#also an opportunity to drop some more lore ? hints. and you can also see i am depicting CW a bit differently to his canon | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

good-beanswrites · 6 months

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🎬: About Es being a past prisoner and the secret 11th prisoner in your AU. But advance apologies if I'm overstepping into your AU!

I had this idea from a story that pretty much did the same thing. Going off there are novels/manga on Milgram and there being another Es and their own prisoners running another Milgram (but differently) I imagine this Milgram projects has been going on for a while, and our Es was from a previous project who might have gotten the worst verdict (or the most spared out of everyone), and was given this final task as a warden for the next group of prisoners. This is why they so readily agreed and had their memories wiped for this Milgram project instead of being weary on a shady project on judging an almost crime, they've already been through this.

(BTW is it bad and worrying for one of our ten fav prisoners to be the next Es if this is legit...)

Anyway, that's why Es is in Milgram in your AU, I guess? And the lore drop that Kotoko picks up on them being the 11th prisoner, I can imagine her also talking to Kazui since he's a policeman to see if she could cross out any theories on who Es is (Did they look familiar. Possible missing child. Any cases to do with an almost crime by a child other than the 10 of them here). Kazui knows Kotoko wants to investigate, but reminds her that, like in their prison while the trial is on, the facilities they're in have high security too. They do have the freedom to move about, but still limited.

If they're trying to investigate Es, maybe Fuuta, Kotoko and Mikoto can try to do the hacking on the comp Mikoto's allowed to use to Photoshop some shots for the MVs and photos (Fuuta and Kotoko seem to be able to search up info they need I think...). Yuno, Mahiru and Muu can work on charming the staff to see if they can spill more deets on Milgram. Not sure how much the group can gather, but oh boy fun times in Milgram can turn into another sort of stress in this AU...

No worries!! Like I said before, this whole au has been a fun collaborative project, so there's no overstepping :) I am sorry I won't be writing a lot on the ending until we get more info, but that's just the perfectionist in me who doesn't want to be proven wrong 😅 Still, I love tossing around and digging into ending scenarios, I really love this!

Because that would make a lot of sense why they're so willing to subject themself to the whole experiment! They remember how tough their experience was, and are confident they can care for the new set of prisoners while doing their job. I'm imagining they get the opportunity to return as guard, and get to have a nice talk with their own guard first. Once they fully understand what it's like, they're know they can handle it and sign up. It adds a bit of drama, too, since they must have been really young committing their crime in order to complete a years-long experiment prior to this one. They would have been like 10? Oof. (Now I wanna see their three trial songs 👀)

And like you said, that also brings up the question of the new warden. Though I think it's based on verdict results, I can just picture Jackalope keeping an eye on everyone during filming. He studyies their interactions and personalities, keeping his own set of notes on who would make a good successor. (I'm not going to go through every character but there are pros to any choice, it's very fun picturing them all taking the job.) Haha, on the other hand, maybe the reason Kotoko keeps bringing up her role as Es' partner/bringer of justice is because she did discover the truth. She drops as many hints as possible so she can be chosen next 😅

Ooh, I love her working with Kazui on an investigation! The fact that eh may know details on recent crimes (and almost-crimes) is super fun to work with. He's the last person who's going to spill a secret, so the group could go several trials without realizing Kazui had actually heard all about their situation this whole time.

(Getting sidetrack for a sec, I'm suddenly realizing that he and Kotoko may have heard things about the crimes in canon, too. They're a bit unclear about how much time passed between the murders and arriving to Milgram, so maybe he heard some things. I don't know how well-connected Tokyo police departments are, but Yuno, Fuuta, Muu, and Shidou are all nearby. There's definitely a chance he caught word of the vigilante nearby, and she heard about the odd policeman's suicide. Both of them could have heard about the tragic housefire, the disgraced doctor, or horrible schoolgirl murder nearby.)

Anyway, I like that idea of Kazui wracking his brain for any similar cases. Though, if he had, Milgram may have had the foresight to wipe parts of his memory, too. Maybe he does end up using his call to reach out to Hinako and have her look into it from the outside. Sadly, Kotoko seems the type to sacrifice her personal call to reach out to a connection who can help as well. I'll have to think about how closely Jackalope monitors those calls, hm.

I'm going crazy over prisoner investigation team !! Kotoko and Fuuta had the online knowledge to find some good info, and Mikoto and Kazui seem like they'd have a huge network of people they can ask for info and favors from. Haha, I'm torn whether Mahiru would have flirting down to a science or if she'd refuse to do it since it wasn't real love 😂 Still, she's very good at reading people and could definitely help the others charm and bribe their way into some restricted areas. Amane and Haruka can also charm with their innocence/cuteness (though I'm not sure Amane would). Shidou seems very organized, he'd have a plan and backup plan and backup-backup plan ready, no matter what happens. I think it's even funnier, then if Milgram had run several experiments prior. Jackalope would think this was just another runthrough, and for the first time the ten subjects decided to organize together and Cause Problems.

I think there's a beautiful irony in a story featuring ten prisoners planning a jailbreak to save the prison guard...

#milgram #as always thank you for sending 🎬!! these are so fun and big brained ough #lol yeah a fun fact about me is im Such a stickler for canon even in aus like this #the pain of writing a mahiru x boyfriend fic and doing the whole thing without ever saying his name 💀#so i wrote the last chapter of the au as vague as possible so that it had a nice ending but i may go back to make things more accurate when #t3 ends and we (hopefully) find out who es is #i love that this eases some of the pain knowing that es knew exactly what they were getting into :')#and wont be too fucked up upon getting their memories back since they knew it was faked #while also adding extra angst that theyve been there for so long -- theyve spent so much of their childhood within milgram #i was just recently looking at that post about their character locations and had it all marked out on a map #i swear i dont just know that off the top of my head asdfsd #i never realized kazui and kotoko would have outside knowledge >:0 #i really love that concept #between the ten of them they hit so many skill sets -- theyve got the brain and the brawn and the people skills #theyve got intimidation and innocence #theyve got the experience of 40yos and up-to-date kids #theyd be unstoppable -- rip jackalope 😂😂😂#lights camera sing your sins #ask

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narwhalandchill · 1 month

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Honestly. thinking back on it (am mega late yes) even though i like. ultimately enjoyed going thru fontaine AQ as an experience in terms of its emotional core and payoff with characters like navia neuvillette n furina having very strong writing and characterization i do think the overall AQ lore and worldbuilding is probably the messiest in the entire game and feels like all of its opportunities and potential was underutilized the most and thats just. Unfortunate

like yes its inazuma thats the most infamous for how shitty and rushed its execution was (and rightly so) and yes it Also had its share of issues with nothingburgers like the whole statue thing going nowhere or how shoddily constructed the entire it-was-all-the-fatui deal was

but i still think it has a stronger ground to stand on like. all aspects of the story if just slightly differently written and centered around better in-lore reasoning and logic. Are internally consistent with the world ya know. and would have produced a good story. like it could be fixed easily. no need for me to go Full Rewrite here but like just to make a point:

a shut-in deity paranoid and trauma-stricken is ignorant to her peoples wishes and enacts an eternal rule that stifles their hopes and dreams. discontentment in the nation (NOT just the vision holders it shouldve been ALL inazumans divided on this i s2g) has been on the rise but only outside forces stoking the flames push it into overdrive as they seek to exploit the unrest to get the gnosis. couldve brought the whole "peoples faith powers the archon" if they wanted to pop off bc then the fatui by sparking the civil war are Directly weakening eis power like Thats solid! less ei was innocent and only the fatui led to the bad stuff more. ei is flawed makes shit choices and leaves an opening for their operations etc etc etc.

foreshadow signoras past and distrust of the gods in like a tense encounter or two early on (ritou maybe?) where she hints at a deeper reason behind her actions. no need to trauma dump just have her like idk mock us for seeking the archons for "help" in finding our sibling slash truth of the world and coincidentally use wording that directly alludes to what we already heard from dainsleif earlier abt the cataclysm and archons sus so its like an Oh Shit. she can namedrop or allude to venti to imply its personal or sth to further recontextualize her actions in mondstadt as well.

and so on. like then fixing the rebellion (ppl join for other reasons than just the VHD so its a more common cause etc maybe some ppl dont care abt the decrees as much but the drafting of civilians into the ever expanding war effort goes too far) and stuff like that. inazuma had the ingredients for a consistent good story they just fumbled it completely

whereas fontaine tells like. a much stronger and more hype emotional core journey for its focal points as u go thru them but also it just. Genuinely falls apart if you poke at the setting and world for a bit too long its really just swiss cheese and that sucks

like as much as i Do love the narwhal in a very normal and sane way i still think story wise it absolutely goes into the signora tier of mishandled AQ boss fights except Even worse than hers bc. signora Fits inazuma even if she was handled poorly. but with the narwhal (and by extension childes entire presence as happy as i was to see him at all) its just... kinda random? and got pretty much brushed aside even during the AQ like we get the opera hall cutscene and then theres a THIRTY MINUTE cutscene with focalors before the actual fight happens like way to just. eliminate any urgency from the situation bruh. and then at the end both the narwhal and childe kinda just got plot deviced into hyping up skirk and surtalogis name drop. which rly fucking sucks. 99.7% of fandom never reads the AQ fight boss drop to consider the narwhals a sentient thinking feeling entity and not just a dumb big pet bc skirk called it that etc.

childe in general i dont think im necessarily like. as negative on the way he was handled as some ppl are (tho the general sentiments are 100% shared) but its still very much like. a disappointment w his lack of presence and voiced lines and in terms of how a lot of the intrigue set up in the AQ Especially the oratrice judgement just got shrugged off all "who knows 🤷‍♀️" like Are You Serious. and also p much using him as a neuvi hype device like . I saw it i knew ppl were going to be insufferable abt it & was right

i also saw a comment talking abt how childe Being the purple guy inside the narwhal just corrupted or sth wouldve given him a more heightened presence during the boss fight and while im a hater of that concept for other reasons (mostly the. narwhal must have malicious designs for ajax thing) i cant disagree with that take in terms of the story aspect. like if the narwhal ate him when he fell back in (which i kinda? assume mustve happened lmao like where did he Go 😭😭) it Wouldve been a much greater moment for sth like that to be there.

But bc i personally dont like the Brainwashed Puppet Angle i think how id have done it is just. sure make the purple guy more reminiscent of ajax n his fight style maybe even FL . But. feature an actual fucking cutscene in the stomach of us realizing its Not Him. but instead its the Narwhal Emulating Him as a spectral summon thingy. bc it ate his dumb unconscious ass for safekeeping or w/e and is now copying his homework of "use a manifestation of the other as a combat technique" (v romantic btw. soulmates real). like DUDE we had childes earlier AQ appearance Actively Bring Up this EXACT thing! he uses a hydro construct mimicking the narwhal as a combat technique bc of how their encounter rewired his brain chemistry. and now the narwhal needs to improv a more humanoid angle to combat in its stomach after it ate us. so like pov ur the narwhal whats the closest point of reference to draw from at that moment?

Oh Right. the guy ur been fighting for 40+ days . Your guy (derogatory) 💀 like they have a telepathic link who knows if it could just straight up cross reference Our combat moves from the flashes its getting from childes memories of seeing us in action and utilizing that.

like it wouldve been so sick and still left the nature of their connection relatively open ended. like it ate him skirk would be separating them at the end and maybe comment on it a bit and his whereabouts during the entire thing wouldve been Way Less confusing. The knight dude being a mimic of ajax' battle technique would thematically connect to the golden house fight and his hydro whale technique and its just. the current electro dude is just so Huh. like its a good jumpscare and i love the OST obviously but it getting No Lore NOR cutscene sucks so bad

(And like if they wanted the combat design to be so that theres no cutscene interrupting the transition between being swallowed and entering the stomach phase just make it an AQ exclusive one. and if we cant have traveler talk and logistics of bringing paimon/neuvi to make the shocked observation of "is that.... him? no... its just an imitation???" or w/e . Just have us FLASH BACK to childes own fucking dialogue as the phantom him is summoned to face us where he mentions 1) traces of the narwhal on him and 2) the basis behind his hydro summon technique. so traveler can have a silent !!!!!! Realization that he got ate or whatever and now his narwhal is stealing his ideas jsjskdksirigkf)

Anyway i swear this wasnt just abt those two im so sorry . but like yeah its just a fucking shame and also the narwhal being just like . Means to an End in the prophecy feels kinda meh but like i dont have a solid idea on how that would even rly be fixed but yeah. underutilized my both beloveds

Back to fontaine general stuff tho i kinda do think that . hoyo almost missed the trees for the forest w it all if u will excuse the mid metaphor . like they told a very strong emotional story w neuvi and furina and navia But it came at the cost of a highly illogical lore and worldbuilding and its just An Issue if u dwell on it even a little bit and its rly a shame

like they were going for this justice theme of maybe AI justicebot is not The Way (TM) and people viewing court as a spectacle rather than a show of justice but then went never fucking where with it in terms of Maybe This Needs Changing . they made that entire champion duelists a thing despite it being So fucking stupid fundamentally like it just relies on nobody with enough raw power to just solo any duelist ever getting into the ring

(no credit for this tho this was a comment thread i ran into on leaks sub. there was also a point made abt how childe dueling and winning against clorinde when hes accused wouldve been such a great moment of like both showcasing clorindes role and linking to their earlier sparring and holding back thing and also that maybe the system sucks when this is possible and while i get the story needed him in jail so he can reunite w his narwhal . im now mad this didnt happen. give him a W in combat hoyo.)

like theres this entire thing about flawed justice in fontaine that is present in the 4.0 story but then it just...... Disappears. Bc AI justicebot was anti celestia archon deleter all along and it finished its job so its no longer a fundamental ethical issue for the legal system and fontaines ppl to grapple with and confront shit like childes sentencing. And furina wanted dramatic trials bc of what she was told by focalors but since she retires its now just neuvillette whos super fair so everything is fixed .

im not as big of a hater of act III as some but like thinking abt these things further makes me like it less and less like Yes they wanted this meropide vs regular fontaine dichotomy explored and all but thinking of it is just. i wonder how worthwhile the opportunity cost was in there (i have no correct answer btw)

bc . if you keep the childe jailed bc justice AI bot. they shouldve shown the people responding to it . bc that entire highly controversial judgement is Literally accompanied by the solving of the serial disappearances case AFTER multiple ""culprits"" had already been imprisoned for it which i actually forgot (thanks same reddit comment for reminding me) like Whats with those people then????? and just. Everything to do with the entire case including childes deal shouldve been a much bigger social upheaval anyway like ik stuff like furinas SQ shows ppl personally affected in the aftermath but i mean in bigger scale.

And Then if we like run a bit with this alternate hypothetical idea of childe no diffing the court system (clorinde im sure youre powerful but like i put more faith in those ruin guards that lasted 4s against FL than u girl) so hes simultaneously kind of a criminal let off scot free but also its so stupid to think a guy thats like 25 at most is involved in a 20yr old solved case it couldve been actual source of political discord. and like if you need to get him to the narwhal for plot reasons its Rly Not That Hard theyre obsessed with each other bro gets pinged a whale call once and its like yes honey we jailbreak for reunion tonight (hes going to throw hands Immediately bc hes the toxic battle maniac one). also yes ik they wrote it weird so technically ajax cant duel after the oratrice decides hes involved which is major intrigue point (that canon wasted but oh well) but like. they couldve written differently idc. he couldve even gone off investigating why AI bot considers him guilty on his own and then jeepers!! speedrun glitchless any% spawned into the primordial sea!! hes missing! but like this isnt a well articulated idea whatsoever lmao im just winging some shit

meropides existence in general was also just weird. again i enjoyed the character writing it enabled for wrio and the HotH trio and despite disliking childe just being MIA i do like how the storytelling around his escape expands on his social intelligence and street smarts still. but as an entity the fortress is just sorta there as a system that Obviously shouldnt be Like this when its literally the other side of the coin to fontaines Already dubious legal system but then they went the whole. its a gathering place for exiles (still a prison)!! a home for those alienated by the surface world after so long (so why KEEP them in there that long)!!!! protectors of egerias secret (okay Sure. but whats the need post prophecy then)!!!! And its like. okay im not about to uhh. overstep my understanding of the risk a chinese company limited by often nebulous and inconsistent censorship would take if they went for a full on prison reform/abolishing angle w the writing like i dont think that was in the cards. But it still means meropide as a system just falls apart if u think abt its existence critically At All and its hard to say whether fontaines writing omitting sth like it entirely wouldve ultimately been better for the overall focus of the story anyway. but yeah

and its just. im sure theres even more that i havent even noted here (logistics of nobody drowning in the flood & rest of teyvat being unaffected etc etc) bc this is just a rant ramble not a coherent analysis but my point in all of this is that the abundance of issues like these just kinda add up so that by the end its kinda like fontaines simultaneously the AQ that id say has the highest highs in terms of its best moments and strongest emotional beats and how much heart it carries . Like im not taking that away from it.

but its also the AQ with like genuinely the messiest fucking groundwork in lore and larger worldbuilding implications whose aftermath leaves the most plot threads barely explored or just discarded altogether by the end and its just?? Such a weird mess like i very much enjoyed it despite the problems and for me it still overtakes sumeru in many aspects but i cant pretend those problems arent there . like consistency of writing and lore accounted for sumeru is still the best AQ

