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ppebejef · 5 months ago
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Wips for more sprites ☝️😳 I want to keep everything together so here’s my first sprite for copia.
Ok so let me tell you about some of my ideas. This formatting is going to be messy…sorry.
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Ignore that I haven’t included Elizabeth yet. But these ladies (Cirice and Ghuleh) will be minibosses ‼️ While the brothers will be the bosses of the whole floor.
And, like Hades, each brother has his own theme for their floor like with Tartarus, Asphodel, and Elysium….. except I would want Copia to descend into the depths of the abbey’s creepily extensive basement that I just made up. 😈🔥 mwahaha
Each Emeritus’s minions are based on songs in their albums and some general motifs I’ve noticed in them too. So they’ve got some ghosty witches, bats, skeletons, snakes, swarms of flies, etc etc working for them.
For Copia, he’d have “weapons” of hellish banishment. Now stay with me ok. (Haha). A thurible flail, Unholy Boxing Gloves, maybe some kind of spear to mirror whatever Secondo has going on with his staff, THE Square Hammer, and possibly even a rat army. Copia’s own little minions of destruction. The nameless ghouls would each have their own little one-time-use calls like the Companions / Legendary Keepsakes in Hades.
Still conceptualizing A LOT of this but instead of boons, wouldn’t it be awesome if Copia got to use helpful “curses” instead…yeah…
Anyways I have no idea how to make video games so just bear with me as I make a million fake screenshots for it.
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margoshamangolord · 7 months ago
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A BIG POST WHY TFA SENTINEL IS A GOOD CHARACTER WHILE STILL BEING A FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT
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lots of thoughts under cut
I hated him like any tfa viewer is expected to, and i still do, because he's wrong oftenly and very fucking immature about his own actions, but it's just that fandom treats him like a simple flat cardboard designed for nagging the main characters, while he's not. Even people usually fond of discussing character depth just go "ew" at him, but i want to prove that he's not worse than even ratchet or bumblebee in terms of writing. His actions have depths, reasons and explanations. I do not want to excuse him in points where he actually fucked up, but i do want to remind that he's a character with a history and insecurities like others in tfa
I want to start off with the fact that while the hate he has inside the fandom is not really interesting, it is easily expected. He acts like a piece of shit and has a lot of negative traits (for example you have his attitude towards organics, and while you could kinda write it into being a reaction to Elita's 'death', it wouldn't be really valid, since Optimus was there too, he saw the same things as him, but he has no disgust towards humans)
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The first thing i want to show would be this screenshot from the allspark almanac. It actually broke me when i saw it and prompted to write this because it brilliantly explains his whole character drama.
He feels guilty. He actually knows and admits he made a mistake and he is weighed down by it. He is fully and painfully aware of his stupidity in the situation.
But is he going to admit it? Is he going to apologise? Of course he's not. He cannot carry the weight of his guilt, but he cannot apologise and let himself be weak. So he made a vow.
He presses Optimus down and puts that weight on him because it's easier for him to stand straight reassuring himself that he's not at fault at all here. He feels that if he says sorry, then he'll be guilty forever and will never let go if he acknowledges it. He is guilty and he knows it, but he's immature and he does not want to think about it at all. He distracts himself with the rules and regulations.
"I did it, i fucked up trying to be something greater than i should, breaking rules. I'm never gonna wash it off, I'm guilty, but i must be better. If I don't make any more attempts at throwing over the rules, if I hold down others from doing so, i will be better, right?"
Rules are safety and comfort for him. Breaking rules and trying to be special is something he associates with Elita's death, and his thought process basically is "no rule breaking=no tragic accidents to be responsible for". He's confident that if he does everything by protocol, how he's told, then there will be no situation he would have to be blamed in. Of course he takes it to an extent. You oftenly see him obsessing over rules and regulations more oftenly than others — and now that makes sense.
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The second thing would be his profile and Optimus's words about him. This text doesn't really serve us much important information, just a simple outside opinion on how he acts, except the first phrase.
"Sentinel means well, he really does."
As bizzare as it sounds, even Optimus, who he has a very sour relationship with, understands this. Sentinel actually means well — but it's just his experience and perception that really distort what comes out in the end. His "well" is very different from others' "well", but he definitely does not actually mean intentional harm in most occasions.
An unconcious goal that he most likely has is "do not let the elita incident happen again". It actually explains why he's trying to press down Optimus's ambitions and yells at young autobots about the importance of listening to the code. He may see himself in others.
Last is miscellaneous details. He actually covered Optimus and Elita when they were retreating — wouldn't do this if he was as selfish as creators want us to believe. He says he made a mistake in the almanac (when he was kinda being interviewed, he told the truth). Wouldn't really do that too. Most times he's been a dick to Optimus and his crew were him simply not believing immediate information without proof like he believes is the right way, like he's supposed to, and from his perspective he was genuinely sure he's doing the right thing
Conclusion
I would still slap him if i met him. But it doesn't mean that he should be rushed and avoided during discussion of character flaws and I'm tired of him just getting flatted down by the fandom as "mean and stupid do not touch". I want him to be taken seriously, and tbh finding out that he actually feels bad about archa seven is all it takes to be suddenly enlightened about the inner workings of his brain, because it connects all the dots.
And i would give all my money to see him canonically get a better development and more focus in the show. I would love if he accepted his wrongs, and if he had a genuinely honest conversation with Optimus. I really would.
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mystxmomo · 22 days ago
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HI im getting into vhaeraun so, tasks and Situations permitting, im gonna see if I can shoot you some questions to learn more about his scrunkly ass 👉👈
so! what, in your opinion, are vhaerauns most PROMINENT traits (ie whats most obvious in how he acts+interacts) and what are vhaerauns most IMPORTANT traits (core defining aspects that influence his decisions+behaviors and how he approaches relationships)?
often times theres overlap there, but i get the impression vhaeraun keeps a lot close to his chest. and as a bonus followup: are there any differences with those two between Vhaeraun-as-Person and Vhaeraun-as-Deity
hope this ask is fun!! ouo)7
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Thank you for enabling me. Gladly.
Post write-up edit: Sorry ahead of time. This ended up being Very, very long. 6k words... a lot of it is transcription from the novels and guidebooks though. If you want the TL;DR of my thoughts I summarize everything at the end, but all the dirty details are in the middle.
Also late edit: Thank @abracadav-r for digging up a lot of these screenshots while I went crazy on the write up. They were a MASSIVE help getting all the information I needed to cite in order.
Okay so. Three things right off the bat before I get into this.
This is something that I feel like goes without saying when I talk about these things, but I always feel the need to add a disclaimer on just in case one of these posts escape containment. A lot of these thoughts are going to be conclusions that I have come to about this character based on the evidence we're given canonically. Given that it's my opinion, I don't want to imply that it's the only way to interpret this character and in fact I think the charm of DND and the various characters within it is that they're little tools you can use to best shape the narrative you're trying to tell.
As such, I'm going to be trying to make it clear when something is "This is a presumption I have made based on evidence." And "This is just plain-spoken canon" and generally speaking, I will try and cite directly what I've pulled from.
Now. Related to that first point. I'm going to be pulling from Evermeet: Island of Elves the novel. The thing about Evermeet is that the way it's presented is as an optional mythos for the elves. As in, in universe, it is told from the perspective of someone passing down an oral tradition. It is a biased origin myth written by the victors.
Now. The reason I personally like Evermeet, despite having some qualms with the metatextual framework of it (which I will get into in depth when it pops up but tldr; There's a lot of victim blaming and the author does not seem aware that she wrote an abuse victim. It was the late 90's of course familial abuse against men isn't treated seriously) is that I'm of the personal belief that the Elf and Drow mythos, when existing in conversation with one another, is best interpreted as a story about familial abuse through the largescale framework of the divine. This is my personal agenda and my bias, and something that Evermeet is great for giving me evidence of! But, still worth establishing that this is a novel that you don't have to take as canon.
Final point before our read-more, because this is getting dangerously long as is. Because of how things are framed within the stories we're given, I do I feel like it's very important to pull up the context itself and not just go off the wiki. The example I will use for this is that on Vhaeraun's wiki page, there is a quote from him that out of context makes it sound like he's choosing not to help one of his follower because the follower hasn't impressed him well enough
“You lack the skill.” — Vhaeraun to Malvag when asked, "Why won't you help me?"
However, in context it becomes (in my opinion) very clear that Vhaeraun isn't helping him because he sincerely thinks that the guy can't do it. Like it would be dangerous for him to try. I'm under the impression in context that he's not denying him because he thinks he doesn't deserve it, he's denying him because he sincerely lacks the skill to use that help properly. And I think that is an important place to actually start our larger character analysis.
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Vhaeraun watched. Malvag could feel the god's presence just over his shoulder. He whispered yet another prayer, one that would allow him to touch the god's omniscience. "I need him," he pleaded. "Why won't you help me?" The answer was a whisper only Malvag could hear. You lack the skill. Malvag rocked back on his heels. stunned. That was it [...]
So I'm bad at keeping things into categories. So we're going to start with what I think are Vhaerauns most important traits, and then go into his most prominent ones, because I feel like the important traits color the prominent ones, but like you said I think that kind of meshes with who he is as a person and why he behaves like he does. I'm going to try and narrow it down as I go, but if some of this seems a bit scattered at times. [mumbling noises] don't worry about it.
So that in mind. Insane thing to start with, but the biggest thing I would argue for with Vhaeraun is that he is best painted as a victim of abuse. And this isn't implication. If you take Evermeet at face value and how he interacts with Lolth in the beginning chapters, this is plain text.
