#LiSBtS

[rachelgearhardt]

i'm hoping the livestream for life is strange: double exposure will clear some things up for me, but as of right now i have some trepidation. i used to have an active LiS blog a couple years back and i just made this new one specifically to talk about my feelings seeing this trailer

so, just diving in, obviously the elephant in the room here is that there's no chloe (or more importantly, any mention of LiS1 and its story beats or characters at all). someone said that max is supposed to be either 28 or 29 years old in DE, but i couldn't find an official source for this so take that with a grain of salt

regardless of which ending you chose, bay or bae, max's character arc through LiS1 is extremely significant. if you choose bay, max probably has some level of survivor's guilt for 'letting' chloe die (even if that was 'what the universe wanted' and changing time is 'wrong'). ten years is not enough time to significantly divorce this from her character, so i would expect to see it mentioned or affecting her still. max went through so much trauma through the course of that game that it would be bordering on exhausting to make a list of each trauma. my first thought when telling another story about max (whose story was very much finished at the conclusion of LiS1) would be to explore those things or at the very least tack onto what was there

you would think that would be a gold mine of story-telling opportunities, just as a writer and a dev, but even if you only wanted to look at it from a cash grab lens, it would also make more sense nostalgia wise to include LiS1's story in whatever arc they give max next

but let's say you choose the bae ending. if you do that, max has fundamentally decided that she will save the one she loves with the power she's been given and she owns up to this, even if she has guilt after the fact. we would see her struggling with that guilt just the same as if you gave her the bay ending. but to tack onto this, i think she and chloe would be pretty closely linked, whether they're in a romantic or platonic relationship atp. i just don't think you can 'sacrifice' your childhood town (or at least, that's how max perceives it. whether it's true is another topic) with your superpowers just to save your best friend and then not have her in your life going forward. i would say at the very least they're trauma-bonded, and at most they're in a romantic relationship, depending on how the player plays the game. either way, chloe should still be an integral part of max's life, especially since it's only been ten-ish years since LiS1. i would still expect to see chloe with max, like in LiS2

so then comes the issue - how are they going to tackle this? they have a few options here. the first one is they can completely avoid canonizing either ending by just never mentioning LiS1, chloe, or any of the other characters again. they can pretend that max has moved on and it's been enough time to divorce that story from her character.

however, i kinda don't think they're going to do this because square enix gave this response to someone on twitter:

i think they know they're playing with fire here, so i doubt square would say something like this unless they were aware that LiS1's events or characters are mentioned in some way. so from here i would assume they're going to take a LiS2 approach and have the player choose which ending they picked at the end of the first game.

based on that choice, the game will either show you evidence of chloe living or her dying. and if chloe lives, who knows if she'll just be away on a trip or if she and max have split completely. but i already see issues with this regardless, personally. it only worked in LiS2 because the game wasn't about chloe or max and the easter eggs were small. this entire game is constructed around max as a main character, so... the events of LiS1 would both affect her thoughts, her surroundings, her actions and even just her core character? that is a huge amount of things to tackle and change based upon your ending in LiS1, so i'm worried this will be watered down in a way that's probably not going to sit right with me

i mean, just looking at the trailer, max's powers have developed to show she's almost opening portals to change timelines. do you really think bae ending max, who decided to save her loved one over all else, wouldn't use that power to contend with her arcadia bay trauma and save her and chloe's other loved ones? save rachel or joyce? it just seems odd and it raises a lot of questions.

what i will give them is there does seem to be some element of max not being able to control her powers in double exposure, evidenced by this:

max can't rewind time at all anymore, so her powers are just not to her control. it seems like she starts hearing safi's voice without being able to control it or know what's going on, so i guess because of that unpredictability she couldn't exactly use it like a marvel superpower and go and save arcadia bay. but is that going to feel a little too convenient or actually genuine, when we see it actually executed in the story? who's to say, atp

another element to this discussion that's kind of important to note is that michel koch has openly stated that the reason why dontnod split with square enix is because they wanted to essentially reboot LiS with Lost Records, mostly due to them being creatively constrained by square:

this sentiment that square is ultimately unsupportive of dontnod's vision of LiS is corroborated by deck nine employees with the expose article written about deck nine's work culture awhile back:

