#Explosion game tutorial

[explosiongame]

Why Online Explosion Games Are So Addictive

The world of gaming has evolved tremendously, with various genres captivating players worldwide. One genre that has been making waves in recent years is the online explosion game. Whether it’s a high-stakes battle arena or a strategic demolition challenge, these games provide an adrenaline-pumping experience that keeps players coming back for more. But what exactly makes an online explosion game so addictive?

One of the biggest reasons is the sheer excitement they deliver. These games thrive on fast-paced action, dramatic visual effects, and thrilling destruction sequences that stimulate the brain’s reward system. The constant explosions, the chaos, and the need for quick decision-making create an immersive environment where players are fully engaged from start to finish. The unpredictability of each match adds an element of surprise, making players eager to try again and improve their skills.

Another key factor contributing to the addiction of an بازی انفجار انلاین game is the competitive nature of multiplayer gameplay. Many of these games allow players to go head-to-head against real opponents worldwide, fostering a sense of rivalry and accomplishment. The leaderboard system, ranking rewards, and the ability to show off skills to other players add a strong motivation to keep playing. Every explosion, every perfectly timed attack, and every victory reinforces the desire to push further and dominate the game.

The progression system in an online explosion game also plays a crucial role in its addictiveness. Players are often rewarded with new weapons, skins, and customization options as they advance through levels. The sense of achievement that comes with unlocking a powerful new explosive device or reaching a new rank fuels the drive to keep playing. Game developers strategically design these rewards to be spaced out just enough to keep players engaged without overwhelming them, creating a perfect balance of challenge and satisfaction.

Beyond the action and competition, the social aspect of an online explosion game makes it even more appealing. Many of these games encourage teamwork, allowing players to form alliances, join clans, or participate in cooperative missions. The ability to communicate with teammates, strategize, and execute explosive attacks together enhances the overall experience. Players often form strong online friendships, making the game not just about destruction but also about community and shared excitement.

The visual and sound effects in an online explosion game are another crucial factor in its addictive nature. The high-quality graphics, realistic explosions, and intense sound effects create an almost cinematic experience. Every explosion feels satisfying, every destruction sequence is visually rewarding, and the game keeps the player engaged through sensory stimulation. The combination of these elements makes it hard to step away from the screen.

Moreover, the accessibility of an online explosion game adds to its widespread appeal. These games are often available on multiple platforms, including mobile devices, consoles, and PCs. With quick loading times and easy-to-learn mechanics, they provide instant gratification, making them ideal for both casual and hardcore gamers. Whether a player has a few minutes to spare or wants to dive into an intense gaming session, these games offer the perfect experience.

Ultimately, the addiction to an online explosion game comes from its ability to deliver non-stop action, intense competition, rewarding progression, social interaction, and immersive audiovisual experiences. As technology advances and game developers continue to innovate, this genre is only set to grow in popularity. If you’ve ever found yourself glued to the screen, unable to resist just one more round of explosive action, you’re not alone—the thrill of an online explosion game is simply irresistible.

[bixels]

Splatoon 3: Side Order is good, but not great. I still highly recommend it, but if you care about the story, you're going to be disappointed. Quick review: spoilers ahead.

Side Order was the devs experimenting with Splatoon's gameplay loop. The campaign is a rogue-like, and it works amazingly well. Super fun, super challenging, building my deck and fighting through challenges with the stakes of resetting really scratched an itch in my brain. They did a great job with it.

Unfortunately, I feel like priority went to game design rather than story. Much of the mysterious artwork we saw in the first teaser trailer was completely unused; turns out, all of that was just concept art that never made it into the final product. Side Order failed to make me care about what was happening. I don't know why the protagonist had to be Agent 8; it could've been anyone else and the story would've worked the same.

Octo Expansion was the absolute peak of meshing story and gameplay. The campaign's hook is insanely strong; we immediately empathize with Agent 8 because we know from previous lore that octolings like her have been trapped underground for all their lives. We care about her fight to the surface because it's a fundamentally ideological fight for freedom. The plot stuff about Tartar and the Thangs is just nice set dressing; 8's fight for freedom is the real story.

There's none of that in Side Order. I don't particularly care about Marina's metaverse, even if it's tied to Octo Expansion's story. I don't know why Acht is there other than backstory stuff. It really feels like 8 is just told to do something and she does it because she's the protagonist; she has zero personal stakes or motivations in the conflict. This is a story blunder the devs did in Splatoon 3's default campaign––forgetting to give the protagonist a personal reason to fight––that I hoped would be fixed here, but alas.

What makes it worse is that the gameplay and story progression are completely out of sync. I beat the entire game on my third run in 4 hours. With each run, you get up to two keys to potentially unlock bits of story. That means you'll get about one piece of the story every two runs. There are twelve pieces of the story; I got the first and then beat the whole damn game. Now I have to go back and grind to see the remaining story when I've already beaten the final boss and resolved the conflict. I missed the entire story because I never had to reset because I blazed through the gameplay! It's just a real shame that I experienced everything without knowing... why it's happening. The final boss had me asking myself what the hell is going on because I don't know the backstory at all.

Again, I still really recommend. The devs did a great job, but Side Order remains in the shadow of Octo Expansion's incredible success. Like the default singleplayer campaign, there's just a lot of lost story potential here that, while not necessary, would have really elevated this DLC into something amazing.

[psink]

Drawing a scene from each 3ds game mission (4/30)

[previous] [first]

[dravidious]

You're more amazing than dead bodies

Spent the morning playing an indie game called Supraland that I got somehow ages ago, maybe from a bundle or something, and it's a pretty decent puzzle-platformer game, but for some reason it also has combat in it? And the combat is really bad, you just spam attack as fast as possible and the enemies take like 10 hits to kill, it's a pain. And then they gave me a combo attack that does 100 damage in a big AoE and it kills every basic enemy in one blast, and it's basically free to use, so now the combat is just. nothing. Lesson of the day: Don't put combat in a game if you don't want to make good combat.

[tsukeilvr]

contrary to popular belief, kenma kozume doesn't enjoy playing minecraft. he hates being jumpscared by the mobs, building is a bore, and dying after weeks of saved progress is always an annoyance.

and despite all of the things he disliked about the game, he somehow agreed when you asked if he could help you mine. one thing led to another, and school nights were spent with him mining and gathering blocks for you, while you built your shared house.

kenma listens intently as you talk on and on about your favorite show, his gaze focused on your camera to the side of his paused screen; you always complain when he doesn't turn on his, so he keeps it on, even if you stopped asking him to. “wait a second,” he interrupts you, unpausing his game as he stands in front of your shared house in game. “cone outside, i’ll show you something.” his voice is almost shy as he says this, but all of that disappears as he watches the look of pure joy on your face when you see what he built for you.

a small, sort of bland–curse his building skills–cherry blossom pathway to your house is illuminated by small torches. while it isn't as nice as it is in the tutorial he followed, the smile on your lips is enough to make him feel like the best builder in the world.

and that's when he realizes, he's screwed.

kuroo laughs as kenma rants about his predicament, “you’re whipped,” he says bluntly, leaning against the leather of his best friend's gaming chair. “i’m not!” kenma defends himself—a little too quickly. “i just like seeing her happy, i guess.” his reply further fuels kuroo's amusement, merely shaking his head.

he hates to admit it, he always hates admitting that kuroo's right—it fuels his ego—but he definitely is.. somewhat right. he's whipped for you.

you, who smiles when he decorates the front of your house with your favorite flowers, who laughs when he dies to a creeper explosion.

maybe he really doesn't hate the game all that much. as long as it's you, he doesn't really mind anymore. he would die to a million mobs just to hear you laugh.

[bellakenobi]

Tutorial: Renumbering Shoes/Necklaces Meshes to avoid conflicts and explosions

First of all, a huge thanks to people at MTS and to @virtual-hugs who taught me how to do it at the Creators Cave!

Also sorry for taking so long to write this! It's because I kinda struggle to write in english 😬

What will you need:

S3PE

Mesh Toolkit

Your shoe/necklace/accessory package ready, so you won't need to go back to TSRW to tweak something. This should be the last step on your CC creation workflow!

First, why does this happen?

Each CAS part has a vertices ID range, and when two parts with morphs have vertices containing the same ID, conflict happens and this is what make some meshes to explode. And this tends to happen when we put high poly shoes with morphed high poly necklaces because the shoes verts ID range is too low. Shoes verts ID starts at 30000, and accessories starts at 31500. In the pícture below there's the information provided by the Hint button at Mesh Toolkit with all the verts IDs, but it erroneusly says that accessories start a 0.

With all that said, we can try to renumber these parts verts to a different IDs to try to bypass that.

But let's go to the tutorial!

Again, your shoe/necklace package should be ready to do this, so you won't need to go back to your project in TSRW!

For this tutorial, I'll be using Arltos 109, converted by @rollo-rolls. You can do this tutorial with any CC high poly shoes/necklace, just please respect the creators TOU and do not upload it.

Note how there are tiny gaps showing when the shoes are worn with necklace! In this picture they quite imperceptible, but with some shoes/necklaces more distracting distortions might occur.

👠Step 1:

Open Mesh Toolkit, click on Package Tools tab, and in the Name Those Files tab open your package. Click on Add names, and then type a unique name for the CC part you're working on and save it. Here's what I named mine:

👠Step 2:

Open your package on S3PE, and select the LOD1 (or the LOD0, if you're working with some accessory that might have it) GEOM plus the four BGEOs (they're the morphs) and export them to a folder (just click on it with the right button, and select Export > To file...)