(oh also. the fact that to my knowledge no fucking fontaine NPC Ever reacts to the events throughout the AQ is fucking insane. like other nations could get away w sth like that better but. THE ENTIRE NATION FLOODED. How the fuck arent they talking. ppl in meropide post act IV abt the close call. ppl who saw the narwhal in the opera house in V. Like . HUH???)

but yeah its . A weird situation w fontaines writing as a whole . & yes im giga late to the discussion HSJSJSKSI but oh well thats my brain for ya

#anyway if i somehow missed an array of NPCs reactinv to the events thatll be embarrassing lmao but #i kinda doubt it usjsjdjdiriskdkt #its sooooo weird i swear . like fontaines rly just the cinematic drama above all else #idk if the writing was just a mess to begin with or if there were like rewrites happening #where some initial version of the story utilized the setting and things like ajax n the narwhal much better #but then they shifted gears at some point maybe to veer away from the justice system being fucked aspect #to avoid the . furina neuvi actively responsible for these problems angle bc problematic playables are a Thing #i do have a bit of a foil hat abt cut content w childe specifically bc he isnt voiced in acts III and IV #final cutscene is only in cn . so its kinda giving hasty rewrite couldnt get ahold of all VAs #but yeaaaaaa idk #also i didnt even MENTION #pre fontaine. anyons remember the pollution and energy crisis thing??? hinted at by NPCs????#like that shit sure got irminsul'd 💀💀💀💀#rambles #genshin #long post #hmmm is there enough narwhal or childe brain rot for it to go into the tags. maube not

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kozykricket · 9 months

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some ramblings, appreciating deltarunes "layers" of story/lore

I might have already written something about this before, but something that I really love about deltarune is that it's a game that (from what we can tell) has several different layers to the story that are all enjoyable, for different... levels of players to enjoy! Like, you have the upfront stuff, about oh, dark worlds, the knight, and kris' soul (protagonist vs player and such) but its mostly just some young teenagers goofing off going to fantasy worlds and learning some self improvement then you go a tad bit deeper, still things most people may ask and you have... well what the hecks up with dark worlds logistically, why is ralsei, and what dark worlds represent (escapism woah), and for some, secret bosses expanding on the whole free will + kris' soul shenanigans thats where it may end for most people, and i think thats great, that if you arent someone in extreme brainrot about the history of gaster then... i think the game will be very enjoyable without having to think about meta elements! and of course, as good writing tends to be, hints about one "level above" are slowly dropped to those who are below, to help them understand, but you get what im saying, right? its like, big nerds get thinking about the gaster shit earlier, before the game really is gonna start probably hammering in like hey whats up with that voice at the beginning

I do question whether dess will end up being about as secret as like, jevil is, or as secret as the man behind the tree and the mystery of the eggs is. but i feel like shes also a realy good opportunity for being a mystery thats almost entirely deltarune, without needing prior-context of who a random vaguely mentioned character in ut is. still, a lot of vague info is hidden in the files, so perhaps... hmm, well, there was that one abc_123 file where toby was like "don't share stuff from the files, thanks. you cant have secrets nowadays" and then.. i feel like when he changed it to just be laughter, that was his way of saying "alright, i see the game you want to play. ill play along" and thats why... for some people, hes playing the game of hiding mysterious stuff in the code. he knows what hes doing, of course. he knows people love looking in the games code, so hes trying to make it interesting even if people do that overall though i just like how theres different levels of enjoyment of the story so far. im sure the game will end up telling everyone about dess and gaster and such, in some way, but... for most people? itll be a game about the fun gang and their friends learning to become better people, and having some fun wacky adventures on the way there! tldr toby fox does "having different layers to your story" in a fairly interesting, enjoyable way. EDIT: yeah, ill make a v2 of this post. i more specifically am amazed at how you dont NEED to know the deeper layers than you want to, and its. cool !!

#deltarune ramblings #deltarune #i couldve worded this better #and i probably will try to later #jake ramblings

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flightfoot · 3 years

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Miraculous Ladybug Season 4 Episode rankings (As of Optygami’s release)

ML season 4 has knocked it out of the park so far! It’s been absolutely amazing, and I’ve greatly enjoyed every episode.

That being said, some episodes have still been better than others (or have contained elements I find more appealing at least), so what better way to show that than with a ranking?

9. Queen Banana

We got a new hero this episode, and she is awesome! Vesperia and Chat have a nice little interaction, and while Vesperia gets taken out, it’s for a good reason - distracting Queen Banana so Ladybug can put glue in her pocket, disarming her. It was a really nice way of showing Zoe’s humility and ability for teamwork, even when it meant giving up the starring role, in order to complete the group’s overall goal.

The mini-movie felt like foreshadowing, what with the “Superheroine of Creation” being an obvious Ladybug expy, while the “Supervillain of Destruction” was a Chat Noir expy, though with fewer connections. Interestingly, it’s also used to parallel Zoe’s and Chloe’s relationship, with Zoe even quoting from the movie at the end.

And Andre’s character development was top-notch! Bully him around to do material things as much as you like, but hurting Zoe is off-limits. She’s Andre’s daughter too.

So why is it so low down? Simply put, it didn’t feel like it changed things as much as Sole Crusher did, nor did it showcase Marinette’s and Adrien’s relationship as much. It was good, but there was less to talk about concerning it than I thought there’d be.

8. Furious Fu

The first episode of Season 4 aired (even though it was episode 6 in production order), we got some lore drop this episode! Su Han gave us a better idea of what to expect from the Guardians and what their relationship with the kwamis had been like overall. Poor Plagg especially, he’s just treated like a bomb that could go off at any moment.

I especially liked seeing Ladybug and Chat Noir’s relationship this episode, and their differing reactions to Su Han and his proposals. Ladybug was insecure about not having defeated Hawkmoth yet and thought Su Han might have a point about the Miraculous being better in other hands, and for this to be something for the Guardians to handle.

Chat Noir meanwhile didn’t give a crap about Su Han’s authority, about this random guy who just showed up and tried to boss them around; but he DOES respect Ladybug’s, and made that known. That he’d give up his Miraculous, his ticket to freedom and also the vessel for one of his closest friends, Plagg, but only at LADYBUG’S request, not this dude.

But it also showed the limits of that, with him refusing to go along with even that when it’d mean that Ladybug would get amnesia. That he’d not only lose his Miraculous, but his closest, dearest friend as well.

The episode was well done, but just didn’t feel like it either changed things as much or showcased character development as much as the other entries on this list, which is why it’s lower.

7. Sole Crusher

This was our first look at a new character, Zoe, and she did not disappoint! She was absolutely adorable and I really felt for her, with needing to pretend to be nasty in order to not be practically disowned from her family.

It showcased how much Marinette had grown as well, with having Marinette see through Zoe’s Mean Girl act when they reunite and not jump to hasty negative conclusions, like she did with Adrien, instead considering that there may have been other factors involved with making Zoe act differently while with Chloe.

Also character exploration and growth for Andre, of all characters! Very unexpected. I really wanted him to succeed in his original dream, and I was thrilled at him comforting Zoe, with him empathizing with her, with acting as a parent towards her, even with her being his stepdaughter and presumedly not knowing her very well before this.

Zoe’s ability to anticipate how she’d need to act in order to conform with her family’s expectations while still getting to do what she wanted (for the most part), like with her pretending to be all prissy and stuck up when interacting with Audrey, or pretending that her messaging with Marinette was a setup to betray and humiliate her, showed a great understanding of the people around her as well as some great acting ability. And her realization of how she’d been putting on acts like this for so long before this, of her people-pleasing and afterwards attempting to just be herself, felt like foreshadowing for Adrien’s own arc.

And we got a few seconds of Marichat. Yay for crumbs!

6. Mr. Pigeon 72

This episode was PACKED. We got to see the followup to Gang of Secrets, with Ladybug freaking out and Alya trying to center her, as well as some followup to Lies, with Marinette trying to “help” Kagami get back together with Adrien. And on top of the stuff that forms the premise of the episode, we got to see Rena Rouge be badass again, Plagg and Ladybug team up, and even Umbrella scene 2, which I don’t think ANYONE saw coming!

Marinette was a lot of fun and we got to see some good stuff from Kagami and Alya here. It felt a little disjointed with how much was crammed into it and I missed Chat Noir, but overall it was really good!

5. Guiltrip

What an amazing episode! Rose is one of the least developed members of the class, mostly being known for being really sweet and being Juleka’s girlfriend, and not much else. Here, we got an inner look at her, at WHY she’s so positive, and how powerful that positivity can be. That she’s not innately positive just because, but that it’s a choice she makes.

Plus the class is AMAZING here. They care about their friends SO MUCH, even if they go about it the wrong way. We got to see Juleka and Rose caring about each other, and even though it went wrong, Rose understands why Juleka ended up spilling her secret and doesn’t blame her for it.

It also really showcased Marinette and Adrien, there different ways of dealing with serious issues, with Marinette jumping ahead and trying to do whatever she thinks will help immediately (help now, ask questions later) while Adrien tried to do the opposite, asking Juleka what she wanted first and trying to stick with that (ask questions first, then help). Both can be useful, depending on the circumstances.

Also got to see a bit more about Adrien’s turmoil, with him being borderline suicidal, and Nino feeling guilty that he wasn’t able to help Adrien with his father, hinting that something bad went down with Gabriel before this.

There was just a LOT to unpack with this episode, but it all fit together neatly!

4. Lies

All of the “Truth” related episodes were amazing! Lies being no exception. Also our first (and so far only) Adrien-centric episode this season.

Lies catapulted discussion of Adrien’s looming identity crisis, as well as his deflections and near-suicidal behavior, stuff that becomes even more apparent in Guiltrip. The breakup was handled well, with it not being Adrien’s fault (he had to leave and lie for the same reasons Marinette did), but with Kagami’s reaction being totally understandable and valid. She was a very active participant in it, even testing to see whether Adrien had lied. And she was ALLOWED to be pissed afterwards, to not trust him, even though she could tell that he wasn’t just doing this for no reason.

I wish we’d gotten more time with her as an akuma, but I can see why we didn’t. There just wasn’t that much time in the episode, and the emotional crux of the episode occurred between her and Adrien - there just wasn’t much she could do as an akuma that was gonna add much impact to the episode.

3. Optygami

Oh WOW did this episode make an impact. Major Wham episode in a season chockful of major revelations, status quo changes, and character progression.

Nathalie and Gabriel actually had a pretty clever plan, spying on the revealed wielders this whole time using the “one sentimonster per wielder, but there can be multiple sentimonsters from different wielders out at the same time” loophole. It meant that Nathalie was actually doing something while she was benched, and I’m willing to bet that she’s the one who came up with the plan in the first place. Say what you will about her morality or her taste in men, but she is an effective supervillain who may be an assistant (and totally fine with that role, which isn’t so common), but one with a lot of agency. And using impostors and try to force a situation where Ladybug would have to give a Miraculous to one of them, and using that opportunity to plant a spy sentimonster in a Miraculous in order to discover Ladybug’s identity and the location of the other Miraculous? Was inspired!

We were baited on there being a Reveal, but that wasn’t exactly a shocker. In any case, we did have a bunch of OTHER cool, impactful stuff.

Hawkmoth stepped up his game with his sentimonsters, making a couple of impostors to control the situation, with Senti Alec and Senti Nino. Seems like foreshadowing about there potentially being more sentimonsters in disguise...

The major developments everyone’s screaming about though, are:

1. Alya getting her Miraculous permanently, being the first “temporary” wielder to get that honor, and putting her in a greater position to help with any akuma that’s causing more trouble than usual.

2. And the one that’s gotten everyone theorizing, screaming, and writing fics: Chat Noir and Ladybug’s seemingly deteriorating relationship, with a special emphasis on how left out Chat is and just how much he’s being kept in the dark, and how he’s beginning to realize this, feeling unneeded. How much Chat’s hiding his hurt, and how that’s going to lead to some sort of emotional confrontation or breakdown down the line.

My ranking of Optygami may go up or down depending on whether future episodes follow through on what it sets up, especially with the foreshadowed Ladynoir confict.

Looks like we’re gonna have a hiatus after Optygami, considering that we don’t currently have airdates for any more episodes, but what a note to leave off on!

2. Truth

This episode was AMAZING. We got to see Luka and Marinette just hanging out casually, having fun together, like with the little trivia game they played on the way to the theater. Luka even showed a bit of a playful side, with setting up the last question so that the answer would end with “kiss me”.

Luka was also allowed to feel negative emotions for reasons aside from protecting Marinette, with him feeling down and a little abandoned because of Marinette constantly ditching - something that was given more context, with how we learned that he never knew his father, and how much it bothers him that his mom won’t tell him who it was.

The revelation of Jagged Stone being Luka’s father was one that’d already been leaked way back in January, though few people believed it at the time and it got little attention. It gave Luka a plotline that had nothing to do with Marinette, something that was sorely needed and one that I’m hoping gets expanded on later.

Also had some great Ladynoir, with Chat Noir and Ladybug discussing their relationship during the akuma fight, when they were forced to be truthful to boot! Ladybug really does like Chat’s sense of humor, and Chat doesn’t have a problem with Ladybug’s status as Guardian, so long as it doesn’t interfere with their relationship.

1. Gang Of Secrets

Gang of Secrets was a great followup to Truth, showing Marinette attempting to cope with with breakup, and the subsequent realization that she has to lie to everyone always, and how little time and trust that leaves for her regular relationships.

Meanwhile, the people around Marinette worry and try to help and comfort her as best they can, even when they don’t really know what’s wrong or what to do. From the Girl Squad to Chat Noir to... kind of the kwamis (though with them it’s more lack of understanding of romantic relationships rather than lack of knowledge that holds them back), everyone attempts to help her, but it’s just not feasible under the circumstances for her to be helped the way she needs to be while keeping her secrets.

And in order to keep those secrets, she snaps, forcing all her friends away.

But they don’t take that easily. They want to be there for Marinette, they want to be friends, and become akumatized specifically in order to find out what was wrong, comfort her, fix whatever it was, and become friends again. They really care for her a lot.

And then- AND THEN-!

ALYA DEAKUMATIZES HERSELF

BECOMES RENA ROUGE AGAIN

AND MARINETTE EVEN CONFESSES THAT SHE’S LADYBUG TO HER.

It’s one of the biggest changes to the status quo we’ve had. Like, Master Fu being introduced changed what Marinette was doing, meaning that they could call on new heroes and she had someone to discuss Miraculous stuff with besides Tikki, and Master Fu renouncing his Guardianship and passing it on to Marinette changed what Marinette was doing on a day-to-day basis more, but... well, it didn’t represent as big of a change in themes, of things that had been built up for seasons. Breaking the Secret Identity Rule? DOES.

Also sets up for some potential LadyNoir conflict down the line, with her not having told Chat that she told her identity to someone else yet. I’m sure they’ll be okay in the end, but it could test their relationship and the rules they’ve lived by since they started being superheroes.

------------

So that’s my ranking with the episodes we’ve had released so far. We’re a third of the way through the season and I gotta say, I’m really happy with it so far! Can’t wait to see what the rest of the season has in store for us.

#Miraculous ladybug #ml episode rankings #ml spoilers #optygami #queen bee #sole crusher #mr pigeon 72 #guiltrip #gang of secrets #ml lies #ml truth #furious fu #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #alya cesaire

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abyssalhuntersnerd · 2 years

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Specter is just. An incredibly interesting character, and I'm genuinely excited to see what Arknights does with her. Because not only is she already familiar with Kal'tsit that she gets along with her, it's pretty clear that she knows a lot of things that I suspect even Gladiia isn't privvy to (which is odd considering Gladiia was the captain) - and they're not things she's supposed to know in the first place. Which is why Aegir probably tried to shut her up, by throwing her at the people conducting experiments (the Church) - because obviously none of the other Hunters that underwent the procedure survived, so they didn't think she would either. But she did.

Also she was one of the most dangerous people in the abyssal hunters?? Enough that she gained a reputation for being the "reaper".

Just MAN. Specter is so cool and I really do hope she gets an ALT because there's a massive opportunity for them to do so.

The indescribable joy I felt after seeing someone dropped a huge wall of text in my inbox about Specter hits different y'all, holy heck. Get over here I'm going to give you a damn kiss on the cheek-

I agree with everything you've said 100%. Personally, I suspect Specter was already in some big ploy waaaaay before she was washed ashore and captured by the Church. Specter knows something none of us know, something that could potentially change a lot of the Aegir (And this is for another day but I don't trust Aegir AT ALL.) lore we know so far.

The reason why I think so is mainly because I suspect the Second Squad was the one or one of the ones that had to deal with Aegir's dirty work: Stealth missions and stuff of the sort might have been their forte and Specter might have been or I believe she WAS the most brutal hunter of the bunch. She is a shark after all and the fact Skadi OF ALL PEOPLE said she was brutal as hell back then just tells you how dangerous she was. And is. But that's a whole other post for another day.

Gladiia also knows a lot she doesn't wanna let on. Same goes for Skadi. They all have their demons and secrets they need to keep from each other and save for another time or well, for when it is the right time to say those things. But I do suspect that Specter did fill them in a bit on their way back to Rhodes- Specter tells Skadi that they've already catched up with everything they needed to and even tells Closure she doesn't need to convey her "message" anymore since her colleagues are already on their way to find out about all the secrets she wants them to know. I really, really do think they have a little thing going on and I'll never stop saying it: But I'm betting you money Gladiia and Skadi are working together after Under Tides to find the rest of the Church of the Deep and find a way to help Specter.

