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steves-on-a-plane · 3 years

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Life Hack

Written for: @star-spangled-bingo 2021! (& All Caps Flash Bingo!) Words: 1970 SSB Square Filled: Alternate Universe AU All Caps Flash Square Filled: Science Experiment Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader Warnings: None, E for everyone! Summary: Tony & Steve have created a Youtube channel both as a way for the Team to stay busy & for them to communicate with the outside world. Participation is highly encouraged and when Reader finds out Bucky hasn’t contributed to a single video yet, they enlists his help in testing out some life hacks.

“What are we doing again?” Bucky questioned. He was standing next to you in the makeshift recording Studio Tony had built in an unused office.

“Making a video for the Youtube channel.” You commented. You inventoried the items on the table in front of you and made sure you had everything you needed.

“And why are we doing that?” Bucky grumbled.

“Because Tony and Steve want everyone to contribute to the channel.” It would surprise no one that the idea to start an Avengers Youtube channel had been Tony Stark’s idea. Actually, the team had always had one, as far back as the early shield days. It was more for publicity. Things like showcasing highlights from non-classified missions, charity events and press conferences were the types of clips that were typically uploaded. There were even occasional interviews from new members as they joined the team.

After the virus had struck, Steve and Tony had been looking for more ways to connect with the public. Tony wanted to have a way to talk with civilians about the real science of everything. While Steve’s motivations were a little more home grown. He wanted to give people on the outside a chance to see what life was like for the Avengers. He wanted people to know that the team was just as suspectable to the virus as the public and that the public could have as much of an impact on fighting this thing as the Avengers did.

“Peter may have let it slip that you haven’t contributed one video to the channel since we started it months ago.” You explained to Bucky. “I know cameras aren’t exactly you’re thing so I figured you could help me out with my segment today. Plus, you’re my favorite.” You said before tapping him on the nose with your index finger. “Ready?”

“Do I have a choice?” He complained beside you. You nodded to Peter who was standing behind the camera and began the video’s intro.

“Hey everyone! It’s [Y/N] here with another segment of the Avengers Quarantine Fifteen! That’s where we give you a fifteen-minute glimpse into what it’s like here at the Avenger’s Compound in Washington, DC.! Today I have a special guest with me, in his Youtube debut, Sergeant Bucky Barnes!” You paused to indicate Bucky who was standing next to you.

“Hey.” He nodded to the camera and offered it an awkward half wave.

“Okay, everyone,” You said looking into the camera. “I know we’re all bored out of our minds. We’ve been quarantining or sheltering in place for what feels like forever! I have to admit I’ve become addicted to watch those weird life hack videos; Buck you know the ones I’m talking about?” You asked him.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He shrugged. He looked past the camera at Peter who tried to wave his attention away.

“Don’t worry you will very soon. For those of you at home who, like Bucky, have no idea what I’m talking about, a life hack is something that’s supposed to make things easier.” You explained.

“Like waterproofing your shoes with beeswax?” Bucky asked excitedly. “That really works!” He insisted.

“Yes, like that.” You nodded. “So today we’re going to be testing out if these internet hacks actually work in a little game I like to call Helpful or Hustle. Okay, here we go.” You pressed play on a video that you’d already queued up on your iPad.

“Is Parker just going to film us watching a video for fifteen minutes?” Bucky asked you with uncertainty. You couldn’t help but laugh.

“No.” You told him. “We’re gonna watch the hack first, then we’re going to try and recreate it.”

“But they can’t see it.” He commented pointing to the camera.

“They’ll see if after. In editing.” You assured.

“I’ll take care of everything Sergeant Barnes!” Peter called from behind the camera.

“There’s no way that works!” Bucky commented. Together the two of you watch the first hack where a woman deflated a balloon around a phone to act like a protective case. “They think because it’s made of rubber it’s going to protect…Do we have balloons?” He looked down at the table. I want to try this!”

You handed Bucky a balloon and an older cellphone that no one was using anymore. He began to inflate it immediately. At first it took Bucky a few tries to deflate the balloon like the woman in the video did. His initial attempts left him with a completely flat balloon, but after realizing he had to release the air more slowly, He had a rubber seal around the device. Bucky held the phone in his vibranium hand before letting it drop several feet the floor. You both heard the distinct sound of touch screen glass shattering.

“Well, Bucky, Helpful or Hustle?” You questioned as he bent down to pick the phone up.

“I think you already know the answer, [Y/N].” He said, holding the shattered screen for Peter to capture on camera. “I like this game. What’s next?”

“Back to the video.” You said, pointing to the iPad. You both watched the next “hack” Which involved filling a balloon with hot glue, tying it off and then using it as a sink stopper.

“I mean I guess that works.” He commented, scratching the back of his head. “But you know what else works?” He looked into the camera. “Fixing your sink so it has a stopper. If you can’t fix it yourself, hire a plumber. That’s a Hustle, next!” He pressed play again.

“I think you’re going to like this one.” You told him. You watch a video of someone blowing up a balloon using a water bottle, a funnel, vinegar and baking soda.

“Tell me we have the stuff to do this one.” He asked excitedly. “I very much want to know if this works.”

You and Bucky each picked up a balloon. You poured a cup of baking soda into each of the balloons using the funnel. You then filled the water bottle about halfway with vinegar. You had to guess with the measurements as the hack hadn’t provided them.

“Parker, you’re a science kid, is this safe?” Bucky asked Peter as you portioned out the vinegar.

“It’s what most schools use to make volcanos. Should be fine.” Peter nodded.

You and Bucky stretch the end of your balloons over the mouth of your water bottles. You nodded, and on your signal you both held up the balloon so that the baking soda dumped from the balloon into the vinegar. Almost immediately the balloons began to expand.

“[Y/N] look! It’s actually working!” Bucky exclaimed with disbelief.

“Well, I think this is as good a place as any to leave things. I’m afraid to see what happens when we try to remove these balloons. I’m [Y/N]…” You left a pause for Bucky.

“And I’m Bucky!” He said, thins time giving the camera an animated wave.

“This has been the Avengers’ Quarantine Fifteen!” You called, peering over your expanding balloon.

“Cut!” Peter said to let you both know he’d finished recording.

“That was great you guys!” Peter said enthusiastically. “Uh, [Y/N], you might want to take those things outside.”

“Good idea, Parker. I’ll take care of it.” Bucky offered. “Thanks for making me do this. I actually had a lot of fun. We should do it again sometime.” He collected both water bottles and carefully escorted them from the room.

“I have a few more things to film and then I can start editing. I’ll let you both know when it’s live.” Peter explained. You thanked him and started cleaning the room so it would be ready for the next person who needed it.

A little time passed, and you’d help some of the other team members film their own segments. You’d been staying busy doing other things too like raising a quarantine kitten. Yes, even the Avengers were not immune to the desire for new pets after being trapped inside. In hindsight trying to raise a tiny mammal in a giant military compound probably wasn’t a good idea, but you and Mittens were adjusting to each other. You’d almost forgotten about the segment you’d filmed with Bucky until Peter texted you the link one day.

You pressed play and started watching the video. You were surprised to see that Peter had been recording the banter between you and Bucky before you’d officially started filming. He kept every second of it in too, even the part where you booped Bucky on the nose and told him he was your favorite. You felt your cheeks get hot knowing the others were going to razz you about that later.

“Hey [Y/N]!” You heard someone calling your name down the hall. You poked your head out of your dorm room door. Bucky was walking towards you.

“Did you see Parker posted our video?” He pointed to his phone.

“Yeah, I was just watching it. What did you think?” You asked.

“I haven’t watched it yet. I’ve been reading the comments.” He told you. You scrolled through the commented on the video. Your eyes growing wide. It seemed the videos viewers liked seeing Bucky on the channel. They also seemed to really like you and Bucky together.

“I came to ask you, what does ‘Ship It’ mean?” He said.

“Where did you…” You assumed he’d read it in the comments and sure enough as you continued to read on there were plenty of posts with things like ‘Why and I shipping [Y/N] and Bucky so hard?’ and ‘I’m calling it, Bucky x [Y/N], I’ll go down with this ship and in this TED Talk…’

“Well, Bucky Ah…” You fumbled with your words trying to think of exactly how to explain the situation. “Shipping is an internet term for…”

“If you don’t want to tell me, I can just ask Parker or his friend…Ed?” He started to turn.

“No!” You caught him by the elbow. “Trust me, you do not want to ask anyone else about this one. Shipping is a term people use as a way to say they want two people to be a couple. Sometimes they’re already a couple or they may not be together any more and people aren’t ready to let that go. It’s usually about fictional characters but sometimes celebrities too.”

“Oh…Oh!” Bucky stared down at this phone with sudden realization. “So, when they’re saying that they Ship you and I, they’re implying…”

“That they want us to be a couple, yeah.” You nodded uncomfortably. You wished you could melt into the floor or fly away on a jet pack because the truth was, you’d always had a bit of a crush on Bucky. You never thought he’d be into you. You knew that the opinion of hundreds of people online wasn’t going to change anything, but at least someone else had seen a spark, as imaginary as it may be. “It’s a pretty common thing.” You added, trying to fill the awkward air. “Like I might say I ship Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson together because they seem really happy together. I don’t really know them, so it’s not really my place to say…”

“But I know us. So, would it be completely inappropriate for me to say that I also Ship us?” He questioned, looking up from his phone.

“Does being in a video on Youtube with the man you that gets tons of people commenting what a cute couple you’d make, so you’re both finally brave enough to admit that you have feelings for each other, count as a Life Hack?” You asked back.

“As usual, I have no idea what all of that meant, but I’m going to kiss you now okay?” He asked. You nodded ‘Yes’ in response.

#Bucky Barnes #Bucky Barnes x Reader #Bucky Barnes Fan Fic #Bucky Barnes Fan Fiction #Bucky Barnes FF #SSB21 #Star Spangled Bingo #Flash Bingo #Bucky Barnes Reader Insert #Star Spangled Bingo 2021 #SSB2021 #SSB Spring Flash2021

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ngame989 · 5 years

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“Onward” - TGG SVTFOE Fanfic Collection Ch. 7

Writing: @ngame989

Art: @toxicpsychox

Editing: @toxicpsychox, @seddm, an IRL friend

Alternate fic links - FFnet, AO3

Summary: Bloodlines clash over the past on the first anniversary of the Cleaving, while Star, Marco, and others try to focus on looking forward.

Comic Page

Masterpost

Sorry for the big delay. In the meantime, we did a pretty massive in-character RPish Q&A session taking place in the time of the fanfic collection storyline just before this chapter, so check that out here! Post-summer schedules are settling in now, so hopefully we can get back on track for regular updates. See below for the text, hope you enjoy!

“Think we should head back downstairs soon?”

Star poked her head out from the closet to find Marco had taken his hoodie off and spread himself akimbo on their bed, breathing heavily with his eyes closed. “We probably should,” she admitted, turning the swords she held in her hands over a few times. Her own blade was relatively simple compared to the ornate craft of Marco’s falchion, the Cleaver. That name seemed especially fitting now, since it was exactly one year ago today that their new world was created. She carefully set them against the wall, still in their protective sheaths. “Ooooor we could just use my messiness as an excuse for why it took us extra long to find these!” she drawled out dramatically, giving Marco a sly grin. He finally tilted his head towards her and opened his eyes, treating her to his soft warm gaze while she kicked off her tennis shoes and adjusted her old sky-blue dress. Their day had begun only a few hours ago, yet she was already feeling drained, and his slight wince when she dropped onto the mattress, reclining against a wall of pillows suggested he mirrored her sentiment. “You OK?”

“If your uncle’s hug didn’t break something, your aunt’s sure did,” Marco mumbled, testing his joints for injury with a grimace before scooting himself further towards her and dropping his head into her lap. Normally she’d be all for the rowdy family party going on right under their feet, but today felt like it should be their day too. Earthni was a wonderful place for sure, but today was the anniversary of so much more for her. The perfect bliss of loving Marco, the terror of losing Marco, the overwhelming sadness of missing Marco, the enrapturing contentment after reuniting with Marco...

“Marco, Marco, Marco…” she singsonged, thoughts leaking out into words. Her left hand caressed his cheek while she tangled the fingers of her right in his hair; he closed his eyes and nuzzled further into her contentedly. Her smile grew all the wider as she upped the ante, squishing his cheek and poking his mole then finally honking his nose. After a few moments of trying his best to ignore it he started lazily swatting her hands away, but she persisted nonetheless. This adorable face was hers for the booping, dangit!

“Star.” His tone was firm, but she knew better than to assume he meant it.

“Yes?” she innocently crooned.

He caught her wrists and held them away from him. “What are you doing?”

“Having fun, silly.” She wriggled free and got a sneak attack in, pinching both cheeks at once. When he went in for the counter, she pulled back so quickly that he slapped himself, causing Star to fall backwards onto the pillow clutching her sides and laughing. Marco lifted himself off of her and onto his knees, and she caught only a glimpse of his cocky smirk before he dove forward, pinning both her arms above her. “Oh no! You got me, Diaz! I am at your mercy. Whatever shall I do?” Try as she might to keep up the mock damsel in distress act, she failed to suppress her giggles. Only a second later, he released her hands and planted a quick kiss on her lips before resting his head on her shoulder. Her arms wrapped tightly around him. When she’d made the fateful decision to risk leaving everything else behind for Marco, this was why, this was what she couldn’t see herself living without.

“Star… ow…” Her grip slackened and he wheezed in relief. “You definitely… got that… from your dad’s side of the family.”

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly.

“Hello, dears.” Eclipsa’s voice rang from the doorway, catching them both off-guard. Marco yelped and rolled off of Star, flopping to the floor with a thud. “Don’t mind me, I was just sent up to see if you two were ready for your demonstration. I must say, everyone seems quite excited for it.”

“Oh heeeeeey, there’s the swords!” Star pointed with a totally convincing shocked expression. “Silly Marco, I told you they wouldn’t be under the mattress!”

Eclipsa laughed heartily enough to make the light purple hem of her summer dress sway around her. “There’s no need for excuses, dears. In my younger days, I would have killed to have Globby with me at even a single family outing. I’m not one to tattle on the tomfoolery of love. You should probably go, though, before any more Butterfly-Johansen friction spills over.”

“Uuuuugh,” Star groaned. Things had been pretty civil amongst all the various interdimensional families thus far, but she’d known it was only a matter of time before something happened. When she was a kid it was fun watching everyone punch each other off cliffs to vent their frustrations, but now it just seemed petty and pointless to her. Had they learned nothing from everything that happened? She helped Marco off the ground then grabbed their weapons for the exhibition spar that all their guests were apparently anticipating. He slid into his hoodie while she slipped back into her shoes, then they closed the door behind them and descended the stairs.

