#probably something with the interfacing? i assume?

[asexualbookbird]

POUCH!

@bigcats-birds-and-books asked for a pouch to keep masks and things safe in a bag :) years and years ago, someone made me something similar but smaller and I just sat and stared at that for a while before Doing This. Thinking back, I probably should've done a mock up in scrap fabric but nothing went horribly wrong so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

last photo it's stuffed with one of those grocery bags that fold up and fit in a pocket. This was fun and healing and a good brain scratcher thank you!!

[kiwisoap]

How to Make Your Own Binder that Fits Well and Looks Good

A while back I was in need of some new binders and thought hey, I bet I can make one way cheaper than buying it from somewhere (especially cus some of the ones I’ve bought in the past didn’t really fit right). Except when I started looking for a binder patterns online, I was very surprised that I really… couldn’t find many that looked very nice lol. Most of them had really wrinkled necklines, or didn't bind well, or just overall looked weird. A lot of the patterns also required a serger, which I don't have.

So I just said fuck it and made my own pattern! And it ended up being relatively easy! And the binders fit REALLY WELL and are comfortable to wear, even for long periods. The neckline doesn't show under shirts with loose collars, and the bottom hem doesn't gap or stick out. Here's me wearing one:

(plus I was able to make myself 5 of them for a total of like ~$50.)

So I figured I could throw together a guide to help out anyone else who wanted to make their own binder but was dissatisfied with the patterns available!

Disclaimer: This tutorial is going to assume a baseline level of sewing experience, and also will require access to a sewing machine. It is not a complicated pattern, but it will most likely require some tweaking and adjustments after you make the first one. Don’t be afraid to make alterations to make it fit better!

This tutorial is for a gc2b-style half-tank binder. It could be altered to be a full-tank binder, but all instructions will be for the half-tank design.

Materials needed:

Stretchy fabric, probably listed as 'athletic fabric' (I use this kind from Joann’s. Most athletic stretch fabrics should work, look for around 80% nylon/20% spandex blends)

Stiff fabric (I use this shirting cotton because I like how lightweight it is. If you want something a little stiffer with more structure, you can use a cotton or cotton/poly blend twill like this. gc2b binders use twill for theirs.)

Lightweight fusible interfacing (I use this kind) (get FUSIBLE not sew-in)

Fusible webbing like Pellon Wonder-Web (this is technically optional but it WILL make your life easier when you’re sewing - just make sure to get the kind with the paper backing!!!)

“But kiwisoap thats 4 whole kinds of materials, surely I don’t need that many!” Ok sure, you can probably get by without the fusible web and interfacing, but consider: they are both dirt cheap (im talking like $1-2/yard), they will make it much easier to sew the final product, and will give you an overall better-looking result. This tutorial is written with the assumption that you’ll use them.

"How much fabric will I need?" Measure the circumference of your chest below your armpits. Add 6 inches just to be safe. This is the yardage of stretch fabric you’ll need, and should give you enough material to make at least 3 binders without much excess left over. You will need around half as much stiff fabric.

Other supplies:

Big Paper (for drawing the pattern)

Flexible measuring tape

Sewing machine

Iron

Pins

Step 1: Measuring

You will need 4 main measurements for this pattern.

A) Measure the circumference of your chest just below your armpits, then divide the number in half. This will be the widest part of the pattern.

B) Measure from the top of your shoulder down to where you want the binder to end. For most folks, this will usually be around the natural waist (narrowest part of the torso), about 3-6 inches above the belly button. This will be the overall height of the pattern.

C) Measure the distance from below your armpit to where you want the binder to end. This will determine where the arm hole starts.

D) Measure the circumference of your waist where you want the binder to end, then divide the number in half.

So for example, after dividing A and D in half, my measurements are 17", 15", 7", and 14.5".

Next:

Subtract one inch from measurement A - This will help provide some compression. You might need to take it in even further depending on how it fits, but one inch is a safe starting point. I take mine in around 1.5 inches.

Subtract half an inch from measurement D. This will help prevent the bottom edge of the binder from gapping. Again, you may need to take it in more or less, depending on your own body.

Add 1.5 inches to measurement B and one inch to measurement C. This is to account for the hems and armhole placement.

This makes my final measurements

A = 16"

B = 16.5"

C = 8"

D = 13.5"

From here on out, we are only going to be working with the measurements that we have added/subtracted to, NOT the ones we initially took.

Step 2: Drawing the Pattern

You will need a piece of paper large enough to accommodate the entire pattern. This may involve taping multiple pieces together, or using a piece of newsprint, etc.

I recommend folding the paper in half to ensure that you get a symmetrical pattern. However, this means you will need to divide measurements A and D in half again, or else you’ll end up with a pattern that’s twice as wide as it should be!

Also note: the pattern is drawn with the seam allowance built in! You don’t need to add any seam allowance.

To draw the pattern:

Begin with your folded paper. Measure and mark B and C on the paper, and draw a line extending across the paper. These will be your guidelines.

Measure and mark A and D along the middle and bottom guidelines, respectively. Remember, the paper is folded, so you only use half of the measurement for A and D.

Draw a loose curve connecting the endpoints of A and D. If needed, you can also just draw a straight line between the two.

Mark the opening for the neck hole. Depending on your size, it will measure around 6-8 inches across at the top (remember to divide this in half for the folded paper) and about 5-6.5 inches deep. (mine is 6.5" across and 5.5" deep) Draw a curve to connect the two points. This part will take some tweaking and adjusting to get it to look right lol.

Measure the width of the strap - this should be somewhere between 2.5 - 4 inches wide. They will end up about 1/2” to 3/4” narrower once you sew them. Draw the line at a slight angle, as shown.

Connect the endpoint of the strap to the endpoint of line A with a curve like in the diagram.

This will be the pattern for the front piece.

To make the back piece, trace the front pattern, but make a very shallow curve for the neckline instead of a steep one, as shown:

The last piece is the stiff front panel. This is what provides the flattening effect of the binder. To make the pattern, trace the front pattern again. Trim 3/8” in on the sleeves and neckline, and 3/4” to 1” along the bottom. This gives a flatter hem. Then trim the straps shorter by a few inches. This helps the binder lay flatter along the shoulders.

When you're done, you should have 3 pattern pieces that look approximately like this (stiff panel shown overlaid on the stretch fabric to show how it fits together).

NOTE: If you want more compression or just want to make it a bit sturdier, you can add a second panel of stretch fabric to the back piece. Just use the bottom half of the back pattern (from the widest part down to the bottom hem) to cut out another piece of stretch fabric. Attach it to the back piece with a strip of fusible webbing and a zig-zag stitch along the top.

Step 3: Putting It All Together

Once you’ve made the patterns and cut out the pieces of fabric, you should have something that looks like this:

The next step is adding interfacing and fusible webbing. Use your pattern to cut out 3/8" strips to fit on the top of the straps for both pieces, and to the neckline, sleeves, and bottom hem of the back piece, as shown:

If you want to add it to the bottom hem of the front piece, it will help keep that hem flat when sewing it down later, but it's not essential.

If you choose to also use fusible webbing (WHICH I RECOMMEND), you will apply it to the stiff front panel similarly to how the interfacing was applied, ~3/8” strips along the neckline, sleeves, and top of the straps. Cut out two strips for the neckline and sleeves, because we'll use those later too.

Iron the strips onto the front panel as shown:

Once it's on, just peel off the paper, position it webbing-side down on the stretch fabric, and iron it to fuse the two pieces together so everything stays in place while you sew. THIS MAKES IT WAY EASIER TO SEW.

After the stiff front panel is fused to the stretch fabric, you’ll sew the straps of the front and back pieces together, then join the pieces along the sides. Pin the hell out of it to keep everything in place -this type of material is VERY prone to puckering.

When sewing, USE A ZIGZAG STITCH. A straight stitch will NOT WORK for stretch fabric. I adjust mine to 1.3mm long and 3.5mm wide which has worked well. If your machine doesn’t let you adjust stitch length or width, well. That sucks, I don’t really have any advice.

After you sew the front and back pieces together, you can add more fusible webbing to the front panel to help hold the hem down flat and prevent it from puckering while you sew it. Just add the strip, peel the paper off, then fold the hem over and iron it down. This part isn’t really necessary, but it does make the hems look nicer. If nothing else, I would recommend adding it to the neckline.

After that, you just fold & pin all the hems and sew them up with a zigzag stitch, then go over the raw edge at the top of the stiff panel (where we cut the straps shorter).

And that’s it! You’re done! And now you can make your own binders whenever you want!

And hey! If you used this tutorial and wanna throw me a dollar or two on ko-fi, I wouldn't complain.

[nyctoaerah]

yandere satosugu x female reader? can you do jealousy headcanons (like what makes them jealous and/or what they do when they get jealous)? sorry if that wasn’t specific enough!

╰┈➤𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: Yandere behavior (duh) murder, possessiveness, gore. (Ooc maybe) satoru being an oa little shit. Poly relationship.

