I still can't get over the fact I watched Xenosaga while waiting for Xenoblade 3 to come out and it became relevant.
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PROPAGANDA
KAEDE AKAMATSU (DANGANRONPA V3)
1.) (Spoilers for the game but)
First female protagonist in the three main games of the series. Advertised as the protagonist in all of the game’s trailers and was hyped up, only to get brutally killed off at the end of the first chapter for shock value and to be replaced with a male protagonist. It’s revealed in the end that the reason she died was completely made up and she was killed for convenience.
In the one chapter she’s in there’s a scene of her taking her shirt off, as well as a joke about the male protagonist accidentally looking up her skirt while she’s climbing a ladder. Her legacy for the rest of the game is basically to act as the male protagonist’s reason for character development as he tries to become stronger.
2.) So disclaimer first that I think Kaede is actually really well-written as a character. She’s interesting and feels fleshed out and despite dying early on, she haunts the narrative so strongly that she was one of my favorite characters for the whole game AND she’s vital to the climax of the story. All that said…
Kaede was marketed as the protagonist of the game, making her the first female protagonist in the main DR series (there’s a female protag in a spin-off but the two other games in the main series both had male protags). You start the game and you immediately notice she has a stronger personality than either of the male protags from the previous games, who, while I like them, tend to be the normal ones in an otherwise colorful cast. She felt like a break from the usual protag mold and we even got to have a male secondary character this time who relied on her for support. But. She isn’t the protag. The guy I just mentioned is. You find out mid-trial 1 that Kaede is (sorta unintentionally) the killer and you switch control to the guy character and Kaede then dies at the end of the trial. As far as a plot goes, this was really really cool and well-executed, but it also means the game intentionally decided to pull a bait-and-switch where they advertised the “first female protag of the series!” only to kill her off early on and reveal the true protag was actually a guy who, once again is a character I like, but is much more similar to the previous two protags than Kaede was. There was literally no reason they had to put a female character as the false protag here, as the twist would’ve worked equally well or maybe even more if they revealed a typical male protag character was the killer and instead switched to a female protag for the rest of the game. Advertising Kaede as the first female main series protag while knowing she would be dead for the majority of the game and the actual protag would be a guy feels cheap and insulting, especially as a female player who was really excited to play as Kaede.
3.) She was the protagonist! But god forbid danganronpa has a female protagonist so (spoilers) she actually has to die sorry :( and then only exist in flashbacks the new male protagonist has where hes like damn wish we couldve dated
KAMALA KHAN (MARVEL COMICS) (CW: Racism)
1.) One of the most prominent brown women in all of comics, beloved by the fan base. Recently killed in a PETER PARKER SPIDERMAN COMIC (despite being much closer with Miles Morales and having basically no relationship with Peter) in what’s probably the name of MCU synergy, which nobody wanted (she’ll probably be resurrected as a mutant, erasing her unique and interesting history as an Inhuman). She was using her shapeshifting powers again despite having stopped in her solo as she got more confident in her own skin and identity as a Pakistani American girl, died disguised as the very white Mary Jane as a fake out/last minute replacement for killing off MJ. I fucking hate it here. A cheap trick to drive sales. L + Misogyny + racism + are you fucking kidding me
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If you were chosen to continue the Digimon Adventure 2020 story, what headcanon theories or ideas would do you have for the series going forward?
What you want the Digidestineds next great adventure to be? How would you want them to grow and develop as characters? And how would their relations evolve? Especially how do you imagine Tai's relation with Sora and Izzy would develop? (I love the three of them soooooo much in the 2020 series!)
If it were to take place right after the end of Digimon 2020?
Oh, if only I HAD that power...! I had already outlined a few aspects here before, but for completion's sake, I can elaborate again, because there are several possible scenarios I would like to see:
1.) Give me a slice-of-life-anime with the 8 being somewhere between 12 and 17 and have them go through some Tamers/Ghost Game-esque adventures in the real world. I had written a love letter for how much I adore episode 31 of OG Adventure structurally the other day and I would really love a series with the same vibe. Since the first season of the reboot was more plot-driven, this second season would primarily focus on their personal stories/backgrounds/family lives with Digimon-related shenanigans affecting technology and their everyday lives in the process. Giving every single character time and space to bloom. We would also learn more about the Crests and how each kid was chosen in the first place - I don't NEED reincarnation theory to be confirmed, but I would really like some more breadcrumbs into a satisfying explanation as for WHY THEY were chosen specifically in "this timeline" and how exactly the Crests came to be.
2.) I also had an idea based on a dream I once had, additionally furthered by the last episode or rather the "epilogue" that was presented there: I had outlined the idea here as well, but basically, it'd be about dividing the cast into primary and secondary squad (to allow more focus on singular characters in a shorter number of episodes) and have the former actually go gate-hopping and exploring the different worlds out there. It's a more self-indulgent idea, as it mainly focuses on the dynamics between Taichi, Koushirou, Sora and Mimi, but I couldn't keep the others away completely either. So I haven't fully utilized the idea yet...
3.) An interesting idea that was brought to my attention recently was the idea of making a season revolve around Taichi disappearing due to the gate-hopping. Since the first season basically revolved around typical Shounen protagonist Taichi Yagami, the second season would be about the others gate-hopping as well to find him. I haven't thought this one through yet either though...
In terms of general character development and relationship dynamics, I would be happy to actually see more about their individual selves, their flaws and worries and how they get along - or don't. It's really difficult to put a finger on how exactly that would look like, because I absolutely cannot blame the creators of the reboot for being "careful" on how to depict the characters beyond some general tropes. We've known these guys for TWENTY FIVE years and Tri already tried to tackle some things that were different, while still resorting to predictable outcomes without much depth we had already seen several times over - without intending to change the status quo too much. I obviously don't want to see perfect happy endings for everyone, but things were missing in the reboot so far that made the original characters so charming - and the reboot HAD the chance to elaborate on different outcomes here.
We already saw Jyou going for a more leadership-esque route, which his OG self actively didn't choose. So how would that affect his relationship with Taichi, who naturally got the leadership role again? How about Sora having a semi-peaceful relationship with her mother this time, so she can actually be experimental AND also choose to be a vital part of the group? What about Mimi coming from a rich family that provides technological gadgets - how would her knowledge on that influence the way she communicates with Koushirou? Would she try to be competitive for example? Show me more insecurities, show me how they'd actually challenge their Crest meanings? Show me a Hikari who rebels against her brother, show me a Takeru who takes charge, show me Koushirou being honest about his back story to the others (LET US KNOW IF HE IS EVEN ADOPTED IN THIS TIMELINE OR NOT), show me Yamato being vulnerable or try to be more humorous and failing at that! Show me Taichi having flaws! Again, I don't NEED him to be depressed AGAIN, but he has to have something he is insecure or unsure about.
As for Taikoura's relationship, once again, there are several ideas I could see, all shipping aside. One of them is the very self-indulgent "Team Light are actually connected mentally now and can sense and feel when the others are in danger" soulmate scenario that may affect how they interact with each other...
... In more general terms, I do need them all to spend more time together. If you take the ideas 1 I outlined above, they would go through their daily lives together, visiting the same school, etc. So of course Taichi and Sora would focus more on their passion for football as they promised in season 1 and, as mentioned above, Sora might still feel weird about "growing into herself", but she would be more comfortable about experimenting. Combining her tomboy-ness with a more feminine side and exploring that further (and in an ideal scenario deepening her relationship with Mimi in the process, because the reboot did NOT focus on that yet AT ALL). And I want Taichi to be supportive of her in this!
Taichi also made a promise to Koushirou that they would explore the other worlds together - which may also apply to idea 2 I outlined, because I need them to have an OWG-esque partners-in-crime relationship in which they go on cyber adventures together. And in both idea 1 and 2, they would have to balance their daily lives and responsibilities with that. Meaning, this would be a great opportunity to actually see Taichi and Sora learn about Koushirou's home life - he might still try to hide it from them, but I'd want a huge chunk of the story to focus on them trying to get something out of him (gently of course!), having him explore his own identity in the process as well. Showing him that the bond he developed with these two (and the others too) does not just exist because he is "useful" to them, but because he really means something to them.
I obviously also want Koura to bond more with each other - not only over their shared affections for Taichi and because they want to figure out if he is actually hiding something behind that unshattered mask of positivity... Maybe in this timeline, I can finally get them to become canonical fashion buddies, who knows?
Edit: A very important aspect I forgot is that I want and need new Jogress and branch evolutions between the different characters! BE EXPERIMENTAL, TOEI, IT'S GOOD FOR MERCH AND SHIPPING.
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Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round "5")
Hey everybody! So, I've recently gotten into Disventure Camp, just in time to catch the third season near its beginning. As it's been occupying a good chunk of my brain activity for the past couple of weeks, I've really wanted to write something about it just to let some of the brain worms out. Coincidentally, I also started watching Gordon Holmes' Survivor Power Ranking series as season 46 has been airing (although I've watched Survivor since I was a kid), and really enjoyed the format and the questions it incited. So, I figured, why not mash them up?
The Power Ranking format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. If that sounds interesting, I invite you to read on!
Alright, now that we've made it past the Read More, I'll explain the game in a bit more detail, given that this is the first time I'm posting a "theory" like this. (It's "Round 5" because this is off the heels of the 5th episode, but there are no power rankings prior to this one.) The way Gordon's Power Rankings work, you rank each player not based on how likely they are to win overall, but how likely they are to survive the next episode. For the sake of example, let's say I've ranked Kristal as #1 (least likely to go home), Derek as #2, Trevor as #3, Emily as #4, and Oliver as #5 (most likely to go home). When the next episode comes out, you go back and lock in the score of the person who was eliminated. So, back to our example, if it's Derek who winds up going home, then I get 2 points. Bigger scores are better, so, as you can see, it would have been better if I'd ranked Derek lower. Derek's score is the only one that matters for the week, so the rest of my placements don't factor into my score at all.
This format makes more sense when you can compare your score against someone else's (as what happens in Gordon's videos). But, I still think it's a fun format to use, and it'll be interesting to me to see if I perform better or worse than average at the end of the season. Also, if anyone wants to make their own version of the power ranking and fight me, I'd love to see that! (You don't have to write as much as I will, if you don't want to.) I'm actively trying to mansplain manipulate malewife my way into convincing people to watch this show, so the more the merrier in analysis land.
Although I will be making some of the same analytical remarks that Gordon and co. do for the Survivor season, I want to point out that I will be actively acknowledging that Disventure Camp is a work of fiction. Both Survivor and DC create an "edit" by budgeting their screen time towards specific characters and plot lines, so both can be analyzed in that way. However, Survivor is a story constructed in retrospect, based on the reality of who happened to win the game. DC has been a fictional story since the very beginning, and therefore an episode of the cartoon may be more... "controlled" than an episode of Reality TV. For instance, Survivor players irl might not manage to keep all of their tribes at roughly the same number of people, but Odd Nation Cartoons may have built the season in a way that doesn't eradicate one team of All Stars at the very start.
