starryspindel

Various fandoms and interests. Currently Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. A proud member of the Colin protection squad.

[starryspindel]

When I made the post about Jen's insta story calling Julie Verso's bff and how with that info we could possibly look at their relationship as being more of a friendship and at the LEAST pre-romantic (i.e they were in the flirting stage which is maybe why she calls out his charm - flirting - only being to hide his lies) I got a frankly angry message that I ended up rolling my eyes at and deleting saying that she was just joking and Julie couldn't be Verso's bff because Monoco is, as it's stated in the game.

But here's two things about that:

Monoco being Painted Verso's best friend is stated during the events of the game which occurs 67 years after Julie's death.

When Monoco first met Painted Verso, he did not like him at first and it took a lot of time to warm up to him and become his best friend.

We don't know when the two of them met exactly, but it's most likely it was after Julie died. Monoco makes no mention of Julie at all in game, not like how Esquie does, implying the latter was present during the S&R while Monoco wasn't (which makes sense; he mentions he was separated and lost during the Fracture and was found then raised by Noco). They met sometime after, maybe during those 15 years before the Expeditions restarted or even later, we don't know for sure but I'm convinced it was after the S&R.

What I'm trying to say is that Julie and Monoco can absolutely have been Verso's bffs at different times in his life, and both things can be true at once.

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Finally started Campaign 4 of Critical Role and I can't be the only one who heard Matt saying Julien was "just about to crest into his 30s" and believed he meant 'peak into his 30s', placing him in his mid 30s and not late 20s like most people seem to believe?

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Expedition 33 would be an entirely different and very short game if Clea was actively participating in the story and aware of what was going on, because if she looked in to the Canvas to check on her sister at any point during Act 2, she would have seen how Alicia was moving to get revenge on Renoir for Gustave's death and I think that would be Clea's breaking point.

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Honestly, I really need the devs to give us more information about the differences and similarities between our Belle Epoque era and the one in Clair Obscur, just so I can disregard or take into consideration the era when it comes to think-pieces.

For example; by our societal norms of that time Renoir is the head of the Dessendre family and Verso is his heir as his son. As his only son and male heir, there would have been a lot of pressure - from his parents and/or society at large - on Verso to marry, even if 26 years old was young for a man at the time to tie the knot.

But the Belle Epoque Paris of Clair Obscur might be totally different and in that case do you think the same thing could apply, with Verso being the heir in regards to society's rules, but in the small world of Painters & Writers inside that society gender norms are non-existent, therefore allowing Aline to be Head of the Painter's Council at one point and Clea, as the eldest child, her heir?

So Verso is the heir to the family but Clea is the heir to the family's council seat?

Or are societal norms different in that women have equal rights as men, therefore Clea is the heir overall and Verso does not have that type of pressure on him as he might have done in our world while Clea does?

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Honestly, the devs putting Simon in an Expedition uniform is so funny to me, because it implies that Lumiere actually had different priorities when it came to their immediate response towards the Fracture.

Think about it, do you think Lumiere just had uniforms specifically adorned with symbols referencing the Crooked Tower and the Paintress laying about pre-Fracture?

It had to be custom made, meaning so was Verso's and the rest of Expedition Zero...and that implication is hilarious.

Imagine, the Fracture's just happened: no food, no shelter, no protection. People are missing. A call to arms is made; volunteers will head to the Continent to look for scattered survivors and investigate what led to the Fracture...

But they have to wait for their fancy uniforms to be made first.

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Verso - the real Verso, the Paris!Verso, the Out-of-Canvas (OOC) Verso, if you will - makes my brain itch, because we know practically nothing about him and the small amount we do know as concrete fact is miniscule, and some of the things his own family say about him are more their perception of him and may not necessarily be the truth. (Hell, Painted!Verso's love of trains might have been a childhood only love and might not even reflect how the real!Verso felt about them at 26 years old, because Aline when creating him was making him out of a mother's memory and he will always be her little boy.)

