#but still. my point here is more that it’s hard to discuss evil factions in fallout without it being like.

[kyngsnake]

Over the years the Fallout fandom definitely has slowly crept further into a “moral high ground over suspension of disbelief” space. I see a lot of people discussing their opinions of Fallout through the lens of their own personal morals that they’d apply to their own life, which is… Strange to me. I feel like dystopian media especially is not the sort of thing you should be judging by your own real life standards. Most things in Fallout are extreme. Most of the factions do extreme things. A lot of the things people do in Fallout would be considered inhumane, cruel or uncanny by modern standards. Because it’s a post-apocalyptic dystopia.

This isn’t me saying “everyone in Fallout is evil, stop expecting otherwise,” because I don’t believe that to be the case. Even good-willed people in Fallout do shit that would be considered extreme by modern standards. I just see a lot of people shying away from discussing the “grittier” aspects of the franchise because it might for whatever reason imply you condone those things in real life.

[creativitysparks4everxoxo]

IT'S TIME TO DISCUSS TFE S2A!!!

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SPOILERS...OBVIOUSLY...

First of all, despite what some TFE fans have said, I gotta say, S2A has heavily exceeded my expectations! I was nervous because it did not get marketed enough (wtf Paramount+??!!) and because of the early rumours regarding certain things happening. But I thoroughly enjoyed most of the episodes (even the trailer filler episode). It really felt like I was watching S1A all over again. I found S2A refreshing and wholesome.

Here is a scattered list of some of the many moments/things that stood out to me...

AHHH! MO'S BRAIDS! Gah! I love them so much! I absolutely love her new hairstyle in season 2. Okay spacebuns! 🥰 Our little sweetie has grown up a bit and her new hairstyle looks so nice! I really like the attention to detail on her braids, her edges and baby hairs. You can tell that the character designers actually did their research on black hairstyles, and I really appreciate that because so many shows get it so wrong and they are just downright disrespectful.

SHOCKWAVE'S HESITATION!!!! HE HAD A CLEAR SHOT AND HE WAS GOING TO ATTACK, but then he just...didn't.

I was wondering how the weird tension between Shockwave, the Terrans and Malto Kids would be resolved. In S1C we see Shockwave working with the Terrans and Malto Kids to help take down Croft and her army. But you can tell that this was mainly because they shared a common enemy and because the season was ending.

But now even with Shockwave working under Starscream's command, he still hesitated and just let Twitch and Robby pass. He had the element of surprise, he watched them steal the shards and he could have easily ambushed them. He just...didn't. I am hoping that this gets explored further in the season and we get more of Shockwave.

BREAKDOWN CALLING AFTERMATH 'SON'!!! 🥺🥺🥺 And calling him kid!!! 🥺🥺🥺 I don't know, this is just so adorable to me. Regardless of the faction, clearly all the Cybertronians view the Terrans as children. Even though I found Aftermath to be very irritating, I thought it was really sweet how fast Breakdown tried to protect him and how he had grown to care for him. That fake father/son montage and the 'son' bomb took me out. I was laughing so hard. 🤣

✨️ALEX MALTO'S MAGICAL BOY TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCE!!!✨️

I kid you not, I had to pause the episode because I was laughing so hard! I could not breathe! 🤣 It was so sudden! It was so smooth! Alex was READY! You know he's been waiting for the day that he can finally reveal his Magical Boy uniform! I love it! Everyone's reaction was perfect! Megatron was so done with Alex. 🤣

And Nightshade giving their father a boost after Alex struggled to climb up the wall during the race is just so wholesome! 🥺 I'm so glad we got to see more of Alex interacting with his children in this batch of episodes. He gave so much enthusiastic, concerned, loving dad energy in this batch of episodes, it was beautiful.

TWITCH VS SPITFIRE!!!

That was so intense! It was really cool seeing them fight and use their different abilities against each other. Seeing Twitch get competitive with her basically evil twin sister was fun to watch. Twitch's competive nature really came out because THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!!! Loll despite how hard Twitch had to fight, she definitely proved to Spitfire and to herself that she is the 'better drone'. I found it interesting that instead of Robby being the one to point out that Twitch is really Spitfire, it was actually Wheeljack. It was nice that he used his Dad 2 nickname to confirm his suspicions. He's clearly taken a liking to it. ☺️But I'm glad that Robby had his moment to determine which Twitch is the real Twitch.

Swindle interacting with a human and not trying to squish the human??? Yeah, I was shocked when I watched 'The Butterfly Effect' and saw Swindle interacting with Fairmaestro. But then seeing Swindle basically try to swindle Fairmaestro was the perfect 'Aha!' moment.

I really like TFE's version of Cosmos, and I wish he had more than one appearance in this batch of episodes! He just disappeared after his debut episode, but I wanted more of him! His design is very nice too. He is a perfect round boi. But how the heck did he get captured by Fairmaestro? How long was he under his control? If he joined the Autobots after the Maltos rescued him, why wasn't he in any other episodes with the other Autobots? 🤔 But also, I love the way he handled Fairmaestro and dumped his ass in the dunk tank. Since Fairmaestro easily escaped Jon's custody, I wonder if we'll see more of him.

Starscream as the main antagonist. Hmmm. I gotta say, while it's refreshing that we finally got a new main villain, it's also disappointing that it ended up being Starscream. Starscream caused so much chaos in S2A and sure, it's Starscream. What do you expect? He's always been untrustworthy, violent and unpredictable. But really? Did he seriously have to go back to being the villain after he had a bonding moment with Hashtag? After he worked with the Malto family because he realized that there are much larger threats out there. I'm assuming that he had to fuck up shit in the beginning of season 2 to make way for a serious redemption arc later on. I assume an even bigger threat will enter the scene soon. I sure hope so, because Screamy hit an all time low when he brutally took out the Chaos Terrans. That was just...wow. 😨

Dot Malto being the 'villain' and spraying her kids with the hose during the competition was hilarious. We love a good badass mom moment. 🤭

Contrary to what some people have said, I actually don't mind the Malto Kids at all, or their new power upgrades. They've dealt with so much shit in S1, so it only makes sense that they will eventually get some upgrades and powers to help protect themselves. They act like how kids their age would act irl, so of course they're going to have their annoying, problematic moments where they get themselves into a lot of trouble. The only difference is, they have a lot more sense and they acknowledge when it's time to stop and get serious. Even though it's really obvious that TFE is marketed towards kids, I like that it puts emphasis on family, teamwork, and it has its fair share of cheesy moments. It's very reminiscent of TFA.

I really enjoyed Hashtag and Mo's bonding episode. Even though Robby and Mo have a strong connection to Twitch and Thrash because they are the first Terrans that were born, it's nice to see the Malto Kids interact with their other Terran siblings as well. We almost always see Mo with Thrash or Robby with Twitch, so to see different dynamics among the Terrans and their human siblings is refreshing. And yessss! Hashtag calling Mo her little big sister and Mo calling Hashtag her big little sister is just too great!

Hashtag's new alt mode is so shiny! I love it! It's a nice upgrade, and I like her new root mode design too. I thought it was interesting that she got a new virtual assistant with her systems upgrade.

Cyber-syncing!!! I feel like it was only a matter of time before it was introduced. Something tells me that we're going to have more moments when cyber-syncing will be needed to take down a foe. It was an interesting addition to the Terrans and Malto Kids' existing abilities. I wonder if we'll see more cyber-syncing combos, like maybe a Hashtag/Nightshade/Robby/Mo combo. Or a Jawbreaker/Twitch/Robby/Mo combo. Or just more cyber-syncing in general. I did find Jawbreaker's sync with Aftermath to be very forced and unnecessary. I get that he felt left out in that episode, but it just feels like it was so unnecessary to the plot and it just felt like bad comedy relief.

Overall, I actually really enjoyed S2A. There were only a few episodes and moments that I found meh, but for the most part it was a good watch and it's about to be on repeat while I patiently wait for Transformers One and S2B to come out.

[shihalyfie]

With Digimon Ghost Game starting, I thought about how different it is from previous Digimon series, though it's still undoubtedly Digimon... and then I realized all Digimon series are like that. So I wonder, what do you think sets each Digimon series apart from the rest?

I think both Ghost Game but also the reboot have been a wake-up call for people in terms of realizing that likes, dislikes, and tastes are subjective, and I think it's especially important in terms of this fanbase that is so obsessed with this idea you can objectively rank things by quality -- especially when each series is often deliberately trying to have its own identity, so it's arguably apples and oranges -- and forcing this idea of what's Good and Not Good on everyone else (especially when there's a nasty double standard phenomenon where Adventure and often Tamers get to be so impervious to criticism that people conveniently forget they're perfectly capable of being scrutinized for a lot of things they're weaker in). Very frustrating to see everyone who likes less popular series treated as if they have to accept that they like a "badly written series" for some things and everything else is a guilty pleasure, which I find to be incredibly dumb.

The most important take-home here is that the fact each series has its own identity is always going to be the main factor in what makes it "good" or not to you, not some arbitrary bar of comparison that's based on some narrow-minded view of "good writing" (which is usually unreasonably based on Adventure). For instance, the reason why 02 is so important to me is because (see below), to me, it has the highest amount of meaningful, important life lessons and themes that it wanted its audience to remember, to the point that I frankly do not care about where the plot goes in comparison. That may not be the case for everyone else, and that's fine, but should my tastes be called unreasonable for that? I think we're also coming to realize that because of Adventure (and kind of 02)'s precedent, so many people have been judging series purely by how intimate their individual character development style is, but this is unfair because Adventure and 02's ridiculous level of character depth to psychological detail is extremely unusual and unrealistic to expect of others; Adventure and 02 only achieved this by practically considering the plot utterly subservient to its character arcs, and it's arguably why they have some of the weakest "plots" in this franchise. It's so bizarre that I can see character development in other Digimon series that outstrips even most kids' anime on the market, but it's not as much as Adventure's so apparently it's bad. And, moreover, as it turns out, some people have priorities other than characterization; just because Adventure had that as its strength doesn't mean that's the only thing anyone should care about. Is the plot fun? Is there a meaningful message besides characters (also important to me)? Do you vibe with the tone being dark, or being silly? How much do you care about resourceful usage of Digimon lore? That kind of thing. Everyone is different, so that's why everyone has their own priorities. If you’re someone who prefers darker content, you may not realize that writing good and well-timed comedy is actually a very, very difficult task, especially when said comedy simultaneously has meaning (in comparison, it’s surprisingly easy to write “dark” but shallow content).

I think it's fair to like every Digimon series for its own thing, depending on your personal tastes. I can't speak for everyone, but my impressions are that it has to do with the following:

Adventure: Significantly easier to understand than 02 due to its more straightforward plot, and focus on individual character development ("individualism" being a strong point here). In terms of characters, it goes a lot into some very real social problems (the divorce around the Ishida and Takaishi families and the pressures surrounding Jou, for instance) in a very realistic manner. Also, it has that sense of mystique and absurdism to the Digital World that's both whimsical but also mysterious, and while 02 has it too, Adventure's the isekai story that has it the most.

02: The first is its focus on the importance of human relationships and the compelling group dynamic unparalleled in this franchise, and the second is its important themes and life lessons that I think are some of the strongest in said franchise. I have a whole tag for the ridiculous amount of nuance packed into every detail and dialogue line for this series, and I think every time I've rewatched an episode I've learned something new about it because there are so many things that clearly wanted to be said in each line. The entire series is basically an unpacking of the feelings of insidious self-hatred and the crushing feeling of being subject to society's expectations, and ones that are so deep-seated that you often don’t even have a single answer to how to unpack it (for instance, Miyako hardly has a tragic single event in her backstory, but she says and does a lot of things that'll be painfully familiar to those who have experienced chronic anxiety). Almost every plot point can be said to connect to each character arc in some way, and the mantras for appreciating and treasuring your own life and living life the way you will make this, in my opinion, the strongest series in terms of speaking to those who struggle with this kind of existential crisis for reasons of depression or otherwise. (Oops, I think I went too passionate about this; my biases are obvious...)

Tamers: I think it forms an interesting study and unpacking of the kinds of things you take for granted in Digimon or the monster-collecting genre in general, and an examination of how they'd work in a real-world context (although 02 had a focus on daily life, it didn't quite merge the Digimon and the real world factors until very late in the series). Also, probably the second highest on "hard sci-fi" (the only one that outstrips it is probably Appmon, but Appmon has a very different, more simplified take on it).

Frontier: A series that lies somewhere between Adventure's scale of individualism and 02's scale of group dynamic, and one more discussing the feeling of having your heart hardened from being an outcast, and what it takes to accept the idea of opening yourself up to others again. Recommended for those who like transforming hero and magical girl stories, too. From the Digimon perspective, also the one with the most detailed and consistent Digital World mythos.

Savers: I think this is the series that most drives home "life is complicated" (i.e. there isn't a single mastermind behind everything) in the most tasteful manner, because while it drives home the point that you can't just simplify everything into a good side and a bad side, some bad things really are evil (hi, Kurata), and it doesn't change the fact that everyone's responsible for cleaning up the fallout. The portrayal of the evils of government bureaucracy is probably the most realistic out of any of these series.

Xros Wars: For those who like fun, most of all! For those who like seeing Digimon finally get more of the spotlight and individuality since so much of it had been geared and biased towards the humans prior to this. For those who really like worldbuilding, and, after all, this is called Xros Wars, so it's interesting to see shakeups on the usual formulas in the form of the different factions and their priorities. Hunters is very different in tone, but I do think they have some of these aspects in common; that said, it being closer to having single partnerships brings it a bit closer in line to conventional Digimon partnerships, and it also has more of a picture of daily life. Also, as much as Tagiru is probably your-mileage-may-vary since he's not exactly a very nice kid (I get it if you don't vibe with that), which may also rub those hoping for not nice kids to become nice the wrong way, I do have to say I find him to be one of the funniest characters in this entire franchise, and you'd be surprised how hard good comedy is to write.

Appmon: Probably one of the strongest theme narratives besides 02, since it has a very clear and obvious theme about the importance of kindness in a world where technology is dominating and we're almost encouraged to strip the feelings out of everything. (Bonus for more straightforward plot than Adventure or 02 while still retaining a lot of its elements in terms of how to characterize them.) Also the first series to be speculative about the near future instead of taking place around the time it airs, and it's very obvious it wants to provide important and necessary commentary about what we need to do in the incoming era, especially as a lot of what it has to say becomes increasingly relevant.

Reboot: For those who like Digimon mythos and null canon -- this is probably the only series to show it off in this level of detail -- and the kind of cool action fights that would usually be saved for the climax in prior series (and animated in much more intimate detail with battle choreography than prior series would have). There are a lot of people into this franchise who felt like it genuinely was not making enough use of its Digimon roster and its potential because it kept going back to the old standbys (especially Adventure-based ones), so it was a huge relief for that crowd to see attention finally being paid.

[imhaitusncarnate]

I have very mixed feelings on that aot ending

Ok so the politics of Attack on Titan have been discussed by a lot of people, some of whom have a very surface- level understanding of the story. I would like to start by giving my disclaimer that Attack on Tiatan ABSOLUTELY isn’t fascist, its anti racism, anti bigotry and anti discrimination themes are extremely apparent in it’s examination of the Eldians inside Marley, and fascist views held by characters such as Gabi are explicitly condemned in the text and made clear to be misguided and false. 

I would now like to draw everyone’s attention to the openings of seasons 1 and 2. 

Images like these combined with lyrics like these:

You pigs who sneer at our will to step over corpses and march onwards Enjoy the peace of livestock false prosperity "freedom" of the dying wolves that hunger

We dedicate and sacrifice our hearts

And also the use of german lyrics:

Sie sind das Essen und Wir sind die Jaeger! (they are the food and we are the hunters)

O, mein Freund! Jetzt hier ist ein Sieg. Dies ist der erste Glorie. O, mein Freund! Feiern wir diesen Sieg, für den nächsten Kampf!

(O, my friend! Now, here is a victory. This is the first glory. O, my friend! Let us celebrate this victory for the next battle!)

This is the stuff that lead me to believe that this is a deliberate use of fascist imagery. If the show just wanted to go for a militaristic vibe for the aesthetic of it, references this explicit to fascist propaganda and the use of German lyrics was not necessary. Also, lines like this:

And plenty of evidence that things were not what they seemed it the world of aot and that the overly simplistic view of good vs evil (humans vs the titans) was incorrect led me to believe that Attack on Titan was a deliberate deconstruction. That it was putting the audience into the mindset of the fascists to pull the rug from under their feet later. And I was right. Sort of.

As the story progresses, the world becomes a more and more complex political landscape and we are led to believe that this black and white mentality is wrong. We are also informed that the people who can transform into titans, the Eldians, are an opressed minority, explicitly paralleled to the Jews during nazi Germany, from their living in internment camps, to them being called devils, to their armbands, to a large number of them (our heroes) being confined in an island with walls circling them, which is revealed by Isayama to be Madagascar. The island that the nazis originally meant to confine the Jewish population in before arriving at the conclusion that that would be too costly, and that genocide was preferable. 

This is the first of the story’s mixed metaphors. While the show’s heart is in the right place, being sympathetic to the Eldians and showing their plight under marleyan opression and persecution, there is one problem. The reason for the opression of the Eldians is because the world is afraid of their power, as they are a race with the ability to transform into titans. There is, therefore, a tangible, justification for their internment. The Jews were not in any conceivable way a danger to anyone, they were simply scapegoated for the complex socioeconomic problems of Germany in the time period. Also, if we take a look at those openings again, we observe that the Eldians (our main characters) who wish to free themselves from their shackles are framed as fascists. So... what is that saying?

 The idea, as I see it, is that the story is condemning fanaticism in general, as a biproduct of a militaristic black and white worldview. The monstrous titans that our (framed as fascist) heroes fight against are revealed to be human, just like them.

The same is the case for the Eldian “devils” that the Marleyans fight against. Gabi, the character who is most fanatically against Eldians (despite being an Eldian herself) is comfronted with the humanity of the people she hates once she gets to know them.

Again, Isayama’s heart is on the right place here, trying to condemn bigotry, however the explicit referencing of history is the imagery is kind of misplaced, for the reasons I previously mentioned. Now let’s have a look at Eren Yeager.

Eren starts the story as a kind of messed up kid. He kills the human traffickers who kidnapped Mikasa while screaming:

I mean, in this case he is certainly justified, but his rage and anger are definitely not normal for a child his age.

