#best i can do is the occasional shitpost

[saintofsacrilege]

gay people website you’re letting me down 😔 i was expecting (hoping for) an endless stream of jayroy content… alas

[jonnywaistcoat]

What’s your opinion on the contrast between “silly” and “serious” spaces? Do you think people can have very serious interpretations about a genuine piece of media and also be goofy about it? I’m asking this particularly because I’ve seen people in the Magnus podcast fandoms fight about people “misinterpreting” characters you, Alex, and the many other authors have written. Are you okay with the blorbofication or do you really wish the media you’ve written would be “taken seriously” 100% of the time?

And follow up question, what do you think about the whole “it’s up to the reader (or in some cases, listener) to make their own conclusions and interpretations and that does not make them wrong”, versus the “it was written this way because the author intended it this way, and we should respect that” argument?

This is a question I've given a lot of thought over the years, to the point where I don't know how much I can respond without it becoming a literal essay. But I'll try.

My main principle for this stuff boils roughly down to: "The only incorrect way to respond to art is to try and police the responses of others." Art is an intensely subjective, personal thing, and I think a lot of online spaces that engage with media are somewhat antithetical to what is, to me, a key part of it, which is sitting alone with your response to a story, a character, a scene or an image and allowing yourself to explore it's effect on you. To feel your feelings and think about them in relation to the text.

Now, this is not to say that jokes and goofiness about a piece of art aren't fucking great. I love to watch The Thing and drink in the vibes or arctic desolation and paranoia, or think about the picture it paints of masculinity as a sublimely lonely thing where the most terrible threat is that of an imposed, alien intimacy. And that actually makes me laugh even more the jokey shitpost "Do you think the guys in The Thing ever explored each other's bodies? Yeah but watch out". Silly and serious don't have to be in opposition, and I often find the best jokes about a piece of media come from those who have really engaged with it.

And in terms of interpreting characters? Interpreting and responding to fictional characters is one of the key functions of stories. They're not real people, there is no objective truth to who they are or what they do or why they do it. They are artificial constructs and the life they are given is given by you, the reader/listener/viewer, etc. Your interpetation of them can't be wrong, because your interpretation of them is all that there is, they have no existence outside of that.

And obviously your interpretation will be different to other people's, because your brain, your life, your associations - the building blocks from which the voices you hear on a podcast become realised people in your mind - are entirely your own. Thus you cannot say anyone else's is wrong. You can say "That's not how it came across to me" or "I have a very different reading of that character", but that's it. I suppose if someone is fundamentally missing something (like saying "x character would never use violence" when x character strangles a man to death in chapter 4) you could say "I think that's a significant misreading of the text", but that's only to be reserved for if you have the evidence to back it up and are feeling really savage.

I think this is one of the things that saddens me a bit about some aspects of fandom culture - it has a tendency to police or standardise responses or interpretations, turning them from personal experiences to be explored into public takes to be argued over. It also has the occasional moralistic strain, and if there's one thing I wish I could carve in stone on every fan space it's that Your Responses to a Piece of Art Carry No Intrinsic Moral Weight.

As for authorial intention, that's a simpler one: who gives a shit? Even the author doesn't know their own intentions half the time. There is intentionality there, of course, but often it's a chaotic and shifting mix of theme and story and character which rarely sticks in the mind in the exact form it had during writing. If you ask me what my intention was in a scene from five years ago, I'll give you an answer, but it will be my own current interpretation of a half-remembered thing, altered and warped by my own changing relationship to the work and five years of consideration and change within myself. Or I might not remember at all and just have a guess. And I'm a best case scenario because I'm still alive. Thinking about a writers possible or stated intentions is interesting and can often lead to some compelling discussion or examination, but to try and hold it up as any sort of "truth" is, to my mind, deeply misguided.

Authorial statements can provide interesting context to a work, or suggest possible readings, but they have no actual transformative effect on the text. If an author says of a book that they always imagined y character being black, despite it never being mentioned in the text, that's interesting - what happens if we read that character as black? How does it change our responses to the that character actions and position? How does it affect the wider themes and story? It doesn't, however, actually make y character black because in the text itself their race remains nonspecific. The author lost the ability to make that change the moment it was published. It's not solely theirs anymore.

So yeah, that was a fuckin essay. In conclusion, serious and silly are both good, but serious does not mean yelling at other people about "misinterpretations", it means sitting with your personal explorations of a piece of art. All interpretations are valid unless they've legitimately missed a major part of the text (and even then they're still valid interpretations of whatever incomplete or odd version of the text exists inside that person's brain). Authorial intent is interesting to think about but ultimately unknowable, untrustworthy and certainly not a source of truth. Phew.

Oh, and blorbofication is fine, though it does to my mind sometimes pair with a certain shallowness to one's exploration of the work in question.

[jennifer-jeong]

can we get a headcanon of the lads boys' (raf, Zayne & Xavier) reaction when MC bought her little sister that resembles a lot to her (MC) I'm dying for some fluffs here where the boys interact with a kid 😂🥰

HI ANON SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG JFDKLA;JFDLSA; THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR ASKK it’s so fluffy and funny heheh I had fun with this one

NOTE that reader’s sister is around 12 years old in this

Fluff + Crack | F!Reader Little Sister?

CONTENT Fluff, crack, shitposting LOL, implied feminine reader

WORD COUNT: 1342

RAFAYEL

Your sister definitely bullies him at first just like you do (LMAO) and he will pout and turn away in annoyance and she’ll do the same but then you’ll look away for 2 seconds and they’ll be best friends.

At first when you invite Rafayel over, your sister is probably a bit scared, hiding behind you holding onto you. He probably comments on how she’s kind of your “mini-me” and your sister hits him with the “I’m not mini!” and he’ll reply “well you look pretty mini to me.” Then she’ll kick him in the shins (not too hard just a warning kick). He’ll gasp and then dramatically cross his arms, turning away while pouting, she’ll do the same. Of course you’re just giggling at the antics not helping because you know they’ll get along quickly.

“Okay okay you two, go play some games while I finish making dinner for everyone,” you mediate before heading off to the kitchen. So the two stand there for a second before side eyeing each other and scrambling to the TV to see who is the champion at Mario Kart because that is extremely important information. Of course you can hear their screaming and laughter from the kitchen: “WHY DID YOU THROW THAT BANANA AT ME” you hear Rafayel scream, “IT’S YOUR FAULT FOR BEING THERE” you hear your sister reply.

Rafayel definitely yells as if he’s actually driving a car so if he crashes he’ll actually act like he crashed and it makes your sister laugh until her cheeks hurt.

Later on you find out Rafayel placed 6th out of 12 and your sister smoked him for 1st place LMAOOO. They tell you some of the funny moments and it’s all filled with laughter and a bit of banter but they’re practically best friends at this point. You even join them for a few games after dinner and it’s hilarious.

From then on, there isn’t a single moment where your sister isn’t braiding his hair/putting it in pigtails, putting clips on his bangs, play fighting with him, or just having fun with him.

ZAYNE

Basically your sister is dead terrified of him when she first sees him but since Zayne is surprisingly good with all patients, kids included, he’s actually very good with your sister as well.

When you bring your sister to your shared apartment with Zayne, her eyes are literally wide open with fear upon seeing him and when you tell her to come inside, she shakes her head. So you tell her “aw are you scared of him?? He’s harmless, look he’ll even do a dance.” So Zayne looks at you, still deadpan, looks back at your sister, and shimmy’s his arms back and forth a bit. That man is STIFF doing this move but at least he tried.

Her fear hasn’t quite gone away at this point but now it’s just confused fear?? But she agrees to come inside. You walk off to go make dinner and tell them to start a puzzle together and you’ll all finish it after dinner, comforting your sister and reassuring her that Zayne is very sweet. She sits down in the living room with him and they dump the pieces out.

Zayne pauses, staring at the puzzle pieces before asking your sister “what do you call a dancing puzzle?” and she is mildly mortified before actually thinking about the question. She responds “I don’t know, what is it called?” and he, fully deadpan, replies “a jiggy-saw.” Something about the way this stoic man said “jiggy” was just absolutely hilarious despite the awful pun and your sister lets out a snort and Zayne gives a short chuckle. He suggests they begin on the puzzle and they start chatting to get to know each other, occasionally stopping to make fun of some of the funny looking puzzle pieces.

When you call them over for dinner, Zayne holds out his hand for a high five and your sister excitedly obliges before “racing” him to the table, to which he of course loses. They then continue their yapping into dinner as your sister opens up more.

At the end of dinner Zayne has to offer your sister a classic doctor’s office candy and her face lights up, accepting it and running off. You all work on the puzzle and chat, your sister occasionally going over to you and Zayne to tie your hair into matching ponytails that make you look like unicorns with her pink scrunchies.

When it came time for your sister to leave however, she definitely clings onto Zayne’s leg telling him to not let them take her away. But Zayne of course knows how to handle this and says “hey, there will always be next time, and if you promise to be good, you can have two candies, one now, and one the next time we hangout, okay? I’ll even hold on to this scrunchie to remember,” and she agrees to the deal. Needless to say, they were besties now.

XAVIER

Your sister is probably very confused and kind of intimidated when she meets him and Xavier has no clue what to do but he’ll do something cool with his sword or light evol and she’ll never stop being amazed.

When you call Xavier to your apartment for dinner and to meet your sister, he did not expect you to have a tiny doppelganger. What YOU expected even less was for him to literally shake her hand and say “nice to meet you.” Like he fully pulled out the businessman handshake to greet her but she followed along and also hit him with the “nice to meet you too.” Then he walks in as if nothing happened while you and your sister just stand there, watching him walk away before looking at each other and giggling.

You tell them you’re going to finish making dinner and for them to watch a short movie or an episode of a show which they wait. Your sister, being your sister, of course suggests that they watch the new episode of Demon Slayer. Xavier is caught up because you suggested it to him and he agrees, saying he finds the fighting really cool. They watch a bit until the first fight scene and Xavier is like “yoooo check this out” and pulls out his wooden sword LMAO.

He does the same slashing move the character in the scene does and he even uses his light evol to make it look like he has the same powers. He looks back and your sister’s jaw is on the actual floor while he just stands there like the standing person emoji, not sure what to do next.

2 seconds later and he’s teaching her how to hold the sword properly and how to do some basic movements. Her eyes are full of sparkles and she finds him so freaking cool !!! He’s literally a demon slayer character!!!

Xavier of course sees another fight scene and copies a few of the movements. However, he’s too busy watching the screen to see what’s in front of him… Your vase of flowers now sits on the floor. Xavier and your sister literally get on the ground praising the heavens for the vase being plastic and not glass before laughing. Quickly they hear a “WHAT DID YOU KNOCK OVER” from the kitchen and they simultaneously yell “NOTHING” while both hitting the standing person emoji pose.

You put them in timeout together as a joke (you left them there for like 10 seconds and then you all laughed).

During dinner they caught you up on the episode and after eating you finished it together. You all talk about how good it was until you joke that you’ve become a demon yourself and they need to slay you !!! So Xavier and your sister tackle you while you all giggle.

From that day on, your sister never stops talking about how cool her bestie Xavier is and how she wants to train her “demon slaying skills” with him again.

|| MASTERLIST ♡ || Thank you for reading! ||

[taisho-era-secrets]

I'm currently trying to warm up for writing so I just want to do a little headcanons post...

Things the Hashira do/say during sex

Minors DNI

Giyuu Tomioka:

Isn't one for talking during sex so much, but occasionally something starts to slip out. He has trouble stopping himself, especially when it starts getting good.