I bring this up because, for this week in particular, I think that a character originating from Season 1 will likely be packing their bags. We've had four eliminations so far, one from the Season 1 cast (Miriam) and three from the Season 2 cast (James, Lake, and Hunter). Given that both casts started out with 9 competitors, this means that 33% of the Season 2 cast is already gone. I don't think it's impossible that a Season 2 character could be eliminated this week, but I'm definitely inclined to believe that it'll be a season 1 character that bites the dust.
Also, as the contestants on Gordon's show are able to use the "Next Time on Survivor" segment in their analyses, I think that using the trailer for next episode is entirely fair game! Spoilers for the Episode 6 trailer, if you're trying to ignore that. I don't know how much I'm going to reference it, but it'll probably be at least a little bit.
With that out of the way, let's start with the character who I think is the least likely to go home!
#1: Tess
Tess is in a really good position right now as the Cyan Team's swing vote. Aiden will want to take out Ellie as a member of the villains alliance and the one behind Lake's elimination. While it's unknown how much stock Ellie will continue to place in the girls' alliance, she still sees Tess as her friend, and therefore the best option to reach out to for a third vote to take out Aiden or Tom. Therefore, neither Aiden and Tom nor Ellie and Gabby should be looking to eliminate her.
I also feel like they're going to want to have Tess reunite with Ally at the merge, which is another reason why she might stick around. Then again, I might've thought the same of Hunter, and we saw how that went for him last episode. Still, as both Tess and Ally's characterizations revolved around Hunter in Season 2, I at least have interest in seeing how the two girls would progress without their collective crush around.
And, on top of all that, Tess is a Season 2 character. I find it very hard to believe that Tess will be eliminated next episode.
#2: Aiden
Alright, this choice is definitely leaning more on the meta side than the gameplay side. Gameplay wise, if Tess decided to side with Ellie and Gabby, it could be very easy for Aiden to be the target of their votes. But, I just don't think that Odd Nation Cartoons would want to eliminate Aiden at this point in the competition. The man is a fan favorite!
Of course, that was true of James as well... but, that only furthers my point. Given that James and Lake have already been eliminated from the competition, getting rid of Aiden would wipe that entire friend group of characters out. In my opinion, it would be odd for Aiden to have that confessional about playing for James, Lake, and himself, only to be eliminated three episodes after Lake. Aiden is also still a major plot point in the Jake/Tom romance that I think they'll want to keep around for a little longer.
Also, if the theory that James will return to the competition at some point (because he hasn't had a "reading the patrons names" segment yet) turns out to be true, I suspect that they'd want Aiden to still be in the competition for his return. Aiden should be safe.
#3: Jake
You know who else is a part of the Jake/Tom plotline? Jake. I don't think our favorite(?) whiny idiot has his head on the chopping block right now, despite being a S1 character.
Although, Jake's safety is actually mostly not a meta read. I just straight up think that his elimination would be the most baffling on the Magenta Team. Ally could go home if the Jake/Ashley/Fiore alliance decides to finish what they started when they eliminated Hunter. Fiore could go home if, now that the couple has been split up, Jake and Ashley unite with Ally to take out one of the villains. Even if Ally and Fiore somehow had the power to band together and use a totem or something to send one of Jake or Ashley home... I still think it would be Ashley. That's partially based on meta logic of considering Jake a more important character than Ashley, but there are in-universe reasons why they might choose to eliminate Ashley over Jake, too. For Fiore's sake, Ashley has more of a vendetta against her specifically. Ashley is also an athletic and friendly person who could situate herself very well if she made the merge, whereas Jake (who's already demoralized at Miriam's exit) would likely only incite more conflict and use his vote in petty ways. (Sorry to Jake fans lol, I'm kinda slandering your boy.)
Anyways, any other Magenta elimination makes more sense to me than Jake, so I think he's pretty safe.
#4: Tom
Rounding out the Jake/Tom/Aiden love triangle, we have Tom at #4. It's a lot of what I've already covered with Jake and Aiden. There's so much drama yet to be had with this trio that knocking down one of its legs (specifically, the central leg) at this point feels like a loss. Also, I really don't understand why the Cyan girls would choose to eliminate Tom instead of Aiden, which means I'm basically predicting that both of the Cyan boys are safe. That includes Tom, so, good for him!
#5: Ally
And once again, we're looping back to a prior entry. For Tess to reunite with Ally at the merge, Ally has to make it there, too. So, despite her boyfriend's fate, I think Ally will be sticking around for a little while longer.
It's a bit counterintuitive, but I sort of think that Ally will stay because it would be too obvious if she went home. Jake, Ashley, and Fiore eliminating Ally in a 3-1 vote is exactly what you would predict would happen looking at the tribe on the surface. So, for the sake of intrigue, I feel like something would happen to prevent it. In the preview, we see her having one-on-one conversations with Ashley and Jake, so maybe they would feel bad for her and decide to flip on Fiore. Maybe Ally could pull an epic gamer move and find an idol to play on herself. That could be in conjunction with Fiore and her connections to the villains alliance, or it could not.
Tess, Aiden, Jake, and Tom I was pretty confident about, so Ally is the first entry where I'm a little worried putting her this high. But, I have faith in her (especially as a S2 character) to not get the boot in this upcoming episode.
#6: Fiore
This might just be the Fiore stan in me, but I don't think she'll be going home next episode. I mean, she's literally been blessed by the gods! What am I supposed to do against that?
Fiore is in a pretty decent position, being allied with Jake and Ashley while also being on pretty decent terms with Ally. She's also just, like, way smarter than the majority of the competition, so if she found herself in a tight spot, I could see her manipulating someone to weasel her way out of it. Fiore is also a potential winner pick of mine (again, I'm a Fiore stan), and her elimination at this stage could prevent her from making the deep run that would result in her return to the Final 2.
Despite all of this-- and this is a slight aside-- I actually think that Jake and Ashley may have made a mistake in eliminating Hunter over Fiore last episode? They said it was better for their strategy, but I don't think that's necessarily true. It would be a good move for their strategy if they could count on Fiore being a solid alliance member at the merge, but it's pretty obvious she has no allegiance to the S1 duo. She literally already has an alliance-- the villains alliance-- that she would most likely bail to if she makes it to the merge. If Jake, Ashley, Hunter, and Ally all voted to eliminate Fiore, they could diminish the threat of the villains alliance and put their own feud on pause. If Hunter is correct, and getting rid of Fiore prevents them from losing any more challenges, than the feud never has to be unpaused, and all four of them make the merge. The only way that Jake and Ashley could run into trouble is if Magenta does have to go back to Tribal as a foursome. Then, it could be problematic for them if they were forced to turn on each other at Hunter and Ally's whim, because the couple (who were already fighting with each other!!!) could be unwilling to turn on one another, preferring to leave things to chance.
It feels like the narrative has already saved Fiore twice-- once via Alec and once via Jake and Ashley's "strategy"-- so I believe that the narrative has greater plans for Fiore yet. It could be reuniting with Alec. Who knows? (Please be reuniting with Alec. Please be reuniting with Alec--)
#7: Ashley
Um... so I just straight up don't think that Magenta is headed back to Tribal next episode. Surprise!
Like I said, these predictions are just about the next episode. And, given that Magenta just went to Tribal and is low on numbers, I don't think that they'll be headed back there. Therefore, none of them would be next episode's boot.
It's not a given, as the Purple Tribe got pretty demolished in S1, but for an All Stars season, I don't think Odd Nation would want the eliminations to be so unfairly stacked in one direction. I could be making an incorrect call here, because, logically, I really don't know why the Magenta Team would be any good at the musical challenge that's shown in the preview...? I just believe in them, I guess. You can retroactively apply this same reasoning for bonus points on Jake, Ally, and Fiore's entries as well.
Anyways, Ashley! Out of the Magenta Team, I do feel like she's the most expendable, perhaps because she was the earliest elimination from S1, and came back without most of her allies from S1 (Will, Lill, Nick). We also already got the resolution to the fire plotline that was left dangling in S1, which means there aren't many more questions I have about her character.
On the other hand, why bring Ashley back if you didn't have bigger plans for her this time around? They've eliminated a lot of people who made it close to the end at the beginning this time, so it would stand to reason that some of the people who were eliminated closer to the beginning might make it closer to the end. The potential of Ashley bonding with some of the S2 competitors at the merge is great for bringing some new iconic relationships to life.
Even if I think Ashley may be the most expendable, I don't really think that any of the Magenta players are narratively expendable, which is why I placed them all so high. I'll be eating my words if they're headed to Tribal next time, so these guys had better rock on at the immunity challenge!
#8: Riya
And now, for Magenta's counterpart, a team composed of people that I feel like all have an argument for leaving sooner rather than later... the Yellow Team.
I don't remember if it was on YouTube or Tumblr, but I recall seeing someone theorize that Riya might be the next boot because of how much she's annoying her team. She's pushed Connor away, stirred up drama with Yul, and is shown hogging the team's shower in the episode preview. It would make sense if Riya's selfish and villainous actions led to her downfall, so, at first, I liked this logic, and planned to put Riya near the bottom.
However, when I actually started counting votes... I just didn't see it. Even if Connor and Riya's relationship is strained, I don't know if he would be willing to eliminate someone he cares about. Yul believes that Connor voted for him last time, so he'll probably be out to take revenge on Connor. Grett, at this point, would most likely vote with him. Alec too, as long as he lets his strategy of keeping the villains team in power beat out the friendship he's begun to form with Connor. Where are the Riya votes? I'm not really sure.
I think that the theorizer is on the right track with predicting that Riya's bad attitude will eventually lead to her elimination. However, I don't think she'll be off the Yellow Team just yet, so she lands at #8 for me.
#9: Connor
Counting votes made it seem like Connor would be the next boot from the Yellow Team... so why do I have him as the second least likely to go?
Well, much like Ally, I feel that Connor's elimination is so obvious that it wouldn't pan out that way if a Yellow Tribal actually happened. There are definite cracks in the seams that could lead to votes not going in an obvious direction-- with Miriam's blow to the alliance, Alec might see Connor as a better confidant than any of the villains, and/or Grett might see what a terrible boyfriend Yul is and decide to flip on the villains. We also don't know exactly how Riya feels. She certainly acts as if she doesn't care if Connor stays or goes, but the truth is that she hasn't actually been "forced" to vote for him yet by her alliance. If push came to shove, who knows what she'd choose?
Combined with the fact that he (and Riya) are S2 characters, I think Connor would manage to survive a vote if Yellow is headed to Tribal. I'm not that confident about it, though, so he lands at #9.
