#time for some game theory motherfuckers

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Venture predation

Tomorrow (May 20), I’ll be at the GAITHERSBURG Book Festival with my novel Red Team Blues; then on Monday (May 22), I’m keynoting Public Knowledge’s Emerging Tech conference in DC.

On Tuesday (May 23), I’ll be in TORONTO for a book launch that’s part of WEPFest, a benefit for the West End Phoenix, onstage with Dave Bidini (The Rheostatics), Ron Diebert (Citizen Lab) and the whistleblower Dr Nancy Olivieri.

They said it couldn’t happen. After decades of antitrust enforcement against Predatory Pricing — selling goods below cost to kill existing competitors and prevent new ones from arising — the Chicago School of neoliberal economists “proved” that predatory pricing didn’t exist and that the courts could stand down and stop busting companies for it.

Predatory pricing — the economists explained — may be illegal, but it was also imaginary. A mirage. No one would do predatory pricing, because it was “irrational.” And even if there was someone irrational enough to try it, they would fail. Stand down, judges of America — predatory pricing is solved.

Chicago School economists — whose job (to quote David Roth) is to find new ways to say “actually, your boss is right” — held enormous sway of the federal judiciary. The billionaire-backed Manne Seminars offered free “continuing education” junkets to judges — all-expense-paid luxury vacations salted with lengthy your-boss-is-right econ seminars. 40% of the US federal judiciary got their heads filled up at a Manne Seminar.

For monopolists and other predators, the Manne Seminar was an excellent return on investment. After attending a Manne Seminar, the average judge’s legal decisions tipped decidedly in favor of monopoly, operating on the Chicago bedrock assumption that monopolies are “efficient,” and, where we see them in nature, we should celebrate them as the visible manifestation of the entrepreneurial genius of some Ayn Rand hero in a corporate boardroom:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/13/post-bork-era/#manne-down

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Even as post-Chicago economists showed that predatory pricing was both possible and rampant, a “rational” and effective strategy for cornering markets, suppressing competition, crushing innovation and gouging on price, judges continued to craft tortuous, unpassable tests that any predatory pricing case would have to satisfy to proceed. Economics moved on, but predatory pricing cases continued to fail the trial-by-ordeal constructed by Chicago-pilled judges.

Which is a shame, because there are at least three ways that predatory pricing can be effective:

Cost Signaling Predation: A predator tricks competitors into thinking they’ve found a new way to cut their costs, which allows them to drop prices. Competitors, fooled by the ruse, exit the market, not realizing that the predator is merely subsidizing their products’ costs to trick them.

Financial Market Predation: A predator tricks the competitors’ creditors into thinking the predator has a new way to cut costs. The creditors refuse to loan the prey companies the money needed to survive the price war, and the prey drops out of the war.

Reputation Effect Predation: A predator subsidizes prices in one region or one line of goods in order to trick prey into thinking that they’ll do the same elsewhere: “Don’t try to compete with us in Cleveland, or we’ll drop prices like we did in Tampa.”

These models of successful predation are decades old, and have broad acceptance within economics — outside of Chicago-style ideologues — but they’ve yet to make much of a dent in minds of the judges who hear Predatory Pricing cases.

While judges continue to hit the snooze-bar on any awakening to this phenomenon, a new kind of predator has emerged, using a new kind of predation: the Venture Predator, a predatory company backed by venture capital funds, who make lots of high-risk bets they must cash out in ten years or less, ideally for a 100x+ return.

Writing in the Journal of Corporation Law Matthew Wansley and Samuel Weinstein — both of the Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University — lay out a theory of Venture Predation in clear, irrefutable language, using it to explain the recent bubble we sometimes call the Millennial Lifestyle Subsidy:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4437360

What’s a Venture Predator? It’s “a startup that uses venture finance to price below its costs, chase its rivals out of the market, and grab market share.” The predator sets millions or billions of dollars on fire chasing “rapid, exponential growth” all in order to “create the impression that recoupment is possible” among future investors, such as blue-chip companies that might buy them out, or sucker retail investors who buy in at the IPO, anticipating years of monopoly pricing.

In other words, the Venture Predator constructs a pile of shit so large and impressive that investors are convinced that there must be a pony under there somewhere.

There’s another name for this kind of arrangement: a bezzle, which Galbraith described as “the magic interval when a confidence trickster knows he has the money he has appropriated but the victim does not yet understand that he has lost it.”

Millennial Lifestyle Subsidy companies are bezzles. Uber, annihilated tens of billions of dollars on its bezzle, destroying the taxi industry and laying waste to public transit investment, demolishing labor protections and convincing people that impossible self-driving robo-taxis were around the coner:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/16/ring-ring-lapd-calling/#uber-unter

But while Uber the company lost billions of dollars, Uber’s early investors and executives made out like bandits (or predators, I suppose). The founders were able to flog their shares on the secondary market long before the IPO. Same for the early investors, like Benchmark capital.

Since the company’s IPO, its finances have steadily worsened, and the company has resorted to increasingly sweaty balance-sheet manipulation tactics and PR offensives to make it seem like a viable business:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/05/a-lousy-taxi/#a-giant-asterisk

But Uber can’t ever recoup the billions it spent convincing the market that there was a pony beneath its pile of shit. The app Uber uses to connect riders with the employees it misclassifies as contractors isn’t hard to clone, and it’s not hard for drivers or riders to switch from one app to another:

https://locusmag.com/2019/01/cory-doctorow-disruption-for-thee-but-not-for-me/

Nor can Uber prevent its rivals from taking advantage of the hundreds of millions of dollars it spent on “regulatory entrepreneurship” — changing the laws to make it easier to misclassify workers and operate unlicensed taxi services.

It’s not clear whether Uber ever believed in robo-taxis, or whether they were just part of the bezzle. In any event, Uber’s no longer in the robotaxi races: after blowing $2.5B on self-driving cars, Uber produced a vehicle whose mean-distance-between-fatal-crashes was 0.5 miles. Uber had to pay another company $400M to take its self-driving unit off its hands:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Uber’s prices rose 92% between 2018–21, while its driver compensation has plunged. The company is finding it increasingly difficult to passengers into cars, and drivers onto the road. They have invented algorithmic wage disrimination, an exciting new field of labor-law violations, in order to trick drivers into thinking there’s a pony under all that shit:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

To Uber’s credit, they have been a wildly innovative company, inventing many new ways to make the pile of shit bigger and the pony more plausible. Back when Uber and Lyft were locked in head-to-head competition, Uber employees created huge pools of fake Lyft rider accounts, using them to set up and tear down rides in order to discover what Lyft was charging for rides in order to underprice them. Uber also covertly operated the microphones in its drivers’ phones to listen for the chimes the Lyft app made: drivers who had both Lyft and Uber installed on their devices were targeted for (strictly temporary) bonuses.

Uber won’t ever recoup, but that’s OK. The investors and execs made vast fortunes. Now, normally, you’d expect company founders and other managers with large piles of stocks in a VC-backed company to be committed to the business’s success, at least in the medium term, because their shares can’t be liquidated until well after the company goes public.

But the burgeoning “secondary market” for managers’ shares has turned investors and managers into co-conspirators in the Venture Predation bezzle: “half of Series A and B deals now have some secondary component for founders.” That means that founders can cash out before the bezzle ends.

The trick with any bezzle is to skip town while the mark is still energetically digging through the shit, before the pony is revealed for an illusion. That’s where crypto comes in: during the cryptocurrency bubble, VCs cashed out of their investments early through Initial Coin Offerings and other forms of securities fraud. The massive returns this generated were well worth the millions they sprinkled on Superbowl ads and bribes for Matt Damon.

But woe betide the VC who mistimes their exit. As Wework showed, it’s entirely possible for VCs to be left holding the bag if they get the timing wrong. Wework blew $12b on predatory pricing — promising tenants at rivals’ businesses moving bonuses or even a year’s free rent, all to make the pile of shit look larger and thus more apt to contain a pony. The company opened its co-working spaces as close as possible to existing shops, oversaturating hot markets and showing “growth” by poaching customers through deep subsidies, then pretending that those customers would stay when the subsidies evaporated. But Wework’s “product” was temporary hot-desks, occupied by people who could (and did) move at the drop of a hat.

To its competitors, its competitors’ creditors, and credulous investors, it appeared that Wework had developed some kind of “efficiency advantage” — a secret sauce that let it sell a product at a price that was far below its rivals’ costs. But once Wework filed for its IPO, its S-1 — the form that discloses the company’s finances — revealed the truth. Wework’s only “advantage” was the bafflegab of its cult-like leader and the torrent of cash supplied by its VCs.

Wework’s IPO was a disaster. After canceling a real IPO, the company eventually went public through a scammy SPAC, saw its shares immediately tank, and continue to fall, as its balance-sheet is still blood-red with losses.

Another Venture Predator is Bird, the company that flooded American cities with cheap, flimsy Chinese scooters, choking curbs and sidewalks. 25% of the gross revenues from each scooter ride had to be written off as depreciation on the scooter. As a Bird spokesperson told the LA Times: “There are very few unique companies for which you can build global scale really quickly and build a dominant market position before other people do, and for those rarefied companies scaling quickly matters more than short-term profits.”

