#and the fucking. the COMBO. of final thought + way of death = ability

[monochrome-sunsets]

[wyrdle]

Ikutsuki Backstory ideas and other character thoughts

Jotting this down for my own reference for a hopeful future comic about this pun man as well as for anyone interested in the babygirl lmao. Also I can't believe so little exists to help flesh him out more

Persona 3 spoilers under the cut

Ok so I haven't finished the game, but I've sped run reading wikis and watching movies and clips, pardon me if I get any details wrong. I also don't know the other games, but am semi-aware of some of the links between Ikutsuki and them.

Anyway:

Ikutsuki rambling about The Fall and a Prince out of the blue is painfully one of the worst twists I've ever seen 😂 You don't lore drop your way into justifying your motives lmao. I'd have liked some hints about his past, and then a final explanation for it. Whilst I understand it's meant to be a sudden twist, it just turns out anti-climatic and even annoying narratively haha.

So, to fill out how Ikutsuki's backstory, I was thinking it'd be rad if we saw his actual research days with Kirijo's CEO / Mitsuru's gramps. I'd likely scrap that they were actively looking to invoke The Fall, and have them primarily focused on the time-bending abilities of Shadows, all being scientists dedicated to helping humanity genuinely.

I dislike the idea of such a large group of scientists being omnicidal maniacs/Nyx worshippers, so I think simplifying the Kirijo family's guilt to simply accidentally fucking up their experiments and causing such catastrophic change to the world to be a better go at it.

Enter Ikutsuki, who is a part of this research team like every other hopeful/morally decent scientist. The experiment goes awry, Shadows are released en masse, Professoer Shuji Ikutsuki is swathed, bathed, consumed by this writhing dark mass that tells him about The Fall and whispers about the Prince who will be grandly rewarded for it.

In his canon pre-suicide speech, Ikutsuki talks as if he believes the current world has lots of wrong in it, going to the extremes of wanting to cleanse and rebuild it. I think it'd be fitting for him to start off as this hopeful scientist, cheery and dorky, only for him to go through the trauma of direct exposure to Shadows + being the lone survivor amidst the wreckage and dead bodies of his colleagues.

It's a combo of real-life horror and supernatural Persona weirdness that motivates him into being the manipulator/cold scientist he is. Idk if my timeline of events is right, but post-Tartarus formation, ikutsuki kicks off figuring out plans for The Fall in earnest. Prompting his secret research on children for inducing Personas etc. (I think Strega and Ikutsuki weren't involved with each other, so for this I'd say yeah, he'd be the one responsible for that instead of Kirijo group in general.)

Other fun things for him is that surviving the sort of possession by Nyx's fragments during the formation of Tartarus gives him 'the Potential'. AKA he discovers he can exist in the darkest hour, and is eventually the one who researches himself to enable others to do so as well. It's just more reason for Kirijo group to not suspect him, and even owe him for his work.

I'm likely getting plenty of canon timeline of events off, but I think it'd be really cool for the Chairman himself to be similarly affected by the Kirijo group's experiment alongside the SEES members. Albeit, in a way that fucks him up into becoming the antagonist. Not to say he has no free will/is being actively coerced by Nyx, but that singular moment of interacting with the Shadows changed him and his outlook on life quite drastically.

Lastly, I'm pained that he doesn't really fit into the group. I think there's so much potential there for him to actually be a part of the SEES gang, holding some genuine affection that's a remnant of his pre-Shadow affected self, even going as far as having hesitation/second thoughts. Idk lol, canon Ikutsuki's death is waved off with little impact beyond how he killed Mitsuru's dad, when this guy the SEES team trusts/looks for direction kills himself in front of them. There's no emotional pay-off or pain, his death/twist reveal is just an event that happens lmao. I'd have liked to see Ikutsuki genuinely be an adult figure all the kids needed, and for them to feel the sting of his betrayal on a more personal level than what we got.

Anyway, TLDR, I feel like this helps make Ikutsuki a better villain lol. His fingers are in all the pies already!!! Use him!

So normal about this long haired, bespectacled, goofy middle aged man. He has such dad energy, and I love the angsty narrative of being corrupted lol

pls yell about him to me tq very much

[weirdcat1213]

volume 13 oh fuck oh shit oh fuck lets go

chap 1:

-that panel with vash yelling and shooting at the sky its just...hes so done man, hes so tired

-legato dont

-fucking hell what did i just say

-damn, kinda feel bad for legato. cant he really have something knives? really?

-im sorry, like what legato is saying is really interesting but...is he mopping the floor with vash while thinking of his journey?

-"it would be shameful to not risk your life" PROJECTING MUCH???

-omg the 1st time i saw that one panel where hes white i fucking gasped so hard. i thought my baby was dead CUZ LOOK AT HIM

-like yo nightow that shit gives me nightmares to this day

-STOP LEGATO STOP ITTTT, NOT THE FLASHBACK

-the fact that legato ISNT WRONG about vash just ruins my fucking day. my week. my life

-OH THANK GOD I FINALLY GET TO FUCKING UNDERSTAND THAT THING

-yknow ik we have said legato has never been his own person but in this moment (when he explains to vash the box) hes taking a decision for himself for once. he didnt have to give vash that advantage but he wants to prove his loyalty to knives, even when knives clearly said "i could not give less if a fuck." messed up choice, but his choice nonetheless

-im just gonna point out that vash doesnt think of wolfwood when he thinks of the gun ho guns and move on :)

chap 2:

-nightow honey IDK WHOS SAYING THAT

-oh ok thanks

-RIGHT IN THE FACE VASH CMON >:0

-oh honey

-legato is being a dick but putting the gun in your mouth? metal

-idk whats happening rn

-VASH NO HES GETTING HIS russian doll?

-oh DAMN ITS LIVIO TIMEEEEEE

-ok im gonna be honest...i dont remember if livio gets out of this one so when elendira says hell end up crucified....hmmm...pls no

-shes so sarcastic lmao

-also i kinda like livio having a lil bit of pride on his abilities, maybe cuz hes not like elendira being like "im powerful as fuck and you cant stop me."

-LIVIOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :D

-OH SHIT OH FUCK LETS GO THEYRE ABOUT TO LAND

chap 3:

-oh shit no warning? damn that IS gonna be rough

-legato dont-

-ah fuck, i cant believe youve done this

-yeah be paranoid bitch >:3

-"which one of us is best" personally i think vash but thats my bad, im a vash girlie <3

-oh legato...i sadly would say no. youre human therefore you cant live, according to him...anyway...

-LIVIO TIMEEEEEEE :D

-"omg elendira youre so rude >:[" "BITCH WE'RE IN A FIGHT TO THE DEATH" xd

-"it just lifts my spirits ya see" :cccc livioooooooooo

-its not like i hated him before but im definitely enjoying his character way more now

chap 4:

-lets fucking go livio

-oh right.....oh no

-me: nightow what exactly is elendira-

nightow: shhh dont worry about it

-oh...oh thats hot actually

-legato pls leave my man aloneeeeeeeee

-omg theyre hereeeeeeeeeeeee

-"hes a very special person" he sure is <3

-something about vash hiding in the fog...hmmm idk it makes me sad

-oh, there he is

-fuck team humanity is getting their asses kicked

-LIVIO NO

-and...there he comes

-ah shittttttttt

chap 5:

-oh damn

-well damn there he goes

-razlo gets it >:3

-oh damn those eyes

-oh shit oh fuck oh shit (shes right tho)

-me: ok nightow now i really want to know what elendira is-

nightow with a gun: i said dont worry about it :)

-oh yes queen you fucking go ily sm

-oh shit oh ok so he still has his head, right

-damn you could say thats was the...final nail...to the coffin....*ba dum tsss*

chap 6:

-good to see razlo experiencing the human emotion called fear, get humbled

-interesting that skill ISNT enough. like razlo was cocky cuz yeah hes powerful af not because he had won many fights before. so if skill isnt enough then what is

-NOT THE WOLFWOOD FLASHBACK

-YESSSS

-something something my man refuses to be crucified, something something the power of change

-OH HES BACK HI :3

-oh i love these kinds of combos sm (im not saying i think thats how happens irl, im just saying i enjoy it in fiction)

-LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO

-aw :c

-YEAHHHHHH LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOO >:D

-OOF OK THAT WAS GOOD SHIT

-you say that but youre bleeding queen

-razlo i kinda hate you cuz you killed him but no you cant leave now

-oh shit oh fuck no

chap 7:

-:c

-razlo and his methods were fucked, yes but its true that in the end it was to defend livio. in a world like that only razlo had his back

-..... :c

-geesus nightow, like thats junji ito kind of shit (imo)

-did it?????

-geesus christ thats a weapon

-.....im not really sure what just happened

-so is livio dead????

-NOPE HES HERE LETS GO YO

-oh shit i didnt...notice that....

-"and to him" STOP IT STOP IT

-wait-

-my queen no :c rip :c you were gorgeous

chap 8:

-NO GIRLY NOOOOOOOO :C

-oh god livio

-oh shit he knowssss

-bro pls leave my man alone, hes so tired

-pls dont mention his powers can act as a shield cuz that reminds me of the last time he did that :c

-omg its livio the teenager

-hes ok its fine

-"psst...pssst....can you stfu" XDDD

-GEESUS BRO OK. YOU WANT TO GET CUT IN HALF THAT BADLY HUH

-the chaos :c the destruction :c the russian doll :c

-LEGATO NO

-HOW

-ALSO I THINK HERE IS WHEN VASH'S COAT TURNS BLACK SOMEHOW RIGHT????? i was never sure

-stop iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit

chap 9:

-damn legato, dont look cool while youre trying to kill my son

-legato stoooooooooooop

-STOP IT VASH NO PLS, ALSO THE WAY NIGHTOW DREW THAT FLASHBACK???? LEAVE ME ALONE OLD MAN???

-funny enough until this point legato hasnt said anything about "breaking his spirit" so vash is just really feeling the choice coming at him, quickly, maybe too quickly

-wait whats happening?

-oh...oh :c (ALSO ORANGE IF YOU INCLUDE THAT IM GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU. LIKE IT WOULD MAKE SENSE CUZ VASH GOES AROUND HEALING PLANTS BUT STILL. SHUT UP ORANGE)

-"he might be the key for communication" yeah...wouldnt that be nice

-"and you knives, i will never forgive you" get in line

-you just cant ask "what kind of person vash is" cuz you either get a 5 hour lecture or 2 hours of ugly crying

-"i believe in how he chose to live his life" while vash is in the same shape as wet paper

trimax meryl "i believe in how he chose to live his life"

🤝 98 wolfwood "i see, so thats how you live. thats how you choose to live"

the sadddest and maybe kinda stupid decision ever, but in the end imagine being able to choose that after so much trauma. imagine not giving yourself to hate and fear

-oh shit :0 he shot the little box

-go go go GO GO GO

-AH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT

NEXT ONE IS THE LAST ONE HOLY CRAP

[rexaleph]

hxh thots as of ep 51 (it's very good) i liked the hunter exam part well enough but this is truly excellent, the extreme violence and heightened stakes w the bodies piling up is way more my speed. now i'm fully watching it for real because i like it, and not like learning abt the genre and doing podcast homework

1. speaking of the podcast: so apparently Janine's reaction to Kurapika's specialist ability was "oh this is bullshit!" and i agree. however i am not as upset by the bullshit that it is as i thought i might be. him getting explicit OP rage powers made me less🙄 at him being the archetype that he is.

maybe bc it fits so well into the show's previous explanations of how nen works and how it applies to his circumstances (bc like. the guy who wrote the circumstances for him made the nen wheel lmao) also the death pact really works for me bc it is so very literal. like the pointing out and making explicit of him saying "i am a honor-bound rage-powered avenger and i will do a magic spell to supercharge my revenge powers by keeping a solemn vow limiting their use under penalty of death; the chains i use to tie my enemies into hell also bind my life" - i think that moves us away from unreflected cliche into sth deliberate

i got spoiled on Kurapika mastering all forms when i was looking up the nen user types, but i assumed he got there by like training bc he is the discipline guy. and for a minute i was like, aw he just got it by magic :c but like no, it's actually good that he got it by narrative symbolism magic. also i think bc Gon and Killua are the most special little boys in the world, i don't begrudge Kurapika being like an acknowledged in-universe rarity, and i like that he's older than them and a secondary protagonist at that as well.

final Kurapika thought, i don't like his character design unfortunately. the yellow hair grey eyes combo is unattractive and he has the textbook shitty anime haircut. basically everyone on the show looks a little goofy and characterful - in a way that makes Killua (and maybe some others) stand out as angelic btw, but sth abt Kurapika grates, i think bc it's just kinda ugly but very plain. no points of interest, except maybe his gay little earring that is rarely visible.

2. love the balancing and rebalancing of power. the mechanics and layers of what happened with Uvogin, how threatened Gon and Killua were by the troupe, Killua's skinned ankles

3. love the machinations, the interweaving, Killua figuring out who the chain bastard is, the assassins being hired by the mob

4. love the emotional machinations as well. Gon and Killua's puppy love (it's real and gay to me), and especially - as pointed out by Keith on the podcast, Killua doing mild bullying behaviors the way kids will with their friends that Gon is just not susceptible to. Killua's emotional struggles in general, the different types of jealousy (are you better than me? do you like someone else?), the controlling impulse, it's all very real and resonant lmao. Killua is the least interesting when he's freaking out abt being turned into a killer with no internal life by his family, and the best when trying to brush off Gon paying attention to another kid. i'm an adult, so im not negging my crush by drawing a power chart in the sand with a stick but like. i get it lmao.

love the horrible gay clown as well, it is homophobic but i like his sexual menace, him living fully for his violence fetish, faggot death wish and then some

love the glimpses into what's up with the troupe and their relationships in general. Franklin the fucked up big guy has some pretty insightful things to say about people's relationships. there might be something to Chrollo, until now he was just like a generic boss man (though very beautiful, and i was kinda surprised and thrilled to see him get in on the action himself and not just give orders from the lair) but he weeps for Uvogin?

5. Indoor Fish 😻

[padawansuggest]

Okay so my gf and my dad are lucid dreamers who don’t actually know HOW to lucid dream (trust me there are signs you can look it up they both have the capability to lucid dream but neither want to or have tried yet idk man it’s really weird cause they both love naps so much but haaaaaaate dreams) and because of this they both describe their dreams the same way. They 1: hate them and 2: it’s confusing and annoying at best so they just can’t stand the actual dreams.

