#and like our brain thinks in Text like we visualize the Text

[nomairuins]

also i admire dws refusal ever to engage with language barriers

[thrashkink-coven]

Understanding how your brain works to better utilize it in witchcraft, spirituality or occultism

I apologize if this post is really long lol

The biggest challenge I run in to when trying to explain my “mystical” experiences with my deities and spirits is in accurately portraying the “abstractness” of the interaction. We all have a special concoction of brain soup going on in our heads. While one brain may communicate with itself very auditorily, as in, in sounds and voices, other brains may be more predisposed to imagery. The goal of some forms of occultism is conditioning both the subconscious and conscious brain into adapting into different forms of “thought”, communication with oneself.

Think about it this way, some people have an inner monologue, that is an actual audible “voice” that speaks to them, narrates written text, etc. This inner voice may or may not be omnipresent, it may or may not resemble your voice. It may change.

Likewise some people don’t think in sounds at all, their brain is more visual and produces images, videos, movie like sequences that you may or may not be able to mentally interact with. If you have aphantasia, you will not be able to do this.

If you can identify and understand how your brain works, how the hardware and program you are operating on functions, you can understand how to better use it to communicate with deities or to preform other methods of magic.

So here are some easy ways to get an idea of how your brain works in regards to communicating thoughts and information. If some of these things don’t make a lick of sense to you, you’ll know that it isn’t your jive and you’ll probably have more difficulty learning magical practices that utilize that function.

For Visual Imagery we’re going to be using the letter A - Visual imagery describes thoughts that are communicated through visual senses. This means any kind of imagery, including simple colors and shapes.

For audible/ sound based thought we are going to be using the letter B- Audible thoughts describe ideas that are communicated through auditory senses. This includes music, narration, and sounds of any kind.

For texture/sensation based thought we are going to be using the letter C- Texture and sensation based thoughts are ideas that activate the “feeling” part of the brain. These can be both pleasant or uncomfortable.

For transcribed thought we are going to be using the letter D- Transcribed thoughts are ideas which are communicated through written text, literal letters and sentences, or symbols, as if you were watching a movie with subtitles.

For “invisible” thoughts we are going to be using the letter E- Invisible thoughts are ideas that are almost instantly understood through the subconscious. They do not take time to process and usually go unnoticed. These are usually common sense observations. The part of your brain that processes “person” when you see a person, and “dog” when you see a dog. These thoughts are your most prevalent and least observed.

For memory based thoughts we are going to be using the letter F- Memory based thoughts are ideas that are conjured using information from passed experiences, needing no new stimuli or information to be formed. These thoughts can also include experiences that occurred in dreams. Common sense repetitive norms influence these thoughts.

Keep track of your points.

1. You probably already know the apple thing.

Can you picture an apple? what color is it? can you rotate it? which way is it rotating? clockwise or counterclockwise? upside down? does it have a stem? does the stem have a leaf on it? Where is the apple?

If you can easily picture and manipulate the apple, you have the capacity to understand mental imagery. That does not necessarily mean your brain is predisposed to it, only that you have the hardware to process it. Not everyone has this hardware.

If your apple was spinning in a black room with no other objects or environment around it, you may be more dominant in another field of thought with visual imagery as a supportive addition. You get 1 point for A

If you pictured an apple you saw recently, you get one full point for F.

If your apple was already in a room, on a table, in front of your real world environment right now, or in some other environment that was not necessarily conjured through memory, your brain likely uses visual imagery as a predominant method of communication. You get 2 points for A.

If you were able to understand the concept of an apple and all of the manipulations, but didn’t necessarily “see” anything, you get one point for E.

2. As you’ve been reading this post, assuming that you are not reading aloud, have you been hearing a “voice” narrating the text?

Does that voice sound like your voice when you speak aloud? Do you take the time to pronounce every word as you read mentally? Do you pay attention to every letter individually, or do you look at the words as contained objects?

If you have an inner narrative voice that is activated by reading long passages of text, your brain is able to process visual imagery auditorily, especially when combined with will established symbols.

If that voice resembles your speaking voice, you are likely more dominant in another field of thought, using narration as a supportive sense. Your brain doesn’t naturally tend to generate sounds, it’s using the most easily commutable sound, your own voice, to deliver the information. This isn’t to say that you can’t conjure sounds, but rather that your brain doesn’t do so without “trying” to. You get a half point for B and a half points for D.

However if that voice does not usually resemble your own speaking voice, or changes often, your brain is likely more predisposed to communicating through sound senses. You get one full point for B and a half point for D.

If you have no inner narration or other sensory stimuli when reading this text, but still fully observe and understand the words, you get one full point for D.

If you have no inner narration when reading this text but imagine it’s contents like a slideshow or movie when given visual descriptions, you get one full point for A.

If you’ve observed the text with no other thoughts or ideas asides from what has been commanded of you by the quiz, you get one full point for E.

3. Oops I did it again…

“I played with your heart! Got lost in the game! Ooh baby baby!”

Okay, assuming you know the song “Oops I did it Again” by Brittany Spears, did you hear her voice singing the song when you read the passage? Did you hear your own voice singing it? Did you only read the text?

And if you did hear her voice, did you also hear the background instrumentals? Did you see Brittany in your head in her red jumpsuit? (assuming you watched the music video lol) If not in her red jump suit, did you at least get some kind of visual imagery of Brittany’s face?

If you heard Brittany’s voice singing with no background instrumental or other stimuli, you get one point for B.

If you heard your own voice singing the song with no other stimuli, you get a half point for B.

If you only read the passage, you get one point for D

If you heard Brittany’s voice and heard the background instrumentals, you get 2 points for B.

If you heard Brittany’s voice and heard the background instrumentals, and saw her to some capacity, although not dancing or moving, you get 2 points for B and an additional 1 point for A.

If you saw and heard all of that whilst seeing Brittany dancing in some way, as if you were actively watching a video, you get 2 points for B and an additional 2 points for A.

If you saw Brittany specifically in her red jumpsuit alongside the instrumentals and singing, as if you were watching the exact music video, or remembered some other portion of the music video, you get 2 points for B, 2 points for A, and an additional 1 point for F

and, if you immediately remembered the entire song of “oops I did it again” without any other stimuli, or without necessarily “hearing” anything, you get two full points for F.

Consider how your brain handles all of these rabid thoughts and quick communications to understand the contents of this post.

4. Imagine yourself sitting in your living room

Now imagine there’s an apple in your right hand and a cube of ice in your left hand. Sit for about 15 seconds. Now, mentally, stand from whatever surface you were sitting on, still holding the ice and apple, and lick the floor.

If you had difficulty imagining the living room, “feeling” the ice cube and apple, and maintaining those things while licking the floor, your brain is likely not dominant in texture based thoughts. Subtract a half point from C if you had any already.

If you could easily and vividly imagine the feeling of ice and an apple in your hands, but did not experience any discomfort, and had difficulty maintaining your living room or moving within that space, you only get one point for C.

If you could easily and vividly imagine the feeling of the ice and an apple in your hands, but did not experience any discomfort, and had an easy time maintaining your living room and moving within that space, you get one point for C and an additional one point for A.

If after 15 seconds you felt somewhat uncomfortable, vividly felt the ice melting in your hand, or felt disgusted by feeling the floor (carpet, tile, hard wood etc ) on your tongue, specifically at the thought of dust, dirt, or debris on your tongue, vividly feeling hair and lint get stuck to your tongue, you get 2 full points for C and an additional 2 points for A.

If you could easily imagine the space and do all of these things, but did not experience discomfort and/or saw yourself doing these things in the third person, you get one point for A.

If you could somewhat do these things but got tripped up or lost some of the immersion by thinking about things that aren’t actually in your living room, like imagining both the room and the apple at the same time, you get one full point for F.

5. If I were to hand you a page with 50 phone numbers on it, and told you to memorize all of the numbers in the list, would you…

1. Remember each phone number sequence individually to the best of your ability, starting from the first.

2. Remember the sounds of the numbers as you recited them aloud and recall the “song” or rap that you created with them

3. Recall the whole page of numbers like a photo and try to remember what was written on the entire page

4. Remember each number individually and remember how they sit in the sequence in relation to each other

5. Assign each number a color and then recall the number sequence by remembering how each color transitions into the next

6. Assign each number a letter (4 = F, 9= N), and create words or abbreviations to remember the full sequence of numbers.

7. You wouldn’t be able to remember them all.

If you chose option 1, you get a half point for F

If you chose option 2, you get one full point for B

If you chose option 3, you get one full point for A

If you chose option 4, you get one half point for F and an additional half point for D

If you chose option 5, you get 2 full points for A

If you chose option 6, you get one full point for D

If you chose option 7, you get 1 full point for F

6. Your goal is to think of absolutely nothing for the next 30 seconds. Close your eyes, and do not think about anything.

If after about 10 or so seconds, a song or tune started playing in the background of your mind, you get 2 points for B.

If after about 10 seconds, you had any conscious comment or thought, “how long has it been?” “am I doing this right?” “I wonder what…” “I hope that”… or you felt the need to mentally count to 30, you will subtract a half point from E if you had any already.

If after about 10 seconds, you visualized something against your will, anything at all, even though you were actively trying to think about nothing, you get 2 points for A.

If you started thinking about previous parts of this quiz that you have already completed, you get two points for F.

If you had inclinings of thoughts coming on but were able to quickly stifle them, you get one point for E.

If you were truly and honestly able to think about absolutely nothing for thirty whole seconds, you’re a winner baby, you get 2 full points for E.

7. You’re laying in bed procrastinating doing some task you really don’t want to do. But you eventually find your strength and finally decide to get out of bed. When motivating yourself, do you think:

1. “okay, I gotta get up now”

2. “come on, you gotta get up now”

3. “alright, we gotta get up now”

4. you do not have any inner dialogue about it, you simply know you have to get up and get up without consciously voicing it to yourself.

If you chose option 1, you do not lose or gain any points.

If you chose option 2, subtract 1 full point from E if you had any already.

If you chose option 3, subtract one half point from E if you had any already.

If you chose option 4, you get two points for E.

8. When you hear people speaking in real time, do you see their words transcribed in your head as if you were reading subtitles?

1. No, never

2. Sometimes but not always

3. Yes, all the time

If you chose option 1, remove a half point for D

If you chose option 2, you get one point for D

If you chose option 3, you get 2 points for D

9. Which best applies to you?

1. I remember things best when I write them down

2. I remember things best when I say them out loud repeatedly

3. I remember things best when I have some kind of visual reminder

4. I remember things best when I’m nervous about them

5. I don’t know how I remember things, I just do.

6. I remember things best when I’ve done them at least once before

If you chose option 1, you get one point for D

If you chose option 2, you get one point for B

If you chose option 3, you get one point for A

If you chose option 4, you get one point for C

If you chose option 5, you get one point for E

If you chose option 6, you get one point for F

10. You're waiting for something and you're bored, there's no one around you so you're not nervous to do whatever you want. How do you "stim", or occupy yourself?

