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pyreo · 3 years

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deltarune megapost

I wanted to make a Deltarune post about the lore and the things that aren’t obvious. And once I do that I wanna focus on why Mettaton is incredibly important to this setting

And also why he poses a problem

Why did Toriel and Asgore get divorced?

Without the setting of Undertale, Asgore and Toriel’s marriage still broke up after they had Asriel. There needs to be a reason though. In UT it was Asgore’s ‘worst of both worlds’ decision regarding killing anybody that fell from the human world, including children. We saw how close they were before this happened. Only something deep and serious caused that rift. In Deltarune, what on earth did Asgore do?

What happened to Dess?

Mentioned a handful of times by Noelle, Dess was her older sister and is mentioned In Undertale.... in that Xbox exclusing casino thing. The way Noelle talks about her, the conspicuous way Noelle gets locked out of her big house - it implies Dess is gone or deceased. Berdly recalls a spelling bee when he and Noelle were younger where she, despite being smarter than him, misspelled ‘December’, allowing him to win.

In the two-player spelling puzzle, it also spells out ‘December’ as Noelle recalls the past and her silhouette regresses to a child while she does so. Being distracted by her sister’s disappearance, rather than pure shyness, could account for her misspelling her name on stage, and it clearly left a big psychological mark for her to have this visual regression in the Dark World.

However, there’s a graveyard in Hometown with no Dess. I heard another theory that she has been missing for years, because where each character’s personal room is made by Queen to reflect their tastes via their search results, Noelle has a calendar where every day is December 25th. This could imply that Noelle continually searches the internet for ‘December Holiday’, her sister’s name, to see if there are clues to her disappearance, but of course the only result you would get is the date of Christmas.

Who is the Knight?

It’s now implied to be Kris, who has been forcibly removing the player’s influence to act on their own. By all accounts the Knight is the game’s main antagonist. Spade King and Queen both mention the Knight as someone who influenced their position - they brought Spade King to absolute power, and showed Queen that creation of new worlds was possible.

We’re led to believe that Kris was doing this, because they’ve been acting outside of the player’s control. Eating the entire pie between chapter 1 and 2 might have been a red herring to cover that they also went to the library and used that knife to slash open a dark fountain there.

However. This has issues. How would they even manage to shuffle slowly all the way to the library and get in the computer lab? The Knight is also the one creating the hidden bosses. They talked to Jevil until he realised he was in a game and he lost his mind; they ruined Spamton’s life by elevating him to success and then crushing him. Whatever the Knight is doing seems to be deliberately planned with key players in mind.

Kris opening the fountain at home at the end of ch.2 can be explained in that you just figured out in Cyber World that anyone determined enough can do this, and so, Kris decided to. So a better question might even be...

What does Kris want?

We have no idea. They are capable of removing the SOUL, ‘us’, temporarily, and putting things in motion we cannot influence. But they also keep putting us back in control afterward. This is hinted at right when ch.2 starts, where if you inspect the cage in Kris’s bedroom they threw us into, the description says it’s inescapable. Meaning Kris came back and took us out, willingly.

They allow us to pilot them through the game. Why? Because they cannot live without the SOUL for long for some reason? Because they’re bad at bullet hell? Why did they slash Toriel’s tyres before opening the fountain, making sure nobody could drive away?? Why did they specifically open the door?

You can find out details about Kris through the creepy way you interact with the townsfolk, who think you are Kris. They play the piano at the hospital waiting room - better than you. They used to go to church just to get the special church juice. It’s all normal, relatable things, not like someone who’s trying to plunge the world into darkness. Judging by their search history portrayed in their Queen’s castle room, they really want to see their brother again. However the castle has a room based on Asriel’s search history too, and Kris (not you) closes their eyes and won’t look at it.

What is Ralsei?

His name is an anagram of Asriel. Is he an extension of Asriel? The slightly flirtier dialogue in ch.2 would point to no. Is he an extension of Kris themselves, given the link between Kris’s childhood habit of wearing a headband with red horns on it, to pretend to be a monster like their family?

Ralsei knows exactly where the Dark World in the school is located, and unlike regular Darkners, knows the world is folded up inside the ‘real world’. There’s a certain whiplash to Ralsei telling you to hop out of his reality into yours and go down the hallway to retrieve all the board game items.

How does he jump from one Dark World to another, without assistance? How does he not get petrified like Lancer and Rouxls? Is this a power level thing because he’s a prince or something else? We definitely do not know enough about Ralsei.

He also says this incredibly suspicious thing after you spare Spamton NEO. Susie was also curious but accepts that maybe it ‘didn’t mean anything’, which is a sure tell that these optional bosses do mean something.

Someone is orchestrating what’s happening, opening fountains, manipulating the rulers, and influencing NPCs to become the optional bosses. Why? I suspect Ralsei for both knowing too much, and pretending something doesn’t matter when it clearly does. Until Asriel actually comes home from college I’m going to suspect he’s involved in this too.

How much does Seam know?

Seam on the other hand knows a lot about what’s going on but is openly withholding information while helping you. He’s nihilistic. He says things like:

One day soon... You too, will begin to realize the futility of your actions. Ha ha ha... At that time, feel free to come back here. I'll make you tea... And we can toast... to the end of the world!

Either this ‘end of the world’ is a reference to The Roaring, where opening too many dark fountains dooms the Dark World and the real one... or, I can’t get out of my head the idea that Deltarune takes place in a fake, or weird reconstruction of Undertale where things don’t match up, and eventually it will have to disappear. After all, powers of determination and creating and manipulating universes are Undertale’s basic bread and butter. How can we look at an Alternate Universe containing the characters we already know and not suspect that? Seam also uses Gaster’s key words, ‘darker, yet darker’, seemingly to clue us in that he’s not off track here.

Why haven’t we seen Papyrus?

This is a bright neon flashing ‘something’s not right’ sign. It’s not like Papyrus’s voice actor was too busy or anything. His absence is noticable and for a reason. Nice of Sans to promise we could meet him despite being aware we’re piloting a child’s body around, though, even if he didn’t follow through.

What locations in town could be used for dark fountains in the next 4 chapters?

If the sequence continues, we have chapter 1 in the school games room, chapter 2 in a computer lab, and chapter 3 in front of Kris’s television, where the aesthetic of each setting influences the world, characters, and enemies in the Dark World created there. Future possibilities include the church, the hospital, sans’s grocery store, Noelle’s house, and the closed bunker.

What the hell’s in the closed bunker

This one’s too obvious, honestly. I think it’ll open for no reason in chapter 7 and a little white dog will bounce out and steal one of your key items and nothing else happens.

Why does Asgore have these

Unlike the bunker feeling like a joke teaser, I gotta believe this is foreshadowing something weird. For example, what does opening a dark fountain in here with the seven flowers do? Does it just take you into Undertale?

Each chapter will have a hidden boss with a ‘soul mode’ from Undertale

Chapter 1 let you stay red, but I think each subsequent chapter is going to change your soul mode to one of the seven colours and design the encounter around that. Purple, yellow, green and blue were used in Undertale, leaving the light blue and orange modes yet to be revealed.

How does Spamton emulate Mettaton Neo’s name, body, and incorporate his battle theme, and the ‘Dummy!’ theme, with no actual connection between them ingame?

This is a really fun one that’s explained over in this post here. Swatch is the Dark World creation from the paint program on the library computers, so he’s able to explain that a Lightner made the robot body decaying in the castle basement that way.

Mettaton went to the library and drew his ideal form, Mettaton NEO, in MS Paint, and the Dark World formed that into a puppet body which Spamton was able to hijack temporarily. So by doing that Spamton was able to channel Mettaton’s appearance, attacks, music, and SOUL mode for the fight.

This might mean that the future hidden bosses, each with their own SOUL mode, might be based on the associated character for that mode (Muffet, Undyne, and Sans or Papyrus), and the boss will take on some aspect of them from their world to leech their fight mechanics.

The Problem With Mettaton

We don’t exactly know what Deltarune is about. It’s an alternate universe where the characters from Undertale already live on the surface, have completely normal lives, but diverge from the storyline of Undertale and, crucially, have not lived through the changes Frisk brought to their lives.

Remember how Undertale had a dozen different ending routes depending on who you befriended? The constant reinforcement in Undertale was that your choices mattered. Through Frisk, you chose to bring Alphys closure about her mistakes, you chose to befriend papyrus instead of attacking him, you chose to help Alphys and Undyne realise their feelings for each other and it’s only doing that that leads to the golden ending and escape to the surface.

Deltarune is the opposite, your choices do not matter. The only thing you can do to force the route of the game to change is to force Noelle into a No Mercy run, which is indirect, and also, a total desperation to mess with an otherwise set course. This version of the characters have not been helped by Frisk - Undyne and Alphys are not together, Papyrus has no friends, Asgore cannot get over himself, and they’re clearly the worse for it, but potentially, you COULD still do these things. In fact it’s hinted that you already are.

But there’s Mettaton.

He’s still a ghost and does not leave his house. In Frisk’s world, Gaster deleted himself, promoting Alphys to royal scientist by bluffing with Mettaton, and she then build him his ideal body. In Kris’s world... Alphys is a school teacher. There’s no barrier to break, no reason to experiment on souls, no Flowey mistake, and no body for Mettaton.

It was sad in Ch.1, but now with the Spamton NEO fight in ch.2, it’s unmissable. Mettaton wants that body and he cannot get it. Alphys in this universe is not going to leave her teaching job and suddenly be able to build a robot. Mettaton is just... screwed out of his happy ending and cannot get it.

So what resolution could this have? If it wasn’t for Mettaton I might believe in the vaildity of Deltarune and Hometown. But. How can you doom this character? If Undertale was the only way Mettaton could be befriended, then Undertale is Primary Universe A and Seam is right - the world of Deltarune is doomed as some kind of aberration. It all relies on how this gets explained in the future, but the core mystery of Deltarune is how exactly this universe intersects with Undertale and whether one is an offshoot of the other. How the Dark World links into that is another complication. But even as we get more fun characters and neat stuff in the Dark Worlds, let’s not forget we have absolutely no idea why Undertale’s characters are living here with no mention of underground or why there are no other humans beside Kris.

#undertale #deltarune #welcome to my giant essay post

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incorrect-dishonored-quotes · 3 years

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Do you have a favorite level within each game or even one out of all games / is there a specific level that stuck in your mind since you first played it?

Mine would be the second to last I think in DH1. The one, where you walk over a bridge and it's all orange light on one side and deep shadows on the other. In daud's dlcs it would be the boyle mansion, because I love the flooded building. I've loved the edge of the world in DH2 because Karnaca's atmosphere is such a breath of fresh air and the trail of whale blood through the bright and sunny district reveals very much about the game's world. For DOTO it would either be the bank job or the royal conservatory. It may sound pretty weird but the atmosphere within the bank job gives me vacation vibes lol. Also the moment you take the twin bladed knife feels amazing every time. I also really like the hidden features in the royal conservatory.

Thank you for running this blog, it really means a lot to me. Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈

Honestly all the levels in the DH series has a lot of personality in them, and so much visual storytelling. Each one has a different feeling to it while all matching up to eachother perfectly. Never do I feel like one doesn't belong with the others, they all feel part of the same world, and they feel so lived in too.

Everyone has their favorites, and you picked some good ones. I think youre refering to Kaldwin's Bridge which is a very well done level and is certainly pretty to look at, but its rather big with a lot of loading points, and it's a bit choppy and tedious for me. I do like the area around Sokolov's house though. The test subjects imprisoned in the streets and the crumbling buildings around his perfect apartment is great environmental storytelling. Personally my favorite in Dh1 is The Flooded District. The reflection it paints for Corvo, that after everything, things can still get worse and there's still a light at the end and he can't give up. That even after hating Hiram Burrows and wishing death on him, Daud hides there, in the mass grave Burrows made, protected by the rats, flood waters, rivercrusts, and weepers. It's just *chef's kiss*.

I think the one in Daud's dlc's is actually Brigmore Manor, which is one hell of a level. We learn that Daud and Delilah have a lot in common just by the way they work. They both have large followings they share their power with, hidden under everyone's nose. Dispite this, the difference in atmosphere tells the player that Daud is trespassing here. He's met someone who can match him, maybe even best him, and he has to be careful not to lose what little he has left. Brigmore is probably my fave too, but The Surge comes very close. Being in Daud's base, cutting up Overseers, and freeing his Whaler kids is very satisfying.

Edge of the World is a great intro to Karnaca. You get a feel for the atmosphere, learn about smaller power struggles (Howlers vs Overseers), and get a feel for just how bad things are there. I love taking my time in this level, finding the runes and talking to Mindy Blanchard just because it is a very pretty level that's fun to explore. I also like how it ironically leads you to Addemire, which is dark and claustrophobic. My fave in DH2 though is Crack in the Slab. Going between timelines wasn't something I'd done in a videogame before, and it made learning about Aramis Stilton and the rest of Delilah's allies extremely interesting. I love the little details you can mess with in the past to convenience you in the present too. There's a lot to go though twice over in that level, and I always find something new each playthrough. Also, in the ambience music in the present, you can hear a rhythmic banging, and I theorize you can hear the miners being overworked from Aramis' home.

And then there's DOTO... DOTO, my beloved. This game really brought Billie Lurk's character to life and I enjoy every second of it. My fave here would be Follow the Ink, for reasons similar as to why I like Edge of the World. It's nice to explore and there's so much to do story-wise, and even more to just find or interact with. I do wish the story flowed from one point on the map to the other, like how Edge of the World slowly lead you to the black market, wall of light, overseer outpost, then to Addemire Station. I find I'm going back and forth a lot in Follow the Ink, but that's nit-picking. If anything, it gives me time to stumble across things more. I will say though, The Bank Job is probably the strongest level in the game, and the writing is the best there. Billie getting a hold of the knife, pointing a finger in The Outsider's face and telling him she's coiming, no matter what it takes, only for The Outsider to look her in the eyes and tell her that Daud, the closest Billie had ever come to family, is dead?... Heartbreaking. I'm racing back to the ship. I know he's lying, and he has to be, right? But nope, he wasn't. Billie burning her ship called Dreadful Wale, an anagram for Farewell Daud, as his pyre hurts so much. I love the very ending too and how Daud is low chaos option, and to be honest, I shouldn't have been surprised by that. Ironically, mercy and forgiveness were themes in the background of Daud's dlcs.

Some honorable mentions would be:

-Bottle Street/Holger Square: Learning about Overssers, Slackjaw, Granny Rags and you get to see my man Geoff Curnow! Please switch the poison btw.

-Lady Boyle's Last Party: You fuck around with guards and rich ppl bc they think you're one of them and that's quite the critique on the upperclass huh. Don't forget to sign the guestbook as The Empress' alleged assassin!

Return to The Tower: Hiram Burrows is finally his own undoing, and his worst nightmares have come true! What a satisfying downfall. How poetic. Bitch deserved everything he got.

-Light at the End: In high chaos, Martin shoots Pendleton after calling him inbred and that's hilarious to me. Also in low chaos. Emily will scold Havelock and tell him to "sit in the corner and think about what [he's] done!" In honesty, it's a good climax.

-Eminent Domain: Timpsh's downfall in low chaos is one of the most poetic and well written eliminations in the games. Seeing him faint in front of a General of the City Watch always makes me laugh.

-Coldridge Prison: Revisiting the place as Daud and seeing how it's changed since Corvo's escape was very interesting. There's a lot of details to interact with like other prisoners, executions, and doomed escape attempts.

-Addemire Institute: The Crown Killer was an interesting antagonist, and there's a lot of notes and clues to what Addemire was like before The Duke ruined it. The entire situation is very tragic, but not all is lost!

-The Dust District: It's just really fun to explore Karnaca ok? Also Corvo's old house is there.

-Hole in the World: I love how it hints that there's a low chaos option, but you don't realize it until you talk with Daud’s spirit and all the hints come together. I like wandering around the place too since we don't get to see The Void this much anywhere else.

Sorry this was so long, but I really love how well thought out these game are, and I really rambled! Happy pride to you too!

#mod tad #doto spoilers

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vo-kopen · 3 years

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Current rewatching Captain America II: Death Too Soon. I first watched it two days ago, and gosh it is better than the prior film. Not as in its a good film, but I laughed a lot more during it.

The opening montage is chalk full of continuity errors though. It summaries the previous movie, but it really streamlines it. Cuts out some details, rearranges scenes and implies different events happened, and it removes his original costume and replaces it with the costume from this sequel. It’s not a lot of important changes, it simplifies his story, but it does irk me.

This time around Steve is less whiny and is a lot more proactive. And gosh his powers are hokey. Like in the second proper scene he’s helping an old lady deal with muggers, already dressed in costume with his rocket powered motorcycle, but chooses to chase after a dune buggy on foot instead of his freaking rocket motorcycle. And he actually catches up with it with terrible sped up effects. And don’t worry, he’s got a music sting for whenever he uses his powers. And the muggers were apparently targeting the elderly’s pension checks. It’s bad in a great way.

Steve also continues to use his art skills, sometimes to give him cover when he’s investigating stuff, sometimes at a fair or just for fun. Glad to see that character facet was not dropped. On the other hand the angst related to his dad and the angst about his powers is gone. Like I said, he’s no longer whiny. He’s a bit more likable here in general, even if he is just a cog in the machine.

Christopher Lee plays the villain, who has made his base a federal prison. Sadly there no focus on prison brutality here, but gosh he’s got a presence. He’s also a master of disguise in universe, so I guess I can accept his code name is Miguel. And that’s the thing, it’s just a code name, they have no clue what his backstory is. In the film he’s just a vague revolutionary, we don’t know his motives or why he does what he does besides “terrorist.” He’s no Killmonger that’s for sure.

Speaking of that, there actually are black people in this film. The first film was white as snow, but here’s there’s a few black men. They are only in bit parts, mostly in the background, though one is an assistant at a lab and actually has a name and a bit of a personality. He’s only in one scene, and he’s a bit obstructing, but he’s thankfully not a villain. Some of the other black men however are antagonistic though, though none of them actually have names, they are just dock workers Steve beats up. No Falcon in sight.

