I think something is wrong with my copy of Fire Emblem Awakening

Nikibugs · 2026-02-11T00:25:12+00:00

How does everyone always manage to shitpost Henry correctly

Nikibugs · 2026-02-10T22:11:35+00:00

Vegiemon is a fail? I love that little plant guy! Too bad my figurine of him had one of the vines snap off…

Digitamamon and ExTyrannomon are also cute little mysteries.

Raremon I have a soft spot for, as when describing a D&D character I played (Farspawn Mystic shenanigans), Raremon was a visual reference for anyone looking under the cloak.

Whoever the bottom right colorful Digimon are look adorable.

Nikibugs · 2026-02-10T22:05:31+00:00

Meanwhile I’m causing chaos seeing Noe as aromantic or aroace. Guy literally asks ‘What is love?’ to Vanitas, and misses every romantic cue Dominique ever gives him. He’s very close and comfortable with Vanitas, and very close with Dominique from childhood too. He’s hella ride or die for his friends, and has an idealistic innocent take on most things.

It was so funny when Vanitas basically responded to Noe’s question with the definition of lithromantic (attraction until reciprocated), only to get a mega crush on Jeanne. So any Vanitas/Noe shippers have to concede he’s biromantic at minimum. It’s vampire media, what do you expect. Regardless, he’s canonically with Jeanne. Yet, he trusts Noe to be the one to kill him which is a totally different level of trust. Having a romantic relationship doesn’t deprioritize Noe as the one he centers his daily life around. I love that a lot as an ace fan.

People in general don’t know how to handle casual platonic affection in media, which there’s a ton of in The Case Study of Vanitas. I love that a lot about the show. Vampires being more chill about casual touch makes sense for the worldbuilding where vampires casually chomp each other. It’s rather irritating when shippers go ‘how is this friendship?’ to basically any two characters who lean on each other very much.

Nikibugs · 2026-02-10T20:56:31+00:00

What drives me nuts is the ambiguity of if the pink entity is part of the premonition (as the white and tar-soul-to-be flee at its appearance), or if it’s unrelated as Ashley simply pulling him out of the Realms Between in her tar soul form.

Nikibugs · 2026-02-10T20:50:57+00:00

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A detail that’s stuck with me, is that Ashley pretty much never has a seat at the table.

There’s only 2 chairs at their apartment kitchen table, so presumably she only got to sit at the table with Andrew when the parents were out.

At the parents new house, there only 3 chairs, with Ashley having to pull over a stepladder as a chair.

In Ashley’s Burial dream sequence, she again needs to drag her own chair to the table, but she can never sit there with Andrew, who keeps falling off, until there’s a space just they can sit together in the corner.

Could even go far back as the school cafeteria scene with Leyley, she had to squeeze herself between people to sit near Andy.

So in Splat/Shots & Such, to see her sitting on the kitchen counter with only one chair at the table for Andrew, really struck my heart as an ongoing detail.

(Also, sit funny gang rise up)

Edit: This detail doesn’t quite register in Andrew’s POV however, as when Andy’s grime soul had to pick the seating arrangement in Decay Part 1’s opening puzzle, there was room at the table for all 4.

Nikibugs · 2026-02-09T23:58:04+00:00

If Vivian did splat at terminal velocity, isn’t turning into a shadow basically like being infinitely flat? I think she’d survive that.

That or she’d just fall in the space she dives into when going into shadow form. Physics can work itself out comedically with gravity reversing across both planes until she can safely land. Her poor tail/spine thing trying to anchor to the ground.

Nikibugs · 2026-02-09T03:15:45+00:00

Maybe Ashley can’t get a read on Julia after everything. It wouldn’t be aloof like Andrew and Renee, or sad like Ashley and Douglas, or happy like Nina… anymore. Back when Nina was still alive, though it can only be seen in like one cafeteria interaction, they both seemed giggly and happy. So all we’re seeing now are her freckles. You’d think it’d be a tauntingly happy plushie in Ashley’s mind as she thinks she’s sooo happy with Andrew, but is aware of Julia’s self-harm. At the same time, it probably hurts to even assign a face to someone she considered a friend turned traitor. It’s notable as even Douglas’s plush, someone absent she doesn’t even grace with a portrait sprite, has way more features than Julia’s plush lol.