I probably start singing a song to myself or repeating a funny phrase

I tap my fingers, feet, or teeth together. I do some kind of repetitive movement

I daydream or imagine scenarios in my head

I think about my day or something weird that happened recently

I'd have to have my phone or some kind of music to occupy me or I'd be upset

I'm able to wait for long periods of time without stimming or using distractions

If you chose option 1, you get 2 points for B

If you chose option 2, you get 2 points for C

If you chose option 3, you get 2 points for A

if you chose option 4, you get two points for F

If you chose option 5, subtract one point from E if you had any already

If you chose option 6, you get two points for E

Part 2: Interpreting your results

[athena-xiii]

Generation Loss brain dump

!! Spoilers for all 3 episodes bellow the cut !!

Okay so the first thing that my brain has latched onto is the slime, or more specifically, the reality filter.

The slime in generation loss is not actually slime. It’s blood. We see it during the glitch in episode 2:

and there’s also a bucket of blood, shown in the finale, labeled slime

The implications of this are fucking wild. Like the spirit of the cabin is genuinely a demon covered in blood, sticking to things- not because of slime, but because he’s covered in blood. It means that Charlie ate a bowl of blood and guts, it means that Sneeg was coated in blood, it means that there was a chest of blood in the bedroom. What about the slime dimension? And don’t even get me started on “I mean slime. I mean slime. I mean slime-” And that’s just episode one.

If you think about the fact that Charlie was likely pleading for his life after being torn open past just the surface, you realize that Sneeg probably saw Charlie bleeding out on a gurney. That means that the Puzzler was putting a bloody hat on people for fun. There also the fact that Frank is a real dead body, a genuine rotting corpse- but we’ll get back to him.

And then you can look even further and see what we would’ve seen as slime in episode three. If you put the reality filter back on, this sign is a whole lot more on brand.

Now, let’s look at the biggest piece of the puzzle: the bulletin board. Firstly, Frank is dead. He is a corpse and here’s our evidence. Secondly, there’s the image that discusses the reality filter. The text on it reads “Are you seeing what you should be seeing? Contact HR if you may need a quick rewiring.” Accompanied by green dots surrounding red and diagram of the brain. The dots are pretty self explanatory, using green to hide the red, but the diagram of the brain is more damning. The highlighted portion is called the occipital lobe. It is responsible for visual perception, including colour, form, and motion. Damage to your occipital lobe can cause difficulty locating objects in your environment, difficulty identifying colours, and hallucinations. That part of his skull is where the back of his mask presses.

The reality filter does so much more than just change blood to slime. It’s probably why Ranboo missed obvious parts of his environment occasionally. The part of their brain that controls visual perception has been under the control of Showfall, and only when it was shut off did we get to see how absolutely horrifying each episode has been.

Anyway, gotta go draw my goopy guy in a new colour pallet-

[orange-orchard-system]

System Ramble: reading, inner/internal voices, and our brain's continuous attempts to understand the world around us

[PT: System Ramble: reading, internal voices, and our brain's continuous attempts to understand the world around us / end PT]

I'll probably have to expand on this at some other point because it ties into how we feel our plurality is a fundamental part of how we process the world (and that deserves its own essay), but there's something interesting that happens when we read that has to do with our system.

Have you ever seen those posts that talk about "the little voice in your head" that you get whenever you read something? A lot of people are able to hear the words they read being "spoken" in their head as they read them. A lot describe the voice reading "out loud" in their brain as either being their own voice or some detached voice without anything more to it, but for us...

... it's closer to one of us reading out loud to the rest of us.

As we write this post, for example, we can identify the headmate in front who's taken on the role of the "voice" reading each word. There's no simpler way to describe it – he's the one reading out each word to the rest of us, and we can hear his own inflections and other verbal quirks as he reads. We've recently begun trying to consciously pass the role of this "inner voice" around, and we can definitely hear a change depending on who's reading, even if it's the exact same text. Eddie has a deeper voice, and reads much slower, giving the impression of a grandpa reading a book by the fire. Danny, by comparison, has a higher voice, reads quicker, and is often audibly annoyed when he has to reread something. It's a very interesting thing to experiment with.

Based on these experiments, acting as this "inner voice" is sort of like a very flexible system role for us, one we naturally fall into or out of most of the time, but can occasionally choose (which is, funnily enough, very similar to how our switches function). This phenomenon happens automatically with most texts we read, and may be part of the reason we have so many introjects; our brain may be simply creating the most fitting "voice" for what we read as it sees the need, which is frequently either the author, or a character in the text. But regardless of the reason, it's a very helpful tool for figuring out who's in front or discovering new headmates, as we have a strong sense for whoever it is that's reading at any given time, and find it especially easy to visualize a headmate whenever they're taking on this role.

On rare occasions where this doesn't happen, we often have trouble absorbing the information we read. It just doesn't stick in the same way one (or more) of us reading to the others does. Which is definitely a con; if it weren't so automatic for us and thus rarely a problem (especially now that we've identified what's going on), we'd definitely be counting it as one of the ways our DID disables us. It's not too different from how it becomes difficult to impossible to absorb information when we're too dissociated, after all. (But then, that raises a question: is the reason we can't absorb text when too dissociated because the dissociation is keeping us from fulfilling this role? Food for thought.)

This isn't the only way in which we utilize our plurality in order to process and absorb information; we also have various system members we call "captioners" whose job it is to make it easier to understand what we hear or see by creating visuals based on this sensory input. We haven't tried having these two roles active at the same time – mainly because I think it would just overload our brain with too much to keep track of and any attempts would fizzle out – but it's an interesting idea for something to experiment with in the future. The parallels are interesting, anyway, especially with how they seem to indicate that our plurality is fundamental to how we process the world and what kinds of choices our brain made when creating us. Perhaps it's all part of our brain's attempt to cope with its own dissociative disorder by creating work-arounds for the problems dissociation can cause, but... I feel like there's more to it than that. The question is where to look for answers (and if the answers are something we should be unpacking just yet).

That brings me back to the beginning. It's interesting to see how our plurality functions almost like a neurotype in some ways – I don't know if I'd call it that, but I can see some parallels in how others talk about them with how plurality functions in our brain. One day, I hope to write a collection of all the different ways our plurality affects us like this, as a sort of guide to our own processing and understanding of the world through a plural lens. For now, though, it's just interesting to think about how I'm now reading this post "out loud" to my headmates as I write it, and how my internal voice differs from those who have read it before me.

... Also, I'm just now realizing this system (no pun intended) works better when the fronter writing a text is also the headmate reading the text. Huh. That fits, somehow.

So, to recap: we get the most out of reading when we use our plurality to host what is essentially system storytime, our internal voices differ a lot more than we first thought they did, and it's interesting that our brain keeps making selves and roles just for helping us understand the world around us. Thanks for reading our ramble.

[discount-shades]

Sleepy Baby Part 4

a/n: Part 4 got split into 2 because it was too long. 

Pairing: Jake “Hangman” Seresin / Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 900 ish

Summary: Jake gets many things to think about.

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You groan in confusion. Something is ringing and it takes time for your half asleep brain to recognize that it is your phone. You reach for it blindly and open your eyes enough to make sure you are hitting the green accept button before answering with a mumbled hello.

“Good morning, Beautiful,” Jake's voice is altogether too chipper for you. “Did I wake you?”

You just groan back. “What time is it?” 

“It is just after 9:00.” You could hear the smile in his voice. It figures that he was a morning person. “The morning is almost over, how did you sleep?”

“Not long enough,” you tell him. “It’s a bold move to call someone in the morning on a Saturday,  I need my beauty sleep.” You can hear him laughing through the phone and it makes you smile even though you haven't had your morning coffee. 

“You’re already beautiful.” He sounds positively giddy.  “And we have to plan our date tonight.” 

“I’m seriously reconsidering it,” you say, groaning as you stretch. “I didn't know you were a morning person, it might be a deal breaker for me.”

“Nonsense, you are just saying that because you can’t hit me with a pillow for waking you up.” His voice lowered. “If I was there I would have a much better way to wake you.”

“I’m not awake enough for that kind of talk.”

“Fine,” he sighs. “I was thinking you would pick the dress code and I would plan the activities.”

You frown, your brain still feels sluggish, “What if I pick a ball gown and you plan a day hiking? I can’t hike in heels.”

“What?” You can hear the confusion in his voice. “No, you tell me what you are going to wear and I will match you and plan an activity based on what we will be wearing.”

“Oh,” you can hear him laughing. “Shut up, I'm still half asleep. So if I said evening gown what kind of night would I be in for.”

“Me in my dress whites at the fanciest restaurant I can get a reservation at.” You can hear the sound of him shifting through the phone. “Honestly that will be the toughest one to swing.”

“What about a bathing suite,” you ask.

“San Diego has lots of beaches.”

“If I dress like a cowboy?” 

“Have you ever rode a horse?” He asks.

“No, but it could be fun.” You tell him, “I have cowboy boots.”

“Let's save that one for a later date.”

“What about if it was business casual?” You are trying to think about other modes of dress.

There is a brief pause, “I’ll have to get back to you on that one.”

“An Indiana Jones costume?”

“Museum, or a historical site.”

“A Miss Frizzle costume?”

“The science center.”

“What about—.” 

Jake cuts you off abruptly. “You are just listing Halloween costumes you have in your closet aren't you?” 

“Yeah, and you are right it's probably best we save the role play for another day,” you agree. “What if I wear lingerie?”

Jake inhales sharply and you grin. “I will not know if you wear lingerie,” he sighs, “because I am a gentleman and you are a lady and it is our first date, but thank you for the visual.”

“Ok, just wanted to make sure you have something to think about.” Teasing Jake has woken you up and you are looking forward to later today. “How about I wear the standard jean shorts and a t-shirt to keep our options open for the date.”

“Ok, I will plan for that, do you want to meet me there? I can pick you up so where we are going will be a surprise, but I don’t know if you are comfortable giving me your address yet.” He sounds hesitant and unsure, not wanting to overstep and you roll your eyes. Five minutes ago the man was suggesting he would wake you up with sex if he was here. 

“Jake, we spoke for a half hour over two months ago and you stalked every library in San Diego until you found me, and I still gave you my number, I'll text you my address, surprise me.”

After finalizing your plans for the afternoon you stop Jake before he hangs up the phone. “You know, Jake, I’m impressed.”

“Why?” He already knows you well enough to have a slightly suspicious tone in his voice at your cheeky statement.

“We have been on the phone for well over ten minutes now.” You can't stop the grin on your face. “You know I am still in bed and you haven't once asked what I’m wearing.”

His voice sounds strained when he responds. “Kisses, I’m a gentleman.”

“Sure you are,” you agree blithely. “Just so you know it's an oversized university t-shirt with bleach marks and a big chocolate ice cream stain from when I fell asleep watching Bridgerton.” You quickly add, “don’t worry I didn’t get any ice cream on the couch.”

“I am relieved to hear that,” he deadpans. “Your upholstery was my greatest concern.”

“I knew it would be, I am also wearing rainbow unicorn shorts that are way too big and fall off when I’m walking if I don’t tie them tight enough, they also have pizza stains from when I dropped pizza on my lap.” You can hear him laughing. “I just wanted to give you a visual,” you say. “You know, give you something to think about.” 

“Goodbye Kisses,” he laughs, “I’ll see you later.” You smile to yourself after saying your own goodbyes. Talking to Jake was worth the early morning wake up call.