Anyways. I completely lack the ability to lucid dream. But. I fucking LOVE my dreams that aren’t nightmares, because an unfortunate issue for me is chronic nightmares but otherwise I actually love my dreams and get frequent dreams that would amazing books/movies or fics. Like I have had probably two super good ones in the last month or so. One of them full on had a mixture of a H*gw^rts type school but mix in elements from Breakbills (The Magicians, specifically the part in that it’s a secondary school, not a primary school) and I genuinely think it would make a good novel and sequel and I love the idea still considering it, while the last one I had was like 6 hours ago and it gave me a super good idea for a fic that involves kiddo CodyWan with Mandalorian Empire and a bunch of other epic shit lmao i straight up had to write it out after I woke up and even now it’s still a super solid fic idea and it’s got Lesbians~

Anyways. So what I’m saying is that lucid dreamers don’t have the ability to suspend reality for the plot, because they KNOW it’s a dream and so it’s all just fast and confusing until they actually learn how to lucid dream (mad neither of them are learning that bitch do you KNOW what I would give to have a secondary life in my own head???? Wasted. Rude.) and they even describe it as just annoying flashes sometimes.

So. Lucid dreaming is actually very specific and not the same as normal dreaming in which you suspend reality and go with the flow, and it’s got a lot of major markers that aren’t the same as regular dreaming.

I can overall make decisions in my own dreams. I don’t always have the best options for them, but I can make them. I can choose to look for a book in a store, or I can choose to go into that flower shop. I found that since I learned to make simple decisions in my dreams, while it doesn’t exactly help me realize it’s a dream, it overall can push the dream in one direction or another. Last night I chose to look for a customer instead of just filling an order for them when I realized they had ordered the grossest combo known to man and I was like ‘Imma ask for a second opinion’ and suddenly I was no longer filling orders, but a lost princess who very Futurama style got cryogenically frozen and so did her old gf and now they’re in the future and can finally be together without being sentenced to death from homophobia. It was wild.

Either way. So you know those dreams where your teeth start falling out or crumbling (mine crumble and block my mouth if my mouth is dry irl and I’m all ‘shame my mouth is going to be blocked by teeth for the rest of forever’) and you’re like ‘wow, this sucks’ and let it turn into a nightmare or get weird?

Yeah. So. That. Still. Doesn’t help me realize it’s a dream. At no point in the dream do I have the capability of realizing it’s a dream. That’s not a possibility for me. But. I do… have a way of waking myself up. But I’m not like ‘I gotta wake up’ because it doesn’t occur to me that it’s a dream. I sorta just. Shut down. I’m all ‘yeah it’s time to die’. And. I. Die. I just like kill myself in the dream and wake up with a headache from grinding my teeth.

So. Just a thought. If you don’t have the capability of realizing you’re in a dream and changing things??? Just die. It apparently works.

[redjaybathood]

When it comes to the -"he never got to unlearn the violence" thing. - I think fans need to remember that all vigilante work is inherently violent the same way all boxing or martial arts is violent. However this doesn't make boxers or martial artists angry people. Every Batfam person is violent from Jason and Bruce to Cass and Duke. Its more how comics and society as a whole decides whose violence is just and whose is wrong.

With "Jason Todd never got to unlearn the violence" thing, I think it's important to keep in mind that - in my opinion - it is about using violence as a tool. Batman shows that using violence is what stops other violent people from inflicting said violence upon other people (oftentimes non-violent people). Batman also shows that violence is a tool to punish people. Batman also shows that violence is a tool that keeps you safe. Batman also shows that violence is a tool you use to get release, emotionally speaking. And when Jason falls a victim to violence - one time too many, the final time - and comes back, violence helps him survive (his body's ingrained responses help him fight off crooks that attack him when he lives on the street, without memories or speech, with impaired cognitive abilities). Violence helps him save people from violence. Violence helps him to punish people. Violence gets him a momentary emotional release. One thing I would argue about is Talia's role in this is exaggerated. Violence isn't even as much a tool for her as death is, and never for emotional matters (except post Death and the Maidens, but that's another thing entirely; she's fucking traumatized and re-traumatized - she's essentially tortured continuously for what I don't remember exactly but feels like weeks).

Vigilante work isn't inherently violent. It can be, sure. Doesn't have to be. It doesn't even have to be illegal. By definition, it's preventing, investigating, or punishment of a crime, done outside the law. It usually is, though, so I will give you that. But then again, I would like to strike instances that are perceived as vigilantism but are just - not (racially or other types of hate-motivated mobbing or individual assault). Like, the crime part should be real, not "perceived". And "punishment" shouldn't be worse than the crime itself. Violent punishment for non-violent crimes is... a very dangerous path to trade on.

Neither boxing or martial arts is inherently violent either. Boxing, specifically, sometimes is used in therapy. It's a good way to get regular exercise which boosts brain chemicals etc - I am not a brain scientist, I'm not any kind of scientist so do your own research on this one - but the programs I read about proposed no-contact boxing specifically. And not a competitive one. If we talk about contact sport/martial arts, it's also not violent in the same way violent vigilantism is violent. Because in most cases, there is a ring, limited time you spend sparring, and there are rules and regulations. Nothing that exists in violent vigilantism.

Every Batfam member is violent and angry. This is true. Not all the time. And not always at the same time. And some are less than others. Like, way way way less than others. And... Being angry is not synonymous with being a bad person. It's just a bad combo, being angry and being violent. Look, I think, if you had a violent parent, or a partner, you know what I'm talking about. This is not a good combination! But this is not a concern with comics, because their anger and violence, mostly, stays within the boundaries of vigilantism. And - if you discount Bruce - doesn't bleed into their personal relationship. In a way, despite being a killer, I consider Jason to be less violent and angry than Bruce, barring several years after his resurrection, especially in the period when he thought Bruce is dead.

Comics and society as a whole decides whose violence is just and whose is wrong - yes. Sure. And you do, too. And me, I'm doing that every time I scream at the screen (metaphorically speaking): Jason shoulda killed Joker! Why do you sound like it's a bad thing, having opinions on when violence is justified? I am sorry but if you're one of the "all violence is bad" people, I don't think we will ever see eye to eye. Sometimes violence is what keeps you safe from even greater violence. Sometimes, like with those 200 Indian women who killed their rapist - it's the only justice you're gonna get. Like, in my opinion, outside of comics and stories - it's never should be used lightly, it should be the last possible response. But it's not inherently bad, either.

tl;dr: Jason's relationship with violence is firmly rooted not only in his personal experience but in Bruce's relationship with violence which he witnessed and learned from at a formative age. You can debate whether his violence is justified, but I would say it's firmly rooted in your own experience with violence, which, mileage will vary on this one. And it should be taken on a case-to-case basis. Jason isn't unique in being tied to violence or being angry - all Batfam has their own relationship to both of those things. It's not a gotcha either, not a "see, they have the same issues but don't kill people". Sometimes they do, I think it helps to remember that. It's just not permanent, because as heroes they have to stay in the realm of socially acceptable violence. That's talking from Doylist perspective, and from a Watsonian one - I can only theorize because I didn't read enough of Tim and Dick's Robin run to have an opinion on that. But basically, Steph, Damian, Cass, and Duke's relationship to violence formed without Bruce's input. And overall the kids don't have the exact same issues or experiences as Jason, either.

Now, why Jason kills if his relationship to violence was formed under influence of Bruce, although Bruce does not kill? Because it's not the only thing that formed his relationship with violence and killing. We see it with Judy Kolosky, we see it with Gloria Stanson, we see it with trafficked children, and the poor unsuspecting family of one of his teachers, and with yes, Jason himself. Not killing the Dumpster Slasher - didn't make women safe from him. Not killing Garzonas didn't save Gloria. Killing Eugene saved the kids. Killing that teacher saved her family. Negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement.

[pansexualkiba]

@panda-monium64 well get ready because the only familiar territory from here is stages five through six of part 3.

THIS IS PART 3 OF A SERIES

TOUHOU HEBIZAGAN ~ WISH-BEARING ZODIAC

Stages 5 and 6 were essentially my last middle school characters, which also was marked by the simple fact of: I was now no longer consistently posting on DeviantArt. Yes, that is my canonical reason for never returning to DA, I was in high school now. Of course, sometime in high school I rediscovered my old ocs (I had spellcards made up for them, of course I'd find them) and went "huh, I never actually made a plot for these girls" so I cobbled one together.

Plot: Out of nowhere, a giant unknown constellation has appeared in the sky. With its appearance comes a shower of shooting stars, which the Moriya Shrine has immediately capitalized upon to make an off-season "wishing festival", in the same vein as Tanabata. It's all going well until it's noted that serpentine youkai are starting to get INCREASINGLY restless. Not only that, there's a sheer monsoon that's threatening the Human Village and their festival. The heroes have to trek up Youkai Mountain and somehow get this fucking rainstorm under control...

I think? It's been a while since I've reviewed the plots of these games. A lot of them are "a weird thing has happened, let's go and find out what it is", which isn't bad, but I think it's egregious here cause I never even gave them motive to go and see what's happening. Anyways.

HEBIIN FUISHI The Basilisk that Seeks Immortality Species: Cockatrice Ability: Capable of turning things to stone A basilisk living deep in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. Normally not seen as often as others think. Her species is technically a cockatrice, but conflagration of her myths with basilisk folklore made her sort of a composite species. Her stone gaze only works if she's looking directly into the eyes of her prey, so she wears glasses. She doesn't need them to see, but it keeps everything in her gaze from turning to stone. She was minding her own business and watching the meteor shower when she felt a great surge of power. Confronting the protagonist, she tried to test out her power. Naturally, she was defeated.

Finally, a Stage One boss that's just some weird girl with no relation to the plot... Technically. I mean, her narrative purpose is to show that snake girls are getting powers. I like what I did here, fusing together cockatrice and basilisk lore, because that's a thing Touhou itself does sometimes. As for the glasses thing... My sister, at that time, had gotten into Fairy Tail. I hadn't, but she'd put it on the TV and MARATHON that shit. I thought the glasses and stone gaze combo was revolutionary. Right now, though... Also, what sort of fucking name is Hebiin. Bad.

PYTHON MIGAMI A Woman that Wishes for Revenge Against the Gods Species: Gorgon Ability: Capable of turning her hair into snakes A woman living in a cave in Youkai Mountain. Thought originally to be a yamanba, Python is actually a gorgon, a sort of western youkai. Python can switch her hair between snake and hair form, making it easy for her to slip into the Human Village unnoticed. This way, she can capture humans easily. Feeling a surge of energy and confidence during the star shower, she headed out into the night without any fear. Upon seeing humans wishing for things under the shooting stars and those wishes manifesting, Python realized that she could get revenge against a certain god for the death of her sister. Of course, this was when the protagonist happened upon her.

Fun fact: that first paragraph was a later addition after HSiFS's demo came out. Until then, Python was just a gorgon who just kinda. Lived in the village???? Anyways, two things here stick out to me. One, yes she's the older sister of Medusa. I don't know which one (possibly Stheno). Two, because the whole game revolved around snakes, I didn't want to just keep using "Hebi" in their names. So I thought I was being fucking clever by instead using "Mi", which has essentially the same kanji. Migami is literally "Snake God". She's not a god. She's a weird cavewoman.

TAKANASHI NO AMEKO The Vengeful Spirit who Wants Justice Species: Uwabami Ability: Capable of causing floods Technically the child of a legendary uwabami and therefore serpentine, Ameko is also the child of a particularly vengeful spirit. Seeing an opportunity in the wishing stars, she decided to wish for the ruination of her ancestor's name, Lord Masamori. With no regard to how it would affect her, she wished for the justice for her father's romance, but her wish was too grand. Upon hearing that the closer you were to the heavens, the more likely a larger wish would be granted, Ameko set off up Youkai Mountain, a trek she would normally not attempt were it not for a strong force strengthening her. Of course, her pilgrimage happened to be in the way of the protagonists...

There's a lot happening here, but let's start with: she is based on a real myth Disney's Descendants-style. Fun fact: despite her literal ability being to flood things, she's really just describing a thing her dad, the original Uwabami, was able to do by calling upon all his servants and stuff. Kuro-hime became a vengeful spirit, I guess??? Her narrative role is to show that the real culprit is, in fact, on Youkai Mountain... But the rumor is totally incorrect. Who told this rumor? Well...

MIYA UMIO The Great Serpent who Worships the Serpent Bearer Species: Sea Serpent Ability: Capable of manipulating shipwrecks A sea serpent youkai from an age long past. When the Outside World was still seafaring, they feared the depths of the ocean, and they told stories of gigantic serpents that would sink ships and ruin voyages. Miya is the result of this. During the era of ships, she enjoyed grand amounts of vast power, growing to tremendous lengths. However, when the world switched to airplanes, and slowly began to disbelieve in sea serpents, she began to lose her power. Fearing the worst, she fled into Gensokyo and took up residence in a large lake on Youkai Mountain. She's remained there, displeased, for quite a while, but when the new constellation appeared, giving her more of her strength, as well as bringing a whole tableau of stars with potent wishing potential, she couldn't help but wish for a new era of seafaring. The protagonists simply had to stop her.

Fun fact: the fact that her wish happened directly before the rainstorms is a coincidence. Miya's actually a very cool character, I just wish I did more with her. I think she'd have a very fun time fucking with Murasa. They'd either be best friends or immortal enemies. A funayuurei and a sea serpent... Name a more iconic duo. Anyways, her theme is named "Jormungand Coil". She isn't the world-serpent, I just thought that was neat.

UNAGIHIME Electrifying Heavenly Eel Species: Electric eel youkai Ability: Capable of manipulating static electricity A servant of the Dragon God. With the great constellation appearing out of nowhere, the entire Heavens was sent into an uproar. Unagihime was sent to calm down certain high-ranking members of the celestial sphere when the protagonist appeared. Acting out of self defense, she was still defeated.

Welcome to the Dragon Hall. How did the protagonist know to go this way? ...I guess there's two midbosses. Iku's the other one. Unagihime is meant to essentially be a second Iku anyways. Her design has her have a long braid to represent an eel's body, btw. The first of the three middle school girls in this batch (lol). I like how I went "what's serpentine... an eel, of course" and now she's here... As a consummate midboss.

ODORIGUMO NO JALELA The Dancer who Weaves Folklore from the Mists Species: Apsarasa Ability: Capable of manipulating water vapor A dancer in the Great Dragon God's court. Normally a laid-back individual, the implications of an appearance of an entire constellation that represents the subjugation of serpents did not escape her. When the Dragon God noticed this, it took it as a challenge of authority, as the Dragon God is serpentine in nature. At the same time, an ancient spirit awakened due to the sheer amount of shooting stars being released from this constellation. At a loss of what to do, Jalela began to wander around Heaven when her subordinate Unagihime was defeated. Jalela had an idea. "Perhaps if I get them to target both the wish-granter and the spirit of the constellation, I can end this whole thing in one fell swoop." With that in mind, she went to greet her new hero.

Made this girl first because... Oh god, I had gotten into fucking. Persona at the time, and Apsaras was my favorite demon (it isn't anymore btw. I think it's Angra Mainyu?). Anyways, originally her name was Maiko, but I gave that to the real Maiko (also water-themed, her original name is lost to the depths), and I gave her a name a real person would have. Odorigumo because she's employed by Japanese Heaven though (joke). Anyways, if it wasn't obvious what the new constellation is, you'll soon find out. But first...

