#because it did go in a different direction in RE4make
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another broke take i keep seeing is that ashley develops feelings for leon but that it’s not mutual, which is dumb bc even if leon isn’t as open about it (the ‘running from creeps’ and ‘good company’ lines notwithstanding), his body language is very telling imo.
holding on to her a little longer than he needs to during the church escape, touching her shoulder to check on her (when they’re saved by luis) or in reassurance (post-stabbing), gently cupping her head and tracing his fingers down her arm, reaching for her face again when she’s on the altar, grabbing her hand to pull her into the lift, and the way he always stops to help her up with both arms when she’s downed by enemies
even the fact that he’s literally being paid to protect her can’t justify the tenderness of all these little touches. i highly doubt “touch the president’s daughter like she’s the only thing that keeps you going” was in his job description. don’t even get me started on his boyish, almost bashful, “i can catch ya” like literally what the fuck
I think, after being forced into the shadows for eighteen fucking years by this fandom -- and by Aeon fans especially -- I've been hesitant to make any definitive statements on Leon and Ashley's relationship outside of its effects on Leon's character arc (and reaffirming over and over and over again that Ashley disappears from the series, as though to soothe people's reactions??).
But I was on discord talking to @godtier earlier, and once I actually said it out loud and then actually got an agreement from someone who could not be paid to give a fucking shit about this ship -- I'm just going to go ahead and say it for the wider fandom.
Resident Evil 4 Remake was written as a romance, and the romance is between Leon and Ashley.
With the new scenes they've added in, it's literally structured like a romance story is. I'll even outline it for you.
1) Call to Adventure / The Meet Cute
Literally their first meeting in the church, culminating with the catch and that moment of longing as they lock eyes while Leon continues to hold her just a few seconds too long.
2) Refusal of the Call / Rejection of the Relationship
At first, Leon treats Ashley solely as his mission objective. ("Hey can we take a break?" "Sorry, we need to keep moving.") And Ashley, for a good bit, doesn't trust him at all but goes with him because she has no other choice. ("Seriously, this cannot be happening.")
3) Acceptance of the Quest / Giving the relationship a chance
The escape from the cabin sequence up to the "seems this isn't your first time running from creeps." line. This is where we see them actually start to warm up to each other, and Ashley, for the first time, believes Leon can and will really get her out of there.
4) Trials and Temptations / Three Dates
The three dates are:
1) Ashley busting the window open after the Mendez boss fight, helping brush the embers off of Leon, and helping to pull him to his feet
2) Salazar's introduction ("The girl's just fine. With me.")
3) The road to the Water Hall (Leon jumping across the chandeliers + this is the first time the "knight and the princess" allegory is stated)
5) Midpoint Crisis / I-need-you-but-can’t-have-you
The stab followed by Ashley running away in tears, terrified of hurting Leon again and horrified that he saw her like that. This is also the second time that the "knight and the princess" allegory is stated.
6) The Road Back / Pulling Back Together
The pep talk. Leon is openly vulnerable for the first time ever in this game, and Ashley is grateful to have him with her. Note that Luis calls Leon "Prince Charming" immediately following this scene.
7) The Fall
Ashley stating "I won't run. Wait for me, Leon." And then Leon following up with the "I can catch ya" line.
8) Dark moment / The Break Up
Leon sitting at Ashley's bedside waiting to turn and ready to shoot himself. He's already half given up, and some part of him has started to believe that they won't actually make it out of here -- not together, at least.
9) The Sacrifice
"This time, it has to be different." Leon is forced to challenge the assertion by Ada and Krauser that he hasn't changed, and he even has to prove it to himself. He destroys Ashley's plaga, holding her hand the whole time, smiles breathlessly, then collapses to the floor.
10) Declaration
"Hey... we're a team, right?"
"Keep this up? I'll be out of a job."
11) The HEA
Leon and Ashley literally ride off into the sunrise together towards a happily ever after.
