#general mcguffin

[faecaptainofdreams]

“The Arc of the Hat”

Come read how Wander got the famous magic hat!

#wander over yonder #woy #general mcguffin

[someonefromyt]

ROUND 1 // PART 4 // BEGIN

#wander over yonder #battle poll #General McGuffin #little bits #black cube

[uiruu]

hey followers who don't know anything about kpop, did you know there's a girl group called Billlie? with three L's

#their music is absolutely phenomenal #one of the most unique girl groups in this generation #maybe of all time #Ring x Ring is one of the most intense and frantic pop songs you'll hear #it sounds like something that would play in a weird nightmare #GingaMingaYo and Ring Ma Bell are also really good. Ring Ma Bell is like an Avril Lavigne pop rock song lol #and then there are songs like The Rumor and $un Palace and My B and flipp!ng a coin #and Mcguffins and a sign ~ anonymous and B'rave and

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

okay okay I was apprehensive of them combining s&s and r&r but frankly this makes sense pacing-wise? they basically put the climactic sequence of s&s as the midpoint, which yeah... I mean s&s didn't really have a midpoint at all sdfghjk the structure was truly all over the place! I do wish they hadn't toned down the chapel scene *so much* though. (rip white haired alina, you will be missed) meanwhile lol. none. of my favorite darklina interactions were there. but they did fully pivot to making him a cartoon villain. and like their interactions were so softened in the first season comparatively, that I am actually enjoying this overcorrection of just not giving them much to do with each other? I also think it's an absolutely galaxy brained take to give the darkling victorian wasting disease and generally like *real* consequences and frailty as a result of using fucked up forbidden magic, and even that the nichevo'ya aren't completely under his control

#sab spoilers #sab season 2 #shadow and bone #grishaverse #I have Reservations about whatever mcguffin plot mal is going on or well *was* before vasily had him fucked up #but generally most of these choices are making sense #I do feel like the first episode was the weakest in terms of new content feeling not particularly deliberate #but the rest is mostly just condensed and with purpose #but that's just the tgt side of things #they REALLY took a whisk to the crows plotline #which frankly I'm not mad about because CK was always the weakest book for me #and this managed to do a lot of CK stuff (so far!!) without the aspects I didn't care for #but I'm really curious how that's going to hold up structurally... #anyway really interesting things afoot lol #I'm finishing it tomorrow #i ramble sometimes

[vaulttecvevo]

against my better judgement i slogged thru all of the fallout show, i could write a ten page essay on all the fridge moments but its easier to just say its a bethesda game and all that it implies

#the mcguffin everyones fighting over being 'infinite' power generation like the stupid nonsensical water purifier in f3 dfjksfdhkfgfdh #dude yall have nuclear reactors everywhere.....................

[marinecorvid]

the agony of being a fan of the “villain who also is/acts like an uncle/parent/guardian figure to the protagonist” and “funny road trip” tropes and also sinking too much emotional investment into pokemon ranger guardian signs characters means my white whale of a fanfiction is post game summers out doing some international mission r something. maybe undercover idk but it’s something where she’s mostly cut off from official support. and mewtwo finally decides to spit Ed out of whatever limbo portal rand and him got Got in back on the sky fortress and now she’s gotta deal with this bullshit, and all the hurt that came w his betrayal that she thought she successfully buried is suddenly there again like it was just yesterday gs happened (except it’s been marinating for a few years at least so now it’s uhh definitely off color a bit) and Ed’s gotta deal with his survival being entirely reliant on the girl who effectively wild card-nullified any reputation n standing he built and decades of work towards world domination in the span of a month (maybe two). and despite the fact that they both feel very deep resentment towards each other they still had a genuine friendship in Oblivia and still very clearly see aspects of themselves in the other and they’re both stuck trying to reconcile the urge to fall back into that familiar weird grandpa n weirder grandchild dynamic versus the urge to scream at each other until their voices give out.

#and then the. what'd you call it in writing terms but the bridge of the story #y’know like towards the end #THE CLIMAX THERE YOU GO #the climax summers. hurt bad or something and maybe somewhere along the road Ed’s acquired a Something that’ll give him a shot at eternal #life or whatever #or maybe not #but what it comes down to is that he chooses to you use that McGuffin (or not if there’s no McGuffin) to keep her alive instead of saving i #for himself #chooses to help heal the next generation and the generations to come instead of trying to preserve a dead and dying age #bc Thats His Granddaughter and despite her taking a wrecking ball to his life’s work #he cares abt her very much and wants to see her thrive #wants to see her live #idk how it would end in regards to what happens to him #like if he’d go to prison or not #thematic narrative says he’s probably pass. accepting death n all that but that’s sad :( #and that’s another thing he’s have to grapple w - would the rest of the Societea be dead by then #his closest friends like family separated by space and now by possibly death #well one of two white whales of a fanfiction #my art #<- tagging for reference

[dailyadventureprompts]

Villain: Qor'ivel, Faulted Brilliance

An extradimensional mage who sought godhood only to have his ambition literally blow up in his face, the shrapnel of this calamitous act of hubris is now scattered across the planes, just waiting to be discovered.

