#balloon party reverse 1999

[takiminada]

she carried me until i got medpoc so it's only understandable that i must draw her once

[applesformyworms]

electricity

[504py]

WOOOO!! balloon party back on the banner!!! just managed to get P2 getian after i lost 50/50 on the toothfairy banner LOL. i surprisingly don’t have any art of the birdman so have this thing i drew a while back! and yes this is the game that caused my hiatus LMFAO i’ve been obsessed

[acesw]

Reverse: 1999 : Disabled Characters

The game doesn't stray too far on the neurodivergent allegory for the arcanists themselves. But at the same time, there are also inclusions of other characters who are very much known to be disabled. So for this post I'll delve into that, just a bit.

Now, there are 10 characters that I want to put in the spotlight. These mostly lean towards being canon, but a part of these are also researched upon and shortened so the post doesn’t become way too long.

Cristallo, Rabies, Erick : Chronic Illness

It's quite self explanatory that Cristallo herself has a chronic illness. She was born prematurely, with an added condition that makes her physically fragile. As seen in the game, she needs a life-support system to maintain her health when she's outside. It's also implied that her condition may be a recurrent cancer, as her arcane abilities are tied to a machine that provides cobalt therapy, a known advancement in radiotherapy in the post-WWII era.

Rabies is an odd case. In his stories, it's noted that Adam cured Alicia through unknown means at the cost of contracting rabies himself. However, instead of the virus being acute and guaranteed to be fatal, it becomes a chronic illness to Rabies due to the abundance and use of arcanum. And since the rabies virus attacks the brain, his cognitive capabilities and ability to recall things before the present had been impaired, making him rather docile and animal-like in nature as a result.

Erick, as revealed in her anecdote, has a hereditary blood condition that came with her arcane skill. With her arcane skill making her physically powerful, overusing it will accelerate the effects of her blood condition to the point that it can become fatal. To prevent this, she also inherited an armband from her grandfather, Harald. The armband suppresses one's ability to use arcane skills, but by extension it also prevents Erick's condition getting worse.

Shamane : Amputee

Shamane's circumstances are also self-explanatory. He lost his arm for unknown reasons, but after having lived without it for 20 years, it doesn't bother him anymore. However as we know, he crafted his prosthetic arm as a means to avoid scaring kids. (which I think is quite cool in itself)

Ms. Radio, Bessmert : Blindness

Ms. Radio and our new friend, Bessmert, are both canonically blind. Ms. Radio has stated that she cannot see, and asks Vertin to left in places where she can feel temperatures to make her feel at peace.

And as we know, Yenisei (or in other words, Yenisei's VA) has stated in the 1.6 livestream that Bessmert is known to be blind, but even with that, she's a great researcher and guide to her.

Mesmer Jr. : OCD [Content Warning: Mentions of Self Harm and Suicide.]

Mesmer Jr.'s character has heavily implied throughout the main story and her own to have OCD as a result of the traumatic experiences she had gone through from her field of work and her family’s history in it. She identifies that she has "incurable" anxiety, which causes her to think differently about arcanists and act a little irrationally from our own perspective. This anxiety results in double checking everything and having a slightly intensive routine.

This routine is created as a means to maintain herself and her own sanity, but an imbalance or interruption can greatly upset her. As a result, she has conflicting ideals, experiences hallucinations and panic attacks, has suicidal thoughts, and actively inflicts self harm as a means to cope with her anxiety. However, she’s calmer and at peace with herself when she's left alone in a quieter and clean space, away from others, and where nature is heard more than constant buzzing. In short, Mesmer Jr.’s mental health is really complex and would be better if it's explored in a separate post.

Baby Blue : Alice in Wonderland syndrome

It's no secret that Baby Blue has Alice in Wonderland syndrome, or in other words dysmetropsia. This affects her perception of reality and her ability to recall, but this in turn makes her arcane abilities all the more powerful. As a result, she doesn't realize that she's growing up, yet it seems she doesn't mind that much. This doesn't seem to affect her physically either; In fact, it has a heavy influence on how she displays her arcane skills.

