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Thinking about them normal amount rn

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my gf got us matching keychains and she carries her optimus like that...

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"ace attorney is set in japan" this, "ace attorney is set in usa" that. ace attorney is set in poland bc pisowski kryzys trybunału konstytucyjnego i sądu najwyższego is clearly what they're referencing by the whole "dark age of the law" thing. eat your schabowy apollo

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PLAY PSYCHOPOMP!! (also click for better quality) I adore this game. I adore everything about it. It touched me in a very uncomfortable, squirmy way, it reminded me of things I forgot. It's such an odd experience, even if at gameplay core, it's technically just walking around, with ocassional hammering and puzzles/keyhunt. But that's all it needs. That's all it needs to show it's strange world. It was such an important experience to me this year and it's hard to understand for me why.

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I love the detail of Eve's horns piercing her eyes in her monster form, care to explain some of the symbolism? I'm very curious about your tboi AU, the designs are great

adkjhfk thank you, I'm glad you like it!! I think I mentioned it already, but I was worried it's gonna be too unsubtle and such.

I'm not sure if you meant symbolism of Eve specifically, or the AU in general, so I'm just gonna yap about both?? I hope that's okay??

Essentially the entire idea behind the AU is that Isaac died. No one seen that coming. And before he can ascend to Heaven he is sent to Purgatory. Thing is, Isaac is unaware that he's dead, for the time being. The people he meets in Purgatory are all actually parts of himself - his feelings, his anxieties, his hopes. So he has to 'help' figure things out, because that's actually just him accepting why he felt/thought certain why, better why it was okay to just do that in his circumstance. The illusion starts breaking when he meets certain characters (specifically Forgotten, ???, Lost, Cain and Maggy), but that's for Act 2 of the story so to speak, so for now that's the gist of it. I think what I wanna do with this AU is just explore how a child would navigate such trauma and why would they show certain behaviors. I think a 'tboi au' is just a safe way to explore this for me specifically.

Eve is one of characters that represent negative behaviors in Isaac, but is also one of the more 'feelings-based' character. I think I gave her a title of Self-Loathing, because she is essentially the disdain Isaac feels towards himself for being such a horrible person (he really isn't). So with her human design I went for emo-ish fashion, it just made the most sense to base her around that subculture, especially that it's something Isaac's mom would probably disapprove of, continuing the cycle of self-hatred. Also this is cheeky, but I made her a smoker solely for the 'smoking kills' bit. Yeah she still self harms """"traditionally""""" and this is something Isaac recognizes also, but ya know. A little extra. Her bird (Seth) is also manifestation of the self-loathing and doubts, just more physically and literally, where it pecks everyone. I think the 'whore' design is fairly simple, it's just anguish, bare and exposed.

Oh also the matter of her being trans. Uh. Well she just is. No, but fr, I wanted to keep the theming of a mother, but also wanted to add her another reason to dislike herself (not being able to physically have kids)/ Unsure if Isaac would be able to put that together, but since he's already queercoded, I think it's only fair some parts of him are also queer (there will be more queer characters down the line).

I think that's all??? Sorry if it's not what you meant at all, that AU idea is still fairly new to me personally since it just started as 'haha silly designs' but I hope it's a sufficient answer???

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Demon form + yapping under the cut (cw for nudity and sh scars)

hiiiii its me again!! Ik I technically already did Eve design but didn't like it. So here's a new one lol. It's a pretty big overhaul considering this time around I actually had an idea outside of 'woman isaac's mom would disapprove of'. Again, since all characters are part of Isaac, one could say personification of the little things and traits, Eve takes the role of self loathing he experiences, she is the want to get hurt, the worst coping mechanism. Also made her trans because I just had a vision (it makes more sense i promise). As for the demon form I wanted to combine symbolism of the dead bird (which iirc edmund used in his old comics as 'self-doubts and self-destructive toughts') as well as classical biblical association with a snake. I hope the horns piercing her aren't too on the nose but that thing happens to some animals, kinda fucked up. Aight, that's all I have to say for now, until next time or whatever

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Bethany ref!! For now the refs I'm doing will not include tainted chars, because that's for later tee hee. But yes Bethany. Frankly I just really wanted to create her in spirit of a 'stereotypical christian girl' because I adore that trope (and observed it multiple times irl). In the story she will be like. Primary ally to Isaac, she will be the first one to meet/find him and will act like a 'guardian' (something something, symbolic of how isaac uses basically only his faith to stay sane in an abusive household. Also I want her to fail multiple times, because one cannot keep up off faith alone). But yeah she's a sweet girl, rather simple. Probably something of a 'comfort character' to isaac, perhaps wish fullfillment of how he wants to be?? Idfk.