This is Eren. He can’t stand injustice when he sees it. And injustice is what happens to him when the titans attack. His already fiery attitude and mindset is what leads him to this declaration of revenge:

That side of Eren is visible throughout the story and it’s foreshadowing for what he will later become

Eren, however, is a natural product of his environment. Ravaged by socioconomic inequality, with the rich living in the centre of the walls and the poor living in the outskirts, constantly under the threat of the titans and unable to obtain any kind of freedom, Eren’s philosophy of the need to be strong to overcome one’s enemies makes sense. The mantra “the strong prey on the weak”, that he ends up teaching Mikasa (another allusion to fascist ideology) is a biproduct of the world he lives in. He does not know of the political intricasies outside the walls. All he knows is he must kill the titans.

Eren’s titan is described as the “manifestation of humanity’s rage. It is huge and monstrous, and could be seen as a metaphor for vengeful hatred in general. Keep that in mind, it’s relevant for the ending.

This manufactured and false black and white worldview shapes him as a character, and it’s what eventually, after the arrival at the much desired ocean, leads him to this:

“Will we finally be free?”

In the continuation of the story, Eren falls toward the dark side more and more, to the point of committing atrocities and war crimes that are explicitly framed as being similar to what he suffered as a child (see his actions in Liberio). He even acknowledges that, telling Reiner, the person who committed said war crimes against him, that he essentially has no hard feelings and understands that the two of them are similar, doing what “needs to be done”. The character of Gabi, who, after what happens in Liberio, becomes obsessed with revenge against the Eldian “devils” is meant to be a foil for Eren, and his obsession with killing the titans after what happened to him. 

Extremely interesting is the way in which certain ideas and images are flipped in the later seasons. Namely, in season 4, we see a character who idolizes Mikasa and supports Eren’s plans in a scene where she spouts the same mantra of “the strong prey on the weak” and says that Mikasa saving her is what showed her that only with strength she can defeat her enemies. Mikasa tells her to shut up, and she proceeds to do the salute, that has been so glamorized by the show’s openings thus far. Now, it is done by a person from a military faction with a fanatic worldview. The direction doesn’t glamorize it at all. It is a nuanced, almost masterful deconstruction. 

Levi, who has always looked for reasons for why his comrades had t die, justifying their heroism and convincing himself that their deaths were not pointless, ends up here:

At this point, I was in love with Attack on Titan. From here, it only figures that Eren ends up attempting a genocide of the people outside the walls. He has essentally become what he hated the most, and he’s a natural result of the world that created him. Despite his noble intentions, he has turned into a monster. Mikasa, the prerson who loved him the most, completes her character arc by killing him, thus rejecting her blind devotion to him and being free, while at the same time continuing to love the person he once was. It’s a sad and tragic ending, painting Eren as a tragic character and making a pretty strong political point, despite having a few mixed metaphors.

And then, chapter 139 came out...

And Eren apparently pulled a Lelouch. This is a “I purposfully turned myself into a monster to save the world and make my friends into heroes for killing me” kind of thing. It is important to state that the manga makes it clear that Eren would have trampled the world even if they didn’t stop him, because of his urge to be free. However, that urge, that fighting spirit, end up being a good thing. The death of our heroes in battle apparently wasn’t pointless after all. They say goodbye with a salute

The Yeagerists, who were previously framed as fanatics, end up in charge of the government

It is important to state that the real event, the catalyst of the ending, is that killing Eren, who has turned himself literally into the manifestation of humanity’s rage (which has now, through the intricacies of the story, taken the political meaning of hatred and intergenerational trauma), eliminates the power of the titans. The titans are no more. This, in of itself, is good, and in keeping with the spirit of the political commentary thus far. However, the war, is still not over, and Eren’s mantra ends up being correct

So the only way for the war to end is one of the races to be wiped out? 

Also, despite Eren’s genocide being wrong, it is, in the end, justified, as a necessary evil by the story. An Ozymandias kind of moment in which the ends justify the means, but Eren himself has to die, because his crime was too great for him not to suffer punishment. Essentially, this chapter undoes all of the insightful commentary the story had made so far, by proving the ideology of its main character right. Story- wise this isn’t a bad ending, but if we take into account the political references the series has made, and its desire to explicitly tie itself with such imagery makes the ending leave a really bad taste in my mouth. What it essentally says, is that, yes, bigotry and racism are bad, yes, blind hatred is bad, but the general idea of might makes right and the impossibility of reconciliation are true. Armin, who has, throughuout the story, been Eren’s opposite, in terms of looking for peaceful solutions to conflict is rendered meaningless in the end, because him alongside with the other characters were all playing into Eren’s plans. The hearts of our main characters as recruits were in the right place, their fighting spirit admirable, and the overall worldview we are presented with in the beginning of the story remains more or less unchallenged. 

So where does that leave this imagery?

The conclusion is that one must think very carefully before including allegory in their work. I am not accusing Isayama for fascism, and I appreciate the efforts at deconstructing it throughout the story. However, in the end he did an oops I accidentally justified the mentality I was trying to condemn. I still like Attack on Titan, I believe it has artistic value and is overall a pretty good anime, I even agree with its politics to an extent. However, it is very important to critically examine the things we like, and see where they may have gone south. And this ending is that for me.

[oddlyhale]

James, James, James, James. My ultimate RWBY bias, my precious sad man. I have so much to discuss about prince charming here.

My Top 3 Ships For James IronQrow IronWatts IronWitch

To easily sum up all 3 ships as a whole, I like a character that directly challenges James’ personality. While James can be direct and cold at times, these 3 have a level of challenge but consideration for him.

Qrow is the rebellious grump that counters James with remarks but can relate to the emotional burdens. Watts is the cynic that still holds James to a higher regard if he had to choose between him and his team. Glynda is stern and insinuates, but she’s also careful and studious.

I think James works well with someone who can relate to the struggles he hides or someone that can shake it out of him. James is a selective guy, so I assume he’s extremely picky with who he’d like to have hanging off his arm. These 3 always gave me such strong personalities that counter James in a productive way, that they have an ingredient that James is missing in his own life that can spice things up or can change the flavour of what he’s used to. I never think James is into people who are just like him.

My Least 3 Favourite Ships For James This is hard for me to say since I’m pretty neutral with ships that include our tin man.

If I had to choose a few, it’d be IronWinter and IronRobyn.

I’ll admit, the only reason why I don’t like IronRobyn is that I fucking hate Robyn. She’s toxic and always has a short temper, and seems to direct it all at James when she could’ve been angry at any other enemy that’s right in front of her (cough Jacques cough.) I think she’d demean him way too much, which is why she’d be the worst girlfriend ever.

I’m still debating with IronWinter. I am falling off the ship due to V8’s ending, and how badly the writing handled their friendship (and possibly budding romance) horribly in the end. I think if only Winter could have tried to be compassionate towards James, and did everything she could to save him - express her anguish over his turmoil, showing how much it’s causing her pain as well, to the point where James has to stop and realize what he’s doing - then maybe I could like this ship. As it stands, it’s a no from me, doc.

My Biggest Criticism Of James Firstly, it’s obvious that I deeply despise what the writers had done to my boy in V8. They accidentally made him such a layered and likable character that they had to damn him straight to Hell, just so that we can like the sociopaths - I mean Team RWBY - again. It was such a sad sight to see, I still feel the string.

But also, I must criticize how James was barely portrayed as a bad guy from the beginning. People point at how cold he acted in the first few volumes, but I personally think that’s just people being too sensitive over such strong personalities. James is very direct and has no time for nonsense - which could make him disliked from the jump.

If he must be seen as such a morally grey person, then I would’ve loved to see that development properly from the beginning. Making him morally grey that teeters into villain status is exciting and tragic, but you knew it was going to happen. His entry into bad guy status would’ve made so much sense if he were quietly cold-hearted, choosing logic over emotion, and wouldn’t bother taking the time to protect people if he only created robots just to protect himself. He is evil, but deep down he finds himself vulnerable, and that would always be his burden that created a villain.

And don’t fucking kill him in the end. With an amasing written villain, you’d be stupid enough to not let him be recruited by Salem. He is a boiling pot of what she needs, and he would oblige if it meant he could ring the necks of our heroes.

My Favourite Thing About James Him. Just him.

Everything can be generalized into one word, which would be strength. Not only is he strong physically, but his heart also showed his truth and his mind was what kept him capable. He was always on top of the game, never asking for help, and would do whatever it took to save those before himself. He truly is a guy that could be the embodiment of true strength. Somebody that I can look up to, and read him for what he stood for, what he thrived on, and what made him move forward. He works so hard and still keeps pushing to do the job right. Your status didn’t matter to him, whether you were rich or poor, or just an adventurer, he would still have his own way of welcoming you as a trusted friend or shun you for being a prick. I think James would be the perfect example of someone who can keep going, and with so much persistence and diligence, you can succeed.

Even when he was a villain in V8, the writers proved to us that he was still the biggest character to always look forward to. Salem was practically a joke compared to our favourite tin man, and that’s sad when even the main villain is nowhere as important as James.

I have been told people did love and look up to James, which is such a major shame that he is gone and gone in such a disrespectful way.

A Headcannon I Have About James My biggest headcannon about James is that he is asexual-biromantic.

James valued anybody who was loyal and worked with him to reach their goals. I like how it doesn’t matter who it may be, whether you are female, male, or something more. James had his heart in his hands, and he would always give it to those he trusted most. Falling in love would be tough, but adorkable to see.

What I Would Change About James If I Was Making A Rewrite To be honest, not much. I adore him as he is.

My biggest change, however, would be his semblance and keeping him morally-grey-to-hero. I think James thrives on such a great story if he had a semblance that mirrored himself, and how he would try to stay on the path of heroics than to steer into the stupid cartoony villain one. Hell, James needs his own show.

I have a variety of ideas as to what his new semblance would be, but I’d be here all day. Instead, I always loved the idea that James has a sentient semblance that corresponds with him. James wants somebody to trust, so what better than your own responsive semblance? Such as barbed-wires, or a familiar, or even the ability to manifest weapons with his aura. How cool!

What I Think Of James’ Character Allusion And What (if anything) I Would Change About It

As much as I like the tin man allusion, I personally would have chosen something much more tragic and detrimental to his character. I get he’s supposed to be in the Oz Faction, but it’s lame at this point.

For me, I would’ve made him the Beast. (No I’m not asking for IronwoodxBlake, I am saying he should’ve been the Beast.) It makes sense if he were the Beast - he is cold, he is intimidating, he is brash, he is distrusting of others until they have his full confidence. Beast was always hiding away, not wanting to go out and expose himself to a world that would hate him or fear him. He masks himself in an authority role, but would likely drop it when he’s alone. He can go into a flurry of rage and is destructive. In the end, however, all he wants is somebody to break his curse - a burden.

You don’t have to change much about his appearance, other than making him a Faunus. Since Beast could have a closer likeness to a werewolf, give James some wolfish characteristics, like a bushy tail, or even some cute ass wolf ears. Even his eyes can shine menacingly in the dark, like a wolf. Or, give him some massive canine teeth, so when he bares them in anger, they’re gleaming sharp and ready to bite.

Yup that’s it. Thanks!

[transgamerthoughts]

Idle Thoughts On Games During Pandemic Times

I’m in an interesting position as I write this. Since I’ve written here I have moved out of journalism and towards the dev side of games. Good news! I’m happier! Bad news! It can feel weird to have public opinions.  That said, I miss writing and I’ve had some thoughts about games I’ve played (mostly major titles) that I want to share. I’m keeping them loose and I hope folks will allow me the indulgence. Here we are!

Ghost of Tsushima 

I’ve been surprised by how playable Ghost of Tsushima is. Which is to say that the world is very enjoyable to explore. There’s something about ambling between marker to marker, or stumbling upon a few hidden items, that fundamentally works. I’ve seen some folks imply that this is simply the result of overproduced open-world design philosophies. A sort of focus-tested gaming drug-world that it’s easy to slide into. There’s probably some truth to that, and there’s a discussion to be had about the dangers of pastoralism, but I think that the open-world itself is designed well. Sure, there’s collectables and outposts to conquer and all the things you would expect but those are not the appeal. In fact, in many cases, engaging with those things feels worse than wandering. In the early game particularly, combat is not enjoyable. But there’s a sensibility to the world, a sort of stubborn antiquatedness that calls back to an open-world structure—one where space existed for its own sake—that we don’t see in as many games now. That’s curious to me because Tsushima has been criticized for feeling old-fashioned but I think this approach to world design isn’t so far removed from Breath of the Wild. It is certain littered with more *stuff* that you can stumble on but despite the fact that I can set markers or unlock bonuses that make these things easier to find, I don’t feel an overwhelming push to engage with them.

That good because combat is a decidedly mixed affair. I’m not eager to slide into difficulty discussions but if Tsushima’s closest cousin is Assassin’s Creed, it’s no surprise that I’ve instantly found the game more playable at a lower difficulty setting. If the goal is to emulate film—and there can be discussion about how well that’s actually done; black and white filters don’t suffice to make something comparable to Kurosawa—then Tsushima’s normally cluttered and gamey combat rubs against that impulse. It’s a game with sub-weapons, ninja-like tools, multiple stances for breaking the guards of certain enemies, and a wealth of skill trees. The beauty of the action (which you can frame at the push of a button thanks to a respectable photo mode) can get lost in the shuffle.  Lowering the difficulty has led to speedier and more dramatic encounters where a few sword strokes can slay a handful of men. It’s a curious thing, as I tend to play games on higher difficulties, but this is one of the few times where I felt it might have served a game better to streamline combat down to the most basic of interactions. Tsushima’s combat can get very busy and I did not enjoy tackling challenges or outpost conquest until I progressed to unlock more abilities while also lowering the difficulty. Even then, those are the moments I care for the least.

I feel unable to comment on critical discussions about Tsushima’s story and politics but as an observer to the input of Japanese-American writers and Japanese devs/players, one thing that’s struck me is how the broader gamer culture has reacted to the dialogue. There have been moments where gamers have minimized the voices of some critics with the exultations of certain Japanese writers, which eliminates valid concerns from people who have every right to look close at a game connected to their heritage. The lens through which Tsushima was made was at the end of the day a Western one and that’s worth discussing. I am grateful for the writing of critics like Kazuma Hashimoto at Polygon that dig into these tensions.  I will say that I feel like Tsushima sometimes wants to do the proper thematic thing where it will say that entrenched nobility and cultural notions of honor can be inherently damaging but because that’s mostly expressed, at least in the main plot, as “the outside invaders are besting us because of our traditions” it falls flat. Tsushima works best in side quests where the stakes are smaller. It’s thematic aspirations are best when things are personal and on a more humble scale. I like the version of Tsushima I get to play in those moments more than I like the grand gestures towards honor or combat challenges. Which is to say I mostly want Way of the Samurai with multiple zones and a more connective tissue. Tsushima teases that possibility without ever really getting there. In those teasing moment, the game makes a lot more sense to me.

I’ve enjoyed myself and intend to finish soon. That enjoyment comes with a lingering question: what other game could this have been? It’s inspired an image in my mind of a different sort of open-world ronin game where there is a smatter of villages with sub-stories and perhaps the smallest A-plot. A game with Mongol invaders, dramatic family conflict, or shogunate decrees.  Tsushima has capture my attention but I do wonder more about what might have been that what is right in front of my eyes.

The Last of Us: Part II

I have struggled with this game in ways I did not know were possible. When I play it, I find myself taken in by the raw skill of the actors. There’s a mood and tone I enjoy, a somber twinge to the infected escapades that lingers from the first game. I like The Last of Us. I think there’s small moments of character interaction that express core things about the cast’s shifting relationships. James Howell embarked on a video essay series about this very thing and while it will remain unfinished perhaps forever, I suggest engaging with it. Suffice it to say, the changing language of Joel and Ellie’s mechanical interactions does a lot to underscore the narrative. I think players often think of the The Last of Us in terms of pure narrative but these smaller considerations reveal a game with a very natural approach to story telling. The Last of Us 2 has these moments and often hides them within combat. When multiple factions of humans and infected interact, their clash and the behavior of the AI tells something fundamental about the game world. 

The Last of Us: Part II is a cynical game with an unflattering view of humanity, a view that (in spite of Joel’s selfishness in the first game’s climax) feels somewhat at odds with what came before. It is, in fact, possibly the most cynical game I’ve ever played. That’s hard to talk about but it’s best expressed in the various dying barks of enemies or moments where the player is forced into violent, dehumanizing slaughter. In the former case, it feels like a magic trick. The first time you hear someone cry out their dog’s name, it can be tragic. The next five times you hear it, it feels forced. Like any trick, it’s never as powerful as the first time. You might argue that’s the point: that as you follow Ellie’s journey, the player also stripes enemies of their humanity and agency but the player’s culpability is secondary to the writer’s in some ways.

Players did not contrive to have Ellie rob Nora, one of the game’s major black characters, of her fundamental dignity before murdering her. Nor are players the ones who shove a knife into Mel’s pregnant stomach. Those are scenarios crafted by designers and writers, and much like how retroactively guilting the player for killing a doctor in the first game (An unavoidable action, mind you! Joel will do this regardless of what the player wants.) feels manipulative, calling a player’s culpability into question as Ellie fails to act like any sort of reasonable human being also rings hollow. There is a perpetual push and pull between players and controllable actors, best expressed in the verbs that we are allowed to perform. It is telling the more often than not, Ellie’s most egregious acts of violence happen outside of the player’s control. 

And yet there are moments where I buy deeply into the story. Notably, it happens when Abby is on screen more than Ellie. (Tangent: Abby has more interesting gameplay scenarios that lean closer to horror game vibes like what you’d find in The Evil Within. TLOU is way more interesting working in that mode than HUMAN vs. HUMAN drama.) Abby is also allowed more growth and agency than the script ever gives Ellie. At the core of this is Abby’s relationship with Lev. It is here that I’ve had my largest struggle with the game. 

Discussion about Lev has often bowled over transgender commentators.  For many people, Lev resonates regardless of anything the plot says about his gender. Lev captures people’s attention because Lev is eminently likable. That’s a testament to Naughty Dog’s writing. Still, there is a sense that Lev’s wider resonance has left some folks (particularly queer folks) without as much space to talk among themselves and hash out sentiments without the discussion getting overpowered. This is complicated by an environment where creators seem more empowered to directly speak to criticisms.

Which is to say that as a trans critic (perhaps ex-critic) watching from the sidelines, I was very hurt and dismayed to watch people who do not share in the transgender experience comment quickly about Lev. And while the discussions about Lev are varied—the trans community, like any community, is not a monolith—it’s sometimes felt like trans voices were made the quietest when talking about this character.