YET there's absolutely things about Verso that none of them (or at least Aline) knew about that didn't make it into painted Verso's memories and life in Lumiere, friendships and relationships that the real Verso kept to himself and so unknowingly protected from making it into Aline's replica of Paris she made for the memory of her son.

Painted Verso has to be missing so much about the real Verso that made him Verso. Friends he cherished, someone he loved - people Aline did not know about, because he was a grown man with his own life.

He's only a small slice of the pie that makes up Verso Dessendre.

So, what - or who - is missing? Will we ever know?

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Something I've been thinking about when it comes to Sciel is her backstory. Why did they decide to make Lune's backstory of familial pressure to continue your parents' legacy a nearly one-to-one replica of the real Verso's, but Sciel's is an allegory to a completely different character?

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One thing I don't see a lot of people talking about, if at all, is that the game has Renoir call Clea's fight against the Writers a 'solitary' war.

That would not be odd if the family were the only Painters in Paris or even the world and they were fighting against another singular family, but they're clearly not. Aline was the Head of the Painter's Council, implying there's a lot more Painters out there for her to manage.

And yet: no mention of Clea receiving help outside of the family. They call her war 'solitary'.

Yes, you could argue she might not want anyone else getting involved other then her family, but when her goal is to end this war once and for all i.e eradicate the Writers then you can't go it alone, especially when said-family are too busy killing themselves or trying to stop other family members from killing themselves. You'll need allies, and yet...the game makes it clear to us she's doing this by herself.

The only son of the Head of the Painter's Council, a man who may not have wanted to be a Painter but was one by blood and birth and association, was just murdered. Her daughter, who may not have wanted to be a Painter but like her musician brother is technically still one, was maimed. A Painter's family, their leader's family, was targeted in an attack believed to be from a rival group.

They should all be up in arms, so why is no one helping Clea? Why is she going at this alone? Why does no one seemingly want to help?

What do they know that Clea doesn't? (Or doesn't want to admit?)

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Jennifer Svedberg-Yen posted an instagram story shouting out all the VAs in the prologue, because Aline's VA Tracy Wiles is starting her first ever playthrough over on Twitch, and shouted out Nola Klop (who voiced Emma and Julie btw) but she referred to Julie as 'Verso's bff/murder victim' and I got whiplash twice. First from 'murder victim' because, well..

Oof if that isn't true but THEN I got whiplash again when I did a double take.

Hold up...

Bff??

As in 'best friend forever'?? Not gf for 'girlfriend'?? If she's somehow joking, which I do actually think is unlikely because she is just stating facts for other characters on that story too, disengage but if not...

Were Verso and Julie never in a relationship and people just jumped to conclusions?

After all, it's not stated anywhere in game they were in a romantic relationship. That was interpretation and speculation, not canonically confirmed.

Were they just best friends and Julie felt massively betrayed by his lies? I mean, it kinda makes the whole 'capture and interrogate him' plan make a bit more sense to me, because I could never understand why - if she loved him romantically - she would do that? Even if pushed to irritational actions, it always felt a bit overboard that she jumped to that so quickly?

Or, was it a tragic 'they liked each other but then THAT happened before they could confess their feelings and now one of them is dead by the other's hand' angst situation?

Did Julie die thinking it was for the best she found out before she could confess, because then she can deny ever having loved him? Was she relieved?

Did she die never telling him she loved him? Hearing him say it to her?

Did she die thinking she was unloved?

Did Verso kill her not knowing she loved him? Damn, now I've made myself even sadder and their whole situation even angstier.

Or, it was just the more funny-kinda scenario; they were never in love, they actually were just a couple of besties and we jumped to conclusions. They just love their friends, all right? That's why they're so dramatic in their journals guys they're both just like that!

[starryspindel]

Just finished the Reacher again and watching Alicia just giving up, taking the chance to die because there's nothing and no one left for her to stay for is heartbreaking.

Renoir is dead, Aline is gone, Clea has been gone for years and Verso has completely replaced her.

Because that's essentially what he did, right?

We saw how he interacted with Maelle throughout the game, and we know from Alicia's letter that she has been watching the expedition and specifically watching Maelle and Verso's interactions.