Bird was another company that could never recoup, whose executives and investors could only cash out if they could maintain the faint hope of the pony underneath its pile of shitty scooters. It drove the company to some genuinely surreal lengths. For example, in 2018, I reported on the existence of a kit that let you buy an impounded Bird scooter for pennies and retrofit it to run without an app, so you could take it anywhere:

https://boingboing.net/2018/12/08/flipping-a-bird.html

Shortly thereafter, I got a legal threat from Linda Kwak, Bird’s Senior Corporate Counsel, claiming that publishing a link to a website that sells you a product you install by unscrewing one board and inserting another was a violation of Section 1201 of the DMCA, which was an astonishingly stupid claim:

https://www.eff.org/document/bird-rides-takedown-boing-boing-dec-20-2018

It was also an astonishingly stupid claim to make to me, a career activist with 20 years experience fighting DMCA1201, a decades-old professional affiliation with EFF, and a giant megaphone:

https://boingboing.net/2019/01/11/flipping-the-bird.html

But Bird was palpably desperate to keep its bezzle going, and Kwak — an employment lawyer with undeniable deficits in her understanding of copyright and cyber-law — was their champion

Fascinatingly, one thing Bird didn’t worry about was competition from Uber and Lyft, who piled into the e-scooter market. Bird circulated a (leaked) pitch-deck reassuring investors that Uber/Lyft weren’t gunning for them, because they ““won’t subsidize prices” as they prepared for their IPOs, which involved disclosing their finances to their investors.

Bird’s investors either lost money or made small-dollar returns, but they were outfoxed by Bird founder Travis VanderZanden, a superpredator who cashed out $44m in shares just as the VCs were piling in.

Venture Predation is another stinging rebuttal to the Chicago School’s blithe dismissal of Predatory Pricing as an illusion. Private firms — of the sort that VCs back — whose boards are made up of founders and VCs who stand to benefit from the pile-of-shit gambit are perfectly capable of spending huge fortunes to make Predatory Pricing work. VCs make a practice of repeatedly co-investing in businesses together, which fosters the kind of trust that allows for these gambits to be played again and again.

For later stage, pony-thirsty investors who get stuck holding the bag, the lure of monopoly profits is both powerful and plausible — after 40 years of antitrust neglect, monopolies are the kinds of things one can both attain and defend (think of Peter Thiel’s maxim, “competition is for losers,” or Warren Buffett’s terrifying priapisms induced by the mere thought of businesses with “wide, sustainable moats”).

In a world of Facebook and Google, dreaming of monopolies isn’t irrational — it’s aspirational.

VCs are ideally poised to play the Venture Predation gambit. They are risk-tolerant and need to cash out over short timescales. What’s more, VCs’ longstanding boasts of their ability to identify companies who have invented new, super-efficient ways to do boring things like “rent out office space” or “provide taxis” gives the pile-of-shit pony-pitch a plausible ring.

The Venture Predator gambit isn’t just a form of plute-on-plute violence in which billionaires fleece millionaires. Like any anticompetitive scam, Venture Predators are able to pick winners in the marketplace — rather than getting the taxi or the office rental service or the scooter that serves you best, you get the scammiest version.

Workers who are roped in by the scam also suffer — the authors raise the example of a cab driver who leases a car to drive for Uber, based on the early subsidies the company offered, only to find themselves unable to make payments once the bezzle ends and Uber starts clawing back the driver’s wages.

Then there’s the cost to society: during the decade-plus in which Uber was pissing away the Saudi royal family’s billions subsidizing rides, cities dismantled their public transit, even as residents made decisions about where to live and work based on the presumption that Uber was charging a fair, sustainable price for rides.

The authors propose a bunch of legislative fixes for this, but warn that none of them are likely to get through Congress or the Manne-pilled judiciary. But they do hold out hope for a proposed SEC rule “requiring large, private companies to make basic financial disclosures.” These disclosures would make it impossible for companies to pretend that they had built a better mousetrap when all they had was a bigger pile of shit.

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/19/fake-it-till-you-make-it/#millennial-lifestyle-subsidy

[Image ID: A giant pile of manure with a pony sticking out of it.]

Image: Eli Duke (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/elisfanclub/6834356283

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

#pluralistic #antitrust #financial market predation #millennial lifestyle subsidy #Venture predation #predatory pricing #robertson-pattman act #post-chicago economics #clayton act #sherman act #uber #reputation-effect predation #game theory #time for some game theory motherfuckers #chicago school #cooling the mark #cost-signaling predation #network effects #enshittification #rugged #rug-pulls #platform decay #platform economics #economics #fake it till you make it #law #scholarship

[chaoticace2005]

Reasons Lucifer hates Alastor:

1. Annoyed about him “stealing” Charlie

2. Recognizes what a manipulative bastard he is and feels like the others don’t see it

2b. Able to read people’s true intentions, so knows Alastor is sus.

3. Alastor dissed him when he first arrived at the hotel, and Lucifer hates that

4. He just doesn’t like his vibes

5. Alastor is a prideful being, and Lucifer being the Sin of Pride can’t have someone being more prideful than him.

6. Just doesn’t like overlords

7. Got called a “short motherfucker who nobody likes” by Alastor

8. Alastor does have a past of sorts with Lilith and Lucifer knows it

9. Alastor is actually the one who served Lucifer the divorce papers for Lilith

10. He’s way too tall. It’s ridiculous

11. Alastor is Lilith, in disguise, and part of Lucifer recognizes this and is attracted to them, which feels like a betrayal.

11b. Alternatively, Alastor isn’t Lilith in disguise, but Lucifer still does feel some level of attraction for him.

12. He’s tired of seeing the guy’s face everywhere. He’s already gotten so many commissions with Alastor’s face attached ( @onesidedradiostatic )

13. Vox sent him an explicit drawing of Alastor naked for commissions and now Lucifer can never see the man the same way again.

14. Lucifer’s thing is red. Alastor can’t also be red. Or be redder than him.

15. He had a traumatic experience with a deer as a child and never recovered

16. Theories about Alastor being an angel are true— Lucifer recognizes this (and recognized that Vaggie was one) but sees that Alastor has yet to truly break away from Heaven

17. Lucifer is a stickler for cleanliness and can’t deal with the fact Alastor never bathes

18. Alastor’s scent is just really not good for the Autism

19. Lucifer had a traumatic experience with radios.

20. Lucifer just doesn’t like cannibals/serial killers

21. Heard Alastor speak French. Lucifer hates French people.

22. Alastor had a public campaign about how much ducks SUCK

23. One of Alastor’s many crimes as a human was duck abuse. So he’s permanently on Lucifer’s shitlist.

24. Alastor encouraged people to feed ducks bread, which is actually unhealthy for them.

25. Alastor actually spent the seven years harassing Lucifer and sending him hate mail

26. Lucifer just thinks his ears are stupid

27. Can sense true “evilness” from Al (could be malicious intent or could be that Al is working with Roo (the root of all evil))

28. Mistook Al for “A.I.” which he had heard was threatening creators (Alastor is threatening them, just in a different way.)

29. Alastor lied and betrayed Lucifer in an Among Us game one time and Lucifer never forgave him

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel memes #stupid hazbin hotel lists #hazbin hotel crack #lucifer hazbin hotel #lucifer morningstar #alastor hazbin hotel #radio demon hazbin hotel

[thatdeadaquarius]

When I’m playing genshin, I’m mostly listening to either Paternity Court, or Steve Wilkos. Imagine the characters hearing all of the stuff and being so scandalized by the results and comments. Or being genuinely disgusted and heartbroken for the victims in more serious cases. I can def see a good chunk of them being invested

I don’t think I’ve listened to those yet! I do occasionally get on a true crime binge listen, however the weirdest thing my characters have heard has gotta be Game Grumps episodes or compilations lol

What if i listened to every season of Buzzfeed Unsolved.

What would we do then my Genshin characters, my people, what then.

I saw someone else write about this true crime documentary thing but they described everyone being pretty terrified or disgusted by the podcasts

Which I definitely think some would be literally horrified lmao

But also I think a lot of them definitely would be invested-

I mean shit,

you're listening to your God and they just start playing this like uncomfortably detailed intricate crime case/murder report???

I would be so interested in what kind of person they were, and why they were listening to true crime stuff, 

so needless to say characters like Heizou and Yelan would definitely be into it, maybe Kujou Sara as well?

I can see Zhongli getting into it too and Raiden

I mean don't get me wrong plenty would be disturbed

like rest in peace Barbara 🙏

but like it would be fascinating to them too!!

cuz they don't know anything about our world so they could learn a lot about it thru listening to this stuff

tho it probably cause a lot of confusion whenever they hear things like phone or computer or car lol

you know stuff that hasn't been invented yet for them or there is no equivalent, but they

would deffo interrogate u about ur world when u get to Teyvat

♤

okay but on a more silly motherfucker note-

what if I was playing Game Grumps around them lol, would they be like oh my God our Creator has the best comedians or hilarious friends

like you know how a king has jesters? 😭

I feel like they would think that instead of a recording definitely, especially because most of these things are just people talking and not like, a speech or something

because audio recordings could exist for them, they would probably get it in concept, they do have Ley lines that do that afterall (and now Kameras)

♧

Omg,

oh no, would they think that you're getting these reports in person??  Or even like your SOLVING all these crimes?? 

esp bc I know myself and I tend to sometimes be talking to Genshin characters like,

"damn that's how he got arrested? How stupid he could've blah blah blah i sound like a hardened cop playing a gacha game lmao blah blah...."

it'd be so funny to see that one play out

when u get whisked away to teyvat and Heizou and Yelan are just:

"oh my God can you help us with all these cases we love your mind, or get your servants to help us?"

