#mostly just rambling

[imaginable-horror]

I haven't been keeping up with The Magnus Protocol fandom so I have no idea about people's theories about what's happening, but my vague theory is that the reason the fears have been so hard to distinguish in each statement is because when Jon and Martin brought the fears through to other realities they became more concentrated as a single force. Gerry describes the fears as colours, all being technically the same thing but distinctly individual at the same time. They are able to be distinguished and seperated through human perception, the way that we arrange things to try and understand them despite these cosmic forces being beyond human comprehension, but the reality that we force isn't true and exists only within the confines of the pitiful limits of human understanding. We seperate them to make sense of them and because they are partially influenced by human perception, human fear, they can somewhat be categorised. When the fears are brought through the rift in reality at hilltop road however, Jon, himself as the conduit, brings them all together to extract them from TMA's reality and send them on to the next. My theory is that they remained bundled together, unable to establish themselves as distinct individual forces as really they are parts of a whole. It tracks that they would remain smushed together after they were all collected up and dragged through the hole in reality, and therefore aren't as separate anymore. They overlap more now, are harder to single out. The fears work on dream logic and symbolism and I think that being channeled through a single conduit would have tied them all closer together; muddied the colours, if we wish to continue with Gerry's metaphor. If in TMA the fears are fingers pushing into reality, each distinctly seperate but belonging to a larger whole that remains out of sight, then in TMagP the full hand is pushing its way through. You can still see each individual finger, recognise it, but there are more places where they are connected, the spaces in between fingers harder to individualise.

[totally-here]

Ultimate Enemy in DP in DC world

Okay so, I think we can all concede that logically in an au where danny phantom takes place within the dc universe, Ultimate Enemy's bad timeline would not happen. Like, Dan would not be able to take over the world, even with Vlad's ghost half helping him.

(though i do really like the takes of how that would happen, even if i don't ultimately agree with the end result. It's a fun story and a great opportunity for angst.)

But! I have an idea! I propose that the dark danny timeline would be in line with the evil teen titans timeline. The one with cloned Bart and Kon, champion of Ares Cassie, and, of course, batman with a gun Tim.

No, not just because I recently finished reading the 2003 run of teen titans.

(actually that's the major reason, yeah. it was a pretty good comic and i think it'd be cool if other people read it too)

But because I think it'd be interesting if it was a East titans vs west titans vs some ghost taking over the midwest and a majority of canada.

(does dc have any canadian heroes? I bet they do, but I've just never heard of any...)

And!! As a bonus!! Danny in the future would've probably gotten into a tussle or smth with the titans, which might lead to an uneasiness working with the present version of them. If he recognizes them. Like, Kon and Cassie I could see him knowing, Bart was on the good side iirc, but Tim?? No, no, he had a mask! A very distinct mask.

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that Danny totally thinks Batman snaps one day.

[lorekeeperazurai]

I know that it is popular to hate on Fire Emblem Engage's story because of how tonally different it is from Three Houses, but Alear's story resonated with me because of how easily it can be read as a trans narrative. It has made her one of my favorite FE protagonists.

Alear lived most of her life in a state of self loathing. She pretended to be a person she wasn't in order to meet her father's expectations of her and was socialized a certain way because of the identity assigned to her at birth. To protect herself she adopts a painfully relatable emotional apathy.

Later she is able to escape the toxic familial obligations to her father and finds a new family, who not only accept her, but actively encourage her to grow and become the person she wants to be. She is even given a form of magic treatment that slowly changes her body to match her chosen identity.

We start the game with her halfway through that transformation (represented by the dual tone hair) and she goes on to make many friends who genuinely love her and affirm her new identity after she is outed. She then goes on to help her sister with her own struggles with identity and family.

This probably wasn't the intended read of the character and the Fell Dragon / Divine Dragon transformation doesn't map perfectly onto the concept of gender, but that's the beauty of art. It can be interpreted in different ways.

