#and he was a plot twist villain | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sage-nebula · 1 year

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One obscure little Sonic thing that always lives rent-free in the back of my head is the Bad End to 8-bit Sonic 2, where it's implied that Eggman followed through on his threat to kill Tails since Sonic didn't bring him the Chaos Emeralds. It's ambiguous, so people who just don't want to think that happened can believe that, but the music cues in the updated re-release of the game and the fact that Tails just isn't with Sonic in the Bad End (and why wouldn't he be, if he were alive?) suggest otherwise to me.

Anyway, setting aside the fact that I don't think Sonic let Eggman live for very long after that (because there are a lot of things that Sonic can forgive but killing Tails isn't one of them), I also think about how Sonic would have to live after that knowing Tails was dead, knowing it was because he failed to save him . . .

. . . but also, thinking about multiverse shenanigans, I also think about, what if that Sonic encountered canon!Tails . . . a Tails who was successfully rescued / protected by his Sonic, who got to grow up to do amazing things like save Station Square from a nuke, and protect Sonic just as many times as Sonic protected him, and create amazing inventions and clean energy that helped the planet instead of hurt it.

And of course Sonic from the 8-bit Bad End would be proud, but also he'd be hit by the fact that . . . wow. His Tails could have done all that. His Tails could have grown up to be so brilliant, so amazing, such a positive force for the world, if he hadn't been murdered when he was 4 because Sonic didn't have all the Chaos Emeralds when he went to confront Eggman that one time.

It would be hard for Sonic from the 8-bit Bad End to look at Tails for a number of reasons, not the least of which being he misses his own little brother so badly—but also, knowing all that his Tails could have accomplished if he'd lived, and knowing that he'll never ever have the chance? Yeah, that would add a whole other layer to it, too.

#sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #unbreakable bond #in the updated release of the game that came out for either Game Gear or Master System (can't remember which came first)#the Bad End credits has more somber music than the Good End credits #which is what implies a darker fate for Tails imo #apart from Tails just not being present in the Bad End credits #plot twist: 8bit Bad End Sonic becomes the main villain when he kidnaps the first Classic Tails he can find #& refuses to give him up for anything #including the Classic Sonic who would rly like his lil bro back thanks #sth

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thatswhatsushesaid · 1 year

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shitpost dispatches from the sangyao dungeons - [???/π] incorrect but plausibly canon quotes edition

#sangyao #what could have been 🥺#like if you're gonna insist on making jgy a villain at least let him have the only other villainous babygirl in the cast #as his partner in crime #(I guess xy also qualifies as a babygirl but he also doesn't seem like the kind of babygirl villain who wants to be micro-managed)#(nhs would absolutely let jgy think he's micromanaging their plans #when in reality he is just leaving the work he isn't interested in to jgy)#(plot twist: jgy has tricked nhs into doing work that he doesn't THINK he wants to do #by making it about art or whatever nhs's special interest du jour is)#(anyway I just think they're neat and should be allowed to fuck about it)#mdzs #mdzs shitposting #cql #the untamed #jin guangyao #nie huaisang #he did crimes??? good for him 😌#let him have birds!! 🕊

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readyforsomeslapstick · 6 months

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alright, taking bets on who is holding the flashlight at the end of Ep8

I've got my money on two candidates:

either the one person who was in the Biddle house that we haven't heard from, and who was sold as a villain from the start.

or the one person who willingly walked into the Biddle house but whose plans got massively derailed by Harold's sudden appearance.

it's either Allison, the ex-girlfriend, or Nathan Bratt himself.

If I'm wrong, then Disney needs new writers.