(see? this is why we added the names ^^)

👠Step 3:

Back in Mesh Toolkit, go to the GEOM Tools tab, then to [Re]Number Meshes tab. There, open your base GEOM mesh and BGEOs morphs accordingly.

In the "Number to start with" box, type the number which you want to start the verts ID. I'm usually going with 57000 for shoes, and with around 40000 for necklaces (so they won't conflict with old shoes that aren't renumbered).

Click on Renumber and Save. When asked, select the according number for the LOD you're working with (in this case is 1, but again, if you're working with LOD0, then select 0), and click in Continue.

Then the program will prompt you to save the renumbered mesh and morphs. It's good to create a new sub-folder for them to avoid any confusion.

These are the files we get. LOD1 is my base mesh, and the others are the morphs.

👠Step 4:

Go back to your package on S3PE. Right click on the GEOM mesh you exported before, then click on Replace, and select your new base mesh. Save and close your package.

👠Step 5:

Go back to Mesh Toolkit. Go to the Package Tools tab, and then to the Add Morphs to Clothing/Hair tab, and open your package.

Tick "Use GEOM morph meshes", untick "Change morph blend TGI".

Then tick the morph you will add to the package, and then in the according box (in my case,LOD1 box, but again, if you're working with a LOD0, put it in the LOD0 box) open your new morph.

Then click on "Add morph to package". A box confirming the action will pop-up.

Repeat this step with the other morphs, reminding always to tick the according morph or otherwise you might make some mistake (as adding a fit morph in the place of the fat one).

After you finished, save your package (either the current one, or save as new package).

👠Step 6:

Now test it in game! If everything was done right, you should see no distortion in the shoes and necklaces. Also check if the morphs are working as intended, because sometimes we can make mistakes!

Remember that you'll won't be able to have both the old and the new altered package since they're still the same, we just replaced the meshes and morphs.

[mattapparentlystumbltourneys]

Virtual Character Tourney - Semifinal A

Propaganda below (May contain spoilers!)

Hatsune Miku propaganda:

she is hatsune fucking miku. progenitor of the character vocal series. she is everything

she's literally the OG virtual girl…

first sound of the future and the most iconic #Girl in the world. everybody loves her. liking vocaloid is not a prerequisite to liking miku she is everything to me she is blue hair blue tie hiding in your wifi. And she is my best friend

Dr. Coomer propaganda:

Dr. Coomer is the EMBODIMENT of a old and broken AI. Silly man, just a very old guy who has a crisis over realizing that he's in a game because he went out of bounds. He runs into the same trap/enemy constantly because of one area at the beginning of the game, explodes anything with the word explosive on it, cannot stop greeting the player, recites the entirety of the 2012 Wikipedia article for chairs because was was sitting in one, and is basically a permanent tutorial npc. Someone fix this man's code please.

he is so sentient it hurts

he's a broken tutorial npc who becomes aware that he's trapped in a game and repeatedly tries to escape. he wanted to be a boxer instead of a scientist. he wants to live in super punch out for the super nintendo entertainment system but instead he's stuck in half life. you wouldn't leave him in half life, gordon? fucking half life? let him ou-- HELLO, GORDON!

[duhshereadz]

More Arcane head cannons because I can’t stop:

---

Jinx (Powder)

- She has a habit of giving her bombs cute names, like “Boomy” or “Snappy,” and talks to them as if they’re her friends.

- She bites her nails so much that she paints them just to make herself stop, but the paint usually gets chipped after a day.

- She doodles all over her arms when she’s bored, even though she knows it’ll smudge.

- Jinx absolutely hates vegetables, but she’ll eat them if you lie and call them “explosion fuel.”

- She has a surprising knack for sewing and will patch up her stuffed toys obsessively.

- She hums offbeat, made-up songs when tinkering, and sometimes they turn into actual catchy tunes.

- Jinx would totally put googly eyes on her weapons for no reason other than to make herself laugh.

- She hoards random shiny objects and insists they’ll be “important later,” even if it’s just a bottle cap.

- She’s constantly barefoot because she hates the feeling of shoes.

---

Vi

- Vi makes terrible coffee but drinks it anyway because she’s convinced it gives her “character.”

- She’s surprisingly superstitious and always knocks on wood when she feels like she’s jinxed something.

- Vi collects random keychains from places she visits and hangs them all over her belt like trophies.

- She pretends not to care about her hair, but she secretly spends time making sure it’s styled just the right amount of messy.

- She gives people nicknames that have nothing to do with their real name.

- Vi can’t whistle, and it drives her nuts when others do it effortlessly.

- She’s an amazing dancer but will only admit it when she’s had a few drinks.

- Vi always takes up too much space on couches, sprawling across them without a care.

- She secretly loves fluffy, cozy blankets and has a stash of them in her room.

---

Caitlyn Kiramman

- Caitlyn cannot function without a proper breakfast, and she gets cranky if she misses it.

- She’s weirdly good at chess, but she plays so competitively that no one likes going up against her.

- Caitlyn absolutely has a planner and writes everything in it, even things she doesn’t actually need to remember.

- She’s awful at video games and gets super flustered when she loses, which makes Vi tease her endlessly.

- Caitlyn secretly loves cheesy romance novels but keeps them hidden on a high shelf.

- Her guilty pleasure is eating dessert before dinner when no one is looking.

- Caitlyn’s handwriting is ridiculously neat, but she gets annoyed if anyone compliments it too much.

- She’s terrible at telling jokes, but her deadpan delivery somehow makes them funny anyway.

- Caitlyn refuses to wear mismatched socks—ever. It would ruin her whole day.

---

Jayce Talis

- Jayce is a terrible cook and once managed to burn water, but he insists he’s “just experimental in the kitchen.”

- He talks to himself when working, narrating every step like he’s in a tutorial video.

- Jayce has a stash of energy drinks he tries to keep secret because he knows they’re unhealthy.

- He always takes forever to get ready because he’s obsessed with looking polished, even if he’s just going to his lab.

- Jayce is weirdly good at folding fitted sheets, but he keeps that talent to himself.

- He tries to keep plants in his apartment for “aesthetic reasons,” but they always die within a week.

- Jayce collects notebooks but never fills them out because he “doesn’t want to waste them.”

- He has the worst poker face and can’t lie to save his life.

- Jayce has an elaborate skincare routine and won’t go to bed without following it.

---

Viktor

- Viktor sometimes forgets to eat while working, so he keeps random snacks hidden in his desk drawers.

- He’s the type to re-read books he’s already memorized just because it brings him comfort.

- Viktor hums classical music under his breath when he’s deep in thought.

- He’s absurdly good at mental math and sometimes mutters equations when he’s bored.

- Viktor absolutely talks to his tools and machines, even apologizing to them when they malfunction.

- He hoards broken parts or failed prototypes because he thinks he might use them “someday.”

- He doesn’t drink coffee, preferring tea, but it’s always cold by the time he remembers to drink it.

- Viktor sleeps in the weirdest positions, like half-falling off the bed but somehow comfortable.

- He’s lowkey very sentimental, keeping tiny mementos from his childhood in Zaun.

---

Silco

- Silco keeps his surroundings ridiculously neat and loses his temper if anything is out of place.

- He’s surprisingly good at card games but gets irritated when people accuse him of cheating.

- Silco never, *ever* lets anyone touch his chair in the office. It’s his throne.

- He prefers bitter drinks and thinks anything sweet is “a waste of time.”

- He secretly practices his speeches in front of a mirror to make sure he sounds menacing enough.

- Silco keeps a journal, but it’s filled with cryptic notes that only make sense to him.

- He absolutely hates bright colors and insists on everything being muted or dark-toned.

- Silco’s a night owl who rarely sleeps, and when he does, he can fall asleep sitting up.

- He secretly enjoys playing mind games just to see how long people take to figure it out.

---

Ekko

- Ekko is the type to doodle on absolutely everything, from walls to random scraps of paper.

- He always carries a deck of playing cards with him, and he’s amazing at sleight-of-hand tricks.

- Ekko has a sweet tooth and will go out of his way for pastries or candy.

- He has an old, beat-up notebook full of his plans and ideas, but it’s barely legible to anyone else.

- Ekko’s ridiculously good at climbing, treating it like a sport even when he doesn’t need to.

- He likes making little gadgets just for fun, like wind-up toys or tiny flashlights.

- Ekko is a surprisingly good dancer, but he only busts out moves when the mood strikes.

[skellymom]

Hey Skelly

You're taking requests? Oh I'd love to ask for one.

Could you please do a one-shot involving a reader and Hunter after Omega gets seriously injured on a mission (Bad enough to wind up in a Bacta Pod) and the reader has to comfort and reassure Hunter that Omega will be OK?

tysm, GenericFicer Hugs

@genericficerblog NICE! Another ASK!!! Thank you!

"THE INCIDENT"

The Bad Batch Hunter x Reader One Shot

Per more information (not included on this particular message):

So the reader is a male battle medic. It's all platonic The reader was a medic on Kamino. He had taken care of Omega after particularly bad tests (She has the scars to prove it) and he's protective of Omega because of her past with the Kaminoans

Word Count: 2.1K

Warning: Star Wars canon violence, angst, swearing, explosion, physical injuries, coma, mention of human experimentation by the Kaminoans.

I was tasked to hang back with Omega and Tech on board the Marauder. Hunter EXPRESSLY ordered us to stay put. His thinking was to only bring the members necessary for the job: Hunter at the head of the group, Echo next to him and to share logistics on comm with Tech, Wrecker as the “heavy”, and Crosshair as lookout/cover fire. 

