#and give pyro some proper development

[ecto-hazard]

Tf2 clone hc/au cause they're in my beautiful mind again

General scifi bullshit

Since the third generation of the war, all mercs are clones of 9 original mercenaries who were the best of the best

since clones can be respawned repeatedly and know almost nothing beyond fighting, the war has gone on far longer than the mercs think it has. its probably closer to the 80s

cloning technology and respawn technology are basically the same thing. They generate your body after death based on biological data, including genetic and nongenetic factors (such as scarring, surgeries, etc)

No clones are exactly alike. If they were, the respawn tech wouldnt be able to discern which individual clone to generate since they have the same sequence.

Generating a new clone is a more extensive process than respawning. Random mutations are induced in the original biological sequence to ensure no exact duplicates exist, and the initial generation takes a bit longer to process. Once the clone is produced, they're often catatonic or lacking long term memory and take a day or two to reach their "normal" level of awareness. They undergo testing during this time period to ensure they're fit to fight and aren't going to offset the red/blu stalemate by being over or underperforming

clones that are considered unusable for being deemed physically unfit or otherwise incapable of maintaining the stalemate are terminated and recycled so they can reuse the australium and matter used to generate them in the first place

memories across the clones varies. you have some instances where their memories overlap well (like the case of both red and blu soldier's remembering being a lawyer) and some instances where their entire past is a haze. all that matters to the administrator is that they remember being at war and theyre too busy killing each other to discover gaps and overlaps between them

there's six main clone lines for each merc that make up the six main teams overseen by the administrator (Ajax, Citadel, Echelon, etc). they all came from an original individual, but particular traits are found across clones on a specific team

Team Fortress is made up of reject clone lines that are mostly functional, but arent fit for the proper warfare involved in the higher level teams.

Specific merc info

scouts line was demoted to tf just for being too "annoying." its hard to take him seriously at his job if he's constantly blabbing.

soldier's are pretty easy to generate. the tf line was demoted for. obvious reasons. clones that don't quickly develop ferocity are usually destined for termination

pyros are interesting. the tf pyro files were completely corrupted after a freak fire during generation. the resulting clones are freak mutants that normally would go straight to termination. but it turns out if you just stuff those guys into a rubber suit and give them a flamethrower, they do their job just fine. said mutations do tend to lead to lower clone lifespans, but pyros are pretty cheap to replace, and the other team members usually never notice a difference

the team fortress demo line is far more prone to alcohol dependencies than the other team lines, hence being demoted. but so long as you supply a constant stream of cheap whiskey, they get the job done

the heavy line is considerably more competent, but was demoted for being a bit too smart for his own good. they needed big guys who could shoot big guns, and fortress heavies tend to be a bit more suspicious of the whole ordeal. we dont need him shooting the Really big guns

the original engineer had a high position in tfi. the fortress line was demoted for being a bit more unhinged under the surface, making him a risk if he got his hands on better equipment. you dont see any higher team engineers sawing their own hand off

medics are particularly hard to clone because the original medic experimented on himself so much, adding in the random mutations often makes him unviable and instantly terminated. the reject line in particular is quite messy, hence the demotion

sniper's line was demoted for being generally uncivilized and gross not that he would give a shit. theyre also the most prone to memory gaps, given the original's already bizarre past

spy's line was demoted for the excessive smoking. despite memory gaps being common among spies, they have yet to stumble across one that doesnt remember being scout's father. for whatever reason, that memory from the original seems to be ingrained in all of them, even if they dont remember their own name

[vees-genshin-blog]

My first/main team

I mentioned in an earlier post that I would talk about my main team, so here it is!! This posts will cover who exactly is in my team, and the "story" behind its creation. Of course I will also share their current builds, one of which was already shown before, and I might mention how I want to develop this team after building my Childe International team.

The Team:

So, the big question: Who is on my main team?

Welllll, it's Anemo Traveler, Fisch, Bennett, and Diona.

The thing is, I play Anemo Traveler as a physical DPS.

Yup, that's right, I play the ANEMO Traveler as a physical DPS.

The Story:

Back when I was, roughly in the AR 20s or maybe 30s, I knew I had to build a proper team. I watched some videos about team building and got a rough idea of what I should be aiming for. I knew I wanted the Anemo Traveler to be my DPS (because she is amazing 😤), so I searched up some builds for her as a DPS.

In my search, I came across someone who built the Traveler as a physical DPS and something in my head clicked and I went "I HAVE to build my Traveler like this!!" For some reason, physical traveler was more appealing to me than using anemo traveler the normal way 😭. The damage they were doing wasn't bad either, and while it wasn't nuke-worthy damage, it was still impressive to me, who couldn't even hit 1K 😭.

Anyway, against all common sense, I built my Lumine for the physical route and chose the other members of my team based around her:

Diona for shielding, healing, and cryo application.

Fischl for electro application (for superconduct), and a sub dps

Bennett for extra pyro in case of leftover aura, and his burst attack buff

Yes, I'm now aware that superconduct is basically the worst reaction in Genshin Impact, and that physical damage is basically worth nothing in the present. But back then, I didn't care because this was the direction I wanted to go.

Of course I know Geo Traveler was better if I did want to go the physical route, but I liked Anemo Traveler's skill better. The burst was awkward to use but I figured how to deal with it over time.

So yeah, that's how my main team was created!!

The Builds:

Here are the current builds of my main team. I ended up farming Ridge Watch for both sets: Pale Flame for the Anemo Traveler and Tenacity for Diona. I also did a few runs of the domain with the Thunder artifacts and Bennett got pieces from bosses since I could NOT do the Noblesse Oblige domain 😔.

I'd like to improve these builds once I get my Childe International done (though Bennett gets improvement since he's also part of Childe International). Since I'm gonna farm Noblesse Oblige, I'm hoping to also get some good pieces of Bloodstained Chivalry I can give to Traveler for a 2pc/2p Pale flame and Bloodstained chivalry.

Bennett needs a complete revamp for his artifacts because I didn't know the burst was based on Base Attack so I should focus on ER and HP for his healing 😔.

Honestly I think Diona's artifacts are fine for now. I just need to finish ascending her weapon and level her skill a few more times.

Fischl needs both her burst and skill to be leveled a bit, and I'd like to get a 4pc Thundering fury for her, but I'm ok with a better 2pc/2pc like what she has right now.

The Damage:

In terms of damage, well, in my opinion, I think its ok! I mean, they carried me through Inazuma to the current Archon quest 😤. They've been my ride or die since the beginning and I don't regret going this route. Though I will admit that events with battle involved can be a bit hard since they don't dish out 100k 😔.

I don't have any screenshots of Lumine's damage since I play on my Mac, but I'd say its around or under 10k? It's definitely more than 1k; I do N2C combos and I've seen a 2k hit a few times, though I don't know about the charged attack.

Overall team damage is a bit mixed though with the reaction triggered by Fisch and Bennet, plus the Swirl damage from Lumine.

The Future:

What are my plans once both my main and Childe International team are good?

I'd like to build Dendro Traveler to try out a Dendro team!! I was thinking a team with Dendro Traveler, Fischl and two others so I don't have to build too many new characters. The problem is I don't know who yet.

I chose Tighnari as my free 5-star so he's an option but I don't know his playstyle yet. I was also thinking Xinqui for a bit, but then I read that Fischl isn't good for Hyperbloom so that's probably a no. Either way, it's exciting to think about the potential teams I could make; maybe I'll end up building something crazy like my main team 😂😭.

Once Nahida comes around and I hopefully get her (🥹), then I want to build Intergrassional, or some variant of a Childe Dendro team. They all look so fun to play 😁😁😁.

Conclusion:

That's basically everything about my main team!! I hope you enjoyed the story of its creation, the fact that physical anemo travler is my dps, and the entire dissection I did of it! I'm honestly really happy with them and they were only my team I had until now, so I'm excited I got to share them with everyone!

[mayobedo]

Initial thoughts on the Natlan characters now that I've had the day to simmer on them

Disclaimer: I am white. I figured I should make that clear. I just want to get my thoughts out there.

In general, I think the more modern look is very unique and something we haven't seen in Genshin Impact before, but they do feel kind of safe. They're very vibrant too, which fits all the color we've seen from the Natlan previews. Unlike a lot of the Fontaine designs initially there's few I actively dislike, but perhaps they'll grow on me, like many characters have. They just sorely need some melanin given the cultures Natlan takes inspiration from.

Ranking each character we've seen individually based on my initial impressions, from best to worst, under the cut (pictures included).

1. Xilonen

Out of everyone in the teaser she immediately caught my eye. The jaguar (or possibly other big cat) theming (as well as being a proper catgirl) and image of her lounging in a tree, bathing in sunlight gives off a sense of power. Kind of like a real big cat! But you guys probably know I tend to like the tall women a lot.

2. Mavuika

I think a lot of people, myself included, expected the Pyro Archon to be a Himeko expy and/or light-skinned. And well, she seems to be both of those. The leaks of the Pyro Archon in a conquistador outfit did have me worried given real world history, but I'm very relieved to see that isn't the case.

Seeing her in a bodysuit when I first opened YouTube did have me puzzled at first, but seeing the full outfit really brings it together. Hoyo does put a lot of research into things, so I'm interested to see any analyses on her design, too!

And the sunglasses are peak. From what I've seen it's a controversial design element, but I think it really adds to her character. She really seems like a friendly archon all around. I wonder how "war" plays into all of this.

She's also the first archon without dark or white hair--it's just straight up red. Which makes me hope she'll change up the common tropes archons tend to have (please i don't want the two archons plotline for the 4th nation in a row). is really I really liked the flame hair concepts from her leaked designs, so it's nice to see we still got that in some form here.

3. Kinich

Kinich has a pretty cohesive design, and the color palette is pretty pleasing to look at, too. But I can definitely see the Xiao comparisons. I hope his personality makes him stand out from him.

The most perplexing thing about him though is how his design focuses a lot around pixels--Ajaw is a pixel dragon. The Sumeru Dendro characters do have their computer/tech themes (Alhaitham and Nahida especially, the latter of which is Irminsul's avatar), but this seems a little...much. Even when considering Natlan characters have more modern designs.

