#I was like ok maybe despite its flaws I could love this

[daeva-agas]

I kind of like the idea of Dousuru costuming Nobukatsu with an outfit that looks like the Meme Fodder Nobunaga painting, but I just reaaaaally don't like that Mitokomon sleeveless haori (chanchanko) that they used.

So if someone told me to redesign that costume to my own preference, these are my (very biased) offerings:

A) Very Strictly Historical: Just a standard daimon hitatare, but keeping the same colour scheme. Nothing special here.

B) Going Ham With Fancy: A Noh costume style kataginu and hakama, but cut to the wearer's size instead of big and bulky. The kataginu and hakama are embroidered with fancier designs, and a patterned kosode is worn underneath.

C) Ahistorical, but Relatively Simple: Based on a suou, a samurai formal wear, with the sleeves removed to be reminiscent of a kataginu. The sleeve slits are placed on the kosode, revealing the red innermost kimono/juban (may give the impression of slash wounds, can be used for dramatic flair/symbolism). This kind of design risks inviting protests from history-conscious viewers for being "weird", although maybe creative framing and camera cuts can distract the viewers from noticing.

D) Just Messing Around Now: Based on a suikan, a nobleman's attire that's also a Noh costume staple. Tied in the kind of casual tarikubi manner, to also make it more reminiscent of kataginu. It's a combination of the B and C concepts (Noh costume + formal wear), basically. Least likely to be acceptable for a Taiga drama, is probably more suitable for a fantasy/anime type of story.

(Designed for the role of Nobukatsu, despite the colour scheme, not Nobunaga)

(I also don't really like the actor cast in the role in Dousuru TBH, and the way the character is written, but that's another story)

[dutchdread]

A small rant

I've noticed that a lot of places that discuss the LTD are less focussed on analyzing and explaining final fantasy VII, and more focussed on throwing insults at either the characters, or the people who support them. I think I've done a fairly good job at making sure this place stays relatively matter-of-fact, and despite believing that "Cloti" is the only interpretation of the story that makes sense I am usually pretty positive about Aerith as a person, and more importantly, as a character. My stance tends to be that the only version of Aerith I think is fundamentally unlikable is the one presented by Cleriths. So permit me to slightly backtrack on that as I ask:

Am I the only one getting sick of Aeriths character?

And I don't mean "the only Cloti supporter who is sick of Aerith", I mean isn't the general fanbase of the game getting sick of her?

I ask this because I was watching the new Rebirth trailer, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes during the scenes where Aerith sings, or where it tries to survival-bait the viewer. In FFVII Aeriths death plays only a small part in the grand scheme of things. It neither prevents nor causes holy, holy was summoned before she died and is actually held back by the will of Sephiroth, which is the bulk of the external plot. And it doesn't cause Clouds mental break, which was an inevitable outcome of his history with Tifa, Sephiroth, and Nibleheim.

So why does the trailer make it feel like Final Fantasy VII is the story of Aeriths potential death? I thought the point of Aeriths death was that it comes suddenly and unexpectedly, without a large fan-fare, leaving nothing but a hole in its wake. I thought the point was to show a death that wasn't like "in hollywood". So why does her death now get it's own musical accompaniment and stage play?

Aerith was once a normal girl with a big destiny, one that she was as unsure of as any of us, she was just a person, just like us, with maybe a hint of something more. She got angry, she could be petty, she could be clueless. In another words, she was human.

But what is she now?

Aerith is now Jesus and Mary all in one. Fans got so upset at her death that Square-enix felt the need to include her in everything and every time Aerith became a bit less human, and a bit more idolized, until in remake she became a walking, talking, deus ex machina. In advent children she was presented as almost angelic, giving guidance to lost souls both good and bad and healing the children. But it was still ok because most of it was centered around Clouds psyche. The problem isn't with Aeriths death having importance to Cloud. The problem is square-enix trying to milk Aeriths death for all it's worth, making it into a soulless spectacle.

Aeriths death is now the horror monster that loses its terror once you see it. It's everywhere and everything has to revolve around it and because of it it's no longer a good story, but cheap emotional manipulation.

Within the remake Aerith is no longer the playful and innocent GIRL she once was. She's Gandalf the white, come back from the dead to pass down quests and wisdom from up on high. Step aside Cloud, this is Aeriths story, all you other side-characters are only here for back-up. Aerith is now a self-insert fan-fiction character. She has no flaws, everyone loves her, her death is more important than those of other people, the universe, time, and destiny will all bend to make sure the Mary-godessue doesn't die. Because everything has to revolve around her you know? So yeah, of course Aerith can sing! Who cares that there was never before any indication of this. Sure, Tifa will probably get to play the piano, but here is the thing….Tifa being able to play the piano has actually always been a part of the game! Since when is Aerith suddenly a broadway performer? Probably since the same time that she became a picasso at random wall art.

Years of fan obsession have deified away everything that once made Aerith interesting. The grand story of Final Fantasy VII, the quest to save the planet, and the internal heroes journey about accepting the past and the true self. Clouds backstory and struggles, it's all overshadowed by the once irrelevant plotpoint of "will Aerith die?".

Like with Sephiroth, fan obsession has caused square-enix to destroy all sense of mystery, magic, and restraint in order to "give fans what they want", even if it ruins the product.

While I think the cheap spectacle of hyper focussing the marketing and potentially early game around Aeriths death have already essentially poisoned the remake, making it into a mere shadow of what it could have been, I still believe that Square-enix has enough integrity left to actually kill her and move focus back on what actually matters. But I have to say, at this point it's not even just because I want the story of FFVII to be protected and experienced as it should be. But also because I am just getting sick and tired of what Aerith has become, and would now consider Sephiroth stabbing her as a mercy killing for what's left of her character.

[iamjackstylerdurden]

ok but dennis’s hands shaking late at night while texting mac as johnny and he tells himself its bc the room is cold or hes stressed but its actually bc its getting more and more difficult to know where dennis ends and johnny begins. when johnnys texting mac all the things he loves about him but its really everything dennis loves about mac. and when mac texts all the things he loves about johnny its all the things he loves about dennis. because dennis made johnny just like him. he wants to be caught by mac because he cant catch himself. he knew from the start it wasnt sustainable. that wasnt the flaw in his plan, it was the climax

when he sees mac texted “gn ily” and for a second he prays mac sent it to his number and not johnnys. but he knows mac didnt bc mac already confessed and dennis said no. so macs trying to move on. when mac texts that and for a brief second dennis debates texting mac “i love u too” from his real number. he knows mac is in his bedroom. he wonders, if he did, how long it would be before he hears footsteps making their way to his door. what would be the first thing mac says as he makes eye contact with johnny for the first time

or when he sends mac to the motel and he sits outside of what he knows for a fact to be macs room. johnny texting excuses as to why hes not there while dennis is just feet away from the door. maybe once or twice he gets his hand on the handle before pulling back. the cold metal burning his skin like holy water hitting a demon (despite nothing about this being holy). sitting in his car in front of the window begging mac to look out the window. to see him. to recognize him. to make the first move bc dennis sure as hell cant

but he never texts “i love you” from his real number and mac never looks out the window and dennis never opens the door. so hes left there knowing exactly where mac is and a pretty good idea of what hes doing but never getting to be as happy as mac. bc mac is texting a fake man hes convinced hes going to have while dennis is texting the very real man hes convinced hes never going to have

always telling himself tomorrow. tomorrow he’ll go to macs bedroom or motel room and confess. lay out his soul and affection. but he can never make tomorrow happen. then mac has to go and tell everyone about johnny. and suddenly its real. mac is in schrodingers box and unknowingly blows it open and the universes collide. text mac and irl mac are one and dennis cant handle it so he doesnt get his grand confession. he gets his exasperated “i am him” but theres people around. he could maybe get his soul out in front of one person (one specific person) but not here at the bar in front of an audience (even if that audience is only one or two people)

so it ends. johnny doesnt exist (at least physically) and now mac knows. everyone pushes it behind them as some scheme abruptly ended as usual. no one pokes or prods at it too much bc why would they. so now that johnnys gone mac isnt tethered to anyone anymore and dennis has to sit through as mac uses his own system against him. so he has to make another elaborate private tactic because being another person is the closest dennis has ever got to being true to himself and mac. dear god he couldnt get anyones help with this because again, his soul only has room for one person. if he doesnt start something else this feeling with sit and sit and fester then die. he already has enough dead things inside of him and one more might start having consequences. he wonders if this is how mac felt all those years. if macs feelings festered and died. maybe he’ll never know

[fuglyjeans]

Ok the first time I watched bojack horseman season 6, it sent me in a pretty bad depression spiral. But I just watched it again for the first time in almost 4 years, and it actually fills me with peace. I think I thought the show was saying no one can change, really; bojack will always be just some shitty selfish horse. He can try to do better, but he can't change the lives he's ruined, or outrun the consequences, and he'll always slip up. That made me so sad.

