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creativenicocorner · 3 years

Note

Slides a ⭐ for a star person :p

Holy shit it took over a year and I barely remember which fanfic ask this is about...I think it's like a director's cut one? REGARDLESS! I do remember the star was to like talk about whatever - and while looking for a WIP I came across an attempt to answer this WITHIN a wip? Past Nico what were you thinking?!

I do know this was written sometime before Ch15 of Terpsichore came out, because there were a few references? But I rephrased the wording a bit.

Forgive me for using this as an excuse to just babble on about how I choose the music titles for chapter sections in Terpsichore, but also, I'm not entirely sorry haha Without further Ado! Here’s hoping this rambling makes sense haha!!

⭐ AN ANSWER!（��￫ｏ￩♥）

So it’s taken me a long time to figure out how I wanted to answer this. For a while I was going to ramble about M*A*S*H how it was a rather formative show for me growing up, especially in its anti-war message as well as how it feels like a comedy played in a minor key. There was even going to be a link to a video essay on the show, and then I was going to hint at a want to write a series following the changelings in a pre-show context in the sort of vibe M*A*S*H gave.

But it got lost, and weighty…and…idk, I can’t seem to stick to a lot of things these days? I don’t know.

But there’s always been in me the want to attempt to explain why I choose the music pieces I choose to title the sections in each chapter. Cause despite the little message at the bottom of the first chapter and the last chapter talking about motifs leitmotifs…writing prose is nothing like composing music.

And not only that I’m sure less than half of the people reading the fic will listen along with the playlist. Which is 100000% fine! I anticipate it even!

Because at best, those sectional pieces serve less as soundtrack more like a silent movie’s musical medley.

Because it’s the written word, and I’m not Andrew Hussie ldgj though the day I find out how to put a little ‘play button’ to listen to music during a fic, I might do that. But at this point in time Hell No haha.

Despite this, there is a process behind my music selections.

There is a difference between what I consider ‘corpse de ballet’/ ‘ensemble’ sections, and ‘leads’ / ‘duet’ sections.

Or what my poor readers go through as ‘a shit ton of prospective shifts’ and two prospectives at best, at the same time. I don’t know why I’m such a fan of bouncing between perspectives so much that you probably feel seasick. I always consider it a miracle anyone understands what the heck is going on dfjglk The answer is probably because I like third person omniscient writing, and am a sucker for situational/character irony. But I’m also a grammar school drop out haha and don’t actually know the rules of writing by heart? I’m just a fool with a bunch of vibes and a dictionary doing their best lol.

[ stressed coffee sip ] Fake it til you make it baby

But yeah! Enough borderline weird self deprecating! Let’s talk music!!

So! Usually when writing a section I try and think about who are the central characters in the section, and or what is the theme/emotion I’m trying to call on. Is there a motif, or a reference I can play on musically? An idea or concept I can echo or even enhance? Will it be a specific genera of music tied to a character because that character embodies and or is known for a specific genera (example: Nomura and Opera- more on that at during ACTII )

Once I answer those questions, I’m able to narrow down my music choices. Which, again, acts more like a book of suggested musical medley orchestras and musicians would purchase during the silent movie era as like a cheat sheet of what they could play during a specific scene.

So…for instance, for a character like Barbara Lake I wouldn’t use video game music -or maybe I could…but it would only be in terms of perhaps referencing her son.- who I would have a higher chance at choosing to select a video game music piece for (hang on to your butts ACT II Zelda soundtrack).

In the fic I’ve built the idea that in order to explain Barbara’s ability to paint, that she not only took classes but was part of the production team in putting on a play, mainly in set design painting props. Which opens me to a world of musical options when it comes to Barbara’s character. Especially when certain musicals hold songs that can be really fitting to her character later on. An example of this can be seen in ch3 “Aquarius”, and ch14 “Julia”.

Ch3 is Barbara’s big planned picnic date. The first date she and Walter go on after she ingested the binding spell. The two of them coming together, but also the magic of which awakening something magical inside.

And Ch14 in which the binding spell is broken, but also whatever was holding Barbara’s potential to reaching towards that magical something inside her is also broken. And in a sort of my own attempt at written diegesis between the narrative and the song selections in the sections, the lyrics to Aquarius is written out as Barbara depends into the water. In which it is no longer the dawning of Aquarius, Aquarius is starting to take center stage. Their cue is played.

That would be my example on a very character driven musical choice.

Not only that, but it is at Ch3 where Walter is influenced more and more to Barbara’s appreciation to musicals, so much so that it begins to influence his own array of music pieces. His dreams no longer dialogue from movies he fell asleep to, but sometimes full on reproductions of staged musicals and plays. An example of this can be seen in Ch11 On the Right Track from Pippin the Musical - which oof I could go into a full dissertation on in regards to changelings/Pippin and The Pale Lady/Leading Player.

Not only that, but due to influence from Barbara’s love we get the moment of Walter’s ‘I want’ section piece in the form of Ch9 “Corner of the Sky” (aka Pippin’s I want song as well). The moment before this happened there was the interaction with Angor AND Otto AND the repercussions of Angor attacking the school. It is clear to these characters that Strickler is not giving his all in killing Jim, and perhaps never tried to give his all. Something that Otto proclaims as Strickler making excuses, and Strickler insists is tact.

Then there is the situational character driven choice.

I’m going to continue to use Barbara as an example here, and say that THIS can be seen in Ch2 “No. 9 – Finale Andante” and ch12 “Le Lac Des Cygnes Introduction: Moderato Assai”

Both of these music pieces come from Swan Lake. The reasoning behind the choice is probably asinine in thought process (Barbara Lake, Swan Lake), but also thought out in the sense of the following:

In Season3 of Trollhunters Morgana, in order to attempt to reacquire her shadow staff from Strickler (“The Exorcism of Clair Nuñez), transforms herself to take Barbara Lake’s physical form.

IN THE BALLET SWAN LAKE The wizard Von Rothbart, in order to obtain what they want, transforms (granted someone else) Odile to look like the hero Odette in order to trick the prince into proclaiming this imposter Odile as their one true love. In which Odile is the mirror to Odette, and while looking similar (in fact typically the ballerina who performs as Oddette would also perform as Odile) are opposites in spirit.

And, at least in Terpsichore, what near primordial eldritch force can rival that of the Eldritch Queen that we know from cannon will inevitably impersonate Barbara Lake?

But wait, there’s more.

In chapter 2 the piece used in section 2 is the end of ACTI from Swan Lake. The music hints not only the arrival of Odette, but also her inevitable tragedy. What is written in this section, briefly at that cause we watched how the scene plays out in the show, you don’t need me writing that back at you, but I digress- What is WRITTEN in this section is Barbara sipping the enchanted tea that binds herself to Waltolomew Strickler. Something that you, the viewer and fan will know ends in tragedy, as do I the writer and also fan knows will end in tragedy. The only people out of the loop here are the poor poor characters.

And then the revolving door of bad situations that is ch12 happens, and we return to Swan Lake with “Le Lac Des Cygnes Introduction” In which Barbara is introduced to Jim Lake’s Trollhunting world, finally. But wait! There’s EVEN more.

Because not only is Barbara introduced to Jim’s Trollhunting world, Barbara begins to allow herself an introduction to that weird magical more that’s inside her via dream. And YOU/WE the reader/writer/audience, are introduced to the strange figure Giselle is talking to on the beach of Lake Superior…who…well, you’ve probably already have an idea as to who that figure is ;)c

There are also moments when I just select a song piece because I think it fits Thematially well - ch11’s “Powerhouse” section. Aka the music that plays in Looney Tunes whenever an assembly line montage occurs - to which in that section Jim Draal and Walter are putting together the booby-traps to thwart Angor Rot (as well as try to reassemble some sort of emotional connection between them). Or it could be a reference to a meme I really enjoyed, example Ch12’s “Roundabout” aka the music piece known vernacularly as “The Jojo Meme” but also like…meme aside it’s really good and fits and just lkfgjkgsdj I have a lot of feels about Roundabout and I won’t apologize for it haha

And yet, something I pride myself in, is that you don’t need to know all of this to enjoy the story. It isn’t necessary to listen to the Swan Lake pieces or even the Musicals, or even the Jojo Meme. Because, if I did my job right, those echoes ought to be in the writing. The pieces to the section have always been optional. Just little markings in a booklet to be given to you the reader/composer as a suggestion and you can choose to play those pieces along to the silent film, or boot up a ragtime. And that’s the power you have. And that’s equally as wonderful!

