less a continuation and more of a thought bubble but ghost would hate price in this au
when he pulls him out of the gulag, so many of soap’s new behaviours click into place. things that never made sense to him as a natural progression of who soap was, that aren't just a product of walling himself off and turning his heart to stone
his soap never smoked. always complained when ghost lit up about the damage it did to the lungs, how it would slow him down in the long run
his john, always trying to be the best soldier
that's why seeing him suck on a cigar like it's second nature is so jarring. even more so when he'd only take a few puffs; enough for a taste and to make smoke coil through the air around him. always the same brand, always left to burn down in his fingers
then ghost sees him gift his cigar box to price, something that took pride of place on his desk practically before the man clears medical and seeing the way they both relax as he sets a match to one makes him realise
in an effort to run away from soap, john had tried to mould himself into price
god forbid ghost ever reads soap's journal. he's heard the "what the hell kind of name is soap” story from him, of the first time he'd ever met the captain and if he ever saw his words echoed in john's hand? saw just how far the man had wormed his way, so deep into him that he was speaking with his tongue?
price's monologues, making himself larger than life all in an effort to make this shitstorm feel more grand than just another war they're all trying to live through, acting like he’s being profound when he’s really just dodging anyone that questions him
letting price take roach out from under his wing like soap didn't identify with the kid the second he saw him, all of his self-deprecative habits hitting tenfold as he blames himself for every stray bullet; as if price could've plucked them from the very sky
the way soap steps back without a word of protest to let price command the team he handpicked and price just accepting? like his years of leadership mean nothing, like john means nothing after trying so hard to follow in his footsteps, just to be tossed aside
the rage ghost would feel at his indifference, as if soap’s behaviour is to be expected and not a series of red flags. add the nuke mission and his actions during and after shepherd’s betrayal? ghost would despise him
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the man who falls – secret origins (1989)
[ID: Two cropped comic pages of Bruce Wayne as a child after falling into a cave and being ambushed by a swarm of bats. There's multiple narration boxes over the pages:
Page One: a three panel sequence of Bruce being rescued by his father. In the first panel, Bruce is screaming with his eyes squeezed shut in fear. He has his fists clenched in front of him and is wearing a reddish pink turtleneck sweater. The narration says, ‘Again, he shrieked — not in terror, but in despair...’ In the second panel, Thomas Wayne is shown from behind in a low angle. He's wearing a red sweater similar to Bruce and is holding a flashlight as he jerks Bruce into him. Above them is bats surrounding them and the broken wood floors that Bruce fell through. The narration continues, ‘The arm curled around him, muffling his voice, and his cheek rubbed against the rough wool of his father's jacket... He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to be away from here—’. In the third panel, they're standing outside. The narration reads, ‘When he opened them, he was in the area behind the mansion, in the pale light of the autumn afternoon, and his father's words pounded at him—’. Thomas is kneeling down in front of Bruce in front of the hole he fell in. He's gripping the child's shoulders as he scolds him, “Idiot! I told you never, never to go off alone. Didn't I? Didn't I?” Martha Wayne is behind them with her hand on the side of her face as she looks at them with relief that Bruce is okay.
Page Two: Martha is defending Bruce as Bruce has his head down. Thomas is still squeezing Bruce's shoulders as Martha tells him, “Thomas, he's frightened.” Thomas replies, “He damn well ought to be. He could have been killed.” Martha replaces Thomas's spot in front of Bruce, kneeling to gently place a hand on his upper arm and using a handkerchief to wipe his forehead. Bruce is standing with his fist still clenched and grimacing as Thomas angrily says, “He's got to learn.” Bruce is shown in a low angle, looking up at his mother with wide eyes. The narration continues, ‘He listened to his father's boots crushing the dead grass, and when he could no longer hear them, he dared to ask:’ “Mommy, was I in hell?” Martha soothes, “No, baby, that was just some old cave. You're safe now,” as she hugs him. His cheek is pressed against hers and she has her eyes closed as Bruce still looks uncertain. END ID]
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rly insane how half the disco elysium fandom like.. completely fails at understanding even basic messaging of the game that even i got while being really bad at understanding themes lol. like yeah sure i relate hard to harrys mental health and substance use shit, and yeah, i think kim is fun and goofy, and i like their dynamic and also want to see on screen gay sex.
