#and not ''you can interpret this game as art because it's not inherently art and needs to be interpreted that way by you''

[seek--rest]

👋

I've seen your challengers takes and I've found them very interesting. What do you think of this take about Patrick being the only one that knows the real Tashi or can see through her skin?,that he treated her as a real person and a peer,that he doesn't let her to control him and she could be her true self with him and that is why she is infuriated but still attracted to him. Sometimes I find those takes about "real Tashi" a little reductive of Tashi as a character but I don't know to explain it.

I really don’t fuck with this theory tbh. It is very reductive and to me, seems to center “Tashi analysis” from a very Patrick-centered lens. Like I talked about before when it comes to interrogating Tashi’s behavior and what it is that she does vs what others thinks she does, I think that this is just a very basic, simplistic interpretation of what these characters are.

“Patrick told Tashi who she really is and that’s why she dislikes him” sure, Patrick seems to believe that but just because Patrick says doesn’t actually mean that it’s true. Patrick also seems to believe that he’s just as capable of winning a grand slam with Tashi’s coaching— now at 31 years old and ranked somewhere in the 200s— seeing himself as the better player over Art who has already fucking won these games. Art is objectively the better tennis player in actual reality but according to Patrick, he still sees Art as lesser and that any gains Art’s gotten to be solely because of Tashi and her coaching.

Which, before some Patrick defender comes swinging, I don’t think it’s inaccurate to say Art got better because of Tashi. I think that’s the Actual Text. But much like these characters, multiple things can be true at once. Art did get better with Tashi’s coaching, but that doesn’t mean that Patrick will at this point in his career— or the assumptions that Patrick is inherently a better player because he’s still riding on his latent talent as a teenager as a man in his 30s

Patrick sees Tashi through his lens and while he might not be wholly wrong— I refuse this universal fandom acceptance that he’s completely right, of who Tashi is and what she thinks of herself. It IS reductive and worse, it positions Tashi as an object even within so called fics and analysis meant to “center” her.

For once, I’d love if fandom would let Tashi be a person into her own ends rather than only seeing her through the frame of the man people want to fuck.

#seek speaks #challengers #challengers spoilers #tashi duncan #tashi donaldson #patrick zweig #art donaldson

[jonnywaistcoat]

Hi Jonny, if you don't mind I have a question about the TMA TTRPG! So I noticed that on the player's guide there's this guy, who my friends and I assumed is probably Jon. If it is him, is this a canon design, or more like some of the non-canon stuff that's in the merch?

So, I hope you don't mind if i use this ask to go a bit off on one. I'm not specifically dragging you (I'm actualy glad you asked, as I've thinking about posting on the topic), but all the discussion around the RPG art and how "official" or "canon" it might be is, to my mind, slightly silly.

First up, is it "official" art? I mean, yeah, its art for the officially licenced Magnus Archives RPG. This means Monte Cook Games have commissioned someone to do a beatiful illustration broadly based on some aspect, episode or character from the podcast and it goes in the book. But that's kinda all it means. "Official" is a legal distinction, not an artistic one. The fact that it's in an official product doesn't make it any less one artist's cool interpretation of a character that has only been vaguely described in audio.

Second, is it Jonathan Sims the Archivist? I mean, it's probably based on the idea of him, but it's certainly not set in stone. When we were first discussing art with MCG, we advised that character pictures be more vibes-based and not explicitly tied to specific people (ie. a portrait inspired by Tim wouldn't be captioned "This is Tim" and wouldn't be placed opposite a profile for Tim Stoker, archival assistant.) This was mainly because we wanted the artists to have plenty of freedom to interpret and not feel too tied down by the need to know everything about the podcast. But, to be frank, it was also because we know that there are a few fans out there that are kinda Not Chill about what they've personally decided these characters look like and can get a bit defensive over depictions that differ.

It strikes me as particularly strange to be having this discussion about art that's for a roleplying game book. Something that's explicitly and solely designed to give you the ability to play in your version of the Magnus universe. The idea that this is the thing where we'd for some reason try to immutably establish unchangable appearances for these characters would be pretty funny if some folks weren't taking it so seriously. Similarly ridiculous is the idea we could reasonably have said to MCG "We'd love for you to make a huge beautiful RPG book of our setting... Just make sure you don't depict any of the iconic characters or events from it!"

But... is it "canon"? Now, to my mind, this highlights a real weakness in a lot of fandom thinking around "canon", which is that it generally has no idea what to do with adaptations. All adaptation is interpretation, and relies on taking a work and letting new creatives (and sometimes the same ones) have a different take on it. Are the appearances of the Fellowship of the Ring in the LOTR movies "canon"? How much, if at all, does that matter? Neil Gaiman's book Neverwhere was originaly a 90s BBC series made with a budget of 50 pence; is anyone who makes fanart of Mr Croup that doesn't look like the actor Hywel Bennet breaking canon? What about the novel that describes the character differently? Or the officially licenced Neverwhere comic where he looks like neither of them? Which is his "canon appearance"?

Canon is an inherently messy concept, and while it is useful for a creative team trying to keep continuity and consistency within a creative work, for thinking about anything beyond that it tends to be more hinderance than help.

Anyway, all this is to say that the above picture and all the others in the RPG are exactly as canon as every other picture you've ever seen of the Archivist.

#sorry for the huge answer #been thinking about it a lot recently #and wanted to get my thoughts down

[esprei]

I just recently got into the submas Fandom and people kept telling me about Emmet x Volo being bad and toxic.

But when I looked into it, all I saw was your art of them and some. And it's not toxic at all??? What are people talking about?

You show them so nice and healthy wholesome together. It actually makes me interested in that ship.

Is that wrong of me? I just think your art of them is pretty neat.

Maybe more people should see how you show their relationship and stop not letting people have nice things.

hey there! first of all, welcome to the fandom! :D hopefully you'll have a great time! and I can do my best to explain this from my perspective at least. or... at least from what I've experienced/seen. (sorry, this will probably end up being long ;;) so to preface, it's not wrong of you at all to be interested in the ship! Emmet and Volo themselves have had zero interactions with each other in canon up to this point, so their interactions/relationship/etc are a blank slate, free real estate sandbox that's up to one's imagination and fanon interpretation. there's nothing inherently wrong about putting them together because they have no dialogue between them or anything that can be referenced as "this is how they would go together, this is how they would interact because it's been established that way in this game or piece of media". all we've got is their dialogue and individual personalities that we can glean from official sources (i.e. Pokemon Masters EX, the Pokemon Special manga and BW/BW2 for Emmet and Legends Arceus for Volo). really the only thing that "connects" Emmet and Volo is Ingo ending up in Hisui. and the reason I say this "connects" them is because a popular theory is that Ingo being sent to Hisui was a direct result of Volo having Giratina open the rift to try and drive Arceus out. but none of this is actually ever stated in canon, I believe. (also when I've seen some people talk before about this theory, there's basically this implication that Volo did it out of malicious intent, as if he knew he was going to bring Ingo specifically to Hisui by doing it and...? I'm so sorry, but no, I just cannot get behind this at all. Volo's sole purpose of getting Giratina to open up the rift was to drive Dialga and Palkia mad in order to bring Arceus from out of hiding - that's literally what he says in the game's dialogue.