Taking the "Teyvat is a simulation" theory (and similar) in mind, I feel like Ajaw is going to play into that. Or they're just a pixel dragon because Hoyo thought it would be cool.

4. Mualani

Her design makes me think she was originally designed with a darker skin tone, but late in the development process someone told the designer to make her skin lighter, so we got the tan she has today.

Honestly her and Kinich are pretty close, probably interchangeable. But the main thing that bothers me are the orange highlights on her hair. They're a little off-putting.

But overall, I think her design is cute! As a character I get the impression she's going to be chill. Like "girl next door" vibes.

5. Iansan

I really don't have much to say given we've seen her before, and I didn't have much to say back then either. I do hope they give her a good amount of focus given she is a Teyvat Travail character, and I think they will, given it's a pattern they haven't broken. But Hoyo does like breaking patterns... I'd rather be optimistic, though.

Iansan is, however, the first character on this list we don't know the element for. I remember thinking initially she would be Geo, but now we know of two Geo characters, surely they won't have three Geos in the Pyro Nation, right?

I think she's most likely to be Pyro, but I've seen people throw around Electro too since I heard she's named after a lightning spirit. It would make sense--she has a lot of purple in her design. But I'd like to throw out my wild guess that she's Dendro. Why? Well, her eyes are the Dendro green, and if she isn't, then it's impossible for every element to be represented by a Teyvat Travail character. And I highly doubt Pulcinella is going to be Dendro.

6. Ororon

yeah that sure is a genshin character. cool cape though.

He's probably important given he's with Capitano of all people. Maybe he's a Fatuus, but I don't see any Fatui symbol on him. It would be nice to have more playable Fatui.

One thing I'm noticing just now is that he has heterochromia. Hoyo doesn't give out heterochromia willy-nilly. Definitely a mysterious character for sure.

As for element I'm pretty sure he's Anemo with how prominent teal is in his design. If that's true, he'll be our first tall Anemo man! Only took four years...

I am curious about his name, though. It every other language his name is Olorun. I wonder if the misspelling in English is intentional, or if it was just a localization error.

7. Kachina

She's cute...but that's really all she has going for her. I will say, though, the big fluffy ears are unique.

but basically melanin would've saved her

8. Citlali

The only reason she's at this spot is because of what we've seen of her personality so far. I can't think of a particularly hot-tempered female character in Genshin, and I think she might fulfill that niche.

But her design... I think the main thing that bogs it down is the dull pink color used for her hair. With the light skin tone she has it's kind of clashing. It's nice to see another character get colored eyelashes, at least.

I...really don't know how to put my dislike of her design in words. I don't think she's the worst design in Genshin, but she's far down there.

9. Chasca

I'll be honest she just feels like Natlan Clorinde. She stands out from her as a distinct character, but they still give off the same vibe.

I like her design better than Citlali, I will give her that. She just feels kind of boring compared to everyone else.

There are a few small details that are neat--the shoulder mole, textured eyebrows, elf ears... But yeah. She'd really have to impress me to make me want to pull her.

~

So yeah, those are my thoughts. I think this will be fun to look back on later down the line, when Natlan's story is done and we've gotten to know these characters better.

I am excited to see where the story goes, but honestly I'm more excited for the exploration than anything else. It looks super fun, and I can't wait to finally get my hands on the Saurians.

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Things Duggan could do/could have done with Pyro in Marauders:

This list is partially me being bitter, but it’s also just kind of a creative exercise, thinking about the development potential that Pyro has.

1. Redemption arc - This seems obvious.  Pyro is already hanging with the good guys, but is he actually undergoing a redemption arc?  Is he actually changing his views or becoming a better person?  We don’t really know because we barely see anything from his perspective, and it’s usually shallow comic relief when we do.  The groundwork is there to give Pyro a redemption arc.  He was already regretting his actions and questioning the Brotherhood’s methods when he had the Legacy Virus, leading up to him saving Senator Kelly.  Why not follow up on that?  Does he still feel the same way, or is he disillusioned because Kelly was killed right after he saved him?  Are the Marauders (all of whom are better people than Pyro) rubbing off on him a bit?  Maybe he’s starting to enjoy helping others or learning to trust humans?  (Or not?)  In today’s issue, Iceman was confronted by a Reaver that he had previously maimed, which was interesting, but that’s another storyline that I think would also fit Pyro.  Pyro has surely been maiming some people - maybe being confronted with the results of that would help him reconsider his actions.

2. Legacy Virus stuff - Pyro hasn’t said a damn thing about the way he died, and I understand him not wanting to talk about it.  But again, that sparked a semi-redemption arc for Pyro back before he died.  And now he’s on a ship that is taking medicine to humans that need it, and just built a hospital in Madripoor.  Maybe his experience being sick has given him a greater sense of empathy, and a desire to help sick people.  If Masque can find meaning using his powers to help humans, you’d think there would be space for Pyro to say something serious about his Legacy experiences while they are dedicating a new hospital.  Even just a throwaway line.  Hell, Storm was dying of some kind of nano-virus for part of Marauders (although it was never mentioned in the book at all), maybe he could have sympathized with her over that?  Maybe having Yellowjacket inside him - another case in which his body has been invaded by something microscopic that can kill him - triggered some Legacy feelings?  We could have explored that, instead we got a “funny” scene of Magneto pulling Yellowjacket out of Pyro, and Pyro wanting to kill him. 

3. Team bonding - Pyro has been accepted on the team surprisingly quickly.  Faster than I would expect, really.  And of course, he’s small-potatoes evil compared to even some people on the Council, but I’d still expect a little bit of friction between him and his team-mates, given that he used to try to kill them.  Even without that history, he’s still the odd man out on a team that already knows each other, and are friends, or at least former team-mates.  We had that kind of friction with Emma and Storm, why would we not get that friction between Pyro (the former terrorist criminal) and the others?  I would have expected at least a little bit of distrust, followed eventually by some kind of bonding issue where Pyro is more accepted by the team, and in turn accepts his place with them.  Who does he even consider a friend when he refers to them as “his friends”?  He seems to like hanging out with Bishop and Iceman, but we’ve mostly gotten that through wordless background panels and a couple of “funny” scenes.  Do any of them even like him or consider him a “friend,” or do they just tolerate his presence?   

4. Writer - One of the things I find most interesting about Pyro is that he had a whole-ass career before joining the Brotherhood.  He traveled around Southeast Asia, he was a journalist in Indonesia and Vietnam, he wrote romance novels.  And most writers don’t explore that at all, but you’d think it would come up when the Marauder is traveling around the ocean.  Maybe he speaks another language that would be helpful.  Maybe his investigative skills as a journalist come in handy.  Maybe he takes them to an old haunt or meets up with an old contact he knew in Vietnam.  Maybe he spends his spare time writing smutty historical pirate-themed romance.  I would have enjoyed that much more than the goofy “dream sequence” that Emma planted in his head, at least that would have felt like authentic character development rather than something being pushed upon him from the outside.  Most comics writers don’t really get into Pyro’s civilian career, but as a regular on a book, I’d expect it to come up at least once, even as a thowaway line.

5. Brotherhood and past history - Pyro has had absolutely no contact (that we know of) with his old Brotherhood pals.  He doesn’t even mention them.  Why is that?  Why isn’t he hanging around the bar with Blob when the Marauder’s at Krakoa?  Why isn’t he texting Avalanche?  Has he become estranged from them after saving Kelly (which would be an interesting plot point if Duggan developed it), or is he just hanging out with them off panel?  You’d think there would be some mention of his past history at some point.  Even in today’s issue, when he, Iceman and Bishop got attacked by Reavers.  Pyro has a history with Reavers!  He fought them on Muir Island as part of Freedom Force, and the team lost both Stonewall (which happened right in front of Pyro, and he seemed broken up about it) and Destiny (which completely destroyed Mystique).  The Reavers in this issue were not the same ones, they were a new breed, but you’d think Pyro might have something to say about encountering Reavers again. 

6. The gay thing - This is more my own personal preference, but Pyro WAS deliberately queer-coded in his earliest appearances, and John Byrne intended for him to be gay.  They couldn’t openly write him that way back in the day, but nowadays I think no one would bat an eye if Pyro, a fairly minor villain, was somewhere on the LGBT scale.  He wasn’t always queer-coded, but he had an ambiguous relationship with Avalanche, his sexuality was never firmly established (he was never in an open romantic relationship anyone), and he died a lingering, painful death from the virus that was intended to be an AIDS metaphor.  It would be quite interesting to see Pyro as a closeted gay (or bisexual) man resurrected in a world where different sexual orientations are far more accepted, and slowly opening up about it to Bobby and Christian (or even Shinobi).  Not to mention, it would give Bobby and Christian more to do, and Christian could talk about his own traumatic experiences without it being all swept under the rug.

7. Doubts about Krakoa - When the team first met Pyro, he was trying to steal a boat and run off, because he’d realized that his resurrection was mostly just a lab experiment to test the process.  Now he seems to be all-in, and dedicated to the Marauders’ mission.  What changed?  Does he harbor any doubts about the Quiet Council, or is he a true believer now?  Does he EVER talk to Mystique, to whom he used to be extremely loyal?  Pyro can be written as dumb at times, but more frequently he comes across as one of the more intelligent and thoughtful Brotherhood members.  Maybe he’s decided that everything on Krakoa is so new and confusing, he’s just gonna turn his brain off and enjoy his new life?  That would also be fine, if it was actually treated as character development.  

8. Divided loyalties - If I’d expect anyone to betray the team, it would be Pyro.  And that doesn’t necessarily mean I want him to do that, but I’m surprised it hasn’t come up.  You’d think Shinobi or Sebastian Shaw would approach him to act as a mole in exchange for lots and lots of money.  Hell, I half-expected him to be spying for Mystique when he first showed up.  And again, it could still happen, but there’s been no lead up or suggestion of that at all.  I would honestly find it disappointing if Pyro suddenly turned on the team or was revealed to be a spy, because he hasn’t bonded with them well enough for it to be meaningful at all. 

