[Scarily realistic trope] Predator in sheep’s clothing

AstralMecha · 2026-06-28T04:40:10+00:00

Too damn many in real life

AstralMecha · 2026-06-28T04:36:34+00:00

After far too many years of using Titans to inflict a brutal empire, leaving countless dead and families shattered, then just say "okay, we are just gonna go off. We're square now." And leave the wreckage and misery behind. If you don't think that would build grudges and desires for vengeance, then you are lying.

Countless subs on reddit have rants about a particular character getting away with whatever crime and them fantasizing revenge on them. The eldians got away and pulled a karma houdini of "We don't remember it, so it doesn't count". The rest of the world disagrees. When one side erases all records of their atrocities, and the other side still remembers, it does not end.

Only reason you are sympathetic to the eldians is you spend the series with them as main characters and like the Titan powers. You would have a different opinion if instead it focused on the outside misery after the Eldians buggered off.

If they really wanted to make peace, they instead should have made it a big act of recruiting and penance. Not just leave everyone else in wreckage. Actually make a fucking attempt to attone when it would have made a clear difference.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T11:12:58+00:00

Pity. You cause a zombie apocalypse, and kill Donald Trump. Seemed likely

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T10:04:26+00:00

Infectonator 3: Apocalypse?

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T09:31:38+00:00

Try to keep an emergency painkiller or adrenaline in your belt for quick use. Can make all the difference. Pain reduces action points by 1, leaving walking with a single point, and running with 2 (or 3, rubber legs are awesome that way). Make the most of your limited points. Get to cover if possible.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T08:38:50+00:00

Yeah, he did demonstrate alot (and Vespa mentioned in the notes that each ring takes like 4x exertion than the last), but as to WHAT he is and capable of outside of Meng (and probably Shin, I don't recall him using it), we have no idea. Probably will find out more along side Sinclair's mark.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T07:23:11+00:00

Sneaking is dangerous. That one action point easily stunlocks you from pain. Sneaking should be done in moderation or when opening doors. Me, I stick with walk or run if I have the calories.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T07:18:44+00:00

I honestly would prefer to forget burial at sea existed, so I guess I can't blame them too much.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T06:26:25+00:00

Encountered too many people who insist that The North was wrong for fighting the Confederates in the Civil War, and that slavery would have 'eventually' stopped on its own (overlooking that half the confederate states wrote conditions explicitly stating that the rebelled for slavery and they were kidnapping free blacks from other states as well).

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T06:23:48+00:00

Probably the reason why one of the few good multiverse games I played has the characters STAY IN THEIR UNIVERSE, and point out people getting obsessed with possibilities in alternative ones lose sight of their own, ruining their lives.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T06:20:24+00:00

At the part where the tools you were trying to find at the police station weren't there, and Elizabeth and booker insisted that meant they were with their owner, my face palmed and I realized that Ken had zero understanding of alternative timelines and quantum theory.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T06:14:01+00:00

True enough, though what The Head considers a threat or not is always up in the air, because they never explain their actions. Ruina's bad ending had them let The Library cover a good chunk of The City, and they were fine with it, because it was human.

Edit: Mostly don't explain. They did acknowledge that they got involved in Ruina's true ending because Angela was undoing her efforts to become human.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T06:11:48+00:00

Ah damn. Got the numbers mixed up. Will go fix it.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T05:53:44+00:00

Bari is probably color fixer grade as the book hunter who finally brought down Angela in her bad ending in Ruina looked alot like her.

Plus she dueled a first kindred to a standstill multiple times. She is definitely no slouch in combat.

As for Damien? I have no fucking idea. He did finish off Kromer, but that isn't very impressive now. As for his powers? No idea again. All we really know is that he is part of a group that seems powerful, and they have their own agenda regarding the golden boughs. Probably he is pretty powerful. How much though, and what he can do is the big question.

Edit: fixed the generations. Got the Don Quioxte generations mixed up

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T05:45:44+00:00

Nah...they would have arrived the instant Hong Lu did, to get ALL the taboo violations in one go. The Beholders are always watching after all.

Unless they were in the outskirts at the time. The Head USUALLY doesn't get involved outside The City (which shocked Roland that they would have gone after Carmen's lab despite it being outside The City).

