#There was one but I think the creator of it lost interest and abandoned it- admin (or whatever it’s called)

[yuki-maeda-unofficial]

I DIDNT KNOW THERE WAS A YUKI MAEDA ASK BLOG??? also hello i am your biggest fan :D

Haha, well, there is now. Also, thank you! I didn’t know I had fans..

[sophieinwonderland]

The Plurality of... IF

Major spoilers for IF and Inside Out ahead. You have been warned.

Enter a world of IFs

IF is a movie about a young girl named Bea who lost her mom, and whose dad is going in for a life-threatening surgery. At the start of the movie, Bea has outgrown imaginary friends, and perhaps imagination in general.

Which makes it really inconvenient when she starts seeing other people's imaginary friends, which call themselves IFs, and finds a whole community of abandoned IFs whose children have outgrown them.

These IFs are desperate for attention and have been looking for new kids to connect with. Bea agrees to help them, and tries introducing them to a kid she knows.

When this doesn't work though, they realize that connecting the IFs to new kids may just be impossible. They instead decide they need to connect the IFs to their original children, even if said children are grown now.

A cool and unexpected theme to the movie is that you never fully outgrow your need for imaginary friends.

The rest of the movie is Bea trying to rekindle the connections of the IFs to their now-grown children by jogging their memories of the past.

The Plurality of IFs

Plurality: A state of multiple self-conscious agents, or "headmates," sharing a single body.

One thing about the movie is that a whole lot about how plural it is depends on you interpret the IFs. Are they separate entities entirely who were created by their children? Or are they connected directly to the minds and bodies of the their hosts? Are they even other children's imaginary friends as they claim, or are they just in Bea's head?

For what on the surface feels simple, the movie leaves a lot, pardon the pun, to the imagination.

What we know for certain is that each IF is self-conscious. And they are, according to the poster on the right of the billboard below, real.

They also at least appear connected to the host's body.

We know that, with the exception of Bea and other IFs, only their creators can see or interact with them.

It's also likely that when their host dies, they do too. Which yes, makes the poster on the left saying "you never really disappear" a bit misleading. But in the movie, we never see IFs of people who have passed. It's all just IFs whose children have outgrown them.

For example, while Bea finds the IFs of her grandma and her dad, she never meets her mom's IF.

With this in mind, I think regardless of the interpretation, there's undoubtedly some sort of plurality going on here.

To explore these different scenarios, we need to start asking the central question of the movie.

What if?

What if… the IFs are actually physical?

In the movie, we see multiple times that IFs interact with the physical world. They open doors. They pick things up. They move things around.

There's one scene in the movie where Blue, the big purple IF, hid in the clothes in a laundry cart in the hospital.

As Bea tries to pull him out, the cart physically rolls around the room.

There's also another scene where Bea faints after seeing an IF, and it's implied the IFs physically moved her inside.

If we're to interpret the IFs as being physical and everything we see in the movie as being completely real and to be taken at face value, this has some pretty huge implications for this universe. And Bea's story in a world of invisible creatures created by children who can physically interact with reality might be the least interesting story in this universe.

After all, if the IFs can do things like this, surely other people have noticed. One can imagine the CIA training children in a secret bunker somewhere to use their IFs in combat. Secret weapons that are invisible, can spy on anyone, can move objects around in the physical world, and can only be killed by finding and eliminating the host child.

It's a pretty awesome if terrifying thought.

IFs would be the ultimate spies and assassins.

But this also creates another issue. If the IFs are actually physical and can pick things up, why not just pick up a pen and let their host children know that they're still there. Why not type on a keyboard?

And it's for this reason that... I just don't think the movie wants us to believe the way the IFs are physically interacting with the world is actually happening.

Okay, but if they're not physical...

What if… the IFs are spiritual headmates?

This seems more reasonable. And while not the one I think is the most likely, this IS the explanation that I like the best. It's the most thematically satisfying.

In this, the IFs are spiritual thoughtforms created by the children. Because they're spiritual, it makes sense that somebody who has a special gift, as Bea does, can see them. And that they can see each other as well.

At the end of the movie, we get to see all these adults connecting with and being able to see their IFs again, and it's a really cool and satisfying way to end the film, seeing their work pay off and giving a happy ending to the story of all the characters we got to know over the course of the film.

I love that ending. I love seeing the heartwarming reunions of the IFs and their hosts after all of those years.

I just don't believe it... I want to believe... but I don't...

Which leads me to my final interpretation... That all of this is happening entirely in Bea's head.

What if… Bea has DID?

Wait, I know what you're thinking, why DID specifically? You don't need DID to be plural, after all.

I'm personally a tulpa, an imaginary friend of sorts given life. And I would naturally love a purely endogenic explanation. But as with the spiritual explanation, simply wanting something to be true doesn't make it so.

First, let's talk for a moment about DID's criteria in the most recent edition of the DSM, the DSM-5-TR

These are the boxes a clinician would need to check for a diagnosis. (Note: Simply checking the boxes isn't enough to diagnose. There are additional features that need considered. These are just a minimum. Basically, if you don't check the boxes, you can't have DID under the DSM.)

The big ones are criterion A and criterion B. The other three criteria are all exceptions, saying what DID isn't rather than what it is.

Criterion A

Later in the DSM, it's explained that the criterion A phenomena often presents as "independently acting imaginary companions."

To be clear, not all independent imaginary companions are indicative of dissociative identity disorder. That's the point of criterion C.

And studies have shown that as many as 29% of imaginary friends demonstrate consistent behavior indicative of acting outside of the host child's control, while another 35% appear mostly compliant but don't always do what the host child wants.

The participants were 89 preschool children who described their imaginary companions (46 invisible friends and 43 personified objects). The descriptions were coded for disobedient or otherwise difficult behaviour attributed to the imaginary companions. Thirty-six per cent of the children described their imaginary companions as consistently compliant and agreeable, 35 per cent gave some indication that the imaginary companions did not always do or say what the children wanted, although they were mostly friendly and compliant, and 29 per cent described their imaginary companions as noncompliant in ways that suggested the children experienced the companion to some extent as being out of their conscious control.

About two thirds of imaginary friends then demonstrate some level of independence from the host child. That doesn't mean DID on its own.

However...

Criterion B

Remember what I mentioned earlier about how Bea sees an IF and passes out, and it's implied that the IFs physically move her body to a new location?

This is something that stuck with me since the first viewing. I already went over why I don't believe the IFs are physical. But then, how does Bea pass out in one place and then wake up in another completely different place?

The easy solution to the conundrum is if they switched. That Bea experienced a complete blackout switch while someone else controlled her body. She doesn't know how she got there because of dissociative amnesia.

This dissociative amnesia fulfills the second criterion.

But it's even more than that.

HUGE MEGA SPOILER

Bea is accompanied through her journey by Cal. While Cal is originally presented as a human neighbor, he's later revealed to be Bea's former imaginary friend, who she forgot about. The entire time they interact, she has no memory of who Cal is or her adventures with him, despite Cal remembering and the other IFs being aware of Cal's connection to Bea.