The job was technically low risk...but Hunter started having those “feelings” of his just before landing at our target.  

Omega protested when he told her to stay on the ship. She had been looking forward to going on a mission for awhile. Many a time she stayed behind on Pabu with Shep and Lyana. Since her rescue from Tantiss, Hunter was dead set against her going on any dangerous missions. 

Hunter’s words were “You’ll have plenty of time to fight with the Rebellion in the future. Won’t stay young forever.” 

She bristled at those words. Then forgave him immediately after. 

They LOVE each other so much! 

But ever the doting dad, Hunter relented this time. She had eventually wore him down. 

Oh...getting ahead of myself...who am I? 

Hello. I’m Y/N. The Squad Formerly Known as Clone Force 99’s Medic/Backup Heavy/Or Whatever They Need Me For. I can patch up just about ANYTHING with the bare minimum of supplies. Sometimes my methods are unorthodox, per Tech’s opinion, but effective.  It’s saved our butts a few times. So, they let me come along on every mission. 

Plus, having known and taken care of Omega while on Kamino helped. 

And the fact that Crosshair took a liking to me immediately sealed the deal. We both speak fluent sarcasm. 

But...back to the mission... 

“What’s taking SO LONG?” Omega fidgeted in her seat. 

“My guess it is due to Hunter detecting an anomaly, they are taking their time.”  

Tech and I were attempting to play a few rounds of Sebacc. I’m HORRIBLE at it. He thinks he can help me improve my game. I’m struggling currently. 

“Safety first. No need to rush into trouble...especially since we seem to find it easily enough.” I threw down my cards. 

Tech glanced at them and frowned.  

“I totally messed up that hand too, huh?” 

“Well, it’s not a strategy I would have used...” Tech trailed off. 

“You’re being too nice.” 

“Shall I explain in detail the best plan of action for this hand?” 

“Can’t stop you. Just infodump me anyways. Maybe I’ll retain SOMETHING this time.” I LOVE to tease Tech. It was difficult in the beginning. Most of it just went over his head. 

This time, he just grinned at my cheekiness and launched into it. 

Omega continued to fidget in her seat behind us. 

“...and THAT is why you should have held onto those cards until the end.” Tech finally finished his tutorial. 

“I... THINK I got all that? My brain hurts now. How ‘bout I switch with Omega.” 

“That will be sufficient.” Tech looks up and glances behind me. 

Then his face froze. 

I quickly swung around to see Omega missing from her seat. 

“OMEGA???” I called through the ship.  

Nothing. 

“Oh SHIT!” 

“INDEED!” Tech immediately radioed Hunter that Omega slipped out of the Marauder and is probably enroute to them. 

I grabbed my med pack and ran out of the Marauder before he could stop me. 

Omega used to sneak away A LOT on our previous missions. Probably one of many reasons why he wanted to keep her back on Pabu until she matured a bit more. Of course, he feels guilty...the Kaminoan’s keeping her locked up in their home world. He didn’t want to clip her wings.  

“TOLD YOU to stay on the ship!” Hunter’s voice fills my ear comm. 

“I can’t just assume that Omega finds you somehow and is safe.” 

“Don’t need ANOTHER person in danger. Go back to the ship.” 

“Well...is Omega with you?” 

“...no.” 

“She SHOULD have been by now...AND I’m NOT going back.” 

Hunter’s tired sigh. “Well, then... 

He never finished his sentence. 

A flash of intense light... 

I awoke thirty feet away from where I was standing. On my back. 

My head hurts...all I can hear is high pitched whine in both ears. 

Sit up dazed and look around at EVERYTHING obliterated and on fire. 

Torn remains of whatever was left of the trees and outbuilding I was near... 

...two small legs sticking out from under smoldering wreckage. 

I lurch up to my feet and limp over. Grab the unidentifiable thing crushing Omega and try to pull it off her. 

It’s not budging. I frantically keep trying. There's NOTHING else in this world except me and this huge THING on top of her that I cannot seem to move. 

Sweating, my hands are raw, my eyes are wet, there is blood dripping down my face... 

Is it lacerated? Could it be my eardrums are ruptured? I don’t know.  

I just know I HAVE TO GET THIS THING OFF OF HER! 

Push, pull, kick... 

Then the wreckage flew off her like it weighed nothing at all. 

Wrecker is next to me. He freed Omega and put a hand on my shoulder. Hunter grabs her up. Echo is trying to speak to me. 

But I can’t hear anything at all. Just that damned whining in my ears.  

I can lip read though... 

He’s telling me to get back to the ship. 

Echo runs ahead with Hunter.  

Crosshair grabs my arm, dragging me along. He looks extremely worried. 

Whatever happened or if we even achieved our objective, I don’t know. 

Hunter sets Omega down on a bunk. He’s beside himself emotionally.  

I can feel the Marauder take off world.  

My hearing is still impaired, but the whining is less pronounced. 

I gently nudge Hunter aside and open my med kit. Pull out the bacta...but it won’t be enough... 

...she needs a tank. Her burns and lacerations are too numerous and severe. Still breathing and regular heartbeat, but unconscious.  

I am doing the best I can with what supplies are on hand. Putting her prognosis out of my head for the time being. 

We make a pit stop at a Rebel Base on a hidden moon. One with an extensive medical facility.  

Echo radioed ahead. As soon as Tech lands, the staff enters the ship and whisks Omega away. Hunter and Wrecker run after them. Echo runs in another direction...I’m assuming to report his intel to the Rebels. 

I stand at the bottom of the gangplank and watch them leave.  

Tech stares at me strangely.  

I shrug...and a horrible twinge of pain erupts from my upper back. My face feels sore too. 

Crosshair mumbles something. 

“WHAT???” I must be screaming but can’t hear anything. 

He mouths “your back” and points.  

I try to reach behind me to feel it.  

Tech grabs my hand and nods “no”. 

They both immediately took me to medbay. 

I’m treated for multiple facial lacerations, on top of first-degree burns. Missing some of my eyebrows. And, like I guessed bilaterial ruptured eardrums. 

Oh...and the kicker: A 12-inch piece of metal sticking out of my back. Had NO idea it was there.  

Adrenaline is a HELL of a hormone. 

Tech left to confer with Echo over intel and our next move. 

Crosshair stayed with me during the surgical removal of the metal. I demanded to be awake and requested a mirror to watch the whole procedure. 

The doctors were horrified but complied with my request. 

Crosshair held the mirror. He also asked to keep the metal once removed...to frame and hang up back on Pabu. 

“You're NOT like the other kids.” I quip. 

“Neither are you.” he winks. 

They won’t let me walk out of medbay. It’s the sedatives and painkillers, of course. I wouldn’t let me walk, either.  

Crosshair pushes me in a hover chair. We head over to the bacta tanks to check on Omega. 

She’s stripped down to a medical binder and med panties. Tubes to feed, breath, and eliminate. Floating in the tank, the extent of her injuries is very apparent: Second degree burns, multiple lacerations, a broken arm, a few broken ribs, and a head injury. Her hair had been clippered off entirely for cleanliness and most of it was charred.  

Omega was also put in a medically induced coma to aide her recovery. 

Hunter, sitting in a chair, has his arms around the bacta tank. He’s basically hugging it with his forehead resting snugly against the glass. 

“I shouldn’t have let her go. Blame myself.” He mumbles. 

Wrecker puts a hand on his back for comfort. “She’ll be ok Hunter. They said we got her here in time.”   

Then he looks shocked when he sees my face. 

“OH MY MAKER! Where are your EYEBROWS?” 

Still can’t hear very well, but I can DEFINITELY lip-read Wrecker. 

“Look what medical pulled out of him!” Crosshair proudly dangles a clear plastic bag containing the metal shard. 

Wrecker is transfixed. 

Hunter is devastated. “I MISSED that??? Didn’t even register you were injured...looked right at you...” 

Like a man lost and questioning EVERYTHING. His focus had been solely on Omega. 

“Aw...they couldn’t kill me. Don’t think I’ll be attracting any ladies with my perpetually surprised look though.” Trying to lighten the mood. 

“You can’t hear ANYTHING, can you?” Crosshair looks me in the eye. 

“Barely...why?” 

“You’re so LOUD.”  

“You should talk, Wrecker.” Crosshair sneered. 

“That’s how I know!” Wrecker rolled his eyes at his brother. 

Hunter looked even more guilty, hanging his head. 

“Hey guys...” 

Wrecker and Crosshair stopped whinging at each other. 

“Can I have some time alone with Hunter?” 

They both nodded and wandered off to find Echo and Tech. 

I nudge the chair over closer to Hunter and look at Omega through the glass. 

She’s so tiny in that big tank. So beat up and bruised. The lighting in the tank leaves NOTHING hidden. Even the old scars from her time on Kamino. The “experiments” according to the Kaminoans. Things they did to her before her brothers took her away.  

Things she never really spoke about with even Hunter. 

Things I only know about since working so closely at the facility on Kamino. A little girl who needed someone to comfort her. This was before her brothers were ever aware of her presence. 

“Her prognosis is very good, yes?” I broke the ice. 

“The docs say she’ll have to spend close to the next month in this tank.” Hunter’s voice cracked. 

“It wasn’t your fault.” 

“I knew better! Why is it SO HARD for me to say no to her???” 

“Because you love her. You know she’s strong. You also know she’s still a child. If it makes you feel better, she snuck out ALL the time on Kamino. The Kaminoan’s would ask me to go look for her constantly.” 

