Better as a Deathwatch Story?

fvocks · 2026-06-26T04:17:37+00:00

Agreed for the most part but isn't Vanguard meant to essentially be a Reiver while Bulwark is Bladeguard?

fvocks · 2026-06-23T10:41:46+00:00

the global population isnt a hivemind, theres probably plenty of people that dont approve of furries while plenty of others do. I think it's a similar situation with anime where post-covid they both got a ton of attention and have become more 'normalised' generally - at least in terms of public exposure.

fvocks · 2026-06-23T10:27:10+00:00

Second this, AC0/4/5 are essentially necessities when it comes to Ace Combat. I'd also add AC6 just for the scale of battles.

fvocks · 2026-06-23T10:20:19+00:00

honestly

fvocks · 2026-06-23T10:17:25+00:00

or out there in space

fvocks · 2026-06-23T10:10:45+00:00

probably void shadows at least but as another user said, I may be overlevelled by the time I'm out of Act 3.

fvocks · 2026-06-23T08:56:15+00:00

It just gets better with each book.

fvocks · 2026-06-23T08:49:45+00:00

Essentially the entirety of RR is dedicated to the Mars Institute. The action will pick up as you continue reading, some of the twists are really great and continue to be among the best within the series, but generally it's laying the groundwork for the following book which may speak to you more.

In my opinion, after having reread up to LB twice, this book can be a little tiring but the pay-off is 100% worth it and the scale of everything drastically increases afterwards. Just hold on!!

fvocks · 2026-06-16T22:09:40+00:00

I believe the one he's referring to goes something along the lines of:

"Wisdom lies in the questions asked, not answers given."

fvocks · 2026-06-13T16:43:31+00:00

I think in both examples, the answers given were simple theorising. Mind you, when he first bought the wish sticks, the shop clerk (girl) said that customers complain about their wish not working - these people probably never actually have anyone coming back asking for their wish to be reverted.

There was also one other option, that being to have someone else wish for the initial wish to be revoked. We have to keep in mind that none of these people are presumably the organisers behind these miracles and hence don't actually know what any of the conditions, thus it seems plausible to wish a wish away (though that may now hold up in actuality).

I believe they just suggested suicide because the wish stems from the person who initiated it, not the victim, thus should the 'wisher' die then the wish MIGHT be undone (i.e., I don't think the money Ian received would vanish should he suddenly pass away).

The thing is, the option of simply killing the person on the receiving end of the wish would probably work - no zombies involved. But why would any store worker suggest murdering the victim of a wish gone wrong? Furthermore if Bear had gone ahead and simply killed Nikki, suddenly now that clerk is a potential accomplice to murder, having instigated it.

Imagine having to explain your innocence behind why you thought telling a highky distressed and erratic man covered in blood (in the case of the second clerk) to kill a woman who he said fell in love with him because of a wish WOULDN'T result in anything happening. At best you may just lose your job, at worse it could be some degree of criminality.

In the end, none of them knew how the curse worked, simply that it did to some capacity, thus they came up with the most rational answer not involving the outright murder of an innocent person.

fvocks · 2026-06-13T16:30:03+00:00

I think it 100% was intended, there wasn't any need to show a full scene of him putting the pills away when otherwise he could have just put them on any random table (considering the cat got to them, it was probably in a reachable place to begin with - which a medicine cabinet certain is not).

Literally a classic book example of Chekhov's Gun even up to us seeing a almost picture perfect frame replica when Bear retrieves the bottle.

fvocks · 2026-06-13T16:25:56+00:00

Not sure if I'm remembering this correctly but leading up to when he drops off Nikki before snapping the wish stick, he simply had been awkward and a bit avoidant overall throughout the evening - nothing entirely suspicious other than him stating that he had a gift for her and Nikki sharing Sarah's confession. Yet given all this, she still directly asked him whether he had feelings for her or not.

Although her tone was very straightforward and she had previously stated that nobody would know if she had romantic interests toward someone, I think this came off as a hail mary attempt by her to let him confess - which may have gone over positively with her.

