#there are two (2) references in this once iirc

[shouldertheskies]

I would love to see your infodump extensively about the Thebaid (and particularly Polynices and Tydeus, both together and separately) if you're willing? I haven't read it yet and I'm not sure if I will (kinda struggling to find a translation that I don't find awkward to read, my brain just does not take in the words lol) but I love these two and want to know as much as possible

I am asking you mostly because I think you would enjoy talking about them lol but if you don't have time or wouldn't find it entertaining then you don't have to!!

hii thanks so much for the ask! i am literally always down to infodump about the Thebaid and especially about Polynices and/or Tydeus because those two freaks live rent free in my brain. i honestly have so many thoughts on them idk where to even begin lmao.

i guess I can do quick summaries and highlight some things from my previous read of Statius' Thebaid:

[got too long oops]

Tydeus is the son of Oeneus of Calydon and Periboea, daughter of Hipponous. This makes him the half-brother of Meleager (famous for being the host of the Calydonian Boar Hunt), who was the son of Oeneus' first wife Althea.

While this is not mentioned in Statius' Thebaid, Meleager and his siblings (Althea's kids) were likely already dead by the time Tydeus was born: according to other traditions, Oeneus marries Periboea in the aftermath of the quarrel over the Calydonian Boar (wherein Meleager and his brothers were killed, and his sisters were turned to birds by Artemis).

Tydeus does have a full brother in Statius' Thebaid, though; said brother is never named, unfortunately, but in other sources he is named Olenias.

Tydeus is exiled for the crime of killing said brother; we know he feels horror and guilt over it, but this is never brought up again. My personal headcanon is that the killing was accidental; for a very well written headcanon compilation on this, please check out Ley's post! (also: @aster-aspera wrote a fic!)

He encounters Polynices outside the palace of Argos, while trying to take shelter amidst a storm during the night. Neither of them are in the mood to tolerate each other's presence and decide to throw hands about it like mature adults. Here we learn that neither is unwilling to fight dirty - theyre kneeing the other's nuts and trying to jab out the other's eyes and almost end up taking out their swords before Adrastus intervenes.

Now, Tydeus happens to be wearing a boar's hide, and Polynices a lion's skin (notably, both of these animals are associated with the famous monsters of Calydon and Thebes: The Calydonian Boar, and the Sphinx, respectively. The narrative starts associating our two heroes with monsters very early on). Adrastus had received a prophecy telling him to marry his daughters to a lion and a boar - to ''men one mistakes for beasts'' - and so he almost immediately offers Polynices and Tydeus his daughters' hands in marriage.

Polynices is the son of Oedipus and Jocasta - and let's just say he's not exactly proud of the fact. he hesitates to reveal his parentage to Adrastus not once but twice, and when he finally does so, it's in a notably self-pitying manner. Polynices in general has a tendency towards self-deprecation, and though sometimes it's a ploy to gain sympathy, often it comes off as just. genuinely low self-esteem

Polynices and Tydeus become friends almost immediately after the brawl. the narrator in fact compares their relationship to Orestes and Pylades in Book 1, and literally calls them soulmates near the start of Book 2. like in case u had any doubts: these bitches gay

Also, Tydeus is actually more likely to insult Polynices than the other way around: he offhandedly insults Polynices' bloodline in Book 2, and calls him an idiot in Book 7 (to be fair, that time is more so out of concern). Polynices in contrast actually repeatedly praises Tydeus everytime he speaks to him (iirc he refers to him as ''greatest Tydeus'' at least twice). I know its funny for Polynices to make fun of Tydeus in fanworks, but there is literally zero evidence for that ever happening in the Thebaid lmao

Even though Adrastus promises both of them that he'll help them regain their kingdoms, Tydeus seems. honestly just uninterested in regaining Calydon? Like he brings it up exactly once, in his address to Athena after the ambush at the Sphinx's Rock, and never again. on the other hand he's more adamant about going to war against Thebes than even Polynices is - Polynices if anything is honestly very half-hearted about the whole thing, and Tydeus ends up being the real instigator of the war on several occasions.

Also - Tydeus is noted to be utterly incapable of sitting still or tolerating boredom. when he's not training or preparing for war he fills in the time with sports, more specifically wrestling matches. King of hyperactive ADHD tbh

I've also noticed that Tydeus has a tendency to allude to mythical events/past heroes etc. far more than others, in all his speeches? like all characters do it, because it's a staple of the epic genre, but Tydeus notably does it more often than others. i'm not saying his special interest is heroic history but. I'm also not not saying that

ok i actually have. way more things to say but this has already gotten Quite long so ynw. I'll stop yapping here and continue in the reblogs at some other point in time. ty for the ask again and ciao <3

[nekropsii]

Hello, I really like your analysis, especially of the dancestors but there's one part I don't quite get and would apreciate if you could ellaborate on

It's the part about how it's fucked up for them to be romantically involved with the beta trolls, because in the text, iirc, it does'nt seem like it is. They are treated like normal dumb teenagers, not that different than when they died as such, and I know it is canonically possible to go through character development after death, after all, dead Vriska did, but I can't remember the comic indicating that the dancestors did?

They still feel like teenagers and the comic doesn't seem to ever hint at abuse by virtue of their maturity, or include it as a theme or something. To me, that they spent whatever senseless amount of time dead thinking about stuff and never matured out of being teenagers just seemed like the sort of kind of dumb thing you're supposed to suspend your disbelief on for the juicy tumblr parody jokes and ignore, like the comic (imo) seemed to be doing.

Again, i'd love to read what you have to say on this and I hope to not be misremsmbering anything.

Thank you! I really appreciate it. I'm happy to explain.

1.) They are called the Alpha Trolls. Not the Dancestors. "Dancestor" refers to a relation that every single character group has with one another - it means "Person who is simultaneously your Descendant and Ancestor by way of a Scratch", and was actually originally coined by Porrim to describe the Beta Trolls.

The Beta Trolls are the Alpha Trolls's Dancestors. The Alpha Trolls are the Beta Trolls's Dancestors, also. The Beta Kids are the Alpha Kids's Dancestors as well, and vice versa. "Alpha Troll" is more accurate and more specific. They're even called this directly within the text, by themselves even. Best to just use that label instead.

2.) The Beta Trolls are 13 years old. The Alpha Trolls are 19 years old. That is a middle schooler and a college student. That is the power imbalance. That is what is wrong here. This also meets the DSM-5's definition of Pedophilia. Those children are 6 full years younger than they are, they should be completely off the table. This is not an excusable cultural difference, or something you are supposed to ignore, it is framed within the comic as being fucking gross. Meenah's relationship with (Vriska), who was 13, should have already clued you into that. Hell, the age disparity is called directly into focus as being fucked up by Meenah herself. More than once, actually.

NOTE: Yes, I know that 7.5 Sweeps translates to 16 Years - though, more accurately, she'd be 15 Years, since she hasn't even reached 7.5 Sweeps yet. (Vriska) and the Vriska in this picture are two different characters. (Vriska) is the Pre-Retcon Vriska, who died at 6 Sweeps, or 13 Years. Likewise, most of the characters targeted by the 3 offending Alpha Trolls were also people who died at 13 Years - Aradiabot (Rufioh), Tavros (Cronus), and Eridan (Cronus again - cool Incest bro!).

