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jq37 · 4 months

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FH Junior Year Post-Season Thoughts

With another season of Fantasy High in the books and my recaps all finished, I wanted to do an overview of my thoughts on the season as a whole. Even though I feel generally positive about my experience with the season, there are a few things I think maybe could have been done differently narratively or mechanically. This isn't to criticize the way the season went down or to backseat DM/Play. More my combined ten years of college for textual analysis and storytelling bleeding through, haha.

I first want to start with the things I thought worked really well.

Fantasy High has "High" right in its title but, in past seasons (and especially Sophomore Year), not as much time as you'd think was spent actually at school and even if it was spent at school, there wasn't much time spent in class or engaging with the realities of being a student. This season really dug into the academic consequences of skipping your classes all the time and the realities of needing to do a ton of extra stuff to try for a scholarship and I think that was a refreshing thing to highlight for a change. Being more scared at flunking out than the dragon that's trying to eat you feels very emotionally resonant. Real "High School Is Killing Me" vibes for anyone who's a fan of NPMD.

Even though Fantasy High is a show that has some deep emotional beats and strong character arcs, it's first and foremost a comedy show. From the jump, everyone was generating bit after bit that had me cracking up as usual. "Little girly dog collar" is one of the funniest combinations of words I can think of. I think it was Siobhan who said that this was the goofy season and, having seen it, I'd have to agree with her. It never failed to make me laugh and it was always a highlight of my week. The cast just has great table chemistry that I love to watch no matter what they're doing.

Watching some of these high level combat encounters is as close as I'll get to understanding people watching sports. Even though combat is generally my least fave part of D&D, I think the cast really killed it this season with how cleverly they played and Brennan came up with some really great combat encounters. Special shout outs to Baron's Game and The Last Stand for their unique mechanics.

This is going to be one that's on the other list as well because my feelings are mixed, but I genuinely do like the downtime mechanic and how it forces hard choices. I think it's an interesting way to connect a mechanic to the story and cultivate stressful atmosphere for the season.

I have problems with the execution but I love the Rat Grinders in concept. I think as early as season 1 I was hoping that we'd meet a party that was like the Bizarro Bad Kids and the idea of a party that's farming XP instead of going on crazy adventures is a strong concept. Likewise, I think a character that's jealous because of your "cool" (read: tragic) backstory is also a fun trait for an unhinged antagonist in this kind of setting.

This is me absolutely showing my bias but I adored the Abernant Sisters content this season. I dunno if Siobhan specifically asked Brennan to not put her on a bus with the other beloved NPCs or what but I'm so glad she stuck around and we got the development we did. It was almost entirely ancillary to the plot but there was this clear pattern of Aelwyn getting softer and sweeter towards Adaine over the course of the season, from the guarded, "Enjoy the nemesis ward," to, full I love you's and, "I'd take them to get you." It was way more focus than I expected considering that Aelwyn completed the bulk of her arc last season and a lot of the time, a redemption arc basically ends after the big gesture (in this case, Aelwyn taking a magic blast for Adaine in Sophomore Year). So the fact that we got to see all of these sweet moments of them reestablishing their relationship outside of do or die moments was such a pleasant surprise. Again, I fully admit I am extremely biased, but this was my top wishlist item and the season overdelivered so there's a baseline happy I'm always gonna be with Junior Year.

OK, so moving on to things I things I think could have been tweaked.

Even though I liked the downtime system and the pressures it created, it also squeezed out the chance for more casual PC to NPC interactions that would usually be more common because they were semi-locked behind the relationship track and there wasn't an obvious benefit to roll for Relationships (as opposed to something like Academics which was crucial for not flunking out). Making the mechanical benefit more clear would have helped that (even if it meant Brennan didn't get his reveal--which he ended up just telling them anyway so might as well do it early). The other thing is that the consequence of a rage token was so bad that of course they spent all season avoiding getting one. Things might have gone differently if the consequences had been a bit more obscured, like in Neverafter. And it could have been a nice parallel to the Rat Grinders to take this unknown resource that makes things easier for you but is also having this negative effect. Then it could be like dang we did the same thing they did unknowingly.

I mentioned this in my recap but I'll talk about it again. It is a little confusing to me that we did the Ankarna subplot right after we did the very similar Cassandra subplot. It took up so much time this season which I don't think is an issue in and of itself, it's just that we literally just went through some extremely similar beats last season. Why double up on this same storyline when there's so much new ground to cover? Or if we're going to raise a god, why not make it a different kind of god? One theory I had early on was that the Rat Grinders were trying to raise their own god to one-up the Bad Kids but instead of raising a chill, misunderstood Cass type, they accidentally raised a god who was erased for a good reason and got in over their heads.

It's fun for there to be connections between seasons but sometimes it's like, OK that's a *lot* of coincidences. Like the god who your rivals is trying to raise *happens* to be the wife of your cleric's god and also *happens* to be the god of the fiend trapped in your friend's mom's chest and that fiend *happens* to be the relative on your bard's dad's side which is *also* the reason she is randomly cursed? That's a LOT of red string connecting plot points. As unhinged as Kipperlilly is about coveting Riz's backstory if I saw that go down I'd be like you have *got* to be kidding me.

The mystery elements didn't feel like they clicked as well as they did in other seasons. I think that's partially because Porter's plan was so convoluted (seriously, I made another post about how haphazard his plan was) and had all these moving parts and we didn't get clear answers for a lot of mechanical things like how the rage crystals actually work and when they were implanted and stuff. You had stuff like Devil's Honey which I think is super cool as a thing that exists in the world but ended up being an element that just led the players down the wrong path and had a relatively small payoff (that Porter was using it to lie to Ankarna). I think it's plausible that a forgotten god would be willing to listen to anyone saying the right things without introducing this element. (As opposed to, for instance, Ambrosia which has a very clear connection to what's going on and is a solid clue that someone is flirting with aspirations of godhood.)

The Porter reveal came so late in the season that even though it was a fun/challenging fight, there wasn't a lot of emotional weight behind killing him. It was basically just dunking on a teacher Fig has always hated who was also mean to Gorgug so screw him. Which, valid of course. But the Bad Kids were never going to react as strongly to Porter as they were to the Rat Grinders so putting Porter in the prime villain spot isn't necessarily what I would have done if I wanted the fight to be more than just a brawl--especially since we've done "School admin with student minions" already in S1. I don't mind the full circle callback but it would have been nice to pick something else for the sake of variety. We haven't had a child mastermind yet and I think Kipperlilly could have been a great candidate for that. My friend suggested that it would have been fun if Kipperlilly was trying to become a god instead of just being Porter's underling and I agree. "I'm not anyone's chosen one so I'll choose myself," is still within her established jealousy and Type A tendencies. If we want to keep Porter involved since that was Brennan's gift to Emily, maybe have it be that instead of Kipperlilly working for him, he's working for her. Like Artemis Fowl vibes! And the Rat Grinders can be varying levels of on board--from true believe to redeemable. I don't think Brennan planned for the Bad Kids to ever redeem her so might as well go full megalomaniacal mastermind with her and make her The Villain if she's not gonna be nuanced anyway. If My Little Pony can do it and send a literal child to Tartarus for pony treason (or whatever Cozy Glow did), Fantasy High can too.

Continuing from the above, if we have the Porter fight in place of the Grix fight (a la Daybreak) and don't use Ankarna, that gives way more time for the Bad Kids to investigate the Rat Grinders throughout the season and it would mean that they would have their personalities developed a lot more. With the limited downtime, they Bad Kids didn't have a lot of time to spend on these kids who were just hating on them for no good reason (valid). But if you cleared their plate of the god hunt stuff, they'd have more time for this. And if they weren't all rage zombies to varying degrees, it would be easier to see them as characters. Besides Kipperlilly (and, funnily enough, Mary Ann) we don't really have a good read on what these kids are actually like. The little time we spent with them all season was kind of a wash if them breaking out of rage means their personalities got laundered too. Anyway, regardless of how their loyalties ended up shaking out, it would have been fun for them to be more than the minions that they were in canon. As funny as it is for them to just kinda be XP farming losers, they did have the potential to be more interesting in their own right if they weren't just Porter's minions. And again, we've done adults forcing or coercing children into being minions in Freshman and Sophomore Year already. Lemme see some self-created child maniacs! (Or, peer pressured child maniacs. That's cool too. The Lucy/Kipperlilly dynamic is way more interesting to me if it's like girl, I would take a bullet for you but I CANNOT walk this path with you any further in response to *I* will be a god and you can be *MY* champion.)

Anyway, those are my thoughts! Like I said, I have my points that I think could have been tightened, but overall an enjoyable season and I will be glued to my screen if they decide to close out with Senior Year!

#dimension 20 #d20 #fantasy high #spoilers #I had so much fun with this season but the overall plot makes my brain throw up question marks if I map it out or think about it too hard #but then I think about adaine and aelwyn at basrar's and it's like wow 10/10 flawless execution #I don't know if I've been clear enough about this over the season but I LIKE kipperlilly as a character #I think she sucks and that's great #I think she should be worse actually #like own it #don't be a pawn in some loser's plan be your own girlboss #grind those rats chug that ambrosia #be the teenage demi-god you think you deserve to be and drag your friends into your plan with the sheer force of your personality #make it 100% sure that there's a spot in hell waiting for you when you get sent there #imagine the level of vitriol they had towards kipperlilly as is and then imagine she has legendary actions #I think her going down to riz like a chump is such a huge W for riz and fitting for how the narrative played out #but to use wrestling terms for a second #it was a waste of a LOT of heat #Porter didn't have NEARLY as much heat as she did

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foibles-fables · 1 year

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So I've been carving my way through Act 1 of Baldur's Gate 3, and I can't help but consider how a similar romance mechanic would be absolutely perfect for Horizon 3.

Divisive concept, I'm more than well aware. But seeing the way it's already being implemented with fidelity and elegance and depth in the opening of BG3 gives me the perfect image of how it could work in Horizon 3.

To be perfectly clear, I'm talking specifically about the romances. We already know that Guerrilla is not pursuing branching narrative paths for the Horizon series, the way BG3 and Mass Effect do. However, I want to point out that the romances of BG3 don't alter the central narrative the way other choices do. They provide this lovely and emotional character depth and player engagement/agency without affecting the main story or outcomes.

Each is their own kind of side plot, for flavor and flair and to add a sense of romantic connection to the experience, should the player want to pursue that. And that in and of itself is not unprecedented in the Horizon series: the Desert Clan commander quest not only forces a choice, but that choice then affects the side quest that follows.

Imagine it! A more refined Base mechanic, in which Aloy can take a few of her buddies out with her on quests (since the point is that she's Not Alone Anymore), and begins to get closer to whichever potential LI the player wants to pursue. The Base/Camp would be a domestic/cozy reprieve for her, with her LI and her friends. You know she deserves it.

Another thing I want to be clear about: there's always the argument that Aloy isn't a blank slate character, therefore romance choice wouldn't work for her story. And sure, Tav is. However, BG3 also allows you to play as premade origin characters--basically, you can play as Shadowheart, Karlach, Wyll, etc. They maintain their backstories and personal motivations while still being able to romance another party member. (I cannot WAIT to smooch Karlach during my Shadowheart run.) The chosen romance doesn't dilute or change the Player Character's preset characterization or narrative outcomes.

I just. I cannot see how a purposeful romance choice mechanic would be anything but additive to Horizon 3. I cannot see how it would cheapen Aloy's development. Personally, I've had a huge issue with the way the writing in HFW and beyond has very much Told, not Shown. This would remedy that somewhat by adding another level of more active participation than we've seen--and would give the player a chance to engage meaningfully and personally with a small (but emotionally-impactful) part of the overarching story...rather than being told exactly how to feel about certain characters, which is a HUGE pitfall over which the series has stumbled and is still stumbling.

Bottom line: a romance mechanic like BG3's would fit the parameters of Horizon's narrative structure near-perfectly. It'd be an amazing tool to allow the player to feel involved and engaged in another layer of Aloy's story (not, I repeat, the outcomes of the main narrative). To have a hand in shaping that would be an absolute boon for emotional and personal investment in Horizon's themes of hope and connection and growth and belonging.

