[meetmrgrimlock]

At this point, I’m pretty sure ‘raid’ is a banned word in Chaldea. If it’s ever said aloud, Merlin, Skadi, Banana Oni, every single Apoc servant, and basically every single target servant all collectively flinch. Waver just drops to the ground and curls into a ball. Castoria witnesses all of this with terror.

[meetmrgrimlock]

Writing Prompt

Person A: Did you just-

Person B: Would you rather debate why what I just did is a war crime in all but two countries, or let me get you out of here alive?

Person A: Fine. But we’re still going to talk about this!

Person B: Well, of course; it’s a fascinating exploration into the human psyche.

[meetmrgrimlock]

Crypters Meeting

(Right before Lostbelt 1)

Wodime: Alright, so now that we’ve caused Chaldea to retreat, it’s time to prepare for their eventual return.

Kadoc: *snorts* What do we need to prepare for? A mage so shit they need help to perform basic magecraft and a girl who’s not even half a Servant?

*General sounds of agreement*

Wodime: *Deadpan stare*

Wodime: …So what’s your plan for the artificial intelligence from the moon that’s also a class that doesn’t exist?

Beryl: *chokes on his drink*

*Yu.exe has stopped responding*

Ophelia, who has no idea what the moon is: The what?

Pepe, who knows exactly what the moon is: The What.

Kadoc: *Deletes that sentence from his mind out of confused concern*

Daybit, genuinely confused: …I’m sorry, do you guys not have a plan for that?

Everyone: *pretends Daybit didn’t say anything*

[meetmrgrimlock]

Video Game Concept:

Horror Game set in a Saw-type death-trap escape scenario with Detroit: Become Human-style choice based story with radically branching paths based on who survives each trap as you progress. You play small groups of people who each have different specialties and skill sets that make them better at overcoming particular traps.

The Twist?

The villain is a sadistic psychopath who can make you all hallucinate. You can never be sure whether you cleared a trap safely or if you sent someone to their death until it’s already too late. A safe path is equally as likely as actually being safe as it is to be where a member of the group dies. Any death trap could potentially be something else entirely and the person you sent has no idea how to get out of it so you’re stuck watching them die, helpless and aware that they are only about to die because you told them to go in.

There’s no time limit to make your choice, there’s no intense music, no one is pressuring you to make a decision, there’s no way to shift the blame. It’s just you, the people you can send out, and the awareness that no matter what, you can never guarantee that someone will live.

There would be an in-game timer keeping track of how long it takes for you to make decisions and how often you send people out. At the end of the game, based on this, you will either be berated for sending people out with no regard for whether they’ll live or die or praised for debating over each decision with the awareness that you are gambling with the lives of the people you’re sending out.

A co-op mode could consist of everyone playing a random character who has a specialty, and everyone having to argue amongst each other who to send out against each trap with the awareness of permadeath. Less of an impact than the solo, where you’re alone with your thoughts and the weight of your decisions, but good for continued enjoyment.

[meetmrgrimlock]

The Fundamental Problem of RWBY

RWBY is a show that I loved the first three seasons of, and enjoyed parts of later seasons. I haven’t gotten the chance to watch any of season 8 yet, so some of what I state here might be corrected, dear god I hope any of what I say here is corrected, but I’ve figured out what I believe to be the core of why RWBY has gone downhill in terms of story.

RWBY, embodies the sentence: “I fight because I refuse to die.” It sounds really cool and interesting, and is so on the surface, but once you think about it, once you peer past that surface, you begin to understand the faults in it. In addition, that sentence also describes the plot quite well, and the problem with the plot. The plot of RWBY, as it is eventually explained, is that Salem wishes to collect the four relics given to humanity by the gods. The cast of RWBY, wish to keep Salem from doing that, and somehow stop Salem. Sounds great, right? Interesting? But then you realize why Salem collecting the relics is a problem. It’s not that Salem will obtain incredible power from them, she already is one of the only characters in their world able to use magic. It’s not that she will become unstoppable, she’s already immortal. And it’s not that she will take over the world or anything, her Grimm are keeping humanity stuck in four tiny, fractured kingdoms barely keeping themselves afloat and she has influence everywhere. When she collects all the relics, it summons the gods who abandoned their world to judge humanity. And, whether the protagonists consciously are aware of this or not, they all recognize that when the gods come to judge them, they will deem humanity unworthy of living any longer.

