#I've never done an ARG this is so cool!!!

[felix-krain]

so, guess who joined and caught up with the Protocol ARG-

[sketchy-tour]

Okay listen I got distracted while working on my ask doodles. BUT LISTEN THIS IS SO SELF INDULGENT cause I was listening to an early 2000s playlist on spotify and realized... Reboot Wally would so be a blink 182 fan. And you SO know he would sing that mess at karaoke. A dork. I love him.

Reboot AU belongs to @/bloodrediscream (Man I do not need to tag them for just my silly doodles.

I WILL HOWEVER tag @kawaiialeisha because I feel like you'd appreciate this

[nerves-nebula]

!!!!!!! IVE FINDALLY FOUND A FELLOW MANDELA CATALOG DISLIKER

I've been into the ARG/Unfiction genre since like. 2015. And literally I've understood the hype around almost every unfiction project to some degree, EXCEPT for Mandela catalogue. Like. I've never understood the hype. Maybe it's just because I found it to feel very formulaic but like. Some of the faces used for this that are meant to be slightly unsettling are just,, not perfectly proportional and are badly lit?? Like literally that's it. Like there are real people who look like that. Fix the lighting and it's just gonna look like your neighbor of something. It's not very scary

But also like, for real? On your points abt how the series itself gives off A Lot if proto-fascistic messaging,

when I first watched it I was like "oh! That's the point! This is abt how fascist governments use media like TV to influence and misinform the public in service to facism and paranoia. Like these doppelgangers aren't actually real! They're just made up boogiemen to incentivize the public to turn on their neighbors/to attack people who are disfigured or disabled" and I thought that I finally was maybe getting why people found it interesting and that I had judged it too harshly

And then it wasn't that and instead was like "yeah no. There IS a secret boogeyman group who aren't (side eye to that) who are gonna steal your children via television (even Bigger side eye), and nearly off of them are just like, slightly photoshopped pictures of Real People but now they're just disfigured/disabled/literally just slightly non proportional features

This series could be very cool, but its just a thematic mess and is (intentionally or not) communicating a lot of facistic/eugenic sentiments

Idk if this anon is well phrased but like. You're so right it's unreal

-Gonzo

HAHAHHHHH YESSSS. YESSSSS. ITS SUCH A MESSSS.

LIKE. what is the POINT. half the "scary" ppl look like someone I'd see on the bus. the intruder looks like the homeless guy who asked me for bus fair a while back.

CRUCIALLY I don't think any of the bigotry was intentional, however it's SO thoroughly interwoven into Alex's worldview and the world he's created that it's like. at the fucking center of everything. it's insane to me how full grown adults analyze it on youtube and somehow manage to do that without comparing and compiling all the tropes it uses to make its point (whatever it's point even IS)

whenever me & my friend talk about it we somehow manage to keep tripping into different kinds of bigotry!! we'll be talking about ableism and how Adam's arc is very similar to many changeling tropes, which were (and to some extent still are, see: Star Children/Indigo Children) often used to abuse neurodivergent or mentally ill/disabled children. and we'll realize that Adam arc ALSO mirrors the Tragic Mulatto storyline too and it's like wow!! Two in one! you've done it so bad!!

a lot of the issues with it are small little things that could be excused as a coincidence- EXCEPT THERE'S SO MANY LITTLE THINGS THAT IT BECOMES IMPOSSIBLE TO IGNORE.

it's like- ok imagine this: you're having an interaction with someone and they do a microaggression at you, right? not outwardly bigoted, just kind of ignorant. and you're like, ok. fine. nobody is perfect, they probably didn't mean any harm. it's not worth kicking up a fuss about.

but if it keeps happening EVERY SINGLE TIME you talk to this person, it starts to build inside you and it's like. it's hard to even say why you hate them because you'd need to drag out every shitty tiny thing they've said and at that point you feel like maybe you're just being petty- BUT IT'S NOT PETTY IF IT HAPPENS EVERY SINGLE TIME AAA

ok sorry i started writing an essay again. i think my bud's gonna like this tho he's gonna be so happy other people did actually notice

[autisticempathydaemon]

My little submission for the match ups!