#maybe i'm ready to take heat for this one #but i'm also not gonna debate so 🤷#loins girded #i just think it would be SUCH a neat culminating mechanic for the series #and would absolutely not cheapen anything about Aloy's story??#horizon zero dawn #horizon forbidden west #aloy #post brought to you by the shadowheart smooches that made me cry yesterday #SO many typos fixed I’m sorry

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serenedash · 2 years

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Let's talk khux gameplay and plot,

imo I think part of khux's story telling and the impact of the story gets lost now that the game is defunct. I always thought people didn't appreciate how the gameplay and the mechanics actually had an impact on the story and while that impact become virtually nonexistent later on, I always thought it made the story far more engaging when the game was just chi/unchained chi and also the English translation didn't do it too well ngl

Anyway what I'm specifically talking about is the medal system. Also I feel like the whole bangle thing wasn't explained well in game but really it just comes down to leveling up medals specifically. If you never played khux, you equip medals to your keyblades and they doa specific attack and to level them up you combine multiple of the same medal and you could see how leveled up a medal is by the amount of yellow dots next to it and, in JP at least, this was called "guilt" and like wow that name fucking slaps. And when nightmare chirithy reveals the player has been collecting darkness this whole time thru the medal system, you have literal guilt on your conscious. You are guilty of collecting darkness and negative emotions like guilt to use for your own power. And in Back Cover when the foretellers are made aware of this, there's no stopping it and ofc the player can't stop either, they HAVE to get stronger, you literally have to keep playing the game,

Another part of the game that I appreciated is the way the name changes factored into the game; chi was the original "world line" that the dandelions existed in and at first unchained chi had come off as just a remake but really what we're playing is the continuation, where the player and the dandelions are now in this unchained state/new world line and they're reliving their time as wielders but now without the war/"dark" memories and finally when they relive everything and get back to the "present," they continue on after into "union cross" which I feel like. wasn't explained well in game that much tbh but if you didn't understand what that meant in game, it was just to say that unions didn't matter anymore and they were all dandelions so the unions. when the unions are crossed.

and tbh the experience of playing this game in real time also added to the experience a lot and the impact of the story especially with a player insert character. I think the most effective use of this game being played in real time was Strelitzia. Now in the english version, everything with Strelitzia was all one update and the english ver was behind so honestly they had to do catch up they couldn't really afford to lag behind. But in JP, which most khux fans kept up with using fan translations, Strelitzia's introduction and her death happened about a month apart so it gave the players time to actualyl grow attached to her and THEN we get crushed. You can easily pin point the exact time certain khux fan art was drawn bc in a group drawing of the dandelions Strelitzia is there instead of Lauriam since he was only introduced after her death

and another thing! It only became apparent by the end of the game but khux actually takes place over the course of about 4 years. which is fucking insane. because the dandelions were stuck in the data for 4 years and didn't know it until the glitches started. and the game ran for roughly the same amount of time and we weren't even aware of that either until the glitches! ("why 4 years" there are cutscenes that literally say "4 years ago" so yeah girl what the fuck haha)

Anyway yeah this was just me rambling I think about this so much all the time can you tell. I hope missing link does something like this too tbh it makes it more fun and makes it feel that your actions as the player actually have impact on the story

#source: dude trust me I was there #'who cares about the gameplay of a defunct mobile game' I DO #I wasn't a whale I was exclusively F2P but I ranked well #I was deep in the khux meta I was watching the few khux youtubers seeing if pulls were worth it + keeping up with roboloid's datamines #me reporting all this information back to my party full of casual players and them being like. okay.#I was a very dedicated party leader #khux #im rambling #kingdom hearts #khml #khdr #khux essay

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dw-flagler · 2 months

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In this post, I will attempt to calmly, reasonably, and in-a-good-faith-manner argue all the points raised by tumblr user @library-bat-girl in the following posts. I am starting a new thread so as not to further destroy the original poster, @skitterenjoyer's, tumblr notifications. Worm (+MHA) spoilers ahead. This will be a long post.

Firstly, I would like to apologize on the worm fandom's behalf. We will not engage in ableism of any kind. I sincerely hope that this was a singular incident and @skittersdrippygirlcock will be better about this in the future.

"MHA has better characters,"

My Hero Academia's primary achievement, I think, is managing to make many decently well rounded characters in a fairly short time-span. It certainly has very good visual character design, with easily memorable character designs, like Mina Ashido or Tsuyu Asui. Most of Class 1A is shown to be more than single-note gimmick characters. For a story with such a tight schedule, and only so much page real-estate, that's impressive! For instance, a character decidedly outside of the main cast, Fumikage Tokoyami, is shown to have more to his personality than "is an edgelord," showing a humility and friendliness that is highly against-type. This is very different than a lot of its peers, especially in Shonen manga, where side characters (and sometimes even main characters) are never more than their tropes (see Fairy Tale, One Punch Man*, The Seven Deadly Sins, or Black Clover). My Hero Academia does clear that bar, by making side characters little more than their tropes. This is to say nothing of the primary cast, who, again, is largely defined by tropes and easily slotted into standardized interchangeable Shonen roles. Rival, Love Interest, Rival but Nice About It. Additionally, MHA has an uncomfortably sexualized main cast, for one composed primarily of minors.

This is compared to Worm, in which many characters are fully realized and could have been the protagonist (and often were in older drafts of the story, due to Worm's 10-year development hell). Every character that gets an interlude, and most that don't, all have fully realized interiority, traumas, and wants. In fact, this is one of the major themes of Worm. Every character, from the protagonist Taylor, to characters so minor they're seen only once (see Damsel of Distress, Dauntless), to major antagonists and monsters (see Jack Slash, Bonesaw) all have their own story, even if this is never shown on-screen. There are no "side characters" in the same manner as in My Hero Academia, because every character is a protagonist of their own story, and not in a trite "life is so beautiful" way.

Taylor isn't the center of the universe, there's an entire world outside of her 3-block bubble. The mechanism by which all characters get their superpowers means that the mere fact of having powers implies this about them. Even the seeming exceptions, aren't (see Alexandria, Garotte). Taylor is a good character. I don't even know how to elaborate on that. She just is. Worm does not have the character Minoru Mineta.

"a better plot,"

What... what is the plot of My Hero Academia? For the life of me, I can't seem to recall. I can tell you the general formula of most of the arcs for the first ~2/3rds of the story. Class 1A goes to do a hero high school thing, like do rescue training, or on-the-job training, or on-the-job-training, or on-the-job-training (they do it like 4 times for some reason), the League Of Villains shows up (even when it's seemingly not the league of villains it actually is the league of villains) they fight about it, the class beats all the villains, and Deku beats up strongest bad guy and also breaks his bones. Repeat step 1. But like. What's... the plot? The League of Villains is evil and wants to kill people and do bad stuff. They explicitly do not have greater motivations. There's generally themes of passing-on-to-the-new-generation, so there's Tomura Shigaraki as the arch nemesis to Izuku Midoriya, just as All Might's Nemesis is All For One. Eventually they fight a big fight about it and I stop reading because I find out about Worm. From what I understand (I have not read the conclusion) the series ends without addressing any long-running questions, wrapping up any character arcs, or concluding anything in a narratively satisfying manner. As if severely rushed.

Worm, there are maybe 15 main stories going on simultaneously, which are all tied into the final confrontation with Scion. The most obvious is Taylor's and the Undersiders' story, about taking over Brockton Bay and defeating Coil, which is a smaller part of Coil's story about taking over the bay, until their confrontation with him in arc 17, when it supersedes Coil's story, and then intersects with Cauldron's story, the Traveler's story, the Case 53s' stories, the Wards' story, all of it, in arcs 18-19. This is one example. A great deal of attention is spent making sure the reader knows that Taylor, the Undersiders, Coil, all of them, are bit players in a very large game. Despite this, it's never hard to follow, because Wildbow, while lacking some of the more flowery prose, manages extremely well at making his stories easy to understand.

"I feel like even people who like Worm can agree that Worm is not the most consistent piece of fiction ever written. The disjointed way it was written meant that emphasis was primarily put on 'What Wildbow thought was cool in the moment', [sic] and the story RADICALLY shifts gears every time a new arc starts."

What? Huh? Worm is extremely consistent. Like. 1.1 to E.x. It's, like. Not disjointed? Oh my god, are you talking about interludes? Is that what you mean? The interludes shift gears? Because that makes sense. It's one of the hardest things about worm, yeah. It's gripping! The interludes are a great idea to expand the world of worm, but the problem is that taylor's story is so intriguing that stepping away from it to focus on something else is hard, no matter how individually interesting. I want to read about taylor's escalation spiral, not the travelers! (As opposed to My Hero Academia having random escalation and de-escalation between arcs with no real explanation. We're reading about lives-on-the-line battles with child-slavers and then move to playing on a playground with little kids? Best I can think of is that this whiplash is intentional, but this is never communicated to the reader. Worm does not do this. Any de-escalation is met with the explicit understanding that this is merely a period of calm before things get even worse). Taylor's story wraps up in an extremely narratively satisfying fashion, following her story to its logical conclusion. There were so many ways it could have been avoided, but there was really only one way that it could have ended.

"better worldbuilding,"

This actually offends me. MHA could have had great world-building. It doesn't. Every potentially interesting bit of world-building is backpedaled out of or stopped before it could get anywhere. Or it's just never elaborated or expanded upon. Everyone having a superpower could have been cool, but the implications of this are nonexistent. The reasons for this having no real implications, that being the banning of quirks, also has implications that are also immediately backpedaled out of. It's been hundreds of years since our time, yet life is exactly the same. Nothing ever happens. Endeavor is a cool concept. I like Endeavor. his existence implies such interesting things about the world, how important hero ranking is to these people's lives, that he would create this horrific system of domestic abuse to try and get to the #1 spot. What does this say about this system of heroes that operates like a popularity contest? It could have said a lot. It says nothing. What does the League of Villains, a league of people who call themselves out-and-out villains, who base their ideology in opposing this system of heroes, say about society? Nothing. On purpose. Worm does something with this. One Punch Man does something with this. My Hero Academia puts it in the story, and lets it sit, unused, for a decade.

Worm has... unique world-building. Because it's both good and bad at the same time. Worm's #1 feature is its world. It's brilliant, full stop. Triggers, The Birdcage, the PRT, Exclusion Zones! Why does the status quo exist? what does it say about that society? What does it say about our society? Why hasn't society radically changed from how it is in our world? This is explained. This plays into the themes. The story wants to say something about this world, and so it does. There are characters whose stories explicitly delve into these themes that are set up in the worldbuilding, like Armsmaster, or Battery, or Bonesaw, or Coil, or Piggot or Alexandria or Taylor herself or Brian or Lisa or ANY OF THEM THEY ALL DO THIS. Sorry.

Anyway, the bad part is that the actual world is not well built (and is kind of racist). What's going on in Europe? There's a 3 blasphemies! a 3 what? never explained. What's going on in Asia, aside from Japan? China is a monarchy for some reason. Why? It's never elaborated on. India gets a little bit of elaboration, we're told its different but not how it's different. Wildbow uses machine translation wrong and names some guy caliph of dogs. This is like worm's #2 problem honestly (#1 is Amy). Wildbow tries to make the implication of a well thought out globe without actually making a well thought out globe.

"stronger themes,"

It really doesn't. As I said in the worldbuilding section, MHA makes a point out of not saying or doing anything. I don't know if editors made Horikoshi walk back the more ambitious story beats or what, but there are multiple points in the story where the author pretty much looks you directly in the eye and goes "This Story Isn't Saying Anything At All Even Though It Looked Like It Would. Lmao."

Worm has lots of themes. I think Armsmaster/Defiant's story is my favorite. His entire character arc (which is fully realized despite him being a background character for nearly the entire story) has a point to it. It says something. It's misanthropic and uplifting simultaneously, and manages to feel like it earns both. It's a shared theme with Bonesaw/Riley's story, explored in two different ways.

"Meanwhile MHA establishes an actual overall theme/message right from the start that expands and develops throughout the story. The worldbuilding is informed by the message, which informs the characters arcs and the people they become by the end of the story."

I notice that you never actually say what that message is. What is it? Like, for real. I'm not being confrontational or anything, like what is the message? Cuz' I can't think of one. My Hero Academia, at its very core, is a defense of the status quo. Much like its world-building, but much less forgivable, because it does do something new and unique with its world-building. MHA could have done some extremely interesting stuff with its early implicit critique of heroic society as shown with characters like Bakugo, or Shigaraki, or Endeavor, or Overhaul, or Midoriya himself! It just doesn't! It doesn't do stuff that Worm does do!