[mirror-ralsei]

THEORY: The Ink Blot Test & Symmetry in UTDR

This isn't as much of a typical theory as it is pointing out a design element that I think really needs more discussion: the distinctive style used in certain visuals in the game.

It's actually kind of difficult for me to describe. But there seems to be a recurring style used across many enemies and their weapons. This style is typically white in color, and typically very ornate and detailed-looking. It's easy to pick out because most of the shapes in Undertale/Deltarune's sprites are more simple...and because of one fact: all of these designs look symmetrical.

Here are the places I noticed this style appearing. Hopefully as you look at these, you can understand what I mean by a particular “ornate, symmetrical look”:

Reaper Bird's overworld appearance

Reaper Bird's body

Asriel's CHAOS BUSTER

Final Froggit

POSSIBLE: Knight Knight's Good Morningstar (listed here as “hammer”)

POSSIBLE: Memoryheads (they're in 3/4 view and melting-looking so it's harder to tell, but notice the curly parts and comb-teeth-like parts)

Gaster Blasters (using the unused version since it's easier to notice the style without the eyes)

(While most of these designs are technically not symmetrical if you look closely, they all definitely give the impression of being so.)

There's some other possible references to this style, but I'm just going to focus on the more distinct ones for now. And even some of the ones I've listed are debatable. If I had to pick just a few, I'd use Reaper Bird, their overworld sprite, and CHAOS BUSTER as the definitive examples.

So it's taken me a couple years of not quite being able to place why this style felt so familiar. At first I thought they might look like fractals...

...but that wasn't quite it. Finally, all of a sudden, I put my finger on it.

This design style reminds me of Rorschach blots.

For anyone who doesn't know, the Rorschach test is a psychological test involving the subject looking at inkblots and determining what these patterns look like to them. As you can see, the inkblots are very intricate and symmetrical - just like the examples above.

How does this connect to Undertale? Not too much. But Deltarune? Possibly a lot! Maybe that's the reason most of the instances where this style appears seem connected to Deltarune in some way.

For starters, inkblots are black and white. Specifically, they're black patterns on a white background. So far, every instance of these inkblot-like designs in UT/DR have been the inverse of this: they're all white patterns on dark or black backgrounds. We know light and dark have meaning in Deltarune, so this makes sense.

The ink blots' meaning are what you make of it. Your brain determines what real world things this abstract ink on paper looks like to you. This seems like it could tie into the concept behind the Dark Worlds, and how they seem like “interpretations” of items in real life: For example, the Halloween Pencil becomes a SpookySword. (It's possible the ShadowCrystals may play on this “perception” idea a bit too, but we don't know yet.)

Doctor Gaster seems to be conducting tests on us (Sound Test, SURVEY_PROGRAM, etc.) to observe our feedback. This thematically fits with this whole Rorschach blot test reference. I'm not sure if “WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK?” from Entry 17 and the egg man's flavor text 'What do you think?” are necessarily connected to this at all, but it does happen to fit the theme, lol.

All right, so we've established that there seems to be a symmetrical-looking style. We theorized that maybe they were supposed to evoke a similar look to Rorschach blot tests.

Now we're going to speculate even further.

So why exactly was this Rorschach blot looking style chosen? I think this symmetrical look might be based around reflections. After all, Deltarune involves a Light World and Dark World that reflect each other. And there are actually a few important references to reflections across Undertale and Deltarune.

Kris first appeared in Undertale as the PC's reflection in a puddle if Undertale is being run in Debug mode (Video by marxvee)

Reaper Bird is encountered in a mirror

Asriel and Kris' sides of their room are almost perfectly symmetrical in terms of layout and furniture

Kris' room in Ralsei's Castle has mirrored sprites of Asriel's trophies

The File Select text before Chapter 1's completion states “CHOOSE THE TARGET FOR THE REFLECTION” when copying a file, “IT IS IMMUNE TO ITS OWN IMAGE” when trying to copy a fiile onto itself, and “IT CONFORMED TO THE REFLECTION” when overwriting a file with a copied one

Mettaton NEO's attack is incredibly high but defenses are low, Spamton NEO's defense is incredibly high but attack is low

Gaster's motif of “666” is “mirrored” by 999: 999 appears in multiple places, eg. Chara's attack, stats of Grandpa Semi were “atk: 99999, df: 99999, hp: 999” (pointed out by LeedleLel's comment on this video by Lil' Alien).

The background of Jevil's fight is a mirrored image of a carousel.

The mirrored sinks in the right hospital room read “(It's a regular sink.)” and “(It's a clone of the other sink.)” Also: “(Perhaps there was originally one tall sink that was cut in half to create both of them.)”

All leg options in the GONER_MAKER are identical except the final one, which is mirrored. (pointed out by Shayy via Semi Frequent Undertale Facts)

The background of the GONER_MAKER itself is mirrored.

The background of the Asriel Dreemurr fight is mirrored.

The strange fog graphic before Papyrus' battle appears mirrored.

"I can't get any closer to the camera, I can't even see...my...little reflection." from the Spamton Sweepstakes

POSSIBLE: Gaster's belly face (upside down, details are white on black background, where Gaster's main face are black on white background)

POSSIBLE: Hot Fridge (inverse of the function of a normal fridge. look this one's loose lol, only including it because Alphys invented it and fridges are tied to Asgore's egg fridge, Snowdrake's mother, the Sans fridge call, and maybe the unused “rustfridge” in the Trash Zone (a place rife with possible Deltarune references))

POSSIBLE: Unused rooms 123 and 321 (123 is a relatively accessible unused room with interesting dialogue and 321 is...dark, and "empty").

So notably, the places we find this reflection motif in Undertale seem mostly connected to Deltarune: Kris is the PC of Deltarune, Reaper Bird is tied to Deltarune through Everyman, Mettaton NEO is similar to Deltarune's Spamton NEO, and Gaster is...well, probably the one who gave us our SURVEY_PROGRAM in the first place. Even the more tenuous examples of reflections seem plausibly Deltarune-related, such as the fridge Fun call and the Gaster belly face in Spamton's dumpster and a reflected dark room.

I'd like to expound a little bit on the File Select and sink dialogues. Both of these seem to be playing with a concept that could explain this reflection motif.

Copying a file in the File Select seems to mean we are “reflecting” it onto another slot: “CHOOSE THE TARGET FOR THE REFLECTION.” We cannot copy a file onto itself because “IT IS IMMUNE TO ITS OWN IMAGE.” If we overwrite an existing file with a copied one, “IT CONFORMED TO THE REFLECTION.” Interestingly, though, if you copy a file into an empty slot... “THE DIVISION IS COMPLETE.”

Not multiplying the file - dividing it in two. The original file is also implied to be changed in some way by this, because if you cancel the action of copying a file into an empty slot, “IT RETAINED ITS ORIGINAL SHAPE.” Meaning it would not have retained its original shape if it were copied.

The flavor text for the “cloned” sinks reflects this (hah) exactly. “(It's a regular sink.)” and “(It's a clone of the other sink.)” are followed by “(Perhaps there was originally one tall sink that was cut in half to create both of them.)” Aside from being relevant to the only tall sink we know of, Papyrus' in Undertale, this seems to be setting up a concept of “reflections” representing “an original being divided in two.”

That's about as far as I can take this with the context we have now. We don't know what exactly this reflection/division concept will mean in the plot of Deltarune, as it hasn't showed its hand yet. We don't know if the resemblance of that one recurring style to inkblots is intentional or just coincidence. But at least we have some possible explanation for why these motifs of symmetry and reflections keep showing up.

[hannahssimblr]

can you put on your creative director / marketing hat and talk about the cover art for lucky boy (and/or both) 🎤

!!! I've actually never been asked about visuals before this is so fun!!

Okay! So here's the cover in question

Honestly I love this and I was really proud of how it turned out.

The raw & more detail is below the cut

Alright! so the idea for this was that it's simply an image of Jude: finally free!

Here he is backpacking in Thailand which he hasn't done yet as of the date of this post, but Lucky Girl readers will know that he eventually Does Do That.

You can tell by his hair here too that he's older. He has this haircut when he reunites with Evie briefly in 2012, so I imagine this trip took place sometime around summer-autumn 2011.

To be honest the whole purpose of Lucky Boy was as sort of an extension of the original story for Lucky Girl readers who wanted more in-depth detail about Jude's life, more than what he ever had the time to tell Evie during her portion of the story, so for that reason the story is filled with little hints of what we know will happen, as well as nods to specific things about him that some have already learned - Like, how the story opens with him getting both ears pierced. The fact that he was a boy with two (and eventually 3) piercings was something that Evie found particularly cute and unique about him, and it's something he references in jest from time to time. ("haven't you seen my cute little earrings?")

Anyway, Thailand is where he gets that rather meaningless forearm tattoo, but it's also a place where he spends a lot of time alone. He does travel with a friend, but said friend is holed up with food poisoning for a significant chunk of the trip, which makes me quite certain that Jude spent a lot of time doing a lot of thinking. I'll explore this more in the actual story when I get there, but it's worth pointing out that when Evie meets him after this trip she notices a certain calmness in him, and like he's lost a lot of the boyish energy ("I realise I am looking at a man"). I feel like this trip is somewhat responsible for that.

He's also, clearly, facing away from the camera, which is probably self explanatory. In the chapter with Jen's birthday, as they take the train to the aquarium in Bray he waxes lyrical (as usual, yawn!) about his preference to sit facing the engine, never looking back. It's the same in this image. He is always moving forward.

YET - that is his school bag. (It is the wrong colour, yes, i didn't have the recoloured version when i made this poster lmao) so there's a sense that he's still in some way tied to childhood, to the things that are unresolved. Lucky Girl readers already know what (and who) those things are but I'll develop all that further from my controllers seat here inside Jude's brain.

"It seems like we wanted the same thing (...) Not to grow up too quickly, like, to be allowed to just be a kid.”

Also - the toy attached to it represents Ivy. It's never explicitly stated in the story, but I think it's probably not in his character to have something like that on his bag unless it was gifted from someone important. So, he's carrying her with him too on his travels.

Now, for the artistic stuff (eek!)

I chose this pinky purple as the base colour by messing around with some hard light blending and the colour balance adj. because it creates that kinda fantasy feeling, like wonder and/or enlightenment is ahead, which hopefully for our dumb boy, it is. Purple is also often used in graphic design to indicate creativity, which is apt, seeing as he's an artist and all that.

I slapped in some sun in the corner ala 3 year old child's drawing, and added the text in yellow for no reason other than it's a complementary colour, and it picks up some of the yellows in the image.

Then added a text gradient to blend it in better and a little drop shadow effect

And finally some grain, paper texture and rounded corners because I wanted it to feel tangible, that sweet, nostalgic 35mm camera effect, or like a postcard.

and that's it!!

This was so fun, you know I love 2 yap and you gave me a platform to do so.

Thanks so much for your question!

[biceratops7]

Good omens leak talk under cut, literally just vivid descriptions, keep away unless you’ve seen it and it’s too late:

Ok I have literally been staring at that image periodically whenever I think about it for several days. Because I am normal and like things neurotypically. So here’s literally just a big list of observations no matter how minute. If you read this whole thing then the brain worms have made it to your prefrontal cortex.