The Diaz living room was largely occupied by the Butterflies for the time being, while Star could hear the characteristic Johansen ruckus from the backyard. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could all just get along forever? Probably, but she could scarcely fathom how that might ever happen. She glanced around to find her mom trapped in conversation with Great-Aunt Etheria in the kitchen. Despite wearing more casual clothing, Mom was in total “queen” mode right now, politely tut-tutting at all of Etheria’s observations. Maybe that wasn’t the best term for it, but it was how Star had known her mother most of the time growing up. However, there was still no mistaking the strain in her expression: even the Queen Moon of her childhood couldn’t put up with Etheria for long, and Star had no idea how the mom she’d gotten to know in recent years could handle it for more than half a minute. When Etheria noticed Star’s presence and strutted towards the stairs, Star could see her mother breathe a slight sigh of relief before following.

“Ah, dearie, there you are. Come, come, let me see this magnificent blade I’ve heard so much about.” Eclipsa held it up, but the eldest Butterfly snatched it from her grip without even a glance before running her fingers all over the blade. “Fine craftsmanship, indeed… where did you get such a thing? I must commission the maker for a new display.”

“It was actually Buff Frog who recommended me an old friend of his, she’s really cool. She does experimental art with molten metal that’s really pretty-”

“Ah. Hmmph.” The woman handed the sword back to Star tersely. “Well, it is well-made, I’ll give it that.”

“Speaking of artistry,” Moon chimed in before Star could respond, “weren’t you saying something about Marco’s parents, Aunt Etheria?” Star and Marco glanced at each other anxiously.

The large woman perked up, scorn diminishing in an instant. “Oh yes, they’re wonderful. A poet and a sculptor, how splendid! It’s positively delightful to see such devotion to the most noble of endeavors. The graceful wielding of a blade or a brush are signs of a good temperament. I’m glad at least your family can appreciate the finer, more delicate things in life, boy.” Star cringed a bit, and out of the corner of her eye she could see Marco doing the same, but the tension she didn’t even know she had in her shoulders dropped. Despite the tone, it was nice that Marco was being accepted, but… yeesh. “Let’s get on with this display, shall we?” The group headed outside where the Diazes had taken advantage of their spacious backyard.

Star instinctively shielded her eyes with one arm, blocking out the blinding light of the sun. Two poles held a banner up above a table loaded with all kinds of meats and vegetables. ‘Butterfly-Johansen (and Diaz) Annual Picnic’. Marco’s parents had resisted inserting themselves for long enough that Star had scrawled the addition on herself. They were hosting the freaking thing, why shouldn’t they be an official part of it? The Butterflies who had followed them outside were audibly scoffing at the various Johansen men and women sweeping up armfuls of meats and jamming them into extra large tortillas that were still far too small for the task. Finally she found her dad, who was guiding cousin Rock through the various foods that had become a staple of his diet, and when he noticed her in kind he skipped over. “Star, honey, there you are! And Marco, my boy, tell me: did you have your first encounter with Grandpappy Bear? The man with the grey beard down past his knees?” Marco nodded at the clarification.

“Ha! My father used to tell me stories of how he’d vanquish foes by opening his arms to feign surrender. Many great men and women fell right for it- went for the hug and had the life squeezed right out of them!” His eyes narrowed intensely, getting right in Marco’s face, and Marco’s nose ruffled at the wild beard hairs.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Marco dryly responded. “My everything hurts.”

“Nonsense, lad. If you’re even still standing, you’ve done better than most! It’s like you’re part of the family already.” He clapped Marco on the back with a joyous laugh, and Star grabbed onto her boyfriend’s arm to keep him steady on his feet.

“Try not to break the boy,” Etheria sneered from the doorway behind them, joined by a few of Star’s aunts and uncles.

“They are quite talented at breaking things,” Heartrude murmured low enough that anyone farther away than Star probably wouldn’t hear.

“Aye, we’re just having fun with ‘em,” Aunt Crag hollered back. “From what Rivey tells me, he’s gonna be an honorary Johansen soon enough!”

Daaaaaaad. Star tried to bury the rising heat in her cheeks. While her brain was still putting itself back together, Marco had jumped between them with a nervous grin on his face. “So, swordfighting, huh? What’s the deal with that?”

“Yes, I suppose some entertainment is in order,” Etheria sighed. “Are you quite sure that we can’t stage a rousing game of Flags, Moon? After the last few cancellations due to…” Her gaze flickered to Eclipsa and Globgor briefly. “Circumstances on Mewni, and now the Butterfly Kingdom being dissolved altogether, I dare say some stress relief might do us all some good.”

“Hear, hear,” the Butterflies behind her chanted. Even a few Johansens were mumbling their assent, though they’d never be forthright with their agreement with the eldest Butterfly.

“Be that as it may,” Moon spoke up, “my decision still stands. If there’s anything I’ve learned these past few years, it’s the value of letting go of the past if it’s holding you back, and Flags, fun as it may be, just kept this feud going. We have our whole lives ahead of us. Perhaps it’s best if we can all learn to find that which binds us together.”

“She’s right,” one of the Johansen cousins added. Phew. Finally, maybe people were starting to see the sense in- “Since we don’t have to bother with politics anymore, maybe we just shouldn’t put up with them!” Oh for the love of- calm down, Star. Deep breaths. Though she tried to ignore it, a tiny voice in the back of her mind pondered those words carefully. Why were they trying to make the families get along? Sure, it’d be nice for its own sake, but it wasn’t like her parents were BFFs with any of their in-laws, either. Maybe it was selfish to think, but what did they get out of it?

As the tensions mounted more by the second, Star felt something prodding her clenched fists. She looked over her shoulder to see Eclipsa surreptitiously handing over her sword, while Marco already had been given his. Star took the hint. Too late to turn back now.

“EN GARDE, MARCO!”

***

To anyone else, the sun being blocked out completely in the middle of a summer afternoon would have been alarming, but for Eclipsa it was a most welcome sign. “Having fun, my love?” a deep voice boomed above her.

Globgor shrunk down to smaller than his default size, his form-fitting sweater vest and pants scaling appropriately, and dropped down on the grass next to his wife to hand her a cup of tea. She took a test sip: black, with milk and a generous serving of honey. He only ever put that much in when he thought there was something bothering her, and as always, he was correct. “I get the unfortunate feeling we’re not quite welcome among some of the clan, Globby. Especially those on our side. The Johansens seem quite fond of you, though.”

“Ehhhh.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re right, they’re definitely nice in their own way, but I think it’s only because I’m strong. They kept laughing about eating people, and said maybe Etheria would be a gourmet meal.”

“Well, that is a perfectly acceptable reason to like you, dear,” she crooned, placing her free hand on his arm. “But yes, that is… troubling.” It didn’t surprise her, really; it had taken her nearly a year to find her place within the small portion of the Butterfly family consisting of just Star and Moon. Eclipsa had accepted being an outcast from the remainder of it, given her supreme infamy in Mewnian lore, but it wasn’t in her nature to sulk, and in all fairness it had been a good year for them. Perhaps she hadn’t been the best at guiding her people safely through dangerous times, but she still had earned respect and camaraderie from much of Monstertown. Rebuilding the town after Mina’s destructive rampage had been a satisfying effort, and she still had far more time to enjoy the company of her family than she ever could have dreamed.

Taking another soothing sip, her gaze wandered over to the only other people she knew that needed this time to be together as much as she had. Star’s combat style was fierce, unrelenting chaos guided by warrior’s instinct, but Marco balanced it perfectly with a keen eye for when to defend and when to counter. Eclipsa had guessed where they’d end up from quite literally the first moment she’d met Star, and where they complemented each other perfectly as a team, they were equally matched as opponents. The shimmering steel clanged over and over, neither combatant spending more than a handful of seconds on the backfoot at a time. Marco deftly ducked under a ferocious two-handed swing and jabbed forward, so Star rolled with her momentum to dash backwards. She was about to back into a cactus behind her when Marco kicked off the ground and lunged towards her, grabbing her free hand and twirling her to the side, eliciting hoots and hollers from the enthralled crowd. They both giggled before squaring their stances, and combat resumed.

“They’re quite extraordinary, aren’t they?” Eclipsa turned away from the match in progress at the sound of Moon’s voice. Globgor extended an enlarged arm towards a chair leaning against a picnic table and dragged it over for her.

“They’ve both turned out to be some of the best of us. Even with all my strongest magic, I wouldn’t want to get between them. It looks like they could keep this up forever.”

Moon raised an eyebrow and folded her hands in her lap, sipping from a mug with an ornate floral pattern. Royal status or not, Moon had a taste for the finer things. “I wasn’t talking about the swordfight, Eclipsa.”

“Nor was I.” Eclipsa playfully smirked, and Moon conceded the point with the two sharing a knowing look.

Globgor shrunk and hopped onto Eclipsa’s shoulder, gathering some of her flowing green hair with his tail as a headrest and reclining into her neck. “Wouldn’t it have been nice to be like that at their age? We only ever had minutes at a time to ourselves, and it’s not like we could just use giant mirrors or big glowy portals to chat whenever we wanted.”

“True enough, my love, but Star had been devoting everything to keeping an entire kingdom afloat at age 15 for half a year, and Marco’s own service merited knighthood in less. Even if we debate the details, I’m not sure I envy them.” She gently ruffled his hair with her fingers. “And besides, we’ve had the last year, and however many more follow to do whatever we wish.”

Globgor smiled back up at her, hugging one of her fingers. “You’re right, dear. Oh Moon, that reminds me, how are those big plans you mentioned a few weeks ago?”

Moon crossed her arms, frowning slightly. “It’s not anything that big yet. I’ve... just been gathering some information. Wrathmelior was quite helpful in finding Historia Homewnum for me, it’s older than the Butterflies themselves. I don’t even know what I’m going to do with it yet, but I want to talk to Star first.” She turned away from Eclipsa and Globgor, gazing with a solemn smile towards her daughter who was laughing hysterically as she chased Marco down and tackled him into the grass, weapons forgotten. “How we look back on Mewni requires guidance from those looking most forward.”

“How do you look back on it, Moon?”

Her brow furrowed as she took one sip, then another, clearly lost in thought. By the time she spoke, the entire glass had been drained. “I’m not proud of many of the things I did, or even those I felt I had to do, in my time as queen, but it’s a legacy left behind nonetheless. The people of this world deserve to know it as it was, sometimes noble and sometimes flawed.” A shout of “why I never!” was heard from the distance, and everyone turned to see one of the younger Butterfly cousins hastily retreating from an encounter with Johansens. “Very flawed,” Moon sighed. “The Johansens at least mean well, in their own ways, but my side… well, let’s just say it’s a good reminder of why the Cleaving was necessary. My apologies for any trouble they’ve caused.”

Eclipsa laughed sardonically. “Until quite literally hundreds of years after she perished, my own mother would have drawn and quartered me just for being in love. Family problems are nothing new.”

Globgor hopped off her shoulder, enlarging as he pointed across the spacious yard closer to Moon and River’s yurt, which had become a veritable house in recent months. “Is that River?” Eclipsa squinted to block out the sunlight and get a better view, and sure enough he was locked in a struggle with Heartrude, who was trying to wrestle a large drumstick out of River’s teeth.

“In all fairness, Moon, the Diazes are excellent chefs. I wouldn’t blame anyone for that level of passion over the catering,” Eclipsa sniggered.

“For heaven’s sake…” Moon grumbled while dragging her hands down her face. “River!” She darted off towards the scene, leaving Eclipsa and her husband alone once more.

A few of the others glanced over their way, but none responded. Globgor grew a little more and stretched his limbs before sprawling himself out on the ground, yelping sheepishly when his actions knocked the chairs over. That’s my Globby. Eclipsa giggled and jumped over the wreckage into his arms, using his chest as a pillow. They both loved their daughter more than anything, but time for just the two of them was always welcome. “There are certain advantages to not having much of an audience…” he said, chuckling and gently pulling her closer for a kiss. When she’d first started secretly dating monsters in her youth, the Mewman lore had maintained that size-shifters were clumsy oafs when large and insidious creeping vermin when small, and that was saying something since the pages written about the middle ground weren’t exactly flattering either. No matter his outward appearance, he always knew how to handle her with precision and grace, and they’d worked up a complete comfortability with the shifts in their daily lives. One of Globgor’s favorite amusements was trying to solve any mundane issue he could with only size-shifting, leading to some incidents such as the shelving unit they’d had to rebuild after he tried expanding in a confined space to reach some baking ingredients at the top, but it never failed to amuse her. They flirted in the grass until they’d lost count of the minutes, uncaring of who may have been looking at their innocent (by their standards) shenanigans, until the sunlight in the corner of Eclipsa’s eye went dark once more.

The moment that it took for Globgor to stop being distracted by her kisses lasted about as long as the time it took her to recognize that the usual cause of this was already beneath her, and both snapped to attention together. “Gotcha! Now we’re even-steven,” Star gloated.

All four eyes below her blinked a few times. “Um, it’s Globgor, not Steven.” The other three looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. “What, what’s so funny?”

“Nothing, darling,” Eclipsa responded. They both stood up, brushing any stray grass marks off their clothing. “Excellent fight, dears, though I’m afraid I was too, ahem, preoccupied to catch the ending. Who won?”

“Star did,” Marco said.

She poked him in the cheek, beaming with pride and doing a little dance. “First time, too! I was like, swing, swing, slash and I did this really cool twirl and knocked it right out of Marco’s hands. I did it!”

He wrapped an arm around her affectionately, which also served to calm her antics. “I was off-balance from pulling you away from the cactus,” he mumbled, rolling his eyes.

“Love made you weak, Diaz, but I love you for it.” She nuzzled into his shoulder and he rested his head against hers. “Anyway, how are things going for you guys?” Star wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at them.

“The party is delightful. It’s so nice to get to celebrate with everyone, even if there’s the occasional spot of friction.” It wasn’t worth troubling Star and Marco over; this celebration was in service of them, in a way.

“The Butterflies don’t seem to like us too much, and I think the Johansens like us for not so great reasons,” Globgor ever so helpfully stated. Well, there goes that idea.

Star growled under her breath. “Why are they always like this? It seemed like things were turning around after the last Flags,” she moaned.

