#you go you funky little theorizers

[bubblybloob]

So, which run from Scarlet Hollow would you say has been your favorite until now? Any favorite trait/trait combo?

Favorite combo was the first I took of course, Mystical and Talk to Animals! You get to be so weird and everyone is so put off by your antics!

Some long ass rambling and spoilers below!

Individually, TTA can feel a little useless at some points, it’s never a passive ability so you only get use out of it when there’s animals around. It especially feels lacking in chapter 2, where there are two instance of running into wild animals (the bird and the bats) that feel weird since you don’t get to pause and chat with them and they don’t say anything noteworthy about ditchlings, the mines, the town, etc.

I get why it can feel like that, you don’t want players to feel they made a mistake choosing talk with animals by not having animals appear throughout a chapter, but you also don’t want player’s who didn’t choose it feel like they’re always missing out on important stuff by having too many animals.

I really think they should let more passive thoughts with TTA occur. The only instance I can recall of it appearing as a thought is if you’ve had Sybil’s tea and it’s like “she won’t judge you for your quirk :), go talk to her”. It caught me so off guard when I first saw it and Mystical pointing out that my thoughts were all weird made me almost stand up like “WHAT”. But even though it doesn’t sound like TTA would have passive moments where it’s not directly in action, I think it should, maybe our character is privy to random facts woodland critters have told us, or we’re more in tune with nature or something. Idk, it’s not useless and it’s incredibly hard to compare it to the other traits cause it essentially makes previously non-characters like Dustin or the Goat into characters, that’s something no others trait does.

Now for my more positive thoughts on TTA, damn is proving you can actually understand animals at the library so satisfying, and it stays satisfying as Kaneeka slowly comes to believe it herself over the course of the chapters! I'm so glad it seems to be getting taken more seriously by the characters as the chapters pass, we start by getting introduced to the trait in chapter 1, then we don't use it much in the second, then we get to talk to the mayor and, if Gretchen is alive, get the knowledge that something is up with Reese. And then we can learn that the PASTOR TALKS TO ANIMALS TOO. In chapter 4 visiting Pastor Daniel is great, I love that the game is setting up for TTA to have more of a spotlight.

Now Mystical. Mystical is probably my favorite trait. I've heard some people say it feels useless early on, and I think those people may not have played with it in their first run, cause going in blind with mystical makes you aware of a lot of stuff, like knowing someone will die out on the trails on Monday before it actually happens made me so tense, and knowing something is suspicious about Sybil when she gives you that look, or that "You're finally back where you belong" sending the shivers of foreboding up the spine!

It gives you longer visions if you have it (and are drinking Sybil's evil tea), so it's great for me who loves theorizing and lore. And the channeling of Charlie’s spirit in his funky funhouse of fright? That whole sequence with the seance options is what truly got me hooked on the game.

I also love how it seems mystical MC’s can be a little frustrated by chapter 4? The whole “hopefully my powers will finally do more than make me unwillingly channel ghosts” makes you sound so fed up with how not only are you forced into knowing things will happen and having no control over it, but also fed up with how no one takes you seriously. Like Stella seems a little excited at the prospect you could be a psychic when meeting Duke, and Avery is chill with everyone so they don’t judge you, but everyone else brushes you aside or looks at you weird. Also Sybil, fucking Sybil trying to make me feel my abilities are less than her’s during the tea reading. Lady I will find a way to have me and your daughter mystic blast you, you can’t even do anything without making people drink tea, suffer.

Anyway sorry for the rambling! I’m obsessed with this game, so much so I joined the discord, I rarely join stuff like that due to nerves, so that’s how you know the brainrot is REAL.

[shinxeysartgallery]

I was looking at some Episode 7 screenshots earlier and just realized there's another funky little blink and you miss it moment.

When "Tessa" is attacking Uzi, there's two brief frames where her eyes shift to yellow.

We'd all been theorizing that the Solver switched hosts to take out N after he decapitated "Tessa", but this seems to show that it was trying to control them both at the same time. Wonder what the entity's plan would've been if it had been successful? Both of them going after N? But then again, Cyn did try taking over Uzi in Episode 8, which would've meant the Solver was piloting both hosts at the same time, so maybe that's not completely out of the question?

[compact-turtle]

How would Atticus be like with a Mexican reader?? I just wanna call him, “mi amor, guapito, hermoso, mi corazón” !!! All the cute names. Teaching him Spanish, how to dance, cook, and usual customs.

It would be super cute just him asking what does the name ur calling him by mean and u say some lovey dovey shit. Also the fact that we kiss on the cheek for greetings. *gasps* or how he is pretty isolated so he’s either gonna have to get comefortable with random family pulling up or reader giving him an ARMY of kids. Just so that they don’t get lonely cuz family is hella important!

"Mi amor, where's the salt? I can't find it" You called from the kitchen, "I need it to finish making dinner."

"Reckon I saw it sitting in the spice drawer."

-Atticus strolls into the kitchen. He notices you standing near the counter looking for the salt. Quickly, Atticus rummages through the nearby spice cabinet. Without missing a beat, the salt is located. He slips the salt into your hands.

-You thank him then continue cooking. For a few minutes, Atticus just continues to watch you cook. The smell lingers in his nose and his mouth began to salivate.

-A small sense of curiosity began to bloom inside him. Multiple times, he remembered that you would call him mi armor. He couldn't figure out what it meant. Were you unhappy with him? Is this why you called him that?

"What'd ya call me earlier, Doll? Me a-more?" Atticus asked.

"Its mi amor, Atticus. It just means my love in Spanish."

"Hm."

-Atticus comes up behind you. His arms slither around your waist. Slowly, small kisses are littered all over your face. Your nose, cheek and forehead are all claimed by his lips. Not a single inch is spared.

-You laugh as he buries his face in your neck. His warm breath tickles your neck. As you try to squirm out of his hold, Atticus tightens his arms around your waist.

"Let go now. I haven't finished." You say as you playfully pushed his arms away.

"No."

----

-He would love pet names in a different language. It makes him feel so happy that you thought of him. He'd try to learn Spanish to give you one as well. (Honestly would probably butcher it and give you something that sounds funky. You'd totally have to correct him and teach him what it really means).

-Would eat up telenovelas and get super invested in them. At the end of the day, he would pull you into his lap and you would watch it with him. Theorizes about future plot points and characters with you.

-Struggles to make food with you. He can only cook an omelet, oatmeal and potatoes. However, Atticus really enjoys your cooking. He finished it every time and always asks for more.

-Super lost when it comes to your culture. However, he understands with time. You just have to be patient and explain it to him slowly. Would enjoy participating in it with you. sees himself as special since you took the time to integrate him into your culture.

-----

-At first, he wouldn't like being around someone else's family too much. It gives him anxiety because it reminds him of his own messed up family dynamic with his parents.

Also, having to many people around. He's not used to it. Eventually, he'd come around after repeated exposure. Even grows on the children in the family. Comes to learn that not every family dynamic is abusive or hurtful.

-Would be super nervous to have his own kids. A little afraid that he might turn out like his father BUT knows better. He's a bit strict with them since he wants them to learn discipline. However, reminds them about how much he loves them through his actions. (Ex: taking them on special bonding trips)

-Absolutely adores when you're pregnant. Gives your stomach little kisses and wants to listen to the baby. Tries to cook all your pregnancy cravings (fails but A for effort) Messages your feet and back.

-Refuses sex. He's really afraid it'll hurt the baby somehow. Only does it when you coax him into it. Very gentle and constantly asks for reassurance.

----

[columbocorners]

wips of otto and noone's refs ! some soft design notes OTTO DESIGN NOTES - I like to think the eye clothing is something he seemingly picked to try and be more connected to cece in some sense, a lot of spirals and areas were he is just littered in eyes that are scattered just as much as are his goals and motivations - his coat is meant to be a little too big for him, people theorize about the candleman / ferryman being like otto or that they're one in the same and while it is interesting, I like to think they're parallel to one another and I use that as a means of the coat being kind of like the candleman / ferryman's - mismatched sock supremacy !!!!!!! - broski carries sweets wherever he goes, I like to think he has a general sweet tooth because he kind of eats candies in the middle of the night while going over noone's session tapes, mans got have his girl dinner NOONE DESIGN NOTES - theys got a tooth gap because honestly with the way noone's voice actor speaks, I just think it's funky doo silly and makes it even more precious when she has moments where she smiles because you get to see her tooth gap reflect itself - traditional patient clothing but with a little more detail, just to make it kind of cozy + some shorts - I like to think she and otto have molees and that noone's moles are moreso on their legs or around their shoulders - dirty feet because you gotta be so real with me that noone just is an outside kid or likes to play with bugs or collects them like they explained with the moths so girlie is watching stick bugs dance you can't prove otherwise - and the scars are from nightmares, I like to think a little of the nowhere creeps up more than just mental / internal in them so it might've been from just times where nightmares got particularly difficult or she cut themselves at some points while running and otto often helped with cleaning up the scars / could be an accident from gardening or etc.

if anyone's got any questions abt their designs, lmk

[12th-shavie]

AI : The Somnium Files playthrough restrospective

I recently played the game to completion (barring a couple entries in the album but I'll probably do that at some point to see that sweet sweet concept art) and it's been an amazing experience ! I'd recommend it to any mystery visual novel enjoyer, especially those familiar with zero escape (there's even a small nod to it). Without further ado I'll go through my experience playing the game, the theorizing along the way and my thoughts and feelings on its story, characters, gameplay and all that jazz !

