#ofmd ciphers

[danepopfrippery]

Ugh i think my cipher decoder saved an old translation. Sorry had it wrong was ‘killed by a jungle cat’ per @iwilltrytobereasonable

Ive lost my passion for it i guess

[danepopfrippery]

I took this as ‘all of our’ for oliver goat ie fucking with us or its a colinknolls. @cottoncandysprite caught the la buse alphabet at the top of the second pic (the cesar cypher is gibberish on its ear)

@ella-ventic suggested if its Olivier (like Laurence Olivier) makes the difference because it would be phonetically all of they goats instead of all of our goats. I maintain in the us its pretty interchangeable buy ella could be correct.

Fwiw i do hope so i am very invested in everything thats been cracked

hi javid, tell us hypothetically what you think a nice name for a goat would be

Olivier

[crimson-and-clover-1717]

‘If he's a friend of yours, I'm sure there's something in there I'll like.’

Oh, Stede.

Unfortunately, what Stede means here, and what meaning Ed might give is somewhat different. Stede thinks Jack must have some of Ed’s good qualities in order for Ed to be his friend. However, Ed thinks Stede must see a similarity between Ed and Jack, meaning Stede might accept the ‘Jack’ parts of Ed he believes are a large section of his make-up.

Ed reasons: if Stede can like Jack, it stands that Stede must like Ed. Because they’re ‘the same’. And when Ed suggests Stede and Jack have a lot in common, and if Stede agrees, then Ed and Stede must also have a lot in common. And that’s a good thing.

Because Ed, whether consciously or not, is using Jack as a proxy or cipher to see if Stede will accept all of who he thinks he is. Further to this, if Stede can also see himself in Jack, then that’s more wonderful, because then Stede can see himself in Ed too. And maybe…maybe…that means Ed’s not so bad after all, because Stede’s a pretty stand-up guy.

I can almost see the three-circle Venn diagram in Ed’s head…

But Stede tells Ed he doesn’t like who he is around Jack. And if Ed and Jack are pretty much the same man - ‘This is me’ - Ed needs to leave because Stede cannot accept who Ed truly is.

And more terribly, Stede and Ed are not alike after all.

And of course all of this is a load of bollocks because Ed isn’t like Jack at all; not anymore, not likely ever. Whatever his soul is made of, his and Stede’s are the same. They certainly don’t need Jack as a personality litmus test.

But Ed has to go all around the houses to figure this out such is his distorted self-image. And Stede gets caught in the identity crossfire.

I love though that Ed doesn’t give a backwards glance at the man he allegedly had ‘dalliances’ with, who saved his life, who is ‘practically the same man’, when a canon-ball takes him out. The rejection of Jack, and all thoughts of affinity, is absolute once it comes. The scales fall entirely from Ed’s eyes.

It’s as if before, Ed saw himself through a glass, darkly And now he’s winking into a clear mirror Because, finally, Ed’s starting to get it…

The Venn Diagram is, in fact, two different but equally aligned circles.

[lordbucketofthecaribbean]

A little bit of everything

[raydiantdmg]

I could do sooo many a these

Template + lines under the cut

Could probably do this temp three times over ddo you know how hard it was choose only one character for these

Lowk even though the big hype died off I’m still rockin with gravity falls, expect a gf oc comic soon! or don’t, thankx ily buy gold

[danepopfrippery]

I found the location in the header! God bless u for decoding all that. There are 18 robert goats and the code was in 13. There was also a definitely not alex sherman but i cant find him now

yall i am actually shaking vmczn.x,cn,mxbxb translating that was so exciting i felt like Ralphie with his Little Orphan Annie decoder ring

when I got to “ED SITS” my heart skipped a beat and when i got to “STEDE CALLS” my whole body ascended

WHOMEVER this is has experience putting together these lil internet puzzles and hiding transparent white text on the edge of .png graphics, whether or not that’s David? or someone else on the crew? or a fan messing with us… … . idk it’s exciting!! I’m seeing this in real time i’m invested i have my detective hat on i’m so ready

