#arent we so small compared to this?

[i-think-but-i-have-no-thoughts]

The first time i saw the real night sky i was frozen and i started tearing up

All the sentences made sense. The stars were where the gods lived, pinpricks of light. When we drove through the american southwest, i stuck my head out the window on the mountain on the car to just look. And have my breath taken away. It was everything the books described it as. Glitter on a black bolt of velvet. This is what i have been robbed of growing up in the city, in the suburbs. A good day there would be able to see a handful of stars, and guess the big dipper. Half of the stars were fake, they blinked, and moved if you looked at them too long. I never imagined that I could see all those stars on the unpolluted night sky without a telescope. When i got my cheap telescope i would go to the backyard, and my breath would mist up, but i would sit there on my plastic stool and adjust the lens until the Moon filled up my entire vision. It was so big and bright and I watched as it rose out of the telescope lens, and I had to adjust it. I could SEE the moon rise. I never thought that the moon would move when im looking at it. I never looked at the moon long enough to see it moving. I just saw a picture of the night sky filled with stars and once again my breath is taken away. The sky is so full of stars and yet it is a pity that we cant see them. Civilization and fog of darkness is blocking out our nature, our own spirits, to look up at the stars. Now we need to build telescopes to see them clearly, to find a way out of our fog. Its not fair. “It was as if i looked at you and all the sonnets made sense. The good ones anyway” if we were villains

Why would we ever give this up

The sky that inspired a thousand, a million artists, writers, dreamers. Made us feel so small. Civilization blocks this out. Makes us feel big. Our egos go unchecked. THe night sky does not faze us. Not anymore. And imagine being on the ocean. On a still lake. And you jump in the water and you are swimming in teh void. In the starlight, you float on your back surrounded by stars. They make as feel small and insignificant. We are small and insigifigant. But each one of them is small and insignificant. But together they are mighty. And perhaps this is the same about human nature too. Maybe we arent all that impressive by our selves, not if you zoom out anyways. But 8 billion of us? That is something awe inspiring.

[seagull-scribbles]

I want you to tell ‘em that you love the way that they don’t stick out like sore middle fingers

[Continuation of this]

[muirneach]

it is fascinating to me that the majority of people it seems have never considered that borders are just lines on a map? its just a piece of paper? not to have anarchic tendencies but like. it’s just words

[nyxypoo]

thinking about when the time when me when he when uhm when HANDS FACKKKKK

[katyspersonal]

wait, there are "enemy" blogs you want to stay in the fandom? isn't it better if they stay away, if they're annoying enough to be "enemies"?

Well, it is not a real """enemy""", hence why I used three whole pairs of quotation marks and not one x) And it is a singular, not plural.

The problem with BB fandom is that it is like... in a crisis? Not only the truly active part of it is like, same 20 people for years now, but also there is a hegemony of the same characters, same ships, same takes, same headcanons, same designs for unseen characters... People that join in the fandom see what fans are up to, but since most of the activity is the popular girls (gender neutral) of the school who are all tight mutuals group doing the thing of the week they share (usually when it happens you can blame a Discord server), these new people assume that this is what will fly, also that this is what is "canon". They're yet to discover that there are different interpretations, different possibilities, alternative ships..... but they now will not, because they already got swayed by influence. The cycle continues.

The """enemy""", that I only call such because we seriously didn't get along as people and not because they did something bad, is very different though! They are not annoying! They appear to be an individualist, they are touching ideas and characters fandom practically abandoned, they draw what THEY like and not what is a current set fun trend, they do not try to throw a bone to the community-

It is just refreshing to see something unique and interesting! I am the type that actually goes insane if I have to see the same thing over and over. I'd start hating my favorite ships if I never could see alternatives, ffs! My idea of ideal small fandom is various individuals doing cool stuff and simply sharing with each other, rather than there being a "core" that sets the trends and everyone outside of these trends being passively-aggressively ignored for "wrong" takes, "wrong" ships or "characters no one will care about". There should be more users that radiate such strong individuality and creativity instead of resorting to being just another gear in the machine! I would not be as petty as to wish for someone actually interesting to leave the fandom over personal things. My real enemies, on the other hand, are not creative at all. Well, one of them used to be but completely lost the spark.

