#Do not get me started on the thematics of a broken thing being their Thing

[hajihiko]

It's so sad to me that haji and fuyu dont get to keep the pieces of their brotherhood cup and had to leave them behind in the simulation :(

ikr. That was THE emotional moment and now its nothing? Itsgonna take more death scenarios to ever get to that point again

#not an art #Do not get me started on the thematics of a broken thing being their Thing #Is it intentional in the writing or am I just insane

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

I’m just going to throw down my thoughts now real quick. Someone is obviously going to get taken over by Fyodor. This takeover seems to require blood to activate. Here are the potential options, rated lowest to highest by my own personal interest.

Random character we’ve never met - the easy and boring answer. Fyodor will body snatch one of the vampire guards he was communicating with. Fair amount of likelihood since he could easily have made the transfer of blood at any point, though I’m not sure yet if it needs to be an instantaneous thing or if his blood can lie dormant. Either way I think it’s a bit of an ass-pull with no stakes on our cast so I’m hoping this isn’t the case.

A named character outside Meursault - Probably someone he’s had a lot of contact with, so Fukuchi. This depends on the blood having a latency period and is also insanely contrived. I actually hate it more than the random guard.

The Catgirl thief - I’m assuming this is extremely unlikely since the host needs to be alive. But anyways. Women lovers here’s how we lose even worse.

Having said this now, I think it’s fairly obvious it has to be one of the other Meursault four. This is appropriately thematic and tragic, given that all of them place a lot of value on free will and self-determination, which a takeover by Fyodor would rob them of.

Chuuya - He spent a lot of time around Chuuya to be sure but there’s no blood on him. If there’s a latency period though, it is possible. I’m not feeling this one though, to be honest. I don’t see what narrative purpose it serves - Chuuya hasn’t had enough of a role in the manga for this to mean much, other than royally pissing Dazai off (which to be fair is definitely in character for Fyodor). I think it far more likely that Chuuya is going to be a witness for whatever comes next.

Sigma - High likelihood. He did get stabbed and had the memory transfer. I can’t remember whether Fyodor touched him with his wounded hand. It would be brutal for this to happen to him after he’d just broken free from his manipulation. But honestly I don’t know that Sigma getting taken over is all that interesting. For one, they’re going to need his knowledge (though that may be a reason for Fyodor to off him truthfully), and for another, I just don’t think Sigma’s… done enough as a character. I feel it would kind of render his arc in Meursault pointless to end his story here.

Nikolai - The most likely possibility to me. He is holding Fyodor’s severed hand, which he touched to his face. Fyodor’s ability probably kickstarts after his death, and Nikolai was the first to get his blood on him. Sadly, I suspect that if this is the case, this will be the end for Nikolai. If he gets taken over, I can’t see a reason or method to restore him to himself. What a horribly tragic end this would be to our favourite clown, his freedom snatched away for good by the one person he couldn’t help but get attached to.

Dazai - I dismissed this off-hand at first. Of course I did, Dazai is immune to abilities. I also want to be clear that I seriously doubt Asagiri will off his favourite boy like this. But oh man. What if Fyodor’s ability isn’t an ability, much like in the first skk manga team up? What if them both being there is a call-back to Rimbaud who snatched corpses, and Lovecraft who could hurt Dazai? What if Fyodor really has become no longer human - and this is the proof? I was kind of hoping the Meursault arc would end with Dazai (temporarily!) out of the picture, and this would be a way to do it - Atsushi and Akutagawa would have to step up, Chuuya could be more relevant. We could even have more Kyouka if what I’m starting to wonder is true - that Fyodor was involved in the death of her parents. At the same time, Dazai’s special boy plot armour nullification and mysteriousness gives us a plausible reason to bring him back. And all the while maybe they could continue their mind games, with Dazai being an annoying little pest in the back of Fyodor’s mind.

#I’m screaming asagiri please give us bad ending #also I think chuuya would rapidly lose the idgaf war if he saw dazai being taken over like that which is. just a bonus for me. #realistically though my money’s on nikolai. sorry jester man I think you might be doomed :( #bsd #storyrambles #bsd meta #bsd chapter 114 #bsd spoilers #bsd fyodor #bsd chuuya #bsd sigma #bsd nikolai #bsd dazai

[syrena-del-mar]

The Nine Circles of Hell: Dead Friend Forever, Episode 7

First, a trigger warning: I'll be discussing themes of revenge porn, grooming, statutory rape, sexual coercion.

I'm going to discuss this episode with as much upmost care as I can, due to the sheer amount of sensitive material that came out of this week's episode I will also not being using any explicit scene screen captures from this episode. If there's anything you'd like to me to take out or want a more in depth conversation, feel free to use either of my message boxes.

Last week I said DFF had more to offer than just being a campy 90s slasher remake. While I first thought we were already in the depths of hell, thematically, with Non getting beaten by the mafia, I didn't expect this week's episode to somehow double that pain. But here we are. I was lulled into false security with the 5 minute montage of getting to know what Phee and Non's relationship was like. I should have remembered that I'm definitely watching the wrong genre when I expected more of those moments.

Non and Phee

This episode really continues and expands the idea that humans are not these clear-cut, unambiguous, good-or-bad beings that idea has now been depicted through Non and his relationship with Phee. Non has so much love to give and so much want for being loved, it's what leads to Phee in the first place, but it's also what leads to his downfall. Because Non loves so much and so hard, it's also why he wasn't ecstatic that Phee had to lie to his father and say that he was involved, just to get him out of trouble with the police. What started like a sweet date turns a bit bitter, because Non is seeing the consequences of his actions not only affect himself but also the others that he loves. It's also why he couldn't tell Phee about the sheer amount he owed Tee's uncle, because he was now well aware that if Phee found out, he would get himself involved.

Non lies and manipulates Phee, he tells him time and time again that nothing happened between him and Mr. Kreng. Non swears to Phee that he isn't lying to him and that he won't keep any secrets from him anymore. It pains him to do so, he's barely holding himself together by the end of a thread thread once he's Phee's arms and his face is hidden from Phee's view. Yet, he does. He keeps it a secret how big of a hole he has found himself in, because he doesn't want to drag Phee down with him. Non says it himself to Jin, he doesn't want to be burden, he'll figure it out himself. It's a direct parallel to the bigger issues that Non is finding himself in beyond just within the 'movie set'. He has the 300 million baht hanging over his head, his parents (in his point of view) regret having him and find that he does is bring embarrassment to the family, and now he has another adult willing to give him the 300 million baht with a fake sense of care. So he found, what he believes to be, a solution that would get rid of the 300 million baht debt and all it requires is giving up a piece of himself, but at least it won't come at a cost of burdening his parents or Phee.

In trying to protect Phee, his lies ends up costing him the one he loves the most, Phee. Now from this point on, this is all speculation, but when Phee accused Non of 'always doing this', I'm not in the camp that believes that Phee is accusing Non about being a serial cheater. I see why people are in that camp, but I initially jumped to that conclusion as well. Now, I'm more in the line that Phee is accusing of Non always feeding him lies, even after explicitly promising him that he wouldn't. After putting his neck out for him, after letting Non do things his way as long as he promised to tell him the truth, Non goes back to telling lies. Phee lashes out, and at the end of the day he's still a teenager, so he hits Non's weakest point. Just get lost and die. The very words that likely haunt Phee in the present-day, now as an adult. And Non's holds the broken bracelet, punishing himself, because he knew that there was no coming back from losing his lifeline.

Non and Mr. Kreng (Please keep my trigger warnings in mind, they will be heavily discussed in this section.)

Statutory Rape. Grooming. Coerced Sexual Relations. Nonconsensual Sex. Molestation. Sexual Assault. Sexual Abuse. Those are all words to describe the relationship that occurred between Non and Mr. Keng. Let's call exactly what it is. I think I'll lose my mind if I have to see someone another person call Non a cheater. There is no cheating when there is statutory rape.

Non is literally at the end of his rope, Mr. Keng clocked that immediately. He knew that Non was isolated, that he was completely othered by his classmates, he believes that Non has nobody else to turn to, and he knows that Non is in deep in a scam that target teens. In his eyes, he found the perfect victim.

Non is taken advantage of by a person in power, a person that he should be able to trust. Non isn't naïve, he clocked that Mr. Keng wanted something from him since the moment they first met. But he is vulnerable. He's being extorted by the mafia and he sees someone offering him the money that he needs to put an end to that. In his eyes, it was a way out, a means to an end that just cost him a piece of his soul. I truly think Non rationalized it to himself as prostituting himself, because he knew that money was never coming without a price. No matter how much Mr. Keng tried to sell it as 'brotherly' love.