Spoilers and thoughts on the entire game below the cut (do yourself a favor and play it first if you like solving mysteries), written with the assumption that there is no need to introduce characters or plot elements.

Part I : Flowchart exploration and theorizing

I went into the game knowing barely anything about it or the plot, besides the fact it was mystery and written by the guy behind zero escape.

I followed my instinct on what was a more compelling choice most of the time, and only revisited the branching somniums later to try the other choice aside from one instance : in the first psync with Mizuki, I immediately used a retry the moment Date associated the balloons with a painful memory for Mizuki (I was already feeling bad for her, and was already determined to try to do the best I could for her).

That first route turned out to immediately be very brutal to Mizuki, with her father's corpse being found next. Unfortunate. The next psync with "Iris" was really puzzling, especially with how I ended up on the Annihilation route with all the murder scenes from the Cyclops Serial Killings in "her" somnium. I suspected her of being a witness to the murders and somehow having repressed the memories but really didn't know what my stance was on Date's face being shown as the murderer's. The most logical theory was that Date was the killer and Boss was doing all the hiding to make sure he wouldn't remember that and go crazy again, but that felt too easy of a conclusion to be true.

Things kept taking a turn for the worse with Date getting tricked and the murder of "Iris" and Ota in the warehouse, more investigation, lore dropped by Pewter about the original Cyclops killers and everyone being depressed until #89 shows up and hands out "his" full backstory and a cool somnium that's (interestingly) the same as Date's dream. Not to mention that #89 looks almost identical to the guy at the end of that dream and it's all very mysterious, until the climax where "Rohan" shows up and shoots, revealing the circumstances of Hitomi's arm wound.

And then "Boss" murders "So Sejima" on camera and the story route is locked. That was pretty shocking to say the least, but it only fueled my theories even more ! I started to suspect Boss of hiding something along the lines being in cahoots with the Cyclops killer and being willing to get her hands dirty to keep it hidden from the public (and Date to an extent).

And back to the "Iris" somnium I went, only to discover that it was a lot more chill in the other route, even if the child's drawings felt a little creepy and allegorical of the murders (I was still on the Iris witness theory) and then what was previously the blue silhouette of a murderer became someone who kissed So Sejima. That guy again, huh (although he was still alive in this timeline).

Unsurprisingly, Date got tricked again, but without the taser so it was nice to have a better view of the events this time around. And with a better timing, neither "Iris" nor Ota died and I got to learn about Mayumi's dementia, some Hitomi lore, and just how truly powerful Mizuki is (she's just built different I love her). Ota's somnium was pretty funky with the comic book aesthetic, and my pick of the green shelf over the red one came down to the flow of things and the camera angle.

Date gets a little greedy with the 6-minute limit in this one, but the reason for the limit itself still isn't explained, and Date promptly passes out. Then I got some quality time investigating with Mizuki ! That was pretty enlightening, with a lot of background to her situation with Date as her guardian, how terrible parents Renju and especially Shoko are, a cute moment at the shrine (which even is relevant later !), a funny optional ending, but most importantly the final key on the investigation to pinpoint "So Sejima" as the polar bear. Turns out HQ and Boss have ties to the congressman (all the more interesting considering "her" actions in the previous timeline) and Date makes the wise choice not to leave Mizuki behind after she's held hostage once already. Very Dadte of him (plus, she deserves to kick some butt, as a treat).

They even get a cool fight scene against a bunch of bodyguards in which Aiba yet again exploits Date's enhanced reflexes (at this point this characteristic was becoming a little suspicious but I didn't focus on it) until Mizuki is in trouble. Again (but it's alright she can be a little reckless, she does have a lot of avenging to do for a 12 year-old). Date is shot in the AI-ball, Sejima says that Date was killed by his own father (which had me in shambles because what do you mean these two are related ? Huh, Sejima ?). Thankfully Date manges to shoot him and that's curtain for Sejima. But also for Date as he passes out, fairly understandably exhausted by that point. In the hospital, there are even more touching moments with Mizuki opening up to comatose Date before psyncing with him to wake him up. Boss' true name is a nice addition (although I was still suspicious of her true intentions, but with So dead she wasn't constrained by those ties anymore).

The psync that follows, within Date's somnium, is far too cute and touching for me to do it justice. It's a glimpse at the familial bond that has grown between Mizuki and Date over the last 4 years, and some of the story events in this branch, like the wish Date made at the shrine for Mizuki to grow up healthy and happy (my eyes were not dry) and ultimately Mizuki's realization that she and Date are family now as she gets him to finally wake up. The short epilogue at the shrine also tugged at my heartstrings a bit. Overall a very poignant ending and I was very satisfied with this one as my first real ending after the previous' locked cliffhanger. At that point, my main theory on Date was that his medication was used to influence or even manipulate his behaviour and that he either was or was closely linked to So Sejima's son, who I assumed to likely be the (past?) Date from the "Iris" murder somnium.

So I went back to Ota's somnium to see how differently things would go on that timeline after going for the red shelf and it wasn't too different at that point, aside of the emphasis on the floral knife and the chocolate in the warehouse making its debut, as well as Mayumi's confession, which opened the door to the "Mayumi wanted to kill the witch" theory, but I didn't even consider it, Mayumi wouldn't ever stab Ota, even under those circumstances. And those who willingly confess are rarely truthful in their guilt. With So Sejima being found dead again, there was still too much information missing on that front.

Mayumi's somnium was (ironically) memorable, with its unique warmth, floating flower, and tragic tone. It made me really appreciate Mayumi's character and Ota's growth in this route, although the lack of many actual clues beyond the series of event preceding the warehouse murder (which was mostly for the locked timeline where it came true), Iris being very suspicious with the floral knife, and I guess Shoko's missing eyeball in Renju's stomach. It was an ending that left me with a warm heart and determination to solve the events of the warehouse (and find out what the hell was going on with eyeballs).

In order to do that, I went back to Mizuki's somnium and went through the painful memory of her mom's abuse and the frozen corpse of "Iris" being there for some reason. I had my suspicions on Iris for a while and was content to see that she was getting some focus (and thus more information to solve the mysteries about her and "her" really creepy somnium from the other timeline. After a nice section with Mizuki and Hitomi helping her, the investigation goes into Renju's disappearance as well, whom I was fully expecting to show up as a corpse at that point, given his quick demise in the other timeline. Aiba and Date setting a password for her self-destruct command felt very ominous and I couldn't help but wonder what kind of lie would eventually trigger it (because I'd be surprised if it didn't end up happening). The inclusion of So Sejima's part in the first murder and the frozen "Iris" at the warehouse were interesting segments, considering how much of the mystery kept turning around Sejima somehow.

Finally getting to see what So had in mind was interesting to say the least (and good misdirection, looking back on it), and even more so when it becomes clear that Iris is in fact very much alive. After that there is a good amount of investigation on #89, Renju, and even some more Hitomi lore, until #89 is interrogated and escapes with Renju somehow. Then it's the Iris show and she goes a little nuts with conspiracies.

But after a ShovelForge somnium that made me feel like Date was also going bonkers, he decided to believe her delusions (I was not buying one bit). Then came round 2 of the Iris show until the revelation that Pewter of all people has betrayed Date for Renju and is the lover mentioned with the watch story (very nicely foreshadowed in the early game with some BL in the shelves). He kidnaps Iris, the funny squad is assembled in order to rescue her and after that is done, more Iris lore on her Uncle (identified at Falco and #89 at this point), and a bit of flashback that isn't new (it was shown briefly when Iris revealed her name to Date) but shows that Date shares some of the Uncle's memories somehow. And then they go to the abandoned chemical plant and the prototype psync machine is there ! How convenient that this obviously very important machine was in reach of the characters at any point in time, provided they know about it, surely that won't open up the door to way too many theories later (this is foreshadowing). And also Iris' brain fails her. Welp.

More ShovelForge somnium it is, at least for a bit. Aiba's blocky look was as cute as ever but Iris didn't make it (bummer). The amount of focus on the manual to the psync machine and Iris' bleeding left eye as she passed away were very important clues that I regrettably did not give too much thought to. Date being so very affected by her death also felt very important and I did pick up on it.