(This is going to be the longest section because I have a lot to say on this both in how it's portrayed on a media analysis level and in a "What this means for his character" level, so I apologize in advance)
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"Sehanine!" shrieked the dark goddess. She rose and rounded on her son, who'd been standing at her shoulder like a hovering raven awaiting a chance to feed. Vhaeraun took an instinctive step backward. "You idiot!" she screamed her face contorted with rage [...]
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"And he is your lord husband. If there is a difference, please explain it to me. Otherwise, we will say that I am your son and leave the matter as settled," Vhaeraun said. His words were blunt and the implications harsh; instinctively he braced himself for another display of his mother's ready temper. To his surprise she laughed delightedly "You are my
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[...] "And then what?" he countered in a tone that approximated his mother's sneer. "How can you hope to rule, with a goddess of Sehanine's power to oppose you? You should kill her now, when she is still helpless." Araushnee's hand flashed forward and dealt a ringing slap to her son's face. "Do not presume to question me," she said in a voice that bubbled with rage. "If you are so ignorant that you believe one god can easily kill another, perhaps I was wrong to make you my confidante and partner!" "But what of Herne?" pressed Vhaeraun, eager to salvage something of his dignity even it that only meant winning some small point of argument. "You told me that Malar killed him. And for that matter, why would you set Gruumsh and Malar against Corellon, if neither had hope of success?" "Don't be more of a fool than you must," snapped the goddess. "It is one thing to destroy a god from another place and another pantheon even among the gods, there are hunters and hunted, predators and prey. But to kill a member of one's own pantheon is another matter. If it were so easy, would I not already rule Arvandor?" The young god regarded his mother for several moments, his eyes thoughtful and his fingertips gingerly stroking his stinging cheek. "If it is as you say," he said slowly, "then perhaps you should leave the Seldarine." "Have you not heard a word I have said this day? [...]"
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The young god regarded his mother for several moments, his eyes thoughtful and his fingertips gingerly stroking his stinging cheek. "If it is as you say," he said slowly, "then perhaps you should leave the Seldarine." "Have you not heard a word I have said this day? I wish to rule the Seldarine!" "Then do so by conquest, rather than intrigue," Vhaeraun suggested, "You have been amassing an army to do your will. Leave the Seldarine, and lead that army yourself! Imagine Araushnee at the head of a mighty force, the leader of the anti-Seldarine!" he concluded, his voice ringing with the drama of it and the pride of one who admires his own visions. Araushnee stared at him for a moment, then she shook her head in despair. "How did I give birth to two such idiots? Think, boy! List in your mind the great and glorious generals I have enlisted!"
Now. And here's where my issue with the metatextual framework of Evermeet sits.
The conclusion our wonderful friend Elaine Cunningham seems to want us to come to is that he is inherently complicit in his mothers schemes. Like, theres this consistent idea throughout the book that he is equally at fault as his mother for everything that happened, and that bleeds into the text. It's in the way he's framed around her as that of "A Hovering Raven", and like he's lesser for not standing up to her in that moment. But, what I'm reading with my eyes in the good god given year of 2025 is a character who is getting thrown around by his mother and fawning under her to keep her anger regulated. He's constantly portrayed as preparing to or actively take a hit from her, or deal with the repercussions of her anger, or being on some receiving end of some beration. It does not escape me that he adjusts his plans and the way he talks to make her happy. He suggests that they leave and when it's clear that she's not happy he adjusts his thoughts until she is happy with it.
Now, all of this isn't just a "Here's my propoganda as to why my poor blorbo did nothing wrong moment," (Being upfront, my conclusion for Vhaeraun is "Did a few things wrong, but not nearly as much as you'd think) I think this is something that genuinely colors his motivations and the kind of person he is later. Likewise, I think this showcases something thats not only deeply important about him as a person, but Eilistraee and the dynamic that they're in. I think Vhaeraun did, as a result of being her favorite child, experience more of Lolth's direct abuse than Eilistraee did, and it's given him more of an awareness and nuance of the kind of person their mother is than his sister has.
Editing in a long minor note going into the next section before I post this: I feel the need to establish. As a character, I do actually really like Eilistraee. Vhaeraun is my main focus, but Eilistraee is my third favorite Dark Seladrine god on a character level. I'm a little bit critical of her and her world view here because the book isn't. I feel a bit more of a need to defend Vhaeraun's logic and a bit more of a need to dismantle Eilistraee's because the narrative handling for both consistently isn't handled with the amount of nuance that I think they should be. I personally think Vhaeraun and Eilistraee are two sides of the same coin. Despite what DnD wants me to believe, I don't think Eilistraee is always right and Vhaeraun is always wrong. I think they're two characters responding very differently to the insane and extreme circumstances in which they stemmed from, and to say one is wholly correct and the other is "The wrong one" misses the point.
I also acknowledge that this is a DnD'ism that a lot of people have already criticized since even going back to the 90's. I am not the first to say that the alignment system doesn't hold up and the in-universe idea of good and bad is inherently flawed and lacks a lot of nuance. Like. I think there's this idea of "Because we know he ends up evil, this isn't as severe, because he deserves it for being evil" levels of logic happening within the narrative. Take my hand though, we're going to add nuance to it.
Something else important about Vhaeraun. Just a little thing worth mentioning, not too important in the grand scheme of things. Maybe a little more important than I'm implying. Vhaeraun was the original Main Influential God of the Drow.
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So. Comparatively, Eilistraee to me reads as a little naive with how she's often portrayed. She was shielded from the worst of their mothers temper and abuse as a result of being her fathers favorite.
Eilistraee, to me, doesn't understand the intricacies of violence, war, and abuse. When she see's her brother, she see's the same kind of evil as her mother. But Eilistraee a FASCINATINGLY unreliable narrator. She is biased against her brother and his influence, so she is only ever going to see the spread of it as an evil. And because, as mentioned, the book is operating on the assumption that he too is evil, it doesn't so a lot to showcase HOW his presence is an evil. So. Vhaeraun came to Toril first, and Lolth followed because she felt his presence off of one of the elves that came into the Demonweb pits. And the country that he was worshiped in was implied to not only be functional, but like thriving in a time when Dragons were the main threat. And his power only collapsed like it did because of his people dying in a black plague level of tragedy.
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Other effects of the Sundering also brought mixed emotions to the goddess. On the one hand, it had destroyed many of her worshipers. Yet for each of her elves that had tumbled into the sea or been crushed by falling stone, at least three of Vhaeraun's followers had perished. Lloth reigned supreme among the dark elves' gods.
The conclusion that I'm coming to (Admittedly, this one doesn't have canon basis in plain text to point to, but stick with me) I think Vhaeraun see's himself as the "Rightful" God of the Drow (As in, drow as a whole, not just male drow.) He see's himself as someone that had his "Kingdom" stolen from him. If HE was in control the drow would still be powerful. If HE was the main one being worshiped, they would be respected. But because his mother came and influenced them, he (they) lost everything.
Related to both of these point, I don't think that he has ever seen Eilistraee as a direct threat to him and his power. All of his hatred towards his sister has been portrayed (and outright stated) to be rooted reaction to how he's treated as a result of their father favoring her, and what he see's as her enabling. And again, that goes right back into what my thesis point is for the Drow/Elf pantheon. This is a story about an abusive family structure, and that colors everything about the relationships between parent and child and siblings.
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[...] Likewise, the Masked Lord nurtures an abiding hatred of Eilistraee. The Dark Maiden always held Corellon's favor more than her hateful brother, and she thwarted Vhaeraun's early efforts to bring all the Ilythiiri (southern, dark-skinned elves) under his sway, enabling Lolth and Ghaunadaur to make great inroads among those who would become the drow. [...]
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"Not alone," Vhaeraun said firmly. "Eilistraee plotted with us. She deserves to share my fate." "Eilistraee? I cannot believe this of the girl" began Sehanine. "You were not here!" Aerdrie broke in fiercely. "I saw her shoot the arrow that struck down Corellon! And as her own mother points out, the girl has never missed her mark!" Corellon shook his head. "I cannot believe she would do such a thing!" "Believe!" hissed Vhaeraun, enraged that Corellon suffered such doubt and anguish at the thought that his precious Eilistraee might have turned against him. He was willing enough to name his son a traitor! Vhaeraun had always hated his younger, favored twin. Now he would have his vengeance. The young god turned to his mother, his eyes burning with an enmity that set even one such as Araushnee back on her heels. "You promised me power and honor," he said in a voice meant only for his mother's ears. "But instead, your ambitions have cost me everything. Give me Eilistraee, and I will consider this day's bargain well made."
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[...] Finally he looked to Vhaeraun. "Eilistraee has chosen. Go now, and take her with you. But know that the day your hand is lifted against her will be the last of your life. This I swear, by all the trees of Arvandor." Vhaeraun's face twisted with hatred and rage, but he had little choice but to comply. Corellon stood silent as the young god shouldered his unconscious twin and disappeared. Finally he rose to his feet and faced his fallen love. [...]
And I do think it's a bit telling that even at the height of his power, the most he did was exile her. (This is implied, who else would have done it)
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[...] "I am known as Eilistraee, the Dark Maiden. I require from you neither reverence nor vigilance," she said softly. "I come as a friend, and in need of friends. Put aside both your weapons and your wonder, and let us talk. There are things that you must know if you intend to confront the Ilythiiri." The sadness in her voice smote Sharlario's heart, and he did as she bid. "You spoke of exile, lady," he commented. "Forgive me, but I have never heard of such a thing. From whence are you exiled, and, if I might ask, why?" "Most recently, from the southlands," the goddess said. [...]
Authors note: The Ilythiiri were drow before they were called drow.
If he wanted her dead (for the crime of existing), I think he would have killed her ages ago. But I don't think he does. I think he's just angry at the hand he's been dealt and it's easier to blame her than it is to unpack the complicated feelings he has towards his mother. Him attacking her in Lady Penitent feels like a means to an end for me. He's not attacking her because he hates her personally, despite what she thinks. He's attacking her because (In character logic and reasoning) if he combines their churches then maybe he will have enough power to combat their mother.
