#among all the characters introduced so far this is the status

[frostbytemyrik]

Danny Phantom Required* Watching

*It isn't actually required. I know there are a ton of phans who have never even seen a single episode of the show, but it's a fun watch and I would recommend at least catching some.

Sorting the episodes into colors (with the first letter in parenthesis by the title for those who might be too colorblind to tell). Note that this is all just my objective opinion, and everyone is free to leave their own thoughts on this!

Green (G) - Introduction of an important character or major plot development, such as a new power for Danny or another major shift in the status quo. If you can only watch a few of the episodes, watch these.

Pink (P) - Introduction of a side character or minor plot development.

Red (R) - Introduction of a new character worth mentioning or other general status quo change, but the episode is generally considered to be...not great by most people. (But hey, nothing wrong with liking these episodes!) They'll be summarized at the bottom of each episode description for those who can't be bothered to watch them.

Blue (B) - Nothing important happens to the overall plot, but it's a fun episode that fleshes out the characters.

Season 1

Episode 1: Mystery Meat (R) - Establishes the show and its main characters: Danny, Sam, and Tucker, as well as a lot of other important characters such as the Fenton parents and Jazz, and minor recurring characters like Dash and the Lunch Lady. The writers are still getting their footing so the main trio is unfortunately among the flattest they get here.

Episode 2: Parental Bonding (P) - Introduction of Paulina and Dora, first look at Valerie, and most importantly, Danny's power to overshadow people. Fun episode in general, Tucker makes a weird comment at the start but this is one of Sam's absolute best episodes as a character. (Tucker and Sam actually getting to be fun characters instead of just "butt-monkey comic relief" and "selfish asshole" is rarer than I'd like, so I always like pointing out the episodes where they get some love.)

Episode 3: One of a Kind (G) - Introduction of Skulker, a recurring major antagonist, and his motivations.

Episode 4: Attack of the Killer Garage Sale (P) - Introduction of Technus, Ghost Master of Technology and Destroyer of Worlds, Manipulator of Machines, Lord of all Gadgetry, Wizard of Integrated Circuitry, Master of All Things Electronic and Beeping.

Episode 6: What You Want (P) - First appearance of Danny's Ghost Ray and introduction to Desiree and the Ghost Catcher (a Fenton device with an unfortunately rather...culturally insensitive name and design), explores Tucker and his relationship to Danny. I went back and forth between making this green and pink because I'm biased in my love for this episode, but it isn't necessary to comprehend later episodes. (If you can watch it, though, it's a lot of fun as we get to see how close Danny and Tucker are and how Tucker feels about Danny's powers.)

Episode 7: Bitter Reunions (G) - Formal introduction to main series antagonist, Vlad Masters, and his relationship with the Fentons and the ghosts of the Ghost Zone. (Antisemitism tw: Vlad has hired ghost hitmen that are vultures with Yiddish accents, hooked beaks, and fezzes. They thankfully don't show up anywhere else, as far as I can remember.)

Episode 8: Prisoners of Love (P) - Introduction to the Ghost Zone itself and Walker, a side antagonist. Shows Alicia, Danny and Jazz's maternal aunt who never appears again after this episode.

Episode 9: My Brother's Keeper (G) - Gives Jazz a focus and formally makes her a major player in the plot through a certain discovery she makes. Also introduces side antagonist Dr. Penelope Spectra.

Episode 10: Shades of Gray (G) - Valerie Gray, a background character from Episode 2, gets new motivations and becomes an important part of the series going forward.

Episode 11: Fanning the Flames (P) - Ember is introduced, and she hypnotizes the entire town to fall for her with her music. To keep Danny out of her hair, she makes him fall for Sam. Whether this episode is a Pink or a Red depends on whether or not that bothers you. (Racism tw: there's a sequence towards the end of the episode that shows people around the world watching Ember, and they're all very stereotyped appearances of Japanese, Eastern European, Arabian, and Indigenous Australian people. Thanks, Hartman.)

Episode 12: Teacher of the Year (B) - A fun episode with Technus. It does have some of that early 2000s "don't underestimate me because I'm a girl" stuff, but it's still a good episode with a lot of heart.

Episode 13: Fright Night (P) - Introduces Fright Knight. A Halloween special that has its ups and downs (eating underwear?) It's just really funny that an actual ghost, who has been to the maddeningly twisted and alien world of the afterlife, still can't scare anyone to save his life.

Episode 14: 13 (P) - It's a shame this isn't actually the 13th episode. Anyway, it introduces Johnny 13 and Kitty, while Tucker and Sam get to hang out without Danny while trying to solve Tucker's new run of bad luck and the fallout for his reputation.

Episode 15: Public Enemies (G) - Walker's back and he's making a major shift in the status quo: ghosts are confirmed to exist as he stages a major invasion of the town. Things don't go well for Danny, and the repercussions will be felt for well into the series. Also introduces Wulf, a ghost who looks like a werewolf, exclusively speaks Esperanto, and has the ability to tear the fabric of reality to create portals between Earth and the Ghost Zone. He's putting this power to use for Walker, but it's clearly not by choice...

Episode 17: Maternal Instinct (B) - Maddie notices her son is growing distant from her and tries to take him to a science symposium to bond with him, but disaster strikes and leaves them in the woods, with the only shelter available being...a cabin owned and occupied by none other than Vlad. Meanwhile, Jack tries to understand Jazz, who doesn't seem to want anything to do with him or ghost hunting. Lots of great character moments for the Fentons.

Episode 18: Life Lessons (B) - Danny and Valerie, arriving late to class because they both were out ghost hunting, get paired up in home economics class to raise a flour sack baby together. We get more insight into what Valerie's life is like after Shades of Gray, and she learns to get along with both Fenton and, temporarily, Phantom, after an excursion through Skulker's part of the Ghost Zone. As a B-plot, Tucker makes money babysitting other students' flour sacks while ignoring the one he has with Sam, and Sam tries not to get attached to the sack. It's not important to the plot AT ALL but I'd put this as a must-watch if I could. Alas, I made the rules and must follow them.

Episode 19: The Million Dollar Ghost (B) - A million dollars is placed on the head of the ghost boy, Public Ghost Enemy #1: Inviso-Bill, known to us in the audience as Danny Phantom.

Episode 20: Control Freaks (G) - The circus is in town! New villain Freakshow gets introduced, and he becomes important later. Kinda. Depending on how much you like a certain blue episode that comes on down the line. The trio go to this cool new goth circus, but there's a string of ghostly robberies in town and Danny has been acting strangely lately...

Season 2

Episode 1/21: Memory Blank (R) - Danny and Sam have a fight, Sam wishes she'd never met him, Desiree makes the wish come true and now Danny has no powers and neither he nor Tucker remember her at all. Sam gets him fried by the portal again to get his powers back, but this time with a new logo she designed slapped onto his chest. Really all that happens is Danny gets his logo. This can be skipped...if you wish. ;)

Episode 2/22: Doctor's Disorders (B) - There's a bug going around - literally - getting the kids at Casper High sick. Symptoms include sneezing, chills, coughing, congestion, and various ghost powers depending on the student. The only ones immune seem to be Danny (thanks to his ghost powers) and Tucker (wearing his new homemade cologne that smells awful in a different way to everyone). A new hospital opens up to treat them, but something fishy is definitely going on. ...But Tucker is afraid of hospitals. Great Tucker episode.

Episode 3/23: Pirate Radio (P) - Introduction to Youngblood, an occasional antagonist. A new radio program pops up, and every adult in town (and Jazz, who's 16 but sees herself as an adult) is enraptured by it and the one song that it plays on loop. Then one day, every single adult in town leaves behind a note that they're going on a cruise, and it's up to Danny to rally the teens of Amity Park to discover what's so fishy about the cruise and get their parents back.

Episode 4/24-5/25: Reign Storm (G) - The creepy castle in the Ghost Zone Danny accidentally freed Fright Knight from in Fright Night holds yet another secret: the coffin of the Ghost King, known as Pariah Dark, whose goal is to rule over the Ghost Zone and the human world with an iron fist. Vlad frees him hoping to snatch the powerful artifacts on him, but it backfires and now the King is free and follows the fleeing ghosts to Amity Park, which he promptly invades. Danny, Valerie, and various enemies including Vlad need to team up to seal King Pariah back within his sarcophagus and save both Amity Park and the Ghost Zone as a whole. Major status quo shifts happen here.

Episode 6/26: Identity Crisis (B) - Not my favorite episode, but I'm including it here because it was popular with the Phandom a decade ago. Danny gets tired of trying to balance his human and ghost lives, so splits himself in two using the Ghost Catcher that was introduced in Season 1 episode 6: What You Want. That also, unfortunately, divides his personality to two extremes; the human half ("Fun Danny") is lazy while the ghost half ("Super Danny") is an absolute ham of a superhero stereotype, and Tucker and Sam struggle to put their friend back together so he can stop Technus in a way only he can (and also because both halves are honestly really annoying them).

Episode 8/28-9/29: The Ultimate Enemy (G) - This is THE episode of all time. Maybe not the best episode, but it's great in its own right and, more importantly for this list, introduces another major status quo shift. It's also basically required viewing for the comic that came out last year (at time of writing), as that comic is a direct follow-up to this episode. Clockwork, a ghost that is essentially a deity of time, has a mission to eliminate the greatest threat to Earth and the Ghost Zone that has ever been before he comes into that role: a ghost named Danny Phantom. Danny comes face-to-face with a version of himself that caused a doomed future, and needs to fight to ensure that future never comes to pass.

Episode 10/30: The Fright Before Christmas (B) - The boy Danny Fenton, a Grinch to his core, finds the holiday season to be quite a chore. Into the Ghost Zone to blow off some steam, he accidentally causes a scene: the Ghost Writer's finished manuscript in ashes, and with Danny's indifference he clashes. He traps him in a book that warps space and time, and forces all events in his life to rhyme. You're in for a treat if you like all these rhymes, but if they annoy you, then don't waste your time. (This factoid may not matter to you, but this is where we learn of the Christmas Truce!)

Episode 11/31: Secret Weapons (R) - Jazz is overbearing, Danny doesn't like it, so Jazz decides to go to Vlad. The episode's latter half isn't bad, but it's R because Jazz's constant invasions of Danny's privacy and the repetitive thermos jokes grate on me. If you plan to skip, the thing that makes it a red episode is this: Vlad learns that Jazz is in-the-know.

Episode 12/32: Flirting With Disaster (G) - A lot of the more plot-relevant episodes in season 2 (and one in season 1) have been building romantic tension between Danny and Valerie, and here's where it comes to a head: they actually start dating! However, after some jealous stalking thorough investigating, Sam finds that there's someone pulling the strings, and manipulating their real feelings for each other to pull them together and get them out of the way... Valerie especially undergoes a lot of major character moments, and we learn a lot more about her as a person. One of my personal favorite episodes (and I don't just say that because I'm a Danny/Valerie truther) (the "engraved" ring and Sam being a stalker about it aren't great, but honestly I just try to ignore those parts. Yes, I know I'm biased).

Episode 17/37: Kindred Spirits (G) - While Danny's busy being an asshole to his friends leaving Sam and Tucker to take the blame for property damages during his fights, he finds a strange girl named Danielle (or "Dani") who claims to be his cousin and shares an eerie resemblance with him. The similarities go more than skin deep, as she quickly reveals that she's ALSO half ghost. Tucker and Sam warn Danny that there's something suspicious about the whole ordeal (in between being left behind to be blamed for collateral damage more times than I'm bothered to count right now), but when Danny winds up in trouble anyway, they still skip detention (that he got them in) to save him before it's too late. Danny's a dick, but despite that, it's still a good episode and we get introduced to Dani before her next appearance.

Episode 19/39-20/40: Reality Trip (B) - Freakshow gets the Reality Gauntlet: an off-brand Infinity Gauntlet that can warp reality to anything he desires. He gets Danny's secret revealed to the world, causing the government agency the Guys In White (from Million Dollar Ghost in season 1) to relentlessly pursue him. Luckily, thanks to knowledge Sam gained from a book on the gauntlet, the main trio manages to warp the gems to different parts of the United States, severely limiting Freakshow's power. Unluckily, Freakshow retaliates by kidnapping their parents and Jazz, forcing the three to go on a cross-country road trip to get the gems back to Freakshow and save their families while evading the law. No permanent shifts of the status quo, but one of my personal favorite episodes. It's a fun ride!

Season 3

Episode 1/41: Eye for an Eye (R) - A prank war between Danny and Vlad ends in Vlad becoming mayor and passing a lot of horrible laws specifically to spite Danny. The laws are undone by the end of the episode, but Vlad stays mayor.

Episode 2/42: Infinite Realms (R) - In trying to map out the Ghost Zone, the main trio end up meeting Frostbite: leader of a realm in the Zone known as the Far Frozen, filled with spirits that take the form of peaceful, yeti-like monster folk who revere Danny as the chosen one who defeated Pariah Dark. Frostbite is also keeper of the Infi-Map: a map that can take the user anywhere in the Ghost Zone. Now for the bad news: Vlad is here, he wants world domination now for some reason, and he wants the map to help him do it. Vlad steals the map, the trio needs to get it back. It's not the worst episode, but Vlad's villain decay is...tragic. Tl;dr: Frostbite is the leader of a tribe of friendly yeti spirits and keeps the Infi-Map, which can take the user to any point in the ghost zone.

Episode 5/45: Forever Phantom (B) - One of the only actually fun filler episodes in season 3. Introduces us to Amorpho: a ghost with the power to shapeshift into anything and anyone, who uses their power to cause mayhem for attention. They bite off more than they can chew when they impersonate Danny Phantom, however, and a Fenton device gone awry locks both Amorpho and Danny into the form of Danny Phantom. Wacky hijinks abound.

Episode 6/46: Urban Jungle (G) - Haha green. Like plants. Anyway, Danny has been cold lately. No matter what he does or where he is, he's consistently freezing. It gets worse: while Danny's in this weakened state, a giant plant ghost named Undergrowth takes over Amity Park and possesses Sam. Unable to fight the constantly-regenerating Undergrowth or to keep himself from freezing, he flees into the Ghost Zone to seek Frostbite's aid.

Episode 9/49: Frightmare (B) - Danny wakes up one night to learn, to his horror, that Nocturne, the ghost of dreams, has put all of Amity Park into a deep sleep to feed on their energy. He enters the dreams of his friends to wake them and get their help taking Nocturne down. A good episode for people who ship Danny/Sam, and a GREAT episode for people like me who like to pretend that all the episodes I left off the season 3 list were just bad dreams.

Episode 10/50: Claw of the Wild (B) - The students of Casper High are ending summer with a camping trip in a foggy forest. All seems normal until, one by one, campers go missing. Danny, Tucker, and Sam go investigating and find their ally Wulf, who seems to know something about the disappearances...

