#even when unsettling

[michainabox]

Okay so I’m revisiting Undertale after a long time and I just have to say this. This is a very very long post.

I don’t know if I should tag this? But uh. I guess I go a little in depth with Flowey and the major spoilers of Undertale, have a brush of a spoiler for In Stars and Time, and just major ramblings.

Flowey somewhat unsettles me.

And I don’t mean fear or scary enough that it distresses me, I mean truly unsettles me in an uncomfortable sense where I have to take a step back to analyze.

Like. Yes that’s the point, he is suppose to be an unsettling character. But my thing is, it is hard to unsettle me. You can ask my partner and anyone I know, I consume a lot of horror media. It is hard to unsettle me, or make me uncomfortable with certain things. And with games? Even harder. There has only been a couple of times where media has unsettled me that I can count only three instances of this.

The book Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White (had to unpack a lot of my religious trauma with that book. Good read though.)

Act 5 of In Stars and Time because I related a bit to much to Siff’s breakdown and the fact that you can’t stop it no matter how much you wanted too. You were powerless to do anything. You just have to sit and watch and follow.

And then of course. Flowey. The character himself.

What spurred this ramble Micha? Well. I’ll tell you.

We find out that before Frisk had fallen, Flowey had enough determination in that stupid little flower body to reset the timelines himself. Without the souls, he still had the powers of a god, but it was limited much like Frisk. He has reset hundreds, if not thousands of times. He says that he has tried anything and everything to change the variables. Maybe doing little things like planting ideas into monsters heads, or bigger things. (After all if anything goes wrong he can always reset.)

But nothing could change.

No matter what he did, it never mattered.

It never worked.

It would drive people insane.

And then Frisk shows up. And Flowey doesn’t have the power to reset anymore. Instead, this little kid with a red soul (and the same fashion sense of his dead sibling) shows up and destroys everything. And if you go with the pacifist route. Doesn’t head the lesson of kill or be killed.

And it start to work out for Frisk. It also works in Flowey’s favor too. We can imagine that Frisk is the first ever child to face Asgore for the first time since he started to collect human souls, and Frisk has the power to come back, Frisk even reminds Asgore how many times he has killed them. And Flowey watches as Frisk can either spare or kill Asgore in the final moments. But the players choice doesn’t matter.

Because Flowey was waiting for this opportunity. With the souls unguarded, he can use them. And of course, he can practically torture Frisk until he is ready to claim their soul. And even after all of that, you can choose to kill Flowey or grant him mercy. And he doesn’t understand if you do give him mercy. Because for him, it really is killed or be killed.

(I also have my own theory or analysis for the phone call and where Frisk went after the neutral ending, but that’s another post if anyone is interested in my thoughts.)

Anyways. After the phone call he pops up again, and here is where the unsettling part comes in.

He plants the idea in the Frisk/Player’s head that there is another way. That they didn’t truly save their friends, they didn’t truly save themselves.

And Flowey knows Frisk would try anything to get that happy ending.

Because we would want to find out what that happy ending looks like. Because it’s human nature to be curious and want something better.

He preys upon that and uses it to only serve as his own stepping stone. He isn’t even sure it will work. But he does that anyways. Because if your playing pacifist he sees the fact that Frisk took the time to befriend and spare all the monsters.

Flowey isn’t unsettling because he can change his face, wants to kill Frisk, and even attempted and succeeded multiple times.

It’s the fact that while he says he is soulless, that he can’t understand why he is being spared, he learned just enough to prey on that human nature to get what he ultimately wants.

That’s what ultimately unsettles me about him.

(If anyone has any questions about my thoughts or other theories just ask. I love rambling)

(Note. I edited it slightly to fit in more with the games because of some issues I had with misremembering events)

[obsob]

despite, despite, despite!!