Marco shrugged his shoulders. “Eh, sometimes old grudges last a long time. I remember Uncle Miguel didn’t speak to his wife, Aunt Juanita, for 15 whole years because of a stolen enchilada. She’d even bought him one the next day, too. Probably explains why Cousin Bobby is a bit weird.”

Star puffed up her cheeks in indignation. “OK, I know this isn’t the point, Marco, but every story about your extended family just makes me want to meet them even more.”

“Maybe once the government sorts out all the passport stuff,” Marco said, “and maybe on their own, too. I’m glad your family likes my parents, but I’m, uh, not so sure how they would all get along.”

“Good to know.”

“Can’t you just eat like a well-behaved member of society!” The group heard from a distance away.

“I don’t want to be part of any society that has someone do the chewing for them!”

More and more Butterflies and Johansens clustered together in the center of the yard; it seemed like this whole debacle was about to reach critical mass. Eclipsa surveyed the scene carefully: Moon and River were trying ineffectually to calm it, and the Diazes watched from the sidelines, babies in tow. It seemed like they were the only ones left in action. Marco gathered them into a huddle, with Globgor shrinking down to the appropriate size. “Alright, how do we figure this out?”

“Families bicker sometimes, darling,” Eclipsa offered somberly. “Perhaps them getting along just isn’t meant to be.”

“I don’t get it, though! Okay, fine, they’re annoyed by each other, but who isn’t annoyed by family sometimes? Heck, even Marco grates on me when he says I should ‘eat less sugar’ and ‘eat something besides sugar’ and ‘stop pouring sugar into my soda until it becomes a thick paste’! Have you ever seen the nutrition labels on the Sugar Seeds you eat too?”

“Hey…” Marco pouted.

Globgor raised a hand. “Well, Star, healthy eating is an important-”

“Not the time!” she growled.

Marco squeezed her shoulder, which calmed her down enough for him to speak. “Well, when Uncle Miguel and Aunt Juanita’s feud finally ended, it was because his brother stole one of his enchiladas and then gave it back, so they made up really quickly. I guess that helped him realize he didn’t even know why he was still being so mean about it. So maybe if we just got them to realize their issues are normal…”

“They could just be annoyed by each other normally,” Star finished. “Marco, you brilliant man, you.”

Folding her hands in contemplation, Eclipsa finally spoke. “All well and good, but how? Even though my time was 300 years ago, I don’t think much has changed in just how stubborn any of these royal families can be. They’re not just going to give up hating each other so easily.”

Globgor’s tail swished up against her in excitement. “Remember when you helped me become a vegetarian?”

“Yes, of course.”

“For a while, I still thought about eating Mewmans every single day, so you made all those veggie-filled scarecrows for me to find. They weren’t that good.”

“Not my best work, I admit.”

“But being able to still have some way of scratching that itch was what helped the most, and now it’s not even a problem anymore!”

“So you’re saying we just need a way to still let out all their aggression without doing any serious damage, then. Globgor, you brilliant man, you.”

Rafael and Angie poked their heads in between Marco and Globgor. “If I may contribute a suggestion…” he said.

“Aaaa!” The other two couples stumbled back in shock.

“Sorry, we heard you from over there and we had an idea. You’re not that good at being quiet,” Angie laughed, ruffling Star’s hair.

“When I was growing up,” Rafael continued, “we used to always play silly games in the backyard and everyone got very competitive over it. I think I have some of the equipment still in the shed. Maybe a friendly competition is in order?”

“I love it!” Star shouted, her eyes lighting up with joy. She stuck her hand into the middle of the group, grinning fiercely at the gathered crowd. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s stop our families from killing each other over petty grudges. Globgor, lift all the equipment. Nachos can help too, she should be coming back from her afternoon stroll right about now. Mr. Diaz, set it all up. Eclipsa, Mrs. Diaz, plan the rules of the competition. Marco, let’s go try to distract my family. Team Family on three!” Regardless of whether it would work, Eclipsa felt quite enthusiastic about this as well. She couldn’t say whether it would work, or how it might impact her own standing within the group, but the simple fact that there even seemed to be a chance to set things in the right direction for Star’s family at all was far more than she’d ever had the chance to do in her past.

“Alright, on three,” Eclipsa said, leading the charge. “One, two, three, family!”

***

Marco followed Star across the yard, needing to jog to keep up as she pulled him forward by the hand into the center of the ruckus. Moon and River had their backs to each other as they tried to keep the seething rage from either side at bay, but a few people had already crossed the battle lines and an all-out brawl was beginning to erupt.

“Don’t worry Mom and Dad, we got this,” Star confidently shouted over the din. Admittedly, Marco was a bit less certain than she was that this would work. He was the odd one out in terms of his upbringing, and Star’s families honestly spooked him a little bit with their intensity. The Diazes were quirky, sure, but like most other things on Mewni, this whole situation just seemed amped up to 11 all the time. Still, he wanted to see it through for Star’s sake, if nothing else. So much of what they’d gone through was due in some way or another to family disputes, it was very clearly a personal affront to her. “Alright, everyone, settle down!” Didn’t work. “Butterflies! Johansens! Could you please just stop-” Even at the top of her lungs, nothing changed.

River pushed her back a step. “Don’t worry, sweetie. I’ve got this.” He inhaled enough air that his bare chest visibly expanded. “QUIETTTTTTTTTTT!” Dead silence hung in the wake as every member of the families turned their full attention towards Star, Marco, and her parents. One Johnasen even paused mid-headlock of Heartrude. “Listen to my daughter speak!”

“Thanks dad. Hello, everyone!”

“Hello, Star,” the crowd mumbled hesitantly.

“Butterflies, Johansens, I know you both have your differences. I know that nothing I’m going to say will make you just get along forever. But I have a question for you. Uncle Heartrude, you hate the Johansens for how they eat, but haven’t you ever been annoyed whenever Uncle Jimothy uses salad forks for meat?”

“Well, yes, but I don’t see how-”

Star pointed directly at one of her larger cousins, and even just a sideways look at the fire in her sapphire eyes inspired him as well. “And Boulder, didn’t you once say Rock was a snooty little pebble for waxing his shoulder-horns twice a day?”

“Aye, I did.” His thick brow furrowed and his voice came out a bit muffled from behind his enormous brown beard.

“But you still love each other like brothers, so why are you still trying to break Heartrude’s leg right now?”

“Oi, I guess I am,” he said, letting go of Heartrude’s leg. “Sorry about that.”

Star squeezed Marco’s hand in hers hard enough that he could feel her pulse beating rapidly in exhilaration.

“So sure, we all get mad sometimes. But instead of trying to kill each other over it, let’s just settle it like we would any regular family feud. With friendly, non-lethal competitive fun!”

River tapped her on the shoulder. “Um, sometimes the Johansens do actually settle them by-”

“Not now, Dad,” she forced out through gritted teeth.

“Right-o, dear.” He quickly hustled back to Moon, who was watching with a proud but cautious smile.

Etheria shoved her way through the crowd and confronted Star face to face. “That may all be well and true, but the Johansens spoiled our royal bloodline-”

“That was my own choice, thank you very much, Aunt Etheria,” Moon huffed, hugging River closer to her.

“Besides, I’m proud to be a Butterfly and a Johansen,” Star continued. “And so what if it’s not what you wanted for the ‘royal bloodline’? Earthni to Etheria, we’re not even royals anymore! Who cares about some stupid bloodline when my mom was able to actually be happy?"

“Traditions are important, child. Now, I’ll grant you that we no longer hold claim to a royal throne, but neither do you, so why should we listen to you anymore?” A few murmurs were heard among the Butterflies and Johansens both. How ironic that the first time all day they could agree on something was on their right to hate each other.

“Because… because…” Star floundered for the first time in her speech. Her hand trembled in Marco’s, and the Star he knew and loved wouldn’t have faltered until hope seemed almost completely lost. He had to do something. Think, Marco, think… the Johansens respected might, the Butterflies respected prestige, what did any of them have that could appease both? They were so upset about Flags being cancelled in the first place because both wanted its bragging rights so badly. Wait… that’s it!

Alright Diaz, you got this. Marco stood tall and squeezed Star’s hand back to let her know it was OK. “Because I, Marco Ubaldo Diaz, am the reigning Flags champion, and I say to do what Star says!”

“Marco, what the horse-flipping heck-” Star wheeled on him incredulously, but he quickly turned her back towards the crowds. Their gazes roved over the faces in the crowd. All of the fight had left them. His gambit had worked.

“Huh,” Star uttered matter-of-factly, still in shock. “What would I do without you, Marco?” she whispered to him under her breath, and his heart fluttered as it always did. “Alright, listen up, people! This isn’t about epic conflicts or generational feuds. You’ve got a problem with someone? Challenge them to a short, safe, and fun game to settle that score. Marco’s parents and Eclipsa and Globgor are in charge of the event planning. They’ll help you set everything up. May the best person at resolving all their conflicts win! Welcome to the first annual...”

“Game of Yards!” Star and Marco triumphantly shouted in unison.

“Remember to have fun!” Star shouted before tugging Marco’s hand away once more, but she steered them away from his parents and then further away from the entire party.

“Um, Star, what are you- where are we going?”

“Can we talk about something? I need to get away for, like five seconds.” Marco hadn’t heard her sound that exasperated in a while.

“Yeah, of course, let’s decompress. Anywhere special you wanted to go?”

Her gaze frantically darted around them. She’d taken them back towards the forest, near the edge of the territory their parents had acquired. “I don’t know, I just kinda walked. How about there?” she asked, pointing to a small hill in a clearing, covered by the shade of some Mewnian oak trees (thankfully, the benign sort). Marco nodded, and they both went over found a suitable spot.

“What’s on your mind?”

Star shifted restlessly after sitting on her legs. He tried to convey as much support as he could through the gentle caress of her hand laced with his. Even from hours after they’d met, he’d always been ready to be right beside her when she needed, and that resolve had only strengthened as the years went by. Once she’d gathered her thoughts, she began to speak. “Who am I, Marco?”

Of the many ways he’d thought this conversation could open, this wasn’t exactly one of them. “Huh?” was all he could mutter.

“It’s just… Etheria’s right. I’m not a princess anymore, and when all that went down I just wanted to be a normal teenager, but I’m not gonna be a teenager forever either, you know?”

“I understand.”

“Yeah, but when you turned down Eclipsa’s knighthood, already had a plan for stuff you wanted to do. Didn’t you say you wanted to go to college and all that junk? You can do that now since you finished high school, right?”

“Mhmm.” Marco fell back onto the grass, resting both his arms on his chest and staring up into the clear purple sky. “I- I guess I haven’t thought about it much since then, either. Mom told me that the college she teaches at was still taking students, and it’s still really close to home, and- and I thought about signing up but I wasn’t sure.”

She plopped down beside him, rolling over to face him and taking one of his hands in hers. “You should! Marco, whatever you want to do, you’ll be amazing at it because you’re Marco Diaz, and I’ll be right there every step of the way.”

“Thanks, Star.”

“I never had anything like that. I didn’t think about it too much when I was a kid, and then I was gonna be a queen because, well, that’s what princesses did. And then the first moment that I seriously got to thinking about what I wanted, kablam-o! Solarian warriors attack, magic’s gone, and Earth and Mewni merge. Once the craziness finally stopped, all I could think about was being with you. Don’t get me wrong, the past year just being with you and doing whatever we want has been incredible, but now I just need to figure out what else is out there for Star Butterfly, and honestly...” She squirmed uncomfortably and scooted closer into him, resting her head on his chest. “I’m scared, Marco. I know I need to ‘find my calling’, or whatever Mr. Candle might call it, but I have no idea how, and I don’t want to lose this either.” Her arms buried underneath him and held him closely. There was a bit of dampness that Marco could feel seeping its way into his hoodie, and that caused a few empathetic tears to well up in his own eyes.

He brushed them away with a sleeve and then hugged her tighter to him, leaning down to kiss her forehead. “We won’t, Star. Ever. Even if it takes a year, or ten, or a hundred years, or even if you never find some perfect job you want to do forever and ever, that’s fine! As long as you’re happy and fulfilled, that’s all that matters, and I’ll do whatever I can to help. Promise.” They rested in silence for a few moments, holding each other closely as thoughts of potential futures whirred in Marco’s mind.

Her chin lifted up and dug into his chest as she stared at him. “Any ideas?” Those Earth-sky-blue eyes that had filled him with a sense of purpose for so long now implored him to return the favor.

“Well, you’re not a princess anymore, but… maybe the stuff you liked doing as a princess could help? You’re a natural leader, you inspire people to be better than themselves, you worked so hard to make Mewni a better place.”

“Marcoooooo,” she crooned, and he lovingly pecked the blushes rising on both of her cheeks.

“For real, Star, you’re the coolest person ever, you could do whatever you put your mind to. Not long after we first met, you were terrified of all the princess duties, and you ended up figuring out how to do them the Star Butterfly way. Just remove the ‘princess’ part of it, and figure out whatever else you’re gonna do the Star Butterfly way.”

A teasing smirk rose on her face. “Weeeeell, I can think of at least one thing, mister…” she booped his nose with hers, and it was his turn for a fiery blush to arise. “You’re so cute to tease. Have you ever thought about what would happen if none of it happened? Like, if I never stopped being a princess and then I had to be queen someday.”

“A little? That whole year on Mewni was kinda a bit weird and all, with the squiring, and…” His voice dropped to a mumble. “Figuring out how I felt about you.”

“Right back atcha, there. But what if we’d still done all that, just without completely changing the world?”

“Being a knight would have been really cool, I guess, but the whole Lifelong Post thing… kinda weird. Maybe I could’ve been one without it, or something? Or maybe I’d have just picked you, officially,” he said, poking her nose. “A knight and princess being together is a story that’s, like, 1000 years old, after all.”

“That’s really sweet, Marco, but… nah,” Star dismissed him, turning over to stare at the same sky he was, folding his hands inside hers.

“Nah?”

“Nah. You wouldn’t have been a knight for long.”

“Oh yeah? How come?”

“If I was still a princess, then you’d be my prince.”

He jerked upward out of instinct, only stopping because of the weight on his chest. “Uh, Star? I, um, I don’t think that’s how noble ranks, um-” Stream of consciousness took over while he scrambled to collect his shattered thoughts.

