#the only reason we aren't is probably because i'm kinda weird about it

[koimethehorizon]

A Major Critique on Deltarune Ch 3-4's Shadow Crystals (maybe for future chapters as well)

(Massive Deltarune Chapter 1-4 spoilers!)

UPDATE (6/7/25): Thanks, dreams-narrator for pointing out that you can actually beat secret bosses on separate save files, then pick the crystal up at the random cliff in Castle Town in the next one.

Oh, it's the wrong number! The wrong number song! I'm very very sorry that I got that wrong!

...I do still think the points-of-no return issue is still very much of game design issue, but a lot of this is fortunately alleviated.

Hi, enormous Deltarune fan here who loved these new chapters. I'll be singing praises about this release and dropping Deltarune-shaped brain chunks out of my ears til 2026's Deltarune tomorrow.

Gonna say it straight up, Ch 3's secret boss requirements sucks and I think the frequency of points-of-no-return spells a bad precedent for the future of this game.

WHY TOBY???

One of the first NPCs you meet before Tenna's game tells you not to worry about what rank you get = a total lie, and if you commit to S ranking Round 2, Ramb will still let you play an unwinnable game then tell you "If only you'd gotten the S rank earlier".

SCREW YOU!!!!

So yeah, you gotta restart the whole chapter over.

And I'm damn sure that most people had to do this because S ranks for your first run at fighting the new enemies/getting used to the rank requirements/first time controlling the minigames is kinda unreasonable.

Yes, there is an NPC who can help you get from A to S with 1500 points but again, if this is your first time, you probably won't have enough to buy this. You might even spend a lot of it on the B rank gacha machine or the A rank Susiezilla minigame out the same curiosity you had trying to find the damn secret in the first place!

If only there was a way to convert dark dollars to Points... oh wait there is! IN THE S RANK ROOM!!!

Gerson's is fortunately far more forgivable and if you're curious enough, you'll get it without even realizing he's the secret boss... but still. Unlike Jevil and Spamton, you are locked out if you leave the first version of Dark Sanctuary.

Why even have so many warp points if we can't even do this...

The Issue with Replayability

This trend is troubling. Toby's games have always had an issue with being games that encourage replayability and secret hunting but, and I hate to admit this, they're not very engaging games to replay unless you're committing to a completely different route.

With Undertale, a boring replay (until the new content) and a fading emotional investment of the game is the MAIN THEME of the True Pacifist and Genocide routes. But most of all, Undertale was a short game so it wasn't going to be mundane walking through the same beats.

This is not the case for Deltarune. This game is [BIG]. If you miss something, you gotta go WAAAAY back to check something again. Worse, by the end of every chapter, you get locked out of that chapter's Dark World permanently.

When replaying a chapter, most of the time is spent either reading or skipping dialogue, and most fights are going to play out pretty much the same way. The reason why this shallow gameplay is mostly passed off is is because Undertale/Deltarune's humor, writing, and gameplay gimmicks are so varied (and good!) that you'll never be stuck on one beat for a very long time.

Fortunately, there aren't as many Undertale-level deviations in the narrative that require you to restart, other than the Weird Route. A lot of the missable items and conversations are mostly flavor text that you can look up later.

If you were restarting a chapter from the ground up, you were probably one of those sickos who tried to hoard every individual item available to see what Ralsei, Susie, and future playable characters would say about them... or an EGG hunter. (I can't believe I restarted for those teas...) This is NOT true with Shadow Crystals.

A Future Problem

These are unquestionably important missable items that the game WANTS you to get every chapter that requires not only a whole chapter reset to get, but MULTIPLE CHAPTER RESETS if you happen to miss the crystal in previous one!

And I want to emphasize, if you miss these, your ass has to reset SEVERAL HOURS back to get the one you forgot.

In the far future, when Deltarune completes and we find out what having all these crystals do and we have no QoL measure to get them all... and everyone misses the Chapter 3 one because of how unfriendly it is for blind runs.... we're in for a huge drag.

I really hope this is an issue that's on the Deltarune team's radar and that we can go back to some abridged sections to get these again. I'm a sicko so I have all these + the eggs and... god I hope the eggs aren't important too.

PS. Some might include the Roaring Knight being the secret fight into the BS I mentioned.... and I disagree.

Praise incoming!

The Roaring Knight is bullshit and hard as hell, but it should be! This is the first real fight in Deltarune that actually made me consider my equipment and battle strategy multiple times.

The Shadow Mantle turning an unwinnable JRPG stomp fight into a real-winnable fight is a genius misdirect that shows the first tangible evidence that Susie and the player might be able to defy the prophecy.

In Undertale, our struggle against Sans was made fun of because we were forcing ourselves through a frustrating fight purely to find out what happens at the end of the Genocide run. But here, even Gaster roots us on, hoping that the determination we show here will amount to something greater.

I think it's seriously understated how game-changing and brilliant this twist is with what it implies.

And come on, everything with Susie during this fight is so cool.

[demonic0angel]

Dead Silent. One of the batfam ask Danny why he’s more clingy than his siblings and Danny just goes “huh??” Cuz he’s probably the LEAST clingy. Dan is Yandere Levels of clingy, Jazz is Ride or Die clingy, Dani is probably Stalker clingy, and don’t even get him started on their parents.

Danny, by comparison, is the normal one and I feel like that should be appreciated so much more.

(This is SO freaking funny and you're so right omg. It got long bc I got excited again lmaooo)

"You... you think I'm... clingy?!" Danny cried in shock, looking around for a camera. Were they serious? Was this actually real?

Duke said with a shrug, "Well... I mean, I always see you around Cass. We're just asking."

"I am literally the least clingy and the most normal out of my siblings."

Jason snorted from where he stood behind Tim's chair. Everyone was listening in but only Damian and Duke had the graciousness to not pretend that they weren't. Even Cass was staring, blinking as she was held in Danny's arms for a cuddle after the patrol.

"Oh yeah? Prove it."

Danny glared at him and pointed to his shadow, which stretched out beneath him from the Batcave's lights.

"One, the only reason she doesn't follow you around everywhere is because Jazz literally has Shadow following you whenever you go out." As he said this, two eyes blinked from within Jason's shadow and then disappeared just as quickly. "Two, she had all of your medical information on a file in her phone! And just information on you, period! Three, just yesterday, she blew up two ships and took down a trafficking ring by herself because she got reports that they put a hit on you! And don't even talk about how normal she is compared to me, because she definitely isn't! You just think she's a normal amount of clingy because the both of you have your brains rotted from romance novels!"

Jason made a face. It was one of great affront, grudging acceptance, and a wistful adoration. Danny couldn't even feel smug for proving him right because the look on his face was just disgusting.

Cass giggled from within his arms.

Dick opened his mouth and Danny pointed at him aggressively, clutching at Cass as he said, "You can't speak either! Dan is literally the most clingy out of all of us! You know what Jazz said?! He literally has abandonment issues and codependency!! Y'know what his name was before we came here?! It's "World Destroyer"! The only reason he hasn't done anything is because he really likes you and wants to spend most of his time watching you and keeping you safe instead of going around and causing destruction!"

Dick blinked. "But he also—"

"Wrong! He uses clones to do stuff while he keeps watch over you, and you're the only reason he has a moral code at all."

Dick made a considering face and then he smiled. "Aww, that's kinda cute. I didn't know he was so clingy."

Danny muttered to Cass, "Are you seeing this bullshit?"

She giggled again and patted at his arms that were wrapped around her neck.

Duke nodded, amusement on his face. "I see your point. But what about Dani? You're definitely clingier than her."

Danny made an error noise. "Nope! The entire Young Justice is codependent and clingy, so it just looks normal. And Dani just follows around Kon and Tim in intervals so you can't see either of them." He also grimaced at Tim, who was still working at the computer. "And Tim is already watching them, aren't you? You three are a bunch of freaks."

Tim looked up with a small smirk, much to Damian's audible disgust. "You got me there. I keep trackers and cameras on all of them. And Dani's usually just invisible."

Danny smiled triumphantly. "Hah! See? I'm the least clingy!"

There were murmurs of agreement and then Duke said, "I don't know, I think all four of you are clingy and weird."

Danny sulked. "No I'm not."

Duke gestured to all of him. "You're literally climbing Cass like a koala."

Okay, so his legs were wrapped around her waist and he was hanging onto her like a sticker, but so what? She didn't mind!

Cass snickered and said, "It's okay. He's light."

"Yeah, I'm light," grumbled Danny as he squeezed her.

Duke and Damian shared a look, as Duke said, "We should get out of here. Thank god these freaks are taken."

"Agreed. Thank goodness we are the most normal."

Now there were cries of outrage throughout the entire cave all over again.

[catscoollike]

Future chapter discussion, Now with 10% more Catti and Jockington!

(CW / snow grave discussion)

I haven't gone on one of these rambling tirades in a long time. But I kinda fell out of deltarune for awhile. But chapters 3 and 4 are coming out real soon! So I have a reason to playthrough this 9 hour beast again!

Now I know chapter 3 is the one that's more reasonable to be excited for since it's the next one. But come on, look whose post you're reading. I'm gonna be hyped about the chapter with Catti in it. And that's all but confirmed right? You could say it could be another solo Kris and Susie chapter but this image on steam kinda gives it away for me:

That's chapter 4, it has the same floor pattern from the confirmed chapter 4 segments in the trailer. And it's referencing Jockington. And besides a single room in chapter 2. Lightners are only mentioned by name if they're actually there.

