#rad storm

[atombombkaytee]

Trapped under heavy irradiated skies in the glowing sea - but it’s with Hancock, so you know you’ll be ok 💚

[aevi-daudi]

[shatinn]

Fallout 4 - Glowing sea visit

[anxietymuffin]

DAY 11: FAMINE

[falloutnyc]

Stay safe in the Rad Storms all! 🧡

[thealexchen]

thoughts on LIS: Double Exposure?

This is probably gonna be my hottest take in awhile, but: I deeply dislike the idea of an official LiS1 direct sequel game existing. Excluding all my thoughts on the gameplay, story, Max's character, etc. I don't think a game like Double Exposure is necessary.

This isn't a new take either; back in 2020 I made a Reddit post saying I was glad we never got a continuation of Max and Chloe's story, because in order to have a plot, you have to have conflict. And to have conflict means your characters are forced to change or struggle in some way, and I simply wasn't interested in seeing that again. I never even read the comics. As long as Max and Chloe's future existed only in the fanbase's collective imagination and not in an officially licensed game, Pricefield could be as happy as I wanted and I wouldn't have to witness DN or D9's version of canon.

A lot of fans, including myself, are also confused and upset as to where Chloe could be in Double Exposure. Even if Chloe winds up having a surprise role, it would likely be too logistically difficult to write Chloe into one version of the story and not the other. Either way, DE is strongly pointing to Chloe no longer being the deuteragonist. If D9 was going to make a direct sequel with Max and Chloe, I could at least be intrigued by how they might write their dynamic and how they'd use Max's power in new and interesting ways. But instead there's... none of that. Chloe's nowhere to be seen and Max can't time travel anymore.

On a narrative level, Max and Chloe are the heart of the original Life is Strange. They represent the game's central relationship, and their very first interaction (Max saving Chloe's life) kicks off the entire story. Throughout the story, their dynamic advances the plot and mutually motivates their character arcs. You can't have LiS1 without either Max or Chloe; the story simply wouldn't exist without them. Now in DE, they don't even seem to be in each other's lives anymore. It's true, this series is meant to reflect universal feelings and experiences, which could include breakups, but the romantic catharsis of Pricefield as canon soulmates who defied time and space itself to stay together forever is something you can only get from the beauty of fiction. To jab DE's story with a dose of reality and go, "Eh, they grew apart. Shit happens," totally undermines everything the Bae ending stood for.

On a technical level, Max's rewind was an objectively brilliant game mechanic. LiS1 arrived onto the scene after Telltale had paved the way for the resurgence of choice-based, episodic games, but LiS1 totally reinvented the wheel by giving the player the option to go back and weigh each option before continuing, essentially save-scumming in-game. But the right choice was never that easy to determine, and Rewind brilliantly complemented Max's character arc of overcoming her indecision and learning to live with her choices. Not to mention, you could also use Rewind to solve puzzles, instead of the endless fetch quests the later games had. No other LiS game since then has given the player that kind of agency and interactivity. LiS2 had telekinesis, but the player couldn't use it, only Daniel. D9 tried with Backtalk and Empathy, but Max's Rewind was truly the narrative and gameplay jackpot that they haven't been able to recreate since.

So if you take away one half of the central relationship that made the first game so memorable, and the supernatural power/game mechanic that made it so fun to play... why even bring Max back at all? It just feels like D9 threw away their golden opportunity to build upon the major selling points of the first game and are only relying on name recognition of the Life is Strange "brand" and Max Caulfield.

What upsets me most of all about a direct sequel existing is that it proves that Life is Strange, as a series, now stands more for profits than originality. Life is Strange will always be an IP meant to make money for Square, I know that, but back when LiS1 was just a brand new episodic game, it stood out for how different it dared to be. In a landscape saturated with shooters, sexualized female characters, and casual misogyny, LiS1 instead featured a teenage girl in a contemporary setting that took her seriously and made her the hero of her story. Before it was a franchise, LiS wasn't concerned with the bottom dollar; it was a piece of art that just wanted to tell a thoughtful, unique story.