#10: Yul
And here's Yul, our lowest placed S2 competitor in this ranking. If a S2 character is headed home this week, I think it would probably be him. He was a terrible person in S2, and has continued to be a terrible person in All Stars, so it's easy to see why the players (and the audience) might want him out of the game. Grett, my beloved, please lead the charge in kicking this asshole off the tribe.
However... there's also evidence to suggest that Yul won't be going home so easily. Beyond just being a S2 character, the end of this episode (and part of the preview) established that Yul has some sort of connection with Emily, our mysterious new staff member. I don't know exactly what this relationship is-- my original guess was that Emily could be Yul's manager, but their interactions in Episode 1 (as well as Grett's interactions with Emily in Episode 1) make me feel like that wouldn't be the case. Regardless, there's something going on between him and Emily, which adds some intrigue to Yul's character.
I have also considered that this relationship with Emily might be a one-episode thing, an interaction that actually spells doom for Yul instead of longevity. However, as this is one of the first major things we've seen Emily do, I feel like her connection to Yul may be a major aspect of her character and even why she exists. If that's the case, Yul may be quite important to the season, and be set up to make a very deep run.
However, my uncertainty on why Emily has summoned Yul and belief that the Yellow Team has good reason to eliminate him prevents him from taking one of the top spots. ...There's still a good amount of space below him, though.
#11: Gabby
A good part of why Gabby is ranked this low is because she's a S1 character, I'm not gonna lie. But I do genuinely believe she could be in trouble next episode, and here's why.
As opposed to S1, in which she was a staunch defender of the environment, insecure and petty, and a little bit insane, Gabby's character in All Stars seems to have been simplified to "Ellie's peppy girlfriend." She did refuse to eat the chicken last episode, but I feel like S1 Gabby would have, like, threatened to take their heads off if they beheaded the chicken. The portion of the preview for next episode where Gabby has the crazy eyes makes me hopeful that that aspect of her character will be making a comeback, but we'll have to see what happens.
For now, her role has been pretty limited, which makes me think that she could be an early boot from the season. She doesn't seem to have any new plot threads introduced, new developments in her character as a result of what happened in S1, or important relationships, other than with Ellie. If she were eliminated next episode, that could be because Gabby is in little enough of the show that there wasn't enough time to give her a proper character arc.
The reasons behind why the Tribe (presumably minus Ellie) would unite to eliminate Gabby are a little fuzzy, but not completely implausible. If Gabby were to be eliminated, I think it would be as a blow to Ellie, getting rid of her closest ally. That could tie in to why so much of her characterization this season has been linked to Ellie-- if being in a relationship with Ellie is the reason why Gabby is eliminated, then that's all we need to know about her in All Stars.
#12: Alec
Oh Alec... I hope you make it out of this episode alive.
This may come as a surprise to some people, as I've seen speculations that Alec may be set up to be the season's main villain. However, I'm worried that his strong entrance may be a front intended to get him some screen time before he exits the competition shockingly early.
You see, while Alec is currently the mastermind of the Yellow Team, it's a rather precarious position to be in. The villains alliance seems to have remained stable enough to near-unanimously take out Miriam last time they went to Tribal (even though Riya didn't wind up voting for Miriam, she was conceptually fine with it). However, I doubt that Miriam's silver "Alec is untrustworthy" bullet will go unused. If Alec attempts to push his luck by trying to force people into votes they don't want to make, or if his friendship with Connor causes others on the team to suspect that he's playing both sides, the alliance could revolt against its leader.
I still think that Alec will probably survive until the merge, just so that we can see his relationship with Fiore evolve further. Who knows, maybe he really is the season's main villain, and will finally make it to the final 3 he feels he was robbed of in S1. However, I think that Alec's vote could be a reasonable blindside on the audience, which makes me worry that it's the right narrative move to take.
#13: Grett
Oh Grett... I'm even more worried about you than Alec. Clearly. Because you're directly beneath him.
Look, I really want to believe that Grett will be able to stand up for herself this season and absolutely demolish Yul, getting to play the rest of her game after his departure in whichever way she sees fit. However, sometimes the villains have to win in order to create stakes, and I could see a temporary Yul-over-Grett victory doing just that.
An unfortunate step in her journey to becoming a better person, Grett has totally tethered herself to Yul, a relationship in which she seems far more invested than he. As opposed to her bossy demeanor in S1, she's taken too many steps back, and seems to automatically yield to whatever Yul has to say. Her characterization this season is very linked to his presence, which makes me wonder what she would do if he left the show. She could go align with the villains alliance herself, but... is she really that much of a villain anymore without Yul?
And, that's part of the problem. I can very easily see a plot line where, next episode, Yul continues to put Grett down, and does so increasingly after Yellow loses the challenge. Grett finally musters some of her old courage and lashes back at Yul a little, saying that it's not her fault that they lost. Then, Yul reports to Alec and Riya that Grett tried to backstab him, and doesn't want to work with the villains anymore. Alec and Riya, who both didn't really want to vote for Connor anyways, agree to take out Grett to 1) split up a potentially problematic duo and 2) make their alliance look like it's weakened. Grett goes home with a broken heart, but has at least learned that she shouldn't stand by Yul any longer. Maybe she could get some revenge from beyond the grave later on in the season somehow, like cancelling him during the finale or something like that.
Really, the biggest flaw I can see is that... I don't know if Yellow is going to be losing the immunity challenge. Part of their performance was in the preview for next episode, and it looked pretty good! I feel like Odd Nation Cartoons wanted to show us something super cool to get us hyped for the next episode, so getting us really excited over the team that turns out to be the losers would be a little confusing. Who knows, maybe there could be some level of sabotage for the Yellow Team that causes their otherwise excellent performance to fail.
I don't know if I would have come to the conclusion of Grett being a possible boot if I didn't think a S1 character was going home... but now that I have, I'm afraid that I've seen the writing on the wall.
#14: Ellie
And yet, Grett is not in last place, because Ellie is.
Call it a gut feeling, but I kinda get the vibes that Ellie might be the season's next boot. It doesn't make sense, right? Ellie has strong relationships with so many characters, from Tess to Alec to Jake. She, too, could be in contention for the title of season villain. Why would they get rid of her so early?
Well, much like Alec, I fear she may have been too villainous too fast. Her negative connections to so many different characters leads to it making a lot of sense to vote Ellie for a lot of reasons. Does Tom want to get revenge for his and Jake's breakup last season? Vote Ellie. Does Aiden want to avenge Lake and keep himself and Tom in the game? Vote Ellie. Does Tess want to decrease the numbers of the villains alliance? Vote Ellie. That's three votes for Ellie, and Ellie is eliminated. I don't even think she would be saved by a totem, given that Ellie has already been saved by a totem once before, and it would be kind of repetitive for Gabby and Ellie to do that again.
Now, you could argue that eliminating Ellie here would cause the same problems for Gabby as it would eliminating Yul for Grett. I struggled to see what Grett would do in the game if Yul was eliminated. Wouldn't Gabby be the same, after I detailed why I thought her character had been simplified to be tied to Ellie?
Not exactly. A post-Yul Grett confuses me a little because I think that getting rid of Yul would uplift Grett. It would remove the struggles that her character is facing, and leave her characterization less complex for it. On the other hand, a post-Ellie Gabby makes sense because getting rid of Ellie would create more problems for Gabby. Once again, she would have been stabbed in the back by her tribemates (including Tom and Tess, who she considers friends), but not even have Ellie or a totem to lean back on this time. She might want to burn her tribemates to the ground, but if she acts up too much, she could be next in line. And despite her desire for revenge, she would have to wonder... who was really the bad guy in the elimination, her tribemates or her girlfriend?
I think it's possible that Gabby's character may have been simplified for now because the inciting incident of Gabby's All Stars characterization is Ellie's elimination. Prior to that episode, we establish how much Gabby cares about Ellie, so that when Ellie exits, we feel how much it hurts Gabby. We've seen how Ellie acts after Gabby was eliminated before, so I think it would be far more interesting to see the opposite in All Stars. Also, Ellie has made it to the final before-- twice, if you count the original "Adventure Camp" season-- so it would make sense if, this time, she was kicked out closer to the beginning.
Much like with Grett, the main issue I have here is that I don't know if the Cyan Team would lose this competition, either. They have a lot of artistic people on their team, which makes it seem like they would thrive. However, if Cyan isn't losing, and Yellow isn't losing, that would mean that Magenta is losing, and I've already said why I don't think Magenta is going to lose. So, maybe Cyan is overconfident in their performance, or maybe another team (Magenta?) tries to sabotage them so that the team can take out Ellie (or Aiden, if it's Jake's idea). Maybe the performance has to be a rock song, and the Cyan team is all really bad singers. (Okay I just learned that apparently Aiden's VA is a very talented singer. Maybe Aiden won't sing or something.) I don't have enough details yet.
And, that's the end! I've never done a power ranking before-- not even for Survivor, which I've been watching for years, as opposed to Disventure Camp's "less than one month"-- so I have no idea how well I'll do. Are my instincts good, or are my expectations and the writers' decisions worlds apart? I guess I'll have to see when the next episode airs, and create my round 6 predictions accordingly. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this new project of mine!
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"About the Blogger" Meme
Thanks to @currymanganese for tagging me 💕
Star Sign(s):
Aries Sun, Leo Moon, Gemini Rising
Favorite Holidays:
Christmas because it's coldish and I am finally not sweaty 😭
Last Meal:
Two pork tamales with a sunny side up egg on a bed of Mexican fried rice 🤤
Current Favorite Musician:
Spanish band called Shego. I know I know, I hate the ethpanyoles most of the time but damn I love whiny rock music that tells men to go fuck themselves 😍
Last Music Listened To:
Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding ( yes I was watching a fanvid that's the only song legally allowed as a background)
Last Movie Watched:
Mr Monk's Last Case. SO GOOD I literally cried. I loved USANetwork so much as a kid and I grew up with these shows. Yes the treatment of OCD wasn't totally accurate but Mr Monk did make me feel seen as someone who, because of their brain, just can't stop themselves even when they know everyone is frustrated. When I heard they were making a movie I was so excited bc I love the Psych movies so much and I was thrilled Monk was getting his sequel too 😭.
Last TV Show Watched:
The Bear. On my third rewatch 😍👌🏽
Last Book/Fic Finished:
Get a Life, Chloe Brown! By Talia Hibbert. 1, I am a slut for well written romance, 2 I love books about marginalized bodies and 3 I love supporting Black women. This book is part of a series called The Brown Sisters novels and each book focuses on a different sister's romance. It's so good! I accidentally read the third one first but now I've read 2/3. Funny and a lil freaky. I love it!!!! 10/10 would recommend but I also recommend checking it out at a library to boost circulation markers.
