#A Theory of Justice

[philosophybitmaps]

[quotessentially]

From John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice

[melowmolly]

@fugayyyku another few sketches of "a theory of Justice" my take on kazue :D. And I've got a few of neji, naruto and sasuke 🫶

[twilightofthesandwiches]

It's interesting to think that, like... The Dark Sanctuary Dark World in Chapter 4 is the first Dark World we've seen that has no real connection to the theme of 'abandonment'.

Like, Card Kingdom is based on an unused classroom filled with abandoned toys. The entire plotline there revolves around King's anger and resentment at being abandoned by the Lightners and his desire to take revenge.

The computer room that became Cyber World is usually very frequently used, but.... because the Internet is down it's not at the moment. And Queen is driven by the anxiety of being abandoned if this internet shutdown continues, synthesized through her ego in a very "what would the Lightners do without me?" way.

And TV Land is the heaviest on this theme. With Tenna being driven by the grief of falling into disuse due to both technological advancements and the Dreemurr-Holiday Family Unit slow dissolution and the fear that this will get worse and he will be thrown out.

But then in the Dark Sanctuary... The Church is often used by the people of Hometown, this doesn't seem like it's going to change anytime soon and we see no Darkner be anxious about, like, the canceled Choir practice or anything like that. The closest thing we have to a 'leader' in that Dark World is Gerson/the Hammer of Justice, who is clearly a precious and well-loved Monster-Equivalent-of-an-Urn. If anything, his main worry is about him not being there for his Lightner son!

And, like, I said the Hammer of Justice is the closest thing we have to the 'Dark World Leader' slot in the formula seen in the previous three worlds, but that's also not quite the case.... cause he's also the Shadow Crystal Bearer of the same world. If the Hammer is like the Jevil or Spamton of this world, than it doesn't really have a King/Queen/Tenna for itself?

I remember when Chapter 2 came out, I already noticed this 'Abandonment' Pattern and I wondered whatever a Dark World created from objects that are not neglected or abandoned would just be far too.... content to actually have an adventure in it. Like, there would be no one to fight cause all the Darkners would just be chill and happy they're fulfilling their purposes.

And I also wondered if the Dark is, like, attracted to objects which were abandoned or neglected, gives them bigger importance or power in the Dark World. Hence a 'TV Land" instead of a general "Dreemurr House Land", the TV is the most abandoned thing there and so it is granted more focus.

And on that same topic I wondered about the fact Kris deliberately turned on the TV before opening that Dark Fountain. Like they were intentionally trying to aim for a TV Land Dark World.

Obviously the first idea, that non-abandoned Darkners would all just be benign NPCs has been disproved by the Dark Sanctuary, which has it's fair share of enemies to battle. But I think the idea that the Dark gives extra power and importance to things that have been Abandonment might have some merit. Not just with the Dreemurrs' living room being ruled and controlled by their disused old TV but also with the fact there isn't a clearly equivalent to Tenna (or Queen or King) in Dark Sanctuary.

And again, it makes me think of Kris' reasons for turning on the TV... Was it because their plans is to deliberately invoke the prophecy as much as possible and a TV Guy being slashed by the Knight is mentioned so they had to make a TV Guy?

Could they intuit that the Darkner that would be created from the Television would probably be desperate for attention and obsessed with Toriel and thus easier for the Knight to manipulate.... and also maybe that the Abandonment it feels will make it stronger?

(Notable perhaps that they also slightly opened the house's front door before turning on the TV and making a Fountain. In light of the events of Chapter 3, it seems like it was Kris laying a trap to pull Undyne to the Dark World so that the Knight could kidnap her)

Have Kris and/or the Knight have been deliberately seeking out abandoned and disused places that will therefore have stronger 'boss' Darkners that are easier to manipulate towards the Knight's goals?

And if that was the case, why did they stop with the Dark Sanctuary?

Did they just kinda... ran out of obviously abandoned places/things around Hometown?

Was it simply a matter of following the prophecy?

Was it a desperate attempt to re-capture Toriel via the choir practice?

Was the Knight just desperate to open a new Dark Fountain... somewhere and went with the Church as their first opportunity?

Was that pattern I noticed just a coincidence and doesn't actually mean anything?

A lot of things to think about...

[obsmiechujek]

Wrightworth isn't even a ship to me at this point I'm sure they got married off-screen

[noneofyoubeewax]

Cat marvel

Justice league space station

Marvel: *zoned out*

Flash: * going to sit down next to marvel and puts his mug down to pull out a chair*

Marvel:*not turning his head, swatting  the mug off the table*

Flash: “Dude!”