The theme of RWBY is hopelessness, and it’s supposed to be that the protagonists are trying to maintain hope. But, none of them are trying to be more than they are, except for one, but she gave up on that dream.

Yang was the only one with any real goal that they wished to achieve, being meeting her mom, but even that was from sheer spite and anger. She has underground connections, so she probably has a good understanding of how bad the world can be, yet doesn’t make any attempt whatsoever to make it better. She’s had the most obvious example of hopelessness, being the period after she lost her arm where she perceived herself as useless and a burden. Even when she had the rematch against Adam, it wasn’t her seeking out Adam to prove she had grown, hell it wasn’t even really her fight. She realized something was up with Blake and saw the fight when she came to check on her. They defeated Adam, together, purely because he was hunting them down and not because they desired to stop him. Overall, outside of keeping her sister and the other characters she perceives as family safe, Yang isn’t fighting because there is something worth protecting, but because she doesn’t want her tiny little group of friends to be killed.

Weiss comes from a family where her mother is drowning herself in alcohol, her father is a corrupt businessman-slash-politician, her older sister has abandoned the family for the army, and her younger brother is following in their father’s footsteps. Her only desire was to go down her own path, away from her family, which also implies that she has neither any hope that her family can become better nor any hope that the business or political parts of their world can be made pure. As a huntress, her explicit goal is to be difference from her family, which also implies she is one of a great many in their world who believe that there is no real way to stop the Grimm. Weiss is shown to have no desire to stop Salem outside of keeping the world from ending. AKA, Weiss is fighting because she doesn’t want to let their world die, and not because she believes it deserves to live.

Blake was part of the White Fang, a group whose original goal was to abolish Faunus persecution and racism, which is a good start, but that was a pre-existing group that she joined rather than started, and she continued to follow as it steadily lost sight of its original goal in favor of Faunus supremacy until she realized that wasn’t why she joined and she ran away. Another point to hopelessness: she didn’t believe she could return the White Fang to how it once was. Being Faunus herself, she has firsthand experience and the best understanding of the persecution Faunus receive and the true depravity of humans. As a huntress, at first, it was just a believable cover so that she could lay low whilst still keeping tabs on the White Fang in case they caught onto her trail. So far, 3-3 for characters fighting because they don’t want to die, instead of believing their world is worth fighting for.

And then we have Ruby. Poor, poor Ruby. The one who was clearly meant to be the hope that fueled the theme of the story and the reason the other characters kept going. The one who was the most hopeful, the only one who had the desire to make the world better, who saw the good that was buried in everything no matter how deep, who believed there was a way to stop the Grimm, that there would indeed be a happy ending. The one that was told to grow up and gave up on that dream. Out of the four explanations we were given over the course of season one for why each member of team RWBY was training to be a huntress, Ruby’s stood out. So much so that even the other characters stopped for a moment to take it in. Blake wanted to escape from her past, Weiss wanted to walk her own path, and Yang was just in it for the thrill, but Ruby wanted to be like the heroes she heard of in fairytales that saved the world from evil. She was fantastic as a leader, not just because she was intelligent and came up with good plans, but because she was so supportive. It was something that extended past her team, she was practically Beacon’s personal sun with how she clearly cheered up the other characters. With Penny, and her instantaneous acceptance of the ginger being a robot. With Faunus, and her seeming lack of care whether or not someone has animal features. With Jayne, despite his lack of skill and self-depreciating beginning. She was uniting people, making the world around her better. But then came The Fall. Penny and Pyrrha died in front of her, Beacon fell, her sister lost an arm, her entire team split apart, and for all intents and purposes she lost hope. Something she never really regained, as evidenced by her difficulty in calling upon The Silver Eyes. The Silver Eyes, as explained by Maria, activate when the person desires to protect life. The Ruby at the start of the show would have had no problem at all calling upon the power, but the one after season 3 can’t truly get herself to believe that she can protect anyone. Thus why it was so difficult for her to call upon it, why she both needed so much help when she did call upon it and failed anyway after activating it against Grimm Godzilla. The only character in the show who had any desire to make the world a better place, who had any belief that the world could be a better place, and she lost it. While she is essentially the head of the charge, Ruby is fighting because the world needs to be saved, and not because she believes she can save it.