The thing is, any of these ideas could be explored, and still keep Pyro as the comic-relief party animal that Duggan is currently writing.  He wouldn’t even have to have significantly more focus (although some focus would be nice).  This could be accomplished through small scenes, little asides, throwaway lines.  Duggan wastes so much page time setting up “moments” and atmosphere (Kitty and Emma riding horses up to Sebastian’s castle comes to mind).  He spent a whole issue beating up Sebastian Shaw without any other significant plot advancement (then crams all his plot into the issues that feature other characters).  He spent a few pages on a goofy fantasy dream sequence that told us nothing new about Pyro, and again, turned out to a falsely manufactured dream that Emma planted in his mind.  We could have used those pages to show Pyro writing something, or show a different side of him through Yellowjacket’s spying, and it STILL could have been comic-relief.  If Duggan actually wanted to explore Pyro in a more serious way, there’s both the space and potential for it.  He just.....doesn’t. 

Anyway, this is all wishful thinking of what could be.  I’ll just have to write fanfic or something. 

[putaindeplagieur]

Danganronpa: Killing Games, a Chain of Reactions.

Heyo. Its time for me to strike again with a reaction. This time, from good old @pyropsychiccollector who answered an ask:

https://at.tumblr.com/pyropsychiccollector/what-is-by-far-the-dumbest-plot-point-in-hopes/o2dnjussy0xn

So, as you can see in the article, pyro has three culprits to point his fingers at. Three points which makes me have three different reactions. And I thought 'why not pester everyone with my thoughts again ?'

Only my opinions, lets be civil, prepare the popcorn for some long ass rant... I think you know the jazz.

1: The Future Arc

Lets cut to the chase here. I ENTIRELY agree on this point. Why ?

Simply put, because this 'game' has no proper structure to maintain it. The only reason this exist is to push Ryouta to use his brainwashing video. Thats it.

Of course there is bound to have dead bodies dropping, but not only Kazuo sent all of the Heads of his organisation to the guillotine, but they werent even developped as opposed to the two others. Everything moved so fast we barely got to know them let alone feel attached to, when its even possible.

'It would be too painful to put Makoto in another killing game', the devs said... well whatever this was, it was painful for him AND us.

Honestly, it would have been much better to have the killing game either be scrapped entirely, or have it happen after we see them bound. Make us see how the outside world is recovering by this point. We already saw a glimpse of that happen in Killer Killer, now we wanted to see how things changed by then ! What about the population that struggles and needs help, what about the Despairs themselves ?

We could have had Makotos visions truly evolve, as we see him trying to adapt himself in the dangerous world outside as he get out of the school, trying to give back some humanity in this broken world as he tries to compromise with Kyousuke so they can finally work together in the Killing Game ! Not to mention, the Forbidden Actions were interesting as it put another limitation to avoid !

...

I feel like I could go on and on about what DR3 should have been... but it deserves its own post. I have two other points to go over.

2: Celestia Ludenberg

Aaaaand thats pretty much where I feel like I must say my piece, even if the reasonning

Yes, Celestia, as the Ultimate Gambler, should have known better than involving two victims was too big of a risk. Double murders are pretty notorious to be.... not great in general. And yes, her plan ended up having too much holes to be credible. Honestly, I get people when they say her talent was shamed because of her rash decisions which doesnt fit her persona.

To which I answer... is it really that surprising ?

In a classic gambling match, surely the outcome would have been her victory. Because in my mind, in any official tournament which opposes expert in the field of analysis, strategy and treachery, the result of winning might be worth the risks.

But this isnt a tournament. This is a torture porn game made a psychopath who uses a human emotion as an excuse to make people suffer. Because it made her feel alive.

And we all know the lenghts she took. Aside from brainwashing people, she took years of people who were close to her, making them strangers... and the motives. Their families, their secrets, their greed, their sense of security... she played with everything she had.

Because she knew how they worked. And she knew how to counter their quirks. And that included our best gothica manipulative girl.

Because lets face it guys, even with the most objective look on things, that doesnt excuse her actions. I do think that had she survived the game, some accountability would have been much needed, especially in an organisation as skin tighted as the Future Fundation. Not to mention the Captives.

BUT ! Notice that I wrote SOME accountability. Not ALL of it. Why ?

Simple : who is the one who was manipulating things to turn out this way ? Celestia played her cards, that is undeniable... but who gave her those cards ? Who awoke her greed with the motive ?

Because yes. Junko knew Celestia's dream. She knew how she got there and how far she would go, and she pushed her victim over the edge. I say victim because even though Celes was a bitch compared to the other culprits, and even though she killed for selfish reasons, at the end of the day, she was as manipulated as the rest of her class, a class full of people with weaknesses and insecurities that she took advantage of.

In Celestia's case ? It was her pride.

Celestia Ludenberg was born because Taeko Yasuhiro was, according to her, a boring girl with nothing special... when she thought she deserved better. All the while denying her past that she wants nothing to do with.

The moment Junko put a possibility for her to make her dream, her LIE, a REALITY ? The outcome was inevitable.

Personally, I do think its a shame Celes didnt survive. The death of the mask to let reality sink in. But realistically speaking ? Celestia would have NEVER allowed that to happen. The Queen of Lies can lie to all, even herself. But not to one who knows the truth. That was a match she could never win no matter what.

Because lets say that she got away with her plan... then what ? She can construct her castle in a destroyed France ? And for all we know, what tells me the cash Monokuma showed wasnt fake, rendering all of her machinations for NOTHING ? Uh ? Ever though of that ? She has hidden the Class Trial aspect and the Tragedy until the good time, this is something she would do !

This is something any good mastermind would do : tell their captives enough information to advance... but let the context out of their grasps. The reason is simple : to make them panic and let their emotions do the rest. And as Junko is not directly involved like the participants... she can deflect all the blame on those who cracks under the pressure.

Thats the strategy the bad guys in Squid Games used, thats the strategy Junko uses on those she wants to suffer for her enjoyment.

PLAYING DIRTY.

Thats the base of anyvkilling game. Using the quirks of the participants to make them go unrational. So Celes acting the way she did is upsetting... but surprisingly, I think not only it was intended, but in character. And to those who thinks it doesnt fit her talent...

Damon Maitsu from Eden's Garden.

Spoilers, the talent of debating about multiple subjects doesn’t mean you can communicate with others well. And your ego who belittles the talents of others, as well as using an (although optional) road involving feelings rather than logic ... doesn't help.

Emotions... can get the best of you in stressful situations.

Someone would attest to that.

3: Sayaka Maizono

Everything I said about Celes... also applies to Sayaka. Even more so, in fact, considering her status.

I’m not going to write much more, I’ll just say this.

Sayaka using Makoto in Chapter 1? Unfortunately, that’s... not as stupid as you guys would think.

Again, Junko hiding the Class Trial section of killing someone is on purpose, and the instructions were too vague for everyone to have a good grasp of the implications.

And Junko knows about what Sayaka had to do to get the title. That doesn’t excuse what Sayaka did and tried to pull, but that video? The way she panicked? It was intended to be as such.

Compare her video to Makoto’s. His home was destroyed, his family nowhere to be seen, and he freaks out for a moment, wanting to get out. Pretty intense all things considered.

Sayaka’s though? Seeing your friends on the ground, unconscious? Or are they even alive at all? There’s no way to tell at all, for all she knew... No wonder why she snapped, seeing her closest friend, and NOT KNOWING IF THEY’RE ALIVE... not knowing for sure is a torture.

So when she hears her friend telling her he would get her out of here no matter what... is it really surprising to have her think in dark places?

Bringing the worst in ourselves, all away from logic and rationality...

That is the power of the Killing Game.

Conclusion

Contrary to what Kyosuke says, having rules doesn’t make things safer. Not when they’re stacked against you. Hell in a broken world with attacks which can comes at every directions, and hell in a secluded place without any idea of what those around you might be thinking, with a mastermind that can pull any stunts it can to make people break. Stupid decisions are bound to happen in those settings.

...then again, when the game isn’t structured properly, and when the anime is rushed...

Anyways, thank you for bearing with me.

Now I gotta prepare my shield. See ya!

[shiny-jr]

Okay, let me start off by saying no I am not south Asian or Mediterranean or wherever else I’ve heard Sumerian is based off. I’m black. And my question is why not just quit the game? It causes so much stress for you all and people still spend more money on it anyway while going through that anger. Hoyoverse May not change at all or who knows maybe after Sumerian we may get some dark skinned characters in the country of pyro how ever long that will be either way they will never get it right and people will always complain. Not to say your not entitled to complain but why not quit if you know what will happen will continue? They might add dark skinned characters to Sumeru later on, who knows? But we’ll never know if we don’t wait a little longer. I feel like they had the funeral video uploaded then to bring some final closure to the Inazuma arc and pave way for the future people we will meet later possibly interact with the traveler in Sumeru not to undermine the fact that currently their aren’t any dark skinned characters besides Xin yan (who they finally giving character development too) just saying maybe pyro will be better don’t expect something good from someone who has only served disappointment time and time again

It's not stress, just major disappointment. I would've stopped talking about it already, but I want to answer people who want to discuss it by sending their thoughts into my inbox.

As I stated before, I have been playing less and less. I don't expect to really play it often anymore. And I no longer plan to spend any money on a game that's so lacking. That's just me personally. The thing is though, I actually liked genshin impact before. It's difficult to explain. I began playing almost when the Liyue main quest was new, so it's been well over a year. I genuinely enjoyed the characters, the quests, the stories, the fun the game had to offer, it even connected me to some friends, but now it does not bring me as much joy as it used to. I feel the tiniest bit sad(?) upset (probably the better word to describe it) about wanting to distance myself from a game I was just so attached to. Oh, and like I said before too, I'm not expecting so much from Natlan because of what we've seen from Sumeru. I'm just holding onto a thin shred of hope that maybe, just maybe, Mihoyo might actually change and improve to create the pyro nation of Natlan that does provide proper representation. But like I just said, it's a very thin shred of hope, it's something I know is very likely not to happen.

[squadrah]

have we really never talked about a pacific rim au?.. ok here's a cool question: who is drift compatible with whom and what are their jagers called???