i mean, square enix does not seem to care about LiS past a money making venture, which is already showing in the way double exposure seems to be a cash grab. how can you authentically continue max's story, including all of the character development and trauma from the first game, while also not making it any part of this new story? i could be proven wrong (and i hope i am), but considering the trailer says it's a max caulfield adventure, it seems like it's mostly going to be separate. the fact dontnod had to split off to tell stories with artistic integrity should tell us enough about this situation, and that's without going into other issues in this expose about the work culture at deck nine. there are no doubt some amazing people working there that fought for LiS and i still think BtS is an amazing game that has a lot of aspects where the love for LiS1 shines, even despite square selling the franchise to 'the lowest bidder'.

but anyway... all this to say, i'm really worried about the integrity of max's character here. i hope i'm wrong about a lot of this and chloe (or really just anything hinting to max's pre-established lore) is shown in this game. but right now it's feeling a little odd to me

#max caulfield #life is strange #life is strange double exposure #lis #dontnod #deck nine #chloe price #pricefield #metas #life is strange before the storm #lisbts #rachel amber #lis1 #life is strange 1

[lifeisvortex]

Here we go! Starting from pricefield :) Happy Valentine's day 😌🙌

#lifeisstrange #lis #lisbts #before the storm #life is strange fanart #digital art #max caulfield #maxine caulfield #chloe price #pricefield #art

[lifeisstrangearchive]

Life is Strange: Before the Storm Backtalk Symbols

#life is strange #life is strange archive #lis #png #transparent #archive #chloe price #pricefield #life is strange before the storm #before the storm #lisbts #bts #backtalk #symbols #doodles

[redpool]

I just want to know what Life is Strange is building towards.

Why do these characters have powers. Where do they come from? The powers obviously come from trauma but why? Is there a reason?

#max caulfield #rachel amber #daniel diaz #alex chen #life is strange #life is strange before the storm #lis #lis before the storm #lisbts #lis bts #life is strange 2 #lis2 #life is strange true colors #listc #lis tc

[pentaclipse]

What if Rachel Amber had left tapes for Chloe Price for her to discover later? Redux of [x]

#lis #life is strange bts #life is strange #lisbts #rachel amber #va #voice acting #amberprice #sad #chloe price

[rachelambery]

good morning Rachel Nation! 🦌

#rachel amber #rachelamber #lis #lisbts #life is strange #deer

[chloesnecklace]

my favorite rachel remastered screenshots

she’s literally the prettiest pixel in the franchise i wanna be her so bad bro

#ambers posts #amber’s favz #lifeisstrange #rachel amber #life is strange bts #life is strange before the storm #rachelamber #life is strange remastered #life is strange before the storm remastered #lisbts #lis bts #lis1 #lis 1 #lis #ambers viral posts?!

[void-icons]

Rachel Amber Icons! <3

Fc: Jesu by kr1stelle !

#rachel amber #rachel amber icons #life is strange #lis icons #lisbts #life is strange icons #lis #icons #amberprice

[m4rkkkuss]

𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐋 𝐀𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑

#lifeisstrange #lis #rachelamberfan #rachelamber #lifeisstrangebeforethestorm #rachelamberedits #lifeisstrangegame #lifeisstrangeedit #amberprice #arcadiabay #lisbts #beforethestorm #lifeisstrangechloe #fanart #rachelamberfanart #rachelamber4life #edits #multifandomedit #multifandomedits #videogames #videogamesedit #videogamesedits #lisfandom #rachelamberlifeisstrange

[frogyjones-art]

Worked with the amazing filmmakers @the-w0nder-twins by making this poster for their latest project Hope Circle! Check out their YT for some of their awesome films!

