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vaguely-concerned · 5 months

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Happy Grace/Pan Vibes For The Soul

"How can I, with you in the way?"/"(Laughs) The floor is yours!"

First of all I'm honestly just so charmed by how genuinely delighted Pan seems to be at watching Grace finding her voice and learning to enjoy using her power, I think that's where I started to take a shine to him. (also seems quite central to his character/romance in general because it's a thing that recurs through their relationship -- he tells her "I'm enjoying it if you're enjoying it" straight out at one point and that's definitely always there in the subtext). He buys a music studio for her just in case she ever wants to return to making music again even when she's not the muse anymore just because he loves her singing and has seen it make her happy before, how is that not the sweetest goddamn thing in the world??? Pan and Oracle in shared first place as stans for Grace musically

For real though, 'I Can Teach You' is sooo... even when you don't join forces with him Pan teaches Grace so many things in that song, it's a thematic tutorial as well as a gameplay one in many ways. For me I think the most impactful subtexts are 'This is a tricky situation, change is here and it's difficult, but you have more control and agency here than you think' ("You're in control!" "It's your song!"), and this sense that, y'know... there can be joy and playfulness and discovery in setting out into the unknown, not just fear and uncertainty.

dude... I wanna be in cahoots with & sing playful duets with you for the rest of my life bro (amorous intent)

Pros: Hell yeah look at her go! 🥰

Cons: Uh-oh look at her go! 😬

I love that Grace can bring Pan's motif into 'Challenging A Queen' and be called the fuck out by Persephone btw. why u keepin' your guard up girl uwu

'you gave up the only thing worth having -- for your little mortal friend' he says, giving up everything for his little once-again-mortal friend literally the next day fhsdkjfhsad who are you fooling buddy? not even yourself at this point surely??? (dialogue for if you save Freddie by giving up the eidolon)

my observations on the grace/pan dynamic across the different personality traits (yes I've done a run of each romancing him I am normal about it):

Clever!Grace: Pan seems to set out to be a trickster mentor of sorts, and Clever!Grace flips the uno reverse card on him and goes ‘Not if I trickster mentor you first bitch be honest about your feelings or perish challenge engage’. Probably the most birds of a feather combination (and indeed it’s the Blue version of the soundtrack that shows off his romance — also his tie and glasses are on the cover for that one :) ).

Charming!Grace: Performative puppy dog eyes-off whenever either of them wants to get their way. 🥺4🥺. Pan is provably a soft touch from the Charming option to find Persephone before Challenging A Queen so I feel he probably tends to buckle faster but it’s a close thing. Local trickster god completely disarmed by someone being nice to him.

Kickass!Grace: “Be real with me or Imma kick your ass”/”Promise? ;)”/"...>:)"

I am always thinking about the way he steps up in The Trial when romanced (and the way it's the only one where Athena is genuinely shocked and appalled fhskadj). there is something about him that's like... he keeps protesting against 'innocent' and he's probably right haha, but there is certainly an almost fundamental lack of any active malice there that he doesn't fully admit to himself or to grace until this moment. he is doing this for grace, but it is also a confession about something really deep in himself that seems to be very vulnerable for him in its sincerity -- that he really doesn't mean to or more importantly want to cause harm (I don't wanna dance/with blood on my hands). admitting to his own basically good heart finally seems to be the bigger, scarier thing for him, more than facing the prospect of dying. he's experiencing the mortifying ordeal of being known and I for one am so proud of him

"I'm just here for the dance"

the way he sings that just to her and completely changes the meaning of it from what he said with it before, from using it to keep her out to inviting her in...

also can you imagine how badly the kill bill sirens must be going off in Grace's head in all variations of this scene no matter who steps up, considering what happened to Freddie just days before....... oof!

*incensed whisper* are you fucking kidding me with this what am I supposed to do with myself here

love these too

I really like the visual repeats of crossing the pond to the tree and back as a metaphor for them getting closer (or rather, him letting her closer, it is very much His Space). he retreats back there towards the end of 'Share This Dance', and that's the point where Grace puts her foot down and essentially says 'no. you come meet me honestly in the middle this time or this isn't happening'. and in 'The Trial' he does and then some!

I meant what I sang. I'm not a good man. If Athena had taken me up on my offer, the Idols would have been better off But I can try to be better. You make me want to try.

fun fact: if you break up with him after The Trial (YEAH you can still break off the romances at that point! it's wild honestly fsjadk), Grace tells him he should try to be better ‘for himself’ not for her... and he calls that (i.e. himself) ‘not much of an incentive’. My guy don’t make me break out the ‘Have you tried therapy’ prompt again. He takes it very calmly and gracefully under the circumstances but he's also like. quietly resigned and subdued. I tried it once for Science and never will again but there you go I bring my knowledge to this altar of sadness lol

you see the thing is I would forgive him for just about anything too I understand why so many of the characters in-game can't stay mad at him for any length of time

he starts the game by asking her to take his hand and he ends it on asking her to take his hand (and she does)...

:') let's share this dance

#stray gods #stray gods pan #stray gods grace #grace x pan #better late than never! I said I would make this post and by god I meant it I love these two with all my soul #stray gods meta

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cheeseanonioncrisps · 7 months

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Madoc is such a fascinating character to me.

Like, this is a guy who really, truly cares about family. Not even in the warrior sense of family honour or loyalty— although that too— but in the most like, cereal-packet, Saturday Morning Cartoon way possible.

On some level Madoc's main goal in life is to come home every evening to a well-cared for, loving stay-at-home wife, and a gaggle of well-behaved, happy children.

It's just that his other main goal in life is unending war and bloodshed, and he seems to be incapable of understanding why those things don't mesh.

Dude has two wives and four kids (that we know of). He loves/loved all of them deeply. He murdered one and almost succeeded in murdering another. Two of them ended up having to be hidden from him in the mortal world for their own safety. Three of them have faced him in direct combat. Literally all of them have at some point either conspired against him or aided somebody else in conspiring against him.

Madoc literally murdered Jude, Taryn and Vivi's parents in front of them. And then took them in and started acting as their new Dad.

He mortally wounded Jude and then asked to be allowed to help her.

He basically tried to invade Elfhame, laid out a plan to establish Jude as a puppet-queen (and we don't know that he didn't know the true secret of the Bridle) and then said that it would be “good to be a family again”.

We're told repeatedly, by Jude, that Red Caps need to shed blood, but we're never really told exactly what this means. The fact that Jude doesn't have any qualms about banning Madoc from using weapons suggests that he probably isn't going to actually die if he doesn't meet his Blood Quota for the century.

Is it an addiction? An instinct? A spiritual obligation? Just something he really, really likes and doesn't want to give up?

Is all the fucked up stuff Madoc does on his path to the throne really just his Red Cap instincts getting the better of him?

Or is it just that we're getting all this from the POV of his daughter, who needs some way to explain in her mind the separation between 'Madoc her Dad' and 'Madoc the General-Turned-Traitor'?

Regardless of how in-control of it he actually is, Madoc's Red Cap status is fundamentally treated by everyone around him as a blank-check for him to be as bloodthirsty as he likes. Even when Jude is actively working against him, she still takes time to clarify, in her internal monologue, that this is just Madoc's nature, that he can't be anything else.

But how much of an issue is it really? Is Madoc incapable of having the family he wants because he's a Red Cap, and Red Caps are incapable of anything other than violence, or because he's a Red Cap, and thus assumes he's exempt from having to make the choice between 'family-man' and 'gore-soaked warlord'?

Is banning him from ever picking up a weapon a punishment because to stop killing people is somehow inherently detrimental to Red Caps? Or because if he survives doing so then it proves that he could have stopped at any time, and thus that everything he's done so far was the result of his own, personal choices?

What would these stories look like from his perspective?

#madoc #folk of the air #fota #holly black #jude duarte #fota meta #meta #folk of the air meta #the cruel prince #the wicked king #queen of nothing

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beatcroc · 11 months

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excessively long and complex read on pillar john, and the larger john collective

there are a lot of things in pizza tower that, to one extent or another, Are John. some, like the pillar johns, have known and stated canon; but there's a myriad of other things, from mini-johns to the tower itself, that could also be argued as Being John. this post aims to reconcile all of those things as different facets of the whole being that is "John".

now right out of the gate i want to be real. i want to level with you for where im coming from with all this. i do think john is akin to some kind of god. i don't mean this in a super literal sense, but this dude is absolutely [conditionally] immortal to me. he's been around for a very very very long time, and will likely continue to exist almost indefinitely. barring specific circumstances.

i don't have an exact image for the first type of john, so i'm using this scrapped type of block from betas bc it illustrates the concept well enough

this is what i'll henceforth be referring to as "john tower"

this is john in his purest essence; the tower itself, and/or a power or a presence or just a vibe contained in and by the tower's walls and bricks. john tower is 'where' it could be said john's true consciousness and memories lie, but by itself it isn't really "alive" and doesn't have a will its own.

i'm not taking the brick itself Too seriously/literally since it's from beta, but i think it works for the general idea of "John is, and is within, the tower at its most fundamental level; and left to its own the tower will just sorta start making John-type things." Such as the following:

this one i will be calling "real john" this john is the physical, living manifestation of john tower, and what i would properly consider to be "John, Brother Of Gerome". he's a sapient guy with a personality and will and all the stuff that usually comes with being alive. this john is probably the most important type, and under normal circumstances there's only ever one of them at once.

these are just "dead johns". yknow because of the.

yeah. past incarnations of real john that died or got killed, or perhaps just wore out after awhile. real john dying isn't a particularly huge issue because, again, the tower just sorta Makes these things. and boy have there been a lot. they never seem to look quite the same between bodies, but they're all the same john with the same memories nonetheless, and so long as the tower stands, there will be more johns.

these are the pillar johns. this is known. these, as far as i know, are canonically clones of a cursed state of real john, and are mentally all the same guy by way of a hivemind. no speculation to be done here!

this "original john" is also stated canon the current real john, under a curse from pizzahead. physically the same being as real john, so the tower isn't just going to make a new one because this one's not technically Dead. i like to think john is closer to just being another brick of the tower like this, in something of a suspended state between being john tower and real john. still alive and sapient like real john, but much more connected to and in tune with the general sense of Energies of john tower. Has direct control over bits of it, which is primarily expressed as:

mini-johns! as real john is to john tower, so mini-johns are to pillar johns. there is no way to make this less confusing. mini-johns are essentially just random ass bricks and blocks of the tower that pillar john went 'ok little fucker you're gonna be alive now'. they're not part of either the pillar john hivemind OR the john tower collective and operate on their own agenda, which is i suppose is why they attack you, despite john generally seeming to be on your side about what you're doing to the tower. the little guys are a little more removed from their host, and aren't too thrilled about you tearing everything down. or maybe john is just pissed about getting killed over and over since there's no doubt that shit hurted. the john ghost certainly doesn't seem too happy about it either but honestly he's allowed to be a little vengeful in my book.

