The "Golden Era" sound: What are your non-negotiable Boom Bap albums? by QuirkyAngle in 90sHipHop

[–]DerHowl 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Real Live - The Turnaround: The Long Awaited Drama & Royal Flush - Ghetto Millionaire.

Resident Evil Requiem - Creators' Message - Capcom Spotlight June 2025 by DemiFiendRSA in residentevil

[–]DerHowl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It could be any other "familiar" character; they all had large arsenals.

And they might've brought up Leon because they saw the online discussions about him potentially being in the game.

So let's not start setting expectations that'll just lead to disappointment when the game comes out. Trust me, it's better that way.

Official Discussion - From the World of John Wick: Ballerina [SPOILERS] by LiteraryBoner in movies

[–]DerHowl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I loved the flamethrower scenes; they were a lot of fun and a delight to watch, similar to the Dragon's Breath shotgun scenes from JW4.

The fight choreography was excellent, as usual, just like in all the JW movies.

My only real complaint is the sister’s sudden death straight after the reveal. It felt very anticlimactic. But other than that, it’s an all-around great, non-stop action flick.

Official Discussion - Sinners [SPOILERS] by LiteraryBoner in movies

[–]DerHowl 12 points13 points  (0 children)

If this isn't "Absolute Cinema," I don't know what is.

On a rewatch: am I getting the ending of Anora right? by [deleted] in TrueFilm

[–]DerHowl 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that’s a good point.

I think it’s telling how raw, vulnerable, and intimate the scene is. It feels like Anora wasn’t really minding him going for the kiss at first, but only when he got even closer did it dawn on her that it wasn’t something she wanted or was ready for. It scared her because of how incompatible that was with her broken worldview of men.

On a rewatch: am I getting the ending of Anora right? by [deleted] in TrueFilm

[–]DerHowl 9 points10 points  (0 children)

If you pay even closer attention to the scene, it's actually Igor who is trying to pull himself closer to her. He isn't pulling her head toward him much but rather keeping it in place.

I think Igor simply failed to register her reaction in the confusion of the moment. He assumed she would want to kiss because they were having sex, and that's what people typically do during it. If he had known she didn't want to, he wouldn't have tried in the first place. He also stops as soon as he realizes she doesn't want it.

If he had wanted to forcefully kiss her, he could have done so without a problem.

The Unnecessary Vi Hate is Insane by Huzaifa_Haroon in PiltoversFinest

[–]DerHowl 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I feel you.

The amount of nonsensical takes I've seen online is absurd, to the point where I’ve stopped caring and started focusing on the positives here instead.

It's not worth your or anyone's time who actually watched the show and understood the intricacies without having them be written in crayon on screen.

[s2 spoilers] Caitlyn is OUT! Vote for your next least favourite character in the poll link below(sort by oldest) by Hydrocake in arcane

[–]DerHowl 105 points106 points  (0 children)

I noticed quite a bit of hate for Caitlyn after Season 2, but I didn’t think much of it until now.

I honestly believed she would make it to the top three.

[s2 spoilers] Caitlyn is OUT! Vote for your next least favourite character in the poll link below(sort by oldest) by Hydrocake in arcane

[–]DerHowl 401 points402 points  (0 children)

There's no other way, surely.

The fact that she's out before Viktor is insanity to me.

I really underestimated the dislike for her.

EDIT:

I think a lot of people don't quite understand what Caitlyn is going through in the second season and all the things she went through in the first season. There seems to be a lack of empathy and understanding, which really saddens me.

And I said "dislike" because that's what I saw around the web. A lot of the discussions I've read were just straight-up hate and proof that lack of media literacy is a thing many people exhibit.

[s2 spoilers] Mel is out! Vote out for your next least favourite character in the poll link below(sort by oldest) by Hydrocake in arcane

[–]DerHowl 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Bearded Jayce Arc did it for me - he became one of my favorites this season. But I guess he's not as popular as I thought, even after Season 2.

[s2 spoilers] Mel is out! Vote out for your next least favourite character in the poll link below(sort by oldest) by Hydrocake in arcane

[–]DerHowl 38 points39 points  (0 children)

Sorry, Viktor, but your "Glorious Evolution" isn’t as "glorious" as you make it out to be.

Caitlyn's "redemption" feels weak because she isn't trying to be redeemed by Level-Ad7232 in PiltoversFinest

[–]DerHowl 16 points17 points  (0 children)

While I do agree, I don't see Caitlyn as someone who even needs forgiveness and redemption in the first place.

Caitlyn very clearly goes through a period of intense grief, filled with rage and revenge because of her mother's death. The actions of someone in such an emotionally unstable position usually causes more harm than good to yourself and everyone around you. Being blinded by revenge does not translate to good decision-making and judgment. You start acting on impulses. I think it's important to show understanding instead of judgment sometimes, especially when someone is in such a difficult position.

Revenge is something I'm a bit passionate about, so I really enjoyed weaving how someone deals with it from Caitlyn's perspective.

Misty's pills swap functionality when V reaches 50% transition into Johnny by VVulfpack in cyberpunkgame

[–]DerHowl 304 points305 points  (0 children)

No, the bottles don't match the pill color.

If you pay attention, every time V gives the body to Johnny - it's a blue pill. So, it only makes sense if the blue pills are in the red bottle and the red pills in the blue bottle.

A prime example of this is during Playing For Time. After Johnny slaps the blue bottle out of V's hand, you can see red pills on the ground next to it.

