i was having a chuckle to myself last night about Gristol, and how his plans are basically:
Restore Ford Cruller's memory
Find Maligula
???
Profit
but then... of course they are, right? this is Gristol we're talking about. Fatherland Follies drives home again and again that he's still operating on a child's logic, a warped and reductive version of the world that he never bothered to grow out of. both of his memory vaults center on the images of his childhood, this idealized version of the past that he clings to no matter what. and that's still how he remembers Maligula, too - as this saviour figure, who rushes in to help him when he's in trouble.
[ID: Two slides from Gristol's memory vault, Glory to Grulovia! Left: Gristol clings to Maligula's back as she summons waves to sweep away his assailants. Right: Gristol and Maligula waving from a balcony as the people cheer. Gzar Theodore brandishes a dagger in the background.]
like so much else, Maligula represents a return to this idyllic childhood - to the peace and simplicity of his youth, when he was free from worries and responsibilities. in his mind, he doesn't need to make any further plans - once Maligula's back, everything will go back to normal. Maligula will make everything better.
...is what i thought, but then i remembered this line:
[Screenshot source. ID: Gristol, in Truman's body, bows on his hands and knees in front of the newly-awaked Maligula. The caption reads: "Yes, High Priestess! I am here to correct the mistakes made by my father!"]
and that's kind of interesting, right?
to be clear: this happens directly after Maligula sees Helmut-in-Gristol's-body, and recognises him. her line before this is:
"Little Gzesaravich! Have you come to pay for your father's sins?"
my first thought was that Gristol hadn't expected to still be in Truman's body by the time he managed to find Maligula, and this was him trying to placate her and buy some time until he could explain the situation. but watching the cutscene back, that's clearly not what's happening here. Gristol is answering as himself, and his response of throwing himself to his knees before her is, as far as i can tell, genuine.
so what is going on here?
in Fatherland Follies, there's this line in the ride narration that stuck out to me:
"Why didn't the Gzar help Maligula in her time of need? No one knows, but historians agree - it is Gzar Theodore's biggest failure."
other lines mention Gzar Theodore's "mistake", and it's wording Gristol himself echoes in the screencap above. evidently, he believes that his father abandoned Maligula, leaving her to her fate at the hands of the Psychonauts, and it was that mistake that lead to them being driven out of the country - that mistake which he seeks to correct. maybe he even feels like he has a debt to repay to her for his family turning their backs on her all those years ago.
the 'High Priestess' thing, though - that's kinda weird, and threw me for a loop the first time i played the game. it took me until my second playthrough to connect the dots, and remember how the room in the Lady Luctopus - Gristol's room - was full of Delugionist scribblings and symbols.
[Screenshot source. ID: left, the walls of the hidden backroom in Gristol's hotel suite, covered in scrawlings of eyeballs and Maligula's name. Right, the pinboard from the hidden backroom. On its surface are photographs and newspaper clippings connected by pieces of string.]
i mean, look at this stuff! he had a whole conspiracy board and everything!
we learn very little about the Delugionists and their beliefs as a whole during the game, but i think drawing the connection here suggests two important things. one: that Gristol was in deep with this stuff. i don't know how he linked up with them - maybe via old family connections, or just good old-fashioned digging (we know he's skilled at worming his way into peoples' good graces, after all) - but it seems likely that he's begun to internalise their ideas, maybe even warping his own memories of events. and two: the Delugionists themselves are, if you'll pardon the pun, pretty far off the deep end.
like... i understand why PN2 didn't go heavy on the "mass-murderer cult worship" aspect of things, in the end, but man this is such a tantalising glimpse into the wider mythos around Maligula. Gristol is proud and haughty and thinks himself above everyone else; the fact that his first reaction seeing Maligula is to throw himself to the ground at her feet says so much about the way he's come to see her. he's not just trying to bring back Maligula, his childhood bodyguard. he's trying to bring back Maligula, the High Priestess of the deluge, the semi-mythical figure whose supporters believe even death couldn't stop. he doesn't even flinch at the way she confronts him, and maybe it's because he's bought in so completely to this deified figurehead, this idea of Maligula; more a living force of nature than a person. and it all comes back to the same place: an abdication of responsibility, not just to the person who protected him when he was little but to this avatar of floods and destruction. Maligula will make everything better.
i'd write more about my thoughts on the Delugionists but that'd be taking a hard turn into speculation, and this is already kind of long and rambling so i'd better end it here. but what an unexpected and evocative line, right? it's some of the only stuff we have to go off of regarding the Delugionists as a whole, but i think it does such a good job of hinting at the wider story - at teasing another layer to the mythos surrounding Maligula, one whose ripples we see throughout the game but which never quite breaches the surface.