Worm does have a message. It has a lot of messages, actually, some that the author disagrees with somehow. Prison abolition, for one. We know Wildbow loves prison. Anyway, the big one is in the subtitle: doing the wrong things for the right reasons. Taylor's constant spiral of escalation, her dwindling attachments to her friends and greater focus on treating herself like a soldier is prevalent, and it is to be avoided. Taylor isn't a sin-eater. They don't exist. From what I remember, this is sort of explored in Deku's character arc for a short period of time, but much like everything else in MHA, it is backpedaled out of.

The funniest is "don't text and drive" though.

"Just on a basic level the way that the audience is meant to feel about Taylor oscillates wildly between being directed to think of her as a misunderstood victim of circumstance, or history's greatest monster."

That's kind of the point. Like. the audience isn't meant to look at Taylor the same way throughout the entire story. It's meant to change as she changes. Taylor's opinion of Taylor changes. The mistake here is saying it "oscillates wildly." it doesn't. It's a slow and steady change for the worse, as Taylor gets more violent and starts throwing away greater and greater parts of herself to become more like a robot and less like a person.

"But a bigger issue in general is tone. It's very focused on being dark and gritty and edgy, and it makes the mistake a lot of consciously edgy media does. IE: it thinks that all it has to do to be smart is be bleak and/or graphic. It doesn't really try to say anything, in fact it contradicts itself throughout the book as I mentioned before, it just throws in extremely graphic scenes and content periodically to remind the audience how fucked everything is."

Did you read the boys and think it was worm? What? It's not being smart when it's bleak or graphic? I actually personally like the endbringers or the slaughterhouse 9, and not because I like watching people suffer. These things exist for a reason. It's not being dark for the sake of being dark. The heroes could stop the slaughterhouse 9. We see that, when they almost stop the slaughterhouse 9 (it's explicitly shown that they are stopped from destroying the slaughterhouse 9). The question then becomes why don't they? It's a grim, brutal calculus, and one that wasn't worth it. That's the point. The Endbringers are different. It's not until arc 27 that they're really explained. You could either read them as a criticism of Eidolon or of ableism, honestly. I mean, it wasn't intentional, he didn't create them on purpose, he needed something to fight, because without that he's nothing. His powers are all he has.

"Worm spends so much time trying to be edgy that as with a lot of edgy media the edginess loses all impact quite quickly and becomes sort of cringe."

I don't really think so, but like. Okay. I don't think this is a reconcilable viewpoint (none of this is really but this especially), so like we're probably gonna have to agree to disagree. The only thing I can really think of as edgy for the sake of edginess is Amy's arc. But even that's not really true. It's meant to be an utterly avoidable tragedy that could never have been stopped because of the people involved. Much like Taylor, actually. Amy could have stepped back from the brink, but she didn't, because Amy could never have done that, and nobody else was willing/able to help. It's supposed to be a thing where you sit back and think of all the tiny ways this could have easily been avoided, but wasn't.

"When body horror happens it still has impact because it's not happening constantly."

I mean, I guess. But like. I never got desensitized to the body horror in Worm. It hit pretty consistently for me throughout. As opposed to MHA, where it was usually walked back by the end of every arc. I never felt much tension or suspense because it felt as if there weren't actual consequences. In Worm, when Brian was strung up on his nerves, it felt disgusting because I was fully aware Worm would explore the ripple effects of this. It felt entirely possible he would die there, or never recover, because Worm didn't pull its punches. MHA did. This is a matter of opinion. We'll just have to agree to disagree about it.

"But most importantly - you root for the heroes because the world actually seems like it's worth saving."

that's just, um. sorry. I'm really trying here. That's just. Uh. Dumb. Do you root for Batman cause Gotham is a nice city? Everything's worth saving, that's, like, at its most basic what the concept of a superhero is about.

"Not only that but MHA simply does villain protagonists objectively better than Worm."

um. No? There straight up aren't villain protagonists in MHA. The villains are the POV characters for, like, one arc? You know what, here's a good spot for it. It's stated throughout the story that Shigaraki and the League of Villains have a goal, beyond just death and destruction. They're here to stop the corrupt society of heroes (that MHA hints at the existence of before backpedaling away from), and bring about a fairer society. But then, and this part pissed me off, one of the characters, I think Bakugo, says: "you're just using that as cover! you just want to kill people, you have no noble goal!" and shigaraki's like "dang you caught me." and then it happens again with Deku! Because My Hero Academia is allergic to saying something. Nope! They're villains! No moral depth here! They're Villains, We're Heroes, Go Put Them In Jail.

This is opposed to Worm, where- "The characters of the villains and their origins are used to highlight the flaws in the Superhuman society"

"Most of the villains are only villains because society failed them in some way, and the specific ways in which that happened become big plot points that then play into the future arc of our heroic characters."

I had to walk away from my computer for this one. It's hard to be civil. It's really hard. Polite and reasonable.

So Worm is about this. To even say this without a shred of irony makes me thing you've never once read a single word of Worm and are doing this purely as bait. Or you've read all of Worm and are doing this purely as bait.

"They're actually extremely complex in a way that ends up being fundamentally important to the overall story - where in Worm the villains are either based heroes fighting a corrupt system or they're histories [sic] greatest monsters... until they're presented as heroes again."

I think I get it now. I really think I do. You're not supposed to agree with all the characters. Like. Worm is inconsistent, in that it follows the perspectives of inconsistent people. Of course Triumph and Armsmaster don't agree on what is right! They're different people, they have different perspectives!

"See. Worm fans keep saying "This is Bait." It's not Bait, you all are simply ridiculous and obsessed with this series to such a degree that you feel compelled to say "This is Bait" instead of just... ignoring it, because you have no actual counterargument."

Perhaps worm fans are inclined to believe you posted rage bait because you brazenly walked into another fandom's post and wholeheartedly proclaimed that the thing they liked was Stupid Idiot Bullshit For Fucking Morons, and refused to elaborate until prompted, at which point you said several things that are demonstrably false about Worm.

"Your only response to anything I've said is pedantry, bigotry, and deflection. If it was obviously just bait why are you engaging?"

Well, I'm engaging because I've been in a foul mood since I woke up this morning. Also because you, again, said some very rude and patently false statements about a story that I really enjoy and find narratively rich, even in its faults.

"MHA's characters do fall into archetypal shounen character roles - but they are all given a solid amount of focus explaining why they are like that and developing them into something bigger."

Again, as I said, it's a genuinely impressive feat to have an ensemble cast like what My Hero Academia has, and give so many of the characters a degree of depth, with such little manga to work with. I think worm does it better, but worm doesn't have to be economical about it. MHA does. The problem I have with this statement is that it becomes a question of scale. How much bigger? They're no longer defined by their tropes, instead defined by their opposition to their tropes. It's still a one-note character, you've merely changed the note from C to C sharp.

"so almost every member of the cast has an arc that either develops them past the person they initially seemed to be or explains why they're like that."

This is probably my favorite part about MHA. They do have arcs! I love ensemble casts! it does a much better job in this than all of its contemporaries, even One Piece. However, they are comparatively simplistic arcs that all follow a similar formula.

"I've heard people say MHA is neocon or pro-establishment but the story literally concludes by showing that society HAS TO FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE or the same problems that created the villains in the first place will keep happening. The entire time skip specifically focuses on the fact that for eight years the main characters have been forcing change in the world and addressing the issues the villains brought up."

Now, I'm going to be clear. I stopped reading My Hero Academia around chapter 275. I don't know the exact number, but it was the latest chapter in ~mid 2020. I would occasionally attempt to reread, in an attempt to catch up, but give up around chapter 200 out of boredom. I don't know exactly how the story ends, but I have read ~2/3rds of the story. I feel this gives me a pretty good understanding of the general tone of the story, unless it wildly changes tone at the 3/4ths mark, which you have explicitly said it does not, as it is extremely coherent and consistent. Therefore, I believe I can state with some degree of confidence that MHA does not do that.

I would certainly believe that it tries (and fails) to SFP it, but SFP does not promote a fundamental societal change. That's the problem. Strong Female Protagonist was willing to come up and say that Alison lived in a fundamentally unjust world, even if it was never willing or able to offer real change. And hey. You do what you can. I sincerely doubt My Hero Academia is even willing to call its world fundamentally unjust, from the 200+ chapters that I did read.

"In the case of the actual main characters, they have extremely comprehensive character arcs."

Adding this behind the last point just so that I don't have to reiterate I haven't finished the book. I am, however, very much not inclined to believe the actual main characters had extremely comprehensive character arcs.

Which plays back into the initial theory that ANYONE CAN BE A HERO.

man, spider-man did that better (not a real argument, but like, spider-man totally did that better). Not least because midoriya specifically could not become a hero were it not for all might giving him a power.

No, the Villains don't get happy endings,

Why not? Why do they go to jail, even the ones who changed and wanted to redeem themselves? Endeavor never goes to jail. He did some horrible stuff. He's redeemed himself in the eyes of the story, right? Anyone can be a hero, right? So why not them? Why haven't they redeemed themselves in the eyes of the story?

You may wish to turn this back on me and ask why doesn't Armsmaster go to prison? Because he's similar in some respects. But worm never calls prison justice. (for some reason, even though wildbow totally loves prison). Prison is punitive, a tool for those in charge to control those it manages to capture. Maybe some deserve life in the birdcage. Many don't. It doesn't matter. Because the birdcage isn't a tool of justice. It's not meant to be. it's a box to put the uncontrollable capes in, until they can be used as meat shields. So Armsmaster doesn't go to prison because the story says explicitly there is no point to it. But MHA? MHA says there is a point to it. Endeavor needs to go to prison if he wants to atone. He's escaping justice every second he's outside.

I have actually read Worm, and for the first half to two thirds I loved it.

Weird. That's exactly how long I really enjoyed MHA. Not, like relevant, to anything. Just odd. I mean, I don't actually dislike MHA. I think it's fine, actually. It feels like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to me. Funny (when Mineta isn't around), bombastic, and a good time, even if I don't think it's super thematically rich.

I'm not coming at this from the perspective of someone who has never seen any of the merits of Worm, I'm coming at it from the perspective of someone who really liked it, gave it a fair shot, and was eventually disappointed when it ended up not tying together right.

See, this makes me more inclined to think it's bait, actually. since you said "Oh yeah. MHA is published. MHA's been an ongoing publication with a large following for ten years, in a notoriously competitive industry. Now this might seem kind of unimpressive, it's a very low bar to clear I know. But it's one Worm hasn't, so. I dunno, I'd say that's fairly objective. Now you may think "Yeah, but Trash fiction gets published all the time." And that's true but again - Worm hasn't. The worst piece of fiction you can think of got published and Worm didn't. You wanna be an asshole about this? The thing you love is so mid that it was self published in 2013, couldn't get picked up for professional publishing until 2019 and as far as I can see has stayed in development hell since then." in your previous post. Sure, perhaps we can say you were pissed at the time, but "the thing you love is worse than trash fiction, an altogether nothing piece of literature that isn't even worth the paper it would hypothetically be printed on" does not strike me as the words of someone who "really liked it, gave it a fair shot, and was eventually disappointed when it ended up not tying together right." In fact, going back through your other statements on the story, you seem to have genuinely disliked it from the very beginning, on grounds of being too edgy (which I can fully understand the logic of): "IE: it thinks that all it has to do to be smart is be bleak and/or graphic," thematically incoherent: "It doesn't really try to say anything, in fact it contradicts itself throughout the book as I mentioned before, it just throws in extremely graphic scenes and content periodically to remind the audience how fucked everything is," and utterly devoid of purpose or meaning. "When it does introduce new lore that new lore is almost always overly convoluted and acts as a catalyst for things happening, but not really things happening that play into a wider theme or message. It's just "Oh and here's this team of god-level serial killers who are gonna string a dude up by his nervous system." Like yeah, cool visual, but what is any of this actually saying?" This does not sound like a ringing endorsement of the first half of Worm to me. In fact, this sounds like you hated every second of it.