#Nico Responds #feather-dancer #Terpsichore #Tales of Arcadia #Trollhunters #Stricklake

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rwdestuffs · 3 years

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RvB0: What went well, what didn’t, and all the in-between.

Since RT is making this a bit easier by releasing the complete seasons in long videos, this is arguably something that probably should be done to wrap up the whole thing, and maybe see how far the series has come.

Red vs. Blue: ZERO is arguably the most divisive season of the entire series of the show.

Now obviously, people are very resistant to change, but whereas the prior seasons had change that was received to varying degrees of positivity, it was overall, positive.

So let’s go over some history to better understand what happened.

The main aspect of the original Reds and Blues, intentionally or not, were based off of gaming stereotypes.

It’s WAY too long to describe here, so here’s a link to how it works: [here]

Seasons 1-5 is basically a showcase of these gamer stereotypes. Displaying them as their base personalities and grows them as these new characters.

The whole entirety of Project Freelancer is pretty much a deconstruction of gaming tropes. The AI are Lootboxes that give an edge to a player, they have leaderboards, and they go into lobbies with lower level players to basically flex all over them.

The Chorus Trilogy has an arc deconstructing the concept of these types of team battles, pointing out how it never really amounts to anything except profits for the one side that’s basically the third party (Think Mann Co from TF2).

Season 14 is basically a celebration, so we’ll skip that, but keep in mind Meta vs. Carolina, it’ll be important later.

Season 15 is basically an attempt to revive the series. Maybe a documentary on prior pro players, and how people might try to exploit them, or how people may have lost their streaming careers to some of the players humiliating them, but that’s a stretch. There is no real tie to gaming here, or during this arc. This is where the whole thing starts declining. A lack of actually tying it to a gaming trope arguably makes it much more different than the previous seasons.

So, where does RvB0 stand in all this? Well, it is a bit of a return to form by being a previous pro player wanting to get a new squad, but having to now adapt to a new team.

But the way we’re introduced to them is jarring. This isn’t some episode of DEATH BATTLE. We should get to know who these characters are by their interactions with one another, their dialogue, and their actions. But let’s take a look at what gaming stereotypes we’re working with here. we already covered Florida, and the Director is basically these guys’ sponsor who basically caused all of what happened. Carolina is the streamer who gets mad at losing her top rank, York is the nice guy who probably helped set up other peoples’ streaming equipment and is just a friendly guy to be around in general, South and North are what happens when someone gets a rare item from a lootbox and the other doesn’t, etc.

Shatter Squad, is unfortunately, a lot of repeat gamer stereotypes.

West is basically the dad who is an ex-pro trying to make sure his team succeeds, like Florida.

One is the competitive pro who doesn’t like having her top spot challenged, like Carolina.

Axel is the resident Cool Guy™ whose exploits are told by anecdote or flashback. Similar to Tucker, except minus the sex jokes. Or maybe he’s like Wash, in the sense that he’s an ex-pro who got out of the game but keeps being dragged back into it by other circumstances (maybe financial).

East is the new player, much like Caboose. She thankfully is different enough by way of being the stream mole who helps out the other team by sabotaging the team she’s a part of.

And Raymond is the guy who thinks that all his tech and equipment will give him an edge over his opponents, much like most of the Freelancers who had an A.I.

The action is actually good, except for one scene. The scene where East (temporarily) kills Tucker.

Like… Torrian. Torrian. Meta vs. Carolina is my favorite episode of season 3 aside from Hulk vs. Doomsday, and you have him go down to a dagger? You pretty much animated an epic fight scene with all the Reds and Blues in the RvB0 advertisement that really should have been Tucker vs. Jaune as a means of joint advertising- I’m getting off topic here.

The new characters are also a point of some good and some bad. Obviously, you can only do so much with the OG characters until it becomes stale. This is why Dragon Ball is starting to get boring. It’s also why Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is still going strong. But trying to diversify the cast isn’t going to go well with a lot of the original audience. The most progressive thing the Blood Gulch Chronicles did was have Church challenge Simmons’ stereotypical comments regarding Donut. Change won’t go over so well with the audience.

In addition, the passing of Tucker’s sword to another character wasn’t going to go over so well without a big fight scene over the sword. Again, Torrian: YOU MADE Balrog vs. TJ Combo, All Might vs. Might Guy, and Blake vs. Mikasa. Out of everyone on that team, you of all people would have been more than qualified to animate a cool fight sequence that would showcase Tucker stopping East from just stabbing him. I know that the research is left to other people, but one of the big things about the characters is that they tanked a bomb worth a few dozen megatons of TNT… And Tucker goes down… To a dagger.

The fight sequences of RvB0 are great. I’ll say that much. But after every fight, I fully expected Wiz and Boomstick to come in and explain why the fight went down the way it did. Though, that may be due to me actually being interested in RT because of DEATH BATTLE… For better or for worse…

The dialogue wasn’t that great though. A lot of the humor falls flat, and the only joke I legitimately laughed at was when a member of Shatter Squad (One IIRC) responded to Carolina’s bold and serious declaration of “We have to save Lavernious Tucker” with “Who’s Tucker?” This is a series where the comedy comes from dialogue. So slapstick and physical humor don’t land as much, and the whole thing of them making reference to their situation doesn’t let a joke land as well as it could.

People are used to the head bobs of prior seasons, so the expressive gestures is super jarring and actually makes dialogue harder because you have to accompany it with the gestures. The limitation of what they had in season 1-5 is what led to innovation. Limits are how you make something extraordinary. So the freedom of actual gestures makes the overall product feel less like RvB and more like Torrian‘s equivalent of RWBY. He wanted to make a bunch of cool fight scenes. Which like… He had the perfect place to do that: DBX. Want a character who can generate a clone and uses a bladed weapon to fight? Uh, Noob Saibot is right there. You could have him fight… I don’t know, maybe Shadow Jago? They both utilize darkness, it would be fun.

Regardless, I honestly hope that wherever Torrian takes his talents, that he’s going in a place that he likes and that can keep him and his family comfortable.

RvB0: It’s a mess, it hardly really connects back to the OG Reds and Blues, and while the new characters breathe a new life into the series that was sorely needed, it probably wasn’t what people expected. This changing of the guard type of story doesn’t really work when the previous guard doesn’t pass down the mantle.

Also, Carolina constantly calling Wash by his real name just feels like some random pandering. It used to be special that you didn’t know what the real names of the Freelancers was, but the constant use of it just feels like something to just be there to constantly use.

But hey, if you liked it, more power to you.

