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grazer-razor · 9 months

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i realized something about homestuck and invader zim.

basically, the comic and show have a lot of similarities. aliens, robots, a lot of stuff. see here-

Theming similarities -random, occasionally food-based sense of humor -goofy, cynical, mildly gloomy atmosphere -bathroom humor(and in HS’s case, dick jokes(which might be a more “grown-up” version of bathroom humor)

Design similarities -squashed in, eccentric, and geometric design(homestuck relies on rounded shapes, IZ relies on edges) -most environments are monochrome in color -occasionally depicts more realistic imagery

Trope similarities -bug-like aliens with similar decent worldbuilding, as well as robots. There is an emphasis on unusual technology, as well. -all adults are sort of shady(also, you can’t see most of their faces) -most characters’ personalities are exaggerated -most of the main characters are children(or at least some equivalent to children) -most of the characters have similar naming patterns related to the number of letters in their names -THE APOCALYPSE -the aliens have weak points that play off of concepts familiar to humans(water/buckets) -crazy stuff in the plots(for invader zim, examples include room with a moose, planets fighting each other, ultra peepi, and dib being enhanced by bio-implants when zim threw rubber piggies at his past self) -there’s a 2nd alien race with only a handful of characters(vortians and cherubs) -IZ/HS have other respective works by their respective creators centering around mentally deranged serial killers

Character similarities -cutesy character that goes around doing random stuff with various objects and items (GIR/WV) -shady parental authority figure that’s a bit of a goofball, but is also badass at times (membrane/dad egbert) -mildly edgy, brooding character that emanates feelings of antagonism, power and authority (tallest red/purple /jack noir) -sullen, gloomy-ish girl (gaz/rose) -the protagonist is a nerdy kid with glasses and a ghost on his shirt (dib/john) -the main alien character is a ill-tempered alien who is an outcast from the rest of his society because of his abnormal characteristics(zim/karkat)

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but that's not what i want to discuss today. i was thinking about the similar moods of invader zim and homestuck, in that they are both gloomy and cynical, while goofy at the same time. as the kids start playing Sburb, there is a lot of gloominess.

john has to go through a cringey birthday and battle his dad, rose has to handle a thunderstorm and is into cthulhu monsters, dave basically kills off a crow by accident and has to deal with his big bro's weird puppets, and jade... well, jade's home is the least gloomy out of the main 4 kids, but i'm sure there are some weird aspects to her home. and as they progress through the game, they have to explore these alien lands full of monsters like shale imps and uranium ogres and stuff, adding to the whole gloomy-ish atmosphere.

but at the same time, the kids are constantly getting into shenanigans like with sylladexes, ETC.

of course, after a period of time, things get increasingly violent and fricked up, but you didn't hear that from me.

invader zim also has a gloominess and cynicalness to it, with it's setting(conquerer aliens, crappy school environment, dib's dad is weird, ETC.).

anyway, i was thinking about this gloominess that invader zim and homestuck share, when i thought of something. there is a HUGE difference between homestuck's cynicalness and IZ's cynicalness. can you guess what it is???

invader zim has a liveliness to it. homestuck is more dull and serious-toned.

as the main 4 kids go through their adventures, there's no upbeat attitude. it is just... GONE. they just randomly talk on pesterchum and do all of their sylladex shenanigans without any energy-infused atmosphere whatsoever.

well, you might say "maybe that's because homestuck's storytelling medium is a webcomic, and the animation style(gifs and [S] flashes) is simple. and maybe it might even be like an adult cartoon?".

but even adult shows like rick and morty have an attitude to them(idk, never watched the show)- the voice acting and sometimes the animation has energy to it.

the most energy i have ever seen from a homestuck animation is in this picture, and even then, it doesn't really carry any upbeat energy that you would find like in invader zim.

and there wasn't really any energy in this gif from IZ, but i still think there is more personality in the gif below than a troll generically flailing his noodle arms when having a bucket thrown in his face.

and this is just one gif, perhaps picked poorly. i am certain there might be more examples(even if the best ones might be from into the florpus or even episodes from later seasons).

again, i am not an expert on neither homestuck OR invader zim. but i do think there is some truth to this.

but i'm still scared of the canadian rating at the back of the DVD's, so i might not get the invader zim DVD's just yet.

#grazer essay

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ecoamerica · 23 days

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youtube

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

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grigori77 · 4 years

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2019 In TV - My Top 10 Shows

This past year may have sucked balls in a lot of ways, but we certainly never got short-changed when it came to our TV. There was an absolute WEALTH of truly cracking TV around, both on regular networks and on the various on-demand platforms, and so here is my pick of the best, my absolute favourites of 2019.

10. WATCHMEN

Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof brings us a blinding sequel to comic book legend Alan Moore’s legendary graphic novel with a delightfully trippy, ruthlessly efficient rug-puller that seems pretty tailor-made for HBO. Old faces return in interesting ways, while there are some cracking new “masks” on offer, particularly Regina King’s Sister Night and the always-brilliant Tim Blake Nelson as morally complex antihero Looking Glass (in some ways very much the show’s own answer to Rorschach). It never goes where you expect it to go, and refuses to give easy answers to the questions it raises, effortlessly paving the way for more next year ...

9. THE BOYS

Amazon offers up its own edgy, thoroughly adult superhero property with this darkly funny antiheroic gem based on the cult Garth Ennis comic, expertly adapted by Supernatural creator Eric Kripke. Karl Urban dominates as Billy Butcher, the foul-mouthed, morally bankrupt “leader” of a makeshift crew of mercenaries, hitmen and psycho killers devoted to “taking care of” superheroes when they inevitably go bad. Season 1 ultimately serves as an origin story, showing how the team come together, laying quality groundwork for the incoming sophomore tour that promises to open the already fascinating world out significantly.

8. PREACHER (SEASON 4)

More Garth Ennis, namely this blinder of a closing season for AMC’s consistently impressive adaptation of his best known series for Vertigo comics. Surprisingly epic, deliciously subversive and constantly, darkly hilarious, this thoroughly non-PC series from showrunners Sam Catlin, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (yes! I Know!) certainly went out on a high note, providing its loyal followers with perfectly-pitched bow-outs and sometimes heartbreaking goodbyes for all its players, especially its dynamite leads, Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga and, in particular, Joe Gilgun as unapologetic bad boy vampire Cassidy. A worthy end to one of my all-time favourite TV shows.

7. THE WITCHER

While it’s clearly taken its look from the wildly successful video games, Netflix’s second most ambitious long-form offering of the year takes its lead from the fantasy book series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski that started it all. With its somewhat episodic set-up and decidedly twisted narrative timelines, it take a few chapters to get the hang of it, but there’s plenty to draw you in, from the exotic world-building to the frenetic action and compelling collection of richly crafted characters. Henry Cavill is the titular hero, lovably grouchy mutant monster-hunter Geralt of Rivia, but the real scene-stealer is co-star Anya Chalotra as roguishly self-serving mage Yennefer of Vengenberg.