NOZOMU HOSHIGAMI Djinn of the Falling Stars Species: Shooting star spirit Ability: Capable of granting three wishes An ancient spirit. As a star spirit, her nature is similar to that of a god. Long ago, humans would wish upon shooting stars, and the star spirits would do their best to ensure such things would come to pass. As humans got greedier, however, the star spirits became overworked. One of them had an idea. "Let us create a festival to organize these wishes. Then we shall each prioritize a certain kind." It worked, but what happened eventually was that humans began to put no faith in their actual wishes, and so the star spirits lost power, eventually going into hibernation. Nozomu was the last to do so, being the strongest of the star spirits. Nozomu woke up when the great serpent-holder appeared in the night sky, bringing with it unseasonable meteor showers and shooting stars. With the shooting stars came wishes. Nozomu, overjoyed at the surge of faith, began to grant every wish she could manage, unknowingly helping with sending Heaven itself into a blind panic. Something had to be done...

The plot of this one is the most loosey-goosey, I think. This is our final boss btw: just some random blondie who happens to be able to grant wishes... To an extent. She's not, like, phenominally all-powerful like her title would suggest. You may also have been thinking "Hey, isn't this essentially the plot of Shining Shooting Star?" And you WOULD be correct, if not for 1) snakes, and 2) I don't think SSS existed when I first drafted Nozomu. Also, fun fact: she carries a bunch of bristles in one hand, for literally no other reason than I thought it was reminiscent of a shooting star's tail. She's cute, but I wish I did more with "star spirits" after this. Ah well, there's other fish to fry.

SERPENTARIUS Divine Spirit of the Serpent Bearer Species: Divine Spirit Ability: Capable of controlling serpents The spirit of the constellation Ophiucus, also known as the Serpent Bearer. Her ability to control serpents means that she can passively boost the power of any serpentine figure, from the lowly tsuchinoko to the Dragon God itself. Her constellation isn't the real constellation itself, but rather, the astrological form of it, thrown into Gensokyo after a grand debate whether or not it belongs on the modern Zodiac. Her appearance, however, was perceived as a threat to the Dragon God, as the Serpent Bearer represents a human taking control over a serpentine figure. The Dragon God took this as a threat of uprising, and therefore began to wage war upon humans by causing the rainstorm Nozomu was using to grant Miya's wish. After using Nozomu's power to calm the Dragon God, Serpentarius appeared to the protagonist on her way down, to thank her and to ensure that they knew that she wasn't interested in usurping any power structures.

I... Forgot I made her in middle school too. Do y'all remember that big whole ordeal about putting Ophiucus in the horoscope? She's based on that. She's essentially just a really tall woman with a snake draped over her shoulders at all times. Also, Ameko shows up as the extra stage midboss, because I think it'd be funny for her to be like "YES! I MADE IT! NOW MY WISH WILL COME TRUE!" and then Nozomu's just like "sorry, it only works if there's shooting stars! hehe". Anyways, I think I explained Serpentarius's deal pretty well in the profile. She's Ophiucus, she's fine being some random woman and not having any sway in Gensokyo, it's fine.

RYUUJIN NO TATSUKO Heiress to the Dragon's Power Species: Dragon Ability: Capable of borrowing the power of dragons One of the daughters of the Dragon God. In her hand she holds a celestial artifact called the Dragon's Pearl. This allows her to use the powers of other dragons. The truth is, initially, the Dragon God accepted Serpentarius' terms of surrender as a misunderstanding, and was quite willing to let the whole thing go. However, Tatsuko, being an ambitious sort, saw an opportunity. If she could convince her father that Serpentarius was lying and was willing to backstab him to get ahead, she could curry favor and gain status among her man sisters. However, to do this, she would need a showing of great power. Thus, she contacted Nozomu. "May I request a couple of wishes?" "I wish that a great rainbow serpent would appear in the sky." "Next, I want a feathered serpent to roam the heavens." "Lastly, I want a snake that grants wealth to swim above the Human Village." These three wishes made three other serpents appear in the night sky, each causing different effects. As serpents are supposedly under Serpentarius' control, this sent alarms at the Dragon God, who was on the verge of decrying betrayal. Luckily, Serpentarius managed to convince him to give her a few short hours to rein in the new arrivals. With her borrowed time, she sought out the help of our protagonists. Tatsuko couldn't have that...

YEAH I MADE A PHANTASM BOSS. THE EDGE. Tatsuko is essentially the Tom to Serpentarius's Jerry, is the best I can describe it. Those three new serpents are Yurlungur, Quetzalcoatl, and... I don't know what the third one is? Legit, I don't know what younger-me was cooking. Could it be Ladon? I looked it up, but all I could find was a throwaway acknowledgement towards prehistoric Iranian cult worship... Whatever, they're not important. They're sorta just around, I think. Because Tatsuko is Serpentarius's rival, she essentially has all the same attacks as Serpentarius, except more. I love giving characters things to hold, it looks like. What's up with that?

Looking back, I don't think I was embarrassed ENOUGH when making these girls. Still, they're important, because Tatsuko and Serpentarius WILL return... Later. As for the other girls, Miya returns in passing, but those other three snakes... Well, if they go back to their reclusive lifestyles, I'm not sure anyone would particularly care one way or another. I mean, Python eats people, but it's fine. Jalela and Unagihime don't really have reason to return, and Nozomu is purely nocturnal... Although if Nozomu were to return, I bet it'd be as a playable character. Weirdly enough, I think my fav's Unagihime this batch. Thinking about it a bit longer, Miya might relocate to the Misty Lake.

The lake Miya left behind... Something else dwells in it. And as the sky turns red...

[makeste]

If you don't mind, could you please explain what's going on in Bakugo's head in ch285? I've gone over it god knows how many times but I still don't quite understand, sadly. 😞

I have a post that goes into it here if you're interested, anon! but to rehash,

he sees Deku going all out against TomurAFO and destroying his body in the process, and that fear/worry/anxiety that he's had for Deku ever since this shit with OFA got real starts to crop up again.

and yet despite that anxiety, he also reflects on how OFA is the catalyst that brought him and Deku back together at U.A., and gave Deku the ability to fulfill his dreams and become a hero. and so in that sense, even if it is a "cursed" power, he's also grateful for it. especially since it took him so long to get his head out of his ass and start trying to make things right himself. having OFA gave Izuku the confidence and means to finally stand up to him in the meantime, and in hindsight he's grateful for as well.

after his combo attack with Endeavor and Shouto fails, he then sees that AFO's attack is going to hit Deku before Deku can get out of the way.

he then quickly flashes back to a number of milestones in his and Deku's relationship, with emphasis on:

his bullying

the time Deku saved him from the sludge monster

their therapy throwdown at Ground Beta

the way their relationship tentatively began to change after that

and him finally learning the importance of Win and Save.

all of this happens so quickly that he doesn't consciously have time to process any of it. hence him saying "there were no thoughts in my head." the implication is that these flashback panels aren't meant to represent thoughts, but rather emotions. guilt over hurting Deku. protectiveness towards Deku. attachment to Deku. gratitude towards Deku. and a burning, pressing need to preserve all of that. this fragile relationship which he almost completely fucked up and which they then started to rebuild from practically nothing, and which he now realizes he can't afford to lose again under any circumstance.

and even as he's thinking -- or rather, feeling -- all of this, his body is already moving "on its own", propelling itself forward with an urgency he's never experienced before, which he later describes as feeling so desperate that it's akin to "being on death's door."

and then, [shish kebab sounds].

and then bonus, immediately after he's stabbed, once he realizes he might be about to die (oops), the only thing he can think about afterwards is apologizing to Deku because shit, he might not ever get another opportunity. as he later explains, when he starts in with the whole "stop trying to do this own your own" before he passes out, he's not just trying to lecture Deku there -- that's actually the preamble to his apology which he finally gets to finish up in chapter 322.

so to summarize, anon, in answer to your question "what is going on in his head", the answer is basically Deku, Deku, and more Deku. complex shounen rival feels for days. just the way my overanalyzing self likes it lol.

[osakasshitpit]

I love Final Fantasy XIV

So I’ve been playing Final Fantasy XIV, and after playing for around 180 hours, I haven’t even finished A Realm Reborn. Normally, 180 hours is an insane time frame for a game to manage and hold my attention. Persona 5 Royal was 180 hours of game time, and that was slowly outstaying its welcome. FFXIV must be doing something right, because just recently I went to a convention and bought a Y’shtola Keychain in a heartbeat. I haven’t had time to play XIV a lot prior to this, since I was stupidly grinding Praetorium for days and got burned out. I haven’t played much in 2 months, and Y’shtola only really has a minor role during A Realm Reborn’s Storyline. Despite that, I started in Limsa and Y’shtola stuck with me since then. I just had to buy that keychain. My girlfriend asked me about it and despite me staying away from the game after being burned out, I explained to her in great enthusiasm why I loved Y’shtola and why I loved the game so much. I think that’s the first time I really realized how attached I was to this world, these characters, this game.

I came to FFXIV after having played WoW from Vanilla through WotLK, after having barely ever touched a MMO since quitting WoW. Honestly, I was very skeptical of XIV but holy fucking shit did it ever win me over. They are completely different games, mind you, but that is a good thing in my opinion.

So here is the longest tumblr rant post I have written so far, I think.

To be fair, the first 20 levels or so were kinda slow. You get thrown into the deep end and get bombarded with lore and characters, terms and phrases that you don't understand. For fucks sake, the opening cutscene shows Louisoix fighting Bahamut front and center. Its this big, epic moment of sacrifice, but to someone who has not played 1.0 and who doesn't know anything about the lore, this just zips right past you. During the main story of ARR, they keep talking about Louisoix and how important he is, but you haven't even seen the guy because he died before the game even started. I only really realized this today, it took me 180 hours and a look at the wiki to connect the dots. It really is a slow burn, but that slow burn was okay because everything else was so fantastic.

While the world can arguably be more subdued than Azeroth in parts, there is still this distinctive style that I quickly fell in love with. It’s fantastical, but it still feels grounded. Part of that has to do with how the game introduces you to the world, and how the main story quests explain to you the lore bit by bit. I feel like much of the world design of WoW was down to “the rule of cool”. Now, I’m not saying XIV doesn’t have that, but I feel like XIV always goes the extra mile to explain why this cool shit is here. Everything you see out there in the world feels like it has a purpose, a reason to be there and an explanation on how it works. The factions make sense, the political conflicts you get entangled in are believable. I feel like I am kind of biased to be honest. What got me to play FFXIV in the first place was seeing that Viera are a playable race. I’m a sucker for Final Fantasy, not in short part to my memories of Playing Final Fantasy Tactics and XII. XII is still my favorite game in the series, and much of that has to do with the world, Ivalice. Viera were always my favorite race of the ones seen in Ivalice. Seeing as you can play a Viera in XIV, I just had to try. Thinking about it, XII and XIV have a lot in common when it comes to world building.

One of the weirdest things to acclimate for me was how FFXIV handles story. I was used to WoW, where story was basically non-existent and you did what you did to see numbers rise and to unlock now content you could do. You are basically never involved in the story of WoW, you are just kind of there for the ride. In FFXIV, you are the main character. You are involved in what happens at all times, and that is kinda strange coming from WoW. At first I thought I wouldn’t like it, but the game made it work in my opinion. I also didn’t expect there to be so much of story to begin with. Kind of ironically the moment I realized just how much there was to experience was when I went through Ul’dah and saw a blue quest. Now, blue quest markers mean there is some content you can unlock by doing this quest. A lot of these are kinda short, with a bit of dialogue and some bits of lore for you to enjoy and I thought this one would be no difference. After all, the hook is basically just to help this lady mourn for the death of a friend. What I got was a fabulous detective adventure that spanned over the entire continent, where in I had to help the worlds most manly detective uncover the secret behind a mysterious phantom thief. To say the least, this 21 quest long quest line brought be hours upon hours of joy and had me in stitches throughout. And it was completely optional. I don’t think I even remember a single moment from any quest in WoW that made me this excited for it, optional or otherwise.

Ultimately these are very different games that try very different things.

Dungeons and Raids were a different thing. I remember when I rolled a new character for WotLK and wanted to do karazhan because I used to like doing that raid with my guild back in TBC. I could not for the live of me find a group willing to do it, because everyone was way more focused on the new content, so they could get better gear. Regardless, it just wouldn’t have been the same experience anyways I fear, because the new gear from the new Dungeons outclassed the raid gear from TBC, so karazhan would be way easier and a much different experience. In FFXIV, every dungeon is level synced by default, meaning if a higher level character joins, they get basically downgraded to the level the dungeon was designed for. Couple that with the Duty Roulette feature and suddenly, there was always someone to do any given dungeon with. I remember when I had to do the crystal tower raids and thought “why would they tie main story progression to a raid, I will never find a group to do that properly” but low and behold, I found a group within 30 minutes or less and raided through the entire set of raids within a day. Dungeons and Raids are generally a very pick up and play thing in FFXIV. To be fair, dungeons got easier and more pick up and play in WoW too, but Raids were always the endgame thing where you had to gear up and learn to play. In FFXIV, much more lenient. No corpse walking required. I say this, but I have yet to do the Coils of Bahamut or any Savage Raids. I have only heard that there is plenty of hardcore raid content for those who want that.

That’s nothing to say about the actual gameplay. FFXIV is a tab-target MMO, like so many others, but it manages to keep this kind of gameplay fresh by introducing a lot of mechanics that make the game more active than the typical “I stand here and hit my rotation a lot”. For starters, most enemies have special abilities that you can actually dodge by moving out of the way. There will a area marker on the floor and everyone within that area will be hit. It starts out easy, but later dungeons really start kicking your ass with this mechanic. You really need to say on your toes. In addition, every class is extremely different. They all have special mechanics unique to them, special meters and resources they will have to manage during combat and so on. For example, a Red Mage (the class I’m playing currently), has two meters that fill up as you cast spells. They generally have two types of spells, white and black magic. Each type fills its respective bar. Once they are both full enough, you can go in and do a more powerful melee rotation. However, if one bar is fuller than the other, the other bar will fill up slower. Since you need to fill both, you want to balance that out. You get instant casts for spells after performing a damaging spell, and you have some spells with a short cast time and good damage output that you want to cast and then use the instant cast of to cast a more damaging spell that has a long cast time. But these short cast, good damage spells require a you get from casting a spell of the respective type. So, in essence, you want to balance your use of black and white magic, but you also want to use the proc you get from casting your white and black magic, which means you cast more of the type which inherently unbalances your gauges. It becomes this micromanagement game you play with your procs and instant casts, so you can go in and do the big, flashy sword combo. And that’s just the red mage at around 50. Every class has something like this, and it’s all unique to them. Learning a class is not just learning the rotation and spells you have anymore, it’s really learning how to effectively play your class. Also, positioning. Some abilities do more damage from certain positions, so you will have to dance around an enemy to hit all the sweet spots with classes like monks. These complexities get introduced slowly as you level up, so you have plenty of time to learn the mechanics. My favorite feature might be the class system itself, though. In FFXIV, you aren’t limited to one class for the entire duration of your characters career. You can, from a certain point forwards, choose any class you wish and level that up instead. You can freely switch between classes outside of combat, too. If you are dedicated enough, you can level them all up to max, even. This means if you don’t like a class or the direction a class is going in, you can switch. I for my part started as an arcanist, so I unlocked Summoner at 30. I played Summoner up to 50 but I was just not meshing as well with the direction the summorer went in. So, I switched to Red Mage and after some getting used to, Its now my new favorite. Arcanists are special, because you actually unlock two classes at 30, so I also unlocked Scholars. Scholars are healers and that became my main dungeon class, since queue times are way shorter for healers. This would be unthinkable in WoW, and love the fact this is a thing here.

