#god I fucking love Ishmael so much

[hollenka99]

Ishmael Mouse, the guy who became one of the most important people in the entire empire through the power of friendship

[talesofwhimsy]

I'm 100 pages into Moby Dick and they just got on the goddamn boat

This book actually kinda fucks hard it's great?

[postmail]

ya ever think about how the start of moby feeling more like a comedy is both a red herring to the intended audience (aka people who didnt already know how the book went/ ended) but also like. thematically quite... sad, i suppose? in a sort of bittersweet way

ignoring the meta for a second - like, here we have the perfect setup for a fun, light hearted adventure story. its almost what ishmael wants the reader to believe thats what they are getting - making it all the more jarring/ upsetting when it is taken away. with foresight, it almost feels like ishmael is dangling it in front of you; “see? we could have been happy! this could have been happy!” before we are then made to feel almost... robbed of it. like this is what he could have gotten, but fate had other plans

ishmael shows us the good times. the retrospectively (for him, for us it was always was, lol) funny ones, and other moments too. the happy ones. as though to show us what could have been. what he could have had. the story that could have been made. his story.

it makes me think - are these happy, fun times, what ishmael wanted his story to be? ...does he feel robbed of such a story?

[buzzbeezz7]

i need to add more but ishmael shrine thing or whatever. it’s right by my bed too so i get to look at her while i sleep

[andromedako]

ego corrosion my beloveddd MY BELOVED !!

[necronatural]

The new limbus canto has me foaming at the mouth. Thoughts?

Just finished my 9 hour session. Project Moon writers are playing toys and expecting us to keep up and it's kind of awesome

- Using the arc mechanics of sanity for a nonstop boss gauntlet is CRAZY. 4 seperate bosses took me an hour each. I was learning Limbus mechanics I hadn't even realized existed fighting all these fucking bosses. Jesus does the first one ever set the tone

- VERGILIUUUUUUUS

- Disappointment Cathy wasn't a villain VS loving the humanity of the fact she's so self-centred that losing her position in someone's heart is terrifying to the point she can be gaslit by her own deranged self-centred compulsions

- Meursault

- So much stupid shit in this one I love it. Mirror Heathcliff looks like something that the power rangers should be fighting. Laughed every time he showed up

- THE FUCKING PUUUUUN THE FINAL SCENE PUN WHWIFJJFODK

- the mechanics of mirror world technology is so unnecessarily complex with so many interpretations that it doesn't really make sense however it ended up being the least asspull thing in this Canto

- Every asspull in this Canto was the coolest asspull. Childish glee

-I was wrong about the arc sin being pride it was Gloom. The Heartbreaking is so obviously about being driven to madness by torrential emotion. Holy fuck. I my be stupid

- I really wanted to see some more Dante characterization crumbs so I was blindsided by it being 150% Dante lore stuff instead. Like they were fretting about not being appreciated in the last Canto but now they're so professional. It reminds me of how calm they were in the whale too. Business gap moe or proximity to the branch....??

- Similarly I'm disappointed Ishmael wasn't utilized at all but I get it because their situations are more different than expected and it would distract from the story it ended with 😑 good writing choice

- Based on Verg skills it's possible his eyes aren't even his. Am I crazy for obsessing over Ryoshu's reaction to his statement about his Gladius

- What else. God I don't even know. That shit was crazy. This game loves to top itself

[gamequoteshowdown]

Thank you everyone for making this happen! Now, without further ado, the match-ups for Round 1!!!

Round 1

"I've been waiting for this!" - Akihiko Sanada, Persona 3 / "You're just a corpse who doesn't know he's dead" - Valter, Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones

"Are you going to be our goddess of victory… or our angel of death? Doesn't sound too bad to bet my life on that." - Keiji Shinogi, Your Turn To Die: Death Game by Majority / "Don't fuck with a witch!" - Bayonetta, Bayonetta

"Teammates!? Friends!? To hell with that! Why am I inferior to you!? I was extremely particular about my life, my grades, my public image! So someone would want me around! I am an ace detective! A celebrity! But you… You're just some criminal trash living in an attic!? So how!? How does someone like you have things I don't!? How can such a worthless piece of trash be more special than me!?" - Goro Akechi, Persona 5 / "I was just gunna ask you to sell a gun to this child." - Starlo, Undertale Yellow

"I want you to live." - Charlotte Wiltshire, Hello Charlotte Series / "Your hair… sunset colored. I like it." - Queequeg, Limbus Company

"The hope to end pointless conflict… The hope to tell your daughter how much you care… It is our mission as apothecaries to ensure that everyone lives long enough for their hopes to become reality. Even if it costs us our own lives." - Castti Florenz, Octopath Traveler II / "Game is clear when 2 zombies hold hands!!" - "How to Play" Narrator, Loving Deads: The House of the Dead EX

"Thanks to you, I am saddled with unnecessary… feelings" - Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney / "I am so fucking normal right now" - Harry du Bois, Disco Elysium

“SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL IS GOING TO HAPPEN” - Harry du Bois (in the form as a potential mural painting), Disco Elysium / "You pull out your cellphone and access your old Tumblr. You have ten, but you specifically access the Garfield one." - Narrator, Monster Prom