an aside note but there's also definitely some weird connection between them and [pillar] John Being Dead since they only ever appear during escape, except for in the graveyard-themed level [scrapyard] where everything is already dead... though interestingly not the JOHN graveyard level [john gutter] until pizza time? whatever. i don't have much of a sensible framing for this aside from it just being a general thematic thing and the mini-john section is too long already so i am moving on.

this john i frankly have no fucking clue about and am generally leaning more toward the idea that it's maybe not a literal thing that exists. more just a visual representation of one thing or another?

since it dies when you kill the final/original pillar john my initial read on it was that it's just sorta like an alternate view of original john so you could get a good look at the whole thing not restricted to the space in the 2d plane the player is on, but, crucially, it is missing real/original john's hat, which feels like too central a detail to leave out.

my alternate read on it is that it's a representation of the... overall state of the tower. emotionally, or perhaps structurally, which really might mean thing when you are talking about an arcane structure that is an undetermined amount of alive. either way, it's clear john, the tower, its energies, anything relating to such have been under duress and steadily, irreversibly decaying for....however long it's been since pizzahead took over. bit of a dour note to end on i suppose but that's just the way the tower crumbles man.

you may ask me what all this means for gerome. and i would answer, hell if i know?!? they're said to be brothers and clearly the same Kind of guy, but they don't seem to be cut from the same cloth, as it were. gerome doesn't seem to have Powers:tm: like john does, or pizzahead certainly would have been using him for shit as well, and there's also not a million versions of him lying around to land him in that weird pseudo-immortal space like john.

my best guess is he's something more intrinsically connected to the treasures, and something of a life support system or failsafe for the tower. i'm not sure how to Coherently articulate my thoughts here, but it's something like...little guy fundamental to but also entirely separate from the tower, made to help with its general upkeep [janitor stuff] and also to protect itself in dire straits [treasures]. not in any way attached to the john collective so that if something goes wrong there, at least gerome's small part of the tower's vibe remains untarnished. something about shaping and fragmenting the tower's energies into and across each of the levels by routing and/or stabilizing it through cloned johns; by proxy still this taps in to the gerome part of the tower's energies which manifests as its own separate door/room within that space that can't be altered by any other force re: the background in the treasure rooms always just being normal purple tower brick. treasures being condensed physical standalone bits of the tower's energy, enough of whatever's been channeled into that area to keep john going when given back to him should something disconnect/destroy the energies of the rest of that area. something like that.

honestly, i still have a bit of a hangup in saying gerome is of the same tower origin as john simply because he's not same shade of purple as all the other john tower stuff, but that's really kind of nitpicking at that point, so. hwatever.

ANYWAY all that said and done the most important thing you should take away from this post is that at one point gerome might have had a brother that looked like this

#pizza tower #pillar john #john pillar #im gonna be the worlds foremost pillar bros care-abouter watch me.#pizzaposting #<-tag for my pt rambles btw. most havent been in the tag but we'll see what else i get up to #look i tried very hard to have the gerome part make any sense but it was just not coming to me #im tired of having this in my drafts this is as good as it's getting i want it out.

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animentality · 2 months

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The main miscommunication I’m seeing with the Wyll Gortash drama is that for fans of Wyll, they feel that Larian is uplifting popular fan ideas and adding it to the game while ignoring an already established character. And they’re right that Wyll is being ignored but they are wrong to say that Gortash lines were added because of fandom. For Gortash fans, they feel that people are purposely ignoring the canon history of Durge to create their own edgy Tav. And they’re right that Durge needs more features of an Origin character and add these lines expands on Durge’s most important canon relationship. Where they’re wrong is thinking Wyll fans are only going after Gortash because they truly think the 5 lines added took something from Wyll.

The improvements Wyll needs for his story are overarching additions that would be best to add all together in an upcoming patch. I understand the frustration at seeing what they see as a side character being given lines when more time should be added to Wyll but those lines are a lot easier to code, write, and implement than adding more dialogue, interactions, and quest for Wyll.

We should be uniting over knowing we as fans can get Larian to add stuff to the game and expand on existing characters!

Thanks for letting me just chat into the inbox. I think you also see the miscommunication and it’s frustrating when others just seem to talk past the point instead of actually sitting down to think about it.

Also question for your pronoun preference, do you prefer someone picks he/him or they/them to use or switching it up when speaking about you? And do you like words like dude, guy, or bro being used?

You bring up many excellent points that I hadn't considered.

The addition of Gortash/ Durge characterization is NOT fanservice. It rounds out two major villains, ONE OF WHOM IS AN ORIGIN. It gives Gortash just a tiny bit of extra character, and it's not that big of a damn deal.

Five goddamn lines, this kerfuffle is over, which is just ridiculous.

But it's also true that Wyll also needs more quests, scenes, and a character arc?! These two things are nuanced, and they can both be true.

I have always complained that the Dark Urge is fundamentally flawed and suffers from some truly bad writing. Giving them more humanity IS a good thing for the story.

It's just a shame that the anti Durge/Gortas/Durgetash crowd is just blinded by hatred.

They don't like the two characters, so they accuse US of forcing the devs to do something for them - bullshit.

Larian is trying to fix its narrative issues.

Durgetash is, and I say this as NOT a Durgetasher...Durgetash is actually good for the story. It makes both of them more interesting and complex.

But what would the anti Durgetashers know?

they don't know anything about the dark urge. or gortash. and they don't care to learn. which would be fine, if they weren't attacking us for something i don't even know we necessarily did.

#baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #dark urge #enver gortash #durgetash

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obsidiancreates · 4 months

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Something Strange Comes To Santa Barbra

(This may be the most Niche thing I've ever posted. @poltertoast this is for you, it's not the previously discussed crossover concepts but I might do those later)

Shawn ducks under the police tape and jogs right up to Lassiter. "This better be good Lassie. Gus and were just about to crush one of those restaurant food challenges down at a dumpling place."

"Just get inside." Lassiter gives Shawn a slight shove, and Gus makes sure to stay out of Lassiter's arm range as he follows.

Shawn's eyes go right to the wall; there's a huge bloodstain, and it's configuration is... strange. It looks more like a movie, or a video game, than a regular splatter pattern. His focus zeros in on one of the two beds next, highlighting an abandoned contraption that looks like an old GameBoy Color altered with all sorts of computer chips and wires and antenna. There's a book laying on the floor, open but page-down to show both the front and back cover in full. The Paranormal Prince: Ghost Hunting With Royal Blood by one Johnny Toast.

Shawn chuckles and nudges Gus. "Dude, read the name on that book."

"What boo- ... Johnny Toast?"

"Johnny Toast," Jules confirms, walking over to them. "Late twenties to early thirties, British, and presumed dead."

"Whoa, whoa. Presumed dead?" Shawn looks at the wall. "Seriously?"

"No body," Jules says with a sigh. "No blood trail indicating how it was moved, no missing sheets, and the owner of the condo says they didn't have any rugs. CSI didn't find any evidence of cleaning supplies, and no reports of gunshots in the area at the suspected time of attack."

"No gunshots?" Shawn looks again at the wall. It's really bothering him, he swears he's seen a pattern like that before but he knows it wasn't in real life.

Jules nods to the wall. "There's some deep gauges out of the plaster, we're thinking knife carvings. Murderer must've hit an artery, which makes the lack of blood anywhere else even stranger."

"No kidding. There's not even any on the floor." Gus keeps his eyes off the blood, and it's almost disturbingly easy to do so. The rest of the room is mostly spotless, save a strange image almost... superimposed onto the wall. A blue square, a red triangle, and a yellow V.

"What about this?" Shawn gestures at it. "Does the condo owner have the worst taste ever, or is this a calling card?"

"We looked into it, apparently it's a popular graffiti symbol in the victim's hometown."

"What town?"

Jules starts to say, and then takes in a deep breath. "Don't laugh," she warns. "Both the vic and the suspect are from a town in North Carolina called... Little Butts."

Shawn and Gus fail to not laugh. Jules looks like she wants to laugh too, but Lassiter walks into the room at that moment.

"You told them where they're from, didn't you?"

"They asked."

"After we agreed not to tell them because laughing at a murder scene is asinine."

"Ass," Shawn mumbles, and he and Gus laugh again.

"Just-! Tell us if you see anything." Lassiter gestures around the room. "Chief just called and she wants this to be top priority, apparently there's a serial killer from that town and she wants to make sure he's not taking a vacation in Santa Barbra."

"Well maybe I'd have a better sense of the case if you told me who the suspect is."

Jules nods while Lassiter scowls. "Johnny Ghost-"

"Johnny Toast and Johnny Ghost? Are they cartoon characters?" Gus whispers to Shawn. Jules ignores it.

"-late twenties, owner said he's short with red-brown hair and brown eyes, always wears a gray hoodie with this logo on it." She shows them a drawing.

Gus scoffs. "They spelled it wrong."

"What?"

"That's the symbol for Pi, Shawn. Three-point-one-four-one-five-nine, and then continues on forever? It's a fundamental of math."

"It's a fundamental of a good diet is what it is."

"It's a pun," Jules says. "They ran a ghost hunting business together, Paranormal Investigators Extraordinaire. At least, that's what the owner said Johnny Ghost screamed at him when they introduced themselves."

Shawn looks back over at the beds. Now the DS makes sense... "So that's why the Chief wants me? See if there's a... spiritual connection? Maybe this Ghost fellow got possessed and offed his partner?"

"And to find the body, and Ghost himself. He was seen leaving the house alone around the time of the attack on some nearby security cameras, and hasn't come back to the house since."

Shawn nods, half-listening as his eyes travel around the room again and he does a slow, lazy-looking turn. He hones in on a business card, the corner just barely visible under the left bed.

"OH!" He dramatically drops to the floor, trying to make it look like he was yanked. "Oh, the spirits are strong here! But they're scared, yes, of the ghost hunters, they weren't ready to contact me before but now!" Shawn drags himself across the floor in one motion and snatches the card, jumping back up. "Now they're screaming! Crying out saying-!"

He discreetly peeks at the card and then holds it up to his forehead, text-side facing out at the 'crowd' that is his friends and fellow investigators. "Santa Barbra School Of Dance!"

Lassiter stalks over and grabs the card, reading it for himself. "Who the hell did the sweep?" he growls. "O'Hara, bag it as evidence!"

As Jules does, Shawn catches sight of a handwritten phone number on the front. Who writes extra notes on the front of a business card?

"Let's bring in the owner of the dance studio and find out what they know." Lassiter looks at Shawn and Gus. "Stay out of my interrogation."

"No problem, Lassie." Shawn puts his hand up in promise. As soon as Jules and Lassiter leave, Shawn drops to the floor again and reaches further under the bed.

"What're you doing?" Gus crouches down. "Did you find more blood?"

"No, Gus, no blood. But I saw this-" Shawn pulls out one of those lockable pencil cases. "-while I was grabbing the card. Here, give me a bobby pin or something."

"Why would I have a bobby pin?"

"I don't know, you're the one who loves cracking safes-es."

"Safes."

"I've heard it both ways."

"This is barely something you can crack anyway, just force it open."

"Force it open? Yeah, right. Do you know how many of these I tried to force open in middle school because someone wouldn't lend a pencil?"

