u/TheDefinitiveAlt

Not a writer. If you got feedback cool. But don't have high expectations here lol.

But I would have liked something like this for Doll. A very slight adjustment to her character yeah. But one I think works for the character if that makes any sense.

"Just do your thing, and I'll let in V. See you there!"

And those words were the first clue that Uzi had to get out of there. Previously with her head against the wall (which allowed her to hear those words being spoken in the room over), she began to recall what she had seen stuffed into the trash can.

Missing person posters. Showing a good number of the people that had suddenly went missing recently. It seemed Doll had ripped down a number of the ones lining the colony walls and threw them away in her apartment. It didn't take a genius to figure that whatever reason she had for doing this probably wasn't a good one. Nor was the "thing" that she does probably something Uzi wanted to stick around for.

And then came the second clue that Uzi had to get out of here.

She was in the restroom at the moment. Having just changed into "knee"-length prom dress (that thankfully did not frill at the bottom.) The "wall" she was listening through was actually the restrooms mirror (which her solver eye had shattered). And over to Uzi's right was the bathtub with the curtain pulled closed.

Uzi had heard a drip come from that general direction, and as she turned over to the tub, she saw oil dripping onto the floor from behind the curtain.

Or at least, maybe it was oil? It was red for some reason. Perhaps because of the general lighting in Doll's house? (For some reason every light seemed tinted the crimson shade, almost as if to warn of danger and that she did not be here or something)

Nevertheless, the sign of the dripping fluid did not sit well with Uzi. Because what exactly was the blood that usually was inside their bodies now dripping from?

After a few slow steps in the tub's direction, she got up the courage to yank aside the tub's shower curtain and find out.

She did not like what she saw.

First of all, the tub was filled with the oil. Uzi did not want to imagine where that came from. But besides that, it was also filled with mirrors.

Cracked mirrors. Mirrors cracked in the exact same way Uzi's solver eye just cracked the mirror on the wall.

The solver. The same thing that spawned a giant centipede in far too recent memory that began ripping apart and eating her fellow worker drones. The symbol of which was now inside her own eye for reasons she did not know and that was beginning to cause her body to do things she did not know or understand, like the mirror shattering for example.

What did that mean? Uzi could feel her processors just beginning to fry and whir in her head racing through unpleasant possibilities. But she didn't get to stand and have a panic attack about this too much longer as she heard footsteps.

Seems Doll was on her way to "do her thing."

Uzi frantically swiped her head left and right, looking for anything she could use to escape or fight back. After a moment, her eyes went upward, and she saw the air duct feeding down from the ceiling.

Uzi looked back down at the mirrors in the tub. And immediately she had an idea of what she could do.

As the footsteps got louder, closer, Uzi slammed one mirror down on top of another, stacking them as high as she could. She lightly pushed on the tower. From the way it wobbled, she estimated she had at least a half second before it toppled over completely.

She began to scramble up.

But when she was only a quarter of the way, the top half of the tower suddenly fell off, drastically shortening the stand that already didn't reach the duct above.

The loud clash and shatter as the frames rained down on the bathroom tile and splintered was deafening. Almost as heart wrenching as the steps now right outside the bathroom door.

Uzi decided to ignore it and scramble up the rest of the way to the top. She reached up to grab the air duct's cover. Or grab at it. She was short just a few inches. (probably the same amount by which she was notably shorter than most of her fellow classmates, actually). She leaped up a bit to grab the plating. The rest of her tower fell away, but that was probably fine. She just had to-

The cover she was grabbing gave way completely

It, along with the little worker drone hanging from it, fell all the way back down to the floor.

Uzi panicked, trying to determine how she could get back up quickly.

And at that moment, the bathroom door swung open. A pair of narrowed eyes, glaring red with a murderous intensity, came in.

Uzi sprang up and leaped toward the tub. Or at least, she tried to. The oil that was covering the mirrors in the tub was now splattered all over the floor, along with the shards of the mirrors themselves. Uzi slipped and fell back down.

Uzi eyes widened in terror as she looked up. For Doll had closed the distance. Doll looked down at her, frowning. Doll thrust her hand down to Uzi and...

Well...

Thrust her hand down at her. She didn't do anything more. She just held it out.

After a few moments Uzi realized Doll was offering to help her up off the floor.

Uzi raised an eyebrow. Unconsciously she raised her hand and took Doll's, and Doll pulled her up to feet.

(Pretend that everything Doll says here is written in Russian lol)

Doll looked Uzi up and down, taking in her dress. Formerly black, it was now tinted red just slightly, dripping oil from the bottom hem. Doll looked back at up at Uzi and then did something Uzi had never seen Doll do.

