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The only reasonable reaction to Black Velvetopia Raz!/gen

saw velvetopia raz’s outfit and went “yeah i’m gonna draw that”

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Psychonauts Analysis: Why Lungfishopolis is an Underappreciated Level

This level is technically impressive, for one thing. Raz is given an entirely new set of idle and walking animations which only appear in this one level. This is the only level after unlocking it that levitation is completely unusable. Raz is much slower than normal and feels significantly heavier with even the camera shaking as he walks. And everything from buildings, to tanks, to cars, to pedestrians is completely squishable! I wouldn't bat an eyelash at any of this in a newer game, but in a game from 2005? This is mind-blowing! The devs didn't have to do any of this. Even if they had taken the easy route and not added all these little details the level still would have been fun, but I probably wouldn't be writing a Tumblr post about it.

Then there's the level design. Linda's is the only non-human mind we enter over the course of the Psychonauts series, yet her mindscape is a decidedly human city. This is obviously because she was being mind-controlled by Coach and he built over her real psyche with something he can more easily manipulate. Something interesting about this level though is just how eerie it feels. Maybe this is just me and the early 2000s jank, but even with all of the cars and pedestrians, Lungfishopolis doesn't feel fully alive. Urban areas feeling lifeless and oddly compacted in older video games is nothing new, but this is one of the only times I feel like it actually benefits the level. Despite having an open sky, the city feels almost subterranean, enclosed. This is very fitting for what's actually going on in Linda's head! The city being surrounded by stone walls isn't just practical from a design standpoint, it perfectly visualizes the way Coach is trying to close Linda off from everything but his instructions, represented by the broadcast tower. My other point about the city feeling lifeless also plays into this. Lungfishopolis, like other video game levels from the time, feels less like a real city and more like a populated ghost town. Again though, this makes sense in context! Just as game developers create pixel simulacrums of cities without being able to capture the liveliness of a real city due to time and hardware constraints, so did Coach! The fact that the shortcomings of this nearly-old-enough-to-drink video game actually adds to the storytelling is absolutely beautiful!/gen/pos

I've not even mentioned Raz and Coach Oleander being kaiju's yet. Like with everything else in Psychonauts, this is a brilliant decision! It magnifically demonstrates how small and powerless Linda feels compared to the humans despite being physically larger than them in real life, but I also just appreciate how the roles are reversed. The fact that the monster destroying the city is actually the good guy and the superhero trying to save the city is the villain, is glorious! If you return to the level after completing it, you're even encouraged to keep smashing everything because now that Linda is free, Lungfishopolis will be undergoing reforestation.

The last thing to note is how, oddly enough, Lungfishopolis roughly parallels Lucrecia's Lament. Linda and Lucy both had psyches "built over" by foreign entities (Coach and Ford), both realized something was wrong, and both broke out of their programming in small ways, (Linda with her freedom fighters and Lucy with her quilts). I love that we got to see basically the same concept portrayed in two wildly different ways!

Also, if I had a nickel for every game that featured a level where the protagonist and final boss were kaiju-sized on a miniature set...

-and the end credits referenced the Lunch atop a Skyscraper photo from 1932...

-I would have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it could buy me two cans of Pork and Beans the year that photo was taken!

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As a plumber and a ghostbuster, Luigi is in the unique position of both putting the lou and ouija in Luigi! *cymbal sound effect* Thank you, I'll be here all week!/j

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So, as an adult Jack-Jack really just went "my family can handle the supervillains; Imma hunt ghosts!" huh?

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I have seen multiple people consider invisibility a mostly useless power, am I the only one using it to sneak up on telekinetic bears and pyro cougars to kill them before they kill me??? Like, this was a worthwhile power just to deal with the cougars, man!/hj It's also handy to get out of a hoard of censors in a pinch to find some more life!

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Monster High G1 Character Reimagining: Catrine de Mew

Generation One of Monster High had many characters, possibly too many. While it made for an incredible doll line, the sheer quantity meant that many characters didn't get much, if any, time in the spotlight. This has led me to wonder how some of the underutilized characters could have been handled in a more interesting way. Exhibit A: Catrine de Mew!

