#i think it would support the Themes.

[willosword]

i think they should reaaaally dive into mark and oliver's beef in the adaptation i think they should be having a screaming match and mark should grab oliver's arm a little too hard and scare himself half to death because without the proper restraint he could easily turn into the spitting image of his dad ^_^

[cherryfennec]

Summer Times

Hi! I'm finally back from my two week abroad trip!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Based on a real group chat convo (I was Jingyi)

[blueskittlesart]

do you have any thoughts on zelda not staying as a dragon? me personally I like it and am very cool with it mostly because I think zelda should get to be happy forever (and because I'm smart enough to know she changed back because of recall and not some ambiguous power of love lmao) but a lot of people seem to dislike that it made the draconification inconsequential?

i think there's like. some valid concerns surrounding inconsequentiality/"curing" the physical problems characters have as a way of giving them a "happy ending" but I think those concerns don't necessarily apply to totk in the way people seem to be applying them, especially irt zelda's draconification and link's arm.

most of the time when the criticism of this "magic cure" trope is applied to media, it's because the trope is used as a cure-all to erase a character's suffering or trauma and make them "normal" again, and often ignores the character development or themes of the story in favor of giving the character a happy ending. I don't think that applies to totk, though, because the "curing" link and zelda experience is both within the realm of possibility given the worldbuilding present in the game (recall could easily have done it, as you mentioned) AND thematically consistent with the rest of the game. One of if not the most important central themes of totk is the idea of failure and second chances. we see a hyrule that has been given a second chance after link's initial failure with the calamity brought it to the brink of destruction. we see characters who were deeply unhappy and entrenched in the shame of their precalamity mistakes like purah and zelda become active, beloved members of their communities. we see the people of lurelin village take back and rebuild their destroyed home. we watch this kingdom and its people make an unprecedented comeback after a century of struggle and ruin.

Similarly, totk's gameplay is LINK's second chance, his comeback from the initial mistake of losing zelda, of specifically being unable to reach her with his injured hand when they fell. The consequences of that--the master sword's corruption, the loss of his arm, and zelda's draconification, are all supposed to SEEM irreversible, because that's how LINK initially sees them. he believes that he doomed both himself and zelda all because of that SINGLE moment in which he wasn't enough, a viewpoint which is obviously left over from the pressure he experienced to perform to an impossible standard of perfection pre-calamity. The story of totk is about deconstructing that belief and proving it wrong. the mistake he made caused harm, but it's never too late to repair things. he can fix the regional phenomena ganondorf causes and rebuild those communities. he can revitalize the master sword. he can GET ZELDA BACK, with his own arm, uninjured and able to reach her this time. no matter how impossible those things may initially seem, no matter the perceived finality of his mistakes and their consequences, there is always hope. there is always a second chance. no one person's single mistake can doom an entire kingdom for eternity. the fate of hyrule was NEVER resting on link's shoulders alone. he was never their final hope. there was always going to be an after. the whole POINT of the draconification and the loss of link's arm is that they AREN'T final. they ARE inconsequential, because they were born of one mistake and ONE MISTAKE IS NOT THE END ALL.

[girlmetalsonic]

something that is like the baseline of amys entire character to me is that shes lonely. shes clingy and physically affectionate in a way none of her friends really are, shes always getting pushed aside and left behind. yeah, she helps out people she doesnt know because shes a nice person, but also, she sees part of herself in them. she wont leave someone else behind because she knows the feeling —and more importantly, hates the feeling. if she doesnt have somebody to stand by her and be there for her, then shes going to be that person for everybody else. something something her obsession with sonic is really just like a manifestation of that desire for closeness with someone, and she thinks that romance is the only way to get that. idk... this hedgehog can have so many abandonment issues.

[thedeafprophet]

Recent discussions has me wondering if it would be feasible for fallen london to apply content warnings to its stories. Horror is inherently a genre that has upsetting themes and is meant to make you uncomfortable, and I'm making no moral commentary on including themes - but for viewers it can be helpful and adjustable to have access to. They already have some warnings in game in certain places, like with Jack of smiles case, and in Evolution after feedback was sent in about the very intense body horror scenes.

But I think other things would be worth warning for. When cult themes are involved in Exceptional stories, or a prominent example, I think the very heavy nonconsent and forced pregnancy themes of Light Fingers *really* would benefit from a warning.

I fully understand that content warnings can't cover everything, and there's the matter of spoilers and when and where. Not to mention resources it would take with how many exceptional stories there is that are out. But I think having it as an optional viewing before playing something would be could for people to look at ahead of times. I know Black Tabby Games website has a seperate page on their website listing content warnings for their games, per chapter, which I found a very useful resource. Something like that could be advantageous

In the meantime, I do say my appreciation to fellow fans who take the time to warn for things.

[presiding]

genuinely admire those who were optimistic for dishonored 3 but in this videogame industry climate and [insert a 4hr video essay about arkane's recent history here], honestly, not getting dh3 is good news

[jojo-schmo]

This is not a criticism of people who make Kirby merch from memes!

But as someone who likes the entire franchise and it’s many characters other than Kirby, this is simply an observation I’ve made lately as a regular patron of artist alleys in the United States lol

[writer-room]

I like to think that the Cocoa Puffs become the local cryptids in camp. Everyones making ghost-busting gangs trying to figure out the little guys for the first few months but then after that its just their friendly neighborhood ball of trauma. They scatter like dandelions across the camp grounds and it becomes commonplace to find one chilling under a bed or hiding in a boat or stuck in a tree. Sometimes they’ll steal food just for fun. They’re untameable.

