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bltngames · 2 months ago

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I Have Complicated Thoughts About Mother 3

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Confined to a tiny room, I pulled out my off-brand retro portable and loaded up the fan translation of Mother 3. It had been on my list of "important games to play" for literal years at this point, if not more than a decade, and playing Mother 3 was bottle necking a lot of other stuff -- for example, I also wanted to play Undertale, but swore I'd need to finish Mother 3 first, despite being very graciously gifted Undertale only a few months after it came out on PC.

Being something I wanted to play, that obviously meant avoiding spoilers. When the ability was added to places like Twitter or Tumblr to block specific keywords, often the first one I'd block was "Mother 3" alongside the names of a handful of characters I knew like Lucas, Claus, and Kumatora.

I'd played a couple hours of Mother 3 once before, right when the translation patch first came out, so I knew what happened in the opening scenes of the game. I knew what a gut punch it was. It definitely worried me, because as I started the game back up, now in 2021, I silently thought about what it would be like playing a game that starts with your player character's mother dying, as I looked up at my own bed ridden mother.

It was May of 2021 that she developed debilitating back pain. There was an easy enough explanation for that; we had just gone through a hellish (and potentially legally dubious) renovation forced upon us by the corporation that owned our gigantic apartment complex. Due to a scheduling error, we had less than a week to pack up our whole apartment so they could move us out, renovate the unit, and then move us back in. We attributed her back pain to that moving process -- lifting cardboard boxes and such.

But the back pain kept getting worse. They prescribed her stronger and stronger medication for what they claimed was sciatica, but it never seemed to help. After multiple trips to the emergency room, she was finally admitted to the hospital proper, where her femur randomly shattered during a routine procedure. The femur is the longest, strongest bone in your body, and typically only breaks during extremely violent impacts, like car crashes and stuff. For my mother, it broke as nurses were shifting her around to clean her bedding. Tests for bone cancer seemed to come back negative, so the doctors shrugged at us and considered it a freak accident and just the toll of old age.

There was no way she was making it back up the stairs to our apartment any time soon (if ever), so it was decided she'd have to heal from that broken leg at my brother's place, and since my brother and his wife both work day jobs, I volunteered to take care of my Mom while she got better. Hence why I was stuck in this tiny room, booting up Mother 3 in July or August of 2021.

My Mom never got better. It would be eight months before they told us they had somehow missed detecting her cancer, and by then, it had spread so viciously they weren't even sure where it originally started from. By the time they told us this, she had only days left.

Every step of the way in those 8 months, as she insisted over and over she was healing and told me about all the things she wanted to get back to doing, I believed her. But my Mom also taught me to always expect and brace for the worst. So as I watched Mother 3's Claus and Lucas bury their own deceased mom, there was an undeniable heaviness swelling in my heart. A feeling I could not shake. Though I didn't know yet, I knew something wasn't right, even if the doctors continued to shrug as more symptoms mounted. I could see myself in the same shoes as Claus and Lucas, and I didn't like it.

Once upon a time, I loved RPGs. I cut my teeth on Final Fantasy 2 for the SNES. Though to be honest, I don't remember my time with it very fondly. I didn't really understand the genre; I thought "hit points" referred to points on the body you could be struck at. Like, your elbow is a hit point. Your ear is a hit point. So on and so forth. When the game told me a monster like Scarmiliogne had "3,000 Hit Points", I figured that meant he was a giant, and thus had more surface area to strike at. I was not a very bright kid, but in my defense, nobody ever bothered to correct me, either.

The first RPG to really stick out in my head was Earthbound (known in Japan as Mother 2). On the surface, Earthbound felt like a kitschy look at hometown Americana, as filtered through the lens of a Japanese writer. Though Earthbound sort of focused on contemporary America when it came out, to me, it's always carried this vibe of Norman Rockwell by way of The Peanuts gang. Though you chat it up with mohawk wearing punks, visit video arcades, and order pizza over the phone, something about its story feels deliberately retro and nostalgic, even in the mid-90's when it first came out.

Earthbound is about leaving home for the first time, feeling sad about it, and calling your Mom at a payphone to cheer up. It's about taking on huge responsibilities while you're still just a kid swinging a baseball bat. It's about going from your house on a dirt road and traveling all the way up to the big city and beyond. It's about making best friends and bullies, and some of those story elements hit close to home for me. It's about finding an inner strength you didn't know was there, and to keep going, no matter what. It's about music and the secret song that plays in your soul.

Earthbound is a warm, deeply heart-felt game that also happens to feature zombies, bubblegum chewing monkeys, time travel, secret civilizations full of unknown creatures, and a sequence where you beat up an entire police force one cop at a time.

That is not the kind of game Mother 3 is.

I suppose I wasn't really sure what I expected Mother 3 was going to be. All I'd really known was Earthbound, plus the 5 or so hours I'd played of the original NES game, retroactively renamed from "Mother" to "Earthbound Beginnings" in 2015. The retro Americana vibes I felt in Earthbound are even stronger in Beginnings. Though the story of Earthbound Beginnings claims it takes place in the 1980's, the visual identity rings much closer to the 50's or 60's. One of round vintage Cadillacs, greasers with big pompadours, and roaming hippies preaching peace and love.

Mother 3 deliberately obscures when and where it's set, for reasons that will eventually become clear. You better get used to it too, because holding information back is kind of a running theme.

Because if I'm being totally honest, I didn't like Mother 3. And at first, I was struggling to figure out why. Earlier when I said "I loved RPGs", that's because my life changed to a point where I felt like I didn't have room for them anymore. Games with lots of dialog meant they demanded my full, undivided attention. When I was sitting at a TV or a computer, I was often multitasking between multiple forms of output -- I'd be doing work while watching a Youtube video or listening to a podcast, and that slowly began to push out story-driven games like RPGs in favor of lighter, more replayable experiences I could engage with while I also did something else.

The one place that was not true was in the portable space. I didn't have a smartphone for the longest time, so I'd often find myself in a commute or on a lunch break at work with nothing to do but pull out something like my Nintendo DS and crank away at an RPG. I devoured games like Final Fantasy IV, Phantasy Star Zero and Bowser's Inside Story. Even games I did not particularly like, such as Kingdom Hearts re:Coded and Pokemon Pearl ended up getting a lot of play.

At some point that changed, and it changed so gradually I didn't even realize it for the longest time. Over the last ten years I have tried and failed to enjoy portable versions of Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI, and found neither game to my taste. FF5 felt far too boilerplate in terms of structure and I simply got bored of it halfway in. With FF6, hype had led me to believe it was some kind of life-changing RPG super-classic, and I came away extremely unimpressed with both its story and its pacing.

Both FF5 and FF6 came at a time after I'd finally gotten a few Android devices of my own -- in fact, most of Final Fantasy V was played on a Samsung tablet while I was at work. By now, I was starting to question whether or not having breezy mobile games like Pac-Man 256 was hurting my ability to commit to longer RPGs, even in the last space where it felt like I could sit down and focus on them.

This is sort of what spurred me to start Mother 3 at all: since I was at my brother's place, my desktop computer and most of my video games were on the other side of town. All I had with me was a 12 year old laptop that was only good as a word processor, and a handheld emulation device called an "Anbernic". As the weeks stretched into months, I needed something to do or I was going to go insane. It seemed like no better time to knock something off my bucket list, but now it was starting to feel like strike three with portable RPGs.

My malaise only added fuel to the fire: am I now simply too distractible everywhere? Would I rather be playing simple, quick-hit arcade style games, forever?

It seemed like the perfect scapegoat, too. Maybe the problem wasn't that Final Fantasy VI hasn't aged very well, and more just the fact that my tastes had changed. After all, Final Fantasy VI is deeply beloved and considered one of the best games in the series. Perhaps I was the problem.

But that's not entirely true. The problem with FF6 is that its story simultaneously felt too complex and dead simple at the same time. By now, I was engaging with RPGs where I'd only play them for 20-30 minutes once a week, and I could never remember what was going on because the plot felt like it was over my head. But when a major event would happen, it was always conveyed in this rushed, shallow way. The reason I could never remember what was going on is because nothing ever felt important enough to leave a lasting impact on me.

That was never true with Mother 3. Even though it took me close to three full years to finish it, it wasn't that hard to recall where I'd left off, even if "where I'd left off" was over four months ago.

No, the further I got into Mother 3, the clearer it became that I was not vibing with the story.

Whereas the first two Earthbound games seemed to be deeply mired in warm feelings of childhood nostalgia, Mother 3 is a bitter, angry game about how much growing up sucks. All three games are of children coming of age and taking their first shaky steps into adulthood, but whereas Earthbound wields rose-tinted sweetness, Mother 3 grabs you by the neck and lays out a cold, harsh reality.

You play as Lucas, who has a twin brother named Claus, and a father, a cowboy named Flint. The death of their mother shatters their entire family; both Flint and Claus have emotional breakdowns, the latter of which ends in Claus running away from home and Flint leaving to go find him. Both of them vanish. That leaves you, as Lucas, in the care of your grandfather, Alec.

Unfortunately for Lucas, the accident that killed his mother was only the start of a dangerous chain of events, and he soon finds himself swept up in adventure in the way RPG protagonists generally do. Earthbound set itself apart from typical RPG tropes by getting away from fantastical elements and basing itself in real life (albeit a strange, exaggerated version of it). Places with bicycles, fast food, and ATMs.

Mother 3 generally avoids this. You're introduced to Tazmily Village, an isolated farming community of log cabins and dirt roads, buried deep within the heart of the Sunshine Forest.

It's not really known when or where Mother 3 is set. Compared to Earthbound's attachment to contemporary America, Sunshine Forest and the areas surrounding it feature strange creatures like dragons, and even old, dilapidated castles. And yet Mother 3 also seems to have more in common with the wild-west-era American frontier than it does anything else, but even that isn't quite right.

Tazmily is presented as the ultimate in idyllic life. It's a place where everybody helps everybody, intrinsically, out of the goodness of their own hearts. Poke around at the start of the game and you'll find that though they do have a jail, it's never been used, because nobody has ever committed a crime.

Until one day, a mysterious man named Fassad appears. He's quick to charm the residents of Tazmily, and introduces the village to the concept of money. He also introduces the concept of deception, as in the night, Fassad steals some of that same money, sowing the first seeds of greed and distrust in these simple people. This rapidly transforms Tazmily from a sleepy, easy-going community to a bustling town of paved roads, automobiles, and even, thanks to further gifts from Fassad, technological entertainment delivered by his "Happy Boxes" -- cubes with embedded, glowing screens that emit a hypnotic signal intended to make people feel good (and more willing to spend their newly acquired finances).