"… Nice meeting you again, you FUCKING WHALE!" - Ishmael, Limbus Company / "My guess is no one's ever loved you before" - Woody, Kingdom Hearts 3

"Take care, [player]. I was lucky to have known you. Though the parting hurts... the rest is in your hands!" - Grovyle, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky / "Far out, man." - Netzach, Limbus Company

"I'll be back once I eliminate that devil called poverty from the world!" - Partitio Yellowil, Octopath Traveler II / "Elder gods from the whole cosmos have awoken to taste your cookies." - Narrator, Cookie Clicker

"Hello! This is the part where I kill you!" - Wheatley, Portal 2 / "Now we come to the question : Do I kill you? Do I tear you apart to my heart's delight? The choices of the beautiful are unbearable. How's a girl to choose?" - Alice Angel, Bendy and the Ink Machine

"I am Ferdinand von Aegir" - Ferdinand von Aegir, Fire Emblem: Three Houses / "Her metabolic processes are of interest only to historians." - Miles Edgeworth, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

"It ain't a matter of guys or chicks... I'm just scared shitless of being rejected" - Kanji Tatsumi, Persona 4 / "...also Stanley is addicted to drugs and hookers" - Narrator, The Stanley Parable

“You’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t you?” - Happy Mask Salesman, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask / "I have no idea what to do with my life, but that's okay! Because I'm still working hard! Even if it's on nothing at all!" - Papyrus, Undertale

"Despite everything, its still you." - Narrator/Chara/Frisk???, Undertale / "In this world, it's kill or be killed." - Flowey, Undertale

“Heart. Lungs. Liver. Nerves. Heart. Lungs. Liver. Nerves…” - Voices of the Paranoid, Slay the Princess / "In the quiet glade, across old bark. In the ancient glade, it's always dark." - Gabbro, Outer Wilds

"You take away all their sins, and people aren't people anymore!" - Rokurou Rangetsu, Tales of Berseria / "Do you even get how it feels to have nightmares about doing tango with raw chickens? Eh?" - Heathcliff, Limbus Company

"Life is worth living, even if it hurts you, even if you hurt in it." - Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid / "I often think about the god who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle... and wonder if we'll ever get the chance to kill him." - 2B, Nier: Automata

“Oh? Is that how it is? Yeah, okay, I like you too. Neat! Still going to kill you, but now we can both enjoy a mutual romantic subtext to the murder.” - The Razor, Slay the Princess / "Now it’s Reyn Time!" - Reyn, Xenoblade Chronicles

"You lost the coin toss. We both did." - Catherine Chun, SOMA / "I like to drink blood. . . and smoke the weed!" - Dracula, Space Funeral

"Pick a god and pray!" - Frederick, Fire Emblem: Awakening / "Can you believe it? Dragons! In your own homeland! What are you going to do?" - Florentia Candidius, Elder Scrolls Online

""Did you get the Broom Closet Ending?! The Broom Closet Ending was my favourite!" ...I hope your friends find this concerning." - Narrator, The Stanley Parable / "It’s dangerous to go alone, take this!" - Old Man, Legend of Zelda

“Close your eyes for a sec, will you Chigasaki?” “You mean physically? Or to the criminal acts I’m pretty sure you’re about to commit?” “Both.” - Chikage Utsuki & Itaru Chigasaki, A3! Act! Addict! Actors! / "You are all about to perish, do as you please. I'm sorry." - Meta Knight, Kirby Super Star

"Boy" - Kratos, God of War / "Take care of yourself, kid, cause someone really cares about you." - Sans, Undertale

"Almost Christmas means it wasn't Christmas!" - Phoenix Wright, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney / "Dios mío!” (Draw a cross.) “A LIBERAL!" - Harry du Bois, Disco Elysium

"That's it. I'm not paying one cent of my taxes!" - Ema Skye, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney / ""Trust your partner"... And I do. I can't forgive you, but I trust you." - Neku Sakuraba, The World Ends With You/Subarashiki Kono Sekai

"Hey, you. You’re finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there." - Ralof, Skyrim / *clap ... clap ... clap ... * "Oh good, my slow clap processor made it into this thing, so at least we have that" - GLaDOS, Portal 2

"hallOO. chikkEN. OKs?" - BOb, Slime Rancher / "Pretty good plan. You could say it was the greatest—" - Charles Calvin, The Henry Stickmin Collection

"Blood comes in four types: A, B, O, and AB. However! No blood test can determine whether a murder was committed… in cold blood!" - Phoenix Wright, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney / "You ain't my partner anymore, man. You're my friend! So trus' that, yo!" - Beat (Daisukenojo "Beat" Bito), The World Ends With You/Subarashiki Kono Sekai

"I always come back." - William Afton, FNaF Pizzeria Simulator / "So -- as you can see, I'm a *pretty okay* detective -- and an absolutely GIANT COMMUNIST." - Harry du Bois, Disco Elysium

"Ears have a nice mouth feel, very chewy!" - Briar, League of Legends / "This is like taking candy from a baby, which is fine by me." - Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog (2005)

"It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming... On days like this, kids like you... Should be burning in hell." - Sans, Undertale / "In the dark times, should the stars also go out?" - Steban, the Student Communist, Disco Elysium

“We are a path in the woods. We have no beginning, and we have no end, but something cold and unnatural sits watching us from just beyond our edge.” - The Wild, Slay the Princess / "Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled Trainers should try to win with the Pokémon they love best." - Karen (Elite Four), Pokemon HeartGold / SoulSilver

[stari-hun]

Limbus Maxxing

My live rambles on limbus company as I play (I like Mili so imma play for them).