Many things are true about art at the same time. Lev can act, as is the case for some players, as a token figure whose struggles are appropriated and turned into spice adding flavor to the apocalypse.  Spice that allows us to be seen as we are usually seen: in pain and defined by that pain, and which displays that pain voyueristically for cis players. Lev can also be a kind-hearted and respectable hero, and ray of light within a dark story. Neither feeling is in competition. Some will find strength and inspiration in the character, others will see the machinations of corporate powers and award-chasing writers. Both can be true.

Enthusiastic fans and players are quick—not in a malicious sense; merely in their excitement—to defend the things they enjoy. If they found a thing good it stands to reason the thing must be good. They empathized and that is taken as proof that a thing is good irrespective of other concerns. This is a kind impulse but one that robs people of their concerns, or at the very least close off conversations quickly. I cannot properly diagnose this except to suggest that there’s a growing force of cultural positivism that’s encircled games of a certain scale. One which shuts down a lot of valuable engagement. The bigness of the moment, of the object, demands the moment be the Best Possible Moment For Games regardless of the qualities of the object itself. That’s worrisome to me.

The Last of Us: Part II has become nearly impossible to talk about even now because we are dealing with an object so large as to have a gravity that weighs everything down. A game with sublime moments that intoxicate deeply but one where voices of critique or caution are buried away largely because of the potency of that intoxication. I deeply wish that wasn’t the case because the breadth of discussions that might’ve happened would have been really valuable.

Aim Lab

I’ve gotten really into Valorant. It’s scratched an itch for a type of multiplayer shooter that I haven’t had scratched in a long time. My experience with the game itself has been good but the surrounding experience has been decidedly mixed. Suffice it to say I’m mostly living the solo-queue life and it’s a miserable existence even with the occasional highs. Yet, there’s a mechanical crunchiness to Valorant that deeply compels me and I’ve enough competitive drive that (in spite of the fact that the most of beloved social aspects of the game seem generally out of reach for me) I’ve really devoted myself to improving as player. Enter Aim Lab. It’s a totally free aim trainer that anyone can download off Steam. It has a variety of drills and exercises that can be used to improve a variety of first-person shooter skills. In one case, you might be flicking from target to target with the express goal of training your aiming speed. In another you might need to look at a group of colored balls, which will then disappear with one of them changed. You’ll then need to shoot at the different one as quickly as possible. You earn a score for each drill, which is tracked and compared to global records and folded into a ranking system. I’ve placed in the “Ruby” range for my rank, which is mostly in the middle of the road. (It’s a weird rank above gold but I think before Plat?) Mechanically sound with sloppy spots. I’m able to identify these thanks to Aim Labs. For instance, I know that I am fast and relatively accurate but that tracking moving targets is a difficulty for me. I know that I am quicker at things on the right side of my screen but also that I’m thankfully able to read changes in the environment quickly. This might sounds like a dry and rote way to approach video games but Aim Labs’ suite of repeatable and trackable challenges means that it is very easy to trace gradual improvements.

As a result, what might have been dull work becomes something akin to going to the gym. I can feel the ways in which my control over a mouse have changed. I understand which muscles need more flexing. Importantly, for all my weakness I also know strengths. Playing Aim Labs—and yes, this is play—becomes a semi-automatic and meditative experience like swinging at a batting cage. 

As a player (again, I hesitate to use the word critic anymore) who tends to engage with games on thematic levels even when it comes to mechanics, it’s been surprisingly gratifying. Part personal ritual, part labor. Bubblegum for the brain. Chew chew chew. Shoot shoot shoot. Take some notes and chew some more. Not much more to say except Aim Labs has surprised me with how enjoyable and relaxing it can be.

Necrobarista

Necrobarista was not what I expected. That’s because I started playing it with what felt like a safe-assumption: it would be comparable to some of my favorite indie “drink” games like Va-11 Hall-A or Coffee Talk. It’s hard for me to break down those games and how their structure—insightful conversations punctuated by drink-mixing and the occasional memory puzzle or story choice—works for me. I know folks who have played those games and bounced off for entirely understandable reasons but I love them. They call to mind some of the personal experience I had as both someone who worked at a bar and coffee shop. In spite of their fantasy settings, they evoke a highly specific and idiosyncratic part of my brain. Necrobarista doesn’t quite do that because it is strictly a visual novel. Repetitive work such as drink making is entirely absence. As a result, I initially found Necrobarista harder to engage with. It lacked the percussive but comfortable rhythm I was craving in quarantine. 

That highly specific preferential quirk/personal need might place the game lower on my list then the other two (the game’s certainly in conversation with them to a degree; it’s got plenty of shout-outs and references that make it clear the designers know the ballpark they’re playing in) but it doesn’t mean it is a “lesser” game in terms of the world it is presenting or the character you’re watching. Necrobarista has, if nothing else, some of the most naturally flowing dialog I’ve experienced in a while. That is partly because I’ve been sampling so much AAA stuff, where the writing tends to eschew the evocative for clean, crisp (and corporate!) staccato, but even in comparison to other VNs or drink games, it finds some more integrated and interesting ways to handle lore dumps. That’s helped by the core conceit. The lead character Maddy Xiāo runs a coffee shop alongside her wise former boss Chay that just so happens to serve drinks to the recent deceased. That makes it really easy to introduce a character, as the plot soon does, fresh off the mortal coil and eager to learn about life after death. It’s a common writer’s trick to place a clueless character in a plot so world-building can happen but because the stakes are high—the freshly-deceased have only 24 hours before they pass into the afterlife—there’s an urgency in the explanations that feels warranted. I could probably spend a lot of time breaking down the ways in which Necrobarista successful builds the world around the player. From a well-framed scenario and properly placed characters (an inquisitive child-genius, for instance) to the ability to click highlighted words for snarky but never crass footnotes, you never want for necessary knowledge but also never feel like your hand is being held. You’re not digging for meaning or piecing together arcane lore concepts. You know what you need to know, it feels fun to learn it, and the characters all make sense. They’re also incredibly likable. Necrobarista’s largest strength isn’t that the details are handled well; it’s that the core cast is deeply relatable. That’s important because the story moves from coffee to magic and death within a clipped 4 hour playtime. Relationships are clear, motivations clearer, and while some of the standout story-telling pieces are in optionally readable side-chapters, the main story lifted up by how eminently fun it is to eavesdrop of these character’s lives. The only glaring exception is a Greek chorus of robots that seem out of place and overly-chatty. Necrobarista sometimes feels eager to impress structurally, and that’s no more clearer than when these fellas are on screen. The difficult thing about Necrobarista’s literary approach is that the pandemic’s completely shot my attention span. It took my two weeks of on and off play to finish what is a very short game. That said, given the enormity of some world events I found it edifying and cathartic to engage with a piece of media explicitly concerned with death and dying. It wasn’t what I thought and I kinda wish it had a bit more happening mechanically but I’m really happy for the time I spent with this one.

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers

Shadowbringers and Final Fantasy XIV in general is a difficult thing talk about. Not because of the accumulated history of a long-running game and storyline but because my feelings are ultimately swayed by a host of personal and specific emotions. I am a social player on a social server. I’ve spent just as much time coming up with roleplaying plotline and casually taking in taverns as I have tackling difficult bosses. I have made dear friends through FFXIV and even more than that. Those relationships, their energy and gravity, mixed into everything like an errand paint drop. You can hardly see it in the mixture but it’s unavoidably there. For many, this is a game of heroes and anime plots. For me, it has been a doorway to some of the most fruitful, edifying, and occasional painful experiences of my life.  I say this because I want it understood that in spite of this sentiment, Final Fantasy XIV is a good game and Shadowbringers is easily one of the most confident pieces of video-game storytelling that I’ve ever experienced. Which isn’t to say it’s not sometimes trite or predictable. It’s not to suggest there is something groundbreaking here. For all of the craftsmanship, Shadowbringers often succeeds by embracing the conventional. It sticks to more well-worn plot structures, it simplified job gameplay and streamlined a variety of features whose strange and un-sanded bumps brought charm to the game. Yet, in the streamlining comes something more refined. Like running a soup through a fine mesh sieve to create something creamier and more rich. When you look at Shadowbringers high level plot: travel to the corners of the world to fight monsters, all while unraveling cosmic secrets.. it’s familiar. Even as the patches following the launch experience did, as all FFXIV patches do, focus on the fallout of the main story’s event, it kept to a strict content release pattern. If you’re digging for a revolutionary experience, Shadowbringers cannot offer it by virtue of structure. But what has been releases is foundational. The writing is of such quality and battle scenarios increasingly playful that everyone should be taking notes. A core component of Shadowbringers success is how deeply the story is concerned with genuinely exploring the richness of the scenario. It would be easy to craft a story about evil mages destroying the world. FFXIV’s done the more straightforward version of that at launch and it proved stiff. Instead, Shadowbringers’ has a deep concern with motivations and takes unprecedented time to explore the interior of the cast. This allows old characters to grow into bright new versions of themselves, and it has (two for two now!) turned villains into more than just monsters. The writing exhibits a delicious empathy for the world, and it takes time to give everyone a perspective. In MMOs, this is not always afforded. Characters act as quest-barkers and clumsy plot chess pieces. Shadowbringers strength rests in avoiding this in favor of clear stakes both personal and cosmic.  There’s plenty to be said for other aspects. Masayoshi Soken’s music remains an incredibly powerful trump card, and the latest patch (which concludes the Shadowbringers story and sets up for next expansion) shows an increased willingness to employ fight mechanics that trick and test players in new ways. The content is challenging and full of tiny subversive moments that actually rob players of power they’ve taken for granted over the course of hundreds of hours. In finding its stride, Final Fantasy XIV doesn’t just craft sweeping narrative moments, it better integrates those stakes into individual boss encounters. There’s a cohesiveness, an interlocking of parts where each piece (music, narrative, gameplay, et all) are in clear conversation with the other and often in conversation with not only other expansions but other games within the franchise. 

Recently, a piece dropped on Polygon with the title “Games need to return to black-and-white morality.” It was, if I can be honest, a poor title for the article and one which left a freelancer unduly exposed to harsh feedback. But there is a core kernel to the article. To quote the writer: “Watching our heroes stick to their convictions, even against insurmountable odds, ratchets up drama, rather than destroying it. The concept that good can ultimately triumph over evil is a timeless one, and stories that rally around this trope — around unadulterated hope — can help guide us through the year’s ceaseless onslaught of calamities.“ Shadowbringers’s conclusion brought this piece of writing to mind. I’m ironing pretty much all of that piece’s argumentation but the notion that games about heroes have great efficacy in times of uncertainty shouldn’t be a controversial one. The crux of my favorite game, Skies of Arcadia, is that heroism is hardly a choice at all. It is a compulsion, it is a duty that we all must accept when the moment comes. Shadowbringers is not quite as simple but it is ultimately a story about hero defeating the baddies, and I would be lying deeply to say that there wasn’t something incredibly, nearly word-defyingly beautiful about the feeling of hope I felt in its concluding moments. The sweeping power of epic fantasy and heroism holds true and, like a genuine panacea, held a curative power for my soul that was not just enjoyable once consumed but frankly necessary for my well-being.  I’ve no clean conclusion here (and I don’t have to! ha!) other than to say that Shadowbringers has consistently proven a delight in a sea of rocky games media. It is affirming, exciting, and empathetic in ways that I was not expecting. That, along with the friendships I’ve made while playing, have secured its place as one of my favorite video game experiences ever. From start to finish, it really was a delight. 

------------------ And that’s that! I was gonna write about Blaseball but I need to let my Blaseball feelings settle before even trying that. Anyway, if you read this.. uh thanks!

[summahsunlight]

We Belong the Stars, Ch. 29

Rating: Mature (18+ only)

Pairings: Poe/Skywalker!OC

Characters: Poe Dameron, Leia Organa, BB-8, Kaleb Skywalker (OC), Evelyn Skywalker (OC), Karé Kun, Iolo Arana, Snap Wexley, Jessika Pava, BB-8

Taglist: @ms-dont-care​, @liadamerondjarin​

Taglist is open! Just send me an ask, message, or comment here to be added!  Like reading this? Please feel free to leave a comment on the post, in an ask, or even a reblog. I LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU❤️

Poe sat hunched over the controls of the Mirror Bright while it flew towards Kaddak. He couldn't stop thinking about Evelyn, the danger she was in and if they didn't get to her before the First Order.  She'd disappear--Kylo Ren and Snoke would make sure of that.  If only she had given him more time back on Canto Bright to think of a plan...

Kaleb pat him on the shoulder, encouragingly before sitting down in the co-pilot's seat. "Aunt Leia wants us to debrief once we pull out of hyperspace.  Seems Dane and Rennick found some information for us."

"Great," Poe mumbled, rubbing his temples. "He must be dancing with glee to stick it to me for allowing Evelyn to be captured."

"I wouldn't say dancing," Kaleb replied. "Kaydel did say he was strutting around a bit more though..."

Raising his head, Poe glared at him. "Really? You're going to joke at a time like this?"

Sighing, Kaleb nodded. "Yes, because if I don't try to lighten the mood--the tension is going to choke us."

Poe closed his eyes.  Kaleb had a valid point.  The tension had been thick since Black Squadron had returned to D'Qar without Evelyn.  "I'm sorry," he said, suddenly.

Kaleb groaned, softly.  "Dameron, we've been through this--I don't blame you for what happened.  Evelyn tricked you, you were left with no choice but to let her go."

"I made a promise to you--to keep her safe. I broke that promise."

"We both know it was a ridiculously hard promise to keep--she was flying in your squadron after all."

BB-8 chirped some encouraging words; Poe sighed and nodded, trying to remain hopeful. It was hard though, when they were flying towards one of the most lawless places in the galaxy.  The Resistance wasn't going to give them much clout on Kaddak.  Black Squadron was on stand by if Poe and Kaleb didn't report in 24 hours that they had Evelyn, but even then Poe wasn't sure his pilots would be of much help. 

Kaleb's brow furrowed in concern for his friend.  Poe was usually the optimistic one.  Something was eating at him, and it was more than just Evelyn being caught.  "You couldn't have known that Oddy was the mole.  He was your friend; he was always concerned when Black Squadron was away and now that I think about it, when Evelyn was grounded, he spent a lot of time with her." Maybe we should have known... 

Poe shook his head to clear his thoughts. "It's not that.  Oddy was blackmailed into betraying us because Terex felt it was fine to threatening someone Oddy loved.  Well, whose to say that won't happen to one of us? What if the whole reason that Evelyn was taken was so you and Leia could be blackmailed? Or me?"

"She wasn't taken to manipulate my aunt or myself or even you--she was taken to be turned into a weapon."

"Why? Because turning Ben into a mass murderer wasn't enough?"

Instantly, Poe regretted those words when he saw the anguish flash through Kaleb's blue eyes.  Ben's fall to the dark side had ripped the Skywalkers and Solos apart and while most of the galaxy thought that Ben had died that night at the Temple--Poe was one of the few that knew he hadn't.  He'd been on Yavin the night it happened--his father had been with him when the found an injured Kaleb and Evelyn, stumbled across Sela's body--Poe had also been present when Kaleb and Evelyn made the terrible confirmation that it had been Ben that led the uprising, Ben that had murdered their mother.  Everything had crumbled after that. "I'm sorry, that was... that was insensitive..."

Kaleb smiled, sadly, and shook his head. "What? It's true, isn't it?  Snoke poisoned Ben into believing that the Jedi were evil and he needed to kill every last one of us.  He turned Ben into what he is now--if there's anything left of my cousin at all."

Poe glanced away, briefly. "It wasn't your fault--just like it wasn't Evelyn's or you father's. Your family needs to stop blaming themselves for the choices that Ben made."

"You sound like Lando--he said the same things to my aunt and uncle."

"Well--you have to admit we might be on to something."

BB-8 chirped that they were pulling out of hyperspace.  Poe turned in his chair and effortless guided the ship towards the planet's surface. They had located a spot far outside of the city to land, away from the prying eyes of criminals.  Luckily here no one really checked who was coming in and out of the system--it was essential if they wanted to keep up the illegal business.  Poe put the Mirror Bright down near a cave and shut the ship down. "Let's get in touch with Dane and Rennick."

Kaleb sighed and nodded, submitting Dane's comm code.  The spy appeared looking smug as usual. "I see you've managed to keep yourselves alive."

Poe resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "We just arrived."

"Ah, so there's still time for you to piss off one of the many gangs here, Dameron."

"Do you have anything for us or did you just want us to call to taunt me, Dane?"

"As fun as that would be--we actually do you have information for you."

"And?"

Dane pursed his lips, realizing that Poe wasn't in the mood to play along.  "Terex runs a gang out of Kaddak.  He has a compound on the planet--after you left, Oddy contacted us again, giving us security codes to enter the compound, safely." 

Rennick appeared in the holo projection then. "Commander, we don't have to tell you how dangerous these men are--if you and Captain Skywalker are caught--well, it was nice knowing you."

Poe sighed and nodded, curtly.  Black Squadron had been in some nasty places in the last few months, but nothing compared to the dangers he was facing here with Kaleb.  But he needed to rescue Evelyn, and he needed to get her back D'Qar safely.  So, if he had to go charging into a compound swarming with gang members--he was going to do it. "We'll contact you if we need anything," he sad, reaching to shut the communication done.

"Wait!" Rennick stopped him. "Remember, if we don't hear from you in twenty-four hours, we're sending Black Squadron and our best special operations forces in, got it, Commander?"

"Got it," Poe said, shutting the communication down. He glanced at Kaleb and sighed, "In case those codes don't work--any thoughts on how to break into a gang stronghold?"

----

Evelyn hated waiting and she decided that she particularly hated waiting to die.  Because that was the only way this was going to turn out once Terex handed her over to Hux and Kylo Ren--she wouldn't give them what they wanted--she wouldn't turn to the dark side, she couldn't tell them where her father had gone. Once they realized she was worthless to them, she had no doubt that the Supreme Leader would have her executed. And he would probably have Ben to it since he had failed the first time the night the Temple fell. 

Hearing heavy footsteps near her cell, Evelyn glanced up to see Terex smiling at her.  He unlocked the door and stepped inside, brandishing a bottle and two glasses of wine. "Care to join me for a drink, my dear?"

"Do I have much of a choice?" Evelyn countered, glaring at him.

"I'm not going to force the wine down your throat if that's what your asking," Terex replied, closing the cell door behind him.  He sat down in the small chair kitty-cornered from her cot. 

"I'll pass, thanks."

"Relax, my dear. According to General Hux you've been bestowed a great honor to meet the Supreme Leader."

"I think General Hux and I have different opinions of what construes as a great honor," Evelyn snapped.