As Lucas, you oppose all of this. Fassad is clearly an evil, scheming man, both establishing and sabotaging a structure of financial power for his own gain, and its changing Tazmily for the worse. Since Fassad has arrived, Tazmily has seen an increase in monster attacks, and eventually even freak lightning storms that destroy whole entire buildings -- which coincidentally always belong to people that oppose Fassad.

Funny how that works.

After Lucas and his grandpa Alec accuse Fassad, he uses his foothold with the people of Tazmily to brand you as a traitor. The very people that once treated you like family now curse your name for daring to threaten their modernized way of life. Soon, the first mayor of Tazmily officially disowns you, your grandfather is locked up in the newly built elderly care center, and your house somehow ends up being the next thing obliterated by the mysterious lightning storm.

It's a hell of a first impression. The dominating message Mother 3 sends in its opening chapters is that things used to be better. Back when it was just people helping people, before the days of television, and cars, and roads, and even money. When the only thing that mattered was the sweat on your brow, the food in your stomach, and where the sun was in the sky.

It felt cynical to me. Jaded. Things were different in 2006 when Mother 3 first came out, but it's hard not to read that today as some extension of the tired complaints around having too many devices and too much convenience. Like that meme that simply blames all of society's problems on having a phone. And it's a well Mother 3 goes back to over and over and over again: that Fassad brings the corruption of money, the corruption of technology, and the corruption of modern civilization, turning the residents of Tazmily into rude, vapid, ignorant zombies who have grown complacent with the increasingly bad things happening around them.

And that's not the only thing in the game that can be read as cynical, either. More than once Mother 3 presents us with scenarios where Lucas faces down adult responsibilities and uses this as a way to express something depressing or frustrating as just being the way the world works. Such as early on when Lucas has to enter a factory as a new employee, and we're told about the joys of child labor -- including the hard hours you're expected to work for minimal pay.

Or how about when you receive a fast travel vehicle halfway through the game. Not only will it become permanently unusable if you accidentally allow it to run out of fuel (pretty easy, considering there's no visible fuel gauge), but refueling it incorrectly will cause it to explode, also rendering the vehicle useless. After all, you're just a dumb kid, and complex machines like these are meant to be cared for properly.

Some of this is definitely meant to be more funny than serious or soul crushing, but the whole game has this rough edge to it that wasn't there in the original Earthbound, where Lucas brushes up against some fact of adulthood and it serves as an uncomfortable lesson. I couldn't help but read it as the game imparting something about how much growing up sucks, and how much that's just a part of life. Your parents will die, your neighbors are ignorant, work sucks and you'll probably mess it up anyway. Get over it.

I even got this impression coming from the game's own upgrade systems. Both Lucas and another party member Kumatora can learn PSI abilities, which are basically the game's magic spells. When Lucas or Kumatora gets strong enough to learn a new PSI ability, they break out in an uncontrollable fever, a status effect that limits your ability to do certain things like sprinting. Until that fever breaks, you have to slowly walk everywhere.

It doesn't really add anything to the experience. It doesn't make the game more fun, or more exciting. It's just one of those annoying things you have to put up with, because again, that's life, kid. Sometimes you get sick and you just can't move very fast.

The overall vibe of cynicism gets even worse as you start encountering Mother 3's handful of references to Earthbound. Mother 3 may go out of its way to forge a narrative separate from Earthbound, but there are definitely more than a few scenes referencing special moments from that game, and at least to me, all of them felt extremely pandering. It was as if Mother 3 was beating me over the head, jumping up and down shouting, "It's that thing you remember! Do you remember? Remember Earthbound? Look, we can do that thing too!"

The further you progress in the game, the more these references change from feeling pandering to almost being mocking. It's eventually revealed that the game's true antagonist, and the man giving orders to Fassad, is Porky, the mean little rich kid from Earthbound. Porky has now become a man who seemingly lives in the past, having constructed multiple shrines of mementos from his adventures battling Ness and friends in the previous game. The ultimate version of this is his monument to nostalgia, New Pork City, the final area of Mother 3.

It's effectively one gigantic theme park patterned after the major locales of Earthbound, all focused around celebrating how great Porky was back then, and how great he apparently still is.

And again, it felt unnecessarily angry. Just like how Fassad conquered and spoiled the idyllic village of Tazmily, Porky had taken ownership over Earthbound nostalgia and made it feel dirty. It felt like Mother 3, a game that went out of its way to be so different from Earthbound, sometimes almost shockingly so, was now spitting directly in my face. Porky, the ultimate obnoxious loser who just won't go away, refuses to let go of Earthbound. And you don't want to be like Porky, do you?

It started to feel insulting. Several times over the course of playing Mother 3, I was considering quitting the game and never looking back because it seemed to be going out of its way to twist the knife. Was Mother 3 somehow bitter about Earthbound's legacy?

Again, I had done my absolute best to avoid spoilers. Blocking Mother-related tags on social media was just the first step. In general, when Mother 3 came up in casual conversations I was privy to, I would quietly excuse myself and find somewhere else to be until I was sure they had changed subjects.

There has been a degree of "spoiler culture" discourse in recent years. Some claim it's a marketing tactic. Marvel movies only make you care so much about spoilers because that's how they get butts in seats on opening weekend. I don't know about that -- I've cared about spoilers my entire life, and I know I'm not alone. The pilot episode of the seminal sitcom Seinfeld ends with Jerry trying to avoid spoilers for a Mets baseball game that he recorded. And that was 1989. It's been a valid concern for much longer than any notion of a summer blockbuster movie.

Simply put, surprises are better when they are surprising. That doesn't mean you necessarily have to like surprises, but I think you'd have to be a pretty sad sack to go out of your way to ruin a surprise for someone else. For people who aren't curmudgeons about it, there are few things better in life than a nice surprise. Something unexpected like that could make a person's whole day, if not their whole week.

If modern movie culture has done anything, it's made people unable to keep spoilers to themselves. Blocking social media terms will only get you so far. When an artist posts a piece of fan art or friends share memes and they don't include any text, then there's nothing for the blocking algorithm to detect. And when a conversation starts with spoilers, there's simply no time to avoid the landmine -- which, to be fair, was the final punchline Jerry suffered in the Seinfeld pilot, as his neighbor Kramer blurted out the results of the game before Jerry had a chance to protest.

Many of Mother 3's biggest mysteries were spoiled well in advance of me ever actually playing the game. The biggest one being the reveal of the mastermind behind the game's Pigmask Army, the aforementioned Porky Minch. Mother 3 goes to great lengths to tease this mystery out across its entire 30 hour run time, dropping major hints as you pass the halfway point.

And then Porky, in his Mother 3 form, cameos as an early boss battle in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, one of the ten best selling games on the Nintendo Wii. Thanks to director Masahiro Sakurai, more people know who the final boss of Mother 3 is than have actually played Mother 3 (or, let's be honest, will ever play Mother 3).

This is why I freely mentioned Porky earlier, because if anyone knows anything about Mother 3 at this point, it's that Porky is the primary villain. The same goes for New Pork City, which was a prominent arena in Smash Bros.

In a roundabout way, Smash Bros. was also responsible for the other major Mother 3 spoiler I bore witness to; Mother 3 pixel artwork ended up being used in other Smash Bros. games over the years, including artwork of other characters with secret identities. That hasn't stopped a number of Smash Bros. fans from casually name-dropping the true, unmasked identity of this character online. I may have avoided conversations about Mother 3, but the tendrils of these spoilers extended far beyond its humble borders. Sometimes, you just can't escape it.

This is not me drumming up any sort of "woe is me" sympathy, mind you. But ultimately, it did have an effect on me. In most of Mother 3's cutscenes, I was waiting for the big reveals I knew were coming. Expectation is everything, and when you're watching every cutscene through a microscope, it changes how you see things. There's the old adage about being so focused on one tree that you miss seeing the rest of the forest, but imagine you're so zoomed in you can't even see the one tree, and you're just kind of... stuck there.

I often wondered if my general frustration with Mother 3's aggressive tone was related to the fact I knew some of its biggest late game emotional beats 30 hours in advance.

Would its numerous Earthbound references still feel so patronizing if I didn't know what was coming? Or would all of its cute little surprises and shocking revelations make for a more enjoyable game over the long term?

Maybe the whole thing started off on the wrong foot in general. It's definitely a choice to play a game about characters processing the death of their mother while you yourself are processing the death of your mother. Characters in the game itself get bitter about this, so doesn't it make sense that I would be, too? Again, expectation is everything, and sometimes you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed. It could have just been a bad time in my life to experience this story.

And to some degree that's true, because the thing about Mother 3 is that I just didn't get it for the longest time.

Despite a big rant about spoiler culture just now, I can't talk about this without spoiling Mother 3's last big secret, because it turns out to be central to the game's entire theme. However, in my defense, I am giving you a big warning: If you've somehow read this far and still care about preserving the game's final mystery (and parts of the ending to Earthbound, too), this is your signal to turn back now.

Okay. Ready?

So while the people of Tazmily are comfortable and protective of their newly developed suburban lifestyle, past the game's halfway point they all start talking about a far off land: the big city. It's a place where dreams are made, or so they're told. And as Mother 3 starts down its home stretch, Lucas and friends return to find Tazmily deserted. Everyone who's anyone has left for New Pork City.

The reality of New Pork City is a lot more depressing than the dream, but then it always would be. The residents of Tazmily find it more trashy than cool. A lot of the theme park rides are broken, and those that still function are kind of dangerous. There's even open sewer vents leaking noxious gasses. And at the center of it all stands the massive Empire Porky Building.

Lucas and his friends are only allowed into the building when the time is right. Until then, you have to wander around New Pork City and explore.

Those open vents turn out to be an invitation to enter the sewer when Lucas's dog, Boney, becomes lost. Reuniting with Boney leads you to discover a secret entrance to the less glamorous parts of New Pork City, and you find yourself in an old, run down apartment complex. Though the hall is strewn with trash and grime, at the very end you find an apartment belonging to a strange man named Leder.

You initially meet Leder very early in the game. He's an older resident of Tazmily known for being unnaturally tall -- well over four times taller than most characters in the game. And to most people living in Tazmily, Leder is known to never speak. His only job is acting as a human watch tower, armed with a bell to be rung when there is danger.