There are exactly 2 ways to make a Puff go somewhere and thats by either a) having a really bad time with an emotion such as grief, anger, loneliness, etc and becoming enough of a catnip to the Puff embodying that emotion that they’ll follow you around like a storm cloud, OR, the more popular option, b) getting Will Solace himself to wolf whistle, which immediately prompts every single Puff in existence to scramble out of the woodwork like cockroaches and zoom towards him at top speeds. Nico doesn’t know if he should find it cute or be offended.

[fallenbhaalspawn]

one of the things about Orin that fascinates me is how she definitely is a dedicated bhaalist, but not nearly as dedicated to bhaal and how that's shown in a bunch of little (many unintentional) ways! her outfit being red instead of the traditional bhaalist black (or that weird bronze/gold some bhaalist armor gets), her title of the Red given to her not by bhaal nor fellow bhaalists, but by her cognate doppelgangers, the jewelry she shares with her mother but is worn by no other bhaalists, etc.

even before she says "I did all this for [Sarevok]!" and finding her Helena's corpse in Orin's room even after her mother attempted to kill her, a fact which she is clearly and justifiably caught up in, you can still see the breadcrumbs leading to the fact she is primarily driven by her more direct familial connections instead of her god

[suffarustuffaru]

about reinhard choosing to support felt as the next king...

ok so i was thinking about it again lately and i wanted to talk about this bc reinhard Makes the choice to support felt in the royal selection, and i think its interesting bc reinhard seems like the complete Antithesis to felt’s goals being to Destroy the Current System of Lugunica. reinhard is specifically the sword saint, meaning he’s been. psychologically brainwashed and conditioned since he was a child to obey the kingdoms orders otherwise there will be Grave Consequences. reinhards whole Thing is that he HAS to obey the government. he barely has any wriggle room for choices of his own because he HAS to play his role. because of his power, he cant even go into other countries without explicit permission AND the collar of submission, which diminishes his powers somewhat but is also an Extremely harsh reminder of his role as the “monster who kills monsters”... like the government LITERALLY has him on a leash with a collar that goes around his neck.

but then reinhard decides to support felt - the royal candidate that Very Much wants to destroy the government and redo it all from scratch. if felt wins, she’ll be crushing the very system that has reinhard and all earlier generations of his family in a chokehold. even if he doesn’t Fully achieve freedom with felt winning, he’d still be More Free than he is now with the current state of lugunica, especially when felt cares for him and wants the best for him. of course reinhard wants to support her. the system failed his family, and it also failed felt and so many other innocent people. even though reinhard is forced into his role as a hero, at his core he’s also just someone who Wants to help others and save people. that’s why he agrees with felt - or at least, that’s my theory on his personal thoughts regarding supporting felt to be the next king. because reinhard KNOWS that as the sword saint, his choice of candidate is going to have a lot of weight to it. and then he chooses FELT. over all the other candidates.

and. on a slightly off topic note but. felts goal is to start over the whole country from scratch. you could Also say she.

wants to start over from zero.

[a-sketchy]

a persona inspired ttrpg would fuck so hard

[ary-thinks-n-talks]

i know (or rather, i think) everyone focuses on the everlasting trio's dynamic when thinking of the no one knows au, because, well. obviously. but in my experience all i think about is how it furthers the whole theme of loneliness and estrangement that danny has.

like imagine all his life, even in his younger years, danny has been outcasted, or at least been seen and/or labeled as "weird" (probably because of his "geeky" obsession with space or whatever (something something neurodivergent symbolism)).

but hey, at least he has friends he can connect to right?? well hahahhah NO, because he got ghost portal'd and has become a rarity, an abomination, with nearly no one who has the same experience as him. there is no one who he can share his secrets to, no one who can relate to him.

now, he's truly, utterly alone.

[deus-ex-mona]

ok but. as much as i love nghy and nagisa, i think he’s kind of dumb (relationship-wise). like, in sukiuso, he says “you’ll always be a heroine”, and all but says that he always found her cute

but then in kimikawaii, he’s going on about how cute hiyori had become, and that he’s not the one who made her become cute, which. y’know, is kinda odd, considering how he always found her cute, to the point of scaring her off from wearing cute clothes when he lied that her skirt didn’t suit her.

and. y’know. when he visited for the very expensive ft4 concert, she dressed up for him. sure, she had help from lxl, and she pretty much did it just to prove him wrong about his past words, but. y’know. she did it for him. he is the one who made hiyori want to become cuter.

so. nagisa. wouldn’t you say that hiyori had decided to become even cuter by herself for you? i really think he just played himself with this one, guys (unless the kimikawaii mv proves me wrong, of course). but till then, i’m gonna find the humour in nagisa asking “who was the one who made you become this cute?” only for the answer to be himself.

[three-dee-ess]

are we open to recommending custom 3DS themes here? i use themeplaza frequently and theres a couple good ones i want to share with people (that aren't my own)

yup yup! Please make each one a separate submission with the preview image and a link ^-^

[sysig]

Bowtie Charm! Inspired by @zarla-s​‘ super cute rendition hehe 💕 (Patreon)

Bonus collar breakdowns:

Changes depending on the doodle!