The original RE4 is not structured this way. Even if I tried to, I couldn't slot Leon and Ashley's scenes from OG into this outline.
And the romance angle is reinforced over and over and over again through repeated use of the "knight and the princess" allegory beyond what I've even listed in the outline. You know, the fairy tales about the knight who saves the princess and they fall in love and live happily ever after. In addition to Salazar saying it, there's the "Prince Charming" line from Luis, Ashley references it when she jokes that Leon should literally put on the knight's armor -- and, on a meta level, Leon has a fucking fantasy hero costume.
There's even goddamn dialogue in the game where Ashley says to Leon, "I knew you'd come" -- which is basically just ripped right out of the Princess Bride.
And to continue the meta reinforcement of it, Leon and Ashley literally have a matching set of alternate costumes called "Romantic" -- and they are fucking Romeo & Juliet inspired. Come the fuck on, man. They couldn't have been more on the nose about it if they'd tried.
And this is in addition to all the other shit you already pointed out in your ask.
And there's the fact that they completely removed any hint of Ada possibly even remotely being a love interest for Leon in this game. The focus remains solely on Ashley and the bond that she and Leon build together.
Leon and Ashley's relationship in RE4 Remake is canonically romantic in nature, and I'm so fucking tired of pretending like it's not.
#resident evil 4#leon kennedy#ashley graham#meta analysis#i'm tired of tiptoeing around legitimate literary analysis of RE4make's narrative#just for the sake of not upsetting a subset of the fandom who have had their ship be canon for 25 goddamn years already#RE is doing something different with the story in these remakes#and this is one of the changes they've made#and it's there whether y'all fucking like it or not#i have had to put up with aeon for 25 fucking years#y'all can deal with ONE version of ONE game where the romance angle went in a different direction#because it did go in a different direction in RE4make#RE4make binned leon/ada in favor of leon/ashley#and you really can't make an argument otherwise
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new re4make trailer how we feeling?
I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS. I haven’t posted about it because I know I have some friends who are avoiding re4make spoilers completely SO. I am going to give this a ‼️‼️ HUGE RE4MAKE SPOILER WARNING ‼️‼️
I have the most thoughts about ashley so i’m gonna save those for later in the post because there’s a lot to unpack with her, but other than her, I am kinda interested in this new direction they’re taking with Luis? Him being alive and filling in a partner role is super cool and the minecart scene was so silly (speaking of that I am so so glad they’re showcasing the humor aspects of re4 that were so iconic in the original while also removing the tasteless humor and still keeping the serious tone of the game!! looks like really good writing so far) A lot of the voice acting and general gameplay quality seems a lot better in this trailer than the older ones. All of the character designs for the villains look amazing, the game actually feels like it’ll be kinda scary! I do genuinely love the horror elements of Resident Evil (even though the only actually scary one is 7 imo), so I’m glad to see them touching up on that a bit.
One of my only qualms is that I feel as though Luis is replacing Ashley in some aspects/parts? But it also seems like they’re taking a much more serious and almost Unwilling Antagonist route with her. I’m not too entirely sure how I feel about it yet, my other two characters I’m thinking about with this direction being re5 jill (a storyline I hated) and re7 mia winters (a character I loved) my opinion will definitely be influenced by the actual game itself, however I support women’s wrongs and I think girls should be allowed to do whatever they want.
I really hope that this direction with her doesn’t turn into unnecessary torture though, I am really nervous about that already seeing as how they are considerably more violent with her than they were in og. (This trailer showed her being Choked out instead of just grabbed, the scene of her tied up, all of the sacrifice scenes, etc.. I just hope they’re kind to her.)
On another hand though I do really love how this Plagas Infection opens up for taking her more seriously, acknowledging her as a person who is Actually struggling with this horrible thing that’s happening to her (because we barely saw it in the original, she was just a punching bag for the villains) I also hope they don’t abuse this over and over again to get her out of the story like they did with having her conveniently be kidnapped several times, I want to see her more, I want to see her fight and live and exist, overcome her fears (which given a lot of her dialogue with leon seems to be a direction they’re taking! She seems to be nervous about him at first but is slowly warming up to him and his kindness and reassurance, which is so much more realistic and human and I think does her a lot more justice than her immediate crush on him in OG.)