╰┈➤𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: Yandere! Satosugu x Fem! Reader

╰┈➤𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: WHAHAHA i didn’t knew if you wanted it to be separate or not anon, you said satosugu so i immediately assumed that it was a threesome. But heree, some hc’s:33 sorry pookie, i got lazy on suguru’s part:< SJAKEKSKA i did this first cause hc’s are the easiest to write💀💀💀

Masterlist

🔪Satoru struggles with pervasive jealousy issues, particularly when it comes to you and Suguru.

🔪This dude is like the embodiment of jealousy. he’s so envious he’s practically green with it. Hell he’s even jealous of himself. There was this one time he bet he could pull off dressing up as a girl for a dare, and oh boy, did he go all out. But then he got all pouty when you gushed all over him and got all touchy, something that you don’t really do often. And his reason of getting jealous with himself? He thought that you prefer him as a girl, like hello? you were supposed to prefer the original satoru and not his genderbent!

🔪But seriously, this guy’s jealousy knows no bounds. If Suguru flashes a flirty grin at someone else, bam, jealousy strikes. And if you dare compliment another soul? Jealousy overload. You hugged another man that isn’t suguru? He’s trying to force himself not to throw hands. This dude craves all the attention, all the affection, like a toddler hoarding toys in a playgroup. He’s aware he’s selfish, probably knows it’s not the best look, but he’s powerless against the possessiveness that overtakes him when it comes to you and Suguru. You both have this unique power to bring out the best and worst in him, after all, you two were the only one who sees him as “Satoru” and not as the “Strongest.”

🔪Satoru’s neurotic tendencies and jealousy issues stemmed from his messed-up childhood. The poor guy got stripped of his carefree youth and was thrust into the adult world way before his time after all. the jealousy bug bit him hard when he saw other kids having the time of their lives, while he was stuck with grown-ups fawning over him and expecting way too much and pressuring him. That childhood envy stuck to him like glue, and it grew into a full-blown mess when you, him, and Suguru became an item.

🔪The thing that grinds Satoru’s gears the most and the absolute worst, is when you and Suguru says something about other people’s eyes like; “Their eyes is so pretty” Blah, blah, blah, bullshit like that. It kills him inside that you don’t shower the same love on his eyes. His eyes are prettier, more powerful, and literally very unique, and you hardly ever mention how beautiful it is.

🔪Satoru absolutely loathes it when you’re completely oblivious to someone flirting with you. He’ll shoot menacing glares at the culprit when you’re not paying attention, as if daring them to keep it up, and he would end up threatening them.

🔪Satoru doesn’t bother in hiding his emotions, he’ll whimper, pout, and stick to you and Suguru like glue. And would play the melodramatic card, guilt tripping you. Or he’ll just straight up threaten you or tell suguru about how naughty you are.

🔪🔪🔪

Satoru’s head rested delicately upon your lap as your dexterous fingers ran through his snow white tresses. He gazed at you upward, sky blue eyes peeking from beneath his snowy eyelashes.

“Can you give me your phone for a minute baby? I just wanna do something”

Without pause for consideration, you obliged his request and gave the phone into his outstretched hand.

“Yeah, sure, here.” You responded with a hum.

“What are you gonna do with it, anyways?” You questioned, before your eyes widened as you saw how satoru’s digits hastened across the interface, focused intently on blocking specific contacts from further reaching your line.

“Huh, ‘Toru, what the hell?”

“Wait—why are you blocking them? Those are my—” Your words faded as Satoru lifted his head from your lap and moves away from you, his piercing gaze fixed on yours as he gently grasped your chin between his forefinger and thumb.

“Why do you always insist on conversing with them, hmm? Do you like them?”

“What— no! It’s not like that, what the fuck?”

“If you really love me and Suguru, then you have to sever ties with that girl/guy and keep your distance, okay?”

🔪Suguru really isn’t the jealous type, because he’s all about trust and loyalty when it comes to you and Satoru—He trusts you two.

🔪But, every now and then, a feeling of jealousy creep up inside him when he sees you and Satoru hanging out and having fun without him. He tries to brush it off though, understanding that you two are really close. He just wants to see his pretty lovers smiling, or at least that’s what he tells himself.

🔪When Suguru starts feeling jealous, it’s not a pretty sight. Beneath that kind and laid-back exterior lies a man who doesn’t really forgive that much. Suguru doesn’t forgive, and he doesn’t forget.

🔪Suguru may be a master at concealing his jealousy, but when it does surface, it’s like a storm crashing down. Picture this: you innocently text someone he’s really jealous of, and before you know it, your phone is pulled from your hands and tossed across the room while he summons a cursed spirit to destroy it completely, only to be replaced with a brand-new one moments later. Oh, and that person you were casually chatting with? It’s either you can consider them ghosted or consider them dead.

🔪Mentioning your ex around him was a big no-no. Because it immediately triggers him. can��t you just keep the spotlight on him and Satoru? One tiny mention of your ex’s name or Satoru reminiscing about his past flings, and Suguru’s mood immediately becomes sour.

🔪In stark comparison to Satoru, Suguru remains nonchalant about compliments being thrown around. He’s all for lifting people up until those compliments take a flirtatious turn. If that line is crossed, however, his cursed spirits will have its new meal.

🔪If Suguru was jealous and it led to an argument between you two, he would turn on his ultimate weapon—the silent treatment. He’d nonchalantly start hanging out with other people, making sure you noticed just to annoy you and make you jealous. He was well aware of his petty tendencies, but deep down, he simply wished for you to drop the bratty act and apologize.

🔪If you don’t really apologize and just pushed him over the edge... Well, you’ll have to say goodbye to your sanity because suguru is brutal as fuck when it comes to giving punishment.

🔪Unlike Satoru, who would guilt trip and manipulate you, Suguru would take it up a notch on the intensity scale. He wouldn’t shy away from using violence after all. And that doesn’t only apply to the person that he’s envious of, that applies to you too, and satoru. But that’s the difference, Satoru is a good boy, and you’re not.

🔪Suguru would be more than glad to kill someone in front of you and force you to watch it after all. He’ll hurt you too if you thrash and scream instead of being a good girl.

And you can’t really escape the both of them, after all, their love is like a noose.♡

🔪🔪🔪

Suguru’s hand forcefully clamped over your quivering lips, stifling any cries that tried to escape. His breath was hot against your skin, his fingers digging into your flesh with an iron grip, rendering you immobile. The metallic tang of blood invaded your nostrils. Your eyes were wide with terror, pupils shrinking, and your pulse quickening. A sickening view of gore played out before your horrified gaze, crimson splattering the walls, each nauseating squelch echoing through the room.

“I told you to stay away from them and you didn’t listen...” Suguru whispers, his breath hot against your neck, his delicate mouth parting to suck hard upon your pulsing skin, his mouth works its way slowly along your skin. And you shudder involuntarily beneath his touch, fear coursing through you as his lips close around a patch of flesh, sucking hard.

“See...? This is what happens when you disobey.”

The sharp prick of his teeth sends bolts of pain ricocheting through your body. Your already unsettled stomach lurches violently at the sight that greets you as you raise your head, struggling against his grip.

Before you, bound fast to a wooden chair, was the friend you had jokingly flirted with. Tears stream unchecked down their pallid cheeks, mingling with traces of dried blood, as their cries continue to ring in your ears.

Every limb was callously severed, Their bones was protruding out—the metacarpal bones, the carpal bones, the humerus, the ulna, the fibula, and other bones,  Their arms and legs are covered in long, vivid scarlet lines that are three inches wide, intersecting each other in a crisscross pattern and the wounds appear to have breached the surface of their skin, While suguru’s cursed spirits feeds on their severed flesh.

With a low, self-satisfied hum, Satoru drags the tip of the scalpel upwards your friend’s cheek, cutting them and the skin opens, revealing their inner facial muscle. He then reaches out to grasp a fistful of your friend’s hair, yanking their head back sharply to force clouded eyes up to meet your own.

“Suguruuuu, what do i do next? Do we gouge their eyes out for looking at our pretty girl that way?” 

“Do it. She said that she likes their eyes anyways... She’s probably implying that she prefers their eyes over yours.” Suguru smirks, humming as he pressed his body against yours, enjoying the way satoru’s face suddenly fell.

“Haah... Looks like i’ll be enjoying gouging their eyes then.”

[zazaiafe2]

My theory on shifting and manifestation: a deeper take based on experience, data and observations.

I want to explain here my current vision of the shifting process, how I personally see manifestation, and how I try to integrate scientific reasoning, personal experience, and collective data. This isn't meant to be the only truth, just my contribution, based on my own research, practice, and discussions.

1) Shifting is not purely about intention or assumptions

First I feel the need to remember people what is an assumption because I feel like something we're losing the plot regardless of what is an assumption or not .

The mainstream community often emphasizes intention or assumptions as the key to shifting. While I agree that intention plays a role, I don’t think it’s the sole determining factor.

