#SCREENSHOTS OF ALLI WILL BE INCOMING

[azuries]

SEES RYOJI MASTERPOST i hope you guys enjoy reading through it! i was heavily inspired by all the amazing art and content ive seen of the concept that i wanted to explore it too!

ART:

Moonlight Trio

Yukari and Ryoji going shopping (SEES!Ryoji winter clothes variations)

Ryoji accidentally hitting MC with his scythe

SEES!Ryoji sketch dump

SEES!Ryoji Theurgy splash

SEES!Ryoji Theurgy Storyboard

Ryomina in Tartarus

Ryomina in Tartarus P2

Ryomina in Tartarus P3

SEES!Ryomina Illustration

Cooking with Yukari

SEES!Ryoji Sprite edit

SEES!Ryoji fanmade P3RE screenshots

Ryomina SEES!Ryoji animatic

feral SEES!Ryoji

Clumsy SEES!Ryoji

Charmed Ryoji

All Out Attack Splash

SEES!Ryoji Cut In Splash

Comic

Ryoji learns about evokers

More SEES Ryoji sketches

Ryoji killing the Reaper

Twitter post  

After Ryoji finds his resolve through the Hero, he offers to join his team. He gives him a choice to go through a better, yet harder way to get through Tartarus, a way only he can access. It features new bosses, content, and a new spin of the final fight with Strega.

Contains: Art, battle stats, Theurgy, combat dialogue, Tartarus dialogue and banter, and more!

Full post under the cut:

—-

This AU explores the idea that instead of Ryoji leaving for the last  month, he offers to join the team as a temporary team member to lend his power to help SEES reach the remaining floors of Tartarus before he merges with Nyx. More events happen that prolong the time you spend together. 

Ingame, it’s treated like a bonus mission and an addition to get to know Ryoji better during the aftermath of November. 

As a new addition to the team, he’ll join SEES in the dorm and have his own version of FTEs with plant tending, movie watching, book reading and cooking. He’ll have interactions with other party members. 

The player will also get to know more on his personal feelings as the Appriser. Through conversing with Ryoji, you learn in depth about Tartarus, and the player gets to see a more subdued side of him as he tries to come to terms with his identity. 

He uses an evoker to trigger his form as Thanatos instead of using it to summon a Persona.

The player can choose to go through this route, or play the game like how it was originally set. The ending remains the same.

Party Stats:

Level: Scaleable, 2 levels higher 

Element: Dark and Almighty

Weakness: None, reflects pierce damage 

Combat style: Prioritizes debuffing, tank 

Theurgy - Death’s Call: Deals massive almighty damage to all foes. Fears both enemies and allies. 

Theurgy condition: When Ryoji sees his friends suffer a lethal blow, he feels determined to take vengeance.

Theurgy Personality bonus:

Chance to grant Arcana Burst even without completing your Major Arcana stack.

+ More damage to weak foes. 

Intercepts an incoming lethal blow for a party member.

DIALOGUE:

Ryoji’s first Tartarus entrance dialogue: 

Ryoji: - So this is Tartarus.

I, I can feel her. She’s keeping an eye on us. On me.

Remember that I’m here to help. Tartarus is Nyx’s realm, but I should know a better way to help you get to the top. 

Keep in mind that I may not be as impenetrable while I’m here, and shadows will be a lot more hostile if we go this way. Are you sure you wanna do this?

MC:

> Nowhere to go but up.

> Let’s do this.

> Are you sure there’s no other way?

Don’t worry. Whatever‘s waiting for us, I won’t let anything happen to you. They’ll have to get through me first. 

First Summon dialogue: 

I have to do this. Everyone..I’m sorry for what you’re about to see. 

Get out here, Thanatos! 

Turning into Thanatos (Persona Summon) 

If this is what it takes.

Please look away.

Thanatos!  

Do what you must!

Combat 

Shift dialogue:

All up to you! 

We’re in this together!

Receiving end of shift dialogue: 

I’m on it! 

They’ll get what's coming to them.

Item use: 

This will help, right? 

Getting healed:

I don’t deserve this.

Death:

I-I hope it was enough. 

Sorry..

AILMENTS

Distress

It’s over.. Why do we still try?

Confuse 

Guys? What’s going on?!

Rage

Come on! Take me down if you can! 

Charm

So, how about dinner?~

Down

You’re kidding me! 

Shock

What is this?! 

AOA

Before All Out Attack:  

We’re going in! 

Before splash art: 

And that's how it's done! 

Splash art Caption: 

DEATH IS INEVITABLE

All Out Attack splash art line:

Pointless to deny your fate.

Basic victory dialogue: 

I hope it was worth it. 

Heh, how was that? 

Battle aftermath:

That was impressive. You’re all amazing!

Stairs discovery

Found the stairs. There’s no time to lose! 

Found the way up! You know best, leader.

Treasure

Ooh, something shiny! 

Hey, guys! Found something useful? Maybe?

SEES advantage: 

They never saw it coming! 

Ambush / enemy advantage: 

Leader, stay close to me!

Hit by crit: 

That’s impossible! 

SEES Tartarus dialogue w/Ryoji 

Junpei: Hey, so.. Ryoji… What’s with the long scarf? And how do you not slip from it when you run? 

Ryoji: I don’t think it’s that long! 

Yukari: Seriously? Out of all the questions you can ask him, that’s what you go with? 

—-

Mitsuru: For someone with no prior experience, you’ve been keeping up well, Ryoji-kun. 

Ryoji: I’m glad you think so, Kirijo-senpai.

Akihiko: Don’t push yourself, though, alright?

—-

Junpei: Ryoji! Now that you live with us, we have got to continue the game we were playing! 

Ryoji: I don’t think you’d want to…Didn’t I delete your save on accident?

Junpei: Eh, I wasn’t paying much attention to the story in the first place. 

—-

Ryoji: I never got to thank you before for helping me settle in, Fuuka. How about I take you out? 

Fuuka: Oh, of course! Let’s invite the others too!

Junpei: …Yikes, dude.

—-

Fuuka: I’ve always wanted to do karaoke with you all. You should join us, Ryoji-kun!

Ryoji: Oh, m-me...?

Junpei: Yeah, you’re always holed up in your room and we never know where you’re out at night! How about we sing our hearts out instead? 

Ryoji: Ahh.. haha..I… I’ll think about it. 

—-

Ryoji: *Humming Mass Destruction* 

Aigis: Ryoji-san. Were you the one making those sounds? 

Ryoji: Sorry! Makoto-kun and I were listening to some songs, and now I can’t get it out of my head. 

—-

Ryoji: Aigis..About what happened before. I feel like I should apologize one more time. 

Aigis: Instead of apologies, let’s make a promise. That we’ll see this through, together.

Ryoji: …Yeah. You’re right.  

—-

Aigis: It’s strange. In the real world, you’re impenetrable. But in Tartarus...

Ryoji: Until the promised day, I’m an obstacle to Nyx. I wouldn’t put it past her to limit my power. 

Mitsuru: So she was expecting this. Well, we just have to plan accordingly, then.

—-

Aigis: I decided to live, but…how do I even begin? How would I know? 

Ryoji: I already sense life within you, Aigis. You’re doing more than enough.

—-

Ryoji: Wandering Tartarus must feel repetitive. Maybe I can try something! I can add some arcade machines? 

Ryoji: Oh… but if I do that, Tartarus will just take it away again. *sigh* Nevermind, then.

Ken: Can.. Can you actually do that?!

Yukari: *sigh* Of course he can’t. 

—-

Akihiko: How are you holding up, Mochizuki? Think you can still keep up?

Ryoji: Heh, that’s not even a question, Senpai.

—-

Ryoji: I hope I’m not bringing you guys down. What do you think, Koromaru-san? 

Koromaru: *barks enthusiastically*

Fuuka: Hahaha. Koro-chan seems to enjoy your company!

—-

Yukari: Whew..! You guys notice the shadows have gotten…much more alert?

Akihiko: You’re right. It’s like we unlocked the deepest depths of Tartarus that Nyx didn’t want us to see.

—-

Junpei: Jeez Ryoji, you weren’t kidding. The shadows of this detour are a whole different monster! 

Ryoji: I’m sorry, Junpei. But I promise it’s just a little longer. 

Junpei: Who am I to back down from a challenge? This’ll be a piece of cake! 

—-

Mitsuru: Are you settling in the dorm well, Ryoji-kun?

Ryoji: Oh. I am, thank you. 

Mitsuru: Of course. Just let us know if you need anything.

—-

Ken: Did anyone hear footsteps in the boys’ dorm last night? 

Yukari: Must have been Aigis sneaking to Makoto’s room, even if I told her to not leave past curfew…

Aigis: It was not me. I was out for my monthly checkup. 

Yukari: Then… who was it?

Ryoji: It wasn’t me! 

Yukari: No one said it was you! 

—-

Ken: So, where have you been living before, well, all of this, Ryoji-senpai?

Ryoji: I-I actually don’t know. Anything outside of school and Makoto-kun becomes a blur.

Fuuka: Ryoji-kun…

—-

Ryoji: You’re amazing to lead such a capable team, Makoto-kun. You look good like this. 

—-

Yukari: Ryoji-kun and I went thrift shopping the other day. It was actually pretty fun!

Ryoji: Thanks for taking me out, Takeba-san. I wanted that jacket, though.. 

Yukari: Unless you wanna blind someone with that thing, there’s no good reason to wear it! 

Ryoji: *sighs sadly*

—-

Ryoji: There were so many couples on Paulownia Mall for Christmas Eve. It was lovely to see.

Junpei: Ooo, does our newest member have a special someone they have in mind?

Ryoji: I-I wouldn’t say that..

Junpei: Hahaha! You’re like a tomato right now, dude! 

Ryoji: Hey, knock it off!

—-

Ryoji: Wait, you’ve reached past the 200th floor?! Akihiko: All in a day’s work. Everyone has been putting in their all. 

—-

Akihiko: You’re hardly breaking a sweat. What’s your routine, Mochizuki?

Ken: I’m guessing it’s him not being human in the first place?

Akihiko: Ken, that’s not..!

Ryoji: It’s alright, I don’t mind. He has a point, though.

—-

Yukari: I won these chocolate bars, I brought them in case anyone wanted a snack. Want some? 

Ryoji: Oh, that’s okay. I don’t eat sweets that much. 

—-

Mitsuru: I have to say it was quite convenient for the Kirijo Group to have an extra weapon. 

Ken: Yeah, and what’re the odds it was a scythe too?

Ryoji: Hahaha…. I guess.

—-

Koromaru *bark*

Aigis: Koromaru-san is asking that if you’re Death, what will that make of the Reaper?

Junpei: I bet Ryoji here can take him down, no problem! 

Ryoji: I’d rather not stick around to find out. For your sakes.

—-

Ryoji: I was told you lost a close friend to the Dark Hour. I’m sorry for your loss.

Mitsuru: …Thank you, Ryoji-kun.

Akihiko: He’d want us to move forward. There’s no use dwelling in the past.

Ryoji: I guess you’re right. I’m here to help however I can. 

—-

Koromaru: *bark bark* 

Junpei: Hey… you think Koromaru sensed Ryoji’s true identity? 

Ken: Oh, do you mean because  of dogs’  intuition to ghosts and spirits? 

Fuuka: I don’t think Ryoji-kun’s just any ghost though..!

—-

Ryoji: Hey Takeba-san. Can I ask you something?

Yukari: I swear, if it’s you trying to ask me out again…

Ryoji: Oh, that’s not what I was gonna- Wait, do you want me to? Because-

Mitsuru: -I think I saw something important there, leader. Let’s check it out.

Ryoji: This feels too familiar.

—-

Junpei: Kyoto was so fun! School trips should happen more often. 

Yukari: *glare*

Junpei: Eep! 

