darkladylumiya

[darkladylumiya]

soooo today i learned that back in the early 90s, coca cola tried making this thing called “ok soda” as a marketing stunt to beat out pepsi since they had way more of a hold on the “younger/rebellious” generation at the time, and their way of doing that was naming it “ok soda” so that they could copyright the word “ok”, the most popular word in the world, and at the same time brand it as an…ironic soda??? like the whole thing with it was that they tried to brand ok soda as a counterculture soda but instead of making it about typical 90s RADICAL EXTREME!!! fodder the theme of it was uh. unsettling capitalist brutalist dystopia. instead of being bright and colorful the color scheme was only stark whites, grays and reds and the cans looked like this. bold shapes and labels stating ominous, robotic things with a figure always staring dead into you on the front, no coca cola branding on it at all.

sometimes there would be “prize cans” of this stuff where instead of having soda inside it there would be hats. and they didn’t sell this option in boxes by the way they just put prize cans in random vending machines. and put like 25 cents in it so hey. you could get an actual soda that isn’t just hats. maybe.

did i mention that this soda also had a fucking MANIFESTO??? because yeah it sure had that printed on some cans and it goes as follows

and there’s these things called “coincidences”, which… yeah it doesn’t make it sound any less ominous

and you might be wondering how the soda itself tastes like does it taste good? ok? well apparently it was just a regular “citric” tasting soda but somehow they fucked it up so bad that it was compared to “carbonated tree sap”, and instead of trying to make the drink taste better they included that it tasted like shit, INTO THE ADVERTISING SCHEME ITSELF. they would literally advertise that it tasted like ass as a part of the ironic marketing, no i am not kidding.

but if you thought that’s where it ended there’s one more curveball and without any exaggeration, you will not expect what i am about to tell you.

take a look at this guy.

this guy is the “face” of ok soda, as in he was printed on the most cans and technically served as a mascot of sorts for the entire thing. his face was a major part of the branding, and this design for the cans was one of if not the most common.

okay. cool. no issue there right?

take a guess on who this guy is based off of.

the artist’s coworker? a generic guy? the artist himself? a relative? some random reference model they hired?

CHARLES MANSON. YES, THIS IS REAL. MEANING FOR A BRIEF MOMENT IN TIME, CHARLES MANSON’S FACE WAS USED AS A MEANS TO SELL COCA COLA.

the lead artist himself has even come forward to say this is the case. and now you may be asking wait. how’d he do this? how’d he possibly get away with this, years after the crimes had been committed?

well according to him, it was simple. apparently none of the contracts he signed said anything against putting a mass murderer on the can. so. there’s THAT.

unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, ok soda never really caught on since *surprise surprise!* teens really don’t want to buy soda that looks like a brutalist art museum, and it never had a wide release so it was only a thing for like two years between 1993 and 1995. but from what i’ve heard there’s still people who are giving this soda a small modern following, collecting all the cans and merchandise and even coming up with stand in recipes for the soda formula itself.

so yeah! that was ok soda.

what the fuck

[darkladylumiya]

Sorry it's actually ridiculous how "don't criticize women's bodies" has been weaponized into "act like everyone who points out a fucked up beauty standard is crazy and a misogynist because some women adhere to that standard and pretend it's normal"

[darkladylumiya]

yuliaaaa

[darkladylumiya]

my Baldur's Gate 1&2 character in her Slayer form :3

[darkladylumiya]

kicked out of town for acts of unspeakable hubris :/

[darkladylumiya]

The exiles

[darkladylumiya]

The Drow Tradition of Har'luth, rope bondage

(according to Viconia DeVir and BG2)

I dove into BG1/2 to find more drow and bhaalspawn lore, and while there's spades of both, this is a bit I wanted to share.

After a good deal of time of pursuing a... somewhat difficult relationship with Viconia, admitting to the mutual attraction, after sleeping with her at least once before, she tells you she's interested in something... special.

Curiously, the one translation I found of Har'luth sets it's meaning to be 'conquer'.

Note: I am using the wonderful https://www.gibberlings3.net/forums/topic/37854-v106-viconia-romance-expanded-for-bg2ee-phaere-expanded/ Viconia Romance Expanded, which among other things, tweaks dialogue for same-sex romances.