Crowley has his glasses on (already explained my theory behind that)

Crowley is obviously the instigator but it’s unclear whether or not Azirphale is currently an active participant, or if he’s still processing. I’m leaning on still processing, but it’s hard to tell with the shadow on his brow obscuring his expression and not being able to see his hands

Speaking of that shadow, what the hell is up with the lighting in this scene?? It’s not bad except for making things in an already blurry still unclear, it’s just strange to have something softly back lit but also clearing having another additional light source else where. It’s an interesting choice because it can lead to inference of the circumstances here.

Second, related question: where the hell are they?? So let’s just take stock of everything BUT Azirphale and Crowley we see here. First of all it’s mostly in shadow, however there is a prominent light source behind Aziraphale, possibly close to him. The light we see on Crowley’s hair is likely from the doorway behind them.

Quick detour, the doorway is the brightest thing in the frame, creating a slight silhouette effect. Silhouettes are often used in film for moments that are a big deal but visually obvious. It shows weight through simplicity because you still know what’s happening and why it’s important with way less visual info than normal. We all IMMEDIATELY recognized what was happening and lost our shits even though it’s in shadow and currently obscured by giant text.

Ok so anyway this all leads me to believe they’re in a mostly dark room with one bright but not very far reaching light. I wanna say it’s almost fluorescent? Or an exposed lightbulb? It certainly doesn’t look warm like a lamp to me.

In addition I believe they’re inside a room to a larger building. The light coming from the door is almost certainly NOT day light. It’s purely white as if it’s a very well lit room or hall. There also is what I think looks like an exit sign near the top next to the doorway, or at least idk what else it could be. Because of that I don’t think this is anyone’s home or small shop.

I find this EXTREMELY interesting because the only prominent location we really see fit that vibe or description is the office building of heaven and hell. This season seems to be particularly highlighting that “neutral ground” between then, with the elevator showing up three times.

Now this one is just me trying to interpret literal blobs, but there either appears to be some sort of rounded extension to the top of the door way, or the walls are just thick. Make of that what you will

the room appears relatively spacious but mostly bare, almost like a holding place. But obviously with such a tight frame this can be hard to tell. I did take note of the fact that you can see some brown lines behind Aziraphale in the first frame, so there is clearly something there.

Alright enough waxing poetry about the damn walls, I know that they're probably standing up. Crowley might be in a position where he can twist into it from a sitting position, but with Aziraphale' shoulders so far forward and his back entirely angled to face Crowley, he'd either have to be straddling a chair or his lower spine is snapping like a glowstick.

Aziraphale is not being pushed against anything, he’s rocking backwards despite the force being applied to pull him forward, so in other words our boy Crowley’s REALLY shooting his shot, lmao

Aziraphale’s arms are confusing. They’re clearly not holding onto Crowley even out of frame, but they also don’t seem fully relaxed at his sides to me either.

WAIT, ok so the standing is still a strong contender, but they could also be sitting across from eachother at a small table. Crowley seems hunched over a bit more than is warranted for Aziraphale’s height, and Aziraphale’s arms could propped up at the elbows supporting his weight.

So damnit this adds a whole new layer to the location question

[ripplestitchskein]

The Real Helluva Boss Pilot

Episode 1: Murder Family

My intent with these essays to analyze the episodes both from an “as the information is presented to the audience perspective” as well as a Meta perspective, taking into account what is revealed later. I will also be analyzing the writing with regards to plot structure, dialogue choices, and characterization, as well as highlighting visuals and effects that are relevant. I will not be taking information that is not presented in the canon episodes, like the Sinstagram posts into account. I am writing as I watch the episode (and think it would be fun to read it as you watch it too but not necessary) so I strive for accuracy and while I do have bias, being human and all, I will try to justify it using the presented text. I will have a masterpost to keep track of these for future reference as I *plan* on doing every episode. I’m AuADHD though (if you couldn’t tell) so it really depends on the brain juice if the focus lasts. These will be long, but hopefully informative and interesting.

So lets get to it:

The episode opens on a flashback, we see a happy schoolhouse, have a heartwarming song and then the sequence of events that leads us to the panning down shot to Hell and our first glimpse of the world we are going to be inhabiting in the course of this show. There is a direct visual contrast between the blue skies, twittering birds, vibrant school house and later, Hell. It is established what sequence of events led the client there and the client is fleshed out a bit as far as who she was immediately preceding these events. It’s a really efficient character backstory presentation, we get who she was, what happened and why she did what she did, and how she felt about it. It’s a good deal of insight for a character we see once, they did a great job making her a bit more rounded in a short amount of time and with limited but pointed visuals. Her clothing. Her demeanor. Her relationship with the children. Their relationship with her. The contrast between what happens. Kudos all around. The song going from happy classroom bop to creepy and discordant with the chalk screech was great.

This initial opening sequence is for the plot of the episode itself not necessarily for the show overall, though it does highlight one of the central running themes of the show: that the human realm and Hell are only different on a surface level. An interesting choice made by the team here was that the horrific events take place entirely in the wholesome school house. Except for a brief cutaway to the cheating husband we stay in the bright cheery environment with the actions taking place - their teacher murdering her cheating husband and then killing herself - contrasting it. It’s really fitting for an episode themed around the human world not being as wholesome as it appears to be. I thought it was a good choice. I also love the pan down through the Earth to Hell and the visuals being very similar to a world we are familiar with, office buildings and cars in a downtown environment, but obviously other in regards to aesthetics.

We then get a large establishing shot of the office building and then a cut to the interior, specifically Blitzø’s door which has I.M.P Headquarters in large text, and “Meeting in Progress” taped to it in a more cartoony one. A visual to show the difference between the intended professionalism versus the actual professionalism.

So we are told where we are, and that the character doing the voiceover is in this office. The tone and mood so far is detective noir, starting with the client’s smoky voice over narration and continuing into the office which is lit and framed with this pastiche in mind.

The first bit of dialogue from one of our actual main characters is Blitzø asking if the mistress was hotter, calling the client “tits” and then giving us a summation of their business and some world building in a really tight character revealing expository dialogue drop. It also contrasts with the noir tone, instead of playing into the trope he breaks that tone and gives us the tone of the show itself. From this initial dialogue we know that they are in Hell, that their business is to take revenge on the living, that Blitzø is vulgar, rather misogynistic, and a bit silly (I.e. “Boop”).

We then jump back to the story of the episode to explain why this is a good case for them to take. The mistress is still alive and based on the scenes probably not a great person but there is still enough ambiguity there to make it seem like they are going to kill a fairly innocuous cheating woman for the sole reason that they were hired to do so by a jealous jilted wife (I’ll point out that this ties back to Striker later, he essentially is doing the same thing IMP does in this episode, for the same reasons, with some class issues thrown in for spice).

The client gets angry and aggressive and Blitzø urgently presses the emergency button under his desk. This button gives us a little insight into the office, Blitzø, and world as well. Or at least situations that require an emergency call.

More Coffee, Soiled My Pants, Horny Client, Deranged Client, Client Giving Birth, Ghost, and Stolas (See my feelings on the Stolas button here). I love that such a simple detail gives us so much information and also leaves us wanting to know more. Are these things that happen frequently, that Blitzø is scared of happening, that got added because of a specific event in the past? The visual story telling with that intercom system is *chef’s kiss* and from a story boarding perspective a great way to transition the scene.

This leads us outside of Blitzø’s office to I.M.P headquarters at large where we have Moxxie shaking as he tries to shoot a family picture. Here is the conflict of the episode introduced. We also meet the three other important characters of the business. Millie has a “if that’s what the client wants” attitude, Loona is dry and sarcastic and points out that we don’t know what the family are hiding (this episode’s prophetic character and the theme stated), and Moxxie is conflicted, only wanting to kill a family if it was a shitty Dad or a Mafia Family (Moxxie backstory and Daddy issues hint). Millie also indicates that Loona is different from them, that she is a Hellhound which is subtle world building via dialogue and I liked it.

We are given a little foreshadowing as to the episode’s “twist” (humans are full of secret nasties) in this exchange.

We also get a little taste of how different Moxxie and Millie are. Millie gives Moxxie the solution to the problem they’ll encounter later right here but he has to learn the hard way. (This comes up multiple times in their relationship, in Happy Campers most explicitly, but is established first here).

“Guilty and innocent ain’t our business Mox, killing who we’re paid to is our business. Shoot the target”.

Moxxie does not agree with this sentiment. This speaks to his personality and to his major character flaws. He wants to do things his way, and often ignores others and suffers consequences for it. Also this speaks to his role as being largely the audience perspective character in this episode (and often to the series as a whole). How Moxxie feels is largely how we as the audience should feel in this situation (hopefully).

Blitzø comes out, announces the new client, Moxxie misfires and the first long running gag of the show of the office being destroyed in some way is established. A gag that reflects the “continuing to keep trying despite it all continually falling apart” journey the character’s are on throughout the show. This misfire foreshadows what Moxxie will do when they go after the client, a missed shot being Moxxie’s fault.

We head downstairs, the firemen are dealing with the situation and Blitzø yells at Moxxie for setting the office on fire. (Foreshadowing what will happen to the house).

We are introduced to the grimoire, the fancy book that is their only ticket to the human realm. Loona sums up its function for us. This interaction also shows us how Blitzø interacts with Moxxie and Loona respectively. Yelling at Moxxie and squeezing him aggressively, vs simpering at Loona and offering her a treat. We also see her reaction to him, largely disgusted and fending him off.

We also see that Loona controls the grimoire, though her being the sole person to control it isn’t revealed until later. Blitzø and Loona’s relationship is not explicitly declared until episode 3. I’ll admit, based on Blitzø’s vulgar dialogue and how he treated Loona, and her reactions I was worried when I watched for the first time that Blitzø was like sexually harrassing her, but after episode 3 it made it more clear. (Yet another reason why you can’t base a character’s entire personality on one episode or a handful of early dialogue, you actually gotta like…watch the show as things are revealed). The billboard in the background is a super fun detail. The book is presented as the tool that lets them go back and forth and it is shown to be Important(TM).

We open a portal and now we’re in the human world. Due to the lighting, unlike the happy schoolhouse, it is not visually contrasting with Hell now, the lighting between Hell and Earth is the same, maybe even a bit brighter in Hell.

When they get to the house Blitzø offers the shot to Moxxie, he is visibly excited but he hesitates, Blitzø goes to take it but Moxxie is still conflicted, he ruins the shot just like in the office. It was a really quick insight into Moxxie still trying to prove himself, at being fairly new to this specific line of work. Because of him though the family is alerted.

We see that they are not the wholesome and innocent family they project, first by the background visuals of bones and weapons (and the wheelchair with the urn with a full meal in front of it which I did not notice until this rewatch, always finding new stuff) the music, and then by their behavior. Their faces resemble more the denizens of hell than humans now.

Outside Blitzø and Moxxie argue, and we get some insight into both of them, Moxxie is softer and more empathetic, he doesn’t want to kill a wholesome family. Blitzø is more jaded and says that there is no such thing. That no one is innocent from Birth. He tells Moxxie to get over himself, speaking to Moxxie’s established character flaw : He is so wrapped up in his own sense of what is right that he causes problems for others.

