#so yeah stuff happens and all that’s not super relevant to your question

[sweetest-honeybee]

How long do commissions usually take? I’ve ordered from an artist before and they said nothing for like 3 months

I try to do them within 60 days but life gets in the way more than I’d like to sometimes 😅 if the artist hasn’t said anything you can always check in on progress and worst case scenario, you can always ask for a refund if you paid upfront

[nostalgebraist]

So, about this new "AI 2027" report...

I have not read the whole thing in detail, but my immediate reaction is kind of like what I said about "Bio Anchors" a while back.

Like Bio Anchors – and like a lot of OpenPhil reports for that matter – the AI 2027 report is mainly a very complex estimation exercise.

It takes a certain way of modeling things as a given, and then does a huge amount of legwork to fill in the many numeric constants in an elaborate model of that kind, with questions like "is this actually a reasonable model?" and "what are the load-bearing assumptions here?" covered as a sort of afterthought.

For instance, the report predicts a type of automated R&D feedback loop often referred to a "software intelligence explosion" or a "software-only singularity." There has been a lot of debate over the plausibility of this idea – see Eth and Davidson here for the "plausible" case, and Erdil and Barnett here for the "implausible" case, which in turn got a response from Davidson here. That's just a sampling of very recent entries in this debate, there's plenty more where that came from.

Notably, I don't think "AI 2027" is attempting to participate in this debate. It contains a brief "Addressing Common Objections" section at the end of the relevant appendix, but it's very clear (among other things, simply from the relative quantity of text spent on one thing versus another) that the "AI 2027" authors are not really trying to change the minds of "software intelligence explosion" skeptics. That's not the point of their work – the point is making all these detailed estimates about what such a thing would involve, if indeed it happens.

And the same holds for the rest of their (many) modeling assumptions. They're not trying to convince you about the model, they're just estimating its parameters.

But, as with Bio Anchors, the load-bearing modeling assumptions get you most of the way to the conclusion. So, despite the name, "AI 2027" isn't really trying to convince you that super-powerful AI is coming within the decade.

If you don't already expect that, you're not going to get much value out of these fiddly estimation details, because (under your view) there are still-unresolved questions – like "is a software intelligence explosion plausible?" – whose answers have dramatically more leverage over your expectations than facts like "one of the parameters in one of the sub-sub-compartments of their model is lognormally distributed with 80% CI 0.3 to 7.5."

---

Maybe this is obvious, I dunno? I've just seen some reactions where people express confusion because the whole picture seems unconvincing and under-motivated to them, and I guess I'm trying to explain what I think is going on.

And I'm also worried – as always with this stuff – that there are some people who will look at all those pages and pages of fancy numbers, and think "wow! this sounds crazy but I can't argue with Serious Expert Research™," and end up getting convinced even though the document isn't really trying to convince them in the first place.

---

Now, if you do buy all the assumptions of the model, then yes, I guess this seems like a valuable exercise. If you are literally Daniel Kokotajlo, and hence believe in all the kind of stuff that Daniel Kokotajlo believes, then it makes sense to do all this legwork to "draw in the fine details" of that high-level view. And yeah, if you think the End Times are probably coming in a few years (but you might be able to do something about that at the margins), then you probably do want to get very precise about exactly how much time you have left, and when it will become too late for this or that avenue for change.

(Note that while I don't agree with him about this stuff, I do respect Kokotajlo a lot! I mean, you gotta hand it to him... not only did he predict what we now call the "Gen AI boom" with eerie accuracy way back in 2021, he was also a whistleblower who refused to sign OpenAI's absurd you-can't-talk-about-the-fact-that-you-can't-talk-about-it non-disparagement agreement, thereby bringing it into public view at last.)

But, in short, this report doesn't really touch on the reasons I disagree with short timelines. It doesn't really engage with my main objections, nor is it trying to do so. If you don't already expect "AI" in "2027" then "AI 2027" is not going to change your view.

[edgelordhoard]

hey im planning to switch over to linux and need advice from the smart people of tumblr, please and thank you. my messages are open so if you need any info to help me out hmu.

General Questions:

im seeing everyone saying ubuntu, mint, and ziron are "the #1 go to versions for beginners" but like... which is it?

i also hear about security being the best with linux but nothing about it coming with antiviruses. does it come with one like how windows comes with defender or do you install that yourself, or is it something different entirely?

all the sources i look at talk about downloading and installing linux but i want to know what to expect when first getting a prebuilt pc with the OS, like the system 76 pcs. do you have to set it up like when you install it or is it as easy as getting any new computer?

i know nothing about coding and im planning to get a computer from system 76 since it seems like the best, and its by far the only source that only comes with linux, and since my current one was pretty much ruined by someone i thought could fix it after a faulty outlet fried its insides, he didnt and made it worse.

so yeah, which linux version do you suggest for a computer moron, any suggestions for computers would be nice (max price is $1,300), i'll put the specs and my uses under the read more.

Preferences:

It ONLY comes with Linux. I despise what Windows has become and don't want to even bother dual booting cause I feel with the switchovers happening they're gonna get salty and make something that'll turn your computer into a bomb if you use Linux with it.

Kinda beefy but not a supercomputer. I don't use AI stuff, I'm not a programmer, but I do frequently play modded Minecraft with my friends and run smps for my Discord servers. I recently switched to Modrinth cause ATLauncher had been giving me trouble. Curseforge is out of the question.

At the most, I'll be playing VRChat with friends while having Spotify or Youtube in the background for music and Discord open in case someone needs my help in one of my servers, similar goes for running one of my SMPs just minus the VR.

Gaming Questions:

I also play VR games often, especially BeatSaber (modded ofc im not insane), and I have Half Life Alyx that I haven't been able to finish cause my already dead and gutted PC struggles to run it anymore even with the lowest settings. My current headset is a two feet in the grave, barely hanging in there, held by tape Oculus Rift S thats as old as my current PC whos also dead. I plan to get a new headset soon and had the Quest 2 recommended to me by friends. If theres better alternatives that isn't Meta please let me know.

I'm a DBD addict. Does it really run DBD or was that just the one guy from the one video I saw.

My friends also often drag me onto Roblox so I need to know if that'll be an option for Linux too.

I know I could probably look up all this myself but every source is outdated from years ago or they all say different things and it just confuses me.

Art Questions:

My current tablet is a Wacom, I got it before knowing how greedy the company actually is, and I plan to switch to a Huion after this tablet dies on me. If compatibility is an issue with it please let me know what to do about that.

I usually use Medibang but I don't think it runs on Linux from what I've seen, if I'm wrong lemme know. Am I going to have to switch all the files over to something else before getting a Linux or are there programs I can use that'll load them?

I also write and need to know if I need to switch all my files to something else before porting it all over to the Linux PC. I just used the default notepad and document programs on Windows.

