#help how do i make those textpost things

[asexypersondisorder]

Look Outside Ending Spoilers

(This game is still eating my brain, so here's another long textpost)

The Flawed Ritual ending is fairly ambiguous, as we don't know the exact mechanics of how mutation works, and that makes it very interesting to me. From the way the astronomers seem to mutate when they become afraid due to the wrong materials, and how you manage to keep your shit together in the Denial ending, it does seem like the mental state of the afflicted does play a part in their mental health post-transformation.

To my mind, this means that running into the bathroom to have a panic attack by himself was the worst possible thing Sam could have done. I believe this for two reasons:

Those already mutated, especially someone as collected as Helen, could have possibly kept him grounded to some degree. It was never going to be pleasant, but there's some possibility of keeping his personality intact if not surviving without a freshly traumatized mind. From there, he could get his bearings and the group could start working out their next moves for once the Visitor is gone. Running into the bathroom to stare into the mirror (which would visually spur on his freakout) was maybe the worst choice he could have made. This isn't to call Sam dumb, the poor guy is understandably freaking out and I don't know that I would do much better.

Secondly, more practically speaking - He's in the bathroom, and he's getting bigger. We have no idea where the mutation will actually end. What if he can't get out of the bathroom? What if he gets so big that his form has to either conform to the shape of the room or burst out through the walls? If you're already mutating, the best thing to do might just be to stay outside. I haven't seen anything that would suggest that people who've already seen the Visitor can be mutated further.

All that said, I do genuinely think that the other characters, once they get over their shock, would bang on the door to try and get him out and situated. At the very least, I believe that some of them would try and calm him down through the door. I don't have any reason to think that Sam transforming is necessarily a bad ending, plenty of people got mutated and came out of it really chill or even more helpful than they were before (the plumbing/water supply guy is a real MVP in that regard). Given time to adjust and depending on how you played your Sam, he might end up being a force for good in the same way he did in the Denial ending, just smaller.

Beyond my attempts to puzzle out the hows and whatnot, I also just think it would be very nice and thematic to have your strange and changed friends repay your kindness to them. You could have attacked or avoided a lot of them due to how they look or act, but instead you decided to take them in, feed them and befriend them. It would be really sweet if they decided to return the favor by helping you adjust to your new form.

[multifandumbmeg]

One of most fascinating things about fanfiction is that it's fundamentally about stripping the characters down to what you believe are their core traits, and everyone has a different understanding of what those are. Yet there are also largely agreed upon understandings or trends which collectives sometimes agree upon even when there's no textual evidence (especially with characters that were originally written in a flat way or had very little time in the actual text).

There's an obsession with "accuracy" of how you write a character, when in reality we're all we're all making innumerable decisions (conscious or not) about which of the character's traits are most important for them to be recognizable, which traits would come up in this particular instance, which traits would be different IF [insert AU here]. Purpose is also a huge factor. Some people just want to recreate the character and even original text's voice as much as possible while writing a moment they didn't get to see in the main text. Some people ((calling myself out)) go way too deep with the psychology and write VASTLY different from source material AUs in which they spend countless hours considering how differently the character would be/behave under those alternature circumstances.

And then some people just really want to imagine their blorbo doing one specific thing, and if textual evidence or reasonable inference would strongly suggest character would never, who cares? Some people care a lot, I have been said person before as well, and it's tempting to just write it off as "bad writing", but you really shouldn't. For one thing, when somebody writes a goofy textpost, is that bad literature? No. Because they weren't trying to write high-brow literature. And perhaps more importantly, I would urge you to refrain from labelling (even mentally) anyone's fanfiction as "bad writing". Instead, consider what they were trying to do (really you should do that with all things you read, but the rest of these apply more to fics).

What core traits were they trying to portray?

Did OP just want to see blorbo in this random smutty circumstance?

Is this person writing in their native language? Did this person have a beta/proofreader at all? Remember that people are doing this FOR FREE and without the help of professional editors like a real piece of literature. At best we have honest friends to bounce ideas off of or point out our typos. Frankly, no one owes you the fully proofread version. I once had someone comment on one of my 100, 000 word longfics that English grammar in this chapter was a bit shaky (implying I'm not a native speaker, which is so rude to begin with), to which I replied I am a native English speaker, 100%-ed the English section of SAT, all AP English classes all A's, and I even TAUGHT English, but I often write late at night halfway delirious and I do not in fact proofread the 1,000, 5,000, or sometimes even 10,000 word chapters on these longfics before I post them DAILY. DAILY!! Appreciate that you can comprehend this garbage it all, or I'm gonna start posting in hieroglyphs.

But I digress, my point is really that collective fandom conscious and the inherent inferences and interpretations (really key word here) every fic author makes are fascinating and really represent the core skills of literacy. We should all appreciate that more.

[kyouka-supremacy]

Your posting schedule is so interesting! How do you manage to wait months, or even a whole year, before uploading something? I don't mean that in a bad way at all—actually, the opposite! I'm genuinely curious about your process: how you come up with ideas, how you develop them into posts, and just how your brain works in general. <3

First of all– thank you! That's very sweet and kind of you <333

Second of all: I don't do this willingly at all, it's just that I'm a generally anxious person and publishing posts just as I've made them is very anxiety inducing for me pfftt. It's actually not *that* bad anymore, but it definitely was when I started posting on Tumblr, a long time ago, on other blogs from other fandoms, when I was a lot more self-conscious about my English just among other stuff; the habit of postponing posting to double check posts again just stuck.

I also simply really want my blog to be curated. It's my nice place where all the things I want to keep record of are, neatly labelled and organized. That's why I want to be able to check up my posts several times before posting, have time to notice any typo and so on (usually backfires because I get so used to reading a post my eyes will automatically skip over a typo, but eh). And sometimes my brain is just *something something abandonment issues Akutagawa* *compilation of x* *meme y*, stuff that I take note to make but maybe don't have time for at the moment and that keep track of so I don't forget later. Some times analysis look very bad when putting them down for the first time, and I need to polish them up; other times new ideas surge, and I end up doubling the size of a post. It's just a way to curate the posts that “works for me”; except, it does have its downsides, mainly posts getting obsolete if I'm posting them after a year has passed, or even the fact that at times I simply change my mind on some takes. This also helps keep my blog clean from negativity a lot of times, since looking back at rants more often than not I will go - uh. this really doesn't need to be posted -, or unfunny jokes. I think some 20% of the posts I make end up not seeing the light.