Being born to rule an empire was not enough for this genius mage, who bent his talents and the strength of his nation to establishing dominion across the whole of his world, and then to other worlds beyond.

As the product of generations of careful mutagenic engineering and magical enhancement, the depths of Qor'ivel's intelligence seemed to truly be fathomless. Through reason alone he seemed to be able to divine the innermost thoughts of his enemies and the outcome of future events, to say nothing of his arcane abilities. It took him only a decade to establish his rule over multiple planes, and in another five years he'd calculated a path to cement that rule through godhood that'd take just under a century.

He was wrong of course, you don't need to be a genius to know that there's more to being a god than being the most right all the time. The brilliant mechanism of Qor'ivel's mind realized that truth a fraction of a second before it ruptured like a collapsing star, distroying the world that was the seat of his empire and scattering fragments of his consciousness across the multiverse. Now Frozen in the moment of his failed apotheosis he exists as a mad titan rampaging across the cosmos, fleeting moments of lucidity drowned out by amnesic empire building or senseless cataclysmic fury.

Adventure Hooks:

Qor'ivel makes a great archvillain for a spelljammer campaign or any adventure that's going to touch on the astral sea. The ruins of his empire are a great backdrop and his mindshards can end up anywhere, influencing anyone, acting as mcguffins when needed. His changeable nature means he can serve as both scheming mastermind and looming apocalyptic threat, and the factions that want to ensure he stays one or the other make for great secondary antagonists.

Though they might be mistaken for any run of the mill sort of glowing magical crystal, the shards of Qor'ivel have a power all their own, still somewhat alive possessing fragments of the great mage's consciousness and the power it commands. They can function like any sort of magic item, though usually wands or ioun stones, though creatures that attune to them tend to start thinking and acting a lot more like the sundered sovereign, indulging in pride, power and imperial ambition. The more powerful shards possess fragmented consciousnesses of their own, and may use proxies to set up petty dynasties of their own.

Once governors, aristocrats, and magistrates of a worlds spanning empire, the remnants of the Vaqol people and their decendants found themselves in a lurch when their god-king detonated and took their homeworld with him. Many were cast out by the peoples they had subjugated, while others hid themselves away or made themselves useful to the ascendant regimes. In the present day a fraction of these remnants still hold loyalty to the faulted brilliance, or follow his example in using their magical talent to set up their own dominions.

Fragments of the Vaqol homeworld drift through the multiverse, sometimes as reefs of rubble, sometimes as wordlets, sometimes as streaking projectiles that make calamitous impact on other planes. Adventurers of all kinds can be tasked with hiring , though whether its those wishing to recover/collect ancient artifacts, or lay their hands on Qor'ivel shards is up to you.

Artsource

#villain astral #villain mage #villain #astral #spelljammer #cursed item #dungeon astral #aberration

[dear-ao3]

absolutely, completely and in all other ways OUTRAGED that @wearewatcher did not include dr. heinz doofenshmirtz on their list of disney dilfs.

is he technically from disney channel? yeah. does that matter? no. is he better than pongo and maurice and king triton? absolutely.

and i will tell you why.

as we all know, doofenshmirtz had a horrible upbringing:

-his own parents didnt show up for his birth -he had to throw his own surprise party -big black boots boris the bully kicked sand in his face -a kid outshined him at a science fair with a baking soda volcano -his mom wouldnt let him swim in pools -his dad won a dog and said it was the son he never had and named it only son -had to wear dresses to school -he smelled like pork ?? idk this one doesnt get explained -his brother was better at kickball than him -his brother got the teddy bear he got out of a claw machine and it ruined the family dynamic -he couldn't make pretzels -he failed as a magician -his first date was ruined -he lost a girl to a dude with big hands -has no coordination -accidentally ended up in america? -lived with a family of ocelots ??? -he had to be a garden gnome -was always thwarted and outshined by his brother roger

yea you get the idea

but does he pass any of this down to his daughter, vanessa??

no! he does not!

-he actually takes his daughters advice -he is a fantastic single dad and makes a good life for her (and supports her being goth. very important.) -he is civil with his ex wife also (which helps vanessas childhood) -he brings vanessa to work and tries to bring her into the family business -he wants his inators to be fun for her as a learning experience -he always gives her extravagant birthday parties !!! esp her sweet 16!!! -he does not direct his negative feelings towards his daughter ever, its always towards perry -he spends 10 years looking for a discontinued mary mcguffin doll!!! for her!!

and so on

instead of being horribly to his daughter he rather brilliantly uses his arch nemesis (perry the platypus) as a free therapist (rather ingenious in this economy) and channels his childhood trauma into creating his inators in order to take over the tri state area.

so hes definitely dedicated, knows his way around a toolbox and programming (valuable skills in the technology age), broke through the stigma of generational and childhood trauma, and hes just a little bit evil. as a treat. at least in terms of ryans criteria he is a fantastic dad. and that is what we are judging the dilfs on.

so in conclusion. @wearewatcher. why isnt dr. heinz doofenshmirtz on the top 5 disney dilfs list???

