#so i can’t fix it unless i remake it

[barbieaemond]

[aibloomie]

”if you hold me without hurting me. . .”

01. pairing — nagito komaeda x gn!reader

02. synopsis — fluff headcanons on how nagito would react when you comfort him, and headcanons on how he’d comfort you !!

03. note — this is a repost from an old blog i used to have prior to deactivating it (@/au-clover) !! the remake of the nagito edit reminded me so <33 i might repost the fluff alphabet next, not too sure though. uhh excuse any typos WOO

comforting you

— nagito would most likely struggle a bit at first since he has never really gotten any comfort whenever he was going through something, but you’re precious to him and so he’ll try his best to learn and figure out how to help you in your times of need. he already knows when you’re in a bad mood due to him being an observant person, but he won’t bring it up unless you do since he doesn’t think he’s worthy of comforting you. he worries maybe you’d view him as annoying for prying into your business. once you decide to tell him what the problem is though then he’d immediately try to help you

— in a way, comforting you makes him very happy, he hates seeing you upset, but you’re relying on him and he’s never really been needed by anyone. he’s able to help you out, ht person he cherishes the most, you’ve made him so happy, and he’s grateful for the opportunities where he can give back and uplift your mood

— he’s an amazing listener, so if you’re not seeking advice and just want to rant, then he’s perfect for that. he’s also really attentive and will take in every word you say, nodding his head or doing some sort of gesture so you know he’s not distracted

— words of encouragement are something he always provides for you, but if you’re going through a hard time then they’d only increase tenfold. he knows words don’t always fix everything but he’s very good at speaking and getting his point across. compliments and motivational words would spill endlessly from his mouth

— he’s aware that being told things such as “it’ll get better” isn’t that effective, so instead of talking about the situation he just takes the time to admire your strength for dealing with whatever you’re struggling with, he’s rooting you on and he knows you can overcome anything, you’re his precious hope after all

— if you want to distract yourself for a while, then he’s up for that too. he’ll do anything you want, whether it be cuddling or going out and having fun

comforting him

— nagito will appreciate any effort you put in towards comforting him. sometimes you can’t really tell when he’s upset since he’s practically smiling the majority of the time. however, he usually goes silent for a while or he distances himself from you since he’s caught up in his own thoughts, and that’s pretty much your cue to go and help him. he’d probably say something along the lines of: “you’re worrying for someone like me? you really are an angel!”

— after a day full of misfortune, he looks forward to the future since he knows his luck will balance out and therefore good things will happen. that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t upset him at times though, especially when his luck ends up affecting you negatively. during times like these, his self depreciation will only increase and it would help him a lot if you gave him some reassurance: pull him into your arms and tell him you’ll never leave him, and that you accept every single part of him. brush his hair aside and kiss his face too, he’ll be flustered but god he’ll feel so loved

— sometimes he’ll just want to rant about everything that happened throughout his day in detail as he rests his head on your lap and you play with his hair. of course, he’d never ask for that so it would be up to you to initiate the conversation. he also gets in low spirits when others don’t understand his views on hope, a lot of people call him annoying and crazy for that. so if you listen to him talk about it, it would really help him

— when he talks about his past, he usually does it with a smile. he sounds really happy despite all the devastating things that happened. so if you start comforting him, he’ll be really confused, and he’ll apologize for making you worry. deep inside though, he’s grateful you're so kind to him. if you hug him when he’s talking about it, everything will hit him at once and he’ll end up crying, which is very much needed since he just brushes everything aside to cope

[elendsessor]

i may be crucified for this opinion but

one of the many reasons i think dds deserves a remake is just how little impact some of the characters have and it’s really fucking sad. unless they’re party members or antagonistic forces they don’t get nearly as much screen time as they deserve and i think that hurts them as characters???

jinana and lupa especially. i get the setting of the first game is a battle royale that turned into a cannibal battle royale so of course not everyone could live but they kinda didn’t get as much screen time as they deserved. i mean think about it they kinda just exist to introduce their tribe, interact with the embryon for a bit, disappear, reappear once or twice, then next time you see them they’ve succumbed to hunger, you beat the shit out of them, and they end up dying. what little they are given does make you like them don’t get me wrong but a lot of that rides on dialogue which, as someone who loves seeing people experience certain plot stuff of games i enjoy, i kinda noticed that it was a really mixed result. it’s either “oh no anyways” with maybe the player getting a little melancholic when they get brought up again or the player doesn’t care. considering how important their struggles and mini arcs are that’s not good??? the fact that they exist solely to develop argilla and gale is a shame since unless you like the exchanges they have their deaths don’t have that big of an impact. they do get mentions and all that in 2 yet it kinda just. makes me question it more from the standpoint of what could’ve been done with them or the giant emotional aftermath that should’ve happened. this isn’t to say they can’t die or whatever but considering the interesting conflicts dds introduces and how it already struggled to explore it as much as it could’ve, jinana and lupa really did have the potential to help remedy some of those issues.

and then there’s fred aka the smokey of dds. i still don’t know why he exists except to explain why lupa somewhat knows what a child is and to introduce the existence of tiny humans to the gang. i’m sorry i straight up forget he was a character at points.

qds fixed a lot of this yes yet i still think it’s important to point out on a game standpoint, since most people who play dds don’t end up reading qds, and i really don’t think actual important contextual stuff or major aspects of a game’s themes should be exclusive to books. it’s not as bad as something like fnaf or other mascot horrors—that shit was over a decade later—but it is a major writing issue and i don’t think the fact that the original lead writer got sick and had to leave means there wasn’t a writing decline. you can tell there was stuff that was going to be built upon only to be abandoned or underdeveloped.

it’s extra sad because this is straight up one of the best instances of world-building the series has ever had, and the whole cannibalistic character drama mixed with spiritual and buddhist + hindu themes is something so inherently interesting while also being in some ways taboo??? there’s not a lot of games out there at least not made by indie developers that get that risky since it’s not marketable, and something like that is next to nonexistent now in the mainstream market. we fuckin need games like the dds duology that challenge the status quo and goddammit if it got expanded upon and had more development for side characters that would be actually perfect.

[tabitha42]

The Wizard's Apprentice - Chapter 9

Saffron is just a lowly apprentice with barely a successful firebolt to her name. So what chance does she have with the arch mage she's slowly falling in love with?

Gale x Tav, slow burn, eventual smut

Chapter 1 Previous chapter Next chapter

Saff stared intently at the tattered sleeve of Gale’s robe as she sewed it up as best she could. They’d managed to get all the blood out of it and now she was patching it up. The bracer was completely beyond repair though, for her at least. Perhaps a proper leatherworker could fix it or make a replacement. 

Unfortunately not only was it quite difficult to repair, but she was also getting very distracted by the thought of Gale bathing in the river behind her. She tried to tell herself not to think about him. How would she like it if the tables were turned and he was thinking of her while she bathed, imagining the water running over her slick, naked body?

She’d quite like that, actually.

Again she shook her head, for the 10th time. She forced herself to focus on the sewing once more, yet as she did she found herself wondering how far down his body that tattoo on his chest extended…

“How’re they looking?” 

She almost yelped in surprise as his voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she desperately hoped it hadn’t been obvious she’d been daydreaming about him. 

“Wha- how, um, how’s what looking?” she stuttered, looking up at him. 

“The robes,” he answered, stifling a chuckle at her flustered response. 

“Oh! Um, yeah, mostly done,” she answered, holding the sleeve up for him to see. He sat down opposite her and took the robes to inspect the damage. He was wearing his camp clothes now, and though she couldn’t see much of the tattoo anymore, she could still see the lines reaching up his neck. Sometimes she swore it looked like it somehow continued under his skin up to his eye, though she wondered if that was just some oddly prominent veins. She should really ask him about that tattoo at some point and if it meant something. 

“That gnoll really really did a number on this, didn’t it?” he mused as he handed it back to her. “Thank you for offering to fix it.” 

“You’re welcome, though I’m not sure I’m going to be able to do much more than this. It’s always going to be pretty bad, unless you get someone to remake the whole sleeve.”

“Well, what’s an adventurer without a bit of battle damage?” he chuckled. 

“Not looking forward to getting my battle damage,” she replied, half-jokingly. 

“With any luck you won’t have to, and I won’t have to get any more. We should be far at the back, out of the range of fire. They call wizards glass canons for a reason, after all.” 

“Mmm… easier said than done, when goblins are swarming round the whole group,” she murmured, remembering the one that nearly got her before Gale took care of it. 

“Do you know Misty Step?” he asked, frowning a bit as she looked at her.

“I know of it, but I’ve never tried to cast it.” 

“Let’s put that at the top of our priority for the next lesson, then. An extremely useful spell every wizard should know. As soon as combat starts you want to find a safe spot, preferably on the high ground, where you can pick off enemies but they can’t reach you. Misty Step will take you right there. It’ll also get you out of trouble in a pinch.” 

“It’s quite a bit more difficult than just standard cantrips though, isn’t it?” 

“It is, yes. But I think you’re up to the challenge.” She couldn’t help the smile that came to her lips, and Gale mirrored it as he continued. “I know you said you were out of magic for the day, but want to give it a quick try, just in case?” 

Well how could she say no to him?

After showing her the movements and the incantation, the two returned to the river bank and stood a few metres apart. 

“Now focus on the spot in front of me,” Gale called to her. “Have this spot in your head as you cast the spell, think of nothing but moving here. And remember, use the momentum of your movements to imagine yourself moving too,” he called to her. She nodded and took a deep breath to prepare herself. Finally, she lifted her arms. 

“Inveniam viam!” 

