Googly-eyed Stubby Squid | Nautilus Live + Their Commentary

The really frustrating thing about the Eddie Winter quest is that fixing it to create both a better commentary on Nick Valentine whilst also tying it effectively into the larger world of Fallout 4 would be super easy, barely an inconvenience. The fix itself is right there, in the game, in the dialogue, and nobody at Bethesda seemed to notice.

Nick tells Sole that Eddie didn’t want to be placed on ice, instead opting for a severe radiation treatment which ghoulified him before the bombs fell. This is stupid for two reasons: the first is that nobody knew ghoulification was a thing prior to the war so it comes across as completely random; and the second is that it just seems like a bloody weird risk for a gangster who liked everything in his life to be controlled to take. Eddie’s a no-nonsense guy when you run into him; there was no way he’d be like “sure mad science person, hit me with the good green stuff” without assurances it would 100000% work. In comparison cryosleep is a far safer alternative and was even on the cultural mind in the 2070′s with Silver Shroud having a character who was themselves cryofrozen appear in the show, and what happened to Bradberton. 

So keep the quest as it is, but substitute ghoulification for cryosleep. And then throw a spanner in the works: you find the bunker, Eddie is in there, but the timer on his cryopod didn’t work and he’s still asleep. Utterly defenseless. All Nick has to do is turn the pod off and hey presto, no more Eddie Winter! And maybe Nick’s even all hell-bent on doing it, talking about how Eddie deserves it and how it will help him finally separate Real Boy Nick from Metal Puppet Nick and avenge Jenny until he suddenly comes to his senses and realises who he is monologuing to: 

The Sole Survivor of Vault 111. His friend. A person he cares about, who had to sit and watch helplessly from a cryopod as their spouse was murdered and their kid stolen. By asking Sole for help he is forcing them to relive a very recent, very raw trauma. Not only that, in this particular replay he is Kellogg. The dead mercenary he recently had plugged into his own brain. Uh oh: new identity crisis. If he does this, is it him doing this or Kellogg doing it or even original Nick wanting it done? He can’t fully trust himself so he puts the decision into Sole’s hands.

Asshole Sole: encourage Nick to do it. He does so, and ultimately finds it not only unsatisfying but also starts to harbour guilt over the whole thing and never fully heals from it. You don’t get his Close to Metal perk because you haven’t actually helped him; he’s worse off than he was before, and he has nobody to blame but himself. 

Paragon Sole: yeah no you’re not letting him do this - either because of your own trauma, because you believe it’s wrong to kill an unarmed person, or because you know it won’t help Nick. You encourage him to leave Eddie to his eternal slumber and instead go to the spot where Jenny was murdered to place a Hubflower where she fell in tribute (there’s a bush growing right next to it in-game). You do get the perk, and Nick is healed. Well. On the path to it, at any rate. 

This is how I headcanon it all, anyway. That story had so much potential and the gangster out of time angle landed for me (did Eddie really think he could just go back upstairs and take over the world lmao Hancock would have stabbed him two seconds after he waltzed into Goodneighbour), but then we just got. Bang bang I am no longer mentally ill (lie). 

I’M DEEKPOSTING AGAIN, RAILROADIES

Deacon’s relationship with children(/his own lack thereof) is one of the most fascinating and understated pieces of character development in Fallout 4. I’m maybe too hg&:ghlkd@ to create a unified narrative here, so I’m just gonna make a list of details from the game and let you interpret from there.

Obviously he directly says that he and his wife were trying to conceive before she died. We don’t know whether it would ever have been possible, but, most likely, neither does Deacon.

He’s the only companion besides MacCready to love it if you share your grief at losing a child with Blake Abernathy. Also, as far as I can tell, he’s the only one to love it if you tell Miss Edna that children need love (and that love conquers all).

He seems to have some aversion to the subject of children, however, at least pre-war children. In the abandoned nursery he says, “When you’re done here, I’d like to leave,” in a very unDeaconlike tone. He also says he hates playgrounds.

Reaction to rads: “Great. I didn't need to have more children.” (Yeah okay you liar)

He has two different pieces of dialogue that make it sound like he would have been interested in being a teacher. “So teachers, all they did was teach, right? They didn't farm or run shops or run guns on the side? Wow.”/“If I wanted steady work I would've stayed a teacher.” (Yeah okay you liar)

There’s a very cute conversation where he gets intel from a little girl (possibly Meg?) who’s his informant. To all of our devastation, the man is great with kids. Considering that and his dialogue with Travis, I think he’d be an amazing dad.

