whatifqueen

[whatifqueen]

Oh, you know not what you've unleashed.

Allow me to introduce Chloe a.k.a. "the Monster of the West." Two bullets to the brain and nearly dying on the operating table caused her to have a revelation: this world is not safe.

(It wasn't before, but there's understanding and then there's comprehension. That sort of thing only happened to other people -- people who didn't know what they were doing. But she did know. And it still happened.)

The logic goes as such: The roads are not safe under the NCR and House's supervision. The NCR didn't protect her; Victor didn't protect her. The roads are safe under Legion protection. Even people who don't like the Legion admit to that. Sure, some freedoms had to be sacrificed, but no one gets shot in the head for delivering a package.

(Convenient that she won't have to sacrifice any of her own freedoms to accomplish her goal. Legion soldiers can threaten all they like, but no one goes against the will of Caesar; she's the exception by his decree and her face on a coin her passport in every pocket.)

Chloe likes to think she's helping people. That they'll thank her for this someday after all is said and done. But the truth is this: She only cares about one thing -- to feel safe again after the trauma she underwent. And she's willing to throw every other woman in the Mojave under the bus to that feeling of safety back.

(Chloe never heard the saying "those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.")

TL;DR: I wanted to create a real-life monster. I think I succeeded. A story about rationalization.

Have any of you played a female Legion-allied Courier? Did you have an in-character reason for it?

I honestly can't really think of one. If you're male and fashy, sure, but if you're a woman, they will insult and threaten you every step of the way no matter how much you help them. If you're ruthlessly pragmatic, you can align with Mr. House, if you're selfish and sadistic, you can do an evil Independent route, if you've just got a thing for military stuff you can align with the NCR.

I'd be very curious to know what your thoughts are if you did this!

[whatifqueen]

You know, for a moment there, I really thought Wanda was going to team up with Ultron. Her mind might not be all there, but her love for Vision is. And he looked like Vision.

Instead, she hesitated. And since Ultron didn't even let his universe's Wanda live...

Probably for the best. The Guardians of the Multiverse were having a hard enough time as it is.

[whatifqueen]

Me: *notices people unfollowing a few days prior*

Me: *finds a bunch of ads spammed on blog after finally checking it days later*

Me: ...Well, that explains a lot.

[whatifqueen]

[whatifqueen]

In the end, Wanda did the most responsible thing she could have done. Being locked away wasn’t going to help anyone. Could any prison even hold her at this point? It would only be by her grace that she stayed there. And what of the next time her emotions overwhelmed her? The next time her cumulative trauma reared its ugly head and she tried to cope? All those around her would be in the same boat again.

No, the most responsible thing was to learn what she was – to learn how to manage her magic – and to make sure it never happened again.

[whatifqueen]

Are all the children in Westview trapped in their rooms for days because you never see children who aren’t main characters in sitcoms unless there’s a plot-relevant reason for them to be there? Or are they trapped because Wanda was trapped in her room for days when her parents were killed by a Stark missile?

[whatifqueen]

You know, I never really appreciated Mercutio’s “a plague on both your houses!” until living through the last year. Like, I got it, but I didn’t get it.

Live through a real life plague, though, and you suddenly comprehend how fucking savage that line really was. Elizabethan-era play-goers knew it. And now I won’t be able to look at that play without knowing that, either.

[whatifqueen]

What were your thoughts on Kira and Flay's sex scene?

It’s been about five years since I’ve watched Gundam Seed, so I don’t remember much beyond it simply having occurred (and I’m not comfortable dwelling on it because of how very young the characters are). But what I think is this: It was the desperate move of someone trying to bind the hero to them. It was manipulation. It was one of Flay’s first moments of insanity.

And I think she underestimated how much it would bind her to Kira in return, because, again, she was very young. She was a fifteen-year-old girl who tried to be a femme fatale, and with someone as sheltered and emotional and in need of connection as she was it was doomed for failure.

[whatifqueen]

The images seem to work on my end, but here’s a transcript of what they say exactly:

Damien: “Have you ever considered wearing some sort of ornaments in your hair? Something like that could really bring out the color of your eyes.”

Damien: “Have you ever considered wearing makeup? Something like that could really bring out the color of your eyes.”

I’ll be sure to add it to the main post just in case anyone else is having that same problem.

Damien at the Glen (or more reasons why he's a master manipulator other than the super obvious ones)

A perfectly innocent comment, right? There’s even a compliment about the PC’s eyes in there. What could possibly be wrong with that?

But I was curious. Would the dialogue change if I had a hair ornament like, say, a tiara equipped during that conversation? Would he admire it, much as he did with the one belonging to that Butterfly senior that he went on about during my previous playthrough? With that thought in mind I started over, saving up my weekly allowance until I had enough to buy what I wanted.