Anyway, Alear is a trans icon and says trans rights!

[worm-disco-until-i-die]

Finished Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice (AA6) today.

Overall, it was really good. In the end, I absolutely enjoyed it. However, there were definitely some low points.

Gameplay wise, the game was solid. It was very much the same as the games before. If it isn't broken, don't fix it. The divination seances were interesting even if they made me feel like we've finally jumped the shark. Overall, I liked the cases except for maybe number 2.

Graphically, i thought it looked good. The models look better than AA5. I'm used to the 3d at this point, even if I wish they had kept the AA4 art style. The animated cutscenes look good. But I wish you could skip some of the special animations during trials.

Way more thoughts about the story (too many thoughts) below. Minor spoilers, i guess?

The main story was great. It's an intriguing mystery that really ramps up at the end. It does a lot for Apollo's character that I thought was cool. Especially after Dual Destinies kind of wasn't about him.

I really wish Phoenix Wright had stayed homeless. But, him being a lawyer again didn't bother me this time because of crazy situation he finds himself in. His character is written very well in this one.

Athena is there, too.

Rayfa at first was the mean, smug, annoying princess she was supposed to be. But by the end I really liked her character. I love to see someone high and mighty get humbled. Even better when they question themselves and change because of it.

Nahyuta was a good enemy prosecutor, also because of his smug attitude. I wish he'd stop trying to send Apollo to hell. His redemption is quick, but I'm glad he gets one in the end.

Cases 2 and 4 were low points for me. Magical Tournabout (2), mostly because by the end of the game, it felt like it was from a completely different game. I didn't particularly enjoy the characters in it. It did introduce Nahyuta and establish a connection between him and Apollo, but otherwise, I feel like it was kind of a nothing case.

Turnabout Storyteller (4). I get it. You need something to break up the Khura'in segments. The characters were fine, except Simon, I thought his whole deal with the soba place was weird. It gave us Geiru Toneido so it breaks even I guess.

Case 1 was fine. The mystery of it was kind of whatever. It was at least intriguing to learn about Khura'in and set everything up. The names of the Khuran'inese characters that aren't in the main cast make me want to blow my brains out.

Case 3 was good, but I can't believe we're still saving Maya from being accused after all this time. Especially after defending Trucy *again*. It is (afaik) the only case in the entire series that does what I will call "The Sakura" (which is not a great name for it but it's the closest thing I've got without outright spoiling the case). I feel like this is where the game really begins.

P.s. on this case - how does Phoenix go from "gets hit by a car and thrown into a telephone pole and is fine within the day" in AA4 to "passes out for multiple days due to back pain" within three years?? Lawyering must really take it out of you...

Case 5-1 was really great. I hated Paul Atishon just like i should have. Going back to Kurain Village was good fan service. I skipped the special case of AA5, so this is where I saw Pearl again. Edgeworth shows up. I thought it was really cool to have Apollo and Phoenix face off like that. We can get a break from being called putrid and evil and told we're going to hell for *checks notes* trying to find the truth. Anyway, It's the only civil trial in the entire series. This is where the game really grabbed me and made me care about Apollo and Dhurke. And even though it's a long case, why does the game wait so long to be this good? I'm glad I stuck with it, but there were points in cases 2 and 4 where I almost started playing something else.

Case 5-2 was the best part of the game. It's a satisfying finale that reminded me of the last case of AA1. Mostly in that, there's a final boss prosecutor, and I didn't really see that coming at all. It wraps everything up from this game really nicely. Everyone who needed it gets their redemption here. In the end, I really like Rayfa's character. It didn't make me like Nahyuta any more than I did before, but he gets his arc (I did cheer when he takes his glove off).

Unfortunately, my biggest "why aren't they talking about this????" Gets a half answer in a post credit scene. But it is what it is. AA5 and 6 weren't written by Shu Takumi, so some threads get lost, i suppose.