[faaun]

we feel too big for our own good

[timogsilangan]

i rlly do not think white global northerners understand how fucking bad the anti sinovac psyop was in context of the philippines and other targeted countries being from the global south, with a history of economic and military intervention and destabilization by the usa specifically.

i live in the philippines and sinovac was the only available vaccine for MONTHS of the pandemic. people were fucking dying and we had no pfizer, no j&j, no astrazeneca, no moderna. sinovac was the ONLY vaccine supply we had. and the supply wasnt even enough for even my small city. we do not have the infrastructure to manufacture our own vaccines and tests. we were entirely reliant on imports from other countries who Did have the capacity to manufacture such things

i got up early for several days straight to go to a pop up walk in vaccination site (were talking there by 7:30am) set up in a fucking public basketball court because it was the only way to get vaccinated, and 3 times i had to go back empty handed so to speak after exposing myself to this massive opportunity for transmission because they fucking ran out of shots and prioritized the elderly and disabled and i didnt have my legal pwd (person with disability) card yet. i had to go to a different barangay (local unit of government) to get my shot MONTHS LATER and only got mine because one of my family was in the local govt and reserved some shots for us.

many filipinos use facebook which is where some of the psyop was conducted because you can use it for free on your phone and it is often where news is disseminated. i know we have that joke about People Believing Anything They See On Facebook but i cannot stress enough that people here get local news from fb the same way you (used to) get news from twitter about shit like localized emergencies and whatnot.

because we are third world, you know that the state of our education system is nothing compared to the states. media and news literacy here is dangerously low and the population is sensitive to mis/disinformation, as can be seen during the 2022 presidential elections where the usa Also interfered lol. i cannot stress enough how much of the population was susceptible to this psyop, especially those in poverty who couldnt afford proper education. hell, even educated people fell for this shit. do you think jhunjhun who didnt finish grade 6 would be able to identify disguised foreign intervention that was in his own language?

we were already recovering from public scrutiny of a different vaccine, a dengue vaccine, which lowered public trust in inoculation. and then the usa goes and does THIS??? i cannot emphasize enough that they are directly responsible for the tens and thousands of unvaccinated covid deaths. they are responsible for my friends having to bury their unvaxxed parents and grandparents at the age of 19. they are responsible for mass death and disability.

but were just a country in the periphery. so who cares about us? our lives are worthless to the usa, which is why they admitted that they did this when they would otherwise "never" to their own population. third worlders arent real people to your government. we are merely statistics and a petri dish for experimentation. so who cares if we die? the real important thing isnt our lives, its that the usa has more control over us than china.

[fandomsandfeminism]

So we have now surpassed the 96 hour "best case scenario" amount of oxygen point (if they had been alive and didnt just implode, they arent alive anymore), and I just keep thinking everything about this story, and really the story ABOUT the story, is fascinating.

Like, the situation itself has that incredible blend of tragedy voyeurism and schadenfreude that adds a level of absurdity. (The Logitech controller, the camping world lights, the fact that they probably didn't have their shoes). The way this story touches on issues of deregulation and tragedy tourism and billionaire hubris and a condemnation of wreckless start up mindsets. How much money has been spent looking for them, how much the tickets cost - the extreme absurdity of all of it.

But also the WAY this story has been covered. I keep seeing this compared to the horrific disaster in the Mediterranean this week which killed over 500 refugees and the disparity in the coverage and interest. And yeah, I think the issue is that the disaster in the Mediterranean is transparently horrific- it is a terrible tragedy, the result of systemic and complex geopolitical issues that are complex. So many people, and the weight of that is just so big. It's not funny. It's just awful.

The Ocean Gate Titan thing? It's a simple narrative that was obviously avoidable. It feels like a movie with REALLY obvious themes. It's been covered like a movie. It's been dragged out and every single possible update, the viral video of the tour of the sub, the possible noises detected by sonar, the whole side story about the billionaire step son going to the Blink 182 concert- the cast is so small and the level of abstraction away from normal people and their lives? Makes it feel completely unreal and so it can be consumed like the newest HBO miniseries.

