Ok

So

Before I go on and on about who you expect, I just wanna briefly touch on the other parts of the AQ that I enjoyed.

Firstly, Wanderer and Paimon? That shit was so sweet. Traveler stated the obvious, but they really have both grown. I love their banter.

And I loved Alhaitham and Kaveh's interactions in this. Alhaitham genuinely trying to lift Kaveh's spirits during their usual back-and-forth. Ughhh, they make me sick (affectionate).

Also, unpopular opinion, but I really like Dori. There's something so funny about a character just living for the mora in a fantasy world full of curses, dead gods and magic. Get that bag, girl. 👏

Now!

Onto what you all came here for!

First, Pantalone.

My thoughts? Beautiful. Exquisite. Divine. Handsome. Charming. And so so so snooty (well put, Paimon). He was so fucking phenomenal at getting under the Traveler's skin, and Cyno's (which btw angry Cyno was hot asf).

And his VOICE 😍

And his EYES 😍

And his HEELS 😍

And his TITS 😍

A part of me hopes that he'll become particularly spiteful towards those who've opposed Dottore now that he's dead, but realistically, he seems to have accepted Dottore's fate just as much as Dottore himself. Although, now that he only has a few years left to live, maybe he'll pull some kamikaze shit in the future. Go out with a bang before being reunited with his husband bestie in death. Or he just smokes himself to death out of depression because he feels he has nothing left to live for! Or he somehow brings Dottore back with the whole soul mpreg thing they were talking about! The possibilities are endless with these two! <3

As for Dottore? Stunning. Gorgeous. Radiant. Superb. Stellar. An absolute diva as always. He showed off by standing upside down again because of course he did. AND HE SAID THE THING!!! HE CALLED HIM SCARAMOUCHE!!! YIPPIEEEEEE!

I forget specifically what Dottore said, but the scene where he insults the Traveler and Scara for trying to run, and Scara angrily shouts "Hey!!" Bro really got ragebaited one last time by Dottore LMAOOO!

I'm also very happy that he canonically has an artistic talent. <3 Of course he plays his own theme on the piano lmao

Now, the segments.

The segments.

Mmmmmm yummy yum yum

To quote what I said to myself back when I first learned of the existence of the segments: "Oh boy, I can't wait for all the selfcest art!"

But we only saw four new ones, plus Zandik. And no sign of Webby. This is a personal attack by Hoyo and I will not stand for it.

But at least we got to see og Zandik and babyttore! And that plague doctor mask one yes yes YESSSS

GILF Zandik... 🤤

I'm a little bummed that the segments didn't turn out to be as nasty to each other as I thought, but there's still plenty of banter, so I'm content with that. Plus, they all just excitedly watched Zandik die, which I also enjoyed! It was a tragically fitting end for an egotistical man who disliked himself and wanted to avoid death.

I was just as disappointed as everyone else about it turning out to be Nahida who burned Irminsul, and I definitely agree that there's probably been some retconning since early game, but I honestly think that the scene of Dottore watching Iminsul burn in Lazzo was an intentional red herring from the beginning. We never actually saw him cause the fire. We all just assumed that. Those are just my thoughts, though.

Dottore and Pantalone's interactions were absolutely amazing. The banter, with both of them being up their own asses? Yes PLEASE! What I loved the most was how well it was presented that their relationship is built off of mutual benefit and transactions, and they're both greedy assholes, but there's still the sense of them genuinely seeing each other as friends, but their own form of friendship.

For example, the scene where Dottore's voice got noticeably annoyed when Pantalone said he'd have a smoke when he returned to Snezhnaya: "Why are you so eager to ruin your lungs after I went to the trouble of replacing them for you?"

I loved it so much because it's like, ok this is not only Dottore, but the most selfish segment speaking. So, really he's annoyed because in his mind, he's probably thinking, "I used up some of my precious time to grant you something so magnificent and you're already ruining it. How disrespectful and ungrateful." But at the same time, there can be a hidden layer of, "You're a fucking mess and I'm frustrated that I can't help you more from your own self-destruction."

AND I WAS NOT EXPECTING THE CUTSCENE OF DOTTORE'S BACKSTORY TO HAVE HUMOR IN IT??

"Pantalone found it unsettling." "I never said that–" "But the Zandiks were unfazed."

I LOOKED INSANE, SUDDENLY LAUGHING IN THE MIDDLE OF MY UGLY CRYING

they're so cringe your honor.....aND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THAT THUMBS UP DOTTORE DID–

Oh yeah, Pulcinella's letter is full of shit. That is such an obvious diplomatic response to cover their asses. Whether that means they were secretly in on Dottore's plan or if they're just simply not as "angry" with him as we're being led to believe, I'm not sure.

But I do know that I am not buying Dottore's "betrayal" being considered that grave of a crime by the Tsaritsa for even a second. At worst, she may have been like, "Dottore, no. Bad. This caused a political mess and you didn't even tell me your plan. Go sit in the corner."