Why I also highly doubt beliefs is the only cause of shifting.

If intention alone was enough, most people would have shifted after years of practice. Yet even highly motivated shifters with strong assumptions sometimes struggle, while others shift accidentally. That suggests that other variables are at play.

From my perspective, the emotional state, mental state, and neurocognitive profile of the person are also very important. Shifting happens when our awareness, which I personally view as informational or non-physical consciousness(or awarness), disengages partially or fully from this reality interface (the brain-body) and realigns to another system.

So yes: you need the intention, but also a certain inner state that allows this "disentanglement" to occur. Some people can enter that state easily, others need more practice depending on their cognitive profile.

2)We are not just "manifesting everything", Co-creation exists

I am highly skeptical of the narrative that "you manifest 100% everything that happens to you just by assuming it."

If that was fully true, then:

We wouldn’t experience accidents or unexpected suffering we never consciously assumed.

People wouldn’t struggle with fears that do not materialize despite strong and repetitive intrusive thoughts.

For example: I have strong anxiety sometimes about my heart, I’ve assumed many times that I was having heart issues during panic attacks, yet here I am, healthy. That’s not due to luck, but shows the limits of the "assumption = creation" model.

I believe we co-create reality. There is an interactive field of information where multiple variables (external, collective, individual) play a role. Your assumptions and beliefs influence probabilities, but they’re not almighty. Other informational structures (external laws, collective energies, higher self, system coherence) participate in this co-creation.

3)Why I still care about brain function even if shifting is non-physical

People asked me: "If shifting is non-physical, why do you care about the brain, neurocognition or psychology?"

Because even if awareness is non-physical, in this current CR, our brain is still our interface. It filters, limits, and structures how awareness functions here. Our cognitive flexibility, dissociative capacity, identity fluidity, self-talk regulation, and emotional regulation, all tied to brain functioning, directly impact how easily we can "detach" from this interface.

This explains why highly dissociative or identity-fluid individuals often shift more easily: their interface allows easier awareness movement. Others may need to "train" their interface to allow for this loosening of fixation, I believe that if everyone had the same capacity we would not have such strong correlations in certain areas.

For exemple most people who shift on command have a very fluid identity while the majority of people who have little or no shifting have a very busy mind all the time and a lot of self-criticism.

4)Emotional states: high impact vs. low impact

One major pattern I’ve observed through data (including my own small research polls) is that emotional state plays a major role , but not in a simplistic "positive = good" way.

States like calmness, serenity, even sadness (if soft and stable) seem to support shifting.

States like stress, panic, anger, high euphoria often disrupt shifting.

I call it "low impact vs. high impact" emotions rather than "positive vs. negative". The nervous system needs to be at low activation (low arousal), with some inner focus. That allows the awareness to untether more easily from this interface.(In most case)

5)identity fluidity matters more than most think

Shifters who report being able to shift "on command" often have highly fluid identities. Their sense of self is flexible and less anchored to rigid structures.

This doesn’t mean you must be "neurodivergent" to shift. But cognitive profiles with:

-Less rigid self-concept

-High imaginative capacity

-Dissociative traits (non-pathological)

-Flexible internal narratives

…tend to have an easier time. For others, it takes more training to loosen those structures.

6) Shifting ≠ Manifestation

I differentiate shifting and manifestation:

Manifestation (as I see it) is the local manipulation of probability lines within one existing reality system. You "tweak" conditions within a coherent field (can be done in any reality).

Shifting is the relocation of your awareness field to another coherent informational structure (i.e., a parallel or alternate reality).

Assumptions may play into both. But shifting seems more complex than "I assume and shift instantly". System coherence, informational entanglement, and permission of higher informational structures seem to participate.

7)"If we had full control, reality would collapse"

If every individual fully manifested instantaneously everything they assumed, we would live in non-coherent chaos. Yet reality remains generally stable across billions of individual awareness fields. This suggests structural coherence rules exist.

It’s comforting to believe we have full power, but maybe more mature to accept that we have high influence within a shared structure.

8)Shifting accidents are one of the strongest proofs of co-creation

Many shifters report accidental shifts when they weren’t even trying. This shows that there’s more than just conscious intent: it involves deeper informational permission states, external resonance, or unknown factors.

If conscious intention was 100% responsible, accidental shifts wouldn’t exist.

22% of those who shift on command say the time they will shift is unpredictable

9) We need more nuance, less dogma

The community often lacks room for nuanced discussions. Dogmas like:

-"You manifest 100% everything instantly."

-"Assumptions are all that matter."

-"If you fail, it's your fault for not assuming strongly enough."

…are mentally exhausting and unrealistic for many. We need models that allow for:

-Individual variation

-Neurocognitive diversity

-Emotional state regulation

-Acceptance of external informational structures

-That doesn’t mean disempowering people, but giving them more accurate tools.(And also recognizing we don't have all the full truth)

✅ In short in my pov :

-You do have creative power.

-Assumptions influence reality, but are not absolute.

-Emotional regulation and interface flexibility matter.

-We co-create within a semi-autonomous informational multiverse.

-Shifting involves more than just beliefs; it’s a realignment process of awareness.

-We need nuanced, mature models, not spiritual meritocracy (for me it's clearly a reflection of this reality mindset)

I hope this helps clarify my view. I welcome respectful discussion, even if you don’t fully agree. My goal is not to "convert" people, but to enrich the understanding of a highly complex, fascinating process that deserves better investigation.

I also want to add this: many of you say it’s "effortless", but I often see people beating themselves up with endless affirmations, reprogramming methods, assumption drills, and techniques you try to force into your mind. To me, that still requires a certain form of effort. While I do believe shifting can eventually become more effortless, many of you don’t seem to actually follow this principle in practice.

Some will think or say "I create limiting beliefs" well even with this way of thinking I managed to shift (13 time) and manifest more times than I can count, I plan to shift to a scientific Dr to be able to study shifting in a more scientific way with adapted tools.

[unteriors]

I assume you’ve probably answered this before, but what exactly is the underlying politics of this blog? I don’t quite understand the connection between neoliberal capitalism and pictures of desolate housing listings.

Thanks if you take the time to reply! -anon

We live in a bizarre intermediate period where capitalism appears to be eating itself. I originally came across the Gramsci quote in the header via Noam Chomsky in 2015/2016, when he was using it to refer to the pre-Trump lunacy that was taking over the Republican Party. In the US, this seems to have been a sort of cancerous outgrowth of decades of austerity and privatisation and deregulation that began with the end of Bretton Woods and took off in earnest in the 80s under Reagan. Similar processes have been at work to varying degrees across much of the world, throbbing occasionally with particular enthusiasm depending on the elected government, abating temporarily during other periods of Third Way-ite labour stagnation. Housing is at the core of these recent historical trends, and of the relationship between the government and its citizens. I don't know if it could exactly be called the main driving factor, but it plays an enormous role in how we work, how we form relationships, and how we interface with society generally. I remember reading a quote from a conservative politician in the UK in the 80s, responding to a question about why they didn't build more public housing to address the growing homelessness problem; he said something to the effect of 'that would just breed another generation of Labour voters.' I think the cannier politicians (and business leaders) are very aware of their capacity to shape our lives through housing like this.

A similar process has been at work in my country since World War II. We had a succession of two very good Labor Prime Ministers during the 1940s: John Curtin and Ben Chifley. They developed our version of the vast postwar public housing programs that most Western countries had. This provided stable, affordable (or often just free) housing for a huge chunk of the population who wouldn't have had access to it before the war. After Chifley, a conservative government under Robert Menzies came to power in a wave of anti-communist hysteria. Menzies appealed directly to a class of the population which he called the 'forgotten people': people in the middle strata of society who, in his characterisation, didn't get involved in trade unions or radical political organisations, didn't protest, and just wanted to get on with their lives in an apolitical solitude. In reality, this was less of a class of people that already existed and more one he set out to proactively create. He did this, in part, by altering the public housing scheme to give the baby boomers the right to buy the property the government had given them. This entrenched home ownership and, arguably, introduced a level of scarcity to the public housing stock in the long-run, and set the groundwork for later government support of housing as a financial asset, guaranteed to appreciate. It also, in a way, helped create that class of 'quiet' Australian: a solid middle 75-80% of the population that could be guaranteed a comfortable, suburban lifestyle, within an apolitical bubble quietly guaranteed by interventions into the economy by the government and regulation of the housing market in their favour. Over the years, this proportion of the population has gradually decreased, more markedly so since the overt financialisation of housing under John Howard in the early 2000s, and it's fallen off a cliff since COVID.