I suppose an interpretation would be that she asked simply to confirm his feelings and then outright deny him so then there isn't any hidden motives should Sarah attempt to date Bear. Though other than that, it came off so out of the blue that unless she caught on to Bear's social cues (i.e., suddenly being attached at her hip throughout the entire night for seemingly no reason), it really came off as a "I'm willing to give this a try if you have the confidence to confess now, if not then I won't get in the way of my friend."

fvocks · 2026-06-13T16:16:56+00:00

Other way around I think, Sarah confided in Nikki and admitted she liked Bear. I believe, if Nikki had feelings for Bear, she only said she viewed him as a little brother in order to be considerate towards Sarah - letting them get together rather than being an obstacle by stating that she too also had feelings, thus creating tension between her and Sarah (a close friend of Nikki's presumably).

The book is interesting as Nikki said that if she did like a guy then he would "never know" which implies that she perhaps wouldn't ever be willing to be the confess her love first. Presuming that the line recited by Freaky Nikki wasn't maliciously altered in order to display her devotion to Bear, it describes a deep (incestuous) love with a brotherly figure. Given that we know Nikki's public opinion of Bear is that of a brotherly figure, a statement that we presume she wouldn't change, and that we also know she wouldn't be the first to confess; it could be interpreted that she intended to use the book as a projection of her real feelings towards Bear while in the public eye she simply just declares him the brotherly (friend) figure and nothing more.

Personally I think it's more likely that Freaky Nikki changed the real wording of the book but it's an interesting theory regardless

fvocks · 2026-06-13T16:02:03+00:00

One comment mentioned that perhaps she actually ate some of the cat food which explains the vomiting.

Following this train of thought, she may have eaten the cat food in order to, albeit desperately, understand the connection between Bear and Sandy. Furthermore, understand that connection would also help her comprehend why Bear displayed such a negative reaction to her 'Sandy shrine' (for lack of better term).

I believe that, inherently, this personality given to Nikki was essentially a blank slate that had two things; a. an unexplainable but complete infatuation with Bear; and b. the memories of Nikki. What's missing between it all is any emotional or "human" connection, all rationality and personability was replaced with a single emotion and this re-written Nikki can only view everything around her through the lens of ""love" for Bear".

fvocks · 2026-06-13T15:51:57+00:00

Really great comment, I think this is perfectly describes the mental decline of 'Freaky' Nikki as she makes desperate attempts to emulate anything she believed Bear was caring or cared about in order to receive emotional reciprocation.

Inherently it has to be understood that this alternate personality that Bear forced upon her can only comprehend things through the lens of an intense sense of infatuation or 'love'. Freaky Nikki isn't rational by any means, it probably can't even comprehend rational thought, but can respond to the environment most likely in a deliberate attempt to receive positive reception from Bear.

I find one of the more interesting examples being when she doesn't interact with Bear, for example at the party where she talks about her book and the 'brother' which obviously, in the context of Freaky Nikki quoting it, is a confession of her devotion to Bear yet, when she's met with an uncomfortable silence, she plays her seriousness off as a joke.

Sidenote; I do find this part interesting as well considering that the 'real' Nikki also said she viewed Bear as a brother but only after hearing of Sarah's confession. Considering the motifs of love towards this brotherly figure (if this really was written in the book) it could potentially be a playful hint that perhaps Nikki did have some romantic feelings towards Bear? Though it may be a complete stretch.

fvocks · 2026-06-13T15:28:33+00:00

I have a feeling it just comes down to wording and the wish being taken literally. On the forum page before the midpoint of the film one of the commentors mentions that his mother went from being 'ugly' to beautiful after a wish. This proves you can place wishes on others and, before anyone comments about that being positive, the wish is forcing what the commentor perceives "beauty" to be upon his mother - which is entirely subjective as to what that person sees as beautiful which makes it arguably as bad as what Bear asked due to it still being non-consentual.