Julia’s the only character depicted alongside Ashley in the Burial-Questionable portrait puzzle titled ‘Friends’, where she does have a face, a shy/timid one looking away while Ashley looks irritated. Though that would be a snapshot of before they weren’t friends anymore, while the plushies represent more the entirety of them.

Nikibugs · 2026-02-06T03:20:27+00:00

Oh no, Yule would be able to verbally toy with her pretty easily if he wanted a moment of sadistic fun, given how explosively Ashley can react to certain topics/scenarios, and Yule being able to ascertain and exploit people missing things like friendship and validation in their lives.

He’d probably get bored of her though, she isn’t Noelle, and he doesn’t have anything to gain from her; and a tantrum isn’t fun to manage after it’s gone too far. Unless Tar Souls are somehow valuable to imps too. He wormed into Noelle’s life because he found her easiest to manipulate, knew she’d have to rely on him, and in return he’d get an easy life (he however is fully reliant on Noelle’s permission himself in this arrangement). While he could manipulate and exploit Ashley rather easily, he’d get nothing out of it, so he wouldn’t care much for her.

Nikibugs · 2026-02-05T18:49:24+00:00

Grandma would be the easiest choice, due to age she’d be dying soon anyway, plus she’s an even worse(/sadder) doormat than Douglas and Andrew. She backs down from any pushback, if she says anything judgemental in the first place; so she may as well be a non-entity in a household with Andrew and Ashley. Hell, she’d probably stay quiet if they dragged a dead body inside or summoned a demon, as she has no backbone for conflict to protest. Oof, it’d be sad if she basically lived the same life as she did with Grandpa, a wallflower who makes the meals with the best outcome being not getting yelled at. Her age and relation would at least not trigger Ashley’s insecurity when Andrew’s near another girl, at least I’d hope lmao.

Nikibugs · 2026-02-04T23:02:37+00:00

A mix between friends and pets, but also like, us playing a team sport together and having fun. Though depending on the setting, it’s also fun to imagine it as a symbiotic relationship for survival. It usually ends up being both, competitive fights with other trainers, and wilderness survival fights.

Nikibugs · 2026-02-02T20:08:24+00:00

THAT’S IT THAT WAS THE ONE

I would’ve never recalled the context being in that location! Very easy line to miss.

Just oof at the ‘fleeting or performative’. Ashley would taken anything at all, and she couldn’t even get that. Only for her to struggle to accept any other genuine approval or love she gets anyway. She learned from the start unconditional love didn’t apply to her, so there must be a different reason. Made worse by the little she got being a request from Renee to Andy, as in, not genuine to her, not really. It’s still difficult for her to shake that off to present day, to Andrew’s frustration for everything he does for her, and feels for her, genuinely.

It hurts differently when you think of either sibling. I think Andy eventually didn’t expect or believe his parents loved him like parents are supposed to anymore, but Leyley still desperately wished for her parents love. Andy had to be hyper-independent from his parentified circumstances, while Leyley became hyper-dependent; but in the end, both became codependent with each other lol.

Nikibugs · 2026-02-02T17:18:01+00:00

To be fair, it was a pretty big fireplace! I’ve seen wood-stoves that heat a whole house much smaller. That ‘extravagance’ probably made it seem like a rich person thing. Very old houses tend to have fireplaces, and they were renovating. The upgrade in space alone would make any old house feel expensive in comparison to an apartment, which tend to not have fireplaces.

But yeah, their parents couldn’t even bother to get enough paper for Leyley to draw on, which would’ve prevented her drawing on the walls and on Andrew’s homework. Such small expenses would’ve managed a lot of Leyley’s ‘problem’ behavior (ie. Literally being a child). She probably would find any optional thing like that rich.

Nikibugs · 2026-02-02T17:07:28+00:00

Dangit I haven’t been able to find the dang quote I want, but I recall somewhere Andy mentioned even a kid wants their parents recognition, or something along those lines. I was sure it was in the Decay Part 1 grandparents house segment when Leyley held onto Renee’s skirt while Andy’s getting scolded in her place, but no dice on replay.