FULL DISCLOSURE: I finally sat down to watch Pacific Rim because it eluded me until now and I wanted to do this request proper justice, but the DVD I borrowed from the library has problems playing on my computer, so I am only halfway through the film. However, I absolutely loved and became very emotionally invested in what I have seen so far, and by now I do understand the concepts involved here, so I'm going to give this a self-indulgent multiple crossover shot!

Multiple as in I am fondly reminiscing of One Must Fall 2097, which also had giant robots fighting. In the game, they were developed for space travel if I remember correctly, but fighting with them became a fad, so that is what the video game is about.

The ten (plus one) robots available in it are: Jaguar, Shadow, Thorn, Pyros, Electra, Katana, Shredder, Flail, Gargoyle, Chronos... and Nova. (The cover art above features a Nova in red and a Shredder in yellow.) As you can tell, these are prime Jaeger name material, as are Stand names in general, so I will try and make combinations of these with the addition of the Navy Alphabet because that seems to be a pattern in canon and I am committed to patterns.

Now, we have nine characters here, and I feel like we could slice this many ways, so I want to first give my main picks, and then invent some more combinations because I love to play around in these type of sandboxes, ehehe.

HERE WE GO, this is our First Round!

The absolute given here is Sorbet and Gelato; no question about it, they are drift compatible. Heck, they might have been pioneers in this regard and are now hailed as veterans who nonetheless have set a precedent for not playing by the book and pulling really wild stunts that Gelato always refers to with very colorful names out loud. I propose the Jaeger name Blazing Tango.

I also want to mention Prosciutto and Pesci as an option, even if my heart inclines me elsewhere, as a tribute to canon. This would be a case of matching a seasoned pilot with a rookie, and the former bringing out the best in the latter. Prosciutto yells the orders and Pesci has never looked more macho than when he's flexing in his suit next to his idol. I christen their Jaeger Delta Wave.

I feel like Risotto has little drift potential because of how distant he is on the regular, but I really want him to be in this first round, and I am torn between giving him either Formaggio or Ghiaccio as a partner. Formaggio has that childhood friend vibe that suggests a deep emotional connection and would translate into a more flexible and less predictable fighting style, so let's call that Jaeger Alfa Slash; meanwhile with Ghiaccio, things become more streamlined and fast-paced, a heavy mass on a deadly collision course, so that Jaeger shall be White Sierra.

Which leaves us Illuso and Melone as a final matchup for this round! They feel like the light or lightest infantry compared to the others, as in they might be employed more as a means of corralling the kaiju towards the more deadly jaegers, or hell, they could have been entertainment material back in the simpler times. Also, I would suggest that if they are fighting, the technology they use is highly experimental. I think I shall name their Jaeger Chrono Mirror.

BONUS ROUND:

I want Formaggio and Ghiaccio to have drift compatibility because it would be hilarious (they would bicker so much) and very based (they are both cat-adjacent). Why not let a catman and a catboy fuck shit up primal style, right? The Jaeger of course has to reflect this and be called Bravo Jaguar.

Another combination I personally like is Prosciutto and Ghiaccio, because their combined deadliness is absolutely ridiculous: they would basically break each other's limiters off and the rest would be history. Whatever their weapon is, and I am inclined towards something really potent (nuclear levels of potent), their Jaeger would have to be called Grateful Death.

I feel like Ghiaccio and Melone would yield a Jaeger that is closest to that classic White Album aesthetic, complete with the skate blades even for gliding and slicing. Probably the lightest and fastest build available among these nine characters, and I don't know why I want to name this Jaeger Golf Electra but there you go, there it is.

FINAL NOTE:

Due to Prosciutto's eldritch potential, of everyone here, I could see him successfully drift with a Kaiju and survive it without lasting injury or influence.

[punz4lyfe]

Now you've been asked what you do like about him what about the opposite what don't you like about goh?

Aw man, this is gonna hurt.

TL;DR - Goh’s a completely lovable character, but I have three particular issues with him that I feel could become worse if not taken care of properly.

First off, DISCLAIMERS!! To all my fellow Goh fans, please know that writing this, I do not mean any hatred to Goh in anyway. I LOVE Goh, and if you’ve seen literally ANY of my past anipoke posts, you would already know that. These are just issues I find with his character that I want to be changed for the best.

Now with that outta the way, here’s what I don’t like about Goh:

1. His iffy character development. While he’s doing fine in becoming more open to people and more willing to help Pokemon, his fighting skills are what I have trouble with it. Let’s go back to his first ever official battle.

It was at Hoenn’s Frontier Cup where he used Scorbunny and Scyther against a trainer’s Mightyena. Despite having a type advantage with Scyther, he lost horribly, which is completely understandable. He’s a beginner and doesn’t possess the same kind of street smarts and experience Ash and many other trainers have. Alright then, so maybe this will lead to a change in character of wanting to become better in battles by getting some training with Ash, who made quick work of that Mightyena trainer. Surely we’ll get some development over this topic after this episode!

He beats Saffron City’s Karate Master and scores a free Hitmonchan.

...Okaaaay, I mean, we’ve never seen the Karate Master in battle before, so perhaps it was just another fodder trainer the anime is filled of. I sure we’ll get some more Goh development after thi-

He easily defeats and captures a powerful Flygon.

.....Alright, alright, it was only a wild Pokemon. Everyone can beat those, right? Heck, in the next episode, he technically suffers a curbstomp loss against Kiawe and admits he only battles Ash every so often. Perhaps this loss will encourage Goh to train more with Ash so he could become a stronger trainer. I mean, despite his good luck with Pokeballs, he’s gonna need to be as strong as he can be for tougher mons, like Legendaries. I’m 100% sure we’ll get something out of thi-

He takes down a wild Zapdos and NEARLY captures it.

.........Uh, okie dokes, it wasn’t a successful capture, and who knows? Even though we have not seen him battle/train that much on-screen, maybe he just got a little lucky. Even in the games, it happens to the best of us. Perhaps this barely missed victory will finally give Goh the time to actually development more on-screen so that he could have a better chance agai-

He defeats Oleana’s Milotic, using his fire-type Raboot who only wanted to use a weak fire-type move.

..............Allllriiiiight, maybe Oleana just got a little cocky later on. Plus, Raboot finished Milotic by evolving in Cinderace and finishing it off with Pyro Ball. With this powerful evolution in hand, maybe Goh will finally realize that, in order for Cinderace to reach its greatest potential, he must start training for once and obtain some proper development for a chance against stronger threa-

Cinderace fights decently well against Mewtwo, even lasting longer than Pikachu and being on-par with the more trained Lucario.

....................At this point, I’m all out of excuses for him. Overall, Goh’s development as a trainer is very rushed to the point seeing him achieve numerous victories despite all odds being against his favor to be iffy.

2. Slightly touchy topic, but there are some negatives with his whole catching all Pokemon goal. So Goh wants to catch every single mon he can in order to reach up to Mew, as he said to Mewtwo in episode 46. And yes, this includes Legendaries as well. Unfortunately, this is where my issues with his goal starts. First off, where in the world will Goh keep any Legendary he encounters? Cerise’s glorified garden dome? Yeah, keep Dialga and Palkia, literal beings of space and time, inside a glass dome with a bunch of weaker mons. And speaking of which, wouldn’t catching mons like the Creation Trio or the Island Guardians cause quite the upset in, well, y’know, the natural balance of things? Sure, Goh technically hasn’t caught a single Legendary yet (Eternatus doesn’t count because it had to be sealed away), with how the anime is playing out, issues like this will surely rise throughout the series.

And yes, the anime is playing it out for Goh to indeed catch every single mon before reaching Mew. If you pay attention to the openings as well as many of Goh’s own character moments, such as episode 46, then you can easily see the signs telling us that Goh is bound to catch them all, just as Ash is bound on defeating Leon. In the past, pretty much all of Ash’s traveling companions had their own goals as well, but it’s usually because of those goals is why they leave Ash by the end of their journeys, like May and Dawn pursuing contests in other regions, Brock wanting to become a doctor, Iris wanting to find more Dragon types, Kiawe wanting to become an Island Kahuna etc. Because of that, it becomes up to the audience’s interpretation (and fanfics) on how they achieve their dreams and what challenges they could face throughout the way. With Goh, there will a lot more focus and emphasis placed on his goal, and while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s too bad there aren’t really any stakes or obstacles in Goh’s journey!

Really now, another glaring issue with Goh’s goal is that he has NO trouble going through with it at all. From his very first fodder capture, all he has to do is get a good throw and then PING! Pokemon caught. Guess the thing of having to weaken a Pokemon first before capturing it has been retconned out of the anime forever. With that said, there’s absolutely no struggle for Goh to overcome in his journey, which kinda makes things boring. Where’s the challenge? Where are his rivals? Are there any doubts? Does he have any issue of having to catch and connect every single mon in existence? No, well then good for him I guess! Sad thing too is that he catches so many Pokemon with so much potential, but they then disappear completely after their debut.

Remember that free Hitmonchan he scored from Saffron’s Fighting Dojo who seemed completely willing to train with Riolu and Farfetch’d? Never seen again. That female Raichu who loves giving berries? Completely forgotten about. That Aerodactyl Goh resurrected and bonded with before catching? Thanos snapped. The Heracross Goh obtained from a trade at the cost of a second Pinsir he worked hard to find? Literally who?

3. And my biggest issue with Goh. The fact he’s somehow on the same scale as Ash.

Don’t believe me? Well, let’s go back to the ending of episode 46. After Mewtwo teleported him, Ash, Pikachu, Lucario, and Cinderace back home, Goh said this: “We’ve still got a long way to go.”

Excuse me, but WHAT?!?!?!

You BOTH got a long way to go, even though you both suffered a complete curbstomp from a mon that would probably even make the likes of Lance, Cynthia, and Leon comparable to Youngster Joey?!?! What the Distortion World?!?! Why is Goh and, by extension, the writers implying he and Ash are on even terms when it comes to being a trainer? Goh, as a reminder, you literally only began your trainer career 45 episodes ago!!