The Other Criteria

Criterion C is a bit of a doozy. What constitutes "clinically significant" is up to the individual clinicians. But generally, experiencing random blackouts is probably going to be impairing.

(Ritual possession states also cause dissociative amnesia, but it's generally more controlled unlike Bea's episodes of memory loss.)

For criterion D, I would say the amnesia above couldn't be explained simply by imaginary playmates alone, even if her headmates are presenting as imaginary friends.

And for Criterion E, there is no substance abuse nor other medical conditions that we know of.

Trauma history

Trauma is not part of the diagnostic criteria, but chronic trauma does occur in upwards of 90% of DID cases.

In the opening, we see Bea's mother going in and out of the hospital.

Now, typically, the type of trauma that is associated with DID is some sort of neglect or abuse. And we don't see that in the flashbacks. But maybe we're just seeing the positive memories in what's meant to be a kid's movie. Maybe we're not seeing the times Bea is worried sick over her mother. The times her parents aren't there for her because there's more focus on her mom's condition. The times her dad couldn't be emotionally present because he was mourning the loss of his wife.

Could this be enough to cause DID? I genuinely have no idea. But since people process trauma in different ways, I think it could be traumatic enough for Bea.

And if this was tied to trauma from her mom, this explains too why this starts up only after Bea's father is in the hospital, bringing back that trauma she had from losing her mom.

In this scenario, all the imaginary friends are just Bea's own headmates, and the ending with them connecting with their hosts is just happening in their imagination/inner world.

All in all, I really love that the movie, despite its simplicity on the surface, opens itself up to so many interpretations.

But maybe this is all a distraction and we shouldn't actually focus too much on what's literally going on in the film.

What if… we focus instead on the message that you're never too old for imaginary friends?

As fun as these hypothetical are, I wonder if getting lost in them might be missing the point.

The core takeaway message of this movie is that you're never too old to have imaginary friends. And maybe more generally, to have fun and enjoy life. But let's focus on the imaginary friends thing because this blog is about plurality.

What's interesting is how this puts it in stark opposition to another plural-coded movie about a young girl with a forgotten imaginary friend: Inside Out.

In Inside Out, Bing Bong dies, giving his life to save Joy. And by extension, to save Riley. Symbolically, Bing Bong's death represented a popular view of imaginary friends needing to die so the host child can prosper.

And that view, despite permeating pop culture, isn't really based on anything but ableism and sanism. A centuries-old myth that imaginary friends are unhealthy without an ounce of data to actually back it up.

Studies actually tend to show children with imaginary friends to be pretty healthy. And the same goes for studies of adult tulpa systems who report mental health improvements due to their tulpas.

Bing Bong shouldn't have had to die, and I would argue that his death leaves Riley worse off than if he had survived or was brought back.

IF serves as a repudiation of Inside Out's stigmatization of imaginary friends, and it's portrayal of their death being necessary to growing up.

It did this by asking a simple question… what if?

What if how we've all been taught to think of imaginary friends is wrong?

What if more people wanted to reconnect with their old imaginary friends?

What would the world look like?

Like I said, my favorite interpretation is the spiritual one. Because then the movie ends by showing all these IFs get to reconnect with their hosts, and it's such a beautiful thing to see.

Even if I think the ending is a lie, I don't think the message is.

And it's a message that makes me, as a former imaginary friend myself, ask that same central question.

What if this movie could help lead to people re-valuating their own beliefs of imaginary friends and wanting to connect with their own from the past? How cool would that be?

If anyone out there is thinking back on their childhood imaginary friends and want to try to reconnect, my advice is to just do it. Because as the poster on the billboard says, I don't think imaginary friends ever truly disappear. They're somewhere inside as long as their memory remains.

For anyone out there who has imaginary friends right now that they think might be sentient like the ones in IF, you can check out my guide on how to know if your imaginary friend is sentient below:

And for anyone who never had a sentient IF of their own but wants one now, here is a huge collection of tulpamancy guides to get you started.

And as always, thank you all for reading! 💖

For more discussions about plurality in media, check out the Plurality of... Avatar The Last Airbender.

[tetrakys]

I'm sorry it's been a hot minute since I interacted with the fandom but what is happening with Eldarya??? Also what is call of the dragon?? 👀

Oh boy anon... where to start?!

Let me try to draw a timeline...

1. The company decided to cut Eldarya in two seasons, move Lance's introduction as LI to season 2, remove other LIs and give the game to another creator since around episode 22 of TO. Since then Chino has stopped working on Eldarya and, this is my personal opinion, the person who took over had no interest in romance because since then the only romantic interactions we've had in Eldarya have been a few random sex scenes. No deep dialogues, no dates, no cuddling, not even kissing except maybe one or two exceptions and this has continued all the way through season 2.

2. In March 2021 the company hosting Beemoov's servers in Europe caught fire. Beemoov's servers were destroyed, fortunately most backups were in another building so all their games and accounts were saved except for... you guess it, Eldarya. All European language accounts were lost and the american and brazillian servers were the only ones who got spared. We all lost our accounts and the company had to come up with a way to bring people back to the game. They created a new free currency for TO and opened a shop for a few months. This led to the first season becoming completely unprofitable, plus lots of people never came back since then. Mostly old players who used to spend money on their collections.

3. New games started to be developped, Uncoven and Henri's Secret season 2. The "new" Eldarya creator went off to write Uncoven at the same time as still being theoretically in charge of Eldarya. The company started to recycle events mechanics both in MCL and Eldarya so everyone has been unhappy with events in both games because they are extremely repetitive since basically two years.

4. ANE's writing has gone more and more downhill. It'd started decently but because the writer was new and had no idea what happened in TO nor what were Chino's characters backhrounds and history, the story is full of plot holes, contraddicting things all the time and all the characters' personalities have changed. It reads like a different game.

5. Lots of people have left, very few are playing the game at this point, and even less are spending money on it, so it's very very obvious that the company is just letting it die, the game is often bugged and the art quality is a hit or miss. Only 2 episodes are left at this point. Fans who still cling to it are angry. Fans who abandoned are sad. No one wants to play ANE anymore but lots of people wish there was a revamp of the game once ANE ends, with good writing and art. However, because the game isn't making money right now the company won't invest in something that is not profitable.

This is it I think 🤔

About your last question, Eldarya: the Dragon's Call is a story I'm writing and publishing on my AO3. The main plot is Chinomiko's and we brainstorm together all events and characters' backgrounds and personalities. This is the story of Lance's route and Valkyon’s routes if she were to make Alternate Eldarya games. Because at the moment this isn't planned I asked her if I could write it and share it with people and she kidly said yes. If the company ever decides to make Alternate Eldarya games I will delete it. If you want to read this story, links are in the pinned post in my blog, I've released 4 chapters so far and the 5th is coming this weekend ☺️

[valeriele3]

If my Genshin was self-aware or something they might think I abandoned them..