There's a tradition in art that I've been interested in for a while which involves broadening creative fields (in artmaking or criticism) through direct engagement with fields of work, of machine production, of lived experience or other symptoms of the oppressive political reality we live under (realism in the Linda Nochlin sense). You see it in the controversy around Courbet's paintings of manual workers, much of Andy Warhol's work and general contempt for the art world (his silkscreens of graphic photos of car crashes he found in the newspaper stand out to me), or more recently some of the controversy that came from Tracey Emin's installations. More broadly, there's something to be said about the conscious effort to make transparent and use aesthetically the machine behind the reproduction, or distribution, or amplification, etc., of art. The use of feedback in music seem to me to be an example of this. To use a couple of examples of a period of music I'm particularly interested in, grunge is one example, but so are reggae sound systems which use custom-made valve amps that give an enormous low-end to vinyls they would play, to the point of using the records as instruments to create a sort of rumbling distortion (Jah Shaka's sessions seem to have premediated alternative rock, operating on parallel tracks). These forms of creative production seem to organically emerge from the detritus of industrialisation, and seem to respond to its alienation and atomisation of human relations. I'm interested in breaking the functionality of illegitimate systems. At uni I took a series of photographs of the backs of shops. There was something comforting in identifying how a commercial entity wanted to be presented visually, and then representing it in the exact opposite way. Similarly, though I don't know if this could be considered an art project, I like an incompetent realtor. The aesthetic qualities of a real estate listing that completely fails in its intended purpose can be quite rich, in some ways liberating. An enormous amount of imagery is generated by the institutional machinery of commercial institutions, much of it ephemeral. If you rescue some visual artifacts from this increasingly engorged flood and look at them against their intended purpose you get a little window into the broader world, where advertising agencies and algorithms and real estate agents and SEI specialists, etc., aren't constantly grabbing your face and forcing you to look at the most boring and monetisable parts of the visual world. You have the opportunity to experience fear, hate, genuine nostalgia and melancholy, various other complex passionate experiences inaccessible in the neoliberal digital machine perversion of visual culture and creative experience.

This is a kind of a roundabout way of answering your question. Maybe part of my motivation has something to do with the relationship between art and work. If you reject the art as some higher, privileged category interpretation (i.e. this is just a photograph, but this other photograph is Art), then the boundaries of what constitutes art, or what can be read as art, are pretty porous. The machinery of industrialisation and capitalism took away the ability of people working in home workshops to have some control and creative involvement in their own working lives and turned them into atomised, specialised machine parts at the mercy of their employers and the market. The parts of work that could be considered contiguous with what we call art have been severed. Art and artists have suffered the same effects; contemporary artists seem to me not that different from other independent professionals. If you go to a dentist's office on Cambridge Street in Perth they'll often have a brochure with a blurb about their history and their mission as medical professionals, etc., on the front counter, and by the same token every artist in an exhibition is taught to provide their own little didactic overview of their niche interests, mostly independent from deeper, shared commitments (lumped together like a sack of potatoes, per Marx). I feel it makes sense to reach back out into other parts of the economy force art into them.

[lurinatftbn]

VN adaption news!

Got a different sort of announcement than the usual chapter one (which I forgot until days later again…) this week! As many of you are already aware, a visual novel adaption of The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere has been tentatively in the works for a while. Since I don't really like keeping secrets for the broad-strokes details of something like this, I thought the time was ripe to do an informal 'announcement'. So here's that!

(Example of our current art and interface direction. Actual sprites and background used for this scene very much not final!)

Though honestly, there's not a lot to say. The project will be more or less a direct translation of the work into a new format, though with some… minor adjustments to the storyline, in the interests of keeping the mystery elements fresh and amending a few of the bugbears I've personally built up regarding the plotting over the years. The game will be built in Ren'py (predictably), and joining me in development will the very talented Zerovirus, who'll be handling the art, while Benedict (Cordyceps, Star Seeker in: the Secret of the Sorcerous Standoff) is helping with some of the programming. Contributing to the OST will also be Xeecee, creator of lesbian murder nun game Misericorde, with the remainder handled by myself. (At least assuming I don't flub it and end up resorting to stock music lmao)

(The character bio menu. Also WIP.)

While we're undecided on the release model, the tentative plan is to release a short free demo at some point this year. After that, we'll put out a series of further updates semi-episodically, playable through a one-time purchase on itch. This will continue until we have enough for what feels like a 'complete' release - probably 1/3rd-ish of the story? - at which point we'll put this on steam or something, then start the process over for the next segment.

…and that's it! Stay tuned for future updates. I'm obviously in the privileged position of already having a fair few fans of the work, so I'd love to get feedback from people on things like the script changes or the character designs, so we'll hopefully be showing tidbits off semi-frequently going forward. Thank you as always for reading!

[transformers-spike]

Human SO giving TFP Ratchet a well-deserved break. Doctor gotta update his knowledge on anatomy, right?

Get his ass

Hours of watching Ratchet slave away at his workstation have taken their toll. You walk up behind him, confident enough he won’t accidentally crush you after dealing with the hyperactive-likes of Miko. “Hey docbot!” you cry out waving an arm at him. He turns around just enough to acknowledge your presence, massive brow plates furrowed into a wide V. “You should really consider taking a break now, it’s been at least…” you tap your chin thoughtfully – “20 cycles since you started your uh…” you gesture at the massive mechanical mass on his desk, “the thing.” To his credit, despite being clearly exhausted, he tones down the annoyance in his voice when he tells you he’s fine. Right, fine and dandy, you think. You’re half considering shimmying up his leg to get to his massive workstation, look him in the eye and tell him to clock in for the night. But before you can so much as touch his leg, he moves away from you, kneeling down to save your sorry ass neck from developing early onset scoliosis. “I appreciate your concern,” he says matter-of-factly, “but our kind can operate without rest for a considerable amount of time.” You almost wait for him to add something about humans being unable to withstand the same sort of stuff after the two-days-and-a-half all-nighter he watched you pull fuelled up on nothing but coffee and spite. Still, you are a shameless being, and so you overlook the judgment of his optics and reel him back in.

“Nope,” you shake your head. “Not when everyone else takes time to recharge, and especially not when you’ve been neglecting your energon intake.” You’re unsure if he seems more proud than frustrated when you give him his usual “get some rest” speech. You offer his pede a “that’s final” pat as he takes the time to contemplate his next course of action. While staring right at the thingamajig on his desk… “Alright,” you say with your hands on your hips, “well if you don’t want to stop working, guess little old me’s going to keep all their human anatomy for themselves.” You hide the evident smugness in your voice with whininess. Said whininess rings out just loud enough in the (thankfully) empty bridge room for you to cringe inside. Cybertronians have thinner face plating compared to the rest of their frames, which gives the energon underneath just enough transparency to come to the surface in what you’ve come to describe as a blueberry blue blush. Holy shit, you think. Did my lack of game actually work? “I won’t let you impale yourself on my spike,” he states with the finality of a death throw executioner. “I know I know,” you mumble sheepishly, “but what do you say?” You flash him a smile promising mischief. He gives you a final once over, ex-vents loud enough to have the noise reverberate in your ears, and gently offers you a hand to climb on.

Back in his berthroom, you grind against his interface panel with enough force to fuck up your zipper. Another pair of jeans ruined in this economy to Ratchet’s bemusement, even if he hides it under a good-natured scowl. “Well shit,” you say, proceeding to remove your pants and everything else on your person in the sexiest manner you can strip, which probably looks more like a headless chicken wrestling with the clothes it evidently shouldn’t be wearing. Not that Ratchet minds. His optics trail from the curvature of your neck to the moles and odd freckles bespeckling your chest before receding down to the stretch marks across your stomach and hips. As odd as it feels having someone – an alien lifeform no less – taking in the many flaws of your body, you feel no judgment emanating from him. You would assume the interest he has in your shape is aesthetic in a scientific manner, like a botanist observing the upturned petals of a newly discovered species – but the softness of his gaze indicates much more than that.

You don’t flinch when he reaches out an exploratory digit to stroke your skin – heck, you turn around and give him 360 access to everything he wants, completely unabashed by your own nakedness. Glancing over your shoulder, you can almost hear the anatomical jargon in his head as he traces a finger over your trapezius.

“Please don’t tell me you’re taking mental notes again.”

“My processor is resting just fine,” he responds. You’re halfway through calling him a liar when he scoops you up with ease and brings you to his lips. The kiss is featherlight, tickling the nerves between your trapezius and latissimus dorsi. You let out a short sigh of content and crane your neck just enough to kiss him right on his nose-ish area. It feels much harder than the rest of his face, probably because it’s part of his helm. Eh, you’ll ask later, you’re already far enough with your one way ticket to fingertown. Right on cue, his eyelids flutter open, blue optics draping warm light over your naked and suddenly too cold body.

You hear the familiar whirring of his interface panel and you send him a look of incomparable excitement as you glance from his rapidly pressurizing spike to his flushed face.

“Can I?” you ask like a child at an ax throwing competition. His vents flip to their third setting, but he nods cautiously.

Mass displacement, for all the three hour and a half explanation he gave you, may be completely off the table with team Prime’s worrying level of energon, but at this point you’re too excited to care.