(Now. I as an author think this is flawed logic, and we know that because when Eilistraee took his aspects the churches splintered, because you can't force people to worship someone they don't like. But, his logic and reasoning nonetheless)
I'm not sure where to include this, but we're getting to the end of the family section and I still haven't mentioned Selvetarm.
Selvetarm... To keep it short. The cycle of abuse continues. He's absolutely blinded by rage when it comes to his family.
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[...] "What I want, you speck of a creature" he brandished the stump of his wrist before Inthracis's face "is Selvetarm's obsequious brain torn from his foul head so that I can use his empty skull as a piss pot." [...]
Now. Going away from all of that to the next big thing with him.
I think a lot of people want to kind of. Dance around the drow racism of his character. I don't think we can dance around the fantasy racism of his character. I think, in fact, we need to sit on the fantasy racism a little bit and peel back the layers of it because I actually think the framework of what we're looking and what it says about him is kind of interesting. Because Vhaeraun really does not hate non-drow.
This can be a touchy subject. Up front, take none of this as a defense of his mindset, just an explanation toward its and an exploration of it.
Source citing note: This section comes from this video by Ed Greenwood on him.
[Start: 3:41] Non-drow can become priests of Vhaeraun, but it's very rare, as the deity is inherently suspicious of non-drow, and because many drow, holding similar suspicions, would refuse to accept, so train and work with, such an individual. So if someone wants to embrace the faith of Vhaeraun in service, that is, becoming an ordained priest, they are going to have to demonstrate personal support to Vhaeraun's aims, then appeal in prayer to the deity directly. Vhaeraun will respond, manifesting an avatar, and flood supplicant's mind with his own, an excruciatingly painful experience that may well drive the supplicant mad. His arrogance and force of presence is terrible to most mortal to prove their thoughts and memories personally. Vhaeraun must be certain of their motives and their loyalty. He dare not allow a traitor into the ranks of his relatively, when measured against the ever present malicious darkness that is the worship of his mother Lolth, small and weak church. If he finds treachery, he will typically destroy the mortal mind he has melded with, leaving the hapless would be traitor a drooling, vertigo smitten victim, able to speak and reason only slowly and haltingly, and so extremely vulnerable to almost any hostile being. If he finds loyalty, he will be delighted, for he sees the road to achieving his aim of drow supremacy as necessitating acceptance of his guidance and that of the mortal drow who serve him by non-drow. He will mark such a mind with a boon, typically darkvision, or, for a gifted mortal, the ability to cast dancing lights at will, or darkness, or fairy fire, once every 48 hours, from the moment of their last casting of a magic he's conferred. This boon is not entirely generous, but also serves to alert all drow, Vhaeraun intends it for his followers, but it works for drow of any primary loyalty, that this individual is his. That is, that he favors this being and they are loyal to him. This is what enables a non-drow wannabe cleric of Vhaeraun to find acceptance in the ranks of his church. They will never be entirely trusted, as in, they may well be trusted with dangerous, important tasks or missions by senior priests who see them as inherently expendable, but they will always be watched, both overtly and covertly. But so long as they accept their subservient role, they will be accepted.
But this isn't the only thing I want to bring up from this video.
How much do you know about the concept of noblesse oblige.
("the inferred responsibility of privileged people to act with generosity and nobility toward those less privileged.")
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[..] Vhaeraun himself has bolstered this acceptance by protecting such non-drow priests personally in situations where he manifests, and clearly, by his words and deeds, caring about their health, safety, and welfare. When one of his senior drow priests, Alont Aerlarr of Athkatla, asked the god why he did this, Vhaeraun replied, "To lead and rule others means we must value those others; a shepherd who cares not for the sheep is no worthy shepherd. By valuing our livestock, we increase our own value and demonstrate to all our fitness to lead all other creatures." [...]
Using these as sources, here is what I think Vhaeraun's mentality and the drow supremacy of it all comes from.
Vhaeraun does sincerely see drow as being better than other races. However. To properly understand where his mindset is, you must also understand that it is a racism of patronizing rather than one of pure hatred. Drow are better, they're stronger, they're my favorite, so we must show our strength and power and our ability to care for those we will rule. How can we be trusted to rule over them if we do not carry ourselves with the honor and respect of someone that is worthy of ruling.
It is the divine right to rule on a hierarchical level.
I also think there is a level of distrust and discomfort that comes from their their circumstance. He is the counter to Eilistraee's "We must show others we are good and deserving of their respect." He is this logic of "Why should we trust and respect those that don't respect us? They should just already respect us."
So I think the drow supremacy of it all is uhh. Nuanced. I don't think his mindset is right, but I also think it is one that would be changed if their circumstances were less extreme. I also think the mindset enables his church to do uh. Evil Slavery Things! Again, we cannot get around the evil fantasy slavery things and the bigotry of it all.
But we can explore it. Because this is a fictional character in a fictional setting.
Now, semi-related to the above point as well, with all of that in consideration, I don't know if Vhaeraun wants power for the sake of power. I don't have any in-text proof of this outside of "Everything above is emblematic of a deeper motivation" but I'm kind of under the impression that to Vhaeraun, power is synonymous with stability and respect.
So. That's Vhaeraun and the important/prominent traits he has. Now I think we can get into him as a person on a personality level.
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It is now that we can actually pull things up from Demihuman Deities and Drow of the underdark, and a little bit from War of the Spiderqueen
Personality wise, this is how he's described.
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I think your impression of him (That he's someone that keeps a lot close to his chest) is correct. My personal interpretation of Vhaeraun is that he is playing the part his followers need him to play. What he needs to be is a leader and a king. What I think Vhaeraun wants is to be one of the guys (for a lack of a better term). He wants to be included. He WANTS to be called out to, and wants to be wanted. He finds it hard to hold aloof from the needs of his worshipers. He doesn't want them summoning anyone but him.
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and this is built into how he works mechanically. He's weak on his own, but he's supposed to be built around his followers and take advantage of their skill set.
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Related: Do you want to see the hottest thing he's ever done. Like canonically. To me.
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Defending one of his guys without even looking and then sending the assailant flying into the air. Deeply hilarious. Very hot. I would trust him with my life. I think about this passage a non-zero amount.
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Not important to his character persay, but a fun sidenote to cut through all this. While the fact he's the god of thieves has gotten the most focus in recent years, in the many ways he parallels Eilistraee he's actually the God of the Night canonically, and a lot of things around him (especially in earlier editions) ride around that coding. If Eilistraee is the moon, he is the sky and the stars.
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I joke about the fact he's a dumbass (Because he can be a little bit of a dumbass) but I do actually think he prefers logic and reason schemeing solutions to violent ones. If he can get power by doing tax evasion, he prefers that to doing it through conquest. Because conquest means the people that worship him die as well, and he really doesn't like putting his guys at risk.
As an example, and something I consider to be a deeply telling thing of his character. He's a bitch that LOVES a loophole. Gods aren't allowed to steal souls from other gods? That's fine. He'll just have his followers do it. He's not breaking any rules.
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He can't kill mortals directly? That's fine. He'll hire demons to do it.
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He's someone that LOVES getting away with things that he should not. He doesn't need to fight. He just needs to outscheme.
(Though, and this isn't supported by anything in text and another thing I just personally noticed as a trend. Despite seeming to view himself as a schemer and a logical person, he is a character who is not only deeply driven by his emotions, but kneecapped by them as well. As mentioned earlier, he's so blinded by his anger towards his family that it ruins multiple of his plans. His want to keep his worshipers safe stops him from using them, even when they might have allowed it. I think a lot of the things he did in WotsQ was driven by panic. He acts before he thinks, and he acts on his emotions, and he hides that he acts on his emotions by putting up this edgy, knives and shadows front.)
Anyway. Final note. He's a whore. Male slut. Libertine.
Now, there's a consistent implication with most gods in the Forgotten Realms that they are willing to sleep around, and I know that Ed Greenwood has described the presence of gods as caresses and touches. However, lets be clear. There's no implication here. He is just one of the few gods that even back in 2e that is directly mentioned to be sleeping with his followers.
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Masked traitors receive the personal attention of Vhaeraun in the form of useful information imparted to them from time to time in their dreams. The Masked Lord richly rewards those who do well in his service, and he often (falsely) hints he is willing grant immortality to worthy traitors or even elevate them to the role of his consort
Now, you can interpret that the (Falsely) is applicable to both the immortal line and the consort line, but
Dragging evermeet back in for one last rodeo.
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[...] This proved to be a difficult task, considering that the entire Seldarine was celebrating the dual victories of Corellon Larethian. Avoiding several score of celebrating elven deities, even in a place as vast as Arvandor, proved to be no easy matter. Nor was it easy to hold Vhaeraun's attention: Many a young goddess-and one or two of the elder powers as well-urged the handsome young god to join in the merriment. At highsun, Araushnee finally left Vhaeraun to his revels. She sought out Corellon, for he might [...]
Lolth voice: Ugh. Keeping my sons attention is so hard. Why is it always him and the partying.
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Vain.... Handsome.... Okay. I see you DnD. He cares about his appearance, and how he's being perceived.
===
So where does all of this bring us. How do I summarize my thoughts on Vhaeraun: The Masked Lord.
[All of these are my personal conclusion summed up. If you disagree, thats totally fine! But this is the impression of him I personally get with all of this in consideration.]
I think a massive and defining part of his character is the concept of noblesse oblige. This is something that colors so much of the way he behaves. Because as a deity he is stronger than the drow that worship him, it is his job and his duty to protect them. Because drow are better than other races, and it is their duty to Shepard them. If they are not protecting them properly (And by proxy, If he is not protecting his guys properly) that is a failure on their (his) part. He's someone who believes in the idea of honor amongst his own people.