Poltergeist : Social Anxiety

Poltergeist has been known to be anxious in social settings which conflicts with her people-pleasing tendencies. She's also insecure about herself which adds up to her not wanting to be directly perceived. At the same time, she doesn't like being left alone as a result of having been ignored and forgotten post mortem. Poltergeist is also elaborate (i.e. not wanting to be looked at for too long) yet awkward at the same time when communicating them.

However, I'm not sure how to describe Poltergeist's case quite well, but the idea of her having social anxiety resonates greatly in my mind, so it can be treated as a partial headcanon.

Balloon Party : Autism and Speech Impairment

Balloon Party as a child had contracted an illness that caused her to have a persistent high fever. In the end, she awakened her arcane skill this way, with her being able to cough up balloons that can be harmful or a cure to anything.

However, it might have also affected her speech because of the physical strain that comes from coughing, it results to BP's speech being a bit slow and having abnormal pauses before she speaks again. Though, this also might be a sign of her possibly also having autism, where rigid and uneven language development is a common pattern in how autism affects one's ability in communication. Her speech also has a pattern of echolalia, having a flat tone, and lack of control of it.

However, speech impediment isn't everything about autism, and there's a lot more about BP's character that also connects with it such as her special interests. I can better explore this in a different post, which will be explained below.

Last Notes

These are the characters I’ve written down, most of these are less headcanon and more of observations I’ve found when looking into these characters. Some people from the lore chat have also added their own insights on some of them. (Thank you lupjo for beta-reading through it and helping me out) 

Of course, there are a few more characters I want to discuss because of the implications of them having autism / ADHD, but these will be written in another post in the future because I still need to research and gather other information. Additionally, it would be an opportunity to talk about the connections between an arcanist’s and neurodivergent person’s relationships with modern society.

Congrats for reaching the bottom of this post, and feel free to add your own ideas or headcanons about the characters here and/or any other ones.

[gabsterz1]

so many BALLOONS!!!!

[clicks-b0mb]

I thought it'd work on a plane for some reason But uh, I'm a bit slow sometimes 🙂 [I've been to India before, thrice]

Prev | .... | Next

[soysaucepastry]

Balloon party fanart by me ✨️

[child-of-plut0]

Halloween official art!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hallowwww]

Its the balloons party today ^_^ (ithink)

[raiyni-dayz]

The silly guys interacting cuz I said so :3

[hall0www]

Balloon Party :3

[harrowharr0w]

dump of old wips from the beginning of the year

[applesformyworms]

my daughters switch their clothes

[acesw]

Disabled Characters in Reverse: 1999 - Part 1

Hello! With the new patches having been announced over the course of time, I figured it was time to renew an old lore-post of mine. This is the list of disabled characters in R:1999.

I posted these on twitter last week, but I decided to wait until the release of 2.2 so that I could uplift some spoilers for the game. Some minor spoilers ahead for 2.3 and 2.5 are ahead!

From the length of the entire text alone, I've separated it by 3 posts. This post here will guide you in the known characters who are physically disabled. I now have 14 characters in the main spotlight here, and I hope you enjoy reading this incredibly long post. So now, let's get started.

Chronic Illness: Cristallo, Rabies, Erick, Semmelweis, Barbara

Cristallo was born prematurely, with an added condition that makes her physically fragile. As seen in the game, she needs a life-support system to maintain her health when she’s outside. It’s also implied that her condition may be a recurrent cancer, as her arcane abilities are tied to a machine that provides cobalt therapy, a known advancement in radiotherapy in the post-WWII era.

In Sotheby’s anecdote, it’s been noted that Cristallo needs extra accommodations to her room, and it’s crucial that the electricity is kept running; she would risk having episodes like seizures otherwise.

Rabies is an odd case. In his stories, it’s stated that Adam Miłosz cured Alicia of rabies through unknown means, at the cost of contracting the disease himself. However, instead of the virus being acute and guaranteed to be fatal, it became a chronic illness to Rabies due to the abundance and use of arcanum.

Since the rabies virus attacks the brain, his cognitive capabilities and ability to recall things before the present had been impaired, making him rather docile and animal-like in nature as a result.

As revealed in her anecdote, Erick has a hereditary blood condition that came with her arcane skill. While her arcane skill grants her insane strength, overusing it will accelerate the effects of her blood condition to the point that it can turn fatal. To prevent this, she also inherited an armband from her grandfather, Harald. The armband suppresses Erick’s ability to use arcane skills, but by extension it also prevents her condition getting worse.