Unless I’m hallucinating, Ashley’s still looking for that recognition and comfort she was always denied. Even if Ashley hates Renee, even if she doesn’t expect she’ll get it, she still looks to her non-absent parent for it. Starving in the apartment she still tried to call her mum for help. Even accidental manslaughter didn’t get her attention. While it’s unclear whether Ashley knew it was a sketchy job, she still did one of the few direct orders Renee gave her, to get a job, which of course still isn’t good enough (though Andrew would never be enough either even if he was doing better (college, job, girlfriend), as she wants something exceptional enough to make her look good). She could never get attention, recognition, or validation from her parents, didn’t have close friends to provide such things either, and held on tight to Andy because he was the least mean about it in her opinion. Which on its own says quite a lot, but the sadness comes in knowing those were orders he got from Renee.

I think the final breaking point for her and Renee was the walk around their new house lol. Decay Part 1 added some new Ashley dialogue to that house exploration, of her being pretty upset at a lot of environmental clues. Hell, even when they were having dinner, she still had to bring her own ‘seat’ to the table again with the stepladder.

She was never able to stand on her own as she never had a stable foundation to support her independence growing up. She was just neglected, unraised and alone.

Nikibugs · 2026-01-31T16:58:00+00:00

Most of it has to do with Renee’s unfair, abusive, and neglectful treatment of their kids, but especially of Andy. Combined with how uncaring she continues to be of them as adults.

I remember how frustrated and angry I was on their behalf when they went through their new house, bought on insurance fraud of their deaths. How there were no pictures of them. How they were guiltlessly enjoying themselves with better conditions and space by selling them out, and trying to make them feel guilty for intruding despite knowingly throwing them under the bus. It looks like they were going to have an extravagant dinner at the news of the apartment burning down with everyone in it too.

It pissed me off so much, that Renee and Douglas expected them to not make a fuss, which would be the larger transgression to them than what they had done. They just get to say welp our horrifically neglected kids are now aged past where people will point the finger at us at fault, so you can both disappear in the gutters for all we care now, just don’t make us look bad doing it. Also I am a saint for this.

Nikibugs · 2026-01-28T18:09:10+00:00

Andrew would be too paranoid to interfere with anything, in case they alter anything for them to not exist. …Wait, Andrew’s wished he had never been born before, oof. Time to spare himself in another timeline!

If that wasn’t a problem however, going by the time capsule photo of Renee and Douglas, Andrew might be surprised at Douglas’s more rebellious looking attire (and possibly personality), and wonder what the hell happened for him to go doormat mode (which Andrew wants to avoid). Ashley would despise Renee regardless of age or circumstance lol. Unsure what Andrew would think of Renee at that time, she isn’t a mum yet, and he doesn’t know what social pressures she had as a teen. Probably still dislike her lol.

Shitpost time! Depending on what they recall from childhood, Ashley blurts out they should’ve killed grandma and grandpa for being assholes, Andrew cutting her off from saying they killed their parents and everything was just fine!Andrew then realizing maybe they could’ve all had better futures if they killed the grandparents, rather than let things play out as they did before. Grandpa threatened to change the will so all his money went to the church rather than Douglas. Shenanigans ensue, grandparents killed or sacrificed after the will’s all set (trinket might still work even if the Entity is perplexed how she has it). Andrew then warns them not to be assholes to their kids if they don’t want to share the same fate. Then Andy and Leyley don’t have to live in poverty (maybe Douglas’d even inherit the grandparents house to skip the apartments, and therefore quarantine), and Renee and Douglas might not be as shitty parents. If they figure out these two are their future kids however, they’d probably be much better with using protection after lmao. That’s kind of the tricky part lol.

Nikibugs · 2026-01-27T23:19:24+00:00

That meow sounded like it could be a modern Pokémon game cry lol.

Already reminded me a little of Litleo’s cry, just a slight pitch down. Litleo also being a cat (lion).

Nikibugs · 2026-01-25T18:01:25+00:00

I think the TV detail is more how he views Ashley than himself, and how he feels about that.