Episode 11/51: D-Stabilized (G) - Regarded by most as the final good episode of Danny Phantom. Dani had been on her own in the world since we last left her, but over time, her form has been getting unstable, causing her to be slowly melting into a puddle of ectoplasm. She tries returning to Amity Park to get help, but is now being hunted down by Valerie, who Vlad commissioned so he could melt Dani down and study her remains to make a superior clone. (Valerie thinks he's just going to keep her contained for the safety of Amity Park; she isn't informed of the cloning.) Valerie turns Dani in to Vlad, but Danny manages to form a shaky alliance with Valerie to get Dani back, since Valerie knows that Dani is half human.

Episode 12/52-13:53: Phantom Planet (R) - The only reason this is here is because the comic continues from where this episode left off. If it didn't, I'd suggest ignoring it entirely. Rapid-fire summary: an asteroid is about to hit Earth, Vlad reveals himself to the world and demands unquestioning rule over Earth (and one trillion dollars or something) in exchange for turning the asteroid intangible. Vlad can't turn it intangible since it's made of Ectoranium, an anti-ghost substance we never hear of until now. Jack leaves Vlad in outer space. Danny gets every ghost he knows to help him turn Earth intangible, it works somehow, and Danny reveals his secret identity to the world. Statues of Danny are built all over the world, Sam and Danny start dating, and Tucker becomes mayor of Amity Park. A bunch of other stuff happens too but it's all stupid. Valerie gets thrown into a dumpster on live TV and that's her only appearance besides clapping for Danny at the end. I'm still mad. Don't watch Phantom Planet.

The Comics

Book 1: A Glitch in Time (G) - Danny's life is perfect: his secret identity is out, and the world accepts him not just as a part of it, but as its savior. His parents and former bullies fight on his side now, he's in a committed relationship with Sam, and Amity Park seems to be at peace. There's just one problem: his powers are getting weaker by the day. Unbeknownst to him, there's another problem in progress: Dan Phantom, the evil future Danny from The Ultimate Enemy, is released and fuses with Clockwork, causing present Danny and those near him to experience unstable glitches in time. Vlad returns to warn Danny of the threat of Dan, and they all team up to venture into the depths of the Ghost Zone to find a way to stop Dan and get Danny back to full strength. Meanwhile, Jazz and Valerie hold down the fort at Amity Park, holding Dan off for as long as they can while the trio and Vlad search for answers.

Book 2: To be continued in 2025!

Danny Phantom can be watched on Paramount Plus, but if you don't have a subscription, there may be DVDs at your local library! Other people may also have resources on how to watch the show, so feel free to ask around!

Danny Phantom: A Glitch in Time can be found anywhere books are sold! Abrams Books Amazon Barnes and Noble Google Play Waterstones

[embracing-the-ineffable]

The Ineffable Detective Agency presents more Ineffable Discontinuity and Suspicious Moments: Hawaiian Shirt / Pub Table Guy

Introducing... the extra/background character who makes Aziraphale do THIS, and then immediately has his table at the pub miracled away:

Jon Dan Duncan's imdb profile doesn't list Good Omens, not even as "uncredited" - which seems strange, because his profile does include the above photo of him. Since the actor isn't credited in GO, we don't have a character name or know anything more than what we can see onscreen. So, what DO we see?

First of all, when Aziraphale sees this person, he definitely has A Reaction. We were probably all too distracted by Azi stroking the thin dark duke to notice (as an aside, IS Crowley a Duke? Of what? Hell? Something else??), but after the 90th rewatch, it gets a bit easier to focus on these background details that are probably critically important to the story in ways we just don't understand yet. Look at this:

Did he mouth "stop" when he's supposed to be saying "sherry"? Maybe. These LOOKS, though:

We all know that Michael Sheen's expressions, no matter how tiny or fleeting, are very intentional. Who IS this mystery person??! Immediately after taking his table:

After whoever-he-is loses his pub table, he lingers nearby, and there's an interesting "ineffable discontinuity" - what he's holding in his right hand abruptly changes twice between camera cuts (sound on, if you want context for this small zoomed-in part of the screen, and try watching from your browser if the Tumblr app is cutting off the right edge of the image):

So far, our best explanation for the "ineffable discontinuities" - things that inexplicably and improbably change, like which hand is holding his drink or (coming up next) when he's behind Gabriel and then suddenly in front of him - is that we're seeing multiple timelines that are being knitted together in production to make them look seamless - but who knows? We'd love to hear your ideas! (Also, see the appearing Honolulu Roast sign in the coffeeshop, or Crowley's tattoo and sideburns, or the fandom's newest discovery (from @kimberleyjean and @bbbitchvibbbez) about Gabriel visiting his statue with "both" s1 and s2 Beelzebubs, plus the way the statue's cross is sometimes missing - just to name a few!)

Was the point in this scene with Hawaiian shirt/pub guy's right hand to draw our attention to this page of his newspaper?

"Unearthed mysteries of sealed library basement" - when Crowley told Shax that Aziraphale was "stock taking in the basement", was it true that there IS a basement in the bookshop? Basements apparently aren't that common in most of the UK, but London is famous for having "iceberg" buildings (where the basements are actually bigger than what's above-ground).

"Government approves funding for citywide charging stations" - We don't know, but it makes us think of all the electric cars used in s2 (it was an indoor set) and of Crowley throwing lightning in the street.

And the smaller headline on the right ... Hmmm. Can you read it? 😅 Maybe "Neighbor says New ------ park gate is ' too --- ' "

And it's not just the pub during episode 2! This mystery character is everywhere!

E1: He somehow starts out behind Gabriel, and then ends up in front of Gabriel with another extra on his arm:

E2: In addition to his appearance in the pub, he's also watching when Saraqael, Uriel, and Michael arrive:

E3: Our mystery character is there again when Crowley makes it rain, wearing his e1 shirt:

E4: We didn't spot him in this episode, but there are only a few minutes of present-day SoHo. Did anyone else see him?

E5: He has a doppelganger in a different Hawaiian print shirt! (Notice the different facial hair, among other things.)

Later in e5 he does actually make an appearance in the bookshop window for a quarter of a second (!!), wearing his e2 pub outfit, and maybe it's his presence that elicits this similar-to-the-pub reaction from Aziraphale?

E6: And back again to his black e1 and e3 shirt with the red flowers, while in line behind The Metatron, and then sitting at a table on the sidewalk, where he remains with the person in the turban who was in line behind him (and who also shows up quite a lot during s2) right up until Crowley drives away:

So, why have him wear such a noticable black shirt with red flowers on what are supposed to be three different days? Is he connected, with his Hawaiian print shirt, to the appearing Honolulu Roast sign? Why does he get a doppelganger in e5 - to distract us from his presence outside the bookshop before the ball? Why does Aziraphale react like this - TWICE - upon seeing this person?? (Much to Crowley's great confusion!)

And why does it seem that Aziraphale is keeping this person's presence/ identity/ importance a secret from Crowley?

As always, we'd love to hear your ideas!

Also, here's an earlier post from @theastrophysicistnextdoor about him, with gratitude for the inspiration to write all this up.

With appreciation for contributions from @noneorother, @thebluestgreen, and @embracing-the-ineffable at the @ineffable-detective-agency

Want to see more interesting posts, plus Good Omens clues and metas from all over the fandom? There's a huge collection here!

[jozor-johai]

So do you think Dany and Jon are just two Heads of the Dragon? and if so, who do you think is the third? my money's on Bran as like, the Ice Representative to balance out Dany's fire and Jon's Ice/Fire dealies.

Thank you for this ask, sorry it took ages to respond.

Say that we know (or we think we know) that two "heads" of "the dragon" are Jon and Dany—insofar as we even think we understand what that phrase is supposed to mean (an assumption that I think is worth questioning as well, but that's not a task for now).

Here's what I love about this question—the issue of "who/what is the 'third head'" comes up as a literal question in a religious sense when Arya is talking to the Sailor's Wife in Braavos. There's a statue to the god Trios, and the Sailor's Wife can't tell us the purpose of one of the heads:

Three-headed Trios has that tower with three turrets. The first head devours the dying, and the reborn emerge from the third. I don't know what the middle head's supposed to do.

GRRM is definitely referencing the concept of the "three headed (dragon)" when he invented Trios; the imagery is too central and too specific for that not to be the case. What's fun, of course, is that we're all asking ourselves the same thing—what (or who) is that middle head?

I like your suggestion about Bran. It's a pretty unorthodox idea, because most people assume/expect that the three heads of the "dragon" must be Targaryen or at least Valyrian... but I don't think one needs Valyrian blood to ride a dragon, so as far as I'm concerned Bran is an option. He's a cool idea, too, because of his attachment to the North, the far North, and maybe even the "Ice" concept, like you say. Bran's also a powerful skinchanger—or, in training to be one—and there's not a doubt in my mind we're going to see some dragons get skinchanged. GRRM has been asked about that idea before and he's gleefully dodged answering it.

That would also be interesting because it's worth remembering that Jon is technically not canonically a Targaryen (yet), or even a contender to be a "head of the dragon" (yet). We think we've figured it out (and we probably have) but it's still technically a mystery. In that sense, then, if I was going to lean on the comparison with Trios, I would say: perhaps by now we should have met the first "head" —the "death" head—and we should have met the last head— "rebirth" head—so we should be missing this middle head whose purpose we don't know. However, we think we've figured out that Jon is the marriage of Ice and Fire, so maybe he's the "unknown" middle head—and then Dany is, on one side, the "rebirth" head (of fire?), and we should have met the "death" head (of ice?) already, but we don't know who it might be. Perhaps it's Bran!

If I'm being honest, I personally haven't thought too much about solving the third head of the dragon issue. It's clear to me that some key piece of the puzzle is being intentionally obscured from our view, so it feels like a fool's errand to be confident in solving it at this point. I realize that's a lame answer, but it's the truth—I try to approach these things beginning with how they work in the story and how they work with the symbolism at play, so without being sure how the "three heads" are even supposed to work I haven't tried to solve this mystery.

If there are truly three people who are going to be the "three heads of the dragon," I think the rules of good storytelling limit our options to characters that were introduced in AGOT. If we limit that to POVs—which is not necessarily a valid assumption, but I think is likely—then that's only Tyrion, Bran, Arya, or Sansa. I'm torn on the common "Tyrion Targaryen" theory... I don't really like it, but it would explain why he's included as a POV in AGOT and why he makes the shortlist for possibilities here (among other things). Bran would be a much more interesting option, though.

The thing is, I'm ultimately not convinced the "three heads" are going to work like we expect. Yes, it's said that Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya were the "three heads," but who knows if the common understanding of that is true? Plus, the person who presents the idea to Dany of the need for "three heads" to ride the three dragons is Jorah... who I don't think knows shit about dragons. So my mind is wide open when it comes to possible interpretations of the "three heads of the dragon."

[illiaccrest]

So, is Aventurine going to come back and have a larger role or is the writing for Star Rail just really weird?

Spoilers for Penacony

I feel like Aventurine's plot in the Penacony storyline is interesting but kind of awkward? The writing in Star Rail so far is pretty awkward in general imo, but him especially.

Like, you're introduced to him as this shifty ally but actually adversary but actually ally. He lies to you a lot, acts like a crazy person (at least he must have looked crazy from the trailblazer's perspective), and then gets YEEETED out of the story. That's all great and cool, his schemes eventually uncover the final secret of the plot, but did we really need the intimate deep dive into his backstory?

I loved getting to see all of his flashbacks, it definitely made him the most interesting and complex character so far, but from a storytelling perspective it's a weird choice.

For Aventurine to fulfill his role in the story we really just needed to know that he's the schemer among the IPC. There's really no reason to go so deep into his past and for us to actually see all of those scenes play out. It would have been enough to suggest that he had a rough past that made him the way he is.

I don't know if I'm reading too much into things but I feel like it's important. Not only does Penacony's story make Aventurine suddenly feel like an important character, but his flashbacks also introduced this idea of people being blessed by gods that aren't Aeons with Giathra which hopefully means they're going to go back and explore the nature of divinities in this universe more and not just forget about it.

Also, am I crazy of does the wording in some scenes seem to imply that Aventurine is NOT the last Avgin? When asked if he's the last of his kind he answers "perhaps". During the IPC broadcast about the genocide they report 6000+ deaths and 3000+ missing. That's a lot of missing people! And in his character story when he asks Jade about the status of his people she says "there are no more Avgins on Sigonia".

On Sigonia. Not that there are no more Avgins in general.

My prediction is that Aventurine is not done causing problems and that we might find out that the IPC is really into human trafficking 😬

[multifunctionalnitroglycerin]

I haven't yet watched the second season of Blood of Zeus, and honestly, I am a bit scared to do so.

Not because I expect it to be any accurate retelling or anything, far from it. It was fun exploring a different course and not sticking to the mythos and not pretending to stick to the mythos.

I am not watching it for the plot and all its at times glaring insufficiencies, but for the art style and character designs, which are in many cases superb ( yes, I want a curvaceous Aphrodite that is vengeful and can sure as heck yield a sword, yes I want an Ares that isn't half naked and wears armor and a helmet ( no talks abt accuracy here I am not out to get them) a Demeter that looks like everyone's aunt that will force you to eat some more, has a green thumb and a heck of a temper, and frankly one of my favorite Athena designs in modern animated media )

What I do worry about, however, is the plot. Which yeah is all fun and games as far as myths themselves go, but even from the trailer I see Heron suffering main character and plot armor syndrome and I am a bit less than enthused.

S1 was bad enough with Zeus playing favorites among his bastard children, and being like, you are not a mortal you are my son.

Ehhmm sir, what are Apollo and Hermes and Ares then?

And they are present in the scene. So either Zeus is supposed to be an even more huge prick, clearly favoring his mortal offpsirng from the immortal ones. Who have backed him up. In several occasions in the show. Or well, plot.

And then we have the trailer with Heron fist fighting Ares I think, and getting 4 solid hits in. Which okay fun if you like Heron, but my dudes. You won't win a fist fight against the God of War. But he is the son of Zeus! And so is half the Pantheon.

And I am afraid we are going to overlook many 'logical' things, and nerf a lot of gods to make Heron seem as idk the rightful heir to the throne of Olympus or idk and yeah... it ll take a lot from the show.

Because wether we like it or not, Heron is a demigod. Not a God. And he has lived only a handful of years in comparison to the rest. I have trouble thinking that any of the gods would back down from taking the lead and giving it to Heron. Who will? Athena? Ares? Poseidon? Hera?

Especially in a time of unrest. Where supposedly Hades is behind the coup and wants to take over Olympus. Well, buddy, I wouldn't want to be stuck down there and constantly being a footnote, either. I can understand why he snapped within the premises for the show.