Semmelweis’ journey in the roguelike has been very clear that she suffers from the Beyond disease, a parasitic and incurable disease that mainly affects the brain by heightened hallucinatory symptoms paired with vampiric-like symptoms. The disease has a high fatality rate, but survivors tend to be granted abilities and urges equivalent to that of a vampire.

Semmelweis keeps her symptoms at bay through Lorelei’s arcane skill, and maintains her urges with sweets such as chocolate. While the Beyond Disease is most known for being passed on via contact, (e.g. biting) it has also been found to be genetically carried by some people.

(Bonus mention: Valentina is also a canon survivor of the Beyond Disease, having become a full vampiric-like being. She was the one that bit and infected Semmelweis)

Being born as a cross of 3 different beings, Barbara was born with a delicate body and she suffered a multitude of conditions growing up. Among them, asthma and insomnia were the most prominent. These conditions were incredibly debilitating for her growing up, and they continue to persist til her adulthood. Because of these medical scares (and her instinctive tendencies), she also has anxiety. For this—and strangely enough—her conditions can be alleviated with stuffed toys and the country music that she keeps on her at all times, much to her chagrin.

Amputees: Shamane & Willow

Shamane lost his left arm as a punishment for his previous failures. But after having lived without it for 20 years, the lack of it doesn’t bother him anymore. In fact, he finds pride in his loss, claiming it as a “token of bravery.”

Prior to the events of 1.3, he crafted his prosthetic arm as a means to avoid scaring kids. In his I2, we see that he was provided with a more modern prosthetic, likely provided by Laplace.

Willow is mainly characterised by her ability to perform in floor gymnastics having a prosthetic leg. Even when she lost her leg when she was younger, it didn’t stop her from performing to the best of her capabilities and reworking her skills in floor.

Blindness: Urd, Ms. Radio, Argus

Urd, despite her mysterious presence in the story, is most notable for her blindness. Throughout all her appearances, she's always found with a covering over her eyes, and has been referred to as the “blind woman” throughout the game many times even prior to her reveal. She also has recurring partial amnesia, with the “Storm” being the main cause of it.

She still chooses to travel across cities despite it, documenting her travels and insights about each place as the “Friend From Afar.”

Despite all the awakened lacking any eyes, Ms. Radio is the only character that has explicitly stated that she does not have any eyesight. She uses her body vessel and the radiowaves to be able to sense things around her, and is a generally sensitive entity.

Argus is notable for her vision impairment and partial blindness due to an untreated injury paired with her arcane skill. She struggles to see at nighttime, and has to activate her arcane skill to be able to do work. She tends to use picrasma candies to keep her arcane skill running for as long as possible.

However, Argus will tend to overexert herself and her arcane skill, which can result in her having temporary complete blindness. She refuses to have her injured eye treated nor be provided a prosthetic either.

Others

Mobile Disability - Noire

Our new character here, Noire, is most known to be a wheelchair user! Whether she was born with a disability or not, this aspect is incredibly important for her and I’m excited to see how that will go for 2.5.

Speech Impediment - Balloon Party

Balloon Party as a child had contracted an illness that caused her to have a persistent high fever. In the end, she awakened her arcane skill this way, with her being able to cough up balloons that can be harmful or a cure to anything. However, it might have also affected her speech because of the physical strain that comes from coughing, it results to Balloon Party’s speech being slowed and having abnormal pauses before she speaks again. 

Burn Scarring - Joe

Being a blacksmith, Joe gained a lot of burn injuries due to his work. He developed his skill over time, but it came at a cost; these scars became a part of him. Considering that Joe very likely never went to get proper treatment due to him growing up less privileged, it’s also likely that these scars crudely healed and can cause some pain. His scars are most prominently seen in his face, but they extend down the left arm and even both his hands, which are bandaged.

Albinism - Windsong

Windsong has indicators that she may have albinism; from her white hair, pale skin, and differently-coloured eyes. It can be assumed that she has Type 1 OCA, which leaves her to have the aforementioned features. There isn’t much beyond that mainly due to this being a popularized headcanon among the fandom, so what other symptoms she might have is open to interpretation.