#not a tag #from saph #i spent way too long on this #i apologize #no i do not want to fuck doofenshmirtz #i have my own boyfriend #top 5 beat down #watcher #ryan bergara #shane madej

[gallusrostromegalus]

I feel like Rukia's life was much more interesting in your verse?

...you know, not really? The beats are all still there- died and got reincarnated as a toddler, sister left her at an orphanage because a tween cannot reasonably take care of a child, grew up in a pack of feral children and childhood sweetheart, got into shinigami school on scholarship with said childhood sweetheart, got adopted by her now-dead sister's widower with terrible communication skills, had some serious on the job trauma when her mentors got eaten in front of her, got promoted to lieutenant, got posted to karkura, got a McGuffin shoved into her soul by a mad scientist in exile, got sentenced to death as part of a different mad scientist's gamble to steal the McGuffin and kill god, you know how it is.

If anything is different it's that the general premise of the fic, such as it is, is "OK, if this character is as Kubo claims they are, how functional as a person do they actually need to be? And where would they actually fall apart?"

Rukia is, per canon, a Lieutenant. She got a little fast-tracked into the position by Byakuya, but she did EARN her rank as second-in-command to a division, and in Ukitake's case, she's first-and-a-half in command given how often he has to hand the conn to someone else. If Rukia was bad at her job, she wouldn't be a lieutenant. Seated officer to appease the Kuchiki house maybe, but not second-in-command.

Hence, I write Rukia as someone who's got the backbone to tell other people what to do in stressful situations (including her Dingbat Adopted Brother), who knows the rules and regulations and procedures of her job, like "Yeah, you literally cannot get sentenced to death over a misdemeanor we have MANY laws about 'no excessive punishments", and who will have some FUCKING WORDS to say to urahara about the whole McGuffin thing.

...The premise of "How Functional/Dysfunctional does this person actually have to be in order to have gotten to and stayed in their position?" has lead to some characters being Revamped, and others staying nearly identical. Shunsui is almost unchanged, Kenpachi has developed like nine new dimensions and all the scientists got WORSE :)

#AEIWAM #an elephant is warm and mushy #Bleach #Bleach fanfic #Rukia Kuchiki

[merrysithmas]

Obi-wan and Padme as willfully obtuse rivals

Saw this Take on reddit the other day (I know) but I thought it was so perfectly written and captured exactly the dynamic I always felt Obi-wan and Padme to have. I never saw them as friends (and frankly I don't think the on-screen text supports them as friends). They certainly aren't enemies! They share a friend, they share traits, they even share respect for one another - but they are not in league with one another, and importantly they share a subtle current of mistrust for each one another.

Obi-wan outright states he does not trust politicians, Senators in particular. Padme willingly marries a Jedi which is against the Order and Senate's codes of conduct, and blatantly lies to Obi-wan for years. Obi-wan never confronts Padme about his concern for Anakin despite his growing observation of Anakin's instability. They both prefer, in a way, to pretend the other does not exist. Compartmentalized.

Padme and Obi-wan represent, thematically, a dual influence on Anakin - one he must famously choose between Jedi or Senate (spoiler alert: he ends up choosing himself, Sith). It is worthy to note that they hardly ever interact themselves - this is done on purpose.

It is essential for the tragedy narrative that Obi-wan and Padme do not collide and rarely interact with one another. It is their own personalities which ensure this. Years of subtle feigned ignorance between them and purported respect coupled with disinterested avoidance.

The two are almost eerily similar in their delusions (Padme is naive, Obi-wan is arrogant - yet neither believe they are), they overlap almost constantly in Anakin's life, but on their own they rarely interact together. They stubbornly refuse, both knowingly and unknowingly, to ever truly confront one another about this dangerous tug-of-war they are engaged in with Anakin as, for lack of better term, the object of their desire. Yet they are not, emphatically, a love triangle. Anakin is the prize. The Jedi and the Senate are competitors.

These negative aspects to their characterizations propels the Tragedy Narrative with Anakin/The Chosen One as the McGuffin forward. Neither the Jedi nor the Senate are willing to see the truth about Anakin, and both keep their intentions with him secret. Like Padme and Obi-wan, the Jedi & Senate never wanted to admit Anakin's fate might be multifaceted and linked to many different power structures, so instead they seek to direct him on their own.

Anakin as the Chosen One was essentially the harbinger of a message: the Order and Senate need to be dismantled and refurbished. They were corrupt - the same as Padme and Obi-wan (as figures in a Tragedy). But neither side could admit that.