#Goosebumps 2023 #Goosebumps #Episode 8 jumped off the cliff with Slappy in my opinion #I didn't find the apology scene touching or heartfelt #I don't believe Harold would give up a 30-year grudge like that #I think if he had the parents there he would absolutely rage #I think Harold deserved a more satisfying conclusion than that #Y'all he was straight up killed #We went from petty larceny to manslaughter to borderline 3rd degree homicide #If anyone ever murders me I ain't giving up that easy #But also Slappy didn't even really try to keep Harold in the game #There was no victimizing no blaming no shaming no ingratiating #Slappy just kind of let himself get punted #Which implies he's got bigger plans and Harold is not in them #Allison would be a great person to bring back around #But having Nathan Bratt actually be our real villain all along #Now THAT would be a really great plot twist #And it would also make sense why Bratt (not Harold) is featured so prominently on the poster #Because Bratt is wearing the glasses in the poster #Looking forward to having Disney prove me wrong

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worstloki · 6 months

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Isekai where Darcy/Jane hit Thor with their van and Thor wakes up as a precious princess character of some fairytale world. Things progress as they tend to in isekai with some poor romantic interest villain character inadvertently ending up around him. Thor wants to get out of this world so bad and is subtly trying to drop hints for the villain guy to spill info on how to dimension hop. It soon becomes evident that Loki was also isekai’d and is stuck as the story’s villain.

#Thor: WHAT DO YOU MEAN I AM A NOBLE’S DAUGHTER THIS IS A DOWNGRADE I AM A MIGHTY WARRIOR—ooo I have a personal serving maid >.>#Thor goes for a walk in a forest or something gets lost trips on some thorns and is bleeding and lost bumps into the typical isekai villain #Thor hearing the guy’s name after some maids were earlier talking about how this guy keeps trying to ‘snatch her away’ or something #Thor like OH NO. NO. NU UH. and misreading every single attempt of the guy to help him #the guy is actually Loki and has no knowledge of this history #Thor keeps thinking this is the plot of some twisted dimension trying to give him a love interest #Thor eventually saying something that gives him away and Loki just stares at him like ‘......THOR??’#thor sobbing like how come you get to keep your magic and be a guy and Loki is like I am the BAD GUY. everyone here HATES ME.#Thor: at least you have your dignity T-T #Loki: I tried going to the local market to ask around for info and random people threw rotten vegetables at me -_-#also this is Thor1core so Thor has to get less arrogant through this and Loki has to spill how he feels about the adopted lied to things #they have to make up before figuring out a way to go home #Thor like so you still have magic right so we can go home???? and Loki is like. no. this isn’t my magic. and I don’t know how this happened

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rosquinn · 7 months

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bsd fans when the 3 year arc is solved in a 20 minutes episode (dazai had a plan)

#tbh I'm surprised this episode wasn't mostly dazai bc he's literally. the center of the story but #omg plot twist it was his plan all along 🤯🤯🤯🤯#ngl I thought it was skkover but for like 4 seconds then i realized there was no way #also I'm SOOOOO glad they gave fukuzawa and fukuchi a lot of screentime they deserve it this time #but what the fuck happened with fyodor that fucker can't die yet #asagiri I trust you but I hope you know what you're doing #ALSO HELLO SSKK WORK TOGETHER NOW????? THEY GOT OVER THE 50 TIMES THEY TRIED TO MURDER EACH OTHER AND ARE BFFS NOW???#okay.#also AKUS NEW CLOTHES??? AND THAT VILLAIN??? FANTASY RPG LOOKIN ASS #anyway.#bsd #bungou stray dogs #mine

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cheese-water · 1 year

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Empiresblr: Oh my god. I am so HYPED for Jimmy’s villain arc he hinted at this episode! It’s been a long time coming and after all the character had been though, I can’t wait to see how The Sheriff takes his revenge!

