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creaturecarnival · 4 years

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Hylics

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One of several games created by Mason Lindroth, Hylics is a game made out of clay, action figures, and computer magic. The visuals of this game are absolutely bonkers, and the creature design is just about as surreal as the rest of the game. If you’re interested in playing it for yourself after watching the trailer above, it’s available for PC here. So if you’re like me and don’t have easy access to a PC, you can watch this stream of it by Vinesauce’s Vinny which is sort of gonna determine what order I review these in since there’s really no comprehensive information about this game that I could find at the time of writing this. Now let’s take a look at some of these crazy clay creations!

Spiral Polycerate

Yeah, right off the bat we’re getting something pretty emblematic of this game’s surreality. Nothing makes sense and that’s great! So the Spiral Polycerate is basically just a weird yellow spiral cone on top of a little action figure. Most of these creatures will have a similar body plan, just some clay slapped on an action figure, but said clay is usually placed or shaped in a way that it’s still interesting. Like in the case of this guy!

Also I guess it’s implied that Spiral Polycerates are sapient on account of their being one that’s a shopkeep in Tormaph, pictured above. This also gives us a view of what look like arms that are holding that lowest bit of clay. Weird! Is that a weapon or something then? When I first saw this thing, I was certain it was just a cone with legs sticking out of the bottom, but like most of the inhabitants of Hylics, it’s just the head that’s covered in clay. I guess it’s like, visual shorthand that the creature in question is intelligent. That’s cool and all, but I definitely liked its design better when I thought it was just a funky clay cone with legs.

Cone Cultists

Yippee! Wahoo! It’s cult time babey, yeah!!! These guys look so excited! Either that or they’re in immense pain from those horrible growths on their heads. I’m assuming it’s supposed to be some kind of silly hat, but my brain really wants to read them as cordyceps fungus, which are also yellowish-orange and very tall and slim and also grow out of living things, vaguely controlling them. I think overall they look fine as is, maybe a little bland. But if they WERE in fact cordyceps fungus, well that’d be pretty neat!

Cone Statue

Oooh, now we’re talking. This one’s made entirely of clay (save for the ribbons, made of computer magic) and is just shaped so good! I love the tiny squat body and legs coupled with the asymmetrical arms, of which the longer looks to be gesturing to that pot looking thing being pierced by its big ol’ cone head as if to say “Hey! Hey check out my sweet hat! I’m like a POTHEAD or something haha! Get it?? Hey look at my hat!!!” It can’t do anything but passively “shine” which blinds your party members, but is also capable of falling asleep apparently? Okay!

Fleshtache

Wow, this thing is profoundly unpleasant! The idea of a humanoid being whose head is nothing but a couple of large fleshy growths which could loosely be interpreted as a mustache kind of sucks a lot. Do you think there’s hair on the flesh? I know those little particulate things exist around some of the other sprites, but they’re more present around Fleshtache than any other sprite, which makes me think of them as like, a cloud of little floating hairs or something like what you get when you get your hair cut short and you ruffle it and all the little tiny fine hairs go everywhere except it’s like that all the time constantly. If you can’t relate to that experience you should get your hair cut short so you can appreciate how gross that would be. Anyway, I also misinterpreted this one’s head at first to look like an elephant skull. Y’know, with those two little divets and the big tusk lookin’ things? That would be cool too.

Guard

I’m not sure there’s really much I can say about this one. I think it’s interesting that they’re sort of holding that bit of clay in their hand and it’s also attached to their head unlike the Spiral Polycerates.

As we can see in these overworld sprites, the head is weird. It’s just a big seemingly organic coily thing with what might be the true head which we can see in the top left. I like Guard a lot more knowing that their heads are just big springy coils apparently.

Mustelid

Yeah, this one’s pretty much just a cat. I do appreciate how dopey it looks though.

Edit: It has come to my attention that Mustelid actually refers to the family which ferrets belong to. I like this guy significantly more now that I know that fact, as giant ferrets are something that I’ve actually never seen before in media!

Foothead

Okay I really like Foothead. I especially appreciate the fact that the usage of “foot” here seems to refer more to a gastropod-like foot than a human foot. Although you could make a case for the head being loosely human foot shaped, the way it locomotes (by sort of sliding around and using its arms to push itself along) supports the gastropod-like theory. It’s described as “kicking” when it attacks you, but I think that’s referring to the legs flailing around uselessly in the air. It really makes you think that these creatures might be mutations of some kind.