But yeah, that's all my questions for now. If I think of any more I'll just edit this post. Sorry if I sound super dumb for all this, I tried finding information sources myself but like I said all of them weren't too moron friendly or had relevant information. Most sources I found were articles or reddit forums from years ago so I thought "Hey, why don't I just go ask the computer nerds directly?" so here I am.

[magicturtle]

I was trying to start a group to play Legend of the Five Rings 4th edition and showed the books to a few people. Most wanted to try it, but there was one person who was adamantly against the game. The conversation went something like this.

“Why don’t you like the game?”, I asked.

“It’s broken.”, they huffed. “How so?”, I replied.

“The book is full of rules for combat, but little about social sparing and diplomacy.”

“Oh, well there are some schools (think something like D&D classes) that excel in that and there is a whole chapter on social situations. There is also a whole other book that expands greatly on that. There are adventures all about dealing with samurai lords in their courts. Half the game is combat the other half…”

“The game is broken! If social skills were that important they would be included in the core book and not a second book. They are a bad company with bad writers who released a shit game and tried to patch it with a second shitty book!”

I had never heard of an expansion book for an rpg referred to as a game patch the same way one would refer to a video game. It boggled my mind. It was if they believed table top rpgs should have everything you would ever need in one book. The core book for L5R was already hundreds of pages. Anything released after they considered a patch for a messy game. I tried to explain table top rpgs we’re not like video games but they would not have it.

I guess this isn’t really a question, but I saw what you said about what people think game design is like and needed to add my two cents somewhere. Your response reminded me of this story.

Ok, there's a lot going on here, so here's some out of order responses.

RPGs absolutely get patched by new books, this has been happening for ages, even if you didn't think about it that way. That's what "half" editions are. D&D 3.5 was literally a huge patch for 3.0. Is a game bad if it gets patched that way? No, especially if you look at it post patch it might be better. Wanting a game to be perfect from the getgo is... fine, I guess, but it's unrealistic. No RPG survives contact with actual players completely unpatched, whether that means a whole new book or a page of errata online.

I think it's fair criticism to point out that it's dissonant when a game expects diplomacy but has way more combat-relevant pages. That said, it sounds to me like this book is leagues ahead of D&D.

It honestly seems to me like your friend is POISONED BY THE DISCOURSE, in essence, they have strong, angry opinions because the chunk of the internet they hang out in has strong angry opinions. The "too much stuff for combat" is telling because that's a common criticism lobbed at D&D and other games catch flack for it. Assuming that you're capturing the conversation (not saying you'd do it in bad faith, just that it's hard to recall something totally verbatim), it really sounds to me like they heard something about L5R and were like "sounds super shitty, glad I, a cool, reasonable person, don't play that game". It's telling that he goes from "the game is broken" to "if it was fixed then it sucks because it needed to be fixed" to "it's a shitty game, ok!?"

But yeah, sounds like you hit a nerve by accident, it happens. I hope you guys were able to pAtCh things up. Nyuck.

Thanks for writing in!

[springtrappd]

It’s not really the concept of the Mimic itself that gets to me, but what it takes away.

To be honest, I don’t mind Afton coming back after Pizza Sim. I think it was done well, because he upped the ante when he did. He did something WORSE than killing children by making Vanessa do it for him. And in every single ending to Help Wanted, Afton wins. There’s no way for us, the player, to stop it.

The thing is, we can clearly see what happens to Vanessa. There’s the VR emails, that allow us to see the effect he has on her, and the CDs. So, I think it’s safe to say that she’s one of the more fleshed out characters in the franchise.

I saw an earlier post where you said SB’s story is about survival. I disagree. I believe the message is, ‘it’s not enough to survive anymore.” Gregory can leave the building any time after 6 A.M., but him doing so results in his death. It’s only staying, fighting another animatronic, and confronting Afton that we get the canon ending. (Well, what I THINK is the canon ending).

And to get back to Vanessa, her fate in SB varies widely. Dead, left as a spirit, still in Afton’s control, (I think) or, what the game tells us is the best ending, being freed. She can escape the nightmare, but only if we put the effort in. Gregory’s fate also varies, from being killed to alone or with Freddy.

SB, to me, was showing us that this series, a tragedy, was getting some hope in it. Heck, the fact that Gregory, a child FNAF, lives at all is a spark of light. And when I first saw the poster for Ruin, I thought the story would be about saving that spark from the dark Pizzaplex.

The struggle to keep hope alive, to me, would make a far better story. But because of the Mimic, the narrative has been bogged down by shock value twists and exposition.

YES! EXACTLY! i don't disagree with the mimic in concept -- i was actually pretty receptive to the idea back when tales began dropping hints about it, and i do genuinely love frights' agony -- but what it does, functionally, is take away the interesting parts of the story in favour of endless questions. (and "this is fnaf, what do you expect" is a common response to this kinda criticism, so: A. just because something is the status quo doesn't mean it can't be criticised and B. at what point did classic fnaf ever take FIVE YEARS to go "and the guy we've been calling purple guy isn't actually purple guy, it's just another guy that looks and acts exactly like him and has been treated like him in every way. except he isn't. and also he's even more evil and super strong and super cool and he murdered even more babies because he's so tortured.") (and, sidenote, you notice how "motiveless antagonist that has to commit cartoonish acts of evil accompanied by multiple entries worth of exposition to justify their existence?" is just exactly what's wrong with eleanor again? Wow i wonder what THAT could mean)

and yeah, there's a reason hw1 is one of my favourite games in the franchise (and vanessa one of my favourite characters); it does a really good job of putting you in vanessa's headspace simply by playing it, and its story is the exact right blend of cheese and fridge horror to leave you up at night. it's been years and i still think about the implications of the lock of the box glitchtrap, well, traps you in being covered in fingerprints (from your side)! you get conditioned to accept glitchtrap's presence in the hub through repetiton & come to anticipate him being there to break up how suffocatingly silent the place is otherwise! it's great. love it. (which is very funny, considering i hated it on release, but my feelings changed a lot after i played it myself!) it's pussy shit compared to sl's endless body horror, yeah, but it's still frightening in its implications.

and speaking of vanessa...

i will die on this hill.

