Titled

Post detailing all the various Amiya compare/contrast characters in arknights and how I think they do with those (with bonus Vi^3 and Perlica from HGs other games). This one should be not that hard to finish up since i won't go that in depth on any.

Amiya and Wis'adel relationship deep dive from chapter 1 to chapter 14 (and its aftermath) with some extra bonus speculations I had which turned out to be untrue (and speculation on my part which of those I think were at some point intended and which I was just wrong on). This one is running way too long already and I am still talking about chapter 3. Probably gonna have to split into multiple.

Post talking about how things like clothing and makeup plays into Wis'adel´s themes of identity and connects her to the people important to her like Theresa (rewriting this one because I originally wrote it while complaining about something only tangentially related before being sidetracked and I wanna scrub traces of my bitterness).

Post talking about some of my favorite paragons. Specifically focusing on ones I think are slightly atypical. This one is already getting long despite not having talked about all the ones I planned to yet. Might split into 3 posts, one for each.

Post talking about a smut fic that is one of the best things I have ever read and I absolutely love and that rewired my creative brain a bit, but is about a ship that is so cursed I read it in the first place out of morbid curiosity (I still do not think those two characters would ever bone but the fic is such a good character exploration on aspects that kinda never will get spotlighted in that way due to the tone of canon). This one I am mostly worried nobody will care but me and I struggle on some word choices.

Post explaining why I think Yan/Vi^3 reminds me of Kal/Theresa which is really just an excuse to talk about two ships I love. But I do also think there are interesting parallels to draw. Just, there is a lot to go through.

Post trying to explain why Alea Iacta Est is the most narratively satisfying ending and the one that makes most sense for 621 and Ayre as characters even if most players think liberator is more of a "good ending".

Complaining about that one gamepress article attempting to character analyse Wis'adel (well this was written pre name so W) via misunderstanding the wiremom and clothmom experiment and also using tarot theming for some reason (please pick one framework gamepress). I should probably delete that one too because nothing good comes from gamepress arknights articles.

Because in game they actually never spell it out. There are a few instances in the shadow of a dying sun arc where she causes explosions from supposedly buried mines that she should not have been able to place at all because she had never been in that location before (most notably of the top of my head she does this in chapter 13). It is also mentioned how she blew up something that should not be possible to blow up with the amount of explosives she had at the time (there is the possibility thrown in that maybe with extremely precise usage of it could work, but still odd).

And obviously these could easily be chalked up to just, the writers not explaining how she planted those explosives because they couldn't think of how (but then they could have just chosen to not have that happen) or that she is some sort of once in a lifetime math and physics genius (she is actually good at this stuff we are shown, but she seems to just be, better than most and not like some super genius). But in the Dagger's Inheritors we are directly shown that she can turn rocks (I assume rocks with high enough amount of originium particles in them since it does seem like she can't freely turn just anything into a bomb) into bombs by touching them.

When Saki is eating two yumeginga bars at once and Ai is like "hey Saki stop stuffing your face with those yumeginga bars!" she is the only other person than Saki actually eating them in that scene.

Ai finding the octopus balloon cute.

"He is a zombie! Everyone knows zombies grow up fast!"

Lily, Sakura and Junko just being face down in the fluff of big Romero.

Yugiri and Lily riding Big Romero instead of using bikes because no bike small enough for Lily and Yugiri can't bike.

Kotaro packing 3 extra spare sunglasses with him when going to tokyo. Considering this, and how he always seems to have makeup on him for emergencies, maybe his reason for being annoyed they keep messing up with the makeup is slightly justified as he actually does take a lot of precautions for this kinda stuff.

The aliens being able to see them at the end of the movie by drastically raising the ambient temperature in their ship. Showing they are pretty smart and very quickly recognized why they could not see the zombies.

"We are really lucky those beams never hit the audience"

The first foreshadowing of the aliens seeing by heat being when Policeman A falls into the mud and is ignored, which is not obvious at the time as you think they just thought he was not a threat.

Junko worrying her license would be expired.

So I always assumed the age of the hunters went like Ulpianus>Skadi>Gladiia>Laurentina.

Like when she finds out that Reiko is alive, she is overjoyed, but because she does not want to overwhelm Reiko with the reveal zombies exist and such she still puts her own feelings aside and pretends she is just one of her fans/friends mom. And refers to her as just Maria's mom instead of by name. Since it would probably be suspicious if she knew Reiko by name as she never uses her name around Saki post resurrection.

We can also infer she then just told her that her husband and daughter are ok.

A bit of a side track from the point about emotional intelligence, but Saki might genuinely be the most selfless character in the series. She also in the movie pushes Maria's dad out of the way from an alien and gets knocked through a wall for it. Sure she knew she could probably survive that and that he probably could not, but it does lead to her and the others being exposed as zombies. And then we are back to how she is the one trying to diffuse tense situations, she puts on her usual jokey attitude despite clearly being terrified of rejection, and when that does happen, she does not press the issue or get mad. She wants to avoid frightening Maria more and also it clearly really got to Saki.

