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imaginekpoplikethis · 4 years

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Mixing it up sequel scenarios - TroubleMaker! Min Yoongi X reader - Part 2

Original Mixing it up story

Part 1 Part 2 - Here

———

You would never admit it but you were glad your friends had managed to convince you to join them at the arcade. It had been a while since you had even set foot in one, many fond memories filling you with immense joy and excitement for the evening.

Currently, you were situated at the dance dance revolution machine with Suhyun. Jimin, Hoseok and Taehyung were cheering for you both despite your poor display of stamina but nevertheless you were having fun.

“Grade C!? How did you beat me!?” Suhyun all but screamed from beside you, her heavy pants in sync with yours.

Suhyun had managed to score lower than you which truly was something you were not expecting. This didn’t deter your sudden smug attitude however, a smirk creeping on your face.

“I’m just that great y’know. Hey, I got an idea. Loser should buy slushies.”

You were met with a glare at your suggestion.

“Normally you say that before the game takes place. That’s just unfair.”

Despite stating this, she had already begun walking towards the snack bar.

“My turn! I want to go up against Hoseok!” Taehyungs undoubtedly loud voice cut in suddenly, accompanied by Hoseoks chuckle.

“If crushing defeat is what you want, who am I to stand in the way of it?”

Hoseok stood in position, Taehyung beside him, and inserted two coins into the machine.

“I’m sure it would be fun to watch Tae lose to Hoseok but we still haven’t played anything together.”

An arm slid around your waist and Yoongi pulled you closer to him, his eyes scanning the arcade for a suitable game.

“And what do you suggest?”

“How about that tomb raider one?”

At the other end of the room was a giant shooting game, an image of Lara Croft smack right in the middle.

“Okay!”

At least twenty five minutes later and both of you had managed to reach the second last level before it all got too much.

These games were definitely a scam. You had never seen anyone win in your life.

“Well we make an impressive team. I feel like we were made for each other.”

Yoongi slipped an arm around your waist, leading you towards a racing game.

“And you have come to this conclusion because of one round of Tomb Raider at an arcade?”

He simply chuckled at your question, knowing it wasn’t a serious one.

“Y/N! The slushie machine was being fixed so it took longer to get them. I ended up just getting the first flavour available.”

Jumping out of Yoongis grasp, you cling onto Suhyuns arm, gratefully accepting the cold beverage.

“You’re the best Hyunie~ I’ll make it up to you tomorrow. Drinks on me at the café!”

You both began in the direction of a claw machine, squealing at the sight of the Kakao plush toys.

“She abandoned me for a slushie and Ryan...”

Taehyung made a sudden appearance, clapping his hand on Yoongis back in sympathy.

“Honestly... I would to.”

A scowl formed on Yoongis face.

———

You found yourself in Yoongi’s room on a Friday evening, bag packed to stay the night and a Nintendo Switch to accompany you. Yoongi was sulking at his desk due to the lack of attention you had given him in favor of the game you were currently investing all of your time in.

“What game is it anyway. It must be godly if you’re ignoring me this long.”

Excitement filled your body at the interest he was displaying and you quickly showed him the screen of your switch.

“Animal Crossing!”

The confusion on his face prompted you to explain in as much detail as you could what the game was about, whilst also showing him the in game island that you had put over three hundred hours into.

By the end of your explanation he had gone silent and pulled his own switch out of his drawer.

“You have a switch? Since when? Wait-

never mind, the dust collecting on that thing is enough of an answer.”

You returned back to your five star island, gushing over the Takoyaki octopus Zucker and his aloof personality.

An hour later, the familiar sound of the iconic animal crossing language filled your ears, though not from your own switch.

Looking up in utter disbelief, you were met with Yoongis trademark smirk as he showed you his own screen displaying the beginning scene of the very game you were playing.

“You bought Animal Crossing!?”

“Well you were spending all your time on it, I wanted to see what that was all about. Plus it does sound kind of interesting.”

He rose from his seat and laid beside you on his bed where you spent the next hour running through tips for him.

“It’s three am.”

A yawn accompanied your statement and you moved to save your game, then turning it off and placing it on Yoongis desk.

“Huh... already?”

Said boy didn’t even lift his gaze from his screen, pure concentration was being devoted to the game.

“How are you still playing the game? Isn’t it still like your first day. There’s only so much you can do.”

“I time travelled.”

You were shocked to say the least. You hadn’t even mentioned the concept of time travel to him.

“You what!? How do you even know what that is?”

“I searched it up.”

Why am I not surprised.

“Are you going to sleep anytime soon?”

At this point you were struggling to keep your eyes open and you made yourself comfortable in his bed.

“In a bit.”

Rolling your eyes at his curt reply, you snuggled deeper into his covers.

“If you say so.”

When you awoke several hours later, it was to the sight of Yoongi playing Animal Crossing.

Rubbing at your eyes, your brows furrowed at the thought of him staying up all night to play the game.

“Wha- Yoongi... did you even sleep?”

He jumped at the sound of your sleep laced voice, clearly not expecting the sudden interruption.

“Uh, no? This damned raccoon is making me pay off my loans.” Cue his sheepish expression.

He was met with a blank stare.

“What kind of excuse is that? You’re not forced to pay it all in one day.”

He simply stretched out the kinks in his body before returning his attention back to the game.

“Doesn’t feel like that to me...”

An almost regretful sigh escaped your lips.

“Didn’t think you would enjoy the game this much.” His deep chuckle filled the room.

“Anyway Yoongi, I think you should put the switch down and sleep.”

He seemed to only then realise what the actual time was, surprise gracing his boyish features.

“Oh... yeah you’re probably right.”

I am right.

He looked up at you from beneath his lashes almost as if he knew exactly what you were thinking at that exact moment. Either way he chose to stay silent, a small smile growing on his lips as he saved his progress and shut down the console.

An obnoxiously loud yawn later and he had burrowed himself under his covers.

Your arm reached towards your own switch, intent on playing Animal Crossing when his arm quickly snaked around your waist, dragging you back into bed.

“Bedtime.”

“I-“

“Shhh.”

—————

Another day, another sleepover at Yoongis it seemed. It was the week after the animal crossing ordeal and you found yourself lounging around on your boyfriends bed. There was only so much animal crossing you could play before it got tedious which is why you found yourself watching intently as he played call of duty with the rest of the boys.

“Woah! Nice shot.”

He grinned at your praise, shifting positions on the floor and leaning his back on the bottom of his bed.

“You wanna turn?” A brief glance was shot your way before he swore under his breath, one of the boys having got to him in his split second of distraction resulting in the match ending.

Cheering on the other side of his headset could be heard from what seemed like Seokjin.

You popped another piece of cereal into your mouth whilst offering him the bowl.

“Hm, okay.” Handing you the controller, he gave the bowl in your hand a strange look and let out a huff of amusement.

“Look at you eating cereal dry at eleven in the night like a weirdo.” He grabbed the bowl and placed it beside him as you rose from his bed and sat on the floor, in between his legs. Grabbing the headset from his head, you placed it on your own and briefly greeted the boys. A chorus of hellos were returned.

“I think you’re the weirdo just because you’ve never done that.” A scoff was all your reply before the next match started.

“Done what?” Came Taehyungs understandably confused voice.

“Yoongi is giving me a hard time over eating dry cereal as a snack.”

You were met with hums before a short discussion broke out.

“I love doing that! It tastes way better at night.” You were thankful someone understood otherwise it would have been just plain awkward.

“I actually agree.” Jungkooks reply had you giving Yoongi a look that conveyed ‘i told you so’. An eye roll was your response.

“What? Cereal was made for breakfast how can it taste better at night?” Hoseok was quick with this input.

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who puts chips in their ice cream.” You choked on your saliva at Seokjins statement, the evident disgust making it all the more amusing.

“Yeah, that’s gross.”

“How can you do that?”

“Wouldn’t the salt melt the ice cream?”

The boys began mumbling their agreements whilst Hoseok stuttered.

“Huh? Why are you all suddenly switching onto me?!”

You simply chuckled as the countdown for the match began and everyone focused their attention towards the upcoming fight.

From then on there was minimal talking, save for the ocasional directions and groans, and for the next ten minutes a surprising amount of concentration was poured into the game from both you and Yoongi. By the end of the game your team had won and you handed the controller back to Yoongi, a giant smirk on your face.

“I-“

“No.”

“Okay.”

Despite the opportunity to gloat being ripped away from you, you still sat basking in absolute pride at your performance. As you were preparing yourself to make his way back to his bed, You felt his arms wrap around you and lock you in place without a word spoken as he played with the controller in front of you. His chin was placed on your shoulder and you didn’t dare move, not one to reject a loving embrace.

This is how you spent the next half an hour, watching match after match of Yoongi playing before exhaustion caught up with you from the long school day.

You would have probably tried to crawl into his bed but the warmth his body was exuding was too comfortable and so you found yourself shifting to your side and curling up in a ball, head resting on his chest as you felt your heavy eyelids close.

The last thing you remember hearing was the muffled voice of Namjoon giving orders through his microphone and Yoongi stroking your head affectionately.

———

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virtual-lara · 4 years

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Irish Times - Cyberbabe Gets Real

Article appeared on the Irish Times website, dated to 23rd June 2001, and was written by Steven Poole, author of 'Trigger Happy: The Inner Life of Videogames'. Article features a look into the history of Lara and what she is as a character.

It's Valentine's Day, 1968. In a hospital in the south London neighbourhood of Wimbledon, a daughter is born to Lord and Lady Henshingly-Croft. The girl has a drawerful of silver spoons in her mouth. Between the ages of three and 11, she is privately tutored at home; she then attends Wimbledon High School for Girls and Gordonstoun.