Marvel: “w-what” ( notice the broken glass), “not again I’m so sorry Flash”

—————————————————————-

Batman: (upgrading his gadgets, throw a box to the side)

Batman: “Done, where that’s……box”

Marvel: (some how sitting in the box with his knees to his chest) “hi”

Batman: (◣_◢) “out”

Marvel: (◕︵◕) “yes Mr.Batman”

——————————————————————-

Fawcett

(Clark flying around looking for Captain Marvel, and he spots Freddy carrying pillows).

Superman: “Ah! Junior, do you know where your dad is?”

Junior: “dad? Oh, yeah I know where Marvel, i’m heading over where he is right now, come on”

Superman: “umm, what is this”

(Top of a building, Mary and Marvel passed out on blankets and pillows bathing in the sunlight)

Junior: “break time” ( arranging his pillows before plopping down on them)

Superman: “oh, can I talk to Marvel”

Junior: “ oh, yeah”

Superman: “ great can you wak-“

Junior: “ in 45 minutes”

Superman: “but um I”

Junior: “in 45 minutes………… join us?”

Superman: “…..sure” (plops himself down, mummy style)

—————————————————————

Power out in the watch tower

Green lantern (Hal) : (walking through the tower, using his ring as a flashlight)

(scurrying sound)

Green lantern: (Panic, quickly, you think it’s ring the shine light right here the noise)

*Nothing*

Green lantern: “Hello?”

(Creaking noise )

Green lantern: (spins around quickly, shining his light) “wh- who’s there!”

Marvel: (in a big foot pose, eyes acting like cat eyes in the middle of the night with light shining over them)

Green lantern: “ Jesus Christ dude”

[chloesimaginationthings]

I love how you drew foxy, he so scruckly looking <3

Here’s some more Foxys I’ve drawn!!

[kizzer55555]

Core Gems

So when a ghost becomes injured, they have a last ditch defense where they retreat into their core. And I mean, injured badly where their body is rip apart to the point they can’t hold a solid form anymore. And they basically go into a hibernation state until they are strong enough to form again.

Ellie, Danny, and Dan are all injured in a final battle against the GIW. The organization was destroyed and the ghosts were safe but the halfas ended up being so injured that they reverted to core form and then went to sleep for a bit. When they woke up, they were still weak but at least recovered enough to gain consciousness. And realize…they are in some kind of auction…in the middle of a heist. It appeared that two furries (one in a bat costume and one in a cat costume) were ducking it out. And they…they were a necklace. All three of them had been turned into a necklace with their cores as gems accompanied by sapphires, pearls, and opals. And frankly gorgeous craftsmanship as the metal was crafted around their cores as if to cradle them and the other gems.

Unfortunately, they were too weak to take a form properly, they could still feel the strain on their bodies. But at least they could still communicate through their auras. Then the cat lady punched a hole in the glass container surrounding them and grabbed their necklace.

However, the bat grabbed the other end and it resulted in a sort of tug-a-war. Meanwhile, Danny, Ellie, and Dan were having a back and form commentary on the situation and what they should do. Completely unheard by the other party.

In the corner of their eye, the three halfas finally noticed a third contender. Some kind of clown who was…hold on…holding a gun?! And it was pointed straight at the two fighting furies who had yet to notice him. The ghosts’ protective instincts went into overdrive and they frantically tried to shout, yell, move. Just do something to warn the two but their cries fell on deaf ears. All they succeeded in doing was faintly glow which immediatly caught the attention of the fighting duo. The two turned to look at the strange necklace but right at that moment, the clown fired and a gunshot rang throughout the auction room. Having no other options, Danny and the others poured every ounce of ectoplasm they had to try and phaseshift, making the two furries intangible as the bullets passed right through them, but in their shock, the two jumped away in opposite directions and accidentally ripped the necklace apart. Gems and pearls went flying and the three cores bounced along the ground.

Luckily, the two finally noticed the clown and went to deal with him and his minions who had appeared. Seemingly putting their fight on hold and forming a temporary truce. The three halfas could only watch as the battle finally wound down, ending with the cops barging into the place and arresting the clown and his grunts, the cat managing to escape with half the scattered gems and pearls from the broken necklace along with a few other jewelry pieces (none of their cores though) and the bat leaving through a skylight.

The auction continued and in the end, despite being broken, their necklace seemed to have caught someone’s interest. A man named Bruce Wayne bought up every piece of the shattered jewelry wear. The auctioneers appeared relived that the item managed to sell in the end and gratefully gave it to him.

