conflict- If he were to do nothing, the curse would quite literally kill him within a week.

Simon is a thoughtful and spiritual person who respects his family greatly. Rather than getting angry about his condition, giving up, or even asking a doctor, he went to his family cemetery to contemplate in the presence of his ancestors. The fact that he seemingly didn’t go to a doctor brings me to my next point...

Simon is largely disliked by his neighbors- Even though, again, he’s already killed Dracula. A common element of Castlevania games is that the Belmont family are feared and distrusted for their magic powers and their proximity to the supernatural, and this is certainly true for Simon. Still he continues to fight.

Despite this, he clearly still has someone looking out for him. Who is the mystery woman? Is she an ancestor spirit (Sypha, perhaps)? Is she a witch? An anonymous admirer? Either way, she cares enough for Simon to help him in his time of need.

Simon is, ultimately, a deeply kind and caring person. Even though Dracula caused so many people horrible suffering, including Simon himself, he still took the time to build a grave for Dracula. He showed respect even for his greatest enemy and went out of his way to provide him dignity in death.

In the end, the people finally recognized Simon’s good deeds, and he was hailed as a hero... But at what cost? It’s worth noting the specific phrasing, “his blood and sweat have penetrated the earth”. Simon had to give so much of himself, very much putting his life on the line in order to keep humanity safe. The burden of heroism is an extremely heavy one.

Simon’s Quest becomes even more poignant when put into place with the wider Castlevania timeline. Simon is one of so many Belmonts to be feared and hated by his neighbors, give everything in order to save them, and finally win their respect- But at a very high cost. Again and again this cycle plays out. It’s also worth mentioning that Simon’s Quest is the origin of the famous background music track, “Bloody Tears”. Interesting name, isn’t it? Whose tears are they? Are they Simon’s- Is the curse ravaging him so badly that he’s literally crying blood as he keeps fighting? Are they the tears of the Belmont clan, unable to escape their fate? Or maybe tears shed for, or perhaps by, the spirits of all those who have lost their lives to Dracula? Worth thinking about.

Every Castlevania game has a story, and all of them come together to create a much wider tale of life, death, and rebirth, generational trauma, the cosmic battle between good and evil, the nature of humanity, finding light in the darkness, and why we keep fighting. Like the gothic novels it draws from, it poses many questions about the nature of life, death, suffering, and what it means to be human. The format in which this story is told is a unique one that encourages introspection and participation. If you’re someone who enjoys media analysis, I highly recommend the Castlevania series.

Ultimately, while I don’t think it’s impossible to do Castlevania in a more traditional format (after all, LoI and CoD pulled it off pretty well), I do think that the layers to the story are a big part of what makes it, well, Castlevania. I don’t think it’s at all fair to say that Castlevania doesn’t have a story- Many of the games don’t have a distinct linear dialectical narrative the way a lot of modern games do, but they very much have a story. Why not try experiencing it?

In conclusion,

#Castlevania #I'm 100% sure I'm going to regret making this post very quickly but I need people to understand how fucking cool Castlevania is #I like thinking!! I like games that make me think! And I want people to stop being mean to Castlevania #Long post

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pochapal · 2 years

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Wack Anon: Wasn't going to say it, but yeah, the difference between the pokespe reread and the first time reading is so funny. It's like "Capitalism capitalism gender capitalism gender gender ecological disaster gender" and then right to "these are my babies and I want them to be happy. Diamond please stop doing stupid and reckless things, you could be killed!" It might also be because of how the writing did kind of shift in Gen 4 in part.

yeah there was definitely a tonal shift after gen 3 that affected how i engaged with the manga. and also i was so endeared by the dppt trio that my capacity for critical thought was replaced with "i'm love them".

#anonymous #i am very smart on media when i am either rereading or taking the time to plot out detailed analysis #moment to moment first reactions are just me acting on raw emotion 90% of the time lmao #i probably could say something more intelligent vis a vis gen 4 pokespe #but doing that would require me to produce a thousands of words long hyperdetailed analysis on a par with my umineko writeups #and i feel like that would just be excessively pretentious for a fun little manga lol

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snarp · 12 days

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I was trying to find the "Green Green Bangles" song the lady was singing to the cat, and it appears to be from a 90s movie called Aaj Ka Arjun with a Wikipedia "Controversy" section beginning:

Amitabh Bachchan was initially reluctant to play the titular name- Arjuna and suggested Bhima for the character instead. Bachchan cited personal reasons for not keeping the name- Arjun, saying that he has been frequent with the great epic- Mahabharata and did not find the character of Arjuna much interesting and cringeworthy, though really liked the character of Bhima, stating— "Bhima is the only warrior in Mahabharata who could come close to Karna in valour and heroism"

1. Controversial: man cast in Iliad adaptation calls Achilles "cringe," says "there's guys in there that are WAY more bad-ass."

2. Why did they keep the original title

3. The Wiki article doesn't even have a plot synopsis or anything. Everyone knows that stuff already, they're just here for the fandom_wank writeup.

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dynamite-derek · 5 months

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Looking at the self doubt and intrusive voices of Alan Wake 2

Note: I tread very lightly on spoilers in this writeup, however I do discuss an endgame scenario, so if you wish to enter that segment of the game completely fresh I would visit this piece after finishing the game. Last year, a lot of praise was circulating around over the movie Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Not only was it apparently a very good movie, but it also contained a realistic depiction of a panic attack. For as much as mental health issues have been brought to the forefront in recent days, it seems like accurate depictions of actual mental health events are quite rare. Especially in children's media

Gaming received a moment like this in 2023 but it is far less talked about. Sure, fans of the game probably discuss it amongst themselves because that's what fans do, but the wider public hasn't grasped onto it yet. Hey, 2023 was an astounding year for games, stuff is going to slip through the cracks.