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cw for nudity/blood/yapping under the crop (oh and also tumblr tanking quality for some reason, death)

Yahooo I didn't draw ANYTHING tboi related in like!! A while!! What uni does to a mf.

uhhh ive been thinking about designs and it kinda spiraled into an au? I won't yap about it here, I'll do that later, buuuut yeah. oops. Anyways Lilith in that au is kinda symbolic of a different mother figure (that isn't maggy) to isaac. Like. I guess he heard of Lilith and wanted to make something out of it, but also couldn't bring himself to make her a bad mom? Because that would force him to self reflect on his own home-life and he's not doing that, bro's 5?? So yeah, just kinda ran with that kind of take. Also Lilith's dress is inverted mom's dress on purpose, mostly because I didn't want to draw her with tits out, mostly. Also bit of unrelated demon/incubus lore because isaac strikes me as a type of kid to like... make a whole ass world surrounding his characters they can't just exist in the void. And it's totally not a way for him to express that he feels bad for wanting to leave his mom, because poor dude doesn't understand mistreatment. But yah that's it for now, wanted to draw isaac intercting with lilith but it's late, im tired. Maybe I'll do it later, when better explaining what I wanna do with these... things. Au??? Whatever.

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g1 is glorious actually

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it's so wild to me that you absolutely cannot force a hyperfixation to happen. like you'll watch the most perfectly tailor-made-for-you content that everyone says you'll love and feel absolutely nothing, and then the thing you watch on a whim to fill time will reach through the screen and put its damn fingers in your brain and start rearranging the neurons right in front of you and every single time you're like THIS??? THIS??????? and this happens like every 6-12 months forever

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hello let's have a friendly scholarly debate ala academic and protégé

i definitely feel some choices were rather weak, the beast bite could have been his own consequence due to actions he took, but there's definitely a more realistic (somehow, in our werewolf story) feeling to the "wrong place, wrong time", as that is, indeed, how most tragedies are, but an action and consequence would be far more satisfying narratively, and his scholar aspects were woefully underutilized by this narrative too, besides a concoction section that i don't even think is possible to fail, while sarmenti's second fight leaves you on 9 stress intentionally, so every move feels like a tense "oh no what if i did this wrong"

the choice to use damian as the torturer is one im absolutely behind, we see one of the torturers escape in the original comic and i love the "oops! all damian!" aspect of where the story's going, even if it does loop back around into comedic rather than tragic, for me at least, and gives further reason for his discharge from the church if he's similar to the fanatic in his zealous violence (i.e. beyond the control of the church)

they definitely failed to utilize him being a scholar like alhazred or paracelsus and did go for the cheapest option (wrong place wrong time), but it's, technically, the most realistic. however, i think the reason it feels as weak as it does is entirely due to the lack of narrative curiosity on what the creature was, so we're not left strung along by subtle hints, it's just "it bit him and now he's a Beastie". there's also a failure to go into the nature of what he has, with how it appears that this is a transmissable disease rather than curse or concoction, especially with the academic's own trapped abomination in his study

they do, however, do very well with spectacle, and the cutscenes did absolutely get my heart pumping, plus the moment of being sure you failed only to see "RESIST" become your only option was absolutely wild in the moment, even if the initial fight leading up felt less polished than, say, either of dismas' fights. it seemed to be purely a buildup to that spectacle of the transformation, which is understandable in a way, but still, as a paid dlc, then i'd want even the less important segment (human segment) to be just as tense as sarmenti's and just as well done as dismas'

overall? i think it is of a decent quality, with high quality animations and fun barks and personality, but the story is, unfortunately, quite weak to get there, even if i did enjoy it for the most part.

what do you think?

(Hi, I just wanted to say thank you so much for sending me this ask, it made me really happy and excited, since it gave me the opportunity to yap a lot. I agree with a lot of you say and you did make me rethink a couple of matters so thank you for that! I still wanted to share some of my insights, so I'm sorry if this is a little disorganized/chaotic.)