Prologue rambles under the cut

TRUCK KUN?!

Ok Kaalaa Baunaa ass

Oh great so our name is Dante and we just made a pact with some unknown entities who are vaguely ominous and homosexual

-

Faust: Wassup dawg ur now leader of the squad

MC: what squad??? WHO ARE YOU???

Faust: Not the people killing you

-

OH GOD WHY DOES THE BATTLE MECHANIC LOOK SO SCARY-

Oh god I’m not understanding shit. Can’t wait to overlevel and just be op

-

Panther: 0 stars on Yelp, shit theatre kid performance, will not be going back

-

Ah yes a clock with a time gimmick very unexpected much wow very woah

-

The CG art is so cool, fully how it’s different than the sprites

-

MC is fr deciding trust purely off vibe checking people

-

MC: why is everyone calling me Dante?

Faust: It’s your name

MC: Nuh uh

Faust, ignoring MC: You’ll get used to it

-

Gregor: ay Buddy just to start off with, I’m not judging with anyone’s representation and what they decide to do with their head yk? Your body ur choice

-

Mmm delicious immoral actions and expectations from a higher organization in control the group is forced to rely on. I eat it up every time. Constantine would thrive in this world

-

Ishmael: All of your introductions are disappointing as hell. You do know this is us introducing ourselves to a superior right? We’re working right now.

Also Ishmael: I’m Ishmael

LIKE LMAOO????? All that and she also gives an informal introduction. Also the similarities in the way the intro cards treat Sinners and how Arcanists are treated in hit game Reverse 1999

-

Heathcliff: Yeah I don’t care about trying to please you or fitting in (proceeds to give one of the only proper self introductions)

HELLOOOO???? If he gets angry we contact HR lmaoooo

-

Ok Tsukasa move it on

-

Ah yes, the token autistic member, I see you Hong Lu

Ignoring that lady-

Ah another autistic, this time one with an unfortunate but definitely gendered name. Love me a character who just wants to do their job then clock out

Oh ew Dante is French /silly

-

MC: wow Meursault you’re really one of the polite people here :)

Meursault: This is the normal reaction for this situation

MC: :)

MC’s thoughts: Something’s deeply wrong with him.

-

Outis going on this long chuunibiyou like rant to MC while they have no clue what’s going on still

Outis: I vow to serve you with unrivaled devotion, Executive Manager. My blade is yours to wield.

MC: here I thought you’d be one of the normal ones….

-

MC: I mean I want my head back but eh….. eH

Vergilius: smh, I tell you to go to hell and you hesitate? Smh.

-

Imagine losing ur head and memories and non-binary company takes you, dies, gets revived, and tells you to literally go to hell

-

Faust: Ur strategy game is clearly shit so let me tell you how to improve

-

Vergilius: enough useless chatter

No???? Knowing how to revive people is actually incredibly useful?? I need to know how to be doing that

-

WE HAVE A FUCKING SANITY BAR??? NOOOOOOOOOOO

-

Oh god the designated driver is a speed demon-

-

Yeah Kagamine Rin, speak ur truth

-

Vergilius is such an antiyapper. Get bro some noise cancelling headphones with the way he hates background dialogue

-

Charon: Damn. A missed chance to run someone over.

-

AYYYYYYY MILI SONGGG WRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

-

Oh damn it really is a bus and not a train- though to be fair it is like the outer look of a train just compressed into one car

[evorathesylvurr]

i cant believe no one else in the limbus fandom is also into neopets.

"evora what does this mean" it means i know too much god damn neopets lore.

spoilers that go up to violet dawn walpurgis! you have been warned.

yi sang seems like the type who would have a kacheek or two

kacheeks are known for their friendly disposition. theyre also one of my favorites but thats unrelated. he'd also probably have a eyrie.

he'd be the type who has done all the plots. even the ones before he joined. (how? don't ask.)

faust is a crazy aisha lady. look. look. as an aisha enjoyer, i get to claim this one as one of us. aishas whole thing is being really smart.

faust strikes me as the type who would enjoy the battledome honestly. theres so much strategy that she probably cant have the faust hivemind tell her what to do.

don quixote spends neocash to have extra slots so she can dress up all her little guys. she chooses team altador every single time and also her favorite is a gelert.

don probably has event exclusive items but she probably got them off of her friends. also she has every limited time pet.

ryoshu would probably have a WONDERFUL time on neopets so long as she doesnt get her account frozen lmao. girl do not post your art. girl the neoboards arent ready for it. girl your spyders.