As usual, nothing happened the first time. But she didn’t let that deter her. She tried again, and again. Gale called the odd suggestion to her, a slight change in her position or change of pronunciation. Soon she started feeling a brush of magic with each attempt, growing stronger and stronger… til suddenly she felt a lurch and a flash as she said the words. In an instant the ground fell away, her body was pulled in one direction and her mind another, then suddenly she was back on the beach, stumbling forward disorientated, completely losing her balance. 

Before she fell suddenly she was caught and she found herself in Gale’s arms, her hands on his chest as she leaned against him. 

“Woah…” she whispered, looking up at him as the world spun around her. 

“That’s it, you’re ok,” he said softly. “It can be a bit disorienting at first, but you did it!” 

“A bit…” she laughed, feeling like Gale was wildly understating the extreme dizziness she was feeling right now. 

“It’ll pass, don’t worry,” he assured her. She rest her head against his chest, feeling like she couldn’t stop her head swimming right now and needed to force it to stay still. After a few moments, as promised, the dizziness began to die down, and only then did she realise what position they were stood in. 

She lifted her head and looked up at him, her hands still on his chest, his hands still on her waist where he’d caught her. Feeling his hands there, holding her so tenderly… it almost made her feel light-headed again, and this time not from the magic. As their eyes met her breath caught in her throat and her heart skipped a beat.

“Feeling better?” he asked softly, the tenderness in his voice sending excited shivers down her spine. All she could manage was a small nod. Then she could swear, just for a split second, his eyes flicked down to her lips. Her heart raced in her chest as slowly, almost subconsciously, they drew closer together

There was a noise to the side and they both turned in surprise to see Astarion sitting on a large rock nearby, watching them. 

“Oh, please continue, don’t let me stop you,” he said innocently. He then let out a yelp as two mage hands suddenly pushed him off the rock. 

They returned to the tents to find the others just arriving - it seemed Astarion had walked on ahead a bit. But before Saff could think about her annoyance towards him any more, her attention was taken by the tiefling walking along with them. 

She was incredibly tall, well-built, wearing black leather and carrying a greataxe, one horn broken off while the other curled around her dark hair.

Suddenly Saff recognised her. 

“Wait, isn’t that-?!” she gasped, the words coming out before she thought about what she was saying. 

“Yes, it is,” Wyll said with a sigh, knowing what she was getting at. “Turns out I was misled. Karlach is no devil, she is a tiefling, and infected the same as us.” 

“You guys must be Saff and Gale!” Karlach said happily with a big grin. In the visions she’d looked terrifying, but now she had the warmest, most welcoming smile.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Gale said, walking towards her, lifting his hand for a handshake. “Woah now, wouldn’t do that soldier. Not unless you wanna burn your hand off,” she warned, taking a step back before he got too close. Saff frowned as she followed Gale towards her. 

“What do you mea-” 

The pain, again. She saw Avernus, devils and imps, the Blood War… and felt Karlach’s fear as she cut through them all, desperate for escape. 

“Arg, forgot that was gonna happen again,” Karlach said as the vision ended. 

“We did try to warn you,” Wyll laughed.

“Yeah yeah, well I guess I can’t complain too much,” she said, turning back to Gale and Saff. “Without this little worm, that one would never have believed my story,” she explained, pointing to Wyll. 

“I like to think I’m a good judge of character, but I fear you may be correct,” Wyll admitted, clearly not proud of it, but not going to hide it. “And what a mistake I’d have made. Heh, who’d have thought the tadpoles would prove useful?” 

“Suppose I’ve got two things to thank the mind flayers for then,” Karlach joked. “Seeing people’s memories when I meet them is definitely a new one for me!” 

The others chuckled and agreed, though Saff’s smile faded as a realisation suddenly dawned on her. 

With a gasp she turned to Gale and found him looking back at her with a slightly nervous look on his face. He knew what she’d just realised… 

With wide eyes she stepped back instinctively, and by this point the others had clearly noticed, and soon Gale felt all eyes on him, wondering what Saff was reacting to. 

“Ah, yes, I wondered if you might ask about this…” he started, before Lae’zel interrupted. 

“Ask about what??” she demanded, not wanting to be left in the dark. Meanwhile, Astarion looked quite excited.

“Ohh, we’ve only just got back and already there’s drama,” he whispered to Karlach, who happened to be standing next to him, and who looked significantly more concerned about all this.

“I didn’t see anything when I met Gale…” Saff whispered, the fear in her voice evidence of her fears about the reason behind that. “There was no connection, not like with everyone else…” 

“Did everyone else not see Gale’s memories?” Wyll asked, trying to remember what he’d seen when they’d met. “I saw books and a wizard’s tower.” 

“Those were my memories,” Saff said, knowing exactly which memories they’d seen as she’d seen them as well when their minds connected. 

“If you’d just let me explain-”

“Kaincha!” Lae’zel spat, drawing her sword. “He’s lying! He’s not infected at all!” 

“I assure you I am not lying!” Gale said quickly, holding his arms up in front of him defensively. 

“What, then? Speak!” 

“I just blocked it out! It’s not so different to Detect Thoughts and other such similar spells. I blocked out the tadpole the same way I would block out those spells.” “Ch’k, you expect us to believe you can just block out the tadpoles with such ease?” Lae’zel sneered, not believing him. Shadowheart clearly thought similarly. 

“The tadpoles are powerful magic,” she said, implying he wouldn’t be able to overpower them. 

“And I’m a powerful wizard,” he replied, the hint of a threat at the edge of his tone. “To control one’s mind and defend it against such threats is basic training at any good wizardry academy. I won’t claim blocking out the tadpoles is easy, but it is possible.” 

There was a moment of uneasy silence as they each weighed up whether or not to believe him. 

“Bah, enough! I will settle this!” Lae’zel declared, then strode towards Gale. For a moment the group thought she was going to kill him there and then, til she stopped in front of him and the pain ripped through their heads once more. 

They all felt it - Lae’zel trying to enter his mind. They felt her slashing the walls of his consciousness, trying to force her way in, as if trying to bash down a door… then suddenly they were all ejected as Gale’s defenses dropped like a portcullis. 

“Out!” Gale shouted, holding his head. He glared at Lae’zel, and she at him. 

“Ch’k, it didn’t connect. You have no tadpole!” 

“I stopped you connecting!” 

“And why should I believe you?” she demanded, raising her sword again in a threat. 

“If you want me to prove it then just ask, don’t start trying to force your way in!”

“Very well. Prove it to us,” she demanded. Hardly the polite request Gale had meant, but better than having his mind forced open. At least this way he could control what they saw… he hoped. 

“Fine…” he murmured, taking a moment to gather himself, before closing his eyes. 

The feeling returned, but this time it wasn’t painful. Not like their minds suddenly clashing together, but instead of his mind willingly opening up to them and sharing with them. He tried to focus on an unimportant recent memory, but quickly found the tadpoles seemed to gravitate towards rather more impactful memories. He could focus it somewhat, keeping it to recent memories, but couldn’t control exactly what they saw. 

The vision that came to them was that of a forest, though they felt his anxiety - then came the gnoll, jumping on him, throwing him to the ground. They saw its teeth, gnashing and tearing, sinking into his arm, blood and bile, searing pain, nothing but hunger behind the gnoll’s empty black eyes…

Then a blast of wind and thunder as the gnoll was thrown back. A blink and Saff was stood in front of him, protecting him as she hit the gnoll with everything she had, attack after attack. They felt his pain, his fear, his adrenaline… and maybe something else as he looked up at her…

The vision disappeared and they were back in the present. For a moment the group was quiet, some of them feeling a bit bad about turning on him so quickly when he’d been telling the truth, til Lae’zel spoke. 

“You were attacked by one of those creatures?” she asked, a hint of familiarity in her tone - they’d faced them out on the road, too. 

Gale lifted his sleeve and showed the bandages on his arm. 

“I was. And I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for Saff,” he said, turning to her. For a moment she blushed as the rest of the group looked at her. Astarion and Lae’zel in particular looked surprised, having seen how she’d reacted to the goblins the day before. Astarion’s look of surprise turned to a smile as he stepped forward. 

“Well then, a toast to your saviour is in order, is it not?” he said, taking his pack off and pulling out a bottle of wine. 

“Fuck yes!” Karlach agreed, happy both about the fact that the misunderstanding between her new friends had been settled, and that one of them had a surprise bottle of wine in his bag.

[mk-wizard]

Top 10 Video Games that DON’T Need a Remake/Reboot EVER

Note that this list is subjective, but I felt I had to make it because we are living in the age of remakes and reboots. And just like some movies don’t need a remake, neither do timeless video games.

1- Chrono Trigger - It’s not for nothing this game not only aged well, but also stands as one of the best plot driven games with time travel as its theme. It also introduced the concept of the same game having multiple endings and the “NewGame+” mode. While remastering it would be fine, the game is already emotive, fun and advanced as it is and doesn’t need a remake or to be turned 3D (shudder). Let’s not try to improve upon perfection.

2- Mother (1, 2 and 3) - Considering the themes these games have are really from their time which was the 90s (especially the alien invasion concept), you really can’t remake them or make them like new without changing everything to the point where it just isn’t the same game anymore. You might as well just make a sequel rather than attempt to remake an existing instalment and pretend it is the same when it isn’t. Plus, the pixelated and 2D look ADDS to the charm of the game. When you take it away, it just isn’t the same.

3- Sonic the Hedgehog (1, 2, 3, CD and Sonic & Knuckles) - Like Mother, these games are games of their times which would translate very poorly in 3D and everything that makes them fun to watch and play would be lost. While remasters and fixing the bugs in these games would be fine, we don’t need to give it the 3D treatment. There are enough 3D Sonic games as is.

4- Super Mario World - Like the classic Sonic games, there are enough 3D Mario Bros games. Let’s keep the classic ones as is with just a remaster at best. Plus, side scrollers are such a lost art now. Do we really want to erase the last of them?

