#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.

[jathun]

Forgot to update this! But! I managed to finish Agartha a couple of days ago. And oh god it was sooooo bad! About the only things you could maybe salvage from that arc is the writing around Wu Zeitan (through not that godawful design) and maaaaybe Columbus as an antagonist (but that's stretching it). Everything else was just bad. Just straight up awful. The Psuedo-Singularity reads like a bad fanfic written by a fourteen year old boy just getting into puberty and learning about feminism from the manosphere or something.

But since I had time to spare this weekend too; I've also gone through all of S.E.R.A.P.H and now started on Salem! And both of them are already leagues better than Agartha. THOUGH! I have to mention that that bar is already freezing in the deepest depths of hell - so it doesn't take much to improve upon all of that.

And upon that note. While the writing itself was way better in S.E.R.A.P.H. I have to admit I'm not that big of a fan.

I really liked the writing around Meltyllis, and Kiara Sesshouin has always been one of my favourite antagonists in the fate-verse; so I enjoyed those parts of the story immensely! And the lore revelations about the Animuspheres and the experiments they've been doing was delightfully horrifying! But the EXTRA-verse itself has always been a bit of a sore spot for me. I've never really liked it. I've played through all of the games (extra, ccc and extella), but the whole "game-within-a-game" meta concept is not something I'm a big fan of and the kinda juvenile humour of the verse is just...eh. Not for me. A lot of the character writing for the games, especially ccc, is amazing though! I'm not disputing that! But my general meh feelings about the extra-verse really colored my enjoyment of the S.E.R.A.P.H. psuedo-singularity for the worse, since none of it reaches the heights of the writing of the games.

Not to mention I've always had a hard time taking the more out-there designs of some of the nasuverse characters seriously and because of that no matter how great the writing might be; if a character's design is one giant boob joke it's gonna be difficult to look past that.

Now, I'm just a couple of sections into Salem, but as of yet it's up there with Shinjuku, Camelot and Babylonia as one of my favorite arcs of the game. Again, with the preface that I'm still at the very beginning of the psuedo-singularity.

It's got a way more oppressive atmosphere than most of the other arcs (as a classical/gothic horror fan I approve) and the fact that it's at least trying to convey the attitudes and predjudices of the time through the characters is commendable...even if it doesn't always land. For example, it's kinda jarring playing as a female mc and watching the other female characters be treated a...particular way... only to have the character you're playing as treated completely differently. It completely takes you out of the story. And yes! It's a huge problem throughout the game as a whole! But it becomes more of a sore spot in the arcs which actually try to tell a good story, since...well, they're actually trying.

And regarding Salem, it's also, in a way, blatantly obvious that the arc is a japanese take on the salem witch trials and lovecraftian elements - a well researched one compared to a lot of the other singularities and psuedo-singularities - but still that. A very, VERY japanese take on it which tries to be authentic yet doesn't want to step on too many toes BUT while doing so inadvertedly offends by trying to sweep things under the rug instead.

I'm kinda, specifically, talking about the issue of the Pilgrims, Queen of Sheba, Tituba, and the GIANT elephant in the room that is the transatlantic slave trade which grand order hilariously and hysterically tries not to touch yet by virtue of it being a time-travel based piece of media it just...can't not touch. It's...awkward at best and offensive at worst that the only (very ambiguously) black character (that's based on an actual black woman mind you(I'm talking about Tituba here not Sheba)) in the cast is treated with such little regard and shown with such little agency and screentime compared to her white (actual slave owner) counterparts. I'm honestly a bit baffled. I mean anything even remotely touching the topic of witches in america is bound to also touch the myriad of stories about specifically black women persecuted and accused of witchcraft because they kept to traditions which didn't line up perfectly with christianity and what the puritans saw as acceptable. You could do so much with the topic! And instead grand order just...doesn't even touch those stories. At all. Heck. Tituba isn't even Tituba. She's Sheba. A character who's just kinda ambiguously brown (?). I guess.