Whether you love it or hate it, Life is Strange 2 was an insanely risky follow-up to Life is Strange that refused to rely on the convenience of a direct sequel because Dontnod stuck to their artistic vision. Meanwhile, all of Deck Nine's games have leaned on the first game's following to generate interest (BtS being a direct prequel, TC bringing back Steph, and Wavelengths expanding on Steph's connection to Chloe, Rachel, and Arcadia Bay). In other words, all of the subsequent LiS games by D9 have played it very, very safe. It's worked like a damn charm because there are still elements I love about each game, but the basic principle is nostalgia-baiting fans. It's just that now, Double Exposure isn't hiding that nostalgia bait at all anymore and prioritizing profits over telling a unique story. It's sad to see that LiS has strayed so far from its risky, daring, original, and unique artistic beginnings.

Before I end, I'll say that I can't be too cynical about it all, nor do I want to be. Because I can't deny how much joy this whole series has brought me, too. LiS was what got me into narrative adventure games and pushed the boundaries of what a video game could be. If nothing else, I am truly thrilled that Hannah Telle got the chance to play Max again. D9's always been great at maintaining relationships with their actors, and the casts of their games always have consistently great chemistry. Getting recognized by Erika Mori on my own blog is still unbelievable and speaks to the amazing community that LiS has built. As you can see, I'm still posting and reblogging stuff about Double Exposure. And while I don't see myself buying or playing this game for myself, I know it'll keep all of us talking for awhile, and I still live for a good discussion.

Thank you for asking! And thank you for reading.

[nuclear-winter-blog]

"Why do people make such a big deal of Maxon fightin' a deathclaw with just a knife? Ain't that just a regular Tuesday?" -Junda

I mean, there's a reason I've got the Glowing Sea fully mapped out. I also got one of Danse's affinity talks in the underground bunker full of gen 2 synths in the Glowing Sea. For some reason, it felt more personal with just the two of us hunkered down in this forgotten building, and him still telling me to keep it "Off the record" as he told me about his past in the Capital wastes. It's one I still remember.

That was completely unrelated but, doing redraws every few years is always fun. 2019-2023.

Also original 2019 piece for a fun reference.

[slightlytoastedbagel]

actually On Your Feet gave us two good things (well. three if you like Realize which I do). Kohane's "it's frustrating" line and the great crack fic idea of Vivid Bad Squad getting cancelled online for skipping school to yell at The Kotaki Taiga as he was about to go back to America.

[dallydaydream]

Yeah we got costume transformation powers this season, only works with tight black leather though

[tanlotts]

Appalachian ghost rider

[atombombkaytee]

All a girl needs is Hancock and a rad storm 💚

[radskull-69]

oc idea (inspired by oobbbear’s ‘orange knife’ au)

idk how but I only realised after writing this I also copied the sun and moon thing, I meant to only get inspired by the whole ‘soul put into doll thing’ I SWEAR)

A god called mister moon that creates life down on earth, it’s a long process to make each soul’s vessel using moon rocks annd skulking them before sending them to earth. They all look like tiny stars with glowing bodies, no faces in this phase since they can’t use the bodies yet

some stay with mister moon when they aren’t ready to be born yet, and some just like to hang around despite how much mister moon finds them annoying (lie)

mister moons friend, seamstress sun, is the one that makes the souls with small stars and glowing strings while mister moon just makes the physical body. She’s very sweet and motherly to them, joking a lot and not as stoic and cold as mister moon is and loves to visit the souls.

as soon as the souls and their bodies they’ll be using for the rest of their life are sent to earth they hold no memory of mister moon or seamstress sun, which does make the two sad but they like to watch over the souls on earth.

