Car In A Vet

Now, don't get me wrong. Our boy definitely has some Issues. It'd be impossible not to with the life he's lived. Like I said before, PSTD (though minus the P honestly), survivor's guilt, not having a choice in his own life, aaaaaaaall the horrors he's seen over the years..... If he's not in therapy, he really, really should be.

But also, right at this moment specifically?

Chris and Rebecca stroll into the hotel he's staying at during his "vacation" IMMEDIATELY after he watched his entire team get blown up, and then had to put down what was left of at least one of them. He hasn't had time to process that latest blow at all. So yeah, he's at the bottom of a bottle. In this particular moment, I would be too.

(Well, not me personally, because I have zero inclination to drink when I'm upset. But you know what I mean.)

Plus, I don't think Leon could be a true alcoholic (in the sense of a chemical dependency) just because he can't afford to drink that often. He's on life-or-death missions way too much to be able to be drunk or in withdrawals: he'd just be dead. And even if he's not on an active mission, the kind of physical training he'd have to do to stay in shape for them means he probably doesn't drink terribly often.

But as I said, he's on vacation. For the first time in who knows how long, he doesn't have to be in perfect condition. And so he lets himself go.

Way too far? Yeah, definitely. I'm not gonna try and claim that he has a healthy relationship with alcohol, by any means. And we don't really get to see if this is a one-time thing or if he goes on a bender after every mission. (We saw him drink at the end of Damnation, but didn't see if it was just A Drink or the start of a binge.) But the size of that empty bottle does definitely suggest the latter.

And then again, on top of all of the everything, the man has turned 40 and is thinking about his life. It's a pretty shitty life, but he's got little to no options to change it. He had no choice in his career after Raccoon City, the B.O.W.s just keep coming, and there's no end in sight, for any of it, except death.

And then here come Chris and Rebecca -- not even his actual bosses! not even people in the F.B.O.! -- with MORE B.O.W. bullshit for him to solve. AND this isn't even the first time his vacation has been interrupted by work! Can a guy get five fucking minutes to himself to wallow?! Of course he told them to piss off!

But nothing will ever allow him those five minutes. Before the end of the conversation, what's-his-face, the informant/traitor shows up looking for help, and Leon is pissed, because again, he JUST lost his entire team.

But the informant is killed. And his wife calls. And you can see the look on Leon's face when he sees the caller ID. He doesn't have to answer. But he does. He listens to the wife's voice, and the little girl in the background. You see the look on his face as she asks about "the man you said can help" and says how scared she is-- and then realizes that she's not talking to her husband. You see the moment it becomes too much and he hangs up, without being able to tell her that her husband is dead.

He knows. He knows. He knows what his job is, why it's important, why he can't. ever. stop.

The physical continuity between the main games is fantastic. I started all this because RE9 re-stoked my obsession, and since then I've gotten through the first 3 main games (remakes, so I can't speak to the originals). They definitely used the same maps between 2, 3, and 9, and watching those close together shows just how much. 2 and 3 use the same combinations for the safes in the RPD. In 2 you loot a med kit that's still hanging on the wall in 9, interactable but empty. In 3 Carlos creates a lot of the set dressing that Leon passes through in 2. Sherry hides behind and under the same things Chloe does in the orphanage.

The novellizations do Brad Vickars dirty. Okay so in RE1, Alpha team sets down and fans out, gets attacked by zombie dogs, runs, and as they're running they see the helicopter fly away. A few times throughout the game he tries to radio asking if anyone is alive down there, but the radios aren't working and you can't respond. His final message says "If anyone's alive give me a signal, I'm almost out of fuel," so you then have to get outside and set off a flare for him to come get you. This always made total sense to me: The pilot's job is to make sure they have an exit, and he can't fucking do that if he gets killed or the helicopter gets damaged. Circling the area looking for his people until he runs out of fuel is the exact correct thing to do. But not according to S.D. Perry, author of the novellizations plus some side novels. For the most part I'm really enjoying the novels, but this one thing drives me nuts. In this version Brad is known as a coward, nicknamed Chickenheart Vickars by the team, a good pilot but unreliable in a pinch. He lost the trust of the STARS by leaving them at the mansion. After the events of RE1 he immediately skips town because he knows Umbrella will be coming for them. When he shows back up in Raccoon City for an undisclosed reason (it's because he was there in the game), instead of being there to help Jill get out and sacrifice himself for her to do so, he's a panicky liability until he quickly gets zombified. I don't like it. I don't like it at all. Taking off was the smart move, and saved all their lives. Skipping town was the smart move, and would have saved his life if the 3rd game hadn't had other ideas for him. (Barry also sent his wife and kids away because he knew that that was the smart move.) This is slander and I will not stand for it.