And I'm gonna be honest here too: Under Tides doesn't fucking talk about it because I don't know, maybe I am overreacting BUT- Whatever technology the Bishop was using to keep Specter inside of the glass thingy she was in COULD BE THE KEY FOR HER TO BE ABLE TO MANTAIN HER SANITY. She wasn't awake when she left Rhodes and again, I might be overreacting but I really do believe it's an important detail I would have liked to see being more talked about. Even Gladiia didn't know where she was when she took her to the Bishop so I really do believe we might have to deal with the Church again, but this time we might have to steal their technology just for the purpose of helping Specter. And we do know Gladiia had been hunting them down for a bit so, again, now that she has Skadi on her side I don't doubt they are plotting something and that's where their story will continue.

I do think Specter is the key to discovering a lot of the secrets about the Abyssal Hunters' blood and bodies- And truly believe she will use her infection to her advantage. It's hinted at by Kal'tsit (Fucking KAL'TSIT) and she herself says it: The faults in her body can only be fixed by her. No one else can help and she tells Gladiia that she will need a little bit more time to be of some help. And while the last scene of her second operator record is heart wrecking- Keep this in mind: She was able to sing once again after a long time which even Skadi is relieved about. So the hope is there, the hope that she can have some sort of control over "Specter" is definitely there and it should be noted for future updates. Hope is what they are driven by after all.

There's a lot we could talk about when it comes to her but damn, this post is already long enough and I love my girl but gosh- Specter is such a refreshing character. She has a lot of secrets that are really important to the plot that she can't just say just yet and is honestly one of my favorite characters personality wise: Listen, it hits just right to have a character who's a chaotic little shit that gives no flying fucks about what you think about her, calls Skadi stupid because SHE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS THE GUTS TO, who knows she's better than all of us (which she is, I don't wanna hear it, SHE IS.) and just likes to get beat up as much as she likes beating something else up. A sane Laurentina would be absolutely perfect, fun and I know for a fact people would love her to the moon and back just because of the amount of sass this 162cm lady has in her.

It would also be great for her reputation to be honest. I'd love for people to be able to see the depth of her character and not to only reduce her to just being a crazy hot nun. She's in all honesty one of the, if not the most interesting character in the game for me. And I really can't stress that enough.

Specter is the key to finding the truth about Aegir and the Abyssal Hunters. We just haven't gotten there yet. If at some point in the main story she gets mentioned or the church or hell, Aegir gets mentioned I am betting money again she WILL show up again.

She still needs to take us to that special place after all. Their story is far from over and I can't to see more. I really do believe she will get an Alter, she's one of the best candidates to get one.

AND LET IRENE BE IN HER BANNER WHILE YOU ARE AT IT TOO I WANT HER TO BE INDIRECTLY BULLIED BY THE ABYSSALS- Anyways, thank you for the lovely ask Anon, I had fun writing all of this down.

Specter best girl. Look at my lovely daughter: She's the biggest little shit I know. She's perfect and I swear to god if anyone dares to hurt her I'll go feral.

Also, why is she so damn good looking this ISN'T FAIR-

#asks

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aeroargonic · 3 years

Text

My thoughts on Lore Olympus

Trigger warning: mentions of sexual assault and pedophilia.

I've kinda been getting into the Webtoon scene recently. Out of all the comics that I'm keeping up with, I find Lore Olympus probably gets the most attention here on Tumblr. Obviously, I can see why it appeals to a lot of people; combining Greek mythology, a very popular Greek myth at that, with a modern twist and some really beautiful art. I am not gonna claim to be an expert on Greek mythology because my own knowledge on it is spotty at best lol.

As much as I want to enjoy Lore Olympus, there's a couple of things in the story that jump out at me and are really hard to ignore. This is where we get into the trigger warnings so I'll put this under a cut just in case.

BTW, please keep in mind this might be a one-off thing. I am not turning my blog into a Lore Olympus blog.

The biggest issue is obviously the age gap between Hades and Persephone. I have no problem with them having a big age gap, but she's barely an adult. Even Hades calls her a teenager at points. There's also the fact that she's an intern at his company...where he's the boss. So far, we've seen very little of her actually doing the work she'd be assigned as an intern and Persephone herself even notes that she may not be entirely qualified to do all the work. There's the age gap, then there's the power gap. There's just too much opportunity for Hades to take advantage of a vulnerable Persephone for their relationship to be as healthy as the writers want it to look. For a comic that seems to pride itself on its progressiveness with body types and healthy relationships...

Yeah. Persephone is severely sexualized. Now let me say that there is nothing wrong with her body type at all; everyone matures and grows differently. What I do have a problem with is that a lot of her clothing either just barely covers her butt, or leaves a decent amount of her cleavage exposed. While she is a grown adult and can dress herself however she pleases, please refer to my earlier point where Hades calls her a teenager. A lot about Persephone's appearance and personality seems to suggest a childish sense of immaturity. Legally and physically, she may be an adult. But she looks and acts so much like a teenage girl that she might as well be one.

Then there's what happened to her and Apollo. Personally, I think the writing sexual assault the way it was written in the comic is a sign of lazy writing. By the time it happens, Apollo has been established as having no redeemable qualities whatsoever, and the seriousness of the scene is constantly danced around, as if the sexual assault was only intended to exist for shock value and nobody is too interested in exploring the repercussions and trauma that come from this. There seems to be a reoccurring theme where any male god or character in the story shows a certain amount of interest in Persephone. Obviously, Hades and Persephone are the endgame and Apollo believes that he's somehow entitled to have her. Ares makes out with her, Hermes seems to have a crush on her, and even Thanatos can't bring himself to hate her.

Speaking of Thanatos and those who are against Persephone, I wish we could go a bit deeper as to why Minthe and Thetis feel the need to ruin Persephone's relationship with Hades. Having it just be jealousy is pretty shallow and kinda reduces Minthe and Thetis as characters. So much of both their personalities revolve around being in relationships with their bosses. Again, somewhat lazy writing to me. Minthe had potential to drop Thetis and change for the better, but she just went straight back to Thetis the second the opportunity to get dirt on Persephone came up, which ruined the point of a couple of chapters beforehand for me.

Many of the female characters in this story, I find, seem to get shafted in terms of development. If they're not entirely on Persephone's side, like Hera, they get a negative portrayal of sorts. Minthe and Thetis are jealous bitches, Hestia is a hypocrite, Demeter is controlling, and Artemis is a meathead who is completely oblivious to Persephone's plights. Even those who are on Persephone's side, such as Daphne, are noticeably lacking in the characterization department. But for a lot of these characters, both male and female, a good chunk of their development revolves around Persephone. Granted, she is the main character is a wanted fugitive, but I do think this amount of obsessions is silly and takes up too much personality from a lot of characters.

Am I calling Persephone a Mary Sue? Well, not quite. But she's this sweet and innocent and pure little bean with a bite when she needs it. Obviously, whenever she's mean or snarky or turns someone into a plant, there's always a justification for it. Basically, rarely is anything actually Persephone's fault. She doesn't seem to take a lot of responsibility for her actions and while it might not be in Hades's character to get seriously mad with her for the plant thing, he had no problem yelling at her earlier for a less serious deed. Persephone's anger is a mess storywise. We're supposed to believe that she has limited control over her powers and her act of wrath was an accident (because, as I've established, she's supposed to be this pure and innocent woobie), but she was well aware of her actions and intentions when she turned Minthe into a plant.

I realize that I've been saying quite a lot of criticisms against Lore Olympus, so I'll throw some positive things that I do like about the story. I like the concept of Olympus being much more modern than the mortal realm. It's been hinted at that some nymphs are treated worse than others, and I hope we get an opportunity to explore that further. I genuinely was excited when Minthe snapped back at Thetis to see Minthe get redemption of sorts and learn to change her ways for good. Alas, that potential plot appears to be thrown out the window. Also, I love Eros and Athena. They've got to be some of my favourite characters.

So, here's all my ramblings and rantings about Lore Olmypus. Not to call myself a stan or anti or anything, because I believe you can still enjoy or participate in content while keeping a critical eye on it; the way I see it, you should never blindly follow or hate upon a work. Nothing is perfect and Lore Olypmus is not perfect. There's a lot that could be improved and added or retconned. It clearly isn't going to follow the original myth entirely and I don't feel well-educated or familiar enough with the original myth to talk about how faithful Lore Olympus is. Same with the art. I think the art looks lovely, although there are some obvious oversights with colouring and body proportions. I'm certain someone else can sum that up better than I can.

But hey, if all else fails, Punderworld exists. And that's a really good comic too.

So for now, I'll just follow this work and see what happens next.

#lore olympus #lore olympus persephone #lore olympus hades #lo critical

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rocksinmuffin · 3 years

Note

Your mass effect oc sari where the reader is being kind and flirty and holds his hand softly but later falls asleep on his shoulder

Bonus points if Tacilus walks in to reader still asleep and holding his hand

Okay this was sent during the AU requests and doesn’t technically count and also I said I was going to delete anything I didn’t answer during the weekend but you are asking me to write about my fan characters and that is my greatest weakness

~*~

You wake up in a sweat, heart racing and breathing shallow. It’s dark and cold and you have to get out of here, you have to get out, you have to run, you have to—

You force yourself to take a deep breath. Inhale, count to five, exhale. You’re not on Noveria any more. You’re home. On the Citadel. With Tacilus. With Sari.

You shiver. Your room is too cold. No wonder you had a nightmare. Maybe, if you’re really sneaky, you can turn up the thermostat without Tacilus noticing.

You tiptoe out of your room, praying that Tacilus won’t hear the whoosh of your door opening. You scrunch your eyes up, surprised by the harsh glow of light coming from the living room. You rub at your eyes, giving them a moment to adjust before you’re able to identify the source of light as Sari fiddling around with his omni-tool.

“What are you doing up so late?” you ask as you plop yourself down on the armrest of the couch at his immediate right.

Sari jumps, hand clutching at his chest. “Where did you come from?!”

“My room,” you answer dryly. “So why are you up so late?” you repeat.

“I can’t sleep.”

When he doesn’t elaborate you just keep staring him down. You don’t know if Sari can see your raised eyebrow with only the light of his omni-tool lighting your faces but eventually the silence has him squirming and twiddling his fingers.

“It’s too quiet here. I grew up living on an old ship with lots of people. Lots of rumbling engines and leaky pipes and, uh, snoring.”

“If you need someone snoring to help you sleep, you should ask Tacilus if she’ll let you bunk with her. She snores like an asthmatic elcor even though she’ll swear up and down that she doesn’t.”

It’s hard to see in the dark but you think you see a hint of a smile behind Sari’s viser. “What about you? What are you doing up at this hour?”

Your mind flashes to your dream for just a second but you shake your head out of it. “Same as you; can’t sleep.” You point at his omni-tool before he can ask you anything further. “Whatcha doing?”

“Oh, um...” he shrinks into himself, voice getting quiet. He sounds bashful. “It’s nothing. Just some dumb game I’m playing.”

You squint down at the screen. “Is that Galaxy of Fantasy?”

“Ummm...”

“Tacilus and I play that too. You should join our guild.”

Sari perks up, his entire demeanor changing. “I would really like that.”

For someone as shy and quiet as Sari, he can really talk a lot when he’s given the opportunity. It makes you wonder if anyone’s ever given him the chance. You watch Sari play as he goes on and on about strategy and game lore and rare loot drops. You nod your head, asking questions and adding onto the conversation when you can.

You don’t know when you slid off the couch’s armrest but at some point you end up on the couch next to Sari, cheek resting on his shoulder and eyelids growing heavier the longer you stare at the harsh light of the omni-tool. Eventually you let your eyes shut completely, just to give them a moment to rest. Sari keeps talking about the game but you can’t quite focus on the words. His voice is nice, though. Soft and warm, even with the robotic twang that comes from his suit’s speaker.

It sounds good. It sounds like home.

~*~

When Tacilus leaves her room with the intent to brew a cup of kava, she’s only made it about halfway towards the kitchen when she finds you and Sari on the couch. Sari is messing with his omni-tool, arm bent at an awkward angle due to your position sprawled against him. You’re snoring against his chest, fingers gripping at the hand where Sari’s omni-tool is fastened.

Tacilus lets her eyes remain on your interlocked fingers before letting her gaze lift up to meet Sari’s with a raised brow ridge. Sari at least has the decency to look sheepish. You just let out another horrid-sounding snore, undisturbed.

She snorts. “Sounds like an asthmatic elcor, doesn’t it?”

“Morning, Tacilus,” Sari greets, politely choosing not to comment on the sounds coming out of your mouth.

Tacilus grunts in response, already turning away from the couch towards the kitchen counter. “You know, hand-holding is considered sacred by human customs. You’ll be expected to marry unless you want to besmirch their honor and bring shame on their family name.”

“WHAT?!” Despite Sari jolting beneath you, you remain sound asleep on top of him, offering nothing but another extremely un-ladylike snore. Sari lowers his voice before speaking again. “Are you serious?”

“No,” Tacilus answers with a smirk as she pulls some instant kava out of the pantry. “But I had you going for a second, didn’t I?”

Sari pouts behind his visor. “Rude.”

You snort in your sleep and drool on his enviro-suit a little.

#ask #sinning #mass effect #we run this citadel #yonaka-hells-bitch #mass effect fan characters #yes i have an established past for the reader and they grew up on noveria #no I will not elaborate further #this ended up being more fluffy than flirty but sari responds better to companionship than blatant flirting so it all works out in the end #long post #reader insert

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bronzewool · 3 years

Text

After binge-watching the last season of Castlevania and sleeping on it for a bit, I feel like enough time has passed for me to reflect on my initial feelings about this season as a whole.

I love everything about Trevor this season and his entire performance as a whole. Trevor is easily written off as nothing more than a filthy, foul-mouth, drunk, when in fact he is the most insightful character out of our three main leads. He was raised to kill dark creatures from the moment he could lift a sword and is a fountain of knowledge when it comes to different types of dark creatures, weapons, magical objects, and dark symbols. He knows more about vampire lineage than Alucard does and is more worldly than Sypha. He is the smartest character in the rosta and doesn't seem to care none of his friends respect his wisdom.

And the best part is Trevor is just a man. He's not the son of the most powerful vampire in history, he's not a magician prodigy who controls the elements, he's just a guy with some enchanted weapons and combat training, and still capable of keeping up with them. Trevor is badass.

Although there are still parts of the overall story that do disappoint me, especially the interesting lineup of vampires and monsters we keep seeing in the background that never take centre stage before they're killed off in one fight scene. This show has some of the most unique and diverse vampires I've ever seen and we only spend time with a handful of them. Had this been 26 episodes per season we might have had time to see more of these enemies in a "Monster of the Week" style format with the rest of Dracula's council and the other territories, but alas, the quality of each episode would probably have dropped dramatically so I'll take what I'm given.

Speaking of missed plot opportunities, what was the point of Taka and Sumi? Their betrayal and attempted murder left Alucard emotionally and physically scarred, hinting at him venturing down a dangerous path and possibly repeating the same mistakes of his father, but it doesn’t go anywhere. Taka and Sumi’s plight doesn’t even come back so their entire subplot went nowhere, any negative feelings Alucard may have had towards Trevor and Sypha abandoning him are forgiven the moment they come to his aid. Heck, Alucard’s mistrust for humans is never brought into question once this season and no one seems to care he has a collection of bodies on pikes as lawn ornaments.

The moment Alucard receives Greta’s call to help he’s there in an instant and agrees to help her and her people with barely any resistance besides one short pep talk. You could have taken his entire subplot out of season 3 and he’d still be in the same situation we left him back in season 2.

Hector and Lenore’s relationship is also something I’m still trying to work out since we don’t know what they’ve been up to in the six weeks Hector has been made Lenore’s slave. I've listened to a lot of people discuss this very topic and whether it's abusive or just problematic. And I can't deny that if the genders had been swapped everyone on the internet would call out how cringe it is for a woman to fall in love with her captor.

But there is nuance in their interactions. The show seems to walk this tightrope of framing their relationships as genuinely affectionate while also giving off a lot of red flags. The two exchange friendly banter without Lenore forcing her power over Hector, Lenore feels she can run to Hector with all her problems and holds no resentments towards him for his part in killing Carmilla. But at the same time, her last words to him are something akin to a child or pet. She never once saw Hector as her equal so her actions make sense from her point of view. You don't feel guilty about domesticating a stray.

Hector's feelings however are more complex as he goes to great lengths to ensure Lenore's safety because he saw a lot of truth in what she was saying. Dracula did use Hector and lied to him about the plan, and Isaac is set on killing him in cold blood for his role in Dracula's demise. So I understand why he feels a connection with Lenore and holds no ill will towards her even though he was devising a future escape plan. I don't think he's in love with Lenore. Hector has never felt love. He had no love for his parents and the only thing he ever showed affection for was his pets, but he does feel something for Lenore that's he's never felt before, and that's enough for him to care.

I have a few thoughts on some other tidbits, like Zamfir and the underground council subplot that only seemed to exist to show how invaluable Sypha would be to build and run a village. Or St. Germain and his inclusion only making sense if you're familiar with Castlevania lore. His subplot seemed bigger than life and feels like it needed more set-up and exploration had this been an original story as opposed to an adaption. And maybe I'm starting to change my opinion about them bringing Dracula and Lisa back from the dead if they're just gonna have them retire on the east coast of England.

But I still love this season and Castlevania as a whole.

Now give me a sequel and/or spin-off. I demand more content!