Simon is also a lot less smug and obnoxious too. Wendy is no longer Steve’s love interest, but she still has an important part to play in the story, doing science.

Added to this episode is a representative of the President, who singlehandedly got Portland gassed by a chemical weapon through sheer stubbornness. Dude you knew the aging formula worked, Simon and Wendy proved it pretty well, yeah Miquel was asking for a bit of money, but when you refused he easily gassed a major city. Money is not lives, and rapidly aging to death is a bad way to go. I feel like he was a take on a policy or an event in the seventies, but I don’t know what.

Finished the film again, gosh the climax gets goofy. Cap finally finds his rocket bike after it got lost in a River, and it somehow still works. He throws it from ground level to the top of a prison wall, jumps after it (both times with goofy sound effects) and then riders it into the air. And then a freaking hang glider unfolds from his motorcycle and he glides after the villain, still atop the bike. I guess he’s apparently the descendant of Ator or something, because yeah, he spends most of the climatic chase gliding on a hang glider built into his motorcycle. This movie is glorious. Way more entertaining that the first 1979 Cap movie. And probably better than the 1990 Cap movie too. It’s not a good film, but it’s fun.

Both of these movies are available on tubi, a free streaming service app. Sadly I think you need a VPN to use it in the European Union, though there may be other ways around it. I reviewed the first film here.

@thefingerfuckingfemalefury @jogress @muceybbds @hellyeahteensuperheroes @espanolbot2 @paulsebert @akirakan @majingojira tagging you all in case this silliness would interest you.

#captain america #steve Rogers #Reb brown #marvel #films

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moniquill · 4 years

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I’m going to talk about Greedfall. Fight me.

So recently Greedfall was on 70% off on Steam, and I bought it.

I did so fully in the knowledge that this game is a garbage fire. I knew from the moment I saw the trailers back in August 2019, and I made some posts about it:

https://moniquill.tumblr.com/post/187141616836/greedfall-comes-out-next-month-on-the-10th-get-so

https://moniquill.tumblr.com/post/187185773016/no-i-will-not-absolve-you-geek-friend

https://moniquill.tumblr.com/post/187213116466/i-think-youve-fundamentally-misunderstood-the

And reblogged people saying more and better things:

https://moniquill.tumblr.com/post/187152585746/dalishious-untilthisdreamisgone-akedhi

A particularly large FUCK YOU to Darkfreya, who said this in the comments:

“ I will definitely buy this and hope it does well. We need more games like this. The fact that is a game about colonization does not bother me at all. Your character is neutral (and probably desperate trying search for a cure to a disease that is killing your people) Who you side with is your choice, and I seriously doubt siding with colonizers is seen as being the “good” choice.”

But there’s a valid argument to be made that you can’t REALLY criticize a game just based on trailers and synopses and lets plays and all that. You need to PLAY it, to play it all the way through and get the CONTEXT of the STORY.

So strap in chucklefucks, I did that. All spoilers, no repentance.

Note: I am writing this reaction on the fly as I play. I have had no spoilers except what’s in the promotional material. This isn’t so much a game review as an admonition of bullshit; I will be focusing on the main questline; the things that the game forces you to do to progress the story. I’ll also follow native-specific sidequests.

I am De Sardet, a man or woman who is the cousin of the new governor of The Congregations’ colony on Teer Fradee. I have an unexplained green birthmark on my face. My first quest item is saying goodbye to my mother, the Princess De Sardet, who has the mysterious and fatal illness that’s plaguing the land - the malichor.

There is no mention whatsoever of my father at this time.

In Serene, I futz about doing minor sidequests, meeting my first two companions (Kurt and Vasco), and levelling up by looting boxes and murdering bandits. I get to witness the ravages of the malichor; the streets are full of dead and dying people, there're corpse wagons and bonfires, generally looks like a good time.

I meet with the two representatives of the Not!European nations that The Congregation is a neutral ally to both of. One is Theleme, the super religious spanish inquisition types who dress in Cromwell-era English and French clothing. The other is The Bridge Alliance, who are all about science and technology and seem vaguely middle east to north african flavored - they wear turbans and kaftans, their architecture has domes and minarets, etc. Each representative gives me a quest with MORAL DILEMMAS! Do I deliver the heretics to the guard for arrest, or allow them to escape? Do I do the same for the charlatan alchemist? If I listen to them, they’re all totally innocent, but letting them go is bad for my reputation with the diplomats. Except that I can lie. So yeah… this is pretty much a ‘Do you BE EVIL because you can, or do you act benevolent at absolutely no expense to yourself?’ choice.

As I’m getting on the boat to head to Teer Fradee, I am railroaded into my first boss fight! This bursts out of the side of an adjacent ship:

All I know about it is that it was brought back from Teer Fradee, and that ‘it was supposed to be out for days’ - presumably it’s drugged. It’s visibly injured. I see it take another bad hit from a falling mast in the pre-battle cutscene.

I have no choice but to kill it.

I beat it into submission (with magic, because that's what I spec’d into) and then get a cutscene where it’s helpless and desperately scrambling away from me, gazing at me with intelligent, desperate eyes.

I dispassionately shoot it in the head.

I am hailed as a hero.

Like seriously here’s the video (not mine, just pulled from youtube)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQfIHBIJiAU

We cutscene across the ocean, Vasco gets real serious with some shorebirds, and we arrive at Teer Fradee.

On the steps of the governor’s palace, I have my first encounter with a native - Siora, daughter of a chieftain, who is here to seek an audience with the governor. She speaks to me in the native tongue, presuming that I will understand. She has a facial marking similar to my own. I use my political clout to get her into the palace. When we meet my cousin the governor, he goes on and on about how similar Siora and I look; as if we could be related.

This is the first clue, in the story, that I - De Sardet - have native ancestry. There is no avenue for me to explore this at this time.

Siora wants us to be allies to her clan in their hostilities with the Bridge Alliance. I’m sent to speak with Mal Bladnid - the chieftain, her mom.

I’d like to mention at this time that the designers clearly went out of their way to NOT invoke NDN visual tropes with regards to be people of Teer Fradee - No beads, braids, and buckskins, no flute and drum music. They have an irish/celtic/norse/pagan vibe, as I read it. They have a ‘what even is that’ accent. They also wear a ton of different styles of face paint, the significance of which are never explained.

The game at large seems to assign characters without regard to phenotype - any person of any faction may be european/black/asian in appearance. There are about a dozen faces in the entire game, endlessly recycled. It comes off as :FINGERS IN EARS, SHOUTING “WE DON’T SEE RACE!!!”:

At the first opportunity to talk to Siora back at my legate pad in New Serene, I can ask Siora if she really thought I was a Native. She says that yeah, she did, because I look like one, and she’s never seen a foreigner who’s an on ol menawi - she doesn’t tell me what that means, and I don’t have an option to ask.

Following the main quest line and going to see Siora’s mom, I learn that she’s already taken off to fight a battle. We catch up at the tail end of the battle, hundreds of people on both sides are dead. I meet Siora’s sister, and I can talk her down from a roaring rampage of revenge. We find out that their mom’s been taken. We spend some time optionally looking for and healing survivors - you can also just let them die. Save them, and you gain a reputation boost with the natives. Then we explore the ruins, which are continental in style, and learn about the legend of super doom battle of old vs wave of colonizers the first - the native people made a pact with the land which raised guardians, and in exchange certain people become ol menawi. What this means is not explained at this time, other than it’s a pact with the land and why the native people have magic.

At this point I diverge from the main quest to find out what happened to Siora’s mom; we go to the Bridge Alliance camp and find that she died on the way there. We have to argue/finagle/blackmail the captain of the outpost into allowing us to take her body.

Upon returning to Siora’s village, we find that her mother’s remains have been delivered, but new complication: there are missionaries from Theleme insisting that they had an agreement with queen Bladnid - the village would convert to Not!Christianity and in exchange Teleme would aid them against the Bridge Alliance. If they agree to this, they’ll have to bury Bladvid according to Theleme religious standards. Siora thinks this is bullshit, we must investigate. It is unclear how I’m supposed to pursue this.

I return to Constantin and report on the ancient ruins where the battle took place. He tells me to go see Lady Morange, who tells me to go check out some other ruins near some mines. This continues the Ancient Mystery questline.

I proceed to San Mateus (which is also where I need to go for main questline things regarding talking to the Theleme leaders on the island)

Entering the city for the first time thrusts me into a cutscene so fucking upsetting that I had to put the game away for a while and come back later. Upon entering the main square, I see a priest strangling a native man, while a creature not unlike the one I was forced to fight back in the first boss battle is being burned alive. The priest is demanding that the native man denounce his gods. He then strangles him to death. I am given no opportunity to intervene. Afterward, when I’m able to talk to the priest, I can declare myself as a believer or not - I can answer yes or no, or attempt charisma to weasel out of the question. If I fail charisma I have to answer yes or no. If I declare that I’m not a believer, we have a fight scene. I am not allowed to kill this man; the fight ends as soon as he’s incapacitated. He wanders off, declaring that he won’t forget this and that I’ll have to fight him again later.

THE BURNED CORPSE OF THE TREE-BEING REMAINS IN THE SAN MATEUS SQUARE FOR THE REST OF THE GAME.

In the palace I meet Petrus, after talking to the Mother Cardinal, Petrus becomes one of my companions. The Mother Cardinal asks me to investigate a native village that she believes is worshipping a demon. Yeah sure I’ll get right on that.

I proceed to Hikmet to talk about their science team’s work on the Malichor, and learn that the natives are very antagonistic toward their people. A soldier interrupts the conversation to tell us that an outpost has been routed in a native attack. I’m asked to assemble a team to investigate a science party that’s gone missing.

I return to Constantin to tell him about meeting the governors; he tells me to proceed with all the questlines I’ve opened and whines about how his parents never loved him. Worth noting at this time that Constantin appears not at all well. He’s pale and has dark circles under his eyes. He claims to be fine, just nauseated.

My main questline threads are now:

An Ancient Mystery

Scholars in the Expedition

Demonicial Cult

I choose to follow the cult one first, because Native involvement.

I proceed to Tir Dob, and meet with the investigators. The leader is frustrated because the natives don’t want to talk to her, and she’s convinced that there’s deep evil afoot. When I talk to the villagers, they dismiss me and tell me it’s not my business. Which, I mean, fair!

Notably, one woman asks about my mark/status an on ol manawi. When I say I’m not bound to anything/I didn’t do anything to bind myself, she tells me that one of my parents must have been a doneigad. I have no opportunity to pursue this.

There is no story-continuing option for me to leave it, or to pursue a path of gaining the villagers’ trust. I am required, by the game’s narrative, to spy on a villager. I break into his house and look at his things; I comment on how terrifying his fresco is and how morbid his altar and how horrible his mask. Siora points out that the mask is just worn to intimidate enemies in battle. It’s identical to the warthog spirit mask I can buy at any number of native merchants and wear. Petrus says that there’s obviously demon worship going on.

I tell sister Ephesia, and she sends me to follow the villager on his journey into a secret place in the forest. He disappears into a sacred grotto. I commune with a tree and experience a narrative, then have to solve a very obvious puzzle to enter the grotto - to invade a sacred place that I am obviously not welcome in. There is no option to refuse to do this that forwards the story. In the grotto I witness a ceremony that’s presented, through cinematography and music, to be SO TERRIFYING AND OBVIOUSLY EVIL because there’s… a small amount of bloodletting? A glowing tree spirit speaks at the end of the ritual and all participants triumphantly shout.

Siora, if in the party, says that the rituals of her tribe aren’t so scary, cementing that the game feels that this ritual is intrinsically horrifying in some way.

We go to ask the chief of the village about what we spied on, and she explains that it’s a ritual to evoke the strength of warriors and invoke a blessing against the Theleme investigators. She tells us that the voice we heard one one of the many faces of nature, and that if we proceed to another location and perform a ritual, we may hear from another face of nature - but that we might not be happy with the results.

We proceed to Vedvilvie, where we meet Aged Hermit. He tells us that a detachment of Bridge Alliance soldiers was here a long time ago, and gives us information about where to find their camp. We explore the swamp, looking at assorted corpses and ruined tents and ancient frescoes, then talk to Aged Hermit again, who tells us about a ritual to summon the earth.

We perform the ritual, and are thrust into a boss battle with Nadaig Vedemen. There is literally no choice but to kill her. The Aged Hermit rebukes us for having done so, calling us murderers and monsters. Gotta say, I absolutely agree with him. Siora tells him to calm down, that we were only defending ourselves. She explains to me that he knew her before she became a Nadaig - that Nadaig are Doneigada who’ve called upon the power of the island to the point of physical transformation. That it will happen to her and to me, eventually. That’s what on ol menawi and the mark means.

There is no opportunity for me, as a player, to avoid killing the Nadaig.

We return to Tir Dob and confront Derdre about sending us into a death trap; she had hoped the Nadaig would kill us. We now know secrets that no one outside the clan has ever known. She asks us not to tell.

I proceed to the Bridge Alliance Scholars’ camp and find they’ve been captured by locals, who want to trade them for prisoners that the Alliance has previously taken. We run into some locals who give us important information about where the prisoners are being held, because they feel it would be better if the prisoners were gone. We meet Aphra, who joins the party and leads us to where prisoners are being held. Two options here - guns blazing bloodbath, or ghost sneak mission where we bust the prisoners out undetected and harm no one. I choose the ghost option. Regardless, upon bringing the rescued scholars back to camp I’m confronted by three natives who I have to fight with. Once defeated, I have the option to either spare their lives or finish them off. Only Siora argues that I should let them live. I do.

We return to Hikmet and talk to the governor. This opens the Search for Panacea questline. Aphra is now a permanent possible companion.

Aphra’s personal quest: More required spying on the natives. Siora greatly disapproves. I have no option to shut this shit down, to tell her ‘No, we are not doing that.’ We spy on the elders, who are having a meditative session where they listen to the voice of en on mil frichtimen. They catch us spying and call us down, chastise us, and then invite us to watch the rest. Aphra makes comments about how ‘it’s almost like they really can hear a voice on the wind; must be delusion-level faith!’ She then says she has to mull this over and to talk about it later.

We proceed to the ruins that Lady Morange mentioned; two of the three required fetch items are in the general vicinity of a Nadaig. It is possible, through sneaking, to reach them without having to fight the Nadaig, so I do that. We find that the people who built the ruins were…. DUN DUN DUN…. From the congregation! We used to be EVIL! Like we’re totally not now!

We report to Constantin, who is looking even more sickly. He tells us to investigate this history with the Nauts and laments more about his daddy issues. He also says that I look too much like a native for it to be a coincidence which, at this point, fucking DUH. This opens the The Prince’s Secret questline.

Meanwhile, on the quest for panacea, I head back to the village where I freed the Alliance prisoners to talk to the chief. There’s several dialog options, since I didn’t go bloodbath when rescuing the prisoners, but there’s also a spying option. One way or another, I gain the information that I need to go to the village of Vigshadir in Frasoneigad to find the Tierna harch cadachtas. Siora knows how to get there.

Upon arriving, I’m told that this is one of the holiest sites on the island and I’m not welcome. Alas, I can’t continue the story while respecting that answer - I can insist forcefully or I can gain the villagers’ trust with a couple of fetch quests. Either way, I end up learning where the Tierna harch cadachtas can be found. I disturb her taking a nap with some salamanders. She’s not at all happy to see me, even when Siora speaks on my behalf. She sicks her salamanders on me and takes off; I have to kill them. I then follow her up a path to a root door that requires an offering to unlock. Siora suggests that it’s a seed; we go back to the village and talk her bodyguard into letting us into her house to poke around. I should mention that there’s a bunch of lootable stuff in her house, and the game doesn’t punish me in any way for taking it. I find the correct seed and we proceed through the root door to a maze that Siora says is SUPER SACRED. Nevertheless, I’m forced to kill a bunch of animals on my way through. I tried sneaking several times; due to bottlenecking, the animals always become hostile. Toward the end of the path, we also come upon an instantly hostile native man, who I am also forced to kill.

We come out on the other side of the maze in Credgwen, just in time to witness the tierna running from and being gunned down by an Alliance solider. Cradling a bullet wound to her abdomen, the soldier is poised to execute her with a pisol shot to the head when Nadaig Fresamen appears and throws him ass over head. The Tierna then tells Nadaig Fresamen to attack us, and I’m once again in a mandatory boss battle where I am forced by the narrative to kill a Nadaig. Once again it ends in a cutscene where I shoot the Nadaig in the head. I think maybe the game designers think this looks badass, instead of coldly sociopathic? The Tierna is visibly distraught, screaming and crying at what we’ve done. She’s about to attack us when she’s shot in the back by the Alliance Soldier, who then says a bunch of Evily McEvil things, then tries to fight us. Upon besting him, I get to either kill or spare him.

I kill the shit out of him.

We bring the very very wounded tierna back to her village, where she wakes up and tries to kill me (Siora calling her off). She explains that the panacea she made is to treat islanders who’ve escaped captivity from the Alliance; those who are captured are gruesomely tortured in the name of science. She suggests that the malichor might be a curse from En on mil frichtimen.

We take this news to Constantin. It is now super duper obvious that he is very sick.

Siora tells us who we need to talk to about En on mil frichtimen, Constantin tells us to do that.

I’m level 16 now.

I hop back to the other main questline, grabbing Petrus and Vasco to go to San Matheus and investigate the Nauts’ problems there. Go to talk to Bishop Domitius but am pulled into a cutscene where Mother Cornelia asks me to get back some sacred tablets that she thinks were stolen by island natives. Yeah, lady, I’ll get right on that. I talk to Bishop Domitius, who accuses the Nauts of being the origin of the malichor. I go to the docs to investigate the rumors. Long story short, the Nauts are fine and I shut down the Inquisition’s investigation of them. When I get back to my residence, there’s a letter asking me to come see some natives at the embassy. Because Native rep[resentation and Native storylines are pretty much all I care about in this game, I pause everything else to pursue that, bringing Siora and Petrus.

I meet with them in the woods, where they’re camped out with the body of an inquisitor they killed. Petrus greatly disapproves. We get some keys and a letter from them, learn that there’s a camp that Native captives are being brought to, and go to investigate the inquisitor’s house for more details. We rummage through his house, find another letter detailing the camp and a chest in the order headquarters. We also find a key to said chest. On our way out, we’re confronted by a bunch of ordo luminus thugs. I have the option to get Petus to talk them down, so I do.