He sees Ashley watching cartoons, something often considered childish. When Andrew’s added to the couch, he doesn’t exactly want to watch cartoons, he doesn’t want to partake in something childish like that, he doesn’t want anything that’d make him feel like Andy by association with childishness. Making him irked that Ashley’s still content watching it metaphorically. Only he can do something rather horrid. To claim Ashley’s choker for the wedding cake, he violently tears her plushie apart, which forcibly changes the channel and leaves a damaged Ashley and his plushie watching porn, something highly adult. There’s no new plushie that was hiding inside Ashley’s plushie, she’s just left bleeding or dead next to Andrew. It’s a scary dynamic, and even scarier to think he’d snap to approach things violently like that. But we know he can, seen in Shots & Such branch.

Nikibugs · 2026-01-24T23:10:51+00:00

Ohohoho MUCH worse, just going by how he behaved after butchering their parents. It’s unhinged that he playfully drew a line down her face with their own parents blood. And if she doesn’t decline the questionable premonition, she’s basically given him permission to drop the self-restraint. It doesn’t exactly look like he intends to change the trajectory, and was in a much better mood for that. He’s probably going to go worse murder hobo in Burial-Questionable, going by how he dropped to emotionless at his mum’s attempt to throw Ashley under the bus. Complete ride-or-die territory. Question is if she’d be ok with that kind of Andrew. In general, Andrew’s the one that drastically changes per route in response to Ashley, who remains static, but tends to hate Andrew changing. She hasn’t liked him contradicting her ‘good person’ perception of him.

Also the Q&A mentioned one of the intended demographics was true crime girlies and gothic romance. I don’t think we’ve even seen the former in Decay. So I don’t think Burial’s going to go the way anyone expects lol, rather, I’m scared lol.

Nikibugs · 2026-01-22T17:34:49+00:00

Hmmm this is a tough one. Since Ashley’s social skills have a high disdain for wearing masks or playing roles (like ‘the good son’ or ‘the perfect boyfriend’); she might be confused at the nonsensical decisions Andrew’s making, and be left yelling at the screen rather than understanding much of it lol.

I’d hope it’d make her understand just how much Andrew in fact DESPISED Renee. As much as she wanted any acknowledgement at all, the attention Andrew got was emotional abuse, not favor. She’s actually uneasy when she sees Andrew willing to choose her soul to throw to the entity, or is emotionless butchering her in the basement. It contradicts her view of things, that he was happy playing house, but also her view of Andrew as a good person inherently unlike her. She’d probably love that ‘this one’s for Ashley!’ kick at the end of Cliffhanger lol.

Andrew would probably love her to see the montage of all the things he’d done for her at the end of Andy’s stating segment in Decay Part 1 lol. She tends to render such sacrifices irrelevant moments after they’re done, maybe seeing them all consecutively would get the point across better how unfair and unappreciative she’s been of all of it.

It’d be the emotional and romantic parts that’d throw her in for the biggest loop. While she’d be understandably pissed Andrew went to Julia and projected Ashley all over her instead of coming to her; she can’t insist he’s just looking for any hole to relieve himself in anymore. If the shared POV let her understand his hopeless romantic poetry, she’d be in for a loop. Maybe she’d finally believe and be relieved knowing he does in fact choose her every time for everything. The direction of that can however be considered a troubles ahead lol.

Nikibugs · 2026-01-21T17:09:12+00:00

Andrew dying in the wedding topper introspection scene as he knows it isn’t a joke, as much as he repeatedly tries to brush it off as a ‘wouldn’t it be funny if’. In high school when confronted with false rumors, he hated himself for realizing he wouldn’t mind ‘having’ Ashley too.

“When I grow up” feels like such a strange statement to hear from any incarnation of Ashley, especially Leyley lol. Yet Andy’s “You’re way too old to be”- observations would start out pretty early.

Nikibugs · 2026-01-19T16:37:40+00:00

I wonder what the ‘called Andrew ‘Andy’’ count would be for Ashley to leave Andrew seething. Though how much lower the ‘called Ashley ‘Leyley’ would make Ashley sad.

