abattoir.angel

he/they, 18. i save fandom stuff. pathologic, fe3h, f1, fallout new vegas, slay the princess + more

[chainspunkk]

[moodytanuki]

sydney was dead tomodachi life of all things had me thinking of flynns grief and oughhh oughh ugh my shayla

[crowroboros]

samuel ayers analimean analysis

I'm going to hold off on going too in-depth with Sam cause I really want to wait until TSR has a bit more content in all of its routes, just so I can really take a look at his whole character arc across the VN. I'm also not caught up with the most recent updates, so I'm not the most familiar with where his character stands currently in Nik's route (which the past few updates has been focused on from what I've heard). Spoilers for both The Smoke Room and Echo.

Samuel Ayers I find very interesting. Compared to Chase or Cameron—both of whom express a dislike of religion and a distaste for letting it influence how they live their lives— Sam really does live and die by his beliefs. There are so many times where we hear Sam's monologue in which he talks down to himself as if he himself is "tarnished" or "sinful". I do think part of this is a result from him murdering Jack in the mines as one of the first things he convinces himself of is that Satan is with him in the mines and is ready to drag him to hell for killing the guy. Now, I'm not religious nor am I familiar with the Christian God so I cannot and will not comment on the objectiveness of Sam's views but it's clear that Sam sees the Christian God as something to be feared. It creates an interesting dynamic in which Sam often grapples with his actions and sexuality and other things deemed "sinful" while also being a very self-serving person. His motivations throughout TSR aren't tied to anyone but himself, and what he agrees to in every route is ultimately focused on getting himself far away from Echo. That's the whole reason he went into sex work in the first place, to get money to head further westward (after failing in the mines). And with being gay being heavily stigmatized and outright dangerous, especially in a very Christian area, it adds yet another layer of self-loathing to Sam. Though in terms of sexuality, he doesn't seem to dislike himself due to his same-sex attraction but rather due to his work. I don't ever remember him being ashamed of being into men or anything, though he often refers to himself "whore" in a derogatory way. Overall, in terms of religion, Sam seems so wary towards his own beliefs and the idea of a God. With him both wanting to achieve his own happiness and goals but being terrified—if not outright convinced—that what awaits him is eternal damnation.

Sort of related to that is the way Sam almost justifies the way he seems to be trapped in Echo as if it is something he deserves. He desperately wants to get the hell away from Echo and his old life, to the point of being openly bitter and melancholic when thinking about the town and his life up to that point, and yet he really does seem to think that it is just how things are meant to be for him. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy when taking Echo into consideration. In Echo's timeline, he doesn't leave the town and dies there slowly and painfully. And then the Samulation lives on in Echo for decades after that, continuing the town's cyclical nature. I think that this is in part due to Sam's aforementioned views on himself in the context of his religious beliefs. With how much he sees himself as "sinful" it makes sense that he'd justify the shitty things that happen to him as part of some "divine punishment". Speaking of the Samulation. I think it's a pretty good look into Sam's bitterness towards the world and the situation he finds himself in. Cause it does reflect a lot of Sam's personality—his sarcastic humor, his aloofness, the bitterness I mentioned—but it lacks a lot of what makes Sam nuanced. Sam is all those things, yes, but he is also rather accommodating and agreeable as well. Sam has this almost naive outlook and tends to romanticize things he hopes for. That's part of why he fell for Jack's scheme so easily and so quickly. But the Samulation lacks that. It has his memories, but it isn't very multi-faceted. This part is more of a theory than an analysis but I think it manifested like that due to the circumstances of Sam's death: Mangled and crushed under the weight of Mr. Bronson's van in a town that he hates. What a shitty way to die. If somehow, through the supernatural nature of the town, a simulation of Sam managed to live on after his death, it makes the most sense to me that it would mostly take the form of his mind in his last moments. All of the other aspects of Sam's personality wouldn't be present while he dies in such an agonizing way, but his anger and bitterness towards the world—towards Echo—probably would. Again though, just an idea. It isn't confirmed. I just wondered why the Samulation was both so similar to Sam yet much more aggressive and spiteful than the Sam we see. That could be why.

