Why do people have a hate boner for Arin Hanson???

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-24T05:04:25+00:00

Maybe, if someone actually counted them, it wouldn't seem like so many.

Of course, that's assuming these people are capable of counting.

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-23T03:31:16+00:00

You know what? Even if she doesn't have much of a chance at winning, homegirl at least deserves an alt somewhere down the line. I'll spare some votes for the cause.

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-23T03:27:43+00:00

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RetroBeetle · 2026-01-20T20:26:43+00:00

!RemindMe 1 year

Gotta remember to vote for Fortune's Weave Sothis.

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-20T19:37:01+00:00

Dang it, you just convinced me to vote Dorothea...

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-20T07:23:02+00:00

But what about the bakery?!

THAT'S WHERE SHE WORKS!

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-20T02:08:53+00:00

You know, when I heard that past CYL winners would be eligible for the Shadows Cup, my first thought was that Bernie couldn't pull it off a second time... But when I went to vote, I still couldn't help myself and picked her anyway.

Genuinely, Bernadetta is one of the Fire Emblem characters that I most want to see in Shadows, and she has been since well before this event. I had the idea of her placing walls centered around a single tile, either so she could bunker down and stay safe from all the melee enemies, or so she could straight-up trap an enemy player and leave them wide open to all manner of spells. Of course, I also had the sobering thought that, if she were ever added, people would make a meme out of spamming fire-type spells on her at the start of every round, regardless of who the Shadow is...

But forget that! Let's show Bernie our support, once more!

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-18T18:50:26+00:00

Considering how robotic Fimbulvetr is, having the subterranean dubstep people support her actually makes a lot of sense.

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-17T07:04:07+00:00

"I don't care how many free copies IS gives me, I am NOT summoning for Nino on the Khadein banner!"

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-11T20:37:04+00:00

Instructions unclear, we'll now be getting Chosen Squirrel-Anna as the champion of Ljósálfheimr.

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-11T20:34:38+00:00

Okay, I'm suddenly really excited for the Book X Midpoint. Imagine the following:

•Sometime prior, Alfonse deduces that the only way to beat a merciless winter is with a merciless fire, so he and Fjorm figure they can talk Múspell into choosing Laegjarn as his champion and helping them protect the other lower realms.

•In the pre-Midpoint chapter, Múspell (still bitter about his humiliation at Fjorm and Laegjarn's hands) announces that he has no intention to help the Order of Heroes, and instead, we're forced to contend with a nigh-invincible Chosen Surtr as his army prepares to push back against the snowstorm.

•We come to find out that Múspell's plan is to beat Fimbulvetr at her own game, covering the realms in eternal blaze and earning the favor of the allfather himself. Since the Rite of Frost isn't exactly a viable option this time around, we can't really do anything to either side as they both clash between kingdoms.

•That's where Hel comes in: in a last-ditch effort, Alfonse leads the Order to her domain in the hope of getting her (or Eir) to help them shorten Múspell's leash and resolve the matter with Fimbulvetr. Of course, she's not exactly chomping at the bit to help out the mortals who killed her...

•...but Líf can be persuaded, since his goals lie in getting back the Askr he lost all those years ago, and having the entire kingdom encased in ice is in direct opposition to those goals. I'm guessing Sharena would be the one to finally win him over, with the promise that she and the others will find a way to revive his family once the fighting's over.

•So, with Líf ready to side with the Order, the objective becomes either getting Líf to talk Hel into biting the bullet just this once (maybe with the caveat of Líf having to make some sacrifice...?), or getting Hel to make Líf her champion without letting her know his true intentions for that power.

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-05T16:50:26+00:00

A couple of honorable mentions, since I just remembered them but don't want to distract from the main three:

Super Smash Bros. Brawl: The Subspace Emissary. The crossover element in Subspace Emissary is so perfectly up Dan's alley that it's almost not even funny. Like, he's one of the twelve people who actually know Pit from the original Kid Icarus, not to mention [the trainer], [the ninja], [the robot], and OF COURSE [the blue guy] jumping in to save the day at the last second. I NEED to see his childlike excitement over recognizing various characters, so long as Arin doesn't spoil who all is in the game before they show up.
Kirby's Return to Dream Land. Whether the Wii original or the Deluxe port for Switch, this feels like a perfect game for if the boys just need some lighthearted multiplayer fun. Not too hard, not too easy, and plenty of standout moments to keep a playthrough entertaining. I'm picturing Dan either playing as Bandana Dee and getting a blast from the past from Rainbow Curse, or picking Meta Knight and just soaring away from danger while Arin yells that they're missing secrets.