But now i see it more like... yeah hollyhock cut off contact, bojack goes to prison, Diane implies they'll never speak again, Princess Carolyn implies she won't work with Bojack again in the future etc. But at the same time all of these characters still express love to bojack and thankfulness that he was in their life. Even Todd is really kind to bojack in the final episode, despite having every reason to ignore him forever. They draw boundaries as they should. But there's still compassion.

Even though bojack has arguably lost absolutely everything, he's still able to find a little joy in prison putting on a play. And those people will still probably say hi to him from time to time... and after he gets out of prison, who knows, maybe he'll make more progress and find new people, start better relationships. He was already on the up and up... he relapsed, but honestly that happens. Before his relapse he'd been sober for like a year which is pretty amazing.

bojack is messy and his progress is slow. He's deeply flawed and no one is obligated to stay in his life, no one has to respect him after all the shitty things he's done. But what brings him true peace is being honest with himself about that... no memoir or dream role or Oscar win or long-lost sister or university can replace the peace of just being real. Taking accountability. I think by the end bojack is at least starting to realize that and commit it to memory.

I also think it's tempting to feel like post-rehab bojack is all better, he's a new bojack, it's unfair that the reporters and interviewers come after him to ruin his life after he'd just fixed it. He's not the same as Vance Waggoner!! But that's the thing.. even though it's hard, even though it feels unfair, bojack still has the choice to do better. He didn't have to do the 2nd interview. He didn't have to teach at hollyhock's school without asking her if that would be weird. He didn't have to do Horny Unicorn, he didn't have to go back into that party after reading hollyhock's letter. He didn't have to go on one last bender, break into his old house, call Diane and nearly kill himself. It's understandable that he did. It's painful and horrible. But every single time, he could have chosen to walk away, ask for help--maybe not from Diane or PC or Todd, but surely Mr Peanutbutter or he could have just checked into the ER for monitoring. And that would feel sad and humiliating and lonely but he would survive and come out knowing he didnt ruin things this time, even if he felt alone. Its ok to be alone. But he didnt do that... so even though i understand why "new bojack" fucks up again.... it WAS all still his own choice.

I could talk abt this show forever lol God

[crimsonmoonscrypt]

ok erm im just going to ramble about dungeon meshi and uhhh spoiler warning maybe (nothing more than the anime episodes, im still venturing through the manga which does give some additional context and its super awesome but anyways)

Laios is smart, he's literally the reason why they could KILL the dragon in the first place, if it wasn't for him, the entire party would've died and probably not be found by any corpse retrievers.

I love how he is written because it is genuinely so carefully done which is why I hate that people think he's dumb because he can't understand everything or has an interest in things that are usually frowned upon.

It's like that people saw how the other characters treat him and took their opinion rather than actually reading Laios as a person. He's not this dumbass who gets himself in dumb situations, he makes mistakes and he can't understand social contexts sometimes but he's not this idiot people pretend he is.

He knows so much information and despite people finding it weird, its obvious that the party members find so much use inside of it, maybe it doesn't work all the time because they don't have all of the information and interest in it as such as Laios does which is why he is such an important aspect of the team.

I feel like people find so much flaw in Laios that they don't even see the flaw in other characters as such as Chilchuck and Marcille. BOTH of those characters are deeply flawed, Chilchuck lies because he can't admit how he feels, he's alcoholic, he assumes stupidity against other characters, ETC!

Marcille is a show-off, she thinks shes higher than other people, she whines, she would rather do it her way rather than give in and ask for help.

And Senshi, he would've gotten himself killed multiple times because hes more skilled in cooking rather than the actual monster-hunting, he's more emotion-based, he hates magic when theres not another way to do it sometimes.

Are either of these characters bad? NO!!! i love these characters But it shows that people just push it onto Laios because of how badly the other characters THINK of Laios because that is the norm in their world (and honestly ours) to push down on people who bring up unusual techniques, unusual thinking, not understanding the 'right' way (when there's not a 'right' way)

PLEASE IM BEGGING EVERY FANDOM EVER TO ACTUALLY READ INTO THE CHARACTERS INSTEAD OF THE OUTLOOK ONTO THAT CHARACTER!!!! STOP MISCHARACTERIZING THEM!!!

[muzzleroars]

Ok so I learned of something that you may be interested in.

Ahem

Vatican stone is an ammolite stone mined from the same quarry that was used for the Vatican, with it being an ammolite there are tiny fossils you can see in it,

why is it important you may ask?

Because it looks a bit like this

Almost pure black in person (I own a small piece because I like rocks and it's quite cheap)

And with fallen gabe being stoney like other demons, would his skin look like Vatican stone up close? And could you imagine v1 makeing that comparison? In a way despite his fall he's still close to god,

Or maybe the angels where carved from Vatican stone, (I know it's supposed to be sculpted from clay but still)

oougghhh i absolutely love this....i definitely had the idea of cathedrals in mind when i talked about his skin being marble-like rather than simply stone, so this feels like the perfect choice for him. with the fossils swirled throughout it...kind of the way gabe's scars cover his skin, or alternatively just including the fossils, as they could be taken as a nod toward the death of god's design. v1 would scrutinize and scrutinize it, trying to see all the little minute designs before it begins to recognize them for what they are - it's excited by the discovery, but gabriel only feels he's surrounded by death, burned out and trapped in it. so it goes searching to find out what it can, determined to help him accept this part of himself as it once made the effort to help him understand the golden scars that now line his skin. and it's just so cute to think about it running in one day with all these pictures and pages torn out of books that detail the use of vatican stone, pointing emphatically at the examples and then to gabe's skin. at first he's more impressed that it continues to find sources on why his new traits actually are pretty neat, but then, as he looks over the fruits of its research, he feels a little warmer in spite of himself. maybe it's that he still does have something of god in him (he can't help still wanting that sometimes, despite now understanding the deep flaws of his own creator) or maybe it's because v1 cared enough to tear through what must have been endless volumes of books somewhere in limbo to find this information...but whatever it is, he's left feeling just more at ease in his own skin.

[fuckyeahgoodomensfanfic]

Good Omens Fic Rec: It Was Always You

A chance encounter during one of the worst times of Ezra Fell’s life reunites him with his once best friend and the one who got away. Though, that would imply he ever had him in the first place. Anthony Crowley and his son, Warlock, relocate to the quieter city of Tadfield from that of London. In the process, manages to find again that one person who always made him feel less alone, the one person he was pretty sure he was never going to speak to again. But the road to true love never did run smooth (something that’s been true from their very beginning). Despite the easy way they fall back into each other, their lives don't seem to follow suit, and if it's not one challenge its another. But despite everything they find themselves facing down, the ten years without each other taught them one thing: they’re better together than they are apart.