5- Tetris - It’s bad enough we tried to make a sequel that no one asked for when it comes to this game. Does it really need a remake? The thing that makes Tetris iconic is its simplicity. There’s nothing to remake because there’s nothing to add. It has everything it needs. Period.

6- Street Fighter 2 - If there is one game that should finally stay retired and be remembered as is, it’s this one simply because it literally died of over-rebooting. There’s Street Fighter 2 Alpha, Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Street Fighter 2 Arcade Edition, Super Street Fighter 2, etc. Yeah. While doing that helped flesh out the iconic characters, let’s stick to just making sequels. We exhausted the remaking and rebooting process enough with this instalment. Let it rest in peace.

7- Team Fortress 2 - This is online player game meaning it evolves and expands on its own. There is no need to reboot it because game like this simply don’t work out with being rebooted. By the time the game is not popular anymore, it is because the craze has passed and even if does get rebooted, no one will buy it. The smarter thing to do is to wait a while and then just make a sequel just like how TF2 is in fact just a sequel. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great game, but rebooting just isn’t its style.

8- Any video game based on a celebrity - I think it is obvious why we shouldn’t waste our time rebooting video games like this. Unless it was an exceptionally amazing game and the celebrity is STILL popular, nobody of newer generation will play it simply because they won’t know who these people are. Plus, these games were not a hit even when they were new simply because people would rather play fantastical fiction characters than grounded real people even if they are celebrities. So, just don’t, folks.

9- Any video game that is based on a movie, show or product - Just as movies based on video usually fail, so does the reverse. Plus, as with most of these entries, these video games were games of their time based on stuff that was popular at the time. When the newer generation sees these games, they’re going to much prefer watching the movie, watching the show or using the actual product. The only case of which the game will be worth their time is if it based on the movie or show while expanding on it by adding to the lore, filling in gaps and being its own story while still being a great game like Alien Isolation. Other than that, it’s not worth it.

10- Any game that was best left forgotten - Sadly, some video game are just bad not because they were too ambitious, too ahead of their time or had too many bugs. They were just lackluster and didn’t leave an impression. They were bad ideas and rebooting them with better graphics and fancier features won’t suddenly make them good. Sometimes, it just makes it worse. If you’re going to use time, energy and money to reboot something, do so on something people want to see a comeback of. Otherwise, just make a new game.

Bonus - Other honourable mentions here I will add are every Legend of Zelda (just make a sequel), every classic Mario Bros game, Final Fantasy 1 to 6, every Pokemon game since every new game is technically just a reboot of the first two (Red and Blue) that started it all, Word of Warcraft, Starcraft, the Sims, the Phantasy Star series, Secret of Evermore, Secret of Mana which technically did get a reboot and it stank, every Mortal Kombat since it always gets a sequel anyway, and every Simulation, Hidden Object and Tycoon game.

[enby-ernhardt]

Some things I’d like to see in the KOTOR remake(s), assuming they actually get released. I know some of it is a bit idealistic, but I can dream 😆

More customisation: maybe your character has a larger body, or freckles, or the braided hairstyle but blonde. They’re Twilek, Mirialan, or Zabraki! Non binary! Asexual! Anything goes, babey!!

Improved graphics and animation: ok, this is practically a given, but still. Have you seen characters get killed, then stand back up so they can die properly? Or characters knocked down when frozen getting back up and re-freezing (in that ridiculous pose) 😆. Revan’s dance moves stay, obviously, they’re just smoother.

Companions can roam ship/have schedules: Mostly they’ll be where they are now, but sometimes you’ll find Atton taking a nap, or Mission at the food replicator, and so on. Maybe you’ll even see someone patching themselves up in the med bay after a particularly rough battle.

Seperate the first name/last name fields: Sometimes I find a good first name but want to randomise the last. Also, giving every character my full name whilst trying to stay under the radar is counterintuitive. 😄

Romance: make Carth and Bastila bi, improve Juhani’s romance options (keep her a lesbian though), and add romance to the Kotor 2 characters (and Canderous in K1 because I know some people want that). You should be able to turn them down at any point though if you want.

Hide weapons unless fighting: We’ve all had a character stab themself when meditating or something. Also this

Small decorations: just having little trinkets and stuff appear throughout the game as you complete various tasks. Maybe you could keep one gizka, or pazzak cards/credits stack up as you win more games, or you get a sticker saying “Visit Manaan!”, etc.

Containers say when empty: this one is just here because I’m stupid and can’t remember shit 😆

[K1] Change Tach sound: those seconds between descending into the shadowlands and finding the mute button are the longest seconds of my life. (I know there’s mods, but they aren’t available on console)

[K1] Influence system/relationship changes: It really doesn’t make sense that Carth and Bastila will watch you do something dark sided and just make a small comment before pretending it never happened. Lightside companions should become more wary of you the darker you get, with Bastila giving you more lectures, for example.

[K1] Solo/not mc sections: I really like these sections in Kotor 2, so it’d be nice to have some in the first one too. Maybe someone could deal with the Mandalorian raiders while you’re training as a Jedi, or Canderous does the Genoharadan quest. Or entirely new stuff.

[K1] Change equipment on the Hawk: Also from Kotor 2. It’s very annoying to keep taking characters off the ship just to give them better stuff

[K1] Cutscenes on ship: yet another thing from Kotor 2. Carth asking Bastila how she got captured, Carth and Canderous’ Warrior or Soldier discussion, and Mission asking Bastila about using the force for fun could all easily take place on the ship, along with other convos.

[K2] references to/import data from K1: I’d like to see people talk about the time Revan saved/destroyed Hrakert rift and affected the kolto, or about them being swoop champ, and stuff like that.

[K2] Finished product: all the stuff the Restored Content Mod deals with should be there from the beginning, no need for mods or dlc *cough* Switch port *cough*. I know we’re going to mod the game anyway, but it should be for fun stuff and minor bug fixes, not restoring half the game!

[shinygoku]

Johto is kind of Quaint

...while symbiotic with the other regions.

Yeah, after my analysis and conclusion of Kanto being an unfortunately grimy and less-than ideal place to live (but that does make it a cool setting in its own way!), I remarked that the other 3 Japan-Regions are little slices of Ghibli vibes. But out of those, Johto feels the most tricky to actually define. The closest I can come up with is Remote, while heavily leaning on Kanto and later, Sinnoh, for more actual substance. Paradoxical, ain’t it? Let’s have a deeper look...

Imagine (or possibly, remember!) you’ve just slotted your brand new Gold or Silver into your Game Boy, after having played Gen 1 faithfully for years. How this brand new region both looks so much like what you’re used to, but there’s more colour, and an exciting new Day and Night difference. As you play, you realise the routes in between Towns are more winding and natural feeling, and even once you hit the most developed location, it’s an odd one out and a considerable distance off from the others. It ain’t just more of the same!

It’s rural and lacks the hustle and bustle of Kanto, which is a deliberate design choice. Kanto, after all, shares its very name with the real-world region that contains Tokyo, so while Johto got a new name for itself, it’s basically the Kansai region. Home of historic areas and temples, and a reputation for being laid-back and easygoing. Johto has mostly small towns that seem to pride themselves on being small and humble, and is all bordered with either dense forests, vast cordoned off ocean or a jagged mountain range. There’s even an early route to the 2nd biggest and the single most developed city, except that it’s so tree lined that even one fake-tree blocks the entire path!

Yet... Johto doesn’t feel entirely like its own thing. In a way, the contrast with Kanto is the defining feature it has, but what else is there? Is it truly a region we can consider a separate entity, or the balancing half to the urban sprawl of Gen 1? It gets weirder when you factor in the native mons, generally being unassuming and underwhelming, except for some of the best and coolest concepts, which are very strangely limited to being found only in Kanto once you gain access. The Psychic Killer type being mostly confined to the postgame is pretty crummy! That’s a pretty bad choice that ain’t even fixed in the remake, unless you know how to rig the Safari Zone... but still, you can’t walk around Johto at night to find Houndour or Sneasel? Why not?! My best guess is that it’s incentive to keep combing through the slightly shortened version of Kanto for goodies, but who’d think to look for the unseen new mons in the stomping grounds of the past? And yes, both real life and even in-game past, it’s explicitly set 3 years after the events of RGB.

What’s the deal with the level scaling and extremely sparse spread of Trainers in the later parts of the game? A poor attempt to allow for choosing your own route after Ecruteak means the 3 possible Gyms are all low levelled. You trek through an abandoned Victory Road, where the implication is that Silver scared the NPCs off with Major Character Powers, and Mt Silver (...no relation lol) is also deserted save for the surprize reveal of Red at the peak. Is Johto really that low energy that they don’t feel the urge to battle?

It may be this, honestly. Johto seems way more friendly and personable than Kanto. A whole game mechanic has you getting phone numbers for swarm info, rare items or pointless chitchat. Other than Team Rocket’s weedy attempts to re-assert their dominance, the only somewhat antagonistic characters are 2 sore loser Gym Leaders and Silver the Human. There’s even the brand new Friendship mechanic for your team, and breeding!

Overall, Johto makes me think of summer evenings. It’s exciting but in a small, cosy way. You can imagine running up a hill to reach a small house at the top with the windows glowing with yellow light and the door invitingly open. It’s also like a crisp autumn morning where the sky is clear and blue and you can leisurely sip at a hot drink. The Ruins of Alph are weird and spooky, but not in a ghostly way, but one that makes you want to unearth the mysteries. There’s tall wooden towers to climb and whirlpools to swim around. It feels like a great place to have an adventure, but also one where you can get back home in time for supper.

A very early build of GS had the region take place over a theme park version of the WHOLE of Japan, I think it’s very good that they re-planned it to be the Kansai region instead and give Kyushu and Hokkaido their own focuses later too, all these areas get a lot of loving attention to detail as a result.

