#but i haven't seen anyone else go there so

[snarky-wallflower]

Coin Flip: A Ship Name Study

Otherwise known as: yes, hi, I am coping with the end of Searcher by focusing on this hot mess of a couple. I did one for Radiant Words, might as well again!

So, first off, I can't take credit for the name! That goes to my friend @amethystunarmed, a genius as always. I just wanna dive a little deeper into it, to convince others to start using it! So, why Coin Flip? Well, obviously it pulls on their titular song Two Sides of a Coin (god, I still think it's beautiful that the entire chat started shipping them at that.) The fascinating thing about Dakkar and Kal is that they truly seem to be just that! Two sides of the same coin! Neither of them can ever fully keep a victory, always struggling against each other. A flip of a coin - who wins? Who loses? Will there ever be an end to this fight, this relationship, that clearly has them both in a grip? They always fight to a draw, it's cosmic law.

What would you do without me, I'm not certain...

It's pretty clear that Kal respects Dakkar in a way he hasn't done so for any other character so far - Samuel, and AJ, for example. He spends time actually talking to Dakkar, negotiating with him. He doesn't see it as a joke, like Dakkar is beneath him. He didn't do that for anyone else!

Don't make this harder than it needs to be, Dak!

Everyone else has been boring.

Dakkar is the main event.

Meanwhile, Dakkar has kept on moving. He never even says Kal's name throughout the whole show. Mobilis in mobili, right? But he also knows where to dig when he needs to, insulting Kal with ease. Dakkar is furious here, practically brimming with rage. Kal brings out a side of him we haven't seen yet, and it's delightful to listen to.

I will stand, and you will falter! I'll be the rock of Gibraltar!

I will float and watch you sink, and it eats you up inside!

What is so interesting about this ship is the amount of history we can tell is there from a song that is only a couple of minutes! There's bitterness, there's knowing - these two go right for the THROAT when it comes to each other. Kal's jabs at Dakkar are a lot more personal than his to Sia ever were. (He went STRAIGHT for the daddy issues with Dakkar, damn.) Their strikes aim true, while they get in each other's heads.

They know each other like their other half--because maybe they were, once. Like the palm of their hand. Like the other side of a coin.

How well did they know each other?

Two sides of a coin.

The coin flips. Which side will it turn up on this time?

[jokersenpai-thenavigator]

Why You Should Play: Oxenfree

*Spoilers for an 8yo game!*

Oxenfree’s story isn’t terribly complex. It takes maybe 4 - 6 hours to beat, depending on how much of the collectable content you’re aiming to grab. Game play primarily consists of walking around the island, talking to your friends, and fiddling around with your pocket radio.

But DAMN does Oxenfree do well in its execution.

The aforementioned radio, as your primary means of interacting with the island, is an amazingly implemented mechanic. You can go through the entire game, only using it for its intended purpose, and it is entirely valid.

But.

If you take the time to scroll through the radio stations in different locations - even outside of the “anomaly” areas - you’ll get little pieces of information and world building.

Music stations exist, though they only play music from the 1940’s.

Certain stations in certain places will broadcast messages in Morse code, which, coupled with the opening call signs from the anomaly stations and the freaking beats in the game’s main music track, led to an ARG back in 2016 when the game was released.

Sometimes, you’ll get clips from old interviews.

And sometimes…you’ll hear yourself. Having conversations that haven’t happened.

And that’s just the radio mechanic.

Another main gimmick of the game are time loops. You’ll occasionally get stuck in a loop, only able to escape once an old magnetic tape player appears, allowing you to break through the frequency of the loop. The time loop will visually appear on the screen as almost VHS quality static, like the world around you is physically being paused and rewound each time you make it to the edge of the loop.

The screen distorts with static, gets flipped upside down and your dialogue choices reversed, still images of nautical blueprints and old photographs flash for a brief second. In the background, seemingly innocent trees and stones will twist and distort into towering monsters, eyes glowing bright against the darkness of the island, there for only a second, leaving you to wonder if you actually saw something, or if it was just your imagination.

There are moments in the game where Alex’s reflection will speak to her, giving her advice. At the moment, the information seems…strange. Nonsensical. You tell yourself to let Jonas speak to his mom - who is dead. You tell yourself to let Michael know to stay with Clarissa - despite Michael having died years ago.