Last Book/Fic Abandoned:
I tried reading another romance book called the Right Swipe but so far it hasn't grabbed my attention so I haven't really finished it.
Currently Reading:
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert (second of three in Brown Sisters novels)
AND
Falling Twice by Myst867 this is a Harry and Hermione Fanfic don't @ me
Last Thing Researched for Art/Writing/Hyperfixation:
Pegging and how to do it, SPECIFICALLY for my fanfic although I'm sure I'll need that info in my life eventually 🤭
Favorite Online Fandom Memory:
Probably the DashCon Ball Pit fiasco
Favorite Old Fandom You Wish Would Drag You Back In/Have A Resurgence:
Elementary 😭😭😭😭. I love and miss this version of Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson so gutturally. It was tender, it was loving, and goddamn it was FUNNY.
Also Charmed (Original) bc if we had ao3 when it was airing it would have been OVER
Favorite Thing You Enjoy That Never Had an Active or Big "Fandom" but You Wish It Did:
There's too many to write but I will start with
Legend of the Seeker a show based on the Sword of Truth novels which was game of thrones-y without the rape scenes being showed and a smaller cast. Loved the chemistry between Craig Horner and Bridget Regan 😭
Pitch This show was done so dirty, I LOVED the concept of this which was the first woman baseball player in the MLB and Mark Paul Gosselaar with Kylie Bunbury dynamic was INSANE. I loved how they tackled certain issues 😭.
Tempting Project You're Trying to Reign In/Don't Have Time For:
Starting another Regency Era fanfic (as if I don't already have one I haven't finished lol)
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I played through the pixel remasters! Here’s my ranking
A little prelude - while I have some interest in RPG systems and have tried to get into JRPGs many times, I’ve rarely finished these games start to finish. I get annoyed pretty easily by a lot of the things I’m sure you’ve heard brought up before and I’m easily overwhelmed by progression systems.
This list might seem a bit weird but it’s purely based on my subjective experience with the games - I probably didn’t appreciate story moments much if I was feeling generally frustrated with game, and I might feel differently if I ever go back and play them again.
2 > 1 > 6 > 5 > 3 > 4
FF1
I ended up enjoying this game a lot. You get a really good sense of progression (probably because the PR plays a lot faster than the famicom version? 30 hours of gametime cut down to 10 hours makes the game feel pretty tight!). So many different modes of transportation, and you unlock them at a pretty steady pace. I like how the world opens up, and getting a boat or creating a new canal to sail out of feels a lot cooler than finding a key or something. Some things were a bit rough starting out - I don’t really like how debuffs work in these games, and when you use them and they don’t work it’s not really clear why, whether you got unlucky or the target is immune. I don’t think the combat is ever really engaging on its own, and the dungeon crawling is this odd mix of being grueling and also kind of trivial with quick saves. It’s mostly overarching progression that’s fun.
The story was something I ended up enjoying a lot - it feels really creative and ambitious. A lot of the story beats I can imagine being little D&D adventures, you know, but there are some moments that really stood out to me. A kid in a town says they saw a meteor land in a waterfall. You go to cave behind the waterfall and find a broken down robot. Later, you go to the hidden city in the sky and realize this is where it fell from! It’s really cool foreshadowing while being evocative. This one moment and revelation has stood out to me more than any other moment in these 6 games and I’m not completely sure why. Maybe I ended up getting a lot out of the storytelling with this game because I chose to view everything through the lens of it being an NES game, but that’s me!
FF2
This game has really stuck with me. It’s been a year since I started playing these games and I still like thinking about it, and when I finished the game I wanted to talk about it with everyone I could. The story landed with me like none of the games after really did - you get this really profound sense of sacrifice and loss running through the whole game. Every tragic moment is executed really well, especially considering that this being made for the same system as 1. I think it’s partially because of the text limitation that gives the game a sense of restraint and focus, but talking to a child who was waiting for their town hero to come back and seeing them realize that he never will hit me really hard. The rotating party member mechanic ended up working great throughout the game and I like how the designers were intentional with how each party member was designed - Minwu is a great character to have at the beginning, as a powerful support character that will make fighting a lot easier without killing everything for you. Gordon, however, as a character struggling with his courage and living up to his brother, is kind of dead weight when you first get him.
Like the first game, I might have enjoyed this game’s story more because of how I engaged with it. The gameplay, battle to battle, is not any more fun than FF1, but I enjoyed the sense of customization and growth. Casting spells feels better because even when they miss you know you’re getting better with them and it doesn’t seem like a wasted turn. When I ended the game I had a lot of ideas about how I might have set up the characters differently, which is a good feeling. Also, there was a moment in the game I found really funny - you find these random, empty ‘trap’ rooms throughout a bunch of the game’s dungeons. Late into the game, you go to the dragoon castle, which has no random encounters, and it also has these random empty rooms. It feels like a gag? I don’t know.
FF3
I really enjoyed the scale of this game. The sense of progression is great, and I loved exploring all of the initial island bit by bit before revealing the wider world. This game has fun story moments, and the cutscenes are definitely more animated. The overarching adventure didn’t end up really sticking with me - maybe I would appreciate it more if I revisited the game, but not many of the emotional beats landed. (One of my favorite moments was finding the retired Dark Knight town, which is really sad and kind of sweet in concept and is a really good example of Final Fantasy’s charm).
The class system is neat, but my favorite thing about it is that the class designs are visually very cute. I don’t know if I actually enjoyed playing around with it all that much in practice - I would get used to it as the games went on but I didn’t like rearranging my characters over and over again and I didn’t feel a desire to experiment more than necessary. This is a weird case where I think I enjoyed the previous games’ gameplay more because I had to think about it less, which doesn’t seem like a good trait for a game to have!
FF4
I really don’t like the ATB system, and this kind of spoils the rest of the SNES games. My experience with it is harshest in 4 because it was my first time with it, which is probably unfair to this particular game. But it gave combat a really odd and unsatisfying feeling, where there are moments where the system rushes you and moments where you’re waiting for things to happen, and the way the system interacts with the combat animations gives everything a start-and-stop pacing. The thing I like the least about the combat in these games is the general combat speed (how long it takes to go through a turn of combat, the animation speed for each character, etc) and 4 makes it a lot worse.
This game has some great setpieces and story moments. The way characters move around gives all of the cutscenes a lot of energy, it’s very fun. The story didn’t end up resonating with me very much - the storyline you have with Cecil, as well as similar arcs in 6, feel to me like the most simple version of this kind of “morally complex” character arc. There’s a feeling I get when I play certain games or watch certain shows where I think, this would seem really deep and revelatory if I was a teenager. Sometimes that feeling is endearing, sometimes it’s not! I enjoyed the presentation a lot, there was a lot of fun spectacle, but it didn’t leave any kind of impression on me.
FF5
I liked the story in this one more. There seems to be a pretty big benefit to the restrained party size - lots of variety in gameplay, but characters get more time to develop interconnected bonds over the course of the entire game rather than have that development spread out. And each character gets a lot of their own emotional beats. (The moment where Faris’ dragon dies really hits hard. Really good presentation, it keeps getting better!) I don’t think any of the characters are all that complex but I liked spending so much time with them. None of the funny moments did anything for me but I think this game more or less strikes a pretty good tone. The overarching story gets less interesting to me as it goes along, though.
A big problem I had with these games, particular 4 onward, is that the process of trial and error is kind of broken. I don’t necessarily think it’s bad to have to try things out in order to discover what works, but these games are kind of bad at making it clear when you’ve made an error and when you’ve done something that works. Did I miss or is the boss immune to this? Does the boss just attack a lot or is it counterattacking, and if so, does that mean I’m meant to find some other way to hurt it or do I just push through the damage? The liquid flame boss was super egregious to me because I repeatedly came to the wrong conclusion about how the boss works due to the shifting mechanic. In most of these fights there is *a* logic to how the boss works, you only feel that logic in retrospect - it’s not like acting on your intuition or trying to apply real-world logic is going to work in most cases, so the moments where it’s necessary feel more like point & click puzzles than creative combat challenges.
This is really weird, right? I enjoyed the gameplay in 1 & 2 way more than this game even though they’re infinitely less complex, and in retrospect the reason why I enjoyed them more than this game is that it was much harder to get confused by bosses with no mechanics.
The class mechanics were fun. I played around with it a lot more than I did with 3.
FF6
Really good presentation! I’d played a bit of chrono trigger before starting this one and so I couldn’t help but compare, and this is not nearly as well put together visually or in terms of spectacle, but it’s still fun. The first half of the game feels almost like a (kind of random?) collection of fun scenarios and set pieces connected by cave crawls. The humor still didn’t do anything for me but the story has a nice mix of goofy stuff and serious plot - out of all of these games it feels like the first game to successfully emulate the feeling of a fun adventure comic or cartoon aimed at teens, and it reminds me a lot of the kind of games that I got really into as a teenager.
By this point I’d come to terms a bit more with ATB. After 6 games though I can’t say I’ve come to a point where I enjoy the combat - it’s mostly something I push through in stride. The progression is fun - I don’t know how I feel about espers and I’m kind of glad I only realized how the stat boosts worked until the second half of the game because I would have wasted a lot of time on it earlier if I knew I could have been optimizing it. My biggest revelation by far though was that, rather than me not understanding how the class mechanics work, most of them are actually just useless and I can just ignore them. It’s odd because there are definitely times where the game definitely, definitely does want you to use them (like with Celes’ runic ability), and it seems to make sense that if there’s a unique action to a character that must be key to how you use them, right? I don’t know.
Overall, I feel good having played these games. I’ve heard a lot about them over the years - I can’t say I’ve gone into them blind, even though I tried to take each game on their own terms. As much as I’ve complained here, I have to say that I’ve played a bit of 7, 9, 10, 13, and 15, and I even mentioned Chrono Trigger - but I haven’t beaten any of those games! There’s something about these ones that made me want to see them through. They're special!
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Great answers!
1: if there was a live action tv show or movie, who would be cast as the duo? I can see the yellow coat kid from the 2017 movie it as Chris.
2: who would win in a wrestling match between the duo & the supersons? To make things fair: Chris & Jon wears red sun ankle bracelets & Jake has his powers turn off. Plus mar’i as the referee.
3: what’s their favorite puns to use? I can see Jake asking a goon: you know what’s my favorite ballet is? The Nutcracker! & hits the goon in the crotch.
4: in the two previous asks, with the whole stink face being used on the loser in games, do you think it would be better if the loser was sat on instead? like how most older siblings/cousins would do on the younger ones, or maybe squat over the losers face. Either one of the two options AND the loser giving the winner a parfait.
5: does the duo have any hidden talents?
6: based on the first captain underpants book: Jake & Chris mind-controlled their mean teacher or principal to become apple-pie man.
