#we don't see enough of him in his amnesiac state

[fma03envy]

Can you imagine what must have gone through Edward's mind in this moment, hearing that™ sentence in a child's voice behind him

[mari-lair]

It wouldn't make sense for Aoi to have her memories, much less fake her engagement with Teru, because we see Aoi at the start of the world reset and she is acting as if everything is normal, with no worries at all.

While Nene was confused and consumed by a sense that "something isn't right" and Teru was punching Akane in the student council, begging for answer, Aoi's only goal was enjoying the festival with Nene, which would be an extremely weird reaction to suddenly having her numb hand working again and being in a whole new world.

Plus, Aoi already knew Nene would be the star of their class play, something we and Nene, who are only familiar with the old timeline, had no way of knowing was the case.

So Aoi's memories and priorities do not match ours or our protagonist's right now.

The final thing that make me sure the engagement isn't some grand elaborate plan is that Aoi explains to Nene of all people that Kou is "Teru-Kun's brother" acting as if she is more familiar with Kou than Nene and using first names when there is no one to put on a show for.

Teru was as confused as Nene, everything Akane had explained the readers had been news for him too. He was scrapping for answers, even the most basic ones about the situation.

He is still prodding for more information. He does not have the upper hand here.

Even in the very wild possibility that Teru found Aoi first while searching for Nene and both awakened her memories and convinced her to have a marriage plan, it still wouldn't make sense? Cause Aoi had called Kou "Teru-kun's brother" from the very start.

Aoi also brought her mom into this marriage.

She never mentions her mom in the original timeline, so her mom will only visit the festival in this new world (once more, she is living in a different reality from the one we know.)

She is not the old Aoi, she acts way too different: determined to ignore Akane, clingier with Nene, and openly showing her anger/displeasure with Teru.

So I can't see her 'pretending' to be amnesiac. Or Teru pretending to be confused.

This feels genuine:

Teru only becomes smug when he notices the news has a giant effect on Akane, before that, he was just plain confused.

Which brings me to the second part of the ask.

"do you think this is the plot way to force Akane to join forces" and I don't think so. At least, not yet? It's hard to say with the minimal information we were given on the situation.

On the broad strokes Nene, Teru, and Akane are already on the same team the three don't like this reality. They don't want to be here. They miss their old world.

These two panels are after the 'Aoi engagement with Teru' reveal but this has been his mental state from the start. There are a lot of gags about the engagement and I do adore how pathetic Akane is in it, but he doesn't suddenly hate this new world because Aoi can't be with him.

He had hated it from the start.

The way he never includes himself when talking about how this timeline could be 'better for some people' is telling enough.

I have no doubt Aoi's engagement is one hell of a motivator but he had explicitly told us "I didn't have a choice on this, the only choice I had was to stay a clock keeper and hold on to any power I can" from the start.

But you may be asking if this is a plot device for him to have a proper team up with Teru and Nene, a true join forces and become a unit case! Not just a 'similar goal' type of deal.

Which... I find it unlikely.

Aoi's getting a big involvement will make Akane worried, will make him want to protect her, but I just can't see him asking for help, he trusts Teru to keep her safe, so no need to be glued to her side, and he is the kind of idiot who tries to do everything himself, even when his situation is unfair.

(Aoi still doesn't know he made a contract with the keepers to save her life, and he had kept his double life secret from his classmates for years, not letting it slow down his class rep duties, for example.)

So I can picture him hunting Tsukasa alone (and not mentioning to anyone, because that his duty as a clock keeper and of course he wouldn't shove it on someone else, especially when everyone is so angry with him for ruining their present.) but maybe the plot make his hunt cross paths with Nene storyline (which we know will involve hanako) or the wedding somehow (Akanes and Minamotos have history that involves sacrifices and their marriage begs the question of "what changed? why are they united in this timeline?") AND THEN a proper team up happen?? Honestly i have no idea.

It's too early for me to have a clear idea of what Aidairo intends to explore with Teru and Aoi's engagement but my hope is that it serves to flesh out Aoi and Teru's character and their home situation.

(Honestly, I just want Teru and Aoi to have a proper talk. It's a crime that the best teru and aoi conversation we have is from a spin-off. )

[madametamma]

I've heard fans keep bringing up that My adventures with Superman should be 20 episodes per season instead of 10, and I think that's highlighted most in Season 2 ep 9, because this was a great episode but it could have easily been a spectacular 2 parter.

They did tackle a lot of what I was hoping they would do for the concept but it didn't have a lot of time to breath or get into it too deeply. Here's what I would have done.

First part: The story goes exactly the same until Amnesiac Lois and Kal EL meet and shake hands. They both get flashes of their real lives but it doesn't ALL come back to them all at once. It is enough for them to want to try and figure out what's going on together though.

They come up with the idea that maybe they can put Lois in Kryptonian clothes and glasses and walk around the city with most citizens thinking she's a normal Kryptonian. They get to know each other more, Kal El shows off more of what his life is like and how he feels about it and himself. Lois is supportive and they're falling in love all over again as strangers. Lois asks if it bothers him that she's not Kryptonian and he returns "Does it bother you that I am?"

"We get some "Hiding the creature from mom and dad" cliche and see more of what Kal El is like with his parents and finally, enough of their memories come back that they're almost free but Clark hesitates stating that "The real Lois wouldn't come for him." Fake parents find them and attack and we have a moment of believing that the fake parents have actually succeeded in erasing Lois until she wakes up again where she started.