#rvb crit

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paintalyx · 3 years

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hey can you maybe recommend some of your favourite fics please!!

aaaah, i'm a little behind on asks because of college but i saw this and i couldn't help but scramble to respond as soon as i found the time!!!! i'm super flattered that you're asking me for fic recommendations, but you didn't specify any fandoms or genres so i can't guarantee that any of these will be your cup of tea (feel free to shoot me another ask if you'd like to elaborate though!!!!). i'll try to be as diverse as an unapologetic angstlord can be, so here we go:

(note: while i did my best to add cws, it's still possible that something slipped past me, so please be mindful. as a rule of thumb, i'm not going to add warnings for stuff that's already depicted in canon material)

campfire in your chest (haikyuu!!, canonverse, tsukkiyama-main & kagehina-side)

Kei realizes in their second year of high school that he's probably been in love with Yamaguchi since they were ten. However hopeless he might be in handling that situation, Kei prays he's at least not as hopeless as Hinata and Kageyama. But he just might be.

four tags for you: pining, slow-burn, friends to lovers and unresolved sexual tension. this one's a classic, an old favourite of mine. i remember reading it on lunch breaks in high school while daydreaming about my crush and getting frustrated with tsukishima because "dammit, at least one of us needs to get it together and that won't be me anytime soon". also, once your done with reading this, please do yourself a favour and spare some time to check out the companion piece to this fic, "stay, stay, stay", which can be summed up simply as "meanwhile, kagehina".

a soft place to fall (jojo's bizarre adventure: vento aureo, canon divergence, narancia/trish); cw: major character death

“This is my wound, too,” Narancia softly says, eyes shadowed by so many dark lashes. He presses down over her pulse, and Trish’s heart jumps to meet it. “And this is my heartbeat. I can be brave because you’re brave.”

In the ten days between Corsica and Sardinia, Trish learns about her new power, reflects on the past, and finds her reasons.

this deserves so much attention!! i love the writing style, the character interactions— everything just feels special and different! it's been a hot minute since i watched part 5, but i have distinct and fond memories of reading this fic. it really did trish's character justice and, as a sweet bonus, it successfully got me hooked on this adorable pairing.

count the days until they blur, then keep on counting (mob psycho 100, canon divergence, gen); cw: torture, child abuse, imprisonment, starving

What Teruki wanted was power, right? What he wanted was to hurt people? Even if he didn't, he's got it now.

okay, this *may* seem bad, but it's hands down one of my all time favourite reads, not just as a fanfic. it has a happy end (worry not!), reigen being a reluctant disaster dad and teru— god, i love the way he thinks, feels, *copes* and changes as a person over the course of this fic. it shows all sides of him, the good, the bad and the ugly. he tries, he struggles, he relapses and recovers. some works just stick with you forever, and i'd be lying if i said that this one didn't change my life. like, i thought that it was the bee's knees the first time i read it and i was so mad that it had to end that i talked my friend's ear off about how unfair it was (though upon re-reading, when i was older and capable of understanding things a little better, i decided that the ending was perfect as it was). it's definitely not a work that i would recommend to someone sensitive, but i think i've established myself as someone who enjoys meaningful angst.

storm shelter (genshin impact, canon compliant, gen); cw: animal death

Three different times, over the years, Diluc and Kaeya are trapped together in the snow.

i'm a sucker for unconventional sibling dynamics and messy, conflicted feelings and this fic *provides*. it's clear that diluc and kaeya care for each other deeply, but they're both stubborn dumbasses about it (mihoyo, let these two talk again, i'm begging you). though the scenario in each snippet is somewhat similar, pov shifts to kept things fresh and prevented the story from becoming repetitive.

being a wingman is a full time job (genshin impact, canon compliant, chiluc)

“What are you doing in Mondstadt?”

“You didn’t show up this week!” Childe says. “Aether brought Hu Tao instead. She really handed it to me, but it just wasn’t the same.”

“You…” Diluc stops. “You came all the way to Mondstadt just because I didn’t show up?”

Oh?

Kaeya discovers Diluc has a crush and, despite not being on the best of terms with his estranged brother, takes it upon himself to be the ultimate wingman.

this isn't among my favourite pairings for either party, but rumour says that if you say "oh, chiluc is just a crackship" enough times, you'll start shipping it for real so here we are. boy, where do i start?? a lighthearted, humorous fic every once in a while is good for the soul, basically a requirement. obvious idiot/oblivious idiot is a trope that i don't think i'll ever get tired of, but making the entire story be told from wingman's pov adds some extra spice to it.

a cheap imitation (durarara, canonverse, shizaya); cw: graphic depictions of violence and gore

“Attached to your neck is a collar that will inject a poison into your jugular vein two days from now. Forcibly removing the device will also trigger the poison. Somewhere on this island is the antidote.”

His hands reached up to his neck and he felt the cool metal of the collar.

“Live or die. Make your choice.”

god. these two are so disgusting and problematic, i love them. this fic pulls no stops. the author really looked at these two dumbasses and said "yeah, the only way they'd ever get along realistically is in a life or death situatio— wait," and we gotta appreciate that. well-thought-out survival stories are a very specific niche that i've always enjoyed, so adding familiar characters into the mix can only get me more intrigued. author also snatches all my uwus for appealing to my inner neat-freak and consistently finding different ways to give the boys hygienic products. if you want drama, tension and survival with some humour sprinkled in for the ~flavour~, this is a perfect read!

i admit i got a little carried away, but honestly??? who wouldn't when talking about something as wonderful as taking something that someone has poured their heart and soul into adding onto it out of love and passion??? i'm totally setting myself up for psychoanalysis with these recs, but tastes are subjective. i hope you'll find something of interest!! ^^

#ask #hq #jjba #mp100 #genshit impact #drrr #fanfic stuff #ao3 #fanfic recs #long post #ghhh i hope the links all work #anon

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purple-splattered-soul · 4 years

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Spop Jojo Stands/Jojo AU

She-Ra

User: Adora (current), Mara (former)

Suggestion: none

Shape: Humanoid

Abilities: Transformation—She-Ra’s user is able to transform the Sword of Protection into anything the user desires; Lineage—stored in the Sword of Protection, She-Ra awaits a worthy candidate to be its user; Battle Sense—To make up for She-Ra’s lack of speed when using a sword, its battle history gives it the ability to predict an enemy’s movements. This is used to block rush attacks and send attacks that can make it through another Stand’s rush attack; Channeling—She-Ra can channel the natural energy of Etheria in order to power up other Stands around them, heal the wounds of other users, or use the Heart of Etheria; True lineage—after being brought back to Adora through a Stand Arrow, She-Ra Van once again find new users on its own without requiring a weirder of the Sword of Protection

Notes: She-Ra’s user is, when She-Ra is active, granted an outfit similar to that of She-Ra’s but with a jumpsuit bottom instead of a skirt and shorts

Queen of Mean

User: Catra

Suggestion: “Queen of Mean” by Sarah Jeffery

Shape: Humanoid

Abilities: Claw rush—Queen of Mean unleashes a flurry of slashes with its claws; Venom—Queen of Mean’s claws are tipped with a venom that slowly saps the target’s strength over time. The more driven Catra is in her objective, the faster the venom acts; Circle of despair—Queen of Mean can send out an aura that immediately saps the strength of a target caught in its radius

Notes: Queen of Mean’s hair styles itself inversely to that of its user. If Catra’s hair is neat, QOM’s will be messy. If Catra’s hair is short, QOM’s will get longer, and so on

Unleash the Magic

User: Glimmer

Suggestion: “Unleash the Magic” by Rebecca Shiochet and Iris Quinn

Shape: Humanoid

Abilities: Energy blast—Unleash the Magic can throw sparkling energy balls from its hands, either in a rush or as a larger blast; Teleportation—Unleash the Magic can transport its user any place the user desires; Shaman Circle—after receiving training from Shadow Weaver, Unleash the Magic can draw spell circles and use them against its targets

Best Friend

User: Bow

Suggestion: “You’re My Best Friend” by Queen

Shape: Object—bow and quiver

Abilities: Holding—Best Friend can hold an incredible amount of arrows, defying physics. Though it cannot create arrows, meaning it’s user must use pre-made arrows. Arrows can be stored in the quiver when the Stand is not in use; Guiding hand— Best Friend’s user is able to grab the exact type of arrow they want when they reach for it. But again, all arrows must be made beforehand.

Twisted Imagination

User: Entrapta

Suggestion: “Twisted Imagination” by NerdOut!