If I had to describe it, WoW is an MMO with RPG Elements, while FFXIV is a JRPG with MMO elements. I didn’t know I needed that, but in retrospect, it makes sense. The thing that really killed my progress in WoW was that I didn’t have anyone to play with anymore. My friends all dropped from the game and while I generally like doing solo content from time to time, I’m pretty introverted, after all... MMORPGs are usually most fun with friends. Final Fantasy XIV is a JRPG first, an MMO second. There is so much to keep your attention as a solo player, its nuts. All my friends who play this game, play on a different data center, so I can’t even visit them. Despite that, I had a lot of fun in my time with the game.

My experience with the game was incredibly positive, and I don’t think it will get worse from here. Everyone keeps telling me how great Heavensward is. I just have to finish 16 more quests and I’ll be able to see for myself what the fuss is about.

Honestly, if I had to say anything negative, it would be how longwinded ARR is. I mean, its not bad by any means, but I can see how someone could be turned off by this huge storyblock. Worst of all is, after you hit 50 and reach the end of ARR’s story line, there are 80 quests before you can even start with Heavensward. Since everyone keeps going on about how great it is, it’s kind of annoying how long you have to work to even get to it. In retrospect, it kinda makes sense though. These quests are meant to be played over months and months throughout a update cycle and bridge the narrative gap between one storyblock and the next, but holy fucking shit why did it have to be THAT long. They even cut like 20 of the quests from this already insanely long quest line. What the fuck. This is supposed to be an epilogue to ARR and it feels like I played a whole fucking JRPG in between ARR and Heavensward. Oh well. Thankfully, they learned from this and made the post-story blocks shorter.

I will just say that I can recommend this game. You should give it a try. Just... try not to drop the game before it gets really, really good.

[swgoji2001]

My Thoughts on Jedi Fallen Order

So after upgrading to a new, stronger laptop (pretty sure my stupidity in attempting to run this game on my old laptop hastened its tragic, untimely demise), I finally finished Jedi Fallen Order last night. I had mixed feelings going into this game, as I have some friends who said it was amazing while others said it was a mediocre story with decent gameplay.

Now after playing, was it the greatest Star Wars game I’ve ever experienced? No, but it was very good. Some minor gripes here and there, but overall I had a blast playing the game.

Warning: Some spoilers will be included, I’ll try to keep them as minor as possible though.

Story:

So I’m not gonna go overly deep into the story as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who still hasn’t played the game, but to be honest I found the plot of Fallen Order to be a bit generic at first. It’s a classic light side vs dark side narrative with a redemption arc or two sprinkled in. In fact, I found the plot of Fallen Order to be quite similar in structure to the Disney Trilogy. Both have MacGuffin hunts (holocron and wayfinder), both include journeys to different planets following the trail of someone else (Eno Cordova and that one assassin dude mentioned in IX), both have mentors who have distanced themselves from the Force (Cere and Luke), and both have antagonists who were failed by their masters (Trilla and Kylo). 

Fallen Order splits off from this more generic route after returning to Dathomir and does it’s own thing, but I found myself asking why I enjoyed the first 75% or so of Fallen Order when I absolutely hated the DT. I found the answer to lie mainly in two things: the characters and the world they found themselves in.

Characters:

Cal Kestis: I absolutely loved Cal’s character arc. He has his own deep personal struggles with his past, feeling responsible for the death of his master. He faces those fears and comes to terms with his past, determined to make a better future. Cal not only comes out of his journey a Jedi Knight, but as a stronger person. Compare this to Rey, who had no meaningful flaws or personal struggles. Plus Cal’s the first ginger Jedi! Score one for diversity!

BD-1: My fourth favorite Star Wars droid, only behind HK-47, KOTOR 2′s T3-M4, and K-2SO. He’s cute, adorable, and loyal to a fault. What more could you ask for in a droid? (Other than a tibanna-powered blaster rifle and a bloodthirsty, anti-meatbag personality of course!) Plus there’s a revelation about his history towards the end that only makes him better and better.

Cere Junda: Star Wars has always had its mentor characters, but in all honesty I found Cere to be pretty generic. A Jedi Master who failed her Padawan and touched the dark side, only to be horrified by it and renounce the Force. Throughout learning her story, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had already seen something like this before. Her arc isn’t bad, it’s well done and feels natural to her character, it was just rather generic.

Greez Dritus: Gotta say Greez grew on me as the game went on. He has his flaw in his gambling problem which bites Cal in the ass a couple times, but towards the end I really felt the connection between him and the others grow. He’s also the source of a good deal of humor.

Nightsister Merrin: Sadly, Merrin being an eventual ally was spoiled for me, but I love the subversion because it was built up that she would be an eventual boss fight. Merrin might be my favorite character besides Cal, I wish there were more interactions with her in game! She’s hot, has a great accent, a wicked sense of humor, and is powerful with Nightsister magick. But beyond all that, she’s a parallel to Cal. Both are survivors, the last of their kind, and I’m hoping that if a sequel is made, it goes deeper into their relationship because Merrin and Cal have great chemistry. I also love how Merrin challenges Cal and Cere’s plan to train the next gen of Jedi using the holocron, putting that idea in a more realistic, less idealistic light.

Prauf: I really feel bad for him. I liked him and you could feel the camaraderie between him and Cal, how he wanted Cal to succeed and do great things. He didn’t deserve what happened to him.

Oggdo Bogdo: Fuck this frog! He killed me so many times!

Trilla Suduri (Second Sister): The Jedi Padawan that felt betrayed by her master and became an inquisitor. I always love it when antagonists have a personal connection to the protagonists in some way, shape, or form. Trilla shakes Cal’s faith in Cere, and plants seeds of doubt in him. She wants revenge and the Emperor’s favor, and therefore we know why she chases Cal across the galaxy. She has motivations for all her actions, which is something that Kylo lacked in the DT.

Taron Malicos: I knew something was off about this guy the second I met him. I quite enjoyed the clash of beliefs between him, Merrin, and Cal. Malicos proposes a way forward, a new Jedi Order, but one founded on darker teachings. He offers Cal that power, but Cal proves his stature as a Jedi in refusing it.

Ninth Sister (Masana Tide): Probably the weakest of the villain characters for me. Ninth barely has any presence in the game at all other than the start and to serve as a boss battle on Kashyyyk. I honestly just don’t think she fits into the story as is. Perhaps if they tweaked it so that Ninth and Cal knew each other back before Order 66 she would have fit better. Ninth just doesn’t have any personal connection to Cal and the Mantis crew (like Trilla does) and doesn’t really serve as a trial like Malicos does. Remove her from the story and not much changes.

(If you somehow haven’t had this next one spoiled yet, I’m impressed. Please skip to ‘World’ if so)

Darth Vader: I absolutely loved how he was portrayed. A terrifying, unstoppable force. You won’t last in a fight with him, your can only hope you can outrun him.

World:

Fallen Order’s worldbuilding was on point. Cal’s ability to sense Force Echoes lets you get a more detailed understanding of the environment around you. It’s a small-scale Star Wars story, but the planets all feel lived in if you take the time to explore them. It’s the small details like the probe droid witnessing your initial use of the Force on Bracca or the side-stories you can discover like the tragic tale of the family running from the Empire on Zeffo or Malicos’ corruption and manipulation of Merrin that really flesh out the world. Compare this to the galactic-scale story the DT told, which somehow made the galaxy feel extremely small and uninteresting.

My only complaint with the world-building is the Zeffo. They’re just... there. Very little is explained about them. Who were they? Why were they important? What happened to them? Why did they disappear? Perhaps this was to leave room for a sequel but to me the Zeffo just felt like discount Rakata. I wish the devs had gone with the Rakata instead, but maybe that’s just me.

Also the wildlife on every world is more than capable of killing you if you aren’t careful so you almost always have to be on your toes for them, which rolls us into the next part...

Gameplay:

The gameplay was great fun in Fallen Order. Leveling up and unlocking new abilities was exciting and once I got the hang of them all, it was so much fun just cutting through your enemies. I played on Jedi Master difficulty (died approximately 75 times, give or take a few I may have missed) and it felt really well balanced. It forced me to study my opponent’s moves and adapt to them instead of being a hack-and-slash type of game. Combos are fluid and fun to pull off, parrying opponents leaves an opening to attack, and you can experiment with different fighting styles.

Customizing your lightsaber and appearance was also great fun. So many different options and combinations for everything! Plus you got rewarded for exploration with these extra customization options, so it adds incentive to do that if you care about appearances and whatnot. You can become the General Grievous of ponchos!

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Overall Fallen Order was a great game that could have been even better. Of course I have to admit I’m looking at this through the nostalgia of games like KOTOR 2, which flipped Star Wars completely on its head. I would have preferred if Cere’s story had been a bit more nuanced, the Ninth Sister had more reason for being in the story, or if the game had Cal seriously question the use and role of Jedi in the galaxy (he does a couple times to BD-1, but it’s never really built on).

And then there’s my overall gripe about this type of story set after Order 66. It sets up questions like... where was Cal during the OT? Was he dead? Somewhere in the Unknown Regions doing something else? I know the ending of the game sets up the opening for Cal’s story to continue, but still, these types of stories usually end in death for the Jedi protagonist, so I am a bit nervous for his future.

Despite that though, I am super happy I finally decided to play this and am eagerly awaiting a sequel to continue this story.

[flying-elliska]

Ellie I’m so sorry you’re going through this but I actually want to say thank you for posting so openly about your diagnoses and struggles because I am going through something very similar, and it’s actually helped me reach out for help with my mental health. I’m 32 and after my moms death last year I am discovering that not only am I fairly certain that I have ADHD but, I’m starting to realize that I have spent my whole life dealing with Emotional Incest from my mother and that’s something I do not know how to even approach.

I have literally felt like I’ve been going crazy and functioning in the world is becoming harder and harder each day. I feel like I don’t have a handle on anything and I am constantly overwhelmed to a point where I don’t know how to cope but seeing you dealing with this is giving me some hope. I know I’m probably not the only person you’ve helped indirectly so please know that you’re not only helping yourself but you’re encouraging me and probably others to do the same. I really hope you find some peace and happiness today.

Anon 💖💖💖 thanks for reaching out, it means so much. I actually had a good (but exhausting) day - I confronted an acquaintance about him being a clueless asshole to some of my other friends, which I don't think I would have had the guts to do in the past. So maybe not peace and happiness, but definitely some satisfaction.

First of all I am very proud of you for reaching out and I am glad I could help in whatever small way I could. I am also sorry for what you went through and still have to deal with. I know it sucks. I am right there too rn in feeling how much it sucks. I think it's an important step to recognize that. IT FUCKING SUCKS. Because personally for a loooong time I was just pretending everything was fine, making excuses for the people who hurt me, but I was just running myself ragged and feeling so hollow and splintered and just.... And coming to a point where i'm finally looking these things in the face, and all that buried crap resurfaces...it's honestly one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, just putting some of these things to paper, trying to do this all month, it's so ughhhhhhh fuck man. It's ugly work, I hate it, but at the same time, sometimes, it feels empowering too and like I am returning to myself and picking up all these shattered pieces and recognizing that part of me that suffered and deserved better that I tried so hard to deny and deaden. Reclaiming my ability to control my own narrative.

So honestly from what you're describing, I think it's very logical that you are having a hard time and feel overwhelmed. Hell, they say during recovery at the beginning it generally gets worse for a while before it gets better. So...even tho it sucks, in a sense, it might be a good thing ? I know it is for me. Much better than previous numbness and dissociation. The pain of truth is purifying - it's so different from the pain of secrets and shame festering in silence. Am I coping very well right now ? No, but I'm learning, and I'm also having these occasional moments of inner reconciliation and mending that feel miraculous ; like that scared, confused inner little girl I used to be feels increasingly less alone and trampled over.

Anyway the good news is that when it comes to ADHD, treatment has a high chance to have a radical positive impact, it's one of the diagnoses where finding the right combo of therapy/meds/lifestyle changes leads to some of the highest rates of positive change. So I really hope you get there.

The rest is...yeah I don't know how to deal with that either, I'm still figuring it out. My relationship with my mother was for so long such a fucking clusterfuck of layers of manipulation, unaddressed generational trauma, repressed grief, good intentions, petty cruelty, inappropriate behavior, unfortunate circumstances and neglect, over projection and blind devotion and gaslighting, enmeshment and lack of boundaries, abuse done for "your own good" with a smile and a reasonable explanation - it made me feel insane for so long, like I couldn't trust my own feelings or perceptions. And every time I felt like I had addressed one layer I hit on something else, to the point where I started to feel like I would never be free of it. I haven't seen her or properly talked to her in like, seven years and still all this time I was struggling with it - it was necessary to cut contact tho, to assert that boundary. And then to keep building boundaries from there, slowly, frustratingly, to keep digging and asking myself questions. I got stuck and lost so many times, but I feel like I'm finally reaching the end of the tunnel, because knowledge is one of the most powerful things in the world.

Real talk, the emotional incest thing ? I think my mother had a similar dynamic with her own father. And she tried to do better, but because she was unwilling to look at the true ugliness of the situation, instead choosing to wallpaper over it with magical thinking, everything-will-be-fine-if-i-convince-myself-it-is, and an obsession with moral purity, she ended up doing a massive amount of damage of her own. And I am not doing that.

There is a radical power that comes with facing the ugliness head on that I am claiming for myself, and it seems that you are embarking on a similar journey. It's a big thing so we can't do it all at once. I think doing sth like this you have to pace yrself, to chew off little piece by piece, to digest bit by bit, to let some things rot and dissolve, to go through many cycles of doubt and indignity and revelation, to hunt for the truth on pure Instinct and desperate need, to claw off a path from the dark and the impossible, to consider incompatible and paradoxical truths, to let every new bit of knowledge work its way through you and make you stronger and stranger and more yourself. To let yrself be a little bit crazy and seething and deranged, to shake loose the confines of what you thought was reasonable, to find gifts and allies in unlikely places. To expose, to open up, little by little, to find scraps of words that turn into full sentences, to take back power by finding the right name of things. And then, one day, we'll give birth to ourselves this time and we'll find the sun-bleached bones of this horror and make it into jewelry. Or something.

You don't have a handle on things ? Good ! It's probable you have had a handle on things for way too long. Your handle is probably completely broken. So I don't know you, but maybe this is good, in all its harsh inconvenient terrifying way. I know I had to throw away the handle I had first to build a new one. And flying loose for a moment which yeah ! Fucking scary. But also kind of badass, in that private way maybe nobody will ever know but you and so it's extra important you give yourself that credit.