You won't get complete sentences out of him 90% of the time, so when he does slip up it's usually...

"You feel-...", "Don't-", "I can't-..." and a mixture of short gasps and groans.

Often finds himself covering his own mouth with his hand because he's starting to lose his composure.

He'll make intense eye contact the entire time though. To the point it almost worries you.

(wants you to look back at him the entire time too)

Very into slow touch, loves to caress up your legs and tummy mostly. He's not usually one for rough, fast sex.

He loves to edge you though and when he discovered that you could see the gears turning in his head... Shocked at his own actions but pleasantly surprised by the results.

Tengen Uzui:

Talks all the time during sex. It's rare to have a moment of silence with him. He's the absolute best at dirty talk too, it just comes so naturally to him.

A big tease too, sure he'll praise you but he can't resist saying something that will make you slightly flustered. Makes you clench around him too so that's a bonus.

Favorite thing is to show off his strength in some way, usually by lifting you up during sex. Absolutely loves to hold you up by the thighs in front of a mirror.

"You've been thinking about this all day, haven't you? I can tell." "Little greedy tonight, aren't we?" "The face you're making right now is so cute."

Obanai Iguro:

Depending on his mood, he can be a little harsh with comments at the beginning. In actuality, he's trying to cover up whatever anxiety he's having. It doesn't matter if this is your hundredth time having sex, he still gets a little anxious.

He's almost never the one to initiate sex, even when you find yourselves in a situation that will lead to it he'll stop and make sure it's something you're craving.

A bit shy, though won't ever admit it. Does everything in his power to keep the face bandages on during sex.

Along with being shy, he has a hard time asking you what you like or what you want done. So he usually does things (slowly) in the heat of the moment and then gauges your reaction.

Usually doesn't say much during sex, but if he gets a reaction that he likes, he'll usually boast about it a little (after he's done looking like a shocked, love sick puppy).

"Oh? Did that do something for you? Well, maybe if you ask nicely I'll do it again... Come on. Beg for me."

Gyomei Himejima:

Okay don't laugh but I think he would pray during sex don't @ me.

Hearing soft "namu"s in between thrusts-

Gyomei takes a long time when it comes to foreplay, it's both because it's his favorite part and for his own peace of mind. He needs to make sure you're ready for him.

He's not one for anything else but praise. If you ask him to degrade you he will not do it. He'll be confused, why would you ever want that?

He's also one to tell you everything in that moment, walking you through what he feels and what you feel like to him.

He isn't into pet names so much but will absolutely call you "my love."

"So soft, my love. I can feel you deep inside."

Kyojuro Rengoku:

Listen. I love him. But I think he would talk about anything and everything during sex. Doesn't have to be appropriate for the moment either, he'll just... talk.

He's focused of course, but sometimes he's bad at reading the atmosphere and will talk about what you two are going to go do afterwards- usually what you two are going to go eat. Okay enough shitposting-

To praise and be praised is all he ever wants. He'll give praise like crazy but also... just melt as soon as you praise him right back. Melt and then start jack hammering-

Any teasing that comes from his mouth is purely accidental.

"Ngh- A-amazing job! You're doing wonderful, keep it up!" "Mmm! I think we could take another round after this. What do you say?"

Mitsuri Kanroji:

The type to giggle a lot during sex.

For her, sex is definitely about the emotional connection. So degradation is a no-no. She's more into words of affirmation/praise during sex but keeping it casual enough to crack some jokes here and there.

She gets flustered easily though, don't let the giggling fool you.

"Is... this okay?" "Oh! You liked that! That makes me happy~!"

Sanemi Shinazugawa:

A sucker for teasing.

But if you tease him back it catches him off guard and makes him flustered for sure. Not saying not to do that, but it might make him short circuit.

The horny in me wants him to be into degradation, but I just feel like hardcore degradation isn't his style. I think he'd try to embarrass you but he wouldn't call you names. (if you write him like this though, by all means please do I'm a sucker for being called 'pathetic' by him-)

Similar to Obanai, Sanemi can be a little shy at first. Particularly, Sanemi doesn't really know where to look the first time.

Once he opens up though, hold on for a ride-

"Hold up... Did that just turn you on?" "Don't tell me you're close already, we just got started."

Shinobu Kocho:

Honestly, she's on the same spectrum of being a big tease like Sanemi.

Maybe even worse.

I'm tempted to say she's got a smidge of a kink for degrading people too but that's...

medical kink Sorry, wish I had more for her but my head is now just filled with thoughts of Shinobu in a Halloween nurse costume.

[otterlyfoolish]

Toriko Roommate HCs

A bunch of Headcanons of on being roommates with the Toriko characters. Semi-shitpost purely because I'm doing this to get a laugh out of it. Pretty platonic stuff. Not edited, I hate editing!

Word count: 2.5k

(Heavenly Kings & Komatsu)

Toriko

I could see him living with someone else if he wasn't able to live in his candy house anymore. It'll probably because they refused to keep making them.

Eats the fridge out. He also eats the ice in the freezer. Nothing is left.

Gone as soon as you step away from the vicinity of the kitchen area.

Don't worry about it too much, he'll leave enough for one serving. Just one. It's for you so you have something to eat for the next meal.

Your shopping trip for one now has to turn into shopping trip for two. If you have a list of stuff to buy hung up on the fridge somewhere, he'll start writing on it. The list of items in his handwriting is more than double of whatever you buy to eat.

He makes up for it though. Causally slams down a massive stack of cash to cover for the cost of it and then walks out to go get lunch with Komatsu or something. 

Invites you out to eat sometimes. Expensive restaurants are just as likely as chance as the local noodle joint. 

You have a pet? No. You had a pet.

Your pet would naturally gravitate towards towards him

He would probably take it on a walk even if it was a pet fish or bug. 

The worse part is that he doesn't even feed it, they just like him more than you. An natural animal's person. 

You'll find them napping together. 

He's a shedder. Blue hair everywhere, he has so much hair it blocks up the vacuum cleaner. 

His clothes are also spread about the place, but when he notices them, he'll chuck them in the washing machine. 

He probably isn't home too much. But you know when he is because you can find a pair of muddy footprints leading up to your front door. 

When he is home, he might bring some people over - he's a social guy when he isn't out hunting or eating

Sometimes might bring over Komatsu. You'll find the two of them sitting on the couch watching some cooking show. These are the best days because he usually stays until dinner and makes all three of you food to eat. 

His brothers might come over. Coco is a delight to have. Sunny is snippy, but you can tell he cares somewhat. Zebra… You're afraid that he won't stop at emptying your fridge, and will start chomping down on the metal container. 

You could probably grow used to being his roommate, there's nothing too bad, just a collection of a lot of little things.

Coco

I don't even know how you convinced him to be roommates with you - I cannot imagine a scenario where he would do this. 

But it barely even matters since you won't see him. Like at all. You'll have to live with him for a couple years before he even thinks about starting to warm up to you.

Almost always in his room. He's deathly silent too - you won't hear a single thing from him ever. The absolute most you'll hear is him talking to some sort of bird outside his window(?) You still aren't really sure who he's talking to, but you occasionally hear some bird sounds.

On the rare occasion you see him outside, he's reading a thick book about something you'll need a master's degree to fully understand. He'll simply greet you and return to reading. Don't stare too long or he'll retreat back to his room. 

You have no idea how often he's at home, purely because you have no idea if he's even home or not from how much noise he makes. The only way you could really tell is seeing if his shoes are gone or not. It's unsettling, borderline frightening. 

Extremely respectful of the shared space - no dishes in sink, the place is well-maintained, there's barely any indication that you live with another person. The only thing that's his is the massive bookcase that takes up a fair chunk of the room. 

If he likes you, he'll let you read some of the books on the shelf. Just under no circumstances do you dog-ear the pages. Your privilege will be revoked instantly. The bookshelf will be replaced with one that requires a lock, or even worse, moves to his room and you will truly never see him again. 

If you're friendly enough with him, you could possibly invite him to watch something together on the television. 

If you ask him what he wants to watch, you'll end up watching a three-hour long documentary on something - pray it's a topic you like or you might not make it out awake. 

If you fall asleep during it, he'll just turn it off, and probably won't accept any other offers to watch stuff with you. It's not that he's offended, it's more so he sees it as redundant if you're not even going to be awake.

Don't worry about it too much, if you like playing puzzle games on a console, he might come out and watch you play. He won't say anything though, even if you get stuck. If you want help, you have to ask him.

Never brings guest over. Though, guests will sometimes make their way over. 

Toriko and Komatsu are the more common ones. They usually come bringing food. It's a good day when they come to visit because they will share food with you. 

Sunny is rarer, if you see him, it's usually urgent and Coco will leave alongside him immediately. You probably won't see him for a week at least.

Once, and only once you met a man covered in blood, half naked with a ripped jaw. You fainted at the sight.

Coco later told you that that man was his 'baby brother'. You still don't know if it was fragment of your imagination.

A stickler that he seems to keep doing is showering in scalding hot water. If you forget and just jump in, your skin will burn. 

Apart from that, he's a fairly good roommate? He'll leave you alone, and won't cause any fuss unless you're doing something he really, really doesn't like.

Sunny

Passive aggressive as hell

If you shed a lot of hair, and aren't diligent on vacuuming it up in time, he'll gather all of it up and place it in front of your bedroom door.

If you leave the dishes undone for too long in the sink, he'll do the same thing  - leave it at your door to trip up on. 

You'll probably have a lot of petty arguments with him. Nothing serious. 

He's a good roommate in other ways though.

He's probably not against sharing his skin care products with you if he doesn't hate you too much. He'd probably even give you tips on how to help or maintain it.

But do not ask him to borrow any or his hair products. None. 

You will never see a bug in your living quarters ever again - he will eliminate the cause effective immediately. 

The same applies to rats, or any pests of any kind. He will not tolerate having any of these things in his home, so you'll also be safe from it.

If you watch TV, he might come in uninvited and give you running commentary on the people's appearances or the show itself.

"Really? That shirt with those pants?"

…Even though he's kind of a fashion disaster himself. The only reason he can pull it off is because he has unrivalled confidence in himself.

"…Gross. He's obviously having an affair with the girl at his workplace. The story isn't even good."

He'll still watch shitty dramas as long as you keep it on the screen.

You think that he secretly enjoys it.

"…Are you seriously watching Toriko eat absurd amounts of food for entertainment?"

Insert scoff here.

He might actually just turn the TV off for this one.

Just remember to turn down the volume if you're watching late at night - he will be very upset if you interrupt his beauty sleep.

Rin has a pair of spare keys to your place. You'll see her in and about even if Sunny isn't home at the moment. The two of you sometimes trash talk him, but she mostly just waves at you and continue doing… whatever she's doing at your place.

Sometimes when she comes over, the place smells 10x better. You're not sure what magic she works, but you swear it could be drugs.

Overall, not a bad roommate, but could certainly be better. 

Zebra

…You really wanna do this? Alright.

I'd recommend buying sound-proof headphones and sound-proofing your room.

It doesn't actually help that much, but it's really just for your own peace of mind.

Also team "Empties the fridge", but doesn't stop there. 

You're concerned he might actually just eat the fridge. Whole. Unhinge his jaw like a snake and crunch it like nothing.

Jokes about eating your pet if you have one.

He makes half threats about eating you if you don't buy food everyday.

Doesn't even matter if you do buy food every day since he probably won't be there the next day

If Toriko had muddy footprints, he has bloody ones. Do Not Ask. He'll answer you, but you won't like the answer he gives you. Just save yourself the horror. 