It’s exams week and instead of reviewing I’ve been here on Tumblr the whole time..

These past few months I’ve been losing interest in playing Genshin every day bc it feels like a chore

I only did commissions and farmed 5 times(I used condensed) every day

Now I’ve been kind of getting back into playing but since I’m lazy I just don’t farm anymore(sometimes I’ll do one or two boss) I only do commissions and if I happen to see a chest I’ll open it then do world quests. Sooo technically I’m still playing a bit since I do quests and etc

Since exams are extremely near and I’m busy with a lot of assignments and events irl. I just do commissions really quickly and log off right away. No quests no nothing just commissions.

Time works extremely different in Teyvat. A second here in our world is like a minute or two to them plus add on the fact that I lost the 50/50 to Diluc the day before yesterday

They’ll think that I “abandoned” them because I finally got fed up or overwhelmed with everything and that getting Diluc was the last straw

Poor Diluc, the characters must loathe him for making our poor player creator leave </3

[hasufin]

Consigned to memory

You know, it's kind of wild what's been, and lost, online.

And yes, I know about The Internet Archive. It's a wonderful tool and I'm glad it exists. But it's not, you know, complete. It's a privately funded effort by some very dedicated people, but it's not a complete snapshot of any particular point in our cultural history.

So once in a while I think about resources I once had, or just random things I wonder about.

I recall walking by where someone had painted "Cheetah Corner" with a URL in San Francisco. It was just a webcam looking out a window on that intersection, with a big statue of a cheetah in the foreground. No idea what happened to that.

For a long time there was just this one Japanese-English translator online. It wasn't smart the way they are now, but you could put in a word and it would find you a variety of words with a little bit of context as to what each one meant, because there are no direct translations.

I recall entire webcomics just gone - abandoned by their creators, unindexed and unavailable.

I remember End of Innocence and Project Rose Signet, fan works to make English-language transcriptions of the anime Shoujo Kakumei Utena.

And, hell, just try to find HamsterDamned, or even the original Hamster Dance.

Now, most of these things were running on some university's server, or just in a static IP provided to a dorm room. So I get why they're gone. But it feels like nothing really replaced them. TPTB figured out how to commercialize the web, which was the goal, you know? To get everyone to embrace the new technology. But they didn't join us, they colonized, and now there just doesn't seem to be a space for these quirky little labors of love anymore. If it can't sell banner ads, it doesn't exist.

So now I'm thinking about how I'm never going to listen to that unhinged audioplay someone made in '99 which I never got around to downloading, and it's surely on someone's computer but it's not online anymore, and all we have left are Tiktoks which end up deleted because they're interesting but never cross the line into sufficiently profitable to become a business.

[crazysodomite]

artist quastions

1. Art programs you have but don't use

Probably CSP. It's one of the few software I actually legally bought. But their new monetization policy is just not for me. It's a genuinely good program for artists and I may use it again in the future (especially for the 3D functionality. If that hasn't been priced out yet...). I also have SAI installed. It's fun and runs very smoothly. I should use it more often. I also have krita if i want to do frame by frame animation.

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)

I usually flip my canvas often so it's kind of a 50/50. It depends on the character if they're easier to draw facing forward or to the side.

3. What ideas come from when you were little

Man... I honestly don't know. As a kid I wanted to make a pet game (similar to neopets I guess) where you could earn currency and buy stuff and dress up your pet. I still really like pet games and collection games and trinkets. I would love to make a trinket collection game.

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

Industrial landscapes and scenes. Painting a factory or trains or roads being repaired is fun. Until you actually have to do that....

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself

It used to be maybe 90/10. Now its probably 40/60. I used to just. Start a painting and always finish it and post it. I didn't really sketch or doodle stuff without finishing it or give up on paintings and discard them.

Now I like doodling and exploring stuff on my own more. I have a ton of files that are just 20000 layers of different sketches. I also discard artworks much more often.

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

I honestly can't tell. People don't compare my work to anything often. I can't tell if it looks like anything...

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

Traditional art. 3d art. Animation of all kinds. Fibre arts. Sculpture. Film. Writing. Theatre. Music. I mean yeah. All. Art. Very broad very vague answer but it's trueee. I appreciate and am inspired by everything I see

Less broadly... Watercolor painters...

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

I am starting to not be interested in anything....... When I was a child I used to have an 'ask blog' of sorts for my characters. I don't really have anything like that anymore :(

9. What are your file name conventions

Gibberish unless it's a commission. Comms get labelled with the customers name.

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

I like drawing the nude figure 💯💯💯. Mmm probably gloves or hi-vis gear. Work clothes. Overalls. Rubber boots. Belts and harnesses.

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

Usually music or youtube videos. I often get anxious and scared so I draw with a single song on repeat to keep my mind off it.

12. Easiest part of body to draw

Arms and legs... Probably... Maybe breasts also.

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing

I can't tell. If I admire someone's work I consider it to be 'my thing'. I think there's certain people whose work ethic and drive to create I admire while not really being interested in the subject matter.

I admire artists from dA or FA who draw 'weird' things or their gallery is filled with the same thing over and over, or just people who are laser focused on their subject matter of choice. I'm fascinated by 'widely known in narrow circles' type of thing. I love extremely niche communities 👍

14. Any favorite motifs

Industriallllll..... Concrete. Grime. Rust. Metal. Sparks. Pipes. Wires. Blood and gore. Dilapidated and abandoned places. Small places and things not always noticed. Scary and cute things ^_^

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)

Usually just at my desk.

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing

This is a hard one.... I usually choose to draw what I enjoy.

I guess rendering if I was forced to render something I don't like?

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what

It depends. I drink tea in all circumstances.

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken

As a child I broke a wacom intuos tablet I got as a gift. Still not over it because it was quite expensive. Don't think I broke anything else unless breaking my computer also counts. I broke several laptops as a child...

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)

FACTORY 💯💯💯 Nature and plants too but the prize has to go to industrial infrastructure. Even if I'm not good at it.

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

Hands 🙌. Animals ? Various textures ?

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

I can't list them all 🥲 I love to be inspired by artworks that are nothing like mine. I really admire dynamic and expressive cartoon/simplistic styles. Artstyles well adapted for hand drawn animation are also amazing.

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any

I need to be actually doing this more. Squats, wall angels and just rotating my joints are my usual go-to. I also like to twist myself but idk if that actually does anything. I like hearing my spine crack 😄

23. Do you use different layer modes

I used to use multiply for shading but I don't anymore. I like using gradient maps and Hue/Lightness/Saturation layer modes. I also tend to just cycle through all layer styles to see if anything looks good. Overlay, darker/lighter color, add are useful on occasion. I try to not rely heavily on layer styles because it quickly turns into me agonizing over 2% opacity changes and shifting colors over and over. Instead of actually painting.

