#twb spoilers

[themargogamer]

THE BIG BITE.

[five-nights-at-artsys]

THE WEEK BEFORE LEAKS !!

still thinking about this one particular leak from the week before. ive been thinking about it ever since i learnt about it.

"only if you forget" is gonna haunt me for a while now actually. holy fucking shit. get ralph some therapy. that's straight up dissociation .

[doks-aux]

I started reading Five Nights at Freddy's: The Week Before, and as you can see, I'm being very normal about it.

I've avoided as many spoilers as possible so I can experience the lore hunting on my own for once. Never been as deep into the fandom during a book release before. The pages on the right are my notes while reading, whatever I think might be important to the worldbuilding or mysteries or just interesting minutia like how the restaurant is run. These were the notes after getting through Night 2. I've finished Night 3 by now (so please no spoilers beyond that), so there's a bit more.

The page on the left is where I'm recording my "official" playthrough. It's an "interactive novel" (because Choose Your Own Adventure is off-limits), and the way I'm reading it is by committing to one route each night and playing it to the end or until I die and have to get back to the last branching decision. And then when the night is over, I go back and read the branches I didn't take. (Except for the Bonus Item route. I've heard it's best to leave that until the very end.) The inventory is only items I pick up in the official playthrough (I probably didn't have to cross out screwdriver and paperclip after I used them, whoops), and I'm only recording Game Overs I reach organically (there are more of those now, too).

It's a lot of fun. This was a smart way to present new information and provide some different gameplay experience. I've never been able to play the video games when they actually come out, so it's nice to have a way to discover things firsthand and not have to rely on watching other people's videos. And since there are so many diverging points, there's still the question of which version of the story actually happened (if this is indeed canon to the games' timeline instead of it's own slightly-to-the-left continuity) and what information we can actually trust. Maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome talking at this point, but a straight answer wouldn't be quite as much fun.

There are some WILD implications if it's even adjacent to the games' timeline though. Like, at this point it really seems like a night guard's actual purpose is to keep the animatronics in the building than to keep anyone out. The idea that they would just up and fucking leave if they had a means to honestly never occurred to me (or at least it would have died off quickly after the earliest games), but apparently they will do exactly that. And it's largely been accepted that at least the original Fazbear four weren't malicious toward children (The Silver Eyes said as much and I think one of the games did, too), but in this story they're straight-up obliterating kids if given the chance.

Good shit. Excited to read the second half.

[thiagitobits]

genuinely hillarious how blunt the week before is in regards to ralph's identity. i dont think any other peice of fnaf media has ever been so blatant about any lore detail ever. ralph legit goes "they used to call me the phone guy" at one point

[autumn0689]

Honestly Ralph is so interesting in the fact that he is a victim of Fazbear Entertainment (I mean he had to leave hints in his phone calls because Management apparently reviews the calls) and yet also defends the place, shutting down the rumors about the Bite of ‘87, mopping up the blood and not reporting on it, but it makes sense, especially from what we learn about him.

He loves the job, he’s an overachiever and seems to follow authority but also holds some frustrations (thinking to burn the place down) and with him gaslighting himself, it makes him so much more tragic.

He’s a man who works for a job that doesn’t care for its employees and yet he loves the place and adamantly defends the place. It makes sense since he had worked there for who knows how long. He’s probably a little desensitized to the dark side of Fazbear Entertainment.

Its also not that he doesn’t care (from what we pick up he cares a LOT) it’s just combined with working for them for so long and (imo) kind of having a Disassociation Disorder (which I could go into but that’s for another time) it makes so much sense why he’s the way he is (constantly stressed, making jokes often even in stressful situations, and probably has a lot of unaddressed psychological problems)

Anyways Ralph needs to get some therapy and a job that doesn’t cause him intense emotional distress.

[littlesimpulltin]

“You often feel like the only thing you’re good at is protecting others, even at your own expense”

IM TAKING A BREAK 😭😭😭

[intuitive-revelations]

After a few years of part-time supporting-artist-ing in Cardiff I finally get a DW-related casting enquiry... a month after I moved away. 🙃

[thewingedbaron]

DARK URGE RUN BEGINS

Dropped off the map there for a bit to play Space Marine, but I've finally hit the first milestone of the Dark Urge run. I think we both know what that is.