But at the end of the day, it does not matter what Non believed or rationalized, because Mr. Keng was the adult in the situation. He had a duty, as a teacher, to protect Non and provide a safe classroom environment. Instead he target, manipulates, and coerces Non into having sexual relations with him. He knows the power imbalance he holds, first as a teacher and then with the 300 million baht he 'gave' him. Mr. Keng, knowing that Non's not close to his 'friends', physically isolates him. He takes him to his office that's half-lit, located in a long hallway with, seemingly, very little foot traffic. He prods at Non, asking what's been bothering him and has him visibly become emotional, before offering his care. He's a complete and utter predator, in every sense of the term.

I hope he dies a long, painful death.

Non and Jin

First and foremost, whether or not Jin was ultimately the one that posted the video does not matter. Filming a classmate being sexually assaulted is still child porn at the very least and, possibly, revenge porn (if he disseminated the video) at the worst. I was on the same boat as @respectthepetty and their take that Jin had to be the worst of them all. Like they said in that post, Jin is a coward and he even admits to it. There's nothing more cowardly than hiding behind a door, filming you supposed 'friend' getting sexually abused by your teacher, and then even considering putting up on social media for revenge because your heart is broken.

Yes, Top framed Non. Yes, Por demanded (and bullied) money from Non. Yes, Tee brought Non to the mafia. Those are all very bad things, don't get me wrong. All the physical and mental abuse they put Non through was hell. Yet, Jin was the only one aware that Non had already been seeing someone, which seemingly had upset him already. Then he sees him with Mr. Keng and instead of reporting that his alleged friend was being assaulted, he gets angry and films Non at his most vulnerable point in life. Even Fluke didn't want any part of that.

Jin takes away Non's dignity. And at the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether he uploaded it online or not, he was still the one to film, transfer that file onto his computer, and contemplate whether he was going to post it or not. At every point since he found that Non and Mr. Kreng were in that room, he rendered Non powerless. That video would have never been uploaded if it hadn't existed in the first place. With just a point of a camera and click of a button, he is revictimizing Non every. single. time. that video is opened and seen by another person.

There are no words to fully describe or explain that kind of trauma that he has subjected Non to.

Final Thoughts

This episode was nauseating. It honestly took me about two hours just to get to the end. Usually, I can watch through a show I enjoy really quickly, but this episode was so hard to digest. And that's simply due to how realistic they are approaching the subject of Non and Mr. Keng.

Barcode and Ta really are the stars of the show. I'm not saying that the other castmates aren't amazing in their roles, but man TaBarcode really know are hitting every single emotional beat. I was never a TaBarcode nor a MacauChay girlie, but man Be On Cloud has truly brought out their best this time around. Even though I fully know we are heading towards an incredibly heart wrenching ending for PheeNon, I can't help but want to hoard and scramble for moments of them together.

It's crazy how well, everyone was able to pull their weight this episode. There were so many moments that with less talented, less experienced actors, could have fallen flat, but they didn't. Ta and Barcode's PheeNon was so incredibly heart-beating, butterfly inducing before we were brought back into their reality outside of their relationship. 2J and Barcode's scenes were.... so disgustingly real, for lack of better words. I knew that storyline was never going to end well but it had been more than I ever expected Be On Cloud to release. They're tackling such real issues that weigh on teens with incredible tact, there's no romanticizing what happened. Even Phee's reaction was so understandable when you put yourself in the shoes of a teenager. I'll reiterate again and again, whatever you think about Be On Cloud as a management company, as a production company, they really are breaking boundaries and doing something right. Whatever happens in the second half, I think I'll be here, recovering, for a long time.

#dead friend forever #dff meta #dff the series #dff episode 7 #dff non #dff Phee #dff jin #dff mr.kreng #dead friend forever the series #barcode tinnasit #ta nannakun #copper phuriwat #2J Chalach #be on cloud #boc actors #dff spoilers #pheenon #jinnon #pheejinnon #dff

[boyfridged]

hello! can i request some Jason centric fic recs?

this is actually such a difficult question. in spite of years spent reading jason-centric fanfics, it is very rare that i find something that i genuinely enjoy. still, i do have some favourites that i go back to.

beneficiary by @sirsparklepants (1/1, 2k)

my favourite post-death jay fanfic. it's such a beautiful, bitter-sweet conclusion to his legacy.

untitled by @pendulum-north (1/1)

this is a very short ficlet. absolutely riveting language, as expected of a poet. my favourite take on the canon divergence that is bruce dying instead of jason. would sell my soul for north to actually write more on it.

what the living do by Anonymous (1/1, 6,5k)

stunning. perhaps my all-time favourite. jason believes he's dead. dick takes him on a road trip.

complications by JHSC (1/1, 6k)

i want to tell you so badly why i adore this fanfic but that would spoil the conclusion. so instead i can just tell you that it contains my unpopular agenda for jason's character development.

the (family) doctor's appointment by smleeish (1/1, 4k)

i have some qualms with the minuatiae of this work but this sickfick surprised me with the depth of the character study. the conclusion is so beautiful in the way it gets to the core of jason's values.

jet black crow by starknjarvis (series, 2/2, 19k)

i normally avoid sex-worker aus so please do know that this had to really impress me to be found on this list. the main reason for which it winded up here is a conversation jason has with bruce in the second installment.

the clay steals the clay by zipadeea (1/1, 2,5k)

just give it a read. a haunting... fix-it. i think about the usage of catholic themes in this fanfic often.

PLUTO. by orpheusaki (@damianbugs) (1/1, 22k)

a huge reason for which i love this one so much is the thematic similarity to the earth-51 arc in countdown. there's such good understanding of what made jason who he is as the red hood & his relationship with batman as the symbol and with bruce as his father.

things that make it warm by one_step_closer_to_death (@hopeworth) (1/1, 4k)

my favourite jay & dick fanfic! if you've been following this blog for a while, you know i am very particular about their relationship. you also know that i believe in jason's need to reconnect with his childhood and that dick should be a part of it, and this piece delivers that in the sweetest way.

of broken, blazing wings by FrEShAVocaNoob (44/44, 190k)

before i get to the praise, i have to say that this fanfic does talia very dirty and that i am not a fan of how it deals with mentions of jason's childhood & his robin days. however, it is also 190k of jason having a perpetual mental breakdown and it follows canon event starting from the lost days and finishing with countdown. it has great pacing and an admirable balance of being plot-driven and the focus on character development. jay is so painfully young and lost. i also really enjoyed dick's attitude. it's a riot and an emotional rollercoaster. i will never recover from it.

compulsory (shameless) self-promotion:

leave no trace, a ficlet on ouroboros.

black out days, a lost days au which is not a story at all. about talia, jason, the need to mythologise and staying away.

and my wip robin (vol 2): future nostalgia, a jay lives au that is to contain follow major batman plotpoints such no man's land and murderer/fugitive.

#a disclaimer is that i usually have some minor qualms with the characterisation as i am... very particular when it comes to it #you're also welcome to just look through my public bookmarks on ao3! #you can notice that there's not a lot of robin jay fanfics here. this is actually because i have much higher standards for those #i'm 100% more likely to say “he would not say that” about robin jay than i am about rh jason #outbox #jay.zip

[alienssstufff]

idk if u talked abt it b4 but i would LOVE to know why u see autumn as 3L (and i assume LL as winter - DL as spring - LimL as summer) tho i 100% see already purely from aesthetic why thatd be the case itd be so so cool to see a more in depth opinion?? it does fit so well in with the 2 arcs being 3L into LL & DL into LimL as autumn into winter then starting as a new arc of spring into summer?? literally perfect i feel??

[ context ] nooo I never have! I'd love to!

The Life Series thematically happens cycles upon cycles within itself. Each season is like a different part of a year like seasons ending on the very climatic Limited Life as its Summer.

[AUTUMN 3RD LIFE] While there aren't many interesting biomes in 3L that give it away, it's more about the progression of the Beginning as players are taken out of the comfort of their previous lives and all social constructs are thrown out the window and into the deep end. People make pretty bases, feel hesitant to steal, and build monopolies in a world that virtually does not have a currency - all because these are things the Hermits and Empires alike have been doing prior to the Life Series. It's Autumn because it's a learning experience, a transition period as the players grow more accustomed to these new customs in preparation for the extreme.

[WINTER LAST LIFE] HONESTLY the one I'm glad we all agree on, that server is SO #wintercore with so many horror elements. Deeeep alpine forests, winding rivers, tall snowy mountains it got all of them! The perfect winter sequel to 3rd Life and the one where the players (after being a part of 3L) are put the most on edge with the levels of betrayal and distrust the season had going on with the Bogeyman mechanic. People straight up start HUNTING each other for sport it's an example of the most dire of situations and I LOVE IT!