Ryoji: Ah-! I-I swear, that wasn’t our intention! It was all a misunderstanding! Leader, tell her! 

—-

SP LOW: 

Mitsuru: Ryoji-kun. Make sure not to strain yourself. 

Ryoji: I’m fine, please don’t worry. I can’t let up in front of a pretty girl like you, now can I? 

—-

Fuuka: Leader… Ryoji seems tired. 

—-

If Makoto has low SP: 

Ryoji: You don’t look good…Please, pace yourself. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.

FTEs: (WIP)

Plant tending event

anddd thats it so far!! if this post ever needs updating, i definitely will!

thank you so much for reading! it really means a lot!

[nathaniacolver]

i feel like tumblr NEEDS to know about Dr. Ally Louks, and the term "Olfactory Ethics"

(long post incoming)

storytime/timeline:

on november 27, 2024, an excited English Literature PhD recipient posted a picture of herself with her thesis, titled:

"Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose"

as you can see (on the bottom row, above), the tweet has been viewed over 119 MILLION times, and has received over 250k likes. unfortunately, within days (most of the replies dating december 1st), she had garnered what seems like every possible insecure man with a twitter account to post their vitriol and rage concerning the fact that a woman is clearly more well-researched than them. regardless, she tanked it ALL with kindness and with a smile:

AND I MEAN VITRIOL (queen of making boundaries clear):

(inserting reading break for the timeline's space's sake):

here's her abstract:

and in case the abstract wasn't clear, she has since (date: december 16th) taken the time to re-summarize her thesis for the layman (yes that is a link! click it! 3min read!)

she has repeatedly shown just the perfect amount of kindness and understanding for those who are simply Not Comprehending (mostly december 1st):

(the chatGPT hate in the next one is my favorite:)

has upheld an incredibly high moral standard of how she interacts with the situation (december 2nd):

ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS: regardless of this crap, she made it clear that as a professor, her FIRST priority at the end of the semester would be taking care of them (december 3rd)

(CAN SHE GET MORE BASEDDDDDDDDDD)

she stays both 1) educating the masses, and 2) engaging with pop culture as much as a normal person would (december 9th-17th):

she also supports a free palestine (WHO IS SURPRISED. NOT ME.) ((december 15th))

here's the BEST FREAKING THING ABOUT THIS. since this all has happened, RANDOM TWITTER USERS, UNKNOWINGLY, have REPEATEDLY proven her thesis to be true,

again,

and again,

AND AGAIN.

EVEN CARDI B DO YOU HEAR MEEEEEEEE

COMBATING MISOGYNOIR WITH HER OWN BARE HANDSSSSS

oh she knows she's mother

here's some more she never saw/commented on (INCLUDING SOME FROM TODAY. IT IS STILL GOING ON. EVERY SINGLE DAY LIKE CLOCKWORK SOMEONE POSTS SOMETHING THAT PROVES HER POINTS ABOUT OLFACTORY ETHICS):

THE WICKED MOVIE REFERENCE HELLO

apparently, OTHER academics are mad at her for being so famous and influential, but she stays unbothered (december 16th, and TODAY, december 19th):

and she's partially getting her post-doc on how people's sense of smell has been altered (december 1st):

and the best part is!

all of these screenshots i've collected are only a SAMPLE, illustrating dr. louks' indomitably kind and ethical character.

anyway. i want ALL of y'all to start saying, out loud, "olfactory ethics", or even better, "dr. louks was RIGHT" (something something women's names are erased something) every time you see something that plays into her thesis. never let her influence die. THINK THROUGH what you're REALLY saying when you comment on the smell of something, or how your perception has been shaped by society. USE THIS PHOTO IF YOU HAVE TO:

follow her on twitter (@DrAllyLouks) or bluesky (idk her handle, if someone tells me i'll edit it in)

AND SAY HER NAME!! DR. ALLY LOUKS

[meowsticmarvels]

Does Phi want to live or die: an insane essay because I can't stop thinking about it [PART I]

hi!!! so i said not too long ago (like literally a few hours ago) that i'd been working on this analysis but considering this post is getting very long and tumblr's glitching and bugging out a lot (it's over 6k words!) i'm gonna post this part first as is as a little treat, and the second part will come a bit later once i write the rest of it. i'll link it here once it's done!

I've been meaning to write a proper analysis on Phi for a while (see my more proper grammar while writing this which is Unusual for me) and while there is too much of her I think abojt a lot to write ONE BIG ANALYSIS I think this topic is a pretty good one. There's a lot to be said in the wake of all of this on how Phi feels about herself and the roles she's meant to play and her own self-worth, the affects of Radical-6, and the impact the events of VLR have left on her onto ZTD (spoiler alert: it's trauma) which I will get into here. Will be up for further commentary if anyone has any + if there's any other particular topic I find interesting about her (I.e. her familial relationships, the matter of trust in her dynamics with others, her backstory/mysterious presentation and framing, or analyses where i could say how a hc would affect the narrative e.g. her being trans. id love to talk abojt that sometime.) i might get into that another time

i will preface this with a few notes:

1. If you're a little confused at why I'm even asking this it's because there's a bit of a disparity on if Phi seems to be okay with the idea of dying or not. it seems to vary by timeline and circumstance and by what the purpose of her death would be and THAT'S what I'm digging into. basically "is she okay with the idea of being a sacrifice". parts i will be looking at PRIMARILY will be K End and Another Time End in VLR and Fire / Outbreak (D-END 1) of ZTD, but others will be mentioned obviously

2. she is NOT okay with the idea of people dying FOR her and I will get into that also

3. Of course spoilers for VLR and ZTD will be in this post, and while 999 isn't really going to be discussed at all since she's not in that game by proxy as sequels they will spoil it too. So please I'd reccomend only reading this if you've played all 3 games and/or are okay with spoilers if you haven't. But I won't be giving exposition to the plot here.

4. Additionally, I'm going to warn for talks of a lot of death (obviously), trauma, and self destructive behavior/suicidal ideation. Radical-6 by nature IS going to cause this but the nature of the topic also means the things I'm going to be talking about in the way Phi views herself is going to be a little fucked up. She's fucked up.

5. Any screenshots used will likely be taken trom someone's playthrough or the LP Archive, however I'm planning on just inserting quotes into the text when possible.

anyways!!! here comes the analysis. LONG post incoming

TABLE OF CONTENTS (only I-VI are in this post)

- VLR -

I. SURVIVAL OF THE SELFISH

II. K END

III. RADICAL-6

IV. ANOTHER TIME

- ZTD -

I. SURVIVAL OF THE SELFISH

V. AFTERMATH

VI. FIRE

VII. OUTBREAK

VIII. SUPPRESSION

IX. SELF-DEFINITION

At the start of Virtue's Last Reward and throughout most of the plot mostly early game Phi could very well be described as a selfish person. She acts in her own self interest primarily and will betray others if it means guaranteeing her own survival. It's not that she's completely against cooperation, otherwise the end wouldn't happen, and she isn't willing to go so far as to kill to save herself, but this is still important to consider. One day I'll get more into the nature of trust and how she pushes people away but I'm just going to mention it a bit here. The nature of the AB Game requires complicated moral dilemmas like this. Some characters are more selfish or selfless than others and will betray or ally in specific circumstances, and during the start of VLR, Phi could definitely be seen as the latter.

SIGMA: Damn... you're pretty cold, you know that? PHI: I prefer bold, but whatever. I just don't let emotions get in the way.

This is an interesting line in of itself that she doesn't actually LIKE being perceived as cold - and states here that she just "doesn't let emotions get in the way". Which I assume is both her own and other people's. Despite her cold and unemotional demeanor she does really feel a lot of things quite deeply, as evidenced by Way too many scenes for me to list, it's just something she tries not to let get in the way of decision making. Usually. This is important. But what's also important is her actual opinion on acting this way, on routes where she talks about the Prisoner's Dilemma:

PHI: In this game, if each individual acts for the benefit of the whole group, everyone benefits. But if everyone starts looking out for themselves, it'll impact the group negatively... And eventually it'll impact them negatively too. If all of us choose "betray" then the group gets 0 points. Ultimately, nobody benefits. Not even the individual. In other words, selfish but logical decisions hurt everyone, and they hurt you.

before I get into what this means, I'll also bring up this segment:

SIGMA: What you're saying is that I should pick "ally". PHI: No. I mean the opposite. SIGMA: What?! PHI: If you're going to make the most logical choice here, the only option is "betray". SIGMA: What?! Why?! You just explained why that was a terrible idea! PHI: No, I didn't. It's not the prisoner's solution. It's the prisoner's dilemma. Even though there's an outcome where everybody's happy, the choice you'd have to make for that outcome isn't the rational one. You want to pick it, but you can't. A dilemma.

This is at its core the heart of how the AB Game works, really. The ideal of the game WOULD be for everyone to Ally and escape together, which is what happens in Phi End, but not with countless (we see 20+) other timelines in which that doesn't happen because of various reasons that people can't cooperate or die too soon. It's a dilemma. You can't really guarantee how the other person will act, unless it's someone like Dio or Luna who will almost exclusively Betray or Ally respectively, but even they don't always act that way and have reasons for doing so. It's incredibly difficult and perhaps even ridiculous to expect all 9 players - all strangers - to vote Ally, especially with preconceived notions of eachother and secret personal goals to escape. And Phi is incredibly conscious of this. She knows she can't trust anyone to for sure Ally, but Betraying is a "safe" option especially in the first round and the more logical to protect yourself. Even if it means getting others into the 1 BP territory. She plays the game carefully. Even though in the first round she isn't actually supposed to know that dropping to 0 BP or below will kill you and only really knows because of morphogenetic field/time jump stuff, based on that inexplicable feeling she acts this way. The fact that everyone Allies in Phi End at the later point is almost a fucking miracle.

There's a lot I could go into in terms of Phi and the nature of trust in the AB Game but my main focus for bringing this up is protecting herself to survive. A desire to stay alive, in some way, e.g. instances where she has only 1 BP.

In contrast to all the Phi End talk here's the "everyone Betrays" scenario on tbe way to Alice End. Naturally Betraying when going against Dio is the logical option but there's a LOT of risk involved here.

ALICE: Two other people just tried to kill someone! SIGMA: Phi and Dio. ALICE: Yes! If Dio had chosen "ally", Phi would have killed Tenmyouji. And if she'd chosen "ally", Dio would have killed her.

Funnily enough this is not the only time Dio attempts to kill Phi (see: Dio End which Phi also DOES retaliate at him for. i love violence). But my point is here the weight in the decisions here. Both Allying OR Betraying is insanely risky for Phi in this scenario. An Ally, and Dio has no qualms with letting her die. With Tenmyouji out of the picture to take care of Quark, Betraying is the safest option. Even Alice says it's a "valid defensive move". But what's really interesting is the conversations this sparks.

TENMYOUJI: Hmph. Hard to trust someone who tried to kill me. PHI: Same to you. I told you letting Dio vote was a stupid idea. What did you think he was going to do? You might as well have pressed the button yourself! TENMYOUJI: I couldn't just leave Quark alone. PHI: That's no excuse. And where do you get off telling me I shouldn't have picked "betray"? Did you even think that through? What, I was supposed to pick "ally"? If I'd done that, I'd be dead right now! TENMYOUJI: I could say the same thing to you! Damn good thing Dio didn't choose "ally"!

This conversation is so so interesting to me. It puts a rift between Phi and Tenmyouji where there wasn't before because the other could've been killed, and Dio stands in the way of all of this by virtue of voting for Tenmyouji. There's a LOT I could say here especially on Tenmyouji's sake about Quark, but my focus is Phi here. Take a look at the text I put in bold above - "If I'd done that, I'd be dead right now". Which doesn't mean a whole lot on its own other than that Phi is willing to protect her own life at this point, but keep this in mind for future reference as it's a major contrast from a lot of other things she says on the topic of death.