In contrast to that, I think he is deeply possessive, protective, petty, spiteful motherfucker. He is, above all else, emotional, and driven by the things he feels. And I think the things he feels most frequently anger and righteous fury.
And I think the irony of it all is that all of that comes from the fact that he cares. In fact, I think he only acts as he does because of how strongly he cares. The drow are his. They are something stolen from him. He loves the drow. That is his love and his empathy, because it is the only way he's ever known how to love and empathize. And the reason that is the only way he knows how to love and empathize is because he's an abuse victim. You cannot touch on the concept of Vhaeraun without touching on his sister, mother, and father because he only became the kind of person he is because of them. While you don't have to touch on his son, I think doing so adds another layer, because it shows another way he's kneecapped by his emotions. He can't separate the emotions he feels towards his mother from the feelings he has towards his son, thus inflicting the same neglect and pain he was subjected to onto him and leaving him in the hands of his mother, while blaming him and strictly him for what she made of him [Selvetarm, that is.]
You know. Like people to him.
I think his evolution of going from what seems to be this young, Dionysus like deity, to a god of territory who managed to make alliances with dragons and create a respected empire, to this militant and paranoid divine figure and leader of rebellion is fascinating.
And I think, despite his personality being the way it is? He's not unkind. He just isn't wearing that kindness on his sleeve. He CAN'T wear the kindness on his sleeve. But his gifts aren't insincere. He wants to include his worshipers in the things he's doing. He wants to BRING them places.
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"Vhaeraun has called me to his service in the planes beyond Faerûn on several occasions," Tzirik admitted. "In fact, I have been in the Demonweb Pits before now. All the gods of our race reside here, each in their own domain within this great chasm of webbing. My previous business did not take me to Lolth's domain, though, and that was a good many years ago."
I think he is someone deeply motivated by the concept of "Means to an end." Doing bad things now is fine, because once we're in power we won't need to do that anymore. It's okay to do bad things to the people that don't respect us, because it is not our job to convince them to respect us. They will see our power, and then they will respect us.
And, if you want something that I think is never stated plainly, but my insane delusions of the upmost degree. I think he's a god who's a little uncomfortable with the divine. They're not something that can be trusted. But his mortals? The ones who chose to worship him and put their trust in him? They are the ones he likes. They are the one's he'll protect.
And also all of that and he's a slut.
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iteratorsex · 3 months ago
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(WATCHER DLC) Parallels between Depths and Outer Rim
Looking back, my experiences with both these regions felt somewhat... similar? I don't have much preface here. This is just a compare and contrast between the two.
Don't go further if you haven't played or finished Watcher! Major spoilers for everything that happens in OTR
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1) Both of them are long hallways through a decaying region to a point of interest
OTR being eroded by winds, and Depths being eroded by the sea
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2) They're on opposite ends of the world!
Outer Rim is as far in the sky as you can get- literally among the stars, whilst Depths is as low as one can get without being devoured by the Void Sea.
3) Both regions lead to a place where some kind of cosmic entitie(s) reside.
OTR has The Throne, and also The Prince Depths has the Void Sea, and the Void Worms
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4) Both contain abandoned civilizations that are incredibly old, and even share some of the same architecture in some places!
Also sorry, its hard to get good screenshots of the Depths
4.1 Civilizations
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4.2 Eye Pillar motifs
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4.3 Old Ancient Statues
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4.4 Drills While depth's drills face down, OTR's face towards the sky, almost implying they "drilled into the sky" to settle there
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5) Rot and Void/ascension seem to be analogues of one another whilst still being somewhat similar
And are both very prevalent in their respective regions
Rot represents entropy and Sameness, decaying everything into a mess of proteins and sea of lumps, and is represented by purple Void is enlightenment, rising above everything and disconnecting yourself from the mortal binds that rot seems to be, and is represented by yellow (the color opposite to purple)
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6) Both are where a main "Power Source" is located
Stars are seen in OTR, and judging by the green room entrances- which stop being green once you leave the city area- this civilization may have used stardust to power their technology
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The "starcatchers" may also be proof of this
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And we all know that Void Fluid- sourced from the sea- is the main power source in RW with constant references to the "Void Fluid Revolution"
7) The sky and void sea seem to lead to each other already
The dust eroded from the void sea (dust particles seen in Egg Sequence in the image below) falls back in the sky in an endless loop of sorts.
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Ingame, the clouds for outer rim is called the "firmament"
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and if we look to what the firmament is, we can see the Great Deep and the Sky connect to each other in a dome around the world
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As well as that, the skybox in OTR seems to lead to a void in the sky from being so high up, the dust explaining why its so Deserty
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While this is not 100% accurate to Rain World, it may have been a big source of inspiration! Depths and Outer Rim may even connect to each other, while still being at completely different ends of the world!
And- well, that's pretty much all I can remember.
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bahja-blix · 5 months ago
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One Helluva Shit Show! 🤡👇🏽💩
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I'm sorry Vivziepop but... I hope you just cancel Helluva Boss 😂
Your show is the Literal definition of an Actual shit show 💩! Nobody wants it anymore like they used to back then. It's never going to be as popular as it used to be!
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The specials held up for a little bit at 29M views
Those two Stolitz episodes were consistent but with a drop of 13M views which got us at 16M views
Then EP 11 rolled in and got the worst of it with a 6M view drop that was sitting at 10M views and recently went up to 11M views
Then Stolitz once again rolled in town and the views surprisingly went up at 3M+ increase that got us 14M views but still dripped
And lastly, The whole crew showed up and for the Grand Finale and it got 12M views... A 2M dip for the shows ratings
You've TANKED this show into Oblivion, Down straight into the toilet 📉🚽! The Ratings show, the Views show, and the Units of merch you Still haven't sold that occasionally hit the CLEARANCE RACK titled "Last Chance" that nobody wanted it in the first place, Also show!
The fewer units of merch you make, mainly because you can't produce as much as you used to because the show and it's products don't sell anymore!
Hell, not even people of Your political side wants it! Democrats DON'T Want this! Us LGBT folk Don't want this okay!? NOBODY Wants Your Shit Shows Viv 😂!
It happened in movies and in comics back then where people of your side try to pander to other Democrats and they never show up or help sell their shit because the audience you thought was on your side doesn't want this either mainly because there was never usually an audience to begin with.
Wanna know why Barbie and Oppenheimer were successful Viv? Because they DID something Right!
I don't want this as a Bisexual who's been in the LGBT community for more than a decade and This begs the question of the fact that:
We constantly ask you Vivziepop, who the HELL this shows even supposed to be for and You Yourself can't even answer that! You can't represent jack shit outta Anything or Anyone!
You can't represent, White, Brown, or Black communities, you can't represent the LGBT comm because you think that stereotyping the hell out of everything is necessary, you can't represent the disabled community. You know who represents ALL of that including me? JAPAN! know what else? Anime, Manga, and South Park!
You really sat here and opened your mouth somewhere on the Internet claiming to be a Creative Genius that and I quote "Took inspiration from South Park" really? ARE YOU SURE? Well then, Where's the fun satire and jokes that embrace that? Where's the charm that South Park has? Where the Hell is it?
Did you shove it up your ass? Like how you did shoving fucking Stolitz down everybody's throats because you think that shitty ass ships gonna save the show you wasted Millions of dollars on?
And turn around and claimed to want to make MORE of your crap nobody wants? You seriously think you can handle a THIRD SHOW? Like for Fuck sakes Loona, Can't even Save this show! That undeveloped weasel shit you made who I DID love at one point and Was my favorite until You fucked her All up and wasted large amounts of money on merch and made her into wasted space of screentime can't save this show because the only thing that Will (Scuse me) Might is STOLITZ!!!
The few extra views (As you can see in my screenshot above) certainly prove that! I can't believe that's what people want. A level lower than the depths of Hell itself...
And yet you Also sat here probably on Bluesky most likely of all platforms where you ran and hid because I called you out last time on X and you hid by locking your account down because you got scared over receiving criticism all around you yet again!
Probably because I'm an Actual diverse person and politically balanced in Every direction which is why people think TWICE before coming at me. Despite me being smaller than you, you knew not to fuck with me! But you'll go after other critics... wtf...
You my dear friend Vivziepop, are Weak in Spirit! You can't take the heat from other Democrats or Anyone because You Yourself think everyone who even lightly critiques you are All bigots when You and people of your ilk are the ones who have been creating actual bigotry for Years by Normalizing the fact that your shit shows are synonymous with incompetence. And That is on You!
Here we are as past fans who Used to look up to you Laughing at Your Ass because shit like this is Actually funny to watch!
Four seasons??? Like who the flying Fuck has the budget to pay for that cluster fuck of a catastrophe? Ain't no way you're going to deliver this shit in an age like this especially with the shift in politics! But that darn ol Vivziepop sure do gotta plan hidden up her sleeve and in that big ol head of hers now do ya Vivziepop?
Your brain must be filled with SEWAGE to look at this Fuckness and think that it's still okay! Look, Viv, at the end of the day, a polished turd, Is STILL a Turd!
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I'll finish off by taking a look at Gooseworx! Obviously Goose and her amazing indie team is doing something Right! This show BLEW your ass and your shit shows away with one swipe of the pilots sword! 🗡️
While the Halloween Episode did Dip it's still very popular and is still noticeably gaining views faster than Helluva Boss. Notice how the McDonald's AU EP for Spudsys with Gangle's story gained an increase of 7M Views which got us At from 54M views to 61M views and STILL counting because I check Everyday on Gooseworx and Vivziepop's channels to see if anything moves and so far Gooseworx is moving but not that darn ol Vivziepop!