Since the queue can only hold up to 1000 posts (and like 60% of that for me is blocked by posts “I'm posting later” that have been there since this blog began. But whatever), All my original posts and reblogs go in the drafts (there's. A lot of stuff in there.) Once in a while I will dig dig dig in the drafts and refill the queue. It takes so long. About that, I just ran out of April 2024 posts

In truth, I just have a lot of neurospicy stuff going on. Like... Remember when I used to organize all my queued reblogs by category, always publishing them in couples of fanarts, textposts, same character, colours, and so on? I did that for more than two years on here. It was a nightmare, it was so pointless and time consuming, and yet it was a fixation so hard to overcome, and I still often get the itch to do that when I set my queue lol. Likewise, I always set my posts to be posted on the nice timestamps (multiple of tens, every half hour, hour quarters and such).

I don't know if that's what you were asking? There's a lot of stuff going on in the space of posts / drafts / queue pfffttt. In regards of how I come up with ideas, it's really hard to answer </3 There's no pattern I can recognize, I just navigate a lot, read a lot, and think a lot about it all. A lot of times inspo comes from fics; they put the characters in scenarios, and even though a lot of times I will perhaps disagree with how the characters will act in those circumstances, it's very thought-provoking, because it challenges me to reflect on how I believe they would actually act, and why is that. If I look back at my posts, a lot were inspired by a word, a sentence, a concept I saw in some other fandom creation. I really believe and uphold fandom being a mutually inspirational space :)

I will eventually run out of things to say tho ahah. If you look back at the dates of my post, The first year, there were days when I made even four posts. Right now, posts from April 2024 are being posted, and it's just one post per day. If we look at 2025, I've only made five posts in May (although, there's two more posts I plan to post soon. I suppose it's all really a lot complicate ahah).

[shabbyshoebox]

I talk about my superiority issues!

I think that not being heard as a child combined with constantly being praised for being smart did end up messing me up bad. We love a superiority complex (/s)!

I have this thing where I subconsciously see myself as the smartest/best/specialest person in the room and if that turns out to not be the case I get really insecure and weird and irrationally angry???

My old therapist pointed out that I seemed to take every interaction as a competition (which I vehemently disagreed with at the time, iirc. But of course, like many things that piss you off in therapy, it's a needed observation)

But the thing is, it's not really clocked by others because you know, you're supposed to make people feel good, and you're not supposed to be a pretentious ass. Being a good person means being kind and understanding to others. By doing this I managed to have relationships, but because I never externally expressed these things, those ideas were never challenged and I kept them. Because I didn't feel comfortable expressing that side of myself, others could not redirect me.

Growing up, I wasn't given the opportunity to be heard. Mentally, it grew from "no one tries to understand me" to "no one can understand me", putting myself on a pedestal and distancing myself further from my peers. I was already born with two neurodevelopmental disorders (like most in my family), so I already felt majorly disconnected from the majority of the "human" experience. In fact, I actively sought out books with animal protagonists because I could relate to them better than the ones with kids I was "supposed" to relate to.

Because of my superiority issues, I've had a hard time connecting with people. I don't give people enough chances to understand me because I don't know if they can and I'm anxious about being judged (who isn't)?

I'm trying to combat it by mentally thinking "this person is smarter than me" when I'm talking with someone, which seems to be helping a bit, still a long ways to go.

I feel weird talking about it, because, again, it feels bad to talk to others about it. Like: "Hello friend, I've subconsciously viewed myself as above you for our entire relationship, can you comfort me about it and emotionally connect with me as if I didn't just insult you and our friendship?"

Like, no, that's batshit. I can't expect anyone to have no reaction to that and to keep calm while I talk to them about that sort of thing.

So, by addressing this externally via textpost, I should hopefully begin to work through this.

In the meantime, I'm developing some affirmations that may help me:

People are smarter than me

People are more skilled than me

People are capable of understanding me

I am capable of expressing myself in a way that others can understand

People are worth asking advice from

Others' skill is something to be admired, not envied

I'm not skilled enough to do everything. That's okay. Acknowledge those who are skilled for their dedication and growth.

I need help from others

Others can help me

Other people are not my competition

In conclusion, I'm trying. I'm acknowledging the problem. My feelings may be upsetting to people, and that's okay. I'm trying to understand that it's not impossible for me to be understood. I'm trying to understand that I am capable of using my words to describe how I am feeling in an accurate way. I'm trying to understand that people being upset with me is not an indicator that I'm misunderstood.

Thank y'all for listening.

(I accidentally added a poll and can't remove it because I'm on mobile, sooo)

[deltarunedeltarune]

cool blog, amazing pfp, kerdly 4ever yay. hello there! I was wondering what did you use to access the Deltarune code files? Is there some sort of program that can help decompile the game, or did you just build your own tool :O I've been very curious about how people are finding stuff like the "Dess only turns to a monster sprite when the Toriel variable is on" thing. Also, your deltarune textposts are thought-provoking!