Time go back to ShovelForge Somnium the First™ and after a little struggle on how to change the course of that particular psync (I ended up glancing at a guide for a lead), Date is finally reasonable about Iris' delusions. Turns out she had a malignant brain tumor all along (that explains a lot) and also she just ran away with someone she trusts (with all these context clues, the most likely candidate to me is the conveniently escaped #89 who's the spitting image of her Uncle, but Renju makes more sense in this context I suppose), only for "her" frozen corpse to show up again in the warehouse's forklift. And with Aiba around, it confirms that this corpse is very real and Date going nuts. After realizing that the body couldn't, in fact, be Iris', and a very nice zero escape reference, Mizuki is the one to reveal the truth about the body being Manaka Iwai's and Renju's heavy involvement with the warehouse and its management (Mizuki I am so sorry that you keep seeing dead bodies I want you to be happy). Up next is interrogating Hitomi, and boy was I glad that I'd finally get some answers from her, she was clearly hiding something huge in my opinion. But she refused to speak so psync time- wait no time for the single most crucial piece of information in this ENTIRE mystery. So the psync time limit, which has been repeated time and time again is not simply a precaution to maintain the psyncer's consciousness, it's the time limit before the minds swap, effectively switching bodies. I immediately applied that knowledge to a new theory : the Date/#89 switcheroo theory, which explained Date's strange dream in Hitomi's apartment, and I started considering the possibility of more switcheroos.

Hitomi's dark forest somnium is a welcome change of atmosphere after the ShovelForge Somnium experience™. After dealing with it, Hitomi revealed the truth behind Manaka's disappearance and Iris' parentage, making her Saito Sejima's half-sibling (Date's body's owner 6 years ago, according to my theory !), Rohan Kumakura's involvement in the disposal of the body (explaining the missing right eye), and how the body found its way to the frozen forklift, but also Hitomi's desire for revenge, it fading away in favor of Iris until the brain tumor was found, the blackmailing involving Manaka's body in the warehouse ! It all made so much more sense now ! I could see it clear as day, Saito Sejima was 12 18 years ago and Date('s body) was stated to be precisely 30 ! It was a perfect match to my theory ! One Pewter betrayal and Aiba intervention later, it was time to confront what awaited at the chemical plant : the prototype psync machine, Renju's remains, and #89 with a taser he immediately puts to good use, locking this portion of the story.

Time to finally see the first locked route through, and this nothing would prevent me from uncovering whatever "Boss" was hiding ! I suspected it to be a particular mind switcheroo or something along those lines. After exploding a bag of flour at Sagan residence, Date finally got a hold of "Boss" and enlisted Pewter's help to psync with "her".

After a banger of a somnium with a very 999 feel to it, the truth about the crazy murders is far beyond my estimations : it wasn't just one or two, but an entire chain of body-swapped murderers all under the plot of a single mind, that of Saito Sejima. As I suspected, Date was indeed in Saito's body at present, and the meds he administrated were to compensate for Saito's oxytocin problem, and this body was the very reason behind Saito's display of his victims, as an attack against Date specifically, the one who was occupying the body Saito craved to go back to to once again enjoy murder to the fullest ! With Hitomi taken hostage, Date complies in switching bodies with Saito in exchange for her location... that doesn't well, with Saito Sejima back as himself, Date in Boss' injured body, and the bomb detonating regardless of the deal. Aiba saves the (admittedly very bleak) day with well-timed shock, and here ends this timeline. So far the most gripping string of reveals, exhilarated by the confirmation of multiple theories I'd been formulating with conviction and making it terribly satisfying for me to know I had a hold of the truth !

But there is still a final conclusion to reach in the timeline I had to leave just before this moment. #89, who is none other than Saito in Falco's body at this point in time, takes all his time explaining his actions throughout this timeline just to make Date mad (and I have to respect his commitment to being a spiteful yet entertaining shitty little man). Another funny part of this is the way Date starts remembering things from the other timelines and questions how and why he knows it, that was just so zero escape of him (I was expecting something like that from the moment the timelines branched). Saito goes on and on about the way he went about his business, using Renju's money and connections until his body was on the brink of death, exploiting Iris' trust in Falco, and even how he killed Manaka 18 years ago to feel the happiness his brain produced as a response to murder. He then goes for the psync, doing his left classic eyeball-ripping without a hint of hesitation, and that just really shows his character.

The final psync being all reversed is very cool, and it shows the events of 6 years ago, first when Falco and Rohan swapped, and then the swap between Falco in Rohan's body and Saito. Most of the psync UI is cryptic and concealed (since Date is the subject and not the psyncer) until the final swap is finally over. After waking up sedated to a taunting Saito who wants to kill Iris and Hitomi in front of him, Date gets the complete flashback of the important moments of Hayato Yagyu aka Falco 6 years ago. Meeting Hitomi, wanting to share their lives, trying to quit his deal wit the Kumakuras, asking Boss for help, swapping with Rohan, chasing him to Hitomi's residence, the shooting, meeting up with Saito, getting dragged to the prototype psync machine, swapping with Saito and losing his memories, running away from the chemical plant, encountering Boss and finally becoming Kaname Date of ABIS, joined by Aiba a year later.

The final stretch against Saito begins with a last bit of exposition on the events of 6 years ago on Saito and Rohan's sides, before Saito pulling out Date's gun and Moma intervening to rescue him, lending him a gun. The fended-off Saito is then found holding Iris at gunpoint and rambling about fireworks and murder, but Mizuki with a pipe comes to the rescue and Date follows up when Mizuki is shot in the leg, knocking Saito away. Ota (who is also here) unties Iris and the youngster trio, up to speed about the body-swapping thanks to Aiba (and Saito in Iris' case), looks for Hitomi with Date. She's found, unfortunately with Saito threatening her life once again this time with a countdown for Date to throw his gun. Ota pulls out his phone with Aiba, who is not only stuck in Saito's eye socket physically but also in data (Pewter's latest betrayal included deleting her data from the cloud) and finally puts her self-destructing function on the table as the last resort. I had been waiting for that moment at increasing levels of worry as the story advanced ever since the password was set, so it didn't catch me off-guard, but it was nonetheless a very emotional scene when the countdown ended, Date threw his gun, and Saito immediately declared that he was a fool for doing that and that he would kill all of them, Date told a heart-wrenching lie to Aiba (I'd be lying if I said my eyes were dry) and she exploded Saito's head entirely, putting an end to his murderous intents once and for all.

And just like that, it's all over. Many lives are saved, but inevitable sacrifices were made to get here, to this best possible ending. The epilogue wraps things up nicely, showcasing everyone by the time Iris was out of the hospital, with Date remembering a couple of things from other timeline splits, Iris hoping for Date and Hitomi to get together, Boss and Pewter (temporarily out of prison) knocking Date out and using the psync machine on him as a treat, Kagami making an appearance (good for him), So Sejima still not being in prison, Iris trying to set up Hitomi and Date, Mizuki (now Mizuki Date, the adoption now being official) being mad at Date over the most trivial things, Ota being a little more responsible, Mayumi doing well, Moma being a foolish A-Set fan, Mama refusing to know too much about the truth (smart and respectable move), and finally Aiba making her grand comeback thanks to the Wadjet system and being reunited with Date before a grand dance number with the entire cast.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the order in which I explored the story ! It had a good balance between nebulous mysteries and clues with which to solve them, the strongest emotional moments to me were spread apart a good amount (enough to hook me in, leave me some time to get attached and only then remind me that I'm not immune to tear-jerking), and I had plenty of opportunities to theorize before new information came to wreck my thoughts !

I guess the most influence different routing could've had would be what characters I trusted more (for example Pewter's actions felt more like a betrayal after a full timeline of nothing suspicious on his part) and how much I valued some information (such as everything surrounding So Sejima being doubly suspicious after the "killed by your own father" moment, or Saito's somnium when disguised as Iris showing "Date" as a killer).