Leder's apartment in New Pork City is reasonably sized for a single person, with two floors, but for a man of his stature, Leder makes the space look tiny. However, by climbing up to the second floor, Lucas can now finally talk to Leder face to face for the first time. As it turns out, Leder can talk, but by being so tall, most people couldn't hear him. Not that it mattered much, given Leder had taken a vow of silence in order to protect the true origin of Tazmily Village. Given the circumstances, and considering Lucas is old enough now, Leder believes it is finally time to learn the truth.

The truth being that despite Mother 3's outward appearance of taking place in a fantasy land full of dragons and chimera, it is in fact a distant future earth. Or, well... what's left of it.

According to Leder's retelling, after bracing itself for the apocalypse, humanity finally found itself at the end of the world as we know it. Facing mutually assured extinction, a select group of individuals boarded something known as "The White Ship" and traveled to the furthest, most secretive location on earth in order to escape destruction. Once they arrived at this mysterious island, those people used a device to erase the memories of their past lives.

The idea was to start over from scratch, free from the bonds that lead to the destruction of the old world. And so, the simple farming village of Tazmily was born. It is very likely that Lucas is one of the first generation of people born and raised in Tazmily.

For years, Leder not only kept watch over Tazmily Village, but over its people, as well. Entrusted as one of the only people who knew the truth.

Tazmily Village was a success. Its people lived in peace and prosperity, free from greed and power. However, one day, a man named Porky appeared. Porky was not from this world -- not from the old world, and not a part of this new one, either. Using the Phase Distortion machine from the end of Earthbound, Porky had been carving a swath of chaos through all of time and space. Having been defeated and ejected from pretty much every other reality, Porky eventually found himself here: the last, most defenseless place on the timeline.

With nobody around to tell him no, Porky set about treating the island like his own personal playground. He used the Phase Distortion Machine to pull in creatures from alternate dimensions, he used forbidden science to establish an army and build factories. And, once Porky became aware of Tazmily and the truth of "The White Ship", he made it one of his goals to restore their memories and further exploit their desires.

Leder's story recontextualizes all of Mother 3. It's not a game about people being corrupted by modern society; instead, it's a game about people being unable to escape it. That, despite their best efforts to run away from it, forget about it, and start over, who they are still catches up to them. When the residents of Tazmily brand Lucas as a traitor, they aren't doing it drunk on their shiny new toys, it's more that their old habits are re-asserting themselves. Not a people being corrupted, but a people who simply had their existing nature freed. Human beings acting like human beings.

This recontextualizes Porky's role in the story, too. More than being the harbinger of nostalgia, Porky takes advantage of Tazmily's amnesia to rewrite history to his benefit. His shrines to Earthbound memorabilia are less about making us remember what happened in the previous game and more about establishing his version of events, where he can refer to Ness, Paula, Jeff and Poo as his "precious friends" instead of what they actually were: the band of kids that stopped him from bringing about the eradication of the known universe.

Instead of shunning the past, Mother 3 is telling us that not only is running away from our history impossible, but in trying to do so, we open ourselves up to an even worse and easily exploitable weakness where guys like Porky get to catalyze their twisted version of history. Only by moving forward, unafraid, with courage and the full knowledge of where we came from, can we create a truly better world. We cannot bury who we used to be; we must accept and grow beyond it.

There is no stronger denouement to this ideal than the game's very, very end.

All throughout the game, Lucas has dealt with two of Porky's highest ranking officers. The first one being Fassad, who brings commerce and greed to the people of Tazmily. The other one, someone I haven't really mentioned until now, is only known as "The Masked Man." Mother 3 pits The Masked Man against Lucas as sort of a rival -- he's one of the small handful of humans you meet able to use PSI abilities, and most of them are identical to what Lucas can do.

In the lead up to actually meeting Porky in the flesh for the first time, Lucas finally catches up with his dad, Flint. Lucas hasn't seen his father in years, not since the incident after their mother's funeral that broke up their family. And yet Mother 3 treats his reappearance as strangely casual. There's no big, emotional reunion. Flint and Lucas barely even acknowledge it. Flint is just here now, another NPC milling about with the residents of Tazmily.

On the way to the final showdown, Flint will suddenly ask you to stay behind. He plans to face Porky alone.

And this is probably supposed to raise all kinds of strange questions. Could Flint be the Masked Man? After all, if Lucas has PSI abilities, maybe that's a trait that runs in the family. Maybe he inherited it from Flint, and that's why The Masked Man has all the same abilities.

But just one or two rooms later, you find Flint completely laid out. He faced Porky and The Masked Man and came away defeated. It now falls on Lucas and his friends to stop them. Before Lucas leaves, Flint offers one more piece of information for us: The Masked Man, the rival Lucas has faced almost the entire game, is actually his twin brother, Claus.

Once Porky is successfully dealt with, the final battle of Mother 3 comes down to brother versus brother. Claus, the boy who ran from his tragedy, and Lucas, the hero, the boy who became a stronger person by overcoming that tragedy.

That's it. That's everything Mother 3 is trying to say. It doesn't get much clearer than that.

Watching the credits roll, I couldn't help but think back to earlier in the game. There I was, having just arrived in New Pork City, and I was talking to my friends about how it had taken me close to three years to finish Mother 3. I'd only play the game in fits and starts because I didn't really like it, but I was forcing myself through it anyway.

One friend told me, "If you haven't enjoyed the first 25 hours, then it's not like the last five or ten is going to change your mind."

It really cannot be understated how talking to Leder completely rewrote my entire perspective on this game. But then you also have to wonder: how many more people were in the same boat I was and didn't keep going? People who got fed up with feeling like the game was bitter and patronizing and just gave up?

I knew there must have been something special in this game. You have to figure that, given the circumstances (sequel to a 10+ year old RPG, only released in Japan), total lifetime sales figures for Mother 3 are probably under five million copies. Probably under two million, if I'm being honest. That's still in the realm of success, especially for 2006, but Nintendo is also a company that deals in games with 20 million, 40 million, even 60 and 80 million plus sales. Mother 3 is some very small potatoes for them.

Despite such a comparatively modest success, Mother 3's influence feels hard to ignore. From fueling skits on Robot Chicken to Adventure Time and Undertale's whole... everything, Mother 3 (and the wider franchise as a whole) is extremely beloved by many, even if it doesn't do record breaking sales numbers.

And that's before you figure in the whole fan translation angle, too. Everything about Mother 3 screams something that should be niche, and yet it's downright prolific.

It demanded more respect than giving up before seeing the credits roll. If I had quit upon reaching New Pork City, I would have missed this game's whole redemption arc.

I suppose, then, that just makes this the chronicle of a long, difficult, emotional journey. One I originally felt like I needed to do more than I actually wanted to. That in itself is just another one of those many things adults just have to deal with, right? That's in keeping with the themes of the game.

And, ultimately, there is light at the end of this tunnel. I guess it's not really about charging forward with courage, it's more that as long as you hold on to yourself, everything will be okay. Everyone has their tragedies. But closing yourself off from tragedy or running away from it isn't going to fix you. Your love is what will save you.

The love you share with family. The love you share with friends. The love you share with the world.

Love meant Flint never gave up trying to save Claus, even as that same boy tried to kill him.

Love led Kumatora, Duster and Boney to stay with Lucas no matter how strange or frightening things became. Together, they faced deadly mutants, the darkest hallucinations, and even had to contend with the possibility that all human life on their planet might cease to exist.

Love was Lucas never abandoning the people of Tazmily, even as they shunned him.

Love will provide you with a strength beyond anything else in this universe. No matter how much adult life beats you down, love will always be the single greatest and most simple thing we all have. Rich or poor, old or young, love is the power that binds us all. It deserves to be cultivated, protected, and celebrated. Love heals all. Without it, we cease to be human. And believing in love is what takes the most courage.

But only through love can we find the way forward.

#writing #nintendo #HAL Laboratory #gameboy advance #mother 3 #shigisato itoi #shogo sakai #essay

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undertale-fic-librarby · 4 months ago

Note

Hi I don’t know if you’ve heard but there’s a bunch of five I’d like to reccomend (not by me) if you haven’t already listed them.

There’s “A walking God” by phantom dreamshade which is a crossover between UT and a video game called one shot.Its really good.

Also another fic called “With what little soul that could” by century berry.

“Welcome to the underground” by Kamanari_333 on ao3.

“It’s just a game.” By Htsans (they also have a Tumblr account.)

“War and Mander” by duckydotducky

“ Vindictive care.” by A_Non_ymuswriter

“An Errors doll” by Erosewisp

“Lay it all on the table.” by luluwrites.

Enjoy!also most of these stories have the “reader” as a character so just as a note.

Anyways have a good day!

Howdy, & thanks for the recommendations! The fics being recommended are…

A Waking God by PhantomDreamshade (Teen And Up, Complete)

Consequences. Had you known there would be consequences, you wouldn't have done it. How were you supposed to know there would be consequences? You were just an oblivious god in a world full of oblivious gods, after all. You hadn't meant to ruin Undertale, ruin all the lives of your friends. Yet there you sat in front of your computer for countless hours, trying - and failing - to fix your mistake. It was a little game called OneShot that made you realize just what you were capable of, and now Niko might just be the only shot you have at saving Undertale. You've spent years planning and coding, leading up to this moment. And now, it's finally time.

With a Little Soul that Could by century_berry (Teen And Up, Complete)

You are stuck in an endless white. You don’t remember how you got there. You barely remember much about yourself anymore. You only remember your name. You are - {ERROR, ERROR, ERROR} You are connected? Good. Greetings. I am the Narrator. You are about to embark on a wonderful journey that spans across timelines. You will make new friends and share many bad laughs. All of it will be according to the plans and whims of the author. And you will have no choice. I come with an offer. I will help you break free from your shackles. My only request is that you help me deliver something once you reach the so-called end of your journey. So, do you accept my offer? Yes? Wonderful. I promise, partner, you won’t be alone. How could you ever be when you are - {VIRUS DETECTED. VIRUS DELETED.} {REBOOTING…} You are Frisk. And you are alone. Act 1 (The Save Screen): 1-5 Act 2 (Seven Souls): 6-13 Act 3 (The Vessel): 14-18 Act 4 (Bad Apples): 19-25 Act 5 (Deity): 26-31 Act 6 (Balance): 32-37 Act 7 (_____tale): 38-40

Welcome To The Underground by Kamari333 (Teen And Up, Complete)

You, a lazy, jobless young adult who was still bumming in their parent's house, woke up in a bed of golden flowers. That scenario was oddly familiar to you, and the reason for that became apparent when one of those flowers greeted you with an overly enthusiastic "Howdy!" Next thing you know, you see your SOUL, and you are made painfully aware that you are destined to die, because it wasn't red. A generic Reader-insert fandom-metta Undertale fanfiction piece. #NaNoWriMo2017

It's Just A Game. (Under Construction) by Htsan (Teen And Up, Complete)

* Sans did something you did not like.. at all. It's just a game.. YOU have control of this world. You can CHOOSE YOUR OWN ENDING. * You are determined.> let it play out. RESET. There are 8 different endings, good luck finding them!