Well people are finding lines of code that can allow them to deduce certain things about the game. If you have a general understanding of how code works you can usually figure those kind of things out from looking through the code but it's not going to tell you anything explicitly for example can see what the variables are

and what will happen if they are on

but that code is going to mean nothing if you don't know what it represents within the game.. of course you can use online resources to do some research and scan through more of the files and eventually you can start to piece certain things together, that's what i do at least! :D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ the tool I use is the undertale mod tool https://github.com/UnderminersTeam/UndertaleModTool

Its a bit complicated to set up or it was for me at least because you have to set up the tool in a coding software and make sure the paths are all set correctly for the tool to be created

I used visual studio! alsoooo there was a missing part in the code when i downloaded it, they have the fix in the github files thing

this thingy ^^^^^^ i cant remember exactly but i think what i did was download this ^^

then put it in here and it fixed the issue ^^ so yeahhh that's all, i'm not the best at explaining things, there's probably some better information out there on getting the software installed if you run into any trouble.. good luck with your code browsing! :3

[sjweminem]

i am indeed under the influences of Substances rn, so this won't be articulate or even in-depth enough to be at all representative of my actual perspective, but i happened to witness a fleeting memory of that person who oh so weepily told me that my post saying it was perhaps maybe a little unsavory, given things that have happened in the past (and maybe, dare i say, the present), to openly wish actual Death upon a very largely jewish population, was not a super cool plugged-in radical leftist ideal. how made them feel soo sad inside! i can't help but also find amusing the way they mentioned their having patience with me so far for "staying silent on the subject", due to my own turmoil. so generously. because otherwise it surely is my job to join some performative textpost-ing sect to appease the holler-than-though masses here on tumblr.com, the trustworthy news source

you can't clown on the far right cunts for mistaking anger for action then do the same, all with the intention of preserving your own loud hair-dyed, tattoed, jacket-pinned identity. getting publicly mad enough that nobody could possibly question your stance on current events, therefore ensuring a comfy bed on which to lie among your fellow Angry!!! "activists". if you can't contribute to some sacred uprising (like....where???) due to personal life circumstances that's your own business, it's literally fine, it's not your job to fucking perform on tumblr.com.

i never see anything useful here, but i gotta say it does indeed make me feel free. because jack shit i do on here matters. pushing 31 i welcome all 14-22 year olds carving out your sacred space where verbal performance is law, where as long as your status as anti-XYZ is preserved you're accepted as one of the good guys, maybe even one of the Revolutionaries (in your luigi whoever t-shirts which will REALLY stick it to em this time!). go ahead and scream while you have the energy. cuz you'll be in your 30s one day too. i hope you're as content to spend those internet-based years focused on having your fav dude spitroasted as i am, bc the alternative isn't any better or more globally helpful. i love coming online to objectify men and do nothing else and i'll die sniling

back to me talking about penises and butt holes now

[here-i-am-again-god]

the favorites

It's probably already obvious from the focus of my textposts, but here we are. My favorite characters from 1 to some other number.

Mal

Guys, I just love her and her fuckin problems. I project onto her. I miss her with my whole heart on the rare occasion I'm not thinking of her. I know that's an odd take for the fandom, but I think she's fascinating to me *because* she's such a trainwreck. I haven't seen a DCOM main character be such a mess since HSM 2.

2. Ben

Plain and simple. He's a Disney prince and I'm exactly like other girls. The picture on the right doesn't hurt either.

3. Jay

He's so full of badassery and loyalty. Also I like how the costume designers were like 'eh, his hair is cool enough already' because they were right.

4. Uma

She's so tangled. She's so fucked up. Such a different can of worms than Mal, and for the life of me, I can't get the top open. But the label is enticing enough for me. Also China is my favorite actress in the trilogy since I grew up on Ant Farm and Wizards, so seeing her on screen just brings me joy.

5. Jane

Too pure for this world. To me, she's the golden retriever fandom thinks Ben is. Smart, capable sunshine. Get it girl. Also she's RIDICULOUSLY beautiful, which doesn't hurt.

6. Gil

ALSO too pure. In many ways the Isle version of Jane, but also a hilariously defanged "foil" for Ben compared to the raging inferno that is Mal and Audrey.

7. Maleficent

Kristen Chenoweth. Honestly, she should be higher.

8. Carlos

Impossible to do anything but love him, but underdeveloped tbh. I wish there was more to love. Also, everything to do with Dude came off oddly juvenile to me, so that's another reason his storylines didn't really work for me.

9. Hades

Hilarious. Should be lower but what can I say, I have father issues just like Mal and I'm ready to forgive him his serious transgressions because he was helpful and funny once after years of not giving a shit.

10. Evie

Fandom favorite, ikik, but nothing about her speaks to me personally. I found Jane's arc with beauty standards more relatable, especially since I felt Evie lost her "Isle-ness" after the first movie and became pure sunshine. Not that I don't love pure sunshine, but c'mon, the Isle is covered in rain clouds for a reason.

11. Lani

They girl-bossed her almost as hard as they white-washed her.

*yeah I know canon spells her name Lonnie but Xuelan/Lani from the only hoax I believe in makes more sense to me so that's what we're going with.

12. Doug

Adorable but underdeveloped. I would LOVE to have seen more of him though. Highlight was yelling "uno, dos, tres, cuatro!" before "Did I Mention?" Like why did he do that? lmao

13. Harry

Sorry sorry sorry folks, another fandom fav low on my list. He's an (at-times) uncomfortably flirty and unstable guy, and I know plenty of those already.

14. Audrey

Yeah it would take too long to explain but she will always be bottom of my list. So much about her hits me at my sore spots. But hating is boring and I'd much rather talk about the things I love so scroll up :D

If I didn't list a character, it's bc I rarely think of them oop. I know this list is far from exhaustive or objective. By all means disagree but be fun about it.

[auroras-void]

Some advice on how I got myself to enjoy writing:

So I used to hate writing when I was in High School, and I think it's probably mostly because schools just kinda fucking suck at teaching you how to write. Especially if you got ADHD, all the advice you're going to get is very neurotypical minded. Teachers I think, also tailor their lessons to work under the assumption that it's already clicked for you, how exactly you put your thoughts onto the page, because most of them never struggled to find it, and they also just, don't have the time to work individually with students to find out what works for them and their thought process. It feels like they're just trying to build a structure that's rigid enough it supports you to passing the rubric instead of teaching you how to get there yourself.

So I thought I'd share how I got over it, in case it might help someone else (though I'm probably preaching to the choir given that this is the textposts and fanfiction website lmao).