"You lost it every time! My parents were gonna go broke buying that many pencils for me!"

"Just, find something I can jimmy this open with!"

They end up finding the key also under the bed, and popping it open they find... a box of macaroni.

"What the hell?" Gus picks it up and turns it around. "I've never even heard of this brand. Lettuce Squirrel Whiskey and 'Roni?"

"Why is there a dinosaur on the front? Man, that was a total bust, I really thought it'd be important. ... Let's go check out that dance studio."

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"Dude, what kind of dance studio has a teenage mutant ninja turtle as it's mascot?" Shawn turns, keeping his eye on the oddly swaying figure just outside the door until they're fully through. Something about it is bothering him... but he can't quite place his finger on what.

When they push open the door, there's a woman chatting with the receptionist. As soon as the first woman sees them, her face contorts into a nasty scowl. "Oh, no! Get out, you- you spineless rubes!"

Shawn and Gus freeze and put their hands up and take a step back in unison.

"Whoa!"

"Coming on a little strong considering you've never met us," Gus huffs.

"Yes I have," she seethes. "Over the phone, three months ago! I contacted your agency to investigate a haunting for me!"

"A haunting?" Shawn looks at Gus, who shrugs. "Which one of us did you talk to?"

"You." She points at Shawn. Her scowl could rival Lassiter's, maybe even Henry's. "And you told me to seek help!"

"That doesn't sound like me." Shawn casts his memory back. "Wait... were you the one who said that Donatello the turtle was haunting you?"

"All four of them!" she snaps. "And yes! Yes, I did! And you never came by! And it kept happening so I had to hire some out-of-town specialists-"

"Johnny Ghost and Johnny Toast of P.I.E?" Shawn asks, hand by his temple.

She blinks. It seems to shock her out of at least some of her rage. "Yes. Yes, and-and now I have bullet holes all over my studio."

"Bullet holes?!" Gus ducks. "They shot up the place?!"

"They had guns?"

"Yes, and yes! They saw one of the ghosts and-and I don't even know where they pulled the guns from, but it got away and they chased after it!"

"Did you call the police?"

"Not until that damn ghost is- oh, for heaven's sake!" Her eyes focus on something behind them and she storms to the door, flinging it open. "GET OUT OF HERE!"

It dawns on Shawn what disturbed him about the figure outside.

It hadn't been swaying in the wind at all. It had been bobbing like a person waiting.

The figure, Raphael by the mask color, shouts in fear as the woman screams at him-

And then phases through the floor and disappears.

Shawn freezes, the sight so not computing that it breaks him for a second. Gus's eyes go so wide they may try to run away since their owner isn't, and then they roll back up in his head and he collapses.

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They sit in the Psych office, Gus nervous-eating an entire box of dry cereal while Shawn has his hands pressed together and covering his mouth, eyes trained on the floor.

They haven't spoken since they watched the Ninja Turtle Ghost phase through solid ground.

Their phone rings again. Neither pick it up.

It's silent for another hour until Jules runs by the window, sees them both inside, and runs in.

"We've been trying to reach you guys for hours, we have-! ... What happened?"

Shawn flattens his hands against his face and rubs it. Gus raches into the now-empty cereal bag, pulls out nothing, "eats" the nothing, and then repeats without ever blinking.

"Seriously," Jules sits down on the couch in the nook. "What happened?"

Shawn drags his hands down his face. "Those uh... those ghost hunters were onto something big," he croaks out. "Real... real big."

"How big?" Jules leans in. "Because that might make our findings make a little more sense."

"You uh... you talked to the dance studio owner?"

"Yes, but we didn't get anywhere. She just insisted that she was haunted and we find them so they can finish the job. What we did find out is that Johnny Toast is..." She shakes her head. "I don't even know how this is possible, but he's the grandson of the Queen of England."

"He's what?" It's jarring enough to snap Shawn out of his complete Brain Breakage. "Why's he in America hunting ghosts?"

"No clue. But it means our list of suspects got a whole lot bigger, and Interpol might get involved. This could become a diplomatic incident. You didn't find out anything related to that?"

"Uh, no. No, we... we didn't. Our thing seems stupid now." It doesn't. But how the hell does he explain why he, a supposed psychic, is rattled by a ghost?

Jules shrugs, putting her hands up and then plopping them back in her lap. "I'll take anything you've got."

"... Well, um... I see violence. Yes, great, great violence. They were both very experienced with guns, and had them on their persons during this trip."

"But there were no signs of gunshots at the hotel. ... Which might mean this was pre-meditated! It was done quietly, no witnesses- shoot, it's looking more and more like we'll have to get overseas offices involved." Jules stands up. "Thanks, guys. But answer your phone next time! Lassiter almost got the Chief to kick you off the case for ignoring us."

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"Okay, what've you got?" Shawn looks up at Gus from across the room.

"Almost nothing." Gus frowns at his laptop as he scrolls. "It's like this 'Little Butts' place barely exists. All I've found is a bunch of sci-fi and fantasy forums where some kid named TheMightySpence with threes instead of E's is complaining about living there."

"Dang it. I'm not getting anything much better. There's a few clips on the internet of these ghost hunting guys, a TV commercial, and some kind of... fan club website for Toast. None of it gives me any motive, in fact, these guys were best friends by the looks of it! There's mentions of them growing up together, Toast lost his mind once because Ghost disappeared according to this clip from some terrible TV show I found, it just... doesn't add up. And all I can find on this 'serial killer' from that town is urban legends."

"This case is beyond us, Shawn. Real ghosts, and now a town that doesn't really exist, and it's an international incident? We're in over our heads!"

"I know!" Shawn shuts his laptop. "But we can't just back out because our entire worldviews were shattered, Gus, because the police think I already believe in ghosts!"

"Tell them that this one is something you've never seen!"

"It is something I've never seen!"

"I know tha-!"

"Excuse me?"

They look up. In the doorway stands a tall, handsome man, with stylish stubble and clothes fit for some type of fancy business party. He has a posh British accent, and...

He's definitely the guy from the book cover.

"Sorry to drop in uninvited, I saw you were closed but the door wasn't unlocked so I ah, let myself in. I was wondering if you'd be available to help me and my partner?"

Gus makes a high-pitched squeal-scream sound from deep in his throat. Shawn stands up, slowly, and goes to swipe his arm through the man's body.

"OW!" The man grabs his arm where Shawn slapped it. "Sir! They're hostile!"

"I'M COMING, JOHHNY!"

A short man in a grey hoodie comes racing in, gun drawn! "BACK UP A SECOND THERE, SNICKERS, OR I'LL SHOOT YOU RIGHT IN THE FACE!"

Gus lets the scream out fully and backs up against the wall while Shawn quickly draws away with a scream of his own. Ghost keeps his gun on Shawn as Toast rubs his arm.

After a long moment of Shawn and Gus screaming, Shawn is able to take in a few details. He hones in on the various stains all over Ghost's hoodie, some of which are unmistakably blood, meaning he doesn't wash it. There's dark circles around his eyes, and bags, and his clothes are hanging pretty loosely on him. So he can't take care of himself very well, may even have mental problems.

Toast is very well put together, and completely unphased by the response of a gun to a slap. He called out for Ghost, so he knew this would happen. Despite Ghost being smaller, and Toast being literal royalty, he called Ghost sir, so Ghost is both the wildcard and the one in charge. Given the terrifying glint in Ghost's extremely tired eyes, Shawn thinks that's not the best arrangement they could've come to.

"Alright," Shawn says, breathing heavily from the adrenaline, "Let's all calm down here!"

"Us?! You hurt Johnny!"

"I thought he was a ghost at first!"

"Why would he be a ghost?!"

"Because we're investigating his murder right now, which you are- were- the main suspect of!"

"Oh." Ghost looks at his partner. "Yeah, I killed him last night."

"That doesn't make any sense! He's here, he's real!"

"... Yes?" Ghost sounds genuinely confused. "Because it was last night? Of course he's fine now. After we went to the dance studio and got chased out by those turtle ghosts we got to the condo and the studio left him in a dancing mood, and then I caught him having macaroni! He was so out of it he almost did The British Disco right in front of me, so I killed him before he could!"

"Still sorry about that, sir."

"But how is he here if you killed him?"

"And what the hell does macaroni have to do with this?! And what's The British Disco?!" Gus keeps his distance, though his fear has subsided a bit.

Only a bit.

"We called Billy and everything was fine!" Ghost snaps as if that means anything. "And macaroni is a drug, obviously, and The British Disco is a dance so beautiful that it kills you if you see it and aren't either British or already dead!"

"If you can just come back from the dead-"

"Back from the dead, don't'ca just love bein' back from the dead," Ghost sings suddenly.

"... Right, sure. If you can just come back from the dead, why'd you have to kill him so you wouldn't die?"

"That's a different kind of dying!"

"There's only one kind!"

"Sir," Toast pipes up, "It seems this is one of those places. Where they don't follow the normal rules of reality."

Ghost's scowl disappears. "You're right, Johnny! Oh, I hate these places." The gun suddenly disappears from his hands. "Alright, let's try this all again. Ahem. I am JOHNNY GHOST, PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR EXTRAORDINAIRE, AND THIS IS MY PARTNER JOHNNY TOAST! Together we are P.I.E!"

Shawn nods, taking another step back. Situation diffused... for now. "Shawn Spencer, psychic detective," he says carefully. "This is my partner Nebulous Nevins."

Gus doesn't wave, but he does stop trying to melt into the wall so hard.

"Well, now that we're all ah, acquainted, could we... ask for your help?" Toast ventures. "See, our coworkers stayed back home and it turns out there's four ghosts at-"

"The Santa Barbra School Of Dance?" Shawn says, putting his hand to his head.

"Yes, exactly. We don't have any guns to spare you at the moment, however-"

"We don't do guns," Gus says quickly. "Not with ghosts."

"Well that's stupid," Ghost scoffs. "What do you do when they attack you?"

"I'm a psychic, not a ghost hunter. The spirits are generally on my side."

"You sound like Spooker. Let's go Johnny, apparently we have to clear up your supposed murder with the police!" Ghost grabs Toast's arm and drags him out.

It takes a full fifteen minutes for Shawn and Gus to relax after the two leave. Gus screams intermittently for five of those minutes. Shawn screams with him.

By the end they're collapsed in their chairs, completely unwound.

"... They're going to get arrested," Shawn says faintly. "If they tell that same story."

"Or put in an institution," Gus agrees.

"... Why do I get the feeling they won't stay in either one of those?"

"There's also still a real ghost in that studio."

"Yeah..." Shawn blinks, and then sits up. "Dude. Toast said coworkers. There's more of them!"

Gus looks horrified. "Who might come here looking for them, or to finish the job at the studio!"

"Close up shop." Shawn pulls the blinds down. "Gus, I can't believe I'm saying this, but we need to keep those two guys out of prison so they can solve that turtle thing and get out of Santa Barbra!"

"How are we supposed to do that?! They're living in a completely different reality, Shawn! One word to Lassie and Jules will be enough!"