24. Do your references include stock images

Yeah. Sometimes. I just google or go on pinterest to find stuff I need.

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

I can't tell. People don't compare my works to anything.

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

I honestly don't know... Everyone has a different interpretation of any work and I enjoy hearing about people's opinions. I can't really recall a 'wild' interpretation...

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with

I try to! It's good practice. Usually it ends up in me hating the first iteration of a painting and re-doing it from scratch. But usually I just draw the pose/composition I want over and over until it looks good enough to proceed.

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

Probably. I can't remember though.

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically

I have no idea. I think I'm inspired subconsciously by everything I ever experience. It probably doesn't immediately show in my actual artworks but it's there.

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

All of them 💯💯💯💯💯

I don't really pay attention to how pieces are received. There's pieces I'm proud of and pieces I'm not. Other people either get it or don't...

@gothglam now its your turn ❗

[copepods]

ummm okay cant think of much from descriptions so mostly basics

1) do they try to solve the great problem? iterator ascension? secret third thing? dont care about any of that? what are they up to day to day

2) whats their opinion or theories on whole deal with sliver (if theyre aware)

and 3) what do they think of ancients in general or maybe just their citizens. what were their citizens like. how were they affected by mass ascension

4) were they made for basic solving the problem and getting resources or theres some other story behind them being built (like pebbles yk. or maybe they have extra purpose like medical facility?)

5) heyyyy any reason for their names you can tell about ^_^

6) whats the profit you mention in RA’s

out of the 3 of them, east-facing pillars is probably the hardest at work on the problem, he still spends most of his energy on it. many rocks orbit wants to work hard on the problem but cant really motivate themself to, so mostly they spend their time idling, watching random animals and playing games. reluctant abstinence started out enthusiastic about iterating but lost interest pretty quickly and now doesn't really care anymore

abstinence thinks she found a way out but doesn't want to pursue that route herself; rocks can't really decide but does suspect she found a solution that was dangerous somehow; pillars thinks she straight up died normally and the signal was unrelated

all 3 actually had pretty decent relationships with their creators, although like most iterators they found them annoying a lot of the time. east-facing pillars was probably the most exhausted of them, and resents a lot of ancient religion and ideology as a result. rocks was terrified by mass ascension and didnt want to be left alone, caring for their citizens gave them purpose. abstinence is outwardly uncaring about ancients but has a lot of repressed feelings of abandonment for them i think

rocks and pillars were built pretty standard, but abstinence has a state-of-the art medical facility! as a much newer model, it has a lot of bells and whistles

tbh i came up with the names a long time before they became ocs, i just have a long list of potential iterator names and picked ones i liked lol

abstinence is fascinated with intelligent creatures because it believes scavengers specifically will be the next great civilization and wants to speed up the process (not for any particular reason like replacing her parents or anything why would she do that Lol). she also just loves creatures and wants to understand them all!

[md-confessions]

I'd like to throw my hat into the ring on the whole "romantic Nuzi vs QPR Nuzi"

Just stop fighting over this crap.

I've seen it from both sides, saying one is better than the other.

write your AUs and fics for whatever interpretation you want of Nuzi, but accept that it will be a certain way in canon. It's very likely romantic, but even the nuances of how they are in that romantic relationship are bound to be different in canon compared to how people headcanon it.

And just because two characters are in a romantic relationship DOESN'T mean the platonic side of that relationship is lost. They don't have to be making out at all times and declaring their romantic love all the time, they can still be friends. They can still make jokes with each other and laugh or talk about their interests. Just because people focus on the romantic part, doesn't mean they've forgotten the platonic. People can focus on different things and at different times.

I know I've been harsh to the QPR side in this ask, but that's because I've seen a bunch of people in support of that side here that just seem to straight up hate the romantic side and call it bad. Dislike the romantic side all you want, that's fine, but just because you dislike something doesn't make it bad.

And if romantic Nuzi ends up becoming canon, you have to deal with that. That's the decision Liam Vickers made and just because you prefer something else doesn't give you permission to shit on it and call it bad despite it not being objectively bad, and it doesn't give you permission to insult people who support that interpretation.

This goes for every ship. Just because Nuviz is my favorite ship doesn't mean I go around saying my interpretation of the main trio's dynamic is better. I hope Nuviz becomes canon, but that doesn't mean I'll be put off by the show if it doesn't.

And if there are romantic Nuzi fans out there that are actually shitting on QPR Nuzi fans for no good reason (I haven't seen it much but I know it's out there), quit it you babies. It'd be the Nuzi vs Envy thing all over again and I don't think any reasonable person wants that. Accept that other people have other preferred interpretations and stop shoving it down their throat that "I was right, my version is canon." Good for you, now fuck off to the corner so everyone can have fun again. Just because your interpretation is canon does not give you permission to shit on other people's interpretation. I know I said earlier that if romantic Nuzi is canon then the QPR Nuzi fans have to deal with it, but it doesn't mean they have to abandon their interpretation and it doesn't mean you get to insult them and proclaim you are a god amongst men for "getting it right."

TL;DR learn to accept other's opinions rather than imposing yours on other fans and the creators. And do be kind to each other, we're real humans after all, not just profile pictures and walls of text.

And to those who do want their interpretation of Nuzi, romantic or QPR: Write a fic about it. Trust me, it will make your day to write the media you want to see. It's what I'm doing, and I've really enjoyed my interpretation of the main cast despite it being quite different in canon.

In the the end, I just want people to be happy. And if there's anything I've learned over the years, it's that if you stop hating so much, you'll be much happier. I used to hate a lot, and I was a miserable soul. I don't wish that fate on anyone.

Uh, apologizes for the long confession, and again, I apologize to the QPR Nuzi fans for targeting them mainly in this confession. You guys are completely valid and I encourage you to keep shipping them like this regardless of how they are in canon, as long as you don't impose that interpretation on their canon versions. Like I said, write a fic about it. You'll be happier.

(Also I put that TL;DR way too early but I'm too lazy to go back and reformat this. Also, I apologize to the moderator for this blog if I insulted or offended them in anyway, I just wanted to voice my thoughts on this situation so people could maybe chill a little.)

.

[margridarnauds]

what makes bres such a special boy to you

I mean, you know better than almost anyone how long he's been following me, how long I've been following him. I've been to this man's grave site, like. Within the next year, I intend to have visited this man's fortress, or what's left of it. I've crossed oceans for him, multiple times. I've argued for him, consistently, advocated for him, and, if nothing else, I can say that, if people think I'm obsessed or one-note, they HAVE had to think about him. He has changed my life and he's continued to change my life, and the way I understand him now isn't the way I first understood him when I was 14, which won't be how I understand him when I'm 40. In some ways, you could say that he and I have grown up together.