Length: 236,585 words

AO3 Rating: Teen and Up

Best for: Safe in Public, Taking Breaks, Human AU, Slow Burn, Romance, Fluff, Pick-me-up

Triggers: None

Read it here, fic by mltrefry

*Minor Spoilers* Strap in, because this is going to be a long rec post. This story hit pretty much all my personal buttons on the parent AU side, so I knew it would end up being a favorite of mine. But then, to combine it with such a rich and wonderful story of how Crowley and Ezra grew up together as best friends? It felt tailor-made for me.

Let's start with the present. Crowley is the father of five-year-old Warlock, owns a very successful flower shop, and has moved to Tadfield to be closer to that branch of the business. Ezra has just lost his sister Eliza and is now the guardian to his nephew Adam. Both men are content with their lives, but the memory of their fallout plagues them both. In the past, we follow their entire history—from their first meeting, to new boyfriends, supporting each other through hard times, and the unbearable pain of their unspoken mutual pining.

I loved everything about this story. As parents, they're both amazing. They love being dads, they never see their sons as a burden, and I'm so thankful that this story doesn't cause any unnecessary angst for them in this aspect. Their family is built on love, safety, and trust. I adored the boys, their new routines, and their entire extended family of side characters.

I was fascinated by their past relationships. Every person each of them dated was such a complex and interesting side character. I appreciated how even when a partner is flawed, they're not portrayed as evil—especially Gabriel. Yes, he's an asshole, and he can't take no for an answer, but he's not evil. He does nothing to purposely sabotage Ezra's happiness, which was something I was honestly expecting a bit. The character of Oscar here was a particular standout for me. I also loved how the red string of fate kept connecting them in ways I don't think they'll ever realize. Which is lovely, but also a little silly in that it almost feels like there's only like 8 queer men in all of Britain. But each relationship taught them more about life and themselves, and yes, maybe it would have been easier for them if they confessed their love earlier in their lives. However, that wasn't meant to be; they came together at exactly the right point in their lives. They were meant to have this wonderful family together.

And watching them grow up together? I was glued to every moment. Their family lives were unique and complex. Completely original to this story, which sometimes can feel too removed from canon. But it didn't feel that way to me ever. Or if it ever did, it wasn't a negative. I don't believe this is the kind of story you could scrub out the Good Omens and repackage it as any other couple. Even though technically it should be easy to do with this set up. There isn't that much Good Omens canon in it, but still, this just feels like Crowley and Aziraphale despite how much of an AU it is.

Ok, I gotta stop before this becomes even longer, there are SO MANY plot points I could talk about. But seriously, if you love parent stories or stories of them being friends as kids, this is a must-read. It's satisfyingly long, but also so effortless that you will spend hours in this world, and it'll feel like seconds. The writing is excellent, so detailed that you'll feel like you're actually there, but never gets bogged down in itself. This is now a forever favorite of mine!

Read it here, fic by mltrefry

[ofliterarynature]

AUGUST 2023 WRAP UP

[ loved liked okay no thanks DNF (reread) bookclub*]

Witch Week | A Perilous Undertaking | 2 AM At the Cat's Pajamas | The Last Sun | The Lives of Christopher Chant | The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo* | (The Angel of the Crows) | The Enchanted April | The Art of Prophecy | A Curious Beginning | Q's Legacy | The Grimoire of Grave Fates | Charmed Life | Ocean's Echo | (Band Sinister) | (Unfit to Print) | Camp Damascus | Wanted, A Gentleman | Translation State | The Mistress of Bhatia House

I’m late I’m late I’m late! Oops

It’s only a month late, right? ‘Only’ lol, work has been exhausting! Anyways:

At this point I wonder if Ann Leckie can ever do wrong, Translation State was good! I was completely enthralled, which is all I ask, even if I don’t get as passionate about it as the main trilogy.

I continued the KJ Charles reading, with these supposed stand alones that are also kind of related? Honestly it’s no less of a stretch than Society of Gentlemen to Lilywhite Boys, so I don’t know why she can’t officially list them together. Anyways, mostly fine, and Band Sinister is still a delight!

Camp Damascus…I’m thrilled for Chuck, really, and I think he’s a delight to follow, but this one wasn’t for me. Religious trauma is turning out to be a hard no.

Ocean’s Echo was good! In some ways I definitely thought it was better than Winter’s Orbit - miscommunication is the worst I’m sorry, this story was more consistently engaging! I just like the characters from WO a bit more.

Chrestomanci! I’ve been going by the suggested reading order on Goodreads, and while I wasn’t particularly enthused by Charmed Life, once I had a grasp on the world the other books have been fun! Im very sad this might be my last DWJ, as I seem to have exhausted my library’s collection of her audiobooks :(

Grimoire of Grave Fates had a really interesting premise that lured me in, despite my reservations - an anthology where all the stories work together to solve the mystery of a murder at a magic boarding school? I thought it worked fairly well (and could definitely spin itself out into a series of novels), but just ok for me. Maybe one day I’ll finally concede I can’t read YA or boarding school books anymore.

Q’s Legacy was the last (I think) of the 84 Charing Cross Road books, and honestly the worst. It had its interesting moments, but it lacked the cohesion of the other two, speed,-running the before and during of those stories, to then spend the second half on the adaptations. It was not at all what the descriptions led me to expect. Maybe worth a single read but not a revisit.

I will also be honest, I didn’t really like the first Veronica Speedwell! The plot felt a bit contrived, and Veronica was so blunt as to almost read as rude or mean. Also very unexpectedly…clinically horny? Does that make sense? I’m not quite sure what prompted me to continue, but I’m now several books in and enjoying it! To be blunt myself, the historic setting is just set dressing, the plots can feel contrived, the mysteries are mediocre, but the real draw is the Veronica and Stoker show once they get themselves settled in and comfortable with each other. It’s a hoot.

I’d heard good things about The Art of Prophecy, but I still didn’t know quite what to expect going in. It was wonderful. Maybe a little long, but if you’re looking for a fantastic fantasy with lots of fight sequences, no romance, and some fascinating characters, this is a great read. The sequel comes out soon and I can only hope it doesn’t take as long for my library to get the audiobook as it did for this one.

I don’t know where I first found An Enchanted April, but it’s been on my TBR for a little bit, and I thought it would be the perfect fit for my classics challenge I gave myself this year! It wasn’t what I expected at all - it’s entirely character driven and very focused on their flaws, and the entire first half I thought I was going to hate it. But the second half, there’s a twist, almost, born of some very  naïve optimism that nonetheless works out. Very improbably, but I was happy for them, you funky little weirdos. 

What can I say about The Angel of the Crows except that it is still very good! It’s maybe lost a little of the shine it held when I got obsessed with it for a few months last year, but it is definitely now one of my comfort books. I really ought to read more canon Holmes though lol.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was, to be fair, one of my suggestions for book club. It was OK, but there were definitely parts that really did not work for me, the frame narrative in particular. The other members of the club really liked it but I don’t have any plans to read more of the authors work.

I’m almost tempted to put The Last Sun last just so I can yell more. I’d heard such good things about this series, but turns out my expectations were a bit skewed - it is not historical or secondary fantasy world, oops. So we got off to a bit of a rough start, not to mention all of the Capital Words. Not usually a good sign. And while I still wouldn’t say I love the worldbuilding necessarily, or that these are the next great work of fantasy, the action is really great, and the characters are flipping fantastic. You’ve got a pair of 30 year olds who are bad ass fighters, have a traumatic past, are immature assholes, can be so so kind, and accidentally adopt a posse of troubled teenagers? Sign me up, I love them, this reminds me so much of my days reading tons of Teen Wolf fanfic AUs.

My history with 2 AM At the Cat's Pajamas is that they cannot stop recommending this thing on the Book Riot podcasts. When I found a copy at Goodwill, I thought surely it’s meant to be! Well. It was not bad, but it was not great. I don’t know. It just wasn’t for me and I will not be keeping my copy. I probably should have DNF’d it, but I continued in hope.