Part 2: We start again from the beginning of Lois's time in the simulation and her memories are gone again. Except this time they come back to her much quicker. She's erased again and again and has her memories wiped again and again, except with each time the memory wipe is less effective and she's able to retain more.

She's still doing the live, die, repeat thing, and each time she's playing with a fuller and fuller deck.

______

Lois on the 3rd time around: "We have to wake up and go home!"

Kal El: Where's that?"

Lois: "Uh.."

-Erased

_____

Lois on the 4th time: "LISTEN TO ME! YOU'RE LOIS LANE! WAIT! NO! I'M LOIS- ONE OF US IS LOIS!"

-Erased

______

Lois on the 5th time: "You've got to come back to Ma, and Pa and, who else? What's their name, Joey? Is Joey one of them? I don't think it's Joey."

-Erased

-------

Lois on the 6th time:

Kal El: "If what you're saying is true, why would you do all this for me?"

Lois: "Uh..."

-Erased

---------

Then we finally get into the cool anime finale where they remember everything together, and beat the bad guys with the power of love.

[rinbylin]

lzj ep 21

yeah i enjoyed the first quarter quite a bit but at the same time i've been quite aware it's not objectively tip-top. so indeed the weaknesses have reared its head in the recent few episodes where the story has transitioned into a different kind from its initial fake marriage premise which was not difficult to pull off if you understand the simple mechanisms of it.. otoh i just don't think they dealt with the transition very well, albeit the show still being watchable. then again, its faults are totally not unique to itself. they're extremely common romance drama storytelling problems. so if not for the fondness it had managed to earn earlier on, i would not have even bothered with this post

a thing from this episode that i like(!!) though: as 'better let the truth out and have cxz suffer NOW!!' lobbyist, i admit i failed to consider the other even more delicious possibility which is DENYING HIM THE CATHARSIS OF HONESTY. make him suffer in a whole other dimension yeahhhhh babyyyy. our girl lmt pretty much telling cxz she wants him to keep suffering from not being able to tell her the truth...I SUPPORT YOU QUEEN <3 剪不清理还乱 is a great direction to head into even though atp idk if writers are competent enough to see it through

then there was lmt literally acknowledging what i had on my mind for these couple of episodes: cxz doesn't actually love her - he only knew and love her as lmt the (amnesiac) wife. but as audience we also know the writers are trying to counter that by (1) showing us how ~sincere~ cxz's feelings for lmt are, citing that she has shown him the bliss of a simple life etc etc; (2) having him repeatedly state that lu wen (aka lmt) is his only worthy opponent so to say he and lmt (the real her, not the wife lmt) are intellectual matches. but the most fatal problem is that we have NOT! GOTTEN! TO SEE/UNDERSTAND! WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN THEM AS COMPETING RIVALS!! so far it's merely cxz's side of the story, saying that he has a special feeling for "lu wen". but in what way? how? we know almost next to nothing about what went on between them as rivals - except lmt almost killed him a few years ago. (AND!! lmt hasn't seem to echo his feelings about their special relationship of rivalry??) so it makes point (2) quite an unconvincing case yet. which in turns make their post-amnesia and aka the "real" relationship quite frail.

another fatal issue is that it feels like, to me, that there's no love left in lmt for cxz at this point (the bathtub scene was what drove home the interpretation for me)... there's very minimal portrayal of any struggle, conflicting feelings in her. i think this is one of the way its earlier writing issues manifest as well: it's always quite clear why lmt is so important to cxz beyond their niceties as a married couple. but it's far less defined what cxz meant to lmt as a person. what value does cxz provide to her at a deeper intellectual and emotional level? when she was amnesiac wife lmt, she liked him for being a gentle, understanding guy - which turned out to be a mere persona of huaiyang wang. she stuck with him because he was her husband, but it turned out their marriage is just a ruse. so what is left? it's no wonder she seems to have little affection for him left yet that completely defeats the purpose of a romance drama... and i just don't feel the same joy i felt in earlier episodes whenever they're together at home..

i've come to feel the story would work a lot better if it wasn't a romcom (comedy as in a broad sense) and not tied to an obligation of HE. i don't even want them to end up together romantically. i just want them to get entangled and emotionally torment each other lol (oops sorry what's new of me). and so when the writers made cxz say that whole speech to his mother about how he truly loves lmt and how she has changed his life...and that he doesn't want just a "相见如宾" (ie. cordial) marriage. i felt almost betrayed because bitch (@ the writer / cxz) you owe it precisely to 相见如宾 that i even adored the show in the first place!!! it is thanks to 相见如宾 that your relationship even took off in the first place! in what way do you think its current state is different from it? this is a fake marriage story how dare you say that. :[ ...but again what's new. i've seen these problems from dramas a million times over by now.

one of the reasons why the earlier episodes worked - within the parameters of the fake marriage + identity porn tropes - is that it managed to have the reactions of both leads bounce off each other consistently. what i mean by that is...like in the earliest arc, despite cxz being the mastermind behind the bogus life lmt was living in, lmt was still able to display agency by reacting accordingly to the circumstances around her. she duly suspected cxz and was consequently driving the story - then cxz had to react accordingly and twist around more of the truth. there's a pretty nice push-and-pull between them - which is actually sorely missing ever since a few episodes ago when cxz was moping around coming up with solutions to keep lmt by his side. at that point, lmt totally takes a backseat in the narrative. and now that lmt has regained her memories, cxz is the one who is passively reacting to the occurrences in their relationship (though he's still taking the charge in the politicking plotting stuff). this is also what i meant about the writers dealing with the transition poorly.