the earth and humans were assigned to them by the other planets to keep moon and sun busy and have a hobby (maybe even become friends), but now they’re kinda attached

there’s other characters but I’m too lazy to think about them for now, I have nanny nature but that’s it.

mister moon facts!

he’s very.. creepy, he doesn’t mean to be. But he just isn’t a very warm person

whenever a crater lands on him and ruins his clothes he calls seamstress to fix and tailor it for him, he acts like he hates it

he’s very tall and lanky (he’s the size of a building at least to us), but slouches a lot

he favours cats a lot and is happy when the souls are cat people as well

LOVE’S cool colours and the ocean, finds it amusing how little souls know about its depths and are scared of it. He favours the deep sea creatures the most

envies sun’s light and bright (ha) attitude, but loves appreciates it at the same time

his fav era of earth was the classical era

hates scissors, after a accident of one of the souls running around with a pair and cutting off their own arm Moon strictly keeps them banned from his domain

Seamstress sun facts!

she’s very social and loud, easily one of the more popular planets

geeks over whenever a soul draws a picture of the sun with sunglasses, laughs every time (much to Moon’s expense)

good friends with nanny nature, they have a good bond since nature mostly need sun to thrive. So nanny nature made sunflowers for her

normal hight and curvy, got them hips

keeps a lot of gold trinkets in her domain because she likes how they sparkle in her light

Loves the 70’s - 80’s the most!

gives all the souls a goofy name until their sent down to earth, still calls them that in her head tho

love’s dogs all the way, the bigger the better!

always tells moon jokes to cheer him up whenever he has a cloudy day, it works 50% of the time

wishes sunsets lasted longer because she loves the looks the souls give her when she’s at her prettiest, she tries to stall but moon drags her away from earth to let him have his night shift

fawns over humans who have matching sun & moon themed necklaces or bracelets and would show moon just to say ‘us’

[thebibliomancer]

What a cool collision of ideas

Whosever holds Mjolnor, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor. Usually for up to 60 seconds after letting go of the hammer.

One Thor wasn’t enough to beat a dude that’s the elder god version of Thor. What about five Thors constantly passing Mjolnir back and forth among themselves to keep resetting the time limit?

How exploitable!

[vorpalbeartrap]

So Wolverine's hair regenerates right? Its got to. Else every time he gets blown up or has a pissing match with Man Torch or just gets too close to a fire or whatever then he'd be bald for weeks and god knows how long till his eyebrows and eyelashes grow back

But like

I get how your most of your body could turbo heal or whatever but your hair is dead, the stuff coming out of the follicles? his muscles and skin and junk stop regrowing when they hit a point but where do his hair stop. Like if its just to how long it was before his hair got hurt how can he get a haircut? I bet we've seen him shaving with his claws a dozen times like he's your lazyass stepdad saying he'll be ready to take you to the baseball game if you just give him five damn minutes. But how can this be if his hair turbo grows back to a specific length

I wanna propose two theories:

One is that it doesn't. It just keeps growing super fast all the time and anytime he's not insight hes going nutso with his claws to keep it perfectly coiffed into big dumb sideburns and his weird twin peaks. He loves the look and puts so much effort into and leaves little hair clippings wherever he goes

The other is that his real curse isn't living through civil war times and all the night terrors and stuff. Its that his weird 'do, the one where it swoops up like his head is trying to put on a threat display and spreading its wings to make itself look real big? That plus his five o' clock shadow is where his hair stops growing. That is the only possible haircut he can have. Forever. And all his manly shaving is just going through the motions for something he can't change. Skipping rocks to dam the creek

Anyway my mutant name is Globule and I think my powers are pretty self evident but if you let me join your Brotherhood of Evil Mutants I think I'll be a real asset to the team-

[megamikminiaab]

In Progress :)

[fishybehavior]

Is Morro x Cole a thing?

If so, I have a funny idea of a brothers of storm thing. Where Morro just tries to piss Jay off by kissing his best friend