Like there wasn't a point in chapter 1 where the Top chef mentions Snowy or something. There is that one time where Ralsei shows that he knows where the empty classroom is in the light world, but Ralsei is probably the exception since he's just weird with stuff like that already.

continued under the cut:

Not to brag, but I actually thought chapter 4 would be the J/C chapter for a long time. I mean if it's going to be the church, then you gotta have the goth girl show up. It's right there. Although I don't know realistically why the two of them are going to be there.

So what is that going to be like? Besides awesome.

It's impossible to know for certain what's going down in chapter 4 since it takes place after the events of a chapter already we know nothing about. We don't know why there's a dark world in the church, if it wasn't opened by the knight then it could have been opened by Alvin, and assuming that this isn't the chapter where the entire town discovers that dark worlds are a thing, there probably isn't a sermon that day.

It's safe to believe that Susie's tactic of making everyone think that the dark worlds aren't real so this stays a thing between her and Kris, isn't going to work on J/C at all. Catti's into the occult, if there would be anyone to believe about some secret underworld it would be her.

I won't use her chapter 2 dialog about Noelle as evidence that Catti already knows that they exist since it's just a gag about her way of talking.

Short sentences, long pauses...

Only the most important details. Scattered between metaphors.

A poet's intent. Lost by the listener's own beliefs...

Search for meaning... At you're own risk.

She does weirdly over correct herself after mentioning Noelle walking among the dark. Like she said something she shouldn't have.

Maybe Kris gave her a weird look after she said to protect Noelle from the dark, and she's just clarifying. I don't think this is anything more then a joke.

The two of them don't seem to tag along with you for that long, because in the... One screenshot we have of gameplay after the presumed opening with Kris and Susie before Ralsei appears. They are nowhere to be found.

There could be a segment similar to chapter 2 where Ralsei and Susie leave Kris alone, and Catti and Jockington would take their places. Catti also really doesn't like Susie, to the point where Susie doesn't even want to be around her, she doesn't have that reaction with anyone else by the way. So that's probably why she isn't around in that screenshot.

Maybe Catti and Susie could grow to be friends in chapter 4? Or at least not hate each other. Depends on what history is there. Catti and Kris were friends, maybe she tried standing up for Kris? That's probably not in character for her at all, and we still don't really know how close Kris and Catti were. "Don't die.", we at least know Catti doesn't want Kris to die. And they studied the occult together. That's about it.

They could also be in antagonistic roles like Berdly and Susie were in their chapters. Maybe Jockington sides with the bad guy. Why? Maybe Jockington is really religious, probably not.

I use Jockington as an example because I can't see Catti willingly siding with the antagonist unless the chapter is more occult themed then just basic religious stuff. But Jockington is pure of heart so I can't imagine him being evil either. Maybe he thinks he's doing the right thing, but he's Jockington so he's completely wrong. Jockington gives strong Lancer vibes in their types of villainy.

So ever since chapter 2 any discussion about future chapters has a certain subject loom over it like a storm cloud. You know it, you might like it. The weird route. Will Chapter 4 have a weird route.

Probably not.

I could type all sorts of hypothetical situations to how the chapter's guest characters could turn to murder and how that's based in small plot details from already obscure characters. But I think a lot of people miss the point of the route.

The weird route isn't about brainwashing your friends into killing people. It's about the player getting desperate for control.

Deltarune isn't shy about telling you that you have no control over what happens in it's story. It's on the steam page, the second voice in the intro tells you that nobody can choose who they are in this world, and Susie tells you your choices don't matter shortly after that.

I think Susie represents this idea a lot actually. Time and time again you are shown that you can't control what Susie does. In chapter 1 she fights without you telling her to. You spend her entire fight against Lancer desperately trying to knock her down so she doesn't kill him. In chapter 2 she wills Ralsei and herself into having ACTs because she's getting upset with the sweet cap'n cakes fight taking too long. And anytime there's a dialog choice with her, you can pick anything you want but nothing actually changes.

And it looks like there's gonna be a rhythm game segment in chapter 3, and would you look at that. you can't control her there either.

I think Noelle is supposed to be Susie's opposite here. Her own desire/lack of control is a running theme with her. There are a lot of things in her life that she can't control, so she clings onto what she can. She likes being in situations where she's scared, but still has enough control to get away at anytime.

It's why she has the courage to talk to Susie in the Farris wheel at all, it's still scary, but she believes that she's dreaming and can wake up anytime, nothing she said will matter.

Noelle also is into looking for glitches in video games, pushing them as far as they go until they break, finding things in a game's world that should be impossible. And through you doing the same thing in the weird route, you don't allow Noelle to go through her intended character arc. She stays a pushover the whole time and does everything you tell her to do, the thorn ring probably helped a lot here too. When the player calls out to her in Spamton's fight she's drawn to it like a magnet, and instantly follows the player's orders. She gets the route where you can actually change what happens. It's fucked up, but you made your choices matter through any means possible.

This is also my explanation for why I think [Hyperlink Blocked] is the word "choices" being censored. "YOU AND THAT [Hochi Mama], YOU'VE BEEN MAKING CHOICES". If he ever said the word choices without getting censored please let me know.

You have no control over Susie, and you have way too much over Noelle

And while we will see if chapters 3 and 4 have weird routes. I think thematically it fits for this route to be more Noelle centric. It requires less mental gymnastics to justify Noelle being special with her connections to the game's central theme and her inability to stand her ground against the player. Then trying to justify how Toriel and Catti, people with much stronger wills and little to no connections to the theme of control, will start killing people because Kris said so.

But then again, before chapter 2 came out If you told me you could convince Noelle to kill people with a magic ring and enough persuasion, because the game's theme says so. I wouldn't believe you, So I don't know.

I guess... Catti thinks her family isn't goth enough and uh... Can't control that... Oh and Toriel... She's... divorced... yeah... Doesn't really hit the same as Noelle's missing sister and terminally ill dad. Maybe we just don't know enough about them yet. And this route is all about going against what should be possible, so you all can point and laugh if I'm wrong. I at least know that I'm right about friend inside me absolutely not being a thing that's going to happen... I hope...

Also, I don't know if we're seeing Papyrus in this update. This screenshot of Sans correcting you about something doesn't inspire confidence.

I swear this is all set up for the ultimate joke that deltarune's Papyrus is a baby or something and Sans is acting the way he is because, "What do you mean you want to meet my baby brother, fuck off. Come back tomorrow". It would explain why Papyrus knows what green grass is but not the sun. He was a baby the last time he saw the surface.

[jules-ln]

Viktor is literally art nouveau

I was looking at Viktor's design in league of legends and it hit me, Viktor in Arcane IS Art Nouveau

Not literally but yes literally in a way lmao

Let me walk you through my thought process

I was looking at the league of legends design, and I thought that the fact that Viktor still had hair was weird if the whole point of Viktor is human bad machine good, then why does he has something as human as hair?

Then I thought about the Arcane Herald design, and it actually made more sense that this Viktor still had hair, why? Just look at his robots

The first thing that called my attention was their shoes, because those aren't normal heels, no, those are heelless heels! and let me tell you

1) Viktor isn't straight (no straight man would know and like those shoes, you can't fool me)

2) That's like the worst shoes you could ask for to fight/run in, do you know how easy is to fall with those shoes? No, they aren't practical, those shoes are merely for visual pleasure

And it doesn't seems like Viktor would be the kind of man that would put looks above functionality but then you think about how his designs in general have a very heavy preference for art nouveau; which, is also very much beauty over function

His robots have the asymmetry, A flowing organic shape, a preference for a feminine figure, the reference to flora on the patterns. They're are art nouveau bots and theres no way to deny that, and Viktor's Herald design is too, to some extent

Again, preference for a feminine figure, flowing organic shapes, his staff looks like a tree (kinda), asymmetry to some extent (not as much a his robots), hair (very important). You can reasonably say that it was at least inspired by art nouveau

Then we have the design of his room/house in the commune, it's pretty much art nouveau inspired too. I've seen some people say that Viktor made this to reference the Hexgates because he missed Jayce, but now I'm thinking, what if it wasn't that he missed Jayce, but more that the Hexgates were originally his design

And listen, I know I know, both worked on the hexgates, both should be credited equally, but realistically, I think it's fair to say that both of them probably had different levels of involvement on different things? So what if Viktor was the one with the original idea for the outside design and Jayce then added the art deco elements? Then Viktor repeated it on the commune with a more art nouveau style simply because he likes it?

And you might ask. Why does it matters? Why does the fact that Viktor likes art nouveau means that he's the personification of art nouveau?

Well; now to the point, I studied a little of art history on college, and I was a bit obsessed with art nouveau back then, and you know what was the goal of it?

Art nouveau was made to bring art to the common person, to have every day objects being a piece of art. It was supposed to get art away from the rich and to give it to everyone. But it failed

And you know why Art Nouveau failed and was quickly abandoned?