“Princesses can do what they want, silly. I’d declare you Marco Diaz, Prince of Echo Creek, and your mom and dad could get little crowns, and there’d be all sorts of ridiculous contracts to sign. You’d be free to whatever you wanted on Earth, too! But we could still be together.” Her head tilted up and her eyes met his once more. “Forever.” The determination in those pools reflected love at him, and even with the impact from the gravitas of her statement, it still just felt natural, it felt right, like everything with Star always seemed to. She leaned upwards to kiss him, slow and soft and sweet as her hands ran over his face and through his hair as his reciprocated. When they finally broke apart, Star sat up, and the Sun framed her hair in the most beautiful way; Marco found himself needing a few more moments than usual to catch his breath. “I’ll always love you, Marco.”

“No matter what, Star, I’ll always love you too. Now come on,” he said, pushing off the ground to a standing position. “Let’s go win some Yards, my princess.”

“We just had a moment, Diaz. You get a pass, this one time… my prince.” She puffed up her cheeks indignantly, but a radiant smile cracked the facade almost immediately, clearly as lighthearted and giddy as he’d ever known her to be, and he felt much the same.

Their fingers intertwined as they dashed away towards their home once more, looking forward to finding their place in the world and - more importantly, perhaps - tag-teaming to kick some butt.

#starco #svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #globclipsa #tgg svtfoe #fanfic

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cruddyborderlandstheories · 5 years

Text

alright well i work best under pressure so given that i now have an hour and 20 minutes before i start a voice call with someone i think it’s the perfect time to do that one video analysis so i can actually start finishing up that maya post... man i really should’ve pumped that shit out earlier, but i kept procrastinating until we got new info. then more new info. and i mean we DO have lots of new updated info, bc i have a whole thing in there about Punk girl i gotta edit out now lmao

anyway

Zane Flynt? this trailer killed me, it’s the only thing i’ve watched all day. like. on repeat.

ive said it before and ill say it again, 3 months ago i call zane attractive on reddit and get ridiculed but then we find out he’s an irish bastard and everyone jumps on the fuck train

anyway

elpis is looking good and not explody/teleporty, so that’s always a good sign

so the locale plus the twang immediately had me thinking of lynchwood but that’s not right

the bar itself looks a lot like that mine area we see, so i’d be willing to guess it’s nearby, you know, if it’s an area in the game at all lmao

like the windows are similar plus the wood

the bar itself is giving me some mixed signals here, but im gonna bet it was taken over by the CoV from the crimson raiders (recruitment banner, but then the CoV logo is on the wall/screen over there)

That, plus the rose on the counter next to Zane seems sus

another mine looking building in the back

also lmao

it’s time to enter the BONEEEE ZONNEEE

no more DAHL dumpsters? F

okay this area looks super familiar

that plus the varkids, this is 100% the same place as this

which is interesting

looks like Zane’s been hanging out on Pandora for a while... kinda upset we didn’t hear about his brothers at all in this trailer, but it was still fuckin hilarious and well worth the wait

those canisters? vats? look like the ones near the burger launcher vid hang on

also some in the back here

so yeah more than likely the same area

also

`lines up the perfect shot`

`completely missed both shots`

lovey, bravo, champagne, sloooow clap

anyway i’d wager this is an old dahl mining camp? probably mining for iridium

you can see the

conveyor belt thingie here

and also all the minecarts and rails are very reminiscent of the caustic caverns

which probably would have dropped iridium into the vat below it, if said vat wasn’t tipped over onto its side

more shots of the building he’s in

closeup of the rails. which, weird as it sounds, is really great to see because sometimes in bl2 and even tps when you got super close up to a texture, it wouldn’t look too hot, even on the best settings. the textures in 3 are so CRISP i love them

varkid 🤮 i hate bugs. model looks fantastic tho! i just... hate bugs

see the camera is flipped upside down, so miles this cultist is not falling, he’s rising- he’s being lifted up

how nice

im getting percy jackson flashbacks here. this is 100% how clarisse shoved percy into the toilet, right?

with the way the cultist isn’t even trying to get out im afraid zane just shoved a corpse into the dook hut. i mean all the power to ya, man

he’s stuck

also

this building in the back is new

i won’t say it

you know what im thinking

i won’t say it

i promise

~smile~

there’s also what i think is a smiley face sticker on the wall to his right

water physics lookin fine 👌

also the way zane jumps back. bonelesspotter i know you read these, are you picking up what i’m putting down?

MAGIC CUP MAGIC CUP ALL HAIL

see the lack of drink is supposed to parallel hi s lack of companio- im sorry hahahaaha i can’t do this

rose. it’s a SIGN

there’s so much going on in the background here lemme just

im sitting here like >:( because i know i’ve seen that type of wall before and for the life of me can’t remember where

my brain is screaming sanctuary

the actual middle piece looks super familiar

is that what they attach the out of bounds turrets to? possibly.

this bit

also it looks like there’s a dam or something in the back back?

tbh im a lot more interested in the skyway all the way at the top, it reminds me a lot of bloodshot ramparts

cuz it also used to be a skyway

also zane is doing his pose for the main menu screen of the game

and i would say it’s possible this could’ve been the main menu, but the cliff is different, and there’s supposed to be a boxcar/shipping crate on the right (as when u go to options it moves over to it)

more vats! what is the deal with this mine? why is it featured so heavily in this video gearbox tell me your s e c r e t s

you’d think, with zane being the one who’s been around the proverbial block over his years, he’d be on multiple planets throughout his entire trailer. but like 80% of it is pandora. maybe the other VHs are getting featured on other planets? at least he has a reason to be on pandora outside of the main story (maybe looking for his brothers, maybe trying to piss on their graves, who knows)

i don’t know what he’s reaching for but uh

perhapeth the blades are activated by swinging his arm out? could be a hold over from when they were like... actual metal blades and needed to be knocked out into position

i love that he returns the wave after shoving this guy off the cliff

it’s not like he can see you man

go off i guess though

some bar on eden-6 (finally! a new planet!) also i like that the theme here is zane getting into fights in bars. good shit boys

get wrecked kid

i really like the design of this building. i love the windows. maybe part of jakobs manor? looks like maybe it’s a greenhouse or smth given it’s in this garden/courtyard area

which should look somewhat familiar

looks very similar to this area, but it doesn’t look like there’s a building on the left in this shot. maybe they added it in for the trailer 🤷‍♂️

the trees behind the big one (and next to the iron wrought fence) match up perfectly tho

i just really like this shot ngl

i love these fuckign expressions i cant

Friend

okay im sorry here’s a smiley boy

the facial animations are so fucking good this time around

that is all i am doing.

just appreciating the new animations.

SOMEONE HELP THIS TINY MAN HE’S TRAPPED IN A SQUARE

fuck dude we didn’t deserve this man

MAGIC CUP MAGIC CUP ALL HAIL

seriously tho, the glass is gone. idk where it went. im just gonna pretend he was practicing that one iconic Kingsman scene while talking to himself and providing us with flashbacks

manners.

maketh.

man.

also this is my new favorite reaction image

it’s ‘perfect in every way’

you want more booze?

what are your thoughts on the new guns?

where’d you hide the body?

(it’s in the dumpster)

also unlike the magic cup

the rose is still here

Cultist coming to see why the windows of their bar are glowing neon yellow and blue im sure

>shit

it’s cool to know the clone can actually emote

given in the So Happy Together it was basically an expressionless blue demon

still no cup. all hail

some more CoV graffiti!

boops

i am sad we didn’t get to see zoomer in this video at all

zoomer is cute

i like zoomer

anyway

that’s all for the trailer folks

i love the implication that he’s just sitting in this empty CoV bar, talking to himself, waiting for someone to notice and come confront him so he can kick their asses.

anyway this post 100% wasn’t an excuse to rewatch the entire trailer frame by frame or anything

maya post coming soon! wahoo

also i have 10 minutes left lmao nice

#borderlands #borderlands 3 #bl3 #zane flynt

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laufire · 2 years

Text

Various Supernatural icons (61 in total) from Dabb’s era (season 12, part 2 of 2).

Do not edit them or claim as your own. Like/reblog if you use them or save them. Credit is appreciated. More on my icons page.

[12x11. Rowena with a deck of cards, wearing a poker face.]

[12x11. Rowena standing between Sam and Dean, examining an amnesiac Dean.]

[12x11. Dean, losing his memories, with tears looking at the mirror.]

[12x11. Rowena handing a ragdoll to Dean.]

[12x11. Rowena booping Dean’s nose.]

[12x11. Dean’s expression when Rowena boops his nose.]

[12x11. Dean holding a gun and a post-it that says “witch killing bullets”.]

[12x11. Rowena and Dean laughing after rescuing Sam.]

[12x11. Dean lying over a mechanical bull.]

[12x12. Crowley holding the two broken pieces of Michael’s pear, saving Castiel.]

[12x12. Castiel, healed, with his eyes shining blue.]

[12x13. Close-up to Rowena with furious tears in her eyes as she tells Crowley she sent his son to die as revenge for her surrogate son.]

[12x13. Crowley and Rowena sitting side by side.]

[12x13. Crowley’s faraway look after hearing Rowena’s explanation.]

[12x15. Kevin, an angel smiling at Castiel and asking him to join the other angels in the search for Kelly, complimenting him.]

[12x15. Castiel’s suspicious side-eye to Kevin.]

[12x16. Claire’s delighted smile. She’s wearing plaid.]

[12x16. Claire posing as a fed with a ponytail.]

[12x16. Claire looking to the side, with blue-green headphones in her neck.]

[12x16. Close-up to Claire with her headphones pulled down, around her head, looking around with trepidation.]

[12x16. Claire with tears in her eyes, after she’s been bitten by a werewolf.]

[12x16. Claire with a white tank top and a sweater falling down her shoulders, her hair down.]

[12x16. Claire examining the bite on her shoulder in the mirror.]

[12x16. Claire with puffed eyes.]

[12x16. Claire with werewolf yellow eyes, fangs, and blood around her mouth.]

[12x16. Claire smiling after she’s called Jody.]

[12x16. Mick as a kid, with some blood on his neck for killing his friend under orders.]

[12x17. Eileen smiling, sitting in the bunker with beers.]

[12x17. Kelly’s worried expression.]

[12x17. Eileen hugging Sam for comfort.]

[12x17. Dean smiling as he holds the Colt once again.]

[12x19. Dean returning the mixtape he made to Castiel to him (the icon is a close-up to their hands).]

[12x19. Kelly’s look of wonder after Jack saves her life.]

[12x19. Kelly putting Castiel’s hand on her belly, the two of them looking down.]

[12x19. Castiel’s smile as he feels the baby kick.]

[12x19. Close-up to Castiel’s hand over Kelly’s belly.]

[12x19. Dean pressing Castiel against a wall.]

[12x19. Kelly stealing the Impala.]

[12x19. Castiel’s eyes shining with the power Jack gave him.]

[12x19. Castiel’s eyes shining gold.]

[12x20. Tasha Banes smiling.]

[12x20. Max Banes biting his lip.]

[12x20. Alicia and Max smiling at who they think is their mother.]

[12x20. Doll!Tasha and Alicia smiling with their heads put together.]

[12x20. Max with a cheeky expression.]

[12x20. Dean smelling his glass of wine.]

[12x20. Alicia’s skeptic look.]

[12x20. Dean smiling and raising his glass.]

[12x20. Close-up to a dead Alicia, with blood running down the side of her mouth, eyes closed looking peaceful.]

[12x20. Max, in a pink light, holding a book to transfer Alicia’s self into another doll, dooming his soul.]

[12x20. Doll!Alicia looking up at Max.]

[12x20. Max setting the house on fire to leave no traces, Alicia’s body along with it.]

[12x22. Mary smiling down at the fake Sam of her mind-trap.]

[12x22. Dean’s livid stare at Mary, telling her he hates her.]

[12x22. Dean with tears in his eyes, telling her he also loves her, trying to awake her from mind control.]

[12x23. Kelly pressing two fingers to her lips to send a kiss to Jack, with tears in her eyes, as she records a video for him.]

[12x23. Castiel kissing Kelly’s forehead.]

[12x23. Kelly illuminated by golden light when she stars giving birth to Jack.]

[12x23. Crowley, in the Apocalypse World, before he makes his final sacrifice.]

[12x23. Castiel with light coming out of his eyes, mouth, and chest when Lucifer stabs him in the back and kills him.]

[12x23. Jack, just born and looking like a young adult, in the dark, with his face obscured and his eyes shining gold.]

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podmusical · 4 years

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The Left Hand of Dankentness

Credits and Lyrics for Episode 9 of Our Dumb Universe

starring:

Announcer - James B Kennedy Feltina - Christina Pumariega Huphalumpagus - Rachel Flynn Beep - Kerry Ipema Sondra - Lauren Lim Jackson Dankent - Nathaniel Kent Valborg - Emily Gardner Xu Hall Pangla - Melissa Lusk Fuzzo - Jared Loftin Boop - Melissa Lusk Bloor - Carl Howell Null Ship - Jenni Putney Null Trooper - Fatt Booger Cuddle Cup Voice - Jenni Putney Kvold - Happy Anderson

written by Jonathan A. Goldberg music by Matt roi Berger

recorded, mixed and edited by Martin Fowler

__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/

JUMP, DUNK, AND WHALE!

