#TW: existential crisis

[strawberryshortcake1495]

As if I couldn’t make my Lebam AU even darker… 😭

In Dipper and Mabel VS the Future, Mabel finds out that Dipper will become Ford’s apprentice and therefore will be leaving her to a cruel, unforgiving, and unpredictable world all by herself. This is when Mabel truly starts to delve into McGucket levels of insanity. When Dipper goes home, instead of asking him to tell her he’s joking, Mabel simply asks him if it’s true. Confused, Dipper gently touches her shoulder and she pounces on him. Pinning him to the wooden floor with an iron grip, Mabel interrogates him. She’s sacrificed so much for him. Her happiness, her dignity, her identity. It was all for him. Now he wants to run away and leave her to rot in the mud? She’s sad and angry but her mind is churning like a pot of boiling water. It’s confused because the whole point of Lebam is to protect Dipper, now she’s hurting him? It didn’t make sense. Mabel realizes this as she’s strangling her brother to death. Horrified, she drags him out to the forest and buries his body before proceeding to have a loud hysterical breakdown. She prepares to take her own life when she’s stopped by Blendin. He tells her he can fix everything for her, make all the pain go away, as long as she joins him. She takes the offer. Her sole purpose in life was to love and cherish her twin brother, but now he’s dead. She has nothing left to lose. She’s whisked away, not knowing Dipper was still alive.

Now here’s the difference: Mabeland is more of a dream-like realm inside Mabel’s mind and Bill simply shoved all the memories of her past life down to make room in her mindscape for Mabeland. Mabel is very much conscious and aware of Weirdmageddon, but as I said, she has nothing to lose. But as she’s curled up in the corner of the Fearamid, the realization of what she’s truly done starts to seep in. She can’t stop thinking about Dipper. He’s really gone. Mabel tries to distract herself by going to sleep and traveling to Mabeland but it doesn’t fill the void in her heart. That’s when Mabel realizes she can’t live without her brother, so she needs to be her own brother. With Bill’s help, she cuts her hair and styles it to look like Dipper’s and takes her sweater and headband off, replacing her shirt with a Pinetree shirt to really go with the vibe. Now she has 3 separate personalities: Mabel, Lebam, and Pinetree.

Meanwhile, Dipper manages to dig himself out of the ground but he’s extremely weak. Wendy scours the woods for shelter and finds his limp body on the ground. She brings him to a cave and nurses him back to health, well at least until he’s able to stand and speak. Then they go to find Ford and Mabel.

[shrimplymoray]

This is... Very much self-indulgent and for my own comfort right now. So, excuse anything that may be off, or a bit OOC. TW: Apathy crisis, existential crisis.