Alan Wake 2 contains a constantly shifting and complex narrative. The world seems to be changing based on the story the titular character Alan Wake is writing. The player will likely be questioning their memory on certain things as they play. "Did this interaction play out as I remember it? Did I miss a key point in the narrative that would clue me in as to what's going on?" Nothing is quite as it seems and you are constantly guessing about what is going on as you play.

Probably the biggest 'questioning the narrative' moment in the game is related to one of the game's playable characters Saga Anderson and her daughter, Logan. Saga is sent to a town called Bright Falls to investigate a series of supernatural murders. You witness a phone conversation towards the start of the narrative between Saga, her husband and her daughter that's fairly innocuous. It basically just tells you that they're a loving family. But that's the last little bit we hear about this happy family throughout. From that point forward, things change.

Various citizens of the town you're in act like Saga is an old regular of the place. They address her by her first name and speak in very familiar tones. They think she separated from her husband and took her daughter with her to this down. Oh, and also her daughter died via drowning. Kind of a heavy pill to swallow but one you probably shake off the first couple of times you hear it because you witnessed that phone call at the beginning of the game. You HEARD her marriage was happy and you even heard her daughter. Things are fine.

But as the game goes on, more NPCs mention this to you. In fact, basically every plot relevant character including Saga's partner thinks Logan is dead. Eventually you start to doubt yourself. Did you actually experience that phone call at the beginning of the game or is it a false memory? You didn't actually SEE the characters she was speaking to, was it something she hallucinated? Is the twist for this game that the narrative impacting the game world never actually twisted this part of Saga's life?

As the player, it's hard to determine what's real. In a lot of games, the character the player is controlling doesn't actually mirror the emotions of the player. You might be confused but the main character isn't. It all makes perfect sense to them! And for a lot of this game, Saga comes across as someone who absolutely believes her version of events. Logan is alive. Her marriage is fine. Alan's narrative is shifting the world and fixing that will fix everything. As a player I was second guessing everything the game was throwing at me but the character I was controlling was more sure of herself.

However, we get to peer into Saga's mind a fair amount. The game has a gameplay mode called "The Mind Place." In it, Saga can deduce pieces of evidence related to the various cases you undertake. You can get her perspective on a lot of events in the game this way. A lot can be inferred about Saga's personality through this. You find out she is very sure of herself and competent. But in the end game, things change.

After a wild sequence of events, Saga is locked in the mind place. Usually when you can exit out of there with the press of a button, but no matter what you do, you are stuck. With nowhere to go in the 'real' world you are stuck alone with your thoughts and here are where a lot of your doubts throughout the game come to surface. You grab various pieces of evidence throughout your mind and all of them are just overwhelmingly negative. "You are a bad mom, you are a bad cop, you let your kid die, you are a bad wife." With every new piece of evidence you collect, the player and Saga's doubts become more and more intertwined.

It hits hardest when you're dealing with Logan. Every piece of evidence basically just screams "YOUKILLEDHERYOUKILLEDHERYOUKILELDHER" over and over again. The evidence is accompanied by a picture of your daughter that slowly fades after each message. Is everything the NPCs were telling us about this character true? Is it possible that everyone else in the world is wrong and her life actually does suck?

When I'm having a dark period of time and I think everything is bad, I often search for proof that things aren't as bad as they seem. I think of interactions I've had with people or stuff I've done at my job and go "okay so maybe I'm not as bad as I think" but invariably when I try to cheer myself up like this, a voice in the back of my head calls bullshit on everything I am saying and pops up right when I am on the brink of breaking out of it. "Oh that person was just being nice to you" "Oh, you just achieved that because you knew the right person" "You have done nothing with your life." That sort of stuff.

And wouldn't you know it, Saga does the same thing. She rejects that the death of her daughter is a reality and tries to find evidence to support this theory. All very strong stuff and a lot of it is not new information to the player. And yet, with every bit of evidence you collect that suggests maybe you're not a bad wife and mother, maybe you're not a bad fed, Saga basically screams at you that you're wrong and in denial. That you are looking for an easy escape to the obvious solution. That you are merely coping to evade reality.

Eventually your evidence becomes so strong that you snap out of your funk and are able to leave the mind place and return to 'reality.' Saga still has those lingering doubts, but she also has given herself enough reasons to believe that the doubts are in her head. She is at a point where she is comfortable confronting the nature of her personal life. You know in the back of her head she's not sure what she's gonna find on the other side of her mind place, but she is at least no longer content with sitting in obliviousness.

The handling of intrusive thoughts is done so well. You the player are the one who is going about grabbing the evidence that you're not mentally broken, but the voice in the back of your head is shoving all the bad thoughts up front whether you want them to or not. I cannot overstate how gripping the storytelling is during this 30 minute segment. Many people would call the gameplay in this section 'walking-sim' esque, but I would argue it the most gripping bit of gameplay in the game despite not requiring anything out of the player from a reflex perspective.

There are no fail states. It's just you and the mind of one of the characters you've spent the past several hours with. And it is enthralling.

#Alan Wake 2 #opinion #rambling #video games #narratives #alan wake #remedy #saga anderson #ps5 #xbox #epic game store #gaming #vidya #mental health #self doubt

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