these are pretty much the broad strokes of the main problems i'm identifying from the writing especially after ep 21... besides a few of the other pesky things like cxz's mum and yun'er's characters being completely flat stereotypes and are so extra annoying that they're fuelling the problems in the writing of the lead's relationship. (i have lost count the number of times i rolled my eyes when cxz's mum is onscreen... i think a mum character who appears loving but completely insensitive to her son is so interesting and they actually have a fucked up mother/son relationship but it looks like the writers are incapable of actually realising it so.. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[aingeal98]

I really do wish that DC leaned into their everything is canon approach by having characters who the New 52 drastically changed for the worse actually being able to acknowledge it. We get a little bit of it with Lian and Roy but I need like. I need Roy and Jason to have a conversation where Jason is hinting that Roy is his best friend and Roy has to gently remind him that yeah while he remembers the RHATO days, that person Jason knew may as well have been a recovering amnesiac or an imposter with Roy's face. That was not Roy Harper and Starfire. They have the memories but they also have far more context now than they did back then, and that's something they're all going to have to learn to live with. Jason who's friendship with Roy meant a lot to him vs Roy who sees it as a dark period in his personal history due to the universe essentially rewriting his memories and personality and forcing him to live in that state for years.

Similarly with Oracle Babs like I don't want this blend of New 52 Batgirl Babs and half hearted attempts to make her Oracle. If this is really meant to be Barbara Gordon with her Oracle personality back then I want to see her reckon with what the universe did to her, what it took from her. We suffered through enough evil Oracle storylines when dc was trying to prop up Babsgirl. Give us the horror of Oracle confronting the shallow shell they turned her into. How she remembers being Batgirl and she remembers it was nothing like this, an imposter wearing her face and insisting that she's the real Batgirl.

Just give me that sweet sweet narrative acknowledgement of what editorial put these characters through

[toku-explained]

Gummy!

Arc: The HoshiPay App has become the way to easily spend money for Hoshimoto residents, but some businesses have been having to close temporarily due to lack of money. SKIP have been hit as well, being forced by HQ to conserve funds, with YouPi off except when necessary and Ishido isn't coping with only being able to have 3 coffees a day, planning to earn money through streaming on HoshiPay, recruiting Yuma to form duo Omega & Alpha, they don't see the success Ishido wants, his new idea is sharing Kaiju info but they would need permission. They then discover the top streamers is Kanegon, a Kaiju earning tonnes of money, but despite it's activities all over town they're getting no reports. Then suddenly Kanegon calls. The caller is actually Dogane Kanae, developer and spokesperson for HoshiPay. She explains that she created Kanegon as an AI program to promote HoshiPay, receiving tips in exchange for entertaining viewers, but it worked too well. Kanegon has received 90% of all HoshiPay in circulation, and Kanae failed to program it to spend the money, causing tla deficit that has negatively affected local business. The only place they can definitely catch Kanegon and feed it a learning program to teach it to redistribute the money is in the server in a blimp over the city. Rin traps Kanegon in that server, and as it can't find any money it accidentally starts bringing the blimp down. Arc returns it to place, but then is dragged into the computer world by Kanegon, still desperate for food. Rin transmits YouPi in with the learning data, appearing the same size as the others, but when Kanegon realises it isn't money it spits it out. It then finds the HoshiPay reserver granted by the city government, consuming that and growing giant relative to Arc and YouPi, consuming enough bandwidth to force YouPi out. Arc uses Lunar Armour, and realising his shield is like a coin, implants the learning data into that, and frisbees it into Kanegon's mouth. From the data, Kanegon forcibly releases the money to everyone on HoshiPay as a special windfall, and we see on the next Omega & Alpha stream Kanegon is now sending tips of his own.

Shin Dogengers: So I failed to wake up for the live broadcast. I managed to catch part of Maizuru Yokato's stream before the archive was pulled, but it wound up being almost the full day before I actually found something. Everything else was super punctual. Maid Shitsuji is frustrated things seem to be falling apart without Yabai Kamen, they now have to deal with Shaberryman's injuries. On the moon, Ohga-Man wakes Yabai Kamen as the spaceship seems to be on course straight for them. As Great 2 explains his new power, Tanaka quietly worries further about his own lack of new ability, when Hyakutoban arrives with an emergency, an amnesiac Ex. Presumably he hit his head after the battle with Yabai Kamen sent him flying, but no on windows how to help him, until Tanaka sees I-Doll & Great A's dolls, and revives the "restore memory by going on dates" plan. First KitaQMan, KitaQMan Metal and Great 2 taken him for ramen, then Hyakutoban, El Brave and Fukuokalibur use Dogenuts to take him out for training, then Yamashiron, MAKO and Bincho Fire show him around Canal City, it goes well until MAKO realises she's on a date with 3 men and runs to Daisuke. Tanaka takes over, bringing Ex to a theatre and they discuss things. Ex agrees to move forward with him when they're gatecrashed by Gulf, Gallia and the Arakuremonos. Ex has to be hit before he understands these are enemies, and they're made to watch the stage show before Gulf drains power from the Arakuremonos to enter his rage state, challenging Rookie, and Ex finds himself having to deal with Shuraomaru and Nectaris, while Hatena joins in attacking Rookie. With Rookie occupied, Ex is overpowered, and Uzagi hits him with his bat. Hatena delivers a brutal condemnation, and I think cuts down the Arakuremono's souls, then targets Rookie, questioning if he can grow at all, but Ex shields him, promising to fight, he might not remember much but he remembers his time with the heroes. The battle is suddenly interrupted by El Brave impacting the villains, thrown in by Great 2, and Ex has some memory back, and Gulf is distracted by Gallia's pain. Before the battle can proceed, Maid Shitsuji arrives and forces the others to come back. The heroes celebrate what victory they have had. Ohga-Man and Yabai Kamen find themselves within the alien craft, and while Ohga-Man is distracted, Yabai Kamen is horrified by alien soldiers, they both run.