Anyway I'm rambling but I do hope some of this gives you some extra validation. I'm here if you want to talk more, including by message. I know it's helped me so much to read abt other people's experiences, so. It's like a chain of courage, and you can be part of that too.

Also books have helped me so much - some fiction, but especially of late 'Tiny Beautiful Things' by Cheryl Strayed - she's an advice columnist who writes about some super gnarly stuff in such a direct, humane, powerful way, it gave me a lot of strength.

Power and solace to you, anon. 🌸💪🌸💪

[theredherb]

The Red Herb’s Top 10 Games of 2020

Hey, fuck 2020. You might notice that many of the “Best Of” lists you read this year and last can’t help but mention how terrible 2020 was. That’s because every day was like hitting a new, splinter riddled branch on our 365 day plummet off a shit-coated tree. The year brought with it a viral pandemic that served as a pressure cooker for the societal and systemic issues boiling beneath the surface of our every day life. And we’re not out of it. 

At least one positive holds true of 2020: the games were pretty darn good. One has to wonder, though, if 2020 was the last year of what can be called “normalcy” for the video game industry. Now that the remainder of titles brewed in pre-Covid times are out in the wild, what will the future of gaming look like as studios shift to work-from-home and distribution models migrate to digital as the primary bread winner? What will games look like going forward?

I have no fucking clue. We’ll get there when we get there. But looking back, I’m glad to have had such solid distractions from the stress and strife. If 2020 is any indicator for the industry going forward, then my takeaway is that games will continue to grow in prominence because of their ability to help us cope and, more importantly, stay connected.

Anyway, here’s video games:

10. MARVEL’S AVENGERS

Oh, Marvel’s Avengers. I know you expected to be on more prestigious Top 10 lists than mine. Truthfully, I debated whether or not you should be here. But I had to search my soul (stone) on this one. Really assemble my feelings. Tony Stark my thoughts (?). Here’s the short of it: Marvel’s Avengers has a great story campaign with a surprising amount of emotional weight thanks largely to Kamala Khan’s quest to reassemble the heroes of her youth. Once the final cutscene ends, though, players were expected to take their play box of Marvel heroes, jump online, and duke it out against hordes of villains for the privilege of precious loot and level gains. It would be impossible to get bored because Crystal Dynamics was going to continually Bifrost in new quests, cosmetics, and heroes -- for free!

Except, after fans blasted through the campaign (took me a solid weekend), they found a multiplayer mode filled with repetitive fights against non-descript A.I.M Bots, a handful of dull, un-Marvelous environments (the PNW?! In a video game?! Wowwee!), and a grind for gear that became useless minutes after it was equipped. Oh, and bugs. Tons of bugs. It must be hard for A.I.M. to take earth’s mightiest heroes seriously when they’re falling through the fucking earth every other mission.

So why the Kevin Accolade™? Of all the mistakes and underbaked ideas, Crystal Dynamics got the most important thing right: they made me feel like I was a part of the Avengers. Cutting through the sky as Iron Man; dive bombing, fists-first as the Hulk; firing gadgets at cronies as Black Widow; cracking a row of skulls with Cap’s shield… Avengers is a brawler on super soldier serum.

The combat is crunchy and addictive, and surprisingly deep once you unlock your character’s full suite of skills and buffs. The gear matters little. But choosing a loadout that works for you -- like ensuring enemy takedowns grant you a health orb every time or turning area clearing attacks to focused beams of hurt -- does matter. When it comes to games with disastrous launches, Avengers is the most deserving of a triumphant comeback story because, if you clear the wreckage, I think there’s a solid game here. If I was able to spend hours playing it in its roughshod state, I can see myself digging in for the long-term once it’s polished up and given a healthy dose of content. You know...if Square Enix doesn’t outright abandon it.

9. STREETS OF RAGE 4

Here’s a fact about me: I love beat ‘em ups. From Final Fight to X-Men to The Simpsons, I prioritized my quarters for the beat ‘em up machines (and House of the Dead simply because House of the Dead fuckin’ owns). Unfortunately, Streets of Rage wasn’t in arcades, and I didn’t own a Genesis growing up, so I didn’t get around to the series until Sega re-released as part of a collection. Though my history with the 29 year old brawler is shorter than some, the basics stand out out right away: it’s an awesome side-scrolling brawler filled with zany character designs and high octane boss fights.

SoR4 nails that simple spirit while adding an electric soundtrack, buttery smooth animations, and an art style that looks like a comic book in motion. You can button-mash your way through the game or master your timing to combo stun the shit out of bad guys. Same screen co-op is a requisite for the beat ‘em up genre but I have to call it out nonetheless given that it's next to obsolete these days. The story campaign is, of course, finite but a stream of unlockables and a Boss Rush Mode pad out the package nicely.

I really don’t have to go on and on. I’m on board with any game that captures the arcadey high of classic beat ‘em ups, and Streets of Rage 4 does it with flare.

8. RESIDENT EVIL 3 REMAKE

Resident Evil 2’s remake was my game of the year in 2019. It’s a pitch perfect revision that captures the pulse-pounding fear of the original while beautifully updating its graphics and gameplay for modern audiences. The most striking aspect of RE2’s remake is how it expands and reconfigures the classic game’s environments and set pieces. Capcom managed to recontextualize, and even improve on, the original’s design while staying faithful to its tone and atmosphere.

Resident Evil 3’s remake is less successful in modifying and improving on its source material. If the game feels like it was handled by a different team than RE2R, your gamer hands have good eyes (roll with it). It was developed by a separate internal team (three different teams, in fact), but that’s actually one of many choices mirroring its 1999 forebear. Just like the original, RE3R is a tighter (i.e. shorter) experience that launched less than a year after its predecessor. And just like the original, the game skirts away from survival horror in favor of action horror.

Unlike last year’s remake, however, RE3R paints in broad strokes with the original material much in the same way that 2004’s Dawn of the Dead remake shared a vague resemblance with Romero’s ‘79 classic. Capcom at least nails down what matters: you play as Jill Valentine, beaten and discredited after the Arklay Mountains incident, during her last escape from the zombie besieged Raccoon City. Her exit is complicated by Nemesis, a humanoid missile that relentlessly pursues her from minute two of the game. Her only chance of making it out alive is by teaming up with a gaggle of Umbrella dispatched mercenaries, including an overly handsome fellow named Carlos Oliveras that you control for a spell. But fans struggled to get over what Capcom didn’t remake. Several enemies, boss fights, and a “divergent path” mechanic that had you choose how best to escape the Nemesis in a pinch were omitted from the remake. Even an entire section set in a clock tower was cut. But, let’s be honest, the biggest omission is a secret ending where Barry Burton saves the day using only his beard. For real, YouTube that shit.

If you look at what the remake does instead of what it doesn’t, you’ll find a lightning paced action game highlighted by tense, one-on-one fights against the constantly mutating Nemesis. The tyrant’s grotesque transformations evoke the mind-rending, gut turning creature designs found in John Carpenter's The Thing. It’s sad that Nemesis doesn’t pursue you through the levels as diligently as he did in the original, or as Mr. X had in last year’s remake, but these “arena fights” end up being harrowing and fun, culminating in a memorable final encounter. The remake also treats us to the best incarnation of Jill to date. She’s a cynical badass, exasperated at how Umbrella upended her life, and can take a plunge off of a building yet still muster enough energy to call Nemesis a bitch. RE3R also shines thanks to its snappy combat, including a contextual dodge that feels rewarding to pull off, less bullet-sponge enemies than RE2, and an assortment of weapons to get you through Jill’s Very Bad Night(s). It makes for a necessary, though shorter, companion to last year’s stellar remake.

7. HADES

I’m experiencing a new type of shame including a title that I haven’t beaten on my Top 10 list, but I can assure you that I’ve dumped hours into its addictive death loop. It’s probably because of my resistance to looking up any tips, but given the skill-check nature of the difficult boss fights, I’m almost afraid the top shelf advice will amount to “die less, idiot.”

My failings aside, Hades is brilliant. It’s the perfect merger of gameplay and storytelling. You play as Zagreus, son of Hades, and your entire goal is to escape your father’s underworld domain. You pick from a selection of weapons, like a huge broadsword or spear, and attempt your “run,” seeing how far you can make it before an undead denizen cuts you down. It’s familiar roguelike territory, but where Supergiant separates their game from the pack is in the unique feeling of constant progression, even as you fail. With each run, not only is Zagreus earning a currency (gems or keys) that unlock new skills that make the next go a little easier, you’re also consistently treated to new lore. The fallen gods and heroes that line your father’s hall greet you after each death and provide a new insight into their world. The writing is bouncy and hilarious, the voice acting ethereal and alluring, and the character designs could make a lake thirsty.

Supergiant’s stylistic leanings are at their peak here. They’ve managed the impossible feat of making failure feel like advancement. Sure, it totally fucks up other roguelikes for me, but that’s okay. None of those games have Meg.

6. DEMON’S SOULS

Whereas Capcom takes liberties with their remakes, Bluepoint took the Gus Van Sant approach and made a 1:1 recreation of the 2009 title that launched the “Soulslike” genre. The dividing difference is a 2020 facelift brought to us by way of the PlayStation 5’s next-gen horsepower. There’s been online arguments (surprise) regarding the loss of Fromsoftware’s visual aesthetic in translating the PS3 original in order to achieve a newfound photorealism. It’s true, some beasties lose their surreal weirdness -- a consequence of revisiting designs without the worry of graphical or time constraints -- but the game’s world is still engrossing, morbid, and bleakly gorgeous.

That’s not to say all Bluepoint did was overhaul the graphics and shove this remake out the door. No, their improvements are nuanced, under-the-hood changes that gently push the genre into the next-generation. For one, the loading times are incredible. You could hop between all five archstones in under a minute if you wanted. And this game is a best DualSense controller showcase outside of Astro’s Playroom. You can feel a demonstrable difference between hitting your sword against a wall compared to connecting it with an attacking creature. Likewise, the controller rumbles menacingly as to let you know enemies are stomping across a catwalk above you. “Better rumbles” was not on my wish list of next-gen features, but the tactile feedback goes great lengths to make you feel like you’re there.

Granted, sticking so closely to the original means its pratfalls are also carried over to the next-gen. The trek between bonfire checkpoints is an eternity compared to the game’s successors, and Fromsoftware hadn’t quite mastered the sword ballet of boss fights prevalent in Dark Souls. Instead, a handful of bosses feel more like set pieces where you’re searching for the “trick” to end it versus having to learn attack patterns and counters. Still, it’s easy to see the design blueprint that bore a whole new genre. From having to memorize enemy placements to hunting down the world’s arcane secrets in the hopes of finding a new item that pushes the odds in your favor. Bluepoint’s quality of life improvements only make it kinder (not easier) to plunge into the game, obsess over its idiosyncrasies, and begin to master every inch of it. That is until you roll into New Game+ and the game shoves a Moonlight Greatsword up your ass.

5. YAKUZA: LIKE A DRAGON

Here’s a fact about me I’m sure you don’t know: I love beat ‘em ups. Streets of Rage 4 had an easy time making it on this list because it can be classified as both a “beat ‘em up” and “good.” Here’s another fact about me: I’m not the biggest fan of JRPGs. I’m told this is not because of any personal preferences I harbor, but rather due to a distinct lack of culture. I’ve made peace with that. At least my uncultured ways are distinctive.

But my disinterest in JRPGs is notable here because it illustrates how very good Like A Dragon is. Transitioning the Yakuza series from a reactive brawler (entrenched in an open-world SIM) to a full-blown turned-based RPG was risky -- especially 8 entries into the mainline series -- but it pays off explosively for Like A Dragon. Not only does the goofiness, melodrama, and kinetic energy translate to an RPG -- it’s improved by it. Beyond a new protagonist -- the instantly likable and infinitely affable Ichiban Kasuga -- we’re finally treated to an ensemble cast that travels with you, interacts with you, and grows with you. Their independent stories weave into Ichi’s wonderfully and end up mattering just as much as his.

The combat doesn’t lose any of its punch now that you’re taking turns. In fact, it feels wilder than ever and still demands situational awareness as your enemies shift around the environment, forcing you to quickly pick which move will do the most damage and turn the fight in your favor. RGG purposefully made Ichi obsessed with Dragon Quest (yes, specifically Dragon Quest) as an excuse to go ham and morph enemies into outlandish fiends that would populate Ichi’s favorite series. It’s a fun meta that never loses its charm.

This is the best first step into a new genre I’ve ever seen an established franchise make and I hope like hell they keep with it for future outings -- and that Ichi returns to keep playing hero. There’s plenty of callbacks and treats for longtime fans, but RGG did a masterful job rolling out the virtual carpet for a whole new generation of Yakuza fanatics.

4. GHOST OF TSUSHIMA

Sucker Punch’s dive into 13th century Japan doesn’t redefine the open-world genre. But like Horizon: Zero Dawn before it, Ghost of Tsushima takes familiar components of the genre and uses them exceptionally well, creating an airtight experience that can’t help but stand out. I can tell Sucker Punch mused on games like Assassin’s Creed and Breath of the Wild, tried to figure out what makes those games tick, and then brought their own spin to those concepts. You can feel it in their obsession to make traversal through the environment as unobtrusive as possible, letting the wind literally guide you to your destinations instead of forcing the player to glue their eyes to a mini-map. You can feel it in how seamless it is to scale a rooftop before silently dropping on a patrol, blade first. You can feel it in the smoothness behind the combat as your sword clashes against the enemy’s. Every discrete part is fine-tuned yet perfectly complements the whole. The game is silk in your hands. 

The mainline story can be humdrum, though. It mirrors the beats of a superhero origin story, which isn’t surprising when you account for the three Infamous titles and satellite spinoffs under Sucker Punch’s belt. But Jin Sakai’s personal journey outshines the cookie-cutter plot. His gradual turn from the strict samurai code to a morally ambiguous vigilante lifestyle (to becoming, eventually, a myth) is a fascinating exploration in shifting worldviews. This is bolstered by the well-written side-missions dotting your quest, some of which play out in chains. It’s these diversions about melancholy warriors and villagers adjusting to life under invasion that end up being the essential storytelling within the game. Whatever you do, don’t skip a single one.

Before GoT can overstay its welcome with collectible hunting and stat-tree building, the ride is over. If you find exhaustive open-world titles, well, exhausting, Sucker Punch coded enough of a campaign to sticking the landing and not more. But if you were looking for more, the game’s co-op Legends mode is the surprise encore of the year. It strikes its own tone, with vibrant, trippy designs, and a progression system that embarrasses other AAA titles in the space (I mean Avengers. I’m talking about Avengers).