As for the symbiotic traits with the fellow regions, I’ve got a lightweight summary here:

Kanto - Literal next door neighbours who are also yin and yang. A lot of Pokémon overlap and Prof Oak has much more presence in Johto than Elm, plus the whole shared Indigo League. For some reason Mt Silver is regarded as Kanto but I’d argue for it being a Johto thing lmao.

Hoenn - Less so, though the playable character (Brendan or May) is from Johto as their dad, Norman, went up enough in the ranks to be given a gym position in Hoenn instead. Hoenn thus feels bigger both figuratively and literally, having its own branch of the Pokémon League that Johto doesn’t quite manage.

Sinnoh - Similar themes of reverence for history and old myths. Again there’s a lot of Pokémon species overlapping with new Evos and Prevos. The two halves of Sinnoh being divided by a vast mountain range echoes how Kanto and Johto are geographically, plus Mt Silver is the only other place to Sinnoh with fallen snow.

Oh yeah, and there was the whole Embedded Tower (where you find Groudon/Kyogre/Rayquaza) and the Sinjoh Ruins that you only access with an event or hacked Arceus from the remakes! Well, I’d say they borrow more the Vibe from their respective regions, which I’ll soon cover!

[crystalelemental]

“books-are-my-life-stuff: I do agree that the whole Cresselia and Darkrai confrontation thing was cool. And I like how Palkia is characterized there. Though it's kinda weird to see a purely evil villain after Wigglytuff said that no Pokemon are evil from his Special Episode, and especially after Dusknoir. Also, maybe I'm still annoyed at the fact that Cresselia ate most of my Reviver Seeds.”

This may just be my own general interpretation of it, but Wigglytuff’s mentor wasn’t really a good person until later on.  “Pure evil” doesn’t exist because everyone has that capacity within them, but some are going to choose to follow the evil they have.  Once you’ve beaten Darkrai, if you find them after The Incident, they can join you.  They don’t have their memories, but the fact that they’re non-hostile is a pretty good indicator that there’s more than just who they were as your antagonist.  I feel like it still checks out, and is more about the potential for good and evil than no one actually being evil from circumstance or choice.

“Oh yeah the original Rescue Team game was a HUGE PAIN. I didn't even do the postgame at all because I was already so exhausted from Sky Tower which took me weeks to complete. But yeah, thankfully it's all fixed in the remake and because of the QoL improvements, I did most of the postgame dungeon except the level 5 ones. Art style is also amazing, very storybook-like, and I love it.

I didn't do much beyond evolving my main team in postgame either after the postgame plot is done. Kyurem and Hydreigon are cool, Munna is okay but I never treat her as a villain, even after the revelation. I also don't like Bittercold that much either. Don't like the minigames either, but at least the whole "turn everything round into a dungeon!" thing was pretty fun.”

I can’t remember how the levels work, but I kept going until I cleared Purity Forest and...yeah, that was a whole adventure.  I do not like the whole “Set party to level 1 and go exploring” dungeon theme, I don’t think it’s clever or interesting or requires skill so much as dumb luck to find food.  But I do love the art style, I think it’s super cute.  And I kinda like some of the changes, in a way that’s goofy.  Like, one of the smaller dungeons could spawn really high level Gyarados and was dark, and I accidentally woke one up that was hiding in a corner as we came into a room, it Hyper Beamed most of us to death in the hallway then Mega Evolved and kept going.  That’s probably the most hilariously out-gunned I’d felt.

I just remember so little about Gates to Infinity.  I’d have to replay it, but I’m not sure I want to go looking for it right now, you know?  Maybe one day I’ll give the newer ones a try again.

“I think the reason you couldn't nickname everyone in Super Mystery Dungeon is that every Pokemon is one of a kind...for better or for worse, really. Many people also don't like the recruitment system. The game was overall considerably more difficult, many people stopped playing mostly because it feels more rogue-like, but the story was pretty fun. Not the greatest, have a lot of gripes, but still fun. Also I really like how Ampharos is characterized there.”

I don’t remember if it was necessarily difficult, but I do remember one of the recruitments early on was Salamence, who is really high level and hard to deal with...unless you stocked up on Sleep and Blast Seeds and could cheese it.  Which is what I did.  It did feel much more like a “use your resources” kind of game than previous entries.

[ericleo108]

05/26/2023 Click here for Spotify, Apple Music, or Youtube. “John Wick” is my 45th official release. This song is edutainment, or educational entertainment which is music that teaches you. The song is intellectually stimulating but dark and contains an all to common story of what those who are trafficked experience. The song was self-recorded, and mixed and mastered by Keyano. The beat is from Retro Beatz, and the cover art is made by Zain from Fiverr.

This is a remake from ‘The Chalice Mixtape’ I made in 2017. I have more songs from the mixtape and demos from SoundCloud on the way. The theme of ‘The Chalice Mixtape’ was gender equality which human trafficking broadly falls under. We all have that feeling of wanting to stop evildoers but the truth is this the solution is simpler, being as trafficking will probably continue to prosper until we legalize prostitution.

As the song enunciates, pimps entrap girls from a young age and the practice of prostitution is illegal so they can’t get assistance from the state, they’re seen as criminals. Then due to their criminal status they’re not able to get a job and are tapped in a life controlled by a pimp. This means the current law gives power and economic control to usually male abusers in an unregulated market.

Pimping/illegal prostitution is all driven by money. If you take away the money you take away the motivation and agency. This is why I support legal brothels. The current economic model of prostitution depends on pimps that have no competition, don’t pay taxes or payroll, and are violent against women. How is this capitalism? I support legalizing prostitution because its the only way to put human trafficker’s out of business.

Prostitution is natural.   Prostitution is the oldest known profession. When you introduce money to monkeys the rich ones will pay for sex. We are denying people’s humanity by making prostitution illegal. Sex work is work and women deserve to be paid well for their work in a safe environment just like any other worker. In America if you pay for sex, it’s illegal, unless you film it, then it’s porn and legal. If you would like to help victims of human trafficking you can donate to wearethorn.com

You can see me talk about this blog post from last Sunday Update here:

Lyrics:

A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere

Ain't shit changed since the days of slavery

Still got the modern-day slave trade functioning every day

Low risk, high profitability 

More slaves today than ever before in history 

Girls get taken, 

Liam Nelson don't save um 

We look to Ashton Kutcher to search for their placement

I'm just telling you cuz I want Thorn paid big

Human trafficking, a fact you see

A tragedy in the vicinity 

Forced prostitution, involuntary servitude

Tell me bought your conscience, and what it really do for you

Millions oppressed

In a life of regret  

Under duress 

Exploited for sex 

Seventy percent women

Most are children 

Man I’d be god damn if I don’t stop the villain

Batman wouldn’t kill, put another murderer in the world 

But forget it I’m a kill 'em, I’d rather save the little girl 

Being a victim is like falling asleep

And having Freddy Krueger stuck in your dreams

I’mma go hard, change the laws, and stop this

Like someone stole my car and killed my dawg, John Wick

Being a victim is like falling asleep

And having Freddy Krueger stuck in your dreams

I’mma go hard, change the laws, and stop this

Like someone stole my car and killed my dawg, John Wick

A daughter at play 

She gets taken away 

Is forced to obey 

Becomes mentally estranged 

While the world ignores this

She gets sexually exploited

Addicted to the endorphins 

She got forced in

Feed drugs so she’s addicted

Does anything for her fix again 

She don’t know who the victim is

Cuz she’s been in it since she’s a kid 

Prey are the vulnerable

Children who run from home 

Kids from foster care

That get lost and no one cares

Needs money to survive 

Trapped in this life 

Coerced for prostitution 

Soon enough, what she do is 

Gets caught, at fault

For breaking the law 

Spends years in a vault

While her pimp gets to walk

Being a victim is like falling asleep

And having Freddy Krueger stuck in your dreams

I’mma go hard, change the laws, and stop this

Like someone stole my car and killed my dawg, John Wick

Being a victim is like falling asleep

And having Freddy Krueger stuck in your dreams

I’mma go hard, change the laws, and stop this

Like someone stole my car and killed my dawg, John Wick

You can get mad at me 

Not understand these things 

But I’m here for you girl we’re family

Thirty three billion in traffic 

Where’s that money from the taxes? 

I’m for legal brothels 

So we protect what we got there

Oldest job in history, it’s called employment 

Look I know your business, I’mma force you to quit

I wonder what would happen 

If we gave Philip Defranco a gat then

Told him in three states it’s legal to track down 

Petafiles, sex offenders, you can kill’um if you act now

I’d be with Phil laughin, admiring his passion 

After we beat them senseless

Tortured their senses 

Broke their mentals 

And cut off their genitals, 

But for real all my real friends kill on the weekend 

Pop a beer, eat the heart out of the deceased then

Hang’um from a tree, peel the skin off, disembowel them 

I’m really thinking of you pimps and how it all will end 

Human skin has the texture of pig flesh 

What you gonna do when I want it from you next 

Who crazy, who knew, I have schizophrenia fool

And I just want you to know that I’m thinking of you 

Being a victim is like falling asleep

And having Freddy Krueger stuck in your dreams

I’mma go hard, change the laws, and stop this

Like someone stole my car and killed my dawg, John Wick

Being a victim is like falling asleep

And having Freddy Krueger stuck in your dreams

I’mma go hard, change the laws, and stop this

Like someone stole my car and killed my dawg, John Wick

[pokemoneverlastingorchard]

Download 10/6/22

Download

Before you download this version: I have no idea if this will replace your character or not. I’d go to:

Graphics > Characters

And copy either TrChar000, Boy_Run, Boy_Surf, and Boy_Bike, or TrChar001, Girl_Run, Girl_Surf and Girl_Bike and paste them somewhere outside the game’s files. If your character changed after downloading this version, close your game, then paste the copied files into the “characters” folder and say “yes” to replace them.