Child Predation is a running theme in Homestuck. The foul conduct of the Alpha Trolls exhibit towards some of the Beta Trolls - Cronus, Meenah, and Rufioh in particular having preyed on 3, 2, and 1 minor(s) respectively and specifically - is simply another follow up on that. We see it with Bro Strider, who abused and neglected Dave so badly that Dave was constantly exposed to and involved in Fetish Pornography, we see it in Doc Scratch, who is directly called out as having a thing for young girls several times and was literally keeping a young girl as a slave, we see it in the Alpha Trolls. It is everywhere. It isn't meant to be looked away from for the sake of memes. The fact that those college age adults are creeping on literal middle schoolers is thematically relevant, and very in your face.

So, like, yes, the Alpha Trolls are still teenagers, but these are the oldest possible teenagers targeting the youngest possible teenagers. Again, this is College Students creeping on Middle Schoolers, and the text wants you to think this is disgusting. Because it is.

[orphiclovers]

Avatar - fundamentally broken skill?

This is a thing I have been thinking about. The way powers (skills, stigmas, whatever) work in the world of ORV is fascinating in that they are not designed to help the incarnation or adjust to their bodies like a classical superpower. It's repeated many times that the Star Stream is a cruel place, so of course it makes nothing easy on them. Just look at how many times Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung bleed when using their skills. Or how Anna Croft and Yoo Joonghyuk were destroyed mentally by their repeated lifetimes - don't even get me started on Regression.

And Avatar is one of the skills that is the most developed. I've talked about how manifesting it seemingly splits you in two (I recommend reading this previous meta before this post) but what does that split entail, exactly? Here's my theories.

1. Author/Character divide.

If we take 1863rd Yoo Joonghyuk as an example, it's very clear cut. The black coat wearing YJH would be the 'character' who stays and dies and the white coat wearing YJH would be the 'author' who choses to write another story. 'Character' used here in the sense that Kim Dokja would look at them and be able to see/assign them this metaphysical trait, as he does for everyone else.

With Kim Dokja, it is basically easy too. 51% is the author, while 49% is the character, probably.

Han Sooyoung is more difficult. I think since Kim Dokja looks at 1863rd and says she is already a 'character', while 3rd stays a person the whole time IIRC, 3rd would be the 'author' self, even if this seems counterintuitive and like it should be the opposite - this makes the most sense with the second part of this theory.

Technically every author (or reader - someone with the knowledge of the narrative) becomes a 'character' (i.e forgets everything) at some point as per Star Stream rules, but this has not yet happened to Han Sooyoung of the 3rd round.

Still, it's not a perfect fit. Both Han Sooyoungs write novels and neither Kim Dokja does (not that writing is 100% necessary to be an 'Author', since YJH is one and barely writes anything until the epilogue) But it's still an interesting connection to explore.

Onto the second part.

2. Does the divide into two...actually work long term, because it doesn't seem to, based on the evidence we have?

First, let's look at 49% Kim Dokja. Perhaps Kimcom would have accepted him as the real Kim Dokja, like they do with Han Sooyoung, if he didn't ACT like a wet paper towel. The detoriation in mental faculties is very apparent and jarring and soon he falls apart physically too. This doesn't happen to 3rd Han Sooyoung, who is also an avatar, so what gives?

Well, it might not happen to 3rd but definitely did to 1863rd Han Sooyoung.

A 'probability storm is gnawing at her memories' and there's physical effects too. She says this has been happening for a while. Even though she has found a way of slowing down the effects it clearly doesn't fix the issue and eventually, despite her resistance, she might have become like 49% Kim Dokja.

(Maybe that's why she was so ready to leave her companions after the scenarios were over. If rereading stuff helps, perhaps that's also why she kept a diary of her round that 3rd YJH eventually got? Just spitballing, this isn't part of the theory.)

She names two possible causes to this detorriation - exessive use of the Avatar skill or Ways of Survival. 'Ways of Survival' probably refers to the Star Stream rule that once you reach the end of your knowledge you forget you were an author and become a 'character', which 1863 justifiably doesn't want to happen. Later, Kim Dokja comments on her 'status as a character' too, so it is related to that.

With 'overuse of Avatar' she could be refering to the way she makes thousands of them in her mind, but if we look at 49% Kim Dokja and the way their sympthoms match pretty closely, it's likely also the fact that another her - the main body/'author' - is running around in another worldline.

So for these two it checks out that one of the halves is always unstable.

With 1863rd Yoo Joonghyuk, well, it's hard to tell how it would have gone, since black coat YJH dies almost immediately. But the very fact that his avatar didn't even make it a couple minutes is also pretty telling.

As previously stated, nothing is stopping a skill from being harmful for the user. So maybe, one half of the initial avatar pair gets the short end of the stick and ends up slowly disintegrating. That's the basics of this theory.

Technically 51% Kim Dokja disintegrates into the Star Stream too but it is by a different mechanism, unrelated to the Avatar skill. First, he overconsumes probablility and shrinks into a child - this happens to Secretive Plotter too, it's just a thing.

Then, he loses his memories and if Kimcom hadn't interviewed would have become the same exact child that SP takes away in the subway, so that was just the time loop asserting itself. Like alt-1863rd YJH losing his memories when regressing to the 3rd round, or 1863 Han Sooyoung going dormant in Young Han Sooyoung's mind on the day the scenarios start. (Each of these are the looping points of the universe for yhk.)

But something about the way 1863rd Han Sooyoung in those 13 years sheds pieces of her story to create TWSA is very reminiscient of how 51% Kim Dokja disintegrates into the Star Stream on that subway. So perhaps there is some kind of connection there too.

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders Viewers' Choice #31: Kadoc Zemlupus

today on Grailfinders, it finally happened. that’s right, it’s finally, finally, lupus. Kadoc Zemlupus, that is. the very first crypter we fight is a Monster Slayer Ranger to pick up some anti-beast specialties and his mystic codes, as well as a War Magic Wizard to use his wits more than raw magical power.

check out his build breakdown below the cut, or his character sheet over here!

Ancestry & Background

I know we were making the crypters reborn back when we did Ophelia, but we forgot about that entirely for wodime and honestly going with the lower-power option just works better for Kadoc, so he’s a Human too. that gives him +1 Dexterity & Intelligence, as well as proficiency in Survival to somehow never die and some freebies from the foreign god since he’s Shadow Touched. that bumps up his Wisdom as well, and gives him Invisibility and Cause Fear, both of which can be used once a day for free, or by using spell slots. did you know Kadoc has a stealth spell that he just never uses? it’s true!

he also has the same Foreign God Agent background as Ophelia (which I’m pretty sure is just faction agent), so he gets insight and intimidation proficiency. he was the first crypter we ever saw, so he was pretty scary until we had a frame of reference.