THEY WOULDNT EVEN BELIEVE U IF U TRIED TO BE LIKE "no no please ur the professionals idk wtf im doing guys-"

Heizou/Yelan: 🤨🤨

"likely story Most Honorable God, but we heard quite the fascinating theories just last week before u descended, hmmm...."

u cant win, 

honestly everyone would probably just assume ur not only the god who created/built teyvat but also have a domain in justice, comedy or honestly whatever u be playing all the time, including music, people would definitely think ur a music god too

esp if ur like me and u just turn on a cool Spotify playlist while u play sometimes, like they've probably never heard so many radically different genres songs, and so many back to back

(could definitely see a myth about u having an immortal inexhaustible musician band that has access to all the songs of the universe that u make them play for you, once again, would be hard to deny bc that's a pretty accurate description of spotify lol)

♡

srry abt my ✨️ass writing✨️ anon!!

I am getting to these old asks so late I hope u guys r alright with getting answered so late, ya boy has been busy 

Im busy partially bc i have a end of year art exhibition!

Basically at my university, if ur an art major, u have to have some of ur best work from ur time at university and display it in a Senior year art exhibition in the university's art museum! Its super cool! And stressful! :D!!

Anyway im so happy i have no object permanence bc everytime i open my drafts or my inbox, even the old asks :( , are  a new surprise every time :D lmao

Safe Travels,

💀♒️

♡the beloveds♡

@karmawonders / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist

#so teyvat has known me for about 2 yrs now #wow thats crazy #so fast #but also #do u think they would feel the way we feel about them bc of that? #like how we love fictional characters #😭 ur just talking all the time and u eat with them and u celebrate their victories with them and worry about them #how could they not love u #genshin impact #genshin sagau #my asks #sagau #genshin imagines #genshin sagau ideas #gender neutral reader #genshin isekai #genshin god reader #genshin imagines reverse harem #i mean what #genshin impact sagau #genshin scenarios #genshin x reader #genshin impact reader insert

[fave-fight]

ROUND 1, MATCH 26

NO MAGIC, POWERS, OR WEAPONS

Dr. Coomer:

“i… don’t think he would win.”

“HELLO, GORDON!”

Floyd Leech:

“If he stays in human form and has no mage stones, he's just Some Guy, so he still qualifies. This mafia motherfucker would FIGHT. One time when faced with a monster, everyone else was like "oh no, we need magic" and he was like "nah, let's punch it" and then he DID. He hasn't used his pointy teeth in canon yet, but he could in theory bite someone if necessary, and it would hurt like a bitch. He'd fight dirty, I just know it. Let him punch everything and then get punched in the face, it'd be so great.”

“This guy is a menace who almost never uses weapons or tools to terrorize people. He's strong and athletic, smart enough to get what he wants on a whim, and squeezes contract-breakers until they faint on a regular basis.”

“NOTE: Floyd is a magic boy, but the “no mage stone” thing is there because it means he won’t be able to use magic, because people in Twisted Wonderland can’t without accumulating deadly magic toxin unless they have the stones. He’s also a merman, but he’d be in his human form. His human form does have pointy teeth (like the anime character kind) but I’m not sure if they have any real effect in game other than to intimidate people. Other people in this game have them too who are allegedly “human.” And again, plenty of “human” anime characters have them. Myfeeling is that they shouldn’t be disqualifying on their own.  This game is about magic boys at a magic school, but don’t worry, they get into traditional fist-fights so often it’s literally a randomly generated event that can happen in your Guest Room space. And Floyd Leech would never use magic in a fist-fight. He’d think that was “no fun” or “totally lame.” His signature magical spell just nullifies other people’s magic that targets him… so he can fight them with his fists. Since no one else here has magic, it’s totally irrelevant.  Also I’m not sure he uses fists so much as he does something to his opponents that he describes as “squeezing” them. I don’t know entirely what he means by that when he’s in his human form, but how much it scares the faceless NPC students indicates to me that he’s found a way to make it work. I do know it’s supposed to have a whole mafia vibe to it. Because his dad (and his childhood friend he lowkey sort-of works for) have real mafia boss energy. And Floyd’s basically decided that if he’s going to do this mafia shtick it’s Capo or bust. Floyd doesn’t always feel like doing stuff, due to his wildly unpredictable mood swings, but it honestly seems like the thing he can most easily be convinced to do is beat the shit out of people. During the “Beanfest” event (which was somewhat analogous to a paintball match), he insisted on throwing his weapon away and beating up aforementioned childhood friend even though the game was over and he’d already lost, just because apparently “once Floyd has decided to fight nothing can be done about it" and you just have to fight him if you want to get on with the rest of your day. He’d started out that event “not really in the mood” but somehow ended up spending the entire day beating the hell out of every person he ran into. In the camping event, when all of the boys were being picked off by a monster in the woods one at a time and were panicking because they didn’t have magestones or cellphones and therefore couldn’t defend themselves with magic or call an adult for help, Floyd was literally just like “why don’t we just beat the shit out of it?” And then he DID. And it was awesome.  But before you think he’s just some sort of dumb thug, let me assure you that Floyd is actually one of Night Raven’s most intelligent students. He has a photographic memory and can create valuable gems in alchemy class with minimal effort. Unfortunately, his mood swings make it impossible for him to maintain a decent GPA. But he’s actually a smart, tactical fighter. He’s just violent and unstable. Oh and if you’re wondering, his personality is generally abrasive and confrontational. He regularly starts arguments with the most volatile people at the school, just to mess with them and see where it goes because he’s bored.  Finally, if it sweetens the deal for anyone, Floyd would wear some killer designer shoes to this fight. Don’t worry, they wouldn’t be dangerous/weaponized. They’d just be expensive and custom made. You know, so he can get upset when someone scuffs them up.  Like for real, is there anyone who deserves to be in a crazy bitch fist-fight more than a moody mafia prince who’s secretly some sort of genius, but seems to only truly love fighting and designer footwear? If there is, I can’t think of them. ”

#fight fight fight #round 1 #poll tournament #tournament poll #polls #poll #dr coomer #hlvrai coomer #hlvrai #half life vr but the ai is self aware #floyd leech #twisted wonderland

[ouroborosorder]

Can you tell me more about the negators mapping to fighting game character archetypes? I don’t know much about fgc archetypes but I love UU and this sounds super interesting.

alright so groundwork. Totsuka is a massive fighting game fan. UU is fucking full of references to street fighter already, and he's said before that he wanted to make a manga about fighting games. Dude loves them, so I'm not saying this baselessly. It's to the point where my conspiracy theory is that this started as a hypothetical fighting game roster.

I'll just go through the first few in order and then some notables:

Andy - Shoto. A mixed fighter who specializes at having good tools for any distance. Usually featuring a long-range projectile (parts bullet), a wide reaching mid-screen poke (Crescent series), and an approach option (Fucking flying.) Also, many Shotos have an "install" form, where they unleash a dormant power and transform into a more dangerous, aggressive version of themselves. Come on, dude has a Victor install. Also, "cocky immortal" is a very common fighting game archetype narratively, and one of my personal favorites tbh.

Fuuko - Setplay debuff character. Usually relies on defensive play, mixups, and pokes. When you come to understand the target well enough, you can push your luck, find their pressure point, and land a single glancing hit that applies a debuff that allows you to steamroll the opponent. And like. Falling in love with the opponent and then using that love to understand them is exactly how Fuuko fights. Characters like Londrekia from Under Night are a good touchstone here.

Shen - Chinese stereotype martial artist. This is a common thing in fighting games. Also, they tend to focus really heavily on mixups, forcing the opponent into making bad calls by faking one move and going for another - finding the truth through untruth, as it were.

Void - Bigbody close-range brawler. The dude literally walks into the boxing ring dressed like Balrog from Street Fighter. I mean, come on.

Gina - This is where my theory gets Weird but bear with me. Gina is the bigbody grappler. Grapplers in fighters are slow-moving, highly defensive, and focus primarily on forcing pressure by existing. Grapplers are scary because they don't have to change their position at all to force you to have to play differently. Plus, Gina is associated with her big barrier around her at all times that limits her movement and would make her hitbox larger. Also, her giant Unchange hands are a phenomenal grappler tool. Also, when fighters try to be subversive and make a grappler that isn't a massive guy, they almost always do it by making it a small girl who plays identical to a big guy.

Top - Obligatory rushdown fighter. His new 101 interpretation feels basically tailor-made for rushdown play tbh. Give him a rekka series and we're fucking good.

Rip - Motherfucking CHARGE CHARACTER BABY. This one is entirely because Rip literally has Guile's flash kick and a sonic boom, he does them on screen.

Phil - Full screen zoner. Also the amount of fighting games that have just one extremely weird robot character is absurd, he's basically tailor made to be the obligatory One Robot.

Billy - Copycat fighter. These aren't common anymore, but used to be more common back when sprites were frequent and tracing over another character's sprites was way faster than making a new animation. A character whose entire premise is using other fighters' moves, copying their abilities into an entirely new kit. Mechanically, these characters tend to have weird, disparate kits with a lot of unique options that otherwise would never be on a kit together, allowing them to adapt their playstyle to be the exact perfect enemy to whoever they're facing. Also "bouncing gunslinger" is a very very common fighting game trope, since fighters tend to balance out guns' innate power with weird firing angles.

Juiz - Midrange bait and punish swordfighter. Prioritizes pokes from every angle, allowing you to react and punish everything your opponent can do. Usually calm-collected fencers personality-wise. Maps perfectly to Unjustice's idea - wait until you know what your opponent's intent is, then negate their Justice.

Julia - Protege character who takes after two other members of the cast - being Fuuko and Juiz. Their fighting style usually is a mix of the two, combining their best aspects, copying their moves exactly sometimes, with their own unique aspects in there to show her own persona growing alongside their influence.

Latla - Actively a reference to Rose from Street Fighter. So. Rose from Street Fighter.