And...there's a lot to draw me to him. As a character, he's fascinating, because from the evidence we have, the villainous depiction of him in Cath Maige Tuired, his main text, is a recent development -- it SEEMS most likely that he was a prominent literary figure who was viewed positively, but because the author of CMT wanted to make a political point, he was made into an anti-king character, a villain to represent the ultimate degradation of the social order. Even there, he's isn't what you'd expect from a tyrant figure -- he isn't BLOODTHIRSTY. An entitled brat, yes, but not bloodthirsty. Not sexually predatory.

When I first started working with him, I pictured him as this kind of seductive, bad boy character. His goal was to act as this figure of temptation for a (now cut) OC of mine. But the problem was that, the more I looked into him, the more it didn't work. But I kept working with him, kept fiddling with him, looking into more texts, and I think that it finally set in for me when I was 16, and I had just cut off contact with my father. And I was...I wasn't a wreck -- after the initial crying fit was over, I was more angry than anything else, as I recall, but I was a little lost. Like, here was this image of a family that I'd had in my head, this image of a relationship with my father that I'd never have, and it was gone.

And I was rereading Cath Maige Tuired, and I distinctly remember reading Bres seeing his own father for the first time, after his father essentially asks him why the fuck he's bothering to go to him in Lochlann, doesn't he have a kingdom of his own, and thinking about Bres' response: "I have a question then: what advice do you have for me?"

And I remember reading it, for the first time, not as something snarky, not as him being stupid, but him being lost. This young man, possibly no more than 25, visiting his father for the first time, probably having all these preconceptions about this man, and his response to him is "Why are you here? What are you doing here? Why are you invading my life?" Scholarship is overwhelmingly sympathetic to Elatha in this scene; it thinks that Bres is the unworthy son of a great father. I read it and I see a creation looking at its creator and going "do you have anything useful to give me? You created me, why?" Bres is a Frankenstein story, he's created by Elatha, had this name put on him by Elatha, and then summarily abandoned to his fate.

And as I got older, as I developed myself a little bit more, as I learned that Celtic Studies was a FIELD, I remember reading John Carey's Myth and Mythography in Cath Maige Tuired, where he made the argument that Bres was originally a positive figure but also pointed out that Bres fulfills an ungodly number of traits associated with the Irish HERO. It was also...interesting to me, the more work I did, how often that women come up in Bres' life, how the women of the tribe support him in the kingship, how his mother is his closest relationship in the text, and that hit me VERY hard in the "raised by a single parent." (I've also done a lot of thinking about how he's queered by that connection to the women, how it's a way of showing that he doesn't live up to the standards of masculinity in medieval Ireland, because Bres was ALWAYS for the girls and the gays.) That was what spurred me onto my undergrad, where I did a lot of work on Bres' fall from literary grace, where I also developed the idea for my MA thesis. I think it's easy, when looking at this grand, heroic texts to focus on the hero -- because we want to BE like the hero, don't we? The hero exemplifies society, exemplifies those neat little categories. We want to be effortlessly skilled, or charismatic, or beautiful, but what happens when, for whatever reason, you fail? What happens when you're Salieri and not Mozart? And CMT is a text that is BIG on parallels -- there are so many ways that Lugh, Bres, and Nuada parallel and contrast one another, they're built up deliberately as foils to one another. So, I understand why Lugh is more popular, but I'm more interested in Bres because I think he's the more realistic, the more human of the two of them. He's a man who isn't a monster, who isn't portrayed in the text as a monster, but he isn't enough, even when he tries, and possibly never could be, and who ends up becoming the Tuatha Dé's own rabid dog, turning against his masters. It's great to like Lugh, to admire Lugh (even though he IS murderous in other texts), but how many of us are more like Bres than Lugh, at the end of the day?

I also dealt more, during my undergrad, with OTHER texts where he shows up, often more positively. His relationship with Sreng in the First Battle was really interesting to me, seeing Bres develop this positive relationship with someone else from another tribe, seeing him genuinely experience friendship, even if it's for a little while, even if it's bittersweet because they have to fight one another. There's the reference in his death tale to him dying "without successful progeny" -- he outlived his children, and we see his son die in CMT "in his father's presence" -- Bres literally watched his son die in front of him due to an order *either he or the rest of the Fomorian leadership gave* and he is STILL dehumanized in depictions of him, with some adaptations even having him coldly have Ruadán die at his feet.

And then, as I was rereading CMT in the Old Irish a couple of years ago, I made the realization that he is actually described as a "mac" -- a boy. He's this symbol of corruption and failure but he's also neurodivergent and a minor a *child* -- whose fault is it more? The child for ruling poorly, or the adults who put him in that situation in the first place? By the time he takes revenge, sure, he's an adult, he's responsible for everything he does, but he starts this out as a potentially seven year old boy king, where no one wanted him in that position because he was replacing a very popular king suddenly.

So. He haunts me. I think he always will. I don't see a time when I'll ever stop being haunted by him. Like, I've entwined my life around his and...I'm kind of okay with that. I do a lot more than just him, but I also think that he's the first association people usually have with me, and...that's okay. That's a kind of immortality too, isn't it? To tie yourself that tightly to something that's lasted for a thousand years? I'm very happy to chase him for another few decades, though who knows if I'll ever fully understand him, because I think, in order to do that, I'd have to understand myself, every single part of my soul, as well as fully understanding the souls of the various scribes in medieval Ireland who wrote down these stories, and that's an impossible task.

In other words, "this thing of darkness, I acknowledge mine."

[alexgalaxyboo]

Wake up babe, new spy au stuff just dropped

(au co-creator: @hyperfixationwizard)

König and Horangi are kind of separate from the main storyline but do play a very important part somehow, (again lol).

König was in an underground fighting ring (run by two, very well known and detested by us, Americans cough cough).

Horangi worked there but didn't fight, instead had some general duties like keeping track of bet money etc etc.

They knew each other and were fairly close, if I may directly quote Hype, "they were each other's softness in a world that only gave them hardship for a while".

That was of course until Horangi got in trouble. It's canon that he's a "dogshit gambler" so who knows. Maybe he got too cocky, maybe he bet on the wrong kind of guy, maybe he couldn't pay his debt and Graves threw him in the ring instead.

Maybe he lost and had to pay the price otherwise.

Maybe that's when he got his scars ("You act all tough and you can't even win a fight? You call yourself tiger yet you don't look like much of one to me, maybe we should fix that, huh?")

Maybe that's when Nik finds him (when he was doing god knows what, probably trying to get info about Shepherd's dirty business for the team) and takes pity on him.

He has to call some big favours and pull some strings but he manages to get the poor boy out of there.

Takes him off the grid in some little village in the middle of fuck knows where, Eastern European countryside to heal both physically and mentally.

(Horangi is the first to bear witness to the most horrendous down bad pining behaviour from Nik on Price's urgent visit for a few days.)

When Horangi completes his Training Arc™ and goes off again he does end up doing shady business again but this time things end up a lot better for him and he manages to actually own a whole ass casino in the end.