"mrimmd'ssinss" - female lover

It is perhaps unsurprising that in a culture so notoriously backstab-averse, surrendering to someone to this extend would be a show of commitment. It is meant to be a gentle experience, and for that reason, Viconia has acquired silk rope, to not mark her lover's skin.

This game of surrender is about yielding or exchanging power, which is made quite clear if you thought it would be you holding the rope.

This is I expect where this encounter differs from a typical drow har'luth: the male typically submits to the female, or likely, to the person of greater status in the courtship.

I should say, at this point, Viconia's time on the surface has been wanting. By the time you meet her here, she's faced three attempts on her life by surfacers alone. Part of the reason she's travellng with you is that you are a hero of some repute at this point. She is safer with you.

You, on the other hand, are able to turn on her at any point.

Notably, one of Viconia's more recent experiences on the surface at this point was trying to live quietly out on a farm she had legally purchased. When her neighbours, from whom she bought food, found out she was a drow, she was invited for a family feast that night with a kindly smile.

Then she was knocked out, assaulted, and buried alive. Thus, this is what she has come to expect.

I'm afraid I do not remember what options to show your trust there were for elves or half-elves (as my bhaalspawn here is). But, you do still have the opportunity to indulge her.

ssinssrigg - / love / lust / passion / greed / longing

This might be the closest drow get to the concept of aftercare normally: if there is a bond of trust, one might chat. If you mention you are tired in the aftermath, Viconia takes your feedback - she is intent on doing this again, sometime.

Drow exiles on the surface want for a sense of belonging often. At best, you can reassure her that she is not alone in feeling like it. The canon story for the protagonist is that you grew up in a highly reclusive monastery, in which you are unlikely to re-gain entry, and the foster-father you had is now deceased.

Here I want to mention that this is after a good deal of flirting, some fighting over a very rocky start in a relationship, after sex, and after you've let Viconia tie you up.

This is the first time you can ask to hold her, as it's not occurred to her naturally. Sex? Sure. Falling asleep next to someone you fucked? Perhaps later. After she's decided you can be trusted.

A unique experience. - This might indeed be... the first time Viconia has permitted someone to do this for her, in the entirety of her life.

Perhaps such bonding rituals would be more common if they included a little more cuddling afterwards... but then they could be easily used for assassinations, and it would defeat the purpose of it.

Though she's quick to hasten you to move on now, lest you think her a weakling.

(also you can in fact be attacked while trying to rest outdoors or dungeons. I set my odds of being attacked to be quadrupled on a dare so 'more sinister than squirrels and rats' happens often)

As my last note, I will say; these games are old. This one, BG2: Shadows of Amn came out in 2000. It's old enough to vote and drive.

Some stuff (like perhaps parts of Viconia's background, I'm not sure) may have been retconned since, but to retcon something like this, you would have to first acknowledge it. Given Viconia tries quite hard to drive her potential lover away (more on that later) the risk of people hearing about it is miniscule. That is, until I made this post. You're welcome.

[darkladylumiya]

do people know there's a lesbian vampire romance option in baldur's gate 2??? do they care?????

[darkladylumiya]

viconia

[darkladylumiya]

Khalid of my heart... let my love... my love guide the way...

-----

Adjustable Party Limit Custom Companions Lite P4 Companion Heads for Tav NPC Hairs for Tav Extra Dyes for the Fashionable Folk of Faerun Get a Room - Photomode Romance Poses Claravel's Emotes for Photo Mode Otis_Inf Photomode Tools Reshade Dialogue - Baldur's Gate II

[darkladylumiya]

girl help they're taking my fave's extremely thin veneer of swaggering overconfidence at face value

[darkladylumiya]

the most noble professions are

3. line cooks. unsung warriors fighting in unreasonable conditions to make food that taste good.

2. sanitation worker. working at risk to carry out unpleasant tasks without which society would collapse within days. actual heroes

1. artists who draw blowjobs good

[darkladylumiya]

I made a bad comic and now you have to look at it

[darkladylumiya]

we've all got that one mutual stuck in the eternal torture labyrinth

[darkladylumiya]

Communismkills VS tumblr users back in the day greatest hits compilation

[darkladylumiya]

The other night husband and I were watching a documentary about the yeti where they were doing DNA analysis of samples of supposed yeti fur, and every one of them came back as bears.

Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.

So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.

Bears. They’re everywhere. Be wary. Anyone or anything could be a bear.