I wanted to start the journal from a moment that makes sense for Cyllia (Tiefling Swords Bard/Durge). So from this point forward, I'll be doing a little live, character journaling when the moment feels appropriate. I'm also adding these under a little tag so they'll be easier for me to organise. #TWB: Cyllia

First entry is under the cut!

Day 4 since the crash of the Nautiloid. 

Alfira is dead. I think I killed her. 

This sickening urge finally overwhelmed me. The one that makes my blood boil at the sight of a corpse, that makes my hand itch for a blade. I pleaded with my companions the second night. I tried to warn them, told them of the terrible song my blood sings. Now, Alfira is dead, and I don’t even remember how it happened.

None of them are speaking with me, save for threats and warnings. Gale would not even approach me. When I asked him for one of his precious notebooks to help me get my mind right, he placed it on the ground before him without question, and retreated to his tent before he would allow me to move to pick it up. I have tried to tell them I do not remember, I’ve tried to plead my case. I don’t know if anyone listened. So I sit, here by the water on the edge of camp, scratching my thoughts to paper in a vain attempt to prove to myself that I am not insane.  

How did this happen to me? Am I truly capable of such horrible deeds? I have killed often these past few days. So called Paladin’s of Tyr, goblins, and bandits. I cannot deny the way my heart sings when blood is spilt by my hand. Yet, that is a love of battle not murder. I wish that I could remember anything about myself. Perhaps the answers lay in the gaping void of my memory. 

The earliest that I can remember with awakening in that pod. My horns had been hacked off. My hair shorn short, shaved on one side. I was wearing a ridiculous bard’s get up. Someone had to have put me there. I think my hair and lack of horns would have been done by my own hand, if not for the deep loss I feel when I glimpse them in the water, or a passing mirror. Someone did this to me. I know it. Perhaps it was they who put these infernal urges in my mind. 

I cannot dwell on it now. There is still work to be done if we are to rescue this “Halsin” from the goblin’s camp. I intend to head straight there today, after gathering as many allies as I could find. They have not left me yet, but I can tell that their faith in me is shaken. I will make this up to them. I will prove that I am more than whatever blood stained hand grips my heart. 

I vow this. I only pray that it is not too late. 

Cyllia. 

[voidoflotusblooms]

I managed to get my hands on the new fnaf book, The Week Before, (thank you Barnes and Noble 🙏🏻) and yall I love Phone Guy even more than I previously had. I can never bring myself to play fnaf 1 without feeling sad af now tho

[asccrearad]

SPOILERS FOR THE WEEK BEFORE BELOW!!!!!

i find it incredibly funny how in TWB we get Cassidy and CC characterization

and they're almost completely opposite to the fanon interpretations

Cassidy is sweet and caring to Phone Guy, providing comfort and reassurance in the best ending (placing a LOT of doubt on CassidyTOYSNHK but that's just in my opinion)

CC brutally kills him in 2 (known) endings out of rage. like. Bite of 93 in one, and in the other he literally fries Phone Guy's brain while screaming at him lmao

[five-nights-at-artsys]

Haunted By The Decisions You Made

[minor spoilers for fnaf: the week before... but still spoilers for the book, especially since it shouldn't be in stores 'til september 4th! so. yeah]

i'm breaking down // breaking down // at the thought of you

— "six feet under", vane lily

for prompt 28 — haunted! a bit more fast and loose than usual but i had fun drawing this one! phone guy (ralph? i guess now?) can NOT catch a break im sorry

[gamequeenanya]

TWB Spoilers

The pizza thing was so cruel.

Context: the part where FazEnt had a prize for winning Employee of the Month and the winner would get their own pizza for 30 days. When Ralph won, they made him a disgusting pizza no one wanted to buy. They recalled it after 4 days.

Basically their way of saying he's disgusting and no one wants him. Management are such bullies, I hate them so much... What if Ralph cried?

And thing is, he's not disgusting. He loves being clean and smelling good. FazEnt probably just did that as a way to hurt him, and keep him there for as long as they could. :(

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Dead City, Episode 6 (Final Episode)

Okay, here is some of our convo about the final episode of Dead City. I will probably do another post next week (or whenever I can get around to it) about season 1 as a whole, but for now, this is what we talked about.