Cronus Ampora x Reader - Apathy

Cronus was never the smartest fish in the sea when dealing with people, especially when it is other's feelings. He may seem like the emotional type of guy (he has cried multiple times for human love songs), but dealing with others is way out of his league. He - and the rest of the Beforus trolls for that matter - keep wondering how he managed to actually score one. He was used to shooting his shot at others and missing by well over a mile, so his oh-so-not-smooth flirts actually hitting a soft spot for you made him lose his composure, and get fidgety. An adorable view, truly. Though in past times his bluntness and lack of emotional knowledge never affected you, it seemed as though fate had other plans. Apathy. Something all 13 of you have become used, almost acquaintances to. Sadly, being used does not mean it is easy to deal with. Some of you, like Meulin and Rufioh, have mastered the art of surrounding yourself with others to get better. Latula and Porrim tend to dive into hobbies to lessen the effects. You? Oh... Even after what seemed like thousands of years, it is a mystery what actually helps you. That is why, this time, Cronus went too far for you. It was simple, you were faking till you got better, but he ran his mouth too much. "Heyy~ hot stuff, are ya mad at somefin? Did'ya stub yer toes? Ya so dry it shorelly must'vwe been somefin goin' on." A pause, and an answer "I don't know what you're talking about Cro." "Huh? C'mon, bae~ Lemme guess... Meenah talked shit 'bout yer hair?" "Is... there something with my hair?" "wvah- NONONO! No it, uh, it looks as great as ya! Like alwvays, I just, uh, y'knowv howv she can get, haha!" You knew he was not trying to make you mad, yet... He didn't seem charming when being a dork, this time. Your pause, the look in your void white eyes that stared at his, and your look at the distance. That showed him something really was up. And also that he fucked up big time by running his mouth today. "Hey... Hey, look at me." "What?" "Y'knowv ya can trust me, right? Ya been here for me, wvhat good of a matesprit wvould I be if I didn't do the same?" ... "It's the... the thing, again. This stupid thinkpan of mine can't seem to co-work with my bloodpumper. It's like... Y'know how, like, sometimes the reality hits us? that... that we are gonna be here, forever. We will never grow old, travel the world, or... or have a life, again. We are stuck in the bubbles, and we don't have a future ahead of us anymore. Any... certainty we had once, from the moment our session ended, it will never occur, like, ever again." "Wvoah..." It took a while, the two of you staring at the abyss, on the edge of the dreambubble you two have been sitting on, a special place for you, as this is one of your bubbles. No one said anything. You couldn't feel uncomfortable, at that moment. The lack of emotions took a deep toll on you, but you instinctively looked at Cronus. When he looked at you, however, he didn't seem worried. Or afraid. He took his goofy fake 'human' cigarette put it on the corner of his mouth, and gave you his side grin. Not the smug one, the one he puts whenever he is really confident about what he is going to say. "I mean, ya not wvrong, by any means but... heh... Do ya think it is bad? I mean, hey! Wve are gonna be all here forevwer, so that means wve can at least, like, be together for eternity or wvathevwer. I used to be pretty damn bad wvith these apathy shellnanigans but... I'm not really that afraid anemonemore. I havwe the best fuckin' matesprit in the wvhole 'bubbles and, like, I'm pretty damn shore I can live the rest of a boring eternity if I havwe ya to make it interestin'!" As you two stared to the far, far void of nothing, outside the bubble, you instinctively reached a hand on top of his, which, as always, sent his face into a violet blush mess, and managed to drag a smile and chuckle out of you. "Can't complain with that, really."

[dampcrown]

I'm sorry for barging in as unceremoniously as this on the last possible day for @valvertweek but after a way too stressfull week and a decade of occasionally lurking in this fandom without ever contributing anything I guess I finally had to get this out of my system and my sketchbook

[tart-miano]

AY frankies got me fallin apart UH draculauras stealin my heart (HEART)

[noname-404s-blog]

[weepingtalecowboy]

Hylia is merciful for she would dim her light for her people and her knight

Fanfic prompt : When Link was still young he was told that hylia is a merciful and loving goddess

he used to believe that perhaps if he just kept doing what hylia wanted

If he keeps being her hero perhaps one day she might listen and answer him for still his prayers remain unanswered

Tell him why he was the one who had to save Zelda ?

Why nobody else could do it instead ?

For his uncle tried only for his attempt to bear no fruit

Why was he special?

But he unfortunately got the answer ?

He was special but it felt more like a curse at that time

Years passing yet no answer in sign

Even after he fought ganon and saved two more kingdoms again

But he did so much. ..,

Was it still Not enough for her to bother answering him

Why does hylia let everything happen to him ?

Wasn't he worth of her protection's grace as well ?