Two things, 1) it was too expensive, and 2) World War 1

So ironically Art Nouveau ended up being too expensive to reach the people they wanted to help so it stayed a rich people thing, and then it had to be abandoned almost completely because of WW1; there weren't enough materials to make it and a lot of people that became poor because of the war didn't have the money to spend on it

It was very short lived even when it made a big impact on history (That reminds me of someone)

Now compare art nouveau's history to what happened to Viktor (And Jayce)

They wanted to make magic accessible to the common people, to help; but it ended up being so that Hextech only helped people in Piltover to get richer while people in Zaun got worse and worse

Then something happened, a war, and both Viktor and Jayce had to abandon their dreams

Add to that the name art nouveau means new art, and in Spain it was called "Modernismo" Why? Because it wanted to be the future of art, young, refreshing, a bright future different from the past. Who else wanted to be the future of something? Men of progress who?

Viktor (and Jayce to some extent but I think he's more art deco lmao) IS Art Nouveau. It's his story

(And funnily enough, you can find art nouveau in Zaun, but I don't remember ever seeing art deco in Zaun, while it's the main thing on Piltover)

(Also also, I have some thoughts about Jayce being Art Deco, but that's for maaaybe later lmao)

Listen I'm a death of the author guy, I'm going to find meaning on my own. But either someone in the art department had to know the history of art nouveau and made a point of making it Viktor's main style (because it is Viktor's style, like I showed before), or it's just an extremely funny and fitting coincidence

[chiiroptereh]

[Please zoom in, there's a lot of detail! And a massive file size...ouch]

Hi guys, long time no post! Been working on Art Fight and life stuff, but I've got something kinda fun for you.

This is a compilation exploring how a mortal Bill may interact with our world if there were still some kinda Euclidean instincts buried in there. Y'know, before the Book of Bill ruins all my headcanons >:P (EDIT: IT HAS BEEN READ. YAHOOOOOO)

Also quite an experimental piece as you can probably tell. Lots of details on both said headcanons and the art stuff under the cut, but I invite you to study the colorful texture yourself beforehand and think about what it might be representative of, just for fun because I got some really cool answers from my friends when asked :]c

TL;DR: the headcanon is that Euclideans have exceptional eyes for geometry. They find things like symmetry, tessellating patterns, graphs and fractals very aesthetically pleasing. If pushed into our 3D world, they feel comforted by the familiarity flat objects/spaces bring, as well as high-contrast patterns. Shadows especially are a familiar dimensional reduction that may bring them much comfort.

Bill would surely not be happy about these inclinations, constant reminders of a past long gone, but I'm not sure he's even aware of them here :P I think his ego gets in the way to the point where he just views these interests as common sense, which, of course, us lame humans just don't understand because we aren't nearly as cool as him. Of course he likes perfectly symmetrical leaves and staring at the kitchen floor, it's called taste, look it up!

And yet, he can't seem to shake the strange sense of melancholy he gets from viewing his own shadow.

~ End of TL;DR, long version below! ~

🔺 Headcanon Development

So, the catalyst of this idea was in relation to my friend and I's AU ( @love-triangles-au ). TL;DR, Bill's brought back mortal, meets another triangle named Y.V. (it's his hand holding the paper in the piece, actually), at some point they fall in yaois together, you know how it is. And, in writing a pair of triangles (or, more broadly, writing from the perspective of a different species), something I've had to consider was that you really can't get much further removed from a human being than sentient geometry.

The anatomical aspect was mostly figured out (see my piece on Bill's eye-mouth), but I wanted to consider what psychological differences might be at play. I wanted them to be weirder, more alien, double-so for Bill. At first I explored these possibilities through the lens of Bill and Y.V.'s relationship, specifically the question "what might a triangle find appealing about another triangle?"

Well, really the only things that came to mind were straight lines and symmetry, anything related to the geometric form of such a creature. That's more-or-less where that ended until the thought struck me that there's no reason this aesthetic appreciation couldn't extend to the rest of the environment, and then further when I realized, "wait, this is a species that is designed to live in a 2D environment. Like, they should seriously be really weird. I need to push this like 200% more."

So...yeah! I did some thinking and brainstorming with others and came up with a pretty long list of things a Euclidean in our world may be inclined to enjoy or find some level of comfort in. It's worth noting again that in this piece specifically this is a mortal/powerless Bill, so he can't really escape this Earthly environment. IF he's aware of these instincts at all (and that's a big "if"; when have you last been cognizant of your own instincts let alone known where they were stemming from?) I think he'd have snuffed them out in immortality and/or purposefully gone against them; he doesn't take kindly to being told what to do.

In order from left-to-right, top-to-bottom, here's an explanation for each!:

Flat objects such as paper are something he may find particularly engaging. It's basically 2D!

Tessellations are especially fascinating, and our world has them everywhere in the form of tile floors. Symmetry and such a predictable pattern...as the infinity of the starry sky might for us, the infinite potential of tessellations might invoke a similar sense of awe in him. Add on the maximum contrast of black on white kitchen tiles and the forms are only even better defined! A sensitivity to contrast would be very helpful for a 2D being navigating their environment.

Fields are flat and open, much like Euclydia itself. Laying flat may make him feel a little more at home.

More tessellation in the honeycomb of hymenopterans (bees, wasps and friends)! It helps that pain is hilarious.

The city is an absolute treasure trove. Rectangular buildings, precise architecture, square sidewalks and straight lines abound...he may as well be looking at a rainbow or an art gallery! I think a Euclidean's brain is very fine-tuned to mathematics, especially in regards to trigonometry. What may appear to be a straight painting might appear obnoxiously crooked to him.

Zebras are high-contrast :]

Another flat surface, another relaxing space <3

I think graphs are about as high as high art gets to most Euclideans.

I've touched on shadows before, and for good reason; truly they must be something borderline magical to the Euclidean and perhaps bitterly nostalgic.

This one kinda speaks for itself. Dweeb.

🎨 The Artsy Stuff

Lately I've been trying to find ways to fit more color into my work, as color is perhaps one of my favorite things in the world. My wardrobe is rather garish; my dad jokes that you could see me from space. My fursona is obnoxiously bright for a reason -- I feel my soul is a very colorful one!

I also realized recently that I don't actually know the exact style that speaks to me. I could talk about the phenomenon of the "style crisis" that many artists have all day, but in my mind the best cure for this feeling is to go against it entirely and begin stealing as much as possible.

So, I've tried to keep an eye out for more sources of inspiration everywhere I go, physical and digital. I've tried to train my mind into making a habit of considering, "can I do anything with this?" everywhere I go, and it recently paid off!

The glittery rainbowy texture you see plastered all over Billiam is this one, a photo-manipulated set of fruit stickers. I must confess I've been obsessed with this image for the past 72 hours, and this seemed like a good excuse to try it out!

I worried throughout the process if it might be so abstract that it loops back around to being horribly deliberate, if that makes sense -- like each sparkle was not a piece of a whole but rather an object in itself -- but it seems like that hasn't been a problem, so I'm grateful for that :Dc

I hope it can dazzle and delight you as it does me, but as long as you find it fascinating at the very least then I consider it a success! I really enjoyed hearing my friends' interpretations while workshopping it, and got tons of amazing answers from opal to kaleidoscope to fossilized bone marrow! I truly believe that the best art has some room for interpretation and it really excites me to be surrounded by that kind of creative energy that follows said pieces. That definitely adds to my pride in this work. It's weird, it's colorful, it's detailed and yet ambiguous. I'm feeling pretty autistic about it

Alright, I think that's about it. Thanks for listening!

[blossomthepinkbunny]

I wanna talk about the pride artwork for HB, because like a lot of other people I have some thoughts.

Firstly, positives:

It overall looks pretty good imo. The colours are bright and the picture has nice energy. I don't mind the HB/HH artstyle in general, it's mostly the designs that are the problem (the designs in HB are better than in HH). It is very cluttered, but I sorta learned to deal with that and I don't mind as much here.

Millie being there for Moxxie is cute and she looks amazing.

The outfits for some of the characters look good.

Sallie May being a Lesbian is nice (idk why, it just is).

Verosika looks great and very pretty (as always).

I like the idea of Loona taking Octavia to her first Pride parade. I like the idea of them hanging out in general and I want to see more of that.

Beelzebub looks cute.

I like the face Barbie makes (idk either).

Now onto the things I don't like:

Some of these sexualities seem kinda like they were just made up on the spot. Loona being Bisexual is nice, but she literally only ever showed interest in guys and there was never anything that could lead us to assume that she's Bi. The same thing goes for Mammon or Andrealphus. For Andrealphus it seems like they just made him gay to excuse the weird comments he makes about his Sister and especially since a lot of people started using their weird relationship to imply that Stella has some problems as well and isn't just a heartless bitch. Now they can basically just say: "Andrealphus isn't weird towards Stella, he is literally gay, why would he harrass her". I don't mind as much with characters like Bee or Barbie, because they only showed up once and it would've been pretty difficult to confirm their sexualities.

A lot of people mentioned Mammon being Ace just seems like an excuse to not put him in sexual merchandise or something. He is the only fat character in HB (who is actually relevant) and he is one of the two ace characters. It feels sorta disingenuous when the only two ace characters are a teen and the single fat character you have. Especially since, if I remember correctly there were a lot of people (including me) who found Mammon attractive and were looking forward to more sex-positivity for plus sized folks, especially when in Vivzepops shows theres only him and Mimzy (Adam as well maybe).

