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Fucked around and crocheted another halla ami

Big and snuggly (blanket yarn, not wired, full of fluff, 13" tall) baby. Modified from the pattern "Darcy Deer" by Valerie Church.

(I sell some of the stuff I make on my bsky, so if you're interested, hmu there) ok, ily, bye

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mothgirl chronicles

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Collection of melancholic/creepy Sailor Moon art.

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idk who needs to hear this but Emmrich has droopy balls. yeah he moisturizes. yeah he’s well-groomed. yeah the sock garters are pristine.

but he’s also 50+. the balls have gravity. they hang like ancient pendulums of wisdom. a little low. a little dignified. Not too much, just enough. the nuts of a man who owns multiple wool coats and fears god just a little.

slurp slurp, says Rook

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I was so surprised to learn that the dance scene in the cabin didn't land with everyone, because it became my favorite scene in the whole game.

The lock being magically sealed beforehand signifies peace and safety: the girls are secure in their special cabin and have the privacy to dance together. Kat leads them and Nora joins, and I love the little parallel that Autumn encourages Swann to join, just like how she invited her to the movies to get away from Corey and Dylan in their first scene together.

What really captured me about the dancing is that it's not any one specific style or even overtly romantic. The girls dance shamelessly, exactly the way someone would sing in the shower or jam out alone in their room, except they're together and completely comfortable with each other, knowing there's no shame or judgement. Even though they've just ran for their lives, even though makeup is melting all over their faces, even though they know Kat is dying-- they keep dancing anyway. The game is telling you: forget that last scene, just live in the moment for a second. That's exactly what the girls are doing, and is what allows the scene to be the most impactful to the audience.

And Swann-- just, Swann. Here's a plus-sized girl who's felt lonely, unattractive, and unlovable her whole life, who's been told over and over that she's too weird and quiet yet somehow takes up too much space at the same time. She's never felt at home in her body. But when she finally joins the dance floor, the shot is framed as her best friends literally pulling her out of the darkness and into the light (I see you, lesbian lighting!). Her dancing is genuinely so enchanting, because here she is smiling with her eyes closed, arms up, spinning in graceful circles around her friends, and she's finally allowed to take up SPACE. She allows her arms to stretch out and allows her body to twirl and lean and sway. THIS is what Swann being comfortable in her skin looks like, and it's simply beautiful.

It's incredible how well the scene is choreographed to make the dances look so un-choreographed and natural. Each couple gets a unique dance and kiss-- even when the rest of the tape may feel rushed, Dontnod decided not to skimp on this beautiful scene. With no words exchanged, it's like the girls' kiss is part of the dance routine, and the kisses are long too. It's a kiss that literally sweeps them off their feet and visually transports them away from their problems and confined lives. Above all, it proves the power of community, and how all of the girls are able to fully blossom in each other's presence and support. I could honestly talk about this scene forever. And DN is pitch perfect, as always, with their song choice, with the girls' dance set to "Lazuli" by Beach House:

In the blue of this life Where it ends in the night When you couldn't see me You would come for me

There's nothing like lapis lazuli Let it go back to me

Like no other, you can't be replaced (There's nothing like lapis lazuli) Like no other, you can't be replaced (There's nothing like lapis lazuli)

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Why Dontnod's games feel original and inspired (and why Deck Nine's games don't)

So, I've talked at length about how Double Exposure feels much more like a corporate product than a playable piece of art entertainment [My initial thoughts on the DE trailer] [My thoughts on the early access paywall] [My thoughts on the weird marketing].

But now with the release of Lost Records, I feel like I have no choice but to confront the question: were any of Deck Nine's games truly original or inspired in any way? And honestly, I have to say no.

Objectively, I could say it's because Deck Nine literally has not produced any original IP's since their rebrand from Idol Minds in 2017. Their only narrative adventure games are all part of the LiS franchise. But even their most original game, True Colors, pretty obviously follows the first game's narrative formula (young woman with a superpower investigates a sudden disappearance/death in a small town with a dark secret, has two opposite sex love interests, learns about a twist villain, is nearly murdered, and goes through a psychological nightmare in the last episode) to a tee. But oh look, there's also a LARP!

But I believe there's more to it than that, because when I look at Dontnod's games, they are always inspired by other works. Life is Strange 1 plays very clear homage to Twin Peaks with the Pacific Northwest setting and Rachel Amber resembling Laura Palmer. Max Caulfield is named after the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye, another novel about the fleeting innocence of childhood and superficiality of society. Life is Strange borrows tropes from Donnie Darko, Groundhog Day, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stand By Me, and even Blue is The Warmest Color for its themes and plot points. Just take a look at its "Shout-out" page on TV Tropes. And the result is... something completely original, with riveting plot twists, memorable characters, and an ending that will make you cry.

This shouldn't make sense, right? You'd think this big soup of references would turn into an indistinguishable mess of cliches, but Life is Strange managed to be a synthesis of everything the writers loved and were inspired by, to become something completely new. Why? Because nobody had tried to take Twin Peaks, Donnie Darko, and The Catcher in the Rye and turn it into a video game before! And make it gay!

The point being, Dontnod consistently makes original material because they take creative risks. This is definitely not done lightly, since they still need to be a company that generates profit, but they still prioritize making art over selling out. Their stories feel inspired because they are inspired; when writers love what they're writing about, the result is a passion project that has loving, clever nods to all the works that are woven into it.