Padme marries Anakin secretly and intends to take him away from a life of service (when she knows he is deeply conflicted about this, & she marries him when he is struck with unstable grief over Shmi), and Obi-wan is seemingly very aware the Council does not trust Anakin and is keeping him on the outside because of fear of his abilities (when he knows Anakin desperately wants to know the truth) - both of these things intend to direct Anakin, unknowingly. Anakin isn't getting what he needs in either direction, nor is he providing it. Nor is the Force - stuck in limbo between these two forces of "good" which are shutting out Skywalker from himself and each other.

Neither Obi-wan or Padme ever consider confiding in one another about this for years, nor does the Jedi & the Senate. It's because they do not want to. It's because deep down they do not trust each other, and importantly, they do not trust each other with Anakin. Despite pleasantries with one another, that mistrust is always there implied in the narrative. The only place Anakin overlaps in this realm is the War.

The war ending is almost unfathomable - because who will "win" Anakin? Anakin enjoys being a general in the War because he can fight for both the Jedi and the Senate, beside Obi-wan who is, ultimately, his true friend despite the struggle, and for Padme as a princess ideal on a distant planet. With the Jedi who he desperately wants to be (though they shut him out) and for the ideal of the Senate (but not truly having to deal with its realities). He is his happiest during the war - though it is an temporary balm, an illusion of inner peace.

Obi-wan and Padme orbit Anakin, each with their own gravitational pull -- Anakin is obsessed with and bound to Padme because of his trauma regarding Shmi (not, arguably, because of genuine selfless romantic love), and Anakin is duty-bound and desperate for Obi-wan's approval (despite, truthfully, having ideas and aspirations way outside the Jedi Code and Order). His fate with both of them is on a collision course for destruction from the get-go.

In the story, neither Obi-wan nor Padme end up being the final keeper of Anakin (Luke and Leia). Padme's death can be looked at as a narrative choice to show that Anakin's and Padme's relationship was founded on unstable principles (Shmi). Yet, he could not leave his soul in the hands of the Jedi (Obi-wan) either, and so destroyed them. Anakin's soul, the Chosen One, ends up in the hands of Bail Organa of Alderaan and the Lars family of Tatooine.

In the end, the children need protection from Vader. Vader of course represents the instability in both systems of Good (Senate and Jedi) and the Sith taking advantage of that. How the powers of Good can easily fall to the powers of Evil when they are divided, secretive, and especially when they seek to control for their own self-gain. I.e. Padme marrying Anakin, and Obi-wan being unable to admit Anakin's mistrust of the Jedi was founded.

Obi-wan and Padme are forced to finally confront one another upon Anakin's destruction. They are forced, in a way, to admit they played a part in it - specifically. The fact that Obi-wan essentially becomes the twins' defacto parent becomes all the more poignant because of this. Obi-wan and Padme, for lack of a better term, become one another's problem at last.

Obi-wan and Padme's dynamic is extremely interesting, and they do see one another as intellectual equals, even admire one another for their skill, but this admiration falls very quickly to their subtle mistrust of one another.

In the end, in OWK, it's obvious Obi-wan fondly recalls Padme with more than a little regret. He recalls a woman, who like him lost everything (and more, her own life!). In the kids, Luke and Leia, he sees hope for a better government (Leia) and a better Jedi order (Luke) - an answer to the mistakes of two parallel but unconnected people - Padme and himself.

The fact that the children are twins is a hopeful sign the future of the galaxy will be in harmony, not opposed to one another, as with the symbolism of he and Padme.

Leia and Luke are miraculously, as per the Force, a chance to redo both the Senate and the Jedi - a gift that could only be possible as the children of the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker.

The person they both loved wrong and lost.

#anakin skywalker #obi wan kenobi #padme amidala #luke skywalker #leia organa #obikin #anidala #this isnt anti anything i just like to observe themes and dynamics and symbolism! #they are all deffo messed up and i love it and that's why it's called a #✨Tragedy✨

[that-stone-butch]

Is Fallout 4 really that bad? As someone who enjoyed FNV, does it make sense to play it in your opinion?

i'm not going to say fallout 4 is a bad game in a vacuum, but it fails to be a fallout game as well as 1, 2, new vegas, and even 3 was at times.

it's not much of a play-your-way RPG. you don't build a character with attributes and skill points and whatnot; it's literally just your SPECIAL points *are* how you level up in fallout 4. the only thing you can do when you level up is spend your one perk point on either increasing a SPECIAL stat, or buying a perk that is gated by SPECIAL stat and level. no tagged skills, no traits, nothing. when building a character, fallout 4 does not respect your intelligence as a player enough to let you have a say over any of the fun shit. it's the antithesis of new vegas' character design and if you enjoyed that then you're in for a real sad time with f4.