I highly doubt that he had any idea as to who Ingo was at all before he met him at some point in Hisui for the first time). but yeah. i only bring this up because it's kinda what I think started the idea of Emmet and Volo interacting at all? maybe not exactly, I can't remember because it's been too long and I both don't remember and wasn't too directly involved when all of this started. but essentially Emmet and Volo even being considered interacting kinda revolved around this idea that Emmet is looking for Ingo, finds out that Volo was the reason for the rift that caused Ingo's disappearance, and that now leads me into the part of why I think the ship is seen as toxic. so. the main reason I'm pretty sure that people say that the ship is toxic is because of how much a lot of early art/works portrayed it (based on what I just explained above). and it's totally fair. because admittedly it did start out with some violent aspects and really just Emmet doing things I personally don't think he would ever do. for example, beating the crap out of Volo for being the reason Ingo disappeared. Emmet being violent in order to demand answers for the sake of getting his brother back. etc, etc. and this really put a bad taste in people's mouths because it really just cast Emmet in a bad light. that, and it was a toxic, unhealthy portrayal of an enemies to lovers trope. and Volo was kinda portrayed as conniving/sneaky/manipulative/etc, and yeah. just things like that I think made popular for it ended up giving the pair a bad rep early on when Legends Arceus was still a popular topic (we're talking like... I dunno. late March into April and on of 2022? ...2022 was when PLA came out right?) honestly though? the beauty about a ship like this is that, as i said before, it's a completely blank slate. it's free real estate. you can portray it however you see fit because there's absolutely zero canon to base it off of (as far as the two characters themselves interacting with each other goes). it can be as wholesome as you want it to be. or it can be enemies to lovers. it can be rivals to lovers. it can be just two guys who happen to meet on the Battle Subway or in Gear Station and connect through a shared love of Pokemon/battling and develop a relationship that way. just because the ship itself maybe had the majority of its portrayal in the beginning as unhealthy doesn't mean it's forever bad, toxic and all around unsalvageable at this point. and while I certainly don't expect anyone who's perhaps uncomfortable or otherwise turned off from the ship because of its roots to suddenly turn around one day and warm up to it because it has potential to be portrayed in a wholesome or positive way, I also don't think it's very fair to blanket label the whole ship bad and toxic just for the fact alone that a lot of the early works for it were depicting a not-so-healthy relationship between the two. i mean that was like... two years ago at this point. things can change. anyway, this is getting long like I knew it would so I'll stop there XD I hope this at least maybe gives some context as to why the ship is seen that way by some? but at the end of the day there's no canon official way to portray it. it has potential to be healthy! and there's nothing wrong about being interested in it. that's just my two cents on it :D

and lastly, thank you so much! it really warms my heart to hear that you think my art of them is pretty neat! I really do want to draw more for them, just... you know. time and motivation 😅 but hopefully I can do something again for them soon!

#trainwreckshipping #submas #subway boss emmet #pokemon volo #anonymous #asks #i could say a lot more but i think this is more than enough lol

[winters-rose-daughterofcain]

Part 2 of Everlark and their parents lets go Peeta your turn now.

Now this one is harder. We know very little explicit information about Peeta's family so a lot of this will be inference and my own personal interpretation of the family and their dynamic based on what we do see, what we don't see, and the way Peeta acts, so if you disagree with me that's all good lol.

So first, Peeta grew up in an absuive household. That's not a debate that's explicitly canon. Him mother not only hits him, implied to be with something, but also calls him a worthless creature when he burns the bread for Katniss. No matter that circumstance that is not how you treat your eleven year old child, that is not how you treat any child period, and this clearly isn't a one off or first time. Even though we personally see very little of the abuse on page, I at least think its impact of Peeta is very clear.

This boy has abysmal self esteem, when he discovers Katniss and Haymich have hidden things from him again he feels as if they view him as weak and stupid and too dumb to get it, that's the automatic assumption even though we know that's so far from the truth it's laughable. But for a child that grew up being consistently insulted and belittled it's not that far of a jump to make.

His ability to lie, also I think is relevant here. That kind of ability with words doesn't come from nowhere, that doesn't just happen that's something practiced. A theme with Katniss and Peeta's talents throughout the trilogy is that even the things they are good at and that help them were born from necessity. Katniss is so good with a bow and practical survival skills because she had to be, because even though she grew to love hunting, she and her family would have died without it. Peeta's skill with art comes from working at the bakery it comes from years worth or practise and labor he put in as a child, and I think his ability to lie, manipulate, mask his true feelings and talk his way though things stems from a similar place. His mother is called 'the witch' colloquially, we see she clearly has a temper and resorts to violence and insults quickly. A lot of children who grow up in abuse grow to be very charming, they learn how to lie and manipulate the situation to get themselves out of trouble and to keep themselves and potentially their siblings safe. At least to me Peeta's unmatched ability to impact and morph a situation with just his words could very easily be linked back to his childhood. We all love that Peeta is such a good manipulator but only ever uses it for good, and I think this is partially why, because he doesn't even want to be necessarily, it was a skill born for survival. His mothers cruelty is also shown very much to not be reserved purely for him, she chases starving children away from their empty bins, speaks awfully about the seam and the people from it.

His father is a complicated man. he clearly dose have love for Peeta and is shown many times to be a kind man at his core. But he is passive. He may bring Katniss cookies and make generous trades, he may have been the one to impart that inherent kindness we see in him onto Peeta, and may have been the only safe adult in the house, but he is passive. We don't know the extent of how much he steps in when his wife starts acting out, but from what we can see of her effect of Peeta clearly not enough. He also doesn't come to live with him after the games, none of them do. And while I understand practically that might not be the most reasonable situation, a newly disabled, traumatised sixteen year old boy was still left to live alone. His family may have visited often, they still talk we see him going to dinner with them, but I think their lack of mention speaks more than anything else here.

The relationship between his parents was also not exactly the best model to grow up observing. When he is five years old his dad tells Peeta is was in love with another woman, he points out her child to him, explains how he lost her. There is no addendum of how much he loves his mother now, how it was in the past. Peeta grew up with parents he was acutely aware did not love each other and from what we see and here, don't even pretend to act like it.