Backs - Joke character. You lose to this in bracket, you're going to be posting some real scrubquotes shit.

I can do this for almost every single Negator in the entire manga. The only characters I can't find easy maps to are Chikara, Sean, Tella, Ichico, Lucy, and whatever Unchaste's name was. (this may change if Unchaste actually ever appears again.) But they're all not fighters anyway, they're all support characters or literal children dying of an incurable disease.

#undead unluck

[carlyraejepsans]

Sans Undertale.

the funny one. blue guy. skeleton dude. if u please

favorite thing about them: god how to choose. i love how contradictory he is. i love how much he blends into the background and has a net zero relevance on the game's story, and yet he sticks out like a sore thumb, both thematically and tonally. the judgement spiel makes him the direct deliverer of a core game mechanic, and yet he's... such an outsider about it. i love how morally grey he is. a resonance hybrid between a painfully selfless good man and a self serving bastard. he's the depressed nihilistic man. he is his girlfriend's manic pixie dream girl. he is just some guy. he is the last barrier against universal annihilation. he serves cunt (but only once). he parallels flowey in his refusal to engage the narrative, but whereas the narrative starts orbiting flowey instead, sans condems himself as the audience to the player's actions. #finalgirl. also it's still a theory, but if the otherworld stuff is ever confirmed ingame that will make him the most video game character of all fucking time. hands down. no competitors.

least favorite thing about them: every morning i wake up and i stare in the mirror and i ask myself "do i wanna fuck sans undertale??" and i hesitate. and well i could do without that kind of pressure

favorite line: "that's a promise" "besides. chances are... i've already tried to steer you in the right direction. so what can i say? what can i say that will change the mind of a being like you...?"

brOTP: i like whatever he and grillby got going on. that barman/regular comradery, the mood of the bar late at night and being the only client left. the silent vulnerability of it. it's all hypothetical since grillby doesn't really Have much of a presence in the game, but they obviously get along well. alphys too, what a pair of nerds. oh my god i didn't mention papyrus. oh well, they don't feel like a brotp tbh, it's like. they're halves of the same coin. sans inevitably implies papyrus in my mind, and vice versa. do NOT separate them.

OTP: do you have to fucking ask

nOTO: you know people usually put stuff like incest or age gap ships here because they make them understandably uncomfortable, but if there's a ""ship"" that i violently HATE re:sans it's. whenever they make him and toriel a mother-son dynamic. i am not talking about platonic or qpr soriel, i love those as well, they are besties first and lovers maybe, i mean SPECIFICALLY the take that she's his mother. no the fuck she's not. infantilization of sans and mommyification of toriel aside, that's the entire point of their friendship she is NOT his mother. they're on the same level, he is literally the first person she's gone eye to eye with as an equal in her centuries of isolation and THAT is what helps her snap out of her cycle. she is not his superior, he is not her protège. it grosses me out so much.

random headcanon: half decent singer, but hates to sing in public unless he's being a clown on purpose. used to sing papyrus to sleep as a baby. that's a pretty standard hc though, uhhhh.... he hates drinking. though he's surprisingly knowledgeable about corks, for some reason.

unpopular opinion: abby i'm so sorry i know u like it & i 🤝 about it in some cases ex: specific fics we both like, but he does NOT canonically have 1HP outside of a genocide battle. and i'd really appreciate it if people stopped pushing that hc on everyone else.

song i associate with them: Pinch me by the Barenaked Ladies, and If I Ever Feel Better by Phoenix. helplessness but silly and helplessness but funky. v sans songs

favorite picture of them:

heart eyes motherfucker

#gonna finish a couple of these before i do the fanfic idea one #answered asks #undertale #sans #mtt game show

[team-avia]

Okay so my insomnia is really bad so I’m going to force you to listen to my raving and rambling about RL theories because I saw some old promotional stuff and now my mind is galaxy braining right now

SO HERE IT GOES

(Sorry if this has been brought up before btw and is old news)

Obvious potential spoilers!!! Beware everyone else!!!

This motherfucking promo image is the source of my thoughts, especially after playing Cass’s and Bella’s demo. Particularly the symbols used for every character:

Cassandra: obviously an prodigy actress and star of the department but the further we get into her demo we realize there’s more behind the diva persona than meets the eye— hence the symbol, while classic in theater, can also reflect her emotional state and her need to cover it up with smiles and arrogance. Her nightmares and sense of commitment to potential romantic lovers maybe be a symptom of a more deep reason.

Bela: THE HEART like bruh obviously it in reference to whatever Miranda did to her before the game started—being heartless and what not. And how she’ll eventually regain her ‘heart’ if we go down the route right.

Daniela: so far she’s seems normal, well adjusted, and tame in comparison to her sisters. Key world being SEEMS. There’s definitely something broiling beneath the surface with her and I bet it has to do with her family troubles and her always putting on a brave face. Hence the rose but the notable thorns beneath it. Every rose has its thorns and what not. Idk if it has anything to do with the rowdy crowd she associates with.

Angie: the doll obviously fitting her RE origin and over all her personality, sweet, kind, and maybe bombastic. But look closely—there’s a tear on the doll’s face. Like Cass (and maybe Dani) she has a mask—aka being a party animal and overall alcoholic. It may have something to do with being Donna’s niece and I’m assuming Claudia’s daughter. But where’s the latter???? I’m sensing a dark back story here and her maladapting to her mother’s death.

The last three are the hardest to theorize because we haven’t seen much of them in the Demos but I’ll slightly theorize here:

Donna: the recluse of the campus is pictured with a syringe. Could be a nod to her RE origin being with her pollen/hallucinations but could also have to do with why she’s so shy and introverted. Maybe in the similar vein to Angie’s, what with her sister and what not.

Alcina: Wine is an obvious choose to use for her. Bitch loves her red. Idk what else to pull from this. Again hard to speculate with no demo introducing her. It’s giving wine mom energy and not in the fun way.

Miranda: this bitch has some fucking powers or something—giving hag in the swamp vibes and doing shit to people. Bela with her heartlessness (and maybe Cass’s nightmares?). Also Mia being a witchy gal and giving Miranda a gift that’s warm? Hella sus. The Corvus skull is obvious to her RE origins but also a nod to witchcraft and supernatural things. Also a symbol of death. Bitch be brewing shit idk.

Anyways those are my thoughts. Idk how accurate this is and, based on how old the pic is, could be completely wrong. I’ve spent too many hours thinking on the Demo for it to be healthy so this was a long time coming.

Feel free to cuss me out for how wrong I am. I just needed to get my thoughts out there.

Make sure you take care of yourselves! Love you guys! Stay safe and healthy!

I DONT KNOW HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS WITHOUT SPOILING ANYTHING BUT

thank you for noticing the little details 😭 ❤️ ive been waiting for someone to notice HAHAHAHA

finch

#mail 💌 #finchmod🌻 #ALSO if anyone wants to theorize some more PAY ATTENTION TO EVERYONES EYES!! even the npcs!! theres a reason some are different :) #ALSO I HOPE YOURE DOING WELL DESPITE INSOMNIA #🍞🍞🍞🍞 may your day be blessed with bread

[nerdylilpeebee]

Watched a playthrough of Poppy Playtime chapter 3, and I have thoughts:

First, who the fuck is Ollie??? We never see him. I don't trust him. I honestly have a theory that Ollie is either The Prototype and for some reason the Prototype wants us to reach him (he obviously has no issue killing the other toys, given he murders Catnap), or one of the other big monsters (like the box one from the multiplayer game).

Next, I refuse to believe that Huggie is dead no matter what Poppy says. Not only is Huggie a major mascot and thus, business wise, it'd make a LOT of sense to keep him around for one final obstacle between you and the prototype, but he's the only antagonist who's corpse we do not see. That added to the fact that in Chapter 2 there was a bloody trail and some blue fur leading to a vent and yeah, I don't think Huggie is gone.

And our character... I know it says we are supposed to be a former employee, but by the Gods are we short. XD we are one short motherfucker. Which leads me to theorize something... What if we're not the former employee, but their child? And we look so similar to that person that none of the toys can tell we aren't? It's been a long time, supposedly, so you'd think there'd be no way they could seriously know this is the same person just by looking at them.

Miss Delightful was honestly one of the scariest creatures so far. XD the rest were terrifying, but there's just something uniquely scary about what is supposed to be a teacher, a person dedicated to protecting and teaching children, talking about killing all the children if she knew where they were and choosing to kill us. Tho it is fascinating she gave us the chance to turn around and leave when we first enter the school. It IS also fascinating that seemingly, she didn't take part in the Hour of Joy. She was locked inside the school with the rest of the teachers, which from what I could tell was either during or just after the Hour of Joy (she didn't know where the kids were, which tells me that if she DID take part, it was solely inside the school and for some reason the kids were not there), and became what she is now apparently because of Catnap. Which reveals something uniquely sadistic about the Prototype and his "direct disciples." They literally turned to preying on the other toys as soon as the humans were out of the way. Which makes it clear "the hour of joy" was not just some act of rebellion, they were, as Poppy put it, just killing to kill.

As for what attacked Kissy Missy at the end... I honestly don't think it was the prototype. I think it's gonna be Huggie. Huggie is still unaccounted for and the only antagonist who's corpse we do not see. And I have no doubt he could defeat Kissy, especially if he caught her off-guard (which she would have been at the time).

#poppy playtime #poppy playtime chapter 3 #chapter 3 #chapter 3 spoilers #poppy playtime spoilers #huggy wuggy #poppy

[satanspissbaby]

Life is Strange rant

** Spoiler warning**

this rant will contain spoilers for the game Life is Strange also if you notice any grammar mistakes please ignore them i have trouble writing.