additionally, it is mechanically focused on scaling procedurally. instead of being able to take on tougher enemies and score a better weapon like the progression of FNV, in fallout 4 the manner by which your weapons scale to the difficulty is by buying the 'more handgun damage' perk and maybe the 'upgrade weapons even morer' perk, which are both level-gated. this means that the game plays the same at level 10 as it does at level 40. it's just that Super Mutant Orc Man's hit bar is more health, and Perk Upgraded 10mm Pistol is more damage, so it evens out.

furthermore, the story is completely on-rails and the factions are like, really fucking hard to care about when all they have to offer is procedurally generated go to place X, kill all of the raiders/synths/super mutants/critters there, and retrieve mcguffin Y item, rinse and repeat.

while in fallout new vegas (2010), you can build your own character your own way, everyone's fallout 4 character is fundamentally mechanically the same, as well as literally being a voiced character with a set backstory, motivations, and quest line. in FNV you could be whoever you want however you want. in fallout 4, you have to be either Nate or Nora, with their prescribed heterosexual husband/wife, and their baby. if you don't care about this story, then fallout 4 is just an open world crafting game with very constricted mechanics.

i would say fallout 4 makes a sort of fun open world base builder if that's your jam, but if you're a fallout fan through and through it's mostly just worth playing to appreciate all the things that actual fallout games got right. and that's not worth $60 and hours of my time to me.

#ask #anonymous #fallout #fallout new vegas (2010) #fallout 4

[imustbenuts]

Malice, Malevolence, Maous.

Kegare, Shinto Buddhism and how it gets reflected in Japanese video game writing. (Fire Emblem and Zelda Botw/Totk centric)

Gonna blab on a very specific aspect of Japanese Shinto :D. This is not talked about often despite the sheer amount of stuff out there so here's me talking about it.

So. It often goes something like this. The Hero gets a powerful magical weapon at some point. They fight through the Big Bad's army of mooks while they may journey throughout the land. Eventually, they, or the weapon mcguffin gets powered up by a higher power, and at the climax, the Hero/es comes through to take down the evil big bad Demon King-esque malevolent monster/dragon/non-human out, thereby succeeding in saving the world.

Any of that sound familiar? It should, for anyone who has engaged with just about any Nintendo media from Mario to Fire Emblem to Breath of The Wild.

This big bad character archetype is also known as Maou, or the Demon King. 魔王 can also be translated into Sorcerer/Magic King, but the negative evilness associated with it is more apt. TvTropes even lists this as a trope (link)!

The why they are often times taken down this way though, kiiiind of lies within Shinto Buddhism. (And by extension many of other culture/religion's concept of 'ritual cleanliness', but for this post I'm ignoring them! Sorry!)

I'll switch gears a bit to culture/religious stuff and talk about Kegare under the cut.

I think everyone who has ever touched any Nintendo or Japanese related media has ran into the concept of 'kegare', or 'spiritual uncleanliness' multiple times without realizing it.

Kegare (穢れ or 汚れ) is the concept of 'spiritual dirtiness'.

Translated as 'pollution' or 'defilement', to be kegare'd is to be dirtied in some form, often times through action. Generally speaking, kegare is a negative energy typically generated upon contact with death, childbirth, disease and menstruation. But it can also come into state through particularly powerful, negative state of emotions such as hate, jealousy, guilt and anger as well. Note that Kegare isn't by itself a moral or judgemental concept, but rather a force of nature. Kegare is not sin, and therefore cannot be seen as such!

You can think of kegare as bad vibes, bad juju, or even miasma. They're very similar concepts.

With enough bad vibes (basically), a place, object, or a person can be polluted so hard that evil spirits might manifest and cause harm to both them and their surroundings. Hence why Japanese media loves depicting places with bad vibes like the hospitals to be full of yokais or ghosts looking to cause harm.

This is why characters who harbor ambitions of taking over the world are seen as Maous. It's why characters like Hegemon Husk!Edelgard, Grima, Ganon, Mr. Grizz all fit into this evil, ambitious, resentful, almost force-of-nature-like beings who brings with them death to the world. Because they aren't just bringing death with them, they're about to unleash the largest tsunami of bad vibes they can into the world too!

But, the state of kegare can be purified away. There are 2 main ways to do so. Misogi, and Harae.

Misogi (禊)

By standing under a waterfall or washing the body with water, kegare can purified. Notably though, one must be dressed in white during this ritual cleansing. This specific concept is known as Misogi, and you might have come across it in botw already:

In BoTW, Zelda attempts to purify herself in order to unlock the power of the Goddess. By visiting important spiritual places and washing herself in its water in white, she's performing Misogi.

In Fire Emblem Heroes, Naga will suggest this to Kiran, the Player Character:

But misogi isn't exactly why big bads get the holy weapon whacking treatment. If you have noticed, misogi affects only the willing individual taking part in ritual cleansing. The real reason is actually...

Harae (祓)

Harae can mean 2 things. To drive out, or, exorcise. Consenting or not, harae essentially drives out or purifies kegare in another person, place, or object through rituals.

Harae can involve ceremonies, song and dance, using a ritual cleansing tool(!) such as the onusha.