Police will absolutely come by a couple times a month purely because of your neighbours calling them on him.

Maybe it's the bloody footprints. Maybe it's the fact he broke the 'tiny' doorway on the way in.

When they explain that they thought that he was going to kill you, you laugh but wonder if the police would even stand a chance if he was going to kill you. 

It doesn't help that he leaves for weeks at a time and comes stumbling in covered in gore he hasn't really bothered to clean off yet. 

You don't even really know what to do in this situation apart from explain that he's a roommate.

No, he's not trying to kill you.

No, he is not holding you hostage.

Yes, you would like for them to stop coming at this point. 

The few redeeming qualities are:

Your home is completely safe. You will never worry about a break in - he can hear anything happening for miles and miles. In fact, if anyone were break in, it would be him. 

Yes, he's done it before after losing his keys.

Yes you just woke up, walked out to see him covered in blood, waved at him then went back to sleep.

Yes, you are far too desensitised to blood now. 

Rats and other creatures are too afraid of living in your home - pests will actively avoid living there. Just be careful about your pet running away from home if they're able to. (They'll get used to him eventually)

He will sometimes bring back an absolutely massive chunk of meat - . You may eat it if he likes you enough.

But if you eat it, you have to help him cook it. No matter how good you are at it, he'll just shake his head.

…He's probably thinking that Komatsu could do better.

Komatsu

In my opinion, the best roommate on this list. Purely because he is the most normal on this list. 

Will cook for you. You will cry tears of joy. Weep. You will be grateful simply because of how tasty it is.

He'll be organised with the kitchen, it'll pretty much always be full.

Just… If you move anything, remember where it came from, because he'll get pretty upset if you keep doing this. He likes a system to his madness.

The fridge will be fairly stocked, but he'll keep a list of what he needs on a paper stuck to a magnet. It'd be appreciated if you could buy these items when he can't.

You don't get to spend a lot of time with him. Between being Toriko's partner and running his kitchen at Hotel Gourmet, he doesn't have a lot of free time.

When he comes home, it's late at night. The two of you should be asleep.

In fact, he tells you that you should be asleep at this time. Fucking hypocrite.

When you do get to spend time with him, he's probably in the kitchen tinkering around with something new he bought at the World Kitchen or something Toriko had swung by to give him.

If you really wanna spend time with him, you should just pull up a chair to the counter.

If you're close enough to him, he'll invite you to help make dinner.

Don't worry, he'd give you something really, really simple to do.

There is no room for disappointment.

If he isn't experimenting, he'll probably be watching some sort of cooking show. (A massive part of his personality is just flipping cooking and I love it so fucking much) You're welcome to join him watching the show.

Just be careful since he will be asking you what you think about contestants three's pie crust. He will not be satisfied with a half-assed answer.

He'll have a notepad on his lap, and he'll be taking notes whenever something interests him.

His notes are very neat, so you can read them, but you aren't sure if they make much sense.

Toriko is a common sight in your home. He'll just sit on the couch with a bag of food he took out of the fridge. He'll give you a nice big grin while waving at you with your lunch plans in his mouth.

Komatsu will probably scold him a bit, but you know that nothing will change. You'll probably see him in two weeks doing the same thing again.

Since he isn't home often, and he's a pretty likable, you'll probably start doing his portion of his chores after long enough. He insists you don't have to, but you'll probably end up doing it.

He also gets you to get rid of the spiders. Don't kill them though, after meeting Toriko, he'd avoid doing these things. Just put them outside.

Don't try to scare him even as a joke - he will scream his lungs out and your neighbours will think that a murder had happened.

Also… be careful you don't join his fucking harem.

[dee-the-red-witch]

Okay, let's do this. February Pinned post GO!

Hiya, I'm Dee.

I'm a forty-something queer lesbian poly trans woman. I'm an artist, writer, leatherworker, and tattooist. I'm a shitposter, a mom, and a few other things I've spaced on for the moment. I'm also Not Your Responsible Adult, and will hand you kids pamphlets on sex and kink education, a couple double espressos, and a bag of fireworks or a puppy. I fully believe in sex, kink, and body positivity and reblog as such- if you need censor your own experience for whatever reason, don't follow me, because I will not censor myself for you.

I also post a lot of my work here, but you'll also find a lot of it available for purchase right here: http://tormentedartifacts.com Here's a few highlights:

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The absolute biggest thing right now, though, is my surgery fund- My Gender Confirmation and Facial Feminization operations both happen this November over a two week span, and I'm trying to get enough in to cover my stay and the downtime I'm going to have to take off from everything up there.

So here's the link for my GoFundMe for that.

if you can kick in on that, or just spread word around of it elsewhere, I'd REALLY appreciate it.

And to answer a few specifics:

If you're contacting me about an order the best way is using the email on my site, not messaging me- I will answer when I can, but I'm also backed up and almost constantly low on spoons. Tumblr's where I come to dopamine-mine among other things.

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Otherwise, that's it. My inbox or messages are open if you've got questions

[doodledoodlesdoodles]

My way too long Opinion of YIIK 1.V (at least before I start Benevolent Psychosis.)

TLDR: I started the game with uncertain expectations though was happily surprised with a pleasant though abstract game. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea in my opinion least story-wise but I genuinely had a good time with it. Especially the battle system, it's a lot better.

Also if you don't know what Benevolent Psychosis is don't worry if you play throughout the game you'll find out eventually.

I try to not put in that many spoilers but I'll still say be wary of spoilers anyway just in case.

Also, i'm not an expert in gaming, just someone who really wanted to write down my thoughts on it.

Also I didn't read a certain book + these reflections are based on the first edition alone and not future games like Benevolent Psychosis.

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Thoughts of the original and my bias.

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I think I should start off establishing some bias I have towards the game when I picked it up.

When Yiik was first around, I didn't really give it much consideration. I think I was vaguely familiar with a modeler of the game since I followed them on tumblr? I could be incorrect.

Though the most I became interested in the game as a whole was Uricksaladbar's video 'YIIK - The Hero You're Supposed To Hate'. I had (and somewhat still do) not a lot of experience in things like post-modernism. From my understanding of that video combined with the many others that I engaged with at the time the creator crafted a self-insert intentionally-made asshole who obviously failed to grab audiences. That impression expanded into a creator who believed he was smarter than he was by including his past failed games and declaring that 'my mistake was thinking that video games were art' upon receiving a plethora of criticisms. Criticisms that focused on things such as the confusing plot, the narrative of Alex being at the center of everything contrasting the game's moral of not being self-centered, the creator directly ripping lines from books, the bizarre add-ons of things such as the 'golden alpaca', the real-life inspiration for one of the characters being based off a real mysterious death, and lastly the game - implementing a 'mini-game' like system into rpg battle mechanics (which I believe is much better utilized in games such as Knuckle Sandwich) being at best taking way too long (To the point you don't want to use them. Some of them taking like 10 minutes) and at worst just broken overall (I believe I recall some people abusing Essentia's ability frequently).

At best some of those critiques were taken out of context or misinterpreted. For example, one of the other videos I would watch showed off an almost identical real-life copy of Alex saying it was what the creator looked like. Cue my surprise modern day to find out that he doesn't look like the insufferable protagonist at all! Wow! Some of it also was based on Kokatu's articles which wow! They definitely haven't had some controversy about being a poor media outlet in the past! (Sarcasm!) I can understand why some of it could make people uncomfortable though, I know I had originally felt pretty iffy myself over a plot point being based on real-life events or the awkward way Alex talks or certain dialogue that many said came off as 'forced'. I also didn't understand the plot and not many of the people I watched around that time seemed to either. I wasn't sure if it was intentional either and old game updates only seemed to confuse those who engaged with it more. I didn't play the game and moved on with my life, occasionally seeing friends online joke about the game or a few posts putting the protagonist in shitposts.

Cue to modern-day, YIIK I.V coming out and I hear it's going to be an improvement on the game's story and combat while also adding new elements such as the mysterious 'nameless child' character. I played the demo of the free promotional demo 'Nameless Psychosis' during a relaxing call with one of my dnd buddies. I still found myself getting a little lost (though that might've been because I was on call and half paying attention. However, some other reviews I've seen of the demo found it also a little confusing. The music and sound effects I also found a little weird.) but at least for me - the confusion felt almost intentional in an 'artsy' sorta way. I was at the very least intrigued by this version. I know the original certainly failed to attract me despite its inspirations falling into things I enjoy. Plus, regardless of my feelings about the game, it's at the very least admirable that the creators here had a passion for their project to the point they wanted to improve upon it. I bought the game at a discount with the eventual intention of playing it in the future. I tried to prepare myself a bit by watching more positive opinions of the series such as Planet Clue's 'understanding of the "worst" RPG protagonist - YIIK' and Kellkrai's analysis of the game. 'YIIK ANALYSIS' of the original ( While I did end up appreciating the dive in showing Alex's mind and how it transfers to the world around him + The analysis of Essentia, I was still a little confused haha.)

I should note I didn't even know about Deviation Perspective - Wrong Soul Reqium - additional material that works to explain aspects of I.V. So that might affect my opinions of the game.

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PREMISE

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If you don't know what YIIK is about somehow it stars Alex, he just finished college for Liberal Arts and pretty much has no idea what to do with his life as he moves back home to his town Frankton. Thereafter following a cat into an abandoned factory for stealing your mom's shopping list - Alex meets a mysterious girl called Semi in a confusing landscape before she's kidnapped by mysterious otherworldly beings. After witnessing this, Alex makes it his mission to find the woman and by doing so joins a team of internet friends to investigate. During this, the world - as planet clue says - 'gradually starts to make less sense'.In - what i'll call the 'b-plot' - stars 'The Nameless Child' (Also called Allison and Carrie) who is trapped in another world entirely. There she must trek the confusing reality that is her existence through bizarre landscapes.

Other characters include

Vella, a girl from another universe who left hers possibly from the trauma of a mysterious record. Due to her experiences, she has a lot of knowledge about the world and souls that exist inside and outside Alex's world.

Rory, a contrast to Alex (referred to as The Good Brother to Alex's The Bad Brother by the Nameless child)grieves over the loss of his dead sister. He's awkward and how Alex treats him throughout the story affects his involvement in the story.

Micheal, who was once a childhood friend of Alex suddenly inserted back into his life. He has a fascination with computer games and photography though appears to know more than he lets on about the reality he's been brought into.

Claudio, an anime nerd who owns a large chain of record shops. His family also had a mysterious disappearance of his younger brother - he's made it his life mission to find out what happened to him and other people who disappeared like he did.

Chondra, Claudio's younger sister who more often than not I found as a 'straight man' or the the one who questioned what the hell was going on around her the most. She keeps her brother company though expresses frustration with the fact that Alex has wounded Claudio in obsessing over the past.

The Essentia 2000, is a mysterious robot of Alex's dreams who claims to be his 'soul-mate' in the 'truest sense of the word'. She claims to be many people all at once but her past lies in mystery and betrayal.

Sammy (Semi), the current obsession of the online forum Onsim1999 (the one that the protagonists engage with) due to her very mysterious disappearance and murder. Who is she? Why do we keep finding lookalikes of her all around that no one seems to recognize? Why was she kidnapped? Was she even really kidnapped in front of Alex?

Krow, is an inhabitant of Alex's mind(?) and is often associated with The Nameless Girl's mysterious journey. Why is he here? What does his waxed poetics mean for our secondary protagonist?

Asuka, a professional actress and best friend of Chondra, is preparing for a role for the Japanese film director Kisage X though the performance she's preparing oddly seems to have parallels with the world of The Nameless Child and Alex.

