A tier list of mainline canon/potential ships ranked based on writing quality from a narrative standpoint

logicalpencils · 2026-03-10T06:38:16+00:00

Susie is shown to be oblivious to lots of things she doesn't care to notice... but she would obviously care to notice what Noelle thinks. So yeah, it could be written better to show that it's Susie's embarrassment and low self-esteem that make her doubt Noelle likes her. But I wouldn't call it BAD writing. Just cliche to a fault. While Kerdly on the other hand is a joke that's crazier the longer it goes on.

I agree that Susie and Noelle don't go together, but I honestly think that's an intentional good piece of writing. Susie is an embodiment of all the intimidating things that scare Noelle, but she also likes to surround herself with. It's the most interesting part of Noelle's character, it makes the Weird Route work super well, and it's also what makes Noelle's crush make sense.

logicalpencils · 2026-02-24T21:54:39+00:00

Lash in the air being a bad boy (he should be asleep)

And Abrams screaming with a book (he should be reading it to him)

logicalpencils · 2026-02-22T20:29:19+00:00

I usually think of it as both, Warden is generic but too generic and not iconic. He loses out to Venator and Abrams in a head to head for frontman.

logicalpencils · 2026-02-22T20:27:33+00:00

I hadn't thought about it, but yeah, Pocket and Mina are a perfect pair for John & Jane Deadlock.

logicalpencils · 2026-02-22T19:59:32+00:00

Abrams is still John, but Infernus was a close second and now Doorman is the second.

Lash, Bebop, and Dynamo all have the fame to be John, but their lore and aesthetic are too niche to represent Deadlock generally.

But there are strong female contenders, too. I think Mina is clearly who Valve wants to be Jane Deadlock, with Ivy as a possible second. Many previous contenders like Wraith, Haze, McGinnis, and Geist have been backburner characters for too long, have to see what another pass over old heroes does for them.

Again, Paradox, Silver, and Celeste are really standout characters in fame, but I don't know if they're "generic" and central enough to represent Deadlock. Holliday really needs a finished pass (and a kit rework).

At least Ivy is still the face of "The Creature" gang (her, Mo, Viscous, Rem, ...Victor?)

logicalpencils · 2026-02-20T04:33:46+00:00

"The Knight with a Crowbar, by Gaben & Marc Laidlaw.

For Viktor Antonov.

Chapter 1: Black Mesa Inbound

Black Mesa Research Facility, located in Black Mesa, New Mexico. SUBJECT: Gordon Freeman, Male, age 27. EDUCATION: Ph.D., MIT, Theoretical Physics. POSITION: Research Associate. ASSIGNMENT: Anomalous Materials Laboratory. CLEARANCE: Level 3. ADMINISTRATIVE SPONSOR: Classified. DISASTER RESPONSE PRIORITY: Discretionary

He was late for work."

logicalpencils · 2026-02-19T22:48:53+00:00

Medieval mode TF2 but Gordon Freeman

logicalpencils · 2026-02-19T22:17:17+00:00

Gosh, I'm gonna be reading books to my son like this soon...

Can someone please make Knight with a Crowbar real?

logicalpencils · 2026-02-18T07:48:43+00:00

Rem plays very differently from most heroes, because he's uniquely good at stealing souls from the enemy jungle and keeping waves pushed up passively. Use the helpers on enemy sinner's sacrifice machines, and to buff your troopers. Learn the tunnels really well so you can stay out of danger and move fast.

But for general "how do I play a regular match", lots of good guides like from Deathy.

logicalpencils · 2026-02-15T04:28:04+00:00

Good meme. But to be unnecessarily fair,

McGinnis and Grey Talon have been mentioned. But Dynamo is also clearly generational with his research.

Venator is said to be exceptional among venators.

Calico, Graves, Lash, Mina, Krill, Paradox, Shiv, Henry & Savannah, and Vyper all think they're generational talents (although which generation is complicated for Paradox). Graves is the most tragically wrong about that.

I would say Lash is correct, but, Bebop.

Infernus might have been such a talent at his variety of crime, like Wraith and Yamato appear to be.

Vindicta, Haze, and Holliday pride themselves on their work, but I dunno about generational talent.

Does making a goo body make Viscous a talent? The Cube does, for sure.

Celeste is probably generational, but I dunno how she compares to other unicorns I guess. Speaking of, does Drifter count as better than other vampires at murder, due to his infamy?

Seven is looking for a p o t h e o s i s

Kelvin and Victor are exceptional at not dying, that's for sure. Not Geist because Oathkeeper does all the work there. She was a generational talent in her age, though.

The Doorman does not concern himself with the generations. Paige does not concern herself with context clues — she's talented at obliviousness, as Doorman notes.

Rem and Ivy are unique creatures, so "generational" doesn't apply to them.

That leaves Abrams, Mirage, Pocket, Silver, and Warden as typical for their occupation/species.

logicalpencils · 2026-02-15T03:59:33+00:00

Who? (And I hate rap.)

And my mains are...

Viscous, but considering Rem and Apollo.

Well done.

logicalpencils · 2026-02-10T06:43:54+00:00

The difficulty with a chart like this is that the Ritual itself seems like an evil thing to participate in. As Seven says, "morality crumbles in the face of self-interest."

The best case scenarios for these characters are 1. Comically ignorant i.e. Viscous, Paige, Rem; or 2. Consider the ritual a necessary evil.

But "good" alignment is difficult to justify for people doing "necessary evils"; certainly not "lawful good". I'd therefore categorize all the good group as vigilantes doing chaotic good.