I just wanna see who you'll pair me up with!

song I'm hyper fixated in rn is your on your own kid by Taylor Swift the lines "I gave my blood sweat and tears for this" idk I guess it's just cool and I'm academically tired and relate to it

my ennagram type is 5w9 ISTP

video essays are absolutely awesome probably my fav vids! my favorite ones would be like the timeline of a story based/lore based game or some arg stuff

I never really had a childhood friend so I wouldn't know but the closest I had for a childhood friend is a toy I have that I pretend came alive- basically it's a white cat stuffed animal with blue eyes and a pink ribbon

my go-to way of falling asleep I guess is just the good ol' lay down and close my eyes tactic

favorite of redacted would be Geordi's throwback audio and Vincent's throwback with stranger too also Damien's non canon romances audio

Ollie and Aaron I guess I just don't get the appeal of office people

tangled, I watched it so much I practically memorized it

Asher! he's so cool and chill totally would be friends with him and his shenanigans

my favorite playlist would be my Taylor swift playlist- idk other songs just got boring and I just remembered the extensive amount of songe genre Taylor dabbles in and how I love all of it

guilty pleasure media... bf audios no comment

some random stuff Abt me would be:

I love blue! alot, it's just my fav color ig, I kin alot of the "tough on the outside, soft on the inside characters" ex. darlin', Shenhe. And that's it! excited to see who you pair me up with!

Hmmmm~ I think you and your match have a lot in common but just enough not in common to keep things interesting, to keep you from clashing. You and Damien would have a very interesting but very functional relationship.

I think you and Damien share the same Enneagram and MBTI, both characterized by an independent intelligence, capable and ambitious and curious. (This is supported by you being academically tired.) I think putting two people like that together can be really beneficial in keeping one another in check, in making sure the other doesn’t burn out, you know? There’d be a lot of checking one another’s work, late nights getting junk food and study fuel, helping each other keep an eye on deadlines, and making sure some essential self-care is done no matter what,

With that in mind, I think y’all would be so cute and so… him. Like, I don’t think he loves Taylor Swift, but I think he went about getting you Eras tickets like a man on a mission. He had the whole DAMN crew on ticketmaster and on the phone, coordinating, and drove you there and picked you up so you wouldn’t get gouged by uber surge prices. He buys little blue trinkets when he’s out shopping to let you know he’s thinking about you, because he’d be a penguin-pebbling kind of guy. A relationship with Damien is full of functional, practical but undeniable shows of his love.

Song:

And I've always lived like this/ Keeping a comfortable, distance/ And up until now/ I had sworn to myself that I'm content/ With loneliness/ Because none of it was ever worth the risk/ But, you are, the only exception

Delightful, I’ve been waiting for the right match-up to use this song! Damien is such a loving, darling, tsundere motherfucker, and though I focused on what your established relationship together would look like, it’s also so fun to think about the whole falling in love process. I could see a great friends to lovers, maybe even rivals to lovers dynamic, that has the two of you slowly getting closer and wearing down those tsundere walls of his until you become his only exception.

Runner-ups:

Guy would be a cute match for you because one, he strikes me as the biggest Swiftie of the redacted bois and two, I think he’d be a good contrast to you where Damien compares, you know? James, I like for a lot of the same reasons as Damien, but I liked Damien more since you’re both students.

note: thank you so much for waiting 💙

Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌

[theoscout]

I've forgotten the kind of impact that abandoned by disney and its sequels and spinoffs had on me, except for FNATI because I never spent long on it.

It just seemed... realistic? It talked about how corporations are known to do seedy and awful things and cover it up, supernatural or otherwise. It doesn't so much scare me now, as make me horribly depressed.

Sometimes, the only source of news about something isn't from employed journalists, it's from random people on the internet who run blogs and might be hunted down by authorities over it. That was something I actually romanticised when I was younger- putting my life on the line and being the one and only source for information to come through, like being the hero of my own story. So many of my ARGs were written with this format in mind, and Abandoned By Disney was the one that introduced me to it in that way.