"I don't know! I-I'll think of something on the ride, but we are so not dealing with more than two people like that! I feel like my brain is trying to fry itself! Did you see the gun just disappear?!"

"Into thin air! They've gotta be some kind of demons!"

"With the way this case is going, I wouldn't be surprised."

#psych #venturiantale #taleblr #psych 2006 #p.i.e #psych usa #psychfic #johnny ghost #johnny toast #shawn spencer #burton guster #burton gus guster #juliet o'hara #carlton lassiter #fanfic #my attempts at fanfic #blood tw #guns tw #knives tw

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brainrotdotorg · 1 year

Note

what's your favourite silly moment for each of the skills?

for volition its def in the 'you're compromised' scene where he 'doesn't add flair' but also has/uses the most nicknames for the other skills

reaction speed has this little comment in the same scene where if your logic is low enough they go 'oh? was someone supposed to say something? well it's just me, swooshing around in here! swoosh :D'

encyclopedia takes the fucking cake with the trivia quiz tho. love his dumbass so much

oh man tall task for me to try and compile EVERY skills personal fave moment but i love them so much i am willing to try. under the cut

logic: god this dude is literally so dry he was the hardest to find good quotes for. i still love him though. the boring stiff. " If you drink this, then you will die. That's a fact. And that's why we're going to save you from yourself and store this as a SELLABLE item. Go sell it at the pawnshop for a profit." after you buy the pure alcohol is pretty funny.

encyclopedia: the innocence quiz. the entire thing. also contact mike.

rhetoric: what could possibly top "say one of these fascist or communist things or fuck off"

drama: lie, sire! for no reason! also any time he really leans into the old-timey speak its so good to me. AND during the payphone prank calls he can suggest that you stir up shit for no reason. love him

conceptualization: lots of truly beautiful lines from our fella concept here but i do also love. when they get silly with it. " It can still be an otherwordly sex-mystery *in your head*. With a dark twist, even." and "Imbecilic. Yes, should the future ever come, it will look deeply imbecilic. Like this guy." and "O WALLFATHER!"

visual calculus: "I'm just a representation of your mental faculties... piecing together any available information." love when they just outright say it lmao. also "Consuming food is mechanical process for him. He doesn't enjoy it, just goes through the motions and moves on." kind of a sad detail about rene that i didnt know about thank you VC

volition: "I don't do flair."

inland empire: "No-no, don't sing the happy song, it's stupid. Sing the sad song, it's profound."

empathy: paging doctor love... " Life doesn't have a *BACK* button. Now get off your ass and speak the truth about Sylvie the Whore." "He's enjoying your little failure. He finds it amusing, he's revelling in the sweaty rage on your face."

EDC: the time he brings up literally right after kim says "officers dont fucking dump old police shit in the river" officers dumping police shit in the river

authority: "The lieutenant is a narcomaniac!" also "Mewling wimp! Pathetic..." and "Show him the ham still got it!"

suggestion: at one point he gets exasperated of harry trying the expression over and over. also "Logic and reason won't work on this old bat. Better go for shameless emotional manipulation. What's a grandmother's deepest vulnerability?"

endurance: a wink shaped growl sounds from your ass. what the fuck is going on in your large intestine harry. ALSO HOLY SHIT I DIDNT KNOW THE TUTORIAL AGENT HAS A UNIQUE LINE IN THE FASCISM THOUGHT CONVERSATION?? forget about föminism im losing my mind.

pain threshold: "Sounds like you were in some real *fundamental* pain there, muscle-man." MUSCLE-MAN!!!! on a sadder note: "Her beauty was like the glowing coil on a hot stove, and yet you felt *blessed* to touch it..." GIRL....... dont do this to me.....

physical instrument: eyes on the ball, dinky winky! also if your logic isnt high enough then HE will be the one to say "Son, you will NOT kill yourself with this. Not today. So we're going to store this as a SELLABLE item. Go sell it at the pawnshop for a profit." about the pure alcohol

electro-chemistry: HE CALLS PI A "sinewy idiot" ohhh my god. delightful. also every time he goes "yum" like when thinking about cigarettes

shivers: MR EVRART IS HELPING HIM FIND HIS GUN. Also the classic "got a brother in the cut, where the wood at?"

half light: oh my god she has so many killer lines. "They ain't got the cojones." she also has lots of nicknames for people. "cum-stain", "fucking ballerina", "they're all dorks." also "Utter the POWER WORDS!" and "Even when you're trying to scare someone, the most important thing is: how does it look on your resume?" AND "*YAWWWWN!* Can you imagine anything duller than a bunch of binoclards yanking each others' knobs?" half light i love you

hand/eye: "My favourite [thing] is the gun." LMAO

perception: she gets upset at one point when rhetoric claims you can smell communism and shes like. um. no. thats not possible. you cant smell communism. i cant find it but it actually happens a few times i think

reaction speed: I NEVER HEARD THE SWOOSH ONE. oh my god that fucking rules. swoosh. my next favorite is when youre talking to sylvie and she turn you down really fast reaction speed is like wow shes fast, what else is she good at? Baseball? Ring-a-bell Quiz Shows? Catching keys in the air? Petting an angry cat? okay queen

savoir faire: slaps one of this dude's arms. this guy can fit sooooo much hustle grindset in him. "You can't hang 'vapour-porn' in the foyer of your chalet." AND HE KEEPS CALLING HIMSELF SAVVY!!!!!!!!! "Hey, money-mouth. Eendracht. The impeccable hustler-provider of the seventh generation. It's showtime with Savvy!" "But Savvy's got your back. Savvy's going to book you a charter flight with eighty birds of prey on board, to a land where the streets are paved with krugerrands and fixed-income securities."

interfacing: i do love his "Told you that you *needed* those chaincutters. Everything is connected. Everything has a purpose." thats less silly and more hopeful in a way i really really like. he's got many delightful lines, and i think is the one that is most clued into the video game-y aspects (dialogue trees, etc) probably the saddest instance of this we see is with the dolores dei dream. "Don't let her. Don't let her go there. You should re-do the topics. Go over *everything*, the things you didn't say before too. Make it go on and on..." wailing. screaming and crying. on a brighter note! when you lose your pen he goes "Nooooo! That was my favourite thing, of all the things you have."

composure: calling reaction speed a "shifty asshole" is pretty fucking funny ngl.

#disco elysium

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renardtrickster · 3 months

Text

My last post going over my thoughts on Hazbin Hotel ended at episode 4. 8 episodes later, in honor of the season ending and also Symmetry, the rest.

It's a lot longer, so I'm ditching the bullet points and putting it under a readmore.

My largest and foremost gripe with the series as a whole (and this extends to Helluva Boss as well) is that the female cast feels weirdly underdeveloped. They're not poorly written per se, Charlie is likeable and well-realized even if she's been mostly static (vanilla protagonist?), and Vaggie did get some interesting folds when her being a former angel was revealed (I didn't know this was a fan theory btw), but Niffty's been mostly a joke, and all the same they're blown out of the water compared to the amount of screentime and focus devoted to guys like Angel Dust, Alastor, Vox, and even Husk perhaps. The good thing is that this is one of those issues where you don't have to "go back" and fix anything, you just have to give them more of a spotlight in future episodes. Which I hope they do.

I think even Christians would agree that Lucifer was always the most interesting character in the Bible, and I was excited for the show's take on him. There are shades of "Lucifer as an embodiment of freedom in contrast to God's order" which is a pretty standard read on his character, but the big thing they seemed to stress was his characteristics as a dreamer and an artist, which is pretty fresh. So introducing him stuck in a creative rut and essentially poo-pooing Charlie's dreams for the hotel is a good indicator that something's deeply wrong. It turns out that Hell is a pretty hopeless environment to be in, and his disinterest in the Hotel or helping Charlie make it succeed was because he's now riding the philosophy of "if you never chase your dreams you never get hurt when they fail", which is just depressing to hear. I have thoughts on the show's depiction and philosophy on Hell, but I'll group it with my thoughts on Heaven two paragraphs from now. Also his design fucks, I like the snake-apple-crown around his top hat, I didn't even notice his torso is meant to look like an apple core until someone else pointed it out, we stan a short king, etc. etc.

I found Heaven to be pretty interesting. I was expecting most of the angels to look more or less the same as each other, but the variety in display (some are furries, some are dudes, some are polygonal creatures) was more interesting, in addition to making me think "wow the fact that they draw from the same design pool in hell is interesting", to which my main man @arcane-nrok posited that it's because the people in Heaven and Hell are not fundamentally different from each other, where they end up depends solely on their environment and upbringing. Then Adam said nobody drinks because "there are no hard days in Heaven" and we both began pogging out of our minds.

The biggest bombshell when it comes to discussing Heaven or Hell is that despite our antagonists literally being the forces of Heaven, God has never been mentioned even once. Because of this, I have to disagree with the people claiming that Hazbin Hotel is some screed against Christianity (even though as an anti-theist, I wouldn't object if it were), and I definitely don't think it's a "fuck you mom" immature one either. It reads to me as more of a rebuttal and criticism of Christians and Christian morality than the actual religion itself. I mentioned the implications of class inequality before, that Adam more or less implies that if you have an easy life, you'll more easily find Heaven, and that if you have a harder life, you'll more easily find Hell. And while I know a lot of Christians were offended by the fact that the Angels don't seem to like the sinners and also don't seem to give much of a shit about the concept of redemption either, this reading makes sense if you imagine them not as Angels but as humans, interpreting doctrine in whatever way benefits them at the expense of others. Allegorically, Adam is the "christian who has never read the bible" who flaunts basically every rule but is de facto understood to be a "good christian" and so his behavior gets a pass as he and everyone else focuses on the shortcomings of everyone else, Lute is so ideologically locked into eating from her trash can that she's essentially been turned into a weapon focused on denouncing and punishing the unworthy, Sera is empathetic and aware of the internal incoherency and cruelties of the system he upholds but is locked into it to such an extent that she has to justify, compartmentalize, or ignore those glaring issues, and Emily is the same, except young enough that the indoctrination isn't as strong, and without the "tenure" such that she's most likely at risk to be excommunicated for her concerns. And on Hell, the great philosophical evil present over anything else is that while there may be some truly despicable people in there, the possibility of redemption must remain, to such an extent that it's positioned as an almost universal right and that the denial of it is an almost cosmic injustice (which in terms of theology and critical reading of the bible is almost as old as, the bible). Not only is the denial of redemption a tool used by the Angels to justify the existence of the system as it is (the argument of "they had their chance to get into heaven, it's too late now" is said by Adam at least twice and by at least five different sinners), but the sheer bleakness of it was enough to temporarily drain all the joy and hope from creation's first artist and dreamer. In short, the nightmare that Hazbin Hotel conjures isn't that God is cruel or unjust, but that he's been dethroned by his most fundamentalist followers.

Also Vaggie got kicked out of Heaven for refusing to kill a child, so I actually I take it back this show is extremely biblically accurate.