[bwbawa]

INTRO POST

i had already made one but decided to do it again !

hello, pls ASK FOR MY NAME before refering to me, I use THEY/IT/XE pronouns ONLY, i am nonbinary and i suspect i am neurodivergent.

fyi I am not self diagnosed, but i use the tags to reach more people and also i don't judge anyone that is.

i am looking for friends !!

i have plenty of mutuals now but if you're one or u want to be one please don't feel scared to interact :D

inbox is open unless you're older than 24 or so, i do not feel comfortable talking with adults unless it's specific things, but i feel totally ok with interacting and reblogging/commenting :]

SOME OF THE THINGS I LIKE :

good omens

OFMD

adventure time ( rewatching after watching as a kid )

marvel, mostly movies

the old star wars movies because i haven't catched up

D&D

markiplier.. n youtubers of the kind

GARFIELD!

GRAVITY FALLS!!!!!

over the garden wall

FNAF

TROLLS!!!!!!!!!!

I MOSTLY POST ABOUT :

random stuff i think, opinions and comments on stuff

shitposting

some of my interests i guess?

adventure time

PLS DNI IF !

bigoted opinions. RADFEM. NSFW accounts

TRANS/HOMOPHOBIC. ableist. misogynists

against self-diagnosis. "cringe" accs.

gore/shocking content. etc...

PLS DO INTERACT IF

you like to talk about interesting stuff

have opinions (lol)

like any of my interests!

or just want to talk in general!

Please send me asks! don't feel shy to do so either, i am willing to answer even the most random stuff XD

i ask a lot about neurodivergencies and autism, because that was the main point of the blog at first

but then i fell in love with it!

i have a rock collection and a small garfield plush collection! they are precious to me. <3

so yeah! pls interact if u wanna b mutuals or frens or smth!!

[treesofgreen]

Genuinely asking, do people really think the javid denkins account could be David Jenkins or are y'all just having fun; and if you do believe it's David, why? I know David tweeted about downloading the Tumblr app but has he given any nods to his account here on Twitter?

[therabbitthatpostthings]

My favorite brand of media will forever be:

Gays who broke up and made that everyone’s problem.

Each of these had a NUCLEAR fallout

[danepopfrippery]

I know we dunno if Javid is David but if they are the same dude and the cipher clues lead to s2 well…its gonna be a ride

did everyone see on the livestream that kristian & vico said that if they had to describe s2 in one word it would be “extra” and “edgy” respectively ? bc I personally can’t wait for this extra & edgy season.

[danepopfrippery]

On the siete gallos idea of the 5 oranges (we know Jim killed two of them kinda, both Spanis Jackie’s husbands) i think i hit on something.

It seems the og 7 seemed to be part of Jim’s parents deaths. The two Jim killed (one was kinda) were both husbands of Spanish Jackie’s. This says to me the remaining 5 would probably have at least 15 years on Jim.

I’ve seen theories that either Jim’s brother or Olu could be one of the remaining ones. For Olu i say Jim and him had sex in daylight so pretty sure if he had the tat Jim would have seen.

As for their brother well brother was a child too. So he would be too young.

The Revenge crew (beyond ability issues) have been pretty loose with clothing. Short of Wee John i think u could rule out them having the tat. Izzy, Fang and Ivan could be…and given Ivan was left out i wonder if he could’ve been one. If Fang was one i think he’d feel badly. Totally could see Izzy as one unless he was w Ed at the time.