Even now, we are getting updates on how they could stretch the oxygen out longer- like a fan theory prediction of the next episode. Like a headcanon for the season finale. (Oh God, do you think AO3 has fics yet?) Tiktokers making videos about plot holes (why not attach a tether to it?). Discourse over whether it's problematic to say one thing or another about it.

It reminds me of how it felt when the Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal, but with the added "oh my god, the OCEAN ate the rich" and Logitech Playstation controller jokes.

I'd put money on implosion. These men have been dead since Sunday. It's likely that we won't actually know for a long time though, if ever. But the way this story was covered is worth contemplating.

[bunnyboy-juice]

"fat ppl are so hot and bangable. fat people are sexy. i want to fuck fatties" okok heard but do you actually like us as people? do you know anything abt the fat creators u follow who share things abt their lives? how do you treat fat ppl who are undesirable to you? do you listen to us when we are screaming about the ways that fatphobia is everywhere? no not mindlessly reblog, but listen and internalize. do you take the time to unpack your biases against fat ppl? or even the fatphobia you absolutely were taught growing up? do you hold your thin/not fat friends accountable when they compare themselves to us because they dont like the way they look? do you advocate for us when people make us the butt of jokes? do you actually date fat people? do you befriend fat people? are you kind to fat strangers you don't find attractive? do you feel the need to qualify your love for fat people? do you love any fat people who arent related to you? do you respect fat ppl of all sizes? what do you consider "fat"? is it just someone with bigger than average boobs/butt? do you like fat people with small boobs/butts? does "we love bellies here" include large bellies covered in stretch marks? does it include bellies with multiple rolls and skin discoloration because of those rolls? does it include those things together? when you say fat do you mean actual fat people? do you include fat people who arent white? who are disabled? who reject the expectations of hyper femininity/hyper masculinity? when the trend of wanting to fuck certain fat ppl wears off yet again will you continue to desire us? to love us? to cherish us? do you see us as people even when we do not give you sexual access to our bodies?

[merakiui]

floyb who is your ex from college that you broke up with bc he cheated on you

floyb who hits you up bc he says he "just wants to talk" and "misses you"

floyb who is currently blowing your back out on his couch bc he may not have done shit right in your relationship but he sure knew how to do this right and hOLY SHIT when did he learn to do that

floyb who youve fallen into a fwb dynamic with

floyb who... gets you roses? ...wtf

WHY

why is he giving you sea themed jewlery.

why are you meeting his parents

wtf floyd, you didnt even do this when we WERE dating.

also when tf did he move in to your apartment

no like seriously when tf did this happen, one day he wasnt here and the next you realise hes been living with you for weeks

floyb who loves cooking for you esp when he gets to see your happy face in the morning right as you wake up only to see he made you your fave breakfast food.

floyb who tries to spend all of his free time wrapped around you to make sure you wont leave him again.

floyb who spent the year after your break up in denial abt missing you by playing around with the other little guppies

floyb who becomes increasingly more agitated when he realises the guppies around him cant compare to your pretty smile and cute laugh and kind eyes and small hands and...

floyb who realises hes mad bc they arent you

floyb who also realises he may still be in love with you.

floyb who stalks you online before moving to irl stalking

floyb who has been watching you for years but was too much of a coward to talk to you until he notices you becoming closer to a male coworker of yours

floyb who ruins you for any other man bc his trying so desperately to be the perfect man for you

-lily anon

FLOYB!!!!!!!!! 🥺 he just wants to be better for his Shrimpy... doing all of the things he couldn't do when you were dating and the fwb is a great cover-up to hide the real intent behind every sweet gesture. Why are you getting so suspicious of him when he cooks meals for you? He's making this for himself, too. Or the roses. The vase has been empty for a while. He got them so you could brighten up the room. Isn't that what you said you wanted last week: flowers to put in the vase? Or when he takes you to meet his parents. He just didn't want to be bored on his own or have to sit through dinner without something exciting to talk about.