Other than that, the novels are an interesting read. It's neat getting more of the internal dialogue. Especially when Ada and Leon meet: She's straight-up using him but can't help being impressed by him. Meanwhile he's incredibly earnest in wanting to help her and keeps saving her life and she's just like "Will you stop that?!" Perry totally ships Claire and Leon though. I don't, but I'm intrigued to see how far that'll go in the novels considering the games very intentionally don't show anything definite happening between most characters, as far as I recall.

I don't like the prequels that add zombies before the Spencer mansion. They do it in Resident Evil: The Book, wherein Chris is contacted by an old friend now working for Umbrella, who disappears immediately, and when Chris and Jill go looking for him, zombies show up. They do it in RE0 when Rebecca runs into a bunch of zombie crap on a train right before finding the Spenser mansion. It just doesn't work. The mansion is supposed to be the "Holy fuck, what his happening?!" first moment that leads to everything else. Rebecca is supposed to be the absolute rookie who dropped her damn gun while running straight to the mansion. It's just such a weird, ineffective way of retconning the beginning of that mission and it doesn't work.

The second movie is surprisingly lore-accurate. Like, the movies sort of take from the games but do their own thing, but Apocalypse pulled a lot from the games, including several of the lesser-known side games. We've got Nemesis, Jill, Carlos, Michail (sp?), and the STARS from RE3. We've got the general idea of a reporter and a black comic relief character from Outbreak. We've got the Ashford name; Alice's new mind powers; and her trick of dropping a gun when ordered, then dropping to the ground to catch the gun and fire it from Code: Veronica. Just overall a lot of things that shows that the people who made this movie bothered to pay attention to the source.

So from 1996 to 2004 we get MULTIPLE releases every year, but almost none of them move beyond the first few months after everything that happens in and around Racoon City.

Okay I know Dead Aim is four years later. But it's also kind of in isolation overall so we don't get to see much about how the world or the characters have changed. The first stage play also takes place years later, but that one isn't considered canon AND no longer exists anyway so whatever.

Then suddenly it's 2005 and we get to see Leon again in Resident Evil 4, and the time between then and now has actually passed. Leon is older, more confidant, but also a tad more jaded, with a past and experiences we only get hints of. Krauser still calls him "rookie" but he's really not a rookie anymore.

There are no releases in 2006. This is the first year this has happened since the franchise began.

In 2007 we get Resident Evil: Extinction, one of the American live-action movies that follows their own timeline, but again this is the first time time has really moved forward. Extinction is fully post-apocalypse, and I think they say that 5 years have passed since the outbreak (though in the real world only 3 years have passed since the previous movie's release).

And with that we're back to churning out multiple releases each year. There isn't another empty year until 2014.

But Extinction is as far as I've gotten so I can't speak to how the timeline plays out from here.

Turns out, there isn't one. The novelizations stop after 0.

I'm pretty disappointed. I liked getting more insight into the characters' minds, and I wanted to see where the plot was going with Trent (a novels-only character who's pulling strings), and how the various relationships would be developed (or not developed). We left off with Chris and Jill starting to get closer, and Leon crushing on Claire but not wanting to do anything about it until he knows for sure whether it's something real or just trauma bonding, and while I super don't ship it I did want to see how that played out.

I'm also afraid this means I won't get to see what happens with characters like Barry. The games will mostly ignore anyone who isn't directly relevant, but the novels were good about at least mentioning where people are now even if they're not active in this specific story.

I'm on 7 now and man, I forgot how actually scary this game is. It's this weird combination of totally different vibes while still having all the very typical Resident Evil puzzles and things. AND at least one of the newspaper articles you find lying around was written by Alyssa Ashcroft, which I never would have caught if I hadn't already watched 9.

Speaking of very typical Resident Evil things, the second stage play ends with the obligatory rocket launcher. (Though that one did Rebecca dirty by having her act like a useless rookie again. Honestly, her characterization is just all over the place from one thing to another, what with 0 making her retroactively more competent and experienced and then regressing her again with this one. The play probably isn't really considered canon but still.)

Pant.

Trouser.

How far does it even go under the leather leotard?

Why are you wearing this to fight zombies, Jessica?

Five minutes ago you were in a snowstorm, Jessica.

How can you stand to sit on a transport vehicle with at least half of your ass cheek exposed, Jessica?

The physical continuity between the main games is fantastic. I started all this because RE9 re-stoked my obsession, and since then I've gotten through the first 3 main games (remakes, so I can't speak to the originals). They definitely used the same maps between 2, 3, and 9, and watching those close together shows just how much. 2 and 3 use the same combinations for the safes in the RPD. In 2 you loot a med kit that's still hanging on the wall in 9, interactable but empty. In 3 Carlos creates a lot of the set dressing that Leon passes through in 2. Sherry hides behind and under the same things Chloe does in the orphanage.

