#I'M SO DESPERATE FOR DISCUSSION I EVEN WENT ON REDDIT

[inseparabiles]

(VIBRATING IMMENSELY)

I want to talk about The Movie but nobody's posted anything I can invade. Do I just have to bite the bullet now and commit to either writing the whole analysis of the gender expression of the twins OUTSIDE some poor fuck's tags, or make the unholy compilation of Caracalla being really horny about blood?

Will either of these things stop me from vibrating?

[lemonberry-syrup]

Maomao in Apothecary Diaries is asexual and I will die on this hill

I just did so many takes trying to make a video on this that my spit literally went frothy so SHORT VERSION

A few months ago I saw a video essay on the series and it was going well until they got to the characterization of Maomao and took the stance that she was the way she was because she sees herself unworthy of love. I did my best to hear the video out but like.

Did we even watch the same series??? (explanation below the cut)

TL;DR the vast majority of her behaviour depicts someone who is uninterested by sexual attraction, grossed out when it's directed at her, and someone who isn't questioning her self worth. Even if she's not ace, none of her behaviours or thoughts are self depricating and the one instance that could argue that's the case is in episode one when she's explaining the social hierarchy of the rear palace.

It's pretty obvious to me that they're trying to set up a relationship between Maomao and Jinshi, I'm not disregarding this, but I would like to discuss her behaviour when they first met. Jinshi is incredibly conventionally attractive and everyone is head over heels for him. Whenever he gives Maomao attention, she shudders. She's disgusted by it. Jinshi describes her expression as looking at him as though he were a venomous caterpillar snd the captions describe it as a 'death glare'.

She grew up in a brothel - the Virdigris house - so she's understandably desensitized to things that are sexual in nature, as shown when she's giving advice to the concubines and Lihaku, but whenever the Madam of the house suggests she becomes a concubine and takes on clients of her own, Maomao sprints out of the building. She also paints freckles on her face in attempt to make herself less conventionally attractive. You don't do that unless you don't want that attention on you.

There was one post I found on reddit from a year ago asking if Maomao was asexual and the general response was that no, she's just emotionally repressed, but attraction isn't an emotion, you can be emotionally repressed and asexual, AND we do see Maomao express emotion. It's usually subdued, but we see her euphoric/ecstatic over medicines and poisons, we see her angry, we see her content, amused, relieved, mischievous, desperate, worried/panicked, so many emotions and usually tied to the thing she is interested in - her work as an apothecary. As someone who is in a very similar boat of learning to subdue emotions while also being aroace, I can absolutely confirm that my orientation and trauma have minimal if anything to do with each other. I am not saying all cases are like this, but I'm living proof that this CAN be the case.

I would also like to mention that there IS a term for someone who became asexual due to trauma. It's caedsexual. What her exact orientation is, I am unsure, but my claim isn't on a specific orientation, just that she's somewhere on the ace spectrum.

Let's say for example all the other evidence gets thrown out for whatever reason. Fine. We can still confirm that it's NOT a matter of just not thinking she's worthy because we can hear her thoughts. When she's alone, especially after interacting with early-series Jinshi, her reaction isn't 'why was he flirting with me of all people?' it's not 'he'd be better off with his attention elsewhere' or comments about her appearance or anything. Her reaction to him flirting is disgust. She says it's gross and just generally isn't a fan of his behaviour. Yes, she tries to keep things professional which later end up causing major miscommunication that gets her fired, but that's external communication. We're talking about her thoughts when she's alone.

If nothing else, circling back to Lihaku for a bit, her interactions both with and about him are pretty clearcut to me. As someone who's ace, she'd maintain an indifferent demeanor when having him strip to examine if he has a body type Pairin would like, and it's pretty well-known that if you're ace, odds are you make very unexpectedly lewd jokes. The only time we see Maomao react positively to the idea of her having sexual experiences is when she's being intentionally vague to mess with Jinshi because she finds his reaction funny.

As the objective detective-like character, if she was sex positive/favourable, I suspect she would have no trouble being put to work as a courtesan or subtly striving to become a concubine, but she isn't. She wears freckles and avoids those sort of situations.

BUT EVEN IF SHE DID, PLOT TWIST BABY, THERE'S SUCH THINGS AS SERVICE ACES AND BEING ASEXUAL DOESN'T AUTOMATICALLY MEAN YOU DON'T LIKE SEX, IT'S JUST ABOUT YOUR FREQUENCY OF SEXUAL ATTRACTION

*A service ace, aka placiosexual, is someone who enjoys/wants to perform sexual acts on others but does not wish to be on the receiving end of those acts.

At the end of the day, I'm just happy to see a character that acts a lot like me and a plotline that doesn't place priority on sexual/romantic relations. To my knowledge, Maomao's orientation isn't confirmed and I don't know if it ever will be. These are just my thoughts and I had to say something because I've been going bonkers over how obvious her orientation appeared to me yet it wasn't being mentioned anywhere.