At the latter, she discovers a passion for rock climbing in the mountains of Scotland. (She also takes up shooting, but is soon banned for showing "too keen an interest".) By the time she is 18, everyone can see she has a wild streak, but her parents believe she can be thoroughly civilised - and eventually married off to the Earl of Farringdon - after three years at a Swiss finishing school.

While in Switzerland, however, the young woman takes to extreme skiing and spends a holiday pursuing the sport in the Himalayas.

On the return journey, her plane crashes deep in the mountains, and she is the only passenger left alive. Somehow she survives and, two weeks later, staggers into a mountain village. By this time, the course of her life has changed. She feels truly alive only when travelling alone. Lara Croft has decided to become an adventurer.

Or you could look at it this way: Lara Croft was born on the screen of a computer in an English video-game studio in 1995. First, she was a pencil sketch on paper, then a series of more detailed illustrations. Next, her vital statistics were plotted on a VDU screen. Thousands of triangles meshed together to build a computerised outline of a female form.

At this stage, Lara would have looked like a sculpture in chicken wire. Then the figure was "skinned" - wrapped in shaded, coloured surfaces to approximate a clothed human being. Lastly, she was animated: taught to walk, somersault, run and pull herself up on rocky ledges. Virtual worlds were also built around her to test her physical abilities to the limit.

Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider franchise are the products of Core Design - the game-development studio where Lara was born - and Eidos Interactive, its British parent. The man who fathered her was an artist in his early 20s called Toby Gard.

"When I came up with the idea for Tomb Raider," he says, "it wasn't necessarily going to be a female character. We wanted a real-time cinematic game, and I designed a couple of characters; one was a girl, one was a bloke. Eventually, we realised there was going to be a lot of story element in the game and we couldn't keep both the characters, so it was back down to one." So which should they choose? At the time, a female lead in a game was almost unheard of, Gard says. "There was resistance from marketing quarters, saying that female characters never sold."

Eventually, Core chose Lara as a refreshing antidote to the muscled meatheads that usually populated video games. And boy, did she sell: 26 million units, and counting, earning about $1 billion gross in retail sales.

Having turned her back on the upper-class society of her parents, who terminated her monthly allowance in disgust, Lara metamorphosed into a modern-day Indiana Jones.

For her first commission as a professional tomb raider, she was hired to retrieve the three parts of a mysterious artefact known as the Atlantean Scion. Hurtling through Peru, Rome and the lost city of Atlantis (well, it wasn't lost any more), Lara negotiated booby traps and shot a variety of wildlife, including rats, tigers and, alarmingly, a tyrannosaur.

In later quests, she travelled to Venice, Tibet and the Great Wall of China, snuck around the US military institute Area 51 and battled goons in the London Underground. Along the way, Lara was constantly learning. On the trail of a weird dagger that could turn you into a dragon, Lara discovered that she could climb walls, flip through 180 degrees while jumping or swimming, and wade into shallow pools of water.

By the time of her next adventure she could even get down on her hands and knees - in order to negotiate low tunnels and ventilation ducts - as well as monkey-swing from walkways and run much faster than she ever had. She could even blink. The programmers at Core extended Lara's capabilities with each new game, exploiting the fact that she had become a star.

Every year, another sequel popped up just before Christmas and went straight to the top of the video-game charts. Meanwhile, Eidos, Lara's parent company, was becoming a stock-market darling. In 1998, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, named the British firm the world's fastest-growing company, and in the summer of 1999 Eidos's share price was trading at a delirious high of $18.20.

Lara Croft, we must note, has brains as well as beauty. She is said by her biographers to have penned several travel books, including A Tyrannosaurus Is Jawing At My Head and the follow-up, Slaying Bigfoot. But she clearly does not read the newspapers or watch television, for in none of her adventures do we see any awareness on Lara's part that she has become an international media darling.

The first wave of Lara coverage came shortly after the game's 1996 release, with David James, the Liverpool goalkeeper, explaining to the London Times that he was playing badly because he had been staying up late playing Tomb Raider. In 1997, U2 used specially commissioned digital footage of Lara in action on their Popmart tour.

Lara appeared in comics, and plastic action figures of Lara sold like hot cakes. The original game had appeared on both the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation consoles, but Sony soon signed an exclusivity deal that meant episodes two and three would appear only on PlayStation.

Then came the acme of media acceptance: Lara on the cover of the Face in June 1997. Not only was this the first time the style magazine had used a digital person on its cover, it was the first time it had allowed an image to interrupt its red masthead. Newsweek, Rolling Stone and Time soon followed suit, and a video for the German pop outfit Die Artze, featuring Lara fighting with members of the band, went heavy-rotation on MTV.

Marks & Spencer produced a range of Tomb Raider III merchandise. Douglas Coupland, the writer of Generation X, contributed to a fey devotional tome entitled Lara's Book. In November, 1998, Tomb Raider and its first sequel were awarded Millennium Product status by the British Design Council.

In 1999, Lara - or rather Core Design, won a BAFTA for her "outstanding contribution to the interactive industry". In 2000, filming began in England on the imminent Tomb Raider feature film, budgeted at $100 million and starring Angelina Jolie. You can now, if you wish, clothe your children in nattily miniature Tomb Raider threads.

Perhaps the cleverest marketing coup was the association, begun in 1999, between Lara Croft and Lucozade, the orange liquid that used to be thought of as medicine for the sick but reinvented itself through the 1990s as a sports drink.

The latest advert has Lara pausing for a friendly Lucozade with her enemies while the player's back is turned. This summer, in order to tie in with the feature film's release, Lucozade will be labelled "Larazade".

They probably call this "synergy", but it works because Lucozade is a product one can imagine Lara using, even if it is unclear where she might find a bottle in a dusty tomb. Jeremy Heath-Smith, the managing director of Core Design and head of global development at Eidos - who, despite Eidos's financial difficulties, was last year paid $3.5 million thanks to a long-standing royalty agreement - says: "The fact that it's a health-giving energy drink matched Lara's profile exactly. I'm not sure Irn-Bru could have the same effect, as nice as Irn-Bru is."

Lara is careful about who she's seen with, for obvious reasons. We can be confident that she would never endorse fruit-flavoured alco-pops, or depilatory creams. But the Lucozade partnership is a marvel of mutual reinforcement: association with Tomb Raider and Lara helps to sell Lucozade.

In his novel Idoru, cyberpunk writer William Gibson imagines Rei Toei, a Japanese-engineered virtual celebrity who rebels against her makers and plots to find herself a physical body. In fact, the Japanese did have a virtual media star in 1997. Software programmers collaborating with Japan's leading modelling agency, Horipro, created Kyoko Date, the world's first digital pop singer. But sales of her debut CD did not live up to expectations. Why? Her face was a combination of features mapped from photographs of famous models; her singing voice was taken from one woman, her speaking voice from another; and her dance moves were digitised from the performances of real dancers. She was far more detailed and "realistic" than Lara Croft was at the time - but in a sense, Kyoko Date looked too real.

Our idoru does not fall into this trap. Lara Croft is attractive because of, not despite, her glossy blankness - that hyper-perfect, shiny computer look. She is an abstraction, an animated conglomeration of sexual and attitudinal signs - breasts, hot pants, shades, thigh holsters - whose blankness encourages the viewer's psychological projection.

Beyond the bare facts of her biography, her perfect vacuity means we can make Lara Croft into whoever we want her to be. If the computer-generated Lara Croft ever became too photo-realistic, too much like an individual woman, says Heath-Smith, "you'd lose some of that feel for her". The plans to finesse the character design for the next-generation Tomb Raider game, coming to Sony's far more visually powerful PlayStation2 some time next year, are "to smooth her off without changing the aesthetics that work".

But will these aesthetics be influenced by the performance of Angelina Jolie in the Tomb Raider film? Lara's creator, Toby Gard, rather approves of the casting. "Yeah, Angelina Jolie certainly looks the part," he says. "She has that certain wild quality which is important - that's what I had in mind." Jolie, we are told, performed most of her stunts; emulating the acrobatic, gravity-defying grace of her digital counterpart in the unforgiving real world resulted in injuries to her knee and shoulder and torn ligaments in her foot.

Bear in mind Lara has already been impersonated by several flesh-and-blood women without danger to her virtual hegemony - the models and actresses Rhona Mitra, Nell McAndrew, Lara Weller, Lucy Clarkson and Vanessa Demouy have all stepped into the boots for promotional appearances. Lara Croft, the virtual character, is the Platonic ideal: a human actress can give a better or worse account of that ideal, but she can never embody it fully, still less outstrip it. In that sense Lara is more like a creature of time-fogged legend than a contemporary "personality".

The rise to ubiquity of Lara Croft came as a surprise to her digital dad. "I never expected to have that happen," Gard says. "You know, as a designer, I'd gone through my life making sketches for these characters, and you think they're yours - then you realise they're not yours at all."

It was the massive success of Lara, in fact, that prompted Gard to leave Core Design and set up his own company, Confounding Factor, before the second Tomb Raider game appeared. "Other people were just doing things with her I didn't agree with," he says, guardedly.

He is working on Galleon, a game he promises "will have the same effect as Tomb Raider had in terms of how far ahead of everything else it's going to be".

It will be interesting to observe how Lara Croft ages. If the franchise is still going in 2020, will she be raiding tombs at the age of 42? There seems no reason why not. What allowed Lara's extraordinary success, after all, was the fact that Gard had created not a singular female character but a new archetype: an image so fluid and malleable that she can cross media barriers without appearing to whore herself.