Also, does anyone else find it funny the main trio never actually meets Isaac, Hector or Carmilla and they just had their own little war off-screen? Because I think that's fucking hilarious.

#personal #spoilers #I love this franchise #and I hope they continue the story #have a spin-off mini series #or a sequel with Trevor and Sypha's descendant #and start a new chapter with Christopher Belmont

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dragolianx · 4 years

Text

How I’d rewrite Miraculous Ladybug a.k.a Miraculous Ladybug Final Mix

Before I start I just want to say, I actually loved this show. I always appreciate shows that establish their own universe separate from the big publishers. Ben 10, Generator Rex, Big Hero 6, hell My Life as a Teenage Robot does this well.

When I started Miraculous I had high hopes and season 1 definitely delivered. However, season 2 had some issues and season 3 only made it worse.

Say what you want about the show, but there was a noticeable shift in quality between season’s 1 and 2 and an even bigger drop in season 3.

I won’t touch season 1 since it did its job well. It established the world and explained some of the rules and lore about Kwami and Miraculous powers.

Now the end of season 1 gave us new antagonist in Lila. Her arrival shook up the established flow of the school. She was the new kid so she hooked everyone with stories of traveling around the world. However she had a habit of lying about herself to make herself seem interesting.

She lied about knowing ladybug and about being the latest in a family of superheroes.

Marinette knows that she’s lying because Lila claims to be Ladybug’s BFF, but she never met Lila before that day.

We then get the episode Volpina and so far this was the closest Ladybug came to surrendering. The only other akuma to get close to getting her earrings was Lady Wifi at this point. She knew how to manipulate people, even if she was sloppy with her lies at first.

When season 2 starts however she’s no where to be seen until the season finale, Hero’s Day. This is where I’d make my first change.

Season 2

Make Lila stick around for season 2 instead of adding her back at the end of the season

Her absence is attributed to her “Traveling around the world” when she’d really just at home skipping school.

Her mom believes that the school is closed due to constant akuma attacks. The problem with this is that the school would most definitely have called her about her daughter’s absence. Or at the every least gave her a courtesy call about how the trip is going. It also make’s Lila’s mom seem incompetent because she doesn’t bother to go her kid’s school.

If there’s ever a parent teacher conference this lie would be easily dealt with.

Instead have the season 3 premiere episode “Chameleon” be the season 2 premiere. Instead of having the class change the seating order because she came back have her manipulate it so that she’s sitting next to Adrian and that Marinette is sent to the back.

Instead of Adrian telling Marinette to take the high road, have him warn her that without actual proof she’d just be isolated even more by the class. Adrian then promises to help Marinette whenever he can.

This worked in the episode because it showed just how persuasive she could be and how she could sway people she barely knows.

The episode would play out the same way, except at the end Bustier has Adrian stay where he is because she insists that he be a “good role model” and help Lila because of her “Disabilities”

In the end, the seating order is changed permanently and Marinette is moved to the back of the class. Lila begins to wedge herself between Marinette and the class.

Other big changes I’d make to season 2 would be moving Zombizou closer to the episode Despair Bear. At least make them be within an episode of each other. These will be the seeds for Chloe’s redemption, which can work in the show if Astruc would get his head out of his ass and learn how to write his damn characters.

Going off topic for a bit, but Kevin Levin from Ben 10 has tried to kill Ben for most of the original series run. After his mutation he tries to frame Ben for crimes and then off him when they were dragged into a gladiator match. He even teamed up with Vilgax to trap Ben in the Null Void and take the Omnitrix.

When Alien Force rolls around Kevin still tries to kill Ben, but when he meets a Majester Plumber and witnesses him die because of weapon deal gone bad, the same deal that Kevin set up, he realizes that he could be good and teams up with Ben and Gwen.

The same can be said for Chloe.

The most she’s done was prank Marinette, get Alya suspended, and plagiarize Marinette’s work.

As an antagonist she sucked. Hard.

Over the course of season 2 Chloe should steadily get better at not bossing people around and stop playing the “Mayor’s Daughter” card for her own selfish reasons.

At the same time, we should get small hints at Lila driving a wedge between Marinette and the class.

It could just be her mentioning how flaky Marinette can be because she’s never on time for events or just disappears sometimes.

It’d be hard for Marinette to counter this without revealing herself so the class begins to question her.

The season plays differently with Chloe mellowing out and Lila planting seeds of doubt.

Another thing worth mentioning is how Adrian/Chat Noir factors into the show.

In season 3 we see him miss his mom more, but it comes out of nowhere. We the audience know his mom is dead and assume he’s sad about it, but we don’t get actual scenes about this until Gorizilla and it’s not touched again until Felix.

In season 2 we should get more of how Adrian handles his isolation and how the loss of his mom affects him.

Have him lean on Marinette for support like how he asked her to lean on him for help with Lila.

Also have Chat Noir more involved with the whole temp hero thing and have Master Fu keep him in the loop.

Balance seems to be a central theme to the show, but Ladybug seems to be holding all the cards between the duo and Chat Noir is just in the background.

This makes him seem more like a sidekick instead of a partner since he’s almost never consulted when it comes to choosing heroes.

When Anansi happens have Adrian pick Nino to use the Turtle Miraculous and save Alya

The same can be said for how Chloe gets the Bee Miraculous in Style Queen.

He’s known her the longest and sees that she’s been making an honest effort to change, so as Chat Noir her gives her the Bee Miraculous.

This way Chloe gets to have her secret identity and prove herself to Ladybug and Chat Noir as a worthy hero.

Queen Wasp is removed from the series entirely

Maledictator happens because Audrey threatens to go back to New York and Chloe doesn’t know if she wants to go with her or not because she knows she wants a better relationship with her mom, but she’s also making progress at being a better person at school.

Lila sets off the celebration for Chloe leaving and that make Chloe want to leave because she thought she was getting better, but it seems as if her efforts weren’t good enough. Marinette doesn’t participate and defends Chloe since she hasn’t bothered Marinette or anyone else for the last few weeks and Lila takes this opportunity to make it seem like Marinette wants Chloe to stick around and bully the class.

Instead of defending herself Marinette chases after Chloe, and Adrian follows soon after once he hears the news.

The episode play nearly the same way until Chat Noir get whammied by Maledictator and becomes an actual cat.

Ladybug then gives Chloe the Bee Miraculous again and the episode plays out the same way until the end where Marinette offers to be Chloe’s friend and she accepts

Event play out the same leading up to heroes day and the season ends the same way. However, as a reward for their bravery in facing Hawkmoth and Mayura: Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Queen Bee get to keep their Miraculous

Season 3

Since we moved Chameleon up a season and removed Queen Wasp, we’ll give those two episodes to season 3 as exposition episodes. One where Fu explains in detail to the current holders what happened to the order.

Have it be different from Feast sense the whole reason was Ludacris to begin with. Introduce the concept of an order dedicated to chaos that wants to use the Mirculous for various reasons. The temple is attacked and Fu managed to get away with the main miracle box with the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous in it.

We also get Fu choosing Ladybug to be the new guardian if something should happen to him with the other heroes agreeing that it should be her.

She begins her training after this episode

In another episode explain what happened to Adrian’s mom

We know that she has some sort of sickness keeping her in a coma and that only the Miraculous can fix it. We know because Adrian mentions how Natalie showed the same symptoms his mom did before she “died”

Have Gabriel remember what caused her to use the Peacock and how he found them to begin with. Have him study the grimoire to learn how to use Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculous to save his wife.

Remove Animaestro since it adds nothing to the plot and was just an excuse for Astruc to shamelessly insert himself into his own show.

As a writer this is a major sin if done wrong. And while other cartoon creators have done this, the make their appearances cameos and don’t take up a majority of the episode complaining

The love Hexagon remains mostly the same, but Marinette doesn’t get super jealous of Kagami and ends becoming friends with her after getting to know her better. Meanwhile have Adrian subconsciously react to Luka’s presence around Marinette and have him question why when he thinks he’s dead set on loving Ladybug.

The episodes leading up to Ikari Gozen remain the same except Kagami doesn’t reveal her identity in the fight and Chat Noir gives her the Dragon Miraculous before she get captured by her mother.

Chat Blanc would be completely different. Instead of a what if episode, we have Chat Noir gets akumatized because it’s the anniversary of his mother’s death and he can’t hide how sad he is. Hawkmoth capitalizes on this and Chat Blanc is born. The other heroes show up to deal with the threat and the new reserves show up to help as well.

Chat Blanc almost sets off a world wide Cataclysm, but Viperion uses second chance to warn them. Have Monkey King disrupt Chat Blanc’s powers and then have Queen Wasp paralyze him so Ladybug can find the Akuma and cure it.

Felix plays differently as well. For starters have him not be related to Adrian and make him look different from him entirely. Felix and the other Quantic kids can be in a different class altogether. His introduction can play into the whole Lila situation as he and the other quantic kids don’t buy into her lies, but they can’t prove any of them are false.

For this to work even more, Lila’s lie of knowing Prince Ali doesn’t come up since she didn’t leave the school.

Now comes the big episode of the season, Ladybug.

This episode was good for so many reasons, but this time we’ll up the ante.

Lila still plants the necklace and test answers, but this time she goes further.

When they’re sent to the principal’s office she throws herself down the stairs can then claims that Marinette pushed her.

This time the evidence is damning and Lila’s mom is called. With the actual scrapes and bruises to help sell the story along with the test answers being put in Marinette’s bag and the Lila’s necklace in her locker Marinette is expelled and the same events as the episode take place, but this time Nino isn’t akumatized because it’s implied that he’s known Marinette for a long time so he should know she’d never get physical with someone or cheat (But she has taken the occasional cell phone)

Alya looks for clues to prove that Marinette is innocent and Nino joins along with Adrian.

The trail goes cold and then the episode pans out the same way. In the end Chloe makes a big scene about Marinette being expelled and find proof that she didn’t cheat on the test and didn’t steal the necklace, but can’t ultimately prove that Marinette didn’t push Lila. She then uses the “Mayor’s Daughter” card to get Marinette back in school, but the damage has been done. Most of the class believes Lila over Marinette and begin to isolate her. Although, Alya decides to finally do some fact checking on Lila after the string of incidents that morning and finds out that she’s been lying. She apologizes for how she’s been acting and nukes the ladyblog since she deems it “tainted” and commits to the school blog.

This shows a great deal of growth for Alya since he doesn’t feel the need to follow superheroes since she is one, and is willing to give up something for her friend’s sake.

After all of this happens Marinette is stripped of her class rep title and the Class nominates Lila.

Hearthunter and Miracle Queen don’t happen at all sense Chloe is fully redeemed at this point. Instead, Lila returns as Volpina to lure out Fu since Hawkmoth managed to figure out that he was in town after Hero’s Day.

Volpina creates an illusion to lure him out, but Fu realizes this and runs to find Marinette while in disguise. He gives her the Miracle Box and he loses his memories. Marinette stashes the box in her room before trying to get him somewhere safe, but when he gets to the train station he’s Akumatized by Hawkmoth and Ladybug and the other heroes must fight their mentor.

After the battle Marinette calls Marianne to take care of Fu and the two leave Paris while the other heroes watch the train depart with heavy hearts.

My biggest gripes with the show are how the character are never allowed to grow and how much the status quo remains mostly the same at the end of each episode.

Almost none of what happens in a regular episode changes the flow of the story, and only the season premieres and finales seem to hold any weight. Not to mention Astruc’s obvious bias towards certain characters. He expects Marinette to be super mature, but she’s 14. He stated that he hates Chloe and Felix and goes out of his way to treat them like garbage.

In Felix’s debut episode he had him make an enemy with damn near the entire cast and even had Ladybug deck him.

Astruc for the most part doesn’t change anything and plays things too safe, unless it’s pointless fanservice that just serves to anger the fans even more.

I rewrote the last two season of Miraculous because for the most part, it’s become a sinking ship that could have easily been fixed.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #miraculous season 3 #miraculous ladybug rerwite #ml salt #Miraculous ladybug salt #marinette dupen-chang #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #Nino lahiffe #chloe burgeois #gabriel agreste #ladybug #chat noir #carapace #rena rouge #queen bee #Astruc can't write for shit

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shima-draws · 4 years

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Okay listen I really really enjoyed The Wonderland/Birthday Wonderland a LOT but there’s definitely like. Huge chunks of stuff that are missing from the plot that I would have loved to see;; SPOILERS AHEAD BEWARE

First of all let me say that this movie definitely would have worked better as a TV series. Why? Because the world itself is MASSIVE. There’s so much worldbuilding shit going on that they only got to touch a little bit of each section, and left so many things open ended. And then there’s the fact of the plot itself that leaves a lot of holes behind and unanswered questions.

Rest is under the cut so ya’ll can avoid spoilers if you so desire:

What the fuck happened with the sweater contest? They make it out to be such an enormous, important part of the plot that literally ends the moment Akane hands the sweater over. We see her protectively guarding it the entire journey to the city, and yet it’s never even touched upon if the sweater wins the contest or not. What happened bruh?? I want to know if it won, a lot of unnecessary screentime went into the development and story of that sweater! Don’t leave me hanging!

“Our world is dying”, Hippocrates says, as the majority of the land is still thriving pretty okay from the looks of it. Aight. There’s lots of gorgeous visuals in this film that are made clear through the gift of water that they’re living--and apparently there isn’t even enough water to go around for humans to drink. At that point literally everything else would be dried up, right? There is literally a giant pond--GIANT! With koi fish right outside the city. They just gotta learn to distribute their water better;; it’s a shitty system tbh lmao I mean there’s plenty to go around. They just don’t bother to try spreading it evenly, which is why some places are flourishing while others are not. They really should have spent more time showing how people are suffering from this rather than showing the remaining gorgeous parts of the land--that would have made the impact of saving that world that much stronger, made the stakes so much higher. If Akane had seen how bad it really got without water, maybe that would have driven her character development earlier on, and made it more significant.

Akane’s change. It felt...really...anti-climatic. Or maybe just rushed. It was a sudden, minor sort of thing that when I realized I was like “Oh, okay, she’s already come to the conclusion that she can be strong on her own, but I wanted to see that?” They didn’t execute it super well. It feels like we’re missing an entire scene where Akane finally breaks through her fear to gain courage and make her own choices. There was definitely a bit of that right before she made her grand speech to Zangu, but there was nothing that prompted it. The whole movie is a coming of age story for her, building up until the moment where she has her great breakthrough and is able to be confident with herself. But...they don’t show that. We don’t get to see that moment. I don’t know why, because it’s the most important thing of the entire film? They really could have handled that better.

I really wish they touched more on Midori’s involvement;; she was so minor I almost didn’t catch the connection between her and the previous Goddess of the Green Wind. I like that Akane feels closer to her because of this, but we never really get anymore information than that. How did Midori end up in Wonderland so many years ago? Was she a reluctant hero type like Akane, or was she determined to save the world? Did she meet Hippocrates way back then, or was it a different alchemist that lead her on an adventure? Was something wrong with the prince at the time which required her presence in order to make sure the drop rain ceremony went well, just like Akane? I don’t know! I want to know!

The ending was SO abrupt and short. Literally right after Akane and Chii get back that’s it bam roll credits movie over! I’m like. Whiplashed by it. I wanted to see how they were affected by the journey (besides Chii immediately going to take a nap which fandjksad MOOD), and how they’ve changed from their adventures. We obviously see a huge change in Akane at the end, but how does this affect her life in her own world? Does she start treating her friends differently? Does she ever make up with the girl she abandoned in order to be in the popular group (which is another huge thing they never came back to). Is she more determined to do things now, to be confident? Is this a change her mother notices? At least show the impact of what they went through;;

Halfway through the movie we’re introduced to a London-type city that’s really...not so fun looking. Dark, gloomy, and depressing, with obvious signs of poverty, where everyone looks angry all the time. It’s a very very clear outlier in the colorful Wonderland. I’d love to have seen more history on this city...why is it so different from the rest of the world, and so dark? Why do all the people seem so unfriendly, when those outside of its walls are generous and kind? How did this city come to be? It’s such an enormous mystery that they never talk about, besides hinting that this was where the prince had ended up once before he became Zangu.

Speaking of the lovely prince. I know we got kicked in the face with his backstory (and that shit hurted, this poor baby who also kinda deserved it but not to THAT degree), but I would have liked to see even more. Maybe I’m biased because he became my favorite character the instant his identity was revealed, idk. (And, to me, he feels way more fleshed out and rounded as a character regarding his development than Akane does, which is another reason why I like him best.) But while we were given his motivations in becoming Zangu, the personality difference between Zangu and his regular princely self is IMMENSE. I really don’t think the prince would have ever committed such acts--he may be a little shit and have a lot of anger issues (which, valid, I mean his parents died and he suddenly has all these huge expectations on his shoulders and he’s. He’s just a kid man, that HAS to be traumatic) but I really don’t think he would ever strike against his own people or openly threaten them. Sure, he’s definitely shown to be prone to angry outbursts, and is fond of pushing everyone who cares about him away, but he’s not purposefully malicious. And as soon as Akane transforms him back, he calms down immediately and becomes immensely selfless and heroic. So: why the enormous change of heart? I think something that could be canon that they never really mentioned is that, when he was transformed into Zangu, he became sort of a puppet. A lifeless doll without any real empathy, and the only emotions he could feel were a burning anger and a desire for revenge to those that wronged him and made him feel pressured to perform the drop rain ceremony. Being trapped inside a body like that probably just made those feelings escalate, resulting in all of the crimes he committed and all of the people he hurt. (And maybe they did touch on this but I just don’t remember since my memory is garbage lol)

Going off of that, I know this is the type of story where we follow the hero characters, and as soon as Chii and Akane made it home that was it, we weren’t allowed another peek into the Wonderland. But...what if we were granted that opportunity? Could we have gotten the chance to see how things changed after they left? Perhaps the prince began a journey traveling to all of the towns and villages he terrorized, and apologizing to the people. Maybe Ron starts to train under Hippocrates just like Pipo. Maybe the rain washed away all of the sorrow in that lonely city, which caused people to start to change it and make it brighter. Change, change, change! I want to see proof of Akane’s help!