6. CARNIVAL ROW

One of the year’s two big sleeper hit TV surprises for me was this inventively offbeat allegorical Amazon fantasy series from The 4400 creator René Echevarria and screenwriter Travis Beacham. Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevigne are the star-crossed lovers at the heart of this intriguingly dark and dirty murder mystery thriller set in Victorian London-esque city-state the Burgue, in which humans struggle to co-exist alongside a struggling disenfranchised underclass of fae (fairies, fawns, centaurs and the like). The racial turmoil undertones are writ large throughout, but this is far more well-written and lavishly appointed than you might expect on first glance, and almost ridiculously addictive viewing.

5. LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS

My other big TV surprise was this wonderfully bizarre sci-fi anthology series of animated shorts from Netflix, mostly adapted from an eclectic selection of short stories from a wide range of top-notch literary talent including Peter F. Hamilton, John Scalzi, Marko Kloos and Alastair Reynolds (a particular favourite of mine). As you’d expect from the brainchild of Deadpool director Tim Miller and producer David Fincher, this is edgy, leftfield stuff, frequently ultra-violent and decidedly adult, and the wildly varied nature of the material on offer makes for a decidedly uneven tone, but there are some absolute gems on offer here, my favourite being Suits, an enjoyably simple tale of salt-of-the-earth farmers on an alien world utilising clunky mech suits to protect their settlement from rampaging giant xeno-bugs.

4. THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE

The show with the biggest cinematic wow factor in 2019 had to be this long-awaited prequel series to Jim Henson’s classic fantasy movie masterpiece, created for Netflix by, of all people, Louis Leterrier (yes, the director of The Transporter, Now You See Me and Clash of the Titans, if you can believe it). The technology may have evolved in leaps and bounds, but there’s a wonderfully old school vibe in the delightfully physical puppet effects used to bring the fantastical world of Thra and its denizens to life, so that it truly does feel like it’s based in the same world as the film. This was EASILY the most visually arresting show of 2019, packed with exquisite character, creature and set design that perfectly complements the awesome work done by Henson and Brian Froud on the original, while the writers have created a darkly rich narrative tapestry that makes Thra seem a more dangerous place than ever.

3. THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY

I was a HUGE fan of My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way’s magnificently oddball alternative superhero comic, so when I learned that Netflix were adapting it I was a little wary because I knew how spectacularly hard it would be for ANY showrunners to get right. Thankfully Steve Blackman (Fargo season 2) and Jeremy Slater (The Exorcist TV series) were the right choice, because this perfectly captured the outsider nature of the characters and their endearingly dysfunctional family dynamic. Ellen Page, Tom Hopper (Black Sails, Merlin), David Castañeda and Emmy Raver-Lampman are all excellent as the more “functional” Hargreeves siblings, but the show is roundly stolen by Misfits star Robert Sheehan and Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn’s Aidan Gallagher as nihilistic clairvoyant Klaus and the old-man-in-a-child’s-body sociopath known only as Number Five. Consistently surprising and brilliantly bonkers, this was definitely the year’s most wonderfully WEIRD show.

2. STRANGER THINGS (SEASON 3)

Writer-director duo the Duffer Brothers’ ultra-nostalgic 80s-set coming-of-age sci-fi horror series remains the undisputed jewel in Netflix’s long-form crown with this consistently top-drawer third season expertly maintaining the blockbuster-level standards we’ve come to expect. This year the cross-dimensional shenanigans have largely been jettisoned, replaced by a gleefully nasty through-line of icky body horror that would make major influences like David Cronenberg and Stuart Gordon proud, as perennial teenage bad boy Billy Hargrove (the fantastically menacing Dacre Montgomery) becomes the leader of an army of psychic slaves under the control of the Upside Down’s monstrous Mind Flayer. The kids are all brilliant as always, Winona Ryder and David Harbour really get to build on their strong-yet-spiky chemistry, and the show is almost effortlessly stolen by Joe Keery as one-time golden boy Steve Harrington and series-newcomer Maya Hawke as his nerdy new foil Robin Buckley, who were very nearly the cutest couple on TV in 2019. Another gold standard season for a true gold standard show.

1. GOOD OMENS

Sadly, legendary author Terry Pratchett died before he could see the adaptation of one of his most beloved novels (and one of my all-time literary favourites too) see the light of day, but at least his co-author Neil Gaiman was around to bring it to fruition with the aid of seasoned TV director David Mckinnon (Jekyll, Doctor Who, Sherlock), and the end result sure did him proud, perfectly capturing the deeply satirical voice and winningly anarchic, gleefully offbeat and gently subversive humour of the original novel. David Tennant and Michael Sheen could both have been born to play Crowley and Aziraphale, the angel and demon nominally charged with watching over the young Antichrist in preparation for his role in the End Times, even though they would both much rather the world just went on quite happily the way it is, thanks very much. This is about as perfect an adaptation as you can get, the six hour-long episodes giving the surprisingly complex story time to breathe and grow organically, and the result is the most fun I spent in front of my TV this year.

#best TV 2019 #watchmen #the boys #preacher #the witcher #carnival row #love death + robots #love death & robots #the dark crystal age of resistance #The Umbrella Academy #stranger things 3 #good omens

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yue-muffin · 4 years

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Time Raiders (2016)

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3

In my quest to consume the entirety of the DMBJ franchise available in English, I have decided to start with the non-canon movie because at least this one has an ending, unlike the train wreck that is Reboot/Chongqi’s pacing. I will probably be bitter about that for all eternity, but I digress. I heard good things about the movie from the bird app, and as I am a Pingxie shipper at heart, I decided to finally watch this one.

P A R T O N E

The cut-in animation to the title was gorgeous, I do so love the qilin in every adaptation. It’s particularly striking here with the gold outline and geometric, maze-like lines. It looks like the cards at the very beginning were being arranged in the image of this qilin.

My first reaction upon seeing white people in a dmbj adaptation is: oh no, the English, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear perfect English that matches the actor’s lips! What a miracle, haha. I remember The Lost Tomb 2 being the worst for how many lines had to be in English, sob.

These look so cool. I see we start off with a good old “seeking immortality” antagonist, and an obsessed collector who has dedicated his whole life to this apparently. As usual, he is a scumbag threatening the locals.

The old guy’s accented English is also better than TLT2, ha. The breathy/nasal quality is not at all uncommon. I don’t know what language the locals speak though.

Me, immediately: Zhang Qiling already??

I know he appears in rather early in TLT1, TLT2, and Reboot/Chongqi, but he’s so often mysteriously absent or stuck behind a gate (or in Reboot’s case, put on a bus) that I got excited, ok.

