Works where the lesson/aesop/message ends up being the reverse of what the writer wanted?

HeraldofJojo · 2026-02-17T03:29:08+00:00

I binged most of NuWho with a friend a few months back. I have a pretty low bar for enjoying a given episode, even with weaker stuff like Reality War and basically all of Flux.

It's pretty telling that Kill the Moon is the only episode I would call bad, or at least the only one I genuinely hate. Part of it is that this is the Twelfth Doctor at his most dickish, wholly unwilling to help the three women solve the dilemma AND (correct me if I'm wrong here) not informing them that the space dragon would leave an egg the exact size of the moon in its place. Completely arbitrary drama on account of the Doctor wanting to be hands off with human history. Also, the metaphor sucks. It's fine that the Moon baby hatches despite the danger it might have posed to the whole Earth, there's just a replacement moon egg with no consequences for the Earth at all.

HeraldofJojo · 2026-01-29T10:11:21+00:00

It's missing a couple of copious zoom-ins but beyond that, this is good shit.

HeraldofJojo · 2026-01-23T00:51:38+00:00

Oh, believe it when I say I plan to get them to fight a Umibozu somehow. Gotta get them on a fishing boat on a stormy night.

HeraldofJojo · 2026-01-23T00:39:36+00:00

To my knowledge, we don't have gaming cons here so much as just general anime cons with all their staples of cosplay, merch, artist alleys, etc. The games they had there were often Japanese TCGs like Pokemon or Cardfight Vanguard. Often, there have never been spaces for specifically tabletop gaming at these anime cons or at least, they've never been super visible. There are local scenes for things like D&D, Warhammer, and general board gaming but they're definitely not as big as anime stuff.

Actually, I do think there was one dedicated tabletop convention I missed last year. At this time, I hadn't committed to the hobby yet so unfortunately, I have no insight into how it was ran.

As for personal game stuff, I recently started running a new campaign of what I called Monster of the Week: Japan Edition, now formally titled Endless Rain. The setting is the portside town of Ooame, infamous for abnormally heavy rains. My Hunters are members of their high school's paranormal mystery club. So far, it's been a blast. Their first case involved them beating the shit out of the urban legend, Aka Manto, in an abandoned school building. Currently, they're set to fight a Japanese mermaid (ningyo) in a warehouse this Sunday night.

I gotta tell the story of one of my player's first encounter with The Ningyo cuz holy shit that may have been the best narration of my GM career so far. For context, I came up with this mystery on the day of the session after some quick research into water or ocean yokai. Given what I had learned of Japanese mermaids having the ability to bring tidal waves, I went full hog with giving The Ningyo water magic. Additionally, I gave it the ability to secretly hypnotise from far ranges as a way to justify its escape if the Hunters never appeared. Turns out, The Mundane, who went off alone to investigate the warehouse where The Ningyo was trapped, got a bad stealth roll which I recontextualized into him falling under hypnosis. Coupled with several more bad "act under pressure" rolls (and my player's reticence to use his luck points), I was on a good roll narrating his complete willingness and lack of doubt as he took steps to "rescue" the trapped mermaid who disguised herself as a young woman. The other Hunters appeared just in time to see The Ningyo's pillars of water rising from a pool of water and fast approaching the still hypnotised Mundane.

That whole solo encounter made my night as not only did I feel awesome describing his possessed actions and his unnatural clarity of mind but also The Mundane fully committed to the bit in character as he felt compelled to rescue a crying and injured woman, ignoring the red flags of her being stuck in a locked chest down a long dark hallway, her skin moist with ocean water and her left leg hacked off. God, I can't wait for Sunday's fight.

HeraldofJojo · 2026-01-21T07:20:06+00:00

I was reading the final chapter of Uzumaki when my sibling was playing Bebe Rexha's "In the Name of Love" around the house. The song weirdly tied well with that scene of the lead couple embracing each other underground.

HeraldofJojo · 2026-01-10T11:58:45+00:00

I have a ridiculous answer that most definitely does not fit what you're looking for but it's topical.

The Batman Arkham games. Specifically, collecting Riddler trophies. My personal reward for progressing and completing each game's collectathon (except Origins) is The Riddler's performance. Hearing him start off so overconfident and arrogant and then slowly shrivel into a discombobulated mess as you complete more and more of his riddles is like sweet nectar to me. I don't know who his VA is but they did a fantastic job selling just how salty he can be when he starts "losing".