Cooking for you, caring for you, stalking you, living alongside you... it feels so natural to him, but that's because he loves you (more than he even realizes). The realization probably jerks him awake one night and it dawns on him that he never fell out of love with you to begin with. T_T Floyb trying to win you back in his own ways. Omg and maybe he works up the courage to confess to you, but you laugh at him because you don't believe him. Why would he love you if he was the one who cheated to begin with? This is all just physical anyway. You're both benefiting from this arrangement.

And he sabotages himself by playing along, laughing at himself. Right. Shrimpy caught him~ :) too bad you're not so gullible. He smiles easily, but it hurts inside.

[msperfect777]

the unreal vs the real

⭐️part eleven of the understanding consciousness & non dualism series

last post i talked about how the unreal mind creates an inaccurate perception of the world, another reason why everything "we" perceive is an illusion. we also learned that the unreal 5 senses is so limited. we already know that everything is consciousness therefore everything is unreal; imaginary. remember that consciousness is limitless and imagination. this is why the 5 senses seems so limited compared to you (consciousness). you, the source, can be aware / observe / imagine anything and everything while the world that the mind creates and perceives is so limited.

everything is you but you are not everything.

a pot. a pot is made out of clay so clay is the source. pot exists bc of the clay. the pot cannot exist without the clay, the source. but the clay can exist without the pot bc clay is the source. the clay represents consciousness, you. and the pot represents everything and the world. the pot is just the clay in a different form. the world you perceive and everything is just consciousness in different forms. everything is a form of consciousness (you) but consciousness itself can only be consciousness. the clay can only ever be clay. consciousness can only ever be consciousness. everything is you but you are not everything bc the only thing you are is consciousness and the only thing thats real is you as consciousness, not the forms of you.

your true self is consciousness and you cannot be a form of consciousness bc consciousness itself is the only real thing. thats why forms of consciousness arent real and only exist when you become aware of them. consciousness = limitless bc you can be / imagine anything. forms of consciousness arent limitless bc they are just forms of you. they cant be limitless bc they are only illusion and therefore unreal.

"clay existed before this pot was made, and it will continue to exist if the pot gets broken. this pot can come and go. clay on the other hand, doesnt come and go. clay exists independently of the pot but this pot depends entirely of clay for its existence"

everything is just a form.

the pot which is made from clay can be any shape, any size, tall or small. since the pot's source is just clay, the clay (consciousness) is formless and limitless bc it can be any type of pot (short, wide, tall, etc). the pot (everything) only exists bc it is a form of the clay (consciousness). everything / the world is just consciousness in different forms that seem real bc of the unreal names and labels attached to them.

why are forms of consciousness unreal?

the pot for example, is just a form of consciousness therefore it is not the real source of consciousness (you). think about the label "pot". in spanish or french or japanese, the pot is not labeled "pot" but labeled in a different language therefore a different word. not only is the pot itself unreal but even the label of it is unreal bc it is temporary and comes in different forms (different labels). the form and name of the pot is not a thing, it is not real.

"clay (consciousness) is the underlying reality because of which this pot (forms of consciousness / everything) exists"

bc forms of consciousness depend on consciousness (you) to exist, they are unreal and only names and forms. -> wow this shows how powerful you are...nah this shows how you are power itself.

how to get rid of illusion that the world is real.

"it's not that there is a real illusion that one has to overcome and see through. no, its just the self experience, the recognized, the noticing something that has no reality on its own." @wonder_timeless on twitter

there is nothing to do. you know you are only consciousness and all this is just forms of consciousness therefore all unreal and all an illusion. knowing its an illusion is enough to "get rid of it" bc you have acknowledged that there is no thing real except pure you.

"if you (observer, awareness, etc) knew you are The Self (consciousness), there is no fear to arise because it is unreal. if you identify as the body-mind, fear arises. there is nothing to get rid of other than the idea that you are the body, the mind or the ego. if you do that, there is no fear." @infinite.ko on instagram

© msperfect777

[k-s-morgan]

Recently checked back up on ATLWETD to see if it had updated and followed the tumblr thread here. Imagine my surprise seeing all of the wonderful snippets and asks you answered. Tom using the mood stone? I almost forgot that was a thing. And finding out that Tom was just being a possesive/calculating bastard when he took Harrys food is embarassing to me since my guess was so far off. I thought that Tom inferred that Harry suspected him of poisoning/ truth seruming his food when he told Tom "Happy Poisoning".