There's technically more but these characters felt the most important to me without getting TOO spoilery.

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COMBAT

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As mentioned before, the combat mostly circled around Wario-ware-like minigames. While that idea sounds fine on paper (and good lord the RPG genre does need spicing up every now and then) the main critique was that they were too long or too broken. While the story is probably one of the major features of an RPG, another is mechanics and battles. For me at least, the two should have harmony with each other to be a good RPG. I don't even need a groundbreaking story for it to be a 'good RPG, I'm a fan of even the original Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64 whose whole story mostly surroundings Mario having to save Princess Peach from Bowser again (though I think personally paper Mario was able to have a fun twist or add ons to the story to make it unique). I'll get on the story later but the point is if your player is actively avoiding fights then you're failing as an RPG.

I'm not skilled in the nitty-gritty of everything that makes RPGs 'work' and 'not work' but I personally at least found enjoyment in the new battle mechanic.

(YIIK I.V)

(Original YIIK)

I think even UI and aesthetics alone in 1.5 bleeds (haha) have more charm compared to the original. Even little things like the camera moving down as a party member leans over a lunchbox for items or (I didn't play the original so maybe this was a thing in that one?) how certain status effects like Blind give the characters affected sunglasses.Also instead of battling on a generic landscape (Which isn't bad perse but lacks charm - especially compared to its inspirations such as Earthbound the bizarre designs of the enemies just stand out much more) the characters battle instead usually in abstract visuals or shapes. The main critique so far is that the camera angle of the battle makes it a little difficult to find out which enemy is attacking my party though usually the character screaming in horror after being attacked fixes that. Also, some characters in the game will use guns and shoot out projectiles that will slowly drain characters' health- I found these enemies pretty annoying overall.

Anyway, each character has an average attack, their special attacks or skills that cost PP (Either by destroying an enemy's Karta- I'll explain later- or until a little clock near the PP UI clicks back into place.), and their element or 'Pokemon type'. Like Pokemon - the way the types interact with each other can mean higher damaging attacks, lower damaging attacks. There are also 'clashing elements' where if the attacker and the target have the same affinity, there's a chance that the defending element will be weak to the attacking element. There's no way to switch out party mid-battle like Pokemon though so to be honest I usually ignored the effective move scale entirely and did fine. This meant that a lot of the time my party was usually performing the 'clashing mechanic'.

Another aspect of the characters you play is their Life (HP), their ATK (Strength stat), Speed (...Speed), Luck (The chance of getting critical hits), Piercing Power (The chance of attacking the target HP and destroying their 'Shields' or Karta), Agility (The chance of dodging enemy attacks), and Karta (Let me explain timeline first!).

Speed affects your character's and your enemies 'timeline'. Every character starts at the 'WAIT' region and upon entering the barrier of the 'ACT' of their timeline- you can choose their moves. Depending on how fast your character gets to the metaphorical finishing line then they perform their attacks. Mostly just a visual way of showing your turn order though occasionally i'll admit I did find it a little confusing with enemies such as 'Shitty OC' (real name! It's a sonic oc that throws bombs at you). If you lose a party member in battle an angel-like figure thing will appear on the timeline. Once they're in the ACT phase, they'll send out a new teammate to help you battle. I didn't pay attention much to act except when I was in a boss fight since I admittedly found it hard to tell the turn order at least with the enemies. I felt I usually had only a vague idea of how it operated.

Have you ever played a dungeon crawler that gave you 'armor' or 'shield' that acted as temporary hit points without ACTUALLY harming your character's health overall? Karta is basically like that in the RPG form of that idea but expanded upon. For you to attack an enemy (and vice versa) you have to break through their 'karta' and drain their life. Upon destroying all their karta (or vice versa) they will enter the 'bleed' status where they will slowly lose hp throughout the battle. You can have 3 card slots to put your cards in from the front (more likely to be destroyed first), middle, and back. It's generally good to have all Karta filled because of this in my opinion. (or use items that create temporary Karta when you run out). Plus it also engages more with another feature of Karta, that being the types of Karta at your disposal.

Each Karta will not only modify your stats as long as they're not destroyed (Some good and some bad- The Hungry Traveler gives you a speed of 150 at level 2 but others like Level 3 Torn Hat will offer a good boost in Life and Speed but take away 2 from your Agility.), give you a bonus while still in your hand (The Deep Well will change your character's type to water and auto extinguish the being on fire effect and The Seamstress doubles your life and regenerates a little bit of every turn), though ALSO gives you something if you're willing to use the card and possibly risk sacrificing a good defense you might need in battle (I like using the Seamstress's ability to restore life of all allies and The Sorrowful Maiden's ability to lower the maximum life of a target). Do I want to USE The Torn Hat to make it impossible for my enemy to pierce through my defenses (Karta) or would I be better off trying to keep it because its IN-HAND ability means I get more EXP from the battle?

It took me a bit to get into it but once I did I found myself genuinely enjoying the mechanics of it. I hear it compared to the Persona series which I've never really played before (I do need to though) mechanics.

The characters also have their own playstyle and abilities. You can also get 'combos' from how long your character attacks without getting hit. I didn't pay all too much attention to it since I couldn't really plan ahead for a enemy attacking a character but somehow I still got Alex's 'Amateur MC' achievement so shrug.

I personally used Alex for defense and using items, prioritizing his Panda Barrier move on harder enemies but otherwise playing with LP Toss, Hair Whip, or Feedback. It felt like Alex got the easiest access of moves due to the fact you obtain a decent chunk of them through natural story progression compared to the other party members who primarily obtain them through Alex's mind dungeon.

Micheal, I used it every now and then, usually when I didn't have many party members left or if he had happened to be sent out. I think despite not using him too much he has some interesting moves such as being able to create copies or enemies, turn enemies against the party, and reduce enemy accuracy. Also if your party is all blinded or all dead, Micheal will pull out a fucking gun. I found this hilarious the first time I saw him do this. I'm not 100% sure how it is different compared to the camera so take this with a huge grain of salt but I believe it does more piercing damage?

Vella's banish ability was kinda useless to me unless I happened to run into a soul survivor character (Which would suck if I entered a battle without her because that could've meant I had to kill them? I have to see if Rory's protest ability - which acts somewhat similar - could do it too. Not being able to attack the soul survivors at all in battle was a little annoying to learn at first.). Despite that I use her a lot in battles, she's got some good buffs and healing abilities and her Bass Drop ability is pretty good for handling a starting hit on some enemies.

I didn't really use Rory that often, I liked interacting with him in the game but I felt like a lot of his abilities could be swapped with Vella. If Vella dies though he's a decent 2nd option if he happens to come out. I feel like a lot of his abilities can be similar to her's anyway. He can give allies karta, give them a heart card and make them stop bleeding, convince enemies to leave the battle, and swap HP with an enemy. He also doesn't instantly attack due to his pacifist nature. Instead, if you have him 'attack' he'll enter a counterattack move which he will damage back the enemy attacking him.

Claudio, I ended up also using a lot. Dragon Jump kinda acts like a fly from Pokemon and Vampire Blades is good for keeping him alive. It's really nice to use on bosses in my experience. Also loved using Storm Fury when dealing with multiple enemies at once if I was able to.

Chondra is a 'wild card type' which means she can change her Pokemon type with the move 'copy element'. If you go towards the 'clash' mechanic more than I do i'd imagine you'd like Chondra especially since the copy ability costs 0 to use. I usually used her Spread Item effect to give my party gauze (an item that creates artificial karta space) or healing items though I didn't end up using her a whole lot unless she popped in from one of my teammates dying. Her character is one of my favorites so it's a shame that I wasn't as interested in her moves.

We don't really get Semi/Sammy that often in the game so I don't even know if it's that essential to list her off in usefulness. She works as a decent tutorial character for Alex to work off of battle-wise.

Essentia's able to upgrade her STR and use an all-enemy-focused attack that usually takes care of weaker enemies on the field. I also read that she can attack Soul Survivors but I'm not 100% sure on that one yet. I didn't use her all that much but she was alright.

Krow's abilities I do find interesting and fun to use though you can only really use him a selective amount of times so far. He's usually your ally anytime you visit Alex's Mind Dungeon and it makes sense since his moves are about healing Karta or cutting enemy Karta. He's there to make mind dungeon battles a bit easier to handle.

Speaking of which: The Mind Dungeon! In the original game, it was highly contested as being an obnoxious and confusing way of leveling up. Based on video's I've seen i'd be obliged to agree. It doesn't even really explain the stats or elements all too well.

In the new version of the game, its been updated entirely. A hub of areas for Alex to trek like a platformer to Level up (at the spawn point Krow will show you three cards to choose from and those three cards will boost specific stats. The Top shows you the leveled-up stats and the bottom shows you the modifier added on), the ability to level up Kartas to be more powerful (I'll explain this later), Obtain Abilities (Some trapped by puzzles, platforming, and unlocking overworld abilities), and see little performances by Handsome Krow (I think this is a different ish character from Krow?) and his puppet things.

Handsome Krow's performances are something transferred from the old game I believe, showing Alex's subconscious thoughts of some of the people he's encountered via transforming them into workers or inhabitants of his mind. You meet them by getting to certain floors of the original game's dungeon though they kept the dialogue of Handsome Krow explaining what floor they're on in 1.5 which made me super confused! I assumed that i'd meet puppet NPCs around the overworld but they're only there every few performances you get after leveling up.

The dark cups spread around town (ones with blue flames above it) around the overworld give you character abilities. I think the explorative aspect of it is fun though the bizarre background music in the game makes it very irritating. If you unlock another song for the Overworld via the jukebox not too far from Spawn i'd consider taking advantage of it. I got really sick of hearing the same repeat of the song even though I DID like it when I first heard it. It fits the bizarre world but man it was annoying.

You're also probably wondering what's up with the key, the fetus thing, and the blood bag right?

Blood bags are easiest to explain, after defeating certain enemies in the game you obtain blood bags that can be used to upgrade the power of the cards which boosts their stats! Physical representations of the cards are usually hanging out near the spawn ready to talk to.

The 'fetus' things can be found around Alex's mind dungeon hidden in areas accessible from platforming or using your overworld skills. There you can hand them over to this lady at her card stand and she'll hand you a key. See that golden thing next to her? You need you use a key on that. There you'll fight a version of The Nameless Child with a certain karta card on her during the fight, upon defeating her you can get whatever karta card she used in battle.

Overall besides the repetitive music, I enjoyed exploring aspects of the mind dungeon. At the very least I did want to revisit it (something I assume was not many players experience in the original) any time I got an overworld upgrade just so I could see where it'd lead me or maybe if I could get myself a new Karta to play with. Not a negative per se but I was also able to get to areas I probably wasn't supposed to due to just platforming around it rather than getting an upgrade from progressing the game. I didn't experience it TOO much (I mostly remember 2 instances of me being able to do that.) but it's worth noting I suppose.

Aesthetically it just looks nicer overall compared to the old mind dungeon. It feels more disorganized and jumbled of memories, locations,or thoughts that Alex has. One moment you're exploring a mysterious temple and you suddenly find a replica of a bedroom. The bright visual in the skybox did start to irritate me but I got used to it.