“More of an argument to have left her on Pabu.” 

“You REALLY want to be at fault, huh?” 

“I’m responsible for...” 

I cut him off. 

“YOU CAN’T CONTROL EVERYTHING, HUNTER!” I winced. Moving too much with my exasperation. The sutures on my back were straining...and wet. 

Hunter stood up, glancing at my back. He could smell it. 

“Strike through?” I asked. 

“Yeah...just a little blood. You need to lie down and rest.” 

“That’s gonna be hard. Not supposed to lay on my back...and my face isn’t going to feel great against the pillow. How about I just stay sitting in this chair with you?” 

“You sure?” 

“Yeah. I know you don’t want to leave her alone while she’s in this tube.” 

"Thank you. Honestly...I should say that more often. Y/N...you've really saved our butts a lot of times...I'm grateful to have you in our squad...family." Hunter cracked a small smile.

"Of course! Man...you are MY PEOPLE!" I beamed back. They really are. I'd go to the ends of the universe for every one of them!!!

Hunter's smile was so warm and genuine. But it lasted very briefly. His face became pensive again.

He was silent for a while...thinking. 

“Technically she’s asleep? Is that what a coma is like?” Hunter asked. 

“Kind of. The doctors are monitoring ALL her vitals constantly. And if anything is off, they can immediately see to her needs. Besides, the coma is just for the next 24-48 hours due to her head injury.”  

“I see.” 

“She’ll come through this. You clones were made to withstand a LOT of physical trauma. Stuff that would kill a regular human.” I added. 

“It’s not necessarily the physical stuff I’m worried about.” Hunter motions to the faint old scars on Omega’s body. “When she does wake up...she told me she has fears about being in a tube like an experiment.” 

“Tell her she has nothing to fear.” 

Hunter looks at me strangely. 

“People in a coma can still hear. Talk to her, Hunter.” 

He nods. Then directs his voice to the speaker on the bacta tube. 

I sit back and relax in the chair, watching this man...a brother, a parental figure speak to his child. 

He’s doing the best he can with what he has. 

We are all doing the best we can... 

...hanging on with HOPE. 

It’s the only thing holding the galaxy together right now... 

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[lefteagleblizzard]

Until Dawn Remake all totems

Ranking all the characters from Until Dawn based on how many unique totems each of them can find along with also all the visions they provide.

1) ℳ𝒾𝓀ℯ 𝓂𝓊𝓃𝓇ℴℯ

We can find while playing as him a total of 12 totems. Earning him the first place. He can find:

Danger 1: a herd of deer.

Fortune 1: an injured Jessica waking up on a collapsed elevator shaft.

Loss 2: Jessica falling down the elevator shaft with her jaw ripped off.

Hunger 1: Hannah weakly crawling towards a makeshift grave in the mines.

Fortune 3: Matt recovering in the mines with a flare gun shell near him.

Guidance 3: Mike and Sam climbing up out of water.

Hunger 2: Hannah wandering in the mines, then collapsing in pain as her vision shifts from human to a Wendigo's.

Danger 2: Sam entering the lodge basement as an unknown man follows her.

Guidance 5: Chris holding a gun to his own head and about to shoot.

Loss 4: a wendigo smashing Matt’s face in.

Hunger 4: Hannah, now transformed into a Wendigo, chasing a deer before pouncing on it.

Death 3: Mike reluctantly striking his lighter, starting the explosion and sacrificing himself.

Between all of this, Guidance 5 is the best one. Top 2 best totem in the game hands down as this one will help you save Chris from one of his most common deaths.

Loss 2 is another helpful one since it helps the player figure out that Jessica is in deep trouble and they need to act fast while playing as Mike.

Fortune 1 is also helpful since it will tell you that Jessica is alive despite the elevator collapsing with her on top.

Fortune 3 can also be somewhat useful since, if you pay close attention, you will see the flare gun right next to Matt. There is, however, another totem much better at helping the player save Matt.

Finally, death totem 3 can also be helpful for Mike since it will tell the player that he is willing to sacrifice himself so they will act more wisely in the decisions they make.

2) ℰ𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓎 𝒟𝒶𝓋𝒾𝓈

Despite not having a lot of playtime as her, she can find 6 totems in total. All of hers are unique and not shared with any other character. In particular, she can find:

Danger 3: Jessica painfully falling next to Matt in the mines.

Loss 3: the stranger gets killed as Chris watches in the distance.

Loss 5: Mike burning to death in an explosion.

Death 5: Emily getting shot in the eye.

Fortune 4: Mike about to shoot someone, but ultimately refuses.

Danger 6: Emily squeezing into the gap with the flare.

A decent amount of options for her. Definitely inferior to Mike but she still has some good ones.

Danger 3 will make the player tense in the segment with Matt and Jessica.

Death 5 will definitely help the player understand that the gun will kill Emily and it won’t be like it happened with Chris.

Fortune 4 can be helpful at making the right decision and helping the player understand that not shooting Emily is the right thing to do.

3) 𝒮𝒶𝓂 𝒢𝒾𝒹𝒹𝒾𝓃𝔤𝔰

She can find a total of 6 totems as well, but three are shared with other characters so I’ll put her in third place. In particular she can find:

Guidance 1: a bird landing on a stump. (Shared with Chris).

Guidance 2: Sam running up to the elevator shaft. (Shared with chris)

Death 6: Sam grabbed by a Wendigo as she is impaled through the stomach.

Hunger 5 : Hannah, now transformed into a Wendigo, dragging Jessica through the snow as she tries to escape.

Danger 5: a Wendigo leaping inside the lodge and chasing the survivors. (Shared with Josh)

Hunger 6: Hannah, now transformed into a Wendigo, grabbing and lifting Josh by the neck as he resists.

Honestly, hers aren’t very good unfortunately. The only somewhat useful one is death 6 but it’s very clear to figure out that failing any of the “don’t move” segments will result in her death.

The hunger totems are really cool and they show the player Hannah’s story after falling down the mines but, gameplay wise, they don’t offer any help.

Guidance 1 is a tutorial totem and even the game tells you the right thing to do.

Guidance 2 is helpful at not getting Sam caught but it’s not a big deal at the end.

Danger 5 is one of the worst totems since it’s misleading. If you close the door it will take more time for the wendigos to come upstairs and the first “don’t move” will be longer, putting Mike’s life in danger for more time.

4) 𝒞𝒽𝓇𝒾𝓈 ℋ𝒶𝓇𝓉𝓁ℯ𝓎

In total, he can find 6 totems but, despite all the moments we get to play as him, he only has 2 unique totems in total. All the totems he can find being:

Guidance 1: a bird landing on a stump. (Shared with Sam).

Guidance 2: Sam running up to the elevator shaft. (Shared with Sam).

Loss 1: Emily screaming as she burns to death in an explosion.

Guidance 4: Mike petting a wolf. (shared with Ashley)

Death 4: Chris getting grabbed and killed from the ceiling in the mines.

Fortune 2: Matt outside the mine, cautiously looking back at the banging door. (Shared with Ashley).

His options are really weak.

Guidance 1 is a tutorial totem and even the game tells you the right thing to do.

Guidance 2 is helpful at not getting Sam caught but it’s not a big deal at the end.

Guidance 4 will help you understand that Wolfie isn’t a threat.

His death totem is too hard to understand and figure out where he is. If it hadn’t been classified as a death totem (which shows the death of the character who finds it), I wouldn’t have even understood who was shown in the vision.

Fortune 2 kinda breaks the rules because it’s something that can happen only if Jessica is dead or has been abandoned by Matt.

5) ℳ𝒶𝓉𝓉 𝒯𝒶𝓎𝓁ℴ𝓇

Matt can find 4 totems in total, one of which is shared with another character. He can find:

Death 2: Matt falling to his death off a cliff.

Danger 4: Emily trying unsuccessfully to reach for Matt's hand.

Guidance 6: Mike barricading the door with a locker.

Fortune 6: a Wendigo inching closer to Sam as she stays still. (Shared with Jessica).

His totems are honestly some of the best options between all characters.

Danger 4 is the best totem in the game as it will help you save Matt from his most common death.

Guidance 6 will help you save Wolfie while controlling Mike.

Fortune 6, if you pay really close attention, you can see Mike in the back. This can help the player understand that choosing the option of saving Mike will not result in Sam sacrificing herself.

So yeah, the last two aren’t really easy to understand but just for the danger totem alone, i’ll say that Matt has some of the best options totem wise.

6) 𝒜𝓈𝒽𝓁ℯ𝓎 ℬ𝓇ℴ𝓌𝓃

Ashley can also find in total 4 totems but two of those are shared with Chris, so she also has two unique totems. This being:

Guidance 4: Mike petting a wolf. (Shared with Chris)

Hunger 3: Hannah, now transformed into a Wendigo, heading toward the mine exit.

Fortune 2: Matt outside the mine, cautiously looking back at the banging door. (Shared with Chris)

loss 6: Josh's head about to be crushed by a Wendigo.

I think hers are the worst ones.

The only useful being guidance 4 since it will help you understand that Wolfie isn’t a threat.

Fortune 2 kinda breaks the rules because it’s something that can happen only if Jessica is dead or has been abandoned by Matt.

Loss 6 doesn’t help you in any way at saving Joss.

7) 𝒥ℴ𝓈𝒽 𝒲𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝔤𝔱𝔬𝔫

Josh can only find 2 totem in chapter 10 when we get control of him for the first and only time. One of this is also shared with another character.