I used to think I hated writing, because I thought I was terible at it for the longest time.

I don't actually hate it though, and I'm also not bad at it (and I'm betting neither do most of the people reading this).

What I really hated was being forced to write like someone else.

I hated the formal prompts, I hated the way I had to bend my thoughts into unnatural shapes. I hated the outlines, the routines. Being forced to ignore my stream of consciousness to fulfill a requirement, I hated color coding my sentences. I'd constantly have writers block, I wrote stuff that felt very stiff and inhuman, and over and over again I'd hate it when I was told "just write something" because I just couldn't. No one was ever checking to see if I actually understood the point of anything I did, just whether I met the rubric.

But then, something just kinda clicked for me.

I can just. Not do it like that. . .

I noticed two things really.

First, was I had discovered video essays, and I was starting to consume a lot of them. The more I read though, the more I realized they sounded nothing like anything I had ever been taught to write, even when speaking in an academic register about the same kinds of subjects I had to write about for school. It seemed like their thought process was just completely different from anything I'd been taught, it felt more, organic, more authentic.

Like, what I noticed more specifically, was that text messages were effortless to me. They're like talking but with words on a screen. They're also infinitely more creative with the ways you can add extra meaning to your words using the vocabulary of the internet. To me it felt distinct from writing everything else, because it was just, conversation.

But then it dawned on me, it's not actually different.

That's just what writing is.

I don't need to be agonizing over perfection, I don't need to treat it like a problem to be solved, or an answer I need to get right. I could just, reuse those pathways I already have for speaking and communicating in other ways, to write anything, and suddenly just, overnight, it made perfect sense to me, I could do it effortlessly.

This is just like, infodumping, but the words get recorded and you can revise them and add citations to it after. Like holy shit, this is actually pretty cool.

I wasn't trying to fill out an outline anymore. I stopped giving a shit about that formal hook -> topic -> transition -> claim -> evidence -> reasoning -> conclusion, and all that bullshit that just makes me freeze in my tracks.

I just learned a lot about my subject, and simply, spoke freely about what I thought, but just, code switching it to be in a more formal register. I wrote as if I was dictating my thoughts. I listened to my gut and what felt right, made sure I covered what I needed to cover, and tightened it up and rearranged it later. It was like I had suddenly learned to harness my endless stream of thoughts into doing something I wanted.

It wasn't as neat as following the lesson plan, I wrote a lot more bullshit that got deleted for the second draft, but it didn't sound like it was written by a STEM major anymore.

Once it clicked too, I realized I could help others who had the same struggle I did by actually just having them literally dictate to me. I would tell them to just, not even try to write anything, just have them speak freely about what they thought about the subject, and I would write it down for them and sometimes make suggestions about how to translate it into something academic. Something about just, saying it out loud to a peer, it forces you into using the pathways you have that are already strong.

Around then is when I got my first ever perfect score on an English paper, and I was so fucking proud of myself for it.

The structures and outlines actually started to make a little more sense too. I could see how they'd be useful in organizing the word vomit on the page, but the secret was I actually needed to get the word vomit there first. So I still mostly disregarded them and did things my own way.

It feels like that's the secret really. Not trying to do it someone else's way, letting myself be weird and ADHD and Autistic.

Now I actually really enjoy writing, I love yapping about things, sharing my ideas. It feels like a very natural medium for my expression. So much so that I had a very similar epiphany by journaling, and I actually kinda stumbled into keeping one by accident.

I go over it in more detail here: https://www.tumblr.com/auroras-void/776055272532852736/journaling-lpt?source=share

Now, the one achilles heel for me and using this technique though. Is what I write now has to be authentic, or I get stuck. I struggle when it comes to writing about stuff I don't care about, or when I have to use a register so formal I can't speak freely, it's really hard for me to bullshit canvas discussions or write emails for example. (Especially if I need to lie about what my thoughts are just to meet the requirements.)

Fiction too. I still haven't figured out how to write fiction. I think part of that is 'tism for me,,, I struggle with authentically writing someone else's perspective, because my instinct is to just to imagine myself and my ideas in their shoes. If I ever tried to write an OC, it'd just inevitably turn into a copy of me.

Hopefully someday that'll click for me too though.

[steelycunt]

sorry if you’ve answered this i’m new to your blog 😓 i absolutely adore your writing and am in awe of not only your prose but how you write dialogue??? do you have any tips for writing dialogue? you genuinely make it sound so natural

hi love!! thank you so much!! writing dialogue is super fun for me so this is a lovely lovely compliment : ^ )) in terms of tips:

the biggest and simplest one i can think of is to say the dialogue to yourself. you might not speak the way your characters do but in terms of making the dialogue sound natural the best place to start is to write it the way you would say whatever it is youre trying to convey! because at least then its piece of dialogue that sounds something at least one person in the world would say, instead of something that no one would say. any alterations you need to make for it to fit the character can then go after : ^ )

people do not generally talk in clean sentences! obviously theres a balance to be struck between making it believable and making it readable but most people when they speak will at some point stutter or repeat words or use fillers like um or er or uh or start a thought one way and break off to finish it in another or not finish it at all, especially when they are talking about something that is uncomfortable or difficult. putting a bit of that in your dialogue is an easy way to make it sound more natural and also great for distinguishing between characters who may be more nervous/particular about the way they word things and thus more likely to stutter or reword sentences halfway through and those who may be more confident/less worried about how their words are received and so might not chop their sentences up as much.

i suppose this one is a bit particular depending on where you're from and where your characters are from but making an effort to use different slang and word choices for characters who are from different places gives them a more distinct voice! i love to use british slang in my writing i think we have such great slang and it helps ground the characters in their setting a bit, but at the same time a character from london does not sound the same as a character from yorkshire or from glasgow or from swansea. characters from different backgrounds (e.g. class) generally speak differently + the more you can incorporate that the more authentic their dialogue will be and the less they'll all sound the same : ^ ) it can be jarring when characters who are supposedly from all over all seem to speak in general American-Internet talk...no british person speaks like an american!! Do not let the internet turn you into an American!!