"And frankly given the number of comments that are just people saying "Bait" - I don't think any of y'all have engaged with this in a fair or honest way"

I'm going to reiterate on my previous statement. I like my hero academia. Capeshit is my favorite genre, it probably always will be. They're my favorite genre of story. While I find the themes—or lack thereof—extremely frustrating, I still think of it as fun. I gave it a fair shake. I would probably really enjoy the ending if I didn't have a reading list that was 300 books long.

#worm spoilers #MHA spoilers #*One Punch Man is partially an exception as characters are “never more than their tropes” for the sake of parody.#i don't dislike my hero academia by the way. in fact i rather like it. at least the first three quarters or so #L style contessa should have hit eidolon with a car and been like “look at that the endbringers stopped crazy.”#well it would have actually been crazy considering she had no way to know he was causing them #sorry n0brainjustvibes i never finished that MHA fanfic you recced me #quote text is colored to stop your eyes glazing over at the wall of text #armsmaster is what endeavor could/should have been #like they have a very similar arc. but they differ in that armsmaster's redemption is earned and endeavor's isn't #how so? there's like a reason armsmaster has an epiphany about his previous behavior #endeavor's like “oh the narrative is focusing on me as a protagonist i better be a good guy now!”#the fixing society thing is what ward should have been about but wasn't. but we're not talking about ward #by the way i wish they just killed teacher instead of birdcaging him. ward would have been so much better #^that was a joke #sorry about making the quotes smaller i'm trying to save some space in this tumor of a post somewhere #please don't say “god-level serial killers” by the way. for my sake if nothing else #you know i made the comparison to gotham being a shithole somehow without any thought that the person i am disagreeing with is a batman fan #or at least a batgirl fan

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trashc-anon · 7 months

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hazbin hotel is polluting my mind so if I were the editor's intern: reco

• either stretch the season into 16 episodes or cut the plotlines in half;

• definitaly cut Alastor's screen time in half (if not more)

• make up your mind how much of the pilot is canon (especially regarding Lucifer)

• episode 1 is good as is, a soft reboot from the pilot without getting in too much detail and I love hating Adam, "Hell is Forever" is banger (i hope the music writers were properly paid and Disney learns why AI is a bad idea!)

• episode 2 is a problem, because Sir Pentious presence is only because of the V's, make that episode 2/2;

• ep 1/2 - Charlie and Vaggie leave the hotel to recruit; Sir Pentious attacks, all on schedule

• Charlie or Vaggie save some of the eggs from being crushed; when the "battle" is over, Pentious is cautiosly agrees to entertain their hospitalty; angel is untrusting;

• "Starts with Sorry"

• leave the Vs as unseen foes, and Alastor's only appearance is his shadow at the end of the episode (Overlords are mysterious unseen threat)

• episode 2/2 - Vs are anxious that Alastor is with the princess;

• see, the first couple of episodes make sense, but they take away from the girls and the hotel

• but "Stayed Gone" is sooo good! maybe use at a later date?

nevermind

• "Stayed Gone" is a fun song, BUT it doesn't make sense for Alastor, mysterious serial killer, to have childish rivalries; why didn't he kill Vox back when he rejected him and Vox got 'pissy'?

• either make Vox less pathetic or less there;

• soooo, episode 3/1 is would be trust exercises

• i actually liked Angel's plan with BDSM, he's not wrong and I wished he had the chance to be an adult that LIKES sex separate from the victim that uses overtsexuality as a defence mechanism

• each character could have their own moment to show what trust means to them; trust comes in different shades;

• between Angel and Maggie we see sexual intimacy and surviving extreme situations; Husk has issues with openess; Niffty with intrusive thoughts;

• IN FACT! actually stablish WHY Husk and Niffty are part of the exercises! they're not guests, Husk says as much, they are employees LOANED by Alastor; they're not there to earn redemption; *vague hand gesture in confusion*

• OKAY - Overlord meeting... ehhhhhh

• i still want to cut Alastor's screentime! whats the point of the meeting? screentime for the overlords, the dead angel (which we know, but main cast won't until episode 7) Carmila being responsible is important, we need to know who to ask for help, but ugh. I get its also, prelude that you need love to fight and win against angels, but its never stablished in canon, Carmila says it to Maggie to use as internal compass to keep her fighting beyond pain and fear; bloodlust is distracting, love is focused;

• my delight with Zestial being all dark and yummy need to take a hike for the sake of - what am i even doing any more?

• I can't help but think how much of these decision are also based on Voice Actor salaries; because Keith David (Husk) gotta be expensive and for a character that is literaly always presented he almost never talks; and just, ALL of them being expensive and ~ahahah better make fewer episodes if you want big names in your projects~

• ughhhh that's when you know a series has issues, when trying to fix you run into a thousand more problems;

• i would respect how much they put into 8 episodes, ONLY IF it's true they didn't know they would get season 2. Because in that case a bunch of these plot lines needed to be dropped, I don't care how fanfavorite the character is;

• the Vs serve no purpose what so ever, you can easily have Valentino as a lone villain (also less confusion about hells social rules about SA and abuse);

• Lucifer should've been the last big name to enter screen; work up to the trial with Heaven for S2E01 (why even a trial)

• just how PLOT heavy is this series that Viv needed Lilith's bomb to drop in season 1? which is a major inconsistancy for a series based on the theme of redemption, a CHARACTER heavy theme;

• as it is, i don't see how Sir Pentious being redeemed is a good thing, because he died before entering Heaven, so other souls need to die too and hope it's not forever? wouldn't that fuel Exterminators cause to kill in name of 'clensing'? (holy shit, the more I write the worse it gets)

• IS there an primordial EVIL to scare the angels so badly?

• omg I hope they won't try to bring actual GOD into the series; I know there is concept art floating around, but please, do not;

• Supernatural barely got away with it in Season 5 because it was a funny 'what if' and made it got bad in Season 10 (?) (no series should ever emulate Supernatural, its a warning I mean it, don't, not worth it, you don't have 10+ years of dead horse to beat)(the fans, me, stayed out of, idk, regretfull loyalty)

• my english is not good enough for this... KAY IM DONE NOW! BYEEEE

#hazbin hotel spoilers #hazbin hotel critical #vivziepop critical #i know im late to the party #just needed to work the brain muscles myself and leave it at that

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jadensageillustration · 10 months

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For some much-needed joy tonight, I'm gonna finally post stuff from a project I started a long time ago. My ideal Dishonored 3 would be a prequel where you get to play as Vera Moray, and you follow her journey to Pandyssia where she's marked by the Outsider, and the rest of her life falls apart. I wanted to explore the idea of the character's hands changing from chapter to chapter to show the time progression. Vera's my pick for protagonist as a natural next step for the Dishonored/Deathloop world for a number of reasons:

Functionally, Granny Rags' regeneration power becomes Paolo's 'has to die twice in one day to really die' charm, which becomes Colt's Reprise slab. It feels right to get to use this power at full strength in a new iteration of the franchise, further playing with the regeneration game mechanics. Perhaps Vera's gameplay wouldn't feature deaths, merely a changed state as a swarm of rats is left, and she can scamper away to strategically regenerate in a place of her choosing.

While there is a 'canon' low-chaos version of events across the Dishonored games, there's nothing stopping the player from murdering everyone and being rewarded with an appropriately dark ending. This means that a prequel would fall under the same rule! Just because we know where she ends up in the first Dishonored game, doesn't mean you can't 'play your way' to wildly different outcomes of the game itself.

No inconvenient questions: What happens to the world without the Outsider? Are the novels canon? Does Emily abolish the Abbey?What about xyz factors?? Shhhh, we're not gonna worry about that because we're in prequel territory!

Technological advances can't outpace the story, meaning that we also don't have to answer any technology-related plot holes that may arise in a game set between DOTO and Deathloop. This would be pre-Sokolov's latest inventions, so no Arc technology, only the very beginnings of whale oil usage, I believe. Opportunity for another stylish power supply, or the obvious lack of one.

The return of some characters, and the opportunity to introduce many more! Young Sokolov making a splash at court, Euhorn Kaldwin failing in his attempts to woo Vera, going on the Pandyssian expedition with her bore of a husband as well as a bright-eyed Luigi Galvani!

The Outsider asking Vera for a dance, which she graciously accepts~

It would be a romantic adventure! And also a descent into madness. A lavish ball, an oversees journey, a day at court, as well as brackish sewer tunnels, stomach-turning potion brewing, and an ancient dark cave...

Maybe we'll never see a game like this, even though it feels like the right direction, to me. Maybe we'll make it ourselves. I hope that we all get to see more of this world together, some day <3

#dishonored #arkane #arkane studios #dishonored 3 #vera moray #granny rags #artists on tumblr #digital art #illustration #concept art

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littlelesbianintern · 1 year

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My more in depth thoughts on Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies ep 8 (1/4?)

CYNTHIA’S COMPULSORY HETROSEXUALITY

Obviously the whole Cynthia/Shy Guy plot is to cover Cynthia’s compulsory heterosexuality and is quite natural given the time period. I think that’s probably the reason behind the dress and makeup this episode as well - as in its shows her outward desire to conform to what’s expected of her and so she tries to copy the other pink ladies.

Lydia’s “you can’t pull that off” line was really interesting to me though because throughout the series it’s already kind of been established that Cynthia and Lydia can have conversations without ever saying anything to each other out loud. So what I think that line actually directly translates into is “I don’t believe you actually like him”. And this triggers Cynthia because she did the dress, the makeup, all of which make her so uncomfortable in order to hide her true character almost like a suit of armour to protect herself but Lydia STILL sees through it and that scares her so she backs herself further into this corner by calling Shy Guy her boyfriend. And that’s why she tries it on with Shy Guy in the kitchen - almost like she’s trying to convince herself that she can like men but when it doesn’t change anything she projects this onto Shy Guy by saying he’s not a “real man”. It’s another defence mechanism, almost like she’s so sure that if he was a “real man” then she would like it so it’s not her fault. The problem is despite her feelings being valid, she hurts those around her in the process.

I also wonder if we’re seeing her story mirroring Shy Guy’s. If the show does goes down this root of Shy Guy also being queer, it would make sense as to why he seems to like Cynthia out of all the girls because of her masc/butch presentation. And why when Cynthia kisses him, he pulls away because maybe he’s realising that he actually doesn’t like her like that either. I also cant stop thinking about that short scene in ep 8 when he’s stood by the car with a few of the thespian guys (all of the thespians are queer and I will die on that hill) but it definitely looks like they’re nodding towards him - as if they kind of recognise him as queer as well (gaydar anyone?). It would be nice if the show took this root because if so, when he and Cynthia hopefully makeup, it would be cool to see some mlm/wlw solidarity.

Obviously it could also be that he’s feeling self-conscious about Cynthia’s comments - the thespian guys don’t fit into the category of stereotypical masculinity and it may be that he’s trying to figure out how to fit into that stereotype and they make him self-conscious. Shy Guy’s whole character arc seems to revolve around masculinity and how he can show that masculinity and the softness that comes more naturally to his character at the same time much like the subplot in ep 7 with his father and the boxing. So for Cynthia to say he’s not a “real man” probably cuts really deep.

I just hope we get everything between Cynthia and Shy Guy resolved in the next two episodes because I need them to go back to being besties.

#rise of the pink ladies #grease rise of the pink ladies #grease #grease 2 #grease: rise of the pink ladies #rotpl #grease rotpl #olivia valdovinos #jane facciano #cynthia zdunowski #nancy nakagawa #shy guy #shy guy rotpl

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homestuckreplay · 28 days

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if EOA1 is so good how come there's no EOA2??

(page 533-541)

8/24/2009 Wheel Spin: Parent Bad :( Verdict: Child Bad (Destroying House)

8/25/2009 Wheel Spin: Dramatic Irony Verdict: We, The Audience, Know Nothing

The bathtub returns! The imp/bathtub comedy routine is fun (and this is my favorite color palette I’ve seen for an imp yet) and I’m delighted to finally see the RANCOROUS mood put to use. Some of these pages have very cool visuals – p.535 is very well animated, where we see through the wall x-ray vision style with a fuzzy view of the study, and then when the bathtub smashes through the wall, the inside of the hole comes into focus. John gazing up through the ceiling holes at the first gate far above on p.539 is also great. And Rose and John’s radically different ideas of what might be in Dad’s room nicely highlights their different view of parental figures. John goes for the simplest explanation, tied to the one personality trait he most associated with his dad, while Rose is second guessing everything, and assumes that parents are keeping sinister secrets.