II. K END

I'm not going to preface this by listing everything that happens in this ending, but all you need to know is at the point I'm focusing on, eventually K(yle), Dio, and Phi need to go through one of the white Chromatic Doors together. That's the only way they can go through. Dio is killed and has his bracelet smashed and nonfunctional which leaves both Kyle and Phi up for a penalty. Death. That's the gist of it, at least. Of course I know that Kyle was the one that killed Dio and smashed his bracelet in a fucked up way of seeing if Sigma would pick Phi or him as a method of testing his father's love, but really, the focus of my analysis here is on Phi as one of the sole remaining survivors in this ending. Many of the lines in this end are self-explanatory so I won't comment too much on the ones I selected but I pulled a few I felt were relevant.

PHI: Go on ahead, Sigma. You have those bracelets K gave you, right? You should be able to get through the secondary door with those. So just— SIGMA: Fuck that! You know I can't just ditch you guys like that!

^ Phi is surprisingly okay with the idea of Sigma just leaving them to die (likely since him staying behind puts his life at risk too, and as will be shown she does not like the idea of people dying for HER)

More text incoming as Sigma decides to have Phi be the one to be saved with the neostigmine due to Kyle's armor and Sigma not even thinking about himself. This is one of the most interesting parts of the route to me:

PHI: S-Sigma... What the hell...did you... SIGMA: I injected you with neostigmine... It's a type of cholinesterase inhibitor...It's the antidote to the muscle relaxant... PHI: Why did you...pick...me?

A bit self explanatory here and will make a bit more sense when discussing Fire but I really like Phi asking why she would be the one to survive. It's interesting IDK

PHI: No... Screw this... I don't want...to live if it means...being in debt...to you... No...goddamn...way... I'm not...gonna...

Once again pay very close attention to the highlighted text. That particular line is fucking fascinating to me. There's the idea of a "debt" to be paid with sacrifice here, as if she feels she owes Sigma some eternal debt that she can never repay in this timeline. And that's not worth living for in her eyes. She doesn't want to live with that weight. But she's doomed, in a tragic way, to survive it. I'll continue more on this idea when I get to Fire in ZTD on the nature of Phi being incredibly against sacrifices made for her life to be saved, but for now I think it's just worth pointing out how much she hates the idea. Hell this dialogue implies she would rather have just been let to die than to live with Sigma's sacrifice weighing on her and that's fucking interesting. And also really sad. Being forced to live in a doomed timeline where only a few people are alive is almost worse (if memory serves right I think Quark is still alive here but then again he's a 10 year old child). Nothing is elaborated on further in this timeline as Phi passes out from the anesthetic and Sigma and Kyle die, but this is a timeline where she's doomed to wake up eventually to their dead bodies. Not many people are left here other than Quark and maybe Luna. It's a dead end.

III. RADICAL-6

I was going to have to talk about Radical-6 eventually, wasn't I. Before I really get into this I'll mention the obvious: one of Rad6's main symptoms is causing suicidal ideation. This isn't shown outright with Phi in particular at any point, but she does show the symptoms, in its most extreme way, in Clover End.

SIGMA (NARRATION): In the middle of the lake of blood, like an island of flesh, were bodies. They were a bloody tangle of lifeless limbs and dead eyes, with too much blood and chaos for me to tell who was who. Had they sliced themselves open? Or stabbed one another? I couldn't tell.

Phi slices her own throat.

The effects of Rad6 are, obviously not actually a person's real intentions nor are they thinking clearly to do so, but it's still worth addressing in this case because Phi will very likely remember this ending in Zero Time Dilemma. She very well has the possibility to remember what it's like to feel feelings exacerbated and caused by the virus and the act of suicide itself because of all the esper shenanigans possible here. So although this says little about Phi's ACTUAL intentions and opinions towards death because of Rad6's influence, it's still a point I felt was worth mentioning due to that. And it's hard to discuss the topics of death and suicide without bringing up Rad6 in some capacity.

IV. ANOTHER TIME

As stated I'll go into Another Time End a little bit but mostly just exploring the idea of more doomed timelines here. This is where I managed to put the dialogue from failing to disarm the bombs in Phi End.

PHI: Our time's up. This is it. Before...well, before it ends... I wanted to tell you thanks. You knew we were about to die, but you still stuck with me. A lot of people wouldn't have done that. You're a good person. There's...one more thing. ...I'm glad I met you. The moment I saw you, you seemed...familiar. Anyway, thanks. It looks like our time's almost up. Hopefully the others will make it. There isn't much hope for us, though. I think this is— SIGMA: Don't you dare say "goodbye." PHI: ...What? SIGMA: We'll meet again. Somewhere. Somewhen. I guarantee it.

Sigma is right, by the way, in terms of things like SHIFTing its entirely possible he was alluding to that here, but it's the sentiment that matters. Dying is not either of their decisions at that point, and a cruel fate since this timeline only exists when neither of them can find the necessary passwords. And god is this interesting. Granted this says more about how much Sigma actually truly meant to Phi as much as she refuses to admit it but I still feel it's relevant. This is what happens when a threat of death becomes fate. I want to point out a specific part of that segment just because it's really interesting to me:

PHI: [...] You knew we were about to die, but you still stuck with me. A lot of people wouldn't have done that. [...]

I can't really explain why I like this line so much. But this entire part is a really interesting moment of an example of character growth, even if it spans however many timelines Phi ended up seeing and jumping between. And this line... I don't know. I'm not sure if it's a comment on that most people wouldn't stick with her specifically or just most people are selfish by nature, but either way I really like it. The focus of this analysis isn't Sigma and Phi's incredibly close dynamic even though they rarely will actually admit how much they mean to each other but it's so so necessary to think about I think. Despite everything, all the deaths and betrayal and hardship, Phi's glad she met Sigma. On the topic of character growth and/or Phi caring about others more than she lets on, though, there's also this part from the same excerpt:

PHI: [...] Hopefully the others will make it. There isn't much hope for us, though. [...]

It's important to think about the fact that Phi isn't completely selfish and cruel. She has her moments and is notoriously very cold and blunt but is nowhere NEAR the level of selfish that people like Dio reach and at least cares enough about the safety of others to hope they're okay. There's way too much other evidence for me to bring up the fact that she does actually care about people more than she lets on (especially Sigma and Quark most notably), so I'm not going to bring up every single piece of evidence that proves this but there's a lot. My point is that even though she has her relatively selfish and cold moments in VLR a lot of them can already be justified as an act of self-defense AND she's got a lot of actually genuinely caring moments beneath face value. She's just got a bit of a prickly exterior and isn't really used to people getting close. And by this end she's already begun to warm up to getting a bit closer to the participants of the third Nonary Game (bar Dio obviously she still very much hates him in this timeline)

This is relevant because very soon I'll be getting into the changes she goes through between VLR's Phi End and ZTD, so really understanding how she operates throughout VLR is necessary for really getting into the change. Setting up a basis for how she acted before and contrasting it to her ZTD characterization - that's pretty much what I'm doing here.

I want to go more into Another Time END a bit later (in the context of D-END 1 and in the context of her self-definition) but I'm putting this quote here for necessity and to get you thinking. Pay very close attention to the text I put in bold.

PHI: I'm kind of an unknown variable in this situation. You could think of me as a kind of... x-factor. It's taken me the last three and a half months to understand it. ?: And I haven't understood anything in the last three and a half seconds. Could you please explain? PHI: It's kind of like the relationship between classical mechanics and modern physics. Strictly speaking, you can't combine velocities with (v1 + v2). (v1 + v2) / (1 + (v1 x v2) / c^2) is the actual equation. Of course, the sort of velocities we encounter in day-to-day life don't come close to being c^2, which is the speed of light squared. That means that (1 + (v1 x v2) / c^2) is usually going to evaluate to something pretty close to 1. Since that would mean dividing by 1, it's usually okay to just skip that step and use (v1 + v2). You see what I'm saying? In most situations it works, even if it isn't technically correct.

And this, from the part where Sigma and Phi jump back in time to stop Dio from killing Akane. I don't have too much commentary on it but in the grand scheme of things I felt it needed to go somewhere.

SIGMA: People have died for this. I mean, let's count how many different ways people died... Murder, antimatter explosion, suicide... I've died. So has Phi. So have you.

V. AFTERMATH

AKANE: The purpose of the AB Project was to send the two of you into the past. Or your minds, at least. In order for that to happen, some death was necessary. When a human brain is faced with danger, its processing speed increases. Information is processed more quickly, and time almost seems to slow—a few seconds can feel like an eternity.

I don't think I have to prove that the events of all three main Games across the ZE series are incredibly traumatic for everyone involved. Junpei in ZTD is the most extreme representation of this but practically nobody really leaves any of these games the same. Granted, danger is necessary for a SHIFT to occur - as stated above and in many other parts of the series danger increases esper abilities - but this does not make the presence of danger any LESS catastrophic to Fucking You Up Quite A Bit. Most espers end up remembering their own deaths by the end of it all. While one of the less obvious cases, Phi does seem to clearly be damaged quite a bit by the events of VLR at least in my opinion.

She has virtually no dialogue in the written Prologue, so instead the best I'm getting for this part of the game is the flashback in Fire with her and Diana:

DIANA: Something the matter? PHI: No, not really... It's been three days since I came to Dcom… But nothing's happened. Nothing strange at all…

[...]

PHI: Hey, Diana. I want to ask you something... Would you mind…giving me a hug? DIANA: …Huh? PHI: I'm just... really tired...

I don't think I have to go into detail how especially the last part is a stark contrast from how she acts throughout almost all of VLR. She lets herself be vulnerable and exposed to Diana in a way she really doesn't allow other to people see here and it's so fascinating to me. Diana is someone she can trust to let down her barriers. Someone Phi can actively ask for support when she needs it as much as she doesn't want to admit she does. Their dynamic is REALLY interesting and what this is really indicative of is too I think. The first quote brings up her, Sigma, and Akane's time at DCOM specifically to stop the spread of Radical-6 - and they've got a few days of DCOM where nothing happens. Only a few, granted, mentally Phi has just experienced VLR and went straight to DCOM afterwards, but even these few days feel strange now that nothing's happening. After experiencing the insanity that is VLR this completely makes sense that it's just weird to be in some sort of neutral zone where nothing's happening but it's STATED to happen. And it does, the Decision Game happens later, but how does it feel to just be in wait? The second quote is interesting, also, as she lays it out plainly: she's tired. Maybe this is just situational and not a result of exhaustion or anything similar but I do believe it definitely impacted her to a great amount - as evidenced by her change in behavior to ZTD. She's much more trusting and has learned that since, but much more self-sacrificing at the same time. These next few quotes I'll elaborate on more in the self-definition segment, but they're important:

DIANA: "Not even gods can return to the past, so live in the moment so you have no regrets." That's not the right interpretation? PHI: Well, if you take it at face value. I guess that'd make sense, if I was a normal human being. DIANA: Does that mean that you're not?

This is what Phi and Diana say about Phi's brooch - "Not even jupiter can find a lost opportunity". Phi's wording is interesting, here - she's talking about her status as an esper, but as of this point in the story that's something Diana's not supposed to know (never mind her being one), but her phrasing as labelling herself "not a normal human being" is really really interesting. She certainly isn't, but it feels all the more permanent - can she ever go back? Will she ever be able to? What's considered 'normal' to her? Similarly,

PHI: Hey, this isn't normal, right? DIANA: It is. You're a completely normal girl, Phi.

Not a lot I can say here - I want to roughly try to stay on topic, but in terms of analysis I really like this line. Phi doesn't consider what she's doing 'normal', at least not with someone she barely has met. I also really like Diana's response to this; she reassures Phi by telling her that this is normal, what she's feeling is okay and normal to feel, and she is too. While Phi isn't 'normal' by definition of not being an esper, despite the weight of the world on her shoulders and her cold exterior she is still human. She's not perfect, she DOES feel things, and that's okay. This has gone slightly off topic but I feel like this part's worth mentioning somewhere in the grand scheme of things or for ANY analysis at all, and will be brought up again in the self-definition section. But there's more to Phi and Diana's relationship once the actual Decision Game begins, and what it means for Phi's idea of her own self-worth.