Gavv: A young man is chased by soldiers, winding up in an Escher-esque labyrinth of stairs and doors, and falls through one out of an airplane over Tokyo, he recognises this as his mother's homeworld. He washes up on a beach, being poked by a boy who he asks for food. He follows the boy who promised food, the boy was hunting seashells to give his mother, it's been along time since Shouma saw his. He shield the boy from an oncoming truck destroying it and sending the occupants flying, while he is unharmed. A suspicious man approaches Shirakabe Keiko, a freelance writer, Karakida Hanto, he wants to write about her husband's disappearance, or rather asks if she saw a monster around the time. She storms off, and Hanto's mentor tells him from her reaction he suspects she had more to do with the "disappearance, sending Hanto after her. A man gives what look like harvester organs to a masked figure, receiving a single cube as payment. The boy brings Shouma to his secret base, all he has for now are snacks, Shouma immediately enthralled by the Gummies, which he only knows by reputation. The second mouth on his stomachs drops a number of Gachizo. The boy points out the obvious, that Shouma isn't human, and he explains the 2nd mouth is a stomach, but he doesn't eat humans, then clarifies HE doesn't. Hajime is phoned by his father, his mother is back from overseas, so get ready for dinner, and Hajime promises to bring Shouma proper food later, as he leaves Shouma recalls his mother telling him to never eat their snacks. The man who supplied the organs spies Hajime, and eats the food stored within the cube he was given, then starts chasing the boy, sending his monstrous tongue towards him, but Shouma saves him, having brought the seashells Hajime forgot. He reveals to the man he is also a Granute, though it seems his Gavv being red is unusual, and tries to defend Hajime even when the Granute takes monster form, but struggles due to trauma from when his own mother was taken. Refusing to give up despite fighting his own instincts, he receives help from the Gochizo offering to let him eat one, though they have to instruct him to use the Gavv. Using a PoppinGummy Gochizo he transforms into Kamen Rider Gavv. As he's damage the Gummy armour does come off, but the Gochizo gather the fragments and he regenerates by using more. Hajime's mother stumbles on them, and sees two monsters fighting and refuses to listen to Hajime as she drags him away, Shouma isn't too concerned about being labeled a monster, and summons the Gavvgablade to continue fighting. The Granute takes bestial form and escapes, Gavv uses a VroCan Gochizo to summon the VroCan Buggy and give chase, the pursuit disrupts Hanto tailing Shirakabe, he is intrigued to hear mention of monsters. Gavv corners the Granute and gives an ultimatum to quit Dark Treats, then that's refused he uses KickinGummy to defeat him. Next day, Hajime returns to the hideout looking for Shouma, finding a note thanking him and promising to try and keep his identity a secret, as he uses VroCan to copy a real bike. Hajime destroys the evidence. A week later, a young lady finds Shouma unconscious.

Boonboomger: Genba's attempt to attack the Hashilien is blocked immediately, but he still seethes, recognising Disrace. In his anger he suddenly radiates heat, confirming suspicions of Chassiro and Boonboom, as he takes on a feline form, and becomes BunOrange to try and defeat Disrace, who eventually leaves. Taiya has to physically restrain Genba to stop him lashing out, but he's already injured in his rage everyone except Sakito. Naito is annoyed Tokoyari just handed the device over to the Hashiliens, but the ISA Director feels Disrace is more useful than Cannonborg was, but assures he won't let them get their way. For his part, Naito is almost ready to mass produce Boonboom Killer Robos. Under the gaze of Safari, Genba broods, as Saibu now knows why they had no intel on him. From his appearance Sakito knows he is from planet Bureki, Taiya confirms to Chassiro he and Boonboom had suspicions, but didn't know. His true name is Genbrad de Livery II, heir to the shopping network their, but the Hashiliens took it over. Disrace makes himself known to the Sanseaters, intending to remake earth as he did Bureki as his Hashilien Shopping order arrives. Genba's father was framed and arrested, allowing Disrace to turn Bureki into a Hashilien Shopping hub, Genba alone escaped to earth where he met Taiya, procuring parts from his ship to fix the Super Car, and has taken the ship apart in his work, and his candies are needed to maintain his human disguise. Mira leads everyone in promising to help take Bureki back, and he is thankful, but at night he knows it can't be that way. While Disrace is sleeping Itashar investigates his order, a carpet, Disrace scolds them then has Itashar turn it into a Kurumajin. Saibu informs Genba that, despite her own recommendation, he's been placed on special observation by the ISA, but as the Kurumajin rampages everyone goes to stop it disrupting a manga event, while ByunD and Sakito confront Disrace in person. Genba indulges his front row seat to the action one last time. Once the Kurumajin and Kurumaju are defeated, Disrace simply defeats Sakito and leaves. Genba tells the others he has to quit, in the end his motive is revenge, and he doesn't want that affecting the others. To the others's shock Taiya allows him to go and even tells him to keep the Boon Change Axe. The Sanseaters retrieved the carpet after the Kurumaju was defeated, for the next step in Disrace's plan, which he needs the stolen part for. And on a pile of rubbish, Mad Rex's dog emerges.