Terex chuckled and poured himself and Evelyn a glass of wine.  When she looked reluctant to take it, he grinned. "Now, Miss Skywalker, why would I put poison in this?  Like we discussed earlier--you are worth a lot of money to me, my dear."

Evelyn glared at him but still didn't take the wine. "I hope they're happy you bombed a city street to get me."

"Actually, that wasn't me; seems there are a few turf wars going on between arms dealers.  That was an assassination attempt--I just got lucky."

"And if the bombs had killed me?"

"Well then, I suspect the First Order would have dealt with the arms dealer that took their prize from them."

"Believe me, I'm not a prize to them--they view me as another weapon." 

Grinning, Terex sipped his wine. Once again he held the other glass out to her. "See? Not poison."  He delighted when she took his offering and sniffed it, just to make sure.  "I think you and I could have had a beautiful friendship, Miss Skywalker, if circumstances were different."

Curiously, Evelyn stared at him. "Friendship? You were hired by the First Order to kidnap me, attempted to kill my friends... and you think we could have had a friendship?"

Terex nodded. "We're not so different, you and I, Miss Skywalker."

Evelyn glared. "Please. Elaborate."

"Neither of us are a fan of the First Order."

"If that's the case, why are you working for them?"

He shrugged. "I needed the money.  Business has been difficult since your family dismantled the Empire."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm so sorry about that."

Terex put his glass down and leaned forward in his seat.  He took her chin in his hand, less aggressively than she anticipated. "Your family should have had the foresight to realize that the Emperor wouldn't leave ways for his Empire to return--for him to return."

Evelyn felt a cold dread run through her.  Long before Ben's fall to the dark side and the destruction of the Temple, her mother had worried about the possible return of the Empire--Sela had specifically cited that there had already been factions of it breaking off before the Battle of Yavin.  "The Emperor is dead.  My grandfather killed him."

"So the First Order would like you to think," Terex said, standing. He hovered over her. "The Republic is nothing but a facade, my dear." 

"The Senate would never..." Evelyn started to say, until she felt a tingly sensation forming in her limbs. "What...what did you...what did you do to me?"

"Just a little something to relax you my dear," the First Order agent replied, holding a small needle up. He'd distracted her just enough to inject her with the drug. "Now, don't fight it, Miss Skywalker--that will only make it worse."

If she had wanted to fight it, there was no way that she could--already Evelyn could feel the drug taking affect. "Bastard," she managed to snarl just before the ship faded away to darkness.

[marithlizard]

Thoughts on RBWY v7c5, ‘Sparks’

I know these are a lot less interesting to read when they’re a week behind, but I guess I’m writing them anyway for me.  

- Atlas military culture is big on "sleep is for the weak", isn't it, and Penny believes it because she doesn't need sleep.

- Such a contrast to the Vale dorms - bleak, utilitarian, not customizable.  I'm sure the kids think about how much more pleasant student life in Beacon was, but does it ever occur to them that Oz and Glynda put effort into designing and providing those comforts? Probably not. 

-  Marrow making big puppydog eyes until the human gives in.  

- Qrow is only being sensible, sheesh Ruby.   You take your sleep when you can get it.

- Those girls do not look or act like moms!  (To continue the sleep theme: for one thing, they do not seem tired.)  Are we sure they're not the younger sisters of the actual parents?

- ....is that actually James' voice talking about trying to jog Oz loose?  Because it sounds like Clover to me,  like the whole montage voiceover is just the one actor.  

- The kids are really working hard.  This is much more like what I expected the Haven training sessions to be.   (And now I want fix-it fic showing those missing scenes, like Oz and Qrow setting up an advanced exercise for the whole team in a rented warehouse or abandoned area. ) And while I still don't trust the Ace Ops, I have to admit they're being quite helpful.

- The "Brand New Day" song does not sound ANYTHING like I thought it would from the posted lyrics.  Huh.

- Ah, Neon. Still so rainbow, still so bitchy.  I like how when Flynt is fighting the soundtrack switches to jazz, just like in v3.  And we finally get to see their teammates!  Circus performer inspiration? 

- Actually have we seen any other school teams from Atlas besides FNKI?  Because nothing about what we've seen of Atlas makes me think their level of colorful quirkiness would be encouraged.

(When your opponent is twice your height and doesn’t know your weapon is an unimaginably precious artifact, they’re gonna play keep-away with it.)

- We finally get to see Oscar! I wish they'd put in a quick shot of him attending classes or something so we'd know what he's been doing all day while the others work.  And oof, it doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone that he wasn't being called away and could've had lunch with FNKI.  But this is something.  

- He's got to be rooming with with JNPR too, right?  Definite signs of him joining the team, whether formally or not.  

- Ruby really is the only friend Penny's ever had. :(

- ARRGH I don't know if Clover's flirting or not but it certainly is a reasonable interpretation at this point. But...Clover’s conversation with Robyn tells us he is very good at verbal manipulation. I’m very much afraid Qrow is too grateful for the attention and support, whether he takes it as flirtatious or not, to be on his guard. 

- I LOVE Robyn.  She's smart enough to switch tactics at need and to not get into a fight she can't win.   She's being entirely reasonable and righteous here...and Clover is treating her as an enemy.  From her expression, even Penny knows this situation isn't right.  Ruby, I know complex critical thought isn't your forte, but why aren't you and your teams discussing these events?  Where's all the subversive energy you had as students in v2?  And if the answer is that it's been sapped by endless work...maybe that's not accidental.  

- Oh my that really could be the former Henry Marigold.  Or his sister, which does seem more likely. But a trans character in RWBY would be awesome.

- Why DOES the launch of Amity need to be kept secret from Robyn?  I can see why it shouldn't be general knowledge at first for fear of terrorist attacks, but she's a significant faction leader and the benefits of "restore worldwide communications" seem obvious and overwhelming.    Is James keeping the Amity project secret even from the council?  Is his paranoia that extreme? If so...then it's more than possible he does suspect our heroes are still hiding something major from him. Is that why he doesn’t seem to be spending any time with Qrow, despite the hug scene? 

-  Weiss bantering with Winter as an equal is a beautiful thing.  Weiss demonstrating independent,  nuanced judgement  is even better.    And the knowledge that she too is hiding something vitally important from her sister hangs over this conversation like a sword.

-...oh yeah,  Neo and Cinder are going to waltz right through the security around the Winter Maiden, aren't they.   Sloppy.   (Okay, to be fair the robots and cameras are immune to Emerald, and while RWBY have fought Neo at various points I doubt they ever thought to brief James and Winter about her.  But it's logical that various kinds of illusion semblances must exist.  I want to sit the Atlas security experts down for a crash course in Earth high-tech caper movies.)

- How much was Fria pressured into this? It's not the worst way to die, but it doesn't look like a lot of fun either. (A point against the “James is evil” theory here, though - it must be very tempting to quietly euthanize her instead of waiting. He could have it done without Winter knowing, even.  But he hasn’t.) 

- Oh, FUCK YOU, Jacques, no notice and no severance?  This is because of Watts, isn't it.  Hi, losers, I don't need your votes anymore and also I think you're so incredibly stupid you might vote for me anyway.

- I’m beginning to wonder if Oz will be entirely absent from this volume and the plan is to majorly structure v8 around him and Oscar instead. 

[connan-l]

Ciconia Phase 1 Ramblings

Well, it sure was a wild ride, but I enjoyed it quite a bit!

The whole thing was very Heavy and Intense and Long and a lot of stuff happened. I’m not sure I really digested everything yet, but I have Thoughts.

GOD I spent so much time writing all of this... At first I just wanted to make a short Twitter thread about it, but it ended up a lot longer than initially... 😔

Those are just some messy ramblings and I don't think I said any more new or interesting stuff than what other people have already said, but I still felt the need to write it down, so...

Ciconia spoilers for Phase 1 and the tips:

So I thought overall it was pretty good and interesting! As someone who didn’t play the demos, I went in completely blind, and it was a nice read. (As such the flood of Okonogi memes some time ago were kinda confusing to me at first lol.)

It was radically different from Higurashi and Umineko, but that was something I expected (Umineko was radically different from Higurashi, after all.)

I’m not sure if it’s going to hit me as personally as Higurashi and Umineko did yet, or even if I’m going to like it as much — I enjoyed Phase 1, and the story is really intriguing, but it’s not quite on the level of its predecessors for now. Then again, it is only the first part of the story so it’s a bit unfair to compare them now, and I remember I was far from being into Higu and Umi by just their first installments too. So I guess I’ll just have to wait for the other phases and see!

On a technical level, this is definitely ones of Ryukishi’s most sophisticated visual novels — with the big animations and sound effects during the battle scenes, of course, but also with the numbers of different backgrounds and the visuals for the Kizuna thing. The sprites are also my favorites from all of Ryu’s games, they have the uniqueness of his artstyle all while being more polished and with really pretty coloring. And the character designs are SUPER GOOD — the best of 07th Expansion works to me (well, I was still a bit disappointed in Vier’s design, though. I mean. She’s just Takano with a lab coat. You could’ve at least changed her clothes or something, Ryu.) The music was the only thing that was... pretty average. It wasn’t bad, there was a lot of neat OST in it... but there wasn’t really anything memorable either (Alright, except for Apocalypsis Ciconia II. This one was dope as hell and it gave me chills.)

I was pleasantly surprised by how good and compelling the worldbuilding was too, as personally I find this peculiar part of Ryukishi’s writing has always been one of his weakest points. I don’t know much about sci-fi stuff admittedly, so I’m not sure how that would be perceived by fans of the genre, but Ciconia’s world is still quite fascinating — the different factions, the technology and selcom stuff, the way childbirth is managed or the history of World War III, all of that was good. Although to be honest, some stuff felt kinda contrived too (like, sure, let’s say the entire history of WWIII is entirely erased, like that we don’t have to deal with the political issues of our current real world lmao), and I don’t know all of the histories of the countries mentioned, so I can’t really tell if some things were insensitive (for example, how Africa was “unified” by a single king felt a bit off to me, but, er... I don’t know...)

The more absurd elements like the conspiracy theories, the chivalric orders or the freaking ILLUMINATI KINGS were pretty hilarious, honestly. I’m... not sure what to make of them. Obviously none of Ryu’s stories were ever going to be realistic (and well, the entire premise of Ciconia is about children soldiers who have the strength of an entire army in one gauntlet, which is ridiculous enough), but knowing him I wonder how much of this is going to be played straight and how much of this is meta stuff. Especially with all the religious/spiritual references (the blue bodies of Evil Miyao and of the gauntlet girls alluding to the Hindu god Shiva, Seshat being a Egyptian goddess, etc.)

I have more mixed feelings about the plot, and especially the pacing. Most of it was okay, but some scenes were really dragging and redundant. Which, isn’t really something new with Ryukishi’s writing, but here especially with the political stuff and the long blocks of exposition it was... kinda boring and hard to focus on it, and after a while it even felt quite egregious. Some of those parts weren’t needed, or at least didn’t need to be that long. Especially given that after the first hours, there were not a lot of more peaceful moments that would give the player time to breath. 

Which is another one of my complaints: a lot of intense things happened, but the narrative rarely give you the time to actually digest those things, especially in the second part of the story. It often pretty much felt like “X event happen > Discussion of X event between the characters > Y event happen > Discussion of Y event between the characters,” and this without any breaks (with the exception of some exposition here and there in between, of course). The events, discussions and characters were interesting enough to more or less keep my attention, but it still felt like too much at times. Part of this may be volunteer, as it put a stressful and opressive feeling on the reader (God, the clock and quotes between each chapters stressed me out a lot lol), and after a while I really felt like I was kinda suffocating with all of this like the characters — but even so I think it would’ve been better to give us some pauses here and there. Which is something we could have had with, say, the tips. I thought it was a shame all of the sixteen tips could only be read once the main story was over, because the narrative could have really benefited from having them fit into the plot or in-between chapters, like in Higurashi.

Also, I know Ciconia wasn’t exactly marketed as an horror story unlike the other WTCs, but hoo boy, I think some of the sequences in it are honestly among the most gory and disturbing things Ryukishi wrote? I haven’t read Iwaihime or TRianThology, so I can’t really say for sure, but damn, those human factories really are big nightmare fuels...

Now, I think the most tricky parts and the ones who are gonna get the most criticisms are, likely, the whole political and military stuff. Ciconia is probably Ryukishi’s most political and provocative work so far, maybe on par with Rose Guns Days — not to say Higurashi and Umineko are not political, they definitely are, but here it truly is in-your-face. Which is not a bad thing, per se, but... let’s say it all depends on how Ryukishi handle and criticize all those stuff down the line in the other installments, when so far it’s been... meh?

Like, the whole military stuff, specifically, was... shaky, at best. The thing with fiction that portray militaries with soldiers as their main characters is that they walk a thin line between just portraying this thing and actively glamorizing it. The narrative was definitely critical of some of it (lol the whole massacre at the end was very obviously there for a reason), and I appreciate Ryukishi often makes a point in his stories to frame a problem with different persepectives... but the whole “healthy military balance” and “Walls of Peace” thing was still iffy, and I’m... unsure about how much of it is going to be criticized within the narrative in the end. Now, again, it is just the beginning of the story, and Ryukishi has always been good at presenting a thing at the start for later on tearing it down to pieces, so... I don’t know.

It’s way too early to decide what kind of themes and messages Ciconia is going to have, so here too I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but I’m just a bit wary given some things that were in RGD were... definitely questionable. Now I actually think Ciconia got to a better start than RGD, but... well. I’m also not really someone who know much about these stuff, so I’m not the best placed to talk about it, but it’s definitely something worth to be under scrutiny.

On the more positive side, there were times where some things felt really, really real, as well as pretty in tone with some of today’s social issues. Like all those news about the terrible things going on in the world and that a war can happen anytime, the military propaganda to recruit young people who “want to fly” in the army but who just end up killing each other, or the feeling that these kids have about how in the end they’re just powerless pawns  who can’t do anything used by selfish old men... I saw someone said Ciconia was basically Fuck Boomers: The Game, and... yeah. Yeah, that’s basicaly it lmao. All of the adults being assholes is not new in WTC or even in Ryukishi’s works in general, but here it was definitely a big theme. God even the whole thing at the end about how the planet is dying and that everyone knows it but people just don’t care about it... lmao, if that wasn’t directly referring what we’re living right now with climate change, I don’t know what is.

I just really loved too the way the game was sort of sold as this “cool sci-fi battle royal,” but in the actual story all of those kids are desperately trying to not kill each other, until the very end where everything just goes to hell.

I said it before, but there really was a huge feeling of suffocating and being powerless the more and more you reach towards the end, and the way everything culminated in this huge massacre truly sent shivers in my back. I know at some points I could really feel for the kids who were like “Well, fuck it, let’s just let all those awful people kill each other and the world get destroyed.” The final scene with the Christmas party was really powerful and also so uncomfortable to read, it was really well done.

Otherwise, if there was one work I wasn’t expecting to scream “LGBT+ rights,” it was Ciconia, but here we are I guess lmao. Honestly, that entire conversation was super neat, not just in a “Oh it’s great they acknowledge gay and trans people exist in a positive way,” but also because it really adds a lot to the worldbuilding. I remember some people talking about it when a similar thing happened in the comics of The Legend of Korra, and honestly more stories should do that, not just in term of representation but because, well, it’s just good writing to put this much thought in your fictional world. The conversation in itself was a bit clumsy (GAYS DON’T FUCK), but it also felt very sincere and a pretty believable discussion a bunch of teenagers with very different backgrounds could have on the subject (and I really loved the narrative acknowledge how different cultures and religions feel about those topics, without it being judgemental.) I’m also thankful it was here at all because of the, uh, gay jokes made about Miyao and Jayden early on that were a bit tasteless to me.

(Now it would be even more great if we could have actual canon gay and trans characters too. Ryukishi... please...... I beg you........)

And of course, the characters were also really good! 

It was so nice to have such a big diverse cast all constituted of likeable characters, and I was honestly impressed Ryukishi managed to handle it. That was something I was wary of when the game was first released, but in the end I think he did a good job so far. Of course, that’s only from my point of view, so I can’t say if other people found there were some things he did badly or that was offensive...

But personally, I honestly love all of the Gauntlets kids so much. They’re all so good and charming! And I kinda want to adopt them all lol.

I think my favorites for now are Miyao, Gunhild, Naima, Rethabile, Chloe, Koshka, Rukhshana, and Lingji... But like I said, they are all really good it’s hard to choose!

However... when it comes to their writing I felt Ciconia went in the continuity of Rose Guns Days and concentrated more on the plot than the characters, and that’s something that... honestly bother me a bit. I liked RGD, but Ryukishi’s writing is still at its strongest when it comes to very human, character-driven narratives, like Umineko and Higurashi. Like I said, I love all of these kids a lot, and some of them have pretty solid characterization and screentime... but in the end a part of me still feel like we didn’t really... get to know them much, if that makes sense? Even with the main ones, like Miyao, Jayden or Gunhild — most of their scenes were principally focused on the Plot Stuff, and not much about them as people.

I know there are a lot of folks who criticize the slice-of-life parts of Higurashi and Umineko, where there are lots of scenes of just the characters spending time with each other or goofing around and that don’t do much to advance the plot — and in a way I understand that, because yeah, some of these scenes can be pretty long to get through and drag the pacing. But personally, I always thought those sequences are very important. Even if some of them are admittedly unnecessary or are a bit too long, they’re really needed to humanize the characters and make you invest in them  — which was something that was a bit lacking in Ciconia. Basically I guess I’m saying the VN needed more slice-of-life stuff, and that rejoin with what I said earlier — that including some of the tips in the plot here and there instead of putting all of them at the end would have really helped with that.

Now, that said, again I’m aware this is just the first part of the story. I understand Ryukishi needed to have all of those exposition blocks and truly pose the basics of his story first and foremost. So I’m really hoping that after that he’ll be able to focus more on its characters  — especially on those who got almost no screentime, like the Yeladot Shavit and Cairo Squad girls. Having characters and human grounded moments is especially important in a story where war is a big focus like Ciconia.

Now, on the characters themselves... 

Miyao was a really charming protagonist, and I love him a lot! He was so endearing to me during the whole story. He was instantly more likeable as a male protagonist than Keiichi and Battler, where it took me some time for them to grow on me — principally because, well, Miyao don’t have the shtick of sexually harrassing the female characters around him, which was profoundly annoying in the other WTCs. I loved his serious but caring and friendly personality, his friendship with Jayden and Gunhild and with all the other kids, and his anger against the adults trying to use him and the others. His relationship with his father too was interesting. His interactions with Evil Miyao were also pretty intriguing, even if I’m not sure yet what to think of him being a “murder program” or about what even is Evil Miyao. 