Shape: Body part—hair

Abilities: Prehensile—every hair on Entrapta’s body has full flexibility and can even act as limbs much stronger than her own; Fiber Optic—Entrapta’s hair can act as a flash drive, able to store digital information and interact with computer ports. This info tends to be stored near the roots to avoid any code being cut off with a hair in a laboratory accident

Partner in Crime

User: Scorpia

Suggestion: “Partners in Crime (feat. ash Costello)” by Set it Off

Shape: body part—pincers and tail

Abilities: Armored pincers—Partner in Crime armors its user’s pincers for more eefective combat use; Paralyzing projectile—using Partner in Crime, Scorpia can Fire a paralyzing projectile from her stinger, paralyzing any muscle it comes into contact with. The duration depends on Scorpia’s emotions at the time of the stabbing

Partner in Crime Requiem

User: Scorpia

Suggestion: “Partners in Crime (feat. ash Costello)” by Set it Off

Shape: Humanoid

Abilities: Pincer rush—Partner in Crime is slower than most Stands, but the armor of its pincers enable it to partake in rush duels just the same; Paralyzing projectile—functions the same as Partner in Crime’s previous state, but is now fired from the Stand’s pincers; Energy absorption—any energy-based Stand attack (such as Unleash the Magic’s blasts) can be absorbed by Partner in Crime; Lightning—Partner in Crime is able to channel lightning, and while they can focus it in a direction, it tends to simply be a source with little control over where the lightning goes. Any absorbed energy can be repurposed as lightning

Night Hunter

User: Shadow Weaver

Suggestion: “Night of the Hunter” by 30 Seconds to Mars

Shape: indefinite

Abilities: Memories—if a target has bad memories of Shadow Weaver, Night Hunter will turn them into power for itself. The more numerous and intense the memories are, the more power they give Night Hunter. Target experiences need not be firsthand; Dark power—memories can be manifested as a shadowy power that can be used to attack and restrain targets; Pain—Night Hunter can use Memory power as lightening that can restrain or torture targets; Black Garnet—Shadow Weaver must draw power from the Black garnet, lest she lose the ability to use her Stand; Dual Tech—Night Hunter can use another Stand’s energy-based powers to fuel itself in the absence of the Black Garnet

Notes: In the off chance that her opponent has never heard of her, Shadow Weaver will reveal her face to create a bad memory in the Target right off the bat

=============================================================

I may modify the Stands after s5 comes out. Hordak doesn’t get a Stand and that’s a bonus defect. Horde Prime will get one after s5 probably, but it might have something to do with cloning and genetics. I would have written more but it’d be a boring hassle just to write up everybody’s powers as Stands. The AU part will come later, along with a one-shot (maybe).

#fan stand #jojos bizarre adventure #she ra #spop au #catra #adora #glimmer #shadow weaver #bow #entrapta #scorpia #jojo au #spop #jjba

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toooldforfandom-liveblogs · 4 years

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She-Ra and the Princesses of Power S02E02 - Ties That Bind

Intriguing title. It could be about Light Hope's efforts to make Adora drop her attachments to the world so she can unlock her seventh chakra be less vulnerable. It could also be about Bow and company trying to appeal to Entrapta's friendship to make her come back. It could also be about Adora and Shadow Weaver? It could be anything because the show is all about connections! Let's do this!

Didn't they already get Entrapta's things from there?

There's no way the badge being a tracking beacon doesn't come up later.

That's just showing off.

That feels way more important that it should considering Swift Wind was an accident. Is the rainbow lizard she transformed also part of her? Is the lizard going to suddenly appear to save her in the finale?

Welp, time to buy a new Light Hope.

oh, honey.

Although he really should know better, it probably takes only five minutes in Entrapta's presence to figure out she wouldn't understand the concept of being a prisoner.

I was tempted to make a bitcoin joke but it's already a joke.

The other princesses would jump at the chance of rescuing Entrapta and Glimmer is not even letting them take that decision. Glimmer is really channeling Angella this season, huh?

hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Is this show going to end with The Horde and The Princesses fighting against Etheria? Maybe Hordak is going to end up being revealed as a corrupted hero trying to save the galaxy from the First Ones and their planet-sized weapon.

What happened to Bow's Kitchen Knights? His Baking Brigade? His Pastry Patrol? I know they weren't very fond of Entrapta but are they really not going to make another appearance?

Setting up the pain for later.

you don't hurt Scorpia's best friend

Did they get more budget this season? The fight scenes look better.

Still weird that there are absolutely no soldiers around though

Everyone should be dead considering they just fell through a cloud unless they somehow teleported to a mountain.

It does show how much murderous potential Glimmer has though. Take someone, teleport to the stratosphere and then get back to watch the falling star. Like last episode and the robot but from higher.

Is this going to be a "Catra gets to interact with Bow and Glimmer" episode? Because I. am. ready.

Also, I didn't think "ties that bind" would be so literal.

Huh. Why is Adora so uncomfortable at the idea of connecting with Swift Wind? She loved that damn horse even before it went all rainbow-y.

Maybe she doesn't want one more person to get inside her head?

Swift Wind's therapist powers~

There should be a timer every episode counting down to the second Adora is going to explode because of the pressure.

"And the good guys never take hostages..." Bow said, already notching an arrow to dispose of the problem.

I'm not sure why Bow is complaining so much. He didn't argue when capturing Adora.

Catra may be an expert in manipulating Adora but that doesn't mean she doesn't know to use her talent with everyone else.

well, that's a shit-eating grin if I've ever seen one.

The sword doing nothing, the rock's shadow slowly covering She-Ra, Swift Wind's song... the comedic timing of this scene was just perfect.

I need a supercut of every time Catra has hissed.

Welp, that's bad news.

Also, I want more Glimmer and Bow childhood stories.

ooh, nice cold line.

I thought Catra was trying to "just" escape but she's planning something, considering she's tiring Glimmer down on purpose.

And here's the badge.

I don't have anything to say other than I love Scorpia.

oooh, direct hit.

Wow, Catra really is a genius. From the moment she was captured she's been manipulating the situation to get the chance to use Kyle's previous call, a call that she didn't even care about.

It's pretty sad but I'm glad that the weight of everything that happened is being taken seriously. The princesses failed Entrapta even before they left her for dead. The Horde is being everything to her that they weren't.

Of course all that doesn't mean that Catra doesn't deserve that punch.

yess, they are acknowledging the accident. Now please talk about the lizard.

therapist horse~

She's grown so much... I write while she's blowing a raspberry

I haven't watched JoJo but this feels appropriate.

If Mara was doing the right thing by destroying the watchtower, this is definitely going to be an "oops" moment later on.

And Glimmer still hasn't said anything about what she feels about the situation.

aaaaaaaa, it can't end here! I want their reaction!

---

Catra is such a good villain. She may not be allowed to _really_ win (because the show would end) but she's come ahead in every personal situation against the "good guys" so far even if she starts losing. She's effective in a way that not many villains are allowed to be, and she has to be to counteract the Rebellion and She-Ra.

Reading back I didn't write anything interesting. The episode _was_ good but it's basically "Catra runs circles around Glimmer and Bow doing _massive_ emotional damage, and adora continues to have issues I guess" I guess I'm more intrigued by the consequences of this episode than the episode itself.

For example, what's going to happen with Glimmer? She seemed to be chafing under the rules of the "good side", wanting to get revenge for herself and Entrapta and only managed to stop because Bow was being her voice of conscience. And now she's angry at what happened but I'm not sure if she's angry because of how she almost lost control because of something that wasn't even true, angry at herself for leaving Entrapta behind, angry for freeing Catra, or all three. There's also the matter that she's been channeling Angela a bit, is Entrapta's turn going to be her Micah's death in terms of affecting her decisions from now on?

About Adora... even if she ended the episode in a good mood, having solved the problem and bonded with Swift Bond, I feel it's just a temporal dip in the increasing amount of stress she's under. Sooner or later she'll explode.