Slowly his prayers got tainted from her indifference

He no longer saw her as anything capable of mercy ,… at least for her soldiers and especially herself

She was cruel on herself and herself only

Her soldiers she cherished but herself she loathed all way

Her gentleness only reached her people,… not herself

Never herself

The holy goddess bleeds for her people , she makes bleed for her people herself again and again

Never her expendable self to be cherished by them

Never had herself belonged under her protective glow

She walks the surface … , the blinding sun giving warmth as she burns out herself as she goes forth

Her mercy is sacrifice of her mortal shells

Her light shines bright on her people

As it sears her children and never shines on herself

Her holy blood boils under her mercy

Link learned her way well

He and his sister and all her other mortal shells to be discarded

For her mercy

For her atonement for the sun may loathe her lights but she loves her soldiers as they go on to keep her light aglow

But her lights she despises enough that they may never be enough for her even as they wander on to keep her glow

The beautiful sun would sacrifice herself for her knight as she did the very first time

Even if her light glows in her knight

She will just dim it one day

O for she will lover her knight then again

As she loves her knight but loathes herself more

Her light shines bright forever more

Or

Do you ever wonder …

why the hero of legends had such a long grueling life when the goddess was shown to lover her heroes ?

Why Zelda is almost always sacrificing everything she has so that link may have a chance?

Why Flora prayed and begged her goddess but never got a reply yet Wild did effortlessly ?

Why Hylia hates herself so much ?

[my-quirk-is-fred]

[amiracleilluminated]

[destinygoldenstar]

What Separates Digital Circus’s Horror From Others

Disturbing.

Unnerving.

TERRIFYING.

BUT WHY?!

On the surface to the… five people that never watched The Amazing Digital Circus Pilot, this show looks like a Five Nights At Freddy’s knock off.

It’s a cute mascot show that is actually secretly a horror monster infested world.

Even people who haven’t seen FNAF at least seen a few clips of it and what it’s famous for. I know I have.

My sister is super into this, and she hogs the TV, so… RIP me.

That’s what most non-horror stans usually view horror as.

The jumpscares.

The unnerving imagery.

The designs made to freak out the viewers and make them uncomfortable.

It’s usually quite obvious when something is a horror, cause these aspects are often front and center. You can usually tell it’s a trailer of a horror movie by just looking at it.

At least, from my, a non-horror lover’s understanding. For some reason these sorts of things, especially indie animated ones, are the faces of a lot of content farms.

If the product itself isn’t r@%ing your audience, it’s those.

(TAKE MY WARNING AND TAKE IT SERIOUSLY: IF YOU VALUE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH AND YOUR SANITY, DO NOT LOOK UP THIS MOVIE)

BUT BACK ON SUBJECT.

Digital Circus… doesn’t really have this stuff.

There’s no jumpscares.

(I mean there is in a trailer, but it’s used as a joke.)

The character designs are very cute looking without any alternate versions that are scary.

And the imagery of the show remains cute and fun all throughout. The darkest it gets is in a realistic looking office.

But there are no jumpscares in that scene.

It’s just… a normal office.

If this was a horror, then perfect opportunity, right?

So… what’s going on here?

This, my friends, is why Digital Circus is not your typical indie animated horror flick.

And why people even call it ‘scary’ at all.

Here’s the trick this show uses.

It’s not the imagery.

It’s not the designs.

It’s not even intentionally trying to scare you.

Caine is not intentionally trying to scare the audience. He’s just acting like an A.I.

Yeah he has SOME unnerving moments.

But compared to THIS:

I’d say Caine is pretty tame.

Maybe it’s an indicator that he’s secretly a monster like the Other Mother in Coraline.

That horror flick is about the host lying to the protagonist and revealing their horror-like appearance later on.

But not only was it confirmed that Caine is NOT evil. But look at his design right away and his presentation.

There is no sign so far that he lies about anything. At least not what he doesn’t know.

Yes he lied about the exit. But the exit ITSELF was the thing that sent you to the VOID. So really he kinda tried to protect them.

If he didn’t, he’d let jester girl eject herself like Among Us.

So why is it unnerving?

Because it’s the POV we the audience are in for most of the episode: Pomni.

Pomni is an Audience Surrogate.

Audience Surrogates are characters designed specifically to be a placeholder for the audience.