There are many more examples throughout, of course, like James not only believing that the only way to combat Salem is to go somewhere she can’t follow, but never directing any of his massive army towards actually leading an assault on the Grimm. Or Ozpin, who gave up entirely on the idea of stopping Salem, barely attempted to better the world in the first place, and believes the only route to take is stalling as long as possible. Or Raven, the epitome of ‘there’s no way to win, so don’t bother trying.’

In the end, RWBY’s main fault is that it establishes a sense of hopelessness and stomps out the hope that was supposed to combat it. An easy solution would be if any of the major characters actually believed that there is something worth fighting for or attempt in some way to make the world worth fighting for. The preferable solution is to return Ruby to what she originally was supposed to be, an icon of hope that things can get better. ‘Hopefully’, any of that happens in season 8 when I get the time to watch it instead of typing shit like this out as I’m walking home from work, but I doubt it. That’s all I really gotta say, so see ya.

[meetmrgrimlock]

All for One is such a great villain

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR BNHA 287

All for One is one of the best villains I’ve seen in anime, and one of the best written ones as well. He’s just, evil. He hurts because he wants to, he tortures you just to see how agonized you can be, he does everything he can to break people just because he loves it. For the anime, it took three seasons for him to appear on screen, and he was perfectly hyped up beforehand, all the way starting from episode one with Izuku himself wondering what the hell could hurt the Number One Hero so mortally. He’s got an inhuman personality, his Quirk is monstrous, and even without his respirator he looks sinister. He mentally tortured All Might during their final fight pretty much just because he wants to see how much he can tear the man down. It’s a perfect combination of mutual hatred and the fact that he just loves breaking people. But the reason I’m making this post is because of recent information about All for One from the newest chapter. All for One, along with their quirks, steals parts of people’s consciousnesses, and every single Quirk he’s stolen HATES him. Insults him every moment of every day, and only goes away when he drops the Quirk. They try to make him feel guilty. And this could’ve been an opportunity to make All for One into a sympathetic villain, someone who is broken down into something evil by his misguided deeds. But no. He says himself, he doesn’t want to feel guilty, to feel human. He just wants to hurt people. If anything, he was annoyed at the voices because they were making him the teeniest tiniest bit not happy with making other people suffer. And this is why Horikoshi is great. Because where other writers would have All for One become sympathetic, a metaphor for the breakdown of society perhaps, Horikoshi is ‘nah, he’s just evil, man.’

[meetmrgrimlock]

Writing Prompt

Person B looked over to A.

“You want to know how I’m sure I’m a bad person? Fine.” B’s eyes bore holes into A. The sheer gravity of the stare caused A to step back. “Someone once asked me who the first person I killed was. So I thought about it. And I realized that I couldn’t remember. Not their face, their name, how I killed them. I couldn’t even tell you if they were even human. Would a good person fail at recalling something as life-changing as the first life they took?”

[meetmrgrimlock]

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” A smirked.

“WHERE’S YOUR SELF-PRESERVATION?!?!?!” B screamed in fear.

[meetmrgrimlock]

Dialogue Writing Prompt

“I never thought keeping you from dying would be so much more difficult the second time around.”

[meetmrgrimlock]

What is the Final Getsuga Tensho?

I was thinking about Bleach just now, and I realized something that might be just an oversight on Kubo’s part, might be something actually big.

When Ichigo used the Final Getsuga Tensho against Aizen, our resident substitute was still using the powers available to him from Quincy Zangetsu. It’s really important to note that NO ONE was aware that Ichigo wasn’t using his real zanpakuto. NO ONE was aware that he was using Quincy powers that were pretending to be Shinigami powers.

Starting off, the Final Getsuga Tensho that was used looks and acts eerily similar to Uryu’s Letzt Stil. In terms of what the ability did, (let’s shorten it to make it easier on me) the FGT gave the user ludicrous amounts of power for a short period of time, and the user lost their powers afterwards as a drawback. What did Letzt Stil do? Give the user ludicrous amounts of power for a short period of time, and make said user lose their powers after as a drawback. How does one activate Letzt Stil? By having something that restricts their power use, then removing that restriction once the user is accustomed to it. What happened when Ichigo used the FGT? His sword and Bankai coat, both of which having been confirmed to be something QuincyGetsu manifested to further the illusion that Ichigo was using shinigami powers, disappeared. Phrasing it in another way, he removed his restriction by no longer needlessly diverting power elsewhere. Hell, even in both instances, the ability gave the user a badass outfit while the ability was active. So, the FGT was essentially Ichigo’s makeshift Letzt Stil.