I'm going to stop this post here. Again, TSR isn't finished yet so I don't want to go too deep into Sam's character cause his development isn't done yet. So his relationship with other characters and the overall narrative and how it all shapes him will have to wait. I definitely will make a part 2 to this in the future cause this guy has a lot going for him.

[nitw]

one thing i appreciate about echo is its ability to portray sexual horror that isn't necessarily about non-consent. the horror of getting intimate with someone on a much deeper and more personal level than you anticipated, and seeing that person in their most raw state while you're still keeping your guard up, is done especially well in flynn's route

but also chase is the funniest character ever for choosing to follow flynn into a relatively normal free-for-all gay darkroom and then being like "this is so scary and fucked up i can't believe you"

[spicylavender]

echo spoilers vining, move along

Chynn is still my favorite Echo pairing entirely because I always want to think about the stupid chain of events that would have to take place for Chase and Flynn to end up in an even somewhat stable relationship. Like an initial sexual tension obviously exists, that's the whole premise of Flynn's route lol, but beyond that there's just *so* much in the way of them lasting more than even a week that I kind of like rooting for it. A world where those two shack up despite chase being chase, and what he did in the past, and echo having to happen in general, is just so insane and hilarious to me that it tickles an itch most other pairings don't really. Flarl is boring despite its canonicity, Lynn is also interesting doomed toxic yaoi but there's less crumbs of it for me to pick at, chase and Leo works perfectly already with them breaking up, and I like chase as Jenna's gay bestie in the closeted route more so just by process of elimination chynn is kinda just where I have to land at naturally. And I'm not complaining, they're very much "this is my disgusting wife that I hate" core and I love that for them so much

[crystalcaltrops]

(Circa 2015)

Flynn: "There is no way TJ doesn't know anything about what happened at Lake Emma. Everyone thinks I'm insane but I know he's hiding something."

Carl: (Hitting the 1738 button on his Vine Meme Sound Effects app on his iPhone 6) "Ayy, I'm like hey what's up hello"

[yeenthebin]

fear and chunter

[shpazz]

Finished my first animatic for a fandom

Same warning apply as the rest of Echo

This game has had an iron grip on my life for a month (i still have more ideas)

Song: "4.00 AM" by Taeko Ohnuki

[kagdowo]

[netssa19]

Here is almost 6 minutes of Garrus being absolutely sweet, needy, protective, and flirtyyyy.

[spekkios]

yeah, so...is this the part where we...shake hands?

[n0kt3rnal]

Sooooo James glitched big time at the citadel dlc party. I invited him to hang out at the apartment and it triggered the party starting. So he got stuck dancing by the punching bag all night.

[a-driftamongopenstars]

mass effect 2 is INSANE. you are a decorated soldier, special ops of the galaxy. you possess knowledge of the deadly future to come, no one believes you. you die. you die gruesomely. you are brought back to life by a terrorist organization you've been fighting against. you owe them your life. you use them. they use you. the future you knew would come is here. no one is safe.

is that still you, by the way? in that body? that died? is that still you? how do you know?

[hallabun]

we as a fandom underutilize just how funny it is that miranda pieced shepard back together over the course of two years. like imagine having someone out there who knows more about your own body than you do. and having that someone be miranda.

shepard: shit, it's asking for exact measurements. i just need to buy a new-

miranda, from across the room, not even looking up from her book: you're approximately 170 centimeters tall. bust is 87 centimeters, waist is 73, and hips are 91. your measurements might have changed over the last six months while you were on house arrest, so i'd recommend taking that into consideration.

shepard:

[inkiedraws]

Leave my babygirl alone, he was just trying to help.

[revvethasmythh]

happy birthday to THE bitch of all time

[drizzlesdoodles]

When you tell the ladies to suit up, sometimes they take it in a different direction. I love all the ladies of Mass Effect