3. THE LAST OF US PART II

The Last of Us is widely regarded as a masterpiece. It’s a melancholic trek through a realistic post-apocalypse, driven by the budding bond between a world-weary survivor and a would-be teenage savior. The fungal zombies and violent shootouts with scavengers were scary and exciting, but ultimately just window-dressing compared to the level of complicated, and honest, human emotion on display throughout the tale. While a segment of detractors helpfully pointed out that The Last of Us’ story isn’t unique when compared to years of post-apocalyptic books, comics, and movies, that argument seems to forget that a narrative more concerned with the human protagonists’ connections to one another instead of saving the world or feeding into a hero complex is pretty unique for games -- especially a high profile, AAA budgeted game.

Still, fans made heroes out of Joel and Ellie because of their own connection to their journey. And that connection is almost instantly challenged in the opening hours of The Last of Us Part II to heartbreaking effect. But I’m here to tell you that any other sequel would have been dishonest to the legacy of the original game. To be given a hero’s quest as a continuation, an imagined sequel where Joel and Ellie do battle against the viral infection that’s swept the earth, would have been a despicable cash-in. It would have been a mistake to follow-up the original’s careful examination of human nature just to placate an audience that seems to have missed the point Naughty Dog made. The Last of Us Part II hurts. But it has to or else it wouldn’t have been worth making. It’s a slow-burn meditation on the harmful ripples revenge creates, how suffering begets suffering, and how, if we don’t break the cycles of violence we commit to, suffering will come for us.

To drive this point, we’re given two distinct perspectives during the meaty (and somewhat overlong) campaign, split between Ellie Williams, the wronged party seeking revenge, and Abby Anderson, an ex-Firefly whose actions set the sequel into motion. The greatest trick Naughty Dog pulls off isn’t forcing us to play as a character we hate, it’s giving us reasons to emphasize with them. It was gradual, and despite some heavy-handed moments meant to squeeze sympathy out of the player (how many times do I have to see that fuckin’ aquarium?!), I eventually came to love Abby’s side of the story. The obvious irony being that she unwittingly walks the same path Joel did in the original.

My love for the narrative shouldn’t distract from how well designed the world is. Being a King County local, the vision of a ruined Seattle strikes an uncomfortable note -- it was eerie seeing recognizable buildings overgrown with vegetation but otherwise devoid of life. Maybe the heart-wrenching story also distracts from the fact this game is, by definition, survival horror. Exploring toppled buildings in the dark, hearing the animalistic chittering of the infected, defending yourself with limited resources… It manages to be a scarier entry into the genre in 2020 than even RE3R. There’s a particular fight in a fungus covered hospital basement that easily goes down as my Boss Fight of the Year. Human enemies make for clench-worthy encounters, too, with incredibly adept AI that forces you to keep moving around the environment and set traps to avoid getting overwhelmed.

Admittedly, the subject matter -- or more to the point, the grim tone -- was tough to stomach during an actual pandemic which has happily treated us to the worst of human nature. Still, The Last of Us Part II is absolutely worth playing for its balance of mature themes and expertly crafted world, and the way it juxtaposes beauty and awfulness in the same breath.

2. SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES

The most impressive thing about Miles Morales is that, despite being a truncated midquel rather than a full-blown sequel, it’s a better game than 2018’s Spider-Man. It’s not because of the instantaneous loading times or the fancy ray-tracing techniques used on the PS5 version of the game. Rather, it’s how it takes the joyride of the original game and hones it into a laser focused experience filled to the brim exclusively with highs. Like Batman: Arkham Asylum going into Arkham City, Miles starts the game off with his mentor’s best abilities and tools. From there, he discovers his own powers, his bioelectric venom strike, which ends up feeling like the missing ingredient from the first game’s combat.

Your open-world playground -- a locale in the Marvel universe called “New York City” -- is exactly the same size as the previous installment, which helps avoid making the game feel “lesser.” But Insomniac wisely consolidated the random crimes Peter faced into a phone app that Miles can check and choose which activity to help out with. Choices like this really trim the fat from the main game and help alleviate “the open-world problem” where the story’s pacing suffers because players are spending hours on end collecting feathers. This is great because Miles’ story is also great. The narrative kicks Peter out pretty early on, focusing on how Miles assumes the role of city protector, primarily focused on his new home in Harlem. Insomniac avoids retreading the same path paved by Into the Spider-Verse by telling a relatable tale where Miles defines his identity as Spider-Man. With a strong cast led by Nadji Jeter as Miles, the game lands an impactful story that weaves its own new additions to Miles’ mythos (light spoiler: I loved their take on The Prowler).

Miles Morales was pure virtualized joy from start to finish. A requirement of the platinum trophy is to replay the entirety of the game on New Game+. I didn’t hesitate to restart my adventure the minute the credits were over. Everything I loved about 2018’s Spider-Man is here: the swinging, the fighting, the gadgets, the bevy of costumes. But it gave me a new element I adore and can’t see Insomniac’s franchise proceeding without: being Miles Morales.

1. FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE

I love subversive media, I do. And Square Enix’s “remake” of one the most beloved video games ever made subverts expectations by openly acknowledging that, yes, the original story you love exists and is consistently referenced in this game. But this is not that story. This is something..else. Because the truth is, SE could never have recreated FFVII and delivered a title that matched the Sacred Game fans created in their heads. That impossible standard is like an imagined deity, given power by feeding on raw nostalgia reinforced by years of word-of-mouth and appearances on Top 100 lists. I’m not saying FFVII is a bad game or that fans give it too much credit. Not at all. There’s a reason it’s so influential -- it’s good! But memory works in a funny way over time. We have a tendency to codify our perception of a thing over the reality of it. The connection we make to certain media, especially when introduced at a young age as FFVII had been to a whole generation of fans so long ago, creates a legend in our heads. Unfortunately, it’s a legend no developer could achieve when tasked with remaking it.

So Square...didn’t. Final Fantasy VII Remake has the same characters, setting, and plot beats as the first third of the original game but it’s not the same game, nor is it a remake of it in the traditional sense. It’s something new. And I fucking love that about it.

Everything is reconfigured, including the combat. After years of trying to merge RPG mechanics with more approachable (and marketable) real-time action (see FFXV and the Kingdom Hearts games for examples), Square Enix finally landed on the perfect balance. You fully control Cloud on the battlefield, from swinging your impossibly huge buster sword to dodging attacks. The ATB gauge (no one knows what the acronym stands for -- that information has been lost to time) gradually fills up, letting unleash powerful moves. But best of all, you fight in a party, and you can switch who to control on the fly.

That may not sound revolutionary, let alone for a Final Fantasy, but each character has a completely unique feel and suite of moves. At times, it feels like playing a Devil May Cry game where you can switch between Dante, Vergil, and Nero on the fly (that’s a free idea, Capcom. Hire me, you cowards). You can soften up an enemy with Cloud’s buster to increase their stagger meter, switch to Barret for a quick gatling barrage, and finally switch to Tifa to crush them with her Omnistrike. You can accomplish this in real-time or slow down the action to plan this out. It’s a great mix of tactics and action that prevents the game from feeling like a mindless hack n’ slash.

What really, really works here is the character work. Each lead walks in tropes first, but the longer you spend with the members of your party, the more their motivations and fears are laid out. You end up having touching interactions with just about the whole main cast. There’s a small segment, after Cloud saves Aerith from invading Shinra guards, that the two make an escape via rooftop.They make light conversation -- small talk really -- but it’s exchanges like this that feel genuine, perfectly framing their characters (stoic versus heartfelt), and grounding an otherwise larger-than-life adventure.

Many bemoaned the fact that FFVIIR only revisits a small portion of the original game, but I think it was a brilliant choice -- to massively expand on areas we only got to see a little of in the original. I honestly didn’t want to leave Midgar. It’s a world rife with conflict and corporate oppression, sure, but Midgar is beautifully realized, from the slums below the plates, populated with normal people trying to make the best of life, to the crime controlled Wall Market, adorned with gaudy lights and echoing honky tonk tunes. It very well may be years before FFVII’s remake saga comes to a close, but if each entry is paved with as much love and consideration and, yes, storytelling subversion as this introductory chapter… It’ll be worth the wait.

[shifty-as-a-swinging-trapeze]

Six of Crows Theatre AU

Kaz is the stage manager. Always has a notebook/binder and a criticism ready. Per Haskell is technically the director but everyone gets their notes from Kaz. He’s very demanding and a lot of theatre kids hate him, actors and crew alike, but you have to admit his shows are excellent. When he was a kid he used to go to musical summer camp with jordie. He loved singing and dancing and everything about musical theatre (just imagine a tiny eight year old Kaz flailing around trying to dance and singing in a voice thats high and clear as a bell, like a kid in a church choir or something. Just. Imagine). He doesn’t perform anymore but he still secretly loves theatre and devotes so much time to it but no one is allowed to mention it on pain of death. Once in a blue moon he’ll sing or hum quietly to himself when alone but Inej is the only one who has caught him doing it (she loved it and thought it was beautiful and adorable)

Inej is the choreographer/dance captain. She always choreographs the shows but only performs sometimes. She’s got a nice voice but prefers to stay in the background. She has a mishmash of dance/gymnastics training that often manifests in the form of acro and she’s constantly frustrated that none of the actors know anything about it; all she wants is someone who can lift her in the non-traditional way or do a fun front walkover combo. She knows ballet but it’s not her favorite and would much prefer modern if she had to choose. She hates tap and absolutely refuses to learn or incorporate it into her choreo. Kaz has had to hire someone specifically to do the tap numbers because of this and he gives her grief for it all the time but she Will Not change her mind. When she does perform she often becomes the most featured dancer because of all the crazy bendy flippy stuff she can do. She has been in newsies multiple times. She played spot conlon once. It was badass.

Nina cannot carry a tune in a bucket, but she’s an amazing actor. She absolutely kills it in straight plays, especially in highly emotional scenes. Has been known to bring audiences to tears before. She hasn’t been doing this since she was little, unlike many others, but first discovered it freshman year of high school. She absolutely despises Shakespeare even though she’s incredible at it. Juliet was her first major role and she hated every second of it. The language, the acting, it was all just so pretentious and after the curtain went down on a weeping crowd for the final time she vowed to never do it again. When not acting, she likes to help out in costumes, especially for her friends’ musicals. She’s also often on snack duty during tech week, making sure everyone is getting enough food and staying hydrated when they’re practicing throughout the day and into the night. Always brings in the best snacks but will yell at you if you eat in costume. Do not test her, she will throw hands.

Matthias is on set crew. He likes helping build the set because then he’s free to watch Nina everyone perform later on in production. Will sit in the back rows during dress rehearsals and flaunt the fact that he has nothing to do to the rest of the crows. If it’s a musical Nina will sometimes join him. He had no interest in theatre until Nina dragged him to a production at the end of sophomore year and he low key fell in love with the passion and skill everyone had. He shyly asked if he could join crew next time and set build welcomed him with open arms. He’s got a talent for envisioning awesome sets but has zero ability to put it on paper so Wylan helps him by sketching out his plans. Matthias describes his vision and Wylan does his best to put numbers and measurements to the pieces, and between the two of them they create some amazing stuff (Matthias is like the architect and Wylan is the engineer lol). No one has ever heard Matthias sing before. Nina tried to get him to audition once but he point blank refused. Everyone secretly thinks he has an amazing voice but no one can get him to confirm it.

Jesper is a born performer. He often gets the male lead but isn’t arrogant about it. When he was in elementary school his school would put on “musicals” that the entire grade would participate in and he put his entire five-year-old body into those performances. He was often borrowed by local high schools to play the kids in their productions and this continued into middle school, even when he started doing actual theatre as well. He’s got a great voice and an even better stage presence, but this boy cannot dance to save his life. He’s all leg. Inej has tried so hard but he trips trying to do the most basic step-ball-change. He doesn’t really like straight plays very much, they’re too boring for him most of the time. He wants the flair that musical theatre brings, the pizazz. (This is also partially the fault of his previous directors for choosing the most boringly traditional straight plays to put on, giving Jesper a permanently skewed perception of them).

Wylan plays flute in pit orchestra (I low key wrote this whole thing for him but shhh). His voice is fucking beautiful but he’s painfully shy and self-conscious about it. He does pit in every production but one year one of the main actors drops out and it’s too late to audition for a replacement. Wylan has everyone’s lines and blocking memorized because he’s just Like That and he often helps out Kaz earlier in production before pit is needed (by help I mean he ends up calling out lines whenever anyone needs them and Kaz is too busy squinting at the stage and the actors (scheming face) to bother) Kaz orders Wylan to fill in for the missing guy and though Wylan protests, one Cannot go against the word of Kaz Brekker. He does it and once he comes out of his shell everyone is just like. Damn. This boy can sing. Maybe ends up playing opposite Jesper?? His dad hates that he does theatre because he wants Wylan to be like an accountant or some shit but Wylan is basically like ‘fuck you dad’ and goes on a journey of self discovery where he gains confidence in his abilities and astounds everyone on opening night except for his friends who are so proud of him.

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 15

Love Wins!

Welcome to an insanely chaotic episode of Fantasy High--even by the very high standards of this show.  How chaotic you may ask? Well, the first thing that happens is that Bill Seacaster point blank shoots Gilear to death for being in a relationship with Hilariel. Full dead. He is full dead. Strangely, his plan to bring him back as a janky devil does not do much to comfort Fig. Imagine that.

Bill’s pirates are looting the Bottomless Pit (Gorthalax’s domain in Hell) and Vraz orders Fig to make them stop. When she instead orders Vraz to eat her ass, Vraz nullifies all warlock deals Gorthalax made and brings none other than Johnny Spells (and his greaser pals) to join the fight!

Really, this fight is insane and it’s better served by a highlight real than a play by play so I’m just gonna give you some bullets:

All the PCs rolled super low initiative this fight which really kinda screwed them. Like Fabian was down to 16 HP one point and it was like, “Lol, this is the end of round 1.” YIKES.

A big part of this fight was just surviving long enough to get to the second level of hell and rescue Riz’s dad which I think was probably good for morale because the thought of this fight dragging on for more than a couple of rounds exhausts me. 

Fabian rolls off against Johnny right off the bat for the Hangman’s loyalty and Fabian wins with a 25 (and by coming out the gate with the word ENSLAVED which isn’t the word *I* would have used but a 25 is a 25 I guess).

He also has to contend with fighting Allistair who has a massive hole in his head filled with fire from Wicklaw eating his brain. It seems like Chungledown Bim is in hell too based on how Allistair keeps saying he’s gonna get him so he can shit in Fabian’s mouth. Of course, Fabian gets the better of him, but not before he deals out a fair bit of damage. 

Adaine uses an Arcane Hand plus her portent roll to just whole-ass throw Johnny off the ship. Like, he gets back up but it’s so funny to instead of fighting an enemy to just throw him off a set piece (see eg: Bloodkeep ep2).

Kristen Revivifies Gilear and Bill, the mercurial sunuvabitch is like, “We love the same woman! I just want her happy!” and gives him a gun. Kristen immediately is like, “Bro, you need to hide,” and Gorgug protects him while he does so (in a sarcophagus that has a 50/50 shot of being launched as ammo). 