Fortune 5: the survivors looking back at the burning lodge.

Danger 5: a Wendigo leaping inside the lodge and chasing the survivors. (Shared with Sam)

Danger 5 is one of the worst totems since it’s misleading. If you close the door it will take more time for the wendigos to come upstairs and the first “don’t move” will be longer, putting Mike’s life in danger for more time.

Fortune 5 doesn’t help the player in any way, unfortunately.

8) 𝒥ℯ𝓈𝓈 ℛ𝒾𝓁ℯ𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 ℬℯ𝓉𝒽 𝒲𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃ℊ𝓉ℴ𝓃

𝒥ℯ𝓈𝓈 ℛ𝒾𝓁ℯ𝓎

Jess unfortunately can only find 1 totem and that can only happen if Matt died in chapter 6. In this way we can play as her in chapter 10 and collect the totem as her.

Fortune 6: a Wendigo inching closer to Sam as she stays still. (Shared with Matt)

Just like how i said for Matt, if you pay really close attention, you can see Mike in the back. This can help the player understand that choosing the option of saving Mike will not result in Sam sacrificing herself.

At least hers can be helpful.

ℬℯ𝓉𝒽 𝒲𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃ℊ𝓉ℴ𝓃

Just like her brother, Beth can only find 1 totem and it can be found in the prologue where we play as her.

Death 1: Beth and Hannah falling to their deaths.

Another one that breaks the rules since Beth will always die, no matter what choice the player makes. So yeah, it’s probably the worst one.

[bryce-bucher]

500 CALIBER CONTRACTZ Post #13

Tha Pole-vault:

I added what is hopefully the final move to the moveset. It's a sort of pole-vault that you use to fling yourself around.

Aside from just letting you flip around tho, it also partially converts your horizontal momentum into vertical momentum. This means that if you are going fast enough, you can fling yourself up real high.

Wow wow woowiwe woah

C4:

Put an explosive floatin around. U can grab it and it will immediately start counting down. You have to bring it to the bomb site before it explode can you believe it!!!1

In the factory level you're gonna use this to blow up the propaganda statue that the company funded to keep workers complacent.

aewsome

NEW SKINZZ:

I woke up in a cold horirible sweat with a dastardly idea to make some 2D billboarded skins for this game. I got to work immediately by grabbing a copy of flash 8 and making some shitty drawings with my mouse. What I ended up with is a skin that I'm calling Flash Trash:

(Oh yeah also this is a wip tutorial area dw about it) After putting this skin together I thought it would also be cool to make a similar skin as an homage to the thing thing flash games that served as a p big inspiration for this project as a whole. So I got to work again and put together thingthingthing:

Here are some behind tha scenes photos:

flash is so fun. I loved flash anims and games as a kid but I was too young to really figure out how to use it myself. Feel like I missed out tbh it is such a cool program.

Conclusion:

I'm sick af!!! Not in the good way!! I got some kinda food poisoning or something and it was existentially horrible! Been recovering from that steadily while still gettin some work done here and there. I've been putting together a whole tutorial area which I'll show off sometime. Once that is done I'll be ready to get some more playtesting done before moving on to getting the first two worlds completely finalized. Also played a lot of bombrush cyberfunk. Very cool game.

[dukeofriven]

My real takeaway from this whole "Sony releases the PS5 Pro and the world collectively shrugged" debacle is summed up with my experience with the PS5 [non-Pro] Remaster of Horizon Zero Dawn. The game environments look stunning—honestly a little too stunning. The foliage is so dense in places it feels real, but you can't duck down in hide in this or that big patch of grass because only the red grass 'counts' even though this non-red grass is taller in places—it is an issue of no one taking the time to wonder if there might be a mismatch between visual and mechanic. In the game's defense, however, from all accounts the remaster wasn't given allowance to make any core changes (if there were, surely someone would have fixed the horrid UI wherein you might need eight different weapons for a fight and the hot bar only gives you four, or the 'health potions have to share a use button with every consumable object in the game that's not weapons ammo and scrolling through potions while real-time dodging monsters sucks balls'. Or they might have fixed the stupid bomb tutorial!) ... what was I talking about? Oh, yeah, so, the game looks amazing: the graphical fidelity, the billions of traced rays, the sunset in the ruins, the light on the water, it all looks stunning. And yet everything you wear still clips through your body. Aloy tangles all her bows in her hair apparently without any repercussions, and she carrying those aforementioned weapons, and she stores them in hammerspace near her butt. Rigid metal armor bends and wobbles, robot monsters clip through rocks, and other monsters sight you from the other side of dense forests. For all the talk of 'better graphics' the video game industry seem only able to make objects that look photo-realistic — their 'realism' and fidelity is the entire focus, and they look incredible until they, you know, have to interact with any other object. Then the game's got the same level of sophistication as Ocarina of Time or Goldeneye. And while 'no clipping' isn't going to save the game industry—the problems go far beyond that, (and there's an element here that the pure pursuit of realism is a problem in and of itself), we really have reached the point where the old bromides about 'better graphics' start to weaken because everything looks pretty good now—good enough that we can turn our attention to just how narrowly focused the advance of games' technical sophistication has been. "Here's a huge open world that looks as real as we can make it - until you walk around in it and learn that none of the doors open, every piece of crockery is indestructible, you can't sit down on a chair, and while you can fight these huge smashing monsters the world is totally unchangeable. They can throw fireballs all they want and not a single blade of grass will burn down, and you can blow all these robots up in huge explosions and not one of their character models will char." None of this, to be clear, makes HZD a bad game. UI problems aside it is still a lot of fun. But you look at this PS5 Pro and you look at HZD Remastered and all you can ask is 'so your only advancement is X percentage of more traced rays, and a further render distance you still cover with fog anyways?' And now there's an even more expensive console coming that will improve this... how, exactly?

[its-a-hatty-family]

Hats

For the sake of this blog I'm going to assume that people know about gameplay mechanics, such as hats and weapons, from A Hat in Time. But in case they don't, I will restate them as they function the same in this au.

Hats are a gameplay mechanic that allows Hat Kid to interact with her environments in unique and fashionable ways. In AHF specificly, Hats are made by collecting yarn and finding blueprints. Once a blueprint for a new Hat is acquired, Hat Kid can use yarn she is able to find around the different chapter locations to make said hat.

Hats are activated by pressing a button or key on the player's choice of controller. Some hats may have a cooldown effect after being used, which can vary in length. This was present in A Hat in Time.

Types of hats

Kid's Hat: This hat is the only hat not earned from a blueprint, but is instead acquired during the tutorial phase. This hat is able to locate goal-related objects, such as timepieces, plot related items, or boss locations.

Sprint Hat: This hat allows the player to run faster, which is useful in boss fights or time-based challenges like those in Death Wish missions. When paired with some badges, the Hat will gain a cosmetic change where instead of running, Hat Kid will instead ride on a scooter.

Brewing Hat: This hat allows Hat Kid to throw an explosive ranged attack. This is good for bossfights or enemies you don't want to get close to.

Ice Hat: This hat turns Hat Kid into an ice sculpture, how cool! If activated over a spring or launch pad, hat Kid will be able to bounce incredibly high. If activated near enemies, an icy shockwave will slip them up and make them tumble to the floor.

Dweller Mask: This mask allows Hat Kid to manipulate solid blue and transparent green platforms so that she may cross them.

Timestop Hat: This hat allows Hat Kid to freeze time for a few seconds. This can give her a leg up in speed-centered platforming areas, races, or can help her bypass fast moving objects.

Hover Hat(New to AHF): Based on the cut concept from A Hat in Time, this hat allows Hat Kid to glide for a few seconds after activation. Once the hat activates, Hat Kid will slowly drift downwards, and can move in any direction. The length of this glide can help her reach far-away platforms. This hat functions like a tanuki leaf power up in the Mario 3D land/world games.

Gravity Hat(New to AHF): This hat allows Hat Kid to reach high vertical platforms when activated. In this brief state, Hat Kid's movement is slowed, and she will be unable to attack.

Yarn and Blueprints

Unlike in the original Hat in Time game, Hats are not obtained by collecting certain types if yarn and having a certain amount of yarn required to stitch the hat.

In the au, Hat Kid can obtain blueprints, which are instructions on how to make new hats. These can be obtained in treasure chests, secret rooms, or are given to hat Kid as a means of plot progression.

Hat Kid can't just make a new hat by collecting a blueprints though, as the instructions on the blueprints require yarn. Yarn is a collectable item and consumable resource placed around the different chapters of the game. Once Hat Kid collects enough yarn, she can use said yarn to make the hats blueprints allow her to make.

[wfagamerants]

Mario & Luigi as a series, loves its villains. I really can’t think of any other Mario series that gives its bad guys this level of attention and spotlight, as well as recurring appearances for several villains exclusive to the series.

While Fawful is an obvious example in regards to this, I’d actually say it’s none other than Bowser himself who really embodies all of this and manages to effectively be the third main character of the series, with a genuine arc to his name.

Bowser’s role in the series already starts out very uniquely. While he does start off wanting to kidnap Peach, as per usual, her now explosive voice makes her less than desirable to have around in his castle, so he promptly teams up with the Mario Bros, starting off Superstar Saga.

At this point in time, Bowser is a genuine ally, giving the Bros a ride to the Beanbean Kingdom and even giving them tutorial hints during their battle with Fawful, but things go downhill fast for the big guy.

From that point forward Bowser:

Ends up stuck in a cannon and held at ransom

Gets shot out of said cannon and suffers amnesia.