[atthebell]

i was just thinking about that actually, looking at the torn page of the strach prophecy i think mia and jaser are both "two halves" of the unhaunted one, the order agents just didn't/couldn't account for that properly? i always flipped between thinking "hes the god of fear" and "of course he's the unhaunted one" and was so confused by lack of clarity there. but i think thats the point kinda? fear doesn't have an entity, fear is just Fear. so there is no god of fear *to* meet. just both halves of the prophecy reuniting. there's a few scenes where jaser wanders into view (like when verity is yoinked and when calisto kills beto) but i think most people would not have actually remembered that :sob: so like. idk it could have been implied better. or at least in the opposite way that mia isn't who they're talking about. also yeah both andrea and sofia dying in childbirth was like ok sure parallels and all but cmon. really

oh yeah no i think there's some funky stuff going on with them both being important to the enigma of fear and all that and i agree that i dont think the god of fear is "real" necessarily. and i knew there was some mysterious other figure but quite frankly to me mia should be the center of the game because its about her. im also just not very fond of chosen one kind of stories so that kind of rubbed me the wrong way, although i did really like the ending between the two of them.

jaser also felt kind of strange to me because the first part of the game in the mansion is all about investigating the strachs, but after that point when mia is exploring the other areas she's clearly investigating what happened when equipe elite was there, so it stops being about the strachs and starts being about these order agents who got pulled into the idea of the other ending and the horrors of the perimeter. so then its really weird when all of a sudden everything turns and hinges on this strach kid that we didnt know about until just now. like, i DO get that you're supposed to be bated a little bit, but there was no way to guess that jaser was quite so central-- for a while menace and i were theorizing that maybe mia was the strach baby, actually, until we saw sofia and realized mia couldn't be anything but her daughter (and also mia has veríssimo's eyes as well). i think there were better ways of leaving hints about jaser while still leaving room open for people to think mia was the one all the desassombrado stuff referred to.

idk i think jaser could have used a lot more signposting in that regard-- i think more clues in the mansion and maybe more references to whatever was going on in the unhaunted wing would have helped with that. because truly i was baffled that this random green eyed little freak was suddenly more important than mia. and the fact that even sofia's limited appearances center on jaser rather than mia was disappointing to me, honestly. i wish a lot of things were different in regard to sofia, if i haven't made that obvious enough, and same with andrea, who gets basically no mentions after you leave the mansion and also dies unceremoniously in childbirth.

i enjoyed a huge amount of the story and i had a really fun time with most of the game, don't get me wrong, i just think the bits with jaser/the end of the game needed more work in terms of story as well as the puzzle setups.

[gamebunny-advance]

More Thoughts About The Pikmin 4 Demo

Spoilers Ahead

So I've played through the demo twice now, the first time hitting the goal as fast as possible, and the second time trying to collect as many things as possible before hitting the goal.

I was able to clear the first area 99%, but I don't know what I was missing. The game implies that I'm missing a treasure, but I'm certain I got every above-ground treasure. However, when I had Oatchi sniff out for it, he took me to an empty lot, so I suspect that completely buried treasure might be back, and they don't show up on radar. Or maybe it's counting the raw materials that I was just a tad too slow to get before the day/demo ended. I might play though the demo one more time to test that theory, but atm I think I've done everything I can possibly do in the demo.

That said, if that was a near full clear for one area, then I wonder how substantial the rest of the game is gonna be. Pikmin 3 as I recall wasn't an enormous game and also wasn't difficult. It's also my least favorite because I got through it so quickly and easily that I don't have any lasting memories of it. I don't need 4 to be an arduous game like 2 was, but if the rest of it is gonna be this breezy, then I'm probably gonna beat it in under a week.

Despite that, I do actually like how short and focused the caves are turning out to be. There are so many great new QoL features in this one that it is gonna make going back to older titles even harder, but I'm worried that it's gonna be over too soon.

I also mostly like how the game plays. I'm not a huge fan of the auto-lock on, because it kinda makes battling a little brainless and frustrating when you're trying to do something that the game doesn't think you should be doing. Other than that, everything else feels pretty good.

I also like most of the new characters. We got a bunch of new funky looking freaks, but so far I like their personalities more than the Pikmin 3 crew. Shepard is my baby. I want to feed her lots of snacks. Besides that, almost all the castaways being from different planets but having the same body plan has my mind wandering about how expansive this universe is. But, more than anything, I hope we finally get a straight answer about why almost everyone seems to crash-land on PNF-404. Speaking of...

There's also the fact that despite my earlier theories, this planet is apparently still PNF-404. While I didn't post about it, I had theorized that perhaps the planet wasn't actually Earth, since none of the information before now ever called this planet PNF-404. I figured that it was a new planet settled by humans given how new all of the (presumably) man-made structures are, but now that I know this game seems to be an alternate take on Pikmin 1's story instead of a direct sequel to 3, it's possible that the "post-apocalyptic" part of the story might have just been dropped entirely. (I guess Nintendo decided that they only needed one series to take place on post-apocalypse Earth).

Then again, I forgot why we all thought PNF-404 was post-apocalyptic in the first place. The presence of human objects with the absence of humans doesn't necessarily imply that they got wiped out, especially considering how so many of the things they left behind like food and battery powered technology were apparently still edible and functional respectively. My new theory is that whoever lives in this house is just on vacation or something, and their house got overrun with pests in the meantime. But, knowing Nintendo, there probably isn't going to be a "real" answer about where the humans are.

[citriosis]

about

lemon / lem

24

they/them (occasional eldritch he/him)

black + queer as in fuck you

my brain and body are a nightmare

eldritch horror contained in a lemon

that's right, folks, after a little over a year, this is now The Main Blog™. it's about goddamn time lol. that means all likes will come straight from the source; this funky little lemon living in a crt tv. yippee.

more info under the cut (not mega important but it could be nice to have!)

socials

writing + ttrpg sideblog: @here-comes-the-bard (mostly for bigger things, character tags stick here :})

language learning sideblog: @citrijp (currently on hiatus for a mental health break)

the sims sideblog: @citriosims

pinterest: citriosis

twitter: citriosis (almost never used but it's there)

interests

bold = currently brain full of it (will probably forget to change this lmfao)

writing (especially about ttrpg blorbos)/storytelling + character analysis

music. just music in general. but talk to me abt ghost and pals + vane lily especially

speedruns + history thereof

avatar: the last airbender

undertale, deltarune, and undertale yellow + theorizing about them

mario games + spin-offs

psychology

honestly science in general

language learning (jp)

ace attorney

final fantasy XIV (still working through 6.0 hahaha help)

ttrpgs

animal crossing (new leaf + new horizons)

stardew valley

the sims (especially 2+3)

project mili

pizza tower

definitely not everything. but a lot of things. and if you like those things. bats my lashes at you. hi.

tags

(again this isn't all of them bc i have a terrible memory. consider this a WIP and an optional read.)

-> general

#; the citrus speaks - one fruit talks too much (i.e., posts that i made myself or added to)

#; the citrus answers - might be a bit presumptuous but one fruit answers asks

#; citrus jams - one fruit subjects you to their music taste (threat)

#; reblog + #; i'd do anything for queue - reblogs and queued posts

#; lemon's inane ramblings - rambles in the tags OR a post that's not really a thesis and is just me going bananas

#; lemon thesis moment - i will inevitably forget that i have a writing/ttrpg account so this is for character analysis rambles

-> media/other interests

#; the ttrpg tag(tm) - The TTRPG Tag™

#; the pen is mightier! - writing tag

#; gay-ce attorney - ace attorney. mostly narumitsu, hence the name

#; critically acclaimed mmorpg - ffxiv

#; stardews and stardon'ts - stardew valley

#; everything changed when the fire nation attacks - atla

#; DIGITAL HALLUCINATIONS - the amazing cigital circus

#; i don't go here (but you do and ily) - things my friends really enjoy + rb about a lot that i may not know shit about but still enjoy their enjoyment of

-> characters + ships

#; this bard needs therapy - yaevinn baines of posada tag

#; healing hands - nithvinn (yaevinn and his partner, nithral) tag

#; cryophobia - vian tag

#; sunsnow - vinkaide (vian and their partner, kinkaide) tag

-> misc

#; love women and love loving women - local lesbian loves women in a queer way. in other news, every 60 seconds, a minute passes.

again, there are more—like a lot more—and eventually this will be a definitive list with links and shit which is why it's at the bottom, but i'm forgetful

[cf56]

My thoughts on episode 5

SPOILERS for season 3, episode 5 of the Animaniacs reboot.

Yes, we're still doing this. This episode contains Teeniacs, the one I've been obsessing over for months, theorizing about, posting screenshots, answering asks. Did it live up to expectations?

...what do you think? While it turned out to mostly be a funky screenshot collection, and possibly trailer bait, I'm not going to let my extremely overinflated expectations and current ravaged emotional state trick me into saying this segment was bad. It was pretty good for what it was.

The one thing I'm legitimately disappointed about is that we didn't actually get Teen Dot. I wanted to see an aged-up Warner, even if for just a few seconds in a joke segment. Turns out they were the same age and the perspective of the animation was playing tricks on us. Well, maybe alternate Dot was a little taller. Not anything drastic, though.

We did still get to see an alternately aged Dot.

We've already seen baby Dot multiple times in the past, though, so it's not as exciting.

I liked the way Yakko said "bro" and acted as Wakko's wingman.

I enjoyed seeing this, especially how excited he sounded to say it:

Does this mean Yakko is 15 now? Maybe we really do have an aged-up Warner in this segment.

I thought the brief vampire transitions were cool to see.

Teeniacs.