Why the fuck did the other alchemist/sorcerer (I forget his name and there’s no info on him anywhere MDAKMASD I’ll update this when I find out later) do that to the prince?? That was SERIOUSLY fucked up. “Oh yeah, to punish this child for being naughty and angry after his parents died, which is actually perfectly reasonable, let’s turn him into a doll where he can’t MOVE OR SPEAK and let him sit there in absolute torture until I feel like setting him free again, instead of trying to find an alternative way to confront him about his anger issues”. Dude;; No wonder he was so fucking angry and bitter when Ron finally allowed him to speak again. I would be too! Trapping children in naughty doll prison is not the answer!

I’m trying to think of more but I think I covered most of it :’) If ya’ll have anything to add, please do!

Like, overall, the movie was GREAT. It would have been even better if they didn’t shove so much information into it that ended up becoming irrelevant later on. It felt as if they were trying to cram a TV series into a movie, trying to cover all of their bases but failing. There’s just so many things they left open-ended and unanswered;; and you know me, I’m a slut for lore like this so I want to know EVERYTHING. And I only got little bits and pieces of it. I really would kike to know if they just cut out large portions of the movie to fit the time limit and the budget;; because that would make a lot of sense, because it feels as if I was handed a puzzle without all the puzzle pieces.

#Basically Shima goes off about everything she wanted to know about this movie #The Wonderland #Birthday Wonderland #Long post #バースデー・ワンダーランド #Shima speaks #Spoilers

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smokeybrandreviews · 4 years

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Jill Sandwich

So Resident Evil 3 Remake is out in the wild and i can finally talk about this thing in detail. I have an interesting relationship with the RE franchise. It’s kind of a love/hate situation. I love the first three titles and Veronica. I kind of hate everything that came after. IV through VI are just plain awful, particularly VI. Cats fight me about IV but i don’t care for it. Capcom stopped doing what they do best, desperate survival horror, and started emulating those action films starring Leeloo Dallas. That’s find but, i mean, watching Chris Redfield, jacked up on the super roids, punch out a whole ass boulder, while fighting a chimera virus infected Wesker, in the heart of a goddamn volcano, was way too much. And there was another entire game after that one with this campy, wacky, bullsh*t. I hated it. All of it. Then Resident Evil VII dropped and everything changed.

Revelations hinted at a return to form but it was REVII that showed the world what Resident Evil was really about. My goodness was that game good. I was on the edge of my seat playing through that coil of stress, atmosphere, and insidious violence. It was beautiful. That game was beautiful. I found my self longing for that engine, driving my favorite title of the entire franchise, Resident Evil II. To my surprise i got exactly what i wanted. Holy sh*t, when Resident Evils II Remake dropped, i sh*t myself. This was the Resident Evil game i always wanted. This is what survival horror should have been the entire time. Remake hit every note of nostalgia while building a brand new experience. Not only were the graphics updated, bu the entire story was streamline and, thanks to some excellent voice work, it was rather enthralling this go around. REII was already one of my favorite games but Remake found a spit right next to it on my all-time list. When i finished that motherf*cker for the first time, after experiencing that horror on two legs called Mr. X, i thought about how dope Nemesis would be in this engine. To my surprise, i wouldn’t have to wait long to find out.

First and foremost, R3make is goddamn gorgeous. It’s absolutely beautiful. Capcom’s RE Engine pulls all of it’s weight on this one. The lighting and particle effects are spectacular. I thought Remake II looked great but this game really stand out. There are a few little concessions made to push the hardware but that’s to be forgiven. I can deal with an exploding limb or disappearing body if it means i can get the detail and literally horde levels of zombies on my ass at all times. It’s insane just how many of theses things are packed on screen, in that level detail, while Nemesis is launching f*cking rockets at you.

I have to absolutely gush about the writing for a minute here. I remember the old REIII being kind of hokey, kind of campy. I chocked it up to the limitations of the OG PlayStation. Not this one. The PS4 gives the script writers a level of power to get really creative. The dialogue Jill has with everyone feels real, It feels organic. She acts like a person with training in the middle of a crisis and i adore every second of it. I mean, her banter with Carlos is more than enough for the price of admission.

Also, Jill is just a regular badass. It’s dope seeing her getting her proper due in this game. The last time we saw her, outside of one of those Revelation games, she was a muppet for Wesker. Bullsh*t, son! Not here. Here, she is in all her bad ass. Umbrella busting, glory and i love it. I also love her redesign. Function over fashion, ya dig?

The remix of levels caught me off guard at first. They took out a lot of set pieces i remember like the park and Jill’s run through the RPD. These aspects of her original playthrough make an appearance, just in completely different ways. Also worth mentioning, there are like, no puzzled in this game. I remember the original being very, frustratingly, puzzle heavy way back when. This game is not that. It is a narrative focused, action driven, murder fest. I am more than okay with that particular alteration.

The redesigned enemies in this game are spectacular. I kind of expected a few changed, mostly based on the Ivy from Remake II, but Capcom really found a way to be creative with these new enemies. There’s, like, Las Plagas zombies in this thing. You blow of their heads and a parasite pops out. It’s insane. I always though Nemesis was infected with a Plagas and this game kind of confirms that. I love the new take on the Hunters. The Alphas have kind of a predator face now but the Gammas? The Gammas have this massive parasite that pops out of their gaping maws. It looks just like the Gravedigger and since there isn’t really a park level to this game, imagine they serve the same purpose. Or, repurpose in this case. There’s even a couple of surprises in store for those who know their lore. Their horrifying Resident Evil lore.

F*cking Nemesis, man. Nemesis is nightmare fuel incarnate. Dude is outright horrifying, the entire time you play this game. He’s fast, agile, and f*cking terrifying. I had problems with Mr. X but this asshole? Dude literally sprints after you when you run away. I kind of hate it but, at the same time, i f*cking need it! Good ol’ Nemi’s redesign is amazing. I was a little iffy at first, but seeing it in action sold me. And then his second form happened. Bro. What? And then that third. Okay, Capcom, come on? Y’all were just showing off with that one.

The only thing holding this game back, in my opinion, is that it can get a little REVI at times. I mean that the action becomes just a hair too over-the-top. That entire end sequence with final form Nemesis was absolutely ridiculous. I mean, i loved it, don’t get me wrong, but, f*ck, coming off Remake II and several parts of this one, it just felt a little out of place. There’s a few times where this issue creeps up but, like i said, it’s more of a nitpick than anything. The grounded nature and character driven narrative distract from the more... zealous aspects of this game.

As far as gameplay, if you played Remake II or any of the RE titles after IV, you know what to expect. Over the shoulder, third person, all day! I hate shooters but i can play the f*ck out of these types. Tank controls have gone the way of the dodo it seems but i ‘m not bad with their replacement. This game feels right with this camera set up. Shooting feels right. Dodging feels rewarding. This game feels real good to play.

There aren’t anymore of those quick decision deals like in the original but that’s not a problem. They would have interfered with the narrative driven aspects of this game. You can still, you know, shoot Nemi in the face for dope sh*t but i wouldn’t. F*ck all of that. Maybe after a third of fourth playthrough. Maybe. There’s no Mercenaries mode or multiple endings but you can play a good portion as Carlos and there’s a brand new multiplayer component with it’s own narrative called Resident Evil Resistance so, i guess that’s dope? I dunno. I f*cks with that single player campaign all day, tho.

R3make is f*cking outstanding. I love this game. Absolutely adore the f*ck out of it. I still like Remake II better but that’s more because i just adore II overall. That said, R3make is the f*cking tits. This sh*t is fast paced, adrenaline pumping, stress inducing, action packed, zombie killing. It does justice to Jill, makes me care about Carlos, and even does some interesting things with Nemesis. I was thoroughly surprised by some narrative choices taken but they dded to the overall plot,giving life to a game that sorely needed it, while not compromising once on gameplay. While there are certain design aspects i would have liked seen skew closer to the earlier titles in the franchise rather than the later ones, that is a small gripe. Even in all of it’s Bayhem glory, and there is a lot of that toward th end, this game never loses the spirit of who it is. Resident Evil III Remake is a f*cking masterpiece and you should get into it the second this quarantine lifts if you haven’t already had an opportunity to grab a copy.

#Resident Evil 3 #Resident Evil #Biohazard #Biohazard 3 #Jill Valentine #Nemesis #Resident Evil 3 Nemesis

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elmidol · 4 years

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Stripped Once More

Three Blind Tooke Part Two Precarious Harmony

Read on AO3

Warnings: slight death wish, memories of sexual assault

Three Blind Tooke

Part Two: Precarious Harmony

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Stripped Once More

They were such haunting words, those three syllables that replayed themselves in your mind over the duration of the night cycle. The one who had said them easily fell into a peaceful sleep, and you found yourself watching him. The games of make-believe that he played—that you played right along with him—threatened to wear at the walls you had managed to put up. The same walls that had been in a constant state of repair since the creature you had once hunted had opted to save you from the fire. You could not remember exactly when you had last thought of that fateful day, that precise moment, and felt a sense of absolute longing for the flames that would have devoured you. Dying is so easy, you recalled your father telling you. Hot shame rushed through your body, constricting your chest and strangling your next breath to where it wracked your frame when at last it found release.

You missed the monster that had lifted you out from underneath the bodies of your fallen comrades, lamented over his evolution into this man beside you. This, above all else, terrified you.

Your fingers danced along the scars on your body, meanwhile your eyes traced the ones that were on his body. The darkness disallowed the opportunity to fully see those healed and healing injuries. Light was unnecessary for you, however. You had his body memorized as assuredly as he had committed even the most minor of imperfections your flesh sported to his mind. This familiarity was intimate as well. It drove deeper the three words he had said to you. Why you had pressed for him to say them, you could not fully say. A part of you had wondered if he was even capable of uttering that phrase without perverting it with falsehood.

He did not love you in the way he would allow himself to when he had overthrown the Supreme Leader. In the present, Kylo Ren continued to hold you at arm’s length, not allowing himself to fully commit to the tumultuous feelings that stirred within him for you. Those sentiments that had prompted him to purchase the tooke hairclip, the book he had later torn into pieces. You ran your thumbs along the undersides of your ring fingers. The tattoos were not quite as dark as they had once been, although this hardly surprised you. The hands were used too often for the ink to remain as much as it would on other limbs and extremities.

The fantasies you had humored in regards to Ben Solo were now tainted with the knowledge that Kylo Ren and Ben Solo truly were the same person; it was nothing more than a name. You had called him Ben, and he had not magically transformed into the son of General Organa who had been with the Light. You had called him Kylo Ren, and he responded the same. Supreme Leader—you shuddered.

I love you.

You twisted around, your back to the slumbering man as you slid your foot out from underneath the blankets. You dangled it, all the while thinking of the creature from the tales of your childhood, the one that lived underneath the bed. You could feel the breath of the fictitious monster tickling your toes.

When you awoke—maker knew how long it had been before you had at last lost consciousness and slept—the bed no longer held the body of Kylo Ren. You had no desire to remain on the piece of furniture either, not with the memories of the previous night that it was threatening to replay over and over. You spent a good ten minutes sitting on the floor of the shower after you had washed your body and hair then shaved. You had your knees drawn towards your chest, your arms wrapped around them and head bowed enough so that the spray of water hit the top of your head rather than your face. The drain gurgled on occasion.

General Hux, too, would want to eventually kill Supreme Leader Snoke. You passively wondered how and when he hoped this would occur. The man was an excellent strategist, a skilled tactician.

The Resistance was not yet defeated. Perhaps that was what the redhead was waiting for. Or there was also the chance that the creature that served as Kylo Ren’s master was more powerful than you could imagine. He would not be so easily defeated. Should General Hux learn at all of Kylo Ren’s plans to lure Rey, you doubted that Hux would stand in his way. He likely viewed Rey as a pawn as well, someone who could rid him of Snoke and Ren alike. You pitied the woman you had never met, how so many viewed her as nothing more than a tool. Then flinched when realizing that you, too, were doing so. You were allowing it to happen.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered in unison with the drain releasing another gurgle.

You pushed yourself up off the floor, shut off the water, and stepped out of the refresher with a towel wrapped around your body. Some of the droplets that clung to your body fell to the ground with each step you took. You grabbed an outfit that had been provided to you from the wardrobe. It consisted of predominately black material, the minute amount of red reminding you of the Resistance. You traced two fingers along the seams near the red. It brought to mind the flash of red you had seen when Kylo Ren’s lightsaber had pierced you. That was the first thing he had sought to violate your body with. The first time he had taken away your willpower, the ability to think and act for yourself.

It was not difficult for you to picture this faceless young woman, Rey, by the man’s side as his comrade. Both wielding red plasma blades while wearing black. She the new Master of the Knights of Ren. He the new Supreme Leader.

You recoiled from your own thoughts, shaking your head to rid yourself of those mental images while you dried off your body with the towel then pulled on the clothes.

Killing General Hux at this point in time would be of no benefit to you. As many Resistance members as he had killed—and as much as you loathed him for being the one to order the firing of Starkiller, the one who had caused your mother’s death—you needed him. That fact stung just as harshly as the truth behind Kylo Ren’s utterance that he loved you.

When you crossed paths with the red-haired man in one of the hallways, you did not fail to notice the cut on his lip nor the way his hair was not quite as smooth as it usually was. General Hux narrowed his eyes upon noticing you, upon seeing the way you were assessing his appearance. This did not feel, to you, to be of Kylo Ren’s doing. You sincerely doubted many would be so bold as to attack the First Order General—the man’s subordinates would not be so foolish or suicidal. Which left Supreme Leader Snoke as the culprit. You felt bile rising in your throat at the thought of how much power the man wielded.

“Tooka,” the man said softly by way of greeting. His tone was less stern than you had believed it would be. There were some in the Resistance who were reckless when it came to amassing casualties. The ends justified the means. You wanted to believe, even still, that none would ever be as cold as General Armitage Hux.

There is no Resistance.

It was Ren’s voice that was in your head again. His whispers, the ghost sensation of his hands upon you, his breath by your ear.

That voice was drowned out by the sounds of General Hux once more speaking to you. “I don’t recall ever finding you to be so…distracted.” The hint of wonder in his voice caused you to take a single step back in retreat. Those cold, blue eyes swept along your body. “If you are in pain… Your mind can be sharpened when your body cannot.”

He had ulterior motives for encouraging you. Not only to find a means of destroying Kylo Ren; he did want to destroy Snoke. There was hatred in his gaze, cruel and unyielding; a remnant of what he had felt when interacting with another. Humility. The light flush that stained his cheeks suddenly became noticeable for you. This man had killed your mother, and so you felt no pity for him. That did not mean you wanted him broken, not like this. You reined in your anger and hurt, swallowing both those two things and your pride before allowing yourself to speak.

“I’ve been trying to study Sith lore.”

“Ren is not a Sith,” the man drawled, his eyebrows drawing towards one another. “Though he may entertain some ideology derived from the Sith, he also dabbles in the arts of the Jedi. I’ve had to listen to both him and Snoke discuss such things… We can use one another, tooka.”

Whatever blow Snoke had dealt to the man’s pride, it was enough to have him drop some of the contempt he held for you on the basis that you were Resistance. He was treating you similarly to how things had been prior to your will being stripped away while you were taken to meet with your mother. Those times in the redhead’s quarters, playing chess, petting Millicent. That had been before you had learned of your father’s death, of your mother’s. Before you had died—blissful death, with you standing beside your father. You wanted, more than anything, to believe that that moment with him had been real. No matter how painful it had been, that he had released your hand in order for you to return to life.

“I’m becoming a monster,” you said breathlessly before you could stop yourself. In front of you, General Hux allowed his eyelids to slowly, briefly descend. Him blinking at you was what drove in the nail that you had admitted to your fears in front of your enemy.

“The most terrifying monsters,” your father had once told you, “are those who do not realize they are monsters.”

You blindly grasped at anything that resembled hope. This girl from Jakku, Rey. Rather than hold tightly onto the hope she represented, you had instead agreed to work with Kylo Ren to use her as a tool. She should not be pulled away from Luke Skywalker, you told yourself. No… She should learn from him. To be drawn here to Kylo Ren would be her downfall if you helped the man who had claimed to love you. Aside from killing Snoke, how did your actions benefit the Resistance, the galaxy? If she helped to slay the current Supreme Leader only to join Kylo Ren, at that point the war would be lost. The First Order—Kylo Ren—would win.

The gravity of your monstrous deeds hit you. You fell to your knees and squeezed your eyes closed whilst swearing. Not only was Kylo Ren properly manipulating Rey and bending her to his will, he was doing the same to you. Convincing you to work with him, no doubt crowing in victory when you missed how he was corrupting you, dragging you away from the morals that had been instilled in you by your parents and the Resistance alike.