(old mind dungeon entrance)

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The Nameless Child's Gameplay

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The Nameless Child's sections don't work as RPG, her sections are more on the experimental side but I feel comfortable calling her sections more 'puzzle-like'. Her Karta usually is flavor or like inventory to me. For example, there's a section where Carrie gets trapped in tank control movement signified by a 'tank karta' card, after removing the card Carrie gets a gun (lol). The Gun Card in the corner of the screen will show how much ammo Carrie has at that moment before needing to collect a refuel. Other times her cards are 'you stepped in cat poo and now when you walk you make a frog noise' or 'you'll be safe when you walk in fire'.

While that sounds confusing and messy (and sometimes it can be, though you can always check the descriptions of your karta for clues) I found myself always excited to see what bizarre landscape my characters going to traverse this time. Whenever I went back to Alex's plot I always felt myself wanting to return to The Nameless Child. At the very least I felt less inclined to look up where to go and how to do things in her sections rather then Alex's.

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Positive Notes

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I think overall the game's ui is much more appealing compared to what I've seen of the old game. Character stats have full models and a more interesting hierarchy in the text compared to the static set of stats and a tiny icon in the original. It's so much more fun to look at compared to the original. Even the text boxes use bright blue compared to the drab brown or purple pops much more.

I think once I got used to it, I enjoyed the visual card format of The Nameless Child's karta and how that translated into her own gameplay. I think her involvement overall is an improvement and the general direction of it all feels like a niche arsty audience. Based on a line Kisage X says in one of the cutscenes, this is probably intentional.

Speaking of Kisage X, I enjoyed his involvement overall and how they used his script as the lens of the story. It feels like I'm watching a very 'artsy' director display his own abstract vision which I think matches with the vague cutscenes in the game. It also plays with this distortion of what's 'real', what's alex's world, what's 'reality', so on and so forth. They have characters that appear in the story reference a script or characters mention admiration for the director or they refer to Kisage X's distinct way of recording people by having the person not know they're a part of the story or recording.

Aesthetically I enjoy how Alex's monologues are recontextualised in the form of a standup routine. It allows his stupid nervous body language to shine through and make his otherwise pretty drab rants more interesting. It gave me a 'some trying to do standup and doing it very poorly' vibe and I'm pretty sure that was intentional given Alex's attitude.

If you like Michael and Chondra I think you'll like the update, Micheal more so though. Not to say Chondra isn't given a spotlight though, more just Micheal. She's someone who isn't stuck in the past or a delusion like the other characters and she suffers because of it. I only can compare it to Homestuck terminology so i'd compare her to the mage class. Someone who gains knowledge from her own suffering. Micheal fans will eat good though since he gets a large focus in side cutscenes of the game. He's the 'best friend' archetype but is a man who feels trapped in that role rather than naturally living it. I think his cutscenes and him pulling out a gun only when no one is around or if everyone else is blinded really displays that. His persona cracks only a few times around others.

While i'll go more into in when I talk about visuals and music, I heard some people uncertain about the reliance on physical models over the visual novel like portraits. Personally, I think it adds to the uncanny nature of it all especially when the visuals are at its most bizarre. The scene where The Nameless Child's model is shooting off balloons of a certain character or micheal entering a room of a bunch of wide mouthed puppets of someone typing away at computers comes to mind. If it wasn't clear I overall love the aesthetic of it all.

I can't get into it much without going into spoilers but I'm always a sucker for things that explore the mind even a little bit. While obviously not the same kind of game as YIIK, I always enjoyed games like Psychonauts because every time I entered a mind I was able to analyze and understand a character I previously only had a few shared lines of dialogue with.

If you're more into the surrealist way of storytelling, I think you'll genuinely enjoy dissecting this game apart. It doesn't go for a traditional storytelling approach despite what it may seem upon first glance with Alex's story. I was slightly worried when I started the game that it was just going to be the full alex run and then all the cool new stuff but luckily it wasn't that thanks to the spliced nameless child bits, side characters cutscenes, unique battles, so on and so forth.

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Nitpicks

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A lot of it is nitpicking and personal preferences, I want to say overall I still enjoyed my experience.

There's a certain character in Chondra and Claudio's story that appears in Alex's mind dungeon. I know it's possible to encounter them in the original but I did not so color me very confused when these two told me about it.

Whenever you go to a shop or buy something at a vending machine there's a side window of Alex's reaction to the item you have selected. If he's sweating - for example - that usually indicates that the item is probably expensive. I didn't really understand what his other reactions meant, I think he bites his lip if it's a cheap item and goes: :O when its more costly. Not 100% certain however of this.

I thought it was weird it let you buy the basic version of weapons that your party members get - especially before you're even able to add them to your team. Just sort of felt pointless and left me having more of old items than I needed to.

I did hear some people complain about the screams that characters do when being attacked during battle- I was able to tune it out just fine but I can imagine for some people it can be a little annoying.

The intro - namely The Nameless Child's part - is a bit repetitive walking back and forth to figure out what you're supposed to do. While her sections can still include that in future levels I at least didn't find it as tedious. However, it could've just resulted from me getting used to it.

For certain mind dungeons or areas, I had to google to figure out what I was supposed to do or go - Vella's mind dungeon came to mind as I could not figure out what was up with that balloon of Vella.

They do reuse the old mind dungeon's entrance section for a future part, which I can imagine people who never saw the original could be a little confused on what alex means by 'How did we end up back here?!' That could be a nitpick though since otherwise I didn't have issues with that part.

In the steam version you only get achievements after quitting the game, not the end of the world but something I noticed. Some of the achievements also felt a little weird since the battle mechanic plays much differently compared to the original.

There's a certain section of the game that builds up to your party preparing for a great disaster (if you played yiik you probably already know what it is). Before that Alex has to gather everyone in the party and during that you can still explore the world as much as you want to your leisure. As soon as you get micheal though? Even entering a dungeon to battle that one last enemy will count as an entire day so I guess don't do what I did and just explore those dungeons as much as possible WITHOUT micheal. Also a bunch of Onism1999 side quests blow up during the period of training which is a LITTLE annoying. Also before you had any option to enter the mind dungeon but now if you do that'll also count as a whole day. I think I would've liked a warning at least similar to how I was warned about Yuzu's battle before entering the area it starts his cutscene. Not only that but leveling up in the mind dungeon counts as a WHOLE DAY which really annoyed me since I was at 2600 (26 levels!) with 18 days left that I spent doing side quests and dungeons which ALSO count as a whole day. Said dens and side quests give you 100 EXP that you would need to use the mind dungeon to actually level up. I wish they counted entering the mind dungeon as a whole day rather than leveling up. I feel like I was essentially punished for trying to complete the dens and quests because it locked out of a day that I could've spent leveling my characters up.This was the only part I was VERY annoyed by and consider outside the nitpick category maybe when it comes to alex's gameplay at least...

Had weird glitches where the parties levels would be off- it used to just be a level so I didn't pay it much mind but towards the end I would have Alex at 41 and the rest of them at like 54? Not sure what was going on there since as far as I knew all the party leveled up upon alex leveling up.

I wish the Onsim 1999 side quests were something I was able to see whenever, I felt like I had to backtrack to my house just to see what other quests I had to do.

A lot of the funny lines or bizarre (Nobody cares about your dead sister, THIS THINGS DIGITAL BABY!, There are more Vellas then final fantasy games, the two brothers cameos and appearance) are still there. For someone who hasn't touched the original but watched theory videos of it I took it more as 'Alex's pretentious mind' at best and found it hilarious at worst. I can easily understand critics who say the talk sprites make the lines stand out or sometimes the lines themselves are a bit on the nose. Other times its confusing on what's the actual reality and what is a part of alex's but I suppose that'd a bit of the point. The game includes more cutscenes and visual flare to hopefully display dialogue more interestingly. Speaking of which...

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VISUALS (and music)

-

I've already mentioned a few of the aesthetical changes previously, so it's only fair I elaborate a little more on it.

As a side note, the music was one of the most appreciated aspects of the original game and at its best, the update keeps its most promising soundtracks. One of the battle themes that played in Essentia's mind dungeon - even though it was just for normal npcs - had me bopping. Other times YIIK I.V does struggle to use repetitive music that - while nice on the first few hearings and I believe does symbolically match with the game's visuals - gets on my nerves a little bit. I was right with some of the more ambience in the nameless child's sections though other sections like the intro which plays a repetitive plink drained me rather quickly. Other songs like the custom-sung songs (especially in the main menu and final cutscene of the first chunk) appealed to me the most.

Anyway, I was told that supposedly they weren't able to get more profile visual novel-like pictures from the artist during the development of the update. I can't really confirm that statement, however.

The way the models look I can understand may be jarring for some people, especially with the fact that sometimes they move their mouth and others just straight up don't. Other times I can imagine people being uncomfortable with how each of Alex's teeth are modeled. Personally though? As previously stated I think it adds to the uncanny nature of it all. It especially matches the psychedelic and bizarre imagery scattered across the game (Especially in the nameless child's parts). Even then, I feel like I at least was able to understand everyone's emotions and feelings just fine and the locations they walked around were always beautiful to look at even when it got more bizarre.

(reminding you that this show exisited.)

It's definitely not something i'd recommend to someone who has epiliepsy issues though. It's not what i'd call Problem Solvers bad but it can certainly be a bit jarring for people who arent' really 'prepared' for it, y'know?

I'm sure you've noticed me toss around the term 'artsy' a lot. Despite the Oxford definition of it I wouldn't necessarily say it's a pretentious display of art per se, but it's definitely something I can see being a turn off for many and extremely appealing for others. Sometimes the aspect ratio of Alex's little booth talks changes and leaves wobbly red lines and other times places from the old game have been completely recolored (Mt. Town's lush forest is replaced with melancholic blues or the island that alex is trapped on after a certain thing happens has been changed to reflect the 'despair' of the situation more appropriately with black and white colors.).

It's something you have to 'open your mind to' (Hope you like that joke yiik fans). Not a lot of it will make sense at first but it's something that's still worth seeing just what happens next. The state of being confused is at least what I found personally interesting to engage with which I understand sounds very counterintuitive but if you like that mystery to it and that drive to found out what's going on I think you'll find it interesting!

As i've stated before, treat it as if you're watching a surrealist film or experimental movie like the game presents to you with Kisage X's shaky camera and visuals. Do I watch Un Chien Andalou (Don't watch this is you're squeamish to body mutilation, holes, eye motifs!) expecting a linear narrative in mind? Hell no, that movie was purposely made with no conventional plot, it uses dream logic as a narrative for the whole thing. YIIK is like that to me on my first playthrough.

A lot of the initial story is there but the cutscenes and changes that are made and interspersed throughout the whole thing really drove me to engage more with it despite knowing the general beats of Alex's story. there are so many things brought into this free update- even if I didn't like the game (I do like the game!) it's admirable they wanted to bring in this much passion for something that people at the time only ironically fandomed over. It got me at least to check out Benevolent Psychosis!

Speaking of which, Tell Kisage X that you don't think you're a parallel Alex. I think it would bring some interesting changes. Also save before you do the big battle just in case you pick the wrong option initially like I did (I thought the game wanted me to say I was him because of my player insert lol.)

[sorcerous-caress]

Worldbuilding and human kink? Is it my birthday /lh. This has me googling “halfling sex” and being a little surprise someone has thought about it enough to write a generously large paragraph.

Apparently it’s not uncommon for them to have more casual sex with close neighbors and friends indulging in it together. I genuinely think it would be hilarious for a halfling with a human, elf, drow, orc, dwarf, etc (the more uptight races) friend/neighbor to ‘seduce’ and then being very friendly and kind, but not exclusive or even inherently romantic.

Halflings 🤝 Humans

Being horny on main.