My favorite Zhang Qilings are the cold-looking pretty boy types in terms of my mental image of the character, but this one is also very easy on the eyes and as usual, unfazed in the face of danger coming at him with a knife. This is the only series in which I’m not bothered by the constant cast change between adaptations (unlike Ever Night), I suppose since it’s been this way from the start.

I’m interested in seeing how the backstories differ from canon. It’s actually rather interesting that this is pretty much an official AU, like that’s kind of wild as a concept. I’m used to the late 1990s/early 2000s anime adding new characters and changing plot points and endings everywhere, but Time Raiders takes it a step further.

Zhang Qiling being an ultra-competent badass who doesn’t even need a weapon to take the bad guys down never changes, no matter the universe. He steamrolls everyone, no questions asked.

Did he- he break the blade with his bare hands hahaha. Oh, yup, and a Zhang Qiling with a weapon is even more dangerous. I see those severed fingers. Such a good fight scene and we’re not even 5 minutes into the movie.

I love how he could have simply fired the arrow while he was still on the statue, then jumped down, but he had to be Extra and fire while he was jumping off haha.

It- the divine piece was right there?? By “beneath the statue” I would have thought it would at least be under it, not in a convenient little slot on the side of the altar area haha. So Zhang Qiling’s mission is to destroy the divine piece(s)? To, um, save the world apparently.

WHO ARE YOU? What an excellent question to ask a Zhang Qiling (and that staring into the mirror shot, too.)… I wonder if this one even knows - it’s possible he doesn’t have his signature amnesia here.

Wait- a gate? I think it’s in a cave or something in the novels, but gates have significance in DMBJ. The cinematography is really nice in these mountain shots. I know nothing about film, but I like the shots in the snowy mountains.

This Zhang Qiling knows and practices martial arts on screen! You would think he’d pull some moves normally, but in the drama-adaptations he tends to just beat people up as efficiently as possible. Sometimes with his sword. Other times he just fights ‘em. I have to admit Jing Boran looks excellent going through some forms. He nailed the force and power underlying every movement, then exploding outward with a strike. I do like the impression it leaves.

I, on the other hand, am an absolute noodle and look ridiculous when I do martial arts.

What in the world is happening in this flashback scene with the weird CGI qilin. Ah, it’s when he received his tattoo. That was super dramatic.

Wushanju is looking real edgy with the heavy iron gate on the interior, haha.

He is puzzling (ha!) over those cards so intensely you’d think it was a thousand piece puzzle instead haha. You’re almost there! Just a few more to finish the qilin!

Aw, is this our Wu Xie? Haha his facial hair is- hm. But I love his voice it’s so soft. Really fits that “Mr. Naive” vibe.

Is that. Is that the author of the series. I found out that he makes cameos in almost all (if not all of) the adaptations!

NO. ONLY I CAN FINISH THE PUZZLE. HANDS OFF BUDDY.

Why are there so many pigeons in here. Who let them inside.

A writer, who came to hear his story and turn it into a novel- HA yup it’s the author.

“This should be a story about me and him.”

Ahh I’m loving it already. DMBJ is the ultimate bromance story. Fair warning, I do ship Pingxie so my shipper goggles will be on throughout the movie. But even without shipping, you do have to admit the series is a bromance underneath all the mystery – between the Iron Triangle, between Wu Xie and Xiaoge.

This Wu Xie is a photographer and that is sort of adorable. Already there’s a theme emerging of needing to record events and telling stories. Interesting that he wants to turn his memories into a novel to record his experiences, because otherwise he’s afraid those memories might turn into a mere story in his own head. Wu Xie, that’s a worrying mindset.

Those ancient mask things always make me crack up, I don’t know why.

Ooh, background about Wu Xie’s birth into the Wu family. I’ve never read up to the part in the books where they go into his place in the family in detail. To be fair, his grandfather had three sons and only one of them had any kids – and Wu Xie is his parents’ only child. So, he becomes the only one who can really carry on the family legacy. Aw, I really like seeing his extended family present though! In the dramas we only ever get either his Second or Third Uncle, and he rarely ever mentions his parents even though they’re alive.

And there’s his namesake! The origin of his nickname, and the irony once the story gets into the Sha Hai timeline.

Wu Xie was a bit of a rascal as a kid, haha. To be fair he has a pretty sharp tongue in the novels and is mostly a pure cinnamon roll in the early dramas.

Little Wu Xie in a suit is so adorable. Nooo kid don’t go into locked up abandoned places. He’s already so adventurous haha. Seems that it’s not actually abandoned judging by all the lights on, but.

UH. MASKED MAN BEHIND YOU. I think he wants that item back. This is why you don’t go into abandoned places, kid. He definitely does not learn his lesson though. Also why are you still holding onto that thing, just drop it, I think he wants it back.

Haha he kept one of the coins.

WOAH. Every month someone in your family dies?? That’s uh- sort of traumatic. Also that would be a really good first line for a novel…Just saying. I do love the singing though.

Oh, the Nine Families exist in this universe too! They even give a quick explanation about the ranking system.

Oh yeah, I love how Wu Xie is such a nerd for all this knowledge of ancient texts and tombs. And YES HE FINALLY DOCUMENTS STUFF FOR ONCE.

Uncle Three looked dead for a moment there, scared the shit out of me too.

VAMPIRE MOTHS? Oh I hate bugs I would not be okay lol. WHOOPS. You guys are really good at reading ancient texts on the fly lol.

That’s the mask he has in the beginning of the film, isn’t it. NO DON’T TOUCH THINGS IN TOMBS. AHHH. So you just put it on your face?? Well that was a stupidly simple way to open the door. I’m guessing the creator didn’t care if anyone opened it.

This guy just severed his own arm, ok…and how many years later is his hand still clinging to it? UH. THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T TOUCH THINGS IN TOMBS. Then he proceeds to steal the box thing.

Ah the white dude again. I am so happy there is GOOD ENGLISH though haha.

Oh, hi Zhang Qiling. Just hanging out on a rooftop I see.

He looks so melancholy. Someone give him a hug! This adaptation makes him more human, less stoic robotic superhuman, I noticed. You rarely see him eat or drink anything in the other adaptations, but here he’s just chilling on a rooftop having some drinks haha. It’s ok. I love all the Zhang Qilings.

WHAT THE HELL, LIGHTNING? What the hell is this high tech machinery haha. Eight days? Coincidentally eight days after sitting in a tomb for how many years.

That is a very Extra bookcase to hold a book that apparently has ALL the secrets.

WOW that is a fancy notebook. It looks so beat up in the other versions haha. In this one, it even gets its own hidden shelf in a giant portable bookshelf!

The props for this franchise are so cool and detailed. I always wish they would show more of the creative process in the BTS, I’m such a nerd for that stuff. The Longest Day in Chang’an was pretty good at that, which is half of my enjoyment of that show haha!

I’m also still pleasantly surprised they bothered to incorporate other languages. I’m not sure what the Snake Lady and the old man in the beginning were speaking, but at least the English is good.