The most disappointing part of this segment for me was how it was a minute and a half long, and then we got no Warners for the rest of the episode.

I don't have much to say about Starbox and Cindy. What could I say? Cindy is proven to be a malicious little monster who hurts Starbox on purpose. I can respect it.

The main thing to talk about in this episode is obviously Groundmouse Day. It is officially confirmed that Pinky is not, in fact, the genius. Right, guys?

I liked how this episode focused on the obvious fact that Brain's schemes are mostly thwarted by stupid little twists of fate, and if he could just have a few redos, pretty much every single one of them would work. It's always super satisfying to me when a cartoon character who has been failing to do something for an entire show finally breaks through and does it, such as Brain successfully taking over the world.

I enjoyed Brain getting one over on the surfer dude and being unapologetically pleased when the guy is emotionally affected by it. He deserved that one.

Edit: Oh, and I liked the furry joke.

So yeah, not going to lie, there wasn't much here for me in this episode. It felt like filler, especially because the main plot of the episode isn't even resolved in this episode. Almost wish they would just have done a full Pinky and the Brain episode focusing entirely on Groundmouse Day.

Also, shout out to this person for being entirely correct.

I really don't know how to rank this one. None of it was bad. None of it blew my socks off. There were some fun sights in Teeniacs, but that was about it for me. I can't really judge Groundmouse Day yet because the rest is in the next episode. It could really go above any of the episodes except episode 3 and below any of them as well. I'm just going to go off of which ones I would rather rewatch, which means this episode will be ranked last. If I was a huge Pinky and the Brain fan, it would be different for sure.

My current ranking of season 3 episodes:

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 2

Episode 1

Episode 5

I encourage you to add to the discussion of this episode if you want, but don't say anything about any of the episodes that come after. Thanks for sticking with me.

.

.

.

.

.

[empty-pizza]

thoughts on harrow the ninth chapter seventeen

okay i haven't even started the chapter yet but i want to talk through more possibilities

i've tried to stay open to the possibility that this could be a big memory thing. but mr. g had talked about gideon at the end of book 1. so if it is a memory thing, it either had large enough range to even affect big g (at that point, it might as well be a timeline thing) or, as i theorized earlier, harrow hears the name gideon as ortus. which might be a stretch at this point, but i can't say it's impossible. it's one of those things where the more the name comes up in different ways (like in the narration) the more it's just like, really.

the timeline change possibility is confusing, mainly because as i said earlier, if the timeline really changed, the letters, and harrow's deal with ianthe, wouldn't exist. now, a completely open possibility is that we're working off of totally non-standard time rules, which is entirely valid, but leaves me little room to theorize. as there's virtually endless possibilities for how it could decide it works.

but let's say it's fairly standard timeline rules. let's say we go back and... i guess, kill gideon? hold on, let me think. gideon is one of the souls in harrow, i believe (well, she is in both timelines, but on one side as a lyctor and on the other just as a factor in her great necromancy). does that mean she had to die in the same way as the other babies? or just that she had to die at the same time?

well, moving on from that, let's say it's fairly standard timeline rules. how do we play this? let's say harrow goes back in time, kills gideon to prevent gideon from dying later (girls, am i right). comes back to the present, and then... what if there's time lag to changes propagating, like it's back to the future? that's always an open possibility though it's a bit wishy washy. so then harrow comes back from the past, gives the letters to harrow... no, it still doesn't make sense. though, only in the way time travel doesn't make sense in general. like yeah we can say that this would simply propagate into the letters not existing. but then we're following it through to the point that we have to start following paradox rules, which is definitely not what's going on here considering the present timeline seems fairly stable.

so, i think it's probably not time travel, unless we're following non-standard rules. or just, y'know, something very clever i haven't thought of at all. that said, i do feel like i'm narrowing down the possibilities — just in a way where i have no idea if there's anything left, out of the things that i've thought of. and it can, of course, be something i thought i could rule out.

anyway wasn't i gonna read more

okay, mercymorn time. mercy is another interesting counterpoint of immortality to augustine; she feels similar things but expresses it differently. has no patience for harrow's shit, but still has that same underlying attitude of just... not really knowing how to process these new kids being meant to join you group.

the switcheroo of how, against god's prediction, mercy does not want cristabel's name to be spoken around her, while augustine was happy to talk about her, is interesting. i think that god, personally, was just wrong. but i think augustine's happy answer does not actually mean he was happy to ask, considering how many layers he hides himself behind.

ooh, the bit about knowing anatomy. specifically, Mercy's ostensible affront is the mathematician's sort; she doesn't think it needs application to be worth knowing. and yet augustine still points out it could be good for killing lyctors. i wonder which one mercy was really motivated by.

ortus (this one, not the other one) wants her dead. this is definitely funky. need more information.

i suppose, if we're open to the possibility of time being played with, then there is a way that ortus can be the same person. i will avoid going down those possibilities unless evidence arises to incite me to, i think.

[tammyhybrid21]

Dumb Headcanon thoughts PART 2. This time it’s the Slugcat Edition... Along with a few bonus things because goodness.

This time we’re starting off a bit more hot. Mostly because I actually have a lot of additional things to say in general regarding this one simple fact. It is canon. Pebbles refers to you multiple times throughout different campaigns as a rodent. And sure you could take that as him looking at the slugcat and been a bit of a SatAM Robotnik about it... but I more like to take it as a statement of fact because it can lead to so much fun theorizing... thus my top sheet.

Side note, seriously, go look up what animals are in the rodent family, there’s some WILD revelations of it. Anyway... point the first... Beaver Inspiration... this also explains Slugcat buoyancy... their fur traps air for insulation in the water... Thus they naturally kind of go UP-- On the other hand, they regularly need to groom that oil through for this layer to do its job properly...

WITNESS... MY CREATURE DESIGN.

Dsbvjhbfsjhbfjhds, no but seriously, I have a lot of thoughts regarding this. I also really love the way the fandom has come to the conclusion that Slugcats are descended from a simple pipe cleaning organism. I agree honestly, their diets are just too funky to not be from something like that... also the edible moulds throughout the game.

On top of that, I think that said organism was also a “template” one. Aka, lab rats. It would explain why the iterators seem to tend towards Slugcats more than anything else...

Oh side note. I have another personal reasoning for giving Scugs white blood aside it just been funky. But because of how Rain World canonically doesn’t have a full divide between plants and animals... I got inspired specifically by milkweed plants, and some... things people believe about them.

Basically there’s an old, old rumour about it having healing properties. Also that squish fact... it’s based again on real world information. This is directly inspired by how rats can squeeze into gaps(also raccoons but they’re not rodents). Also just some fun to explain pipe travel... this is how shortcuts work tbh.

Anycase, yeah... More of the biology and developments thing. I do think the iterators did some encouraging of the development. Not entirely their fault though. Not at all. Again, there’s a lot of environmental pressure. Different creatures responded to it differently... for the lantern mice it became a matter of getting up high and then... well... yeah. They didn’t find much pressure from then on.

For the slugcats though, they ended up in the further wilds. In the ruins, and nomadic.

At some point I’ll come back on Scavengers. But not anytime soon. For now, here’s my slugcats are sentient propaganda... Which I fully believe is because of how they function in community and seem to be nomadic. I mean sheesh, Gourmand’s whole implied campaign. The iterators using them as messengers, or even with slightly more complex tasks... Or majorly more complex tasks...

Pebbles just expecting Rivulet to somehow know and understand retrieving his Rarefaction cell... To deliver it to Moon... also on Moon’s side... Iggy’s whole... thing, which I’m certain is the overseer’s decision alone, but just pleading for the slugcats to go bring neurons now! Yeah. Go Iggy, if they were a slugcat or other creature they would so choose violence. Love that little overseer.

SURPRISE. YOU FELL INTO MY TRAP CARD. This isn’t just a post talking about Slugcats but I also wanted to talk about the Cycle. In which case, yes I am a dirty heathen who thinks that the respawn is real. But before you stone me for that, I do have some in game evidence. As well arguments for why it doesn’t work on everything. Beyond just mechanics...

I think that there’s a few necessary ingredients for it to work. And the core to them is ties to your identity and sense of self, attachments to form and body. Which solidifies as you grow up, different people and creatures at different ages(although most creatures aren’t that attached I don’t think... why you can lose tamed lizors and tamed slups who haven’t found that connection yet). ALSO YES, I do think that a human randomly in Rain World would just... reincarnate... the greater cycle it is...

Mostly because to have a sense of yourself and place you also need to be more aware of the world. A place not just in your body but the world around you... I have more comments but those can wait for when I get around to doing a proper talk of what it means to ascend and break the cycle...

From Dust to Dust and Ashes to Ashes all that’s left of you is others memories, nonexistence just returning to once cosmic dust.