Only one actual DNF this month though, The Mistress of Bhatia House - the newest Perveen Mistri book. I was actually fairly excited for it despite my reservations about the earlier books, but I hit a mental roadblock with this one. There was some contrived feeling tension with her sister-in-law, but really, I realized that one of my main problems with this series is that, despite being in a very precarious social position, Perveen is just incredibly reckless - usually in the name of doing good! - but it just hit all the wrong nerves at the moment. I’m hoping there will be a better time to read this, but not right now. 

[fallowtail]

thinking about hetty again what else is new. putting it under a read more because i feel bad i keep spamming the tag with long posts about my blorbo lol

sorry if none of this makes any sense or is cohesive i'm just rambling ok but i just (clenches fist) the fact they decided to let hetty feel realistic in her place as an upper class victorian woman...(throwing her at the wall) they could have been easy and made her a rich white upper class woman who was still a feminist despite her complete lack of life experience outside the confines of her home, but instead they made her truly feel like she came from her class and stature and i LOVE it. she is so so so fundamentally and deeply flawed

she's awful to people she perceives as below her and she's manipulative and desperate for power and to feel like she's in control and she wants to boss the other ghosts around, and she wasn't a woman who was interested in the idea of feminism because she had no exposure to any other world view than the one she was entrenched in and praised and rewarded for (outside of her direct family situation...we can all agree she was not being rewarded by elias lol) so it didn't even click as an option for her, let alone really even having much awareness of the concept.

she hated how her husband treated her but didn't necessarily think it was wrong of him to be doing so (which we find out from her interaction with molly) bc why would it be, that's just the way things were! we see this "its just the way things were" mindset as well with how hetty is able to bring herself to extend the olive branch to elias despite how much she hates him, because if she is being offered a chance to learn to be good than well...doesn't he deserve that too? until he tells her to fuck off essentially and she immediately, well, we all know what she does with that information lol (i almost wish he hadnt gone down on us so soon after his introduction though, because...would she have kept trying? i think maybe she might have.)

she's managed to get to a place where she realizes how she lived her life was bad and that she's in "purgatory" for a reason, and she realizes that she wants to change and be good, but she struggles with it because she doesn't have any frame of reference to know what about her behavior was bad, and what it was she was doing that made her an awful person. she just doesn't know until someone directly tells her because she has no frame of reference to know these things, and a lot of the times the other ghosts...don't tell her. you get the idea that, up until sam showed up, the other ghosts didn't actually do much to explain things to her, they just get annoyed that she doesn't get it, they roll their eyes because that's just how hetty is, but when stuff actually gets explained to her (sam + flower + alberta, usually) she is able to digest it and we get to watch her very slowly develop empathy and sympathy for other people, even if it takes her some time to get there and if she doesn't fully connect the dots right away.

there's such an interesting plot thread with hetty of the duality of living within a place of privilege and imprisonment at the same time and how that shaped her, and now that she's being exposed to other concepts, to other worldviews, to being able to interact with people outside of her social bubble, she is interested in them, but is repeatedly dragged back down by years of social conditioning (example: the scene where she tells flower not to let pete treat her badly, that she doesn't want to spend her afterlife continuing to forgive the sins of the men in her life, but then continues to do that exact same thing over and over again) because change isn't linear and by god is hetty woodstone walking a wobbly line and looping herself around in circles while she tries to figure it out.

hetty was/is screaming about the yellow wallpaper but instead of tearing herself apart she took it out on everyone else around her, specifically her employees (#girlboss!) because she was in a position to do so with little to no consequences, it was what was expected of her, and it would be the only actual sense of control she had, and she enjoyed it. in the newest episode hetty comes to the conclusion that sam is correct and that you can't treat modern workers that way, in a showcase of how she only ever kind of gets it- the lesson there was that "hetty, treating people like that is (was) wrong period", but she always gets stuck filtering the lesson through the social expectations of her time. she's trying, and making an effort, but she struggles to fully get there, especially when it concerns her own past bad behaviors and isn't something that can bring her a sense of pleasure.

WHEW. hetty woodstone, good lord. what a character.

[modernbaseball]

... i want you to drop your numbered list of s4 problems <3

omg anon i love you. sorry if this gets long except no im not you asked for MY list so you shall receive MY long ass list!!!

obligatory if you don't want to hear criticism then don't go further. it is not my problem if this enrages u. but if u disagree/agree/have other opinions let me know im totally fine with some respectful back-and-forth about this season. despite what i make it sound like i don't HATE it and im open to other opinions

i do not talk about the marwa problem because. yeah. there's one more episode i guess. so what i'm saying is come back next wednesday to hear me talk about the marwa problem

character traits and flaws are being played up in excess

remember how DUMB nandor is? remember how BAD he is at understanding others? he is never going to understand a single thing said to him or when someone is upset or when he has made a mistake despite having established deep relationships with these characters. and also he's going to have the same story arc as last season but with a LOT less respect for women!!! (so much for himbo)

nadja is #GIRLBOSS (a lot of people might go "well maybe i like her like this!!!!" ok fine sorry that i like my female characters to be more than a plot device. she had to want a night club so they could do night club stuff. so empowering. she's had some good moments this season but half the time its YAS GIRLBOSS!!! ok just recognizing that this is a stupid "feminist" trope doesn't make it anything more than that)

laszlo is BISEXUAL DAD (honestly don't have a lot of issues here. good for him. just wish they would chill out with the Quippy One Liners. they're funny because they exist within the narrative)

guillermo is SOMEHOW STILL BEING MISTREATED (despite having 2 seasons dedicated to this particular issue. can we move on)

2. disregard of detail

ok it's stupid but it really DOES bother me that the intro has adult colin pictures when the intro was adjusted to fit details like colin's death in the past. if the vampires in-universe see baby colin as being his own person, why do we see him lumped into the same images as adult colin?

other little things that bug me

the vampires are suddenly well liked and have friends in the community (nadja's club opening and nandor's wedding)

the baron being seen as someone of prestige when the whole thing was that he is a vampire nobody

ignoring the big obvious fact that there WAS a vampire nightclub

where is all this blood coming from

hypnosis was previously only used as an occasional plot device and we got a whole episode about why that is (brain scramblies) and now it is in EVERY. SINGLE. EPISODE. it is TIRING. it is CHEAP. it is NOT. INTERESTING.

the nightmarket just existed this whole time?

all the wishing stuff. if nandor was willing to take guillermo's advice for one wish, why not others?

3. bigger isn't better/nothing matters

so in the past, wwdits was built upon a pretty simple concept: What if vampires existed in modern day, but they were pathetic and lame and boring?

oh an epic and powerful baron is meeting with them? no he's actually lame and also guillermo kills him on accident. a trial with the vampiric council?? nah it's in some basement and the vampires get away because colin brought an umbrella. vampire killers??? lame inexperienced group of young adults who end up not killing a single vampire.

things had weight and importance. the show worked as a dark silly mocumentary because it felt grounded in the simple docu-type shit, like "how would modern vampires find more virgins to eat?" "how does guillermo get rid of bodies?" now it's like, yeah we have blood on tap pretty much. whatever.