I can’t believe they worked in a steampunk chastity belt this movie went all out, huh. Also with these weirdly high tech structures and lightning and moving tomb structures.

And all the pieces start coming together! So that’s why it’s believed they hold the secret to immortality. What a steampunk-looking key.

Is that a writing desk??

Oh, they’re getting a team together to go tomb raiding! Ha, forget money! You may or may not end up dying on this adventure, so who cares about money, right.

He’s so cute standing there with his camera. Look at the little smile as he watches everything going on!

It’s a desk and a storage container?? Oh, there are ~qualifications~ to going on tomb raiding. Makes sense. That is the oddest looking sword.

Must appreciate Zhang Qiling’s fingers in every adaptation. They look very strong and steady here. Let’s not talk about the slooow trailing across the handle.

Wow did you really just throw sand in his face. Have we not learned not to mess with Zhang Qiling after he trounced that first guy who attacked him. I love the fight scenes so much after the bore-fest that was Reboot/Chongqi’s second half of Season 1.

Super pretty, but why did it cause him to stop and stare in the middle of the fight?

This is like a Final Fantasy sword haha. Also I think you should stop while you’re ahead, why did you think a table would stop this dude. (Hey, it’s Da Kui! He was in the novel but not TLT1.).

It’s HERE. Their first meeting. How did he know the coin was on that cord? It wasn’t visible, I don’t think. But uh. That was a hilarious move on his part, he is so Extra?? He just casually flicks the necklace off with his big-ass sword and it drops into his hand. Then casually goes “oh, here, you dropped this” as if he wasn’t the one responsible for it coming off in the first place!!

HERE IT COMES. The unnecessarily long eye contact. Pingxie in every adaptation needs a Staring Into Your Eyes scene.

Real smooth.

Ahh this Wu Xie is such a cutie. He’s like a puppy.

WHAT. Third Uncle, I can’t believe you let him tag along so easily haha. In the beginning he was scolding Wu Xie to never get involved in tomb business, then what happens? They’re going tomb raiding!!

Next Up: to the tomb we go! This can’t end badly or anything what are you talking about.

#daomubiji #time raiders #dmbj #盗墓笔记 #image heavy post #perhaps don't view on mobile #in which i lose my mind for 2 hours #the muffin's liveblogging adventures

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noddytheornithopod · 4 years

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Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls Playthrough

So yeah, I finally got UDG and now I’m playing it. Will give thoughts after each session.

Okay, some of these shots of Komaru are pretty uncomfortable. The moment we get a female protagonist, the camera has to perv on her. It’s... uncomfortable.

This game definitely has a more brutal tone. We’re seeing dead bodies and violence everywhere. It’s... a lot.

I’m not exactly into the constant format changing for cutscenes and dialogue? Like, we get some as 2D anime, some in the game’s 3D style and then we have in-game stuff with the 3D models but with the character sprites next to the dialogue. Oh, and then we get stylised 2D in the vein of Danganronpa executions, and flashbacks that play out like in-game stuff from the other entries. Granted we end up getting less of the anime, which sucks because that’s the best looking format. I’m not really a fan of the 3D animation style, it just doesn’t look fully realised? Like, it reminds me of a parody or something people would make on YouTube, especially the way they move as they talk. And I mean, them moving as they talk while they have a sprite on screen conveying their emotions more effectively makes at least one of them redundant, right? But yeah, there’s a lot of style switching and I’m not a fan.

Yay, Byakuya! Our favourite prick is back to save Komaru... but apparently he gets kidnapped on the way after she escapes her prison. Kinda surprised they didn’t have it be Makoto given he’s Komaru’s brother, and it would raise the stakes, but then I guess they needed to get Toko involved too so I’ll see how it plays out first (or they kidnap both lol).

Towa City sounds interesting, the idea of a place that escaped the worst of the tragedy from their advanced tech and being wealthy bastards, except now the Warriors of Hope (which TOTALLY aren’t with the Remnants of Despair... I mean, they have an army of fucking Monokumas) are causing trouble there.

I think I’m getting used to the controls and kind of game this is? I’m managing fine at least. Fire rate is slow though lol

Komaru, even for someone isolated for 1.5 years (so I guess this is six months after Trigger Happy Havoc) can still have some pretty dense moments. Runs in the family? :v

Fucking Nagito Komaeda is here and is a servant to the Warriors of Hope. Even as we know he’s a Remnant of Despair, you can tell there’s more to him than just being a slave salivating over Junko. Wonder if he has his own thing going on, or he’s just gonna be a slave to kids. Also... that is such an edgy look for him. Seriously. :v The freaking chain especially. And gosh, even here we have to hear him call Komaru boring and uninteresting.

The Warriors of Hope I’m not sure on yet. Monaca despite not openly the leader is clearly the one in control with how theye look to her, thought also god I HATE the “disabled villain” trope. Unless she’s faking, which also sucks. Jataro and Kotoko have potential I think even if they’re currently a bit one note, Nagisa already seems more complex which is cool especially with the more serious attitude and obvious affection for Monaca, but Masaru is annoying. Not really into the loud boastful extrovert type. Also IDK what this Hope’s Peak Elementary thing is all about.

So the Warriors of Hope have taken over and are killing adults to make some paradise for kids, and Komaru is released back into the city to be hunted. Also when they were saying how great it will be with no adults, I believe Kotoko saying that it will be great because there’s gonna be no paedophiles got a legit laugh out of me.

Genocide Jack/Toko coming back in was pretty cool, and given we’re more focused on her I’m getting into her character more than before. That being said... WHY? To whoever decided to add the Byakuya fantasies... WHY? WHY???? What if someone in my house heard me and I had to convince them it’s just a weird perverted video game and I’m not actually watching porn on my TV? WHY????????????? Also... the white splatter as the fantasies fade out just makes it even worse.

IDK if it’s just me but some of Komaru’s design reminds me of Kaede’s? The face at least.

Toko is still gonna be Toko I guess, lol. Also makes sense she can’t properly be in the Future Foundation because of Genocide Jack. Also lol, she even referenced Hina and Hiro even being in... albeit not in the most flattering way.

Look, as... whatever the fuck the Byakuya fantasies are, the pig thing kinda got a laugh out me be because of how ??? it was?

Finding books is a cool mechanic actually, especially how it ties to the characters. Also gives the chance for fun interactions. Also... Toko calling out that book for making light of DID? Is this Danganronpa poking fun at itself? Just because you make fun of it doesn’t absolve you. :P The thing with Komaru being an anime fantasy certainly was.

Speaking of poking fun at itself, they’re definitely self aware here lol. Even here it’s still constructed like it’s a game. Also WTF are the Monokuma headed kids.

Why is the save mechanism... that? I guess it’s for the kids, but... still? Why???

Hotel was actually a pretty cool setpiece.