Odd as it may seem, Lara has never been a primarily sexual being. In the immature world of video games, Lara was a revelation. In contrast to the standard near-pornographic portrayal of helpless women characters, Lara was a Germaine Greer of video games. Sure, she showed some skin, but her wardrobe was practical, rock-climbing, tomb-raiding stuff: shorts, hiking boots, vest, backpack. Gard says this was a deliberate reaction to the digital representations of women around him at the time, which persist today: spangly thongs, S&M corsets, strange spirally metal bras.

"I wanted to make sure it wasn't the thigh-length boot-style stuff," he says. "You can't get emotionally involved with a character like that because it has been objectified. Lara, I felt, had more dignity." It wouldn't make any sense, you understand, to describe the dignified Lara as a sex symbol.

Because "sex symbol", if that overused phrase means anything at all, must mean a person with whom you can imagine having sex - however improbable that may be. Angelina Jolie may be a sex symbol. But Lara can't be. It is in principle impossible to have sex with Lara Croft: she is always and forever unattainable.

And, as we have seen, there are far more overtly sexual depictions of women in video games. So all the prurient fans' artwork - the notorious "Nude Raider" images created by boys disturbingly skilled in computer-aided imaging and posted on the net, and all the leering over Croft's breasts in the chat rooms - these are incidental, a predictably perverse subculture of the fan base, not its raison d'etre.

It seems probable that men who like Lara don't want to have her; they want to be her. That's why they play the game. Lara is a symbol, if anything, of aspirational gender reassignment. In both directions. Men who like trying on a female persona, or women, such as Jolie, who like doing what is usually thought to be men's stuff. To paraphrase Damon Albarn of Blur, Lara works for boys who do girls, or boys who like girls who do boys, or girls who do boys.

And perhaps it is this all-things-to-all-people, don't-you-dare-try-to-pin-me-down quality that has ensured her longevity. For it is axiomatic that the jumping, rolling, sprinting Lara Croft is physically inexhaustible. What is surprising is that over the five years of her career so far, she has also proven inexhaustible as an icon.

All rights belong to Irish Times and/or their affiliated companies. I only intend to introduce people to old articles and preserve them before they are lost.

#TR History #VL Posts #TR in the News

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lannister-slings-and-arrows · 4 years

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I was tagged by @rzrcrst to share five things about me so we all can get to know each other better. Thanks sweets! :D

I was raised in a tiny house with six other people and a bigger side of medium sized dog, I thrive on noise and chaos lol. I am loud, opinionated, have a lax standard when it comes to boundaries, and don’t take personal offense easily. (Do I get Angry? Yes. I have a Temper that I really should see someone about lol, but I don’t take personal offense if someone gets mad and calls me an idiot or steals the last of the pop tarts.) That being said, I am well and truly satisfied being by myself, making my own noise however and whenever I see fit- I think it’s the novelty personally, it probably won’t ever wear off lol. That’s not to say I don’t miss those chaos days. Getting back together with all of my siblings is my favorite thing to do. No one can quite match me screaming opinion for screaming opinion as they can lol. In the line of my friends my siblings will always come first, they’re built in bffs that you never have to worry about pretending with.

I’m sure that at some point very early on in my life I must have made a conscious decision that my big brother was The Authority on Everything That Is Cool and Awesome, but it must have been VERY early because I don’t remember it. All I know is that the standard by which I have always measured if something is Cool and if I should Like it/Do it has been if Kevin has either done it before or also thinks it’s cool lol. Kevin did karate, so Meghan did karate. Kevin wore flannel shirts over tee shirts? Meghan STILL does that lol. He got sick of the more age appropriate boy bands I was listening to in jr. high so he burned me CDs with bands like Blue October and The Tea Party and Rammstein and Korn et al on them and said they were cool. And So It Was lol. And that hasn’t changed- to this day I’m still not really sure if I actually like all the things I like or if I just accept that I do bc he does lol. Honestly it hasn’t been all bad, in fact it has some pretty great advantages. I’ve never been in a Terrible relationship in my life; the second Kevin doesn’t like someone they’re gone- it’s been pretty damn useful having a guy look out for all the shitty things that guys do and point them out so I can head that mess off at the pass lol.

I think I was probably 12 when I wrote my first fanfiction? It was this LONG ASS multi chapter behemoth that was written in I think four of those black and white notebooks? The marble ones? You know what I’m talking about? It was about the characters from the movie Gladiator lololol. It didn’t go on the internet (fandom online was in its INFANCY back then and I wasn’t a part of it until years later) and no one besides me read it. Like NO ONE. I’m honestly not sure if anyone besides me actually knew that I wrote this lol. I kept it hidden in different places all over my house, my back yard (zipped in those gallon freezer bags lol), and a few times my grandparents basement lol. Every week like clockwork I would move it’s hiding spot- I don’t know why I felt the need to do this but whatever lol. Unfortunately (maybe fortunately) the first time I smoked pot in high school I came home so fucking paranoid that I took it out of its spot in the shed in the back yard and burned it. Just set it on fire lol. I was convinced someone knew where it was and was going to read it so clearly the only thing to do was destroy it before my secret could get out. That was also the time I realized that pot makes me too paranoid to function and I should not be allowed near lighters when I was high lol. Thankfully for all you I have become much more lax about letting people read my writing since those early days.

When I first saw Pirates of the Caribbean I, of course like any decent human being, fell in love with Jack Sparrow. Who wouldn’t. But for some reason I could not put my finger on every time I thought of or looked at or had to talk about Elizabeth Swann and Kiera Knightly I got so MAD. Like unexplainably FURIOUS. I HATED her and I really didn’t have any good reason to. About a year later my brother introduced me to the original Lara Croft movie (the Angelina Jolie one) and I watched it constantly- I LOVED it. And then came the Kate Beckinsale Underworld movies which I couldn’t get enough of. It was okay to say that those two women were hot cause Kevin said so too right? And I just kind of branched out from there? I didn’t deliberately identify as bi, I just kind of started taking it for granted that I looked at women and thought they were gorgeous the same way that I did men. My mental block about Kiera Knightly finally lifted sometime in college and I can now finally admit that the first girl I ever had a crush on was Lizzie Swan in POTC lol. (Not that I will EVER tell my mother or the adult members of my very Catholic, very conservative Republican extended family that I have, in fact, kissed girls and liked it lol. There are some things that even I am not stupid enough to do lol.)

I fucking LOVE science fiction. The camp-iest, the cheese-iest the better. I love space travel/adventure sci-fi the best, I’m sorry I don’t care what ANYONE says, Flash Gordon is a cinematic masterpiece and I will fight anyone who says differently. I love Firefly and Star Trek and oh my god the Riddick movies are so fucking great. And when you can combine my love of sci fi with my pure and unadulterated THING for cowboys (I don’t know where that came from by the way I just. I have a cowboy kink that cannot be stopped. I need professional help lol) you have right there a double threat of Meghan is gonna love this. (I unironically STAN Cowboys and Aliens ok. And Pacific Rim.) I’ll read sci-fi, I’ll watch it, I’ll listen to it, you put it in front of me and I will consume it.

I’m tagging @spacegayofficial @youmeanmybrain @pajamasecrets @pascalispretty @stevieharrrr @keeper0fthestars @zeldasayer @hystericalmedicine and frankly anybody who sees this and wants to share. Tell me about your interesting selves!! :p

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deadlyverdictcommunity-blog · 4 years

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Leading 10 Player Weapons

When it comes to action/gunfire sports competition, the guns you select can make or break your success. The most effective weapons depend upon which game, which player, as well as which tactical scenario you locate on your own in. Factor to consider is provided to the five main courses of player guns, their popularity, as well as the games they remain in to bring you a listing of the Leading 10 Gamer Weapons (as well as their private matchings).

Assault Rifles

M16 (AR-15) Series: Modern Warfare 2, Metal Equipment Solid Series, Left 4 Dead, GTA Series:

Some variations of the M16, as well as its civilian counterpart, the AR-15, have actually not just been almost everywhere in gaming, yet have actually gone to the top of their class and also possibly the very best (gamer) guns in the world. These are the main weapons to bring into any player field of battle. The "Black Rifle" is the one you pick intended for furtiveness (MGS), full-on fight (MW2) pure turmoil (GTA), or battling substantial zombie crowds (Left 4 Dead). As well as whatever you require it to do, the M16 (AR-15) can get it done.

AK-47: Modern Warfare 2, Black, GTA Series, Counter-Strike:

Neck-and-neck in the fight for best (gamer) gun worldwide, the AK-47 is battle-hardened, time evaluated, and also found almost anywhere guns satisfy games. The AK-47 might not be as exact as the AR-15. However, it is typically mentioned as the conclusive attack rifle for any interaction. As the cream-of-the-crop in MW2, the AK-47 can not be denied on a cyber having fun area.

Sub-Machine Guns (SMG).

MP-5 (GSG-5) Series: Rainbow 6, GoldenEye, GTA Collection, The Punisher, Resident Evil 5.

As a noncombatant, you'll discover it as the GSG-5, but in the digital globe, the MP5 is the dominant gun of its class. This extremely adaptable SMG takes many forms, making it excellent for many any type of tactical encounter. This is the firearm you go for in the course of the automatic for GoldenEye. Cut to Rainbow 6, and also DV Forums, you'll see that the MP-5 SMG is much better than an attack rifle for close range counter-terrorism. My favored use of this weapon, however, has actually reached be when a good friend grabs the sticks with Sheva in RE:5 and lays down suppressive fire on some lickers while I burst out the huge guns.

P90 (PS90): Counter-Strike, GoldenEye, Black, Modern War 2, Rainbow 6.

Bond's favored power weapon in GoldenEye (understood there as the RCP-90). In games of modern combat, this weapon is bad-ass. Designed for the 5.7 x28mm round, a tailor-made tactical cartridge, the P90 as well as its noncombatant relative the PS90 are popular for reducing targets quickly. Big publication capacity, rapid price of fire as well as total awesomeness make the P90 a fan favorite whenever before battle obtains extreme and you're missing armor.