Why do a lot of the pansexual demons in this show feel stereotypical. Bee and Asmodeus are fine, the background demons as well I guess. Blitzø is super horny all the time and could fill a whole party just with people he slept with. Verosika and her followers are succubi who we saw sexually assault Moxxie. Barbie Wire manipulated a teenage/barely legal human to do what she wants by using her body. And Chaz is a literal and very open sexual harrasser/abuser. The only joke he has are making unwanted sexual remarks toward Moxxie and being horny. He has a sign that says: "I will fuck anything", which isn't what pansexuality is and the wording makes it really weird ("anything" not "anybody"). And he looks at Andrealphus weirdly. Him and Blitzø are also naked for no reason.

I would've loved to see some nonbinary/genderfluid/genderqueer characters. We don't have one confirmed genderqueer character. How about nonbinary Octavia or Vasago. Or genderfluid Moxxie. Or bigender Barbie or something. I just wished we had anything like that. Also a personal headcannon of mine, but Asmodeus should probably be Polyamorous. He is the incarnation of Lust and with how they wrote him in the show it's kinda hard to believe/doesn't make sense that he is in a monogamous relationship.

Where are Mayberry and Martha? They were confirmed to be sapphic and so far they're the only sapphic characters in an actually sapphic relationship we see in HB. Why does Wally get to be there but they aren't? Why is Vasago there instead of them, when he hasn't even showed up in an episode yet? Why is Vasago there in general? It's not like i'm gonna be happy with him being confirmed to be gay because there is nothing we know about him yet.

Why is Tex not there? Did they just forget him? He might be straight but he could still be there to support his girlfriend and isn't he literally Verosikas bodyguard. He was at the weird Blitzø hate party with her, but not here?

Isn't Chaz dead?

Why would Asmodeus and Fizz go to the same parade as Mammon, when the only episode with Mammon so far has dealt with how much he hurts Fizz.

You might say: "This isn't supposed to make sense, it's just a more interesting way to confirm characters' sexuality for pride month, so it doesn't have to make canon/logical sense". Which I would agree with, if they didn't excuse Stella and Striker (two pretty important characters) not being there by saying something along the lines of: "Do you really think they would attend a pride parade?". Maybe not, but I also don't think Chaz would attend a parade, being dead and all. I also don't think that Barbie would go out of her way to go to hell, just to attend a pride parade, especially since her brother is there too. I also don't think Andrealphus would go out of his way to go to a parade filled with imps and people he doesn't like. I also don't think Mammon would be there because it's nothing that brings him money or something. Stella might be straight and that's the reason she isn't here. But her brother (who she seemingly likes and confines in) is there and she could go to support him and her being straight isn't even confirmed, so she could very well be queer. And isn't Striker queer as well? Im sorta confused with that, because they try to make him a bigot (probably also homophobic), but the scene he has with Blitzø in "Harvest moon festival" seems very queer. His offense at sexual remarks could also imply that he is a very sex-repulsed asexual or Demisexual or something. Unless of course they want to use the fact that he doesn't like sexual remark from men as a way to make him seem homophobic (even though him reacting bad to unwanted sexual remarks doesn't mean he's bigoted, like that's well within his rights to be uncomfortable). It's not as if Viv shows restraint with making villians/antagonists queer in general. Mammon, Chaz, Andrealphus are all antagonists in HB and are also there. In HH they literally went out of their way to confirm Vox being in a relationship with Valentino, a rapist. It seems like being Straight/Bigoted/too much of an asshole to show up only applies to the characters who actively dislike Stolas and to the only main female antagonist.

[windvexer]

Hi Chicken, hope you're doing fine!

I'm so sorry if this question sounds weird. I have a problem, kinda, mainly because I don't do spirit work and besides the "chill with the house spirit" thing, I never did much.

I have a nice group of deities that I've incorporated in my practice for years. I know them well, and we're fine. A couple of years ago, one of them appeared (like a bright unexpected mental image that made me say "woah") with attributes that aren't his if we consider his traditional iconography/symbology. They made sense to me, and I thought it was just a normal thing that happens when you spend quality devotional time with an entity.

Last year I got closer to him and I started receiving mixed messages. This god is cool, super chill, and reserved, but I kept having these very personal, intimate, and confusing mental images that clash with how I know him. I never doubted that it was him because why should I? Things were still working with him, but it was weird.

I recently asked (with multiple draws w/ yes/no method) if it was really him because things were getting embarrassing, and apparently, he's a different spirit. He probably used that deity as a ram to get through my tendency to be suspicious of everything.

I didn't investigate before because I know when I get intrusive thoughts/things that aren't part of my brain patterns, and when something is gnosis/external input/something related to my practice. These are definitely in the second category.

I don't do spirit work, I'm not familiar with identifying spirits or understanding who they are. I'm (maybe?) an advanced beginner with tarot, so I don't have enough tools to sit down and divine with absolute clarity. I'm planning to do more readings to understand this situation, but I'm really confused.

Do you (or any of your followers, if it happened to them too) have any suggestions on what I should do? Thanks if you answer, and sorry again if it's weird.

What are you confused about? I think that's a good place to start.

It's my experience that spirits can take up the guises of gods to appear to us, and may do so for the express purpose of getting closer to us.

But there can be lying and manipulating you for your attention (forgive and move on) or lying and manipulating you (cut off and move on). I can't suggest what you do, you must decide this for yourself.

Sometimes a guy pretends to be a god because he wants to give you the big smooches and you're a Deity Hanger-Outer-With but not a Spirit Worker, and therefore putting on the godmask is the express train to smooch town. "Why are you mad at me for stealing someone's suit? I only did it because you said the dress code has to be black tie and you never go anywhere else."

Asshole behavior? Yes. You gotta decide what to do with it.

You're certainly not the first person it's happened to. Look at me, I turned out great* and now mine teaches me magic and stuff.

I have a problem, kinda, mainly because I don't do spirit work

Well you do now!

Spirits lie for lots of reasons. You suspect you know why this one did it.

Is this the kind of thing you would forgive? If so, what information do you need to make that decision? Would you forgive this spirit if you can otherwise trust them? If they can bring you some manner of power and benefit? Or is this something that you personally would not choose to get past?

Avoid using divination to tell you what choices to make. Instead, use it to gather information. You must be comfortable making a decision on your own, even if divination appears to provide insufficient information to make that choice.

These decisions can look like:

I do not forgive you and I will harm you if I ever sense your presence again.

I will put this behind me but you need to leave and never come back, and if we ever meet again it won't be as friends.

I'm willing to try and work through this but I require a great deal of your honesty and understanding, and we need to do things on my terms.

I've thought about it and I decided it's not a big deal to me that you pretended to be someone else to spend time with me.

It's sexy as hell that you did all this just to be with me, like a romance novel or something. Let's get married and have forever cuddles.

I'm not familiar with identifying spirits or understanding who they are

If this spirit lied to you to get close to you then I think this means 3 things:

He's a liar

He believes if you knew who he was, you'd stop being close to him

He wants to be close to you

Given these circumstances is a spirit likely to cooperate revealing their identity to you? Maybe not.

In my experience, identifying spirits (as in, being able to label them as a creature from myth or lore) is not helpful. Individual spirits often don't 1:1 match their lore. And a lot of lore is very muddy. I don't know anyone who works with the fae that would look at the general public online lore of faeries and say, "yep! Accurate."

I think it's much more important to identify intent and what this spirit wants from you. I think if you give him a chance to explain himself he may be significantly more open to sharing than if you demand information that you could use to disqualify him from your life. Does that make sense? Like don't start your investigation by barking up the most heavily guarded tree.

Because trust me! "Sure, I lied about being that god, but I'm totally this other kind of entity you'd be comfortable having in your life" is, uh. Probably not the end of the story for a guy who's only established fact is that he lies about his identity to stay in your life.

[nobodysdaydreams]

Hatchetverse Theory: The Parallels Between Paul (TGWDLM) and Grace (NPMD):

More thoughts and parallel screenshots under the keep reading, part of my #hatchetverse theory posts. Sorry these are all awful screen shots, I'm bad at gifs, but I hope I made my point.

The screenshots are pretty self-explanatory, but the parallels between Paul and Grace, especially with what happens to their characters at the end of their respective musicals, has been living in my head rent free, and I want to talk about it.

I've seen a lot of posts that speculate that the reason Grace went crazy at the end of NPMD is because she's just that blood thirsty and willing to kill, and while her character (at least of what I've seen of her in NPMD and what I've seen of nightmare time) is certainly intense, I wouldn't quite go so far to say she's always been that willing to hurt others, even for what she believes.

In fact, after rewatching NPMD, I realized something. When the kids first go to the Waylon Place, the others are the ones suggesting ways they can violently hurt Max. Pete even calls Grace's plan "goofy" and Richie is the one who suggests beating Max up. Grace is the one who tells them that all she wants to do is teach him a lesson and scare him and rejects their more violent ideas.

But after Max dies? That's when Grace's intensity starts taking a darker turn, and it's not as noticeable as it might be in the other kids because "Grace has always been kinda weird and intense" and the show has been playing that up for laughs since the beginning. But when you look at what happens to Grace in terms of her character's choices, she's the one who suddenly pulls a "bury the bully" plan out of nowhere when she was against even beating him up just a few hours ago. She's the one who suggests lying to the cops and trying to cover up what happened. She's the one who has a prophetic nightmare after the incident at the Waylon Place. That's also the moment when she symbolically loses her WWJD bracelet (though others have already pointed that out).