While amnesiac, becomes the rookie lackey of Popple, suffering two defeats at the hand of the Bros.

Takes another fall and lands back heavily injured in Stardust Fields, where Fawful and Cackletta find him, leading to the latter possessing his body. From this point, Bowser himself vanishes from the plot, aside from his body being rented out by Cackletta as a vessel.

Even once freed, he falls with the exploding Bowser Castle and when delivered back home, is just dropped off there.

Not much goes right for Bowser in SS, despite not taking an antagonistic role he ultimately ends up on the brunt of a ton of punishment and really is the one in need of saving from the big bad, once his body is taken over.

The Minion Quest side-mode in the 3DS remake does a little to expand on Bowser’s role in the game. We do get to see how he actually got his amnesia (Captain Goomba fell on him) and he gets a moment to fight back by knocking Fawful away, during an attempt to abduct him while unconscious.

That stuff is nice, but more than anything this game emphasizes an aspect of Bowser that will become important later on. The loyalty his minions have for him.

Putting the player into the viewpoint of a common Goomba does a lot to show how much Bowser’s minions think of him and how much they will band together to get their beloved ruler back. When Rookie Bowser fails to recognize Captain Goomba it really does make for a sad moment, that adds a sense of drama to Bowser’s role, which is otherwise largely played for laughs. Very fitting, given the change in viewpoint.

Partners in Time puts Bowser into a role that’s both unique and closer to what we expect from him, at the same time.

While his child self is a recurring nuisance that actively takes part in the plot at numerous points, adult Bowser is absolutely clueless about the greater plot going on. He shows up to kidnap Peach, who is actually Princess Shroob in disguise and lands in a time hole, never even realizing he’s time traveling.

Despite being locked out of the loop, Bowser does manage to make the most out of his role. He decides to turn the volcano in the past he fell into, into a new hide-out, teams up with his younger self, after some arguing and is able to emulate the team-work the Bros have with their younger selves, really well.

Following his boss fight, Bowser is kicked out of the past and by extension, the plot. He does reappear for a for a post-final boss encounter, but that one is not only over quickly, but also just pretty strange and doesn’t add anything to the story, though Bowser eating things he really shouldn’t, in this case, the mushroom-fied Elder Princess Shroob, will become important next game.

Bowser’s Inside Story just straight up is Bowser’s game. He may share the spotlight with the Bros, but on the whole, this is in very, very large amounts, his story. It also marks what I consider to be the big turning point in Bowser’s story in the series.

While Bowser falls victim to Fawful’s scheme, having his minions captured, his castle taken over and being given the Vacuum Mushroom to mindlessly inhale Peach and the Bros. That said, unlike Superstar Saga in particular, this time, Bowser fights back.

Bowser does need the help of the Bros, starting out without even his fire breath, but with that extra push, Bowser ends up recovering his lost abilities, gains new ones altogether and even learns to weaponize the new vacuum ability he got from Fawful’s mushroom.

We get to see Bowser be a brutish meathead, but he does manage to get himself out of problematic moments, if often with unknowing help from the Bros. Through this, Bowser reclaims his castle, fights through Fawful’s forces, survives what would otherwise be fatal moments and in the end, finishes off Dark Bowser with style.

I am not going too deeply into individual moments, because it is more the greater picture. Bowser went from an unlucky victim of the antics around him, to being out of the loop on what was going on, to one of the main stars, showing what he is capable of through his raw strength, ability to overcome whatever is thrown his way and the loyalty of his minions who upon rescue, assist him for his special moves.

The Jr’s Journey side-mode reinforces Bowser’s care for his minions we already got hints of, by showing that several Goombas of his kingdom suffer from the Blorbs and that him coming to the meeting at the beginning really was him wanting to take part in it. 

Outside of that, the story is very disconnected from what Bowser is doing, being way more about Jr’s story and development. That said, what role he does have, along with how Jr and his troops refer to him, truly show Bowser to be the big good of his kingdom, building on what Minion Quest established. 

We also do get the occasional check-in on when the stories take place relative to each other and those really do feel like getting a look at how Bowser’s antics look to minions and allies of his that aren’t directly involved in any given game.

Dream Team gives Bowser another entirely new role to play, this time teaming up with the new big bad of the day, Antasma.

I am going to say something maybe a bit contentious, but to me, Bowser in Dream Team is the best example of continuity anything in Mario has ever pulled off.

A lot of this is communicated really effectively through gameplay. In his first battle, Bowser’s moves include:

A sliding punch.

Him rolling up in a spikeball.

His usual fire breath.

And then much later in the game, we get a giant Bowser battle.

All of these are techniques that he learned through help of the Bros (Sliding Punch, Spikeball), recovered (Fire Breath) or was previously only able to pull off with their help (Giant Bowser) in BiS.

The Bros and by extension the player, has helped Bowser that whole time and powered him up. Now he’s a villain again and makes use of those new abilities to be YOUR problem to deal with. You helped create this monster.

And on top of gameplay examples, Bowser really shows how much he has learned on the story side of things too. He goes along with what Antasma does and gets a cool new castle out of it, which to me read like Antasma buttering Bowser up for an eventual betrayal.

Then one did indeed happen and it was Bowser betraying Antasma instead, having gotten everything he wanted out of him and thusly taking off with the Dream Stone to take charge all by himself.

I understand some didn’t vibe with this, because the RPGs are a rare time we get new villains. For me though, as someone who played all the RPGs, it was a really cool thing to see Bowser defy expectations and be the one overthrowing the new villain, without needing to be on the hero's side to do it. It’s a nice reminder he is the main villain of the franchise for a reason.

All this comes to a close with a boss battle against Dreamy Bowser. Bowser powered up to be able to summon whatever he wants and power up his usual abilities to a never before seen extreme.

The battle also gives some nice thematic pathos to both sides. Mario and Luigi for many of the attacks, are seen protecting each other or working together, while Bowser shows he thinks highly enough of his minions to summon dream versions of them to aid him. It genuinely really does feel like a true finale.

That sentiment also goes for another aspect of Bowser’s character in this series: Bowser’s dynamic with Luigi. Back in SS, Bowser barely even remembered him and even as the series went on, he’d always view him far more dismissively, never even calling him by name.

Dream Team gives Bowser and Luigi their most direct 1 on 1 confrontation (Yeah, Mario’s there, but he’s largely support) via their giant battle and through that and the final Dreamy Bowser battle, Bowser finally gains enough respect for Luigi as an enemy to recall his name.

Following all of this is Paper Jam. There are many things that can be discussed on how many aspects of it were handled, but strictly speaking Bowser, I think it’s a fitting conclusion to his arc in the Alphadream era.

After being kicked around, unaware of the plot around him, fighting the big bad and teaming up with the big bad, before backstabbing him, Bowser and his paper counterpart are just the villains outright, from start to finish.

While conceptually, much of what we see is fairly standard Bowser stuff, the context we see it in makes a big difference. Many call the new Neo Bowser Castle a lazy name and concept, but to me it again, stands as a good example of continuity. Unlike Dream Team, Bowser doesn’t need Antasma to get his sweet new castle, he just makes it himself through planning and ruthlessly capturing and enslaving Toads in mines to gather materials to fuel it.

Similarly, all it takes for Bowser to launch an attack on the kingdom following the Jr duo's defeat, is his own resources and the new final boss form of the day also doesn’t require a McGuffin of any sort. It just takes Paper Bowser going along with it.

Bowser pulls off all the stuff you’d expect from the Mario RPG villains with very little extra help. All he needs is the cooperation of another Bowser and together they stand tall as the main threat. I understand the circumstances around Paper Jam can muddle things, but to me, this is a really fitting and satisfying way to close out Bowser’s arc across all these games.

Time will tell what Brothership does with him. Given everything that happened I wouldn’t blame them if the game is seen as a bit of a relaunch and I have full confidence it will be a good role.

Mario games do whatever they want and I think Bowser’s progression has already concluded very well, so I am more than game to see them do more things with it.

This write-up is a companion piece to this video by my dear friend Mod Mamono, all about M&L villains, check it out here:

[six-eyed-samurai]

hii i'm here to request another platonic fic as i look at you evilly except this time it's bsd

getting into the actual request, would you mind writing a kenji fic where reader is a boy his age also in the ada who likes to cook for him after missions? thank you so much if you do write this!

MORNING <333 I'm here to cook for both Kenji and you as I gaze into the horizon beyond the great distance with a faraway glint in my eyes while posing, heroically, on a rock.

In the beginning you were not as proficient in the culinary arts as you were now.

Cooking, despite what everyone says, is not simply washing rice and frying eggs and rinsing vegetables and chopping meat. Cooking is an experimental game between you and a slight deviation from the original recipe, a chemical gamble, a philosopher's inspiration for how much is too much and how little is too little. Celebrating what you think is edible turning out to be too salty. Reveling in your perfectly cooked meat only to flip it over and realize it's burnt. Discovering that in fact, spices really do matter and so does plating, because nobody wants to eat something that looks like the cat hawked up, no matter how delicious.

Or at least this was your explanation to Kunikida when he walked into another explosive disaster in the kitchen and demanded to know what's all that black stuff in the garbage, how is the new salt shaker half empty already, do you know how much it costs to buy plates these days thanks to inflation while they're on a right budget - ! You don't even get the chance to warn him off the rubbery egg remains on the floor - ah, oops, he's stepped onto it.

A sigh. Kunikida pinched the bridge of his nose and pushed his glasses. "Who are you even cooking for?"