To suddenly jerk away from theology, philosophy, and societal critique and back to "here's my cartoon criticism", the pacing. I still maintain that if you blame anybody but the jokers who gave them eight episodes to work with, I'm going to fuck your wife, but I feel like it's been as much of a good thing as a bad thing??? The good news is that the plot is advancing constantly (as opposed to Helluva Boss which can feel dawdling and aimless), and the brisk pace means we don't have to "dwell" on things that make me groan when other shows dwell on them. Sir Pentious' introduction to the hotel, for example, could have devoted more time to the "Angel Dust feels that Pentious is a sussy amongus and also maybe a bit inadequate because the snake is an immediately better guest than him" element, or could have had Sir Pentious run away after getting caught, the attempt at redemption being a fib until he comes back a second time and stays for real. But they didn't in either case, and I feel like the episode was better for it (I was pleasantly shocked when he signed on for real). The bad news is, there's no room to breathe, meaning that everything necessarily must reach the high stakes being set by the rest of the plot, and we can't devote more time to the quieter, slower moments without making them take up the episode (as in episode 4, not that I thought that sequence was bad). Episode 7 is the embodiment of this dual nature, I think. Charlie felt hurt by Vaggie keeping secret the fact that she used to be an Exterminator, and while she felt hurt (as she should, her feelings are valid), she did ultimately resolve them after a frank talk and an exploration of what she's really feeling. Seeing that is refreshing after seeing Every Other Show turn this "plot" into a season-length dramafest, but Charlie essentially resolved this on her own with the help of Rosie, and by the time she meets up with Vaggie they've both essentially buried the hatchet without even the implication they talked to each other about it. "Deeds not words" was the big clincher for Charlie forgiving her, but I'm not alone in thinking this is some sort of mis-step, right? My hope with season 2, along with getting more episodes, please, is that they get more room to breath, but also don't "slog". A tough needle to thread, but a doable one I believe.

"Too much red." - Adam Firstman

Season 2 is a killer for a fair number of shows that end season 1 with a bang. They can enter "the sophomore slump" as they try to find their footing exploring new ground while also not fully divorcing themselves from the identity they built up in season 1. But I feel like they set up quite a number of threads to follow up on. The Angels have been defeated (RIP Adam, he sucked but he was fun to watch), Lute is still thirsty for revenge, and apparently they not only have Lilith, but they're going to deploy her soon. Pentious officially got into heaven, which will undoubtedly cause a shitstorm as redemption is proven officially possible, the Seraphim are the first to meet him, as well as "I wanna see how this goober acts in heaven". The hotel is rebuilt, and is now "on the map" seeing as how everyone knows Charlie stopped the extermination. Alastor has an ace up his sleeve with Charlie's deal, and his motives are still largely enigmatic. Vox and his cronies are emboldened and plan to make a push. There's at least three powderkegs present, with several irons in the fire nearby, which should be plenty of material to follow up with or deliver on.

My final hope is that, as I said in the last post, Hazbin Hotel feels like an improvement upon Helluva Boss's shortcomings. There's still shared issues, like the aforementioned Feminism Loss, but it knows and follows on its own premise (whereas the IMPs haven't been doing much assassinating), swears casually but only purposefully overuses it for obnoxious characters like Vox or Adam or when someone is emotionally compromised (meanwhile half of Blitzo's dialogue can bleed into a white noise of fuck words), keeps up the tension and advances the plot (as opposed to the aforementioned dawdling and aimlessness), etc. So in the same vein as my hopes that Season 2 of Hazbin Hotel follows up on its strong points while working on its weaker points, I hope Season 3 of Helluva Boss similarly learns and improves from its sister series.

#oh no renardie is posting #hazbin hotel

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kyouka-supremacy · 9 months

Note

Heyo! You said in the notes of a post that you kinda wanted to stop discussing discourse and go back to talking about sskk headcanons, so, uh, tadaa!

This isn't entirely a sskk hc but it sorta counts! As a Taniatsu are besties believer I like to imagine that Atsushi would often rant to Junichirou about Akutagawa before they started dating. Basically just a whole bunch of

"Yeah I hate his eyes, they're so beautiful and mesmerizing and it clashes horribly with his butt ugly personality. I can't stop thinking about them and it's annoying."

"I'm sorry, his eyes are what now?"

"Annoying."

"Ah, right, got it. That's what we're focusing on."

Or something like that. After a while Junichirou completely loses any and all fear he once had for Aku, he just looks at him and thinks, 'yeah I guess his hair does look kinda fluffy, and he does a slightly grabbable looking waist from certain angles.' And is just constantly looking at him trying to justify the hours Atsushi has spent complaining about the guy that he says he hates but so, so obviously has a crush on.

Not sure if it's entirely in character but I like the idea of it. By the way, Aku is doing the exact same thing but he's talking to Rashomon instead of an actual person, and even though Rashomon is only like half sentient she is just as done with Aku's bullshit as Juni is.

UHM. I LOVE THIS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SENDING IT. Zero self-awareness Atsushi gives me life, I swear he can be even worse than Akutagawa on that front. I also love how Junichirou kinda lets himself get carried away ahah, that's so him. Overall, strong chapter 53 vibes “Ugh. I hate working with that dude. We just don't get along on a fundamental level” [said right after having entrusted each other with their deepest fears, revealed the most vulnerable to each other, defeated enemies as if they were thinking as one]

#Ryuunosuke can always talk to Gin though!! I mean at least in my mind they live together so #atsushi nakajima #jun'ichirō tanizaki #ryūnosuke akutagawa #sskk #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd headcanons #people asks me stuff #Obsessed with the “he does have a slightly grabbable looking waist from certain angles”

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howlingday · 9 months

Text

Ultimate Hunters V2

Mercury: Well, why don't we get the introductions outta the way?

Oscar: Huh? Introductions?

Mercury: I'm Mercury Black. Nice to meet ya! Guess I shoup tell you why I'm attending the Academy, too, while we're at it. Of course, even if I told you, you wouldn't believe it's a special talent.

Oscar: It's not a special talent? What do you mean?

Mercury: I'm lucky.

Oscar: ...What do you mean?

Mercury: No, really, that's my special talent. I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student. Or that's what they call me, anyways.

Oscar: Ultimate Lucky Student?

Mercury: There was a world-wide lottery, and I just so happened to win the grand prize of getting to attend as "The Ultimate Lucky Student."

Oscar: (Thinking) Is that really a thing?. Can you really call being luvky a talent?.

---------------------------------------------------

May: Hey~! Who're you dudes?

Oscar: Nice to meet you. I'm Oscar Pine.

May: Gotcha... And who's this other dude?

Mercury: What? Didn't we already meet?

May: Oh, right! Haha! My bad! I'm not the best at remembering names, and I've already met so many interesting characters!

Mercury: I'm Mercury Black. Please try to remember this time...

May: Yo! The name's May Marigold! Nice to meetcha!

Mercury: May's known as the all-around super athlete, the Ultimate Gymnast. They also say she's a bit of a troublemaker, but her athletic skill is already off the charts. But her basics and fundamentals are kinda all over the place, so most of her work is improvised. If she's in her groove, she's amazing! If not, then she gets bored and switches things up.

Oscar: No matter how you slice it, she still sounds like a troublemaker. Still, she's got an amazing physique, like a Vytal athlete!.

Mercury: Hey, what are you... Oh, I get it. You got a thing for sexy bodies, huh?

Oscar: Please don't say that out loud. People will actually take you seriously.

---------------------------------------------------

Fiona: Squish! Squish!

Oscar: What's she doing?. She's just sitting on the floor, pressing her fingers to the dirt.

Oscar: Uh, are you okay? I haven't introduced myself. My name is Oscar Pine.

Fiona: Huh? I'm Fiona Thyme.

Fiona: Squish! Squish!

Oscar: She's not stopping. What is she doing?. And she looks so young... Is she really a high schooler?

Mercury: Fiona is the incredibly talented Ultimate Traditional Dancer. As a rookie, the dance industry expects a lot from her. She's already performed in other kingdoms many times. Her dancing is really popular with young audiences, which is rare for the dance industry. Then again, a significant number of her fans are also men.

Oscar: It's probably a niche thing, or something.

Fiona: Squish! Squish!

Oscar: Uh, what are you doing?

Fiona: Hm? I'm squishing!

Oscar: Squishing what?

Fiona: Mr. Ant! Duh! I'm squishing lots and lots of Mr. Ants!

Oscar: ...Come again?

Fiona: If you squish their bellies just right, it makes an awesome sound! Wanna try?

Oscar: H-Hell no!

Fiona: Aw... Okay! Pfft... Pansy...

Oscar: This girl... her attitude and her appearance don't match at all.

---------------------------------------------------

Roman: Who the hell are you? Don't go acting all chummy with me, shithead.

Oscar: This guy is already so hostile.

Roman: Huh?! You got something to say, punkass?

Mercury: Easy, Roman. We're just introducing ourselves.

Roman: Introducing yourselves?

Mercury: Yeah. Not like you two have actually met before, right?

Roman: Hmph...

Roman: The name's Roman Torchwick... Just so we're clear, I don't plan on getting all chummy and shit with you.

Oscar: He looks so young, but he's also really rude.

Mercury: Roman is a student and also their heir to the Spiders.

Oscar: Spiders?! You don't mean-

Mercury: Ah, so you have heard of them. Spiders are the largest criminal organization in Remnant, with a membership of well past 4000 members. In other words, he's the Ultimate Gang-Boss.

Mercury: By the way, don't go mentioning his babyface around him, so be careful. You'll be outta fingers before he's done with you.

Oscar: I-I wasn't going to, but I'm glad I know now!.

Oscar: Mercury, you saved my life...

Mercury: Haha, you're joking right? ...Guess not.

Roman: Hey, if we're done here, you mind making like a tree and fuck off?

---------------------------------------------------

Velvet: Excuse me, but aren't you the guy who was squatting on the beach earlier with your head buried in your arms?

Oscar: Er, y-yeah...

Velvet: You gotta keep it together, y'know? Nobody wants a crybaby for a husband.

Oscar: Y-You're right...

Velvet: You're waiting for me to introduce myself, right? I'm Velvet Scarlatina, and I'll be counting on you from now on.

Mercury: Velvet's the Ultimate Photographer. Naturally, she has a promising future as a photojournalist. I'm not exactly an expert on photography, but I hear she's already won a ton of awards. That said, she's known for her skill at taking pictures of people.

Oscar: The Ultimate Photographer, huh? Makes sense, seeing that camera around her neck.

Velvet: To be honest, I'm a little relieved. You seem decent enough.

Oscar: Decent?

Velvet: There's a lot of weirdos here. I can't tell if they're Ultimates, or just insane. I'm eager to get along with everyone so we can all get off this island.

Oscar: Get off? What do you mean?

Velvet: Huh? You don't know? It's what that stuffed animal Somewhat said. After you finish getting everyone's Hope Crystals, we can all go home and leave this island together.

Oscar: Th-They said that?! We can go home?!

Velvet: You should pay more attention! This is super important!

Mercury: You must feel relieved after hearing that, huh, Oscar? So long as you get along with everyone, we'll be heading home in no time!

Oscar: I guess, but why go through all this trouble in the first place? What's the point of us being on this island anyways?

