#then i can compare to other games (ALL other games) to make a proper reference for all the creatures and the magic system and.. etc

[danielnelsen]

am i losing my mind or does the dragon age rpg core rulebook not have DRAGONS in it????

[popopretty]

[Translation] Asagiri Kafka's afterwords for The Day I Picked up Dazai novel

Normally, afterwords would be the last thing I read in a novel, but as there are not many changes to the published novel this time compared to the movie bonus version, I was able to skim through the text quickly and get to this. And to be honest, despite not being a writer myself, I was so moved by Asagiri's views about writing and his characters that he shared in the afterwords, that I had to sit down and translate it right away.

This is just my crappy translation, as usual, but I hope it gave you a short, interesting look into the author and the characters. And please do not forget to buy the novel if you have the chance.

The translation is under the cut, thank you!

It has been a while. This is Asagiri Kafka.

Have you been enjoying Bungou Stray Dogs?

This novel, “The Day I Picked up Dazai”, is a compilation of the first week’s bonus novel “The Day I Picked up Dazai – Side A” and the second week’s bonus novel “The Day I Picked up Dazai – Side B” for the screening of “Bungou Stray Dogs BEAST” movie (hereinafter referred to as “BEAST”).

Normally, it is difficult to publish a bonus like this, but since "BEAST” and “Fifteen” that were published earlier by BEANS Bunko were originally bonus novels too, "The Day I Picked up Dazai” was also published in the same way, thanks to the efforts of all parties involved in the Bungou Stray Dogs series.

It is the story of Dazai and Odasaku’s first meeting, where Dazai who wants to die, collapsed in front of Odasaku’s place, who is neither a mafioso nor a hit man.

Why are there two different stores, Side A and Sode B? Regarding this question, please read the novel and see for yourself. If you keep in mind that this is the bonus for the BEAST movie, I think you will be able to understand it better.

Let me reminisce a little bit here.

This story was actually suggested to me by Igarashi Takuya, Director of the Bungou Stray Dogs anime.

Shortly before BEAST movie premiered, I was struggling. It was because I was asked to write a bonus novel for movie-goers again. I said “again” because, as I mentioned earlier, BEAST itself was a bonus novel for the Bungou Stray Dogs DEAD APPLE movie. I remembered having a hard time writing it, because I let myself run wild and wrote a total of 190 pages instead of 50 pages as requested.

But I had learnt my lesson after the last rampage. I can’t just write whatever I want anymore. I have to wrap the story in a reasonable length, like a pro should do.

A proper, professional story.

Huh?

My pen stopped right there. I stopped, looked around, feeling lost.

What is a proper story?

The act of writing novel is quite different in character compared to other types of media such as writing manga, anime scripts, or game scenarios. You can say it is almost a different thing. Writing novels, rather than narrating an event, is more like putting the flow of emotions into specific sentences. You use the sequence of letters to create rhythms, create flows, and create emotions. If anything, it might be closer to composing a song than writing a story.

Therefore, you have to decide “what kind of emotion will be put in this novel” from the very beginning, or you can’t start writing. That is the only and absolute rule.

Now, however, that is where the condition of a “proper story” hung over me.

A proper novel, of a proper volume, with a proper content for a bonus.

In other words, a proper emotion.

I searched through the drawers inside my head. For a proper emotion that is waiting to be brought out.

There was nothing but emptiness there.

A professional story teller is one with the skill to move the readers’ emotions. When people find the chance to move their own emotions, they will happily be paying for it. Human-being is that kind of creature.

And writers are ones who create and sell those kinds of emotions: the fear, the excitement, the heart throb etc., those that make you think. It is that kind of job.

It is supposed to be that kind of job.

Yet I became unable to move forward.

A good story is a story that moves people. I know that. Then what kind of emotion I should put in the story to make it "proper"?

How do I find that emotion?

I mean, how did I even write novels until now?

I stood still. My legs stiffened, my knees froze, unable to take even a step forward.

I then tried to at least pretend that I was moving forward, by listening to music, by taking a walk around the neighborhood at night. But as good as the night breeze felt, I didn’t manage to reach a single story that I needed to write.

What if I stayed like this forever, what would I do?

I felt a chill plunging into my back.

Then I realized, that stories, or probably emotions too, are not things you can search for or come up with. You have no choice but to patiently wait for it to come your way. You have no choice but to humbly and earnestly sit and wait for the story’s visit.

I got that, but the "proper 50-page story” still refused to come.

It was not long before one week passed. Then two weeks.

I was doing other work, while keeping my heart’s door open, waiting for the story to come to me.

At that time, I had an online meeting with the anime staff. I casually asked Director Igarashi, “Do you have any story you want to see?”

The Director gave it a little thought then told me, "I want to see the story of Dazai and Oda’s encounter”.

At that very moment, the story rushed in through my door, like a bang. I could hear that sound very clearly.

Two stories. Odasaku, and the two Dazais. A story where they met, and a story where they couldn’t meet. A story of gain and a story of loss. If I can portray the gain and loss side by side, the amplitude of the heart will be doubled and rise up in front of us.

That was a momentary event. Rather than pushing my way forward, I felt as if something was pulling my hand. Before I noticed, I have already finished the stories.

I came to realize.

It is not the writer who searches for the story. It is the story that chooses its writer, and at some point it will come our way. A professional writer is no more than someone with the ability to catch that call.

Also, this is the most important thing: there is no such thing as a “proper emotion”. Because after all, the feelings of other people belong to them only. That is why there is no guarantee that a novel can move others “properly”. However, you can move your own emotions. You know what kind of novel can and how it will move you. If you do, you can write just that. That’s the only way. That is the truly professional attitude. That’s what I thought.

Well then.

It is a little bit off topic, but as we are talking about “stories that come our way”, let’s talk about Odasaku’s first-person narrative.

Odasaku is a special character. For me, he is exclusively a novel character, and I have never portrayed him in the manga.

He first appeared as the narrator in “Dazai Osamu and The Dark Era”, then “BEAST” and now this “The Day I Picked up Dazai”. All are novels. That’s why for me, Odasaku doesn’t live inside the pictures, he lives inside the first-person narrative passages.

He is an eccentric guy. Even if you prepare the place and tell him to speak, he won’t speak to you that easily. His way of thinking is rather unique, that if I write his narrative after writing other characters’ first-person narrative, I would stumble for sure. Odasaku doesn’t speak. He just sits there in silence, while I can do nothing but sitting in front of my blank manuscript paper, trying to talk to him, like “What’s up?”, “Here, here”. However, he is a guy who won’t speak when it is not necessary. Sometimes it goes days or even weeks without him saying a word. Why did such a character come to me...?

During such time, there is only one thing I can do. That is, of course, to stay with him, sit patiently, and simply wait.

Finally he will start speaking. In his unique rhythm, word by word. His words have the power to cut through the world from a certain angle. That special cross-section is full of things I have never seen before and it never fails to surprise me.

And then when he finishes telling his story, he will swiftly disappear. To a dark and quiet place somewhere – probably, I can only imagine, somewhere like a bar. He will sit there calmly and keep his own time to himself. After that, it will be hard to call him again. It is a backbreaking task to me, but in the end, that is the type of guy Odasaku is, and if I am allowed to sound self-conscious, that is Odasaku's charm.

This story was written in such a way. There is a chance that he will come back again. And when he does, I will patiently listen to his voice again.

This story was completed and published thanks to the help of many people: in the Bungou Stray Dogs BEAST movie’s Production Committee, the anime staff, Young Ace’s Editorial Department, BEANS Bunko’s Editorial Department, and the many people who were involved in the publication of the book. Thank you very much. It is all thanks to you that the book was published without any problem this time as well.

Well then, see you in the next story.

Asagiri Kafka.

[shkika]

Hi! I have a question regarding how close pebbles is to moon! I just finished reading pebbles pearl reading dialogue and in all his dialogue he just refers to moon as his neighbor. And he refers to suns as a close friend so do you think that canon pebbles doesnt feel close with moon while moon feels close with pebbles?

Oh no... do you know how much I love Pebbles and Moon's relationship. How well it's written, how every event makes sense and how much I love them?? Anon... you're sending me into a spiral..

Short answer to your question is yes! Moon thought of Pebbles as closer than he considered her in my opinion.

Incomprehensible ramble incoming! Since I NEED this information for my Moonie blog, I've researched this quite a bit, but I'm scatter brained so I'm sorry if it's hard to read.

We actually know this as a fact even merely from NSH talking about their relationship from him perspective!

Actually Sig and Suns are PERFECT candidates to peer into what Moon and Pebs were like! As they were their close friends from different sides of the coin!

Look at this for example.

Pebbles has always been distant. Moon tried to be a big sister to him and Sigs felt like she was never truly appreciated for it proper.

Suns acknowledges this and gives the reasoning that Pebbles sought independence. He didn't want to be told things. Which combined with Moon's seeing him as a younger sibling, it probably led to him being coddled too much.

Which.. no doubt probably annoyed him!

And how could he NOT seek independence on the other hand! He might sneer to Artificer about the protests concerning his creation, but they NO DOUBT left an impact on him! That's my opinion at least.

Not only was his very existence protested against from both the Shaded Citadel people, but ALSO from the very city that built him to MOVE there!!

WE KNOW that not everyone even MOVED!!!

(Ashy green pearl quote- Pebbles)

They did not want a new iterator!! They wanted Moon. No doubt he was compared to Moon as well. He didn't even get the luxury to have his own grounds of sorts. He and Moon are the only example we and hell maybe even they know of iterators being built so close together.

Which is especially sad when we put into perspective that Moon doesn't even like her citizens or have strong fondness for their art and culture. Unlike he very much does!

His last comfort was a pearl containing their hymn. He shares how he viewed the relationship he had with them as mutually beneficial (Very funny when she compares them to parasites.)

Moon is the one with seething hatred for them, not him which is just... so good. It only deepens as the game goes on by the way. Moon you are such a good character.

Back on track though.

What this entire situation reads to me as. Moon wanted to help and be there in any way she can for her little brother. She had responsibility over him. Pebbles was literally the only iterator out of them with another iterator administrator and it was her. She wanted for him to view her as family not as a boss or direct example.

But they were still attached and compared to one another. And although she tried her best, you can see how being treated as the lesser of the two, led to him wanting to be more distant.

Instead he grew very attached to Suns! Who seems like the opposite of Moon in all ways honestly. EXTREMELY BAD with their words, nihilistic prick!!!

It just makes sense. It's sad. I wouldn't blame anyone for the fact they grew a little distant.

I also don't in any way think Pebbles didn't at all like her or didn't care for her or all of that. His feelings were just complicated. I still think they loved each other.

[sonkitty]

The Sideburns Scheme Post #16 v2

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 1, The Arrival, hiding Gabriel

...

Sideburns Check

The sideburns are immediately long though not quite longest length when the scene starts.

They lengthen while Crowley dances.

Then they remain long during the entire scene. They look even from the front but have differences when examined closely. In some cuts with a given angle, the right sideburn widens a little more from its own center at its bottom. Overall, it also looks a little more fuzzy and full in hair. The left sideburn looks more like it slants downward, in line with Crowley's jaw, from the ear toward his mouth.

That means the left side is considered the lighter side for this scene. The lighting in the scene itself shows much the same.

I used to have this part wrong and thought they were longest length the entire time. In my defense, it is very hard to tell and I've only been able to do it after months of practice playing this game, especially with my latest focus on posts I've been making for episode 5.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

The more saturated red streak has been mostly gone since the last time Crowley encountered Gabriel with occasional hints of stronger saturation at points and looking to finally take form in the preceding scene.

Here, the streak is far more clearly shown on Crowley, even with his hair being so much more saturated in red overall. It is actually forked outward in several cuts, hard to be sure of all of them. I am not going to check every cut or frame for when it might go into hiding due to distance, angles, and lighting.

Generally, I can see it when I expect it with the proper framing.

...

Hairstyle Changes

Aside from the longer sideburns, the loose tendril to the right of his face is gone. The hair on that side is more smooth.

Early into the scene, a pocket of hair is visible though it doesn't seem to last.

Compared to Crowley's earlier visit when encountering Gabriel, the color is more saturated. It is so vibrant, so red here. The general shape still swoops up and tilts to his right in a curve but separates more in its upper areas. The curve indents more from the left.

Sometimes the curving hair seems to separate a little more based on Crowley's emotion, most obviously when he's telling Gabriel to, "Just stay here."

Much like in Hell, the hair on the left side is brighter; the hair on the right side is darker.

...