lastly + in a similar vein i think the biggest thing that i find makes dialogue seem unnatural in stuff i read is like. the tendency to write characters talking as if theyve just graduated from the Tumblr School of Unproblematic Discourse so as to make them seem 'unproblematic' (a whole other issue within itself) regardless of their background or setting or the fact that nobody speaks like that. I've read characters particularly around the issue of like sexuality and identity talk in these paragraphs that are so stilted (and frankly cringy!) that they read as if theyve been word for word lifted from some long tumblr discourse post on the topic. they all use the very latest and most unproblematic language and repeat phrases like they are talking in tweets or a 2014 tumblr be gay do crime 20k note textpost. people just do not speak like that and they do not need to!! they do not need to speak like a tumblr textpost to be unproblematic. they also do not need to be unproblematic at all. i think this links back to the first bullet point really in that if it does not sound like speech you can imagine anyone actually saying, out loud, off the top of their heads, its probably because they wouldnt and you're better off conveying that sentiment in a more casual way. Do not let the internet turn you into the internet!!!

thats all i tend to bear in mind myself when writing dialogue i think!! sorry for rambling but hopefully something in there might be useful for you : ^ ))

[thatonesongyouretryingtoremember]

DBD rewatch notes!

episode 1

Why was Charles making that face before offering Crystal to stay at the office?

Why are they not supposed to interact with the living? clearly Emma has no such qualms.

Crystal speaks up to make sure Edwin hears when she says thank you for taking her in

Why is David a surprising name for a demon? Why IS David called David, if it isn't a demon name?

HOW did I watch the show this many times without noticing the septum ring??

"The living are messy. If she had died last night, I'd have no issue with her being here." OKAY EDWIN. I guess this and the 'no living people' rule must have to do with the Infamous Puppy Debacle of '94. In this case, Edwin is not insulting Crystal specifically, but is being very literal that he would not be worried about taking care of a dead person.

I love how they NAME everything from cases to moves to incidents.

Charles teases Edwin for being jealous, but does he actually think that? Edwin is just overly cautious, and yeah that's causing an issue at the moment, but does he have, like, a record of being jealous of girls Charles likes?

Charles immediately tries to seperate Edwin and Crystal to stop them arguing, and Crystal is like "wait what??" like she's SO surprised. Also kinda love the not-subtle dig at Edwin's behavior. That does not go without retaliation ie: you weren't here when the mail came

WAIT they're going on a walk and taking, like Edwin and Monty. that's cute.

Did Crystal actually thin Edwin was in hero for being evil? I feel like that is surprising to hear regardless. Is it common for Charles to explain to people that his bf was only sent to hell on a technicality??

I think Crystal must have learned about hell from David, because if the ghosts she has met haven't moved on yet they have no way of knowing about hell.

The focus on people staring at Crystal is kinda weird. Does she even realize yet?

What did she used to feel like when people got mad at her for being mean?

What does Charles think about the way Crystal talks about her anger? He says it's cool that she is still alive, but does he admire her honesty too?

The up-and-down when she asks if that line used to work. He didn't even tell her what decade he died. Read him.

Aww she wanted to get Edwin some coffee to cheer him up. She even says hi to him as soon as she's inside. Crystal cares whether Edwin likes her or not. At the very least, she is trying to be nice to him.

How DOES the ghost post work? also the sheer incredulity of Crystal's voice lmao. Why exactly does the mail carrier sneak up on them? is he also dead?

Why does he care who the client is? they already know what the mystery is.

'keep your voice down!' bestie you already flirted at her, she knows.

'it's happening too quickly' Edwin doesn't wanna screw up his routine

good on Crystal for getting straight to business. Becky's ALIVE, boys!

Why do they think Death will come back to the office?

more people stare at Crystal. Dies she really not notice before the malt shop?

I can't help being reminded of that textpost about putting Crystal in the bag and going through a mirror.

Edwin thinks he is so clever with the agency name joke. He is so proud of that one. same thing with his journal of opinions joke. he's having so much fun rn.

I love that every time there's a Jenny scene the soundtrack changes to goth or rock music.

Why is the red LED neat diagram briefly orange and why is Edwin so fascinated by it?

She's scary for all of two seconds before becoming awkward and weird and mean. Jenny, ladies and etc!

Edwin is so menacing here FOR WHAT

Crystal gets the room as is, then never decorates it during the following weeks.

Can those ghosts teleport?? I noticed the dragons so it too, is it a shirt distance thing?? wtf?

pictures of guys, huh Charles? Is there anything else notable about the pictures?

Edwin jesus fuck lay off her. He is looking for just ANY excuse to talk shit.

Charles trying to help out Crystal is nice. I wonder why she doesn't like reading minds though? During the course of the series, she totally volunteers to read minds and it's a go-to solution for her. What happened to put her off it that she doesn't remember anymore?

What'd he do to get burned by the iron?

I guess after knowing ghosts for however long, none of them must have told Crystal about iron.

how does that alarm system via possession even work??

After that silence I kinda thought Edwin went to hell for possession when I first watched LMAO

Esther must have put the shoes in the woods as a distraction. I wonder if the boys would have ever found out if it weren't for Crystal.

they know cats talk and have human personalities and yet Charles sees one and is instantly like "aw fuck off man :((" bro chill

Why is the cat voice so. echoey?

what would happen if somebody tried to sit on the stools that the boys are already on?

Do we ever see anything like this door entrance in a mindscape scene after this? Does she ever walk around while in a trance again?

holy crap Edwin

I guess she takes a while to figure out it's her own brain. mecore.

of course there's an argument now. how could there not be?

then they never follow up on the "our demon" line

poor old Edwin has Charles taking such good care of him that he isn't used to the guy trying to take care of TWO peoples' feelings. Man I know that they don't talk about feelings in your time but at some point you've got to learn that everything you're saying is a fear reaction and not a moral stance.

I love the high contrast in this scene!