------

I wanted to do a bit more but right now I’m emotionally exhausted, and on Friday I’ll be physically exhausted too for a few days. I feel like I need to focus on something else at the moment (it probably won’t take long) and I think I did significant work on this build anyway.

Story:

+Finished Kai’s pre-marriage schedule dialogue.

+Started on Kalani’s.

Features:

-I have transformed the “video game floor” in the Nemorensis department store to a clothing floor, where you can buy “special clothing.” Specifically what you wear during contests in ORAS, DPP and BDSP. I do plan on having more simple, cheaper outfits, probably based on Pokemon in the future.

-Also you can get your hair dyed in two tones on this floor. No different hair styles yet and I doubt I would ever want to subject myself to such, but maybe I’ll do “wigs” in the future so I’d have an excuse to not color every hair style 15 times for every new hairstyle. Even wigs are a big “maybe” though.

-The “video game floor” in the Fulgora department store is still that, except you can buy a TV and game systems as furniture from there, plus a game that you can play on the NES. It’s only one game that you can play at home right now though. You know those Fossil puzzles in Gen 2 and their remakes? It’s that but the puzzles are art from Pokemon Cards. There’s up to five different pictures you can play with.

-That floor also allows you to play “demos.” One of them is of the puzzle game, except you can only do Pidove. The other is a dungeon crawler game that I made just to prove to myself that I can. I’ll talk about that game below

I don’t know what other games I can make. I thought about making a small dating sim within the dating sim, but I’m already having trouble writing for the dating sim, so how am I supposed to write for the dating sim mini game?

I also thought about making “Pokemon Box” available for purchase. The joke being that it would just function as a PC.

Graphics:

-I finally recolored the white male’s and white non-binary’s back sprite to have skin color that matches their overworld sprites’ skin color. I’m not exactly sure how I forgot that I never changed their skin color from the original sprites I based theirs on until now since I didn’t forget to do that for the female’s sprite. I also did some general fixes to the back sprites of all three. (Mostly focusing on the hair and shirts.)

-The two-toned hair made me want to make the back sprites match the clothes and hair you wear, so they do that now. At least they mostly do. I can’t see myself spriting the “special outfits” in the back sprites any time soon (not unless I’m actually commissioned to do so sooner) so whenever you wear one of those outfits your back sprite will be wearing their original shirts.

-Made the “surprise” and “super happy” mouths look better.

-Fixed up Alan’s, Cerise’s, Alderic’s, and Kai’s overworld sprites.

-I basically completely redid Ollie’s overworld sprites. (I did use one of the “special dresses” as the base for her body, and I fixed up her original head, so it didn’t take me that long.) After fixing up her head the rest of the body seemed weird and I figured out why- her body type in general was kind of messed up.

I used an overworld NPC from Ruby and Sapphire that was completely replaced in Emerald. She didn’t have arms, nor did she have breasts. I know that sounds weird but if you look at the overworld female sprites with dresses on they do have breasts that separates the top and bottom of the body.

-This also means that I redid her Halloween overworld sprites. I didn’t do that for anybody else since it’s only one in-game day but it’d be kind of weird to have a completely different shaped sprite for her on Halloween.

Glitches and oversight fixes:

-I forgot to delete the old “clock” thing where it’d show you the time of day but not the hour on the farm map, so it’d flicker between two different images and it’d look weird. I found and deleted the one that would just say “day, midday...”

Misc:

-I moved the men who sold TMs in both department stores to the ground floor where they’ll probably be the most noticeable.

Pokemon Dungeon Crawler (about the game):

You can play a “demo” of this game in Fulgora’s department store. Rather or not I make it into a “full” game will depend on feedback and/or if I just feel like finishing it. It’d be a good thing to do while I’m stuck on what to do with something else in the game. Or if I don’t feel good and I don’t feel like thinking too hard since a lot of it is just copying&pasting battles with some tweaks here and there.

In the "demo:" -The demo only has the most basic stuff, which is why it's so small: --You start with one full heal, one potion and one revive. (Though I'll probably keep it that way if I make it into a "full" game.) --There's a treasure chest in the demo map. There's chance that Voltorb will pop out of it. (Since Voltorb is Pokemon's version of a Mimic.) Defeating it will gain you more items than not having one pop out at you would. --There's only up to five Pokemon you can battle in the "demo." (Including Voltorb.) --You can recruit a partner, who'd be the healer of the group. --You can maybe get burned or poisoned by some Pokemon. ("Maybe," because despite this it hasn't happened to me yet.) --You get a sneak peek of the first boss. --Hiro can level up to 5, where Happy (and Nyura, maybe) can level up to 3. There's no "stats" on display but for every time you level up you can see the difference when you fight. --You control it the same way you control your character outside of the game. So if you have your running shoes toggled on, you'll rush through the dungeon. If you don't like this, you can always toggle them off.

Problems and possible problems in the demo that I can't figure out: --Happy's HP display is reversed for some fucking reason. I know for a fact that I flipped the numbers but the numbers themselves didn't flip for some reason so it's just stuck like that. --I forgot to change some sound effects, so for some magic attacks you'll probably hear a "poison" sound effect. I'll fix this in the "full game" if I make that (and I remember) but I wouldn't fix it for the demo since it's more fun that way. Any other small things like this would also probably remain unchanged in the demo version. (I still hate the HP thing though.) --I forgot to change the names of some of the Pokemon in places. So you might see a message like "Houndour used Electric Magic!" because I forgot to replace "Houndour" with "Voltorb." (I just caught it so that instance has been changed now.) --I haven't fainted or have gotten a "Game Over" yet, so I don't know what will happen if that happens. If it works out the same way it SHOULD you just lose your turn until you're revived, and if everybody dies you go to the title screen. --You can still open your menu and save your game. I didn't test it and I doubt that this would effect anything, but I'm mentioning it just in case it could.

In the "full game," if I were to make it: --Make it so you can "buy" and play the game at home. (That'd be the only way to actually play it.) --Add a "manual" that you can read with it. (I'd probably just have it within text boxes instead of making graphics for it.) --I'd make the first map bigger. (The "demo" map just shows you the things that could happen in the game.) --Have up to 3 rooms, and maybe make you crawl out of all three of them once you reach the last room. --Every time you defeat one of the bosses, you'd gain their magic ability. --Give you another partner, this one more focused on physical fighting. (It's the BETA Sneasel.) --Have a better balance between the enemy Pokemon and you. I'd probably actually raise your party's defense during level up, too. --There would be around 13 different Pokemon to fight for each floor, instead of just five. All based on common RPG monsters, so you can probably guess what they'd be based on that. (Plus their evolutions.) I'd restrict them to Gen 1 and 2. (And mostly the 1997 and 1999 demos of Gen 2, where the sprites look a bit worse.) --I'll probably make you take damage for every step if you're burned or poisoned.

Some fun facts about the game: --I didn't need to, but I thought that it'd be fun to recolor the Pokemon with an NES color palette. I was right! --I did not do that for the other graphics. They just didn't look right when I tried. --I got most of the sprites from Pokemon Yellow, but I got some of them from the 1999 version of Pokemon Silver since those are a bit wonkier than the final product. --The Pokemon I chose I chose based on common RPG monsters. Right now you can only fight a Geodude, (golem) a Houndour, (hellhound) Oddish, (mandrake) a "Betobebe," (slime) and Voltorb. (Mimic.) --"Happy" is BETA Blissey. I like the design but I don't think I want to revamp it and turn it into a Pokemon you can catch, so I placed her here. If I were to revamp it it'd be a fairy type so I made her a fairy type in this game. (Blissey's Japanese name is "Happi," so... Happy.) --"Nyura" would be BETA Sneasel, since again I like the design but I can't find a reason to put it in the main game. (Like "Happy," I got the name from it's Japanese name, "Nyuura.") --You can waste your potions and full heals, but not your revives. I did that on purpose since some old RPGs won't stop you from wasting some items either.

[dmclemblems]

2 and 3 for the ask game?

the same meme as earlier that i took two months to answer whoo hooooo

2. What’s your least favorite main title?

To be honeeeeest... I think probably FE2? Maybe? I mean FE1 isn’t that great by modern standards but I feel like it’s pretty unfair to judge it solely on that. FE2 I never really got into. The story isn’t bad and it’s interesting for what it is, but the gameplay was just not my thing I guess? I don’t even hate it, it just never appealed to me. The thing about FE1/11 is that they have the perks of having a small handful of characters I love, as compared to FE2 which just... didn’t. I can’t really say Awakening because it did have the perk of the old characters being usable even in the main story maps which was fun for me, and the gameplay itself wasn’t bad. I know Fates had a lot of issues but I didn’t totally hate it, and there were characters I did like even if only a few, so both of those games still somewhat top FE2.

SoV is kinda in the same situation for now. I might play it completely one day, but I couldn’t really get into it and didn’t get far when a friend let me borrow it.

i should say it’s fe3 just because wolf dies in that one, but i guess i’ll forgive intsys since they fixed that in fe12

3. What titles have you played?

All of the mainline ones except SoV, unless you count the very short amount of time I started it and just didn’t get into it. I didn’t play the first Warriors game. The ones I only played once ages ago are 1, 2, 3, and 6, though I hope to replay 6 sometime. I mainly just tried out 1 and 3 to try to play all of them and have the original experience of the remakes, so I probably won’t play them again. It’s been a while since I played 5 and I only played it... once or maybe twice? I’ll probably play it again sometime though. 7 and 8 I grew up with so I played those a lot when I was younger but haven’t recently (I did play them a good handful of times). 11 I played a couple times, 12 a few times, and 13/14 are in the same boat (a small few). 4 I played... a lot, like I think 17 times lol. 10 I played... five, six times? 9 I played... like... 22 times lmfao. Granted I also grew up with 9 and I loved it. It was my favorite before I played 4 but I never really stopped playing it. Sometimes I just randomly pick it back up and do a run or two out of nowhere after not touching it for a good while. 4 and 9 (and 10 even if I haven’t played it as much) are the ones I always love coming back to, no matter how many times I’ve played it the exact same way as before. In FE9 especially, I don’t really change up who I use. In FE4 you can at least use different pairings for inheritance and all, so I’ve done that once in a while, here and there... but not often at all. I just play them the same way almost every time and somehow I still have fun lol.