People usually assume this trope as the character made to be the bland and generic one. But that’s actually not true.

An audience surrogate can be as simple as a First Person POV. As all it means is that the character is designed to have the same reactions the audience would in the situation they would find themselves in.

Course, not speaking for everybody, but majority that would consume the content.

Thus, with Pomni as the audience surrogate, we the audience are thrusted into her shoes the whole time. We feel the fear she does. We are experiencing the circus the same time she does.

Notice the editing in some scenes. Specifically the scenes Pomni is NOT in.

When Pomni is in a scene, there’s usually some change in lighting or camera movement that’s unnerving.

But when she isn’t in a scene, these editing moves aren’t there at all.

Which makes it pretty easy to suggest that these unnerving edits are just what’s going on in Pomni’s head.

So with that, when she’s scared. We’re scared. We’re in her POV.

But she’s scared all the time. That’s just her average personality, right?

Then why make these specific edits?

Let’s think about this:

This character is trapped in a world that isn’t her own. Everything is unusual, and she wants out. But instantly realizes there’s no escape.

And then gets told this is her new home and her new body.

A home she doesn’t recognize. And a body she doesn’t even know the name of.

She lost all sense of identity in an instant. Losing everything about herself in an instant. To the point where she can’t even remember what she was before.

And to make matters worse, because this is unusual, everything SEEMS terrifying. Even to those trying to help her adjust.

The only way out of such a confusing and terrifying world is to escape. Which is what she tries to find the entire time.

So THEREFORE:

The horror is this show is NOT the jumpscares or the creepy images.

The horror is THE VIEWER’S MIND.

This show constantly destroys your mind and breaks you through Pomni.

The idea of losing everything about yourself and being trapped in something unfamiliar forever. That IS terrifying.

If you were in this situation, you’d probably freak out even if you were the bravest being ever.

So it’s not about how scary the scene is on the outside.

It’s about what you’re THINKING that’s scary.

Ragatha’s distress monologue is not scary on the outside. But if you actually take into consideration what she says.

THATS terrifying.

That toys with your mind. And it also toys with Pomni’s.

The monster figure in the episode, the abstraction, is nowhere near as scary as something from FNAF

At least in my opinion.

Especially seeing what the monster does.

It can’t kill you. You’re just glitched.

Or maybe it CAN kill. But we never see that.

Even if Pomni ended up like Ragatha, Caine would’ve eventually came back, found them, and fixed them. And they would’ve been fine.

But then, rather out of nowhere, she STOPS.

And we get this shot.

I talked about this shot before. Said it quickly became one of my favorite shots in media.

This is why.

This shot makes me queasy every time.

The idea of looking in a mirror and not even being able to process or recognize yourself. Unable to even process your own reflection, that’s how unrecognizable you’ve become.

That’s horrifying.

And there’s no dialogue here either.

The episode effectively uses SHOW DONT TELL.

They SHOW you how scary the situation is. They SHOW you a single image that tells you everything.

It would’ve been so easy to just have Pomni say “I’m scared. I don’t recognize myself. Who is this person looking back at me?”

But no

They DON’T insult their audience.

They don’t TELL you.

They let you sink it in yourself.

Pomni doesn’t even have ANY lines after she goes through the exit door. And yet the shots after that with her have been plastered everywhere. Why? Cause she doesn’t need to tell you her mental state. You’re SHOWN it.

Can someone PLEASE tell the live action Avatar The Last Airbender that?!

Speaking of the office scene. This is the only moment in the show that looks… real. Not that cartoony.

Which I guess being in a setting that’s off putting from the rest makes it creepy, right?

Well not really.

Sure she’s running through rooms that seem to be repeating, which that of itself is sanity breaking. It reminds me a lot of another existential horror: The Stanley Parable.

But while that game is excellent and the monologue that plays in that ending is one of my favorites, it IS just telling you the sanity of the player.

Not that there’s anything wrong with this in that games style. There’s no other way that could’ve been done in that game.