IN CONCLUSION
When it comes to Vivziepop, Let's just Mooove away from All this horse shit, stop allowing her to shove her brain diarrhea down everyone's throats and normalizing said sludge heaps. Let Vivs horrendous garbage heaps of shit just die straight into the depths of Hell where it belongs!
I'm Bajah-Blix and I'll see you All in the next one!
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tau1tvec · 1 year ago
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Some tips for The Sims 3 Buy/Build
Install LazyDuchess’ Smooth Patch to alleviate lag, esp in Buy/Build and CAS.
Keep your CC merged and organized, esp your patterns, this will also alleviate a lotta lag across all modes.
When building on community lots, or any lot rlly, avoid going to the edit world menu, and just put testingcheats enabled into the cheat window, then shift+click the ground of the lot to enter Buy/Build mode. This makes leaving it to save a lot easier, with less “preparing” screens to possibly get hung up in.
Lower your settings, you don’t need any adjacent lots loaded, and you certainly don’t need super water on either. You can always switch these back on when you’re done.
While you’re at it, remove your HQ mod, and turn off your Reshade/Gshade preset, or at least turn off your depth shaders. I only ever turn on my depth shaders when I’m taking screenshots for better fps while playing. The DoF shader esp requires a lotta resources your game could be using to simulate all those 78 townie sims instead.
Save as… vs Save, I Save as… at least every third save. It’s also just good habit to keep backups.
When using the CASt tool, set down everything you plan to CASt first, then switch to a category like the wall tool to avoid eventual lag and drag when using it a lot. Love yourself. You don’t have to suffer using CASt tool in an overpopulated category like misc deco.
Utilize the clone option through testing cheats to duplicate already CASted objects, it’ll keep your design just like the dropper tool, but it’s a lot less time consuming, I promise.
Don’t be afraid to use the swatch save tool for objects you use often, esp community lot objects, as it helps to keep your aesthetic consistent. I also keep all of my favorite streetlamps, benches, and public trash bins etc in a convenient custom collection folder to speed up the process of doing multiple lots in one sitting. These handy tools are there, use them.
The issue with custom counters. They mess up sometimes, if you can’t recolor it suddenly, here’s how to fix that. Now if you can’t place down a cupboard suddenly, even though nothing’s in the way, and you’ve got moveobjects on activated, try putting it on the wall a tile over, and then try adding it to your desired spot again. Lastly if you set down counters or cupboards at a corner, and it messes up the textures, but you can still recolor it, you could do what the video I linked above does, or you could simply pull out the CASt tool, and switch it back to any of its original swatches and click the check, then feel free to recolor it as you want.
Railings will also do the “can’t recolor” trick too, but this is a simple fix, just delete it, and replace it, and you’re good.
“Oh no, I switched between buy and build mode, and now my catalogue won’t load, and I can’t click on anything at all!” Don’t panic, hit F2 and/or F3 on your keyboard, these are shortcuts for switching between them, and if you’re lucky it’ll load properly again. Should you get the bug where you load a category and it’s somehow empty, don’t fret, just click on a different category and this should fix it. Then if you get the bug where all the objects you put down disappear suddenly, sorry your game is haunted. Call an exorcist, or just reload, they might reappear if you do.
Tbh, if you run into any kind of major bugs, it’s likely a sign to either save immediately or just restart your game. These only ever show up when you’ve been at it a while ( at least for me ), therefore starting fresh wouldn’t hurt. Probably also wouldn’t hurt to check whether you might’ve installed something the game didn’t agree with by running Dashboard, or put it through the ol’ Save Cleaner.
Honorable Mention: Keep an eye on the texture sizes and poly counts of objects. I know it’s tempting to build these ultra hyperrealistic lots with clutter at every inch, but unless you’re just doing it for screenshots, or for your story, or using it very sparingly, it is not by any means recommended purely for gameplay. This is just the truth when it comes to any Sims game. You don’t want lag, or max memory crashes, or save errors? The Sims 3 is a 32bit game, that’s almost old enough to drive, be easy on it.
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wolfertinger · 5 months ago
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"I don't mean to add more mental strain but I just discovered this blog and I'm both shocked and a little overwhelmed by what I see.
For context, I follow wis on Tumblr, and I follow Salem on Bluesky (and I think Tumblr too iirc?)
I don't check either platform frequently so most of what happens with people I follow can end up flying under my radar, but I discover this here and a Bluesky that seems to suggest both are bad? And I want to understand better what's happening.
So, what happened? I don't need a super in-depth thing, just an overview is good enough for me, and obviously you don't need to give me anything, but scrolling through this blog there's a lot here, and I want to have some basic info to work with if that's not too much to ask."
to give as much, of a tl:dr as possible. i will copypaste from anothers detailing, of what has gone down:
"the baseline of it is that sawyer/razzicetea and salem dated and broke up some time ago, mainly based on salems behavior and especially regarding his attitudes toward a shared ex. (torin/maewiing, that had groomed several minors on discord as well as other abusive actions) salem sheltered this ex despite knowing fully of their actions, and claimed a traumabond made it hard for him to fully disavow torin. he also claimed they sexually pressured him into acts such as requesting shotacon art of his fursona. this was despite the fact he continued to retweet their art on his page and freely interacted with/followed them privately, where he thought he wouldn't get caught. this has been going on since 2022 and he was caught interacting with them as recent as 2024 mind you.
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note: salem understands 100% that torin is an abuser, a groomer, and a liar. he still claims sawyer to be "abusive" for discouraging him from interacting with them.
ADDITION 3/1/25: torin is a kiwifarms user as well. torin speaks spanish, and alongside the "sparklef*ggot" name, and the info given. i have 100% reason to believe, this is her, misgendering and deadnaming salem. TO THIS DAY wis and salem, defend torin. despite her being a nsfw feral/loli artist. an irl child groomer. an abuser. a kiwifarms user. and a transphobe.
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next: lilya. lilya was another person in salem/wis/etc's group. this is wis' story regarding lilya.
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this is sawyer's.
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note: sawyer provided screenshots, wis did not. wis is actively twisting the truth in order to make herself, salem, and lilya seem better against sawyer, despite the fact lilya showcases repeatedly manipulative and abusive behaviors toward both salem and sawyer, such as deadnaming salem, going on the "transfem harassment website" kiwifarms (wis' words), and purposely betraying sawyer for her own amusement.
lastly: mari. mari is a woman who dated sawyer for some time. in this relationship, mari was repeatedly physically, psychologically , and sexually abusive. she had in the past hit sawyer, screamed slurs at them, manipulated them emotionally into things like sex, and during sex, would often not stop when asked or would go rough enough to make sawyer bleed and even tear once. sawyer recalls one time while meeting irl, mari heavily pressured them into taking edibles. after taking these they greened out and fell asleep. upon waking up mari had penetrated sawyer nonconsentually. mari claims to have been "so blackout high she couldnt remember" and stated she "found it odd sawyer could remember everything". it makes sense to me an abuser would memoryhole something awful they did while their victim is forced to struggle with thinking about if this memory could be true or false. ill try to let the pictures speak for themselves.
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this is what i can do for rn. sorry its gonna be a long post but i want to be as respectful to sawyer and their privacy as possible as well as putting the full story out there, even wis' side. it helps to see her words against sawyer's screenshots though."
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junipvelt · 1 year ago
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VN Update
Ok, here's a more in-depth look at the visual novel (still a WIP) since the last post was too short. Bunch of dev stuff + in-progress screenshots below the cut.
CGs so far:
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(still working on these + the car one + the bgs ;-;)
Some of the bgs might just be blurry polarized irl photos (kind of like og higurashi), I'm not drawing more backgrounds than I have to.
Graphic design (is my passion):
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(the cursor cycles between different pairings and the default anti-centrism ball depending on what you hover over/which screen you're on)
Misc. :
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I've got the general story + scenes already mapped out but writing and coding everything might take a while (aiming for a ~10k word script?, currently have 2.5k). Hoping to have something playable by Q2 2024 (This originally said March lol).
QnA
q: how done is it?
a: ~30%
q : plot summary?
a: You (the player but also just Me) fall asleep while studying and hang out w/ the extremists and watch them bicker with each other. It's all a dream,, or is it?? (very clever meta writing)
q: can I help with development? :3
a: I'm hoarding all the creative control, it's all mine. (sorry). Playing it when I finally get around to releasing a build + adding some feedback would already be more than enough help. :]
q: why make this at all?
a: (what no friends does to mf) I thought It'd be fun to work on! I got into centricide around mid-2020 and while I thought I left it behind.. idk my obsession with it is back now I guess. (real answer: authunity. I'm not even joking those two are my only reason for doing any of this.) also I just genuinely like visual novels as a medium (massive weeb).
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iilmunchkiin · 7 months ago
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Hey just to let you know long ask incoming, put on your helmet and duck below the trenches
OKAY. WHOA. YOU WEREN'T KIDDING.
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Had to put it in screenshots cuz it'll flood but oh my god you mad man. I was giggling the entire time reading this, knowing there's people who are still interested in the DD!AU despite having little to no updates hsajdhsajdas 〒▽〒
Sorry it took a while for me to answer this, I've been trying to find a way muster up a proper response so here I go!
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"...did he ever really care about her? All she needs to do is perfect the serum."
Okay, putting my bias aside, yes, he did in fact love Ceroba but that's it, they love each other a lot. He just wanted to pursue his work more. Motherfucker is no less delusional than Starlo, he thinks he can save monsterkind if he can just perfect the serum and take revenge on the humans and it makes me sick knowing he planned to have a big family with Ceroba, have you seen how huge the manor is? He can't even take care of one child and yet he wanted more. That's Chujin Ketsukane in a nutshell, he wanted more, he wanted to pursue more because of how ambitious he is. He's unarguably worse than Starlo, he thinks he can save everyone, built a secret underground basement that he hid from his wife, and passed on his dying wish to said wife when he barely even finds time for her because he prioritizes his work more, he KILLED a CHILD and literally broke the laws of robotics, left said wife to work all by herself to stay afloat, the list goes on you get the point. Bias is back, there's nothing you can do to convince me to like Chujin, I will admit he's a good character but that's all you're going to shake out of me, I don't like him, he seems to be the type to have a superiority complex.