yeah all of her neopets are spooky themed or red/phantom/halloween depending on what they can be painted. you will never get her to admit it but her favorite neo is her jetsam.

meursault would play if only because he is autistic and so am i. maybe a shoryu (takes a second for info to load)

meursault knows the ins and outs of the neoconomy. like, jellyneo is in his head.

hong lu has a uni. i was going to give a uni to yi sang for the whole wings thing but unis fit hong lu so much better. this man spends so much money on neocash i do not care if hes actually been cut off from his rich family funds. he is using his salary for his silly little digital unicorns.

he shares don's enthusiasm for the game because i said so :) no i think this small little thing might be really healing for him if his family is shit. neopets makes me cry every now and then like for real because its so warm.

heathcliff picked neopets up because of ▢▢▢▢▢. his favorite is the lupe but he also quite likes acaras.

he takes SUCH good care of his neopets. he doesnt even put them in the lodge. he does his daily games to get his neopoints, goes to buy them food, feeds them, grooms them, plays with them, etc. they have perfect stats but theyve never seen a day in the battledome.

ishmael has a flotsam and thats it. no but she actually mostly has maraquan neos which means shes limited to customizing them :( her favorite is her maraquan vandagyre.

ishmael customizes her neos as best she can. they have the best enrichment tanks. ishmael is also insane at destruct-o-match. do not competitive 1v1 her in destruct-o-match you WILL lose.

rodya has a kyrii and a ruki. she has extensive lore for her neos and you should NOT ask her about it.

rodya is active as hell in the neoboards and she helps everyone with their fairie quests so much. rodya shop wizard extrodinaire. we love you.

sinclair is a pound adopter. his lore is his bruce came from the pound and now they go around adopting pound neopets. every single neo aside form his bruce was a pound adopt.

sinclair does those pound rescue touchups you see every now and then where they take a pet in the pound, give it a new paint job and/or lab zap, and return them to the pound so they have a better chance at getting a forever home.

outis plays neopets too because i said so. average scorchio and grarrl enjoyer though.

enjoys a good chia flouring. she uses her fucking paycheck to chia flour small kid's neopets (she doesnt do it to the other sinners she might be mean but she knows for a FACT she will not hear the end of it for MONTHS)

gregor's main neo is a blumaroo actually :3 i could have given him a buzz or a ruki but that is a cheap blow and i actually think it's cuter to give him the little bouncy guy :3

he enjoys playing the minigames and he leaves his pets in the lodge :( but its ok theyre having fun at the lodge.

[cluescorner]

I have a question about Canto 6.

Spoilers for it I guess.

Who is that brown haired lady at the end and why is everyone freaking out about her? /gen

Also, I love it so far. NOT good for me to play when I'm in my breakup feelings or maybe that's the best time for me to play it? IDK but it is an EXPERIENCE! I don't like the story as much as Canto 5's, but then again I don't know who that lady is so maybe if I knew her I'd like it more. Canto 5's vibe was just perfect for me. That's not me saying that Canto 6 doesn't kick ass though, because it does. It doesn't hit the highs and incredible story beats as you realize just how FUCKED you are that 5 does, but the emotional beats hit closer to home for me at least atm. This mili song is going to RUIN ME. Plus, the boss fights are all super cool ESPECIALLY Heathcliff 2's. The idea of a man who hates his own existence so much that killing himself ONCE was not enough but he had to literally travel to other universes in order to kill himself in every one of them...he only targets himself in battle...oh my god it's incredible.

THEY DID THE FUCKING HAUNT ME THING!!! Heathcliff's VA is killing it, as are all of them as always. It also seems like Ryoshu knows something about the Ring, which is really cool and honestly they fit her vibe so maybe she worked for them at some point? Cool.

Predictions uhhhh: Brown haired lady is not touched on again because we need to save her for later, Heathcliff basically becomes his Sunshower self + a bodysack, final boss is a Heath/Cathy fusion creation thing (I'm Heathcliff, PLEASE IT WOULD BE SO COOL), and we destroy the horrible manor. Nelly lives because I want her to. Ishmael saves Heathcliff in a parallel, we ignore the question of 'how tf did Heathcliff 2 get here', and

[azoosepted]

my thoughts on canto v characters (because i said so)

YEAH, IM FEELING A BIT BORED SO HERE ARE MY THOUGHTS. enjoy my insane ramblings about characters introduced in Canto V (excluding unnamed ones of course. Sorry random club guest, even though your outfit induced neuron activation to my theatre kid brain, you’re not getting on this list.)

!! Spoilers for Canto V of Limbus Company !!

Smee: I’m gonna be real. She’s… okay. I don’t really care much about her though, and Canto V doesn’t really give much information about her for me to care about. Smee just exists to be nearly harpooned by Ishmael.

Pilot: AUUAUAUAUAUAUUAUAGH THE BOYE THE BOYE PILOT IS SUCH A BOYE I LOVE HIM. Honestly so thankful to the LCCB Team Leader for sacrificing their life for Pilot’s. He looks so squeezable. Love him.