regarding the survival stuff: i'm fairly sure this is the post you're referring to? relevant excerpt provided below for context (& post continuing below the cut, because this shit got loooooong):

i think the whole “is gregory evil?” argument is exactly why his fans latched onto it [ggy] so hard – because it provides an easy defence for his behaviour. but what that misses is that not only is gregory’s behaviour completely normal – he’s a young kid trapped in a building with dozens of machines that want to kill him! – but even if it wasn’t… well, it doesn’t have to be. characters require flaws to create conflict that pushes the narrative forward; it is a story, not real life. we are not actually judging a real preteen, we’re judging a character who was constructed the way he was for a reason. sb received a lot of criticism for not having any way to “save” the other glamrocks, but this is – for once – a critique i don’t think it deserves. you do not save the glamrocks because this is not a story about saving them (in that sense) – it is gregory’s story, and his story is one of survival. he is not an empathetic person and he does not have to be (which is why the game/freddy does not treat him as evil for it) (because he is a child and his survival should be his #1 priority). the cycle ends when he cares, but him caring is something that develops over the course of sb’s (hodgepodge, barely coherent) story – something that happens because of freddy. he starts off kinda mean and rude but freddy’s support brings out the caring kid beneath, while gregory’s fight for survival makes freddy finally let loose (outright encouraging him to fuck up monty, going after vanny in multiple endings, burning down the pizzaplex, telling gregory to kill vanny on his deathbed, etc). you cannot reach an arc without the push necessary to get there, and this kind of thing is the force behind it. you can’t turn gears without teeth to catch each other’s ridges. and… well, from a meta standpoint, ‘curing’ the glamrocks means removing them as potential future antagonists. we wouldn’t have ruin if sb hadn’t left their stories open to continue, the same way we wouldn’t have pizzasim if sl hadn’t left the door open. it is an ongoing series – and a fucking tragedy at that. the story about adults with delusions of grandeur sacrificing dozens of children on the altar of their self-esteem is always gonna be bitter-sweet, and expecting otherwise is genuinely baffling. freeing the missing kids doesn’t make them any less dead, and i wish i could circle that word in red pen, because! reminder! the happy ending of fnaf has always been letting go!

& what i was referring to here was criticism of gregory's story (not sb -- distinction's important!); specifically, the common idea that gregory is a terrible person for trying to survive. which is a stance the game doesn't take (in which case his death would be treated as comeuppance rather than tragedy)! and i actually think we agree on this, because you're right -- in most endings gregory does not survive... because he doesn't break the cycle. this is something i left off of the post in question because it felt distracting from my criticism of patient 46!gregory/ggy (and why i feel the fandom latched onto it), but (when given the benefit of the doubt/taken seriously) sb's story is about a cast of colourful characters who have been trapped in the next stage of a cycle of tragedy -- and who are saved by their empathy. freddy's empathy for gregory saves him; gregory's empathy for vanny saves her, etc. freddy has no stake in gregory's safety, not really -- he's never met him before this -- and gregory only knows vanny as someone out to get him (ignoring evilitis, precisely because it undercuts this)... but by reaching out to her at her most cruel he finds a way out. the redemption ending is a branch of the vanny ending, after all; gregory either kills her or saves her, and in both routes he has no idea if he's gonna be leaving that building without his best friend. the friend who, in his last moments, tells him to pull the trigger. it is the kind and caring freddy who tells gregory how to kill vanny, and it is gregory's choice to go through with it. and if he doesn't, then they all get to have their ice cream and eat it too.

our other "good" ending, the afton burntrap ending, has our dynamic duo leave vanny behind but stop burntrap -- effectively cutting the cycle off at its source. the commonality here isn't saving vanny; whatever she does from that point (whether that frees her, if she makes it out alive, etc) is up in the air... but whatever becomes of her, バーントラップ(仮称)* is dead. there is no-one to force her to follow anymore. she's as free as she can be with her own demons. there is nothing else.

(and, hey, if we're acknowledging ruin: the redemption ending being canon in that would mean that the story continues for this exact reason; they won the battle but gave up on the war, and so the next stage of tragedy finds its actors.)

and again we agree, because that story -- that spark of potential it has -- getting buried in endless twists that require twists to justify more twists that are all just gateways into more exposition... well, it's sad to see. gregory's story (and kinda sb as a whole) very much sets you up to get thinking about what comes after survival -- what does it matter if you get out & no-one else? how far can you run from the spectres of the present? there's so much to go from there! it is (like most of sb, lmao) telling you how much there could be there! it's begging you to think about it! and then they took that momentum and went... nowhere. ruin is prequelbait disguised as a sequel, hw2 is a minigame collection disguised as a prequel and sotm is a bad game disguised as just a prequel. because nothing says "we've got this handled guys, don't worry" like making 2.5 games to explain that your story has an antagonist!

and, as you said: what point is there in having hope in this story when it refuses to have it itself?

(*) as in burntrap. sometimes you gotta write jokes for yourself, sorry!

[bloggingboutburgers]

Heyyyyy, got a question if you don't mind

I'm aroace. The problem (I think) is that I'm not visibly aroace (can one even be visibly aroace?) and I'm also quite antisocial in general.

It's not that I'm hiding it (I can (I think) casually mention it when relevant) or that I'm in the closet, I just don't really feel the need to change my appearance due to it. If that makes sense

Anyway, now for the (I suppose) controversial bit.

Due to not being "visibly" queer, I don't face (I think at least) the using discrimination (or whatever you call it).

And due to that I sometimes (quite often) don't feel like I'm "actually" queer/aroace.

And yes, I know that it super fucked up to "want" (not the right word, but I'm not English. Just to clarify in case it's not obvious, I do not actual want that) to face the challenges other people do.

Any advice for this?

(extra appreciated if the advice doesn't include going out and/or meeting people, it that's just wishful thinking)

Hey! OK, I hope I don't ruin anyone's day (including yours) or say anything that might be harmful to anyone, as always I'm not gospel and can only speak from my own experience...

...But long story short, honestly, if you don't feel discriminated against, and don't suffer from it on a day to day basis... That's awesome!! And... I feel weird having to say this, but I don't think suffering discrimination should be a requirement for being queer, should it? I mean, that's literally our goal, as queer people, to end discrimination against ourselves, so if this is a demonstration that we're getting closer to that, that's awesome, honestly!

...But yeah. I mean... I hope it's not a stretch to say, but I can imagine there's quite a few queer people out there (not just aroaces) who have had the luck in their life never to be discriminated against, and I hope that continues for them, because... Yeah, that's the goal!

Being queer isn't about that, I don't think. I think first and foremost what defines you as queer is that you deviate from the hetero norm that is viewed as the "default" in society. And I've said that before and I'll say it again, because it might be even harder to actually integrate as an aroace (there's so much external pressure from in and out of the queer community, and yeah, like you said, it's hard to be visible when your orientation revolves around the ABSENCE of something), but you don't have to prove anything to anyone. If you feel you're aroace, then you are. It oughta be that simple most times.