Alicia most likely watched as Verso played the piano for Maelle. Played her song for her. And yeah, it is actually Maelle's song - not hers - but if Verso has the memory of creating and playing the song for Alicia, then Alicia must have the memory of him creating and playing the song for her. It is her song but also not her song.

And she watched him play it for another version of her. The real, unburdened version of her who doesn't walk around carrying the painful reminder of why he exists.

He interacts with Maelle as if she is his sister (she is, but isn't) while Alicia stands there and watches.

Then the final nail in the coffin?

The Gommage.

He doesn't read the letter, doesn't give it to Maelle. He puts it in his pocket and forgets about it until the last possible second, chooses the real family over her - as he does time and time again.

Even if she didn't know when he in fact read it, she knows he did. He gives her back the letter, tells her he read it, and yet - he chose to go ahead with his plan. That's just confirmation for her.

Yeah, no wonder she essentially disowns Verso in her final moments: Verso did it first.

(And if Verso did in fact Gommage during that scene with everyone else in Lumiere before coming back, then so did she. She comes back knowing he killed her too.)

[starryspindel]

I've literally just realised this as I was sleeping and I woke up in cold sweat with the realisation:

What if Clea only started creating the Nevrons after Expedition Zero refused to help her get Aline out of the Canvas?

I was playing through the game last night and discovered Expedition 84's journal right before I went to bed. It makes it very clear that they tried to follow Zero's trail but there were no bodies or even pieces of clothing belonging to any of them, so the trail went cold.

Weird, right? It's especially weird for the game writers to want us to know that specifically.

Expedition 84 tried and failed to find evidence of Expedition Zero: no clothing, no bodies, nothing.

If Nevrons were around during the first half of Monolith Year 100, they would have definitely come across the first ones and died fighting them, turning into statues. They would have been discovered.

Except...what if they didn't encounter any Nevrons?

Nowhere does it say Clea created them IMMEDIATELY after the Fracture, after all.

[starryspindel]

I know I can't be the only one who has noticed this but the front interior of the Manor we enter in game does not match the exterior of the Manor in Old Lumiere or in Verso's ending and in a game where everything is done with intent it just can't be something they screwed up accidentally.

I need answers.

[starryspindel]

This is stupid in hindsight but I keep seeing it and I don't know if it's people just referring to her as an overall member because it's easier and they do know she wasn't with them or because they genuinely believe this is true, but it's kind of grinding my gears so here I go:

Julie was never apart of Expedition Zero.

She was not with them when they left Lumiere for the Continent. She was not there when Simon disappeared. She was not there when Renoir, Verso and their unnamed companions made it to the Monolith and met Clea. She was not there when Expedition Zero was wiped out (because she would be dead).

She came after - when Renoir and Verso returned as the only two survivors. When she joined the new group of people Renoir formed to take them to the Monolith, making them believe they were a simple Search & Rescue team and not cannon-fodder for a fight the two must have known they might not win. It's why Verso, now immortal and his hair full of secrets, lied and lied and lied until Julie was driven to creating the plan to abduct and 'interrogate' him to get the truth.

Even Julie refers to herself as a member of Search & Rescue. She mentions Expedition Zero as a group separate from her own.

I want an Expedition Zero DLC or a side game or a goddamn novel as much as the next person, but babes as much as I want to see a romance turn toxic in real time, there's a huge chance Julie won't be there (maybe like a cameo at the beginning and end, but not for the full thing).

[starryspindel]

Pros: Franchaela. I get to see two lesbians fighting over managing Kilmartin and fuck nasty.

Cons: Whatever the fuck they're gonna do with Eloise this season and forcing me to watch it.

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I can't be the only one who sees it but there's a popular Clair Obscur/Versciel artist over on X that is absolutely whitewashing Sciel whenever they colour their art that includes her and I haven't seen a single person call it out??

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Not gonna lie it's hilarious that the only two scenes from S4 that the GA are talking about is the mistress question and the recital dance.

None of the sex scenes are being talked about AT ALL.

[starryspindel]

Violet Bridgerton will go above and beyond in the name of love because why is she straight up a liar?