#Spot says stuff

[spotsupstuff]

moon and nsh are my favorite old people you just get me... sobbing pathetically on the floor...

i specifically evolved to understand this n get u YES

[spotsupstuff]

(hii Spot been awhile) Something I think that's interesting about the observation about how Slugcats are getting so much attention nowadays is that its almost a 180 from how things were in the pre-downpour days, iirc.

Though I am glad we're getting an AU like yours it's so interesting compared to the usual

Im eating with a fork

Yeah, the fandom was not particularly strong back then, but I think there was more Iterator content. My suspicion as to why slugcats are so much more popular now is because the general "cat appeal"*. Downpour brought in wider audience which mostly consists of people that go wild over cat videos on the internet.

Not my intention to throw shade on it, because after all what does my opinion matter to anyone, but I find the whole "cuteness cult" of the internet annoying and, when applied to Rain World, frustrating. There's a whole silent worldbuilding in basically every screen of the game and the only thing that people seem to take away post-DP is "cute sluggy go wooo :3 the Ancients were such cultist pricks Dx". Which like alright, but expand a little on the latter please? Try? There is So much fun to it when one moves past the "religion only BAD" mindset.

DP also I think didn't care much about the Ancients and the culture they left behind (and therefore the root of Iterators). "But there's Saint!" Saint is almost everything new that wasn't heard of before, can be taken as another fact of monstroid mad religion and, of course, it Has to be wrapped in a fluffy cat package. The undergrowth Echo also feels like a spit in the face to the lore/religion than an addition, to me. My *guess* would be the original intention was showing an individual who failed to ascend because of the Fifth Hindrance but it doesn't *feel* like it. If that was the intention, I think the author didn't understand why a desire to live/survive could ever, in any form, be bad

It's interesting as well in the sense that when there was only Survivor, maybe up to Hunter- the slugcats felt like a vehicle that brings the player to the story. The player saw the world through their eyes and got to experience the world's rules, abiding them- the original campaigns were still subject to the lore/religion of the world.

DP made the slugcats characters, the main focus, in some cases a rebelion against the lore/religion (forever beef against new route for Survivor and Monk). So people had an easier time latching onto them.

That is my theory at least. Fact is also when I first watched RW I almost didn't get into it as a creator because I felt like I had nowhere to hook to and work with. Characters are great anchor points for people to latch on to and then work with/through, so it's not like I blame the fandom for quite literally getting slug infested. It's natural and logical and I'm well aware of it as someone who's trying to be a writer. Still frustrating.

Either way, at least there's a vacuum for me to fill with something I'm actively actually passionate about. It's kind of a sweet bonus that people are somewhat interested, too.

[spotsupstuff]

Fish: Tinkerer I have the rot, we need to cook.

Tink: say no more chief

*deafening explosions*

they are defending against the Squidcadas actually

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I like to think the dynamic between the player and the slugcat (Survivor specifically, thinking base vanilla experience) matters for the worldbuilding/lore itself.

Specifically thinking on the topic of self-awareness, which is often said that animals lack especially when compared to humans.

The player is the Survivor's spirit, let's say. You are present, you control the body of its, you live and try to understand ,,your own" story. But there is a disconnect. You don't actually feel the world, the temperature, the teeth and chalicerea, the sharp raindrops tearing at its back when you lose track of time.

You don't feel the pain of a cycle's abrupt end. You acknowledge it with frustration at the loss of progress and probably karma. This frustration won't last.

The cycles blur together. I've got over 200 cycles on some slugcats and I could not name a single death of mine. They aren't personal, they don't matter to me, they can't scar me. In extension, they don't matter to this animal we play as. We just keep going on, unbothered thanks to the lack of in-universe consciousness, manifesting a certain lack of self-awareness in the slug.

The slugcat can be only as smart as the player, its soul, is knowledgeable - still limited by the capabilities of its body. And the ,,fast travel" that we can't see reminds me of a sort of ,,loss of self-awareness" that happens when one focuses on something.

But what about those that are steeped in it. Those whose awareness of everything is so acute and inevitable. Those that probably kept calendars and marked down their failures at survival, whose deaths had to be soul crushing, traumatizing, lasting.