"Oh, Kenji-kun, as thanks for his help on my last job!" You smiled almost as brightly as the sparks that had erupted from the stove earlier.

"Ehhh?? Kenji-kun gets a free meal??" The sing song voice is unmistakable and so is the freeloader sniffing out an opportunity. Dazai poked his head around the corner and sniffed. "Hey, why don't I get one?"

"You didn't help -"

"Dazai, all this, with no offense intended, is a health hazard to us all. You're better off increasing your tab at the cafe downstairs."

"Did you say health hazard?! Great, death by food, what an amazing suicide idea, Kunikida!"

They're still fighting by the time you cleaned up the kitchen and left, a bit put out by your failed attempt at doing something nice for your best friend. Perhaps Kunikida had been right, that you were better off buying a meal than poisoning him with that. You didn't even realize someone's been in your room before, not until you find a cookbook labelled "Bento for Dummies" lying on the table, with a sticky note inside inscribed "Good luck!"

Huh.

***

The next time you cook there's two major differences - three, if you count the end product.

One, Kunikida rushes in to stand guard and bark out potential safety hazard warnings and demands reassurances that you will clean up any mess you make. You're a little offended how completely he mistrusts you.

Two, the kitchen remained relatively in the same state. You didn't use up too much of anything or accidentally drop another egg (there was a very nice tutorial on the perfect way to crack eggs, recommended by Ranpo). The worst that happend was a slightly chipped plate. You considered that if not a success, then at least a major improvement.

As an extra, three: the Bento, though basic, doesn't look half bad. You managed the omurice pretty well and it doesn't taste that salty.

But it's not a success yet! Not a success until you give it to who it's intended for and he likes it - better yet, dare you hope, love it.

Kenji is supposed to be back from his mission soon. You don't know the details but from what you heard it sounds like there's a lot of heavy lifting involved, so the sunny blond was surely going to be very hungry. Not a I could eat a horse hungry, but a I will eat the whole farmyard and the barn hungry. With that in mind you make several more servings, thinking if there's any leftovers you could always just take up Dazai's request for free food. You're so caught up in the accidental spill of some dishwashing soap you don't even notice when Kenji sneaks up on you.

"Hey! Are you working a catering service now?"

"Ack, Kenji-kun!" You spill even more dishwashing soup and water. "Don't jump on me like that!"

"Oh, sorry!"

"Yeah, okay, whatever." He looks sorry enough - briefly. "And it's not a catering service. They're for you."

"What?" You can see the literal stars sparking to life in his eyes. "Real - really?"

"Yeah." An attempt to shrug nonchalantly. "I figured you'd be hungry after work so-"

He's already opening a bento to take a sniff, eagerly rummaging around for utensils; Kenji takes a seat and with an expression that indicates he might be drooling soon, clicks the chopsticks. "And they're all for me?"

"Yeah, if you want finish -"

How is he already halfway through - is that Kenji's third Bento already?! "And you cooked them yourself?"

"Um, yeah, I mean I had a cookbook and-"

Oh my god, you think. He ate it all. Every last crumb. Every box wiped clean.

"It was so good!" Kenji's eyelids droop slightly, sleep infecting his enthusiastic grin. His posture is getting a little affected by lethargy, and he's laying his head into his arms as the sated ability began to take its toll. "Thank you so much! You're the... you're the best...my best friend, heh."

You'll clean about a hundred more kitchens, cook several thousand more bentos and hear Kunikida fuss like a mother hen a million more times if it meant you'll see Kenji be so satisfied by a simple meal. Your best friend would do the same too, right?

For now you just sheepishly laugh it off and move to wipe the table.

***

"Nii-chan, which one should we buy next?" Naomi held up two books, eyeing them both critically. The basket is already heavy after a few minutes at the book clearance sale, but eh, whatever, Tanizaki was carrying anyway. "Beginner's Guide to Sushi or How To Make Temaki?"

"Eh, sushi looks better, but maybe Kenji likes Temaki more?" They're about the same price anyway, so Tanizaki doesn't really care. Naomi clicks her tongue in exasperation when he barely gives them a glance, continuing to look for something on the opposite shelf.

She checked the contents page. "Oh well, sushi then. There's a chapter on Temaki in it."

"Do you think he knows it's us leaving the cookbooks out for him yet?" Naomi wonders as they walk out of the store, Tanizaki groaning from the weight of their goods.

"Nah, it's been three months since he started cooking for Kenji and he hasn't said anything, so probably not."

"True. Let's go put this one on his desk this time - the last time you idiot put it on the kitchen counter top it nearly fell into the garbage disposal."

[cleolinda]

Silent Hill 2 commentary: Blue Creek Apartments (2)

PREVIOUSLY ON: Crossing over to the Otherworld (again); the clock puzzle, Remains of the Judgment, Stephen King Easter eggs, and The New Damnation.

Spoiler policy: Just about anything but That One Big Thing near the end of the game, particularly information about characters, their motives, and their dynamics. The game’s eight endings may also be discussed. Content notes are below the cut.

Content notes: For this video as a whole, the combat involves the usual bloodshed, acid vomit now with bonus acid explosions, monster body horror, plank and nails melee, handgun shooting. There’s an extra bathtub full of blood for no particular reason. The toilets are notably vile.

31:00: Examples of two things I've mentioned before: the squelching sound that alerts you to a nearby lying figure, and furniture that the Saul Street tutorial taught you to move. Apartment 306 will need a key; I will proceed to forget what apartments, keys, or numbers are. 

32:00: When we walk into Apartment 307, we see the old-fashioned radio from Wood Side 201 (the apartment I believe has features of James and Mary's home), and it's hanging in its own little cage from the ceiling. The frequency needle is our hour hand, which is our first mini-puzzle. It's playing the same melody as the jukebox: Maria's "Magdalene" theme that's been (re)titled "Anam Cara" ("Soul Friend") and used multiple times in the remake (V2 1:48:25). 

Ian discusses various aspects of this song on this stream, but specifically, I ask him why "Anam Cara" would sound so fragile and distorted here (43:50)—"as if it's coming from the bottom of a well," as he described "Ordinary Vanity" for Eddie. Well, reverb, he said, which can give music "a sense of space and depth," and a lot of reverb can make something sound distant. Me in the Twitch chat: "Distance, memory, nostalgia?" And so this is why the music from the jukebox, the melody that prompted James' memory, is distorted in the Otherworld: he's even further from that memory now. There is a lot that James can't remember, and the further he goes into Silent Hill, the further he gets from his illusions of a beautiful past, I think. 

This is such a tangent that I'll split it off onto the side blog: a radio playing music symbolizing Mary is in its own punishment cage. Did Mary have guilt to work through? Did she have a Silent Hill of her own? 

I also mention the flowered wallpaper, which we saw in the room with Mary's clothes. In the box of records, I do recognize one from Groovy Music, but it's a dark, orange-toned one that's just a picture of a beach, no title.

35:00: This painting is The Lovers, John Atkinson Grimshaw. When I first saw it, the figure didn't look like two people huddled close, but rather just one person, alone, which is very interesting in terms of James searching for Mary—is she here in Silent Hill at all? Or has he been alone here this whole time? 

As a side note, I feel like a lot of people would recognize Grimshaw's fairy paintings. "If you like fairy decor" is no shade on people who have a Spirit of the Night mousepad, because I want one too. 

36:40: So now we need a valve wheel to lower the radio from the ceiling, as you do. We get into another apartment via the fire escape, but the window promptly slams shut behind us. I think I said "Sometimes Bloober [Team] is just like, 'That door doesn't door anymore'" in a different video, and that's the concept here. That window doesn't wind. A key to 306 is on a table full of mirrors (Blue Creek loves a mirror), and that's how we'll move forward. In the next room, there's a valve wheel you have to turn in order to open the next door, but as I've said, the game often makes you "pay" for something like this, and it sends monsters to collect. So the hot second we've turned that wheel, two lying figures burst in. Like, just expect it, honestly. 

39:00: Another look into the Red Chairs Room that I don't remember to circle around to. 

"NOT THE FRAME RATE!" is more foreshadowing. 

Out in the hall, I can't remember what I'm doing or why, so I start talking about how Bloober's looping level designs may be confusing at times, but just keep wandering, and eventually you'll get back to where you started. Then I remember I just picked up a key to Apartment 306 and I have somewhere I'm supposed to be. 

41:30: We are attacked by a mannequin and the frame rate: "We're having a day." James then staggers off to 306 and deals with two lying figures, but not without me missing half my shots. "Tribulations!"

43:15: I wonder if the walker and the bathroom's accessibility features are meant to remind us of the Milleys—the elderly couple James and Mary will never get to be—or if there's just, you know, more than one elderly tenant in Silent Hill. But when we crawl into that bathroom, a lightbulb promptly breaks and a mannequin sneaks out, which is another great little creepy moment. There's a defunct lying figure in a bathtub full of blood—not sure what happened there—and you can see where the mannequin went because it leaves bloody little tiptoe footprints. 

45:10: So we have a lying figure playing dead and that mannequin waiting for us; once we've dealt with those, there's another valve wheel to turn. We get to take this one with us, but of course, we pay for it by having all the mirrors in the room explode at us. I broke the largest ones in advance just in case we'd take damage from that, but I kind of wanted to just let them be and see what happened: "Sometimes I kinda wanna fuck around and find out, just so y'all can see. So y'all can find out. But the problem is, I'm the one who fucked around. And I maybe don't like that."

I am then disappointed by a lying figure I just killed, in a room empty of loot because I already picked it up. I need more cold medicine. 