1) Well upon some research and since not he only does he posses formidable acting experience but also started recently in an actual DC Comics adaptation, I can see actor Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth) in the role of Chris Kent had a hypothetical show in the Starburst Duo been in production as of now. This especially can come in handy for more dramatic moments when Chris’ anxieties and internal struggles regarding his past come into the limelight. If Convery’s performance as Gus during heavier moments is any indication, he can pull of those moments with clarity.
Meanwhile for Jake, while so far no actors that are well known come to mind for his casting had this hypothetical show been made as this moment in time. Though if say there’s some sort of timey-wimey nonsense that allows for an actor even from before to fulfill the role, I can nominate Raphael Alejandro (Once Upon a Time, Bunk’d). It certainly would fit in with the short lived trend of Disney channel stars appearing in DC adaptations as had happened with Asher Angel in SHAZAM (2019).
2) it’s a stiff and prolonged match that sees both Chris and Jon give it their all and despite the fact Jon’s partner is well versed in all sorts of combat training and martial arts, Jake ultimately squeaks by a small victory for the Duo with using whatever strength he had in pinning Jon just long enough for Mar’i to make the three count, allowing the Duo their win. While those opponents had strength and tactics, Chris and Jake had a keen eye on legit teamwork and using their opponents weakness to their advantage.
3) Oh that’s perfectly in line with Jake’s banter. In fact if anything, while ultimately focused and determined on his approach as a crime fighter, Jake as Skybird is the one mostly using one liners between the two of them. Other examples can include but not limited to;
(Using Cellphones against his enemies should they be fighting in a Phone Store)
“Hey, The Butt Kicking Department Called, You’re Overdue On Your Payment”
(When on an Ocean Based Mission along with Cerdian, dealing with a sea monster)
“Under The Sea? What’s the matter with Over the Sea?”
(When Fully Charged Up and Eyes Glowing with Starbolt Power)
“Pardon the Pun, but Time to Light This Christmas Tree Up…..Brightly”
4) Maybe the loser being lightly sat on with their back as the cushion at most can be a possible Losers ‘Prize’ though knowing those two and despite their knowledge of that stuff, they still primarily have the loser make the winner an Ice Cream Prize. That said, the loser every now and then ends up wearing a maid’s outfit/dress and a photo of it is taken for their loved ones and friends to see.
5) Chris - Whether he knows it or not, he’s plenty capable of doing good dancing on the floor during big parties and gatherings. Only reason he doesn’t is due his sense of awareness and fear of potential embarrassment.
Jake - He’s plenty capable of reverse engineering and tinkering with alien tech and gadgets, often without needing any sort of blueprints or guides to figuring out how each device works or their functions.
6) Much akin to Captain Underpants, their principal winds up going out into the streets with the Duo needing to chase him around and make sure he doesn’t get hurt badly before the hypnosis can wear off. Coincidentally, Kite Man (Hell Yeah!) was in the midst of a robbing spree in Bludhaven but since they can’t be sure if Apple Pie Man would remember their crime fighter identities a secret, Chris and Jake had to remain in their civies while he dealt with Kite Man himself. Thankfully the Principal’s surprisingly tasty pies were able to subdue Kite Man with it’s tempting smell and taste, allowing for his easy capture. Needless to say, it was most definitely one of the weirder adventures the Duo had ever been on which is frankly saying quite a lot
After much delays, here’s some adequate enough answers for you my friend ;-) @gothicghost2000
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Anna Stats Meta 01 - FEH Numbers + Anna Comparisons
AKA the "Neku fumbles through Gamepress to understand how good base feh!Anna's stats are actually before he gives up and tries to narratively compare her stats to other playable Annas" meta. I'm obviously joking to an extent, but I feel like FEH will be more relevant when it comes to latter stat-related metas such as skills.
Part 1: Trying to Decipher FEH (and Fail)
As mentioned above, I used Gamepress to get a quick peek at her stats, with the fortunate additional benefit of directly comparing her stats to the entire roster. (Or at least as far as GP itself is updated, as I have just learned they stopped updating the site quite some time ago. These images should still be acceptable for my current goals, though.) I also threw in New Years Anna as a bonus, which is in the second image.
It is interesting to see Base Anna's base ATK be this "low" in comparison to most of the cast (it does get up to 45 with her weapon at least), although it is nice to see New Years Anna have a relatively high RES even if it comes at the sacrifice of some DEF. Also...it's neat to see both feh!Annas share a similar HP stat? Above-average SPDs?
...yeah, again I kind of knew from the start that trying to compare gacha stats alone wasn't going to be the most informative.
Part 2: Hypotheticals ft. Playable Annas
Which is why we're going to scrap this and move on to comparing Anna to her interdimensional sisters! For each stat, I will be judging if feh!Anna would be bad, good, or great at said stat on both a base stat and growth rate level.
To keep this section simple and concise, just know that I used Anna's Fandom Wiki page to go over Awakening, Fates, and Three Houses (3H for short) Anna's base stats and growths. Playable Annas only. (Looking at you, Destroyer of Worlds DLC Anna boss.) I could've used Engage as well, but I'd rather compare feh!Anna to similarly-aged adult counterparts. Sorry kid.
HP: GOOD BASE, SLIGHTLY ABOVE-AVERAGE GROWTH
Both Fates and 3H Annas have a 35% growth with starting HPs in the 20s, while Awakening Anna has a pretty hefty base 36 HP and 80% growth. Do note that Awakening Anna is going to cheat a bit here, as she is a pre-promote at base. However, I feel that feh!Anna can be compared to a pre-promote of sorts as well, even if she technically "starts" with your team in FEH. Not to say she's a Jagen-archetype in terms of stats.
As a commander, Anna must hold the frontline in order to be a dependable leader. In that sense, her stats should reflect more on the bulky-end, resulting in a good HP endurance and the ability to endure more through experience. Still, I think it would be cute for her to hold some similarity to the frailer Annas, so a HP growth of 45-55% might be good.
STR: MEDIOCRE BASE, MEDIOCRE GROWTH
All 3 other Annas share a pretty similar STR growth surprisingly enough, as well as base STR in the 9-12 range (Awakening Anna obviously being the upper end at 12). While it is tempting to make feh!Anna a walking powerhouse in her military role, I will actually take notes from FEH and say her STR game is pretty middling, or even potentially below-average.
Anna seems to be more of a person that finds her strength in numbers rather than impressive power. Merchants themselves rely on words and number-crunching to make their points. Keeping to the theme of feh!Anna being the defensive, commanding force, her physical strength is only a supporting factor of herself instead of the entire package. If you want specific numbers for the growth, imagine 25-35%.
MAG: BAD BASE, BAD GROWTH
Now here is a stat where I am going to take my own headcanon more than the stats of other Annas. feh!Anna is a weapon-focused fighter, and I really want her to have a weakness when it comes to magical prowess. It will also be a fun comparison to the other Annas, as their own MAG-related abilities are either equal to or even better than their STR-related stats. In this sense, they are more flexible than feh!Anna, at least when it comes to the art of magic. She'd just rather stick to the art of war, like she trained for.
SKL/DEX: GREAT BASE, GOOD GROWTH
Between the 3 Annas, their SKL stats are pretty mixed between the 40-60% in terms of growths. As feh!Anna takes on the role of a very experienced warrior, I believe that she would have a pretty high SKL from the start and even surpass Awakening Anna's 60% growth. Compared to the merchant Annas, feh!Anna focuses on the axe, a heavy weapon that takes great skill to reliably wield. This should give her an edge in the competition to have great accuracy in her attacks...at least, great accuracy in terms of a FE axe-fighter.
SPD: GOOD BASE, GREAT GROWTH
SPD is a stat all of the Annas have a pretty good hold in, perhaps a reference to their cunning business plans. While feh!Anna does not match them in terms of shop profits, they can still hold similarity when it comes to speed during a battle. This is something that FEH seems to agree with as well, so I am comfortable having a good hold in SPD, although she would be slightly lower in it at the start in comparison to her counterparts.
LCK: BELOW-AVERAGE BASE, BAD GROWTH
Another stat that I am going to base more off of headcanon and straight comparison to other Annas, and wow it's another one she'll suck at! The seasonal paralogues in FEH are obsessed with feh!Anna never catching a break in failing to make an easy buck, with the summer ones even having the other Annas ripping her off! Needless to say, it is easy to imagine feh!Anna having a bad time when it comes to natural luck, where she'd have an even lower growth than 3H Anna's 45% LCK.
DEF: GOOD BASE, GOOD GROWTH
As bow and sword classes, the merchant Annas are usually pretty squishy on the defensive-end, and that shows in their middling DEF growths. As stated before, feh!Anna actually serves as a more bulky wall to the army, she will differ from other Annas by having a much better hold in DEF. Not much to add here, girl actually brings some armor to the fight what do you expect.
RES: GREAT BASE, GOOD GROWTH
One more note that I will actually take from FEH's stats is feh!Anna being at least good when it comes to resisting magic attacks, even if she fails to dish them out. This is another similarity she has with the other Annas, or at least Awakening and Fates Annas. Fates Anna in particular has a radically high base RES that I doubt feh!Anna would compare to, but will still be similar to.
BONUS - CHA: GOOD BASE, MEDIOCRE GROWTH
This is a small aside since this stat would only be comparable to 3H Anna, but I think the two would be somewhat similar? I'm unsure what really counts as "great CHA" for 3H-standards, but as a trained leader, feh!Anna should at least get a decent score at the start. 3H Anna has a 50% CHA growth, which I can see feh!Anna having a slightly smaller number for.
SUMMARY
feh!Anna obviously holds some major differences between her interdimensional versions, but that doesn't mean their stats have to be entirely different! Mainly, feh!Anna would have better defensive stats compared to other playable Annas, but much worse luck. I'm actually surprised by how relatively similar I ended up seeing feh!Anna compared to her alts, seeing as they are in pretty different spots even if they share a merchant gimmick somewhat.
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Red Hot Island - Chapter 7
[ View on site for better experience♪ ]
Location: Aquaria Park (Slides)
<Afternoon. The event has started>
Chiaki: ARE YOU READY TO FIND THIS TREASUREEEEEEEE!?
Leo: YEAAAAAAAAAAH!
Chiaki: DO YOU WANT TO GO TO NEW YOOOOOOORK!?
Leo: YEAAAAAAAAAAH!
Chiaki: If you win, you’re in heaven! If you lose, you’ll go to hell! It’s time to raise our strength, intelligence, stamina, and luck!
Eichi: Shut up, both of you. You’re too loud. You don’t have to raise the tension every single time.
Kaoru: And, what’d you mean by New York……?
Chiaki: AHAHAH ☆ I was so excited, I ended up referencing The Trans America U*tra Quiz [1]!
Eichi: Anyways. Back to the subject at hand. Let’s review the rules again for the sake of clarity.