Some say, that self-awareness is a curse since it exposes all the pains surrounding the individual. But why can't it be a blessing too, why does it have to leave you helpless. Why not make it a tool to expose that which damages you so it can be *fixed*, so questions can be posed and answered.

When we get fed up with this world, we close the game. When the Ancients got fed up, they crumbled trying to fix their situation. Maybe they were a bit noble, maybe a bit insane. They were definitely justified in their frustration and attempts to escape, however.

[spotsupstuff]

a great advice for when you are afraid that your oc is too similar to a canonical character is to Take your oc and dump them directly into the place of the canon character to see how They'd react to the situations. they react too similarly for your tastes? edit them up.

example: it was worrying me quite a lot that Zephyr might be too similar to Moon. both an old female ("female"... it's supersized microwaves how female could it be /j) Gen 1 iterator that is the senior of her group that collapses and her absence seems to somehow both affect a lot and not at all the rest of the group, both are relatively kind as evidenced by their interactions with slugcats. alright, that's really similar- don't feckin like that! but big part of that is the inevitable fate of all iterators (all will one day collapse). you could call it a trope, cliché. tropes and clichés are tools for the story to take a root somewhere and then the characters themselves help develop it in an unique way

"okay, so i'm going to throw Zephyr into Moon's situation and compare how both of them (would in Zeph's case) deal with it to see if their personalities are too much the same." i say to myself result:

Key Element Discovered: Moon Does Not Possess The Will To Utilize La Chancla Within Five Seconds Of Being Confronted With A Bitchy Child. Let Us Build Off From That

[spotsupstuff]

i've had a moment (2 painful awful hours of a headache) of pondering over these fucking things like a month ago n yanno what i'll just Put It Here. i am solidly certain of my vibe checks on dashing 45% </3

[spotsupstuff]

watchin rw vids where they assign the iterators voices hurts my soul quite a bit cuz they basically always sound so so off.. like what do you mean Moon's an american woman who most likely uses Instagram, is full of herself and is working on her influencer career... (that should be Innocence, fight me on this) why the HELL is Pebbles' voice so deep and macho, that is Not the pink baby fail boy whom I love to go moderately mad over, please I'm going to die cuz of macho Pebbles nuuuuurgh

they basically already have canon voices please listen to em, Moon sounds like a glitchy Hatsune Miku. when she speaks there's always a ghost of a smile shaping her words. she sounds curious, wide-eyed- ready to wonder and dive into theories. she's so unbelievably soft and comforting and like she would teach through playing games with her students. she sounds like someone who would clap her hands alongside the beat even if she doesn't care much for music. she'd run into a field and twirl her dress and laugh all the while. she sounds Happy, she's glad to be alive Pebbles sounds like a suppressed nerd duck which speaks through its nose instead of the chest. he sounds like a tired smartass!!! there's this tiny rasp to his voice, but the kind I'd more blame on sadness than anything else. he sounds vulnerable!!! like he could be so easily hurt, like he's just a frail sprout but there's also a curt bite to it. he's like grass- thin, but that just means it can cut. he's frowning while he's speaking, he's exasperated, I can hear it in his voice!!!! get big macho Pebbles away from me he scares me

[spotsupstuff]

I really like the design on moons torso. With the pink lines making a crescent moon shape. Also pebbles having cloven hooves like a pig is adorable, what a funky little guy I sure hope he doesn't experience the horrors in the future.

Fun fact: the original design of the thing is this

Inspired by the significance of the lotus in buddhism on the chest and infinite knot on the arm + in-universe character meaning Iterator + the 6th Hindrance (karma level in game terms), but I do plan on perhaps once making a comic centered on Moon's relationship with her parents that would have a lot of her without any clothes. For the sake of mercy upon my hand and nerves it had to be simplified to the crescent 😔

[spotsupstuff]

You should draw moon slam dunking suns actually

my english failed me i meant This. another win for the "fuck YOU, Suns" Moon-support crowd

[spotsupstuff]

I love the expression of Théta in the drawing you did of them reaching out to FP, it's like they're fretting over him like "nonono this will not do!! Come here to me little one, you'll be okay."

It's comforting to see an interp where the cycle itself steps in to help those doomed by their creators!