Rim: OBJECTHEAD GANG OBJECTHEAD GANG OBJECTHEAD GANG his design goes so goddamn hard. And he’s from the League, which is interesting to me. Most characters from the Sinner’s pasts so far are either affiliated with Team Red (N. Corp) like Gubo, Hermann, Jia Huan, Kromer (to an extent) and Sonya (also to a certain extent) OR they’re affiliated with Team Blue (Demian’s group) like Demian and now Rim. Demian’s little gang is very intriguing to me and I need more of it. Anyways Rim is funky and I like it.

Ricardo: THIS MAN. I JUST. I JUST CANNOT WITH THIS MAN. HIS ENERGY IS JUST FUCKING IMMACULATE. IMAGINE GOING AFTER A COMPANY BECAUSE SOMEONE WHO WORKED THERE STOLE YOUR HAIR SALON COUPONS. The way he was so DRAMATIC about it killed me too. And. And the KITTY STICKERS. OH MY GOD THE KITTY STICKERS. what a guy that Big Brother of the Middle is

The Indigo Elder: grandpa. hes cool. I gotta agree with a friend that the hana association really did him dirty with his title though. You’ve got these epic names like The Black Silence, The Blue Reverberation, The Red Gaze… and then there’s just. Indigo Elder. It’s him, the terrifying Indigo Old Guy. Still the honorary grandpa though.

Starbuck: yeah he exists i guess

Ahab: FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU you are so WELL WRITTEN AND DESPICABLE you fucking . BITCH (also stop making queequeg take hits for you in that one fight you piece of—)

Queequeg: I’m gonna be real. Ishmael should share. gueegdhfjfhjdjdjd butch harpooner lesbian… Queequeg is so cool i love her. The scene where she and Ishmael reunite made me smile uncontrollably. Ishmael is literally about to KILL her until Queequeg takes off the mask and i just. oh my god. i cant describe it i love both ishmael and queequeg so much. I can say with 100% honesty that Queequeg’s death made me sob uncontrollably. I just… god. Love her.

Pip: NOOOOOOO LITTLE SAILOR BOY DONT GO INTO CAPITALISM NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Stubb: lmao who

and that’s pretty much it. thats all the characters i can remember. god i love canto v its my favorite chapter so far. PM, keep up the good work. Keep cooking.

[plaguedocboi]

Tell us about Moby Dick!!

AAAAAAAA

Alright I apologize in advance this is long and mostly going to be about Ahab because he is the one who plagues my mind so

I went into this fully expecting to dislike Ahab because the cultural perception of him is this angry raving lunatic who just out to serve himself but he’s not! He’s a good captain and a good person! His crew thinks he’s the coolest guy ever! They all love him! And guess what so do I!!!

He wants revenge NOT just because of the leg thing. The whale bit his leg off (also kind of a simplified version of it, he was more chewed alive) but he wasn’t even really mad about it initially. His crew later tied him to his hammock in a straitjacket and left him there because he was in pain and traumatized and acting like it. After getting back home he was impaled on his own prosthetic and then immediately sent back out to a rigorous, deadly job without a chance to heal. The whale represents everything bad that’s happened to him that he doesn’t have control over and he desperately wants that control back. He can’t fight the system or the men who hurt him or the concept of ableism but he can fight that fucking whale. He is a deeply traumatized person who never got the help he needed so he decided to take matters into his own hands. He believes the whale is the source of evil in the world and by killing it he can forever free humanity from the tyranny of a cruel and uncaring god.

He puts up a facade of power and strength because the last time he showed weakness he was treated like an animal. The only person he allows even a little control is Starbuck because that’s the one person he trusts (gay). He is a fundamentally hurt, lonely man who could have gotten better and this tragedy could have been avoided had he been given the help he needed. He has nightmares and awakes in panics, he paces the deck all day and night, and he is scared of losing his power. He is angry at the universe and god and mankind. He is not crazy. He is trying to save himself and others but dooms them all in the process.

Also his death haunts me. Everyone had lead me to believe that the whale eats him but it doesn’t! He gets tangled in the harpoon line and the whale drags him to the bottom of the ocean. I think anyone who Knows Me understands why that fucked me up a bit. The whale kills everyone else as well aside from Ishmael, by the way. It’s really fucking sad.

Anyway there’s my case for why Ahab is great and why I love him and think about him so much. This is just ONE reason I like Moby-Dick btw but I’m not writing a book report via tumblr.

[stalkiwi]

So about this Canto V... (Spoilers)

I rather say it straight, my review is quite negative, so if you loved Canto V, you should ignore this. I don't like to put bad vibes in the main tag, but I wanted to give my opinion on this Canto.

This Canto was... Disappointing. I love Ishmael, I love Moby Dick, I truly do, and I had high expectations. Especially because, I know Project Moon is good at making us feel things, so I was confident with this Canto. I was confident it would be as good as the last one. But... There are things.

I'm not going to talk much about the CG or character designs. I will be honest, the new characters designs were really mid, Queequeg and Ahab were the two to stand out, and yet, even so, I did not saw them very great. Yet god knows I love evil old women and butch she/her himbo. I feel sad that Nai_Ga had to, well, literally carry the entire visuals of the Canto, did every background, every character, every CG. I hope he's paid tripple for his work. But also it felt like rushed, naturally, when you're the only artist working on a whole game's chapter, there's high chances that it will look low quality. But at the same time, since VellMori left the crew, I can't say much. I really, really hope they can find new artists. I love your art style, Nai_Ga, but dear god we need to discuss how you draw muscled arms.