(putting the other 2 under the cut before it gets too long)

[SPRING DOUBLE LIFE] Much kinder than Last Life congratulations you have made it through the winter. Double Life is a season centred on relationships, about all the different types of love between players - if you live in the Northern Hemisphere spring happens during valentines. New bonds like in Spring are made here and old ones resurface and/or are broken in history of the previous seasons. Double Life is kind of like 3rd Life in the sense that people's relationships, and how they go about them are in influence to things that have happened in the past (previous seasons).

[SUMMER LIMITED LIFE] The final season of the First Cycle. The server has a WARM OCEAN biome. I really do wish mojang developed their beaches or the tropics better Limited Life would have been perfect with palm trees. I built a bit on the Limited Life world HERE and HERE It's about teamwork, fun and games - the tone Limited Life has in comparison to Last Life is its polar opposite in the way people trust in each other so much. Even the whole meaning of what it means to be Bogeyman here is flipped on its head it's treated as a gift. It comes perfectly after Double Life as the soulmates made in there (eg Boatboys, Ranchers, etc) continue from here. If anything it reminds me of the summer break before everyone gets back to work (Secret Life).

Side note: Secret Life Bit of a weird one honestly. It to me is the strangest out of the 5 like yeah it COULD be spring aesthetically because of the cherry trees, but it could also be autumn (thus the new cycle), the way it is handled so far is reminiscent of how things were in 3rd Life with everyone being so careful of their lives. Waiting for more sessions to come out to build more on this :]

HWWHWH anyway hope that makes sense ty for letting me talk about the Life Seasons >w<

#ask stufff #stufff rambles #character concept stufff #life series #trafficblr #i could have explained the DL one better i feel theres more to it with spring i know in my heart

[hugintheraven]

Finished Worm

Really enjoyed it, will be checking out the rest. Some spoilery, rambly thoughts:

I wonder how much of this was preplanned. Because there's a definite thematic resonance to the first thing we learn about Brockton Bay being that it sucks because the Ferry is broken, cutting off the two parts of the city, and then Taylor's essentially last act being to punch a bunch of holes between realities so that everyone can unite, and I have to wonder if Wildbow intended that from the start.

Taylor's characterization bugged me by the end. Not that it was unrealistic or anything(there's a reason 16-18 year olds shouldn't have unimaginable power), but someone at some point really needed to sit her down and dig some of her issues out of her psyche with a fork. Like, she has both a shrink and mandatory ethics classes as part of the Wards, did NONE of that take?

(which is also why I think I'm falling on the side of NOT shipping Lisa and Taylor, despite it basically being written for me. Lisa deserves better and she's smart enough to know it, even if she definitely loves her.)

But Taylor starting it off by getting tortured and refusing to ask for help because she knows no one will help her, and then how she ends it? That tracks, but also that sucks to a degree I don't love in my fiction. I saw her described as the hero of a Greek Tragedy once and yeah, I don't love those.

BTW, do we ever see Imp vs Regent's Dad? Because of the timeskip, that's probably the thing I was upset about missing most.

The mandatory no-homo started being funny at some point. It's partially an inverse Supernatural(and maybe the only one of those I've seen), in that there's so few male chars that you have to ship femslash just to make your fic functional. And Wildbow choosing to do that, to write a bunch of really good female chars and then be offended that people ship them, is just hilariously bad.

Anyways, yeah, was good. Will be reading the rest, but also wow there's a lot of words to all this.

#Parahumans #Worm #Hugin Reviews

[crowbawt]

I really should be sleeping but my anxiety so instead here's a very long disjointed post with thoughts about the Man in the Wall after playing Whispers

Spoilers obviously

So the climax of the quest was us somehow holding back Mr. Big Indifference using a memory of love. And it makes sense, because what is the opposite of Indifference towards others? Caring about them. Which is kind of our (Tenno) entire thing. To Take Away Its Pain, etc. There's also Rell, who was also able to hold back Wally, and how he was alienated by his peers and even Marghulis, and the Orokin society who feared and shunned him and didn't treat him as a fellow human being deserves to be treated. As some of the Red Veil blood scrawls in his quest put it, "What is evil, but indifference?" It works quite well, thematically. But Warframe doesn't really restrict itself to a singular, direct approach to invoking its themes. Shit's got layers. Which leads me to believe there may be other layers here, too. And at this point, I'm really not convinced that Wally is so simple as the cosmic idea of Indifference towards others, or even a personification of fear and other 'dark' aspects of the human condition. I mean, I believe he is partially that, we do get that dialogue from Sythel "The first scholar looked into the Void and felt fear, and that fear took form. That's how all this started." Albrecht also refers to himself as the "Father of fears" in his notes somewhere (I forgor) But... Fear is not Indifference. And the Man in the Wall not only shows great interest in many things (like Albrecht, and our Tenno) but he also shows a great deal of emotion. He is described by Duviri citizens as hungry, greedy, jealous. He has feelings, and he has a great deal of them. A being born of fear and indifference towards others doesn't really describe what we've seen of him very well. What Wally has been shown as time and time again is instead: a mirror. Our reflection. So here's the rhetorical question I'd like to ask: If Albrecht gazed into the grand cosmic mirror of existence, and his first reaction was fear, well... it wasn't really the Void he was afraid of, was it?

...Which probably doesn't seem like a point worth all this build up, considering how during the quest, Albrecht's flaw of showing indifference to others (Loid, specifically) is brought up a few times. Albrecht looked into the Void, his Indifference and fear seeped in, and the result was Wally. Makes perfect sense. To which I say, look at the scrollbar to the side of this post because I have soooooo much more bullshit to spew about my thoughts on this. Anyway. I've seen some theorizing that we're probably going to "defeat" the Man in the Wall by forgiving him or otherwise reaching out and showing him love, similar to the way we helped Umbra. Love will triumph over Indifference. And that makes sense and feels very Warframe and I do think that will happen. Buuuuut I don't think it's the only thing that's going to happen. Because if something is destroyed or undone by love, doesn't that... kind of undermine the message of loving an ugly, broken thing? Doesn't having the ultimate villain be some abstract space monster elder god representing pure un-love kind of jar with the very personal, human focus of Warframe's storylines? I don't think this is a Love vs. Indifference Pokemon typing match-up here, I don't think the Love requiem word is going to defeat the Indifference requiem word like a game of rock paper scissors. That would be too trite. Besides, it's not Wally's Indifference, really. It's Albrecht's.

And I've seen a lot, a lot of speculation that Wally "is" Albrecht, just a very derived evil alternate of him, and maybe Albrecht manages to convert himself into Wally as some kind of self-fulfilling quantum time-loop, becoming the reflection that reached out to his own self. It makes a lot of sense, what with the "We End as We Began" thing, and us encountering doppelganger smiley Albrecht in the quest. It works, thematically. This very well could be the answer and it wouldn't be bad storytelling per se.

However, for reasons I am not sure how to articulate at 3 am, I honestly kiiiiiind of hate it. It is not an ending to this that I'd be personally very satisfied with. Again, this doesn't mean it would be bad story-telling, or that other people wouldn't find it satisfying, it's just me and how I like my eldritch horror to be. So I choose to speculate other possibilities up until the point I am proven wrong, and if I am I promise to not be too annoyingly butthurt about it. Promise. Here's my preferred take: I think the "Great Indifference" name for The Man in the Wall is a massive red herring. I think it relates far more meaningfully to what he actually is if you instead interpret it as "undifferentiated."

As in, the Void is a massive roiling quantum soup of all possible outcomes that could exist, but don't--to us. Specifically, us, as in our unique conscious POV, or "personal timeline" or "Chain of Khra" or quantum observer "cone of light" or whatever you want to call it. We are a 3rd dimensional ant stuck walking down a Mobius strip of cause and effect, and the Void is everything that we can not perceive from our tiny tiny window of specific probability variables. We are unable to "change the frame," as Euleria puts it, and I interpret that as "frame of reference."

While a lot of the differences are more... semantic than anything, Eternalism is not actually just Warframe's funny in-universe stand-in name for the Multiple Worlds Interpretation of Reality. This is a whoooooole another post worth of word vomit I won't get into now but Warframe did not come up with Eternalism it's an actual established thing that they're referencing.

The Void is everything, all at once. And if something is everything, in a way it is also... nothing. No contrast, no ups and downs, no loss, no birth, no death, no questions, and no mysteries to ponder. Joy is the same as sorrow, alive is the same as dead, "change" as a broad concept is impossible. If there is an opposite of human consciousness, of being alive and having lived, that's the closest thing I can think of.