With E Pluribus Unum it was an issue as well - just not as in your face. They just kinda ignored the problem altogether. No slavery here. No sir. But in Salem it's just...ugh.

And I'm really not the best person to be talking about this. I'm a white-as-sheet woman from sweden who just loves history and colorful casts of characters in the media I consume. But I think that it's a disservice to the reader/player/consumers to ignore the topic even if it's uncomfortable and difficult. Anyone who can pick up a history book will know what happened at the time. It's almost insulting to pretend otherwise.

I dunno...I'm sorry for the rant. I guess I'll just see where the story leads and get my thoughts in order when I've finished with the psuedo-singularity.

For now, I'm at least really enjoying solving the mystery behind Salem together with Mata Hari, Robin and Circe. Oh, and Sanson is growing on me too, so I'll see where that goes!

Ugh... I'm currently PAINFULLY making my way through EoR: Agartha and the only thing keeping me from quitting and bleaching any and all remnants of fgo from my phone is that I'll eventually get to the lostbelts.

...that and the absolute love and obsession I have for about seven to maybe eight characters from other type-moon works...

[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!!

[xxplastic-cubexx]

🧙‍♀️🐈‍⬛

[amy-chow]

honestly to me this whole livvy ~discourse~ boils down to the fact that there seems to be like this weird undertone of ncaa gymnastics that the fans are just kind of dumb. Did you know the beam is only 4 inches wide? I don’t know where the judges found those deductions! She’s really having fun and showing off her personality in this routine (identifies zero skills or deductions). These people are supposed to be professionals at what they do. Between athlete, commentator, and me, I shouldn’t feel like the smartest person in the room.

Like, why am I being treated like a child who can only differentiate between 10=Good Yay! and Not 10 = Sad Bad Mad! Why am I being lead to believe that the only thing that matters is hitting your handstands, not falling, and sticking the landing? I’m a grown ass adult, I promise I understand how numbers work, and I can hold more than two thoughts in my head at once. I know how sports work and that it’s not a personal affront to a gymnast to take deductions for things they did wrong, just like it’s not a personal affront to a football player or whatever to get a penalty called on them.

I don’t know enough to say if this is a gymnastics issue or a women in sports or something else entirely. But I do know that fans aren’t dumb, athletes aren’t dumb, dear broadcasters, stop treating us & them like we are!!

[milo-igidk]

i just really love how chill keefe and alvar are about gay ppl bc genuinely THATS how kids/teens react to gay ppl irl like its SO wild for conservatives to say "its confusing to children :((((" bc no its literally not

i learned ppl could be trans when i was like 13 by my cousin mentioning an actor in a show we liked had transitioned from ftm and i just went "oh cool you can do that? thats awesome that hes comfortable now"

[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-archive]

.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

[leah2eroes]

"european trans women on this site talking about their petty little problems with "transmisogynists" like. fucking excuse me???? im a TRANS MAN living in AMERICA do you even give a shit about the shit thats happening over here??? you are NOT allowed to voice ANY of your lived experiences if i decide that they make ME look bad!!! this is INFIGHTING! this is MISANDRY!! now is NOT the time for you fucking evil tra- uh.,, trans radfems, to be WHINING about how we 'oppress you'. we don't. now shut up and let the MEN talk."

-actual post i saw on my tl just now (obviously paraphrased with key subtext lol)

[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"

[olliepurples]

mdarc chapter 4 spoilers (tw negative)

i'm a couple of doors into the mystery labyrinth, and it's getting a little annoying having shinigami and yuma go "but how could this have happened? who could have done this?" when i literally knew it was yakou as soon as the game told me that the poison had a delay. this is so silly like "how could anyone have got past this, they would have died in thirty minutes!" ok! narrow your suspect pool to people who die in the next thirty minutes then! damn!!!

[darehearts]

me seeing how dead my dash is  :  i stopped CPR,  after all,  it's no use.  the spirit was gone,  we would never come to 🎶

[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.

[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.