She smiled. It wasn't a large one. Just a half upturn on one side. But even that was unprecedented. Doll continued, "It complements you."

"Uh...." Uzi's mind was still racing to come up with any plan she could think of to get away. "...Thanks?" was all she managed. Uzi decided to not remark about how the blood red was typically not her go to color.

Doll stopped smiling for a second. "Actually, this is good."

What is good? Uzi wondered that for only half a second before she saw the solver symbol appear in Doll's eye.

Uzi did her best to not show any reaction to it, keeping her face straight. But her eye graphics probably trembled just slightly.

Two chairs floated into the restroom and took their place behind Doll and Uzi respectively.

Doll took her seat and then gestured at Uzi's. Uzi hesitated for a few moments, but then decided to, at least for now, take hers as well.

Doll just looked at Uzi for a long while.

And then a bit longer.

And then a bit longer.

When Uzi started to shift uncomfortably under Doll's intense stare, Doll seemed to notice this for the first time. She did a robot's version of clearing her throat, and her glare softened. She then continued. "Are you looking forward to prom?''

"Uh..." Well that was... surprisingly normal given the circumstances. "Yeah? No? Sure?" What was the right answer that would not end up with Uzi on a missing person poster?

"Be honest."

"Well... I guess... we'll see how it goes. Never been before. No one has ever actually... Ahem. Yeah. What about you?"

"More than anything."

That was a bit strange. Doll's general quiet and serious demeanor didn't exactly scream party animal to Uzi. "Oh yeah...? Neat... got a.... date... or something?"

Doll did not respond at first. Just went back to staring. For a second, Uzi started to wonder if she asked the wrong question. "Like, if not it's cool. I mean, I never-"

"In a sense. . . Let tell you something."

"....I'm all audio receptors."

"The presentations you did for class. You said we can't sit and wait. Can't just hide. We must fight back."

"Uh... yeah....?"

"The others mocked you and did not take you seriously."

A familiar tinge of annoyance pinged in Uzi's head. But she decided to not say anything about it. "Okay...?"

"I am not the others."

Uzi actually stopped for a second. For a moment, Doll's words did not fully process. But halfway through them finishing, she raised an eyebrow. "Wait..."

"But it seemed impossible. Our enemies are much more powerful. Or at least, they seemed that way at first."

Uzi was starting to halfway see where this was going.

"...And then you went out and killed one, captured another, and made another your pet. You found a way to fight back. Now I also have. Join me. We will fight together."

"Um..." This was not AT ALL where Uzi thought this was going. And Uzi found herself completely at a loss for words (a rarity for her)

''Your issue with my words. State it."

"Look, Doll. I appreciate it but... N and I.... are already figuring stuff out..."

"...Do you not think I can help you?" Doll paused for a moment. And then her glare, which had long since returned in full force, glowed a deeper red. "...Or have you already grown too attached to the enemy?"

"N is... not an enemy, Doll."

"...So is it both then? Then tonight, I will resolve both."

"What are you-"

Doll stood up. "It is time to put the dogs down." The solver symbol appeared in her eye. Suddenly, the plating that was covering the air duct feed flew off the ground and back to it's place, before wielding itself shut.

It had slammed back in place with a very loud thud, which drew Uzi's attention for a second, having her turn her head. But when she turned back to Doll, or at least her chair, Doll was no longer there.

Uzi scrambled up and tried to run out the bathroom door. But when she got to that door, she found it would not open.

In fact, it did not move an inch.

MD doesn’t dwell ENOUGH on it’s characters (how it is they’re feeling and why, why they are doing what they’re doing or making the changes they are), really helping us to understand and develop empathy for the cast.

It speeds through things so quickly, not really allowing us to dwell in the moment too much or undercutting it with a (usually terrible) joke. To the point that, as far as emotional impact, a lot of the stuff it DOES try for falls pretty flat or is like, “Why are you doing that? Where did this come from?” (Mostly talking about N and especially V, here.)

TADC doesn’t have that problem. In fact, it dwells SO MUCH on the characters that it feels like nothing even really happens in the story between episode 1 and like episode 7 or something. (Only to go right back to nothing with episode 9)

Further, it it MAKES SURE you get these characters by literally having like…

Group therapy sessions or something. Where instead of allowing us to dwell in moments where we can grasp the implication of what they’re feeling and such, they literally just have the characters tell you what their characters are. With little build up or pressure on them to do so. And this leads to what can honestly feel like unearned melodrama at times.