Alright, let’s talk about Ash for a second and what he’s been through since he started his trainer career. Ash started in Kanto, and while he really only fairly achieved three out of his eight badges (Brock and Misty’s were givens, Erika’s was a thank-you gift, Sabrina’s was all Haunter’s doing, and Jessie and James are complete jokes that no one should take seriously), he still partook in as many battles as he could against tough trainers while getting some pointers from the much more experienced Misty and Brock. After that, he went on to become a much more impressive trainer in later journeys. Instead of a full recap, I’ll just list two impressive things Ash has done in each region he’s journeyed through after losing in the Kanto League.

Orange Islands: Won his first official double battle with Pikachu and Charizard despite neither initially getting along at first and then defeated the Orange League champ, Drake.

Johto: Survived an entire forest of bloodthirsty Ursaring with his friends and defeated Gary’s Blastoise with his Charizard.

Hoenn: Helped stopped both Team Magma and Team Aqua’s elemental threats and reached Top 8 in the Hoenn League despite only two of his mons being fully evolved with one being a glass cannon bird.

Kanto again: Conquered the Battle Frontier and tied with May in his first ever contest.

Sinnoh: Helped protect a Riolu from the famed Hunter J and knocked out two of Tobias’ Legendary Pokemon.

Unova: Defeated Iris’ Dragonite twice (Charizard pretty much had the high ground in their fight) and helped protect Meloetta.

Kalos: Defeated four Mega Evolutions (Lucario, Abomasnow, Absol, and Sceptile) and was one of the main heroes against Lysandre.

Alola: Became an Ultra Guardian and conquered the Alola League.

And right now as of Journeys: Defeated Korinna’s Mienfoo and Mega Lucario with only Dragonite right after the two curbstomped Gengar and defeated Chairman Rose.

And this isn’t even scratching the surface, and yet, somehow, Ash is still on the same scale of Goh. This doesn’t make any logical sense, it completely negates Ash’s experience while over-wanking Goh’s, and it ruins any semblance of power scaling between the two. Logically, Ash should be leagues above Goh and the latter should always confide to Ash whenever he needs assistance or pointers, not “Oh, we both lost to a powerful legendary, guess that means we both have stuff to learn and we’re both beginners lul”. It’s like Deku and All Might both losing a villain that’s beyond both of their capabilities, and then Deku saying that they BOTH have much to learn afterwards! Does it make sense? HECK NO.

If they had to have Goh comment about their loss, why couldn’t he say something that would’ve made more sense? Maybe say something like “Wow, I can’t believe I lasted that long, honestly.” And then Ash would say, “Hey, you’re only getting better. And me and my team will always be there in case you need more training.” Have the two acknowledge the fact that even trainers like Leon wouldn’t fare any better than them against Mewtwo. Just absolutely anything that doesn’t completely ruin what we know of these characters to the point the two are considered equals, despite all the evidence saying otherwise.

I’m getting a little exhausted now, so I’m done, but thanks for asking, anon!

And for anyone reading, please feel free to agree or disagree. I’m completely acceptable to anyone else’s thoughts/opinions over Goh and would love to hear them.

[fae-ray-anthem]

Vide the Derro by @amaet

Solidifying the bat motif redesign for the Derro. I decided long tongues would also be a feature as its just really cool. Beyond her inclination for self-destructive earrings (which certainly painfully backfire but this she intends). This piece also shows another gimmick of Derro culture I touched on earlier. Spirals!

LORE BREAK BELOW:

Spirals are so often associated with the mind: hypnotism and madness, a staple of horror. What a fitting theme to add for the race whose hat is mental illness. Everything the Derro build displaying an aversion to symmetry or orderliness. You can picture it: no matter where you look in a Derro community, whether its buildings or whats etched and painted on them gaze too long and it will make your head spin. Consequently your constant guard against this wears away your own ability to focus and your head spins anyway. For Vide specifically we get to see a nice image of eyes and a maw  woven into the clothing.

I think the makeshift land disheveled look of Derro should be maintained but I have a little something more to add. Whether its the repeating crossbow,  gilded cage, or whatever mad device the savants create I think the Tolkien saying on orcs is perfect: “They create no beautiful things, but many clever ones.”

Dwarf/Gnome-like: with their constant schemes I think the archetype of Mad Scientist fits perfectly. Traditionally “Savant” has been restricted to sorcerers/psychics/ and clerics as  leaders of Derro through magic awe. This concept obviously pulling from “Savant Syndrome” I.E phenomenal skill in one thing usually at the expense development in other areas. To that end having Derro society function with “Autistic/Idiot Savants” being the craftsman attracts me. People who maddeningly obsesses over one thing, nothing looks pretty due to lack of material, proper training, and focus yet the feats they can accomplish are staggering. Whether they be leaders or mad Igor-like slaves varying. Another point of development:

Derro are universally psychic.

Its just a logic step in a races whom, like the Deugar, make home with Mind flayers and more importantly to any general setting, are protected from insanity effects because they’re already insane. So why not throw a dog a bone that if their all about the brain & leaders are powerful psionics, Derro of any calling possess minor psychic powers. Minor being a key word. They don’t all hover and communicate mind-to-mind but each Derro can manifest what equates to a cantrip-like psionic power.

Its going to be obvious that any Derro player will want to elaborate on their character’s manifestation of mental illness (maybe some people on Tumblr should just get into D&D?), it could also coincide with a handy once-a-day psychic power. Speak to animals, premonition, pyro & telekinesis, etc. Usually followed by a mental breakdown.

Thematicly speaking, Vide’s a Yandere at heart, but I don’t want to give her the power to hypnotize her infatuation, as appropriate as that would be. Bit on the nose and unfair.

[fae-ray-encore]

Mainblog repost:

Vide the Derro again.

Solidifying the bat motif redesign for the Derro. I decided long tongues would also be a feature as its just really cool. Beyond her inclination for self-destructive earrings (which certainly painfully backfire but this she intends). This piece also shows another gimmick of Derro culture I touched on earlier. Spirals!

LORE BREAK BELOW:

Spirals are so often associated with the mind: hypnotism and madness, a staple of horror. What a fitting theme to add for the race whose hat is mental illness. Everything the Derro build displaying an aversion to symmetry or orderliness. You can picture it: no matter where you look in a Derro community, whether its buildings or whats etched and painted on them gaze too long and it will make your head spin. Consequently your constant guard against this wears away your own ability to focus and your head spins anyway. For Vide specifically we get to see a nice image of eyes and a maw  woven into the clothing.

I think the makeshift land disheveled look of Derro should be maintained but I have a little something more to add. Whether its the repeating crossbow,   gilded cage, or whatever mad device the savants create I think the Tolkien saying on orcs is perfect: “They create no beautiful things, but many clever ones.”

Dwarf/Gnome-like: with their constant schemes I think the archetype of Mad Scientist fits perfectly. Traditionally “Savant” has been restricted to sorcerers/psychics/ and clerics as   leaders of Derro through magic awe. This concept obviously pulling from “Savant Syndrome” I.E phenomenal skill in one thing usually at the expense development in other areas. To that end having Derro society function with “Autistic/Idiot Savants” being the craftsman attracts me. People who maddeningly obsesses over one thing, nothing looks pretty due to lack of material, proper training, and focus yet the feats they can accomplish are staggering. Whether they be leaders or mad Igor-like slaves varying. Another point of development:

Derro are universally psychic.

Its just a logic step in a races whom, like the Deugar, make home with Mind flayers and more importantly to any general setting, are protected from insanity effects because they’re already insane. So why not throw a dog a bone that if their all about the brain & leaders are powerful psionics, Derro of any calling possess minor psychic powers. Minor being a key word. They don’t all hover and communicate mind-to-mind but each Derro can manifest what equates to a cantrip-like psionic power.

Its going to be obvious that any Derro player will want to elaborate on their character’s manifestation of mental illness (maybe some people on Tumblr should just get into D&D?), it could also coincide with a handy once-a-day psychic power. Speak to animals, premonition, pyro & telekinesis, etc. Usually followed by a mental breakdown.

Thematicly speaking, Vide’s a Yandere at heart, but I don’t want to give her the power to hypnotize her infatuation, as appropriate as that would be. Bit on the nose and unfair.

[nazih-fares]

If Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry or the Just Dance franchise are key names that come to mind when we talk about Ubisoft in recent years, the independent developer and publisher has also built up a small reputation for taking risks, especially with new franchises in the turn-based strategy genre such as the amazingly beautiful Child of Light, South Park: The Stick of Truth (and upcoming sequel), and of course their headlight franchise Heroes of Might and Magic. So now comes a brand new entry in their turn-based strategy catalogue, a fun collaboration between Ubisoft and Nintendo, and a first time the mustachioed plumber and friends are in a Western game non-developed by the Japanese giant: Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.

The story of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is pretty simple. Down in her basement, a young girl and her AI assistant Beep-O are trying to optimize her latest invention known as the SupaMerge helmet, an advanced goggle device that can fuse two objects together in hope to solve the world’s energy crisis. Sadly, that helmet will fall in the hands of time-travelling Rabbids, who will then SupaMerge everything in the basement, including Mario figurines and posters, thus hitting the Mushroom Kingdom with a mysterious vortex. The result is a strange Mushroom Kingdom merged with Rabbids, and let by Beep-O, Mario and friends, as well as cosplaying Mario-themed Rabbids will have to put back in order.

The core of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle gameplay is a turn-based tactical strategy game. The story lets you travel to 4 different worlds, each split into 10 sections (including a mid-boss and end boss), which has riddles and exploration sequences to find all sorts of collectibles, coins and weapons. After each exploration part, you’ll eventually find battle areas, which are resolved in turn-based combat with three of your picked characters, and have to sequence your actions correctly and make a right tactical decisions. It will be up to you to decide on either dashing on your enemies and hammer him down, or on the contrary, stay at a distance by taking advantage of the map’s element which act a defensive barricade. Even within the first hours of the game, you’ll notice that while the core actions in the combat are simple, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is a very complex and demanding title. If the first missions are relatively easy to finish, the latter levels starting in World 2 (Sherbert Desert) are extremely technical, and you will probably have to replay them numerous times to eventually continue on, or more if you want a perfect score (which is done by finishing the battle with a certain amount of turns and no character KOd).