Oh my god imagine a poly relationship that's a human who thinks this is a casual friends with benfits deal, a halfing who thinks everyone here is just friends, and one high elf who acts as if they're robbing a bank whenever they watch the human go down on the halfing.

Add a dragonborn who is sweating over which one of those people is gonna end up as their mate for life, who isn't phased by the sex but it's the romance part that's considered a big taboo in their culture to even date someone for love, so imagine seeing more tha one person?

High elves being sex repressed 🤝 Dragonborns being romance repressed

Also I really love world building AAAAA i wanna invent shit and make shit up and shake it around like a snow globe. I believe elves went to the moon much sooner than humans with just magic, dwarves have found fallen space rocks and meteors and used them to forge their weapons, winged elves or any species who can fly already mapped the world and drew all the know maps before humans even learned how to tame horses.

Also the horses is funny, elves has seen them all their lives but never bothered to tame it because it feels weird yk? Why would they ride on an animal, plus their cousin is a centaur so it feels even more weird.

Then they see the humans coaxing the horses with carrots while holding a saddle behind their back, skip a few years and suddenly the horse population skyrockects as humans steal this one animal to their side.

Imagine being a wood elf and in harmony with all of nature, then glancing over at the human city and feeling very confused on what these weird wolves are and why do the humans call them dogs, also why are they obeying the humans and holy shit that one is wearing bowtie.

Occasionally humans just wander into the forest, spot an animal that seems semi useful then kidnap it back to their city, suddenly their population spikes and they're the new best friends of humanity.

It happened the other way with cats tho, the wood elves remember overhearing two cats talking about the hairless apes wandering around and how one was betting the other that they can get them to share their food by just screaming at them.

Humans probably inspired their cuisine based on halflings' recipes since they didn't add soul consuming spices for fun like elves and didn't sprinkle in literal gem and gold dust like dragonborns.

A human with a Halfling neighbour who comes over every other day to share their stew because "they accidentally made too much and can't possibly finish it all themselves so how about you grab a bowl or two, human?"

One day the human makes a joke about how they're a simp or going to horny jail, whatever modern shitposting meme is trending, and the halfling takes it seriously and offers to sleep with them.

I mean, that is basic neighbourly hospitality to them. Of course they will fuck their friend who is in need, you don't even have to ask twice, come here and lay down and they'll take care of you until satisfied.

Now their trips over to your house are twice as frequent, half to feed you their cooking, other half to sate your lust appetite.

[lampert3008]

"Someone should really clean those floor buttons..."

[ OOC ]

hey freaks, welcome to the lampert regretevator blog. i'm finally getting around to making a funky scuffed little intro post to pin, so feel free to join me below the cut to read a whole bunch of nonsense

WHERE AM I? WHAT IS THIS?

okay first of all, calm down

This is an ask/RP blog based off of Lampert from the Roblox game Regretevator. Though, keep in mind it won't be 100% canon, and will both be sprinkled with my own headcanons and also occasionally out of character for Lampert because, shockingly, I am not Lampert Real Life™ and do not know how he would react to everything. I try my best though.

Lampert uses primarily he/him pronouns, but sometimes I sprinkle in some he/they in there. as a treat

I'll try my best to respond to asks with drawings, although I am very fragile old man and am decaying with each passing second so sometimes it is difficult for me to get myself to draw

(i am sixteen years old) (i also have a very shit memory and will forget that i have asks to answer whoopsies) (i may be 16 but i feel like my bones are going to fold in on themselves like a lawn chair and wither away at any given moment constantly)

i'll try to remember to tag asks as #lampertasks and non-asks as #lampposts (haha get it) or #ooc if i'm talking to YOU. (im get you.)

WHO ARE YOU?

heya, i'm ray, the owner of this blog, i do not have a main blog and you have no proof, nor will you find it. if i. um. if i had one, i mean. which i dont. don't go look for it. because you. wont. find anything. um. yeah

i am genderfluid and use all pronouns, i am the master of pronouns, the pronoun wizard one could say, simply refer to me. full stop

please do not sex me i am a minor (i yearn i yearn i yearn for the tunnels the coal the coal the mines i yearn i yearn for black lung i yearn please put me in the mines please give me a pickaxe i am mentally stable and can be trusted with big sharp objects)

do not sex lampert either. you cannot fuck the lamp i forbid it

if you try i will lock you in the Dungeon for seven thousand years

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?

as i already mentioned, do not try and fuck lampert or you will face the consequences, lampert may be an adult but i am not

sex jokes are fine though. to a point. just dont be creepy. be funny or Die (/hj)

i have no opinions on shipping content, i will probably not take it seriously and will shitpost with most of it. i mean of course i have regretevator ships i enjoy, like come on im a tumblr user what do you expect from me, but i doubt i'll insert them into this blog unless it's for The Funny (or if it's my partner's Unpleasant blog. but that also classifies as being for The Funny)

i'm totally cool with roleplay asks from other RP blogs, canon or OCs, and will respond in-character. i mean like, this blog is connected with three other regretevator RP blogs so i don't see why not

aforementioned three other regretevator blogs:

@displeazinggradient

@sk8tr1101

@detectivebive

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH ME? ARE YOU GOING TO HURT ME?

yeah lmao

[little-blurry-stars5]

So I realized I never made an intro lmao so here it is :3

!! be careful !! at the end of this post, there are moving images, flashing lights, ect. be careful if any of these would effect you in any way !!

U can call me blurry or jett (jett preferred) and I go by they/them/theirs pronouns, + pretty much any neo pronouns (please do ask b4 using which ones tho :3) !!

I am a minor, don't be weird

My fandoms are bungo stray dogs, arcane, Percy Jackson, ramshackle, good omens, my hero academia, helluva boss, gravity falls, toh, hunger games, jjk, seraph of the end, fnaf, the magisterium, Harry Potter (fuck jkr), wings of fire, kotlc, legendborn, miraculous ladybug, Loki, heartstopper, skyborn, nimona, ATSV, shera, voltron and more

my intrests/hobbies/likes are drawing, painting, creating stuff, running, reading, writing, going places, alternative clothes/style, listening to music, my headphones, the rain, the dark, drawing on shoes, dragons, fanfiction, cosplays, hanging out with friends, my boots, taxidermy, arcades, spiderman, deadpool, animation, figurines, nature, climbing, collectables, posters, theme parks, escape rooms, going to the movies, long drives, stupid jokes, and other swaggy stuff (sorry this is so long 😭) :33

I usually post abt these things n the occasional shitpost

‼️please note the fandoms listed are ones I'm in in general, some of them I'm not active in!!

I also do a lot of art !!! i post it sometimes so check it out if ud like, my art tag is "jett scribbles" !! I also take requests, so don't be afraid to stop by my askbox !!!

DNI if u support misogyny, sexism, racism, islamphobia, homophobia, transphobia, terfs, tr*mp, el*n, and anything that doesn't treat all humans equal

My dms and askbox are always open to anyone who wants to say hi !! I love meeting new ppl and making new friends, so don't be afraid to say hello ‼️‼️ :3

my personalized tag is "jett posts" for posts made by me

My most amazing wonderful awesome people to ever grace this earth mutuals are @taluvi-does-stupid-things (ty sm for taking care of me, ur the best!!) @castledmequeen (i love or phycological convos, ur so fun 2 talk to) @nervoustoastthing (my second ever moot, love u <333) and @returnofthecabbageman (ilysm evie ur blog is so comforting <333) and more !!!!!!!!

Sorry it's so messy 😔 but yeah I think that's it. Welcome to my blog! <3

‼️‼️ ||• this is an edit about a year and a half after i first posted this: ive been offline for a while, and am trying to get back into using tumblr more, so if i dont post or answer my askbox that is why and i apologize! •||‼️‼️

[cosmicstarlatte]

Devil-Mart: Shopping (Obey Me!)

━━━━━━━━━━ ✦ ━━━━━━━━━━

The brothers and you go grocery shopping. You can imagine what that's like.

»Characters: Demon Bros + very brief Dia and Barb

»Tags: Shitpost, Some Wholesomeness, Levi my boy, Dia is precious as usual, Bulleted Style

»Notes: Sorry I know I've mentioned this a few times but finally edited it to my liking. :'3 Alternatively I have another fic where they actually work at Devil-Mart if you haven't read that one lol.

Lucifer:

Grabs two carts, one being a race car type with two seats

"Levi! Belphie! Get in!"

OF COURSE HE STRAPS THEM IN

Puts a backpack leash on Asmo

"Beel, Mammon, get a cart each."

They're a big family so yeah they need a lot lol

"Satan, stay where I can see you!"

This man pulls out a CVS-receipt type of shopping list

You can practically hear western showdown music as he stares down another customer for the last bag of spicy newt chips

Hands Satan Asmo's leash

He wins the last bag of course

"SATAN! ASMO! Where did you go!?"

(Later)

"I have a coupon for this."

"Well the sale sign said-"

"Here's my rewards card."

"I have reusable bags, thank you."

Mammon:

Thinks grocery shopping is boring but only goes because of you

Is the reason the store started locking more stuff up behind glass cases

Has tried to bargain with workers and hopes it works one day

Confidently accepted Satan's bet (you tried to stop it)

He left his shopping cart with you

Next thing you know he gets on the intercom

"Lucifer! Daddy will find you! Don't cry! If anyone sees a black haired-"

Lucifer drop kicked him knocking him unconscious

[Security Liked This 👍 ]

Levi:

Happily gets in Lucifer's cart and continues gaming on his console

Is use to Lucifer strapping him in

Finds it oddly comforting

"Lucifer can we get the Ruri chan limited edition cereal!?"

"It's on the list."

"Lucifer! Don't forget we need more Hell Sodas!"

"It's on the list."

"Oh and my special Ruri shamp-"

"Leviathan."

[A few minutes later]

"...Hey Lucifer!"

"LEVIATHAN."

Satan:

Didn't want to come but Lucifer makes grocery shopping a family outing

Walks around reading a book

Bet Mammon he wouldn't get on the intercom and embarrass Lucifer

He knew he'd do it

He happily threw the grimm on his unconscious body

He took out the last jar of inferno bee honey from a families cart when they weren't looking

Occasionally crosses off Lucifer's snacks so he forgets them

Decided to ''save'' Asmo when he got the chance

Asmo:

Not the first time he's been on a leash

Just typed away on his D.D.D

Keeps trying to flirt with any cutie he sees

Lucifer yanks him away every time

However Lucifer does use him for discounts at the meat deli

Asmo doesn't mind he always treats it like a game to see what he can get 😏

Employees have fought for the chance to help him if he requires assistance

Was thankful when Satan saved him from Lucifer's watch

They went shopping at the cafe book store next door

Beel:

Loves grocery shopping, loves it

Always has to eat a giant meal before shopping otherwise he can't go

Food and family outing only the best duo!!!

Always feels guilty knowing the list is long because of him but he does his best to help Lucifer shop for the items

Pushed one cart with food and pulled the other with an unconscious Mammon inside

Is the reason the store stopped doing free samples

Belphie:

Immediately started snoozing when Lucifer strapped him into the cart

Doesn't care much for grocery shopping but doesn't fight it

Grannies always coo over him while he sleeps

"Oh what a cutie! The other one is kind of odd though..."

Lucifer always carries a sleeping Belphie back to the van while Beel packs the back of the van with you

Sure Beel could carry him but Lucifer insists its Beel's duty to help with grocery shopping as much as he can

Lucifer won't admit he has a soft spot for the youngest

Belphie won't admit he pretends to sleep so he can be carried by Lucifer

As you guys leave, you see Barbatos walking in, pushing Diavolo in his own race car cart who is happily "steering".