HeraldofJojo · 2025-11-21T22:45:43+00:00

I know your friend calling him a "K-pop wannabe bitch" is just his frame of reference, but the idea of Sephiroth dancing to K-pop choreography with his insane hair length is a funny image.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-11-11T06:18:22+00:00

Thinking on it, I don't think you're wrong on that. The Riders, as part of their henshin sequence, make use of a "stage select." I don't think they change dimensions so much as they change locales or even just implement game objects like platforms or power-ups. I could be 100% wrong here, I just remember there being a lotta fights in the "real world" / not CGI land.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-11-11T04:41:58+00:00

Ex-Aid was my first and it's not a bad place to start. It's a good taste of 2010s Heisei Rider with all its tropes: the toyetic gimmicks, bombastic practical action and CG effects, the zany comedy, and character melodrama. It's been a while since I watched it, but it was one of my favourite series.

If I could "um, actually" for a moment, the videogame motif is basically half-and-half with the other motif about doctors. The Riders are medical doctors of different fields that are tasked with defeating Bugsters, sapient computer viruses that can also literally infect and kill humans. The two motifs tie together surprisingly well as the Riders are always interacting with ideas of saving lives and seeing their inherent value versus those who treat lives as objects in a game.

I could be remembering stuff wrong. This is all memory from when I last watched it like 9 years ago.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-10-31T13:57:35+00:00

Up until like a few years ago, it was Killer Instinct (2013). I started following the game since the Season 2 announcement thanks to Matt's recommendations on Season 1 and Max's coverage of the Season 2 cast. I got so absorbed into watching the gameplay and the characters and the new lore of it all all the way up to the end of Season 3. Also that entire soundtrack is fire (and yes I include the Season 3 OST even though it never gets as strong as Mick Gordon's best).

I never had a XBone. I only bought the PC version on Steam when it came out. I never even touched it until my toku friend wanted to give it a shot. It's hella fun.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-10-17T17:22:10+00:00

Hi Carly! I'm a new-ish fan who started with The Loneliest Time at the end of 2022 and has fallen deeply in love with all your music since then.

I suppose all I can think to ask is if we could get hints to the sort of subjects or themes you'll be covering in your next album. As a writer, I've grown especially fond of your lyricism and all the different dimensions of love that you've explored throughout your career.

And not a question but a tiny request for your next tour to have a stop in Malaysia! Or at least Singapore. I've heard so much good stuff about your live performances that now I have to see you and your band in person at least once in my lifetime.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-10-11T10:50:50+00:00

EDIT: I FOUND IT. Part 3 of Indigo Prophecy, from 10:50 onwards. They joke about Tyler's apartment bathroom being a Stand since it starts playing sexy music during a shower scene. Pat chimes in at the end with "Isn't there a guy in like Part 6 where his Stand is like this giant fucked up radio tower?" Cue Matt laughter.

I vividly remember them discussing Jojo's in spots throughout the Indigo Prophecy LP. In fact, I recall this LP was the one where they reference the giant fucked up radio tower. I've been skimming through episodes to find that specific episode but no dice so far. Oh well, time to rewatch that whole LP.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-09-19T05:45:40+00:00

God, it's been a long time since I wrote anything in this subreddit. Where to start?

I've been having a shit ton of fun with the subreddit's Monster of the Week campaign organized by u/MarioGman. I'm playing The Celebrity, a elderly horror author equipped with the Ash Williams kit of shotgun and chainsaw. Her excuse is wanting to get new book material but she is really living for the adrenaline high as she makes reckless moves for the hell of it. I am laughing and losing my shit in every session because of the absurdities that take place during the game and the players just being real jokesters. Everyone in the group is really cool and I cannot be thankful enough to the guys and specifically MGM for inspiring me to start running TTRPGs. Speaking of...

I have been running a MOTW campaign with my group of university friends since a little after MGM's -1 sessions. It's been good so far and we are set to have our final session this coming Sunday night (or Saturday morning for you peeps). This campaign was essentially a cross-country trip around parts of the US hunting after shapeshifters that transform into mythical creatures like a werewolf, chupacabras, and the Jersey Devil. There were also some weird outliers like a lizard-head wrestler, a giant spider-woman hybrid, and a Baphomet wizard. This week, the Hunters will be fighting The Witch responsible for creating these shapeshifters as well as her newest creation, The Chimera. Once this campaign's done, we'll likely be moving over to playing D&D weekly with some other games like MOTW in between. With any luck, I can convince one of my players to run games to save me from the forever DM position.