We go back to the place where the natives are holed up and find we’ve been followed by inquisitors. Talk talk fight; we kill them. The natives thank us and say they’ll report this to queen Derdre. I’m now level 17.

I head back to Admiral Cabral to tell her about shutting down the Naut investigation. She tells me that the Nauts discovered the island 200 years ago, the congregation tried to colonize, a few bad apple lords got all tyrannical, and both the natives and thier own workers rebelled against them. The colony was destroyed and only a few survivors made it out. The princes of the congregation swept it all under the rug in humiliation. Then she drops the bomb that I’ve been waiting for the whole game: I am the product of a later Congregation expedition. I’m the child of a Native and was born on a Naut ship. So yeah, I’ve been playing as a stolen child divorced from my native culture this whole time. I’m just gonna leave this link here:

https://www.vox.com/2019/10/14/20913408/us-stole-thousands-of-native-american-children

I immediately go to demand answers from Constantin.

This is a major act shift; things I find out in the next string of cutscenes:

Constantin has the malichor and is totally dying.

Kurt comes in to warn us about a coup d’etat that’s in the works - the coin guard plants to take out all three governors and seize control of the island. Apparently if you haven’t followed his personal questline about abuse within the coin guard ranks, he betrays you at this time. I’ve been doing the companion quests all along but not commenting on ones that don’t involve natives.

After putting down the coup d’etat, I go back to Constantin to rally. We’re now in Act Two, and my main quests are as follows:

The Suffering of Constantin, where I have three leads - San Matheus, Hikmet, and Native.

The Trial of the Waters, where I need to go speak to Glendan.

So I head to Wenshaveye to talk to the healer there. The village is having problems with missionaries and with abruptly and violently aggressive tenlens - animals that are usually docile. The aggressive tenlen attacks started right about the same time the missionaries showed up. Hmm.

There’s an interlude here where I come upon a bunch of merchants fighting a Nadaig and for a brilliant moment I thought I could kill the merchants and save the Nadaig but no. It’s instantly hostile to me and I have to kill it. The killing of Nadaig in this game is treated as a neutral action, like killing wild animals.

So yeah turns out the missionaries brought a vicious white tenlen, holed it up in a cave, it was riling up the others, it killed two village kids who went into the woods to canoodle. I shut all that down, kicked the missionaries out, and was able to bring the healer to Constantin. Plot thread resolved! Let’s go see Glendan.

I can’t get in to see the council without having a seal proving that I’m the chosen representative of a current council member. Fetch quest time - literally I just have to go back and talk to Cadasach, the healer, and he hands me the seal I need. I presume it’s more involved if I’d chosen one of the other healing paths.

I talk to Glendan, he tells me I need to complete the trial of the waters, a new questline opens. Also, the next part of Siora’s questline - promises set in stone - opens. I drop everything and follow that because I’m kind of in love with Siora.

We head to her village and talk to the missionaries, they send us to go see the stone that the agreement was engraved on, we get there and fight a bunch of enemies, the stone is destroyed and we can’t read it. Time to go see the engraver, Caradeg. We get to his house to find it absolutely destroyed. The only clue is a stone bearing the mark of the Dunncas’ clan. So we head to Vigyigidaw. Dunncas tells us that they exiled Caradeg because he wanted to make war on the settlers. Have fun, bootlicker. On my way out of the village I’m snagged by a guy with a side quest; he wants me to get some settlers to stop preventing the clan from going into a sacred glade to replant trees that the settler clear cut. See sidequests for details on that.

Before doing Trial of the Waters, I decide to go check up on Eden and Father Iustinius, bringing Siora and Petrus.

Stolen tablets, lots of talk about how primitive and naive the natives are and how those who aren’t converted are obviously worshiping demons and that’s who must have stolen the tablets.

Siora comments that this place is horrifying, and wonders how the people could have tolerated the priests building continental-style buildings over the top of their village.

We go to talk to the theologians, then to Ler. Because I’m not awesome at Charisma, I’m left with no option except to threaten and bully my way into him giving me the name of an old woman, mother of one of the warriors who left the village. I lose re with both the natives at large and Siora personally. The old woman tells us where to find the exiles, and gives us hints on how to avoid traps and sneak in unseen. She implores us not to hurt her son.

We head for the exiles’ camp. I choose the option where I sneak in and don’t murder everyone, and the old woman meets us as we’re leaving and thanks us for that, saying she’s going to try and talk her son into finding a new clan. We head back to Eden.

They thank us for the tablets, are excited to set out a new expedition, the game tells me to wait 24 hours for the results. So I have to hike my ass to out camp, sleep 24 hours, and haul back to where I just was to find out that a party that went into the swamp ran afoul of…. something.

Siora points out that the survivor was obviously bitten by a poisonous swamp creature and that a local healer probably knows the remedy. We go talk to Ler again.

Ler tells us that the village doneigad is one of the exiles, but that the old woman we talked to earlier knows plants well. I’m pretty sure that if we’d murdered her son to death in the previous quest, she’d refuse to help us. Because we didn’t, she makes us a potion. The wounded guy wakes up and begs us to go and rescue his dumbass loser friends, so of course I do.

We’re going back to Vedvilvie, because of course we are.

We arrive at the camp, listen to both the ordo luminous guy and the research sister whine about how the other is mean/incompetant, and go to investigate the dig sites. We find a dude with a caved in skull who was clearly struck from behind with a mace, a guy who was killed to death by lewolans (big lizards), and a poor chump was was obviously stabbed to death before being fed to lewolans. Siora says it’s pretty clear that Mr Inquisition orchestrated this to frame the research lady. I agree. We go to confront him. Choices: Take a bribe and side with him, tell him to leave the expedition, expose his bullshit to everyone.

The ‘correct’ choice in the game is not to reveal his crimes before everyone, but to banish him. Because [Centrist.jpeg goes here]

We follow the path of San Matheus, come up against a nadaig magamen, murder it to death, and enter a cavern. Long story short, Saint Mat totally became a doneigad. He saw on en mil frichtimen as an extension of the concept of light and prayed to him. Also I found a bitchin’ set of holy armor. I put it on Petrus.

Theleme’s gonna be big mad. We head back to Eugenia to tell her, are confronted by Virgil and the Inquisition. He wants to destroy the relics and evidence that Sait Mat converted to the faith of the island, we kill him to death and go tattle to Mommy Cardinal. I push her to make the decision to reveal the truth to the masses, and to visit the cave herself.

Theleme is not, in fact, big mad.

Anyway, returning to the main questline.

So there’s two options through the cave of testing, bloodbath or sneak. I chose sneak. Touch a basin, have a vision, solve a very easy puzzle - just like the tree one from earlier.

There’s a Nadiag waiting, and the command prompt I have for it after solving the puzzle is ‘Tame’... yanno, like one does with an animal. Because indigenous people are fauna. Fucking gross.

I see a fresco depicting a spirit of the volcano. I go to talk to Glendan. He sends me to find the high king, who is missing. I need to see the rest of the high council: Derdre, Dunncas, Ullan. Guess it’s time to finally deal with the Ullan plotline. See side quests for details.

When I head back to Hikmet, I get a whole string of cutscenes because it’s been a while since I’ve been there - including one where I follow up with the islander rebellion. The governor asks me to parlay with the leaders of the rebellion, where I find out that the on ol menawi who the alliance have been kidnapping from villages have been taken to laboratories for experiments - where they have been tortured and killed. This lines up with all earlier accusations, and with that Hikmet dude who was trying to murder the tierna and me - he said they were going to dissect her. So yeah. I go to thier main camp, and fucking surprise, I was followed by Alliance soldiers who promptly stark attacking. I have two choices: fight alongside the natives or put an end to the rebellion. I, of course, fight on Team Native. I then proceed back to Hikmet to ask What The Entire Fuck, Sir? He denies knowing anything about natives being captured; he assures me that this lab is a medical research center. I declare that I”m gonna take a look at it myself.

I grab Aphra for this, and in the process agree to continue her personal questline. We ask the young apprentices about how to get into the Cave of Knowledge, which, I cannot state enough, IS A SACRED PLACE CLOSED TO OUTSIDERS. Only people who are becoming doneigad are supposed to go there. The narrative makes me. This happening, over and over, gives lie to the premise that the game allows you to make good or evil moral choices - that you can DECIDE to be a good guy or a bad guy. You can’t. You can either choose to violate the sacred spaces of the indigenous people or -not play this game-. There is no ‘Sit Aphra down and tell her that it is implicitly wrong to do this’ option.

So we go to the cave, it has a seed gate, we find some brigands who’ve murdered a native, they’re planning to dynamite thier way into the cave, we can talk them inot leaving or murder them to death, guess which one I chose just guess. We get the seed and enter the cave.

In the cave, we examine several frescoes; one depicts a ritual where, in a circle, someone is pouring blood on a stone in the presence of a Nadaig. Another depicts the same figure, but now marked as an on ol menawi. We then hear people coming and are prompted to hide, because being caught here would sure lose us the trust of the natives. Which we do not deserve at all, after this. The game prompts me to spy on the young people, which I do, listening in on thier conversation. When we leave the cave, Aphra says that clearly we need to spy on a whole, actual ritual. The game teases me with ‘accept’ or ‘refuse’, but the choice are actually ‘start the time now, or later’ - the story doesn’t allow me to ACTUALLY refuse. We show up, and Dunncas actually gives us permission to watch if we don’t interfere.

After the ritual, Alliance soldiers show up. We kill them to death. The chiefs thanks us for having been there. Aphra says we should look into Dr. Asili. So off to the lab we go.

I’m pretty sure, narratively, that I’m supposed to have stealthed my way through this. However, after seeing a pit of burning bodies and people in cages right as I entered, I just bloodbathed my way through. Also arrested the apprentices and killed the fuck out of Asili. Fun fact: Asili gave Constantin the malichor! Also me, but I’m resistant, since native and on ol menawi.

I return to talk to Constantin about the sanctuary and the Hikmet problem and everything and find that he’s gone on a journey with the doneigad healer and things have gone wrong. I set out after him. I follow combat signs and talk to Aiden in wenshaveye, then head to the alliance outpost. We catch up with a badly wounded and unconscious survivor, get him a potion, and then have to wait 24 hours. This is a repeated feature of the game an annoying as hell, because the only way to wait is to return to camp. When he’s awake he describes the attack; animals controlled by some kind of native sorcerer and fire and explosions. A native grabbed Constantin and ran off with him. We continue the investigation - I go to talk to Daren. Daren says that they weren’t behind the attack - no one would ever attack Catasach. Catasach is, btw, super dead. I examine the body. He was killed by something than can wield magma. Good times. Daren tells us there’s a ritual by which a doneigad can see the last moments of his life - only tierna can perform it. Good thing we saved her earlier…. From danger that we put her in….

So we head off to see tierna, and she readily agrees because I avenged her earlier. Pretty sure it would have taken more convincing if I’d let the dude who shot her live. One fetch quest to get spell components later, we’re able to perform the ritual.

Vinbarr did it.

I go to question Derdre, Ullan, or Duncas. The latter two have the best opinion of me, so I hit up Dunncas first. Dunncas tells me to go to Wennshavar. Folks there give me some backstory, tell me to find Cera at the cave of knowledge.

We come upon alliance folks torturing a native woman, presumably Cera. This bitch has a whole ass villian speech. I’m pretty sure she’s one of the people I saved with Aphra’s science team? Could just be a recycled face though. We run down to interrupt. Aphra wants to reason with her, Siora wants to kill her. Yep, it’s the science team I saved. I have several options here; fight them, use intuition to remind them I saved them, threaten them, or let Aphra speak. I choose to let Aphra speak more because I want to hear what she says than anything.

Aphra shames her and reminds her that they left Asili together because of his cruelty. She whines that Aphra knows she’s not REALLY like that, and stomps off like an angry toddler. No fight. Cera thanks us for saving her, leads us to the cave, and opens it for us.

Inside the cave we find a fresh new fresco; it shows Vinbarr going to talk to the spirit of the mountain. He’s gone to join En on mil frichtimen. We see another fresco depicting a nadaig meneimen - the bird/mountain form. Vinnbar’s gonna turn into one. We look at some other murals, I let slip that I’m looking for Constantin, Cera peaces out and seals us in the cave because she thinks we’re looking for Vinnbar on a vengeance quest. We find another way out. The path is now laden with traps because she doesn’t want to be followed. Sorry, Cera, that no one informed you that I am a protagonist and thus no one can prevail against me.

We go to the mountain passage depicted in the fresco, go through a cave maze, and find the mountain trail to the sanctuary. We meet up with Cera, who forces us to fight her. We snag a seed from her body after killing her and her folks to death. Which the game offered no way out of doing. Now we have both seeds and can open the sanctuary. We scamper through some scenic vista and arrive to find Vinnbar burying Constantin with rocks using telekinesis. He says the on en mil frichtimen told him constantine is the bringer of doomtimes. Now we have to have a boss fight. Partway through, he transforms into a nadaig. We continue fighting andf kill him to death.

I sure do murder a lot of nadaig in this game.

We return Constantin to New Serene and I’m pretty sure this is the break into act 3… Catasach made Constantin on ol menawi and he is stoked about it. He has branch antlers and pointy teeth and yellow eyes and feels great. I am concerned.

Time to go talk to Glendan again.

I lose three rep with the natives over, yanno, having murdered their high king to death. I now have to go and talk to the three potential high kings and gain the support of one of them - Derdre, Dunncas, or Ullan. Of those three, Dunncas is the only one who hasn’t tried to murder me or betrayed my trust so… off to Dunncas. His agenda is balance and healing. He easily agrees to let me see en on mil frichtimen if he’s chosen, and tells me how to make sure that he is - if I get a spectacular ancient crown from the grave of the high king that became the first guardian. He expresses distaste for using such a method. Siora is also worried about me making a decision that will impact all of her people. Gotta say that I agree, I have absolutely no place being involved in this decision at all - let’s see if the narrative lets me opt out of meddling! I go to see the other two candidates and hear out their agendas, out of fairness.

Ullan’s agenda is peace and alliance with the colonizers. He also readily agrees to help me.

Derdre wants to repel the colonists and take back the island. She says she’ll let me see en on mil frichtimen only if I rally Eseld/Siora’s tribe and join in the attack on the Ordo Luminous camp. Which, morally, I am absolutely all for. However, it seems like the game is heavily leaning on Dunncas as ‘the right choice’.

But yeah, fuck it, I’m backing Derdre all day long. Lets fuck up some Spanish Inquisition!

I have the option to inform the mother cardinal of the coming attack. Why the entire fuck would I do that?

So I destroy the fuck out of the camp and murder a bunch of inquiition torturers and free the surviving prisoners and gather evidence of war crimes. Then I go to mommy cardinal, who is big mad (Theleme -2 rep) that I didn’t tell her first. Boo. Fucking. Hoo.

Having done that, no there is no way to proceed in the questline without retrieving the crown, which involved murdering a Nadaig Magamen. I get the crown, and Derdre meets me there and rebukes me for entering a sacred place, trying to take the crown and throw the election, as an outsider. She is 100% correct. I give her the crown.

I wait two days and then go see en on mil frichtimen, who tells me that the malichor is the result of how the continental people treat their land. I’d like to pause here and talk about the role of Magical Natives in Green Aesop stories. Let’s review some tropes:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CloserToEarth

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InHarmonyWithNature

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalNativeAmerican

This some some colors of the wind / Avatar’s blue cat people bullshit, the idea that indigenous people are implicitly and intrinsically more -one with the earth- and that ‘modern civilization’ has lost this, to their detriment, and can only heal through <s>cultural appropriation</s> learning and adopting deep earthy truths known by indigenous people. The point of this in the story is to tell a Green Aesop - https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GreenAesop - it sets a paradeigm of indigenous people being the noblest of noble savages - https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NobleSavage - of indigenous people as a simpler, greener form of humanity. It’s othering. I’ve written a lot about this in the past, check out my post about woo: https://moniquill.tumblr.com/post/32577796262/the-following-is-a-post-about-woo

This particular brand of othering of indigenous people directly and personally fucked me up, as an indigenous person, when I was a kid. That could be why I have a personal grudge against it.

Moving along.

en on mil frichtimen alo tells me that Constantin is the bringer of doom times, and that Catasach essentially stole power from the island to keep him alive. I need to put a stop to his endless bitter hateful hunger. So yeah, that’s a thing. I go check up on my dear cousin.

When I show up, emissaries from the alliance and theleme are there begging Constantin for troops and also me; they’re suffering horrible attacks on their outposts and people. They’re blaming the natives. I mean, to be fair I did just crown queen Derdre Kill ‘Em All so….just saying. But moving on, I talk to Constantin about the sanctuary. He...doesn’t react well to the warnings about himself. When I ask him about his body with the island, it sure does seem like he got high on apotheosis and wants another hit. He doesn’t believe that the malichor on the continent is the fault of the continentals.

My main quest lines are now

The attack on San Matheus

The attack on Hikmet

And honestly fuck both those places because both of them were running torture camps but whatever, I guess I’m off to investigate.

Mommy Cardinal over in San Mateus wants me to hit up an outpost that’s being attacked relentlessly by wild animals. Speculation is that ‘island demons’ are controlling them.

Governor Burhan says the same thing’s happening to his folks.

Upon checking it out, the islanders are also being attacked; the animals are attacking indiscriminately, and while having that conversation a guy bursts in to say the guardian of the village (a nadaig glendemen) has turned on his people. So we kill it to death in a boss fight and it’s revealed that the corrupted nadaig was causing the animals to be killrabid. Now that it’s dead, the animals are back to normal.

Samesies over near San Matheus.

A human must be responsible, the creatures wouldn’t be so coordinated otherwise.

Is it my cousin? I bet it’s my cousin.

We go talk to Constantin.