Blitzø also says something during this exchange: that they are not killing a family, they are killing a mother and ruining a family. Which considering what we find out about his mother is interesting. Mostly because he seems rather gleeful about it, but considering the theme of revenge present throughout the show looking at it now we could interpret it as him wanting to visit some revenge on a ”perfect family” but whether this was a conscious choice by the writers at this point, or one that we can just ascribe meaning to based on later episodes I couldn’t say. He might just like killing folks. It’s interesting tho.

They scatter and the chase sequence begins. Moxxie is grabbed immediately, Millie is shown to be a bit more dangerous and skilled at combat but she falls fairly quickly. Blitzø yells scatter and takes off. They have all three gone in different directions which is a running issue with their relationship and the business as a whole throughout, it is not a good strategy. They need to work together but it’s episode 1, so.

Moxxie wakes up and he’s in the creepy Ed Gein room with the kids. Loona, Millie and Blitzø were right, humans are full of secret nasties.

Now we follow Blitzø running from Martha. Stolas calls, and Blitzø answers and tells him it’s a really bad time.

We see Stolas for the first time. He’s in a fancy bubble bath with a fancy phone having a much different time than Blitzø. These characters are in two very different places from a variety of perspectives. There is a very deliberate theming for Stolas, a lot of effort went into the background and aesthetics, and his musical motif (Owl in a Cage) is heard for the first time. This indicates Stolas is an important character, inhabiting his own world within this world and with his own established designs and music. Even though he is largely only expository in this episode, to establish the grimoire as the reason they can get to the human world, it is indicated its use comes with additional backstory we don’t know yet, and forward story that will come up later and that Stolas will be central to those stories. It is, in fact, the ONLY explicit thing we are given to explore in future outside of IMP itself.

It also shows us how Stolas feels about Blitzø, he calls him Blitzy from the very beginning. His voice is simpering, cooing and sexual. Blitzø is colder, obviously he’s used the excuse of it being a bad time more than once to avoid this conversation. Stolas seems to be able to see him in a bubble but it’s not clear if that’s just a visual choice like a split screen or an actual ability he possesses, but based on D.H.O.R.K.S and the caller ID on his rotary phone I think it’s the latter. It is also not clear at this point if Blitzø is avoiding the issue of the book, Stolas himself, or both. At this point it’s probably safe to say both.

It is revealed that Stolas has been allowing Blitzø to access the human realm using the book illegally for an unspecified amount of time. He needs it back to do his job but suggests working out an exchange, favors for favors. He breaks down the deal for Blitzø, Blitzø returns the book on the Full Moon, they have a night of passionate fornication each month and Blitzø can keep it the rest of the time. Blitzø says “Okay, Whatever” and then Stolas starts in with the dirty talk.

The takeaway here is they have a sexual relationship that one party is more invested in, Blitzø is more worried about not dying at the moment.

I’d like to digress for a moment and have it noted that in no way does Stolas threaten Blitzø, he just offers the deal and takes Blitzo’s acceptance of it at face value. We do know it’s important to the business and that Blitzø has been avoiding discussing it. We also know what he’s doing with it is illegal. So I do understand early interpretations of it being predatory or coercive based on this exchange alone, but this is cleared up fairly quickly in Season 1, as we’ll see in later analysis. To me this exchange was as ambiguous as the Blitzø/Loona situation in terms of how these characters were related, a little odd at first because we didn’t know the full context and leaning towards creepy at face value, but later cleared up unequivocally and explained further.

I think the difference for people here comes down to foreknowledge, either watching the original Pilot (not canon) or following the creator. For me, as a brand new viewer who had no background or knowledge of VivziePop other than the presented text I was MORE initially eeked by the Blitzø and Loona dialogue in this episode than the Stolas dialogue because her reaction was so viscerally disgusted and the conversation with Stolas seemed to be an established “thing”. Blitzø picked up even though he was running for his life, something I wouldn’t expect a character to do if they were repulsed or avoiding someone. He also KEEPS TALKING TO HIM, even though his life in danger from doing so. Also not something a character does if they are repulsed. Man could have sent it to voicemail because he was being chased by a psychopath but still answers and chats. This leads to an important point, when looking at a piece of media you can’t really take in what is initially shown, as it can change as early as the next episode and character reactions to dialogue matter as much as what is said. Which is the case with both Loona and Blitzø and Blitzø and Stolas, and the audience should only be expected to know what’s shown on screen.

Additional outside the channel content is fun, like the Sinstagram posts, but a general viewer doesn’t have that unless they go looking for it so it shouldn’t be integral to understanding.

Blitzø is under duress because of the situation with Martha, not the conversation Stolas, so we cannot extrapolate much as far as his true willingness based on the first episode and this dialogue alone, though people sure do try. If the conversation were taking place when Blitzø was not running through the woods for his life it would give us more insight, but we have to wait for further episodes to get that. But we do get it.

Anyway, Blitzø gets caught by Martha and drops his phone. Stolas does not notice, he’s too wrapped up in the sexual dirty talk and cannot help him. A running theme for them.

Moxxie is struggling to escape inside, sees the flames and realizes Millie is in trouble. His primary concern is for her. He uses a chair to overpower the girl child and grabs a gun and runs to save Millie. This speaks to his priorities and his relationship with Millie which, up until this point was hinted at but not overly explicit. He also has no issue hurting a child now, up until this point he was trying to get away by straining at the ropes, when he sees Millie is in trouble his reservations about hurting children are gone for that moment.

Millie and Blitzø are tied to a stake, Martha gives a lil speech, they burn but it doesn’t hurt them. Blitzø reveals shooting them would. Millie is annoyed he revealed that. I thought it was interesting that we establish Imps can be killed by being shot, and then later that Stolas can as well, albeit with a different kind of gun. I don’t know if it’s necessarily relevant but you should always take note of ways characters can die and ways they can come back in my experience, and such dialogue is rarely for nothing. Stakes have to be introduced otherwise we won’t have the suspense they are in actual danger. This exchange puts Millie and Blitzø back in danger while still giving them a demonic flavor in the world building in that the fire wouldn’t hurt them. It’s a good, subtle, writing choice. Taking away stakes to establish a trait like fire immunity but then bringing them back with gunshot vulnerability.

Moxxie kills Martha by shooting her through the eye, overcoming his issue at the beginning of the episode to save his wife and also, incidentally, his boss. It’s a great shot from a visual perspective (pun not intended but appreciated) with Moxxie framed through the bullet wound.

Moxxie and Millie cuddle making their relationship more defined.

Blitzø is annoyed with Moxxie for causing the situation in the first place. Moxxie apologizes, Blitzø hugs him and forgives him and makes the first sexual threat joke about Moxxie and Millie of the series and confirms for the audience they are married. I appreciated this from a writing perspective, it gives us the info without Moxxie and Millie having to say it, which is always weird and unnatural in early episodes. “MY WIFE” kinda stuff, but having Blitzø do it casually in a very Blitzø way was just good dialogue. You always want dialogue to be revealing about both situation and character if you can and they nailed it with that line.

Blitzø calls for Loona, he calls her dear, another subtle hint at their relationship. It is not revealed they are father and daughter at this point but he treats her more affectionately than he does anyone else so far with his tone and dialogue so we know she’s different in some way.

Moxxie runs off to take care of something. He passes the phone where Stolas is still going on and we get the jelly sandwiches line. Freaky, oblivious bird. This is either a continuity error or Blitzø carries multiple phones as he just pulled a phone out to call Loona. I kind of assume he has the yellow one as a personal phone and the red one for business? I just noticed it so I’m going to keep an eye on it.

Moxxie tells the Dad Ralphie that Moxxie should have killed them because they are monsters, but they deserve a chance at a life and a purpose. He thinks mostly of the children. “I’m handling this my way” to show he is still holding to his principles and that he believes in justice prevailing and they have a slightly humanizing moment with the universal remote.

Moxxie joins Blitzø and Millie at the portal. Blitzø says some pervy Blitzø stuff. Millie asks if Mox is okay and says he has a good heart but a fussy head. Millie goes through the portal, Moxxie looks back and the Earth police blow up the house and everything he tried to do with his good intentions. Sad teddy bear shows us even the kids died. Blitzø yanks him back through to Hell.

The office is having celebratory cake. Millie is proud of Moxxie while he looks miserable. They sum up the “lessons of the episode” via dialogue.

Moxxie finally learned not to fuck up

Killin people is okay if they try to kill you back

That is messed up, but I paid for it!

Everyone laughs. Moxxie looks miserable.

We the audience are shown that this world has a very different moral code than our own, Moxxie is the most like us and the people proven right in the episode were the characters with no moral issue killing a family from the beginning. The lesson learned is Moxxie’s, and kind of echos the “road to hell is paved with good intentions” aphorism in that we assume the whole family ended up there by the end because of Moxxie’s. The family is revealed to be rather evil, but Moxxie still wanted to try to save the most innocent of them and still failed.

This episode serves as the entire series opening image in a sense. Here are who we are dealing with, here are some tastes of their personalities and hints at their relationships, the world has a much different moral code than our own.

This is the true pilot episode in terms of structure and content. We have a cohesive three act structure. In the first act we setup the characters (Blitzø, Moxxie, Millie, Loona. The client and the family), the setting (both Earth and Hell), the theme can vary based on your interpretation but there are several to pick from revenge being central, humans being as bad as hell residents, etc and we have the main conflict of the episode: Moxxie is not comfortable killing an innocent family but has been tasked with doing so.

In the second act, Moxxie attempts to solve the main conflict by ruining the shot, which leads to everyone being in danger from the family, and everyone gets captured.

And in the third act, Moxxie is able to resolve this conflict by killing Martha to save Millie and he attempts to give the remaining family a chance but is thwarted by Earthly law enforcement. It’s still a resolution, even if doesn’t align with human based ethics or end happily for Moxxie, the naive audience surrogate who has to learn along with the audience that it’s not that simple in this world, and it doesn’t always end in rainbows and happiness.

We have accomplished all Pilot goals. We have been placed in the world, introduced to the major characters and given hints as to their relationships and personalities. The major overarching plot devices for further exploration in the season are introduced: the business itself and the grimoire, both will continue to be relevant and are linked together.

The major questions we are left with to continue onward are the results of the Blitzo/Stolas conversation, the exact nature of Blitzø’s relationship with Loona, and how IMP will handle other clients in the future.

I thought it was interesting is the three main character perspectives, other than the client who is a throwaway character, are Moxxie, Blitzø and Stolas. Millie is a supportive role and mirror for Moxxie she doesn’t actually affect the plot in any way other than being the catalyst for Moxxie to make his choices and to highlight his flaw. Loona is largely there for an expository purpose to explain the grimoire and state the theme, she has no plot relevance. As far as character reveals and relationship reveals go the central focus of the episode is those three in that order of importance. We don’t even find out Millie is Moxxie’s wife explicitly until the end and we do so because she is why he made the choices he makes at the end, we don’t find out Loona is Blitzo’s daughter at all until episode 3, but we have the beginnings of Stolas and Blitzø, we have brush strokes of the team’s relationship to each other, and the beginnings of Moxxie and Blitzø’s dynamic as well.

In terms of the overarching plot structure of the show this episode serves as the perfect Opening Image. There are lots of things dropped we’ll pick up throughout this season and the next. A lot of stuff you don’t realize was established so early on is there.