Simon's lil smile and Edwin walking away looks SO different with Context.

why tf is the sacrifice named "Mary Ann" and WHAT is Simon's brother into?

"don't do that!" and a breath of relief followed immediately by a jumpscare is SO GOOD. like I get scared by jumpscares but I love when they do it like this.

"It's not that bad" *hoovers the boy* *sells him to a demon*

THE TRANSITION. WITH THE SCREAMING

Why is the same cat here? is he following Edwin? W H Y

you're such a whore 🙄 (cat voice)

What if I offered you a sardine out of my gloves hand and bound you in a magical leash and you were a cat🥺 (and we were both boys)

The cat's mannerisms are pretty convincing IMO. my cat does the same ear thing when she wants me to leave her alone. And the tense shoulder/neck scrunch combo just adds to the effect.

I wish Edwin got to use more magic in the show.

not the apathetic eyebrow raise

me when I dump blood

I love this scene. Jenny is so awkward but also she remembers what Crystal says here. She remembers hearing about Crystal's ex like three times ever and ends up going after that boy with a cleaver. but it all starts with Jenny not knowing if she's allowed to show that she cares.

oh and her shield of cynicism

and the way she asks for more information!!

Charles with the questions! detective-ass.

it's interesting that Jenny and Charles both try to help Crystal while looking through a lens colored by trauma (specifically parental flavored) but Charles is so gentle while Jenny is abrasive.

Crystal! With the self-awareness!!

if you what? finish the sentence, Crystal.

Also she says "didn't you see that" like those pink lights were not symbolic they were real in-universe. Crystal and Niko were still acting hella gay tho. ofc, Crystal was under a spell and Niko is just Like That.

FAIR QUESTION

he doesn't answer whether or not it's weird. He also doesn't wait for an answer of if she'll tell Edwin. He trusts her.

Aww poor kidddsss

Edwin walks in and out of rooms like God sent him

Crystal with the self-awareness once agaiiiin 😎

TRANSITIONS

if she was in that relationship since three months ago and we don't know how long she was possessed for before Emma figured out how to find the boys, she may have already been missing for weeks at this point.

The way she is dressed and the way she's acting is risky different from the memories she gets from the marbles. Is this a real memory? Why would she dress like that, or hang out with those people?

Is the possession paralelled to any of this scary movies that was playing in the theater they go to? bc it looks really familiar.

Edwin is really focusing on the wrong details here, man. Also comparing a scared person to their abuser is not fuckin cool.

YAY! FEELINGS TALK!

I love the sound of his voice in this scene.

I mean I thought it was already clear that neither of them wanted David involved but if Edwin needs clarification that's fine ig

the description of Esther is line a spoken word poem

you know he doesn't get out much when he doesn't know about the internet

Jenny is iconic

absolutely ZERO emotional response to "Like kind of a sexy witch who smokes alot but in a cool way" like maybe they didn't hear Charles. maybe their minds were blocking it out because what the fuck /j

and her coat gets caught in the door and she can't drive. Perfect.

The fuckin twirl. Thank you costumes for cutting the vent stitch because the swooshy coat adds to the effect 🙏

Esther leaves the stove on when she's out of the house? does she want her bird to DIE!? It must be an accident because Edwin has to take it off :o either that, or she wasn't planning on leaving for too long, or knew there'd be someone to take care of it 👀

Also Edwin is EXACT in his reading if the floor plan. Like that is SPECIFIC

is that a sink cabinet? no basin??

an empty cabinet like that is sus anyways. who has that little stuff??

Edwin volunteers and Charles knows he's scared but makes sure he does it anyways. I wonder if there are any more examples of this behavior.

Monocrome; floor littered in bones and shoes. Edwin is 'weighed down'

it's not a void, there's a floor.

Wait Has Esther been planting shoes for the cops to find, then re-stealing them for her snake's nest??

Also how often does she kidnap forms because I feel like she'd either have to run out or get caught at some point.

"bag of tricks" they name EVERYTHING

technically they didn't break in

what did she THINK they wanted?

COLLECTOR

I've already said this but Esther loves things she *consumes*, so her love of birds is kinda bad news for Monty. He's just there to use in her plans.

Also the first time I watched this I thought Esther was trying to kiss Crystal. like that shot is. weird.

Why does Charles want the bird to be his friend and why is he not concerned about its living conditions

rope+ magic weight= OW

technically, since everyone else is only going off of Edwin's (and later Cat King's) word, they might think the snake is huge but realistic. do they know it's like fifty feet??

interesting that they show it takes multiple puffs of smoke to paralyze someone but later when she gets power from that rando ghost she does a whole ranged spell with the pipe because she is more powerful.

that is some weird and impractical snake jewelry on her hand.

MUSIC

appearance ONE of the BAT! he DOES NOT get to use it!

Edwin looks to be MORE bothered by the iron burn than Charles now that nobody is looking.

Do people normally get incapacitated when Crystal does her trick?? or is that special for this time?

I wonder what Crystal thinks watching this possession, since she just got possessed recently.

bag of worms?? not a thing

MONTY im tryna threaten some kids🥺

MUSIC

I guess the woods thing was believable bc she's a girl scout.

Also now that Becky's mind is wiped, she can't see the boys even though she has been close to the supernatural. I guess it would have worked on Jenny too if she chose that.

is now a good time to mention: I LOVE Crystal's weird-ass jacket. and she's wearing overalls again today, like in episode (six? I think?)

so now are they on David's case? I guess not lmao

The Night Nurse's hair is so funny to me. She is the only person who would ever think to wear victory rolls with a microfringe.

why are those photos so low-quality and why is the Afterlife Lost and Found a liminal '50s office building full of women?