Speaking of Leon I am so excited to his character direction and his interactions with Ashley feel so much sweeter and genuine, as kind and gentle as he was to her in the OG game I always found myself a bit off put but how . Inhuman their dialogue interactions were, when we’re supposed to be seeing them build this bond and trust to each other and escape the hell they’re in. I am so so glad that they kept Leon’s gentle nature with her instead of going out their way to make him this emo asshole that everyone characterizes him as.
To summarize I am generally really excited, there are definitely some things I would have done differently (mostly with ashley’s design) but I am excited to see the vision they have in mind for the game and it’s characters. I would love to hear your thoughts as well because honestly this trailer gave us a Lot of new stuff and I haven’t even touched on the gameinformer gameplay yet either .
#asks#WOW THAT WAS A LOT SORRY#when the interest is special#this originally had images with image IDs but tumblr kept eating them 💔#re4 spoilers#re4make spoilers#re4 remake spoilers#edit: going back to correct typos#i am a bit intrigued by miss evil shadow skull ashley.. i’ve drawn some similar concepts i’ve never posted but i might clean them up
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Have you noticed Leon always says you owe me one to Ada and Luis and they respond the same, I think the only one that doesn't respond like that to him is Ashley like actually she tells him they're a team and working together as partners, there's nothing to owe.
So this is a REALLY super interesting ask, actually. I don't think that it's as simple as "he keeps score with them but not her." There's a lot of different layers and moving parts to this. All of these scenarios are very different from each other, and they all come from different places. It's not just about how he views the people in question, but also how he views himself, especially within the context of their dynamic.
We'll start with Ada.
If you notice, he only says that to her in RE2make and at absolutely no other time in canon. There's a reason for that. In RE2make, Leon is kind of a bumbling dipshit. He's fresh out of police academy and has no real, practical experience to speak of. He's basically just making it up as he goes along and hoping for the best.
And then there's Ada, who's more skilled, knowledgeable, and competent than he is by basically every conceivable metric. And not only that, but in RE2make specifically, he thinks she's fucking FBI. So, in his mind, she outranks him in every sense of the word. He spends a not insignificant amount of time chasing after her and asking her for help and answers, because he trusts her as an authority.
So, when Leon tells Ada that she owes him in RE2make, that's his way of seeking her approval. It's his way of going "hey Ms. Big Shot FBI, I can stand on equal footing with you, too. See? Please tell me I did a good job oh god."
And then when RE4make comes along, the only person between them who says "you owe me" is actually her to him -- and not only does he not acknowledge that comment from her at all, but he also never tries to even the score. And that's because, in his mind, she still owes him way, way, WAY fucking more than just a simple information tip. She took advantage of him on the worst night of his life, lied to him, used him, led him on (at least, as far as he can tell; he has no way of knowing she actually caught feels), and then abandoned him for six years. And upon their reunion? Holds him at gunpoint without so much as a "hello."
So, when he calls her for help at the start of chapter 14, he's not asking for a favor. He asks her a question, and he expects her to answer it -- because she still owes him, and he feels he deserves it.
The difference in his confidence levels in his interactions with her between RE2make and RE4make are really striking, and this is actually a really great example of it.
Luis is a different story.
Leon actually never keeps score with Luis; it's Luis who tries to pull it on him, and Leon immediately pays him back out of a desperate desire to not be indebted to him in any way, shape, or form. In his mind, Luis is also someone who's already taken too much from him, as an Umbrella researcher.
Of course, it's also much harder for him to make that case, because Luis wasn't actually there in Raccoon City and had nothing to do with the actual outbreak. Leon is actually very hypocritical when it comes to Luis in a lot of ways. OG Leon tells OG Luis that he was in Raccoon City, but remake Leon doesn't do the same.