The novellizations do Brad Vickars dirty. Okay so in RE1, Alpha team sets down and fans out, gets attacked by zombie dogs, runs, and as they're running they see the helicopter fly away. A few times throughout the game he tries to radio asking if anyone is alive down there, but the radios aren't working and you can't respond. His final message says "If anyone's alive give me a signal, I'm almost out of fuel," so you then have to get outside and set off a flare for him to come get you. This always made total sense to me: The pilot's job is to make sure they have an exit, and he can't fucking do that if he gets killed or the helicopter gets damaged. Circling the area looking for his people until he runs out of fuel is the exact correct thing to do. But not according to S.D. Perry, author of the novellizations plus some side novels. For the most part I'm really enjoying the novels, but this one thing drives me nuts. In this version Brad is known as a coward, nicknamed Chickenheart Vickars by the team, a good pilot but unreliable in a pinch. He lost the trust of the STARS by leaving them at the mansion. After the events of RE1 he immediately skips town because he knows Umbrella will be coming for them. When he shows back up in Raccoon City for an undisclosed reason (it's because he was there in the game), instead of being there to help Jill get out and sacrifice himself for her to do so, he's a panicky liability until he quickly gets zombified. I don't like it. I don't like it at all. Taking off was the smart move, and saved all their lives. Skipping town was the smart move, and would have saved his life if the 3rd game hadn't had other ideas for him. (Barry also sent his wife and kids away because he knew that that was the smart move.) This is slander and I will not stand for it.

Other than that, the novels are an interesting read. It's neat getting more of the internal dialogue. Especially when Ada and Leon meet: She's straight-up using him but can't help being impressed by him. Meanwhile he's incredibly earnest in wanting to help her and keeps saving her life and she's just like "Will you stop that?!" Perry totally ships Claire and Leon though. I don't, but I'm intrigued to see how far that'll go in the novels considering the games very intentionally don't show anything definite happening between most characters, as far as I recall.

I don't like the prequels that add zombies before the Spencer mansion. They do it in Resident Evil: The Book, wherein Chris is contacted by an old friend now working for Umbrella, who disappears immediately, and when Chris and Jill go looking for him, zombies show up. They do it in RE0 when Rebecca runs into a bunch of zombie crap on a train right before finding the Spenser mansion. It just doesn't work. The mansion is supposed to be the "Holy fuck, what his happening?!" first moment that leads to everything else. Rebecca is supposed to be the absolute rookie who dropped her damn gun while running straight to the mansion. It's just such a weird, ineffective way of retconning the beginning of that mission and it doesn't work.

The second movie is surprisingly lore-accurate. Like, the movies sort of take from the games but do their own thing, but Apocalypse pulled a lot from the games, including several of the lesser-known side games. We've got Nemesis, Jill, Carlos, Michail (sp?), and the STARS from RE3. We've got the general idea of a reporter and a black comic relief character from Outbreak. We've got the Ashford name; Alice's new mind powers; and her trick of dropping a gun when ordered, then dropping to the ground to catch the gun and fire it from Code: Veronica. Just overall a lot of things that shows that the people who made this movie bothered to pay attention to the source.

So from 1996 to 2004 we get MULTIPLE releases every year, but almost none of them move beyond the first few months after everything that happens in and around Racoon City.

Okay I know Dead Aim is four years later. But it's also kind of in isolation overall so we don't get to see much about how the world or the characters have changed. The first stage play also takes place years later, but that one isn't considered canon AND no longer exists anyway so whatever.

Then suddenly it's 2005 and we get to see Leon again in Resident Evil 4, and the time between then and now has actually passed. Leon is older, more confidant, but also a tad more jaded, with a past and experiences we only get hints of. Krauser still calls him "rookie" but he's really not a rookie anymore.

There are no releases in 2006. This is the first year this has happened since the franchise began.

In 2007 we get Resident Evil: Extinction, one of the American live-action movies that follows their own timeline, but again this is the first time time has really moved forward. Extinction is fully post-apocalypse, and I think they say that 5 years have passed since the outbreak (though in the real world only 3 years have passed since the previous movie's release).

And with that we're back to churning out multiple releases each year. There isn't another empty year until 2014.

But Extinction is as far as I've gotten so I can't speak to how the timeline plays out from here.

Turns out, there isn't one. The novelizations stop after 0.

I'm pretty disappointed. I liked getting more insight into the characters' minds, and I wanted to see where the plot was going with Trent (a novels-only character who's pulling strings), and how the various relationships would be developed (or not developed). We left off with Chris and Jill starting to get closer, and Leon crushing on Claire but not wanting to do anything about it until he knows for sure whether it's something real or just trauma bonding, and while I super don't ship it I did want to see how that played out.

I'm also afraid this means I won't get to see what happens with characters like Barry. The games will mostly ignore anyone who isn't directly relevant, but the novels were good about at least mentioning where people are now even if they're not active in this specific story.