Plus... Not feeling discriminated against at one point in your life sadly doesn't mean that won't happen later down the line. When I discovered myself as aroace as a teen, I didn't really feel my orientation gave me many problems, other than having zero resources at the time to figure out what I was even existed, and being mistaken for gay and facing the occasional homophobia because I didn't date boys. But after a while, after getting into adulthood and being dismissed a couple too many times when I mention my orientation, after the lack of rep getting to me at times (though hey, there IS rep, which I didn't even think I'd see in my lifetime), or after people decide you're old enough to ask you when you're gonna get married too many times for comfort (why do people even do that?), it kinda stuck with me to the point where I wanted to vent in comics. I don't have much to complain about in my life at all! Thankfully the laws in my country or the society I live in can't FORCE me to follow a hetero pattern, so the worst I get is systemic stuff and micro-aggressions, so yeah, I have it good. It's just an itch on a day-to-day. But yeah, made me wanna talk about it sometimes I guess.

But yeah! My bottomline would be: you're in a good situation, from what I understand, and that's great. I hope for you that it lasts. And you shouldn't feel guilty or less valid as an aroace or as a queer person for it. Your experience and your identity are what they are and no one can define your identity but yourself. I know saying "don't feel guilty" or "feel more valid" is easier said than done, but I hope that helps, anyway TwT

[crazylittlejester]

TW FOR *MENTIONS* OF S/A

I don’t want to ask stupid questions or anything but is there SA/RP/NCON stuff between ur wars and ur cia? Ik its a popular LU headcannon for wars, and it feels very implied in some of your fics (one of the FH9 spin offs, I think) but I also don’t wanna read too deep into this or say something’s there when it isn’t. If this is a major plot point or smth you can’t answer bcuz if spoilers just don’t reply and I’ll figure it out :p

It’s not a stupid question at all, and the short answer is yes.

The severity of the situation and also like, the circumstances are very different depending on which series it is. For example in FH9 Wars and Cia were actually together as a couple for a bit where in some of the other things I’ve written they do not even know each other and have met like twice. For the most part I try to keep it as more of an implied thing because, with the exception of FH9, the interactions between them are never super relevant to the plot, but it is there, and that’s how I meant it to be read.

I know it’s a bit of a sensitive topic for a lot of people, so even though it’s only been implied and not outright stated, I try to post trigger warnings at the start of the chapters/fics that imply it, and also (unless it’s super plot relevant) I try to write it in a way where if you don’t want to read into that, you can kinda skip over it or imagine they’re talking about something else. I know a good portion of this fandom is on the younger side and because most of my fics are rated T, I feel like if I wrote anything more than just heavily implying what happened I should move the rating up, if that makes sense…?

One thing really important to me is representation in writing, being able to read a book or watch a show and see someone who’s gone through something similar to you and be able to feel seen through that character. Male SA survivors are something I rarely see in media, and without talking too much about my private life, I personally would’ve loved to have seen more characters healing from traumas growing up, I think it would’ve really helped me when I was younger. I tend to write a lot about my own experiences and traumas, it’s really helpful actually- And this is just another thing I’ve kinda thrown unto Wars, although this one has a lot more canon ‘backing’ than a lot of my other headcanons and I know this is a headcanon a lot of other people have as well

The whole canon situation between those two was honestly a bit insane for a nintendo game, like just the wiki thing about her that shows up on google is kinda crazy. Like I’m not sure what the hell nintendo meant their whole dynamic to be but playing the game it made me uncomfortable as hell

So yeah, I have this headcanon too, I’m not sure if I’ll ever write a detailed fic about it, that would be a lot for me mentally I think. The most I’ll ever get into it is probably having him say the words ‘I was assaulted’, but nothing more than that.

Full disclosure I wrote this out in my car twenty minutes before class starts so sorry if parts of this make no sense but TL;DR: Yes in my fics Wars was assaulted, I don’t wanna trigger people because I know that’s a bit of a darker headcanon, I think Male SA survivor rep is important, and yeah I think that summarizes everything 👍

(sorry for spelling errors or oddly autocorrected words i am dyslexic-)

[ashyswoyaus]

I'm curious about the role the hat plays in your Lord Wander Au. I have questions like "how dies it feel about wander doing evil?" "How does lord wander treat the hat compared to his Canon self?", specifics about how it works, etc. You mentioned in a past post that you have a lot of thoughts about the hat. So when you feel like sharing them, I'm all ears.

sorry for taking a bit to get to this!!! school has been rough

my thoughts about the hat are something i've really wanted to get into!! i think how i view the backstory between wander and the hat is relevant enough here (since that's what my 'lots of thoughts' in that post were mainly referring to) so to summarize, without going into too much detail that'd turn it into a whole fic: before meeting the hat, wander was very cowardly and always running away from problems, with the hat being kind of the first time he'd ever done something so big for someone. and helping the hat taught him many things, like the value of helping people and receiving help in return, etc, one of the most important being to roll with the punches, to improvise. it's why he can be so carefree now—it Has saved his life before when he needed it (inflating while he falls in the breakfast), and everything he needs is in there. it's his comfort item!

and its characterization—it serves as basically the same character as wander, something that loves to help others, even if that help might not always be obviously what someone thinks they need at first. you could even argue the fear aspect—it's confident and happy around wander, but its pain tolerance is Low, and put under a little stress it does what whatever you want to try and Avoid more pain, then when it gets Super distressed it completely panics and blows up. because as an object it's completely helpless to do anything else (haha! the word!)

which, getting back to your questions, is really interesting to think about in this context! because, yeah, i do think it would have Feelings regarding wander doing evil, considering it is stated to like helping people, and clearly has Opinions when it comes to people being jerks. i don't think it particularly likes when wander hurts people, no! but then, why does it still help him? does it still help him? even as a villain, i don't see wander as the type to use violence on the hat to get it to give him what he wants. actually, i think their backstory would happen pretty much the same way. wander still saved the hat, and earned its trust over time, while the hat helped wander get around and become less anxious. wander doing Bad Things would happen some time after that.

so i think the hat probably feels indebted to him—he already earned its trust and proved he would keep it safe, he treats it kinder than others before him—and it's not like it could up and leave him, if it wanted. it might give him a bit more snark, maybe, try to convince him out of things. but wander disregards it and continues anyway. there might also be a little Fear there. even if it's one of the few things wander Wouldn't try hurting, what if he did? if wander wants it to Be a certain way, it will have to be, because who knows what might happen to it if it wasn't? which leads to it helping wander with some of the Bad Stuff. it is also swapped with the dombots, after all. i think it also reflects nicely with how lord wander treats his other 'friendships'. he is Stubborn and has ideas on How Things Should Be. he Knows What's Best. i won't get too into That here, there's another ask in my inbox that's related to that, but that's the basic gist of his relationships here and the hat is the one that reflects that—instead of being a mirror of wander's personality, it's a mirror of how he wants other people to be. like how the dombots were completely obedient to her, the way dominator thought friends should be: wander's hat may banter with him, act as a little friend where both of them have helped each other, but it must always in the end be what wander thinks it is, what wander thinks he wants.

since the last post, i've become more endeared to the idea of wander Actually losing the hat at the end of its swapped the bot episode (or at least at Some Point, with that episode being the Beginning of a hat arc. maybe he would lose it in the equivalent my fair hatey?) after spending time with dee. it may not be what wander wants. it may not be what even the hat wants. but it's what they both need.