[welcometogrouchland]

Disgustingly messy and crusty sketch dump but I couldn't get my own terrible theory out of my head and ended up making a bunch of sketches about it. Also at the end a bonus dickbats and Damian doodle bc I was reading an issue of their Batman and Robin run (IDs in Alt)

[asurrogateblog]

the inclusion of this in the end credits of head (1968) brings up many philosophical conundrums

[transmascutena]

things i think about a lot

[thewisherr]

Therapist: volume 2 Kabru isn’t real, he can’t hurt you

Volume 2 Kabru:

[serpentface]

are the talking crows still around? what are They doing while all this drama is going on around them in the world

Mostly doing their own crow things and not commonly having direct and mutual interactions with other sophonts. They're similar to yotici in the capacity that they have Very different modes of living than most other sophonts, and they generally are not recognized as 'People' in the same sense as humans, elowey, qilik, caelin, and delkhin. However, (given their strategic and intelligent capacity for word mimicry) talking crows tend to be comprehended as unique magical animals or spirits, or are not recognized as a distinct type of entity but rather feed into broader corvid folklore (as they are very difficult to visually distinguish from many common crows).

They make a few appearances in Whitecalf as small flocks of crows trailing the pilgrimage, picking at its food supplies and occasionally scavenging on its dead. This is a family unit of talking crows that has suffered heavily in the drought, with very few of their chicks surviving infancy and even some of the healthiest adults dying of thirst and starvation. They have recognized this mass movement of big two legged people as a source of potential sustenance, and are very persistent and skilled in keeping themselves fed.

In-text they may come off as an ambiguous, possibly magical element (or partially hallucinatory) from the character POVs, due to them going from a mundane presence indistinguishable from common crows to them uttering dire threats in clear and fluent Wardi. This is very unsettling and hard to reconcile for most who witness this, but is actually just a learned method of taking advantage of beliefs in corvids as ill omens to frighten off or distract targets while another crow snatches bits of food or a nice wineskin.

[s0fter-sin]

retired ghoap going on a renovation competition show

ghost takes over the budget and he's ruthless with it; tracking every paint swatch and piece of lumber down to the last cent, haggling for every purchase and making the most of their coupons. soap's in charge of design; he can visualise floor plans better than anyone, seeing the completed spaces in his mind when they’re little more than a steel shell

they run their site like a military base, treating their builders like rookies; expecting them to follow orders but also waiting for them to inevitably mess up so they can fix it

they're an immediate shock to the judges; they fully expected them to have no idea what they're doing, to have no understanding of style or trends, but they didn't sign up just for shits and giggles

they know how to hit a brief and can do physical labour faster than the actual builders. with soap's discerning eye and ghost's practically, they design gorgeous rooms and become a real threat for the prize money. they handle the stress and sleepless nights like it's second nature bc really, it is; a few all nighters painting are nothing compared to being shot at

they also take great joy in messing with the other couples

it takes a while for them to figure out they're even married; they argue like it's going out of fashion, never holding their opinions or frustrations back but it's their love language as much as their banter. you can hear them barking at each other from across the site; callsigns and “It” and “sergeant” thrown around just like in the field

the challenges are where they have the most fun

the day to day? that's work; they're strict, both with themselves and the schedule, never letting anything fall behind or go incompleted. but the challenges? that's play time. they love pushing the brief, toeing the line of the rules purely bc they can

they get to a two part art challenge and ghost's scheming before before the host even opens their mouth. part one? one half of the couple has to design some kind of art piece that will feature in their house. part two? the other person has to gather supplies and tools and make the art

there's a time limit for how long they can take to gather the supplies; once it's up, they can't go back for more and they can only use what they can carry themselves to their station. they're in a warehouse filled with scrap and paint and tools, the choices almost overwhelming

ghost politely interrupts the host to ask for a clarification; absolutely anything in the warehouse can be used so long as they can carry it?

the host confirms; anything under the roof is their's to use

ghost thanks them and steps back in line, standing at attention and waiting for round one to start

ghost volunteers to be the one to do the art, shocking everyone since soap is well known as the artist of the two of them. but soap sees the mischief in his eyes; he knows he's up to something and can't wait to see where it goes

the timer starts and ghost immediately shucks his hoodie and gets to grabbing; stuffing the impromptu bag with everything he recognises from soap's own supplies. there's seconds to go when he bolts for soap, throwing him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry

the other couples are pissed and call it cheating, trying to get them disqualified

ghost just shrugs, soap still over his shoulder, "they said we can use anything we can carry. i followed the brief"