Handguns/Side-Arms.

1911: Metal Gear Strong 3 & 4, Medal of Honor Collection, Phone Call of Task Collection, Combat Zone Collection.

New or old, this handgun has been the sidearm of option for WWII soldiers to Modern Warriors to Covert Operatives. Both Naked Snake (Big Employer) and his kid Strong Serpent usage one as the main weapon in their stealth operations. Penetrating a nuclear center making use of mostly a 1911 handgun? Yeah, this weapon's obtained what it takes. A century-old handgun layout that still kicks-ass is a clear selection for the leading player gun sidearm. You also recognize well just how effective the 1911 handgun can be when it involves discovering the next checkpoint.

Desert Eagle: Resident Wickedness Series, Burial Place Raider, Counter-Strike, Autumn Out, Max Payne.

It's not just big and also accountable, video game vixen Lara Croft revealed to us that the Desert Eagle, or Deagle as you might prefer, is the handgun of option for removing dinosaurs while still looking hot. Our friends in Raccoon City demonstrated how this handgun is the excellent zombie slayer, by blowing with a line of undead slack-jaws with a single shot. However when it concerns tactical, a Desert Eagle handgun is all the power you require to remove a map solitary handed. The power of the Deagle is uncompromised.

Shotguns.

Remington 870: Field Of Battle Series, Black, Local Evil Collection, Max Payne 2.

FPS or 3rd person action; no criminal, soldier, terrorist or zombie can endure the power of the Remington 870 shotgun. The simplistic appeal of this tactical shotgun has actually been relied upon to punch via doors, decrease advancing insurgents, and to decimate zombie hordes — the premier shotgun for gamers.

Saiga Shotgun: Steel Equipment Strong 4, Combat Zone Series, SOCOM.

It looks like an AK, yet it destroys targets like a shotgun. The Saiga is a special tactical shotgun that appears underrated in the world of gamer weapons. Maybe it doesn't have the impact of a Remington, but the Saiga offers you shotgun power with a fast rate of fire than any tactical gamer needs to be able to value. That is unless you like receiving pawned by newbs with fortunate headshots.

Sniper Rifles.

SVD Dragunov: Metal Equipment Solid 3 & 4, Battlefield Collection, Homeowner Wickedness 5, Modern War.

What can I say, the Russians make great weapons? That being claimed, the SVD, one of the most quickly recognizable sniper rifles in the world, makes a good rifle and also good gamer weapon. If you don't desire the stamina kill, the SVD is the best method for serpent to take out Completion. Or you might use one to place an accurate hit right into the vulnerable point of that weird-spider monster In resident evil. In either case, The Dragunov is a gamer gun for the ages.

Remington 700: Modern Warfare, Field Of Battle Collection, GTA Series.

Simple. Reputable. The bolt-action Remington 700 can strike its mark from half-way throughout the map and keep you leveling up round each time. Reserved for those with ability as well as patience, just elite gamers have actually truly mastered this player weapon — a fantastic sniper rifle for great video gaming snipers.

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ekaterinakostrova · 6 years

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At some point in the books did you feel a lot of anger from Nesta or any of the persongens? What do you think Nestha thinks about IC? I particularly do not think she does not like them, just does not feel comfortable with them. Good morning ❤

I love this question.

I would agree, I do not think that Nesta does not like them. I would rather say that she does not trust them. First of all, when Nesta was just a child, she was told about monsters and cunning, cruel, terrible faeries living behind the wall, on the mysterious lands of Prythian. She did not know about Amarantha or the King Hybern, but she knew about the blessed children, who were obsessed with faeries and worshiped them as the living Gods. And I fell in love with Nesta after reading this scene in the first chapters, when I saw her fire, her resistance to fate, her desire to be free.

“The young woman’s unbound dark hair gleamed in the morning light, and her clean, fresh face glowed as she smiled prettily. There were five other acolytes behind her, young men and women both, their hair long, uncut—all scanning the market beyond for young folk to pester.

“It would take but a minute,” the woman said, stepping into Nesta’s path.

It was impressive—truly impressive—to see Nesta go ramrod straight, to square her shoulders and look down her nose at the young acolyte, a queen without a throne.

“Go spew your fanatic nonsense to some ninny. You’ll find no converts here.”

The girl shrank back, a shadow flickering in her brown eyes. I reined in my wince. Perhaps not the best way to deal with them, since they could become a true nuisance if agitated—

Nesta lifted a hand, pushing down the sleeve of her coat to show the iron bracelet there. The same one Elain wore; they’d bought matching adornments years ago. The acolyte gasped, eyes wide.

“You see this?” Nesta hissed, taking a step forward. The acolyte retreated a step.

“This is what you should be wearing. Not some silver bells to attract those faerie monsters.”

“How dare you wear that vile affront to our immortal friends—”

“Go preach in another town,” Nesta spat”.

This scene shows her will, her strong character, her desire to protect. And by the way, even in the very first chapters Nesta was trying to protect Feyre.

“Then a slender hand clamped onto my forearm, dragging me away. I knew it was Nesta before I even looked at her.

“They’re dangerous,” Nesta hissed, her fingers digging into my arm as she continued to pull me from the mercenary. “Don’t go near them again.”

I stared at her for a moment, then at Elain, whose face had gone pale and tight.

“Is there something I need to know?” I asked quietly. I couldn’t remember the last time Nesta had tried to warn me about anything; Elain was the only one she bothered to really look after.

“They’re brutes, and will take any copper they can get, even if it’s by force.”

I glanced at the mercenary, who was still examining her new pelts. “She robbed you?”

“Not her,” Elain murmured. “Some other one who passed through. We had only a few coins, and he got mad, but—”

You know, Nesta might not say warm and gentle words, she can be rude, because she is trying to maintain her false mask of indifference and arrogance, but she really cares about Feyre.

Feyre seems to me more like a child, who is not trying to understand another person. And even Amren says that Nesta is difficult to understand. She is a person, who needs to be judged by actions and deeds. And her actions are brave, full of courage and determination.

Oh, Nesta is such a fantstic character!

Members of the Inner Circle treat Nesta with some kind of cold contempt. They are not trying to understand her. Therefore, I would call Mor and Rhysand as the main aggressors here.

Azriel is silent, Cassian accepts the policy of pacifism, and never protects Nesta. Cassian never stood up for Nesta before Rhysand, he silently watches as members of the Inner Circle condemn her for debauchery, drinks and lechery. As if her despicable wantonness tarnished the reputations of all of them.

However, I always try to put myself in her place. She found herself in an unknown place, surrounded by unknown people, she does not know these people - and met with them only for the sake of Feyre and Elain, only for the sake of her people and those, who lived behind the wall in poverty and hunger.

I think it is natural not to trust them.

She fears for Elain, for Feyre, who is in the hands of enemies, and Nesta turned into a monster - we don’t know what kind of powers she posses, but she carefully hides these powers from everyone else. Nesta admits in the novella that things break around her, when Cassian is nearby. With only one hand she destroyed the entire legion of the King’s army. She does not know, how to control this power, but if this power is really death, then it is natural for Nesta to keep as far away as possiblefrom those she loves.

“I will never forget those moments,” Cassian said quietly, scenting or sensing the memories wreaking havoc on me. “As long as I live.”

“Have you seen any glimpse of it since?”

“Nothing.” The House loomed, golden lights at the walls of windows and doorways beckoning us closer. “But I can feel it—sometimes.”

“Usually when she’s pissed at me. Which is … most of the time.”

“Cassian. No matter that she could scarcely stand to be around him. No matter that she had once, long ago, in a mortal body and in a house that no longer existed, let him kiss her throat. Being near him made her want to shatter things.

As her power sometimes did, unbidden. Secretly”.

”My sisters had been living in the House of Wind since they’d arrived in Velaris.

They did not leave the palace built into the upper parts of a flat-topped mountain overlooking the city. They did not ask for anything, or anyone”.

“I wanted to see you,” I said quietly. “See how you were doing.”

“See if I’ve accepted my lot and found myself grateful for becoming one of them?”

I steeled my spine. “You’re my sister. I watched them hurt you. I wanted to see if you were all right.”

A low, bitter laugh. But she turned to Cassian, looked him over as if she were a queen on a throne, and then declared to all of us, “What do I care? I get to be young and beautiful forever, and I never have to go back to those sycophantic fools over the wall. I get to do as I wish, since apparently no one here has any regard for rules or manners or our traditions. Perhaps I should thank you for dragging me into this’.

And, if you notice, the members of the Inner Circle are always trying to hurt her, somehow, even Cassian supports Mor.

“Mor blinked, but confided to me with a wince, “I think we’re going to need a lot more wine.”

Nesta’s spine stiffened. But she said nothing.

“I’ll raid the collection,” Cassian offered, disappearing through the inner hall doors too quickly to be casual.

Nesta stiffened a bit more.

Teasing my sister, poking fun at her… I snatched a seat at Nesta’s side and murmured, “They mean well.”

Nesta just ran a finger over her ivory-and-obsidian place setting, examining the silverware with vines of night-blooming jasmine engraved around the hilts. “I don’t care.”

However, if you reread this scene in the third book, you will understand that Nesta is eyeing everyone. She listens to their conversations, but does not participate in the conversation. She is embarrassed and running her fingers along the lace patterns on the chair, silently watching.

“Nesta was watching the volley of words as if it were a sporting match, eyes darting between us. She didn’t reach for any food, so I took the liberty of dumping spoonfuls of various things onto her plate”.

I also believe that Feyre was wrong about Nesta. For Nesta to talk about what happened to her, when she was inside the Cauldron worse than rape or abuse. It is extremely difficult to open her heart and soul to someone, to strangers, so I understand her reaction.