Mercury: Beats me. Doesn't seem like that big a deal.

Oscar: Not a big deal? It couldn't be any bigger of a deal!.

Velvet: Hey!

Oscar: Ack!

Velvet: Don't "ack" me! I gave you my introduction. Now give me yours!

Oscar: O-Oh... Um, I'm Oscar Pine. It's nice to meet you.

Velvet: Oscar, huh? Well, too bad for you, because I've already made a mental note as "Unreliable Oscar". It'll be hard to change my mind, so you better be a man and do your best!

Mercury: Haha! You're already so whipped, Oscar!

Velvet: I'm talking to both of you! Got it?!

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Hazel: Hm? Oh, right. We gotta do introductions.

Hazel: I am the Ultimate Team Manager, Hazel Rainart!!

Oscar: U-Uh, hello. I'm Oscar Pine.

Hazel: Hey! Your voice is too soft! Speak from your gut!

Oscar: U-Um... I'm Oscar Pine!

Hazel: Louder! You can do better than that!

Oscar: My name is Oscar Pine! Pleased to make your acquaintance!

Hazel: I AM HAZEL RAINART! I AM THE ULTIMATE TEAM MANAGER! Don't forget it, even if you go to hell!

Hazel: I am the Ultimate Team Manager, Hazel Rainart!

Oscar: Y-You don't have to keep repeating your name so much.

Hazel: HA! I agree to your terms!

Oscar: He's so boisterous... It's not just his voice, but his whole body seems loud.

Mercury: Hazel Rainart, as you probably figured, is the Ultimate Team Manager.

Oscar: What does that mean? He's not on a team, but he manages it?

Mercury: Not JUST a team manager. He's an Ultimate. He's gone from town to town and played an active role in managing various sports clubs and their teams. In fact, he led a delinquent team of rugby players to victory in the national playoffs, rescued a baseball team from shutdown and took them to a finals victory, and rumor has it he's training some hotshot new champion in Mistral.

Oscar: If that's all true, then he definitely deserves the title of Ultimate Team Manager. But... with a build like his, he should be PLAYING those games instead.

---------------------------------------------------

Oscar: Urgh!

Mercury: What's wrong?

Oscar: N-Nothing...

May: ...

Oscar: Why is she staring at me?.

May: Ah, uh, um...

May: Um, you know...

May: ...I-I'm sorry.

Oscar: Why is she crying?!.

Mercury: Bullying a girl? That's not cool, Oscar.

Oscar: I-I didn't do anything!

May: Oh, your name is Oscar. If you don't mind, I'd like to remember it.

Oscar: Uh, no, I don't mind you remembering my name.

May: M-My name is May Zedong. From the bottom of my heart, I hope we can get along.

May: Um... You know... Um... Um um um... Uh... My mind is drawing a blank... I'm so nervous! And I even went through the trouble of preparing over 5000 topics for us to discuss after introducing ourselves!

Oscar: Talk about excessive...

Mercury: It's okay to take your time. We can wait as long as it takes. Heck, we'll wait forever if you want us to!

May: Huh... AAAAH!

Oscar: You're just putting more pressure on her!.

Oscar: I guess I'll ask you instead. What's her deal?

Mercury: May here is the Ultimate Nurse. Anytime you're hurt, she'll help you out, so you should probably get along with her. Chances are that if you get wounded and don't get it treated, it'll get infected and you'll die!

Oscar: Don't say something so morbid so naturally...

May: Heh heh heh..

May: AH! I'm sorry for laughing so suddenly! I... I just can't help myself. I'm so happy,I can't remember the last time I made any friends... Ah, not that you actually want to be friends with me! I'm sooooooo sorry I said something so presumptuous! I'll do anything you want! Just please don't hate me!

Mercury: Bullying her again? So not cool, Oscar.

Oscar: Why does this keep happening?.

May: I'm sorry... I'm so so sorry!

---------------------------------------------------

Ilia: Peeking... Peeking... Oh haiii! Who're you?

Oscar: U-Um... Oscar Pine?

Ilia: Helloooo? Your tension is too low! You feelin alright? Ah, well, introductions are already a go-go!

Ilia: Ih! Lee! Uh! Am! Ah! Toh! Lah! Put it all together and whattaya get? Ilia Amitola~!

Ilia: Alright, introductions are done. More importantly, check out this supermarket! Hamburger, ramen, chili, bratwurst, spaghetti... OOH! Melons!

Ilia: Valian, Vacuan, Mistrali, and Atlesian... Even folks from Menagerie would shop here! Man, I'm getting hella stoked! I am thirty-one flavors of stoked for all of this deliciousness! And when I'm hungry, I get reeeeeeeeeeeal munchy-crunchy! It doesn't make sense! Why am I always hungry when I get excited? Hahaha! The body sure is a total mystery!

Mercury: Uh, yeah, this is Ilia Amitola, the Ultimate Musician. She used to play guitar in an all-girl band that was super popular with other girls our age. Their number one hit, "After Class Poyoyon Hour," sold over a million copies.

Oscar: A super popular all-girl school band... Why does that sound so familiar?.

Mercury: Sadly, like so many before them, they broke up due to creative differences.

Oscar: Creative differences?

Ilia: You wanna know?

Oscar: Ack! You heard me?!

Ilia: Duh! Ilia Amitola IS a musician! Like the other greats such as Schnee, Wine, Merlot, Polendina, and Willows... I am an awesome musician, too!

Oscar: Oh, I guess it does make sense that you have good hearing if you're a music- Wait, some of those people aren't even musicians.

Ilia: Don't sweat the details~.

---------------------------------------------------

Oscar: An airport? Wait, can't we use those bullheads to escape?

Robyn: Nope, sorry. Even if they were broken and busted, I could fix 'em. But it looks like they're just for show.

Oscar: Just for show?

Robyn: There's no engine. Can't fix what isn't there.

Oscar: No engine?!

Robyn: Oh, right! I forgot! I'm Robyn Hill, the Ultimate Mechanic. Nice to meetya!

Mercury: I guess I shoulda known the Ultimate Mechanic would have figured it out. Robyn's a bit of a savante when it comes to machines. If she says it won't fly, then it definitely won't fly.

Robyn: Even so, if someone took out the engine before they brought us here, then they planned this out to a T.

Oscar: Kinda weird, don't you think?

Robyn: Yeah, it's weird, but it's a kind of weird I can understand.

Oscar: Huh?

Robyn: It makes sense, though, don't it? Whoever dropped us here... I mean, it's not like they're expecting us to kill each other, right? That's what the school regulations in our e-handbook say.

Robyn: Besides, if you look enough at that cute mouse plushie, you might actually fall in love with them.

Oscar: I really hope it doesn't come to that.

---------------------------------------------------

Sienna: Stop right there! If you value your life, do not take one step closer!

Oscar: ...Huh?

Sienna: I said stay back! Oh, very well... I shall accept your courage!

Oscar: What is she talking about?.

Sienna: You wish to know my name? Kehehe! Some may think your courage recklessness, but I welcome the challenge. In honor of your courage, I shall reveal to you my name! I am Sienna Khan! Remember it well, for it is the name that shall rule the world!

Oscar: R-Rule the world?! She's kidding, right?.

Sienna: Now I must ask you; whose master are you?

Oscar: What?

Sienna: Don't play dumb! Which tribe did you make a pact with? Answer me!

Oscar: Um, what do you mean by "pact"?

Sienna: Answer me now, though I shall cast you to the sea once you do!

Oscar: Then I'm definitely not answering!

Mercury: Uh, maybe I should explain. See, she's asking you what kinda of pet you used to have.

Oscar: P-Pet? I've never really had a pet. Closest thing I had to a pet was a hermit crab we passed around at school.

Sienna: A hermit crab! No better than an insect! Why, your magical essence caps at a mere five! Absolute trash!

Oscar: Trash? Really?

Sienna: Is it wrong to call trash "trash"? Why, trash like you dare not speak against higher beings like me! I am Sienna Khan, Overlord of Fire!

Oscar: H-Hey! Something just climbed out of your robe!

Sienna: Allowing the beasts to bed upon my person in exchange for their servitude is the secret of the Khan Empire!

Mercury: Yeah, seeing all those rats crawling around on her might seem like something out of a horror movie, but it's just another part of what makes her the Ultimate Breeder.

Sienna: As the Dark Beast of the South, Ghira Belladonna once said, "There are no gods or kings mighty enough to fell the bonds of brotherhood!"

Sienna: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Mercury: Yeah, I, uh, know she's kinda weird, but she does really well as part of her school breeding club. They say she can tame any animal and even proliferated an endangered species. I've even heard she can speak with animals, but I don't think it's true.

Oscar: It sounds crazy, but... she does have more than a few rats crawling in her robe.

---------------------------------------------------

Coco: ...What do you want?

Oscar: This girl's presence is overwhelming. Even her body seems too overwhelming for me to approach!.

Mercury: Hey, Coco! Got time for a quick introduction?

Coco: ...Introduction?

Mercury: C'mon, Oscar!

Oscar: O-Oh! Right. Um, hello. My name is Oscar Pine.

Coco: ...My name is Coco Adel. ...I'm done. That's it, right? Back off.

Oscar: Even I can tell she's thumbing her nose at me.

Mercury: Well, that's Coco for ya.

Oscar: What do you mean?

Mercury: Even by Ultimate standards, she's pretty special. She's next in line to inherit her family's fortune, which is a multi-billion lien conglomerate. She's already started making big moves in the business world. Simply put, she isn't called the Ultimate Affluent Progeny for nothing.

Oscar: That's... That's like a comic book origin.

Coco: You there. Oscar, wasn't it?

Oscar: Huh?

Coco: Why did the academy choose you? What's your Ultimate talent?

Oscar: Um, well, I... I can't remember...

Coco: You can't remember?

Mercury: The shock of all this must've triggered some kinda amnesia on him.

Coco: How foolish. ...We're done, aren't we? How much longer are you going to stand there?

Coco: Move along! That's the only thing you scrawny ones are any good at.

Mercury: Let's just leave, Oscar.

---------------------------------------------------

Joanna: State your business.

Oscar: Oh, uh, w-well, I just wanted to do an introduction with you.

Joanna: An introduction? Understood. I don't mind.

Oscar: I'm Oscar Pine. It's nice to meet you.

Joanna: I'm Joanna Greenleaf. It is nice to meet you, too.

Mercury: This dignified looking woman is known as the ultimate swordswoman. Yeah, color me shocked, too, when I learned this tall woman could be so skilled with a blade. I've heard even veterans with decades of experience have trouble fighting her!

Oscar: I can kind of see why. The way she's staring at me is really intense.

Joanna: If what the mouse said was true, then we are expected to live on this island together. If this is true, then men and women are expected to treat each other with respect. Don't try anything inappropriate. I'd prefer not to kill anyone.

Oscar: I-Isn't that just a wooden sword?

Joanna: It may seem impossible, but a misaimed blow could prove fatal. Well... aimed blows can also prove fatal as well.

Oscar: (Gulps) I'll remember that.