He says ‘ha ha ha nothing to worry about….peace out, my adorable cousin!’ and takes off to parts unknown. I shake down his guards, but all they can tell me is that he’s going north outside the city. I rummage through his papers, and find his journal. Yeeeeah he’s super high on apotheosis and wants to become a god. Like, supplant and replace on en mil frichtimen. And he’s off to ‘get rid of’ some natives in Cwenvar who saw him the other night and might denounce his actions. I’m gonna have to take out my cousin by the end of this game and it will be a tearjerker cutscene. Calling it now.

We head to Cwenvar to talk to the natives. They show me how to spy on Constantin. We follow him to a sacred grove, where he’s clearly gone cuckoo bananas. He’s commanding a corrupted nadaig, which he tells to hold us back - but not kill me. SO we kill the nadaig, and then have a chat with on en mil frichtamen, who confirms that Constantin is trying to gain godhood by murdering god and taking his power. Yanno, as one does. In a cutscene, I list all the people who will totally help me against Constantin. This includes… pretty much everyone, because I’ve diplomatted my way through the game and everyone likes me. Time to go rally armies.

It’s worth noting at this time that on en mil frichtamen calls me ‘flesh of my earth’ and earliet called me ‘the child that was stolen’ - there’s a very ‘YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE’ vibe here, implying that I’m only able to succeed at this task because I’m native by blood - I’m not REALLY a continental and thus a Tainted Person made of Endless Greed. It is my native-ness and my bond to on en mil frichtamen, passed down from my donegiad parent, that allows me to be the hero of this game.

I want you, dear reader, to stop and think about the gross racial implications of that.

Moving forward: We go to ask Dunncas for help in how to break Constantin’s links to the land. He gives me seeds to place at the base of the stone Constantin has erected, to topple them. I have to fight a corrupted Nadaig each time. At this interval Siora points out how wise and attuned to en on mil frichtimen Dunncas is, and I express regret at not choosing him to be high king. TOO SUBTLE, GAME.

So yeah, couple of tedious boss fights.

Having broken his links and gathered my allies, it’s time for the endgame. We go back to the sacred grove where I talked to en on mil frichtimen, I get a series of heartwarming cutscenes with my companions and allies as I ascend to Constantine’s heart stronghold.

I reach Constantin. I have to fight a big bad ultra nadaig, which Constantin tells not to kill me.

He has a long cutscene in which he pleads his case, asking me to bond with him and rule together. I can either bond with him and join him in godhood, which is implied to doom all of humanity to eventually succumb to the malichor because no land can ever be healed now, or I can kill him and save the world like a big damned hero.

Then Mr. deCourcillion narrates the epilogue, where I get to hear about the consequences of all my decisions through the game. My decision to crown Derdre results in forcible decolonization of the island and healing thereof, but the old world nations are plunged into war and the malichor gets worse there. Am I supposed to feel bad? I don’t!

In the ‘best’ ending, Magical Native Healers travel to the continent and teach the sad tained continentals how to live in harmony with nature and heal their lands.

Here, have an every possible ending video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcUByGfNXgY

Know what weirds me out as an actual indigenous person? Learning that I’m a stolen child way back in Act 1 never resulted in a quest where I in any way question or explore my real ancestry. I never try to find out what clan my real mother was from or if I have any living relatives. I never look into why the Congregation abducted my mother and why I was raised by Princess De Sardet. The game just feels that this is unimportant. The important thing was that I have Magical Native Blood.

So yeah. That’s the game.

In studying the fandom presence of this game, roughly no one is interrogating the fuckedness of the premise or narrative. The active fandom seems to be mostly people who want to bang Vasco, people who think Constantin is a sad wooby who deserved better (including a lot of people who chose the ‘bad’ ending because they wub himb) and people who want to bang Constantin and justify it because he and De Sardet aren’t REALLY cousins… and people who are just here for The Aesthetic. Fun fact there are exactly 12 F/F fics on a03 set in this universe.

Here, have some examples, all from https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/GREEDFALL and https://archiveofourown.org/tags/GreedFall%20(Video%20Game)/works

https://destiny-rahl.tumblr.com/post/616743783790460928/constantin-de-sardet-my-beloved-otp-this

https://swiveldiscourse.tumblr.com/post/615782041344147456/not-sure-who-needs-to-hear-this-but-this-game

https://totallyamoral.tumblr.com/post/615651870535532545

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20766497/chapters/49345631

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20676554/chapters/49106921

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20747450

Lots of people compared this game to Dragon Age: Inquisition when it first came out because the gameplay looks similar. But here’s the thing… the first time I finished DA:I, I immediately wanted to turn around and play it again, as a different character, as someone who made different decisions and followed a different romance and brought different companions with me on quests to see their different reactions.

I do not want that with Greedfall.

My first thought upon fisnishing was ‘Oh thank fuck, I’ve seen this to fruition, I don’t have to play this anymore.’

That is not how I should feel at the end of a game.

I feel tired and broken and hurt and used, much like I felt after reading Sister Raven.

https://moniquill.tumblr.com/post/165881710831/so-today-i-read-a-book-called-sister-raven

Native-specific sidequests of note:

In An Aspiring Merchant, you meet a native merchant in New Serene who’s trying to set up shop; because he doesn’t have the correct paperwork and didn’t follow the bureaucratic process, his stuff keeps getting confiscated. I do not have any opportunity to explore why his lack of paperwork gets his stuff repeatedly confiscated, rather than just getting him sent home.

While I’m getting the paperwork for him, his cousin arrives with a shipment of goods. The guards confiscate the goods again, and arrest the cousin. I go to investigate, and find that cousin threw some punches when the guards once again confiscated all of the goods, and was arrested for disorderly conduct. Ok. So I proceed to the jail and find that he has been sent to fight -to the death- in the arena?! When the prison guard says ‘Hey, it wasn’t me, I was just following orders’ I’m not given an opportunity to ask who’s giving the orders or pursue the miscarriage of justice. I head to the Arena. Despite being a Legate, one of the highest governing offices of the colony, I have no option to put a stop to these shenanigans. I can’t just spring him, or pay bail; I am required to fight beside him to secure his freedom.

Completing this quest opens the Ullan/Vignamri questline.

Ullan wants to trade with Hikmet, Hikmet wants us to secure the roads, we visit another chieftain, he agrees to a meeting, Ullan shows up and shanks him, I shout at Ullan about how that was bad to do, Ullan thanks me for giving him the opportunity.

In Logging Expedition, I follow up on the quest hook about settlers clear cutting a glade that I got in vigyigidaw. Standoff between the natives and the settlers, natives want to plant trees, settlers won’t let them. Three settler woodcutters died recently - after investigation there was a conspiracy to poison them by an elder in vigyigidaw - my character refers to this as an act of vengeance by a hateful old man. Despite having literally just had it explained to us that it was supposed to be an object lesson in why not to clearcut the forest - the meat would have been fine if it had been prepared with a particular (possibly now extinct?) berry.

So we pop all the way down to the congregation colony to ask Mr. Courcillon how to diplomacy this ‘property disagreement’. He tells us to go to the basement archives and then see Lady Morange. Just from a gameplay perspective, this - like many sidequests - is fucking tedious. Just running from one place to another, grabbing a few lines of dialog in each place, with no player decision or engagement. This is a poorly designed game. So we hash out the contract, which was created back where neither side had any understanding of the other side’s ideas of what land ownership means. Manhattan was bought for 60 guilders worth of glass beads, etc etc. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/12657/was-manhattan-really-bought-24

We have to prosecute the old man for murder if we want a new land deal signed. To prosecute the old man, we have to go stop a mining operation. It’s just one thing after another, and all of it boring and tedious. I had to stop in the middle of this questline and put the game down not because it was upsetting, but because it was -boring-. I hope that the readers appreciate the work I’m putting into making a detailed critique of this garbage fire.

#Greedfall #NDN stuff #Indigenously Angry #Clusterfuck #NDN #Colonialism: The Game

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anythingstevenuniverse · 4 years

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*SU Spoiler* Pink Pearl Instability

In the “Steven Universe: Future” promo we see Pink Pearl appear three times: lovingly reminiscing Pink Diamond, her eye cracking, and Pearl protecting her. She appears more then Jasper and about the same as Pink Steven meaning she is going to be important in the future plot of the series. Those clips bring us more information about Pink Pearl then “Familiar”. In “Familiar” we see Pink Pearl and Pink Diamond playing and goofing off meaning Pink Pearl has the same playful personality as Pink Diamond, but both had to suppress those urges due to Homeworld society. After Pink Pearl was freed in “Change Your Mind”, she is confused and Steven later explains what happened. Sadly, we did not get a reappearance or more story of Pink Pearl. “Steven Universe: Future” is a new story in the Steven Universe franchise and reveals missing plot points and character we have yet to seen. This includes Pink Pearls personality after the events, her personality in general, and how she reacts to Era 3. However, it seems Pink Pearl has not let go of the past.

Everyone has come to the assumption Pink Pearl does not only admire Pink Diamond but has an unhealthy obsession. The image of her smiling in adoration with a Pink Diamond silhouette. That basically screams I love Pink Diamond. However, this adoration turns into an obsession with an idealized Pink Diamond. Much like Pearl in the earlier season, Pink Pearl is idolizing a “perfect” Pink Diamond. She finds no flaws in her Diamond and will project that perfection onto Steven. It took a long time for Pearl to accept that Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz has flaws and Pink Pearl was mind controlled for over 6,00 years, it will take more than 2 years for her to accept the Pink Diamond was a flawed Gem.

Pink Pearl’s mental state is extremely unstable. Having this obsession of an idealized Pink Diamond is causing her physical form to literally crack. Unfortunately, Steven will not be able to heal her. Garnet explained in “Monster Reunion” that Steven’s healing powers can only heal physical damage not mental damage of a Gem. Pink Pearl’s cracking eye is most likely related to her unstable mental state much like corruption. Notice how she is smiling while the crack is expanding. The cracking could be caused by her denial of a flawed Pink Diamond or remembering something Pink Diamond did that does not fit her image. Because Steven cannot heal her crack using his powers, he must convince Pink Pearl to accept Pink Diamond as a flawed and imperfect being. Otherwise her crack will continue to spread, and she may snap and project her obsession of Pink Diamond onto Steven.

Pink Pearl’s projection of Pink Diamond onto Steven is going to be an indicator of Pink Steven related powers. Steven tends to stay away from the past, especially events related to Pink Diamond. However, Steven is still fixing his mother’s mess and Gems who have been inflicted by his mother’s actions will become a constant reminder to Steven. Steven will start to get tired of this and express negative emotions related to his mother and himself. Pink Pearl’s unhealthy obsession with Pink Diamond and unwillingness to fix herself will be one of the causes of Pink Steven resurfacing much like “Mindful Education” when he could not help Gems affected by his mother who did not want help.

In this case Pearl may be able to help Pink Pearl. Pearl went through the same obsession of an idealized Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz and projected those same feelings onto Steven. However, their reason for being obsessed is a bit different. Pearl was obsessed with the notion of Rose Quartz letting her become free from Homeworld expectations and idolized her as a bold, charismatic, and kind leader. It was not until loosing Rose and repairing her trauma with Steven’s help, did she move on and gain real freedom to be herself. Pink Diamond let Pink Pearl be more playful then the other Pearls and enjoyed entertainments such as juggling in “Familiar” but had to keep it secret from the other Diamonds. She was happy being treated more like a friend then a servant. Not only did they keep their playful banter a secret, but Pink Pearl was mind controlled for over 6,000 years and had no clue about events on Earth or Homeworld. She never had a chance to move on or even process grief of loosing Pink Diamond (if she even believes she is gone). However, both have something in common: obsession over the same Diamond, being abandoned by her causing mental and emotional issues, and difficulties in moving on. Pearl can sympathize with Pink Pearl and try subtle approaches to healing her trauma-related crack. Until Steven decides to go berserk. Notice in the clip of Pearl protecting Pink Pearl, the crack is bigger meaning this happens after the crack expanded. Once Steven’s calms down, Pearl will help Steven as well as help Pink Pearl overcome her trauma by explaining her similar experience.

There is a question that has boggled many fans: how did Pink Pearl’s eye crack? Because the crack it related to her unstable mental state, we must wonder how as corruption was the only way to deform a Gem’s form. From lots of other theories, there are 3 ways Pink Pearl’s eye was cracked:

1) White Diamond may have caused it. White Diamond controlled Pink Pearl for over 6,000 years. Pink Pearl was basically in hyper sleep. White Diamond had control over Pink Pearl’s mind and was a key component in corruption. It could be possible that the crack started to form after being mind controlled as White Diamond abused Pink Pearl. Who is to say White Diamond cannot control the mind to physically harm themselves?

2) Pink Diamond may have caused it. There has been wide speculation that Pink Diamond caused Pink Pearl’s cracked eye and that is highly likely. In “Jungle Moon” Pink Diamond punches a wall in Yellow’s base. However, she only punched the wall after getting scolded by Yellow meaning her anger is more stress related to her self worth as a Diamond. There may have been an incident where Pink Diamond was scolded by her Diamonds and was extremely agitated. Pink Pearl wanting to cheer her up could have angered her even further and Pink Diamond decided to punch her. Instead of poofing her form, she cracked Pink Pearl’s eye. After realizing what she did, Pink Diamond will try to apologize for actions but may shift the blame of her actions to the stress. This is a type of abuse that is unintentional on Pink Diamond’s part and could be the factor in the crack expanding because Pink Diamond showing a flaw is contradictory to her idolization of her.

3) Pink Pearl may have cause it. Pink Pearl may have caused the crack herself during White Diamond’s control. The crack is related to her unstable mental state. However, it did not expand while under White’s control. When White Diamond first started her mind control, Pink Pearl may have cracked herself after being separated from Pink Diamond. From one of the book signings, Rebecca Sugar stated that gems can poof from overwhelming emotions. The separation from her Diamond was too much and she just cracked (literally and figuratively). Although, from Cartoon Universe recent video, she may have cracked from hearing her Diamond being shattered. The shock of her Diamond being shattered was so horrifying it just cracked her mental state and in turn her physical one as well. White Diamond would notice and controlled the crack from her mind control and bleaching.

We can deduce the crack does come from extreme emotions. Gems can lose their form over heightened emotions, so who is to say it cannot cause other damage such as physical damage? Pink Pearl’s unstable emotions are what caused the crack as well as causing it to expand. If her instability is not dealt with, she will crack even more.

If Steven and Pearl do manage to help Pink Pearl out of her unstable mindset, what will she do afterwards? Much like Spinel, Steven cannot stay or offer friendship to Pink Pearl as he is related to Pink Diamond which can cause him or her to spiral downward. Pearl can offer friendship but is living her own life on Earth with the Crystal Gems and Steven. There are 3 scenarios that could happen to help Pink Pearl heal:

1) Like Pearl, Pink Pearl will go on her own adventure of self-discovery. This would be a good, as she has been Pink Diamond’s servant/friend for so long and does not have a sense of individuality. If Blue and Yellow Pearl were able to discover their passions quickly in appearance, then who is to say Pink Pearl could not? Yellow Pearl likes to model, Blue Pearl likes to draw, Pearl likes many things: sword fighting, dancing, building, and cleaning. Pink Pearl needs to find something that grounds her from going to those negative emotions. If I had to guess, depending where she stays, maybe something related to entertainment like dancing or music? Either way she must find things she likes instead of relying on her Diamond to find herself.

2) Because she was attached to Pink Diamond, she needs to find someone with similar experiences to help her recovery. She needs a friend who can help her realize she is more then Pink Diamond’s pearl. Whether this be a Gem or human, Pink Pearl has an unstable mental mindset: she is nothing without her Diamond and Pink Diamond was the only person who feel special and loved. She is like Pearl, but Pearl cannot devote herself to helping Pink Pearl as she is moving on and living her own life on Earth. A friend who can help Pearl find herself as well as reassure her self worth would be beneficial to Pearl and help her socialize with other Gems.

3) A video Awestruckvox in the Rountable pointed out was Pink Pearl could be an unwilling antagonist. That is possible if Pink Pearl is not saved from her mental instability. She was Pink Diamond’s pearl meaning she knows information other Gems do not like Pearl. Wanting to be with Pink Diamond again, she may join forces with other Gems that may want to harm Earth and Steven. However, that is only if Pink Pearl continues to be mentally unstable and stuck in the past. Also, she was not seen in the villain section of the introduction. It is interesting to see an unwilling antagonist, but it would be hard to incorporate that as the show is about redemption/helping other characters. But the Crewniverse would find a way.

The Pink Pearl arc (even if it may be one episode) I am most excited about! A couple reasons why. She was a very mysterious character in the show, yet she was also the most important as she was Pink Diamond’s servant/friend. After she was freed from White Diamond in “Change Your Mind”, we never got to see what happened to her after Steven explained everything. The first teaser promo in “Steven Unvierse: Future” gives us a glimpse at what the new story is in the “Steven Universe” franchise and mostly focuses on Steven facing more of his mother’s issues and his own. Pink Pearl is still stuck in the past and will project her obsession of Pink Diamond onto Steven becoming one of the key components to his stress and crisis. The other reason I am excited is the scene where Pink Pearl’s eye starts to crack more. That scene reminds me of friends and people who suffer from deep seeded issues (mostly mental), brush it off and put on a fake façade of happiness, but as the issues become worse it starts to show. Examples are people with trauma who hides it until they start showing signs of said trauma or abuse victims who hide their abuse until the damage is shown in the behavior or body. Pink Pearl is obsessed with Pink Diamond but is also suffering from some kind of trauma related to her. The trauma is starting to resurface and the more she remembers the more visible it becomes. I am very interested in how Pink Pearl’s character will be revealed and fleshed out on December 7!

#steven universe #steven universe future #su spoilers #pink diamond #pink steven #steven universe future promo #white diamond #december 7 #pink pearl #jungle moon #pearl #crystal gems #su theory #change our mind #steven

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visualssometimesetc · 3 years

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Ready Player One: A Review

(channeling my inner geek once again after a really long hiatus; will comment mainly on the book)

After almost a year, I picked up this dusty, slightly yellow paperback from my drawer of untouched reads to ease myself into the habit of perusing pages again.

Considering this to be Cline’s debut novel, and one aimed at teenagers/young adults, I must say I was skeptical. Especially due to the latter fact. Growing up, I devoured many worlds conjured and targeted at the T/YA base that when I grew older and tried getting back into them again, many storylines couldn’t sustain my interest. But this was different.