Some thoughts:

- As a rule lethal weapons can't hit people. It's not really a problem since I expect that to happen in a kids' show but for some reason it was really noticeable this episode when Bow was trying to stop Catra. It's hard to keep the illusion that _it could happen_ when it gets too obvious.

- Catra's "and where's she now? off being She-Ra?" comment is obviously a reaction from what Glimmer had just told her _but_ it feels like foreshadowing along with Catra's training. Maybe an "if She-Ra was here, X wouldn't have happened" episode is coming, just to increase the pressure Adora is under.

- WHERE IS THAT FLYING LIZARD

Until next time!

#shera #shera liveblog #shera s02e02 #spop

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apostolum-blog · 6 years

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MILES HAS VERY STRANGE MANNERISMS & QUIRKS as a result of his death / resurrection after the Walrider’s possession.

--- Throughout the asylum happened to be televisions and monitors that broadcasted the Dream Therapy segment. For some background on this cruel form of “ therapy ”, it was used to trigger psychosomatic responses in the patient’s bodily systems that would tax their sanity heavily. A person who has witnessed enough horror is capable of withstanding it. -- Due to witnessing the horrors of the asylum, Miles was EXTREMELY susceptible to the therapy even as it was broadcasted everywhere he went, whether he focused on it or not. Prolonged exposure prepared him for being Walrider’s host without meaning to. Due to this “ therapy ”, Miles suffers severe nightmares and sleep paralysis, but he also has moments where most of his senses are blocked by static: flashes of the tapes behind his eyes, the sound deafening his ears, a tingling feeling throughout his body that aches, etc.

--- Miles actually doesn’t blink all too often, especially not what’s considered normal for a human being. While this makes sense considering he isn’t exactly human anymore, he chooses not to blink so much because he sees remnants of the tapes everytime he closes his eyes.

--- Although he doesn’t need to breathe, Miles does so out of habit that he never grew out of, and likely never will. On some occasions, he will begin to wheeze and / or dry heave, which is simply a result of just how many nanites are in / a part of his body.

--- He doesn’t need to eat, though Miles continues to do so because, again, it’s habit of an old necessity. Unfortunately, his taste buds have been drastically changed, and foods to him may have different textures and tastes than they originally do. For example, chocolate to Miles tastes like pennies and has the texture of sand. Beverages are no exception to this, where black coffee actually tastes like peppermint and has the texture of heavy cream. Of course, not everything has changed in terms of taste, as some items retain a normal texture and flavor to him.

--- Miles has not slept for over a YEAR, over a year. Not since the first time he slept after Walrider’s possession and had a string of nightmares followed by temporary sleep paralysis. This is a choice he’s made on his own terms. Of course, someone may offer to be his comforting crutch so he can maybe get at least a few hours in, and he’d consider it.

--- Often times, Miles kind of looks as though there’s black smoke coming off of him, or there’s a shadow looming behind him. In fact, Walrider is capable of manifesting as an extension of Miles’ person ( think jojo’s bizarre adventure with a stand ). It still has a mind of its own, even though Miles has managed to keep control of his own body through the Walrider’s influence.

--- I said it before and I’ll say it again: one of the creepiest things Miles can do is turn into a swarm of nanites just like Walrider. He can become tangible and intangible at will, and although he can’t pass through solid objects like walls, he can morph around them. If he is chasing you, and you lock the door behind him, he WILL crawl under it.

--- Miles is not inherently a bad person, but the Walrider’s influence HAS sparked some violence in him. He was never a fighter, in fact he used to do some freerunning in his spare time so he chose to run instead, but he’d be damned if he wasn’t a capable fighter. He is also much stronger now, and is able to lift significantly heavy objects, meaning he’s likely capable of throwing a measly human being across a room.

--- Sharp teeth. He has ‘em. Fangs, mostly, but y’know. And claws, though those are part of the whole nanite extension thing. He always has the fangs. Why? I’m gay, indulge me.

--- If someone were to take an x-ray of his body, Miles still has all of the bullets that failed to pass through him and got lodged in his abdomen when Wernicke’s officers shot him. No, don’t concern yourself with them. It’s fine.

--- Oddly enough, Miles has the ability to interact with technology on a level that is similar to a ghost’s. The biggest indication of him utilizing Walrider’s abilities are when his eyes turn green with black sclerae, almost a glowing green that sort of mimics night vision on a camera. -- He is able to make television screens, computers, phones, tablets, lights, etc glitch out or flicker, or even go out completely. He can drain the battery and energy from technology without a single thought, and sometimes it just happens naturally. Also, he can sort of share a visual log of his memories if provided with a screen that he could turn into static, because he can manipulate the static into motion pictures how he sees fit.

#oops i rambled #【META】ᶰᵒᵗ ᵈᵉᵃᵈ ᵇᵘᵗ ᶰᵒᵗ ᵃˡᶤᵛᵉ #【OOC】ᶰᵒᶰ ᵈᵉˢᶤˢᵗᵃˢˑ ᶰᵒᶰ ᵉˣᶤᵉʳᶤˢ #long post /

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skyplayer37 · 6 years

Text

Worm Liveblog 10.1-10.x

I’ve been played like a damn fiddle

So yeah, Regent is a LEET CHESSMASTER MASTERMIND of the highest degree and being a “background character” was a conscious action on his part. My talk of how he’ll probably die first because he has boring powers and backstory was just me falling perfectly for his ruse.

But let’s start at the beginning.

The main point of this arc was focusing on Shadow Stalker’s interaction with the Undersiders, picking up right after her section in arc 9. She gets caught and Regent acts all mysterious and then... weirdness happens? Everything happening went right over my head until they arrived at the Wards after being “caught”, which is to say I didn’t realize we were being introduced to Regent’s actual power of body possession. A power eerily similar to what I guessed Taylor’s endgame powers would be, just a bit more limited and requiring conscious movement on Regent’s part for every motion and not how Taylor just taps into natural instincts. Either way, its a very powerful power.

The bulk of the arc is a raid on the Ward’s HQ, mostly consisting of more of that wonderful Cape vs. Cape fighting with their synergies and whatever the opposing form of synergy is... adversary-ness? The kind of battles you see in Jojo where its less about brute strength and more about cleverness with their abilities. That good shit. Like smoke bombs in Grue’s darkness to blind him or spraying spices on bugs to make them irritate skin. I also enjoyed being able to see some more powerful Tinker weapons, including Dragon’s quadruped robot sentry that is.... piloted by a little fetus thing? Because naturally, she’s 100% AI, another twist I didn’t see coming because I hadn’t put too much thought into her since the Birdcage interlude.

Then, we’re introduced to the....lemme make sure I get these names right... Slaughterhouse Nine. If the fights are the Jojo battles of wit, then this is the beginning of the Egypt arc where they learn there’s 9 more enemies with cool powers to fight. I’ve come to not expect the standard formats with Worm, but it does seem like we’re gonna start seeing these 9 one or two at a time now, acting as true villains that everyone can fight without moral ramifications.

And also as per tradition of large web novels, Jack Slash is gonna cause the extinction of all life. What’s with all these Jacks and their knives and ending universes.

Finally, the bomb is dropped in the interlude, with Regent being a secret badass who’s ten steps ahead of everyone else. He went from “yeah I can make people twitch a bit” to “I can mentally control up to 4 people at once and do whatever I want, including fake suicides and have big self-cest orgies, all while they’re fully aware of what’s happening to them”. And that fucking lead-up to faking out Shadow Stalker into thinking he’s making her hang herself is one of the tensest scenes I’ve ever read, easily breezing by the previous contender of the post-Leviathan hospital scene.

