Anemone

i just be seeing shitposts and going "i can make this about rhythm doctor"

Lowk let them go on vacation to recover from whatever act 7 was. I tried to imagine what would fit each of them as characters, and also to just show their personalities through their clothes and poses lol. Here are the explanations for each of them! (Edega's is kinda short because... I mean look at the man. Tell me that doesn't look like him.)

I really love how these turned out! They all look really nice and I like the style. I should draw them like this more often. Here's the colorless version too because I like how the sketches looked lol

She's my fav code lyoko character I love her sm 😭 I hope I did her justice! Tried a new style with this one lol.

I always really liked the aspect of Aelita being just as powerful of a program as XANA if necessary (like that one part in Ghost Channel where she takes over the Kadik network and blows up the boiler room lmao) so I decided to make her break the 4th wall. As much as I love her character development there will always be a special place in my heart for S1 Aelita :')

(honestly I don't even know whether I like how this turned out but I spent too long on it I'm done)

Yeah. Y'all ever think about how Edega was literally watching his friend/partner of like 10+ years dying in front of him??? Yeah I just had to do this trend with them lol. Oh joy. How I love this game.

Genuinely, what were the devs cooking when it comes to Ian's writing?

I feel like I have to preface this by saying this loser is one of my favorite characters from the game, and was even my absolute fav before this patch. So, let's recap what we knew about him before 1.0, since I've been into this game for a few years now lol.

Okay, so, we meet this guy who's clearly a bit socially awkward, but is obviously very good with programming and tech. Ok. Cool. A nice setup in a game that generally focuses on character development and relationships between the characters. Right? Maybe he'll learn how to socialize more or communicate better with patients! ...Right?

It's still early on in the story, let's see what happens next!

...

Act 3 bossfight. 🫪

Aww, damn, that's so sad! :( Clearly, this will be very relevant for a story that takes place in a HOSPITAL. And also talks about showing up for the people you love despite your career/projects/work. Surely, since Paige is getting her own arc, he'll get his personal moment to shine too!

Act 4... exists.

Act 5 exists.

Okay, Act 6 update. Now that we're nearing the finale, we've gotta start addressing one of the two poster children of the game!

Oh ok, so he was definitely a little isolated when he was younger. Makes sense why he is the way he is. This couldn't just be him being written off as comedic relief! We'll certainly work through this, help his social anxiety, perhaps make him build a relationship with one of the other characters that ISN'T Paige once again.

... :)

Okay. Nope. Not in this act. Understandable, we've got a lot of other shit on our plate. But hey, since this act ends with the player having to make a choice, and the story branching into two different routes, surely ONE of them is focused on him and–

Nuh uh.

Even if you play the Paige leaves route, he's essentially the player's tutorial man. He waltzes around, goes ":'O" to everything bad that happens, and just when you've lost all hope of him getting any sort of character arc, this scene happens.

Okay. It at least gives him a few lines of focus, but we just end up getting more issues to work through. Dude is a serious people pleaser. It's BAD. No matter what insane bullshit Edega asks him to do, he'll do it because he doesn't know how to say no. And, of course, the issue with him kinda needing a stable job because he has a sick family member. Remember that? Oh, yeah, it wasn't brought up since act 3. And it won't be brought up ever again!!! :D It sure does serve as a convenient excuse to keep him either in or out of the hospital, depending on what the story needs in that moment. But, hey, moving on! There's still time, story's not finished yet. Let's see what happens.

bro is GONE. Alright, I'd admit this scene was a good start, if it wasn't literally right at the end of the game, and also only a minute long, and also in the middle of the final boss battle, and also RIGHT before THAT scene with Mark and Edega that just completely overshadowed this moment. Like, let's be real now. Did you see anyone play the game and then remember this scene at all after what happened right after it? It's an afterthought at best. (One of the MAIN TWO CHARACTERS, by the way. Or at least that's what all the official Steam art wants me to believe.) Another massive problem is that, while it does at least give him credit for everything he's been doing around the place, it doesn't actually address any issues specific to his character. Being tired and stressed is kinda in the portfolio of every character in the game, it's the main overarching theme, not HIS problem specifically. And god knows he's got a lot of them to pick from.

Phew, ok, we survived the boss battle. Let's see what the other characters have to say :)

Huh. Okay. I mean, absolutely DO thank Paige, yes, but don't y'all think Ian also deserves a thank you? You know, especially when we consider the fact that he made the damn device that saved Mark's life? I just... Lmao. Lol. Rofl. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

And then, the very last scene of the game. There's just no way to fuck this up, ri-

Oh come on you have to be kidding me. Last cutscene of the game. The character that literally introduced us to the game just GETS UP AND WALKS AWAY. FOR NO GOOD REASON. JUST GOES "ok I'mma head out" AND LEAVES. And he isn't there for the genuinely interesting conversation that happens between Edega and Paige. For the very last scene. Why? God fucking knows. First of all, from a storytelling perspective, this is horrendous. Just puts him in the background like he's irrelevant. And from a character perspective, it's the cherry on top for his lack of character development. It would've been SO easy to use this scene to make him finally stand up for himself, to say no. Literally just make him be the one to scold Edega instead of Paige. It would be SOMETHING, at least. No, instead one of the two main characters just isn't there at all. He just runs away from his problems once more.