And it introduces an interesting theme. Civil War among the gods. Not the first time it has happened, but it has the potential to be interesting. I want to see them struggle, and fight while trying to organize a sort of defense against Hades and Persephone. I want Athena and Ares to fight over how to station their forces and who should lead them. I want to see the power struggle between the Queen of Olympus, the King's brother, and his first son. The power vacuum is delicious.

And I definitely want to see more of Apollo and Artemis and Hermes. Who I feel will more readily accept Heron among their ranks. On principle of their personalities in tandem with their status.

Anyway, bottom line I don't want to see an overpowered Heron for example and an Artemis that misses 3 shots out of 5, and Ares that can barely hold his own, a Hermes thats like a Flash lookalike, a himbo Apollo with little functionality and a goddess of battle strategy that cannot do battle strategy, all for the purpose of making the main character look better.

I might be going off a mile here, but I have learned to expect the worst usually, so forgive me. I d very much prefer to be pleasantly surprised, so fingers crossed for that.

[chronicler-of-narrative]

Rejoice, Warframe fans, for I have returned (aka finally thought of what I wanna post), and this time I bring you yet another Warframe oc

Ok, so im actually doing this because I managed to finish a chapter of a fic of mine where he's properly introduced, so I figured I'd introduce him here too, as well as take the time to ask whether or not you'd want me to post that fic to my blog (as my previous attempts have been...rather unsuccessful).

But in any case, let us set that aside for now and focus on the oc himself: Lavius (and ???)

To start off, allow me to showcase him in all his splendor in two different forms.

Firstly, his "cannon accurate" form, made in game (and slightly changed in the two years i have had this image/him as an oc, however the changes are only minute and thus I can't be bothered to fiddle around in captura when I already have the older images)

And Secondly, a sort of reimagined form, illustrated by the wonderful @goldenboikuvasauce

Now, with his looks done, let us move onto Lavius's personality.

Many words can be used to describe Lavius, but chief among them include Pretentious, Pompous, Extremely Violent and Short-Tempered.

Whether he's serving his Executor master (another oc who serves as a side character and thus shall only be mentioned as Aeidon, the Executor with four arms), or the Empire as a whole, Lavius stands as both Guardian (of the elite) and Executioner (of the lowly). He cares not what horrors he will commit in the name of his Golden Lords, in fact, they oftentimes underestimate how far he takes his butchery. Be it by freezing an entire rebelling town into a ghastly ice sculpture exhibit or by performing public executions of even the highest-ranking Dax (on his own accord), he will do everything to both keep his Gods in power while simultaneously quenching his ravenous bloodlust. A true symbol of Orokin oppression.

Though, the keen among you have noticed that despite my usual preference for more humanoid ocs, be they Tenno or otherwise, that Lavius here is a warframe (specifically a Frost Prime). This is where we set up the main mystery of Lavius: How is he sentient? And moreover, how does he keep his booming, pretentious voice despite being made of infested matter?

While you will have to tune in and see, I can provide a little hint: It is said that those who have managed to defy Lavius's aggression and fight back managed to witness something akin to an...apparatition. A child, manifesting alongside the supposedly self-suficient frame, appearing in tandom with Lavius's unaided movement. Every time it has been glimpsed, the apparition only appears for a second or two, using some form of void devilry to disorient or stagger the warframe's foe, just enough time to eliminate any advantage said foe may have had. Stranger still, those who have glimpsed this child claim it is nothing like the frame which it aids: In contrast to Lavius's violent tendencies and horrible attitude, the child appears to be calm, collected, and silent, appearing more like a living statue than any Tenno, completely devoid of any emotion behind its serious expression.

And yea, that's about all of the basic info you need for Lavius and his mysterious companion. Feel free to stop reading here, but should you hunger for more, I do have a small question to ask of you, dear reader:

Ill leave the poll up for a day, however if you're seeing this after the poll has completed, you can always leave your answer in a reply or reblog.

In any case, thank you for reading and I wish you a great day!

[queer-ragnelle]

So who among the Arthurian characters is into cottagecore? Morgan has to be right?

hi!

you know what i'm gonna have to disagree. i don't think morgan's affiliation to magic and nickname "le fay" are enough, especially bc she prides herself on a lofty status that elevates her above the humble rural living that cottagecore romanticizes. i mean here she is in the vulgate proclaiming herself a king's daughter (isn't she the daughter of duke gorlois?) while she prepares to kill her husband and get away with it.

queen shit. here are some characters i think would be into cottagecore.

arthur: when thomas berger wrote him as loving his simple life in wales with his family and sleeping out with the dogs and genuinely relishing his modest upbringing with his foster brother? i felt that.

blanchefleur: she definitely named herself "white flower" after her own garden's award winning blossoms at the county fair. she bottles it for perfume too, if you're interested. perceval always keeps a little vial around his neck so he can smell it and think of her while on quest or when he gets lost on his way to take out the trash. thanks wifey.

brangaine and palamedes: whether or not she can actually achieve this lifestyle whilst in the service of isolde, she definitely dreams of fleeing to the countryside with palamedes. it also makes his commute shorter (cottage is on the edge of the enchanted woods in which the questing beast roams).

culhwch and olwen: after the nightmarish tasks they underwent just to get married they absolutely retired far away from court life where those shenanigans wouldn't reach their children.

dindrane: she's the quintessential nun, one who didn't learn necromancy. she enjoys all the typical stuff expected in a remote hermitage; gardening, baking, making wine, going on an adventure bilbo style complete with chaotic means and tragic ends, bird watching.

fisher king and elaine: since the queen passed away they just want more father and daughter bonding time out on the boat to fish. they catch dinner in their little pond and take it home to cook and go to sleep happy. they do the same thing again the next day without any obligations besides living. nothing bad happens.

green knight and wife: pretty sure they invented cottagecore or at least introduced the concept into the realm. they have their own line of cottagecore starter kits with little seeds to grow personalized mini gardens for a country oasis even in the discomfort of your monarch-sanctioned barracks. so what if the plants they sell are annuals and you have to buy a new one every year. aren't you committed to the aesthetic?

isolde and tristan: did they or did they not smash in that grotto like their lives depended on it? i rest my case.

merlin: have you read mary stewart's merlin trilogy? my guy wanted the quiet life so bad it made him look stupid. he died as he lived, in the middle of fucking nowhere. say what we will he committed to the bit to the very end.

tor: he is literally a cowboy farmer kid turned knight. actually forget the whole list he's the only one.

thanks for the ask!

[cjcroen1393]

Since I finally fully colored these, I'd like to at last formally introduce you all to my new characters for yet another new concept I've been developing in my head -- a monster school story!

My working idea for this story is that the protagonist, Jason Hunter is the son of two monster hunters, part of an organization of similarly minded hunters. Unlike his family, Jason has developed a fascination with monsters and wants to bridge the gap between humans and monsters. To this end, he asks to be enrolled in the country's biggest school for monsters, something the organization initially refuses, but relents when they believe this could benefit them.

Once there, Jason is (maybe understandably) treated with suspicion by most of the monsters, but fortunately, he finds a group of friends who trust him. So, for the full list:

Jason Hunter: As mentioned, Jason is the son of two monster hunters who doesn't hate monsters. I picture him being kind of like a mix of Charlie from Hazbin Hotel and Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon, being an upbeat guy who actually likes the "evil" things his family is fighting against and seeks to be the one to bridge the gap between them. He has researched monsters for years, intended by his parents to teach him their weaknesses, but instead it simply gave him a lifelong fascination with them. That said, knowing monster weaknesses and talking about them, his friends tend to be mildly creeped out by this. Also, he's trans.

Elmarie Adlawan: A manananggal and one of the first friends Jason makes. She was originally going to be just be a regular European vampire, but then I was like "Hang on... I'm Filipino... I'm brainstorming a monster story... I may never have an opportunity like this again..." so I made her a manananggal instead. She's a friendly girl who's also a bit clumsy, and she's very fascinated to see that a human has enrolled in the school for the first time. I like to think there'd be a bit of a running gag where she splits herself without meaning to when she gets excited. Her name means "Gentle Daylight", because I love irony.

Atlas Theodulf: The obligatory werewolf and another one of the first friends Jason makes. Atlas is a bit of a himbo, but he's also a calming presence among the group. Do not mistake his kindness for weakness -- if you mess with his friends, the fangs and claws come out. He was also born a werewolf, so he can transform whenever he wants (except on the full moon, when he temporarily loses control) and he keeps his human mind every time he transforms.

Boomer Colton: The obligatory witch. Boomer is the group's mellow, nature-loving hippie, as a nod to how witches are often strongly associated with nature. He's a little lazy, often either skipping class or missing it because he slept through the day, and preferring to fly everywhere on his broom than actually walk places. I didn't draw his eyes, but I like to think they look kind of frog-like, since I like the idea of him having a bit of a frog/toad motif (since witches are often depicted as having green skin and warts).

Kara O'Braonain: A banshee and our ghost rep of the main group. So far, Kara's the least developed and the one I'm having the most problems with, but I tend to frame her as the grumpy one who's also a big screamo fan ('cause y'know, banshees scream!). She wants to start a rock band someday, where she'd obviously be the lead singer. She's the easiest one to color because she's pure white.

Inanna Prescott: A succubus and both the demon and genderfluid rep of our main cast. Despite expectations, Inanna is a bit of a goody two shoes and the student council president. This is partly because, after they were abandoned on Earth as a baby, they were adopted by a religious family who sought to "raise them right". While they are genuinely nice, Inanna's position means they have a tendency to be a bit of a stickler for rules. They especially tend to bicker with Boomer about his slacker status (they also might have a crush on him though).

I have more characters for this that I'll upload soon, but right now, I wanted to focus on the "core six" characters. As you can see, most of their designs have already been subject to change (I'm especially fond of how I altered Inanna's design, and I also bulked up Atlas a little) and might change more. Also, the concept still doesn't have a title.

The school uniform designs are DEFINITELY not finalized, I still need to figure out what I want with that.

All these characters, plus the art, belong to me.

[adndmonsteraday]

Frost giants, called isejotunen in their own language, were large giants that could be found in most cold environments of Faerûn.

Among the tallest of true giants, frost giants could tower higher than 21 feet (6.4 meters). They weighed about 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms).

The bodies of these giants had skin and hair whose colors ranged a wide spectrum of blue and white shades, though some were known to have dirty yellow hair. Likewise, their eyes were generally shades of blue or yellow. Men often grew beards, which would become matted with frost and icicles.

Frost giants typically wore the skins or pelts of animals, along with any jewelry they owned. In terms of armor they tended to favor chainmail and helmets that were adorned with horns or feathers.

Frost giants had a reputation among other races for being crude and of low intelligence, but they were very cunning fighters. They greatly respected brute strength and battle prowess.

Much like all giants, a frost giant could see and hear twice as far as the average human. Unique to their race were senses well adapted to low temperature environments. Their visual senses extended into a higher end of the visible spectrum, allowing them to see more easily through snow and blizzards than other creatures.

Although their bodies were impervious to harm from cold, even that breathed by a white dragon, they were particularly vulnerable to fire.

Frost giants were known to be susceptible to two forms of lycanthropy, werebear and seawolf, and were one of only two giant races in which "true" lycanthropes were known to occur. These true lycanthropes were a form of polar werebear — they appeared hairier than the average frost giant and were incapable of assuming a "hybrid form."

Those afflicted with the polarwere condition were known to occasionally live among other frost giants, but generally they were loners as their pelts were considered highly coveted among their kin.

The frost giant race began with an individual by the name of Ottar, one of the mortal children of Annam All-Father and Othea, who in the kingdom of Ostoria was ceded control of the northern tundras. Within this mighty kingdom they acted as its defenders on every frontier. During this time they were also known for creating sculptures out of ice and snow that, through melting and freezing, would change shape to form scenes of their life in the North.

For frost giants an individual's place in the ordning was determined by evidence of physical might, often taking the form of a combination of the individual's ability to wrestle and boast.Though it could also take the form of musculature, scars from battles of renown, or trophies fashioned from the bodies of their enemies. It was not uncommon for them to try proving their strength and improving their status by challenging a white dragon. Because of this violent way of life, most frost giants died in battle rather than passing away peacefully.

Whenever frost giants of different clans met and their status was unclear, they would wrestle for dominance. At times this could resemble a festival, with giants cheering on their clan's champions and making bold boasts or challenges, but at other times it could take the form of a chaotic free-for-all.

In their societies, the most important bond (besides that of the ordning) was that of family. So much so that the recitation of ancestral lineage was an important aspect of the sagas crafted by their skalds, with each new character being introduced with a full recitation accompanied by appropriate music.

Frost giants often captured and tamed wild animals, keeping them as pets, guards, or hunting companions. The most typical animal they kept was winter wolves, followed by owlbears, mammoths, and remorhazes. With rarer creatures including yetis and even white dragons.

Some were known to kidnap individuals and then either enslave them or hold them for ransom.

Frost giants were sometimes hired by cloud giants to plunder art and wealth on their behalf.

Source: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Frost_giant

[randomrichards]

TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2024 (SO FAR)

Honourable Mentions:

SOMEONE LIVES HERE

This one’s only an hour long but it delivers a powerful and frustrating documentary of a man trying to create homes for the unhoused.

Carpenter Khaleel Seivwright devotes his time to making small mobile shacks for the unhoused to live in, but he’s constantly undermined by Toronto city council that couldn’t care less about providing affordable housing.

It is maddening portrayal of shallow politicians that punishes those who try to help while offering no real solutions. There’s also hope in seeing a man go out of his way to help those in need.

10) ORIGIN

Real-life non-fiction author Isabel Wilkerson (Anjanae Ellis-Taylor) examines how social hierarchies are enforced in Origin, a compelling biopic about the making of Wilkerson’s acclaimed book Caste.

Drawing from the tragic killing of Trayvon Martin, both Wilkerson and writer/director Ava DuVernay introduces us to a series of real-life stories of oppression and defiance to showcase how systems are used to oppress marginalized groups. Among these stories are a German (Finn Wittrock) who refused to salute Hitler after falling for a Jewish girl, revelation of how America’s Jim Crow Laws inspired the holocaust and Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Gaurav J. Pathania) who defied his status as an “untouchable to draft India’s constitution. There are many uncomfortable scenes of innocent people being denied their basic humanity, especially one where a black boy is denied the use of the same pool as his teammates.

Origin is also a love story of Isabel grieving the loss of her husband (Jon Bernthal playing against type) as she continues her project. Bernthal shows his sweeter, sensitive side through flashbacks scenes with Ellis-Taylor. Ellis-Taylor also breaks your heart as Isabel mourns her loss.

This film a compelling drama that calls for recognizing other people’s humanity.

9) ROBOT DREAMS

Robot Dreams is one film nominated last year for Best Animated Feature hardly anyone got a chance to see. Now that it was release in select theatres, audience can see a beautiful tale of loneliness, friendship and drifting apart.