The writer’s did an incredible job with the dialogue, the foreshadowing, and everything is so efficient and tight for a 13 minute runtime. Every scene, every line, every visual serves a purpose and it’s extremely well done. While I don’t consider it a masterclass in writing or anything, it is one of the best “by the book” Pilots I’ve ever seen.

[sleepy-aletheas]

Haikaveh and their connection to Nabu Malikata and Deshret

Finally managed to write something down for my beloved Sumeru disasters. It’s a mess written over the course of 4+ hours, I have no idea if I lost the plot or not. My brain just kept going, and I’m not sure anymore if I’m actually putting in more info and explanations, or it’s edited into the text in my mind, but not physically. I’m deciding that it’s not my problem anymore.

Enjoy this mess of a word salad. Freshly picked and all.

Alhaitham is a character driven to take care of himself first before expanding any energy for someone else, not because he couldn’t care less, but because his idealism really is just a more blunt way of establishing boundaries, where to be the most efficient is to take care of his needs first before trying to help others (it does feel like a disconnect between social expectation of ‘over-politeness = good moral citizen’, and ‘straightforward boundary setting = rude selfishness’. Again, different topic for another time). He goes out of his way to help others, even to the possible detriment of himself, because it's the right thing to do, and if anything, Alhaitham very much adheres to deeds that are morally good (he saved Sumeru to keep his peaceful life, sure, but to achieve that everyone needs to have that peace too; he went out of his way to be a bargaining chip in a hostage situation when he really didn’t have to do that; he gives books to Paimon and Isak for them to learn from, and even tries to help Collei with giving select reading material for her to have an easier time with choosing a darshan — those aren’t the actions of someone who couldn’t care less about others or feels contempt at their existence). It is something that he and Kaveh very much have in common, and it’s one of the foundational pieces they mirror — that doesn’t mean they’re opposites / antonyms to each other, but they’re complimentary approaches from two directions to the same problem that need balance to work.

(And I wanna establish something really quickly here. All the God-Kings had their own idea of what Wisdom was; they had their own ways of conducting it and dealing with knowledge. Even as Nahida says that despite Alhaitham having vast knowledge, pushing others away as lesser for not reaching some ideal of genius is limiting himself and making it harder to reach true Wisdom, I do think this is Nahida’s type of Wisdom, and Kaveh fits hers specifically. That doesn’t necessarily mean he would fit with Nabu Malikata or Deshret, but it is a fun thought to entertain while cleaning dishes, that’s for sure)

To me for the longest time, Alhaitham has more in common with Nabu Malikata than he had with Deshret. Not in a visual sense (for all we know; the only thing we’re made aware of is that she had horns and was beautiful like all Seelie were), but more in the way he goes about everything.

I think people tend to fall into the preconception that him being calm and deadpan means he doesn’t care for anyone or anything. Alhaitham is called lazy and cruel too flippantly by too many people, when in-game him is very much not that (but I suppose that is a different conversation to be had for another time again), which really pushes people away from making any connection between him and NM, because she was revered and perceived as tender and sweet.

The thing with Hoyo’s narrative foil characters in Genshin is that they’re not meant to be 1:1 perfect copies that deviate because of the Traveler. It’s not just for plot reasons, but also because it’s an in-game character study and a self-critique of characters and plot development. How much of it is intentional doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes the curtain is blue because the color is neat, other times we can fish out reasons and metaphors; unless we’re directly told what the intention is, we can make all the theories to soothe our love for what the game is giving us.

Nabu Malikata was a being holding immense wisdom, something she carried from her time in the Heavens when she was a Seelie and presumably an envoy. She has a lot of names under her belt, and a benevolent perception for her desire to help and give reprieve to the ones that needed it. Her ability of premonition pushed her to create Simurgh for when the Cataclysm came around (even thought she couldn’t see past her own death, so there must have been other ways she knew that would happen, but again, different topic). She tried to bestow wisdom on her companions so they could lead their people safely and not provoke Celestia, but she did very much take a liking to Deshret’s desire to rebel against the Heavens. She did die for more than to just give Deshret a way to gain the knowledge he needed, she also made sure it was a lesson for his ambition and outright recklessness he was willing to undergo for his desires (I do wonder if she knew that it would cause Deshret to lose his mind, maybe she wouldn’t have done it this way otherwise; or maybe this had to happen so that someone further down the line, when neither of them lived anymore, would take up where they left off and actually do it right — a necessary sacrifice, so to speak).

What is most likely NM’s quote in Amethyst Crown artifact, this excerpt is fun to think about: “But ‘eternity’ is ultimately a lie. Intoxication and love could only grind memories down to broken dreams.”

Alhaitham is a very much in-the-present type of character. Lingering on the past ceaselessly won’t make the future better, and neither is running up ahead make the past less prone for regrets. Him being a rational person doesn’t mean he doesn’t take into account either past or future, but he knows that chasing either won’t solve anything. He has a very hands-on approach for external problems, and a delicate slower untangling of his inner workings; he tries to better himself from his past mistakes, but he won’t limit himself for a future what-if. NM had a lot of longing for the past, but went head-first into helping Deshret once his ambition started to sound good to her.

If anything, Alhaitham is the narrative foil of the two God-Kings that shows their recklessness, their passion and desires, and human brashness. The game keeps showing us how human the gods are, and Alhaitham is a funny mirror to put up to them, cause he’s the storyline deviation, where he is curious, but knows his limits. He helps when needed, guides people for them to find their own truths, but he wants to be just Some Guy. He probably won’t become the next Deshret or another Nabu Malikata, because his goal is a peaceful life, and unless he’s helping others, he won’t go out of his way to chase shadows of ideas that are nebulous in nature.

Then again, it would be a tragic story (or at least a very angst filled plot point) if Alhaitham became the Nabu Malikata of Kaveh’s character arc. Because he does have a penchant for demonstration of his ideas, and he is nowhere above being petty to show his point. He has a soft spot for his loved ones, sure, that doesn’t mean he won’t be more direct on showing them wrong when he deems it needed. (Really, Alhaitham is more a narrative foil to Kaveh who is a narrative foil to Deshret and Nabu Malikata. It's kinda funny to me how this works.)

Hmm, the longer I’m putting this into words, the more obvious it seems to me that he is the narrative opposite of them. He shares similarities of visual motifs (Deshret), and the relatonship dynamic NM and Deshret had (it’s interesting how it’s reflected with him and Kaveh). There is just something about Nabu Malikata that reflects in Alhaitham a lot, be it their more passive approach of situations, or them being big supports (or emotional detriments) to their close companions. It’s hard for me to directly point between their similarities, because it feels too vague to me; I just know that they’re reflected, but I’m not sure how to properly explain it so others can see what I mean.

Now the foil part of Deshret is easier to point out. There are a lot of visual motifs that tie Alhaitham to him; from the unique eyes, his best artifact set being Gilded Dreams, the falcoln/hawk/bird of prey symbolisms tied in the design and constellation. Alhaitham is well versed in many types of knowledge circles outside his primary niche (number 1 nerd of all Sumeru fr), and it wouldn’t be a shock if he let his curiosity win and toss him into a lot of trouble (if not directly overstepping a cardinal sin, deliberately or not). He has reflections of Deshret hidden in him, but the longer I think about it, Alhaitham truly is Nabu Malikata coded.

Maybe it’s also because Alhaitham’s first story quest has him dismantle a hivemind, and think it’s stupid to do to begin with, you know, something that Deshret tried to do (and kinda succeeded, but probably not how he intended). It really shows that just because some characters rhyme in the story doesn’t mean they’re one and the same.

Now Kaveh on the other hand is very much Deshret coded, and it’s fascinating to me.

Visually Kaveh fits the Deshret-inspired look. From being a visually similar (Liloupar thought the Traveler physically looked a lot like Deshret, and Kaveh also has similarities to the Traveler, so I give myself this leeway, thanks), his earrings just being a miniature of deshretian architecture motifs and colors.

Kaveh’s fiery personality could easily fit in too. He has his calm times, his depth, his guilt and self-destructive tendencies to achieve his ideals, but it also is a contrast to his more boisterous and energetic moments, his compassion and passion. He feels for others and tries to help where he can, regardless if it causes more harm to him than not. He holds steadfast to what he believes and refuses to compromise on it, even if he loses everything else in life.

Deshret had a lot of compassion and tried to make people not need gods, elevate them to become independent of divine judgment and law, and be free. He lost his companions, he lost his mind. But he believed he was chasing a good cause, his ideal where no one had to suffer and be separated ever again. He also wasn’t willing to compromise on his ideals.

Both Kaveh and Deshret are connected with the sun — Kaveh being the Light of Kshahrewar, and Deshret literally likened to the sun — and both of them had a hand with mechanisms and architecture (Kaveh created Mehrak — his little light — from an old deshretian core, and his darshan is overall more into mechanisms and technology, not just architecture; and Deshret didn’t only create the Primal Constructs, but he did try to build his ideal utopia that wouldn’t have any “worry, schemes, or slavery”, letting little kingdoms and city-states raise up, so really architecture was also related to him in a way).

With all of this, Kaveh falling down a rabbit hole of trying to help others and get into Trouble wouldn’t be weird or out of character down the line. Even if he mellowed out a bit after Parade of Providence, he is a firm follower of his ideals, and no matter how bad of an idea it would be, he most likely would jump headfirst into problems if it meant helping solve another problem entirely.

His connection to Nabu Malikata is also pretty obvious. His best artifact set is Flower of Paradise Lost, and him being connected to art makes it easy to connect him to her in that regard too. Of course then there is his constellation, Paradisaea (who could thematically fit both Nabu and Deshret, but shh), especially his c6: Pairidaeza’s Dreams, which is a direct call back to Nabu Malikata and her Orchard of Pairidaeza. It really shows that even if Kaveh has a lot in common with Deshret, NM’s dreams are more in direct reflection with Kaveh’s, who tries to make a lasting memory of himself even when he’s long gone, and to keep beauty in the world (a reoccuring theme with Nabu Malikata is the flourishing and dying of flowers, their endless cycle of life and death and rebirth; in the artifact Wilting Feast that could be linked to Kaveh’s vision story: “Dreams will always dissolve, their landscapes fated to collapse — this is the true meaning of the blooming flowers. Only by suffering through the destruction of a god’s delusions can humanity learn to rise against divine will…”, it connects the rise and fall of something precious, knowing that there will come a new one after that).

Well, I’m losing the plot now.

I wanted to dabble into some gods that connect to them from irl (Amun-Ra, Osiris, Thoth, Ma’at..) and that became a mess even to conceptualize for this, especially since it made me slip into dissecting Sumeru as a whole, and that’s a lot. I love myself, I’m not gonna do that at 4.50am, thanks.

Could I’ve been more detailed and explore it better? Yes. But I struggle with my head lately, and I’m teetering on the edge of madness, I should stop while it still makes a lick of sense. I might eventually revisit this and expand when I have the mental space, because this is fun and can go more detailed (read: unhinged), the potential is all there.