It is America, 2045. The world at its peak of crumbling shambles, virtual reality pivots the new normal. Young and old alike can be any avatar they choose in the OASIS, a world created by the highly-worshipped game genius James Donovan Halliday. A literal “escape from reality,” OASIS provides so many possibilities one can only dream of when they log out and peel off their visors and haptic suits, devices required to access the simulation.

Reality and online simulation becomes so intertwined, many don’t leave it. Students are schooled online. Credits earned in the OASIS pays for your mortgage in real life. People dress up their avatars instead, leaving their actual selves in deep abandon. After the death of Halliday, a worldwide Easter Egg hunt commences. Starting all users out with a slew of clues to unlock the First Gate, Gunters (egg hunter = gunter) would have to get past a total of three gates and find the Egg to eventually be awarded James’ entire multibillion fortune and infinite reign over the OASIS. Only one would stand to inherit it all.

We follow Wade Watts, your average teenager who studies Halliday’s facts, interests and life to a T in a bid to clear Gates, win the prize money and get out of The Stacks (think Slumdog Millionaire, but Americanised).

Maybe it was the many references to 80s pop culture, where James grew up in and with which the clues centred around, that drew me in. Though unrelatable, its vibes was always something I dig, especially the music. The book covered almost every aspect you could think of that encapsulated the 80s: movies, music, games. I’m no gamer, but it did spur an impulse to hunt down old-school arcades I would occasionally sneak into during secondary school (or high school) days. I remember wearing a sweater/shirt over my school gear to avoid those shopkeepers from snooping about as my friends and I play and got hammered by the games. Oh, fun times.

Each chapter was short with no more than ten pages long, something I appreciated greatly because I usually read on public transport and I absolutely hated starting a chapter and not finish it by the time I reached my destination. I would rather not start on it and instead, phub. Cline’s understanding of his target audience (short attention span people like myself) was on point. It won me over within the first few chapters.

Ready Player One is also highly realistic, what with VR assimilating itself in our current day and age, contrasting with real issues like world hunger and excessive energy consumption, it sure is a dog-eat-dog life on paper and in real time. There’s no escaping it, really. But this also made it relatable, subtly (maybe not Cline’s intention) pushing the message of doing more than just mindless consuming to his readers. Art3mis, Wade’s love interest, is one such character, doing her best to outbid Parzival (Wade’s avatar in the OASIS) and find the Egg to end the world’s problems.

All novels typically have this in common - character development. While not very significant, I felt that it was not needed, because Cline had already established their personas well enough when he introduced them to us. Clans who worked together to crack clues and advance on quests together were aplenty but the rare few mentioned by Cline. These gunters in particular, all had distinct personalities, their own agendas for wanting the Egg, which was something I dug as well. Different people, varying characters, vying for the same prize in healthy competition.

And what’s a good story without the antagonist? A popular clan, the Sixers, controlled by infamous tech company Innovative Online Industries (IOI), which vows to gain full access to the OASIS and ‘revolutionise’ the world tries getting its hands on recruiting Parzival after he clears the First Gate on his own. Do you think he accedes to their request? What happens after that? Read it on your own...

After finishing the novel, I was hyped up, though just as much as I dreaded watching the film. I ignored my urge to Netflix as I was still thumbing through the book. You know how many film adaptations would let you go “Oh no no no... (shakes head),” and I would be lying if I said I didn't feel the same after watching this film adaptation. I would say though, The Stacks, the casting of Aech and the OASIS, were ON POINT. EXACTLY how I pictured it. But of course, it’s Steven Spielberg. The soundtrack too, 💯. All things considered however, I am a sucker for following things to a T, or almost to it. You can most definitely hear my inner monologue as I viewed the movie. About 40% of the screenplay was re-adapted.

But as I researched deeper into the whys’ of the re-adaptation, I understood and put most of my case to rest. Apart from copyrights issues, some parts would be too draggy if re-enacted. My only two complaints would be: 1. I wished they wrote Art3mis, Daito and Shoto to be more like what was conveyed in the book. I felt that their personas did get diluted. 2. The Gates aren’t actually that easy to open. Yet, I understand that as this is a movie, there was only so much that can be done within the stipulated time frame and budget. I did appreciate however, that the storyline was logical (not gonna point fingers here) and the actors’ performances were pretty solid in the movie.

This about sums my review on this great book! I’m not too sure if I’d be keen to take up Ready Player Two soon however, after having read the synopsis. Some stories are best told and finished in just a single novel, just like some series should just end on a good-enough note of just a few seasons. But who knows, Cline might just prove me wrong yet again.

Book: A surprising 10/10! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Film: 7/10 (still worth your time, perhaps watch before reading the book for an unspoiled, unbiased, higher rating)

Thanks for braving this lengthy review, I hope this review encourages you to pick up this book 😊😊

#ready player one #ready player 1 #ready player two #book review #bookblr #bookaddict #read a book #movie review #book recommendations

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dukereviewsxtra · 4 years

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Duke's Monsterween: Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Xtra Where We Continue Duke's Monsterween...

By Looking At The Sequel To Scooby Doo The Movie, Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed...

Written By James Gunn, Before He Made...

This Film Sees Mystery Inc Donating Some Of The Costumes From Their Famous Capers To The Coolsonian Museum In Their Hometown Of Coolsville..

But When A Mystery Man In A Costume, Brings The Pterodactyl Ghost To Life And Steals All The Costumes, It's Up To Mystery Inc To Find Out Who He Is And Stop Him Before He Brings The Other Costumes To Life...

Will They Do It Before An Unscrupulous Reporter Ruins Their Reputation As Mystery Solvers?

Let's Find Out As We Watch Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed...

The Film Starts With Mystery Inc Arriving At The New Coolsonian Museum Where They're Holding An Exhibit On Mystery Inc's Greatest Foes...

Hey, Look, Pat O'Brien Is There To Tell Daphne Not To Tell The Press About What He Said On Her Answering Machine...

Meeting Their Fans As They Enter The Museum (2 Of Them Being Smallville's Toyman And The Red SPD Ranger) Fred Is Briefly Interviewed By One Of The Film's Antagonists, Heather Jasper Howe (Played By Batgirl) Before They Go In..,

After They Give The Press A Tour Of The Museum, We Meet The Curator Of The Coolsonian Museum, Named Patrick (Played By Seth Green)

Who Only Took The Role So He Could Do This On Robot Chicken...

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Also He'll Be Velma's Love Interest For This Movie...

With Velma Playing Hard To Get With Patrick, We Get A Bit Of A Spooky Atmosphere As Daphne Discovers That The Pterodactyl Ghost Costume Is Alive...

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(End At 2:20)

After The Attack, Velma Discovers A Secret Hatch Where The Pterodactyl Ghost Was Along With A Scale From The Ghost Himself...

Fred Talks With Jasper-Howe About The Case Only For Her To Make Mystery Inc And Shaggy And Scooby Look Bad During Her Report....

With The Gang Blaming Themselves For Not Making Sure That Shaggy And Scooby Don't Get Everything Wrong, The 2 Friends Overhear And Blame Themselves For Being Screw-ups...

This Leads Them To Decide To Become As Good Of Detectives As Their Friends And...Failing At The First Try...

But As Shaggy And Scooby Attempt To Act Like Good Detectives In Front Of The Others, Fred, Velma And Daphne Discover That That The Scale From The Museum Is A Real Pterodactyl Scale...

Which Leaves The Only Question Being Who Could Create A Real Pterodactyl Ghost, This Leads Daphne To Bring Up The Original Pterodactyl Ghost, Jonathan Jacobo, Who Wrecked Havoc As The Pterodactyl Ghost Because He Wanted To Create Real Monsters...

But After He Attempted A Prison Break Which Lead To His Untimely Demise...

However, Jacobo's Cellmate, Jerimiah Wickles (The Black Knight Ghost) Was Released 2 Months Ago, Also The Black Knight Ghost Was One Of The Costumes Stolen...

So, They Go To Wickle's Mansion (Which Looks Like The Mansion From The Opening From The Series) Only To Fall Into A Trap When They Ring The Doorbell...

But Luckily Daphne Very Cleverly Uses Make-Up Items To Open The Lock...

Splitting Up To Search For Clues, Fred, Daphne And Velma Discover Glowing Footprints And A Book By Jonathan Jacobo On How To Create Your Own Carbon Based Monsters...

While Shaggy And Scooby (After Having A Sinatra Moment)...

Discover A Clue With The Words "Faux Ghost Tonight" Before Running Into A Very Real Black Knight Ghost..

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(End At 3:04)

Returning To Their HQ, Shaggy And Scooby Don't Stay Long Faking Scooby Having Rabies So They Can Go To The Faux Ghost While Velma Discovers That The Pterodactyl Scale Contains Randamonium (Which Is One Of The Ingredients On How To Create Monsters)...

And With Randamonium Being Located At Silver Mines, They're About To Go Check Out The Old Abandoned Mining Town In Old Coolsville Until Patrick Shows Up Causing Velma To Become As Scared As A Bunny Rabbit As She Crawls Away Like A Baby...

With Daphne Giving Velma Advice, She Then Does A Quck Makeover...

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(Start At 1:31, End At 1:39)

If She Wore That On Her First Date With Hawkeye, I Can See Why He Married Her...

Meanwhile, At The Faux Ghost, Scooby And Shaggy Discover That Tonight Some Of Their Former Enemies Are Throwing A Party There, So They Decide To Go Undercover So They Can Find Wickles...

Going Through The Crowd They Eventually Find Wickles And Have An Inkling He May Be The Bad Guy But They're Not Certain.,,

After A Dance Scene, Their Covers Are Blown And They're Chased Out Of The Faux Ghost...

Meanwhile, Fred, Velma, Daphne And Patrick Arrive At The Coolsonian Only To Discover That The 10,000 Volt Ghost And The Black Knight Ghost Have Stolen The Rest Of The Costumes...

As Patrick Decides To Go Off To Figure Things Out On His Own, Fred Gets Misquoted Again By Jasper Howe, Which Leads Daphne To Tell Her To Back The Hell Off...

But Howe Fires Back At Daphne Saying That While Everyone Has A Reason To Be In The Gang, What Good Is She Except For Being Just A Pretty Face...

Eventually She Says Something That Makes Daphne Believe That Howe Is The Mystery Bad Guy But Just As They're Talking The Bad Guy Shows Up, Meaning Howe Is Not The Bad Guy

And To People Who Knew Who The Bad Guy Was From The Very Beginning Of This Movie And Are Saying Who The Bad Guy Is In The Comments , Kiss My Ass And Don't Spoil It For The People Who Actually Like This Movie...

As Jasper Howe Leaves Bummed At The Fact She Got No Footage Of That...

Patrick Runs Into Shaggy And Scooby Who After Seeing Him Interrogate A Customer At The Faux Ghost, Have Suspicions That Patrick's The Mystery Guy But Again Aren't Sure...

Afterwards, Shaggy And Scooby Follow Wickles To The Old Abandoned Mining Town Where They Run Into The Skeleton Men But They Eventually Lose Them When The 2 Friends Discover A Secret Elevator...

As Fred, Velma And Daphne Arrive At The Mining Town, They Talk For A Bit About What Jasper Howe Said To Daphne And About Patrick Before Going To Talk To Wickles Who...Isn't Up To Anything Sinister...

Yes, Apparently They Interrupted A Pitch Meeting That Wickles Was Giving To A Couple Of Investors About Turning The Old Mining Town Into A Summer Camp...

As Long As It's Not Run By Peter McNichol And Christine Baranski, Then I'll Consider Sending My Kids There...

Asking Wickles About The Monster Attacks And Jacobo, He Has No Idea About The Monster Attacks And While He Was In Jail, Jacobo And Him Weren't Pals, So, Yeah, He's No Longer A Suspect...

Going Down In The Secret Elevator, Shaggy And Scooby Discover A Secret Laboratory But While They're Looking For Clues, Scooby Accidentally Drinks One Of The Formulas Inside Of The Fridge...

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(Start At 0:14, End At 1:55)

Smart Scooby Attempts To Create A Formula To Change Them Back But Muscle Bod Shaggy Throws The Formula And Causes An Explosion, Which The Others Hear. Still Having A Little Bit Of The Formula Left, Shaggy And Scooby Are Reverted Back To Normal...

With Fred Disappointed At Shaggy And Scooby's Actions, Velma Tells Him To Shut Up So They Can Look Inside Of The Villain's Lair...

Once Inside, The Team Find The Monster Making Machine That Is Turning Costumes Into Real Life Monsters, Meaning That He Not Only Needs The Costumes To Make The Monsters But That He Already Had A Pterodactyl Ghost Costume...

This Leads Velma To Believe That Patrick Is The Bad Guy And That He Only Was Interested In Her To See What They Knew, Shaggy Somewhat Confirms This With How Patrick Was Acting At The Faux Ghost...

As The Others Go Off To Find A Way To Shut The Machine Down, Shaggy And Scooby Play With It And End Up Bringing More Monsters To Life, Including The Zombie, Captain Cutler's Ghost, Miner 49er, And The Tar Monster

No Creeper?!? That's It! From Now On This Movie And I Are Enemies...

I'm Kidding, Of Course, But Still I Wish They Got Rid Of Either The 10,000 Volt Ghost Or The Skeleton Men So They Could Have Added The Creeper Because They're Basically Useless...

With The Other Members Finding That The Monsters Are Alive, Fred Disconnects The Control Panel (Which Looks Like The Transmooker From Spy Kids 2) So Him And The Team Can Race Toward The Elevator...

However, They're Soon Confronted By The 10,000 Volt Ghost Who Follows Them Up As The Skeleton Men Appear Right Behind Them...

After Fred, Velma And Daphne Escape In The Mystery Machine, We Get A Trashboard Sequence With Shaggy And Scooby Who Are Being Chased By The Skeleton Men, But They Eventually Land In The Mystery Machine And Escape...

Meanwhile In Coolsville, A Ghost Pirate Ship Hovers Over The City As The Mystery Guy Demanding That Mystery Inc Turn Themselves In Or He'll Destroy The City...

First Off, How Are You Sailing On A Pirate Ship When Redbeard's Ghost Wasn't One Of The Monsters You Brought Back...

I Mean It Makes Even Less Sense Than The Titanic Magically Appearing At The Dock...

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(Start At 0:14, End At 0:26)

That...Was Not Funny,.,

With Their Headquarters Being Dominated By Idiots Who Won't Wear A Mask Because "Their Rights Are Being Violated"...

They Head Back To Their Old Treehouse Headquarters, Where After A Flashback Velma Remembers Randamonium Has An Algorithmic Cross Currency Of -4.1 To One And If She Uses Her Old Multiple Resonance Imaging Device, She May Be Able To Reverse The Monster Making Process...

Managing To Fix The Device, They Get The Control Panel Ready To Reverse The Monster Making Process When On The Monster Machine, Mystery Inc Find That They Soon Have Company When Shaggy And Scooby See Captain Cutler's Ghost Rising From The Swamp By Their Treehouse...

After Losing Captain Cutler's Ghost, They're Soon Followed By The Pterodactyl Ghost, Who They Lose Just As Quickly...

Arriving At The Mining Town, They're Confronted By The Black Knight Ghost Who Fred Decides To Deal With, While The Others Go To Place The Device On The Monster Machine....

But On Their Way, The Team Dwindles When Daphne Goes To Deal With The 10,000 Volt Ghost And Velma Goes To Distract The Skeleton Men, But Not Before Telling Shaggy And Scooby That They're Not Screw-Ups And That She Always Wanted To Be As Carefree As They Are...

Fred And Daphne Manage To Defeat Both The 10,000 Volt Ghost And The Black Knight Ghost As Shaggy And Scooby Are Stopped By Miner 49er Before They Can Reach The Monster Machine...

But Eventually They Manage To Defeat Miner 49er With The Power Of Flaming Farts As Velma Escapes The Skeleton Men By Going Down A Vent...

Landing On The Ground, Velma Discovers That Whomever's Behind This Has A Shrine To Jonathan Jacobo. Patrick Enters And Tries To Help Velma But She Runs Away To A Metal Bridge Which She Falls Through..,

Patrick Catches Her And Tries To Help Her Up, But She's Afraid To Trust Him Because He May Be The Bad Guy But When He Says Something Romantic, Velma Let's Him Pull Him Up...

Only For Him To Be Carried Off By The Pterodactyl Ghost (Who I Thought Was Already Beaten)..

But Back To Shaggy And Scooby Who Are Having A Ghostly Encounter With A Rather Delicious Ghost...

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(Start At 0:13, End At 0:59)

The Team Enters The Monster Hive Where The Monster Machine Is Only To Be Confronted By The Monsters And The Mystery Man..

Each Member Of The Team Except Scooby Is Being Held By The Tar Monster But Luckily Scooby Frees Them With The Help Of A Fire Hydrant..

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(Start At 0:51, End At 2:27)

(In Scooby's Voice) Motherrucker!

With The Monsters Turned Back Into Costumes, The Mystery Guy Is Captured And Is Revealed To Be Heather Jasper Howe, Who Used Her Cameraman, Ned To Take Her Place As The Mystery Man When Daphne Figured Everything Out...

And The Reason Is Because Heather Jasper Howe Is Actually Jonathan Jacobo, Who Was Revealed To Be Alive When Velma Found A Newspaper Clipping Of Jacobo In Front Of The Coolsonian When It Was Under Construction...

Now What Better Way To End This Movie Than With American Idol Winner Ruben Studdard (Why Not? We Got Clay Aiken On The Soundtrack So Why Not Get His Competitor?) And A Game Code For The GBA Game That Doesn't Work...

Believe Me I've Tried It...

This Movie Is About As Good As The First One...

The Story Is Well Written, The Characters Are Better Than They Were In The First And The Monsters Are Very Well Designed, All In All, I Say See It...

Tune In On Friday As We Look At The Real Reason I'm Reviewing Scooby Doo During This First Week Of Monsterween...