Earthly Objects

(For reference: Earthly Objects)

Aziraphale starts the scene seated in his chair. His vendetta against the backs of chairs is active. His elbow is on the arm rest, and his lower back is touching a pillow. His back is otherwise ensured to not touch the back of the chair. He has a book and a number of papers in front of him at his desk with his hand possibly touching his glasses that can't be seen just yet.

He turns his head upon hearing Crowley enter.

The Tied Hands retie quickly. Crowley's right index finger is "making a point" while touching the astragal of the bookshop door and pointing toward the doorknob. The right thumb is on the edge of the outer door side and the astragal.

A slim pocket exists between the left jacket sleeve and the jacket torso that widens as Crowley enters.

The background behind Crowley, for what is outside the bookshop, has a blueish hue to it. Various other pockets form between Crowley and the door as he enters.

The clasp closest to Crowley's right hits a left lapel edge of the jacket. The watch is ensured to be visible, especially as the left arm crosses over Crowley's chest. With an extra shine from the watch suggesting an audience player look more closely, I looked around and can see the plate of Eccles cakes is gone, and that there is a curtain that's going to be more clearly shown as near a pillar. That pillar will be behind Crowley soon.

Either the left thumb joint touches the jacket at the end of the cut for this retying, or its shadow close to the jacket suffices. A small pocket exists between Crowley's legs and the bottom of the screen. This left thumb joint part happens after Crowley passed by behind some books.

Legs-to-lower-screen pockets repeatedly appear during the scene.

Aziraphale puts his glasses on, shifts forward in his chair so that he's no longer touching the pillow, and picks up a piece of paper.

With the Tied Hands retied, it is time for the third touch of The Sunglasses Trick. This third touch is Triple Part 2 for the Triple that eventually switches to a Single. These touches involve not hissing, taking place in the present day, and not touching an earthly object when the touch itself happens.

Again, Crowley has a pocket existing between his legs and the bottom of the screen. He has his right hand aligned by his pants, such that his thumb is either touching the edge, or at least looks like it does. The lighting specifically casts over his thumbnail and thumb tip while casting the rest of the thumb in shadow. His right shirt sleeve is partly out.

If he needs overhead lights, he has them. There are two visually close to his sunglasses and two more further up and to his left. They are small compared to what was shown earlier by his car and what this scene is going to show later.

One of the tassel tips is above the Belt Head. If there are some more complex things for figuring out if and which lights are for the Belt Head, I don't know much. The best I've got is the overhead lights don't visually touch Crowley's actual head most of the time, so maybe the one that does here is for the Belt Head because the Belt Head is still visually part of what is happening.

The left index finger and thumb tip are visibly part of the touch, and it's best to see them in the video frame right before the tips are hidden in finding their target. With Crowley, the use of the left hand here implies more power.

In the last video frame of the cut when this touch starts but hasn't fully completed, there is a pocket between the right shirt sleeve, right jacket sleeve, and jacket. There is a pocket between the left shoulder, watch, left hand, some of the left side of Crowley's head, and neck. The left hand itself makes a pocket. The legs-to-lower-screen pocket is still there.

The following cut is a closer look at Crowley as he removes the sunglasses. It's a different angle of the same pockets made with the left arm. A self-made pocket of hair can be found in front of a pillar above the center of Crowley's left eye. Now the overhead lights have shifted such that there are three to Crowley's left. The sunglasses are removed.

Aziraphale is touching the paper from earlier and a pen. He'll eventually touch the glasses again to remove them.

Crowley throws his sunglasses on a desk and rings a bell. When he does that, the unquestioned prominently displayed cardboard box from earlier can be seen more clearly by any audience member looking for it. It can be found by the cash register and out of Crowley's line of sight, to Crowley's left.

When Crowley says, "I'm back," his shoes are touching both the floor and the rug, presumably to count as a touch to the rug itself. The phrase "I'm back" seems to be regarded as an allowed form of "Hello" in the game.

Aziraphale touches his own clothes and hands when getting up from the chair to watch the dance.

When Gabriel shows up, his left arm is so close to the railing on the stairs, but I think he's not touching it. His left thumb tip is visible. He is forming a pocket with his right hand, the tartan blanket, and the bottom of the screen. His right thumb tip is partly obscured at first, but he moves enough to show it during the cut.

There is a prominently displayed lamp near Gabriel connected the stairs. This lamp looks to be surprisingly important later in the scene because it's going to be Crowley's Overhead Light during and after the miracle. It is shaped like a large flame, and fire is an element associated with Crowley throughout both season 1 and season 2.

The main other earthly object touched in the scene is the chair Gabriel sits in. Crowley touches it by picking it up, by tapping its back, and by standing on it later; Gabriel, of course, sits in it.

Paying attention to the pockets after the touch for The Sunglasses Trick, the Tied Hands may be retied in a very special method with word play I haven't found because of something extra that happens. The world play I thought of varied. It included "leg up," "over and under," "up and down", and "go figure." None of those really clicked, but I would pick "leg up" if given a quiz and forced to choose one.

Rather quickly, the clasp closest to Crowley's left is at least visually in front of a left lapel edge of the jacket while Crowley's still holding the sunglasses. I can't be sure of an actual strike on that edge though.

His left thumb joint visually touches his jacket and creates a small pocket after he throws the sunglasses down.

Crowley's left index finger "makes a point" at the end of his apology dance. The watch is visible. Because I'm actually looking for anything special with the tie strands, I can see that the tassels (thumbs) dangle rather low—low enough that would place them "below the belt" if I could actually see the belt. Crowley's arms themselves make a pocket between themselves and the bottom of the screen in the next cut.

When Crowley approaches the desk again after the dance, I think I found a strike on a lapel edge. Even closer to the desk, a clasp is again questionably visually at a lapel edge but harder to say if it's actually striking that edge. With Crowley's right hand implied to be touching the desk, the tie strands swing over to Crowley's right with both clasps visibly well past the edge of the right lapel on the jacket. I think they switched too, but it is a lot harder to be sure than it usually is.

In The Pocket Trick, when something goes notably over an edge of something else in certain parts, I call it an over-the-rainbow touch. There's no active Rainbow Connection here, but that's what this movement reminds me of. Crowley's left ear is going to go over his own Overhead Light later.

When Crowley tells Gabriel to stay here, one of the tassels (thumbs) is over his belt. He has both actual hands out and digits spread, at first. The camera work and Crowley's movement allow Crowley's actual right thumb to cover up one of the clasps of the tie strands three different times though the index finger and middle finger in front of the thumb on the third iteration. On this same third iteration, the ring finger and pinky finger are actually touching each other instead of spread from each other like the other digits.

There's a cut to Gabriel with a displeased childish expression, squinting specifically after Aziraphale says "your" and before "former people". The scene cuts back to Crowley to show that tassel is still touching the Belt Head. The hands are still out, but the right hand is in front of the knot of the tie. It's not obscuring a clasp until both actual hands go down while Aziraphale approaches Crowley.

As Crowley backs away, looking like he's trying to avoid Aziraphale touching him, his jacket covers the clasps, tassels, and belt altogether.

When Aziraphale approached, two pockets formed between himself and Crowley. One pocket is between Aziraphale's right hand, vest, Crowley's left jacket sleeve, Crowley's watch, and perhaps a little bit of Crowley's left hand. That's the upper pocket. A lower pocket formed between the rest of Crowley's left hand, Crowley's jacket, and Aziraphale's pants. These pockets disappeared into a general space existing between the two as Crowley backed away. This general space can still be a pocket in Earthly Objects; it's just not a closed type existing between their bodies.

Crowley creates another such closed type pocket when he points to Gabriel and says, "You..." Most of the point is with an index finger with the thumb out, but Crowley makes sure to actually extend and reveal the middle finger and ring finger while keeping the pinky finger hidden. The Tied Hands and Belt Head are definitely hidden by Crowley's jacket in this part.

As Crowley is grabbing the chair, the tie strands touch Crowley's left arm (or are at least visually in front of it). At least one of the tassels is fully off the sleeve.

With Gabriel seated, he ends up pocketed between Aziraphale and Crowley. The crossed arms could be a clue to either a previous draft's appearance swap session or Big Miracle. Crossed limbs or ligaments keep showing up as a special type of thing in Earthly Objects. I'll point them out as I notice them throughout the story, but the one example I'll note for now is Crowley has his legs crossed in The Door Trick.

In the first video frame of Aziraphale, Gabriel, and Crowley from the front after Gabriel sat down, Crowley's legs are already making a pocket with the bottom of the screen with the right leg visually behind the tartan blanket. One foot is presumably on the rug and at least the left heel isn't. Meanwhile, Aziraphale's legs aren't making a pocket yet but soon will.

A tassel lightly sweeps across Crowley's Belt Head.

That stair lamp mentioned earlier finally starts its role as Crowley's Overhead Light for the scene. It is a more dominant light compared to the lights that both Aziraphale and Gabriel get by their heads.

Because of everyone's position and movement, a pocket forms between Crowley's right side of his jacket, right arm, right hand, and Gabriel's left arm. Within that pocket is Gabriel's right hand, Aziraphale's left hand, and some of Gabriel's head.

A pocket forms between Aziraphale's right arm, right torso, right leg, and the chair's right side. Another pocket forms between Crowley's lower front right part of the jacket, right leg, some of the tartan blanket, and the left arm rest of the chair.

Gabriel's arms are then uncrossed with each hand taken accordingly by the angel and demon pocketing him.

When the camera pans down, there are a number of visible pockets formed between everyone's bodies and the screen. So, given that I'm then trying to look for anything more special than the others among them, I can find there is a particular video frame where Crowley has jacket-torso-to-sleeve pockets for each arm, his legs forming a pocket between themselves and the bottom of the screen, and another pocket between Gabriel's arm, Gabriel's left torso, and the bottom of the screen. On the other side, only Aziraphale's left arm is forming a pocket between it and Aziraphale's vest while Gabriel's arm and torso are not making a pocket like on the side with Crowley yet. Eventually, that latter part does change as the camera keeps panning down.

Compared to how Crowley manages his hand with digits visibly spreading or touching or placing themselves as he sees fit, Aziraphale opts for keeping his fingers curled and balled into little firsts at various points. He doesn't open his right hand to spread his fingers more until after Crowley says "Three."

An extra little light by Crowley's Overhead Light briefly appears during the pan as well.

By the end of the cut with the camera panning down, the pocketing is more even and parallel between Aziraphale and Crowley. Both have leg pockets with the bottom of the screen though Crowley's is wider. Both have an arm making a pocket with a side of their torso. Both have a pocket with a Gabriel arm, a leg, and bottom of the screen. Together, they are pocketing Gabriel. There is something special about the lights here. Both lamps on Aziraphale's desk are in this pocket.

Further up, are a set of three lights for each side, making for a total of 8 lights altogether, 4 on each side. The number 8 doesn't show up much when I play Earthly Objects, but I can name at least one other important instance when it does. Eight is the number of touches for The Sunglasses Trick. It's also a relevant number to Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, largely associated with wizard magic. I'm still in the earlier books for my own reading, but I at least looked that up overall, for the number.

While Aziraphale himself has 3 lights above the side of his right head, Crowley has that earlier mentioned more dominant Overhead Light that is the lamp connected to the stairs. The camera moves, progressively cutting it from view but never fully. It was not fully in view during the miracle, but it is going to get fully in view for what happens afterward.

The stair lamp is not on screen with Crowley when he says, "I don't know. Probably." However, the next cut confirms he was still holding Gabriel's hand, and he lets go. He has self-made pockets involving his arms. This stair lamp Overhead Light is shown with Crowley in the same shot yet again. His hands look deliberately positioned.

An unusual thing Gabriel does after Crowley lets go of his hand is to make sure his index finger and middle finger touch each other while the ring finger and pinky finger remain separated and visually crossing over those other two fingers.. Gabriel doesn't do the same thing when Aziraphale lets go of his right hand. The cut ends with Gabriel's left thumb tip visibly on his right wrist when bringing his hands down.

The lighting is doing something weird specifically when Aziraphale is saying "Good news Jim. Nobody's going to notice you." A little circle appears over where the bookshop doors meet near the push plates. That's so odd.

In the cut with Gabriel's reaction to Aziraphale saying, "You're safe here," Crowley's right hand is visibly touching his pants, especially the thumb and index finger.

When Crowley says, "While we figure out what's actually going on," the Overhead Light is not visible but becomes partly visible.

As Gabriel first stands up from the chair, Crowley is maintaining his pocket with his legs and the screen; Aziraphale isn't. That more prominent Overhead Light by the stairs is still there for Crowley. In fact, it is now being fully displayed. Gabriel blocks it. The dialogue goes on about "friends" briefly. When Crowley emphasizes he is not Gabriel's friend, the Overhead Light is not on screen.