[tobisaw]

random question that you don’t have to have an answer to or want to answer in general: do you have any advice on becoming an at least somewhat popular blog about a certain fandom (specifically hlvrai but like. in general’s fine). i’ve been wanting to post more hlvrai art and textposts, and i know just consistently posting shit is how you gain more of a following, but i didn’t know if there’s any like. other specific ways to help get more popular or whatever. again, you don’t have to answer, i just thought i’d ask someone who might know better than me. also just wanted to say i adore your art, especially the way u draw benrey :)

oh god i would genuinely really like to help you but i honestly don’t know i think i just got really lucky 😭😭 i know everyone says it but i really did not expect to get this popular on both tumblr and twitter i didn’t even know there were this many hlvrai fans left. i can tryyyy and give you some advice but i’ll be pulling it all out of my ass so take it with a grain of salt (also i can’t speak on other fandoms because hlvrai is the only fandom i’ve ever posted art for)

for one i think i just got kind of lucky for when i started posting on this account because it was just a little before the hl2vrai announcement came out i was getting most of my engagement during that time period. consistent posts are definitely important though i think that matters a little less on tumblr than it does twitter because tumblr’s algorithm is entirely user-based. other than that i feel like i just draw a lot of what people want to see i guess? not that i’m trying to cater to an audience, that stuff just happens to also be the stuff that i want to see. redraws of stupid images or text posts as the hlvrai guys and tommy doing mundane shit are my favorite things to post i think people like that. speaking of tommy i think the fact that i like him so much as helped me grow LMFAO there’s nothing artificial about it i just really really like him i’m actually a lot more tame about him on my public socials. i’ve had friends, mutuals, and random people i don’t know tell me i’m number one tommy fan or something along those lines multiple times i think i’m kind of known for it

overall best advice i can give you is to draw what’s fun for you and not what you think will make you popular. i know lack of engagement can be discouraging but you will lose your passion to draw if you don’t draw what you want. be yourself and you’ll get the audience you want even if it’s small warmsmile emoji

[yasammyweek]

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Yasammy Week?

Yasammy Week is a week-long event celebrating the fictional relationship between Yasmina Fadoula and Sammy Gutierrez from Netflix's animated TV show Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (and sequel Jurassic World: Chaos Theory). This is not an official project or competition! The goal of this event is to have fun and shine some light on our beloved country girl and trackstar.

How can I participate in Yasammy Week?

You can participate in Yasammy Week by creating fanworks based off a series of prompts outlined by the event. Don't sweat it, though! The prompts are merely there to spark inspiration. If you have an idea for Yasammy Week that deviates from the prompts then go for it. Any contribution is a good contribution as long as it's related to Yasammy.

What kind of fanwork can I make for Yasammy Week?

Just about anything! Fanart, fanfiction, gifsets, moodboards, etc. There's really no limit. Even if it's just a textpost listing off your favorite headcanons for the girls, the community would still love to see it.

Are there any specific rules/guidelines I should follow when making a submission?

Yes! You can read more about that here.

Are there any other ways I can support Yasammy Week?

For sure! There are three things you can do:

Follow the blog! This tells me that people are actually interested in the event.

Share the blog's announcement posts! This helps spread word about the event to people who may not have heard already.

Like and reblog other peoples entries once Yasammy Week starts! This shows love and support not just for Yasammy Week but also those who are participating in it. Afterall, they're who make these kinds of events possible—they deserve recognition too!

Who's running Yasammy Week?

Yasammy Week is currently run by @mangosaurus (main blog @d-atalog).

[holden-caulfield]

ayo bitch (affectionate) i somehow just remembered you're a steven grant girlie as well (i was redoing my whole theme for giniralkeregan and stalked ur account to see if you also had the issue with headers being resized by bitchass (derogatory) tumblr on desktop and that's how i found your old textposts about him) would you ever consider writing for him (i didn't find anything saying so in ur masterlist)??? (i don't have ideas yet but if i did could i send you some?? 👀)

ayo bitch (affectionate) when i tell you this is the last thing i expected to find in my inbox lmao

i love my man steven, i really really do but i was shocked to just find this when i woke up. anyway. i am kind of in an everything slump and that includes writing BUT if you do have some bomb ideas (as you always do) i'd love to hear those and maybe they could make me want to write again🥹

that would actually be just insane and absolutely amazing because i need to start doing something again??? instead of rotting in my room doing nothing???? yeah probably! so ideas are more than welcome!! and that includes anyone else who might have cool ideas👀

also, i have no idea what happened with headers. i haven't opened tumblr on a pc in a while and i couldn't find it in me to change my theme in forever so i'm afraid i can't be of any help... i hope you worked it out tho!!

(and just saying but a steven grant inspired theme? that would be kinda cool y'know?)

ok i'm done talking. grinch out.

[actuallyitsstar]

aaaaaaa so tumblr is not a functional website and it ate my next two drafted asks so prepare to get tagged in textposts but @brambleberrycottage sent Lord of The Rings (which will be v interesting bc im quite new to this franchise so pls dont crucify me i know nothing im baby lol) for the fandom ask game:

✨ send me a fandom and i'll answer with the following!

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

↣ VERY IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE but i think i have no choice but to go with aragorn. idk i dont know enough yet about all the lore of the universe to unpack this but. idk. something about that specific Flavor of generational trauma and the concept of corrupted legacy/rejecting his bloodline and coming back to it and learning to accept it and himself and what that means for middle earth in the grand scheme of things and h ow he has to 'forgive' himself/his kind to help everyone else. idk idk. It Compels Me. ive only seen the movies 3 times and i have not yet read the books so im sorry if im saying anything stupid aldjfkfhf 😭

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

↣ SAM!!! SAMWISE GAMGEE !!! SAMWISE THE BRAVE! he is so so friend shaped i just love him so much so many of his scenes make me ugly cry. he was my big toss up for blorbo in this ranking. but i want to squish him. you know ???????