Now how dose this relate to Katniss. This first part is more my own speculation so ignore me if you disagree, but Katniss in the first games mentions Peeta doing certain things with her she remembers her parents doing, and wondering where he learnt it from, thinking surely not his own parents. And I think she's right, I think he learnt it from hers. Peeta is observant, I think after his father pointed out Katniss and her mother he payed attention, not just to Katniss but to her parents as well. I think he was a little fascinated by this family, these parents who clearly adore each other these children with skin clear of bruises who have never been made to feel like nothing from there parents who clearly think the world of them. There was six years from when Peeta noticed her to Mr Everdeens death, that's six years for him to observe this family and their love. Not obsessively, not even knowingly, but I think it happened. I think the Everdeens weren't just Katniss's reference for a relationship but Peeta's as well. I don't think she was the only one drawing comparisons, even if he didn't completely realise what he was doing.

(Additional evidence for this pointed out by @intellectual-punk in Mockingjay Haymitch tells Katniss the doctors showed Peeta the propo of her singing The Hanging Tree and he recognized the song and Katniss says she doesn’t know how he could as he never heard her sing it. Haymitch says he remembers her father singing it as their fathers traded. Peeta hasn't heard this song since he was 11, he’s 17 at the time of remembering it. So for him to remembering it after so long after last hearing it and clearly not hearing it around the house we can imagine that her father must have sang it near every time the two men traded and that Peeta was either specifically listening to his singing as he knows from his father that that is how Mr Everdeen won over Mrs Everdeen or he was just generally paying attention to the man either on his own or in relation to Katniss.)*Found in notes {Thank you so much for this}

I also think, going back to people seeking out the familiar, that Katniss reminded him in certain ways of his father. They're both quiet, both people associated with providing food in one way or another. I think he see's her in the way that while they both clearly love him, they both struggle to show him, leaving him to question it for a long time. But where his father fails to protect him, Katniss doesn't. Katniss doesn't have his fathers passivity, far from it, Katniss Everdeen is anything but passive. She actively works to protect him and others, she speaks out loudly when she finds something wrong, she still has that kindness, but it never gets in the way of what's necessary.

This is also where I see his mother come in, I think he dose see some similarities there. In their tempter, in the sharp way they can use their words, in the way she underestimates him in the beginning and even hurts him on occasion, shoving him into the vase (I think?) and cutting his hands after the first interview. But in so many ways Katniss is the opposite. Peeta may have developed a crush because of her voice, but he falls in love because of the way she helps people, because he knows her intrinsically and intrinsically Katniss is someone who cares. He always comments on her healing ability, even if she finds it lacking it's clearly something he loves about her, hands that heal instead of hurt. His mother was cruel to everyone especially those less fortunate, meanwhile Katniss would give everything on her to those who need it more. He see's the similarities yes, and unconsciously that familiarity might be a small drive towards her, but ultimately he loves Katniss for the ways in which she is different from his mother, the ways in which his mother failed, for the ways in which she stepped in where his father fell short. As well as for a lot of other reasons of course, but I think his parents impact is definitely something to consider.

#peeta mellark #katniss everdeen #everlark #mr mellark #mrs mellark #the hunger games #thg #katniss and peeta #tw: abuse #part 2 #i love him so much #my love I'm sorry you didn't deserve that #they deserved so much better #character analysis

[divinatorydoll]

planets in the eighth house: 📝

last month, i ran a poll on twitter and my followers asked me to write a thread about pluto in the eighth house (8H). so i decided to make a post about every planet in the 8H:

the sun: these people can feel like they're constantly uncovering more about themselves and always going through some sort of transformation. they can really care about public judgment, but feel like they must go about life as if they are unaffected by the opinions of others. usually have a fluctuating relationship with attention

the moon: prone to bottling their emotions, but go out of their way to absorb the emotions of others. brilliant at dream magic and interpretation. they become more merciful as they experience hardship throughout their lives; compassion is very central to them. sensitive to misunderstanding and can take it personally

mercury: this placement makes for excellent actors. naturally very inquisitive and perceptive people — they have a somewhat compulsive need to understand the details of things, even if they're unimportant. can have a 'speak when spoken to' personality and are quite sensitive to body language, proxemics, etc.

venus: known to be tattoo or piercing lovers. exceptionally drawn to witchcraft and other spiritual practices. very contract-based people in the sense that they often examine things as a transaction; they don't borrow without the intention to pay back. they usually enjoy art that is disturbing or creepy to others

mars: these people can struggle with resentment and hide their anger from others to not seem explosive or uncontrolled. their appearance is often a subject of discussion or gossip due to jealousy. always develop abundant talent in what they're passionate about; they continuously seek improvement in their skills

jupiter: gifted at understanding agreements and reaching them — they are very diplomatic people. these placements particularly benefit from having an altar or praying to their spiritual guides. they have a tendency to look at all of their dreams as prophecies or messages from a divine entity

saturn: extremely selfless and humanitarian people; they can end up draining themselves because of their altruistic personality. often feel that marriage is a bit controlling or overly bureaucratic. they're regularly disappointed by elder figures and those around them with power due to their standards of maturity

uranus: have an inherent talent for capturing people's attention. though, they can have a complicated feelings about friendship and social expectations as a whole. they also have an on-and-off relationship with technology. these placements strive to make unique contributions to society and those around them

neptune: known to be smokers. particularly skilled at digging through their own emotions and understanding why they experience things the way they do. they enjoy finding meaning through suffering (much like 8H jupiters). as a consequence, they can ruminate over their sadness for a very long period of time

pluto: tend to enjoy psychology and love examining people's thought processes. pluto here can cause them to be especially private and protective over their personal lives; they really do not like feeling supervised or watched by others. have a love for thriller films and video game horror

do you have planets in your 8H ? let me know how you resonated with my interpretations !!

book a reading !!

my linktree

#astro #astrology #astroblr #astro thoughts #astro community #planets #planets in astrology #zodiac signs #zodiac #horoscope #the eighth house #sun in the 8th house #moon in the 8th house #mercury in the 8th house #venus in the 8th house #mars in the 8th house #jupiter in the 8th house #saturn in the 8th house #uranus in the 8th house #neptune in the 8th house #pluto in the 8th house #trans astrologer #disabled astrologer #modern astrology #natal astrology

[that-wizard-oki]

This turned into a big autism info dump so have at it kids:

There’s obviously a couple like. ‘Wizarding school’ franchises out there, big and small, but I think what makes Wizard101 stand out compared to so many others in the “genre” is that it is set exclusively it’s own universe. Something I personally never liked about the world of say, Harry Patta, was it’s connection to a distinctly “human” or non-magic realm.