In the cut where Crowley prepares to stand on the chair, Gabriel's right index finger is part of a pocket between Crowley's left arm and torso. It covers Crowley's left thumb joint. The hand goes down and reveals the thumb joint soon enough. Crowley himself ends up making a pocket between himself and the chair, then another pocket between his legs and the tartan blanket. His right leg ends up visually crossed over his left.

Gabriel's movement is enough to temporarily fully back off that stair lamp visually and obscures it just a little bit before backing off yet again. That places this lamp in a visual pocket between Crowley and Gabriel. Gabriel is not visually blocking the lamp as Crowley goes up.

As Crowley gets up on the chair, the tie strands swing to be visually over the right arm. They went over the left arm earlier. Instead of a switch the way they often do, they actually cross each other as they swing themselves back towards Crowley's chest. He crossed his actual hands earlier on the word "humanity". The two humans he encountered in the preceding scene crossed paths to switch earlier. I don't know what all of these things mean exactly, but I am guessing they are an overall hint that power is building, channeling, and about to fire off thanks to these repeated types of actions.

Crowley himself has his left ear end up going above his own Overhead Light. The ear is a spot I've noticed worth comparing for overhead light things. Crowley's Belt Head is fully cast in shadow when he does this part, but it would be at least above the Belt Head otherwise.

With the camera looking down as Crowley looks up, he then ends up visually pocketed between Aziraphale and Gabriel below him though they are angled differently. Aziraphale is still on the camera's left of where Crowley is, but Gabriel is actually on the lower part of the screen instead of to the camera's right. Still, in a way, there was a switch.

Crowley jumps down, making that pocket with his legs to the screen again. The tie strands spread wide for a moment. One of the clasps remains partly visible by the end of the cut. His left hand temporarily hides, and when its blurred form is seen again, I believe the thumb and thumb joint are not visible. Just as before, that stairs lamp Overhead Light can be found, fully displayed, so he went under it after going over it. This time, the Belt Head does have enough lighting to be seen as there, for whatever that's worth.

...

Okay. Hopefully I haven't missed it given the number of times I watched this scene and parts of it while drafting this post, but Gabriel's name is never actually said in the scene. Aziraphale's name is not said the entire time either.

Of the 3 characters in the scene, only Crowley has his actual name used, and it is the first name said in the scene itself. Otherwise, Gabriel says "Jim," then "James," and Crowley says "Jim."

Basically, a lot of clues are suggesting that Crowley's role is a big deal here.

There are various questions:

"You want...or can we take that as said?"

"Together?"

"Where did you come back from?"

"Outside? Is it big? Can I see the outside?"

"What?"

"Do you think it worked?"

For numbers, there is a literal count to 3 for the miracle, and Gabriel says now he has 2 friends.

...

My tangential reading progress since the last Crowley S2 Hair Post is that I've finished Mort by Terry Pratchett, which is Book #4 in the Discworld series and The Sandman Vol. 1 by Neil Gaiman. I'm currently reading Sourcery by Terry Pratchett.

...

Story Commentary

Before Crowley enters, Aziraphale looks like he's been waiting, and he doesn't look as angry as he's going to act when insisting on the dance.

Aziraphale doesn't explicitly react to the sideburns, but he is in a position where he could try and check for them from where he sits, if necessary. There is an implicit reaction on insisting the dance happens, and then the dance lengthening them.

On the presented level, I don't care much for Aziraphale's attitude. Crowley does look genuinely apologetic. He's feeling guilty and worried about Aziraphale. I like to think he's even worried about Gabriel himself. Annoyed as I am with Aziraphale, the dance does have plenty of value in numerous other ways.

For starters, it lengthens the sideburns.

The clock near Aziraphale is showing the time a lot more clearly than it usually does. This story wants a time the scene takes place to be known, especially the dance. Nina's phone said 21:02 (presumably 9:02PM). The clock here shows 9:06PM as Aziraphale stands up to watch the dance. The clock does seem to switch to 8PM later, but it's blurry and not as clear.

Crowley doing the dance makes it quite clear that the plate of Eccles cakes shown so visibly untouched earlier has completely disappeared this episode. That was shown earlier when he entered, so the story is taking the time to repeat itself. The characters never acknowledge that disappearance happened. This part is a continued clue about the existence of the Earthly Objects game, and that the draft of the story being viewed by the audience has been edited.

Crowley almost certainly got some pockets stuff done while he was doing the dance with the leg movement, crossing them over in different ways twice, and those tie strands dangling so low.

Plus, those of us in the audience who appreciate what a good physical actor David Tennant is certainly got a treat.

The different cuts between the dance don't quite match the positions when one cut ends and another cut starts. While that could be a continuity issue, it could also just be how Crowley moves as he likes since he's a demon. The curtain does seem to disappear as Crowley stands to his full height. It's a challenge to guess if you could have seen it from that angle.

Speaking of dancing, in season 1, God put some effort into telling us angels don't dance, except Aziraphale but only with one specific dance, the gavotte. These apology dances Aziraphale says he had to do were presumably not the gavotte, given the years listed and context they would have happened.

Another thing the present day apology dance does is something I mentioned in my first post about Crowley and Muriel. The only time I can find that cardboard box possibly in Crowley's line of sight during the scene is during the apology dance. So, it could be a clue to Crowley to know where the box is without focusing on the cardboard box in the scene itself.

With the sunglasses touch done and the dance done, Crowley approaches the desk. The red on the back of the collar of his jacket can be seen.

When Crowley says "humanity," he crosses his actual hands over each other.

When Crowley and Aziraphale each take one of Gabriel's hands, he looks up over to Crowley first thoughtfully and as if he's following along with what is happening. Then he looks over to Aziraphale and looks confused.

When Crowley says, "No traces of anything miraculous left behind," the camera work ensures we can see the traces literally on Crowley himself. His red hair is more vibrant and saturated because of the lightning power he just recalled. He has longest-length sideburns with the lighting preferring his left side, as evidenced by the left sideburn being lighter in hair. He has a lightning imprint on his forehead. His more saturated streak is forking outward. He did his touch for The Sunglasses Trick with the left hand. It's honestly really funny as someone playing the games because, again, the "traces" are literally all over him and up close too. He's like the supernatural equivalent of a lightning rod here. Reminder that there is an almost full moon outside. At night. After 9PM if the clock hadn't possibly switched.

What's so special about 9? Well, I've played a lot of Persona 4 Golden in my time, and that game mentions some stuff about the angel orders. Perhaps it said "nine orders" somewhere in there. Given that, my instincts said I should check for how many orders of angels there are, and yeah, some sources say 9. Ha! Oh, and "nine circles of Hell" was mentioned in season 1. The number 9 is also the result of 3 times 3. This story certainly likes certain numbers certain ways.

Remember how I mentioned the minute time looked to be 6 when he danced? That number is certainly associated with Crowley himself. He ordered six shots of espresso. Nina has reminded us of that twice this episode already. That means it's been said 3 times this episode for a Rule of Three! Crowley's going to have 6 Threshold Tricks total by the end of the season.

When the camera panned down, besides all the pockets stuff I talked about, two other things I think are important happened. Crowley's left foot took a step back. Aziraphale did not step back. The camera temporarily obscured Crowley's left arm. That doesn't happen for Aziraphale either. So, the framing altogether is showing there is a difference between these two as this "little" miracle is happening.

Saraqael could be messing with things from up in Heaven since they are who the story shows as looking over Earth after the alarms go off.

Crowley is notably firm when he says, "I am not your friend" to Gabriel. As I've said before, I think they were friends, and that contributes to how Crowley feels and reacts to the situation.

Okay, it's time to consider those longest-length sideburns with that vibrant red hair.

As noted in my main sideburns post, the longest-length sideburns seem to be the bookshop's way of marking rank for Crowley among angels.

Is he all the way up to Supreme Archangel with Gabriel being absent due to amnesia? I like the idea a lot. The main thing that makes me hesitate is the specific wording change in episode 6. Gabriel refers to himself as the only First-Order Archangel in the Universe (with a capital "U"!). The camera pans to Crowley.

Gabriel didn't say "Supreme"; he said "First-Order".

For some reason, the story thought it important enough to make that distinction.

Since I myself am very interested in this "First-Order" business because of other clues that Crowley choosing to be "first" with the Heaven elevator matters, I'm not committed to the idea Crowley's the acting "Supreme" Archangel, as much as I want that to be the case. I'll run with it if season 3 glosses over the matter and leaves me to personal interpretation. He could be the only First-Order Archangel in the Universe instead.

Once Crowley is finished with his apology dance, he ends up directing the action on what to actually do about Gabriel. He takes in Aziraphale's suggestion but is otherwise in charge. Both Aziraphale and Gabriel listen to him.

Gabriel makes a childish, pouting face at being told to not go outside, but he still doesn't argue and listens to Crowley. Aziraphale gets excited about working together, makes his suggestion, and otherwise follows along with the directions given.

If it's not rank, and the characters themselves just coincidentally behave this way, then the sideburns seem to be a general indicator of supernatural essence that Crowley himself might be able to draw power from, besides his own.

Speaking of drawing power, wow, drafting this post was very, very interesting because of that Overhead Light from the lamp by the stairs. With the other overhead lights found earlier, such things were enough for me to just go re-examine so many other things in the story. I went and re-examined other touches in The Sunglasses Trick.

For one of those touches, I can at least see some trickery looks to be giving the Belt Head an Overhead Light. For the others, they might not actually be getting the overhead lights due to the movement or lacking lights that happen within the scenes.

There is something is very specifically happening with Triple Part 1 and Triple Part 2 here in episode 1 at night. These touches are part of a switch that happens later since the Triple switches to become a Single in episode 6.

Then I started considering night-time scenes overall, which helped point out that both the Edinburgh and 1941 minisodes take place entirely at night. The Edinburgh minisode seems to have a full moon, then a half moon to signify a likely continuity issue. When the full moon is shown, that's when it could be a potential overhead light for Crowley. He's not doing any special miracles or Threshold Tricks, but there's still that moon ensured to be shown above and to the left of his head.

So, being a demon, Crowley has something special happening with overhead lights and night in episode 1.

I really do think whatever is happening with these things, especially the stair lamp, is general clue about Crowley being powerful and having a bigger role to play in the miracle than what it might look like on the surface.

It hints that what sets off the alarms in Heaven isn't the miracle we see Crowley perform with Aziraphale. It's going over that Overhead Light from the lamp on the stairs. It's the standing on the chair that Gabriel himself was sitting in. It's the pocketing and switching with Gabriel. It could be the touch on the golden fabric of the miracle or reality or whatever it is that he touched. He created a pocket with his right index finger, middle finger, and thumb after using said hand for the touch. He used his mouth because he licked his finger before that supernatural touch. Crowley does things with his mouth during the ball invitations in episode 5. It's the jump down to finish it off.

So, there might be some sort of silly, delayed trigger involved with an elaborate set up from a previous draft of the story that wanted the lightning power to do what it did when it did and Crowley to do what he did throughout the episode.

These characters might have tricked themselves into setting those alarms off on purpose, is what I'm saying.

...

The fly that supposedly has so much Gabriel essence in it is never heard nor seen during this particular scene. In fact, Crowley won't see the fly until episode 3.

...

The way this scene is structured sets up a good contrast to the Final Fifteen to act as a clue to finding the Earthly Objects game. Both Crowley and Aziraphale make a conscious effort to touch Earthly Objects as they start talking to each other in the bookshop. It's like their code between each other. They will not make this effort in the Final Fifteen when they are both in the bookshop. Things are going to reverse where they both avoid earthly object touches, sticking to mainly touches on their own bodies, apparel, and each other. They will both be in a standing position the entire time in the bookshop.

...

We're finally done going over episode 1!

...

That's it for this post. Sometimes I edit my posts, FYI.

...

Main post:

The Sideburns Scheme

...

Past version of this post:

Post #16 (hiding Gabriel)

[homestuckreplay]

she seems like a pretty regular girl to me!

(page 651-663)

9/17/2009 Wheel Spin: Captchalogue Lore Verdict: ????????

9/18/2009 Wheel Spin: Parent Bad :( Verdict: Well I’d take Dad over Big Imp any day and I think John would agree.

9/19/2009 Wheel Spin: being silly :3c Verdict: John, Mid-Ogre Ambush: 'haha where are my trick handcuffs?'

3 days’ worth of pages here because work has been eating me alive and time to write about Homestuck has been tragically limited. I will keep this so so short and focus only on what’s really important.

Currently, John is facing down two adversaries. One is the Crude Ogres, the physical challenge, and the other is GG, the mental challenge. I am delighted to learn that these higher level enemies are called ogres so that I can stop referring to them as Big Imp.