Based on the graphic novel by Sara Varon, Robot Dreams takes us into a 1980s New York full of anthropomorphic animals. A lonely Dog builds a robot friend, and they form a quick bond. It cultivates in an iconic early scene where they roller skate to the tune of Earth Wind and Fire’s “September”.

Writer/Director Pablo Berger makes us happy to see Robot and Dog together without one line of dialogue. It makes it more heartbreaking when Robot is left immobile and stranded on a closed beach and Dog is forced to wait half a year. Robot is left to dream about returning home to his only friend.

Writer/Director Pablo Berger proves himself a Master of Visual storytelling, getting a lot across without a single line of dialogue. It helps he has some top-notch animators communicate character’s thoughts and feelings through facial expressions. That animation also makes the background environment look beautiful, even though it’s portraying a grainy side of New York.

Berger balances style and substance for a visually pleasing but heartbreaking journey.

8) HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS

There are so many elements of this film that shouldn’t work. The film is a series of segments with very little connection between them. The special effects are extremely unconvincing with fake looking set pieces and awkward physics. All the animals are people in mascot costumes. These should be a put off for the average moviegoer. And yet director Mike Cheslik makes all those work to his advantage with Hundreds of Beavers, a cartoonish tribute to silent films and Looney Tunes.

Set in a winter wonderland of fur traders and gold prospectors, we follow Jean Kayak (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews), an alcoholic Applejack farmer who finds himself out of the job thanks to beavers. Now he finds himself trying to survive in the wilderness with many disastrous results. But he learns to survive with the guidance of a veteran fur trader (Wes Tank) and an Indigenous trapper (Luis Rico). But to earn the hand of a Furrier (Olivia Graves), he must get hundreds of furs for her merchant father (Doug Mancheski). This leads him to a one-man war with the titular beavers.

Cheslick delivers one side-splitting scene after another of Kayak’s disastrous attempts to trap prey, which often leaves him falling through rabbit holes. The fake looking special effects only add to the cartoonish tone, especially in one scene involving him in a log rolling war against a beaver. He also makes jokes that couldn’t get away with in the silent era including a reoccurring gag with trappers using very cartoon looking poo as beaver bait or Jean trying to trap rabbits with a female snow bunny only for it to be revealed the rabbits are gay.

The film doesn’t flow as much without a clear plot and the jokes don’t always knock it out of the park. But for most part, Hundreds of Beavers is a laugh riot.

7) FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA

It’s a shame George Miller’s prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga bombed at the box office because it has the kind of grand set pieces and thrilling car chases that deserve to be seen in a theatre. this compelling post-apocalyptic flick about the titular warrior (Alyla Browne as a child, Anya Taylor-Joy as an adult) seeking vengeance on the chaotic Dr. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) compliments its predecessor Mad Max: Fury Road with the mind-blowing action scenes, creative visuals and social commentary that made the earlier film such a modern classic.

Both Furiosa and Fury Road should be uses as examples on how tell story through action scenes. Except for the franchises’ trademark opening and closing voice over monologues, Miller avoids exposition in favour of using the extended action scenes to reveal character, show the world’s rules and further the plot. This demonstrates a lot of trust in the audience to figure out the world through image alone, especially when he has only one short scene to show us the green world Furiosa grew up in. Then again, he’s such a master filmmaker that he can reveal so much information just from a single shot.

It’s worth noting that Furiosa’s more story oriented than Fury Road, focusing on the tragedy of the life Furiosa’s lost, especially her mother. Also, you must admire Miller for daring to spend an hour on Furiosa as a child. Of course, it helps that he has Hemsworth having a blast hamming up every scene.

It doesn’t quite reach the level of Fury Road and the CGI isn’t quite as convincing as the original movie. But Miller still delivers an exciting thrill ride worthy of the iconic franchise.

6) AMERICAN FICTION

Frustrated with his work not getting published, surly literary professor Thelonius “Monk” Ellison (Jeffery Wright) decides to make a racially stereotypical “memoir” under the guise of gangster “Stagg R. Lee” in the scathing satire American Fiction.

Cord Jefferson deserves his Oscar win for his screenplay. From the opening scene of Monk arguing with a white student over him writing the N-word on a whiteboard (referring to the title of a short story), He delivers an amusing commentary about modern racism. At the film’s core, Jefferson goes after the media representation that puts Black America in a box of Black Oppression Porn under the guise of “being real.” While Monk can’t get his books on Greek mythology published but much to his chagrin, author Sinatrara Golden (Issa Rae) writes a bestselling novel “We’s Lives in Da Ghetto” full of racially stereotypical dialogue. Monk’s publishing agent sums it up when he states “White people think they want the truth, but they don’t. They want to be absolved.” In one funny scene, he berates a bookstore for putting his book in “African American Studies” when it’s about Greek Mythology (“The blackest thing in this book is the ink”)

American Fiction is also dramedy about Monk being forced to return to his family home and confront his complicated relationship with his family when his sister (Tracee Ellis Ross) passes away and he’s forced to care for their mother (Leslie Uggams). It’s here that he’s reconciles with his chaotic brother Clifford (scene-stealing Sterling K. Brown) and finds love with a new resident Coraline (Erika Alexander). Jefferson proves just as effective with family dramedy as he is with satire, balancing the comedic moments of Clifford berating a local for interrupting his sister’s memorial with the heavy moments of their mother’s struggles with Alzheimer’s.

Jefferson also deserves kudos for creating complex characters. While his frustrations with the popularity of oppression porn is understandable, Monk often comes off as a judgmental snob. He remains likeable thanks to Wright’s charismatic performance. Clifford seems high on life (and cocaine), but he hides the hurt of his mother not accepting his homosexuality. Brown gets to shine in a monologue about Clifford’s dad not knowing his true self.

Jefferson is a filmmaker worth looking into.

5) CHALLENGERS

Luca Guadagnino brings us another entry to a unique subgenre of erotic films about a love triangle between two male best friends and a woman. This time, it’s between three up and coming tennis players.

The film starts years later with former tennis star Tashi (Zendaya) serving as coach for her husband Art (Mike Faist) who’s struggling to break out of a losing streak. Meanwhile, their ex-friend Patrick (Josh O’Connor) is sleeping in his van while awaiting the upcoming tournament. It’s this tournament that this trio is forced to confront their relationships.

Through flashbacks, Guadagnino and writer Justin Kuritzkes reveal how they got here her from being a trio of promising players. They introduce little details like a scar on Tashi’s knee and a tennis pose Art and Patrick use to indicate who had sex with Tashi. From these details, Guadagnion and Kuritzkes reminds us of the curveballs life can throw at us and how the characters adapt to them (or don’t).

Zendaya, Faist and O’Connor have excellent chemistry, seductively bouncing off each other. They also masterfully handle the complicated turns their characters take in reconciling their feelings for each other.

Challengers delivers a sensual character study of three athletes with feelings for each other.

4) CIVIL WAR

Civil War follows disillusioned photojournalist Lee (Kirsten Dunst) as she joins 2 journalists (Wagner Moura and Stephen McKinley-Henderson) and an enthusiastic young up and coming photographer (Cailee Spaeny) on a road trip across the United States as a rebel militia battles the president of the United States.

Writer/Director Alex Garland keeps the audience hooked from beginning to end as he puts our heroes in one dangerous scenario after another from a sniper battle at a Santa Village to the climactic battle at the White House. The most iconic is an intense standoff with the scene stealing Jesse Plemons as a sociopathic militia.

Garland makes the bold move of not revealing what caused the war in the first place. You can figure it out through the subtle hints including the President being on his 4th term the fact Texas and California have seceded from the country. This choice works to put the audience in the perspective of a photojournalist, who are expected to be an inactive witness so they can present events factually. But the film shows how challenging that is when it involves witnessing horrifying moments of a man being set on fire and putting their lives in danger. You see this in Dunst’s performance, who conveys her character’s exhausted weariness through her face.

Alex Garland gives us an action-packed thriller cultivating with an exciting shootout.

3) PERFECT DAYS

It’s one hell of challenge to create an engaging film with no conflict. That’s what makes Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days such a miracle. The beloved director defies basic film convention to create a meditative look in the life of Hirayama (Koji Yakusho), a custodian who cleans publish washroom in Tokyo.

Perfect Days has no true storyline. The closest thing to a plot happens when Hirayama’s niece shows up out of nowhere to stay with him but that happens way late in the film and gets resolved quickly. For the most part, Wenders focuses on the Hirayama’s routine days both at work and his personal life. It sounds like a boring movie, but Wenders uses those routines to create a sense of rhythm. It’s strange how reassuring to see Hirayama drinking a can of coffee every morning, sitting at a park bench for lunch and listen to his cassettes. That makes the breaks from routines more engaging, especially when Hirayama plays tic tac toe with a stranger.

At the core is Hirayama’s appreciation of the little things in life. You can appreciate how director of photography Franz Lustig makes Tokyo look so beautiful, even while Hirayama is cleaning toilets. Lustig also gets to shine in the brief black and white dreams that concludes each day. Wenders creates a meditative flick that makes you investigate the beauty within your everyday life.

2) THE TASTE OF THINGS

Vietnamese filmmaker Anh Hung Tran puts the viewer under a culinary spell in his French romance The Taste of Things. He adapts Marcel Rouff’s novel “La Vie Et La Passion De Bodin-Bouffant” about a beloved gourmet chef (Benoit Magimel) who decides to cook a special meal for his home cook (Juliette Binoche) when she falls ill. Tran and his director of photography Jonathan Ricquebourg leave audiences’ ravenous with long, beautiful scenes of cooking a variety of exquisite dishes. It’s best to eat before you watch.

The Taste of Things could also be regarded as a celebration of veteran French actors Magimel and Binoche who both delivered dignified yet loving chemistry, making us feel the unrequited love these two have for each other. It’s made more fascinating when it’s revealed he’s been proposing to her for 20 years to no avail. So, the climatic works both as an expression of his love and a show of appreciation for all she has done for her. There’s also a bit of tragedy given that she might not have much time left. You want them to get together.

It’s a perfect film for date night.

1) DUNE: PART 2

Denis Villeneuve creates one of those rare sequels that stands as a masterpiece that compliments the first film (and in some opinions, surpasses the original). It maintains the mind-blowing visuals, Game of thrones-like political intrigue and excellent performances that made its predecessor a hit.

The sequel has hero Paul Atredies (Timothee Chalamet) assimilating himself into the Fremen tribes to bring down the ruthless Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarskgard) and the emperor (Christopher Walken) while his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) works behind the scenes to convince the tribesmen that her son is the prophesized messiah.

Dune: Part 2 puts the audience under its spell with Greg Fraser’s mind-blowing cinematography making the desert and the emperor’s kingdom dazzlingly real. They get to shine in the scenes in the Harroken kingdom, a cold world where the outside drains the world of all colour.

The film introduces us to new characters including The Emperor and his strategic daughter Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh). But it’s Austin Butler who stands out as the Baron’s sociopathic nephew Feyd-Rautha. Butler oozes menace with his cold stare, hairless figure, and raspy voice, especially when he mutilates a mistress just to test his knives.

What truly makes both Frank Herbert’s book and Villeneuve’s adaptations so special is how they deconstruct both the Chosen One archetype and white savior storyline. Throughout the film, Lady Jessica manipulates the Fremen people into thinking her son’s a prophet, a role Paul doesn’t want. Meanwhile, Chani (Zendaya) remains skeptical of the prophesy and calls out her father (Javier Bardem) for blindly believing it. Apparently, Herbert takes this deconstruction a step further in Dune: Messiah which will conclude the trilogy.

Villeneuve again proves himself truly cinematic storyteller with a uniquely epic style that elevates complex stories.

[purplekoop]

Alright, let's break it down:

Overwatch Figure Collecting: the somewhat definitive breakdown

If you're a fan of Overwatch and want a cool way to showcase your love of its characters without actually playing the video game (a very fair predicament), then my utmost recommendation would be to get your hands on some of the variety of fantastic poseable figures available for... a good majority of the cast.

See there's one hang-up when it comes to collecting just about any cast of characters from an existing franchise in physical form, especially one as large and varied as Overwatch's: not every character gets to be in every lineup. While some get close, as of now there isn't a single series of figures that contains every single Overwatch hero, even just from the original lineup from the initial 2016 release.

To help alleviate this as much as possible, I've charted out every single current character (meaning this is a week away from being at least somewhat dated) to try and find the best option available for every character if you want a collection of figures designed around a 1/12th scale collection. If you're not familiar with the term, this scale means every inch of figure is equivalent to one foot of a life-sized character. These figures also tend to be called 6-inch figures, since most action figures in this scale are designed around fictional dudes that are around 6 feet tall. This is the standard scale for most modern action figure lines, such as Marvel Legends, meaning it fits the best with the most other lines of figures. This'll be helpful for when we have to mix figure lines, since it provides a standardized base with only slight deviations between the lines.

I'd also like to clarify: This will only be a discussion of figures, with at least one point of articulation. Yes, that low bar is important for later. This does still rule out several things that I don't feel fit this type of collection, such as keychains, other minor collectables the ungodly overpriced statues on the official Blizzard store.

All that said, let's start with my favorite Overwatch figure series, and my highest recommendation, especially for a beginner collector like myself:

Hasbro's Overwatch Ultimates series

Released in 2019, the Ultimates series is a line of figures produced by American toy juggernaut Hasbro. Hasbro has a long but somewhat shaky track record of making 6 inch figures, being particularly infamous for the aforementioned Marvel Legends line, a massive collection of Marvel figures that have a somewhat negative stigma among hardcore collectors for cheaper production value relative to their $25 USD price point.

Those complaints however are much harder to carry over to the Ultimates as far as I'm concerned. Every single character looks fantastic and extremely game-accurate, packed with detail and accessories, making them both great display pieces and fun to just play around with.

The line was released in two waves, each consisting of both individual character boxes and two packs. Each character came out at about 20 USD, with two packs predictably being about 40 USD. Reinhardt is a bigger figure in a big box, so he costs a bit extra, but you can find him for decent prices still.

Wave 1 consisted of Tracer, Sombra, Lucio, Reaper*, and Reinhardt individually, with two packs consisting of Pharah+Mercy (teehee) and Soldier 76+Ana*.

Wave 2 introduced Zarya, Junkrat, and Cassidy individually, and a two pack of Genji and Hanzo. It also has several recolors, with the only notable one for here being a 4-pack of Genji, Zarya, Pharah, and D.va, all featuring Carbon Fiber/Midnight skins.

So. Slight hiccup: Reaper, Ana, and D.va don't get their default skins in this line. Reaper only has Blackwatch Reyes look (seen above), Ana has her Shrike design (her masked vigilante look), and D.va only has the Midnight skin. She also doesn't come with her Meka, in addition to not being available by herself in-box. Reaper and D.va have alternatives that are higher quality and have the default skins, but Ana's only 6 inch figure is the Shrike design, so it's unfortunately my best recommendation.