Here, again, there’s no dialogue. It’s just Pomni running through these desperate for the exit.

The scary part about this is that we KNOW the absolute DESPERATION she has.

Even if we couldn’t see her face, that’s still across because we’ve seen it the entire episode.

And then there’s her break.

She snaps at the sight of a desk, and gets fangs, that of a FNAF character. But only for a second. She doesn’t even go out at the camera with them. She goes on her merry way.

But Pomni, being the POV character, really doesn’t have much to be scared at about her.

So why is this terrifying? Why not go all the way if this is supposed to be a jumpscare?

Well cause it’s not.

A way to scare your audience is to make them feel dread. Lingering longing dread. Sometimes irrational dread.

People with anxiety especially get scared at things even when they’re completely safe. They feel an unease in their stomachs. They feel unable to move. Unable to speak. Unable to put it into words at all.

It could be because we saw something unnerving that stays in our subconscious. It could be because we’re nervous about something coming up. It could be because we’re in an uncomfortable situation.

Either way, anything even remotely resembling that triggering thing can break someone to feel this anxiety. Sometimes even something as simple as the dark. Even if we know we’re completely safe.

(Speaking as a person with anxiety myself)

She only snaps and cackles when she sees a random desk with a computer. Which also has the headset she put on there. The thing that got her in this.

But you might not have even seen the headset on your first viewing. I didn’t.

But your subconscious sees it. The environment not being like the others aids in unnerving you and making it hard to process what you’re looking at.

Why is this terrifying? Why does it break you? Why does it mentally break Pomni? We don’t know. It just does.

We’ve been stuck going through doors in repeating rooms for hours.

Fear makes you not able to overthink it.

So all of that is build up to the near perfect shot of Pomni at the brink of snapping at the dinner table. With the others voices blurred in her mind. As all she can do is fake a smile.

Terrifying End.

It’s not scary because it’s scary. It’s scary because it toys with the character, and the viewer’s mind

Now, is Digital Circus the first media to do this technique?

No. Not at all.

One of the most acclaimed animated movies, Spirited Away, also uses these exact same tactics for example.

That’s obviously a master class at this tactic. And it scared me as a child as a result. For all these exact same reasons.

It’s not a horror. Not traditionally. It’s not trying to scare you. But it does anyway cause in your mind it’s a scary concept.

And also, well, Spirited Away is a completed story as of the time this post comes out.

And Digital Circus only has one episode. But we did get confirmation this would be a series. And I personally have high hopes that this brilliant tactic is kept. From the trailer, it does seem like they’re not forgetting the stuff I bring up here. So I hope this works out for the creators despite the drama and the internet BS surrounding this show.

But even if not, we at least get one case in this show where we all want to curl up in a ball and cry

Us too Pomni. Us too.

Thank you for reading my… analysis a ton of people made before me, and probably better. Happy day for you all.

[soullessseraphim]

Ive decided to make an artistic rendition of how Pure Vanilla vs Shadow Milk see Orgeat (the name of my cookie-fied sona; it's not his real name but it's to fit the crk theme yknow)

bc you know, angels appear scary to ward off evil and all that... I just thought it'd be fun

EYESTRAIN WARNING

Shadow Milk : Countless eyes staring at him all at once, piercing right through his very soul, countless wings fluttering about, shifting, fabric folds blending into each other, scorching light blinding him, a vision, an apparition instilling nothing but pure dread and endless questions without answers, something his mind can barely fathom, and it's absolutely horrifying... every inch of his being is feeling as if it could disintegrate if he stared for too long

Pure Vanilla : Just a lil shiny guy. because the light isn't blinding to those worthy of seeing it... (and he can actually count the eyes and wings :D)

[goofy-clan]

Doomed by the narrative has play date with Dooming the narrative, more at 12

Fanart gift for @jumalanpelko !! I love your stuff man, and the silly little doomed kitty! Just had to draw em, had fun! Hope you keep drawing and doing what you love in the future, the series is really special!