Teams are made up of pairs of two. That means that Chiaki will be with me, and Hakaze will be with Tsukinaga-kun.
The rules say that somewhere hidden in the pool area is the pirate’s treasure. Each team has been given a treasure map, correct?
Participants will have to solve riddles found around the map at random. There, they will end up at the hidden treasure.
The time limit is one hour. Once the hour is over, or if the treasure is found, the Adventurers Guild―― That is, the resort―― will call the teams together.
The rules state you have to take the treasure there and have the Guild assess whether or not it’s the actual treasure that the pirates left behind.
Well, setting aside, the game is basically focused on orienteering [2]. That’s all. So, is everyone prepared?
Chiaki: Yes! I’ve been ready to go at any time ☆
Kaoru: I’m also good. Then, Tsukinaga-kun, shall we go find the treasure?
Leo: Yup! Alright then, bye bye~♪
Eichi: Alright then. I think it’s time for us to start treasure hunting as well, Chiaki.
Chiaki: Okay umm. Opening the map…
The first question says... “Three slender tall people, all with hands full of children. What is this?” Hm, why does it sound more like a riddle than a code?
Eichi: Well, it’s to be expected, isn’t it? This is a family friendly waterslide event.
The main goal was to create something that children can enjoy. If the children are happy, the parents are also happy. That’s what a family-oriented business is all about.
Chiaki: Ahh. That’s something I can understand. Tokusatsu is pretty much the same way. A lot of cast members are chosen with the mothers in mind, and a lot of the toys can even be enjoyed by adults too.
Hmm…… Now I’m wondering if it’s okay for us to do our best at this… Won’t we be pushing aside the children who want to find the treasure too?
We even said we were going to get first place when the event started…
Eichi: Ah, yes, you don’t have to worry about that. It’d be unfair if adults and children had the same riddles.
The difficulty changes during the middle of the game depending on if you’re an adult or a child. There is also a second treasure just for the kids too.
Chiaki: Really? That makes me feel better! Then, we can definitely give it our all!
Hmm… Tall people with hands full of children… I still don’t know what this means.
Eichi: ………
I think it’s those 3 palm trees over there. Look, the way the coconuts are placed by the leaves. Doesn’t it look like the palm trees are holding children?
Chiaki: ! Ohh, I see! I can totally see what you mean! Then, let’s go to those palm trees!
Location: Aquaria Park (Cove)
Chiaki: We came here pretty quickly, but from here I don’t see anything… What about you, Tenshouin?
Eichi: …… Hm? Hey, isn’t this it Chiaki?
Chiaki: Yeah? What is it?
Ah. This tree… Well, there’s definitely hiragana written at the base of it isn’t here…?
Um…… “Oatsua”? What is that? This list just looks like a bunch of scrambled up hiragana…
Eichi: ………
Could I see the map please? … Hmm, the second question says “Atage” and there’s a picture of a strawberry next to it.
If we look at this like a cipher, we can solve it by shifting down a syllable. So, if we shift the letters we have on the palm tree, we’ll get……
Chiaki: ! ―― “Bottom of the ocean!” [3]
That’s definitely that area at the bottom of the waterslide we were at earlier! It was made to look like the bottom of the ocean! Let’s go!
Eichi: Ah, Chiaki!
…Sigh, seriously. He ran way too fast.
Well, I do know that quick to move aspect of Chiaki is one of his virtues.
He’s always made it hard for people to follow his lead ーー Whether it be now or in the past.
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Chiaki is referencing this gameshow called The Trans America Ultra Quiz. Got no idea what it's about but thanks
If you're like me (has no clue what orienteering is and definitely had to look it up) this is a copy paste definition ! "a competitive sport in which participants find their way to various checkpoints across rough country with the aid of a map and compass, the winner being the one with the lowest elapsed time."
Omg okay this one was really fun to do I hope you guys can follow along. Okay so look at this chart. So basically, Eichi and Chiaki got the hint that strawberry was equal to "Atage." Strawberry in Japanese is "ichigo." So it's telling you that it's a word scramble and you have to move every letter down by one. A becomes I, TA becomes CHI, and GE becomes GO. This means that the cypher they got, Oatsua, has to be solved the same way. O becomes KA, A comes I, TSU becomes TE, and A becomes I. This turns Oatsua into Kaitei, meaning bottom of the ocean !!!
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... I have a messed up Zelda Idea. It starts like any other game with Link waking up and defeating a cult that tries to resurrect Ganon. He succeeds... very fast. He's kinda at loose ends before someone approaces him and tells him he could be the hero to end the whole cycle by slaying the origin of the curse, the dead god Demise. He agrees and opens a portal to the underworld... Zelda wakes up to a horrible premonition. She is now the player character. (1/2)
(2/3 this got longer sry) The game from then on is mostly puzzle based. As Zelda you have to deduce trough clues what happened: Some of the Ganon resurrection cult weren't caught and tricked the hero (starts to sound like a glory hound) into opening the door to the underworld. You make your way there and find him posessed by Demise. Your companion, an old man, reveals himself as Gan, the current holder of the triforce of power. You decide to seal all three of you until a new hero arrives.
(3/3) To LITERALLY pass the time (Nayru's chosen, baby!) while Gan keeps Demise busy, you cast some magic (in the form of a complicated puzzle) until... a little kid arrives? Well, they got the Master Sword and some other things Heroes have wielded. Together, you defeat Demise, ending the cycle (and don't let him cast another curse) Yes, this is a tie-in game to the Zombie one.
Honestly I just feel so bad for Link who was like "oh I can end this cursed cycle that results in so many tragic child heroes" only to directly set off the thing that forces another tragic child to take up the role of hero, even if his motivation wasn't that.... Sadness.
On the other hand Zelda just playing magic Sudoku as she sits in front of the door to keep Demise!Link and Gan inside the bounds as they fight it out is making me giggle tbh
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FNAF Movie officially announced for Oct.22 🎉 Predictions?
OP edited date to 27th! (Not that it matters :)
I fell asleep with my phone on, so this was the first thing I saw when I woke up so I was a bit like the Mr Krabs meme💀💀
Also, I haven’t seen every single leak or piece of information (I mentioned a while back that I get overstimulated) so these could very well be wrong!
1. My biggest one (walk with me on this!!) is that Vanessa and Michael are going to be related somehow. NOW, HEAR ME OUT!!
The first thing I noticed was that Mike, Abby and ‘Mike’s Mom’ all have dark hair, whereas William is *supposedly* either greying, or has light coloured hair (is it blonde??) Yes, genetics work like that, but I remember seeing one kid that had to dye his hair blonde (he seemed to be part of the missing kids). From what I saw of the photo, all of the kids had their canon appearance (Gabriel is being played by a black kid, a red head kid for Fritz etc)…
This could’ve just been changed based off of auditions (again, don’t take this seriously😭 [not OP but certain fans]) but the only blonde missing kid was Susie. IDK if they’ve casted a CC, but it could very well be that CC in the is blonde (Also note, Elizabeth was the only blonde kid in the family in the games👀) like his father (✨recessive genes✨). KEEP THAT IN MIND!!
Mike and Vanessa being the same age is strange, considering if this film had followed game canon, it’d be impossible for them to be the same age (Michael was likely born in late 60’s/Early 70’s, and Vanessa is like late 20’s/early 30’s in Security Breach). Considering William is an awful person, it’s not too unlikely that he could’ve cheated on his wife around the time Michael was born. Again, going back to the blonde hair, and the speculation of the ‘A’ in her name… (I hope I don’t sound like MatPat or something💀) (EDIT HALFWAY THROUGH ME TYPING: ‘Unnamed Female Villain’ is also blonde, and an older woman👀) /I’m just saying, IDK who she is so her role should be interesting considering there’s not many villains?!/
2. Moving on… I don’t think Abby is going to die in this. I remember seeing that there’s a three movie deal with Universal, and so the obvious choice is to drag it out 💰💸 (Scott Cawthorn is LAUGHING) but also, it seems like there’s far too much ground to cover.
3. Maybe there’s a reason for an ‘Abby Schmidt’ rather than ‘Elizabeth Afton’ (her only documented name), and I think that it’s just because they changed their name after everything went down. I think the Schmidt’s are going to have close contact with their mother, whilst she and William are estranged. Also, Mike is likely Abby’s sole provider.
4. We are going to be confused about something else in the timeline. No doubt. Questions may be answered but ATP it’s FNAF’s brand to confuse us and leave us hanging💀
5. Hank is Henry, no doubt!
6. I don’t think William is being spring-locked just yet.
7. Vanessa and Mike are going to meet at the mall as security guards, and they’re going to become close. (I’ve said this before)The betrayal (if you can call it that) will be when she’s pulled to the dark side after learning about what happened! I think therapy is going to be significant too, since they cast a DR. I think she’ll be more a part of Vanessa’s storyline (uncovering her past) than Michael’s (but she may convince him to go/get used to the idea)
8. Charlie/CC won’t get that much screen time. I think the focus will be on the MCI and everything after.
9. Mike will be a grey character/antihero and will do something veryy questionable💀(and I’ll love him regardless😌)
10. I don’t have one rn (I’m sure it’ll come to me) so I’m just going to make the numbers whole :)
EDIT: Here’s how I think the roll out will go: Teaser trailer in end of May/early June ➡️ Official trailer in the summer ➡️ Stills and PR strategy from then ➡️ Reviews and premiers in early October and then release :)
(PUT ME ON THE AD TEAM I HAVE IDEAS!! LET ME COOK!)
This is not a prediction, but just a statement (?) I get why it’s set in another timeline - its going to go global and if it’s very niche and low-key (only understood by fans), it’s not going to make sense to regular moviegoers! On the plus side, we’ll now have book, game and film canon to choose from when writing😳
To any non followers: DO NOT take me seriously. I am simply not going to argue over a post made before 10AM 🙏
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compiling this for my own nefarious needs but any of you with fanventures may be able to appreciate it:
List of things in Homestuck that are direct results of Scratch or Caliborn's involvement and would not exist in AUs without them,
Or: A Fansession Worldbuilding To Do List
Please feel free to rb with additions!
1. The troll caste system and society as we understand it
What's pivotal to the fuchsia hegemony more than literally anything else? Their psychic resistance, which is necessary to survive proximity to their living alien god? Sure, but canonically Doc Scratch introduced her after the... well, the scratch.
Glb'golyb isn't organically part of troll society in all universes and didn't choose to come down all theophanic and shit one day:
I like to think of her as the pet I gave to their race, at the dawn of their species' evolution. Again, it's just the sort of thing a good host does.
-- Scratch, panel 5936
She is also probably one cause (next to the everything proceeding from her) of everyone's nightmares and thus the invention of recuperacoons.
So whattafuck was going on before? Well, based on troll biology's every canonical indication, probably they were chugging along fine in discrete non-child-exiling hive societies run by mother grubs (who were once also people to them).