***Warning: Spoilers abound below for Dead City, season1. Don't read until you've watched!!***

@galadrieljones

I just finished Dead City season 1. I have to say, looking back, I can’t believe there was a time I used to despise Negan with a red hot fury lol. I hated him so much in season 7 I almost stopped watching. Ofc he got funnier in season 8, and then things changed.

I love how they have found a way to complicate his relationship with Maggie without consistently rehashing old plots. I love how they have woven Hershel into this. The scene with him and Maggie in the truck really hurt my heart and my spirit for Maggie. As a mother, I watched her character melt and despair how she fears she’s lost the only thing she has left to love. Maggie is in a very dark way. She still hasn’t clawed her way to the light. She talks about losing things and how the world keeps “taking,” and how she’s always trying to get things back. I really hope it gives her something back.

I was very interested in the Dama and how she seems to be referencing the CRM and their glut for “resources.” The woman who’s totally lording over Armstrong wants to know about the methane. She doesn’t even care about Negan. This is super interesting. I did not see that angle on the horizon.

@wdway

I was thinking about this very same thing. How we saw in TWB Coda the female scientist taking out three tapes but we only saw one. I'm just so curious about the other two. I've said this before that it could be possible that Beth is actually seen on one of the tapes. These could be tapes sent to France by the scientists that were stranded in America. I guess that's why the short one shot I mentioned above was intriguing, because I thought it kind of tied into that kind of theory.

@galadrieljones

The way it ends, with the Croat bringing Negan as his prize, and Negan essentially taking Hershel’s place as a karmic price, and then the slow reveal that he’s there, not for punishment, but for glory, to rule…that was really good. I’m super excited for the future of this show and for all the ensuing spin-offs. If they’re half as good as Dead City is right now, that means big things for the franchise! Seriously I just really loved it. I want more lol.

I love how Negan can’t escape his past because he was just really really good at being a tyrant. He as so good, it keeps coming back to haunt him. Not because people want revenge, but because they want to serve him. They want him to keep playing his role. Even Maggie can’t help herself. She is charmed by him and we know she’s going to go back for him. What I love most about DC, and then I’ll shut up, is that I can finally see a way out for Maggie. I can see her choosing to forgive Negan. I can see Hershel asking her to forgive Negan, and for her to let go. I can see her letting go, rather than killing him in revenge, like she did Carver in season 11. Because we know that won’t solve anything. Anyway, that’s all lol.

@galadrieljones

Totally. I really think one could contain recordings from Grady. I’ve got my eye on Slingerland still as a potential lead. I was thinking, too, earlier about how, if Laurent was a guinea pig, he would have been a little baby when the experiments happened. If they were the same experiments that happened to Beth, it would have been around the same time frame. Just based on his age. Maybe he’s 11? 12?

@wdway

What I came away with about Maggie in DC e6 is we saw her so bitter and broken in Home Sweet Home and then in s11. She's just bitter. Which is understandable, but I hated how she was teaching that hatred to Herschel.

In this latest episode we see that Herschel is old enough now to start to put things together for himself. He's turning into his own person, trying to make his own judgments about situations and people. Maggie definitely is starting to realize that people change, things are never quite as black and white as we want them to be. I think we will see Maggie on her own road to redemption by coming to terms with who Negan really is now. And the difference between the persona of Negan and who he really is are two different things.

@galadrieljones

Totally. I was glad for how they gave so much agency to Hershel, and the ability to see things for what they are, and how he calls her out. I was so glad to see him accuse her of being obsessed with Negan, because she is. And it’s clearly harmed her relationship with her son and with everyone she’s ever been close to, since Glenn’s death.

One thing I love about TWD and its female characters is that the writers don’t let them get away with these vendettas. Sometimes, I feel modern female characters are shown as badasses who can do no wrong and who are always entitled to their whims. But characters like Maggie and Carol are truly flawed and those flaws are layered and realistic and they’re always evolving to meet the story they’re a part of. Maggie has become a really good character I think since season 11. She’s become fearful. Not that she might die, but that she has been living her life all wrong, and that because of this, she might survive and find herself totally alone. Just good writing.

@wdway

Isn't it funny how the females in the series, Maggie and Carol have become hardened as time has gone on. Daryl who is not a wimp by any means. he has came into himself, to show his soft side. He has in many ways softened over the years.