Théta isn't the Cycle itself, the Cycle is a feature of the world. It was created by... not sure actually, most likely God of Eyes, but it also could be a result of Théta stepping into GoE's creation. I'll have to troubleshoot that.

Yes, however! Main aspect of Théta as a character is that he's very fatherly/motherly. He created souls specifically so he would have more someones to love and did everything he could to give them a fighting chance against GoE's physical creation even though he was basically dead after the betrayal.

The Iterators are a strange case to him- because their Individuality exists outside of his creation (GoE can't create life, he can only give forms to it, everything alive is Théta's creation that was bastardized). They fall under a creation act of the Anemons as a new life on crutches, which both means Iterators are like 80% none of his business and that they can be classified as his grandchildren by our understanding. Normally he can't intervene/converse with them meaningfully until they are on the verge of death and the Anemons have given up on them. Or, as Saint, he physically has to approach them.

So one can imagine why the guy who's highest want is to love the life around him to the point he created More life, jumped into the torment chamber that is the physical reality to bail out his "grandkids".

[spotsupstuff]

Tell Me How Does This Sound Right As A Voice Claim For Her

[spotsupstuff]

Did saint ever ascend biting notos? Also how was the gang’s reunion in the void?

of course Saint has! after all, its sole reason for existence is this. no matter how lonely and difficult the quest will be for it, everyone has to go

as for your second question... my god as u can see i went off on the first one, this is legit the biggest comic i've ever done- i'll do some stuff for the reunion in the void at a later point i prommy 😩✌ it'd be better like that either way. these guys haven't been introduced enough for my tastes for the big relief ending yet

[spotsupstuff]

aight (RW) art requests open for a bit. I'm poking CSP semi-seriously for the first time and need some ideas. it's... Going. Definitely Going

[spotsupstuff]

Abandoned comic idea from March. Decided against seeing it through to the end because the dialogue feels unnatural and messy. While the core idea of it- Sparrows having doubts about the relationship, being confused and unsure of what she should dedicate her life to, and Euros being indeed blindly naively optimistic- still holds true to my ideas of their characterizations, I've figured I don't really have the details fleshed out well enough yet to construct a satisfactory conversation between them.

Stars with lore building for both of them- clearing out Sparrows' motivation in life (related to her family- deceased dad "because" of spiritualism, grieving mother, newly developed sister frustrated with Sparrows' lack of clear goal in life and lack of proper commitment to promises), what her arc should be, and Euros' past with his first Mechanic, relationship with his Houses and Citizens- and all of that is heavily influenced/dictated by the culture and society of the whole world, the Epsilon group council specifically and the Caper of Euros and Boreas' Blessing colonies that I don't have settled down. So posts with additional worldbuilding is will be most common. Bastards need figuring out asap

[spotsupstuff]

tadaaaaaaaaa anatomy notes for my iterator (mostly puppet) takes!! or at least what i have going on as of right now

n here's some scug noodles as bonus

[spotsupstuff]

Hello, Rain World community!

I hope your days and nights are good- and I'd like to say something, so if you could please read my thoughts real quick I'd appreciate it

I'd like to forward a request that you don't assume that everyone ships things within fandom as a sort of "base" state of a fan. I'm talking like no ships at all specifically, not "this ship isn't to my tastes, but this one is". I mean complete zero

This isn't meant to be about tagging your posts, I know you are already doing that (at least all of you that I have seen) and for that I thank you. Thank you for being understanding and putting that little bit of effort into making this space a more comfortable place to be for all of us that venture into the main tag

This is about... coming to a creator- into their inbox with a question, to their posts and tags and within there implying ship-related things when they don't personally post about such content or they even go as far as to actually state their lack of care or involvement with these things

I don't really know how many people are experiencing assumptions like this, I don't know how many are going to appreciate me mentioning this, but I know there is at least two and that is enough for me to rationalize making a post like this

By all means! Keep shipping! I'm glad you find joy out of something- keep chasing and embracing it. But please do not assume everyone is on the same boat or even sailing at all and come to them chirping about your shipping joys as if they are part of it. My joy doesn't have to be yours and yours doesn't have to be mine. Personal preferences and experiences and such

Being a part of a fandom isn't a synonym to being a shipping enthusiast. Thank you for hearing me out