[ittydoor]

Pilot pit girl scenes vs s3 e10 pit girl scenes

I made this post on reddit, grave mistake, reddit sucks ass. So to my home I return with joy in hope for discussion.

In pilot pit girls feast we see 8 ppl. In this feast everyone is there except Akiliah and Nat. So, where are robin, Travis, and Lottie during the pilot feast?

ik they're present, they're all seen in this eps feast when Misty brings the food (minus Lottie), Gen and Travis are sat next to each other on a log slightly behind the one the others are sitting on and Robin is next to Melissa. Travis also leads the walkout, Lottie is seen sitting next to Hannah in the morning. so the silly implication is Gen moved and they're offscreen lmao.

Or what is more likely; Shaunas view of the feast is the pilot one, her reality like Travis says and why we get the flashes. It also goes with the fact her monologue during it is about how she forgot everything, despite her stating at the feast never to forget this.

I'm thinking there is half truth to her realization about the fact they had fun doing what they did. Lottie takes joy in understanding herself and being heard, Misty takes joy in being helpful, but they also all literally have fun in most of their hunts. Like doomcoming especially, and the choice to continue this animalistic energy hunting Nat howling, calling, yes to communicate like we see in this episode w/ out letting it be known who you are, but certainly more as a fear tactic in Nats hunt.

I think the point is there was enjoyment in all of them to let go and be celebrated rather than punished, and certainly to different degrees, i'm not saying they all loveeed cannibalism. For example, they feel guilty the morning after eating Jackie but every single one of them enthusiastically eats her bc in that moment it's the only thing they can. But they're not choking through it, Jackie feels like a finally! moment. They feel good, for the first time their stomachs are full, and in that moment they all ignore rationale and allow themselves to take pleasure. They would not have picked her to the bone unless a part of them was happy, and i'm not even blaming them they're legit starving and shes the only food. The only reason a part of them was enjoying it was because they were so desperate for sustenance (in the case of the more sane, I extend my wing to nat). If you don't agree, they have a group hallucination of which they are joyful asf.

Its kind of a double edged sword since Shauna believes they've been pushing it all down to get away from the fact they enjoyed what they did, but i think a lot of them enjoyed it so they didn't face the real horror of what they were doing. That's basically what the personification of the wilderness is and Lottie's beliefs she converts others to. It is them and It is their ability to ignore the dark shit and enjoy it so they don't have to truly think of themselves as awful. But It is also the inherent fact that they are liking it. you cant have nothing w out a thing!

Anyway, so there is truth to what Shauna said, but there is also the fact that Shauna is not remembering correctly. While they eat Mari, it flashes between that and the pilot footage of them eating her where they're more aggressive and animalistic, vs the colored cuts everyone's slower, sad or solemn.

I think what were supposed to be reading from all this is that Shauna has wanted everyone to face the fact that they did horrible shit instead of acting like its fine all season, she accepted this is how they have to be and cannot pretend to be ok, and she enjoys it bc she doesn't see a point in not if this is how she must be. Since they all went nuts for her gfs corpse, shes quite pissed they act like they're not crazy anymore, she thinks they must love it just as much as her, how else do they follow Lottie so blindly and make such an idealized story during the solstice? So she pushes toward a lot of their descent, and spearheads the hunt. And Shauna recounts the feast as the girls being vigorous and enjoying their cannibalism just as much as they did with Jackie. I think its worth noting that a part of her also probably associates them with her same feelings so she doesn't have to be alone in it, like Melissa's monologue. What she doesn't understand is they were mourning a friend and biding time for a plan to come to fruition, for Mari's death to mean something.

Its a great juxtaposition that she is expressing the fact they had fun during a scene where the girls are more themselves and ashamed then they've been in a whillle. And also that shes realizing this when Misty and Tai are realizing that she influenced a lot of the downfall. It sets up s4 in a rly interesting way where they're both right and wrong on opposite sides and need to learn from each other. That they enjoyed the power and the dark shit, fed into it at points, and that Shauna instigated violence when they just wanted normalcy, when they coped by trying to forget.

I'm not sure if the pilot feast is supposed to be how Shauna remembers it or views it, or both.. I think bc she was tricked and the hunt was a ruse it makes sense she'd see it more ritualistically, and vigor in their eating not realizing the feast was never the point, but also all of her monologue is about remembering. I'm thinking it's both! So yes that is my analysis, I really hope you liked it ty for reading all the way through!!

tldr pilot pit girl scenes are Shaunas view of the feast, she believes they're all enjoying it just as much as her, the girls found enjoyment in their darkness as a way to not face how awful they truly were being, they did not enjoy Mari feast however

[cosmerelists]

What Will Be The Windrunner Fifth Ideal?

[MAJOR SPOILERS FOR STORMLIGHT THROUGH RHYTHM OF WAR!]

