#and actually the right sizes this year

[lunapwrites]

on a far more positive/upbeat note i am going to be digging out the christmas stockings later (because no i didn't decorate this year fuck you) and i am going to be stuffing them full of little treats and toys for my dogs because they are wonderful and they deserve the world and i bought them new sweaters and i am going to take so many pictures for my partner who can't see them rn. i will be happy for at least One Hour this weekend. i have declared it.

[rubikor]

do you think about making products with your art?

i would love to have a pin with some characters you draw

i did actually make a few products once for a vograce collaboration (i never showed them here)

but for selling the items i probably won't do that anytime soon unfortunately

[pepperpixel]

got to see the total eclipse in person!!! heres some art commemorating that! cuz getting to watch 2 celestial bodies make out sloppy style was inspiring what can i say, also it was just rlly beautiful and cool and amazing to get to see ghg- but also! its like?? basically the moon finally getting the suns undivided attention... and thats got some vibes to it,, some energies... that i could not ignore lol.

[rindomness]

hello hi tell us about mementos and the security level

OH HELLO. Welcome to my personal hill to die on. This post is long. It's one of my out-loud rants in text form. Sorry in advance. There's a cut down there somewhere.

Thesis statement of whatever's about to come next is that Mementos fucks actually as a concept its execution was just horrible and also Yaldabaoth is a terrible final boss. OKAY LET'S GET INTO IT

First things first I really do think Mementos should have gotten a security level. The game plays "Mementos is the public's Palace" very straight, all the way to the end, insisting that Yaldabaoth is created by the public's desire for a status quo yadda yadda yadda. So like. Here's the screenshots actually

I didn't get the whole conversation mostly because I think I was streaming at the time and complaining out loud but like. He just straight-up says this? And then they do nothing with it???

Imagine this with me. Enter the imagisphere or whatever.

It's October. You've just defeated Okumura, and you just watched the mysterious black-masked figure you've been told cryptically about for a while now kill his Shadow. You watch Okumura have a mental shutdown live. It's horrific! It's worrying! What happened? What's going to happen to you? The Phan-Site meter starts dropping rapidly. You go to Mementos to prepare for the next Palace.

There's a security level.

NOT ONLY did this act make the public lose faith in you, but now you're enemy #1, and it's reflected in the collective unconscious. This Chekov's gun that they set up back in May goes off. You have to be much more careful in Mementos because if you aren't, you could get kicked out. The stakes are higher. Mementos, the public view of you, has changed. It's not just doors opening for you anymore.

THAT WOULD BE SO COOL. RIGHT? RIGHT??? BUT NO! No we don't get a security level until the depths, which contradicts itself, actually, because once you get to the depths, the whole POINT is that the public ISN'T reacting to you or your actions! Why the hell would they care that you're In There!

The obvious answer is that it's because the security level belongs to the Holy Grail/Yaldabaoth/the fuckass cup/whatever you personally call him. And okay, whatever, but the game goes out of its way to establish that the Grail isn't really a separate entity from "public desire," he IS "public desire," the status quo incarnate, so once again, I ask, why is this the only time you have a security level! (I know it's because this is the home-stretch to the final boss and mechanically it has to act like a proper Palace. I still think it's stupid.)

And now that I'm talking about the Grail. Hi. Hello. If you've talked to me on Discord you already know this but I fucking hate the Grail. I think it's stupid. I think it's thematically inconsistent. I think its only purpose is to be the "Let's fight God!" final boss. I truly believe that if I hadn't gotten into Persona 5 through Royal, I would not still be into Persona 5, because I would have gotten so frustrated with Yaldabaoth that I would have dropped the game. I regularly complain for half an hour straight about this thing in voice calls. One person once told me the only thing they knew about Persona 5 was that this cup sucked because I wouldn't shut up about it.