[mumumumuch]

i just learned how to make gifs of live performances from ts files using vapoursynth and i’m a changed person now

[dangan-writing]

I need a n g s t

Kokichi, Nagito and Shuichi with a s/o that’s really forgiving? You could make them end up in the hospital and they’d forgive you

So what if they accidentally kill them and their s/o still forgives them?

If you want, you can do a happy ending where they live! Your choice! :)

╔═══════════════════════════╗

*__ i pick different endings if that's okay Anon, And i picked it to be in the killing game, please tell me if you want it to be changed Anon.

*__ and i apologise if it seems rushed, it's hard to write for 3 character's. And also because you were probably waiting for so long. you can still request for me to remake it Anon, don't worry ^^

*___ Tw -> Ch/king, po/soning, Ka/de, caps, violence, curse words, f/re, injuries

*___Mod Miaya___*

»»———————————- ♡ ————————————««

*___Kokichi Oma___*

When somebody hurts you Kokichi will be fucking rude to them since they don't deserve respect since they hurted you

"Ah Kokichi! Calm down, it didn't hurt that much! I'm okay, see?" You try to move around, but gasping because of the pain "O-Oh.." "See! You got really hurt! That person is gonna get it!!" Kokichi wails "H-hey, i forgive them.. it's not like they murdered me or anything! I'm still here, with just some small injury!" You giggled "Are you that nice?" Kokichi mumbled, before getting up "Hey c'mon! Let's go to Keeboy and have fun with him!" Kokichi smiled mischievously, you laugh "let's go."

That was actually to distract you and go to the person who hurted you and prank the fuck out of the person-

He's concerned about you, i mean. A forgiving S/O? He'll be watching out the people who talks to you, he's a liar. He'll know if they're lying or not. It's impossible for them to hurt you since you have a liar by your side! Impossible he says as he didn't realize they lied in front of his face as you and the person walked away together

After a few minutes passed, he was concerned. Why were you two taking so long? You two must not have been- no, that can't be. Unless...

Shit.. he ran looking after you "S/O!!~ where are you?~ we better not play hide and seek! You'd know i win easily~" he tried to keep up his facade, not wanting to freak himself out... then he saw you tied up, with blood and bruises all over you, with you breathing heavily.

"S/O!" He ran towards you, not even noticing the trap beneath him. As he tried to remove the ropes around you, as he turned around, the door was closed and fire started appearing "Oh shit, t-there was a trap?" He was trying to remove the ropes but it was too tight "Aha.. Don't worry we'll get out of h-here S/O! And we'll get that bastard later for doing this to you dear!" He started to breathe heavily, some smoke blocking his vision. He started to grow weaker "H-ha.. S/O i'm t-truly sorry.." he passed out, luckily people started to bust the door open. The people.. Gonta, and Kaito. With Tenko and the other people "S/O, KOKICHI!" Gonta yelled "Is there any water to put the fire out?" Tenko asked, she doesn't even care if the males save them she just wants them to be saved "I have it here!" Kaito yelled holding some fire grenades with him, he passed the fire grenades to everyone and they started to throw it in the fire

After some minutes, the fire stopped. The others rushed in there finding you two, they picked you two up and put you two in the dorms, Kirumi offered to heal you two. 1st degree burns.. a lot of bruises and blood on you. It took you two two days to wake up.. Kokichi woke up first "nghn.. uh what happened?" Kokichi asked, confused before realizing "ah!- is S/O okay! They better be okay!" Kokichi pouted, looking at Kirumi "they're okay, they just needed more rest then they'll be fine, no need to wory Kokichi. I attended to their injuries quickly after everyone pulled you two out of the fire, they are right next to you Kokichi." Kokichi looked next to him to see you beside him resting peacefully "oh damn, nishishi~" Kokichi looked at Kirumi "Can you leave? I have something to do, like a leader would do!" Kokichi just want to cuddle you actually. Kirumi did as he said, but she knew that he wanted to cuddle you after seeing you there beside him, she smiled.

Cuddling..

After some cuddling you woke up aswell due to his constant moving

"Mmmm Koshi..?" You groaned, half asleep. You rubbed your eyes for a bit "Heeeeey your awake noow! You take too long to wake up!" Kokichi childishly pouted, it's too adorable to be guilty with it, you laugh "That's not going to work in me, that's too adorable y'know?" Kokichi tried his scary face, it's a little intimidating. But it's still cute "still cute-" "Man can't you be scared of me!?" Kokichi cried out! Shaking his arms like a child

After you two were okay now, everyone besides one was trying to find the person who almost killed the both of you

It took 1-2 hours to find the the person who did this

It.. was Angie?

"Uhm.. Why did you try to kill S/O and uh, Ouma-san?" Shuichi asked Angie, who was tied up in a chair "Ahhh~ S/O wanted to give their blood to Atua! That's what Atua told Angie!~" Angie was cheerful as always. Almost everyone didn't believe that "Hey you almost killed me and my dearest S/O!" Kokichi wailed trying to attack Angie, but Gonta was holding onto him as Shuichi said, Angie laughed "S/O offered me some of their-" Shuichi isn't having none of it "Listen.. uhm, you almost killed S/O and Kokichi, how is that uh- related to Atua? And you started a fire for hell's sake...!" Shuichi yelled at Angie, Angie didn't smile. It sended chills on all of their spines.. it wasn't normal for her to not smile, since she always smiles. Seems like she isn't gonna talk for the time "Guys, please don't worry, i forgive her." You jumped in "WHAT? She almost killed you y'know!?" Kaito yelled "Yeah! The idiots right! Angie killed you!" "She's not dead you fuckin' brat!" Miu yelled at Kokichi "h-huh? That w-was uncalled for!" Oh dear now she messed up "W-Wai-" "WWWWWWAAAAAAAHHHHH!!" Kokichi wailed, annoying the others, especially Korekiyo, Kaito, and Maki. They left as soon Kokichi started to cry, except for Kaito-

"Like i said, i forgive her. I'm still alive anyways so that's good right?"

"You forgivable cutie.." Kokichi mumbles

»»———————————- ♡ ————————————««

*___Nagito Komaeda___*

He's a bit protective, you forgive people so easily. He doesn't mind if it's the hopeful people but, the despairful people?? Fuck no he won't let them go to you ever again, he has a quick eye. He'll catch them if they are looking at you

"S/O! Why do you forgive such despairing ugly humans, they hurted you!" Nagito spoke, angrily confused, you are filled with hope thats what he loves but you are a bit too considerate about *everyone's* feelings, even if it's a inanimate object you still refuse to break it.. you really are filled of hope.. too much hope "Huh? Why i forgive people all the time? Uhm... it's just my nature to forgive them, i am aware of how forgiveful i am. I forgive them, but that doesn't mean i like them, listen.. i forgive people but i stay away from them. I can understand when i forgive someone when they hurted me for so long, that's why you never see me with the people i know that hurted me Nagito." You try to give an explaination, of course. You know it isn't all but you decided to give an answer for him to know "S/O.. i.. i understand, how stupid am i to question such hope!" Nagito please calm down we care for you-

You saw him walking, bringing some stuff. Is.. is that poison? Spear, rope, speakers... what is he planning again? He walked inside the warehouse, you need to stop him from being reckless again. But you didn't move from your spot, you waited for a little while. Then you heard fireworks? Then.. running, everyone? They walked to the warehouse, Akane trying to bust the door open. You still stayed im your spot, trying to see if someone is doing stupid. Eventually Akane busted the door open, then you heard

Fire. What the hell? Wasn't Nagito in there? Shit.. You run in the warehouse

"NAGITO!!" you yelled, trying to get the fire canisters and threw them on the fire, it only made the fire more bigger? It's a fire canister.. isn't it suppose to put the fire out? Soon everyone moved and threw the individual fire canister's

Soon enough, the sprinklers put the fire out. You stood up "NAGITO ARE THERE!?" You tried to run in but Monokuma stopped you "Uh-Oh! Unfortuantely you can't be in here for now! Now get out so i can fix this damn warehouse!" You all got kicked out, after 6 minutes Monokuma appeared "Yahhoo, now it's finished now go in there you damn kids!" it's finally done.. honestly it felt like forever. But no time for that, you all ran in the warehouse "hmnn, i smell somethin'.." Akane's nose twitched like a beast when she said that "...That's probably because of the fire earlier.." Chiaki said, and Chiaki pointed out the there was space in the curtains from here, Hajime walked next to the curtain. You felt sick, it can't happen to him plea-

Ding dong bing bong! A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, a class trial will begin!

Screams, Kazuichi, Sonia.. and of course you.

You ran to his body begging that this isn't real "plEASE THIS ISN'T- ISN'T R-REAL" You sobbed, the others felt pity.. They tried to drag you away from his body, of course they did take you away from his body.

You eventually pass out from crying, too tired to investigate for the trial. They dragged you in the trial room, you wouldn't wake up so they had no choice but to drag you in the trial. Few minutes later you woke up

"N-Nagito.. set one of us as the killer..." what? Set one of us?