So, remake Leon demands that Luis be straight with him about his motivations while hypocritically hiding his own. In fact, one of the biggest tragedies surrounding their relationship is that Luis dies without ever having known that Leon wasn't just being affected by his Las Plagas research -- but that he's also suffered from Luis's contributions to Umbrella's research, as well.
For the vast majority of their relationship, Leon feels like there's absolutely nothing that Luis can do to pay him back for his direct contributions towards ruining his life. So, keeping score is pointless.
And yet when it comes to Ashley?
Leon has nothing to prove to Ashley like he did with Ada back in RE2. And she's never hurt, betrayed, or taken advantage of him like both Luis and Ada have done. So, for him, despite him having basically all of the power in their relationship, he sees himself and Ashley as being on completely equal, neutral ground with one another.
But here's what's interesting. He does actually keep score with her, to a certain extent. When Ashley goes over walls to unlock doors from the inside, Leon will occasionally thank her with an "I owe you one."
From Leon's perspective, Ashley is going out of her way to help him. She's not obligated to assist in her own rescue -- and, if she chose not to help, he would eventually find another way to navigate through shit, regardless. It'd just be a way bigger pain in the ass. So, when she helps him out, he feels that he owes her.
Saving her life and bringing her home isn't a favor; it isn't something he ever expects or wants her to repay. He has his role, and she has hers, and when she steps out of her role to help him, he's grateful.
And, even though he pays her back again and again and again, he never sees it that way. If, on the plane ride back to the US, Ashley asked him for something and pulled out a "hey, you owe me" -- Leon would very likely just shrug and say "I guess I do."
#resident evil 4#leon kennedy#ada wong#luis serra#ashley graham#meta analysis#i'm not sure that this post accurately captures the thoughts i was trying to convey#but i hope it at least makes sense lmao#im so mad#i had all day to think about this#and i still couldn't make it come out right
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I'm gonna sound so predictable here, but any new EagleOne material to comb through in Separate Ways? I can't help but ask!
no new content, but it's definitely
framed
differently
like I think it's going to be a lot easier to sell people on the idea that EagleOne is a canonical romance now that SW is out, because that's pretty much how both Luis and Ada see them.
like SW goes out of its way to reinforce over and over again "Leon and Ashley" "Leon and Ashley" "Leon and Ashley" like this is their story. they come as a pair. Luis is very tangentially and distantly part of their team, but not really; it is still The Leon and Ashley Show, and Luis knows he doesn't belong. and Ada has no place among them at all.
like. this is Ada's perception of Leon and Ashley:
+ after ringing the bell of the church, Ada can go back onto the roof of the church, where she can hear Ashley sobbing from the window. you can then go down in the little room on the side (that has the hatch underground), Ada finds Ashley's photo, and goes "I'm sure Leon is here to save her"
+ is told by Luis that Leon and Ashley are infected, and Ada's actual literal response is "why should I give a fuck"
like no seriously that's what it is
+ is present for the radio call between Luis and Leon at the very start of the castle, hears Leon playfully ribbing Ashley with the whole "but Ashley just had to see the inside of this castle first"
+ tells Leon to leave Ashley for dead, which pisses him off, and offers him sex, which he just ignores
+ sees Krauser walk out of the Salazar boss room with Ashley slung over his shoulder and watches Leon and Ashley call out each other's names. stays only long enough to watch Leon get pissed and shoot Salazar in the face.