So far Kaladin has sworn four ideals: (1) "Life before Death" etc., (2) "I will protect those who cannot protect themselves," (3) "I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right," and (4) "I accept that there will be those I cannot protect."

But what will be the fifth and "final" Ideal (we all assume there will be secret extra oaths, right)? I've put together some guesses!

[Final Note: I'm sure this has already been discussed on Reddit and elsewhere, but I haven't done any research. These are just the ideas I could come up with!]

1. "I will protect what is right."

So far, the Windrunner oaths have focused on who you protect: the helpless, the hated, etc. So perhaps, for the Fifth Ideal, it goes abstract, and has the Radiant promise to protect what is right. This would parallel the Fifth Ideal of the Skybreakers, wherein they become the embodiment of Justice. The Windrunners, then, would perhaps become the embodiment of Honor.

2. "I will protect without doing harm."

Aka, the "Lirin was right all along" theory. Not gonna lie, I would HATE this, but it would perhaps be thematic. Lirin has been telling Kaladin all along that you cannot protect by killing, and Kaladin has at times felt discomfort about the fact that, say, protecting Dalinar & Adolin meant killing Singers who were just trying to protect their homeland. So perhaps the ultimate Windrunner ideal is to find a way to protect without causing harm?

3. "I will even sacrifice myself to save others."

I would hate this even more, not gonna lie. I think Kaladin desperately wants to die protecting someone, and I think instead that he should live. But at the same time, self-sacrifice is the ultimate sacrifice, and it could precede Kaladin, like, becoming Honor's vessel or something. So I had to throw it in.

4. "I will protect everyone."

This is going back to the idea that each Ideal has Kaladin focusing on a specific group of people: the helpless, those he hates, those he could not save. Perhaps the final oath is to realize that his protection extends to everyone. This would be another way to address Kaladin's discomfort about killing innocent soldiers in order to protect his friends. If instead his ideal is to protect everyone on every side of the conflict, then perhaps he would find a better way.

5. "I will protect everyone that I can."

I do like this small variation, as I think it's a nice callback to the Fourth Ideal & Kaladin's realization that he can't actually save everyone. By focusing on saving everyone he can, maybe he can continue to recognize that he can't do it all, but that he has to try as hard as possible anyway.

6. "I will protect everyone no matter the cost."

Aka, the "the Fifth Ideal is actually where it all went wrong" theory. So...we know that Surgebinders destroyed their original planet, which is why the humans are on Roshar to begin with. I am highly suspicious of the Skybreaker Fifth Ideal where they become the law. Nale has presumably sworn the Fifth Ideal, and he's still cool with hunting down & killing children. Maybe the Fifth Ideal is where the Radiants go too far, becoming the sort of people who could destroy a planet, you know? In that case, what if the Windrunner's Fifth Ideal is to go too far into protecting, so that they're willing to do anything?

7. "I will protect everyone, including myself."

This one doesn't quite feel right, I'll admit, but I also desperately want Kaladin to realize that taking care of himself also matters. This would be picking up the thread of Kaladin refusing to partake in his own therapy, because others need it more or whatever. Maybe to be truly self-actualized, he needs to realize that you "can't pour from an empty cup," as it were.

8. "I will protect more than just people's lives."

This could be another way to follow up on on the "Kaladin invents therapy" thread. Maybe Kaladin will realize that saving people on the battlefield is great, but he wants to do more--saving also their minds, their sense of self, their emotional wellbeing, etc. Making their lives better & happier rather than merely keeping them alive, you know? Maybe he'd even do that for himself...

[kurov1864]

Opinions on Milgram characters

I've actually been wanting to do this for some time now lmao. Btw this is just my interpretation of each character, followed by my opinion on said interpretation. Feel free to disagree, I love to discuss with other people. (also cross-posted on Reddit)

Haruka: Okay so what I think happened for him is that he very obviously has a developmental disorder of some sort. I'm not sure exactly what, and I don't really wanna speculate because I'm not an expert. So he, as a child, was neglected by his mom and didn't receive enough attention. This led him to become extremely attached to his childhood best friend, which didn't really affect anything when they were both children. But then, she grew up, yet he didn't. She started to act more maturely, and he didn't. They grew apart, and Haruka couldn't understand why. Or maybe he did, and blamed himself. Anyways. Yada yada, he tried getting attention from his mom by killing animals, he did get attention (the wrong kind), kinda went off and killed his ex bestie as well, either out of frustration or for literally more attention.

Now, my general opinion of him? Neutral. I don't love or hate him. Maybe a very mild dislike, but that's only because I find it kinda disturbing how he calls Muu his mom.

Yuno: Abortion. I like Yuno. Not because of the whole "omg girlboss slayyyy you have total control over your body yas queen" thing, because honestly yall have got to stop saying stuff like that. I like her because she wants to be recognized as a "mature adult" who can actually take responsibility for her actions, instead of being degraded into this poor innocent girl who knows what the shit is. She's so impartial to everyone, even herself, yet she knows and acknowledges the fact that she's still human who has emotions and empathy, which is why she sometimes tries to help out. Yet, she doesn't deny the fact that she seeks interesting and new things, leaving behind others when most would feel guilty. 10/10, relatable character.