[prototypelq]

Are there any fics on ao3 where vergil loses his memories for some reason or accident, while his basic personality remains the same, therefore to make himself to look at well all the shit he's done in a different light ？as a witness that lets him see the horrors of his actions from all possible angles, see how much he fucked up dante, how much sufferings he was brought upon other innocent people because of his selfish actions？listen I love vergil i want him and his family to be happy, and it's already been shown in the vision of v how terrible his demonic side is through the eyes of his human side, and he's also developed and has reflected on his past mistakes near the end of dmc5, but it's still not enough, he NEEDS to more realization and gut punch

Hi anon, thank you for the question!

Short answer - I haven't seen something like this, and I've been browsing the fandom...for a couple of years now. If it does exist - I haven't heard of it.

The closest fic to this scenario that I do know of is And Builds A Heaven in Hell's Despair. It's about Dante caring for Nelo and slowly cleansing Vergil of corruption, which forces him to regain memories from his pretty much amnesiac state. As you can guess, there is no discussion of DMC5 events in it, but still, there's...a lot of emotional repercussions to handle.

Elaboration under cut

I do understand your frustration, but... I don't think more gutpunches will actually Help Vergil, y'know. As for things like how much his actions have hurt his near family of twin and son - he will come to know of this quite fast, I'm sure.

I think in times like this it's important to remember that Vergil never meant to hurt anyone, he was genuinely just trying to survive. This man has never felt safety for the last thirty years of his life. This is Not a quality of a stable mental state for one, but I also wanna highlight that... Vergil never had any wish to impose this burden on anyone else. At least, we know nothing of the sorts. And, y'know, innocent untill proven guilty.

This doesn't negate the damage he has caused, not at all, but I do think that the fact that he had never intended to hurt people and the pain his actions inadvertently caused, was just the consequence of the man's pursuers... I think that is important to consider in this discussion.

p.s. I don't remember it being stated anywhere in canon, maybe in a novel or smth, but I do think the Qlipoth grew on its own, as Urizen was too weak to summon something like that.

I do get you though, the lack of canon statement about that is...frustrating at times. I do think everyone who feels this frustration also loves Vergil to bits, and just want to see him improve and have a proper family.

[mdhwrites]

The Commander in GoV: Nikke is INFURIATING

Because one step in either direction he could have gone and he'd either be good or INCREDIBLE. Instead, this potential makes his actions, bare minimum early on, characterize him as being the dumbest motherfucker in the military. Our heart may have been restarted but our brain did not come with us from our near death experience.

Which, ironically enough, is one of the ways to fix him: Amnesia. To get into that though, a second of context. In the story, we are first found literally one day after we graduated from the military academy with high enough marks to be allowed to lead and command what are presumably somewhat expensive weapons of wars: Nikkes. Early lore bits do make it clear humanity is desperate (which has... ISSUES) for recruits so we probably didn't need to earn top marks but we are very firmly a member of this world. We are someone who was literally taught all about the conflict we are participating in.

And yet, we know literally nothing. That isn't really an exaggeration. Chain of Command? what's that? How Nikkes function? Nope. Industrial leaders for the end of civilization? Why would we even consider such things as a ranking military officer!? And the literal basics of decorum and respect that says not to accuse literally everyone you meet in a position of power of some amount of treason? Throw that out the window too for good measure.

None of this is exaggeration btw. We meet a CEO of the three big companies still around? Ask them if they know anything about sabotaged Nikkes, in a way that from their response makes it clear we mean it as an accusation. Meet our superior commander, potentially the commander of all armed forces? Ask them if they know about sabotaged Nikkes in the same way. Even after being explicitly told how powerful these people are, that opposing them could get us ALL killed, the game acts like you straight up try to choke out one of these CEOs until pain finally makes you pass out.

Why would ANYONE in this setting do these things? Let alone need basic things like "This person runs this corporation," explained to them in what is a struggling but high tech state of humanity? Let alone, one who was specifically prepared for MILITARY SERVICE where the chain of command is everything?

If you make them an amnesiac though, problem solved. They have such a big heart that without the knowledge and conditioning, their kind nature overrides everything, even common sense or blatant warnings. It wouldn't be great but it still leans into us being different by being kind to Nikkes (something I'll get more into in a moment) and being an example of what humanity could be like working side by side with Nikkes instead of just coming across like our character is too stupid to function.

BUT. There's a better option.

See, the Commander in Nikke actually has an incredibly smart quirk which especially resonates to me as someone who has touch as a love language. See, despite Nikkes being machines, he actually likes to bandage them when they're hurt. It's one of those basic acts of humanity that's just touching and really highlights in a physical way, outside of the fact that we're turned on by them, what makes us different. We cherish their lives while others treat them merely as tools.

So do you want to know how to make that a knockout character who does these stupid things? Acknowledge that he IS a part of this world. That he does know all the rules, all the decorum, all the status various people have and that he doesn't give a SINGLE fuck. He is a firebrand, promoted to commander due to the sheer desperation of humanity's state in this apocalyptic situation. That he was skilled and good enough to get here but now that he is there, upper chain of command wants him broken, thus the weirdness of "These people beat 1/4 odds! He's survived two missions when 90% of Commanders don't! Let's just try to murder him indirectly as hard as possible!" I'm sorry, that seems pretty dumb... Unless we've actively pissed people off politically but that's not the case here as they already essentially stated they wanted us dead BEFORE we ever talked to anyone other than a Nikke.