soap just laughs like a mad man

they win the challenge by a landslide

everything's going smoothly, they've won enough room reveals that they’re in a good financial position, they’re ahead in their current room and in a great headspace

then soap gets injured

it's an honest mistake, a part of the roof they thought was stable collapsing and hitting soap

and ghost, always calm and in control, panics

he's on the other side of the site when he hears soap cry out and goes running; shoving past cameramen and builders, screaming to know what happened before he even sees him. he finds soap on the ground, blood dripping from his temple and it's too familiar; a thing he sees in his nightmares

he doesn't know what to do with all his fear so instead, he channels it into anger

he goes off on all his builders, demanding to know how they could be so useless and careless as to miss the unstable roof; screaming at them in a way he hasn't done since he was on active duty, tearing down a rookie for poor trigger management

all the while, his gentle hands tend to soap; checking the wound, if he's concussed, soothing him before he can slip into a flashback of his own. he growls at the cameras, doesn't let the onsite medics anywhere near him; he doesn't know them, doesn't trust them with his johnny. it's only soap's gentle convincing that makes him step back, that forces him to stop and breathe; glaring the medics down from soap's side as they check him and come to the same conclusion soap already reached

he'll be iust fine; a few stitches and he'll be right back in it

ghost goes with him to the hospital to get the stitches laid, abandoning the site to their terrified builders to look after. it takes a few days before he can handle them being separated again, can't even handle one of them going shopping while the other site manages

but soap doesn't begrudge him for his clinginess, not when he knows it's rooted in the fear of losing him. he just keeps him close and calls him his good luck charm when they win the room reveal that week

[karmicpunishment]

tachihara dropping the elevated mafia persona when he gets back and falling into his natural way of walking, which from both growing up around parents who hated him and military spy training, is extremely quiet. this is to say he scares the shit out of a lot of people during his first few weeks back.

[nattikay]

Neynari's parents and Se'txelu/Rolukx's parents, respectively. I've sketched concepts for these characters before, but it's been two years and they were sorely in need of updates. So here's updated concepts!

[batsplat]

this is how i think the valentino/casey rivalry plays out in their minds

[ms-hells-bells]

this bizarre politicisation of the existence of basic empathy driven fear and horror really confounds me.

when the christchurch attack happened, much of my country was significantly traumatised. i remember watching the news for hours, just crying. it was terrible. because people died. in a really horrible way. and because country kinship exists, you go 'oh, i probably knew someone who died or know someone who knew someone who died'. my roommate had friends at the mosque.

i'm not talking about the politicisation of the event in terms of how the american government used it to justify the invasion of iraq, i'm not talking about the politicisation of the event to spur racism and nationalism and xenophobia. i'm not talking about the politicisation of the event in terms of being used as an excuse to further push into a surveillance state, as per the snowden files.

i'm just talking about the mocking, minimising, and derision of what is essentially just a large group of people that witnessed something horrible and have strong feelings and memories because human beings have empathy. no amount of 'well, other people have it worse elsewhere' changes that. by that logic, no one should be scared and upset about mass shootings on the other side of the country, no oppressor group actually feels bad about oppression because 'it's not happening to you', countries that dealt well with covid shouldn't have any residual issues from seeing what other countries went through, and vicarious/collective trauma would not exist as a psychological concept.

[404leafclover]

fanart of @randomalistic 's amazing video essay on Turbo from Wreck-It Raplh!! it's over two hours of utter galaxy brained analysis and silliness... there's so much effort and love put into the video it's actually insane. I don't usually like to upload my art online anymore but I had to make an exception this time :J this video literally made my whole week... university midterms are temporary but wreck-it ralph is forever 💯 dear Random, your video and cosplay are so epic, I hope you don't mind I made you pasty and gray like our king Turbo 😢 the gray fits the color scheme... I hope you like the fanart!!!

[jade-doodles-questionmark]

guys hear me out...

reference is from Silence of the Lambs (1991)

[normalbrothers]

TOMMY: The war is done! Shut the door on it like I did.

[pharawee]

So you see, that's where the trouble began. That smile. That damned smile.