Empiresblr who also watched dsmp:

#please let me be wrong please let me be wrong—#context: tommy (other guy) greifed a mc house as a joke #and was swiftly “exiled” from the main part of the server by his bff #Everyone thought this would start his villain arc since he kept being betrayed/screwed over by his loved ones #but nope!#Tom Simons himself decided to put his oc through the most traumatizing angst I’ve ever watched #His character’s mental state and will to live deteriorated for over a month #while live-streaming every single day of it #If you ever wondered why mcyt fans use c! and cc! tags he is why #It’s a fantastic watch but MAN it’s harrowing #I’m not kidding look up tws if my synopsis interests you at all #It may be just me but I’m forever scared by THAT plot twist and won’t fall for it again #And Jimmy for some reason creates the most tragic characters so I’m scared #empiresblr #dsmp #empires s2 #empires smp #empires jimmy #jimmy solidarity #tommyinnit #exile arc #exile tommy #villain arc #mc roleplay everybody #solidaritygaming

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whynotimtired · 2 years

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I literally cannot get over the Luke and Leia parallels like of COURSE Will and El are twins of COURSE she's "the only hope" for Hawkins of COURSE he secretly has powers just like her. I'm going insane.

#their empire strikes back moment where instead of the villain turning out to be the father the father turns out to be the villain #STOP #that would be crazy #stranger things #willel #will byers #will byers has powers #el hopper #'no. there is another'#im sorry cause the 'force sensitive' thing will has going on. like its so CLEAR #he so CLEARLY has powers.#and ik their empire stikes back plot twist moment was def the henry/001/vecna thing i just think its too easy kdbsns

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speedane · 5 months

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Seeing a handful of people saying "I'd rather have Q than Evil Gaius sorry for shitting on MS1" in various platforms like Q is the only problem in MS1 lol

MS2 though is better than MS1 but the twist needs to be set up better. I would've accepted Gaius being evil if his motive is more aligned to his character although the writers are gonna deal with "then the EU/SD conflict is bullshit now that we know Gaius and Hyde are in cahoots with each other" now... but that's just my two cents

#jee rambles #dislyte #dislyte spoilers #still angy that Gaius is evil now because and that's the most frustrating part #you can make effective twist villains but they made an extremely poor choice with this #biggest copium people are doing rn is that he's being mind controlled but.. that can either be a good plot or a bad one depending on writing #and I know for the fact that the writing team is mid #translation errors are not helping too #but yeah me no likey the twist

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the-girl-with-too-many-ideas · 9 months

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Ok, but what about Tonelico in Twisted-Wonderland?

Like, she wakes up in a coffin in another world (thankfully, not another lostbelt/lostworld), and she decides to take the form of her first ascension. Why? Because she doesn't know what's going on, where she is, or how fucked this place is. So it's better to seem as unthreatening as possible.

The thing about Twisted-Wonderland is that it is a world in which the people who should have lost won. A place where villains accomplished what they wanted when they shouldn't have.

Tonelico is Morgan La Fey, a villain.

So there is a possibility that she would finally, for once, win and accomplish what she always wanted (a place to belong that she can actually call home without fear that she may lose it at any moment).

What I'm basically saying is Tonelico may finally find the happiness she deserves in a villains world like Twisted-Wonderland (she may or may not try to permanently solve the blot problem, and she may or may not succeed).

Side note, I have the mental image of tonelico silently seething while planning ways to take out Crowley with dreams of taking control of the school herself (this crow man is useless when it really counts, and her mentality when it comes to incompetence has always been 'fine, I'll do it myself then').

#idea dump #ramblings of a sleep deprived girl #spoilers #fate grand order #twisted wonderland #curse you insomnia #tonelico #tonelico in twisted-wonderland au #idk man it's the way that there may be a possibility that they may win for once #because she's in a world where villains won makes me feel a certain way #i just want her to be happy damn it #also her plotting ways to take out Crowley to essentially take the school over is sorta hilarious to me #his days as headmage were numbered the second he didn't listen that grim wasn't her familiar #morgan 'I'll do it myself then' la fey #it's 4am

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mirohtron · 1 year

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They'd met, before.

"It's all right, tiger." The superhero's attention was half-not on them as he spoke, flying down to ground a safe distance away from the burning building.