I’m still enjoying Homestuck, there’s still a lot to love, but Act 2 is feeling very directionless right now. This past week or so is the clearest it’s ever been that this story is written by reader suggestions, a large group of people who all have different goals concerning the characters and plot. It’s very much the session of a D&D campaign where the players get distracted roleplaying with every shopkeep in town and the DM does nothing to guide them forward on their party’s quest. It is easy to forgive Act 1 for this or even not notice it, because it’s doing the hard work of setting up the world, and we learn new things every page even when nothing is ‘happening.’ I have less patience with it in Act 2, now that we have a bunch of lore and mechanics setting up what looks to be an incredible story.

The Act 2 thumbnails have gone onto a second line on the adventure map, so it seems like this act is not coming to its end any time soon. Act 1 kicked into high gear at around the 70-75% mark with the Cruxtruder’s countdown, and I’m hoping something similar will happen soon with Act 2. Even if it continues to meander along the way, I think having a Clearly Defined Goal for the act would improve the story a lot.

Some possible ideas for what this endpoint could be:

The nebulous danger surrounding Rose’s house becomes more pronounced, causing the generator or mausoleum to catch fire, making her entry into the game more urgent

Dave successfully installs the game, and Rose now has to navigate the alchemy process outdoors while battling the elements

John hits another ‘plot tunnel’ in Sburb where his progression towards the First Gate is now immediately necessary or else he risks losing the game, possibly an advance by the forces of darkness against the forces of light

John finds something in the safe in the study and/or in his dad’s room that either puts more urgency on finding his dad, or gives John a different quest unrelated to the game, causing his and Rose’s goals to be at odds

Some potential obstacles that could show up on the way to these goals:

Dave’s brother shows up and tries to prevent him from getting the Sburb Beta, similar to Dad blocking John on p.90

GG is introduced and impacts the story in some way, perhaps trying to get their friends to quit Sburb due to foreseeing its dangers to them

The Vagabond gets John seriously hurt by giving him irrelevant commands while Rose isn’t able to save him from dangerous

The damage Rose is causing to John’s house from throwing furniture through the walls causes its foundations to become unstable, threatening to topple all the building work done so far

A new and more dangerous enemy type, such as a rook, spawns in John’s house

John himself is unable to access his dad’s room, due to the same field of static Sburb has set up, until he completes a different quest

I’ll stay patient, and I definitely won’t stop reading just because the story is taking its time, but I am keeping an eye out for these moments that there’s no coming back from.

#homestuck #reaction #maybe my most negative post yet. but just like john. i stay silly <3 #chrono

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tobyfoxmademeascaly · 2 months

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Dawntrail Postscript: What Do I Think Of It All, Anyways?

So, in the order of “whatever comes to my head first:

1. The new zones: the Yok Tural zones? No notes, they’re beautiful. The only complaint I can come up with is that upper Yak T’el might look a bit too similar to Kozama’uka. Xak Tural is, similarly, very distinct and nice to look at! (Even when its ugly on purpose i.e. Heritage Found)

Living Memory on the other hand… the thematic weight of it being shut down and all the lights going out are undeniable, but I really wish that the shut down state was less uniform. Why is everything made of electrope, with the exact same texture on most of the floors? The volcano island and the nature island still look decent while still holding that thematic weight, so they’d be decent middle grounds to look to. The water island in particular though suffers IMMENSELY from the depowered state just being like. The same few monochromatic electrope textures repeated across a large area.

2. The dungeons: despite only having one death across all the dungeons, hoo BOY was I feeling that increased difficulty. I had a great deal of fun with it, but I do wonder if this is quite the right move, since I’ve seen other people suffer a lot.

On the presentation level though, they’re pretty good! Some great setpieces, especially in Alexandria. Oh god, Alexandria. The gimmick of us running through basically the same place between each boss, as the beautiful Disney-Fantasyland town is reduced to ruins in apocalyptic lightning, is fantastic. And the creepy, mechanical voice getting more and more incoherent as Sphene erases her memories is such a great touch.

3. The scions: honestly. Hot take. I think the twins should have sat this one out. They’re very cute. I know. And its unbelievable for me, the number one leveilleur twins stan, to come to this conclusion. I know.

… But, well. How much do they do, really? Krile is obviously finally promoted to main character, G’raha is there to be Sphene’s character foil, Thancred and Urianger are there to be our rivals and aid Koana in his character development, and Y’shtola MUST enter the plot whenever a hint of the topic of the reflections come up. Estinien’s current role is perfect in its absurdity and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Yeah, they say they’re here to gain experiences and knowledge that could help in the Garlemald restoration, but, well. Do they really? We don’t hear much of their opinions on how plot events inspire them. Maybe this will change in the patches. I hope so. As it currently stands, the twins feel like they’re in the sour spot between background character and main character.

Zoraal Ja: his post-heel-turn design is SUCH a glow-down. His first design is decked in shining gold and bold green and orange accents and it makes SUCH a good palette against his blue scales. To say nothing of that voluminous feathered crown. So it feels disappointing that he was changed to just various shades of purple with usb sticks stuck to his head.

He made a good enough villain for the second act, but there’s just a bit missing from his character to really make it a Great instead of the Pretty Good it is. Namely, why did he have Gulool Ja? (And also how. He’s the only mamool ja we see in all of Alexandria. My bets are still on either “mamool ja can do parthenogenesis” or “some mad science cloning”). Its a big question that I’m surprised we don’t already have an answer to.

Queen Sphene: This woman has caused me physical harm and I’m only joking a little bit. When I first got into Heritage Found, I was so suspicious of her that I managed to give myself nausea. And to see everybody in the Outskirts seem so happy, despite their entire world being replaced by a dystopian-looking lightning-blasted landscape well within living memory…

Well, I felt like I was going nuts.

(Maybe that’s Alisaie’s ultimate role in the expansion. To make me feel less like I was being gaslit.)

I’m… still not sure what to make of her, actually. She’s obviously quite similar to Emet-Selch and Meteion in terms of story role. Maybe a bit too similar. (We even have the opportunity to make a BACK IN THE DAYS OF PARADISE joke again.) It feels like she tries and fails to meet those lofty standards rather than getting to stand on her own as an antagonist.

Wuk Lamat: oh that’s The Big One, isn’t it. Opinions seem very mixed. Sometimes for understandable reasons, often for absolutely bullshit ones. As for where I stand?

I like her! I was admittedly charmed at first because she reminded me of my own cat, Spooky (she’s got big ol’ eyes, a bigger stomach, and, initially, a fraidy-cat disposition). Her Power Of Friendship antics are great, her exuberance and earnestness charm me, and her and Namikka’s scene in Living Memory legit got me tearing up. She’s silly, she’s pretty, I love her.

Closing thoughts: I won’t lie. This expansion doesn’t live up to the shadowbringers/endwalker duology for me. But, like, of course it doesn’t. I didn’t expect it to. The last two expansions were lightning-in-a-bottle levels of blow-me-away! Nobody bats a hundred, and I think this is a decent enough start to the next major arc. Though there’s one thing bugging me majorly. The first half of the expansion, we have so much focus on the cultures of Tural. How they work together, how important it is to preserve them and their histories. Then, in the second half, we have a whole town subsumed by Alexandria’s displacement via dimensional fusion, needing to change rapidly to not perish in the lightning-blasted landscape. They’ve changed massively, but nobody seems to care. Everyone just says that all the changes made to the town were willing, and that’s the end of it.

Meanwhile, Solution Nine shows no signs of adopting any aspects of the Turalis’ culture except maybe that bit of environmental graffiti depicting a two-headed mamool ja. There’s not even cyber-future taco shops.

i’m praying that this gets expanded on in sidequests and the patches, because otherwise that feels like a BIG thematic hole.

… wait hold on we went the whole expansion without krile teasing alphinaud about her getting to be a pictomancer instead of him. 0/10 (joke)

#dawntrail liveblog #ffxiv #dawntrail #discombobulated ramblings within

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notasapleasure · 1 month

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Wild hopes for Andor S2:

Oh, apparently blorbo *might* be in the trailer? Riding a speeder on Dantooine you say? Aughhhh don't toy with my emotions like this!!

So for posterity, before anything about s2 does actually become clear, my vague hopes/'if I got to write their story' headcanons for my Ferrix badasses are a jumble of the following:

I don't see them immediately going back to Ferrix, they're recognisable (Bix is known to the Empire, Wilmon will be known by association with Salman, Bee is known as Maarva's droid, they had an eye on Brasso as 'the big guy' even before he fucked shit up with the funerary brick...and I can't remember Jezzi doing anything specific but she'll have been seen round Maarva's home and funeral), and riot or not, I'd say the Empire will be in the mood to make an example of Ferrix rather than to go 'oops our bad we'll leave you in peace'. So it seems a bad idea for the fugitives to return there for their rebellion as soon as they've left.

On that ship we know there's a skilled electrician (Wilmon) and mechanic (Bix), and I've always presumed Brasso must know his way around a ship well enough to be able to take it apart, and that Jezzi has some similarly Ferrixian industrial skill. I thought it would be very sexy if they all got involved in making/repurposing tech for the rebellion. In my heart of hearts they're patching together the first fleet of X-Wings.

Orange. Ferrix orange (Brasso's felt jacket orange) and rebel pilot orange. And there's the shot of Cassian in an orange pilot's suit in the trailer. I just. I just have hopes. And dreams. And colour was so significant in Rogue One (the red of the force/rebellion...there was an awesome post on here pointing out way more examples than I'd noticed, but I always think of the lining of Jyn's vest). Maybe it's reclaiming Narkina orange, even? But the look of the Ferrix clothes reminds me so much of the OT aesthetic, I think that's got to be the more likely connection.

Bee? Kay? Do they meet? ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ trying to suppress the thought 'what if Bee helps to make Kay possible?' but the thought has been thunk. (ETA: NOT into the theory that they're the same person that's not what I mean. I'm talking hardware donation. Wires and chips. Not personality)

Dantooine. Dantooine base. After all this time!!!! What Legends book did I first read about the base on Dantooine in?? idek but if I'd ever written the epic angsty plot follow-up to that one fic (only ever just one night) it would have involved the Ferrix gang making X-Wings work on Dantooine :') I have feelings about Brasso the wrecker learning to make things instead :))

It should go without saying that I want to see Bix channel her healing into getting stuff done and fucking up the Empire.

I guess my feeling is that if we're time-skipping over a five year period in a, what, 12 episode season? There's not time for a huge arc for all the Ferrix characters alongside everything else the show needs to cover. My cautious assumption is that this either means a load of them get killed off/sidelined early, or they're kept together in the same setting so their stories are interlinked, but presumably with focus remaining on Bix (and Bee). Dantooine/wherever the rebel base is beforehand/the move to Yavin struck me as a good place for this, where they can still be brought in and out of episodes through whatever time-skips happen because it's a place the title character is going to be coming and going from regularly, like Ferrix is in S1. Naturally it is a selfish thought to want to recreate the S1 dynamic :)) because I want my blorbo(s) to get to be relevant and a part of Cassian's life still, but if that suggestion about Brasso on a speeder on Dantooine in the trailer is remotely accurate then I will cry happy tears.

Who knows, if they get to survive, maybe all those heart-pulverising fics and fanarts about Cassian's (glass) stone being laid on Ferrix will find a place at the end of the series?

#this isn't so much me predicting anything as laying my bare heart out there to the world with all its hopes and dreams :'))#but also if i DO successfully predict anything here i will be dancing about singing 'i was right'#andor s2 #and with that tag i block my own post lol. i still don't really want actual spoilers until there's an official trailer...#but having made this post I guess i am inviting comments speculating on it :))#andor #delusions of grandor

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paintyoureyeswithavividmind · 1 year

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close to home | chapter sixty five

plot: the reader meets a new threat

series masterlist

Pairing: Eventual Daryl Dixon x f!reader Word Count: 2,968 Warnings: violence, blood, typical twd, character death A/N: thank you for reading!!

The meeting was a good distraction for you, though you were annoyed when Michonne targeted Magna and scared the council into voting no--aside from Daryl, of course. You’d told him you liked Connie and Kelly and wanted to stay. And he knew how much you disagreed with Michonne on not taking anybody else in. He did, too.

You were looking for Rosita because you needed someone to confide in when you found her and Eugene talking about going on a quick run.