4. the fucking time jump

why spend an entire season setting up an epic three part finale which then sets up an insane cliffhanger to fucking throw it away within the first episode? tension created for nothing. elaborate story set up for nothing. character's individual motivations and obstacles set up for nothing. no pay off. makes season 3 feel significantly less good because what was it even for anyways

5. character motivation

character motivation is not shown or understood over time: it is not stated ("i want a vampire nightclub!") and assumed we believe it

vampire night club. just.........................this has never, EVER made sense for nadja's character. especially now. there was 0 set up to indicate she would ever want a thing like this. is this trying to be more female-empowering? ppl might call it "satire" or "subverting tropes" but it isnt enough to just preform a trope and state in-universe that you know it is a trope (saying she is a girlboss)

nandor wants to find love still i guess. this feels sort of like they realized nandor was left without something to do after scrapping his journey home story so they were like ok i guess he's just doing the same thing he did last season. i thought his new motivation was to find himself but i guess they just didn't feel like doing that anymore so

6. the nandermo problem

ok. this isn't so much a criticism like the other ones as it is...idk. my Feelings or something.

if this is NOT leading to nandermo: ok i guess. not the end of the world. sucks that they baited this particular couple (not QUEERBAITED, yes, i am aware) and continued to run the "WHO IS NANDOR'S LOVE INTEREST!" plotline into the ground for nothing but ok. i would have been fine with a brief romance and a horrible break up FYI. they are just funny when they are obsessed with each other. sue me

if this IS leading to nandermo: would it fucking kill you to act like it. what's the point in them getting together if they avoid the two of them being together or having any normal romantic/sexual subtext like the plague except for one-off lines and D-plots. either commit or don't

7. actually fuck you im adding this one to the list

ohhh we are so diverse ohhhh we are so inclusive look at all the same sex casual sexual relationships and romances. NAME A WOMAN. NAME A WOMAN. yes we've gotten f/f breadcrumbs but can nadja just fuck a woman or something. can we just have some same sex women in here. so much classic lesbian media is vampire related it would not be that hard. it would not fucking kill you. come on.

charmaine is there. the guide is there. marwa is there. better yet get some more female characters in general. better YET. i want my jenna back

[silverislander]

man ok kind of obsessed w the way amanda overton talks abt writing fight scenes in that new bridging the rift episode! so i have thoughts about the vi/sevika fight

first off: i don't really think vi did that in order to win and kick sevika's ass. i think she's smarter than assuming she's just going to take her on no problem, and i think the reason is as simple as... that's kind of who she is what she does. we learn from her records (and the everything about her actually) that vi got into a LOT of fights in prison, but from arcane/context clues, it seems like when she starts it, it was always people associated with silco and his gang. vi beats up silco's crew. it's what she does.

i feel like that singleminded tunnel vision from stillwater is still super there (bc. when did she ever get downtime to heal it lol); she didn't get to have an identity for years in a literal sense. she didn't even get a name- just 516 or pink, which side note makes me Cry but anyways. she's not vi, not powder's sister or the leader/strength of her group. she's prisoner 516 who punched a man's eye out. she's the scary bitch down in the hole half the time. she's pink, who beats up silco's goons. that's all she had to define herself as for most of her formative years. this is what she is.

building on this, i think the meaning of the fight gets a lot clearer: this is vi trying to fight her past and all of its pain, and it's her beating herself up because of it. sevika isn't just a traitor that vi wants to fight, she's the idea of powder being taken away and it being all vi's fault (in her mind). she only ever did it out of that self-hatred and a need to somehow atone for that night anyway? vi goes up against her, already kind of knowing she won't win, knowing it's gonna fucking hurt, because she has to. it's like self harm (don't get me started on my hc of vi starting fights to punish herself-); she thinks she deserves to be hurt by her past just as much as she explicitly states she doesn't think she'll ever grow and move past what she did that night, how she wasn't enough for powder.

and it almost kills her. sevika is going to finish it and let her bleed out in an alley, that's pretty clear.

so then there's the best fucking part at the very end- caitlyn saves her, and that's the most obvious symbolism in this thing, and i fucking love it. she's even placed up above the fight and the lighter colours are behind her head like a halo- she's literally an avenging angel, it absolutely slaps!! but it's super clear what she represents in this scene, bc it's kind of what she always represents.

caitlyn is hope here. she always is- joining the enforcers to help the cities, solving a mystery nobody wants her to figure out that doesn't even affect her because it's the Right Thing To Do, later dreaming of a world where zaunites won't have to live the way they do and piltovans will make things fair again, and i absolutely love that about her- but here especially, because she's vi's hope for the future (their future!). vi is saved from her own self-hatred and pulled out of hurting herself via her own past by a force she doesn't expect or understand yet. things get better by themselves out of nowhere for her in a way they never have before, and maybe... that means that could happen again. she has hope now.

and then with this understanding, of course that's the turning point for their relationship, of course now vi can treat her as an equal ally (and maybe even more). vi has literally fucking seen the light and she's getting pulled right into it. here is a chance for things to get better: a girl she's supposed to hate who shouldn't give a damn who genuinely wants to help everyone she meets, including vi, despite all of her flaws and baggage.

and you get all of this in like... fifteen minutes or less, without directly saying any of it. fucking incredible.

[mikrokosmos]

Bruckner – Symphony no.7 in E Major (1883)

Every now and then I see a composer described as “you love em or hate em”, and the longer I listen to classical music and see how people talk about it, the more I think this attitude can be used for any artist. Especially since extreme opinions are algorithmically given the most attention, and our way of communicating our tastes is equally encouraged toward extremes and hyperbolic language. Nothing can be “just” good, or ok, or interesting, or flawed; it’s either the best, or the worst thing ever. But maybe that attitude is more for Netflix shows or the latest Hollywood movie than for classical music.

Anton Bruckner didn’t escape this mentality despite living nearly two hundred years before the digital era began. When he was alive, the divisiveness in the public discourse was due to living and working in Vienna while loving Wagner. Side note on the “War of the Romantics”; on the aesthetic side there was the disagreement between developing traditional forms (the side of Brahms, C. Schumann, & supporters) versus letting new views on harmony and subject matter dictate how to structure music (Liszt, Wagner, & supporters). But there was another significant side that isn’t always focused on; being supportive of Jews, or being anti-Semitic. Not only was Wagner a musical radical in the way he conceived of opera, musical time, and harmonic development, but he was also a vocal anti-Semite, and his general dogmatic way of insisting on his views for every other subject was just as strong when it came to his bigotry against Jews. Supporting Wagner’s side of the ‘war of the Romantics’ didn’t only mean to support the new music aesthetics; it also implied that you were part of a growing movement of anti-Semitic German nationalism.

I only bring this up because I can assume that the hostility that Bruckner faced from the ‘conservative’ side of Vienna – including the ‘villain’ of Bruckner’s life story, music critic Eduard Hanslick – is more understandable if the stakes are higher and more consequential than “the music was too long and I don’t get it”. Despite his love for Wagner, Bruckner was more akin to the Wagner fans today who enjoy the music while ignoring or outwardly dismissing the evil side of Wagner’s art. I recall a story about Bruckner (one of the many stories used to talk about his ‘simple’ personality) where he had attended Gotterdammerung, and was enthralled by the music from beginning to end but asked “why did they burn her at the end?”. The music was more compelling to him than the content of the opera’s plot.

That could explain Bruckner’s musical aesthetic; taking after Beethoven’s 9th, focus on abstract music as the source of drama, but expand the use of harmonies, drama, and volume as if it were a Wagnarian opera. Its why, to me (and other fans), Bruckner’s symphonies feel like an emotional or spiritual journey despite being abstract music with no “meaning”. It also is why I’ve avoided writing and posting about Bruckner before. Like Mahler, it’s hard to capture the music in words and articulate how I feel about what’s happening in the music, but I’ve covered all of Mahler’s symphonies because I’d loved him a lot more than I did Bruckner. Only recently has my view of Bruckner warmed from “I like him sometimes if I’m in the mood” to “I love him and can’t get enough”.

Really by accident, or fate, I decided to listen to this symphony again two weeks ago, and Bruckner finally ‘clicked’ with me. I’d first heard him by picking up a few cds from my library, and putting him on in the background while I played old video games (in this case, Age of Empires 2). I thought he was epic, but hard to sit through and unless I was in a “Lord of the Rings” mood, I didn’t want to listen. A few weeks ago, Richard Atkinson came out with a video on Bruckner 6, which made me want to listen to him again. I decided to listen to the 7th again, and I finally connected with Bruckner’s soundworld.