Fuuta: HATE. He is so... thoughtless?? I absolutely hate people who gets so caught up in their cause that they literally cannot see anything else. They don't stop to think, "oh, maybe what I'm doing is wrong? Maybe there is a better way to go about this?". Now, to be fair, I don't know much about Fuuta. So please, feel free to disagree with me about him, but I cannot stand the way he didn't stop to think that maybe cancelling others would push them to suicide. That just shows his naivety. I acknowledge that his passion is admirable (passion for what I'm still thinking about), but passion without the knowledge to help is just being a stubborn idiot. His impulsiveness is also another very strong ick of mine.

Muu: I don't have much of an opinion on her character, but I do enjoy the concept that she represents. My personal theory is that she represents how somebody can be both a victim and a bully at the same time. She is at her very core, human, but without all those polite manners and social skills drilled into her. She turns pitiful and desperate when disadvantaged, but turns cocky, arrogant and confident when she has power. She is so, undeniably, human. And yet she can also be kind at times. She has such a f-ked up perception of everything, so maybe yall didn't catch it, but she's still trying to be nice in her own warped way.

Shidou: Eh. He's like, okay?? Not gonna comment on his crime because I don't feel anything towards it. But his attitude is sort of annoying. The way that he clings to his role as a doctor in prison after trying to forsake his life, the way he keeps trying to bring up age with Es (yes I know age is a valid point but bringing that up just makes it seem as if you're looking down on Es only because of their age. it's degrading), all that stuff just kinda gets on my nerves a bit. I appreciate what he's doing for the prison,,, but I don't really like him.

Mahiru: Love her. I love the way she tries to stand up for her ideals, no matter how much society + Es tells her it's wrong. She's been hurt so much yet she's still so optimistic, bright and hopeful about love. I love her. Granted, it may be because I also have fucked up views of love like her which is why I gave her such a high rating compared to like, Fuuta.

Kazui: Neutral. I would have wanted to scream at him about just,,, not telling lies, but I can acknowledge how hard it is for some people to not care about their image, especially if they grew up in a traditional household.

Amane: A bit positive and negative at the same time. I dunno, I just kinda like the way that she found a way to adapt to her horrible circumstances. Although that way is by weaponizing her religion to protect herself, but yeah. Unhealthy circumstances calls for unhealthy coping methods. What I dislike is how she doesn't even want to give other thoughts a try. Like she won't stop and think about other options, not even for a little bit. But then again, it's literally been drilled into her since childhood to not betray that religion, so I guess that makes my point invalid.

Mikoto: Why, why is he so popular?? What?? I'm so confused. Honestly I just think he's neutral. Just like, oh look, another victim of the toxic work environment who found a terrible way to cope. I don't have any feelings about John either, although I do admire his dedication to Mikoto. He's just so,,, uninteresting?? Someone please tell me why he is so popular, because I gen want to try to understand and see his appeal.

Kotoko: My wife. I'll try not to let bias get in the way of this one.

Okay I'm gonna be so fr rn I absolutely detested her at first. She's like Fuuta,,, but so much worse. She takes her ideals to the absolute extreme, pushes down all guilts and feelings about others to carry out her "justice". She's so unwilling to admit that she likes the feeling of beating bad guys up, the moral high ground it gives her. She's not only hurting other people, but also herself. Mf thinks she's in an edgy movie where she's the anti-hero who goes against the government and is constantly misunderstood, like girlie stop. Stop and THINK about what you are doing, see the death, destruction and harm you've brought about not just to others but also yourself?? Goddamn.

I'm not even sure why I like her LMFAO. All my opinions about her is just, she's human scum who needs lots of therapy to stop hurting herself and others.

Es: Love my non-binary guard. They care so much for the prisoners, trying their absolute best to understand them while coping with their body and mind being infiltrated by us. I always feel so guilty having them bear the burden of explaining the guilty decisions to the prisoners,,, just want em to be happy and work-free. I admire their dedication to truly, truly feel for the prisoners, try to understand the entire context instead of the one on the surface. Yeah, they act immaturely, they're a 15 year old who has no memories, no clue as to where they are, clinging onto their role as a warden even if it makes them look pathetic because that's the only thing they've ever known. It's their only sense of "identity" they have that gives them power and pride.

Jackalope: HATE HATE HATE HATE GO BACK TO YOUR ROOM I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU IN TRIAL 2 END gOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BACK TO WHICHEVER MISERABLE BASEMENT YOU CRAWLED OUT FROM AND STAY IN THERE FOR THE REST OF ETERNITY. JACKALOPE IS A FATHER AND CARES FOR ES?? I CALL BS. HE DUMPED SO MUCH WORK ON ES, ACTS SHIFTY AND MANIPULATIVE ALL THE TIME, DOESN'T EXPLAIN ANYTHING TO ES, AND YOU EXPECT ME TO LIKE HIM?????