FUZZO In the fields of Minnesota, August ’92 The greatest mall ever designed was set to open soon With a cinnabon, an ice rink and rainforest cafe Twas the peak of architecture both then and today But someone was up to something So made that he was jumping around! The ghost called Spring Heeled Jack Planned to tear this mall right back to the ground Spring Heeled Jack’d been reading Marx for a non-credited course And he got some big ideas he planned to test by force But little did he know, two heroes happened to be In attendance at the ribbon cutting ceremony Forward for the Utah Jazz, The Mail Man, also known as Karl Malone! And with his Orca Dan, Underwater main man Jacques Cousteu Oh you know they’re gonna Jump Dunk and Whale! As Spring Heeled Jack unveiled himself to assail The structure of the mall, our two heroes split the throng and prepared. Well Jacques and Karl shared a look that said let’s go And Jacques threw some ninja sea stars at that jumpy ghost And then Karl grabs a basketball from who know where He passes it to Dan before he takes to the air A perfect Ally Oop Dan’s pass a perfect swoop and a dunk Right on to Jackie’s head That’s when that ghosty said “i’m sunk!” Because they’re gonna Jump Dunk and Whale A dream team’s your means to prevail They brought it to the post to send that springy ghost to jail Yeah you gotta, Jump Dunk and Whale When you team up you just can’t fail Gotta double team your troubles, get your power doubled to prevail! Yeah you gotta, Jump Dunk and Whale When you team up you just can’t fail Gotta double team your troubles, get your power doubled to prevail! __/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/ A COMPLICATED PLAN VALBORG Everyone listen close, let’s have another go At heart this plan is simple-ly complicated Eventually we’ll warp fold deep into Null space But first we’ll make some major changes: PANGLA / FUZZO / HUPH / FELTINA / SONDRA Switching it up ship wide Slipping into disguise Pitch a tent with sting lights Circus ship we’ll look like Truth they’ll never surmise Catch the Null by surprise Oh oh oh oh! VALBORG That’s right and then part two we use a magic act Distract the Null from what we’re really doing Dankent and Sondra will set up a net field trap With lasers on a local moon While Huph performs and Kvold enjoys The net is shot and hits Disabling the power to the ship PANGLA / FUZZO / HUPH / FELTINA / SONDRA In the dark and chaos Power loss is causing Valborg will deposit Drugs into their water Fuzzo will spread Gossip Pass out the narcotics Ai Ai Ai Ai! VALBORG This plan has many parts and nothing must go wrong If we miss a single step, we can kiss our butts so long Every cog that’s in this clock, require laser focus and total calm ... VALBORG Once all the Null are drugged, we slip into phase 3 Bloor and Pangla sneak aboard the Null Treasure Ship We all will follow, one by one, we’ll say we need To find the loo and take a piss The Fartknocker we’ll find and board And speed out on our way! Alive a free to head straight for the Brain! ALL This plan has many parts and nothing must go wrong If we miss a single step, we can kiss our butts so long If we can pull it off, they’ll sing our name in song VALBORG So one more time, go: PANGLA / FUZZO / HUPH / FELTINA / SONDRA Slipping into disguise Circus ship we’ll look like Felt and Huph do magic Null are all distracted Laser net is set, shot Big ship is catch caught In the dark and chaos Valborg drugs their water Fuzzo spread gossip Hands out the narcotics Excuse to use the potty While their heads are foggy Hop on the Fartknocker Head off like a rocket! Ah ah ah ah ah! __/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/ HE’S GOING DOWN VALBORG Just take a deep breath Val / Keep it under control Things may seem darkest now, but - you never know Just need a moment here / just need an open look One well-placed hunting spear and his goose is cooked SONDRA The moment’s growing closer, please be still my beating heart Just need to figure out a plan to take these jerk apart Just need a moment and a moment’s all I hope to get If this guy’s as fearsome as everyone says he is VALBORG Everyone here’s SONDRA Counting on me FUZZO I’ll make the move FELTINA/HUPH Set us all free PANGLA I’ll blow him a kiss! Maybe he’s cute! BLOOR Bloor - Bloor Bloor Bloor Bloor Blooooor FELTINA/HUPH Just take a deep breath VALBORG Just take a moment, breathe FELTINA/HUPH If I don’t take him down, that means defeat VALBORG If I don’t take him down FUZZO That means that evil wins PANGLA If I don’t kiss him maybe he’ll be sad and throw a fit FELTINA/HUPH The moment’s growing closer, please be still our beating hearts SONDRA Just need to figure out a plan to take these jerks apart FUZZO Just need to jump him before he can even blink an eye ALL If I don’t make a move, my friends will die I’ll make my move / They count on me I’ll be the hero / I need to be He’s going down / I’ll set us free ...

ALL I made my move / I tried to breathe I met my match / We met defeat Is this the end? / Now we must wait and see Ah oh ah oh ah oh

#Lyrics #credits and lyrics #credits #fall of the house of sunshine #The Fall of the House of Sunshine #podcast #audiodrama #audio drama

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guidetoenjoy-blog · 5 years

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The 35 best indie games on PC and consoles

New Post has been published on https://entertainmentguideto.com/awesome/the-35-best-indie-games-on-pc-and-consoles/

The 35 best indie games on PC and consoles

Update: Added the open-world survival indie RPG Outward

Although the best PC games with money to splash are quickly evolving, so are the best indie games you might not have heard of.

One of the best things about our best indie games list is that most of these more obliterate titles, unlike AAA game publishers, don’t try to manipulate you out of every penny any chance they can get. Free from corporate influence and constant badgering for your fund, the best indie games represent the pure artistic vision of the developers- especially if you have one of the best gaming PCs.

However, merely because the best indie games don’t make a lot of money, doesn’t mean they can’t keep up with the latest AAA reaches in scope and ambition. In fact, the opposite is true: the best indie games can easily rival or even exceed mainstream games in both quality and scope- becoming artistic masterpieces in the process. And, they don’t have to rely on tired tropes just to sell millions of copies, like their AAA counterparts.

This is all exciting stuff, and if you want to dive into the best indie games, you’re in luck. We’ve put together a list all the best indie games on the PC market today. We’ve included both in vogue indies like Return of the Obra Dinn and Outward, alongside classic titles like Braid and Dwarf Fortress. And, don’t worry, we’re going to keep such lists updated with all the latest and greatest indie makes.

If you’re looking for the next great indie title, keep reading.

Linux, Windows or Mac – which one is best for you? Watch our guide video below :P TAGEND

Bill Thomas, Joe Osborne, Kane Fulton and Gabe Carey have also contributed to this article

Yeah, it’s not out yet, with Double Fine promising it’ll be out’ soonish’. Still, Ooblets is staying on our radar. Ooblets is being developed by first-time studio Glumberland, and is backed by Double Fine. The game is described as some kind of combo between Pokemon, Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing, which has certainly captured our attention- and it should probably capture yours, too. The game blends an art style curiously reminiscent of post-apocalyptic sensation, Adventure Time, with gameplay that revolves around gathering animals called ooblets in the town of, uh, Oob.

In the game, you’ll be able to train and battle your ooblets against other ooblet trainers. At the same time, you’ll have to balance your ooblet training with the real-world responsibilities of being a farmer. That’s right, drawing influence from the likes of Stardew Valley, you can cultivate produce and decorate your house with various trimmings as well. You’ll also be able to join an Ooblet Club comprised of friends( NPCs) you’ll gratify along the way.

If you don’t know what to do in Ooblets, simply walk around and discover new shops and builds that suit your interest. Better yet, you can open up your own shop and sell make that you’ve grown on the farm as well as items that you’ve scavenged throughout the world. Otherwise, you can feed the leftover harvests to your ooblets to watch them level up and learn new techniques to be used in the turn-based, RPG-style battles.

Expected:’ Soonish’

Jonathan Blow& apos; s brainchild first appears to be a simple pastiche of Super Mario Bros, with a middle-aged curmudgeon replacing the titular plumber but still seeking to rescue a princess.

The longer you spend in the game, however, the more that’s revealed to you, progressing from a series of time-bending puzzles to quiet reflective texts- which doesn’t stop it from being the smartest puzzle game since SpaceChem. Blow himself has subtly hinted that the ultimate narrative may revolve around the atomic bomb.

First released as PC freeware by Japanese decorator Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya back in 2004 after five years of 100% solo developing, Cave Story predates the recent indie renaissance by a few years. Because of when and how it was first released, it& apos; s often omitted in indie gaming discussions.

However, this classic more than deserves to be on every best-of list for its caring homage to the classic action platforming games of the Super Nintendo era , not to mention its unbelievable music and breathlessly vibrant world. Oh, and don& apos; t forget the hugely intuitive controls, gobs of secrets and weapons that are simply too fun to use. If you& apos; ve yet to enjoy this one, you need to set it on your backlog already.

From family-owned and operated Studio MDHR, Cuphead has connected with millions of people around the world, many of whom commonly wouldn’t touch a run-and-gun platformer with a ten-foot pole.

Although its gameplay was inspired by classic games such as Mega Man and Contra, most gamers would likely compare it to a Fleischer Studios cartoon like Betty Boop. Because Cuphead employs a hand-drawn art style likened to a 1930 s animation, it’s been universally praised for its gorgeous visuals.

Cuphead is more than just its stunning visuals, however. It’s a series of 19 challenging and engaging boss, with platforming bits interspersed between them. It already attained our list of the best indie games, but Studio MDHR has announced that the Cuphead: the Delicious Last Course DLC, slated for 2019, with a new isle to explore, new boss to conquer and, most importantly, a new character to master.

Many AAA games serve as escapist power fantasies, where the player is ultimately able to dominate the game’s cosmo- right until video games aims. But, many indie games are the exact opposite- like the IGF award winner and suffering simulator Cart Life.

Papers Please is similar to Cart Life in that it& apos; s also an IGF winner with elements of misery about it. Merely, it& apos; s better – it’s a smart, weird sim about the compromised life of a border guard living under a totalitarian regime. It& apos; s ugly and desperate, but also innovative, uproariously funny and terribly smart.

Among the hardcore gamers we know, Spelunky is the go-to drug. Even today, several years after its release, some of them still play it every day, despite having completed it many times over. That& apos; s because Spelunky, an ostensibly rogue-like platformer with a definite objective, is tough, differed and highly randomized.

It also has more dark secrets than a presidential candidate, meaning there are a boatload of ways to finish it, and its daily challenges are a sure-fire way to public humiliation.

Does humor belong in video games? Well, according to the Stanley Parable, that’s a resounding’ yes ‘. This game is hilarious without being dumbed down. Players follow( or don’t) a very British narrator who alterations the world around you, based on your choices.

No choice is penalized, and every playthrough will be fresh with new humor and weird goings-on. Being trapped in the closet in The Stanley Parable is more moving and funny than the majority of members of other indie games.

If you missed out on this ironic gem back when it first launched, you’ll be happy to know that the developer announced the Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe edition for 2019, with fresh content, more endings and a console release. This Ultra Deluxe edition actually sounds pretty tempting, even for us- and we played it a whole lot when it first came out.

Farther reading: Retro-me-do! Digitiser’s Mr Biffo on his top PC games of all time

It took more than nine years to build, but Owlboy is definitely worth the wait. Originally designed for PCs and released in late 2016, this clever indie game masterpiece is now available to experience on Mac and Linux as well- and there’s even a Nintendo Switch version! Owlboy centres around a race of owl-human hybrid characters called, and aptly so, Owls. Of them, you control Otis, an Owl who is censured by his mentor for his inept flying skills.

The story finds Otis’ village destroyed by pirates who clearly have is consistent with the Owls. As a result, Otis has to work with an assortment of villagers in-game to take out foes. Of course, when boss combats develop, you’ll need to manage friends accordingly, as each character comes with their own situate of unique skill sets to use in conjunction with one another. If you’ve ever played and enjoyed a Kid Icarus game, this is one for the books. Otherwise, play it anyway.

Similar to The Stanley Parable, Gone Home falls into the unofficially labeled’ walk-to simulator’ genre. Where it diverts from the clever and philosophical Stanley Parable, however, is its focus on life’s difficult realities, as opposed to light humor.

After arriving at your childhood home following an overseas visit, you play as 21 -year-old Kaitlin Greenbriar who is greeted by an empty home. While gameplay is essentially limited to scavenging through notes to find out where your family is, the gripping narrative is exceedingly emotional and obligating, as long as you keep an open intellect. After all this time, Gone Home stands out as one of the best indie games out there.

Only SpaceChem has mixed learning with amusement as successfully as The Kerbal Space Program. The game is simple – design and build a spacecraft to take the cutesy Kerbals to the Mun and beyond.

Yet its focused use of real physic means that you& apos; ll find yourself following NASA as you’re building multi-stage rockets and space station as well as exploring the Kerbal& apos; s strange world on EVAs, before bringing your discoveries back for research on the Kerbal planet – that& apos; s if you can get off the ground at all. It& apos; s a huge, complex, challenging and fun game, that manages to be super smart without being preachy.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is the exact opposite of something like Kerbal Space Program – it’s an action roguelike par excellence. You play as a young son attempting to kill his damned siblings, mom and possibly the Devil, using only your tears, which he shoots from his eyes, naturally. This indie games is matched only by the equally visceral Nuclear Throne.

With dozens of bizarre items to collect, endless procedurally-generated levels, and tons of secrets, the Binding of Isaac is a very dark take on the exploratory model established by Spelunky.

Don’t let the pixel art graphics put you off- Undertale isn’t a game that would have fit on the Super Nintendo. That’s because, in Undertale, the decisions you attain have a huge impact on how the game objective and, more importantly, how it continues in New Game Plus.

While playing Undertale, you’ll come to realize just how much freedom the game gives you. Despite its highly inspired , not to mention intense, boss matches, you’ll be able to make it through the entire nine or so hours of Undertale as a total pacifist. Plus, when you go through the game a second time, you’ll bear the weight of the consequences from your previous operate. What’s even better is , now Undertale is out on the Nintendo Switch, so you can take this masterpiece of game design wherever you go.

From developer Playdead, Inside is comparable to its predecessor, Limbo, in some ways, merely with an added layer of depth that inspires constant wonder. This is mostly a result of the unspoken narrative, which revolves around yet another nameless boy. In Inside, however, the boy in the story is running away from a group of men who- if you fail to stay out of their sights- will try to mercilessly kill you.

Though it isn& apos; t quite clear why the boy is running from these men or why you should even care since you don& apos; t know who he is, so Inside will leave you begging for answers. The bleak, lifeless defining of Inside is more than worth the price of admission. Its minimalist art style alone is avant-garde enough to feel right at home in a museum. Factor in the fact that this game that& apos; s both fun to play and dripping with curiosity, and Inside is one of the best indie games fund can buy.

Developed single-handedly by Eric Barone, Stardew Valley is undoubtedly a technical feat for that little fact alone. If you’ve ever played a Harvest Moon game, you’re already very well known the premise of Stardew Valley – you may merely not know it yet. Stardew Valley is an addictive farming simulator, which assures you interact with townees to the point where you can literally marry them.

Stardew Valley isn’t just farming, though – it’s a whole bunch of interesting thing at the same time. You can go fishing, you can cook, you can craft stuff. You can even run explore procedurally-generated caves to mine for items and even fight slime-monster-things. However, you should keep in mind that your health and energy are finite, so you& apos; ll want to keep your character rested and fed to avoid suffering from exhaustion. Pass out and you’ll lose a considerable amount of money and items you’ve worked hard to attain. Stardew Valley will have you playing for hours on end, for better or worse.( Definitely better .)

From Canadian game developer Alec Holowka, inventor of the award-winning Aquaria( also featured on this list ), and independent artist/ animator Scott Benson, Night in the Woods is an unconventional side-scrolling adventure game centering around a 20 -year-old protagonist named Mae who drops out of college to move back in with her parents.

Featuring a tale largely based around dialog choices and mini games that set a spin on mundane tasks, like carry boxes up the stairs and eating perogies, Night in the Timbers is a timeless coming-of-age tale. Not only will you experience middle class America through the eyes of a personified cat, but virtually every interaction in-game will have you laughing aloud. And now that it’s available on the Nintendo Switch, you’ll be able to take it wherever you go.