Anyways, I decided it was finally my time to step up and praise you like the glorious writer you are. How on earth you could ever believe that your works arent as creative or as plot heavy as other tomarry works is beyond me. To me, your fics have lovely foreshadowing that makes me pay very close attention to anything that is mentioned offhandedly by a character because in your works everything means something. (Like seriously, one detail I missed in WHGTB on the first read was Harry reading the description of the book Tom was going to use to bond him and you stuffing permanent bonding inbetween fertility and necromancy. You had Harry misdirect us by having him muse about necromancy so we wouldn't notice. And you're right, I didn't)

And the humanity and characterization that you give to any character you write? Hell, i'd say you give them more layers than the origional authors. I always know that you won't make the characters make stupid and out of character actions just to advance the plot.

My experience with your writing started with WHGTB (my first convincing tomarry fic btw, you were the one who snagged me). After that, I trailed after your content like a lost puppy. I consumed your hannigram fics without having a spec of knowledge other than "haha cannibal eats the rude". I have now watched the telltale John Doe/Bruce Wayne playthroughs on youtube and rewatched the lego batman movie for the first time since i saw it in theaters when it came out. A Rule for a Rule is shaping up to be the best thing that happened to batjokes (outside of Half Way Across). I've even tenatively read through your Black Butler work, which I was hesitant to look at given the age gap and having never watched the anime. Should have never doubted that your approach to their relationship would make sense. You make an anime which could be categorized as ridiculous (I apologize, I have no nostalgic memories of this anime holding me back. I read your fic first, the anime can't compare) into something psychological and beautiful. Just so so real.

Anywho, there's my small (because I could genuinely write an analytical essay on your works and enjoy it) love letter to your writing.

Stay safe angel, it's unfortunate that I can't do anything to help you or your country. Even more disgusting that my country could help if they gave half a shit but won't. I would say I'm praying for you, but given that I'm not religious that goes nowhere. So, pathetically, my 11:11 wishes will be used for your continuted health.

Hope your writing continues to bring you joy <3

Hi! Thank you so much for such a lengthy, wonderful ask - I have a few more unanswered ones in my ask box, and I'm so delighted that my stories evoke so many thoughts and feelings in my readers!

Funnily, quite a few people thought that Tom sharing Harry's food and drinking from his cup is related to Harry's 'happy poisoning'! This never occured to me. I admit I love when such stuff happens because it proves how a text is its own thing, a living organism, something that the author and every reader can have vastly different interpretations of. In this case, yes, I intended for Tom to keep testing the intimate boundaries and to see how much Harry would allow, to gauge what exact type of relationship they used to share. Slowly turning him into a possessive, obsessed monster in love is such a delight.

I'm so gratified that you enjoy the foreshadowing I'm trying to build! I do love it, and I can tell that in ATLWETD, the seeds of the largest plot twists and the ending have already been planted. It's difficult to recognize them without knowing the rest, but if someone re-reads the whole story after it's done, these little hints should become obvious.

Also, it's so flattering that WHGTB became the first Tomarry story you really liked! Really, it's an honor, considering how big this part of fandom is and how many brilliant stories fill it. And knowing that you followed my fics across the fandoms despite not being a part of them - wow! I'm speechless! You honestly made me blush, I'm so happy to hear all this.

I appreciate every word you wrote - this means so much to me, I re-read your ask a couple of times because of how happy it made me. I hope you continue to enjoy my stories and discovering new great fandoms :D Thank you!