#danganronpa #ultra despair girls

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thattimdrakeguy · 5 years

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I dont like 2 batfam members and I cant even say it when someone asks me if I dont like them or not, because their fans are so weird that they wont leave you alone, even sending some messages and harassing you... but when Its about Tim people always saying their own opinions and people are ok with this. Batfam fandom is full of hypocrisy and it's annoying

I’ve seen people called racist just because they didn’t like Damian, and I’m still baffled about it since I seen that happen to someone, because just because they don’t like their favorite, doesn’t make them a racist. Unless, you know, they’re actually a big racist, in which case go ahead.

I’ve seen people get huffy when someone doesn’t like Dick because “I THINK WE SHOULD JUST ENJOY ALL THAT BAT-FAMILY MEMBERS” to try to make the other person look cynical for just not happening to enjoy all of them.

and even full rants when someone doesn’t enjoy Jason. Like it’s so unbelievable that maybe some people don’t enjoy reading edgy anti-heroes, or don’t find him likable.

It’s all very obnoxious because it’s overly defensive over something as small as a guy in a post saying off to the side “I also just personally don’t like blank that much”. You can’t often get away with saying how you feel about a character in fandoms, because if someone sees it it’s very much possible you’ll get crap for it.

A guy once yelled at me for an hour because I thought Jon Kent was an archetype that never moved beyond and that he was bland because of it. Just my opinion and reaction to people sending Bendis’s death-threats over aging him up. I thought it was outrageous that Jon was a character people were sending death-threats over, and they tried to gaslight me over it. Trying to act like I was trying to say some characters were worth sending death-threats over over, instead of accepting the fact I was trying to show perspective to the few that might’ve read the post I’m talking about.

and I’ve seen Tim fans be called out as the toxic ones many-a-time, but personally, in the bad things that they do do? They’re no worse in any way compared to the other fan bases to be called out specifically, they’re relatively tame in comparison aggression-wise, even if that’s possibly because it’s been growing smaller since the New 52. The bat-family fandom tries it’s best to be positive, but they also dive into bizarre behaviors when someone doesn’t like even one of the characters.

Just in general I find the Bat-Family fandom to be full of hypocrisy as you’ve said, or at least in general, and they seem to try and make it seem ultra positive and inviting by saying WE SHOULD ALL JUST ENJOY ALL OF THEM, but that’s not how people work, and feels like a backhanded way of trying to make the other person seem cynical and bitter, purely for not agreeing.

Sometimes tastes don’t collide with all of them, you find major writing flaws with them, you could never find yourself enjoying any comic they’ve ever been in, maybe the people that always write them you have genuine problems with how they write, and because they write that character so much, you don’t like them.

It’s okay to not like a character.

There’s always going to be a reason to not like a character, even if it’s reasonably small, it’s okay, it’s valid to just not like a character because of tastes or that click never happened. It’s something that’s always gonna happen to someone, I doubt there’s a single character that clicked with everyone all the time.

But with Tim, the stuff that gets praised for being said always seems to be for petty, vile reasons that’s practically slandering a fictional character, like calling him an incel, racist, or sexist, while trying to show panels with the wrong context to make it seem true, like they’ll show Tim talking negatively about Damian because of his genetics, and they like to say it’s because he’s Arabian to make Tim seem racist, and ignore that it’s obviously because of the Al Ghul connection, or they’ll show Tim be negative to someone that happens to be a girl like Steph, even though he wasn’t negative to them because they were a girl, but because of their actions or what Batman told him.

People occasionally get praised for saying stuff like that, as if to say “thanks for saying the truth!” even though it’s not even slightly close to the truth. It’s literally lies to make a character they happen to not like less likable, to make people that like the character feel crappy because so many people will say such lies against the character they enjoy.

The people that say that stuff just agreed with hating the character together, and they wanted to do their best to make the lies seem true. Even over something so small. Just so there’s a smidgen of a chance some person that doesn’t know better will just assume they’re right.

A very petty action.

That’s the stuff that is toxic and I cannot stand, it’s not okay to do that, to any character, person, or anything. It’s purely mean spirited.

and for the other people who won’t allow reasonable people to dislike their favorite character?

Toxic in their own way.

People should be permitted to not like your fav when they have their own reasons that aren’t even close to slander, I understand it may be annoying because you like them so much, but it’s something that happens, and you’ll have to deal with it, because it’s not fair to yell at someone because of a disagreement, especially when it’s rational thought behind their decision.

The behavior I’ve seen for or against a character in fandoms (mainly this one since this has been pretty much the only fandom I’m involved in), has been too much, and I think a lot of it needs to stop.

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harxu · 4 years

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all jokes aside I’m never gonna get over my vocaloid phase like those songs are bomb

#the evillious chronicles like mothy really did THAT we stan #and reol??? omg such a queen #and babuchan my fav happy child genuinely gives me CHILLS I can't even #the night series???? what the hell how is it so good #listen idc if vocaloid is cringy weeb culture or smth a lot of these songs and artists genuinely fucking slap #even the ultra edgy weird stuff #like vocaloid allowed for weird ass songs like song for great satan to exist and that's so fucking cool

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seymour-butz-stuff · 3 years

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Have you seen literally everything American networks and studios produced in the last five years, including the terrible things, and including the things even more awful than those? Are you fighting to keep yourself from acquiring new hobbies that will cause you to spend thousands of dollars you don't have to fill your home with hundreds of things you don't have room for? Not a gaming fan? Not into sports, much less reruns of sports?

You could do worse than trying a bit easy-to-digest foreign culture, right? Probably. Usually. Maybe it will be your cup of tea; maybe it won't, and that's fine too. If American television has been seeing a bit of an animation revival, albeit in sporadic fits and starts, it's due in at least some part to the influence of Japanese animated shows and movies. That’s not to say that the Japanese market hasn’t seen its share of stagnation and trope-entrapment itself, mind you, but in the United States the medium has descended from the more-adult-oriented-than-it-now-looks spectacle of an early Flintstones to a three-tiered system that struggles to produce anything not (1) specifically geared towards young children, (2) the "edgy" or not so edgy sitcom formats of The Simpsons, Family Guy, or South Park, or (3) the Disney "event" movies.

What It Is

It’s not Disney. There are no singing woodland creatures in Japanese animated shows. Usually. Well, with some notable exceptions. There is a folklore-famous rabbit that goes on a killing spree; that's not quite the same thing, and certainly skips the treacle. There are endless superhero shows, but in anime versions the superheroes tend to lean far less on Burly Punching Man tropes and more on unexplained magical powers manifested in exasperated children. There's some top notch horror, if that's your thing. There are enough young people in love romances that you could fill a dump truck, drive it up to your house, and make a ski ramp from the DVDs.