@galadrieljones

Yes. I sometimes think back to the first conversation that Rick and Shane have in Days Gone Bye, about the difference between men and women. While it’s very subtle, I think one theme tptb explores, particularly in the earlier seasons, is how men and women handle things like catastrophe differently.

Women grab the picture frames while men grab the survival gear. This makes sense at first. But as time goes by, we see that it’s really men who are hanging on to the dreams and romance of the old world. They want to fix the world. They want to save the world. The women recoil from expansion, become protective, ruthlessly practical, like snakes in a den.

Of course it’s just one interpretation, and it’s not universal. But I think in general, men are more romantic than women. Women are practical. The here and now. Men are all big picture. I think it can be approached in different ways.

Beth is a softer version of femininity in the show. But she still does a good job of bringing Daryl back down to earth. He can’t stop thinking about the big picture, how he failed them, failed Hershel, failed everybody. If only he would have done something differently, he could have saved them.

Beth grabs him and just helps him to remember he’s still alive, and that he did save her, and he did a good thing that day, and they can’t give up, because there’s still more to do. “We’ve all got jobs to do” is like this ultimate motto of practicality. It’s how Beth organizes her will to live, one foot in front of the other, and how she helps Daryl move forward even when he can’t stop looking back: she just gives him a job. OKAY WOW I just need her to come back now :’)

@twdmusicboxmystery

I wanted to put in my impressions of the end of Dead City. I agree with everything you both said about Maggie and Negan. I do think she’ll go back and get him, and there will be forgiveness. And the bit with Hershel was definitely heart breaking. I was thinking about how Hershel could never truly understand what happened with his father. He wasn’t there, and he doesn’t understand how it affected Maggie.

But none of that means he’s wrong about her. Maggie isn’t a terribly open or nurturing parent, and she needs to talk to him more about what happened. Not just the bare facts, but what she actually went through internally. But Maggie isn’t one to do that. She often feels cold and distant. So, I think it will also be interesting to see Maggie and Hershel’s relationship grow and hopefully come full circle around Negan.

The thoughts I have as to where they might be going with it are more big picture, I suppose. Obviously, this Dama woman is something of a queen in New York. One of you said you got Rich Bitch vibes from her, and I totally agree. She’s the epitome of a rich class living lavishly in her little enclosed space while people live not far from her in utter squalor, and she oppresses them for own amusement and aims.

But she also just basically asked Negan to help her run New York. In an evil and oppressive way, of course. But I’m assuming, even if it’s several seasons away, that since this woman is a relatively minor and new character, that she’ll die and Negan will become king of New York.

That’s interesting, because—again, perhaps several seasons away—when Rick and Daryl and Beth and all of TF reunite to fight the CRM, Negan may be running New York.

Remember in S8, when Rick and Negan went down into that basement together, past the “Abandon all Hope” sign? That foreshadowed something major between Rick and Negan, and the end of AOW just didn’t seem epic enough to fulfill it. I’m wondering if this hints at something more, a much larger scale conflict between them.

This is both subtle and obvious, but the show has set up a foil between the countryside and the city. We’ve had it long before now, with how TF has always avoided the cities, such as Atlanta, because they’re overrun with the dead.

Beth was taken into the city, which is probably more important symbolically than I ever gave it credit for.

And now we have New York. Of course there are plenty of evil people in the country, and plenty of walkers, but big cities are just their own monsters. Much different. Much worse.

In the bible—early Old Testament—we learn of two great cities under great leaders that are built up side by side. The first is the City of Enoch, which was filled with people so righteous and perfect that eventually the entire city was translated and taken up to heaven. Led by the prophet, Enoch.

The other city was built by a man named Nimrod, a mighty hunter in defiance of God. He hunted the souls of men. He became the first king of Babylon, which became synonymous with evil, sin, darkness, and the kingdom of the devil.

The two cities grew up at the same time, in different places, and as foils to one another. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil.

I’m just saying they’re sort of making Negan king of Babylon here.

Beth was taken into the city. Into Babylon, the kingdom of the devil. And the CRM is most likely running other cities. Is Rick in Pittsburg? Another city run by the devil? No idea, but all big cities probably fall under the same symbolism.