“I angled my head.

“I understand that what happened to you was horrible—”

“You have no idea what it was or was not. None. And I am not going to grovel like one of those Children of the Blessed, begging High Fae who would have gladly killed me as a mortal to help us. I’m not going to tell them that story—my story.”

“The High Lords might not believe our account, which makes you a valuable witness—”

Nesta shoved her chair back, chucking her napkin on her plate, gravy soaking through the fine linen.

“Then it is not my problem if you’re unreliable. I’ll help you with the wall, but I am not going to whore my story around to everyone on your behalf.”

She shot to her feet, color rising to her ordinarily pale face, and hissed, “And if you even dare suggest to Elain that she do such a thing, I will rip out your throat.”

Her eyes lifted from mine to sweep over everyone—extending the threat.None of us spoke as she left the dining room and slammed the door shut behind her”.

Oh, the next book is going to be awesome. I like this aggression, her fantastic courage. Nesta is going to be a new Lara Croft!

#nesta #nesta archeron #the inner circle #a court of thorns and roses #a court of wings and ruin #a court of mist and fury #a court of frost and starlight #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #Questions #The Queen of Warriors

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heathenhole · 5 years

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Jay Zippo Hits 1000 Subs!

This channel was created in the summer of 2006. A short 8 years later, in the spring of 2014 I first created Svana Titanborn. With 68 Subscribers under my belt I decided to seriously try my hand at Youtubing. Each year was it’s own challenge, and I set myself goals to reach. First it was to create other gameplays like Harry Bottoms of Sims 3, Juniper Brimstone and Thorax of Skyrim, Lara Croft of Tomb Raider, Minecraft and ADHD, Witcher 3, My 3 cents podcast and of course my most popular series; Succubus. Gaining subscribers was beyond difficult, and was extremely frustrating at times. I then created 2 more popular characters, Ginger Snaps of Skyrim and Tara Dikoff of Fallout 4. During this time I had a few moments I was going to quit, the effort was not matching the reward, so to speak. It made me realize that the goal of 1,000 was secondary, as this channel was a way for me to extend my creativity, learn a new medium and essentially be my main hobby that I really enjoyed. This channel was more for me than anyone else. The fall of last year, October in particular, I had my best subscriber month with 62. I have eclipsed that from mid January to mid February I exceeded 70 subscribers... and that pushed me over the 1K subscriber barrier. With new series like Half-life 2 and Indiana Zippo the channel will look for it's next goal... possibly 5K subscribers? 1,000 was a goal I set in 2017. Took an extra year but I hit it!

Thank you all for getting me to this point, I truly appreciate you all.

#1000 subs #goals #goal setting #reaching your goals #youtube subs #minecraft #sims #tomb raider #Witcher 3 #tara dikoff #Ginger snaps #beruud #jay zippo #let's play #youtube channel

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alex152 · 3 years

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Most In-demand On-line Slots

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tgfpm · 3 years

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What’s Up with Heritage Science? DIPNOTE: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND INNOVATION AUBREY R. PARIS, PH.D. OFFICE OF THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ADVISER @statedept - Heritage science helps us understand the historical and cultural context of architectural ruins, including ancient Greek temples. The What’s Up with Science? blog series offers a deep dive into science, technology, and innovation topics on the minds of the public. The series matches technical explanations with relatable analogies to explain opportunities and answer the ultimate question: Why should we care? The cinematic universe is ripe with fictional treasure hunters capable of quenching any moviegoer’s thirst for adventure. Fans of satchels and chase scenes may gravitate toward the classic Indiana Jones. Lara Croft offers an exciting film-video game crossover. And those who read this piece on blockchain might guess (correctly) that my personal favorite is Benjamin Franklin Gates of National Treasure fame. While their personalities differ, these characters have in common a passion for cultural heritage and, paradoxically, an undisputed ability to make heritage scientists cringe. Heritage science is a truly interdisciplinary field that bridges science and culture. It combines the life sciences, physical sciences, engineering, and humanities to research and understand all aspects of cultural heritage. As early as 1843, scientist Michael Faraday indirectly described the field while lecturing about environmental factors that contribute to the degradation of leather book binding. Today, heritage science revelations appear in scientific journals, museums, libraries, and your favorite action flick (with creative liberties taken in the latter, of course). https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ6n7djhrvt/?igshid=4h12mn18b5ir

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paris1053 · 6 years

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Famous Fashion Designers

On Sunday, there were no autos in Paris as the city clamped down on skyrocketing air pollution and also attempted to honor the climate accord that bears its name. These outfits reclaimed its popularity over time and also turned into one of the most classy gowns that are enjoyed by women. A pupil can choose whether to obtain a two-year Associate in Art level or a four-year Bachelor's degree degree in the area of style. Fairly valued fashionable apparel is a double-edged sword that enable to get trendy looks at real-life spending aurum optics plans, at the exact same time causes abolish the pattern quickly. If you don't want to consider it, this resembles that you are matching your steps with the most recent style trends. Get an intro to contexts, concerns and schedules relating to style and also sustainability in a changing globe. Wearable technology needs fashion designers more than fashion designers need innovation - smartwatches, for example, were moribund until Apple, Fossil, Tag Heuer and also others introduced decent-looking products. Smith, Lara Croft: Burial Place Raider, Desired, Troy, and more; as a result, when we call them style designs, it appears to be so odd. Springtime as well as Summer season Precious jewelry patterns, based upon these observations and also my own inner fashion diva, here's what will certainly be hot in fashion jewelry this Springtime/ Summer. Advantages of primary research is specific information regarding a style brand's consumer is checked out. Style modeling if quite various from all various other markets, it a part of way of living style modeling. When they recognized they were from the Home of Well worth, his fashion residence came to be so famous that individuals were able to connect a face and also a name to styles. Alok continuously nourish and also build upon his expertise for clothing trends and also style devices to bring our viewers with a fresh expectation on the current happenings in the style globe. The significant distinction between street style fashion brand names and couture brand names is the social influence of streetwear. Teen fashion in some cases leaves you wishing you were young sufficient to put on an adorable sundress and in some cases it leaves you questioning whether these kids also have a mirror. Now, days you could see various fashion designer schools that supply this course. An additional kind of fashion device that you might be considering owning is in fact a handbag or perhaps a purse. The fashion movie was projected onto the facade of the Royal Event Hall structures in London. As massive followers of the potential of 3D graphics as well as computer animation, our company believe there are numerous ways of making use of computer animation to truly separate your fashion movie. Despite whether it is building a house or acquiring a brand-new home, it is always a matter of making the right decision. Style belts can be available in all kinds of styles such as various shades, sizes, materials and also structures. The style make-up ideas are actually useful for one and also all and you have actually noted all trends fashion especially spring pattern outfits are looking extremely hostile. Generally, most style patterns last virtually one year, yet some trends, generally the appropriate, last much longer. So following time you do online style shopping spend a long time to explore such distinct things of the Oriental style. Modern fashion obtained toughness during Renaissance time Aristocrats of Renaissance time were terrific patrons of style. There are numerous areas online that offer actually cool fashion devices that are within any person's cost array. For that reason, gender is coming to be more repetitive in today day context, however the innovative as well as cutting-edge designs by these designer are commendable. Muslim ladies usually wear developer tags beneath their external garments and also increasingly they want to put on classy outerwear as well. Organizing a fashion program implies choose and welcoming a suitable court, picking designs and new made garments that suit them, selecting a theme and also getting the wall, hall and floor done appropriately, picking a place or a hall that has a ramp, selecting songs, welcoming journalism and photographers, offering tickets, and the listing goes on and on.

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kyndaris · 7 years

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The Hard-Hitting Questions

So, I found this posted on a blog I was following and thought I might break it all down and answer these questions as honestly as I could.

1: Do you try to stay away from walkthroughs?

It depends on the game. Usually, I do try to play through blind but in games where it is best to max stats/ relationships/ unlock codex entries, I will often use a walkthrough so that I won’t miss out on certain scenes or events. Otherwise, the only time I would use a walkthrough is if I were stuck.

2: Company you're always loyal to?

I would say that rather than a company, I am far more loyal to a franchise. Whether that is Kingdom Hearts or Assassin’s Creed.

3: Best game you've ever played?

This is a difficult question as there are many things that make up an excellent game. For me, the best game that I’ve currently played is the Witcher 3. It has all the hallmarks that I adore: from being a role-playing game with active combat, as well as a thrilling story to tell. The runner-up would be the Uncharted franchise that drew me in even when I had yet to own a Playstation 3. The bombastic set pieces and the effective story seemed like a must play for me.

4: Worst game you've ever played?

I can’t quite say that I’ve played many ‘bad’ games. The one game that I could not invest in was Soul Sacrifice. Despite my best efforts, it simply was not the type of game that caught my eye.

5: A popular series/game you just can't get into no matter how much you try?

Oh, let me list the many popular game series in the world that I have yet to try. First and foremost would be the Monster Hunter franchise, followed by Metal Gear Solid, Dark Souls and Resident Evil.

6: A game that's changed you the most?

I doubt that there was a game that changed me the most. There have been games that have made me pause and reflect on the nature of things such as Bioshock Infinite and Prey. Though the most influential game that hooked me on a type of gaming would have been the Shadowrun revivals. I never thought crpgs (computer role playing games) with their asymmetric gameplay would have drawn me in but the mixture of strategy and role-playing statistics slowly but surely drew me in.

7: A game you'll never forget?

The game that I will never forget is Kingdom Hearts. It was one of the first games that I played and it was the one that had me salivating with anticipation. The union of Disney with these strange JRPG tropes was a match made in heaven that I could not help but crave. Most likely due to the fact that I have always been a lover of Disney films.