“Can I come with you?” You asked.

“Oh… I didn’t think you’d be up for it, or I would’ve asked.” Rosita said.

You shook your head. “I need the distraction today. And I wouldn’t mind leaving here for a little while.”

“Daryl coming?” Eugene asked.

“Probably not. He’s got too much to do with the farming expansion. Is it overnight?”

“We’re hoping not, but pack like it will be.”

You nodded and told them you’d meet them at the gate in a few. You quickly found Daryl and told him you were going out, which he was hesitant about. “Are ya sure ya wanna go out there right now?” He wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I was thinkin’ we could cook or somethin’ and stay in?”

Your heart melted and you grabbed his hand. “You are the perfect husband, Dixon. But I wanna get out of here for a few hours. I just wanna get my mind off things. We might end up staying overnight, so don’t panic if I’m not back until tomorrow.”

“What are ya even doin’ out there?”

You shrugged before giving him a hug. “Something about a radio thing, I don’t know. Besides, I’ll be with Rosita and Eugene. I’ll be fine.”

“You, Rosita, and Eugene against the world.”

You smiled and kissed him. “I’ll see you soon. I love you.”

Daryl kissed you again and then one more time. “I love ya more. Be safe.”

You kissed him one final time, promising to be safe, and then you walked away. As you did, you could hear Aaron mimicking I love you more, be safe and Daryl telling him to shut the fuck up. It made you laugh for the first time today.

***

Eugene was a good hundred feet in the air, and you shielded your eyes from the sun to watch as he climbed over the top. Once up there, he wouldn’t need too long to set up the radio. With him up there safely, you looked at Rosita as she worked on the mechanical stuff down here.

You walked toward her and watched her tweak some of the controls. If there was one thing you admired about your close friend, it was how smart she was.

“Hey,” You said quietly, even though you knew Eugene was entirely out of earshot. “If I tell you something, will you promise not to freak?”

“That’s never a good sign.” She didn’t look up as she spoke.

“I think I’m pregnant.”

Rosita paused and looked up at you. “What?”

You glanced back at Eugene and stepped back, lifting your shirt up so she could see the swell. “It looks like it, right?”

“How did you not even notice that? How hasn’t Daryl?”

You lowered your shirt and shook your head. “It happened within a week. My pants fit fine three days ago, and now they’re tight. And he’s been tired with all the work; we haven’t had sex in a few days.”

Rosita started mumbling in Spanish and then started laughing. “That definitely looks like a baby bump to me, babe.”

You sighed and rubbed your forehead. “I was afraid you’d say that. How am I even supposed to know for sure?”

“Maybe you could radio Jesus? They have equipment there. When was the last time you got your period?”

“A few months ago, but it was always on and off since the start.”

“Does Daryl know?”

“No. Just you and Judith.”

“How the hell does Judith know?”

You laughed. “She walked in on me looking at it and remembered Michonne when she was pregnant.”

“Well, it does look like a bump. You were pregnant before, right?” Her question was hesitant. When you nodded, she continued. “You’ll show a lot quicker than. You’re probably not that far along then. You’ll need to tell Daryl soon unless you want me to help you out with that situation if you know what I mean.”

“No,” You shook your head. “If it has a heartbeat already, I can’t risk an abortion. Who knows how fast a baby would turn in there. Oh, God.”

Rosita smiled and threw her arm around your shoulders. “You’ll be alright, babe.”

“Hopefully. Don’t tell anyone, babe.”

You and her returned to work on a few things, but it wasn’t long before you heard Eugene yelling about a herd coming. When you looked, it was a lot closer than you expected. You swore as you and Rosita started gathering up your supplies.

When the horses took off, you yelled at Rosita, “Get the supplies from the wagon now!”

You heard a clang and turned to see that Eugene had knocked the ladder over. You cursed under your breath and grabbed it, trying to prop it back up. But he must’ve panicked because he jumped the rest of the way down. To avoid him hitting it, you swerved but lost your balance, and the metal ladder slammed down on your shin.

“Fuck!” You screamed as the fire spread through your leg. You looked down at your exposed leg and saw a deep cut, with blood already soaking into the ends of the cut-off pants you were wearing. You looked at Eugene and Rosita running over.

“My knee,” Eugene swore.

“(Y/N), you okay?”

You struggled to stand up, and after Rosita gave Eugene a shovel, she helped you. “Did it hit your stomach?”

You shook your head, and the two of you followed after Eugene. “Good, one less walker to worry about.” She said.

“Not funny!" You yelled, but despite your situation. and the impending herd, you laughed.

***

You were on the run until well past sunrise the following day. You’d managed to have a few minutes of downtime here and there, trying to find somewhere to hold up in. But they just kept coming. And you couldn't risk them tracking you back to Alexandria.

The three of you were out of water, and you’d lost your supplies a while back. Eugene’s knee was still hurting, and while your shin wasn’t bleeding anymore, it was severely bruised and swollen, and every step hurt like hell. Rosita could barely keep herself standing, let alone Eugene.

You were all desperate, so when Eugene offered to sacrifice himself and then admitted his feelings towards Rosita--which you wished you weren’t around to hear--Rosita forced him to keep going.

But at every turn, they kept cutting you off. You had no idea how they were still trailing you after so long. It was like they were hunting you.

“Here, here!” Rosita yelled.

You slid down a muddy hill as Eugene and Rosita came beside you. She was immediately flinging mud onto both of you, and you worked quickly to help. Then you all laid back, and you tried to still your heartbeat when you heard the walkers approaching.

At first, it was just the groans and shuffling of their feet like usual. But then there was something else. Something that made your blood run cold and changed the way you thought of walkers entirely.

Where are they…They must be close…Don’t let them get away.

***

“Don’t leave us out here, please, please.” You begged as you stumbled into the hole in the ground.

“I have to. I’m going to lead them away and get help. I can make it faster without you two.”

“Please Rosita…” You were delirious, exhausted, and lost a decent amount of blood. And you were probably pregnant.

Your friend slammed the trap door closed and you and Eugene were left in darkness.

***

Daryl had ended up going with Michonne to escort the newcomers to Hilltop. He didn’t want to; he tried to refuse, but he knew Michonne needed him. So he left a note on your pillow for when you came home and went with her.

The next day, when he arrived at Hilltop, after hearing the message from their scouts on the road about Rosita arriving without you and Eugene and that the two of you were missing, he didn’t wait a single second before getting a group together and going out to search.

***

Pressed shoulder to shaking shoulder, you and Eugene clasped hands as you heard the herd go by once and then a second time. You could hear the whispers, the groans, and you couldn’t unclench your shaking hand from Eugene’s. They were looking for you.

You were being hunted.

***

You and Eugene were cooped up long enough to make you think you would go crazy. You didn’t have any food or water and haven’t slept.

It was nighttime when you heard something familiar, and you strained yourself to listen. It took you a second before you realized what it was.

“That’s Dog.” You breathed out.

You heard him whining above you and scratching, and then you couldn’t stop yourself. “Daryl! Daryl, I’m here!” You yelled, ignoring Eugene, shushing you.

“(Y/N).” It was Daryl. “Move the hay, come on, guys.”

You heard the floorboards creaking, and then bright flashlights shone directly onto your face. Daryl dropped his light and reached down, hooking his arms under yours and lifting you out.

“Thank God,” Daryl breathed in your face as he hugged you.

“We need to leave. We need to leave now.” You cried, grabbing his vest. “We have to run.”

“What?”

“The herds coming,” Eugene said. “They’ve been through here enough to keep us trapped.”

Daryl stared down at you and pushed your messy hair back. “What the hell are ya two talkin’ ’bout?”

“They’re looking for us.” You whispered because you couldn’t say it any louder. “They’re hunting us, Daryl.”

Your husband shushed you and brought you into a hug. “No one is huntin’ ya, just been out here a bit too long.”

“No! Listen to us. They’re coming back. We need to go now!” You were desperate as you pulled away from him. “Daryl, they were whispering.”

“What?” Jesus asked.

You turned to look at them. “I know it sounds crazy, but look at us! We know how to get away from herds. They were talking. They were looking for us.”

“We should get you guys back…” Aaron said, and from his tone of voice, you knew he didn’t believe you. None of them did.

You turned to look at Daryl and grabbed his hands. “You gotta believe me. I know how it sounds. You gotta believe me.”

Before he could respond, Dog started barking, and your blood went cold. You looked at Eugene, and he was shaking again. Then behind him, you could see the herd approaching from the open windows.

“There’s no way that’s the same herd,” Daryl said as he moved to look out the window.

“They got us cut off.”

Eugene kept repeating the word no repeatedly, and you started hyperventilating. Your body was shaking uncontrollably, and you were shaking your head. Daryl grabbed your arm and titled your head up. “Come on, I need ya with me. Are ya with me?”

“I wanna go home, I wanna go home.” You cried.

“We goin’ right now, stay with me.”

***

Daryl’s mind raced as he set you on the abandoned car beside Eugene. Your face was pale, and you shook so hard he didn’t know what to do. Your eyes were glazed over, and the look of pure terror was too much for him. He quickly put his vest on you, knowing it wasn't enough to keep you warm or to get you to stop, but he hoped it was enough to calm you down.

“It doesn’t make any sense. They shouldn’t have double-backed like that, and they definitely shouldn’t have followed us to the barn.”

Your hands clamped down on Daryl’s arms, and he looked at you. “They’re hunting us.” You whispered to him.

His mind was a mess, and he didn’t know what to think. Both you and Eugene were terrified, more terrified than he’d ever seen either of you. But it didn’t make sense, just like Jesus said.

When Daryl offered to stay behind and lead the herd away, you went frantic and jumped down from the car. “No, no, Daryl, don’t leave me. Don’t. You have to stay.”

But he ignored you and forced you over to Aaron. “You keep her safe. You get her back to Hilltop.”

Aaron held you as you tried to push him away and get to Daryl, which broke the archer’s heart. But he was doing this to keep you safe, to keep you moving. And if the herd kept following, no one had a chance.

“I’ll keep her safe.”

***

“We have to go back, we have to go back for him,” You cried for the millionth time as Aaron shoved you into a crack in the wall.

“He’s going to be okay; he’s done this before.” Jesus told you.

You cried harder and shook your head. “You don’t understand… you're not listening to us!”

When your feet hit the ground, you tried to make a break for it, but Jesus stopped you before you could.

“Use the wall; there’s gotta be a gate,” Jesus said. “How are they still following us?”

He pushed you along until you came to a gate, and Aaron had you pulling yourself over within a minute. You carefully dropped down, winced from the pain in your leg, and looked around. You couldn’t see any walkers from the fog, but you could hear them. You went to grab your bow but remembered it broke while you were on the run, and you’d tossed it.

You looked through the gate to see Aaron and Jesus trying to get Eugene up, but they couldn’t. Then you saw the walkers behind them.

“Guys!” You yelled, grabbing onto the metal bars. There was no way you could climb back over to help them; you were too short.

They took down the first wave of walkers quickly, and that was when you heard the whispering. You started shaking again and saw Eugene do the same.

“Get over the fence now!” You screamed.

A hand grabbed you waist and you screamed again, and swung around with your knife raised. But it was Michonne, and she blocked your arm before you could hurt her.

“Michonne!” You cried out. “We gotta get the gate open now. They’re coming.”

You both grabbed the gates as Michonne yelled for Eugene to push and then two of the newcomers were there helping to pull. You couldn’t remember their names but you were more than thankful to see their faces.

When the gate finally pried open, you heard Jesus yelling for Aaron to get you all out of there. You started screaming for Jesus to come, but Michonne held you back. “He’ll be fine,” She said.

“No, you don’t understand! You don’t understand!” You cried, trying to pull away from her grasp. “Jesus!” You screamed.

You broke out of her grasp just as a walker dodged your friend and pulled a knife, stabbing him in the back. You pushed yourself through the gate as you screamed for your friend and ran toward the walker that killed him.

It used the same move on you that you just watched, and you ducked and spun, slicing open his side. You moved fast as you jumped on its back and rammed your machete into its neck. You both fell together, and you took the machete out, stabbing again and again and again as you cried.

You heard arrows flying, and you saw another walker approach you. You jumped up and twisted the machete in your hand, ready to fight, when an arrow pierced its skull, and it fell to the ground. Behind it, you could see Daryl’s silhouette in the fog.