"Huh? What do you mean he set someone as the murderer..?" you asked in disbelief, Hajime explained what basically happened while you were asleep, you just stood there. You tried to focus, you threw a fire canister in the fire, but it only made the fire larger than before.

What...? This.. is unfair unfair- no.

»»———————————- ♡ ————————————««

"I know who did it." You spoke, interrupting their panicking which they snapped out of it when they looked at you "You only decide to talk now!?" Kazuichi yelled, obviously scared for his life "yeah" you nod "uhm.. may i ask who it is?" Sonia nervously asked, you sighed heavily "uh, it's me."

"W-what!? That can't be true! You saved me when i was starvin'!' Akane yelled out "Huuuuuhhh!? What the hell? S/O bought you some food?! That w-wasn't supposed to be allowed-" Monokuma looked dumbfounded until he was cut off "Who the hell cares!? They still saved me.." Akane looked down, it felt like Nekomaru's death all of a sudden..

Hajime and others felt like crying, you were like a leader trying to protect them even though you forgive people too easily "..." Chiaki didn't said anything, she just looked at you. You smiled at her "Do... do you forgive Komaeda-san for what happened S/O?" Chiaki asked "of course not! He set them up as the culprit you kno-" "Yes." You answered, ignoring Kazuichi's comment "hnm, you still forgive him? After he set you up S/O?" She tilt her head "yes, i know he must have a reason. He wouldn't kill someone for his own benifit, that's what i deduced, i believe he has a reason for this. He loves hope, he thinks me as his hope. He wouldn't just throw me away without an explanation, why would he call me a despairing person? I.. yes, i forgive him.." you lowered your head, you didn't understand any of this, why would he kill himself and you?

"Alrighty! Time to vote! Who would be chosen as the blackened?" Monokuma butted in the conversation "Goodbye everyone.. please remember me and everyone in this damned killing game." You smiled, looking at everyone. You are terrified of what kind of execution you have, but you tried to forget it.

This.. is goodbye for me.

S/O has been found guilty, time for the execution!

Right.. goodbye.

I forgive you all for..

*___Shuichi Saihara___*

The same with the two guys, he'll be pretty protective of you since you are so forgiving, there's a high chance you'll get killed because of your friendly nature and he doesn't want that to happen, not ever

"S-S/O, please try to be less considerate.. N-Not that you should be r-rude to anyone! I mean.. you s-shouldn't forgive p-people that easily, even if they are s-sorry. They hurted you uhm, S/O you don't have to feel o-obligated to forgive them." He hugged you, making you feel protected. You laughed

"Ahah, Shuichi. Thank you, i understand that i shouldn't forgive people that easily but, we really are just like that. No matter how many times they hurted us we forgive them. we people, are like that." You tighten the hug, smiling onto his chest

"S-S/O!" He screamed as he rushed towards you, you choking. He didn't realize he put in the poison instead the water.

"S/O DON'T DIE YET PLEASE" Shuichi was panicking, he is gonna murder his own S/O because he was losing sleep that he didn't realize that he put poison in your drink.

'Please pleaee please please please please please please please please please please please please pleaee please please please please please please please please'

..it....

..It was too late? He looked at your dead body.

"S-S/O.. I.. I'm so sorry... i'm such a failure.." he caressed your face. Sobbing, Before.

Ding dong bing bong! A body has been discovered, after a certain amount of time, a class trial will begin!

"WH-WHAT THE HELL!?" Miu screamed out, she rushed to hide in Kaito's back "EEEEEEIIIII, POOICHI IS THE MURDERER!" "What the hell Shuichi!" Kaito stumbled back a bit. Their screams of terror alerted the others, making Kaede, with Tsumugi and Rantaro on her trail.

"H-huh Shuichi!?" "Aaaauuuhh! The killing has started! It's much more different than Sakura's death on Danganronpa trigger happy hav-" "S-Shuichi.." Kaede, Tsumugi, and Rantaro reacted altogether, Rantaro ran towards Shuichi pushing him and trying to do something so he couldn't move "Anyone here have any rope? We need to tie him up first before questioning whats happened." Rantaro stated, looking up at the others "I-I'm sorry.." Rantaro looked down at Shuichi "you will have to explain yourself later, we don't know if you are the culprit, but be honest later on aight?" Shuichi didn't reply

Korekiyo walked in the scene, with a velvet colored rope in hand "i heard that you will be needing this, and so i give this rope to you Amami-san.." Korekiyo handed him the rope " Thanks Kiyo." Amami tied up Shuichi but didn't question on how Korekiyo found the rope but he isn't complaining "Kekehehe.. it is no problem Amami-san..." weirdo..

After they tied him up, they investigated the crime scene first before talking to him because that will waste their time, as they all went to the trial grounds, with Shuichi still tied up. Kaito guarding so he couldn't run away.

"So.. Shuichi, Why did you plan on killing your S/O. Your S/O." Rantaro said. Even if he is not your S/O he cared abiut you deeply, to just see your dead body fuels him with rage "Y-yeah.. Why Shuichi, you guys loved eachother so deeply, i don't understand why you k-killed them." Kaede tried not to sob, but horribly failed "I... i-i didn't mean to kill them, i was tired, stupid.. just vote me out already, i don't care if i die." .. Nobody tried to argue against him, he already admitted it, no point of arguing anyway

"Man you guys got it right! That was boring. an accidental death! Woohoo surely they wouldn't forgive him, he killed them. They wanted to live, yet. You.. killed... them! Puhuhuhu..lets get with on it, i have a special punishment for the ultimate detective, Shuichi Saihara!" Some of the people were clenching their fists, the ultimate detective.. was going to get executed "Let's give it everything we've got! It's... PUNISHMENT TIIIME!"

...

..

.

Huh? What..

What? Why is he, in a pod? He saw someone outside of the pod..is that? No way, S/O?

You opened the pod, smiling at him "well hello there Shuichi, it's so good to see you again." You held his hand, he looked dumbfounded, soon tears started to build up "S-S/O!" He hugged you tightly, not wanting to let go "I'm s-so sorry.. i didn't mean to kill you! I-i... you can hurt me, anything to make you satisfied with what happened.." Shuichi begged you to do it.. he's sobbing, he's so sorry "it's okay dear, i know you didn't mean it! I forgive you! I don't care how many times you hurt me, i'll always forgive you Shuhara. I love you too much for me to not forgive you, or anyone." You caressed his face, smiling softly at him.

"A-ah.." he looked down before smiling, you standed up and he followed what you did "Now, let's go and watch the others now Detective Shuhara."

"Of course."

╚═══════════════════════════╝

[garrothromeave]

let’s talk about minecraft diaries rebirth.

and why it’s literally amazing. (warning: this will contain spoilers. lots of them. also, long post ahead.)

i think a lot of people hate mcdr because they were expecting a remake; but the point of rebirth is for jess to rewrite it. it wasn't supposed to be exactly the same.

honestly i went into mcdr with a closed mind. as an og mcd fan, i thought that this was going to suck ass and that i'd rant about how bad it was to my friends later. but actually watching it, i just... couldn't help but immediately fall in love with it.

ik im probably the only motherfucker that likes mcdr, but honestly how could i not? for one, garroth and zenix actually have personalities at the beginning. AND; the villagers? actually amazing. donna made me smile, visher made me laugh and cry, brendan was just bein as good as ever. like... i even didn't despise emmalyn with every ounce of my soul like i usually do?? the characterizations of them were GOOD, man.

and honestly, aphmau like--the way she spoke, her whole thing. it was reallyyy well done in my opinion. she was oblivious to things, but it wasn't overdone and wasn't done in a way to make her annoying. she's a very appealing character in mcdr, a main protagonist i do not mind following along with. her dynamics to the characters are really cool and all very unique.  gonna cut it here so i don’t clog y’all’s feed cuz i got a lot to say :)

the early use of aphmau’s powers was actually pretty cool as well, it also really showed how clueless aphmau really was to everything going on around her. AND UH, THE FACT THAT SHE THOUGHT THAT GARROTH FELT FAMILIAR? GOLDEN. absolutely golden.

AND GENE OH BOY, the early introduction of gene? ik a lot of people are upset about it, but god DAMN i love it so much. his role in the story is very important in original, and i cannot express how much joy this brought me learning that he was actually getting the proper attention for it. and the fact that gene and aphmau were working together?? i mean ik gene was just trying to use her to get back to the "shadow abyss" (pretty pog replacement for the nether, gg) but god DAMN i loved every moment of it. i found their dynamic to be pretty fuckin funny to be honest, would absolutely love to see more of it.

i might be biased considering gene is one of my absolute favorite characters, but i honestly think that introducing gene this early on in the story was a good move. again, he's literally the right-hand man to the shadow lord. it makes you really wonder why he didn't have as much of an important role in season 1 or even 2 of the original mcd plotline. also, we get some of that good-ol-fashioned exposition with seeing early on how vylad and gene interact. vylad’s at a very strange point in the story right now; his motives are unclear, even to the side he’s ‘supposed’ to be taking (aka, a shadow knight.)  another early introduction to a character is zane! this, my friends, is good. really good. i’d say that zane is the main antagonist of season 1 in the original series--and he wasn’t even introduced until like, episode 50. it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but him being introduced this early on really gives the audience a better understanding of what threats are out there and what our protagonist will have to encounter in the future. in the original series, there’s not much explanation as to why lords are disappearing/dying left and right--and while yes, that was supposed to be the mystery of it, having some of that early information is a better move in terms of writing. 