8: Best soundtrack?

Is it cheating if I simply say Final Fantasy? As in the entire franchise? However, if I had to choose a singular soundtrack, it would have to go to Child of Light. I adored the soundtrack found therein.

9: A game you turn your volume off every time you play it?

After a while, I tune out the music from arpgs (action role-playing games) with its endless clicking and loot drops to lure you further down the track. Some examples would include Diablo 3 and Victor Vran.

10: A game you've completely given up on?

The best example that comes to mind is Soul Sacrifice. After a while, I simply could not click with how the game played. The endless grind for better loot and items based on an ephemeral scoring of performance was more than I could bear and in the end, I traded the game in.

That and Codename STEAM. Mostly due to the fact that there was no tangible reward in the game and the enemies you faced only became more difficult.

11: Hardest game you've played?

I do not often play hard games but the two games that I have yet to complete are Jak 2 and Jak 3.

12: Shortest time you've beaten a game in?

I would say roughly eight to ten hours. It was either the first Uncharted or The Order 1866.

13: A game you were the most excited for when it wasn't released yet?

Back when I was younger and quite impressionable, the game I was most excited for was Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. I told everyone that I met how hyped I was for the game (only to later learn it was on the Gameboy Advance and I would not be able to play it until I managed to sneakily download an emulator), going into clear and crisp detail when I went to Disneyland near the end of 2004.

14: A game you think would be cool if it had voice acting?

This wouldn’t be a game per se but I thought it would be cool if Link had a proper voice instead of his usual grunts. Most games these days have voice acting so it’s hard to peg one down.

Perhaps Pokemon? We have yet to hear the voices of the characters running around.

15: Which two games do you think would make an awesome crossover?

I never much thought about it but it might be interesting to see a crossover between the Uncharted franchise and the rebooted version of Tomb Raider. Lara Croft and Nathan Drake heading on an adventure together, each trying to one-up each other when it came to their knowledge on ancient civilisations. That or perhaps even bringing in a little Assassin’s Creed.

16: Character you've hated most? From what game?

There hasn’t been a character I’ve truly hated in a game. While the Luxord battle in Kingdom Hearts 2 gave me the most grief, I did like that buttery British accent and his stylistic leanings.

Now if we were talking about novel protagonists, I have one clear answer: Quentin Coldwater from The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman. If the book series were ever adapted to game form, be sure to find that on the top of my most hated character list.

17: What game do you never tell people you play?

I don’t think there’s a game that I have played that would warrant it being a secret. Gaming itself is almost a guilty pleasure when it comes to conversation and only comes up in conversation with people I know that are fellow gamers or who I know actually dip their toe into the hobby. Otherwise, I keep quiet about my interests.

In saying that, there was a Barbie adventure game on the original Playstation that one of my friends had. We played it together but it was nothing to write home about.

18: A game you wish your friends knew about?

Most of my friends know all about the games that I play since I now post impressions and reviews on my tumblr. But I do think Child of Light and the Danganronpa games are deserving of a shameless plug every now and then.

19: Which game do you think deserves a revival?

Croc: Legend of the Gobbos.

20: What was the first video game you ever played?

I would have to say Pokemon. The first gaming ‘console’ I received was the Gameboy Colour along with Pokemon Blue. I simply had to ‘catch ‘em all.’

21: How old were you when you first played a video game?

Roughly five or six? I don’t quite remember.

22: If you could immerse yourself in any game for one day, which game would it be? What would you do?

That’s a difficult question. I never much thought about immersing myself in a game but rather living in the world of a game. It’s a debate I’ve often had with myself - whether it should be in a far-flung fantasy world or in one couched in reality.

I would say it would have to be a game either in the Mass Effect universe or perhaps the more recent titles of Final Fantasy. I would like to see myself as a mercenary or a soldier but truth be told, I would be out exploring the new world I found myself in or in a menial position out of danger.

But if I could immerse myself in any game for a day, it would have to be an MMORPG where I could focus on the social aspects of it, as well as dive into enjoying the joys of freedom found therein.

23: Biggest disappointment you've had in gaming?

Most of the time I shy away from games that would prove to be disappointing. As a gamer, I like to be informed and so I try to read as many reviews as I can. The biggest disappointment I found came through in my first time playing through Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I had high expectations after ploughing through Skyrim.

Another game that proved to be quite disappointing was Kingdom Hearts re: Coded. The worlds were almost an exact copy from the original title on Playstation 2 and even the plot felt recycled.

24: Casual, Hardcore, or in the middle?

I like to think I sit somewhere in the middle. I’m not extremely hardcore but I do like some of my games to have a little challenge (even though I much prefer story to being pounded into dirt by enemies).

25: Be honest; have you ever used cheats (like ActionReplay or Gameshark)?

Back when I first discovered real-time strategy games such as Starcraft and Warcraft, I also picked up a number of cheats to make my life easier. I was not very good at micromanaging when I was eight and the stories seemed to sparkle with an intoxicating allure.

26: Handheld or console?

Despite my numerous handheld devices, I would have to say I am a console player at heart. Most of the time, my Nintendo 3DS and Playstation Vita are played whilst plugged into the power supply. I like to go on gaming binges if there’s ample time.

27: Has there ever been a moment that has made you cry?

There have been a couple of moments. One in my immediate memory came from Tales of Berseria. I felt a strong connection to Velvet Crowe and the struggles she faced throughout the game touched a part of me I had never known.

The first moment when I had the urge to cry came in the ending moments of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. It was only ruined by the terrible line (but after much hewing and hawing over it, it actually made sense in context). Still, I would have rather it have been far more poignant and heartfelt than what it had been.

28: Which character's clothes do you wish you owned the most?

The first thought that came to mind was Roxas. But really, I like most of the clothes that can be found in the Kingdom Hearts series.

29: Which is more important, gameplay or story?

Story is the most important aspect of a game (at least in my opinion). It’s the one thing that keeps me going as I usually find my interest flagging when story is not the main hook. Tetris is good for a couple of minutes but it is not something I would be able to play for eight hours on end.

30: A game that hasn't been localized in your country that you think should be localized?

Obviously the Dai Gyakuten Saiban series. I was severely disappointed to hear that we won’t be seeing a Western release and I sincerely adore all the games that involve table slamming, finger pointing and strange twists on actual legislation.

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raidstombs · 7 years

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Dear Future Me

“dear” meme. || not accepting.

Dear Future Me,

I won’t even venture to guess what your life is like. It seems everytime I’ve imagined my future and planned for it; it’s turned out radically different from what I envisioned. Sometimes for the worst. Sometimes for the better.

The only things I can be entirely sure of are that you’re still madly in love with Loki, that you still fiercely love your children, and that your heart is still filled with adventure. Because that’s who you truly are at your core: a girl who loves with a PASSION that cannot be matched.

Regardless of whatever else is going on in your life; just remember that. And remember that you are loved in turn. Your family is larger than you could have ever imagined. Your life is fuller than you could have hoped. Your legacy won’t just be your work – but your FAMILY.

Your story is stuff of LEGENDS, Lara Croft.

#dearlokigodofmischief #;; meme response #v: MUTUAL OBSESSION #;; ship: we'll see more without a map ( LARA X LOKI )

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shiroe-is-my-baby · 7 years

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YO how about you and Lara for 6!! OvO

COMING RIGHT UP FRIEND! Thank you so much for requesting my goddess :3 lol, I haven’t talked about her enough. I did have trouble coming up with the scenario, so I hope it’s not too weird but here we go!

My eyes stared over the rim of the champagne glass, widening just a bit when I saw the woman step into the room. Chatter filled the air, booming through the wide walls of the mansion. I’m not exactly sure why I had attended such a classes event. Well, I wasn’t until I saw the slim figured idol of mine standing just several feet away, chatting with an older gentleman. Of all places, I hadn’t expected Lara Croft to be at such a charity event. It could have been for image or intelligence.

Either way, I was interested.

I’d always wanted to meet her. She intrigued me, and not a single bad interview or negative article could deter me. And I had read every single thing that had to do with the archaeologist. I’ve always wondered what it was like to go on such adventures. I somewhat envied her bravery. Lara wasn’t just an idol of me, though. She’s also a woman I’d been… majorly crushing on.

Seeing her here in this charity event, with that gorgeous black dress that hung against her curves, brought light to all those inward feelings. I was completely smitten.

I know as the night goes on, You might end up with someone

Biting my bottom lip, I sucked in deep breath and pushed up from my chair. The table I sat at was empty, the rest of the guests in the dance floor. Each soft melody from the band sent shivers down my spine. They seemed to match in tune with every rapid beat of my heart. The song selection was mostly classical, everyone here having quite a taste for dancing. I stood no chance with these people. I had no elegance or poise.

I had only came along with my stepfather who was a well-known businessman. His hopes were to set me up with an even richer husband, but I didn’t want that. I wanted to travel the world, to not be tied down. Maybe that was why I envied Lara. And also why I looked up to her.

So why do I bite my tongue? Oh, I wanna know ya.

Swallowing hard, I took careful steps around the dance floor and many bodies as I made my way to the spot where Lara stood. Her eyes seemed uninterested as she gazed around the room, watching the men and woman laughing and discussing their expensive lifestyles. She looked like she’d rather be anywhere else. I wondered what was on her mind.

My breathing stopped in my throat as I edged closer towards her. It seemed ridiculous for me to be so choked up. She was a person just like me. There was no reason why I should feel this intimidating. I felt my throat beginning the tighten, thoughts driven wild at the thought of finally talking to Lara.