The civilian doubted the superhero remembered. They hoped that he didn't. Prayed. Buried their face into his shoulder just so that he wouldn't get a good look at their face. They hadn't used powers, had they? They didn't think they had. Superpowered people had greater strength, could hold their breath for longer, were more durable to fire and smoke, of course, but that wouldn't have been so noticeable, surely?

Just to stay safe, the civilian coughed a few times. They didn't know how regular human bodies reacted to inhaling so much smoke. They hoped they were doing it right.

The superhero gently set them on the ground. "Keep these people safe, yeah?" he said, jutting his chin to the people behind the two of them—and the crowd was mostly made up of the people the civilian had ushered out. The civilian looked down and nodded their head.

The superhero shot back up to the skies.

The civilian took to rounding everyone up, counting heads, inspecting for injuries. It was—it was odd, to do. Something so good, at the behest of one who told you off once upon a time for trying to do more. But surely the superhero didn't remember. Seventeen years was so long ago. Besides, the civilian understood now. Why they were told to not try to be better. Not be a superhero. You couldn't be a good person, as a superhero. It was impossible to not indulge in hedonism. To not lose yourself along the way. Goodness was like sand.

More people were getting dropped off by the superhero. Ambulances came. The civilian was fine, obviously, and didn't need help. Their breathing was fine. No burns on their arms, just ash. They helped paramedics. They soothed their neighbours. They prayed every evidence of their evil scheming that they'd brought back from their lair was burned in the fire. It wasn't much, but it was incriminating.

It didn't take much time for press to arrive. They ignored the civilian, at first. A couple interviewers came—small ones, who knew they wouldn't be able to talk over huge, charismatic journalists with years of experience—to ask questions. The civilian didn't want to give them their name. Or face. They pushed a camera away and tried moving away, but they caught a lady from the crowd coming straight for them.

"Here we have," she began, and shoved a mic in front of their face, "the brave civilian who took on the position of leader for the group of survivors of this burning tragedy. Civilian, how many people did you count injured?"

"I, uhm," the civilian began, and then another reporter shoved a mic in front of their face.

"What caused this fire?" he asked.

The civilian caught the lady rolling her eyes at him. "How long did it take for the superhero to arrive?" she asked. "Were there any casualties?"

The civilian tried putting on their most sheepish smile. "I'd really not like to answer any questions right now—"

"Did the superhero rescue you? Or did you run out of the building on your own?"

A camera flashed. Then another, and there was a brief moment of silence before the clicking of shutters was all that they could hear, and they were blinded by light. The superhero was right. They wouldn't survive heroism, with camera flashes burning their eyes out every other day. And if he didn't know their face before, he'd surely know now, with all the pictures that were being taken.

The civilian stepped back.

Like vultures, the reporters and camerapeople stepped closer. Crowded them. Shoved mics in their face. They couldn't see a single thing.

A big, strong, gloved hand rested on their shoulder. The civilian flinched and tensed up like stone. Between flashes, they caught smitten, blushing faces or story-hungry, predatory expressions from reporters wanting to stir up drama.

"Hey, everyone," said the superhero, over the civilian's shoulder, in a media-friendly, jovial tone and with a camera-ready smile that they could hear in their voice. He put a chummy arm around their shoulder and the civilian tried not to act put out. "I hope I'm not late. Wouldn't want to leave this poor thing to fend for themselves, ha! Am I right?" He stepped back and dragged the civilian with him, giving them a squeeze. "If you want to hide, just get behind me."

Aha. Right. When the civilian could totally just run right now. They very much wanted to, now that they'd gotten the opening and the reporters swarmed the superhero. They faked a laugh and half-hid behind the superhero.

"Superhero, superhero!"

"Yes?"

"What would you like to say to the brave civilian behind you? Eyewitnesses claim they were seen ushering out many people out of the burning building."

The civilian choked. Who the fuck told on them? They quickly searched for really good alleyways to disappear into.

"Ah—well, uhm." The civilian said stupidly. "Just trying to help! With, uhm, being raised with a good righteous role model like the superhero, instinct just overrode to save all those people." God, why did they say anything? They could feel their pallor.