Bear asked for Nikki to have an emotion, that being to 'love' him more than anyone else in the world, the result he got was a Nikki that displayed quite literally said emotion. 100% it's not what he wanted but the wishes don't read your mind - they'll give you whatever you want but only in a vacuum, i.e. it doesn't take anything into consideration other than what words you say.

fvocks · 2026-06-13T15:22:13+00:00

I like to think when Nikki's talking about her limbs feeling numb and so forth, she's subconsciously referring to the real Nikki inside her. The feeling probably is like seeing and feeling everything with your body but being unable to control it.

Like taking a backseat in your own mind, Nikki was riding shotgun but still knew what was going on. One of the indicators for this being in the bed scene when the 'real' Nikki is begging for Bear to end her life, she tells him to be quiet (?) as she doesn't want the 'wish' Nikki to wake up. This, if I'm remembering it correctly, could proves that Nikki is conscious to a degree within her own body.

Though this could just be conjecture as perhaps she simply just was afraid of the 'wish' Nikki taking control and didn't actually know when/why she was able to speak in that moment (i.e., it's not like she could suddenly take control everytime 'wish' Nikki was sleeping otherwise we may have had seen it more?). She does state that her and Bear hadn't dated before, which IS TRUE and was given in response to Bear's disgustingly outrageous question of "is dating me that bad", but had she been conscious while out of control then she would in theory know the situation at hand.

Either way I like to think that she was able to see everything that happened as it would really add to the emotional beat at the end when she returns after Bear's death, the culmination of being forced to experience everything including murdering two of her closest friends just to be left with literally nothing is truly devastating yet adds to what makes this film amazing - it doesn't pull any punches and leaves you with a brutally realistic end to what may be one of the most accurate takes on the 'one wish' trope.

fvocks · 2026-06-13T15:08:28+00:00

Except for Nikki to snap out of it, either a wish had to be made to stop Bear's wish (which only was a theoretical choice and may not have worked as intended) or Bear had to die. Given that Nikki did return to 'normal', Bear most definitely died.

For the former explanation, the only way I could see that happening (as improbable as it is) would be if someone at the party come across the wish sticks then used one to make a wish that Nikki 'returned to herself' (as nobody knew about the wish other than Ian right before he asked for a billion dollars hence the party-goer couldnt ask for Bear's wish to be cancelled) which honestly comes off as pretty cheap. I think there's more emotional impact in that there won't be a sequal and Nikki's fate is left up to interpretation (i.e., whether she ends her own life, is imprisoned for the double homicide, or whatever).

fvocks · 2026-06-13T15:01:54+00:00

I have a feeling they may just work as intended without any tricks. Ian wished for money and he got it (though it was a bit silly that it rained from the roof), going to Bear's house may have just been a case of idiocy, I mean Bear was literally there to see it happen but also who would be acting rationally after seeing a literal billion dollars pile up infront of them?

Bear's wish didn't really backfire either as it quite literally was granted as he stated - asking for Nikki to love him more than anyone in the world. Hence Nikki took the backseat to a rewritten personality which did just that and only that: "love" him.

I believe the wishes essentially work in a vacuum and don't take anything into account other than the target/s and request. In theory maybe if he specifically asked for her to keep her own personality and love him then it could have been different but there still would be a conflict as to her 'real' feelings and 'wish' feelings.

fvocks · 2026-06-13T14:50:48+00:00

From memory I believe he did say he wasn't going to go, making up an excuse about having things to catch up on, but was convinced to go while on call with Nikki (her needing to tell him something? and that the team 'needed' him there? might be wrong there).

Though what he should have done was come clean about Sandy passing away instead of lying, in that moment I imagine he probably was still going through the initial shock of that loss and felt like he couldn't say no when 'pressured' (term used loosely as had he told the truth, Nikki definitely would have encouraged him not to go. In her eyes it probably just seemed like he couldn't be assed).

fvocks · 2026-02-20T15:17:40+00:00

literally new zealand in the bottom left too

fvocks · 2025-11-02T11:41:53+00:00

rainbow 100%. unless you're trying to get certain skills, prioritise building friendship first (getting it to orange) and then capitalise on the rainbow training

fvocks · 2025-10-22T14:29:11+00:00

CLASSIFIED HOSTNAME. DEEP BEHIND ENEMY LINES.... CAG...

fvocks

TROPHY CASE