If the possible combat actions in the first part of the game are rather simple, such as moving around, hiding behind a low wall, firing with a blaster, tackling an enemy within range or jumping on an ally to gain a movement boost, it eventually becomes a combo fiesta of defensive and offensive maneuver, that will help your team finish a battle. Eventually, Mario and friends will get abilities that buff allies with damage boosts, super effect resistance (debuffs), but also attract surrounding enemies with the Rabbid Mario’s Magnet Dance to combo eventually with a Melee Hammer attack, or on the contrary push away enemies that are getting too close with Rabbid Yoshi’s Scaredy Rabbid technique. The entire palette of techniques per characters are subject to cooldown ranging from 1 to 3 rounds, which will force you to really pre-plan ahead of time.

Similarly, the choice of weapons becomes more important as one advances in the game, especially because of the larger amount of special enemies, which can be very deadly if you don’t pay attention, such as Smasher Rabbids that rush down to counterattack your teammates when hit with weapons. Eventually, the more advanced blasters and other weapons that can be bought between fights will have extra stats such as higher damage on specific Rabbid types, but also higher chance to inflict debuffs including Ink Damage (blinding characters and depriving them of weapon attacks), burn damage, freeze and so on. The weapons are numerous and varied, rounding an impressive total of over 250 different ones, as well as the secondary weapon which are melee hammers, explosive trap, rocket launchers, and remote bombs.

Like any proper tactical RPG, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle has a plethora of skills to unlock for each of the 8 playable characters in the game, via a skill tree, which optimize combos, synergies between other characters, passive skills but also more direct permanent boosts to health. Those are activated whenever you want in the skill tree, with the ability to optimize characters with weapons, combos, synergies and even talent trees, with dozens of micro skills. Topped with all the weapons you get, and different combinations of teams of 3, customization and strategies are infinite.

  Each Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle’s turns are done via a sequence of three actions for each of your characters: movement, main or secondary weapon attack and finally activation of special techniques. It is up to you to order your sequences of actions and your positioning, which will affect a lot of things considering all the different automated skills that can help you out. If the first battles in world 1 (Ancient Garden) pit our heroes in a sort of long tutorial, the challenge becomes definitely tougher as we get to second, third and fourth world of the game. While the first world has minimalist challenges usually design with up to two zones of combat, with couple of warp pipe to move faster on the battlefield, the latter worlds have more complex terrain, spread out like mini-islands which will require moving smartly thanks to the same pipes or team jumps (a sort of boosted jump powered by another character). On top of the complexity of these maps, the later worlds have “environmental” hazards which can do some serious damage to both yourself and your enemies, such as the Pyro Clast showers (meter showers) in world 4.

In terms of artistic direction and technical performance, I got to say that Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is one good-looking game. Colors are crisp and vibrant, and whether you play the game on handheld or dock mode, there’s not a single stutter or frame drop. The title remains faithful to the enchanting universe of Nintendo and Mario’s universe, paired with the goofiness of the Rabbids and their chaotic elements. Each of the 4 worlds and the main hub (Peach’s castle) are a bliss to look at, and there’s so many fun little easter eggs scattered around the vista, which are complemented by an amazing soundtrack. Composed by Grant Kirkhope, better known for his work on a lot of Rare games such as Viva Pinata which got him nominated for a BAFTA in 2007, his tunes are quirky and fun, but can turn into epic melodies such as the boss fights and including an original opera song in World 3, which I will let you discover as it was a delight.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As mentioned before, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle has exploration phases between battles, and once you finish a world by beating its end boss, you’ll be able to revisit it to discover hidden puzzles or mini-games that you might have missed on the way. That includes riddles that will require you to come back with new Beep-O skills such as the ability to push crates to open new passages, and reach to crates that can usually have collectibles such as game artwork, soundtracks and 3D dioramas of key characters in the game. On top of that, there’s mini-games known as Bug Zone which require you to collect purple coins and remind us of the old generation of Nintendo titles, plus secret hidden chapters to unlock.

To make the game more user-friendly, Ubisoft has even decided to add a turn-based cooperative mode which unlock gradually more maps and challenges as you finish new worlds in the main story mode. While the intention are good, the duration of the battles are too long and sometimes become laborious. You will have to organize yourself with your ally, alternating your turns, which does not add much in terms of gameplay, accept new maps.

At launch, you’ll be able to gain access to 16 different battle maps played with either two joy-cons, or any supported Nintendo Switch controllers, where each player now controls a pair of character (4 in total). The challenges are mainly of the same type as the single player battles including escort, kill X amount of enemies or reach a certain zone in the map. It is a shame that there’s no online coop mode , as I would’ve love to play with my friends abroad, but with the fact that the Nintendo Switch is such a easy going handheld console, I shouldn’t nag much.

Aside from this simple defect, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is probably one of the best turn-based tactical RPG games I’ve played in a long time. There’s so much effort and love put in this title, giving us a unique experience full of memorable heroes and great gameplay.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was reviewed using a Nintendo Switch downloadable code of the game provided by Ubisoft Middle East. We don’t discuss review scores with publishers or developers prior to the review being published.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is the kind of exclusive the Nintendo Switch deserves. Gorgeous, simple to learn, yet difficult to master, this collaboration between Ubisoft and Nintendo is a work of art that nobody should miss on the Nintendo's latest console. If Assassin's Creed, Far Cry or the Just Dance franchise are key names that come to mind when we talk about Ubisoft in recent years, the independent developer and publisher has also built up a small reputation for taking risks, especially with new franchises in the turn-based strategy genre such as the amazingly beautiful Child of Light, South Park: The Stick of Truth (and upcoming sequel), and of course their headlight franchise Heroes of Might and Magic.

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Marauders #22

I absolutely hated this issue, so be warned that’s a lot of salt here, and my usual whining, so skip this post if you’re not in the mood for that.  Also spoilers below.

First impression - what absolute, self-indulgent horseshit.  I hesitate to use “fanfic” in a derogatory way, but a lot of Marauders has read as being very “fanfic” in terms of self-indulgence, and greatly favoring certain characters while denigrating others.  I actually don’t think that’s a bad thing in fanfic.  It can be annoying to read if that’s not what you’re looking for (or it can be wonderful, if it IS what you’re looking for), but ultimately, fanfic is all about self-indulgence.  It’s about writing what you want to see in a story, and if Duggan’s Marauders was someone’s actual fanfic, I wouldn’t have anything bad to say about it.  I might dislike the characterization, and probably wouldn’t read it, but it ultimately wouldn’t matter because it’s fanfic.  Frankly, I’m just as bad about constantly centering everything around Pyro (and finding ways to work him into stories where he doesn’t even belong), because I’m writing just for myself, so I can be self-indulgent.  But I’d expect much better from a professional writer.  I’d expect much better from someone being paid to write a team book.  I’d expect a god-damn balanced book that actually pays attention to the whole cast and gives a thoughtful interpretation to ALL the characters, even the villains, rather than a book dedicated to shining a spotlight on two already well-established characters, and treating them like queens who step all over the rest of the cast. 

So, we ignore almost everything set up at the Gala, including the attack on Christian and the Marauder (the ship) being set ablaze.  Why aren’t the characters handling that, Duggan?  Is that really being saved for another month?  We don’t even know if Christian is dead or not, you can’t even spare a panel for Iceman reacting to this?  Instead, we tell a flashback story that eventually reveals that Lourdes Chantel is still alive, and Emma helped her fake her own death to escape from an abusive Sebastian.

What exactly is the point of this story, in terms of the overall Marauders arc?  Will Lourdes show up later to play a role?  Is this meant to further push Sebastian along some kind of path to redemption (recognizing that he drove Lourdes away with his actions).  Because so far, Duggan doesn’t seem the slightest bit interested in rehabilitating Sebastian.  This seems like yet another story establishing Emma GOOD, Sebastian BAD, the same message that’s been getting pounded into the readers’ heads for 22 issues.  Like, we KNOW, Duggan.  We know that you think the sun shines out of Emma’s ass, you’ve already well-established that you think she’s a brilliant, wonderful, compassionate, badass queen, through 22 issues of centering the entire series around her, at the expense of EVERY other fucking character in the book (even sometimes Kate, the other obvious favorite).  It’s gotten beyond tiresome at this point.  Like, I feel like even people who love Emma and hate Sebastian are getting bored by now, because it’s not even good storytelling to have a strawman villain who is no real threat just getting repeatedly knocked down.

So, Duggan has taken both Sebastian and Emma, and further removed any kind of complexity or nuance from them.  Sebastian can’t have a kind or tender side, he can’t ever be shown in a positive light.  His relationship was Lourdes was previously part of his tragic origins, pushing him to be a worse person than he’d been in a past, but no, lets retcon him to be a controlling abuser, whom Lourdes is desperate to escape.  Because it makes Sebastian look bad and Emma look good.  Honestly, it would have been more interesting and powerful to have Lourdes come back from the dead, and be disgusted by the person Sebastian has become.  That would actually have an impact.

And by the way, why did Lourdes need Emma’s help in establishing her new identity?  She was already part of the Hellfire Club, she’s the one who brought Sebastian in, she’s rich as fuck.  Lourdes should be well capable of getting away from Sebastian on her own.  She might need Emma’s help for faking her own death, but the rest of it?  Emma should just do a little hacking to access Lourdes’ personal fortune and transfer it into a new account, and then she’s good to go.  But no, Lourdes has to be treated like a little lost lamb, a helpless battered woman for Emma to rescue.  And Emma’s deal with the Kingpin further exonerates Emma for her past crimes, because obviously, she’s just working off the debt she incurred helping poor, innocent Lourdes!  It can’t be that Emma did bad things in the past because she was ambitious, cruel, vain, and power-hungry, she has to be a woke queen who was always there to help other women.