Hoyo's gonna have to try better than that to convince me that Pierro and the Tsaritsa were genuinely shocked and furious over the fact that the heretical mentally ill outcast they took in and let do basically anything he wanted eventually started causing trouble for them.

My thoughts on how everything ended: I think this was a perfect ending for Omega, but not for Dottore/Zandik as a whole. And that's where my main gripes come from.

Am I the only one who thought the boss fight felt weirdly rushed?? Which sucks ass because holy shit Datattore's boss theme goes so fucking hard. And the fact that Wanderer never reacts to Dottore's imitation of "Musou no Hitotachi" felt like we were robbed of something amazing.

Also, the fact that nothing really came of Irminsul burning, since everything was saved. There was no serious consequence to destroying it. So, like..... what the fuck was the point?????

The way both Pantalone and Nahida said goodbye to Dottore makes his death feel very final this time, but I'm still gonna share my copium with the rest of you!

The Pyro gnosis' suspicious disappearance. I don't know if this had anything to do with Dottore specifically, but I can't help but feel like it'll reappear in the Fatui's hands.

That ending with Collei becoming a "new" her smells like foreshadowing. And Hoyo loves to draw parallels between Dottore and his victims.

In the special program, they seemed to have been trying to hint that Datattore is different in some way. Like they were trying to separate him from the Dottore we've known.

The fact that Dottore's Harbinger title card back in the Sumeru AQ specified "Omega Build." That seems odd to add if they never intend on introducing a different build, right?

THE FUCKING ALTERNATE BLACK A BLUE MASK WE STILL HAVEN'T SEEN

More Dottolone bait. Come on, Hoyo. You know you want to. Fans are already getting fed up with this game. Think of the yaoi money, Hoyoooo~

And most importantly, we still barely know anything about Zandik's actual childhood.

We only learned his history while he was a Harbinger. Apparently, he "lost his ability to feel compassion" at the age of eight? Okay?? Maybe elaborate on that??? Because that doesn't just magically happen to a child. That tends to happen when there's other factors at play. Like, oh I dunno, neglect, unaddressed mental illness, abuse and trauma?????? We also never learned what exactly he did to get chased out of his hometown. And Sohreh's true cause of death is still a mystery!!!!!

I just feel like there's so much more potential with him as a character and it just..... ended in a weirdly abrupt way. I want a playable Dottore who's still relatively the same, especially now that he's satisfied with his "grandest experiment of all time" concluding. A satisfied Dottore means a Dottore who's slightly less likely to commit any new war crimes! In other words, PERFECT for playability, Hoyoooooo!

Jokes aside, I have to admit the possibility of a playable Dottore/Zandik looks kinda bleak for the sole reason that if he does come back, it's probably gonna be a factory reset for him. And in my opinion, that's worse than him just dying here (plus, as funny as I think it'd be, for him to come back again just feels repetitive).

I wanna share this post I came across, because this explains perfectly why a playable Dottore with no memories would leave a really bad taste in my mouth:

It really just feels like Hoyo's backed themselves into a corner no matter what they have planned for Dottore's fate.

However, there's also the fact that Dottore shares a lot of parallels with Scaramouche. Personally, I like how Scara's story played out, but who knows if Dottore's potential revival and subsequent restart will play out as good...

Whatever ends up being Dottore's playability fate, it will also determine Pantalone's playability fate, too. As much as I love Pantalone's backstory so far, it unfortunately doesn't bode well for him being anything more than an extension of Dottore's character. 😭

All things considered, I think I'm basically in a constant state of "There's no fucking way all of these characters are suddenly so hypocritical when it comes to specifically Dottore just because of bad writing. This must be relevant to his plot somehow," which is what's leading me to believe that we're still not done with him yet. In other words, I am in the first stage of grief! 😃

Anyway, I think that about covers all my thoughts!

To end this emotionally driven yapping session on a lighter note, I wanna share some of my favorite parts from the Anomalous Tree Marrows:

^ this one kills me. all i can think of is a high school setting with the totally not obvious lesbian couple walking past the weird quiet kid no one likes in the hallway

^ omg trophy wife Pantalone (but seriously, Dottore is so stuck up with his choice of words, even in his notes, it's so funny. like there was no need for the vase analogy. 😭)

^ NOT 18 JUST ADMITTING TO BEING THE ONE WHO THREW OUT 8'S NOTEBOOK– "because it looked so childish." yeah that tends to be what a child's notebook looks like, buddy. on account of it belonging to a child.

^ hmmmm so Pantalone plays favorites among the segments.... *furiously writing that down*

^ the fact that Dottore is known to be immediately drawn to other outcasts is already great, but the reminder that there were multiple of him makes it so much funnier to imagine. what Columbina and Scaramouche probably saw:

FUCK JOHNNY VINCENT HE CAN STAY HIS ASS IN HAPPY VOLTS FOR LIFE

It’s been hours dudes

that CREATURE will not be featured on this blog until i beat the mission

this is the worst mission in the game no shot i am NOT saving him😭