(Some close ups under the break)

#art #my art #lis #fanart #life is strange #chloe price #chloe lis #lisbts #life is strange before the storm

[perfectlypersie]

✨️Nice Rachel we're having✨️

Life is Strange: Before the Storm (ep. 1)

Rachel cosplay stream from 12/29/23

#life is strange #lisbts #rachel amber #amberprice #lis cosplay #life is strange cosplay #rachel amber cosplay #life is strange before the storm #lgbtq #lesbian

[lifeisvortex]

Warren in Nate's jacket during the Vortex party AU

#lifeisstrange #lis #lisbts #before the storm #life is strange fanart #digital art #warren graham #grahamscott #warren x nathan #artwork #nathan prescott

[lifeisstrangearchive]

Chloe's Diary Polaroid Pictures of Every Character

#life is strange #life is strange archive #lis #png #transparent #archive #chloe price #max caulfield #frank bowers #william price #joyce price #david #elliot #steph #drew #nathan prescott #rachel amber #sera amber #the amber parents #damon merrick #polaroid #life is strange before the storm #lisbts #bts #stickers #tape

[redpool]

I wanted to romance Steph in Before the Storm and now you're telling me I have to pick between Ryan and Steph in True Colours????

#steph gingrich #before the storm #lis bts #life is strange #life is strange before the storm #lisbts #life is strange true colors #lis tc #listc #ryan lucan

[bulchuu]

#wip #lisbts #amberprice

[thealexchen]

If I have to be honest, Life is Strange True Colors fandom is the least toxic fandom of them all. Everyday, I keep seeing the same arguments from the LisSubreddit and Listwt, usually by the same group of people (whom I won't name - chances are, they might be on tumblr too and could be reading this too). Such as ship wars, which are the best endings, and let alone same insults everyday like "max flopfield" or listwt starting shit and being triggered over petty reasons or over nothing. But this is what happens when you're in the small fandom dedicating to Life is Strange, I know we're all desperate for new contents. So am I, but why use the same takes that'll cause unintentional or unnecessary drama for the sake of something new? I miss the old days when we're only writing fanfictions, drawing fanarts, or coming up with ADORKABLE headcanons :(

I get what you mean, and you’re right. The lack of new content means that old discussion (more like argument topics) get rehashed over and over. Social media like Twitter and Reddit tend to create their own echo chamber as the loudest voices drown out more nuanced takes and those people become too discouraged to continue (I unsubscribed from the LiS subreddit ages ago and I never go on Twitter). But nostalgia can be deceiving; the fanbase was more active in 2015 so there was more fanfiction and fanart, but on the flip side the ship wars were at their worst and LiS1 was the subject of awful online vitriol just because the protagonist was a teen girl. I still remember the downright nasty Pricefield vs. Amberprice ship wars in 2017 and the relentless hate (and racist reactions, but I won’t go there rn) that LiS2 got in 2018. Nowadays it’s like LiS2 never existed and it bums me out, even if my feelings on the game have soured since 2018.

But I’m gonna change the subject, because I was so interested in your wording “the true colors fandom,” because I think that’s a larger issue within LiS: the internal divisions within the series and the separate “mini fandoms” for each game. It’s sadly true that fans of LiS1 are rarely also fans of 2 because there’s so little overlap. This series has has a weird trajectory from the beginning, because it’s clear that LiS1 was always meant to be a small standalone story that achieved runaway success and spawned a prequel by another studio, and then DN suddenly had to figure out how to turn LiS into an anthology series. But the very specific, unique, and unprecedented (for its time) style and cultural impact that LiS1 had simply cannot be replicated twice. As it stands, the dead parents, queer characters, supernatural elements, and indie soundtrack simply aren’t enough to keep these games feeling cohesive and like they are set in the same universe. And as such, they never attract the same fans back to the next game. Not to mention the spin-off content has been kind of lukewarm: I stopped reading the comics and it seems like everyone does not want the TV adaptation to happen.

Adding onto this, discussions about TC fizzled out disappointingly fast because it’s a shorter game with a safer, more conventional plot. The characters and main ships are the least problematic than they’ve ever been, the game is almost squeaky clean with its political correctness, and the choices are never controversial. The thing is, that leaves almost no room for discussion. I think Alex’s parents had a lot of potential for their choices and how they affected their children, for example, but they’re barely in the game. TC kind of reminds me of Tell Me Why, actually: a very safe, careful, small game that was meaningful in the moment but one that people move on from quickly.

Anyway, thanks for sending this message, it’s nice to have a LiS-related ask again.

#anon #answered asks #lis #listc #lisbts #lis2 #life is strange #life is strange 2 #life is strange true colors #life is strange true colours #life is strange: true colors #life is strange before the storm #lis before the storm #pricefield #amberprice