From here, we're gonna keep a running total of how many characters we have figures for. I'm only going to keep a total of Overwatch 1's roster of 32 heroes, since OW2's new heroes have next to nothing as of now.

So with the Ultimates line, we have 12 characters with their default skins, but 3 more if you're willing to accept an alternative skin as a substitute, bringing us a "generous" total of 15 out of 32. Already almost halfway there!

If I didn't make it clear already, I highly recommend the Ultimates line, it's super affordable for such a good quality set of figures. I said before each figure was priced at 20 USD MSRP, but especially with online secondhand listings, the average is really closer to 15 per figure. Thanks to listings of multiple figures (called a "lot" if you're looking for them on those sites), you can pretty easily find multiple figures bundled together for less than they tend to be individually. Personally speaking, I've gotten 3 separate lots for less than 150 USD total, and already have the majority of the unique figures, and most of the extra recolors to boot. Seriously, don't slouch on this line, the value of what you get for what you paid is great. Just don't expect to find too many of them in physical retail stores, but maybe nab them if you manage to get lucky and find one for a good price.

But if you want something that's a bit higher quality in exchange for a higher price point, while still roughly fitting in with the Hasbro line, then that brings us to our next set of figures

Good Smile's Figma

Good Smile is a Japanese company that makes high-quality collectibles based on a variety of franchises, primarily anime and games. Their Figma line consists of 6 inch scale figures with extremely high-quality detail, extensive articulation, and tons of accessories to enable a variety of poses.

...If your first instinct as a collector is "wow, that sounds like it'll be really expensive!", then good job, you'd be correct! Between production costs and the extra complications of importing from another country, Figmas are pretty pricey to come by.

But what of their Overwatch offerings? Well...

We have 10 figures total here, 6 of which are familiar faces. Tracer, Genji, Pharah, Mercy, Soldier 76 (though he seems rare, don't count on finding him easily), and the cowboy guy are all here if you want a premium alternative to the Hasbro line for those heroes. For the extra money, you get better sculpting detail, better and more thorough paint jobs, more articulation, and more accessories, including better quality weapons, more hand poses, and even alternate face swaps. You can also take off Pharah's helmet or the cowboy's hat. These are substantial improvements, which... you'd hope for with the money, but whether they're worth it compared to the Ultimates alternatives is really up to you.

Speaking of alternates though, we get to the default skins for D.va and Reaper that I alluded to earlier. Reaper is about all you could hope for, while D.va comes with more accessories like a can of Nano Cola, her hat from the Shooting Star cinematic, and... still no Meka.

We do have some new faces here too: Widowmaker and Zenyatta. Both of which are fantastic figures with tons of accessories... and also the Figma price tag in full swing. Zen in particular I've rarely seen listed for less than 100 USD. He's probably my most wanted but least likely to get soon official figure.

So, back to our running total, we can add 2 more brand new figures, and also get to add the default designs for Reaper and D.va, making our generous total 17 of 32, and if we feel like being mean to Ana then we're at 16/32, exactly halfway.

And if we stick exclusively to official 6 inch scale figures... that's where the list stays.

But if we're willing to bend our expectations a bit, then we can look into some alternative options, starting with Good Smile's smaller scale line...

Good Smile's Nendoroids

Nendoroids are Good Smile's smaller figure line, featuring chibi designs of a wider range of characters, but with the general production value you'd expect from Good Smile, with the details and accessories not far from the Figma line. According to the website, most go for about 45 USD from the start, but secondhand listings may vary. The figures are on average about 10 cm, or about 4 inches for my fellow americans. They definitely don't fit exactly into our collection, but let's look at what's on offer for Overwatch anyways:

15 figures total, the majority of which we've already seen before in a more proper scale.

With that said, I do want to point out a special note with one hero here we've seen before:

We finally got a Tokki!!! Designed so D.va can fit into it and everything!!

...Sold separately. For. A lot. I haven't seen many listings either, so don't get your hopes up too high for nabbing this one.

As for the others, we have 3 heroes we haven't seen yet: Mei, Torbjorn, and a surprising appearance from Ashe, the newest hero we've seen so far. All of these come packed with accessories, including... B.OB.!

Well. I didn't say you get all of him.

Now, getting a high-quality item for Ashe is cool, but the real highlight of the line for me is Torbjorn. He comes loaded with articulation like a movable welding mask, and tons of accessories including an articulated turret, and even an armor pack from before his rework! The real reason I mention him though is. Well. It's Torbjorn. Aside from the one anime eye and some slightly off proportions, he's not gonna be too far off from what you'd want from Torb in a 6 inch scale. Better than the solution on my shelf currently at least, but we'll get there.

So, again, this line isn't exactly what this kind of collection is for, but if you want high production value, good accessories, and a better (but still a bit high) price point than the Figmas, then I think these would be a nice addition to the collection, if you don't mind a couple heroes being a bit on the stubbier side than usual.

Adding these to our gratuitous estimate, we're up to a clean 20/32 heroes! Not too bad, but there's one more note I'd like to touch on here before we move on to the last set of "figures" I'm gonna go over.

We've actually gotten confirmation that nendoroids for Kiriko and Sojourn are on the way!

Kiriko looks to be coming sooner, which makes sense considering. Japan. But hey! Cool to see OW2 heroes get something!

But to round out our cast of OW1 heroes... I dunno. I think we might have to take some... drastic measures.

Funko pops.

I don't think Funko Pops need as much of an introduction as the other stuff we've talked about today. The menace of every fandom-pandering mall store, it's hard to like anything even tangentially nerdy without one of these blank-eyed menaces taking the semblance of its cast.

Now, okay, these barely quantify as "figures". Even most dedicated Funko Pop collectors would be self aware enough to admit that. But remember my "one point of articulation" rule from earlier? Well. You can move the head around. That's. Something.

The main reason we're here though is that we're getting desperate. We've got 12 more characters to find, and have already ran out of actually decent figure lines with more characters. If they don't have a Funko of the character, they don't have anything for 'em.

And well, good news: almost every OW1 hero has a Funko Pop! And not only that, they're some pretty above-average Funkos to boot. Not just in quality, but even size for a few of them. Bastion, Roadhog, Winston, Orisa, and Wrecking Ball are all 6 inch "super size" pops, which at least helps them feel a little more in line than just the standard 3.5 inch ones. There's also pops of Symmetra, Doomfist, Moira, Brigitte, Baptiste, and even Echo. Every other hero we've already discussed also has one too. Even B.O.B. has a 6 inch funko! Currently the only one I have is Torb, who's on my Overwatch shelf as a rough proximity to scale with the others.

There's also more skin variants than I care to count, including OW2 variants for Tracer, Genji, Reaper, and Cassidy.

But yeah, add those new heroes up, and that brings us to... ...31.

31 out of Overwatch 1's cast of 32 heroes has a Funko Pop or other, higher-quality figure.

If you haven't been keeping a head count, that leaves Sigma out as the only one with nothing.

Don't feel too bad for him though, he's got every single Overwatch 2 hero keeping him company. Sojourn and Kiriko included, but at least they've got Nendoroids confirmed on the way. If you're curious why they skipped him but not Echo, it's because Echo is in a small wave of Overwatch 2 branded pops.

Now, if you feel like I've been too kind to Funko here, I'm gonna fix that real quick, because there's one more officially licensed series of figures right now. Good news, they're actual, non-chibi figures.

Bad news?

Funko's Overwatch 2 Action Figures

If you ever want to know what it sounds like to have a wet fart in Action Figure form, then pick up one of these things.

Other than featuring the Overwatch 2 designs, making them the only real poseable figures to do so right now, these things are completely worthless. First off, they're 3.75 inch scale, noticeably smaller than either of the other proper figure lines. They're also much, much, MUCH lower quality, not just in terms of looks (the style for Tracer's face makes me mad) and lacking accessories, but just general production quality. I've heard it's EXTREMELY common for limbs to be so loose on these things, the legs tend to fall out.

they're... technically at a lower price point. But they're still such mediocre figures, I can't in good faith recommend these to basically anyone. Get the decent pops like Bastion or Orisa instead if you for some reason insist on giving Funko money, at least those won't literally fall apart on you.

So, I said earlier Funko was our last stop, but there's one more thing I want to gloss over that some of you might've been thinking about already

Lego Overwatch

I didn't bring these up earlier since They don't quite count, and they feel like they warrant a full separate post once I get my hands on some of them where I can go into more detail, but Overwatch has a variety of Lego sets, featuring a good chunk of the cast in minifigure form, and some of the cast in a form that's slightly less "Mini", with Winston and Roadhog being special "bigfigs".

Reinhardt and D.va come in a set together featuring their armor and Meka respectively as the main builds of the set. It does mean that Rein outside of the armor is disturbingly normal size relative to the rest of the cast, but hey, cool builds aside from that. Hoping to get these soon actually.

I don't know how well these measure up to scale with the proper figures, but I wouldn't count on them fitting with anything besides the Lego sets, and in that context they look a little too big, but it's whatever.

Wrecking Ball also has a buildable mech, again not counting on it to scale great with the non-lego figures, but it's a fun-looking set still.

Going even bigger though, and we reach Lego Bastion.

Yeah this is why that cross promotion skin exists. It's a buildable Lego Bastion! It transforms! It's so massive it might actually fit close enough to the 6 inch scale! Ganymede looks... less than great, but hey, I'm not complaining too much besides that!

Obviously it's not DX9 Freeman (again, check my last post), but it's still really neat, hoping to get my mitts on this one soon too.

So... yeah! There's my breakdown of every major official series of Overwatch figures. Hopefully this helps someone out there get a better idea of what's all available and how complete of a collection they can expect to get. Again, I highly recommend the Hasbro Ultimates series, but really just get whatever you want with your budget and quality standards as a collector. If you get all the Funkos, reskins included, then hey, more power to you. Or if you just think this is neat and have no intent on actually buying any of this stuff, then I hope this rambling was at least entertaining.

(also I accidentally lost the Figma and Nendoroid sections of the post before needing to retype them so yeah this post took way too long to make, so seriously, thanks if you made it through this far.)

[christinaklassenjpt3391]

2/7 Blog

I liked the film “Ugetsu” directed by Kenji Mizoguchi and appreciated the surreal aspects that we haven’t really seen in the films so far. One common feature among many of the films we’ve watched recently is the examination of human nature. “Ugetsu” follows this theme and develops a narrative of human desire, ambition, and the consequences of unchecked obsession. At its core, "Ugetsu" is a tale of two couples whose destinies intertwine during the chaos of war. Genjuro, a potter driven by dreams of wealth and status, and Tobei, a lowly farmer yearning for samurai glory, embark on dangerous journeys fueled by their ambitions. Mizoguchi juxtaposes their earthly pursuits and human desire with the ethereal presence of the supernatural, blurring the lines between reality and illusion. Central to the film's narrative is the exploration of human recklessness and the fleeting nature of material desires. Genjuro's relentless pursuit of wealth leads him to forsake his family and moral compass, only to realize the ephemeral nature of his ambitions in the face of tragedy. Similarly, Tobei's quest for samurai status blinds him to the love and sacrifices of his devoted wife, Ohama, whose unwavering loyalty serves as a reminder of the enduring power of human connection. One scene I thought demonstrated humanity’s greed for material wealth emerges in a scene where Genjuro states: “Money is everything. Without it, life is hard and hope dies.” This statement encapsulates the pervasive influence of money, portraying it as not merely a means to an end, but the very essence of existence itself. As his financial struggles intensify, so does his temperament, building up to outbursts of frustration aimed at his family. These moments reveal the corrosive nature of greed, overshadowing Genjuro's inherent kindness and generosity he usually displays towards his family. His fixation on money erodes the familial bonds that should be cherished, emphasizing the detrimental impact of material desires on human relationships. Besides the focus on human nature, the film introduces supernatural aspects through characters like Lady Wakasa and her servant. I believe they contribute to the film’s exploration of the fleeting nature of existence and address themes of guilt, redemption and the cyclic nature of human suffering. The characters' encounters with ghosts and spirits force them to confront the consequences of their actions and reckon with their past deeds. In doing so, Mizoguchi invites viewers to reflect on the moral complexities of human existence and the enduring power of guilt and remorse. Tying it all together, I think the film exemplifies the qualities of human nature and how humans can be motivated by many things like greed, guilt, power, etc. By weaving together elements of the supernatural with themes of guilt, redemption, and the fleeting nature of existence, Mizoguchi creates a film that confronts viewers with the timeless truths of human nature and the enduring power of the supernatural imagination.

The image below is from the scene I mentioned that demonstrates human desire for material wealth.

[rappaccini]

one of the Biggest Things By Far that bothers me about the owl house is an amalgamation of a few smaller issues:

amity quickly becomes The Protagonist's Girlfriend and loses the ability to contribute to the plot on her own.

hunter is introduced far too late in the story and as a result his arc is rushed as fuck.

every time hunter wanders onscreen, lumity gets dimmer, because he has the same connection with luz and far greater plot relevance.

and hunter and amity make each other redundant because of how similar they, their relationships to luz and their arcs are.

.... so. the elephant in the room is that amity and hunter are the same character.

(cut for length)

prodigious teen witch with high social status among their peers

who comes from a privileged but abusive background and is under a world of pressure to be the Perfect Child

with one sympathetic caregiver (a male abomination witch) overpowered by another abusive one who's central to running the boiling isles oppression machine and plans to induct said teen into it whether they want it or not

(and sympathetic caregiver goes through the process of becoming disillusioned with abusive caregiver/their worldview and plans to separate from them and take custody of the kid).

