Aeronautic Primates and Other Delights

I think I've petered out on Mass Effect. While I still have a couple of different playthroughs I can do, I've been playing these games for a month straight. I've switched to Outer Worlds as a breather game, especially as there is DLC I haven't played.

Finally socialized for the first time in over a year, going over to airawyn's place for a small gathering. It was a lot of fun and I didn't forget how to talk to people! I think.

Here's the very short movie list:

Fate of the Furious (2017)

I'm all caught up on Fast and Furious movies that are out on digital disc. I still need to see F9, though.

Sorry, running late on this. I just completely forgot this was a thing this week until I went to open Dreamwidth and I went, "Oh yeah, wasn't I supposed to do something with this."

Once again, I spent most of my time playing Mass Effect. Right now I'm playing a male Shepard named Shepard Shepard who is romancing Jack and will probably romance Kaidan in ME3. I'm playing the games as completely as I can in this run (I skipped two missions in ME1, one because it was annoying and one because I just forgot).

Movies I've seen before are in italics

Rifftrax: The Last Shark
In the Heights (2021)
Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

The Last Shark was a delightful Rifftrax.

I saw In the Heights in the motherloving theater. With Junior Mints and Dr. Pepper! I was masked when not eating/drinking and the theater had social distancing in place. I was honestly lucky to get a seat because it was a very last minute decision to go. Lin-Manuel Miranda certainly has a style and it serves him well. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Didn't even notice it was over two hours long. I did miss the post-credits scene, so I need to go back into HBO Max and look into that.

On a whim I bought the Universal Monsters complete Blu-ray collection with 30 different monster movies. sol_se and I watched Ghost of Frankenstein because it was the only film in the Frankenstein series she hadn't seen yet. Not a great film, but it does have some good moments.

Most of this week has been taken up by playing Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. I burned through both games in about nine days and I'm now on Mass Effect 3. I really expected these games to last me longer, so I'll probably end up doing a Renegade playthrough next (still Fem!Shep because of course).

I went out and about for fun for the first time since the pandemic started (yay for vaccination). I just went to the comic book shop. They didn't have what I wanted, but they did have the first art book for the Mighty Nein Critical Role campaign. I don't watch Critical Role anymore, but I have very fond memories of the time I did, so I picked it up.

Movies I've seen before are in italics

Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995)
Steven Universe: The Movie (2019)

sol_se and I finished up the Heisei/Versus Godzilla series with a very meh entry. The series started pretty strong and went downhill about midway through. At least this one doesn't feel like it was edited by an amateur.

I am proud to say I only nearly cried during Steven Universe: The Movie. Man, Steven's mom was an asshole.

Doing my "Bad Decision Bear" playthrough where I get as many people killed or pissed at me as possible. Including shooting Wrex on Virmire. Saaaad. I just finished the first game, which is pretty straightforward in how to screw people over. Mass Effect 2 will be trickier, as I'm going to have to be kind to some people like Mordin and Jack so I can really f**k them over later. I should make a list.

Anyway, the reason I'm posting is that I had a moment of terror during this playthrough. That moment when Sovereign, a Reaper and representative of all things Other, docks with the shining spire of the Citadel's Council chambers, the gleaming representation of our powerful and advanced civilization... and Sovereign aligns perfectly. It's such a powerful moment, realizing just how screwed we are.

So, um, I fell down a fannish rabbit hole called Mass Effect. I talked a little about this back in March, but let's just say that I'm on my second playthrough right now. Dude!Shep has grown on me, but I'm still a solid Fem!Shep supporter. I want to go through and do a playthrough where I make all the bad calls and see where that puts me at the end of the game.

And it's not just that I enjoy playing the game. I am obsessive about the universe. The characters, the alien races, the history. The philosophical questions posed by the series and the questions it should be posing. I track things like when characters got a major writing upgrade (Garrus in ME1 was kind of bland, but Garrus in ME2 is AMAZING and I want to be friends forever). I haven't delved into the side media too much, but that's my next stop.

It's been cutting into my vidding time a bit. The further I get into the game, the more I want to play it. It's like a novel where you've become really invested and you just can't put it down. I care about these characters, I care about this universe. I care about the infinite options that spread before me and the consequences of the decisions I make.

Also, I am amazing with a sniper rifle. Boom.

I will take any fic, meta, or vid recs that you folks have. Lay it on me.

I leave you with this clip, which is from the Citadel DLC and the funniest stupid thing I've seen in a while (although it makes more, um, sense if you've played the game):

My last entry totally failed to mention what's consuming most of my brain these days -- Mass Effect. Specifically Mass Effect 2. Which, you know, I wasn't super fond of the combat or inventory systems in Mass Effect, but Mass Effect 2 made combat so much harder and also just completely did away with the inventory system entirely, which seems a little extreme.

I complain more about Mass Effect 2, but I'm also playing it more obsessively. Every time I run into someone with whom I formed a relationship in Mass Effect the 1st or receive an email updating me on their status, I get a little shot of serotonin in the brain. I really wish I'd done more side missions in ME1, but I bought into the game's sense of extreme urgency and rushed headlong for the finish line. Not making that same mistake twice.

I need to finish ME2 soon, though, because I have Bioshock Infinite on preorder (digital, download-only preorder -- welcome to the future).