[inkyquince]

Commission: Hey, Hey Sunshine

content warning. This is a kofi commission for @angrelysimpping, who wanted a Wremussy Letter, with Wren being a bit mushy and I was allowed to go ham, so I did do a bit of a switch and bait. Not happy at all with how the actual letter looks ngl. Anyway, dirty talk, threesome mention, cow TF mention, general nasty with Wren getting all mushy.

Visual letter below the cut, with Text based letter above (Not super proud of how the letter came out, so yknow, the ole switcheroo is good)

Hey, hey, sunshine. 

Just sending a note up to tell you that your horse did go on a walk about but we got her in from the Moors. Real bitch to get her back, but y’know, I’d do anything to make sure you’re a happy little thing. Y’know the saying, happy spouse, happy house, and we like keeping the boss real happy. 

So, y’know, anything you can think of with that pretty little head of yours, I’ll haul ass to make sure you remain a pampered, pretty little thing up at the house. 

The boss, not to put anything more than words in his mouth, is real fond of ya. And you should know that I’m going to make sure to make up for it when he’s away and all busy, y’know. We can take a few horses from the school, maybe walk around the estate and check on all the cute little animals, take a picnic out to the meadows and fuck you like a whore in the grass until you cum your brains out. Not going to take you back until your cute little hole is dribbling my cum, all over those pretty thighs. 

Are you proud of me? I made it, like, two paragraphs before I started to run my… What was it you called it? My filthy, perverted mouth. 

You seemed to take those words back when I tongue fucked that little hole all nice until you came all over my face. Fuck, I can shut my eyes and still taste you. That was when… We were hiding in the hayloft, wasn’t it? With all those workers milling down below, talking about how the boss’ spouse was such a cute looker. That they could just bend you over and make you squeal, if Remy wasn’t going to flay them alive for even thinking about it. All the while you were humping my face like a bitch in heat. 

I bet they’d all love to see that. See what we do together while Remy is out riding at the school. Your cum on my cock, fingers, face, tongue, even my thighs when you let me take you for a ride and rode my fucking leg instead. 

They’d love to watch me take you over our card table in the cottage. The way I carry you into the barn, into one of the empty stalls, and milk you like one of those gormless cows you love to dote on so much. God, you’d love to join em, wouldn’t ya? 

All tucked up in the stall, nibbling on apples and grass, being mounted all day and snoozing all night. It’s the perfect life for such a cute little thing, isn’t it? But sadly, Boss loves just having you on his arm and in his bed. I could try and talk him into it, maybe let it sleep how you stained his favorite bed sheets while we were having a quickie on your marriage bed. He might like the thought of punishing his spouse like that. I don’t think he’d tug Nicki on over for a photoshoot with any of… The other actors, but might just have him record him fucking your little ass as you moo and beg for more. 

Fuck, you’re so cute, it doesn’t matter if you got those cute little cow ears either way. It’s why I can’t resist having my hands all over you. Even when you two got married, I always think back to when you greedily took my cock in the backroom before the wedding, all cute in your white outfit, that perfectly hid all the cum I spilled over the fabric. Fuck, you’re just the most perfect little thing. Bait for me losing my job, bait for me getting caught with my trousers around my ankles. You’re like something tasty that I can’t help but indulge in. Lick your skin, bite it, mark you up, but I’m not fucking allowed. I’m always so annoyed that I’m not allowed… 

But fuck, what Remy says, goes. He’s the only one allowed to suck at your neck and chest and thighs. I leave ONE and he nearly beats my ass, and worst, you’re good ole Mayor Chucklefuck in bed as you watch us. 

Fuck, what am I supposed to do? 

Doll, you make me go crazy. When I heard Remy was gonna marry some townie, I knew the boss and I were still gonna fuck. What I didn’t expect was for this… Perfect little townie to trot up in here, all nervous about their new life. When Remy messaged me to meet up with him, I felt bad. Like you didn’t deserve your future husband getting slam fucked in the ass by the bastard that lives on your land, but fuck. 

Nothing was more beautiful than the sight of you in the bed, Remy three fingers deep in your hole as you squirmed. He wasn’t going to let you be left out. Fuck, sweetheart, I don’t use the L word when it comes to how the boss feels a lot of the time, but that fucking showed how much he loves you. He’s had girlfriends and boyfriends, but Remy and I were always… Private. Private and forever, but you’re in on that now. The others never were. 

Fuck, I’m being all… Mushy now, ain’t I? Talking about how you two are my forever, while writing a poorly disguised love letter that’s supposed to be talking about your fucking horse. All the while Remy is hunting for his socks and telling me to stop smiling like an idiot at my notepad. 

I hate the fact that you couldn’t join us. We didn’t get that into it, not while you’re out on the town, just jerked each other off and Remy sucked me off, but we prefer…. Having you pinned down and fucked, in a place only we can properly have you. 

Shit. 

Alright. Let me finish this up. Remy also wants me to tell you that he’s gonna be back shortly before dinner tonight, so look pretty. Keep in mind, to us, pretty means sweatpants and no shirt. ;D

Anyway, see ya soon, sunshine. 

Masterlist

Kofi

AO3

[mantisgodiveblog]

Just so you don't get too-high expectations - there's not really big branching paths or anything like that loop-to-loop. Stuff changes, but it's not like a tree of choices with huge impacts. My partner got very frustrated at the limited choices because she had previously played DBH and Life is Strange and expected something similar (way beyond the scope of an RPGmaker game with one writer). I've also seen people get frustrated at 'unfair' deaths in the story because they went into it expecting a roguelike's fair challenge and got a visual novel in the shape of an RPG instead. Also, there's a couple things early on that almost everyone misses, so I'll let you know. Firstly, there's three Loop chats that are only available when you have done something 2-3 times, 4-8 times, and 13+ times respectively. It's a once per loop thing and you haven't seen it yet. If you lock yourself out of a chat you can still get the later ones. Secondly, there's a secret room - many people find it at some point, but there's interesting dialogue in it in Act 2.

...we think that you presenting "visual novels" as something that doesn't imply that your actions will have a branching tree of consequences with huge impacts that may also include a large amount of scenes locked to obscure and strange combinations of actions that may or may not lock certain things behind them is messing with our brain a bit, sorry.

Maybe it's because of the specific visual novels we're playing, but we're fairly used to them having adjacent staples to older point-and-click games, just with less things to click - which, uhh, older point and click games are actually one of the main genres we enjoy, and probably where we picked up the foundation of our problem solving. The fact that DOSbox is on our desktop probably dates us quite a bit, though we only really remember where a handful of the games we have that work on that currently are.

We quite enjoy visual novels. We've played quite a few of them, they lend themselves well to writing in formats we quite like, and make it very easy to break down where to poke to find certain things. We are also very very used to visual novels having alternate routes and extremely elaborate unlock requirements for those routes. We also use this same sort of technique when we play text-based RPGs, or similar. We spend a lot of time exploring alternative routes for, uhh, pretty much anything - the difference between RPGs and visual novels tends to just be that in the visual novel, the secret might-lock-your-whole-game-if-not-picked-up option is an option that clearly pops up on the screen, rather than a missable pixel on the floor.

...if you can list the things that we need to do 2-3 times/4-8 times/13+ times when they turn up so that we don't accidentally lock ourselves out of conversations, it would be appreciated. We'd rather not run ourself into a wall too early - we'd like all the dialogue we can get! Also, if there's any dialogue that's locked behind stuff like staring at barrels, we've already failed the 2-3 times requirement and the 4-8 times requirement, we've checked literally every barrel in the game that we have access to. Some multiple times.

[earlgreytea68]

I'm going to descend into Fall Out Boy stuff for probably a while but before I do, I just wanted to put down some musings on AI. Sorry.

You, like me, are probably already sick to death of talking about AI. In my field, it feels like the only thing people want to talk about, not only because I'm a teacher but because I'm also an intellectual property lawyer focused on the technology space, so it's just endlesssssssss.

First I should say that I've been so far completely underwhelmed by AI. Like, yeah, sure, I get that it's amazing and I'm probably spoiled by tech wizardry or whatever but if AI is so great I think all the algorithms in my life should be better at recommending things to me (I gather TikTok has the best at that but I'm not on TikTok). Westlaw's AI is so incredibly terrible that the database has gone downhill ever since they tried to make me pivot that way and I'm constantly being like, PLEASE GIVE ME THE OLD WESTLAW INTERFACE WHERE I USED MY OWN ACTUAL BRAIN AND GOT THE THINGS I WANTED EFFICIENTLY WITHOUT ROBOT INTERFERENCE.

I tried out ChatGPT because I wanted to know what the fuss was and I put one of my old exam questions in and it gave me four sentences in response, one of which was just a flat-out wrong statement of law, and considering I would have expected around a thousand-word analysis of that exam question, four basic and only half-right sentences was just not super-impressive to me.

But I gather that it's getting better all the time and that the harder you work on what you ask it for and keep refining your prompt then the better the output is, or whatever. I also gather that asking it for text output is probably super-different than asking it for visual output.

I'm talking about this now because I went to this symposium and there were panels on AI and honestly, the more I hear *tech* people specifically talk about AI, the more I want to light myself on fire. Like, one of the topics was whether the AI using everyone else's copyrighted works as input without the creators' permission was copyright infringement. The tech people were like, "No, not at all, because the output doesn't actually use their work, it's just training the machine, it's just an algorithm." But then the tech people in the next panel were like, "But of course we should get to own all of the output of the AI because it's using human creativity." And I'm like, ...this feels contradictory to me? Like having your cake and eating it, too? It can't NOT be infringement because it's all machinery but also you get to own all the output because it's not just machinery.

Like, sometimes I think if AI were really just about, Idk, algorithms helping us out, we wouldn't have to talk about it in IP symposiums. The reason we're talking about it is because OBVIOUSLY people are going to start claiming ownership over the things AI creates and so we're going to end up in a world where humans (corporations) own what humans create AND they own what machines create and all of that is so much more stuff owned than ever before and I don't think any IP scholar looked around and thought that the problem with our creative landscape is "not enough stuff is owned."

Setting aside my views on ownership, though, I've been trying not to be a kneejerk crotchety old person about AI. The tech people at the symposium kept saying it was just a tool that people would use to aid them, like a typewriter or PhotoShop or whatever, and that people always freak out about new tools possibly killing human creativity, and that doesn't turn out to be the case. So I keep trying to keep an open mind. Maybe I'll really like writing with AI! Maybe it will be awesome! But I can't shake the fact that I don't even like Word to suggest autocompletes to me when I'm writing a fic, because I feel like it's putting ideas in my head about where the story or sentence or dialogue is going that isn't what I intended. I especially hate that little thing on the side that tells you that your document is "54% good" or whatever and then wants to edit you to within an inch of your life. All of it makes me think that maybe it's a great tool for writing a cover letter or a resume but I don't want it going through my fics telling me to take out the run-on sentences that I have intentionally added to suit the mood of the character. Like, those aren't accidents. I know how to write sensible sentences, I do it all the time for work. Not everything should sound like work. "The next generation of content creators are all going to use AI," this tech person confidently stated, and I thought, Well, I'm going to get left behind obviously because I cannot imagine using AI to write my fics, OR in a few years I WILL be using AI to write my fics and thinking how silly it was that everything in the fic used to come straight from my own brain.