There's a reason why the Void is shown in stark black and white until we put color into it... and in his original logs, Albrecht speaks of "scintillating vapor pouring out of my very skull." Human consciousness, our "light," (and the meaning of Albrecht's name, and the significance of us accidentally offering to let Wally "take our light" in the New War, etc) interacting with and reacting with the raw potential of the Void. It makes sense with the Wall being a bleak brutalist expanse of unmoving bone and dust, too. That could Wally's original, natural state: a solid block of grey, meaningless everything. It would explain his jealousy of us, why he takes our appearance, echoes aspects of our personalities, uses our voices, picks at our memories and experiences. It's why he's fascinated with us. It is the one thing he isn't, the one thing he can not have. Or--at least, couldn't have, before Albrecht's intrusion. This is a side-note, but I find it very interesting that Wally's missing finger seems to have limited him in some way, that now he's constrained by the Chains of Khra, implying that before Albrecht, he was not. Now I'm going to rewind waaay back to the topic of Wally being Albrecht's fear made manifest, and us defeating Wally by showing him love, not violence. Because... I don't think our love is enough to fix things on its own. It isn't us who needs to show him love and understanding. I think it has to be Albrecht.

The syndicate's plotline exploring a group of animals who had consciousness forced upon them, suddenly and violently and without consent, the difficulties they face grappling with it--I think that might echo the origin of the Man in the Wall. Consciousness being forced on not an animal, but the Void. You know the quote, "We are the Universe learning about itself?" Maybe in this case, the universe had a very shitty teacher.

And imagine this consciousness being thrust into the Void, taking form within it as an out-of-control chemical reaction, how might it attempt to communicate with Albrecht, with the first 'other' it ever encountered? Perhaps mirroring his form, speaking in his voice, using an endearing and personal term from his childhood: "Little Bengel?" What if, for those brief seconds, The Man in the Wall was not actively malicious? What if he was reaching towards Albrecht not seeking to trap him in a predatory "deal," but out of a sincere desire for connection? How would if feel then, to have your outstretched hand met with fear, disgust--a rejection so violent that your very fingers are severed by him slamming shut the door, an injury that leaves you weakened. A missing part of yourself, and nothing on your side of the wall to fill that hole with. Well it would make you a little bit bitter, I assume. And if those fingers are then used to perform miracles of science, to serve as the foundation for the triumph of an entire empire... you might feel a bit like you're owed. That bitterness may be compounded by the hypocrisy of it all, because all that you showed Albrecht was his own reflection. You might start to fixate on that hypocrisy, on those human flaws, on the parts of him that he didn't want to see. The reflection that he ran from, but further warped to emphasize what he tries to ignore. His shadow self. And so you haunt him with his shadow, because you want him to be forced to see. To acknowledge those parts of him he wishes he wasn't, but you're everything: you know. You won't let him ignore you, to deny you. You are now a jealous, bitter thing. A hungry ghost. You shove these flaws and bits of self-hatred back in his face because you want to make him look at them. To look in the mirror. ....To look at you. To acknowledge you exist. To see you as a thinking, feeling being. And I do think our Tenno are capable of this. To see the Man in the Wall not as "The Other," but as Another. The opposite of Indifference. I think that will be an important part of our story. But our story is not all of the story. It was not just any memory of love that drove back the Indifference, it was Albrecht's love. Unfortunately, I don't think Albrecht as we know him is capable of this, at least not as he is. He speaks of Wally as a malicious force, a cosmic evil that must be fought and only he is brilliant enough to figure out how. Even now, he refers to his reflection only with terms of disgust and shame. For all his monologues about guilt and his grand designs of martyrdom... he still thinks only in terms of himself. He thinks he understands his own guilt, and Wally delights in demonstrating all the ways that he does not. "If I must be a demon, may I be an honest one." That statement is, itself, dishonest. Albrecht is not a demon. He is human.

And that's what he's so deeply, violently afraid of admitting, the fear the entire Orokin civilization built itself on top of as foundation. I believe that is the fear that manifested in The Man in the Wall. And THAT is the kind of cosmic horror I want to see, while also feeling very Warframe. Crossing my fingers we get something closer to this and not just Albrecht accidentally (or purposely?) becoming an evil quantum demon. There's actually like. A whole other section to this I was going to yammer on about but it's now 4:30 AM and whooopppsssssssss

#well having something to focus on does help anxiety brain so #wild and presumptuous speculation that probably only seems clever to me because of sleep deprivation #giant text wall. man in the text... wall. sorry #sorry for all of this #warframe spoilers #[the man in the wall] #[loreframe predictions]

[raayllum]

I know you like to analyze thematically in TDP a lot and you write top down the same way, so I’m curious, what are some of the themes/motifs in your upcoming novels? and do any of them coincide with TDP?

(GASP you get a gold star oh my god thank you!! and i will try to not make this too Long but i'm very excited!!)

Basic premise for ppl who have never heard of my novels before:

Latest generation of a reincarnated group of chosen ones have to grow up in a world of increasing violence and political instability that they're supposed to fix while also facing their own choices and demons. The main character, Ally, starts off as an 'unchosen one' — she lost her powers as a young child and has been trying to get them back, which kinda makes her resent her chosen one friends just as much as she loves them. The other two co-leads are her twin sister, a former child soldier with death powers she doesn't want, and her friend / one sided rival, a draconic-powered prodigy looking for redemption and to escape her past.

The funny thing is that when I was writing out my series (2014-2017 has all the pieces we currently have, though things have ofc been finessed since then) only ATLA existed as an inspiration point, which was, "How do you always know the Avatar is going to be a good person (and what if you didn't? What if they weren't)?" + "what if there was more than one running around?"

The rest was all from my head. There's a mystical magical heart broken into pieces. A continent divided in two with a long history of war. Characters anchored to the idea of Autonomy who then go through a loss of powers arc (hi Callum s2) and then brainwashing/possession arc (hi arc 2 Callum) that was probably by far the funniest coincidence. Circles and cycles and children and choices. The fact that these all just also found their way into TDP shows just how much it feels like the show was Made For Me in the best way creatively, and one of the reasons I think I've found TDP so personally rewarding to analyze—happy coincidences all around.

There's other coming-of-age themes of course that are shared between the two—grief, identity, friendship—but being prose I get to lean more into religious and political worldbuilding in much more detail.

I think my novel(s) are also more grey and angsty (especially later on) than TDP was at the start, too. A good chunk of my protagonists don't have any moral reservations about assassinations or killing/torturing people push come to shove while also still wanting and trying to be Good People, but that just makes the ethical dilemmas more interesting to explore. That said, everything is ultimately more Hopepunk, I just prefer to never pull punches on the way there

Motifs I like to use:

a tarot inspired in-universe version of chess for foreshadowing purposes

stage motif (who are you when you're performing for everyone around you / constantly fronting?)

birds / ravens

wolves

knives

eyes / the ouroboros (snake eating its own tail)

Themes: gods vs monsters (vs humanity), complex family and friend dynamics, living vs survival, grief and cycles, loss of sense of self, idolization and scapegoating as two sides of dehumanization, etc.

I also wanted to have unique power sets (Moon is one of my favourites with leaning into shadow magic and being able to make things temporarily out of moonlight, or Life not just being all fuzzy plants and animals and showing more of the well, brutality of being alive).

People have said my main protag is basically if Claudia and Rayla were the same person and yeah that's a fair assessment, Unfortunately for her.

I feel like I blabbed enough here but if you want more info on writing things from a top-down approach / what it's like to build from theme first I'd love to talk about it more in relation to TDP (and also my books, mayhaps!)

#thanks for asking #my books #wishonacomet #me getting to talk about infrans!!! #also like. building plot and book questions from theme #hand in hand with building character and characterization from theme. i love you so #it's basically like if pjo and soc met #or atla + tdp and just. more swearing

[bapple117]

Some RadioCotton Trivia 📻🐰❤️

Now that my first fic "If You Can't Say Somethin' Nice, Don't Say Nothin' At All" is finished, I thought I would share some behind-the-scenes trivia!

Some of this will contain minor spoilers for the plot, so read with caution if you've not finished the story - there will be no spoilers for part two (All That Grace). Okay let's go! This list is LONG so hold on y'all

The Bambi Thing

The name is a direct quote from Bambi; there's actually a LOT of Bambi references in the whole fic. The quote was actually the entire inspiration for the whole premise. Bambi is one of my favourite Disney movies and I couldn't help but notice a lot of shared themes between it and Alastor - and then I thought, what if a cute, wholesome rabbit demon came to Hell and taught him to be sweeter?

There's another direct script lift from Bambi later in the fic - when Alastor has the dream about his mother. 'Mother? MOTHER? Mother where are you?' Oh the pain.

Adam also calls Alastor "Bambi" and Verity "Thumper" at points, AND one of the chapters is called "Drip Drip Drop Little April Showers". The themes of them being a deer and a rabbit also crop up a lot, obviously.