VI. FIRE

SYSTEM: Incinerator startup... will now commence. Incineration in... thirty minutes.

This is the big one. The big fragment I've been building to, and part of the reason I wrote this analysis at all instead of focusing on a different theme related to Phi such as family or trust (both interesting still, though). Once again, I won't preface this by explaining the fragment - but here, Phi's in the incinerator (reminiscent of 999...). A lot of the way she acts here is of major interest to me, especially after the puzzle room - notably she's incredibly self-sacrificing. I won't say that she's completely apathetic to her death, because she isn't:

PHI: I need to stop firing myself up or else I really will be… PHI: ...Stay calm, Phi.

But, I mean, who wouldn't when placed with the threat of burning to death. It's a slow and painful way to die, at that. But you'll see a lot throughout this fragment is Phi's mentality of "rather me than them" - as painful as death is, at this point she'd rather be the martyr to save their lives than the opposite.

PHI: Diana and Sigma are over there... Damn! Why am I here... But it's better that I'm the only one who got locked in.

At this point she doesn't know her death would save their lives (the true rules of the decision in this fragment haven't been revealed), but is still willing to be the martyr as she's the only one currently at risk of dying as far as all of D-Team knows. Maybe it's because she can SHIFT out, maybe it's because she sees herself as a worthy sacrifice, maybe it's both. This is also all the more noteworthy knowing she and Sigma both remember VLR - they've both died, both had to make sacrifices, and been through many of the same circumstances. Although where it is in their memory is different - for Phi it's mentally a few days prior and for Sigma it was decades ago but he's spent those decades creating it (and without the ability to talk to Phi) - that doesn't get rid of their bond. Phi's bond with Diana is a little different since the only scene they get is the flashback (if you want my personal opinion, I feel like Phi should have taken a bit longer to trust her or at least be wary; maybe not as slowly as it took her to trust Sigma, but it feels out of nowhere IMO. it could still show her development with coming to trust people but still provide an interesting and heartbreaking bond), but nevertheless still important. And then comes the decision.

DELTA: Diana, both of their lives rest upon your decision.

PHI: How dare you not consider everyone else's feelings, Sigma! What if the shot is a live bullet?! Do you really want Diana to end up blowing your head off with her own hands?!

What does Diana do? Sacrifice Phi's life for a guaranteed chance of saving Sigma? Or risk Sigma's life - a 50/50 chance of him living - to save Phi?

This analysis isn't about Sigma so I won't go too far into detail about his lines, but the important thing is that he's willing to risk his life for Phi - and it's the logical decision in his mind, since there's a chance of everybody living. If Phi dies, someone's guaranteed to die, but if Diana shoots Sigma, there's a 50% chance they all make it out alive. It's the more pragmatic decision, however Phi is very against it.

It feels a bit like the expected roles they'd play have reversed since VLR, or at least for a scenario like this. In a way, she's right - Sigma barely considers the fact that he might die. And the implication of her bringing up Diana is also a really interesting point of consideration that Sigma also doesn't think about - Phi knows Diana won't be able to handle the guilt of killing Sigma. She knows that, and in the timeline where that does happen, she's right. Sigma's sacrifice isn't just a simple detached death like with Phi's; if Diana chooses to shoot Sigma and he does die, she had an active role in his death. Which is sort of the complexity behind the trolley problem in the first place (it essentially is a sort of trolley problem - except there's a chance they'll both live and both victims are asking to be a martyr to save the other). I also want to call to attention Phi's specific wording of everyone; she mentions just Diana at the end, but given her difficulty with expressing her own feelings it doesn't feel like a stretch to assume that this is about her feelings too. Looking at her reaction in the ending where Sigma DOES die (which I will get to), it's clear she really can't bear to lose Sigma either. Not after everything. Not after all of this.

DIANA: But Phi, if I don't pull the trigger, you'll... PHI (facing away): Don't worry about me.

Like I said, she seems to believe herself to be expendable in this situation. Sigma can't die - she can't handle that, but in her eyes, she can. If it means he and Diana live. She basically asks Diana to let her be the sacrifice, even though there's a chance they can all make it out alive. I also will point out that while Phi had some moments of this in VLR, this is a stark contrast between her much more self-interested characterization there. Also, note what I wrote down in the quote - while ZTD's models aren't the best or the most expressive, I think it's an interesting detail that she faces away from them for a moment and while saying this. So what's Diana meant to do? Pull the trigger, and leave open the possibility of everyone living while it risks her killing Sigma? Or let Phi burn to death? Sigma wants her to pull it - it's the more pragmatic choice, they can all live, maybe - and Phi wants to ensure that Sigma won't die. Even if it means she burns to death. We're able to see all three options, but most of them aren't pretty.

As it's the shortest of all three options by a long shot, I'm going to first discuss Shoot: Live; where Diana shoots Sigma and he dies. There's not much to preface this with other than what's on the tin: Sigma has died by Diana's hand in an effort to save Phi.

PHI (crying): Why?! Why did you do it?! You murderer! Murderer! I wasn't... I didn't matter at all! I didn't...! I didn't...! So why... Why did you...

Yeah. It's a pretty heartbreaking route, and probably the most emotional Phi is seen as being apart from near the end where she yells at Delta, maybe. Every part of her that she's held together up to this point just falls apart. The subtitles/captions don't do it justice as her VA sounds a bit more like she's struggling to get out what she wants to say at all. Like as if she's so upset and broken by witnessing Sigma die right in front of her, and FOR her, that she basically breaks down right here. Hell, right after this line she stops actually saying anything and just cries until Diana picks up the gun. (side note: not to nitpick but the some of pauses here sound like the type of pause that would be used with an em dash rather than an ellipsis. take that as you will)

It's easy to wonder why she'd call Diana a murderer, of all things, considering the extremity of that accusation and Phi KNOWING she was forced into that situation, but once again you have to consider Phi's emotional state. It doesn't even sound like she's speaking clearly, and grief and trauma makes people do and say pretty fucked up things sometimes (and especially when it's someone so close to you. Phi also WATCHED Sigma die). Given the fact that she already didn't seem to be doing the best in the first place it mostly just seems to be something she said in the moment out of grief rather than an accusation with any real weight behind it. It's not completely out of nowhere - and may imply some sort of resentment towards Diana for choosing to pick that (which I will also get into in Shoot: Blank) - but my point is this line should be taken with a major grain of salt. Maybe some of it comes from somewhere, such as hidden feelings suddenly being vocalized and taken to their extreme, but not all of it may be how she really feels and just an inflation due to her mental state.

Another thing to consider is her constant questioning of why - why would Diana ever pick Sigma over her? Why would she make that decision? Phi can't fathom it. Even though Sigma did say it's the more logical situation because that means there's a chance they all could've survived, she still doesn't understand that she'd even be worth sacrifice. See the K End segment for more on Phi hating people - especially Sigma - sacrificing themselves for her (I'll get to it in Suppression but she seems to cope better when the death isn't FOR her to live, if it is she seems to deal with it a lot worse), but here its taken to its extreme.

I also need to point out the text in bold. It's so so important to this I think. She doesn't think she's worth the sacrifice. She didn't matter, doesn't matter, so why would Diana do it? Why would she risk Sigma's life? Again I'll point out that Phi's self-sacrificing nature here could be a result of many things; maybe because she can SHIFT out and she's done it before (too many times, maybe), maybe because she's just that willing to die for Sigma and Diana to live, maybe it's a mix of it all, and any of those could ring true here. But my point is that it seems like she doesn't understand Diana's decision or that she could really be worth dying for. She didn't matter, after all. (once again, take this with a grain of salt, but still.)

This route ends not long after this but I do want to mention how much of a horrifying dead end it is. Phi was right about Diana being unable to handle the guilt, and she kills herself - leaving Phi alone. On the topic of how Phi's more emotional here than before, she literally screams at the end of the fragment before the "Game Over" screen plays. This is the worst possible end to Fire, I think - two people die instead of the expected one, and the sole survivor is struggling to cope with even one of the two deaths she just witnessed. That was enough to cause her to break down completely. Adding onto that another death of someone she cares about, especially a suicide, is A Lot. For anyone it would be. It makes sense why it just ends right there; where else would it go, really, and anything that could happen is fairly bleak, but it's interesting to think about. Anthropic Principle confirms she lives, and considering the revelation that all of D-Team is poisoned from the start in Don't Shoot it implies she drank the antidote. But where does she even go from there? In the timeline where C-Team all dies, she ends up as the sole survivor, even. I don't know. But it's an interesting thing to think about for an absolutely heartbreaking and tragic end. It's a dead end, really. What's Phi meant to do now? After all this? After losing the people she cared about?

in the second part I'll continue starting from Shoot:Blank - but the rest of the analysis will go there. i'll link it in this post once it's done! i'll even include some deleted lines from Fire from TCRF because they're quite interesting ! feel free to leave any commentary you have (so far) in tags or replies because i'd love to hear :} (also note: everything up to near the end of Aftermath was written months ago, the rest was written in the past few days)

[faranae]

Rant incoming (OTW/AO3 funding)

Pardon the ramble, this has been going on for months (years technically) but I saw a post again today shared by someone moderately influential and it's a "straw that broke the camel's back" thing. I'll probably pop it later.

It hurts to see how vitriolic folks can be when it comes to the OTW's (Organization for Transformative Works) fundraising. The OTW is more than just a "fanfiction host". The work they do and have done, not just with AO3 but also their other projects and occasional legal advocacy, is important to some people.

Is the OTW perfect? No. Are they struggling for funds? Also no. But these "righteous" PSAs implying the OTW is super wealthy and donations are just throwing money into a fire are misleading at best and positively reek of semi-malicious intent at worst.

So why would anyone rage so hard and write PSAs over which harmless causes other people spend their disposable income in support of?

[tinfoil hat below the cut]

Could it be partly caused by the small (but vocal) fandom-adjacent cliques that astroturf to sabotage the OTW's public image at every opportunity because they're Big Mad that AO3 fights to preserve content they don't like?

Do you really believe that if they win re: the big-nope taboos they'll abandon efforts to sour the other topics they hate? For example, LGBTQ+ content (emphasis on the T, gotta protect them kids /s) has been targeted by these same groups--over literal decades of fandom history--as have works and content created by and for victims of various abuses.

[/tinfoil]

I do not personally support the aforementioned big-nope taboos, but censorship in fandom is a slippery slope that we have fallen down before and I do not want to see that happen again.

I'm NOT saying everyone complaining about the OTW/AO3 fundraising is campaigning for or agrees with the TERFs/bigots et al who seed this shit into our communities, far from it. I am saying it is painfully obvious when a post is blindly parroting their rhetoric (which has often been carefully trimmed and presented in a way that appeals to them).

Next time you see a post hating on something (anything, really) out of nowhere, take a second to think about where they are getting their info, and whether or not that source is credible. For fuck's sake, I've even seen fake screenshots of the OTW's website tweaked just enough to "prove" their points. It's childish.

"But they have a couple million in net assets! They're not allowed to have savings!! They're a nonprofit!!!"

No, no, no. Perfect example of the "parroting" I mentioned earlier. Net assets are not cash. That is the value of everything in and owned by the OTW combined minus their debts/liabilities, not how much they have in the bank.

The OTW is pretty transparent about how much it brings in and where the money goes; They have to do this by law to maintain their nonprofit status. Hell, they'll even toss you the numbers if that's your schtick.