But Till Then, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

#scooby doo 2 monsters unleashed #Freddie Prinze Jr #sarah michelle gellar #linda cardellini #Matthew Lilllard #alicia silverstone #seth green #Peter Boyle #tim blake nelson #Ruben Studdard

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yandere-wishes · 5 years

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Twisted Wonderland //Theories//

I know this is a yandere blog, but these theories will most likely tie into the characters when I do write about them.

Jack Howl

We've already preestablished - due to very obvious clues- that Jack is a member of the Canidae family, this is nothing new. But we've yet to discover what specific canid he is. I figure most people write this off as "he's a wolf" due to the last name Howl. Yet in truth, all members of this family make howling noises. Thus not permitting us to say with an efficiency that he is simply a wolf. I think he's a wild dog/ cape dog. My reasoning for this comes from an old 1990's Disney tv show called Timon and Pumbaa. In season one episode twenty-two segment two, Timon and Pumbaa are approached by a paranoid tarsier claiming that there is a wild and dangerous predator on the loss. The tarsier goes so far as to accuse Simba (a fully grown lion at this point) of being said carnivorous beast. Throughout the course of the episode, Timon and Pumbaa try to find truth in what he's saying. Finally, near the end of the episode, Timon agrees to go into hiding in a cave with the tarsier, dragging Pumbaa along despite his disbelief in Simba's guilt. When the trio approaches the cave, their "new companion" takes off their disguise (this is a Disney show, such folie is expected) to revile that he has been the predator all along. And what spices is this predator you may be asking? Well, a greyish-white wild dog with yellow eyes! And who do we know that shares these characteristics? Jack Howl that's who! Spoiler for the end; Simba rushes in and saves his two pals, scaring off the double-crosser at the end. In conclusion, Jack may be based on this overlooked yet fascinating antagonist, due to shared family characteristics and appearances.

Ruggie Bucchi

Despite my dismay that there was only one Hyena counterpart (that seems to be a place holder for all three) I was exceedingly fascinated with Ruggie's design. In the lion king franchise, the hyenas are viewed as lawless anarchists with caliginous personalities. However, Ruggie is drawn as a pure ray of sunshine with unhealthy eating habits. I have absolutely no idea why this is, and in all honesty, I'm not here to discuss Ruggie's features but rather where his name comes from...or so I think. Looking up the name "Ruggie" the only unmissable accounts I could find where from urban dictionary. The sources stated that "Ruggie" was derived from the word rugrat, It fits. But there was one more rationalization I discovered that seemed more just for this character. In the original drafts of the lion king, Scar (along with Zazu and the hyenas) was meant to sing a song concerning his mania towards his newly acquired position as king of the pride lands. This number was to further familiarize the audience with the antagonist. Alas, it never made it into the movie due to certain questionable thoughts flickering inside of Scar's head. The song was however sung in the broadway musical of the lion king. To cut to the chase there was an interesting part sung here.

Scar: "When my name is whispered through the pride this talk of love or regicide?" Shenzi: "Reggie who?"

Note how the spelling of Shenzi's misinterpretation of the word looks an awful lot like how Ruggie's name is written. I feel like Yana Toboso may have used many undisclosed Disney villain facts (songs, books, Easter eggs, etc) as inspiration with her reconstruction of their twisted counterparts. It could make a lot of sense if Ruggie's name came as a wordplay of regicide (the act of killing a king) and could be a reference to the hyena's role in Mufasa's death.

Sliver

With the introduction of the "Great Seven" I came up with a weird though. What if the spinning wheel form sleeping beauty somehow survived the event in the tale. Sometime later Director Crowly could have found it and used some magic to turn it into a boy. Yet Malificant’s sleeping curse still affected the spinning wheel even in human form, concluding as to why Sliver has abnormal sleeping patterns. This is more of a headcanon really but it's all I got for now.

Ortho

This theory is heavily based on canon greek mythology. I'm certain many of you are familiar with the tale of Hades and Persephone. For those of you who aren't, I won't be discussing the tale here since it has may iterations and I'm only interested in a small portion of the end. So feel free to look it up on google. The first spring that Hades had to endure after the departure of his belove Persephone was an intolerable agony for him. To cope with his trouble, the god of the underworld took to daydreaming. His favorite and most vivid thoughts were those of a daughter he wished to have with his wife. He imagined her in such detail that she sort of became a real person (goddess). Her name was Mesperyian, and she was described as being the most astonishing goddess to ever grace the earth. When word of her beauty reached mount Olympus, Aphrodite the actual goddess of love and beauty became enraged -as she does so often-. Aphrodite set to reclaim her title from Hades's daughter. Hearing of Aphrodite's scheme, he prohibited Mesperyian from leaving the underworld kingdom. Yet what Hades neglected to consider was that Mesperyian was half Persephone and thus retained a frenzied need to venture onto the surface world and experience the lavishness of planets, flowers, and overall nature. A considerable amount of time later the young goddess does just that. Once she arrives in a stunning meadow, she notices a gleaming mirror. Picking it she examines herself, Aphrodite having been watching her this whole time quickly sets fire to the mirror. Now understand that Mesperyian may be a goddess in title and does have a power set parallel to her goddess parents, but she was born from a dream thus rendering her physically not an actual goddess. This causes her to lack immunity to things all gods and goddess should naturally be immune to, such as a fire. When the mirror does catch on fire so does Mesperyian scarring her face severely and permanently. Now, this is a greek myth so when someone ends up....unpleasant they seem to quickly develop an "evil" persona. When Mesperyian takes note of how ugly she has become, she opts to become the goddess of punishment and torture, returning to her father's domain and continuously tormenting the souls of Tartarus. So let's tie this to Ortho, shall we? Ortho (in my opinion) is not precisely based off Hades. Despite appearances, there is nothing else tying Ortho to Hades. Yet he does share characteristics with Mesperyian. #1) Both Ortho and Mesperyian were created by some iteration of a lonely individual caught up in their agony and self-pity. For Mesperyian it was Hades and for Ortho it was Idia. #2) Both of them are not exactly what they were thought to be. Mesperyian was thought up to be a goddess, but in truth was not directly divinity. Despite having powers she lacked many key components of being a "real" goddess. Ortho was thought up to be a little brother for Idia, he may have been created to be an enhanced god or human, that however doesn't alter the fact that he is a sentimental robot and neither a "real" boy or god. #3) Mesperyian was based off Persephone (and slightly Hades). There is no direct evidence the Ortho was based on Idia's real brother or just another person in his life. But it is very likely that all the other theories out there might hold some truth. That could explain why Ortho does bear resemblance to Idia since at one point the "real" Ortho was Idia's flesh and blood (or whatever Idia's made of) so they would have shared genetics. This would tie up this theory.

If you guys have any theories I would love to hear them in the comments!

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metalandmagi · 5 years

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Fall 2019 Anime Worth Watching

Wondering what anime to watch now that the jam packed summer season is over? Never fear, we’re into the fall, and there’s even more great shows this season! It’s my last rec list of the year so we’re in the home stretch now!

Full disclaimer, this season is packed with great shows, but a lot of these are not available on Crunchyroll...so here’s a link to a list of where you can watch everything legally on streaming! And I’ll but an (*) by everything that IS on Crunchyroll.

And here’s my recs for every season this year:

Summer 2019

Spring 2019

Winter 2019

And here’s my master list for 2020

New shows!

Chuubyou Gekihatsu-Boy (Outburst Dreamer Boy): A comedy in which a normal girl just wants a peaceful high school life, but finds herself surrounded by a group of ridiculous, overly dramatic boys who are all part of the “hero club” who try to make her school life better by helping her make friends. This is all well and good, but all the boys are delusional in one way or another. For example, one thinks he and his friends are basically Power Rangers, and another is obsessed with fabricating dramatic fake anime backstories for himself. It’s Ouran High School Host Club without the hosting. It’s absolutely hilarious, but it’s really flying under the radar because it’s not on Crunchyroll.

Kabukichou Sherlock: A surprisingly comedic modern version of Sherlock Holmes that takes place in the seedier portions of Japan in which a bunch of the city’s quirky detectives try and hunt down Jack the Ripper. I was not expecting this to be nearly as good as it was. The characters are great, Mrs. Hudson is a transvestite cabaret singer, the soundtrack is bomb, it’s an original anime by Production I.G. AND SHERLOCK EXPLAINS HIS DETECTIVE PROCESS THROUGH MYSTERY SOLVING RAKUGO!!!!

Babylon: NO, NOT FATE BABYLONIA! This is a mystery/thriller involving a case of illegal clinical research for a pharmaceutical company that leads down a rabbit hole full of murder, suicide, and political intrigue. IT’S LIKE DEATH NOTE AND MONSTER HAD A BABY AND IT’S FREAKING AMAZING! I haven’t been this interested in a mystery/crime anime since Erased. The first episode will definitely leave you...hanging…. The only problem is it’s not on Crunchyroll, so I have a feeling most people won’t know about it because it’s on freaking Amazon Prime!

Hoshiai no Sora (Stars Align): A coming of age sports anime in which a boys soft tennis team sucks so bad that the school will disband them if they don’t win a tournament. And the team captain is so desperate for serious members, he literally pays his childhood friend who recently moved back into town to play on the team. And said childhood friend has an incredibly interesting backstory and struggling family life that ropes you in right away. How is soft tennis different from regular tennis? No clue, but this show is awesome! You can tell by the first episode it is going to be a great coming of age story, with more mature themes of abuse and class difference.

And it’s not the only sports anime with Sora in the title...

*Ahiru no Sora (Sora the Duck): Another sports anime, in which a short, spikey haired boy wants to play basketball (yeah yeah very original) but discovers that his high school basketball team is full of punks! It’s basically what would happen if Izuku Midoriya wanted to be a basketball player. The first few minutes are basically every sports anime you’ve ever seen, BUT it really lives up to its potential by the end of the first episode. It has a likable protagonist, good animation, and the female characters all wear realistic clothes to play basketball in! If you’re a piece of sports anime trash like me, this is definitely the show for you!

No Gun Life: In a detective noir world where everyone has basically become a cyborg, a guy with a gun for a head works to uncover the plans of an evil organization. That’s it, that’s the whole thing. It’s made by Madhouse AND IT’S A CYBORG WITH A GUN FOR A HEAD! What else do you need?!

Beastars: IT’S JUST ANIME ZOOTOPIA! I’m not even kidding. It’s a school based mystery involving anthropomorphic animals who are faced with the murder of one of their classmates and the disruption of the peaceful coexistence of all types of animals in the school. It involves the whole predator vs prey dynamic and how appearances are deceiving, all with a jarringly serious tone considering everyone’s an animal. The only thing that doesn’t sit right with me is the use of 3D animation...which I notoriously despise no matter how great the show is. But even I am willing to put aside my hatred to keep watching this anime. The characters are interesting, it’s shot really creatively, and I love how ridiculously seriously it takes itself. Apparently it’s going to be on Netflix at some point.

*Shin Chuuka Ichiban (True Cooking Master Boy): It’s Food Wars’ less porny sibling that takes place in 19th century China, where a young boy named Mao is a master chef who travels around spreading his love for cooking! This is a reboot/continuation of an anime based on a manga from the 90s so there’s a really fun retro art style that’s nice to see updated. Apparently it picks up in the middle of the original story, but I haven’t felt like it’s necessary to see the source material to enjoy it or understand it. Also the soundtrack is bomb! It’s a great shounen to watch if you want more cross-cultural cooking anime that’s not straight up porn in your life, and it will definitely make you hungry!

Next seasons and Continuations!

And don’t forget the summer leftovers, and some shows are getting continuations!

*Chihayafuru season 3: This is an incredibly fantastic underrated sports/club anime about a girl named Chihaya who struggles to find members for her karuta club after her best friend who made her fall in love with the game moves away. Never heard of “karuta”? It’s a physically and mentally challenging traditional Japanese game involving 100 poems written on cards that the players must memorize and locate before their opponent….it makes more sense when you see it I promise. This show is goddamn amazing, with incredibly realistic characters, an amazing game that most people don’t know about, gorgeous animation. It’s hilarious, it’s dramatic, it’s sad, and it’s uplifting all at once.

This doesn’t premier until October 23, (so you’ve got time to binge the first 2 seasons!) but this is by far my most anticipated show of the season and quite possibly the entire year! I’VE BEEN WAITING SO MANY YEARS FOR ANOTHER SEASON, AND I’M SO PSYCHED!

Kono Oto Tomare (Stop this Sound) season 2: Speaking of club related anime, in case you missed the first season earlier this year, this is an anime about a boy who tries to recruit members for his high school koto club after all his senpais graduate. What’s a koto club you ask? It’s a large Japanese string instrument that no one cares about or plays anymore of course! Their club is endearingly terrible, with literally only one competent person on the team, but they’re aiming for nationals anyway, because...of course they are. This show seems pretty textbook at first, but it really grows on you the further you get. There are great character dynamics, it’s fun, it’s sweet, and there’s cool music that people don’t hear a lot of! If you like sports or club focused anime, give this one a chance!

*Dr. Stone: An action adventure in which all of humanity is mysteriously turned to stone one day. When a genius high school boy named Senku and his….not so genius friend Taiju awaken 3,700 years in the future, the two must rebuild civilization and turn the world back to normal with the power of science! I know pretty much everyone is watching this already, but I just want to reiterate how amazing it is. It is mysterious, educational, hilarious, and it really makes you think about civilization as we know it today. It was one of the best (if not the best) new show of the summer, and I’m so glad it’s getting a full run!

Vinland Saga: THE VIKING ANIME IS GETTING A FULL RUN!!!!!!!! In case you missed this gem in the summer, it’s a historical drama about a young boy named Thorfinn and his journey to avenge his father’s death and become a great warrior. And it’s all while traveling with his enemies through Northern Europe. It’s a fantastic dark, realistic story in a historical setting that filled the void left by Dororo. Plus it’s animated by Wit, so it looks beautiful. The music is great, the characters are intriguing, the story is interesting, AND IT HAS AN AMAZING ANTAGONIST! It has hype written all over it, so I’m pumped for the rest of the season! Unfortunately, you can only find it legally on Amazon Prime, so that’s why no one’s watching it.

*Fire Force: The (unfortunately timed) action/drama where fire fighters with super powers must protect Tokyo from people who are spontaneously combusting and uncover the evil rooted within their own organization. It’s made by the same person who created Soul Eater, and it definitely shows. The animation is high flying and out of this world. It’s worth watching for the action alone. But be warned, the plot and characters are it’s biggest weakness. It will jump between gratuitous fanservice and hijinks and then rocket into moral dilemmas and disturbing situations with no warning. BUT I still like watching it for the action, and in these later episodes the plot has steered itself back on track a lot more, and I’m way more interested in where the story is going now. I’m hoping that means the second half will give us a better sense of the characters. It also has a top tier muscular waifu!

*My Hero Academia season 4: I’m sure everyone’s already going to be watching MHA, but I guess I’d have my anime fan badge revoked if I didn’t at least mention this one. I may not read the manga, but I know this arc is going to be a good one! I firmly believe this will be a modern classic, so if you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s really worth watching.

And that’s it for this season. I’ll probably do a list at the end of the year of my top shows of 2019, but otherwise, see you in the winter of 2020!

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medilea · 4 years

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My thoughts on The Legend of Heroes games.

I love them. Sky SC and The 3rd are probably some of my favorite games of all time. After playing through every game (minus Cold Steel 4) in the span of 2 and a half months, I feel compelled to tell every I know that likes JRPGs that they have to play these games. Buuuut that doesn’t mean I think these games are flawless. There are some things I really hate about this series. And I want to talk about the things I love and hate about the series.

Let’s start off with the positives.

1.) First and foremost, this series has a world that feels like it is alive and will continue to live even if the protagonists do nothing. My favorite way this was portrayed was in the Crossbell and Cold Steel arcs. Events in Cold Steel 1/Cold Steel 2 and Ao no Kiseki happen simultaneously. In Cold Steel 2 you get to see what’s happening in Crossbell from Erebonia and vice versa, albeit a bit weaker in Ao until the very end.

Another one of the ways it does this is by having in game readings of news articles, fiction, non-fiction, and reports. I love reading. This game is meant for people who like reading. It doesn’t matter what you like to read, but just know that if you play these games, ya gonna have to read. These readings paint the picture of a much broader world than the area you inhabit.

The world also feels alive is on a smaller scale. And that’s how towns have npcs that don’t even matter that still have their own little arcs and lives to live. Sometimes these characters will have a sidequest that will be the culmination of their arc but if the player doesn’t interact with them, the payoff won’t be there. This felt strongest in the Cold Steel arc, especially since CS1/3 takes place in a military academy, so you get to experience the stories of other students.

2.) This series is great for what it is when it comes to things like imperialism, class struggle, and war. The politics of this series is insane. Things that happen in game have happened or are happening in real life. I don’t want to spoil anything so I (and this pains me) won’t explain in further detail. Please just play them to find out.

3.) As a game, the combat is really fun. I’m a sucker for turn based fights and I love turn based combat even more when it shows the turn order. Also there are no random encounters so you’re mostly in complete control when determining when you want to fight.

4.) While on the topic of it being a game, it has something that I think should be standard for most games and definitely all JRPGs. It has a fucking fast forward mode! I love that. Going back and forth between areas isn’t a hassle, easy fights end in literal seconds, and you can fast forward through camera pans.

5.) Most of the characters are really cool! And there are a lot of them. The protagonists are dope. The antagonists are dope. It’s great. Of course there were a few I didn’t quite care for (sorry Millium) but there were also some characters I cared a little bit too much for, like Renne. So when I got to Star Door 15 in The 3rd lemme tell you I was literally sobbing.

I think the Crossbell arc was great with characters because unlike the other games, the main 4 party members you have are the ones you keep.

My favorite characters in the series are Kevin Graham, Randy Orlando, Estelle Bright, Wazy Hemisphere, and Crow Armbrust. If you have any intentions of playing this series don’t google anyone, and honestly, just don’t look at the wiki at all. Even if you think you’re safe because you’re not.

6.) Journey before destination. I got spoiled on so many things yet it was never ruined for me. Honestly they make it pretty obvious too with some things too that I want to believe that they’re just messing with us, because even if we’re spoiled or if something is predictable, it’s still a great journey. That being said, I know I mentioned that I didn’t want to spoil some things in #2, I just don’t wanna be the one to do it to you. I just believe that this series is best enjoyed blind. If you’re curious and accidentally learn something however, that’s still fine.