If you’re a fan of the recent wave of games inspired by Dark Souls, you’ll perfectly love Hollow Knight. You take control of the Hollow Knight, and result them through the deceptively adorable scenery to take on boss and other difficult challenges. Much like Dark Souls, it’s not immediately clear what you’re actually supposed to be doing as the narrative is intentionally obtuse.

The Dark Souls inspirations don’t end there, however. It also embraces Dark Souls’s’ tough but fair’ philosophy, where the game is only as hard as you make it – you can overcome anything as long as you have patience and learn from your blunders. Hollow Knight takes these lessons from Dark Souls and injects them into a MetroidVania, with all the side-scrolling and upgrades you could possibly want. You can even play it on the Nintendo Switch now.

If you’re looking for a game that’s as unforgiving as it is fun, seem no further than Dead Cells. It takes gameplay inspiration from so many places- from roguelikes to MetroidVania. There’s even a clue of Dark Souls in there, to create a unique action game that will test your restrictions.

Each time you play this game, it will be different. And, while you’ll lose some progress each time you die- and you’ll die a lot- the game will become more and more rewarding as the complex and fluid combat becomes second nature. In the final release of video games, you get access to over 90 weapons, skills and abilities that’ll let you tailor your gameplay however you want.

Whatever you do, don’t get discouraged when you fail. Get up and try again, and Dead Cells will merely reward you in the end, which is why it has our vote for one of the best indie games in 2019.

Introversions was one of the earliest& apos; indie& apos; companies, releasing games like Uplink, Defcon and Darwinia whilst Vlambeer was still in short pants. After years of struggling, they& apos; ve eventually hit a huge success with Prison Architect, a game where you construct, faculty, attire and manage a maximum security prison, of all places.

With smart captives who are willing to do anything to escape, you& apos; ll struggle to keep them all inside – or keep them from rioting – and turn a profit. It& apos; s eminently playable, even more so in the near future as Paradox has acquired it and plans to make it available on all platforms.

These days, it’s hard to find an RPG that will really push you to your restrictions. Outward, with its focus on survival and tough combat, is one of these RPGs. There isn’t much in the way of narrative, but you’re placed in the middle of the world of Aurai, where you’ll have to struggle to survive. You’re not a hero, however, just the everyman trying to survive in a harsh world.

In many styles, Outward is like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. There’s a heavy emphasis on exploration, but you aren’t dedicated quest arrows or any kind of waypoint. You have to rely on your own ability to use a map, along with any directions that are given to you by quest NPCs. If you’re looking for a challenging RPG, this might be one of the best indie games for you.

Dwarf Fortress is its own genre, its own industry. This is a game that, before you& apos; ve even set foot in it, has to generate the entire geography, myth and history of its massive world. Then it tracks every single one of the dwarfs you& apos; re managing down to the hairs on their legs, and the particular horrible elephant murder that they’ve witnessed and are now carving on an ornamental chair.

Your undertaking is to keep the dwarves alive as they carve out their subterranean kingdom – given that insanity, monsters and starvation beset them at every stage, that& apos; s not easy. And dwarves, always, always mine too deep.

Run. Jump. Die. Repeat. That’s essentially the gameplay loop of Super Meat Boy, a fiendishly addictive 2D platformer that’s also bloody hard, with an emphasis on bloody. Gallons of blood is spilled as the game’s eponymous meaty hero leaps over deadly fells, spinning finds and strolling chainsaws in a bid to rescue his girlfriend, Bandage Girl, from the evil Dr Foetus. Obviously.

Boasting solid controls, lots of humor and vibrant graphics, Super Meat Boy leapt onto the PS4, Vita, and Nintendo Switch in style.

It might not be Playdead’s most recent game, but Limbo is timeless. Even five years after its release, the game’s haunting storyline still affects us. You play the Boy, a child with glowing eyes who is cast into Limbo to find his sister. Making your style through a bleak and dangerous world full of hostile silhouettes, giant spiders and deadly gravitational fields, you’ll need to think quickly and perfectly day your motions if you’re going to survive.

Limbo is much more than a simple platformer: it& apos; s an experience, and one that will have you pondering the very essence of life by the time you finish. Deep, profound and absorbing, it& apos; s one indie game everybody should take time out to play.

If you& apos; re yearn for a retro-inspired multiplayer archery combat game( aren& apos; t we all ?), TowerFall: Ascension is the pick of the plenty. Fast, frenetic and teeth-gnashingly hard in hardcore mode, the game& apos; s mechanics are simple: fire arrows at your foes or jump on their heads to stay alive until the round ends.

Arrows that don& apos; t hit are embedded in walls, making for tense scenarios when you have to traverse the map while dodging foes to retrieve them. As such, practicing until you achieve Robin Hood-esque levels of accuracy is recommended. Ascension is best experienced with friends in local multiplayer mode, which remembers Super Smash Bros& apos; most manic moments.

It’s not often that a platformer manages to balance challenging and engaging gameplay with an emotional and thought-provoking narrative, but Celeste pulls it off. From the developers of Towerfall, Celeste follows the story of Madeline, a young girl who decides to face her mental health issues by climbing to the top of the mysterious Celeste Mountain. In doing so, she learns more not only about the mountain, but about herself as well throughout the process.

An inevitable classic, Celeste integrates the obvious jumping, air-dash and climbing controls into a brutal series of platforming challenges in upwards of 700 unique screens. And, if that’s too easy, you’ll unlock B-side chapters along the way, designed for only the bravest of hardcore players. Better yet, you don’t have to worry about waiting an eternity between each respawn. Instead, Celeste brings you back from the tomb in an instant, a welcome deviation from the typically extensive loading screens.

Have you ever wanted to land on an foreigner planet, and build a factory? We admit that it’s an odd premise, but we promise that it works in Satisfactory. You’ll land on one of three planets of varying difficulty, where you’ll be tasked with building and automating a factory to exploit the world around you.

The premise audios bland, but being able to explore these beautiful worlds in first person, while scavenging materials and fighting off hostile wildlife builds it all that more exciting. Plus, is there something better than sitting back and admiring something you worked hard on?

Satisfactory is in early access right now, and exclusive to the Epic Games Store, but if you can get past all that, you’re sure to get hours of wholesome simulation out of it.

After the fury success that was the original Nidhogg, it’s a shame to see the superior sequel get thrown under the bus. Nevertheless, in spite of its controversial art style, Nidhogg 2 packs a refined, stunning appear that the first version, a cult-classic, couldn’t even think to compete with.

In still frames, we can see how this could get misconstrued, but fortunately, it’s the fun and addictive local multiplayer gameplay that makes Nidhogg, well, Nidhogg. And it’s all there in Nidhogg 2. Additionally, every time you respawn, you get one of four unique weapons that only bolster the challenge.

Esteemed indie designer Jon Blow& apos; s follow up to Braid may look like an entirely different adventure, being 3D and all. However, the two are more thematically alike than you might think. The Witness, at its core, is another puzzle game that tells an interesting story through said puzzles.

This puzzler takes place in an almost equally impressionist- albeit heavily Myst-inspired- world, but it& apos; s story is far more nuanced and mysterious than Blow& apos; s previous. At almost every corner of this island that you& apos; ve simply woken up on( or beneath ), there is a clue as to how you got onto this island and why you& apos; re here.

Don’t get us incorrect, we liked Bastion, but we won’t deny that Transistor was SuperGiant Games’ best work to date. Much of that has to do with the blending of action-based and turn-based RPG parts contained within its cyberpunk futurescape. Likewise, in classic SuperGiant fashion, those mechanics are complemented with a stunning art style and a music rating so unforgettable it’ll induce you want to buy the soundtrack.

Leaving key gameplay beats up to the player, the narrative isn’t so variable. Transistor’s main character, Red, is a renowned singer in the city of Cloudbank. However, she’s been attacked by a group of vicious robots who call themselves the Process, operated by another group called the Camerata. In her journey, she detects the Transistor, a mysterious sword with the voice of a man. Soon enough, she’ll learn more about him and how he will shake up her world.

It’s weird to think that Oxenfree came out before the first season of Stranger Things, and yet, the two coincidentally have a lot in common. The 80 s-inspired heavy synth music composed by scntfc, for one, accentuates some genuinely gripping sci-fi horror focusing around – you guessed it- groupings of teens stuck on an island.

The story involves a handful of uniquely written characters, namely the main character Alex, along with her stoner friend Ren, her newfound stepbrother Jonas, her dead brother Michael’s ex-girlfriend Clarissa and her best friend Nona( who Ren happens to be in love with ).

The plot is explained through branching speech dialogues, similar to Life is Strange or modern-day Telltale games, and it features five different endings depending on your choices.

Exploring a surreal wilderness seems like quite the trend these days in gaming, and developer Campo Santo& apos; s debut only serves to keep it going strong. Set in the wilderness of 1989 Wyoming, you& apos; re playing Henry, a fire lookout that& apos; s all alone in the woods after exploring something strange in the distance.

That is, save for your partner on the other line of a walkie-talkie: Delilah. She& apos; s your only phase of contact as you explore the wilderness. Will you make it back alive? Will the decisions you stimulate help or harm the relationship with your only lifeline to the outside world, your boss? Don& apos; t worry about those questions just yet- admire those forestscapes first!

Rust is one of the more successful indie titles of recent times. By the end of 2015, it had sold more than 3 million transcripts, which isn& apos; t too shabby considering it wasn’t even finished — the game has been on Steam& apos; s Early Access scheme since launching in December 2013.

It seems people can& apos; t get enough of the Day Z-inspired survival sim. It ensure you use your wits and bearings to survive its harsh open world, starting off with nothing but a boulder. After assembling resources needed to build a house and weapons to fend off attackers( other online players, in other words ), Rust gradually becomes more intense as you defend your growing base — or attempt to breach others& apos ;.

Fans of the original Overcooked will not be disappointed by its second installment in the chaotic couch co-op series from British indie game developer Team1 7.

This time around, your undertaking is to defeat the& apos; Un-Bread& apos;( zombie baked goods) that have taken over the Onion Kingdom, by battling through brand new recipes including sushi, pizza and burgers in increasingly chaotic kitchens with up to three other people.

To add to the frantic fun, you must battle obstacles including random flames, collapsing floors and interfering passers by, all while get your orders out to the pass in time.

Things get complicated incredibly quickly, and relationships, friendships and family bonds will be tested as you work together to complete your recipes on time, inducing it a fun and challenging sofa co-op game that will construct you truly understand the meaning of “too many cooks spoil the broth.”

The natural progression of survival games, SCUM takes what predecessors like Rust and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds both succeeded at and iterate in impressive ways. And, while it’s still in early access, it offers a unique twist- combining the frenetic gameplay of battle royale games with the slow, thoughtful gameplay of a survival sim.

SCUM, unlike other similar games, is extremely heavy on the simulation side of things, however. You shouldn’t expect to run in firearms blazing, as you’re going to get tired promptly( just as you would if you tried running outside in person with a ton of stuff in your knapsack ). But, if heavy statistic systems is something your into, there’s a lot to love here. It’s like spreadsheets with a physic engine.

Just don’t go in expecting a polished experience , not for now. However, developer Croteam promises to add more features over hour, and as they’re backed by Devolver, you can trust that video games is going to shape up into something great.

Every so often, there’s a game that perfectly mixes and balances aesthetic, gameplay and narrative- where everything feels like it only, well, fits. The best indie games always excel at this, and Return of the Obra Dinn is proof. A mystery taking place on a derelict ship, you’re tasked with figuring out how the crew of this lost ship died, disappeared or worse.

The entire game has this old-school visual styling that, combined with the simple controls and gameplay technique make it keep feeling a nostalgic sort of adventure. Right from the sets menu, you’ll get to choose what kind of monitor you’d like to emulate- we picked an old school Macintosh option- that should give you an idea of the type of retro revivalism on offer here.

Return of the Obra Dinn is a game that will require critical thinking, exploration and a ton of reading. If that all sounds appealing to you, and you’re all good with retro aesthetics, you will love this game. In fact, it’s one of the best indie games in a season marked with AAA decadence.

If you’re anything like us, you’ve probably spent hundreds of hours playing Roller Coaster Tycoon during your childhood. And, while there have been plenty of amusement park simulators over the last few years, they’ve never quite hit that place.

Until now.

Parkitect is the closest we’ve ever gotten to those early aughts park simulators, and we’re absolutely in love. From the cartoonish art style to the realistic simulation and Steam Workshop integration, Parkitect is one of the best indie games 2019 has to offer.

For years, thatgamecompany has been behind some of the best indie games on the market, merely most of them had been exclusive to PlayStation. One such game was Flower. Serving as a kind of a precursor to the beloved Journey, Flower puts you in command of a bloom petal, surfing through the wind.

You’ll activate different colours of flower beds to affect the environment, which will also get you different colored petals, until you have an entire trail of colour surfing high winds. It’s an incredibly relaxing and artful experience, and it might just be hiding a message about the industrial world we all find ourselves living in. Trust us, give it a shot as it’s one of the best- not to mention, most legendary- indie games ever.

Read more: techradar.com

#best #game #games #indie #itx2019s #like #more #x2013 #your

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latestnews2018-blog · 6 years

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'Skyscraper' Director Defends That Crazy Jump Scene: 'How Dare You Question The Rock'

New Post has been published on https://latestnews2018.com/skyscraper-director-defends-that-crazy-jump-scene-how-dare-you-question-the-rock/

'Skyscraper' Director Defends That Crazy Jump Scene: 'How Dare You Question The Rock'

If you could smell what The Rock is cooking, it’d probably smell like the “richest American cinema cheeseburger.”

At least, according to “Skyscraper” director Rawson Marshall Thurber, it would.

In Dwayne Johnson’s new action flick “Skyscraper,” which hit theaters on July 13, The Rock plays Will Sawyer, a former FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader and U.S. war veteran who is now an amputee making a living assessing security for ― what else? ― skyscrapers.

Things are going pretty great for Will and his family until terrorists attack his new assignment, the 240-story Pearl building, setting it on fire. To make matters worse, he’s framed for the attack. He has to battle the bad guys (terrorists, duh) and the good guys (the police, duh) in order to save his people from the 3,500-foot burning high-rise hellscape. (How random that this would happen to The Rock. Of all people!)

Unsurprisingly, maximal cheesy Rock stunts ensue.