Bruce had no idea what happened at the auction, but he could have sworn that some of the gems faintly glowed right before he and Selina were shot. If the necklace was some sort of magical item, then he needed to understand exactly what has been brought to Gotham. It was unfortunate that Selena had taken some parts of the necklace but he utilized his vast wealth to make sure all the other parts ended in his possession. Now he would take them back to the mansion for examination.

[philosophybitmaps]

[quotessentially]

From John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice

[melowmolly]

OG sketches, I was gonna add in the details with the colors but as I said 😭 I got lazy, I can't color skin properly so 😞 I shared it now or it would never see the light of day again.

@fugayyyku

[qiune]

Secrets

[twilightofthesandwiches]

Okay, so one thought I had rattling in my head for a bit now is that the Dark Sanctuary of Deltarune Chapter 4 really reminds me of Undertale’s Waterfall.

I mean, the Dark Sanctuary doesn’t really have the water theming but… they are both the darkest parts of the game, both in a literal visual sense. With a mostly darker color-scheme and puzzles themed around darkness

and also in the narrative sense, being the most serious, solemn and grim part of the game. While Waterfall has its moments of levity and, y’know, Temmie Village, there’s a lot more focus of scenes of melancholy or fear compared to other parts of the game. While Undyne can be a very silly character, she only shows that side of herself to the Human during her Boss Fight right at the end and she’s otherwise a quiet and no-nonsense antagonist.

Deltarune Chapter 4 is the darkest chapter of Deltarune so far. It also has it's funnier moments but… The Church Dark World concept leads itself to much more serious theming and designs for the backgrounds and the enemies, it has some of the most serious exploration of our main characters' personalities and arcs, and has a lot of emphasize on the fact the stakes have been raised and Shit Just Got Real.

Plus, both Chapters deal heavily in the lore written on the walls of that area

Including a Prophecy

(well, in Deltarune it's exclusively a Prophecy, in Undertale it focuses on History and also includes a Prophecy)

And on a larger scale, both of these writings introduce the idea that the information we/the characters had before on the Lore is not the full picture.

And y'know, Gerson, who is present in both areas but also…

As the Hammer of Justice he also serves as a very heavy parallel to the Boss Fight(s) against Undyne in Undertale, both in visual design and gameplay (the Green Soul Mode).

Also, y'know, Piano Puzzles...

The thing is just… I didn't quite know what to do with this comparison. I mean, speculating on the idea the next Chapter would somehow be a Hotland Counterpart feels incredibly silly considering we already had two Dark Worlds that are very Hotland-like…

Which is when I realized, what if Deltarune Chapters correspond to Undertale areas but in reverse?

The Dark Sanctuary is like Waterfall and before it, TV World is a lot like Hotland, focused on TV-themed minigames controlled by an attention-hungry rectangular Game Show Host.

Cyber World would be the CORE, as the most high-tech themed areas in their respective games

And Queen and Spamton both including elements of Mettaton EX/NEO

Including Spamton NEO having the Yellow Soul Mode.

And Card Castle is the counterpart to New Home. Since these areas are both meant to be, well, a castle and it's surrounding area.

And King obviously being kind of a dark thematic reflection of Asgore.

…That would make Chapter 5 a Snowdin parallel to some degree, then Chapter 6 as a Ruins parallel, leaving Chapter 7 to do something totally off-the-rails and unique and unpredictable… Question is just what would that mean for Chapter 5 to be a "Snowdin Parallel"?

Since the Dark Sanctuary didn't really have water and TV World didn't really have magma-stuff, I don't think that would mean Chapter 5 would necessarily be an ice world, and indeed the only real hint we have to Chapter 5 right now is about a garden.

… It could be a somewhat more light-hearted Chapter after the huge drama-bombs we just had, since Snowdin is probably the most light-hearted and friendly part of Undertale… but there's also plenty of ways for it to be just as lore-heavy and serious and filled with revelations. Since the two things Snowdin was known for is the introduction of the Skeleton Brothers and it's Holiday Theming.

[farmerfent]

my coffee order is better than urs (it’s literally just an iced cinnamon latte)

[loathemetc]

Some thoughts on leitmotifs in Deltarune Chapters 3 and 4.

Now that I've played the game and had time to let my thoughts stir a bit, I think it's about time I start getting them out there. Obviously there are a lot of musical motifs throughout the game but I wanna talk about three of them specifically.

The first would be the lost girl motif. While in Chapter 2 it was mostly just used in direct relation to Noelle, we see it being used a lot more for emotional moments when she's not around in chapters 3 and 4. Most notably it features in Raise Up Your Bat, the song from the rhythm game segment. Tenna talks about December and the music video channel she used to watch right before this, and the song was first mentioned in the "currently listening to" section on Noelle's blog, implying that this is an in universe song that Dess was a fan of. The fact that said song features the motif therefore makes me think that it's the origin of the motif. Lost Girl plays at such emotional moments because in a way, it's the ghost of Dess's favorite song haunting the narrative. And I just think that's neat.

