#mollybabbles

[molliartsie]

I got promoted today!! I’m now a (mid level) 3D Artist, no longer a junior! 🥳

[mewly]

"Her stubbornness and drive rivals Aloy’s which isn’t something she’s really faced with a companion before" ikrie and talanah are laughing somewhere

I don’t even personally ship Seyloy if that’s what you’re mad about 😂

Anyway you’ve missed the point of what I said there entirely. So allow me explain!

Tl;dr: Seyka’s stubbornness and drive is harsh like Aloy’s, Talanah’s isn’t (and Ikrie isn’t a companion so she didn’t have the same impact), they are different, and I thought narratively that Seyka’s would have had a bigger impact than it did.

This is what I said in literally the next line: “Aloy got to see what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that instead of the perpetrator.”

I said at first I thought Seyka’s character was created to act as a mirror of Aloy, (with the similar personality traits, both mission driven, finding a focus and younger sister rescue) so that Aloy could experience firsthand how she has previously acted towards others with her own drive and stubbornness making her leave them behind and letting her know how that felt from an outside perspective. Let’s be honest, Aloy can he harsh at times because of her mission and weight of it and that comes across in her drive, we’ve seen companions like Varl and Erend comment on this before. Seyka was written to be the same way. She’s quite brash and rude at times towards Aloy, whereas no other companion has been to that extent before. She’s not afraid to snap at Aloy.

I believed as the dlc went on that Aloy would have an epiphany moment - since Varl isn’t there to explain these things to her anymore - like “oh damn this is how they all felt”, further pushing Aloy towards letting people in and changing her mentality to be more open in H3, and in turn helping Seyka open up too. It was her whole character arc in HFW so I assumed it would continue into the dlc. BUT, that isn’t what happened sadly. It was romance coded instead.

As the DLC went on, I clicked that Seyka was written to be our first love interest, and not her own character like all the other companions. And I’ll stand by that conclusion. People can all argue until the cows come home that Seyka’s her own character, but this is my opinion and I don’t think she is right now, 90% of her character is Aloy’s recycled, mashed up with everything we’d seen from our previous companions to make her this “all rounder”, and it’s just not as good. Which is why the character mirror theme would’ve made more sense to me narratively. (It’s also why I can’t ship it, I think they’d clash long term. Too similar ya know?Anyway, I’m off topic.)

Aloy is pushed into the supporting role at times with Seyka, which is jarring to us as the players. (That might also account for why I felt like a major third wheel the entire main plot of the dlc lol, I didn’t feel like I was in Aloy’s place anymore, but I digress).

In regards to Talanah and Ikrie, Talanah is a huge positive force from the get go in HZD, her banter is cheerful, and she willingly helps Aloy. There’s no real pushback in HFW after a brief conversation (eg. Talanah agrees to go back when she’s hurt, whereas Aloy tries to push onward until she’s physically forced to stop by her wounds after the Hades proving lab), Talanah’s stubbornness and drive is admirable but it is different from Aloy’s and that’s just fact. Ikrie is a DLC side character (not a companion ergo she won’t have the same impact on the story) that I genuinely don’t remember much of so I can’t comment there, but I know even she didn’t act like Seyka does towards Aloy, (which as I said before, comes across a little rude at times).

I genuinely hope that clears things up for you about what I meant from that line.

I was trying to be positive in my wording in that review, so that anons, such as yourself, didn’t jump down my throat for “not liking Seyka or Seyloy” since discourse was rampant then. But as always people find something to be mad at! 😂

But a word of advice if I may? Clearly you prefer Talanah and Ikrie for Aloy, or as characters in general, which is fine. Ships ahoy! But ships aren’t the be all and end all of fandoms nor should they be, and this game is so much more than ship discourse and I’d hate to see it reduced to such now that romance has been confirmed in whatever extent that may be, it’s a phenomenal game series and I could write about the themes and narrative behind it (or potential themes lol) until my fingers bleed. I didn’t like Seyloy because it didn’t make sense to me narratively, not because “omg a new girl kissed Aloy and my ship is now dead nooo wahhh”. Some people like Seyka and/or Seyloy, some people don’t, and I’m indifferent to it all mostly. And that is ALL okay (as long as you’re not like, one of those homophobes who tanked the reviews of course because of it).

Anyways all the best nonny.

[i-am-a-fandom-hoe]

Me, clicking the playchoices tag cause I haven’t check it in a while and seeing immediate discourse:

[mewly]

I’ve been thinking over the prevalent ships being f/m in the Horizon fandom and why that might be (as a Bi woman) apart from the usual.

And it’s not really surprising to me at all now that I’ve gone over it properly, and I’d love other WLW’s input as well!

It’s simple: there’s no main female companions aside from maybe Talanah (which as we’ve seen is the biggest f/f ship in Horizon) and even she was sidelined in HFW (I think it was due to covid complications but still such a shame)

Think about it, we have awesome female characters but there’s always barriers that prevent ships from properly forming, let me walk through it:

Talanah - a fan favourite, who was sidelined in HFW and was chasing after Amadis anyway (aka a relationship block)

Petra - she’s around and flirty but we never linger with her for long, we’re off doing quests for her instead of with her.

Ikrie - DLC side character that we never hear from again, need I say more?

Alva - a companion, but she’s in an established relationship and arrived a lot later in game.

Zo - again, a companion but in a relationship with Varl and now pregnant.

Whereas the male companions are in abundance and we spend more time with them on quests without a blockage:

Varl - A companion we spent a quest with in HZD and in HFW we spend a lot of time with him at the start (until his relationship establishment) and Gemini.

Erend - A companion we’ve probably spent the most time with across both games, many quests he’s involved with and/or follows you on.

Avad - spent some time with him, he was an important figure in HZD with a clear interest in Aloy.

Nil - All the bandit camp quests we do alongside him on HZD and the races in HFW.

Kotallo - Again, spent a lot of time with him on quests in HFW with no relationship block put in place.

Until Seyka, we didn’t really have many options for a major f/f ship, so I’m not surprised by the lack of prevalence, it’s a totally unfair bias! So it makes some sense for Seyka to be the first female love interest, because she’s quite literally the only one available and designed for that purpose lol

[mewly]

I realised something that made me even sadder…

*SPOILERS*

Varl was to Beta in HFW what Vala was to Aloy in HZD, their first friend, who died way too soon after they formed a bond, and that just hurts y’all.

[molliartsie]

Soooo I’m 25 today! Although I really don’t feel 25, still feel 23 cause my last two birthdays were in lockdowns but still 😂

[molliartsie]

I’ve been gone for so long and all I can say is... life is hectic! Every event seems to happen in September and I have a new job that takes up a lot of time as well.

I’m closing commissions now that I have some income coming in (unless I have already agreed to take yours on of course), thank you to all of you who commissioned me for your support!

[molliartsie]

It’s my 24th birthday today!