Overall, i would give it an 8/10. I'm excited to play The Great Ace Attorney and Investigations, but I'm not sure which will come first yet.

[useless-moss]

Sometimes I swear my brain just pops out of my skull to grab me by the shoulders and shake me around.

Nels and Viggo ideas. I'm thinking about a different version of Nels where he's just. Completely feral. Doesn't know human language, can't walk upright, only wears 'clothes' (roughly stitched together animal skins and furs) for warmth, stuff like that.

Viggo finds him and is interested in this complete anomaly. A human that is more beast than man? That is as rabid and ruthless as a wild animal? That can, and will, kill without remorse? That has a pack of night furies and is considered by the queen to be her own hatchling, meaning he has some sway over the other members due to the pack hierarchy?

Yeah, I feel like Viggo would eat that up. Especially when he realizes that Nels is, y'know, technically trainable and that a warrior with zero sense of human morality would be an absolute force to be reckoned with. Teach the boy to follow basic commands and how to use a weapon, and the only thing he 'needs' in return is some food and affection like any other animal?

Just... GOD'S. The whump possibilities are endless. The manipulation. The outright gore and horror elements. I might write this now. Make a little au for an au.

[cyrilrambleswhatasurprise]

"im an anxious bean 🌺🌺😵‍💫😵‍💫😖😖♥️♥️ :3"

me when i have paranoia over inevitable events like natural disasters and planet-threatening cosmic threats like the eventual explosion of our Sun even though we'll "all be gone by then so don't worry about it anyway" and people joke around about how the Sun could kill us at any time and the heat death of the entire universe at the end of time itself because no matter how infinite something as endless as outer space is everything still must come to an end anxiety and not "im so shy 😖♥️ uwu" anxiety 🥳🥳🥳🫶🫶🫶

[chrysanthemumgames]

Hello! I've just been wondering if there's a way that you designed your characters visually, I feel like they're so vibrant and so different from they way they're typically depicted in Greek myths. Did you draw inspiration from anything, or did they sort of just come together along the way of writing? I do love how they 'look' (despite this being a text game hehe) and thank you for such a fun IF! Looking forward to the release tomorrow :)

Well, I don't know that I have any specific process I can point to, heh. It started with looking at deities associated with the Underworld in Greek myths and thinking about which ones had stories or motifs or other things that I thought would make for interesting inclusion in a game like this.

When it came to designing them visually, I tried to take inspiration from those same elements, but certainly not feel constrained by what we have of Classical art. Not that there's anything wrong with Classical art, of course, but this isn't really at its core a Classical story anymore. It has some elements and some themes, but not at all in the same way, and I felt it was probably fine if the characters reflected that.

I also wanted them to reflect the diversity of 'the Mediterranean region,' if you like. There's a very whitewashed way of looking at the ancient world in this region, and I wasn't particularly keen to play into the stereotype, so the majority of the main characters are people of colour. I don't necessarily have specific identities in mind for most of them, as they're also gods, and in this case, that detaches them a bit from those sorts of concepts. (A god isn't Etruscan or Cretean or Ethiopian or what have you—they're a god.) But it was still important to me that, detached from very human ideas of identity, the gods still be a diverse-looking lot, because why wouldn't they be?

As it turns out, that left me with loads of possibilities, and so it was a matter of making each character visually distinct from the others, in a way that made sense for who they are. Alekto is a Fury, someone whose job it is to hunt down people who try to evade the justice of the gods. So she's tall, and strong, and often dressed for combat. But she also has a particular relationship with her gender, which she's given a lot of consideration, and when she's not doing that, she likes to present herself in a very feminine way, so she keeps her hair long and has an entire wardrobe full of colorful, elaborate garments and accessories.

Pyri was always going to be shades of orange and red and gold and the like, because they're a fire deity. Hades in some important sense is his realm, and so he's taken on some of its features, just as it has taken on some of his. I admit I gave wings to Hermes because I just wanted to haha, so it's not always that deep, either.