As an example of the former, Azura in Fire Emblem Fates essentially embodies the power of misogi through her association with waters and purification. Here, she tries to exorcise the evil inside of Garon. She is actually performing harae!

As an example of the latter, the cleansing tools.... Why, it should be sounding familiar now.

Be it the Falchion, Yato, Fire Emblem, Breidablik, The Creator Sword, the Master Sword, Ocarina of Time, The Twilight Bow, they all share 2 very similar traits:

Be powered up by the good juju power/light

Whack the big bad maou with it, sometimes unleashing light in the process

In this context that I'm presenting, they are all tools of purification/exorcism. Sit down and think about this. Think about all the Japanese JRPGs you've played so far and see how much this clicks.

The Hero gains a weapon/tool/relic, powers it up in some way or is inherently already powered, and then uses that to smack the big bad and win. Sometimes the tools can be the heroes themselves, but it is often the very similar song and dance (heh). Hell, you can even extend this beyond Fire Emblem and Zelda. Maybe even extend it to anime and manga, and you might find the same themes in places you don't expect.

It's kind of neat to think about. Essentially, the hero not just defeats the big bad, but kind of purifies them as well.

But! There's another reason why weapons are often the divine relics needed to deliver the finishing blow in video games, and why they are almost always associated with characters of authority.

The Imperial Regalia of Japan/ The Three Sacred Treasures

There exists 3 treasures which represents 3 primary virtues and are part of the enthronement ceremony in Japan. They have never been shown to the public to symbolize authority, so no one but the authority knows what they look like. The above image is just an artist's impression of what they might resemble. They exist, supposedly.

The Sword is known as Kusanagi no Tsurugi, the mirror as Yata no Kagami, and the jewel as Yasakani no Magatama. They represent Valour, Wisdom and Benevolence respectively. They are said to be brought into this world by Japanese gods, passed to the first emperor of Japan, Emperor Jimmu, who said to be a descendant of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess.

Yep, this is also why Fire Emblem is always about noble blooded people with divine weapons.

Yep, these are also the original inspiration for the triforce in The Legend of Zelda.

I won't get into the details behind the Regalia's story in this post, it's too long! Linfamy has done a video about the Regalia if you're interested.

Hopefully this was interesting. Again, feel free to take the ideas here and read up on it externally. So many, many videos and posts and I've not seen people talk at all about this. Sadge.

But before I close off this post, there is a negative side to this kegare concept, in which real people are discriminated against in Japan. ...Remember the association with death for kegare? Yeah... Uhm, someone needs to take care of the dead in any society and butcher livestocks for food, so what happens to those people? ...Messed up things, actually. If you are interested to learn about this, feel free to check this video out (link). Warning: it's a huge downer of a video.

And I think I've spent enough time writing this! Ty for reading this far if you did! ❤️

#fire emblem #fire emblem heroes #legend of zelda #fire emblem engage #apologies if the tags over reach a bit #culture stuff

[teaboot]

Hello you're watching my new hit series 'Assholes in Hell Town'.

Based on a sad book you haven't read, Assholes In Hell Town follows the main characters Sadistic Bitch Lady, Sad Woman Who Deserves Better, Mediocre Man Who Deserves Nothing, and Somewhat Decent Other Guy Who Gets Completely Fucked Over as they do interesting things for about three episodes, then abandon those interesting things entirely in favour of making unilaterally bad choices and having just the worst sex. By this time you will feel obligated to continue watching, but it will absolutely feel like homework for adults.

The season finale will end with a compelling cliffhanger which will be resolved completely within the first five minutes of the next season in favour of pursuing a much less interesting plot that you expect will get enjoyable at some point.

We at Story Is A Product hope that you will enjoy the brief glimpses of kind and likeable side characters that you wish you were watching instead, right before we kill them off in horrific and gruesome ways to show that the real world is a soulless façade made of heartbreak and broken dreams. Please remember that there is no good in humanity and pain is inevitable.

Then watch out for our six worse spin-offs, What Happens Next For The Character You Didn't Care For, The History Of The McGuffin, Watch The Next Generation Suffer, Sidekick Learns A Life Lesson, Prequel Where The Original Old People Are Played By Young Actors We Picked From A Hat, and recent social media phenomenon, The Same Series But Shorter And Three Inches To The Left.

You won't believe how bad we fuck the last two episodes of this show until you see it for yourself! Watch Now

[irishseaweed]

So Ive been watching the fallout show, im on episode five, and something's dawned on me. The Fallout show? Its the fucking Wizard Of Oz. Let me explain, spoilers for the first like four and a half episodes :

Lucy : Dorothy, naive young woman in a strange land of friends and foes, attempting to complete a goal so that she can go home. Slowly learning more about herself as she learns more about this strange new world.

Maximus : Tin Man. The literal suit of power armor? Thaddeus locking him in the de-powered suit, like when the Tin Man rusts? Looking for a heart, aka being kinda smitten wirh Lucy and learning to give a shit about someone besides himself?