but like.. this is The Politics Game and half of the fanbase has taken from it exclusively "omg my blorbos meow meows babygirls" and seemingly failed to engage w the political text of the story. like ok if you came out of disco elysium and saw a man who is like.. at best 1 week sober from extreme substance abuse that has made him actively suicidal and threatening to others around him, who is desperately in need of actual, urgent help, AND who is a POLICE OFFICER, like, THEE person who absolutely should NOT be a cop, on top of, yknow, that, like, police are bad already??? a man who has canonically committed serious and traumatic police brutality due to this very instability and disregard for anyones safety and has continued to be allowed to occupy this position? and you get an ending in which his co-workers who have basically just been watching from the sidelines being like.. exasperated at him but not actually doing anything about the massive risk to himself and all these civilians safety just going "well, yknow, hes a good guy after all, and he hasnt been getting drunk and waving his police issued firearm at frightened civilians for a whole week, and he sure saw a bug, so, like, just come back to work man" and thought that was a satisfying and good ending...... after all the talk abt copaganda white ppl is the same
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Deltarune Theory: Spamton, The Player & Freedom
As some of you might know by my occassional ramblings and the fact that i post 10 pics of the guy per day bc of my 100+ queue I've been a little unwell about Spamton and Deltarune as a whole lately, and recently while trying to ramble about a different topic I realized something:
I think we, the player, the soul, are a bigger part of this game that we are giving credit for.
After all, what are some of the main themes of Deltarune? Lack of freedom, lack of control, how your choices don't matter... And if we look on a smaller scale, if we look at characters like Kris and Spamton you can also add to the mix a certain level of disconnect with your own body, but maybe i'm going too off topic there... (maybe?)
This is to say, don't you think these things apply quite well to the soul, to us, too? Sure, we control Kris, but Kris is free of ripping us out temporarily and often adds their own input to the things we ask them to say (and even says things on their own), not to mention how they get around to avoid doing what we asked or avoid revealing certain information to us.
On top of that, there's our vessel. The body we were meant to have and freely use, that was, in theory, discarded. And i think this is very imporant because many pick up on Kris being trapped with us, but not as much on us being trapped with KRIS. What we have is an uneassy alliance, a sort of symbiotic relationship, we need one another to exist. But we still aren't free.
And this is where Spamton comes in, our EV3RY BUDDY 'S FAVORITE [[Number 1 Rated Salesman1997]] and number 1 freedom yearning puppet, who offers us the highly valued [Hyperlink Blocked] which he believes will carry one to freedom and such.
And it is true that freedom is something Kris might want, but don't forget Kris isn't the only one in control of their body. We too are the ones going straight back to that salesman and doing his little quest.
And this is even more true in the Weird Route, the route where we strip all control from Kris AND Noelle to the point she can only hear us talking, and it's the route where Spamton says at the end "IT’S YOU AND THAT [Hochi Mama]! YOU’VE BEEN [making], HAVEN’T YOU! YOU’VE BEEN MAKING [Hyperlink Blocked]!".
And if you, like me, believe the meaning of [Hyperlink Blocked] is LOVE, then this would make a lot of sense, after all, what were some of the biggest complaints people had about chapter 1 when it released?
Lack of multiple routes, namely a genocide one, and lack of control.
And Toby Fox, being the monkey paw ass guy he is, obligued to the fans request. You want control? You want murder? Okay, there you go.
Not only that, but the weird route is the only one where Spamton never learns Kris' name, only called them kid, making the fact that Kris has nothing to do with our insane rampage even more explicit.
And on top of everything, Spamton was right. We did in fact gain control and a certain level of freedom thanks to this, our choices, the player choices, now REALLY mattered. And the consequences were devastating, hell, even Spamton died here.
So, with all this said, I think my point has become clear. I think our role in the story is very significant, and it even perfectly ties with the themes and the existing characters.
Very excited to see this develop further as more chapters come out 😁
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