#very ranty

[the-dreamers-hotel]

We are stepping on others to better ourselves.

I am absolutely begging LGBTQ+ folk to educate themselves on marginalised communities in general. You are not absolved of racism or ableism or transphobia or even homophobia just because you are LGBTQ+. You are certainly not immune to engaging in it unconsciously either, if you refuse to unlearn what the system forces on us.

Understanding intersectionality is absolutely key for queer liberation. But even more importantly, everyone must understand where their own oppression and sometimes advantageous traits affect them – such as living without disabilities, white, cisgender or even just having access to HRT, Good healthcare etc etc. There is an individual responsibility to educate and proactively and openly dismantle the tools of oppressing classes before proclaiming their opinions and thoughts on another member of the community.

If you believe that transmasculine or transmen do not face oppression based on their gender identity, then you are playing into the hands that beat you. We are our identities, and would like it if you didn’t erase that actually. In fact, maybe don’t play into the ideology that forces cisgender young men into Andrew Tate’s ilk either? You can criticise toxic behaviour without condemning all men and masculine people to death.

Not only do transmen and transmasculine people face oppression for their identity - which in itself is radically against the system quo and so the patriarchy justifies harassment - but should they have other marginalised identities, it adds to their oppression. Something a lot of this community seem to forget.

By blurting out buzzwords and barely thought-out opinions like “transmascs are privileged” or “transmen are men too and aid the patriarchy” you assist in so many deaths and so much abuse. Painting transmen and transmasculine people as toxic by default and including us in the group who want us dead as well, you make us invisible. You aid in our deaths and eradication.

Identifying as masculine or male and even passing and presenting as such does not remove the oppression experienced as someone AFAB – nor does it remove additional inequalities such as racial, sectarian/semitic, income based, sexual orientation based, and hell, homophobia.

I saw a post claiming transmen/transmasc folk on T have lost their right to be scared walking home at night. Not only do cisgender men have cause for fear during the night but to assume that “passing” somehow removes the intentions of those wishing harm on someone is absurd.

Transmasc/Transmen are treated as if they can only be men and nothing else – that this masculinity removes all other oppressive traits and it is assumed that they pass always too. Are we forgetting the subtle trained behaviour that some of us were not raised with? The conversation topics that could out us? That some of us aren’t skinny, white, and hyper masculine? Some of us are non-binary? Some of us reject conformity even as men? The fact that some of us are in mlm relationships? Hell, some of us have trans partners and that in itself can result in harm to us?

I don’t understand how you can believe a transmasc person or transman is only ever privileged.

Be outspoken to all transphobia, homophobia, racism, and misogyny – but do not deceive yourself that you are not partaking in it when you make these comments.

Stop lying to yourself. Do better.

Compassion & Comradery,

TDH.

[14dayswithyou]

💖 Day 3.5 is now available! 💖

For the last couple of months, only Server Boosters had access to the 3.5 update... Buuuuut now it's available for everyone to play in the 14DWY Discord — and soon itch.io once I'm happy with the QA and state of the game — so please don't feel pressured to join unless you want to!!

The full devlog + even more screenshots are under the cut ^^

What's been added to the 3.5 version?

📺 Streamer Mode!

I've been told that it's difficult to stream and monetise age-restricted videos on YouTube and Twitch, so I added an option to remove the sexual content and strong language used in the demo.

Now y'all can invite Ren into your bed for cuddles without putting your streamer career on the line /silly /lh

This won't affect the 18+ rating or dark themes/elements of the game, however! Although Streamer Mode will prevent you from seeing any "gruesome" CGs in the future, most of the core elements of the game will still be tied to the choices and decisions you make. So you won't miss out on the overall experience by using streamer mode!!

⚙️ Custom Pronouns!

It only took me one entire year to get around to it, but you can finally choose your own preferred pronouns (or use a set of pronouns instead)... At the cost of being able to change them mid-game ^^;

Since the original pronoun screen wouldn't update until a new scene was displayed, I temporarily disabled the feature. But once I find a workaround, I'll bring it back!

💗 Choose how others perceive you!

You can now choose how the cast and narration perceive you! Originally, the narration was kept strictly gender-neutral (outside of pronouns and genitalia picked by the player), but this will soon change in future updates.