I've somehow managed to not do this on Tumblr but I can't really talk about Mementos without talking about it so I guess we're talking about the cup

Narratively: Yaldabaoth just sort of comes out of nowhere??? The whole game is building up to Shido. The whole game. And you do it! You defeat him! And then... there's this other thing??? Apparently??? I was genuinely really confused when I got to this part of the game the first time because I was going ok we beat the final boss complete with eight hundred phases! Hooray! And now there's this other fucker. Going back through the game there's some foreshadowing for him? But it's kind of all concentrated in the start of the game, around Madarame's Palace, when you're just getting used to Mementos, and then it all sorta just disappears.

YOU KNOW WHAT IS FORESHADOWED, THOUGH? MORGANA.

Imagine with me x2 because this is where I thought the game was taking us when it went "btw we need to tackle the depths now"

Morgana has no memories. Morgana knows there's something in the depths that explains who he is. Morgana assumes it's because he's human, and will become human again if he finds out what it is. The WHOLE POINT of exploring Mementos was for Morgana's memories! And then he starts getting these really unsettling dreams, right, where he's a Shadow, or has a Shadow, or whatever. And then you get to the depths.

What I thought was about to happen was that we were going to find out that Morgana was more or less what the Grail claims to be(a being created by the wishes of the masses) and that Mementos was going to be Morgana's Palace. "Oh but Morgana has a Persona-" Morgana's already a weird case I could easily see him having a Shadow or being a Shadow himself while also having a Persona. I'm ignoring Maruki because we're talking about vanilla and Maruki didn't exist yet.

I thought our final boss was going to be Mona's Shadow and that by defeating him(the part of Morgana(as a Shadow/Metaverse being/etc) representative of what they were trying to make Yaldabaoth: wanting to let the status quo handle everything, more or less, the desire to let the system do what it's designed to even if that thing is "crush everything in its path") we would reaffirm that change is possible as long as we all work together. Morgana getting to be this very physical symbol of rebellion and force of will and getting to go NO I want to try even if it hurts me.

What actually happened was... a lot more underwhelming.

What we got was, in a game where one of the primary themes is "rebellion against systemic injustice, you can't just get rid of the One Guy and fix Everything," a final boss who was... one guy who if you got rid of him you'd fix everything?

And I get it Atlus doesn't want to actually shake the boat that much but at the same time Yaldabaoth comes out of nowhere and says absolutely nothing of substance in a game that, over and over again, gets SO CLOSE to saying something really powerful and then sinking back into what's comfortable. It's the aesthetic of rebellion without the teeth of it.

Anyway now that I've complained for an essay's worth here's some positive stuff

I really do like Mementos. It gets a lot of shit for being repetitive and boring and like I sort of get that but on the other hand it is a JRPG. I'm not sure what you expected from the area that is, mechanically, "Here's where you go to grind." I don't see a problem with having this area. I think the special floor events manage to spice it up enough that it's not all that boring. I like Jose being there in Royal, I think he adds a lot, actually. The implications of everything Jose says are fascinating to me. The fact it's impacted by the weather! Like, as a world component, Mementos is so so cool actually guys. I know it's a Persona game so "world impacted by cognition" is sort of the bare minimum but it's really cool!!! The aesthetics fuck! The only layer I really don't like is.. fuck, I think it's Kaitul? Whichever one gets unlocked after Kaneshiro's Palace, I haven't gotten there in my current playthrough yet. It's just... too dark to see, all the time, imo. Mementos feels(except for... 90% sure it's Chemdah) very oppressive and spooky and I honestly think that's great. It's a depressing place to be! For a game about how corruption and systemic violence hurts everybody, it's really good!

In conclusion... don't ask me about Mementos unless you want an essay LMAO in seriousness I understand why Mementos gets shit but I think it should get less of it. And also that I could have fixed it(the cup. The cup is the big bad part of Mementos. Not the grinding you're going to get that with a JRPG no matter what you do you signed up for it when you launched the game.)

[seaofreverie]

Sparkstember Day 25: Hippopotamus (What The Hell Is It This Time?)