Second is the so-called freedom motif that plays in direct relation to the secret bosses. In Chapters 1 and 2 this plays in THE WORLD REVOLVING and BIG SHOT, the secret boss fight themes for both Jevil and Spamton respectively, as well as The Circus and Dialtone, two other songs related to them. In Chapter 4 again this motif plays in the fight with the Hammer of Justice, in the song called... Hammer of Justice. And again this is a secret boss fight, where the "Air crackles with freedom." Pretty straight forward.

But strangely, this motif doesn't obviously play in Chapter 3. There's a short string of notes in the Knight's battle theme, Black Knife, that sounds kind of like it? Which would make sense, given the Knight holds a shadow crystal just like those other three bosses, but it's not enough for me to really make an conclusion on. But the Knight having the shadow crystal and no one else in chapter 3 having one is interesting right? Almost as if it's the one who's been handing them out, but since this whole chapter is about waiting for the Knight to arrive, there was no time for it to give a shadow crystal to Ramb.

Weirdly though, it does play a second time in Chapter 4. And this is a double spoiler warning, if you've beaten Chapter 4 but haven't reloaded your save after beating it, go do that right now, you're missing out on something major if you don't and I'm going to be talking about it.

Went and did that? Alright, cool.

So that was a pretty fun extra boss right? Good time was had by all. But you probably noticed that despite being some sort of secret boss, there was no freedom motif in the song Catswing, and no shadow crystal. Which again makes sense, these are just more Chapter 3 darkners. So why am I even talking about this?

Well, one of the mini games you unlock after this, BATTAT, has its own song called Air Waves. And this one... does, have the freedom motif...? Which is weird right. Still no shadow crystal, and this isn't even a boss fight. But there's that song. The only weird thing about this game is that it does seem to be an actual fleshed out version of the cat clicking mini game from the sweepstakes update and just like that game, the IMAGE_FRIEND smile can appear here too. Which is certainly weird, but the IMAGE_FRIEND smile appears twice in Chapter 3 and once in Chapter 2 with no freedom motif attached.

I could make a guess here, like maybe the Mike conspiracy board calling direct attention to Kris's dislike of Asgore's conspiracy board is a tease for a real Mike secret boss in chapter 5, but I was kind of under the impression that the giant realistic microphone was the real Mike, so I don't really know.

It's worth noting that the mini games names seem to be french words, Jongler and Pluey being Jongleur and Pluis, french for Juggler and Rain respectively. My french has never been that good though so while Battat definitely sounds like a french word I can't really put my finger on it. It's probably also just a word that describes the mini game though. Probably doesn't mean anything deep but if it secretly does hey at least I mentioned it.

Okay that was too many paragraphs about the freedom motif. Air Waves is weird. Really damn good track though. The drum line is also like one note off from Bad Apple's which is funny. Moving on!

So notably while the freedom motif is tied to the secret bosses, Chapter 3 does have a secret boss track that lacks the motif. BURNING EYES, the theme of the fight with... Eram? The shadow mantle? It's hard to know really whether to trust a track name or sprite file name on what to call this thing because the game gives us nothing to work with really. It's a strange and irregular boss battle, with Zelda-like gameplay and against a character we can't even identify at all. But despite that, the theme does give us something to work with, a motif. Just not the freedom motif.

It's... Power of NEO.

And I know what you're thinking, I thought we were done with Spamton NEO. And I think we are. But Spamton NEO is not the only reference to NEO in Deltarune. Jevil, Queen, and Tenna all mention it. THE TRUE AND NEO CHAOS, Noelle creating a neo dark fountain, NEO shows, NEO programs. Queen and Tenna use it just like a stand-in for new but that's what makes the choice of words so conspicuous.

You could argue, sure, that Jevil, Queen, and Tenna are all characters who have history with Spamton. The fight for the shadow mantle even comes soon after a scene where Tenna talks about this. But I think there's something a lot bigger here than just an Undertale reference. I think we gotta ask ourselves something.

What IS the power of NEO?

In Undertale the motif plays twice I believe. In the fights with Undyne the Undying and Mettaton NEO, both people determined to protect everyone from being killed by you. Now Mettaton did a pretty poor job at that but it's the thought that counts, right? You could make the argument that the power of NEO is determination, Queen even uses the word when referring to Noelle creating a dark fountain, the power to create, to make new?