I've seen many fans theorize that the storm is Rachel trying to get her revenge on Arcadia Bay and to me it really doesn't make sense cuz why? like why would she wipe out an entire town because two people killed her idk the theory just never made sense. I've also heard that Rachel created the storm because she never got to leave Arcadia Bay like she wanted and again I say why would she kill innocent people because she didn't get to leave. The incentive just  Doesn't make sense. Especially because it's confirmed by the game developers that she is the ghost doe and when you discover Rachel's body in episode 4 the doe bows its head and fades away that's Rachel moving on after her body is discovered. so what she decides to just come back and just be like BAM here's a big storm motherfuckers I'm killing you all. no it just doesn't make sense. I personally believe the storm is caused by Max 100% cuz when you fuck up a timeline consequences happen it's an all-time Alterating / travel media. So by saving Chloe in the bathroom saving her from the ricocheted bullet saving Chloe from getting ran over by a train it's like man the universe is obviously trying to tell you something Let that bitch die. because she continues to save Chloe and to mess around with reversing time and time traveling she's bound to get some kind of consequence and this storm is clearly the consequence. I'm about to get controversial here I'm bay over bae everyday and in the ending if you choose to sacrifice Chloe it's implied that the storm doesn't happen so how could it be Rachel's Storm because if it was Rachel even if you sacrifice Chloe shouldn't the storm still happen because it's supposed to be Rachel's revenge I don't know the theory just never made sense.

#life is strange #max caulfield #chole price #rachel amber #amberprice

[moderndaypandora]

Got tagged by @notallsandmen for a WIP paragraph game, and I’m incredibly flattered, considering ... this doesn’t feel on the level of fic, this is fun little sketches of dialogue at most. But this is what I had, so here’s more of the mortal dreamling silliness (previous bits: modern day mortal dreamling and newlyweds with ravens)

How Hob asked Johanna to be his witness for his wedding:

He texted her asking if she was free that afternoon, because he needed her for something.  Historically "something" has meant anything from "taste-testing 3 different scone recipe variations to figure out the best one" to "hustling drunk pricks at darts". Likewise, Hob has done her favors ranging from picking up tampons to providing an alibi. In theory there is a ledger of favors owed, but in reality there will never be a balancing of books (because they're best friends, even if Johanna is too prickly to admit it and Hob is too smart to).

Johanna texted back "yeah, what's up?", and practically broke a land speed record pressing "Call" when she got the response.

Johanna: what the fuck kind of text exchange is confirming I'm around and then sending "getting married today, hello, witness!" and a selfie of you and some goth twink?

Hob: it felt pretty self-explanatory

Johanna: last I'd checked, you weren't even seeing anybody!

Hob: things change?

Johanna: I got dinner with you 5 weeks ago, you bastard, and you were single then.

Hob: ... things change fast?

Johanna: how the fuck did you even meet him?

Hob: I was running back from class during that awful rainstorm last month, and he was just outside my tube station.

Johanna: Hob.

Hob: His umbrella'd broken and he was soaking wet, and he looked absolutely miserable, poor darling.

Johanna: ...

Hob: So I offered him towels and dry clothes, since my flat was just up the road. And by the time the rain stopped I knew I wanted to marry him, and he said yes.

Johanna: what lunatic just follows strange men home?

Hob: he was pretty suspicious until I gave him my phone so he could text my address to his sister.

Johanna: and she was somehow fine with it, like 'yeah, go on'?


Hob:

Hob: he got a bit distracted by my phone background and never actually texted her.

Johanna: the fuck

Hob: you know Julian of Norwich is gorgeous

Johanna: your cat is a lesser demon escaped from hell. I'm going to exorcise your cat someday

Hob: Jules is a sweetheart. She doesn't even hunt birds!

Johanna: That thing won't kill any of the bloody birds in your neighborhood because she's saving all her energy to someday murder me and you know it.

Hob: ... undeserved paranoia about my extremely photogenic cat aside --

Johanna: WELL-deserved!

Hob: --will you be my witness?

Johanna: Left it a bit late, if you're asking me today. Did everybody else say no?

Hob: Didn't ask anybody else. Been planning to ask you since Dream said yes, but I figured if I gave you too much notice you'd flee the country.

Johanna: [tearing up, because even if you're an independent badass, it's nice to hear you're somebody's person] you're fucking right I would.

(Johanna's custom ringtone on Hob's phone is from Sweeney Todd, the final verse in Johanna where you can hear the body drop ("Wake up, Johanna, another bright red day"), because Hob and Johanna are black-hearted bastards/absolutely in cahoots with each other and think it’s funny. Hob's ringtone is Being Alive from Company ("Somebody need me too much...").  Sondheim all the way, motherfuckers)

#dreamling #hob is a medievalist and he would name his cat after an anchoress #i don't make the rules except when i do #johanna: wtf do i even wear to be a witness #hob: idk nothing obviously bloody or stained? #johanna: mm. what are you wearing? #hob: khakis and a button up #johanna: not the high-waisted ones right? #hob: there is nothing wrong with them #johanna: you're going to look like the slutty professor wannabe you are #johanna: and i bet you're going to roll your sleeves up #hob mid-sleeve roll: can't i look nice for my future husband? #johanna: yeah nice. not Mr April from an Academia Gone Wild calendar #hob: ... how am i supposed to take that #johanna: as a suggestion to look like a respectable spousal candidate #hob: we got engaged on less than 24 hours' acquaintance #hob: there is no chance of respectability #johanna: jesus fucking christ #johanna: you're paying for all my drinks at the reception #hob: by reception do you mean at the pub afterwards #johanna: clearly you prick. and it's going to be decent liquor. none of that bottom shelf swill #hob: we are celebrating my marriage afterall #johanna: [groaning] text me the address and don't give me any shit when i show up with a flask #johanna: you absolute bastard #hob: <3 #dream is 'sir not appearing in this sketch' because he had to go back to his flat and get his own appropriate clothing #and also provide proof of life and zero mental impairment to death #because she was still hoping it was a joke/she could talk him around to waiting longer

[batfamfucker]

Episode Three things I loved:

Bill and Frank. Obviously.

Old gays in general. Two gay men who get to grow old together and die together happily (As happy as you can be in the apocalypse).

Secret basement below the basement.

Bill's bunker. It's awesome.

Bill being Autistic for his entire screen time. Tell me that man isn't neurodivergent. I love him.

The fact Bill and Frank died together and it was lovely and they were happy instead of Bill finding Frank hanging like in the game. I'm glad they got to go together peacefully.

The gay coding with their words. 'A man who knows which wine to put with rabbit' 'I know I don't seem like the type' 'No, you do.' He read that motherfucker. 'Who's the girl' 'There is no girl' 'I know'

The piano scene. The fucking song throughout the ep. And the end as Joel and Ellie drive away. The open window. The message within the lyrics.

The cute little town.

Them bickering and being a married couple.

The meme-ability of Bill. 'The government ARE Nazis!' And 'You WHAT?' I need them as meme templates thanks.

Honestly that whole scene 'They ARE' 'They are NOW but they weren't THEN'

Bill's fucking Illuminati stuff. The hilarity of him staying alive because of his conspiracy theories.

Bill being a fucking badass tbh. The minute FEDRA leaves, just breaking into everywherr. Seeing him set up that town, having a full blown plan, setting up traps and building a goddamn generator, relaxing as he lets his traps take care of infected, just enjoying his steak and laughing. Knowing he does that a lot 'Gets me everytime'. Man's was made for this. He slayed tbh. That whole scene was so satisfying.

I was scared Frank was gonna use Bill, and he did at first, but then seeing him genuinely begin to love and care for him. Refusing to let Bill die when he got shot even though Bill told him Joel could care of him, wanting to marry Bill on his last day.

Honestly Frank just being sassy and dragging Bill lmao. 'We need friends babe. Sweetheart please you just sit in the basement all the time. You need a social life other than me, and for my own sanity, I need one too. So I've made a friend over the radio and you can't do anything about it. Now get me my paint'.

Tess being an AllyTM. Her and Frank being besties whilst their paranoid husbands scowl at each other.

Joel unable to say the word 'partner' for Bill and Frank lmao. You just adopted a lesbian. Honey, you've got a big storm coming.

I was hoping Ellie would get to meet Bill and he would tell her about Frank (Before going into the ep, based on the game) so she would have a nice little internal 'I'm not the only gay in the world thank god' moment. But I didn't mind since the whole episode was amazing.

The strawberry scene.

Bill apologising for getting older quicker but then it's Frank that needs the help later. My heart.

Frank and his paintings and beautiques.

Frank knowing Bill poured the pills into the wine bottle so he'd die too.

The marriage scene. Them exchanging rings. Having the same last meal and wine they had for their first meal together. Sitting next to each rather than across the table. A shot of the hole that Frank fell into, where they met. Sobbing. I love them.

They are the definition of 'In sickness and in health, till death do us part' and it hurt but it was some beautifully.

Knowing any Homophobic Gamer BoysTM were ripping their hair out at this episode.

It ripped my heart out but the fucking skeletons. The baby blanket and transition to seeing that baby and the mother. Knowing what happens. Hearing a mother comfort her kids and seeing a old lady and a whole community of families and knowing what happens to them.

All the fuck the government stuff. It feels like all the fucked up shit they did is so realistic and would happen.

The letter for Joel. 'Keep Tess safe'. And the symbolism of knowing there's at least one person (Ellie) worth saving. Worth living for. My heart.