[automatismoateo]

I went to church today... via /r/atheism

I went to church today... I usually concede to my grandma's demands and go with her to church once a year. It only takes an hour and it makes her happy to believe that God is slowly winning me over to his side, so I just grin and bear it. However, I've noticed that things have definitely changed since I was a kid. I've been to about 3 different churches these past few years because my grandma isn't happy with the new pastor so she's shopping around. And all 3 churches are doing the same things to try to appeal to younger audiences. Here's how it went. So I walk in, feeling like Edward Norton in Fight Club faking his way through a support group. They look at me like my lie is reflecting their lie. They can tell I'm an imposter. I'm immediately swarmed by half a dozen people like overzealous personal trainers trying to get me to sign up for monthly classes. My arms are full of pamphlets, gift bags, and a free mug before I sit down. The pews that I used to enjoy as a child are all gone. In their place are foldable chairs, to accommodate more or less people as necessary. The somber color scheme, the well-dressed pastor, the organ music — all gone. Now an overweight, bald young man wearing cargo shorts is yelling out Gen Z sound bites like he's making a TikTok. The teenagers behind him are all playing instruments with the enthusiasm of juvenile delinquents cleaning up trash on the side of the road as part of their DUI public service. The veneration and reverence are gone. The pastor jokes that he doesn't know how to pronounce half the names in the Bible. He says God understands if you don't always follow the rules. He's so desperate for people to continue showing up each week that he panders to his audience rather than instructing them on God's commands. The one thing that hasn't changed is the weird insistence on using Olde English to praise God's name. They sing that "We shalt always bow to thee" as though God is partial to 16th-century English. The cult language also persists, making me furrow my brow and look around uncomfortable at how many adults are gleefully looking forward to the day they will bathe in the blood of the lamb. And afterward, the lights come on, all the theatricality is abruptly cut off, and Chipotle is served in the gymnasium as barely functioning geriatrics come together to discuss their approval of Trump. The pastor brags that he has been close personal friends with Kevin Sorbo for 20 years. I frantically run to the car to head off to Bob Evans, which is the real reason I came in the first place. In summation, churches have become even more disconnected from the Bible and Christianity's original teachings than ever before. Submitted April 28, 2025 at 02:05AM by SaltyBusdriver42 (From Reddit https://ift.tt/JE2WZup)

[shaldreth]

Hey, Shald here with more info people didn't ask for! o/ First off, thank you for the suggestions, and please know we'll be taking them. This is not intended to be an "Um, Actually" response. I know we have a few other game devs who follow us, so I'm giving extra details in the hope it may help others in our same situation. tl;dr at the bottom. Advertising Women of Xal's first Kickstarter (and the game ever since) has been one of our bigger hurdles, and I'm here to tell you why. First and foremost: We don't have an employee dedicated to social media and advertising. We desperately need one, tbh, but... well, if you've seen my other posts on how much money WoX has made over the years, you know.

So, "free" visibility boosts! Let's start with the ones Anon recommended, and then branch out.

English Otome Games - This blog does already reblog our official updates! :) Massive kudos to their staff for being on top of things. https://www.englishotomegames.net/search/Women%20of%20Xal

Blerdy Otome - I've contacted them! We'll let you know if anything comes of it. \o/

Otome Kitten - Otome Kitten only reviews commercial games, according to their FAQ. Which is fair and also very common. It's the same reason Women of Xal won't show up in our VA's history on any of the professional voice acting sites - like IMDB!

Reddit - Reddit. Oh, reddit.

I frequent reddit myself. When I first began researching where to advertise our game in 2020-2021, reddit was one of the first places I looked. Although every subreddit is different, a few common themes emerged.

First, most gaming subreddits have strict rules against self-promotion. This can include needing to be an active member of the sub for a certain amount of time, karma gates, only posting in megathreads on a certain day of the week and not more than once a month... all stuff that can make it difficult for indie devs to get their game seen. So unless we want to buy karma bot accounts and post a bunch of fake fan engagement (we don't want to do this), the best way for our game to get noticed on reddit is *for other people to post about it.* Organically.