ANYWAY, now into the real subject; what really disappointed me in this chapter. The feels.

I AM going to compare it a lot to Canto IV, naturally. It was the previous Canto, so it's hard to not compare them, especially with how good Canto IV was. It's like eating a very dull and mid dessert after an absolute banger of a feast.

The characters were not attaching. At all.

Let's talk about Ahab first, the main antagonist. She's... Well, a very fucked up old lady. She's senile and obsessed by her revenge. Which, well, makes sense! But it gives no sympathy whatsoever to the character. Comparing to Dongrang, the antagonist of the previous Canto, she was not a grey antagonist. She was all black. All evil. Which is BAD when Project Moon has been serving us really morally grey characters before. She's obssessed, she's ready to throw her crewmates to death for her own desires, she just wants to kill that Damned Whale. And this was so, so bad when at the end, Ishmael spares Ahab. WHY would you spare this absolutely madlad. Sure, Ishmael doesn't want to be like her, but Ahab had absolutely no reason to be left alive. She will just be more evil, AND join the evil people gang to be even MORE evil. That's fucked up. Yes, Kromer was also some unhinged feral woman, but she fought for something and was not just evil, but smart. She was scary BECAUSE she was smart. Ahab, at first she was shown as charismatic, that she can manipulate... But she quickly, way too quickly fell into "just some senile old woman." Starbuck and Queequeg followed her because she was the reason they were still alive, she was their lighthouse. But at the end of the dungeon, even after she shouted with absolutely no shame that she's ready to kill her crew, after Queequeg discovered with horrors that she sacrified everyone to make her way to the heart, she... Still joins Ahab? Without, even a second thought? Queequeg, you KNEW Ahab had not a single care for you, that she was ready to use your body for the steps that would lead her to her ambition. WHY, you followed her, and DIED for her till the end.

And Queequeg is my next point. She could, she SHOULD have been a character I enjoy a lot, but instead I felt neutral about her. A character we can associate to her in the previous Canto is Dongbaek. And now, we get a hint; all the Pequod crew was introducted way too late. They got introduced at the start of the Dungeon, and all died at the end of the Dungeon. Compared to Kromer, to Dongrang and Dongbaek who were introduced way before. We saw the memories of Sinclair and Yi Sang with them, we saw the interactions, the good moments, and that's how we got attached to them. Unfortunately, for the Pequod's crew, from the start of Canto V to the start of the Dungeon, we got absolutely nothing. Just their names mentioned. We should have got flashbacks. We barely saw Ishmael interact with Pip or Starbuck, and even her interactions with Queequeg, they were sure, adorable and heartwarming, but I could not feel the attachment between them that much as I was able to feel it between Yi Sang and Dongbaek. Dongbaek gave us an amazing boss fight, despite being not the final boss (Queequeg had a boss fight too, but! Too bad! It was just some random looking fight.), she gave us amazing memories of her and Yi Sang, and she died a heartbreaking death.

Queequeg, not only you had to guess that she was dead because at no moment it was showed, but all she got is around five lines of dialogues, Ishmael's crying sprite, "oh no!, anyway. that whale's not going to die alone."

Then we got Pip, Starbuck, and Stubb. Who? They appeared, they had a bit of dialogues, then they disappeared. Reduced to atoms.

This is really sad, because Project Moon always had a talent to make us attached to characters, then once they were growing into our hearts, kill them. I mostly think about Xiao, about Yan, we saw those characters evolve throught the story of Library of Ruina, we followed them, we saw their struggles, we saw their feelings, we fought them, the music playing behind broke our hearts, and we killed them. It was painful, it was hard, and even after they're gone, we will still think about them. We will read their books and discover even more. The promise Xiao and Lowell made that she broke after his death, how Yan had been chosen as a messenger just after he tried to take his own life away.

Queequeg, Ahab, and the rest of the Pequod's Crew are forgettable. And this is AWFUL for a Project Moon game.

And Ishmael's evolution... The conclusion felt, quite random. A few time I felt bad for her during the Canto, and it was good! But at the end, it felt rushed. She dropped a "my friends are Limbus Company now" randomly. She did not even interacted with anyone during the Dungeon. All the Sinners were just looking from far away like "go white girl go". She could have teamed up with them, she could have created bounds with them. All we got is Heathcliff saving her to make the Ishheath fans scream because Ishmael is a dark skinned himbo magnet.

I hope at least, Ishmael will play a really good part in Heathcliff's evolution in his Canto, the next one, but that's disappointing that during Ishmael's, it wasn't much. She could have got closer to Outis during the final fight, since both were already working as a team on the boat before, she could have got closer to Rodion, who helped her, or maybe Don! It's sad she was just, here, alone, against Ahab. It broke the whole purpose of "finding her new self", and she seemed that she came to this conclusion randomly.