Also, though. 'Hehehehe'

Ellie reading 'hehehehe'

The casualness of human bodies in the apocalypse. Periods actually referenced in an apocalypse show! Joel tossing Ellie some deodorant! Him being prepared to take care of a teenage daughger again! Ellie telling him he needs to shower (Also their banter). Ellie stocking her bag with toilet paper.

Joel making a small gravestone for Tess out of rocks from the river. That hurt.

Dad Joel coming out more and more each episode.

The forest scene. Joel giving his jacket to Ellie to sleep in so she wouldn't be cold. Him making sure she eats even if he doesn't.

Ellie roasting Joel. Joel roasting Ellie. 'Shit at shooting or life in general' Joel's continous 'offended but mostly confused I just got dragged by a 14 year old' face.

The arcade machine.

The repeat of the 'Anything bad?' 'Just you' joke.

Ellie being lowkey a psychopath again? The basement scene and her seeming to enjoy killing the infected dude.

Ellie being upset he stashes the massive gun. Because same.

The plane scene. Ellie's excitement all episode. Every question she asks. That's my Ellie.

Joel's dark humour. 'So did they'.

History Lesson With Joel.

Flour Zombies Confirmed. It's no longer Plants Vs Zombies, it's Plant Zombies.

The way he said the date of the outbreak, the subtle pain, and you can tell it's engraved because of that reason, as well as Sarah's death, and his birthday. I can't wait until Ellie finds out it was his birthday. And/Or about Sarah.

Contractor (?) Joel dragging Bill about his fences and using his KnowledgeTM to bait him into trading. Him being right.

Ellie's first time in a car. 'It's a spaceship'

'Women's shirts'. Joel really is thinking of her and it's nice to see he's used to taking care of a teenage girl and how he goes back into that role with ease. Him getting used to that again, even if begrudgingly at first.

Everytime Joel tells Ellie off. Dad Mode Joel Activated.

The fucking seat belt scene. Joel telling her to put her seatbelt on. The parallel of him saying that to Ellie like he did with Sarah. Him leaning over her and Ellie being completely comfortable with him doing so. Her not knowing what a seatbelt is.

Joel trying to get Ellie not to play music but then not letting her turn it off when he realises it's a song/artist he likes.

Joel warming up in the final shot when he likes the music. Ellie hating it. It's giving Dad Who Listens To Smooth Radio Whilst You Die Inside. I know because I've been there.

No school scene. Not introducing the bloater so soon. I'm glad we're building to that. Makes it seem much more impactful.

Basically the entire episode.

All I 'didn't like' (/Joking) was that they didn't hide literally everything in that house in the secret basement below the basement so raiders won't find anything when they come, so it'd still be there if they ever need to go back there. But that's just because I wouldn't be able to deal with it if that were me. I'd be making sure no one finds that shit. It's mine, and I'd go back for it when possible. Maybe. At some point. Hopefully. Or live there myself if I wasn't in Joel and Ellie's situation. I also wanna see Joel swinging upside-down from a chain at some point.

Joking aside, this episode is great. The show continues to not only meet my expectations, but exceed them. I can't take the fact that there's only nine episodes this season because I don't want it to end and I hope season two isn't about the second game, but for the show's later seasons to be about the years and adventures Joel and Ellie have together after the events of the first game, if season one meets the end of the first game. Because I love them and need more of this.

I'm so excited to see where this show goes. It has the perfect balance of sticking to the source material yet also doing new stuff that also surprises people who have played the game. I adore it.

#The Last Of Us #The Last Of Us Spoilers #TLOU #TLOU Spoilers #Joel Miller #Ellie Williams #Ellie Miller #Blil and Frank #Tess #Pedro Pascal #Bella Ramsey #Nick Offerman #Murray Bartlett #Anna Trov #I think this took an hour lmao #Worth it tho

[stop-spreading-this-poll]

Round 1 Poll 30: So Much Over A Mistranslation

One Piece submission:

A while ago a translation of a translation with bad English translated Law's line calling Corazon a ""大好きだった人"" (literally just ""someone [he] loved"") as him being his ""most treasured person"" and people just fucking RAN with it and I still saw it in edits years later. I've always hated it and I always will. People were using it in meta analysis and theory discussion about how he loved Corazon more than his family like,,, he literally did not fucking say that.

Ace Attorney submissions:

Manfred von Karma is not a child abuser!!!!!

Manfred von Karma is a canonical child abuser. That's just fanon and the only ""evidence"" is a mistranslation.

Manfred von Karma is often painted as abusive on fanworks, and while there's technically nothing wrong with that, the people who subscribe to this headcanon often refuse to entertain the idea that what theyre saying is just that. A HEADCANON. Theyre also sometimes downright hostile to anyone who likes Manfred in general. Usually, what they quote as ""proof"" is a line translated incorrectly and likely in bad faith in a side game, or just straight up fanfic. My friend group encounters this so much that we have a name for this phenomenon.

Manfred Von Karma is an abusive father

the fandom says that manfred von karma is canonically an abusive father. he literally isn't.

Manfred von Karma was not a child abuser

Manfred von Karma is a child abuser

manfred von karma beat his kids

these motherfuckers make up SO MUCH DUMB SHIT all the time but the one that kills me most is that they have a widely based fanon that manfred von karma is abusive when it's completely up to interpretation in the games. he's just a mean bitch and a murderer so they decided he beats/grooms/emotionally neglects his kids too and its so boring i took this to another blog and so did a lot of others in the fandom, the ""misinterpreted blorbo""/""he would not fucking say that"" bracket. immediately the mod was FLOODED with these people claiming that i was straightup lying, WITH MORE LIES. the most insane thing i saw was someone said that manfred allegedly burned letters that miles sent to phoenix when they were separated. not only did phoenix never send letters in canon (popular headcanon) but manfred most certainly was never said to have intercepted them! they were literally quoting wrightworth fanfiction they had read or some shit. its so fucking weird. people who see him as just kind of a silly murder dad with a really fucked up place in the story literally get called abuse apologists. and then when we're like 'BRO WHERE IS THE ABUSE' the other side is just like. 'play the game lol!!!!' meanwhile i, autistic, have played it 546445 times and half the people arguing with me watched one LP in like 2013 and have subsisted entirely off of twitter fanon and ao3 every since. please let me exit this hell

Manfred von karma abuses his kids

manfred von karma was abusive reasons it is false: he most definately was not the one line of ""proof"" (from a dubiously canon source) was a mistranslation from japanease to english von karma did not call miles worthless he called him inexperienced yes von karma is a horrible man but he was not a bad father

#stop spreading this insert fandom here poll #one piece #ace attorney #one piece law #one piece corazon #manfred von karma

[waitmyturtles]

SPOILERS AND ANALYSIS FOR THE EIGHTH SENSE, EPISODES 9 and 10. TURN AWAY IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET! LONG POST!

MY HEART. IS. SO. FULL. 

Episode 9 almost (ALMOST!) reached Bad-Buddy-episode-10-level for me. That was a hell of an episode. 

And I am so thrilled, SO FREAKING THRILLED, to have been proven wrong about my theories as to whether or not episode 6 was “real” to the series. It was very real, and clearly so meaningful and contributive to Jae Won (as well, of course, to Ji Hyun), that... it sent Jae Won running, literally.

One more passing thought before I dig into the meal: 

I haven’t dug into this at ALL yet, but I think there might purposefully be a lot of similarities between The Eighth Sense and Where Your Eyes Linger, which (I think this is accurate, but PLEASE correct me if I’m wrong) was one of the first non-Strongberry Big KBLs to come out. I went back to Viki to make sure to confirm this, but Jung Seo In -- the restaurant ahjumma and Ji Hyun’s boss in T8S -- also plays a restaurant proprietor in Where Your Eyes Linger, and actually asks Han Tae Joo and Kang Gook “who’s top and who’s bottom” when she first meets them in WYEL (a little squick but she made it cute for that time). The promo picture for WYEL on Viki is of the two leads lying on the floor with their heads touching.... a different orientation, but a lot of the same feeling, as the opening of episode 10 of T8S. And, finally: Han Tae Joo of WYEL and Jae Won of T8S are both “the chairman’s son.” They are both sons in need of care.

That’s enough for a comparison for now to WYEL, because I haven’t spent enough time digging into it, but I’ll return to Ji Hyun’s ahjumma in a second, because she’s a badassssssss. Anyway:

Episode 9: What can I say. As with Bad Buddy episode 10, I’m struggling to get words down. I love a ride to a gorgeous union. 

And Jae Won, HONEY, Y’ALL TOOK ME ON A HELL OF A RIDE. DUUUUUUUUUUUUDDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEE. DUDE. I wanna be friends with you!

We learned some things. Ji Hyun brings light into Jae Won’s life. When we saw Jae Won with Eun Ji -- it was always in darkness (except for surf club earlier in the series, but Ji Hyun was there with Jae Won). jae Won eats with Eun Ji in a pojangmacha at night. He sits with Eun Ji in a dark library. He walks with Eun Ji on dark streets. She tries to kiss him in the nighttime. 

Ji Hyun sees that -- and something twists inside of Jae Won.

Then we get Jae Won and Eun Ji in the dark library. And, JEEEEZUS. WHOA! UM! I. did. not. expect. the. long. game. to. be. played. LIKE. THAT.

Motherfucker played a LONG-ASS, I’M A NAVY VETERAN, I CHASED AFTER YOU, I SAW YOU WITH ANOTHER GUY, I WAITED FOR YOU, I WAITED UNTIL MORNING, I SAW YOU WERE STILL WITH HIM, I SAW YOU WALKING OUT OF THE MOTEL WITH HIM, I SAW THAT, I CAME BACK, YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE OF MY FEAR ABOUT JI HYUN AND THE ACCIDENT, AND I REVENGE-DATED YOU, KINDA GAME, HEADSHAKE, SHRUG, I’M LOOKING AT MY NAILS, PSH.