Now, the only thing I am on the fence about him is... his whole DID thing and Meow. Like, on one hand, I think it is neat to have a likeable protagonist with a named mental illness, and the narrative felt sincere on not wanting to present this as a bad thing and just a part of who Miyao is... but on the other hand, there were all the jokes made as a result of this, which made the whole thing pretty awkward to me. Furthermore, there’s the problem that this “CPP” thing is not really DID, as if I recall it doesn’t actually seem to come from any trauma-related reason, and is almost a made-up condition? It kinda gave me Kara no Kyoukai flashbacks, in which Shiki, the protagonist, also has an alter, but it is not as a result of trauma or anything — it has a fantasy explanation. And, I mean... An author taking an actual, real condition that a lot of people have to bend it at their will to fit a story isn’t super cool, especially if you’re going to make some jokes at its expense... The other kids calling out Jayden on how he didn’t act properly with Miyao about this was nice though. (Also, now that I think about it, did Miyao just... randomly told all of the other gauntlet knights about it? Wasn’t it said that “CPPs” were something most people didn’t like to talk about? It’s a bit odd.) Plus there’s also the fact Miyao is possibly a “program” and it adds another layer of not-so-great stuff... So I’m just really wary of how Ryukishi is gonna handle this going forward...

Those problems aside, Meow herself was... fine. She’s cute, but she doesn’t really have much going on for her. She and Jayden are dorks together and their scenes definitely made me smile, but their relationship still felt kinda shallow so I don’t have much feelings about them as a couple (like, it’s just that to me Miyao and Jayden have a lot more chemistry and have been friends for quite some time, so it’s just odd that he instantly decides to date Miyao’s sister whom he just met. And, also, he was definitely flirting with Miyao before meeting Meow, too.). It was also pretty jarring the way she just... almost disappears once the war stuff began, so in the end I had this disagreeable impression that she really was just here to be Jayden’s girlfriend, and not as a character on her own or to develop Miyao more...

Jayden was pretty neat too! He’s a character that could be “yikes” pretty easily, but in the end he really did come across as a awkward but kind teenage boy who may be clumsy at times but is still trying his best. In fact, I really wish Ryukishi had wrote Keiichi and Battler more like Jayden. It was nice in general that none of the guys in Ciconia acted inappropriately towards the girls (with the exception of Toujirou, I guess. The way he acted towards Valentina especially made me go “ehh dude please no.” Like I know the LATO girls are said to be older than the other kids so they’re probably 18 or something, but still, it was a bit ugh... But even then it wasn’t something that was too overt, so it didn’t bother me too much), because some of Keiichi and Battler’s antics towards the female characters was something that annoyed me greatly. Don’t get me wrong, I did end up liking Keiichi and Battler despite this, they’re both good kids at heart — but it’s possible to write horny teenage boys without them ~comically~ sexually harassing the girls around them, if you feel me? Aside from that, I like that the story made a point to show that Jayden is actually a pretty lonely and kinda socially awkward kid just like Miyao, and that’s why their friendship work so well. On the other hand, though, his character mostly only turned around Miyao and Meow, and so we didn’t get much of him as a person? Which is a bit disappointing as he is meant to be one of the main kids, so I’ll hope he’ll get more interesting later on.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE GUNHILD, she really intrigue me! I wasn’t expecting to love her so much — for the most part I thought she was okay but nothing more... though now that I finished the story, she’s probably my favorite character for now? Her scene in the restaurant with her sibling, and especially the tips focused on her, really got to me. I loved her cool personality and her backstory was really interesting, as well as her relationship with Miyao and Jayden. She seems to honestly like and care for both of them, but at the same time resent them, and the way she obviously have a lot of pent-up anger towards the world and some self-hatred make her a truly compelling character. I’m pretty intrigued by Maya and her relationship with her too. She’s honestly one of the characters towards who I look forward the most, and I really hope Ryukishi will deliver on her. 

Chloe has definitely a lot of Rena Vibes, so of course I was going to love her lol. Although honestly for now I find her mostly... confusing. She’s obviously really fucked up (CHLOEVIL), and she made me pretty nervous during the entire story because there was this “Okay so when is she going to snap?” kind of tension with her. And her last scene with Lilja gave me chills... At the same time, her kindness and caring nature as well as her friendship with Koshka, Lilja and the  others felt genuine, so it was an interesting contrast. Other than that I wasn’t a fan of the running gag of Okonogi hitting her whenever she mess up (or do not mess up, for that matter)... Like obviously Okonogi is meant to be a Bastard, but the thing being presented as comical made me go :/ I really wish it’s going to stop.

Koshka was cute and also Extremely Relatable in a lot of ways (I, too, would rather spend my time playing silly games on my phone rather than socialize lmao). I love her a lot, and like Gunhild she really fascinate me. I like the fact that she’s meant to be an asocial, cold person but that at the same time it’s pretty easy to see glimpses of the affection she has for Lilja, Chloe or Miyao, and how she’s actually a deeply traumatized and angry teen. I’m pretty intrigued by what kind of “crime” she must have committed and how she ended up being an “equipment”... Not sure what to think about her super brain or the thing about her being some sort of “chosen one” lol. It sounds really shady.

For Lilja, I have to say I wasn’t exactly fond of her at first, but then the small moments we got with her where she obviously care a lot about Koshka and Chloe still got to me. That scene in the tips where she fiercely defends Chloe made me go “awww.” She really give me the impression of being the sort of person to hide her vulnerability behind a tough façade and her odd tics, and in that way she’s pretty similar to Koshka, which is how their friendship feel really special. The revealation at the end that she’s probably faking a lot of her personality and of her friendship with Koshka because it’s an assigment made her and her relationship with Koshka a lot more interesting to me, and I hope it’s going to result in a lot of compelling character stuffs.

Lingji was great! She’s pretty cool. I liked her optimism  and her will to do the right thing, and how that actually cover the fact she’s a pretty fragile and sheltered person. Her scene where she break down after her grandfather’s death is really illustrative of this especially, and where I really felt for her too. I think she’s the most interesting character in term of possible development. I quite enjoyed her friendship with Miyao too, but here again I wish these two had gotten more moments together. Like, how much more impactful the scene where Miyao kill her would have been if we had actually seen these two have some intimate moments before? But, oh well...

Aysha was really cool too, and I especially loved the way her sharp and down-to-earth personality contrast to Lingji’s idealism. The moment where she calls out both of her teammates was super good. Momotake was okay, and I love his intense admiration for Lingji (I’m a sucker for male characters really looking up to cool female characters lol)... but otherwise I felt he was honestly the most stereotypical character of the bunch — especially compared to Lingji and Aysha.

NAIMA IS THE BEST, SHE’S MY BABY I LOVE HER SO MUCH. She was my favorite before I even start the game because of her design alone (SHE’S THE CUTEST CHARACTER RYU EVER DESIGNED OKAY), and I wasn’t disappointed from seeing her actual personality. She’s not especially complex or anything for now, but she has a lot of potential. I loved her relationship with Naomi and Stan too — it kinda felt like two older siblings looking after their annoying youngest one reluctantly, but who still have a lot of affection for them. Also she’s such a little badass, I literally cheered out loud during that rescue scene or during the last battle scene where she screams she wants to protect all of her people. I want more of her in Phase 2 pleaaaase!

Naomi was really overshadowed by Naima and Stan, so as a result I don’t have much to say about her. I think she’s cool, and her backstory about how she apparently lost a lot of her memories and emotions is interesting, but again I can’t say much given we barely see her at all. Stanisław was a good boy, but despite the fact we see him a lot during the story, I... don’t really have a lot of thoughts on him? I liked his implied friendship with Gunhild as them being death metal buddies, but we didn’t actually saw them interacting at all, which was a shame.

Rethabile was the coolest character of the cast, I love her dearly! I like how she can be so adorable and such a dork but at the same time she’s probably the one who has her shit together the most out of all the kids. I feel she really has a good grip on politics and how the adults just want to use them compared to the others — which, well, isn’t all that surprising given she’s literally a princess. The scene with her brother’s death was pretty harsh, and I’m sad they didn’t really... put much attention to her reaction to such a traumatic event. I know the plot hadn’t time for that, really, but I feel even Lingji got more focus when her grandfather died, so I wish we had more of that with Rethabile too.

Ishak and Abdou... well, they didn’t really get much time for them either. They seem like nice dudes, and I really love their relationship with Rethabile, how they tease her quite a bit but there’s still obviously a lot of complicity and respect among them. So I hope we’ll get to know them more, especially on an individual level — as for now they were only present as a duo.

The LATO girls were... interesting too. I especially love Valentina, because she really give me Bad Bitch vibes and I love bitchy female characters lol. It’s pretty clear she has some Secrets and I’m really curious about her goals. As for Maricarmen, I thought she was mostly going to be comic relief like the Yeladot Shavit, but towards the end she actually showed some interesting depth so she did grew on me quite a bit.

And then there was just the teams no-screentime lol. Alright, I guess Suparṇa did get some time, and Rukhi is ones of my faves, but they still were really sidelined. I liked Sujatha, she’s such an uptight idiot, and her scene towards the end where she says she was aware that Miyao’s plan was doomed but still played along for Lingji made me kinda emotional. Rukhshana is the cutest and the greatest — I really liked her personality, how she can be extremely shy but then also completely goof around when she actually trust the people around her. And that moment at the end where she just say to her superiors to fuck off was glorious and one of my favorite scenes. Her relationship with Sujatha and Andry is adorable too. Andry himself was also... not present at all, but I really love the small glimpses of him we have seen, he’s pretty cool. I like how he sincerely seems to care a lot about his teammates despite his aloof character (him protecting Rukhi when their superiors try to hit her at the end was sweet.)

Still, Suparṇa wasn’t sidelined as much as Yeladot Shavit and Cairo Squad, though. I mean, I do like those girls — I adore Gannet because she’s cute as hell, Noor seems cool and Mariana intrigue me, but I can’t actually say much about them. Leah, Fatma and Stephania were also mostly comic relief except for one or two scenes towards the end. So I really hope Phase 2 will remedy to this, ‘cause I want more of these six, definitely!

I’m not sure I have a lot of thoughts about the adults characters quite yet — GERMAN TAKANO cracked me up, but she’s just as great as her Higurashi counterpart for now, and I always trust Ryukishi to write good Terrible Women. Especially Terrible Mothers, which is one of my personal weaknesses. Though I guess it’s not actually been confirmed she’s Miyao’s mom? It’s heavily implied, but we all know Ryukishi love to troll his audience so I wouldn’t put it past him that it is in fact just a red herring, but well, we’ll see I guess. 

Toujirou is obviously a bastard, but he’s an interesting one, and I have no fucking idea what is going on in his head. Like it’s interesting that on the one hand he seems to genuinely care about his son, but on the other hand he has no problem manipulating and screwing him over (and the implication of Miyao being maybe just a program is... ooof.) Okonogi was... a bit less worse than in the other WTCs, I guess? He obviously care about the kids in his own way, and him defending them at the end was nice... but I still can’t really feel anything but contempt towards him. He’s still a pretty bad instructor, and like I say, I’m really not a big fan of the way he treats Chloe at all, even if it’s meant to be “comical.”

The Three Kings mostly made me laugh to be honest, and they’re more plot devices than actual characters for now so I really don’t care about them (a part of me even wonder if they “exist” at all, because, you know, meta stuff). I absolutely LOVED Jestress on the other hand! I have no idea what’s the deal with her, whether she’s Lambda or whatever, but she’s really intriguing and her design is top notch and I want more of her. Seshat was so fucking cool and I don’t have much thoughts about her yet other than I wanna marry her.

And that’s pretty much it!

I’m not really good at predictions or at throwing theories around (sorry, Ryukishi), so I’m not sure what to expect for the rest of the story. I guess my only thoughts are that the moles are probably Gunhild and/or Chloe, but then they seem like obvious candidates, so I don’t know. I kinda suspect Valentina too, because, er, I do not trust her at all and she just have that traitor vibe. 

I really hope too that we’ll have time loops here again instead of a linear story because... well... I don’t wanna these kids to die okay... I also know that Ryukishi said Ciconia is only going to have four parts, and that’d make sense given how long Phase 1 was... but a part of me still kinda hope we’ll have a bit more... I guess it’s just that only four phases seems really little compared to the density of the story, and I’m really hoping he’ll have the time to develop well all of his narrative points and characters...

In any case, I think my thoughts on Ciconia for now pretty much get down to: it’s interesting and it has the potential to be a really great story, even if it’s far from being flawless and that I’m still very wary about how Ryukishi is going to handle some elements in the future.

But I’d definitely recommand it to people who love 07th Expansion stuff and sci-fi stories, and am very much looking forward to Phase 2!

[mobius-prime]

199. Sonic the Hedgehog #131

Deep breaths, guys. I know what the cover page says. I know. We'll get to that. Just hang in there. I think you might like what I have in store.

Home (Part 2 of 4): The Gathering

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Ron Lim Colors: Jason Jensen

So not much actually happens in this installment of Home other than the various characters talking to each other about and preparing for the upcoming battle. Since Sonic has been gone, a new Freedom Fighter Special has been constructed that can cut travel time dramatically around the globe. A journey that in the Tornado or on foot (in Sonic's case) would have taken up to two hours can be completed in a mere half hour now, thanks to Rotor's engineering prowess. And thus, Sonic and Tails head out to Old Megaopolis to stop Eggman's twin nukes from launching, along with an… interesting backup team, to say the least.

Man, remember Fiona? It's been ages since we've seen her! It appears that while Sonic was in space, she joined up with the crew in Knothole and has been helping them fight Eggman. That's definitely a better life for her than to be running with the likes of Nic the Weasel, eh? Meanwhile, Knuckles, Julie-Su, Amy Rose, and the other two (active) members of the Chaotix head to Fort Acorn, where General D'Coolette is giving a speech to the soldiers under his command. We've never even heard of this fort before, but according to the general it's been here for ten years, keeping a forward watch on Robotropolis, and this watch has been maintained even after Robotropolis' destruction in case of just such a situation as the current one. With their reinforcements from Knothole, the crew at the fort prepare to defend the city against a massive swatbot assault to lower the forcefield keeping the radiation in check. Back in Knothole, extra measures are being taken to make absolutely sure that even if the worst happens, the citizenry will be safe.

Station Square, for their part, has sent a squad of GUN commandos to help in the battle at Old Megaopolis. The commander of the military is baffled by this decision, wanting to send in their full fighting force, but the president instead opts to trust his allies from Knothole - though just for insurance, he's sent one of his own operatives along for the ride…

Now that's what I like to see! It's about time Rouge got herself some proper screentime. As all this is going on, Eggman waits aboard a docked battleship in the harbor of Old Megaopolis with his assistant M, and orders A.D.A.M. to begin the missile countdown. However, almost immediately, the sound of a biplane puts them on high alert, and Eggman is shocked to see Sonic and Tails bearing down on his location, not having expected them to be able to get here nearly so fast. See, Eggman, this is why you resist the siren call of your ego and keep your damn plans to yourself. All you did was give your enemies ample warning to prepare to foil your evil plot, you idiot!

Mobius 25 Years Later: Prologue

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Jensen

Okay, guys. This is it. We've reached the most Penders thing of all time. This is something that has been hinted at here and there from all the way back in the Sonic In Your Face special to now, and we're finally seeing the culmination of all of that buildup. All the intricate worldbuilding, all the complex character arcs, all the intrigue and political spider webs and back to back wars and everything that the world of Mobius has been through up until now - there's so much to explore, so many directions it could have gone. We're about to see what this world might look like twenty-five years into the future, and with so much rich history to draw from, what might you imagine this story might look like? What genre might it fall into? Well wonder no longer!

It's a drama. It's a teen drama.

There's a reason that Mobius 25 Years Later is widely considered to be one of the worst parts of the comic. The tone of it is just so far off anything else we've experienced so far that it clashes horribly with what we've come to expect. It's not some masterful subversion of expectations or something - in a lot of ways I consider it to be a genuine insult to the rest of the preboot's material up to this point. It's painfully and immediately clear that this is a story Penders has wanted to tell for a while, but, not being able to fit his "middle-aged adults adulting everywhere and being so adult-like while ignoring the feelings and difficulties that ordinary teenagers face" plot anywhere into the rest of the comic, he's opted to just fire the world a couple decades into the future, pair all the major characters off into weird and oftentimes arbitrary heterosexual marriages, give everyone 2.5 children and a titanium picket fence, and then throw in some allusions to the old "war against Doc 'Botnik" here and there lest we forget, entirely understandably at this point, that we're reading a Sonic the Hedgehog comic here. This thing goes on for nineteen whole issues, taking up each subsequent issue's backup story, and ultimately has no real impact on the actual story involving the characters we already know and love. However, this is technically canon, or at least a version of canon (as when you play with alternate realities and multiple timelines, futures are bound to get mixed up here and there), so we're gonna be covering it - all of it. I wouldn't be tempted to skip it anyway, as by delving into each chapter in this trainwreck, we can actually explore why this whole thing fails so hard, and why it's therefore so loathed in the fandom. Plus, I do recognize that some people actually do enjoy this arc for various reasons (one of my close friends does, and has a whole AU of her own relating to it in fact), so I do plan to at least try to be fair in my review - but I really can't hide that I find this whole affair boring as hell, often downright offensive, and ultimately completely out of place. With all that in mind, let's dive in!

We begin with a full page of exposition delivered to us via high school lecture, because everyone knows the best way to establish your worldbuilding is by infodumping it directly into your audience's eyeballs. Apparently, over the last twenty years, Angel Island has been heavily developed into its own independent republic, with a new city, Portal, acting as the center of trade between the island and the mainland below. We're once again introduced to Lara-Su, who, instead of being the badass time-traveling young adult whom we followed before, is now an ordinary teenager taking ordinary high school classes among a bunch of ordinary high school echidnas.

One of the biggest failings of this story is that Penders writes every teenage character how he thinks teenagers act, from his point of view as a middle-aged adult. This becomes abundantly clear the longer you read, as every teenager is a hormone-fueled, authority-defying, entitled, whiny, fickle child who just doesn't understand how the real world works, while every adult is a wise, experienced, and highly logical individual who always knows more than their younger fellows and refuses to pay attention to the whims of mere children. Like, I'm not even exaggerating here - I'm going to be pointing out every instance of this kind of behavior over the entire rest of this arc, and you can't stop me, so nyah nyah. Penders shows so little respect for the mere concept of teenagers, which is a terrible attitude to have not just in general, but especially if you're one of the head writers for an entire series about teenagers saving the goddamn world! Anyway, case in point: the teacher, instead of admonishing Rutan for being a bully, merely snaps at Lara-Su for not acting enough like a "young lady" and tells her to stay after class. Ugh.