For more clarity: you don't get to choose the words specifically, but you can choose between masculine, feminine, and androgynous terms!

📋 Separate top and bottom genitalia!

You can now choose your tatas and pps separately! >:3

Alongside that, you can also choose your preferred body type!

I removed the "both" genitalia option because a few players still assumed it was an obscure version of "intersex". That wasn't my intention and I don't want to mislead anyone, so I took it out for now ^^;

I also didn't want to include a screenshot of the new genitalia choices in action (because it's NSFW), so y'all get the same character menu screen for the nth time instead lmao

📱 Relationship Screen Overhaul!

You can now change your own status for more immersion, and long-term Server Boosters will eventually be able to submit and use their own icon within the game as well!

Stalking finding your friends has now become easier by using "Buddy Maps"; a new app that allows you to see the location of all the cast members!

I want to offer players more incentive to check the relationship screen since they tend to miss the status updates, so hopefully this might help ;v;

It also says it "updates every few hours" so folks don't go overboard and check every 5 seconds to see where Ren is gdsghf (also keep in mind that he's a hacker lol)

🖤 Additional Scenes Update!

Day 2 received a brand new CG!!!!! Originally, I planned on only adding a few CGs sporadically throughout the game, but it didn't feel right to leave Day 2 so... empty... so I added a brand new CG to (hopefully) make things feel more balanced and natural!

If you decline Teo's offer on Day 3, Leon will now call and try to convince you to reconsider. However, players are still allowed to decline, and if they do, they'll reach a dead end.

After listening to feedback on itch, I changed some of the dialogue during Days 1-3 to make it seem more consistent! They're only small changes though, so it's honestly not worth looking for sdgjssga

🎶 Updated BGM and SFX!

I wanted to try out a different style of music to see if it fits the vibe of 14DWY more! The BGM features more acoustics to suit the "beachy" theme of Corland Bay, though I made a conscious effort to include piano elements as well to stay true to the original!!

I figured it'd be better to give players a live example before I make a poll (to see if they prefer the change or not) and publish it to Itch.

Some new SFX have also been added, though it's very minimal and honestly not that noticeable.

How to download and play the update?

(warning: clicking on the following links will open Discord!!) To download the Day 3.5 update, simply join the 14DWY Discord server, verify your age, and visit the "14dwy-updates" channel!

Alternatively, you can also wait until the update is publicly released on Itch to play it as well!! (It normally gets released shortly after a round of QA testing/getting feedback from the server, though I may release it earlier if I feel like it hehe ^^)

Enjoy!!

[existence-is-a-liminal-space]

rant time

This is so disappointing, and the worst part is I have no one to blame but myself. I've always sorta seen the writing on the wall. Hori has always had a really weird track record with his writing; dropping plot points, being purposefully cagy and noncommittal to certain themes etc. However I do think there is a difference between something being an objectively poorly written story and just a story that, while well done, might no be something I personally enjoy (or even a overall fine story with a few flaws). For awhile I thought, like many people that mha was going to be a scathing critique on hero society and Deku & Co. would have to reccon with their places in it: how the hero-villain dichotomy does not help anyone, scapegoats those deemed undesirable, allows heroes to get aways with murder, and perpetuates the complicity of the masses leading them bring about some sort of systemic change with the help of the antagonists . When I realized it wouldn't be that I thought "OK" then it is a story about saving the have-nots and proving why they are going about things the wrong way and offering another solutions while working within society–a bit sanctimonious but sure–they become the greatest heroes because of their compassion and willingness to save. And then when the villains bring up their issues with society their continuously told to shut up or that their wrong with no further elaboration, better yet that they just dealt with what happened to them the wrong way as if was somehow their fault for reacting badly to being treated badly and given no real recourse. And then the All For One reveal happened. And god. the last minute reveal (right before he's 'killed') that all of Shigaraki's family issues and quirk were the direct result of AFO? It's a really nice way to further invalidate all the criticisms he's ever made now that nearly everything bad that's ever happened in his life was because of some really bad guy, doubling down on making everything an individual problem rather then a social one–because that way you don't have to challenge your characters core ideologies right? or think of actual solutions? And that's where I feel like MHA crosses into being an objectively poorly written story overall; to establish all these issues and themes and back out on them at the last minute for a simple solution.