As for Ed hmmm…

And if we think La Buse would be a character or this unknown Prince Ricky could be ones. Jackie seemed to think they were all dead the remaining 5

[vagueriddles]

I cannot solve this for the life of me so if anyone else has the answer that would be greatly appreciated 🥲

[lordbucketofthecaribbean]

Eyyyyyy I’m back (again)

The reason why I’m tagging Treasure Planet is because the first picture is the humanization of Mr Arrow btw lol

[danepopfrippery]

Solid point

If you don't know (you probably do) but the orange pics from Javid Dekins is about De Siete Gallos that killed Jim's family. Jim only killed 2 but now there are 5 left which means if the Javid Dekins is actually David then that means we are going to see the other five (alive? since the oranges were covered in fruit flies, they might be close to death/dying) Gallos next season.

Basically Siete means 7 and there are 5 oranges. 2 of the Gallos (Gallos means rooster and they have rooster tattoos) are dead.

And the one orange behind the tree might mean that someone close to jim or unsuspected might be the final Gallo we meet.

Since the oranges are around a strawberry plant, we might see them in Chile (Since thats were that breed of strawberries //Fragaria Chiloensis// originate).

(I will update this post every time I find out something new or remember something.)

[triflesandparsnips]

(eta 10/10/23: Having just realized that this is now a very easy to google explainer, please also see the full end-of-game roundup here: "when something is definitely not a game, but most definitely a gift" or my related #definitely not a game tag. We now return you to your regularly scheduled nonsense, currently in progress.)

So... so.

So this just dropped.

And listen. LISTEN. For people who haven't been following this Our Flag Means Death-related alternate-reality-shenanigan fest, the following will make no sense to you-- or, wait, fuck it--

A Brief History of the Javid Denkins Alternate-Reality Game

(I didn't intend "overly long essays about in-depth fandom-related shenanigans" to be my brand, but by god I'm here now and I will make us all suffer through it.)

Reality (As We Know It)

Established and verified gay pirate showrunner David Jenkins is a regular shenanigineer on twitter: retweets fanart, retweets cosplays, calls fans sluts (endearment), has ongoing fight with medieval cats.

Back in 2022, David Jenkins implied heavily that he had joined tumblr, but did not cough up his account name.

This is the sum total of real and actual events and identities.

Through the Looking Glass

Fans started looking for David Jenkins's tumblr. What fans found is the tumblr of one Javid Denkins, who appeared to be new, had a variant of Jenkins's twitter icon, and seemed to be cheekily maintaining an incognito by steadfastly asserting that he is definitely not David Jenkins.

Fans got weird about it, because that is the nature of fandom. I said something about it here, because I have Feelings about the Rules of Incognito and also about Not Being Weird About People Who Make the Content We Like. I put it as a reblog to the post, as per regular tumblring, no response requested/required because babes, if I'm going to be perceived, I want it to be organic. (ahem... FOOTNOTE 1)

I kept a cursory eye on things, because it can be Really Lonely to be a famous person who just wants to have a regular online experience, and if that's what whoever was on the other end wanted, then that's what they should get to have imo. Unlike a regular tumblr that I might reply to directly or engage with on a same-level kinda way, I let them set the rules of engagement because unless/until they came clean, they would always be Schrodinger's Showrunner to me, and therefore subject to my internal Don't Be Creepy ruleset.

My second Javid reblog was pretty much what I would do to any other newbie tumblr person (as they professed to be): adding on to a gag by referencing the "color of the sky" meme and also a seagull, for OFMD-related reasons (which fit within the ruleset, because Javid was actively connecting himself with OFMD type things). And Javid reblogged it, so hey, I was winning at tumblr interactions, a thing that is normal to want and possible to achieve.

Time passed. Javid dropped (what will be revealed to be the first of many) photo manipulations. (FOOTNOTE 2)

On the same day, Javid posted what looked like an accidental smashkey. I reblogged with a seagull, because again, established rules of engagement and me winning at tumblr interactions. He reblogged himself, though, with what looked like another smashkey, but was actually a goddamn Caesar cipher-- and started using the tag #definitely not a game.