Penelope shows up to the fight, eyes all black, wearing a shredded prom dress, and with shards of silver embedded in her forehead like a crown. Dayne and Daybreak also join the fight as messed up Harvestmen! It’s a veritable Smash Bros lineup of people the Bad Kids have killed!

Adaine and Fabian are christened the “Posh Squad” which is important to me, not to the fight. 

Adaine gets to counterspell a counterspell from Penelope, one of the sexiest things you can do in D&D.

Fabian declares toxic masculinity dead. Shortly afterward, he makes Brennan eat a die when Daybreak tries to Frighten Fabian, a condition he is immune to due to his eyepatch I gather based on the table reaction. 

Daybreak’s punishment in hell is a complete lack of self-awareness of why he’s there. He still thinks he should be sipping Mai-Tai’s in corn heaven with Helio while Kristen and Ragh are attacking him with gay spit (their words, not mine). Gay spit and, also, a ton of radiant and thunder damage.

Ragh gets some emotional catharsis by getting to body Dayne before Gorgug decapitates him. Very important step in the stages of grief. Decapitating the source of said grief. 

Penelope gets Sparta-kicked off the edge of the boat by Fabian after Ayda dispels her protective globe and Riz shoots Daybreak again for old times sake. Unfortunately, Penelope Misty Steps back up and Daybreak is hurt but not killed. Ayda does a cool Dr. Strange teleportation thing and does a bunch of damage to both of them. Fabian finishes off Penelope with a sheet/sword combo and between Booming Blade and a Psionic Blast (does she have this ability as a Bard or as a Warlock? Relatedly, when she felt something leave her was that her Warlock deal being nullified or was she feeling the deals leave her since she is sort of the temporary Gorthalax?) Fig destroys Daybreak. Johnny just falls off the ship with no PC intervention because he sucks. 

Bill also falls off the ship but Fig (with an assist from Gorgug) saves him and steals a scroll from Vraz on the way back up. By the by, earlier in the fight, she also had Baby Invisbly steal a random item from her. 

Anyway, as they reach the end of the end of the fight, Bill loads Riz into a canon (!) and shoots him into the city, hopefully towards his dad (to the distress of his party). He crashes through the window in a familiar looking building and, when he finds a hallway that he’s pretty sure leads to his dad, he goes towards it. 

He sees a familiar light coming out of a doorway (the interrogation room light) and a doorway next to it that is slightly open with steel thrones in it. There’s a two-way mirror between the two rooms and if he goes into the open one, he can see who is in with his dad. After checking for illusions and finding none, he stealthily walks in and sees, in the other room, his dad with a hulking pit fiend (30 ft tall, winged, almost dragon-y devil).

The pit fiend is questioning Pok about any regrets he had in life and Pok answers very uncharacteristically from the man we saw in the video saying he had nothing but high hopes for baby Riz. He says he had no regrets, his job was just a job, and that he only had a kid because Sklonda wanted one before going into a snarling goblin rage. The pit fiend smiles at that and says that Pok has promise so they won’t create a lemure out of him (a lemure is a weak, blobby devil). Two devils in the room with them whip him unconscious and then leave the room to go send more people to deal with Bill.

Riz Misty Steps into the room and does a self-imposed Wisdom check to steady himself after what he just heard--Nat 20 baby. Then, he opens his Briefcase of Holding, ready to scoop his dad into it when, the two lesser devils open the door and catch him in the act. But Riz persists in the scooping. They try to grapple him and he rolls a Nat 1 to avoid it. He *still* tries to get him dad. But then he notices, his gun is missing.

BLAM. The devils heads are blown clean off. He turns and he sees his dad has taken the gun--his gun originally--and shot the devils. Pok, who is amazed that Riz is there and no longer feigning apathy for the situation asks for an extraction into an earpiece, causing a halo to appear over his head and a beam of holy light to come down like a tractor beam.

“Wait,” says Riz. “You’re an undercover angel?”

“You got it, kid.”

Murph goes feral. The table goes feral. I go feral. What a way to end an episode!  

And now for an all-Dad round of superlatives:

Detention

Bill Seacaster for KILLING GILEAR 

I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain myself here. 

Honor Roll

Pok Gukgak for Officially Joining the Fantasy Fathers of the Year Club

Here either. 

I will, however, add a Hell Yeah!

Random Thoughts

If you haven’t seen it yet, the trailer for S5 of Dimension 20 just dropped and I won’t spoil it but, from the looks of it, it is gonna be a doozy.  

“Do not metagame with my freaking Dad!” Oh to have the support of an NPC Emily Axford has decided to imprint upon.

Gorgug: It’s been one year. We’re sophomores. 

“We support you as a DM and as your friend but also you’re our enemy.”

I think it’s very interesting that with just a little space and time from his dad, Fabian is finally having the proper reactions to his dad doing what I will charitably call shenanigans.

The level of distress and outrage from Emily when Gilear got shot was just *chef’s kiss*. I aspire to create an NPC that provokes that level of reaction from one of my players. Similar energy in a different direction from Ally when Daybreak attacked Tracker.    

“Adaine, the jocks are being feisty! Get out of there!”

Vraz calls Fig “the Faithless” as her devil title and she insists on instead being called, “the InFaethable”. I wanna know how long Emily’s been sitting on that one or whether she came up with it on the spot. 

Fabian upon seeing Johnny: Fuck off dude. I have too much going on right now. 

Brennan being the eternal DM mood: How do I get out of this?

Very wild how little time has passed since Leviathan. Like, Fabian’s had this whole arc and grown so much but, like, OF COURSE Allistair still wants to murder him! It’s been like two days. 

“I want to crumple up Gilear like a wrapper.”

A seven is a Murph 10.

The very specific way Brennan does foley for sword fighting (“Clang! Cling! Clang!”) is so funny to me. 

Cannot overstate how much of a power move it was for Kristen to go, “I’ve been PRAYING FOR YOU,” at Daybreak and knock him on his ass. 

I feel like I bring this up all the time but I love when Brennan is counting dice for a ton of damage and all the PCs are BSing reasons that it’s not a big deal like, “He’s just getting D4s,” or “Well I should get advantage for the reason just made up,” with everyone else fully playing along. ”

Allistair Ash, man. He is fascinating to me. I am so curious about what Brennan had planned for him originally because I feel like we barely scratched the surface before things took a TURN. He had two little moments in this ep that made my heart break for him a little: (1) When he says to Fabian, “If I die, I just come back a little bit worse but, if you die, you’re stuck down here with me.” and (2) when Fabian kills him and Bill grabs his soul and is like, “You know it’s gonna cost you X gold to revive you,” and he sighs and says, “Put it on my tab I suppose.” Like, I know he spent all ep trying to kill Fabian but I can’t help but be like, poor guy. He just has this pathos in his haplessness. I’m surprised Fabian didn’t make more of an effort to connect with him instead of being like, kind of like, “I will throw hands if I must.” Talking is a free action my dude. Anyway, I would love to see Brennan’s DM notes for this guy.   

Lou was really doing some expert D&D with all the second winding and bonus actioning and burning spell slots for extra damage he was doing. He was like, “My initiative is trash so I have to do approximately a million damage per turn.”

Lol at Ayda asking if it’s weird to talk about sex stuff in front of friends in a group that involves both Kristen and Adaine. 

Fig wishing she could do something cool in front of Ayda as if Ayda didn’t try to flood Hell on her behalf last week. My girl. You’ve already locked that down.

Not really an issue that’s we’ll run across during the run of FH but tieflings live 20-40 years longer than humans according to the official D&D lore. So lets say Fig lives to be 120 years old. And let’s say she sticks with her high school girlfriend and marries her. It’s possible they die at around the same time and then Ayda has to Deal With That in her next life but that’s not what I’m interested in. What happens if you’re a full elderly woman and your partner phoenixes into a child? What are the ethics of that? How do you deal with that? Chronomancy?

The horrified, “Love wins!” from Daybreak.

 Is there a reason the viewing room Riz was in had thrones in it or is Hell just very about the ~aesthetic~

Every time a DM asks for a HP total, my entire being clenches in prep for a Power Word Kill. 

“I’m gonna need a Dexter--”/”Counterspell.”

“You guys murdered me too but we hashed it out.”

I totally forgot that the Bad Kids lied that Ragh had shat his pants until the moment Adaine was saying it this episode. Freshman Year was WILD.

Also, just wanna take a second to talk about the elevation of Ragh from this side-note bully to a fully fledged, likeable character with depth and and an arc and gay spit. D&D is crazy. 

Summoning Boggy via Bloody Mary is such a delightful image. 

So, Kalina is the one that led Riz down the path that led to him finding out Pok is an Undercover Angel (!!!), which means one of three things: (1) She knew but miscalculated hard, (2) she didn’t know and made a different but also big miscalculation, (3) she did know and she’s doing some kind of 4-D chess thing we don’t know about yet. 

Ayda hitting Fabian with a portent and then swooping in and saving Adaine. So clutch. What a good NPC to befriend.

Speaking of, I think we all kinda figured, but Brennan officially said on Twitter or the Discord (I don’t remember which) that Ayda is autistic. Like, I was pretty sure but I didn’t wanna assume.

Lol at the absolute lack of respect Kalvaxus got in this episode. 

Pok as an Undercover Angel is SO GOOD. Like, I didn’t think he was really bad for a second but I never could have guessed he was an UNDERCOVER ANGEL. That’s such a dope combination of words. Undercover Angel (which my computer keeps trying to correct to undercover agent which isn’t wrong to be fair). Man. I love this. I love this for me and I love this for Riz. Riz deserves this. After so much crap in his life and so many mind games from Kalina and all this turmoil, he deserves to know that not only is his dad a good person who loved/loves him, he’s SO good that he’s an ANGEL and he was such a good spy in life he still is a secret agent in death. God, what a reveal. I can’t believe Riz got Spy Kids-ed TWICE by the same parent. Can’t wait to hear what exactly is going on with him.

Wait, what’s goblin heaven like? Which god is sanctioning this? Who is he working for exactly?

This episode, Kristen and Gorgug rolled 1 Nat 20 each, while Riz, Fabian, and Brennan each got 2. On the flipside, Adaine got 2 Nat 1’s, Fig and Fabian each rolled 1 that was cancelled, and Riz rolled 1 (in addition, Murph rolled two more which were lair actions and one of which was cancelled by a luck point so they don’t really count but it was very funny so I wanted to note it).

[tumblrisweird]

My thoughts on ATLA season 2 episodes 15-17:

Okay so first of all, fuck you to the writers for giving me that sweet and funny story about Iroh and then hitting me with the one-two heartbreak combo right at the end. That fucking hurt.

Anyway, the other stories were okay. Sokka's was short and funny, Katara and Topher was nice, and Zuko's was sweet. Aang and Mom's weren't very interesting though.

Okay so next is the sad Appa episode. I was a bit worried, but fortunately it wasn't even as bad as the Iroh story from the last episode. I was worried it was gonna be like Jurassic Bark (the Futurama episode).

There were some nice continuity touches, like the sand sailer the gang later found and the circus that Ty Lee had been at.

Suki showing up again was unexpected but appreciated. I like her character. And the fight between her group and Azula's was good.

Also baby Appa was very cute.

Okay so the gang finds Jet but he's been brainwashed and has no memory of the past few days, I guess.

You'd think Uncle Iroh would understand that getting famous in the biggest city in the Earth Kingdom might not be a good idea for him and Zuko, but i guess he's blinded by his lust for tea.

Okay so the gang infiltrating the Dai Li base is believable because they've been sneaking around for a while and Toph could feasibly sense where the guards are. Zuko has also demonstrated his stealth ability multiple times. But how did Iroh sneak all the way in there???

Also, we get the closest thing to an on-screen death so far with Jet. Also, I guess Longshot and Smellerbee are just going to stay with him until he dies and then escape? Or were they also planning to die?

And Iroh finally pointing out Zuko's lack of forethought and convincing him to reevaluate his priorities was great. I had been waiting for that to finally happen.

Also Appa kicking Long Feng's ass instantly was very satisfying.

[yeet-man]

One's Rebirth (Chapter 7)

A/N: After 5 long ass months it's finally done. Hope y'all enjoy chapter 7 and till next time!

"It was a spar that was taken too far, I didn't mean-"

"Bullshit! You knew exactly what the hell you were doing!" J'me screamed with rage in his voice. His best friend dead and the person who killed him was giving a stupid reason. Adrenaline started flowing throughout his body and he was ready to attack at any given second.

Ryan kept silent and got ready to run at Charles. There was no reason for him to say any words, this was mostly between J'me and Charles.

"I know what it's like to lose someone trust me J'me, but listen to me when I say it was an accident." Charles tried his best to reason and stay calm in this situation.

J'me's rage grew rapidly as Charles continued opening that worthless excuse a mouth. He grabbed one of his kunai, gripped it tightly, ran forward a couple steps and threw it in front of him. Before Charles could react J'me was already in front of him and going for a punch to the jaw.

Even if his enemy had the ability to teleport, this didn't stun Charles at all. He grabbed J'me's punch, quickly grabbing his arm, turning around, tossing him over his shoulder and slamming J’me into the ground.

J’me’s body ached with pain after being slammed into the ground. He slowly got up onto his feet, kunai in hand as he winced. Every movement the boy took caused his body to throb. He ignored it for the time being, taking a couple steps forward, slashing at Charles’s face.

Expecting for J’me to be down and out after being slammed, Charles leaned back though not fully avoiding the kunai. A small trickle of blood fell from the tiny wound. The boy took a couple steps back and wiped the blood off his face. "Huh, you're really out to hurt me...I see." Charles smirked a little, when was the last time his life had been put in danger like this? He ran forward going for a wild right hook once he closed the distance between.

"You deserve death for your actions, but I was told to take you in so that's what I'll do by any means necessary." J'me put his kunai away, feeling regret as soon as it was out of sight. That didn't matter though for the time being. As Charles ran forward, J'me glanced over at Ryan and nodded slightly. J'me then teleported his friend to where he was while jumping upwards getting ready for a combo attack.

Ryan had just been standing there, thinking about how he was going to attack. "Yeah…" His voice was lower than normal as he agreed with what J'me had said. When J'me nodded at him, he simply nodded back with a slight smirk. "Let's do this J'me." For some reason he actually sounded a bit excited for once as purple flames snaked down his arm, swirling into the shape of a simple scythe. Without hesitation he dashed towards Charles, sending a wide horizontal slash at him, using the length of his scythe to his advantage.

As he saw Ryan form his flame scythe, J'me smirked knowing exactly what to do. Extending his arm down towards Charles, his palm showing while he muttered something under his breath. "Gale Palm!" A huge powerful blast of wind went from J'me's palm straight towards the enemy. Once the wind touched the fire from the scythe, the area in front of them was engulfed in a mini firestorm.

Charles chuckled to himself, his body making a passive barrier to protect him for the attack. The barrier cleared as he showed up in front of his opponent, his wild hook turning into an uppercut. His left hand knocking the flame scythe upwards, giving him a slight burn.

