#the musings of a robot

[shock-micro]

i was thinking about the stars this morning... well... i'm certainly thinking about them a lot more now! shoutouts to stars!

btw you've might noticed me saying stars instead of lord or god recently... well, i've decided to adopt that mannerism? because i don't really?? follow?? the christian god?? and so the stars feel a lot more meaningful to invoke??

essentially, i've resolved myself to putting in the effort to change, recently. i'd already set in motion going to college, so why not try and put the best version of myself out there? i wanna be a person who can reliably do things herself, take care of itself, and above all, help others, regardless of what it takes.

i've thought a lot about change, in the past years. the idea of everything always changing, nothing being everlasting... the concept first resonated with me after i had come up with a theory about a game, which i then applied to the lore and gameplay of my own game concept. it's funny, but it's when i first really thought about it...

it wasn't until i played in stars and time when i realized how important that concept really was to me. seeing it reflected in everything about the game's environment... it made me think.

the idea of cycles has kinda bounced around my head a lot, too. zelda, one of the first game series i knew of, is built around a cycle of reincarnation. one of the best entries is even a time loop story! and history always taught about different religions, about the cycle of reincarnation and how it's interpreted differently...

but i didn't really think about that all too much until i played rain world. seeing such a profound story centered around the concept, a whole world trapped in a cycle... well, it made me think!

because isn't everything a cycle? isn't everything constantly changing within it? think about it. the water cycle, raining, collecting, and evaporating back to the sky to rain down again. life, growing, reproducing, dying, and becoming nutrients for new things to grow. it's all constantly changing, yet in complete equilibrium, a cycle.

it's beautiful, isn't it? our seasons, the rain, the emotions we feel, life itself, they're all in flux, all ever changing, every moment fleeting, and we live it! we get to experience it all! and we get to lock it all in our memories, write it down, pass down our stories across generations, lay them bare for all to see!

and i don't think anything exemplifies my point better than the stars. the stars, which are constantly shifting in the plane of the universe, growing, fusing, casting their life-giving rays for all to see, and eventually dying in a fiery passion, reduced to stardust, ready to be used as fuel for the creation of another star.

a perfect cycle, at a scale of time and space nigh-incomprehensible to us. yet, we're able to know it all, thanks to the vastness of our universe. the cycle of something which used to be held in religious reverence, something which gives us life, the ashes of which give us form, is now within our knowledge.

...i think it's about time we treat them with a bit of respect again.

[floridianfireflyfaith]

A Quick Analysis of Roz's "Heart"

This took me a few viewings to piece together, it was very "show and don't tell" and I appreciate that. It started when someone on here postulated that Roz's brilliant orange/pink light when she first held Brightbill was her experiencing joy/love, and I legit think they're onto something with that.

I would say it's the physical manifestation of her programming being overwritten.

First, look at what happens the MOMENT Roz scans the egg and sees life inside.

Those little streaks of orange and pink. I don't think we EVER see any other time where her eyes show more than one color. Almost like some instinct was set off that made her feel like she needed to look out for the egg.

It isn't until she's actually holding Brightbill and he nudges his head against her that that pink and orange light flares up.

Not only in her eyes again, but practically engulfing her. Lighting up all her panels, looking like it's warming her core. But, still being very task-minded, she's quick to dismiss it at the time.

We next see it when Rummage runs her diagnostic. Roz once again lights up like a disco ball in pink and orange, and whatever Rummage was seeing on her end, it quickly became clear that "you overrode your programming??"

It all builds up to the last time we see it, when it seems as though Roz's memories have been purged and Brightbill forgives her - even if it seems she can't hear him.

ALSO IT STARTS RADIATING OUT FROM WHERE HE'S NESTLED INTO HER AAAGH.

She confirms it later on, but it's ultimately her "humanity" and her bond with her son that saves her in end. This light that has been building in her since she first found an egg in need allowed her to not lose herself despite technology's best efforts. And yet she couldn't have done that without Brightbill.

I JUST THINK IT'S A NEAT EXECUTION. 😭😭

[beepboopappreciation]

I always see people talk about how cool becoming a cyborg would be, replacing parts of our flesh with metal and pistons and cool gadgets.

Why don't we talk more about the horror that is the opposite of that?

A computer who grafts lab-grown skin in patches onto their own form to feel. To experience a gentle and cool breeze passing by, or the oppressive sweat-inducing heat that their systems produce.