So, what happens if you wear a pretty little ornament during your not-a-date with Damien when you get to that same point in the conversation?

I’ll admit it: my jaw dropped.

Alone, those comments don’t seem quite so bad. It’s when you put them together that you realize exactly how insidious they actually are. Because it’s one thing for someone to suggest accentuating a feature they admire in you; it’s another thing entirely to learn that even if you accomplished that, they’d simply find another aspect of your appearance to criticize under the guise of helping you improve your appearance.

And that’s with maxed out cute stats, mind you.

The subtext of the backhanded compliment is strong with this one. And in the process, he tears down her self-confidence and builds up her insecurities in such a way that he comes out smelling like a daisy. After all, he said something nice about her, right? That is some subtle manipulation right there.

Basically, your PC will never be good enough for Damien Ramsey and he lets you know it – both before and after his confession of love. (“Ugly human girl,” anyone?) And during said confession, just as he did before during the not-a-date at the Glen, he frames his insulting and controlling behavior around the compliment of his overwhelming love for the heroine.

God, I love the subtlety of this game.

[whatifqueen]

It’s Never Too Late: A Star Wars Musing

At its heart, Star Wars has always held one essential truth: It’s not too late.

It’s not too late to be a Jedi. It’s not too late to become a family. It’s not too late to fight back. And most importantly, it’s not too late to turn back.

Even if you’ve done terrible things. Even if you’ve killed and slaughtered. Even if you’ve harmed the ones who care about you the most. You can decide “no, not this, not any more, not ever again.” It’s not too late.

It’s never too late to come home again.

[whatifqueen]

Fashion has a huge impact on culture.

For years, I didn’t understand little thing about our culture. Ladylike things. Why was crossing your legs at the ankles considered ladylike and crossing your legs at the knees wasn’t? Why was sitting up straight, with your hands in your lap, considered more ladylike than any other position? It all seemed so arbitrary to me.

Then I wore a corset. And it all suddenly made sense.

You cross your legs at the ankle because it’s next to impossible to cross your legs at the knee when wearing a corset. You sit up straight because the corset forces you to either do so or recline at an angle (still with your back straight). You put your hands in your lap because it’s an easy place to put them when wearing a corset.

So I speculated. If a woman could slouch or cross her legs at the knee, it meant she wasn’t wearing the appropriate undergarments. And if she could do bend and slouch and move her legs however she chose, what else was she getting up to with her body? Nothing ladylike, in the context of the times.

Corsets went out of fashion as mandatory undergarments, but their impact on culture didn’t go away. Nearly a hundred years later, we still see girls being told to emulate posture that was once used purely for practical purposes. Only the reasoning has been lost to time.

[whatifqueen]

You could play real songs on them, too. For instance, Jingle Bells, which went a little something like this:

3-3-3

3-3-3

3-5-1-2-3

4-4-4

4-4-3-3

3-3-5-5-4-2-1

oh my god i'm cleaning out my desk and i found my first phone

it was a fucking house phone that i was so stoked to have because it was mine that i kept in my own room and i cannot believe technology has progressed at the speed of FUCKING light to the point where this is a hilarious artifact to have had in like 6th grade and now theres kindergarteners with iphones

[whatifqueen]

Peter Quill carries his mother’s legacy out into the stars.

How many aliens know Earth music from the 1970s because Meredith passed her love of it on to her son? And how many love it so much that they not only use it for their battle themes, but keep copies of it for themselves?

For someone who memorized every song on the radio there could be no finer legacy.

[whatifqueen]

Okay, but what if she ate bugs instead?

Like, instead of eating like a human, she went full on carnivorous plant and got her energy from eating bugs. And everyone is weirded out by it because she didn’t pick one of the two acceptable ways to eat as a human, but honestly, she doesn’t give a shit because she’s not really one of them anymore.

Of course, plants do choke out other plants life, and some get energy from dead plant matter, so maybe it IS pretty accurate for her to be vegan.

You know what still confuses me? That they made Poison Ivy vegan. Like, she likes plants right? Why would you make her eat them? Wouldn’t it make more sense for her to eat meat? Since animals destroy plants most of the time?

I mean, I could be wrong but whatever….

[whatifqueen]

I genuinely dread going to my job. Is this normal? Is this what normal people feel?

[whatifqueen]

Chrono Trigger thoughts:

The people from the kingdom of Zeal call themselves the Enlightened Ones. Alternatively, one could also call them Zealots or Zealous, if you really think about it.

The kingdom of Zeal also hovers over the Earthbound.

So, is the game trying to say they’re OVERzealous?

[whatifqueen]

something wicked this way comes