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Sun: ...

Oscar: Looks like he's playing the arcade. More than that, it looks like he's completely ABSORBED by it!.

Sun: ...

Mercury: Hey, Oscar, haven't you introduced yourself to him yet?

Oscar: R-Right! I'm Oscar Pine. Nice to meet you.

Sun: ...

Oscar: Uh...

Mercury: Yo! Sun!

Sun: ...Huh? Sorry. Musta been real focused on this game or somethin'.

Oscar: Y-Yeah, or somethin'.

Sun: Introductions, huh? Alright. The name's Sun Wukong, and I'm the Ultimate Gamer. And I like all genres. ...Nice to meetcha.

Oscar: I'm Oscar Pine. Nice to meet you, too.

Sun: ...Uh-huh, totally.

Oscar: I don't think we're getting much further than this.

Mercury: Yeah, he's really into his game right now.

Sun: Nah, nah. It's more like I gotta charge up my thoughgs, and it takes time to do that, so I can't really talk unless I'm fully prepared, y'know? Especially with new people. Once I get to know 'em, I can talk a lot better.

Oscar: And yet he hasn't looked at me once. Sure, he's the Ultimate Gamer, but how can anyone game at a time like this?.

Sun: ...Ah! Hah, I'm sleepy...

---------------------------------------------------

Mercury: Let's finish introducing ourselves to those two people over there.

Marrow: That's right. I'm having a really hard time because it's full of poison. Speaking of which, I'd appreciate it if you could use your mouth to suck it out~.

Whitley: Poison... I see...

Oscar: Hey, uh, do you guys have a second?

Marrow: (Sighs) Denied.

Oscar: Denied?.

Whitley: Hello. It is nice to meet you.

Oscar: It's nice to meet you, too. My name is Oscar Pine.

Marrow: Oh, so you're the new kid on the block, huh? The name's Marrow Amin, known on the streets as the Ultimate Cook, but I'd much prefer it if you called me the Ultimate Chef instead. Has much more of a big city flavor, y'know?

Whitley: Oh! I forgot to introduce myself! Forgive me! My name is Whitley Schnee. I am a foreign exchange student from Atlas. Hopefully I do not cause you too much trouble.

Oscar: Uh, same.

Oscar: His skin is like porcelain and his eyes are like sapphires! It's almost like looking at a fragil doll...

Mercury: Enchanted, Oscar? That's to be expected, since you're talking to the real Ultimate Prince, which means he's actual royalty!

Oscar: A real prince? Normally I'd be surprised, but looking at his graceful appearance, it's only natural to come to that conclusion, right?.

Whitley: I understand this may appear rude, but... I do feel happy to have met all of you.

Oscar: Huh?

Whitley: In my home country, I... I did not have a friend to call my own. Those of my age did not share my status in society. So to do something like this with everyone is a new experience for me...

Whitley: I EXTOL YOUR VIRTUES!

Oscar: Oh, uh, th-thanks?

Oscar: What's going on?! Why do I feel this sudden urge to drop to my knee and bow?!.

Marrow: H-Hey, I hope I'm not being left on the menu here.

Oscar: Huh? Oh! No! I-

Mercury: So Marrow, how's the restaurant look? Up to your standards?

Marrow: Hmhmhm... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested. Yeah, it's up to my standards. But I prefer the big city flavor of my hometown, even if this open country air is refreshing. Mhmhmhmhmhmhmhmhm...!

Oscar: Hey, aren't you...?

Marrow: Refined? Cultured? Guilty~!

Oscar: N-No. Worried.

Marrow: Worried? Why would I be worried? Honestly, I'm happy!

Oscar: Really? Why's that?

Marrow: Well, if I could get serious for a quick second... I've got a sneaking suspicion that Somewhat character is a real freak, if you get my meaning.

Oscar: ...What?

Marrow: I'd bet good money they're wearing a black thong as we speak! Or should we discuss this somewhere more privately? C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!

Oscar: ...No.

Marrow: Alright, I'll put that aside for now. This might also be a bit of a shock for you, but I've got it on good intuition that Mister Schnee over there is one to put out, y'know? See, royalty are groomed to lack common sense, right? That makes them easy prey, like how I tried telling him my "loins" were poisoned and could only be cured if I ask him to suck it out.

Oscar: Is that what he was talking about earlier?

Whitley: Hm? What are you two talking about over here?

Marrow: We'll talk about this later.

Mercury: You better not.

Marrow: Still, when I fantasize about things like that, I can't help but look forward to living on this island! When it comes to love ans cooking, passion is the most important ingredient! Mhmhmhmhm~!

Oscar: This guy is dangerous... but not for the reason I first thought.

#rwby #danganronpa #danganronpa v2 #mercury black #oscar pine #may marigold #fiona thyme #roman torchwick #velvet scarlatina #hazel rainart #may zedong #ilia amitola #sienna khan #robyn hill #sun wukong #joanna greenleaf #coco adel #marrow amin #whitley schnee

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eerna · 9 months

Note

Hi! I was the one complaining about Bird Harrow. It's been bugging me enough I rewatched the first couple of episodes. From a writing perspective, they introduce the Soulfang Serpent! It's only purpose is to do a body-swap! This scene serves other purposes, so it could just be a prop, but the snake comes back later. It serves to show Viren is kinda cutthroat about his goals (theoretically condemning another person do die in place in Harrow) and Harrow is a Paladin (Boy Scout) about stuff.

It's pretty good characterization! It shows Viren really likes his plans, especially because they're His Plans (which kind of makes it weird later when he's just super down for Avaros' plans. I know it's spelled wrong but I'm not looking it up. Moving on). He's an egomaniac, and Harrow carries guilt over the events that happened, and sees his impending doom as an atonement, though is still planning to put up a fight because it's his duty. Great, good. Next Episode!

Viren's still got the snake! Argument ensues! it's the one they had last episode, to remind everyone of their dynamic.

Bird alights on shoulder! This was a deliberate choice! for a reason! You don't just set this up because it's Dramatic!

Viren appears, sans snake. So at this point, we have two options. Either the animators made a... not necessarily a continuity blunder, but a real interesting choice, OR it's missing for a reason. (I'm being heavy-handed with this but I'm annoyed at the wiki) Yadda yadda, the "Invincible" Moonshadow elves apparently narrowly succeed in their assassination attempt. Suggesting that if Harrow had actually been allowed to fight they probably would've been fine, actually.

But he doesn't Fight. He doesn't emerge from his quarters at all! Really weird for a dude unwilling to sacrifice people merely to save his own life! Gosh, something must have happened in there! But What could it be????

anyway, next episode.

awesome armor aunt is introduced.

AND THEN THIS SHOT.

Viren doesn't care about this bird. There's no reason to cage the bird. The bird does not appear to have a cage, prior to this. It's an incredibly distinctive element they spent a lot of work on that, as far as I can tell, does not appear again. And most importantly. They never show Harrow's Body. Which is kind of an odd choice, if he wasn't a bird. Since if he wasn't a bird, it would be a dramatic shot! Nevermind the Dramatic Fight he could have had with the assassin! If he was a bird, well, you'd probably not want to show the king fighting like a bird in a man's body just for the dignity of it, and also showing his corpse would muddle the VERY OBVIOUS IMAGERY YOU'VE SET UP TO THIS POINT THAT THE MAN IS GONNA GET BIRD'D! Deep Breath. At SDCC 2019 creator Justin Richmond said that Harrow was killed by the elven assassins. This enters the realm of speculation, but unless he's just outright lying (which is... boring) it would indicate to me that this idea was cut at some point after most of these shots were finished, and it would be too expensive to remake them. So... most of the connective tissue was left, kicked under the rug as best as they could, afforded little other choice. Because the alternative is that they're incredibly, fundamentally unskilled at visual storytelling, which frankly, seems wild. The show is very, deeply flawed, but they do consistently demonstrate proficiency in the shots chosen for other threads in this opening plot. So many choices are done carefully and deliberately, that to fumble this one Major thing? Seems nutty. And it's really disappointing because Ezran coming home and chatting with Dad Bird and unravelling Viren's plot is Way more compelling than anything else they actually did do in the show. Come to think of it, maybe it's when they decided to have Aravos as the/a big bad. idk. Viren's dealing with Asarov to seem mildly-to-fairly inconsistent with his characterization in these early scenes. and not in a way that demonstrates any kind of meaningful arc.

Rant over. Thanks for listening. I doubt we'll ever get a good answer to this.

This was a highly entertaining read, np! I felt the same way when I rewatched the beginning of the show dsnjkavkas. Those first few episodes are directed much better than the rest of the show, and you're right, it's so weird if they are really meaningless. There is also a shot at the end of the season showing the bird escaping the cage, and then we NEVER SEE IT AGAIN. It shows up again only in Viren's imagination in s5. SO WHAT WAS ALL THIS FOR HUH. But honestly the show LOVES to introduce concepts and then drop them, so I wouldn't even be surprised if they just did it for the vibes and making it seem like a Cool Mature Fantasy Thing where the villain keeps the dead hero's animal companion in a cage instead of any proper writing reason.

#dmgloom #eernask #eernask talk tdp #tdp dunking

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the-npc · 3 months

Text

I fucking hate Palworld so much. Even more I hate the CEO of the company who made the damn game that peddles bitcoin and is fine with using AI images in their shit. He literally made a bitcoin wallet and a game where you literally just create AI images to guess which images have a different prompt as if you couldn't, I don't know, pay some fucking humans to make the art. Hell, it would be a better investment because you can regularly update the game with dlc patches that add more images to the library and support the people being plagiarized by image generators using LAION and other copyrighted art lists. But no we have to remove humans from art because it saves money and time that we can use to make more asset flipping slop.

We can't be sure if AI concept art was used for Palworld unless they release that information (which I bet they will) but even without that, the use of default unity assets in the game, the fact you can capture humans and enslave anything you've captured. I bet the game doesn't functionally reprimand you for enslaving little creatures and putting them to work. I bet it rewards you by letting you catch more able slaves and money for more factories, and nothing in the game prevents you from any of it. Nothing is preventing you capturing humans besides the fact they're useless in battle and the description of doing so being 'frowned upon' as if a description people can easily skip over and miss is something people will take seriously in a 'pokemon with guns'.

Other creature capture games make it a point that these creatures are your friends, you're journeying alongside them, the creatures you've had join your party love you just as much as you love them, which is why I also hate games and other media like this where people will take only the most surface level shit from a game and engage with it in bad faith. creature capture games like this that go 'haha isn't this funny? You're taking animals against their will and making them beat eachother up till they're unconscious, what if they got bloody and died, wouldn't that be crazy?' is on par with taking the fact Mario uses mushrooms to power up and going 'dude isn't it so funny how he takes shrooms? What if he got high when he did that lol'. It's one of the easiest interpretations of a game because people who engage with media like that don't actually engage with the core of what the game actually is.

Pokemon for an example is fundamentally a game about the environment monsters and humans live in, humans' relationship with them, growing up alongside friends and growing bonds with them, and even further than that, misplaced beliefs that can lead to catastrophic concequences, the need for control that can overtake people's lives, and above all of that, that the environment and the creatures that live in it need to be protected and cared for.