Second, many have strict definitions of the types of games they'll allow, and our ratio of male love interests to female love interests has gotten us in trouble in the past. Apparently having a roughly equal ratio of male to female LIs disqualifies the game from being both an otome and an otoge game, under some definitions. Having male LIs at all can disqualify us from being a yuri game. :(

And thirdly, game dev subreddits are great, but... really only frequented by other game devs. u_u On the bright side, some of the subs I looked at 5 years ago (oof....) seem to have changed their rules, and even more new ones have popped up! So here's a quick summary of the subreddits I went through this week.

r/otomegames - We posted the first game's Kickstarter and demo on this subreddit years ago, and got around 50 upvotes. I think this sub used to have a rule that "otome" games were only those with more male LIs than female, but that rule no longer seems to be in their FAQ. So yay! They have "Self Promotion Sundays" where devs can post in a megathread, which I will be checking out.

r/visualnovels - We posted the first game's Kickstarter and demo here as well, and got even less interest than on r/otomegames. Their sidebar reads: "Do not post here if your purpose is to advertise your projects. This is a place to discuss VNs, not shill," and notes that update posts should be limited to major milestone updates. Our goal *is* to advertise, and I'm not comfortable pretending otherwise just to circumvent that.

r/indiegames - Does not allow adult content. I'm not actually sure if this means you can't share games with an adult rating or if you just can't post adult content on the subreddit directly, but most of the posts do seem to be the "E for Everyone" kind, so I'll consider posting with caution.

r/indiegaming - Calls out the reddit-wide self-promotion rule stating "If over 10% of your submissions are your own site/content/affiliate links, you're almost certainly a spammer," and "It's perfectly fine to be a redditor with a website, it's not okay to be a website with a reddit account." I think they'd look unfavorably upon us posting from our company's reddit account.

r/kickstarter - One promotion per project, and breaking the rules gets you blacklisted. We did post the original game's Kickstarter on here and got... 3 votes. :') tl;dr: The best way to get your game noticed is to have fans talk about it, which is why companies spend so much money on fake fan engagement (aka astroturfing). Most people (correctly) see game dev's self-promotion posts as an attempt to advertise, and I get it.

Hi! For getting your Kickstarter out there, have you considered contacting some of the bigger otome game sites and blogs? Like English Otome Games, Blerdy Otome, or Otome Kitten? Or even posting on the otome game subreddit? I'm not sure what the gender proportion of the love interests in the game are, but those places will definitely all be able to give your Kickstarter a big visibility boost!

Definitely, and thank you for pointing out more of the places I can go! We'll need all the help we can get. Hopefully we'll have more bites than the last reach out. \o/

[joys-ramblings]

I'm going to assume that this is in good faith, but like, a lot of this has been discussed intensively before.

Long reddit post here: (3) Does SQQ love Binghe or not? A close reading and analysis : SVSSS (reddit.com)

A tumblr post here: Currently Under a Rock — Miss Faelicy I would love to get your opinion on... (tumblr.com)

There's more great posts around but they'll take a while to dig up.

I don't think you have to 'get it'. You're allowed to ship other things. You're allowed to prefer other pairings. But I guess if you want to see why people enjoy Bingqiu, I'll add some thoughts.

At least for me, the whole point of Bingqiu is finding ways to have healthy communication from rocky starting points. Look, of course a 'healthy', well-communicated relationship with equal balances of power from the outset is great. But for a lot of people, this is not how the world works. Not even getting into neurodivergence or trauma or things like this, the way that people experience attraction is extremely varied. Stray even slightly from the accepted mainstream, and you're quickly labelled 'weird', 'problematic', 'broken' etc. It's so easy to get into increasingly deep pits about how unlovable and broken you are, because e.g. the way you experience attraction is particularly intense, or you feel extreme anxiety about being abandoned.

Luo Binghe has trust issues in large part because of his childhood. Because he grew up in poverty, because he was deeply misfortunate, because Shen Qingqiu (for understandable reasons from his pov) acted in confusing and contradictory ways. And he knows this. He hates himself, regards himself as a monster, thinks it's obvious that Shen Qingqiu should hate him. He works around the clock to reign his worst instincts in, but he's hurting himself, and Xin Mo isn't helping - he can't do this own his own, and eventually he breaks.

The climax of the novel is Maigu Ridge, but the point of Maigu Ridge is Shen Qingqiu understanding that Luo Binghe is traumatised and desperately in need of love. He's not a overbearing dark lord or crazy yandere, he's not the Bingge from PIDW that he thought he knew. From that point onwards (well, earlier actually) Shen Qingqiu knows Luo Binghe isn't trying to harm him. And once Shen Qingqiu gives his speech (and afterwards, at CQM, chooses to go with him) Luo Binghe knows he is loved. That someone chose him, even throwing their life away for him (three people actually - his biological mother, his adopted mother, and Shen Qingqiu).

And the trigger of this entire sequence of realisations... was Shen Jiu and Yue Qi not communicating with each other. Shen Qingqiu saw what happened to them because they didn't talk to each other, then immediately went 'oh no, that's what Binghe and I are doing right now!', before going off to fix things. Yes there are things to sort out (the whole 'their story had just begun'), but the air has been cleared. They've made a fundamental step towards a healthy, communicated relationship.

On the other side, Shen Qingqiu is clearly closeted queer. He adamantly refuses to believe his attraction to Luo Binghe is real (and apparently refuses to believe gayness is real until it slaps him in the face). He is deeply entrenched in heteronormative views, and feels shame for liking someone. His attraction is clouded by artificial fear - fear that is ultimately dispelled, first in a realisation that Bingmei != Bingge, second in a realisation that Bingmei is the sticky child he raised. The internalised homophobia is still there, but again, 'their story had just begun'.