So perhaps a way to reword that first question is to then ask, "Have Deck Nine's games ever been inspired by anything?" And unfortunately, the answer is still no. Instead, they just copy what they hope will sell well. And a bland imitation for the sake of generating profit is never going to produce anything that feels original.

This takes me back to Lost Records, which is also clearly inspired by the same works: Twin Peaks, It: Chapter One, The Craft, The Blair Witch Project, The Goonies, Stand By Me. But again, no other game studio besides Dontnod has ever looked at these works and thought, "But what if it starred teenage lesbians instead?" Or, more specifically: "How do we capture the spirit of what made these media great and incorporate that into a new story for a new audience?" And those characters have so much thought and care poured into them too: while I've been disappointed that Double Exposure Max looks airbrushed to hell and back, I love that the Bloom & Rage girls have asymmetrical faces, acne, freckles, body hair, skin discoloration, and diverse body types. Double Exposure is marketed as nostalgia bait for fans, where Max is reduced to a prettied-up, polished-up, representation of nostalgia, not even her own character anymore, in a game that otherwise has no connection to the original. Her quips are reduced to "Hey! Remember our good ol', dad-joke cracking, dorky Max Caulfield??" and her grief is shoved aside for "Hey, look at that appealing new love interest! Because we knoooow y'all love your sapphic romance, right?"

By contrast, Lost Records has only been out for 10 days, but I already feel like the girls are some of the most memorable characters I've come across in gaming for the niche they fill. Swann seems like your typical Max-like dork, except she's also a movie buff and giddy about bugs, horror, and the paranormal; and has clearly been affected by her mother's fatphobic beliefs. Autumn is a level-headed leader who always stuck to her desire to help others, and her Blackness naturally informs her desire to feel valued and not cause trouble in a small, very white, conservative town. Nora intrigues me so much for going from a fun-loving rebel punk teen to a more gender-conforming, capitalist-leaning, influencer businesswoman. And Kat feels like an evolution of Chloe's cynicism, where her scrappy charm belies an almost unsettling obsession with the occult and a deep, tragic chasm of rage at having to confront her mortality far too young. They make sense. They feel carefully written, genuine, and like real people.

But most of all, Dontnod's games have never felt like products. In fact, most of their characters have historically gone against the grain of what traditionally "marketable" characters are. The first LiS took all these aforementioned stories about straight white men and chose to remix and retell it through the eyes of a young, queer, time-traveling girl instead. Tell Me Why is the first AAA game with a trans protagonist, and Tyler is voiced by a trans actor in all the language dubs. Lost Records decided that it would tell its story through four queer teenage girls, with women writers onboard, and fucking own it. As long as Dontnod keeps making games that stick to their creative integrity, I'll keep respecting their vision in whatever they decide to create next. Also, maybe I should finally watch Twin Peaks.

Thank you for reading!

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baby blue

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Vivid Shadows - Siren

Xiala had always believed herself in harmony with the Mother, but this was something more. She was the Mother, or at least a form of her. And as her instrument, Xiala held the very font of life within her: both the creatures that lived and died and the unfathomable might of the tides.

It was power. Power like she had never imagined.

Mirrored Heavens - Rebecca Roanhorse

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Raven - Vivid Shadows 2024

"The Odo Sedoh dreamed, and in his dreams, he was legion. He was black-winged murder flying over a vast sea. He was the bloodthirsty havoc of beak and talon. He was the stately flock that wheeled over a city stained by injustice. He became the shout of a thousand prayers on a thousand lips. He became a prophecy of revenge. He became the blossoming shadow that engulfed a sun. He was Crow who then became the slaughter"

from 'Between Earth and Sky' saga by Rebecca Roanhorse

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how dare you ask me to live with it?

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@ArtistDkt/twitter

I AM MOIST 🥴💦

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★☆☆☆☆ "Why. If I could give 0 stars I would." - Solas

La Petite Mort Series by Bellara Lutare

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they are done!

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it really is crazy how quickly people were willing to just let chatgpt do everything for them. i have never even tried it. brother i don't even know if it's just a website you go to or what. i do not know where chatgpt actually lives, because i can decide my own grocery list.

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my thing i haven’t made is so good 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

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WAIT

I JUST REMEMBERED HEARING AN ELON MUSK QUOTE WHERE HE TALKS ABOUT HOW HE BELIEVES CHESS IS "TOO SIMPLE" OR WHATEVER AND HE SAID HIS FAVORITE GAME WAS A GAME CALLED "POLYTOPIA"

I JUST REMEMBERED THAT IVE PLAYED POLYTOPIA

It being Elon's favorite game (or at least one so important to him that his biographer dedicates a lot of time to it) is.....really really funny.

Basically, imagine Civilization, but as a mobile game. So like if Civilization Revolution was even more dumbed down (that's a Civilization insult. That's devastating. It's devastated right now). For what it's worth, it's not a bad game. On the contrary, from what I could tell in the little bit of time I played it, it's a perfectly competent game with good design. But it's not a deep game by any means. I played through it once, won easily on my first go, then saw that the other playable characters had barely any differences between them.

Like, not to imply you can judge a book by its cover, but here's what it looks like

I came across an article by Dave Karpf discussing this exact thing, and I think it describes it wonderfully