‘Hanging from the tree is your TIRE SWING. In a kid's yard, a tree without a tire swing is like a proper gentleman without a monocle. That is to say, HE CAN HARDLY BE CONSIDERED A TERRIBLY PROPER GENTLEMAN AT ALL.’ This is from page 27 (!!) and now on page 663, one of the ogres has stolen the swing and equipped tireswingkind. I guess any semblance of this still being John’s yard and John’s house is gone. The other ogre has taken Sassacre’s, while the imps have plundered the magic chest. I guess I’m thinking about how everything in John’s home that means something to him is now being used to hurt him, how he doesn’t get a place of respite or even a safe place to keep his possessions, which only highlights the need for the captchalogue system – for John and as a part of the story.

I’m so excited about Dark Kingdom Politics based on how the small imps are scared of the big imps. Thinking of them as chess pieces, it would not be correct to say that pawns are scared of rooks and bishops, as in chess no piece can threaten another piece of the same color. But seeing them as soldiers from a ‘kingdom entrenched in darkness’ (p.424) engaged in a war against the light, this fear does make sense, suggesting a more complex social order and NPCs with an inner life and a motivation beyond ‘grab object and attack.’

With that in mind, ‘You stop being the imp because that was stupid’ (p.657) is too hasty, I think that command giver was onto something. Your name is PAWN #413. As was previously mentioned you are AN IMP. A number of your SIBLINGS are scattered around this house. You have a variety of INTERESTS. You have a passion for SILLY HATS. etc. I am being silly but I really would like to get their perspective, especially if it complicates the binary of light and darkness in ways that might affect John’s choices further in the game.

But the real star of these ogre pages is the visuals. The ogres are comically big, to the point where it’s hard to get a scale of how big in comparison to John. Seeing John’s house from a bunch of different vantage points, and then seeing a single toe curling in through the window or a hand slamming down from the roof as imps react in terror. I really enjoy quickly flicking through all these different angles of the house. I think this section would be cool as an animation too, like a faster paced version of the one on page 250 – I don’t know which version I’d like better but it’d be fun to compare.

The Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff on page 663 suggests we’ll cut back to Dave now, who, like John, is preparing for a dangerous rooftop encounter. Goodbye for now John <3

On page 651 we are treated to the LONG AWAITED GARDENGNOSTIC REVEAL!!!! We just get her silhouette (and pronouns, on the next page) so while I think the spikes on her head are just messy hair, it could also be a fun hat. This is a low bar to clear I’ll admit, but so much media has a lot more male characters than female, so I do appreciate Homestuck keeping things more balanced among the leads.

John’s dreams are represented in clouds. The two other places we’ve seen clouds are above John’s house before he was transported to the Medium (for example, p.82) and surrounding Skaia as it is described by Nannasprite (p.422-423). So it’s kind of like John is able to see all the way to Skaia in his dreams, and he sees his dad, a birthday cake, a box of Gushers, a harlequin emblem, Slimer, Harry Anderson, and finally his friend gardenGnostic. We then get a quick flash through the Sburb installation screen, a pumpkin, and a spirograph, as John suddenly wakes. Seeing the installation screen is especially wild – it’s like Sburb is reloading in his mind as he wakes.

Getting the GG sighting almost felt like a ‘be careful what you wish for’ moment, because John’s conversation with her on page 652 is the most frustrating thing I’ve ever read. If someone tried to message me like this I would block them. In past conversations GG has seemed mysterious, now she’s just obnoxious, and I don’t know if she’s reacting to John saying she ‘seems like a pretty regular girl’ and is trying to prove him wrong, or if there’s another reason.

For example, there are definite inconsistencies in how she talks about the meteor that might have been near her house, and possibly other things too. In the first Pesterlog we see between GG and John (p.169) she says ‘GG: there was a loud noise outside my house!! GG: it sounded like an explosion!!!!’ and also asks John what Sburb is, and if he got her package. On page 293, GG reports back and says that she ‘went to investigate the explosion’ and confirms that it was a meteor, describing it as ‘pretty big’ while not being allowed to get too close.

Then things start getting weird. On page 382, GG tells Dave about her present for John, saying that ‘GG: he will not open it GG: he will lose it!!!’ Based on timezones this conversation takes place 49 minutes before the earlier one with John. On page 442, GG gives Rose the tip about Sburb’s ability to resurrect Jaspers the cat, although does not mention Sburb by name.

Both of these stand out, but have plausible explanations. But what really tests the limits of possibility is this new conversation on page 652, in which GG says she ‘was confused’ about the meteor, ‘fell asleep for a while’ and ‘lost track of time’, that the meteor is ‘hard to explain’ but she ‘know[s] what it is now’ and strangest of all, ‘and now i know everythings going to be ok!!!’

????????

So originally I was wondering if GG might be two people, twins perhaps, one who has a psychic connection with a god or other powerful entity and one who doesn’t. That doesn’t explain how an explosion (that could be confused for a meteor) could prophesize good fortune, though. What might explain it is a UFO crash, manned by aliens who were somehow able to share some knowledge with GG. Given John’s movies, it is about time we got some aliens in this story. Honestly I’m pretty lost and don’t have a solid theory that explains everything even after sitting on it for a few days, but Rose and Dave are right. There’s something weird going on with this girl.

[broken-clover]

Analyzing the Naming Conventions in Bugsnax

I already forgot why I was doing this...

So, obviously to anyone who's played the game, one of the notable aspects of Bugsnax's worldbuilding is that Grumpuses all have very distinctly 'inhuman' names. While somewhat silly, they do help emphasize that this game takes place in a different place than ours, with different creatures and culture. However, despite the oddity, when looking over all the name characters there are at least a couple of conventions that pop up somewhat regularly. There's no perfect one method to it, but I still want to analyze the sorts of thought that goes into giving the grumpuses their names because...I can?

Note: I am not a linguist nor any type of language expert. I'm just really autistic

Given Names

Grumpus given names, at least compared to surnames, bear much more of a resemblance to human names. This is where I'd like to start the analysis, with the first group consisting of names that are more obviously based on real names and simply modified. This section, I believe, is the most obviously notable. Filbo, Beffica, Triffany, Shellsy/Shelda, Alegander, Bronica, Eggabell and Elizabert have a name that fits into this category. Chandlo may also fit in this category as well, but he'll be saved for the next section. These are more grounded, but still include a bit of silliness as to fit in with the rest of the world.

The next section is more of a miscellaneous one, names that may derive from existing words, include at last some familiar syllables, or may just be intentionally strange. Wambus, Gramble, Cromdo, Snorpy, Chandlo, and Clumby make up this category. Interestingly, outside of Snorpy's full name being 'Snorpington,' all individuals in this category have two-syllable names.

The last and easily smallest category are names that are simply existing words. As we will see down the line, this is a convention that is usually reserved for surnames, but there are a couple of outliers. This section consists of Floofty and Wiggle. It should be noted, though, that both maintain the sort of playful and whimsical feel that pervades all of the names in the game, so even though they are much simpler, they still fit.

Surnames

Though significantly sillier-sounding, grumpus surnames also generally follow a much more consistent guideline, with every character sans Cromdo fitting into the same fundamental structure.

In every instance of a character we're given, outside of Cromdo with his surname simply being 'Face,' consists of two words put together unhyphenated. That's a bit obvious. Fiddlepie, Troubleham, Wigglebottom, Fizzlebean, Woolbag, etc etc etc. However, there are still some other rules that go along with it. In most instances, the first half are attributive adjectives or adverbs- ie, describing the noun or verb that come after it, or are verbs themselves. The pie is fiddling, the ham is trouble, the bottom is wiggling, the bean is fizzling, the bag is made of wool. Sometimes there is a bit of an overlap- 'fiddle,' for example, can be itself a noun, but also a verb. Based on the consistency between characters, though, it indicates that in most cases it's meant to be interpreted as a descriptor

There are a few exceptions to the descriptor-noun rule, though none are as much an outlier as Cromdo. 'Gigglefunny' is a verb-adjective structure, differing from the others, but still not having a noun precede a verb or a descriptor. The second is 'Winklesnoot,' which can have a couple of explanations. 'Winkle' is a word, referring to a type of snail, making it a noun-noun structure, but it could also be a shortening of 'wrinkle,' with the R removed for the sake of the overall sound, making it a more typical verb-noun instance. The third deviation is 'Clumbernut,' which actually fits the general structure, but stands out in having no real-world descriptive word. 'Clumber' is not a proper word, though based on the '-er,' it can be inferred that it is meant to fulfil a similar role as a descriptor to the 'nut' that follows

(EDIT- upon second glance, 'Clumber' does actually have an origin, being a breed of spaniel dog who derive their name from Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire. I'm not sure if that was intentional, but in this case, it may or may not fit into the naming conventions, with 'Clumber' being a shortened possessive noun, as 'the nut belonging to Clumber' or 'nut from Clumber')

Still, overall, grumpus surnames never have a noun before the descriptor.

General Conventions

A common overall trait with grumpus names is that they tend to stick to very soft rolling 'rounded' sounds in their names. Letters like X, V, K, Z, and D are scarcely used in names if not entirely absent, while ones such as C, S, W, L and vowel sounds appear more frequently. Lots of boubas, not very many Kiki's. Often the letters that get switched/removed from grumpuses with human-adjacent names are the harsher-sounding ones, such as the harsh X being swapped for slighly softer G in 'Alegander' or the sharp Z being replaced with a soft Sh sound in 'Shelda.' Even when rare harsher sounds do appear, they tend to be encapsulated by or immediately followed by a softer sound, such as the D in 'Chandlo' being preceded by a Sh-sounding Ch and followed by a rolling Lo sound, and the Z in 'Elizabert' being followed by a long A. (Lizbert in general has a slightly-sharper sounding name than most of the other characters, possibly intentionally to show her more rugged nature)

This may go along with how grumpuses appear very approachable and friendly, as even with the visible fangs, they have rounded limbs, furry bodies, and heads that resemble muppets. Perhaps in that sense they were intentionally trying to draw inspiration from muppet names, especially ones from Sesame Street, as many of them have names with softer-sounding or rolling syllables, like Elmo, Grover, and Oscar. While actual muppets don't tend to have names as cartoonishly whimsical as 'Filbo Fiddlepie' or 'Floofty Fizzlebean,' it is possible some of the naming conventions could come from the same place. Grumpuses, much like the game they inhabit, come across as cutesy and unserious, with you only learning of the deeper issues as you play further.

[pinkyjulien]

🟨 Modding Poses for Cyberpunk 2077 (and general modding reminders!)

It's really exciting to see everyone getting into modding latetly, especially pose making 🤏

I want to throw a couple of resources into One Big Post to make sure everyone has everything to get started- BUT FIRST

a couple of general Modding Reminders 🤲

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▶ Remember that modding, just like any other creative outlet, is supposed to be fun!

When a project start to frustrate you, make you doubt your ability/skills, when you start comparing yourselves to others- Stop! Disconnect, and take a break, walk a bit, splash water on your face, eat something! It's really easy to spiral down (been there, done that) It's important to remind yourself of why you're modding in the first place! Take a look at your inspiration, your blorbos Don't lock your brain into One Frustrating Project; have a couple of smaller projects or ideas on the side that you can go to when the creative juice is flowing to not get stuck on one particular project

▶ Modding is exciting, and you want to mod ALL the things asap! Other do as well, and might have the same ideas

It can be frustrating to see someone else release a mod that you thought of doing, that might've been sitting in your to-do list for a long time. That's ok! It's normal to feel that way, but don't let that sap your creativity Someone made a pose/pose pack that is similar to what you wanted to make? Do it anyway! It won't be the same, because it comes from you! This applies to general modding as well, to clothes, to recolors Everyone have their own vision of things. It might be a similar pose, but the body language is different, the hands sit on the skin differently... The model you want to port won't have the same materials, normal map, or colors as the one that is already available! Modding is accessible by everyone. Nobody owns ideas, or references, or models available on the internet. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, and mod what you want, when you want to, and how you want to!

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▶ Tutorials and Resources for pose making

With the reminders out of the way, here's everything you'll need to get into Pose Making! I see this is something that a lot of you want to tackle, and it's better to have everything ready to get started 🤲

The tutorials are in order of workflow!

🔹 XbaeBsae's Tutorial - Custom Poses and Animation

This is the first step! With those templates, you'll be able to start creating the poses in Blender using the Cyberpunk's body models (Woman, Man, Man Big...) ⚠ Be sure to get the proper requirements and versions!