Honorable Mentions

What is this section? The honorable mentions list is meant as a list for:

-Characters I realized I should've added here but it was too late

-Characters who have some headcanons/insights from other users from both Twitter and Tumblr, and I took it to consideration

I hope you enjoy these ones. :)

Oliver Fog - Depression, Arthritis/Chronic Pain (credited: @space-magician on tumblr)

Early on in childhood, Oliver had been exposed to how the London fog takes a heavy toll on his family and has experienced grief early on due to his father passing away from overexertion. It prompted him to start working as a (greatly desensitized) Fogwalker, feeling an unbearable weight on his shoulders metaphorically and even literally with how he struggles to get up in certain weather conditions. It hints towards him having chronic pain/arthritis due to the intensive nature of his work, as well as depression stemming from his grief.

Loggerhead - Short-Term Memory Loss

Loggerhead has short-term memory loss as an aftereffect of her awakening, causing her to slowly lose memory over the course of 3 days. However, Laplace provided her with a special film that allowed her to maintain her memories for longer.

Last Notes

Of course, these are only the first batch of this list, and I hope you'll have fun reading the next two installments here once linked. :)

Psychologically Disabled Characters

Neurodivergent Characters

Thank you!

[uraniumnm333]

>get into reverse 1999

>pull balloon party

“okay shes cute”

>learns there are two other scientist/inventor types

>looks for fics where there all worsties

>find none

“well guess ive gotta write my own”

[the-blossica-fan]

If I could ask for you to write... /np

Consider: Balloon Party and Lorelei's first meeting ^-^

Of course comrade!! Writing takes a while so this ask may be released two to three days after, due to the time I have to compromise 😓

"Ow!"

Coming back to the earth of the conscious, Lorelei felt a sting on her leg. A gentleman critter had dug its sharp teeth on her leg, she hadn't even realized the big critter split into others.

"Lorelei!" She could hear her friends concerned words in the background as she tore the critter away from her, stumbling backwards.

Her leg began to bleed green and she tripped backwards, the strength leaving her wounded leg.

The gentlemen critter opened its mouth wide revealing sharp teeth dripping green and launched at Lorelei. However, it couldn't attack twice.

Semmelweis launched a floppy disk, hitting it right on the side, pushing it sideways and cutting his momentum.

"Lorelei, stand up! You can't stay down there or else they'll-" A critter interrupted her words, making her kick it away as if it were a ball "-Fucking attack you!"

"Y-yes, one second."

Semmelweis took on the position of a defender while Lorelei tried to walk properly. So much for their first time exploring the suitcase's "Dusk to Dawn" alone.

The defeated critters ran away, yelling curses in their language while also dragging their not-defeated friends away. Another battle conquered, yet Lorelei still felt a stinging pain in her leg that slowly grew bigger and bigger.

"Those damned critters don't know when to give up!" Semmelweis turned to Lorelei angrily, but taking in the injured girl's face, stopped in her tracks and asked: "Was it a deep wound?"

"Sort of, it's okay. The pain will leave once I- Ow- sorry" Lorelei tried to reassure Semmelweis, but upon taking a step, her numb leg couldn't support her weight and almost made her lose balance.

"Let me take a look." Semmelweis kneeled on the ground, ignoring Lorelei's reassurances and dismissive words.

The wound went through the bandages, tearing them apart and leaving the horrible mark or teeth. From the wound, a red and green substance poured out of it, one is blood and the other seemed to be... Poisonous saliva.

"Lorelei, we have to abandon our adventure."

"But- You wanted to explore this! We can't give up on our progress for a wound, papa-"

"This is a poisonous critter bite, and not only is a critter wound prone to tetanus, but this will slowly kill you!" Semmelweis rose back to her legs, placing both hands on Lorelei's shoulders. "Right now, I don't care what your papa or mama have to say, you need a doctor."

Despite how much Lorelei wanted to argue, she knew her friend better than anyone, a stubborn woman who wouldn't take a no for an answer once she decided something, and that determined yet stubborn frown said everything.