Now I think about Friendlyjordies getting his house firebombed over youtube videos and the people of Palestine letting a glimmer of their suffering be preserved through their phones. Disney funded the latter one. It also funded Uyghur concentration camps and was responsible for all kinds of horrible laws about copyright, I could go on and on about what kind of things they done but these two are the most egregious examples that come to mind. A messed up figment of imagination coming to life through collective belief isn't even this scary.

I almost, almost wish I lived in the ABD universe more than this one, because at least the horrors I'll be facing there are charismatic. The horrors here are just depressing and sad. And the disney company is arguably more respectable there- instead of just being lazy tyrants who sit on a throne of enslaved creative potential, they're at least also running some kind of scp-esque program to keeping these horrors contained, even if they need to do bad things to do that.

admittedly, I never really went too far into fnati. I felt like we had missed potential. I feel like disney secretly trying to capture and contain weird dream demons is way more interesting than what we got. You could have been an investigator who was offered a job into the role of a cast member, and told that in exchange for being let known the truth about these shady coverups, you would need to let the company silence you. You could have been sent to fight the corruptus or contain them. We could have explored the Unknown Avian Species, Friendly John, Wily Wizard, many more things.

SIGH.

Maybe certain fan works did explore it, just without my knowledge. I can see why the people initially thought that Bendy would be a better adaptation of Abandoned By Disney than the FNATI games, especially with the Corruptus entry coming out. It sure as hell went viral, due to being a mascot horror game in a time when 90% of mascot horror was FNAF fangames with no distinct style.

lowkey, I didn't want to spend this long on Disney. I don't believe they deserve the additional allure of secretly having cool horrors being kept under lock and key. I don't feel like ANYONE who does the things they do deserve a cool horror spinoff. I don't even want to write an expy of them, because it means deriving some level of joy from their existence. Somewhere, I'll also be factoring in the suffering Palestinians and Uyghurs, and that doesn't sit well with me. I don't know how or why, but it just don't. Taking out the real life horrors to write about fictional horrors feels exploitative and wrong. It does to me, even if that's not the same for other people.

[fionas-treasure-chest]

Vixvox3's Big Ol' Games of 2023 List

So I'm stealing this idea from Moxie and wanted to talk about the games that I played this year. This is going to be a long post so, you know, grab a chair and let's talk.

Dead By Daylight

So, I played a lot of DbD and it was part of my early Twitch career. The game is solid when it works and the star power of having so many horror icons in the same game is undeniable. Plus, I met some great friends through it (I'm looking at you Jumpscare Myers Katie and Rorydiesalot).

But I'd be lying if I said that it's not fallen flat for me of late. Mostly because I like horror and want my horror games to feel like the license I'm playing. DbD is the smash bros of horror in that it's a great game, but it isn't what I want to play when I want to play something that FEELS like a particular license.

Final Fantasy XIV

Hard to believe that I played this game for about three years now. I initially quit the game cause of the ARR slog and some negative play experiences a friend gave me. But I came back during the Blizzard controversy. And it's been fantastic.

The story is some of the most heartfelt gaming I've experienced with characters that I've fallen in love with over the years. While I haven't done nearly enough RP in the game world, I have also met some of my best friends through it.

I'm excited for Dawntrail!

I will say that I wish I didn't run into some creeps.

Signalis

So this game was introduced to me by Dot. And I'm so thankful she introduced me. This game ruled. and playing it on stream at twitch was a delight. I didn't get all the endings, but I enjoyed playing it, learning about the plot afterwards and then discussing it afterwards. I think I played this around February and it's still on my mind.

Easily one of my contenders for my GOTY.

Inscryption

Similar, Dot introduced me to this game as well. And my god was this fun. I Loved stumbling into some busted ass card combs, like making a stinky bug during the fight against the moon. I had a blast playing this game and learning about it and finding fast sympathy with the "lonely wizard".

But then learning how deep the ARG madness goes afterwards was a ton of fun as well. Awesome game! And I could see myself playing this annually.

Limbus Company

I'll admit, I was worried about this game cause it was billed as a "good gacha" game. But it is so much more. I found fast sympathy for the characters via the plot. The generosity is through the roof. And I honestly enjoyed playing this game so much. I can honeslty say I didn't expect Canto III or the "fried chicken" chapter.