I think Duggan thinks he’s being feminist with all this, with the “women help each other,” message, and either ignoring or villifying all the male characters.  But he’s not.  It’s not feminist to take a very complex, interesting, powerful woman like Emma Frost and completely remove all responsibility and agency for her past crimes by turning her into an abuse victim and repeatedly retconning her to be better than she actually was.  (To be fair, Duggan is just continuing a trend already started by other writers).  Emma is ambitious, power-hungry, cruel, callous, self-absorbed, vain and snobby.  But she is also brave, intelligent, compassionate, kind, protective, heroic, and self-sacrificing.  All of those things are part of Emma.  She is a teacher who loved her students, and the love for those students is part of what sent Emma on her long, difficult path towards redemption.  Yes, she’s a badass queen, but she is also a flawed individual, who has worked to overcome those flaws and become a better person.  And constantly re-writing the past to make her an “always good” abuse victim who only ever committed crimes because the big bad men forced her into it cheapens that redemption.

Speaking of cheap redemption -     

The Wilhelmina subplot: Wow, Duggan really will prioritize ANY character over Bishop, Iceman and Pyro, won’t he?  I know this is me throwing a tantrum, because “Wah, Duggan is writing someone other than my favorites!” but after 22 issues I feel justified in this whining.  Iceman, Bishop and Pyro are supposed to be regular cast members, and so far Duggan has given more serious development and emotional scenes to Callisto, Forge, Dolores (the human contact at the X-Desk), Masque, Jumbo Carnation, Magneto, the Cuckoos, and now Wilhelmina.  I don’t mind the development for many of those characters, I like Callisto and Forge and Jumbo (although I’m a little annoyed at the Magneto stuff, since he’s already front and center in the Krakoa era, and about to star in a mini-series, does he really need more time in the spotlight?).  But honestly?  Fuck Wilhelmina.  I was never that interested in the Hellfire brats, and I’m not the slightest bit interested in watching the retcon redemption of a character that murders animals for fun.  Why does she get a spotlight story while the three dudes on the team STILL haven’t gotten anything more than vague background hints of character arcs.  I mean, compare the very emotional flashback and Wilhelmina’s breakdown to the half-assed, mostly taking place off- panel “redemption” that Duggan has given Pyro.  Just a single line of “maybe this crew is bringing out the best in me,” with no lead-up, no further reflection, no hints about Pyro changing his ideas before then.  Why did you even put Iceman, Bishop and Pyro on the team if you’re not going to use them, Duggan?  Because you’ve made it quite clear that you’d rather write ANY character other than them.  I can’t even look forward to Tempo and Banshee joining the cast next issue, even though I like them (and I really want to see more development of Tempo), because I know they will be yet more characters that get pushed into the foreground, while Iceman, Bishop and Pyro remain the underdeveloped background clown trio.    

Also, it seems kind of offensive to have a cruel, murderous female character, and then say that her cruelty is entirely due to sexual abuse?  What kind of message does that send to sexual abuse victims?  That it will turn you into a monster?  Why do female villains keep getting sexual abuse as part of their backstory?  Why can’t they just be bad?  Or have something else going on?  So the Cuckoos flip a switch in Wilhelmina and she’s magically “fixed,” or at least on her way to better?  Again, I think Duggan thinks he’s being feminist with this, but he’s not. 

At least Wllhelmina has been a recurring villain in this series, so I can kinda see how her potential redemption may move the plot along, but Duggan is still introducing new plot threads, while leaving so many others dangling.  What about Christian?  What about Shinobi and Fenris?  Will Bobby and Christian ever even speak to each other again?  Will the supposed main cast members of Iceman, Bishop and Pyro ever, EVER get a proper character arc?

Or will we get an entire issue of Emma, Kate and the Cuckoos giving Wilhelmina a redemptive make-over, because girl power, amiright?

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Once again, I’ve done that thing where I get progressively more annoyed the more I think about a scene in a comic book (yes, this blog really deals with the important, hard-hitting issues), and that’s how I now feel about this scene.

Under a cut, because I have too many thoughts.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that Pyro is getting some small taste of character development, and maybe the beginnings of a redemption arc.  I’m all for that!  I appreciate this line being in there.  But it’s clunky dialogue for both Iceman and Pyro, and for Pyro, especially, it comes out of nowhere.  Bobby has at least had some build in in earlier issues showing that he’s starting to become more vicious, especially the scene in Savage Avengers (during King in Black) and his revenge-for-Kate maiming of the soldier.

There has been no indication up until now that Pyro has any kind of regret over his past actions (at least not in Marauders, although he did show back regret when he was dying of Legacy), or that he’s starting to learn some kind of “better way” from the X-Men.  There have been no little suggestions of Pyro starting to embrace the Marauders’ mission, or to start to realize that you don’t have to kill people to win.  (He does say that in the Storm-centered issue, while relating a flashback of something that we didn’t actually see happen in the books originally). Pyro has just been bopping along with the group, merrily burning things and getting into fights and drinking, and he suddenly announces that he’s been rethinking his old ways.  It’s actually kind of odd that Marauders is the group that leads Pyro down this path, because they are generally more vicious than X-Men usually are – you’ve got Lockheed maiming people, and Kate solidifying a rifle through two soldier’s legs.  In fact, given the maimed soldiers coming after them as new Reavers, and Verendi continuing to cause trouble, I’d expect Pyro to be arguing that mercy doesn’t actually work – their enemies keep coming back strong than ever.  

So I don’t know where Pyro’s change of heart is actually coming from?  It’s like this character development has been happening in the background, and Duggan suddenly gave us a little glimpse of it, rather than actually showing the readers what’s been happening the entire time.  Like I half expect Pyro to also suddenly announced that he, Iceman and Bishop are now in a three-way poly relationship, and also they all helped Shinobi deal with his father issues while beating up Fenris, so that’s why Shinobi is so friendly and cooperative with the group.  You didn’t actually get to see it happen on panel, but trust me, it happened!      

And the idea of Pyro and Iceman on opposite character arcs, with Bobby becoming more aggressive and no longer holding back, while St. John learns restraint, is potentially very interesting!  But we’ve barely seen any of this in action.  As I’ve said before, Pyro’s supposed role as the loose cannon of the group is mostly an informed trait, he hasn’t really been shown getting out of control or crossing the line.  It would have been interesting to contrast Bobby and Pyro’s different fighting styles, to show how they are rubbing off on each other (yes, innuendo intended).  

Actually, I have a whole list of little ways that Duggan could have seeded Pyro’s “redemption arc” far in advance, so that he doesn’t just awkwardly blurt out things like “I think this group is bringing out the best in me.”:

-        Pyro actually getting out of control in battle and having to be reined in, not just being frequently reminded of the “no kill” rule.  Obviously he couldn’t step too far out of the line without being kicked off the team, but something like Pyro starting to indiscriminantly torch a building, only for Emma to stop him because she senses that there are civilians hiding inside.  Then Emma can mentally yell at him for being careless.  Pyro maybe reflects and feels a little bad, because he will happily kill the hell out of soldiers, but he doesn’t want to accidentally kill bystanders.

-        Storm (or even Callisto) having a “talk” with Pyro about restraint, and how he can work more effectively in battle by using his fire to carefully target enemies rather than just flame-throwing all over the place (although sometimes his “shock and awe” method works, too).

-        Someone like Emma or Bishop actually talking to Pyro about his tendency to jump straight to “kill” when he’s angry.  When Pyro wants to kill Yellowjacket and burn the Verendi kids, he just comically dismissed by both Magneto and Emma.  It would have been interesting to have someone actually talk to him about it.  I’m not looking for a therapy session, but something like Bishop pointing out that leaving Yellowjacket alive to “escape” will be more effective in the long run, etc. etc.  Instead Emma just leaves Pyro standing there, just to reiterate how unimportant he is in this book.      

-        More contrast between Bobby and Pyro’s fighting styles, especially near the start of the book, with Pyro obviously more vicious and aggressive, while Bobby is holding back.  Maybe have let the boys talk about the use of violence, and whether it is justified.  This doesn’t have to take up much room, it could be like one page of after-battle discussion, or even little comments during battle.  Then we could also see their styles gradually change as they come to like and respect each other.

-        Pyro actually having to face some of the horrifically burned victims that he has maimed (or family members of those that he has killed).  I know the Reaver confronting Bobby was part of Duggan’s “Bobby is turning into a badass” arc, but I think it would have been meaningful to have one of the Reavers be a soldier that Pyro has burned.  (In fact, none of the Reavers seemed to be soldiers that Pyro, specifically, had injured, which is odd given his status as the supposed “violent loose cannon” of the group.)  Duggan could have actually done both, and contrasted Bobby and Pyro’s reactions. Bobby is defiant at maiming a soldier that he thinks had a hand in killing Kate.  Pyro is confronted by a soldier that he burned (maybe while the soldier was even trying to surrender or run away), and reflects that he may have gone too far.  

-        Pyro giving some indication that he is starting to care about the Marauders’ mission beyond just a job, and a fun excuse to drink and fight.  You’d think Pyro might have some warm fuzzy feelings about delivering medicine to people, given his slow, painful death from illness.  And maybe feeling empathy for sick humans would show Pyro that he can feel some greater empathy for humans in general.  We do see Pyro put a comforting arm around Proteus when the Moira McTaggert hospital is unveiled in Madripoor, so I’ll give Duggan that (even if that gesture also feels like it came out of nowhere).  

-        Pyro receiving praise from people that he has rescued, and basking in the attention.  Pyro has in the past been written as a show-boating attention hog (and Duggan even reflects that in his “funny” fantasy of Pyro being greeted by an adoring crowd on Krakoa, not that I think Duggan actually put the research in).  During his Freedom Force days, Pyro seemed to get into the idea of being a “hero,” and is very cocky and cheerful when saving Longshot and some kids from a dinosaur.  I think Pyro likes being perceived as a hero, and getting attention, even if he isn’t really a very heroic person.  So show Pyro getting thanked by a mutant child or a little old lady that he’s saved.  Show Pyro feeling touched and gratified by that, since he spent so long as a bad guy.

-        Pyro talking about saving Senator Kelly. ��Does he regret it?  Does he stand by his actions?  Is he completely disillusioned by Kelly’s death shortly afterwards?  Or is he happy that he at least managed to change Kelly’s mind.  Pyro probably wouldn’t bring it up himself, but I’m surprised that no X-Men have said anything to him about it.  