One more note before going into the 7th; another reason Bruckner’s music was criticized in his life; it was for a relatively conservative orchestra where each section is noticeable. But that was because Bruckner was not trying to blend colors in an ‘orchestral’ way, but rather how one would write for the organ, which was his main instrument. So when we hear a Bruckner symphony, we are hearing the sounds he created for church services magnified through an orchestra, a kind of recreation of ‘sacred’ music but in a secularized context where one doesn’t have to think about any specific doctrine or view of the divine, instead you experience a sublime connection that is more uniquely ‘your own’. This is one example of how music was being treated as a replacement religion in Europe after the Enlightenment.

The opening movement of the 7th to me feels like a sunrise with the slow unveiling of the main melody. which rises in an arpeggio that evokes the drone prelude to Das Rhinegold. From this comes a seemingly endless melody that gradually develops with a group of themes played through. Long songlike melodies are rare for Bruckner’s opening movements – usually he uses motivic patterns – so the multiple distinct melodies in this work helped to give it the unofficial nickname “Lyric”. As the music builds tension we see another example of why some ‘hate’ Bruckner: intense build ups are created, but instead of climaxing they ‘stop’ and start over. After this first bursting episode, we get a dance-melody that, to me, sounds the most like “organ music”. Bruckner picks these melodies apart into his own way of development; counterpoint and modulation. In a way, bringing Bach and Schubert together. Every Bruckner opening movement ends with a grand coda where the music reaches its most extreme height, finally bringing us the climax we’d been denied by the previous build ups. Here it is only the first part of the opening melody, the rising arpeggio, over a long pedal point, and the volume and scope of the music rises with it into a transcendental glow of sound.

The adagio is the most famous movement of the work because it also has a long passionate melody, here in the minor and with darker colors from the use of Wagner tubas. Bruckner wrote this movement knowing that Wagner was dying, and it is like a musical memorial to him. That may sour the music for a lot of people, but it could be better to think of it as music in memorial of other music, for its own sake, and not for any toxic ideologies. This movement has two main melodies; a somber melody with unexpected modulations, and a bittersweet melody that tries to be uplifting. This movement is unique for a Bruckner symphony in having a cymbal clash, which was rumored to have been added to the score the moment Bruckner had heard the news of Wagner’s death. But that story isn’t true, the actual story is that a friend told him he should use a cymbal instead of a triangle for that moment. As usual, the more interesting ideas stick around to form a kind of mythos over music that we love.

The scherzo movement, again following Beethoven’s lead, is thunderous. The main melody is based on arpeggiated open fifths falling downward, and when the full orchestra blasts it, it feels like being under a cascading wave. Again, the writing is organ-like in the colors in the sections as they contrast each other like hands and feet over the keyboards and pedals. The trio makes me think of the kinds of ‘schmaltzy’ Viennese dances that would come up in Mahler’s symphonies, just one example of how Bruckner influenced Mahler’s style.

The last movement makes me think of the symphony as being symmetrical: the first half was made of two long movements, one bright and transcendent in the major, the other darker and tragic in the minor. The second half is made of two shorter and livelier movements that have the same major/minor characters. Here, the finale is a dance that opens with the violins playing the main melody, followed by a counter melody that’s more for rhythm than humming along. These ideas play in counterpoint in the winds until dying down in the strings, introducing a softer group of melodies. Later a large wave of unison octaves play out across the full orchestra, an inversion of the opening dance melody. This movement is in arch form, where the order of melody groups plays again in reverse order (1, 2, 3, 2, 1), though melodic ideas are used repeatedly, in the Bruckner fashion of breaking up motivic blocks. As with his other mature symphonies, the movement ends with another grand coda, where the arpeggio of the opening melody to the whole symphony returns, and reveals that the main theme of the final movement is based on this melody.

Movements:

Allegro moderato

Adagio: Sehr feierlicht und sehr langsam

Scherzo: Sehr schnell - Trio: Etwas langsame

Finale: Bewegt, doch nicht schnell

[armed-saphire]

NOW ITS UR TURN WHO ARE YOUR MGS FAVS AND WHY!1!1?1!1?1!1?11!1! ٩( 'ω' )و

EHEHEEEE OK SO I'll say my fav from each game

Mgs1 is def Liquid he. He's so overdramatic it's really funny. He did so many backflips while explaining his tragic backstory 🥰 and then he just fucking died and turned into an arm which is the real tragedy (I have so many random HCs for him it's insane... I also rewrote his backstory a little...the recessive thing is so dumb)

Mgs2 I think it's a split between Raiden and Fortune. Raiden I really enjoyed playing as a character who is just... idk how to put it I just like that he's flawed and not some morally perfect charismatic guy. It feels like he's set up to be that way and then he whines about everything and is very dismissive at some points. It feels like he's a real person and not perfectly crafted to be the ultimate stereotypical good guy protagonist who can stay cool and collected in every situation. He has his moments where he lets emotion get the better of him and I like it a lot.

Fortune I have less to say about her but it doesn't mean I like her less. I think she's a really tragic character backstory wise but I also like how she sort of "plays into it" I guess? Ocelot points it out himself near the end of the game ("you couldn't get enough of the drama"). I thought the ending where she found out she could've died any time and she didn't have some magic ability was sad too and I lowkey wish she didn't die and was like redeemed somehow (imagine she comes back in mgs4 and has to go against Vamp or something that would've been so cool)..anyway I guess I didn't actually have less to say I like Fortune a lot blehhh😋

mgs3 AGH.. EVA ILY she is such a well written character and I love her so much I could write an essay on her if I wanted but I'll keep it more brief here. She's like a perfect subversion of the typical sexualized woman in video game thing...it's what she's doing as a spy for the mission and the best part is it doesn't even really work lol nice job snake. The game itself even adheres to whether Eva is in her Eva persona or her Tatyana one. It's....aghhhhghhh so great. (I have so many thoughts about her and Liquid btw)

Mgs4...difficult but probably Screaming Mantis. For real this time not a lot to say about her but I do like her a lot more since playing the game she went from my least fav B&B unit member to my fav one. She was really fun to watch in all her cutscenes and her boss fight was one of the best MGS boss fights I've ever done tbh. The callbacks and references to the first game were so good I won't lie I was giggling kicking my feet a lil bit. Screaming Mantis ily I have so many thoughts <333

Peace Walker ermmm Kaz and Paz equal I can't decide..also maybe Amanda. Yeah I like everyone a lot 😭 and Cécile....not Snake tho sorry lol. I haven't finished the game so I haven't gotten the full character arcs of everyone so it's hard to pinpoint exact explanations but you know I love Kaz forever and ever mwah mwah (I'm also a transfem Kaz truther and I'm RIGHT!!!). Amanda has a lot of really cool tapes explaining a lot of...not really exposition but it gives a lot of great context to her character. And her voice acting especially in cutscenes is some of the best voice acting I've seen in an mgs game so it adds a lot. Paz I need to learn more about her. I know basic plot points but not the inbetween stuff that really lets you get to know her. I do feel really sad for her though, Kojima decided he wanted shock value instead of a female character having a nice ending 🤷‍♀️ Sucks.

Mgsv QUIET!!!! QUIET ILY!!! she's soooooo OUGH. I'm glad a lot of the fandom has fixed her from her extremely flawed portrayal in the game because it shows what really could've been and I think I latch more onto that than the version of her in the game just a little. The foundation they were working with was still really good. The way they show her and venom building such a strong bond despite never having a single conversation is really well done and I like it a lot. Quiet ily my favourite creaturething killgirl my favourite ear biter offer...

[risu5waffles]

i Miss DoTENBori

i really do. i know it's gotten cleaned up a lot from when i first got to Osaka in 2004, it's grimy charm brushed and burnished off, but it still had that undertone of scuzziness that said it could all come back if the city took the day off upkeep.

Also, i needed a TEN for the title. Sue me.

We talked about this one the Friday before last, and i still like it for it's frenetic crufting. Maybe not the most polished version of the theme that i've played, but it's got a lot of heart to it.