(ffs alador and darius are the same character too)

teen witch begins as antagonistic and mean-spirited towards luz and her friends, putting them in harm's way

and through interactions with luz, reveals a hidden soft side, starts to question their worldview, and forms the connections necessary to leave their abusive family environment, loosen up, and live a normal teenage life with friends, family and romantic interests who genuinely love and want the best for them.

so. same arc. they're not even foils or anything. if they were foils, amity would find redemption while hunter would spiral deeper into villainy, or vice versa, and luz would have to learn from her experience relating to one to reach the other with a difference in how she approaches them.

but that doesn't happen. both arcs turn out the same, and luz instantly empathizes with and wants to understand both.

they're just a cut and paste of the same arc on different plot relevance scales with an aesthetic change.

furthermore, controversial opinion: not only are they the same character, they aren't even equal. hunter is better. unquestionably. amity is the first draft of the much more well-conceived, plot-relevant hunter character.

by this i mean: if you remove hunter from the plot, it stops functioning. we lose eyes in the emperor's coven and a connection to our central antagonist, luz's narrative foil, the meter by which we judge whether the story's themes are progressing and the link to the original sin that broke the story's world (caleb and philip, and all that happened with them). the biggest issue with his story's execution is that it blasts through his development far too quickly. it's like the writers desperately wanted their own zuko but failed to understand how important pacing was to zuko's arc succeeding. they skipped all the antagonism, conflict and forgiveness to get the payoff.

if you remove amity, basically nothing changes except luz doesn't get a love interest. everything amity does and represents can be reshuffled to one of luz's friend group, boscha, or to hunter especially. amity begins the story as its most interesting, complex character with the strongest arc.... and then she becomes Luz's Girlfriend. pretty much as soon as amity becomes her love interest, she mostly stops functioning as a character in her own right and moves into the Supportive Love Interest role, with glimpses here and there of the much more intricate character she could have been if she wasn't stuck in that box. it's very post-atla katara in the worst way possible.

add onto that the contrast problem: amity alone would simply have been Not Great, but hunter's presence in the story makes it worse because him individually and his dynamic with luz being this plot-essential keep shining a light on how unessential amity is.

yes, the representation amity brings to the show is groundbreaking and important. i am not disputing that. it's huge that a disney cartoon's main couple is between a bisexual gnc girl and a lesbian (not to mention it being interracial). and that their visual designs aren't 'tomboyish brunette girl in blue/red x girly blonde girl in pink/purple'

but if the writers wanted amity's character to succeed beyond representation importance and wish fulfillment (i can't explain it, but she gives off such strong 'wouldn't it be great if the girl who bullied me in middle school was secretly in love with me, and changed her behavior to be with me' vibes. which, yeah, it would be great. it would also be great if this character had something to do other than be your gf.) they needed to 1) integrate amity and the relationship more thoroughly into the story and 2) not create alternative love interests for them both that satisfy the narrative arcs that lumity doesn't.

we've discussed 1. as for 2: the same narrative arc of amity being a deeply unhappy victim of an unfortunate home life and strict parental expectations taking out her anger on a girl who's different from her, before befriending that girl and using that connection to pull away from her toxic family, embrace being a teen and find her happiness.... could have been satisfied with willow.

not to mention that willow has a long history with amity that luz simply doesn't, wherein her friendship with willow was forcibly ended in order to turn amity into a vessel for her parents' expectations, and as amity becomes her own person again, she also has to reconcile and regain that friendship with her. if anyone was the best fit to help amity work through that arc, it was willow.

(and for the representation-over-all cronies: if amity gets with willow instead of luz, you still get a major wlw interracial romance in a disney cartoon that would even follow the same trajectory as lumity. you're not gonna lose that rep.)

2: i dunno man it's just real fucking interesting that caleb the witchhunting human from bonesborough fell for a wild witch from the clawthorne family and left his toxic brother for her the exact same way hunter the powerless witch serving a witchhunter fell for a wild witch from bonesborough who's basically eda clawthorne's adopted daughter and left his toxic brother because of her influence. like... HELLO?????????

(you can't convince me that willow being hunter's love interest wasn't primarily to make sure they were both occupied romantically and were no longer 'a threat' to lumity.)

(literally the bare minimum would be 'scribble evelyne out of the wittebane bro backstory')

2: it's just wild to me that toh found the four characters best suited to romance arcs, figured out what those arcs needed to be, and then paired up the wrong people.

anyway. the point is: amity and hunter are the same character who undergo the same arc, one far better than the other, and the result is that the show falls into repetition, amity is particularly underserved by having a far more plot-essential character highlight her shortcomings, and the relationships feel awkward because every second we're reminded that the romances could be doing a better job if they just partner swapped.

(... though tbh where i fall in the great toh ship debate is it's not that i'm pro-lunter or anti-lumity, or even that i think that partnerswapping lumity and hunlow would've fixed those issues. yeah, i guess, it's better than what we got, but honestly there's a much bigger change that would've been far better and i'm fully in its camp. i'll write that post someday, i'm sure)

[fenrhi]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks....

Hello! Thank you for your ask, I don't often receive stuff in my askbox.

This is a difficult question to answer. I don't really have a "top 10", because my tastes change quickly also I have a fish brain and I forget what I watched/read but I'll do my best.

I'll use 5 girls and 5 guys from stuff I currently like for my list:

LADIES FIRST

1 - Liv (PGR)

In a world ravaged by the Punishing Virus, which destroys human bodies and turns electronic devices into killing machines, Liv makes the decision to fight on the battlefield to protect humanity. Liv is what we could call a "Martyr Archetype": pure, honest, kind and ready to die for others in the blink of an eye. Virtually flawless. This Archetype is not something I'm particularly drawn to and it can get annoying in the wrong hands, but PGR just makes it work. I got attached to Liv ridiculously fast, but more than that, I'm amazed by the care PGR put in her character arc.

We get to see how Liv's sad childhood shaped her as a person, her desperate need to be useful, how meeting her friends Lee and Lucia changed her....And we get to Surviving Lucem, which is the BEST chapter so far in terms of writing, and it's a Liv Chapter. She has to protect refugees against endless waves of monsters, while having a very limited amount of supplies and no exterior help. And it's just..... you can really FEEL the hopelessness of the situation in your bones. You can see the refugees fighting among each other for crumbs of bread. You can see them crying their deceased loved ones, wishing they could join them soon. You can see how Liv curses her own weakness, but still refuses to let anyone under her care die. The problem though, is that her kindness isn't enough. She cannot save everyone. And that realization will eventually lead her to accept a suicide mission, which........she does survive (barely), but the ending of Surviving Lucem implies the side effects are gonna be so bad she's gonna wish she was dead instead.

Such a fun game. 10/10 would recommend to everyone

2 - Selena (PGR again)

Selena is my "sad and pathetic little kitten", as the Tumblr Users say. Selena is first introduced as a young woman with amazing artistic talent. She can write plays, she can sing and play the violon and the flute, and she's quite popular too. In short, she's living her best life. But a meeting with a robotic soldier (Construct) will trigger her descent into hell. The dude in question absolutely tears her to shreds over her play glorifying war, saying she's insulting his dead friends. And Selena, after much agonizing about the place of art in a world destroyed by war and her status of privileged person, goes "okay guess I'll become a Construct to see how war looks like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"

AND OF COURSE it goes horribly wrong. What was supposed to be a "simple" mission turns into a nightmare, as Selena watches (and hears) her comrades get cut into pieces. We also get multiple paragraphs of her getting tortured by her enemies, and at some point you just want to tell the writers "ok that's enough :D"

"But does she get saved in the end?" yes, but not before her carcass gets dropped into Evil Red Water, and she turns into some uglyass monster and she receives hundreds of bullets in her face.

Being Selena is suffering. Liking Selena is also suffering.

3 - Dominique (VNC)

Domi is one of the few female characters made by Mochijun that I really like *coughs* sorry my queen I just prefer your male characters, so she deserved a spot on that list. Domi has everything going on for her: smoking hot chara design, flirty and kinky personality, a pinch of sadism, cool ice powers, one-sided romantic feelings for a childhood friend, tragic past involving a twin aaaannnnnd my favorite: intense self-loathing. I considered dropping the manga if Mochijun decided to kill her in the Amusement Park Arc. Thanksfully, she didn't.

And now I wait for more Domi Content

4 - Coco (WHA)

Coco is the main character of critically acclaimed, universally loved manga "Fuck Around And Find Out". After accidentally turning her mom into a stone statue, Coco (previously regular human girl) becomes a witch apprentice in an atelier supervised by Professor Qiffrey, the shadiest man in this manga. What I REALLY love about this manga is how it constantly challenges Coco's opinions, how it forces her change and adapt to the darker sides of Witch Society, how she struggles with the notions of "right" and "wrong". And how, despite everything she saw, Coco still holds on to her desire to help others.

Sometimes you need hopeful and refreshing stories like that just ignore the current arc theres nothing hopeful about it

5 - Miranda (DGM)

Miranda's story really resonated with my lonely, cringefail child self, because it's the story of a woman who's described as a "good-for-nothing" and "a gloomy, weird woman". But Miranda is not just relatable, she's inspiring too! She fails so many times, but she always has the courage to try again. She accomplishes great things and makes friends despite everyone else telling her that was impossible. What an icon

NOW, GUYS

1 - Soushi and Kazuki (SNF)

"Fellas, is it gay for two guys to be the emotional pillar of a show, to represent the central thesis of said show, to symbolize love in its rawest, most devastating form?"

Soukazu permanently altered my brain chemistry at the tender age of ten, so I just HAD to put them on this list. They're a deadly combo of relatable and tragic. They're each other's most important person. They push each other to live on in an apocalyptic world invaded by aliens. Anime waifus and husbandos come and go, but they're eternal.

....I guess this is the part where I say "check the #soukazu tag on my blog for more content"

2 - Kamui and Camu (PGR again)

Aaah, Camumui.... my current obssession....Despiste the fact that PGR very obviously skipped steps when it comes to the development of their relationship, my heart melts every time I see Camu getting really protective of Kamui, and Kamui acting really relaxed and friendly around Camu (for context, Kamui committed Body Theft and Camu wanted to get his body back by killing Kamui). Started from the bottom, now we're here!

What's funnier is that PGR will happily shove Camumui in your face at any given moment, for no reason. Like Kamui mentioning Camu likes ice cream and he's very good at licking (bro what am I supposed to do with that information)

3 - Murray (PGR again)

My Dear Sussy Otoutou-kun! He's probably my favorite NPC in PGR. He's the kind of guy who would willingly walk in a death trap and make deals with enemies to achieve his goals (protecting the brother he's hopelessly fond of). He's been lucky to survive so far, but all his 6D chess moves are gonna bite him in the ass someday. I just hope the writers will have mercy on him (;-;)

4 - Noé (VNC again)

My sweet baby angel to whom I give my life! My cinnamon roll too good too pure for this world! He's handsome, naive, stubborn, he will kick your ass if you piss him off, he has amazing homoerotic tension with every man he meets and he has a tragic past! It's like he was made for me

5 - Oberstein (LOGH)

This is Bebert. He's my little squeak squeak. He has no redeeming qualities and his list of crimes is as long as his cape. I love him and I think of him every day.

[xb-squaredx]

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Review: The Best of Both Worlds

Monolith Soft knows a lot about ambition. From their early days as a game developer, they’ve always strived for more. With ambition however, there’s often compromise. For co-founder Testuya Takahashi, his vision has often been unfulfilled despite his best efforts. From Xenogears’ infamous second disc, to Xenosaga being cancelled partway through the six planned entries, and even with Nintendo’s own Xenoblade franchise there have been issues that held the games back. Xenoblade Chronicles wasn’t initially localized outside of Japan, Xenoblade Chronicles X was both on the ill-fated Wii U, but also had re-writes that severely impacted the story, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was made with a skeleton crew, as Monolith Soft was also assisting with two major Nintendo games (Breath of the Wild and Splatoon 2) that would launch in the same year. Despite all the hardship, Xenoblade has become a bona-fide franchise and with the latest release, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, we might be getting a look at Monolith Soft when the shackles can finally release and they can complete their vision without compromise.

FIGHT TO LIVE, LIVE TO FIGHT

Something to address right away: it is perfectly OK to play Xenoblade Chronicles 3 without having played any prior game. While connections exist, the focus is on the world and characters introduced in this game, and while having extra context is nice and you might notice some references to past entries, it is far from required reading. With that said….

In the world of Aionios, there is nothing but war. Two factions, Keves and Agnus, are locked in an eternal struggle. They don’t fight for resources or politics; they fight and kill because it is the only way they can stay alive. These factions find themselves at the mercy of the Flame Clock, a measurement of their remaining life force. Though they must also eat and sleep, they too must take the lives of the enemy faction to keep their own Flame Clock filled. The people of Aionios learn to fight from the moment they are born, and have frighteningly short life spans, or “terms,” of roughly ten years. Should they make it to their tenth term, they are taken before their queen for a Homecoming ceremony, returned to her and laid to rest. A life of nothing but fighting, no one questions the natural order…until one faithful day.

Six soldiers, three from Keves and three from Agnus, find themselves on an unorthodox mission and end up meeting a man named Guernica, who is far older than anyone they have ever seen before. He tells them of a “true enemy” and that the world was once different, though it isn’t long before the group is attacked by this enemy: Moebius. Though fatally wounded in the battle, Guernica bestows a strange power to the six youths, enabling them to fight back against Moebius and give the world a fighting chance to set things right. With both factions branding them as traitors and Moebius also working to hunt them down, it is up to an unlikely ensemble to shatter the nightmarish status quo and find out what it really means to live.

Xenoblade 3 at times is the darkest entry in the franchise to date. A somber atmosphere, the game doesn’t shy away from the horrors of war. The fact that most characters in the game are basically child soldiers is merely the tip of the iceberg. Each of the main cast have experienced trauma from the constant fighting, from the people they’ve lost and what they’ve had to do just to survive in the nightmare of Moebius’ creation. Noah and Mio, our main leads, are off-seers, tasked with sending off those that die in battle, so they are both the closest to death among the main cast but also the ones who are quickest to set aside their differences in an effort to set the world to rights. Noah is a lot more philosophical about life and death throughout the game; despite being against fighting if he sees another option, he’ll still take up arms if he sees no other choice. Mio meanwhile is fairly restrained and kindhearted, but is constantly weighed down by the knowledge that she is on her final term, with roughly three months left to live at the game’s start, giving her a sense of urgency to complete the group’s mission before it is too late. That’s not to say the game can’t have more light-hearted moments though; though not to the extent of Xenoblade 2 there are often characters and missions with a more laidback, comedic bent which serve to mostly balance out the otherwise bleak setting, and leave us with memorable secondary characters. Despite the dark setting, there is a sense of optimism that shines through and keeps the game from being too exhaustingly bleak. On top of that, it might just have the best main cast in the series.

A goal for the development team was to flesh out the main cast, to not have any one “main character” that took up the bulk of screen time and development, which is definitely something the other Xenoblade games have been guilty of in the past. While Noah and Mio are given a bit more focus in the core plot, the rest of the group aren’t far behind and have their own effects on the narrative at various points. Lanz, easy to write-off as the hotheaded idiot of the team, works through his own trauma throughout the game and has to come to grips with letting go of his past if he wants to walk forward. Eunie, a brash if well-meaning friend of Noah and Lanz, struggles with strange visions that haunt her and give some eerie implications into the greater setting. She also has some of the funniest lines in the whole game. Taion, who I feared would quickly fall into a route “smarmy know-it-all” archetype displays a fair amount of depth early on. Despite being among the least-pleased with working with his former enemy, he’s smart enough to rein it in and at least attempt to get along with everyone. Despite taking a lot of pride in his strategic prowess and at times coming across as stoic, his more emotional moments lead to both some of the more touching parts of the game, and also some of the funniest. Sena, at least initially, came across as a bit lacking. She’s the plucky girl who seems to be Mio’s personal cheerleader; however her development is more subtle. Despite being driven and powerful in her own right, she lacks confidence in herself and is constantly seeking validation. She sees herself reflected in other characters throughout the game, and eventually learns of her own self-worth, though I do feel that quests ostensibly meant to be focused on her aren’t always keeping her in the forefront, so it isn’t perfect.