Despair Puff

Is that what that is? Okay, if you say so! Despair Puff certainly looks to be despairing alright. Again, the most remarkable part of its design is the head, which as was previously mentioned seems to be in despair. It looks like we can maybe see the bottom half of the action figure’s head, which would be really creepy, like the top of its skull burst open and this big sad lump came out. The sprites are just low-res enough that you can’t really tell, but that’s one of the things I like about the creature designs overall.

Slughead

Okay so this is interesting, we’ve got another mollusc-head! Could they be related? Slughead seems to get around by laying “face” down and writhing around, although it’s standing straight up in battle. Its forearms also appear to be engulfed by the head. Again, this seems like maybe some kind of mutation.

Ambulant Skull

These guys aren’t actually encounterable in battle because they kill you the moment you make contact with them. That’s certainly freaky! I love how disturbing this thing is overall, with a lower half that looks like a mess of ground beef. I like that with a name like “Ambulant Skull”, you’d expect it to be just like, a skull with legs or something. But this design goes way farther than that and I appreciate it.

Malign Hologram

I love the weirdness of this thing’s “head” being something like a weird vase with an agonized face emerging out of it, and whatever filter was put on it makes it look like the whole thing is made of raw flesh and muscle. Yeah, I don’t know what else to say, I just really like this freaky hologram(???).

Horrid Projection

Alright, this’ll be the last one for part 1, and what a lovely mess it is. Literally the only recognizable thing I can pick out of its figure is maybe two little legs/feet hanging out of the bottom, and the rest is a huge, dripping, misshapen blob. I think that’s a really effective design choice, because this thing would not be nearly as unsettling if it was all clay with no humanoid features. That one little addition of the legs just raises so many questions.

So that’s it for part 1! Stay tuned for when I post the other half I guess!

#hylics #mod frankie

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bluephoenixdruidicprincess · 5 years

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SPN 14x13, Lebanon (Yes, That One) -- Thoughts (Spoilers)

It's finally here, guys. The big 300. I've now seen 300 episodes of Supernatural. Phew...what a crazy ride its been. But let's dive into this, shall we.

I'm going to be a little different with this one. This is going to follow a little more of a recap structure. It's the big 300, so of course I had to change it up a little. As I recap this episode, I'll be inserting thoughts I have here and there. I will be recapping from memory so things might get a little out of order. It should go without saying but there will be spoilers. And keep in mind, this is just how I feel and how I interpret things. You may have a completely different interpretation and that's perfectly valid. These are just MY thoughts.

We open up with Sam and Dean in the midst of a hunt. A hunter friend of theirs died and Sam and Dean are trying to recover what was stolen from their friend as well as avenge him. They corner the murderer and in a really cringey fight scene, the murderer meets his maker. Typically, SPN fight scenes are, while not fantastically well put together, but at least put our heroes in a competent light. Honestly, I don't think I've seen such stilted choreography since season 13 in the vamp cave. But anyway, the murderer uses dragon's breath (which is essentially a flamethrower) to escape from Brothers Winchester and it sends them flying in different directions but apparently dragon's breath isn't that hot. Just a small little thing, but if you're standing that close to the fire, you should've had some burn marks, I'm just saying, at the very least, soot on your face. But whatever. Dean gets thrown across the room, Sam ends up on the floor with our villain monologuing to him and I'm uncomfortable with just how incompetent Sam appeared to be in this scene. The villain is monologuing and Sam is just sitting there and doing nothing. What happened to Sam's gun? Why didn't Sam sweep the leg or go for a gut punch? So many things he could've done to get the upper hand in the situation especially since the villain only had a sword. While swords can be very deadly, they're also easier to dodge as opposed to bullets or throwing daggers. But Sam just sits there in fear for a good 5 seconds (and 5 seconds is an eternity both on screen and in a fight) and Dean then shoots the guy and talks about the villain monologuing problem. I'm not mad that Dean got the kill or anything. I don't believe in "staning" culture but if you could at least have made Sam appear competent, that would be nice.