"You shouldn't leave everything behind for a lunatic, Semmelweis, you did want to try your newly learned spells"

"Silence, Bela, we can discuss this later"

Semmelweis didn't give either Bela or Lorelei time to reply, taking Lorelei's arm and placing it over her own shoulders, helping her walk towards the lobby of the wilderness.

"Ms. Tooth Fairy should be able to heal your wound quickly, we're not running any risks."

Lorelei held tightly onto Semmelweis, humming thoughtfully. "Mama thanks you, she really likes it when you're caring."

"What a weirdo-" "Thanks Lorelei, I do my best."

The numb feeling in her leg slowly expanded through the way back, and the slight sting also increased alongside her guilt. She dissociated once again, causing Semmelweis to lose all the progress she had made.

"I'm sorry, my little musical note, I should have been paying attention." Lorelei heard Semmelweis sigh tiredly, some habit she said she got from an old friend.

"Don't apologize, you didn't mean to make it bite you, right?" Lorelei shook her head. "Then don't apologize. Look, there's the lobby."

And indeed, the lobby of the suitcase appeared right before them, something they would never get used to. There were few people in the lobby, and some didn't pay attention to them aside from greetings and concerned gazes. No wonder why though, Lorelei's skin looked sickly pale, her leg had been bleeding through the bandages to 'let the poison go' and the way she clung to Semmelweis for support gave away her current status.

"Madam Druvis" Semmelweis approached the only person she seemed comfortable enough to talk to, that being a dissociating Druvis, who turned to her slowly. "Have you seen Ms. Tooth Fairy or any healing arcanists?"

"Tooth Fairy is currently outside of the suitcase as well as Medicine Pocket and Vila, Sotheby is in her room making potions with Cristallo and Ms. Bunny Bunny is at work. Is there a reason for- oh." Druvis' eyes stopped at the sick Lorelei, who gave her a greeting smile.

"Hello, Madam Druvis. You seem radiant today!"

"...Balloon Party is in her room at the moment, you can knock on her door, she might not be busy at the moment." Druvis pointed at a door near the lobby, making Semmelweis sigh once again.

"Thanks a lot Druvis, see you." Semmelweis walked towards the door, dragging along Lorelei who turned to say goodbye.

"Goodbye, Madam Druvis. May you have a prosperous day" She received no verbal response, instead, she got a concerned nod and a worried look.

The locked door in front of her caught her attention, the shining words reading 'Balloon Party', a member of the suitcase she had not met yet. Semmelweis might have, judging by her tired look and Bela's words.

Knock knock knock

"Balloon Party, are you there? I need your help, it's urgent!" Semmelweis knocked again on the door, almost banging on it.

"My little musical note, it's not necessary to be so desperate. I can still talk and move, my condition is still stable and safe." But words of reassurance di everything but reassure for Semmelweis.

"For fuck's- God's sake Lorelei, you're injured, have some more self preservation!"

"Said Semmelweis, the one with almost no self preservation."

"Shut up Bela!"

The door unlocked and opened annoyingly slowly, revealing the frowning face of a sleepy young girl who's not so young. She lacked her usual floating dog balloon and her creepy dress, this one being replaced by sleep wear.

In the middle of the evening.

"Stop knocking on the door, it's not going to open if you hit it harder." There was a sense of teasing in her tone, Semmelweis did not like that.

"You're a fucking doctor, no? My friend over here-" She gestured to Lorelei, who waved to the young girl in front of her happily. "Has been attacked by a critter and I don't have the time nor patience to wait here."

"But you shall, this is my room after all, hehehe." The young girl laughed at nothing, but for some reason, Lorelei found it funny too.

"What are we laughing at?" The girl, Balloon Party, turned to her with a raised eyebrow and shook her head.

"Walk in and lay her on the sofa, I'll take care of her."

Semmelweis didn't need to be told twice, she barged into the room, helping Lorelei sit before kneeling and unwrapping the bandages covering her wounded legs, dirty and bloody, but at least the wound had stopped bleeding poison.

"Place your hand away, don't touch it directly. Your hands are dirty." Balloon Party placed a hand on Semmelweis shoulder and slowly pushed her to the side, taking her place kneeling in front of Lorelei.

"Hello doctor! I believe we have never met before!" Lorelei tried to spark up a conversation between her and the girl in front of her, who smiled in return.