The information doesn’t make sense…until you approach the end of the game. And then you have to decide whether or not to believe your reflection, and make your choices, until at the very end of everything…after everything that you’ve experienced in your play through, everything you’ve learned…you have to tell your past self what to do. The entire time, it was you.

The game ends, your futures are set…and then, as Alex is narrating her closing statements…the audio distorts. Alex says that she has to pick up Jonas for Ren’s trip to the island. The screen gets staticky, and goes black.

And then fades in on Ren, describing the history of Edward Island.

You are on a boat.

At the beginning of the game.

And you are aware that you’ve been here before.

**Link to information on the ARG, because HOLY SHIT I WISH I COULD HAVE BEEN THERE FOR THIS!!! https://wiki.gamedetectives.net/index.php?title=Oxenfree#:~:text=The%20Morse%20code%20in%20the,to%20go%20to%20Edwards%20Island.

[whatsitzface]

The way Annabeth was thinking so far ahead of Percy that Percy was confused. The way she refused to elaborate on anything, and then was like; 'I'm surrounded by idiots' whenever someone (Percy) didn't understand her. The way she looked so smug after she pushed Percy into the water and he got claimed. THE WAY SHE WAS SO BLUNT!!!!! ("ARE YOU STALKING ME??" "yeah lol")

Sorry, but that's the most accurate Annabeth in the world holy smokes Leah did such a good job. All my forgotten love for Annabeth's character that I felt while reading the books just crashed into me full force and I'm frothing at the mouth with obsession.

“-You’re gonna expect me to know how to do something I don’t know how to do, and I end up falling flat on my face, I- I can’t really have that right now.” “You still don’t get where you fit into all of this, do you?” SHE’S TALKING ABOUT THE PROPHECY AND HOW SHE KNOWS HE'S A POSIEDON KID, BUT SHE HIDES IT AS HOW HE DOESN’T KNOW HIS PLACE IN THE CAPTURE THE FLAG GAME!!!! BECAUSE SHE WON’T TELL HIM!!!! AND ITS EPIC BECAUSE IN THE CAPTURE THE FLAG GAME HE DOES FALL FLAT ON HIS FACE, BUT IN THE PROPHECY HE DOES GET HIS DAD TO SEE HIM!!!! And then she fixes his armor plate, making sure that its secure. Making sure he won't get hurt. That's not part of her plan, and things always go according to her plan. She's the game master. IM SCREAMING

[sunsiarc]

hashtag me the moment All Hell comes out tomorrow

[soapsinthebox]

Now that the date for part twos release is edging closer and closer, i think i should mention this:

Please PLEASE be normal about the characters.(ironic i know, but listen to me)

For a whole year, we have had nothing but fanfiction and headcanon to base our perception of the characters off of, do you know how long that is?? of course when the episodes release, theres gonna be a huge chance that characters might not behave how we expect them to.

Please dont get mad or angry that a character isnt fitting your expectations of how their arc is going, whether its its pacing, direction, or just writing in general.

Fanfiction is at the end of the day, fanfiction! its probably not going to fit the canon , and thats okay!! just dont let it alter your perception of this show. We dont want another digital circus problem on our hands, especially in a community as small as this where news and drama spreads like wildfire. just... please be mindful.

(this post is NOT saying you shouldn't criticize the show for aspects it does poorly! please dont read it like that)

[louroth]

"It takes guts to grow up like you did-- thousands of years simmering beneath every kind of oppression man could think of."

"With the sky kissing the crown of my head, knighting me with space to roam and the bravery to explore it [...] Big, open fields of barley and rivers like slivers of silver, marbling my veins."

"And yet you prefer...?" "After all that life?" a breath, a laugh, caught between teeth. "Something cultivated by your own will-- the work, the dread, the sought resolution-- it is far grander than the possibility, the dream of it."

art by @fooltofancy (just. fantastic. look at them. !!!!)

[renthony]

Trypophobia Warning for Tears of the Kingdom

The questline that takes you through the Gerudo Desert has an enemy that spawns from clusters of holes that open up in a mushroom-shaped construct. They drop out of the holes and move in a jerky sort of manner toward the player. It's pretty squicky if you're sensitive to that sort of imagery.

[magbyfromspace]

I know that a lot of us in the ofmd fandom are so excited and just taken by the fact that Stede wrote a whole ass letter for Ed so he could read it some day and understand how Stede loves him and cherishes him and that's sweet and all but... can Ed even read?