But with the murderer dead, Sam and Dean find out he has a lot of magical junk so they decide to take it back to the bunker. In the files, they find a magical pearl which apparently will grant your greatest desire. Obviously, the boys think, "this is great. Our greatest desire is to evict the douche currently residing in our nagen." But before this greatest wish can be made, we have to make a little side trip because one of the teenagers in Lebanon (the town where the bunker exists) stole the impala. Sam's all, "that kid is in danger, we gotta find her, there's dangerous shit in that car" -- and much to my annoyance, Dean is all, "how dare she take Baby, she better not hurt Baby". *Takes a deep breath* This is an aspect of Dean's character I find super irritating. This weird romance he has with the damn car. How he places the car above things that, realistically, are a little more important. Maybe he should be less concerned about Max scratching the car and more concerned about the fact you have a teenage girl you don't know (or barely know at the very most) in a car with deadly objects and deadly weapons. I get it, this is supposed to be a funny quirk of his and at one point it was but now it's been so overdone that it's more irritating than it is endearing. I really hope the show goes into Dean's character development, and approaches the car as a mirror of how Dean feels about his father and his childhood and as he grows to accept his father more, he'll eventually realize that just like he doesn't need his father, he doesn't need the impala. I'm sure I said something absolutely sacrilegious in the fandom but I'm not going to apologize for it. This whole obsession with the impala is immature and creepy and it makes me worry for Dean's mental health.

So they find the girl but not before the girl's actions releases a serial killer clown ghost (because in an episode dealing with past fears and insecurities, of course it's a clown). They kill the ghost but three of the teenagers see and therefore they get the "talk." And these three also appear to be seen as mirrors for Sam, Dean, and Cas. They weren't very subtle about it, let me tell you.

So after leaving the kids to process the information that the sounds you hear in your closet may actually not be in your head, Brothers Winchester arrive back at the bunker and try out this magical pearl. But behold! It would seem evicting au!Michael is not Dean's greatest desire because Father Winchester is yanked from the past (sometime before the pilot) and dropped into their time. And, I'm not going to say this a lot about this episode, but I like the cinematography used here. It was an excellent usage of the color red symbolizing Brothers Winchester's own repression and isolation they experienced from their father as well as John's revenge focused aggression, blindly lashing out at anything that moves even if it's his own children. And the scene was also shot in a very choppy way meant to be seen as a little confusing...also symbolizing the thoughts of confusion the boys harbor towards their father and much like the confusion John no doubt feels with the turn his life has taken.

Everyone eventually realizes what's up and they fill John in on what's been happening for the past 14 years. And it's a very nice, very touching reunion and then Momma Winchester shows up. John and Mary have a wonderful reunion kiss, its so beautiful. I completely understand how Dean got swept into the moment here. Witnessing something he probably only barely remembers from his childhood, thinking he'll never see it again, and there it is. And just like that it takes him back to a time when life was seemingly perfect. When he had hope, when he had dreams. His parents were alive, they loved each other, they loved him, he had an adorable baby brother. It gave him something he never thought he'd have again. And just the kiss in general, you know. Just so reminiscent of past lovers who never thought they would see each other again suddenly seeing each other and everything they used to feel all coming up at once. It was wonderful. Think Celine Dion, Its All Coming Back to Me Now and I think you'll have the tone of this moment nailed down.

But Sam and Dean leave these two to have their moment and Sam tells Dean there's going to be repercussions for this. Time travel is a funky thing. But they decide to have one family dinner and think about the consequences after that. Dean asks Mary for the ingredients to make her Winchester Surprise and John and Sam have a really touching moment. John feels the need to apologize to Sam about everything that happened between them. And Sam tells him it doesn't matter. Their fight happened a long time ago, he's put it in the past and moved on. Sam also tells his father that the biggest regret he has is never having the chance to say good-bye. Their last conversation being an argument and then Sam finding John dead on the hospital floor. This scene got me so choked up like you don't even know. I've been through this. Lost someone while we were on shaky terms, I never got the chance to say good-bye, so many things were left unsaid and I would kill for an opportunity Sam has here where I can finally tell that person it's okay and rectify the bad blood that occurred between us. And Sam acknowledges it as well. This opportunity he has right here and now is all he's ever wanted.

Sam and Dean go off to buy these ingredients but this is when they start noticing the time travel problems. The future is starting to change, but it's more of a ripple effect right now. They haven't changed yet, but time around them has and eventually the ripple is going to smother out and their new future will take hold. Sam calls it a time paradox. And because of the paradox, we're treated to season 4 Zachariah and Castiel. But in regards to Castiel here, it's important to note that he's more pre-season 4. He hasn't delved into hell yet to get Dean out so he doesn't really have any of those rebellious feelings yet. And no, I'm not going to quote THE Destiel line. In all honesty, I've come to hate the line. It's been over-used so much that it's basically lost all meaning to me. Fandom and canon just keep on poking at it, now it's just something I roll my eyes at whenever I hear it. I am sad that we got season 4 Zachariah. When they were saying we were going to get a different Zachariah, I was so hoping for a role reversal kind of situation but apparently the "different Zachariah" is meant to be interpreted as "different from season 13 au!Zachariah" who actually isn't all that different. PR is not show running, people. Take a grain of salt with everything they say. But the Wing Team is on a quest to find out who meddled with time. Even going so far as to threaten to murder a diner full of people. Thankfully, Sam and Dean stop that from commencing but are in a real shock that with this time paradox, it now means Cas is no longer the Cas they all know and love. That if John stays here, they're going to lose their best friend (in Sam's case) and potential lover (in Dean's case). But the scene plays out how you would expect it to. Zach is his usual douchey self and is giving Sam cancer just like he used to (good times, let me tell ya) but Sam remembers he has an angel blade on him and kills Zach. Nowhere near as badass as it was in season 5, but still cathartic. And next we get to see a re-creation of the tomb scene from season 8 with Dean and Cas in a match of fisticuffs. But this Cas has never met Dean so Dean really has no chance of reaching Cas. But Sam in some quick thinking rembers the sigil that will cast angels out and uses it. The boys make a break for the bunker and everyone gets filled in.