I love this game and look forward to playing more.

Library of Ruina

Similarly, this game is really cool as well. It's a horror game hidden under a jazzy cool soundtrack with a lot of style. Very much a cyberpunk tale of how shitty corp life can be. But what shocked me most was how horrified I was during "Lovetown". If you know, you know. If you don't, please don't look it up.

Potionomics

This game absolutely ruled. I enjoyed it so much and will never forget how much Roxanne knocked me on my ass from the moment she showed up. During my playthrough I fell for Mint, but I can honeslty say that every character is positively lovely and I'm looking forward to giving this another playthrough.

Street Fighter 6

The first game on Steam that I 100% completed for achievements and the first fighting game I played for more than 25 hours (currently about 300 hours of play since it's jUne launch as of now). It's a fun game with great characters, including some of the only openly lgbtq+ characters with Marisa.

I'm a proud Manon main and I will be for the life of this game.

Dragon Ball FighterZ

So I did like this game even with the netcode issues. But I had quit the game last year because a crash killed my progress through story mode and I didn't want to replay a bunch of content.

So after trying out the rollback beta I can say that this game is still fun. It won't replace SF6 for me, but I like it.

Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous

Ok so, Owlcat improved MASSIVELY after Kingmaker. I like the characters. I like the setting. And I enjoy the gameplay mechanics and music. This game is definteily a d20 power fantasy but it's one done right since a lot of the evil paths feel as rewarding as the good paths. Plus, it's solidified Desna as being my favorite Pathfinder deity via the Azata storyline.

I love this game and would play it even more if the text font size wasn't so god damn small. My eyes are bad and until I get eye surgery I just can't play this game without pain so my latest play through has to remain incomplete.

Lethal Company

Space capitalism the game is actually kinda fun. And if you play it as intended with proximity Voice Chat it can be loads of fun with friends. and it's proof you don't need whizbang graphics to create an engaging experience.

Also the arachnophobia mode is the funniest shit ever.

Guilty Gear Strive

The game that got me back into fighting games because Bridget is a Transgirl. I love Strive and though I'm still learning Bedman? and Asphalt and haven't played it as much as SF6, I'm still thankful that it got me back into one of my current favorite genres.

Also, I love listening to the character themes and thinking about their meanings. Truly Strive is a $60 soundtrack with a rad game attached.

Monster Hunter Rise

I love Monster Hunter games since world and while I will agree that Rise's cast isn't as strong as World's, it has a sense of community that I adore. There's something special about summoning villagers and named characters to fight with me during horde missions that I can't deny I love. Plus, the game feels much easier to get started with and I love how vertical the design and mobility is.

It's a worthy addition to the series and I'm glad to call Kamura Village, home.

Vampire Survivors

This game is such a simple design and it's so much fun. I love it and can just get in, play for an hour, and feel like I've made good use of my time. Plus, now I can play levels with kazoo music.

A+

Fear & Hunger

Yo this game is fucked up. It's kinda fucked up. It's interesting and I'm not sure if I like it per se. But it is fucked up yo.

Rogue Trader

I fucking love this game. I haven't played it long, but Owlcat keeps iterating on their past successes and are doing a pretty good job. I like it and look forward to exploring the plot.

FlipWitch: Forbidden Sex Hex

The only porn game I'll talk about. But I love this game. It's a fun metroidvania, sex is treated with humor and positivity, and it's just a good time with some catchy music.

Plus, sexy ghosts are always going to get thumbs up from me. I also like how the sex-switch mechanic is used for puzzle solving similarly to Wayforward's Mighty Switch Force. I've only gone through the first boss thus far, but I like this game.

Pizza Tower

Another Dot recommendation. But this game rules. It's a lot of fun and has just this undeniably charming style. I adore this game.

Octopath Traveler II

I was very disappointed in the first game and almost gave this one a pass. But I gave it a try when it had a demo and realized that it was pretty good. And I blame Ochette and having a howl as a victory bark. But then playing it revealed a heartfelt game with some of the best voice acting, writing, and gameplay I've experienced in a square game that wasn't a Final Fantasy.