My only problem with this arc is the weird cold-opening. Doing the whole thing where they build up tension and then freeze on the main protag with a gun to their head, and then the classic “so, you’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation”. I think the scene in the interlude of Skitter beating Shadow Stalker was more than enough introduction to this next quarter of Worm. Without any exposition, we know that Taylor is back on the team, that they’re a bit rocky but working together again, and that their new plan involves capturing Shadow Stalker. Going back before that to show Taylor rejoining the team and having even more inner-team fighting with Bitch and Grue was... kinda pointless? I already even understood who Imp was, I would have much rather had more explanation of Regent’s powers than going through exposition leading up to things I already saw happen. I almost excused this because I thought the rewind was gonna have a slightly different outcome, showing Coil’s power in action, but that didn’t seem to be the case unless I’m just bad at comprehending what was happening with all the jumping around.

Let’s get back into the groove of things and lay down some predictions - Slaughterhouse Nine are going to act as “monster of the week” villains

- The END OF TIMES that always happens involving Jack Slash probably concerns the Endbringers, but could also involve Dragon’s AI going rogue and losing its limitations. Or maybe he just breaks the Endbringer truce for good, breaking down the whole hero/villain routine of playing cops and robbers and suddenly every cape in the world all at once is no longer pulling any punches

- Taylor and Imp are going to become actual friends. While I originally thought Grue’s sister would be joining the Ward, she’s now on the team, and Taylor doesn’t need another team member with the same relationship as Grue/Bitch, so its likely she’ll make friends with Imp to try to get closer to Grue. Maybe Imp will give her some fashion advice, I can see Taylor getting a haircut and being totally unaware to how she threw off Dragon’s searching that she also didn’t know was happening.

#worm #liveblog #parahumans

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timeclonemike · 7 years

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Time to reinstall it again.

So. There’s this thing about Deus Ex that’s been rattling around in my head for a while.

The original game was iconic because despite its flaws and the limitations of the engine, it existed in a sweet spot of storytelling narrative, world exploration, stealth, combat, and strategy. It wasn’t the first First Person Shooter / Role Playing Game hybrid, but it was one of the best for a long time and still holds up today.

But I think some games that tried to follow in its footsteps, including the later installments in the same franchise, missed the mark when aiming for that sweet spot. I don’t necessarily mean choices to port to consoles or not, or engine limitations, or anything that exists on the technological side of the game design process. I mean the stories that these games are trying to tell.

In the original Deus Ex, there was some optional dialog when talking to one of the members of the old guard Illuminati where he explains the whole psychological aspect of secrecy and inducting recruits into a multi-tiered conspiracy; the prospect of learning increasingly valued and restricted information is the biggest incentive for the new guys to do well by whatever standards the group uses to evaluate people. (I think it was Stanton Dowd but don’t hold me to that.)

Whether or not the writers intended to or not, they were also describing the progression of a player through the game itself. Every new objective met and mission accomplished and note found and computer hacked filled in another blank, completed more of the jigsaw puzzle, until by the time the endgame starts if the player has been playing attention, they know what’s going on and how high the stakes are.

The focal point of the original Deus Ex was secrecy and trust. You start out working for a top secret task force that holds its cards very close to its vest by design. When you find out that they’re the fox guarding the chicken coop and switch sides, you end up working with... more groups that hold their cards close. Do you trust these organized crime guys to help you and not stab you in the back? Do you believe this lady whose apartment is filled with the telltale sound of security lasers? Do you take your pilots advice? Do you listen to the voice in your head? If you’re working with organized crime now, maybe you’re the bad guy after all. Maybe your old bosses were hardcore hard-asses because the sociopolitical situation is that fucked up. Maybe society really does need an invisible hand on the steering wheel, if ordinary people are just going to panic and turn on each other. Or maybe there are no good guys in this war, just competing assholes with different outfits.

These are the questions that a first time player had to ask themselves, and it isn’t until you start screwing around in the VersaLife facility that you start to find evidence supporting what your allies are actually telling you in dialog, emails, and infolink transmissions. You find the Dragon’s Tooth blueprints and spread that around. Doing that, you find out about the Universal Constructor and its role in the creation of Grey Death and Ambrosia. You blow that up (and according to newspapers most of the VersaLife building) and you find out about the supertanker. Scuttle that and both before and after you learn more about the Illuminati and Majestic Twelve, so you head to Paris and so on and so on and so on... every step fills in more of the blanks. Honestly a conspiracy thriller is the perfect story to tell using a video game because the pacing is so compatible.

Now let’s look at what was not the focus of Deus Ex: Questions about the human condition and the socioeconomic implications of technological assistance. Mechanical augmentation is old school by the time JC Denton gets dumped out of the incubator tank with his cutting edge nanotechnology based augments. There’s two other mechs working at UNATCO, the bartender at Underworld, and maybe Jojo Fine, even if his are cosmetic. The MJ12 Commandos are, according to one email, outfitted with “off-the-shelf” hardware that turns them into walking weapons platforms with enhanced vision and hearing, and running off of standard power supplies. The questions of how this technology would change the human condition and society didn’t get directly addressed during the main plot because for the most part, they didn’t matter; the world was literally falling apart and everyone had much more important stuff to think about. Like not catching an incurable disease. Or finding enough food to live another day.

The implications of what the technology could do to or for people did get addressed in the endgame, but in service to the game’s central theme of trust and secrecy. Technology is a force multiplier and by exploiting the developments in nano augments, artificial intelligence, and the Universal Constructor, Bob Page was turning himself into God. Omniscient, able to manipulate information on a global scale through Helios and the Aquinus Protocol, immortal, and theoretically invincible through his armies of mass produced robots, engineered life forms, and loyal followers. And Bob Page would certainly not be a just and loving god, because he’s an asshole with a massive ego. So he can’t be allowed to become One With All Things. Aside from that, the game is open ended in what happens next, and it comes down to trust in the end; you can trust humanity to steer its own course with nobody in the shadows trying to pull strings, you can trust your fellow conspirators to steer humanity in the right direction behind the scenes... or. You can say “fuck this” and do it yourself by merging with the Helios AI before Page does and becoming a much more benevolent higher power than he would ever be, no matter how much of a dick you were in game.

This is the problem I have with Invisible War, Human Revolution, and to a lesser extent Mankind Divided because I haven’t played it (waiting for a Steam Sale) and I don’t know how much it takes its cues from the other two games. Basically, the dichotomy between augmented and non augmented humans is given center stage, driving the conflict between different factions even when engineered by a third faction behind the scenes. Even within the context of it being another attempt by conspirators to guide human society in a direction that they want it to go, it dominates the philosophical landscape of the plot as well. This is especially true when both sides are presented as having good points, and both sides are shown being supported by assholes who will do anything to further their ideals, and other assholes who use the ideals of their action as an excuse to be assholes. The entire narrative tension becomes a never ending circle jerk until the player picks a side and kills key members of the other one.

Not that anyone’s asked me, but I think the Deus Ex franchise needs to return to its roots of secrecy, trust, and open ended philosophical meandering. And to a limited extent, I have some ideas on how to do this.

First, focus on a plot that really emphasizes the idea of a conspiracy seizing power purely for the sake of power itself. This disconnects the main antagonist, whoever they are, from whatever philosophical arguments get made in the rest of the game.

Second, the question of “what it means to be human” needs to go back into the setting background again. Have it crop up in newspaper articles, blog posts, books and ebooks, have it be something that academics can make tenure arguing about, and (this is important) only have NPCs bring it up when it directly affects them. And have most of the NPC banter and dialog be entirely based around stuff that people today can relate to; incompetent politicians playing fast and loose with the rules, the rising costs of health care, climate change and deniers of the same, economic uncertainty in all of its many many flavors, natural disasters, and mixed in with all of that is a little bit of concern about augments and how it affects their lives specifically. Hell, include a parody news article where augment producing companies complain that post-millennial generations are “ruining” the augmentation market.