From there, Javid started up a stream of fairly fun puzzles. I didn't keep up with it fully, but since it looked like Javid wanted people to interact, I interacted (while trying to ensure that other people could keep having fun too). He also started subtly changing his icon, his tumblr header, etc., expanding the bounds of the puzzle space, as it were. (And if you want a complete rundown of the puzzle history and the associated answers, this twitter thread is enormous and thorough, thank you @eefaevie.)

The seagull made an appearance every once in a while; I threw together various season 2 bingo cards in response to these potential spoilers; I spent my time largely keeping back so I could eat popcorn and Not Be Creepy. But... but.

The thing was, Javid's method of posting (in a "heeeere fishy fishy fishy" manner) seemed, to me, to be the actions of someone trying to play with the audience and/or provide enrichment for the enclosure. So after some thought and, again, remembering the loneliness of being a Creative Person but trying to be mindful that this person was still incognito and could be the actual dude, I started using the seagull to reblog extra content, links, whathaveyou, with the tag #enrichment can go in BOTH enclosures-- with the idea that, if Javid wanted to look, he had the option to do so-- and if he did, he'd be rewarded with, again, no demands on him or his attention, but just: some content. Some enrichment. Some fun. A "picking up what you're putting down" kind of vibe from one person to another, both of whom are, at the very least, interested in communicating with an audience.

To be clear: For me, at the end of the day, it had to be a choice. I needed to provide room for Javid to choose to enter the magic circle of my additional game play-- but I also wasn't going to hold my breath about it. This was Javid's space, with intentions and purposes I had no way of knowing (nor should I)-- I was just, metaphorically, bringing another set of dice and maybe some graph paper with an extra room drawn on it that he could easily enter if he wanted, to play in a space intended to complement his. He was putting in a shitton of labor for what was essentially just a gift; I wanted to show appreciation for that labor, while putting in some of my own to gift back.

So when the first round of puzzles ended, and a new one began, I linked the answers to one of his anagram puzzles inside some seagull gifs-- but I figured, why not add something extra? I used his pigpen cipher to dare him to use a book code next. To even see the dare he'd have to want to decode the gifs-- and if he ultimately didn't want to engage, no skin off my nose. (That's why there's a border around the magic circle with clear entrances and exits.) Either way, I was having a nice time.

The next puzzle type was a stereogram. (Neat.) The puzzle after that, though? I get tagged and informed that Javid has, in fact, posted a motherfucking book code. (FOOTNOTE 3)

Enter the Thunder Parasocial Dome

This is the point where I first have to be pulled down from the curtains by rational people who have only my best interests at heart.

(Having a whole Thesis Statement about why I was engaging with Schrodinger's Showrunner is one thing. Having possible evidence that my engagement was, like, actually engaged with is quite another.)

By sweet and loving friends and family I was reminded that:

Other people are, in fact, allowed to be clever about things too.

That all sorts of pre-planning may have gone into all this, and that therefore the timing was a coincidence.

That there are a limited number of easily accessible ciphers out there, so the code type could also be a coincidence.

And that either way I still have my important Don't Be Creepy code of ethics.

So. I took a deep breath. Cool. I was totally and absolutely cool about this.

...And in a totally normal manner I proceeded to lay an elaborate trap.

AHAHAHA JUST JOKING what I mean is: I replied to the tagged post, acknowledging that the sphere of potential puzzling had now expanded beyond tumblr. I used Javid's own fake-link trick to link to a seagull laugh. And in the tags I threw in a lot of potential internet-related alternate reality stuff.

But also, crucially... some more ideas for Javid to use. (FOOTNOTE 4) If he wanted them. If he was actually looking.

Since I was now playing In Earnest, I spent some time putting together a youtube channel, an alternate tumblr, a neocities account -- a whole new field of play, if Javid wanted to engage there. I pulled out the dusty memories of a Yuletide fic I wrote several years ago that used similar shenanigans to tell an interactive fiction story about Monty Python. (Hilariously enough, my first RPF.) I continued to play with all these new and fascinating toys.