Final last point bonus. Just some Spearmaster thoughts really. I love to imagine Spearmaster is just one really messed up creechur because Suns literally doesn’t understand as much as they think they do. Amazingly designed, but really horror creature in action.

[bookwyrminspiration]

🐳 here, thank you for the kind words and also re. your question - I know nothing about whales beyond what I remember from the 4 month whaling unit we did in 3rd grade but I think they’re neat and the emoji is cute! giraffes are pretty slay too though (and I think it’s good to indulge your 7 year old self at any possible moment <3)

hello again! even if you don't know a lot about whales, your whaling unit is more whale education than I ever got. I don't actually know a lot about the ocean or it's creatures, living in a mountainous desert kinda skewed the units towards different things.

I looked up some whale facts though, and apparently they're divided into two different groups: baleen vs toothed whales. Some of them have teeth and some of them do not have teeth. Apparently dolphins are classified in the whale family as well. Killer whales often travel in matrifocal groups. oh damn I forgot narwhals existed for a hot minute those dudes are pretty funky. Narwhal means corpse whale and was derived from Old Norse? Nice!

Anyway, I do still hold a fondness for giraffes even if they're no longer my favorite; I simply spent so long loving them I can't let them go. I've got a giraffe onesie and a litttle stuffie (gifted to me by my partner) that I named Moo. No two giraffes have the same spot pattern, they sleep standing up, it's theorized their tongues are purple/black as UV protection from the sun, their pregnancies last 15 months, and they only need to drink water every few days because most of their water comes from vegetation--and drinking water is awkward and makes them vulnerable because it's difficult to reach the ground, so they'll stay in groups so another can keep a look out while they drink.

Idk what it is about them, but little me absolutely latched onto them and refused to let them go, and I am more than happy to indulge her :)

[probsnothawkeye]

Just listened to the Technomancy Project season finale and I am *unwell*

Let's talk about it because holy shit yall

Spoilers below

But also if you're not listening to The Technomancy Project you gotta fix that ASAP because it's so fucking good

Starting this episode with an adorable in character patreon plug now knowing where this episode ends is. Hurting me. That said, if you can support their patreon I highly recommend it there is some very fun stuff there

I love Allie and Perdita so much. The fact that Elijah is there like "so are we all about to die" while Allie is questioning Iggy's relationship with Perdita and Perdita is only replying to Allie's questioning was 10/10 Love the silliness of it. Wish the episode stayed that silly

Jason and Elijah continue on their quest to rip my heart out. Jason is just a golden retriever of an immortal and will not take no for an answer when it comes to friendship and fixing things and it makes my heart hurt. And we get another sprinkling of Eli's trauma <3

I love love LOVE the way the Vitori are voiced. Having the two layered voices, each with their own distinct sound and personality that shine through is just. So good. Iggy was a whiny little traitor baby but gods they were well voiced

Also we had THE RETURN OF THE QUEEN MY FAVORITE IJEOMA!!!! Ijeoma continues to be the coolest character around she practices magic she takes no bullshit she's wonderful and I love her.

Jason's little speech before they went to the Vitori ship, talking about how glad he is that he's there with Allie and Elijah is making me tear up again just thinking about how this ends because fuck that HURTS Noah Belachew has done such a lovely job with Jason

Also have to give it up for Griffin Puatu and his performance of Elijah all season because gods know I love this funky little wreck of a magic man. Both Griffin and Noah in the final scenes of the episode? Ripped my heart out I will be haunted forever (positive)

But the real haunting is going to come from Erin Lundquist and her sobbing as Allie is pulled to safety while Eli and Jason are left to a questionable end. The raw emotion of it all had me crying at my kitchen table and fully stopping everything I was working on. Erin is SUCH a phenomenal voice actress and Allie is one of (if not my absolute) favorite roles she's done. I'm going to be thinking about those sobs forever

Also also a massive shout out to Emily, Josdon, Colin, and Ausdon for their writing this season they absolutely knocked it out of the park and I can't wait to see what's to come

I'm never going to emotionally recover from this season, so the next can only hurt me more :)

This entire season has been an absolute thing of beauty. I have laughed, I've sobbed, I've theorized, I've love every fucking minute of it. The Technomany Project is one of the best shows out there right now and if you're not listening, you now have a hiatus to get caught up

[cockadilf]

You’re kind of misinterpreting what I’m saying a bit.

I don’t mean that in every game you can ignore the story. When I said that the narrative doesn’t tend to drive the gameplay, I simply meant that in the sense that the gameplay was not made the way it was because Nintendo wanted to tell a story and this gameplay would fit that story the best.

In your example of OoT, the dungeons, and all the mechanics in them, are the way that they are because of the gameplay, not the story. Yes, the plot drives you to explore the dungeons, but the dungeons do not exist as a result of the plot. OoT is a unique case because we know that originally, there was going to be a hub world in a similar vein to Mario 64 which led to the various dungeons, but that changed throughout development. This for one tells me that the idea for dungeons was always there before the actual plot of the game was fleshed out to the extent it is. The gameplay came before the story. The story was an after thought. Not in the eyes of the players, which I think is what you’re saying, but in the eyes of the developers, the story is irrelevant.

Skyward Sword is different though, because that game to me is very much made to tell a story first and be a game second. It’s much more linear than any Zelda before it, for example, and this is a direct result of the story it is trying to tell. Much of the gameplay is driven by this need to tell a story. It’s not a bad way to make a game, as games like the Last of Us can tell us, but it is not the usual way Nintendo makes Zelda games (or any of their games that aren’t rpgs, really).

I’m not saying you can ignore the story in every Zelda game. That’s just the case with the original Zelda 1 and 2, and with BotW and TotK. BotW was the extreme that Nintendo took after the failure of Skyward Sword, because as I theorized, Nintendo learned the wrong lesson from Skyward Sword.

You also seem to be making an assumption that because I said Nintendo is willing to ignore the story aspect, that leads to their games having bad stories that don’t blend well with the gameplay. That’s not what I meant! Rather, I think Nintendo is excellent at blending story and gameplay. I just think the gameplay part comes first.

I don’t think Link turning into a wolf in Twilight Princess came as a result of Nintendo wanting to tell a good story. I think it came as a result of Nintendo thinking that wolf mechanics would be cool and fun and interesting and unique to play. And then after that, they came up with the story for how to implement it.

It’s not like Nintendo thinks the two are mutually exclusive, but Nintendo is willing to bend over backwards to let Link turn into a wolf or clone himself into four or ride around on a spinning top even if it means the lore is gonna be a little funky here and there. As long as it makes for a good game, then sure! It’s gameplay first, story second, not gameplay first, story never.

As far as continuity goes, I wasn’t really addressing that in my original reply, I just wanted to use your last comment to go off about a theory I had. But as far as that goes… I personally like what they did for at least BotW. I like that there’s references to every game in the timeline. But regardless, it just goes to show what my original point was, which is that Nintendo doesn’t care about the lore as much as the fans do. You can be disappointed about that, but why should you be? Who cares what Nintendo thinks, to be quite honest? You can just enjoy your own theories and headcanons and disregard whatever stupid things Nintendo did that you don’t like. I was originally just commenting on how I think it’s funny Zelda fans give Nintendo so much credit when Nintendo has done nothing to deserve it. If you think Nintendo used to do a better job than they do now, good on you! Enjoy the series however you want.

I feel like the Zelda fandom is so funny because we all seem to be actively fighting against Nintendo at every turn, since Nintendo clearly does NOT care about consistent lore that makes sense or is interesting, all they care about is making a fun game. Which is totally fine btw don’t get me wrong, I care more about gameplay than story too but it’s funny to me how the Zelda fandom is so focused on story to the point of complete disregard for canon.

Zelda fans will really be like “I’m going to invent the most wild theories for why chain chomps exist in this universe” when Nintendo was just “Wouldn’t it be funny if we included chain chomps in this game?”

Zelda fans will act like Nintendo writers are geniuses for coming up with all the Zelda lore when Nintendo just said “Let’s make this one a pirate game” and that’s the real reason Hyrule is flooded in Wind Waker.

To be clear I’m not making fun of Zelda fans for this. I’m a Zelda fan, after all. I just think it’s funny. Zelda fans are doing all the work Nintendo refuses to do.

I think the only time Nintendo put story over gameplay was Skyward Sword, because I think they really wanted to make an origin story. But even then I don’t think the ideas of loftwings and floating islands are in the game because the writers thought it would be interesting lore, I think they did it because they were like “what if Wind Waker but in the sky, that would be so fun.” The only reason loftwings exist is because flying would be fun gameplay.

Lore has always come secondary. Nintendo has always made the concept first and then tried to shove it into the timeline afterwards. They gave up with that by the time BotW came out and that’s why TotK doesn’t make sense as a sequel in any way, because Nintendo does not care about making a coherent timeline.