So yup. Big disappointment. I probably set the bar of my expectations too high, maybe, but I'm not the only one sharing this, as I discuted it with some people before. I can complain about other points, like how Moby Dick just appeared for one scene, that Queequeg's death was absolutely useless to the story, or the lack of new abnormalities. But I'm being annoying.

Mili's song was fire tho, as always

[georges-chambers]

for the character asks...ishmael, ofc :3

Idk when you sent this but I wish I had seen it earlier because !!! VERY glad to do this!!

'How I feel about this character': So Much. In general. What can't I say about him? On one hand, as many point out, he's an almost definitely some kind of undiagnosable neurodivergent and due to this is incredibly relatable. ACCIDENTALLY CLICKED POST WHEN I MEANT TO SAVE THIS TO DRAFTS. ANYWAYS. I HAD MUCH MORE: He Also Suvks!!! He knows a lot but that doesn't mean he actually believes in objectively true things! Hes aware of his own faults but we get the feeling he's not too concerned with changing them very much! I also feel like some fans of Moby Dick kind of choose to gloss over the ways in which, beautifully as he puts it, his love for Queequeg is also almost definitely through a very warped lens due to the way he just thinks of Queequeg, and at times it also seems almost obsessive. And another important part of him, I think, is that he becomes just as obsessed with things that are important to him as someone like Ahab, just in a way that doesn't lead to relentlessly chasing them down and trying to kill them. Well, breaking down a door to 'save them' is. I'm sure you can see the similarities. But of course there's the way he writes obsessively about minor details about the whole voyage and people on it and Moby Dick himself in a way that implies he has a fascination with it all borne from the trauma it gave him. Which reminds me of how much he seems to actively want to hide any part of himself and his past from the reader but where it starts slipping out are often memories that seem kind of. Worrying(?) Definitely not Pleasant anyways. Which again, he seems to zero in on a bit. Also to me he is Not Cis. Of course.

'All of the people I ship romantically with this character': Ishmael's one of the very few instances where I think the only romantic ship I have of him are with the canon love interest (Queequeg of course). Aside from probably 2 ships or so, but those are either rather RPF (about someone who is dead but nonetheless real. I mean. He's kinda implied to exist in Moby Dick too, but he's very much real, its based on the real version) focused or Angst Heavy, so I would only share those in DMs at request.

Now as for potential sexual relationships? Another entire area I will leave to DMs.

'My non-romantic OTP for this character': Okay nevermind, I lied. I could Never explain it fully because its Not in the book and not based on anything in the book, but the 2011 movie. Showed me a whole layer to the potential of whatever was going on between Ahab and Ishmael and god. The toxic workplace relationship he had with that old man. That whole movie became Their Movie to me. Queequeg can of course become involved. I also like the idea of him and Bulkington of course.

'My unpopular opinion about this character': Its hard to say what'd be considered unpopular for this kind of a fandom, but I feel like the fact that the racism from his POV was progressive for its time only makes it even more immersive to him as a character. Its the sort of thing that's like . 'This is a fascinating indication about the time and the author writing in this time' and 'This could be considered a part of the character narrating all of this and how they view the world' Can very much coexist here. To me they feed into each other and I love it. Less like that, though, since that'd probably be the more popular of the two: I feel like a lot of adaptations are a bit less than accurate to what I personally think of with Ishmael because they often make him (even including the 2011 to some degree) a lot more overtly 'benevolent' than really fits. In the book, he does shit like contemplate just boarding up the room he's in and basically steal it from its original owner, and just the near frantic, almost aggressive tone he often takes with fucking Cetaceans, In General, towards his audience, I love, and really wish there had been like. Any of, in most adaptations, which seem to want him to be a much more 'relatable nice hero' which he just Fundamentally Isn't. There are so many times reading this book and rereading it where I've just gone, 'Ishmael, whoever you're having this argument Isn't here right now. I love you, but Please.'

'One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in-canon': I feel like actually learning more about what he did in his Past would kind of spoil some enjoyable and very fitting mystery and ambiguity so really what I wish we knew more about were his travels and life in general between the wreck of the Pequod and when he's writing that. Actually, no, if I absolutely Had to choose to actually be told 1 more thing about him? When and where was he a stone-mason. I love how hes very intentionally like, 'At Some Point in Time, For Some Point In Time, Neither of Which You Need To Know, I was a stone-mason.' And its just like. Actually no. Normally there'd be nothing odd about that but no, now I really do need to know what he could be hiding with that.

Once again Thank you so much for asking this and once again encouraging me to ramble incoherently about Moby Dick

[alexilulu]

Books I Read in 2024, #8: Moby Dick (Herman Melville, Independent Publisher (originally Harper & Brothers), 1851)

A sprawling narrative of the narrator Ishmael's time on the whaling ship Pequod, Moby Dick is the story of Captain Ahab's obsessive quest for revenge upon the whale that maimed him. Drawing upon elements of contemporary naturalist writing of the world and whaling, Ishmael paints a sharp picture of the whaling culture and industry of the time and it's foibles and the world it brought into being.