He ran up to you and cradled your face. “Are ya okay?”

You nodded and looked around. All of you were still there, and you looked at Aaron kneeling before Jesus’ body. Then you turned back to Daryl. “They killed him. A walker stabbed him.” You cried.

“(Y/N), ya hands.”

You looked down at them and saw what he saw. It wasn’t walker blood. It was fresh. You turned around to see your group realizing the same thing.

Daryl walked over to the closest body and knelt down. You followed him because you couldn’t stand to not be next to him. He looked at the walker, and you both saw the stitches on the back of his head. After calling over Michonne and getting the rest of the group, Daryl pulled off the skin.

Only it wasn’t the skin. It was a mask. And when Daryl rolled the body over, it wasn’t a walker at all. It was a person.

Then you heard it again.

They’re trapped.

Circle around.

Don’t let them slip by.

Keep them together.

Lightening and thunder clapped above you and you grabbed Daryl’s arm, pulling him away from the body.

“We have to go now!” You yelled over the thunder.

“Go, now!” Michonne said.

“Go with Eugene,” Daryl told you.

“No!” You shouted, “Daryl, Michonne, we go together!”

“Now (Y/N)!” Daryl screamed at you. “Get out of here!”

A hand grabbed your arm and pulled you back as you stared at Daryl. It was one of the new women, the one with the tattoos. She pulled you away toward the gate, and one of the other girls raised a bow and started firing.

You looked at the woman with the tattoos. “Thank you for coming.”

When you turned back around to look, Daryl and Aaron were dragging Jesus’ body out, and Michonne quickly followed them out and locked the gate behind her. Then, you all ran.

#daryl x reader #daryl dixion x reader #the walking dead daryl #daryl fanfiction #daryl dixon x reader #daryl x y/n #daryl dixon #twd #daryl twd #daryl x you

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mostlikelymortal · 6 months

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I’m generally pretty apathetic towards shows/books/etc that draw heavily on flashbacks to tell their story. There are so many novels that flip between the past and present, sometimes for chapters at a time; it provokes such a disjointed and frustrating tone because authors want to effectively write two stories at once, all for things to suddenly “make sense” at the very end. It’s a writing mechanic that I really wish people used less, or at very least, better. Which is why I was so taken aback by how much I adored it while watching Frieren.

I honestly thought a lot about the reasoning for why it worked in this instance - I could name a dozen IPs that used flashbacks in a similar manner to lesser effect. Whether it’s to try and evoke an emotion, without so much as informing ANYTHING new about the characters (ex that damned swing in Naruto), or telling a side-by-side story that informs plot points and character motivations, like uncovering a mystery one clue at a time. It strikes a delicate balance, because while you want to inform your audience about all this backstory and emotional baggage your characters have, it can VERY easily be overused to the point where the audience experiences a type of flashback vertigo. The last thing you want to do is make your watchers yawn and skip forward to see your protagonist perform their big attack without all the emotional buildup you were trying to set up. But with Frieren, nearly every flashback is done in a way that is succinct, to the point, and tries to get back to the story at hand as soon as possible. Sometimes it’s to set up a joke (mimics), sometimes it’s to foreshadow a detail to be drawn on that episode, or even an episode in the future (sour grapes), but they all have only so much narrative/emotional purpose to give us context and then move on. Sure, there are some longer looks back to explain more critical aspects of Frieren’s history/power levels/etc, but they reward the watcher either with new lore or character dynamics or whatever, and those ALL pay off in interesting ways.

And then there’s Himmel. We all know IPs that try and pull the dead lover card for a cheap emotional gut punch, but this story approaches it in such a refreshing way. Because, due to the fact that your titular character is actively trying to learn more about humans and be more present in their lives, you’re actively joining her in recalling memories that accomplishes that very thing, and the payoff of showing you just how Frieren now responds to situations informed by those memories feels naturally cathartic. You’re discovering right by her side that these people (Himmel especially) DID change her for the better, and that discovery evokes in the audience the same catharsis she feels whenever she quotes her old party’s wisdom, or smiles with the realization of how much they cared for her. And that’s a really refreshing feeling that you just don’t get in a lot of media.

This story is a wonderful thing for a lot of reasons, which a ton of people are all raving at better than I can honestly put to words. But I think it’s worth noting how it utilized flashbacks so often, but also so effectively. Maybe a lesson for writers who are hoping to convey a similar effect.

#sousou no frieren #frieren at the funeral #frieren: beyond journey's end #frieren #frieren spoilers

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mumms-the-word · 3 months

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In Fathoms Below - Ch. 7

Ch. 7 - Getting Underway

Characters: Gale, Karlach, Wyll, Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Astarion, Halsin, Minthara, Gortash + other OCs; pairing is Gale x fem!Tav Plot: The island city of Nautera disappeared over 4500 years ago, if it ever existed at all. Now not a single, legitimate record of Nautera exists, save for one. The Nauterran Account. Long thought lost, it has recently been retrieved from the depths of Candlekeep’s archives and placed into the capable hands of one Gale Dekarios. With the Nauterran Account in hand and an eclectic team of Baldurians and other allies mounting an official expedition, Gale journeys to find the ruins of Nautera…but hopes to find so much more. A/N: A teensy bit of a filler chapter here. We do get to meet a new NPC character from the game though! Will it be one of your favorites? Probably not but I hope you like them anyway!

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | BG3 Masterlist | Read on AO3

“Astarion?” Karlach asked.

Shadowheart frowned. “Is that his name?”

“Yeah. He told me on the submersible, before all the…” Karlach gestured vaguely. “You know.”

“I see. Well, yes, Astarion is missing. He must have slipped away during the memorial.”

“Damn,” Wyll said. “We should find him before he causes trouble.”

But Karlach shook her head. “Nah. Leave him. It’s probably the kindest thing to do, letting him go free like that.”

“You forget that a vampire’s diet comes from living creatures,” Shadowheart said. “If he can’t find anything down here, he’ll start to prey on us.”

“Then we’ll deal with that if that happens,” Karlach said. “Come on. Gortash wants us moving as soon as possible and those constructs are a pain to move when no one’s driving them.”

Gale looked over at that. “Constructs?”

“Yep. Come on, I’ll show you.”

Gale couldn’t deny a measure of curiosity, especially as he had noticed earlier that some of the cargo coming off of the cargo vessel was housed within wagons and carts. He’d thought it odd, at the time, since they had no mounts to drive or pull the carts through the Underdark, and it had taken teams of people with ropes and cords to drag the carts to shore.

Karlach led the way through the stacks of supply crates and barrels—many of which were smokepowder barrels, he realized, noting the red labels painted on their sides—until they reached a back corner of the cavern. There, standing in an odd little group, was a small herd of bronze, mechanical rothé, about seven in number.

Each of the rothé constructs were built just a bit bigger than the average rothé, which was already fairly sizable. Gale marveled at the craftsmanship that went into them as he approached one of them, studying the way the bronze metal plates that covered their outer casements interlocked and slid underneath each other, capable of a wide range of movement. Their faces appeared to be sculpted metal, entirely cosmetic, but with gem-like eyes that Gale suspected would light up and shine brightly outward to light the way forward. They weren’t alive or in motion yet, but as he bent to examine underneath one of them, he caught a glimpse of the intricate tangle of gears, cogs, and internal workings that would bring them to life.

“Careful,” a new voice said, causing Gale to jump. He banged his head on the underneath of the rothé and swore. He heard Karlach smother a snicker behind him.

“Ah,” the voice said. “My apologies. I was going to say you don’t want to be under the rothé once it's fired up, but I suppose it’s just as capable of harm without being animated.”

Gale backed out carefully from under the construct, rubbing the back of his head, to look around for the new voice. His gaze eventually fell on a gnome with tanned skin and dark brown hair swept back out of his face. The gnome had a handsome, pleasant face and steel-gray eyes, which were now regarding Gale with a mixture of amusement and curiosity.

“Find anything to interest you under there?” the gnome asked, wiping his hands clean with a cloth from his belt. He was dressed like an artificer, wearing simple clothes but with a wide belt full of pockets and pouches to hold several tools and spare cogs and other items besides. He had a pair of goggles on his head, keeping most of his hair out of his face, and a simple iron band on one finger. A wedding ring, Gale realized.

“Oh, uh…well, nothing I could make sense of,” Gale admitted. “I’m not much of a mechanic. But even I can appreciate the craftsmanship that went into these constructs. They must have taken you ages to create and refine.”

The gnome chuckled. “It helps to have a team when building something like this. But, yes, we’re rather proud of them.” He patted the metal hide of one of the rothé before holding up a gloved hand to Gale. “I’m Zanner Toobin, of the Gondian gnomes.”

“Gale of Waterdeep” Gale said, shaking Zanner’s hand. “I must say, I wasn’t expecting to meet any of the renowned inventors of Baldur’s Gate on this expedition. Though, given all I’ve seen so far, perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised.”

“The Gondians have been in partnership with Lord Gortash for some time now,” Zanner said. “As soon as Lord Gortash conceived of this expedition, he had us working on a variety of plans to make it happen. You’re looking at a fraction of what the Gondians have put together for this expedition alone, to say nothing of everything else we’ve built for his lordship.”

“Such as?”

Zanner hesitated, his gaze flicking to Karlach behind Gale and then back to Gale. “Well…that would be telling, wouldn’t it? A Gondian never shares their trade secrets, especially when some things are in the prototype stages. You understand, of course.”

“Oh. Yes, of course.” Gale understood completely. Or at least, he understood enough to know that one did not speak of Gortash’s secret projects out in the open. It only fueled Gale’s curiosity more.

Clearly Gortash had a vested interest in Nautera that went beyond the discovery of ancient history and buried ruins. Gale wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Gortash might have a particular interest in the fabled power sources of Nautera, which could very well fuel and automate constructs such as these for various purposes.

But he supposed Gortash wasn’t the only one interested in Nauterran power sources. The mythallars of Nautera were simply part of its allure, part of its appeal, like a siren song for explorers, kings, and historians alike. Though the age of mythallars had long since passed with the catastrophic, though brief, loss of the entire Weave the moment that Karsus ascended to godhood, there was something still powerfully attractive about the idea of a lost mythallar still out there, perhaps still retaining some shred of its former power, so long as it could be found.

The stuff of legend and fairy tale, of course…but stranger things had been made real over the course of Toril’s history.

“I take it these constructs will be pulling the carts and wagons, then?” Gale asked, eager to move the conversation beyond awkward silence.

“That’s the plan. If we can find enough drivers capable of controlling and steering them, that is. We…lost a lot of good pilots just now.”

Gale’s interest and enthusiasm for the constructs was doused by the reminder of what they’d lost. He couldn’t help but feel the pain anew, the guilt of what he’d done, or rather hadn’t done, and the cost it had brought. He looked at the rothé again, inert and lifeless, a testament to Gondian ingenuity. How many would they have to leave behind because his ineptitude with the dragon turtle had cost so many their lives?

“What does it take to control them?” he asked.

Zanner looked at the constructs and then back at him. “Simple commands, like any mount requires, though you have to be holding the correct control wand or else you’re just commanding the wrong construct.”

“May I try?” Gale asked, all eagerness. He’d never gotten to personally control a construct before, though Waterdeep had plenty of constructs about, even in Blackstaff Academy. This was different—a mechanical wonder imbued with far less magic than the standard golem or animated statue. He couldn’t even quite understand what powered them, if not spellcraft. What turned the gears? What made it so that it understood commands? He knew better than to ask, of course. No Gondian would divulge such secrets openly.

Zanner chuckled at his request. “Well…why not? Here.”

He tapped a panel on one of the rothé’s hides, opening a compartment. Gale saw a glimpse of pink crystals and metal gears inside before Zanner pulled out a wand from within and closed the compartment. It was a thin rod of brassy metal, topped with a crystal matching those inside the construct, and fairly simple in its design. He handed the wand to Gale and gestured to the rothé.

“Just give it a tap with the wand, say ‘impero’ to activate it, and command it to move. If you get the hang of it, you can help me position them so we can rig them up to the carts.”

It seemed simple enough. Gale tapped the rothé with the wand, said the activation word, and watched as the rothé came to life. Its crystalline eyes shone with artificial light and the gears and cogs within began to turn and click against each other in a clattering, though muffled, mechanical drone. Though it was clearly ‘on’ and animated, it seemed to have no intelligence or free thought, as magical constructs sometimes did. It was just a machine awaiting orders.