It also just makes his actions with the Nikke better and more meaningful. Instead of feeling like a naive child who is too dumb to recognize the difference between flesh and machine, these are active decisions on his part. Him putting a bandage on one can be a way to admit that yes, he can't help them beyond his commands but this makes him be able to feel a little bit more like he can and also gives the girls a reminder that he is looking out for them, not just the other way around. This isn't even a case where I want characterization on a blank slate character. You have NO choice in how your commander actually behaves besides some honestly just bad response options that are really rare and ONLY with the Nikkes. All of this to do with him being pro-Nikke rights, seeing them as people, rejecting and confronting command? That is ALREADY your character. So why not lean a bit more into it to make the writing a bit sharper?

Instead, I'm left in this No Man's Land where I'm being told this is me and I'm doing good things but instead of doing those because I have a good heart or because I have firm beliefs, it either is because I'm as naive as a child or because I'm horny. He's just straight too stupid by literally knowing nothing to actually have meaning behind his actions but by not reducing him to just his base nature like with amnesia, he can't have his actions come off as purely good either. He still needs a motivation of some sort and we have none.

It is an uncanny valley of writing and it makes what could genuinely have been compelling instead just grinding on my brain like a sander as I try to find something in this that I wasn't experiencing five years ago but with better production value. Something that makes the fact that even when you are actively participating in the combat, you are still only 70% in control of what is happening, MAX. To make up for the fact that while these characters have skills and passives, nothing has made it feel like anything but bigger number matters besides the fact that not having a sniper makes small portions of a fight take longer. Yes, that's because I'm early only in the third chapter of the story but Star Rail was smart enough to quite literally from during its tutorialization go "Hey, there is actual strategy that matters here and synergies you can very clearly find." Nikke doesn't have that when I can power level to be literally twice as strong, if not four times as strong, as all the starting content.

A strong, genuinely good main character to slip myself into, or at least genuinely more of a blank slate that doesn't have me question the validity of his backstory all the time, could have helped with those matters. Instead, I'm just left sitting here, listening to exposition like I'm a fish out of water, when I am categorically not.

That makes my character, who is meant to just be me in the grand tradition of this sort of mobile game, braindead. And sorry, I don't like being characterized as that fundamentally stupid.

======+++++======

This experience really has helped me appreciate Star Rail even more with how much it genuinely broke away from a lot of these elements in small ways that snowballed into a genuinely compelling game instead of something that still feels derivative of games put out half a decade ago.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[iturbide]



oh for sure i can share!! 5k old grima anon again, and honestly i feel like my math might even be off since i based this mostly off the timeline laid out on this wiki page in a single fevered afternoon (https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Archanea,_Valentia,_and_Jugdral) so if it doesnt make sense uhhhh do take me with a grain of salt x'D ill summarize it down into bare bulletpoints for better reading, and im using the arcahnaen calender for the dates

sometime between -4000 and -2794 (i use -2894(ish) specifically): rough estimate for creation, sinces thabes has to exist to have forneus create him before duma sets the place on fire

-1000: beginning of the dragons decline, naga's war w the earth dragons happens about ~350 years later

607: (yes, no more negatives) alm and celica go into the labyrinth, weakening the seal and thus (to me) being the first instance where grima can Leave the labyrinth and is likely his first contact with real, alive humans besides forneus (rip,,)

(this is more of a heacanon, but i usually put the grimleal faith coming into being sometime around 900-1000, even tho the countries as awakening shows us are said to be founded proper much later bc i like slower developments)

1609: grima is sealed by the first exalt/the mysterious schism is here now in which we know nothing about how anything was created except whoops theres countries now lookit that!!

2585(ish): grima is reborn as/awakens into robin's body!

and because of one more headcanon, i see grima as following lucina to the past in the year 2633, which means the non-amnesiac robin timelines take a bit Longer to "complete" than the awakening we play through, because of all the added grima threat involved and other major events which are changed (emm's death, chrom's injury, there was something about ferox too i think?)

SORRY I DIDNT THINK IT WOULD BE THIS LONG STILL... i hope it was entertaining and makes sense!!

OHOHOHO I HAD NEVER SEEN THIS TIMELINE BREAKDOWN BEFORE I've been trying to puzzle my way around correlating the Valentia and Archanea calendars from the Accordion, this is FANTASTIC!! It looks like your math is pretty much spot on using that timeline as a basis -- plus, I deeply appreciate that you account for Lucina's Doomed Timeline taking more time than the Revised Timeline we see in Awakening, because I hold to the exact same theory.

Even with this timeline, though, the biggest point of logical dissonance for me remains in Naga giving Duma the Falchion before his exile. According to the Wiki's timeline, it states that Naga gave Duma the Kingsfang (aka Falchion) "in the inevitable event that they degenerate into madness" -- but it's not until almost 3,000 years later that degeneration becomes a recognized phenomenon and the Divine Dragon Tribe seal their powers and become manaketes. To my knowledge, Naga's not gifted with precognition -- if she were, I suspect she'd have dealt with Grima a lot earlier than she did. That's not on you! That's on my brain rioting at how the events don't make sense in this order.

If degeneration was a known issue and enough of a risk that Naga gave Duma a weapon that would end his and Mila's suffering should they be afflicted by the condition, that makes me think that they've seen how bad it can be -- which would mean that they've seen the Earth Dragons degenerate and likely gone through the Dragon War. And considering that Naga's death is recorded in the timeline about 500 years after dragon degeneration becomes a known condition and a mere ~250 years after the end of the Dragon War and the sealing of the Earth Dragons at the Dragon's Table, Duma and Mila only making it about a millennium after their exile doesn't seem that unreasonable.