Like seriously. There were times when I literally had to turn the volume down for the most part, reading what the characters were saying through subtitles, so that I would not cringe.

It does generate empathy for the characters. I “care” about these characters significantly more than I do any of the MD cast. Was genuinely worried about what was going to happen to them in 7 if they went along with Abel’s plan before the bait and switch, whereas I was never once worried about any of the Murder Drones cast. Am legitimately happy that they’re okay with living in the Circus now, whereas I don’t feel any particular satisfaction with MD.

But you sacrificed pretty much everything else. Though I will say the MD cast is way more fun.

Overall, I still think I like Murder Drones more. The aesthetic (setting/art style/music) and spectacle and stuff just mean more to me personally. And while I have (re)watched the show an unhealthy amount of times through reactions and seen every trailer and merch ad multiple times (I may or may not have a problem) I don’t see myself doing that with TADC…

…ever. Have not seen all the side stuff or sat through a single reaction in it’s entirety, at most just looking at certain moments.

Side note, Gameoverse appears to be kind of in the middle so far. Though with a few scenes and dramatic dialogue exchanges it does leaning toward being a bit too quickly paced.

Like for example, I would have just had the dolphin dude in shock as his game world started imploding, kind of dazed and barely in the moment as he is getting them out of there, and then not have him start questioning if this was his fault until the last scene where the pacing slows down, the one where we’re looking down at his planet seeing what is happening)

Still have yet to see something from these Glitch shows hit quite as hard as the ending of MetaRunner.

MD doesn’t dwell ENOUGH on it’s characters (how it is they’re feeling and why, why they are doing what they’re doing or making the changes they are), really helping us to understand and develop empathy for the cast.

It speeds through things so quickly, not really allowing us to dwell in the moment too much or undercutting it with a (usually terrible) joke. To the point that, as far as emotional impact, a lot of the stuff it DOES try for falls pretty flat or is like, “Why are you doing that? Where did this come from?” (Mostly talking about N and especially V, here.)

TADC doesn’t have that problem. In fact, it dwells SO MUCH on the characters that it feels like nothing even really happens in the story between episode 1 and like episode 7 or something. (Only to go right back to nothing with episode 9)

Further, it it MAKES SURE you get these characters by literally having like…

Group therapy sessions or something. Where instead of allowing us to dwell in moments where we can grasp the implication of what they’re feeling and such, they literally just have the characters tell you what their characters are. With little build up or pressure on them to do so. And this leads to what can honestly feel like unearned melodrama at times.

Like seriously. There were times when I literally had to turn the volume down for the most part, reading what the characters were saying through subtitles, so that I would not cringe.

It does generate empathy for the characters. I “care” about these characters significantly more than I do any of the MD cast. Was genuinely worried about what was going to happen to them in 7 if they went along with Abel’s plan before the bait and switch, whereas I was never once worried about any of the Murder Drones cast. Am legitimately happy that they’re okay with living in the Circus now, whereas I don’t feel any particular satisfaction with MD.

But you sacrificed pretty much everything else. Though I will say the MD cast is way more fun.

Overall, I still think I like Murder Drones more. The aesthetic (setting/art style/music) and spectacle and stuff just mean more to me personally. And while I have (re)watched the show an unhealthy amount of times through reactions and seen every trailer and merch ad multiple times (I may or may not have a problem) I don’t see myself doing that with TADC…

…ever. Have not seen all the side stuff or sat through a single reaction in it’s entirety, at most just looking at certain moments.

Side note, Gameoverse appears to be kind of in the middle so far. Though with a few scenes and dramatic dialogue exchanges it does leaning toward being a bit too quickly paced.

Like for example, I would have just had the dolphin dude in shock as his game world started imploding, kind of dazed and barely in the moment as he is getting them out of there, and then not have him start questioning if this was his fault until the last scene where the pacing slows down, the one where we’re looking down at his planet seeing what is happening)

Still have yet to see something from these Glitch shows hit quite as hard as the ending of MetaRunner.

It's a videogame universe. This is literally her zone.

Any game Tari goes into she acquires the necessary abilities and mechanics to "beat." And she has metarunner vision which allows her to see the most optimal path to win using the abilities she has been given. Already, wouldn't that put her at a massive advantage in most cases?

And that's if you don't count pulling stuff from other games

Stumbled across this on Youtube the other day. I want this creature to assimilate me

The last episode I watched, GOAT was just about to jump in a car that was not the one he usually drives for the first time but one that's supposed to be worse, to put some nobodies who disrespected him (or was it his friend and his car?) in their place.