EDIT:

7.) The music!! How could I forget the music! Falcom’s music team puts out some absolute bangers. Here’s one of my favorite battle themes they put out.

Bonus.) I just want to give a special shout out to Trails in the Sky FC. It’s the very first game that starts off this grand interconnected story and I’m so happy that the main character is Estelle. I think it’s huge because for a JRPG that came out in 2004, Falcom made their main character a loud, brash, rude, and strong ass young woman that grows into an incredible person (that is still loud, brash, and rude). I just love them for that. Estelle’s the best...elle.

And now about some of the things I hate. For some of these I understand that there are cultural and ideological differences, but they still made me, ah, uncomfortable.

1.) Homophobia. Right off the bat. While it’s never direct with its homophobia, LGBT characters’ sexuality is often responded to with a 😅 from all the characters. But that’s not the main issue. The issue is that two out of the (potential) three LGBT characters, (If there are more I’m sorry but I only caught the outright stated) Olivier and Angelica, are constantly portrayed as predatory and I think that’s just a bad look honestly.

I do have to give props however for their portrayal of some characters’ gender. It’s not outright stated but from context clues I was able to assume that a certain main character in Crossbell was non binary. Being non binary myself that could be me projecting but idk it seemed pretty clear.

2.) In the Cold Steel arc it feels like a lot of the women there are supposed to be part of the Rean’s harem. They’re all wonderfully written within their personal storyline but when it comes to romance it’s just kinda cringe. Especially when in CS3 where Rean is an adult, a lot of them are minors. Hell, while we’re at it, while infrequent, there’s also sexualization of minors in general. It mostly comes down to some temporary outfit designs and I would say there’s nothing inherently sexual about most of them, but that’s if they were real people able to make their own choices...which they’re not. Someone designed those.

Finally I just have to mention why the hell do the characters act like if Tita and Agate were to date that’d be fine. He’s 28 and she’s 16 (CS3). They’re not together thankfully because only she has a crush on him, but like I said, characters think it would be ok and that’s an issue for me.

Now on to topics about the game/story itself instead of shitty things like these

3.) Within the first bit of CS1 there’s one of those “oops we fell and accidentally ended up in a unique position” things and I just hate those. Stop that. It’s treated as an interpersonal and a communication issue that lasts for hours of game time.

4.) In some story battles you’ll do great only to see the cutscene afterward show you losing, only to be saved by a stronger ally. It kind of made me feel like what I did was useless. Sometimes you also are supposed to lose a fight but you don’t know it.

5.) Sometimes you could get swept up in a wave of exposition that lasts for half an hour or more. You don’t know when this will happen. This was no issue for me but that’s because I was unemployed when I played them so I had a lot of free time. Your time should be respected.

6.) Crossbell games haven’t been officially localized so if you’re impatient like myself then you have to make do with translations that are just ok.

I’ll have a final point that’s kind of a spoiler so as for now I’ll rate the games and show the recommended playing order with an explanation. Even the last place rank is a good game though. I’ll post the final point at the very end so if you’re reading this and wary of spoilers you can finish after the conclusion.

Ranking:

Sky SC > Sky the 3rd > CS3 > (Ao = CS1) > (Sky FC = CS2) > Zero

Play Order:

Release Order: Sky FC, SC, 3rd, Zero, Ao, CS1, CS2, CS3

How I played them: CS1, CS2, All of Sky, All of Crossbell, CS3

How I would replay them: Sky, CS1, CS2, Crossbell, CS3

Since the first 2 CS and 2 Crossbell games are happening simultaneously there are many things that overlap. In my opinion I think that the Crossbell games give away more things about the Cold Steel games than the other way around.

If you read this, thank you for taking the time to do so. These games are really incredible and I highly recommend them to anyone that enjoys JRPGs. If you do decide to play, enjoy. Please talk to me about them.

7.)

Character deaths aren’t impactful because no one in this damn series stays dead. It gets really annoying after a while.

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nightqueendany · 5 years

Text

Jonerys “Subtext”

Rather than answer your anons on my other blog, I thought I’d make this a meta and a teaching point.

And boy Anon, you really are a piece of work:

You also don't know what subtext means. Sub meaning underneath and text mean written word. In this case since the medium is tv it's underneath the dialogue. The hidden meaning. What the characters are really thinking and really believe but not saying. What their true motivations are. They often remain underneath until the author wants it to become known at which point it will become the text. What you have presented is foreshadowing. And with the Dragon door reaching. How is that even text. Jon and Dany aren't parallels. So those metas don't exist. Those are wrong. They are foils. But you don't understand the meaning of that or don't want to so of course those metas don't exist. Two pins on a costume lol. Ok I'll give you that one. Tho not a meta but an observation. "Ohhhh, and the BIGGEST piece of subtext this season: BRAN’S VOICE OVER “HE LOVED HER AND SHE LOVED HIM” OVER THE SHOTS OF JON AND DAENERYS. THAT’S SUBTEXT YOU WILLFULLY BLIND SHIPPER." That's the text. That's what's being said. Bran was talking about R and L. If you take that as a hint for Jonerys then that's foreshadowing. Bran had no motivations behind that but to tell the audience the truth. That's it. The thing about foreshadowing though is that they can misdirect. False hints. "Dany’s supposed infertility was mentioned officially three times but she and Jon spoke about children (or it was mentioned to them) a total of five times in this one season. And then they had sex. That’s not scene analysis. That’s your “subtext” for you. Chekhov’s gun. If it’s mentioned, it must contribute to the story and is essential. If Dany were just going to remain infertile and never have a child, why mention it SO many times?" MENTION is text. This too is foreshadowing. "And again, that word: TOGETHER - a word that was REPEATED OVER AND OVER AGAIN throughout Season 7" Subtext is subtle and hidden it certainly wouldn't be repeated over and over again lol. "Now, if Political!Jon were true, at the very least, Jon’s pre-boatsex attire would include the Stark gorget as he’s known to wear because it would COMMUNICATE to the audience that he’s still a Stark, he hasn’t forgotten his family and the North... " Pol!Jon is part of the subtext. What Jon is really thinking. What his true motivations are. What is being HIDDEN from the audience. If you believe in what you see is really what's happening then there is no subtext for you. You don't believe it.

First off anon, I have to say thank you for this because it so perfectly demonstrates (1) your own entitlement. It’s quite funny to observe (2) your growing paranoia that Jonsa actually isn’t happening so to create an outlet for your fear and frustration, you’ve been spamming the inboxes of Jonerys/Daenerys stans (3) the absolute and complete bias of Jonsas and your tendencies to twist words attempting to make it so you’re always right and anyone who opposes you is always wrong (4) your utter misunderstanding of literary devices and trying to use your misunderstandings as if that’s proof that you’re right.

It’s really a laugh. Thank you for showing your side of the fandom’s weaknesses and highlighting them for all to see.

And thankfully, I have the receipts babe.

1) How can you sit there and pretend to know what a character on screen is thinking? If we’re basing everything off “character thoughts” then none of us would have any evidence at all because on a television show with no internal monologues, we aren’t privy to a character’s thoughts.

2) Don’t argue literary devices with someone who studies both English and Film. This is not a fight you will win. As it happens, I DO know what subtext is, but you seem to be having quite a difficult time with the meaning so I’ll explain:

The subtext is the unspoken or less obvious meaning or message in a literary composition, drama, speech, or conversation. The subtext comes to be known by the reader or audience over time, as it is not immediately or purposefully revealed by the story itself. - Literaryterms.net

There can be subtext of 1) an entire story 2) a passage or scene or 3) a single line. Also, you seem to be operating under the impression that “subtext” in film/television can only be through dialogue. This is not true.

For example, the entire subtext of the novel Animal Farm is firmly anti-communism, criticizing the rise of communism in Russia. Likewise, the subtext of the film Avatar (James Cameron) is a criticism of the genocide of Native Americans by the Europeans.

But do either of those “texts” ever mention communism or Native Americans?? No. Because it’s subtext.

What you have presented is foreshadowing. And with the Dragon door reaching. How is that even text.

*Sigh* (again, “subtext” does not have to mean “text” as in dialogue. See above examples of subtext as non-dialogue).

Foreshadowing drives subtext and they work together, oftentimes with Foreshadowing cluing the reader/viewer in on what the Subtext actually is. And both can work either with dialogue/text, or without. Especially in film/television. In film/television, we’re not limited to only words on a page (or words spoken by the characters). Things such as costumes, music, even the way certain scenes are shot can contribute to foreshadowing and subtext.

For instance, we hear creepy music. This foreshadows something bad will happen. The subtext is danger.

The Rains of Castamere is an excellent example throughout Season 3 of GOT because by the time we get to the Red Wedding in Episode 9 and we hear that iconic song, we know something terrible will happen. Subtext and Foreshadowing working together in a non-dialogue way.

By the way, you asked for “endgame” metas:

You were looking for metas that pointed to Jon and Daenerys ending up together. And you seem to have confused “Subtext” with “Foreshadowing” because “Subtext” does not point to “endgames”. “Foreshadowing” gives the audience clues as to what will happen in the future. “Subtext” does not. “Subtext” only shows the audience hidden or less obvious meanings of things. And again, the two often work together.

So please decide which you are looking for, subtext or foreshadowing, and stop bitching when you don’t get what you want because you didn’t know the right word.

And BTW, how is my “dragon door” example “reaching?” We get a very clear and purposeful shot of Jon being the one to close the door and of the Targaryen sigil being on the outside of it, with two known Targaryens inside. So far as “endgame”, I already told you what that points to (foreshadowing) - and that’s the continuation of House Targaryen through Jon and Dany and Jon embracing his Targaryen heritage. The “subtext” is, again, together. That’s the meaning behind it. Jon and Dany are united under one symbol, one House, one cause, and one love.

Just because you don’t want that to be the meaning of that shot, doesn’t mean it’s not.

Jon and Dany aren't parallels. So those metas don't exist. Those are wrong. They are foils. But you don't understand the meaning of that or don't want to so of course those metas don't exist.

Did. You. Not. Click. On. The. Link. From. The. Other. Ask??

Parallel characters, also known as “Mirror” characters, function in a similar way to “Foils” in that they are used to highlight qualities of the characters and aspects of their journey. Mirror characters: embark on parallel plots, sometimes to achieve a single goal, which tests them and highlights their traits in different ways.

Jon and Dany have had parallel plots from the very beginning. Again, it’s in THIS link so I’m not going to detail every single reason why their plots are parallel to each other. If you are blatanly ignoring those parallels, I have nothing to say to you.

Also, you seem to be confusing “Foil” with “Antagonists” and as I talked about HERE, that isn’t always the case. You can have Foil characters who are very similar save one key difference and they don’t always have to be antagonists to each other (like my Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom example). And as I pointed out HERE, Dany is not Jon’s Antagonist. She is an equal Protagonist to him.

And going back to “Foils” vs “Mirror” - the reason Jon and Dany aren’t considered “foils” is because Jon isn’t the only protagonist. Dany is one as well. The story is about both their journeys, not just Jon’s with Dany’s story serving to highlight aspects of his story. She’s a major POV character. It’s HER story too. They are mirrors.

Two pins on a costume lol. Ok I'll give you that one. Tho not a meta but an observation. "Ohhhh, and the BIGGEST piece of subtext this season: BRAN’S VOICE OVER “HE LOVED HER AND SHE LOVED HIM” OVER THE SHOTS OF JON AND DAENERYS. THAT’S SUBTEXT YOU WILLFULLY BLIND SHIPPER." That's the text. That's what's being said. Bran was talking about R and L. If you take that as a hint for Jonerys then that's foreshadowing. Bran had no motivations behind that but to tell the audience the truth. That's it. The thing about foreshadowing though is that they can misdirect. False hints.

Oh my, there is so much wrong here, it’s genuinely mind boggling.

Again, Foreshadowing gives the audience hints of the FUTURE. Jon and Dany’s love for each other isn’t something that will happen in the FUTURE. It’s happening NOW.

“That’s the text.” - YES. That’s the text. “He loved her and she loved him.” The TEXT is that Bran is referring to Lyanna and Rhaegar because that is who he is watching in his vision. He’s not having a vision of Jon and Dany on the boat together. So the TEXT is directly referring to Lyanna and Rhaegar.

HOWEVER, you asked for “subtext”. Again, “Subtext” shows “hidden meaning”. The hidden meaning isn’t that Lyanna and Rhaegar were in love. That’s not hidden at all. It’s right out in the open.

The “Subtext” comes in when Bran’s words about Rhaegar and Lyanna are voiced OVER the shots of Jon and Daenerys. Why sync that voiceover with footage of two people it supposedly doesn’t refer to? Because that’s the underlying meaning of the scene. That was a very specific choice by the writers (it’s in the scripts written that way) to have those words over Jon and Dany. It’s communicating a different meaning to the audience that way. If those words were said over footage of Lyanna and Rhaegar, there would be no hidden meaning. They would mean just what was said. Lyanna and Rhaegar loved each other. But putting them over footage of other characters creates a second meaning to them to include Jon and Dany.

“The thing about foreshadowing though is that they can misdirect. False hints.”

Seriously? If that’s the hill you want to die on, be my guest. It’s an ‘I say, you say’ argument and that gets people nowhere. You won’t have any “proof” that they were false hints until the season airs I’m afraid. Until then, nothing is for sure so you can’t just say “false hints” and make it proof. That’s not proof. That’s a claim. And you need evidence to back up a claim which you don’t yet have.

“MENTION is text. This too is foreshadowing.”

Yes, mention is the text. The text says Dany is infertile. The subtext is that she’s not infertile or that the audience should be asking themselves if this is really true.

Subtext through Questions is subtext created when readers and audiences have questions about a story, such as how a plot is developing or what a character will do. - again from: Literaryterms.net

The foreshadowing is that she and Jon will have a child. Again, you need to figure out whether you’re looking for subtext or foreshadowing because you keep confusing the two. And again, they are related and often work together in texts but are not the same thing.

Subtext is subtle and hidden it certainly wouldn't be repeated over and over again lol.

Again: The subtext is the unspoken OR less obvious meaning or MESSAGE in a literary composition, drama, speech, or conversation. The subtext comes to be known by the reader or audience over time, as it is not immediately or purposefully revealed by the story itself.

The text says the word Together in a number of different circumstances. So on the surface, there are numerous meanings in each of the different instances the word is spoken. The underlying MESSAGE of all these instances throughout the story is that only when the entire country, all the living in Westeros come together, quit their fighting, put aside their differences, and all strive for this common goal, will they defeat the Night King.

Pol!Jon is part of the subtext. What Jon is really thinking. What his true motivations are. What is being HIDDEN from the audience. If you believe in what you see is really what's happening then there is no subtext for you. You don't believe it.

“What Jon is really thinking” - again, how can you know what Jon is really thinking when his thoughts are never told to us? You don’t know his thoughts any better than we do. We only have actions and his words and his history to go on.

And as I demonstrated in my example of the Stark gorget which Jon is curiously not wearing when he goes knocking on Dany’s door on the ship, if Jon was being deceitful on behalf of the North, if PoliticalJon was true, to show the audience the subtext of that, Jon would be wearing that gorget. He’d be showing something “subtle” to the audience that he is still aligned with the North, not Daenerys.

But that “subtext” of Jon still being aligned with the North and the Starks and him actually opposing Dany is absent from that scene. There is nothing at all to show that Jon is being dishonest with Daenerys in any way or that Jon cares about Northern Independence or that he’s going to Dany’s room for any other reason than that he loves her.

So anon, why don’t you stop bugging Jonerys/Daenerys blogs, stop bitching when you can’t find metas you want just because you don’t know the difference between literary devices and how they work together, the different ways they can be portrayed in film, and stop acting superior to everyone when you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.

#Daenerys Targaryen #Daenerys Defense Squad #Jonerys #jon x dany parallels #jon x dany foreshadowing #'subtext'#game of thrones #got season 8 #anti political jon #anti jonsa #anti pressed jonsa stans

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bbclesmis · 5 years

Link

In Victor Hugo’s landmark epic, Les Miserables, the Inspector Javert is a hard, cold man with a unflinching pursuit of his own personal justice. But in the critically-acclaimed new MASTERPIECE adaptation of the novel, actor and series executive producer David Oyelowo brings a subtle, sophisticated nuance to his performance, adding layers of context to this memorable villain. He joins the podcast for a preview of the villainy still to come in this critically acclaimed series.

Download and subscribe on: iTunes | Stitcher| RadioPublic

Transcript:

When Jean Valjean reinvents himself as ambitious factory owner Pere Madeleine, the mayor of Montreuil, his longtime nemesis, Inspector Javert, is close behind. Years after leaving his post at the prison, Javert is rather unexpectedly Montreuil’s new police inspector.

CLIP

Javert: Monsieur le Maire. I thought we should become acquainted. My name is Javert.

Jace: Javert doesn’t immediately suspect the noble mayor to be the escaped convict from his past. But his obsessive attention to detail — and Valjean’s superhuman strength — gives the Inspector the clues he needs to connect the dots.

CLIP

Javert: I denounced you to police headquarters in Paris. I suspected you, wrongly, as it turns out, to be a notorious felon, once known to me as Prisoner Number 24601. A man named Jean Valjean.

Valjean: But you were wong.

Jace: Actor David Oyelowo wasted no time in poring through Victor Hugo’s massive epic, using Javert’s narrative arc to inform his performance on screen in MASTERPIECE’s new adaptation of Les Misérables. Even so, Javert’s hidden depths often surprised him.

David Oyelowo: You may not like him you may not love him you may not even fully understand him but you will have context for why he is the way he is and why he does what he does.

Jace: Oyelowo joins us to talk Javert, his pursuit of Valjean, and Javert’s moral absolutism.

Jace: And this week we are joined by Les Miserables star and executive producer David Oyelowo. Welcome.

David: Thank you. Hi.

Jace: Is it true you were initially slightly reluctant to take on the role of Javert?