While our wizard is stated to be from earth in much later established lore (something i personally am not a fan of but that’s just a me thing i think), I really liked that, when the game was first established, that yea, it was hinted that you were from “a world that does not even believe in magic”, but NEVER clearly stated. 

I liked the IDEA that the Wizard COULD be from Earth. Maybe they’re not. It was always up for the player’s interpretation, and i do think having it be canon now a days makes the Spiral’s lore feel a bit more stiff. 

I like when The Spiral let certain things be ambiguous or unexplained- I think that’s part of the charm. Not that complex magic systems are bad (heck one of the reasons i also love the game so much is it’s unique magic system), but when you start establishing things more concretely, you inherently make it les flexible, and in some cases less imaginative in certain ways.

I always found myself being able to imagine things with Wizard101′s lore. There was always an interesting IDEA, and it was up to the player to draw their own conclusions. I think generally this is still held up pretty well in the current lore’s establishment, but yea that 2008-2014 time stamp for lore hit a nice sweet spot of being specific enough to establish it’s own ideas, yet still let the player build their own relationship with what was given to them. 

Anyway this is to say that I think a LOT of this has to do with the absence of earth/a non-magic realm- because frankly, I am never interested in the non magic realm in these genre’s. I always would much rather see how our protagonists explores the magic world, the other world. 

In Wizard101′s case especially, It makes for a more interesting plot point in terms of the hero’s journey- in the fact that we can never actually complete that journey. There is never a “return” for us to go back to our “home” because the spiral, at this point, has become our home. 

I also think the absence of “backstory” for the wizard, or rather, the incredible vagueness of it, is that it lets ANYONE relate to this character. They are nameless outside of their literal function as The Wizard, The Savior. The player, the one who literally DRIVES the wizard, creates their own ideas. We literally create alongside what others have created for us, and if that’s not so beautiful and so personal and so MAGICAL i don’t know what is. 

I also think that’s why the game is so successful as a GAME- you can’t quite create alongside a book or a movie- yea you can make fan art, fanfiction, but a game you are actively part of, like you literally play a hand in experiencing the story by having to complete actions to carry you through to the next stages. 

Anywho. Wizard101 is, in my opinion, one of the best and most interesting “wizarding school” pieces of media out there and you can quote me on that.

#oki says a thing #wizard101 #im putting this in the tag because why not

[selfimmolating]

i never really saw the need to articulate the reason i stopped interacting with the codz fandom on here outside of reblogs and very rarely posting art, but i've noticed something has become ever prevalent again.

disagreements over headcanons, mischaracterisation, and being so rooted in fanon that you don't actually know how to interact with other human beings, to a vitriolic and frankly toxic degree. without sounding like i'm trying to gatekeep the ideas people have of fictional characters, because god knows that's nothing i care about, i think some of you need to actually play the games (again, perhaps) before you start hatefully yelling at strangers about things that are mentioned in game.

i dont know if it's because a lot of you people seem to be on the younger side these days, or some puritan culture that gives you the idea that liking "bad media" makes you inherently a bad person, or that you don't want others to assume you support x "irredeemable" thing because you enjoy a character who is "irredeemable", but it's actually embarrassing the way i see some of you posting and the anons you leave.

the ever divisive debate on richtofen's sexuality always comes to mind when i think about my experience in this fandom. i've been in this fanbase for over a decade, so i've seen the disgusting threats and comments people have left over simple disagreements in interpretations of a fictional character. now, i don't know if it's because he's the fandom's golden boy, or that people seem to end up way too attached to him, but what's a little agreeing to disagree between strangers? ignore it, and move on - if it bothers you THAT much, block and move on. it is NEVER worth leaving suicide bait or death threats in someone's askbox over.

something i keep in mind: are you sure you inferred that from the text, or are you so entrenched in fanon that you can't remember the text? and is that clouding your view and rational thinking when you see someone who doesn't have the same ideas of a character that you do?

i think what i'm trying to say with this post is that i'm so tired of seeing the way the characters have been whittled down into these sanitised perfect boys who can do no wrong, so when somebody dare bring attention to the fact that the series has dark themes, or merely make a tasteful in-character joke, they have to be crucified like some sort of vile evil trying to corrupt your space.

#jimtext #cod zombies #debated putting this in the main tag but. #yes this is about the person calling that one redsovietelise post a “necrophilia drawing” #sorry to my newer mutuals for the wall of text lmao

[amerricanartwork]

9. and 20. please.

Also love the new lil scugsona. Very fitting for you.

@scavworld's Rain World Questionnaire

Thanks for the ask! Just a quick note, that little character was actually meant to be a scug-ified version of my regular avatar, which I should probably make a ref for soon. I've always just liked the idea that it can "transform" into a different creature to match whatever fandom I'm dealing with, so I thought I'd portray it as a slugcat in this case!

Anyway though, onto the actual questions...

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

9. What are your opinions on Five Pebbles (character)?

Ohhh, now that's a very interesting matter! I really like characters like him because they're so fascinating to me! For now I will disregard the fantastical element of him being a massive supercomputer, because even though in-and-of-itself I think that's such a unique concept even in fiction, especially after I realized that Five Pebbles and Looks to the Moon really are the core of not just the "story" of Rain World but even the in-game environment itself, I imagine I'll have another chance to touch up on this so I'll save my longer thoughts on that for later.

That being said, I'll start by saying I love thinking about characters from a psychological perspective, trying to figure out why they are the way they are, why they do what they do, what they really want vs. what they think they want, how they really perceive themselves vs. how they present themselves publicly, etc. Characters like Five Pebbles are always an especially interesting choice for this kind of pondering, because, as flawed as they may be, so much of the situation around them also contributed to their downfall that I refuse to let everyone else off the hook too. And since I also don't believe anyone is inherently a "bad" person, it's really fun to ponder just how these characters go from being alright people to doing such terrible things and meeting such tragic ends.

To put it shortly, Five Pebbles (and other characters like him) is in my interpretation a great example of karma in the more real-life meaning, and the "you attract more of what you think about the most" idea. Five Pebbles always seemed to feel trapped by and at arms with his surroundings, from the great opposition to his very existence from the True Anointed Citadel, to him literally being physically stuck to Looks to the Moon, to the fear of opposition he must have had as a Sliverist, to him being stuck dealing with the rot, and finally with his collapse, left as a tiny fraction of himself buried in the cold, lifeless remains of his superstructure, with truly no way out on his own. Because he was so focused on escaping the perceived confines around him, all he did, albeit unknowingly, was end up finding more nets to get trapped in.