A Strange Ship on the Horizon

What with one thing and another three years pass, a Javid puzzle eventually lead to an AO3 account-- which to me definitively opened Schrodinger's box: maybe this was a member of the production playing with fire, more likely it was a clever fan whose brain is fucking fascinating, but it most definitely was not David Jenkins.

But. Javid was still in incognito. And I still don't know if I had been perceived.

I read the fic the Javid account is writing (which is still a work in progress and pretty great ngl)-- it's a fandom AU, where Ed and Stede are fans of a gay pirate romcom called Blow the Man Down, featuring Sam Bellamy and Olivier Levasseur. The showrunner is named Javid, who doesn't have social media but gets cornered into agreeing to join twitter (rather than our universe's tumblr). And Ed decides, on a lark, to start a fake twitter account, tag it #definitelynotjaviddenkins... and then freak out because a large contingent of fandom shows up on his metaphorical doorstep saying HELLO, JAVID.

As if this weren't enough: beyond the fic itself, suddenly a whole multimedia alternate universe suddenly appeared, with multiple twitter and AO3 accounts beyond just Stede and Ed, forming an entire fucking fandom, Goncharov-style, around Blow the Man Down. It was and continues to be fucking wild. It's also amazing. And the porn is surprisingly approachable. (BUT SEE AGAIN FOOTNOTE 1)

Grappling Hooks Breaching the Parasocial Divide

The thing is, though. The thing. That is.

I have officially reached Level 2 Curtain Clawing.

As I read the fic and the accompanying universe, I started to. Notice things.

References to soap (but... but surely that's normal. Many people talk about soap, not just amateur history enthusiasts like myself).

References to obscure scents (LABDANUM. Someone referenced labda-motherfucking-num. But surely. Surely it is not an entirely unheard of thing; I am not the first person to discover it or the fact that it gets combed from goats jesus christ the goat thing I forgot about that--)

References to the drilled coin from the wreck of Sam Bellamy's ship, which appeared as a random bit of possible future lore for Javid in this bit of enrichment (but I put in lots of possible lore! I had a whole thing going about figureheads! Bad luck to kill a seabird! I had a whole thing for a while where I thought maybe the digraph code Javid was hinting at was actually a Playfair cipher! I have been wrong many times before and added lots of random possible narratives. SO SURELY THE COIN IS A COINCIDENCE).

References to... okay not really references, and I've never articulated it quite like this (though this is definitely my vibe), but references to the idea of these puzzles and enrichment being a conversation in and of themselves, held at a remove and existing entirely in call (Javid) and response (the audience).

Finally... I started to notice that Stede decodes/interprets Ed-as-Javid's puzzles in a long twitter thread (like... like the one linked above) but also... sends back puzzles. Like, well, me.

"But STILL," I screech from the top of the curtain rail. "This could ALL BE COINCIDENCE," I yowl as friends and family try to bat me down with a broom. Even, by god, today's drop... which uses a password-protected url shortener. The exact same one I used in an earlier enrichment. But! It's not like there are a lot of those! Maybe this was just the first one that cropped up for Javid, just as it was the first that cropped up for me! (BUT THEN AGAIN, MAY I REFER YOU BACK TO FOOTNOTE 4)

The fic is at chapter 14. There are, if AO3 is to be believed, 7 more chapters to go, plus who knows how much additional extra-universe material. There is so. much. here.

...And so many more opportunities to climb all the curtains.

“It's a great huge game of chess that's being played—all over the world—if this is the world at all, you know.”

So at this point... what, in fact, is happening?

I'm inside a Schrodinger's box whose sides are entirely composed of parasocial uncertainty.

Maybe Javid is here. (HELLO, JAVID.)

Maybe he isn't! (HELLO, THE MIRROR IN MY ENCLOSURE.)