A robot with an organic eye to help them see as their creators once did. Imperfect, sure. But it seems to have quite an uneasy effect on organics, and doesn't that make it more than worth it?

A machine with blood coursing through its systems, flowing through the central chambers, in and out of its beating heart. Perhaps if the heart holds up, it could add lungs to help circulation.

A being that resembles a man at a distance, but upon closer inspection it is clear that he is instead a cacophony of skin, mismatched body parts and features, with just a few robotic limbs and mechanical parts visible. It smiles at you, the wide grin revealing that none of its teeth match.

He lurches toward you, hair from at least three different scalps falling carefree in front of its shoulders. You take a step back.

Where is the line drawn between cyborg and robot with human parts? Do you know? Does it know? Does anyone know?

It gets closer. You continue to retreat. Your back brushes against a wall.

You don't know where that line is, you've decided, but you're positive this individual has crossed it.

Having cornered you, it reaches its mechanical hand out, fingernails grafted on the metal tips. You blink, locked completely still from fear for just a few moments. It angles his hand in invitation. He wants you to take it. You hesitantly accept.

Under the metal you can feel . . . something, flowing, pulsing just beneath the surface wanting to escape. It's warm.

"Wh.. what do you want?" You manage to sputter out.

The being shakes your hand, his smile returning. "A friend," it replies.

[veilantares]

Dark at the End of the Tunnel

Sink into an Anglers grasp in a dream, like the undersea the Night cradles screams

Been inspired by anglerfish recently, so I'm going to try to do at few of these dark background ones back to back and see if I stumble into something new. I noticed I tend to draw characters / mechs / robots in these oneshot illustrations extremely lanky, but I wonder if I made a comic, whether I'd keep these exaggerated proportions - I'm often indecisive about how much mech vs character is in these biomechs, so I usually just don't think about it and draw what feels interesting in the moment.

This gives me a chance to lay down a meandering anecdote - many years ago as a dumb teenager, I'd stay awake every Friday evening / saturday morning till 4 am, hoping to catch my favourite developer, Digital Extremes' weekly devstream. I vividly remember during closed beta in 2012 people would introduce the game as being about futuristic space pirates zipping through corridors - the games fidelity back then was really quite different, one of the early warframes, Ember, even had her whole model redone at one point. Around 2013-2014 ish when I was most excited for these streams, I noticed the games tagline was "ninja's play free", nothing at all to do with pirates - but it was catchy, and you'd see all over in the advertising because of the parkour moves you could pull off in the game were genuinely sick.

Incidentally, both the Defiance MMO (rip) and Destiny 1 (rip) were what warframe tended to be compared to at the time, both released a little after warframes closed beta, neither of which were piratey or ninja-ey , I think probably 80% of the reason for that was that they all had both guns and abilites ... I guess they were also all live services, I don't know if they were called that back then.

Compared to Defiance and Destiny, I was puzzled at what it was about warframes identity that made the aesthetic feel "itself" - and I got my answer on one of those devstreams - the art lead at the time brought out what they called a "faction pitch bible" a one pager showing all the factions they had in the game at the time, each of them with a few lines of flavour text.

What struck me from that faction pitch was that the Tenno / warframes "cyber knight" description was nothing at all to do with pirates or ninjas, it was a third, wholly other thing, and yet by virtue of being first, it might as well have been the "true" description.

But there was another original, even more original than the "true", Warframes predecessor game, Dark Sector, was a spy thriller with biomechanical aesthetics, or perhaps a powered suit superhero series. Would this original, more original than even the initial, not be what it truly was?

I think what my takeaway was from all of these, is that first an foremost, the aesthetic is "itself" rather than any arbitrary descriptors - I enjoy this about my own pieces, that they mostly still feel like they were made by me even if I can't quite categorise them or explain myself. Perhaps I'm happy if the takeaway is "cool mech", "weird robot" or "wacky character" because maybe it's all of those things and even more!

[rabbitbites]

i’m a man in the way that an angel is a man, a divine incomprehensible being taking a familiar shape for the sake of those around them.

i’m a man in the way that a robot may have a male interface, it’s not truly necessary for a computer program to have a gender, but it makes it feel more human and people like things that remind them of themselves.

i’m a man in the way that an unknown animal is a “he”, the actual sex of the animal doesn’t matter, and knowing it wouldn’t change anything, but you are going to continue under the assumption that it’s male because for an animal that is the default.

the word “man” could never begin to encapsulate all that i am, but if it puts others at ease, allows them to empathize with me, makes it easier for them to speak and think about me, then it’s good enough.