This is hot off the trail of him finishing a big race, in which was the first time we saw him actually express fear and uncertainty about one turn, before GOAT pulled it off anyway.

What episode is that?

Yeah, N is one of the most popular characters. People really like him. I'm very much in the minority in my not being the biggest fan of his character. But it's simply the truth. I'm not. At least not most of the time.

However there are exceptions. One of the major ones being what they do with him in Fight Till I'm Good enough. And I was watching yet another Murder Drones reaction last night where they got to episode 5, I very quickly realized that Episode 5 N might be another one of them. I kind of like N there.

Scratch that...

...I actually kind of LOVE episode 5 N.

Just an older brother trying to protect and look after his younger sister who is clearly disabled, while navigating a world he also is uneasy and kind of scared in.

He's not an idiot. And I'm not even referring to his avoidance of acting like a horror movie protagonist (thought that is also nice) I'm moreso referring to the fact that he seems more AWARE of the mistreatment his kind was suffering at the hands of humans, unlike modern day N where abuse and mistreatment seem to bounce off of him unaware, (see V and J's introduction or the Beau surgery scene)

The only thing I don’t really care for is how they gloss over N’s reaction to Cyn’s experiments on the manor drones. Kind of just make a joke out of it. "Not feeling particularly great to be immediately honest.... Okay, it's gone."

You had something going there. Even got started with the "OUR Cyn? Nah, she's cool."

I honestly could have gone for more stuff about N and Cyn just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company. Him helping her out when she (seemingly) accidentally messes some order up from Tessa's parents or makes some mess or something. Helping her fix her hair and stuff. Piggy back rides and stuff,

Just caring for her like a little sister, you know? That kind of stuff. It would be sweet.

And then this episode, or at least N’s part in it, can be more about him having to come to terms with the fact that this person he loves and cares about is not the person he thinks she is.

I mean, they do kind of do that. But they don't focus on it. I would like to see them make that more of an internal struggle, something he really has to wrestle with. To where it takes multiple pieces of evidence of what she has been doing for him to even consider any of it true. Even when he directly sees the freaky stuff Cyn had going on down in the basement, he's still trying to be like, "There's gotta' be a reason for this."

Yes, even when he finally does come to know it, have him still think she’s not too far gone.

Heck it’s already the case that Uzi’s meddling is making it to where N’s memories of these events aren’t playing out 1 to 1 how they did originally. So use that. Maybe even go so far as to try to have N try to reach Cyn, SERIOUSLY try to reach Cyn, only for her to demonstrate indisputably she is in fact the monster the others are saying she is.

Maybe even have him personally witness the gala massacre she orchestrated. He’s clearly in distress. While she’s still smiling that cute “innocent” smile she always does. Which we see very obviously now is just a mask she wears covering her sociopathic tendencies.

Could be some good drama there. Some good emotion and stuff. And I personally would quite like that.

"Naaaaaaaaaah, really?" is what some might say.

However, I have heard others say that J actually does care about V and N, acting as a big sister of the group. It's just that she resents being forced in the role and uh...

...is kind of just a horrible person in general and that just manifest in abuse to N despite her care for him.

I can see that for V. Why else would she try to get V to join her in episode 8? But for N specifically, I don't really agree.

In fact, I see the opposite. Not only does J not do that for N. Not only does she insult him at every opportunity. But she literally tried to kill him in the pilot.

You might reason that she was just doing what was necessary to keep order at that moment, and knew that N was going to come back anyways (as she herself later did.) But just wanting to maintain order would not explain the great amount of pleasure she took from killing him or her mocking him afterward.

I also think about episode 5 where she protects N there. But something about the way this was done feels less to me like she cares about N necessarily...

...and moreso the writers were just giving J a role in the plot. We don't at this point have reason for J to be working for Cyn, with it just being revealed what Cyn's aims even are. So let's give J a role in helping with fighting that too, and kind of handwave everything else.

Kind of feels like, yeah. She's not a GOOD person. But she's not a COMPLETELY heartless person. What Cyn is trying to do here is pretty freaking evil and will end with many lives lost, as mass murder generally is. So if someone is trying to fight against that and I can do something to support them, regardless of who it is, I'll go ahead."

But that's just how that feels to me.

I do actually wish it wasn't that way. More complexity isn't a bad thing. And if J already does have that care, I kind of wish it was shown or implied a bit more clearly, something you can see and appreciate about her character in the moment, rather than being something you might can only possibly, debatably intuit in retrospect (like many aspects of the show honestly). But yeah.