#i probably won't watch it but I know so much already because the brainworms are real and my internet blobos have new hyperfixations :)

[dashing-through-ecto]

I will learn about new media exclusive through a mutual that is hyperspeed reblogging their newest obsession and I think that is how the internet should work.

#my mutals keep reblogging dungeon meshi (<- is that how thats spelled? fuck if I know) #i probably won't watch it but I know so much already because the brainworms are real and my internet blobos have new hyperfixations :) #lerning about media by proxy

[oneslimybastard]

Watched ManlyBadassHero play 'The Repairing Mantis' earlier today and fuuuuuck meeeee. One of the more brilliant implementations of surrealism and game mechanics to deliver a really haunting narrative imo anyway here comes a BRAINWORM RANT. The disturbing graphics contrasted against the squirrels' kinda cute designs and chipper dialogue lines, the emotional gut-punch when they grow less chipper, the things the gameplay forces you to do as the mantis. The mantis cuts a squirrel's wing off as it trembles and is left with a fleshy wound, but it has nothing to say about it and just assures you that it was happy to help ("That's what friends do!"). Its animations are even more so fearful and cowering as you cut its other wing off, but it still has nothing to say about it other than that its happy to help a friend as it continues to work towards its own dream. The emotional dissonance is immense, but the squirrel probably isn't lying as much as it just doesn't notice the harm being done to it. The squirrels all ask you to "help" them and the "help" always involve meaty mutilations of their bodies, nothing which concerns them. What breaks them is the realization that the dream they've strived for wasn't what they wanted at all. The metaphor is both obvious and diluted. It's about achieving dreams and the emptiness that can come afterwards, obviously, it's basically written in big red glowing letters. But its all the little ambiguous details that really add to it. Like the moths, what do they mean? How do they play into it? And the mantis herself, this "helpful" force that does what everyone asks of her and ends up just assisting them in losing all their hopes and dreams.

If I were to give my take on it, I'd assign the moths as agents of Reality. The first squirrel complains that its stomach hurts and its because there's a moth in there. You never learn what it says other than from context clues, but I wonder if it told the squirrel that times have changed, circumstances have changed, the dream is still achievable but it won't look the same — and where you thought all sacrifices had already been made, there is still one left. The mantis has already taken the squirrel's wings and cut its stomach open, but the thing that actually sparks fear in the squirrel is the prospect of losing its tail.

A sacrifice it wasn't ready to make, but had to anyway. That leap of faith which either hurt like a bitch if you go for it or you bitterly have to reenact later in life knowing you might have already missed your shot.

The first squirrel still, as mutilated as it is, seems to be a success-story, where all the following squirrels are hollow pantomimes. Squirrels who want to fly because the first squirrel wanted to fly and it managed to and surely acquired happiness, so if they all learn to fly they will be happy too. I think its very deliberate that these are all flying squirrels who still want to learn how to fly.

Especially considering the thing the first Squirrel was so happy to give up while building a flying machine was its wings. Our authentic selves are not good enough to be considered a tool in achieving these grandiose larger than life ambitions. There is a doubtless allure in the prospect of breaking yourself down into bloody chunks for the sake of success, even when you do not need to and are arguably just making it more difficult for yourself.

It's why I think the mantis can be a stand-in for so many things. Overly supportive enablers, get rich quick schemes, nepotism, or a force of self destruction masking as productivity or innovation. All these squirrels had to do to fly was catch a breeze and let their little skin flaps do the job they were designed to do, but none of them did.

It wasn't good enough.

As an ~Artist~ the emotional parallels are pretty intense so yeah, it's gonna haunt me for a bit. As someone who likes to support people I care about unconditionally it's gonna haunt me for a bit, even if I don't think its directly relevant to me or my life. Especially one of the endings where it's proposed that utterly shattering someone's wide eyed dream along with their heart, beat their life's work to pieces, might be the best course of action.

It's a horrifying thought, and I think 'The Repairing Mantis' meditates on the worst of outcomes when ideas and aspirations and passions loose their foothold in reality and get lost in dreamland, and how attractive that spectacle can be for onlookers to imitate.

It's a beautiful game, truly an unique testament to the potency of narrative horror games, I don't think it could have struck as many chords as it did with me in any other medium.

10/10 dont build bridges out of squirrels.

#long post #the repairing mantis #game analysis #im sorry i had worms #i needed to get it out scoob im gonna be thinking about these fucking squirrels for a bit #AND I COULD'VE GONE ON FOR LONGER MAN #LIKE HOW U CHOOSE DIALOGUE OPTIONS FOR THE NPCS WHILE U DONT UNDERSTAND WHAT THE MANTIS IS SAYING #and the aligator and fuck man shit dude awh man