A bonus comic below :).

[celestiall0tus]

Day of the Fall Page 2

Beginning || Previous || Next

[weepingtalecowboy]

The Imposter’s memory

A more tragic take on a fun story I wrote :

What if the dolls were not an easy way out

What if they just carry memories

While Legend still has to be his own entity till death

Yet legend slowly is getting weaker and using the dolls as an escape

Didn’t work the way he wanted

Because the dolls aren’t truly him when he controls them

But he doesn’t become the doll

They are separate from him carrying his memories and behaviors

But he cannot escape from his pain

Yet knowing that at least one part of him gets to escape and live on makes him so happy

But the doll feels so guilty

It hoped it was a way out but how can it be legend when link is smiling at it with so much pain in his eyes

It feels like an imposter because it wasn’t the salvation it wanted to be

Just one of them is free of pain and it feels so selfish for the original still has to suffer while it runs free of pain and discomfort

How it can travel through hytopia yet it’s original is bedridden and unable to experience the same things

It can’t leave him behind

It cannot pretend to be link

When link can’t remember or hear anything it thinks or hears

It would return to the original again and again telling the hero stories of its adventures as often as it could

How it participated in hytopia's arena and fought with other heroes

How it entered the Draplands

How it collected outfits

How eventually it met cadence and beat the one who stole the treads of fate

How it met the fates

It kept returning home and helping in any way it knew how

But link eventually met his Demise at home surrounded by a doll

The doll he loved like a child

Because what is a part of yourself that you wish to see living without guilt

What is the being carrying your legacy

If not your child

Yet the doll felt like a fraud

Every friend it knew beforehand

It couldn’t look them in the eye and claim to be link when it saw link perish peacefully in his sleep

It felt like an imposter when it met Ravio after the war of eras again

Ravio would sit by link's grave

How could it look him in the eyes and dare say it was link

It couldn’t

It couldn’t do that to him

Even when it hurt so much

It felt like a cheap replacement

Meeting nine links was fun yet it would always think about how link missed out on the opportunity

How it took this opportunity from him

Like it took everything else from the hero of legends

Or

Wouldn’t it be messed up if when controlling the dolls link stayed in his body

But in usual legend fashion he overthought too much and then decided to develop imposter syndrome as a doll version of himself while the original loved the doll like a kid and has already accepted his demise and how the doll version of him would get to live without pain

But the doll decided to go hate itself regardless because it’s legend we are talking about

The links got hit with a train of trauma from legend

Because like not even Wild overthinks this much about his existence

Now he definitely has issues because of legend's self hatred for considering himself a fake

Legend also got wind with it because he then questioned if he truly was a hero as well

And sky too because now he has to consider if the chain even are their own people and not just him

And the rest also has to think about it

The entire chain went like :

“This some deep waters we don’t want to enter, how could you have done this to us”

And all this because legend developed the feeling that he wasn’t a real person or link when he really just wanted to live like he doesn’t constantly suffer because of his life

[noname-404s-blog]

[team-council]

me: life is meaningless. i am going to blink and be dead. nothing matters, i will lose everything so soon.

five seconds later: OMG LLOYD ASPLUND💞💝💖💗💓🥰🥰😁😁✨🖤🩶🤍💜

he makes the pain go away fr

[vulgrados-best]

The fact that so many universes on here have. Little to no variation of pokemon genuinely kind of unsettles me I'm gonna be honest.

I'm sure that sounds silly to those of you who's worlds essentially only have breed standard but. Imagine being in my shoes. So many sub species that dot the planet, so many evolutionary pathways and flourishing of life.

And it just. Doesn't exist for you guys. Conceptually that's fucking scary! It's deeply upsetting! So many subspecies that just. Don't exist. So many colors that just aren't present.

And yet! We're just one tiny speck in the spanning web of the multiverse! What the fuck!!