One Of My Favourite Things Is Getting To See Chinese Students Trying To Learn English At School Finally

This.

So some time ago, it occurred to me as to why there's strong ghoulcy vibes in Fallout. It was kinda obvious in retrospect, but I was slapping myself in the head when I noticed it.

The flashbacks.

Cooper and Lucy's flashbacks are being shown in greater detail than any other characters. Maximus has his, but they keep repeating back to an image of a Brotherhood knight rescuing him, not his life before Shady Sands was destroyed. It's odd, because you'd think that Maximus and Lucy would have more in common since they both had once lived in Shady Sands and that Lucy's parents directly affected Maximus.

But no.

Instead, we're seeing more parallels drawn between Lucy and Cooper to explain why Cooper invited Lucy along his journey, why he sympathizes with her and why they're leaving together at the end.

"Well duh," I can hear in the back of my mind. "Of course that's why other ghoulcy fans are fascinated by this dynamic."

Thing is, why go through all that for those two? Why not a rivalry that continues, a race to get to Lucy's father instead? Why not Maximus leaving with her since he too would have been ripe for a revenge tale? We'd get more of a destined lovers feel if we were getting more of Maximus's past shown in flashbacks alongside Lucy's, but instead, we get the sense that Maximus is more focused on the future instead of being haunted by his past.

Things aren't still decided, and for all we know, Maximus and Lucy may still be endgame, but it gets harder and harder to ignore the questions. I do want to see more of Maximus's life before he joined the Brotherhood. I want to see why Dane is so devoted to him (there has to be a history there). I feel like Maximus is on the brink of becoming a revolutionary in changing the Brotherhood once he figures out himself and what he ultimately wants. He straddles the line between doing the right thing and being pragmatic.

But most of all, I want to see more ghoulcy. I want to see Lucy and Cooper develop alongside each other. I want to see Lucy change in ways Cooper didn't expect the way Clarice from Silence of the Lambs became someone Hannibal didn't predict.

I have been thinking a lot about the entire Coop-Barb-Janey subplot, not only from a viewer's perspective but also a writer's perspective and here's some thoughts of what we might expect in S2 and/or S3:

☢️ Similarly to S1, S2 could open with a scene set in 2077 showing Coop separating from Janey. It'd be safe to assume that at one point Barb swooped in and took Janey with her to one of the good vaults.

Henry/Hank, being Barb's assistant, might have been directly involved. It would explain why Coop later thinks he might know where both of them are

Coop probably doesn't know that for a simple reason: contrarily to the experiment vaults, the location of the high management vaults must be top secret and the entrance must be well disguised and well protected

Side note: Barb and Janey are definitely not in vault 31. They are not listed on the terminal that Norm checks in one of the scenes

☢️ I think that throughout the season/s we'll get some flashbacks of Coop and Barb from the moment he found out about the bombs all the way to their divorce

I theorize Barb was the one to file for divorce, and one of the reasons was she feared his association with "commies" would lose her (and by extension her daughter) the spot in a good vault

I saw an affair angle being mentioned. I'd say it's not out of the realm of possibility. Still, if there was a third man, it would not be Hank but some high ranking executive, someone who could grant Barb that spot in a good vault.

If there was an affair and it was mostly calculated, I think there could still have been an element of genuine attraction there. The way in which Barb accuses Coop of being an ingenue, makes me think she'd be inclined to develop an attachment to someone who is the opposite of that, someone who'd make her feel safe and supported

Side note 1: the affair angle would tie nicely with the fact that Coop appears to think of his family as having been taken from him

Side note 2: ghoulcy shippers might find it interesting that the side of Coop's character that Barb seemed to resent, is the one Lucy would probably appreciate the most

☢️ All that said, Coop will most certainly find Barb and Janey at the end of S2 or at least will find out where they are and will only literally find them at the end of S3. @earthgenre made an interesting post exploring what might have happened to them. I personally am convinced they were cryo-frozen and one of the following will turn out to be true:

They were awakened, lived and died a long time ago (or were just never frozen in the first place) and Coop will have to deal with the fact that they are just... gone.