Anime, or simply animated movies and television, has a breadth that puts most recent American efforts to shame, but in past decades it was often difficult for American audiences to get into. The reasons are not hard to understand. The language differences; a handful of pretty significant cultural differences; the difficulty, until recent years, of being able to find any if you wanted to; an often weird, weird fanbase that can obsess over fictional worlds with the same protective fury that American obsessives might display over Batman, Harry Potter, or Game of Thrones.

And, of course, the always-present mountains of sheer crap. Good God, there's a lot of crap. Randomly tune in to any network channel in America and nine times out of ten you will be watching crap, which is one of the reasons you are bored right now, as we speak. There are countless foreign production companies that produce unambitious channel filler in similarly copious volumes, and this leads to the biggest blockade newcomers to Japanese and Korean animation find before them: how to find the good stuff before becoming so disillusioned with the whole experiment that they give up.

So let's help with that last one. This will be a short little series answering the question that follows every conversation in which someone mentions the name of a usually-Japanese animated show with praise. I liked Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke or [insert name of any other top-notch work by Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli here], but is there any more stuff like that? All I can find is things like Pokemon.

Everyone wants more Studio Ghibli, unless they are Wrong and a Jerk. Trying to find it can be a bit like changing the channel from the ultra-satisfying conclusion to your favorite movie to find yourself on a QVC show promoting a new kind of blender. It can cause physical nausea, and nobody wants that.

For those not terrified about where their next meal is going to come from in this pandemic.

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mylatesttrending-blog · 5 years

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Ten gorgeous classic cars with modern hearts

‘They don’t make cars like they used to’ is a phrase often quoted by old people wound tight in the grip of nostalgia. But nostalgia lies. They don’t make cars like they used to, because old cars are generally rubbish. They leak, they break down, they’re slow and they smell of unspecific grandparents. In fact, very few things improve significantly with age - wine, experience and Rachel Riley make for a very shortlist. There are loads of examples as to why. In adopting pedestrian-friendly bonnets, cars lose their slinky, low noses along with the option of bouncing a pedestrian’s head off the engine block. With strong, crashworthy monocoques, you not only lose the ability to be squashed flat during a roll, but also the airy, glassy, thin-pillared elegance of yesteryear. So you get two rather stark choices: pretty, characterful, unreliable deathtrap, or soulless modern conveyance. I may be over-simplifying this, but you get my point. But there is a third way. Because there are people out there who like the style of the old with the convenience of the new. The resto-mod crowd. And the movement is growing. Take Ares Design in Italy - showcasing several models inspired by the old, but powered by the new. The company’s ’64 Corvette Stingray features all the grace of the early sixties design, but with modern Corvette C7 (2017) underpinnings. That means slinky outside, 6.2-litre LS3 V8 with 525bhp inside - and the right suspension to be able to handle it. Then there’s ‘Project Panther’ - a re-imagining of the swoopy, edgy brilliance of the classic DeTomaso Pantera, but with a modern Lamborghini strapped underneath (pictured above). Here are a few more.

Land Rover Defender Works Bit of a weird one, this, seeing as it’s produced by the manufacturer itself, but the recent ‘Works’ V8 Defender counts because the car is out of production. The last V8 Defender was 20 years ago, and this time, the £150k special gets a 400bhp 5.0-litre n/a V8 from a Jag, plus an ultra-modern eight-speed auto to go with it. Scarily, that’s 60mph in 5.6, and a possible 106mph, limited because of the Land Rover’s barn-door/breezeblock aerodynamics. Ok, so it gets a thoroughly uprated suspension, but still. And best of all, it still just looks like the Defender we all know and love… and your elbows will still be forced out of the side window by ergonomics designed by someone with very strange proportions. Obviously, there’s an entire cottage industry devoted to the Defender, so if you want something marginally cheaper, you could also take a look at the JE Engineering Zulu or Twisted Automotive and the like. But if you want something even older…

Congleton Service Range Rover Classic Strange to talk about a company from Vermont when it comes to Range Rover Classics, but by all accounts, Congleton Service does impeccable work. Rather than re-working or hot-rodding, Congleton strip a Rangie down to its component atoms and re-build it ready for the next 50-years of service. Subtle improvements are the key here - and usually down to specific customer request - but generally, they address the weaknesses of the original icon and make it ready for another half-century. It’s not cheap, mind - a full re-work will set you back getting on for $185,000, and the exchange rate isn’t that good. The UK version is probably Kingsley Cars of Witney, who do a very similar thing without the travel costs.

Ring Brothers Defiant Rather than specializing in one marque, Ring Brothers (Jim and Mike Ring), of Wisconsin USA, consistently build top quality resto-mods from across the automotive spectrum. Built mainly as advertising for their parts and engineering business, their various antics have included a De Tomaso Pantera called ‘Adrnln’, the ‘Recoil’ Chevelle, a ’69 Camaro called ‘G-Code’, a similarly ’69 Dodge Charger called ‘Defector’ and even an AMX Javelin from 1972 called ‘Defiant’ (pictured above). But despite the company’s fondness for a decent name, the cars are all famous for one thing: being very modern interpretations of gorgeous older vehicles, executed with the very best modern engineering possible.

Singer Vehicle Design

Probably the most recognized of the resto-mod crowd these days, SVD has a rabid set of lawyerish rules that mean that you have to be very careful as to how you describe them, lest Porsche HQ releases the hounds of the brand. But that doesn’t take away from the product: 964-designation air-cooled 911s ‘restored, reimagined, reborn’. All the beauty and timeless elegance of the old stuff, with rampantly modern bits finagled into the cracks. So you get a seam-welded chassis, composite body panels, sophisticated modern springs and dampers, and engines blueprinted/enhanced by Ed Pink Racing. There’s even a super-lightweight, mega-power version coming soon that’s been developed in conjunction with Williams (they of the F1). These are, without doubt, some of the most desirable Porsche 911s on the planet. The only catch being that you get what you pay for - even a basic resto by Singer will cost you several hundred thousand dollars… Probably the best way of describing it came from TG Magazine some years ago*: “The Tao of Singer is simple. Strip it bare, and remake it better. Identify the weak spots and eliminate them. Improve, elasticate the remit, but don’t Disneyfy the experience and asset-strip the soul. This is the early Nineties 964 Porsche 911, and there’s a confusing aesthetic tangle of earlier 911 design cues littered around the body and interior, and yet - as a whole - it’s pretty enough to be a visual punch in the guts. It’s as easy to drive as a VW Golf GTI, but as challenging to drive fast as anything you care to mention. The most exciting car ever built by Porsche… isn’t.” *full disclosure, this was me.