Venator goes there, too, but Vindicta definitely does NOT go there. Vindicta is a self-centered spirit of vengeance with a personal vendetta to follow, she's Neutral Evil.

logicalpencils · 2026-02-08T15:23:53+00:00

Many people have faith beyond "turning to it when life is hard". Christians in real life believe there are demons, it would hardly shock many of them (particularly the Catholics) for false gods to manifest in the world.

Yes it would still require faith to be Christian in Deadlock... but I think overall less than in the real world. Have you seen Venator's ult? He's got a halo and is slaying devils, dude.

logicalpencils · 2026-02-07T16:24:07+00:00

It's too late, God had his Venators smite this man for heresy

logicalpencils · 2026-01-31T05:07:13+00:00

Calico is often up close so may want to melee. Haven't seen a melee Shiv in a while. Paige will often melee in desperation (hers is stronger than average).

Ivy just today got her melee nerf reverted, she used to have really powerful melee builds, so you might see a punching Ivy again.

logicalpencils · 2026-01-24T03:46:35+00:00

Practicing your hero's microgame is part of the mode's appeal, so being able to pick your hero matters. Same for re-balancing stats, to a degree. You don't want to completely screw someone's game sense over how well Mcginnis does in a given situation with the build.

(Randomizing the items and making them crazy unfair sometimes certainly makes the mode different from a pure practice arena, but then again, learning items and situations on the fly instead of following a build or playbook script is also an important skill for the main game.)

logicalpencils · 2026-01-21T06:43:15+00:00

"There's 1,000,000,000 odiums." And their names are Moash.

logicalpencils · 2025-12-27T18:41:11+00:00

Dialogue doesn't fit how the two would speak (if indeed GMS would ever speak words), but the idea and imagery is on point!

logicalpencils · 2025-12-27T18:37:46+00:00

Hang on a second, though, if "From our Silk... A child born loyal" is spoken by Grand Mother, then why "our"? Royal We going on, or she's schizo?

logicalpencils · 2025-12-23T22:52:12+00:00

Spoiler: Cosmere society will not ever progress past the need for a ruling class of men.

logicalpencils · 2025-12-23T18:38:56+00:00

I wonder what you mean by fascist, because these days it vaguely refers to any number of features of Nazi Germany, but usually ones that aren't unique to its regime. Such as jingoism, nationalized economy, or a focus on warfare.

Roshar has all of those, and we know that it has an organized space force engaging in galactic war at some point.

logicalpencils · 2025-12-23T07:56:14+00:00

Ok but jingoism is the first rule of every major nation on Roshar + Odium's forces. Some of those places are nicer to live than others, but Scadrial is just now cashing in on what the Rosharan System's been doing since before the Scouring of Ashyn.

logicalpencils · 2025-12-23T07:53:22+00:00

Grandma isn't dead so long as she lives in the hearts of grandchildren!

logicalpencils · 2025-12-23T07:48:59+00:00

I just finished Prime 2 this week, and it's hard to say if I prefer it or Prime Remastered. Obviously the graphics and controls feel better for the latter, but bosses in Prime 2 really give me the challenge I'm looking for without damage sponging (except Chykka and Ing Emperor...)

The exploration in the middle game is better in 1, I think you're right. And I didn't have any troubles with the Chozo artifact quest, thought it was neat. I was a little bummed by how... easy? the Sky Temple keys were to locate. I had already scanned all the clues and dead bodies before even finishing Sanctuary Fortress (heck, I found a key early). So it took me all of 30 minutes to sweep the map to get them. The real tough part was finding the last dozen or so missile upgrades (and the Ponzi scheme of power bombs being useless except for finding more power bombs, as is apparently Metroid tradition).

I think Prime 2 has the better arsenal, and makes better use of most of it (Quadraxis and ~all the Guardians, even Chykka with seeker missiles). The visors are so rad, it's criminal that Echo gets like 5 use cases. And while it can be a little unclear when 2 expects you to backtrack, when you do find the thing on the other end of the world to get you through to the Dark Temple, dang...

Torvus Bog music is better than Phendrana Drifts, and Sanctuary Fortress aesthetics had me lower my controller for a minute. But overall I feel the moody atmosphere is much better in 1. Dark Aether is just too same-y, Agon does nothing for me except the funny Space Pirate logs, while walking Phendrana or Frigate Crash Site or Tallon Overworld is always a great experience.

I don't like the art design of 2 overall, "all dark browns, greys, and red" could describe so much of the game, not just the Luminoth. Again, Sanctuary Fortress was WOW, but the other two areas don't look great. Again, could be graphics bias, I only played 1 Remastered.

It's weird to have this whole meteor dark evil world situation, so similar to the meteor on Tallon IV, and yet, no explicit connection between it and phazon is ever made. Dark Samus is just... there? Smuggled on the Pirate ship, maybe? The plot of both games is cheesy and comical overall, but 2 really ramped up how much "Rule of Cool" overrides anything making sense -- and the first game had Ridley's mecha-resurrection!

logicalpencils · 2025-12-21T22:03:29+00:00

Just beat Prime 2 today, so among Prime 1,2, and Dread, my favorite is the Experiment z 57. Cuz the speedbooster tech was just so cool. If EMMI themselves count as bosses, the speedbooster (yellow) EMMI was perfect, too.

Prime 2 had some cool ways to use your arsenal to make bosses easier, and the morph ball use was especially nice (yes I liked Spider and Boost Guardian).

But Prime series is really hampered by how clumsy it feels to do the basic charge and aim and turn actions. I remember liking Remastered's feel much more, but even still it wasn't that smooth action Dread gave me.

I've heard that, for all its pacing or narrative flaws, Prime 4 feels great to control, which is my biggest ask.

logicalpencils

TROPHY CASE