No, I don't know why my brain is like this. I want to be able to take the timeline at face value, but every time I see events ordered with Duma and Mila's exile first and the discovery of degeneration second I start gnashing my teeth.

[hakuoyuki]

Hey Satomi, do you know about the mbti? I would like to know what type do you think the Ikepri characters have! If you don't know, you can see them on the "pdb personality" page. Thx!

I'll only list out the types if you don't mind! These are all based on the suitors (and MC) as I know them in the JP version.

Jin - INFJ

Chevalier - INTJ

Clavis - He's such a hugely complex character and I had a hard time narrowing the personality type to one. But if I had to chose, after completing his route fully, ISFP would be the closest to who Clavis really is. How he portrays himself leans toward ENTP, ISTP, and even ENFP. But if we look beyond just the outside and come to really understand Clavis... he's ISFP.

Leon - ENFJ

Yves - At a glance he seems like an ISFP. But ESFJ is more of who he is.

Licht - He's more or less an INFP. However, Licht has his... "circumstances" so... not everything are gonna... align.

Nokto - ENTP

Luke - ENFP

Sariel - ISTJ

Rio - I suppose ENFP is the closest given what we know about him in his "amnesiac" state

Gilbert - ENTJ

Keith - INFP & ....? (Not enough is known about his "beast" side yet)

Silvio - ......? (Not enough is known to make a conclusion yet)

JP version's MC - Her personality type varies depending on which suitor's MC we're talking about here. Some of the suitor's MC are INFJ, while others are INFP, ISFP, or even ISFJ.

.

.

That's for the Character's Personality Type!

ー

As for the suitor's type in their preferred romantic interest (I said "preferred romantic interest" because a certain suitor actually said he "have no interest in women and such" "gender doesn't matter")... IkePri JP actually got these "Commu Function" in which the story for reaching the suitor's Commu Level 8 are exactly about this (the title of the story is called "Preference in Women").

However, while I've unlocked most already... I'm still stuck on Level 7 for Yves, Level 5 for Luke and Sariel, and Level 4 for Rio. With Act 2 starting on Dec 20, I have a feeling Gilbert, Keith, and Silvio are going to be added as well. So Anon, I hope you don't mind me keeping your ask for the day when I reached Commu Level 8 for all 13 suitors so I can answer this question with complete canon info for all of them 👀👌

As for what the Commu Function I'm talking about is....

→ Re: What is IkePri's Commu Function

[tina-nina]

Larxene, Marluxia, and Zemnas are all the nobodies of keyblade wielders. They were not able to wield the keyblade. Why was Roxas able to?

I think this question is better answered by asking it in reverse. Why can't these three wield the keyblade, when Roxas can? Keeping in mind that Roxas is repeatedly established as a weird anomaly of a Nobody in general.

I have 2 possible explanations for this. I think both are equally possible (it could also be a combination of the two along with additional factors), since to my knowledge there is no canon reason why they can't (or don't...) use keyblades.

1) Hearts. As Nobodies, they don't have hearts, at least not in the beginning. Keyblades come from the heart, so it stands to reason if you don't have one you can't use them. Since Xemnas, Marluxia, and Larxene are not later in possession of their original hearts, growing those new ones do not re-give them the keyblade, thus they remain lost until proper recompletion.

Roxas, on the other hand, not only is the Somebody of Sora, a keyblade wielder, but he also has Ven's heart, another keyblade wielder, sleeping away inside of him, which let him use the keyblade until he grew his own heart, to which he was then able to wield it by himself. Simple, if a bit unsatisfactory to me.

2) It has to do with memory. Specifically the memory of being a keyblade wielder (with Roxas being the obvious exception). Xemnas* (as I see him anyway), Larxene, and Marluxia do not remember their lives as Somebodies. More importantly, they had this amnesia before they became Nobodies. Xemnas was Terranort before he became a Nobody, he had no memory except "his" name wiped clean because of Terra, who put both his and Xehanort's hearts to sleep, leading to this memory loss. While we don't know for sure, exactly, it can be assumed that both Marluxia and Larxene (then Lauriam and Elrena) also suffered from amnesia after getting sent to the future (Ven also seemed to suffer from this from what we see in BBS, if we work under the assumption that him not knowing anything about the AoF is not a retcon, which i don't think it is). As somebodies, they had no memory of being Keyblade wielders, thus as Nobodies, they simply don't know they can use the keyblade. You can't use something if you don't know it's there.

Roxas, while also memoryless, does not have that factor. Sora does not suffer from amnesia; he is perfectly aware that he can wield the keyblade. While Sora is almost immediately revived, he mostly likely spent just enough time as a heartless that the unconscious knowledge stayed with Roxas.

The actual answer could be a combination of both of these, I could be completely wrong and it's something else, it could be that Roxas is just the weird exception as per usual due to all the tomfoolery surrounding his creation. I don't know, but these two seem the most plausible to me

*But wasn't Terranort the one who released all their hearts with No Name? Yes, yes he was. However, it's left vague if he remembered anything at all, and the way I see that scene, I don't think he did. He's just as much of an amnesiac as he was at the beginning. This does mean, however, that he is in fact aware that he has a Keyblade. Keeping in mind the true purpose of Organization XIII (empty vessels to house pieces of Xehanort's Heart) that Xemnas may or may not be truly aware of again depending on how you headcanon his mental state, its possible that he simply chose not to use it. Or that he forgot about it again and Xigbar never saw the need to remind him of that fact.