Someone has written about this, but Luo Binghe's stickiness allows Shen Qingqiu a sense of normality. In China, 'Sajiao' is the practice of deliberately acting like a spoilt child to get affection, typically done by girls. Binghe is 'playing the girl' in the relationship (partly) because it makes Shen Qingqiu feel more comfortable in his masculinity. It gives Shen Qingqiu a way of denying affection, while still gaining affection (note that when Shen Qingqiu told Luo Binghe to go away and he did, Shen Qingqiu got upset). Shen Qingqiu can spoil and be spoilt without feeling shame over it.

To demonstrate the change in Shen Qingqiu's feelings, note that at Maigu Ridge, when Luo Binghe was literally about to destroy Shen Qingqiu's home and was threatening to kill all of his friends, Shen Qingqiu didn't feel fear. He felt pain. Because by this point, he realised that this crazed state was something he'd led Luo Binghe to himself, that this wasn't who Luo Binghe was at heart. If only he hadn't misunderstood so badly, Luo Binghe might never have become who he was. (And also note that once Xin Mo was destroyed, Luo Binghe was no longer in this state, and very much willing to let Shen Qingqiu go) Contrast this to when he was terrified of a 14 year old.

Being abandoned multiple times as a child by the people you love. Having a heritage that makes you hated to the point people will kill you at sight. Growing up in a society that condemns you for who you like. Being thrown into a new life with the threat of dismemberment hanging over your head. These are not things anyone has control over, and whilst they might not be 'realistic' in the sense that svsss is fantasy, the things they represent are very much things that people experience. And despite their starting points, Bingqiu eventually took steps towards communicating with each other, setting boundaries, respecting each others' wishes, all of these things. In fact, by the end of the extras, they were better at it than a lot of other BL couples. These stories have meaning to us, because they say 'no matter how unlovable you think you are, no matter how much shame you hold because of your feelings, you can find someone who is perfect for you'. Because Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe are meant for each other. They are weird about each other in ways that don't have to make sense for outside parties.

Final note on power balance. Luo Binghe is big scary demon lord, but Shen Qingqiu is his teacher. What is that, if not true balance.

Breaking news: Bingyuan is more toxic than u believe?? (not clickbait) (reaL)

ok so ive been thinking long and hard about their relationship and it doesnt make sense to me its so toxic and idk why theyd be the main pair of svsss that has so much potential for healthy loving ships (re: liuyuan)

Firstly: their relationship as a whole Binghe is notoriously sticky, and because we are sort of reading the novel through shen yuans eyes its an endearing trait. But if you think about it isnt it suffocating? It also shows an innate lack of trust in SY to do his own stuff and come back afterwards because of Binghe’s trust issues (ofc id have trust issues too if someone pushed me off a cliff but still). Binghe needs to work this out because the smothering is so toxic…

Next: love bombing and semi stockholm syndrome? this relationship is so funny to me because its like stockholm but weirder. SY literally lived in fear that LBH would murder him in the future and this causes him to cling to any affection LBH is giving because he’s taking it as reassurance to himself that he’ll live to see another day. Also im going to be honest the way SY treated LBH is sort of love bombing. He acts like a stern shizun at the start of the novel to not be OOC, then suddenly starts treating LBH as the sole star shining in the dark, then throws him off a cliff… It really gives a guy whiplash yk? Especially when you consider that aside from the washer woman, LBH has never been treated with love in his whole life up till this point. Hes been bullied so badly and even his own shizun hates him. He’s a literal child at this point in time, he’ll crave any love given and it is easy to see how this thirst for love could spiral into the more obsessive tendencies.

Now: Binghe and Bingmei I think that as Demons, you could sort of boil both OG!Binghe and Binghe (Bingmei)‘s treatment of SQQ into the base 7 deadly sins. Binghe would be Ira (Wrath/Hatred) and Bingmei would be Greed (Obsession). Their growing years as children under their respective shizuns has shaped their views and their feelings towards said shizuns have been carved deeply into their hearts. You can see how strong these emotions are in both Binghe’s elaborate and drawn out torture of OG!SQQ and Bingmei’s stickiness and overall yandere tendencies towards SY. Judging from the scale of LBH’s hatred towards OG!SQQ and drawing a parallel, current Bingmei’s obsession and greed for SY’s love is off the charts.

So what would happen if SY didnt reciprocate these feelings? If he did something that made Bingmei irrevocably angry? Emotions are wildly changing and never constant, and thus Bingmei’s affections is and will always be a damocles sword above SY’s head. SY may think he loves Bingmei, but he clearly doesn’t trust the constancy of the reciprocated feelings, and he definitely thinks about LBH getting blackened.