So far, the most-talked about, most-memed feat from the movie has been Will’s improbable crane-jump into the building, and rightly so. It’s ridiculous.

I’ve mocked up some parabolas for The Rock’s SKYSCRAPER jump. Red is assuming he jumped up a bit first; green assuming he ran forward and somehow didn’t lose momentum; yellow for a sort of squat-thrust thing.

Whichever you choose, rest in peace The Rock, as you are dead now. pic.twitter.com/cAytzrWMRW

— James Smythe (@jpsmythe) February 2, 2018

But Thurber is here to defend it.

According to him, the marketing team exaggerated the distance between the crane and the building on the first teaser poster (shown above), making it about double the distance that appears in the movie.

“That poster is supposed to be evocative of the moment, not literal, and the jump in the movie is significantly shorter than that,” Thurber said. “I think people will appreciate that in the movie.”

Exaggerations aside, the director insisted the jump is possible.

“It became such a topic and thing to poke fun at, and there’s this professor … who teaches a physics class on movies and he actually did the math on the jump, based on the jump in the poster, and apparently the science works out.”

The professor, Costas Efthimiou, of the University of Central Florida, teaches a class called Physics in Films, which he told us “aims to explain science to non-science majors” through movies. He calculated that the jump may be possible.

But at HuffPost, we have another minor quibble we can’t get over. Prior to the jump, The Rock pulls off a feat even more impressive and inexplicable.

In order to launch his body from construction equipment to burning skyscraper, Johnson’s character needs to climb more than 1,400 feet straight up the side of a giant crane just to get above the building’s fire line.

For reference: Boop, there he is.

Universal Pictures

Of course he does it ― and in a matter of minutes ― and no one even notices until he’s almost at the top.

His family is trapped and he’s the only one who can save them. Experience #SkyscraperMovie in theaters and @RealD3D today. Tickets: https://t.co/UjJybd8Maq pic.twitter.com/VQm9rvxeac

— Skyscraper (@skyscrapermovie) July 13, 2018

So let’s crunch the numbers: The fire is burning around floor 96. If the average floor height on the 3,500-foot, 240-story building is about 14.5 feet, that means to get to, say, floor 100, Johnson needs to climb around 1,450 feet ― again, straight up a crane ― in order to enter the building on a floor that’s not entirely consumed by flames.

Sure, his family is running out of time. But there’s no way The Rock, or anyone, sprints up that ladder in the few minutes allotted in the film.

[Editor’s Note: The police just take the elevator up, sidestepping the need to climb 1,450 feet. Somehow, The Rock beats them to the top.]

Universal Pictures and Skyscraper

Screenshot from discoverthepearl.com

We reached out to Professor Efthimiou, who was traveling at the time and hadn’t yet seen the movie. But he was kind enough to do some calculations for the speed of humans ascending a staircase, and at those rates it may be possible for The Rock to reach the required height quickly:

The ascending speed of humans on a staircase is about 0.6-0.8 meters per second. Of course, this has to be modified for the number of floors one has to ascend and the manner he is ascending them. Let’s assume a well trained person whose speed is not affected no matter how many floors he has to ascend and he can work equally well in all manners. To give the director the benefit of doubt, we can assume an ascending speed of 0.7-1.0 meters per second.

In the movie, the 96th floor is at an elevation of about 3,500 ft x (96/240) = 1,400 ft. This is about 427 meters and it would require 610 seconds at 0.7 m/s which is about 10.17 minutes. If one argues that our hero is strong and he can ascend at 1 m/s, then he needs only 427 seconds or 7.12 minutes.

“Based on what I understand from your message, it appears that the director has not erred in this,” said Efthimiou.

Again, that’s not exact calculations for climbing up a crane to save your family from a towering inferno after you’ve already been injured in a fight with terrorists, but it does make it seem somewhat more likely.

However, the director himself told us there’s no great explanation for Johnson being able to climb the crane as fast as he does. Thurber admitted to taking some “cinematic liberty” in the scene, because he didn’t want to make a “documentary about a guy climbing a crane.”

“I think where we would take the time to show how long that might actually happen in real life, I think people would be bored stiff,” he said.

Thurber continued: “You have to balance reality with art, reality with entertainment. Obviously, ‘Skyscraper’ is supposed to be a big summer cheeseburger, the richest American cinema cheeseburger. Hopefully, [we] put a little pepper jack cheese on there.”

“Skyscraper” producer Hiram Garcia also weighed in on the crane climb. “Movie time is a special thing,” he told me, adding, “We never put a stopwatch on it, but it’s pretty impressive that he beat the elevator coming up.”

[Editor’s Note: Yeah. It is.]

How far would you go to protect your family? #SkyscraperMovie – see the trailer Sunday. pic.twitter.com/RVFY574tl4

— Skyscraper (@skyscrapermovie) February 2, 2018

For the nonbelievers who might dismiss the reasoning behind The Rock’s physical feats, you can just refer to Thurber’s concluding thought:

“The Rock can do anything. How dare you question The Rock.”

[Editor’s Note: For the record, we’d watch a documentary about The Rock climbing a crane.]

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cruddyborderlandstheories · 5 years

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athenas or the new ign videos... hmmm

im gonna go for the ign videos (moze gameplay and sanctuary-iii, no guns yet, i have a reason for that) because athenas hasn’t gotten its sweet instagram video yet. once that’s released i’ll do a full post on it. by the time i got around to finishing this post, they had released the video. oh boy... gonna do the gun post then the athenas post, i think. alright, off we go.

tl;dr: we read the entire end user agreement DAHL thrusts upon us for using the ECHO device, talk about some stuff like how (spoilers) it seems like Lilith will be getting her powers back at the end of the game, and a voice line Lily says that sounds like “Tyreen took my powers. it’s like Tannis said: [inaudible] Siren” (altho im not 100% sure on the [inaudible] part because 1) it sounds weird and 2) there’s a drum beat and also the devs are talking over her, the Siren part seems fairly accurate because of the way her mouth moves). so you know. im gonna be agonizing over that until i can hear what she says. ive already spent an hour just repeating it over and over. i nearly fell asleep lol

we’re gonna start with the moze gameplay (the first 14 minutes of bl3) because chronologically it’s first in both timeline and release date

i love the license plates on the right there

also it looks like they added in claptrap’s old welcome sign from windshear waste! time to stand in front of it for 30 minutes to see if any messages pop up like bl2

fast travel station as well, definitely going to see if/where i can teleport and going there immediately. i imagine this is more for DLC stuff and grinding tho.

also! i do believe we saw Covenant Pass previously. good to know this is actually where it is!

Marcus saying “And Welcome to Pandora!” in the beginning confirms that, yes, they’re going to be on a bus!! i wonder if there will be a fight scene before that though. it’s interesting Clappy mentions that “those jerks who tried to murder you are the children of the vault!” so i mean... there’s gotta be... right?

im also convinced this intro is going to be a mirror of Borderlands 1. i stg if it starts out with the first few notes of Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked and then swaps songs I’m going to lose my mind

also also, the order is totally going to mimic the bl1 one. Fl4k = Mordecai, Amara = Lilith, Moze = Roland, Zane = Brick. We even have Lilith taking Angel’s spot as the mysterious voice in our heads, and probably Marcus driving, AND being dropped off at a bus stop.

bet the reason they changed it from ‘Moze as the Bot Jock’ to ‘Moze as the Gunner’ is because it fits under ‘Roland as the Soldier’ better. Also, ‘Zane Flynt as Himselfs’ would be a play off ‘Brick as Himself’. Amara as the Siren is obvious, and ‘Mordecai as the Hunter’ vs ‘Fl4k as the Beastmaster’ is pretty similar as well, given Fl4k has all those Hunter skills.

the 4 basic emotes im guessing. im so glad we have the option to boop our friends in the face with emotes.

also moze’s little bunny skin is adorable

the ECHOnet used to be called “Riftspace”, “the Spline”, and... “MercTel: A Cyber-Dahl Joint” lmfao

specifically calls out Pandora. also, “artificial megastructures”??? THAT’S SO COOL

AND FUCKING

SENTIENT MEGASTRUCTURES????

gearbox. please. i have never ever wanted anything more in my life. please. it’s probably my birthday. PLEASE GEARBOX

also interesting that the user agreement specifically notes ‘Respawns’. I assume this is a joke because New-U stations have been confirmed not canon

“Core law”. Core law? Core... daddy? ... ????

core as in like a core government somewhere that’s not the border worlds? that’s interesting...

“The Legion”, okay, acknowledging TPS, that’s dope

“Project Blackrakk” ... im interested

“Thresher Company” lmao

im curious if Axton was apart of any of the mentioned ones. i don’t think it’s been stated, but i could be wrong

“Chieftain Oort”. also ‘Recently Legless Gary’, lmfao poor dude.

oh yeah im sure this is fine. also holy shit did they google the synonyms for ‘change’ and just start listing them? lmfao

“implicit subscription to the Digby Vermouth ‘Dig’s Gigs’ secret concert subscription service”

sorry, what?

if this doesn’t come up again in the future- if we don’t get a spam letter or 3 in our mailbox about this concert subscription thing i'm gonna be so disappointed

Dahl hates you if you’re not a fan of hyper-jazz, “you snob” lmfao

my brain hurts, they’re good at writing these

damn phones exist? i thought everything was ECHO. aight, that’s good to know. i guess there just aren’t any phone networks around the border worlds

also “shared dreamspaces” sound really cool

hm. that’s no good lmfao. also i love that the buttons are ‘Agree’ and ‘OK’. there is no escape, once you agree, you can’t even leave because you’re agreeing that you’re trapped with these rules even if you cancel.

that’s fucked up, DAHL. can’t believe you treat your user base the same way you treat your employees. i guess i shouldn’t be surprised.

anyway, shoutout to literally the only TOA I’ve ever fully read in my life.

also, clicking through this TOA too fast WILL end claptrap’s voice line early. so be careful if you want to hear what he has to say!!

oh shit lmao I gotta go edit that Fl4k post

ok im back ~time magic of being able to save things in drafts and post them at a later date~

sliding preserves momentum, so you can actually slide (nearly) the entire way down! i love this.

small, but claptrap bends his antennae when trying to be stealthy. i thought that was a pretty cool detail

“and some guns include an alternate shooting mode~! try it out!”

player: `immediately shoots claptrap in the face`

i died lol

a very nice look at this sign.

good to know that the twins really are tempting people to join with promises of food. i mean it makes sense, i imagine most of the cultists are desperate for stability and a reasonable life on pandora.

also, Shiv calls himself “holy influencer of the children of the vault” lol. i love that. gearbox really is going for the internet’s throat, isn’t it?

i do like that hovering over an NPC will give you their name only and not name/healthbar.

a better look at one of the signs referencing the Mother!!! i was waiting for this, the only real look we got at one was in that one scene with Moze and IB

“Behold the Mother strength surrender to the truth”

yeah that’s not ominous...

i assume the mother and father are intended to be tyreen and troy? but idk how i feel about that implication...

i like the new little gear/spring effect for the magnet lol

new lilith! i know a lot of people don’t like it, but i do. she looks better than the bl2 vers. altho i think it’s weird they swapped both bl1 and bl2′s ‘AI’ effect to those dots and then didn’t bring it to BL3. the dots effect felt cleaner. curious why they’re not applying it to bl3 when they went thru all that effort in 1 and 2.

... back up please.

i like that there is a changing icon for long pressing now

“time to check out our slay of the day!” sounds like Tyreen but tbh i legit thought this was moze’s reaction to opening the chest at first lol

you can hear someone start screaming in agony while she’s walking up the stairs, so i know it’s not moze, but im so used to the VHs talking when they see a new piece of loot my brain just assumed.

also THE MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND IS A REMIX OF BANDIT SLAUGHTER!!! IM SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS I WAS FREAKING OUT THE FIRST TIME I HEARD IT

also, claptrap when dropping health yells “this could save your life! then, you’ll owe me a life debt!” bullshit im pretty sure you already decided we owed you a life debt the moment we stepped off that bus

“i see it... the great vault” - a line from a cultist you kill

i know i mentioned in this post that the Great Vault may be already opened, but it could also just be a Vault they’re planning on opening and using the propaganda to convince the cultists to help them find it.

“if you help us get this vault open, you’ll be handsomely rewarded! you’ll get superpowers! you’ll get regular meals! you’ll get money and guns and dates!” you know, the usual stuff.

either way, elevating the Vault to a higher state (god/heaven/whatever) makes sense if you’re running a cult.

btw there is a hidden chest in the scaffolding to the left of the door, if you’re interested in grabbing some better guns before shiv. personally, i’ll be using the toy guns.

also the TVs are actually playing propaganda now!!

this one is asking questions that i cant understand due to the sound effects of the chest and claptrap talking, but it says something about “... the dust? ... join the Children of the Vault!”

“hey shiiiiiv all your dumb friends are dead!!”

shiv be like

“all my friends are dead”

some cool level-up art! I notice these are the same pictures as used on the japanese site. i wonder if they change depending on which VH you’ve picked (If you’re playing Amara/Fl4k, do you get pics of Amara and Fl4k? the player is playing moze, afterall).

also also “it’s a KIA on the knife wielding maniac. suuuper dead.”

it’s cool that the VHs have specific lines for the deaths of bosses. i hope that continues and it’s not just a ‘15 min of intro gameplay’ thing. you know, where everything is super detailed in the beginning and then slowly gets less and less as the game progresses? anyway, moze’s little chuckle is fuckin adorable lol

ah. the door closes now so you can’t even explore Shiv’s room before Lilith shows up. gearbox plS you know me too well, i was looking for a g l i m p s e

claptrap’s voice line for getting released is SUPER off time, he hits the ground before going “you did it! i’m sa-ahhhhhhhh!” it’s weird, wondering if that’s just a glitch.

also also we get a nice listen to the revive ally sound. i could’ve sworn it wasn’t in the first look at this mission we got, because i heard it for the first time during the coop Zane/Amara gameplay on Promethea. i might be wrong, tho.

im very curious what these symbols are claptrap is beaming up

i mean you know what im gonna say

they look eridian

and they do

so wtf clappy why u beaming up eridian letters to Lilith

i assume maybe Tannis gave clappy some weird upgrade or something so he could communicate with the crimson raiders without the CoV listening in? it could be that Tannis or someone is decoding this message since Tannis does know how to translate Eridian (as shown in her bl1 ECHOs)

... or at the very least she gave Lilith a translator

the darkening makes it so that you can see the crackening. also this COULD just be a beam that lilith can see from wherever she is, but i want to believe there’s more eridian stuff. bc eridian stuff is fun.

this is so fu cking crisp im dying i love it

lilith’s tattoos spreading down her fingers

same symbol as her chest tattoo. maybe the symbol denotes new powers? like how lily has one on her chest for phasewalking, and a new one on her hand for teleportation

i love how her wings look like actual fire. i fucking love this

lilith is looking so fucking good in the new engine

im glad they got rid of her super red eyes, tbh it looked a bit weird

i think they are really pushing her fire affinity, im sure we’ll see Maya has an elemental affinity as well (im calling corrosive) and im sure Tyreen will too (slag). Amara looks to be Shock because that’s her ‘default’, but who knows until (if) bl4 comes out. but corrosive wings on maya would look SOOO fucking cool. please. please please please.

god she looks so good compared to bl2. i love how the tattoos softly glow in the dark, too. i gotta play this mission late in the day...