[radioactivedotcom]

🤖 2024 simblreen schedule 🤖

if you don’t know what simblreen is, make sure to check @simblreenofficial​​!

week one

when my porchlight is on, you can come knock at my door (off anon, no DMs) to pick up some trashtreats! (there's 2 halloween-themed sets and one sf-themed)

friday, oct. 18 - day 1 gift

saturday, oct. 19 - day 2 gift

sunday, oct. 20 - day 3 gift

i will most likely open my porchlights at various times during each days for a few hours, to hit as many timezones as possible.

week two

sunday, oct. 26 - releasing all my gifts publicly

can`t wait to see y'all in my inbox!! ⋆｡°✩🎃✩°｡⋆

[prestonmonterey]

silly catgirl robot doll!!!!!!! :DDDD

guys i thought this would take me a week

i started this like. a couple hours ago

TwT

its hard to see in the photo but she is *very* glittery so shes done and im not painting her bc itd be hell tryin to make sure the paint doesnt chip on any of the itty bitty little parts

you also cant really see bc my hands covering it but her tail is a cable :)

anyway i have *so* much sparkly grey clay that i dont know what to do with so i might be making more ball jointed dolls this week :3

(also i need a name for this gal if yall have any ideas)

[itosy]

Mechanical Ballerina Marija

[al-luviec]

Morro design + a ton of notes.

[slugcatmusings]

What is the Rot? Why is the Rot?

Spoiler Warning and Holy Wall of Text Batman Warning. I got WAY too into questioning the turbo-cancer here, hopefully my rambling makes sense.

So, the Rot is… weird, from a biological standpoint. Really weird, if you stop to think about it. It’s most frequently described as some variation of cancer, and it certainly fits the criteria for it. Caused by damage to DNA? Check. Multiplies uncontrollably? Check. Comes in both benign and malignant forms, one stationary and the other mobile? Big fat check. Heck, even the Rot cysts eating other creatures kind of fits, according to some research I’ve done – there are apparently cancer cells that will eat other cells, which makes sense in hindsight since cancer cells are cells that have lost important genetic restrictions, which may include whatever lets cells identify other cells as “do not eat.”

(I ain’t a biology whiz and I’m doing research on the fly while getting my thoughts out here, so take whatever I say about biology with a grain of salt)

So, Rot is clearly cancer of some kind, right? Case closed. Except when me and a friend of mine were talking Rain World theories on Discord, she brought up some interesting points that got me thinking.

First point: Rot cells obviously mutate in a way that affects FAR more than just cell replication and termination. Some of the cysts can HEAR. As far as I know, cells in the body do not hear sounds. They communicate via chemical signals and maybe, MAYBE react to temperature. Hearing involves complicated, specialized sensory apparatus to pick up on vibrations in the air. Even if you simplify it and say that it’s only vibrations, that’s STILL a multicellular thing, not a single-cell thing. It’s something that took millions of years to evolve on Earth, if not billions.

And while Rain World’s timeline goes on for long enough that it those kinds of mutations might happen eventually, Rot cysts have the ability to hear pretty much right from the start – because even the Proto-Long-Legs react to your presence like the Daddy Long Legs do, and the Rot in Spearmaster’s campaign, where Pebbles has recently contracted it, reacts the same way as it does in later campaigns. It’s already able to hear.

As far as I know, cancer just means the same cell duplicating over and over again. Are more mutations possible with each division, as errors are made in the DNA during splitting? Probably. But not to THAT extent. There’s no way a lump of cancer somehow mutated the exact complicated genetic blueprint needed to grow organs, at least not without outside interference.

Second point: Cases of Rot are way too consistent across the board. Now, we don’t have a huge sample size to work from, but from what we see from both Pebbles’ Rot, and Hunter Long Legs, they’re… pretty similar. Hunter Long Legs is basically a mobile Rot cyst. They move the same way, seem to grow the same way (starts as a growth inside/on the body before eventually freeing itself from whatever wall/flesh it grew from in some capacity and moving elsewhere), they have the same senses, and they even eat the same way, via something like phagocytosis (how white blood cells “eat” invading organisms via engulfing them and breaking them down in a sac in their main “body.”)