🔹 PinkyDude's Tutorial - Retargeting Animations 🟠 ROKOKO PLUGIN

OPTIONAL If you want your poses to be available for other rigs (Man poses for Man Big, or Woman poses for Man, etc) this is how you achieve that! You'll learn all about retargeting. It's also useful if you want to import other games's animation/poses into CP77

🔹 Halkuonn's Tutorial - Retargeting Animations 🟠 BLENDER ANIMATION PLUGIN

OPTIONAL Same as the above tutorial!

🔹 Halkuonn's Tutorial - Importing Poses into CP77

An important step; getting your poses from Blender to an .anim file!

🔹 ManaVortex's Resources - Poses for AMM 🔹 ManaVortex's Resources - Poses for Photomode

Both type of additions are compatible with each others! I personally recommend working on the AMM addition first, as you'll be able to use the same files and mod structure later for the Photomode addition :D

🔹 XbaeBsae's Resources - Nibble to NPCs 2.0

OPTIONAL The Nibble to NPC 2.0 mod has a resource pack for modder to make their poses pack compatible with the Nibble Replacer! Make sure to update all of the requirements, and AMM, to have the ability to pose NPCs using custom poses in Photomode

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⚠ KNOWN ISSUE | T-posing

You probably saw me and a couple of other pose modders and users complain about the T-posing issue- it's sadly still ongoing, and no real fix has been found so far. We tried using unique workspots and entities for each packs, but they somehow keep overwriting one another in really random ways (MA and MB are compatible, but sometimes MA and WA won't be useable together? Sometimes you won't be able to use different packs from a same modder, etc) Once (if!) we find a fix, we'll be sure to update our mods and to share the knowledge with y'all 😩 for now, we make do

As always, don't take this post as THE modding method! I'm simply an old modder sharing my two cents for all the new baby modders rolling in, hyped as fuck 🤲 Welcome to the modding side 🧡

[tinyvesselhearts]

What Fear Does to People (Egon x You)

It's Chapter 8 of my series Thing Is but can be read as a standalone.

Rating: Mature (descriptions of violence) Pairing: Egon Spengler x You (no Y/N) Others: "Platonic" bed-sharing, pre-relationship, gentle touching, hurt/comfort, ghosthunting, Lovecraftian monsters, Ray's recovering from a bust and he's not currently at the station

(also: a reference to GB game. If you know, you know)

It’s roughly 2 a.m. when it starts.

Egon wakes up with a shiver. He’s freezing. A gust of wind runs through his clothes and that in itself is enough to put him on guard. Thing is, all the windows are closed, both of you are covered with quilts and there’s no tangible cause for the cold. No rational excuse, unless…

With mounting suspicion, he takes a look around. It’s pitch black and he can barely make out the edges of Ray’s empty cot. Warmth of the linen seems to hit him all at once, stark contrast to what he’s just felt on his skin. Disconcerting. Eerie, maybe— but he’s calm nonetheless. This is how those entities operate. The Collective: all kinds of eldritch horrors. They’re playing hide- and- seek until their victims can’t keep their wits about them anymore and he— as a devoted scientist and a Ghostbuster (yes, the very same)— is here to teach a lesson.

You’re unabashedly curled up against his side. Safe, unbothered, sound asleep. The attacker must be considering you innocuous enough, likely due to your comparative vulnerability, and is focused on Egon. Perfect. He lays his head back but doesn’t close his eyes— he’s vigilant— alert— ready.

The thing about Collective Unconscious is that despite being aware of its modus operandi, human brain is pretty pathetic in comparison. Its innate susceptibility to fear, specifically. During his years of Psychology, Egon would repeatedly hear that fear and love were the strongest of all human instincts, as they made the whole body receptive and focused in an instant. Later he’d find out that’s true about fear. He has no first- hand data on the latter— he supposes due to the troubled relationship with his parents— but Peter and Ray have done enough stupid things out of affection to confirm the thesis. Since Venkman’s incident with the tank a few years back, Egon hasn’t questioned love or its impact on a subject’s decision- making process. Or common sense. Or mating choices, just to be clear.

With that in mind, Egon knows what to expect. Diminished control of his body. Flinches. Unconditioned reflexes. He is determined to distinguish between real, physical stimuli and paranoia- induced ploys. A moment to cool off, analyze and conclude before acting on impulses. That’s the plan. Right. It’s easy in theory.

A distant bang echoes in the garage. It resembles a metal tool— a wrench, maybe?— but the sound is followed by nothing else, so Egon decides it’s nothing but a figment of imagination. Until—

“What was it?”

He leans back. He can’t see your face properly but enough to notice your eyes are open.

“…Oh. You’ve heard it too?”

“It’s not like… Ray got discharged in the middle of the night and sauntered back here, is it?”

There’s another loud bang. Nobody moves but both of you are very much awake.

Egon finally speaks.

“I’ll check it.”

“Uh, okay, okay”, you whisper. “What do I do?”

“Stay here and try to sleep. I’ll handle it.”

“…what?”

“Don’t argue. There’s no time. I’ll take care of whatever that is. I’m a professional, listen to me and I’ll make sure you’re safe. That’s what I’m here for.”

“Yes, but the Ghostbusters are a team. Now you’re on your own. I’m not leaving you! What if—”

“No time”, he mutters, putting the proton pack on. “Stay here. You were so tired you almost passed out on the couch. Do I need to remind you that you put my shirt on backwards?”

“My mom says it’s good fortune!”

“I’m serious”, he states and switches the backpack on. “Eldritch horrors are different than regular spirits. They harm both physically and emotionally. Lack of proper rest weakens the cognitive functions and you may be a real, tangible danger to yourself— and to me. Especially if you’re not familiar with their strategy.”

Egon slides into a pair of slippers. It’s not the perfect job attire but it’ll have to do— he stupidly left his combat boots in the locker downstairs. Maybe when he slides down to the garage, he’ll manage to change.

He takes the final look at you because you’re awfully quiet. Exhausted and hopeless, he guesses. He’d appreciate some backup but the boys aren’t here and you’re in no position to fill the role now. When you ignored his precaution the last time (while fully capable and well- rested), you ended up wounded in his lab. What you’re facing here can do much, much more damage.

Egon briefly considers escorting you out of the premises altogether—just in case— but then, how could he ensure your safety if the spirit decides to leave after you?

His chest is heavy when he speaks.

“If anything suspicious happens in this room, call me immediately. Shout, if you have to.”

“Okay.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Alright”, he shoots you a look. “Stay here.”

You nod. It’s weak, devoid of conviction and Egon wants to emphasize how crucial it is for you to stay— but another loud bang comes from the reception area and there’s no time to waste.

Egon turns around and scuttles towards the pole. He slides down. Lands with a loud thump, doubled by the flip- flops and takes a slow, cautious look around.

He’s quick to spot the source of the noise: it’s a loose pipe lying on the floor. It might not be currently moving but it sure as heck was just a moment ago— Ray doesn’t leave spare parts scattered around the floor. He has his secret dirty stash for that.

Egon takes a long, wary look around. Nothing’s moving, except for gentle flow of a dirty cloth drying on the heater. He pulls out the PKE meter and glances at the readings. Whatever this thing is, it’s here. It may be invisible but it’s here. Lurking. Leering. Hidden in the shadow, a predator on the hunt. Any moment now.

He doesn’t even manage to slide the device back into the pocket when a slimy tentacle shoots at him.

It’s massive. Heavy and slick. Whatever creature it belongs to, it must be huge and, uh, incredibly unusual. The dissonance is almost incomprehensible: to see a wet, marine limb which acts very much alive here— in the garage of New York’s finest— in a place devoid of water (well, save for a tap).

Egon screams. He drops the PKE meter and reaches for the charged rod. A proton stream lashes outwards with full power but before it catches the giant limb, it’s already gone— slithered into the shadows, shrouded in shade.

A few things to note right away: one, the ghost is huge. Two, it’s unlike any other they’ve seen before. Three, the sheer amount of mucus suggests a healthy dose of Marsh genes. Four, it’s out of sight and apparently good at staying there. Right. All Egon has to do is pretend to be unsuspecting, so that the ghost—

“Yeah, so I’ve done some thinking and I can’t do this.”

He whips his head around. There you are: in his crumpled shirt still inside- out, peeking through the hole in the ceiling. You’re in the middle of putting on your socks.

He can’t with you. He can’t.

“What did I tell you? Don’t come down here!”

“Oops?”

“No”, he yells. “I told you to STAY! Stay! How many times—”

“Sure, and pretend your screaming flows like a nursery rhyme.”

You clutch the pole with both hands, pull yourself close and slide down. Egon curses under his breath. Shite. Shite. Of course you wouldn’t listen. Psychology classes pop up in his mind again— the most powerful instincts— the things people do for fear…

“I’m here now. Poof. Too late”, you say. “Whatever happens is on me.”

He stifles a groan. It’s a lost cause. The stairs are at the opposite end of the garage. Escorting you there would take way too long and expose you to a stealthy attack and— well, he doesn’t suppose forcing you to climb the pole is on the table.

“Alright”, he decides. “Grab the pack.”

You manage to put it on yourself. He helps you to switch it on. You huff, smile and turn to him.

“Which trap?”

“Regular.”

“On it!”

You dash towards Ecto- 1. Just as Egon suspected: the enormous tentacle emerges from the shadow and aims.

Egon shoots. The proton stream reaches the ghost this time. The current wraps around its shape. The ectoplasmic limb wrestles and yanks but he holds it in place: it’s your turn to capture it before it rips the shackle.

“Now!”

You slide the contraption right under the ghost. Set the pedal. Step. Open. Wait.

Intense glow fills the room. Egon navigates the tentacle downwards but for some inexplicable reason the trap doesn’t seem to swallow its prey. It tries— sucks some ectoplasmic residue, hoovers up some of its slime— but the monster doesn’t get pulled in, as if it was… attached to something?

A roar echoes through the garage and everything happens at once: the trap closes, proton stream breaks and the ghost dissipates again.

You’re the first to whisper.

“…Is it…?”

“No”, Egon exhales. “It’s around here somewhere.”

“So… The trap didn’t work? Why?”

“Apparently it’s not just a ghost. It must be a complex being with some sort of material form. We may need to overpower it in a more… traditional sense.”

“Chain? Wires? Chandelier? Forget- me rod? A random hydraulic pipe of oblivion?”

Your flowery language is both a blessing and a curse. That translates into a perfect bait. Keep talking.

“So you’re opting for brute force?” Egon asks and that’s all it takes.

“Uh, I thought you were suggesting. I’d try another approach. If that guy is a marine cephalopod he may have a hard time adjusting to open air. Maybe dragging it out of the drainage will do the trick, right? Instead of streaming it, we could—"

Your mouth is still open when the giant tentacle shoots in your general direction. You let out a loud shriek and manage to evade— albeit barely— and even though Egon assumed using you as a lure would be the practical choice, he, for once, can’t stand the sight of it.

The proton rod won’t help any. Hitting you is a real threat— and it’s way more dangerous for you than the ghost. He’s about to resort to brute force but the monster steps out of the shadows and Egon can’t believe his eyes.

It’s human.

Oh, that makes things significantly easier.

He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a tiny bottle and charges.

A hit from behind may be cheap but it works every time. Egon swings the uncharged proton rod right into the creature’s head. It squeals, unwraps the tentacles protruding from its sleeve, then snarls and shakes its head. Egon has a few seconds to take in the entire picture: three gargantuan ectoplasmic limbs (a developing ghostly sickness?) have taken over the poor guy’s left arm. He seems dazed: his eyes are foggy, droll seeps through his teeth and for a split second Egon wonders if there’s any spiritual cancerous disease he’s failed to discover.

The hybrid lifts its arms and aims at you again, full force. Before you have the chance to scream, Egon slides right in front of you, pushes you aside and splashes some of the bottle’s contents on the monster’s face.

It howls and retracts.

“…What is that?!” You manage.

“An old trick. Handy when possessed individuals fail to be cooperative.”

Egon spots the dirty cloth still hanging on the heater. It should be dry enough. Easy to soak. Perfect.

He dashes for it, grabs it and presses it against the bottle, pouring a decent amount of the liquid on it. Heavy drops of the potent solution spill around. Tiny wet lines trickle down his gloves. He takes a deep breath, holds it and looks at the monster. It snarls. Then charges.

Egon isn’t a great fighter but he dodges just fine. He slides under the tentacles, turns around and hops on the hybrid’s back. It screeches— then stops— wet, throaty sounds stifled by the rug in Egon’s hand. He clutches the monster’s throat, squeezes it with an elbow and turns to you.

“A common tranquilizer. Learnt it during my coroner years”, he grunts, pressing the pad into its face. “You might want to find something to tie him with.”

You’re awfully quiet, staring at him blankly— but you nod. There’s a spare, long chain in Ray’s stash (nobody knows what he uses it for) so you take it and approach the scuffle with apprehension. The hybrid’s movements slow down but it’s still trying to break out of Egon’s unrelenting clutch.