Again, not perfect, but nowhere near as greed-riddled as has been implied by so many posts on my dash over the past couple months. I think I'm more just upset at seeing people I know and respect falling for it hook line and sinker. It makes me angry to think about the people I love being manipulated by folks who seem to be allies, but who are simply waiting for permission to destroy us next.

/endrant

[th-chen]

1. Interactivity, Narrative, and "Battlefield 1"

I just finished my BF1 gameplay about 30 seconds ago, and the lecture topic "Games and Narrative: Opposing Elements?" came to mind.

Just like many other shooting games, there are campaign and multiplayer modes in BF1. In campaign mode, the player experiences the true story of what once happened to a man during WW1. In multiplayer mode, all the player needs to do is aim, shoot, and drive.

The narrative of the campaign mode in Chapter 1 “Storm of Steel” is quite different if the character the player is controlling dies, after showing their name and date of birth and death on the screen, you'll switch to another character on the same battlefield, sometimes the one you switch are allies, the one besides your previous character but can do nothing but watching you died, sometimes you will switch to the enemy, the one just killed your previous character. And this cycle happened again and again. “As you and your fellow Hellfighters desperately try to push back the incoming German forces, you’ll meet death time and time again, but it won’t necessarily be your fault. Sometimes death is awkwardly forced upon you if you end up surviving longer than the script expects, because death is part of the plan.”(Chloi Rad, Battlefield 1 Review, post on IGN,2017)

Fig 1.The cinematic cutscene of BF1 Chapter 1. Storm of Steal.

Fig 2.The screenshot of the BF1 gameplay in Chapter 1. A goosebump moment: One German soldier and a USA soldier aiming at each other.

Not gonna lie, my tears dropped at the end of the chapter. The narrative style shows the cruelty and nonsense of war, you will be lost after several times of side-switching, for those soldiers who fight in the front "No one is right, no one is wrong." The best campaign game I've ever played in my life.

So, are games(interactivity) and narrative the opposing elements? My answer is "No", they are both important elements that create a game, of course, if there's 0% interactivity and it can't be called a game, we call it a Movie, novel…etc. On the other hand, we can still build games with 0% narrative. Most of the time these two elements are complementary, interactivity 30% +narrative 70% or 50:50. But this time the campaign of BF1 did such a wonderful job, you feel everything while shooting continuously.

The boundary between interactivity and narrative can be broken, and when it happens, it is the birth of a masterpiece.

Bibliography: Battlefield 1 review - IGN (2017). https://www.ign.com/articles/2016/10/21/battlefield-1-review.

Fig1&2. Ruba (2016) Battlefield 1 - Storm of Steel - All cutscenes (Cinematic). https://www.youtube.com/watchv=0JFNDl1ZC7Q.

[planetary-wolf]

After checking FB while a video renders and uploads....

Someone on my FB posted about Joe Biden pardoning his son, saying it's ONE OF THE MOST CORRUPT THINGS A PRESIDENT HAS EVER DONE

so i sent a link of a wiki article of all the pardons Trump has done, along with a screenshot of the specific part about his political allies he pardoned

"WELL IT WAS HIS SON, THATS AS PERSONAL AS IT GETS"

so i sent an article about other presidents who have pardoned family members, which trump is also included in, and i said something like "yeah it's bad but he's not the only one dude"

"ITS STILL ONE OF THE MOST CORRUPT THINGS (etc)"

so someone else commented about the incoming DOJ and how he'd "absolutely protect his son"

op said "it's still corrupt!! hunter biden was fairly convicted because he did commit those crimes!!!"

the commenter responded, i shit you not:

"honestly I don't really care"

lowkey based and idk why

[ferociousqueak]

YOU GUYS

The inimitable and generous @syzara gifted me MELE!!!!

I can’t tell you how touched I am or how long the hug will be if I ever do get to meet her in real life :D

Only a little over an hour to go!!!

I AM EXCITE

THANK YOU @syzara!!

[writer-and-thrasher]

D20 Auction Tracker!

Hey, all! Because the Dimension 20 auction got super expensive -- like, immediately -- and because I'm a massive nerd who wants to earn my proficiency in Google Sheets / Microsoft Excel, I'm working on spreadsheets to track the cost of the auction (and posting it both here and TikTok so I can show it to others)! Also, spoiler alert for A Crown of Candy if you haven't seen it!

But first! The procedures!

Start with all of the beginning data.

Honestly, this was the easy part. Each D20 mini cost $50 at the beginning of the auction, and at $50 multiplied by 25 minis, the starting total cost was $1250. From here, though, I broke things down into different categories that I felt appropriate. First, I broke the minis into how they interacted in the world. Most of these were obvious, such as PCs and NPCs, but I quickly realized that I needed different categories from here. Not only are they selling minis for PCs that were never used, but the NPCs can break down into different types as well.

Additionally, I was curious about how each country in Calorum would fare in this. It made sense that Candians would be bid on for the highest amounts, but I wondered about the other countries, regardless of if they were allies or enemies. From here, I proceeded to create each country as its own category, as well. At the end of the beginning, my spreadsheet looked like this:

I created the category "PC+Unused" to account for backup characters that didn't need to exist because the original character didn't die, and (mostly out of curiosity), I added a category for NPCs that had been named.

2. Figure out how to use Sheets.

This part was a bit of a challenge, especially with the different categories I wanted to use. I didn't want to add everything together individually, so I had to learn how to use the algorithms on Sheets to just input the data for me. It was difficult, but once I got things set up, I could copy and paste for the most part.

One more complicated aspect of this was the Change columns. I wanted to represent the changes between each preceding week, but there's no real formula for that. While it took a long time to tweak, I eventually got it figured out. Now, looking at any data set, you can see the change between all of the previous columns in order!

3. Plug in and go!

I decided to test my skills with 48hr and 72hr checks to make sure everything was working well, and it was!

There are some interesting observations that I've noticed so far:

The Meatlands actually went down between the 48hr and 72hr checks, though this may be largely attributed to the fact that there were only four of them, and Hamdog went from being $1500 to $1100. While I don't entirely understand how that works in an auction, this did decrease the amount that the Meatlands was supplying to the overall cost of each mini, especially with total costs increasing over $1k in that timeframe.

Additionally, the range shrunk in this timeframe. While it didn't shrink by much, the fact that the most costly mini (Liam's) didn't change in cost indicates that the bottom floor for the minis is continuing to increase. In fact, 20 minutes after I took my 72hr screenshots, the lowest cost for a mini was not below $600.

I feel that it is worth saying at this time that there are two things existing at once. I am personally very glad that Dropout is able to use this auction to raise money for future episodes and for charity, and I think an auction was the perfect way to do this for their goals. Their minis are beautiful, and I'm really happy to see that so many people recognize the talent and work that goes into them. Also, as a first generation, low income college student... it does suck a bit that I immediately couldn't participate. I'm glad for Dropout, but a bit bummed out for me and others who couldn't drop $600 on a mini. I also think that this demonstrates some serious discrepancies between many members of the TTRPG community. This isn't inherently a bad thing, but it's worthy of recognition.

I'll update this post as soon as I have information following the last of the auction -- and considering that it's a popcorn style auction, it may go past the 12pmPST end time. But, I'll have some hard numbers for all of you, as well as predictions for the next three weeks!

[threetrenchcoatsinatrenchcoat]

Has anyone checked if Ally Beardsley from CollegeHumor is immortal srs answers only pls essay incoming

Okay so Aubrey Beardsley was a seminal late 19th century English ink artist and writer in the Aesthetic and Art Nouveau movements, depicting the grotesque, the erotic, the shocking, some contemporary political satire, and many androgynous and generally gnc figures. Beardsley was suspected of homosexuality, had gay references in his work and was confirmed to fraternize with local queers, including Oscar Wilde.

Not only is this exactly what Ally would’ve been doing in Victorian England, the name is nigh identical, being trans is a great justification to not show baby pictures that don’t exist, and maybe this guy who supposedly died in the 1890s cut some kind of deal that inspired Oscar Wilde to write about a man who would always stay young and beautiful... And look at them both:

[IMAGE IDS: First image, a monochrome portrait of Aubrey Beardsley, a young, white man in shirt, vest, Victorian jacket, and bow-tie with short hair and a neutral expression facing right of artist. Second image, a screenshot of Ally Beardsley from Game Changer: Survivor Part 2, a young, white non-binary person in a dark button-up and red-tinted glasses with short hair and a neutral expression facing right of camera. Honestly, they don’t look that similar. END IDS]

[battlecrazed-axe-mage]

And so, you have walked through the end. How was it? The walk, the final dungeon/trial, and that last fight. Lay it all out on the table for us

Ohhh gosh. This is going to be a long one, bear with me. Naturally, major end-of-Endwalker spoilers incoming

So we picked up the game at the Omicrons' section and went through to the end of 6.0 in a sitting. I bawled from the moment Alphinaud said the only way forward was for the two of them to sacrifice themselves, so I could walk on, to the moment Hyth and Emet showed up. All my friends' sacrifices cut deep but those were my KIDS, my BABIES, I told myself if nothing else, I'd make sure they were safe ;-; And there they are, throwing themselves into the void to keep ME safe.

Destroyed me. The endwalk was beautifully done. It really drove home that even when you're totally and completely alone...you're not alone. You have friends and allies and people who love you, all pulling for you. I was openly weeping through that whole section--up til a certain pair showed up

(Hyth applauding from an upper box like BRAVO, BRAVO)

(Look. Okay. I cannot interpret these comments in any other way than Partner A being lowkey resentful that you spend more time with Partner B. For the love of the star, my guy, just ask Azem to spend more time with you, that's all you gotta do here)

(Narrator voice: he would not)

TEARS AGAIN

HI BABY BIRB I'M HERE TO SAVE YOU

This part's a lot of screenshots so I'm gonna link to the post instead but. The part where Emet gives you a whole list of places to go and things to see. That was him going "you're not my Azem. But you're an Azem, and I know how to handle those. I'm going to motivate you the best way I know how to survive this fight. Because part of them has to live on."

Quick break to cry and gpose in the flowers

(This game gave me glowy rainbow flowers it's so good to me)

I am going to think of this the next time I see a massive flock of tiny birds in the sky. Okay, let's fight

Oh you are KIDDING me, I exclaim into the call with my raid group, who are helping with this part

KAY GUESS WE'RE DOIN THIS

The fight was VERY cool, especially the part where you have to block her big hit with a tank LB, and she goes to rewind it--only to meet with your friends helping you out

And then YOU get to enrage for once!!! Finally!!!!!

Of course we can, baby bird <33333 We have never not been friends. Welcome home <3

DON'T MIND ME I'LL JUST BE HERE CRYING FOREVER

;u; <333

AND THEN THERE'S THIS ASSHOLE

I have a feeling that is a lie

Man. I genuinely do feel for Zenos. Imagine being him. Imagine not having a single other person to connect to, because you were never taught how to make connections with other people. How very lonely his life must be. This is the fictional overpowered high-fantasy version of the dude who gets in fistfights because that's the only way he knows to achieve physical contact with another person.

How sad his life must be.

Kay, guess we're doin this

Y'all. They made that fight SO cool. The multiple-lives mechanic, the way everything flowed, it really did feel different from any other part of the game. Now I get the "A TEST OF YOUR REFLEXES" memes I've seen around. Delightful.

God damn I've actually hit the photo limit for a single post, which I had no idea existed. Continued in a reblog, I guess!

[maya-malfoy1012]

Right! Hello! It’s episode 4 (of TDJ) time. I watched this ages ago but life got in the way, so that’s why there’s been a bit of a pause from my episode reactions. So, my review/thoughts won’t be quite as in-depth as I will be referring to (my page-long) notes. But I hope they’re still entertaining!!