+ watches the "for Luis" scene play out
+ hears Ashley successfully fight off Saddler's influence in order to protect Leon, because Leon's headset like. automatically connected to Ada's very conveniently
+ watches Leon princess carry Ashley out of the altar room
+ encounters Ashley during Leon's fight with Saddler, where Ashley basically orders her to go help Leon. it's kind of wild, actually. it's very much a tone of "Leon and I are a team and if you're not here to help you can just fuck off, actually"
+ the ending as normal
like
when Ada is watching The Leon and Ashley Show, it's more often than not moments of really heightened emotion between them.
and she only sees Leon a handful of times in a context divorced from Ashley, and it's usually to watch him fight like hell to get to her. and when that is basically all Ada actually sees of Leon during his mission, like...
it feels very very very different from Leon's campaign. it feels very concentrated and focused on his bond with and devotion to Ashley.
it felt like
Ada was being forced to witness what it looked like for Leon to actually have his feelings reciprocated in a way that he never got from her back in Raccoon City, and there was definitely a sense of like
annoyance about it.
it's like when you see your ex with his new girlfriend and they're like WAY happier together than you thought they'd be and it just kind of pisses you off on principle and you don't even really know why because you really don't want him anymore, but it still just sort of makes you feel some type of way about yourself and the relationship that you DID have with him
it felt like that
I'm high out of my mind so this is probably not making any sense but. I think there's something really profound that can be said by making a direct comparison between Leon and Ada in RE2make and Leon and Ashley in RE4make.
it just feels so different. and Ada knew it was different. and it felt like Separate Ways as a whole wanted its audience to know it, too.
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Hi, just a genuine question, why don’t you like Nick’s performance as Leon on Infinite Darkness?
just curious
i mean, first off, the voice he's using is awful. it's some weird middle ground between his RE2make voice and his RE4make voice, and it sounds really fucking weird coming out of 29-year-old leon's face.
and he's just very clearly uncomfortable with the version of the character that he's playing. OG leon has a different emotional range than remake leon. he has a different temperament and demeanor. going from RE2make leon right into OG leon in the middle of his character arc was probably extremely jarring for him. he didn't seem to know how high his emotional highs should be or how low his lows should be. he sounds mostly okay in regular conversation, but swing the emotional pendulum too far in any one direction, and it's a fucking mess.
he also didn't have a good grasp of OG leon's sense of humor -- and it kind of sounded like he was afraid of coming off as too much of an asshole instead of just embracing the assholery that is OG leon.
i remember nick saying that he actually tracked down paul mercier and asked him for advice going into RE4make. i'm willing to bet that that happened coming out of ID, because there's no way he had that advice going in.
and it's a shame, too, because paul mercier will always be The Definitive OG Leon for a lot of my generation. his help could've improved ID tremendously. it sure as hell did wonders for RE4make.
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I'm not on Twitter and have no idea what happened today (mainly thanks to insanely toxic fandom shit, I do not have the headspace for that anymore) but as per your last ask, I'm sorry people were shitty to you today. I don't know what happened, but being dogpiled over ships is so stupid. Regardless, you're a talented writer and I absolutely adore your blog. I enjoy everything you put out and I'm saying this as somebody who's painfully neutral about Leshley/Eagleone lmao. The way you break down Leon, Ashley, Ada and others is so, so well fucking written and it's so lovely to see someone who can agree with my own opinions (even if I'm a relatively new and poorly articulate fan!).
My point: I hope hate never gets to you. You don't deserve it. Keep talking and writing, you're wonderful!
It doesn't get to me, and I think it was frustrating for a lot of the people who tried to jump on me to realize that I was treating them like a joke. I'm done playing with them now, though. I got bored, and now I'm just blocking anyone who decides to be a clown.
Basically what happened was, I went to Twitter and I yelled at EagleOne fandom to stop trying to appease the rest of RE fandom by wringing their hands and insisting that the ship is purely 100% innocent and there's no basis in canon.
And then Aeon fandom found the Tweet and they went full
and they took the whole "no, actually, Leon and Ashley's shared arc in RE4make is, in fact, canonically romantic in nature" thing very personally.
What I learned today is:
EagleOne will never be treated as a valid ship in fandom because the rest of the fandom has beaten down the majority of EagleOne people into believing (or at least saying they believe) that the ship isn't valid. We are our own worst enemies, and we are the ones holding the ship back -- not Aeon fandom or anyone else. As long as EagleOne people continue to care about what the rest of the fandom thinks of us, we will never be able to enjoy the ship on our own terms.