And again, while I think everyone around him did contribute to his awful end in some way, stories like these are still pretty sad to me because, in the end, I think these characters themselves need to learn to change their thinking, yet all the harshness they face can so easily lead them to create a vicious cycle. Five Pebbles isn't the first character I've enjoyed strongly whose story seemed to play out this way, and as sad as it is, it's also very intriguing.

And besides, it opens up plenty of potential for redemption arc AU stories—!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

20. What is something you think the game could improve on?

The short answer: incentive.

The long answer: Let me start off by saying Rain World, to me, is fascinating largely as more of an art project than a normal video game. It's amazing how a relatively simple concept of a small animal in an urban environment they can't understand morphed into something so vast and extensive, combining nature with technology, science with religion, sci-fi with fantasy, and dunking it all in a super unique aesthetic that fuses urban street style with fancy ancient artwork, it's amazing!

BUT so much of this is lost to players because the game does, in my opinion, a pretty bad job of conveying it all. It's very confusing , especially to new players, and the only means of discovering the greater context of the story, besides just hearing it from other players/fans, is if not downright frustrating at least very tedious. And that's just getting the story itself. I think most people who have played this game haven't even made it that far, because the gameplay alone is so difficult the first time playing that if you aren't captivated by the mystery factor of the environment (or like me and also stubbornly dedicated to getting the bragging rights of having beat such a difficult game), you're too busy just trying to not die every other cycle to bother really exploring and ferrying the pearls to Moon, much less making sense of what you uncover.

I think the blank stare of the slugcats looking up at Five Pebbles perfectly encapsulates what I'm getting at here. You've got this absolutely fascinating story about a mechanical god who flew too close to the sun in a desperate attempt to escape the confines of his life, meanwhile the little slugcat is just all "...'kay", because what does this little animal care about the crazy religious hubris of some long-gone existence-hating people and their sad crumbling calculator robots when all it wants its is to just find more food and not get eaten again?

For a bit of devil's advocate, I will say that I think the difficulty of just playing the game and then figuring out its story, first of all is pretty "realistic" from the perspective of simulating a real-life ecosystem and having an animal discover complex lore in a way that they'd be physically capable of, but secondly has led the Rain World fandom to be really tight-knit compared to other fandoms I've seen. It seems like everyone I've come across is at least in the process of playing through all the campaigns, if not having already completed them and established some level of their own interpretation of the story, because they are all genuinely interested in the game, its characters, world, story, and themes enough to persevere through all the struggles of gameplay and lore confusion to enjoy it. However, it's also the same thing that makes this fandom rather small, which is also fine by me; I think there's lots of value in quality niche content!

With all that said though, I can't deny that I think this game isn't very good at getting players geuninely interested in all it has to offer. For evidence, consider how few players have even met Five Pebbles, who is perhaps the most important character in the entire game story-wise (Steam achievements has the "The Journey" Achievement at 12.0% of players as of posting this). Even from my experiences, I didn't even know what "Sliverist" actually meant until a couple weeks ago, and I've been playing this game and involved in the fandom for months at this point!

So yeah. To sumarize, in my opinion, Rain World is a fascinating and very inspiring art project, but most of what it has to offer is lost to most players because it's terrible at giving you a reason to care about it all. Thus, the main thing I think it could improve upon is giving players a reason to care about its worldbuilding and story enough to continue playing.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Well, that was long, but pretty fun! I hope these answers suffice! Keep the questions coming!

#rain world #asks: scavworld's rain world questionnaire #iterator #five pebbles #rw fp #quetzalli's thoughts #quetzalli answers #inbox

[littlestarofthewest]

hello! before i start i wanna let you know i don’t mean anything hateful by this, it is my genuine curiosity, i’m not trying to be disrespectful, i’m just really interested on your morston opinions. i personally, really am disgusted by the ship. mainly because of the established dynamics in the game between them and the fact that john joined the gang at 12, and arthur would’ve already been 22, and they would’ve never seen each other that way and they basically grew up as brothers, they were raised by the same men, and at the end of the game they even call each other brother. i know you’ve reblogged some morston stuff and i don’t hold anything against you, i really enjoy your writing and you seem like a genuinely cool person, i am just curious.

Hey anon,

I'm going to see this as a question in good faith and will try my best to answer. First of all, there are a lot of posts out there that argue in favor of morston a lot more eloquently than I ever could, but I will try to give you my pov based on what you brought up in your ask.

Personally, I can see John and Arthur both as siblings or as a romantic pairing (obviously not at the same time xD). Many points have been made against it being a romantic relationship, pretty much the ones you made, and as such I have enjoyed fics and art where they are brothers and I even have written some fics that go with that viewpoint. 

Then again, I think there are also valid points to be made for a romantic relationship and arguments that sort of "invalidate" the reasoning behind them being brothers. 

Yes, they have a 10 year age gap. I personally know couples in real life with big age gaps who have perfectly healthy relationships while people close in age are horrible for each other. It's no big leap for me to think that those two characters could be in love and have a great relationship based on that. 

Did they get to know each other when John was 12? Yes. That doesn't mean Arthur perved on him from that day forward. Suggesting that always makes me wonder what weird character traits people put on Arthur. Kids are inherently unsexual. If that doesn't apply to people who hate the ship, then they should probably sort out their own feelings towards children. Fast.

Did they grow up together? While lots of people like to portrait them as brothers from an early age, I think different interpretations are valid as well. Yes, Arthur was 22. He was involved in the criminal activities of the gang and based on how you see the timeline there's a chance he's also been in a romantic relationship. The chances of him even caring about a 12 year old he doesn't know are slim. He could have very well not cared much about John at all until he was old enough to be of any relevance to him. 

I know siblings who have no relationship/love for each other despite growing up in the same house (while also actually being related by blood). So while I don't want to invalidate "found family," I can very well see it not apply here at all. Besides, I find it odd that found family supporters are so dead set on pressing the characters into a nuclear family with Dutch as the dad and Hosea or Mrs. Grimshaw as a second parent while John and Arthur are their sons. Found family is supposed to mean all kinds of different relationships.

And as an add on, while I too enjoy depictions of Arthur holding up a bratty John by his leg or the scruff of his neck, it's complete nonsense. Have people in fandom ever met a 12 year old in real life? A 12 year old boy can very well have the size of an average sized woman (and logically also weigh as much). Of course he's still a kid and needs to be treated and protected as such, but I feel like there is this fandom interpretation that depicts him like a toddler/small child to make any involvement with Arthur later on more scandalous. He was a street kid who managed to get by on his own for a long time. Infantilizing him for outrage is absurd. 

Also, in 4 years in fandom while being in contact with a large amount of morston shippers, I never encountered anyone who shipped them before John was grown up. There might be content like that out there, but I'm not in support of it.