The devs learned their lessons from the first game in a huge way and I easily recommend this one.

Romancing Saga: Minstrel Song Remastered

So this game is a lot of fun. But it is a VERY old style RPG. And the SAGA system can be obtuse for a lot of players since most character stories just drop you into a world and says "Go play".

I was happy to play this since it is nostalgic and Passionate Rhythm is an awesome boss theme. BUT, boy howdy is the voice acting uneven with some folks having dogass voicework and some NPCs changing voices depending on when you talk with them.

[watchinglikeafangirl]

So apparently there was some special LeoFiat episode I didn't know about and I actually don't know if it's uptodate or not. I think it came out yesterday (or today) but I could be wrong. Anyway, I watched it and I can just say: it was hella boring. I know TharnType was boring too but I forgot how boring it was and how uninteresting LeoFiat are. Now, I'm not quite sure if I will even bother about "Don't say no". This special surely didn't catch my attention.

So, for you who hasn't watched: you didn't miss anything. I'm gonna briefly sumarize it.

We start of with Leo's voice in the background and him sitting on a sofa reminiscing about how their friendship slowly changed into a relationship. Right at the beginning, we a get Fiat's most creepy and fake smile ever.

Then there are basically just flashbacks of TharnType season 2, so if you forgot about some parts, then you have the chance to rewatch, otherwise, it's a lot to skip. First it's about Fiat injuring his knee, so Leo hurries home. But as soon as Type showed up as well, I cringed a lot. Just barely seeing those scenes was enough for me to remember the shitshow TharnType season 2 was with all its way-too-stretched conflict and weak plot and bad dialogue and cringey editing..

We also get a flashback of the following scene. I still don't have any clue about what is going on here.

This is not the only time Fiat claims to be seeking Leo's attention by treating him the worst way you could possibly treat a friend.

At this point, I was like "Fiat you don't deserve Leo at all". I forgot how annoying his whining is and how bad they act. At least, they don't seem as toxic... yeah, well, until this happens:

I still can't bear this scene. They f***ing tortured Fiat and Leo was WATCHING and still, Fiat will never know Leo was part of the plan. He still thinks Leo saved him and I- arg. Mame, what have you done?

It's still very odd, Fiat doesn't seem to have any trauma and even apologizes to Leo whilst Leo should be the one doing so.

The scene was especially cringey because Fiat was like "I'm sorry" and Leo was like "No, I'm even more sorry" so, Fiat was like "I'm so sorry, you can't imagine" and then Leo was like "No, I'm the most sorry here" and so on.

Even this special episode alone is so wrong at so many points... The fact Leo slept with Fiat after this very traumatizing experience, gives me goosebumps and I think it's really disgusting. He wants Fiat to sleep but Fiat doesn't want to and asks for Leo's warmth and embrace which is totally fine at this point. But then they kiss? And after a few seconds, Leo starts to undress which just seemed out of context and misplaced. Probably the worst first sex scene I've seen so far. The mood wasn't there at all.

And then we get the last scene with this ending which probably looked better in the writer's heads than it actually turned out.

So far, so good. I skipped a lot. Many scenes were already familiar and they just added a few. It's just extremely boring mostly. Even when it could be exciting or cool or something, the mood drops because of the bad dialogue and pauses between the lines.

[antigoddex-a]

NO NOT NEXT WEEK!!! at least it's still pretty close instead of it being 5 weeks away gosh... i get what you mean so much- high school really did NOT set us up for this ack... but you're studying film production and that sounds super fun (and i hope that the environment is at least fun to learn in despite all the stress and pain.... that was the only thing that kept me going until the end of my school year WOOF..) im squeezing ur hand for reassurance while we listen to bongo cat together!! it literally made me squee when i clicked on one of their videos and i just!! THATS SO CUTE YOU WERE RIGHT 😭😭😭 sometimes you just need cuteness to push you through! the savage love cover.... i clicked on the FRIENDS cover (that song from marshmello that dominated most of my high school years over here) and its! ah! i love it! so much! please take this sunday to rest and recharge as much as you can... you definitely deserve that! have a nice snack- i wish they sold goldfish crackers here (and i feel that!! so! much! im also working on a dip in energy thats made me retreat from a lot of the stuff i love doing and want to do- school took away so much of my energy and writing while schooling is... a whole thing on its own, truly... ) i'm going to watch a heist with markiplier in your honour (a date with markiplier was actually the first interactive story i played and i have a WHOLE essay about interactive media and how! i love what may be considered 'strange' but innovative mediums to tell a story- i've played with the idea of starting an arg but i never got around to it. i need to ask you if you've heard of the max2019 ARG? it's so good- and it, especially the near end of the arg, really reminds me of que now that i think about it!)