And if the LIB could infect Paul with spores just because he happened to be in close proximity to the meteor, then they could probably do something similar to any of the kids in the Waylon Place (and you cannot convince me that they were not the ones who collapsed the floorboards in the Waylon Place and killed Max).

But why would they target Grace you ask? Why not one of the other kids? That's a good question. I have a few theories.

The first has to do with what I mentioned before about hatchetverse's history of Webby's powers seeming to favor kids, and the LIB powers struggling to work on kids. We don't know how old most of the kids in NPMD are exactly, but the musical makes a point to tell us several times that Grace is "only 18" (Shaprio says she's a legal adult and will be tried as an adult in court). The musical also makes a point to have this be the Homecoming Dance (not Prom), which is in the fall, so most of the senior students wouldn't have turned 18 yet. We can also make an educated guess that Stephanie has turned 18 and Pete hasn't because she sings "wake me up when you turn 18" during their song. You could combat this by asking why the LIB never address Grace during the summoning and targeted Steph instead, which is a fair point. But interestingly, if you watch Grace, Steph, and Pete during the Summoning, Grace is silent most of the song, but looks completely horrified (especially when they tell her that they want what she cherishes most), despite the fact that from our perspective, the LIB aren't talking to her. She also seems to know exactly what the LIB want from her, because the next scene she's in is when she shows up to save Steph and Pete. During the Summoning, Pete, on the other hand, seems to mostly be involved in the conversation the LIB are having with Stephanie, although Grace also seems to understand what the LIB want from Stephanie. It's possible that this was intentional on the LIB's part, since they can see every timeline (in the "Abstinence Camp" episode of Nightmare Time, Grace gets between Steph, Pete, and Lumberaxe, risking her own life so that Lumberaxe doesn't hurt them. Grace might be willing to lose her own life for what she believes, but she might not be willing to lose her friends' lives. If the LIB know this, they'd likely want to make sure Grace understands that Steph or Pete will die unless she's the one who pays the price).

They have a personal reason for wanting her. In TGWDLM, Pokey hates Paul because...well, Paul doesn't like musicals but bigger picture, Paul resists Pokey's hive mind. Why would the LIB hate Grace? Possibly because she hates evil, the devil, and sin to an extreme degree. It could be a point of pride for the LIB: "we got the guy who didn't like musicals to join our musical and brainwash the world, and we got the girl who didn't like sin to devour souls for us." I've also seen a theory that Paul has some sort of resistance to the LIB because he doesn't like musicals and in a way sort of serves as a "prophet" in TGWDLM by warning others that musicals are bad. Grace arguably serves a similar role to Max in NPMD. She suggests Max becomes a better person "before he ends up in hell", which is ironic because then Max goes on to beat up Pete, which turns the nerds against him, setting off the chain of events that eventually lead him to actually being sent to hell (the black) by Grace. I've also seen some other theories suggesting that the LIB getting Paul in TGWDLM was really about getting Emma (since she was the one who starred in a musical before), and following that logic, it's possible that the LIB killing Max at the Waylon Place was really about getting Grace, because she'd still actually be alive. The LIB might have known this would work if they knew Max and Grace liked each other, and as seen in nightmare time, Grace is willing to risk her own life for her friends, and this might be consistent across several timelines.

Speaking of sacrifice, I know I covered this with the gifs, but the fact that Paul's last act was giving up his life, and Grace's was giving up what was essentially her morality and who she was so they could save their friends, only to have themselves turned into the very monsters they tried to destroy? Absolute tragedy.

But what's also interesting to me is how this happens. The way Grace and Paul both seem to lose control of themselves. With Paul it happens in one song and is more noticeable, but with Grace, it's a lot slower, and the more bad and morally questionable stuff she does, the funnier it is, and her character has been intense and over the top from the beginning, so you almost don't notice the difference in her actions until you rewatch the show. But her and Paul asking "Who am I?" has a similar creepy vibe, the screenshots I found for those moments (pictured below) even ended up looking very similar, though with Paul, you can see more of the fight happening during the song, whereas with Grace, it's more drawn out over the course of the show with these little moments of clarity where she has a complete breakdown.

Then of course there's the whole: What do you want thing?

Why do the LIB want what Grace cherishes most? Why do they want Paul to want anything at all?

And why do they phrase it in the creepiest way possible, asking for "a peek at Paul's soul" and telling him to "give up his choice" and telling Grace that they'll get "whatever they want" and that she'll "be forever in their debt?"

Well, probably because that does seem to be what happens. The most obvious screenshot parallels are probably their final numbers in their shows, which I think speak for themselves. The only unknown is what exactly is happening with the LIB and their whole "what do you want" thing. By taking what someone wants, do they replace that "want" in the person with wanting to serve them? How does that work?

At this point, I'm not sure, and I'm too tired to continue the rant, but I'd be happy to hear anyone else's thoughts on this.

I hope you enjoy Starkid fandom. Thank you for listening to my rants!

[psychelis-new]

pick a pile: "Your first impression about your person and viceversa"

take a breath and choose the photo or number that calls you the most to read what was/may be the first impression you'll have about your person when you met/will meet them and viceversa. for a couple of piles MAY not be necessary but I suggest you to take the pac 2 times, one asking about your person's first impression of you and the other asking about your first impression of them (or vice versa): you may get two different piles and it's totally fine. This person may be your current/next romantic partner, your destined romantic person/soulmate, fs/fp, exes and 'friend-crush'(= crushes you have/had interactions with).

don’t take the reading too seriously. only take what resonates with you and leave the rest. if you're not called by any pile, let this reading slid as it may not hold messages for you. if you're called by more than one pile, there may be messages in each of those piles. remember that is a general reading and some things may not resonate with you. energies can change and readings are based on present ones (as you read); you're always in charge of your life.

(photos found on unsplash)

- ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

1 2 3 4 - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

pile 1

--your first impression of them--

This person seems having either a double aspect to them, a double nature or may immediately look pretty balanced. They may also seem a mystery to solve, kinda like... they hide something or are very private. At the same time, they may be speaking or do something which will make you think they have it all together (but probably don't say it all) and are wise and also resourceful. It feels like a meeting in a job setting, where they aren't being their full self. Like you know, maybe they have to be a bit collected and all for clients or boss looking or anything. They may be under the spotlight for some reason, may be again a presentation or something where there are many people around (it could be even eg. a wedding where they talk about either of the newly weds) and they wanna do good, but you'll think they seem very fascinating and mysterious. For some of you, they may look jealous or sulky, or maybe you will feel like this (either for their abilities or because they're not alone).

song: jealous | labrinth

--their first impression of you--

They'll think you look a bit introverted/shy at first but maybe you'll interact with someone and they'll realize it's just an impression. Or, you'll probably be in a moment of your life where you're letting people in again after a while so it'll feel a bit weird but cute to look at you standing in a corner and trying to interact with others. They'll find it endearing. I think the setting will be the same as above (job or a palce with many people involved as a wedding or anything else): I'm getting again jealousy involved, so either of you may be talking with someone else and it will hurt the other's feelings somehow (like you're each other first-sight crush?). They'll find you special anyway, beautiful, despite (or even cause of) this shy side of yours. They'll see how strong, grounded (maybe you'll be giving very good informations and be very detailed when it comes to work or your presentation or something), and funny you can be, and will adore your bright smile. I think they'll try to talk with you first. And they may even like a lot how you look. Like, a lot. I am hearing "peeling" so they may even imagine removing your clothes or want to get to know you better.

song: watch me burn | michele morrone

- ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

pile 2

--your first impression of them--

You'll like their vibe. They look comfortable, easy, calm... I'd say like an ocean, but we all know oceans aren't that calm. Maybe you'll like that storm that you can imagine going on behind their eyes. I think you'll notice how passionate they are about something and this will make you more curious about them, somehow even proud? Or you'll find them inspiring for what/how they do something or think. You may start as friends first. They are a very abundant person, rich not just necessarily on the outside but in particular inside. They have a very various/wide world in their guts. They're also very nurturing... I'd say healing to you. That type of comfort. It can come as a storm but it's still good. They will probably help you chill somehow, even with just a look. Or a few words said all of a sudden. Maybe they are/will be that type of friends coming to see you at 3 am if you need or pick you up somewhere. You'll instinctively trust them.

song: I'm gonna be (500 miles) | the proclaimers

--their first impression of you--

They like you. Like a lot. Like with a passion. They are attracted by you. They may be even trying to manifest you or attracting you in their life. It's like you starstrucked them in a way, and they cannot get over you. Maybe they also felt like a little closed off from others (and from you too at first, pretty delusional soul when it comes to love), not trusting many people, but the moment you came in and found your way inside of them, they changed their mind. I think that despite finding you hot, they also really like you for something else. Either they feel a connection with you or appreciate your vibe/happy side, or... you're just surprising them cause again they may have tried to manifest you or talk with you. But indeed, the first thought is something about you being very physically (or your vibe) attractive and they needing to contact/talk with you asap in any way. They'll find you very fascinating then, cause you incarnate exactly what they were looking for in a person but could never find anywhere (that's probably the reason behind being closed off or a bit off in general at first).