Sam and Dean realize that in order for everything to go back they way it was, they have to smash the pearl. Everything will be forgotten but everything will also revert back to the way it once was. Sam wishes there was a way John could remember everything but Dean tells him he prefers that John doesn't. John going back with knowledge of the future could change who they are and Dean doesn't want that change. He wants to be exactly who he is right here and right now which is just so much progress. John tells them to do it because if the timeline changes, Mary's resurrection could never have happened and she'll eventually disappear. Even though he's going back to a time where he will die, trading himself for Mary is more than worth it. He'd rather have Mary exist in the world and himself die as opposed to living the rest of his days without her. And maybe it's because I have so much Kingsom Hearts nonsense floating through my brain, even if he doesn't remember, this will have left a mark on his heart. It'll leave him feeling something even if he doesn't understand why he feels that way. Everyone has the family dinner they always wanted, John also apologizes to Dean for everything, he tells both of his sons just how proud he is of them, he and Mary have another moment and the pearl is broken. Father Winchester disappears and everyone is crying. Our most beloved Cas returns and remarks on why everyone is acting so weird and Dean tells him they have a story to tell him. I kind of wish we got to see them tell Cas but I understand why we don't. Story-Telling 101. Don't repeat information the audience already knows, instead, insinuate the character is being filled in off-screen. John wakes up in his time in the impala and remarks on the good dream he had and drives off to his dark future. And the episode ends.

So what did I think of this episode? Honestly, I'm of two minds on it. Narratively and character-wise, this was a really good episode. But structurally and production-wise, not so much.

It had a really good narrative, the acting was fantastic, but on a cinematic level, My Chuck, was this episode dull to look at. The directing was just extremely stilted, apart from John's entrance, I don't think there was a single scene I thought was visually appealing. The musical score was very bland. It makes me really sad that there was so much hype for this episode but so little effort put into the production of it. Of the milestone episodes, 200 is probably my favorite.

I also say this episode kind of faltered on a structural basis, as well. While I appreciate the use of the Lebanon characters, I feel like they were largely unnecessary for the actual plot. And when they were first pitching this episode to us last year, I was imagining the Lebanon townsfolk being more of a primary aspect of the episode. While I enjoyed the themes and the mirrors with the Lebanon element, I feel like this would've been a better structured episode without them and given the episode more time with the family reunion and the Wing Team.

But I do love the narrative themes in this episode. Choosing between your past family and your future family. Putting your past behind you and acknowledging yourself as an individual. I've seen a few posts lamenting about how they dislike that Dean didn't yell at John or anything along those lines and honestly, I feel like that's the point. Dean has grown past that. He's acknowledged that as part of his past and has moved on from it. We all have trauma we associate with our parents. And while yelling at our parents might make us feel better, will it really heal us? Will it give us what we really need? And that's the whole thing with Dean, isn't it? Want vs Need. Dean's greatest desire was never to face John again and tell him how much he hates him -- no, Dean's greatest desire was to face his father again and not see himself in his father. To realize he's become his own person that isn't his father and that he likes that person and he doesn't want that to change. That's what Dean wanted. That was the self-acceptance Dean needed and I'm really excited to see where this all heads for Dean as a character. Now that he's accepted himself, is he going to allow himself to be happy now?

Essentially, this episode was a beautiful episode about family, about the progression of family, about finding acceptance and forgiveness and being able to put it behind you and look towards the future and I thought that was extremely beautiful and well done. I'd give this episode a B+. Sadly, I do knock it down because of the production value.

#spn 14x13 spoilers #spn 14.13 spoilers #spn episode 300 spoilers #spn ep 300 spoilers

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