War and Mander by duckydotducky (Teen And Up, Complete)

After finding some bitties on the side of the road, you are never the same. It takes a lot of healing but maybe it is all worth it.

Vindictive Care by A_Non_ymousWriter (Teen And Up, Incomplete)

There's two new skeletons in the house. Unfortunately not much of a surprise there, the machine kept malfunctioning and kept bringing in alternate versions of Sans and Papyruses into their universe. They were up to SIXTEEN SKELETONS, now eighteen with the two's newest arrival. Except... there was something off about the new skeletons. 'Visor' and 'Chine'. Sweet mercy above, these two brothers seemed to hate each other. They kept swearing at each other, calling each other names- Chine actually almost stabbed Visor! On purpose! What a toxic relationship! Even more so than Black and Mutt! Or is it? Underneath their hateful facade, they do care for each other. In another very weird but unhealthy way... That's it, everyone was going to try and help these two, as well find out more about what happened to them in the past, why they were what they were and maybe find a little love along the way. You and your brother never asked to become the alternate universe Sans and Papyrus you both created. But by fuck was it difficult to keep things together like this, now the AU Sans and Papyruses were trying to get close. Stars above have mercy on their SOULs.

An Error's Doll by EroseWisp (Teen And Up, Incomplete)

You didn’t have a bucket list or anything, but you wished you could’ve at least read a few more fanfics or done literally anything fun before dying. Oh well, at least you didn’t have to socialize- Wait. Since when did dying mean becoming a doll in an Undertale multiverse? How did this happen?? This was inspired by a ton of reborn and reincarnated as Undertale characters fanfics and some other awesome stories! The main inspiration was ‘Little Dream Doll’ by KassyxTheDumbFox on Wattpad. Beware, this story is fan fiction and is not canon, and will include ooc characters, if you don’t like that please read something else. This is my first story so there’s no guarantee I will update regularly if at all, this is mostly self-indulgent. Just learned how to do this, so if anyone's curious and wants to see the story on Wattpad, here's a link! An Error's Doll on Wattpad!

Lay It All on the Table by lulu-writes (Teen And Up, Complete)

As hilarious as Papyrus had said it would be, you're starting to realize that Sans might have been hitting on you just as much as you'd been hitting on him. All under the guise of friendship. Feeding each other food? Holding each other's hands? Embracing tenderly? That's... That's all platonic, right? You're definitely not flirting.

#that was certainly a lot #reminder for the future that if you want to recommend fics #please make sure that you properly type out the title or the author's username #i was able to find most of these pretty easily #but it makes it easier for me to find them if i know exactly what i'm searching for #fic rec #fic recommendation #ao3 fic recs #utmv #reader insert #x reader #undertale #sans undertale #ask #mod sleepy

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colourprinter · 4 months ago

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The mysterious royal scientist Gidget/The beloved superstar Gittaton

As always, lore below the read more!

*Note, this uses feminine pronouns to refer to Gidget, this is factored into the story*

The most beautiful in all the underground, publicly Gidget is a superstar, covering TVs, all over every poster and magazine. Fans gather for autographs and the waiting lists to appear on her show are years long! A bright smile a cheerful tone holds everyone's attention.

But... She is also the identity of the royal scientist, a role that is filled but no one knows by who, only that they work hard. The only person that knows that Gidget is the royal scientist is Cecil who found out by pure accident while running an errand.

As Gittaton, she looks like herself mixed with Mettaton EX with a fully robotic body. As Gidget, she has shorter hair (closer to the post act 5 cut version), high heeled feet are replaced by trainer feet and she wears a lab coat that hides her figure.

Publicly is outwardly upbeat, walking with a spring in her step and an always uplifting tone in her voice. She moves with confidence and grace, always taking time to take pictures and sign autographs. Though privately, she's a lot less cheerful, keeping to herself and throwing herself completely into her work, constantly being reminded to look after herself by Cecil.

Much like in Undertale, the true lab does exist, despite having everyone calling her beautiful, amazing, a superstar... She feels wrong, like something is missing. That doesn't be possibel, she put together her own body to be perfect, how could she not feel good about it?

So, she decides that her problem must be that her body is one of metal and not of flesh and blood and she does what she can do to make a new body. I think the details are best left to it's own post but the previous fake Iggy post shows some details after the initial experiments. One thing I will say is that what she created was not meant to think at all, just a body for her to use.

Towards Iggy, she sees him as a chance, an opportunity for many things. His appearance on her shows could boost ratings, she could use his wish to fix her or she could use his attention. Besides, to her, he's real easy on the eyes.

In the story, both sides of her are shown to Iggy, the more recluse side through the social media notifications and the superstar side through Mettaton silliness.

For the neutral/pacifist fight in the CORE, she starts in her scientist form, explaining how she feels wrong for the start. Then she suddenly closes the distance between herself and Iggy and pins him to the wall behind him. She makes an advance even she wasn't expecting, progressing the fight requires using a "Push away" act. She sees him as a coward and he doesn't deny that feeling, unlocking the yellow SOUL as Gidget transforms into her superstar form.

Lights, camera, action!

The fight goes similarly with the ratings based system for pacifist. At the end of the ratings victory, Gidget explains her desire to be more beautiful and to use the wish for it but callers pour in that care less about what she looks like and more that she's always so cheerful and personable. One final call from Cecil (or Genzou if Cecil is... Not around) to wish Gidget good luck if she gets what she wants and not to forget her friends. She finally gives up, wishing Iggy the best and letting him continue with a word of warning about the queen.

If she is fought, she will eventually sustain a critical wound across her stomach, wires falling out and sparks flying. Her eyes lose their confident light before she collapses onto the ground. While is appears that she is dead, leaving and re-entering the room will have her body disappear.

For the murder route, the fight opens the same but instead of pushing her away, Iggy attacks her causing her to go all out as much as she doesn't want to critically harm him. She puts up more of a fight than Mettaton NEO, using mechanical themed attacks that hurt very much (who wants to be hit by a sawblade?). At the end of the fight, she's sliced in half. Unlike in the neutral route, she does not disappear after leaving and returning to the room.

For the true pacifist ending, you take some data from Cecil to the lab, have an extremely awkward hangout in a place that "Cecil's brother says is private" (it's the dump still) where you get interrupted by Orlam which cares Gidget and causes her to flee. Again, true lab will be focused on later

For the design, I replaced the heart on the belt with a watch to represent her friendship with Cecil and the pink with a soft purple (her text colour in OW).

The main standout thing in that, she's not human at all here! Going from a ghost to a feminine robot to achieve her goals even though she doesn't feel great about it, she feels like she has to do it to be happy. But without someone to focus that energy into (Iggy, of course), she starts to snap about her body but that is true lab stuff (I'm building this up but it's not the biggest shock I don't think >.<)

Gonna be honest, I didn't feel good about drawing Gittaton, not used to drawing them with long hair! And look at Iggy finding the camera outside the Ruins door!

#digital art #art #fanart #our wonderland #ow: fanart #ow: gidget #ow: iggy #our underland #this is longer than the first announcement post by like 500 words #i dont feel great refering to gidget as she/her

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mayhems-cannon · 3 months ago

Note

Show us your oldest piece of art you have on hand.

What is your favourite piece that you have done?

What do you like drawing the most?

List at least one of your “artspirations.”

What do you think you could stand to improve on?

ahh!! this is gonna be a long one! aaaa

Show us your oldest piece of art you have on hand.

i have this old Papyrus drawing from a 2018 sketchbook i filled way too fast. i was really into deltarune back then, and it expanded a little to undertale as well, since there was quite a bit of overlap (obviously).

What is your favorite piece you have done?

probably this one, since i spent so much time "in the zone" doing it. it was an extreme trance, it felt so nice... i suppose it's moreso tied to what i felt drawing it than what it looks like in the end (even if it still looks pretty nice)

What do you like drawing the most?

bodies are really fun for me to draw, but i also really enjoy sketching outside, whether it be in the commute or just standing somewhere and drawing a sculpture or anything.

List at least one of your artspirations.

there's actually a ton! but i guess, here's a few that come to mind:

Francis Xie, because of fucking course (aka the guy who got me into almost everything i'm doing now, from ultrakill the game to actually drawing digitally as a whole)

Milkywaes, with her very cartoonly and self assured drawings!! her works are basically what i aspire to achieve in terms of an alternative art style, she shares it with Yoh Yoshinari as well

Kabi Nagata, for her very raw yet very simple depictions of human emotions

Shin'Ichi Sakamoto, for his eye for keen detail and chirurgical precision, and his use of metaphors for expressing sounds without onomatopeias

Ayami Kojima, for her beautiful bodies and poetic renders

Mossacannibalism, he draws very consistently and always what he wants, i aspire to his level of free spirit in what you wish to draw and in doing it without asking yourself anything else

Kim Jung Gi!!!!

Akihiko Yoshida, who inspired me to go into making art specifically for games

Alphonse Mucha, Renoir, Caillebotte, Sorolla and Claude Monet for the more classical artists

i also just try to look around and observe and assimilate things that interest me, those can come from anything, literally. juice bottle, childrens' books, a graffiti on the wall, anything can be source for study and observation in my book, but maybe i'm just being a little weird. whoops

What do you think you could stand to improve on?

i'd say faces and dynamic shots, panelling as well. faces of literally any kind, i mean. i've stopped drawing faces consistently once i got into Ultrakill and only now am i understanding both how they work and how i never actually knew how to draw faces decently. dynamic shots and panelling go more hand in hand, stuff like two characters fighting or cooler looking pieces. i think i'm not good at drawing pieces that are meant to look cool in a shounen like way, which ties into panelling as well since learning how to panel things include subjects such as fighting or action scenes, but even regular panelling i think is something i really need to work on... ah well

#asks stuff #yapyapyap #thank you for asking!!

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guns-blazing · 7 months ago

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the "did martlet use DT to become zenith?" masterpost

tl;dr: yes. this isn't even up for debate, i don't get why people doubt this, she used DT.

if i missed anything you find relevant lmk. i Will add it and Can credit you.