song: 34+35 | ariana grande

- ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

pile 3

--your first impression of them--

They seem someone open and very connected with their inner child, very kind. Not naive ofc, just very comfortable with being spontaneous. They seem gentle and cute too. May be a friend first (this is the first impression of them as a lover, so kinda a realization) or someone that you met in the past or even in a past life, or they remind you of something that happened in your childhood, make you nostalgic (maybe you were like them but somehow you changed: probably you had to heal something and grew a bit more serious). They are very welcoming and loving, very hearty-nature. They are a lover by all means. They are also determined and chill in a way that make sthem hopeful and positive about anything they're trying; any new endeavour or experience they can do, they'll happily try it out. Very cheerful and positive person, may also be pretty happy about where they are in their career or mentally (may have healed/be healing something but be in a balanced situation). You really like having them around, they make your life better/cheer you up by simply being themselves or around you.

song: if i ain't got you | alicia keys

--their first impression of you--

You're a little shy/closed off and it may take a while to get inside of you. I think the setting can be the same as above: you two may have met in your childhood or in a past life. There's a connection between you two. They will think you're very strong-minded and (for some) even a bit stubborn. Still, they'll like that of you. They think it's cute when you pout. They'll think you're very much the person of their dreams, you make them feel good, you relax them somehow. Maybe they often felt on guard for some reason, but you feel comfortable for them. You help them chill. They'll think you changed a lot or it will be clear that you have been through some important stuff (maybe from the way you act). Probably cause you don't let people in that easily, you kinda have a wall to protect your most inner side, but they're not scared to work on it cause they really find you endearing and fascinating. they're not very preoccupied by your walls anyway they're "more stubborn", lol.

song: the arc | godevil godevil

- ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ - ’ -

pile 4

--your first impression of them--

Two options: they seem bright, and they bring you some kind of inner peace. Or... you don't like them that much. They seem a bit too much to bear with, a bit too "uptight" or something like that. Probably there's something blinding you, like an idea you had or a belief and this person is challenging it a lot. A LOT. Not sure if it's just with their appearance or how they act (eg. maybe you like more silent people and they're all chatty and kinda annoying) or in the way they talk or about what they talk or anything... still, it's kinda upsetting in a way. This challenging feeling though will change with time (we're ofc talking about your person). They'll find a way to get to you. You probably need to find a balance and let go of your old beliefs a little more. Find a new compromise. I think you'll end up liking them much more than you ever thought. This challenge will make you upset/get on your nerves, but in a hot way too at a certain point in your connection.

song: i wanna be yours | sofia krlberg

--their first impression of you--

They'll find you very interesting, appealing, they'll find you like a dream come true for certain aspects. They will love how determined you are and how you don't let people disrespect you. They will like that meeting you will feel like fated, for any reason. You're again whoever they dreamed to be with in and you're there in front of them. Just like out of nowhere. It feels a very sudden meeting or realization tbh, like they were going out for some reason and bam, there you are. You're beautiful, welcoming (I think if you're a female you may have a very nice curvy body or if you're a male you can be pretty toned -I'm getting big chest vibes-, but any other gender applies: this person just has a fascination about your body too and how comfy it looks to them specifically or it could be how kind, welcoming, gentle you look to them -so it can change according on this person's likes). Dunno what else to add tbh, they're just there with their mouth open. Starstruck. (For some, you may know them already or they may have seen you already)

song: a little bit yours | jp saxe

[katesmemes]

feel free to change any pronouns, etc. || may contain some nsfw!

"I don't think that blush is your shade."

"I'll probably just stay home."

"This is the first critical rager of the year."

"You know what your doctor said."

"You need socialization."

"Why don't you use my tanning bed?"

"You're in need, babe."

"I'm really sorry you got electrocuted."

"Are you hot for anyone?"

"[Name], [Name], [Name], [Name], [Name], [Name], [Name]!"

"I don't know who that is."

"He doesn't play sports; he's cerebral."

"This party is gonna be clutch!"

"These things will turn your feet into hamburger helper."

"It's not haunted, just abandoned. Desecrated."

"Well, I heard [Name(s)] do witchcraft over there."

"I've never seen anybody there."

"I think it's really peaceful and quiet."

"I talk to him sometimes."

"I brought this for you."

"It's kinda morbid when I wear it so I wanted you to have it."

"That's really weird, [Name]."

"I just don't think anyone should be forgotten."

"Y'know, I wasn't gonna say anything, they were such a mess, but you look amazing now!"

"Oh my God, [Name], bag your face!"

"How do you know my name?"

"So what exactly happened to her?"

"I can never ever talk about it, for personal and legal reasons, and i also pinky swore, but I guess I can tell you. I trust you."

"I'd be screwed up if I were her, too."

"Hi, sorry, how do we know each other?"

"You're being so dramatic."

"This is not what I expected from you; you have so much potential."

"Lets find somewhere for you to sit for a bit, yeah?"

"I hate parties like this; I don't even know why I came."

"Your hair feels like easter grass."

"You know it's not nice to lead people on."

"I wish I was with you."

"It's okay; everyone does it."

"You should probably get going."

"Did you smash the mirror in the bathroom?"

"Do you know what happens to people who act out?"

"How about an apology?"

"I feel like I may want to apologize for what happened last night."

"Well, I'm glad you're okay."

"Oh, is there pizza left?"

"I think I'm gonna skip the movie."

"I'm just really tired from work."

"Do you know how hard that is on the groin muscles?"

"It doesn't even hurt anymore."

"Do you like this song?"

"We're better off up here in case anyone comes home."

"I haven't said this many words in a row in forever."

"I hate to say it, but you're either crazy, or just goddamned inconsiderate!"

"You're kind of absurd, aren't you?"

"I really don't get your fixation with that one."

"There are plenty of halfway-dece guys who would date you."

"I wanna help you, I really do, but I dunno how."

"It's a waste of time to try and fix a boy; it's better to just accept a guy's flaws."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"What happened to your neck?"

"You don't want to hold my hand?"

"This whole place gives me the creeps, okay?"

"I thought that was a really cool thing to say."

"Don't feel bad about what we did!"

"You saved me."

"Is that a rad new trend or something?"

"I don't play with dolls anymore."

"I'm sure there's some explanation."

"You know I'm usually pretty cool about things, right?"

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"You have no idea how scary this is."

"I actually feel like something's wrong."

"People are so afraid of death because they dunno when it's gonna happen to them."

"I'm not afraid of death anymore."

"I don't wanna die a virgin."

"I want to do it with someone I truly love."

"You're so supportive."

"I love our conversations."

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude."

"How about I drive since you're not feeling so good?"

"Your boobs look great by the way."

"This is just too freaking much."

"It's your fault we're screwed."

"You act like you're happy for me, and you care about me, but you're not really happy for me."

"You couldn't let me have this one thing?"

"You knew I liked him and you went after him on purpose!"

"I swear, I would never do that to you!"

"Guys usually only want me for one thing."

"It just was never gonna work out between us."

"I don't have feelings for you like that."

"Do you know how uncool that is?!"

"Uh, you're not making any sense."

"Thank you for being nice to me when no one else was."

"You're the type of person who usually bullies me or looks right through me, but you didn't."

"You actually went out of your way to try to tell people I was part of your family."

"You really actually wanted me to be your sister..."

"You're a great person, [Name]."

"Listen, we're running out of time."

"Make love to me."

[krakapi]

I'm probably not the first person to say this, but I really don't understand all the hate Genmui receives. It isn't illegal, they aren't related, nor are they toxic.

The two main reasons I hear every fucking time as to why people dislike this ship are that :

A. They're too young

B. They only ever interacted once

Addressing the first part, that being that they aren't of age to be dating. That's false. Most teenagers begin relationships (although not long lasting) as, well, teens. Additionally, Genya (16) and Muichiro (14) share the same 2 year age gap as Zenezu (Zenitsu x Nezuko), an extremely popular, canon and hetero ship in the franchise.

Zenitsu (16) and Nezuko (14), do end up together after Muzan's defeat, and have kids, who then have kids, etc. However, before marriage, Zenitsu was absolutely in love with a then demon Nezuko. That's cute and all, if we just ignore the fact that Nezuko herself was turned into a demon at 12. Demon's don't age. Meaning, even if she was physically able to age herself, mentally, she is a young girl. Which, in itself, is kinda icky if you ask me.

As for the second claim, that being that they rarely had any interactions. Although in the manga it is indeed true that we don't see them talking together often, it's important to realize that Demon Slayer was a very rushed, short series. Therefore, it was very direct, and focused mostly on the plot. Aside from that, it is known that Muichiro and Genya are good friends with Tanjiro and company. It's displayed in this cute lil' manga panel :

(Zenitsu keep your hands away oh my god...)

They probably are relatively close, so it's safe to say that "behind the scenes", they hangout. Also, and not to bring up another canon HETERO ship, but Inoaoi (Inosuke x Aoi) literally have the same amount, if not less exchanges than Genmui. Heck, most people agree that them being a couple is random, no matter the adorableness. Listen, I don't want to pull the homophobia "card", but with the past two comparisons I've used, and the fact that Genmui is a gay pairing, it's difficult to say otherwise.

With that being said, I've also seen alot of people claiming that because Demon Slayer takes place during Taisho era Japan, these characters would be 100% straight, or even... homophobic. First of all, L opinion. Just because the society of that time was more openly against queer people, does not mean that they didn't exist. Many people of the lgbtq+ community back then did not ever get the chance to come out of the closet.