Catrine's animated debut was in Scaris: City of Frights and her first doll was released in the accompanying doll line alongside fellow Scaris newcomers Jinafire and Skelita. While Jinafire and Skelita have important roles in the movie, Catrine is more of a glorified background character. She only appears in a handful of scenes and only interacts with Frankie and Rochelle during a misunderstanding. She doesn't even show any interest in attending Monster High the way Jinafire and Skelita do. While she does get larger speaking parts in several webisodes, they are still very minor and don't flesh out her character much at all. The most we learn about her is from her profile and New Scaremester Agenda.

So, how would I make her a more fully realized character?

First, by aging her up a bit. As a Monster High student, she blends into the crowd too much. Aging her up to, say, her early twenties gives her more unique story opportunities, which I'll get into in a moment. Second, we're going to make her deaf. For those of you who don't know, real life kittens with white fur and blue eyes have a much higher chance of being born deaf than kittens with other color combinations. G1 doesn't have much in the way of disability representation, so Catrine feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. *bats eyelashes at G3 in the hopes that they'll rectify this* Third, we're going to give Catrine and Rochelle a more sister-like dynamic, as it's a little odd that the only two characters at Monster High from Scaris have so few interactions.

Now, what do we do with this new Catrine?

In her profile she mentions sketching portraits for tourists, so, this aged up Catrine will be a freelance artist. Garrot's diary mentions that Rochelle was a crossing guard when he met her (I know nothing about crossing guards, but it seems odd that a highschooler would be one? If it is strange we're just going to chalk it up to her being a gargoyle, since gargoyles seem to generally be very serious and occupy protective roles, maybe they take on these kinds of responsibilities younger?). We're going to say that Catrine frequented the area around where Rochelle worked. Rochelle is both observant and overprotective, meaning she was almost undoubtedly aware of Catrine being deaf. Maybe she took it upon herself to come to Catrine's aid once without being asked and overstepped. Afterwards Catrine sat her down and explained that she could have handled the situation herself and that, while Rochelle was well meaning, it wasn't her place to step in without asking. Rochelle was embarrassed, but Catrine assured her that she held no ill feelings. After this the two struck up a bit a friendship, spending so much time on this street corner together. This friendship probably lasted for a couple of years, with Catrine more or less becoming an honorary member of the Goyle family and something like a surrogate big sister to Rochelle.

Fast forward a bit, Catrine loves Scaris, but is longing to see more of the world, eventually deciding she wants to try something new by going to live in the states for a bit. Rochelle has been having similar thoughts of wanting to get out of her comfort zone, but hasn't fully made a decision yet. Catrine packs up and moves to the Scaremerican northwest. Rochelle, who currently attends Granite City High (where the crap is Granite City? Is it ever stated?) has considered transferring to Monster High. While Granite City competes in Skulltimate Roller Maze at the MH track Rochelle stays with Catrine at her new apartment near Salem and asks her thoughts. Catrine is supportive of the idea. While living in the area she's run across MH students and has more positive feelings towards them than the Granite City students. Believing Rochelle would be happier at MH, Catrine offers to let her live with her during the school year if she wanted and her family agreed. Rochelle's parents are more comfortable with the idea of Rochelle going to school in a different country if she's living with a trusted family friend and they agree. Rochelle officially transfers to Monster High before SKRM season is even over.

(Quick interlude here: In the Ghoulfriends book series Monster High has a dormitory for students who don't live near the school. In that series Rochelle, Robecca, and Venus share a dorm together. I'm ignoring the Ghoulfriends continuity in this reimagining because it directly contradicts the diaries continuity, which tends to lean closer to the animated series. In Catrine's New Scaremester Agenda it seems like she's living with Rochelle's family, but it's not elaborated on as to why the Goyle's are living in Salem in the first place, so I'm just reversing the roles for this reimagining so it's not Catrine living with Rochelle, it's Rochelle living with Catrine. It's just a little more streamlined this way!)