He also seems to have a good relationship with Shaun. He pulled out his “actually I’m a synth” lie with Shaun, but knowing Deacon I’m guessing it’s to prepare him for the eventual realization that he’s a synth himself.

[idk when this dialogue triggers, possibly also in radiation] “If I keep tromping around here, guess there won’t be any little Deacons scurrying around in the future.” I really hope this isn’t a joke and he still has hope of being a father. He’s obviously not interested in the player character, but that doesn’t mean he’s ruled out remarriage. He’s been a Railroad agent for over fourteen years, so he probably feels like he’s running out of time.

I used to be under the impression that if Taka felt like he was cornered he would absolutely fight his way out but now I'm not sure if he has it in him to hit anyone outside of sparring. I kind of just think even though he could thrash the majority of people in a fight, he would rather take a punch than risk breaking a school rule and defend himself. And even then he would probably apologize profusely if he thought he had hurt someone, even if he hadn't.

Also, I don't know if this is controversial but I think he came into Hope's Peak completely unwilling to spar with a girl. It was only when he met and sparred with Sakura, Hina, Akane, Mukuro, etc in gym class and after school activities that he had the realization "oh, wait, women aren't actually that fragile and I can fight them in a controlled environment without breaking them" after he was beaten in many many sparring matches.

Even then, he only agreed to spar with them after so much convincing that it nearly didn't happen. And he did it gently and had watering eyes if he so much as tapped them too aggressively. By the end of the year he knew the score and fought them as equals. In fact, he really enjoys fighting Sakura, in the same way he enjoys challenging Celeste's luck by playing board games with her. If anything by the end of the school year he's more gung ho about fighting the girls than the other boys in the class.

I don't know if it's a mentality given to him by his grandfather, his moral compass being skewed in the slightly wrong direction, the fact he's scared he might be accused of something if he touches them, or the fact he never interacted with a girl in depth before Hope's Peak, but this HC basically boils down to he drank too much respect women juice and accidentally became patronisingly sexist until he had it (affectionately) beaten out of him by powerful women.

Reposting some old art - #1

Back in 2021 August 21st I finished this drawing, I'm still proud of it!! Even tho I notice some errors now, I value the time I spent on this one.

The concept was a Crazy Diamonds night on Mondo's birthday, even if I couldn't finish it on June 9th lol, the entire gang is on an avenue.

I got the design for Mondo's motorcycle from this official cover:

Since he rides Kawasaki, I picked a reference from one of the classic Kawasaki styles, specifically a Z900 RS, the most similar model I could find.

For Daiya, I picked a purple Kawasaki ninja.

Anyways I love Mondo on a huge amount, he's truly my favorite character EVER still nowadays.

Have this small doodle, also from 2021:

Funny to see how my artstyle improved LOL

love at first stab

principal aizawa

CONFESSIONS OF A ROTTEN GIRL 🍅

Thinking about how spawn Astarion seems into cradling his SO's cheek/head (in the graveyard scene, and in the new patch 6 kiss).

Maybe this is an affectionate instinct borne out of this being the first person he really cares for and he just wants to hold them like that, like they're something precious, something he wants so close. The same way someone's hand might twitch to hold their lover's, Astarion feels this itch in his fingertips to let their cheek rest in his palm, so, so gently.

And he hasn't really had that itch like that before. A performative instinct, sure, he could pull those sorts of moves in his sleep, he knows them so well. But this is different. This is what he wants. And this is one of the first real affectionate moves he tends to initiate as he eases into being able to explore that freely.

When he pulls away in the new patch 6 kiss, his hand lingers in front of him, like it's still holding onto something, still holding onto that touch/warmth like he doesn't really want to let it go, but he also seems sort of struck/tickled by the not-wanting-to-let-go of it all. How novel. How sweet.

But also, maybe it's a grounding thing for him, as well, to keep himself tethered to that sweet moment with the one he loves, and not awash in so many memories he'd rather forget.

Idk I love how much effort and thought went into all these interactions and how much it speaks to the characters 🥰😭🥹

guys i just found out about this site that does a daily guessing game, it’s phylogenetic wordle- so fun!!!

A guide to designing wheelchair using characters!

I hope this helps anyone who's trying to design their oc using a wheelchair, it's not a complete guide but I tried my best! deffo do more research if you're writing them as a character