You’re a face I won’t forgetDon’t know how much time is leftHaven’t had a moment yet

Swallowing my pride, I heard the echoing of my heels as I finally stood in front of Lara. She looked even more gorgeous up close. Her brown hair was long and straight, flowing down her back and over her exposed shoulders. The dress she wore was tight around her thighs, with a sweetheart neckline that hung off her shoulders. I felt my cheeks burning when she laid her eyes on me.

“Uh… Hi…” I stammered out, internally cursing myself.

Her eyebrow quirked humorously, her eyes observing me. Did I look weird? I couldn’t tell by her calm expression. I had hoped she didn’t find me strange, wanting nothing more than a chance to talk to her. Well, a chance to get to know her, more likely.

“Hello,” She said, “Do I know you from somewhere?”

My eyes widened in surprise. Did she recognize me? I started to rack my brain for something that told me how she’d know my face. Nothing was clicking, not until she snapped her fingers, a smile forming on her face.

“Ah! I remember. A man introduced himself to me a mere moment ago. He mentioned your name,” She said.

I didn’t like the smile on her lips. I didn’t like it at all. It was gorgeous and also unnerving. What did the person say to her? It could have been anyone who was associated with the businesses, but I still couldn’t think. My brain was turning to mush underneath her gaze.

“Ashley, isn’t it?”

“Y-Yes… that’s me… It-It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Croft.”

“Oh, please, call me Lara. It’s nice to meet you as well, Ashley. I hear you’re wanting to be an adventurer yourself.”

“Well, I… uh… I’ve thought about it. My family would never approve of it, though. I could never do the things that you do.”

Lara shook her head, chuckling softly a bit. Her laugh was sweet. I liked it a lot.

“While that may be true,” She said, “Not all expeditions have to be dangerous. I sure do hope you get the chance to see the wonders of the world. It’s truly… beautiful.”

The way she said that was absolutely flawless. I could hear the deep love of the world in her voice. The will to learn and grow and seek all forms of beauty. I wanted to know what that felt like. To be able to see all the wonders that this world holds. I’d love to do that with someone like her.

Oh, dance with me, it won’t kill yaAnd one for the road

And one before you go

“Do you plan on dancing?” I asked.

“Oh, no. I’m fine right here, actually.”

“Oh, okay…”

My voice faded a bit, a little disappointed. Of course, she didn’t want to dance. And of course, she wouldn’t just ask me. For all I knew, she thought I was just being friendly. I wanted to open my mouth and just blurt out my feelings, but that would be embarrassing. Lara and I merely just met a moment ago. What would she think of me?

I’d ruin my chance for sure.

The two of us kept chatting idly, a few people passing by to say hello to either myself or Lara. Most were interested in Lara’s latest finds, asking if she would be willing to sell some to them. Of course, she would politely decline. Her body language was hard to read. She was very skilled at changing her mood given the situation. She knew when to work a room, and I was in awe by her.

Completely stricken.

“I probably should go,” Lara said, her arms folded across her chest, “The party seems to be just about over.”

No. she couldn’t leave. I hadn’t gotten my dance yet. Not to mention that I hadn’t even said anything to indicate how I felt. Nothing crazy, but maybe start a friendship with her. She couldn’t leave yet. I may not ever get this chance again.

You’re putting your jacket onOh no, is the moment gone?Don’t wanna regret this oneOh, I wanna know ya

“Wait,” I said, stopping her abruptly as she turned to leave.

My heart thudded in my chest, and I felt my stomach starting to churn. The worst thing she could say was no. That’s what I kept repeating over and over in my head. I didn’t want to see myself up for failure but also didn’t want to get my hopes up. Lara stared at me with her eyebrows raised, waiting calmly for me to speak.

“Would… would you wanna dance?” I asked, completely ignoring her eyes.

It was scary. My hands were shaking, begging to slip underneath the floorboards and disappear. I was sure that she would think I was foolish or strange. There was a gentle silence between us that I took as rejection. It was better than I had expected, but definitely not what I wanted.

Your face I won’t forgetDon’t know how much time is leftHaven’t had a moment yet

Lara let out a soft chuckle, smiling warmly as she met my eyes. I felt the heat rising in my cheeks as she looked me over. It felt odd, waiting impatiently for her answer as she observed me. I didn’t like how her eyes picked me apart, but I didn’t expect the words that left her lips next.

“You’re just the most adorable thing, aren’t you?” She teased.

“I… don’t…”

She chuckled once again, holding out her hand to me. “I don’t see why not,” She responded, allowing me to take her hand in my own. The action would have killed me if I hadn’t already died a moment later at the adorable comment. Lara thought I was adorable. She was agreeing to dance with me in front of all of these people.

I was completely stunned. But I was happy.

Oh, dance with me, it won’t kill yaAnd one for the roadDance with me, it won’t kill yaAnd one before you go

Lara walked with me to the dance floor, and in as almost positive she could feel my shaking hands. I began to question just how sweaty they were, and a million other issues began surfacing. I was a terrible dancer. Even though I had he lessons, I just never got it right. I was going to embarrass her during our first interaction.

Breathing deeply, I focused on each step, trying to force my brain to function. This was just a friendly dance between two woman. Nothing more. Seeing it like this would help me relax. Although, the minute I turned towards her and felt her pull me hands to her waist, I almost fainted.

“Ar-Are you sure?” I asked, stammering.

“It’s only proper that you securely hold my waist. Or, would you rather I hold yours instead?”

“No! I-It’s fine. This is fine.”

Her dark lips curled as she settled her hands on my shoulders. It was a simple dance, the two of us following the lead of everyone around us. We fell into the dance, smoothly flowing with the rest of the moving bodies. I couldn’t help but focus on her eyes, watching her lips move as she spoke softly to me.

She had a calm conversation as if the two of us weren’t basically pressed against each other. Did she not feel a connection? Was this just a dance to her? I definitely felt a spark, and it was hard to hide it when my cheeks were as red as tomatoes. Lara was hard to read, and I had a feeling that part of her would never change.

So why don’t you stay a little longer?

The music came to a stop, everyone slowly releasing their partners as the night came to a closing. Although, I hesitated in letting go, caught in the pools of her eyes. I didn’t want to be weird. I tried so hard not to be weird. But after spending hours and days dreaming of a moment like this… it was hard not to want more.

“The music’s stopped, Ashley. You can let go of me now,” Lara said.

“R-Right. I’m sorry.”

She dropped her arms from me, her eyes observing me once again as they had before. Her lips pursed in thought. Through the flurry of people passing by, I could barely make out her words as she politely offered to me a proposition.

“Why don’t you come over to my home for tea?”

The thudding of my heart came next. Each second became a slow, antagonizing beat as she waited for my answer. It was hard to believe this was happening. She was inviting me over. We had just finished dancing. And yet… I was finding it extremely hard to say no.

#the queen answers #lildreamysoul #self insert #self ship #song fic #otp: raider of my soul

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thetalesalchemist · 7 years

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The media, feminism, and me. A post for International Women’s Day 2017

While I consider myself a supporter of feminism and an ally to its cause, I find that virtually none of my favorite creators, authors, artists, scientists, etc. are female or, more importantly, identify as women. I believe that I can be an ally despite that fact but I have to ask myself if I am truly a supporter for the cause of gender equality.

If I don’t support a woman singer her songs and her albums am I a feminist? If I don’t watch women led films or television can I be a feminist? If the anime I like has weak female leads used primarily for fan service or has an overwhelmingly male cast am I supporting the feminist cause?

I find that few of the games I play have female playable characters. Even fewer with female leads. I watch several hours of wrestling a week and rarely, if ever, pay attention to women wrestlers. I watch several all male promotions: ROH, NJPW, and NOAH and I could not care less that there are no women on the roster. I used to be a sports guy but have since fallen out of watching SportsCenter every morning years ago. Still none of the athletes that I care about are women. I don’t watch any sports for them. As if women’s sports are for women.

In every genre of entertainment and in any expressive medium, I seem to avoid anything that has women in a central role. So, perhaps, my claim that I am a feminist is just that, a claim.

The question I must ask myself is “Do I avoid female-centric art?” If I think that I don’t and that I only am predisposed to liking male-centric things or that male focused art is better, does it matter?

I find that rappers like Killer Mike, Jay Z, Slug, etc. are better than Trina, Remy Ma, and Nicki. I prefer singers like Julian Casablancas, Chris Cornell, R. Kelly to Beyonce, Alicia Keys, and Lily Allen (who is my fav woman singer), There is no female directer that I follow or whose style I recognize like Snyder, Tarantino, Abrams, Nolan. The Ava DuVernay’s and Katheryn Bigelow’s of the world are award winning visionaries but I couldn’t describe their style or bodies of work. I had to Google other women directors because I’m simply not familair with any who wasn’t an actor first. There’s no actress that I prefer to my favorite actors. Amy Adams is in a few of my favorite recent films but she wouldn’t crack my top 20 for on screen performers. I’ve seen the majority of several actresses’ entire bodies of work and it doesn’t seem to matter to me. I find it hard to fathom that I would see a movie because an actress was in it. For some actors, I would.

In this scenario I’d have to ask myself why is this? Is it because of the subject matter or their work? Or is it something like the quality or my perception of it? Do I believe that their works are inferior to their male colleagues? Perhaps, the roles women are given in Hollywood and the music industry are typecast. Or I just avoid these women’s work because I am sexist? Idk.

In games I think my issue with supporting women and female leads has definite room for improvement. I never create a woman as my avatar. I’m male, identify as a man, so I’ve never, when given an option, chose to play as a woman over in a man when you could create a character. In Dishonored 2 I did choose to play as Emily instead of Corvo but you don’t create either character. I don’t think I know any game creators, directors, art leads, writers, etc. other than Amy Hennig (the writer and director of the first few Uncharted games) and Jade Raymond (of Assassin’s Creed). I will play a game with a female protagonist but I’m not sure if I avoided a game because it had a woman.