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

↣ NO idea who is underrated in this fandom but i have a Soft Spot for boromir. hes that type. the type we've discovered i always love. the traumatized man with emotional problems who is overconfident. akdjfkfjfkgfj and i KNOW he obviously has his faults but he redeems himself and he reminds us of his true character and he does right by those halflings in the end by god 😭😭 still sad abt it

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

↣ again not that obscure probably idk enough of the more background ppl yet and idk who is popular but i have a soft spot for king theoden. his speech on the hill about burying his son always rly gets to me and he seems very noble and level-headed and fair, if not a little bit prideful at times. so interested in the concept of legacy and the way he talks about it and then how aragorn talks about it too and i always wonder if there is meant to be contrast/reference between them.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

↣ LISTEN..... DO NOT COME FOR ME BUT ITS KIND OF SORT OF SMEAGOL......hear me out. if faramir hadnt caused frodo and same to betray him i think he might still have been good and might still have been free of the ring at last. and idk if that lines up w the lore at all i may be talking out of my ass. im just saying i feel so so terrible about that twist happening to him bc he seemed so happy and free before the ring and then its just IMMEDIATE awfulness and crimes forever. he must be suffering. he died suffering. for the stupid ring. id like to think in another universe he gets something better.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

↣ im sorry this is literally frodo i think 😭 canonically and also fandom-wise. frodo ily i am sorry this burden ruined your life it PHYSICALLY pains me, literally, yet i cannot stop reading about it and thinking abt your struggles.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

↣ OBVIOUSLY SAURON OR SARUMAN.....NEXT QUESTION

[feral-cockroach]

hey can someone tell me how to properly do image IDs? i want to reblog stuff w IDs to make them more accessible but i dont know how to do them in a way that conveys all necessary info

like if someone posts a screenshot of a tweet would it be like

[ID: a screenshot of a twitter post by [username]. the post reads [post content]. end ID]

or is that not specific enough? the wrong info included or incomplete info or?

i want to ask people who use screenreaders directly (or those who benefit from image ids period), but i also dont want to go into their askbox and put the burden of educating me on them if that makes sense? but ive tried to educate myself on it and keep seeing lots of info from lots of diff sources ab lots of diff things and i just dont know what the census is?

also please if someone can educate me on ways to make my textposts more accessible aswell and what text-based things i should provide alt texts for i would appreciate that sm aswell!!! because i know if someone types in leetspeak or leetspeek or wtv (the way terezi from homestuck does) i need to provide alt text but are there others?

thanks vvvvvv much in advance to anyone who helps!!!! /gen

[theotherchaospixel]

so many thoughts running through my mind; just gonna spitball real quick

yeah, softlocks are no good. alternatively, you can only continue by going back to a previous time or save or checkpoint and trying again; this is back-tracking, and players might hate that even more than softlocks. also, don't wanna make it so the Orpheus player feels like they're having to protect or walk on eggshells around the Eurydice player; that's an escort mission, and is even more lowly regarded than softlocks & backtracking; i mean, team fortress 2 had an escort mission mode early in development, and it wasn't fun for this very reason: it's boring for both escortee & escorter.

that said, there are games which have made all of those types of problems interesting. stanley parable & portal comes to mind. those two examples at least use their story & dialogue to make the softlock less frustrating & more like an easter egg. bioshock infinite is one big escort mission, but your escortee can't be killed & in fact helps you a lot. team fortress itself uses the different classes & characters to make players naturally feel like they're working as a team, even though none of them particularly need to do so. legend of zelda uses weapons & tools as a prize in dungeons in order to make back-tracking feel different in technique than normal backtracking.

i'm also reminded of that one textpost i saw from forever ago which used the medium of item descriptions in RPG to imply a story, like it starts with "this blade means something to you, but you don't know what" to "your late wife's blade" as it levels up or you progress.

then there's like left 4 dead, where there's a respawn condition - if a player dies and is not saved, they can come back once a certain amount of progress is reached without them.

i'm imagining a version of this game where - as the eurydice character could conceivably die at any moment - the world is noticeably different in her absence, and noticeably different each time. like, the color red disappears when she's absent, or some puzzles require a different, much harder solution. that way, there's like... a point to the failure, but it doesn't completely negate things. it feels natural to me for it to be a horror game, where the horror is in not knowing, not having total control over the state of the game. maybe, like lethal company & some other games have done recently, include proximity chat that can just falter on its own, creating a sense of discomfort and worry based on the assumption that something bad happened. i mean, that's how the original myth goes: on the way back, they talked, but at some point, Eurydice went silent, and in his worry, Orpheus turned to look.

there also should be like a purpose for the Orpheus character: realistically, I think a lot of players would probably realize "oh, i can't look at Eurydice, but she needs to do something, so I'll just look straight down or straight up & let her do that." that's both lame & boring. so, maybe they have their own puzzles to solve, their own things to do. maybe they're not even playing the same game: maybe Orpheus is doing puzzles but Eurydice has to play a shooter, maybe Eurydice is doing platforming but Orpheus has to play a rhythm game, maybe Orpheus has to work with RPG rules but Eurydice gets free movement. definitely feels like there should be some asymmetry to the gameplay.

maybe there shouldn't be any voice chat. maybe there's story that the characters talk through, and there's things that the players can make the characters call out, but, taking a page out of journey's book, maybe it pairs up 2 players totally randomly, 2 players that may have never met before; that way there's stakes to being sure to play the game right, that way the state of the failure condition completely changes, where it stops being a failure to progress in the game & starts being a cessation of connection. i think you could get really psychological with that. you start playing the game, get paired up with someone you don't know, and continue through until one of you makes the fatal mistake of looking at each other, at which point the connection breaks and you have to live with the loss of this person you've gotten to know, gotten used to, and have to start over with someone new; your progress doesn't reset, but you - the player - are directly affected by the loss. much like the story itself. i mean, orpheus doesn't just die after losing eurydice, he doesn't lose his progress, but he does lose a connection that he may never get back.

fuck, i wanna play this now.

Here's a useless thought my head just supplied me with that I absolutely can't use.

Co-op game where if one player sees another, they die.

Both die? Just the one who does the seeing? Just the one who is seen? All players or just one crucial character? Do reflections count?

"Don't turn around. I'm right behind you. I'm going to put the mcguffin down behind you and go around the corner, I'll tell you when it's safe to turn around; let me know when you're looking away again."