Maybe I'm not actually being referenced at all, but the writer of that twitter thead, @eefaevie, is (HI EEFAEVIE WHAT'S UP HOW'S THE PARASOCIAL AIR IN YOUR ENCLOSURE DOIN')

I don't know. I can't know. Unless someone opens the box.

and my god, what if they never do?

tl;dr. This is the most enriching fun I've had in months, and if the magic circle is going to widen to include me, then friend, I intend to BRING MY A-GAME.

---

FOOTNOTES

1. During the course of that mini-essay, I say the following:

"If it's someone who is not the dude but just a tumblrite who managed to catch on really quick? Well goddamn, good for them, and also A+ Wink-Nudge acrobatics. Real dude can have a peaceful time reading critical analyses of Goncharov, Javid here can quietly start introducing strange lore and running gags and other fun-with-plausible-deniability shenanigans".

One day later Javid starts answering questions about characters with enigmatic season 2 spoilery things; a little less than ten days later, we get the first fake link (which, imo, is the real start of the game).

2. This is now only 24 days after my "strange lore and fun with plausible deniability" post.

3. My dare: January 26. Javid's book code: February 4.

4. My tags on the post wherein I acknowledge that the dare has, possibly, been taken up, read: #you know what's cool? besides how #enrichment can go in BOTH enclosures #is how much you can do with html #like sure sure we've all seen the embedded links #but I remember the days of hidden source code messages #websites with delayed redirects #passwords hidden on one site to open the locked contents of another #you know #~normal things~ #I'm certain none of this will become relevant #because this is #definitely not a game

[shiggybruh]

⋆｡‧˚★ Intro post!! :D ★˚‧｡⋆

★ The name's Max or Shiggy [but I do get strong urges to rename myself to my faves names], he/it, 18, Polish, not that well versed in personality types but I'd say im ENxP 3w4, and I looked at other peoples intro posts to figure out what am I supposed to put in this one!!!

★ Birthday is September 25th :D

★ Trans, gay, and on the arospec. I project on all of my favorite characters because I'm that kind of guy. Probably neurodiverse, undiagnosed, but a bunch of diagnosed autistics told me I'm probably autistic and I did my research so don't worry

★ Main Interests: Currently very into Spongebob and Gravity Falls. Little Shop of Horrors, Falsettos, Something Rotten, Smash NBC and generally things you would find Christian Borle in, Re-animator, Dialtown, a specific Gravity Falls fanfic that I've read 4 times and treat as if it was The Bible [Blood Chains by kindafooey, read the tags before checking it out it might not be for everyone]

★ Asks: I love asks but they do give me major anxiety so if u ask me something and I take a while to respond it probably means I'm rethinking every symbol in my reply! I do love getting them though so feel encouraged to send me anything u want :D

★ Basic DNI criteria

⋆｡‧˚★ some more yapping under the cut !!! ★˚‧｡⋆

★ Hobbies: Art, moths and mantises [I keep mantises], rocks and minerals or whatever, big fan of music except I dont discover many musicians I just listen to my select few favorites on loop all the time, cats [I have 3 I love them all], taxidermy

★ MORE interests: MLP, FNaF, DSaF, Undertale and Deltarune, Baldurs Gate 3, DBH, The Stanley Parable, Spiderverse, WWDITS, OFMD, Scott Pilgrim, The Sims lore, Portal, Little Big Planet, LEGO movies, and other things I probably forgot! My favorite movies ever include Megamind and Ratatouille and that should tell you enough about me tbh

★ Music [excuse to tell everyone I'm in love with Lemon Demon]: Umm so I really like Lemon Demon. Will Wood and WWATT, That Handsome Devil, She Wants Revenge, Depeche Mode, Oingo Boingo, London After Midnight. My music taste is circus and goth

★ I have an instagram with arts I made before starting this blog [linked in bio] and a spacehey profile that basically says all this post already said but with Bill Cipher floating around everywhere. Check it out, incredible experience I promise