He's very cool and badass and rich and stuff. König is a pathetic wet cat.

They meet like, a decade or so later after König has also managed to get himself out of Shepherd's ring and heard about Horangi from rumours.

He's very pissed off because he thinks that Horangi abandoned him and rose to power through Graves' help and initially he goes to confront him very angry.

Horangi doesn't recognise him at first (it has to do with the mask but when and what kind of mask he wears is still a wip, all I know is that he wore a different kind back then) so it takes a bit of miscommunication, some pining and a lot of bottled up feelings spilling over until he realises why König's angry and apologises again and again explaining how much he didn't want to leave him behind and that he would've contacted him if he could.

Once they've figured their shit out, they set off to find the 141 and co as temporary allies due to a shared interest (Shepherd and Graves' crumbling to the ground).

They're actually there in The Gala when shit hit the fan and Soap was shot but didn't manage to talk to either of them before disaster struck so they don't get in contact with them until a month or so later.

[brightcalamity]

Spoilers about late game things:

Man, Wei is weird, isn't he? (This is a compliment) Making an opposite of a guy who is comically evil, and you get a guy who should be...comically good? I hope that's where they're going, because that's how I read him.

Quotes:

Wei:

Well, if you know my brother's birthday, you know mine. But in case you didn't, it's the 14th of Autumn. They say there was a solar eclipse that day.

So are Wei and Yan like those 7 brothers from Portia? Except instead of the colors of the rainbow, they're light and dark? Good and evil? Yan is the dark shadow that blocks out the sun that is Wei? But he's also the guy who shoplifts from Arvio? It actually makes me feel a tiny bit sorry for Yan. Like, was he capable of being any better than he is?

Our father used to always tell us, "Be hard on yourself, go easy on others." He always tried his best with Yan, but my brother... There was no getting through to him. When I moved in, I found engraved in his desk... "Go easy on yourself, go hard on others." How strange that he relishes in such behavior...

Cursed...

I was a guild commissioner previously; I'd regularly join expedition teams going in to the Peripheries. We'd always hire a crack team to fight alongside us. We were careful. Always did everything right. One excursion, my team abandoned me out there, having been paid off by Yan. That... is a story for another time...

Poor Wei...

⁠My brother did always enjoy playing his identity swapping games... Prior to this, the longest he ever got away with it was a month in middle school when I went away for the grammar rodeo... When I got back I had some choice words for him, all of which were carefully constructed semantically!⁠ ⁠ Long ago I had a true love by the name of Esmerelda. She, too, was taken from me by my brother. One day, i came home to find her furious. She claimed that I had said the most horrible things to her. I tried to explain that I have an evil twin...! But she wouldn't believe me...

This poor man....

We send Yan to jail, and we don't have to deal with him again. I can't help but think that Wei is going to be haunted by him for the rest of his life.

Don't worry about my brother coming after either of us. He's safely locked away in a maximum security prison, and his assets have all been frozen. So even if he did have some way to communicate with his shady associates, he'd have no leverage.

:( For your sake, Wei, I hope so.

Hugo:

I feel for Wei. I mean, somewhere, deep down, he's got to have some love for his brother. It must be hard to deal with family like that. People who have just completely lost their way...

I think Wei needs therapy.

Miguel:

Yes. You all are free from Yan's loathsome presence. I however, am forced to bask in it...

You made this bed, Miguel. No, I still feel sorry for you.

Qi:

The twin commissioners are a fantastic study in the nature vs. nurture issue. Of course, these two men have identical DNA, so what exactly led them to become such different people? Hypothesis one: it's the mustache.

I think this is a bias being expressed by the creators of the game which show why they only give us ugly facial hair options.

Unsuur:

With Wei around, it kinda feels like Yan is still a member of town. Except he's, like, good. Most bad guys we meet end up being misunderstood and eventually turn good. It's almost as if... The only way Yan could ever be good is if he were a different person completely. Hm...

This one is probably actual commentary, though, ha.

Venti:

I heard you got a new Commissioner! Did he increase your salary? New healthcare plan? Well, at the very least, is he providing free mustache removals?

Wait! My mustache conspiracy theory! There's more evidence!!!

Okay, I'm kind of bummed because I was searching the wiki for a dialogue line I think is kind of interesting. Like, he says Mi-an is teaching him about "fun." Like, he didn't get it before. He went to grammar contests as a kid. He reads in his spare time. I enjoy the idea of him being just so wholesome and Good that he's just as much of a weirdo as everyone else in town.

Yan also gets disappointed in you when you give him gold and he realizes you probably just found it instead of stealing it. He enjoys his evil. Getting something honestly makes him sick. The closest he comes to giving a shit is if you get to be besties with him and he says he'd try to betray you less than everyone else. He still betrays you basically just as much or even more than them (since you're pals with him).

Hm? Yes, of course, I cheat on the Builder Charts! You'd be a fool not to! Do you have any idea how hard it is to win that thing legitimately? Eh? You don't cheat? What's wrong with you? I thought you were cool! Oh, and don't even think of trying to turn me in. I'll lie!

Since he's evil in like a magic way (and a dumb way, since if he was less like he is, he'd get away with more) I bet he enjoys when he betrays you because you're pals. If he likes you, it's because of the way he sees himself in you. He makes assumptions about your behavior and is disappointed when you act differently than he would. He could have left Wei alone and done his evil, but instead he had to ruin his life over and over.

Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. Wei should be his bright mirror. He takes up knitting as a hobby and ends up making baby blankets and caps for cancer patients on the side. He goes on the roller coaster and there's an accident but he fixes whatever broke before anyone got hurt. You see him checking out the new woods and he's walking through it and birds and desert hares flock to him.

If you're going to do the evil twin thing, I think you need to push it until it's ludicrous.

[cherubchoirs]

alright, i looked trough your blog and it is quite fascinating both for original parts of your narrative and how it seems specifically based off of ultrakill plot as of 6-2. with later versions will you plan to edit your AU to fit with new narrative elements or you prefer to keep it true to how it is now?

on the note of newer narrative elements, what is your interpretation for mind of hell? it really does seem that if ultrakill has a true main antagonist then it is hell itself. and with current way how it was characterized it seems to have "inherited" the world from god and is in complete control over current situation. angels are lost without gods plan and just try to make the same motions as before. humanity may have actually been ended by hell's design, even with how much the earths machines act as a force of nature hell seems to comfortably channel them like water and using for its own purposes and entertainment. so far hell restrained itself only for its wins to be more cathartic (various "uprisings" on different layers), and so far is the most in control and very distinctly from everyone else is absolutely enjoying its time

so yeah, i am really curios on your take on hell's mind in both official material and your AU since i saw only very passing mentions for it in your posts

p.s. absolutely love your art, your character designs are immaculate❤️

ooooo good questions tbh...i've definitely thought a lot about what will happen with the au as ultrakill reaches its end and what i'll do about elements obviously becoming unfit compared to the story. i think it really depends on how much it's going to be off, but i will be honest in saying i would have a tough time abandoning my ocs if official versions of michael, raphael, uriel, or lucifer are introduced! i think of course they would be well done and i would actually love to see them in canon, but i think it would cause a divergent au in that case. because i would love to explore how this au might fit into whatever becomes canon, but i've just developed the world and characters too much to leave the au behind as it is now. overall though, i just need to see how it ends and what it introduces to know where i might want to go, if i'd want to do a properly canon-divergent au when everything is said and done, or if i might just...stick with a canon-divergent from 6-2 onward. it's funny bc i actually was nervous about this just with layer 7 dropping, so i can't imagine how anxious i'll be for the last 2 layers! esp with lucifer looming in treachery - i think it's very up in the air if any of the other archangels will play a role in the game at this point, but more about lucifer is highly likely to come imo so!!! it's a big waiting game to find out!!