The Music Thing

There are a LOT of references to songs, both when I put lyrics at the start of chapters and within the story itself. I am aggressively inspired by music and song lyrics, and have immensely eclectic taste, and can't help myself. Some songs would be the thematic influence for a chapter and I would literally listen to the song on repeat as I either planned or wrote the chapter. Something I'm still doing now while I write Bluest Monday!

At one point I spent about an hour trying to find the name of a music scale just so I could accurately describe it when Alastor and Verity play the piano. I am very meticulous with my research, I was determined to find it 😂

The Alastor Thing

The way I chose to write Alastor was influenced by a number of things. One, that "What just happened? Ffffffuck" line from the finale of Season 1 did a LOT of heavy lifting for me. It showed that he has a version of himself that's less guarded and raw - and I don't care what anyone says, it's NOT because his staff broke. He goes right back to the filter and accent immediately afterwards and the staff is still broken, so.

Two, I just really wanted to write him as someone that uses violence and a covered-up personalty as a coping mechanism for grief, which I don't think is too far from the canon. His eventual softening and ability to love was influenced by things like Mr Darcy, Kylo Ren (LOL), Astarion from BG3, etc etc. Traumatised bad boy is healed by the sunshine girl - we love to see it.

I also did a LOT of research on the canonical information thus far known about Alastor, including things Viv has said in streams. The only thing I got dead wrong was a chapter where he drinks tea - apparently he hates it. Everything else is either based on canon or a speculation based on lore that's been teased.

Other Random Facts

I chose to include Adam as a fleshed out character for a few reasons. One, he's hella fun to write. Two, I had the Vox-jealous-kidnap-and-rescue planned since the start, and I knew I needed a character who could help them. Adam is unknown to the Vees as a hotel resident at that point, and so he became a great choice. I needed to lay the ground work so it would be convincing that he'd help them, so he's there from the start. I ended up loving him so much that he's now one of the main characters in the sequel and is getting his own development arc. Go Adam!

Adam also breaks the fourth wall in the show (Ugly people? *looks at camera*) and so I felt inspired to make him quippy with pop culture references a la Deadpool. It was great fun and very helpful when I wanted to squeeze in a fitting reference.

There is a LOT of foreshadowing and wordplay in the fic. A LOT, so much I don't have time to list it all. For example, Verity drunkenly talks (in Chap 4) about how deer are territorial momma's boys - if that ain't Alastor idk what is. That info becomes very important in Chap 21.

There are references to stuff from Helluva Boss; Fizzerolli Cola, a Verosika music video plays, etc. A sign of more to come in P2 👀

Dramatic irony (where the audience knows something the character doesn't and it's either funny or tragic) is my absolute FAVOURITE Shakespearian trope, and I use it all the time.

I made myself laugh a lot coming up with the names for fake booze LOL

Husk was one of my favourite characters to write, as well as Alastor (ofc), Rosie and Adam.

My personal favourite chapters are 13 (Al drunk with Rosie) 19 (dream scene, fluff & first smut) and 23 (final chapter). I loved the image of Alastor laughing into his drink like a normal young man being silly and chapter 19 has a bit of everything - angst, fluff, smut, comedy. I loved writing that one so much.

The scene where Verity uses Alastor's power to manifest them away from the group cheekily and then Alastor likes it a lot and goes crazy kissing her is very inspired by this scene in Titanic (one of my all time fave movies) - especially where Rose swears and laughs as the lift is going up.

I myself have lost a parent, so I understand that loss very well. I poured a lot of that feeling into this fic, it was something I could actually inject into the story from my own experience.

I'm pretty sure we got the comments turned off on a video on youtube LOL. I linked this song at the end of Chap 19 (I listened to it on repeat while writing the love scene) and the next day the comments were disabled LMAO. That track will ALWAYS remind me of this fic now, arugh my heart

Verity

As much as Verity started as just a way for me to avoid using (Y/N) in a reader-insert fic (something I personally don't like) and a way for me to do the rabbit and deer theme, she became her own character over the course of the story. I made it reader-insert cause I figured no one would read it otherwise, but now the sequel is third person bc she's her own person.

Her name was also a deliberate choice - a V name meaning truth. She makes Alastor face his truth, yadda yadda blah blah blah you get it you get it 😂 Plus it just sounds like a rabbit name doesn't it?

Verity has a lot of traits from myself, but she is NOT self-insert for me, I'd hasten to add. I'm not completely delulu guys okay? ....Not entirely But she does have a lot of overlap with myself. You gotta write what you know, after all. I won't go into detail about the similarities between us - some of them are obvious, I think. But I'll leave that all ambiguous, more fun that way :)

Final Thoughts

There are honestly so many more things I could say but this is already veering into narcissistic self-indulgence land LOL so I feel compelled to stop here, but if anyone has any questions or things they'd like to know, pop them in my inbox!

That's all, folks!

#bapple chats #bapple writes #radiocotton #trivia #q&a #verity #If you can't say somethin' nice don't say nothin' at all #hazbin hotel fanfiction #hazbin hotel #hazbin fanfic #alastor #hazbin alastor #writer stuff #behind the scenes

[artbyblastweave]

So there’s this thing in superhero stories where (due to the anthropic principle) all the superheroes have useful and combat-viable powers. Otherwise the story would be boring. A lot of post-modern cape things try to justify this high level of uniform competence and power by advancing the practical (but really boring!) idea that there’s a wider bell-curve of superhuman power within the setting, where the principle cast is near the top, and that the vast majority of superpowered people just have incredibly weak, dumb or even self-destructive powers. BNHA, X-Men, Wild Cards, and The Boys all play with this to a degree. It is often framed as a “realistic” take on powers, although what’s actually happening is that it just maps to the familiar real-world idea of talent being on a curve. Superpowers work any goddamn way the writer wants them to.

Now, sometimes it works with the narrative. For X-Men, the idea that the vast majority of mutants are essentially people with weird skin conditions or chronic medical conditions or whatever, carries an enormous amount of water for the “oppressed minority” metaphor. And in The Boys, the fact that a ton of people who take watered-down compound V wind up with “powers” like an exploding head or eye beams that melt the users own eyes is thematically on point, because the whole goddamn series is about how corporations will throw countless people into a meat grinder in order to get a handful of shining idols they can market to hell and gone.

 But a lot of the time, the “useless power” trope and the “lol so random” power tropes are just kind of annoying for me. Like, if you’re infected with an alien virus that gives people superpowers, and you get the superpower to change the color of wallpaper, fuck you! Whatever gave you powers has a coherent understanding of the concepts of “color” and “wallpaper” and “change,” a better power was absolutely conceptually possible here! It feels, I dunno, contrarian, almost!

And now, as with so many of these posts, we come to something I love about Worm. Worm doesn’t do this! There are no useless powers. Every single Power is in some way viable in a fight! If a power doesn’t seem particularly useful, one of four things is going on. Either the power is explicitly broken (Oliver) the cape hasn’t figured out the intended expression of their power (Parian, Jack, Kid Win, Bakuda via Word of God ), the cape is sitting on an utterly terrifying intended expression of their power (Regent, Parian, Panacea, Crucible, Egg) or the power itself is more of a resource thrown into the mix to start a fight (Dinah, many many Tinkers and Thinkers.)

A super common trope with “Useless Powers” is the use finding some off-the-wall niche application, which lets the character with the useless power “cheat” and hit above their station by being really clever, thus Showing Them All. Which feels a little contrived when the “random” power is so specifically useless only by authorial fiat. Not a problem with Worm! In the handful of situations where the characters do  find that niche application, their ability to do so was baked into the setting’s cosmology, and their previous failure to do so reflects on their character and their mindset and is, like, actively additive (thinking of Kid Win here in particular.) Feels a lot less like the author is shadowboxing, I guess?

Edit: I miscited the Bakuda bit. Ignore that

#worm #wildbow #parahumans #the boys #X-men #wild cards #thoughts #meta #worm meta

[immediatebreakfast]

After months of guessing, horrors, nightmares, searching, a whole travel chase across countries, writing, writing, and transcribing... Dracula is dead.

THE GRAND GOTHIC ADVENTURE HAS ENDED.

My final thoughts about the ending:

It's incredible how the descriptions of the landscape, and the sky managed to construct the perfect high tension background for the final showdown between the crew of light, and Dracula. The blood red sun being the witness of the battle, and the murder of the man/monster who how long had seen it rise. And also being a reminder of how much time the crew had left to do the deed. The castle being bathed in red light after Dracula turned to dust, as if the sun itself was announcing that the evil who lived there is no more. And the way our crew of light doesn't get bathed in said sun as an allegory for victory, but instead they are greeted with the darkness of the night as to say, "It's finally over".

