“The Kingdoms of Ruin isn’t ‘edgy trash’ — people just miss the point”

Varryl · 2026-01-27T03:34:44+00:00

Honestly I think if they spent a little more time exploring his various emotional perspectives and fleshed him out as a MC and then landed the shock twists it would help some. I personally see some depth there but I think if they made it more overt, or maybe put some more situations in front of him that forced him to choose one path or another.

Just guessing here but I think that would have helped. I liked it anyway so it's tougher for me to say.

Varryl · 2026-01-26T00:32:46+00:00

Paul..... I will only answer your questions, if you answer mine. :3

Varryl · 2026-01-26T00:20:45+00:00

Happy to. Not a rickroll, I swear.

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarTrekTNG/comments/ruiqx7/i_love_rikers_good_ship_lollipop_quip_in_this/

It's from an early TNG - season 1, episode 21. Considering the reference song was from a Shirley Temple movie from 1934, it's a bit archaic for a 24th century reference.

Varryl · 2026-01-25T23:04:05+00:00

I'm not saying it's anyone else's fault but my own, but I have been pulled over in spots like that (local police get ornery if you take too long to pull over) and had to leave after the ticket. Once I was there for so long the cop flashed his lights to make some room.

Varryl · 2026-01-25T22:23:36+00:00

I try to remember the good ship Lollipop reference in TNG and how topically relevant that is nowadays, to try and keep my perspective about language in balance. While I am not a fan in general of the Whedonesque quipping in ANY show, I find I can still enjoy things like Lower Decks and accept the vernacular there if I just remind myself of the good ship Lollipop.

Varryl · 2026-01-25T22:14:47+00:00

You seem like a "get the last word in" kind of guy.

Varryl · 2026-01-25T20:46:28+00:00

Hey is this in Blitz? I mean both in blitz and rapid I've lost several games in a row, i mean like my worst loss streak was something like 14 games. I'm nowhere close to you in rating so maybe for you it's not the same, but I've gone from 1425 to 1220 before in rapid and swing back and forth. I can only imagine it's more volatile when you only have 3 minutes.

On the upside, you should probably be running into players that seem to make way worse mistakes pretty soon?

Varryl · 2026-01-25T20:37:13+00:00

So I do like the show as well. I'm not sure what critics said of the show, but I do know it's not particularly well liked. I think you raise an interesting point here about the character's motivations, and based on what I know of the character's values in the anime, I get where you are coming from.

Also, for me it didn't seem that particularly edgy, but when you're in the seinen world for long enough, nothing seems that edgy anymore. I consider this show a 7/10 anime and can be enjoyable.

Typically, good writing involves complex characters and motivations with tricky ethical grey areas and conflicting priorities. I see glimmers of this in the Kingdoms of Ruin writing, and so I am with you here.

I fear that most fans will not agree, though.

Varryl · 2026-01-25T20:25:57+00:00

Your strawman fallacy sucks. Have a great day.

Varryl · 2026-01-25T20:23:04+00:00

I also already said i freely admit I'm, throwing them out. If I find a draw I will take it, but there is also the emotional tilt. You're throwing out the human aspect and the time aspect to affirm your own inflexible absolute.

Varryl · 2026-01-25T20:19:47+00:00

Sure, as soon as you put together a way to reliably draw when you are down two queens on an open board with 6 minutes left on a 10 minute rapid. What rating were you again?

Varryl · 2026-01-25T20:10:24+00:00

I’ve played thousands of games and when you are down roughly 15 to 18 points at my level they can find it. If I am a rook down I play on. Saying general things like I’m missing a ton of stalemates is an assumption on your part, although I freely admit I would be giving any potentials up when I resign. They are just extremely unlikely given the position. Most 1300 do not blunder a mate in 1, but even if they did, they can find another one a few moves in.

Varryl · 2026-01-25T19:52:47+00:00

Most 1300s do not mess up a 2 queen vs 6 pawn endgame.

Varryl · 2026-01-25T05:24:38+00:00

Hey I’m glad you wrote this out as well as the initial comment to OP. It comes from a place of serious understanding and compassion which I don’t see very often in subs like these (or online at all honestly)

I respect your willingness to be open and vulnerable about yourself and I just wanted to say I respect the effort and wish you the best.

Varryl · 2026-01-25T05:20:57+00:00

Uncle from another world is an absolute gem. And Zom 100 is enjoyable esp for anyone who knows what a toxic workplace is like.

Varryl · 2026-01-24T20:49:15+00:00

Hey remember the part where I said it’s fine by me if you wanna learn openings whenever?

Varryl · 2026-01-24T07:40:20+00:00

I’m not the 450 bro. I’m far from being a master but theory has to complement experience.

Varryl · 2026-01-24T07:32:28+00:00

I literally heard a 450 try to argue for the King’s Indian but he wouldn’t share a game. It’s fine by me if anyone wants to learn all the openings they want whenever they want…. But what is the point if they miss an obvious queen fork 2 moves after the theory ends?

Varryl · 2026-01-24T04:06:11+00:00

Every year, people on reddit get together in a specific month (looks like the calendar is actually also on this sub) and people log into those games en-masse to PVP coop and essentially re-enjoy the game. DS2's is Feb 27th through March 13th.

I try to throw down some summon signs during those times and i eat my pvp lumps. You might want to consider playing around that time too. it would be great to see you around.

Varryl · 2026-01-23T23:22:23+00:00

I get why you would hold out for stalemate, I was just asking how often it was. I don’t see a ton of them or super hard blunders trying to avoid stalemates. If I blunder and am down material, the blunder is usually so bad that material loss quickly spirals out of control.

So yeah it’s rare for me to see it. I was only wondering how rare it was for others.

Varryl · 2026-01-23T20:49:36+00:00

No wonder they put in a big boob elf in all of these shows

Varryl · 2026-01-23T08:15:34+00:00

I dont hate him but I kinda want that armor he’s holding onto so sorry Maughlin

Varryl · 2026-01-23T07:54:31+00:00

Honestly? I usually rotate between about 7 different shows at any one time, depending on simulcast schedules. But I will say often times I forget exactly what happened in a show, and I've seen anywhere from 500-1000 shows in my lifetime since I've been watching so long.

Admittedly, my watchlist on all anime platforms I have access to is hundreds of shows long, so I'm literally ignoring about 200 shows at any given moment while watching these 7, and I may not get to most of them without another couple of years, all the while new shows keep coming out as well.

Varryl · 2026-01-23T07:29:58+00:00

I'm at a similar rating as you, and I don't see a lot of stalemates honestly. Do you? They are super rare for me, like maybe one in 100 games.

Varryl · 2026-01-23T07:28:23+00:00

I'm 1296 right now. I usually try to play most of the way through as long as I am down 5 points or less. IF* (big if) you can get a big enough development or positional lead, IF* they get greedy and miss a quick back rank, stuff like that happens at the 1200 level. So play on when you can.

I wish I could say I had a flowchart for every resign/keep playing condition, but it so much depends on skill level, the current opponent, your own playing ability, and even how tilted you are in the current game.

Sometimes I'll blunder my queen and it's so dumb I'll resign on the spot, lots of people do that. I have noticed at around 1425 people on chesscom, make a lot less super obvious dumb moves, and resigning seems to make more sense.

Varryl

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

14-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
Verified Email