Second of all, the Demon Slayer Corps is known to be accepting of all people. You can't expect to maintain a secret military-like organization if you're too picky on who's joining. The most prominent and talked about example is Mitsuri Kanroji, who was praised by Kagaya for her incredible strength, which was deemed weird by society for a woman. As a Demon Slayer, you're basically reduced to a human sacrifice, ready to give up your life on a whim. Who the fuck really cares about what gender you wanna make out with?

Anyways, to conclude, Genmui is an overhated ship <3 If you really dislike it that much, you can sit in the corner and be miserable.

[emblemxeno]

Tbh I always found it weird how many people like to go "edelgard did nothing wrong!!" when I always percieved it as "her heart's in the right place, but her difficulty with moral nuance, refusal to Just Talk To People and alarming tendency to just stand by and look disgruntled while her "allies"/subordinates do terrible things because she thinks it's necessary to ally with the people she wants to stop in order to take them down makes her look way more like a tyrant than she probably intended"

Yknow, classic well-intentioned extremist stuff that people in-universe still have every right to be mad at because well-intentioned or not she still deliberately hurt them

Oh to continue on about my last thing (the "extremist edelgard" ask) I feel like a lot of the reason people excuse edelgard is because crimson flower kinda removes or downplays a lot of the sketchier parts of her character to go for a more unproblematic "look at this victim of oppression overthrow the system that hurt her!" story while ignoring that we barely even know what edelgard plans to do to replace the old system beyond "meritocracy" and all the stuffy old corrupt nobles that are still alive aren't magically going to give up their old ways just because the emperor's teacher/love interest/ideas guy (which definitely would've had some uncomfortable grooming implications were this set in any other time period) looked at them with their big wet doe eyes and made them tea

What I'm remorseful over is that this was legitimately my perspective and thoughts on her... 6 months after the game first came out and I had played all the routes. And you describe it so perfectly! Because that's what the game has presented, both with its strengths and flaws.

I hoped that others would be at least open to accept that opinion just existing, yet even that is too much for some. Somehow, some way, a maelstrom of factors have led people to deny her of any wrongdoing. And sometimes it gets to just really ugly places.

Like, when the election was over, someone made a "meme" where they (and Edelgard fan) did a political election map of Fodlan, and they made it so Rhea was representing the Republican votes and Edelgard the Democrat votes, trying to do some dark humor comparison calling Rhea a fascist and I just 🙃🙃🙃

Not only are many of these people seemingly incapable of having a good faith discussion, they're self-poisoned by their own parasocial relationship to this game and character that they can't even entertain the notion of not shoving it into what's a really fucked up real life scenario.

[geminiartemis]

Let's talk about Mammon's asexuality!

Okay, first of all, I know this post is waaay late to the party, and maybe someone else has already talked about this much more eloquently than I ever could, but fuck it, I just feel like talking right now. lol

So, back in July, this official image was posted.

Most people were surprised to find out that Mammon is asexual. Heck, even I was surprised, although I had seen that theory around.

But after a while – and many, many rewatches of that episode – I realized that it makes perfect sense.

(Obligatory disclaimer: I'm ace. Not all aces feel the same way about sex and allos. Mammon is a piece of shit regardless of his asexuality. Most real life aces aren't assholes like Mammon. I actually love Mammon as a character. Don't take things too seriously. It's not that deep. Calm down. Take a deep breath. Drink water. TRUST US WITH YOUR ENTERTAINMENT!)

Exhibit A

Mammon insists that making a sex robot out of the clown pageant winner is not weird. Then he points at some random guy in the audience and says HE'S weird for even thinking that.

Here's what I think. Mammon knows it's weird. Look at his face. Listen to his tone. He's super weirded out. It's only acceptable to him because it'll make them money, because he's still a greedy bastard, but he does think it's weird. Nobody said anything and he still got defensive about it and put the blame on someone else. “YOU'RE weird, you sick fuck!”

The thing is, to him, sexualizing a young clown is probably just as weird as sexualizing anything or anyone else. Because he's ace and not too worried about the ethics of it as long as it makes him money, sex is weird, sexualizing people is weird, people who like sex and sexualize others are weird, but those things are generally socially acceptable, so everyone is a sick fuck, so how is sexualizing Fizz any different? He just doesn't see the difference, nor does he care to.

Exhibit B

Like I just said, people who sexualize Fizz are, in Mammon's own words, “sick, fucking degenerate adults.” Like, the idea actually disgusts him! He is so disgusted by his customers who sexualize Fizz that he can't even keep his opinion of them to himself while recording a TV ad! Not because he has morals or any affection or sympathy for Fizz, but because sex and sexualizing people disgust him. He just doesn't get the appeal at all. (But it makes him money, so he goes along with it.)

Exhibit C

Since sex is so important to allos and IT KEEPS BEING BROUGHT UP ALL THE TIME, we aces sometimes get the impression that it's all allos think about. We assume sex is allos’ Roman Empire. Assume that allos are always DTF. What do you mean you DON'T want to be fucked, Fizzie?? *Crimson voice* That's the kinda shit you allos like, right?!

The sad thing is, that's the sentiment I saw some people in the fandom express when this scene and this line came out. So Mammon's reasoning here isn't even an exaggeration, ridiculous as it is. I don't know if those people were hypersexual allos or clueless aces, but… yeah… it's something that some people think in real life, apparently.

Anyway, the point is, I can totally see the ace vibe in Mammon now. Is making one of the most irredeemable villains ace, the kind of ace who has zero respect for allos, a wise idea in terms of ace representation? Eh, we've already had this discourse in Hazbin Hotel with regards to Alastor, and everyone has their opinion on this. I'm not getting into that. And hey, Octavia is ace, too! I don't know if that will be relevant in the show, but it'd be really cool if it were. We'll see!

[godfeelscanon]

whats the deal with arnold. like what inspired the inclusion of this random guy in the middle of our familiar cast, and having them all be like "wow omg my good friend arnold, who i have a close friendship with despite him having not appearing on screen once". was it just for the bit? because don't get me wrong it is EXTREMELY funny. but i guess im just wondering if theres some more involved decision making there.

if a new guy ever randomly shows up in godfeels, you can probably bet money that i threw him in on a whim for the yuks. when i was still thinking of this Bridge as a fairly short and kinda jokey thing, i was mostly searching for uncanny gags to make the audience laugh in a "what the fuck?" kind of way and was getting frustrated that the characters weren't giving me much to work with. then in walks Arnold fully formed, and i laughed for a minute straight after writing the scene that is basically unchanged in the published version. that was pretty much the only other thing i'd written besides the introductory conversation when i turned my draft over to QueerOnFire, and i demanded they keep him in the same way Andrew demanded the hs2 team keep Yiffy. one of my favorite gags in long-running media is introducing a new character by acting like they were always there. Invader Zim did it ironically, LOST did it earnestly, i'm sure there are other examples but idk i just find it hilarious. it's the kind of creative decision that gets people thinking "wow, you're really out of ideas," how could i not flirt with disaster when it struts before me so sexily? and that's pretty much the calculus. i like flying by the seat of my pants as a writer, and i like writing things that make me laugh.

but, okay, you're asking about more involved decision making. the truth is, it's all post-facto reasoning. the question was never "do we keep Arnold" because obviously we're keeping Arnold, but rather "what do we do with Arnold now that he's here?" and historically, that's where the magic happens in the godfeels kitchen.

so one of the running things about gf3 Roxy is that she has a whole life off screen that we don't know anything about. this is true of all the main cast, but it's especially true of Roxy because of her voidy thing (passive voidthought radius). VV revealing that she was transfem this whole time is one of my favorite moments in all of godfeels, so any opportunity i can find to emphasize the narrative's allergy to Roxy's personal life, i take. the fact that it extends to literally everyone in Arnold's case is sort of ridiculous, but that's the point. i like the questions this begs us to ask. i like feeling as a reader that you aren't witness to Literally Everything, like you're playing catchup and having to fill in blanks even if you've been reading from the start, which fits in with gf3.2's general theme of being "a story about being in the middle of stories." and i want us to be wondering what else we don't know about these characters now that they're free from the totalizing gaze of an unreliably motivated narrator. makes for good friction.

but in a more down to earth sense, this is just a thing at parties, especially milestone ones. somebody will bring a guy that most everyone in your friend group somehow knows and you've never heard of and you just have to be cordial and get to know them and see what all the hubbub is about. it's sort of a surreal experience that, depending on how long you've known the friends in question, can get you doubting your own experience of reality. like, am i really an important fixture in these people's lives, or just another ornament? (the answer tends to be, just because someone has more friends than you doesn't mean they like their friends any less than you like yours.) and the surreality only doubles when the new guy is somehow crazy compatible with you, because then they just fold into your life like they were always there! social groups are weird and it's very easy to write them as if they're not.

i like the destabilizing force Arnold brings to the table. as a writing tool he's very useful for a sequence like The Party. without him, i think Vriska and Terezi have way too easy a time slipping back in with the crew. he's an excellent counterpoint to them in a way that heightens the weirdness of what's become of canon: Vriska and Terezi, the arguable axis of Homestuck, are the awkward outsiders trying to figure out how to socialize, while some rando mortal human redhead we've never seen before is on a first name basis with them! even Jane knows who Arnold is for crying out loud!! little disruptions like these can do a lot of thematic heavy lifting when applied strategically (and yes, swinging a big obvious cartoon mallet IS a strategy). i like the working class perspective he brings, particularly as he's basically partying with his bosses. to say nothing of them being literally The Gods that Arnold will have grown up reading stories of! i mean seriously, what's that about? is this ethical? there's a lot of tension around the power imbalance of his presence that puts a big fat cloud over the whole shindig, but it's exactly high enough in the sky that you can kinda just ignore it and get along with the festivities anyway. which is great because that's how everyone at the party feels!!!

and then naturally, there's the obvious promise of an eventual continuation of the Earth C plotline once this section wraps up. the premise is too juicy and the pathos with Karkat, Jane, Jasprose, Vriska, and Terezi too delicious to leave entirely off the table, even if it takes us a while to circle back around to it. does Arnold become a major recurring character in whatever that continuation turns out to be? i think if a new guy ever randomly shows up in godfeels, you can probably bet money that they're gonna show up on screen at least one more time. but we're getting waaaaaaay ahead of ourselves now, the party has barely even started and Arnold only just got here!

so yeah i guess tl;dr i put him in as a bit but i kept him in with distinct intention. on the whole, i'd say that's a pretty good encapsulation of most of the decisions i make for godfeels! judge for yourself as to whether or not that's a remotely sensible way to run a show.

edit: i have been asked to relay important commentary from my collaborator.