The precursor to Rescuing the Monster's Child that we reviewed last month. It's mostly a gallery to showcase that bigass monster, but at least some work got put in that department, which is more than you can say for most galleries. The monster itself is, well, i mean, it doesn't do much; i think at this point in LBP, folx were still working out how to get large contraptions to reliably stand up and manage limited movement. It's still impressive, and cute in its own way, and i could appreciate it. i'm pretty sure there was an intended flow to this level that i completely fucked up by going further back in layer than what would have been possible in LBP1. Ope.

This is an earlier level by the kid who did Hello Autumn! a few entries up, and it's definitely the weaker of the two in my books. It's got swimming, and it's quite rare that i find LBP swimming to be all that enjoyable as a traversal mechanic. The cameras tend to be overly pulled back, and it just feels slow moving all-around. Like Hello Autumn, it's overburdened wiv prizes, so that was going to make it a hard sell wiv me as well. It still has that charm of a level the creator really enjoyed making, tho'; and i can enjoy it on that level at least. Some creators can really bring that feeling to the front in their work.

It will always feel a little wild to me to think LBP generates its own intracommunity drama. i mean, on one level, any group of people larger than two members is going to pick up some drama over its lifespan, but it's still, like... it's LittleBigPlanet. But there was a contest, and our own wonderful chronos453 won it, and some folx got really cheesed off. chronos showed me a few of the comments from the time (i was blissfully ignorant of it, as i usually am until years after the fact), and this level here got put forward by a number of them as the level that really should have won. So, thought i, let's have a look. It's not bad. Like, i love the look of it. Well executed sticker panel visual presentation can be very slick looking. Usually when, as we see here, it's the exclusive or at least primary element in play (another great example is in chrono's Demo series, or the menus in his Tower Defense level. Gods and fish, those menus are actual fire). The problems creep in in the game itself. It's exceptionally ok. Like, i think it'd work really well as an early mobile game (that is not a dig, mobile games got shittier and shittier the more companies realized they could be turned into money engines that looked like games, as opposed to games that might happen to generate money, if you ask me). You've got a keep ship moving until you take enough damage and die gameplay loop that is, at least, easy to get into. i found it a little too simple to engage my interest more than a few tries, and it really wasn't something i would find myself going back to wivout need. And it's a shame, because you can tell a lot of work went into putting it together. i have no doubt that Gilinator was quite serious about the project, and put in the hours; but this is a good level, not a winning level.

Here's the winning level. Honestly, despite one significant flaw, it's one of the best, if not the best survival challenges i've played in 15years of LittleBigPlanet. Elegant, stylish presentation. Gameplay that requires the player to be active and paying attention throughout. Quick to get into, and quick to restart when you've messed up (a point crhonos mentioned being a particular focus in his design of the level). Like, people complained that that was too much of an homage, and not original enough; and i would invite them to go back to the survival challenge in the Metal Gear dlc pack and tell me if this is not an improvement on that in every department. You could argue, and fairly, if this should have been first place; there's always room for that kind of conversation. You cannot argue in good faith that this isn't a top-notch level. However, i did mention a significant flaw. It is not in anything that the level does wrong, or a failing on the part of chronos as a creator. It's the simple fact that, maybe not for everyone but at least for me, using the Paintinator really starts to hurt after a while. i wonder about the susceptibility of people to RSIs. Like, it can't be a 100% thing, or else they'd be more well designed for. There are millions of folx working cash registers that i imagine come home fine after work, but when i was a kid my friend up the block's mum wound up needing multiple surgeries to try and fix up her fucked up wrist after a couple years of "help make the ends meet" work at JC Penny's. i bring it up because, like, Mm must have playtested the Paintinator. Even if it was a dlc and not, like, the main game, they would have had a team working on it. And then QA after. Did no one say "hey, ummm... my wrist kinda felt like it was on fire after the Metal Gear Rex fight"? And maybe they didn't, or maybe it was just one or two folx who complained, and that was deemed an acceptable risk by legal. Maybe i'm just one of the lucky ones i kind of hate that.

This level was... it was definitely a lot. Not, necessarily a bad a lot, just a lot. i really enjoyed the extremely "this is not a real place, but we'll treat it like a real place" cartoon environment vibe; like it manages to pull that off pretty well. i like that there were a couple of spots where you've got mechanical movement and interactions mixed in wiv behind-the-scenes logic, i'll always have a soft spot for those. The end feels like it could have used a little bit more wrap up, and i will almost always prefer a scoreboard to an adventure board, but that was all ok. But... for all that is good and holy, why did the creator put that arm-y enemy where it was, and why was it set up how it was? Like, that bit just kills any momentum the level has. It's such a pain in the arse to get over the arm, because it's kinda-sorta tracking you, and then the bounce pad puts you onto a wall jump that, if you're not careful, will throw you right back into the spikes on the arm. i was not a fan of that bit, i can tell you what.

Once again i have gotten to my Halloween content well after Halloween. It one of the dangers of doing things in advance. You'll record a bunch, and then only later when you're actually setting up the editing and uploads do you realize you've already set for videos all the way up to, like, a week after some upcoming event. This one was a fun little one. Great presentation, very charming, smooth gameplay. i don't know if it's strong enough to make me want to come back to, but definitely glad i ran into it this year.

Talked about this a little bit back, but it's still really good.

What do you even say about Ramp? The first. The best. Picked up Level of the Day yesterday (i am half convinced because i, in a roundabout way, reminded StevenI that it existed). Ramp is an honest hoot, and i found myself just laughing in delight. Thought, how haven't i archived this one yet? Why wasn't it the first LBsA episode? i mean, i know the reason it wasn't the first is i'd wanted that slot to go to chronos, but Ramp should have been number two by all rights.

i think First was EightWonder-'s first published in the actual release? 'cause Ramp was first-first. Still, this one's a great example of early-early LBP1 platforming, and i had a real good time wiv it. It's a little confusing in its pathing at times, and it's definitely super-kludgy, but it has such a "having a good time" vibe to it that it's hard not to love it. i appreciate it when folx get all srs biz in their creations (i don't necessarily mean that the tone is serious, just that they've clearly taken creation seriously), but i do love it when you see these levels that are, like, let's just have fun and throw everything at the wall and see what we end up wiv. As long as the result is sufficiently level as to be playable, it's always at least a little bit of a good time.

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So that's the that for this set. Pretty good spread all in all, no real clunkers. i'm sorry for being late, again, but thing's have been life-shaped. Dealing wiv a lot of little health stuff. Mostly headaches and a lot of exhaustion. Nothing that has me, like, "maybe i should go to a clinic" kind of thing, but it's really got me worn down.

A quick reminder that @soupum is running a LBP stream for Palestine at twitch.tv/soupum . Drop on by and give him some love!

[somegirlontheinternet135]

For Everyone Upset Golden Cheese Not Coming Out:

~There could be a lot of good reasons as to why, and I have a few theories~

For starters, it's safe to say that this issue isn't going unnoticed by Devsis themselves, clearly stated via their tweets, dialogue of the game, and her more recent bayview in the "Happy Birthday Gingerbrave" loading screen. With this given information, not only does this tell us that they planning on making GC playable, it's also means that she maybe somewhere this year. Ok, so we know that GC will come out, we just don't know when, here's how I see it:

Golden Cheese is probably going to be next big update, regarding the exploration map. If you were there for the Slumbering Moon or Lengend Of Red Dragon updates, you would know that they big on terms of lore and content. Well, it's likely that both those updates(not counting TCC), burnt the a large hole in their wallet, especially with the in both updates' animations, Pitaya Dragon's gacha animation, and the Slumbering Moon epilogue story. It would also make sense with all the super epics coming out recently, likely to save up money for that update

Wanting to keep Golden Cheese a suprise is likely another reason why they're keeping her on the down low. A good example of this is ( and some of you are probably gonna hate me for this) Vivziepop; when talking about her interpretations of the 7 deadly sins, she didn't say much as to not spoil anything and to leave the fans guessing. Although Vivz never said anything straight up, she left little breadcrumbs for the fans to get an idea of what each sin is like(e.g being in HB) As you can tell, this is almost what Devsis, giving us tiny hints and clues of what GC has been could be up to through the dialogue, despite them being rather vague

This isn't much of a theory, but I feel like it's important to note. Anyone how'd played past the Slumbering Moon update would know that Devsis just loves to drop deep lore about the characters like it's nothing, whether it be a character's backstory(Black Pearl) or building on important characters in the story(White Lily). And sure, this may be the Devsis way of giving content to characters how haven't been of screen for a long time. But when you put into consideration, they could literally drop Golden Cheese lore at any given moment. . . at any time. . . and if to make things better, maybe we'll get some more Golden Cheese lore and clues the next update!!