BRO. WHAT. THE. EFF. 

I want a Cardi B song about this shit. Dude, you played that better than ANY female character in a K-drama that I have EVER seen, my man! You actually WENT AND DATED HER, LIKE KINDA LITERALLY-BUT-MAYBE-YOUR-HEART-WASN’T-ACTUALLY-INTO-IT-SO-MAYBE-IT-WAS-FOR-THE-ASSIGNMENT-DEALIE??? Good lord. 

Like, can that become a K-drama/KBL trope? Hot DAMN. ANYWAY. (Actually, one more reference to this for episode 10, but enough of the all caps, ha.)

You know what that means, right? While all that was going on, Jae Won’s heart WASN’T with Eun Ji. He was processing his stuff with Ji Hyun on his own, and with his therapist (once more, lol, @emotionallychargedtowel, take me to your analysis! I gotta know what you thought about the therapist calling Jae Won selfish!). 

Jae Won said it himself. He’s rooted in depression. He’s rooted in guilt about his brother’s death. He’s rooted in guilt over Ji Hyun’s accident. I will posit that episode 6 still felt like a “dream,” likely because of meds, likely because of Jae Won’s headstate. It was a “real” moment for the series but for where Jae Won’s head was at, he was likely battling a depressive episode with the continued, chronic guilt of his life. So things seemed fuzzy and jumpy -- because they were fuzzy and jumpy for Jae Won. 

(Whenever I try to describe these states to people, I try to think of relative moments... like being at work with four hours of sleep. Driving while your contact lens has something in it. You’re fuzzily in and out of reality. Jae Won’s depression is deeper than that. But I try to relate to it somehow with those metaphors.)

So the therapist does her own thing by calling Jae Won “selfish” for rooting in his pain. How we choose to judge her behavior is whatever -- it still gives me the jibbles, and I lean towards the utterly wonderful @emotionallychargedtowel for better analysis about therapy than me.

But, as we very clearly saw -- Jae Won’s breakthrough came through the restaurant ahjumma. Remember: she represents a break from tradition, as I said last week. She’s done with the bullshit of living by the rules of others.

She sees university students in and out, everyday, eating samgyupsal and drinking their sorrows away. She sees former students coming back to say hi. 

She’s been around the block, and has seen people get around the block themselves. She knows the advice that she’s giving to Jae Won. Unlike the therapist, she’s not gonna make Jae Won feel bad about himself. She’s just going to feed him and HELP HIM.

LET GO OF IT ALL, HONEY. GO AND GET YOUR MAN. 

And Jae Won finally let go. He went to the water. He took us with him to a flashback to the sea, to the light, where he’s the happiest. He took us to where he’s the freest that he can be.

And Ji Hyun called him back to Ji Hyun’s side. Called Jae Won back through music, and Jae Won heard him, and ran to Ji Hyun, and they embraced -- and it was perfect. 

I’m gonna be that auntie when I grow up.

Episode 10: There are a couple of side discussions with friends that I want to refer to, but let me say first that I have zero issues with this light, lovely conclusion. I am a SLAVE for K-drama tropes, and I didn’t mind that this episode had a few. This series did so beautifully to NOT hew to tropes, and to create a new paradigm of filmmaking in KBLs, that I was TOTALLY FINE with seeing some sweet tropey behavior -- the drinking, the partying, the dancing, the dance music. The love games. The heads leaning on shoulders. Coffees in cans. Let me give you my jacket. 

Friends @shortpplfedup and @lurkingshan and @wen-kexing-apologist: I’m okay with the forgiveness to Tae Hyung and Eun Ji. Because. 

I think Jae Won’s being a little shady, come awn. I think he popped his umbrella open. Just a little. Ji Hyun ADMITTED to being sassy, but I think Jae Won knew he was being just a little bitty-bit shady, and I’m gonna let the man have his. He’s a game-player. 

Eun Ji HAD TO ADMIT that she got her ass handed to her. And Ji Hyun and Jae Won both knew she’d have a hard time, internally. I’m fine with her being calm about it. She knew she fucked up the game, hard, when she got her ass caught cheating. We know she’s lame, she knows she’s lame, let’s live and move on.

I thought Jae Won’s read on Tae Hyung was great. Tae Hyung IS someone who wears his heart on his sleeve, however misguided it is. Humans are not perfect. Jae Won wants to be with honest people. (That’s why he dumped Eun Ji’s ass and handed her the receipts. He can forgive her, but he certainly AIN’T going out with her again.)

As Bed Friend ended with happy moment after happy moment -- I believe the filmmakers knew exactly what they were giving us with this finale. How we came to SUCH a happy ending just boggles me, but it was a loving and a sweet one. GO YOON WON AND JOON PYO. COME AWN. GO GO GO. (And go Bit Na! Reject that motherfucker. AND AE RI! GURL! I’m gonna miss you, nothing slides by you.)

And I want to refer back to something about the therapist conversation in episode 9 that got concluded in episode 10. I think it’s really important to note that BOTH Ji Hyun AND Jae Won took care OF EACH OTHER in these last two episodes.

Jae Won was rotting in guilt over not being able to TAKE CARE OF JI HYUN during the accident. Jae Won arguably got Ji Hyun in trouble. 

Ji Hyun, upon his recovery, TAKES CARE OF Jae Won. Ji Hyun handled the disciplinary committee. He gives Jae Won a disposable camera and encourages Jae Won’s photography. He continues to send Jae Won text messages, songs. Sending messages of hope and light and love. I’m still here, Jae Won, I haven’t left. Jae Won’s brother might not be here. Ji Hyun never left. 

What shocked Jae Won out of his stasis was the ahjumma’s words. I think Jae Won realized at that moment that -- AS AHJUMMA WAS SAYING ALL ALONG -- THAT JAE WON WAS OVERTHINKING THINGS. Once Jae Won could 

SEE. THE. LIGHT.

he was able to take off, and finally go back to Ji Hyun, in whole. 

(I think we know why the therapist’s office was dark. Jae Won couldn’t see the light in there. 

His light comes from Ji Hyun and the water.)

It’s a rarity, but I’m putting this on my short MUST WATCH list. This BLEW away any filmmaking expectations I previously had about KBLs. This was SINGULAR, groundbreaking, the actors ATE their roles, ATE THEM -- and it was utterly fulfilling.

PHENOMENAL SHOW. I’m going to miss this one TREMENDOUSLY. 

#the eighth sense #the eighth sense meta #jae won x ji hyun #ji hyun x jae won #i'll likely have more meta this weekend #stunning show

[fave-fight]

ROUND 2, MATCH 44

NO MAGIC, POWERS, WEAPONS, OR ADDITIONAL HELP FROM OTHERS

Isabelle:

“She's in Smash, also she's best friends with Doom Guy”

“She's probably got some pent up rage about being stuck with mayor duties, especially when the player neglects the games. She's cute and this tournament need more women. I'm so happy someone else thought about her, too.”

“If she can hold her own in Smash she can hold her own here. She deserves the chance let loose too. Let her wreck some people!”

Floyd Leech:

“If he stays in human form and has no mage stones, he's just Some Guy, so he still qualifies. This mafia motherfucker would FIGHT. One time when faced with a monster, everyone else was like "oh no, we need magic" and he was like "nah, let's punch it" and then he DID. He hasn't used his pointy teeth in canon yet, but he could in theory bite someone if necessary, and it would hurt like a bitch. He'd fight dirty, I just know it. Let him punch everything and then get punched in the face, it'd be so great.”

“This guy is a menace who almost never uses weapons or tools to terrorize people. He's strong and athletic, smart enough to get what he wants on a whim, and squeezes contract-breakers until they faint on a regular basis.”

“NOTE: Floyd is a magic boy, but the “no mage stone” thing is there because it means he won’t be able to use magic, because people in Twisted Wonderland can’t without accumulating deadly magic toxin unless they have the stones. He’s also a merman, but he’d be in his human form. His human form does have pointy teeth (like the anime character kind) but I’m not sure if they have any real effect in game other than to intimidate people. Other people in this game have them too who are allegedly “human.” And again, plenty of “human” anime characters have them. Myfeeling is that they shouldn’t be disqualifying on their own.  This game is about magic boys at a magic school, but don’t worry, they get into traditional fist-fights so often it’s literally a randomly generated event that can happen in your Guest Room space. And Floyd Leech would never use magic in a fist-fight. He’d think that was “no fun” or “totally lame.” His signature magical spell just nullifies other people’s magic that targets him… so he can fight them with his fists. Since no one else here has magic, it’s totally irrelevant.  Also I’m not sure he uses fists so much as he does something to his opponents that he describes as “squeezing” them. I don’t know entirely what he means by that when he’s in his human form, but how much it scares the faceless NPC students indicates to me that he’s found a way to make it work. I do know it’s supposed to have a whole mafia vibe to it. Because his dad (and his childhood friend he lowkey sort-of works for) have real mafia boss energy. And Floyd’s basically decided that if he’s going to do this mafia shtick it’s Capo or bust. Floyd doesn’t always feel like doing stuff, due to his wildly unpredictable mood swings, but it honestly seems like the thing he can most easily be convinced to do is beat the shit out of people. During the “Beanfest” event (which was somewhat analogous to a paintball match), he insisted on throwing his weapon away and beating up aforementioned childhood friend even though the game was over and he’d already lost, just because apparently “once Floyd has decided to fight nothing can be done about it" and you just have to fight him if you want to get on with the rest of your day. He’d started out that event “not really in the mood” but somehow ended up spending the entire day beating the hell out of every person he ran into. In the camping event, when all of the boys were being picked off by a monster in the woods one at a time and were panicking because they didn’t have magestones or cellphones and therefore couldn’t defend themselves with magic or call an adult for help, Floyd was literally just like “why don’t we just beat the shit out of it?” And then he DID. And it was awesome.  But before you think he’s just some sort of dumb thug, let me assure you that Floyd is actually one of Night Raven’s most intelligent students. He has a photographic memory and can create valuable gems in alchemy class with minimal effort. Unfortunately, his mood swings make it impossible for him to maintain a decent GPA. But he’s actually a smart, tactical fighter. He’s just violent and unstable. Oh and if you’re wondering, his personality is generally abrasive and confrontational. He regularly starts arguments with the most volatile people at the school, just to mess with them and see where it goes because he’s bored.  Finally, if it sweetens the deal for anyone, Floyd would wear some killer designer shoes to this fight. Don’t worry, they wouldn’t be dangerous/weaponized. They’d just be expensive and custom made. You know, so he can get upset when someone scuffs them up.  Like for real, is there anyone who deserves to be in a crazy bitch fist-fight more than a moody mafia prince who’s secretly some sort of genius, but seems to only truly love fighting and designer footwear? If there is, I can’t think of them. ”