"I have met you, you haven't met me." That sentence made no sense for Semmelweis, but it did to Lorelei.

"How very interesting! I must have been distracted. Mama seems to recognize you, but I don't!"

"Is it really that good of an idea to leave these lunatics together?" "Would you fucking shut up? This is no time to be discussing this." "You said we could discuss this later, this is later."

During this self-conversation, Balloon Party prepared every supply she would need under Lorelei's curious gaze. "Is your friend okay? She seems to be in a heated conversation with herself."

"Oh, that's just her and her other her, they don't really get along." She cast a look at Semmelweis, looking at her annoyed friend conversing with herself. "Is she annoying you?"

"Not at all, not at all, not at all." As if it had been necessary, she repeated it three times, confusing Lorelei. "But I need silence and peace for this, would you tell her to leave for a moment?"

And Lorelei didn't hesitate. "My little musical note, I must ask you to leave for a moment."

"Huh?" Semmelweis turned to Lorelei, dazed. "Why? Is it some sort of necessary procedure?"

"The doctor needs peace, mama thinks you're too noisy." Despite Lorelei's calm words, Semmelweis glared at Balloon Party, who began to put on clean gloves.

"Fine, I'll be back if anything happens." Luckily, Semmelweis complied after a second of consideration, slamming the door shut afterwards.

"Ah!" The cold feel of plastic against her leg got Lorelei's attention back on Balloon Party, who looked up from below.

"I apologize, I surprised you." without any more words, she centered all her attention on the wound. "It has dried, I took too long to get to it. Your friend is exaggerating, the poison is not strong enough to kill you, but tetanus might be your biggest worry."

Lorelei nodded, not understanding a single word but going along. The doctor's hand worked quickly, spraying the wound with some painless medication before cleaning with it cotton.

"This is a medication provided by Ms. Campbell."

"huh?"

"You're staring, so you must be curious."

Lorelei came back to consciousness for the second time, her face heating up in embarrassment. Had she been staring at Balloon Party this whole time? How weird, her friend must have handed her over her weird habit.

"I apologize, doctor. Papa is right, staring is rude." The feeling of the soft cotton passing over her skin stopped for a second before continuing.

"it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. I don't really mind." Balloon Party resumed her work, glossing over the 'papa' comment. She and Semmelweis are friends for a reason, they're both weird. "You never told me your name. I know it, but it's best if you introduce."

"How rude of me. I am Lorelei, I'm new in the suitcase."

"I know, I saw you with Sonetto."

Lorelei didn't understand how this girl knew her, but she didn't. There were many arcanists, Sonetto introduced most of them, so how did she miss-

"Do you have a habit of staring?" This time, Balloon Party covered the wound with bandages, her hands held Lorelei's leg straight as she did, and a weird sensation transferred to her heart.

"No! This is- this is unusual in me. I don't stare, not as much, I apologize." Lorelei's words became fumbled, a mess of different explanations and apologizes which Balloon Party ignored.

"we're done. Don't run too much, it will heal completely in a day. Come back tomorrow for a check up and then you're free." Balloon Party stood up and sat by Lorelei's side, who flinched in surprise.

"Thanks doctor! How should I Uhm, repay you?" Lorelei lowered herself slightly, hearing her mother's words of 'straighten up your back!' at this.

"There's no need for that, it's free." Balloon Party took off her glove and touched Lorelei's cheek, then slowly went to her forehead, then her neck.

"...!?"

"No fever or unusual temperature, your friend was indeed exaggerating." She took her hand back, raising an eyebrow when Lorelei unconsciously followed that hand.

"Ah! Uh, well. Wow, thank you!" Lorelei stood up very quickly, almost surprising Balloon Party. "I'm leaving now! Uh."

She paused, her brain telling her to shut up and run, not say a single word as she did, but an arcanist doesn't rely on their brain.

"See you around beautiful!"

And she ran to the door, aggressively opened it and ran out, a loud "Ow!" echoing her room once she collided with Semmelweis on the way out, who closed the door after looking strangely at Balloon Party.

Now alone, Balloon Party walked towards her bed and laid down, about to go back to sleep, and turned to her bloody balloon bear.

"What a weird girl. She'll be back tomorrow, I quite want to call her beautiful too."