LBH and SY’s befuddling relationship dynamics: Now, they started off as master-disciple. This may seem not as important, but in Chinese there’s this saying “teacher for a day, father for a lifetime”. Do you understand what this means now that theyre in a relationship? Its a really weird power dynamic. Not to mention the whole “Demon lord/Person who swallowed said Demon Lord’s blood”. As I mentioned previously, because we are seeing SVSSS out of SY’s perspective, the importance of this is sort of glossed over with a “but its Binghe! Binghe’d never hurt me…”. LBH is able to control the blood to harm on scales unimaginable. He can kill, torture, cause you to be in excruciating pain, etc. LBH forcing his demon blood in SY is equivalent to LBH ripping out SY’s beating heart and holding it in his palm. He can literally crush the heart at any given moment and end SY’s life. Much motivation to convince yourself that you are in love with the one holding your life in his hands, right?

Wrapping this up because idt people will actually even read this: SY and LBH’s relationship may look like love up close, but its really toxic and they clearly lack the trust needed in a relationship. If there isn’t mutual respect and trust, can you even call their relationship love? I personally am of the opinion that it isnt love, especially considering the obsessive tendencies of LBH.

Ofc I have more to say and I hope you guys will discuss with me, but its late now so im keeping this quite short. If you’ve read the entire post marry me and pls still read SVSSS its a gem :)

[fruityuncleskeletor]

Sorry to butt in, but bias and socialisation also play a huge role. Bias manifests as a person's williness to entertain and absorb a new idea/concept/phenomenon. My own housemate thinks KinnPorsche is a steaming pile of shit with ugly people and it's impossible to change her mind because she once walked through the living room while the scene where Vegas is giving Pete his little "I know you want it" speech and she said "uh how rapey, how can you watch this drivel?" And now from that one first impression she decided Bible is ugly, Build looks underage and everything is a mess. It's like trying to persuade a conservative that drag queens reading to kindergarten kids won't turn the kids queer. I on the other hand had the time to build positive bias, in that I first saw gifs of VegasPete on reddit and people discussing Vegas stopping to get consent before he and Pete did the rotisserie chicken. I saw more and more pics of him and Build and before I knew it I was foaming at the mouth and fighting folks on reddit while waving the "VegasPete are my children and they can do no wrong" banner. I'm also biased because I relate to Vegas (ok I didn't murder folks and I'm not hot) but I know that when you desperately crave a love and an approval that are within such near reach that you can almost taste them, you WILL make some tactical mistakes and you WILL sometimes lose that which you most want to hold on to. Socialisation is what kind of norms you accept as valid and make a part of your own world view and moral compass. Thai BLs seem to be very eager and also relaxed about using dubcon as a romantic plot device. Someone who is coming from a Western and/or activist background won't find that take so fresh and so clean at all. I used to have a big time friend in a previous fandom who hated Henry Cavill's guts because he dated a 19 year old when he was 30+, but in her case it wasn't just "ugh men who date teens are creepy" it was also because grooming young girls by old guys was something she had seen a lot of around her growing up. Henry Cavill went on to date more age-appropriate women, but the hate my friend has for him remains. I do see why it is infuriating to see men get away with and be forgiven for the most heinous acts especially if they are rich and good looking. It messes with your value system and goes against the idea of justice so I can see how some things are absolutely impossible to entertain or accept. On the other hand, I also grew up in woke culture and have had some nasty shit happen to me as well, but I accept the fact that content is never produced with my exact person in mind. Whether I am ready to accept it or not, the world we live in is misogynistic, morally bankrupt and anchored in rape culture. This is why on crime shows, most if not all serial killers prey on women and why rape, non con and dub con are so normalised they sometimes even get romanticised (Bridgerton anyone?). And you know what, Kinn and Porsche had consent difficulties around their first time but the way Kinn acted and treated Porsche after was SO much worse than what Vegas did. And I could never forgive this about the KP couple, Kinn remains entitled and Porsche remains a trapped victim, there is no moment of true breakdown for Kinn, he doesn't, like Vegas, realise that a life lived without being seen and loved by his special someone is simply not worth living. It's also, for me, how Vegas has lost everything and is in his right to lash out and be unjust and evil, but he chooses to tell Pete he is free to leave even though that might just kill his ass, whereas Kinn is still in his position of power, perhaps more now than before, and his benevolence towards Porsche remains conditional and can be easily revoked. Again, sorry to butt in.

Short story time: So a good friend of mine recently started KinnPorsche, promptly decided she wanted to go to the concert and got a ticket, so we'll be going together. She just finished the series a couple of days ago and the first thing she said was "Wow Vegas and Pete's relationship is just so fucked up, can't believe Pete became a sex slave" and now I can't get over the soul-crushing disappointment.

It's stupid I know, but it's just that momentary stinging realization that your buddy didn't 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵... know what I mean? Like really didn't 𝘨𝘦𝘵 them or 𝘪𝘵 at all. Not in the way I did.

There's a reason why I prefer obsessing alone, thanks.