He sets you down in his lap, close enough for you to finally get a good up close and personal look at his spike. Fuck human flashing, this thing literally glows with blue biolights, grey and metallic with the same orange accents of his frame. If you had any brain cells left, you’d be tempted to ask him if Cybertronians can cosmetically change the paint of their spikes. Sadly, you’re too busy ogling at his valve to care.

You crawl over to it and lean down to look into its upside down vastness like a cave explorer. Not a second later, your 300 IQ brain considers shoving your entire arm up his valve, if only to prove you can be just as good if not better than a Cybertronian in the berthroom (human ego and all). Just as fast as the thought appears, you’re now batting it away reminding yourself it’s too risky considering its piston mechanism. If it can take a 7 foot tall metal dick, you don’t want to find out how easily those walls can close around you and shatter your radius, ulna and humerus, and possibly turn your muscles into organic mush.

Oh shit. Naked and bent over like this he’s definitely gotten a good look at the entirety of your wiggling genitals while you were exploring his open interface panels. Quite the gentleman (and pervert you assume), he hasn’t mentioned your – ahem, situation until now.

Taking it in stride with overinflated confidence, you send a wink his way and immediately shove the tip of his spike into your mouth. If your jaw’s aching is anything to go by, going deep is most unwise – but Ratchet’s startled moan is all you need to go down another inch.

Whatever meager trust you’ve instilled in him is your one way to make your giant robot boyfriend overload so hard it cures his resting bitch face. You throw yourself into your work, mandibles threatening to give out as you bob your head up and down not even half of his spike tip.

“That’s enough,” he calls out, struggling to regain cognizance from the sound of his strained vocalizer.

His warning means well, but at this point you’ve sacrificed too much of your jaw to give up. You take your courage by the dick and go as far as you can without dislocating it, breath cut short by his sheer girth.

This, for all its meager worth, is just what he needs. Your remaining brain cell has enough foresight to constrict your larynx when his transfluid shoots down your throat.

“Spit it out!” he cries out like an underpaid teacher watching a student shove the class pet into their mouth. “You don’t know what it could do to your biology!”

You cough and sputter, but it’s too late, you’ve swallowed it whole. You turn to meet Ratchet who’s looking at you like he’s about to turn into an ambulance and cart you off to the hospital with June on speed dial.

“Hopefully get me pregnant,” you say with a wink, batting your eyelashes at the docbot.

[acatwithstockings]

Controversial Good Omens Takes and HC bc I like to see the world burn. (The last one will make you question my sanity)

I prefer Bond obsessed Crowley over queen fan Crowley. Don't get me wrong, it's cute and the fanarts with him and Freddy are always a treat HOWEVER it just doesn't line up with my reading of the text and Bond obsessed Crowley is right there. I mean he literally got petrol ONCE to get the promotional bullet hole transfers that he put on his Bentley.

Personally I hc Crowley as tech illiterate. Hear me out. So in the book he basically gets tech gadgets (his watch, his computer, his stereo) bc they are stylish, not bc they are practical. Literally his stereo is missing something critical yet still works bc he believes it should. So I think he is just great at pretending to know how tech works and things just seem like he does bc he believes that's how things should be. Actually he doesn't even know where to set his lockscreen. His phone just never dared to not have the correct one. And yes I know he hacked a few computers for the M25 well jokes on you, in that one deleted scene he does all those theatrics to bring down the phone network only to ultimately dump coffee over the server. He literally could have achieved the same thing from home. His hacking back in the day probably involved braking and entering and switching out the storage mediums manually. Not very tech literate if you ask me.

Aziraphale on the other hand is surprisingly tech literate, he is just a few decades behind. This one needs another explanation. So basically Aziraphale knows how things work, could probably explain to you in excruciating detail the program structure of any given application. He just struggles with graphical user interfaces and doesn't like non tactical inputs. He prefers to start his programs via console commands and probably finds it silly that people stopped memorizing where their files went. He'd probably run circles around any expert once given woefully outdated tech. So basically he understands how the fundamentals work and what's under the hood, so to speak, but he just really doesn't see the point in making it all work via pretty pictures and without clicky keys. I mean he still files his very accurate taxes on an Amstrad (was it an Amstrad ? Idk old computer, currently too lazy to look up which one he has)

(this one is probably not quite as controversial) No human in modern times will recognize what they are and remember it. So basically even tho Madam Tracy literally got possessed by Aziraphale, and had things explained to her, she probably forgot about the incident right after or if she remembers she believes Aziraphale to be a ghost and would not recognize him if she ran into him again. Simply bc that would fit her interanized world view better. Something, something about the human mind finding 'rational' explanations for the things they have been through. So basically Aziraphale and Crowley are real dumbasses when it comes to pretending to be human but they don't realize it, bc they just assume they are good at it and reality makes sure nobody proves them otherwise.

This here concludes the HC portion of this post. Turn around now, beyond this point only literary and fandom takes can be found pfff

The novel has the better ending. Don't get me wrong I love the show and the body swap. But you win some you lose some. Personally I think having their headquarters even attempt to execute our two idiots takes away from the overarching theme of the story. The whole point of having angels and demons be involved and having hell and heaven be dead set on the apocalypse is to basically frame humanity as the driving force. Aziraphale and Crowley are useless and so are their headquarters. They are detached pencil pushers obsessed with the illusion of control without actually having any. They follow their plan bc that's what they think they have to do, without ever considering the thing they have been entrusted with. They have as much of an idea what's going on as everybody else but make a point about pretending they the answers. They are all powerful but in the grand scheme of things barely move the needle. Them just pretending everything was fine and not punishing Aziraphale and Crowley to keep up face bc it's easier to pretend that THIS was the great plan after all, is hilarious and fits their role in the story better in my opinion. Then again they got more involved in the show so their role shifted slightly anyway soooo ehhhh.

While we all (hopefully) have disavowed Neil Geiman at this point, there is a conversation to be had (and a bit of unpacking to be done) on how much that person influenced and shaped the Good Omens fandom as it is today by positioning himself as the defacto authority over the story for DECADES. It actually insane how far back this goes. Just look at the Terry Gilliam adaptation that never happened. NG posted more about it than official sources despite also being on record stating that he doesn't want to be involved with another adaptation attempt at the time. Going as far as mentioning it in a completely unrelated context on occasion. That dude literally reshaped the narrative around the whole of Good Omens whenever it seemed to give him browney points. He even had a habit of dropping in other Terry Prattchet properties in a very strange way (in retrospective) and sure we know the two of them were friends and we can't judge their relationship bc we were not there BUT it's just very funny to see how Sir Terry had a consistent narrative the times he mentioned Good Omens on record, while NG not only talked a whole lot more about it, constantly, but also seems to reshape the narrative continuously in small ways.

(This point will make you question my sanity) There are influences from the 1992 movie script that made their way into the TV adaptation we finally got and possibly shaped the discussion about the sequel. Examples of that are Crowley's habit of snapping/him having anger issues , the concept of them being punished, Adam's dialogue with Satan, the starting point of the sequel/S3 aka Crowley being no longer affiliated with hell while Aziraphale is still affiliated with heaven. There are a few other things that are not in the novel but make a first appearance (as far as we know of bc I don't think we will ever get to read the script that was written in collaboration before the shit!script) in that version of the story. Sooo yhea you can say there are at least some subconscious influences.

[revelboo]

While theyre all connected, the idw are in different time placements. Current ironhide hasn’t watch the video yet. also sparkling as a nickname and the way he treats his ward is so, hnng. Something about an older man treating his younger partner as a kid even when theyre very much, theyre an adult. I eat that dynamic so much. Optimus gives me the vibes with bluestreak, maybeee sideswipe, to sparkbond just because of love (op & blue) and taboo (sideswipe for the sparkplay and thrill, rip sunny). The latter is giving major oops sparked the human vibes, but honestly the number one likely to spark up their human is prowl. Jazz is 50/50 depends on his state of mind and is content with just having his human next to him even if he wants more and more. Wheeljack is slow burn and rip to his human. If this idw is unicorn and the millitary a thing or that its own thing?

The joints are ridiculously stiff and brittle on the gold editions. Pretty, but trying to pose them feels like they might break

Explanations/ Random Headcanons

The message has gone out at this point, but Prowl and Ironhide haven’t watched it yet. Ironhide couldn’t care less about any lies Megatron tells. Prowl will watch it because it’s intel and then be horrified. As far as he knows, he’s the only one that’s gotten ‘deviant’ with a human and like the rest of the Autobots, he assumes the worst with the Decepticon kept humans. Wheeljack is too awkward to really make a move with his. Blue’s too shy. Jazz definitely isn’t shy. Sideswipe… yeah, he’s going to be a worse gremlin now that he knows what’s possible. For Ironhide, he’s older and is going to treat reader more like a kid until he starts getting to know them. And probably after that, too.