Later that day, Rotor arrives on Angel Island as a liaison for the royal ruling couple, Queen Sally and King Sonic, because yes, Sonic literally becomes king in this timeline. He catches a ride from Harry - hey, good to see our favorite dingo still doing well for himself at least - and meets with Espio, who is now apparently Knuckles' secretary or something. At least, that's all I can assume from this weird-ass conversation.

As a matter of fact, yes, Sonic and Sally are bringing their two children, Sonia and Manik, to the family dinner! How very mid-70s domestic family unit of them! Espio informs Knuckles of this over a television screen as the latter broods around in some kind of high-tech facility. Unlike what we've seen of Espio, the years have dramatically changed Knuckles' appearance - his right eye is missing, replaced with a mechanical one, and he sports the cowboy hat that Hawking gave him in the past (you know, the one we never saw again after he received it). While I actually quite like the idea of a main character in the comic losing something as important as an eye, I feel like there's a huge missed opportunity here - instead of just thrusting us into an alternate future where everything is fine but one character is inexplicably missing an eye, how about actually showing us the story of how that eye was lost? Show us a Knuckles who's learning to cope with the loss of an important body part, and having to adjust to his mechanical prosthetic! Go into his feelings about the subject, as someone who has so long been opposed to a faction that thrives on mechanical prosthetics, instead of just skipping over what has the potential to be the most interesting part of this story! Ugh, sorry, there's just nothing that gets to me more than a missed opportunity like this. Knuckles and Espio exchange some tortured small-talk about their kids for a little while, with the only interesting part of the conversation being their discussion of Rotor's arrival and how he's likely here to see someone named Cobar, with whom he apparently has a history. More on that later. Knuckles excuses himself from the conversation, as he has to be home in time for his daughter's "Unveiling" tonight, and as the call ends we zoom out to see that apparently nowadays, the Master Emerald is hooked up to all sorts of technology in this facility, presumably maintaining everything automatically. However, this story isn't done throwing weird curveballs at us yet - it's time to see what our former villains are up to in this future!

There is so much to unpack here. Dimitri, feared overlord of the Dark Legion, is now an amiable cyborg-head-in-a-bubble. Lien-Da, the treacherous second-in-command who regularly spoke of betraying Dimitri and taking the Legion in her own darker direction, is now apparently a single mom who's embraced the domestic life, taking care of her rowdy teenage son while, predictably, complaining about the behavior of kids these days. And weirdest of all, apparently everyone is just fine with these literal former terrorists living in their midst and doing ordinary mom and grandpa things, with Lien-Da even apparently amenable to the idea of trying to make up with Julie-Su because "they're family," despite her history of, you know, erasing Julie-Su's memory multiple times and killing her biological parents as revenge for her birth. I mean, is this what Penders thinks adulthood is? Is he even entirely sane? Does he know the definition of terrorism?

Any-goddamn-way, Knuckles arrives home to his eerily sterile-looking steel-plated mansion that looks more like the lobby of a pharmaceutical laboratory than a place where people live, and greets his loving housewife Julie-Su, who's gained a cute giant ponytail but lost absolutely everything else that made her unique, including her own cybernetic parts and just her personality in general. She informs Knuckles that Lara-Su has locked herself in the bathroom and is having herself a mighty tantrum, refusing to come out to get ready for her Unveiling ceremony, which is apparently the equivalent of a Quinceañera for echidna girls. Knuckles, instead of doing something reasonable like asking her why she's upset, starts aggressively demanding that she come out of her room this instant, while Lara-Su repeatedly yells about how she doesn't wanna. Ugh, teenagers, amiright?

Seriously, I just can't get over how little respect Penders has for teenagers in his writing. Like, yes, I acknowledge that teenagers aren't always the most logical of beings, but they're also not goddamn three-year-olds either. They're old enough to articulate their desires and express their unique opinions, and often do so in very mature ways, especially if they're raised well and treated with the same respect you'd afford any adult. I should know, I was one myself. I would have assumed Penders was one as well at some point, but perhaps he just popped into the world one day as a fully-formed 43-year-old, full of disdain for those younger than himself. It would certainly explain everything we're seeing here.

Anyway, it turns out that the reason Lara-Su is upset is because Knuckles refuses to train her to be a Guardian, and so she whines and yells about it from behind the door like a petulant child as Knuckles continually refuses to actually give her a solid reason why he won't let her be one. When Julie-Su basically forces him to calm the hell down and explain himself, he reluctantly explains that since all the duties of a Guardian have by now been taken over by other functions of their society, he feels there's no longer any need for one, himself included. This is apparently enough to make Lara-Su immediately happy enough to burst out of the bathroom and grab her father's arm, suddenly totally excited to go to her Unveiling as long as Knuckles promises her the first dance. Ah, the fickle mind of a silly, silly teenager!

Kill me.

[carp0nastick]

The Secret Clanstone Pt.6

“Are we invading the Mutilaxians?”  The voice called out of turn.

Senator Khorik Sollchin of the Systems League Congress looked at the Dubachi reporter, imagining what his blood might taste like.  A free press was crucial for a democracy to function.  He reminded himself of that as he inhaled to answer what was, contrary to the common saying, a very stupid question.

“The mobilization of Systems League Armed Forces is being not, I the repeating, being not in preparation for an invading of Mutilaxian, or any other sovereign systems territory.  The troops are being the mustered at duty stations as a precautioning measure, but no sorties into neutral or contested territory is being the planned or the authorised at this time.  In brief, we are wanting our soldiers the ready no matter how the situation unfolding.”  The aged Choraki said evenly.  One of his eyes swiveled towards his aide as they motioned for his attention.  He paused for a moment as the assistant made the limb signal he had been hoping for.  “Thanking you all for your times, my secretary will the continuing this briefing.”

Khorik ignored the clamoring of the reporters.  Reassuring the masses was important, but only if things were actually reassuring.  He followed his bodyguards, humans all of them, out of the conference room and into a secure part of the Systems League Congress building.  Most of his staff was already present in the room.  Unlike most Senators, Khorik had members of all the sapients of the Systems League on his staff.  It was important to have a perspective aside from just the ones of his own species when deliberating.  Khorik had learned this the hard way as an infantryman during the Mutilax wars.  

The Cariz’n aide who had given him the signal to leave the conference took a quick headcount as the door to the secure and signal isolated room closed.  A quick wall of light washed over the gathered group, scanning for recording devices.  Only when all the scanning was done, and the door sealed, creating a Faraday cage of a meeting room, did the Cariz’n begin speaking.

“The asset is secured and the intel has been scrubbed.  Capt. Brixas confirms data containment.”  The Cariz’n said through its mandibles.

“This is being the good news.  Marreg, what is the happening with the snots?”  Khorik said, turning to a Dubachi.  The placid creature looked up from his screen with one eye.

“Their net is a giant mess.  The hawks are using every trick in the book to silence the doves, from simple smear campaigns to outright brute force hacks on any servers broadcasting what they don’t want heard.  Local assets are giving us a mixed picture, anti-war riots in some places, while their radical right has replaced local police with their thugs in others.  The industry and corporate sector is split about having another war.  The whole thing could tip either way.”  Marreg replied in the monotone drone common to his species.  The calm delivery of the strife within the territory of the Mutilaxians somehow made the news more troubling, as if the worst was inevitable.

“And the two main concerns?”  Khorik asked, almost worried to hear the answer.

“They still hate each other.”  Marreg replied, his eyelids curling into crescents in a charming Dubachi version of a smile.  Khorik’s tongue flicked with happy relief, even the stoic human bodyguards were baring their predator teeth in smiles.  There was a chance.  There was hope!

“Thanking you all, for your hard workings.”  Khorik said, rising from his seat. “I am wanting all of you to getting the good rest tonight, as real workings being happening the soon.  Go seeing your families for now.”

Khorik exited the room, and even though he had indeed dismissed his bodyguards, he was not at all surprised to see them dutifully accompany him to the meeting hall for the Systems League Security Council.  His secretary, apparently done feeding the reporters the official line on current events also fell in step.

“You should being with your mate, Jeremy.  The hatchling will be coming the soon, yes?”  Khorik said to the young human.

“Maybe by the way you tell time, sir.  She’s only four months in, and she knows what’s going on.  She told me to stick it out and be useful.  ‘No point in helping me bring a baby into this world if it’s covered in Sno… in Mutilax acid.’  She said.”  The human gave a wry smirk at his politically correct edit of his spouse’s words.  Even half a century after the Mutilax wars, the distrust and hatred of the Mutilaxians ran deep.  The slur was technically illegal by the terms of the treaty, but was still in common usage, as nobody cared to attempt enforcement.

Khorik nodded his head at the human woman’s wisdom.  Another war would see another generation of Systems League citizens killed and driven from their homes.  While the League was ready this time, there was no winning a war of that scale without losses in the billions.  Khorik had lost his sire, and two of his own hatchlings to the last war.  As he had watched his commanding officer sign the Phalz treaty, he had silently sworn that he would never allow such a tragedy again.

“Now entering, the venerated Senator Khorik Sollchin of Thonril IV”  The computer announced as Khorik entered the Security Council meeting.  The other council members stood as Khorik took his seat as part of the council triumvirate that chaired the meeting of 50 Senators.  His fellow triumvirates, Penuffinar Thax and Leslie Foxworth greeted him as the rest of the council gathered.  Thax was a good natured Cariz’n, easy to discuss with, and his party were very much aligned with Khorik’s own on many issues of state.  Foxworth was another matter altogether.  The human woman was always bringing up angles to problems that Khorik hadn’t thought of.  While Khorik knew she had the League’s best interest at heart, he was worried the human might come at his proposal in a way he hadn’t considered to defend against.  Still, this whole plan was an old human trick he had learned from his studies and the WENO units under his command.  How odd that he was worried about a human foiling his human hatched plan.

“You seem to be in a good mood.”  Penuffinar commented.  The Cariz’n settled his thorax into the tall chair that let him sit at eye level with the other two senators.

“I may have finding a way out of this trouble.”  Khorik said to the set of large eyes that looked back at him.  The smaller grasping limbs in front of the Cariz’n Senators mandibles passed over said eyes in a spontaneous grooming that indicated surprise.

“I never took you for an optimist, Khorik.”  Leslie said.  The human’s face was much more expressive, but Khorik had found his primate counterpart impossible to read over their tenure as council beings.

“I am being the realist.  I only feeling the hopeful, if there is being the something to hoping about.”  Khorik replied as the computer announced all members present and the sessions beginning.  Leslie raised an eyebrow, but said nothing further as the minutes were read, updates were given, and the first motion of the agenda was set forth.  This session, like every session before it for months, was almost entirely focused on the issues of the looming war.  Early strings of refugees were causing problems as smugglers switched to the lucrative cargo of living beings wanting to get away from the border worlds.  Extremist militia groups were forming on many worlds and ignoring the government's authority.  There had even been an attack on an armory by a particularly bold group of activists.  Even the peace movements were becoming a problem as they became targets of those less tolerant.  Each case was heard and solutions were deliberated upon before voting, all the while Khorik waited patiently.  Let everyone feel the stress and the burden of a nation's periled agony.  They needed to have what was at stake weighing on them when he offered a plan this bold.

“Now we come to the main issue of the evening, our stance on the current situation within the mutilaxian government.”  Leslie said, introducing the next item on the agenda.  “The situation is complicated to say the least.  According to what little news comes out of the Mutilaxian sector, the populace and about a third of the government wants peace, but the majority of their government and a sizeable portion of their industry is seeking another conflict.  No official communiques have been sent from the Mutilaxian government, and so we must decide our official stance in a vacuum.”

“Not being necessarily.”  Khorik said, now standing to address the assembly.

“We aren’t at war yet, your pet spies can’t help us here.”  Penuffinar objected, but Leslie cut him off.

“Information doesn’t just win wars, honorable Thax.  I want to hear what they know.”  The elder human stateswoman said evenly.  Khorik licked his eyeballs in relief, getting his very illegally acquired intel onto the floor was only the first hurdle.

“I am the thanking you, honorable Foxworth.”  He said, then turned to address the rest of the chamber.  “The news that is the leaking out of the Mutilaxian sector would have you believe there are being a faction for war, and being a faction against.  This is not being the truth.  There are actually existing the two separate, and rival factions doing the advocating of war.  The larger  Totalist faction is being the one supported by members of the older Mutilaxian government and the military.  Their leader, Gallin Wroxef, is a name most of you will be remembering.”  There was indeed a low murmur in the senate at the hated name.  Gallin Wroxef was directly responsible for much of the sorrow during the Mutilax wars.  From war crimes to prolonging the war another year with scorched earth tactics, the name Wroxef was synonymous with evil in the League.  

“The Reactivists are being the much more bold and radical of industry and civilian leaders.” Khorik continued.  “They are doing the much of agitating of civilian centers and the demonstrations of the violence.  The Reactivists seem to be the trying to make up for their lacking of influence and numbers with the energy and frequency of action.  Their leader is being a younger Mutilaxian demagogue named Tiller Lodf.  He is being the driving force behind the groups racist ideals, and is having the charisma to attracting the disenfranchised to his cause.”

“How is that better?”  Thax asked.

“You’re certain of this?”  Foxworth prodded.  Khorik turned to each in turn.

“I am the certain.  We are having the reliable intel from a malcontent being within one of their factions.  The two groups are both the advocating violence, and the practicing it on each other.  Each is thinking that they will be the seizing power once the populace is being cowed by Mutilaxian wartime laws.”  Khorik explained.

“I fail to see the relevance, that’s still a great deal of their influential individuals working towards tragedy.”  Thax said, his mandibles clicking fast with nervousness.

“No…  I see where you’re going with this.”  Leslie said, and if Khorik had lips, he would have kissed the woman.  “You plan to force a deeper wedge between the war factions.  Divert their attention to each other and give those who want peace an edge because of their unity.”

“It is being as you have said, and it is just so happening that the pro-war factions are the meeting to attempt a unified planning.  Their two leaders are having the personal grudges against each other, and having pledged the violence between them many times.  There will being no better chance to sowing the confusions among them than this!”

“That would require one of the factions to have some egregious slight to blame upon the other.  Even if your spies can find so much information, how could we manufacture such a convenient scizm?”  Thax said, his posture now much less nervous and more charged with thoughtful consideration.  Khorik might have kissed the furry arachnid too, he was already thinking in the right direction.  The Cariz’n twitched and went still for a moment, and Khorik knew the poor being had just had the same horrible thought that Sollchin himself planned to put to vote today.  He looked over at Leslie, who was giving him a sad, but determined look.

“Which one do we want to kill?”

[merilly-chan]

I am so done with a part of this fandom.

I’ve had it and I’m getting more frustrated by the second to the point where I simply stopped engaging in discussions.

First of all, before there are any misunderstandings, Kingdom Hearts 3 is far from perfect. I have quite a few gripes with it, especially with the pacing, and I am not denying anyone the right to voice their criticism in a civil manner.

But what is happening in a part of this fandom is not civil nor is it criticism, it is something I’d consider flaming. And worst of it all, it is so hypocritical that I want to smack my head repeatedly against a wall so I may forget I ever saw it.

Over the course of the last few days and weeks, I’ve continuously come across people saying that fans should not accept KH3’s faults and demand them to be addressed. Demand.

First of all, neither SE nor Disney owe us anything, no matter how much we wished for things to be different. We have no right to demand anything since they delivered a game that was not falsely advertising anything. Betrayed expectations are our problem alone and not theirs.

But what upsets me about all those entitled comments isn’t that they completely disregard the positive aspects of the game but that they completely neglect the circumstances of KH3’s development.

Some of the following is based on speculation but it’s a very good reason why some things are not satisfactory and why people are so hypocritical.

●To start it off, this game has been in development for a little more than 4 years after the engine was switched in 2014. Now some might argue that it’s a long time but it’s actually not. I’m not a game developer but some of this is just common sense.

The team working on KH3 had to deal with a completely new engine. They had to build everything from scratch when they’ve only worked with their in-house engines before. Previous KH games (except for KH1and perhaps the original CoM) had the luxury of being able to recycle a lot of assets and just polish it and change/add new components. With an engine they were familiar with. Now some might say that other games also manage to be made in such a short amount of time but let’s face reality here: most of them are copy and pasting lots of their previous work and, once again, are already familiar with the engine they’re working with.

I think we all noticed how much they struggled with the new engine up to the final year where it finally started to stabilize a little. It’s impressive what they managed in that time where they had to focus on lots of different things. And it’s also the reason why some may think the combat isn’t as smooth as in KH2FM.

●Disney/Pixar were much more involved in KH3 than in any other title. This may just be an assumption but judging by the interviews regarding their work together, they weren’t easy to please and hung up on the details more than the overall integrity or the original plot. Disney seemed to care more about its own properties (although KH technically also is) than the original plot which was written by someone else. But since they own the franchise, they decide where the focus is and I dare assume the developers didn’t have as much time as they would have liked to add more original content and the stuff die-hard fans actually wanted.

It stands to reason that a certain song we’re all way too familiar with likely wouldn’t have made its way into the game in the quality that it had without Disney demanding it. (Because they actually have the right to demand stuff.) All that nit-picking and the focus on ridiculous details may be pleasing in the end but not anymore when something else has to suffer in return.

●There is only so much you can add if you take all these factors into account with the team they had at their disposal. KH3 doesn’t actually have that big of a development team compared to other game franchises. They can only do so much in 4 years while still adjusting to new technology and trying to keep gameplay, story and graphics somehow balanced.

Of course that doesn’t excuse every mistake or every decision they’ve made. (I certainly could have done without all those mini games for example.) But let’s be realistic here. If we take all “demands” from all the fans into account, add to that the demands of SE and Disney/Pixar, the game simply couldn’t become all that with the time/money/developers they had at their disposal.

Please get real, people. Not everything is SE’s/Nomura’s fault.

Which is where the hypocrisy comes in and I want to call some of the fanbase out on that.

People demanded this game the moment it was announced. Demanded a release date without them daring to delay the game, regardless of whether the game was even in a state to plan a set release date, and the prevalent emotion in a lot of comment sections beneath official statements/accounts was “finally release the damn game” and “what’s taking you so long?”.