"We're going to the chips, Barbatos!"

"No, we are here for dinner ingredients my Lord."

"But I'm turning left!"

->[Dia & Barb art]

⬦You might also like: Coconut︱Mexican Restaurant︱Waffle House︱ You ARE The Father

[butmakeitgayblog]

As queer women, we talk a lot about personality meaning more than looks.

I feel that calling someone a ‘jump scare’ is kind of harsh.

As somebody with body image and self confidence issues… I would certainly hate to be referred to as the ‘jump scare’ that my attractive partner was dating.

We should do better. As long as people are happy and safe in healthy relationships… we should support them, I think.

I don’t mean to start an argument or anything. I just think we should be nicer.

And that's a wonderful sentiment to say, but two things.

1. Have you ever, for one second, taken a look at how men speak about women online? How absolutely unfiltered in their misogyny, sexism, sexualization, and pure hatred they can be on a WIDE scale? It's not a few bad apples, it's literally everywhere. I'm not saying two wrongs make a right, but I'm also not gonna sit here and feel terrible for making a joke on my personal blog about pretty women getting with ugly man, especially when I'm saying it as a broad observation rather than a personal attack - and it's an observation which I am not the first to point out.

2. I'm genuinely sorry you have body image issues. I do too. Most people do, especially women, considering the society that we live in. A society that by and large tells women they have to be thin but also thicc but not too thicc, they have to be gorgeous and dolled up but also not too dolled up because then they're vain. They have to be smart but not too smart, confident but not too confident. Have the exact right boobs and lips and tummy and thighs and the exact right shaped hips. Alllllll while pushing this coinciding narrative of 'dad bods' and nerdy lanky boys and grungy guys and so on. Men who literally don't even wipe their asses well enough to not leave streaks in their underwear are made of fun of but get a pass 🤨 The standards are split inequitably, and women are held to standard of conventional beauty to a degree and prevalence that men never are, so if the worst thing that happens to a guy's ego is that some niche lesbian fandom blogger calls them ugly in a shitpost, then they're still having a great day compared to the messaging that most women face every single time they open any app out there.

Just an afterthought as well, I literally said that looks mean nothing in the grand scheme of things AND I said if they're a wonderful partner who treats them well then obviously that's the best person for them, because again, looks don't matter. Please, don't try to police me on my own blog. I know you mean well and your heart is in the right place, but I also know what I'm saying, I think about what I'm saying before I post, and I'm fine with making a rare occasional joke about ugly dudes.

[hornyhermitry]

Professional translations & public witch hunts

For starters: If you think "TL;DR, who cares, I ain't reading all that" and are incapable of processing words for a prolonged amount of time beyond 240 character clickbait, you are not entitled to an opinion on translation to begin with.

I will take sufficient time for this one.

General:

In recent weeks I've repeatedly had the misfortune of coming across public harassment and incited hate mobs towards Jujutsu Kaisen's manga translator.

There's hordes of anti-social harassers pushing for someone to get fired from a professional job - in which he works because he is equipped with the necessary qualifications - purely due to disliking occasional translation choices in a comic.

This behavior has reached levels of exaggeration and reality disconnect, it'd be funny if it wasn't so sad due to a real person's livelihood being attacked.

This is not normal and tolerable behavior. It is equal to drumming up a hate mob in front of a café and threatening some employee inside, throwing rocks at the window and demanding for a barista to get fired because you didn't like the coffee beans they chose, or sure, maybe because they put actual sugar instead of sweetener into your coffee.

This is not a normal and acceptable way to behave.

If you think it is, there is something deeply wrong with your perception of society and what's respectful conduct towards another human being. When you encounter another person, you act respectfully at the very least. Kind, ideally.

Feel free to imagine yourself at work, making a mistake and thousands of people starting to call, email, shitpost online and harass you over it, dragging you publicly, shouting on the parking lot for you to be fired. Please reflect on yourself.

Now:

This dude does comic translations.

He did not authorize biochemical weapons in a war. He did not pass a law to deport all migrants and close the borders. He did not accidentally kill someone during a surgery. He did not hack & rob the annual employee bonus' account.

He wrote a word you don't like in a comic.

Planet Earth to Werry hater: Please come back down to reality and dial it back a few notches. This is a non-issue. Whether he makes mistakes or not, this level of hate and harassment is ENTIRELY out of pocket.

Moving on to translations.

Translations/criticizing translations:

Opinions on translations are like assholes - everyone got one. But that doesn't mean you need to pull them out in public. And especially not that you have to shit into random people's lives with them.

I've been reading manga and playing games in private for 27 years. I speak 4 Western languages and A2.2 Japanese. I've been working in the international entertainment industry with a focus on Asian to Western markets for over a decade, including Chinese, Japanese & Korean.

A lot of my time at work is filled with liaising between East and West, internally as well as externally. In my career, I've spent a lot of years supporting and later on consulting on localization.

I know what it is like to be a fan, and I am fully aware of the work reality behind translation.

I'm also intricately aware of the difficulties one faces when interpreting (!) from a source language as abstract and contextual as Japanese to a spelled out language such as English, French, Spanish, German, etc.

You cannot do a 1:1 translation. The nature of these languages is so different, you have to decide on one of many ways to translate something. And oftentimes, the content is so vague with so few indicators, the only thing you can do is guess and hope for the best - unless you happen to hit a rare jackpot of a person who has a guide with additional info and is able to provide this within the short deadline you are left with.

Even the most basic words already illustrate this difference.

Look at the example of

元気ですか / げんきですか = Genki desu ka

Genki is an adjective, "desu ka" is a question particle similar to "is it".

Genki already has many similar variants in meaning: "lively; full of spirit; energetic; vigorous; vital; spirited"

It is commonly translated as "How are you?" but that is not what it literally means.

Since "Genki desu ka?" is commonly used after the initial greeting when meeting someone, "How are you" is the closest equivalent to it in EN, due to it's function and usual placement within a dialogue.

The literal translation would be "Energetic is it?", or "Lively is it?"

That is obviously is no proper English.

Adjusting for grammar, it could be changed to "Are you lively?" - but the "you" is already a "fictional addition" to the sentence, as the original JP has no adress like this.

And asking someone if they are "lively" is also out of place. So more changes are needed.

Further adjusted for "natural sounding" would be "Are you doing good?" which now has 2 additional made up words, to transfer the question from JP to EN - "you" and "good".

This sentence does not necessarily have to mean "Are you good/How are you?". If I tell you my aunt Emma sends her regards, and you reply "Ah. Genki desu ka?" the translation would be "Oh. How is (Emma) doing?/Is Emma doing good?" JP's grammar works without these precise indicators who is talking about whom and is highly contextual whereas - Western languages need those.

Concluding, depending on who is talking to one another, who was mentioned on a page before, etc. a simple "Genki desu ka?" can be anything from "How are you?" to "Is (Panda) doing good?".

There is no literal 1:1 translation possible. The languages are too different.

The reality of translation is unclear source material open to multiple interpretations, once you settle on an interpretation having another dozen options to decide on for the specific wording, then having to adjust that to character and spacing limitations and doing all that with little turnover time.

On top of that, official translations work with styleguides and glossaries.

There could e.g. be a kind of character bible with notes about all characters and their peculiar ways of talking and what character traits those convey and an instruction to use approach XYZ to convey that.

"Speaks in a very poetic way, very roundabout and meandering" which could e.g. lead to overhauling the literal translation to add "personality" based on that.

Going by "(O) genki desu ka?" suddenly "How are you?"for the "poetic trait" becomes "How has life been treating you?"

Again - at the end overhauled again to make room for character limits and such, so maybe it becomes "How fare you?"

This change could have been added not because this particular line offers the exact context, but it is rooted in a style instruction to work with a certain speech pattern/type for a character - since the JP indicators at another spot might not offer satisfactory EN translations, so you have to add the "personality" elsewhere.

Translations of ongoing works utilize glossaries and you cannot use new terms if there is already a term established and submitted. Else it would be a mess of e.g. Cursed Energy in Chapter 2, Jinxed Force in Chapter 25, Hex Flow in Chapter 112, Curse Power in Chapter 156, Hex Energy in Chapter 287, etc.

Even if some months or years in you think another translation would be better suited, you are obliged to keep consistency with previous mentions and cannot just change these.

This also means if you take over translation work started by someone else, you have to work with their groundwork and established rules and terms and cannot change them.

Official translations commonly aim to make a foreign work accessible to local readers. If there is a bunch of teenage characters going to school, they should be relatable to local teenagers. As a result, regional and current slang might be added to make it sound more natural whereas the JP might just have "informal" indicators but less variance in vocabulary. The goal of a translation is to make a work accessible to a whole new language audience, hence the focus lies on making it readable without a prior 8 year degree in cultural studies. Things get simplified or changed for that reason.

Usually translators for a work consult with each other what the difficulties translating are, what possible options are, and what each language will run with. These considerations take a lot of time.

Having fans work out occurences deviating from the OG and explaining the specifics behind is it AMAZING community content and something for the people passionate about a story and about learning more about a culture. But it's not needed for the average joe buying a comic at a gas station.

This kind of deep dive is fandom! Enjoy and share and get excited! Enrich each others lives and understanding of a story! It's one of the best things there is.

Finally, a translation has to be timely & approved. There are multiple people involved in this.

It is not on poor John alone to make all decisions as he fancies and send it straight to print after going rogue, but he works within the guidelines & constraints this jobs brings with it. It's his name on the page but there are a lot more people involved in the final result.

Publicly claiming things like a translator "brutally butchers" a story or "is incapable of doing a job" because in a sea of solid translations of a very vague source language, every few chapters there's a specific word deep fandom who spends all their free-time on this particular story would have translated differently, is wildly inappropriate.

Interpreting differently is not doing a wrong job.

People on social media love attention and shitstorms. You get one narcissist with a following pointing out a debatable translation in a snarky smartass way and everyone wants a piece of the smartass cake.

What I struggle with is how people who don't speak a second language & often barely speak their own language with literacy above elementary school, feel entitled to an opinion here. What makes you an expert on cross-cultural art interpretation? What makes you think your opinion holds any weight here? Oh you read a Tweet by s/o else? *clap*

What makes you think you have the right to go after another person's job for no reason other than spite and some internet gotcha over a comic?

If you really value the creation of near perfect translations that much, be the change you want to see in the world.

Learn another language. Get that degree. Get that job in animanga and do your best.

Or for a start, send a polite mail about your concerns to VIZ instead of starting a personal witch hunt for some guy doing his job.

[macabremachinery]

Welcome to Macabre Machinery (new pinned post + masterlist)

You can find the original pinned post here.

Welcome to the Macabre Machinery blog, a place dedicated to anything and everything I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. You can call me Macabre, or MM for short. This place serves as a spot for discussion, analyzation, and deep dives of the series, as well as the occasional banter, anecdote, and shitpost to lighten the mood :).

I created the original Macabre Machinery blog back in 2011, and ran it until early 2013, right before NightDive Studios recovered the rights of the video game adaptation and released it to a wider audience in September 2013. Before then, the series was entrenched in obscurity outside of older folks who grew up on the short stories of Harlan Ellison (and we know how much Boomers utilize Tumblr, right /s).

For years I immensely regret closing the blog so early in its run, but a decade later, after seeing that IHNMAIMS was finally getting the attention it so truly deserved, I decided to hop back in the rodeo for a second go.

100+ followers and thousands of notes, reblogs, and discussions later...I can safely say that I made the right decision.