Now, this doesn’t tell us much, because cancer, when it does emerge, is pretty consistent in symptoms/what the mutated cells do once they start replicating. It’s pretty much the same regardless of whatever organism the cancer is happening in. But what ISN’T consistent is what causes the DNA error in the cancer cell in the first place. IRL, cancer can be caused by all kinds of things – smoking, radiation poisoning, being out in the sun too long, drinking deadly chemicals and whatnot, anything that damages DNA. But in RW, the only time we ever hear Rot talked about, or see it present, is in the context of an iterator having f*cked up while mucking around with DNA. Pebbles was trying to create an organism that could change his own genome, and No Significant Harassment created Hunter as a messenger and probably mucked something up in the process in his haste to get them to Moon.

This doesn’t mean that there aren’t other causes of it, of course, we’re working with a sample size of two in an apocalyptic world with who knows how much potentially DNA-damaging stuff around, but… that’s still awfully consistent.

So, combining these points and everything we know to be canon, Rot is:

an organism that lives inside another organism

Until a certain condition is met, it cannot harm said host organism.

Once said condition is met, it goes out of control, wreaking havoc on the organism’s systems and mutating, giving it sensory capabilities and an appetite

Said condition is apparently someone messing up when re-arranging genomes, in yourself or others

It is widespread across multiple different species, at least iterators and slugcats but potentially other species as well.

Once you have a bad case of it, it is apparently NOT CURABLE. Pebbles tried everything he could think of but apparently exhausted all of his options by the time of the Survivor/Monk campaigns.

So, with all the context FINALLY laid out, here’s my wild theory: Rot isn’t a cancer. It’s a symbiote turned parasite. Specifically, I believe it’s a symbiotic microbe that lives inside the cells that make up every other creature in Rain World, and is held in check by a specific gene that all species share, and altering or getting rid of that gene causes it to go berserk, taking over and eventually mutating the host cells.

Yeah, I did watch Parasite Eve let’s plays as a kid, why do you ask? Anyway, hear me out here.

There is precedence for single-celled organisms living inside of other single-celled organisms. They’re referred to as intracellular endosymbiots (hopefully I got the spelling right there), and the most well-known one is probably the mitochondria. The powerhouse of the cell is thought to be descended from some bacteria way, WAY back that was engulfed by a larger cell and not only survived it, but BENEFITED from it. Since then those ancient proto-mitochondria and eukaryotic cells have mutually evolved to be dependent on each other. So it’s entirely possible for something similar to have happened in Rain World.

However, I don’t think it happened NATURALLY, here. Because something that’s able to take over a cell entirely and begin wildly mutating it is NOT something your average cell wants inside of it. There’s a VERY high chance of extinction if you do that. Which means that of course those funky bio-tech loving Ancients either took a look at a wildly dangerous cellular parasite and went “hmmm we can use this” or made one themselves.

Why did they do this? Who knows! Currently, I’m tied between “they needed a better powerhouse for the cell to power the various weird adaptations they’re building into various creatures,” “there was some sort of disease that this parasite gave immunity against and they wanted to make use of it,” and “it gave their creations massively powerful regeneration factors that made them much easier to maintain.” Possibly it was all three. Whatever the reason, the Ancients either found or created this parasite, and put it into their creations’ cells, hoping to reap the benefits.

Well, they got the benefits, but they also got a microbe that hijacked the cells and harnessed their pre-existing DNA blueprints to build organisms disguised as great big blobs of cancer. Which is not exactly ideal, but hey, they just had to figure out a way of keeping the cell hijacking from happening! And the way they ended up going about it was to alter the thing so that so long as there was a specific DNA sequence in the cell, it laid mostly dormant. All the benefits, none of the risks – so long as that specific string of genes remained intact.

And then BECAUSE it was so beneficial, they spread their artificial symbiote and it’s genetic reins throughout ALL of their creations, from the smallest pipe-cleaning slugs to the iterators. Which meant that as their purposed organisms replaced most of the original ecosystem, they spread the symbiote as well. Thus making it possible for pretty much ANY creature on the planet to come down with a bad case of the Rot. And with the iterators, I wouldn’t be surprised if this symbiote is tied to their self-destruction taboos. Try to cross yourself out? Well, it’s gonna maybe happen now, but it’ll be a slow painful death as you’re eaten alive from the inside and all your own parts turn against you, so was it really worth it?