AND IVAN?? BEING A PART OF THE JURY OF NINE?? I COULD NOT HAVE ASKED FOR ANYTHING MORE LIKE GOD DAMN that was a very pleasant surprise i'll just say that, thank you jess :)

and no i did not loop the 4 minutes of screentime laurance got in that one episode haha who would do that i would never do that anyways

SPEAKING of laurance, im so glad jess actually wrote him in this early :) she totally could have just waited for the first time aphmau visits meteli and meets him there, but no! she put him in an early episode. i dont even care if she did it just to shut up the fans about laurance but man that made me so happy seeing him, even if it was only for a bit.

okay i kinda wanna go over the guards real fast firstly; garroth. ignoring how weird the helmet showing emotions is, i really like how garroth is portrayed. he's under a lot of pressure because the village is putting a lot of the blame on him for malik's death, and he's trying his hardest to keep things running. the fact that garroth utterly refused the to take up the position of lord and even got a little snappy about it was actually really cool to see as well. and while he doesn’t have that same “reserved, quiet, observant” feel as the original mcd version of him had, this version of garroth is absolutely awesome. he’s more direct and blunt, is significantly more sarcastic, and isn’t as stiff or as much as a pushover as he is in the original. he even has a sense of humour. also, no homo, but he’s kinda adorable.  plus, the desperation that he goes through during the whole thing is just--it’s really cool to see how hard he’s trying to prove himself and help the village. my rating for mcdr garroth? 9/10. the helmet... the helmet is the main thing throwin me off, i can’t lie. next, zenix. oh BOY do i have a lot to say about this man. first of all, his and garroth’s dynamic is incredible. when i saw how the interacted with each other, my first thought was: father and son. zenix has this immaturity to him that is so fucking fun and interesting to watch, and seeing how garroth scolds him is so fuckin good man. and! seeing how he interacts with the rest of the village... honestly, if jess ever picks this story up again, i would probably cry when zenix (literally) backstabs garroth. HELL, i hope that’s something that still happens, it’d be heartbreaking to witness this character that we’ve come to love hurting his mentor, the man who took him in. he’s just a really good character all in all, and much more appealing than the original mcd zenix. ...except season 3 zenix. no zenix can be better than that one.  either way, zenix is amazing written to be the comic relief and he’s just an all-out lovable character in this series.  finally, dale and brian. yes i’m going to group them up because there’s not much to say regarding them, but i do want to address them. for starters, we have brian; who’s already 16 when the story starts. good on jess for doing that, because in the original aphmau watched brian be born and age INCREDIBLY quick, haha. THOUGH i do feel like there’s a slight connection lost there--one of the hardest things about brian’s betrayal in the original series in the fact that we watched him grow up in phoenix drop. we were there from the moment he was born, to the second he betrayed phoenix drop. BUT OF COURSE, this version is a lot more realistic, so it’s understandable. i just think that if it’s brian who’ll be betraying phoenix drop again (if it even goes down that same route), it won’t hit as hard unless jess really takes the time to grow the connection between brian and aphmau.  as for dale; gotta admit, love it. and like, i think one of the main things about how good of a call it was to make him a drunkard from the beginning is considering how much the village is struggling. the fact that the second-in-command is literally drunk all of the time really conveys the message of, “yeah. this village needs help.” plus, he’s another good comic relief character. i loved seeing molly and dale’s relationship too, it was very funny.  PLUS. we were blessed with a well scene, in which aphmau had to help villagers out of the well. i don’t know about you guys, but that was one of my favorite nods to the original series. i cannot thank jess enough for that, there was a smile on my face the entire time. another amazing thing--visher’s character. instead of just being introduced to this quirky lil merchant who only had one or two interactions with aphmau like in the first one, we got to sit there and really get a feel for someone worth remembering and worth mourning over. we had a reason to be sad over his death, it wasn’t just some npc getting blown up suddenly. this was different, and this hurt.  one of the major things that i hope is to come out of this is for jess to fix the major mistakes she had when writing the first series. she’d expressed how unhappy she was with some of the decisions she made, and i’m glad that she’s getting that second chance to undo the things she didn’t like. this series also gives her a second chance to really, really dig into characters and their motives. like, gimme laurance backstory in better detail. or like, garroth and zane’s relationship from back when they were kids? or how vylad died and who killed him? etc etc. she’s already done an excellent job so far, and i can’t wait to see where this goes. that is, if she ever continues it. god, i wish there were more episodes so that i could seriously let you guys know how beautiful of a series this is. there’s so much i want to say about rebirth, but i think i’ll stop here. i might say some more shit about it later, but if there’s anything i’d want you to take away from this, it’s: give minecraft diaries rebirth a chance. there’s a lot of potential, and this is a chance for jess to really change things for the better! ... but again, that is if this ever is continued. 

[showtunesdream]

Ok, so I have seen almost every English version of Cinderella made since 1950 and it is my favorite fairy tale. So I saw the new Amazon version and I have a LOT OF THOUGHTS: (Spoilers)

I am here for Cinderella remakes, and I really hoped this one would enchant me. But...it didn't. I've read several reviews to help me specify just what didn't work for me, and I think it ultimately comes down to discord in nearly every element. Discord: too many notes at the same time; no unity, no connection. I'm all for pulling popular tunes, but they have to fit the character's emotion. I'm all for powerful female choreography, but having a chorus of women violently pelvic thrusting in ball gowns was...just weird. The artistic choices have to fit the narrative. 

All the women in the story are trying to assert some authority and agency in a world we are consistently told is exclusively patriarchal "because tradition." But it feels like that tone clashed with the producers' desire to include all the fairytale elements they felt audiences would expect. I think they could've done it, but they didn't get it right. It would be a fine line to tread, bc on the one hand you are talking about female disenfranchisement and lack of agency/rights, and on the other you’re trying to do fairytale love--the subject matter is really quite a heavy burden for that storyline.

 I've also seen comments that the cinematography and pacing were a mess, but I didn't get past my "do I like this?" vibe enough to notice. 

A few other assorted critiques: There was no chemistry between the prince and Ella, there was a lot of tell and not show (you can have a chorus sing it multiple times but I'm not gonna buy it unless you back it up with acting), and also the prince was not appealing in the least. Like, maybe that was the point, but if so, forget the romance plot altogether bc if I'm not falling for the guy, why would our heroine? There was more chemistry between the prince and his manservant (braid guy) than between Ella and him. There was nearly more depth of character in the manservant than in the prince as well, which is saying something.

One of the most annoying instances of tell and not show was Ella’s appearance. They kept talking about how dirty she was, and the stepmother even says “you would be so pretty if…” but the only real difference in Ella’s appearance is that she has a darker complexion… So what are we saying here, that she is unappealing bc she isn’t white enough? Admittedly that is reading into it a bit much, but just put some damn ash on her face and it’s a non-issue!

Moments of magic included the original songs (why did they not do the whole score this way???), and the performances from the sterling cast members as you'd expect. Also, I loved the building they chose for Ella's family estate/basement. (Oh, and also if you are going to turn the stepmother into Mrs. Bennett, then you have to show the financial difficulties in some wayyyy...) 

Overall, I could see what could've been a homerun concept in the script. I wanted to love it. I really did. But the execution fell woefully short for me.

**If I could, like Fab G, wave my wand and fix some things:**

-All original songs, not poorly fitting pop covers. The worst offenders in my eyes were “Material Girl,” “What A Man,” and “Find Me Somebody to Love.” The ball song should be about the princesses/stepsisters’

/Gwen/Ella’s aspirations, and maybe the prince’s too, if this fix version means he gets character development, like, say, a superobjective. 

-We open as before, with the narrator telling us how tradition has ruled everyone’s lives for years. As the townsfolk sing, we get the feeling that Ella isn’t the only one who is not so happy with the status quo. Ultimately everyone will learn through Ella that they don’t have to be struck in the same old ways. 

-As she works in the house we see Ella using her flair for fashion, her gift for making women feel beautiful to act a modiste/lady's maid to her stepmother and stepsisters. We see her transform an outfit/hairdo with a clever and fresh idea noone would have thought of. We get that speech about “it doesn’t matter if I think you’re beautiful. What matters is how you feel...etc.” Insert song about fashion and how amazing women are just in general, with makeover magic. (She didn’t feel like a fashion designer to me, I didn’t feel that creative spark/passion. I needed them to amp this up.)

-Ella’s personal appearance reflects her gift for inventive style as well.  (I really struggled with her being on one hand a fashion designer and on the other hand having no color in her dress, AND having everyone talk about how untidy her appearance was (which again, it wasn’t. Also, were she really covered in cinders and ash, she wouldn’t be able to handle fabric without making it dirty….)

-Ella’s dresses are made of found and reused materials, cleverly crafted. Like a set of old drapes a la Sound of Music, or forgotten antique dresses harvested for their fabric. After the prince buys her dress she can afford to buy new fabric and make her pink dress (that then gets ruined by Vivian.)

-If we *are* going to keep the idea of borrowed pop songs, then at some point all of the women sing No Doubt’s “I’m Just A Girl,” illustrating how their gender in this society makes them second class citizens: the stepsisters, Vivian, and princesses have to marry to gain opportunity/privilege, Gwen can’t get a word in on state matters, the queen is constantly shut down by her husband, etc. However, better for them to sing an original song that reflects this--maybe have “Dream Girl” come in earlier and get expanded/reprised.

-We needed to see the hardship that Vivian spoke of, bc I never saw it. Why remarry when you are clearly a wealthy widow?

-I still haven’t figured out how to give the prince a character that Ella could fall in love with. Show his kindness separate from supporting Ella? Give him an “I want” song that isn’t about his father wanting him to get married? Give him some kind of point? We’ve seen the “I don’t want to be king and am lost until this amazing girl inspired me” trope work before, but your boy has to have more to him than this guy did. 

-I also would like to find some way to extend the insta-love a bit. I’m a huge fan of meeting as commoners, as in the 1997 Cinderella, and there, they make a connection that properly works. Maybe it all boils down to a lack of chemistry between the actors? And/or give me better lyrics? Hmm. 

Anywho, I'm just rambling. So sad to see this fall so short of its potential.