"Oh, you look quite unwell. Did the fire cause several injuries?"

"Yes—yes! I might've, uhm, just inhaled too much smoke. God! Haha." The civilian coughed very weakly. "I should probably get to the hospital, y'know. Couldn't." That was a lie. They'd been checked on before the reporters arrived.

"Right, right." The superhero pat them on the back. "You should sit down. There's plenty of medical experts here."

The civilian did not look at him. They turned around and walked to an ambulance and sat there and watched the superhero walk to a spot further away, the reporters following like ducklings. The distance made it easier for them to breathe. A few officers answered questions here and there to reporters who had realised they wouldn't get an answer from the superhero.

Nobody bothered the civilian—there had been a couple reporters that came to them and the superhero politely and loudly requested that they 'keep off of the tired civilian'. They still caught the superhero eyeing them from time to time—did they recognise them? That scrawny little kid trying to be just like him, with a homemade suit and powers that they couldn't quite yet control? The civilian was half convinced they did. It made them want to shake out of their skin or maybe die. If the superhero recognised them, they'd probably be fucked. Royally. Their powers weren't so common.

The superhero glanced at them again. The civilian tapped their foot on the floor.

The superhero looked again. The civilian looked back this time, and tried to look a little ticked off. They didn't think they did that very well. They couldn't take it, though—they didn't like people. They didn't like the superhero, either. But they couldn't really leave. That would make them more suspicious.

So they waited.

Time passed.

People left as soon as the superhero snapped his head to a distant crime only he could hear and shot up to the skies.

They ached to go inside, to check if their things had burnt to a crisp completely. But they didn't want anything crumbling on top of them. Who would save them, then? Not the superhero. Not any hero. They were just there for the glory and the fame.

And yet...they stayed there helplessly, looking at their burnt apartment. Cold morning blue was beginning to seep into the horizon by now, stretching to touch the soft, grey-white edges of the moon. The smoke had left dusty residue on their cheeks and hair and singed clothes. They walked up to a wall on the building and kicked it experimentally. They didn’t hear any crack.

A soft whoosh came from behind them. Their hair swayed with the breeze.

The civilian whipped around.

The superhero stood in front of them and the villain's heart dropped in fear instantly.

"Hi," said the superhero. It wasn't... it wasn't threatening, no. But the civilian felt just a little faint. They tripped on their own feet in an attempt to step back and the superhero’s hands shot out to steady them by their arms. Ungloved.

The civilian swallowed. They tried to look calm but they weren’t sure if it was working. They weren’t sure if they were supposed to not look calm. They had no idea how to act. Maybe harmless. They tried looking like that. Small and harmless and unassuming.

"Hi," they said back.

The superhero looked them over. "All right? You look pale."

"I'm fine. Just peachy."

"Sure?"

Shakily, the civilian drew in a breath. They coughed weakly. "Just—I just inhaled some smoke. But it's fine."

"That's great." The superhero tilted his head. "I was just so worried. You seemed really scared, cowering into my chest and all. That must've been to protect your eyes, huh?"

"My—what?"

They were offered a smile. Camera-ready. "Your eyes. Smoke can irritate your eyes, unless you're a super. That makes you more resistant. To smoke. And irritation. And wheezy breathing."

Oh. Oh, they didn't know that. Their breath hitched. The villain didn't know what to do, then. Run? No, the superhero could catch up easily.

They pulled ash-matted strands of hair away from their cheeks, looking down. They coughed, weakly, and it was a bad attempt because the superhero chuckled.

"You've grown," the superhero said. They sounded half-fond. "I almost didn't recognise you."

"Oh." The villain felt dizzy again. So they hadn't been busted. No, of course not. They never took their mask off. When they'd come to the superhero, scrawny and hopeful, they'd taken their mask off. They still remembered the way the grimace on the superhero's face. "Yeah. Yeah. Puberty."

