idarafeka

[idarafeka]

Hello I'm gonna sound insane but what if Deltarune's "ending" is literally just us "finishing the game".

Games only have one "ending", that is when the magic circle is broken and "players" go back to "everyday reality". (See how I said games, not stories). PLAY can have multiple endings depending on the rules of the GAME.

Darkworlds have already been shown to be formally akin to "play" in that they operate as places of evasion away from "everyday reality" with its compendium of set rules (Prophecy). Only "our soul" can seal darkfountains, break the act of play, forcibly crushing the magic circle where disbelief is suspended and bringing us back to the Lightworld, to everyday reality.

A game ends when the circle is broken, when the player stops playing.

This is already semi-canon. When "the soul" dies, the world is "Covered in darkness". We can't keep "playing" in that world. And yet, the game hasn't finished, we as "real" players are still inside the magic circle of "Deltarune", we only leave it when we close the game that is, when we stop "persisting" or when the chapter is "finished" and we "stop playing".

I've always found it curious how people talk about the vessel or Kris as the things that we as the player can "control". When that's not the truth.

The very first thing we control, the very first virtual representation that let's us play, outside the darkworld, outside the lightworld; is the soul.

If we recognize how Deltarune is very intentional and vague in its layering of what we understand as game, then there's no dissonance if chapters have different stories. Because while "play" has different outcomes the game does not "finish" when the soul "dies" in that world, only when we close it.

[idarafeka]

who are u really

[idarafeka]

[idarafeka]

Maka

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WHO WILL WIN

[idarafeka]

remembered that schmando had fursonas

[idarafeka]

I'll become what you like, this is what you wanted right?

Inspired by Kamome Shirahama's illustration for the latest chapter of Witch Hat Atelier

[idarafeka]

A simple dinner

[idarafeka]

i think there is something to be said about the way a lot of popular western media (both within fiction and outside of it, now that i think about it) uses the pretense of nuance to obfuscate existing power dynamics.

the example i'm mulling over at the moment is netflix's Arcane, which depicts a pretty straightforward conflict between a brutally oppressive ruling class and an underclass that is out gunned, out manned, and lacks even the means to support its own population. despite this, the show takes a very even-handed "everybody's flawed" approach to how it portrays this conflict, one that seems to be increasingly popular in popular western media. this makes for a compelling story, the show takes the time to make sure we understand all the characters involved, their motivations, their flaws, their hopes, their dreams etc, but i think when people engage with that kind of narrative uncritically, they tend to miss the forest for the trees and get lost in pointless debates over which characters were more in the right or who's actions were more justified by their trauma etc. this kind of weightless, individualist approach seems to always lead to the same conclusion: that changing society is scary and traumatic and everybody is too flawed to be trusted with leading such a shift. how convenient that this always seems to benefit those already in power.

i'm thinking about this in regards to the reactions to the latest developments in the story of Arcane, which sees caitlyn supporting a military dictatorship, in part as a response to the trauma of losing her mother in jinx's terror attack. the reactions are pretty typical fandom discourse about whether or not her actions are understandable given what she's going through as a character, but what no one seems to be considering is that she's only about to undergo this change in the first place because of her class position, not just as a member of the wealthy elite of the overcity, but also as a respected member of the overcity's law enforcement. see, while the individual characters involved might be complex, the moral dimensions of the overall conflict really are not. one side has all the power and resources, as well as a vested interest in keeping the other side subjugated to maintain its dominant status quo. just because the dominant side is populated primarily with skinny attractive people a who're shown to be doing their best with the situation and the other are mostly grotesque caricatures of poverty stricken degenerates doesn't mean this is a difficult choice.

it remains to be seen how the actual show will play out, but i can't help but see it as continuing a trend of what i can only describe as a kind of smug liberal nihilism, crafting a brutal class conflict only to revel in the horrific spectacle of it all, basking in the complex moral greyness of its protagonists, uninterested in taking an actual stance. there's a point when nuance becomes a form of cowardice, imo

[idarafeka]

august

[idarafeka]

Utenanthy kiss gif (short and long version)

[idarafeka]

Some more Anthy Gifs!

Some turned out better than others but oh well.

Wanted to edit the dance scene but there's a lot of heavy bloom effect and its making it really hard to edit over the final composite.

Feel free to use any of these tho!

[idarafeka]

Alt text: screenshots from the finale of Revolutionary Girl Utena. 1: Utena lies crumpled on the ground. Text reads: "YOU — No. Let me back into the fight."

2: Dios rides a carousel horse and looks off to the side. Text reads: "LIMBIC SYSTEM — The fight? There is no fight. The fight is over —"

3: Anthy's silhouette against a red background being pierced by the million swords of hate. Text reads: "it was lost. A thousand years ago."

4: Utena lying on the ground in her rose bride dress. Text reads: "You have laid here forever."

5: Akio's legs standing on a carousel horse. Text reads: "Keep falling."

6: Dios's face, inches away from planting a kiss on Utena's ring. Text reads: "Deeper... take the door."

7: Utena's fist slamming into the ground.

8: Utena's strained, sweaty face as she forces herself back to her feet. Text reads: "She is *not* taking it."

[idarafeka]

Adult Utena brainworms... I wanted to play with the scars. Initially, I was just gonna have her mastectomy look like thorns but then I got carried away, so I might tweak them a little.

Also, I like to think that drawing a sword out of someone's body repeatedly would leave some kind of burn mark or scar or smth

[idarafeka]

Utenanthy kiss GIF !

(I edited this for a tiktok so I might as well share it here)

[idarafeka]

GRATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO GRATE

[idarafeka]

A rescued pelican in the backseat.