[Terrible quality screenshots are incoming]

I want to start off by saying that I really enjoyed this episode, I feel like it was set up nicely into 4 different sections: The court case/the Mum (Acting as the “net”, i.e the sequence of events which will lead to Daddy Bandit getting his revenge) The Dinner Party (The people he will be rounding up) J.S.A’s character reveal (The “hitch” in this plan) The backstory (The reason for the revenge)

I enjoyed Ji Sung’s acting choices in this episode, I feel like it's the first time we see real nuances to his characterisation of Daddy Bandit. I personally really enjoyed the way he interacts with Nam Jang in one of the opening scenes. He’s acting like Mister Big Bollocks but as soon as she turns away, he deflates just enough for us to know that something is going on with him. I really appreciate that subtly. 

In terms of the revenge storyline, I like it but I do think it’s a little convenient for the plot. However, I do believe there’s something else going on beyond what we know (otherwise it’ll be too easy). I like the way he punished Nam Jang and her son (reminds me of SPOILER the rapist and his dad’s punishment from The Crowned Clown); although, I wish… right, okay, when it came to the flagellation scenes, I just wished they had used a whip, or flog, or the cat of nine tails, etc. instead of using a belt. It just didn’t have the same impact (ba dum tss), for me at least. I love the concept of the punishment and how it enraged Nam Jang, forcing her to show a lack of care towards another child. [also the Daddy Bandit cult uprising???? hello!!! that is scary]

The dinner scene…. Well….. I’m going to ignore Gaon for a sec because I have thoughts about him and instead, want to focus on Daddy Bandit being clever. I like how he’s brought Gaon into the picture and showed him the people he intends on murdering/getting revenge on (not that Gaon can see that). I like the last episode of Squid Game vibes for the dinner sequence.

I like how the classical music crescendoed to a point where the visuals and music were claustrophobic in nature.

[Side note: the sexual assault scene made me very uncomfortable because of the lack of action from the other characters. Which definitely seemed like the intended purpose and of course, for it to be something egregious enough that J.S.A broke her facade to reveal her true dominatrix Mother self…. I love this for her, I wasn’t surprised by it but I do like this choice for her character. I feel like she’s going to be such a headache and perhaps… an “ally” turned villain turned “ally” turned… so on and so on.] The actual church scene had some very nice pacing. I did find some of the choices to be a little obvious (the “rich people are scumbags” narrative and the way the fireman stole the watch… the way none of the paramedics cared to check on a burnt man and an unconscious child??? ALSO, smoke inhalation is more dangerous than fire, so they probably both would have died or become brain damaged from that level of exposure) BUT I found the sequence overall to be so tragic. Also this shot:

Is so renaissance painting… it’s frankly beautiful. The religious imagery throughout this show is really tastefully done!! I love to see it! [I feel like this shot reference an actual painting but I can't figure out which one] Also…. Daddy Bandit is Phantom of the Opera CHURCH (especially with that chalandier drop)

Okay… now onto Gaon. WHAT IS THIS BOY’S PROBLEM??? Why is he still living at DB's gothic mansion??? Why is he acting like Madame of the house? He’s bonding with his new stepdaughter/niece. He's getting reallllllly comfortable, even referring to the room he sleeps in as "his" room.... duddddeee! (gender neutral) How embarrassing! The clothes-changing scene had SO much queer-subtext that it is basically 100% text. Also, Daddy Bandit really brought his twink to a work event as his plus one and really confirmed to the audience (and himself) that Gaon is not interested in women... and actually, sexual advances/flirtatious attention from them (or any age) make him uncomfortable.

I found the unneeded physical contact to be sooooo telling. [also the opposite - almost yin and yang - colour scheme is interesting... the way Gaon's silhouette is quite "feminine"...]

ALSO also!! Is Gaon going around wearing Daddy Bandit’s clothes?

Cause, unless I missed something, they’ve not shown him going home, he hasn’t gone shopping, D.B hasn’t gone shopping… sooo??? This guy is really out here investigating his employer (with whom he lives) whilst wearing his undies. COME ON!!! he's so silly

Also TDJ and BE both have their twinks directly (and with WAY too much confidence) accusing their love interest of murdering their sibling. I just wished BE had given us Dong Sik pinning Joo Won against the wall by the throat…. Joo Won would have cried his eyes out (and just died from being too horny) whereas Gaon was super into it??? This BOY!!! I can’t! (he really said "choke me harder, daddy bandit!! prove to me you didn't kill your sibling whilst awakening a kink in me")

Anyway, yes, I wrote more notes but I don’t remember what they mean anymore. But overall, I really did enjoy this episode the most so far. I hope my ramblings are amusing! Bye for now :)

SO, hi! I'm so slow in replying to ask helpp but tbf to myself this week's been hectic (currently writing this as my sir bails on my session T-T).

Episode 04, that fucker.

So, my review/thoughts won’t be quite as in-depth as I will be referring to (my page-long) notes. But I hope they’re still entertaining!!

I love hearing your thoughts, it doesn't matter if it's in depth or not 😂 Besides how could I not find your thoughts on Hoodie-Daddy-Trauma Bandit lmao

Imo, TDJ so far has done a very good job of sectioning off arcs, scenes and interactions. (A bit derailing thought but storyline wise) Gaon is subjected to this divide between Kang Yohan the Chief and Kang Yohan the man who roams the rouse in robes and although there's certain overlaps between the two personas ("I saw him driving recklessly" "Did you see something else?"), Gaon doesn't necessarily make it a point to interact with them in a similar way? At least in the ending of Ep3 and start of Ep4 (e.g when Gaon doesn't showcase much of the deference expected in workplaces when he teases Yohan or that one scene before the party where he turns this way and that on bed talking to Yohan). But the party! I think it's intentional on Yohan's part but the party! It completely rekindled that suspicion (+forced Gaon back into the role of the spy/Judas --and that's something I find interesting too, the role given to Gaon). And you're right!

I like how he’s brought Gaon into the picture and showed him the people he intends on murdering/getting revenge on (not that Gaon can see that). I like the last episode of Squid Game vibes for the dinner sequence.

Remember the revenge plot? I only realised this way later (still stuck on ep 10 help) but Yohan is essentially showing off the face of his brother to the people he intends to get revenge on and just, waits, observes to see if anyone can remember. ANd no ONe REMEBERS. I feel like from the subtle nuances of emotions we've seen from Yohan, that even a little remorse or reflection would have gone a long way but who knows.

I like how the classical music crescendoed to a point where the visuals and music were claustrophobic in nature.

I agree, it was very Squid Game vibes. It was just, a cacophony. Something meant to be beautiful & bearable turned vicious in its stifling chaos.

[Side note: the sexual assault scene made me very uncomfortable because of the lack of action from the other characters. Which definitely seemed like the intended purpose and of course, for it to be something egregious enough that J.S.A broke her facade to reveal her true dominatrix Mother self…. I love this for her, I wasn’t surprised by it but I do like this choice for her character. I feel like she’s going to be such a headache and perhaps… an “ally” turned villain turned “ally” turned… so on and so on.]

SO, this wasn't an observation of mine but I read it somewhere where they juxtaposed this SA scene with the extremely uncomfy vibes with Chairman Seo and Oh Jinjoo from the other ball/party. How in the previous one Kang Yohan was able to save Oh Jinjoo whereas when Jung Sun-ah tried ("She's an associate Judge...") she was brushed off but in the second party Jung Sun-ah was able to save the waitress whereas Yohan couldn't because of the persona/role he was playing. It was speculated/theorised that it's the status of the victims that allowed such difference? The waitress was practically no one, so letting her go (in public) would no impact anyone but the associate judge however is a much bigger presence and holding off the chairman could have questioned the roles.

Also, when you said SA, I originally thought of Gaon being literally submerged under those ladies (i think in an interesting way, that also juxtaposes with Oh Jinjoo's experience. While her interaction was taken as something to be wary of Gaon's isn't seen with the same lense of seriousness?)

the “rich people are scumbags” narrative and the way the fireman stole the watch… the way none of the paramedics cared to check on a burnt man and an unconscious child??? ALSO, smoke inhalation is more dangerous than fire, so they probably both would have died or become brain damaged from that level of exposure) BUT I found the sequence overall to be so tragic.

It does seem like the obvious plot route for why Yohan does what he does, especially with "the rich people are scumbags but oh whats this its not like poor people are any better" (cue Yohan and Gaon's convo returning from the party) but I think the whole set up, esp the renaissance painting feel, is actually hinting at a idk Shakespearean level of tragedy?

Also the look Yohan gives the camera, cradling little Elijah is chilling

Okay so! The religious imagery! I'm not closely related or know of much Christianity so idk much but, it's very interesting how from the beginning Yohan is implied to be Jesus when Gaon is given the role of Judas, meant to betray (?) Jesus/Yohan and, "Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him. And yet He chose Judas as a disciple and kept him near. The Bible doesn't say why, other than Jesus knew that God had a plan"

So. I'm very much excited to see where this story goes. Also another reference to Yohan having the role of Jesus is the bloody cross on his back ffs.

Can we also talk about (how I totally didnt know) how Judas' full name is Judas Isacriot and how it means City Slicker??

plus, Judas is known to have betrayed Jesus because he was possessed by Satan? It's very interesting that Yohan is called the Devil when he's also hinted to be Jesus and the side portrayed to have uphold justice is associated with Devil / or the priests who called for Jesus's fall.

Also…. Daddy Bandit is Phantom of the Opera CHURCH (especially with that chalandier drop)

that chandelier drop took me out

Okay… now onto Gaon. WHAT IS THIS BOY’S PROBLEM???

I wonder the same thing... Gaon pls what is going in on your brain

Why is he still living at DB's gothic mansion??? Why is he acting like Madame of the house? He’s bonding with his new stepdaughter/niece. He's getting reallllllly comfortable, even referring to the room he sleeps in as "his" room.... duddddeee! (gender neutral) How embarrassing!

Han Juwon only broke in a few thousand times but Gaon said "fuck that this is my home now" My dude honestly took to the role of spouse/lady of the house like fish in water.

The clothes-changing scene had SO much queer-subtext that it is basically 100% text.

I kid you not, I literally screamed at that scene.

Also, Daddy Bandit really brought his twink to a work event as his plus one and really confirmed to the audience (and himself) that Gaon is not interested in women... and actually, sexual advances/flirtatious attention from them (or any age) make him uncomfortable.

Kang Yohan: Two birds in one stone

I found the unneeded physical contact to be sooooo telling. [also the opposite - almost yin and yang - colour scheme is interesting... the way Gaon's silhouette is quite "feminine"...]

THE CLOTHES! THE FUCKING CLOTHES! You are so right, also love how symbolically yin/yang are masculine/feminine energies. This show hints at a lot of things, I missed 2/3 of everything when I first watched the eps.

Cause, unless I missed something, they’ve not shown him going home, he hasn’t gone shopping, D.B hasn’t gone shopping… sooo??? This guy is really out here investigating his employer (with whom he lives) whilst wearing his undies. COME ON!!! he's so silly

GEFJDCNIEFDJKC i think the clothes he wore in the manor are yohan's (or maybe new clothes who knows, daddy bandit is a rich bandit afterall) but i think maaaaybe the clothes he's wearing here are his? i mean he could very well have dropped by his house before meeting soohyun idk but itd be hilarious if they're yohan's clothes pls

I just wished BE had given us Dong Sik pinning Joo Won against the wall by the throat…. Joo Won would have cried his eyes out (and just died from being too horny) whereas Gaon was super into it??? This BOY!!! I can’t! (he really said "choke me harder, daddy bandit!! prove to me you didn't kill your sibling whilst awakening a kink in me")

REIDJKCXIRDSJKRE SDHELPP I CANTHIJDF

I agree, but! in a weird way I also can't see Dongsik doing that to Juwon? Like, hmmm idk man, maybe it's because I don't see Dongsik as a violent person? His go to is fucking with the other guy mentally not throw fists, like even with Kang Jinmook, as a victim he could have knocked the mf out and blamed it on grieving smth smth but he holds back and instead schemes and talks (even when Kang Jinmook tried to strangle him). But oh boy Yohan and Gaon. Well. Yeah they seem super into that "hold me by the throat sir"/"pin me against the wall" thingerfjkd

Anyway, yes, I wrote more notes but I don’t remember what they mean anymore. But overall, I really did enjoy this episode the most so far. I hope my ramblings are amusing! Bye for now :)

That's so fair, I write some notes I leave for 5 mins i come back I have no clue what they mean anymore. It was very amusing, thank you for your rambling lmao, ta for now :)

[benadryltarantula]

Mission 2: CLOTHING OPTIONAL

With the nukes more or less out of the players’ hands as per the Colonel wanting to keep things on the down low and Dandelion’s downtime window coming to a close the pilots all got plenty of rest. Of course I saw fit to interrupt this by making them get up in the middle of the night in a rainstorm. Without so much as time to get dressed (or to get dressed with a minor penalty to time and being yelled at more) Dandelion was awoken by blaring alarms announcing incoming bandits on radar. Given their status as “probably the best pilots on base” and the entire purpose of their squad being a combination fast attack/special support unit they were sent out to intercept and hopefully buy their comrades time to prepare.