The superhero searched in his pocket and took out their old mask from seventeen years ago, badly burned but still retaining its colour. He held it out. "You kept it for so long," he said. "It's a little singed, but..."

Some naïve, hopeful part of the villain fluttered warmly at the gesture, and they smothered that feeling immediately. The superhero wasn't an exception. But they had to accept. They loved that mask. They'd made the entire suit on their own, with their saved allowances and abandoned spray paint cans they'd found underneath bridges and behind dumpsters in alleyways. "Thanks."

The superhero gave them another smile. He reached out, deliberately slow so that he wouldn't spook the villain. They didn't flinch.

He scrubbed ash from their cheek with his thumb. "Don't take your mask off next time," he said.

The villain reeled back.

The superhero gave a wince. It was more theatrical. "Too obvious?" he asked, and of course he wasn't expecting an answer, but the villain still spluttered. Their shoulders rose with heaving breaths. They held their mask close to their chest.

The superhero smiled. It was not friendly. It said, I will get you.

He left before the villain could answer.

The villain clutched their mask close, and then threw it to the ground.

#beofre you ask. idk what this is either #the amt of plot twists feels like the comical shit on wednesday #'HES THE HYDE?' 'SHES THE MASTER??' '/HE'S/ THE HYDE???' '/SHE'S/ THE MASTER??'#'LAUREL GATES IS W H O ???' 'PRINCIPAL WEEMS IS WHAT?????'#kyles.writing #heroes and villains #villains and heroes #superheroes and supervillains #superhero #writeblr #writers on tumblr #villain #villains

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sunnibits · 9 months

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need some dick from this guy so bad (NPC that doesn’t exist outside of our dnd campaign)

#my dm is screaming and planning my demise as I speak #he’s slutphobic 🙄#not my fault you made the plot twist act 1 villain so fucking sexy 🙄🙄🙄#art #my art #my fancast for him is Ray Stevenson btw that’s why he looks like that #doodles

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justplaggin · 7 months

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CHUUYAAAAAAAAA

#wdym he WASN'T A VAMPIRE FROM THE BEGINNING #THE PLOT TWISTS IN HERE #bsd spoilers #bsd s5 #the stream crashing is my villain origin story

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regallibellbright · 3 months

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Honestly I think I'd hate Arthur Cantabella less if they'd simply removed the whole "Yeah no this is a government-condoned psychological experiment" aspect.

TESTING WHAT?! No, genuinely, what? Using the contaminated groundwater/weirdass Silver Fainting Allergy and/or the flower ink as a drug? Because uh, if that's the case, then I'm pretty sure using them both in conjunction contaminates your results.

Is it something about mob mentality? In-groups and out-groups with the elaborate tech crew made of convicted witches and victims maintaining the whole illusion? In that case, I think the fact that you're drugging and gaslighting the entire experiment group is also contaminating the results.

Also the whole fantasy setting is probably a confounding variable for Something.

Okay sure parents could consent to taking part in this experiment for their children, but uh, I'm pretty sure some of these kids were born AFTER the experiment began. Given the aforementioned Large Amounts of Drugging From Multiple Origins going on here, I have some concerns!

No seriously. Please. PL vs PW writers. Give me the grant proposal Arthur Cantabella submitted to get anyone to fund this project. I know it's Bill fucking Hawks, but even he's got limits! I don't see how he benefits from half this shit even if he wants to use the other half (I assume the drugs.) Why is he paying for the rest? There's a reason why Clive is established as being a lone schemer with obscene amounts of money who's keeping all his scientists in the dark and/or coerced to keep building, and it's so that we don't have anyone there questioning why he's building an elaborate fake town populated by actors in addition to his Underground Vengeance Mecha!

The fact that you somehow managed to get this cleared as a psychological experiment establishes that you know the field of psychology exists. Why in the name of all that is holy did you think building an elaborate fake fantasy town with an elaborate magic system which you make real through the power of drugging people, knocking the ENTIRE TOWN out every time a spell is used, changing things around them to simulate "magic" using the most ridiculous Renn Faire stage crew ever, and manipulating the clocks so no one's aware time is passing, with a system that prosecutes witches and burns them so that they can join the Renn Faire Stage Crew along with their victims, and positioning yourself as the all-powerful Storyteller who writes their reality into being would be a better solution than therapy?