But does this really work for where this motif plays in Deltarune? In the case of BURNING EYES, definitely not. BIG SHOT is interesting though because it plays in two contexts, and the weird route context could arguably put Spamton in the same spot as Undyne, but his motivations are far more selfish.

But let's try looking at it from another perspective. For a long time people have suggested that MEGALOVANIA isn't Sans's theme but rather the theme of the player, or Chara, or whatever. A theme of violence, of malice. But what if that's actually Power of NEO? After all, in Undertale it only plays against bosses on the no mercy route. In Deltarune, not only is Spamton a violent malicious and selfish person, but you're also forced to fight him on the game's own version of the no mercy route. And of course, Spamton is pretty famous for comparing Kris to himself.

The fight for the shadow mantle has dialogue that is all the way up this alley. "There! That's what I wanted to see. Flickering red, like pretty little flames... Your eyes can't hide it Kris. Without play... The knife grows dull. Haha... well, enough of that. We both have work to do." Getting the Shadow Mantle and using it to get through the Knight fight even puts you on the path to being able to kill the titan spawn instead of purifying them, so I've heard. I haven't actually beaten the Knight yet. I'm sorry it's really hard. But if that's the work that has to be done... The mantle or eram or whatever even accuses Kris of enjoying what we did in the weird route, knowing they could say it wasn't really them. It's hard to say how accurate of a character judgement this is, though. Because genuinely what the fuck is this fight. I'm losing my mind.

It's honestly really hard to conclude anything at this point about what the power of NEO is exactly, but I feel like we'll be hearing about it more in the future. It curiously isn't mentioned at all in Chapter 4 from what I can remember, but it's also a chapter with several main antagonists who don't speak at all and a secret boss who didn't even look at his shadow crystal, so.

NEO means new, of course, we can't forget that when thinking about this. I believe there was someone who wanted us to create a new future with them...?

Curiouser and curiouser.

Of course I'm also obligated to mention that the IMAGE_FRIEND smile appears in the shadow mantle fight as well, what even is up with that thing. It's pink and yellow eyes tie directly to Spamton's glasses and the buttons on the oddcontroller, and the Hammer of Justice mentions Chapter 5 will be about a field of pink and gold, so... I guess we'll find out.

MINOR EDIT: Apparently on the Switch 2 version of the game, the mini games are slightly different, with Battat and Jongler being replaced by Air Waves and Main Performance. Obviously the song "Air Waves" plays in the game Air Waves here instead of Battat. As far as I can tell the IMAGE_FRIEND smile doesn't appear here at all, but it is by far the most pink and yellow of all the mini games. So this doesn't really change much but it's definitely worth noting, so I did.

[gothra]

I’ll never forget when I was arguing with a person in favor of total prison abolition and I asked them “what about violent offenders?” And they said “Well, in a world where prisons have been abolished, we’ll have leveled the playing field and everyone will have their basic needs met, and crime won’t be as much of an issue.” And then I was like “okay. But…no. Because rich people also rape and murder, so it isn’t just a poor person thing. So what will we do about that?” And I don’t think they answered me after that. I’m ashamed to say I continued to think that the problem was that I simply didn’t understand prison abolitionists enough and that their point was right in front of me, and it would click once I finally let myself understand it. It took me a long time to realize that if something is going to make sense, it needs to make sense. If you want to turn theory into Praxis (I’m using that word right don’t correct me I’ll vomit) everyone needs to be on board, which mean it all needs to click and it needs to click fast and fucking clear. You need to turn a complex idea into something both digestible and flexible enough to be expanded upon. Every time I ask a prison abolitionist what they actually intend to do about violent crime, I get directed to a summer reading list and a BreadTuber. It’s like a sleight-of-hand trick. Where’s the answer to my question. There it is. No wait, there it is. It’s under this cup. No it isn’t. “There’s theory that can explain this better than I can.” As if most theory isn’t just a collection of essays meant to be absorbed and discussed by academics, not the average skeptic. “Read this book.” And the book won’t even answer the question. The book tells you to go ask someone else. “Oh, watch this so-and-so, she totally explains it better than me.” Why can’t you explain it at all? Why did you even bring it up if you were going to point me to someone else to give me the basics that you should probably already know? Maybe I’m just one of those crazy people who thinks that some people need to be kept away from the public for everyone’s good. Maybe that just makes me insane. Maybe not believing that pervasive systemic misogyny could be solved with a UBI and a prayer circle makes me a bad guy. But it’s not like women’s safety is a priority anyway. It’s not like there is an objective claim to be made that re-releasing violent offenders or simply not locking them up is deadly.