It ran through your mind, how Kylo had mentioned Rey's weaknesses. He had been in her head just as he had been in yours. Ben Solo. Compassion. Anything else that would break Rey's spirit and lure her into joining Kylo Ren—and thus, also, the First Order—the Force user knew these things. It was identical to the fact that he knew your weakness. Your desire to one day be loved when all those dear to you had already perished. You, whose future was fractured, had been played... Worse still, that Kylo Ren did love you on some level. That he could relate to Rey on another. The genuineness mingled with the manipulation. Maker, it ached more than death itself had. General Hux, who also had his own plans for you, squatted long enough to seize your upper arm and pull you back onto your feet. You swayed in place, bumping against his body. You felt unlovable, and in some respects you wished you were. Few things registered in your head as you were led away. You did nothing to slow Hux's progress. The one thing that managed to stick was that you knew you were being taken to the man's quarters. The change in scenery was a welcome one. Where Ren's quarters were sparsely decorated and furnished, General Hux had a few military awards and Millicent's items. The ginger tabby cat rolled onto her back while stretching forth a single paw in greeting. You were discarded into a chair, upon which you curled up. Your fingers stretched then curled in alteration as you tried to will something into existence that you could hold onto. Something that was beyond Kylo Ren. The tooke hairclip and electronic toy had been from him, and so you shuddered at the thought of touching them. "The Resistance is a mere speck that will soon join the New Republic as nothing more than a sad, small part of history." He enunciated his words carefully as he normally did. The man did enjoy listening to himself speak. You peeked up from your lap and stared at him through the wetness that had gathered in your eyes. General Hux was already returning your gaze. He lowered a hand to stroke the top of Millicent's head. "Your mission had always been to destroy Ren, isn't that correct?" Though you nodded in response, you felt a wave of uncertainty bubbling forth. "What do you plan to do when the Resistance is no more? You will seek to end his life—but what then?" It was a question you had asked yourself from time to time, albeit in your head the Resistance had been victorious rather than the First Order. As much as you despises considering this outcome, you knew now that it would be foolish not to given how things were running their course. You had told yourself so often that it was your duty to slay monsters. There would always be monsters. Whether the Resistance won, whether the First Order slaughtered the remainder of your allies, they would exist. You could not kill them all. You had failed to kill the one who now claimed to love you. You wished he did not love you, because you could then convince yourself, if he corrupted Rey, that he was no human at all. That he had worn his flesh as a guise to beguile you. "I...have nowhere to go," you admitted. You were the guest of Kylo Ren. You were the prisoner of the First Order. Upon Ren's death, there was only the latter. In the case of his survival, you would eternally be the former. You were not stupid enough to think for a moment that Kylo Ren would allow you to leave him. His was a selfish love.

Rather than clinging onto the hope that Rey represented, you had allowed Kylo Ren to convince you to corrupt it. This hit you as hard as it had the first time the realization had dawned.

“You won't win,” you said defiantly, as much for yourself as for the man to whom the words were directed. General Hux barked out a laugh at your response. “The Resistance will never die!”

“That may be, tooka; however, it will also never win.” You snarled in disgust at his words, a reply ready on your lips. You were not give the chance to say anything more. “Your father trained you to survive in the New Republic. He thought to prepare you for the possibility of war. Mine? Tooka, my father made my life a war. I have fought since the day I was born, and I will not allow some silly little girl to delude herself into believing her views are superior. Neither of us is an idiot. Snoke will be dealt with first—second, if you include the Resistance. Then Ren. Either you or I will be the one to defeat him if it comes down to it. Once Skywalker and the girl are dead. At that point: What. Will. You. Do? What then?”

You shook your head. “I…don’t know.”

“You are the best type of tool, tooka, because you are willing to die. I’m going to use you. When you’ve outlived your worth, you will die along with the rest of your kin.” Here he took a single step towards you. “Unless you remain useful to me.”

Your stomach churned at his words. His proposal was quite similar to that of Kylo Ren’s with the exception that this man had no love for you. He would indulge himself with your body again if given the chance; as he had said, you were no idiot. You would always be an expendable tool for him. General Hux simply wished for you to be an expendable tool that was on his side. You would never betray the Resistance in that manner, you told yourself. You would not join the First Order.

It was laughable for you to think such things when just the night before you had referred to Kylo Ren by the title Supreme Leader. You had imagined yourself by his side.

Again did your eyes roam along his split lip. His words repeated themselves; you imagined Brendol Hux beating his son, breaking him repeatedly while your father had sought to build you up. Both Armitage Hux and Kylo Ren had experiences that made them drastically different than you. And the girl, Rey, as well. From what little Ren had shared with you, you understood. If General Hux was willing to take you for an ally, he would not be opposed to accepting Rey as well.

You twisted your body, leaning against the back of the chair while allowing yourself to look at the semi-familiar surroundings. He had brought you here to calm you, to speak with you. The manipulative and controlling nature of his words nudged at your conscious. Your gaze darted to him. General Hux had not looked away from you.

“Snoke wishes to see you,” the redhead said, as though at last ready to reveal things. Such as why he had been in the hallway. You felt the muscles in your legs tense; he had been on his way to grab you. The warnings from the past made themselves known; General Hux knew that Snoke would attempt to dissuade his apprentice from having feelings for you. Not to kill you, or at least not yet. The act of patricide had left a scar on Kylo Ren. If the Supreme Leader of the First Order successfully broke you, or else convinced Kylo Ren to kill you, you would no longer be any use to the redhead whose quarters you were in. It was for selfish reasons that he had brought you here to recover from your emotional outburst. “It will be in person this time, tooka.”

There was a semblance of pity in his expression, and you accepted that it was out of commiseration. He was no stranger to Snoke’s cruelty. You gulped down what saliva had gathered in your mouth then gave a nod of acceptance. Having fully recovered at last, you rose onto shaky feet. General Hux took the lead, and you were only two steps behind him. Exiting his quarters, you found yourself wishing you had thought to pet Millicent. A silly thought, a useless gesture… Not useless, you told yourself. It was a gesture of hope.

You had endured while in the care of General Hux and Kylo Ren alike. You refused to allow Snoke to break you.

Officers and stormtroopers alike stepped out of the way when their paths crossed with yours. There was a small transport shuttle prepared that would take you from the Finalizer to the Supremacy. Your heart lurched into your chest as you beheld the larger ship. You had seen it through the viewports. Now that you were arriving at it, however, you were in awe of its size.

There were more personnel aboard, all of which glanced your way with a high level of contempt. You would have preferred the expressions to remain as such rather than turn into cruel smirks of delight the deeper into the Supremacy that you were taken. They knew you had been summoned by Snoke. No doubt they hoped to hear of your suffering. You, a Resistance member—former or present, it did not matter. You were their enemy and your pain brought them delight. That you wore no bindings did not make them nervous. You were trailing behind General Hux. There were blasters on every person, blasters that would be trained on you if you moved out of line.

The first thing you noticed when you entered the throne room was the color red. This you had constantly attempted to associate with the Resistance even after you had seen the lightsaber on the battlefield. The guards in the room also wore red, their armor similar yet with differences from one another. Your pace slowed. General Hux, in contrast, did not slow in the least. His arms were crossed behind his back, right wrist cupped in his left hand. The being upon the throne wore gold. His laughter was colder than anything you had heard in the past.

You stumbled in your next step, which caused the laughter to increase. “You’re as stubborn as I remember,” Supreme Leader Snoke said with a chuckle. You frowned at his words, clenching your teeth at the memory of when you had spoken to the enlarged hologram. That was when he had offered you the chance to willingly work with him. To shame your mother. You had refused. Now you could see him in a shade other than blue. His pale flesh. Those teeth that were bared in his grin. Your entire existence amused him.

Snoke rose from the throne, and General Hux immediately stopped walking, his frame growing rigid.

You found that you could not bring yourself to walk either when Snoke took a step in your direction. The red-armored guards altered their stance. You could see their weapons in your peripheral, yet you could not tear your gaze away from the Supreme Leader of the First Order. This was who had trained Kylo Ren. This was the one you hoped Kylo and Rey could kill together.

“It is disappointing that you have no capabilities with the Force,” Snoke said. He angled his body, one shoulder dropping as he tilted his head and stared down at you. “So stubborn. And your training—even that did not allow the others to survive my apprentice’s blade.” As he spoke, he was chuckling. The amusement had died away. The words were genuine; had you possessed Force sensitivity, you would have been even more at this man’s mercy. “As it is, you have proven useful…until he wandered to you rather than remaining here.”

You knew what he was speaking of. The moment Kylo Ren had felt the connection with Rey, he had gone to you. Did this mean that Snoke was aware of the connection? You refused to mention it on the off chance that he was not. Regardless, you doubted that General Hux was privy to this information.

Snoke turned, walking—pacing, you noted when he took another step. He gestured carelessly in the air with his hand. “He returned.” Another chuckle. “You need not look around for him, he isn’t here.” You barely caught the twitch of his finger before you were yanked forward. You landed on your hands in knees in front of him. You stared at the ground with wide eyes, your heart racing in your chest. “You, however, will be kept here. Take her to his quarters.”

You should have known better than to expect Snoke to reveal his full intentions to you. Two of the guards marched your way. Another flick of a finger from the Supreme Leader, and you were on your feet, your upper arms seized by those who would escort you. They shoved at you, turning you. One of the red-armored individuals stepped in front of you while the other remained behind. You did not protest them leading you. General Hux met your eyes; he had predicted this, which is one reason he was not displeased. He wanted you on the Supremacy while he remained on the Finalizer. He wanted you to be his eyes here.

Ren’s quarters aboard the Supremacy were larger. Only a little less bleak; black and white with hints of red. The table that was across from the bed was something two people could sit at. The guards did not remain with you. The moment you entered, they closed the door. You could hear a code being input on the other side. You were once more a prisoner of the First Order—of Snoke, specifically.

This was felt deeply, for as you looked around the empty room, you realized that you had left the tooke hairclip and digital pet aboard the Finalizer. You once more had nothing. Wrapping your arms around yourself, you stood in the center of Ren’s quarters while being hit with the knowledge that you did not have any of your clothes either. Snoke had effectively stripped away some of the foundations that had been the relationship between you and Kylo. The solitude. The small gifts and gestures. The familiarity of the Finalizer.

You could not even grab onto the helmet of Darth Vader for something to hold. In here, there was nothing.

And you could practically feel Snoke watching you. Whether it was through the Force, even if it was nothing more than your paranoid mind, you felt a violation similar to when Kylo Ren had torn through your memories.

There were no ashes in this room either. What a terrible thing to miss, you thought. It had never dawned on you how much comfort you had been given by the remnants of your comrades. A reminder that they were real—had been real, that what you were fighting for, you hadn’t been fighting alone. You felt far more shattered by Snoke’s act of having you trapped here than by the idea that Kylo Ren loved you despite all that had occurred.

I can be a monster, you thought, cupping the back of your neck with both of your hands. I will help Ren bring Rey here. I will… I will make sure Snoke dies. At what cost? But… But, if I do nothing…

Your yearning for death, for the end of this pain and the reunion with your parents, made itself known like a punch to your gut. You lowered yourself onto the floor, sitting there. It was not death, you noted. It was not that that you wanted. It was your father. You wanted him to help you, to tell you how to make it through all of this. Your father had taught you many things, but most importantly he had taught you to never give up. He had informed you of the ugliness in the world so that you would not become jaded when you encountered it.

You were surrounded by monsters that wanted you to join them. General Hux. Kylo Ren. Snoke. How many others? It doesn’t matter.

If Kylo Ren was not a Sith, you doubted that Snoke was considered to be one. He was strong in the Force, this was true. As for what he was, you did not know. And a large part of you did not care.

Any person, really, was a monster in the eyes of someone else. Admitting that to yourself hurt, while at the same time you felt a sense of relief. Peace. Had you not already told Kylo Ren that you had known you were something of a monster? You fought them. At the time of your death, you would—I love you. You flinched, pushing your palms flat against the floor so that you slid backwards. Your back hit the bedframe.

You forced yourself to remember once more how Kylo Ren had taken away your willpower. You called to mind the physical and emotional aches that had resulted from you being compelled to, as he had put it, desecrate yourself on his weapon. You touched your lower belly, your hand threatening to shift lower. You had scarred there, too. The injuries had not required stitches, no. But you had torn; your body had not been prepared for the intrusion. Had your mind not been influenced by his will, you believed that you would have torn worse. You would have been struggling.

This was the past he wanted you to let die.

Strangely…cruelly… Snoke had murdered a part of that past. No tooke hairclip, the one thing that had been yours. A small token. The first indication that you had meant anything to Ren. He thought of you even when away. Was he thinking of you now? You hated it, that your mind was on him. Not only because of the training you had received in the Resistance. This was something more…sentimental.

When the door to Kylo Ren’s quarters opened, you expected to see the man himself, if not a droid. You thus scrambled backwards and up onto your feet when the Supreme Leader entered. Behind him were two of the red guards. No, you noted; four. The set that entered behind him, and a pair who remained on the other side when the door slid closed. Whatever he planned to do, it was not something he wished General Hux to see—or hear.

“I knew that you would bring him further into the Dark. Passion has that effect.” His grin was as cruel as it had been in the throne room. You found yourself frozen in place by the Force. It terrified you that Snoke did not need to use any gestures. This spoke volumes about his power. The tall man stepped ever closer to you until he was able to touch the side of your face. You would have been trembling in fear if not for being force to remain still. “The jealousy he felt in regards to how your…father…treated you. What he had never had.

“And the conflict within him, that he wanted to take from you—a compulsion he had never felt before. The need to have power over you, to make you his. I knew you would try to kill him. Whether you fought against him or gave into him, you led my apprentice further into the Darkness, away from the idea that rejoining the flawed ideology of his parents would be anything but the fool’s errand that it is.

“You impressed me—attracting the general’s attention. I hardly had to put in more work to drive the wedge between them further. How well you’ve worked out for me.”

He had come here to gloat. He had come here…and instilled a sense of disgust over everything you had done with Ren. Not the moments wherein the two of you had acted as enemies. Snoke’s words were sullying the more tender interactions, the glimpses into Ren’s humanity.

“Ben Solo…and you…and, in time, the girl… All handed to me by the Resistance. Light is needed to build the tools that best thrive in the Dark.” Snoke pulled his hand away from you. “Skywalker will fall. The general has your Resistance on a thread. I look forward to seeing Kylo Ren fall further into the Dark… I am curious if you will at last break—be it death, or realizing that the order I will bring has always been the better choice.”

#kylo ren x reader #kylo x reader #kylo ren smut #three blind tooke #kylo ren imagine #elmidolfanfic #precarious harmony

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vitosscaletta · 4 years

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🍓 🍓 🍓🍓🍓🍓 for ALL your vampire kids! 🦇

AIRIKA..TY FOR MY LIFE! ok this is gonna be long

CHRISTIAN

🍓 — he’s over 300 years old (that technically makes him an elder according to the lore book… overpowered king) & was embraced in the 1600s, he was the son of a french marquis back in the day 😳 He lived in Versailles for a long time & considered it his home even though people would literally shit in the corners there -_-

🍓 — has NO idea how technology works… he has one of those ugly early 2000s flip phones because he saw other people having those but has absolutely no idea how to use them, much less a computer. Most people just think he’s ~romantic or something for writing letters but he really has no idea how to write an email :(

🍓 — He’s the baron of Bel Air.. has a nice mansion there bc living for over 300 years gives you time to hoard that much money ig.

🍓 — His grand-sire (??) is Helen of Troy 😳 overpowered af bloodline

🍓 — He doesn’t care about vampire politics in the slightest and is sort of aligned with the camarilla bc he has power within them but there’s no loyalty or conviction.. the main reason he’s in it is to start drama and watch it unfold 💅 He and La🥐 can’t stand each other but also can’t do anything about it… Strauss is okay with him but they’d also sell each other out for one corn chip.. He’s sort of frenemies with Gary, they hate each other because… yknow toreador and nosferatu but they’re equally shady so there’s mutual respect… in an odd way

🍓 — He doesn’t have any other childe..r… whatever the term is except miss Helena.. he hangs around humans a lot but has no real attachment to them (except being kind of a hoe and.. yknow.). She’s the first mortal in a long time he felt anything for which was mostly just good old toreador obsession but he thought it was love.. she vaguely resembled a lost love of his. and had potential I guess so he actually got permission for embracing her babey… just not from her bc he didn’t even consider someone wouldn’t want to be a vampire.. 🙄

HELENA

🍓 — Having OP Christian as her sire did have its perks even though she hates his guts for embracing her… She automatically had a pretty good position within the camarilla through connection alone :^) she works as sort of an informant/spy for the prince directly.. which puts her at odds with a bunch of people - they either think she’s an inexperienced little girl who doesn’t know what she’s doing and works for an incompetent prince OR hate her for being in his sort of inner circle without having to work for it (like Victoria. she thinks that)

🍓 — CRINGE but it be like that sometimes… she’s descended from a looong line of vampire/witch hunters on her dad’s side - he’s from a catholic german family who was largely involved with the society of Leopold. Michael himself wasn’t overly religious (still studied theology but didn’t actually care) and left all of this behind when he moved to america & got married but after he and Jenny divorced he was like “know what… time to become a zealot again”. His ex-wife and daughters are completely unaware of that of course 😳 dunno if Helena sees him again after becoming a vampire 🙄 but yknow.