Eagle Spyder GT Run by possibly one of the nicest men TG has ever come across (his name is Paul), Eagle restores Jaguar E-Types to what it calls ‘zero miles’ specification. But better than that, if you so require, Eagle also takes an E-Type and improves it without losing the character that defines the car. So you can specify if you want, a 4.7-liter motor with throttle bodies, a completely upgraded chassis, modern brakes, cooling, air-con, power steering, brakes, electrics and multimedia (hidden, of course). The interpretations of the Low Drag GT and Spyder GT are worth selling your least favorite child for, and in terms of impact, you could turn up in the most outrageous Lamborghini ever created and still not be as cool as this. They say you can’t buy class, but Eagle begs to differ.

Icon Bronco A wealth of heart-but-not-soul transplants are available from LA-based American restorer Icon. Run by the irrepressible Jonathan Ward, Icon first became noted for their re-workings of Toyota FJ products, later moving into bespoke Ford Broncos (Icon BR, above) with contemporary Mustang engines. Now they re-birth everything from Chevy stepside pickups - the Icon TR - to ‘Derelict’ semi-rat patina rods. As ever with the best of the resto-mod movement, Icon’s products are seriously high-end in terms of engineering, but sympathetic to the point of perfection. All of the cool, none of the drool from the engine bay.

Alfaholics GTA-R 290 Bristol-based Alfa Romeo specialists (who knew?) Alfaholics produce a car that Chris Harris described as “driving at its very best, essential driving” - the GTA-R 290. An Alfa Romeo GTA so thoroughly re-worked as to be unrecognizable to drive and yet completely familiar to even the most hardened Alfisti. A 2.0-liter Twin Spark motor tuned to perfection. Suspension developed to both ride and handle - and featuring things like titanium wishbones if you so wish - this is a car that now performs as brilliantly as its gorgeous (and largely untouched) styling would suggest.

Mechatronik W111 Coupe If big-body ‘Benzes are your thing, then you can’t go far wrong with a re-worked W111 Coupe or convertible from German engineering firm Mechatronik. Restored and improved with a 5.5-liter V8 AMG motor and modern suspension, these cars not only feature modern safety systems but the kind of attention to detail that makes them really very expensive indeed. Mechatronik says that it ‘keeps the appearance of this icon as unaffected as possible’ while equipping it with ‘unexpected performance’. The kind of thing we can get behind.

Spydercars Elan Based in Peterborough, UK, Spydercars take old Lotuses (Loti?) and bring them back to life with a reliable, modern heart. Automotive CPR is provided on ancient, pre-broken Elans via the medium of the reliable - and common - Ford Zetec, meaning you get a car that is effectively upcycled into something you can actually drive without immediately breaking down. You can even upgrade to modern, fully-independent suspension and a spaceframe chassis if you’re particularly committed. The usual re-trims and upgrades can also be applied, which means that you get all the efficiency and usefulness of a modern small sports car, without the oily hands. Although it has to be said, you probably don’t want to crash one.

Frontline Developments MG Twenty-five years of taking various MG products and making them good is no mean feat, but Frontline has managed it. Everything from upgrades and tweaks to MGCs and Midgets, to full, bespoke builds of classic MGBs that include 290bhp and 160mph capability. That also equates to zero to 60mph in under four seconds. Phew. Mind you, even though the performance figures are unimaginable for an owner from back in the day, so are the prices; the ‘Abingdon Edition’ car will set you back some £86,475. Read the full article

#car #cars #classiccars #latestcars #Spydercars #trendingcars

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solasmancer · 7 years

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My Andromeda “Free Trial” Experiences

I’ve recently completed my 10 hour free trial for Mass Effect Andromeda, and this is my overall basic impression, and a few key things to note (spoiler stuff under the cut):

Overall, this is a good game. Nothing about it should be a “deal breaker” for anyone who has a history liking Mass Effect games or BioWare games in general.

Animations: I only encountered one animation issue, and it was very minor. When talking to some NPCs on the Hyperion I noticed that a couple of them had no body animations, as in they were completely stiff from the neck down. I expect that this is a glitch and will be corrected with a future patch. I did not feel any facial animations were horrible,weird, or out of sync.

Character Creator: Well....I never thought I would miss DA: Inquistion’s CC, but I do. I was able to create a Ryder that I am very happy with, but I don’t like how my Ryder looks like 20 other Ryders I’ve seen out there already. Having to select the preset faces and then limiting the ability to change major aspects like mouth or nose shape, leaves something to be desired. I do not feel like my Ryder is unique, and that bothers me.

Graphics Quality: I am playing the game on PC. I built my computer to run DA: Inquisition on Ultra settings. According to the PC specs for Andromeda, I either meet or slightly exceed the “minimum” specs to run this game. I turned up my graphics to Ultra when playing the trial, and everything looked great and I didn’t experience any lagging or buggieness. Now, I have seen posts going around complaining about the “quality” of the facial modeling, and the only thing I have to say about that, is yes many of the human NPCs I have looked at look like they came straight out of ME:2....which if you think about it works...kind of. Andromeda looks like a game that fits into the Mass Effect aesthetic, which I think was a conscious decision made by the development team. What is incredibly, stand-out amazing about the graphics in this game, are the armor and fabric textures! Everything has clean detail in stitching, weave, and pattern. The detail and texture quality on the turians and salarians is outstanding!

Narrative: I feel like this will be a compelling and engaging story. Everything is a mystery to solve, and that mystery drives the story forward. Even the side quests feel meaningful, as they usually involve directly helping someone with a specific need, which all tie into the greater story arch.

Dialogue and Character: Ryder is written very well. All of my dialogue feels natural, and Fryda Wolff’s voice acting perfectly handles every inflection. I always hated how stiff Commander Shepard felt, and I do not get that with Ryder. The companions are all written well. I have my favorites already, but everyone I’v met so far is unique and likable. There are a couple of mildly campy lines here and there, but it’s not worth getting upset over (glaring at you edgy reviewer dude who said this was the worst writing in a game they have ever heard).

The Nomad: There is a big learning curve with this thing. I am using a keyboard and mouse and I can only guess that the Nomad is really designed to be driven with a controller. At this point, Ryder can give Shepard a run for their money on worst driver in space. Or maybe it’s just me.

Spoilers ahead, plus the things that I really didn’t like at all

Liam: I am going to have to play with subtitles on when talking to Liam because my Texan ass can’t understand his accent. That’s a me problem though, not a game problem. Liam is a very cool guy and I love running around with him. He is a fucking BEAST in the battlefield when you get those omni-blades working good. He is the only character I’ve flirted with and to be honest, it was kind of a let down. I almost felt like he was brushing me off :( Tess hasn’t given up on him yet, though. Regardless he will be a very good buddy.

Cora: I was a little taken aback when she seemed so cool about me becoming the pathfinder, to later talk to her privately and see that she was not as cool with it as I thought. She is definitively a total bad ass and yet super professional. I want good things for her.

Vetra: Most best amazing turian. I love her, and her sister Sid. She is going to be Tess’s best friend forever. I don’t plan on romancing her, but she is still just super the best. I know that this doesn’t give much insight into her character, but just trust me on this one.