Did this ending needed that amount of slurs directed at a vulnerable group of people who are still dehumanized today? Absolutely not, in many ways these moments reminded us that the book is really old, and yet, racism against romani people is well alive. Stoker doesn't give us an explanation of why romani people are working for Dracula, and we don't even need it because said reason is probably a racial stereotype about them. At least, the battle was respectful enough to not throw more horrible shit at them, and the group made the right choice to simply leave after Dracula got turned into dust.

It was so good that the last entry was written by Mina. She started the compilation of the diaries, the letters, the journals, the phonograph, it feels correct that the person who started the novel Dracula got the final word in how to end it. Mina must feel so relieved to finally write again, to do what she does best, I bet the second she got her typewriter she immediately grabbed every single journal, and went wild with them. Would I have wanted that Mina was more active in the final showdown? Of course, she didn't even use the gun that they gave her, that is something that more adaptations should do, let her shoot Dracula, she was ready to join the battle. Yet, Mina and Van Helsing witnessing everything from the sidelines after spending such horrible night is more of less a little aceptable.

The little detail of the wolves leaving in the moment that Dracula dies was really nice. When Dracula was alive and well he commanded nature and its creatures to do his binding, to turn themselves into protection for him, and fear inducing instruments to use as he saw fit. So the wolves simply leaving after Dracula dies, not even bothering to attack the crew, is the signal that he is gone. The wolves, and nature can finally breathe now after who knows how long.

Oh Quincey... his death was something unexpected, and really sad. It never occured to me that someone from the crew would die, I wrongly thought that everyone would get out alive. If there was one person that would have died, I thought that it was maybe going to be Van Helsing since every older mentor in the book died. But... Quincey? The lovely, and brave Quincey? The man who went to shoot a bat in the middle of a conversation? That Quincey? If there is something that many gothic novels have is how there is no way to see who lives and who dies. It's not a topic of "who is more deserving to live or die", it's more of a "everyone is fair game", unless the protagonist can't die for thematic reasons, anyone can. I never thought it would be Quincey, this brave man who mostly spent doing things on the background, yet was always the first one to spring to action if it was needed. He died like he lived, at the end of the greatest adventure he could ever experience, and with not a single promise broken.

Did I liked the ambiguity of the end? Mmm, it is interesting to say, I'm not sure. On one hand, the smug smile that Dracula had when Jonathan and Quincey delivered the final blows is something to worry about. Even if Mina interpreted that smile as a peaceful expression of rest, we know better, we know that Dracula could have done something to ensure that he is not really dead, in the same way (I'm going to use it as an example) that in Phantom Blood the whole burning of the Joestar mansion and the brutal impaling didn't kill Dio for good. Maybe he turned into dust to distract the group, maybe Jonathan should have slashed his whole head off to ensure that he was really dead, who knows. ON THE OTHER HAND, Dracula is dead, he is dead, his crusty ass is dead, rest in pieces in hell you asshole, he is dead, there is nothing left, nada, nope, the bastard is dead, there is no more Dracula, the castle is avaliable for rent or buy if there is anyone interested, it's very spacious, and it has a great view of transylvania.

And Jonathan, our dear friend Jonathan Harker, the man who went to transylvania fresh from law school, and came back with his mind filled with horrors beyond human comprehension. What a carthatic moment was to kill the man who tortured him for months, who laughed at his despair and drank his blood, who left him to die at the hands of his ladies. Jonathan was the person who most suffered at the hands of Dracula and it is so good to see him risk all to finally end it for good, as revenge for what the Count did to Mina, to make sure that he cannot hurt anyone else anymore. Jonathan may not be an action hero, nor a gallant protagonist, but he is an amazing character, one that risked everything to save his beloved Mina from an eternity of loneliness.

Tomorrow we will see what comes after this adventure filled with terror and emotions. After the crew of light, with one less person, take the last train home. Goodbye to the captain and the crew of the Demeter, Mr. Swales, Mr. Hawkins, Mrs. Westenra, Lucy, Renfield, and Quincey. Your deaths were avenged. Also, goodnight to the vampire sisters too, even if they were sacrificed so Dracula couldn't have allies, at least they are now away from the claws of the Count.

And good luck to Jonathan and Mina Harker, may their holiest love continue to grow in the following years because they are alive now, and will enjoy every single moment as if it was the last.

It has been an honor to know every single character in The classic gothic novel.

#We still have the epilogue left tomorrow right? #It's not over yet #It's has been great time everyone #I will still reblog stuff about the book #Just because the book ended doesn't mean I'm going to stop #To the people who are going to read the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde see you there! #dracula daily

[captaindarkiplier]

Soooo how did your idea of dark being the captain started ? how different would his role be compared to the y/n captain in iswm ?

Alright... Let's get into it

Question 1: It actually started as a theory that I gradually believed more and more in a short span of time as everyone was consuming ISWM part 1, and when part 2 dropped, it both lead me on further, as well as disproved it. … (but really Markiplier's live stream on it disproved the theories for real) But that didn't really bum me out, because I had been ready from the start for it to not be true, so I just converted it to an AU, because I was projecting my own measure of story/characterization into it anyway.

Question 2: I don't have 1 answer for this! Either a complicated one, or one that enables any kind of headcanon… Answer A: The captain's choices and behavior doesn't change because we are sharing a body with Darkiplier('s parts) -- I just really like the idea of "What if we (D/A) stayed with Dark" and how that would be like a dramatized version of DID (of which I have! /info) of the "D/A" part (us) (…on top of likely forgetting the events of WKM due to AU stuff, but then remembering after gaining the multiverse abilities of the paradox…) forgetting or not knowing what Dark is doing in other timelines, (my favorite characterization idea of Cpt.Dark is that he's fronting in the routes where he throws Mark around or generally leads us to demise that might benefit him in the looooooong run- aka how he somehow canonically "finds" the paradox gem for the box at the post-credits) … while the Captain chooses to get along with Mark in other routes, doing something childish as sharing candy, which is much closer to my personal "D/A" characterization, not at all what Dark would be doing ahhaha

Answer B: If I wanted a timeline to occur differently from the "Canon" events of ISWM, to characterize Captain Darkiplier as separate from Canon Captain… well, Dark could just do about anything he wanted,

(from here onward is rambling, not relevant to the question!:)

… if he could .. If he somehow escaped the inevitability of the causality of meta-narrative events of what has and will occurred in ISWM via the writing of Market Plier- lol Kind of like how Damien and Celine can't outrun their fate or Actor's bullshit as seen at the end of DAMIEN, which I think holds some thematic power or significance over the future events after the "seal" is broken on the multiverse stuff- aka everything After WKM. … Mark has said a lot in live streams but one thing that stuck with me is how he explained the "timeline" noting that moment when Dark picks up the staff , as the exact moment where the events of DAMIEN is condensed. IIRC. And then for this AU I kind of added more onto that- AHWM ISWM ADWM could have happened in a condensed fashion similarly… The glass breaking in the first video of ISWM, the ice breaking in DAMIEN twice… The lines Head Engineer speaks at the canon ending mirroring the lines spoken by Damien and Celine at the end of DAMIEN… It's as if it's like, a loop, or pocket, or spiral, some kind of non-linear shape… Whichever way it is, I guess the most important point is that it's non-linear. I like to call it wobbly time (a theme in my OC's as well) It's not essential to consume nor understand a story by understanding how its universe works. After all, we as people in real life don't know how our universe is shaped. Is it infinite, or does it loop? (Can you tell I'm a bit autistic about space?) But the desire to adventure and discover what's out there is sometimes commendable and a beautiful instinct of human life… other times, not so much. We could all learn from Head Engineer's mistake. But yea, Dark is powerful but not God of this Universe powerful… I think it'd be funny that if Dark tried everything in his power to defy the laws of the universe, once he finally got a hold on the time paradox that literally allows him to traverse the multiverse to find any timeline that gives him an upper hand on his #1 Enemy, when he travels to literally the ends of the universe, Mark (The Real Life Author) is like "no" so Dark has to go back to the main story line (or at least close to it, there's plenty of legroom for fanon things to occur around the "main timeline") Dark's like "ugh fine" and completes the ending of ISWM like it's a videogame to gain back his agency splitting from D/A (You and your choices in the "videogame") again, and to get away from Head Engineer- even though he's one of the more tolerable Marks, I GUESS- (Frenemies trope x The Unlikely Friendship trope x Doomed trope, and some other dynamic or development that can't really be similarly labeled as a trope, which hopefully I will be able to share to everyone who will want to know about it) I also like to think that's why he's dangling the box in front of us in AHWM instead of actually using it for anything. He can use us to get what he wants quicker than by doing it alone. Using the anomaly gem in the box for his own needs a second time would not work nor worth the risk of ISWM 2.0

What I love about Markiplier's cinematic universe is that it involves both distortion of identity and distortion of time/space- anything and anyone can happen. I relate to it and my chaotic (and also very analytical and ""DeeP"") creative style is very compatible with it. :)

Thank you for the questions !! Feel free to ask as many questions as you like about what I said here if it didn't make sense, because damn it's compact. It could be explained better if paced out (or storytold?) instead of all dropped into one post heheh

#Sorry for my copious usage of () and * That's how this shit gets me #Right in the autisms of layered explanation #I like the convoluted multiverse of MarkCU because there's still a heart to it besides the convolution. Like EEAAO my Beloved!!! #-- also a note: I'm super busy rn but when I'm on breaks I can go to answer these asks so they are still VERY encouraged if you'd like to. #asks #taikeero-lecoredier #darkhenge #<-- name of the cptdark AU btw #long post #darkiplier #head engineer #ISWM #ISWM AU #text

[hatboyproject]

First, you are a legend. Second, I have finally broken down and started playing thru the ME trilogy thanks to (a) my ability to take a sabbatical, and (b) a friend buying me the legendary edition, and (c) threats of violence from my loved ones should I not play it. I've finished ME2 and I am 100% not booting up ME3 if there's snowball's chance in hell that the LE version of your mod is dropping any time soon.