There's a really weird and uncomfortable sex-averse thing happening in fandom that I kind of vaguely knew in the back of my mind was there, but I had NO IDEA just how prevalent and insidious it was. Half the people were going "no no no there's no there there in canon" and the other half were legit saying "why do you have to sexualize it?" (as though two people being attracted to each other isn't inherently sexual in nature to begin with?) or even going so far as to say that my brain has been ruined by porn, as though I'm not like. A full grown adult who has had several different dicks in my own mouth, ass, and vagina at varying points in my life.
When given actual evidence for the claims I was making, the people who received it shut the fuck up and never came back into my mentions ever again. It is possible to get people to second-guess the narrative that's been fed to them by fandom, but if there's a way to effectively do that en masse, I don't know what it is.
Slash fans are based as fuck, because their responses to my Tweets were "ok but in my head Leon is still getting railed by dudes" and that is, objectively and unironically, the best attitude I've seen held by any shippers in any fandom ever. They're right, and they should feel good about saying it.
I'm not trying to pull an "it was just a social experiment" because it wasn't, and I genuinely was trying to call out EagleOne people for being a bunch of spineless cowards who are dedicated to destroying their own fun, but a very interesting bit of social commentary did shake out of the whole situation unintentionally.
But like I said to the last anon, I'm glad you're here, bro. I'm glad to be able to provide a place in this fandom where people can actually have intellectual conversations about scripting, game design, and cinematography/film direction/symbolism without the fear of the mob jumping on them for daring to think a little bit (as opposed to not at all).
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Would you fuck Leon? Like with your headcanons in mind, do you think you'd have a good time? lol
this ended up being a more complicated question than expected, because what it really comes down to is the difference between what i would like to have happen and what would actually happen.
i would like to say "yeah i'd fuck the shit out of RE4make leon and it'd be great and i'd cum nine times" but that's not actually true.
and i would also like to say "i just can't bring myself to fuck OG leon, he's too much of a meme and too much like an old friend to me" but that's also not actually true.
the truth is
when i'm being 100% realistic and honest with myself
at the point of my life i'm at now, i would fuck OG leon -- though, specifically, only DI leon -- just because i think it'd make for a funny story after, not necessarily because i wanted to fuck him.
and i would probably have way a better time than i expected to, but i'd have to tell him to stop talking at least six times. and he wouldn't, because he'd think it was funny. and eventually, i'd find it endearing. and i'd be really mad at myself for it.
and i say only DI leon because, at this point in my life, i'm more attracted to men's temperaments than anything else, and DI leon is the only version of him that has the right level of good-natured, easy-going self-deprecation -- along with the right level of maturity to know where to direct his anger/frustrations/cynicism -- for me to even want to say yes. RE2 leon is too babby, RE4 leon is way too much ego, degen thru vendetta leon has way too much unsorted baggage.
like, i say i'm most attracted to RE4make leon, but that's only in concept. i'm attracted to the fantasy of him. but if i ever met a guy like him in person i'd be like "hell no he scares the fuck out of me, going home with that guy is how you end up fucking dead."
and even if i did say yes, i don't think i could be serious enough about it to enjoy my time with him. our vibes don't match.
me 10 years ago would be a different story. but me now? we just wouldn't be what the other person needed or wanted in a sexual partner.
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Okay so hc time, I think Capcom went so hard with Ashley's redesign not only because they knew people complained about her but because they were planning on bringing her back...?
Like I just hope Capcom is giving us hints that the Remake timelines will be a bit different and it might even include characters that had disappeared from the narrative like Ashley. To me this would seem logical since now she is a fan fave and a lot of people already loved the models/cosplayers who represent her in the game.