[olderthannetfic]

About the "European" fairytale thing, non-white cultural stories, and "Eurocentrism." To start off, keep in mind that I mean the specific story that's told, NOT the visuals. So if you took the stories themselves, wrote them down as a book with no pictures. LONG SUBMISSION

I honestly feel like it's a bit weird to claim that the Disney movies are "Eurocentric" because none of the stories have anything to do with the actual European version of the fairytales. If they hadn't been specifically drawn to look like that, and you only had a written version by Disney, you could probably argue they're just a bastardisation of any culture where a version of them exists.

If you know the "real" fairytales from Europe, they've got almost nothing to do with what Disney made. You could take any cultural equivalent to a Disney movie and claim it's a "clean washed" and American values version of it, and it "just so happens" they chose a Pseudo European aesthetic, and not even that well. <- That last part is my opinion.

I think Cinderella was used as an example of a story that has an equivalent in Vietnamese culture, the fairytale of Tam and Cam. You could take the Disney version basically the exact way it's written, and put a different coat of paint on it, and it's be just as accurate to any other cultural version: Not accurate at all. There are several versions of the Cinderella story in Europe alone, the German one is different from the French one, and none of them are like the Disney version. In one of the version I've read the gifts and dresses come from a tree from the mother's grave, and at the evil stepsisters cut their feet to fit in the shoe, which the doves tell the prince.

Beauty and the beast is the same. The Disney version isn't the "European" version, it's vaguely based on a fairy tale that also exists across a few countries. If we go European, there's version with a singing tree, a version with a singing bird, there's also a Scandinavian story where a girl is forced to marry a bear, who turns into a human at night. But there are also stories of the same make in Asia and Africa.

It's also one of the reasons I'm both annoyed with both sides bitching about the Disney remakes. On one side, these movies aren't even the "European" fairytales, they've always been a completely American versions of a story that they vaguely took inspiration from the European versions but basically removed 80-90% of the actual European key elements, where the base story also exists in other cultures. With a pseudo historical European aesthetic, which was heavily based on the "current trends" of the years they were made in, example Snow Whites being based on the late 1930's fashion, same with Aladdin, Jasmine being based on the 90's. These aren't "White European" fairytales, they're "Western American" fairytales. If you actually wanted a real European fairy tales, you could just check out European productions or even the books. The other side, who're constantly saying that its a win for diversity or that it "makes the most sense for visibility" or how it's a win for POC fairytales: The remakes still heavily feature some of the pseudo European inspirations, and it's still a shit cash grab. It wouldn't take Disney much extra work if they actually just straight up adapted the story with a different aesthetic since they already don't give a shit about accuracy. You could literally still keep the Western American story they wrote, but could use setting that pseudo African, Asian, LatAm or whatever to tell the story, which are more catered to American born people. (Not like the piss poor 2020 Mulan, at least the 98 seemed passionate and wanting to tell a good story despite being inaccurate. Kinda like all their old movies, inaccurate but at least passionate abt it.) Making shitty poorly redone live action movies isn't a step in the direction for diversity, it's a step in the "Let's throw POC actors to the wolves, and put them in movies doomed to fail." There are thousand options. It also comes across cheap because you're basically boiling down POC, especially American POC entertainment to "rotten leftovers from much more popular white lead fairy tale movies." Great, the first forage for people into big production "POC in fairy tales" are low value Disney trash, with the constant visual reminder that they have to attach themselves to "European" stories. <- Even if it's pseudo European, most people don't know that and will just view it as "European" period.

--

If we want to talk about cultures dominating so much that they warp the entire framework of how we think...

What is a "fairy tale"?

Why does this exist as a category?

--

One of the problems people run into when they try to be more inclusive in this sphere is that while every place has folktales, and many of those do have animal husbands or other common elements that are found in the core "fairy tales" the West knows, they don't have a specific category of tale with the same boundaries.

I honestly think a big part of the reason for rehashing the same tiny core of tales is that it's hard to define what a new entry into the canon would have to look like.

If it's basically a Beauty and the Beast variant, okay, but what if it isn't? And even if it does have some animal husband aspects, what if the actual point of the story in its original context is completely different.

Very quickly, one ends up at that Joseph Campbell place of thinking everything is a Jesus metaphor and all mythologies are basically the same.

[maspers]

Ranking the Miracucast by how much Adrien: The Fragrance they own

Marinette: Do you even have to ask? She has gallons. 10/10

Alya: She has more than the average girl her age, but that's mostly because it was on sale and she felt like supporting Adrien in a way that was pretty easy. 5/10

Adrien: Yes. 10/10

Nino: Has gotten at least 1 bottle as a joke. Adrien was not amused. 1/10

Chloe: She has a significantly large amount of Adrien, and she says that she wears it all the time, but her collection isn't decreasing as much as she says it is. Sus. 8/10

Sabrina: Unlike Chloe, Sabrina actually likes this perfume. Main reason Chloe's collection is decreasing is because Sabrina uses it. 8/10 by proxy

Mylene: Had some, but then she learned about some of the stuff that Gabriel puts in his perfumes. Then she set all her bottles on fire. At once. In the classroom. They had to have a fire drill. Maybe it wasn't her smartest idea. But she was tired. 3/10

Ivan: Everyone assumed he was the one who set the fire, and he is doing nothing to dissuade them of that notion. 2/10

Rose: This girl knows her perfume. She sorts it alphabetically. She may or may not make her own, by performing unethical experiments on the perfumes she already owns. The Adrien is no exception, she has more types of it than legally exist on the market. 6/10

Juleka: Actually wears it quite a bit, since A) She kinda likes the smell, B) It's cheap, and C) Adrien uses it as proof that he is in fact endorsing her as a model. The only thing holding her career back is her self-confidence. You can do it Juleka! We believe in you! 7/10

Kim: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. 9/10

Max: Absolutely not. 0/10

Alix: She actually has a pretty sizable collection of the stuff in the Burrow. But none of it seems to be stuff that's currently on the market, it's all weird future versions of the stuff with odd scents, unreleased prototypes that put you at risk of setting it on fire if you use it, or bottles from alternate timelines that somehow survived whatever apocalypse was going on there. It's complicated. But since they're all weird versions of it, she has a nice excuse to not use it. Ever. Alix/10

Nathaniel: Bought a whole bunch and used it to create an art piece for Adrien's birthday. Adrien was extremely amused and gave the artwork a special spot in the corner of his room. It still smells like the fragrance (and bottles) used to make it, which is very good for disguising the scent of Plagg's camembert. 4/10

Lila: Is contractually forced to wear the stuff due to legal shenanigans. She hates it. She hates it so much. But if any of the Agreste Household realize that she isn't wearing it then things will get more ComplicatedTM for her so she just has to deal. 9/10

Luka: Borrows Juleka's sometimes. If it works, it works! The twins already share a lot of stuff anyway, she doesn't mind. Sometimes it leads to Luka getting weird looks from other people, but Luka has never really been one to care about that. 5/10

Kagami: Like Lila, she's basically contractually obligated to wear it. unlike Lila, she doesn't own a single bottle of the stuff. Neither Gabriel nor Tomoe care about it enough to force her, so she will take what she can get. 0/10

Marc: He adamantly refuses to disclose how much of the stuff he has, if any. It's probably one of the best-kept secrets in the entire school. I have no clue either, so I'm just going to give him the average score and you all can try and come up with your own guess. 5/10

Ondine: Kim once bought her some perfume in bulk as a gift (oh, THAT's why his own score was so high, I get it now) but unfortunately perfume is not really practical for a girl who spends a significant amount of her time swimming and showering. She appreciated the gift, though, and wears it when she feels like being fancy! 3/10

Aurore: She's an Adrien fangirl. 'Nuff said. 8/10

Felix: He hates this stuff with a burning passion. Everyone sees him and goes "hey aren't you that guy on the perfume ads?" and he despises it. He actively goes out of his way to tear down posters and deface advertisements, even going to such great lengths as to create sentimonsters with the explicit purpose of reducing sales of Adrien. Felix will do everything in his power to decrease the amount of this stuff in the world. -5/10

Zoe: She arrived after the craze was over and has no context for anything. So she also borrows from Chloe's stash on occasion, but she doesn't really much care for the smell. 4/10