“Thank you”, he says, composed as ever. “You’re doing great.”

It takes a few more seconds. The monster’s muscles eventually give in and it slides down on the floor. Its arms loosen. Eyes close. Its head hits the garage floor.

For a long moment nobody moves.

“Yo”, you whisper. Egon looks at you, then at the limp body beneath him and takes a step back.

“Sedated. Perfect.”

“What now?”

“Let’s tie it up.”

Egon reaches for the chain you’re holding. He wraps the creatures torso (making it extra tight and unnecessarily confusing around the arms— safety first) and you take care of its legs. The constraint turns out pretty solid and, most importantly, impossible to slip through by the tentacles. Once you make sure it’s sealed, each of you grabs a loose end of the chain and proceed to drag the dead weight across the floor.

It’s not exactly Buckingham Palace level of service anyway— not like you owe anybody standards— but when the monster’s back slams against a concrete pillar, you flinch.

“Oh no!— Oh dear, it hurt him—”

“It’s just tried to kill you. You do understand that, right?”

“Sort of”, you groan. “I really wanted it to warm up to us. We’ve sort of killed our chances at cooperation.”

“Don’t worry. It isn’t capable of drawing conclusions in this state.”

Egon pulls the chain and ties the creature around the pillar in an ungallant knot. It’s not his proudest work but a staple of initiative nonetheless. Links are sealed. Hostage is secured. It’s all under control.

He’s still focused on triple- checking the locks when you speak.

“Egon, why did you…?” You rub your hands together. “You… It was dangerous. Reckless. You don’t do reckless, Egon Spengler. Overcomplicated, yes, way too optimized, yes. But this, whatever you were thinking, was almost careless! You… You could’ve—”

He looks upwards. You seem anxious but you’re alive and well. He doesn’t understand.

“I could’ve what?”

“Well, I mean, you stuck your neck out for me. It could’ve been bad”, you gulp. ‘You could’ve been hurt.”

“I wasn’t though, was I?”

Egon’s at a loss. He watches you closely. You’re both okay and that’s all that matters. It’s not the first time he’s done something stupid out of fear— ah, fear, the bypass of rational thought— the Psychology classes again…

You stay silent for a moment, then sigh.

“I’ll call Peter.”

“Yes. No. Wait.” He frowns, takes off his gloves and approaches you. “Check- up first.”

“…This again? Seriously?!” You huff. “It’s, like, the third time this week! If something happened, I’d tell you immediately. I’m fine, Egon! I’m fine, you should be focused on yourself, you’re the one who went berserk for some reason I can’t wrap my head around—"

No bruises, no scratches. He touches your face, looks you in the eyes.

“It’s a precaution. I’ll make it quick. Tell me if anything hurts.”

His fingers skim over your features— cheeks, nose, forehead, temples. Your voice catches. Breath gets shuddered, eyes go frantic and cheeks are still awfully warm but it’s a natural response. Egon’s expected that much. His thumb runs across your lip, even though it looks untouched and there’s no justifiable reason to examine it closely. He just… can’t resist. Nor does he want to, really. There’s still room for excuses which get half- woven in his head but their seams are loose and each sentence falls apart before it leaves his mouth.

Egon knows he lingers too long. Needs to pull back. He doesn’t understand why his body won’t listen.

The tip of his thumb rests at the corner of your lips, then moves on to another gentle caress. Then again. And again, until you sigh. Warm breath tickles his skin. He tries it once more to check if you allow him— and you do— more than that— you melt into the touch, heat radiating from your skin, breathing deep— receptive, indulgent, responsive.

This is… inebriating.

“…You seem okay”, he concludes. “No injuries?”

“No. You?”

“None”, he says, letting his hands hang loose again. “I’ll run a few tests. Call Venkman, tell him we’ve got a subject. He should come immediately.”

“Okay. But tell me what’s going on.”

“…We’ve just caught an anomaly. As I said.”

“Not that. I see you. I notice things”, you say cautiously but he makes sure his face is as blank as ever. “You’re usually so collected. What happened?”

Egon doesn’t think it needs explanation. It’s obvious. Should be, at least. He frowns and says:

“I don’t want my friends to get hurt.”

“…After Ray?”

He nods.

A pair of soft hands brush against his jaw and in a moment— before he’s able to fully process what’s happening— his face dips down, guided by the delicate touch and you gently place your lips near his chin.

It’s a simple gesture. Gentle touch. A shadow of a kiss, lighter than Dana’s, nothing more than a brush of hot skin but— Lord, help him— he shivers— it’s so much more— it’s everything— it’s overwhelming.

“Ray is fine”, you whisper, looking at him again. “You’ll see him tomorrow, remember? It’s almost over.”

“…Again, please.”

“You’ll see him tomorrow...”

“No. Not this, the…”

It takes you a second but you get it and breathe out a laugh. Brush his jaw again, then wrap your hands around his neck and pull him into a tight hug.

Oh. Oh.

His arms tentatively reach for your back and once they’re there— recognize the texture of his shirt (outlining your shape in a way he declines to register)— and he lets down his guard a bit. Tightens his grasp. Sinks into the moment. He lets his hands really feel you for the first time since the both of you’ve started accepting proximity and it frightens him beyond belief— it’s soft, welcoming, disarming and pure— so his eyes close, stiff muscles let go— anxiety abates—  he’s out of breath— but all you do is hold him close, no doubt, no shame. You’re as open and affectionate as ever, a salve for his mind, a missing link. You fit right here. He’s never known a feeling like this, not even with his family.

That’s something new: his fear for your life instigates a soothing response. Highly unusual. He’ll have to write it down for future reference.

“Could we include this into the list of things we do? Under… particular circumstances, of course?”

“Sure. Whenever you need it.”

You stay like that for a moment. It’s quiet and dark. Egon relishes every breath tickling the nape of his neck, every slight fidget against his chest, every movement— and when you finally take a step back, his chest feels almost hollow. As if it’s just tasted peace and had to let go.

“You should also add a point in which you listen to me in case of immediate danger”, he says. “In a bold, red, permanent marker, preferably.”

You smile. It’s playful. Cheeky. Beautiful. Whatever anxiety you’d felt a moment ago, evaporated.

“I did cooperate, doofus! You won’t find a more flexible squire than myself.”

“Flexible tends to mean obedient”, he raises an eyebrow. “When I say you fall back, you do.”

“When you require assistance, I help! That’s literally in my agreement. I signed the paper, you have no say in this, Spengler.”

“Spenglers are a team. And, when faced with danger, have to be unanimous.”

“You’re right!” You give him your finger guns and turn to the reception desk. “See? We’ve just agreed and it’s that easy!”

He smirks.

“Call Venkman.”

“Ai, ai, Sir!”

He watches you pick up the phone and dial Peter’s number. A few beeps later your voice fades into a mumble of funny noises.

When he turns towards the hybrid, he notices another curious thing: the tentacles seem to deflate and seep into a bile of ectoplasmic goo.

He must take a sample immediately. Ray is going to love this.

[consumeroflemoans]

Are there any details Jiaoqius design you find intresting? (Aside from the fact that he's beautiful)

Honestly Jiaoqiu’s outfit feels somewhat boring compared to the other Xianzhou characters, but there are some details I do love!!

I like the yin yang symbol on his back and how it references his burst animation. The symbol as a whole fits his character so well with the themes of opposing yet inseparable forces and contradictions. (In particular his use of medicines and poisons to both help and hurt)

Also it’s just reminding me of some really good fondue I’ve had that was white and dark chocolate in the yin yang symbol. This man makes me hungry

Also! I love how so much detail is put in his fan. I don’t know what I like about it. I just find it so nice to look at and I love how he has it in all his animations. (Also haha he literally fans the flames to attack I love this game)

And finally I love love love his earrings. At least I think they’re earrings? The cord at the end kind of suggests otherwise but I don’t know what else they would be. I just think they’re so pretty and I love the tiny blue details breaking up the mostly warm colors of his upper half. There’s just something so aesthetically pleasing about inhuman piercings. You can get so creative with different ear shapes and things like Sunday’s wing piercings too.

All in all I love Jiaoqiu’s accessories more than his proper outfit. His clothes look good on him they just seem simple (:

[knightobreath]

Why do you like showvember so much? (not/neg)

alright folks youre going to need to remove your cringe and irony-poisoned glasses for this one, i'm going to be genuine

This is a question I've been asking myself for a while! Sometimes things just make my brain really really happy and I can never tell why, but I've done enough research on myself to know SEVERAL reasons why Showvember specifically appeals to me.

Of course there's the more normal stuff that it shares with a lot of my other fandom-able interests. It's funny! I find it very entertaining! I like Popcorn's character!

And then. There's the part that puts it apart from the other stuff I like. If you aren't familiar with Showvember, it was made in a way comparable to the drawing game exquisite corpse. Each episode is made by one person with as little information about the other episodes as possible. They only have character designs/names/pronouns and elimination order to work with.

I think the key factor to why I'm obsessed with it to this degree is it's inconsistency! You'd think this would make it harder to engage in fandom, but I love the challenge! My favorite type of fanwork to create is just filling in plot holes and connecting dots to expand or explain canon. Headcanons! I like the world-building and logistics side of headcanoning over characters though. Showvember is a lot of work to be a fan for, but it's not a chore to me, more like a challenge. This was a large part of my enjoyment of MCYT and probably the big reason why i stuck around that fandom so damn long.

There's also this part of Showvember that really lends to it a lot of charm, and that's its messiness! It's an art game played by a group of friends and that shows! You can really see the strings and I like that in works. Being able to sort of see through a creation makes it more meaningful to me. I put this in a lot of my own works, I think it can be important to see the brushstrokes.

If you didn't properly remove the cringe and irony-poisoned glasses that I asked you to, you may be laughing at how I've referred to Showvember as a "work" and "meaningful." You may be confused that I'm treating it like a proper art piece and not just a silly joke. And that's because it is! it is an art piece with meaning, even if that meaning is not some grand theme or statement! I love these sorts of things. My greatest interest is in internet and specifically fandom culture, and one of the most infuriating things I come across is the discrediting and disrespect towards internet art and fanworks. And so I will treat these things with the respect and genuine care that they deserve as legitimate art. I will die on this hill and I will die on it next to shitposts and fanfics and silly YouTube shows that are basically one big joke.

So, in conclusion, Showvember is a show that I not only find entertaining but also manages to lend itself perfectly to my preferred type of fanwork. It is also a show that comes from a culture I am very passionate about. All of this intersects into a piece of media that I find very enjoyable to engage with both in and outside of fandom.

It kind of feels like when I was younger and I would fish out all the stranger pieces from the lego bin to make something with all of them. I love all the parts and where they came from, and would like to puzzle them all together into something just as fun. My Showvember fanworks are just as much an expression of my love for the show as they are for the OSC, for fandom, for the internet, and for silly art everywhere.

okay. we can go back to joking around now. the real reason is because i have brainworms that make me look at 50 popcorn showvember pics a day.or i die

[bosskie]

Molluck Model - Sculpting Phase

Yeah, I feel like I'm ready to show you this Molluck sculpt now since it's like 99.9 % done but I might still adjust some minor details; I'm just unsure about some stuff...

But yes, first, here's some comparison pictures with the older sculpt I also finished this year:

Yeah, a significant improvement, mainly thanks to learning a better sculpting technique... But that older sculpt helped me a lot here since it helped me with getting the body's basic shape right. Oh, and yes, I used heavily all the possible OWI's reference material for this... (I gotta say that I actually bought that Soulstorm Collector's Oddition edition just to get the artbook easily (but also for that Molluck print...) and I wished that it has proper reference photos for Molluck and it did! That book has helped me a lot with drawing Molluck... We literally cannot even see his fullbody in the game but all the other Gluks'... So, I really love that I can see his fullbody in the book, though yes, I can confess that I wish that it had 'the another version' too but that's why I did these sculpts! If OWI won't show the new Molluck as naked, I'll do it! Oh, yes, there do are two pictures of that naked model too but just to his shoulders. It's enough though since that model do is based on the New 'n' Tasty one and his body probably ain't altered.)

There ain't really clear (enough) references for Glukkon anatomy, at least in my opinion, so it's a lil challenge to get Molluck's anatomy right. So, I also added some own details and mixed stuff, like those hands I keep mentioning... I'm just weak for those hands, okay... He has the most beautiful hands I know. Though, the whole Gluk is the most beautiful thing I know... I could just like compliment every part of his body but I'm not gonna do it but 'tell Molluck'...