🍓 — Doesn’t have any of the “vampires are better than mortals” superiority complex that a lot of the others seem to have.. does think thin-bloods are losers though kjdkjdfnms

🍓 — Only video game she plays is the sims!! she bought ts1 when it came out for fun and got hooked.. ts2 is even better!!!!! first thing she did was make a sim that resembles her and marries a business tycoon 💅💸

🍓 — owned one (1) YSL dress she bought from her savings (which was USED) but she couldn’t afford anything else so she just wears it with something she found at hot topic every time she goes out with her rich fake friends pre embrace. When she works for La🤡 and actually makes some money she can afford a SECOND dress babey! with shoes!!!

🍓 — She’s actually really into some standard 2004 radio pop songs but also emo songs at the same time.. except the genre didn’t have anything good in 2004 except three cheers for sweet revenge (she’s also really into evanescence, green day and blink 182 which isn’t really emo but it was still part of the experience™ nfdkjdf) - which is also her entire aesthetic summed up, emo meets theatre kid prep.. Helena: *googles “how to look like Gerard Way and Britney Spears at the same time makeup tutorial”*

ERIN

🍓 — sdjhsdh cringe but she’s always been kind of a weirdo but was pretty good at hiding it/acting normal & was part if the prep gang in her high school days (not the leader, more the kind of the replaceable third wheel), she always preferred hanging out with the weirdos though. Post-embrace everyone just thinks “lol crazy malkavian” so she’s just like 🤷‍♀️..

🍓 — Her sire, Ray, was suuuch a freak but she liked him because he was something.. different in her sheltered, dull life and made her feel excitement she hasn’t felt in a long time. He bails on her after embracing her bc he sired her without permission & fears execution (even though literally no one cares or even knows he sired someone) but has letters delivered to her from time to time instructing her what to do lol

🍓 — Actually enjoys the freedom vampirism gives her? She’s officially dead so she has the option to start again and be whoever she wants to be… it’s scary at first bc she has no idea what’s going on and where these voices come from but she gets used to it, also the voice of her late grandmother in her head is a comforting presence for her… I imagine she’s actually in there kinda like the heart in dishonored, afterlife isn’t her granddaughter’s mind but it’s sort of an echo of her? IDK she tinkered with magic in life so supernatural schizophrenia added that to Erin’s mind.

🍓 — She loves early 2000′s radio pop (yknow.. Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson… etc) but also classical music, stuff from the 20′s, alternative rock, the early 2000s goth music that’s playing in L.A.’s nightclubs …. she’s gonna thrive in 2006 when a fever you can’t sweat out drops!!!

🍓 — She’s part of the anarchs but mostly hangs out in hollywood or downtown (only goes to santa monica to visit the asylum (BEST nightclub ever in her onion. isolated SLAPS)

🍓 — yknow in the 2000s when people had invader zim merch from hot topic.. she owns this backpack 🤦‍♀️ it clashes with the rest of her style which is already a horrendous mix of victorian/early 20th century gothic and 2004 prep style

VICTORIA

🍓 — her background is still a BIG wip but she was born at some point in the late twenties/early thirties and embraced in 1954 :^) she was a bit of a workaholic and had an intense work ethic but never made it far within the company she was working for because it’s the fifties (thinking maybe it was her father’s company bc she was RICH.. there was a feud between her & a few male relatives on who’s gonna lead or something)… She was eventually noticed by a ventrue businessman who thought her ambition and no-nonsense attitude would be a great addition to the clan - She was promised a opportunity to rise within a different society without le sexism. Go white feminist queen!

🍓 — her embrace wasn’t really what she thought it would be.. drinking other’s blood REPULSES her and she has a hard time adjusting to it, plus kindred society isn’t really what she imagined - by the time she’s embraced L.A. has no camarilla presence so there’s really nothing for her to do so she moves to New York to join them there.. except she’s stuck with a shitty job and no one taking her seriously because of her age 😒 When they establish a presence in Los Angeles she’s the first to suck up to the prince & be assigned a somewhat high position (I guess adviser to the ventrue primogen and also being tight with the prince is good!!)

🍓 — She dresses very business-y BUT always designer bc she got money 😳 her wardrobe is chic but also minimalist, also with a hint of fifties design because fashion peaked then in her opinion.. mostly in dark colors, reds, browns and mostly black combined with minimal jewelry and high heels… very very elegant

🍓 — genuinely loves romcoms from the 50s and 60s (doris day & rock hudson movies b*tch!!) but also “newer” one from the 90s and 2000′s.. notting hill, pretty woman and 13 going on 30 are her favorites that she watches when she’s off duty, cozy in her downtown apartment.. but don’t tell anyone 😤

🍓 — She’s THE queen bee within the L.A. camarilla… doesn’t have any friends in her workplace but she’s respected by everyone and that’s what matters to her (it does get lonely sometimes but it be like that. She’s not gonna give up her status for shallow friendships 😒)

🍓 — loves those ugly small 90s/2000s glasses but they clash with every outfit she has so she doesn’t wear them

#I didnt realize how OP christian was before I read the corebook.... jhdsjsd #PLEASE INTERACT.. it took me ages to type this out #chuckhansen #ask

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fearfearer · 4 years

Text

i have caught up with the magnus archives.

when i started listening, i started a text file to note down any thoughts/confusion/analysis/jokes i had as i listened. i isolated a few bits of it into standalone text posts that i already posted, but here is the whole thing, my long-form liveblog

thoughts on the magnus archive as i listen

jonny sims gives an impassioned performance of someone's statement-- a diegetic impassioned performance, as we witness it being interrupted and resuming-- and follows it up with his own judgement of merciless doubt. classic. why the impassioned performance? he's just a nerd. i dearly hope this is the fandom consensus

every episode ends at the perfect volume to which i have adjusted it, and then i start the next episode and it blares in my ears. i think the volume of the intro must be like 1.75x the volume of the rest

*makes a serious effort to listen to and remember the name and date at the beginning of the statement recording* *forgets completely within 2 minutes*

i saw a fanart of gerard keay and learned [1] that he must be a good guy after all, since they drew him lookin cute, and [2] that his name is not, in fact, jared key. what, am i supposed to be looking at the transcripts? understanding names properly? in my defense, jonny sims clearly articulates "Jared" when he says it. maybe i'm not as good at decoding british accents as i thought. [footnote added in later: ok good i'm not the only one who hears "Jared" and thinks "Jared" instead of "Gerard"]

when gerard keay was described as having numerous eye tattoos on his joints, obviously my first thought was, "including the ankle? so he's count olaf?" because that's definitely a way count olaf would disguise his eye tattoo: by tattooing eyes everywhere else too and becoming The Eye Tattoo Guy. anyway this is part of why i was not at first inclined to think favorably of gerard keay

"The first thing about this statement that makes me dubious is that it comes from a fellow academic." if you know shit fuck you

it has come to my attention that there are ships. makes sense... after all, everyone in every fandom is horny af*. i'm not in deep enough to ship yet but naturally i'm keeping an eye on it

*horny af for depictions of intimacy, sexual or otherwise, but mostly sexual

definitely feel like i need to be writing down every name i hear because they're never not cropping back up but for now i'll just let it all wash over me

so sasha has been replaced with not-sasha, huh? pretty sure. though i'm not good at distinguishing voices. but that sounded pretty different, and my listening comprehension wrt that table isn't that bad. <<as time passes i doubt myself more and more on this point but not enough to go back and listen again

"You believe me?" "Yes, I think I do." (smashes button labeled "CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT" and a loud buzzer sounds)

IT'S MICHAEL!!! i hope michael is a long-term good guy... he's not seeming like a good guy right now... he says he's mostly neutral. vaguely recall seeing a tumblr post about michael in the recent past but that didn't give me any hints and i don't remember it well anyway. michael's voice is good though. good laugh

i'm not good at visualizing characters based on descriptions, let alone based merely on their voices, so the only image i have in my head of jonathan is a furrowed brow

i'm on episode 49 and i don't like jonathan's distrust of his colleagues... i don't understand why his immediate suspicion was that gertrude's murder was an inside job. hasn't he just learned firsthand that the institute is not impenetrable? it's not inconceivable that someone could enter and shoot her and leave. especially when it took place in underground tunnels connected to unknown locations.

there's a good Old Lady Voice Combo on episode 62

so agnes montague was heavily cursed... that's my conclusion after episode 67

elias seems to tell jonathan to "get some sleep" a lot. though it IS generally good advice

episode 70, 9 minutes, 41 seconds: jonny sims's cell phone goes off in the background

small brain: ghost ship medium brain: ghost train galaxy brain: dirt train

i wanted to see if there was fanart of michael so i looked it up... i might as well have googled "blonde slenderman"

sweeney todd mentions tally: II

for some reason, hearing michael described this time as "a tall man with curly blonde hair and an unnerving laugh" puts an image in my head without my consent, and that image is chris fleming. now, he's not quite blonde, is he? but that doesn't change my casting decision, which is now set in stone. hope he does a good british accent

"YES i know what a meme is."

why is melanie the first/only one to notice that sasha is now not-sasha? is it because she is experienced in firsthand paranormal encounters (whereas the archivists are experienced in decidedly SECONDhand paranormal encounters, save for the worm debacle)? oh, my question was answered handily in the next episode. ok.

the replacer definitely limits its glamour to everyone except one person just so that it can be amused by the distress and confusion of the one person who can see the truth. that must also be the reason it chooses a completely different appearance. it surely COULD replace a person with their exact likeness; it just uses another face for fun, and to be satisfied that it can get away with it.

this table has appeared in like 10 episodes... Guess It's Crucial

jonny sims yelling while swinging an axe. jonny sims goes through michael's door (eyes emoji)

the idea of the replacer killing jonathan and not even replacing him brings to mind "AT LEAST RIDE IT YOU ASSHOLE"

wasn't expecting to hear from leitner at this point... he's dropping tons of lore here. too much lore. so much is happening. i have to say i kinda like it better when the stakes are not quite so high as this.

so at the end of season 2, tim and martin believe that jonny sims killed this guy, who they probably don't know is leitner... and we the audience believe that elias, now almost certainly a double murderer, has very quietly stabbed leitner to death. do i the audience believe it? i'll keep an open mind for now. things are not always as they seem. except when sasha was replaced with not-sasha, which was exactly as it seemed. [footnote added in later: looks like elias being a double murderer was exactly as it seemed.]

so jonathan sims is the name of the actual guy voicing jonathan sims. it's a cecil situation. so are they someday going to go back and retcon every episode to change his name, like with palmer/baldwin? or does jonathan sims just not mind being a character as well? as long as it doesn't devolve into RPS i guess it's fine. if there's fanart of jonmartin i hope it doesn't depict them as their actors bc that's too close for comfort to RPS

there's been a truly hellish c*ndy cr*sh ad that has played like 40 times between episodes and i'm pretty well convinced to never ever play that curséd game

elias has some serious blackmail for daisy, huh? that's heavy, having police characters in fiction who do extrajudicial killings. life imitates art imitates life

"i'm not on drugs or anything. ...what? i could be on drugs!"

he said "ample opportunity" but like "amplopportunity" with emphasis on the "plop"

it was obviously elias who delivered the statement to jonathan in hiding, because he knew he would record it despite not being at work... bc he's a nerd

so if gerard keay has eye tattoos, does that mean he also serves the uhh the observing or whatever? [verdict arrived at later: no he just has those because he's cool. or because his mom tattooed him. ok almost certainly the latter.]

"what do i feed it?" obviously you feed it filled up cassette tapes, jon... nothing has ever been more obvious

it's okay that jon very stupidly burned his hand to a crisp. you don't need even one hand to turn on a cassette recorder. you can do that with your nose

so if these people who are wax figures serve the desolation, and not-sasha was spending time at the wax museum, does that mean there is a connection between the replacer and desolation? i think that would make sense, since both seem to enjoy making people feel bad feelings. also i'm starting to think that agnes was not actually cursed, but that would mean she burned that guy on purpose after being nice to him... was she just really selfish in that way? using him to experience Dating and mutilating him when he crossed the line, so she punished him as a cruel goodbye? or just building up his hopes so they will be even more fun to burn down when the time comes?

"perhaps doing a bit of mindless filing will help distract you." honestly that is something i would like to do in real life... i do enjoy a good mindless task. though doing mostly mindless tasks 40 hours a week is not a fun time for me lately. but it would be better if i didn't have to listen to bad radio at the same time

what?! the friendly midnight acrobat described in episode 90 sounds totally non-threatening and i hope there's fanart of it. was that gym just jared the bone turner helping people live their twisted athletic fetishes?! [footnote added in later: YES! god i hope people draw these turn-boned creatures optimized for their gymnastic of choice. show me a person who remade their body specifically for the balance beam]

so the power endowed in the archivist by the viewening is that when you sit them down across from someone they want to interview, that someone will invariably spill SOME beans and think it was their idea. maybe? [footnote added in later: yes.]

ok so Michael "The Distortion" Michael, of fractals and golden ringlets, has specifically tormented this other michael, lichtenberg michael?

jon is clearly moved to ask questions by an external force because he's a sensible guy who would not try to ask questions when daisy is holding a gun on him

i think basira has precisely the same accent as estelle... or maybe just a similarly staccato way of speaking (or of line-reading)

[episode 93] elias: (holding jon's face between two pieces of bread) what are you? jon: (sigh) the archivist...

well, they did something i didn't expect them to do with this show: create a compelling in-universe reason for jon to read statements aloud. because obviously until now there was none.

jon did the cockney accents. (insert emoji for indescribable feeling)

here's the purpose of the pit: if we all climb in the muddy pit together at night, the earthquake will only jiggle us gently and no one will be inside collapsing buildings to be crushed. it's only logical

ok i was gonna say this before but why is jon still at georgie's house??? he's not on the run for murder anymore, right? he has an apartment with all his stuff in it, right? [footnote added in later: i still don't understand why it was like this.]

i will confess that usually once the credits start to roll i zip to the next episode, but this time i zoned out a bit and it's really funny that jonny sims reads out "Rate and Review Us Online" in his archivist voice

a third michael. this one is probably already dead though. unless distortion michael takes over this guy's body or something. oh, jon came in at the end of the episode to say precisely this.

was episode 100 mostly improvised? if so, that would be appropriate. but i wouldn't put it past them to write every stuttering bit of those four statements

MARTIN...................................................................................................................................................... (typed this as martin gave some of his own money to the lady who expected payment for a statement)

i'm skipping 100.1 through 100.5 for now... just for now.

ok so michael is michael but not lightning mike michael, and two of these michaels are dead, but one is something that has never been alive nor dead. got it

everyone's morality is much more gray than i at first anticipated. the only people who seem to be solidly and earnestly on the side of good, as much as possible, are jonathan and martin and basira and georgie and maybe tim?

so michael just died and was overtaken by pseudo-helen? neo-helen? ok. that's kinda too bad, as i enjoyed michael's terrible laugh and unpredictability. but the feeling of michael being revealed as having been michael shelley feels somewhat similarly disappointing (but a bit less staggeringly groan-inducing) to when the mysterious koro-sensei in assassination classroom was revealed to have been a twink in his past. because of course he was. (that's when i stopped reading that manga. too precipitously dumb to sustain my suspension of disbelief.) it's like, ok, you had an interestingly mysterious character going on, but having solved the mystery, what interestingness is left? not much. fortunately this was resolved by promptly ending the existence of this michael and instead introducing new and improved helen

ooh martin has the asky ability too huh? nice [footnote added in later: he only used it this one time, and i'm wondering if they did that and then forgot and decided that jon is actually the only one with asky ability.] [[another footnote added in much later: How did i manage to mistake jon’s voice for martin’s voice? How?]]

the way martin said "kumo ga tabeteiru" in episode 110... alexander j newall does not watch anime

"I'm a book." ~Gerard Keay, 2017

it was a few episodes ago now but i noticed that when jon clearly articulated "Jared" referring to gerard, elias was like "Jared? you mean Gerard Keay?" (pronouncing it like "Gerard.") there is definitely a disagreement between these two (actors) about how to pronounce that name

the eye, the spiral, the end, the stranger, the lonely, the desolation, the slaughter, the vast, the buried, the dark, the corruption, the web, the flesh, the hunt.

Q: why would anyone want one of these rituals to succeed? A: it's their fetish. it's their sexual fetish

ok time to make up names for each possible apocalypse. these are the real and true names according to me, who knows such things: the eye - the viewening the spiral - down the drain the end - the really end end the stranger - oh wait we know this one. it's the unknowing. the lonely - the alonening the desolation - Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Lightless Flame the slaughter - world war all the vast - the expansion the buried - the grand lahar (or the Smothering) the dark - the extinguishment the corruption - the Great Rot the web - the spidening the flesh - the smorgasbord (or the Eatening) the hunt - come and get it

gerry said there was no dark god of indigestion, but i can tell you from personal experience that there is. though it's true that there is also fear involved, so maybe no separate pantheon is necessary

i sense that there is a battle between people who say it like "gotta get myself oriented" and "i feel disoriented" (as feels correct/natural to me) and people who say "gotta get myself orienTATed" and "i feel disorienTATed," and this podcast falls SQUARELY on the latter team. they've said it like 20 times

idk why he has to be such a dick to helen. jeez

the guy who coded his mind into a computer, which of the 14 was that? the corruption? the stranger? gotta be the corruption, but that doesn't fit perfectly with its rot/bugs aesthetic...

speed -> speeding -> sped. heed -> heeding -> hed. thus i decree

in my dream i listened to a whole episode of this show, narrated by gertrude, and i was like "whoa this is cool" and i went to write it down but i was still in the dream and writing doesn't work in dreams :( also any successful writing in dreams doesn't transfer to real life paper :( the only snippet i remember: “...in his white mouth, which had known only bread...”