[davebuckleslefthand]

"I just thought you had the right to know." 

Buckler

·

Replying to @marklevinshow

IF you cannot, shut up.

Most of all: don' t you even

whisper to us, much less talk

in our general direction. ya dig?

Kumala Harris; is not only an

ambitious whore, but a conniving

one as well. Look at Brown had to say about

Hurris treated him after she got what she wanted:

“The difference is that Harris is the only one who, after I

helped her; he sent word that I would be indicted I ‘so much

as jaywalked’ while she was D.A.,” the Willy Brown wrote.. 

"that;'s politics for you..." Replying to @marklevinshow

it's not me?

nah... it's not JUST me.

https://palaceintrigueblog.com/2019/01/27/president-whore

"'YA KNOW...'"  (ongoing, never dying discussion, if only by myself)

"I just thought of a great many things; one subject has an entirely not so different conversation dotting it's background. happen all the time..." man, i wonder what Lee thought... n'ya, it'll all come out."

"Did I overhear you say you got a friend that's missing?"

Well, I doubt he's missing. He's just not around. Oh, yeah, well; reading World Weekly News.

Just a while ago there was a guy out on the street. He's found wandering around, didn't know who he was,

where he came from.He's perfectly healthy, but he's a complete amnesiac, you know.

A lot of people like that found, uh, just wandering around lately. You know, no history, no nothing.weird, huh? - Yeah. You know about the suppressed transmission, of course? - Mm-mmm. - This is the 20th anniversary of the moon walk, you know. And way back when they're giving us that "One giant step for mankind" another astronaut's

in the background yelling

his fool head off:

"Oh, my God. What's that over in the crater? What is that?"

Well, NASA cuts him off just like that. But those of us with the right kind of radios, you know what I mean? Yeah, we got enough of it. there's a giant spacecraft over in the other crater,

looking at them. That's right. Oh, it all begins to leak

out then... that the space program's just one giant big

cover-up, all covert operation between the United States government and the Soviet Union. It's been going on for over 30 years. We've been on the moon since the '50s. You wanna know how we got there, right? I'll tell you: Anti-gravity drive. The Anti-gravity technology. We stole it from the Nazis after the end of WWII.

It's perfectly obvious; you know, I was watching this Late, Late Show. A lot of truth in the Late, Late Show. You know, they slip it through there, they figure nobody's watching, Anyway, there is this sci-fi movie called Alternative Three. And, uh, it's about kidnapping

people, using a little psycho-surgery on them... turn them into zombies. And making them colonize the

and Mars. Funny, huh? Except it's absolutely true, all of it.

We've been on Mars since '62. It was May 22nd. That's a very

important date for you to remember, pal. - Yeah, that's my birthday. - Right. So, see... the reason we're up there covertly is because of the greenhouse effect. It all ties in. Yeah, greenhouse effect.

By the way, they discovered that in the '40s. You can ask yourself what they've been doing sitting on their ass' for 49 years, While we're out here with some serious social diseases and everything else. Never mind that. Everybody says... "Greenhouse effect. A hundred years from now. Oh, I'll be long dead, gone and out of here. " Not so, my friend. Not so; our government

sitting on facts: it's 10-20 years maximum. It's getting hotter, don't you think, 't's not even summer yet; yeah, and when the polar ice caps begin to melt... it's not gonna take a certified genius to understand that we're in - serious global confusion. I mean,

really,

we're in massive mainline ecological chaos.

Anyway, it's happening even as we speak. So, I'll tell you what they've already done. They've colonized outer space. they could not colonize everybody. No, no.

That would be global bankruptcy.

We couldn't beat the greenhouse effect anyway. This secret group, you know, the group that's in charge of the government.

Oh, yeah. They're gonna get boosted off this rock before it melts. And the rest of us, what do they care? By the way, there's something you should know. You see, this entire operation's being funded... by the profits from the Medelln drug cartel. And they're specifically set up by the C.I.A. to handle large sums of money being fun-

neled into this project Keep it under your hat. The people they need, like scientists. You heard about that? All the missing scientists around the world, and those that are mysteriously dying? that's all part of the

recruiting process. I really hope your

friend is not, well - Well, they need a

lot of lackeys to do

the labor though. So they'll be looking

for ordinary guys. You

know, just like you and me. Yeah, they need those to kind

of colonize things. You know, they

do a little psycho-surgery on us, a little

liquid lobotomy here. Well. And I know this

for a fact. They got this drug down in Guatemala

in the rain forest. Why do you think the C.I.A.'s down

there hacking the hell out of the forest, huh? Make sense?

Sure it does.

Yeah,

this drug takes away your long-term memory, but leaves your short-term memory, so there you are, you got people... don't know who they are, where they came from... but you tell them to do some thing to do and they do it. They can follow instructions.

Perfect employees. - "Sounds like most people I know."

So. They

must like

children too,

because the statistics

of the F. B. I. Since 1980...

said that 350,000 children are

just missing. They just disappeared. There's not that many perverts around. You know the worst thing about this, pal? Is that you're in close proximity to all this. You know, I mean, Houston's right down the road. You know,

the main headquarters.

NASA. Sure, in

the main

headquarters,

around the world.

All right, look. I gotta go

see this friend of mine, okay?

Yeah, right in here. - Is this it? Okay.

Anyway, look, pal. It's been nice talking

to you. I really hope your friend isn't one of

them already.

- I'm sure he's not. - Yeah, well...

"I just thought you had the right to know."