Those very same people are now demanding that the game should have been everything they desired and much more than it actually could manage in 4 years. Some even claim now that they should have taken more time. A lot of them are in the faction that views that game extremely negatively due to exaggerated expectations. It doesn’t work that way. You cannot complain about a lack of content while demanding that they should hurry up before its release.

And this frustrates me. This utter sense of entitlement that SE should be thankful to them and their overblown demands. But sure, that is legitimate. Because they want the game, they want it perfect and within a year of its announcement. Who cares about how many people they would actually need for that and how much money that would consume? Because all companies who want to make money are evil!

I’ve got news for those folks: We can’t have everything. It’s impossible. If everything is so terrible, try creating your perfect KH3 in 4 years with limited resources and demands all over from those actually owning the franchise and the fans without wanting to lift a finger themselves. Kingdom Hearts may have become a fairly big franchise, but it can’t compare to extremely large franchises (yet) and the financial situation likely didn’t allow for more money to be spent.

Jeez, I’m so annoyed by a large faction of this fandom right now. It’s not even about legitimate criticism but rather that it’s the only thing you see from some without them even looking past the product. The gameplay should be perfect, the graphics better than ever, the story should be everything they ever desired and more (who cares what other people think as long as my own are fulfilled, right?), bigger worlds, more to do, livelier worlds, more endgame content, more riddles, more cutscenes (and less for others), more of this character, more playable characters in general, more worlds, etc. Do people even register the things they demand and whether that’s all possible in 4 years with a completely new engine and Disney meddling as well?

Seriously. So many fans only know how to demand things nowadays without actually sparing a thought on the people working on these games. But sure, let’s continue thinking all of them owe us for spending 70$ on their game and that we can demand them to cater to all our individual needs. That’s so much easier than actually showing at least a little appreciation toward what the developers managed to achieve.

I’m not saying to glorify everything with a fanfare, chanting how perfect it is. It’s far from that actually. But you can criticize a game without coming across as an entitled fan who did nothing more than buy and play the game and suddenly thinks that their headcanons and their believes are all that matter. There’s more to see than the final product, even if it comes down to that in the end.

The game isn’t all negative. If someone really thinks that then there’s no helping them.

[shoujocentral]

Symphogear G- Sequelitis Strikes Again...

So, after watching the first season of Symphogear, finishing it in three days, and being hooked in an instant, naturally I was pumped to get to the next season to see what they would do with the plot, what new characters we'd get to see, how the old characters would be expanded upon, and how much more awesome the fights would get. And... would it be too harsh to say that it basically failed on most of that criteria?

Okay, yeah it would. But still, the reason this review took so long to come out is because I found this season to be a chore to get through. I still had a lot of fun, don't get me wrong, but it was a far cry from the excitement and investment I experienced in the first season. Where exactly did Symphogear G go wrong? Well, let's dive into that now.

Once again, this review will be spoiler-free for any who haven't seen the show yet.

Plot:

What is Senshi Zesshou Symphogear G about?

After the events of the first season, Hibiki, Tsubasa and Chris along with the DRS are working with the esteemed Dr. Ver to preserve Solomon's Cane, a device that Finé used to summon Noise. However, it is soon revealed that the doctor is evil, and working with a terrorist organization known as Federal Institutes of Sacrist (FIS), and with Solomon's Cane in their possession, they now have control of the Noise.

On top of that, three new Symphogear users appear, only they are working on the side of FIS. The leaders of the three, Maria Cadenzavna Eve, claims to be the new reincarnation of Finé's soul, and she also possesses a dark version of Gungnir, Hibiki's Symphogear. With such a formidable ally, FIS demands that the world's governments relinquish all control to them, lest they unleash the Noise upon them in an all-out assault.

How will our heroes stop this new global threat? And why are a group of Gear users working for the enemy?

At first, I thought the plot had a lot of intrigue and potential. While the first episode didn't grab me by the balls like Season 1 Episode 1 did, I was still interested to learn about the villainous Gear users and how the enemy's nefarious schemes would unfold. Unfortunately, if I could describe the execution of said plot in a single word, it would be "unbalanced."

Basically, the first half of G had great character and plot setup, but I found the fights somewhat lacking. Then, by episode 8, the fights had returned to their usual epicness and badassery, but the plot and characters had taken a turn for the worst.

Whereas Season 1 felt like it was continuous building and building with each episode, stuff just... happens in Symphogear G. Characters motivations are set up, but either forgotten or completely changed halfway through the show. It honestly felt like the writers were making G's story up as they went along.

The issues I had with Season 1's story are present here as well, in that the villain's motivation is incredibly confusing and not made 100% clear until the last couple of episodes. FIS's main goal is to save humanity from the Moon, which will soon crash into the Earth due to the damage it endured from Finé. However, they go about this by... killing people? I understand innocent bloodshed is necessary in most evil "save the world" schemes, but is this really the best way to convince the rest of the world that you're here to help?

Either I'm just really dumb, or Symphogear just isn't very good at explaining things.

Another thing that bothered me about this season was the usage of Swan Songs. In Symphogear G, there's not one, but TWO methods that allow Gear users to sing their Swan Songs without dying. "Tension? Consequences? WhAt ThE hElL aRe ThOsE?!"

However, the worst part about this confused and structurally unbalanced plot is how it affects the character development.

Characters:

I'm going to cover the three lead characters and Miku very briefly (cause there honestly isn't much to talk about) so we can discuss the new characters in more detail.

Remember how I praised Hibiki in Season 1 for being a flat character done right? Well, in G, the writers attempted to give Hibiki somewhat of an arc by having the villains call her a "hypocrite." At first, I was intrigued as to what they meant by this. Then, there was a point where Hibiki went Berserk again, and I figured "Oh, they mean that because she can't control her Gear, she's a danger to the people she's trying to protect!" Nope. Once Hibiki returns to normal, she never goes Berserk again, and her plot becomes about her dealing with the Gungnir fragments slowly killing her from the inside. Soooo... why is she a hypocrite again? An excellent question! ...that's never answered. Weak.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Tsubasa in Season 1, finding her over-the-top EDGE a bit too much for my taste. However, I will give credit that she at least had an arc. In G, she does absolutely nothing. She has no arc, no motivation, and contributes nothing to the plot (thankfully her strict, yet compassionate personality is left untouched). I initially thought she would have some conflict with Maria, given that the two had a bit of a standoff in Episode 1, with Tsubasa angry at Maria for possessing Kanade's Gear. Much like Hibiki's Berserk Mode, though, this conflict was never expanded upon or brought up again, relegating Tsubasa to a glorified background character.

Chris was my favorite character in Season 1, with her fiery tsundere personality and redemption arc. But much like Tsubasa, she suffered the fate of being pushed to the sidelines. Chris started out in a tough spot, transferring into Hibiki and Tsubasa's school and bearing little to no social skills. This new environment throws her for a loop, especially when a group of her classmates try to befriend her. I interpreted this as Chris not only struggling with social anxiety due to her hatred of people in Season 1, but also still harboring some guilt over her actions and not feeling worthy of friendship or care whatsoever. Okay, fair enough.

Well guess what else the writers forgot about?! 🤪

And alas, let's talk about Miku...... Oh my sweet little angel, what have they done to you??? Miku was the heart and soul of Season 1; she was Hibiki's emotional support; her Sun that warmed her whenever she felt dark. In G, she's just useless. The writers, like Hibiki, try to give her an arc (that doesn't start till episode 6...) where she wants to protect Hibiki from the Gungnir killing her. The way the writers execute this promising arc, however, is nothing short of insulting. Long story short, she fails to protect Hibiki in any single way. Instead, Hibiki ends up being the one still protecting her. Good job, Symphogear G.

With all that out of the way, I can FINALLY move onto something more positive. While I may not like what G did with the protagonists, the same cannot be said for the villains. These people are what made this season enjoyable to me.

Maria Candenzavna Eve

Maria is objectively the best character of the season. I really don't see how anyone could argue otherwise. She has a gut-wrenching backstory, a clearly defined motivation, and every action she takes, while not always the most logical, makes sense to how she is feeling at the time.

Maria's sister, Serena, who was also a Gear user, used her Swan Song to save FIS from an out-of-control experiment. Immediately following this, the scientists berated the deceased Serena for destroying something they had put so much work in. Maria was enraged by the idea that they would do this to someone, a child nonetheless, who had just sacrificed her life for them. However, instead of retaliating and seeking revenge on FIS for this, Maria dedicates her actions to protecting human lives so that Serena's sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. And unlike the rest of FIS, she actually goes out of her way to avoid killing anyone! Of course, she eventually learns the hard way that saving everyone may be an impossibility...

Also, she gets one of the most adrenaline-pumping and yet emotional fights, accompanied by her kickass battle song, which is probably my favorite of the entire series now.

Kirika Akatsuki

Hot-blooded, cheerful, and insistent on ending every sentence with "I say!" Kirika is nothing short of a joy to watch. She's a welcome entry in the villain faction, which desperately needed someone lighthearted to counteract the dead sister angst. Of course, this doesn't mean she's is without her own conflicts.

Kirika's main drive is, aside from saving the innocent, protecting her girlfriend best friend Shirabe. She's constantly trying to cheer her up cold-hearted friend and remind her that what they're doing is the right thing. However, this protective instinct leads to a discovery that changes her for the worst, and the rest of the show is her tragic and slow descent into madness, leading to a heartbreaking scene in the final battle that left me going "damn, they went there."

Kirika's Gear is cool enough, but not my favorite. It's mostly just a scthye and boomerangs, making it not much different from Tsubasa's Gear. Or at least, her Gear isn't as impressive as our next antagonist...

Shirabe Tsukuyomi

Cold, distant, but ruthless in combat (beware the quite ones), Shirabe is a great foil to her lover friend Kirika, or "Kiri-chan" as she likes to call her. One could say that Shirabe is an emotionless husk, but as the story plays out we learn that, like most tsunderes, this is merely a mask to hide how much she cares for the people around her. She harbors a deep respect and admiration for Maria and an unbreakable bond with Kirika.

Shirabe bears a strong resentment towards Hibiki, being the one to drill home the fact that she's a "hypocrite" (for reasons I'm still not hugely clear on...). She believes that FIS is the only hope humanity has for survival. Of course, once her idol, Maria, starts to lose sight of this goal, Shirabe becomes conflicted, and starts to question which side is right. I love it when villains don't know which path to take. Such delicious angst! 😬

As much as I love Chris' Gear, Shirabe's may just be my new favorite. Her pigtails transform into mechanical arms with sawblades! She can spawn a giant sawblade to ride around on like a giant wheel! She can turn into a giant robot with sawblades for arms! Y'know, I'm starting to think I like saw-based weapons...

Professor Nastassja

My only complaint about this character is that no one ever made fun of her name.

Prof. Nastassja, or "Mom" as Maria, Kirika and Shirabe call her, is the serious, straightforward thinking mastermind of FIS's operations. She was there when Serena died in front of Maria, and after seeing her determination to protect people, she decided to push Maria towards their ultimate goal of "saving" mankind from the Moon crashing. Thankfully, this woman actually has a head on her shoulders, and comes to realize that killing people probably isn't the best way to save them (who'da thunk?) and thus sets out on a path of redemption. Damn, what's with villains this season realizing that they might be wrong? I love it!

Of course, on the deep end of the villains spectrum, we have the only one who doesn't realize the error of his ways...

Dr. Ver

Just a sample of the many amazing faces this guys makes.

Everyone loves a good psychopath. And oh boy, does this guy really underline the "psycho" part of that word. Constantly laughing manically, making theatrical gestures, spawning Noise with an itchy trigger finger, and declaring loud and proud that HE is the hero of this story. I could watch him for hours.

While Dr. Ver's motivation does stem from FIS's overly convoluted plot, he makes it very clear that he has his own agenda. He may claim he strives for the salvation of humanity, but his actions say otherwise. And that's why he's so great. He doesn't have a complex backstory or a redemption arc. He's just evil through and through and he loves every minute of it. As Alfred once said to Bruce Wayne: "Some men just want to watch the world burn." 😈

Alright, that's all the new characters out of the way. Time to move onto my favorite section before I wrap things up...

Yuri:

The yuri content this season was, like the rest of it, a mixed bag. The best way I can sum it up is that it took one giant leap forward, and another giant leap back.

First and foremost, our star couple of the show: HibiMiku. Or they would be the star of the show if they had more screentime. Yeah, G really did this couple dirty. They don't even hold a conversation together until Episode 6! And then they throw in the whole conflict of Miko wanting to protect Hibiki. I guess the writers were relying on the sentiment they'd built on HibiMiku from the last season, but I feel like the two could've have at least TALKED about Miku not wanting Hibiki to fight before throwing her into the action. There was one scene twowards the end with the two of them that really got me in the feels, but it was hardly enough to make up for the whole lot of nothing we got from the rest of the season.

Second, we have the two that ultimately saved the yuri content in G: KiriShira. They look good together? Check. Complimenting personalities? Check. Emotional support? Check. Each character has their own motivation and arc outside of their relationship? Check. These two are not only absolutely adorable together, but unlike HibiMiku, which is more implied (even though there shouldn't be any doubt they're dating), KiriShira actually gets a love confession! I haven't seen that in a magical girl show since Sailor Moon Crystal when Hotaru confessed to Chibi-Usa! I'll have to see more of these two before I can say for sure, but I might actually prefer KiriShira to HibiMiku at this point. Gonna have to see how the rest of the series plays out!

Conclusion:

Symphogear G is a considerable step down from Season 1 in my opinion. While I absolutely adore the antagonists and love (MOST) of the yuri content we got, the story and protagonists just didn't do it for me this time around, which is a shame considering how much I liked them in Season 1. The fight scenes in the first couple of episodes were less than impressive, which had me nervous, but they thankfully stepped up towards the end, delivering one hell of a climactic finale.

Also, I'm not gonna lie, the final episode got me choked up.

I may have been to hard on this season when I started this review. Despite my numerous issues, I still enjoyed myself throughout and I am looking forward to the next season. I sincerely hope my issues with the plot and protagonists are rectified because I do love this series. What's done well in G is really good, but what fails in G really fails. Oh well, not every season of a franchise can be a masterpiece. I'm just praying that it's all uphill from here. 🙏

Rating: 6/10

Hope you all enjoyed! I'll see you in my review of Symphogear GX, my fellow yuri lovers! ❤️😊❤️

[the-archetype-of-civilization]

THIS IS ALL OPINION, YOU DON’T HAVE TO LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT.

ALSO, SPOILERS FOR MANY THINGS AHEAD.  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I think there are many reasons why people love villains so much.  Some because they identify their problems with themselves, or understand their motives to a reasonable extent.  Some because they just enjoy a good villain with evil intent to ruin the order set in a universe.  But one thing brings almost all of it together that solidifies both arguments for a villain that needs to be explored and understood more in order for villains to truly feel like villains and inspire the fear that they create: proof, a show of strength.

There are many different villains I could describe that fit the bill to each parts of what makes a good villain.  One that I believe many reasonably understand and agree with in terms of villainy is the MCU character Killmonger, a tragic character forced to live under the weight of being orphaned by the very people he was born into, and realizing the true extent of the racism bred all around the world.  Though, in my opinion, his actions were underwhelming in terms of the fear he wanted to create.  While he did display his strength in defeating T’Challa single-handedly and almost created a genocidal raid across the globe, there wasn’t enough screen time with him to truly show just how much of an imposing threat he was (killing civilians does not count, it’s an easy way out for them).  A menace requires fear instilled from consequence.  If you build up a villain to do something monumental and with tons of repercussions and stop it at the last minute where everything is peachy keen, his imposing-ness is null despite any of the speeches he (convincingly) makes.  Ultron is a villain I think that I think is in a similar vein, but very close to being a true villain in my eyes because the dude was literally about to destroy Earth with a hand-made meteor and that was a sight to behold.  But, despite having a charming(?) personality for a robot that’s supposed to display overblown (not subtle or underwhelming) cynical, nihilistic, and misanthropic tendencies (and yes, that is a very big gripe of mine as a fan of Ultron from the comics!), Ultron didn’t do much in his time to show how villainous he was aside from killing off Quicksilver (which wasn’t much of an impact considering that it was his first time appearing on the main screen and was killed off right then and there.  It’s more of a shock for the movie industry than it is in terms of story).  Also, that movie design was absolutely hideous!  His robot army design was perfect, but his main design completely goes against who he is!  He’s not supposed to look more human, he’s supposed to be a robot that hates humans!  He shouldn’t look like them with fucking teeth and pupils!

Those last two were hard to find at the top of my head, but for these villains it’s pretty easy to find.  There are plenty of villains that can create monumental and horrifying destruction, but still be underwhelming in terms of personality.  While they don’t have to necessarily be agreeable or even have understandable motives, personality is what drives the character across.  The standard “I’m evil because I’m evil” could work as long as they have the flair for it.  Darth Vader fits the mark as a terrifying villain with a “evil” personality but gets away with it by being a tragic character in his own right.  Exdeath from Final Fantasy V I believe fits this bill rather well considering the amount of destruction he causes in the world, but has an underwhelming personality of “I WANT TO DESTROY EVERYTHING BECAUSE I’M EVIL,” even thought he’s my personal favorite FF villain.  But sometimes it’s okay to have a standard villain of being evil for the sake of being evil if the actions that they do are monumental to the plot.  But, this is just a personal opinion of mine.  Kefka and Sephiroth can be argued to be great FF villains, creating mass chaos and killing important characters with evil intent and ruthless personalities.

And then, there are ones that do absolutely neither.  Snoke, having an underwhelming personality and no threats to show for it (the Starkiller base represents the First Order, not Snoke himself personally).  This, unfortunately, goes the same way for the Night King in Game of Thrones.  An interesting and fearsome character and exudes fear from his mere appearance, shows little to nothing about how fearsome he is.  Despite being the brains for the White Walkers, he himself doesn’t do anything monumental or show the personal fear that he himself could instill regardless of his army.  A villain is only imposing by himself when there’s no one to help him.  If he can get the job done himself, he’s sure to be feared.  The Night King hasn’t succeeded in that.  Despite him making an attack at Hardhome, killing one dragon and weaponizing it on the Wall and at Winterfell (briefly, I should say), he doesn’t show anything that he can personally do that would create fear when it’s just him and with no army.  Other than raising people from the dead, we haven’t even seen him fight anyone!  Nothing that shows how he can personally hold his own in a fight.  And I’m sure some can argue that maybe he doesn’t care or need it, but why focus on him at all then?  Why go through the effort to make us fear the White Walkers (a foe that EVERYONE fears) and find the leader that gets killed so quickly and so easily without even making people suffer the consequences of crossing him?  The Golden Company was something far worse, however!  A so-called “fearsome” sell-sword faction completely annihilated in one episode of their physical introduction?!  Bullshit!  There are plenty of villains here that I could mention that can’t achieve fear or motive here, but I’ll save it for these two examples considering that these two were the ones I was very frustrated with.