I have to ask: What the fuck is going to change? Stories set in a fantastical world usually have something to actually fucking comment on in that world. We are shown explicit issues in the world of mha What has been deconstructed about the world of MHA? After all of this, what have any of these so called greatest heroes done to make an actual, tangible difference in the world they live in? The end of MHA is shaping up to be just a continuation of the same cycle it the begins with, all of it's issues going unaddressed or swept under the rug. People want to say that MHA doesn't need to address those things, that it's just a story about hope and redemption, where is the hope and redemption in killing off the people shown to be the most victimized by society? If it is a story about true heroism being intrinsically linked to saving then what does it say that some people just can't be saved, that are 'too far gone' that have to be fucking mercy killed.

In conclusion, the LOV deserved to be in a story which actually lived up to what it promised.

[fulcrum-art-fox]

I was already super sceptical of Sol’s “I’ve been thinking forever about how to say this and now I can ✨explain✨” and now. having seen what went down and had the explanation. Where the actual FUCK does Sol think he’s going with this. How the fuck is hearing all this again good for Mae, going to change Mae’s mind, soothe her, ANYTHING good for her? What, you’ve waited sixteen years to explain to a kid why you chose her sister over her because you just wants a kid that badly and you had a ✨connection✨ with Osha and just weren’t that interested in Mae at any point??? Like Mae’s just lying on that table listening to all this like “ok now I want to punt him into the sun” like what the fuck is supposed to be Mae’s takeaway from this, in Sol’s head??

[a-really-cool-blog-name]

I think we should give Rise!Casey a little brother named Angel and do something angsty with that

[codecicle]

.anyway ,, qcharlie's entire thing is loving devotion in its most raw fucked up form. codefippa could stab him in the heart and he would kneel down thinking she is knighting him for his service. everything he does is for her. that includes getting better (promising juanaflippa he would get his "rash" checked out during the day of the dead stream because she seemed worried) and getting worse (his entire talk with cellbit. the parallels of his code and the knife). he loves so strongly that it consumes him, quite literally. the loss and grief from his love consumed charlie so he created gegg as a last resort when nobody else would let him throw himself away in their name (foolish rejected the marriage, and mariana wouldn't log on. he was still staying by flippas grave day in and day out. charlie would be doing the same if flippas final words to him turned out different, but in his mind he needs to make it up to her. he needs to stay exiled. he cant return until he's paid the price and attoned for his misclick.) gegg was meant to be quackity's son and even then quackity wanted nothing to do with him. gegg was elquackity's kid more than anything and when gegg died elq was the only person charlie checked on. actually after geggdeath charlie nearly broke the cycle and found his hope again in the other eggs!! he met richarlyson and tallulah properly on his birthday and was given codeflippa as a gift at the very end. he is genuinely letting himself get consumed by the code just to keep her in his life <3 it's fucked up and bloody, pure raw grief and love at the same time manifesting as decay and rot through the code <3 <3 <3 i literally hate him so much it's insane <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

[pinkysberg]

how men interpret female rdr2 characters is. so exhausting.

mary linton is a bitch who uses arthur (criticizes him for being a criminal and asks him for a favour that doesn't involve criminality at all whatsoever - unless he chooses to be one in the process, which she deliberately asks him not to. somehow she is responsible for the poor choices he makes because she knows how he is and should expect him to be violent.)

sadie is overrated and randomly becomes a gunslinger in a single chapter. (they forgot the part where she says that even before the gang she knew how to handle a gun. apparently they all overlook this and decide she's a mary-sue who simultaneity is OP but could be smoked by John and Arthur. because they don't routinely cite holding deep respect that borders on fear for sadie and her ability)

abigail is a nagging bitch. (asked john to stop murdering people and got fed up with his behaviour after a decade. i don't even feel i need to express more to illustrate what's stupid here)

my favourite thing i hear - from men, but also women - is that "i hated both mary and abigail. i love mary-beth though." and while i also love mary-beth and am not slighting her, what i hear is "i like female characters that don't challenge the MC, don't involve themselves in the narrative, don't display any agency and know their place"

[dustteller]

Now that I am mostly over the Absolutely Feral stage of my Radiant Emperor Obsession and can think again, I want to do a proper write up on how the series handles colonialism. I need to get my sources together and make it all pretty and stuff, but the gist of it is this.