My Hippopotamus rant is here. I love Hippo and I think this was one of the best examples of how putting something off for later can be a very good idea sometimes. So I didn't hear most of it until this summer, and hearing the whole album then was one of the biggest highlights of that time. Thank you modern era Sparks for always bringing us the awesomest music ever.

[laurelindebear]

Hey so, do I have a moral obligation to skip out of work for a week and a bit, fly to Pennsylvania, and do canvassing/phone banking/telling people where polling stations are/helping them find ID/driving people to polls/etc? I know nobody can tell me because it's my morals, I have to figure it out myself, but I really really, please someone just tell me.

Mr Bear says 'it's not your job, it's not your responsibility' but I just asked, 'whose responsibility is it to fight fascism?' It's everyone's. Right? How do you tell the difference between doing the right thing and scrupulosity? oh shit what that counts as OCD? Where's the line?

Will I ever forgive myself when I didn't go and voting/donating wasn't enough? Will I ever forgive myself anyway? Will I make any difference with strangers if I can't even convince my own family to do the right thing?

Is it supposed to be this hard? I guess it is. Nobody said it was easy or fair, right.

[excaive]

I am 98% sure I won't really render this so have the sketch so you can be reminded just how fucking huge Cass is <333 (220cm/7'2ft)

[sobeautifullyobsessed]

Moving Day ~

Today is what I've come to refer to as Moving Day. My time is up where I've been staying, so I had to pack up my car with all my valuables, clothes, food, and health supplies, then spend several hours in my car, until I can check in somewhere else and unpack everything. It's physically exhausting, and by the time I'm done (around 4pm) I'm gonna end up sleeping on & off until getting up for work on Monday. I really dread Moving Day, but it's my reality for now--and I'm very aware there are many people who don't even have shelter at all.

Normally, Moving Day falls on a Sunday, like today...but it's gonna fall on Wednesday (a workday) again this week, as I only have funds to stay until then (paying my motor vehicle tax has left me broke). After that, I'll be spending the night at work or in my car. So I'm posting this now in the hope of enough help to get me a few more nights before I have to do it all again. I'm left to rely on the kindness of both friends and strangers. Thank you in advance to anyone able to give a little bit of help and for signal boosting this plea!

my ko-fi: ko-fi.com/sobeautifullyobsessed

[imjustavenuxwithaboomerang]

made the gaang with this picrew cause i have too much time on my hands, enjoy

[tricoufamily]

when taking care of yourself and caring about your clothes starts making you feel better and not the other way around

[mildmayfoxe]

ok today i watered my plants, swept the kitchen and hallway, did laundry, did yoga, ordered new mailers, renewed my domain, set up some stuff for my sale tomorrow (shh it's a secret), made a big sheet tray of potatoes and green beans and sausage, updated my patreon spreadsheet, and packed up all my sticker club mail for march. and paid my rent. success

[darlingian]

"People say I look happy

Just because I got skinny

But the old me is still me and maybe the real me

And I think she's pretty"

Skinny - Billie Eillsh

[lesbianusahana]

Do not get the wrong idea… although my username and icon are lesbianusahana and I frequently talk about how gay I am I’d actually rather jump out a window on a several story tall building than come out to my family as a lesbian

[murderouswidowsmatter]

I’m glad so many people on here seem to be enjoying work from home. But can we acknowledge how in a society that already moralized work ethic, it’s now become a personal failing to not be able to self motivate. Having structure in the work place used to be a fair expectation for a job, but now it’s a poison pill for applying to many jobs. For my ADHD and depression, having community and authority to motivate me is key, but I can no longer expect that as part of the workplace and can’t ask in interviews for it without being seen as a weak link. It’s just a bit exhausting when working from home is not an option for my brain

[keii]

possessive bf.

[wetslug]

shoe shopping is always a fucking nightmare like ive never been so aware of my toes. im splaying my toes an unnatural amount and gaslighting myself into believing this is how i walk 24/7