Peebee: She gives me the impression of someone young, like a teenager. She obviously knows her stuff, though. She’s very bright and bubbly. I look forward to knowing more about her.

Drack: You don’t get to talk much to Drack in the trial. But what I did see is pretty much on par for krogan. He’s Wrex, with more sass.

You don’t meet Jaal in the trial :(

Okay things that are super cool yet super annoying: The galaxy map and traveling between systems. It’s like a first person zooming around space thing, and it’s really really cool the first few times you do it...then it gets old and takes too damn long to go between planets. :( I don’t look forward to grinding away at searching all these systems for resources having to wait between each planet as the travel animation plays.

Memory Shards: This is my only WTF complaint. I am worried about this SAM/Dad/Family Mystery story thing. It feels shoehorned in as a way to tell some sort of rehashed Artificial Intelligence grey area moral compass story about how SAM is actually your Dad’s attempt at keeping your mom’s consciousness alive, blah blah blah. And the act of “finding memories” just lying around...I don’t like it at all. SAM gives you some bullshit explanation, about how you aren’t really “finding” them but that your Dad has put in blocks that will unlock as you progress, until you are ready to know everything. It all gets one big giant eye-roll from me.

#mass effect andromeda

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pyreo · 7 years

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Vault 81

I’m on my renewed attempt to complete Fallout 4 and as such I headed into a Vault I actually hadn’t visited yet. As it turns out I really, really like Vault 81′s idea.

But, disappointingly, I had the experience ruined by a couple of things.

Honestly, it’s a great Vault in concept. It’s a nice change for there to be a vault where nothing actually went wrong, the residents all carried on living, and are starting to open their door to helpful travelers because their 200 year old vault is worse for wear now.

I like the way they dared to NOT be overly edgy with it. A lot of vaults can be a contest in weirdness or fucked-up-ness and thankfully Bethesda put that aside and made a nice vault. In addition, it’s not as boring as all that - the vault was designed to further medical science by using the entire vault population as guinea pigs without their knowledge. Makes sense. This didn’t happen because the original Overseer found out what was going on and deliberately intervened, shutting out almost all of the scientists and then trapping them in their secret observation side of the vault. So not only was there a good start and good ending to this vault story, it happened as the result of an unsung heroine. Very good. It’s very uplifting.

Also, the execution of the story was good too. Finding out there’s a secret hidden wing to this vault and nobody’s found it in 200 years - then going in there and walking past the observation windows which let you listen in to the conversations between vault residents on the other side, which are deliberately written to sound like you’re invading their privacy in a horrible way. There’s a subtle creepy factor to it, knowing that behind all these mirrors was another dark, broken, empty vault, perpetually listening in, even though the listeners were long dead.

All of that, I loved. Great little story, well pulled off.

But on the other hand, when put into practice, a lot of it was kind of ruined.

When you go into the vault for the first time you meet Austin, a young boy who offers to give you a tour. I paid him for the tour and went along with it. Now, the tour is weirdly sensitive. If you don’t follow Austin, or if you so much as talk to anybody else while he shows you around, the tour ‘quest’ will fail. That’s okay I guess, it’s a funny little touch to show that they want you to pay attention or not agree to do something. So, I talked to someone without realising this, failed the quest, and okay, I can just reload and do this properly. Not really a big deal, I am trying to complete this game thoroughly. I go back, have to do the vault’s entry quest again, come back in.

This time on the tour, it acts up because there’s some kind of very strange conversation THING that happens with AUstin. As he walks around with you, if you’re looking in his direction, the game assumes you’re in a conversation and stops me from moving, as well as the directional keys acting like I’m trying to skip conversation. So I get stuck trying to go after him, I can’t move, and he runs off only to then complain that I didn’t keep up with the tour. Quest failed.

Reload AGAIN. This time, follow Austin around by staring at my feet the entire time unless I need to give him a response. Finally did it that way.

So, all clear or that weirdly demanding quest, I carry on with the vault’s story. What happens is that Austin sneaks into the old, broken down part of the vault where they were housing molerats to incubate diseases and test things on. He gets bitten by a molerat disease cocktail, falls ill, and the vaulties in the clinic beg for your help.

I liked how the tour thing played into that, because I did genuinely think it was just for sillies, but it did in fact get me attached to Austin to facilitate the moral choice at the end of this quest. He can live or die. Although they were being a bit on the nose with how eagerly the kid yelled about being an orphan immediately after I met him.

So, anyway. We have to wade through these diseased molerats to find the labs where they kept the cures they were developing. Except. Here’s the thing. You can contract this disease from a molerat too. You have a chance to get it if one bites you. You have the same chance to get it if one bites your companion. You have the same chance to get the disease even if you’re wearing power armour.

The only way to avoid getting the same disease is to go on alone, ultra carefully, and kill every molerat (who can burrow behind you or appear suddenly) before they sink their teeth into you.

As far as that goes, I’m absolutely fine with it. Apart from the stupid thing where your fucking companion passes the disease to you. At the end of the vault dungeon you can pick up ONE dose of a universal cure and have to decide whether Austin gets it and lives, or you get it to heal yourself. If you’re GOOD ENOUGH to make it through without a molerat infecting you, it’s a free pass.

I would have loved that challenge. I would have been fine going in there alone and saving every 5 seconds and knowing that I had to EARN the good ending to this quest.

But.

That did not happen. Because there is no indication that the molerats will infect you. You have no idea that you’ll have to make this choice. And if you get infected, THE GAME DOES’T TELL YOU.

Believe me, I’ve gotten sick a lot in Fallout 4. I play survival mode and there’s a decent chance of me becoming ill just from sleeping in a bed, as wel as of course, getting attacked by unhygenic things. I get that a lot. I know what the pop-up looks like. And this quest DOESN’T DO ONE. So only halfway through the vault do I look at my stats and realise that I could even get this infection, which I already quicksaved over, and now I’m stuck with a debuff FOR THE REST OF THE GAME.

It could have been a great challenge and I would have enjoyed it except the game never indicated to me anything that I would have needed to know.

So what actually happened was that I completed the quest, took the cure back for Austin, told the doctor I would give it to him, then dropped it from my inventory as the scripting continued, only to pick it up after the kid was cured and use it on myself. Because the cure was never marked as an undroppable quest item. I cheesed the fuck out of it because the quest wasn’t conveyed to me properly. Like fuck I am going through the rest of my playthrough with a permenant health debuff and a permanent red illness icon in the corner that stops me from seeing when I ACTUALLY get sick.

That’s all. Would have been a great vault if the implementation mechanics hadn’t been fucked up.

Last nitpick - a robot worked for over a hundred years in total seclusion to create a cure for EVERY DISEASE?? And we gave it to some kid instead of studying what was IN it? Did Curie keep notes on how to make it so we can go and get the stuff to make more of a cure for EVERYTHING?? Is that what just happened?

#fallout

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