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"Notably, when Kanako collapses, the first question she asks is 'Why did I work on that serum !?', it's 'Why didn't it work !?'."
I'm going to assume you meant Ceroba questioned why the serum didn't work instead of her coming to her senses and why she worked on it in the first place? Her blind adoration for Chujin baffles me when all he's ever done was pursue his career and what he stood for, but what baffles me even more is even Chujin himself said not to use the serum on Kanako and yet SHE STILL DID. She went against her husband's wishes, and still… what… okay I'm genuinely stumped on this part my brain just shut down.
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"if i cannot be wanted, i will be needed and if i cannot be needed, let me be used until there's nothing left of me"
NO BECAUSE THAT'S LITERALLY EVERYONE Dalv - wanting to protect Kanako but failed (also adding he wants to be a teacher) Martlet - wanting to be useful so she joined the royal guard Starlo - wanting to distract everyone from being trapped underground Ceroba - wanting to pursue Chujin's legacy underground and making them happy Clover - their parents
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"And she realizes she was so tunnel visioned that she didn't see Clover for what they really were - a lost child out of their depth, someone with nobody to look out for them."
THIS. THIS THIS THIS THIS POINTING VERY LOUD. CLOVER IS JUST A CHILD!!!!!!!
What bothered me a lot about Clover was they seemed so mature for their age, that was the impression I got from them the entire time playing uty, the way they handled everything just broke my heart, especially with pacifist Starlo's boss fight, they knelt down and surrendered in front of him, from the very beginning Clover was ready to offer their life and that was before even finding out about Ceroba's plan which happens right after that when they go to the Steamworks. They're so nonchalant about everything (imagine my surprise when I saw people drawing them all energetic and cutesy hihi ^^), and the fact that some bits and pieces of their hinted neglect at home just, augh. Just paint a picture with me, your entire life you were emotionally neglected, you're just a mere child who's trying to make it through life, doing the chores all by yourself, eating things you shouldn't, and your damn favorite TV show is just pure static until you decide to go to Mt. Ebott and jump down a hole holding a missing poster to look for the missing children, not knowing you could be next (and you were). To your surprise you see the world of your dreams, there were monsters, but these monsters cared and loved you, there were a few bumps on the road but in the end, they all genuinely cared, even offering you to stay with them, but after you find out about their situation… you offer your soul for their sake. Isn't that so cruel? You finally have a chance to be alive, experience what it's like to be loved, and finally act like a kid only to die on the same day? Such a tragic and twisted fate.
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"It was Clover's choice and it was Kanako's choice too, and Chujin's, and if Ceroba's not careful it'll kill her next."
heh
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legrzybek · 9 days ago
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it's sickening how much of two time was violated by ava literally everything we know about them is by her and Azure is just a tool in their story, he gets no personality beyond their relationship and botany he's like a tool for two time's story and I get so upset thinking about it all ava does is just angst angst angst with no reasoning or depth I'm tired of her omg what the fuck I remember when it was revealed that 007n7 committed suicide and soul was like "lol I thought it was obvious" that shit came out of nowhere I feel what I can only describe as hollowness right now I wish the best for two time and Azure and literally everyone else but two time and azure's stories are so intertwined and we have no idea what they're like outside of that and we have no idea what the cult is like or how they influenced two time and why they were more devoted than Azure and barely anyone knows they have schizophrenia because it's just trivia instead of something that affects their daily life and if they do they just call it religious psychosis and everyone calls them insane and creepy and if I'm on the subject of schizophrenia did any of you know autism and schizophernia are similar and autism used to be referred to as "infantile schizophernia" and the result of cold parenting when it was first being researched? People with autism are also more likely to develop schizophrenia
Real honestly. im sorry if it seemed like i was one of the people who was just using azure as an extension of two time but i PROMISE i had an actual personality and background in mind for him outside of his relationship with them, i just never got the chance to talk about it and i don't know if i even want to anymore
i cannot speak much about the schizophrenia part but there's these screenshots now. idk anymore
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kriscommitscrimes · 1 year ago
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IN-DEPTH CHARACTER ANALYSIS OF KRIS(MAS) DREEMURR
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Hello! I've wanted to make this post for a WHILE now, since Kris is my favourite character ever, and I LOVE analyzing characters!!
Anyway before I start just remember that people consume media differently, and this is just what I've personally picked up on. You may interpret certain points I make differently to me, and that's ok! I'm just sharing MY analysis of Kris, at the end of the day, they're a character who has never spoken any dialogue that's visible to us, so their intentions behind certain things could be interpreted differently depending on who's consuming the media.
Kris will be EXCLUSIVELY referred to by they/them (they/them/themself specifically) pronouns throughout this post. If you refer to them as anything other than they/them while interacting with this post I'm gonna block you on the spot sorry.
ANALYSIS BELOW THE CUT BECAUSE IT'S LONG!!! TW there's probably some swearing I can't remember
By the way, I'm not including any screenshots because I. forgot to take them last time I played through Deltarune, but the next time that I do, I'm going to make like a revamped version of this post with screenshots. Sorry about that!!
Kris is their own, separate character from the player. This is a no-brainer if you've actually played through Deltarune and paid the slightest bit of attention to it. Kris is their own, separate character with a VERY distinct, interesting personality, who had a life before the events of Deltarune, and even still has control over some things that they say and do while in our control.
Kris isn't actually a quiet person. Kris, in reality, is an overdramatic, sassy, talkative person who often draws attention to themself by scaring people (especially Noelle), and causing scenes. They CONSTANTLY play mean spirited pranks on Noelle or pressure her into things (I'm NOT talking about Snowgrave, I'll get to thar later), like shaking the ferris wheel carriage despite Noelle being scared of heights, and telling her that ICE-E is real and eats kids. They still do this during the events for Deltarune, like if you go against Noelle's wishes and pet the cheese, Kris strokes it like a cat, and if you give Noelle a healing item called a Choco Diamond, she says something along the lines of 'Umm, it's ok, Kris, I'll share', and both of them get healed. We don't choose for Kris to force Noelle to share, that's a decision they make. As for drawing attention to themself, the first thing that comes to mind is they falling to the ground and sulking when they're too short and weak to play Queen's arcade machine, or them barking at Noelle when she offers them a dog treat. They're loud and impulsive, shown when they eat the pie at the end of chapter one, repeatedly kicking the robot in the basement when nothing happens originally before the Sneo fight, eating all of the chocolate Undyne gives them to give to Alphys if you interact with the box, and screaming that they're normal if you call Toriel after watching her conversation with Alphys at the start of chapter two. Speaking of which...
Kris seems to have identity issues. This is one of the things here that everyone in the fandom is kind of already aware of, but this is a full character analysis, so it's still important to mention. Kris is the only human in Hometown, but desperately wants to be perceived as normal. They scream it at Toriel like I mentioned earlier, they wore a headband with red horns on it when they were little to look more like a boss monster, and they seem actively disgusting or even frightened by other humans. They also seem to be living in their brother's shadow a bit, which may be why they like drawing attention to themself. Everything I've said about their personality seems to be a little on the negative side so far, but everyone in Hometown knows their name, and seems to quite like them, so why is this? Well...
Kris is charming, well-spoken, and funny. They're a prankster known for pulling mean-spirited pranks on people, but even still characters like Noelle look back at those things fondly, and everyone in Hometown seems to like spending time with Kris. Kris' flirting abilities are pretty obvious, and are used to win over loads of Darkners, not to mention their ability to formulate a compelling speech on the spot, as shown during the first Queen battle when toasting to her. They easily win people over, especially if they like a person, I mean, they became best friends with their former bully in a DAY! A DAY!!! People seem to find them just genuinely fun to hang around, probably due to them just being a funny, charming, somewhat balls of the walls kinda person.
Kris is NOT evil or malicious. This is one of the most important points I've wanted to make on this post. I've seen the theory that Kris is evil because they don't actively do anything to prevent Snowgrave from happening tossed around and I'm here to say that that is actually fucking stupid sorry. Normally I HATE being mean about people's theories because, like I said, everyone consumes media differently, but that one is just genuinely terrible. I'd say it's WAY more likely that as Noelle gets strong, out control over Kris becomes stronger. Normally, when we choose an option to make Kris say or do something, they ELABORATE on that, which is confirmed by how characters interact with them. We just can't see them speaking to give the illusion that they're a blank slate, under our full control. But, during Snowgrave, they just say EXACTLY what you tell them to say. If you tell them to say 'We're something else', they just say 'We're something else'. If you tell them to say 'Proceed', they just say 'Proceed'. Sure, you could put this towards them not caring, but after Berdly is frozen and you reunite with Ralsei and Susie, both of them say that Kris looks HURT. And later on, they REFUSE to go and see Noelle in her room. The refuse to THINK about it. They're not happy with what happened. They didn't want to go around freezing people. But the one thing that Really stood out to me, was during the Snowgrave Spamton Neo fight. Near the end, you have the option to call Ralsei and Susie for help, which prompts the flavour text; 'Kris called for Susie and Ralsei... But nobody came'. After that, you have to call Noelle for help to finish the battle, which prompts the dialogue; 'You called for Noelle'. Spamton states that Kris could barely whisper her name. They're trying to stop you from calling for her. Those aren't their words. I think that kind of confirms that they didn't want Snowgrave to happen. Kris is just a funny teenager with identity issues, they're not evil. Sorry evil Kris fans.