*sings* you're not our bitch and you're not a machine * I'm a fic writer, I expect nothing. And I know this stuff takes forever and I 1000% expect the answer to be 'no' but the only thing I am inquiring is whether there is an updated ETA for your mod. OR if you have need for a legendary edition beta tester. OR if I can send you cash money to help offset the time being spent on a labor of love. OR if I should say -f- it and get my hands on the original edition of ME3 so the hatboy mod you've already (gloriously) provided us, works.

Also thank you for giving me hope that I will get to play a Shoker option, which makes the most sense thematically and narratively and I am aghast at what bioware chose to do with Joker (and EDI, wtf). You're doing god's work.

Just this week, I got some of the updated synths I've been waiting for, but I'm still waiting on BroShep.

I am still working on HBLE, don't you worry! In between writing fic myself, doing a painting, and a playthrough of ME3 to refamiliarise myself with its pacing, I have been going in and putting some necessary setup stuff in place, which is all very boring and un-exciting and not really showcase-able. Big chunks of the structure have been built, but most of the audio work has to be done, still.

In the OT, a lot of work had been done before I had the ability to read a line to the synth myself and have it transpose the voice directly, which noticeably improves delivery. So much so that it is difficult to use a lot of the previous edition's takes. This has the knock-on effect of the line needing to be re-animated because, of course, the timings of everything are now different with the new audio. There are very few lines whose takes will not be re-done.

Fortunately, however, I have my lipsync automation tools, and I'm much better at animating now than when I started. So it takes a lot less time this go-around... but still time!

Sadly and wonderfully, this is a massive mod and is much more than just a straight port. If it was a straight port, it'd have been done already. I would apologise for that, but I like to think the end result will be worth it, haha!

I am adding new content this time, including an entire conversation about his sister that you can unlock by completing some vanilla dialogues.

I am so glad that you've been enjoying your time with Mass Effect and that my mod is on your list of things to do. In what I am sure is the most shocking statement of the century, I agree that Joker is the most thematically satisfying romance for Shepard. I can't wait to get it to you! I promise, I am doing my best and there's nobody who wants it in your hands more than me.

Regarding testing, it's not quite in a state where it can be tested just yet. A few conversations work (first convo, EDI body convo, EDI discussion, some ambients) but nothing else yet.

Regarding supporting me, I do have a Ko-Fi. You can find a link to it in the pinned post, and donations absolutely do help my creative efforts, and I go a little feral when I see someone has donated. But as always, I want to make it clear; The Hatboy Project is free and will never be gated in any way. Everyone gets the same release at the same time. All you have to do is own a legit copy of the game... Which you already do!

Excitement like yours helps keep me going. Thank you so much.

Edit: lmao my link is not in my pinned post lol rofl it's hatboyproject.ko-fi.com tho

#shoker mod #hatboyproject #shoker #mass effect mods #private terminal mail

[voxiiferous]

**| Interesting revelations of the evening!

I’m not certain Vox has ever actually fired a gun. He’s certainly never owned one. Most of the time if he needs to cause pain his just sort of… goes zappy on them. Flesh doesn’t take kindly to massive amounts of electricity!

Hah! Now that I have drawn you in with fun hc there’s the more serious examination of themes. A consequence of when I started writing Vox is the fact that I could not turn off the university part of my brain that’s just like “if you were to write an essay for him what are the themes you would focus on? What DEFINES him???” And the answer was performance, because clearly right? He’s TV man.

And this had the unintentional side effect of earning him the “not as bad a person as you could have been” award because if he was a really bad boss, and I leaned more into the corrupt businessman aspects of him, then that core theme would have been less performance and more consumerism and capitalism. Which I decided was not thematically relevant and would have just detracted from the overall character I wanted to write.

If I had to pick his main three vibes it’s: performance in big bold letters (more on that in a sec), modernization (not capitalism or consumerism, but specifically that transition of technology and opinion), and a very sci-fi concern of what is a human? Is he still?

but but but going back to the performance. It’s so key to how I write him. Like there’s the literal performance aspect on screen, but it’s more than that. As Vincent he performs a veneer of, if not heterosexuality, than at least… not queerness. But otherwise he’s still very much him. Sure his charm was taught, but he made it a part of himself, it’s not a performance anymore, he has things he enjoys and doesn’t, and is, more or less, honest in that. Vox is… not that. It’s why in the 1946!Vincent content, the fun is forcing Vox to acknowledge himself. He has to step beyond the performance, he has to see backstage essentially. He has to be vulnerable.

And vulnerability is something that cannot exist in the Overlord Vox persona, which he is constantly inhabiting. But at the same time that’s not who he actually is, but it’s who he’s performing as, even to himself. He’s always on this knife’s edge of self reflection and juuust missing the point, because if he goes to close to the truth, the masquerade falls apart.

There’s this line from the song All for Believing by Missy Higgins that’s great here, and it’s “But I see you painted your soul into your guard”, and it’s super true for Vox. Overlord Vox is the face of every new product, he derides the old as outdated, he’s ruthless, and powerful and confident. Nothing gets under the skin of Overlord Vox, not even a broken screen, see him laughing in Voxtagram? Laugh with him. It keeps him safe, it’s the image that’s given him power and control and the successful end result to all the ambition that is still a core part of him.

Vox however??? Vox is a bit of romantic, and he loves swing music, and black and white game shows, he’s an insomniac and a bit of nerd. It’s not that Overlord Vox isn’t him, because like the lyrics says, it’s been painted into. Overlord Vox is the strongest parts of himself people take seriously and made into a living, breathing part of himself. It’s a shield and a half truth.

Money does play a role, but it’s a tertiary one at best. He has more money than God, he owns everything under the sun, great, great, it plays the role it needs to and is otherwise vague. What is he doing with his money??? Uhh, I don’t know, who cares?

The modernization works in with the performance, though that’s another post of its own. So please enjoy this somewhat rambling roundabout examination of why my Vox is, all things considered, not that bad a dude. It’s about the pretentious English major themes, and that being the least interesting thing to explore for me. (Just see his playlist, it’s basically all “look at me, look at me, look at what I’m showing you, don’t look over there behind the scenes).

#*personnel file (hc) #*no signal (ooc) #*cathode rays and rock and roll (vincent price) #I barley even know that this is #is it a hc? A meta??? Incoherent??? #shoutout to my class this morning and the direct thought process of: #that would be a fun theme for him! Wait no #that would require breaking the he’s a fine boss hc #well why would that be an issue? #because it’s not Right^tm it’s about the performance #Queue the lightbulb moment of THEMATIC RELEVANCE! #I love Vox he’s a perfect disaster #the embodiment of the performance goes off without a hitch #but if you look behind the curtain the costume closet is in shambles #the props are scattered all around #there’s an actor frantically reading lines in the corner #the moment you look at him for more than 5 minutes the whole illusion falls apart #Expect more in this vein to come! #probably a giant tag ramble in a post for the Gladiator by Jann song #which is GREAT for him #And sort of touches on a lot of the themes mentioned here

[staringdownabarrel]

So I just saw Spaceman. It's just really good science fiction: it's thought provoking and relevant to current social issues.

I think it's also like the anti-Adam Sandler movie in some ways, despite having him in it. In a lot of his other movies, especially his early ones from the '90s, there was this thing where the leading woman would end up falling in love with him despite his character being a loser and her character having her shit together. The alternative was that she'd reject him in some way, but have a comeuppance at the end.