46:45: I get jumpscared by a mannequin in the hall, but it dodges me with an amazing back-bend: "I respect that." A lying figure down the hall gets the traditional greeting, "OH, IT'S YOU."

47:30. "Who's here? Come out with your ankles up." I complain about how I wasn't jumped the last time I came through here, only to check my notes and read, "Shit will pop off out in the hallway." 

48:00: "CHAOS! CHAOS REIGNS" out in the hall as a mannequin attacks, and a lying figure shambles in too close to one that's already dead on the floor, so James only hits the dead one because it's closer; a wall corner gets into my field of view and I get stuck and "I CAN'T SEE!!" and I hate that.

49:10: I cannot locate the YouTube short that was titled something like “Silent Hill in Real Life” and showed someone opening the map with every single step, but here's why: you have to open it once to see where to go, and then a second time to see if you're successfully pointed that way. And then you do that all over again, because you have ADHD and you can't remember what you just saw. I'm not even going to tell you here how many times I opened the map on my first run. I'm gonna make you watch the video if you really want to know that bad (you don't). 

50:00: Back in the radio room, we can use the valve to get it down from the ceiling. I got a little spicy here about fans arguing what elements belong in which games ("Well then maybe you can't have Pyramid Head"), but what I meant was, yes, of course you can and do have Pyramid Head in other games/movies, and therefore everyone should just chill out and let the rusty SH1 version of the Otherworld also be in other games/movies, and maybe sharing needs to be caring. I do believe that Pyramid Head is intrinsically tied to James, but on the other hand, I've touched grass recently, so it's not keeping me up at night. 

54:00: We're back, now in the "H" room, Apartment 210. Again, this may have features of James and Mary's home; it's fully, warmly lit, and the Valentine's bouquet from Wood Side 201 (V3 2:44:00) is here. On various bookshelves, you see books titled The New Damnation (see previous post at 27:30), The Three (James, Eddie, and Angela, I would think), and Medical Dictionary (Mary was terminally ill). 

55:40: Here's our next mini-puzzle for a clock hand: the seesaw, which requires a pigeon figurine and two halves of a swan figurine. The room has "a big ol' bird theme," including two bird prints on the wall and the "lovebird" wallpaper from the apartment with Mary's clothes. I think birds in the game have one of two interpretations: couples (we see multiple pairs of birds; swans mate for life) or predators (the stuffed kingfishers here; the birds on the ammunition boxes). These two ideas are not mutually exclusive, let's put it that way. I'll go ahead and tell you: I mention the predator theme because Laura draws James as a big scary bird at one point.

Did not mention: At the time of recording, I hadn't identified the two taxidermy birds. I went back to @tamaro606 to ask; her best guess (and my best agreement) is that they may be kingfishers. The shape of the beak is right, as is the flash of teal, but here's what really sold me: she pointed out the Greek myth of Alcyone and Ceyx, the namesake of the Halcyon bird genus. Short version, the couple is turned into kingfishers after Ceyx dies and Alcyone, grieving, throws herself into the sea. And we've already seen the note talking about Mrs. Milley grieving her husband, in an inverse of James grieving Mary (V3 46:30). I honestly can't pass that kind of symbolism up. 

58:00: "Oh no. OH NO. Noooo, noooo!" We have broken through a weak wall, only to stumble upon The Toilet. You know the Worst Toilet in Scotland from Trainspotting? It's a little like that. And James has to stick his entire arm into it, in order to fish out the clock's minute hand. ("James... I don't want this for us... I want better for us than this.") How does James even know there's anything down in the toilet? Why in God's name would he even stick his hand down there? Well, like the time he crawled into that derelict garage: because I make him. 

So I asked Ian if this happened in the original, which he said that it does, but also, he found us an article (contains a MAJOR SPOILER) that reports, 

"The thing we were aiming for here was, 'my lover's rotten,'" [senior level designer Anna] Oporska-Szybisz said during her GDC panel. "The illness took not only the body of Mary, but also their love." To parallel that breakdown, Bloober tainted its remake's atmosphere with "mostly a yellowish color, rust, and dirt to achieve this feeling," Oporska-Szybisz says, "and to show everything through environmental [aspects]." She accentuated her point by showing off a familiar game mechanic she calls "searching," or, "probably, we can call it, 'forcing James to put his hand in the dirty places.'"

59:50: The apartment has crumbled to ruin, but the pigeon figurine is waiting for us. "Do we pay a price?" Yes: a lying figure bursts in, I hit the "desktop" button on my mouse, and it all goes to shit. Or "to vomit," rather. Side note: this foreshadows a terrible desktop accident near the end of the video. 

1:02:50: Apartment 209 with the famous creepy whisper! It's been preserved from the original game! People have been trying to decode it for 23 years! I am here to ruin everything for you. One redditor sounded it out as "See my dead wife, now come home do some laundry into this evening, take 2 crimes up to some saints." Replies promptly revealed that it's a sound file (circa 1999, the right time for a game released in 2001) from an audio library: "VB01_66_01 Whisper_Random." Team Silent probably chose it because you can kind of hear "dead wife" in a sort of aural pareidolia, but: yes, it's gibberish. 

1:05:10: Continuing my bedsheet fixation, here's that one blue-flowered sheet again, but it's a deep dirty brown now, because Rustworld. Like the bed Ian spotted in Wood Side, this one also has a (dead?) body-shaped stain. 

1:06:05: The "malformed" body of the swan is hanging in a shower; the mannequin standing beside it in the tub is an actual mannequin, for once. And we pay for taking it: a lying figure lurches out. I have such a surplus of ammo that I've decided to spoil myself and shoot everything. It's good for keeping vomit away, and it's good for y'all not having to watch me beat things to death quite as often. 

1:07:48: There's also a body-shaped stain on the kitchen floor, but I don't recall any bodies associated with refrigerators except the one that Eddie swears he didn't kill.

1:09:30: When we arrive at Apartment 211, the swan figurine's head is waiting for us, dangling from a string some distance away that makes its shadow look "hanged." (I found this so striking that I put some more screenshots up on the sideblog.) Unfortunately, you have to get past two hiding mannequins to acquire it. "I think this foreshadows the gallows in the prison, and possibly the idea of punishment in general, if James has done some things and wants to be punished" quickly devolves into "oh no, they're both coming out, no not both of you you're supposed to wait WAIT YOUR TURN! WAIT YOUR TURN! WHY IS THIS A NIGHTMARE! NO, NO! WE'RE NOT DYING IN BLUE CREEK!!"

Out in the hall, the game has a health drink waiting for me in apology. 

1:12:50: "I still have to fight Pyramid Head!!" I wail, ragged from getting tag-teamed by mannequins once again. Back in Apartment 210, everything has taken a downturn towards the decrepit, which you're going to see a lot in Silent Hill. So now, the two bird figurines for the seesaw: a pigeon and a repaired swan. Ian and I have two different interpretations of this, because I always have to make things more complicated than they actually are. 

Mine (1:13:00): The swan represents James and Mary as a couple, with Mary as the withered half (dead), leaving James to be the head 1) from which this psychological landscape comes and 2) which can be "hanged" in punishment. "You know, at which point you go, well, then who's the pigeon? Like, I don't know, pigeon's a fuckboy. [...] Maybe the pigeon represents James as a single man?" In the "Leave" ending, James will confess to Mary, "I wanted my life back." We're going to see in the fifth commentary that James may have lost that wedding ring he's not wearing at a club like Heaven's Night—whether he was just looking or actually doing something, we don't know. Maybe pigeon's a fuckboy, I'm just saying. 

Ian's (1:08:46): The swan (withered) represents Mary (dead), and the pigeon represents Maria—who will be represented on two further occasions by a ripe apple to Mary's rotten apple, and a scarlet egg to Mary's rust-colored. Like, "Mary vs. Maria" is a genuine motif in the game, and I can't believe I didn't think of it. And they're on a seesaw, as if weighing choices in James' mind (and Mary has a much more substantial "weight"). 

The thing is, I think both interpretations are pretty strong? (I'd give Ian's the edge over mine.) This is the kind of game where it seems like multiple readings were either intended, or they weren't intended, but they're welcome. Someone asked Masahiro Ito if the lying figures' vomit represented Mary's cough (I've also heard chemotherapy nausea as a suggestion), and he basically said, no, "but I think it's really interesting!"

1:14:30: Once you balance the seesaw, it crumbles to reveal a Winged Key. Which opens the door to our very first Big Hole™. What I noticed in Lost Memories: Silent Hill Chronicle is that they list the 1988 Czech film Alice (Něco z Alenky, "Something from Alice." You can watch the entire film here) rather than the original Alice in Wonderland as an inspiration. Because there truly are a lot of Wonderland-esque Holes, but Team Silent must have been inspired visually by the film, rather than Lewis Carroll's text. 

1:16:35: Down on the first floor, we get another Glimpse of the Past: the original version of the coin puzzle, which we spent all of Wood Side Apartments solving. 

1:17:12: I get turned around, but we finally leave Apartment 110 through a convenient hole in the wall. "James, which is the out? Okay, I guess that is the out. It is shaped exactly like you." 

1:18:10: "Oh nooo... oh no!" While consulting the map, I see... the stairs. The two sets of stairs leading you to the "S" room. The Pyramid Head room. Based on my whimpering, you would not guess that I'm going to get pretty aggressive in the actual fight. 

Next post: We're on our way to Angela's apartment. Mirrors, knives, and camera angles; Angela has been through A Lot.

(SH2R commentary master post)