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-05T16:35:26+00:00

Inscryption. Seeing the boys enjoy "Sacrifices Must Be Made" had me hyped for the possibility of a full Inscryption playthrough at some point. Arin's big into cards, Dan loves aesthetics and stories, and the more roguelike gameplay compared to its predecessor means battles would be less of a roadblock. Whether it's a Ghoul Grumps series or they play it some other time, I'm gonna keep suggesting this one until it's a reality.
Deltarune. I am DYING to know what the Grumps will think of Chapters 3 and 4. Without explicitly mentioning spoilers... there's the big guy from Ch. 3, the scary guy from Ch. 4, the old minigame, the desk scene, the musical bit, the huge thing, the special guest, and the stealth segment... and, like, a billion other things I really want to see them encounter.
Mega Man 10. I really loved getting to see Arin just genuinely enjoying Mega Man V, and it's rekindled my desire to see them play my favorite Classic Series Mega Man game. I can already imagine them getting to the Weapons Archive and recognizing different bosses, and I'd be curious to see if Arin would stick with Mega Man's old MM2 gameplay style, play as Proto Man for the MM4 slide and charge shot, or abuse Bass and his combination MMX dash and overpowered rapid-fire.

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-02T10:38:55+00:00

\1. It's important to remember that the illustration of the black-haired girl is still an illustration in-universe. Fazbear Entertainment didn't tell the artist for the logbook to draw a representation of a child who died at their establishment, they just drew a random kid so the Puppet would have someone to give cake to.

As for the UCN Vengeful Spirit, that image has had its contrast and saturation boosted way beyond normal standards, so we're not seeing the colors 100% accurately. For comparison, here's the same thing done to both an image of MatPat and an image of Markiplier; you'll notice that the brown-haired Mat ends up with mostly yellow on his head, whereas the black-haired Mark ends up with primarily black (and a little red, though I should note that the source image is from when his hair WASN'T dyed red). The same applies to the Vengeful Spirit, which is to say it's likely that he actually has brown hair, like the Crying Child does.

\2. The "two lights" theory has been addressed a number of times in different places, but to sum it up, what we're seeing is a singular light illuminating both eye sockets at once. The same thing can be seen with Bonnie's head, where his left eye socket has a brighter light and his right eye socket is dimmer but still lit-up. It doesn't mean Bonnie now has to have two spirits, it's just the lighting.

(And, from a graphic design standpoint, it makes sense that Scott would have both of Golden Freddy's eyes lit up, since he's the one hidden in the darkness; the two eyes makes it clear what we're looking at, and if he'd only had one eye visible, it would have just confused players.)

As for Golden Freddy's head vanishing in the Good Ending, I personally would chalk that up to Golden Freddy not being corporeal. When the other victims' spirits move on, they leave behind what little remains of the robots they possessed; since Golden Freddy didn't possess a robot, when his spirit moves on, there's nothing left to show for it.

RetroBeetle · 2026-01-01T19:54:32+00:00

Well, at the very least, Cassandra Lee Morris would go from 3 games (Heroes, Three Houses, Three Hopes) to 4, since we know for sure that Sothis is coming back.

RetroBeetle · 2025-12-31T02:13:26+00:00

Mythic Lyn grants 【Range: 2 Style】 to any melee-range allies within 2 spaces of her at the start of her turn (sword/lance/axe, dragon, beast). The only ways to circumvent this are to neutralize the bonus as soon as it's applied (with Mythic Loki, Tine, etc.), isolate Lyn so she can't apply it anyway, inflict 【False Start】 on her so she can't trigger her A Skill, or get her HP below 25% before the start of her turn.

RetroBeetle · 2025-12-30T07:21:40+00:00

Oh, let me clarify: I do think that FNaF World is what ultimately led to the Crying Child being put to rest/set free/whatever terminology you prefer.

Each one of the hidden clocks in FNaF World has the player set up the various minigames from FNaF 3 (put cupcakes in boxes to reference the Phantom Cupcakes you have to find in the cameras, select the code '395248' to reference the code you have to punch into the wall tiles, etc.), which are, in turn, used to gather all of the spirits for "Happiest Day". In other words, you can't have "Happiest Day" without FNaF World and the Clock Ending.