At this point Catrine's primary role is being a confidant to Rochelle. Rochelle didn't get many webisodes to herself or much spotlight in the movies outside of Scaris and Haunted, but in this theoretical timeline, maybe she got a little more. I always found it odd how little we saw of most of the characters families and home lives in G1, so maybe this can be the first step in changing that. In this AU there's at least one or two 2D backgrounds of Catrine's apartment that we see throughout the webisodes to help give us some more varied locals for scenes. Maybe we could have a webisode based on the Ghoul Chat 2 Pack? Catrine calls herself a purrfectionist in her profile, so maybe the premise of the webisode is Catrine wanting to throw a perfect slumber party for Rochelle and her friends, but things keep inevitably going wrong. The story could end with Catrine feeling like a failure, only for the ghouls to prove her wrong and drag her into the slumber party fun as well.

As of now, Catrine is still a very minor character, only having a supporting role in Rochelle-centric episodes, so, let's expand her role some!

At some point in the series, probably after Scaris: City of Frights where Catrine was maybe the ghoul's chaperone, the MH art teacher retires abruptly, leaving no one to teach the class. Bloodgood is desperate to fill the role quickly and Rochelle recommends Catrine to her. This webisode would probably end with seeing Catrine teaching her first ever class. From here Catrine starts having a lot more storytelling potential. As the art teacher she's no longer confined to Rochelle episodes and can become a supporting member of the cast for characters like Draculaura, Clawdeen, Skelita, Jinafire, and any other character in her class. And as the youngest member of the MH faculty, only a few years out of high school herself, she could potentially be a mediary between the teachers and students, helping the middle-aged teachers better understand their teenage students. And, to circle back around to Catrine being deaf for a second; I have complete faith that Bloodgood (cool woman that she is) knows sign language, but I would bet money that teachers like Mr. Rotter and Mr. Hack absolutely do not. We could maybe have a more serious webisode or two focusing on the MH students advocating for greater accessibility and accommodations for Catrine and every other differently abled teacher or student to come to Monster High.

So, those are my thoughts on how I would reimagine Catrine de Mew! What do you think? Are these ideas good? Terrible? Is there anything you would change? Be sure to share your thoughts and thank you so much for taking the time to read this!/gen

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Game Review and Discussion: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Spoiler free review at the top for newcomers and more in-depth and spoilery discussions below for old-timers!

Spoiler-Free Review for Newcomers

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is an adventure game developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by 505 Games in 2013 for Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Nintendo Switch, and Amazon Luna. (Dude, I've never even heard of Amazon Luna, what the heck even is that?) A remake of the game was developed by Avantgarden and released in 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows in 2024. I have only played, and therefore am reviewing, the original, but the only sizable differences between the original and the remake are improved graphics and added co-op mode, so you can reasonably call this a review of both.

Some graphics comparisons:

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake - PS5/XSX/S Tech Review - UE5 Nanite/Lumen Come at a Heavy Cost Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake - Official Graphics Comparison (2013 vs. 2024) Trailer

Story and Characters

The premise of the story is that the father of the titular Two Sons has fallen ill and now we, as the brothers, must go on a quest to retrieve the cure that will save his life. The story is completely without dialogue (that we can understand), with no written dialogue and characters speaking exclusively in a nonsense language akin to Simlish. (I admit to spending an embarrassing amount of time trying to figure out how to change the language settings on my first playthrough!) The story of the game doesn't suffer from lack of dialogue though and is conveyed very well through the character's actions and animations which, in the remake especially, are very expressive.

Gameplay

The main draw of the game is that you play as both brothers in tandem, controlling the older brother with the left analogue stick and trigger, and the younger brother with the right. This is honestly more intuitive than you might expect. My coordination is dreadful and I still managed to get through the whole game without much difficulty. Most puzzles and environmental challenges are fairly simple, with most of the challenge coming from having to play as both characters at once.