“you’re... the voice in my head, right?” i love this so much, i really hope my shitpost comes true.

lilith gives you a grenade mod for completing her mission! im really glad they are PUSHING through the tutorial/intro so you can get right into the game. bl2′s ‘intro’ of all these tutorials was brutal. especially waiting to unlock your action skill.

in 3 you get your action skill automatically at level 2!!! which is insane, i love it! they’re jumping right into it, it’s great. and they seem to be pushing for you to get all the stuff you need right away.

it’s curious to note that in bl3 we get our class mods at the end of the Promethea demo (after Gigamind), since in bl2 you get your first (usually?) after the hunting the firehawk mission and both seem to take place immediately after we get to the ‘base of operations’ of the game (Sanctuary vs Sanctuary-III).

yep that quest is 100% in line with the quest marker.

i imagine From the Ground Up may be discovering where the Vault Map/Key actually is? maybe bringing people to the Recruitment Center (notably Tannis)

for this scene. i hope this takes place after the HBC, because i seriously... can’t imagine the twins showing up, taking the Vault Map, bringing it to the HBC, and then NOT taking Lilith’s powers/trying to kill Lily and accidentally taking her powers. it just doesn’t make sense, Vault Hunters be damned, we are level 2 they could melt us easy peasy.

If anything, it feels like we COULD find the Vault Map in the Recruitment Center, Tannis tries to activate it/fix it, we find out it’s mega broke, and then the Sun Smashers show up and take it. but i seriously can’t imagine Lilith nor the new VHs allowing that to happen while they’re still there. maybe if Tannis sends us to do something while Lilith is gathering other CR members? then it could make sense if they attack while Tannis is alone with the Key...

we end up finding something in Shiv’s room that shows/helps us realize the Sun Smashers bringing the Vault Map to the Calypsos. tho this would mean the quest From the Ground Up is SUPER short and I imagine it’s not. Maybe we raid a camp of theirs like the one in front of Sanc-III with the bridge/ramp? We need to be about level 6 before we go and we start From the Ground Up at 2 so there’s obviously something DEEP we’re missing here. maybe this is a mission where we go gather the other Crimson Raiders? HMMMMMMMM...

.... oh.

nevermind lmfao

she opens her ECHO immediately after this LOL i feel kinda dumb now

raiding their camp it is! the Droughts sounds like a fun location. Very much like the dust. you guys think there’s a Shade situation going on there? i’m excited to see it. Still think we’re going to use Shiv’s room to get that lead, though. i just really wanna watch tv lmfao. i hope this means the bandits run from the camp to the HBC, or we find info that the bandit warchief sent a party to the HBC with the Vault Map. either way, i just don’t want the twins showing up until after the HBC or i will have so many questions. “why didn’t you kill lilith?” being the first. “the god queen wants her head!” ur goddamn right she does, so why doesn’t she (try to) kill lilith???

85% already?! hot damn

also

that’s one badass description there, Moze

also also

while having gun slots locked is pretty normal, im surprised they’re locking class mods and relics, too! i wonder when we’ll be able to equip relics. maybe when we first go to eden-6 or smth. or maybe after we meet up with Rhys. shit maybe he’s just handing us an artifact (im gonna interchange these a lot, sorry!) in that Promethea video lmfao

“ready to chuck some boom and frag some maniacs” lol moze i love you

if you’re playing Zane... `equips grenade mod for checkmark` `immediately equips second action skill and never actually uses grenade mod`

“it’s the firehawk! the god queen wants her head!”

like i alluded to before, i would not be surprised if Tyreen doesn’t know she can absorb Siren powers... when she goes to succ lilith in front of Sanctuary-III, it’s totally possible she actually was trying to kill her. That could explain why she looks so intrigued at her hand like “oh shit okay lets see what this can do”

might be why she was okay with sending her cultists after her instead of showing up herself.

“alright, we got a foothold. maybe things are turning our way. come on killer, you’re with me” we are going to explore the SHIT out of shiv’s room.

alright alright alright

let’s move on to the Sanctuary-III stuff

yessss

i love the quest objective thing, it looks like we will be able to swap through our quests with the push of a button! also im curious why exactly we’re going to promethea right away. i wonder if the twins say something about moving there after getting the vault map/lilith’s powers, or if we hear from rhys. im expecting something about the vault map, since our vh will admit they don’t know rhys at all when talking to lorelei. but for some reason we need to be within the city limits? since lily says ellie got us within the city limits.

hmmmmmm. okay, okay, maybe the map was trying to lead us to promethea for vault reasons during that short amount of time that we had it and it was working. maybe promethea is what we see when tannis is activating the key during that one cutscene? ohhh shit how dope would it be if we got that fucking easter egg message? omg “Children of the Vault. Come to Promethea. We are not on Pandora anymore. Tannis is not what she seems. Do not open the Vaults.” and everyone is like ‘uh did that thing just mention Tannis by name??’ and now it’s REALLY important to get the map back just so we can figure out wtf it’s trying to tell us.

i will question how ‘Tannis is not what she seems’ would affect character relationships, especially if it’s said so early in the game. so perhaps we only hear the first part of the message. maybe it’s corrupted because it was recently broken. iunno. just playing around with ideas. the canon of this game is like flarp putty until sept. 13th

anyway moving on because this is literally the first f r a m e of the video

i like that you can see pandora’s eridian scar. if the destroyer is speaking through eridium to people, it’s gonna bust outta the side of this planet like you wouldn’t fucking believe lmao. eridium is a window to the soul and if you stare long enough into its glossy, shining sides, the destroyer stares back

that or it’s just like a beacon, slowly spreading its influence across the universe. but i like the idea that the destroyer can waltz out of a big enough hunk of eridium. so it will bust out of pandora’s eridium scar. F in chat for pandora but also lmfao the amount of tentacles and rage would be unparalleled.

reality is that the twins are probably farming this scar for eridium to turn into slag for multiple purposes. like brainwashing their cultists, giving them powers, and ensuring their guns have their manufacturer’s quirk (im getting to this in my next post bc im just gonna compile all the ign gun videos into one big post)

the floor art is different from the actual sanc-iii demo. i mention this first in my behind closed doors panel analysis, but im gonna mention it again because this is ~official~. the floor list on the first walkthru of sanc-iii we got had the names of all the crimson raiders and lines leading to their shops. so we had the infirmary/tannis, marcus, moxxi, etc listed on the floor. i imagine this new sanc-iii will change as we get more people on board or if we do a sort of re-decoration of the ship.

also also, it’s cool to see that we have 4 rooms on the minimap, likely one for each of the VHs (and your coop buddies). ive seen speculation that the other, non-played VHs will hang out in their rooms when you’re not playing them, and tbh i really hope this is the case.

we also know this version of sanctuary-iii is after pandora, so there are no promethea citizens aboard yet. which makes me double certain the first sanc-iii video we got takes place either after endgame (explaining why Lily has her tattoos back) or right after Athenas (explaining why Maya is there). which... i mean... spoilers, guys.

that’s one good lookin fast travel station, holy shit

im in tears over here because “Caution: no steppy”. this is so fucking funny to me

no steppy on me

okay moving on because i will cry laugh over this for forever im allowed

moze’s room is so much different than amara’s

also i notice she’s on the left of the two on the top, which makes me hope the other 4 are reserved for the other VHs (or your coop buddy).

compared to the official sanc-iii demo video

and amara’s room

moze’s is so barren oh my god

someone get this girl like... a colorful throw pillow or something

baaank. also doubles as the secret stash. kinda upsetting, because that is infinitely less loot i can store when i make a lot of characters. also if i upgrade the bank once, is it upgraded across all my other characters too? or are the guns i put in storage slot 11 locked up until i buy the upgrade?

either way, i am saddened because no more mule characters. and way less space the more characters you make and more gear you find, because all gear you put in here is there across all characters. i hope this means our backpacks will be a lot bigger this time around!

supamax mfg shows up again

ppm/04-02 matches up with the number behind the fast travel station. i wonder if this will come into play. if the number changes later in-game im going to freak the fuck out bc that means wherever we are isn’t actually sanctuary-iii

ppm/04-02. remember that 👀

also, the wall behind the golden chest changed from red to steel/greenish. can’t tell the actual color. same as the floor

you know. that color.

“golden keys are popular. you can get some in-game and also get them online”

in-game you say??? im interested! i wonder if there will be some sort of arena (like moxxi’s) where if you complete it you get a key as a reward. i saw people speculating about some sort of randomized boss rush, that could definitely be a way to get gold keys, as well.

oooo engine room! im excited to explore here.

original size is 16. so, we have 40 backpack slots! still... you know... only 1 above the max of bl2, but hey. at least that’s an upgrade. as small as it may be

on the bright side: bank upgrades increase capacity by 5. with a base of 10, and 8 upgrades, we have 50 slots to fill. which is a big leap from the original 24. it is still a shame we have to share these across characters, tho

offline cultist stream? makes me think the CoV really was trying to steal/take over sanc-iii from the crimson raiders and we went to go take it (back?) in Taking Flight. either the CoV found/ordered Sanc-III, or the crimson raiders were building it/fixing it up, their stronghold got taken over, and the CoV were prepping it for takeover.

the shooting range. and if you notice that little CoV symbol in the bottom left there? yeah pretty much backs up my previous theory

all those red bits are tied to ellie’s crew challenge. so we’ll be collecting things for her!

an altar for scooter 😢

“we’re gonna get those cultism sumbitches, believe you me”

where you get yeeted out of Sanc-III. im definitely going to try jumping in it to see if it kills me. doesn’t look like the drop pods are available yet

that’s not clappy, pretty sure he’s hanging out on the bridge right now

schematics for veronica

the thing i was most excited about in this video!

loooots of customizations! which excites me because i know eridium used to get useless late game when you’ve grinded all the raid bosses. it looks like eridum is going to be in ultra high demand. but u can bet ur ass im gonna be unlocking all those fucking customizations asap.

veteran rewards is also super super interesting

hgggggg i wanna know what the shields do!!!

i like the vault symbol at the top of the item card as well, shows you its a special type of weapon/item. im honestly surprised we’re able to buy ‘veteran rewards’ so early in the game? i mean obvi we won’t have enough eridium (look at the costs!) but it’s wild it’s even accessible. im personally a fan of the first bonus ‘anointed: gain life steal on action skill end’

looks like these guns have been chosen

to give them those special bonuses

i do see that just anointed is not class specific, but the ones that say anointed gunner or maybe anointed siren will be (confirmed by the devs in video).

you pay with eridium, so maybe the vending machine has some way to confer the power of eridium to the guns. or some shit. iunno. it’s possible this won’t be available until the end of the game, hence veteran rewards, and is only being shown to us right now since this is a showcasing video.

pandoran civilian. no promethea civilians today folks! i am CONVINCED that the old sanc-iii demo takes place after the end of the game. at least after athenas.

it’s weird seeing moxxi hanging outside her bar.

is also cool to know that the 4 slot machines are actually available. seems like npcs can play them, but we can use all 4 if we want to. which is really nice

the one on the far left is called the ‘loot boxxer’ and it gives mostly guns lol. i see they are taking jabs. good for them

better pic of the leftmost machines

Zer0 seems to have a bounty board? not sure if this is like a physical bounty board or if they will contact you when they want something dead, but it is cool to note. this isn’t shown in video, just the devs speaking about it.

similarly hammerlock has ‘big game hunts’ where you find “rare, challenging creatures” and kill them for him

apparently we’ll be killing something known as a manvark

this book

i fucking recognize this book

HAMMERLOCK NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

in all seriousness tho

hammerlock probably isn’t in his room because we haven’t rescued him from eden-6 yet.

a cool thing about the crew challenges: as you progress through the game and do these challenges, sanc-iii will ‘grow and change to reflect the things you’ve accomplished’. altho another dev says “sometimes these are optional things, like challenges”

so now im like oh shit we’re gonna change sanc-iii as we play the game. i wonder if that means we’ll be changing the hull, too. because you know. the blue paint job. we gotta go STEALTH. sneaky beaky into the calypsos fleety

tannis doesn’t have the saurian on her table. also, interesting note, she DOES have the eridian log in the corner. meaning she must have had that before eden-6. interesting... maybe we’ll find more on Pandora.

she is still covered in blood tho. idk i don’t have an explanation for that. don’t think i want to think of one, to be quite honest.

oh no. (those are skulls next to all the gurneys)

“tannis plays a much bigger role in bl3 than she has in past games”. bigger than borderlands 1? that is... impressive. she’ll be running the health vending machines (which is weird bc i could’ve sworn in the promethea demo, zed was still running them... hm.)

another angle of sanc-iii

clappy? you good there?

the devs said they’re using him to plug a hole. i assume the calypsos shot at the ship as we’re leaving or smth.

lily with no tattoos, who also looks significantly more pissed than her other sanc-iii demo counterpart

you know. because she got her tattoos.

also

fucking

lilith says something right here. all i can make out is “Tyreen took my powers. it’s like tannis said. ..... [inaudible] Siren.” maybe some weird word i haven’t heard before? i swear she’s saying ‘like tannis said: a ‘m...’ Siren” but i am not 100% sure. if someone could help me out, that’d be rad.

so its sounding like lilith rushed in with explicit warning from tannis about tyreen stealing her powers, and tannis knew tyreen was some sort of Siren and warned lily, but lily didn’t listen. it could also be that lily is saying something like “im not a siren” but i can’t really hear it if she is. it sounds like she saying a word that starts with m to me. if someone could help me with this i’d owe you my life

whew. i am. fucking TIRED.

im gonna sleep for like 3 hours and then wake up and make food before the fl4k streams start.

#borderlands #bl3 #borderlands 3

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