It’s even somewhat reminiscent of the Morgan/Strand dynamic in Fear. Strand in his high tower, building a community based on fear and oppression, while Morgan, on the outside, strives to build a community based on respect, mutual protection, and self-reliance.

And I’m not even saying Negan and Rick will forever be enemies. (Morgan and Strand aren’t.) It would make more sense for them to eventually join forces against the CRM, which would make everything come full circle as well. Once enemies, now allies to bring peace and justice and order to the world. Anyway, I’m rambling now. This is what the end of DC got me thinking about.

@galadrieljones

This is really good, @twdmusicboxmystery. I love the idea of us returning thematically to AOW. Because we really haven’t yet. After the war ends, Rick “dies” almost immediately, then there’s a time jump. Negan is incarcerated, and Maggie leaves. There’s no opportunity for meditation on what happened.

Even Carl’s death is somewhat lost in these developments. Because for Michonne, who would be the only person left for whom it was truly life-shattering, it is overshadowed by Rick’s and also by her pregnancy. Daryl has left and he goes through his own Underworld experience, while Carol is with Henry and Ezekiel attempting to rebuild.

Then when Negan becomes a real character again, it’s the Whisperer War. So what I’m saying is, AOW has never really been processed thematically. And I think you’re right that we are headed back in that direction. I love the idea of an inverse scenario, in which Rick, a leader of his own rebellion, is able to employ Negan for help.

If Negan is leader of Manhattan, and Maggie is the leader of the hinterlands, and Ezekiel is governor of the Commonwealth, then we have an entirely new iteration of The King, the Widow, and Rick. Only instead of fighting against Negan, they infiltrate NY to ask for his help. Or they may be fighting him at first, but once Rick realizes they have a common enemy, they will be inclined to work together.

Also, we may then finally have an opportunity to process Carl’s death. Carl died to try and pave a way for peace ahead. And he wanted Rick to forgive Negan and for the two of them to work together to make the world a better place. We already know that the CRM will be after NYC for their methane operation. It looks like after all this time, resources are truly what it’s about, and TD was right about that.

I love the idea that tptb is creating a massive scenario in which Negan and Rick will meet again in some epic inversion of AOW. Even Jadis will be there. During AOW, she tried to play both sides and got burned. Now she seems to be playing both sides again, but she’s smarter this time, presumably. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Jadis who somehow gets Negan and Rick into the same room again, to broker some sort of deal. Anyway. Love this idea!! I’m super excited for how things seem like they’re going to come together.

Thinking about Carl’s death and how it’s never been processed actually makes me think about Beth’s. Really can’t wait for all this stuff to truly kick into gear!!

@wdway

I really liked your take on the episode as well. I really felt that Negan was forced, blackmailed into joining her. She hinted to the fact that she could always go back and get Herschel and she understands Negan has a lot of guilty feelings about killing Herschel's father, Glenn.

I think right now Negan main concern is to keep Ginny and Herschel safe and that hopefully the fact that he has a wife and a son of his own will stay secret between him and Maggie. She has the means of destroying Negan by telling his enemies that he has a family.

At this point I don't think she would knowingly let it slip that he has a family I think if she did that purposely she would sever any possibility of a relationship of any meaning with Herschel. I think he would see it as her choosing revenge over him, that he is less important than her hate for Negan.

And where is Negan's family? Missouri, where I imagine they've probably run into the CRM. I think Rick or Michonne are even Jadis meeting up with Annie finding out that Negan had a family might be a turning point that give Negan the incentive to join Rick against the CRM. We've seen Negan be brutal, but we've never seen him in action against people who could harm the people he loves. The all in, full out killing machine we've never seen before in him.

[treesap-blogs]

Review for “The Brilliant Death” by A.R. Capetta! (..pretty sure their deadname’s on the front cover, pardon that.)

Hello, Tumblrians! I’m just going down the list of books I’ve read but haven’t made reviews for, now. I don’t know if it’ll be in order or not, at least there’s the “date finished” for reference!

With this book, I remember I just really wanted to find a book with a gender-fluid love interest(all I’m giving for context is that TWB sort of had me thinking), and somewhere on Instagram I saw this and flipped out. Also, of all the places that I could find this, my highschool library had it?! So that was pretty funny! I thought I’d come across, like…a hidden genderqueer gem faded into obscurity by the sands of time(and the unforgiving bookstagram algorithm) or something!