For sparking, they have to combine interfacing and sparkplay at the same time between a fully bonded pair (this is just my take for the sake of my fics), so as long they’re experimenting with one or the other or the bond isn’t complete, they’re safe. The fact that it’s taboo, though makes it more enticing since they don’t realize there can be repercussions. Assuming, like Star and TFP Megs did, that there’s nothing to spark bond to, so they can just have the euphoric feel of someone touching their spark without any consequences.

What’s I’m calling ‘IDW’ is inspired by the characterizations from the comics since they got a bit more fleshed out, but also the G1 cartoons. It’s an AU I’m creating using bits of each. Pretty much both sides had crashed on earth a long time ago, but only recently came online and started scouting for resources. They’re aware of each other on Earth, but aside from a few small skirmishes, the war’s not in full swing again yet as both sides try to hoard energon and materials they’ll need once the fighting really starts. The military hasn’t discovered them yet since they just snatch any humans that see them and otherwise are laying low. Haven’t decided about Unicron, yet.

I do take liberties with timelines. In the pieces I’m lumping under ‘Lost Light’ on the Masterlist. Those fics all happen around the same time, but might be characters from IDW’s MTMTE or RID arcs with liberties taken. Flywheels was already gone from the Scavengers. Tarn and the DJD aren’t aware that the war is over yet or that Megatron has defected. Sunder is on the Lost Light already after being captured for his murders, but Pharma is still harvesting T-cogs for Tarn and hasn’t reencountered Ratchet or unleashed his rust plague out of desperation. Ambulon and First Aid are on Delphi with him in that fic and unaware of his activities.

I also tend to sidestep some events. Breakdown needs to live for what I have planned for him and Knockout.

But yeah, this is just the nonsense way my brain works, so don’t take anything too seriously since I just write for fun

[muletia]

was looking through your merformers stuff again bc its delish and I thought about the readers body changing and like. I understand why you'd wanna be with your little mer family but i was thinking that'd also initially be probably pretty darn Terrifying™ to the reader who was just trying to show their love for their mer. Imagine finding it slowly getting a little more difficult to breathe on land and how the water feels more of a home than your little raggedy hut ever has. You notice your fingers no longer prune in the water and you're not so sure if the skin between your fingers was ever that high, but assume your mind is playing tricks on you. One day, you notice long, thin lines on the side of your neck (or ribs based on ur hcs). One day, you fall into the water, the sea floor deeper than where you can typically just stand up and walk a little closer inland on the shore. And in your instinctual desperation for air overriding common sense, you breathe in. Confused when the burning of saltwater does not meet your lungs, and confused when you're somehow breathing better than in the past month(s).

okay i might've gotten a wee carried away but still. anyways aside from that aspect i wonder if like ALL the mers would know of that? (like opti and ratch obv might with the whole island lore thing going on, but what of Megatron for example?) anyways im just rambling now so!

Oh yes, the whole concept of physical changes in a human body after getting a little too cozy with a fish has so much potential for psychological horror. You’re slowly ceasing to be human, turning into something else, something in between, and not everyone would cope well with that. Especially if we’re not talking about living on a deserted island, but trying to maintain a normal life while visiting your mer occasionally. Suddenly you have to quit your job, your career, leave behind your life with family and friends because haha, the interfacing was too good and exotic.

Unless we borrow the idea from Luca, and you don’t actually have to give up your life on land or deprive your mer of swimming together because you can switch between land and aquatic forms at will. Boom, problem solved, everyone’s happy.

As for Megatron, your changes would come as a surprise to him. He had no idea his transfluid had such properties, given that his species almost never interacted with humans and definitely not in a positive way. So when he sees your body changing in real time, he’s genuinely caught off guard. Of course, he won’t show it openly… but the fact that he can now swim with you in his lake? That works very much in his favor.

[hplonesomeart]

Here’s an short unsuccessful test I did today; attempting to create an animation in a program I quite literally have ZERO experience with using ahaha :’)

Storytime/long ramble (unimportant):

I wanted to be like the “cool kids” and shift out of my comfort zone—no more relying solely on FlipaClip! Gotta branch out to a more effective program (ideally one that has an interface resembling animation software used directly in industry work)! I’ve seen people make good use of AlightMotion and figured it’s worth a shot!….that goal quickly fell apart <<

There’s definitely a wide variety of tools and especially emphasis on built-in editing features. I was intimidated by the sheer amount of mechanics going on at first, but gradually you get used to navigating stuff (even if some stuff I’m still trying to figure out the purpose of lmao). The only issue is that (to me at least) AlightMotion seems to handle tweening better then frame-by-frame animation. Which immediately lands me in a predicament of sorts since uh…can’t say I’m good at tweening. That would require me to actually finish coloring characters/have the ability to polish things using clean linework :P

Tweening (from my perspective) is about making something visually appealing by rigging separated assets of characters (like you would for puppets) rather then the whole. Or alternatively, some people tween by slightly moving the same drawn lines around on a singular drawing…so TLDR the exact opposite of frame-by-frame. I’m not an illustrator, I’m a storyteller. I can only manage rough line work with uncolored motions. Usually the smooth flow of frame-by saves me, else it would all look rather unfinished. I know where my strengths and my weaknesses lie; I’ve given AlightMotion a shot, but unfortunately it’s not gonna be solving the FlipaClip replacement problem 🥲

Was still beneficial challenging myself to play around with an unfamiliar environment! It’s a step in the right direction to encourage myself to try different things/figure out what works or doesn’t. If my patience didn’t wear thin, I’m sure I could’ve attempted authentic tweening instead of trying to push the program to work with frame-by-frame (it kept crashing, lagging, and pixelating while I tried to force it to comply with my methods. Think it’s safe to assume it doesn’t like me fighting against tweening lol). Who knows! Might return to AlightMotion in the future or might not. Depends on how adventurous or up for a challenge I’m feeling :3

Also goes without saying that online video tutorials would have probably helped—I’m just stubborn & prefer taking hands on approach sometimes. Learning any new program is gonna be overwhelming and scary at first, it is normal! I don’t think anything bad about AlightMotion. Just not for me at the moment. Was fun to play with while it lasted

[for-those-who-wait]

Hey I think I asked you about your Detroit become human au before a bit ago but I love the idea so much! I know you’re super busy but if you can I would love to see more about it!

Sorry for asking about it again I’m just really interested in it. 😭🙏

No please don't be sorry I love to talk about it whenever I'm not creatively bankrupt!! I'm just sorry it took so long for me to actually think of new stuff to add

I had some of these doodles already prepared but never really finished them up until I came up with a cute little idea

I didn't think of where to put in Flapjack until I remembered that android animals existed, and then I had a brain blast moment where I realized that Hunter can still talk to Flapjack! They are little android buddies, they can interface and talk and be friends!! I think it would also help to make him feel a bit more comfortable with his identity as an android to be able to have his little buddy to have fun private conversations with. Camila introduces them (maybe he had gotten hurt by a previous owner and she found him and let Gus fix him up) and Hunter is a bit tentative about it at first, but Flapjack is adorable and sweet and quickly wins him over

I just now had the idea that Gus, since he's super into android stuff, would probably be a big resource for software and hardware difficulties. Oh, you fell and your arm is working kinda wonky? Call up Gus, he'll crack you open and take a look. The dude doesn't mind in the least, he freaking LOVES going down mechanical and coding rabbit holes to better understand how androids work. I like to think that if Hunter ever got hurt and chose not to accept help because of body/species dysphoria, Gus would be a really good resource for him to try and feel as normal as possible while he's getting fixed. Gus is his brother and he loves him and they're just good to each other okay? Gus would probably crack some jokes or something to get Hunter's mind off it, or infodump about android organs or something (and Hunter would be begrudgingly interested because they are nerds, and Hunter is interested in androids too underneath all the problems he has with deviancy. Like dude they're robots, what's not to love?)

Also some Gus being so over Hunter's "androids can't feel love" phase featuring Vee and Masha being very adorable and very obviously in love :) Hunter is a very silly stupid man. He will find any way to make literally everyone exempt from the terrible rules Philip fed him, except for himself

I'm trying to think of a potential situation that would parallel Hunter's possession, and I think it would probably be basically the same thing that happens in Connor's deviant path (when he deviates and joins the revolution as an ally) where Amanda (a separate AI in his programming that's basically how CyberLife keeps him in check) takes over Connor's programming last minute to try and put a stop to the revolution.

So my current thought is that Philip is basically using Hunter as a trojan horse. His main programming is to act and believe like he's a normal human but similar to Connor, he's basically a sleeper agent without knowing. I imagine that once Hunter gains access to his software (thanks to Vee and Gus), he starts finding programs and files that are labeled as pretty scary things. He shouldn't have to know the most efficient way to shut an android down or incapacitate a human.

If and when Philip finally goes looking for Hunter and sees the first android he's seen in Gravesfield besides Hunter (aka Vee), he's not going to take that well.