Their established dynamics in the game can be interpreted to anybody's liking. Do they argue like siblings or haze each other to keep positive feelings they can't express without making themselves vulnerable at bay? Does Arthur go out and save John because Hosea tells him to, Abigail asks him to, he loves him like a brother or because he loves him like a romantic interest? Does Arthur tell John to go in the end because he wants to protect his brother or the love of his life? 

Yes, they call each other brothers. Just like other game members call each other brothers. If I remember correctly, Dutch even alternates between brother, son and other things. I don't see it as a fixed term that solely indicates one type of relationship. People in the past have also called each other bachelors and similar terms to not openly admit a homosexual relationship. You can take the term at face value or not.

Like I said, many of these things have been discussed in the past, so I'll skip ahead to what I consider the most important point. It doesn't matter. Nobody needs valid points to justify their ship. There are ships with characters that haven't even met in canon and ships that even cross fandoms. 

I take two characters that I vibe with and since I like romantic stories, I put them into one. I'm also especially fond of AUs which makes canon even less of a factor. 

You being disgusted by the ship is perfectly valid. I don't need to hear good reasons. If that's what you feel then I accept that. The only thing I ask is that other people do the same for me, and especially don't try to actively harm others because of their ships. There's a reason why terms like "your kink isn't my kink, but your kink is okay" and "ship and let ship" were established early on in fandoms. It's healthy for all the parties involved. I interacted a lot with fans who very much disliked morston and blacklisted the hell out of it and we still get along just fine. 

Long story short, people grow up in different circumstances with different experiences, and much likely they will project things onto characters and have a variety of interpretations of canon or simply enjoy making stuff up that isn't there. That's the beauty of fandom. 

I hope that answers your question? And thank you for your interest in another person's pov. Sadly many people in this fandom jumped to conclusions and hatred rather than taking a moment to consider other people's feelings. So kudos for that.

#morston for ts #answered asks #anon asks

[dykedragonrider]

Finished Disco Elysium, and I do get the appeal but I think my enjoyment of that game is tragically tarnished by the hype that people gave it in ways that, maybe I missed, or maybe I interpreted as exaggerated? I think something really strong about the game is the way it does its intimate moments? Along a lot of the quests there's stuff that feels incredibly, painfully human. However, there's also a lot of beauty in other moments so it's a really well made balance? Telling Billie the fate of her husband, dancing with Kim, the art after the tribunal, pressuring Kim to be a pissfaggot, 'splorin the commercial district. There's more, but the point is that just. That's something done well. And I think those moments are only as standout as they are because this game's cast is really strong. Everyone is so fucked up in the best ways possible and I think it's really nice that you can like, get a voyeuristic view into their lives (a lot of them you made worse) and try and make things right? It's uniquely interesting to try and help characters that the player character hurt *before* the story so you get the reconciliation of that along with the general gratification of Doing Something Nice In A Videogame. But also, like every Disco fan apparently, the real standout is Kim. I felt SOOOO bad when I needed to sell parts for his car that he confiscated because he obviously wanted those spinners! He plays really well off Harry as the straight man to whatever nonsense you get up to, because he's *also* a little silly it's just below the surface. I unfortunately was tragically denied building communism because I was unaware of the tribunal which cucked me when I went to Ruby to kill time, so I don't have as full a picture re: the politics of this game, but the things I can say is that it's very over the top about stuff. Given the way people talked about this game, I expected it to be a lot more level and grounded, leaning more into the political thriller thing, but instead it feels more like it's commentary on human interaction being inherently political dialed up to 11? Neat enough, basically. It is *really* funny to be a self hating revolutionary cop whose kneejerk response is to say "eat the rich" but also it gets a lot of the smaller things right along the way? Which I think is kind of the central thing that stands out to me about this game. It gets the little things right *so* well in a way that gives it incredible emotional impact.

#tsunny reviews #disco elysium

[thegoodthegrandandtheugly]

In regards to that other Arjuna post, I think everyone who hates on fans of a character because of one person / a general group of people are annoying as hell. Get a job man. Lol

A tale as old as time in any fandom. A person/group of people annoy another person/group of people and it causes friction due to conflicting personalities. The Fate fandom isn't unique in that.

In regards to some of the posts we've received about Arjuna, I will admit that, in hindsight, a few were more inflammatory than we should've posted, and in all likelihood we probably won't be posting things in that nature again. Complaining about specific fans a character has is fair game here, but there is a line that shouldn't be crossed. We'll be revising some of the rules in the near future because of that in an attempt to make things clearer for everyone.

I hope you, and everyone else, will allow us some grace. There's been a learning curve to running this blog for the both of us, especially in regards to what is and isn't too much or too far. Arjuna is the character we've gotten the most confessions about so far, which has been pretty surprising. I was honestly expecting more general complaints about the gacha and gameplay elements. Both of us who run this blog feel that venting and criticism has a justified place in fandom, especially nowadays where fandom is largely the only place where people online communicate with each other in a collective setting in any sort of positive way. It is necessary to be able to see an interpretation or a take you disagree with, and without critique and general criticism, it tends to lead to a different kind of fandom toxicity, where any dissent at all is seen as "causing problems", even if the dissent is about something more serious than a specific character interpretation such as elements of racism in the series (which fate grand order has) or inappropriately sexually charged art (which fate grand order also has).

That doesn't excuse that I've turned confessions into pictures that even I thought were too inflammatory for this blog. I do apologize for my missteps. Like I said, there has been a learning curve to this, and I was too lenient with how I interpreted our own rules.

Contrary to what some people might think, we're not doing this to try and cause problems, and we both feel that people should be able to see something the disagree with and be able to constructively regulate any negative emotions that come about. Criticism is not an inherently negative thing, but I will own up to the fact that I have difficulty knowing where to draw the line and say "this is too much".

We're trying to do our best and have some fun along the way. The bulk of the hate toward Arjuna and his fans has mostly passed for now, thankfully. Please feel free to send your grievances about any character, but I'll be honest and say there are only so many pictures of Arjuna I can use. I really wouldn't mind a break in the griping about him.

-Mod D

#not a post

[causesciencethatswhy]

I think it's because in BTS even if it was mostly rapline writing the lyrics it didn't feel like such big disconnect because they're bts members. Maybe a specific bts member didn't write the song but a bts member still wrote the song and people have different approaches to/expectations of different musicians based off of the type of artist they show themselves to be. No one ever fucking cares if Rih ain't credited on a song because that's not her thing. If the blonde girl released an entire album of non self written songs people it would be shocking because being a writer is tied into her identity as an artist. I mean some people were writing think pieces about the English trilogy and I think they was way more dramatic considering they're not completely uncredited the songs were released over several years and there was an entire album they created in the midst. Part of its lowkey cus armys were fighting for bts pen game for years and it's making us look bad now which isn't jk's (or tae's) problem but also you can't go around calling people talentless frauds who can't pick up a pen for years and not feel the slightest disappointment at your faves not participating in something they said they working on for years without extreme disconnect. People used it to talk shit but it was also a point of pride outside of other people.