David: Reluctant only because of my perception of the character. Nothing to do with the novel. I hadn’t yet read the mini series, and it was more to do with the musical. I love the musical, and I enjoy Javert in it. But you know, for me, he sort of comes off as one dimensional, you know, the villain the baddie, and I never really understood what his beef with Jean Valjean was, on the basis of the musical. So for me I’m always looking for material and characters that have a density to them that that means I have to kind of dig deep to find the character. And so I think I had wrongfully thought of the character as one dimensional, purely because I’d only seen him in the context of the musical. When I read the miniseries, there was just so much more going on so many more layers so much more understanding of why he is the way he is. You may not like him, you may not love him, you may not even fully understand him, but you will have context for why he is the way he is and why he does what he does. That character represents a sort of Old Testament need for what he thinks of as right and wrong. And that’s because he was born in prison to criminal parents hates that part of his history and he’s doing everything he can to push that away from himself and Jean Valjean represents what he might have been without the revelation as he sees it of right and wrong. And so that you know very much he is the ying to Jean Valjean’s yang when it comes to redemption, in terms of Jean Valjean, and the law in terms of Javert.

Jace: I mean he is an antagonist to Dominic West’s Jean Valjean, but there is this sort of inexplicable chemistry between the two that seems in these first two episodes to be almost psychosexual.

CLIP

Javert: Men like us have only two choices — to prey on society, or to guard it. You chose the former, I chose the later. And I can tell you, if I’d chosen to be a criminal, I’d be a hell of a lot better than you turned out to be. Nineteen years for a loaf of bread.

Jace: What do you make of their dynamic?

David: It’s actually known that Hugo based Jean Valjean and Javert on the same person the same guy had these qualities in him as one individual. And that was the inspiration. And I think that’s the masterstroke of Les Miserables is that even though in the novel and in our show they are two different people. They are inexorably linked because they very much reflect each other. Jean Valjean really finds it difficult to embrace the idea of his own redemption. Javert insists that redemption is impossible for a criminal and so the fact that you have these very different, yet hemispherical similar mindsets around redemption means that these two characters hover around each other in a way that is truly fascinating.

Jace: Their cat and mouse relationship propels much of the story engine of Les Miserables. What was it like working with Dominic West and what did he bring to the role of Jean Valjean?

David: Well Dominic brought a deep level of emotional intelligence to the piece, and what I mean by that is there is nothing about his performance that is purely technical. It is felt. It is lived in. It feels real. It is layered, and it is ultimately human. And so that is very much what I needed and what Javert needs in order for his character to work because there is something inhuman there is something cold there is something that is on the surface with Javert in relation to Jean Valjean. And the thing that that Jean Valjean does to Javert is to chisel away at him to the point where by the end of the story there are just enough glimpses of humanity in Javert that become unbearable for him to admit which is why he meets his sort of famous end in terms of the story. And so Dominic did a lot of my work for me by being such a human Jean Valjean.

CLIP

Javert: I’m told you have restored the prosperity of the town by giving employment to all those who are willing to work. Consequently, there’s very little crime here.

Jean Valjean: Yes I like to think that that is so.

Javert: But A thief does not steal because he’s poor and desperate. He steals because he has a criminal mentality. Because he is a degenerate. Because he is, to put it simply, wicked.

Valjean: Well there I have to tell you that we disagree.

Jace You mentioned the Old Testament before. Why are Javert’s notions of good and evil so clear cut?

David: Because he grew up in prison. Because he grew up in a black and white environment. He grew up surrounded by criminals and prison guards. His parents were criminals and so therefore he had to figure out which he was in that environment. Am I a criminal or am I going to be on the side of the law. He did not grow up in an environment where there was a gray area. And so he chose to be part of the law keeping community. And the notion that this guy, Jean Valjean, who is a criminal, who has been in prison for 19 years is now going to segueway into some kind of gray area because he is gifted or has humanity is just a confusion for Javert. And that’s why he is obsessed with this guy because he finds him fascinating repugnant. And also is attracted to him.

Jace: Does he represent do you think an Old Testament sense of retribution, sort of one that is diametrically opposed to Jean Valjean’s more Christ-like virtues?

David: Absolutely and not only retribution but judgment. You know he has no problem in in saying that person is a criminal. And so therefore they deserve this punishment. Jean Valjean, the fascinating thing about him is he would agree with Javert. It’s just that he has been afforded the kind of kindness that means he has hope. He feels if I transplant myself elsewhere, maybe there is hope for me to have a better life. Maybe there is hope for me to have happines,s maybe even love in my life. And we go on to see that in an unexpected way with Cossette, who becomes a daughter, a companion, a family member all things that we haven’t seen Jean Valjean have. But the tension for him is that he also feels, ‘Do I deserve forgiveness? Do I really?’ But that’s kind of what’s beautiful about him he doesn’t suddenly think, ‘Oh I’m righteous I’m forgiven. I’m a saint.’ He is perpetually made aware by himself of his fallen state. And so he’s constantly trying to stay on the straight and narrow.

Jace: Javert becomes the new chief of police in Montreuil where Valjean has reinvented himself as Père Madeleine, the city’s upstanding new mayor. Does Javert recognized him instantly?

David: In that first meeting the great great question and is one we debated time and again, on the basis of the book, but also what is the audience going to believe? And my my belief and certainly how we played it is that there is recognition but it takes a while to fully assimilate how the other has changed because time has passed. The power dynamic is very very different. Suddenly this guy who I was a prison guard over is now a mayor. And yes I have become a chief of police but he’s the mayor. And so that dynamic shift means that yes there’s recognition. But who are you now, and what does that mean? And can I think of you the way you once were? And if I do, what does that mean? So that’s also part of the cat and mouse it’s not just chasing each other down. It’s where are we now in the social strata and what does that mean for our individual survival.

Jace: I mean I love that scene because there is this beautiful ambiguity to it to his reaction and it becomes clear over the course of that that he is maybe going to torment him, that he’s needling him a little bit. I mean why doesn’t he come out and identify him as 24601 rather than just toy with him over these next scenes?

David: Because as we see through the course of the show, status matters. You know, the whole reason for this revolution is because the upper class have a very unfair advantage of the lower class and it’s the kind of advantage that literally is the difference between life and death as we see with Fantine. And so in a society where how you navigate class dictates your survival means that you cannot afford to show your cards early in relation to that game. And so that’s why Javert has to bide his time. Figure out where his power play lies. And as we see through the course of the show he continues to play those those power moves.

Jace: And I love that he gives his mission statement as pursuing not only the obvious offenses but the hidden ones not only in the present but the past. Yeah I mean that is sort of a statement of detecting sin.

David: Yeah. And what and hints at why he is inexorable. You know the fact that, ‘I will get you. I am patient, and I believe my patience, combined with my righteousness, combined with the fact that I’m right, means that you will go down.

Jace: Valjean risks exposure to rescue the man trapped under the cart, a mirroring of the scene in the quarry when he uses his extraordinary strength to free the soldier. Javert pushes to see if he can lift it. Is this man’s life worth the price of exposing Valjean?

David: Absolutely, for Javert. Absolutely. I mean we see in the demise of Fantine, how callous Javert can be in relation to getting to what he deems to be the truth. There is no price not worth paying in order to get to the truth, as far as he’s concerned.

Jace: I mean he’s so horrifically proud of himself in this moment that he has manipulated the situation to entrap him and he doesn’t for a second even consider helping Valjean which I thought was possibly revealing of Javert and his own motivations. He’s willing to sort of stand back and wait instead of jumping in.

David: Well there’s also an element to this whereby, Javert has embraced the fact that there is a hierarchy in society. He’s not going to get off his horse and get muddy and dirty with the peasants, you know? And even in the earlier moment where the prison guards were trapped under rocks. You know, he absolutely holds on to every vestige of status he has within society, because that’s the rules of that society. That’s what it was built on. Which is why a revolution was a necessitous to break down that strangulation upon the population, which was social class and people lording it over other people. He in some ways is very much a product of that society.

Jace: Before this next question, a quick word from our sponsors…

Jace: Javert travels to Paris to inform the police that Jean Valjean is posing as a mayor only to be told that another man believed to be Valjean has been arrested four days earlier and he scolded for making a false accusation against an important public figure. Why is this encounter so humiliating for Javert?

David: Because Javert thinks he’s doing his job well and unfortunately for Javert, the opinions of the higher ups mean more to him than I think he’d care to admit. So to have done what he deems to be good detective work of finding the man who robbed Petit Gervais, this little boy, and the man who was in prison for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread and who in terms of Javert’s mentality should probably have died in prison for for stealing a loaf of bread, ‘I am now here giving you on a platter that’s mindless unthinkable criminal.’ And for that to be thrown back in his face, not only in his face period, but in his face because that very prisoner is now of a higher status is just such anathema that it is probably the thing that refuels his pursuit of Jean Valjean to the degree that we see.

Jace: Javert is so convinced of Valjean’s brutality and evil that he’s gobsmacked when Valjean steps in to protect Fantine from prosecution.

CLIP

Javert: A common whore? She is the lowest of the low, would you risk your good name to help a creature like that?

Jean Valjean: She is one of God’s creatures, Monsieur Javert. And she has suffered grievously through no fault of her own. I injured her myself, and now I want to make amends if I can.

Javert: You astonish me.

Jean Valjean: Now stand out of my way!

Jace: Does this action fly entirely in the face of Javert’s philosophy?

David: You could argue, yes. Either there’s a hypocrisy to it, but it also shows what he deems status to mean. ‘You are the mayor. Why would you spend any time dealing with this prostitute? Don’t you know which level of society you have achieved? You are a disgrace to your status to do that.’ And so there is a hypocrisy to it because you know if you’re a very rich man and you’re a criminal you should go down. But I’m not sure that Javert would concentrate as much on rich criminals as he does poor criminals. The reason being Javert hates himself he hates that he was born in prison. He hates that he was born to criminal parents he hates that he was born poor. So he’s constantly trying to kill himself. The existence of any vestige of himself is what he wants to expunge. Which is why he ultimately ends up the way he does.

Jace: Why does Javert offer Valjean his resignation of chief of police. Is this just another manipulation? Is it part of the game?

David: Oh it’s another trap. He’s setting another trap for him which works. You know, Jean Valjean turns up to the courthouse because Javert has very successfully used emotional blackmail. ‘Here’s this prison guard who has now become chief of police who’s now deciding to quit because of my lies, and there’s this other guy out there who’s now about to go down because of my lies.’ You know how I’m the thing that I can’t afford to admit to himself is that he sees a morality in Jean Valjean that he trades on. He knows that he is trying to be good just enough that he may well turn up to try and exonerate someone who is unfairly being prosecuted, and it works.

Jace: I mean, Javert is so consumed by issues of crime and punishment that his life seems otherwise empty despite the sort of frisson that exists between Javert and Valjean. He’s almost asexual and we don’t see any interest from him romantic or otherwise. I mean what were your intentions in terms of depicting any sense of his inner self?

David: I feel like he has dedicated himself entirely to the law. That’s what he’s in love with. That’s what he is married to, and that’s why he is hollow. Because that can give back that can’t love you back. That ultimately cannot fulfill. And so that why he is a sexual he is neutered by his own choices in a sense which is why he’s a really fascinating character because literally what he doesn’t realize is that if he were to kill Jean Valjean his reason for being alive would be expunged. He would. He would be at sea which is what happens in those 10 years where Jean Valjean is hiding out in the convent. He loses himself and we see the reinvigoration of himself when Jean Valjean reemerges into the story and that’s a real tragedy. To get your sense of being out of the pursuit and hoped for revenge towards another person.

Jace: And we’re currently in a time of unrest politically and socially. There are issues of race and wealth, inequality and marginalization. Marches and protests have become the norm. I mean are there obvious parallels to be drawn between Les Miserables in the world in which we’re currently living?

David: Yes it’s very unfortunate that the world of the early 1800s that Hugo was alluding to we are definitely here again 200 years later. And that’s to do with the fact that as human beings we are wired a certain way and we are as capable as love as we are of hate. And that’s just I don’t know that we’re ever going to fully learn the lesson is the truth of the matter. But what I think Les Miserables does a brilliant job of is showing love humanity redemption within the characters within the individuals within the society. And that is where hope lies. Because yes we’re in a time of egregious unrest racially socially economically. But the reason why we still have hope is those moments where not necessarily in the news but you see someone who does something loving who thinks beyond themselves who somehow rises above all of that darkness and it gives you the fuel to keep going. Fantine represents that in this story the fact that she was prepared to give her hair her teeth her all for the sake of her daughter’s well-being. You know the fact that Jean Valjean can find redemption from this priest who he never met before who he stole from and who can forgive him not only forgive him but say take it it’s yours just now know that you can be better from here on out. I mean these are the things that in the midst of all the crazy keep us going.

Jace: You once said that you don’t want to do superhero movies or play the black best friend. What are the metrics that help you choose your roles? Is there an element of activism to it?

David: Activism as in the fact that you know images are political and you have to accept that if yours is the blessing to portray characters that millions of people get to see potentially and sometimes literally that is going to have an effect. And so I just try to be very mindful of the of the work I do in relation to the fact that you know it colors how people perceive who and where a person like me is. But you know that comment is borne out of just recognizing that unfortunately wrongly or rightly so much of how we perceive humanity is often literature movies television. And so I would just want to make sure my part of it is a good reflection.

Jace: You shot to fame with your turn as Danny Hunter on espionage drama Spooks opposite Keeley Hawes and Matthew McFadden This show opened a lot of doors for you. What was it like working on Spooks and what effect it had on your career?

David: Oh it was huge because up until then I had primarily been a theater actor. And that was the show on which I really learnt screen acting. But also it was successful in the kind of way that gave me a degree of recognition, and notoriety that led to movies. And you know, I’ve been riding that wave ever ever since. In a way it also was my first meaningful interaction with the BBC, and laid the foundation for Les Miserables which we’re talking about right now. So you know, it was it was a very, very formative opportunity for me about.

Jace: Your turn as Martin Luther King in Selma earned rave reviews. One reviewer said that it was ‘stirring, soulful, and deserving superlatives.’ Do you read your reviews?

David: No I don’t. Not anymore. I used to make the mistake of doing that. And you know, I mean it’s a cliche everyone says it but if you believe the good ones you have to believe the bad ones. But also as an actor, it’s it’s very cancerous I think to to pay too much attention to the opinions of others because actually I think great art comes out of the human spirit and feeling cold to something and being single minded about the pursuit of it.

Jace: You’ve worked now with Ava DuVernay on three films. What is it like working with her?

David: Yeah, she’s my creative soulmate. I mean, she somehow knows things about me that I’m not sure I fully know, when it comes to my ability to play characters and tell stories. She’s a brilliant writer and director, and she’s like a sister to me. So you know, it’s just one of those rare privileges to have found someone who you see eye to eye on everything when it comes to storytelling, and what you are aspiring to do. So I just feel very glad that we found each other.

Jace: You were directing your first film, a coming of age story called, The Water Man. Is directing a challenge that you’re relishing at this point in your career, and what made Water Man the ideal film for your directorial debut?

David: Yeah, it’s a prospect I’m hugely relishing. I I’ve written scripts I’ve obviously acted in them. I’ve produced movies now I’ve deliberately waited this long to direct because I think it’s very hard and kind of magical role within the filmmaking process. That person who has all these balls in the air that somehow obviously with the help of very smart people they can somehow be the one to captain pulling it together into hopefully something not only cohesive but entertaining and hopefully something that stand the test of time. I feel ready for that challenge now and the Waterman is just a very beautiful story that is is about loss but it’s also about hope it’s about a child but it’s also about a father. It’s about so many of the things that I hold dear in my own life.

Jace: You’ve co-produced several projects with Oprah Winfrey including Selma and the water man. How would you describe your relationship with Oprah?

David: It’s more of a mother son relationship, those things we produced together. And many more that we will are born out of her being so supportive of me. She doesn’t need to produce anything with me. But she believes in me which is still something that slightly sticks in my throat. But I also really value her opinion and she’s a guiding voice in my life. And so it’s amazing too to have have her as someone who I personally love but also who professionally has been such an amazing support.

Jace: You brought Ava DuVernay on to Selma. You brought Amma Asante on to A United Kingdom. Is it a matter of generating opportunities for traditionally marginalized people.

David: Partly but also they’re brilliant. I mean I worked with Ava DuVernay on Middle of Nowhere, and just I just genuinely thought, ‘Wow, this lady is a genius.’ And we had been struggling to find a director for Selma. And so it was very apparent to me that she should at least be a candidate to me she was a no brainer. But you know I threw her name into the hat because I’d worked with her. It was the same thing with Amma Asante. I’d worked with her on a on a show called Brothers and Sisters, very soon after I left drama school but also I saw her film Belle which I had nothing to do with and was really struck by. And she just felt very right for A United Kingdom. So for me it’s not about quotas or it’s calling out injustice when you have talented individuals who have done work that warrants opportunity. And that’s not happening you know then surely if I have any degree of notoriety that’s a good use of it. And so that’s the way I think about it.

Jace: David Oyelowo, thank you so much.

David: Thanks for having me.

Jace: The young Parisian beauty, Fantine, has seen the light fade from her life. Her lover has left her, her daughter is being raised by strangers, and she’s taken to the streets of Montreuil, selling her body in order to pay the greedy family watching her child.

CLIP

Bamatabois: And how much do you charge, baldy?

Fantine: Whatever you think it’s worth, monsieur.

Bamatabois: How about nothing, then?

Jace: Now, as Fantine nears death in the care of Jean Valjean, actor Lily Collins reflects on what makes this particular adaptation of Les Miserables so different for her iconic and tragic character.

Lily Collins: I think she wants to believe that true love exists. And having not been in this situation before, when Felix woos her and knows exactly what to say and gives her the attention and says all the right things, seemingly, she sees that as love and she doesn’t have anything to compare it to.

Jace: Tune in to hear Collins on the podcast next Sunday, April 28.

MASTERPIECE Studio is hosted by me, Jace Lacob and produced by Nick Andersen. Elisheba Ittoop is our editor. Susanne Simpson is our executive producer. The executive producer of MASTERPIECE is Rebecca Eaton.

#les mis bbc #bbc les mis #david oyelowo #javert #podcast #pbs #Interviews

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