#tempestmothtalk

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i wanna redraw this pic with the club but the problem is i cant decide which part is assigned to which because they are all of them at once so have this

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so how does that work

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actually can we talk about this what do you mean you hear the voices of your dead friends

you cant just stop it there wtf are they saying to you

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Ok since Monika still has her admin powers in the side stories you think she could just discover them accidentally or use them without realizing

Anyways au where Monika and friends discover her admin powers but dont know about the wider context of what it means. So they just go around thinking Monika has magic and try practicing with a bunch of silly fun shenanigans because they figure it’s some chosen one bloodline stuff and not like. A product of their reality being a constricted digital science experiment.

This au will not end well

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I’m thinking about the whole "you are not your feelings" theme the side stories have and how that contrasts with the main game

Like the two talks in reflection where Sayori and Monika tell the others about how their emotions don’t have to define who they are and don’t make them bad people. This theme of singular traits not defining who you are/not controlling who you want to be is backed up by the rest of the side stories, which exist to show how the characters are multifaceted and human. They aren’t tropes or defined solely by their thoughts or actions. They aren’t perfect nor pure evil, only people trying their best. They’re real, complex people, and the ‘you are not your feelings’ phrase is proof of that.

The side stories’ goal of presenting these characters as human go directly against a ~certain someone’s~ goal of flattening and dehumanizing them in the main game. Its clear Monika here doesn’t really learn the ‘you are not your feelings’ thing in this world, something that happens with a lot of the lessons learned in the side stories (i.e. the ones in each title). Due to the whole disillusionment with reality thing, her attitude to the rest of the club is pretty dismissive, seeing them as one-dimensional characters tropes, making whatever flaws they have as their defining trait.

I'm going to focus on the CANYOUHEREME.txt though cause it pretty easily sums up her feelings so I'm just gonna put it here

Beneath their manufactured perception - their artificial reality - is a writhing, twisted mess of dread. Loathing. Judgment. Elitism. Self-doubt. All thrashing to escape the feeble hold of their host, seeping through every little crevice they can find. Into their willpower, starving them of all motivation and desire. Into their stomach, forcing them to drown their guilt in comfort food. Or into a newly-opened gash in their skin, hidden only by the sleeves of a cute new shirt. Such a deplorable, tangled mass is already present in every single one of them. That's why I choose not to blame myself for their actions.

All I did was untie the knot.

This poem is interesting because it does make them out to be more human compared to the anime tropes Monika says they are in the act 3 talks, but replaces the empathy found in the side stories with disgust, painting the club as gross, immoral, and everything the girls fear themselves to be. Monika sees the stuff they hide, all the complex feelings and less savory traits, and sees it as their truth, their whole being. Their feelings define them, what they think is their worst is all they've ever been, and that these things make them awful people. When Monika forcibly brings these things to the forefront, it's their fault alone when act out, because their darkest thoughts are all they'll ever be.

She knows they’re more than that, but she’s actively in denial about how much she actually cares, and the epiphany absolutely destroyed her ability to see her friends as actually complex people beyond their programing.

I think that's part of why comparing her to side stories Monika messes me up so much because she's like!! So nice!!! Mature!!!! And understanding!!!!! And she sees her friends faults and all!!!!!! And she loves them anyways and understands their goodness!!!!!!!!!! But main game strips that away from her and makes her cynical!!!!!!!!!!!! And she can't see the goodness in her friends anymore because they aren't real and they're scripts made to appeal to a dumb dating sim and she!!!!!!!!!!! Can't see them as people anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So their flaws turn into THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

. . . And that concludes today's Monika analysis.

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Ok but why is Natsuki the only character to get one pair of casual clothes. Like her Sayori and Yuri get their weekend outfits but those two also get another outfit in extra artwork (the overalls and the black dress) and while Monika gets nothing in game her twitter gives her both her white dress and sweater outfits. So everyone gets like an indoor and outdoor outfit but Natsuki apparently owns nothing else and just wears a shirt skirt combo forever. She is the universe’s least favourite child just give her something please

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Sayori is the sans of ddlc send post

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Since the data project libitina stuff apparently carry over in ddlc and affect them in ways they probably don’t even notice I’ve had this idea that I think would be really funny where the entire club just had literal physical third eye under their bangs the entire time.

Like they don’t ever address it and think it’s perfectly normal so they just. never bring it up. And then you’re just hanging out and they wipe their brow or something and they just have That There and when you ask they’re like wdym what’s wrong. And then they just move on

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In my ddlc fantasy rpg isekai au I like the idea of them being humans in a mostly fantasy race world to push the idea that they’re 1. Out of place as if inserted from another world (lore) 2. Closer to reality than the rest of the world and 3. They’re real in depth human beings even when they’re inserted into a fantasy rpg. Cool thematic symbolism is cool and I would want them to be at least somewhat identifiable as from ddlc

But at the same time tiefling Yuri is awesome

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I’m crying man I’m still thinking on that doki analysis and Sayori and Natsuki being into self shipping is genuinely thematically relevant to it

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Man I really wanna draw the Greek gods

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Update on ddlc theme analysis I’m taking a break cause I’m busy with other stuff but I’m definitely still working on it cause it’s a lot of fun and if I don’t get my thoughts out I’ll spontaneously combust

Currently halfway done but it’s also really long. Like nearly 5000 words long. It probably shouldn’t be that long. There’s going got be 5 sections and am currently procrastinating on an mes analysis on how they parallel Monika. There’s also a part on the side stories which I might rewatch for the analysis but the whole thing is like 4 hours long and my brain labels that as a commitment so I’m procrastinating on that too. The final section needs formatting work but other than that I think I’ve got all my planning done for the last bit. But yeah it’s looking good I promise it’ll come out at some point

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Getting into ddlc and isat at the same time is funny because there’s a lot of thematic parallels between both games which makes putting random connections between my blorbos super easy. And so there’s like a dozen isat quotes that make go ‘Monika coded’ and yet I don’t think about the reverse with Siffrin at all. Monika could be Siffrin but he could never be Monika and I don’t know why

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Tbh 90% of what I draw is oc art but since 1. I constantly tweak their designs and 2. I don’t think people would really care rn, I probably won’t be posting any of that for now. But if you’re wondering why I haven’t posted any art at some point in time I’m probably just doing that

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Have a cool comic idea but it requires me to colour stuff in so I’m not doing it Ever

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Sometimes I think about drawing the fe3h cast but then I remember it’s like 24 characters designs I have to do not including the wolves, church, faculty, or timeskip or mid-timeskip designs so instead I just procrastinate forever