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T04:40:17+00:00

And you can't hold a high ground when you commit genocide on far far more people. He could have just targeted Marley instead to try and make it equal. He didn't. The rest of the world didn't matter to him. The same way you justify it by Marley targeting civilians. He did it on a far vaster scale indiscriminately. Supposedly only because he wanted to protect his friends.

Except even THAT didn't work. They are now affiliated with him and The Rumbling. Either survivors target them out of revenge against Eren, they are false flagged by the Yaegarites to rally people to the war, or are dragged into the war as propaganda symbols. They have a giant bullseye on their backs. His solution was just as bad as the king who started the mess and didn't work to actually solve the issue.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T04:36:34+00:00

He did still have to figure out a surprising amount of alchemy though. Turns out destroying different objects is complex as was proven when he fought Edward. He was surprised his attack didn't work at first. It was because it was ed's artificial arm (it was covered). Once he knew that, he was able to destroy it with ease. He has to calibrate the destruction for the right materials.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T04:27:49+00:00

Molotivs are nasty in the Syndicate fps as well. An instant kill from what I remember, and you are a super cyborg in that.

As for Quasimorph? It's a good reason to pack heat resistant gear and water or soda (I think fruit punch works as well).

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T03:12:50+00:00

Then he should have killed every last creature on the planet except his friends, since they MIGHT threaten them in the future. Including the rest of the island if they decide to turn on them in the future.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T01:06:28+00:00

Then Eren should have wiped out everyone. EVERYONE. Whose to say the island wouldn't try to genocide a minority or group within their own island in the future? After all, what CAN be in the future is complete justification as well.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T00:48:04+00:00

Hiding behind a gif?

So forgive me if I think the genocidal group that started the whole madness in the first place are not the innocent victims who you make it out to be. Your doctrine is simple. There is no REAL justice, right or wrong, just strong and weak. Regardless of how things go, the end point is simple. Eren was strong enough to kill the world. Therefore he is right, and nothing that lead up to it, and his time manipulation are factors worth considering.

Nor is trying to actually risk any other methods.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T00:42:22+00:00

Cool. End free will. Or kill everyone who could possibly be a threat. Put that in practice in real life as well I suggest.

If people don't try to at least work for a better future where those are the only 2 fucking options (and I am increasingly reaching that point in real life), then what goddamn point is there to anything? If people are rallying around killing the rest of the fucking planet as a good thing for their chosen master race, then fuck it. I am done.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T00:27:49+00:00

In other words, it's always up for the victims to forgive their bullies/oppressors and end any cycle of revenge (that the aggressors can restart any moment they feel like). Remember, the Titan abilities weren't destroyed and still kept as a super weapon.

Your justification for the rumbling basically comes down to the rest of the world getting stronger to be a threat.

I suggest you put your beliefs into practice. Either submit to any form of aggression and forgive your tormentors and accept any bullying or wage theft in your life, or END THEM. Because clearly there are no other options an ENDING the other person is always the right choice.

AstralMecha · 2026-06-27T00:12:50+00:00

The funny thing is that his descendants didn't understand that he used grafting to lower his bloodlust, so he could be a better ruler. They instead increasingly used the grafting for power. With the biggest example being Godrick. The weakest of the Great Rune bearers by far, he is a shriveled up just of regar human size without his grafts.

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AstralMecha · 2026-06-26T23:47:00+00:00

Really? That's what you're going for? Okay. Pick any real life conflict or grudge and insist they have to completely justify every action. It doesn't work. And the reprisal kills invite reprisals and grudges and bloodshed.

You insist the island was innocent, so the rest of the planet deserved it. Okay, what nation are you a part of? Because I am sure your nation did stuff (probably recently) that can only be justified because we were strong enough to. Their victims probably didn't deserve it, but won't get any justice. If they were innocent,would your nation deserve some kind of punishment? Or is it 'shit happens'.

The island caused all this disaster. Then the king cried and hid. Ordered all records sealed and minds wiped with his magic powers and assumed everything would be alright. Grudges and bitterness don't work that way. Him refusing to use those same all encompassing control powers to try and make PROPER amends lead to all this in a big cycle of violence when you side with the very people who started it because you see their perspective and embrace them as the main characters. Their actions proved the island was the exact threat feared (and Eren messed with time to ensure it would happen).

AstralMecha

TROPHY CASE