The Ghoul : Scarecrow. A hat-wearing gun-wielding (look at the forest scene in Wizard of Oz) non-human, in search of stability of mind. Hell, they were both even found trapped by wood- Scarecrow on his Post, The Ghoul in his coffin.

Norm : Cowardly Lion. My main evidence here is his general lethargy and him hiding under the table like a self-labeled coward during the Raider attack back in episode one.

Moldaver : The Wicked Witch. An evil, very powerful woman, willing to kill for material goods.

Dogmeat : Toto. Its the dog, what more do you need?

Wilzig's head : The Ruby Slippers. The McGuffin be-all end-all item that Dorothy and the Wicked Witch have beef over.

There are even superficial similarities in some of these cases- Lucy and Dorothy both have dark hair and wear blue, The Ghoul and Scarecrow both wear mostly brown and have a rope as a main feature of their design (the noose around Scarecrow's neck, The Ghoul's Lasso)...

Its the same thing, yall. And its amazing both times, just in very different ways.

#the ghoul #fallout #lucy maclean #fallout show #wizard of oz #similarities

[shera-dnd]

Once again trying to talk about Themes™ and probably just saying the obvious again BUT

Baldur's Gate 3 is a game about freedom of choice, both mechanically and thematically

Not in the "Your choices matter! (not really)" way most game market themselves on

But in a "The fact you can choose matters" way that is much spicier.

Like that's literally the core driving point of the plot. You shouldn't be able to choose, you shouldn't be free, but you are and now it's up to you to fight to maintain that freedom, and decide for yourself what to do with it

(funnily enough this is also why this game doesn't hit my trigger, because all the mind control is completely opt in)

And every single companion reinforces that in one way or another.

Gale freeing himself from his past and choosing who he wants to be now, without Mystra.

Astarion killing Cazador and stopping generations of abuse in their vampiric line

Karlach escaping Zariel and choosing to make the most of the life she still has

Wyll breaking his contract with Mizora so he can choose for himself what he fights for

Lae'zel and Shadowheart both unlearning years of indoctrination at the hands of their messed up cults

And if you're playing Dark Urge you get to reinforce this again with your conflict about trying to determine for yourself who you want to be, when every fiber of your being demands that you be a monster

It's not even just the main characters. Like how often do you get sent on quests to free people who have been imprisoned or enslaved.

Volo, Halsin, the deep gnomes, the tieflings, Aylin, Volo again, Minsc, Orpheus, even Hope itself

Hell, one of the main bad guys is the chosen champion of the God of Tyranny and is using a magical mind control mcguffin to control a giant magical mind control GIGA BRAIN!

I guess that's why it feels so obvious. Every last bit of this game is used to forward this theme of freedom vs control, but it's this consistent reinforcement that makes it so good for me

And then of course this all comes to a grand conclusion towards the ending. My own feelings about the ending's execution and the parts I felt were a bit... lackluster, can wait for a different day

But thematically speaking they managed to end with a real bang, and it's all thanks to the narration

Because whatever decision you make, that woman sells it. No matter what you want your ending to be, she will fucking deliver it in just as triumphant a way as any other

BG3 doesn't want you to leave the game thinking "did I make the right choice?" it wants you to feel like whatever you choose WAS the right choice for you

I literally had my character turn into a squid and them kill themself and she still managed to make that a glorious moment to finalize my story on.

"After so many deaths in the name of your father, this one is just for you"

(god so many lines from the durge playthrough have my brain in a vice grip)

And speaking of daddy dearest, the only endings that come across as being bad, are the ones where you surrender your freedom.

When you surrender to the Absolute, when you do as Bhaal commands you, when you give the crown to Raphael

The entire game is one giant conflict between your freedom to self determine vs more powerful beings and their drive to take absolute control

And so the only way for your story to end "badly" is if you surrender to those powers and give up

...so yeah... that's all I got

Baldur's Gate 3 is a good game

Could use some work here and there, and my nitpicks could make their own needlessly long post, but it's still really good

Go play it

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #bg3 spoilers

[armoredsuperheavy]

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: An Insufferably Queer Film Review

I rewatched MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (1987) for the first time since it came out last night and WOW I have some thots about this thing. We enjoyed roasting the living shit out of it but there's a few gold nuggets in there despite the brutal budget cuts that impacted the plot and what not.

Contains plenty of spoilers.

God bless Wardrobe

OK so … the film doesn't bother to set up any real motivations for the characters, and He-Man (an incredible looking Dolph Lundgren rrrowrrrr) has almost no dialogue which is such a fucking waste. But this complete lack of narrative framework means we can apply OUR OWN explanations to events.

From the very beginning Skeletor has this obsession with He-Man, which will simmer and then culminate in a final showdown. But before we get to that hot mess, we have to wade through the middle of the film.

He gets as much screen time as He-Man.