Like, it's not a joke question.

We know that he comes from a poor family, one that could not afford nice things, they weren't "this kind of people". He ran and most probably began his life as a pirate as a young adult at latest. We know that he can count and play the piano so he probably had some education but we never see him reading. He only ever skims through books or looks at the pictures inside them (ex. one about himself). Ed MARVELS at the fact that Stede has read all the books he had in his little library for crying out loud!

There is one more scene where we see Ed theoretically read. When he signs the Act of Grace. But does he actually read it? No! The only thing he says is:

Nothing whatsoever about what is actually written, just how it looks. In addition, how does he sign it you may ask? With an X.

The way in which people who can't write and/or read tend to sign themselves.

So tldr; Stede wrote a letter Ed probably won't be able to read because he CAN'T and we have to struggle with sad gays™ once more (unless Jim can read in both Spanish and English or idk Izzy can read somehow).

Fuck.

[horanghaepower]

I JUST REALIZED ALL THE PAINT CANS IN THE SKZOO CHKCHKBOOM MV ARE PREVIOUS ALBUMS

[aq2003]

i saw a post saying boom was good bc it feels like it could be done with any doctor/companion duo and honestly that was one of the things i felt was wrong with it

[anxietycontinuum]

ok i just wanted to add my two cents to the analysis of reuenthal's thought train in ep 93 of logh. no major spoilers but it's better to come back later in case you haven't seen the ova yet

so people have already analyzed the hell out of this particular frame (i apologize for the blurry screenshots i took hastily from laserdisc rip on archive.org, might fix that later) with reuenthal imagining his mother looking as himself and her lover as a guy who looks suspiciously like mittermeyer

well i just found more proof that this is not a flashback or an accurate retelling of the actual events. rather this is some sort of elaborate fantasy that reuenthal orchestrated in his mindscape.

even though it's extremely on the nose i haven't seen anyone else before me pointing that out! so i apologize if somebody did and i missed that.

anyway, let's go back to ep 28 (portraits). this is the first time we see reuenthal talking about his mother and his family in general. and what we see is that ova actually shows us a portrait of his mother (not just in one frame but in two):

yeah that's right. her hair isn't dark it's blond-ish. and despite that, oskar still imagines her as having dark hair (just as himself) a few seconds later.

might have been an animation blunder but i want to believe that this decision was deliberate. there are more things hinting at this whole thing being made up (others have pointed them out already), such as the inconsistency of the "flashbacks": the suicide of reuenthal's mother is portrayed very differently in ep 28 and in ep 93. since he couldn't possibly remember her death accurately (even the books mention this) the most likely scenario is that his father is at fault, and he shifted the blame onto the child - probably telling oskar that he's "just like his mother", and he internalized it. gender delirious

i also think that ova creators specifically chose to go this route. i haven't read the source material in its entirety but from what i understand there's no mention of reuenthal being a carbon copy of his mother appearance-wise. moreover, in die neue these (which some praise for being truer to the books than ova) it is the father who looks exactly like him. so ova constructed this personal freudian hellscape just for my boy reuenthal. i rest my case

[metalmaul]

Theo Solomon's first moves in D&D (as Wyll Ravengard of Baldur's Gate 3.)

[from highrollersdnd on Twitch's new one-shot campaign with the cast of Baldur's Gate 3]

[jklovesfandoms]

"Peter Spankoffski has trichotillomania" I say into the mic.

The crowd starts booing. I begin to walk off in shame, when a voice cuts through the crowd.

"He's right" they say. I look in the audience, and there he is, in the 6th row. Joey Richter himself.

[magentagalaxies]

always found this little parallel between how scott speaks about buddy cole vs danny husk fascinating:

(top quote is from this 2017 vulture interview, bottom quote is from paul myers' 2018 book "one dumb guy")

'he's smarter than me. braver than me. he's better than me'' vs ''danny may not be the smartest or the bravest but he's a very decent man''

[deepfriedpaddymayne]

Pat Riley (Jacob Ifan) and Jim Almonds (Corin Silva) in SAS: Rogue Heroes (2022-), Episode 6 Season 1.

[woeismywaffle]

Hazbin Theory!

Since we know that Adam(yknow former human and also the father of all humanity) is the leader of the Exterminator Angels then mayhaps the Exterminators are also former human souls turned soldiers for Heaven