-        Pyro talking to his old Brotherhood pals about his experience on the Marauder, maybe showing how his way of thinking is changing, arguing that the X-Men aren’t so bad, and that their “non-violence” can actually get things done.

This sounds like a lot, but even a few little moments or bits of dialogue could have gotten slipped into fight scenes to build up to Pyro’s changing attitude, rather than just have him announce it out of nowhere.  

Of course, the series isn’t finished.  Duggan might have some really interesting development planned for Pyro in future issues!  But I hope that if he does, it’s actually seeded early on and develops organically, rather than coming out of nowhere.  21 issues in, I’m not optimistic.  The sad thing is, I like some of the “funny” things that Duggan has done with Pyro.  I like him gambling with Bishop, Shinobi and Bobby at the Gala.  I like his bet with Storm.  I even like him biting Batroc.  I just wish he would treat the character as something other than an afterthought, and I wish we saw more of Bobby and Pyro’s newfound friendship and development, because it could be genuinely interesting if they actually got some proper time in the spotlight!

In conclusion, I should change my URL to @constantlysaltyaboutmarauders, because that’s all I talk about these days.

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Hi! I just read your rant about how Duggan uses and sees feminism. His book is nothing of that. To me, it uses fantaisies of white men and makes it believe it's feminist. His feminism is very lazy, it's like he read twitter and hop he put it in his book. Actually, if i have to call it feminism, i would say it's white feminism and nothing else. His book isn't inclusive, it's just about Emma and Kate doing badass stuff. Now, it's easy to say productions, writers and tv shows use the feminism to sell their creations. To me, it's the case for Duggan. It's clear he doesn't understand a bit of what the feminism is. It's not just being badass or using the me too movement. No it's far than that. It's a fight for equality and for men to acknowledge, we the women, are also human being and have the right to be respected and to have the same rights and duties than them.

I'm sorry to say it but duggan is far far of being a feminist. He used Emma in particulary as one of his strong female character fantasy. She is always sexy, she knows everything, she is always strong. To me, his version of Emma is badass and great but something is missing in her. She is just badass. So since he creates his fantasy of strong females characters, it's logic he is dismissing the men of the show. Look at who they are. They are all traits who can make us think the book is inclusive, all suffered from the humans, iceman is gay but he does nothing with them because he sees no interest in them. They are just here to tell us how amazing the strong females characters are. If you want my opinion (which you don't sorry), Duggan is very insecured with the way he writes Emma and Kitty who are very basic. His writing is just here to tell "yo look i understand you, i am a feminist, i can't be sexist see". If he starts to give a proper writing to the others characters, we will start to see that his writing of his fantaisies aren't that great.

But again it's an opinion. It's just to sell his book.

Hey, I very much appreciate your detailed opinion!

I think we're also talking about the difference between Strong Female Character and actual strong female characters. Writers and film-makers have interpreted the desire for strong female characters as "more sexy, badass women" (and of course, they must always be sexy), when what many of us female readers/audience members really want is women who are complex, flawed, interesting, and allowed to be an important part of the narrative, just like male protagonists. It's nice to see strong, badass women - I admit, after the MCU being so male-centered for so long, I really loved seeing Captain Marvel being incredibly powerful in her own movie. But having a woman be a badass isn't the same as having her be an actual good character, and many movies will have the Strong Female Character who kicks ass then winds up playing second fiddle to the male protagonist, for whom she is also, of course, a love interest. A female character doesn't have to be a badass or physically strong to be a strong character, she just needs to be complex and fully realized.

I think Duggan is trying to give us strong female characters by making the women front and center, but he's really giving us Strong Female Characters by making Emma and Kate virtually flawless, which is really a disservice to both of them. Emma in particular is interesting because she is so complex, and capable of both great evil and great good, so watching her strut around being right all the time really flattens her character. (And it's kinda boring - I don't want to watch Sebastian lose to Emma yet again, I've been watching that for most of this series.) And he is also pushing a white, wealthy, model-beautiful woman into the spotlight, and down-playing Storm, the WOC on the team. And if you want to talk representation, the men who are being mostly ignored or used as window dressing in the series are: 2 POC (Bishop and Shinobi), 3 LGBTQ guys (Iceman, Christian and Shinobi). Not to mention Sebastian himself, who basically admitted to being bisexual in Hickman's X-Men, but that is being ignored. Pyro is the only supposedly cis, white, "straight" guy, and even he is arguably being "straight-washed" given that he was originally queer-coded back in the day.

I think the treatment of the guys has underlying layers of toxic masculinity, since they are so rarely allowed to to express complex emotions and are just expected to make witty quips or get angry. (Especially Bishop, Iceman and Pyro.) Not that I necessarily want to see "sad boy Pyro" breaking down in tears, but at least that might feel like serious character development for him. We don't get to see Bobby's grief over Kate's death, just his anger, and his relationship development with Christian is virtually nonexistent. We still haven't dug deep into Shinobi's relationship with Sebastian, and his "I still want to kill my father" is treated like a joke. (Admittedly, it's a funny line, and very in character for Shinobi.) The only guys who get to have "tender" moments are brief guest stars, like Masque, Forge and his human friend, and Jumbo Carnation. Which makes it extra frustrating, because Duggan clearly CAN write good, emotional character moments, but for some reason he can't be bothered to do so for much of the male cast of the book.

Damn, my Marauders critique really has gone far in the direction of "But what about the poor meeeeeen?" Maybe I'd feel differently if the two stars of the book were more obscure female characters, instead of two well-established and iconic X-Women. Like, I don't mind that Kwannon is clearly one of the stars of Hellions, because she is desperately in need of her own development and storylines as a character, and because Wells has managed to balance his writing to give all the cast something to do, rather than just dropping certain characters for months at a time.

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

You said it better than me but i'm not very good in english sooo 😂

The thing is whatever if people like them or not, the others books are more balanced between the characters while Marauders is just about Emma and Kate doing all the stuff. Clearly, this book isn't a team book, something we all expect it to be. So of course, we still want to see development for all of the characters instead of just two of them.

I agree with what you say but again i don't have yet the right words to express clearly what i think about Marauders. I am a feminist since so many years and love studying shows and books. But here, with this book, i just see an intend of being feminist without understanding it as if they just read what twitter was saying about it without making proper research. As much as i love Emma, i just lost interest in this book because it's clearly some white feminism which i dislike since it excludes, like you said, others representations and females characters who aren't whites.

Since so many years, we see all of these strong females characters like Alice in Resident Evil or, like you said, Captain Marvel, having the same badass side than the males characters of the 90's. The women are the new terminator, the new rambo, the new Chuck Norris. I'm joking but clearly these characters were a very sexy version of masculinity women were supposed to love and men dream to be. And you know, it's how i see Emma and Kate as the Alice of the new books of Xmen. The thing is clearly, like in these movies, they don't give a frak of the others characters who are all reacting in depend of the main characters. So we're lucky if they focus on them, if they give them the spotlight, if they give them the same interest than the favorites or the main characters.

You said it soooo many times. Marauders was a chance for them to explore Pyro, his sexuality (i always thought he was bi but it's just an opinion), the abuse everyone can experience and not just females characters. To me, Marauders use the cliches we know about the women experiences, cliches who are unfortunatly true like being abused. But it doesn't even do a good job to explore it. Idk how to say it, to me, they are just used to say "look we are modern, read us" especially because, again in my opinion, they don't explore it, they just use it.

I love the others books, i love mystique and will continue to read these others books but marauders lost me because duggan doesn't seems to love all of its characters. It's a great elogy for Emma and Kate, sure..but in my opinion, being badass doesn't mean being violent and being proud of it, see? To me, being badass is being determinated,to learn from our mistakes and to do better while being cool.

Again, you explain it better than me!! Really so i let you ranting about Marauders. Just want to say i agree with you. I wish to see Iceman grieving Kate, having a scene with Pyro where he would talk about her, i wish we would had a scene between Shinobi and Christian (with a new haircut, please) where they would talked about their past and see they can be happy and that they have the right to be happy. I wish to see Emma failing to come back stronger, i wish to see a scene when Kate talks with Bishop about the way humans treat them and the way they still want to help whatever happens. Of course, i would had love to see more of Storm and Pyro working together.

I'm now in a point when i'm waiting for pyro and iceman to leave the marauders and to get their own adventures. But well, i can dream.

Thank you for your answer and thank you for putting words where i can't 🙈

Thank you for the kind words, friend, and I'm glad I'm not alone in my frustration.

Honestly, they should have been honest from the start and called this "The Adventures of Emma and Kate on the High Seas." I'd actually be less annoyed because at least I wouldn't be expecting a "team book," and I'd just be grateful to see Pyro (or Storm, Iceman, Bishop, Shinobi, etc.) as a special guest star. But it was marketed as a team book, so some of us would like it to be written as....you know, a team.

I would absolutely read "The Adventures of Iceman and Pyro," if they just broke off into their own book. With Bishop, Shinobi, Christian, Storm, and everyone else that's been neglected in the current book.

Also, the way Duggan is writing Pyro right now, I could absolutely imagine him as a kind of confused, somewhat in-denial bisexual who thinks it's totally normal for guys to occasionally hook up with other guys, because guys have needs, right? And Bobby is just like, "My sweet summer child....."

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Btw, Duggan, if you’re looking for a violent, murderous character to redeem, Pyro is RIGHT THERE.  You know?  Part of your supposed main cast?  Could you maybe spare a couple of pages to give Pyro the same kind of character development and psychological depth that you’ve at least attempted to give to Wilhelmina?  Rather than just having him bop along as comic relief for most of the series, then abruptly be like, “Crikey, I guess I’m a good guy, now!”  But that wouldn’t fit the paper-thin “Girl Power” theme you’re trying to push.  (I have no issue with “Girl Power,” themes, but Duggan is doing such a bad job of it.)

I know - make Emma turn Pyro into her pet project.  She can go into his mind and give him some kind of extensive therapy session and teach him anger management and alternatives to violence.  Because I know the only way Duggan will pay any proper attention to Pyro is if his story also props up Emma.