I actually really respect SPC for not making it A Thing. Like, the colonialism is an inherent part of the serting, and a lot of important moments hinge around it, but there's also a pretty clear refusal by the author to turn it into A Statement. I think they do a really good job of walking the fine line between aknowledging it and making it clear that its an important part of the setting, without turning the book into a political thesis on Why Bad Actually.

I think a lot of fantasy authors that frankly have no business making their books into political science treatises try to be super philosophical about it, and inevitably have almost all their points ring flat bc the main character almost always ends up perpetuating the system they spent the whole book critiquing. The classic example being, of course, "We've destroyed The Evil Empire! We will now replace it with The Good Empire, which is functionally identical to The Evil Empire except Good bc our Main Character is in charge! This will totally change the systemic issues we've spent the last three million words exploring! How? Don't worry about it, absolute power only corrupts you if you're A Bad Person!" (atla. atla i am looking at you. my love for you does not mean I am letting you off the hook.)

The Radiant Emperor books interact with and aknowledge the colonialism. The empire canonically falls at least in part because of one guy's willfull ignorance of the differences between his culture and that of two of the people he loves the most, because his culture supercedes theirs to the point where he does not even consider the posibility of this difference truly existing as a real-life power imbalance. And still, these books are not about that! That is not the main theme! It is important. It is handled pretty well, it is aknowledged, and it is not The Point. I really appreciate that more understated approach that SPC takes, because ironically by refusing to partake in dramatic philosophical grandstanding the media often ends up making way better and more nuanced points, because then their point actually fits into the story they are trying to tell.

[ijustreallylikecaptainamericaok]

Rewatched Multiverse of Madness earlier and while I've never had the vitriol for it that some Wanda fans do*, the whole "just be happy with what you have" lesson does reek of condescension in this case. Not to mention the callousness it takes to lecture someone who has nothing and no one about how they should just be content with their status quo. Obviously Wanda's actions were wrong, but given all the desperation and grief that fueled them, I get why she wanted out. As far as she knew, there was nothing to keep her there.

And don't even get me started on the film's attempt to put Strange not getting over Christine on the same level as Wanda wanting her kids back after having lost everyone else**. If we were talking about Strange Supreme from What If...? with all his tragedy and guilt then they'd have more of a leg to stand on, but prime!Strange's break up angst? Sorry, but no. Maybe if we were privy to more of Stephen's damage in that arena or why that particular relationship mattered so much it could've worked, but since we're not it doesn't. Not for me, at least.

[steakout-05]

i posted this to Pillowfort earlier but a couple days ago i did an unfinished redraw of this older sketch from 2023 of Salesman Barry and High-rank Craig together :3 Barry had a really rough day trying to sell his gramophones and he's struggling to deal with his financial issues and pressure to uphold a family tradition, and Craig can understand how he feels as he has to work for a pretty shitty boss (cough cough brains), and his job as a scientist, while enjoyable, was partially pursued out of being pressured as well.

(the old drawing in question)

(you can't even see them properly....)

additionally: i have created a digital redraw that's still a work in progress but i thought it looked good so i'm posting it :) i have been trying a newer style from my earlier digital stuff and i think it works well with the Jetpack Joyride characters!!

the Pillowfort post has an earlier version with slightly different tears and colouring and stuff, i wanted to put a more up to date version here. also fanon Craig with colour for the first time!?!?!?!?? what!!! i like to think Craig wore a similarish kind of outfit to Runingunin when he first appears in Brains' lab in AOZ. i like to think Craig would wear a "Trust Data Not Lore" t-shirt underneath his coat loll

[leonsliga]

Leon was the only one who didn't go into the corner yesterday to thank the fans. Not exactly a team player. I think that was the final proof for Nagelsmann not to nominate him for the EM.

I don’t think it’s that simple. Leon is the first to admit that he often isolates himself after losses and is not a fun person to be around in those moments. Was it a perfect response? No, but what is a perfect response really? He’s human. People process things in different ways. There’s been plenty of times in the past where Leon has been one of the few, if not the only, Bayern players to stop and take pictures with the fans, so he’s clearly not doing this out of contempt for them.