I get that their argument is that the AI isn't going to write the fic for me, it's just going to help me, the way spellcheck helps me. After all, what they say is that it's not going to supplant the market for artists, that there will always be demand for human creativity. But they say this while simultaneously admitting that the movie studios have already begun to use AI-generated scripts and scores and even actors. "So far," the movie studio reps announced, these are not as good as human-generated ones. But it's pretty clear to me that they think they eventually will definitely be good enough for them to cut the humans out of the equation. And anyone who thinks, "no, no, that won't happen, employers totally value human labor," has apparently never had a job, because employers definitely do not value human labor lol. And sure, I'm sure there will always be creators who will be able to get paid but these will be the big-deal creators with the connections, and it's not like we don't already have income inequality in the creative space and people's ideas being stolen when they have no power because of this inequality. I'm sure that problem won't be massively exacerbated when a corporation can see someone's work they like, feed it into AI, and have what they want produced in that person's style with zero effort or money paid.

The tech people talk about AI with so much hope, and I want to be on board, I want to hope for good stuff. I think it sounds like it could help people with the things they find difficult and challenging, that, for people to whom writing doesn't come easily, it would be a huge help to shape their sentences. For people to whom art doesn't come easily, it would be a huge help to give them a template. I want that to be how I think about AI. It *should* be a great tool for this stuff.

But then I think about how the problem with every tool is the humans using it. That tools are always relatively neutral and benign, it's the humans who use them for ill. That it was a straight line of less than two decades to go from "here's a great way to connect with friends and family!" to "here's how we turn the world's leading democracy into a fascist dictatorship." And yet tech people still talk about having hope. I want to live in their world. But I can't help but live in this world, where I look at all this "promise" of AI and I think, Great. So great we came up with this so we can do something absolutely nightmarish with it in the next few years.

Sigh.

[nhaneh]

You ever thought about why these generative "AI" models have such a propensity towards plagiarism?

Obviously there's one half of it that's basically just down to that it's what a lot of their users are explicitly using them for - they want something that explicitly looks, or sounds, or otherwise appears at least superficially to be in the style of another thing. But there's also an underlying problem at the heart of these models that's basically about understanding - or specifically, the lack of thereof.

When you ask a person to mimic someone or something, they tend to go about doing that by trying to figure out what it is about that particular person or style that's noteworthy, how those things are achieved, and then how they themselves might approximate that given the tools and expertise available to them. You try to identify a pattern, or a series of patterns, and then figure out how to replicate those patterns within your own skillset.

The problem with generative "AI" is that it only does the first half.

See, the thing with stuff like Large Language Models and similar is that they're basically patterned on a rather simplified model of how human learning works - you have a kind of simulated neural network that processes data and builds internal models of how various elements relate or interconnect to each other not all that dissimilar from how our own brains do. The big, huge, really important difference is that the models we build incorporate this nebulous little concept called meaning.

I've made this example before but, consider my cat. My cat is, in my estimation, likely of fairly regular levels of feline intelligence - meaning she has but a single braincell that is sometimes capable of unbelievable acts of apparent intellect and at all other times is only slightly smarter than a fence post. But, the important thing for this example: my cat knows what a door is.

Consider that for a moment: my cat can not only visually recognise a common group of sometimes quite disparate objects as all being roughly The Same Thing™, but, more importantly, she knows that if an object looks like a door, it can probably be opened. There is probably something on the other side. She might be able to either open the door, or enlist a human to open the door for her.

And again, "AI" only does the first half: you can train them to recognise doors, and quite easily at that, but they don't infer any kind of meaning from it - they can match images of doors to a statistical model, but they can't do anything with that model other than looking for things that match it. There's no introspective model to consider what it means for a match to be a match, no thinking about the context in which matches are found and what it might mean to find a match in an unexpected place or situation... and I mean, thank fuck for that because none of these corporations are at all capable of even a fraction of the amount of responsibility necessary to be allowed access to the on-off switch of a potentially sapient emergent entity.

But basically, this is why they indulge in so much obvious plagiarism: without the ability to comprehend meaning, no detail is more important than the other, the presence of a black pixel in the top left corner can be just as important a detail as what a finger tends to look like - they don't generate things based on an understanding of what is asked of them, they generate based on what is statistically associated with the prompts they're given, no matter what those associations are or what they're like. It's why "text" in "AI" art looks the way it does: it's a statistical representation of what lettering looks like by something that lacks the ability to comprehend meaning - it replicates the shapes and forms, the flows and designs, but fails to recognise any of the symbols as individual objects with distinct meaning.

It's basically what learning without understanding looks like - the ability to find patterns without the ability to infer meaning from those patterns. It's finding faces in the clouds without ever knowing what a face is.

And of course, at the end of the day, the problem with generative "AI" is not actually generative "AI" at all - it's that a bunch of rich assholes with way too much money and power in society think they can, and should, just replace the rest of us with mindless automatons.

[fungal-wasted]

as someone with visual processing issues, i really appreciate your descriptions when my brain isnt cooperating <3 i was wondering if you had any tips on creating ids? it sounds like a fun skill to learn and also very useful!!

Hi! Thank you for reaching out! I will try to give some help. I personally do have low vision and rely on screenreaders sparingly, though I've started using them on mobile more often.

First I'm gonna give you some general advice that could apply to most descriptions, and then focus some more on content commonly shared in the Hollow Knight fandom.

General Concepts

"ID" stands for Image descriptions, and they exist to make content available to those that cannot perceive visual content properly for different reasons. Usually, these descriptions can be found in two places, right below an image in plain text, or in the "alt text", which is a feature that allows you to describe visual content in a way that's available to the screenreaders, but where the wall of text doesn't obstruct the rest of the post. In my personal opinion. it is generally preferable to put it below the image, just so people without screenreaders can still benefit from it, but there is nothing wrong with leaving more detailed descriptions in alt text.

My personal advice for you to start a description is to ask yourself:

What do I see at first glance?

What is the purpose of the image? / What do I think the purpose is?

What information do I need to state so the image achieves this purpose?

Let's talk a little more about this, using fanart, with the consent of @silkysong

What do I see at first glance?

When you look at an image, there are certain things that stand out at first glance. Our brains tend to process things as a whole, we see certain objects in the middle, and how they interact, then we can note some specific features of an image, then we can focus on the context, the background of an image or the colors used. Basically, we must try to describe things as we see them

An easy list that can help you decide what to say first:

What kind of image is it? Digital fanart, traditional fanart, an edit (image created pasting assets made by others together), a photo, a screenshot, etc.

What is the main object seen? Or what are the main characters seen? If it belongs to a specific franchise, name it here.*

Where is it? (Short answer: like a location name, a plain background.)

How do the objects or characters interact? Describe actions like: "the Knight swings its nail towards Hornet."

Is the appearance of the object or character different? How?

What is the background like? What is the lighting?

(*) While everything else can be optional, if you're low on spoons this can be a quick description that lets others know what the image is about.

But what defines what info needs to be there?

Time for question 2 and 3!

What is the purpose of the image? /What do I think the purpose is?

Ok, so, why am I sharing this image? Or why do I think the original poster shared it?

If it's a meme, then focus on what elements are needed to tell the joke, if it's an edit, then focus on what makes it different. And if it's fanart: what things would you like people to notice about it? A specific artstyle, the poses in a scene, the colors it uses, a new design, you decide.

As you can see, this is what can make descriptions so different. If you're the person who made the image you know best how much you want to focus on details. In other words, if a detail will have a meaning or an impact to the viewer, then try to describe it.

What information do I need to state so the image achieves this purpose?

Let's look at an example:

The image descriptiion is: "[Start ID: A drawing of the Broken Vessel and the Radiance from Hollow Knight over a white background. The broken vessel stands looking to the front, one of its eyes is black, while the other, next to where its mask is cracked, is bright orange. The end of its cloak twist and are colored orange as well. A tiny version of the Radiance seems to be sitting on its head, where its mask is shattered and full of infection. /End ID.]

First sentences gives us:

Medium (what kind of image?)

Characters (main objects)

Franchise (context for said objects)

A quick description of the background. (where are the objects?)

If for any reason you're not interested in any of those elements, you can already skim past it or press skip in a screenreader.

The next sentences describe what pose the broken vessel has and any relevant details of their pose and their cloak. Then we describe where the Radiance is and what she's doing. This lets us know what the drawing is trying to focus on. If we had a background, that would be the next element to describe.

Finally, we see the "/End ID." which helps people using screenreaders know when the image description ends and any other caption you add starts.

EXTRA NOTES, Hollow Knight edition:

Describing canon characters in detail is optional. It can be useful if you want your art to be enjoyed by people not familiar with Hollow Knight, but it is not necessary. Original characters do need a better description, however, since people aren't familiar with them. If you think it's relevant for you, add any style choice that differs from the canon designs, such as adding limbs on Hornet, among others.

If you do not have the energy to describe much you can say things such as:

-An anthropomorphic [insert a bug]

-A fictional creature with [base features such as scales, wings, legs or any other recognizable elements]

-An insect-like character with a white, horned shell and a dark cloak (to refer to vessels).

[rain-is-studying]

do you have any study tips? <3

OMG YES,

I have many!

Always color code using black and blue colors if you're studying math!

I always remember hearing my friends telling me blue helps you remember well, it does! I use my black pen to solve questioms and blue to mark the answers. If i got it wrong, rewrite the solution with blue. Cant figure out the solution or understand it? Reverse engineer the question with blue!

If you're studying any other subjects, try color coding with red, orange, yellow and green. (Its my way of remembering things btw its totally cool if color coding doesnt work cuz everyone has a different way of learning) My brain is visual, I need too see and do in order to learn. So to do that I color code while reading and I think of questions while reading like: "is this a new topic?" RED it's new I don't know it. "Have I read this before?" GREEN! IM GOOD TO GO! "HUH, this topic is pretty in depth" Orange "This experiment is important I might need to try it later" Yellow. After reading the text I always make sure to convert this into a mindmap and then I use the mind map to quiz me.

2. View studying in an essentialist perspective

We always hear people saying studying for longer periods of time is good.

MAJOR FALSE, NOTHING GETS INTO OUR BRAIN! Our bodies can't handle such long periods either. Try to study in a way to get as much done in so little time. It's possible! Plus, you can't read and expect things to get into your head, You need to categorize your information somehow, you need to retrieve the information from your brain and practice at least a gazillion times using flashcards or practice papers! Try to get practical with the knowledge you're consuming if you can because the easiest way to learn is by doing. Don't hesitate to reverse engineer topics you're learning!

What I do is use the mind map I made and use it to reflect as a mind mirror. After I make the mind map, I sit and try to recreate it until I get everything right! Note: no references, in order to make the study session productive is that I avoid the references. You have to force your brain to retreive the information otherwise your brain won't be that helpful during the exam, OR REAL LIFE!!

3. Isolate when you're studying. It removes 90% of your distractions! Always put your phone on do not disturb (remember emergency settings though) if you're in a chaotic home where isolation is impossible go out to study if you can, if you can't do that either shriek I'm studying leave me alone and slam yourself in the room with your headphones and study for as long as you can! When it comes to studying you need strict boundaries with your people. Sterness is an important skill for every aspect of your life and helps you set boundaries efficiently.

Im not sure if my study tips will help you or if they were helpful, but I hope it was! See you ;)