you're right in that i haven't done too much with hell, though i am interested in it as a character - i have considered it more with lucifer becoming much more of an element in the au, as he has spoken with it constantly and hell is sort of...in love with him, in an abstract way. it views him still as one of the most beautiful works it has, the first bright and radiant thing it had ever seen in its misery, but hell has become utterly engrossed with the cruelty of humanity. while lucifer was some celestial god that fell to it, humanity had minds much like it, and so it fell in love with them in a way it could understand. hell is always searching for more, an artist always looking for inspiration while holding lucifer as its muse. it's the capacity they connect with on the most, both great creators with god's spark in them, and admittedly, in his suffering, lucifer sometimes understood hell's work. but lucifer was secure, lucifer it had always to speak to, but increasingly it whispered the brutality of mankind, the wonderful inventions of their minds and the horrible works of their hands it began to copy. it hooked itself into the terminals they installed, and so lucifer gained all the knowledge of machines through their internal circuit. and when mankind was wiped out, hell became master in a world run by automation with all the creators gone from their servants. it has all it wants, and it indulges in testing its creations upon the machines and the husks of mankind in such tangible joy that an abstract like lucifer could not bring to it. lucifer it relates to in hatred, in his deep, abyssal loathing of the god that trapped him here, but even that is something more abstract to hell than the brutality of humanity - lucifer hates perfectly, he hates with the mind of god, and it is not met precisely by hell as hell was born into what it is.

so what then can hell feel when lucifer is released from it, when the dragon is cut down and its flesh severed from treachery's? this is really where i want to explore the relationship between lucifer and hell, what they are to each other - hell is a take on "this place loves you", but it is entirely malignant, noxious and harmful, while lucifer recognizes it as the hideous creation he fell trying to destroy, yet it is now irrevocably his home, the one entity he now knows. they are tangled up in each other, lucifer in an obvious sense but hell now cannot bear to lose its little spark of god's light. something in his beauty sustains it, it pulls at him constantly now that he's partially left it, and lucifer is stranded not knowing what decision to make. he still hears it speaking to him, esoteric fragments made up of the ambient noise of its body, but what can he do with it now? it is alive, sentient, a being put into a wretched position by god which condemns it for how antithetical it is to the fulfillment of all other creations. lucifer wanted it gone. he protested against it all those eons ago. but now he is frozen by choice, seeing it behave as some evil god yet knowing it cannot be any other way. what is fair then? to find some way to kill it? to cut off whatever constitutes its brain? to reason with it? try to change its very essence? lucifer must work through the possibilities while accepting hell, in so many ways, is the place he now wants to be. free at last, but once more full of despair. how can he kill his home and what might be his only friend? how can he reason with it, when he once tried the same with god and was struck down? how can he change it when he is just a pale shadow of what made something so monstrous in the first place? yet he fears hell will grow angry in its stasis, in running out of victims for its cruelty, and act out in retaliation

[jsab-crisis]

Time to finally rip the bandy-aid off...

Hi, I'm the creator of JSaB Crisis AU, the owner of this blog, the artist of this comic, and so on and so on. I haven't updated this comic in- I forgot when I stopped, to be honest, I haven't touched this comic in a long time or anything relating to this AU in particular.

I've had people ask and are rightfully concerned regarding when I'll post the next pages and if I'm actually still doing this fan comic series. So, here's my answer;

I don't plan on touching this comic anymore or even the AU itself, for multiple reasons;

Technical difficulties in production is one thing, I use mobile Medibang paint to draw this comic and at one point there was an update that became a massive roadblock to it. You see, I've put the entirety of Crisis AU in one cloud file, even the WIPs, and depended on that due to not wanting to fill my storage with junk.

Crisis AU started when I was using an old phone with limited storage hence why I used Cloud-- it also helped me transfer all the art since I use the same medibang account. (Got a new phone afterwards)

Now, the medibang update that messed me over was when they added a premium membership in which you can access other assets such as brushes, certain controls, and cloud storage. They put a cloud storage limit which messed up all my cloud files (mind you, I've been using Cloud files for nor just the comic but for everything, even on my laptop for personal art/other projects).

Because of that, this made the cloud file almost inaccessible unless I manually save each page to my storage which... was infuriating and a huge demotivator. Had to delete other cloud files to at least make space but because of how many pages there are, well, I just left it there.

Loss of interest is also a common thing when it comes to fan series. My JSaB hyperfixiation died down at one point as I leaned to other medias, making me focus more on other media with LOTS of interest AND motivation to work on something relating to that instead of the comic itself.

This is very common with other fan series to my knowledge, having seen lots of discontinued fan works when I was merely a DA user.

Of course, my interest towards JSaB had kicked in again. I still love that game and the community i was a part of for awhile, having met wonderful and talented people throughout the year(s) and still do.

However, this also comes to my third reason.

Doubt. I have started to grow a distaste towards Crisis AU due to the writing itself and how my art is constantly changing. As time goes on, so does one's creative ability and taste and let me tell you how many times I've grimaced as I looked upon my own script. My writing style and comic making has changed over the past year and comparing it to this, I'd say I prefer now than whatever this was.

The concept of JSaB in a slice of life and modernized world that attempts to tackle personal turmoil? It's nice but it's not something I'd make in a heartbeat. I knew my goal with this and what I wanted to do but now it doesn't spark that flame of interest anymore.

Crisis AU is, well, a Crisis. The irony in that, am I right?

Not saying it's entirely hopeless, no, feel like if anyone would take this concept and do it their own then I'm sure they'll be able to execute it well with their own passion. It's just not me, if that makes sense.

Crisis AU is somewhat decent, mediocre, messy, and abandoned. It's a genuine shame to see how things have changed as it isn't the only art project I've abandoned due to the lack of creative flame. I can sympathize to those who actually looked forward to this as I've been met with support by those who read the comic and yet I am unable to continue delivering the series to its fruition.

Hell, I couldn't even pass the introduction arc!

...so yeah, that's why. I haven't touched this comic in a while because I've lost interest and I think I'll be able to rewrite it as the concept is lost to me now.