[jadetheblueartist]

hey :) how did you know and/or find out you were autistic?

Thanks for the question, anon!

Now, some of this stuff may not be relevant, but I’ll just take you through it anyway (in case we are the exact same person or something hahaha).

The very first time I ever really heard of autism was several years ago when I was talking to my mom about something that happened in my brain. I was like, “Yeah, so when I think of the number seven, I see green.” And she was like “Oh, really?” and then went on little thing about how she was pretty sure this was a symptom of something that geniuses had (I now know she was literally referencing synesthesia [“when your brain routes sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, causing you to experience more than one sense simultaneously” -Cleveland Clinic] and Sheldon Cooper hahaha). While I believe there is a correlation with synesthesia and autism, synesthesia is not part of the diagnostic material and would not be used as “evidence.”

The next thing was about a year ago. I was on Pinterest taking random quizzes, as you do, and I stumbled upon an autism quiz. So I, not really knowing what autism was, was like ooh yay another quiz. So I took it and it said I had moderate autistic traits. So I was like oh interesting and told my therapist this. Therapist was like, “ummmm okay maybe… but that is a single random quiz from Pinterest. It’s probably just social anxiety.” So I was like oh yeah okay and then moved on.

A few months after that, I was on Pinterest again and scrolling through some My Hero Academia stuff when I saw this list of reasons why they headcanonned Midoriya as autistic. So I was like, “Um. That’s what autism is? That just kinda sounds like me…” so I saved it because it was cool and scrolled down to related pins. Then I found a list as to why that person headcannoned Aoyama as autistic. So again, I read through and was like “… guys this is just me.” That is what sprung the deep dive. For the next several days I did literally nothing but watch all of the videos I could find of autistic people explaining their experiences, traits of autism, autistic masking, video essays of why rottmnt donnie is great autism representation, etc. I simultaneously wrote down every single thing I related to on a massive list. Then I got to my next therapy session. I spent the whole hour presenting as much of the information I could, and by the end, Therapist was like “hmmm, well I don’t really do diagnoses so I’m not super familiar with this. But we can go over the DSM-5 breakdown next week if you want.” So I was like, yes of course, and began prepping more.

In that week, I did some reflecting on my childhood and asking my family about my childhood (since I don’t have too many memories). Then I made a list of all of the childhood things that could be autistic traits (example: I spent all of my weekends researching ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamen, lining up all of my brothers action figures for hours, I couldn’t stand the feeling of a super soft blanket on my hands or feet, etc). (Also at this time, I told my best friend about it and she was like “hahaha what do you mean? You’re too smart for that” so you can be autistic and have good grades? You can also be autistic and have bad grades bc they are not mutually exclusive :D anyway back to the main chunk) Icame back to therapy prepared and ready to go and we went through the criteria. At the end, therapist was like, “I can’t diagnose you, however, you do fit all of the diagnostic criteria” and I was like “ahhhh sick I knew it.”

So then I was like “Hey, Mom and Dad, I’m almost 100% percent sure I am autistic but I would like to get an official diagnosis. What do you think about that?” I wanted a diagnosis mainly to combat the gosh darn imposter syndrome (it kind of helps but the imposter syndrome is still there!! Ahhhhhh /lh) And since neither of them had any actual clue about autism, they were confused and not sure about it. I got them to agree by appealing to their practical side and said an official diagnosis could help me get job accommodations if I needed it. Plus it’s a lot easier to do it before you become an adult, so I should figure it out soon. Eventually they agreed and we got the ball rolling.

I was super excited bc everything said that the whole diagnosis process generally takes up to two years, but our doctor got us an appointment in a few weeks. Come to find out, he was just making sure we had any sort of valid reason so he could refer us somewhere to get the diagnosis. That was a bit of a bummer but it was still chill. We eventually got an appointment with this one place that actually diagnosed and again I was excited.

We went in for the initial appointment to figure out scheduling bc I had to do a few different appointments in total. The lady that would be administering the testing was about to leave that practice in a few months though (this was in November and she was leaving at the end of December). But she said she wanted to get it done herself so she just got us in quickly. We also somehow managed to finish what should’ve been a few hours long testing in an hour so I guess I’m just really good at autism hahaha (it’s probably bc we did the paperwork tests outside of the appointment).

Then in early January (she had already left by then but gave the report to someone else) we got the results, and I got my official autism diagnosis. It was a good day ^^

So yeah that’s basically my whole story. If you wanted me to go more into detail with anything like a DSM-5 criteria breakdown or something I would be more than happy to :))))) autism is a special interest of mine, after all.

This was really fun, Anon! Thanks so much for the ask and feel free to ask anything else you are curious about ^^

[silverspleen]

@your-royal-highness-of-trash

Pulled out into TWO new posts b/c I cannot be subjecting my friends to one longpost but rather many smaller posts with the majestic read more tool. I hope this is cool.

(Context. My reply to This.)

THE GRIM HALF tw warcrimes torture it's a CoD ramble my beloved followers know it's time for me to be Unhinged on Main

I don't know if I would call Jacob Geller's video essays on Call of Duty fun. Like, they very much aren't designed to be consumed from a fandom lens. They are super intellectually engaging and enlightening but also really grim since he does absolutely talk about the real life political motivations that go into CoD as a work of art, specifically propaganda art. And talks about, you know, real war crimes done by real people in real life. I have made multiple irl friends watch them.

None of them are into FPS games so this is basically my torture I am doing to my friends as I desperately try to rationalizing enjoying Call of Duty as an adult with a functioning brain. Who notices things like, yeah. We made up a middle eastern country for this one huh lads? We made that shit up so we don't have to make any actual comments about the United States' current complicity in this whole war and terrorism thing huh? WE'RE DOING A HISTORICAL REVISIONISM ARE WE??? I wouldn't have noticed the historical revisionism without this video essay and you know what? It's super fucked up. CoD does wacko stuff all the time, both for manufactured drama and for silly propaganda reasons, and when it jumps the shark is when it's the most conventional fun I think. I think Geller is onto something where he says that the writers went into this thinking they were doing the story in the best way possible with character driven stuff - and therefore it doesn't REALLY matter where Farah is from to them, they can just make up a country because it's general backstory vibes that impact her behavior that matter, not cultural details. Also how Alex can get away with being a terrorist but in a nbd way because yeah he is one, that's what happens when you desert to a faction that literally gets classified as a terrorist organization babyyy - but sitting at a perspective completely divorced of all the political and societal nuances in real life that makes the actual manifested story have impact outside of itself. And the US government is like "hell yeah, America! more kids will think guns and soldiers are cool and great. A+ plot or whatever put more suicide bombers in it" and that's that.