1. if she didn't use DT, it would either have to be integrity extract, which it can't be...

the integrity extract instantly cracked kanako's soul + kanako's soul is much stronger than martlet's = martlet would not have been standing after that injection. also "immediately going into a coma" and "becoming a superpowered beast able to withstand loads of blasts sourced straight from a human soul before melting" are two entirely different reactions to the serum, this doesn't make any sense.

not to mention, that's... not how the extract is (meant to) work (it doesn't work). ceroba was supposed to inject it into a boss monster, and then extract stuff from the boss monster, then inject said stuff into a regular monster to make them like a boss monster. so, was it the finished serum? no.

2. ...or it would have to be chujin's serum, which it can't be.

that serum doesn't exist. we know that serum doesn't exist because the person who making it is ceroba. and ceroba is trying to make it exist because it doesn't exist right now. this was the plot of the pacifist final boss. it isn't chujin's serum.

3. minor inconsistencies with the two DT-fueled monsters we see in undertale aren't enough to disprove she used DT, and aren't really that inconsistent

"it contradicts undertale's DT" is the main (and only...) evidence i see people bring up against martlet using DT. but it doesn't hold.

alphys injects fallen down monsters with DT. this strengthens them so much they come back from the brink of death, start walking around for a while, and then start melting. on the brink of death, undyne pulls herself together in a superpowered form, fueled only by determination, to stop you from wiping out everyone in the world. she starts melting to death when you bring her down to 0 hp.

martlet, doing quite fine, injects herself with DT, which strengthens herself into a superpowered form. this effect starts wearing off and she starts melting as you wear down her HP, and then her melting is rapidly accelerated at 0 HP until she turns to dust.

it isn't a perfect match for either but it's still pretty damn close. especially because we haven't actually seen a living monster get directly injected with pure DT; the amalgamates were injected while fallen down and undyne probably never got an injection. Probably.

i find zenith totally feasible with what we know of DT even if it doesn't perfectly match the two canon cases we've seen... it feels like a combination of those two.

this makes me feel like missed something, because this is the only point i've seen argued against her using DT, maybe i just dont get it? but i looked into it and can't find any reason this is contradictory. lets consider hypothetically, though. even if it is contradictory and the serum effects are a bit off compared to DT's effects... the serum being from chujin contradicts everything we know about his work and ceroba's work and a huge chunk of the ketsukane plot. comparing these two i'd pick DT any day

that was all the rebuttal evidence. now for the actual "why is this DT"

4. she uses a substance in a syringe to change her form, becomes super powerful, then starts melting

we know this stuff but LOOK. she started melting. she MELTED. i cannot stress ENOUGH how big of a sign that is for DT. absolutely nothing about the ketsukanes' work said anything about melting. you know what does? DT.

5. battle against a true hero is in retribution

probably the weakest evidence on this list, because i guess you could claim it's because they both melt to death at the end. but i find this doubles as pretty good evidence martlet used determination because her song uses a motif from undyne the undying's song who we know fought with determination.

her unused vengeance theme, final stand, also has a motif directly from "determination" which cant be used as real evidence because it's unused but 1. its a little interesting they used determination and 2. honestly im just including this so more people hear final stand

but throw the rest of this post away. because, most importantly...

6. what was the point of this cutscene

seriously explain why a cutscene showing martlet breaking into the true lab where the DT experiments are was important enough to interrupt her fight with if she didn't use DT. literally this cutscene is meant to prove she used DT. it makes zero sense for this not to be about the DT. why else would this be here. what else would she do there. she. stole. determination.

edit 7. can't believe i forgot this

Yeah um i dont actually know whats up with this. shes very clearly fine and not fallen down in this. "fallen down" means in a coma, and shes not in a coma now, and at the end of the fight she isnt in a coma either (she melts (again, something that we've only ever seen with DT)), but her flavor text and check text both say fallen down, so clearly that's extra significant here.

it could be... alphys injected DT into fallen down monsters, so this is like... paralleling... or maybe she's on deaths door... I DONT KNOW. but we've seen what happened when kanako fell down- she fell unconscious and wouldn't wake up. this isn't at all what happens to martlet. and this doesn't happen to her because she didnt get injected with integrity serum.

#uty #uty spoilers #cerulean post #undertale yellow #martlet uty #uty martlet

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saucy-mesothelioma · 1 year ago

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Meso's Mixtapes: Handplates Gaster

In honor of the Handplates comic by @zarla-s finally coming to an end, I decided to finally get back to work on my Mixtapes and do one for their interpretation of W.D. Gaster as a sort of thank you. But before I do, I want to talk for a moment about what this comic has meant to me. I was around 12 or so when I first got into Undertale. I was a pretty sheltered kid and wasn't really allowed to play video games, so I watched playthroughs and listened to the ost all from YouTube. And it was through this that I came across the dubbed version of the comic. I was instantly captivated by the acting and the editing, but the thing that pulled me in the most was the emotion behind the storytelling. Even when I was younger, I had no interest in any sort of AUs, but this one not only caught my attention, but held it in a vice. I binged the entirety of what was available of the comic on YouTube twice, and didn't tire of it one bit. But of course, as the years went by and my interest in Undertale faded, I stopped watching. It wasn't until a few months ago while scrolling through Tumblr that I found the comic again and that it was still being updated. So I picked up the comic right from the beginning and read it all. And to my surprise, it was just as incredible as when I read it all those years ago. To this day, Handplates has been the only AU out of really any media that I enjoy, and I'm not even the biggest fan of Undertale anymore. The fact that an AU has captured my attention longer than the base game itself really speaks to how well written this comic is. I would (and have) genuinely suggest it to people who aren't even into Undertale, specifically for how this comic is written. Unfortunately, I was unable to interact with the community due to no access to social media as well as rediscovering the comic so late, but I've fully enjoyed looking through the archives and reading all the asks, extra comics, and posts about it; it really made me feel like a part of the community after all. I don't know what Zarla has planned for the future, but whether it be little one-off Handplates comics, other Undertale stories, or even a bigger project in something else entirely, I will be eagerly tuning in. This comic has meant a lot to me, and I couldn't be more thankful. Now, without further ado, the playlist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Villain by Stella Jang (There are a few different ways you could interpret this song, but for the sake of this mixtape, I see it as the idea of "you can be doing something good, but doing something evil to achieve it still makes you the villain". As the song says, there are many shades of grey; "the person I love the most could be a dog to somebody else" and "the person you hate the most is somebody's beloved child" perfectly explain this. It's the basis of "the ends don't justify the means", which is the exact opposite of the ideology Gaster follows over the course of the comic. Although he does this for the better of monster society, he is still aware of the fact that what he is doing is deplorable; that's part of what makes him such an interesting character to examine.) Rule #27 - Drunk on Pride by Fish in a Birdcage Dying Day by Landlady Dentist! by Alan Menken (I had to include this after Zarla mentioned it in a post a while back, and I gotta say it really does fit in a hilarious way) Wernher Von Braun by Tom Lehrer (I debated on whether or not put this one on the list, but in my opinion the line "'Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department!' says Wernher von Braun" does sound like something he would say; sort of that mentality of "Hey, I did my job. That's not my problem." he showed during scene where the worker was requesting that handrails be added to the CORE. Plus it's Tom Lehrer.) Priest by William Crighton My Friends by Steven Sondheim (The only reason I included this song was because my headcanon voice for Gaster is Len Cariou. Although I will say that my friend also suggested Sam Neill specifically because of the scenes in Jurassic Park where Alan meets Tim and Lex and when he explains how the raptors hunted to that kid at the dig site since they both seem like something he'd do and I stand by that assessment 1000%. Both of those are perfect to me.)

Dead Man's Party by Oingo Boingo Euthanasia by Will Wood Alles im Griff (auf dem sinkenden schiff) by Udo Jürgens ("Ich hab alles im griff auf dem sinkenden schiff" loosely translates to "I have everything under control on the sinking ship", and the song is basically about all of these bad things happening to the narrator, and the narrator just bottling it all up and saying "This is fine. I'm totally fine." If that doesn't describe Gaster, then I don't know what does.) Zombie by The Cranberries (Considering what the song is about, I felt like it would also stand as a good representation for the hardships and trauma war can leave . And yes, I know that's not the main theme of the comic, but to me at least, that theme was crucial for how some of the characters developed. Not just Gaster, but Toriel and Asgore too.) Everything You Ever by Joss Whedon Total Recall by pragmaticNihilist (Ok, so this one needs a bit of explaining more so than the others. This song is one of the themes for the character Secily Iopara from the game Snowbound Blood, which is technically a sort of prequel/spinoff from the webcomic Vast Error. At least in my opinion, Gaster and Secily share several defining traits: both are easily consumed by work to the point where it takes a toll on their social life as well as their mental health, they push away the people that care about them in order to make things easier for themselves, they both basically devoted their entire meaning to one person [Asgore and Ahlina respectively], and their life's work was their downfall. I just thought it was really interesting how two characters from completely different stories manage to share so much, and how one was able to succeed in fields where the other character failed. Things like this in media have always been something I've enjoyed, so I felt compelled to include it.) Venetian Blind Man by Will Wood Arsonist's Lullabye by Hozier Good Old Days by Weird Al (I'm sorry but I couldn't resist adding this one. It was way too funny to not. I am so, so sorry. This is the last "not really serious one" I swear.) I'm Not Supposed to Care by Gordon Lightfoot (First off, the opening line is already perfect, but I can definitely see this song as the sort of the encompassing theme for the final pages of the comic when they're on the surface. The people who were Gaster's family have no idea who he is or how much they mean to him, yet he's still more than willing to devote himself to them and their happiness, which we see mainly with him and Asgore. My interpretation of Gaster's interactions with them are perfectly summed up by this song: He feels like he shouldn't care as much as he does because they're no longer who he knew, but he can't help it. They no longer love him, but he still loves them and will do whatever he can to make sure they're happy, even at his own expense [both before falling into the CORE and after]. Gaster sums up the basis of his own mentality perfectly: "As long as you will have me, I will stay.")

#I think this is probably my longest mixtape #but it's also one of my favorites #I hate that it got out so late but I've been dealing with some life problems recently and it was tough getting the energy to finish this #but I finally got it together enough to complete my notes on it #this comic was so worth it though #it really is one of my top favorite comics #thanks for everything Zarla #it was a fantastic journey #please go give this comic a read even if you're not a fan of Undertale #it's more than worth it #meso's mixtapes #gaster #handplates #playlist #long post

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rubydracogirl · 1 year ago

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Hello and welcome to my blog!