Ability Scores

we’re being a bit goofy this time around and using Point Buy to get the strengths and weaknesses we need, because we’re a little Multi Ability Dependent and spellcasters don’t get a lot of ASIs. so! first up, your Intelligence and Wisdom are all the way up at 15. mages be magin’. next, Dexterity is set at 13. this is both for multiclassing and because you don’t wear platemail and also aren’t dead. after that is Constitution. iirc Kadoc is the one we see walking the length of America in the simulated singularity montage, and while he’s complaining he also has the breath to complain, so he’s not bad. this all means your Strength and Charisma is at 8. Kadoc is a mage, which automatically applies a debuff to those two skills.

Class Levels

1. Wizard 1: I promise we’re not making Kadoc weaker on purpose, but he’s a mage so being a wizard first just makes sense.

as a wizard, you get proficiency in Intelligence and Wisdom saves, as well as Arcana and Investigation to be the mage society info guy for the audience. You also get a ton of Spells you can cast and prepare using your intelligence, all tied up in your handy-dandy spellbook. you get six spells now and two more every time you level up, plus whatever other spells you can copy down as you travel. as such, the spell list in the character sheet is more of a guideline than a a hard rule. mages will always take whatever gives them the best advantage in a situation, and so should you.

your cantrips are more set in stone though, so pick up Create Bonfire to set up camp, Message for the chaldea walkie-talkie, and one other cantrip of your choice.

on top of all that magic, your Arcane Recovery lets you recharge a few spell slots on a short rest up to a combined level total of half your wizard level rounded up. right now that’s 1 first-level slot, but by the time we’re done wizarding you’ll have enough recharge to get a third level spell, three first level spells, or one each of first and second level. say what you want about Kadoc in terms of power, but the man just refuses to die.

2. Wizard 2: second level wizards get their arcane specialty, and as a War Magic wizard you specialize in putting what you know into practice. you can use up your magical power for an Arcane Deflection, adding 2 to your AC or 4 to a saving throw as a reaction to being hit at the cost of not using leveled spells next turn. your Tactical Wit also lets you add your intelligence modifier to your initiative. going second makes people die, have you seen what Tametomo can dish out?

3. Wizard 3: third level wizards get second level spells. again, take what you want, though I will say Enhance Ability feels pretty mage-y. it gives you or an ally advantage on one kind of ability check for a minute, plus some extra bonuses if you pick a physical stat. it’s an all-rounder, and definitely pretty useful.

4. Wizard 4: use your first ASI to bump up your Intelligence. now your spells are stronger and you’re less likely to get ambushed by billy the kid. sorry, too soon?

5. Wizard 5: fifth level wizards get third level spells, and I will insist on you getting Counterspell. a running theme throughout Kadoc’s appearances as a master is that one of his skills blocks or severely weakens noble phantasms, so countering a big spell fits right in.

6. Wizard 6: sixth level war wizards can make a Power Surge. you start off with one surge at the end of each long or short rest, and you can gain extra by countering spells. once per turn, you can use a power surge to add three points of extra damage to one of your spells.

7. Ranger 1: swapping over to ranger gets you some skill with martial equipment, as well as the Survival skill. you also become a Natural Explorer of the Arctic to get around Chaldea and your lostbelt easier. again, I swear I’m not deliberately picking the worse options just to make Kadoc weaker. I wouldn’t blame you for not believing me, especially after we pick up Favored Enemy so he can track beasts better instead of the other thing. but look, favored foe only works on weapon attacks. I’m sure Kadoc’s good with a knife, but he’s still supposed to be a mage.

8. Ranger 2: speaking of being a mage, second level rangers can pick up a Fighting Style, and as a Druidic Warrior you can get two more cantrips from the druid class like Druidcraft and Guidance. this whole build’s just kind of generic good stuff spells until we get stuff from ranger.

speaking of getting spells from ranger, you get Spells from ranger this level! now you can cast Absorb Elements and Hunter’s Mark using your wisdom! just make sure you only use hunter’s mark on beasts.

9. Ranger 3: okay again, I swear I’m not picking up Primeval Awareness just to make Kadoc weaker. most of the primal awareness spells are pro-beast, which entirely defeats the point of anti-beast magic. besides, having one option is way less complicated in the long run.

third level rangers also pick their conclave this level, and as a Monster Slayer you get extra magic as you level up, starting with Protection from Evil and Good. a lot of celestial and demonic enemies are really just beasts with wings and horns when you think about it. you also get a Hunter’s Sense, letting you spend an action up to wisdom modifier times per day to learn a creature’s damage immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities. most beasts don’t really have any of those, but you never know!

more on-brand, you can mark a creature as your Slayer’s Prey as a bonus action, letting you deal extra damage to that creature with weapon attacks once a turn. again this is kind of getting away from maging, but it has other uses later. there’s no limits on what you can do with this one, aside from only having one prey at a time, and it only lasting until you rest.

also get Goodberry. is berry. is good. what are you, jokester?

10. Ranger 4: use this ASI to bump up your Wisdom for stronger spells. mages like spells, wild.

11. Ranger 5: fifth level rangers get a second attack, but more importantly you can now Find Traps! mechanically this spell is pretty useless, but it’s still something we’ve seen Kadoc do, so it’s gotta go here. you can also use Zone of Truth. we haven’t seen Kadoc use this one but it’s gotta be something mages can do, right?

12. Ranger 6: sixth level rangers get extra stuff from favored enemy and natural explorer. since we’ve already got beasts and your regular home turf we’ll expand with your greatest enemies and further adventures, i.e. the crypters/Guda and areas from lostbelt 7. so now you get a bonus to figuring out stuff about Humans and Dhampir, and have a bonus while traveling in Forests.

13. Ranger 7: seventh level slayers have a Supernatural Defense. whenever a creature marked by slayers prey makes you roll a saving throw, or an ability check to escape a grapple, you add a d6 to the roll. octopi are beasts, fuck octopi.

you can also cast Lesser Restoration, the closest thing D&D has to a debuff cleanse this low-level.

14. Ranger 8: use this ASI to bump up your Dexterity to start sooner and get a higher AC. you also gain Land’s Stride, letting you move through difficult terrain without issue and pretty much ignore dangerous plants. plants are not beasts, but beasts tend to hang out near them so… I guess it helps? you can go full clownfish and hide in a poisonous plant now, which is fun.

15. Ranger 9: ninth level rangers get third level spells, including our most directly offensive spell so far, Conjure Barrage. just so you have something, y’know? you also get Magic Circle, which sadly can’t summon any servants.

16. Ranger 10: tenth level rangers enter the next strata of Mictlan, the Grasslands, giving them all the natural explorer bonuses therein. you can also use Nature’s Veil as a bonus action to become invisible for a turn, proficiency times a day. see, we don’t always take the worse option!

17. Ranger 11: at eleventh level a monster slayer becomes a Magic-User’s Nemesis. when a creature casts a spell or teleports near you, you can react to counter it, forcing them to make a wisdom save against your spell save DC. you can use this once per short rest. sadly this technically doesn’t mingle with your power surges at all, but tbh I’d definitely allow it, it’s good flavor.

also you can use Barkskin now to not die even harder.