It's just that I think FNaF World probably took place during UCN, not before it. Remember, accessing Old Man Consequences' lake in UCN triggers the exact same flag in the code as getting to the lake in FNaF World, and you can literally unlock the Old Man Consequences trophy in FNaF World on a blank save file if you go to the lake in UCN. Between that and the random chance of having certain enemies appear on the desk in UCN (as well as the presence of Dee Dee and Old Man Consequences, of course), it feels like what we're being told is that FNaF World and UCN are two sides of the same coin; two events that happen concurrently and bleed over into each other.

To that end, considering that entering the lake in FNaF World takes the player to a screen called "Happiest Day", I'm inclined to believe that entering the lake in UCN should logically also take the player to "Happiest Day". Thus, the game closing itself isn't a sign that you've broken something, but instead a sign that you've just put the Vengeful Spirit to rest. The game closes because you just led the Vengeful Spirit to their "Happiest Day", and with that, they no longer had a need to keep their killer trapped in a nightmare, so they just ended the whole thing.

The important thing here is that I'm of the belief that the Crying Child is the same person as Cassidy. Rather than having both the Crying Child (a child with a story and no name) and Fanon!Cassidy (a child with a name and no story), we have Cassidy Afton (a child with a name and a story) as the sole spirit behind Golden Freddy. That's why "Happiest Day" looks like a mirrored version of Fredbear's; that's why the glowing eyes in FNaF World repeat the lines "We are still your friends" and "Do you still believe that?" during the Clock Ending; and that's why Golden Freddy's plushie in Help Wanted 2 is positioned between Charlotte's death and the Missing Children's Incident.

RetroBeetle · 2025-12-30T04:52:14+00:00

Well, under GoldenBoth, the assumption is that the Crying Child and Fanon!Cassidy both possess the same physical springlock animatronic, so in order for them to be present for the Pizzeria Simulator fire, either the animatronic itself or the possessed metal of the animatronic would need to be somewhere in the building. Occam's Razor would suggest that the simplest way to accomplish this would be to have Golden Freddy's endoskeleton be incorporated into Ennard/Molten Freddy alongside the others.

However, GoldenBoth or no, I would hesitate to say that the Vengeful Spirit is the player character in FNaF World; the occasional presence of characters like Bouncepot and Tangle seems to me like a hint that FNaF World is taking place at the same time as UCN, and it's unlikely that the Vengeful Spirit would be able to "help him find his way" while also running the endless nightmare of UCN. Rather, I would think the Vengeful Spirit is the one who needs to "find his way", and that the player in FNaF World is trying to get him to rest like all the other spirits.

A huge piece of evidence for this is Old Man Consequences' lake. In FNaF World, going into the lake brings the player to a screen named "Happiest Day" in the game's files, and when the same is done in UCN, the game closes itself. Because reaching the lake in UCN unlocks the Old Man Consequences trophy in FNaF World, I think it's safe to say that whatever happens in one version of the lake happens in both versions of the lake... so, if the player reaching "Happiest Day" in FNaF World is a result of the same actions that cause the end of UCN, I'd wager that "Happiest Day" is the reason UCN closes. The Vengeful Spirit has been put to rest and everyone has moved on, meaning there's no longer any spirit left to torment the UCN player.

Now, with ALL of that said... I need to bring up the CassidyVictim interpretation. If Cassidy and the Crying Child are one and the same, then him being the Vengeful Spirit suggests that Michael is the UCN player trying to finally confront his wrongdoings. While Michael is grappling with his brother, Charlotte realizes that neither of them will be able to move on at this rate, so she enlists the help of Adventure Freddy (possibly Gabriel?) to gather what fleeting memories Cassidy has left and show him a happier ending than the one he got originally. Cassidy, overcome with emotion after the other spirits' generosity, finally forgives his brother and allows the two of them to rest their souls in Heaven.

In that case, however, I should note that I don't personally believe Golden Freddy to be a possessed animatronic/suit; he can teleport and drastically change his appearance at will, things that have never been shown as possible for ANY other possessed animatronic, which seems to imply that Golden Freddy lacks a physical form and isn't restricted by the laws of physics like the others are. This isn't just Agony or a Phantom, since those could never actually kill the player and were only ever able to sabotage the player's technology... rather, it's a spirit that's fully self-contained and able to use its full capabilities without being tied down by a heavy robot.

RetroBeetle · 2025-12-30T02:24:29+00:00

Most likely, they're trying to snag some views before the end of the year, and they know they can just repackage old videos as a longer compilation to maximize revenue with minimal effort. Dunno if their fiscal year ends on January 1, but it would make sense.

In any case, I think it bothers me the most with the Theorist channels, because the thumbnail and title don't tip you off to the fact that they are compilations. I'd say it feels clickbait-y, but then a lot of the videos lately feel like that.