True I would not mind The Beast manifesting due to bite if it was a consequence of something. Yes, one could argue him wandering into the moor with no safety precautions is the consequence, but that's about as brutal as telling a child they got ran over by a truck while riding their bike because they did not wear a helmet. Really, I feel The Beast gets introduced too fast. I know they've only got 5 chapters to cover important story aspects, but I feel the story would flow better if it started with an introduction of who Bigby is/what he does (like how Sarmenti's story introduces him as a busker, how Audrey's story introduces her as freshly wed into money and how Paracelsus is introduced as a daring student, etc.) I believe that would also lean better into wrong place, wrong time if we still went with "well he just got bit while gathering herbs", because then by chapter 2 he would be in grave danger already - like first chapter we get a serene introduction to his alchemical woes and such and second chapter you get a sudden catastrophe - which is also a common trope and something that does happen irl. It would still feel somewhat weak, but the realism would've been retained… Although I'm not sure his story needs realism of that sort? I mean, I think art is allowed to exaggerate events, feelings and personalities to create a more compelling, intense and mostly interesting story. Sure, him suddenly getting bitten is realistic, but it's just not compelling. It's not fun, it's not intriguing. People don't read tragedies (which Bigby's story is) to just say "aw damn that's kinda sad", they read those to engage with a character, to understand them and feel their sorrows. To connect and to go through a sort of catharsis by sheer empathy (at least that's what ancient tragedies were about and I think the sentiment is still mostly retained). Sure the bite being such a random event adds normalcy to the whole situation, but nothing else and imo weakens the entire story overall. It'd be much, MUCH more interesting if The Beast was effect of his experimentation, his pride, his curiosity. Would be even more interesting if The Beast was originally the "intended" effect - something similar to Jekyll and Hyde , where Hyde was originally created as an outlet for various socially unacceptable desires. Those could be interesting, because you could get themes of pride, dehumanization, lack of attachment and you could generally create a discussion on what makes one human and such.

I generally feel like The Beast is as painfully underutilized narratively as Bigby's background of an alchemist. Like yes, he gets bitten by what I assume is another abomination, survives, The Beasts hunger gets him in trouble and then gets him out of the same trouble. Sure it's there and Bigby practically does not exist without it (I'll get to that when I talk about barks), but…. It's hollow. There's nothing really, it's just kind of a shadow that lingers. And sure, that could be interesting if handled well, a cautionary tale of intense paranoia, but it's not even that, because The Beast can be a tangible being that causes havoc and destruction. It exists as less than an animal I dare say. In DD1, there was a bit of ambiguity around The Beast, a lot even. Bigby was an unreliable narrator when speaking of it, often contradicting himself (depending on an affliction he would claim a different amount of control over it - for example a Fearful Bigby would speak of how little control he has over it, while Abusive Bigby would claim to be able to bring it out any second he wants to). So basically we didn't know if it was part of him or a completely deattached entity, save for shared body. We didn't know if it was sentient or not, we didn't know if what Bigby mentioned of it's whispering was true or his own imagination/paranoia playing tricks. It was, by virtue of the unknown, eldritch monster, that unexplainably attached itself to Bigby. And that was compelling! That was interesting, because Bigby himself was a very flawed person with a lot of desires, wants and regrets! It was fun to look at these and wonder what is their problem. It was fun to think of their shared dynamic, if there was any and again questions about self, what is a 'me' and generally ego. DD2 doesn't offer any of that pondering because it very plainly explains - it's an infection caused by a bite of the animal. That's it. There's nothing to ponder, save for origins of The Beast, but considering the state the world's in, you can probably just say "corruption" and leave it at that. It's just. So plain and boring, it makes me mad honestly. A lot of DD2 stories attempt to expand the lore of preexisting characters, add them new depth and such, and while I can recognize this attempt despite some failures, in Bigby's case it's a total disaster, I feel the lore got shrinked, not elaborated on.

I cannot however agree on inclusion of Damien, I honestly think it was unnecessary, but it also comes from my issue of how I understood Damien in DD1 and how drastically he was changed from that in DD2. Frankly, any of his appearances in DD2 feels like a caricature and not in a self-aware way. Gonna go on a bit of a tangent here, but DD1 Damien feels like such a misunderstood character. Yes, he is a fanatic, he is absolutely delusional and deranged. But he doesn't do it out of pleasure of flesh, in fact quite the opposite. He often describes pain and suffering as a burden that only he can bare and that it's something he wants to take from others. He doesn't see pain as privilege or desire, but something necessary to get enlightened, to ascend, to essentially be a good person. He associated self-punishment STRONGLY with being good. It's also a matter of him being a beggar before the revelation, someone who kind of wasted away and did not contribute to society. Someone who was rejected by it and could only try to take a little, just enough to survive. In that context him becoming so frantic and insistent of only HIM being able to take all the beating and not sharing the suffering, it almost reads like shame. Like he needs to punish himself. Like he needs to give back and be useful. Yes, he's weird about it, but at core he seems to be struggling with just existing. The purpose is so important to him that losing it again means death essentially. And again, it's not that he physically enjoys pain.