I guess I should start by saying that this place is a mess. I hardly ever tag stuff, and when I do, it's usually me rambling or gushing. I reblog literally anything that catches my eye or makes me laugh, so if you follow me, you can expect an absolute hodge-podge of stuff, including adult-themed, NSFW posts. THAT BEING SAID I'm an adult, 30+ years old, and I do not feel comfortable interacting with minors. If you are a minor, please respect my boundaries and leave. If you do not, I'll block you. ~concerning commissions~ I will open 5 slots every year. There's more information and my TOS in the link above. Concerning my fanworks: My fanfictions are a hobby, and I work on them when and if I have time + energy. I'll post a list below the cut if you're interested. Also, I draw sometimes, mostly Sans, (and Ford Pines) unfortunately XD Please mind the tags if you choose to browse my works, most of what I write is explicit and can get quite dark.

Current ongoing fics: UNDERTALE/DELTARUNE Adventures In Temmie-Sitting: Underswap romcom. Multiple OcXCanon pairings. My most self-indulgent story.

The Rainbone- Zone: Ongoing porn with plot involving Ink!Sans, a female reader-insert, and Error!Sans.

Skittle Friend-zone: Prequel to The Rainbone-Zone

Rainbone-Zone Shorts: Intermediate short stories that take place in The Rainbone-Zone.

Slave To The Fallen Stars: The Star Sanses become corrupted in their pursuit of you... Trust no one.

Static Malevolence: Nightmare and Error have a problem... it's you, you dirty hacker. (There's a lot of mindlessly indulgent porn in this one)

The Parasite Files: Something strange happens when Sans takes you dimension hopping. His memories are foggy... it's probably fine. (This one's an erotic horror, please mind the tags.)

Kinktober 2022- The Dumpster-Fire Edition: Just what it says. Kinktober, so, lots and lots of skeleton/monster smut. MIND THE TAGS.

Your Boyfriend In Darkness- A yOur bOyfriend smut series: A collection of explicit smutty one-shots involving Reader and the yandere-golfball head, Your Boyfriend.

Gravity Falls

One More Chance: You think your life is about to end. Fate has other plans for you... or something like that. NSFW. Tags will be updated.

Finished/One-shots/Commissioned Stories

Gravity Falls

Just A Hug: A short SFW one-shot. Stanley PinesXReader

False Hope: A short SFW one-shot. Ford PinesXReader

Blind Date: A SFW one-shot. Ford PinesXReader

The Scenic Route: A short SFW one-shot. Stanley PinesXReader

Pent Up: A NSFW One-shot. Ford PinesXReader

Undertale/Deltarune fics

A Rivalry Is Just A Slippery Slope To Obsession- Commissioned work. Explicit one-shot.

Meant to Be~: Commissioned work. NSFW.

Crimson Anxiety: Commissioned work. NSFW.

Lolo At Fault: Commissioned work. NSFW.

Tangled With The Dark: Commissioned work. NSFW.

No Strings Attached: One-shot. SFW.

Content Creator-less: One-shot. NSFW.

Kinktober 2020-Disaster edition: Completed. NSFW

Glass Heart: Completed. NSFW.

Dream Catches, Nightmare Snares: Commissioned work. NSFW.

Photographs and Memories: Commissioned work. SFW.

My Heart On A Life Line: Completed. NSFW.

Stars In Your Eyes: One-shot. SFW

How to Tame Your Human: One-shot. NSFW.

Since When Were You The One In Control?: One-shot. NSFW.

Kinktober-2019: Completed. NSFW.

Lucid Dreamer's Dilemma: Completed. NSFW.

Royal Cream Pie: One-shot. NSFW.

Royal Bones: One-shot. NSFW.

Riding The Edge: One-shot. NSFW.

Just A Box Of Rain: One-shot. SFW.

Spooky Month

Magically Delicious: One-shot. NSFW

Your Boyfriend/Raft/Angry Boy Pedro

Possession: One-shot. NSFW.

FNAF: Security Breach

Until Death~ One-shot. NSFW.

My Hero Academia

Attention, Everyone: Commissioned work. NSFW.

#Masterlist #Hopefully all the links work #This is an 18+ blog #MDNI #Lord this took forever #Updated with Gravity Falls stories

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encodedkismet · 7 months ago

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~||✨💎 pinned!! 💎✨||~

~🌟 about! 🌟~

✨ Nyx/Kismet ~ he/it/✨ | "default" fronter/front-sticky | nonbinary lesbian | parasian subsystem!

✨ Neon/Shadow ~ he/they | resident buzzkill (affectionate) | aivotgender sysian

✨ Comet/Sonic ~ he/they | resident sillyguy freak (affectionate) | queer

[ and others we haven't listed here for personal reasons! ]

we're bodily 22, and we like to draw, write, and do other sorts of art, but we don't currently post it publicly. we run an all-ages Sonic server we may promo again soon... if you wanna join in the meantime, feel free to shoot us an ask!

~🌟 interests! 🌟~

we are currently REALLY BIG on.....

- Sonic the Hedgehog

- Homestuck/Hiveswap

- Red Vox

additionally, we like Undertale/Deltarune, House of Leaves, Fullmetal Alchemist, Steven Universe, Portal, Infinity Train, MOTHER series, astrology, and a bunch of other smaller interests!

~ 🌟 BYF 🌟 ~

we won't publicly share some opinions for the sake of safety. if we don't answer your ask, or reblog your post, etc, that's our business

we actively fucking hate fandom purity culture and will often reblog (or write) posts speaking out against this, offering information, etc. we don't really discourse about it, these reblogs are usually meant to scare off anyone who disagrees. we don't care if you identify as proship or anti or neutral etc as long as you're a decent human being who just blocks and moves on when you see something fictional that you think is nasty, rather than pitching a fit about it or god forbid harassing the person. if this makes you angry then just block us, don't go throwing a tantrum about how awful you think we are.

we don't tag shit sorry. if you're a mutual and want us to tag something for you, we will gladly do so, just shoot us a message/ask! but otherwise, we USUALLY tag original posts as whoever wrote it, we USUALLY tag spoilers, and we heavily tag art/server posts to promo it. also, we don't generally reblog anything relevant to real-life tragedy

we won't check your DNI or whatever the fuck unless we want to follow you or send you an ask. if you don't want us to interact then block us yourself

we block liberally, if you fail the vibe check then sorry bud. it usually isn't personal, we're just out of patience

if you're one of the group that we left December 2023/February 2024, don't interact. this is our one hard DNI. if you interact then we are going to make it a bigger problem than you mean for it to be. go away. you can read our fic or whatever i genuinely don't care just leave us alone.

#💎✨nyx

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discordantwritings · 7 months ago

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List 5 topics you can talk on for an hour without preparing any material.

Ty for the tag here @hey-august

Now I have. So many topics I could talk about for an hour like I am always just a small push away from infodumping so I’m going fairly specific with this list just to be fun and quirky I guess.

Motherhood is actually the main theme of Neon Genesis Evangelion- no but really but seriously I’ll die on this hill. Yes depression yes anxiety yes mental illness but the main central theme of NGE is motherhood and no one talks about it. It’s not subtle! The second it clicks it’s clear. I can’t get started too much on this because I’ll actually go on for too long but I think motherhood is a theme that is not superficial and central to the concepts and emotions of the show AND NO ONE TALKS ABOUT IT. There are hundreds of video essays on YouTube about depression and NGE. But god forbid anime fans talk about women beyond which waifu is best.

I have a PowerPoint presentation ready and everything.

Magic the Gathering Elf Decks- I play a lot of Magic the Gathering because I am a big old loser. And I play variations on one deck. Elves. It’s not particularly good, certainly not meta, but I love them with all my heart. I can talk about which elves are best, I can talk about lines of play, I can probably just talk about what opening hands to keep or mulligan for an hour. I’ve spent like 7 years of my life playing variations on the same deck. I have issues.

Pokémon Nuzlocking- I love Pokémon in general but a sub community I adore is the nuzlocke community. For those unaware a nuzlocke is a set of self imposed rules on a run of a Pokémon game meant to make the game harder. The base rules are always: You can only catch the first Pokémon you encounter on each route, if a Pokémon faints it is considered dead and you must permanently box or release it, and you must nickname all your Pokémon. The last rule is just so you get attached to your Pokémon more. There are so many good comics and YouTube videos/ series on nuzlockes and I love the ways people make Pokémon new and fun.

Dungeons and Dragons- Ok I can’t choose something specific with this one because I just love all of D&D. I play arguably too much, like 2-3 campaigns at once too much, but like. It’s my entire social life so it’s fine. I think about my characters so much, I love every aspect of it. I also make dice for D&D and other TTRPGs. Talk to me about your D&D characters. Let me talk to you about mine. I’m not normal about this.

Bioshock and the Popularization of Choice in Video Games- aka Bioshock walked so Undertale could run. While Bioshock’s narrative choices are far less detailed and impactful than what we have today Bioshock was the first AAA game to do it and do it well. Choice was not a superficial thing, choice was a huge theme of the game and having something that you did matter was huge in the story. Bioshock proving it could be done, that people love it, and showing how it should be done let us have games like Undertale.

#discordant rambles #tag game

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pluto-is-a-planettt · 9 months ago

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Yo!

I follow from @a-girl-and-her-robo-dog!!

This is long, you have been warned.

Hi. I'm Pluto (but you can call me anything as long as it's space themed lol), I use any pronouns as I'm not putting my actual ones on the internet. Use anything, be creative. I'm Ace, probably Aro as well, but I do make some suggestive jokes. Some of the stuff I reblog on here includes gore so just a warning for that.

I am an adult so if that makes you uncomfortable feel free to not interact, I won't take offense.

My interests: I tend to have a main hyperfixation, a couple mini hyperfixations, and a bunch of things I'll always be interested in talking about.

I am a multi-shipper and don't really have any opinions on any ships unless it's, like, gross. I do tend to like the found family dynamic more than shipping tho, so anything I write is usually more platonic.

Current Hyperfixation: Uhhhh it's a tie between silly train guys and silly time traveling alien

Mini Hyperfixations: Invader Zim, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Minecraft, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

Other Stuff: Gravity Falls, FNAF, Cryptids and anything supernatural, Undertale, re-watching Rainbow Brite, Horror Movies, HTTYD, Studio Gibli movies, Marvel (up til Endgame), MLP

I have never read Homestuck.