18. Ranger 12: use this last ASI to improve your Constitution for more HP and less dying.

19. Ranger 13: thirteenth level rangers get fourth level spells- Dominate Beast is about as anti-beast as one can get, and automatically puts you on PETA’s shitlist. you can also Banish creatures back to the planes they came from. again, save it for the animalistic monstrosities.

20. Ranger 14: at level 14 you can Vanish as a bonus action to hide, and it’s impossible to track you without using magic. everyone you’re fighting is a mage. fuck.

you also get one last boost in favored enemies, so now you can track Reborn and Halflings really well, covering every master build we’ve done so far.

Pros & Cons:

Pros:

Kadoc is pretty dang good at shutting down enemies when they try to do something too cool. he’s got counterspell and a ton of higher-level spell slots just gathering dust, plus his ranger ability if he ever runs out. sure, higher level enemies might just force a success, but that still removes one of their guaranteed saves.

as a ranger, Kadoc comes packed with a ton of out of combat skills that can come in handy during travel. I know a lot of games don’t care for survival elements, but when your party gets in a big chase or has to be somewhere before a deadline you’ll be thankful for that speed boost.

Kadoc ended up weirdly good at saving throws. all of the big three saves are relatively high, and you can boost them further with your slayer’s prey abilities too!

Cons:

Kadoc’s spells don’t do a lot of damage, at least the ones I picked. this one’s borderline since you can choose a lot of them for yourself, but it can still be an issue.

he also ended up being a lot more martial than I was really hoping for. I know rangers are supposed to be martial, but having several of their features only proc on weapon attacks really hurt the build overall. I’m sure Kadoc can use a knife in a pinch, but this was a bit much.

you have minimum Charisma, with almost no proficiencies to help out either aside from scaring people. thank goodness you hang out with Fujimaru all the time.

[nexkove]

[📖] Thoughts on Nesting Guide...

A silly lore post with my day 1 thoughts on our new seasonal guide!

Please don't take anything I say too seriously, this is all for fun!

Share your thoughts, I'm very interested!

Is this an excuse to make Nesting & Flight guide close friends?... Yes!

Discussing the Whale in the room...

Nesting Guide's ties to the Forest Elder

TL;DR: Nesting guide was a former apprentice of Forest Elder, due to them having a photo framed with the two & seemingly being more powerful than typical ancestors.

Now for typing's sake, I'll be referring to the Forest Elder as Teth.

I couldn't see it clearly in the trailer (nor in beta), but the photo framed of Teth and Nesting got my brain going wild with thoughts.

The first thought I've had is that Nesting was an apprentice of Teth, similar to how Flight was an apprentice of Ayin.

From the first cutscene after we revive them, they already seem more powerful than the other spirits; they're able to lift up seemingly heavy objects with barely any trouble (ESPECIALLY multiple objects at once.)

Nesting also seems to be able to spawn furniture items whenever, whether this is a game mechanic or not I don't know! But it's a fun idea to play around with.

That's basically my day 1 thoughts, I may come back and make more posts similar as the season goes on! 9CD wasn't all that interesting so I'm glad I can finally talk about a season like this again!

Now... Some final notes from me...

I don't think Teth and Nesting are related as iirc Elders and Ancestors are completely separate beings. I barely got to test this season in beta, so I'm fully blind on future quests (besides quest 2,) so some stuff may get debunked, but that's ok!! I'm just very excited to see another Spirit with close ties to an Elder. It makes me wonder if there's any other spirits with close ties. (I have more thoughts on that, that I may put in a separate post.)

Thanks for reading! Don't be shy to share any thoughts you have on this! Just please be civil.

[bonne-chanson]

I see Lippmann and I do a little happy dance!! I can't wait to see what you'll cook up for him :D

ME TOO i love the potential behind lippmann’s character sooo much !! i ended up giving him the second movement bc i think he embodies venus so perfectly for two reasons:

(1) iirc, both the first and second mvts are actually connected !! the composer himself stated once that venus “has to bring the correct answer to mars” or smth along those lines, so make of that what you will

i may or may not have lippmann’s one shot have some sort of connection to verlaine’s, but i’m def leaning towards having both stories be independent of each other mostly bc i want them both to have their own happy endings !! i’d really love to have them reference each other at some point however all bc i think lippmann is pretty much what verlaine feels like he would have been had he been born under different circumstances (probably explains why their character designs are so similar and why it was lippmann’s body verlaine decided to put in the trunk)

(2) alan leo called venus (from the suite) “the most fortunate star to be born” — it’s so fitting for lippmann <3

also, since he’s the negotiator for the PM, the movement’s subtitle “bringer of peace” seemed so right :> i tried to put a lot of thought into assigning each movement to a character i thought embodied the music well !!

[chipistrate]

I think more of the robots should be gay. tbh.

SO TRUE!!!

While Glam Fronnie is the only canon gay relationship between the robots, there's a lottt of queer robots :3 (Also in one of the books, GGY, the mc Tony is one of the gayest fucks I've ever seen- he only blushes once and it's at girls but trust me he is SOOOO gay he's so bisexual literally the bi-est guy in the world he describes his friends in detail and refers to them as attractive)

Anyways here's a list of all the queer animatronics(and a few humans) in fnaf (might miss a few but I'll do my best)(also I'm not counting the book characters)

Mangle of course, canonical he/she and his gender is described as 'yes'

Only referred to as 'he' in the games, but has been referred to as 'she' before in other stuff such a merch and I think it counts

I don't think I need to elaborate

Referred to with he/she/they (he/she in Sister Location, they/them in Help Wanted 2)

Referred to with they/them

I'm pretty this creature has been referred to with both he/him and she/her? I know they're referred to as a girl in the character encyclopedia, but I'm not entirely sure about the he/him bit

Referred to with it/he

This one is debated but I'm putting it here cause it's HEAVILY speculated that Mystic Hippo (right) is transfem Mr. Hippo (left)

Heavily implied to be transfem Foxy<3

HEAVILY heavily implied to be gay and in love

Referred to with he/they

Referred to with he/they/it

Referred to with whatever pronouns the person/thing it's copying uses, so its pronouns are very fluid meaning they could be gender apathetic/fluid. Though iirc, when its just Mimic it's referred to with he/they/it

Referred to with they/it

Referred with he in the games, she in the books, and voice is described as 'either a young boy or girl'

Implied to be transmasc

And putting these two here (Vanessa and Cassie) as honorable mentions cause you cannot look me in the eyes and tell me they're cishet

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals: Drunken Sailor

Man I've been waiting to get to this one!

Drunken Sailor was uploaded on the 12th of August, 2023, and like the other pirate-themed video Voiceplay did akmost two years prior, it features Jose Rosario Jr! It also features Matthew Buckner (aka "Bucky") in an acting role, as the "drunken sailor" that Voiceplay sing about. "Bucky" used to be a vocalist in "4:2:Five" for a while (iirc), and he's good friends with Geoff, and even helped with the choreography for Geoff's Monster Mash video! Just like Hoist The Colours, both the arrangement and video were done by Geoff (who also wrote an original bridge for the song! (genius that he is)), and he also co-directed the video (with Tony), and worked together with Eli on lighting design. This might be one of those posts where I get close to the picture-upload-maximum and have to start counting them just in case, but still, it would be for good reason! So let's go!