In the Beforus timeline it seems the concept of an empress is still real and she still is more important than the colony mother, so that's a cultural shift that may have been contemporary with the beginning of lusii as commensals (basically, queens lost sway as they made more longer lived more specialized workers, and those outsourced childcare to lusii).
In such a scenario it is your choice whether lusii are still a normal part of life for the trolls in your universe, and how your troll society developed is in your hands anyway so maybe none of this is real.
As for the other, canonically spacefaring terrors and cherubim, your fansession trolls could probably worship them just as well as having any other type of religion. It depends on what you want horrorterrors and cherubs (and angels more generally) to symbolize and do in your narrative.
2. The moons
Derse and Prospit are defined in gameplay by contact with Skaia and the Terrors respectively. But the Terrors are only talking because Caliborn is massacring them, though the planetary orbit does take it into the Furthest Ring where they live, so... do with that what you will. What are they doing? My headcanon personally is that they eat the detritus of finished or failed sessions... but not everyone has a take nearly so ecological.
Also! Chess usually has two players, but what if the tabletop war metaphor of your session is some form of checkers, or three player chess, or ...? :^) Why then you would need another portmanteau moon... back in the day we called it Derspit and we liked it!
3. Troll nocturnality
This is specific to Alternia. If your guys evolve somewhere else they may not face such a terrible sun...
4. The Green Moon and Sun
Didn't exist on Beforus! The Moon was created by the B1 kids for Green Sun shenanigans, which are impossible without it. Also to do with LE (presumably) and thus a post-Scratch world construction; first guardians (which Scratch is, and which he makes fusion caliborn upon, um, hosting him) probably act very differently for most fansessions.
5. Scratching and the Denizen Choice
Doc Scratch inherently is somehow connected to it. It may not be supposed or able to happen in worlds without him and Sburb forks without universe cancer, and the price may be steep for the fact that it does. After all, he has never failed to summon his master, who is always already here...
You may want to consider a few rule changes to your SBURB game. :^) What'd be new for Denizens without all this?
6. Troll religion, generally
Scratch is their First Guardian and sent them Glb'golyb. He/English are also the Mirthful Messiahs somehow (don't ask, it has to do with Gamzee and Arquiusprite also being components of English along with Caliborn), and probably paradoxically connected to,,, all the juggalononsense, and maybe the Jewish parallels idk I don't want them to be and so that's my blind spot, I don't care if they caused The System and neither has anyone fun ever. But maybe they did. In that case we must consider how they could not do that, which is not hard. Just as it takes more muscles to frown, it takes less brainpower to just handwave stuff like this as cultural development coincidence.
I think it's funny because we live in ICP town and so I keep it in when I fuck around in here, because I think the entire signless thing is interesting and leads to heartwrenching implications, but you actually can define your purples however. My homestuck-hiatused partner has one who's coded sort of like a commedia fuckup court reporter.
7. The entire canon limitations
All of it loops back to make English, so the MSPA reader stuff goes out of its way to define that universe as locked away and separate.
This is possible in more ways, I think. I'm probably missing a lot, which only seems core because it's prominent in the anomalous session. I don't know! Does anyone else? Thoughts towards a world in which he is not already here, and the frog can hope for something?
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okay! i've finally finished the southern reach trilogy & want to thought dump bc thats what i do when i enjoy things 👍 im going to assume most people have not read this & explain as such
i'll be real i only picked this up bc i saw the movie based off the first book & was like "well huh" & then couldnt get the idea of an environment that just... refracts everything back and in on itself is just. so cool. it's such a cool idea. so when i saw in the credits it was based off a book i HAD to go read it the concept was too interesting i had to know what was in the book they couldnt translate to the movie
i got such a treat oh my god.
something that stood out to me pretty quickly, given im into a completely separate other series where none of the characters have public names, is that, iirc the movie DID give names but the whole first book theres no names. they each have a profession & are called as such. even as we get names in later books, only one of the og characters is ever named and the biologist thats one of the most important characters is simply that. the biologist. & it means absolutely nothing in terms of how impersonal or deep the character feels. because shes utterly complete and herself. respectable. i like that.
but most importantly the world, oh my god the world. the movie has its own not entirely off base take on it. different and yet similar enough. if u like fucked up worlds im recommending this 200% its just SO fascinating. its a little area cut off from the rest of the real world they call area x & it is protected by a sort of boundary but its. self refraction of things doesnt even begin to cover what its got going on. i dont even know how to describe it right. theres THINGS just so many unexplainable things, you think the area is out to get them but it ends up more like... the area's attempt at self preservation at the cost of the other, the intruders. like the whole thing is self aware.
the plants & terrain arent ever changing, not anymore than they would be with time, & not all of the animals are some fucked up threat out to get them. the area itself is the threat, impossible things in the sky, ocean, shadows weaving into the world & messing up whoever happens to come into contact with it. weird inexplicable things happening to those they send in to explore.
and at first it seems like a survivors came back wrong story. like whatever's in there, whatever fucked them up did so to such an extent none of the survivors even live long. which is fascinating in its own right like what is it that harms them to such an extent. & ur introduced to all the weird monsters & occurrences in a way thats like. well this things out to get them. & u need to know more.
& man the more the next 2 books give u is just so INTERESTING.
but first i have to say i hated the corporate mind games that took up 2/3 of the second book. hard to get through. johns such a man baby sometimes & its so frustrating seeing him just decide pieces of the puzzle are no use to him & getting rid of them. sick of his shit. i dont like him much in the 3rd book either but fine whatever.
the last 1/3 of the second book & like all of the third had the same "no what!?!? ur kidding!?!?" reaction as the first book had & was again interesting & easy to get through. LOTS of juicy secrets & info that ties things together & makes it make as much sense as it can & ends off in such a solid way, not without questions, but with a sense that even if those questions were answered, it wouldn't make any difference, would be maybe a trivia fact more than some grounding breakthrough.
also to whom it matters the cast is pretty diverse & natural about it, having them just be people in a situation & not relying on that to be a selling a point like i see in posts all the time here.
im going to get into spoilers here
the nature of area x is so interesting to me. the time paradox, the fact that time moves in a linear fashion and yet the area contains so much passage of time that just. doesnt match the outside world. the shock of grace saying she'd been there 3 years when it'd only been weeks and yet all the signs proved she wasnt lying. the way how suddenly all the decay & change in the area held just that much more weight to it. that things were even less what they seemed. that lended to knowing the biologist's 30 years in there vastly outweighed the real world's time. that part saying that people couldve lived there, lived out whole full lives between the time the border/area was created & when it was first explored because if the time difference just really hit me for some reason. its such a weird space.
and how the area handles people, not the book but the area, how it gets inside them, turns them into something else. learning that what came back from expeditions wasnt the originals. that the area got inside the people who went in & changed them into something completely unrecognizable. turned into a pig slug hybrid with only their face intact, into an owl, into some Thing writing in life itself on tunnel(tower) walls, into a giant fucking whale that can exist wherever it wants to. the fact that, initially, these are viewed as some fucked up creation recreated from who died there, only to be revealed that these forms ARE the original people and they ARE still alive, just in this new form, and while its implied they may not have the same frame of consciousness as people, its also not stated thats 100% the case- that no outsider can know for sure because people can only know people(or at least hope to know people). the whole concept that the originals have become part of the area living there or dying there in this new way, while the world creates copies of them, sends them back to the real world, fools everyone into thinking these copies are the originals, that something just happened to them and somethings not right anymore. that even when ones like the biologist's copy admits they arent the same person, no one believes them. thats so wild. & its framed that 3 people made it back for real, no copies involved, but the only one with any proof is the director. sure whitby & lowry have life spans unlike other "survivors" but at the same time, its also said theres no real way of knowing if the real or copy whitby lived, & iirc the footage seemed to imply lowry was different on the way back too although i guess that could be attributed to stress but its not like the things he says are very trustworthy either. anyway thats just to wild & intriguing to me, that while they're off living or fighting for life or dying, theres a copy of them they arent even aware of, creating a different truth of them to the outside world. neat concept.
the lighthouse keepers story, the way it all started, that kind of got to me. the way he was just doing his best at his job & the more and more u read u know its about to catch up, he about to be consumed by this & start its spread, and theres nothing anyone can do about it. and god the letter to him at the end. i came here to be fascinated and yet that final moment of human respect across people who were no longer people got to me & i ended up crying. which may be stupid of me. but i LOVE when a world can draw u in so thoroughly & then have characters to get caught up in & care about too.
& i love that the nature of this area is so bizarre that, even when things are stated as directly as possible , u think for a moment the narrator is hallucinating or or being vivid & only to moments later have it shoved it ur face that no, thats the reality, thats word for word whats happening. i had a LOT of "what in the actual fuck" moments & they were jarring of course, as they were meant to be for such a peculiar world, but jarring in the way that drew u in more, made u need to know more.
basically i had a good time & this is going to be constantly in my mind or at least in the back of it. a lot more going on then im saying here & if ur into fucked up world building then definitely give it a chance at least
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Quick Undertale ramblings on the alarm clock and religion portrayal
Howdy and Hola, friends. So a while ago on my Asriel character arc post, doloresbernathypiplup and admiral2019 were asking about whether or not I was following the winter alarm clock dialogue and how Asriel's conversion to Christianity works in Wholehearted when it seems like the Foxverse cast has their own religious system. While I did answer those questions in the comment section, I wanted to describe my answers more eloquently in one post so that no communication gaffs happen. I'm also afraid that I came off too dismissive or blunt without intending to, so I wanna give more detail as to my opinions on both, since both dolores and admiral have understandably decent questions.
...
First, the alarm clock dialogue. I DON'T consider it canon. This is probably an unpopular opinion on tumblr, but I don't take it as canon. The reasons why I don't are, 1.) the project got canceled and never fully released. If the project were finished, then there's a possibility things would be different. But, even though dialogue got released, the clock never got finished like Undertale itself did. 2.) Toby has said before that merch isn't canon, but if the clock were released in full in an alternate timeline, then it would perhaps stretch into the "merchandise" category. In that scenario, a fully released clock being canon would be contradictory since it then becomes merch in the manner of a downloadable app. And 3.) the Undertale wiki has described the clock as "dubiously canon," which puts a question mark on canon reliability for the clock as well.
It's cool if others treat the clock as canon; I'm fine with that. But my own wish and hope are that anyone who stumbles across my story will understand *why* I don't personally consider it canon and thus don't follow it as a reference point in my works (and for understandable reasons) and are willing to agree to disagree with me. As long as people can roll with that and not try to discredit my work simply because I don't agree with the clock and are cool with agreeing to disagree instead, we're all good here.
...