I think you yourself have explained that this is simply a them problem and not a bangtan problem. And at the end of the day, jungkook can write and produce music, (some of the best music on the bangtan roster have come from him) so any anti saying he's incapable of writing music is just looking for a lazy drag.

At the end of the day, self produced albums may have been closely linked to bts as a group but all the members that make up bts, never committed to this sentiment. Jungkook especially puts his singing as the most inherent part of his artistry, so if he chooses to focus on that and his choreography and let's go of the writing/producing so he could release golden, then honestly what's so wrong about it? I would have understood the "immense disappointment "if it was Namjoon who was releasing an album in this format since his lyrics have always been central to the music he's released. But for someone like Jungkook whose time and time again talked about how conveying the right emotions in his singing and putting a powerful performance as being his greatest priorities as an artist, this format tracks for him completely. Interpretation of lyrics into music is also an art form in itself and shouldnt be looked down upon. Maybe in the future he will endeavor to more self production too, but I don't think his current desicions right now are taking away from his, or bangtans legacy for that matter. It's only breaking him and bangtan further into the industry and I'm not going to wish against it just because antis on the internet have something new to "drag them" about.

#jungkook #anon ask

[madhogthymaster]

Down The Cabbit Hole: The Weird World of Klonoa Literature - An Archive (Part 1)

It was the Summer of 2022: the HD collection of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil was released unto this world, and into my life. My reaction in seeing these videogames briefly in the forefront of (semi)popular culture was one of insurmountable elation. To bask into the vicarious feelings of people discovering The Fluffy Boy and his bittersweet adventures for the first time was an indescribable experience, almost as much as it was to re-immerse myself into it all. For a short time in human history, there was a proper, tangible Zeitgeist, a palpable excitement, surrounding one of my favourite things of all time, ever. Naturally, as a long time fan, an educated Klonoa scholar, I have provided several important contributions to the fandom... and I have bothered many Twitch streamers, in the process.

Exhibit A:

At this time, one of my biggest endeavours was the creation of a fan-page on the old deceased bird website, celebrating the existence of these games as well as the weird history of the series. That account's activity has all but gone the way of said avian critter but there is still a rich archive worth of material that I *needed* to conserve for posterity. I wouldn't want anyone on the Internet to be deprived of my immaculately composed memes, after all!

Here's a small selection, presented without context:

By far, the biggest body of work on that fan-page was my deep dive into the extremely lopsided plain of Klonoa comics, the mere presence of which left me scared and confused for reasons that shall become all too clear in a few moments. With the premise out of the way, I am going to share with you my various posts on the subject of Fluffy Boy Literature, mostly raw and unaltered, for your eye-balling pleasure. These salvaged tweets contain my thoughts, musings, honest reactions and critiques over the (surprisingly) multi-faceted girth of comics available to us, in one form or the other, as well as several panels to contextualize said reactions. Join me down the Cabbit hole, won't you?

We begin this journey with the Bandai Namco officially licensed webcomic, Klonoa: Dream Traveller of Noctis Sol.

---

18 July 2022

-

Perhaps against my better judgment, I have made the decision to read the ill-fated Klonoa webcomic series written between 2012 and 2014. It is an odd curio of officially published media that was released in an unconventional manner. Stay tuned as I report on my findings.

-

The publisher was a website called ShiftyLook which seemingly hosted a whole plethora of comics based off several Namco's franchises: titles such as Wonder Momo and, of course, this non-canonical Klonoa adventure.

-

It was drawn by Hitoshi Ariga, whose claim to fame comes from illustrating a respectable amount of Megaman manga and Pokémon trading cards, as well as volumes of The Big O adaptation. Jim Zub is credited as the writer which is a big deal - according to Wikipedia.

-

I am cautiously excited about reading this story even as I am fully aware of its untimely demise. More over, the fact it's been forcibly removed from whatever passes as The Canon means I won't have to be too pedantic about its interpretation of the *grander* Klonoa narrative.

-

Which is good because I inherently disagree with any and all attempts to expand on the inner-mechanics of "Dream Travelling" when the lack of an explanation leaves the door opened for much more interesting discourse and analysis. Not knowing is what makes Klonoa interesting.

-

I HATE THIS IMMEDIATELY!!!

-

Oh no, you didn't!

-

I can just picture the conversation in my head. "You have OTHER friends, Klonoa?" "No. I have BETTER friends, Huepow." Hey, if you have to completely ruin the endings of two of the best games ever made, you might as well GO THERE!

-

On the other hand, this is a primo villain design.

-

There was a rather jarring change in art style for this page. The new illustrator is Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz, another prolific comic maker.

-

Ah, of course! Guntzland! Guntz's place! The place of Guntz! The place made specifically for Guntz! ... That Guntzland? I feel like I'm going insane.

-

Ariga has thankfully returned to illustrate this comic. His quality work is in the only highlight in this otherwise abysmal experience.

-

A black and white dream world is a rather cheeky way to justify saving money on colouring.

-

"I FOUND YOU, FAKER!"

-

You know, I had hoped, perhaps naively, that Klonoa could have spared me the evil doppelganger routine. This comic is a constant cavalcade of nonsense advancing at the speed of thought whilst ironically bereft of any.

-

The gang is all here. Waaaaaahoooooooo....

-

This is the last page. This is the note in which the comic ends. It's probably for the best, really.

-

Overall, this was a toothless, dull approximation of a *Big Crossover Event* the likes of which could not possibly appeal to anyone. It was too entrenched in the games' (unneeded) continuity to attract new fans and it was too much of a travesty to please old fans. It was just bad.

-

The choice to undercut the emotional, narrative and thematic impact from both Door to Phantomile and Lunatea's Veil for the sake of cheap fan-service makes this *OFFICIALLY LICENSED* material exceptionally vapid even by corporate standards. Read fanfiction, instead.

---

Appropriately enough, the next piece of literature under the proverbial lens would be an unofficial continuation to the cancelled webcomic. So, yes, I followed my own suggestion there.

However, as I find myself encumbered by arbitrary image limits on this blog, I will continue my archival sharing in the next instalment of this now multi-part series. Stay tuned, fellow Phantomilians, for the story is about to get much more interesting.