“Just command it to move?” Gale asked, turning to look at Zanner.

“Oh, uh, be careful saying—”

But the construct was already in motion, moving forward with a steady yet relentless pace—right off the carved pathways and toward a collection of stalagmites jutting up from the cavern floor.

Gale fumbled with the wand, unsure whether to point it at the rothé or not. “Er—left? Turn left! Reverse!”

Zanner lifted a hand. “You don’t have to—”

The construct jittered at the multiple commands, turning left and then halting, then taking an unsteady step back and then turning again.

“Turn around?” Gale tried, only to burn with a bit of embarrassment as the rothé stopped again, and then began to spin in place, in a slow, perfect circle, one step at a time. Beside him, Karlach couldn’t hold back her laughter.

“Trickier than it looks, innit?” she asked, grinning.

Zanner gave a hesitant chuckle, watching the still-turning rothé. “Perhaps it would be best if I position the constructs to the carts. But I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it…should we need to train new drivers. May I have the wand?”

“Oh…of course,” Gale said. He handed the wand back to Zanner, his face still somewhat warm. He should have been better at that than he was…

“To me,” Zanner called to the construct, walking away toward one of the carts nearby. The rothé stopped turning and followed after Zanner. Gale didn’t hear the rest of the commands, but it was undeniable, the ease with which he spoke to and maneuvered the construct to align with the cart in order to be strapped to it. Under his command, the rothé seemed to walk and behave like any other rothé.

Gale rubbed the back of his neck, glancing over at Karlach. “Maybe I’ll, ah…walk, yes?”

Karlach patted him hard on the back, nearly knocking the wind out of him. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not touching those things except to pick ‘em up and put ‘em down if Zanner needs it. Besides, we need you at the front. You’re the map man. The navigator. Remember?”

“Gale!” Gortash’s voice called out across the cavern space. He stood with Minthara and Lae’zel at his side, near a makeshift table that was little more than a few stacked crates. “Join us! We should chart our next path forward.”

Karlach nudged him with her elbow. “See? Go on, then, I’ll help Zanner finish up here.” She left him with another pat on his shoulder and jogged over to where Zanner was helping others fasten the rothé to a cart.

“Right,” Gale said, blowing out a breath. He rolled his shoulders, his back still smarting a bit from Karlach’s enthusiastic pat. “Map man. That’s me. I can do that.”

Or so he hoped.

He hoped the little trial with the rothé just now wasn’t a sign for things to come. If so, they were about to be hopelessly lost.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he left the constructs behind to join Gortash at the front of their half-formed procession.

——

They were very soon underway, having made a convoy of nine carts, seven rothé constructs, and just under fifty people. They formed an odd procession as they journeyed through the Underdark, with mechanical beasts pulling covered wagons or open carts full of supplies. Two of the constructs pulled two carts each, joined end to end with ropes and a bit of ingenuity. Other than the drivers, mostly Gondians, who sat on the carts holding the crystal wands and directing the constructs, most people walked alongside or behind, helping guide the carts across the often uneven rocky ground.

Though they were on the ancient roads toward Nautera, the roads themselves had not been maintained for millennia. In some places, there was no road at all, and they were forced to get creative with how they traveled. Good old-fashioned heavy lifting did the trick in most cases, but occasionally Gale made himself useful with a few well-controlled levitation spells. Other than that, he tended to stay near the front with Gortash, Minthara, and Lae’zel, the four of them making use of contents from the Nauterran Account, Lae’zel’s tir’su slates, and information from Minthara’s scouts, who scouted ahead, to make progress each day.

They made it three days (or what seemed like days) traversing the Underdark before they hit their first real incident.

They had paused for a rest after hours of walking the caverns and roads. Gale was sitting on a rock, reading over pages from the Nauterran Account, when he saw two of Minthara’s drow scouts approach her where she stood just a few feet over. Minthara frowned at their report before nodding and sending them away. She glanced over at Gale and beckoned him to her.

“Wizard. I have need of you.”

Gale closed his book and went to join her. “How can I help, Nightwarden?”

“My scouts have returned from their reconnaissance of the path ahead. It appears that there was a significant cave-in blocking the forward path. They tell me there are two potential routes forward around the cave-in, but aren’t clear on which is best. I’ll need you to return with one of them and see what you can discern, given what you know from that little book of yours.”

“I see. That shouldn’t be difficult.” Gale had anticipated things like this cropping up. After 4500 years, why would everything in the Underdark be remotely the same? He was more amazed they’d made it so far without things like cave-ins and alternate routes happening more frequently.

“Take Karlach and Shadowheart with you,” Minthara said. “We’ve been noticing some…suspicious activity of late.”

“Suspicious activity?”

“Nothing that need worry you, wizard,” Minthara said, feigning boredom. “Though if you are frightened, I can always assign more warriors to go with you. For your protection.”

“I can fight,” Gale said, a flicker of irritation coloring his voice. “Though it helps to know what I might be fighting so that I can adequately prepare.”

Minthara regarded him with faint interest before nodding once. “Very well. You have likely not noticed, but for the last three days we have encountered dead creatures, usually of no consequence, scattered along our paths. Sometimes ahead, sometimes behind. Usually small things, lizards and the like. All of them drained of blood.”

“Ah. You suspect the vampire is following us, then. Astarion.”

“If he is, and if he so much as dares to show his fangs near one of us, rest assured I will drive a stake through his heart before he can so much as blink,” Minthara said, her voice low and dark. But then she straightened and appeared neutral again. “But so far he has not bothered us. If you see him during your scouting, however…”

Her implication was clear. But Gale wasn’t so sure he wanted another death on his conscience. Sure, Astarion was a vampire, but he’d had three days to attack them or start picking them off. Instead, he’d had the mental fortitude to resist his hunger and feed on small Underdark creatures. Gale wasn’t sure what that meant, exactly, but it was enough to make him hesitate.

“I can make no promises, Minthara,” he said. “But I’ll take your suggestion under advisement.”

She looked amused but didn’t argue. “As you should. Now go. Fetch Shadowheart and Karlach and meet my scout farther up the path. From there, the four of you are on your own until you find a way forward."

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #gale #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #my fic #in fathoms below #bg3 fic #bg3 fanfic #bg3 fanfiction #poor astarion can't catch a break

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sparkbugs · 10 months

Text

Thinking bout Chip Jrwi

This has spiraled from ramblings to character analysis to whatever it has turned into. I rewatched episodes too JUST to make sure I had the right information and plot points in mind cause I want to make sure I’m not making a fool of myself in front of all of Jrwiblr.. ANYWAYS! This is a lengthy read. Total words being 1318 under the cut. Yeah, I’d say the hyperfixation is hyperfixating for sure. Chip Jrwi you are my blorbo atm and you mean everything to me <3

Do you guys think that before they went to the Black Sea, before they left Canella, before they left the town of Zero that Chip looked at his crew, his friends, and his family and wondered if he should stop? Yeah, he lost his old family years ago, and he wanted to do everything in his power to bring them back, to do something about it that his 9-year-old self couldn’t. But do you ever stop and think that maybe he’s realized that he has a family now, a new one and that he’s afraid to lose it to the Black Sea as well? But they’ve come so far now, they found Drey and Finn, hell Finn had been with them the entire time!! They’ve come so far now, and they’re expecting him to want to keep going, to find Arlin, and maybe even some of the other crew they lost as well. I think about it a lot, maybe too much at this point.

Back in the Feywild when Chip could’ve reached out to anyone, he could’ve talked with Arlin again, but he didn’t. He didn’t because he saw something in his nightmares in Liquidis while being cured of his curse. He saw Arlin, covered and surrounded by this black ichor, and he talked to him again. He saw Arlin, the man who took him in when he had nowhere to go, and he had looked at him with so much rage and hatred.. and he had attacked Chip. This would honestly terrify me if I were in Chip’s place. The person who showed me all the care in the world suddenly turned and attacked me? And saying that this has happened before? In a nightmare situation that felt so real, Chip knew it was real… I’d be terrified to find him if he thinks I’m gonna kill him, he’d be fighting for his life too, I’m sure. The Black Sea has affected Arlin too, I don’t think they’ll be able to convince him that they aren’t going to kill him unless somehow Drey and Finn can get through to him, but it seems highly unlikely.

I think if Chip feels this way at all, maybe not like all I’ve written exactly, I think he feels immensely guilty. He doesn’t want Arlin to be trapped in the hole in the sea, but he’s also immensely terrified as to what he’s going to find once he gets to him. He doesn’t want the person he’s looked up to for so long, the person he’s risked his and his friends' lives for, to hate him. But I also feel that somewhere in his heart (or lack of one), Chip doesn’t blame Arlin for hating him, cause he’s starting to hate himself for getting his new family dragged down into this hole in the sea as well.

Yes, they all chose to come with him to the Black Sea, but if anything happens to them, Chip will forever blame himself for it. Hell, he lost his heart and he has no one other than himself to blame. Jay almost lost her leg (did she? They haven’t made it clear if she did) and I feel that Chip blames himself for that too. Yes, they helped save everyone on the island, but Gods is Chip scared he’s going to lose his family again. Being on this ocean reminds him of when he was just a scared little kid, but now he can do something about it. He’s trying but he’s still so fucking scared.

Speaking of his heart- he’s trying to hold onto himself. He’s an undead now, and by meta the mechanics of it are roughhhhh. I rambled a bit on another post about one of my characters named Amani, an opal Tiefling whom Chip is starting to remind me of- not exactly but they both have had their hearts taken!! Doing the checks to see if he loses a part of himself terrifies me each and every time and I know there’s going to be more, we can only hope the dice are in Bizly’s favor as we do not know when Chip will be able to get his heart back. It could be months from now, years maybe. I dread the session they head back to Zero and Chip is still undead. I dread Chip reuniting with Ollie. I don’t think Chip wants Ollie to see him that way, he can hide it with the bandana as much as he wants, but the stench of rotten flesh will give it away. Ollie told him to come back alive! Chip wasn’t able to keep that promise. It kills me to think that Chip dies at 19. Yeah he wasn’t a kid, but he was still so young- yeah he might come back once getting his heart but how much of his humanity will he have lost? How much life experience would he have gained in this undead state? He hasn’t even had the time to grieve the loss of himself with everything that's been going on, and I am really hoping with the next episode of Riptide we get to see some of his thoughts on being undead. Yes, he’s made jokes about it! But I feel he still hasn’t fully processed it all and once he finally does it's going to be PAINFUL.

He’s grown so much from this journey with Jay and Gillion, he was using them at the start, to get back his family. I mean I could be wrong here, but it certainly feels like it at the start of everything anyway. Along the way though, he started opening up a bit and he realized that while sailing and learning about the whereabouts of his family he’s lost, he’s made a new family. And it’s become precious to him. It shows how he has grown during the fights he had with Gillion, the first fight they had dealing with Chip lying and pranking him, wounding Gill’s pride. They resolved it after communicating and getting to know each other better. The second fight was initiated by Chip himself because he knew he was in the wrong and that he had hurt his friend by keeping the fact that Edyn was working with the Navy a secret. He remembered how much lying had hurt Gill, and as much as he didn’t want to tell him at the time, he wanted to protect Gillion from the truth of his sister potentially doing something dangerous behind his and his friends' backs. There hadn’t been much time in between Gillion escaping the pearl and the time that he found out about Edyn, and Chip had tried not to think about it but those damned bracelets (WHICH I WISH THEY WOULD USE MORE?? WHERE DID THEY GO-) outed him on those thoughts. He stayed up ALL NIGHT just to build the arena, just to show Gillion he was sorry and that he needed to fix it, he wanted to fix things between them both. He goes on and on about how Gillion’s actions helped him change for the better, about how he cares about him, and that he never meant to hurt him. Of course, this ends in them battling again, them starting the fight and Jay ending it like the girlboss she is, but this battle was never out of malice or anger, it is light-hearted and fun, and it shows that they’ve all grown stronger together.

I love Chip Jrwi, I am so happy that he got a second third chance at a family- He deserves it and the world. I totally will be coming back to this at some point but this is all I have to say for now! Feel free to reply/reblog to this with ur thoughts, or even send me an ask bout it cause I would love to continue talking about this boy!

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