#fight fight fight #round 2 #poll tournament #tournament poll #poll #polls #isabelle #isabelle animal crossing #floyd leech #twisted wonderland

[polyhexian]

Since Raine was a teacher I think once they have Hunter living in their home they would immediately start to notice the signs of abuse. They would probably have issues with Hunter eating the normal amount of food for a kid his age because Belos starved him and also Hunter probably wouldn’t really be a big fan of something like pasta with sauce but wouldn’t say anything because he’s too nervous to make Raine unhappy with him so he doesn’t really eat much despite being underweight.

Hunter would probably go stiff if they put a hand on his shoulder or flinch if they heard them in anyway upset with him.

Hunter would probably take all of Raine’s suggestions on what to do while in the house at orders and carry them out with military precision even if Raine just suggested they watch a cartoon on the crystal ball.

Hunter probably has a lot of nightmares too so Raine would wake up to him screaming in his sleep.

Like Raine had hunter for a short while and the whole time it’s just one terrible revelation of what a monster Belos truly was after another.

raine definitely starts off worried about what the fuck jasper wants with this minor but i mean really theres better ways to Steal A Child, it being this SPECIFIC child who is VERY difficult to steal ironically makes it less suspicious like. okay. legitimately what is your game. and also like again despite the fact raine has seen him throw this kind on his ass a hundred times, theyve also seen him fucking vaporize one of their allies for trying to kill him so like. truly. what is his game here.

and then like. once they see how truly BAD it is with hunter, the way he flinches, how DEEP the soldier persona goes, the food and the sleep and the isolation- then its like. well, fuck, i would have wanted to help him too. so 1. how did the martlet know about all this before anyone else, because he CLEARLY knew about all this before anyone else did 2. why didnt he just tell me the truth? 3. why DIDNT he just take him and run?

i think theyre putting pieces together and while they probably have multiple theories- they might not know about the grimwalker stuff yet, but they know this kid is an orphan and related to the emperor, they know he was found the day the previous golden guard died, they know the martlet has the same colour hair as hunter, they've seen it, they know hes incredibly protective of him, they know the martlet is scarred as fuck and an incredible combatant AND a high level magic user despite never using magic- once they find out hunter cant use magic without a staff? click, dude. thats probably genetic! this guy has been around about as long as the previous GG has been gone. he looks like hunter, he's protective of hunter, he never uses magic without a staff, and the second raine asks darius about the previous GG, knowing they were close, "hey, did you ever see that guy use magic without a staff?" that seals the deal dude. raine has clocked that motherfucker from a mile away.

only now like. thats a NEW concern. okay, cool! parent. got it. well that explains his intentions. but now like- wow, he HAS hit this kid a lot, even if his motivations were clearly rescuing him. can he even be TRUSTED with him? would hunter be healthy living with this guy? is he even capable of living like a normal person? he still wont take off his stupid fucking mask or tell them his stupid fucking name! and oh, fuck- if he's the previous gg, he's done some VILE shit. should they be doing something about HIM?

darius and raine im sure have a very exciting conversation putting all the jigsaw pieces together before they realize that jasper isn't dead, jasper is the martlet, jasper is a powerless witch, jasper has a son, and holy shit is that son fucked up and in dire need of help.

meanwhile jasper is like ho ho i am sooooo good at lying and secrets absolutely no one suspects anything

[calebwittebane]

also, finished my new vegas campaign. Leigh Has Achieved Her Mission or at least the closest approximation of it that the game let me achieve, which of course is the independent ending with a full securitron army and the support of the followers of the apocalypse. the only thing is i Fackin Forgor to deal with the fiends so they caused some problems but well the trouble they caused was to the ncr so i kinda dgaf. also i was surprised some khans showed up to help me at hoover dam! i actually felt kinda bad about it like no no... ive got this... you guys have been thru enough... you shouldnt have to protect the ncr from Anyone even the legion... please oomfies stay safe....

i think some of the remnants died??? idk only cannibal johnson was still with me at the legates camp. did they die?? im so sorry arcade i think theyve died. idk how. they were in power armor shooting gods lightning at enemies. whyd they die but boone didnt. boone was with me the whole time partially because earlier he was helping me with the kimball speech mission (which btw was the most awkward thing ever. love the uncoordinated animations and the crowd of 5 people. the speech that was impossible to understand like wtf is that guy saying. topped off with every npc involved getting locked in combat/fleeing at the end. love it) and i thought hed have fun with this too. well he did and he also had fun picking up rifles off of every legionnaire corpse. why does he do that. i check on him see his carrying capacity looks weird and there he is holding 8 rifles. boy drop it. drop it. now.

anyway. i kind of dont understand what happened with the brotherhood of steel, i think i had confused the game badly. i became besties with them rather early on, i even convinced mcnamara to let me join them (which like. youd think thatd have some curious implications but again, Unfinished Game) but i never talked them into making a truce with the ncr or anything. but for some reason i told mr house i did? like right before i decided i would Not be Trying The Mr House Route after all, a decision i made specifically over his insistence that i eliminate the brotherhood actually. and then yes man also acted like the bos were gonna help the ncr at hoover dam. and mcnamara kept saying he couldnt believe he would be helping the ncr even though again the subject had not once been breached. i was like ok. and then they did not in fact help the ncr. they didnt show up. wtf was that about. lies and treachery. after all i did for you. after i fixed your air conditioning. oh im sorry, was it the robots. did you not like the robots? scared of them?

and not only that, the boomers also didnt show up even though they were supposed to. motherfucker... what did i get you bastards that airplane for... you people were so annoying and unkind and i still helped you. because i thought i could count on you. for everything i did for you. loyal i hope your solar arrays break immediately. that guy who works with loyal idr your name i hope your gf breaks up with you and then you explode. i hope all of you explode. i shouldve known. i shouldve known better.

like thats so funny. of all the factions that i had recruited the ones that actually showed up to help were 1. The Elderly Ex-Soldiers Of The Horrid American Regime 2. the great khans, Unexpected And Unannounced. oh well. we still mowed through those bastards. thats right. thats right. all you centurions and other creeps, you stood no chonce. no chonce against this hungry hungry woman. she ate caesar, shes gonna eat all of you. thats how you deal with enemies and opponents and adversaries.

as for legate lanius i fully buy into the Legate Lanius Isnt Real theory. i mean yes ostensibly theres a guy, whose name Allegedly is lanius, and hes a legate. but hes just a propaganda figure. legate lanius The Cruel Merciless Force Of Destiny Itself, The Devil, Unpredictable, Cares For Naught But Victory, with all those crazy stories of how he became part of the legion. well thats not real. hes just a tall guy in a scary mask and he doesnt really wanna be here. like the fact that you can just talk him into retreating. like hey man this campaign has already cost you your leader and youre gonna keep having a bad time around these parts. take that taste the pain. and hes just like Yeah ok Theres wisdom in what you say Youre a worthy opponent indeed. Goo Bye Bye. and sprints away. ok. scariest guy east of the colorado river you guys. had to stay holed up in the little baby camp away from any fighting until the last big battle and even then he didnt leave the aforementioned little baby camp. he wasnt leading anything or anyone. he was in his tent scared and fingering himself. scram.

felt kinda bad throwing general oliver off the dam. it was an impulsive decision and i was like man i shouldnt have done that. i barely knew the guy. kind of a gruesome way to go. sure he pissed me off and was overall a bad person but i shouldnt be doing shit like that. doesnt inspire others' confidence in my Collected Trustworthy Nature. i think.

im really glad about the good endings i got for all my companions. they just all got really chill ending slides. theyre all just kinda hanging around the mojave helping people and being cool. arcade status: chillinnnng 👍 boone status: chillinnnng 👍 cass status: chillinnnng 👍 lily status: chillinnnng 👍 raul status: ghost cowboy. veronica status: chillinnnng 👍

anyway. i had fun. and so, this concludes the epic tale of Leigh The Hungry... Leigh The Water Drinker... Leigh The Devourer Of Armies.... Leigh The Hacker.... Leigh The Dubious... Leigh The Thief.... Leigh The Sleeper, The Taker Of Naps. and what a journey it was. in a perfect world women like her would not exist. but this is not a perfect world.