Group shot! Shoutout to Pattycake Productions for the set design!

I'm not sure if any of the group are wearing any of the same clothing pieces they wore in Hoist The Colours (I did a brief bit of visual comparison), but Jose, acting as the captain of this "ragtag motley crew" once more, is pretty close.

Also, Geoff is going with the bare-shoulders look again (we always stan), but so is Cesar! (Good For Him)

Not even 10 seconds in and I've already found a funnier-than-first-expected/realized screencap! I'm not sure whose face I love more here - Layne's or Geoff's 😂😂

Obligatory comment that Geoff was absolutely serving looks in this video! The subtle "guyliner" plus the light stubble and the black sleeveless shirt/tunic? I freaking live for it 👀👌

Jose staring right down the camera, and Cesar giving 110% as per usual 😄

Pfft XD

Crazy Eyes Layne back again! 😆

Also look at Eli's face! He's terrified by the story that Layne is 'telling'!

"I'll have that!" (also notice that when Layne makes the whale "eat"/bite the boat, Eli covers his head with his hands in distress! The Lore! The Lore!

PFFFT, if looks could kill! 🤣 (and the fact that he's still beatboxing the whole time really makes this 👌)

Voiceplay said in the comments (in a reply to someone) that "there were a few different takes of this shot, and this was the one where it looked the MOST like Layne was gonna burst into flame." I think they nailed it 😝😁

"Stick him in a scupper with a hosepipe bottom!"

Firstly, it sounds at least like Cesar is singing "hosepipe bottom", but the original line is "hosepipe on him". And despite what Cesar is implying with the wooden toilet seat, the line has nothing to do with toilets or bathrooms. A "scupper" is "an opening in the side walls of a vessel or an open-air structure, which allows water to drain instead of pooling" (according to Wikipedia). Ships have scuppers at deck-level, to allow for rainwater and/or seawater to drain off. So basically the line about "stick him in the scupper with a hosepipe on him" is about spraying the drunken sailor in question with a hose[pipe] (to try to sober him up with a dousing of cold water), in a part of the ship where the water can easily drain away afterwards.

"ew I can't believe I just touched that!"

Yes, that doll is definitely creepy, and I have no clue where Geoff got it from or what gave him the idea, but, according to Geoff in the comments section (comment from Voiceplay's channel, but it was almost definitely him who wrote it): "Her name is Clara and SHE HAS FEELINGS!" 😅

Also, the line "put him in the bed with the captain's daughter" probably isn't actually meant to be taken literally either. The main consensus that I've seen online is that "the captain's daughter" actually referred to a cat-'o'-nine-tails whip. (Not talking about the vocals or arrangement, I'm talking about song background/context! Which I've done before!)

EAR-LY IN THE M O O R R R N I I N N G G G

*YEET*

"Hey that's my cup!" (rip Eli)

Hey look it's the screencap my profile pic comes from! (And for good reason - Geoff is positively unhinged and Cesar's reaction is priceless 🤣)

Also apparently Geoff holding a wooden spoon while singing "I'm gonna carve his heart out" is a reference to the 1991 movie Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves. "Why a spoon, cousin? Why not an axe?" "Because it's dull, you twit. It'll hurt more!"

"And we should make him listen to Voiceplay while we do it!" "You... are a monster"

(I freaking died laughing first time I watched this bit, also look at Eli's smug grin! 😂)

Have I mentioned that he's gorgeous and I love him?

This video is really just pure unbridled/chaotic fun. It's the best 😁

Cesar twerking! Get it!

It took me an embarassingly long time to release that Geoff isn't actually sitting down in this shot here; he's kneeling instead 😅

Also note that while Layne, Eli, Cesar, and Geoff all freeze into place (in what is apparently sometimes known as a "tableau shot", Jose doesn't, instead doing a little bit of fourth-wall-breaking to give the audience a lighthearted half-shrug 😄

And no, I haven't forgotten the "bonus scene"!

"HEY! Hey, I'm not drunk!"

I'm just tired, because you simpletons been singing all night!"

(Also ayyy another Eli Eyebrow Raise!)

"Wey, hey, and up she rises. Wey, hey, and up she rises. Wey, hey, and UP she rises! Ear-ly in the morn... ONCE AGAIN!"

Aaaaand I've officially hit image limit! At least I did make some attempts to be conservative with screenshots! 😅

This cover is utterly fantastic - all the silliness of "Classic Voiceplay", with the serious skills and high-quality video production of "Modern Voiceplay"! The video is hilarious, the cover is ridiculously creative, and really it just highlights all of the things to love about each person in the video, visually/performance-wise and vocally!

Not many Voiceplay videos left for me to make posts about now, but there are certainly still ridiculously-amazing things to come, so stay tuned!

[m1lkyw4yw1sh3z]

Rotating that elevator in our brain <3 We have SO many worldbuilding thoughts sldkfjsf Anyway here's a collection of various general hcs that apply both to our AU and our interpretation of Regretevator in general :)

First off imo it seems like most of the different floors are entirely separate dimensions?? The various NPCs are all so drastically different from each other, not to mention some floors are references to/locations from other games entirely. It'd just make the most sense to us if the elevator was an interdimensional entity.

On the surface it seems like there's no rhyme or reason to who gets access to the elevator, or what worlds it travels to, but in our interpretation it tends to go after people who fall under two categories: 1. they have some abnormal/otherworldly quality that makes them stand out compared to the rest of their own dimension, and 2. they're holding onto some regrets (ha because regretevator)

Once someone fits those criteria, they receive an anonymous invitation in the mail containing the number corresponding to their floor, and the elevator starts appearing somewhere near them. Perhaps a new door appears in their house, or the entire elevator itself just materializes in a remote area, it's a coin toss.

Some people never decide to investigate, which is why many floors have no elevator NPCs associated with them. However, curiosity often gets the best of them anyway...

More below this post is getting long sldkfj

Some floors are just different locations in the same world, and as time passes this becomes more common of an occurrence due to the elevator causing otherworldly vibes :tm: to spread. For example: Two Stud Camp, 3008, and Infected Apartment were originally just normal locations all on Earth.

Unfortunately the elevator's dimension-warping energy/technology is very unstable (hence its frequent malfunctions, inability to properly assess whether it is at capacity or not, the tendency for NPCs like Mozelle or Jaoba to enter in-between floors etc.) so it tends to contaminate worlds it accesses very easily.

Due to this, some floors also exist as "pocket dimensions" hidden within other worlds, like the Gumball Machine in the Hotel Floor. A lot of the liminal space floors in this AU are examples of these pocket dimensions! You take a wrong turn, open the wrong door, and end up wandering in a slightly Off version of the building you were originally in....

Also, time doesn't pass normally within the elevator, meaning it can still serve as instantaneous travel from place to place despite the fact that all of the buttons are broken and rarely take you directly where you want to go. The time distortion sometimes bugs out, which can cause travelers to see strange things, like echoes of their own previous trips to the elevator....