Also, I can't take full credit for how well they turned out; all the artists who've been kind enough to bring them to life have contributed to that sense of distinctness as well. I'm sure that without those contributions, they wouldn't seem half as unique and distinct as they do!

[goldenstorm0]

Finished little goody two shoes a second time, got a few thoughts. Mostly rambling, definitely full of spoilers. I do strongly suggest playing and getting at least a few endings before reading if you want to avoid spoilers and want to understand said rambles.

okay first off Freya is best girl. Like holy fuck best girl. That being said, I romanced Lebkuchen, I relate too much to a girl in a faith crisis for concerning personal reasons. Said reasons will not be explained. But truly her good ending is the best thing for her. Like this is completely biased but I can see the other girls finding their own happiness in their own time, but Lebby needed a good kick in the ass first before she could do that (this observation is based off of projection)

But the writing in this game was great. I love all the girls for all different reasons, and honestly kinda love all the characters even if they are toxic. The way they set up the town to emphasize the separation between the mc and the rest of the cast. The negative comments even when you get a S rank in the mini games. The constant juggling of Rozenmarine and Muffy and Jochen and Obilie to keep suspicion against you down. And those occasional ray of sunshine characters! Freya is too good for the town. And honestly, if I could romance Gustav. I love him. I do have a few problems with it, but I'll get to that in a bit.

And holy shit the art work. There is too much to go over for that. The vibe change the manage between the different days to show the town descent into madness. The stylistic changes in the woods. The fucking music scenes. THE MUSIC. Idk man I think whoever was their art director deserves every praise out there. They have this absolutely adorable 90s anime mixed with early disney/hand-drawn style style, and then this almost clamationish(i think? idk how to describe it) surrealist style in the woods. And it's all handled masterfully. I hope this team comes out with more because they are kinda fantastic at this.

Okay praises done, now with some critiques:

Really wished they did more with the endings. Yes, I know, crazy sounding since they already have 10, but it kinda felt like there should be... more? or different ones? Like with the notes/investigation with father Hans, I thought his ending would end up with him sacrificing the town to St Walpurga. Or something more dramatic. Just killing him and Elise being possessed felt... incomplete. Also think there should be a "fight and defeat the demon" ending. Like some sort of ending where you have to get 1 ending with each of the girls, then you can defeat the demon. Cause end of the day, he is the antagonist and my tiny gamer brain wants to see him banished.

And I think the entire golden girls part feel incomplete. I mostly did the second playthrough to get all of them, and I do love the additional lore, but I fully thought there would be a way to free their souls? Like finding all of them would unlock gma's room, you get a mysterious key item, and you use that at the right moment to defeat the demon.

I get why there wasn't a fight the demon ending, this is supposed to be an all powerful monster and the only way to defeat him is to not play his game, so a fight the demon ending doesn't really fit the narrative they are going for. but... it's a favorite trope of mine. Maybe I missed it? I tried to stick with minimal research when getting the endings, mostly just googled where to get the golden girls.

All in all though, great game. Would recommend, especially for the lesbians and wlw out there 😘 would seduce a young women to sacrifice to the devil again. Is going to go down as my favorite toxic yuri game

Also yes I immediately bought pocket mirror, I'm enjoying it so far. Fucking love surrealism man

[cosmicsproutcake]

I feel like corporate big wigs that pull the "we're like a family here, so treat me like it" either just don't have family, or are wildly abusive to their family, because me treating you like "family" includes me telling you to go fuck yourself to your face when you expect me to burn myself out working for you for free because we're "family".

But of course that's not what they mean. "Family" means "let me walk all over you" to them, which says a lot about what their relationships with their actual family must be like, I think.

[wywyyearns]

Oh gosh, 29.

It’s the last year of my twenties and I’m not sure how I feel about it. My birthday was so much fun. I was able to enjoy it and not worry. It’s nice to know I have people in my life who care and wanted to make sure I had a good time.