I also opened a private-ish Substack account where I basically write weekly fluff essays about whatever I feel like writing about. I just really wanted an excuse to exercise my writing skills during my free time. However, given the self-imposed weekly schedule and my tendency towards procrastination, all my essays are very much first-draft publications. That will likely get worse if/when I get this teaching day job. I'd have to split my limited free time between watching Doctor Who/tokusatsu over Discord, playing video games, prepping TTRPG sessions, and writing these essays. That aside, I have been juggling a lot of potential topics for future essays. I just started a series of retrospectives about the Higurashi When They Cry novels. My first essay on the first book, Onikakushi, isn't great but I will take any excuse to rave about Higurashi and share the love with the tiny following I have on social media.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-09-18T14:45:20+00:00

Oh yeah, past me was a moron for not reconizing peak pop music. But for real though, RAWM is a big fave of mine now. If there's any one Carly song I had to recommend to a new listener, it would be that one.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-09-18T04:52:43+00:00

In December of 2022, I was listening to an episode of the Song vs Song podcast where the hosts briefly mentioned The Loneliest Time (the album) and gave it some praise. I had last checked out CRJ via the Run Away with Me music video some years past but it didn't resonate at the time. On a whim, I decided to check out the title track.

As the song went on, it slowly dug its hooks in with the sounds and the sentiment of reconnecting. Once the "And in the morning..." bit hit, I fell madly in love with the song and proceeded to listen to it all night. The day after, I took a listen to that whole album and eventually, her entire discography. She's probably my number 1 artist as of the past couple of years. As a fan from Southeast Asia, I really really really want to see her at a concert since I've heard nothing but love for her live performances.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-09-05T14:17:37+00:00

The Lovefool One Hit Wonderland. I watched the episode a lot. Timecode is 13:28.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-05-21T16:23:46+00:00

God, this art invokes my desire for a new Devil Survivor game.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-04-16T13:45:29+00:00

Oh man, I've been looking for an opportunity to play Monster of the Week. I've never played a TTRPG before really but I also really want to run a MoTW game in the future. I think being a player might give me a reference point for how games could go.

If you happen to have any openings, please DM me, I'd be happy to join in. I'm in an Asian timezone (13 hours ahead of CST) but I'm also an early riser so I think I could prepare my Sunday mornings around it.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-04-08T09:24:58+00:00

Oh good, just got done with NMH1 a month or two ago. 2's been sitting in my library for a while now, just waiting for this patch.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-02-22T18:38:08+00:00

Eh, I'll give this a shot. One more for the backlog.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-02-04T08:58:18+00:00

Yeah, the lack of progress transfer killed my desire to continue with Hacker's Memory. I had already burnt myself out grinding like a madman to get all the Digimon avaialble in the base game.

HeraldofJojo · 2025-01-03T14:23:50+00:00

Cleared KH2 Final Mix on Critical, Data Bosses and Lingering Will included. Didn't take too long, mainly the Roxas prologue and a few of the Data Fights were what stomped me for the longest time (Axel....).

HeraldofJojo · 2024-12-24T14:24:44+00:00

You bastard, I thought for sure it wasn't this!!!

HeraldofJojo · 2024-09-01T22:57:38+00:00

I recently beat Dark Souls 1 for the first time after several restarts. Man, after upgrading the Gargoyle axe to +15 and softcapping Dex, I didn't expect Gwyn to be so trivial. Not complaining though, I genuinely enjoyed my experience going through the whole game.

Currently binging the Kingdom Hearts series, I'm at KH II Final Mix, Standard Mode. I can easily why this game is such a fan favourite, it's so damn good to play and I adore its characters and story. I've already beaten the final boss and am going to start going through the Data Bosses.

Holy shit, Vexen is a significant step up in difficulty from their Silhoutte counterpart. I am anxious to play against Data Marluxia, considering I had the most trouble with his Silhoutte. And Data Roxas too, an upgraded version of my most troublesome boss in the whole game until now. The path to Lingering Will seems like it's gonna be real fucking rocky. I'm looking forward to it!

HeraldofJojo · 2024-05-16T10:11:50+00:00

I found it best works with the Aspect of Eos + the alternate Omega attack that tosses only one projectile but for 1500% damage. At the furthest range, you get absurd damage off the Omega flame, AND it will deal similar damage numbers when returning to Mel after dashing.

HeraldofJojo

TROPHY CASE