In this AU, the INTERNET ITSELF is also an otherworldly creation like the elevator, able to span across dimensions if you know where to look. Several characters from different worlds met each other online before they ever gained access to the elevator to be able to meet in person. Ex: our headcanon that Infected met PartyNoob and Split online pre-elevator.

The reason why we assume Infected Apartment and similar floors to be on Earth is because iirc the devs said that Infected is based on old roblox roleplay games, which tended to simulate normal everyday things in society. Like living in a city, having a job, etc. Robloxian "humans" from Earth are distinct from beings like PartyNoob or Pest.

That being said, most "humans" who manage to gain access to the elevator are uh. No longer human by the time they do....

[jack-merlyn]

Posting here instead of my main cuz it's my writing blog

Brain is on hour 12 of a debilitating migraine but I've been thinking a lot and trying to work out the interpretation of Swan Upon Leda

To my understanding, there could be multiple explanations, so I'll share my first impressions/thoughts from when I listened while following along with written lyrics, then my impressions/thoughts from after doing a bit of research into the aspects of the song

Impression two will be in a reblog

Any questions posed are purely rhetorical unless otherwise specified

Impression one:

A husband waits outside

Where is he waiting?

Outside a room/Or outdoors

Who is he waiting for?

Perhaps a partner

Or perhaps for something sadder (it's said to be a song about reproductive rights so maybe a wife and/or child) that didn't survive pregnancy and so he's waiting for some news outside a Dr office, or even outside for a funeral procession

A crying child pushes a child into the night

First impressions were that a little kid who was lost or recently orphaned was pushing their baby sibling in a stroller, trying to find shelter or help

This opinion will change in pt 2 as will quite a few thoughts

She was told he would come this time

Without leaving so much as a feather behind

Who is he? Where is he coming to/from?

A feather. Is it referring to a calling card, or something else?

To enact at last the perfect plan

A plan for what?

At first I thought this song was in relation to Palestine, so a plan to eradicate them, as zionists have been doing?

One more sweet boy to be butchered by man

Another child in a war-torn country killed

Or another child soldier, forced to serve, and have his innocence stripped as he watches the horrors unfold, caused by a (hu)man

But the gateway to the world

Was still outside the reach of him

Would never belonged to angels

Had never belonged to men

I didn't really understand this part at first

Maybe that Earth never truly belonged to humans, but certainly not to any celestial being?

What does "the gateway to the world" refer to?

The swan upon Leda

Empire upon Jerusalem

At first I thought swan upon Leda was a place, or perhaps a monument

Empire upon Jerusalem sort of solidified my thoughts that this could be referring to Palestine, as zionists have made it the capital of their "country"

Empire of the zionists upon stolen land

A grandmother smuggling meds

A lot of items have become illegal in Palestine. Perhaps this is in the West Bank, where she has to snuggle medication for a family member or risk something worse happening. But she can't get caught because it is illegal

Past where the god child-soldier Setanta stood dead

Who is Setanta?

What is a god child-soldier? Is Setanta a child of the gods forced to be a soldier in human land?

Is Setanta a godchild of a soldier and standing there, killed in the line of duty? And recently, which is why they are still standing?

Stood dead: how did they die? Are they actually standing or is it a metaphor?

Our graceful turner of heads

Weaves through the checkpoints like a needle and thread

"graceful turner of heads" who? Is it a commentary on the grandmother's appearance, still beautiful despite her age?

Whose heads are turning and why?

"weaves through the checkpoints" this too felt like a reference to Palestine. Her disguise to help her smuggle meds clearly working as she is "weaving through" which iirc means to pass through quickly and smoothly

Someone's frightened boy waves her on

She offers a mother's smile, and soon she's gone

A child, or young man, forced to war early, he is scared of what he's seen. But he lets her pass

"a mother's smile" she may understand he didn't choose this. A mother is usually comforting and reassuring, and he is scared

"and soon she's gone" she made it through the checkpoints, and can now go to her family once more

The gateway to the world

The gun in a trembling hand

"the gateway to the world" the checkpoints to get outside of their oppressive existence, locking Palestinians in their small strips of land to isolate them

"gun... trembling hand" the soldier (presumably) is scared. He sees a possible danger and holds his gun, but couldn't do anything out of fear. Most likely a child-soldier

Where nature unmakes the boundary

The pillar of myth still stands

No matter how many checkpoints are put up, nature will always take over. Be it through water or earth or plants, etc

"pillar of myth" what is the myth referring to? The pillar: is that what's upholding the myth? Perhaps the myth of the beliefs that the oppressors have

The swan upon Leda

Occupier upon ancient land

Okay so the swan is the occupier (zionists) and Leda is the occupied/the ancient land (Palestine)

Ancient land - Palestine

The gateway to the world

Was still outside the reach of him

I still don't really understand this part

Outside the reach of who?

Was Setanta a child-soldier to guard the oppressed, or to help them? Thus "gateway" (checkpoints), "was still outside the reach of him" (he couldn't cross to the other side to leave)

Would never belonged to angels

Had never belonged to men

This part still confuses me too

Conclusion of impression one

[heart-wit-strength]

Yeah it’s almost Sad how Ivy and Maddie weren’t given bigger roles to play while Freaking JEREMY who Literally DIED once back in Season 1 was given an episode in Season 3B.

along with Toad to Redemption’s continuity and slight world building that went Nowhere with, accept making Toadstool nicer (which I could care less about imo) Jacinda, Bog, Fens, and Mire being cast out of the show never to be seen again. Least a short reference in the series finale time skip. God they could've been good side villains during Sasha and Grime's time protecting Wartwood, even a parallel with how Grime used to be Vs Bog and Jacinda hwo would refernce what they Used to be.

iirc Toad to Redemption was to address how toads were just as much oppressed in the caste system as the frogs were, followed by the rebellion. Sooo ig it gets a point for that.

But yeah could've absolutely been a good parallel to have Grime against his old tower mates and the bully he used to be, maybe a bit on what came to the formation of the Resistance.

S3b feels like it made a genuine attempt at bringing back elements from previous seasons, but as you already stated, there could've been better choices. The only good one I could think of is Domino 2 moth probably.