Kris probably isn't the Roaring Knight. They're A knight, but not THE knight. So far, they don't REALLY have any motivation for opening the first two fountains that I'm aware of, and I doubt they knew they could open a fountain until Queen's speech at the end of Chapter 2. At the end of Chapter 2, however, they do seem to have a motivation to open a fountain. They (presumably) slash Toriel's tyres to stop her from leaving the house to go and get flour. They want her to see the Dark World. And if you choose the option to talk to Undyne about the Dark World, Kris explains it to her in FULL DETAIL, but she brushes it off as a joke. Toriel finding her tyres slashed leads her to call the guards, and Kris leaves the door of the house wide open. They want Undyne to see the Dark World, I don't know WHY, but they do for some reason. But I REALLY doubt they're the Roaring Knight, they just don't have the motivation, and if it is them, it would be really weird for Toby to reveal that so early. I really doubt that kid wants to bring on the end of the world.
That's all I have for now!! Expect a more fleshed out version of this next time I play Deltarune with screenshots and such, though I may wait until chapter 3 and 4 come out! Thanks for reading!
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gomzdrawfr · 3 months ago
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how do you decide the colors of your art? color theory is so hard and your art is always so vibrant and cute! 🥲
Non are you on the right page? 😅 jkjk
uh I've put off answering this ask (this was from March 2nd aksjdhk) because Idk what I'm doing most of the time and go with the vibe BUT I tried my best with this, sorry if it's messy af akjshdkjasd
again like the previous tutorial-ish ask I answered, I am not a professional artist by any means so all of these are just stuff I learned on my own and heavily simplified for me to digest and implement it easily, you'll have to take these with a grain of salt. With that said-
Okay first off, yeah color theory is hard and I don't know everything about it xD I think the most I've used are these ones:
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There's a lot of tutorial, advice and like, art out there that explains the entire color theory thing, some are complicated and some are easy. My advice is pick only 1 thing to focus on, try to understand it and then use that one advice, then only moving on to other concepts, because there's so much going on with color theory it's very easy to get overwhelmed and to give up on it!
here are some recommendations if you want to learn color theory:
bluebiscuits
nouconcept has a lot of post of all kind explaining her process and colors in a cutesy, bright and colorful manner, so feel free to scroll through her page! I recommend [basic knowledge with colors, color theory, color palettes (more on this later)]
Btw if you're on Procreate, I like to use the square more than the triangle. Also, if you click on "Harmony", there are modes of color theories (the complementary, tetradic color thingy) that you can pick to create colors easily.
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Like when I set it to "Split Complementary" and when I pick this bright pink as my main colors, there are 2 more circle to indicate the complementary colors (green and blue)
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Okay in terms of picking my colors like the how and why, the easiest way is to find color palettes to work with, you can find them in abundance in pinterest for starters, but if you want more specific or control you can try colorhunt, sometimes you'll see me reblogging palettes from @/color-palettes too (here's an example on the result of using a set of colors, pretty cool!)
If you're using Procreate, you can also convert images to palette easily. You know how sometimes when you see really aesthetically pleasing screenshots whether it's from games or anything and you go, "huh, I wanna color something like that but I don't know how and I don't feel like color picking every pixel"? yeah just plop it into procreate and you'll get an array of colors to work with. Here's how to do it.
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Uhhh next is about shading I guess? xD here's my simplified way to do it. If you want me to go in depth or more about "Layers" you can send me another ask, but I'm not the greatest at it I just like to use a few of it.
On the alpha lock lineart thing, red is usually nice to work with on skins, orange is good for like a glowy/warm/AYO LIGHT IS RIGHT HERE ON HIS HAIR situation, blue is for reflective lights or like in the darker zone (don't take my words for it cuz I rarely use blue correctly)
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I think when it comes with shading there's a lot that can go wrong, and very quickly too, so what I would suggest is try out the cel shading technique first, in my opinion it's cleaner and much easier to handle. Marc Brunet does an excellent tutorial on this. If you want to know the differences between cel shading and the usual soft shading you can watch this video by Winged Canvas.
Why I think cel shading is easier? because there's not a lot of blending that needs to be done. From my experience, I feel like blending can sometimes lead to badly smudged, blurry, undefined look on a painting, it comes with experience from understanding different aspects like lighting, face planes, color coherency etc. If you want to learn more about the details, I can suggest:
How to learn digital painting (beginners) by Sinix Design (highly recommend them for the basics and foundations)
Better Shadows by Sinix Design again, this is still something I'm learning and struggling with but this video talks in detail about hard lines and soft lines, planes and etc, essentially the things that make up a good color piece
While we're at it, actually I think before you even tackle color you probably wanna take a look at greyscale first xD but okay then that's a whole new thing to learn so, this post is more like a simplified way of how I color stuff. I will rec Ariabba and Lucas Peinador's videos if you're interested tho.
RIGHT okay so the next few are just more like things I do. When it comes to colored doodle, once I've picked a palette I want to work with, I stick to it. Idk what to call this except color group consistency. You can look at this example below.
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You can see how all the colors are primarily from the ones on the side, the only difference I would make are saturation and hue but only very minimal for shadows. (This is also why I recommended finding a color palette in the beginning) I feel like whenever we do colors we're quick to jump into the big fiasco of "oh I want to make everything really bright and really colorful!" and there is nothing wrong with that thinking, it's good! But if you're new to coloring in general, that kind of approach can make a painting feel...uh...disconnected? I think? it's like the colors aren't matching well together if you don't know how to blend and make all the colors work xD If we stick to a set of colors, it's much easier to maintain the tone of the art.
Okay, another tip when it comes to shading is this.
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Let me preface this by saying, there is nothing wrong with the "Dull" method, it all depends on the mood/setting of the piece you're working with. Say if you're drawing something that is moody, in the shadow, in the rain, just basically in a darker surrounding, then it works well. But in other cases, if you feel like your colors looked dull then maybe you can try the 2nd method. Basically you shift your hue (the outer circle, the ones with different colors like green blue purple and all) a tiny bit then increase the saturation to the level you want. This would make the shadows/shades much brighter and nicer to look at.
Another tip is understones! they help tremendously in terms of adding just that extra oomph to your art. Take a look at this example.
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Adjust your brush opacity (make it lower) to color a base (in this case, orange), then only shade in the color you wanted (red), you can see how it's a little bit more interesting to look at. Again, this is just a preference thing, if you prefer to make it red then go red.
Here's another example, I think this is more so of combining undertones and color stacking. If I just color Laswell's shirt with pure dark purple, it wouldn't be as interesting and eye-catching, ya know? So I actually used a mix of blue and pink as undertone, then I shade dark purple over it, then adjust in some places with a lighter purple as accents.
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This is another thing that I do sometimes, not often because idk what I'm doing with this LMFAO but I'm basically trying to add more variation and some pop to a painting by dotting in really bright, almost neon like colors to well, make it interesting looking. I think I always use the blue, purple, orange, yellow category.
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Lastly (and I like to say this a lot), when all else fail, just use a gradient. It doesn't matter if you don't know how just know to use a (light color) (base color) (darker base color) combo and instantly your art already looks more interesting. Hell, why not take it a step further and add some texture to the piece? It doesn't have to be complicated, you could put random lines, dots, hearts, whichever works as long as it creates a subtle contrast to the whole piece. Very small detail but it can make a big change! Let's take Alexander the IV as example:
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Once we added a green to it, it looks good on itself already, like hey now we know the lil buddy is green. But it's boring, okay then smack on some gradient, make the top lighter and the bottom darker. Hm but it's missing something, okay random bullshit go! Add lines, hearts or use a noise brush over the green and boom, now Alexander the IV looks cuter.
Hope these help!
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sonic-takeover · 3 months ago
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hi my curious ass is BACK after literally 10 minutes I'm SO SORRY 💔
but I was catching up on the LORE (to be read in game theorist MatPat's voice) and.
SONADOW‼️🎉🎉
Im fr tweaking out in my bedroom at 2 am because of this blog I'VE BEEN HERE TEN MINUTES AND I LOVE IT ‼️‼️
so bc my brain is holding ten thousand billion thoughts at once (shocker), and Im a little lost on the story, can I get a quick recap on the sonadow situation orrr???
yet again, hate to pester, excited to be answered!!(≧∇≦)b
Happy to have you here! Don't be afraid to send asks! Okay so it's a bit crazy, but here's the story:
Sonic and Shadow were friends/rivals at the beginning. People started asking them how they feel about each other, but they were both in deeeeep deep denial. Eventually, Sonic talked about how much Shadow means to him and Rouge got a screenshot of that message. There was a whole fiasco of them losing the phone and trying to get it to Shadow as it passed from one person to the next, but when Shadow got to it, he thought it was platonic. Amy saw everything going on and got jealous, attacking Shadow. Sonic saved him and rejected Amy for good. Amy took her time healing her heartbreak while Metal Sonic made his intentions clear and waited for her to be ready to date. Meanwhile, Shadow and Sonic stayed in the depths of denial even in the face of being forced to share a room and a bed in the bigass house. They grew more and more comfortable with each other (even cuddling to sleep) but still didn't know their feelings went both ways. An anon left an Eggman brand body swapping ray on their floor and they swapped bodies and broke the ray by accident. They tried to hide the switch, but it wasn't easy. They were found out pretty quickly and Tails started trying to repair the ray. The two of them started bonding by doing each other's makeup and racing indoors, and on the last night of their switch, Sonic (in Shadow's body) sang I Hear a Symphony for shadow specifically during karaoke, publicly serenading him. He reached out his hand and Shadow almost took it, but plot twist! Tails got kidnapped by Eggman when going to him for help repairing the ray. The group all went to save him and during that mission, they fought a robot which zapped Shadow in the chest with a laser. Sonic used the almost-fixed ray to swap them back and broke it again. Now Sonic was injured and Shadow had to nurse him back to health, but now he had finally accepted his feelings for Shadow. He started flirting with him, which Shadow dismissed as him being delirious from the pain of his injury. Eventually, they decided it was a good idea to write each other love letters explaining their true feelings. Unfortunately, Shadow writes in cursive and Sonic has both terrible handwriting and terrible spelling when not using autocorrect, so neither of them could read or understand the letters. They both thought it was a rejection letter, which caused even more confusion. Rouge told Sonic that Shadow liked him back, and Amy read Shadow's letter so Sonic since she could read cursive. Everyone went to find the chaos emeralds, since Sonic now had a plan to confess to him. Once gathered, he went super with Shadow and took him to the moon, where they watched the sky, slow danced, and finally kissed as the sun rose over the Earth. Now they're official boyfriends with three kitten children (Flash, Freeze, and Firefly), but there are still some secrets lurking in their pasts.. things they're not sure they feel ready to share.