But, here's some more shots:

I coloured this sculpt just for showing it since I will probably colour him in another way later on. Frankly, I have no idea how the model is gonna turn out since I'm gonna do completely new stuff next... But I'm at least glad to have a better new Molluck model to play with! Oh, and yes, I did new eyes for him but I still need to figure out better way to create them... That glow just creates a lil challenge and therefore it can look exaggerated here too... And he has that expression just for fun!

Oh, and yes, I did promise to show some comparison stuff with human body too, so here you go:

My man and me. (Y) I'm actually surprised that Molluck ain't as tall as I imagined him to be compared to me... Oh, and I'm not even tall, just about Abe's height. (Edit: I realized that I did the scaling incorrectly first, but it's fixed now.) Maybe those height charts ain't totally accurate but this is as accurate as it can be. Molluck is 7 ft / 213.36 cm tall but as you can see, the size of his body parts is quite varied... He has huge head and hands and his arms are very tall (or long, but it's his arms that make him so tall!)... But his torso is close to human's in size but his legs are small... Frankly, it took me some time to be able to enjoy his 'sizes' since I don't really enjoy being the smaller one but his 'sizes' compensate that too. Now, I have no problem with this and I really love him being big and small at the same time! Like, man, this Gluk just makes me go crazy... The hottest thing ever... Yeah, I'm quite happy to be with Molluck and it just gets better and better!

Yeah, uh, what a sexy beast Molluck is... It feels so odd to show stuff like this but I wanna be brave and do it anyway. I know that I could have taken the colours away from the human model but I let them be since it felt too 'soulless' without colours. I bet that someone might wonder what model it is, so I can say that it's just one model I have from doing adult animations for a mod (never published or even finished)... And yeah, those colours suck due to topology stuff and the way I coloured it but it's enough for now for me. Gotta model myself one day too... I'm glad that I can at least live with Molluck in a virtual world!

Oh, and I wanna just say again that I found Molluck attractive only after I started loving him. I can see his certain ugliness but it only makes him so beautiful for me... And even I know what he has done in his life, I still love him so much. He just seems like my Gluk and the reason why I started to love him was that I saw myself in him, I could identify with him. I just don't care about his crimes and he lives in a brutal world, he barely could do anything else than follow what the Magog Cartel wants. I also mean that I don't get anything special from his crimes, unlike one person I saw on Twitter back then... (The person listed all their paraphilias related to their Molluck lust on their bio...) The main thing is just that he feel so 'me' and right for me. I have never felt the same with any other character, there has always been something that has't felt right. Molluck just feels friendly, despite of the image he has in public... I can understand him, like his anger issues, and I only just wish all the best for him... I just truly love this Gluk and that's why it feels like I just keep loving him more and more.

And kinda related to this, I must admit that sometimes, I wonder how people can have multiple fictional others or 'blorbos' or whatever you call those characters like that (I know the differences here but it's not the point.). I had recently a moment when I had two characters I was into (if you know, you know) but my relationship with Molluck only got stronger and I started to feel bad for him... (I also realized that I was 'looking for' Molluck in that other character since he was similar, so it was about Molluck after all too.) So, I can be 'like IRL' with this, meaning that like he was actually my spouse/partner (in a closed relationship). So, I just am with Molluck in my way since I just cannot have multiple fo's... My relationship with Molluck is just this strong and he feels 'alive' to me but I still know that he ain't real. So yeah, it feels like 'cheating' if I was with another character too.

Oh, and yes, I also gotta say that even his 'unsual' body proportions can be challenging, it doesn't prevent us from hugging, kissing or anything related to giving and sharing love! I just really enjoy his body, as it is. I mean, it would feel like he lost something if I drew him having 'a normal humanoid body' or how you should call that... It's just such a big part of him for me but also gives him certain adorability. I just cannot help it... I want this Gluk so badly but it also makes me learn things and get better at stuff! Like, yes, I'm doing that Molluck model mainly for my own Molluck fantasies but I also wanna use it to other stuff too.

But yeah, I know that you should start from simple stuff but I have always done what I have wanted in art, so... I'm unsure about the next steps since I have never done them but luckily there are plenty of tutorials out there and I also got some e-books for Blender stuff (that's where I learned doing eyes and that colouring for example). Yes, this is my first 3D character model thing I'm doing. I just wanna have a Molluck model this badly...

I could talk so much about Molluck... I just love this Gluk with my whole heart... 🫀 Yeah, I think that I should stop writing for now and get back to thinking Molluck (in bed since I should go to sleep now)! 💞✨

[superconductivebean]

#992: julia lore drop

This bit of lore has formed itself a while ago @caramel-hufflepuff and it isn't really connected to the in-game MC per se but for the sake of consistency, I overextend it to the MC as well. This is also a bit from what I call Ancient Magic Thesis -- lmao -- which I'm planning to formulate and write in the near future.

As many of us did, I was trying to explain what is ancient magic.

Suffice it to say, over the course of the year the fandom has come up with myriads of possible explanations, yet. I am uncertain if anyone decidedly ventured into the terra incognita of possible definitions.

What exactly do we call ancient in this magic? How is it different from the regular magic? And at the side note, can it be considered Dark Arts -- and on a side note, what are those Arts? And most important:

How do we define magic?

I gave half the answer in this post but am yet to reformulate it into a more sophisticated, well-defined shape. However, I wasn't the only one to suspect HP magic generally is about intentions and feelings.

With this in mind, regular magic relies on What You Want To Do. It is a materialised intent, a wish, a microcosm changes the macrocosm to its immediate concern and desire.

The Dark Arts, feared and baleful, are called so for the emotional component required for to cast or to perform them tasks the caster with upholding a great deal of determination. Obviously, the definition therefore becomes obfuscated and mystified; you could call a particularly deadly Diffindo the Dark Arts yet, the title is reserved exclusively to what has been deemed the Dark Arts.

So, how's ancient magic different then -- or rather, what is so peculiar about it compared to the regular magic.

Short answer: ancient magic requires intent, as it must, but it does not require training for wyrds are magic themselves and interact with it -- with the world -- as we would with our lucid dreams.

Long answer: From the game we know that ancient magic wielders -- wyrds -- are very capable witches and wizards able to change not just immediate vicinity of their cast but: create rain and renew the soil, extract emotions (likely something that will make the entire Department of Mysteries turn into crying cats, all at once, it's their field of study!), store emotional residue in a stable form, conjure and disappear objects without proper training at will, access and create wormholes, detect and interact with magical residue situated in a free form, open and lock dimensional doors and other containers, understand the intent behind the spells, et cetera.

All very powerful magic, this all -- magic that requires many years of training to be able to transform intent to stable and oftentimes self-sufficient forms that don't change for many upon many centuries.

That ease -- is the ability Percival Rackham was referring to in the Map Chamber dialogue.

That ease -- is a sign this magic perhaps isn't an extension of the one's microcosm. It must be coming the other way around, from the ever-present, ancient, primordial realm of the shared macrocosm; a transcendence that is Universe, sparkled with a soul of a living being.

Therefore, wyrds are magic.

They are able to sense and hear its wants and needs, evident from Isidora's observations:

I travelled to learn – but I long to help. My internal struggle is overwhelming. It’s as though the magic wants to heal, and I am the one preventing it from doing so.

They can turn a drought to a flourishing grassland in a split second, built undetectable castles with ever-changing floorplans, hide an unmappable chamber within, detect tiniest imprints of magic and expand on them, you name it. It isn't them deciding on a change -- they are the Sapience of Change, the Thaum itself, you got the idea.

The bit about Julia being a fae creature comes from this definition because fae are also magic -- an invisible, undetectable, fickle, treacherously mischievous force that may help or turn to ruin at will.

I haven't decided on it yet but parts of this in-lore theory -- that Julia was someone's cry for a change, someone's wish -- are flying across the Highlands, painting her as a living legend because a benevolent character/intrepid force like her would appear only in a fairy tale.

[ponett]

some more SLARPG-related questions and answers taken from my retrospring:

Hi, I wanted to start by saying I loved your game and it meant a lot to me. Instead of gushing sappily though, I wanted to ask about the cross iconography in Melody's staff and Provence's armor; what cultural or religious significance does this symbol have in the world of Reverie? (If it doesn't mean anything to them but does to us that's cool too!)

the + shape (typically in green) is the symbol for healing magic, rather than a religious symbol

hi! in an answer on here just now you referred to "the beast kingdom", is that a canon thing and there is a monarchical governed body called The Beast Kingdom, or was that just something you threw out there because you didn't have a name for it, or some exciting third answer?

the country slarpg is set in is The Beast Kingdom. i can't remember if that's actually stated in the game. i think it is? maybe it was cut from the intro so as to not overwhelm the player with Fantasy Proper Nouns up front and i forgot to put it somewhere else? idk. the sapphire islands are some distance off the coast, and brightport is on the mainland

i saw some speculation about this based on the name, and yes, it's intended to be a modern constitutional monarchy

(after answering this i doubled checked, and yes, the name is mentioned in the game)

Is there any kind of animal species beast folks strictly CANNOT be? (besides RandomFurryUser726's custom closed species obviously)

off the top of my head i can't think of anything they COULDN'T be, no. mammals, birds, reptiles, sea creatures, bugs. i guess when you get to some of the more oddball invertebrates it becomes trickier, but i also wouldn't completely write off the possibility of coming up with a jellyfish character or whatever. it's just less likely that i'd go for something like that compared to, you know. furries

since holly floated the idea in her own stream: Did Jodie forge her own grill?

you know what? sure. this is canon now

How did Claire come to choosing her name? Was is just a name she liked the sound of or is there more significance for her?

undecided due to how much that part of claire's life is still unexplored

just curious, but is zinnia's hair color intended to be more 'older woman gray hair' or 'magical girl white hair'?

her hair is naturally a very light blue, like how melody and jodie just have naturally white hair

i pictured the scrap cannon skill working by magnetizing a bunch of scrap metal around one's arm to make an arm cannon and firing off a big ball of more scrap metal from that. is this a valid interpretation?

this isn't how i picture it but it's cooler than how i picture it and also adds yet another mega man allusion to the desert, so

Given that it's the day of the Big Game: How do each of the Novas (+ Faith/Beverly) feel about sports?

jodie likes sports and follows the brightport teams actively, but she's also too good of a sport to really hate their rival teams

allison's always liked the act of playing sports way more than watching them (although she was never good enough at following orders to play on a team as a kid). she'll watch the big games with jodie, though

beverly is a casual fan who will at least root for local teams but doesn't really pay that close attention

melody and faith don't follow sports but can be convinced to show up for a super bowl party type get together

claire can only get invested in a sport or team if there's a jon bois type documentary that gets deep into the nerd shit

Were there ever any other names other than SLARPG in the running? Or was it always gonna be slarpg all the way.

i always considered changing the name. i have a list of 75 different names i considered over the years in my notes, ranging from more generic fantasy titles to sillier ones to more unique ones. early on most involved melody's name. many later ones include "Reverie." i may share the full list someday (possibly good fodder for a patreon post), but the "serious" title i've mentioned considering before was Power Couple (or Power Couples). i still like that one

i debated over the title a lot for many reasons. mainly, people are weird about the title, either treating the whole game as a joke or assuming it's porn or whatever. some also assume that you just cannot play the game if you aren't a lesbian, a thing that people don't do with other fantasy things that happen to feature sapphic relationships without putting it in the title

the problem, of course, is that changing your title is often a death sentence. half the struggle with marketing a game is even getting people to remember it in the first place in an era where a million things are constantly fighting for your attention. people need to have seen it a few times before they create that mental connection of "oh, THAT game, i've heard of that." so changing your title massively undercuts that

in that regard, Super Lesbian Animal RPG is just way more unique and memorable of a title than the alternatives i was considering. it's direct and unambiguous about the content of the game, and it grabs your attention in a way that something like "Guardians of Reverie," for instance, doesn't. (that's not a title i was considering too seriously, just an example.) also it abbreviates to a unique hashtag, which i find convenient. also i can say that rock paper shotgun once referred to it as "brilliantly named," so like, of course i can't change it now

several of the names i considered are now in the running for an overall franchise name, though, since i have zero intention of naming a game Super Lesbian Animal Platformer or Super Lesbian Animal Visual Novel or whatever

I wish you could kiss Holly this life is so unfair

fear not my friend, large women exist in our world as well

are all cars on Reverie weird fantasy vehicles like the one in the Celestial Wasteland? or was it just the fact of Greenridge being a tiny town with dirt roads that made cars irrelevant to mention or see in the story?