I don’t think either side is in the wrong for this, again I just find it funny how Zelda fans will act like the theories they came up with were always Nintendo’s plan. No it’s just that you’re smarter than Nintendo and you should be proud of that.

Anyway bye

[honkster]

Yay meta

:)

1. Ranboo compared to the other anarchists of the server.

2. C!Tommy’s mental health.

3. C!Dream as an immortal insane god.

4. Ghostbur’s resurrection.

5. Who betrayed who Techno vs Tommy edition.

A bit of an after-thought - everyone on the SMP is traumatized. Absolutely everyone, no one is handling everything in a mentally healthy way. That’s why it’s meaningless to try to say what’s wrong and what’s right, that’s why it’s all morally grey - everyone is doing things because of their own warped perception of the world, the right and wrong blur when everyone thinks that they’re right and everyone else is wrong. Trying to justify someone’s actions with logic and moral righteousness is inherently time-wasting, because everyone is acting how their feelings let them at the time.

Saying who’s right or wrong, trying to figure out villains and good guys <<< Analyzing characters by their actions and trying to understand WHY rather than SHOUD THEY HAVE.

Probably a bit of a backwards way to say that I don’t care if Tommy or Techno are wrong in their argument - L’manburg was destroyed, Tommy thinks Techno is bad. That’s the end of that story, stay tuned for what Tommy’s gonna do now.

<_><_><_><_><_> <_><_><_><_><_>

#1

There is just a very huge difference between Ranboo and the other two anarchists of the server.

Ranboo, while being strong in his beliefs, is a non-violent person. Yes he’s stacked, yes he could fight, but he chooses to stay on the sidelines and just watch the action unfold. He’d rather listen in to people and then make conclusions about their actions and decide on things by himself. He’s hard to sway, Quackity may have softened his viewpoint slightly, and I genuinely hope that Ranboo follows through with that and decides that teams and groups is something that kind of needs to happen before the idea that all conflicts are a personal thing between two people can actually make sense. People are stronger together, especially those that don’t have good gear or pvp skills. The weaker people, the ones lower in the food chain, don’t have that many options for getting their point across. The server is already dominated by the strongest, most skilled, most geared people, and those are the people that matter, when it comes down to it.

Quackity is very much a unique case. He has managed to do with four people what L’manburg and all of its inhabitants didn’t manage for the longest time. He is very much a main player.

The other two anarchists are both very violent. Dream was always like that, he hasn’t shown a crumb of being able of change or considering a different opinion (extreme delusions or just extreme self-confidence? Either one makes him a prick), but Techno actually had an arc where he made the entirely wrong conclusions.

I don’t think I’ve talked about the Butcher Army much.

So Techno blew up Manberg, threatened to take down any government that sprouted up and then dipped. He made his little cottage, he went on a retirement arc, so on and so forth.

But then the Butcher Army formed.

And their one target was the pig.

And they went out of their way to track him down, to prepare to kill him, they arrived there and threatened him, and they said that it’s time for Techno to pay for his crimes, and they reacted how anyone else would when being attacked – they attacked too. They took his horse to get him to stop, they brought him up for execution, they didn’t manage to kill him, but they switched targets once they realized that they can’t actually kill him while literal god is on his side, helping him.

The conclusion there wasn’t that government is evil and abuses its power. It’s that violence is paid forward with violence.

It doesn’t really matter that Techno misunderstood. Either way he would’ve returned to good old Blood for the Blood God Technoblade, but I fear that this event reinforced his very wrong belief that government is the source of ALL problems on the server.

If he would say that government is the cause of MAJOR conflicts that wouldn’t happen if government didn’t exist, yeah! Yeah, I agree with that actually. But he’s saying that EVERY conflict is because of government.

The disc war was not because of government.

The Pet War was not because of government.

Most of the rivalries of the server are not because of government.

Tommy was not… Actually (yeah Tommy was exiled because of government and the fact that the sentimentality for L’manburg seemed very important at that point. Things shouldn’t be more important than people, people you can’t just replace. But…) Dream specifically when he went after Tommy targeted L’manburg. If the country didn’t exist, Dream probably would have gone about it another way, probably one more difficult, but he wouldn’t have involved all these people whose only connection to one another is a flimsy city built on stilts. I still hate how Techno refuses to acknowledge that Dream WAS the cause of Tommy’s exile, not government.

But what if Techno was big brain?

Yeah, things shouldn’t be more important than people. Is that what he’s suggesting? That government favors power over giving up land/buildings/countries for their people, knowing that if they lost their country they would no longer have power?

That would be very interesting!… If his actions actually indicated this.

Techno didn’t chunk error L’manburg because he thought those buildings gave power to someone over another. He did it out of revenge, claiming that it still lined up with his anarchist beliefs and that he was doing good. Techno released withers, the most destructive and hard-to-kill mob available to the server, he stalled while Dream essentially set up nukes above the city. They didn’t do this out of kindness and want for the people to have freedom, they KILLED the people that they were so “graciously” “saving”.

Technoblade and Dream are both violent anarchists who misunderstood what the word means. They don’t seek order in the chaos, they don’t seek a peaceful anarchy, they just want blood.

Which makes me very worried for Ranboo. I don’t think that he will get influenced by the two, if the two ever come back together to stir up shit again. I don’t think Ranboo is going to believe Technoblade when he says that government is the cause of ALL problems, because Ranboo doesn’t just hate the factions of the server. He has said that Dream is the reason for a lot of conflict on the server, he understands what Dream is up to. If he will agree with Techno at the beginning, he certainly will find issue in Techno considering Dream a worthy ally.

I just hope that Techno LISTENS for at least once in his life.

(But I won’t be too sad if it’s Phil Ranboo manages to convince. Might actually be easier to get through to anarchist pig Blade that way…)

<_><_><_><_><_> <_><_><_><_><_>

#2

I worry for c!Tommy’s mental health.

I know this probably is never going to get addressed rather than that one tiny little plot point where he got exiled for no reason but being as resilient as Tommy is, so constantly himself without apology, so constantly in everyone’s faces and just out there so much, so purposefully annoying just because it’s entertaining for him… I don’t think he’s alright.

The many times he has been beaten down, how many times people have battled him and won, how many times he’s told to shut up and just take it – it makes you wonder how come he hasn’t just given up by now and toned it down so people stop hating him.

Yeah, he’s resilient. Yeah, he’s annoying that way. But I seriously doubt that he can take all that he takes and still be perfectly okay.

One insult means nothing. One time can be just a made up thing to make you pissed off.

Same thing twice? Someone’s just mocking you.

Three times? Wow okay these guys must all be friends and they gossip about me!

Four times?… Hey how big is your friend group exactly?

Five times?…

Six times?…

Seven?…

How about 20.

No matter how ridiculous something that someone noticed about you may be, if repeated enough times, you almost sub-consciously start to believe it. Lots of people notice this – hey I can also notice it!

C!Tommy being annoying on purpose, saying that it’s just entertaining for him… Doesn’t that sound like a really depressing thing to enjoy? Something that garners you so much attention you literally get exiled?

And the fact that, even during Dream enforcing the exile, even when he escaped, when he appeared in Techno’s house and huddled under it like a raccoon, he was still so painfully annoying you just want to punt him?… Does that really sound like just a funny pastime for him and not a defense mechanism against all of the shit people put him through, something that he does out of habit because even though it gets him in trouble a lot of the time, it’s also the only way he can actually react to events and people threatening him, cause what is he gonna do, actually threaten them and get them to leave that way?

I dunno this may be dumb… I may be projecting slightly… Wondering where all of his resilience comes from when actual good things that happened because of him versus the bad things that people constantly blame him for… Sir where do you get that strength and how can I sell my soul for it?

<_><_><_><_><_> <_><_><_><_><_>

#3

Oh I’ve written characters that think of awful, violent things as fun…

I actually really like those characters.

I don’t know why I always make them the most traumatized, split-personality, abused and manipulated victims-turned-absolute-monsters.

No wait I do know why.

BECAUSE IF YOU THINK THAT CAUSING PAIN TO OTHERS IS A FUN TIME AND YOU WANT TO DO IT AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN JUST TO SEE THEIR EXPRESSION OF PAIN, THERE IS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH YOU.

Dream’s no different. We haven’t seen much of him, other than his motivation and the fact that he goes the wrong way about thinking of means to get to the end. He hasn’t revealed a traumatic past or any real reason why he targets only one person if torturing everyone on the server would probably be way more “fun”.

But he is called god.

And THAT lines up with one of my favorite things to talk about!

Immortals :D

You see the whole concept of a god or an immortal being is at its core something we shouldn’t comprehend. Death and the fact that it will happen can be counted as a reason for a lot of our motivations, so how does it affect one’s thinking if one of our core reasons for life is erased?