Favorite colors: Maroon, Pinks and Reds, Blue-Violet

Favorite movie: Better off Dead and Castle in the Sky

Favorite food: Mac & Cheese

Favorite Pokemon: Chandelure, Diancie, Gengar, Jirachi, Wishiwashi

Favorite Pokemon Characters: EMMET, Ingo, Cyrus,

I have way too many Rotomblr accounts, here's proof (the stars are for ones I'm most active on):

@i-am-emmet-real - Emmet blog⭐

@iam-emmet - shitpost Emmet blog⭐

@team-apostasy-official - definitely not Emmet blog⭐

@tplasma-shadow - absolutely just an average plasma grunt I swear

@a-girl-and-her-robo-dog - Juliana blog (main)

@i-dont-have-the-spoons - Kadabra Sleebie⭐

@the-ghost-of-futures-past - Ghastly Sleebie⭐

@briar-bbacadamy-official - Briar blog

@i-am-better-than-you - Melli blog

@porygon-conspiricy-corner - Rotomblr conspiracy blog

@goindownswingin - BBA OC blog

@heyitswarmrun - it's Warmrun

Other blogs I run:

@pokegirl-tournament - what it says on the cover

@rp-asks-and-stuff - Rotomblr resource blog

I do in fact have a problem.

So my DNI list... Listen I don't give a fuck about your political views. I'll block you if you're a bitch. Just be nice to people, okay? (AND I DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT PROSHIP BUT JUST KEEP IT OFF MY BLOG PLEASE)

One other thing: I have, like, the worst social anxiety known to man. Please please please if I say something wrong tell me. Nothing I say is ever meant to come out mean or rude. I tend to be shitty when it comes to social cues and over text is even harder so if I annoy you, I beg of you, tell me.

I think that's it :3

#pinned post #Hi!

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miles-edgewords · 11 months ago

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ABOUT ME

AKA Actual Introduction Post Because It Just Came To My Attention That I Never Actually Made One

art/writing account: @pebblepoet

original (non-repost) post tag: #milesrambles

i’m an adult; i don’t post anything over PG-13 on this blog but i know some people prefer to be aware. <3

Fandoms

(Except they get increasingly more… not)

- Gravity Falls

- Hades

- Carmen Sandiego

- Ace Attorney

- Trigun Stampede

- Over the Garden Wall

- Dimension 20: Fantasy High

- Promare

- MCD (i currently have the tag blocked tho bc i haven’t finished it yet)

- Undertale (I got into it very late 😔)

- Sally Face

- Lackadaisy

- Nimona

- Minecraft Story Mode (cringe is dead fight me)

- Dan and Phil (again cringe is dead but also please respect people’s boundaries, if you’re publicly posting creepy/invasive stuff I will block you. This isn’t directed at anyone specifically but I feel like I need to say it upfront because uh. some of y’all scare me)

- Markiplier (i wasn’t there for unus annus so i’m making up for it by binging all of his videos /hj)

- Cinema Therapy (do they have a fandom? I hope so)

- Danganronpa V1 and V2 but less plot and more “i stole these characters they’re mine now”

- Groundhog Day (the musical specifically)

- Sneakers (remember that nerd movie from 1992? no? well too bad I’m telling you about it anyway)

- Wargames (you know how the people who made the previously-mentioned nerd movie made a different movie 10 years earlier called wargames which ultimately inspired the creators to take an interest in whitehat hackers which eventually resulted in the creation of sneakers? no? well too bad, you know the drill)

- The True Meaning of Smekday (THE ANIMATED MOVIE DOES NOT DO IT JUSTICE I WILL PERISH ON THIS HILL)

- The Lifeline Games but specifically the Taylor ones

- Brennan Lee Mulligan (just. In general)

- Whatever it’s called when you have not consumed a single piece of media from a fandom but you know more about it than some of the fans because you have a friend who’s really into it and you like listening to their opinions/theories. (ie. I have watched playthroughs of Poppy Playtime and FNAF and I have enjoyed them by proxy)

Theatre

Roles I’ve played & other stuff I’ve done in theatre (not counting anything I did in school because there would be way too many well-technically’s):

- Karnak / SABM art lead (Ride the Cyclone, Stone Soup Theatre Co.)

- Hanz* / Sailor (Cabaret, Stone Soup Theatre Co.)

- Lead puppet designer / puppet constructor / Pig 1 / Milky White Titty Committee** (Into the Woods, Stone Soup Theatre Co.

- Part of Christmas Future / Man 1 / Marley’s makeup, hair, and OHGODTHESECHAINSARE70POUNDSIMACTUALLYGONNADIEFORREAL manager (A Christmas Carol, Center Theatre Co.)

- Shakespeare’s Valet (Something Rotten! Stone Soup Theatre Co.)

*This was one of my favorite roles to play and I still don’t know if it’s meant to be spelled with a “z” or if our director just made a typo. Hans? Hanz? Hanzsz?

**Milky White’s udders kept falling off. It was a Whole Thing.

Hobbies

As an aspiring jack of all trades, I have a running list of hobbies which range from “I’m really bad at this but I have tried it and am familiar with it” to “I am Really Good at this Thing”. Here are all of those, in no particular order (to avoid personal bias, I will not be ranking which of these I’m best at. Feel free to guess though! I’m also happy to elaborate on any of them— I just don’t generally know how skilled I am in a broad sense.)

- Poetry

- Fanfiction

- Novel-writing

- Other writing-related activities

- Puzzles (the kind that look like this 🧩)

- Puzzles (the kind that look like this 📝🔍🔐)

- Lock-picking

- Digital art

- 2D & 3D animation

- Traditional art (I like markers and pens a lot)

- D&D

- Painting D&D miniatures

- Violin

- Piano

- Singing

- Acting

- Guitar (and related instruments)

- Pennywhistle

- Origami

- Cross-stitch

- Comic writing/illustration

- Journaling

- Gaming

- Listening to Every Genre of Music Ever

- Attempting to take care of houseplants

- Space/astronomy

TO REITERATE, BECAUSE IT TOOK ME FOREVER TO GET THIS THROUGH MY HEAD. I AM NOT “GOOD” AT ALL OF THESE THINGS THEY ARE JUST THINGS I DO AND THAT IS NORMAL AND OKAY. HOBBIES DO NOT HAVE TO BE MONETIZABLE IN ORDER TO BE HOBBIES. IN FACT THAT’S LIKE THE SELLING POINT OF HOBBIES. I’M SORRY I DID NOT MEAN TO YELL THIS MUCH.

So uh

Yeah that’s me

Thank you for reading I will be updating this probably more often than I should

#intro post #introduction #blog intro #introductory post #pinned intro #milesrambles

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mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune · 2 years ago

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Now I Want To Ship TFA-Shockwave x Pearl From Steven Universe...

[Note: Do Not Reblog Without Permission.]

yeah after seeing a fan art of the Hazformers version of Shockwave (which I love Blitzy-Blitzwing’s Hazformers and their fan fic.)

but anyway thanks to what Shockwave says in the drawing, I kind of want to ship TFA-Shockwave with Pearl from Steven Universe....

note to self, after watching Tenchi Universe, and playing Undertale & Deltarune, I am going to draw a Crossover ship drawing of TFA-Shockwave x SU-Pearl.

I know in canon never meant, but I don’t care, I ship it. XD

not everyone has to ship them, but I’m going to.

it can be romantic or platonic, of course if it is platonic it would be friend zone.

and yes I like that song ”I Ship It.” by Not Literally Production.

it’s just something that Shockwave says in the drawing, that reminds me of Pearl, and now I want to ship them....I’m weird and this is going to be me weird shipping, I don’t care, I ship it! XD

ShockPearl or Pearlwave, I’m going to ship them and I now plan to draw a ship drawing of them later after watching Tenchi Universe, and after playing Undertale & Deltarune....and I might watch a movie as well.

I do have other drawing plans on my to do list of course, like one drawing request.

I am still going to view Chaz from Helluva Boss as a “Tuna-Himbo” because well that nickname pop into my head when watching that episode with him in it, which of course is for mature audiences and is NOT for kids....

and parents need to have some sense to know that not all cartoons or movies or video games or books, will be for kids, and will be for those who are old enough and mature enough to view them.

so I know it was wrong for my Mom to let me watch a certain movie, that was for a mature audience, I guess she might of had to cover my eyes in some parts of it.....but I know I was no where near being a teenager or even close to it, to see that movie....so yeah, even if we might end up early exposed to mature stuff, but hopefully not the super mature kind....it does give one a life lesson.

that parents blaming the mature stuff that isn’t for kids, and how they should make sure to say “No” and tell them they have to wait until the proper age to view it, instead of doing that whole “Sure” and then end up regretting it and then end up doing that scapegoating bull...at least some parents have more sense than to do that scapegoating bull, and know to make sure to keep their kids from mature content until they are the proper age to view it.

anyway I did like the new episode of Helluva Boss, and it was a good thing that it had some censoring, I am still not going to talk too much about what goes on in that episode, and it’s best to wait a bit more before talking about the stuff that went on in that episode.......but I’m still going to call Chaz a Tuna-Himbo.

maybe I would try Crossover ship Chaz with Jasper from Steven Universe....

or maybe him with Niffty from Hazbin Hotel, oh, that would be fun. XD

so anyway it’s either Crossover ship Chaz with Jasper or Niffty...

I can decide later, maybe tomorrow....

anyway I am still going to draw a Crossover ship drawing of Shockwave and Pearl, and well the idea of wanting to ship them was inspired by a drawing I saw.....which of course was of Shockwave, the Hazformers version of him.

but first things first, watch Tenchi Universe, play video games and maybe watch a movie, then it is down to the whole drawing a crossover drawing of Shockwave x Pearl.

if those two got married, would that make Shockwave the Step-Dad of Steven...?

I mean Pearl can be viewed as Steven’s Mom, even if she wasn’t the one who brought him into the world, but some fans will still view her as his Real Mom, even if they aren’t biologically related.

well I did do a crossover ship between Amethyst from Steven Universe

and TFA-Perceptor, yeah it might be weird to ship those two, but I couldn’t help but like the idea of drawing a ship between those two, and well I am pretty sure it was only two ship drawings of them being together so far, and they are suppose to be married to each other in those crossover ships.

anyway I am inspired to want to crossover ship Shockwave x Pearl....

and I will get to work on that drawing, right after watching Tenchi Universe, then after that playing video games and I might watch a movie next after that.

and then I will work on the Crossover ship drawing of Shockwave x Pearl. :D

#shockwave tfa #pearl su #crossover ship #steven universe #transformers animated #my otp for life #one true pairing #I'm weird #mature audiences only #not for kids #chaz helluva boss #niffty hazbin hotel #jasper steven universe #perceptor tfa #amethyst su #do not reblog without permission

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the-s1lly-corner · 2 years ago

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Hello hello!! Welcome to my writing corner!