While the main cast feels more fleshed out than any previous Xenoblade game, I do feel that the antagonists are a tad undercooked as a result. Moebius are billed as hedonistic monsters who orchestrate the eternal war behind the scenes mostly out of boredom. They pointedly refer to this all as a game, and have no real respect for any life but their own. While easily detestable, I do feel that the vast majority of Moebius lack depth, coming across more so as Monster of the Week styled obstacles than real characters. Coming off of the villains of Xenoblade 2, in my eyes the strongest antagonists in the franchise, this is definitely disappointing. Then again, seeing as Torna in Xenoblade 2 was a tight-knit group of five, it was far easier to flesh them out compared to Moebius’ 25 members. They went with quantity over quality, but even with the “main” members that received larger focus, I do feel that the game fumbles a bit at giving us villains that are all that memorable. While I want to avoid outright spoilers, I do have to mention I find the ending also loses a bit of steam. The game has a real emotional and narrative high point and…kind of runs on fumes after a while; though I think the ending is strong enough. I do feel there are more unanswered questions with this game when the credits roll, and some moments that don’t make much sense if you stop to think about them. Xenoblade 3 at points seems to be going for a more thematic, symbolic story than an overtly logical one, so I can let a few things slide. Seeing as there is story DLC coming next year though, it is possible the closure and explanations I yearn for are a ways off.

On the whole though, I think Xenoblade 3’s story is very well done. An interesting hook at the start, a steady supply of new developments that push things forward, with a large variety of interesting characters and the best main cast in the series yet, even with the ending stumbling a bit. Monolith Soft seems to have taken a lot of the criticisms of the English dub of Xenoblade 2 to heart here as well, as the English performances are excellent across the board. Lip synching also applies to either the Japanese or English audio tracks, so we no longer have the more awkward moments from Xenoblade 2 where things didn’t even remotely match up. As far as other aspects of the presentation go, Xenoblade 3 continues to push what should be possible on hardware as old as the Switch. Vast landscapes filled with things to see and do never fail to impress, while the overall character models are expressive and detailed. The main cast can even get dirty when out exploring, with a dedicated option to wash clothes when at camp. What the game might lack in high-fidelity textures it often makes up for in its strong art direction and expressive anime cel-shaded style on characters, making this one of the Switch’s most technically impressive games. Also worth noting, there has been more focus on making the game look good in handheld mode as well, which was often seen as an afterthought for previous Xenoblade games on Switch. Coupled with a targeted 30 FPS frame rate the game is about as smooth as one could hope for, considering the console specs and sheer scope of the game. I also feel I should point out how seamless the game is when switching from cutscenes to gameplay. Previous entries in the series would have to fade to black to quickly load in boss fights but in 3 the game instead has a more stylish zoom out straight into gameplay out of the cutscene. While there is a definite difference in quality for the pre-rendered cinematics versus the in-game cinematics, the transitions between the two are a lot smoother, and coupled with voice work even in many of these in-game moments, the overall presentation is a good deal higher than past entries in the series.

To go this far without mentioning the game’s music is a crime unto itself, but to be honest here, when it comes to Monolith Soft, I simply just expect great music by default. Thankfully, Xenoblade 3 delivers here. From a beautiful piano piece that serves as the main menu theme, to several fantastic battle and field themes, there’s almost too much to parse when picking favorites. Compared to the previous games, Xenoblade 3 has a heavy emphasis on flutes, tying in with Noah and Mio’s instruments when working as off-seers, and giving the game its own distinctive sound. It can be hard to name favorites but I’ll try anyway. The Moebius battle theme itself includes ominous chanting, which ties in with the player tackling higher beings with god-like power, and at points the song even sounds like it is laughing at you, emphasizing that Moebius sees this all as entertainment over anything else. “A Step Away” is one of only two vocal tracks in the game, playing at the game’s emotionally draining darkest hour and may or may not have caused tears to be shed. For my money though, “The Weight of Life” has to be my favorite, despite how little it plays in the game. A climactic song that amplifies the cutscenes it appears in, it showcases just how hard the team has to work to overcome overwhelming odds and has moments of intensity that give me chills every time I hear it. Appearing at the end of the game’s second official trailer, I couldn’t get it out of my head then and still can’t. As always, Monolith never disappoints when it comes to music. Well…except for the fact that using a Chain Attack completely overrides whatever theme is playing, which means you can miss out on the more dynamic boss themes. So that could be better. That said, we still have an actual game to describe here, so I’d best move on.

BATTLE WITH CLASS

To anyone that has played any of the games in the series up until this point, Xenoblade 3 will be easy enough to get into, but for those that might be new to the series, here is a quick run-down of the basics before we get into what this game does differently. Speaking broadly, all Xenoblade games play out very similarly to MMO-styled combat. Players are free to move around in control of one character while the rest of the party is controlled by AI. When in range, you’ll attack automatically, though these attacks are often weak. The real damage comes from using Arts, special attacks with a wide range of uses and effects, which undergo cooldowns after use. Some Arts require you to hit opponents from a specific position, like Noah’s Edge Thrust, which does more damage from behind. Depending on which faction they belong to, Art cooldowns differ slightly in this game. Kevesi characters like Noah, Lanz and Eunie, have to simply wait for the cooldown to expire similar to Xenoblade 1. Agnian characters (Mio, Taion and Sena) instead recharge their Arts with auto-attacks similar to Xenoblade 2. Many Arts also are used in status combos, with the party using specific Arts in sequence to force a given status onto the enemy. Noah might inflict Break on opponents to stagger them, and Lanz can follow up with an Art that inflicts Topple, making the enemy defenseless for a time, as an example. While the AI generally follows along with what you want to do, this game also allows you to swap control to any main party member during battle, and even outside of that you can give some orders to allies to make them do specific things if need be. For the most part as long as you do your thing, you can let the rest of the party handle things on their own, but having the option is certainly nice.

This game really emphasizes proper team composition and everyone acting according to one of three roles: attacker, healer or defender, which should be fairly self-explanatory. New to this game is a wide variety of classes characters can obtain, all of which fall under one of these three roles. While Noah and company all have their own starting classes, throughout the game players can recruit extra party members, known as Heroes, and unlock the Heroes’ classes for the rest of the party. As a class is used, it levels up separately from the character and after certain milestones players will gain skills and Arts that can be used regardless of class, which is where some real interesting customization happens. You could have characters learn some healing Arts so they can help out regardless of class, or just give characters more offensive options in general. Given enough time it becomes easier to do various status combos or inflict some big damage, but the game still has plenty of other systems at play to make you even stronger.

Following the inciting incident in the game, the core party gain the ability to Interlink into powerful forms known as Ouroboros, which they can freely use in combat a bit later on to great effect. While active, the Ouroboros has powerful Arts unique to them and they take no damage from attacks, though the form has its drawbacks. The Interlink will eventually overheat if not cancelled early, locking out the form for some time, and early on before the forms can be properly leveled up you won’t last long and be able to do as much. On top of that, characters have specific Interlink partners; Noah with Mio, Eunie with Taion and Lanz with Sena. If one of the pair is defeated in battle or hit by certain statuses, the Interlink cannot be performed. There’s also the problem of being down a character. If your healer Interlinks your party loses out on any heals, so you better make them count. While not an instant-win button, with practice the Ouroboros forms can help turn the tide of harder battles, but for situations that require even more power, there’s always the series staple in the Chain Attack. Once the Chain Attack gauge is filled, players can activate it at any time. Time stops and players can go all in on one enemy with the ability to use any Art on any party member. Without getting into the intricacies, the player is given an assortment of “orders” at the start of each “round” of the Chain Attack, which all have different effects if completed. Noah’s order has attacks potentially bypass an enemy’s defense, for example. The goal of each round is to use Arts to build up Tension Points. Once you reach 100 Tension, the order is executed. Rinse and repeat until you either run out of party members or the Chain Attack gauge empties. Heroes have their own orders that can be incredibly powerful; Valdi adds more Tension to his Arts if fighting a machine-type enemy, for one. And later on, Ouroboros orders can be used if certain conditions are met for even more damage. It takes a bit of luck and coordination but this game’s iteration of Chain Attacks might be the best yet in the series…perhaps even too good.

The series has quite the reputation for being difficult to get into and having quite complicated combat, though 3 aims to streamline things a great deal and ease players into things. From an honest to God training mode, to the slow but steady introduction of major mechanics with dedicated tutorials, Xenoblade 3 is perhaps the most straightforward game in the series, even if the beginning of the game somewhat goes too far with handholding and forcing players to do something as simple as, say, equip a piece of gear onto a character step by step. I’d rather the game teach me at all than flash a tutorial prompt on screen that can never be revisited though, so it’s a massive improvement from Xenoblade 2! Navigating menus is also made easier, with shortcuts that let me get right to where I want from the main game, like letting me open up the area map or party customization screen instantly, and those shortcuts can even be customized. There’s lots of smaller accessibility features in the options as well to make things flow smoother, like letting your AI allies Interlink on their own or leaving it to your explicit order. These quality-of-life updates really start to add up over time.

Throughout the series, Monolith Soft has streamlined combat and with 3 they’ve landed on a really solid series of systems. The combat is faster and snappier than in 2, though retains that game’s improvements from 1’s combat, such as attack cancelling and the more streamlined UI. That said, an issue this game shares with all but Xenoblade Chronicles X is the inability to jump and run in combat, which can get awkward in the often bumpy terrain battles take place on. Getting launched by an enemy attack can cause you to get stuck on a small hill and be unable to get back to fighting unless you holster your weapon, at which point you’re a sitting duck. While the UI is streamlined and the game generally does a MUCH better job of teaching you, some fights are still a cluttered mess. I’m not sure it was really worth it to have the entire party (plus one Hero) active at once. Against larger, single targets like bosses it is mostly fine, but when fighting multiple enemies at once it becomes sensory overload, it being a legitimate problem trying to find who you’re locked onto and knowing what’s even going on. Those issues are fairly minor though, and the end result is some of the most engaging combat the series has ever had. Other aspects like equipment are further de-emphasized as was the case in 2; you can equip some basic accessories and gems to your character, as well as fiddle with the skills and arts you obtain by mastering classes, but that’s about it as far as “builds” go. As someone who dislikes having to constantly buy new armor and weapons for huge RPG parties, I’m not all that upset to see things simplified down like this and find the class system engaging enough when trying to optimize characters, so I think it balances out. While fighting is a huge part of the game, let’s not forget there’s other aspects to this gameplay experience too!

SATING MY WANDERLUST

As a series, Xenoblade really excels at sating my wanderlust, boasting vast landscapes filled with things to see and do that are often quite striking. In some respects, 3 makes some great improvements from the previous entry, though I’m still left wanting more. Aionios, according to the developers, is roughly five times bigger in terms of walking distance compared to Xenoblade 2’s Alrest, though I find the ways to navigate this world aren’t scaled up to match. Your run speed and jump height and distance aren’t much different than in either Xenoblade 1 or 2, despite the world being so much bigger and it just doesn’t cut it. Often the jumping is mostly to get over the small bumps in the road that you should logically be able to already walk over but can’t for whatever reason, and it’s otherwise useless for any amount of platforming, and while I made frequent use of the fast travel system to get around there’s still large stretches where I would turn auto-run on and put my controller down to do something else as the group crossed large expanses. The most infuriating thing about all of this though is that Monolith Soft already solved these types of issues with Xenoblade Chronicles X on the Wii U. That game was also massive, bigger than Breath of the Wild in fact, and was a seamless, open world to boot. And to match that players not only could run FAR faster than in any other game, they could jump far higher and farther to make navigating the vast world of Mira fun in its own right. And later still you would gain access to a giant robot, the Skell, to cross even larger expanses faster and eventually unlock the flight module to make the world your oyster. While I’m not asking for 3 to add in a giant robot to fly around in (I mean I wouldn’t say no either) at the very least I wish this game took the running and jumping from X. Later in the game you do gain access to a boat to cross a large aquatic region…but its controls both leave something to be desired and the sheer scale of this ocean means the boat only makes moving from point A to B SLIGHTLY less tedious.

To the game’s credit though, it does improve on one of my least favorite aspects of Xenoblade 2’s navigation. In the latter, you would frequently need to unlock paths forward with field skills and constantly open up menus to swap around Blades to get the appropriate skills in order, but it was a real mess and pace breaker. In 3 field skills are taught to the party after meeting certain Heroes, and just have them permanently active from that point onwards. The game even teases you a bit at the beginning by showing you tightropes you won’t be able to use until a ways later into the story. That said, there’s only four field skills in the entire game and two are completely optional, and even in those cases I can count the times you DO need to use them on one hand. Expecting every Hero to have their own field skill would have been overkill for sure, and in this specific case I’m glad Monolith Soft didn’t go for quantity over quality. Sadly, the game couldn’t improve on 2’s map at all, as it still makes it difficult to judge differences in elevation. Certain symbols only show up on the minimap but not the full map, and you’re limited to just one pin you can put on the map per areas, which simply isn’t enough. Seeing as so many people from Monolith Soft worked on Breath of the Wild, which had detailed maps that showed off things well, as well as multiple pins and such to work with, this is a pretty disappointing step down. Far from unusable but there’s more that could have been done here.

Thankfully, the game does improve on one aspect the series has always been a bit iffy on: the quests.

HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO (QUEST)

Xenoblade has often had a LOT of quests, but very few were really worth doing outside of the experience or money they’d give you. The first game went a little too hard on MMO-styled quests that just amounted to killing a given number of enemies or gathering a given amount of items. Some quests had more worthwhile rewards and little storylines associated with the NPCs giving them out but it really wasn’t worth having to trudge through all of the basic ones to get to them. Xenoblade Chronicles X was a fair bit better with more engaging quest lines throughout the game with more tangible rewards. Watching your city slowly accept more alien citizens into it was really neat, among other things. But that game also had strange requirements to even take on quests and often limited who could or could not be in your party to even accept them which held it back. The vast majority of quests in Xenoblade 2 were kind of unremarkable to be honest, though the Blade quests were often higher quality…a shame most Blades were only obtainable through in-game gacha that took TONS of luck and grinding to even get. So really, the bar was pretty low for Xenoblade 3’s quests and they still raised it so much higher that it’ll be very hard to top.