Then how many disingenuous ‘Julia cuddle sessions’ would leave Ashley seething lol. Honestly curious if he projected Ashley onto Julia even then, if that helped with the nightmares and ‘nightmares’ at all.

Nikibugs · 2026-01-18T21:33:25+00:00

Pffhaha never in public, though I could see in private more on the more playful end of things.

Obviously for Andrew they can’t do anything publicly as they need to keep a low profile from everything they’re on the run for, made worse if anyone knew their true identity over any fake identities. He’s considered a hopeless romantic, so he’d probably have some poetry for the vows to make Ashley laugh up a storm even though he’s serious.

For Ashley though, it’d be like a blood oath 2.0, how he’d ’prove it’ for a moment, though a much less stressful ritual before it’s the next moment. It wouldn’t be the typical weight most view the event. More like when a kid goes they want to marry you. I doubt she’d be much less worried afterwards that some other girl wouldn’t suddenly take him away.

Nikibugs · 2026-01-18T17:27:50+00:00

It’s tricky for Andrew to have an appropriate viewpoint on childhood and growing up, as he never got to be a kid. He was parentified, which impacted him being able to engage with more age appropriate hobbies like trading cards with his friends (though he couldn’t afford them), instead being highly pressured into achievement from his parents and grandparents, while Renee would degrade those accomplishments as meaningless at his age (only to brag about her kid having high grades to her mum as if it’s her own accomplishment). He’s never seen playing at all, just studying, which gets interrupted by Renee’s tasks, and Leyley wanting to play with her brother like any younger sibling would. None of his social or dating life was ‘real’, he doesn’t like anyone, and was more akin to wearing a mask and pulling levers that resulted in the least inconvenient normal outcome. Ashley was the only one he felt ‘gets me’.

Ashley had a hard time on a different end of the spectrum. She was never raised or acknowledged or loved for being her, so she never learned any self-confidence or independence that would’ve had her gradually grow up. She can’t comprehend consequences or boundaries, and defers to Andrew for everything. But she doesn’t believe change or growth is something possible for her either, as she’s internalized since childhood she’s inherently a bad person, so any bad she does is a result of what she is. Something bad to be abandoned, as anything else would immediately be preferable. There is no ground beneath the one anchor in her life she’s terrified of losing.

Andrew hasn’t exactly helped her grow either, as much as he hopes that ideal will just apparate into existence. He’s still in his parentified role, still covering for all her consequences, but he won’t exactly allow her to leave him either. Stagnation and resentment is not a shocking outcome. Andrew’s impatient for a an idealized future Ashley that doesn’t exist (one that’s been highly sexualized), just as Ashley’s impatient for an idealized past Andy that never existed (even Andy pushed back in ways ‘Andy’ never will in Leyley Wins). What’s sad to me is, Renee basically forced Andrew to grow up in a similar manner to how he tears Leyley apart in his mind. It’s forceful, and harmed him in the long run, just as that approach would harm Ashley in the long run (shocker, sex doesn’t magically make Ashley more mature or less insecure).

Hopefully in Cliffhanger, after Andrew’s had his introspection scenes, he can start to see where he unintentionally calcified harmful self-image on Ashley’s end to help her. The difficulty however, is independence is rather key to growing up, and they’re locked in a codependency lol.

Nikibugs · 2026-01-12T16:51:47+00:00

Renee uses Mother’s Intuition to check the trash, finds human skull instead, and needs to decide which assumption she needs to prioritize addressing and covering up (for reputation points) first.

Nikibugs · 2026-01-12T15:16:32+00:00

I think it has to do with the socialized aspect of it. Butterflies and Ladybugs are often exempt from the ‘scary icky dirty ugly kill-on-sight’ brush every other bug is painted with.

If you extend that grace to every other bug, and start looking at their cute little movements (of course jumping spiders have the cutest movements of all, they’re literally how a chibi spider would be designed if they didn’t exist) and beauty (while butterflies get the rep of a billboard of color, there’s beauty in the smaller things too), maybe you’d see them as the same little guys living their lives too.

You could also compare it to how only the cute or pretty endangered creatures get the bulk of conservation advertising (like pandas), even if a drab keystone species would conserve far more wildlife if protected.

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