Being invited to my clusterfuck of an apartment like SIT ON MY COUCH WE'RE WATCHING THE POLITICS OF COD MW 2019.

Poor Gaz is the other character besides Farah with the strongest sense of like, justice and doing "the right thing" and this man gets ALL the ethically questionable as fuck levels and I know why. It's so they can do a propaganda and show like, ok this must be a justifiable offense because the Good Guy player surrogate character can accept it. I see you! I see you CoD writers!

not CoD but always relevant - "Rationalizing Brutality: The Cultural Legacy of the Headshot"

His video essays "Who's Afraid of Modern Art" and "Judaism and Whiteness in Wolfenstein" are both personal favorites. Though I am so so biased towards his review of Dead Space 2 that's just like 40 minutes of him being like "this game rocks" because yeah, mood.

Anyway I am putting this in a box and throwing it into the ocean next post is the fun part of CoD it's shipping time this is my dichotomy this is how I must live my life.

[zellkernchen]

I need an info dump about Mimi plsplsplspls

OH MY GOD YOU DONT KNOW HOW HAPPY THIS MADE ME I LOVE MIMINSKL SM SHES ONE OF MY CURRENT FAV OCS AHHDHAHSVSAVVAVSVVS

Anyways. Miminskl infodump alright. I don’t even really know how and where to begin. I don’t want to spoil too much of her since I’m writing a fanfic series about her and don’t want to reveal all the secrets yet 👀👀👀 (though I probably will because I absolutely suck at keeping secrets (please feel free to check it out I promise chapter one of part three is coming soon (sorry if I say this too much I suck at promoting stuff bsnxxndbsjbd))) so I’ll mostly stick to 44- 27 BBY Miminskl???

Okay so starting off with her orgins (suuuuper mysterious orgins/s):

Miminskl was born on a very specific planet within wild space territory (I wonder which one it could be 💔) but she didn’t live there for too long, not even a full year before she somehow landed on Corusant. (will be expanded on later in my series in some way) The people who had her at that moment were unlucky and had to have a security check performed on them because they seemed kind of “off” in a way. Then one of the guys was like: “Holy shit, we’re busted. These ppl can’t know that we have a baby that we’re planning to sell or smth” so they run away with the baby and randomly handed her out to some woman. That “some woman” was Snäils Flink who was like super shocked once it happened. Like, this random baby just low key spawned in her arms. She was kind of like: “Okay. This is my baby now.” (Snäils was feeling kind of lonely at that moment since her children had just moved out and she might or might’ve not eaten her husband some years ago) So she sort of makes the selfish decision to adopt Miminskl because she was lonely and thought that Miminskl was the cutest non- Rii’käu baby she had ever seen.

But how did Miminskl even get named Miminskl? You might’ve probably not asked.

Well you see Mimi’s first word back at her totally mysterious home planet was her own name; Miminskl. It was like the only word she really knew to say and Snäils noticed that she was very responsive to that name so she just assumed that her name was indeed Miminskl (she was correct ✅)

Buuut if this question were to refer to the reason of her being named Miminskl by her biological parents then this is your answer: Her dad was absent during her birth/ hatching so he didn’t have a say in her name and her bio mom named her after the woman who raised her. (I wonder who her parents could possibly be 💔 oh, how I wonder 👽/s)

Now to her as a toddler:

Miminskl’s first three years of life were actually pretty “normal”. You know, as normal as it can get when your adoptive family is super rich. She was used to being taken to super fancy restaurants and events on the weekends. But only on the weekends because that’s when her siblings came to visit from school and her mom was definitely not working. Snäils works as a lawyer btw and the Flink family are well known lawyers back in their homeplanet. Snöökle and Kaak are studying law since m the time of 43 BBY.

Though there were three specific events Miminskl can vividly remember from her childhood: A “blood test”, the nightmare (Strike one.) and getting visited by the Jedi order. The blood test and the visit are connected to each other as all children who live on republic territory do a blood test which then gets submitted to the Jedi Order to check for their Midichlorian count. Miminskl’s test was done rather late as she was adopted and all that. So at two years old (42 BBY) she does the blood test. She and her adoptive family were like: “Yeah that’s it. Surely this will never be relevant later.”

(The nightmare is also connected to the two but shhhh)

As some may know, it was indeed relevant later.

While usually the Jedi only recruited new Jedis who lived on republic land at max. 1-2 years after their birth, Miminskl was a slight exception. Her Midichlorian level were some points above the average Jedi Midichlorian count (which is around 10’000 Midichlorians per cell). So of course the Jedi Order wanted to recruit her I mean come onnn guyssss

And then, as some may know too, Miminskl does accept to join the order. Everything is rather normal for a while, Miminskl visits her family whenever she attends one of Rii’käu’s many fests and whatever until when she is around eight years old. She had always been rather bothered by having the most random and nonsensical dreams almost every night but this one was different. She remembered the girl’s face. That was new. And guess what, Miminskl does eventually end up meeting that girl irl too. She had to switch clans because she was butting heads with the other children quite a lot. What a funny coincidence right???

Anyways so from ~ 36 to 27 BBY Miminskl has the best time of her life (this will be expanded on trust 🙏) until one day her life comes crashing down.

Now nothing is okay anymore and Miminskl is miserable. What happened? Bad stuff. Really, really bad stuff. She now uses a cybernetic reinforcement for her recently burned hand and does physiotherapy and psychological therapy. Physiotherapy was a massive success, psychological therapy wasn’t . Miminskl was having a hard time opening up. And not just to her therapist, but also to her Jedi Master, family and friends. So instead of actually getting better she picks up very unhealthy “coping mechanisms”. One of them actually taking advantage of her ability to dream.

Speaking of dreams: As mentioned earlier, Miminskl dreams… a lot. Especially in her early childhood and from 28 BBY to 24 BBY. She dreams of the most cryptic stuff every night. Sometimes there’s even people in her dreams she doesn’t know/ remember, a planet too. With temples, a very snowy mountain and a huge sea. If only she knew who those people were though. Was this a vision? A flashback from someone else? From a previous life?

Who knows? Miminskl certainly doesn’t and won’t know for a while.