Now, portraying Asriel as a believer in my works. I know people have discussed before that the monsters seem to have a religion based around the "Angel" and thus, why would Asriel convert to Christianity in the Wholehearted series, especially considering the "Angel religion" as we'll call it? I'll also explain more about that here.
Undertale and Deltarune are confirmed to be on two separate timelines. This point of reference is *really* important, because just because some lore is portrayed one way in Deltarune doesn't mean a writer has to *follow* said lore in an Undertale-based story, and vice versa. This is due to them being on different timelines, and thus part of why I can write Asriel as a Christian in an Undertale based story without worrying about Deltarune. Let's get into that now.
In Deltarune, we have a fully-fledged religion based around the Angel. Lighteners worship the Angel as their god, and there's a full church system based around him. Not only that, but characters like Asriel, Toriel, Monster Kid, and Reverend Alvin faithfully worship the Angel in said game, with Asriel even being a church choir boy and a religious ska enjoyer. How does this differ in Undertale? Well, we hear of an Angel prophecy where the Angel, who has seen the surface, will free the monsters one day (which is revealed to be Asriel/Flowey). However, there are many *key* differences here. In Undertale, while the prophecy speaks very positively about the Angel, we never see any church system, nor religious ska, nor choir, nor worship system build on the Angel at all. Asriel/Flowey/the Angel is treated more like a mysterious folk hero. But in Deltarune, on the other hand, the Angel is worshipped, revered, sung about, and has a full church system built upon him. We also don't know if Asriel/Flowey is the Angel yet in that game or not. Due to those fundamental differences between games, we can safely conclude that while the Angel religion is indeed a thing in Deltarune, it's *not* necessarily a religion in Undertale and is more left up to interpretation due to being far more vague and less evidence for existing as a full-scale religion in Undertale.
As for me writing Asriel as a Christian in Wholehearted, it's for many reasons. 1.) When I learned that he loved religious ska and was a faithful choir boy in Deltarune, I just translated those elements over to my Undertale post-pacifist work as a neat little easter egg thing. 2.) I'm a believer myself, and I wanted to insert a little personal part of myself into Asriel's character to give me more motivation to write. 3.) The motive for him becoming a Christian is to be free from his past and finally feel clean, wanting to be permanently forgiven for all he's done. This is explained in Wholehearted Half-Souls chapter 2, where the narrator explains that he now wears "a wooden cross necklace also dangles around Asriel's neck, reaching down to the upper part of his chest. Being a religious child of faith, he is now renewed *with hope of finally being free, and being permanently forgiven for his past.*" He also says in a later chapter (WHHS, chapter 13) that he was never a real God, and he was very arrogant in that claim, helping develop his growth in humility.
For those reasons, Asriel being a Christian is understandable for multiple reasons and both from a "Deltarune translation over to Undertale" easter egg perspective (with some tweaks) and a character arc perspective. I'll be focusing on his conversion more, however, in Wholehearted Origins, with "First Day" releasing during the next few weeks. That story takes much time to focus on how he's seeking permanent forgiveness and wants to come to terms with his past. That's the origin of how he becomes a believer in my work. And hey, considering all the guilt he's built up, it makes sense as to why he would do such. As long as that motive is there, it helps me avoid being too preachy or on the nose in my stories.
...
I'm sorry if I was too blunt or dismissive in the comments. That was not my intention, and I want to give a more fully-fledged answer now so that everyone knows I'm not mad or angry with anyone. I just have thought a lot about this and feel passionate about it. In any event, thanks to both delores and admiral for their questions and interest.
I'll leave it here for now. Take care, friends. I'll see you guys this weekend for the official release of chapter 2 of "First Day" on AO3 and Wattpad.
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My Spoiler-Free Thoughts On Digimon Survive!
All-in-all, I really enjoyed it! I was fully and excitedly expecting a visual novel, and it delivered!
I’ve only seen “cheaper” visual novels before, like DDLC or Dream Daddy or Hustle Cat. And in comparison, Survive has much more work put into their sprites. They have a surprising amount of animation to them, compared to how static your typical visual novel is, which helps make the scenes a bit more dynamic.
The game was admittedly a bit text-heavy at times, but I personally found Cyber Sleuth’s text much more boring and painful to get through.
I really liked the Karma system! Most choice-based games have a very simplistic Good / Bad / Neutral system, but the system here felt very nuanced. There were multiple times where I felt the Wrathful option seemed more Moral and vice versa. I went into the game playing naturally and not aiming for any particular ending, and despite having a mostly unchanged mindset the entire game, at different points I felt myself leaning more towards the different karmas.
The characterization of the human characters is really good. You can see references to the original adventure kids, but the survive gang is so vastly different from the adventure cast, or even any of the other digimon anime casts. Personally I like digimon's reuse of tropes throughout the anime series, but getting new characterizations here was really refreshing. I found Aoi and Saki a bit lacking, and felt they were reduced to just being The Girls, but Miu and Miyuki I really enjoyed and they ended up two of my favorites.
The characterization of the digimon is especially really good. Each digimon has a distinct personality and gets a lot of screentime and attention. Some of the anime series lacked on developing certain digimon, but Survive does it really well! Even the digimon villains I felt had more character and motive than your typical digimon adventure villain did.
I really liked the choices for the main characters’ digimon and their digivolutions. And it was really nice to see the lesser-seen digimon get such a large and well-written role!
As for the digimon options for joining your party, I was a bit disappointed at how few there were. Cyber Sleuth had so many! And the digivolution options here were very v-pet-like — they don’t really make any sense. I was a little frustrated that two digimon would be in the game but not in the same digivolution lines. But it also made guessing the lines more fun.
I also really liked that Survive touched on quite a few dark themes that would have been too dark to cover in the anime series. Even Tri, despite being advertised as dark and adult-oriented, really didn't contain anything worse than the kids anime. But Survive definetly does! These dark things I had been wondering but fully accepted would never make it into the series for being too dark, and was pleasantly surprised when they showed up here. They broke my heart, in the best way.
There were a couple translation errors, but nowhere near as bad as Cyber Sleuth – which mistranslated the word “monster” as “Bakemon” repeatedly and made the game very confusing at times. The most distracting errors I found in my playthrough were:
randomly changing pronouns for the digimon partners (which imo works out, since Digimon arguably don’t have gender, although this game never covers this idea)
at one point, in someone’s dialogue they mention Miu instead of what is supposed to be Miyuki’s name, but this error is pretty clear from the scene’s context
One of my favorite and most appreciated things about this game: There are so many Quality of Life features in the game, available from the get-go!
You can skip through dialogue and scenes!
You can set battles to auto!
Auto-battling comes with several options! You can set them to: (1) no auto-digivolving (2) auto-digivolving (3) using items (4) keep the digimon together to have a better chance of tag-teaming and powering up each other (5) send your digimon to split up and fight enemies one-on-one.
You can change the difficulty before any battle.
If you fail a battle, there’s not a game over and instead you’re given several options to try again: (1) try again with no change (2) change the difficulty (3) get brought to an area to grind and level up before trying the battle again
Changing the difficulty does not change the EXP or prizes you get. As someone who’s not always the best at video games, I really appreciate how it doesn’t penalize you at all for playing on a lower difficulty.
I did get some spoilers before finishing the game (entirely my fault) but none of them took away from the game. Even when I knew certain things were going to happen, I was still shocked by them. In some ways knowing the spoilers enhanced my experience, because it upped the tension a lot. And the spoiler I had been most upset by, ended up being an early reveal so it didn't ruin the story nearly as much as I had feared it would.
So if you've gotten spoilers, don't worry! Survive is definetly the kind of story to stand on its own and still keep you entertained and surprised and guessing, even if you've gotten some spoilers!
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CoD Notes: BO1 Finished
I had been worried that Black Ops 1 would unfairly feel like a step backwards for me since I decided to do MW1/2/3 back to back and MW3 came out a year later. This was not the case. Black Ops feels like such a revelation to the franchise. The story isn’t high art, but it feels so much more involved than anything else in the franchise up to this point. The voice cast is far more stacked than ever before. Alex Mason as a protagonist is far more interesting than any previous protagonist. I think his largest competition is Soap, who only gets to be more than silent player avatar in MW2/3 and even then isn’t as interesting as Mason.
I mean, this one game has so many more memorable characters than any other Call of Duty. Ed Harris’s Hudson, Ice Cube’s Bowman, Gary Oldman’s Reznov, Woods all stand out but even Weaver, Dragovich, Steiner, that one scientist guy in Kowloon, are all so much more vivid than the tryhard wannabe NPC’s of something like Ghosts (oops, I beat many games in a row without taking notes).
The plot twist alone elevates this game from “stupid annual release” to video game hall of fame. I’d argue that video games are the best medium for plot twists. It’s no Bioshock, but the Reznov twist is so fun and so well executed. I remember it blowing my mind as a kid and it was a ton of fun to see all the little hints as I went through this time. But I’ve already talked about the game at large twice. Let’s get into the last few missions.
Crashed plane assault mission was fine. I noticed the radio shout out a “Sergeant Blundell” which I recognized as Jason Blundell, the main Black Ops guy, this time. Also very funny and on the nose to have a section set to Sympathy for the Devil.
Snowy mountain assault was just okay. The top-down tactical part was clearly a stepping stone to the Strike Team missions of Black Ops 2. Didn’t love that section. But it was kind of funny to get to play as Hudson. This series seems to have some sort of quota to meet on having multiple playable characters. I did struggle really hard on one checkpoint in this level.
Then is the Vietnam mission where you get to fly a helicopter. I remember liking that part as a kid and it’s fine now. I’ll admit that these ‘Nam levels blend together for me.
But then we’ve got the Rebirth Island assault where you sneak around as Mason and do a gas-mask armored strike as Hudson. It’s pretty cool to get to see the same moment from two perspectives, a rare good use for having multiple playable characters. I will admit that Hudson’s breakable gas mask ended my life many times though.
Then the big plot twist as a cutscene mission, which is very fun.
Then finally the big boat assault and underwater base. Nothing too special gameplay wise, but generally a nice capper on the game.
And I love the implication that Mason killed JFK. I mean, it’s a very strong implication, but I suppose they never outright confirm it was him who pulled the trigger. I half expected the final scene of zooming in on Mason photoshopped into the background of a JFK pic to turn into a “JFK assassination simulator” for a second, but instead it transitions directly into the opening cutscene for Five, which is such a treat.
I did manage to get to round, like, 9, I wanna say, on Five. Sadly died right I before I could PaP because I forgot how the weapon thief mechanic worked and ended up double buying a gun. The voice lines in this map are even funnier to me as an adult who has more context on this era.
Overall, I think this game is peak CoD as far as campaigns go. First, set out to tell a story that would work even outside of this series, then drench it in a particular era and add a bunch of fun weapons and setpieces.
In the rankings so far, I think this is going at the top.
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