[PART 2]

#Youtube #klonoa #fluffy boy literature #klonoa: door to phantomile #fanfiction #klonoa: lunatea's Veil #namco bandai #dream crusaders #archive #Part 1 #twitter #nightmare klonoa #faker #betrayal #shenanigans

[sillyfairygarden]

17 and 18 for the ask game

hi wrenny wren 🫶 i’m assuming this is for the dsmp so okaaay

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art?

i am such a sucker for religious symbolism in art and writin and storytelling GAWWDD and not just christianic symbolism (which i think is most commonly found) but like. the ideas of religious guilt and sin and confessions and act and rites towards a higher god. god dsmp had that so good with the gods of the universe and the fanon interpretations/expansions on them. literally that shit was amazing. you ever see those stained-glass artworks and stuff? good lord. egg religious symbolism xd and c!mumza and c!foosh and c!philz and these gods who played in the realms of mortals i just LOVE that imagery and ideology. soooo good

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

uhhhh diverging strictly from dsmp but like. overall. female mcyts. like today i posted about qjaiden and ended up talking w a few people and going through ao3 and just... it was really saddening to see how minimal appreciation she gets for the deeper nuanes of her character. like as someone just getting their feet wet with the qsmp (so to speak), its been so much easier to find metaposts and analysis about the male streamers than on qjaidens character and i just. i get that this is sort of the song and dance of being an mcyt fan, but i get so wrapped in my little corner of mcytblr surrounded by mutuals and artists who make a lot of content for female cubitos, and people who i attract by centralizing women in my content recently... that i forget that like. the rest of the greater fandom exists.

and its such a shame, because i think there is soooo much awesomeness and nuance and complexity in their stories too! like they are not inherently worse or lamer or less exciting. these creators arent just great streamers, they can be storytellers in their own ways and also still grow and evolve through nurturing their characters and honing in on it. but i feel like they are so easily overlooked. like if you only look for one kind of story in your fandoms you will only ever see it, you know ?sorry this turned into a soap box and i made myself a little sad. i don't think its one person or another individually building this problem, and conversations about misogyny in fandom go WAAAY farther back than silly minecraft roleplay servers but i just. i am so thankful that i can create and consume wonderful art about women in the mcyt sphere and i hope my little corner grows bigger and other people see that too

#thello babbles #sorry to divulge into complaining about misogyny. it will happen again <3 #dsmp #asks

[gearbroth]

I’ve been curious about your space au for awhile and the characters you created with it, is it inspired or a cross over with a game of some sort or is it entirely original? Because the blips I see you create are really cool and I’m super interested in the story and art as a whole.

It's a bit of everything I guess! It was originally a "Sun & Moon" AU for Team Fortress 2, started in early January 2021 but the characters quite quickly began to change from their original intention ;w; subtly OOC to straight up different motives and desires; although I try to keep their personalities similar despite the whole different path of life, as well as create scenarios that build them into the characters they are/derive from!

October 2021 brought Gordon/Half-Life into the mix just on a whim. Since then, it's very much changed into it's own thing and become my own little passion project.

I've considered making it sorta Valve-oriented (recently have been concepting how to add Portal to the mix), but as it's become less of an AU and something I consider more of it's own story and have been adding original characters to, it's sorta inconclusive what it is right now.

I don't call it completely my own simply because the characters are derived from previously existing ones, be it in only appearance or personality too - but the story I have blocked out intended does take a completely different path, due to the inherent concept of their beings as celestial bodies in space, although I try to frame some events referencing pivotal moments to the original characters.

I'll still call it "TF2 Space AU" as was it's loose name at first! But I've also been calling the story as "Spaceau"/"Space-AU" lately :3

Whether or not I eventually break away from the original media it derives from, I’m unsure. I don’t think I’ll change their appearances/personalities however if so because they’ve been so set in stone, be it through the immense amount of art I’ve drawn, others have drawn, or sculptures even too. That’s who they are and I can’t see them differently.

There is SO much I have planned for it, my only struggle is time to commit to it ;w; but I hope to one day be able to share the whole story! Be it in little pieces, context-less and concept art, or more.

And sidenote; I tend to be a little closed off about it (mostly bc online social anxiety -u-””) because I want to have so much more already prepared to share, have all my plot notes concrete and just everything be perfect and grandiose once I think it’s ready. A lot of it is jumbled all over the place and I’m still fleshing out major plot points and middle points to be arranged all together in a concise story. But who knows! My hopeful intention is to have all the plot written together in a storyboard style final draft, so I can interpret it into a webcomic to share - as telling stories through visual art is my personal way to tell stories.

(in any case: thanks for readin’ all this if you did! And thank you everyone whose been supporting me making this and been excited to see it. I hope to have more and more to share!)

#gear rambles #tf2 space au #spaceau #sorry this is a long message!! #i wanted to give formal explanation of it all for everyone also curious sdfhjskd #hope this all makes sense >< and thanks for the question!! #i dont answer a lotta questions mostly bc i straight up forget but i hold onto all of them #thinkin a lot about how to answer them the best way or letting the message help me reflect #anyway yeye aaa ty again and hope this makes sense!

[randomthefox]

I would like to say that your deconstruction of moments in sonic games is what made me like them, before I never thought game sonic has a personality because I’m not good at reading moments in sonic video games really well and I mostly stuck to fanon or comics, but your analysis have really changed my view in hand sonic

Thank you! Stuff like Linkara's History of Power Rangers and Mistare Fusion's Dragon Ball Dissection are big inspirations for how I construct analysis of Sonic media.

I heartily agree with the sentiment those analytical video series in particular predicate themselves on, which is that yes these media properties do warrant serious and indepth analytical discussion. Even though they are inherently silly premises for childrens cartoons. Because after all, these shows comics and video games were made BY adults, and those adults put serious analytical thought into the CREATION of these pieces of art. I see no reason to dismiss them as being devoid of content that merits serious discussion based on their target demographic. I consider it to be disrespectful of the hard work that went behind the creation of these properties to put it under less scrutiny on the basis of its intended audience. (Though I fully expect those who created these series to take the subject far less seriously than I do, just like I'd take someone analyzing the fruits of my employed labor less seriously than they do).

Whenever I play these games I reinforce and reassess my previous thoughts and feelings about them, and discover or notice new things that inspire new thoughts and feelings. Sometimes the hard part of scooping out those thoughts from my subconscious and hammering out the adequate words to coherently portray those thoughts and feelings hopefully strung together in as comprehensible a thesis as possible. I highly recommend playing the games yourself to come to your own conclusions and interpretations about the games, because my thoughts can only ever be my own and are not meant to stand as objective absolute irrefutable conclusions in any way.

I'd be nice maybe to take all my posted playthroughs of the games I've done on this site and string them out into a script to make a video series of analytical video essays myself one of these days. I might start having the free time to be able to do that again after next week. We'll see on that front.