But I understand, dear reader, that you are only a person. You do not know if you can handle this absence. And I am benevolent.

So here are some recommendations for games to either play right now or get hyped for.

Machine Clad. This is an AC clone being developed by one fan mostly inspired by 4th and 5th gen. I have played a now out of date playtest version, and it is very good. In fact I think it handles Clad on Clad battles better than AC handles AC on AC battles. And it has room based PvP though no matchmaking. So this is a really solid option if you crave that. However the story and presentation is pretty weak. It is lacking in memorable characters too. Planned to enter early access in the coming year.

Omega Phenex. This is probably your best bet for getting an experience like it. Mostly based on 4th gen AC this is also a passion project by a mega fan. It has far more solid presentation than Machine Clad with more memorable characters and a greater story emphasis. I do however think it has inferior gameplay to Machine Clad. It has far less in depth mech customization and weapons just don't have as good feel.

Dolls Nest. One of my personal favorite games, aesthetically it is a major departure, having robot girls instead of mechs. But mechanically the customization and combat is very distinctly armored core, though taken in more its own direction compared to the previously mentioned games. It is essentially a soulslike with AC customization and combat. Very interesting and unique setting and I feel this game understands the themes of armored core pretty well, it just decides to do its own things inspired by it instead of retreading the same ground. Big on atmosphere.

Code Rapid. This is another game more directly like armored core, but it does a bit more its own thing on a gameplay front. Developed by a small team of three people it is unclear when it is going to release. This game has the most stylish combat and coolest presentation out of the list so far I think, but very little is known about it from a story perspective so far.

Ironwing Valiant. This game has a very valkyria chronicles vibe to it but its controls are as far as I can gather, pretty much identical to AC6. But this game has transforming mecha which is cool.

A bit of a sidetrack but I really love the short story where Sibylla helps Monika with her guilt over the whole going traitor thing. It is a really nice capstone to their rivalry with Sibylla finally winning for the first time by working with others, showing that she too has finally realised she is not just worse than Monika, and sending the clear message to Monika that 'you can't do everything yourself either, this lone wolf shtick is why I, who am weaker, can beat you'.

I also like when Sibylla is like "we may be about the same age, but Monika is still a full year younger than me, I really should pull out the age card more. Thinking about it that way, she is just my rebellious little sister brooding because she knows she fucked up. Its kind of cute when seeing it that way."

I find it fascinating how Thea's bisexuality is a relatively unfocused aspect of her character when Monika's homosexuality is so important for her story, but it makes sense when you consider their different perspectives.

Thea is pretty atypical in that for the designated horny lewd character, she is the moral backbone of the team. She is a full blown paragon who desires to save and help everyone, even her enemies. She does not believe anyone is undeserving of love or being helped. So while she too grew up in a society that sees queer people as "mentally ill perverts", she does not care as much. She thinks being a "mentally ill pervert" is fine and does not care that she is that. She already knows she is and does not care. She will still be a hero who saves people.

Meanwhile Monika wanted to fit in. Monika resents the fact that she cannot fit in. Her family rejected her because she was not a good artist and is gay. She started to find her calling as a spy, then learned she was not as good as she thought she was and felt she lost her place there. Then she finds her place in lamplight and then falls in love with Lily. This makes her terrified that her homosexuality will again lead to her losing her place. So she bottles it up, even though Klaus and Thea both learn of it and try to convince her to be open about her feelings, she can't. Because Monika fundamentally is too scared of being abandoned to be willing to accept the parts of herself that she hates.

To Thea, she wants to be Monika's partner. The one person who can have her back and know that she has her's. And Monika, deep down, secretly is happy about this. But having Thea's approval fills her with shame as well because Thea is so unashamed about being a "pervert". Thea is openly horny, she flirts with people both for work and pleasure. She sleeps around for fun. To Monika this is just more evidence that her and Thea having something in common (their queerness) is just evidence that she herself is a mentally ill pervert.

But she accepts Thea as being her partner (begrudgingly), her equal and the one who she relies on when up against the wall because Monika too is actually frustrated at how cruel the world treats people like her, people deemed lesser. That is what her whole speech when playing heel is about, how this world fucking sucks and really it deserves to be burnt to the fucking ground.

While I do think the causality is the other way around, Thea was written to be lewd and then the author wanted to make that consistent with her ideology, I think it makes sense that Thea is so accepting of her own, and others, sexuality. And is fully a shipper on deck for Monika and Lily. Thea is a kind person who believes the world should accept everyone, no matter how flawed.

To be clear I keep referring to things in the way the characters in universe would think about it here. They live in a society where being queer is seen as a mental illness. I obviously do not believe this, I am a bisexual trans person.

I think it could be seen as kind of a copout that no one in lamplight is a homophobe in a setting where that is the norm (you know, other than internalized homophobia Monika here), but I do think it works for all of them individually so I don't really mind.

It also made very well use of the various side characters from the series.

Spoilers below:

Its a pretty decent movie. Very good cinematography though.