Meet the utterly repulsive dwarf scientist Gwildor played by Billy Barty, a rinse-and-repeat of his performance as an utterly repulsive magic troll in Legend (1986). This dwarf is the film's Jar Jar. His face is like a deep dish pizza after an acid attack. His real mouth is visible behind the immobile thick prosthetics and it makes for some truly disturbing close-up dialogue shots. Please, pan away from Pizza the Hutt and give us another shot of Lundgren's pecs please I am begging you, DP

We find ourselves in Gwildor's hobbit hole, and he's a magical inventor. So he has this cylindrical object, it's not clear whether it's a weapon or a teleporter but I'm calling it the Butt-Reamer 9000. Inexplicably, there are two of these things and Skeletor has the other one, and wants to collect both of them. So Skeletor has an excuse to go hunting He-Man as he's hunting his missing McGuffin, er I mean sex toy.

Features rotating ticklers, a big improvement over the Butt Reamer 8000.

The thing about the Butt-Reamer 9000 is its magical power to make even this promising setup devolve into a grind as it whisks the Eternians into the magical, enchanting world of a 1987 New Jersey parking lot. WHO WROTE THIS?

The entire middle of the movie is pretty much hot garbage and involves police detectives, arson, vandalism, high school prom, and other dumb bullshit. Aside from the distractingly naked He-Man, the good guys are an utter bore and include some Eternians, some regular Earth humans and their quotidian concerns which really brings down the fun of the movie. (No, baby Courtney Cox, I don't care about your imminent breakup with your mediocre boyfriend!)

The film owes a second mortgage to Star Wars and steals a lot of ideas from it, from bad guys in shiny black stormtrooper helmets, to heroes shooting blue lasers, baddies shooting red.

Let's turn from this depressing state of affairs and focus back on our cherished villain blorbos.

(L-R: Karg, Evil-Lyn our goddess, and Blade.)

Evil-Lyn is beautiful, evil, a cold bitch queen. Gurl you can do so much better than sticking with this loser Skeletor.

Dump! Him! He's gay anyway!

Skeletor is a shit lazy boss of Greyskull and makes Evil-Lyn run the goddamn place in general. He literally shoots the messenger at one point. Great for morale, there, Skel buddy.

Look closer. Fierce!

There's a number of budget rate henchmen on the job, including Karg, who used a whole can of aqua net this morning and is running around in a white fur capelet with a massive bouffant. He is just doing his best okay, really it's hard to look fabulous around these other bitches.

Blade definitely deserved more screen time

Also, Blade, who had a slutty costume of silvery scale maille or something, and was a bit like a sci-fi bondage Riff Raff / space Judas Priest. Best side character costume.

So, there we have it, the queer coded villain roster of the film.

This homemade collage is for sure taped inside Skeletor's locker at school

Note the gigantic brown eye.

Finally, thank Satan, we return to Castle Greyskull, though it's more like beige-and-brown-skull. But aside from the questionable use of faux marble finishes, this is a quality villain lair with hard points installed directly in the floor of the living room, convenient death pits, and an excellent throne setup that I'm pretty sure they recycled for The Fifth Element.

He-Man is captured alive and brought before Skeletor. Blade does the honors with a 15 foot glowing red bullwhip to He-Man's naked and oiled back, much to the delight of dyed-in-the-wool sadist Evil-Lyn.

Movie is getting good now. Was the side quest to Jersey really necessary?

Skeletor, though, watches this action from the throne and has a lot of interesting responses. We had to conclude that Skeletor is a big old bottom but won't admit it. As a dom he is utterly ineffective. He's trying to make He-man kneel and all this shit but He-Man is not submissive at all. Skeletor is … lol. He really just wants to smell He-Man's dick.

The depths (heh) of his bottom nature will become apparent shortly. But first, a costume change.

Skeletor's glow up --- i'm every woman.

Honey we know you're just trying to impress He-man.

Werk tho.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Hole

The gigantic sky-sphincter directly behind the throne has slid open wide… "Begin! The Goatse Ritual! Join me, He-Man, as I become LORD OF THE GAPE" But He-Man's phallic symbol shines bright in defiance. In the end, Skeletor is vanquished symbolically by his own nature and instead of his hole swallowing He-Man, a gaping hole swallows Skeletor instead.

They don't really explain what happened to Evil-Lyn after He-Man's inevitable victory in final man to man combat but she was too smart to get caught sleeping in there and must have survived. What a hot evil competent BABE. After the events of the film end, I vote that Evil-Lyn seduces Teela (the good guy solder lady) and has a hot toxic lesbian affair with her.

Evil-Lyn serves cunt in hell 4 evar

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

Want some more?

Nice fanart

Another breakdown on Buzzfeed if you enjoyed mine this is even more gay headcanon

The movie is free on Tubi if you want to subject yourself to it.

ArmoredSuperHeavy, 19 Aug 2023

#motu #he man #skeletor #evil lyn #movies #movie review #80s movies #camp #queer coded villains