You'll be able to tell eventually based on my to read list, but Limbus Company is partly to blame for my reading this one. I'd long thought about going back to classics, and have done so plenty in the past, but the game by one of my favorite developers drawing upon 12 different classics of literature from across the world was a pretty good reason go step it up a bit more.

And in fact, this one was meant to be posted before Wuthering Heights, but I got swept up in how good that book was and posted it first right after finishing it. Which is not to say that this isn't good. Moby Dick is a fucking banger. Truly crazy. May have given me some grist to work with in some other projects, even.

Moby Dick is a sprawling bastard of a novel, at times lapsing into stage direction, epistolary and direct address of the audience by Ishmael, our near-silent and yet deeply wordy narrator. It feels like the production of a hyperfixation (which on some level it is) and a genuine love for the material, a piece of rock carefully sculpted around a vein of gold that gives you glimpses of what lies underneath without simply laying it all bare. Moby Dick is a novel of small, momentous moments.

Famously, Herman Melville made significant changes to the novel after speaking with Nathaniel Hawthorne (author of Mosses from an Old Manse) to deepen it and draw in elements of human nature, more directly drawing a parallel between Ahab and Moby Dick as a war between Man and God. It's probably felt the strongest in the beginning and the end, when faith and circumstance are both questioned the most. Ishmael is warned against the black end that is coming for the Pequod by Elijah but cannot begin to fathom the reason why, but by the time they arrive in the seas of Japan to hunt Moby Dick, Ahab has forged a harpoon quenched in blood in the name of Satan to slay his foe.

Much of the body of the novel is an exhaustive, frankly beautiful description of the circumstances of whaling, oceangoing and the process of whaling across the world. It would be a mistake to say that this is not necessary to the narrative, though I can imagine so many teens being forced to read this in high school english finding the task tedious in the extreme. And yet, it informs the story directly. Without these things, you would not come to an understanding of Ishmael himself, though it would seem superfluous. It's a labor of utmost love for the people who do this frankly insane and borderline suicidal thing, something that was considered necessary for the time by society at large and represented unerringly in its brutality and horror.

And yet, the novel understands that the pervasive whaling is on some level evil. Moby Dick is a punishment by God himself, a brilliant white avenger of humanity's evil. It strikes like the wrath of god when other whalers engage in the act against other shoals, utterly devastating and driving off the virtuous and sinful in equal measure. The other boats that encounter Moby Dick all survive because they fear it, the representative of God upon the ocean. Only Ahab's singular obsession drives him to ruin, even in the face of being offered the opportunity to repent in the form of the Rachel, the opportunity to turn away from ruin in the pursuit of saving a human life imperiled before them.

The fault lied within you all along, Ahab.

[gachabastard]

(nsfw/18+)

fuck it. limbus sex headcanons. i've been working on this for way longer than makes sense for how short it is so i give up on it for now, maybe i'll revisit it later if/when more ideas strike

Yi Sang - I don't think Yi Sang fucks. I think he finds it boring.

Faust - Is acearo; intimacy isn't in Faust's job description.

Don Quixote - Also ace. Too busy pursuing knighthood or whatever the hell she's on. Good for her.

Ryoshu - Huge exhibitionist. She literally could not give a single shit what other people think. If you're not eating her out under a dining table in public what's the fucking point.

Meursault - Will do whatever his partner asks. If his partner asks him what he wants, he'll be kinda quiet for a bit before suggesting some of the most freak shit you've ever heard of. They have a wonderful time.

Hong Lu - He's just here for a good time :) If you're happy, he's happy :) (Hong Lu has a goddamn laundry list of kinks and you're required to hit 50% of them bare minimum.)

Heathcliff - Almost exclusively tops. If he lets you top, that's an immense show of trust, and it would be a deadly mistake to break that trust. Marks the everloving shit out of his partners; scratches, bites, bruises, you name it.

Ishmael - Spent so much time out on a boat she knows positions only previously known to dolphins. Cums fast because she's got fish to catch. Pansexual but skews heavily in attraction to women.

Rodion - Big Fucking Lesbian. Queen of eating pussy and sucking girlcock. I don't know what else you want from me, if it involves women she's there.

Sinclair - He's giving "gay in theory, not in practice" vibes. Probably the least experienced out of all of the Sinners; I don't think he's actually ever had sex, he gets way too nervous.

Outis - The most by the book BDSM experience you will ever have. Outis is a tough but fair dom. She somehow makes BDSM vanilla.

Gregor - Massive bottom in theory. Huge praise kink. Really fucking scared of physical intimacy because the surge of emotion might set his arm off and he'd be absolutely heartbroken if he hurt someone accidentally in that situation.

Vergilius - Doesn't want love, just wants sex. Fucks fast and rough. Leaves more marks on his partners than Heathcliff and that's saying a lot.

Dante - Has an existential crisis whenever sex is brought up. Do they even have the equipment to engage in that? They haven't thought to check. They don't have a normal face, so they can't kiss anyone, or do anything involving the mouth. Oh god, who would want to fuck the walking clock?? Clearly Dante doesn't remember Tumblr during the era of DHMIS2 but Faust won't bring that up. Honestly, would just be fine with someone holding their hand for awhile.