(No one really left their mech all mission, so the sprites kind of went to waste, we’ll use them later somehow.)

The trek out to intercept the low flying transport helicopters (just roll with it, there’s already mechs, animal people, and nuclear war) and their escorts was interrupted by a spotty distress call coming from a friendly patrol engaged in combat. After a brief discussion about whether or not this was a trap, the squadron course-corrected to save a bunch of kids in way over their heads.

(The composition on these fake screenshots keeps getting worse! There were also body sprites, but I still don’t know tumblr’s policy on posting that kind of thing yet.) A battle against some Gramiitian mechs and specialist troops ensued. I learned a valuable lesson about how annoying giving the players allied NPC’s is and the players learned that I’m not going all out on making them fail missions yet. We had fun. I even threw in an assassin hiding in some ruins at them.

After saving everyone who wasn’t already dead at the distress call like some kind of big shot heroes, the squadron went back to their initial job of intercepting the small invasion force heading right for their base of operations. The rescue mission only set them back a little bit and after an initial skirmish one of the transport helicopters demanded that the players lower their weapons as they are performing a nuclear inspection as allowed by post-nuclear treaties and international law. The exact situation of who shot first is kind of fuzzy given that the players weren’t there to see if the patrol opened fire or not. Honestly I forgot to have them announce this before the players started fighting because I was excited to use the guy who calls you slurs as an action. Oh well. One intense fight of downing helicopters and Oswald’s mech getting trashed, falling into a bog, and ejecting himself sideways into a rocky mudbank when his cockpit started filling with water later all the transports were shot down and their escorts/surviving occupants were chased off.

So now I had the predicament of having an hour and a half left in session, nowhere to be tomorrow, and a player with no mech and a character with a shattered arm. I decided to make a third and final sitrep for the mission while we went over how bad Oswald was taking his opiate dosing and mud-soaked undergarments.

He was stuffed into the back of Micah’s mech and allowed to perform a tech attack as a free action if he could manage it with one hand and being drugged up.

The way home was blocked by an invisible swordsman, a signal jamming puppeteer, and some guy with rockets strapped to his back who failed to do anything and exploded. It got pretty dicey as mechs started overheating, someone got nearly cut in half, and comms couldn’t be established, but they pulled through in the end. Next week: License Level 2, war!, and an intelligence agent.

[lastsonlost]

Many of the women promoting the “cancellation” of men in comics, and demanding they post the recent empty promise known as #ComicsPledge, are in fact hypocrites.  In this article, I’m going to present evidence of lies, collusion, rumor spreading, and, in my opinion, defamation and contract interference.

I personally know that they’ve colluded for YEARS to take down men. Specifically those with conservative politics and philosophies. This is an ongoing, coordinated effort. How do I know this?

Because I obtained access to their PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP.

This is Part 1 of the #Hypocralypse leaks

There is simply too much to put in one leak, so I will make the following three points for now.

1. The so-called Comic Book Whisper Network, which has been dismissed as conspiracy since 2016, is real, and I have hundreds of screenshots to prove it.

2. The Whisper Network has been targeting men and trying to destroy their careers, and use their connections in the comic book media to do so.

 3. Whisper Network members have acted unprofessionally and unethically at best. At worst, they have engaged in what I believe could be illegal behavior.

MY STORY

I first heard about the Whisper Network back in mid-2016 from folks I knew at Image, DC, Marvel, and later, Valiant.  Depending on who I chatted with, sometimes the group was called ‘The Women’s Network’, other times ‘The Whisper Network’, occasionally ‘The Whisper Campaign’, and eventually there were more conspiratorial names used mockingly (a friend called them a gender-swapped 4Chan, which became ‘FemChan’ to some insiders).

Regardless of the name, it was all the same group.

The same five or six names kept popping up in conversation over and again. As time ticked on, I noticed a trend on Social Media: half a decade of rumors, false allegations, cancellation attempts , and they almost always traced back to these same five or six people.  The goal of this Whisper Network, according to industry folks, was simple: choose a target, smear them until they lose their reputation, their income, and are ultimately blacklisted – opening up job opportunities for the same people who started these smear campaigns in the first place.

 Behind the scenes these “cancellations” are painted as morally or politically motivated, but in the end it’s all financial. As time passed, the group in question seemed more and more like a reality. I saw their influence. I saw things I knew to be verifiably untrue go viral online, appearing in what I thought were legit news sources. I felt angry and helpless seeing innocent people getting attacked, but did not know what to do. 

A few years passed and by 2018 almost everyone I interacted with in the industry seemed to know about the Network, from top level editors right down to the letterers. It was an open secret, but no one was willing to speak up for fear of being targeted themselves. They knew the consequences.

And after all, this was a secret network. Without proof, there was no point in going public because members would just deny its existence, and use their media connections to smear anyone who challenged them.

 THEN THINGS GOT INTERESTING

December 16, 2018, Whisper Network member Gail Simone, who joined the Network 6 years ago (4 years before the following tweet was posted), mocks “doofuses” who speculate that a “whisper campaign” exists.

At this point in late 2018, I was still skeptical of the Whisper Network’s existence. I’d heard many stories of individuals spreading rumors and lies, and plenty of malicious behavior was going on behind closed doors. Though I wasn’t ready to believe it was a coordinated effort, or collusion was involved.  Then, certain people began openly mentioning the Whisper Network and my attitude changed.

 March 26, 2019, Heather Antos, a member herself, did not outright mention the Whisper Network or her involvement, but she made what some took as a veiled threat to those who got on her bad side.

 Heather “milkshake girl” Antos’ colorful backstory at Marvel, and later at Valiant, is notorious in the comic industry. A conversation about office rumor-spreading and bullying is never complete without someone bringing up a juicy Antos anecdote. Everyone has one.

Up until then, I still hadn’t seen ACTUAL PROOF of a larger scheme. But then, something changed in 2020.

January 8, 2020, Alex de Campi, who I would discover is one of the most active Whisper Network members, openly admits there is a Network. I have no idea if this was a slip or a brazen attempt to show off her power and influence, but this appeared.

Eventually, everything I had heard and read was confirmed beyond any shadow of a doubt after I gained access to their private Facebook group.

I WAS INSIDE THE WHISPER NETWORK!

This is the place where the Whispher Network has been colluding for years. And although their activity is not confined to just this site, from what I can tell, this was where they first met, and started their coordinated campaigns.

Members of the Secret Group called “Comic Book Women”

At present time, there are 440+ members of the secret Facebook group, called COMIC BOOK WOMEN. From what I can tell, a few are regular users, though many of them have never posted.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/comicbookwomen/ 

*unless you are a member, this will not show up in a search

Secret Facebook groups offer the same level of privacy as closed groups, but operate under a cloak of invisibility. No one can search for secret groups or even request to join them. The only way to get in one is to know someone who can invite you. Everything shared in a secret group is visible only to its members.

This secret group includes a list of members whose actions and connections speak for themselves. Members such as:

Zoe Quinn

Gail Simone

Alex de Campi

Heather Antos (aka Heather Marie)

Mags Visaggio (aka Magdalene Francis)

Mairghread Scott

And several key members of the group are women who work in the comics media and can be used to run damage control, including women like Heidi MacDonald of Comics Beat.  They have contacts outside of the secret network as well, with some male allies in both comics and the media.

Just the fact that all of these folks were secretly linked in a private network came as a shock to me, considering their reputations and the accusations that they’ve made. Immediately I began to connect the dots…

They’ve denied for YEARS that they coordinate their actions in private. And yet they always coincidentally appear on Twitter, retweeting and amplifying each other’s accusations, signal boosting one another, and helping them gain traction. And their allies in media – Bleeding Cool and CBR specifically – will turn those same tweets into stories almost instantly & with no fact-checking or verification, sometimes within the hour.

I’m going to start explaining who the key actors are, and, from my perspective, how they coordinate these attacks.

KEY ACTORS

There are too many people to focus on at once, so I will have to break this into several posts, but I will start with one of the clear group leaders IMO.

Alex de Campi is well connected, despite never being part of the Big Two (since, from what I’ve been told management is well aware of her bullying, harassment, rumor-spreading and unethical behavior that goes back years, and depending on who you talk to she’s almost as notorious as Antos or Tess Fowler).  She just wrapped up a graphic novel campaign on Kickstarter with David Bowie’s son, the Hollywood film director Duncan Jones. It grossed over $366K

All the while she makes baseless accusations while demanding transparency from everyone else.

Now, I’ll take you into their private network.

Two years ago, on May 13, 2018, De Campi launched a private campaign to target an independent creator, claiming she was using her connections to have Simon & Schuster cancel their book.

In addition to contacting the publisher, others in the Whisper Network coordinated their efforts to contact media outlets to have the narrative changed, according to the posts in this thread.  Again, in my opinion, this could end up as a defamation or tortious interference case, and has many implications regarding media bias as well.

 

The following month, on June 23, 2018, de Campi posted private text messages between herself and writer Max Bemis in what appeared to be an attempt to damage his career. Despite Bemis being mentally ill (diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2014), de Campi still posted the private messages with malicious intent IMO. According to US and UK law this is an actionable offense: posting private texts without both parties consenting.

[pridewon]

(ushijima: super volleyball maniac) (don’t reblog!) part 1: ushijima, reon & semi.

i’m super tired, which means i don’t have the brain capacity to resist hyperfixation, so I’ve collected 70+ screenshots of Ushijima’s important moments to make a few headcanon/analysis posts, I am so very sorry in advance, it turns out I have a ridiculous lot to say about this volleyball idiot, and I’m glad I found an English version that doesn’t sound too word-to-word, because he says so little, and so little is said about him, everything easily gets lost in translation. ANYWAY, Shiratorizawa as a whole team deserves more love (seriously where are my Reon roleplayers especially), so here is a post about Wakatoshi and some of his teammates to start things off! Third years today, the other kiddos tomorrow because EESH this got long. (I blame the size of the pictures)

Very early on, Shiratorizawa is presented as a team whose strategy relies on two simple principles: height and power. No player on the team cristallises those ideals more than Ushijima: hence, the entire organisation of the team revolves around him. He is the ace and face of Shiratorizawa; but there are a few players who stand out both in contrast and in parallel to him: Reon, Semi, Shirabu, and, of course, Gôshiki. I wanted to talk about all of them in this post, but I had too much to say, so Shirabu and Gôshiki will have their own post tomorrow.

Ushijima and Reon Ohira.

Possibly one of the least discussed yet crucial characters in Shiratorizawa’s volleyball team, Reon is, like Ushijima, a hitter (or wing spiker, although I’ve learnt that ‘wing spiker’ isn’t really the right English nomenclature). His role in the team and in relation to Ushijima is explicitly stated right when we first meet him, when Hinata calls him “Benkei” - although the reference and significance of the nickname is easily lost on us non-Japanese audiences. 