Side quests in 3 come in two flavors: basic quests and Hero quests. Basic quests can vary but often concern themselves with NPCs and tend to have their own minor storyline connected to the colony they hail from, while Hero quests are for both recruiting and later strengthening the Heroes you can add to your party. Hero quests come with voice acting and even some extensive cinematics at times, so the presentation really makes them stand out. While some Hero quests are actually required to complete the story, the vast majorities are optional…but if you take nothing else from this section, know that it is within your best interests to do them if you can, because they contain some of the game’s best moments. Be it character development, gags, or some really great rewards in the form of power-ups or party members, I was almost never disappointed with the Hero quests. Some are so good I’m shocked Monolith Soft didn’t make them required, especially since they often tie up loose ends to the core story or some characters’ personal arcs.

Something I came to enjoy about all of these quests is how they would often feed into each other and in some cases build off of one another. Take the quests found in Colony 9. The colony is rather run down at the game’s start and the new commander, Zeon, isn’t well respected by the rest of his subordinates. His initial Hero quest is about learning to trust Noah and the others, but subsequent quests around the colony are about him earning the trust of his peers and eventually getting the colony to start growing their own crops to sustain themselves. This requires the help of Colony Tau, which you encounter much later on, but serves to strengthen relations between the two. Most of the colonies in the game end up being paired off with a colony from the opposite faction, further emphasizing the game’s core themes of looking past initial differences or prejudices and working together for a common goal. Some basic quests can have some unexpected payoff. One questline has you attacked at random points by strange robotic soldiers, which eventually leads to a late-game Hero quest, and that hero teaches you a field skill that enables you to tackle another Hero’s ascension quest as you go off in search of a mythical hot spring. It made me feel validated in scraping every inch of the map and doing every quest when I could. Often times I was torn between continuing the core story and doing as much side content as possible, which is about the highest praise I can think of for an RPG. Things aren’t perfect, of course.

While I would say most missions are at least somewhat interesting for delving into NPCs or occasionally shaking things up, the game does repeat certain quest types a bit too much. Virtually every “follow the tracks” mission is the same, but the tracks themselves sometimes seem to wig out and spontaneously pop into existence. Not bad, but also not very engaging. Any time you have to follow an NPC that walks as slow as possible also kills the pacing of the game. I’m begging you here, Monolith Soft, please never do this again. There’s even two separate quest lines about making it rain that either requires random waiting around or dropping a ton of money on an NPC to make it rain instead. But really, the biggest issue I have with a lot of the quests in the game is how you get them.

Sometimes you’ll just be given a quest straight away, while others will be displayed on the map with a big glowing question mark. But often times you have to gather information on a quest before actually being assigned it. Wander over to NPCs with neon yellow speech bubbles and just eavesdrop for a few seconds and BAM, you have some quest info. But some quests require multiple pieces of information to even accept and even then, you have to go back to camp and specifically discuss the info to gain the quest. Some quests require you to have specific Heroes in your line up OR be discussed at a very specific camp just to give you more hoops to jump through. This does nothing but really add extra steps to the process and I don’t find it adds anything of note but maybe some minor flavor text. I can tolerate it for the most part at least, except for the handful of cases where the information you need to gather can only be obtained at VERY specific times of day. I wasn’t able to even START a few quests near the end of the game because I would have to go to a specific part of the map at a specific part of the day for the CHANCE the conversation would be there to overhear. Granted, you can change the time of day in-game manually but it was still an annoying obstacle that didn’t have to be there.

That said, I did everything in the game, which isn’t something I could say for ANY other Xenoblade until now, as there was always something that would burn me out of the process. Maybe there were just too many quests, or weird requirements to even start them, but Xenoblade 3 is the first game in the series I’ve 100% completed, so that should speak to the sheer quality of most of the side content in addition to the core story.  For the most part the game is very keen on making it easy to keep tabs on your progress through quests, or making it easy to see where to go next. Some quests which required you to grab specific items would sometimes mark themselves on your map, and some areas would spawn a large amount of items in said area to make gathering take no time at all. That said, this wasn’t universal and there are still some really tedious questlines involving gathering items that I had to look up to cut down on time. All told though, I never felt the need to just drop a quest and enjoyed having so many things to do throughout the game. Monolith Soft has come far when it comes to their side content, though there are still some pitfalls with the greater balance of the game with all that in mind.

AN UNENVIABLE BALANCING ACT

Balancing a game is hard, especially an RPG with tons of systems layered over one another. Past Xenoblade games have been a bit hit or miss with balance, and going into Xenoblade 3 I was curious how well they’d balance a game where your entire party is battling at once. I think for the most part the game’s intended balance curve when focusing on the story is mostly fine. And it does take steps to keep players from growing too strong too fast and breaking the game over its knee but…well, let’s just say there are some issues with their approach to things.

Most regular encounters are generally fine so long as you are within a few levels of your enemy, and as long as you single out some stronger enemies and don’t attract a group you’ll do fine. Same old Xenoblade. As in past games though, there are varying types of enemies that can rapidly change things, namely the Elite and Unique enemies. Unique enemies are a series staple, basically bosses in disguise and are often far stronger than their level would imply, with Elite enemies a slight step down from that. These two enemy types are a LOT bulkier than standard enemies, and as I found throughout the game, most storyline bosses qualify as these types of enemies as far as health and defense goes. On the one hand, this meant that even in situations where I was quite over leveled, these bosses still put up a fight, but it also kind of makes most fights a drag….unless you use Chain Attacks.

Which leads to my next point: Chain Attacks are kind of broken. They are SO good, you’d be foolish NOT to abuse them, but by using them battles can get kind of samey, all that unique music is drowned out by the Chain Attack theme, and it also makes it easy to over level without even trying. See, similar to Xenoblade 2, if you kill an enemy during a Chain Attack but keep going for as long as possible you end up getting an “overkill” modifier to your experience. Depending on when and where you do the Chain Attack, you could end up getting upwards of 1000 times the normal experience. Add to this that Elite enemies also have a separate modifier for experience you gain from taking them out, as well as the fact that one of the perks to doing more side quests is upping the chances of seeing more Elite enemies…and it means you are DROWNING in experience before you even get to the experience gained from quests and exploration.

Now, in Xenoblade 2 Monolith Soft implemented a system where you would have any non-battle experience stored separately that you could access at an inn to bolster your levels if you needed a boost, or ignore it if you didn’t want to over level. This carries over into Xenoblade 3; however it lacks the ability to level down, which was added to the Switch port of Xenoblade 1, at least until the post-game. So you have a game where it is extremely easy to over level, even if you aren’t trying to optimize it, and that leads to another problem.

Whenever you complete a Hero Quest in this game, a given party member will “inherit” that Hero’s class. So, when you beat Valdi’s quest and add him to your party, Lanz gets the ability to be a War Medic immediately. For everyone else, they have to unlock it slowly by fighting alongside Valdi and/or Lanz in that class, as an example. What the game fails to tell you though is that if you are more than four levels higher than an enemy, characters gain NO progress towards unlocking these classes. Despite the fact you still gain experience and Class Points (to rank up the classes), they saw fit to freeze your progress. In a game where it’s criminally easy to accidentally over level, which pushes you to fight stronger and stronger enemies to actually unlock the classes the game is clearly built around. Which will just over level you even more. It’s a problem that starts small, barely noticeable, but by endgame I was left with a ton of classes I couldn’t really pass on to anybody, which really limited my options.

To be fair here, this isn’t an issue every player is likely to really run into. Not everyone’s going to do every quest in the game, or use all their stored experience. The game is perfectly playable and beatable without getting every class on every character. As I said before, going from story beat to story beat, the game offers pretty decent challenge, and if you don’t abuse certain things like the experience modifiers, you likely strike a good balance with the game. I also only played on the default difficulty so maybe the harder difficulty would have been a better idea. I’ve definitely seen strategies and set-ups that break the game in half and trivialize it even at the higher difficulties but that’s so far removed from an average experience with the game I can overlook it. Monolith Soft likes to put a lot of things into their games and striking a perfect balance between rewarding players for doing it versus not punishing players who don’t engage with every facet is impossible. For the most part, the game works fine as intended and for those that enjoy exploiting and optimizing things out, Xenoblade 3 can be a lot of fun. I just hope in the future they can try to limit punishing players that stray off the beaten path and gorge themselves on all this wonderful optional content. They’re getting better in some ways, but there’s still a lot more that can be done.

BRINGING AND END TO THE ENDLESS NOW

I’ve had a lot to say here regarding Xenoblade Chronicles 3. If you couldn’t tell, I quite enjoyed it and took great delight in devouring it over the course of about 170 hours. As it stands, this game is likely my Game of the Year, or at the very least in the running for it. Monolith Soft has become one of my favorite developers over the course of the Xenoblade series. From their support work on major first-party Nintendo games, to this series, I’ve seen tremendous growth from them. They learn from their mistakes and shoot ever higher, with each original title from them demonstrating that they are some of the best in the business. I said before that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is Monolith Soft more or less at their best in many regards, and shows a glimpse at their true potential, with their ambitions fully realized.

While I am a bit mixed on certain endgame elements of the story, it was an extremely engaging, emotional title that excelled at giving me a main cast I really cared about. I love Shulk, I…tolerate Rex, but the rest of their party members were hit-or-miss By contrast, I love the entirety of the Ouroboros gang here. Demonstrating surprising depth and story relevancy, at no point did they fade into the background. While the setting definitely takes elements from past titles and longtime fans have a lot to dissect and mull over, making this game mostly a standalone experience allowed the cast to shine, no fear of being upstaged or made to play second-fiddle to returning characters. For anyone joining this series with this installment, I’ll say again that you don’t miss out on too terribly much and the core experience will still hit hard.

This is easily my favorite Xenoblade when it comes to the combat, making for a smooth experience that I easily lost several hours in without even noticing. The ease of swapping between side quests, the main story and exploring the corners of Aionios cannot be overstated here. For as long as the game was, it was hard to put down until I saw the ending through. Despite some bumps in the road, Monolith delivered not just a good story, but a good game built around it. It was a journey that seemed endless, and at times I didn’t want it to end.

For as bleak as the game could get, there was always an optimistic streak that kept it from being too much. For as nightmarish as the world was, the heroes moved forward. Xenoblade 3 is a game all about moving forward; it is about accepting loss, celebrating the good times along with the bad, and cherishing the time you have while you can. As tempting as it may be to live in a stable status quo, that leads to stagnation and ultimately destruction. The future is uncertain, there are doubtless struggles ahead, but despite that fear of the unknown, moving forward is the only way we can go on living. The past few years have weighed pretty hard on me, as I’m sure it has for many others out there, and it has put a lot of things in perspective. I found myself frozen, afraid to move forward or back. Trapped in my own “endless now,” I’m glad to have found hope again. This might be “just a game,” but it was a game I felt I really needed to play at this specific moment in time. It means a lot to me, and I’m glad I was able to share my thoughts on it. A triumph of the genre, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 stands out to me more so than perhaps any other game this year, and I can’t recommend it enough.

[watchmakermori]

fontaine archon quest part 1 thoughts

so I finished the first archon quest this morning and my thoughts on it are somewhat mixed.

maybe my expectations were a tad high because I'd seen a lot of positivity for it, but it wasn't quite as strong a start as I hoped. I definitely still enjoyed it, but it felt somewhat...fragmented to start with. A lot of the elements and characters were introduced clumsily, in my opinion, and I don't think the stakes have been set up as well as they were in sumeru.

Furina is great. She's exactly what I hoped for - I love how imperious and downright pathetic she is. I love cringefail women and genshin doesn't have enough for them. The fact that she's so concerned with spectacle and celebrity among her people is a really interesting dynamic, especially because the people of fontaine don't actually seem to respect her much at all.

I also like Lyney and Lynette a lot, though Lyney's dialogue suffered for how fucking obviously expository it was sometimes. Even so, I really liked the reveal that they were part of the fatui - I wish I hadn't known about it beforehand. It's the first time we've seen the fatui properly placed in a more sympathetic light. Obviously Childe is a relatively sympathetic character, but that's always been in spite of his fatui status. With Lyney and Lynette, they don't really seem ashamed of it - Lyney defends the organisation to an extent, pointing out how vast it is and that their branch of it is not working towards nefarious aims. That adds some interesting nuance, even though I'm not really sure I believe that Arlecchino actually has good intentions for the Gnosis. I think (and hope) that she's still batshit insane beneath her caring demeanor

Speaking of lyney and lynette's backstory, it had some really dark fucking undertones? I don't know if I was just reading into it, but it came across like Lynette was literally going to be. trafficked. to a predator. and the implications of Lyney being paraded around by that aristocrat were kind of weird as well. the fact that arlecchino literally went and violently murdered the guy who 'bought' lynette is unusually grim for genshin but it's pretty fucking cool as well. I'm soooo excited to see arlecchino in game

but with respect to the stuff I didn't like so much...childe's appearance felt very strange and abrupt, as glad as I was to see him. the vibe just felt off between him and the traveller - weirdly friendly, given that the last canon interaction between the two of them was back in liyue. I've never been of the view that the traveller hates childe or anything, but they've always been pretty wary and suspicious of him. it felt odd that they were chatting away like old buddies, rather than the traveller being more like 'hello Friend..what the FUCK are you doing here'

also, they dump a LOT of childe's lore on us at once. I was partly surprised that Childe would be so open about it, but I guess there's nothing canon to say that he keeps it quiet. In general, it just felt like we had to digest a lot at once - that childe fell into the Abyss, that he has some power in him, that his vision is acting up. I think they're obviously setting something up for later in the archon quest, but it didn't feel organic or subtle. We'll have to see how it turns out.

I felt that the court case was kind of fun - very hammy, but deliberately so. However, the traveller's purpose in Fontaine does feel a bit nebulous so far. In Sumeru, it was pretty well established - they needed to speak to the dendro archon, but they couldn't get to her, so they had to keep pushing and investigating to find out why she was being locked away. In fontaine, the traveller wants an audience with the hydro archon...but they're kind of just milling around and not really overcoming any particular obstacles to bring them to that goal.

I'm not totally sure it works to have the traveller defending lyney at trial. I don't mind that it's goofy - I think that's by design. it's more that we haven't really spent enough time with lyney to really get why the traveller would go so far to help him, and saving lyney doesn't serve their other goals either. If Furina was in the habit of refusing to meet people, maybe standing against her in court could've been a way to get her notice. Or maybe Lyney could've had access to intel/connections that would've helped the traveller find their sibling, which he would promise to share if they helped him build a case. We just needed more of a robust reason for the traveller to get involved.

So those are my thoughts so far. It's definitely not as strong a start as Sumeru, but I like the vibe of Fontaine and the general insanity of the characters. Navia and her bodyguards are so fucking funny. I'm curious to see where the plot goes from here

I also LOVE furina and neuvillette's dynamic. she is a brat and he is Tired. when he was like 'please pay attention to the archon so she doesn't throw a tantrum' I could've howled