Palworld doesn't have a story. It has some characters, and it has some things you might need to fight against. A Pal liberation movement, a gang, police. It's an open world game, but I can't find for the life of me any quests or missions you're given, or any characters that exist besides the leaders. You can be put in jail for assaulting humans or pals, apparently? If the game's goal is to make people upset over it, or to be an edgy game about pokemon with guns, just a cynical look into the dev's mind, with nothing else to say, then it's doing it's job very well. It might even be fun to play if you're there for the gameplay and don't look too hard at it. Still fucking makes my blood boil. It isn't meant to have any kind of meaning to it, just an uncritical game about the enslavement of animals with nothing to say about it. They're tools for you to get stronger, nothing else. It makes my stomach turn.

#npc-dialogue #not putting this in the palworld tag because this more of a rant than anything #do not support this shit I'm so fucking tired of ai and bitcoin enthusiasts existing

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katyspersonal · 7 months

Note

That one interpretation about Micolash’s fate now lives rent free in my head. I’m not opposed to the notion of him dying once and for all, and I like the irony of a scholar obsessed with the pursuit of knowledge spending his last moments in ignorance. But being forever trapped in his own mummified body seems like the perfect punishment and suits the theme of hopelessness so well. For someone who despised his humanity so much, who went above and beyond to escape the limitations of his body, being forced back into his pathetic, frail, powerless body must be pure torture. Once Micolash’s consciousness is brought back, he’ll have all eternity to ponder over the fact that his efforts were fruitless and he’s nothing but a withered corpse, a manifestation of human fragility and mortality. But in contrast to the situation with Lovecraft’s priest, there’ll be nobody around to destroy his brain and end his sufferings.

No, this is absolutely valid, and from the standpoint of a person that gives "proper" judgement to Bloodborne characters - yeah, he "deserved" it!

I just have a completely different way to look at the things, and Soulsborne games offer me the most freedom in this. Like I said, the whole theme of 'fate worse than death' applied to the war criminals we meet in these games just doesn't do anything to me. Doesn't make me mad (because, again, they probably "deserve" it) but also doesn't really excite me... The problem with Soulsborne settings is that things are so chaotic and flipped upside down that morality, principles and and judgement as we know them no longer apply in my opinion- heck, I always said I can't really guilt characters like Aldrich or Rykard for how much atrocities they've committed, because the world they're in is so fundamentally broken and doomed that in the end, what they'd have to do to escape it no longer matters...? Elden Ring didn't touch upon it well enough, and even gave us *gasp* OPTIMISM!!!!, but Dark Souls totally falls for this... mess.

On the other hand, characters like Allant or Shabriri in my interpretation I'd totally say deserved "real" judgement. And Micolash is kinda complicated... He falls exactly in the middle. Dude did quite the unthinkable things to break free from the humanity, but also his setting kinda falls for the trope of "humanity is doomed anyways" and his only fault is that he tried to escape, whatever it takes, rather than pull the whole 'I will perish but at least not lose my human decency uwu' thing. For most people, choosing the latter feels like an axiom and they don't need reasoning to why it is "the only acceptable way", but for this type of high IQ investigators not necessarily so. Because hooooow many tiiiiimes you fuckers need an evidence that huge intellect caaaaaan be as much of a cuuuuuurse.

But, again, Bloodborne setting is less obviously... that. Dark Souls IS doomed, yes. Bloodborne is, like... well, he is (presumably) stuck in the city that will wither under endless cycle of the hunt no matter what. So I speculate his problem (and many other characters') is witnessing the knowledhe humans were not meant to see - and losing the sight of worth of his humanity as a result. Again, the smarter you are - the more damaging this effect will be! More simple-minded people would be able to withstand the comprehension of futility of humanity and the cyclic trap that deems both beasthood and Kinship meaningless because "but humanity is still important just because". (Also love how Bloodborne itself addresses this complexion by the fact that the higher person's Insight level is, the stronger Frenzy damage they take!)

__________________

Basically, what I am saying is, this is a "satisfying" fate for Micolash by common logic.. But I personally would rather either let the guy die a real death, or let him be reborn into something else. His setting and the things he learned make his pursuit to transcend humanity at all cost not only fair in my eyes, but even couragerous, in a way. Actually.....

^^^ what really skewed my perspective on most of the Soulsborne's "war criminals" was Miyazaki himself perceiving Fauxsefka as a heroine xD I was instantly able to decipher it as the fact that her courage is doing a 'morally reprehensive' thing (turning people into cosmic Kin) for the greater good (so they lose any chance to become the beasts instead). Not everyone will "dirty" their own hands for some greater idea. But, yeah, Micolash is likely not 'heroic', as he simply cared for helping himself. The only other Mensis scholar we know of is Damian, who actively works against Mico's goals (which is very telling); the other participants of his ritual are prisoners (damn, Miyazaki, can we go against the dilemma of "deciding for everyone else" for ONE game??).

I am glad that you've found a resolution for Micolash's arc that is very satisfying and exciting for you, though! This sorta thing always feels cathartic!

#bloodborne #micolash host of the nightmare #ask replies #I feel like I could never properly explain the way I (and Miyazaki too at this rate) judge the soulsborne babygirls (war criminals) xd #it is just too complicated #there IS a personal bias from me against 'eternal hell' because that's counter-productive and purgatory is a way better concept #but that aside I just think Micolash is a victim of his own high intellect #the call means nothing without the receiver!#if someone else saw what he saw they easily would've turned it down and told gods to fuck themselves with this 'knowledge'#hahaha in fact I do have an OC in Bloodborne that is able to reject 'ascension' through this logic too!#funny enough she is in open hostility against Mico #shit where did I put that post??#but yeah the cornerstone here is that high intellect puts you in a hazard when you are presented with 'this' sort of knowledge

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thetwelfthcrow · 5 months

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Help I'm scared I'm boarding the 4433 ship. Where do I start?

CHERRY?! welcome aboard.

the most important starting point, for me, is a genuine love for both max and lewis as guys and drivers. this will keep you sane. somewhat.

but welcome to a flawed and quick overview of 4433 (Lewis Hamilton/Max Verstappen)

disclaimer: mostly factual with images/gifs/videos.

it starts where it all starts: when they get into each other's orbit. this is Max's entrance to F1.

as we all know, baby max at age 17 entering the prestigious pinnacle of motorsport caused quite a stir. everyone had their thoughts on it. then max promoted to red bull before the spanish gp of 2016. nico and lewis took each other out in that gp and max cruised (with kimi's hot breath in his neck for the last 18 laps) to his very first victory.

everyone talks about max as if he's already a world champion. he's the next gen, people say, the new ayrton senna. the car is for years nowhere good enough, but he gets better and better.

this comes with: sharing podiums and press conferences with lewis hamilton.

their first one is the austrian gp 2016 - lewis p1, max p2 (after having started p9 and lewis crashing part of nico's fron wing).

in that same season: silverstone (lewis p1, max p2 due to nico's penalty, nico p3); germany (lewis, daniel, max); japan (nico, max, lewis); brazil (lewis, nico, max).

honorable mention to this shot from malaysia, 2016 post-qualifying press conference:

second honorable mention to this gif of brazil 2016 where lewis showed a meme to max during press and then this photo that perfectly summarises the highlights of 2016 for me (abu dhabi, 2016):

SO from this moment on, they get into a sort of constant. a regularity. lewis sets foot on most podiums. max gets to do the same more and more often (we don't speak of 2017). in the beginning, lewis refers to max publicly as 'this guy' or 'this dude'. max wants none of that, so he mentions it to lewis during the chinese gp of 2017.

everyone's on the whole 'maxsplaining' these days but max always had a tendency to do this and lewis was always quite a willing conversational partner (french gp 2018)

also very important mention goes to abu dhabi 2018. podium. lewis just got his back tattooed so he had to show everyone. and max was there, champagne in hand, and thought 'okay then' and sprayed it all under. if that ain't a euphemism, idk what is.

THEN also important mention is to max always always always acknowledging that lewis is 'one of the greatest drivers ever' or something along those lines (compilation) the fist clip is from this interview in 2020.

it all leads up to 2021, of course. but everything that happens before it is so so so important and fundamental to how they handle 2021. max is praised to the gods for his racing talent and lewis is climbing up the ranks and up the records to become the greatest. i've referred to max as a storm before. a storm that's coming, one that the news predicts and everyone's getting their umbrella's out to prepare for it. so was lewis. lewis could feel the wind picking up, could feel the first raindrops. and he waited. and waited.

and in the mean time: he just. gets along with max.

(hungary 2019 / brazil 2019 / abu dhabi 2019)

(germany 2020 / bahrain 2020 / abu dhabi 2020)

until it was time. 2021. i don't think i have to run through 2021, since i know you've been there. but the build up of lewis knowing that max would be one to watch out for, and max knowing that lewis is an incredibly talented driver who doesn't just let go, is chef's kiss to me. max was always just-not there to actually challenge lewis, and suddenly he was. but bahrain-2021-them could not predict what everything would look like by abu dhabi 2021. they started out like any other season, except max proved to be much more competitive than ever before. then in monaco he takes the championship lead (race 5/22). in silverstone the crash (immediately followed by lewis' boardradio 'is max ok?'), then zandvoort where lewis seems happier than ever to be p2 next to max (cue full-orange outfit on thursday) and monza where everything goes sour again. then they're bitter but okay, until saudi arabia and abu dhabi. and lewis was one of the first to say something long the lines of 'yeah i've been fucked over by the fia, but i don't blame max bc if i were in his position i'd have done the same'. and regardless of everything that happened: before and after every single race they greet each other with a fist bump/handshake/hug. okay so i ran through 2021 anyway whoops.

and 2022 started off right with this small moment between them

but beyond that in 2022: lewis is Not there. mentally. and yet in austria they share a podium, in hungary (pics), in austin and in mexico. they always seek each other out. chat. say hi. listen. joke. have fun.

and 2023 is the same, except lewis is on the podium more often, they joke more in the press conferences and they're both just so comfortable around each other. they're both the greatest drivers in the sport ever (lewis having been there longer and with much more titles, but max of equal talent and arguably with a more supportive team) and they just like each other. 13 years age difference? who cares. lewis is wearing a ring with number 33 on it to this race. so like. how much more canon can it get?

and yeah, 2021 was a lot. it was intense. it was controversial. but lewis would very much like to fight max again for the title. lewis thinks he's the only one who could. max thinks lewis is the only one who could.

so they're back to how it started. the news predicted a storm. except now max feels the breeze, the rain. and he's ready, he's waiting.

the fics are pretty good too. if you need a headstart: here's a fic rec list i've made. it's a rollercoaster of a ship, but at the end of the day, we always, always win and thrive.

#strawcars #will u be our angst provider pls cherry my beloved?#4433 #101 in shipping this ship #i missed A BUNCH so if anyone knows anything to add PLEASE hit me up #this quick overview was less quick and less overviewy than i intended anyways #zhalia’s lil chit chat

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