"I, uh..." Jonathan Sims, a thousand times, 20XX

martin's job is PLAINLY to distract elias and elias barges in like "martin. i see you're trying to distract me." and martin's like "maybe i am!"

o, jonny took a breath. that's good

he wasn't hooked up to an EKG or anything? you spend long enough with no heartbeat that they're just like "i guess we can turn this off"

this episode about philosophical zombies sounds a lot like that NPC meme from a year or two ago... and it makes me kind of uncomfortable, the way this person inspects others to determine whether they are True Minds or Impostors based on their emotional expressions, their eyes... because i don't always do the correct or appropriate expressions, and would someone judge me as being a non-person who is trying and failing to imitate human emotions?

i generally don't enjoy ships that have more-or-less explicit canon support, but i can't say jon/martin isn't good

melanie blaming jon isn't right... no one had a better plan to stop the unknowing, did they? (they didn't!) didn't all of them agree on the plan and understand that they might die? (they did!) she's just imposing survivor's guilt upon him because he survived for supernatural reasons. but it's not like he eagerly embraced his new supernaturalness, or even asked for it outright! i think she's being unreasonable. i didn't like her insistence on trying to kill elias either, even though elias is a huge dick. what's with her?

wait, peter lukas is the lonely? (meme where calculations and equations whiz past me)

jonathan baa'd

oh, see. the bullet is making melanie act without reason. i get it now. can't say i think they had the best approach to getting the bullet out, but all's well that ends well (???)

martin is being prohibited from talking to jon >:I martin is on a first-name basis with peter lukas >:I...

martin grumbles, "i don't like being manipulated..." while obviously and continuously allowing himself to be manipulated

jon is afraid of and uncomfortable with what he's becoming, at least to a degree, right? but he seems to be going about his duties (i.e. feeding the eye) with vigor and without reluctance. is he really that motivated by his own desire to know and understand? who is he doing this for? is the eye's influence on him so strong that "doing what the eye wants" seems to manifest as what HE wants to do?

"He'd place it over the one he wore already, and he would larf and larf and larf" (from breacon’s statement... just heard it like this for some reason)

deep water could be the domain of both the buried and the vast, because you could lose yourself in the vast ocean, but experience the physical effects of being buried under thousands of feet of water...

so tom han was an avatar of the flesh but he ultimately died after being tortured by the spiral... right?

"we're not people, though, are we? not anymore." close enough, i'd say.

jonathan has deployed THREE "I, uh..."s in episode 131 alone and i want to smack him in real life. FOUR NOW. JON. JONATHAN SIMS THE REAL ACTOR. LISTEN... quit falling back on your "I, uh..."s. and if they're written into the script i'll punch whoever did that too. total of five in a single episode. never utter "I, uh..." again

i hope whoever's throat is okay after doing bone turner voice for a whole statement.

jonny sure needs saving quite often, doesn't he.

peter lukas being a slightly chipper advocate for becoming a follower of the lonely is very strange

neil lagorio and his whole cinematographic history is made up but they namedropped kevin costner, who is real

VERY, VERY GOOD laugh at 23:44 of episode 136

melanie getting her session recorded... i was doing audio transcription for a while and you'd definitely come across bits of therapy-type sessions that very much seemed like they should have been confidential.

i wonder if the eye ultimately turned its back on gertrude and allowed her to be killed. if jon could survive a collapsing building, could gertrude not have survived a couple of bullets? wouldn't the difference be the protection of the eye? [footnote added in later: of course now i see who turned their back on whom.]

i'm somewhat heartened to learn that agnes montague was, in fact, a heavily cursed individual, though she seemed to have embraced it to a degree... and she wasn't made of wax.

i like that jon now includes helen in his office politics briefing

basira's like "Edmund Halley" and jon's like "Halley's comet?" (like “Hale-ey”) and two minutes later jon's like "Edmund Hally" (not "Hale-y")

"What's this?" "OH... That's, uh... that's... my rib..." "Right." (tiny clunk of rib being set down)

so giving a statement puts a curse on you... or is it "having a statement extracted / being compelled" that puts a curse on you? and the resulting curse, the fear it reawakens, is that good for the eye, or is that good for the powers that initially caused the fear?

well, i heard a homestuck reference in one of the patreon names at the beginning of an episode, and who is surprised? of course, i'm not one to talk

episode 144- the english think their summer is bad... as a professional "hot weather is bad" person, i feel doubtful, because if the sky is grey, it is not as hot as it Could Be, and therefore one should quit one's bitching

first statement about the extinction... interesting. but hearing martin be a jerk to daisy makes me sad :(

the powers never tell avatars exactly what they need to be doing, but that's just concerning the means. the ends are always clear: the power gets fed. and all of the powers feed on fear. also jonny is horny for statements. i hope, but also doubt, that his harmful behavior is at least partially the spider's doing. oh, i see now that it's not. yeah.

jon wants to eat fresh and delicious statements produced just for him, instead of reconstituting the dusty old statements already in the archive

episode 148 - samson stiller gets a crush. but in all seriousness, is he becoming an avatar of the eye but like, not institute-related? is that a thing? i guess that would make sense, but still seems weird

episode 149 - considering ring -> rang -> rung, we seem to have stumbled upon spin -> span -> spun, and the compasses gently span around (9:40)

does martin have loneliness powers now? it's sad that he is getting lonely... as a lonely person, i know.

the lady on TV in episode 150 was just speaking simlish.

i really want jon to overcome his urge to forcefully take statements because i want to be able to root for him still

british podcasts really have a leg up over american podcasts, at least among american audiences, purely based on their interesting and varied accents

i can't say the gravedigger's envy doesn't make me myself feel like going to sleep in the cold dirt forever. but bad depression lately is also a factor, so

jonathan having to settle for reading already archived statements instead of harvesting fresh ones is exactly like a vampire (not the kind detailed in this series) who has to choose between hunting people to suck their blood or drinking bags of donated blood from a (near-endless) stockpile. there's an ethical choice with a clear right answer, but the urge is also understandable

jon following up gertrude's tape with just "fuck" was really good. now he's like "ok martin. let's run away together"

spent all day at work thinking about how i can't fuckin believe the first thing jon did when he heard how to escape the institute was to go tell martin like "there will be a great cost, but... we can elope now"

also if tim was still around jon would tell him the way out and he would do it right then and there, i'm 100% sure. like before jon was finished explaining tim would be like "the eyes? (grabs scissors) got it. (does the deed)"

earlier today i was just thinking that we would almost certainly hear gertrude's death on tape, especially given that we now understand tape recorders are wont to turn on autonomously whenever something important is happening. anyway then i came home and heard gertrude's death on tape

peter, as an avatar of the lonely, is easy to play like a cheap whistle because as someone who clearly hates spending time around other people, he is not keen to the symptoms of being played.

elias is like "you'll have to go into the lonely to get him" and jon's probably thinking "but then at least we'll be in the lonely... ~*~*~together~*~*~"

i think martin's whole thing for most of the series has been that he sounds a little doofy, for lack of a better word, and people constantly underestimate his intelligence. and now he has played peter lukas like a cheap whistle and forced me to realize that by taking for granted that he was being successfully manipulated by peter lukas, i too was underestimating martin... and his pure love for jon <:3c no but seriously i even remember explicitly making a mental note to remember that martin is smartin but it fell by the wayside as my emotions (of sadness that jon and martin seemed to be growing further apart) took precedent

i work a non-verbal job just doing mundane tasks and that gives me all the time in the world to think about things like "if they were to have jon and martin reunite in a tearful embrace, how would you convey the physical contact in an audio format? like, whap? soft thud?"

jon enters the lonely and voiceover peter comes in to try and factcheck the ship

i guess it makes sense that peter would try to do the ritual for the lonely all by himself

did he kill peter by asking him to death? or did peter just self-destruct rather than be forced to answer?

the way jon snapped martin out of the loneliness just by making him look at his face... that's powerful. as a lonely person, i know that the most cry-making thing you can realize when you feel alone is that another person is, in fact, there with you

martin went for a walk and now it's thunderstorming. i wonder if he came back as soon as it started raining and now he's standing nearby invisibly as jon reads the intimidating magnus statement. ...I GUESS NOT

i plan to read through the transcripts of all the episodes (as it’s faster than re-listening, though i might selectively re-listen) so that i may better understand some things and answer some questions in this post that i didn’t ultimately resolve. i can’t say i was paying 101% attention all the way through. also april is very far away

#the magnus archives

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metalgearkong · 5 years

Text

MediEvil 2019 - Review (PS4)

10/28/19

Developed by Other Ocean Emeryville / Sony Computer Entertainment, released October 2019

It has risen again! The original MediEvil from 1998 is one of my favorite games of all time, and one of the games I have completed the most. Like other games from the PS1 era, I discovered MediEvil on a demo disc and replayed it constantly. I loved the Nightmare Before Christmas aesthetics and music, and liked that it stared a cowardly bumbling skeleton. The late 90′s was a time of experimentation for 3D action/adventure games, and while some people hold Ocarina of Time or Super Mario 64 as their favorites of the genre, MediEvil has always been my personal favorite. MediEvil II released two years later, but lost a lot of its appeal for me because it took place in Victorian London instead of the graveyards and spooky locations of the original. MediEvil: Resurrection was made in 2005 for the PSP, but was more of a re-imagining of the original game, and not a true remake.

I had heard about MediEvil being remade yet again a couple years ago, but tried to have tempered expectations, and not buy into what could amount to be rumors. I imagined it would be akin to a big screen version of MediEvil: Resurrection, or at least the developers would butcher the original game. Last year was when I saw the trailer for this MediEvil remake, and I felt more confident in it. While most people were anticipating big triple-A or franchise games for 2019, my sights and hopes were dead set on this. Finally, after all this time of waiting, MediEvil 2019 has released exclusively for the PS4, and I couldn’t be happier with the final product. Other Ocean Emeryville has created a deeply loyal and extremely faithful remake of the original game I cherish so much, but I feel like only true fans will be able to truly appreciate it for the accomplishment it is.

Before I talk about the game proper, I have to elaborate on the unexpected odyssey it took to actually get the game going. Not only do I have to make a three hour round trip to the nearest Gamestop to get a copy, the game had to immediately download a day one patch: version 1.01. This update was a massive 16GB, and with my super slow mountainous wi-fi speed, my PS4 predicted it would take at least 50 hours. There was no option to begin the game without this update. I was floored. It put me in a state of blue-balled depression and denial. So I took my TV, PS4, and all the necessary cords, and physically hooked in my PS4 to my work’s ethernet cable in a public building, hoping no one would disturb it. The estimated time dropped to a meager four hours, and it made me feel a lot better. Ironically, my PS4 only realized I didn’t have enough storage space to download the update, and somewhere along the line it quit. Thankfully, it let me play after giving up.

Expectations mean a lot, and leading up to this MediEvil releasing, I intentionally did not do a lot of research on the game in order to discover it in person as I was playing. I didn’t realize this was a fully committed remake of the original. MediEvil: Resurrection disappointed me because it changed a bunch about the game and left out a lot of my favorite levels. 2019′s MediEvil recreates every inch of the original game with modern graphics. I was so thrilled I can’t even describe how cool it was to see one of my favorite games of all time with a new coat of skin, especially because I never thought THIS game would be chosen to be remade. Not only that, but the game uses the same exact audio for most of the dialog; each and every gargoyle head and character Dan meets plays the same audio as I’ve had engraved in my skull for over twenty years, only with new character models and more elaborate animations.

The developers even used the same music for each level, only re-recorded it with only small differences or flourishes. Even insignificant things like textures on a doorway or on the ground were recreated in 3D to look just like they did. I would have been perfectly okay with the developers simply using modern graphics and textures to remake certain pieces of architecture or focal points in this game, but no, every corner of Gallowmere represented the original locations, and I constantly had to pick my jaw off the floor (no offense Dan). Cinematics also play out exactly the same, with the same camera angles and movements. Part of me thinks about how maybe Other Ocean Emeryville could have taken these short cinematics sprinkled throughout the game and elaborated slightly on lore, but that would veer dangerously close to a “re-imagining” territory, and I’m just thankful everything is kept so faithful in the end.

The banished necromancer Zarok has raised an army of the dead to conquer the realm of Gallowmere. Unwittingly, Zarok also brought back to life Sir Daniel Fortesque, King Peregrine's captain of the militia, who perished embarrassingly years prior in an earlier battle against Zarok and his armies. After Fortesque’s death, fables, songs, and legends told of his false bravery and battlefield accomplishments, but now he has the opportunity to live up to his own mythical status as the hero of Gallowmere. I’ve always loved this story, wherein the bad guy accidentally raises the very hero who would thwart him. I’ve always loved Dan because he’s so unlike most knights and heroes. He has to live up to his own reputation, and prove those wrong who know what truly happened. We play as Dan and travel from the hum drum graveyards of Gallowmere all the way through more exotic levels such as a pumpkin gorge filled with demonic pumpkins, crystal caverns filled with Minotaur-like monsters, an enchanted forest containing a demonic prison, and much more.

The first advantage to the modernization of this game was being able to see the Hilltop Mausoleum (the 2nd level) from The Cemetery (the 1st level). It would make sense if you had an expansive cemetery, and the very next level, adjacent to that level, had a massive building on top of a hill, and you could see it from far away. As a PS1 game I’d never expect to see something like that, but with this remake, they had the care to include things such as this, which only helps the world feel that much more real and connected. The controls and mechanics are nearly the same as the original as well, only made slightly more convenient. Dan can still equip a one-handed weapon and a shield, and switch between weapons in a menu. He can block attacks, but only as long as the shield’s HP holds out, until you need to find a new one. Dan has all the same moves as the original, but the more free-form camera makes the game a bit more convenient to play by making platforming and seeing things easier.

As you slay enemies in each level, you fill a chalice, and bringing back a full chalice to the end of each respective level grants you a visit to the Hall of Heores before the next level begins; this world’s version of Valhalla, where the most accomplished heroes of history drink, feast, and arm wrestle for eternity. A side goal of this game is to collect the chalice from every level so Dan can also become a member of this ethereal warrior’s afterlife (twenty in all). This is something I struggled with as a kid, but in the past many years I’ve always gone out of my way to make sure Sir Fortesque gets into the Hall of Heroes where he rightfully deserves to be. Sometimes items can be found in a level which are to be used in entirely different levels, something the game only hints at. Case in point are the Ant Caves, which is a maze-like level hidden within a level that is completely optional to complete (but not if you want all twenty chalices).

Some of the original game’s drawbacks could be regarded as similar drawbacks for this remake. Criticisms like haphazard combat and imprecise platforming are somewhat the same case here, but I would argue that’s half the point playing as a gangling hero who hasn’t yet earned his stripes. I honestly can’t take an unbiased position on some of the game’s more objective problems, not only because I’m such a fanatic and have played the original so many times, but also because it’s impossible for me to have a fresh perspective on the game. I can’t tell you how hard the puzzles are or how tough the game is simply because I’ve played the original so many times, I’ve gotten used to any perceived problems and solved all the puzzles so long ago. Reviews for this game seem to be lukewarm, and it’s an opinion I can’t share because I’m so impressed by how faithful one of my all time obscure favorites has been recreated.

In fact the very few changes the developers did make I could count on one hand. Mostly these changes have been made to a few of the game’s boss fights. Most of the bosses have always been very easy, especially compared to today’s obsession where bosses are meant to be extremely punishing. I can honestly say the changes are for the better and improve on these boss fights. For example the fight with the captain of the ghost ship has been improved, allowing you to manual aim a canon before firing it at him, rather than running back and forth between two fixed canons, hoping one of your shots hit the captain as he paces back and forth. Another addition are the “Lost Souls” which are hidden collectibles, one in each level that can be found by Sir Dan. This basically makes you replay every level to find the Lost Souls, as they only appear once you’re already near the end of the game. I can’t say I was motivated to find them, at least not right now, since it appears to be a shallow fetch-quest.

Besides getting the game booted in the first place, I did a have a few technical problems while playing the game. These are probably because the version 1.01 patch never actually downloaded and installed, and I may have been experiencing what the developers were trying to fix. One example was a door not opening once I had defeated all the enemies in the room, effectively trapping me there forever, forcing me to restart the level. The problems were mainly things such as this, and I bet I’m the only person in the world who had to complete the game from beginning to end raw without the day one patch. Otherwise the game ran great, and looks good as Hell.

I’m so glad Other Ocean Emeryville didn’t try to subvert expectations or put a clever twist on certain things, leaving it as is. MediEvil 2019 constantly impressed me, and I don’t think I’ve felt this much fan service and satisfaction since the Shadow Moses chapter of Metal Gear Solid 4 from 2008. The music, dialog, weapons, level design, aesthetics, enemies and controls have been painstakingly remade, giving this cult classic an impressive new look. Its the restrictive nature of the developer’s design philosophy I appreciate the most; this is simply a game for the fans, and very obviously by the fans. MediEvil was my most anticipated game of 2019 and I am deeply satisfied and surprised about how well it turned out. Annoying day one patch download aside, I had an incredible time experiencing this remake. While some gameplay flaws might still exist, and those who don’t already love the original may not see it in the same level of reverence, this was a big payoff for me and I’m sure other dedicated fans feel the same. Thank you Other Ocean Emeryville, this has been a wonderful gift.

9/10

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