Rating and Trigger Warnings

The game is rated T for Teen for Violence, Blood, and Crude Humor.

Okay, there's a surprising amount to unpack here.

On screen suicide by a minor/background character.

Some very heartbreaking depictions of loss and grief. If you're not in an emotional place where you can deal with seeing a ten-ish-year-old child grieving loved ones, I highly recommend just walking away from this game.

Arachnophobia warning. We got a very big spider in one of the later levels and I rank it an Above Average on the disturbing scale!

Blood and Dead Bodies. Yep, we got both of those, in surprisingly substantial quantities! 

With as few spoilers as possible, in one of the later levels we have to cross the remains of a recently ended battle. The bodies of the fallen are everywhere and in several cases we have to move bodies out of the way to progress. The gore is very minimal with most of the injuries hidden from sight, but the remake does briefly show a vulture picking at a shallow flesh wound on one of the bodies, so, there's that. And there is a lot of blood. As in, rivers literally running red amounts of blood, and the brothers will have to cross said rivers and get covered in blood themselves. For most people with an average tolerance level this area will probably be fine, but if you're particularly sensitive, you would probably be better off skipping this game!

Oh, and there's also an attempted ritual sacrifice by a cult!/lh

The Problems

Playing the original on Steam, near the end of Chapter Two a cutscene doesn't trigger when it's supposed to, leaving an invisible barrier that was unpassable. The only way (that I found) to trigger the cutscene was to restart the chapter and play through the whole chapter again. The chapter is relatively short and not very difficult, so it can be replayed pretty quickly, but it's still annoying that replaying it was necessary.

Verdict

The game is quite short, only a few hours long, so the price might feel a little steep when not on sale, but overall if you want a game with some unique puzzles, nice atmosphere, and a tug-at-your-heartstrings story, I highly recommend Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons!

My Personal Thoughts (AKA Gushing, Gabbing, and Griping!)

Story and Worldbuilding

On the worldbuilding front, despite giving us very little detail, this game does a really good job of making us feel like there's a lot happening in this world beyond just the adventure we're on with the two brothers. With every area we travel through I kept finding myself asking questions like "Why is the troll lady locked up?", "Why were the giants fighting?", "What's the deal with the blood cult?", "What's with the invisible monster terrorizing this village?". It's really impressive that such a short and linear game is able to drive home the feeling of so many different stories unfolding all around you. It's surprisingly believable and a great backdrop to the brother's story.

The thing that's most striking about this game in my opinion is how much it feels like you're playing through a fairytale. It's not just the setting that evokes that feeling though. The story itself, these two brothers going on a harrowing quest to find a cure for their dying father, the fantasy setting and creatures, the lack of dialogue, the fact that the story doesn't have a "happy ending" exactly, I've never had a game capture the feeling of being told a story by the fire the way Brother: A Tale of Two Sons does.

Characters

To start, the troll couple are possibly the most helpful NPCs in video game history!

Characters in this game are a little odd to try to talk about since most of them are only there briefly and we don't learn any of their names definitively. The older brother's name seems to be Naiyaa and the younger brother Naiyee (Did I spell those right? Who knows!) but even those aren't concrete. Even without speaking, the brother's personalities shine through very clearly in their interactions with each other, other characters, and the environments.

Environments

Really freaking pretty! Even in the original they aged so well./gen Admittedly, most of the locations we journey through are fairly standard, but some, like the giants home, the giant battlefield, and the tree with the cure, feel really unique and interesting.

Soundtrack and Atmosphere

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Official Soundtrack

The soundtrack is composed by Gustaf Grefberg and holy cow is it atmospheric! It's so weighty and cinematic and adds a lot to the epic fairytale feel of the game.

Gameplay and Puzzles

The gameplay is quite basic outside of the gimmick of controlling both brothers at once, but that's okay!/gen If it was any more complex it would probably get real unwieldy, real fast.