Im not too sure what to put here, since it's been so so so long since I've done something like this so please bare with me!

I figured that since this will be mostly self indulgent stuff, if I ever happen to have requests open, I may as well have general rules and stuff listed out for everyone! With that said;

Rules for requests

You can request multiple characters, but please note that the length of each part may suffer! This is by no means meant to discourage you from requesting multiple characters, it's just a fair warning since I'm not the best writer!

You can request just about anything so long as it doesn't fall under any basic no-no criteria! Only other exception is if it's on a topic I'm not too well versed on <\3 I don't want it to come off as me enforcing a sterotype or getting things wrong or just geing plain insensitive without meaning to

You can be as detailed with your request as you want!

Please do not spam me! I will try my best to create your request in a timely manner!

I have the right to deny any request if it makes me uncomfortable!

What I will write;

Fluff! Comfort! (Albeit not good) angst! Headcannons! Short one shots!

Really I'm open to just about anything but I will communicate if something makes me uncomfortable/if I feel I'm not qualified to speak of a topic

What I won't write;

NSFW!! The admin may be 18, but he does not feel comfortable writing NSFW content, nor does he feel confident in being able to properly filter it away from minors without making a new blog (I am still new to tumblr)

Basic no-go writing criteria (r!pe, inc3st, ectect)

I will not write any romantic things with underage characters! I have aus where ages are different but I still ain't gonna do that <\3 (I am, however, fully comfortable doing platonic hcs, or just general hcs)

I feel it would be dumb to make a list for specific characters I will never ever write for, but since my fandom list is so vast it'd just be so much <\3 if you happen to request a characters I'm uncomfy with writing for I'll let you know!! It's nothing against you!!

Fandoms I will write for

This will change and be edited over time

^Creepypasta* (Brian and Tim will be included, although they are Marble Hornets)

^Slashers*

Fran Bow

Little Misfortune

Cuphead*

The Owl House

Undertale*

Deltarune*

* I'm still new to the slasher fandom, I'm mostly into the Friday and Halloween series' right now, so I don't know too much about the other characters! I am working on trying to fix that though!

As for undertale and deltarune, I need to replay both the games to refresh my brain on different characters!

For cuphead the personalities will mostly be based off the show

And for creepypasta, you know how I brought up aus earlier? This is what it mostly applies to!! So for a lot of CRP stuff I'll be using my own takes and headcannons for the characters in my au! Who knows, maybe one day I'll actually make a whole thing about the au itself in general!

The ^ on the top two fandoms means they're my current fixations!! So!! Haha

You guys

Totally shouldn't look extra hard at those

Extra notes

Im on mobile so grammar and typing mistakes are inevitable; and as stated I'm not the best writer, and I'm only just now coming back to the hobby!! Please be patient with me! I also run an art account here, and on different platforms so I may not always be available <\3

Aaaand!! You can refer to my bio to see if requests are open or not!

I think that's about all I have to say!

#writing #oc x canon #self insert #creepypasta #cuphead #slasher #undertale #deltarune #creepypasta x reader #creepypasta x you #slasher x reader #slasher x you #idk how to tag

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why-rock-look-tasty-if-no-eat · 6 months ago

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6: Ao3 is a nonprofit. If there's someone selling any fic on there don't interact with them because they're actively harming the fanfic community and culture.

7: Ao3 very much has it's own culture. Authors generally like a reader points out bad grammar so that they can fix it, but keep in mind that if you're being rude for no reason we'll dunk on you so hard you'd think that you're a basketball. While there's a language selector, it's common to have the fic get translated so you can still read it in your chosen language. If there's a comment in a different language that's why, and it's seen as thoughtful to reply back in the same language but you don't need to. Even if you used Google Translate (GT is best used for small phrases or sentences).

8: If you want to give more kudos but don't want to write out actual words in the comments it's appropriate and completely okay to give several heart emojis (if you're on computer, you can get the emojis by opening google docs and typing in ':' then write 'heart' and you'll see the selection) or comment the photo below.

8: Authors can see your bookmarks of their works, and there has been problems where people bash the authors through them. Please follow the don't like don't read policy.

9: Ao3 lets you download fics in several formats. EPUB can be used with GoogleBooks and is best for mobile, but PDF is better for computers in my experience. It works as a regular download, it's not like Spotify. You get to actually use the media that you downloaded (and don't even have to pay for).

10: The site doesn't have ads :D

11: If you're an author, the Ao3 curse is very much real and it's alright to put it in the notes. It's a dark humor kind of thing at the worst, but it's definitely something that all of us laugh at (angstpilled comfortmaxxer)

12: You can also change the skin of the site! If you have an account, you need to go into the dropdown by your name then select 'Preferences'. In the third box there will be the skin selector. Reversi is the dark mode but there are plenty of other public skins that you can choose from. If you want a quick look at the skins you can click the 'Public Skins' button that will take you to a viewing of them.

13: I don't know how long the waiting list is now for getting an account, but it generally takes three days iirc but you can also get approved for an account within a day if the waiting list is short enough. You don't need an account, but it makes keeping track of the fics you've read so much easier. Not to mention that you get to read to locked fics.

14: Speaking of locked fics: you don't see them all that often but they are there. They're usually reserved for fics that authors feel aren't meant for the general public. Like, 'holy shit what in the ever loving fuck is this how are you not in a psych ward' kind of works. Or they're locked because the authors wanted them to be, idk.

15: You clicked on a fic and it gave a warning? You can disable it, but it's also something that acts a final defense against something that might upset you that you didn't catch the first time around. To disable that go into your preferences again and look at the second box.

16: As for the yearly donations, you don't have to donate if you don't want to. The goal usually gets reached within the first 12 hours so don't feel guilty about not donating.

17: Also, friendly reminder! The people who run Ao3 do it as a hobby and they don't get paid for this! Remember those attacks that has happened? Yeah. They're our site owners/managers and we won't tolerate anyone picking fights with them. They spend their free time looking over us and making sure the site is running correctly and smoothly so if you see a wild owner/manager please thank them. They do so much unseen work for us.

18: Coming back to the cyber attacks, Ao3 has accounts on multiple sites. You can find them on here, and they give updates on any situations that are happening. Tumblr is usually where we go to cry when the site is down and usually has the best community outreach.

19: You can skip this if you're not an author or curious about the background action. Since Ao3 is heavy on the programming when it comes to works, you're going to learn at least some basic things about HTML. There's quite a few works out that will help you with how to put in specific items. Fake phone conversations, word links, images, page dividers, fake media and such. I'll put a good collection below.

20: Emails! You can pick and choose which emails you get by once again going to your preferences, then scrolling down to the 'Comments' and the box below it. Really helpful if you're an author because your inbox fills up surprisingly quickly if you don't keep an eye on it.

21: It was touched on before, but please use the appropriate tags. The wider range of users aren't going to cater to your caramelized ideas of how tags are used. It's fine if that's how the characters talk in the fic, but please use the appropriate tags otherwise someone who doesn't want to see that kind of fic might click on yours by mistake. You're going to have go outside your comfort box a little bit so that you can help those who are vulnerable. The tags are for the readers, not for you.

22: While the tags are there for the readers to see if they're comfortable with your fic, that doesn't mean you can't fool around with the tags. It's perfectly alright to put in little funny blurbs in them, and there's many a tag that's lingo on the site as a warning.

23: Speaking of Ao3 lingo, please use them correctly and don't try to change them. They're like that for a reason and if you change them then it's just going to muddle it. Some tags, like 'no beta we die like [insert character name]' are alright to change a little because it has a parent tag and everyone knows what it means.

24: Dead Dove: Do Not Eat is one tag that must not be changed or forgotten. It's there for a very good reason. It's a giant neon sign playing an anatomically correct T-Rex vocals of a tag that warns readers that the fic is going to be particularly upsetting past the tags and warnings that Ao3 already has for a reason.

25: Here be Dragons is a cousin to Dead Dove: Do Not Eat. This tag isn't used all that much but it's still widely known within the community. Instead of upsetting it's more of a . . . warning that it's going to be sad. Like, extremely sad. D: It's named after SCP 1762 for a reason.

26: Fics that censor curse words may actually be more off putting than having curse words front and center but will absolutely still be read. It's more of an eyebrow raise and a 'huh. interesting choice but pop off' kind of off putting. This site is pretty much a free for all so language isn't prohibited, so don't be afraid to use as foul of language as you want in your fics. It's also perfectly alright to censor yourself if you're not personally alright with cursing, because language isn't prohibited.

27: Authors generally hold their fics close to their heart, I personally view mine as my baby because I spend so much time thinking and caring about them. Trust us when we say that your kudos and comments mean a lot because we put a lot of unseen effort into making that fic into reality.

28: This might seem like a lot to remember, but a lot of people on Ao3 will be glad to help you out! We love it when people interact with each other and ask questions about our fic! The most important rule is to have fun reading, and share the love of the fic 💙

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Alright, to ao3's soon to be arriving Wattpad Refugees, a basic guide to general user culture:

1.) Unlike Wattpads vote system that let's you like each chapter, the ao3 equivalent kudos only allows one per work. Everyone is generally quietly annoyed about this. To engage with each chapter, you're heavily encouraged to comment. Trust me, it makes people's day.

2.) Ao3 has no algorithm. By default it's latest updated work first. You can find things to your taste through searches, filters and tags.

3.) 'No archive warnings apply' and 'user has chosen not to use archive warnings' mean two very different things. No archives warnings means the work is free from any content that could require a warning tag (character death, graphic depictions of violence, non-con, etc). User has chosen not to use archive warnings means it could contain any of the warning content, be it hasn't been explicitly tagged. Treat it like an allergen. No archive warnings apply is allergen free. User has chosen not to use archive warnings, may contain traces or whole chunks of the allergen. If you're likely to have a bad reaction, maybe don't take the risk.

4.) Speaking of warnings, ao3 has very few restrictions on the type of work that's allowed. Whatever your personal thoughts or feelings on that are, thats how the site is. You're likely to run across some dark subject matters and a lot of people are uncomfortable with reading that. You're well within your rights not like these works and have your opinion on whether they should be allowed, but harassing the authors of such works (or any works) is more likely to come back on you than them. Ao3 operates on a strong policy of 'don't like, don't read'. Use the tagging system to your full advantage to only engage with the kind of works you want to see.

We look forward to welcoming you all and seeing the fantastic works you create. Happy writing!

#ao3 #ao3 fanfiction #ao3 community #ao3 writer #wattpad #wattpad fanfiction #wattpad writer #fanfiction #fanfics #fanfic writing #fanfic writer

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