Also, I don’t know that it’s necessarily fair to determine whether someone’s a team player or not in the aftermath of one heartbreaking game. He’s been captain in the past for a reason, and he shows he’s a team player in plenty of other ways, be it through a hug when it’s needed or an encouraging word for teammates whose confidence might be shaken. And that’s not even getting into the fact that he would literally wage war for a teammate who’s been wronged or hurt in any way (see: Jo Kimmich 😂). If anything, I’d imagine him not going to the corner to thank the fans at full-time is more a reflection of his disappointment in himself than anything else.

Truth is, I’m biased and I know I am. But in moments like the one you’ve described, I can’t help but see a man who retreats into himself in the immediate aftermath of defeats, blaming himself for things he could’ve done better. And who knows? Once the dust clears, he’ll probably find his teammates and comfort them, having processed that hurt. After all, you need to take care of yourself before you can properly take care of others, no? But we likely won’t ever see how he is around his teammates behind closed doors; we won’t hear that.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I know we’re all heartbroken right now, but let’s try not to blame our players, even though we’re hurting. They’re probably hurting just as much, if not more, than we are right now.

[t-s-n]

dude i hate having cystic acne like i cant get rid of this shit!!! and other kids see me and are like “wash your face!!” KILL YOURSELF 🗣️🗣️🗣️ do you think i havent tried that man !!!!!! oh my god.

and it sucks cause theres like!! no positivity for acne either. i have it all over the sides of my face and on my neck and my shoulders and chest and back and i fee so stupid sometimes. at least if im like, feeling body conscious i can go on tumblr and look at chubby positivity posts. but when i feel bad about this fucking stuff all over my skin i have nothing.

anyway i hope every person with acne gets to be in a room set to the temperature of their liking and have good fast wifi 💗

[highlifeboat]

FINALLY SOMEBODY ELSE TO MOURN LIN WITH! They did her so wrong man ;_; We *had time to save her* man!!

I SWEEEAAAR

I'VE NEVER SEEN HER DEATH SCENE BEFORE AND I AM JUST--SO UPSET??? Like I'm not someone who gets overly emotional with video games usually, but that shit HURTS? SO MUCH??

I wanna know how we got out of the trunk but then just left her ass. Like even if she was dead by that point why did we not at least get her body? (Maybe to maintain cover but if they already know Lin is a Saint who cares). Left my girl FLOATING IN THE RIVER.

ALSO FUUUCK the dude who kidnaps/kills her because he was WAY too creepy towards her. Like the way he talks to her makes me feel so eugh.

Just everything about her death is WILD and for WHAT? Just to kill the best female character in the game? WACK DECISIONS.

[rantceratops]

“Don’t touch my kids!”

Wanted to finish this before the finale came out.

[toxictac]

Well after... a bit trying to figuring out how to draw again i did a little drawing

Specificly a friend of mine who watch bocchi requested me if i could draw emo bocchi, and of course i had trouble with it

So of course because of that, i of course decided to redraw it... and also the whole band each with their own style... yeah

So in order bocchi is emo, nijika is a gyaru, seika is a punk/crunch and kita is hipster (like the vintage kind)

Sooo yeah going a bit into specifs the og plan was to have them all be different types of emos... but i couldnt find distinc subcultures like gyarus or gothic, so i landed in the best next thing

Bocchi is the first i desing, and while i didnt change much from the way i originaly drew her, i changed her a bit so there wasnt so much contrastic black

Nijika was a bit more simple, althought my original plan was to give her a tan... but i kinda didnt want to mess too much with her

As for seika, originaly her desing was a little too much like bocchi so i tried to difference them as far as i could by enchanging some desing from one to another, tho i fear i should had make her pants black or grey

Kita was kinda fucked by lineart, part of me thinks that i could have come up with another color (as two characters here already use blues) but hey at least she sortha looks vintage (also yes i gave her a mustache pin, i thought that was a cute idea), tho those glasses could have been done better

[bookinit02]

girls when they’re working three jobs and volunteering and writing fic and taking four senior-level classes and getting ready for graduation and petitioning for financial aid and taking their cat to the vet and applying to grad school and writing original work and babysitting AND trying to have a social life and—