"Must the burden weigh on my mind as well as my body?" "Clear this mind. Clear this mind. Clear this mind." (this specifically is said when damaging himself) "I hesitated upon the path. Let the blood soothe my faith!" "What I once feared, I have become!"

Like. He clearly is not exactly enjoying himself in the common sense, but feels the intense need to push through, because if he starts feeling any fear and chickens out of this life, he'll go back to being a beggar. A corpse. A nothing. He will become nothing. And that fear (ironically) of another fate awaiting him is so awful, he'd rather suffer over and over. Feeling something over nothingness. Another thing to note is that during Final Missions if you choose him as the sacrifice he says "I've waited long for this! DON'T TAKE IT FROM ME.". He doesn't even see value of his life as it is, but a death so noble, a pure sacrifice would free him from it. He would be complete, carrying the ultimate burden of death. Also yes I do understand he can hurt his teammates during affliction and criticizes those who deny pain, but that's why I say he's deranged. He at core is a good person, but he still does some uncharitable deeds, again, in belief he helps. Which adds another layer to him imo.

And going from that kind of character to what we see in DD2 just feels like a parody. He's cruel and does not see pain as purpose, as freedom and right to exist, but as punishment and only that. What's worse is that Torturer implies (as well as his SoR text) that he enjoyed slowly torturing people to death. What he once would've taken as his, as a very dear gift of existence, a proof that he's not rotten yet, he now does just inflict of others cheerfully. It's almost comical how evil they try to write him. His first shrine does also mention that he simply sees pain as power rather than something dear and I dare say intimate to him. They made him so hedonistic for no apparently good reason. Like I do not mind character retcons and changes in characterization if it's for the better (like the character was originally boring, so they retcon some details to add depth). In Damien's case I feel that completely backfires. Again I understand the desire to change character, but my question is why? Why change a character that was already well established and honestly beloved by many people. Of course, most didn't notice how tender Damien could be in his rants about Light, but I did and it feels frustrating to see the character so watered down. And to see him repeatedly appear in other characters backstories is just a strange choice. In vestal's case he should've backed out the moment he saw The Light and that's bypassing the fact that he would probably not beat the shit out of her, but start by a conversation. A manic and insane rambling of a conversation, but a try nonetheless. Same for Bigby, he wouldn't get instantly to beating, seeing he's already wounded, mistreated, malnourished and such, but again start with rambling. With hope. Not with lash. And about the church discharge, I honestly think it's a bit weird framing that church is the "timid" one as he explains. Churches kind of have a history of corruptions, don't they? I feel like him being expelled would not need a reasoning, but also I think there are a lot of interesting ways you could go about "they didn't want him here" that go beyond "he's a little too freaky".

I know this is a very subjective/personal preference, but because of this Bigby's shrine impact is much lessened to me.

I do absolutely agree about the RESIST! part tho. As much as this is my least favourite shrine, it did have the best (imo) moment. It's good, it's tense (especially that the fight can be failed) and it really does feel like a catharsis (something I earlier mentioned that's core to the genre of tragedies). It feels good to see it in action, it's a natural "breaking point" of the story and that animation is wonderful. Really, visually RH did a lovely job with the visuals and the peak. But yes the fights overall do feel a bit weak (earlier mentioned by you concotion "puzzle" honestly feels more like filler than anything…).

As for the barks I have mixed feelings. I feel like some of them are good and feel in character, while others seem to drill in very hard how pathetic and sad Bigby is. Which I guess is not that majorly different from how he is in the first game, I just feel he has a little less bite. Like first game didn't shy away from showing him as wanting and somewhat needy while still wounded, here it's just misery and wishing for suicide (which I admit could be interesting if pushed further, that having a paranoia of bad things happening so strong it ruins you). Mind you I have not seen all of them so I may be wrong on this.

Overall I can't agree on the DLC being decent, I would say it's rather mediocre, at least from the Abomination standpoint, with a bit of highlights that honestly kind of make the dlc.

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CONTINUING on having a lot of feelings about the dlc (mixed. so so SO fucking mixed). Had to take this out further. Whatever.

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i think too many people operate under the assumption that emotions are some frivilous fantasy of the mind and have no impact on the physical world, which is a cute thought when Humans are an animal that can die from being kinda stressed out

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non polish speakers will never experience wóda zryje banie and i think that's tragic

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the funniest shit in the world is that theres a polish grocery store called Leviathan like that's literally what its called

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So abom dlc came out like yesterday and I dislike everything about the choices they made so to cope i made this (also for some reason preview quality is ass, click to see this thing in it's full cringy glory) (A lot of bitching in the tags also)