They were awakened some time earlier but by now Barb is dead and Janey is all grown up, perhaps with a husband and child/ren, or alternatively she's already old. It could make for a heartfelt reunion but in the end, the two would have to go their separate ways.

They are both still in their cryopods. Coop gets to see his wife and daughter again and is faced with a choice to either awaken them or let them sleep. It would be a test of character for him. If this one came true, I think he'd either let them sleep or awaken them just for a moment of closure and then let them go back to sleep again in wait for a better tomorrow.

You may have noticed I didn't include any scenario in which they reconcile and walk together into the sunset. This is simply because I don't think it's really an option. I mean, could you imagine Barb, the clean-cut corporate exec, traveling across the wasteland with her ex who now is also a radioactive flesh-eating ghoul? And dragging their little daughter along with them?

On the other hand, Coop wouldn't subject them to that. Yes, he's been looking for them all this time but it would be very silly of him to expect them to reunite and just go live happily ever after. And he's a lot of things but silly is not one of them. I don't think he wants to get them back. He just wants to know what the hell happened to them. Closure is what he wants and what he'll probably eventually get.

As much as I'd love to see Coop get back what he'd lost, I recognize that it wouldn't make much sense, narratively speaking. Cooper's journey appears to be about two things: regaining his lost humanity and letting go of the past. He cannot turn back into a human but he can become a better man (ghoul?) with strong(er) morals. Similarly, he cannot get his family back, not really, not even if he finds them alive, but he can always get himself a companion - someone whom he could cherish and protect, someone whom he could literally live for - and the narrative so far seems to imply that companion is meant to be Lucy. I won't elaborate further on that because there's already a gazillion posts quoting various parallels and foreshadowing elements than seem to be pointing somewhere in that direction.

At the end of it, I just wanna say, there is no way back, but there is always a way forward and that, I think, is the lesson Cooper is supposed to learn.

Ok, so I've been giggling like a loon for the past hour at the thought of a Paladin decked out in full wartime armor, with fury in their heart and the wrath of heaven in their eyes, declaring in a voice that will command the heathens and sinners to listen:

"GET READY FOR MY ALMIGHTY SMITE-Y!"

Bonus points if they're smacking a wooden paddle in one hand while shouting that.

Jesus what the fuck

Hey there! It’s been a while 🤝🏻

Huge thanks to @ladysakurascout for commissioning and supporting me through this long period of time while I was just off and couldn’t draw at all:’)

Now I happily rewatched fallout tv series (I believe it must be around 10th or 15th time :’D) and can share this with you ♥️

A kiss in Bloomington Park

I feel like people really don't understand what happened in Early Access. I was there and can tell you what happened.

Myth: Larian promoted Halsin to a romanceable companion because straight female fans were soooooo horny for him.

Reality: While EA fans made a fair number of "daddy Halsin" memes, most were interested in Halsin because at the time, most of the good companions were still assholes (Gale and SH were much ruder back then, Lae'zel and Astarion were outright evil, and Karlach hadn't been added yet, leaving Wyll alone for "nice companion" rep) and were interested in Halsin because he was a genuinely nice and helpful guy who broke the mold for how elves and Druids usually were. The datamined story where Halsin was responsible for the Shadow Curse also was like catnip to the fans. There was wild speculation about how that story would play out for him.

Thirst was a child-sized piece of the entire pie for reasons people wanted Halsin. But then Larian added him and indulged only the thirst-based comments, not the people actually interested in Halsin and his story, so now people still have a laugh about how it was literally the "fault" of horny women (fucking women, they ruin everything am I right?) that Larian implemented Halsin in the worst way possible. Serious, take a look sometime at the Larian forums back during EA... those same posters now hate Halsin more than anyone else. I'm not one of them, I still like him, but this is not what any of us asked Larian for. I ordered a cheeseburger and got a wedge salad, and not only that, but I'm getting attacked for being the reason the person next to me didn't get fries with their burger too.

Halsin fans don't have it nearly as badly as Wyll fans, but we definitely got fucked over as bad as Karlach did.

.

Garrus and Shepard on their honeymoon. Reports of her death have been greatly exaggerated.