I don’t really know what else to add on here??? I feel like I’ve already rambled and summarised things enough. If you have any more questions, feel free to comment/ ask. I love answering questions especially when they’re related to my own creations. I might even spoil more stuff. I’m just afraid sometimes (this time too) that I’ll reveal too much stuff and people will get bored or disappointed ToT

(But then again I don’t really feel like my minuscule audience even cares about this at all I’m sorry 😭😭😭 (I have self esteem issues and all that 💔💔 (Pov: You were bullied in kindergarten for having niche inerests (Autism go brrrr))))

Hope you did enjoy reading through this though :3

[thornshadowwolf]

(same oc ask anon) i looked at your tag for your retrostatic thing and you have some sus things tagged if i may say ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) so are they like, robots? or just one of them?

Ahahaha yeah. Some... uh, er, interesting things tagged. Don't really know what to say about that like you saw the posts. (For those who haven't: it's "eroticism of the machine" and cybersex kinda stuff).

They're not robots exactly (at least none yet) but the majority of the characters are from a kind of... technology dimension? So there are two (relevant) dimensions in the story, one of which is actually the Retrostatic and the other of which is unnamed but is a more normal realistic earth-like dimension (tho there are still differences). Most of the characters so far are from the Retrostatic because that's where most of the story takes place. And in that dimension everyone is in some way related to technology (usually they just. Are. some piece if technology. But not always; at times it's more complex than that). 1-800-CASH-NOW is a TV/radio demon I guess (I usually follow that up with a bunch if question marks cuz it's not super well defined), The Operator is a telephone, BaitHook_Fix.txt.bin is a piece of malware... loverboy is from the normal dimension so he's just an anthro wolf (the other dimension is populated by anthropomorphic cartoon animals). A lot of characters don't have names yet (especially if they're gonna be side or background characters) but there's also a gun, a car, a two dimensional insect, a... thing that has old gramophone music play around it... a worm with a zipper... two... flamingo jackalope unicorn snakes... it's a very loose and undefined dimension. Like that's what it's supposed to be not just "I haven't figured it out yet" (tho there is some of that too). But that does make it hard for me to build characters for it since there aren't any guidelines for me to fall back on. I just kinda have to try stuff until something works. Both in terms of design and lore.

Not directly related to what you asked, but the main characters are 1-800- and loverboy. 1-800- is a celebrity gameshow / radio show host who is the cause of the whole timeline alternate universe mess (not on purpose, it just has that effect on the world) and different versions of it keep slipping into each other's places. It's got this red-string-of-fate thing going on with loverboy (I usually call them "fate-tied") who is literally just some rando that basically gets isekai-ed into the Retrostatic. Due to that 1-800-CASH-NOW has unknowingly been searching for him since forever (time works differently between dimensions). Like 1-800- has this feeling deep within its core that doesn't understand, and it keeps being compelled to do things like pull people into its dimension. It doesn't know why or how it just does these things. And then eventually it finds loverboy and is like "oh I see now this is The Guy" because it was fate the pull of fate trying to get them together. But that exacerbates the whole "space-time dimensional instability" thing. And shit happens. Because the different versions of 1-800- have wildly different goals and ways they are tied to loverboy. Like for some it's romantic, for some it's trying to kill him, for some it's got an unhealthy obsession with him, etc. etc. and many are a mix too. And of course loverboy is thoroughly freaked out. Especially since until now the whole multidimensional spacetime alternate universe thing hasn't affected him. But now he Feels It. So they've got this very weird and fucked up relationship that is full of distrust and confusion (both around each other and themselves).

Anyway that was supposed to be succinct it's just hard to explain. There's actually so much more but this is already long as hell. Thanks for sticking around if you read all this.

[its-captain-sir]

Oh we doing Chicago Style lore I Gotta get in on this. 6, 15, 21, 22, 76, 78 AND special bonus you pick a question you wanna answer if you'd like heheh

6. Is there a battle nexus? Is it a respected facility or operated by criminals?

Oh man I haven't really thought of the battle nexus before...... tbh if I include it I'd like it to be a part of their space arc maybe, so leaning towards it being more of a respected facility, or at the very least an institution that is very clear about how it operates even if some of the rules aren't great

15. Is the Hamato clan history relevant? How did the clan originate?

It's SUPER relevant, much of the plot stems from the story of the Hamato clan. The clan originated from a much larger clan actually that was set to be inherited by two twin brothers. They disagreed on how to run the clan so they split it into two, one called the Hamato and one called the Foot. I don't want to go too much into the specifics of the rest of the history of the clans since I'm planning on a little art piece involving that soon, but basically the two do become enemies and even more important, the Hamato clan are designated as the liaisons between the human and mystic worlds. When Saki defects to the Foot and Yoshi seems to be shirking his duties, a bunch of yokai leaders commission for the turtles to be created to continue to have protectors of the Hamato bloodline. So yeah big effects on the story even just beyond the later fighting with Saki and the Foot over the Shredder armor hakdhskdh

21. Do the turtles time travel?

I know I definitely want them to cause that's a classic tmnt trope at this point but I don't know what that would entail. I really am a sucker for the stuff that loops, like whatever they did in the past affects their existence in the present and because they exist in the present they're able to go back and do those actions in the past, it was always destined to happen, etc. So it'd probably be something along the lines of that + just some fun stuff like always :)

22. If there is a battle nexus, who fights in it?

If I go with it being attached to the space arc, I think all the turtles might end up fighting in it, either on purpose or accidentally. I'm really attached to battle nexus champion Mikey so if they fight he's definitely winning the whole thing hakdhskdhsk 16 years old and champion of the universe(multiverse??) <3

76. Who is your favourite character?

HMMM THIS IS A HARD ONE..... it's like an even split between Leo and Raph, they're so compelling to me..... gives them problems forever and forever.

78. Tell us something you want to share about your au/iteration!

I think of the story for this iteration as split up into 4 main arcs! Each arc is based around a specific turtle and has a major conflict associated with it as the focus, though obviously all plots and character development continue to varying degrees throughout the course of the story. But anyways, in order they are:

Raph - conflict is Foot/Shredder based, deals with the past catching up to them and the cycles of past vs present. Big focus on Raph and Leo's strained relationship and the lengths Raph is driven to for his family, culminating in [REDACTED]

Donnie - conflict centered around the hidden city, marked by delving into mystics even more than before and uncovering secrets of the yokai world and their creation. Donnie's efforts start to unveil the larger webs

Mikey - conflict based on the Krang and associated space adventures (certain time related shenanigans also come to a head), involves truly stepping into the larger world and universe and continuing to follow the threads. Mikey reflects a final coming of age and shaking off forces seeking to control them

Leo - conflict with the pantheon (hello idw fans <3), embodies the final culmination of taking their lives into their own hands and refusing to be used as pawns. Addressing the issue of their influence is the last step Leo needs to take as a leader.