With that in mind, and bringing back the very important note that NO ONE knew Ichigo was using Quincy powers, Isshin told Ichigo that the FGT was a thing. He even knew how one went about learning how to use it, and knew that the zanpakuto would put up a fight. He even knew the drawback from using the FGT. So, the FGT actually exists, and we have never actually seen it be used.

So what the fuck is it?

[meetmrgrimlock]

An Amazing Small Detail

Whilst watching the Babylonia anime, about a year after I completed the Babylonia story, I thought about the servants Gilgamesh summoned, and something clicked in my head. Something that makes the already amazing story of the Babylonia chapter even better, if only because it showcases how much thought and effort was put into it. That being, all the servants Gilgamesh summoned to defend Uruk, are servants that are better at the defensive battle, and/or against overwhelming odds. Let’s go down the list, take note I’m not doing this in any particular order.

Tomoe Gozen: An insanely skilled and powerful warrior, one incredible enough to be described as capable of killing gods and having performed more deeds of valor than any other warrior. Her most famous battle? The Battle of Awasu, where she claimed victory despite being severely outnumbered.

Amakusa Shiro: A man who lead a rebelion and conquered a castle through a coordinated defense and was recognized as being the main source of boosting morale.

Fuuma Kotarō: A Ninja clan leader who is most recognized for infiltrating an enemy camp and single-handedly stirring up so much confusion that the entirety of the enemy forces killed each other.

Ibaraki-dōji: An oni whose most defining trait is their resilience and sheer refusal to die no matter how injured.

Leonidas: Should speak for itself, probably the most famous example of defending against a seemingly unstoppable force in history.

Benkei: A man of absolute devotion and, contrary to how he is in-game, an extremely skilled and powerful fighter. One who successfully took on over 500 men at once to give Yoshitsune the time to kill himself. (Ignore that last part, there’s some context to that situation)

Ushiwakamaru: An extremely skilled warrior, one of such incredible skill that she actually scared the shit out of her leader(who was also her brother) so much that he tried to kill her so that he wouldn’t run the risk of her turning on him. How did he try to kill her? He assembled an entire army to go after her. And in the fate version, she won.

Merlin: (It’s best to go with the fate version here, because Merlin’s actual lore is vague and confusing and I’m not sure if he ever enters combat there.) A mage who has potential to be a Grand Caster, which is essentially the epitome of what it means to be a mage, and one that is superior to all others. One that, canonically to the Fate story, is the single best support-type servant ever.

[meetmrgrimlock]

Me, being aware that Horikoshi is a massive Star Wars fan who puts loads of Star Wars references in BNHA, reading about the revamped Dabi theories: Wait, did Dabi get Darth Vader’ed? Cause it sounds like Dabi got Darth Vader’ed.

[meetmrgrimlock]

Writing Prompt

Person B leaned down to smirk at Person A. A narrowed their eyes while struggling in the chair they were tied to.

“You get it yet? Person C can’t find out where you are, let alone rescue you.” As soon as Person B finished speaking, the door flew off its hinges, soared across the room, and shattered against the opposite wall.

[meetmrgrimlock]

Hello. To start things off, I’m about to rant/explain why I don’t like magic in Harry Potter. This argument is in the point of view of someone who has only read the first three books, and I read them like a decade ago. It is very possible my information is wrong. I will happily accept it if people correct me if I am wrong. In fact, if I am wrong, I welcome being corrected. Onto the rant/explanation.

I don’t like magic in Harry Potter because there is no need to grow. That is not to say there isn’t growth. That is not to say it is not recommended to start off simple and work your way up. As far as I’m aware, it’s extremely recommended that you start simple, and with someone supervising you as you practice. But my problem is that it is recommended. There is no need to learn basic spells. It is not required to be able to do something else first. From what I know, it is extremely improbable, but it is possible to have your first successful spell be a high level one. I have a friend who knows a lot about Harry Potter, and we regularly debate about this. The example I give is: if a novice who had never performed a spell had the proper equipment, and did the proper studying, then they could perform the insta-kill spell. Not to say they would, but the problem I have is that it is possible. My friend always tells me some variation of ‘not quite’, but when I push, they just sidestep it by explaining why the novice can’t be in the situation I describe in the example. Difficulty is irrelevant, because people can be really damn stubborn. It is possible to skip the easy stuff and go straight into the endgame shit. It doesn’t matter that it is highly recommended to start off easy, because the situation that’s pissing me off is that you don’t have to. I will state, now that I am done, that my conclusion is the only thing I really dislike about Harry Potter magic. I’m fine with everything else, in fact, there are parts that I absolutely adore. I just don’t like that it is possible to skip the journey of learning the small/medium stuff and go straight to ‘insta-kill spell’.