Third, bring back skills all the way. Deus Ex started you out with a flashlight in your eyes and a radio in your skull, with options for upgrades later, so you had to get by with your wits, planning, and whatever you put your skill points into during character creation. In Invisible War Alex starts with just the flashlight, but their entire genetic structure has been developed from the ground up to prototype universal genetic alteration and biomod integration. Adam Jensen kicks a reasonable amount of ass with just his tricked out gun during the opening interactive cutscene / tutorial of Human Revolution, and does real well right up until he gets bushwacked by Team Asshole, after which his boss has them put literally everything in the Serif Industries catalog into the guy’s body. No Deus Ex protagonist can ever realistically be expected to align themselves with the anti-modification side in any conflict without invoking emotional manipulation, delusion, a suicide mission, or a vendetta against whoever wired them up without their consent. So either the mods have to be completely optional, or the social dichotomy has to be completely optional. (Or a completely unimportant background detail compared to the rest of the plot.)

Fourth, if you have to keep some sort of dichotomy, make it more complicated than just two sides, for and against. Make it like real life. Make it complicated as different people go “well I agree with this part but that other thing is a deal breaker” and mix and match until the whole human augmentation position exists on a grid system just like political ideologies do, measured using two different X and Y axes. Or (I cannot believe I’m saying this) take a page out of Civilization Beyond Earth’s book with the Affinities, especially the Hybrid Affinities from Rising Tide:

Purity: No augments at all. Skills only

Harmony: Biotech and genetic engineering.

Supremacy: Mechanical augments.

Purity / Harmony: Genetic engineering, but only to wipe out disease and increase humanity’s natural abilities.

Purity / Supremacy: Cybernetics as a matter of utility and tool use, no AI research or enhancing the brain beyond what’s needed to interface with the augments.

Harmony / Supremacy: Transhumanism or bust!

This also lends itself to different abilities and how they get developed. So instead of just mech stuff added by surgery, there’s also retroviral gene therapy, and with skills that makes a trinity of abilities that all need to be balanced. Or at least, if a player goes all in with one group, it requires a certain play style to do (probably with an achievement for beating the game that way). If skills are about what you can do in the world and how well you can interact with objects in that world (five different weapons skills to choose from, hacking, picking locks, etc) then it would make sense for genetic engineering to add passive upgrades and abilities like health regen, improved strength and reflexes, resistance to toxins and knockout darts, and so on. Meanwhile mechanical augments go straight for adding functionality and integrating technology, as with the infolink and seeing through walls. Having all three of these categories be open ended, without any artificial mutual exclusion and railroading along a specific path, means that a player is limited entirely by the circumstances they find or expect to find, and the opportunity cost of making one choice at the exclusion of others. Presumably the requirements for skill progression involved going out and doing things, while mech augments need at least outpatient surgery, and gene therapy requires some convalescence and has a nasty debuff effect while the virus is playing with the PC’s DNA, so there’s that tension going on. Also, augments probably require money while skills can be improved for free, but upgrades for the equipment that skills use, ammunition, and supplies also cost money, so there’s that resource management aspect.

This also means that the players allies and enemies can be more varied as well, because no group is defined purely by adherence to one type of ability or another. The groups are defined by where they stand in relation to the conspiracy driving the main plot (part of it or not, supporting it or not, aware of it or not) and possibly a completely tangential goal or mission like money for a mercenary team. This means that allied groups have more room to have memorable characters, and so do enemy groups as well. It also means that fighting against a specific group requires a lot more planning and tactical thinking, if they have a team made of different people whose abilities compliment each other.

And that’s about all I have on this subject, at least for the moment. It’s getting late and I have to peel potatoes in the morning.

#game design #deus ex #conspiracy #artificial dichotomy #holy smokes #they're savioriffic #that was an actual billboard in Deus Ex #I am not kidding #long post is looooooong #I really need to learn how to do that Keep Reading thing

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mrfippstuff · 7 years

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I’m going to talk about RWBY V4

Because why not?

A bit late to the party I suppose, but everyone is doing it and I do have some thoughts on Volume 4 of RWBY, so I thought I might as well get some things off my chest. I’ll be starting from what I disliked the most and work my way up from there.

Blake’s Story

To be perfectly honest I found Blake’s share of the volume to be somewhat unbearable, it doesn’t really offer anything new for her, it’s just a retread of what she went through the in the first three volumes: she runs away from something that troubles her and a friend has to pull her back and tells her she is wrong. She runs away from Beacon and her friends in a bid to protect them from the White Fang, but she heads straight to her parents? We learned a lot about Blake’s pre-Beacon life and the more I learned about it the less I like it, her and everything about the Faunus storyline. While I can’t say it exactly contradicts anything we knew about her, the reveal that she was the daughter of the then-leader of the White Fang and now-leader of Menagerie does not gel with what most people were thinking about her life. Most people thought she had to struggle and endure a lot for the fight for equality, but she grew up in a tropical paradise, in a giant mansion, on an island where the populations seems to entirely Faunus? The biggest problem with this storyline is that we never see any sort of racism against Faunus, Weiss, Roman and Cardin were the only people who showed negative thoughts against them, and even then it doesn’t feel like I think it’s supposed to. Cardin seemed like an asshole to everyone, Torchwick was too enjoyable of a character, and Weiss’ views seemed like they were retconned back in V2. She came to Beacon thinking that all Faunus were murderers and thieves and given the proper chance would join the White Fang without hesitation, then she later says she came to Beacon to make things right by the SDC Faunus workers? Even Menagerie, which we were told was overcrowded and kind of shitty actually looks great, easily one of the better looking and more scenic places in the show with tons of space to in the jungles to expand. Overall this makes the White Fang seem like nothing more than cartoon villain henchman who are villains just because the heroes need someone to beat up. There was a moment, however, where we were introduced to the idea that Adam was leading a splinter group of the White Fang, but that idea was killed not even a minute it was introduced.

Another issues is that Blake is the daughter someone who led the White Fang and is now the leader of the Faunus capital. The name “Belladonna” should be a much more known name, Weiss of all people should have called Blake out on that, but no one ever says anything about it, not even when her name was on screen of the Vytal Tournament for the world to see.

Blake and Sun also suffered as characters. Blake was just unpleasant in most of her scenes, being snappy and dismissive towards anyone who tried to talk sense into her, and while I would have understood this sort of attitude given the situation, the fact that they’re repeating the same arc for her won’t let me. Sun somehow got it worst because outside his last scene with Blake everything that come out of his mouth is terrible, it’s like the writers simply can’t write him as anything as being a shitty comic relief. I’ve mentioned it before, but the things I hated most about the SSSN vs NDGO fight was that it was nothing but bad jokes for the sake of them, and none of them hitting, and that seems to apply to Sun on his own. It’s like they made no effort to write him in any serious manner.

0/10 honestly.

Yang’s Story

At the end of V3, out of all the characters Yang had been unloaded with the most baggage. She lost her arm and she was left behind by most of the people she cared about, put that on top of previously established abandonment issues, she had the most work to do when it came to her own personal demons. Out of everyone, she should have been a gold mine of things to work with, but we got nothing from her. While the first scene with her was good at establishing where she was in life, all the issues she had were introduced, glanced over, and were seemingly resolved in no time. She more or less was given fifteen minute, and the only thing that really happened was that she was given a robot arm at the end of her first episode, and had it on by her second. That’s the exact thing I didn’t want to happen, and it really makes me think that the fact that she had lost her arm will never be brought up in any meaningful light ever again.

3/10 here.

Weiss’ Story

While Blake’s story was terrible, and Yang’s was disappointing, Weiss’ was boring and predictable. It went like I thought it was going to go, hit all the story beats I knew it was, and there was nothing I didn’t expect. Like Blake’s, it’s just redoing her previous story and adds nothing really new aside from Whitley, who seems like the most last-minute addition of a character I ever saw. The moment I saw him I more or less guessed what his role was going to be, just to be an obstacle in Weiss way who just happens to be a Jacques 2.0, and it just seems redundant, and I don’t expect anything much more than that from him. I actually even lowered my opinion of Weiss because of the time skip, since V4 was about 6-8 months after Beacon, but she spent all that time moping and staring out her window? She really did nothing during that time to further her own goals? She wants to run the SDC, but all she did during that time was be sad? It really makes me wonder if she actually has a plan for the SDC since she didn’t seem like she really worked for it, that she was just expecting it to fall into her lap.

