SPOILERS FOR AVATAR: FRONTIERS OF PANDORA - TAP CON-1 AND THE SARENTU MOOT MASSACRE
I wanted to post my full thoughts about the game after i finished my first playthrough, but I can not just keep what I just learned in my head, so be forwarned; Spoilers ahead.
Let me just say that the entire TAP CON-1 quest made me feel... disgusting.
That word perfectly encapsulates how I felt the second I heard how they made the children shower in disinfectant, as if they were diseased. I felt gross, and messy and just absolutely disgusted.
And then the massacre happened and I was just... I don't know how to describe it. Like, I knew Alma was involved, but the way that it all just poured out. That she was there during the whole slaughter, how she admits to playing ignorant, how she let the children believe the lie that their families abandoned them and it just made me think of everything else she's done since knowing her.
She did nothing as the RDA barged into the moot and slaughtered the entire clan.
She did nothing as the children were literally shoved into cages like animals, shackled like prisoners and then washed and striped of everything that made them Sarentu.
She proceeds to teach them what she sought out to teach, knowing damn well the consequences of wanting her school program to work.
She did nothing as Mercer and Harding trained/abused the children.
She did nothing when Mercer killed Aha'ri (which should have been the breaking point at this rate)
She left the children in cyrosleep for 16 years, not once thinking to check if they were actually alive.
She proceeds to keep her secret, and even expresses confirmation in an audio log that "they made the right choice" when bringing up how the Sarentu children are adjusting to the resistance. Basically implying that she's glad her teachings worked.
She tells Ri'nela that the Kame'tire can't be trusted, alienating the clan that she indirectly ruined with her ambitions.
And when she's finally figured out and Alma's Avatar is killed, she laments about never experiencing Pandora freely anymore, as if she expects Ri'nela and MC to lament with her.
After the whole funeral, I began rummaging it around in my head, and in the end, I concluded that the death of Alma's avatar and her actions are in direct parallel to Jake's.
Jake wanted to be part of the Na'vi because he got to actually connect with it's culture and worked to become a part of it. And when he screwed up, he worked to earn the Omaticaya's forgiveness, eventually becoming a true Na'vi.
Alma pretty much already saw herself as part of the Na'vi, despite barely doing anything. When Nor happily shows them the Sarentu knife and then laments how it was kept as a trophy and Alma said it was back with "us", like she was implying herself as part of the Sarentu. And she did very little if nothing at all to amend her mistakes, instead opting to play the victim here.
I also thought about Grace here, and her own sins with her own school. But the difference there is that she actually worked to make a friendship with the Omaticaya before taking in students. And her school was out in the forest, made from wood and full of life and learning. Alma's school was indoors inside metal walls, cut off from the outside world and they were taught one-sided knowledge that boosted the RDA's image and tarnished the Na'vi's.
And then Grace's School failed, she to seemed to loose herself to her avatar, preferring her avatar body to her human,, but she never once tried to cover up her mistakes. And she tried to make things work.
Alma did nothing but cover up the truth until it couldn't be hidden anymore.
In the end, the fact that just one quest could make me feel like this and have me think about all this really shows that the story works.
So it's gameplay is a little too simular to Far Cry. Who cares? So long as the story has me feeling complex emotions like this, I will play it.
Even if the glitches get a little annoying, I still enjoy every bit of this game.
And I will post my full thoughts on the game once I've finished it.
Anyway, thanks for putting up with my train wreck of thoughts!
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omg Andor.
The acting, the writing, the tension.
This show... If you are not watching it, then you are seriously missing one of the best shows of the past decade. And if you are not a fan of Star Wars, it does not matter. You need no Star Wars reference to understand what is going on and this is a VERY different property from anything else they have ever done in this universe.
Masterful storytelling, the direction and the OMG *chef’s kiss* scene transitions is pure genius, the acting is stellar, and the special effects and cinematography are seamless.
Stunning. I keep forgetting to breathe.
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So I've been getting this ad from Walmart while scrolling on Tumblr. I can't explain it without you seeing it.
Yes I do shop at Walmart. I actually have that rice cooker on the bottom. But the first thing. What could that possibly be? Why does it look like Walmart is trying to sell me a dead bird? I clicked it. I needed to see what it was.
It is in fact a dead bird. Not just any dead bird. But a dead dry bird. Just to make sure you didn't get any bird juices. Does anyone else get ads for dead dry birds? Or is it just me? Is it because my mother keeps buying bird seed? I'll probably never know. But, now you at least know that Walmart can provide you with the dead dry bird you need.
I hope you guys cackled half as hard as I did. I couldn't breathe. I was literally gasping trying to breathe between laughing. Because... I never knew I needed a dead dried bird until this week. But apparently I need it.
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