As for a bonus question, I'll answer:

39. Is there a Karai/Miwa?

Honestly? Maybe both! Karai for sure exists in this au, she's the turtles' cousin and ends up on their side of the Foot/Hamato conflict after a while, but I might also have Miwa in there as a person totally removed from most of the plot as Tang Shen's daughter. Not quite sure on that yet though

[dappledpaintbrush]

Good day, I hope that you are well;

Do you ever happen to ponder what the writers' room must have been like for Super Paper Mario? "Yeah, you know our main Wahoo go-lucky happy Mario protagonist? Yeah, well, let's make a game where he isn't relevant at all, make it touch relatively dark themes and we make my intricate and deep teenage Original Characters the real main characters with an extremely intricate plot that you wouldn't expect any game of the brand we are known for to have"

The game is so...Jarringly out of place, it's...Fascinating-

Nintendo has a few of these very large art books (Eg. Zelda and Mario Odyssey) where they go over all of the development work, conceptual stages, writer material in excruciating detail- It would be amazing if there were one of those for this particular game-

It's a shame that there isn't a lot of beta material released for this title other than some early Nastasia sprites, early animations (eg. The Dimentio Walking one and the Super Dimentio unused mouth animations) and Flip Folk character designs (And of course the early cat build) I can imagine a lot of work was put into the game's writing- I find the geometric designs to be extremely fascinating for multiple reasons too, symbolically and visually, but that's a discussion for another day. Are there other beta materials I seem to be missing?

My apologies for the long "ask"

Have a nice day.

Hello!! I hope all is well too :]

Oh my god I think about this SO MUCH. Like. One, how did they come to the conclusion this story is what they’re gonna go with, and two, how did it get approved? I’ve heard SPM be described as a “bad fanfiction,” and honestly, take “bad” out and I agree. This game strays so drastically from the norm that it does feel like a fanfiction (in the best way possible). I wonder how much DIDN’T get approved that is now lost to time.

I’ve been on many hunts for any beta content, but all I can find that is reliable is stuff from The Cutting Room Floor. It honestly upsets me. I feel like this game deserves an art book regardless of whether or not I personally wanted one. The design of SPM is incredibly creative and one of the first of its kind. The character and level designs themselves (because they really are unique), the constant references to technology in an era where it was becoming increasingly more apart of every day life, and the thought process behind implementing 3D into a 2D space are all things I want to know the details behind SO badly. Of course art is important in every video game, but in the Paper Mario series, the game almost revolves entirely around the art and design choices, and SPM is no exception. I would also go even more crazy for a book or even any information at all about the writing process, but I’m not sure how much of that has survived. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of it has to come from the writers’ own recollections. Hell, who even knows if any concept art is around anymore either, unless they kept it in a filing cabinet somewhere (or, if it’s all digital, they actually kept up with the files).

The cat build is very interesting to me because we have NO idea what it was for. Was it for another game? If so, what is it doing in SPM’s files? Is it for SPM? The “3D world builds” that were also found imply SPM was originally not going to be a side scroller and instead, you’d be able to roam around like you do in any other Paper Mario game. Unless those world builds were for the cats only- which again, were they for SPM or something else?? WHAT WERE THEY DOING THERE?? EXPLODES!!!!! AND YES!!! THE SYMBOLISM FOR THE GEOMETRIC SHAPE DESIGNS IVE HEARD ABOUT THAT SOMEWHERE. GOD ITS SO GOOD . CHEWS ON MY ARMS.

And to answer your question, there’s definitely more beta material out there, but none come to mind at this moment :O

And don’t apologize!! I love longer asks! I enjoy discussing this game with people a LOT

Have a good day to you to!! :D

[miku-miku-autism-beam]

okay so. night raven college is a magic school split into 7 dorms each of them emblematic of a disney villain. basically each of the stories is (usually) the dorm leader doing something fucked up because they have trauma and then the people trying to stop them dont understand how to treat another human being and push them until they overblot. overblotting is what happens when you overuse your magic - when you accumulate too much 'blot', it births an evil monster that eats away at you and your life essence until you die.

so far riddle rosehearts (queen of hearts guy. dorm leader of heartslabyul), leona kingscholar (scar the lion king guy. dorm leader of savannaclaw), azul ashengrotto (ursula little mermaid guy. dorm leader of octavinelle), jamil viper (jafaar aladdin guy. vice dorm leader of scarabia) and vil schoenheit (evil queen from snow white guy. dorm leader of pomefiore) have all overblotted for various reasons.

because vil was the antagonist of the last book hes probably the most relevant. hes an actor and model but is constantly typecast as the villain. hes obsessed with beauty and perfection and works incredibly hard to maintain it, hoping that if hes beautiful enough, he will one day be cast as the hero and stay on stage until the end of the play. hes really vain and unemotional in book 5 but theres a huge shift in book 6 because hes grown and lets himself feel and stuff now and its great and we're all so proud. the other members of his form are rook (based on the hunter from snow white) and eppel (based on the poison apple. yes. fr).

the protagonist is named yuu. out of nowhere they ended up at night raven college and have been trying to get home. in the mean time theyve been solving peoples problems and making friends.

i honestly dont know what exactly else i should tell you but let me know if you have any questions. a lot of the book focuses on the rest of the characters which makes book 6 kinda harder to just jump into. but if you need more context for characters or anything let me know. the leona and jamil stuff is super tied to their stories so.. but you could also probably skip a lot of it if ortho or idia arent in them. okay. yeah. lmk if you have questions (both right now and just along the way).

also dont worry about reading the subchapters theyre irrelevant to idia. theyre almost irrelevant to the characters who are in them so dw about them.

sounds interesting and i think i'll be able to make my way through it fine

[antares-8]

Post 8: Nina and Maggie in coffee shop, Crowley goes back

I don’t blame Nina for needing a drink.

They’re going to see something plot-relevant, aren’t they.

Good to see that Crowley is so subtle with using his powers around human witnesses.

So Nina’s partner is super controlling and Nina isn’t happy with her.

They have an “I was wrong” dance????!!! And it’s just as horrible as you’d think. And I went back to double-check Aziraphale’s dates. Don’t know what happened in 1650, but we all recognize 1793 and 1941. 

So they’re still being recorded when they do miracles.

Crowley’s FACE when Gabriel said he had two friends.

Yeah, I’m not surprised at all that the teeny tiny barely noticeable fraction of a miracle set off sirens and flashing lights across all of Heaven.

Question for the future: If extreme sanctions are a thing, why didn’t Heaven try that with Aziraphale (and Crowley) after they didn’t die at the end of Season 1? The traitors would be gone, and since they’d have never have existed, they would still have had their apocalypse. Perhaps they didn’t want to undo all the stuff that the ineffables did on Earth throughout history, or perhaps there’s something else about extreme sanctions that we don’t know yet. Hmmm.

I now need a short break for emotional recovery. Also, I’ve heard that binge-watching is bad for your comprehension, and I want to comprehend all of this.