I haven't drawn anything for it but so far I'm thinking that he takes control of Hunter's programming, maybe through some taking advantage of his interfacing system, and locks him in his own head a la Connor and Amanda to sic him after Vee and Flapjack (assuming that Philip's main goal, similar to both canons, is to eradicate deviants). It's likely that his friends will try to apprehend him, Vee or Gus will try (and maybe fail a couple times) to delete the programming while Camila deals with Philip. The guy is old and decrepit and Camila would absolutely whoop his ass with the ease of swatting a fly.

Things will be fine; Vee is all good and they manage to delete whatever programming screwed with Hunter's control, but that kid is going to be HELLA anxious about interfacing again from then on since he's afraid of 1) losing his own control and 2) potentially passing the virus onto someone else. It could go two ways at that point: Hunter could either kill Flapjack since Flapjack is technically a deviant android and therefore a target, or we can be nice and let Flapjack live to help him heal from this brand-new trauma.

So yeah hopefully that sates some curiosity! I'm glad you're interested in it because I honestly really love to think of new stuff whenever my brain decides to work hahaha

[artsekey]

I'd been seeing videos on Tiktok and Youtube about how younger Gen Z & Gen Alpha were demonstrating low computer literacy & below benchmark reading & writing skills, but-- like with many things on the internet-- I assumed most of what I read and watched was exaggerated. Hell, even if things were as bad as people were saying, it would be at least ~5 years before I started seeing the problem in higher education.

I was very wrong.

Of the many applications I've read this application season, only %6 percent demonstrated would I would consider a college-level mastery of language & grammar. The students writing these applications have been enrolled in university for at least two years, and have taken all fundamental courses. This means they've had classes dedicated to reading, writing, and literature analysis, and yet!

There are sentences I have to read over and over again to discern intent. Circular arguments that offer no actual substance. Errors in spelling and capitalization that spellcheck should've flagged.

At a glance, it's easy to trace this issue back to two things:

The state of education in the United States is abhorrent. Instructors are not paid enough, so schools-- particularly public schools-- take whatever instructors they can find.

COVID. The two year long gap in education, especially in high school, left many students struggling to keep up.

But I think there's a third culprit-- something I mentioned earlier in this post. A lack of computer literacy.

This subject has been covered extensively by multiple news outlets like the Washington Post and Raconteur, but as someone seeing it firsthand I wanted to add my voice to the rising chorus of concerned educators begging you to pay attention.

As the interface we use to engage with technology becomes more user friendly, the knowledge we need to access our files, photos, programs, & data becomes less and less important. Why do I need to know about directories if I can search my files in Windows (are you searching in Windows? Are you sure? Do you know what that bar you're typing into is part of? Where it's looking)? Maybe you don't have any files on your computer at all-- maybe they're on the cloud through OneDrive, or backed up through Google. Some of you reading this may know exactly where and how your files are stored. Many of you probably don't, and that's okay. For most people, being able to access a file in as short a time as possible is what they prioritize.

The problem is, when you as a consumer are only using a tool, you are intrinsically limited by the functions that tool is advertised to have. Worse yet, when the tool fails or is insufficient for what you need, you have no way of working outside of that tool. You'll need to consult an expert, which is usually expensive.

When you as a consumer understand a tool, your options are limitless. You can break it apart and put it back together in just the way you like, or you can identify what parts of the tool you need and search for more accessible or affordable options that focus more on your specific use-case.

The problem-- and to be clear, I do not blame Gen Z & Gen Alpha for what I'm about to outline-- is that this user-friendly interface has fostered a culture that no longer troubleshoots. If something on the computer doesn't work well, it's the computer's fault. It's UI should be more intuitive, and it it's not operating as expected, it's broken. What I'm seeing more and more of is that if something's broken, students stop there. They believe there's nothing they can do. They don't actively seek out solutions, they don't take to Google, they don't hop on Reddit to ask around; they just... stop. The gap in knowledge between where they stand and where they need to be to begin troubleshooting seems to wide and inaccessible (because the fundamental structure of files/directories is unknown to many) that they don't begin.

This isn't demonstrative of a lack of critical thinking, but without the drive to troubleshoot the number of opportunities to develop those critical thinking skills are greatly diminished. How do you communicate an issue to someone online? How do look for specific information? How do you determine whether that information is specifically helpful to you? If it isn't, what part of it is? This process fosters so many skills that I believe are at least partially linked to the ability to read and write effectively, and for so many of my students it feels like a complete non-starter.

We need basic computer classes back in schools. We need typing classes, we need digital media classes, we need classes that talk about computers outside of learning to code. Students need every opportunity to develop critical thinking skills and the ability to self-reflect & self correct, and in an age of misinformation & portable technology, it's more important now than ever.

[mychlapci]

It'd be real funny if because of his isolation and thinking he's stupid, mechs just assumed that B-127 was inexperienced in bed. But once they get started with him not only does he very much knows what he's doing, but he is HUNG. Like his spike unexpectedly huge for his size, both before and after he got a t cog.

D and Orion would found out while still in sublevel 50, deciding to interface to blow off steam on the day's events. Orion welcomes B in despite D's reluctance, feeling sorry for him and not wanting to confuse him about anything. They both fully expect to guide B though it, but then B starts to finger the both of their valves like a champ and it over from there. Both Orion and D turn to moaning sluts as B stacks them on top of each other and switches his big spike in between their valves, neither of them even registering that he's happily talking about something random nonstop. B's so big that not even his babbling can ruin the mood once its rearranging their insides.

Maybe after they got their cogs, Elita joins in as they get curious about their new bodies and are pleasantly surprised to see that B only got BIGGER. the high guards finds them as B was fucking into a squealing Elita while eating out D and fingering Orion, both boys having been freshly fucked and ready to still go. The guards that were sent to them just watches while finger themselves, definitely wanting to get a get a taste of B before they capture them.

SEX PEST BUMBLEBEE SUPREMACY!!! as i believe he is actually older than the rest of our main cast it is my duty to spread the notion that he Fucks and he Fucks Good. and you're right he probably has a huge fucking spike under those panels. he's so hung it's almost disproportionate. that's already an advantage, but he's so good at using it, too.

[canisxx]

Hey chat! I decided that I don't care if you care or not, I'll post it anyway. Because I'm a scientist nerd, and a TF2 fan.

So here you go, my theory on how the respawn machine actually works.

⚠️It'll be a lot of reading and you need half of a braincell to understand it.

The Respawn Machine can recreate a body within minutes, complete with all previous memories and personality, as if the person never died. We all know this, but I doubt many have thought about how it actually works.

Of course, such a thing is impossible in real life (at least for now), but we’re talking about a game where there’s magic and mutant bread, so it’s all good.

But being an autistic dork, I couldn’t help but start searching for logical and scientific explanations for how this machine might work. How the hell does it actually function? So, I spent hours of my life on yet another useless big brain time.

In the context of the Respawn Machine, the idea is that the technology can instantly create a new mercenary body, identical to the original. This body must be ready for use immediately after the previous one’s death. To achieve this, the cloning process, which in real life takes months or even years, would need to be significantly accelerated. This means the machine is probably powered by a freaking nuclear reactor, or maybe even Australium.

My theory is that this machine is essentially a massive 3D printer capable of printing biological tissues. But how? You see, even today, people can (or are trying to) recreate creatures that lived millions of years ago using DNA. By using the mercenary’s DNA, which was previously loaded into the system, the machine could recreate a perfect copy.

However, this method likely wouldn’t be able to perfectly recreate the exact personality and all the memories from the previous body. I believe the answer lies in neuroscience.

For the Respawn Machine to restore the mercenary’s consciousness and memories, it would need to be capable of recording and preserving the complete structure of the brain, including all neural connections, synapses, and activity that encode personality and memory. This process is known as brain mapping. After creating a brain map, this data could be stored digitally and then transferred to the new body.

“Okay, but how would you transfer memories that are dated right up until the moment of death? The mercenaries clearly remember everything about their previous death.”

Well, I have a theory about that too!

Neural interfaces! Inside each mercenary’s head could be an implant (a nanodevice) that reads brain activity before death and updates a digital copy of the memories. This system operates at the synaptic level, recording changes in the structure of neurons that occur as memories are formed. After death, this data could be instantly transferred to the new body via a quantum network.

Once the data is uploaded and the brain is synchronized with the new body, the mercenary’s consciousness "awakens." Ideally, the mercenary wouldn’t notice any break in consciousness and would remember everything that happened right up to the moment of death.

However… there are also questions regarding potential negative consequences.

Can the transfer of consciousness really preserve all aspects of personality, or is something inevitably lost in the process?

Unfortunately, nothing is perfect, and there’s a chance that some small memories might be lost—like those buried in the subconscious. Or the person’s personality might become distorted. Maybe that’s why they’re all crazy?

How far does the implant’s range extend? Does the distance between the mercenary and the machine affect the accuracy of data transfer?

My theory is that yes, it does. The greater the distance, the fewer memories are retained.

Could there be deviations in the creation of the body itself?