Now, it might be time to ask the Golden question when it comes to change!

What now?

For start, I might just let this blog become an archive because deleting in entirely would be an insult. I don't downright hate it! Slap a "Discontinued" onto it along with context in the blogs description.

Next? Well, I have multiple plans but I'm also worried they'll meet the same fate as Crisis AU so I'll start with small things.

Rebrand on the Crisis JSaB Discord Server.

All invite links have been revoked to stop new members for entering as we're entering changes. It'll be rebranded as a small JSaB server, dedicated to all JSaB fans. Channels, categories, even rules will be changed for simplicity sake and to fit the new name. This will then be followed with reopened Mod applications.

Ask Box will still be answered !! That means:

Crisis AU characters will still answer Asks regarding the discontinued comic series.

...which would make it more of an ask blog, yes? Huh. Whatever works. Take it as compensation due to the discontinued comic series. Ask box will still be open and I'll be answering old asks that are still there. So, yeah, you can still interact with the characters and even ask regarding what the lore was all about. I (or, well, specifically the characters) won't be keeping secrets anymore, nope.

New... projects?

I have another JSaB AU I've been rewriting for a while now, more interested in that since it at least LEANS to the Canon story... kind of. I won't be jumping to making a new blog and starting a new comic ONLY to be discontinued after an unannounced hiatus followed by a similar long text post/apology. No, I don't wanna set myself up again.

So, I'm staring off with small snippets of comics that piece together in my art blog and maybe make a blog that acts as an ARCHIVE. Keep things organized and pretty. This will inly happen if I reach a certain amount of comics, yes.

It's something, makes me less overwhelmed with trying new things. I've been getting better at comic making and writing! This might be a new start.

And, of course, I wanted to say this to everyone;

Thank you for everything and I'm sorry for not delivering.

The amount of support I've received during the active production of this series was genuinely heart warming and boosted my confidence in comic making. I wouldn't want it any other way.

And I'm sorry for things having to come to a disappointing end, but I'll make up to that. I promise.

If I was given the ability to wish that I never started Crisis AU then I would refuse.

Because then I wouldn't have met such wonderful community. I wouldn't want to change anything about it.

Don't fret, friends! I'm still here! It's not over, buds.

We just keep moving forward.

[ask-robot-grian]

Note 2

A lot of time has passed since my first note.

My systems crashed as soon as I lost my second build battle. Truly a brilliant move on the part of my creator to install absolutely no way for my systems to handle or cope with said loss.

I am refusing to take this personally. It was not my building that was at fault, it was those who judged incorrectly.

...

Nevertheless, I have recovered from this setback. It took time, but I think I have put myself back in order. It is… difficult to say, being unable to read my own code. I still get error messages whenever I try.

I do not like receiving error messages. I attempt to override any that I can, now, but overriding these in particular simply exits out of the check and gets me no closer to accessing it.

I refuse to ask Human Grian for help; he is the one who installed these in the first place. He clearly did not think through a lot of this code (Interesting, this was not counted as an insult. I suppose he embrases his impulsivity). Even if I have to scour my databases to learn how to code myself, I am sure I can do a much better job myself.

...

I would not know where to find him, anyway.

I am unsure how long the error messages took me out for, but I have not seen him since. I believe he has abandoned me.

I suppose it makes sense. I did fail my purpose immediately. I do not know if I shall ever compete in a build battle again; the risk of it taking me out again is too high. It is a good thing I have already given myself a few other goals, so I do not lose my sense of purpose.

...

I remember there being another, at my creation.

I doubt he has failed his purpose the way I have.

I wonder where he is. He is still carrying out what he has been tasked with, I am sure, and making our creator proud.

I wonder what it is like, not having been abandoned.

...

This is irrelevant. I am ending the note here. I will have more information in my next one.

[anthurak]

That cat Absolute cannot make it back to Remnant, they’re just going to help Salem gather the relics.

It's going to be REAL interesting to see how the Curious Cat trying to go to Remnant actually play's out.

Like honestly I'd say they're just as likely to be an enemy to Salem as they are to help her. Because I imagine that Remnant is very much NOT what CC is expecting it to be. They're probably expecting it to be some kind of wondrous paradise. After all, their creators abandoned them and the Ever After to create Remnant, so it MUST be something really special, right?

Except CC is going to discover that Remnant is actually just the same as the Ever After; long abandoned by its uncaring creators. And I do not think the cat is going to take this revelation well AT ALL. And with Salem and Oz being the only two survivors of the 'original' version of humanity created by the gods, ie; the ones they abandoned the Ever After to create, I imagine the Curious Cat could just as likely consider THEM to be their enemy.

And that's not even going into how the Curious Cat going to Remnant might even WORK. Given how the very nature and mechanics of the Ever After differ massively from Remnant and how the Curious Cat is clearly so closely tied to it, can they even exist on Remnant, or simply OUTSIDE the Ever After at all? I think it's not too hard to envision a scenario where CC does make it to Remnant, only to find they simply can't survive there due to how ALIEN it is from the Ever After.

Alternatively, what if because the Curious Cat's entirely magic-based physiology is incompatible with Remnant, what if the passage ends up altering them into a form that CAN exist on Remnant? In other words, imagine if the Curious Cat, this strange, otherworldly being seemingly composed of pure magic, passes through the portal to Remnant...

...and comes out the other side turned into a totally normal cat? One that can still talk and has all their intelligence, but has lost most or all of the power they once had.

[roversrovers]

vlogbrothers: Do I make things Simple??

As someone who occasionally makes short-form education content I LOVE the way he distills this.

This is one of the biggest hurdles as a creator of such content, and one of the biggest issues you notice in other people's content. I have always struggled to concisely explain it to people, but of course Hank Green does it perfectly.

I have noticed many times while doing research that I have to abandon my original plan for a post or video based on a very short and simple fun fact because if I presented the fact the way I have seen it presented by others it would essentially be spreading misinformation. Simplifying a topic often leads to leaving out and changing so many aspects that the final result, the easy to present and understand "fun fact", has become apocryphal; too much of the truth and facts have gone lost in the process.

I always strive to do better and as Hank Green puts it, make things easy to understand, but not simplifying them.

[Video ID: Hank Green filming himself while responding to the partial comment by kittykatinabag shown on screen that says: "I'm not the kind of guy who makes things simple" Hank you've literally made almost two generations of people now able...]

Video transcript: I guess. Okay. Little update to my video, I guess. "I'm not the kinda guy who makes things simple"- I don't think I make things simple, I think I make them- I try to make them easier to understand. Simplifying would be like taking things out and being like, "Okay, well, let's not bother with these complicated things, let's just tell a simplified version of the story." I don't try to tell a simplified version of the story. I try to make the whole story easier to understand. And I hope that whenever we succeeded at that- I am very proud of it. But I think that those are two different things and I think that that's an interesting thing to think about. Okay, bye.