For context, “Ushiwaka” is Ushijima’s nickname, and the childhood nickname of very popular Japanese samurai “Minamoto no Yoshitsune”. In his travels, Minamoto no Yoshitsune defeats and gains the loyalty and allegiance of an until then undefeated sôhei, a warrior monk: Benkei. The two became inseparable, to the point that Benkei died defending Yoshitsune. When hearing the name “Ushiwaka”, it would be completely normal for a Japanese audience, Hinata included, to look for a “Benkei”. Benkei was “Ushiwakamaru”’s companion, right-hand man, and bodyguard: all roles that Reon embodies in relation to Ushijima (even if Reon himself seems a bit sceptical, bless his heart).

Right-hand man? Ushijima is the team’s captain. Furudate’s portrait of Reon has him pinned as the vice-captain (somehow in the scene at Shiratorizawa after the match against Karasuno, the designated captain is a guy named Soekawa - either a mistake, or the current second year taking over the position, now that 3rd year Reon is leaving the team). 

Companion and bodyguard? Reon literally puts himself between Ushijima and the ball when a serve is aimed at Ushijima, so that Wakatoshi can dedicate himself entirely to the incoming attack. Doing the dirty work so their star ace has his hands free to shine and win the battle. And of course, Wakatoshi doesn’t make a single move to go towards the ball even thoughhe’s a very adept receiver himself: he knows Reon will be there to catch it for him. Reon, on top of his hitter duties, play the very detrimental role of relieving Wakatoshi of any “superfluous” moves that may get in the way of his primary role: scoring. He “sacrifices” himself so that his captain can save his energy, his moves, and focus on bludgeoning the other team with his spikes. 

Not to mention he’s also watching out for moments when the team (especially Tendô) might be relying a bit too much on Ushijima. Reon is both Wakatoshi’s steadiest ally on the court, he’s also his keeper, and a bit of a mediator between him and the rest of the team when expectations fly a bit too high (especially since Wakatoshi himself never says a single word about having too much pressure put on him). 

Fortunately for Reon, he’s not the only one to have that role!

Ushijima & Eita Semi. 

Semi, aka Shiratorizawa’s Sugawara. Well, kind of. Maybe more of a perfect mix between Suga and Kageyama, really. or the exemplification of what could have happened to Kageyama, had he been accepted at Shiratorizawa. But I digress. Semi is Shiratorizawa’s other setter, who recently got benched in favour of Shirabu. His problem? Too much individuality for Shiratorizawa’s style. Again, Shiratorizawa’s entire strategy is centered around Wakatoshi, and Wakatoshi only - in their coach’s ideal world, only he really gets to stand out as their main weapon. Semi’s style, as a setter, clashes with this strategy, because he wants to (and can) shine on his own as a setter, instead of disappearing in Wakatoshi’s shadow like Shirabu does. 

It’s a bitter situation, but my guy Semi doesn’t hold it against Wakatoshi. Even better, he tries to guide Shirabu in his new role, and continues to support Ushijima in whatever capacity he can. Shirabu is a second year and Shiratorizawa almost never puts first years on starting positions: that means that in all likeliness, Semi was Wakatoshi’s setter for two whole years. And he’s not about to let their new setter forget it, or to let his experience and knowledge of Wakatoshi’s limits go to waste. On top of tossing to him when he’s on the court, Semi directly calls out Shirabu twice for his excessive use of Ushijima (again, because Ushijima most likely won’t call for a break himself, and because Semi is the kind of player who can see the larger picture and not rely on their one main weapon only). 

Semi probably knows exactly how much pressure Ushijima can handle, when Shirabu is still learning. He has only been setting for Ushijima for a few months, after all, where Semi has had two full years and many matches, including at national level, to learn exactly how Ushijima works. We barely get to see them interact, but - considering how blunt Ushijima is and that he’s always within earshot when Semi and Shirabu talk, I would think that if he thought Semi exaggerated, he would say so and assure them that he’s fine. Instead, he says nothing: I’m probably venturing into headcanon territory here, but what are we doing if not constantly offering our own interpreations: I want to believe that Ushijima stays quiet because just like he has faith in Reon, he has faith in Semi’s judgement, both as an experienced high level setter advising a less experienced setter, and as his former setter.

On a lighter and more openly wholesome level: even Wakatoshi makes it explicit that he believes in Semi. We know he doesn’t exactly pay compliments, and that for him, the simpler words speak louder than grand declarations. Just like he asks Gôshiki why he panics, when he has such abilities, this is what he does after Semi scores off an amazing serve. What better proof do you need that Ushijima thinkis highly of your serves, when he literally tells you “let’s use your serves to finish this set”? That’s how I interpret this panel, anyway - Semi is deliberately highlighted and has a “!” reaction, Ushijima was addressing him, specifically. How awesome of a server must you be, that Shiratorizawa’s star scorer implies he’s counting on you to wrap this up?

Oh, and also: supportive  Semi is the best Semi. Love this boy.

And to bring it back to Reon, look at them watching over their friend and captain from afar, even outside the court. I love them.

There are a few panels pointing at Wakatoshi, Reon, and Eita being really good friends too, but this post was more focused on team dynamics than friendships and also I want to sleep. But they are undeniably the third-years trinity of Shiratorizawa, on and off the court. And that’s it for now, tune in tomorrow for bbies Shirabu and Gôshiki or tell me to shut up, that’s acceptable too. If you read everything this far: thank you for your patience, here is a hot chocolate for your trouble:  ☕.

[transcendencism]

screenshots incoming later but i finished the class story with Kyaiit!!!!! despite only being Dark 1 i still got the Nox title (which, okay, is my favorite because Imperius and Occulus don’t sound as good) though I was aiming for Occulus. oh well!

of course, the problem Kyaiit faces now is that she’s out of survival mode, and actually has to figure what her goals are & finding allies on the Dark Council, so uh... she’s panicking a little bit. Very happy to have finally disposed of Thanaton though.

[chidoroki]

The Promised Neverland S2EP1

aka: when you scream into the void and it finally answers back, because AAAHHH IT’S HERE! IT’S ALL HAPPENING!! HELL YES!

Here I am, trying my best to breathe normally, and the kids are having just as much trouble doing the same as they run for their lives.. this is wonderful.

“It’s fine! Think of it as a game of tag!” Oh my sweet daughter, I waited so long to hear your voice again.

But wow we’re starting with a wild demon chase right off the bat? No Isabella scene?.. should I be concerned?

OP I waited so anxiously for you, please blow me away.

How they used the flowers and vida to represent the human and demon bodies respectively was real nice.

Ohhh and they used that scene from the “Zettai Zetsumei” ending too!

Wow, they aren’t holding back the idea of children being food huh.

They even teased Norman with a fully bloomed vida flower.. how cruel.

Leslie and Conny aww.

Mujika, Phil and Isabella with her hair down aahh yesss!

Peter? Hello?? Don’t you show up much later?

Emmaaaa!! And her hair is braided already?

Ahh it is! She has the hairclips! She doesn’t get those until she meets Sandy at Goldy Pond though.. Cloverworks, please. you better not be getting my hopes up for nothing, I swear.

I’m surprised to see all the escapees wearing the shelter jackets though. The.. SHELTER! JACKETS! Bunker dad incoming!

Fucking hell girl, why must you be so beautiful??

And my boy Ray!! Yeess!

They left that large space beside Emma as a reminder that Norman is no longer around anymore huh.. ow my heart.

I vibe with “Identity” so much.. I love it. The sequence was beautiful. You’re winning me over so far Cloverworks.

Now that I finally moved on from watching the OP several times.. hello children! And vida flowers..

Haahaha the way Lanni just falls like that from the tree.. I’m dying.

Aw Emma sweetheart, you’re already pushing yourself too much.

Okay, Ray didn’t bonk her on the head with the water but the reaction she gave along with her facial expression was great, so I’ll let that change slide.

Also, my son!! I missed you so much!

“Sorry, Emma.” Bro, his voice was so soft when saying that!

“As long as you’re alive and smiling, that’s all I need.” aaah.. AND HIS FUCKING SMILE AFTER SHE SAYS THAT! OH MY GOD!

“Emma.. I’ll live. I’ll live and protect this family. Everyone in this family, just like you. This time, for sure, I swear. No matter what happens, I’ll never abandon them again.” They really had him say it all. The entire thing.. yeeesss! Character development at its finest btw!

“So don’t bear this burden alone.” *glances at ch180*

It’s been a half hour since I started this episode and yet I’m only 5 minutes in.. help.

“Southeast?” “Between south and east.” “Gilda, I know that much.” I love this little addition between them so much.

They also included Don and Gilda into this scene with the pen.

And the pen actually has a map now? It was Ray who figured out how the number/letter sequence worked in the manga in terms of location but here Emma just touched the screen and a map appeared.. hmm, I’m conflicted.

The younger kids are watching all this now too.

“I miss Norman.” Aww Alicia.. and everyone else is adorable too.

Ahh the new soundtracks hit different.

They really are including the other kids into the story more.. for a while it was usually just Emma & Ray figuring stuff out.

“And we’ll find more allies, then go back for Phil and the others!” *deep sigh*

Honey, I’m begging you, please take a moment to relax!

Hey there demons.

No wonder they get chased so soon, they have their lanterns lit at night making them such easy targets.

Ah, so this is the scene where that screenshot of Ray & Emma came from.

Oh yeah, y’all better fucking run.

Cgi demon looks odd, but then again demons aren’t supposed to look normal regardless, so it’s okay.

They changed how they introduced the snakes of alvapinera huh.

Hold up, we’re already on ch42? Right now? Okay wow..

“Who’s the better one at tag?” “You are.” Aaaaha.

Aw man, I thought Ray was finally going to start a fire once he threw that lantern and having it break.

Ah, and that’s where the blood splatter from the preview came from, the GF demon slaying the wild one.

“The others are already dead.” Look at his smug face! I LOVE HIM!

Aww Jemima is worried about our boy.

Rossi, you’re such a sweet child.

I’m sorta glad they didn’t show her completely passing out, but EMMA!!

Oh sweet lord, Mujika! We’re meeting you already??

They did a great job making this scene have an eerie feel though.

Aw, the scarf!

Goddamn, they made Ray look so out of breath and winded.. nice!

Okay, but the way he fell though.. sorta prefer how determined he was to try and take another step despite him struggling to do so in the manga rather than having him just.. fall over like that.

But Sonju coming in clutch!

Are we for real already at ch45 and gonna get the Rayemma hug? oh my god.

They’re gonna end the episode with Ray questioning our demons friends, aren’t they..

My poor boy is spooked.

LOOK HOW RELIEVED HE IS WHEN SHE FINALLY WAKES UP!

THE DAMN HUG! IT HAPPENED! SOMEONE HOLD ME I FEEL SO SOFT RIGHT NOW!

But why no head pat though hmm?

I’m surprised they actually remembered the bell.

He held out his arm out to shield her.. aww.

This music.. sounds good. Anndd it just got better.

Yup, figures they would end the episode there.

Okay ending song, make me emotional.

Oh? We’re seeing more of the outside world alongside Sonju & Mujika?

Wow, and hello to all the kids being shipped out.

And some quick glimpses of the sisters and mothers too.

I really like the art style they have going on here.

Interesting.. also, no Isabella scene? At all? Oh no..

And I just realized they completely left out the entire snakes of alvapinera scene.. hm.

But yeah, this is going way quicker than I originally thought.. I don’t want to get my hopes up in case GP doesn’t happen, but at this pace, hey, who knows.

I can’t believe I got three of my favorite demon forest scenes in the first episode.. fucking wild dude.

Now I can relax.. by finally diving into the tags and consuming every bit of good food available! Finally aboard the hype train!