FSDBGJSDB YEAH, YOU'RE SO RIGHT ON THAT... Also, I only really need to focus on my final assignments as all of my daily school tasks are done, so I know I'll be able to get through them despite everything!!! I got this!!! 😌 But I am actually studying Behavioral Sciences ( B/H/S )!!! Film production would be so awesome to study in, though.. I haven't really figured out what do I wanna do in terms of career wise exactly yet lmfao but I do love the idea of assisting people with mental illnesses or / and learning disability like me... B.H.S had taught us primarily a.pplied b.ehavior a.nalysis (A/B/A), but I eventually learnt there's a controversy around it as it's harmful towards those who have autism, so, fucking Yikes, of course, I am avoiding any jobs that use A.B.A... ( Behaviour therapist or youth worker does sound very neat to get into! )

But the environment was quite chill despite me having to wake up at 3:30am-4am to go to campus by 8am via transportation busses and getting home to usually 7-8pm at least three times a week jbsdhdsjnk ( clearly, the silly ol' high school Morningstar did not research B.H.S along with this program and college very well, errrr..... ) I no longer talk to them when we all parted ways last year winter semester as we all graduated from the B.H.S program, but I did made a very few friends who were very cool, so that's lovely! I'm so glad to know though that your environment was what kept you going despite everything! High school really did not have us expecting any of this, for fucking real lmfao

FRIENDS!!! Legit, same, Friends and Faded by A.lan W.alker were like... a Huge Thing during my high school years as well sngsdjgn I'm super duper happy to know you love the channel!!! I discovered it a few days ago and I was just,, Where Have I Been,,,,,, You're right, cute content is one of the best things to get through anything, we shall hold hands while we listen to Bongo Cat content together, so true, bestie <333 Thank you so much!!! My Sunday has been very chill and I plan to take a nap after this so sdnkgdd I will definitely have a great Sunday with a well earned rest overall, thank you again!!! ( YOU GUYS HAVE NO GOLDFISH CRACKERS!? What the fuck, catch me sending you a bunch of them over to you!?!? ) God, yeah, school really is a massive fucker to be messed with, but I really hope you'll get out of the dip of energy soon!!! I don't know when you'll have your break but I am cheering you on constantly!!! I just know that you're doing amazing and I am so proud of you!!!!!! <3 <3 <3

AH, PLEASE!!! I am so flattered that you will watch A.HWM in my honor, what the... Pls lemme know your thoughts when you do!!! <333 And I would absolutely LOVE to read your essay, honestly. ( This isn't related to the ARG itself, but I think you will really enjoy reading this article on timeloop narratives being about love and growth. It's so amazingly and beautifully written! ) I had actually done an ARG with my friends on D.iscord very briefly about a character who was in an apocalyptic world paralleled to our that was dominated by the physical embodiments of black holes that were devouring people, and the character managed to contact that group of my friends to help them choose what to do and say, and it was extremely cool!!! I think it would be amazing if you ever get to doing an ARG in the end. It's a lot of work to plan out and execute to make everything align okay according to plans, but when it plays off, it's just extremely rewarding and fun!!! :]

MAX2019 ARG, holy SHIT, yeah, I heard of it! I can only remember very vague details of it sadly :S but I see there's a summary post about it so I'll definitely (re)check it out after I nap! From what I can recall right now, it was SOOO wildly good omf I would absolutely love to get into doing ARG again with [ redacted ] on Tumblr, actually, but... We will see with that in the end dsgjsdgjd <3 <3 <3