But as blunt as it is, i couldn't care less for Jeremy's plant cult, or Sasha's Angels being about Toadie finally snapping. Or idk Sasha's arc of forgiveness being associated with the two random olms from s2 literally no one even remember, and not Percy and Braddock instead who btw absolutely deserved better and a conclusion in Sasha's story arc after how she changed, but ig not all the things you let go makes its way back to you (shrugs)

[2dkapsddr]

December 15th (and 14th!), 2024 - Arcaea, Phigros, SDVX EG, WACCA Reverse, IIDX 32, GITADORA GALAXY WAVE, CHUNITHM SUN

another day, another... arcade session day? well, kinda? while i didn't have any exclusive plans to visit the arcade today, i was planning on going with my friends to the arcade for our very first meetup in what felt like ages!!! however, that meetup wasn't scheduled until the evening, so i'd have to make do with my devices until then . and that's exactly what i did in the case of arcaea, resulting in finally getting... FLUFFY FLASH (FTR-9+, MAX-37) as FTR PM #215!!!

it was a great score indeed, but the downside was that i accomplished it at ~6 AM when i had stayed up until ~2 AM the night before, meaning i really needed to catch up on my Z's after getting that score, which i did! once i woke up, i felt even more energized than i was when i got that score, but since i'd pretty much ran out of arcaea stamina... i spent it instead on phigros and catching up on my Middle Chart grind that i had abandoned a while ago!!! i got through the Rhythm Master pack's middle charts and the first four charts of Chapter 5, which ended in me unlocking Spasmodic by complete accident!! but i couldn't get a Phi on Spasmodic before my phone died, and that's when i decided i'd stop playing phigros for the day, so all i have to show for the marathon today is this Phi on Sonshin ~The Guru~ [HD Lv.11]

well, wouldya look at the time!! in between phigros and leaving for the friend meetup, i spent most of my time writing that December 14th post and all the super long, super crazy stuff that happened that day . but it was taking too long, and i needed something to engage my fingers a little more so i could stop making typos while writing the post. that led me to get an itch for playing vivid/stasis, which i then did, and i immediately proceeded to go off with this massive jump from SS to V rank on execution_program [FINALE 16] !!!

but alas! time indeed went by fast, and before i knew it i was actually Late to the meetup as opposed to being the first one there (especially given it was one of my favorite places to go...) . i grinded out my remaining arcaea stamina on the super long 20-min bus ride there, but didn't really get any notable scores on it (because . well. bus) besides progressing further in the Absolute Nihil unlocks! to the disappointment of my friends, i did indeed arrive rather late, and so the meetup probably wasn't as long as they'd hoped by a half hour... but nevertheless, i greeted my friends (including one friend that i hadn't seen since pre-covid iirc?), watched them play voltex for a bit, and then we wandered around the arcade doing whatever came to mind!!!

i'll save most of the details for my personal journal writing spree, as none of them really include anything regarding rhythm games or the like and we just caught up with what good friends we were during our middle school years :] but there was still rhythm gaming to be had in the form of SDVX plays while my friends either played SDVX as well, or just sat and chilled or gambled with the cranes at the arcade as we waited for another friend of ours to be free . gave the weekly score attack song, snow storm -euphoria- [EXH 17], a few tries that didn't really lead anywhere as i kept forgetting how to play the chart, but then when our dear friend came over for a split second... i tried Bi [MXM 18] once again to show off the Sheer Comedy of this game and managed to upscore it!!!

we went over to the above-ground section of the arcade to play the wider selection of rhythm games they had (wacca, taiko, iidx the works), and i got the idea to do some wacca/iidx versus matches with each other!!! unfortunately the local versus play on wacca didn't work, but we still had fun starting the same chart simultaneously and seeing how close the scores between my two other friends were!!! ...and as you can see below, i'm not referring to the third friend who was a decently seasoned rhythm gamer... (songs in the IIDX image: COSMIC V3LOCITY [SPH-10] and Mesmerizer [SPH-9])

and now, for a brief GITADORA spree!!! it's been so long since i played this game, but holy hell it's just as fun as i remembered... even more fun than before, actually!!! i felt like i'd gotten way better at the game recently, and that demonstrated itself in the incredible accuracy/high-level clears that i hadn't gotten before... maybe i could dedicate a little more time to this game in future sessions?? i have only really been leeching off free credits after all, except for today...

but alas! after a long while of rhythm gaming, crane game gambling, and waiting around for the fifth friend to join our pack... she was finally free!!! and we were reunited for the first time in ages!!! it was beautiful, but then we decided to make it even better via challenging each other in SDVX Megamix Battles!!! knowing the sheer gap between me and my friends (i don't even wanna sound cockyyyy i just don't think it'd be fun for them to face me with my level LOL), i stood back and watched, gave encouragement most of the time that they were playing... but one of my friends (probably the second best/most dedicated of the bunch) challenged me anyways, and as expected, i kindaaaa maaaybeeeee BLEW HIM OUT OF THE WATER LIKE HOLY HELL LMFAO . of course, i do feel kinda bad for him about it, but what can i say?? you come at the king, you best not miss!

aaand that concluded the meetup!! we took a group photo, chatted together a bit more, figured out who would go back home with who, and bid our farewells as we headed back to rest up for the night (excluding me LOL) . but i guess while there's plenty of free space for images remaining and nothing else to put down here... i'll just share the cut scores from yesterday's session that i couldn't fit in the earlier post due to the image limit!!!

[radi0activec0smos]

part 2 to that doodle spam post which I absolutely could've done as a reblog but like. cmon. why would I do that. do I look like someone who uses logic to you? /hj

(once again under a read more cuz I don't want to like take up massive chunks of space)

First of all THESE two doodles I didn't get to fit into the og post - surprise bitches, im also a cookie runner (though I'm not really that active, even less so in the fandom, so, like. do with that as you will). also yes I got infected with the "give blorbos pointy ears" disease and it's exactly one friend's fault /pos

And now: style change :3 @starlightlamplighter mildly encouraged me to share the doodles I did in their style so bestie here's also your time to shine

and of course we start with gay people real because why not

iirc THIS doodle with Mur and @starlightlamplighter's Ryuva was what really sent me properly into cementing her style into my styleset as well :] (I still remember when she ended up encouraging me to use it more often and I have to say it's REALLY fun to use)

Okay, context behind these four: I massively headcanon that Wounded Warrior (who I refer to as Mur or Murtagh) may have defected from Eden/wherever the fuck Resh's army may have been situated or whatever and rejoined the war effort on Tsadi's side, mainly because of the symbol on their chestplate and the fact that there's the sun shield in their memory. These doodles are set both during their time in Eden and during their escape.

And to top it all off, more gay people (which is actually from this month!)

[airdeari]

* his allergy is tomatoes and if he smells ketchup he will get red and sniffly. once we went to NYC to see a show and he had a spoonful of soup at a restaurant that probably used a vegetable stock with tomato and only through the power of sheer determination and heavy breathing did we go see the show instead of going to the emergency room. as far as I know, he does not carry an epipen, despite this and also the plane incident. do you know how many foods have tomatoes in them, it's insane. I do though. I have to

† it was trivial pursuit. iirc he got the answer very confidently wrong and subsequently his teammate engaged him in a retributive scuffle

‡ it didn't start that way; he was a junior in class with all seniors at a college where the spring semester didn't end until mid-June. to stay competitive with the job market, seniors were allowed to graduate and leave their classes mid-May with the marks that they had thusfar. rather than write off the class for the singular junior remaining, the professor continued the (either 8 or 9am) class for another month with only my father in attendance by pulling up a desk alongside his and drilling him on the content. the course was music appreciation

** it is a ranked list of baseball umpires by their accuracy percentage when calling pitches at home plate, adjusted for standard deviation, which he cross-references every time he attends a baseball game

†† seeing as he is undiagnosed obviously this is not necessarily Fact™, but the sibling who runs her own clinic as a licensed therapist recently confided that, now that they are out of the '60s and '70s, a lot of things make much more sense if she considers that her brother has been autistic this whole time. also literally he's so autistic did you read about the spreadsheet

[phantom-does-a-thing]

will. bestie. i have a question thats been in my head for days but i keep forgetting to ask.

whats the flesh dimension and how bad should i be to get sent there. please. i wanna go to the flesh dimension

ok so I feel like the flesh dimension bit has way more context than it actually should. And that context went on in like a million paragraphs so I'm gonna put it under a cut bc it got so incredibly long. There is a lot of backstory behind the flesh dimension part and what's funny is there could be about 2 or 3 contexts behind this that I could explain. I always seem to come back to different flesh dimensions, but bc ik ur referring to what my discord status has been I will explain why it is that

Basically the other day my partner was streaming for me a new game that they had bought for 7 dollars bc they had seen some screenshots of the game and thought it was interesting. Song of Saya. It's an insanely weird and slightly disturbing Japanese (I believe it is from Japan iirc) visual novel that if it tells you anything I think RIGHT off the bat it gave you the option to turn the gore graphics off or adjust how bad you want the gore. And because I am evil evil evil, I told my partner not to turn the gore off at all.