I can dump a whole philosophical essay here but I feel like it is highly unnecessary. Dream, as an immortal god on the server, has access to stuff that many people have to grind hours of their life for. This twists his perception of the value of certain items, and also certain actions. The fact that he cannot die also affects that perception, and in his long life he has probably had the same thoughts a lot of immortals have – few things are meaningful in life, few are worth sacrificing things for and few are just as immortal as they are.

This, of course, can cause a little thing called an existential crisis, and it can break an immortal, especially if they were once human and most definitely mortal. We don’t know for sure what Dream is, but assuming either scenario makes his pursuit of fun and drama valid.

If he was once a human and by some dark magic gained immortality, his want to see how humans react to things being destroyed, or how humans fold under torture, may be a twisted way of analyzing himself, trying to understand how he could be a part of them, trying to reconnect with his old self, attempts to return to the mortal plane, there are many options but all firmly lead into “this is just a fun experiment for him”. How people throw mentos in a bowl and pour coke over it just to see an explosion. That’s Dream with the SMP.

If he was always a god, then it gets even more interesting (and thematically relevant!). He never understood these creatures that run around and desperately try to prevent death while simultaneously causing so much of it. If Dream doesn’t understand mortals and death as a concept, then his view of them, based on what he’s seen of the SMP, is that humans SEEK violence, and drama, and pain, and harm. They purposefully create meaningless things to then give them meaning and then feel pain over them. He is utterly confused by humans, but he also understands them quite well.

Taunted, insulted? Retaliate with force.

A country that demands peace? Blow it to smithereens.

A sentimental thing that you could literally replace within a fraction of a life, a little thing of pride that you were able to acquire?

It can control people.

And he seems to understand THAT concept of humanity perfectly well. The want for power, the seeking of control, the simple want to somehow be above your equals, somehow stand out and be admired.

Dream grasps that concept so well he might as well be human.

I don’t know if this humanity side of Dream will be his hubris, if the weakness he acquired from humans – sentimentality over objects that can very easily be replaced and mean nothing in the grand scheme of things – may actually come back after he so rudely pushed it away.

We don’t know enough about this guy. We can make some conclusions, sure, but uh… The simple fact that he causes chaos for fun means that whatever we may think the reason for his motivations is, we will probably fail to understand him as long as we think logically.

C!Dream is an absolute prick. I want to punt him.

But I won’t until he explains why he chose to be a bad copy of the Joker with immortality sprinkled on the fucked up cake.

<_><_><_><_><_> <_><_><_><_><_>

#4

Wilbur is coming back into the plot!

Not that Ghostbur isn’t important to the plot. His character is just stagnant because in order to give him proper char development you need to address some very serious mental issues and that’s not exactly something the SMP does often. (Most serious I’ve seen it is Tommy’s exile arc and maybe Fundy’s adoption stream)

So they’re bringing back Alivebur. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything. Literally everything.

I talked about it once, how if Ghostbur’s character wants to reach peace – finish his arc – firstly he has to confront his trauma. At the same time I said that if he was brought back to life, it could hinder his already done little progress of adapting to ghost life and probably reset him. Very certain conditions would have to be met in order for Ghostbur to gain something out of being brought back to life, and a lot of those conditions lean on Alivebur coming back as a certain “version” of himself, which cannot be predicted simply because there isn’t a resident ghost expert on the server. No one knows how these idiots work.

The worrying thing is that they are most definitely bringing back Alivebur. There wouldn’t be need for this plot otherwise. So they will definitely succeed, Alivebur will definitely be brought back, and he will be important to the plot.

What can we theorize about knowing those things?

Mmmm… Isn’t it weird that Ghostbur said he wants to quit being Ghostbur after L’manburg was destroyed? Is it a want to stop ignoring bad things that are happening, since he knows he is going to forget this and move on and he doesn’t want to keep escaping anymore? That’s a good motivation.

Or is it because Ghostbur is like the old spirit of L’manburg, both connected to it physically and mentally? Would Alivebur want L’manburg back, considering that was his only goal in his life, to destroy it, or is he finally going to feel fulfilled that it is over and his obsession with it can die?

I dunno! I have no idea what part they want Wilbur to play in the upcoming plot. It’s very unclear if Wilbur is going to be a side character that moves the plot in little ways or if he’s going to become the main character again or if, and this is probably my most likely theory, the resurrection fails at first and it leads the whole gang, with Ghostbur up front, down weird paths that somehow end with Dream.

(Cause we all know that guy is not going to just write himself out of the plot if he can instead continue being the villain)

It all feels like it’s going to connect, finally. All of the main people from the past getting back into the spotlight in a very convoluted plot to get one of them back into the land of the living.

Don’t really know though. Wondering how resurrection works, that’s all. Knowing that info, may be possible to make a better theory.

<_><_><_><_><_> <_><_><_><_><_>

#5

There is no one right in the “Tommy betrayed Techno” vs “Tommy realized Techno is not a good influence on him” argument. Neither one is right, but neither one is completely wrong. Neither character is in the right, or in the wrong, and it doesn’t really matter who’s right or wrong in this scenario, fact is it happened and the people reacted how they did.

There is only one thing to say about Techno and Tommy, and probably the only thing I’m kinda feeling very strongly about.

Sometimes the refusal to be swayed to another side or believing in yourself gets you called selfish.

That’s both about Techno and Tommy.

And a lot of other people on the server.

<_><_><_><_><_> <_><_><_><_><_>

Here’s a cookie for reading all of that. I can also bake your favorite muffin if you want :3

[springcatalyst]

could you PLEASE tell us more about giant tube worms

I would love literally nothing more

Essentially these guys

(Riftia pachyptila specifically) are fucked up for a variety of reasons.  They live pretty much directly in the stream of superheated water coming out of hydrothermal vents in the deep sea, an environment that is not only hostile because of the super fucking hot water, but also the high concentrations of sulfides (toxic shit) in said water, and also there’s no goddamn light, so no algae or other photosynths that kick off the food chain in most of the ocean.  Even most deep-sea fishes are connected to the surface, they eat shit that falls down, whale falls, marine snow, or they eat other fish that migrate to and from the surface (depending on how deep we’re talking).  Nothing should be able to live here, except maybe the odd extremist bacteria (or archaea).  

But they do so, that theory’s out.

The most pressing of reasons why they’re fucked up, though, is that they don’t have a mouth, or a gut, so they can’t really... Eat.  They weren’t the first mouthless, gutless worms to be found, but the others were all small enough that they pretty much just figured they diffused nutrients in through their not-quite-skin, but these bitches are huge, and the surface-area-to-volume-ratio (every bio professor I’ve ever had is obsessed with surface-area-to-volume-ratio) was too large for that to be feasible.

Noooow I get to talk about the trophosomes. 

So the trophosome is a big fuckin organ that takes up most of the length of the worm.  It’s kinda spongy, real lobular, and obviously important.  They exist in other worms, but were thought to feed the gonads during gamete development.  But they found something in these guys’ that kind of negated that theory.  

Sulfur!

That’s what those little yellow dots are: pure, crystalized sulfur.  This is a cross section of a Riftia pachyptila trophosome, taken from a presentation given by the lady I’m about to talk about.  (It’s on youtube here, if you wanna watch 20 minutes of worm talk like I did)

They still didn’t know what the trophosome did, so they theorized that it could have acted like a filter, because hydrogen sulfide in particular is toxic to most life forms, and there’s a lot of it here. 

That’s where...

She comes in!  Her name is Colleen Cavanaugh, and she was an undergrad at Harvard at the time of the initial research, and she heard about the worms, the trophosomes, the sulfur.  And SHE basically knew what the fuck was going on from when she listened to the original researcher (Meredith Jones, of the Smithsonian Institute) talk about it, so she convinced some people to get her a hunk of worm.  As you do.  

After studying said hunk of worm for a while she basically said ‘yeah, I was right, get fucked, check it out:’  The worms house chemosynthetic endosymbiotic bacteria in their trophosomes, bringing stuff in through the plume, (the red bit at the top, functions kind of like a lung or a gill) that looks like this:  

And basically that’s what makes these guys so funky, they not only have endosymbionts, which exist in other worms we know of now, but weren’t aware of at the time, but theirs are also chemosynths: they oxidize/metabolize hydrogen sulfide as an energy source.  The pure sulfur in the trophosome was the waste product.  (chemosynthesis generally looks like this: 

though i’ve seen some slight variations of the formula.  This one is from Pearson education.)

The bacteria get oxygen and hydrogen sulfide from the worm breathing it in, CO2 from the waste of the worm’s own cellular respiration, and are osmotically protected, basically they have a safe home inside their worm pal.  The worm, then, is protected from the toxicity of H2S, because the bacteria are turning it into pure sulfur which is NOT toxic, and they feed off of the food the bacteria make for themselves (and the worms).  

So like goddamn how can you NOT love giant tube worms.