fantasy vehicles such as flying cars and airships are very common on reverie, but regular wheeled vehicles still exist too. (there is a conversation about motorcycles in the game.) i'd imagine regular, non-flying vehicles are just the cheaper option, but they're also not particularly necessary in greenridge, a small, old town built for foot travel that doesn't exactly have a highway connecting it to the mainland

from the sounds of it, would it be safe to assume that the exact level of involvement you had in the characters Anthony/Scarlet designed varies from character to character? Like for some characters you'd have a solid-ish idea of gender/species/age/role, other times you just have the role ("I need an NPC to fill this nice"), and other times they just sprung a design on you without any prompting from you?

yeah, it varied a lot. for example, faith was a character i conceived and had a pretty clear idea of, but i was struggling to come up with her design, so anthony offered to give it a shot. other times i might request something from him, and he'll give me a black and white concept sketch that i color and then turn into a sprite. but then you've got, like, the paladin brigade, who are characters anthony just pitched to me thinking that they'd be a good addition to the cast. he came up with their names, designs, color schemes, personalities, team dynamic, everything. i just filled in details where necessary. the boys are also anthony's babies - they would not have been included in the game at all if he hadn't pushed for it

meanwhile, scarlet's characters (which included a good number of more general NPCs that didn't make it in due to time constraints) mostly consisted of me giving her broad directions like "we need some adventurers to hang around noel's sanctuary," and she'd come up with her own ideas from there

what's the hardest part of making a cohesive and/or compelling narrative to you?

for me at least, it's the logical glue that holds a story together that's the hardest. that's just the type of writer i am, and as far as i know it's pretty common to feel that way

i'll know specific scenes i wanna hit, emotional beats, the general mood and tone, images i want to use, those sorts of things, but the logical shuffling around of pieces on the chess board to connect those disparate moments is harder to nail down for me. why is this character doing this? why are they here instead of there? why can't the protagonists just do this other thing to solve their problem? what in the narrative is going to steer them towards this next moment? what is this supporting character's motivation that informs their participation in this event? why did this character know or not know this key fact? etc. and in a video game - especially an rpg like this - there's that added layer of needing to give the player clear objectives, having reasons for them to go from point A to point B, excuses for gameplay elements to space out the story beats, and whatnot. it can be a lot to juggle

with slarpg in particular i knew most of the big emotional beats and major setpiece moments i wanted to hit early on, but the logic of the plot took a LOT of reworking. lots of late night pondering and scattered notes trying to piece together the villains' plans and things of that nature

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 30/01/2024

Trial of the Heart

Season 3 Featured on: Now That's What I Call Quality!

Ripped by ShonicTH

In a few posts on here, such as on Medley Rush #7 and Sidelined Symphony, I've brought up and discussed the idea that certain rippers on SiIvaGunner feel immensely recognizable even without knowing the credits of who made what. A big part of SiIvaGunner's appeal from the start was that this mass output of rips of varying quality was pretty secretive about who was behind what, and only the fans who care enough to download the team's album releases (or check the Wiki) would be made aware of the rippers' identities. I'll wholly admit that, despite being a self-proclaimed SiIvaGunner loremaster, it took me until around the middle of Season 4 Episode 1 to actually begin paying proper attention to all of the behind-the-scenes workings. Even whilst I was in the dark in a lot of ways, though, there were a few names I was still keenly aware of through their notoriety and frequent mentions in the YouTube comments. There was channel founder Chaze the Chat, there were the shitpost legends like BotanicSage, Triple-Q and toonlink - and then, there was ShonicTH.

Out of the two dozen or so rippers that have stayed actively participant in SiIvaGunner since the very early days of Season 1, ShonicTH has always stuck out as particularly memorable to me for a lot of ways. While I comment on l4ureleye's stylistic traits as a ripper, or the various ways that Chaze the Chat would sneak his affection for Maroon 5 into half the projects he worked on, ShonicTH's legacy on the channel is comparatively pretty simple. The dude just loves Kingdom Hearts.

From an absolute onslaught of rips in Season 1 that adds The Flintstones or Snow Halation to music all across the Kingdom Hearts franchise, to his literal sole contribution to the channel in Season 7 being a rip of the exact same nature aptly titled Quickly meeting my yearly quota, ShonicTH's presence on the channel has since way back in Season 1 been immensely identifiable as just "the Kingdom Hearts guy". It reminds me of the rippers like Uncle Fill that I discussed in Violet Sky Memories - the ones where you get the feeling that, they enjoyed contributing to SiIvaGunner just to share their love of the game. And at this point, whenever I see anything Kingdom Hearts related on SiIvaGunner, be it individual rips, the Yoko Shimomura tribute album "Il settimo grande padre", seeing videos in SiIvaGunner's "Liked" playlist relating to the games, or whatever else it may be - it feels like its become a community-known truth that it can all be traced back to Kingdom Hearts.

And for a lot of these rips, particularly ones from Season 1, I don't really have much to say, other than that I'm really glad that ShonicTH is still having a great time doing what he loves for the channel. But in his vast resume of contributions, Trial of the Heart really stands out as a symbol of love above the rest - after two years of making edits to Kingdom Hearts music, it's a fully original composition by ShonicTH himself meant to emulate that very sound. And yeah, it definitely succeeds in its mission statement! Trial of the Heart sounds like an authentic battle theme from the series, althewhile sneaking in small, repeating chord progressions that sound suspiciously like the beginning to The Flintstones theme. Its reminiscent to A Battle of Grand Proportions in that sense, I suppose, as an original composition aiming to feel like a sort of battle theme for the SiIvaGunner channel itself - yet Trial of the Heart makes its one reference to the channel somewhat more subtle, and does mainly feel more like ShonicTH just testing himself on if he's able to make a song in the same style as the games he so loves.

For all the years I've followed SiIva, and for having been very much outside the core community for most of those, its always been sort of...reassuring, I suppose, to know that ShonicTH is still part of the team no matter what. Rain or shine, if there's rips to be made, ShonicTH still wants to contribute to show his love for Kingdom Hearts, and its clear to me that he's a dear friend to many on the team.

It is on the other side of your heart that the memory of this place exists. It is your heart that remembers.

[songsofbloodandwater]

Ask game! 5, 11, 19!

5. Do you have a favorite spell that you find particularly powerful?

Excluding healing arts (because I personally wouldn't consider them 'spells'), I think the most 'powerful', rather, shocking effect I've gotten was with one specific cleansing method I tried, not really expecting much of it, but with surprising results. In the weirdest way possible. I kid you not, I ended up waking up in the middle of the night to unknowingly summoned spirits manifest in physical form. That kind of weird. It's become my favorite way to remove unwanted spirits and things from the home ever since.

11. Do you have a favorite book or resource that has influenced your craft significantly?

Book, I don't think so. I do read witchcraft books but they're not deal breakers to me. What I read more often, and do end up adding up to become important references in my practice, are articles in anthropology, history, or similar publications. As a researcher, I'm more in sync with that kind of sources and they're easier for me to read and understand (and importantly, put weight on) than most 'witchy' books I read. Less mass-marketed, regurgitated, commonly misappropriated filler, less pseudohistory, more substantial data, in it's proper very specifically stated context and with all which that context entails taken into account in the writing and described, with further similar quality references at the end for me to continue digging. Those are things that I can actually work with. Picking one article to be my most influential source at the moment feels impossible to me, there isn't one. It's how all the little pieces from different sources (including many being personal experiences) add up to form the bigger picture that has meaning and influence to me.

There are good books out there, of course there are. But I don't really get 'influenced' by them because I was already brought up with a lot very clear answers to my questions, and those answers don't tend to agree a whole lot with what I read from other people. I read grimoires and 'classics' as what they are, an often embellished glimpse of what somebody else was thinking or doing at the time. I might compare ideas, practices, beliefs and conclusions, but I don't have a book (or books) that I can point to and say "this is where I got my beliefs/practice from!" or "this was my starting point". I would be pointing at my family's elders instead. There are books that I've found fascinating because they seem to have come to similar conclusions to my own but from a completely different angle, and from very different paths, but I don't think that's what the question was referring to? (is it really influential if you were already doing or thinking the same thing?) I consume a fair amount of books, articles, podcasts and videos from other practitioners, but frustratingly to me, most of the time what they talk about is either (a) while still interesting, exciting even, to hear and contemplate, old news to me, (b) factually wrong or misinformed and thus painful to hear, (c) simply something I already have formed ideas about and therefore something I simply have to disagree with the other person on. I deeply enjoy option (a), I also enjoy (c) because it puts my brain to work and challenges my beliefs in a healthy way, but I dread (b), and it breaks my heart when the hit comes from someone I respect. The influential break-throughs, twists and turns I take at this point are coming from personal experience, UPG becoming VPG, and various forms of communication with my Spirits, Deities and Ancestors.

19. What advice would you give to someone just starting their witchcraft journey?

Besides the obvious answer for me being "begin with your Ancestors" and seeking ancestral spirits in general, I'd say it's also important to figure out where your strengths lie and to nurture those gifts first. Sometimes people online make it seem like you have to know everything and be able to do everything to be a "real witch", and that's simply not true. It's even a harmful thing to believe. For starters, acknowledging that certain practices will absolutely be closed to you or out of your reach from the get-go, and there's certain things you will never be able to do for multiple reasons, is not an option, it's a fact, is a need. But even further, there's certain things that you simply will not be the best at, or not even be good at. And that's perfectly normal. Focus on your gifts instead. What can you do. What comes natural to you. How you can develop a full working skillset from the talents you were given at birth and the strengths you already have.

Thanks for asking!

[fraeuleintaka]

Sebastian Debeste's new name: Eustace Winner

This is the 17th post in the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Countdown: 64 days left until release!

Today's topic: Eustace Winner aka Sebastian Debeste!

In my last countdown post I talked about the official localisation of Investigations 2 which includes different names for the new characters introduced compared to what the fan translation picked for them. (For the sake of clarity and because I'm used to these names I will be referring to the characters by their fan translated names throughout these posts.) I deliberately kept discussions about the names out of that post because I want to go into more detail about them, starting with the most controversial name choice for the most popular I2 character:

Sebastian is easily my favourite character from Investigations 2 and apart from Miles himself also my 2nd favourite character in the whole of Ace Attorney. That is reason alone why his name is very important to me. On top of that, I'm a huge fan of his fan translated name. His last name has to have a comparatively obvious way to make it into a pun because that's what Sebastian himself frequently does throughout Investigations 2. His Japanese surname has the alternative reading "first class". The fan translation used "Debeste" which sounds like "the best" and while some call that too obvious I think the alternate spelling easily saves it. It's an obvious pun while still feeling like a proper surname someone would have. With his Japanese given name the phrase "pulling a bow without an arrow" can be formed which is a reference to his lacking deductions. "Sebastian" draws on that as well as Saint Sebastian is considered the patron saint of archers and is often depicted being shot by arrows creating a similar bow association. It also connects to his father's fan translated name (Blaise) as that is the name of a saint who was a bishop in Sebastea ("Sebastian" meaning "someone from Sebastea"). Another reference could be to composer Johann Sebastian Bach which connects to Sebastian's habit of carrying a baton around and sometimes waving it like a conductor. The name is of Greek origin and means something like "adored" or "revered" which also fits really well because that is what Sebastian tries to fake throughout the game by making all of his subordinates sing his praises (compensating for his father's lack thereof). I love how many meanings you can draw from this name that fit him in so many ways and I just love the name "Sebastian" by itself, it sounds so nice when pronounced the English way! Lovely name for one of my most beloved character!

Enter: Eustace Winner. Yeah... I'm not exactly thrilled by it but it's also not the worst thing they could've done imo. "Winner" provides similar pun possibilities as "Debeste" and since it is a real surname people have you can't really claim it's too unrealistic a name (though I do think making it something like "Wynner" would've been better so that you can actually make puns with it and not just use the name 1:1). "Eustace" ...oh boy. I don't have any strong negative associations with the name as I've seen some other people have but I much prefer "Sebastian" over it any day. Not that I don't think it makes sense that Sebastian would be given a silly name often associated with obnoxious rich spoiled kids but considering the turnaround he makes by the end of the game I think it does him a disservice to have a name that mainly fits to his behaviour at the beginning. "Eustace Winner" sounds similar to "useless winner/whiner" which provides a fitting double meaning. There's also a Saint Eustace who's considered the patron saint of hunters, firefighters and people facing adversity delivering the bow connection and even another one about him standing up to Blaise who's associated with fire so in terms of meaning it easily measures up to the fan translated name. In that regard I have zero issues with the name, I think they thought about it a lot and picked something well fitting. My only problem is how it's an actively "silly" name that may fit to Sebastian's beginning in Investigations 2 but not really to a serious (possibly main) character in future games - they may still go that route regardless of name, that's not it, I just wish they picked a name that would serve both a silly and a serious character which I think the fan translation did - and that I just like "Sebastian" so much more as a name.