Thinking critically of myself I don’t think I would play Final Fantasy XV, my favorite game of last year, if it had a cast of four women. I’m not sure the marketing would capture me in that case. I would hope that having a female lead cast would not have prevented me from playing FFXV. I like Nathan Drake more than Lara Croft. I can’t tell if that’s because of the writing, Nolan North’s performance, or sexism. In Resident Evil 6 there were four campaigns with only one with a woman as the lead. Some campaigns had women characters but the driving focus of the narrative was on the men in them. Ada’s campaign was my favorite but that may be due to the execution and style of the others. In Overwatch my mains are split 50/50 which is a credit to Blizzard for diversifying its cast and the roles they play to encourage its players to be a different hero. In gaming I can’t tell with certainty why I seemingly don’t play games with women playable characters. It could be the style of the game-indie title skew more towards equality (not yet equal though) of female leads than AAA games. Maybe the genre of game is part of it. I prefer action oriented games and those overwhelmingly have guys as the protagonist.

In anime, none of my favorites have a woman lead. In some cases, like Bleach, the girls are there as fan service or damsels in distress. While they all have characters and motivations, their purpose within the story isn’t as important as the fellas that move the story along. I especially love Shonen style battle anime and there will seemingly always be a focus on men as it’s target audience in Japan is young boys. My favorite anime series is Full Metal Alchemist, a series with male leads yet is written by Hiromu Arakawa, a woman (Arakawa’s name is Hiromi but she uses a male pen name).

When it comes to wrestling and (real) sports I, simply, prefer watching the men. When I was a teenager I would watch women’s tennis cus upskirts hehe now that I’m (less im)mature I know now how silly and wrong that was. When I was that age professional wrestling in the US overly sexualized women and that’s the reason why I would watch it then. I would outgrow that behavior too because promotions focused on aesthetics and the women that they hired were trash performers. It’s only recently with NXT generation of women wrestlers (and Natalya too) that I care about women’s wrestling in the US. I love the Japanese style of wrestling, puroresu, but I don’t watch Joshi (female) promotions. I will seek out Joshi matches but at the time, I haven’t yet done the research and the promotions aren’t as easily available as New Japan Pro Wrestling. Back to real sports, now that I, more or less, know what I like. I do not watch any competition between women when there is a male alternative. With MMA I kind of luck into watching women fight as they’re on the same card as the men. I watch only World Cup for women’s soccer. I don’t think I’ve seen a high level soccer game on television other than WC. When I attended UAB, I never watched women’s basketball but went to a few men’s, I only went to one women’s soccer game and I didn’t support any other women’s sport on campus at all. I don’t follow the WNBA at all. I can only name a few players and can’t name a champion team. In women’s NCAA I only know about UConn because they’ve been so dominant. But even without watching ESPN regularly, I can tell you who’s hot and what the teams are doing in the NBA and men’s NCAA.

TLDR:

The crux of my problem is that I don’t know how much fault I bear in having an aversion to women’s artistic pursuits. While I feel like I am a feminist and am all for equal rights and pay, I do not seem to care much or at all about the creative work that women produce. I think it has to do with the exposure of their work. There are very few works of art that have a female lead that are marketed towards me. But I recognize that I should seek these things out as well. I should support women’s work because that, presumably, would help get more women hired in the fields and mediums that I enjoy consuming. In sports I can see clearly that I’m biased toward male competition and I don’t know how to fix that issue. Watching women’s sports would help a bit, sure, but I’m not a huge sports guy and so I’ll generally watch only the “major” events. Those events are, of course, overwhelmingly male. For the arts, literature (which I didn’t touch), film, music, tv, anime, games, etc. I need to consume more works by women featuring women to send a messages to labels, publishers, channels, and studios that there is a demand for their products. The thing is I’ve done things like this before every summer I look for new artists and try to find their work and I regularly seek out new anime. So I think I need to try to find new news sources as well and, perhaps, that would help alleviate the problem I have of not being exposed to what’s popular, critically acclaimed, and highlights women. There’s a lot of work that I have to do to be more inclusive in my hobbies. I’ve tried to do so in the past and while I think I tried to do so sincerely there was little to no impact on diversifying the types of art and its creators that I consume. In order to call myself a feminist and mean it, I NEED to try more works by women. What do you recommend?

#international women's day #feminism #the media

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mrmichaelchadler · 6 years

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Shadow of the Tomb Raider Continues Modern Legacy of Beloved Character

Here at RogerEbert.com, we’ve been attempting to discuss video game culture that has close ties with cinema. There are many, many games that owe a great deal to their movie influences, and vice versa. If you don’t think hit games have impacted the blockbuster market, you’re not paying attention. And so we’ve looked closely at incredibly cinematic franchises like “Resident Evil,” “Uncharted,” and “Assassin’s Creed” in an effort to examine these ties between the two mediums. One of the most film-influenced franchises, and one that has been adapted with two different leading ladies already, is “Tomb Raider,” which returned last week with a third new game in its modern iteration, the (mostly) thrilling “Shadow of the Tomb Raider.” A few difficulty spikes and repetitive mechanics hold the game back from the very high achievements of the 2013 reboot of this franchise and the 2015 sequel “Rise of the Tomb Raider,” but this is still a wildly entertaining game that owes a great deal to Indiana Jones, superhero movies, and even the cinematic incarnations of Lara Croft to date, played by Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander.

Lest you’re completely unfamiliar, “Tomb Raider” is old enough to drink. Premiering 22 years ago with the first Eidos Interactive game for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation, “Tomb Raider” was an instant hit. In 1996, games were still largely linear affairs, moving from point A to point B, and a world that felt at least a little like it allowed exploration was revolutionary. "Tomb Raider" sold seven million copies and was heralded as one of the best games of all time. It would become a template not only for action-adventure games but influence action-adventure films as well, and spawn a nearly-annual franchise. “Tomb Raider II” followed in 1997, “Tomb Raider III” in 1998, and so on and so on. The franchise lost some of its steam in the ‘00s, first rebooted really in the unique-to-the-franchise “Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light” in 2010.

The true reboot came in 2013 with the phenomenal “Tomb Raider.” Developer Crystal Dynamics went back to the drawing board, reimagining the origin of Lara Croft in a game that deftly blends action and puzzle-solving into a perfect blend. I don’t have enough time to play games I often want to play but “Tomb Raider” is good enough that I played it twice. And 2015’s “Rise of the Tomb Raider” nearly matches it.

Which brings us to “Shadow of the Tomb Raider.” If Lara and this world is starting to feel a little stale, it’s still a game filled with remarkable set pieces and gorgeous visuals that recalls classic action cinema like “Indiana Jones” and the serials that inspired it. It picks up two months after the end of the last game as Lara and her colleague/friend Jonah continue to alternate treasure-hunting with stopping the nefarious activities of the paramilitary group named Trinity. There’s an interesting through-line in these modern games in that the writers get around the potentially problematic idea that Croft is pillaging other cultures by suggesting, well, she’s doing it for the right reasons. Lara is the classic treasure hunter in the Indy model, the one who comes from a lineage of historians who seek to preserve instead of destroy.

“Shadow of the Tomb Raider” gets a little more biblical than some of the other games in the series. In a tomb near Cozumel, Lara discovers evidence of a hidden city and finds a dagger in a place that suggests the apocalypse will befall the world if anyone disturbs its placement. Lara does anyway, and, well, things start to fall apart. There’s a tsunami sequence in Cozumel that recalls the horror of the main set piece of “The Impossible,” as you have to dodge waves of water, jumping from debris to debris as you try to get away. There are several of these escape sequences in “Shadow,” and they’re among the most well-designed and heart-racing gaming moments of the year.

Lara loses the dagger—of course—and tracks the villain who stole it to the Amazon, where she and Jonah crash-land in Peru, finding their way to the small village of Paititi, the location shown in the murals back in Cozumel. Here’s where “Shadow” truly echoes the last games as its blend of open-world and direct storytelling comes to life. Much of the structure is the same, including base camps at which you can upgrade skills and items, and optional tombs to explore, earning more XP and finding more treasures. The best narrative element is how well the developers of “Shadow” blend the two styles of open world and direct storytelling. This one leans more heavily on the latter than many open world games. Yes, you can explore or fast travel between bonfires in your pursuit for 100% completion, but the game’s story does push forward from plot point to plot point in a relatively direct fashion.

And that’s one of the few problems with “Shadow.” The story plunges Lara into Peruvian culture in a way that doesn’t always work, especially after she’s forced to dress up in local outfits to help villagers survive. The game opens with a crawl that points out how respectful the writers have tried to be regarding the cultures they’re using, but that doesn’t mean it always works. They try to offset the white savior argument by presenting us with a strong female local named Unuratu, and “Shadow” never feels as offensive as it arguably could have, but the blend between gun-toting action and ancient ceremonies doesn’t always mix smoothly. Without spoiling anything, the game does address the concept of a white woman pillaging non-white lands rather directly, and effectively, as it approaches its final act. And one could argue that the entire narrative—which features a potential apocalypse brought on by Lara’s tomb raiding—is a commentary on the lack of consequences she’s faced in the past.

Political commentary aside, “Shadow of the Tomb Raider” finds the right blend of action, suspense, and puzzle-solving. That it falls just short of the last two is more a commentary on their quality than its own. This is still a very fun game that is coming out in a ridiculously crowded market (“Marvel's Spider-Man” landed the week before and new entries in the “Assassin’s Creed,” “Call of Duty,” “Battlefield,” and “Red Dead Redemption” franchises will dominate October.) Fans of action games and the treasure-hunting storytelling that has inspired this entire franchise shouldn’t let this one slip by. And I can’t wait to see where Lara Croft goes next.

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