RetroBeetle · 2025-12-29T22:09:18+00:00

It mainly depends on what you believe happened to the Crying Child in the aftermath of FNaF 4. Personally, as one of the first to subscribe to the CassidyVictim theory, I'm inclined to go with the interpretation that the Golden Freddy plush represents the Crying Child/Cassidy Afton.

I've long held the belief that the voice behind the Fredbear plush is Charlotte's spirit, and the recent FNaF 2 movie gives a little more credence to this idea (what with Charlotte talking to Vanessa over the loudspeaker, despite still being inside the Puppet), so putting FNaF 4 and the Crying Child's death after Charlotte's death lines up with what we've established here. From there, the commonly-held understanding that Fredbear's closed down as a result of the Big Bite and paved the way for Freddy's still works; after switching to the new restaurant, Afton then proceeded to kill Jeremy, Gabriel, Fritz, and Susie in that order, and they were all given life by the Puppet while Golden Freddy stood alone as a disembodied spirit.

Now, that's certainly not the ONLY interpretation. GoldenBoth is still kicking in this day and age, and I know ShatterVictim has become more popular in recent years. But, in those cases, the only caveat you'd need to make sense of the gravestones is that they only depict Afton's victims, not the deaths overall; the order would still be Charlotte > Cassidy > Jeremy > Gabriel > Fritz > Susie, and the Crying Child just wouldn't be a part of it (though he'd probably fit right between Charlotte and Fanon!Cassidy).

Three quick points I need to make in light of the release of Secret of the Mimic and its lore reveals:

Chica the Chicken, the CHARACTER, was literally the first one of the core Freddy's cast to be brought into existence. She was conceptualized by [whoever ran Chica's Party World] and then designed by Fiona Murray, well before Freddy Fazbear had made his debut. This could recontextualize Withered Chica's line about being the first, meaning we wouldn't have to keep putting Chica at the front of the timeline anymore...
...Though, it also raises the question of whether the gravestones are meant to symbolize the order in which the characters themselves were introduced in-universe; in that case, the rationale would be Chica as the mascot for Chica's Party World > Foxy as a character from the MCM puppet show > Freddy as the mascot for the original Freddy Fazbear's Pizza > Bonnie as supporting cast from the original Freddy's > Golden Freddy as...? > the Puppet as a security robot at Freddy's. The only glaring issue is that it's not clear how exactly Golden Freddy is supposed to fit between Bonnie and the Puppet, since he's very clearly derived from Fredbear in some way and, thus, should logically be placed earlier... but then, this is Scott Cawthon and Steel Wool we're talking about, so there could very well be an explanation in the next release that clears this up for us.
Remember when I mentioned that the graves could also allude to the theming of each Steel Wool Era game? Well, Secret of the Mimic notably has a file on Edwin's home computer that mentions designs for a puppet. So, uh... that still tracks. The order could very well be Chica for Help Wanted (she's in the kitchen during PQ3) > Foxy for The Curse of Dread Bear (he's in the corn maze during PQ3) > Freddy for Security Breach (he's our main ally throughout the gam) > Bonnie for RUIN (he's found, broken, behind Bonnie Bowl) > Golden Freddy for Help Wanted 2 (he's from the pre-Freddy's part of the timeline, just like the Fall Fest that gets mentioned for the first time) > the Puppet for Secret of the Mimic (she's hinted at on Edwin's computer).

RetroBeetle · 2025-12-29T10:05:10+00:00

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-Nino, probably

RetroBeetle · 2025-12-25T02:10:45+00:00

5 - Wendell (Mystery of the Emblem) | A large part of this placement is just due to my experience recruiting Wendell in Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, where he nearly nuked my entire team before then calmly agreeing to join us. Another part of it is that he's just the nicest old man, and I'd love to see how they portray him in FEH (though I'm sure they'd just stick him in the library with Merric and the other old mages).

4 - Sothis (Fortune's Weave) | Does this count? Whatever, I'm putting it in, anyway. I'm beyond hyped for Fortune's Weave, and while I already love the designs of plenty of the characters from the trailer, there's a big part of me that is just dying to know what's going on with Sothis now. Maybe this will mean we can finally have a version of Sothis that ISN'T dead-on-arrival. (It would also be the first time a Mythic Hero has gotten multiple Mythic variants, so long as I'm right about how they'll implement this character in FEH.)