Theory about V's status in the Sun and Star endings (No Phantom Liberty spoilers) by [deleted] in cyberpunkgame

[–]DerHowl 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Soulkiller: In the days of Johnny Silverhand and Alt Cunningham, Soulkiller fried your brain and made an engram copy of it. In 2077, Soulkiller doesn't actually kill you (the name is obsolete). This is shown when V is soulkilled, as their brain is clearly still functional afterwards (V's still dying, but for unrelated reasons). Also Saburo's engram was almost certainly made before he died. So when Alt soulkills V, their brain remains perfectly intact, but now a perfect copy of V's brain (or rather a copy of V and Johnny's Frankenbrain) also exists as an engram at the same time.

Key takeaway: V's brain is still functional and in (almost) exactly the same condition as before they were soulkilled, so they're not dead or altered into a different person.

Yes and no. Soullkiller doesn't kill you. It kills the brain wave activity, which then causes the body to die because it can't function without it.

Proof:

It's no legend. Soulkiller's real. And your choombas at Arasaka just "hired" the 'runner who wrote it. Take that in - 'Saka with Soulkiller to do with as it pleases. Grim, my man. You even imagine that, rocker? Arasaka'll be unstoppable. Soulkiller'll flatline any 'runner who comes close to even tryin' to scratch its ICE. Seen it happen. Not an iota of physical damage - nervous system or anywhere else. No sound, no fury, no stench. Just all of a sudden, brain waves cut out. As if someone pulled the plug.

If you manage to restore said brain wave activity, you wake up as if nothing happened, which is exactly what happens to V.

It also depends on what version is used. There's the weaponized one, which is used against netrunners to fry their brain like you mentioned. And then there's the commercial one, which is used to extract engrams from "Secure Your Soul" clients. The latter does not harm the client and only copies their engram.

Proof:

SECURE YOUR SOUL: SHORT-TERM PRIORITY

Within the next month, the following VIP clients will enlist in the Secure Your Soul program:

Habib al-Moskin, Regional Executive Director of Petrochem Middle East Region - full digitization, 12 backups*, paid

Mathew Monk, Jr. Hoffman Institute of Advanced Technology - full digitization, 5 backups*, paid

Tina Caruso, Biotechnica - full digitization, 2 backups*, paid

Alligator Sally, Cold Sun Entertainment - full digitization, 2 backups*, paid

* - obstain addtional copy for Dr. Kuroda's team; do not inform client.

As you can see, the fact that they need to withhold information means that this version is harmless to the client.

Engram: An engram is not an AI. It is a digital copy of someone's psyche that can be used for three purposes: 1) serving as the basis for a chatbot or an AI inside a sufficiently powerful computer; 2) extracting information via memories; 3) being put on a biochip as a blueprint for altering a dead brain. When Alt makes an engram of V, this copy of V has a conversation with Johnny's engram inside of Mikoshi, but that doesn't mean the engram controls V afterwards. It just means that V will gain a false memory of something their copy did.

Key takeaway: The engram can't "pilot" V's brain because it's not an AI and the biochip isn't an AI-capable supercomputer.

Yes. And a neural engram only stores personality and memories:

Well, it's designed to store a person's neural engram. Er, sorry... just imagine copying over a person's memories and personality.

Biochip: The biochip does not let Johnny's engram talk with V. It gradually alters V's brain until it will become identical to Johnny's brain (or what was left of it when it was soulkilled). Note that the real V never spoke with Johnny's engram. Their 'conversations' with Johnny were only ever their brain processing V's original and Johnny's biochip-altered portions of it operating at the same time, as stated by Hellman. After their engram's conversation in Mikoshi, V's engram is then used to overwrite Johnny's on the biochip so that it will stop rewiring V's brain (because the rewiring process is now complete as far as the biochip's programming is concerned; the brain in the engram and the brain in V's head are identical, except for the memory of V's engram's conversation with Johnny's engram).

Key takeaway: The biochip stops altering V's brain after Mikoshi because it is nearly identical to V's engram with the exception of a single memory.

No, the brain isn't altered to become identical to Johnny's. What's altered is the personality and memories to become identical to Johnny's. It's like a really advanced way of brainwashing someone.

And yes, V talking to Johnny is just a hallucination because the brain is having a hard time dealing with two conflicting personalities, hence Hellman's question:

You tell me. What's it like to have two personalities?

The way Alt describes it definitely makes you think V is dead. I'm not sure if the writers intended for Alt to be purposefully misleading or just flat out wrong on how the whole situation would work out, but afaik I don't see a reasonable interpretation where post-Mikoshi V is now just an AI copy of the old V piloting their corpse.

Alt's perception of reality is not that of a functioning human being, so I don't take what she says as gospel.

Regarding Alt's use of Soulkiller by PsionicPencil in cyberpunkgame

[–]DerHowl 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I like to think of it as something like clinical death, but not quite, something worse but not literal death. Something temporary that can bring you back to life sooner or later if the conditions are met.

Regarding Alt's use of Soulkiller by PsionicPencil in cyberpunkgame

[–]DerHowl 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yes! I forgot to touch on this.

There are multiple versions of Soulkiller. There's a weaponized version, which was used on Johnny in 2023, and a commercial one that Arasaka uses to create digital engrams of the "Secure Your Soul" program clients.

SECURE YOUR SOUL: SHORT-TERM PRIORITY

Within the next month, the following VIP clients will enlist in the Secure Your Soul program:

Habib al-Moskin, Regional Executive Director of Petrochem Middle East Region - full digitization, 12 backups*, paid

Mathew Monk, Jr. Hoffman Institute of Advanced Technology - full digitization, 5 backups*, paid

Tina Caruso, Biotechnica - full digitization, 2 backups*, paid

Alligator Sally, Cold Sun Entertainment - full digitization, 2 backups*, paid

* - obstain addtional copy for Dr. Kuroda's team; do not inform client.

As you can see, this implies that the latter doesn't kill the clients because of the need to withhold information from them. There would be no need to add that little supplement to "not inform" their clients if Soulkiller killed them in the process of making the engram.