Honestly I'd respect "I had a god complex, lol" more. Especially for that last one, but like. In general. Descole's out there living his worst life, he KNOWS he's an asshole supervillain agent of chaos, and I respect this because he has clearly CHOSEN to be Like This. You do you, man. Ditto for Don Paolo but like, less effectively.

This is not how any of this works.

Okay, setting... ALL OF THAT aside, you're doing this because your and your best friend's young daughters are understandably incredibly traumatized because they wanted to ring the bell early and the Weirdass Groundwater-Induced "Allergy" That Makes You Faint When You Hear Silver Ringing caused them and everyone else to pass out, and as everyone in the square below was having a fire festival, this caused a massive tragic conflagration. Okay. Yeah, this is bad. (I have. MANY questions about how this bell was made, excavated, and mounted in the square without anyone ever ringing it and realizing something had happened, but we're going to gloss over those for now, it's Professor Layton and I would otherwise be all over this incredible bullshit. It's great up until it asks us to think THIS was ever a remotely reasonable idea.) One of your daughters is all but catatonic because a story you told her earlier has convinced her she either is or will be taken by The Great Witch Bezella. Sure. (You suck.) Why the FUCK is your solution based on the other one unpersoning herself to her best friend and doing all the work to make the magic real? Yeah, sure, she agreed to it. SHE'S LIKE EIGHT TO TEN. HER BEST FRIEND THINKS SHE'S AN AWFUL MONSTER AND WON'T REACT OTHERWISE. OF COURSE Eve's gonna help, but that doesn't mean you should put the entire burden on her! She is ALSO horribly traumatized to the point of repressing what happened. Get her help too. The fact that the game seems to put their actions on remotely even footing when one of them has been treated like shit since she was TEN and one of them was an adult who PURPOSEFULLY AND INTENTIONALLY set up a system that would put her in this shitty situation means that yeah, no, they fundamentally are not. Of course her decisionmaking is misguided and terrible! She's a twenty-year-old who's been horribly mistreated for more than half her life! HER DAD JUST COMMITTED SUICIDE OUT OF GUILT FOR HIS ACTIONS IN SETTING UP THIS SYSTEM.

No one's going to hold them responsible for the deaths. This was a sequence of events so thoroughly unforeseeable that literally no one could have predicted it. It won't even reflect poorly on you and Belduke, because you two somehow managed to find the bell, excavate it, and mount it without ever ringing it and realizing it knocked you out and you all had an environmentally-induced silver "allergy" and at that point this goes into "acts of a cruel and malicious Writer-God" territory.

Also it was totally predictable that this elaborate system of misogyny would not actually help Espella in the long term as she instead repressed her memories and further internalized the whole witches = evil thing so that when those memories inevitably came back she would be in EVEN WORSE shape, this is why you should have gotten an actual psychologist who could have told you this whole thing was a terrible plan to write your grant.

No like does he drug all his requests to whoever he reports to (it has to be directly to the person signing checks) in the mind-control ink? This is my only explanation here.

Why. In God's name why. Did you not. Simply. DESTROY THE FUCKING BELL TOWER. You have a crane here! What possessed ANYONE to think just covering it up with Vantablack and gaslighting so people couldn't see it was a reasonable solution to the Trauma Tower? (There may be an explanation for this, it has been ten years, but this man's problem solving has been established to be so poor I award him no points.)

And if you were going to do this, why didn't you tell Newton? Or was it just that the lightning strike burning up the Vantablack was itself a reminder to him that you can't repress the past away and he was suddenly aware of how overwhelmingly POINTLESS all this suffering was? (Edit: I think it was this. No but seriously you could’ve just taken a fucking wrecking ball to that thing while you were rebuilding the town.)