I began genuinely losing my temper here lmao, and I planned for this to be more composed originally. Alas.

Another really small thing that irks me – he's literally the only important character that doesn't have a full name. We have Ada Paige, Gabriel Edega, Cole Brew, Nicole Ting, Lucky Maximo Jonronero, Mark Booker, hell, even Hailey and Logan have last names in the game files. He's just...

Ian.

Not even a last name. And it's not even a pun or something else clever like the other characters' names. Just Ian. I'm vexed. If you told me four years ago that Edega of all people would get a character arc before Ian does, I'd call you insane.

No resolution to literally ANY of his personal issues. No character arc. No character development. Hell, not even a damn song. Like I at least expected him to get a boss battle like Paige did. Nuh uh. Bro doesn't even have a last name. All the setup for a good arc, but none of the actual arc.

Genuinely, it's so bad that I have to believe he's gonna get a DLC or something because otherwise I'm just going to go insane. And I say this BECAUSE I like him so much. Before this most recent update he was literally my fav character from the game lmao. I even have a "Stan Ian!!!" sleeve paint on one of my old save files. I was ready to bet my right arm on him getting focus or even being THE endgame character.

Not even beating the allegations with akinator. Wtf do you even answer here? I just said probably

(ugh this looks so blurry on the timeline unless you click on it. but alas.) Fifth base of being obsessed with a fandom is picking which characters fit which tarot card fr. So! The death tarot card doesn't represent actual, physical death (even though it would, uh, still fit lmao). It represents change, new beginnings, and letting go of the past.

I honestly couldn't find a better fit even if I wanted to lol. And I def had a lot of fun with the composition and little RD details and references I added.

Here are a few zoom-ins since tumblr is going to compress the original to hell and back once I post this :')

Oh and a version with gold accents since I couldn't decide whether I liked it fully black and white or not.

Congratulations, intern!!! 😊🎉 You just purposefully fucked up a chronically ill man's treatment!!! :D🥳✌🏻 Sure did save your colleague's shitty job though! 😀🌟 Surely this doesn't make you as corrupt as your insane medical malpracticing boss!!! 🤪🎊 See you tomorrow for more inevitable trauma!!! 😜✅

What the hell is actually Mark Booker's diagnosis?

So, we know how in Act 6 when Paige tries to diagnose Mark, Edega interrupts her before she can say the diagnosis and tells her to instead just treat the symptoms. Therefore, we are never actually told what Mark's condition is.

Or are we?

Here's what we know: Despite being stressed and overworked back when he worked in Middlesea, Mark didn't actually get sick until he left and had his little fallout/breakup/whatever the fuck you want to call it with Edega. This was also followed by a period of anxiety, obvious depression and generally horrible mental health. We also know standard treatment didn't help and he progressively kept getting worse.

And here comes the most obvious clue that was literally right in front of us.

(excuse the blurry pic I am not using an AI image enhancer) His heart is literally broken. Physically. You can also see in Blurred that, even though his (and Edega's) EKG line shortened, his heart was still intact. Only after he quits does his heart break and the illness set in. We also know that the doctors Mark previously visited didn't manage to figure out what was wrong.

So, what does this tell us?

Mark most probably suffers from stress-induced cardiomyopathy/takotsubo cardiomyopathy. AKA, broken heart syndrome.

Broken heart syndrome is most commonly developed after an extremely stressful event, such as a loss of employment, sudden life change, loss of a relationship, severe anxiety. Out of which Mark went through... Basically all of the above. Ain't he a lucky guy?

Mark exhibits essentially all the symptoms and fits the diagnostic criteria. Sudden onset of symptoms after a stressful event, anxiety, chest pain, reduced heart function, general fatigue. Broken heart syndrome is (in most cases) reversible, but in some cases can persist and permanently damage the heart and even cause cardiac arrest! (remember the end of Act 7? Fun.) It's also a condition that doctors often look for only after eliminating all other possible causes, which explains how every other specialist missed it.

Also, Mark's heart heals after the entire miracle defibrillator shenanigan with Edega, symbolizing both physical healing and emotional healing/finally letting go of the past.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk I love yapping :) here's a little sketch I did of Mark a few weeks ago as a reward for getting through my rambling!

you know i had to draw that goddamn scene sooner or later.

I tried a different shading style because I felt it fit the vibe. God I'm so brainrotted with these two it's not even funny anymore. Anyway I sent this to a friend of mine before posting (she hasn't played the game) and she said "If I was Gabriel I'd lowk kill myself after that". Real.