And they never told their creations this perhaps even actively hid it, because why tell them the cause of the main deterrent to them mucking with their taboos? They might find a way around it. The iterators were left ignorant of how Rot works, and because of this they never figured out that Rot HAD a cure after all: rebuilding that genome that reins in the symbiote. Because why in the name of the Void would they repeat the same mistakes that gave them Rot in the first place, and potentially make it worse?

[nova--spark]

One of the things that will irk me to no end with it comes to RID'15, is the way the Jasper trio got benched SO hard, even when references were thrown to TFP all the time.

Like, when Soundwave popped in, I screamed and hoped so badly for flashback when Bee name dropped the trio, but nope, all ignored.

And when they outright went to Jasper, to the original outpost that was blown up, I'd hoped maybe more mention of the kids, be it in flashback, ghost images [ you know the type, where the character is recalling memories and sees things around them?], or even remnants of their previous times there, old toy cars from Raf, music instruments from Miko, drawings.

Most egregious in my opinion is when they found Bee's holo diary, and it was just...an 80's work out video? That made 0 sense

Imagine if it had been a picture of Team Prime from back in the day, or even a video of Bee with the kids, showing the old dynamic to compare to the current new one he has.

To show the past is gone and remembered fondly, the present is now to make new memories.

I have a LOT of feelings about RID and it's failures as you can see.

BUMBLEBEE GO VISIT YOUR KIDS, DUMBASS

[shock-micro]

i guess this is why i'm glad i'm plural, in a way. i don't have to face this alone. i have a team, i have... friends, right here with me. i don't see enough of the positives online sometimes. i see so much discourse, but i never see anyone really talk about being happy with it...

i've gotten to know my team, my friends, over the past few months, almost a year in moon's case. some came from nowhere, had no notion of a life before being here. one is just a little digital creature who seems happy to just be with me. some came from another land, had a team before, and now have to readjust to living in a new form, sharing with someone else.

but... y'know, we adapt! i get to meet someone new, they get to live a new life, and i show them all it has to offer! and, stars, what a beautiful world it is, even with all the hardships. every time a new member arrives, it's like i fall in love with the world all over again, getting to show them everything, getting to know a new, unique perspective.

sometimes i get anxious i'm not doing it right, sometimes i feel like i still don't even know what's going on in here, but... every time, i'm reassured that i'm not alone. because i'm not. because i have my team. my friends. i may not get everything right, but we're together.

ah, stars, i'm using tumblr as a diary again. might as well post it! never know, someone might find this perspective useful...!

playing games that make me think is a mixed bag, because sometimes, it makes me think too much... i like thinking about things! it's fun to ponder the questions a game gives me! but thinking too too much also makes me anxious, so maybe i should slow down a bit.

[pyra-colony-au]

get noogied, idiot

[maleficusbonum]

Ok, sad talk.

I read this fanficrion that had Call having tried to have romantic relationships in the past, but never let anyone get too close to her for fear they find out she's an android and reject her.

What if that's really happened? What if she fell in love, everything was going great, she thought they were the one, blah, blah, and then something happens and her white blood shows or something and the person recoils in disgust and just storms off on her, telling her they never want to see her again.

And my other sad thought; not only has Call come to believe that everyone she meets is going to be disgusted she's not human, but then there's the freaks that are delighted she's not and fetishize her.

Of course she'd never want to be touched again.

[thicc-astronaut]

robot idea I just had:

a line of cheaply-produced sexbots that, instead of having any complex touch-detector technology, just have a swath of small buttons for their erogenous zones. Like little keys from a computer keyboard. Each button is wired to produce the same input for the robot.

Trying to fuck the robot is really uncomfortable because of all the little keys, but you are able to button-mash the robot to orgasm

[prestonmonterey]

someone suggested "prismarina" as a name for my robotgirl doll and while i didnt go with that one it did remind me of a magical girl so

prismarina!!! i spent wayyy too long sewing that skirt haha :P for some reason my camera makes the ribbons look a lot more messy than they actually are but its ok :)

shes not posable like beep (the robotgirl) but i still think shes really cute :D