J'me's eyes widened with fear, they thought they had him for good that time. By the time the barrier had activated, he landed on the ground next to his friend. Pushing Ryan out the way and switching places with Mari before Charles could take his attack.

He didn't want Mari to take the attack, but this was the quickest thing he could think and do.

Ryan couldn't help but watch as Mari took the hit. "Fuck…" was the only word he could mutter.

The immortal girl took the hit head on without warning. She had been hit worse though, so it didn't hurt as much as it was supposed to be. Mari shoved Charles backwards before moving off to the side.

Charles smirked at the girl's action, being able to tank a hit like that huh? Well, a nice quirk that can be stolen. He ran forward stretching his arm out to grab her only to be stopped by Ryan.

J'me took this moment to gain the advantage, grabbing his kunai, throwing it behind Charles and teleporting to where the kunai was. He got into a low stance bringing his hand back, his hand starting to take a transformation of some sort. "I've never done this before, but it's worth a try." He looked at Ryan and just nodded, this was the finishing move hopefully. He began adding chakra to his arm, followed by wind, fire, lightning, water, earth. All five elements from the Naruto universe on his arm.

His arm started shaking, he knew he couldn't control it for much longer. It was time to finish this battle once and for all. "Ryan, Mari… get back. It's over Charles!" With a single movement, J'me launched his fist forward, all the elements unleashing at once with little to no chance stopping it.

Ryan held onto Charles as long as he could, making sure his opponent didn't touch. As soon as J'me told them to get back, he grabbed Mari and ran as fast as he could with the reaper. He stopped around the 100 meter mark so they could still watch.

Mari was confused with what was going on, but she didn't say anything but watch for the time being.

Charles was confused why Ryan ran off, turning around to see J'me say 'It's over Charles.' He looked at his opponents hand, "oh fuck…" BOOM! He was blown back from the punch, scratches on his body from the wind, burns that were caused by the lightning and fire. He felt heavy from the water and there was dirt all over him. He slid into the ground, laying there for a little while after he stopped.

J'me winced from the pain and held his wrist, it was most likely broken from all the pressure on it and his hand. He collapsed to his knees, letting out puffs of air trying to catch his breath. He wasted too much energy and started to suffer because of it.

Ryan picked up Mari and brought the both of them back to J'me. Once Mari was standing on her own, Ryan kneeled down and looked at his friend's wrist. "Dude, I'm pretty sure it's broken. But the move you did was pretty awesome."

"Yeah, I didn't know you could do something like that J'me. It truly was amazing." Mari smiled a little, brushing some hair behind her ear.

J'me let out a small chuckle as he slowly got back to his feet. "I didn't know… I had that in me." He kept trying to catch his breath even while standing. "But thanks. I wouldn't have… been able to do that… if it wasn't for y'all."

Charles couldn't help but let out a laugh loud of everyone to hear. He sat up, getting to his feet with ease despite his injuries. "You really thought that was enough to beat me? The only time you'll ever be able to beat me is in your dreams." He smirked, walking forward as everyone else watched in fear. Once he was in front of J'me, he grabbed the kunai that was on the ground and held out his free hand. "What was the one move you used? Oh yeah, Gale Palm bitch."

WOOSH

Another powerful blast of wind came from Charles's hand, pushing J'me backwards and into a boulder.

The only thing J'me could do was scream out in agony. Everything hurt. He didn't feel like moving at this point, just wanting to accept his defeat. He would, but a promise was made that he wasn't intending on breaking.

Slipping in and out of consciousness as he tried getting up. "Shit… is this really where everything comes to an end…"

Charles slowly started approaching J'me with the kunai in hand. If everyone wanted to believe he was a villain then so be it. He would show these people that he was one.

Ryan's body moved on it's own, jumping in front of his friend on the ground while Mari went to check on him. "If you come closer then you'll have to face me." The boy was serious, he wasn't going to sit around and watch his friend be injured.

Charles stopped where he was at, giving off a smirk towards the person in front of him. "Is that so? If we fight you'll end up just like J'me, completely fucked."

“Even if that’s the case as long as I take you down with me i’ll be fine.” Ryan raised his hands up, getting into a defensive stance.

“You truly think you’ll be able to take me down? If J’me wasn’t able to finish me off, what makes you think you can do it?" Charles questioned, gripping the stolen kunai tighter.

"No one...said I...was done with you...Charles." J'me was on his feet with the help of Mari. He slowly made his way to Ryan, leaning on his friends shoulder once next to him. "I'll be the way to take you down...and that's on my soul."

Ryan looked at his injured friend, shaking his head. "You can't go on like this, you'll kill yourself if you try to fight again. Let me take this over, I'm the only one who can do this."

"No, I'm the one doing this. I'll be fine-" His sentence was interrupted by him coughing up a little bit of blood. He stared at the red liquid for a couple seconds before speaking again. "Trust me on this Ryan."

Ryan was about to respond when he heard an all too familiar voice.

"J'ME!" Mei came running from behind the boulder she was watching at. She couldn't stand someone she cared about putting themselves through so many injuries like he did. "Please stop doing this to yourself J'me. Just let Ryan and one of my-" She stopped talking for some reason, seeming to be cut off.

J'me looked at Mei only to see a crimson liquid splash onto him. The color drained from the boys' face as he watched his girlfriend starting to fall to the floor. He immediately pushed off Ryan, somehow barely managing to catch Mei before she hit the ground. The boy slowly settled Mei on to the ground, applying pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding.

As Mei fell to the floor, Charles walked a bit closer to the group. The stolen Kunai he had, stained in red. "What's the problem? Is your mechanic bitch dying?" He smirked, knowing that she was. But, J'me should consider himself lucky since he struck at the stomach instead of the kidney.

Before J'me could speak again, Mei had some words to say herself. "J'me listen to me, I'll be okay." She smiled before slowly digging into her pockets and pulling out a bracelet. "Besides, I just came here to give you this. I thought it would be of use to you in battle. If you press this button it makes a gauntlet around the arm it's on. And if you press it again it turns into a shield." Mei placed the bracelet inside his hand, "Now, go win J'me. I believe in you."

J'me slowly got to his feet, putting on the bracelet Mei gave him. He kept looking at her as he spoke out loud, "Some people in this world truly disgust me."

It was quiet for a couple seconds before J'me spoke up again. "Ryan, take Mei to the hospital. While you're doing that I'll take down Charles."

Ryan did as his friend said, he knew better than to question him while J'me was pissed like this. He picked up Mei with care, making sure the stab wound didn't get worse before applying pressure to it and dashing off at incredible speeds to the nearest hospital.

J'me pulled out his extra kunai and handed it to Mari, "I refuse to use a weapon that was used to hurt someone I care about. That's yours for the time being, take care of it." With that he turned back around, not caring about the pain he was in.

Charles just smirked, it wasn't like J'me could actually do some damage to him with the condition he was in. "Without that weapon you're screwed, just give up." It was fun messing around with J'me and for once, Charles liked the idea of being a villain.

J'me stayed quiet as he let out a breath of air. Every movement, every step he took made him wince in pain. But there were reasons he kept moving, enduring every hit. "You're forgetting one thing jackass."

"Oh? And what's that? Is it that you can't win? Because I already know that." Charles held the

kunai up ready to strike as soon as J'me moved.

"No-" What seemed to be a blinding blue bolt of lightning flashed where J'me once was, followed by the thunderous crack and boom it was infamous for. In the instant the bolt came down the boy disappeared, reappearing in front of his enemy. "You forgot I can teleport dipshit!" Not wasting any time, J'me kicked Charles across the face with everything he could.

If Charles had to give J'me props for one thing, it would be the element of surprise. He did not expect for J'me to pull something like that. After all this time why was he still fighting? It made no sense to him at all. All these thoughts flew through his head as he staggered back from the kick. He held the part that was hit and just stared for a second, "I guess I underestimated you. That won't happen again."

"Shut up. You don't get to speak anymore bitch." J'me was surprisingly calm, he held out his uninjured hand and muttered a single word, "Chidori." A ball of uncontrollable lightning formed on his hand, the sound of a thousand birds coming from it. This jutsu alone had enough power to tear through someone with ease, but there was one problem. With how it was made, the lightning spiking all around him, it made everything a blur.

J'me didn't want to keep wasting time, running what seemed to be forward, the boy launched to the blurry Charles. 'Let this hit please!'

Charles chuckled as he watched J'me run forward, side stepping out the way and grabbing his opponents' wrist. "Come on? Is this really all you have? Pathetic." Kneeing the boy in the stomach, Charles had no remorse for J'me anymore.

J'me slowly fell down to the floor, holding his abdomen as he winced in pain. Was this it? Ryan had taken Mei to the hospital and Mari's quirk was made for defense only. The word 'pathetic' raced through his mind as he laid against the ground.

Charles rolled J'me over with his foot and kicked him in the side over and over. "Really? You're a so-called hero? That's pathetic, you're weak and should die just like Kairo."

J'me lowered his arms, letting himself get kicked after hearing his late friends' name. Maybe he was pathetic, after all he did let his friend die.

Ryan finally showed back up after dropping Mei off at the hospital. The first thing he saw was Mari holding one of J'me's kunai, her hands close to her chest as she had a horrified experission on her face. He slowly turned to face the action and he saw something he would never forget. Charles stomping on J'me. Ryan ran forward, knocking Charles off J'me and on to the ground.

He got on top of the enemy and opened a can of whoop ass on Charles with no sign of stopping.

Mari snapped out of her horrified state and ran over towards Ryan, pulling him off of Charles. "We were told to bring him in, not kill him Ryan. It's not worth going to jail for this, just go get the quirk cancelling cuffs and put them on him."

Ryan would be dragged off of Charles, slightly breathing heavy. All he did was nod and did what Mari said. He grabbed the cuffs from J'me's bag and put them on Charles, "It's over. You won't ever hurt anyone again." Ryan and Mari went over to check on J'me, leaving their enemy unattended.

J'me slowly tried his best to sit up, holding his ribs and wincing from the pain. "Don't worry about me, focus on Charles. I'll be fine, I just need a minute."

The sound of metal screeching interrupted them from checking on their friend. J'me was the first one to see what happened, his face went white from what he saw.

"Did you really think these cuffs would stop me?" There stood Charles with broken cuffs. He then shattered them off his wrists. "I'm on a completely different level than you thought Ryan. I am a god in this world, you will never beat me."

Ryan's face went blank as he turned around, the killing intent in his eyes now showing. “How would you feel if I burned you alive then?”

Mari knew it was pointless to stop Ryan again. She kneeled down beside J'me, making him lay back down and placing her hands over his chest. From there a green glow was emitted from the immortals hands, the glow seemed to act as if it was healing the boy.

"If I learned anything from my brother before he died, it's that real heroes never die!" A few seconds passed before the glow seemingly faded away. "I gave you my immortality for only a small bit of time, I believe you and Ryan can do this. Take down that monster before it's too late!"

J’me simply nodded at Mari, getting up on his feet and walking over towards his friend. “A god? Just because we were going easy on you does not make you a god. We were told to bring you in, but now I feel like killing you. Ryan, let’s end this.”

“I am a god, I’ve been going easy on the two of y’all as well.” Charles smirked before snapping his fingers, that same green glow now appearing on him as well. “You see, my quirk is basically One for All but better. I’m able to steal quirks without touching the user, I just have to see it in action. I can also upgrade them, but the only problem is the quirk I take remains in the user's body.”

Ryan’s murderous intent only seemed to grow stronger as heat began to flow around his body. “What the hell kind of ‘god’ kills others for fun?” Ryan’s tone shifted into a deeper one as bones sprouted all around his body, deep purple flames began to flick up off of him, eventually exploding out in one big puff. However, as the flames calmed a little, Ryan could be seen within them and his reaper form was in full affect. “J’me, whenever you’re ready…” Ryan’s voice was raspy and aged, yet the sound of pure annoyance was gently laced in his tone. After all, his quirk made him just like a God of Death, so Charles claiming to be one seemed to really set him off after everything he’s done.

J’me just chuckled as vicious winds surrounded him, making the boy levitate in the air. He took on a divine stance as he floated in the air because of the wind. “To think we once trusted you. Burn in the depths of hell bitch, someone like you deserves a death sentence and luckily for you we’re gonna grant you that.” His voice was filled with anger and why shouldn’t be? The person in front of him killed his best friend and injured someone he loved, not to mention claiming to be a god. “It’s time we end this Ryan.” He held up his hand and the vicious winds shot forward at the enemy.

At the same time Ryan held his hand and the purple flames shot forward, combining with the wind and creating a huge firestorm. “Blazing Inferno…” The two said in unison.

The firestorm engulfed Charles and he just stood there, letting it happen with a smirk on his face. There was a reason he let himself get injured.

J’me turned around and started walking away, “Are you coming or not Ryan?” He waved to Mari to grab his bag.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here before anyone sees us.” Ryan turned around and walked with J’me, the flames shining a bright purple as it ‘burned’ Charles.

Once Mari grabbed J’me’s bag, he teleported the three of them back to U.A.

After a couple minutes the firestorm calmed down and Charles walked out grinning and with no injuries. “They should have believed me when I said I could take quirks after seeing them in action. It is a shame they couldn’t stay for long though.” With that Charles left the scene before heroes showed up.

After being teleported J’me, Ryan, and Mari popped in the workshop that was inside of U.A.

J’me grabbed his bag from Mari, “Don’t ask me why I have a seal in there. That story can be told another day. For now though, let’s go to USJ and hope we aren’t late. Oh, and let me remove those seals since we’re done.” He placed his hands on Ryan and Mari’s shoulder, closing his eyes for a couple of seconds. When he opened his eyes the seals were gone and he dropped his hands back to his side.

“Okay, if we’re done can you answer my questions from earlier? What did you mean that I’m only here because of the two of you? And who is Charles?” Mari wanted to get to the bottom of some things for her sake.

Ryan looked away since he didn’t feel like explaining and J’me let out a small sigh and scratched the back of his neck.

“So, as you know me and Ryan aren’t from this universe. We were transferred here for some reason we don’t know yet. Anyway, in our world this universe is a show called ‘My Hero Academia’. And in that show you aren’t in it, that was till we got here. Once we got here so did you and I don’t know why. As for your second question. Charles was our friend, I guess he was transferred here with us. I hope that cleared some things up.” J’me started walking towards the door since they had to get to USJ fast.

Ryan followed behind J’me, leaving Mari alone to her thoughts. “Hey, what are we doing after the USJ incident? We better hope Charles isn’t dead or else we’ll be kicked out of here.”

“I know, I’m not dumb dude. Besides, it’s safe to say he probably made it out alive somehow. We can worry about him another time. As long as we give Aizawa information about Charles, shit should be okay.” The two of them left and started heading to USJ.

Meanwhile Mari stayed back for a couple minutes questioning some stuff. If Charles was their friend, why did he kill Kairo? What universe was she in before they got here? Some things were cleared up while new questions started to form because of it. She let out a sigh and ran to catch up to J’me and Ryan.