Then there’s the summoned knight. On one hand, as a Jojo fan I appreciate her knight since it would make Weiss a Stand User (it’s just a great sword variant of Silver Chariot), but from a narrative perspective I hate it. Things like Dust, Aura and Semblances have always been vaguely defined, and the way Weiss’ powers work makes it look like it’s just magic and that she can do whatever the writers want. With what she had to start with, Weiss already had a very variable moveset, so there didn’t seem like there needed to be a power up like that, which seems like a separate power rather than a branching ability of what she already knew. Then there is tying it to her character development, but that’s something that should have been from the start instead of 1/3 through V3. They should not have introduced something like this so later into her character development if it was going to matter this much.

So 5/10 for her.

Honestly the WBY stories fell like filler for the most par with the obvious end goal of each one to get them to Haven and have them meet up with Ruby. Splitting up the team seems more like a novelty than anything else, like they did it because they could but never put thought into what to do with that. It’s just the tournament all over again. It presents interesting ideas, but the way it follows them up is a massive let down.

Ruby/RNJR/Oscar/Villains AKA Main Plot

While I disliked WBY’s part of the volume,I have to say I much more favorable view the actual plot part.

At first I was rather skeptical of Hazel, Watts and Tyrian,Tyrian in particular, but after his encounter in RNJR and Qrow, Tyrian is on a fast track to becoming a favorite villain of mine. He was an enjoyable character to watch and his interactions with the heroes were great, and the reveal that he has this fanatical worship of Salem to the point where her being disappointed in him is enough to drive him to tear-ridden lunacy was just fantastic, and it gives me high hopes for Hazel and Watts. This volume also did a lot in turning my opinion on Cinder around. I disliked her very much because she was always over confident and smug without me feeling that she really earned it, skulking in the shadows being vague and mysterious for the sake of it with master plans, even though most of her victories were more of a result of her opposition’s failures than her successes. They tried to play her as this all seeing chess master, but the writers but they had to stick her into the spotlight, but she was terribly boring and all the other villains around her were so much better than her. Then V4 comes around and she is the broken and mute cripple who struggles to even stand up, she is the bottom tier of Salem’s followers and is openly mocked by her superiors, and the Maiden powers she tore Beacon down for seemingly came with a devastating weakness she didn’t even know about. Back in V3 she said she wanted to be powerful and feared, but she is now the antithesis of that, even though Beacon was technical success for her, she ended up being the opposite of what she wanted, and I want to see where this goes for her.

Oscar was also something I want to see where it goes. This random nobody farmhand who seems to now share head space with one of the more mysterious characters in the show now being shoved into the plot could lead to some interesting things, and I like their interactions enough to see how this goes for them, and what happens with them and what this means for the both of them.

We also had a surprise moment with Raven and Qrow, and everything about that scene was gold. All I wanted from Raven was for her to be a piece of shit who ran out on her family because she simply didn’t want to there, and I was afraid that they were going to pull some “greater good” angle with her, but not did they do what I wanted them to do, but they also made her the leader of a tribe of bandits that go around and pillaging and burning down villages. Her entire conversation with Qrow makes me want to see her again and more of her view on the world and her relationship with the people in her past.

The remaining members of Team JNPR also each had great moments this volume. We saw Jaune’s own way of grieving regarding Pyrrha, and as a Souls fan I appreciate that his weapon is now just Ludwig’s Holy Blade, and while I would have liked to see how Ren and Nora were dealing with this loss as well, we were given a gold mine on their backstories and history together, and everything about this was fantastic in itself. Then through those flashbacks and the fights in the ruined Kuroyuri the show was able to take huge leaps to redeeming the Grimm as actual threats. The Nuckelavee is the kind of monster I wanted, this unsettling and powerful creature that is more than just a fodder mook, if they’re able to keep their monster designs on par with this, then I’d be fine with the heroes tearing through Beowolves by the dozens if we get more monsters like this.

There were a few problems, of course. I liked the globetrotting aspect of their journey, but seeing as how Weiss, Blake, Yang and Oscar all took much quicker ways to Have it loses its appeal real quick. The Relics is also a problem because it seems to instantly outshine the Maidens since they seem to be the exact same thing from a narrative view, and there didn’t seem like there need to be both at the same time.The Haven airships coming to find RNJR was also a bit of a cop out.

Then there is Ruby Rose.

I’ve already talked about this but I’m going to better explain my views. After V4 ended someone tallied up the total lines between each character, and they found out that had it not been for her closing narration, Ruby’s line count would have gone from most number of lines, to third, just below Blake and Jaune, which has led to some people complaining about Ruby’s role in the story and that Jaune was stealing the spotlight from her. Personally I don’t see it as this way, at least not entirely, since I don’t view the number of a character’s lines as a very important part of how much impact or meaningful they are in the narrative. For example, even though Sun comes in fifth almost every line he has is garbage and not worth the time watching him, and even though he is not in the top ten, I much more enjoyed Oscar’s side of the story than Blake’s, who came in second in line count.

I’m been rewatching Samurai Jack recently to get caught up with the new season coming up, and it makes me appreciate how much a character’s presence can speak for them without them ever saying anything at all, there is a lot of silence in those episodes, and more often than not Jack will have less lines than anyone else around him. “The Princess and the Bounty Hunters” is a good example of this, since Jack only show up in the last two minutes, he says nothing and you don’t even get a clear look at his face, but that one scene ends up being the heaviest and most tense moment in the episode because of how much weight he carries into the narrative.

Ruby’s problem isn’t that people are stealing screentime from her, it’s that she has little to none narrative presences by default, and this isn’t even a new problem. All the way back in V1 when she had her argument with Weiss, that seemed to put more focus on Weiss than her, and it wasn’t until the last few episodes of V3 did she actually start taking the initiative in the plot and had all those hero moments. For the most part she didn’t matter in V2 to the point where anything she did could have been done by anyone else and there would be no changes. The only time where Ruby’s actual character mattered was when she shared scenes with Penny, and those aren’t going to happen anymore, and while she did have those hero moments in V3, they feel more like she had them because she was the Default Hero instead of them being important to her, that she was given them because of course she’s doing all the cool stuff, she’s the hero so she gets them by default. I don’t even really like how they’re trying to set up this Ruby vs Cinder fight since that seems so default, when I’d rather JNR fight her instead.

Ruby Rose’s writing is less about other taking from her, and more about her just not being given much to begin with. You could remove Jaune, Nora and Ren from the show, but then Ruby would just be overshadowed by Weiss, Blake and Yang and their stories, and outside removing every other character in the show, that won’t make the writing for her better. She needs more narrative presence, she needs to actually be important and carry weight for the story, and until they stop writing her as the Default Hero and figure out what they want to do with her, any other changes they make won’t matter.

So main plot stuff gets a 8/10.

V1: 6/10

V2: 2/10

V3: 7/10

V4: Averages out to 4/10

Also a shout out the World of Remnant pieces this volume, since they were actually good. Back when WoR was introduced, I thought they were a good idea, RWBY had precious little screen time as is, so I this seemed like a good way to get around explaining things that the average person in-universe should know, but the ones were got in V2 and 3 were hit and miss, mostly miss. They either repeated information to the point of being moot or revealed plot important details that should have been in the show proper. The ones we got this volume were well informed, they told us details of everyday facets of this world, giving us what we needed so the show could dedicate itself to explaining on a more detailed level. I think we now know what the average informed citizen of Remnant should know, and I feel that’s what World of Remnant should try to accomplish.

#rwby #volume 4 #rwby4 #rwde #maybe

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