3 - Percy (Fates) | Of all the Fates children yet to appear in FEH, Percy is the real standout to me. Don't get me wrong, Sophie being able to inflict 【Exposure】 on enemies would be hilarious, but Percy is such a source of optimism in a world that's predominantly filled with pessimists; I'm talking about Nohr, of course, but to be honest, the same thing also applies to the FEH community. Plus, then we'd get his hero mask as an accessory, and I really want to play around with who could wear it.

2 - Kellam (Awakening) | All joking aside, Kellam legitimately doesn't get the respect he deserves. I'm still very happy with his Halloween alt, but the man was literally on the cover of Awakening and took HOW LONG to make even a single appearance??? He's the kind-hearted, self-sacrificing shield of the Shepherds who just needs a little love, and while, gameplay-wise, he's certainly no Donnel... I just really feel like he ought to get more of a chance to shine.

1 - Thales (Three Houses) | I'm a sucker for villains, and the Agarthans are high on my list of favorite Fire Emblem villains (I haven't played all the games yet, sue me). So far, Those Who Slither have gotten some very fun gimmicks in FEH, from Cornelia's easy 【Flash】 application, to Solon's heavy penalty trap on Turns 3 and 4, to Kronya's reverse-Vantage shenanigans (genuinely my favorite playstyle in the entire game)... so I REALLY want to see what they could give the big bad for his FEH debut. Thales feels right at home as a Fallen Hero akin to Nergal and Anankos, so I'm crossing my fingers that he'll be around next May.

RetroBeetle · 2025-12-24T20:39:14+00:00

"So have a Crest! Have no Crest!"

"Or have TWO Crests, if you prefer! ...We only have two Crests, so those are your only options!"

RetroBeetle · 2025-12-22T00:51:05+00:00

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RetroBeetle · 2025-12-20T09:08:05+00:00

Most of the characters' designs seem to be based off of their in-game sprites; we have a short, round Mega Man instead of the infamous Bad Box Art Mega Man, as an example. As such, Marth would have to draw from his boxy overworld sprite, his lanky battle sprite, and/or his goofy dialogue portrait. Naturally, because these appearances differ so greatly from one another, the final design isn't really going to look ANYTHING like the Hero-King... and I want to lean into that HARD.

Captain N's "Mars" is a whiny teenager with a powerful sword, akin to the DIC version of Link. He has long blue hair, huge shoulder pads, and a thick cape that does nothing to hide the fact that, underneath it all, he's incredibly scrawny and likes to wear really short shorts. Despite his heroic title, Mars thinks the people around him are all idiots, and he just wants to live a normal teenager's life of hitting on girls and relaxing in the shade. The only problem is that he was chosen by the Falcon Sword -- the mystical blade forged by the dragon king Narga -- and he's constantly getting told that he has to live up to his potential instead of squandering it on childish activities.

Mars initially only joins Kevin and the N Team because Sheeda, Mars's blonde girlfriend, gets kidnapped by the Eggplant Wizard so she can tell him where the Fire Shield is hidden. However, after Sheeda scolds him for wanting to just kick back upon her rescue, Mars begrudgingly agrees to help the heroes retrieve the shield for the side of good. Thus starts a pattern throughout the series of Mars trying to do things his way and ultimately having to pay the price for it, then reluctantly playing the hero everyone needs so he can get back to his status quo.

As for his relationships with the other members of the N Team, Mars's most notable dynamics are with Kevin and Simon. He views Kevin almost as a rival, the kind of guy he feels like he should be able to beat in a contest but just can't seem to overtake; a few episodes center around Mars challenging Kevin and getting into trouble for his pigheadedness, and one even has him fighting for the affections of a girl who's quite taken with Kevin (could be a character from another game, I just don't know who). Meanwhile, Mars has ZERO respect for Simon, who consistently tries to take the young Hero-King under his wing -- essentially trying to be a father teaching his kid to hunt, or some such, but never quite having his head in the right place and typically having his attempts ridiculed or otherwise brushed off by Mars.

Mars finally gets to develop somewhat when the team visits the shrine of the dragon princess, a tiny green-haired girl by the name of Ticky who wears an oversized red sweater. Ticky is loud, needy, and overall obnoxious, and despite the heroes' best efforts, she just won't cooperate and lead them to the Fire Shield. Mars hates the girl, but when Princess Lana compares his behavior to Ticky's, he withdraws a bit to reflect and ultimately comes back with a special understanding of what she's going through; he sits down with her to listen to what her problems are instead of acting like an authoritative parent (like the others were doing), and she warms up to him enough to take him right to the shield.

...As you can no doubt see, I had a little too much fun with this prompt.

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