Side note: Whoever decided that after Naiyaa's death, getting through the previously two-person puzzles would require the continued use of his trigger to get Naiyee to power through, they are EVIL./hj

Animations

A little basic, but serviceable in the original, and much more detailed and engaging in the remake. In addition to just the cutscenes and basic gameplay, there are a ton of little bonus animations that you can see when interacting with various objects and characters that add a lot of personality to the game. This especially fleshes out the brothers as they react in very different ways in each scenario.

Art Style

The characters in the original are a little rough, but the environments in both are absolutely *chefs kiss*!

Closing Thoughts

This game isn't one that I feel the need to return to as often as many others, but I still think it is a wonderfully well realized game!

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thank you Canada 🇨🇦

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*taps mic* Got three more for DNA testing!

*taps mic* I've decided they're all related by blood somehow.

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Don't do this! Don't make me feel sympathy for Dion Aquato, don't do it!

thinking abt the "dion isn't allowed to have problems" philosophy that he probably has internalized. first of all he's the oldest and has to be the most grown up and responsible all the time (like a third, more disappointed parent). secondly there are so many ways that his family can be disappointing (embarrassing debilitating family curse, psychic abilities, unnecessary rebellion) and who needs more of that added onto the pile? if raz and queepie and frazie just run all over the place, rampant crazy psychics representing the family, then somebody has to hold up the front of being sensible. and that comes at the sacrifice of any personal struggles. a fun third issue is always being there to back up donatella's opinions and needs. he has to be reliable all the time. and he's such a pet rock, painted up with the face than an aquato is 'supposed to wear', a face that he came up with himself, one that nobody really wears except for him come to think of it, a rock that if it were to move, the whole tower would surely come crumbling down. how long until he realizes that he's been able to move this whole time and he doesn't have to live his life crushed by the weight of playing sisyphus and the invisible stone

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Had never considered the parallels before, but DANG there are lot of them when you lay them out like that!

ok sorry that last post really got me thinking that hg wells warehouse 13 and agatha harkness are truly two bitches cut from the same cloth

hot

gay

murderer 🩷

old as hell

has a bitch so down bad for them, that they sacrifice their rigid morals/rules!!!

dead kid

and back to their love interests (to me!!!) very much in that endless cycle of “forever destined to meet a gunpoint” or like uh literal death in that they are fated to be enemies, but they love each other!!!!! and LIKE each other!!!

anyway it’s such a fun dynamic I love this specific character archetype that I guess exists, they are so special to me 🫶

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"A ship can never truly love an anchor." dude shut up. a ship without an anchor gets dashed against the rocks. it's useless, completely at the whim of the currents. a ship loves an anchor so much it carries it everywhere it goes. the anchor gives the ship the world to love. dude.

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I need this to be a whole series! Virals Road Trip, escape rooms and mysteries cross country, WHO'S WITH ME?!?!

i have this headcannon that the virals are obsessed with escape rooms. when one first opens up in Charleston they check it out and beat it in record time. they get their picture on the wall and everything. shelton always gets a little jumpy but he realizes this is one of the only ways tory and them can solve mysteries without committing any felonies so he's all in. he plans a summer road trip for them up and down the coast hitting all the escape rooms they can find. beating them all too. they become prolific, framed photos on every wall. they're so good they get a tiny article in the local newspaper and i autographs any copy he can find. and they've yet to find one they can't beat

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For context: Danny may of used his powers more than he meant to, causing Dash to suspect him of using steroids or other enhancements. Danny is very intelligent.

I loved this scene in Teen Wolf and thought it’d be something these two idiots would def say.

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That post I made about the dp bg inconsistency is making the rounds again, so I’m once again trying to conceptualize how I’d design it

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Here yall go my mer/siren danny design

The design might change in the future this was more so a go with the flow concept and I do like the way it turned out tho I wanted him to have a more siren/dangerous sharp look rather then flowy think of the show siren type look u know more of a natural predater

I'm a massive fan of atrieisan captivity and there design for mer danny on deviant art

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They're doing the Spider-Verse thing!!!/pos

how people with blue and green eyes be looking at each other