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This is the first Corpse Party OC I'd like to show off, here's Riko Saruwatori! She's for Dead Patient, so if you haven't played it there will be *slight* spoilers.
How she was drawn on paper (needed to separate the possible expressions and body+face because I end up screwing up the face when I draw on top of it... I'll need to practice getting over that)
Here's her body and face when digitally drawn, I'm not gonna claim it's the best, but it could be worse. It's good for someone that hasn't touched digital drawing in around 2 years, lol
Took me forever to find the English layout of the card layout.
Anyway, about Riko:
Design:
Riko is a 5'7 young girl below average weight with light blonde hair, resembling the jasmine she's named after (Riko meaning jasmine-child with certain kanji). Her hair is short, so that it won't get yanked on by her little brother, Kentaro, when she gives him piggyback rides. She also has deep emerald eyes that resemble her father's.
Personality
Riko loves to explore and find out new things and new places, adoring the quiet (or not-so-quiet, depending on if she brought her little brother) forest walks next to her home.
However, ever since her parents divorced (after an unfortunate accident involving her falling from a tree) her mother moved closer to the city, causing her to enjoy walks like that less than ever before. She has also recently become more timid and unsure of herself. Being less-social and overall making little contributions to group activities, becoming more indecisive by the day, and letting others take the lead.
Something that hasn't seemed to change, however, is her protectiveness towards her 11 year old brother. In fact, after the separation, it seemed to have strengthened considerably.
Story Integration
You'd find her in Dead Patient, in the 1st Chapter, in the normal ending. After Ayame encounters her nametag in the Locked Puzzle Room (via Ritsuko giving it to her), and after Ayame encounters Tomohisa freaking out.
Riko is running away from a walking corpse, screaming, "THEY CAN REVIVE THEMSELVES!?" Ayame, being too lawful-good for her own self-preservation, helps Riko. Riko gives Ayame a brief thank-you before telling her and Ritsuko to look away for a moment. They do so as the screen fades to black, while the graphic sounds of cutting and ripping something apart can be heard.
The screen goes back to normal as Ayame sees that Riko tore apart the zombie's head from its shoulders with a scalpel she apparently "found" in one of the rooms earlier. Riko tells the two that it's to try to ensure the zombies don't come back to life.
Ayame tells Riko about the check-in card that seemed to belong to her. Riko seems to panic for a moment before asking for it back, Ayame obliges and gives it to Riko. Riko thanks her and joins the party.
Once the group gets to the door Tomohisa was seemingly running away from, Riko decides to stick outside, while Ayame and Ritsuko go in.
Once the door shuts and the two on the other side are locked in, Riko tries her best to get the door to budge, along with Ritsuko on the other side, but there's no progress until Ayame defeats the hulking zombie inside.
After Ayame and Ritsuko finally get out, with two new members added to the party, Riko introduces herself to them, and follows along, trying to find and get through the exit.
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I kinda want to make a blog just for cartoons I like or am currently watching but I feel like I already have too many neglected blogs and I don't know all the history and trivia to make any compelling material for the blog that would make it worth a follow, it'd just be a bunch of reblogs of other people's fan art and photo sets just like all my other blogs once I lose interest in doing anything original.
Also, after watching a lot of shows with a friend over discord, i've come to realize i'm stupid as hell and have no eye for analyzing the media I consume. Like I don't recognize bad writing unless it's also boring to me personally.
That, and if I shove yet another one of my interests off into another side blog, what the hell am I going to put on my main anymore? I already banished video games and virtual pets, there's not much left.
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