Whew! I'm gonna check that for typos later. But that's Sonadow so far! Hope this helps!
-Mod
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average-hyperfixator · 6 months ago
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I've been having a goddamn conniption over this post (user cropped out bc I do not like starting discourse or inadvertently getting people harassed. if you find the og post do NOT harass them. This post is just my response to this take on this fictional character. I'm likely going to get heated because this game is a hyperfixation of mine, so I feel some stronger emotions about it. Any anger I have is pointed at the opinion and not the person. okay moving on.)
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This take somehow manages to miss almost every major story beat of Curly's character and SOMEHOW takes his depression and turns it into a belief system. Like. I don't even know how this conclusion was reached???
Curly is not fatalist he's literally depressed and feels trapped in his life. yk. like. like how depressed people often feel. He's reached the top rung of the ladder in the corporation he's in and realizes he may have picked the wrong career altogether, and feels trapped because of it; that's not believing in fate. Nowhere in the game does it even IMPLY that Curly is fatalist.
here I have compiled screenshots that in fact prove the opposite
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you see, if he thought the future was predetermined; why on earth would he talk about changing it? About doing something different, taking a leap? Why would he ponder trying to make a better life for himself if he thought there was no other way things could be?
like I hope we're looking at the same fatalism definition
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Honestly, the only argument I even need to refute the point "Curly uses fatalism to avoid responsibility" is the fact he went into the cockpit before the crash. If he truly was resigned to fate, he would've continued to stand frozen outside, and wouldn't have done ANYthing. But he tries to change the outcome. He runs in there, and tries to save his crew. He (at least tries to) takes RESPONSIBILITY for JIMMY'S actions and his OWN INACTION in that moment.
Also. "Curly knows he's doing wrong" What? His worst crime is being too nice. His fatal error is trusting in Jimmy too much, NOT thinking he does no wrong. I don't even know how to disprove that because it's so fucking off character that there is nothing I could even show. yk I'm abt 90% this rant would make more sense if you just. Talked about Jimmy being a fatalist. Because he's literally the guy who thinks he does no wrong, and thinks he fixed everything, and that all the harm that happened was "out of his control, and had to happen, there was no other way!!" I still feel like it's a stretch even for his character but it makes more sense than using CURLY?? Curly is fucking depressed, not fatalist, and certainly not the main antagonist??? That's something I'm not even gonna touch on in-depth because that opinion is beyond the realm of saving. The antagonists of the game are explicitly the company Pony Express and Jimmy. The morally grey characters who could have acted more but didn't (mostly) are Curly and Swansea.
Curly still does shit wrong, yeah, but not because he believes his actions don't matter. Most of his inaction comes from his complex friendship with Jimmy and the looming threat of the company, not a belief system.
I don't even know how to TLDR this. Just. Curly is not the bad guy for being depressed and feeling trapped.
if anyone wants to reblog/comment to add onto this with stuff I might've missed go ahead I definitely left out stuff. This was made in a kind of angry headspace, I am so sorry for the swearing I'm not usually an angry person. Again my anger is towards the opinions not the creator of them. Again again, if you find op (doubtful) do NOTTTTT harass them for the love of everything. Debate and discussion are always open ofc, and if I get into a debate with someone I will not be as upset as I am here because that will not be productive at all lmao. Sorry if I seem super angry or bitchy here augh I just really like Mouthwashing and Curly and felt like this did him SUCH a disservice. Okay rant officially over.
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ducktracy · 29 days ago
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I once ordered a used copy of "Chuck Amuck" on Amazon marketplace (sorry, I am a Chuck Jones basic), but they sent me a totally different book (also, don't recall exactly but it was something dark, like a WWII book or something... 😬)(I think the barcode was damaged or something). I returned it, but never got around to trying again to get it... Nor have I read any other bios or history of LT/MM at all, I really need to. Any good starting points off the top of your head? Don't worry about it if not!
WHAAAT THAT'S CRAZY!! THAT'S... A FASCINATING EXPERIENCE LOL, what an intriguing mix-up!! so sorry about that, though!!
AND BOY DO I EVER! ...WELL, okay i don't have THAT many LT specific books. but the first book i ALWAYS recommend to people is Michael Barrier's Hollywood Cartoons book--it was one of the first of its kind and it covers a TON of the major studios, Warner's included. this thing is an extremely invaluable book that i think anyone even remotely interested in exploring the history of these cartoons should check out. especially since his blog, which has a ton of the interviews he quotes in the book, has been down for a few months... definitely required reading! pardon the quality, but here's a passage that's stuck with me for years since the very first time i read it.. fantastic book
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Jaime Weinman's book Anvils and Dynamite is another exceptionally good book that's informative, but also very fun to read and maybe a bit more leisurely--i tore through it pretty quickly and often find myself referring back to it in everyday conversation. he definitely opened my eyes to a lot of trends in the history of these characters and shorts and how they're perceived by the public today! i love Weinman's authorial voice too, i was looking through screenshots i'd sent when reading it for the first time and had a hard time settling on a good one to send because they're all so funny. i like this one a lot though
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i highly recommend Martha Sigall's memoir, too--she was an ink and painter who worked at WB during the '30s and '40s and relays a lot of really interesting anecdotes! like this, which might be my favorite animated anecdote ever?
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Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald's WB Cartoons book is kind of more like a glossary than an in-depth book, but i'll still link it anyway since it's interesting, especially if you're wondering what every single short made is about! it's maybe of less use to me since i've seen all of these shorts, but kinda like Barrier's book, it was released during a time where this information was much harder to come by
i also just got Steve Schneider's LT Art Book a few months ago--i've been too busy to crack into it, but i was convinced by my historian friends to get it and so i can't wait to dive in!
Chuck Amuck is definitely worth reading, too, if you can get your hands on it! just be warned that Chuck has a penchant for exaggerating the truth a bit (he, Bob Clampett, and Mel Blanc lol) so i would take everything with a grain of salt. for example, that infamous "rules of the Road Runner" list or whatever that's like "the Road Runner must never talk" or "the Road Runner must never step off the road" is complete bunk. it's still a super fun read! but i'd take it more through the lens of leisure and entertainment than the pursuit of cold, hard fact
with that said, i greatly love this
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kemendin · 7 months ago
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Kem's non-spoilery/non-plot-related impressions on Veilguard:
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Now that I finished a first run, I want to just put some thoughts out there - basically likes/dislikes sort of thing. So here we go! In no particular order:
Likes:
This is very subjective of course, but to me it just FEELS like Dragon Age. It's nostalgic in the vibes and mechanics while also being fresh.
Hair physics!! Me gleefully watching my boy's ponytail flipping around like 'yessss gooood'. Every game needs this imo xD
Companions: While I'm personally not going feral over any of them, I do LIKE them all, which is unusual for me. I love the shouted encouragement in combat, and how they move around the Lighthouse and have little snippets of conversations with each other (wish we got MORE of this).
I adore the environments and maps. I love exploring new places in Thedas, they're all so gorgeously detailed, and I love the LAYERS of them. The exploration feels very Assassin's Creed, which is fun for me. Docktown is my favourite I think, but Arlathan and the Crossroads are also stunning.
I'm a sucker for the elven relic puzzles, they make me happy!
Combat: It took a while for me to adjust, particularly coming from BG3 where I had time to deliberate my decisions. But once I got into the rhythm of it, I now find Veilguard combat quite fun. (I played as a sword and shield warrior this first run, I'm excited to see what a mage feels like next time around)
PHOTOMODE!!! At least a third of my playtime has definitely been spent taking screenshots. It has almost everything I want - camera angles, depth of field, field of view. SO MANY SCREENSHOTS! (1800 at last count)
Dislikes:
Save system. Generous auto-saves are great, but I hate how you get bumped to the nearest beacon when you load in, rather than where you actually left off. Also I'm a save scummer so 100 manual saves is not enough lol.
Main menu being the only functional 'pause' button is irritating, especially when trying to get into photomode.
Armour/outfit stuff. I'm sorry but most of the designs are terrible. TERRIBLE. Also there's no dye/tint system, at least Inquisition had SOMETHING to that effect.
Pacing. I feel like the stories in the game had so many good notes, but it felt.... disjointed, like it was just hitting the main beats rather than creating a cohesive narrative flow. Across the board, it felt rushed and shallow in that respect. Also (and maybe this is just a me thing) it felt really difficult to get a handle on the passage of time throughout the game.
Ambivalent: The character creator. Lots of great sliders and options, but also I kinda hate the 'mash three heads together' thing, and I don't know why we need 50 styles of eyelashes instead of, I dunno, more hair options? (also - body hair. Needs body hair)
I may add to this as more thoughts occur, but for now that's what I've got. Overall impression - positive! I had a great time and I'll be replaying for sure.
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