That would’ve been pretty cool if that turned out to be the case, right?

The Brilliant Death follows Teodora DiSangro, just Teo for short (I read this right after The Sunbearer Trials, you can imagine the whiplash): a mafia don’s daughter. All her life, she’s hidden the fact that she’s been able to turn her family’s enemies into decorative objects with magic, as everyone in Vinalia believes stregas only exist in fairytales. Then the Capo, the land’s new ruler, sends poisoned letters to the heads of the Five Families, leaving Teo’s father gravely ill! And when things go particularly awry, she realizes she’ll have to represent her family at this meeting in the only way she can in a sexist 19th century Italy-inspired fantasy: Not just pretend to be a boy, but become one too, with the power of her magic. Enter Cielo, a genderfluid strega who can switch sexes and shapeshift into different animals whenever, who journeys with Teo as the two begin to develop feelings for each other. And in the midst of her falling for Cielo, Teo begins realizing how much of her true nature she’s hidden. But she can’t lose sight of her original mission, and with every unveiled sinister secret about her country that’s revealed, she also realizes she’ll go to any length to protect her family.

Eufgh, I had to go back onto Goodreads to remember the summary; this book is so, so forgettable. Which is made even sadder because I was captivated by the summary, and that’s what got me to read it. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought it would, it felt surprisingly boring.

Firstly, THE MAGIC SYSTEM, or the lack thereof. Teo didn’t have a clear limitation to their abilities, except for they were made more volatile by the end of the book(spoiler-y events I won’t elaborate on), and at some point they’d exhaust them. There’s also no aspects of the writing that makes their transformations of their family’s enemies this horrifying or awe-inspiring thing that it should be, like it’s just poof they’re a music box or something now, and maybe it’s just my weird obsession with body horror but also. Come on. So as a result, it was kinda hard to wrap my head around and it felt a little underdeveloped.

Secondly, the handling of gender. I had mixed feelings on this? This was a different part of A.R. Capetta’s gender journey, as evidenced in the different name listed on the book’s cover, and I don’t know if that had to do with the writing of this book but it might’ve. From my point of view, as a nonbinary reader: Gender seemed to be almost intrinsically tied to sex, especially in the case of Cielo, there was more of an emphasis on that being a defining factor instead of also taking stuff like presentation into account(which made for some..uncomfortable sentences). It felt pretty gender norm-y, which I would’ve expected from the macho dudes of the novel, but not really from our genderqueer protagonist. At least by the end, there was more of a dissection/discussion of gender and I felt it improved a bit.

I was also on-the-fence about the romance, which disappointed me because that was a main factor that drew me in initially. It was very insta-lust(romantic feelings weren’t developed until much later), and as a result I felt their relationship moved too quickly until the end. Although, there were a few sweet moments. Cielo put their life on the line for Teo and I’m a sucker for those kinds of love interests. (Cielo was a pretty average “sarcastic, handsome dark-haired love interest”, though. To those who love that kind of thing, you’ll probably eat this up, but it’s not mine. To each their own.)

I also did not like the plot. It felt very typical of the YA genre, only a few months after reading it I’ve forgotten basically all of it except for that there wasn’t a single plot twist I couldn’t predict(and that the mafia aspects didn’t feel very thought-out or well-written). It was also just boring sometimes. The characters feel very flat, side and otherwise, and even the MCs fell into their own archetypes.  

I don’t think I can even give this book the grace of saying “but it’s not a bad read at least”. Giving it some thought it definitely is. I just thought some parts were fun just because I like some corny stuff, so I, fortunately, lost track of the final pages I whizzed through. But it’s definitely not the forgotten queer classic I thought it might’ve been.

Book rating: ⭐️⭐️ ¾/5 stars. Date finished: 03/30/23.

(Book content/trigger warnings: Violence, death, homophobia, sexual content, sexism.)

-Paz, signing off!

[autumn0689]

Just thinking about how Ralph’s father was mean to him, scaring Ralph just because he wanted to be play Hide and Seek!

Meanwhile Ralph is over here being a good father and not causing his daughter to cry by scaring her!

Honestly love Ralph he’s an amazing father (and is one of the few amazing dad figures in FNAF)