But, there are two villains that I can think of right now that fulfill motive and fear right off the bat.  The main one (that I’m sure many of you saw coming) is the MCU’s version of Thanos.  No doubt, someone that has an understandably flawed and warped sense of destiny and justice, believing genocide of an entire universe to be “merciful” and saving it from destruction.  It’s absolute brilliance, especially compared to Thanos in the comics, that really fulfills the role of “the Mad TItan” more than the MCU version.  And that’s not to count just how much chaos he has created over the course of 22 films.  Despite being seen in small cameos and brief snippets and mentions, Thanos was someone to be feared in the MCU that many people were eagerly awaiting to see finally revealed in Infinity War.  And he achieved it in spades.  A villain that is absolutely ruthless with his enemies, despite being understanding and honorable about their goals. Imagine beating up the Hulk in 1-on-1 combat so much that he’s not angry anymore and refuses to be.  That’s a feat in itself.  And even while utilizing the Infinity Gauntlet, he can hold his own in a battle against 7 of the greatest heroes in the universe that almost got it off of him!   He pulled a fucking moon down on a planet right after, too!  And the coup de grace of it all was of course the snap heard throughout the universe: the Decimation.  And he succeeded in his mission and rested, like he said he would.  He wasn’t evil because he wanted to be or was vengeful about what happened: he believed himself to be a savior, someone that was willing to do what others wouldn’t.  And even without the Infinity Gauntlet, the guy won’t quit and is still ridiculously strong in a fight with just a double bladed sword in Endgame!  A perfect movie villain rarely shows itself, and Thanos was definitely one of those and I hope we see more that follow in his footsteps.

The secondary villain that I think of (that not many would understand) is Ardyn Izunia, or Ardyn Lucis Caelum, from Final Fantasy XV.  Hajime Tabata aimed to make FFXV’s villain to be better than Kefka and Sephiroth combined.  Now, that’s a gamble.  Considering how memorable and iconic both villains are, it would be very hard to accomplish something like that.  But, in my eyes, I believe he did.  Ardyn is a very tragic character, a Christ-like figure that wanted to cure the people of the land from the Starscourge that plagued them.  He would absorb the disease and cure them, unlike his brother Somnus that would kill them mercilessly.  After his fiancee was killed by Somnus himself, branded as a traitor and demonized by the people that he cured, denied ascension to the throne by the Crystal, and abandoned by the Astrals that were by his side.  Fueled by hatred for his betrayal on almost all fronts (including his fiancee, he believes), he seeks to end the Lucis bloodline and destroy the world that the Astrals created out of vengeance.  Hey, if you found out that you were simply a tool used for the gods to fix the shit that THEY fucked up themselves, you’d be pissed too (*cough*Noctis*cough*).  And boy did he show them what for.  He becomes chief commander of Nifleheim’s military, including weaponizing people as daemons, using Magitek to ascend to military supremacy, and seizing all of the crystals in the world until all point to the last one located inside Insomnia.  Not only that, but he kills Noctis’ childhood sweetheart and he brings the entire world to ruin for years to come while Noctis was inside the Crystal.  Ardyn basically did what both Kefka and Sephiroth achieved individually: bring the world to ruin and kill a pivotal character/love interest, respectively.  And he can seriously hold his own in a fight, able to use the same powers that Noctis can easily.  He even used Ifrit (an infernal Astral!) as a puppet!  That level of hatred for a bloodline is something palpable.

That’s why it’s so important to show your intent just as much as it is to say it.  Both go hand in hand and it’s what creates arguments and discussions like these, so we are able to analyze and study villains as integral and important characters in entertainment.  And to discover the darker sides of humanity that lives and resides within all of us, so we can better learn ourselves and how to control the demons inside all of us.

Honorable mention: With the new Star Wars movie coming out soon, I’m super hyped to see the Knights of Ren making a return!  J.J. definitely did an awesome move by bringing them back, and there’s something so appealing about them.  Something about organized personal goons for the main baddie is a concept that I always love to compare and explore.  It’s why I loved the Praetorian Guard from The Last Jedi so much.  Same for the Nazgul from The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, the Black Guard from Tron: Legacy, the K-Tron units from Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, and the Heavensward from Final Fantasy XIV.  Despite them not having much screen time, or little to no dialogue whatsoever, the times they do appear, their main objective is to eliminate the threats before them with extreme prejudice.  Their main concept overall is action with little dialogue and achieving the simple goal that the viewer can already assume, and that’s something that I absolutely adore.  Costume designs are also a huge plus, because goddamn do they all look good!

[marybeatriceofmodena]

(1/2) I agree with everything you say but I'm too afraid to say so myself. Especially because if you don't agree 100% with how Rey is being portrayed, folks think you're being misogynistic. I wish we could be more open to discussion. You can love a movie or a character and still don't agree with certain aspects of them. For example, yes, Kylo became Supreme Leader, but his "victory" was undermined 5 minutes later when Luke trolled him in front of the fo and what was left of the resistance.

continued: (2/2) His win felt like a loss, which is a good thing for redemption, but it means two failures in a row nonetheless. In other hand, Rey’s biggest loss was being wrong about Ben Solo and her parents. Yes, she made mistakes but they didn’t bring her consequences she wasn’t able to overtake in the same movie. At the end, her bad choices don’t stop her from becoming the resistance savior. It feels like she can’t do no wrong, which makes it hard to sympathize with her as much as I can with Kylo.

*

Well, I think the problem why people are a bit more “jumpy” is that there have been a lot of bad takes - on both sides of the debate. I’ve seen some pretty bad anti-Rey/pro-Ben takes myself. Like, I prefer seeing them as two flawed individuals who ended up fucking it all up because of their flaws, and because of a lack of communication? 

I might also be influenced by how star-crossed lovers stories usually go: it often happens that lovers in star-crossed romances are separated due to outdated or bad societal conventions - that’s actually EXACTLY what happened with Anakin and Padmé. And honestly, if I was writing IX, I’d follow Rose’s words about “saving what we love, not destroying what we hate” to heart, and have the war end not by the Noble Resistance/Rebellion defeating the Evil First Order/Empire (because c’mon, it’s the OT all over again, you can do better), but by people overcoming their differences, working together, and ultimately show how absurd war is. 

That’s what TLJ was about, especially in respects to the Finnrose plot: both Finn and Rose discover that the people behind the war machine don’t care about who’s the bigger dog in the galaxy and all that matters is your own personal gain - and the First Order, as well as the Resistance, all play a part in oiling that machine. Not to mention that Solo was basically an introduction to the underground crime world, who also make their profits out of weapon dealing, so I don’t think that was a coincidence. 

That’s not to say you shouldn’t stand against oppression and injustice - you absolutely should, since the opposite would be going against what Star Wars has always been about. 

But war is what has always been the cause of every single trial the heroes went through: war is what provoked the Clone Wars, initiated the enslavement of millions of men because they were clones; war is what led Ahsoka Tano to leave what was the equivalent of her family behind after the irreparable had been done; war is what eventually drove Anakin Skywalker to become Darth Vader, and killed Padmé; war is why Luke and Leia grew up and never knew who their real parents are; war is why Luke’s aunt and uncle were killed in a gruesome matter, just for being indirectly implied with a matter they wanted no part in; war is what killed not only Leia’s adoptive parents, but her entire planet as well; war is what killed people like Jyn, Cassian or Bodhi before they were given a chance to actually live a peaceful life; war is eventually what tore Han and Leia apart, destroyed Luke’s work of a lifetime, and drove Ben to the Dark side. 

So… wouldn’t it be fitting that the war is won not by a big epic battle of good vs. evil… but people coming together to pursue a common goal, and not care about clans and factions and all the like… but like the Rogue One team, do it even if you have the whole galaxy against you because it’s the right thing to do? 

If it was up to me, I’d have Rey, Ben, Finn and Rose team up and plan to take down the First Order from the inside, because it’s the best way at this point to end it all. Rey does it because she has decided to become part of Ben’s life and, to become part of his family and also finding the belonging she always longed for, she helps take down the very organization that tore them apart in the first place, but this time, with Ben, without any conditions, as equals. Ben does it because he realizes on his own that like for people like Finn, Rose, and all the Stormtroopers, the First Order has ruined his life. And if he wants to help establish a new order and make the galaxy a better place, the First Order has to go too. Finn does it because he doesn’t want to fight against his brothers and sisters in arms, and because they, too, want to be free and have lives of their own. And he accepts to do it alongside Ben because he may not understand why Rey loves him, but he trusts her. And Rose does it because in every child who has been indoctrinated by the First Order, she can see Finn in them, and with her planet being enslaved, she realizes that, well, it could have been her. 

* 

And to get to the rest of your ask… yes, Ben is sympathetic because as much as he’s an asshole, you understand why he’s the way he is. Of course he messes up. Of course he gets humiliated. He needs all those things in order to be able to grow, understand his mistakes, and learn. THAT’S what makes him sympathetic. 

Rey… obviously, she learns what really went down between Luke and Ben, which makes her realize that when it comes to heroes and villains, it’s not always the way it seems. So far, so good, and it’s actually brilliantly done. The problem is that as I said for her rescue plan, while her heart was totally at the right place, the plan itself… honestly needed more work, and Ben pretty much had to save her ass. 

And look, I’m a-okay with Rey being impulsive, jumping to conclusions, heading head first into trouble - it makes a lot of sense with her background and characterization. It doesn’t make her unlikeable AT ALL, it just makes her a fully fledged character. The problem here is when those flaws aren’t treated as such - and that’s what’s frustrating, lol. But ya know, it’s a writing problem. Not a problem with the character specifically. 

So if she can do no wrong… how can you “sympathize” with her? Because “sympathizing” with someone implies that either they’ve done something bad, either they’re involved in a touchy situation, either they’re affected by a bad situation. 

And sure, you can argue she got her heart broken - but my issue is that the movie doesn’t show that. All it took was one little scene where she leaves the Throne Room teary-eyed, looking at Ben but turning away. Instead, straight after the Throne Room fight… next time we see her is her being all happy-go-happy while shooting TIE fighters. So because of that, it makes her look like she doesn’t care - which is not what you should be going for, lol. 

But again, to know whether it’s a bad writing decision or not, we’ll have to wait until IX. But all I want Rey to realize is that in order to help Ben, and help the galaxy against the First Order, she can’t drag Ben around, and she can’t expect him to just follow her around because she thinks she’s right or her heart is at the right place. She needs to work WITH HIM. Ya know, do the couple thingy, like, TALK. COMMUNICATE. 

[arlingtonpark]

SNK 102 Review

Can I start off by just saying how great it is that there are people in this world who actually care?

Marley is a country that weaponizes civilians and forcibly transforms them in to monsters as a means of bombardment. They persecute the Eldians who live under the authority of their government. They have no qualms with knowingly violating the rules of war if it gives them the advantage.

Eren, for his part, showed a clear disregard for the lives of the people in the apartment building he destroyed and for the lives of Reiner and Falco, both of whom had surrendered to him and showed no signs of resisting.

When the Survey Corps trapped Pieck and Porko, they laid straw at the bottom of the trap so their fall would be cushioned, and they even gave them food and water. Jean scolds Floch for fighting in a way that needlessly endangers civilian lives. Mikasa is tearing up at the sight of what Eren has done.

When the SC fight, they fight with civility and humanity. They treat even their greatest of enemies with care and compassion. They do not try to blow them up for no reason.

God bless these people. They care. They f!@#ing care.

Well, most of them anyway.

My initial reaction to the new Floch is “what the heck!?” Last we saw, he was scolding Eren as immature and hard-headed. Now he’s practically a member of the Cult of Eren.

Have you forgotten how much of humanity inside the walls has [sic] been killed by these bastards outside of it? They ate us alive, you know!

This is literally something Eren could have said towards the start of the series when the focus was fighting the titans. Now, for Floch at least, it seems humanity outside the walls are the new titans.

But, of course, they aren’t like the titans. They’re human beings, and their inherent dignity as human beings must be respected. It reflects very poorly on Floch that he doesn’t understand this.

This isn’t even close to payback!

Payback? Hey, Floch, that’s an Eldian apartment building you’re blowing up there. Whether it’s the mainland Eldians or the Paradis Eldians we’re talking about here, at the end of the day, they’re both groups of Eldians, and they’re both hated because they are Eldians. They’re all in the same boat here, but Floch is apparently too blinded by his hatred to realize this. He seems to believe that everyone outside the walls are devils that need to die.

There’s an important question to be asked here: how many more people have been taken in by this way of thinking?  

Eren showed us. He said to fight. We can’t just wait inside the walls for death to come. That’s the devil we need right now. 

The implication in this dialogue are very interesting.

It makes sense that after the revelations regarding the outside world, the question of how to approach the outside world would dominate not just debates among government officials and the military, but also the general public.

The clear implication of what Floch is saying is that Eren took an aggressive, hawkish stance on what Paradis’ foreign policy should be. Would it surprise anyone if there were other likeminded people on Paradis for Eren to align with? And would it surprise anyone if these people looked to Eren, holder of the Founding Titan and war hero, for leadership? If they rallied around him?

What I’m saying is that the Cult of Eren might actually be a thing. If only informally.

Eren showed us. He said to fight. We can’t just wait inside the walls for death to come. That’s the devil we need right now.

Not only that, but what does Floch’s actions and statements say about Eren? Floch believes that Paradis needs to fight to survive, and he’s getting that from Eren. And what about his belief that those outside the walls deserve to die as reprisals for what they’ve done to the walldians? Is he getting that from Eren too? Or is this just his own way of thinking?

Picture this scenario: let’s say that Eren did lead a faction on Paradis calling for aggressive action against the world. Let’s also suppose that after spending time on the mainland, he realizes he’s wrong. He still kills civilians, of course, but he does so not out of animus, but because he sees it as a necessary evil. The point is that Eren realizes he went too far, so he’s been “reformed” in a sense, but that still leaves all the various people who’ve been radicalized by him to deal with, and they’re not just going to let go of their animus simply because their leader is getting cold feet.

In other words, it’s “too little, too late.”

I’m not so bold as to say this is what happened, it’s largely speculation, but something like this would not be out of place in this story. In fact, it would be downright tragic. Eren sees he was ignorant, but in his ignorance, he’s created a monster that will outlive him: the people who will continue to believe in his ignorant ideology even though Eren himself no longer subscribes to it.

And Floch calls Eren “the devil we need right now.” Clearly, this is a reference to his attitude towards Erwin, whom he also believed was a devil that they needed. Floch realizes the difference between the two, right? Because they’re not the same.

You know, when I started off, I was not expecting to write so much about only two pages out of 46.

Moving right along, someone should give Gabi a hug. It just goes to show you that no amount of training, even training you excel at, can prepare you for the horrors of war.

The one thing that puzzles me though, is what role will she play in this battle? She’s only a kid, she has no titan powers, and she’s only armed with a rifle. Presumably, Isayama plans for her to make a meaningful contribution to the fight, but how? This had better not end up being like Touka in the Tokyo Ghoul finale. 

My best guess is that she’ll show up out of nowhere at a crucial moment in the fight and get off a shot at one of the major characters. They’ll either be seriously wounded, or maybe even killed outright.

The Warhammer Titian is easily the coolest titan. Having the pilot not even be in the body? That was so clever! I mean, just, oh my God, that is so cool!

And I’m curious about the nature of their ability. Clearly, the stuff that’s covering the Warhammer’s body is made of the same material as the spikes on the ground and the various weapons we’ve seen them use so far. And yet, this materiel doesn’t seem to impede their mobility. This hardening materiel covers them, but they can move freely. Does this mean they can control the tensile strength of this materiel at will? That would be so cool! If that’s the case, then they would get the benefits of armor without the drawbacks of impeded movement.

There’s another thing to discuss here, and I’ll let Magath say it:

Run amok while you still can. You’re fates are sealed. Every major nation that lost government officials in this massacre is now a party to this war. The whole world now knows of the threat of the Eldian Empire, as Willy Tybur had planned. This world can no longer allow any of you to live. But those devils have to realize that themselves. And in that case, what exactly are they thinking if they’re doing this and--

Good question. Why are they doing this?

My initial impression was that the Survey Corps was here to bail out Eren, who had gone rogue. I still believe this. Mikasa’s reaction clearly indicates that they were in the dark about at least some of Eren’s plans.

Really, it’s just a question of how much coordination there was between Eren and the Survey Corps. There seems to be an understanding between the two that they need to take out the Warhammer Titan, but it can’t be known if this is due to coordination beforehand, or if it’s just so obvious that this is something they need to get done that they’re all on the same page without needing to talk it over.

Long term though, I think the Survey Corps is in a bind. They’re deep in enemy territory; the Jaw, Cart, and Beast titans have entered the fray, and they, unlike the Warhammer titan, are not fatigued from battle yet; and that’s not to mention the reinforcements coming. Also, Eren has been impaled again. The situation is on the verge of spinning out of their control, and things can only get worse the longer they stay.

One final thing. At the start of the chapter, Magath is calling in reinforcements, including the navy. Why the navy? Is Liberio a coastal city? If not, then what would be the point?

And then there’s the soldiers Magath is calling in. All 30,000 of them. What? Can 30,000 people even fit inside the internment zone? (Note that I’m assuming the internment zone is only the size of a large neighborhood.) There’s no way the Survey Corps managed to sneak more than a few dozen people in here. Add to that the fact that they only have one titan on their side compared to the four Marley has, and 30,000 just sounds unreasonable.

I should probably talk about Zeke and his allegiances, but I’m not going to.

He looks shady, and as per storytelling 101, people who look shady do shady things. He’s implied to have met with Eren, but there’s just too many unknowns to speculate, so I’m not going to.

I will say, however, that I don’t think we can rule out this being an elaborate ruse on Isayama’s part. This wouldn’t be the first time he’s yanked our chain. Remember when he used some creative editing to make it seem like Historia turned in to a titan? And what about just a couple of chapters ago when everyone was talking about how Helos was Jean in disguise? Yeah, that ended up being a whole lotta nothing.

In fact, go back to chapter 99 and check out how Helos is presented. Right off the bat, the first we see of him is a close up on his face, but framed so we can’t see his eyes, inviting us to guess who he is. Isayama wanted us to guess, even though he had no intention of Helos’ identity amounting to anything. Because he wanted to toy with us.

This may well be the case with Zeke.

I don’t know what Isayama has planned, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.