Below the break, I have included a masterlist of the best this blog has to offer (which I will be continuously be updating as newer posts are made) and a list of rules I ask those who choose to interact with Macabre Machinery to follow.

The Macabre Machinery Masterlist:

The Harlan Ellison Multimedia Literary Project & The Original IHNMAIMS Game Site DEEP-DIVE

Was Skynet Influenced by AM? An Essay

An analyses on the character of AM with another writer + other thoughts of similar nature

The true extent of AM's supposed sentience

AM is multifaceted

The backstory of Ted in the IHNMAIMS video game manual

Mentions of AM on shitpost wiki's

IHNMAIMS on the Saminoe Wiki post

Rules:

Below are topics I will not indulge in, answer, or reblog:

AM x Reader fanfiction

AM Yandere headcanons

Fetish requests or headcanons

Drama occurring in the IHNM fandom, whether it be on Tumblr, Discord, wherever. I am not getting involved. Do not publicly ask me about what I think of X user or ask me to do a call-out post. Please. Let’s keep this civil.

If these are interests of yours, please do not interact with this blog or ask me to post this kind of content. There are literally tens of other IHNM blogs that cater to these niches, please utilize those places instead, or keep it to your own blog.

Also Tankies, Fascists, White Supremacists, Racists, MAPS, Self-Harmers, DDLG, CGL, LGBT-phobes please DO NOT INTERACT WITH THIS BLOG OR TAG MY POSTS AS SUCH.

Thank you all for your continued support!

Xoxo,

- Macabre

[aroaceleovaldez]

Hey! I’d like to know how best to start an askblog, and how to keep one interesting over a long term.

the number one thing I've found with how to start an askblog is to make sure you have something you think you can roll with for awhile (a character or series you're very invested in, if it's an art one make sure it's a design you're willing and able to draw over and over again, etc etc) and then setting up your blog as completely as possible before you post anything.

[This got quite long so further elaboration + more tips below:]

Enable custom theme, plan out how you're gonna tag things a little bit, set your icon and header (if it's an art askblog, absolutely set it to your own art so people get an idea of what your art is like going into the blog), get your blog description in order, all that jazz. If it's an art blog, make sure you have a design settled for your character beforehand and I'd recommend making it a design you could draw easily if you are absolutely exhausted. Having your design be one you can doodle easily means you won't get burnt out from just the idea of drawing the character. Don't feel like you have to get super fancy or complicated with things - your askblog doesn't have to be colored in or have backgrounds or anything. Get as few barriers as possible in between you and theoretically posting. That's gonna be your number one way to personally stay invested outside of your own interest in the character/fandom/subject/etc. Also try to have some ideas for what type of questions you might get and how you will answer them ahead of time, so you're prepared to get right into things when you start getting asks.

And then the most important step is to open your inbox. Before you do ANYTHING ELSE, open your inbox. Turn on anon. Good. Now never close it. A closed inbox, or failing to ever actually open the inbox, is the number one way I see askblogs die. Askblog Muns will close their inbox and then forget to ever reopen them or wonder why they aren't getting asks and abandon the blog entirely. If you are getting overwhelmed, turn off anon. That almost always slows asks down to a manageable crawl. If you are having a significant problem with rude asks or similar, block liberally. You can block anons - tumblr may give you an error about it but in my experience it generally works.

Okay, so you've prepped your askblog and opened your inbox. Now you have to make a post to advertise it. If you are going to make an "ad" style post or intro for your askblog, make a second post as well that is just a general post about the character or meme or similar. Few people are likely to reblog the intro/ad post - this is not a personal slight against you, people just don't generally see a reason to because it doesn't fit what they usually reblog and really don't like being told to do stuff. Significantly more people are more likely to reblog general fanart, text post memes, a comic dub, cosplay photography, or etc, especially shitposts, and then check out your blog from that. Interspersing occasional posts like that is a great way to keep your activity up outside of asks and get new people seeing your askblog every once in awhile.

From that point on, don't be afraid to send yourself asks or ask your friends to send stuff in just to get/keep the ball rolling. Getting your friends to send you some asks right away can be a great way to start posting immediately and show how the format of your blog works, so new people know how interacting with it works. Don't be afraid to post relevant fandom content stuff there, but generally try to keep it to original posts in a similar vein to the askblog (i.e.: if you run an illustrated askblog, post some of your other fanart for that franchise/character there sometimes as well). And try to keep it to your own content - avoid reblogging other people's stuff too much cause it'll clog up your blog and not do anything to help bring new eyes. You can reblog stuff of course, but don't let it overwhelm your blog. Keeping your askblog active with original posts means more people are going to find your blog and stay invested in your blog and send you more asks and this will self-perpetuate.

As far as keeping it interesting over a long-term, that's subjective. But some things you can do include events, particularly for milestones or anniversaries or etc, and many askblogs include a plotline that the characters follow while answering questions, which can encourage asks inquiring about what the characters are up to and give more things to talk about. If you don't keep things changing or progressing, people can run out of things to ask about. Also, don't be afraid to answer the same or similar questions multiple times - especially if it was awhile ago. It's unlikely all your followers have seen all your posts and you can always put a new spin on it. The one billion hug/boop/etc asks do get tiresome though so don't feel bad about skipping the nth one of those. And don't feel like you have to answer every ask immediately! Saving asks can be really useful later down the line, especially if you get a ton of asks all at once but then don't have a lot later. It gives you something to post.

Just generally encouraging engagement with asks/anons is another good option, again such as with events or even things such as Magic!Anons, which is a way anons can impact the characters/story/event in random manners (some common ones are turning characters into animals or monsters, or genderbends, or etc etc). Or even just having your characters react in particular or silly ways to anons or show ways the characters get their buttons pressed by certain asks will encourage people to send in more of those types of asks or explore ways they can personally torment/annoy/etc the characters more, which people love.

The only caveat to this is be careful about letting it stray too far into just straight up RP territory - askblog crossovers are super fun and can be a great way to build up an askblog community, but RP blogs are an entirely different thing that get mixed up with askblogs sometimes and when those waters get muddied it has a poor tendency to just kill askblogs. Because of how RP blogs function entirely differently to askblogs, if your askblog becomes too much of an RP blog it will become only an RP blog, and you will probably completely stop getting askblog asks because the askblog audience doesn't want to rp. Askblogs and RP blogs are similar in theory but very different in execution and attempting to combine them rarely goes well. You will just end up with one or the other and if you were hoping to make one, getting the other will probably leave you confused and disappointed. Also keeping RP blogs active is a completely different beast - that one is just general RP rules. Make your character and go find an open RP to join or community accepting new members and just hop right in. If the RP fizzles out the RP fizzles out, that's not something you can really control. It's the cons of collaborative writing. Askblogs are entirely in your hands, so you can control how active it is. It just comes down to your own engagement and enjoyment with the thing. Just remember: Ultimately, an askblog is for you, the creator of the askblog. Be as self-indulgent as you want. In fact, being self-indulgent is highly encouraged! Because that's how you personally stay invested in your own project. Never feel like you're forced to keep doing it - it's just for fun and for your own amusement. As long as you're having fun and keep going with it, you will attract an audience that will love it as much as you do. You don't need to post every day, or even every week or whatever - take as many breaks as you need.

So tl;dr:

Set up your askblog as much as possible before you post anything.

OPEN YOUR INBOX

Post general fandom content separately alongside your intro/ad post so you are more likely to get traction to your askblog

Don't be afraid to ask your friends to send you asks, or send yourself asks if you need.

Have something going on or switch things up from time to time (or give a means for anons to switch things up) so people have more stuff to ask about or generally feel encouraged to ask things/interact, such as events, plotlines, and/or magic!Anons.

The more you stay active, the more people will see your blog and engage with it

Ultimately the blog is for you, so make it something you will want to stay invested in and feel like you can keep active with and that you enjoy, and people will become invested in it alongside you. If it helps at all - the audience is theoretical and/or ever-changing. You are a guarantee. So cater to you because you know above all else that you are always going to be there.

[clownakai]

Bleh. Pinned post time 💥

Hi! I'm Atlas and this is where I'm very neurotypical about DetCo :)

Here's a helpful guide to the things I will probably talk about the most:

☆ My favorite clown in the whole wide world (Akai Shuuichi/Okiya Subaru)

☆ The Akai siblings in general

☆ Movie 24 <- guy who is extremely neurotypical about this thing

☆ The "Shuuichi and Conan as absolutely unhinged unofficial father and son" agenda

☆ The "Shuuichi and Jodie as the best friends they deserved to be" agenda

☆ Whiskey Trio Era 💥💥💥

☆ Whiskey Trio (OT3 edition), Scotchrye, Akam

☆ my WIPs

More info under the cut :)

Character tags!

☆ #! [character name] -> I can and will assign random posts to characters. This is how I keep track of them

☆ #subaruposting, #shuuichiposting -> I get gender envy sometimes okay. Leave me alone (explodes)

Miscellaneous tags!

☆ #yapping time -> welcome to Atlas Reading Too Much Into Irrelevant And/Or Largely Inconsequential Things (may or may not be backed by actual manga/anime screenshots) ^_^^

☆ #brainworms time -> writing tag!

☆ #my sandbox now -> general headcanons tag!

☆ #m24 my beloved -> I'm normal about this movie I promise

☆ #atlas.exe -> general yapping/memes/shitposts/you name it

☆ #detco rewatch, #detco reread -> what it says on the tin

☆ #detco text posts -> meme format specific tag (I like scrolling through these :3)

☆ #detco spoilers -> recent manga chapters tag!! Beware!!

List of WIP/AU tags!

☆ #genderfuckery AU: none of the Akai siblings are cis 💚 unfortunately for everyone they have to figure that out first. Specifics are as follows:

#genderfuckery: the slut shirt fic -> Akai Shuuichi

TBD -> Haneda Shuukichi

TBD -> Sera Masumi

☆ #almost people AU: general vaguely eldritch fuckery re: various characters. Specifics are as follows:

#almost people: soliloquist -> Akai Shuuichi

TBD -> Miyano Shiho

TBD -> Vermouth

TBD -> Edogawa Conan

#almost people: golden -> Hagiwara Chihaya

☆ #amnesiac akai AU: what it says on the tin 💚 things go wrong at Raiha Pass, and Shuuichi ends up actually scarred and amnesiac, disappearing from everyone's radar— including the good guys'. He's fine though, just living his best life out there. Camel suffers as a direct consequence of this. Also, Shuuichi and Subaru are separate people here, and this may or may not be a slight crossover with something else (purely for comedic potential). No real plot tbh, but I do find it funny to build upon it from time to time

☆ #pokemon AU: also what it says on the tin 💚 originally started as me assigning teams to detco characters and immediately devolved into whiskey trio angst + general clownery. Mostly a silly little AU I occasionally write snippets for

Dynamic-specific tags!

☆ #unofficial father and son -> anything Shuuichi & Conan adjacent

☆ #the fucking akai family -> exactly what it says on the tin

☆ #we could have had it all -> Shuuichi & Jodie agenda save me

☆ #nagano gang -> exactly what it says on the tin

☆ #OTP: they keep me sane -> Yumi/Shuukichi tag

☆ #OTP: divorce of the century -> Rei/Shuuichi tag

☆ #OTP: they make me sick -> Scotch/Rye tag

☆ #OTP: literally married -> Hiro/Rei tag

☆ #OTP: insane soulmateism -> Heishin tag

‼️ Disclaimer: I use OTP very loosely here— more for tag format convenience than anything. Shipping is less important to me than you'd think.

💥 This post may be subject to future changes! 💥