Now I start living again and wondering what I’ll do with this next year of my life. It looks entirely different than it did a year ago. I’m more settled into the East Coast. I found a career path that feels like it’ll get me to the success I want. I’m generally happy with where I am.

Yet, here I am always wanting what’s next and wondering where I can improve. I hope I can feel better about myself. And be more dedicated to my health at this age. Slow life down and not feel like I’m wasting time doing things I want to do. I’d like to take more chances. I know I need to move more and make better choices with the food I eat.

This is just me attempting to shift my perspective again. I had a terribly hard year and I’m ready for some more happiness and self-improvements.

If you read my little ramble, thank you. Just needed to get this out of my head. I hope anyone that decides to read this would give a silent cheer and pass encouragement with thoughts. I’ll need it. Here we go with 29.

[bassforte]

Looking back, I do want to rewrite the first couple of chapters of Ever-Changing Gears.

Like at least just the Prologue and Block Man’s chapter

[fox-guardian]

"maybe if i dress more boring i'll get gendered correctly by strangers" that's the devil talking

[useless-moss]

Something kinda interesting about myself is I just... Don't care when it comes to ships or top versus bottom stuff or whump versus fluff. I enjoy pretty much everything.

I enjoy exploring the different dynamics of characters being both tops and bottoms. I enjoy more extreme things like rape/noncon and torture and even death because it's applying a very real very horrific situation to a character that, in canon, probably didn't experience anything close to what I read or write. I enjoy exploring the more emotional aspects of that stuff. How would this character react? What would they be thinking? How would they feel during or after? How would they recover if they recover at all? What about those around them?

I enjoy rare pairs and seemingly random pairings because it's just interesting to me to explore these obscure ships and their dynamics. I enjoy fluff and domestic bliss and soft, sweet sex because it's cute and it's nice to read. And, sometimes, I just wanna see a character having a good time.

And I can enjoy this wide variety because it's fiction. Nobody is actually getting hurt, and what I enjoy in fiction doesn't fully translate to the real world. I don't even like sex in the real world, but I like reading about characters having sex. I have a pretty volatile opinion of people who hurt or rape others in the real world and what I think should happen to them as a result, but I can still enjoy the dynamic or the angst of such a topic in writing. And I will do this with literally every fandom I'm part of, not just httyd.

[productofaritual]

Getting into genshin, might post about it idk

[puppppppppy]

learned something about myself lately

[remxedmoon]

i hit 1k followers recently!!!! yipee!!!!!!! thank you all!!! so in celebration here’s all of my completed isat doodle pages, from oldest to newest. go nuts with them!! and maybe don’t look at the first doodle page too closely. it’s Old.

(no greyscale version below for once! just some mushy ramblings. you don’t have to read them don’t worry)

hhhhhha?? so many people. where did you come from. how did you all find me.

ok but seriously, thank you all so much for all the support. i never really. expected to make it this far? like, ever?? i’ve mentioned it a few times on here, but i’ve been a lurker for the past… 2 years, i think? and even before that, i never gained much traction outside of a couple posts. so this has been. very new to me!! in a nice way!! it’s weird to feel like an actual member of a community!! that people know about!

the idea of finally coming back to social media was Daunting (i literally got stress hives writing my first post lol) and the warm reception really. meant a lot?? i don’t think i would’ve ever gotten the courage to come back if i hadn’t been encouraged to by the people over at the isat discord!!

the fact that people actually care about my art still doesn’t feel real?? seeing people take inspiration from my art is just. surreal. just. auagssh. thank you all so so much for everything, i really do appreciate it!!! i’m really glad to be in this community. sorry if this all sounds sappy and long winded i’ve just got a lot of emotions about this whole thing!!

(also as a bonus for reading all this or whatever. here’s a concept page for isatscryption! it felt a little out of place next to my normal canvases so i’m putting it down here! yipee! sorry my notes here are so disjointed auauau…)