Overall, I do hope we'll get some GC by the end of this year, till then, I look to future with cautious hope. . .

(Before anything happens, I wrote this post not to defend the company "Devsisters," but rather to educate, entertain, and to give my theories of what could be happening behind the scenes. Do I think Golden Cheese Cookie is set to be released this year? Definitely! Do I also think Devsis is trying to stretch things out and make as much money as possible? Absolutely! They're a shady company who'd done messed up things in the past!! Which many people like myself try to remind neutral despite this. So end of day, I only want to enjoy this game but be aware as its flaws)

Sorry if this's getting too long, had to clarify this

[teapots-and-hats]

So, here is my full review of FF16 (spoilers ahead)

So here is my review of FF16 after finishing the game one time (haven't tried the New Game+)

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR NOT ONLY FF16, BUT FF13, FF15, TACTICS AND BRAVELY DEFAULT, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Overall, FF16 is a good game and a good Final Fantasy, I LOVED the characters! One thing that I think Final Fantasy has been getting better and better each new title is creating characters. FF15 (despite it's numerous flaws) already did a great job putting personality on the main characters. FF16 pushed it further adding more personality to secondary characters and even NPCS that barely appear for more than a few minutes (also praise to the voice acting, it was amazing!). I wish crafting system was more complex, it felt a bit too simple sometimes, to the point I was like "well, I dunno why we have a crafting system, they should have just given me the weapon as quest prize or just leave it for me to buy from some merchant at this point"

If I could say one word to represent FF16, I would say the word is EPIC. Not because the game is perfect. But during our journey with Clive you FEEL how grand is the scale of each eikonic battle. And I personally believe the change to full action played an important role on giving us that scale. Yes, in turn-based FFs we already had big bosses that were clearly bigger than us, but it feels different (mind you, I've played a lot of turn-based RPGs), maybe because turn-based battles usually have the boss keeping its distance from our party most of the time. The cinematic parts with the Active Time Events also helped creating that feel (though I think in some parts I wish there were more actual gameplay and less ATE press button screen moments). That being said, here are my thoughts on several elements of the game (I will not comment on battle mechanics cuz I haven't played many action rpgs to have a solid opinion on whether battle is good or not, I just know I had fun). Music

Music is EPIC, the battle songs were AMAZING. However, while I think the references to FF14's OST were on purpose I do think it did disappoint me a bit that it referenced too much. Several tracks obviously have parts of FF14's Eureka's theme (which is a good theme).

Art / Design

Overall I like the art in this game, they took their time to even give some minor NPCs one detail or another that sets them as unique. My favorite part is the Eikons' design, all of them are gorgeous. I wish some maps had a bit of visual variation (Waloed was my least favorite, while Sambreque is probably my favorite on that aspect). Also, bless Clive's character design.

Edit: May I also add it's a bit of a let down that some maps become rather dull colored after Ultima casts their weird spell that causes aetherical floods everywhere. It reminded me of how The First in FF14 was constantly bathed in light, except in FF16 all open world maps are flooded by a weird purple dim light.

Protagonist

Clive is probably the best FF protagonist I've seen so far because everyone thought he was going to be an edgy character after revenge for whatever happened in his past. He kinda starts that way but we instead got... well, a big puppy (ok, two big puppies cuz we have Torgal). Clive faces his traumas through game and remains a man with a golden heart that just can't say no to helping people. Antagonist

Here is where I think FF16 may have failed, compared to other FF titles like FF7 and FF15. The actual villain is Ultima, and I think they did a great job setting Ultima as an alien that does not understand humans. But I think we were meant to see Barnabas as the antagonist that we would grow to love/hate, with him being introduced right from the start with Cid's and Benedikta's introductions. When Barnabas actually appears in front of Clive and we start the chapters that will lead to our fight with him I just felt... meh. Even his eikonic fight was rather disappointing for me after Bahamut's fight. I believe Barnabas was meant to be something like Sephiroth, or Ardyn, while Ultima is more like Jenova and FF15's Bahamut, but I don't think they managed to do that with Barnabas.

Other characters

As I said, I think they did a great job giving personalities to every character we meet in this game. However I think they missed the opportunity to give more lore development to some key characters such as Benedikta and, again, Barnabas. It's not terrible like FF15, where the base game had actual gaps that didn't make much sense, like Ignis' loss of eyeysight and Gladio going poof! suddenly, but some characters would really benefit if they get a DLC to expand their lore. I have to praise FF16 team for how they dealt with Dion and Joshua though, I think they are my favorite in terms of characterization.

Story

The story overall is really good. Harsh and raw, but good. Unfortunately if you don't do the sidequest as they appear you miss A LOT OF lore. One criticism that I've read a lot is that after the second half of the game the story stops dealing with the theme of slavery and prejudice against minorities. And thinking about it, if I haven't done the sidequest as they appear the main quests alone really don't deal with that theme anymore after a while. The sidequests though, they do. A lot and in certain quests it is brutal and a bit too close to real world, leaving you with some bitter taste.

That being said, because the game relies on many side quests to expand the lore I think the game has an issue with pacing and setting emotional rollercoasters. Again, after Bahamut's fight I think Barnaba's story was a collection of rushed events and Waloed is so empty that before you blink you are already at Barnaba's eikonic fight. You do get to actually explore Waloed via sidequests after that fight but the pacing is already broken by then.

Also, if you take the sidequests off, the game itself is rather linear (as it was meant to be, I believe) and doesn't give you much incentive to explore the world. Once you finish sidequests and hunts there aren't many achievements that makes you want to run around the maps over and over again. Plot and theme similarities with other games The game draws some parallels to FF15's story (both protagonists lose their home, both are sort of princes that have a love interest that are nobility from another country and both sacrifice themselves to save humanity in the end), but I think FF16 managed to at least deal with the romance better than FF15, since Jill fights with us since early game and while yes she is rescued by Clive several times Jill is no damsel in distress and she also saves Clive at least twice on critical moments (and Clive is saved by Joshua several times too). Jill is Clive's love interest but also his partner in his journey. Something I think Lunafreya was meant to be if she had her DLC. Yet, Luna and Noctis' story barely stand with what we actually got from Square Enix.

I can also point out some similarities between FF16 and FF13 with the theme of prejudice. Bearers suffer prejudice much like the l'Cie from Fabula Nova Crystallis, though while l'Cie are probably viewed as cursed individuals to be avoided, Bearers are viewed as slaves in FF16. The destruction of Crystals, while new to a main Final Fantasy, I believe, is not a new concept for Square Enix. Bravely Default already played with the subversion of the usually canonical belief of crystals being a blessing and in both games the protagonists learn that Crystals may not be a blessing at all. FF16, more than FF15 though, has a more direct influence of Final Fantasy Tactics' plot (and not only because both are set in a medieval setting and have an Ultima trying to destroy the world and claim it to themselves). Both Ramza and Clive are outcasts (Ramza as heretic, Clive as outlaw) that fight according to their beliefs, even if that sets them against those in power and subvert the state of things. Both have people that can turn into monsters (Lucavi and Eikon) and such ability has connections with a bigger plan set in place years before the protagonist was even born by some entity that manipulates humans to reach their goal. Both games are also not afraid to deal with politics in a more direct way.