Also the fact they keep making you acknowledge that Ashley and Leon are a team, and a good one at that, maybe hints that we might see her again? Or at least give us info on what she's doing atm... idk man, I really think Capcom knew what they were doing with Ash like how they did with Lady D in REVIII, they knew the fans would love these characters and want more from them. Maybe even dlc? I would love for DLC before Leon arrives like the scenes with Ashley from the trailer that wasn't in the game. Or at least maybe we get something in Separate Ways from Ada's POV or from Luis' since he knew Ashley was captured before Leon arrived.
So, I... go back and forth on this.
Right now, I'm kind of at a place where, like. I don't think that Capcom looked back on Ashley Graham and was like "We need to bring her back" when there are other characters (like Billy Coen) who were much more beloved and would fit much more neatly into the narrative that they could've focused on bringing back instead.
I think they looked at the task before them of remaking Resident Evil 4 and asked themselves, "What are the fans going to expect from us after we make this game? How do we follow this up?" Remaking RE4 is such a bold fucking endeavor, and they knew that this was going to have a massive effect on RE's branding and fanbase.
I actually feel that the RE4 remake was a much riskier, gutsier, more influential move than remaking Final Fantasy VII was. Both games were arguably the same level of influential on their respective releases, but FF7 has been fucked with over and over and over again by Square Enix, and they knew even as far back as the PS2 era that they were going to have to inevitably remake that game (the story Tim Rogers tells about it is fascinating, actually).
But RE4? Has always been treated as this sacred, precious, sacrosanct thing by Capcom. They have not fucked with RE4, they have not dared to even suggest fucking with RE4. Hell, they treated RE4 as so sacred that they wrote themselves into a corner with Leon and Ada just because of how RE4 handled the relationship -- which then bit them in the ass with the fan reaction to RE6. But it was all because of their steadfast position that RE4 is not to be fucked with.
So, to actually do it was a really, really big fucking deal. They knew that the fanbase was probably somehow even more protective of that game than they were.
So, step one: make sure that a remake of RE4 is hailed as "one of the greatest games ever released" all over again.
But step two was: anticipate what the fanbase would want next as a direct result of RE4make's existence and follow through with it.
And that's where I think the focus on Ashley actually comes from.
To make this game one of the greatest games ever released all over again, they had to turn Ashley into a character that would be beloved. We now live in an era of games that were influenced by RE4 and took the formula and built off of it. Ashley had to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with characters like Ellie from TLOU, or else the game would fail.
And, if they were to make Ashley into a character that beloved, they knew that fans would want more of her.
So, yes, from a business standpoint and a practical standpoint, it stands to reason that Ashley's final appearance will not be RE4make. Capcom will bring her back.
The question is how and when.
The story of RE has now moved forward nearly twenty years into the future without her. In order to keep using her character, they either have to execute the greatest rug-pull in video game history and slap her back into the story twenty years into the future somehow and make it work, or they have to completely remake the series from the ground up.
And then I look at Infinite Darkness, and my brain goes, "either ID straight-up retcons Degeneration, or it's secretly Remake-verse and Capcom just hasn't said it yet." Because Degeneration and Infinite Darkness cannot coexist in the same timeline. They just can't. Degeneration takes place after RE4, and the president in that movie is not President Graham -- and even if he was, that motherfucker resigns at the end of it.
Infinite Darkness can't take place in 2006 if Degeneration is still canon. Or, Degeneration can't take place in 2005 if Infinite Darkness is canon. It doesn't work. It's impossible.
And you know who's mentioned and cameo'd in Infinite Darkness? Ashley motherfuckin Graham.
So, I mean. The table is already set for her return. It's just.
I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen or how Capcom is going to handle it, but I'm fairly certain Ashley will be back again. All we can do is wait to see what Death Island does, then wait to see what Separate Ways does, and then wait to see what happens with the RE9 reveal.
That's all we can do, man.
#resident evil 4#ashley graham#i also don't think that RE4make is going to get DLC other than separate ways#like i think SW is going to be it#and then anything else will just be in a new game
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blackkrozay
Stand On That📣✨
kill-me-kylo-ren
I Had More Fun Watching Episode 3 Than Episode 8