Yes, there could be. We saw this in "Emesis Blue," which led to a complete disaster. But let’s assume everything is fine, and the only deviations are at most an extra finger (or organ—not critical, Medic would only be happy about that).

Well, these are just my theories and nothing more. I’m not a scientist; I’m an amateur enthusiast with a lot of time on my hands. My theories have many holes that I can’t yet fill due to a lack of information.

[sihedwu]

Crystal Theory: The Binding, The One, and Everything

Alright everyone, the time has finally come to step onto the slippery slope and delve into the depths of uncertainty and various interpretations. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Today we’re gonna break down the Crystals and everything connected to them. We’ll even talk about the Medulla Crystal, by the way.

Crawling through the tag, I see you guys like to tell each other scary stories, like the Medulla Crystal is made of - get this! - actual BRAIN. Talk about nightmare fuel! >:D

Also, while lurking on a foreign website, I stumbled upon a really interesting take that the Aerrow and Piper duo were destined to be, like, the messiahs in our favorite show (hey there, I know you’re reading this >:D).

But to me, there’s something missing in all of this, like we’re seeing everything but still missing something super important. And now we’re gonna try to figure out what exactly that important thing could have eluded us. Let’s go.

Review of Hints

So, if you’ve been paying attention to the show, you’re probably aware of all the basics, such as, for example, that crystals can possibly be manufactured (episode “The Masked Masher”). But that’s not enough, we need new information. Let’s try to extract it from the hints that Mr. Asaph Fipke so kindly provided us. Let’s review them.

Our first stop is the episode “The Black Gorge”. Let’s remember the plot: our heroes decided to fly over the Black Gorge, but “something” sucked the energy out of their crystals and they fell down. But Piper found a solution:

She launched the Condor using this crystal, since the Black Gorge doesn’t affect it for some reason. Let’s remember this, it’ll come in handy.

Our next stop is the episode “Storm Warning”. Again, let’s remember the plot: the heroes stole a box of Leech Crystals, which steal energy, from the Cyclonians, and they discharged the Condor’s crystals. However, Piper again saved the situation by telling Stork to get rid of the crystals.

As we can see, as soon as Stork put the crystals in the isolator, the energy miraculously fully restored, and the Condor was able to take off. Let’s remember this and move on.

Our next stop is in the episode “The Lesson”. Let’s carefully watch what Arygyn will do now:

Let’s not get stuck on it, let’s remember it and move on.

Now let’s take a closer look at the episode “Five Days”. This time, there’s not much to comment on, it’s enough just to see it once:

Someone sees a glimmer of kindness in our beloved Master Cyclonis in this scene, while others quite reasonably ask: “who made that picture?” For us, it’s important that a photo can be stored in a crystal. Let’s remember this.

Our last stop is in the episode “The Key”. In this episode, we are introduced to the Binding.

We won’t dwell on them too much, just note that the abilities transferred through them are very reminiscent of the properties of some crystals. Let’s remember this and move on to the next step.

Fundamental Principle of How Crystals Work

So, let’s write down what we learned:

The Black Gorge somehow absorbs the energy of crystals, but does not affect the Solaris Crystal

If you drain the energy from crystals, and then remove the absorber, the energy of the crystals is immediately restored

Arygyn can turn off a crystal

Photos can be stored in crystals

Some abilities transmitted through Binding resemble the abilities of crystals

The inputs have been received. Now we can try to interpret them. I propose to do this with the following three postulates:

Postulate One: Information Can Be Stored in Crystals

This postulate is probably obvious, but its significance is far from obvious. For now, let’s focus on the fact that, in addition to photos, it should be possible to store, for example, a control program for a Suit of Untold Vengeance in a crystal.

Judging by the fact that the Medulla Crystal affects the user, we can assume that it is controlled using a neuro-interface, and the Medulla Crystal acts as a kind of “intermediary.” But that’s not important to us. Let’s move on to the next postulate:

Postulate Two: All Crystals, Without Exception, are Energy Receivers

Even the Solaris Crystal. It may sound crazy, but this assumption is fully consistent with what we see. If crystals receive energy from somewhere outside, then the miraculous restoration of energy after Stork hid the box in the isolator requires no explanation, and turning off in the Black Gorge can be compared to losing signal on a cell phone when you are outside the coverage area. However, the Solaris Crystal is still incomprehensible, as is the scene with Arygyn, so let’s move on to the final postulate:

Postulate Three: Binding is a Channel Through Which Crystals Receive Energy

So, the last postulate is quite straightforward. The scene with Arygyn should now become a little clearer, but the Solaris Crystal still requires explanation. Apparently, crystals are constantly and continuously in Binding, otherwise they would have turned off in the Black Gorge once and for all, as Arygyn seems to have done. However, in this case, we will have to assume that the analogy with cellular communication is not entirely correct, and in the “poor coverage area” the Binding simply weaken, but do not disappear completely. Weakening, they cannot provide the Condor’s take-off and the operation of the main systems, but are still able to maintain the Solaris Crystal in working order. The function of the Solaris Crystal is to accumulate solar energy; to store it, it uses the energy received from Binding. Most likely, there is not enough energy in one crystal to lift the Condor into the air, so the following explanation suggests itself: with the help of the energy accumulated by the Solaris Crystal, you can “strengthen” the weakened Binding. Apparently, this is exactly what Piper meant; in any case, this seems like a plausible explanation.

Binding and Information

According to the third postulate, this technique should be perceived as a temporary transformation of the user into a crystal. How exactly such a transformation occurs, I, unfortunately or fortunately, do not want to and will not explain, so let’s immediately move on to “unique” crystals, for example, this one:

According to the first postulate, to make this artifact, we need to record a “spell” - let’s call it that so as not to drown in the wilderness - of transforming an object into cheese in the crystal. This example is indicative, but other “unusual” crystals work in a similar way. We won’t dwell on them, let’s move on to the next point.

Source of energy

So, we assumed that crystals receive energy from somewhere outside. This entails the assumption that somewhere on Atmos there must be a source of energy for all crystals without exception. Drawing an analogy with cellular communication and, in principle, with radio waves, it is quite logical to assume that the source of all crystalline energy should resemble the TV towers and antennas familiar to us. Following this logic, the purpose of this structure becomes quite transparent:

Somewhere at this moment, an image of an incredibly advanced civilization may arise in your head, possibly reaching or very close to type 1 on the Kardashev scale, which built this transmitter to meet its energy needs. However, despite the fact that this conclusion seems logical, there are no explicit indications in the canon that this is the source of energy. With the same probability, it may be, for example, the core of the planet, and then the image of an incredibly advanced civilization will have to be seriously revised, and the purpose of this structure will remain a mystery. But whatever the source turns out to be in the end, our assumption leads us to a problem that we will now try to solve.

The One

In the episode “Origins”, this character claims that Piper is “the One”. The meaning of his words remains very, very vague to this day, but now we can try to assume what is behind them. First, you should ask an important question: since we assume that all crystalline energy is transmitted through Binding, then why are crystals needed at all on Atmos? You can just train “crystal mages” who will use Binding with the energy source, and no one will know grief. And so it turns out that this statement fits very conveniently into the picture of the world that we have just outlined. Thanks to it, we can assume that not just anyone is able to use Binding directly with the energy source, which is why they need crystals in order to be able to use this energy at all. Thus, I propose the following interpretation of these words: Piper is the primary crystal mage, that is, able to use Binding directly with the energy source. Master Cyclonis, in this case, will be a secondary crystal mage, that is, able to use Binding with crystals already connected to the source, but not directly to it. I believe this explanation is exhaustive, so we can move on to the final part of this analysis.

Piper’s Illness

Well, the moment has come to try to jump above our heads and stretch the facts to make our interpretations work on Atmos. Based on the third postulate, her illness can be explained as follows: Binding themselves are harmful to health, and their constant use will inevitably lead the user to such an outcome. However, Piper did not use Binding for 6 weeks and still got sick, and Cyclonis uses it like there’s no tomorrow and nothing happens to her from this. It is impossible to explain this just like that; we need a new entity. In order not to be completely unfounded, let’s try to derive it from these scenes:

We see that as soon as this aura covered Piper, she immediately felt better, and that Cyclonis clearly knows something that Piper doesn’t know (and doesn’t want to tell us). In order not to go beyond the third postulate, we will have to assume that secondary crystal mages, passing crystalline energy through themselves, cannot fully control it. Even after interrupting Binding, a residual charge remains in them, which, if not removed, will sooner or later bring any crystal mage to this state. Thus, I assume that Cyclonis, unlike Piper, knew that deactivation was needed to work with Binding. And in our case, Leech Crystals can act as deactivators. As for Piper’s healing, in that case we will have to assume that at this moment she used Binding directly with the energy source, thereby removing the residual charge. It sounds very doubtful, but there seems to be no better option…

So, I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything. If you’ve read this far and haven’t died of boredom, then congratulations. I do not claim to be the ultimate truth, just thoughts out loud.

Thank you all for your attention, bye.