Anyway. This Game. is So gory. It's awful, it's like so gross and I wish I got to see it in all it's glory but I was stuck seeing it through the few pixels that a discord stream allows me to see. Anyway the basic plot of the game that I understood (bc my partner only played like two hours of it for me before I had to go) is that this dude got into an accident and received an experimental brain surgery or some sort of neurological surgery/treatment. This guy is also a medical student, I hate the main protagonist tbh and Saya who is NOT the main protaganist but she is also there and I also hate her. The plot of this game is insane.

Anyway, the surgery messed up this dudes brain so horribly that now he is stuck in a nightmare flesh hellscape, what me and my partner have dubbed the "flesh dimension" So every person that this dude talks to all his previous friends and anyone he knows is transformed into these disgusting fleshy blobs of gore and viscera as well as everything is literally COVERED in gore and organs and flesh and by covered I mean things have now become gore. It affects all of his senses so smell, taste, hearing, sight, touch, he is essentially in every single way but literal (even though it is real to him) he is in a flesh dimension. And obviously because hes in a flesh dimension he starts to become a real prick bc all his friends just see him from the outside perspective and he is rapidly fighting every urge to like freak out and just explode.

So yeah, he became a prick bc of the flesh dimension or whatever and so yeah, he's a naughty boy that gets put in the flesh dimension. He also like VIOLENTLY rejected his friends love confession and just like threw in her face how much he hated her how much her voice and appearance made him sick (bc flesh world stuff) and how he couldn't stand being by any of them. Which yeah.

Saya is also the only "human" being that he can see. so she just looks like a normal person to him and he met her in the hospital when he was recovering and she now lives with him and eats people but he doesn't know that. He also can eat people and they actually taste GOOD for once bc everything else in the flesh world tastes disgusting. Me and my partner assume that she is actually the flesh monster that looks normal to him bc he's in the flesh world.

it's a super interesting game and a super interesting plot and like. I would put screenshots but like THATS how gross and gory it is at least from what I could see from my bad quality discord stream that I was lovingly subjected to. It's also a really weird game style bc its like not really a game you're just watching the entire thing, it's just a visual novel there's no choices or decisions you're just playing through the story, you have no affect on it. So it's a really weird game system that I feel like I've never seen before, but yeah, it's super interesting and I really like it. No idea where my partner got it from tho so idk where to play it.

me and my partner are matching statuses btw

Some notable quotes that really solidify the watching experience: "you have to go to a taylor swift concert in the flesh dimension" "Maybe the flesh dimension is a trans allegory" "his pathetic flesh world swag has bewitched her in body and soul" "dont cry it just makes you uglier" (I cant remember if I was quoting the game but I did say this and scared my partner bc they thought I meant that towards them) "Secret nurse? shes like twelve and also a flesh monster" So to answer your question: you have to get experimental nerurosurgery and or just be a general massive prick to your friends to get sent to the flesh dimension. Or hmu for more options to get sent to the Flesh World dw about the cost

[tonydaddingham]

Longwinded anon again, with an observation and a palate cleanser:

The observation: Enlarging and altering the role of the Metatron (mostly swapped out for Gabriel in S1) moves GOOD OMENS straight into Pullman's HIS DARK MATERIALS territory. It's not relevant to how the plot for S3 was originally conceptualized, but GO and HDM occupy an overlapping space in other ways as critiques of the Christian fantasy tradition, particularly C. S. Lewis.

Palate cleanser: I caught at least three moments in S2 where Gaiman & Finnemore incorporated either episodes from the original novel or, in one case, a deleted script sequence. One is a direct transposition and the other two are analogical. Did anyone spot any others?

The transposition: Aziraphale's and Crowley's dialogue about poverty and virtue in the 1827 minisode, which has been moved up several centuries from the medieval setting in the novel. Notably, Aziraphale adjusts his behavior after this experience, which he doesn't in the novel. (His willingness to forgive Maggie's rent entirely could be interpreted as one of the outcomes of 1827.)

Analogical scene #1: Aziraphale politely but firmly Jedi mind-warping the two men in the Edinburgh cemetery after they threaten him. It replaces the rightly deleted "Aziraphale meets the neighbours" scene in S1, where we see Aziraphale getting the local gangsters out of his shop by doing the same thing. Rightly deleted because, besides stopping the plot dead, it fires the Chekhov's gun about Aziraphale's ability to get himself out of trouble without Crowley's assistance much too early.

Analogical scene #2: Nina's and Maggie's lecture to Crowley about not fooling around with people's love lives. It replaces Adam's more cosmic-level warning about "messing about" in the original novel, but with the same point--namely, that it's immoral for Heaven and Hell to manipulate free will for their own ends.

hi Longwinded Anon✨

observation: i like this comparison, and a lot of the themes in HDM from what i recall (read it once and a fair while ago) reflect somewhat what i said in a previous post about responses to power, and finding the distinction between bowing to a higher power, and exercising the power within oneself (whatever form that might take). and, imo, it offers up whether the transference, or at least rediscovery, of the true source of that power means the redundancy of the higher being or institution, or the validation of it.

LWA, you mention lewis, so therefore id hazard a guess that tolkien might have been similarly part of the critique source pool? but then again; "there was more than one power at work, beyond any design of the ring-maker" runs very parallel to how i feel about the introduction of the metatron and the machiavellian role they seem to pose now in the story. the story as to what role metatron might have played in the disappearance - reluctance? hiding? - of god is one im excited to see be potentially shown in s3.

palate cleanser: putting this out there to everyone; i am due my fifth s2 rewatch today, so will keep this challenge in mind.

question though LWA - in your opinion, where does the lockdown minisode sit in relation to your observation about analogical scene #1 (ie the saviour complex dilemma)? iirc, gaiman neither confirmed nor denied that the phonecall was part of canon, but given the reference to aziraphale getting himself out of danger (however unconventionally) in the clip, do you think we ought to take this as canon given that it would have also fired the gun too early... or take this as an indication that funnily enough, when not in proximity to crowley and therefore not able to defer to his tendency to allow himself to be saved, aziraphale is perfectly capable of defending himself?