One last time, if I am wrong, I would love to be corrected and informed of what is right. Thank you.

[meetmrgrimlock]

Writing Prompt #2

Person A shivered as they looked over to the man. The slam of the front door was heard even from their position in the basement from Person B’s attempt to soothe their rage with cigarettes. Person C was unmoving, staring off into space as they sat against the right wall. A swallowed nervously, and rubbed their eyes. The chalk drawings on the ground surrounding the man were undisturbed and still alight with magic, keeping the monster within from escaping. Chains still wrapped around each of the man’s limbs. A smirk was still on his face as he sat leisurely in the center of his prison. The monster was the one caged. So why was Person A feeling like they were the ones who were trapped?

[meetmrgrimlock]

Writing Prompt

Bit of a long prompt, but it’s an interesting one.

There is a scanner that analyzes ones propensity for murder and turns it into a number. 0 means that under no circumstances will the person in question kill another. 1-99 means that person can be pushed into murder with a depending amount of effort. 100 means the person has killed before, but will not kill again. 101-199 means the person has killed someone, but has to be pushed to kill again. 200 means that they will kill if the situation calls for it. Anything above 200 is the likelihood that the person in question will kill any given person, with 300 meaning 10% chance to kill anyone, 400 being 20%, so on and so forth.

[meetmrgrimlock]

So, the idea of a crossover between Fate/Grand Order and My Hero has been floating around in my head, and I’ve been thinking of some interactions between characters.

Izuku and Leonidas would be the perfect match. Best Spartan would provide Cinammon Roll a perfect training regime that flawlessly balanced studying, exercise, and recovery while being with him every step of the way. He would provide moral support, probably cure him of his low self-esteem, and assist in figuring out how to use One for All.

Recovery Girl and Nightingale is...iffy. Recovery Girl would adore Head Nurse’s “get the fuck in the stretcher” methodology to helping patients. But, Tired-of-Izuku’s-shit-nurse would thoroughly disagree with Head Nurse’s willingness to further injure patients in order to heal them.

Midnight and Medb would absolutely not be allowed to be aware of each other. For the sake of nearly everyone’s innocence, those two would have to be under constant watch. And Medb would have to be barred from coming anywhere close to the student dorms.

For a similar reason, Mineta, Fergus, and Blackbeard should also be watched in much the same manner.

Katsuki would likely be killed by either Gilgamesh or Ozy(more likely Gil) due to his unwavering belief that he is better than them.

Upon learning of Eri’s existence, Herc would tear the Yakusa apart until he has rescued her.

Kintoki and All Might would probably become best friends, What with how both are Lawful Good people with immense power. They would probably have entire conversations about their frighteningly powerful mother figures.

Mei would accidentally end the feud between Edison and Tesla without even realizing it. The three would then proceed to invent some horrifying monstrosity that would both haunt people’s nightmares for years to come and be the reason those people are alive to suffer those nightmares.

Gil and/or Ozy would learn of Ochako’s money situation, mock her for being poor, and then give her enough money to buy a fucking country.

Scathach would beat the shit out of All Might for continuing to teach when even he himself is aware of how shit a teacher he is. She would then appropriate his position and reject Nexu’s offers for payment.

Brynhildr would be standing in awe at how pure and heroic the UA staff and over half of the Hero course is.

Nero would be endlessly proud of the mere existence of the Sports Festival. She would repeatedly try to find ways to enter, and deny it as merely a set-back every time she is rejected.

Shiozaki would faint the first time she meets any saint. She would then introduce them to the local church, and ask to pray with them, which they would gladly accept.

Amakusa would attempt to fix Mineta. He would die trying.

Tokoyami and Dantes would be edgy together in a shadowy corner.

Billy and Snipe would trade shooting tips, and admire each other’s guns.

Momo would absolutely fangirl over Sherlock, who would enjoy the praise, but would much rather be playing chess with Nezu.