This wasn't really the case here. While not as much of a loser as in some of his other movies, Adam Sandler's character in Spaceman was still a loser. Like, he had this wife that he coveted, who was clearly into him, but in a lot of ways, he barely knew her. When he was in space, he wanted nothing but her; when he was on Earth, he couldn't wait to be gone again.

It also wasn't a given that Lenka would stay with Jakub at the end. She could have left. She wanted to leave. Even at the end, after his personal growth, it was an open question if she actually would leave or if she'd give their marriage one last try.

When I say that Spaceman is relevant to current social issues, this is exactly what I mean. There are so many men going around today that are just like Jakub. They have all kinds of trauma they haven't dealt with and are refusing to look at, and they spend their entire lives finding new and interesting ways to run from it. Relationship after relationship fails, and they never quite seem to pick up that they're the problem.

The thought provoking angle comes from how Jakub comes to acknowledge that he needs to start dealing with his trauma, though. While on his mission to this mysterious cloud in the solar system, he finds that this spider-like alien is also onboard. The spider, Hanus, ends up becoming his therapist.

I'm sure most people reading this will have seen that post where it's the screenshot of the Antarctica base website where it says, "Antarctica is not the answer." In a lot of ways, Spaceman is the movie version of that post. Jakub was clearly doing this kind of thing over and over, looking for the resolution to his trauma out in the void the same way an alcoholic might look for it at the bottom of a bottle, and wondering why it never came.

But also, because this is the one time Hanus was there, it also becomes the inverse of that as well. As much as this pattern was clearly destructive for him on a personal level, a kind of unintentional self harm, it also ended up being what saved him. He needed someone to be there and say, "Hey, you need to deal with this, and one way or another, you will deal with it."

It also clearly had to happen in this exact way to some extent. One of the people working for the space agency on Earth offered him the chance to speak to a psychiatrist over the radio, but he declined. So while Jakub was the kind of person who would have benefited from some level of professional help, he also wasn't going to accept that. His ego wouldn't allow it.

This is an aspect that I think is very true to life. There's a lot of people who are kind of like this, where they clearly need some kind of professional help, but they won't accept it until some very specific circumstances have been met.

Depending on what kind of cult following this movie gets in the long term, I think this could end up being the "Was Deckard a replicant?" point for Spaceman. I think Hanus was very clearly a figment of Jakub's imagination brought on by social isolation and a lack of sleep. The movie was also very clear about the ship starting to break apart, so the broken toilet that was keeping him awake and driving him mad was clearly literally driving him mad.

Ordinarily, this kind of thing where there is some level of interpretation available as to whether the thing is real or fake annoys me. Usually it seems like there isn't really any thematic reason why that ambiguity has to be there. Here, it makes sense though. While Hanus was likely a figment of Jakub's imagination, the ambiguity is necessary--if there was an explicit denial of his existence in the plot, he would have been sent to a padded room and that'd be that. With the ambiguity, although small, it allows for the statement to actually be that it doesn't really matter if Hanus wasn't real. What mattered is that he was there when Jakub needed him.

This aspect also ties into what COVID lockdowns ended up doing to a lot of people. It wasn't really to this extreme, but a lot of people did end up going a little bit mad during lockdown isolation.

I don't think Spaceman was necessarily the deepest movie ever made, but I think it is a lot better than most people are giving it credit for. There's a lot happening here, and I think it lands more often than it doesn't.

#spaceman #rant

[sadsongsandstories]

Somewhere that's beautiful

Okay so upon further consideration, Heather's essentially is little shop of horrors

Thematically, narratively (almost), characterly

They are both stories about a broken cruel world, which gives birth to an equally broken being, who leads the protagonist down a dark path of killing, using promises of love and power which they previously lacked. The killings start inane, the audience is on board with it. The first is practically an accident, it's a murder by omission where the victim really did it to themselves. Besides, this first kill is an evil wicked person, who had previously been set up as a villain, so we're okay with it. The protagonist has to cover up the killing of course, but what the are they meant to do? It's a greasy little nobody who has suddenly been gifted fame and power like that would have never imagined before. They finally have the good fortune they wished for, and they sure as hell aren't going to give it up now. So they ignore the villains opening song, dripping with red flags, and go along for the ride. The second killing is a little more intentional (they differ a little here) and to an equally unlikeable victim. They bullied, abused and took advantage of the hero (sexuality assaulted in one case), so you're what, they had it coming

It's then that things start to get out of control. With more killings comes more power and the hunger only grows. The protagonist is faced with their greatest dilemma: to let go of this life they have been gifted or continue to do messy nasty awful evil things. The final straw comes when their loved one is threatened (and yes Martha Dunstock is Veronica's true love, fight me). Now they are resolute: this has gone far enough and it is time to destroy the monster they created.

Here's where our stories differ. On one hand we have the destruction of evil and on the other we have the crumbling of good. In both cases it comes down to a physical battle with a gun, and a world hanging in the balance. The difference really comes down to the hero, the villain and the relationship therein. Veronica is strong, and has gained only courage over the course of the story. Where she was once a victim of her world, now she has control, and is determined to fight to fix all that is wrong, both with the defeat of JD and the culture that has persisted and worsened. The audience is left with hope and the loves are reunited.

Seymour is not strong. He is cowardly and insecure and lacks the drive to change anything about his world. His fight comes far too late, and so he is consumed by his own creation. Another major difference is that Audry 2 is a symbolic representation of capitalism, which cannot in fact, be stopped or changed by a single individual. The final song, and the musical in its entirety, is a warning to the audience, a cautionary tale of greed and desire and the promises of material wealth. JD, meanwhile, symbolises the toxicity in schools and childhood trauma, which, while it can't be fixed, can certainly be alleviated by a single individual, assuming they become the best that they can be and stand for what is right (ehem the og meangirls movie).

The other key factor in the ending is the relationship with the villain itself. In little shop, Seymour is little more than a puppet playing into the hand of the devil. He signs the deals, does the dirty work and obeys his master to his own demise. Heather's, meanwhile, shows a more sinister parasitic relationship, where veronica enables and empowers JD's psychopathy in return for his love and protection. She holds some power, and so it is only a matter of her will and drive to use that power for good rather than evil. JD is also a much more sympathetic villain. Audry 2 is not meant to be redeemed, while JD, (killing people is wrong, don't do it) is a result of a heavily traumatic childhood and a society that abandons him and treats him like trash. Veronica tells him to "say hi to God" which, while being an utterly badass line, also indicates that, on some level, she understands and possibly even forgives him. Could be looking into it too much, but it's her final words to her own worst nightmare, so I feel like there's something there.

Seymour's last act is the try and hack his monster to bits from the inside, so clearly he doesn't think for a moment Audrey 2 is going to heaven.

Now, none of this is to say that the creators of Heather's the musical (assuming it came second) copied or even emulated the plot of little shop of horrors. It bears a striking resemblance, but that's not unexpected when two stories have the same goal, to make a killer appear moral until the end and then force the protagonist to face a demon of their own creation, and the same musical form to achieve said goal. Besides, each was based off of a movie (and in the case of little shop, a play before that?) and I have no idea which of those came first. I think it's amazing that both of these shows exist, they're two of my favourite musicals, and each have such bangers and hilarious moments in their own rights. Dead girl walking reprise it top five musical songs of all time, I will fight you on this!!

Also, as I mentioned before, their contexts and messaging are totally different. In one camp we have, highschool is messed up, teenagers are mean and traumatised and our society breeds toxicity and normalises horrific behaviour such that school shooters and the like can be created. And on the other we have plant capitalism metaphor, plopped into the middle of an impoverished and broken world, the perfect place to promise material wealth and weasel into the souls of otherwise moral people. In both cases, Audry 1 and Martha symbolise the innocent soul trapped in the balance, the kind too good for a world so cruel. That's all there is really, the hero, the villain, the semi-villains who get killed along the way, and the side characters/chorus who tell the story. The other two Heather's provide some additional dynamics, but otherwise, the cast is effectively identical. And it's the killing (or not) of the innocent that spells out the potential for redemption in the end. Once the innocent is dead, there is no hope left for the hero. And Martha tries too, but luckily is unsuccessful. Audry is not so lucky.

I think the lesson in all of this, and I am truly sorry for the essay, thanks if you actually stuck around this long, is to never let sudden goodness in your own life blind you to the ramifications of such fortune. It's easy to end up lost in the swelling of fame and power, but it is the nature of such growth that it is never and will never be enough. If you want to make the world a better place, it can never come through destruction and death, but rather creation and kindness, opening up to others and working together to create something beautiful.

Don't feed the plants and hold on to what is beautiful, and you might just find a way out of here. Or at least a way to make here a whole lot better.

#little shop of horrors #heathers #musicals #seymour krelborn #veronica sawyer #audry 2 #don't feed the plants