Seriously why the fuck did Newton Belduke go along with letting you use his traumatized daughter like this? What the hell, man. What an asshole.

Also. Your problem was that you had two severely traumatized little girls (even if you only acknowledged one of them was traumatized.) Your solution was... to traumatize a shitload more young girls?

TO THE POINT WHERE AT LEAST ONE OF THEM ATTEMPTED SUICIDE?!

And then your best friend actually committed suicide?!

Like. Seriously. If these are the actions of a single, seriously traumatized person, the fact that you are making Literally The Worst And Most Inexplicable Decisions Ever Which Make The Problem Worse For Literally Everyone Involved is more... well, conceivable. I buy a traumatized eighteen-year-old with an obscene amount of money building an elaborate fake London that is allegedly London ten years in the future, hiring actors to populate it, kidnapping scientists, making them build an Underground Vengeance Mecha to destroy the city, and then kidnapping the Prime Minister who is the source of that trauma and hooking the engine of the mecha up to his heart. And then roping in the one guy who could conceivably solve the whole problem and stop him and Clive would let it. It's a bad idea on EVERY conceivable level, don't get me wrong, on an UNPRECEDENTEDLY terrible scale, but it's a bad idea in which it is very clear no one at any point has asked the person what the fuck they think they're doing here, what they are trying to accomplish, and why they are doing so with this objectively absurd method. Because they have not let anyone in close enough to key them to The Full Absurd Terribleness. It's either this or become Batman.

But Arthur? Apparently his decisions have been vetted by OTHER PEOPLE, and this just boggles my mind. I refuse to believe this. I refuse to believe NO ONE went "have we considered this is like eight hundred terrible ideas bundled up into The Worst Idea Ever?" And I refuse to believe he's anything but a massive asshole when his plan had so many awful consequences for literally everyone BUT himself!

Like, don't get me wrong. There are SO MANY examples of unethical experimentation on human subjects in the real world, psychological and otherwise. But most of them are not this incredibly convoluted, implicitly expensive, and we all generally recognize these days that they were bad.

Also, none of them were enacted as an elaborate setup to (incompetently) handle the trauma of the experimenter's daughter after he told her if she was bad a scary evil witch would possess her and then she and her friend accidentally enacted a tragedy whose scale and fundamental absurdity rival the Boston Molasses Flood, but without corporate greed. There were solutions to this that were so much easier, less convoluted, less EXPENSIVE, and less harmful to... well, everyone else involved, except Arthur Cantabella.

#drugging #gaslighting #attempted suicide #suicide #psychological experiments #unethical science #mass death #pl vs pw spoilers #pl spoilers #going to try to avoid maintagging here inasmuch as I can because uh. Yeah. Preeeeetty critical.#the thing is I genuinely LOVED like 90% of this game. Adored it. Had a blast RIGHT up until the reveal.#and then the reveal and the ways it's handwaved just kill it for me even though I usually enjoy Layton Plot Twist Bullshit #(the Underground Vengeance Mecha is my favorite thing ever. Unironically. It's delightful.)#because it's like... multiple people vetted this terrible idea in-universe? Why the fuck?!#and we DWELL on the consequences in a way we rarely do for most Layton Bullshit and see that oh THEY ARE /BAD/.#(I'm pretty sure it's established Jean's still a teenager. She was under Belduke's care /for five years./)#meanwhile the game only BARELY seems to recognize that this dude is in fact the Actual Villain Of The Game. Like. Eve's justified.#but she's still given more of the Sympathetic But Misguided Layton Antagonist treatment whereas he's MAINLY 'sympathetic but misguided.'#which... no. just. no. You're an adult and you had options and you were in a position to choose them. Why was THIS your choice?#again I respect Descole so much more for being like 'well I'm gonna make myself Everyone Else's Problem but mostly Layton's.'#own that you're terrible. Embrace it. Laugh as you seek your revenge on the entire world.

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