[toasts-httyd-hyperfixation]

Ya know, life to a chihuahua must be fairly alarming

Theyre so small, can be on the fragile side

Most things are much bigger than they are and could hurt them pretty easily

I know coyotes in particular are a fairly big threat to them, which i can only imagine how a chihuahua feels when facing a coyote

Coyotes arent even that big but compared to chihuahuas

And then theres things like hawks or owls, which has gotta be even spookier

Like jus being out in the world knowing some large beast could swoop down and snatch you off

Happened to my 2nd grade teachers dog, it was in their yard and an owl grabbed it and carried it off

Fortunately, theres those dog vests, with spikes and sticks on them that help protect chihuahuas and other small dogs from this kinda thing

And i know not everyone is going to buy or use them, but hey, its nice that they exist

And now you might be wondering "What in the world does this have to do with Httyd?"

And the answer to that is very simply you see

Dragons, of course, are very large predators, they can easily swoop down and grab someone, and even the smaller dragons could likely scoop up a child

Now, as we all know, theres no dragons in our world

A tragedy, but nevertheless, a fact

And obviously httyd's world has dragons, its kinda in the name

Furthermore in our world, Vikings didn't wear horned helmets, it's just not the case, they didn't have them

But in httyd, they do

so essentially what im saying is

Thank you for your time

[chiiyuuvv]

Hey~

I was wondering if you'd be able to write how xiker's members would react to y/n being insecure about being very chubby/ very slim (still healthy tho) to the point where y/n would want to change herself (but because she's insecure about how others see her and not because she really want's to) and how the boy's would comfort her, what they'd do etc.

You can choose whether you'd like to do it as a headcanon, imagine or anything else!

Thank you!💚🦊

WHEN YOU THINK YOU'RE OVERWEIGHT

• PAIRING — bf!xikers x gn reader (uses some she)

• GENRE — comfort, fluff, i dont think i implied the angst, comfort, comfort, comfort

• WORD COUNT — 758

• AUTHOR'S NOTE — i am so, so, so sorry about the long wait. True was, me and my team had no idea what to write 😭 but after looking up some coping skills, we got to writing. I just wanna say that you are beautiful just the way you are, fuck other people. And if you dont believe me, xikers certainly will ♡

MASTERLIST! – JOIN THE TAGLIST!

MINJAE ☆

Minjae could see on your phone various workout methods that guarantees losing lots of weight in 2 weeks or so

Was a little confused on why you were so interested in that so he decided to comfort you

It broke his heart when you kept calling yourself fat and chubby bc what?? No you arent

And since he knew the workout methods and supplements were a scam, he suggested that you worked out with him

Praises every little thing you do with a big hug and kiss ♡

JUNMIN ☆

Junmin felt a little chubby when he was growing up so he understood how you felt

After researching, he found that setting small goals really helps your mental being

So he decided to do just that

This week, you should at least eat a apple everyday

Next week, you would go for a 30 minute walk

Does everything with you so you dont have to feel alone ♡

SUMIN ☆

He'd be all ears

Hes kinda like minjae too; his baby?? Feeling fat???

But would still let you rant everything out without him interrupting

Wipes away your tears if you start crying

And when you're done, he would go on a rant about how beautiful you are, and even though you dont feel this way right now, you will feel this way in the future ♡

JINSIK  ☆

As soon as you open up to him, hes gone

Then you hear a big crash

Throws away (stomps and slams) your bathroom scale

Along with anything else that triggers you

Then would go on a long rant about how you shouldnt compare yourself to others ♡

HYUNWOO ☆

You told him when you thought he was sleeping because it would be too hard telling him when hes awake

Immediately sits up when you fall asleep, his heart breaking as he rubs your back

And then bolts out of the bed

Spends the next 30 minutes placing sticky notes in random places for you to find, using affirmations like "youre so pretty" or "you are worth it"

And when you see it the next morning you almost break down, hyunwoo restating the note over and over ♡

JUNGHOON ☆

Junghoon feels like hes not good at using his words and would accidentally offend you

So he creates a playlist

You know those body worship songs like i love my body by hwasa or any meghan trainor song?

Hes got them all in one playlist for you to listen too

And he even sings along ♡

SEEUN ☆

Seeun knew you werent one for exercising, so why not some yunmy healthy food to eat?

He knows hes not the best at cooking but he will try

And if not he'd recruit another member

Wont force you to eat all the vegetables but once he does figure out what healthy foods you like to eat. Its over

For dessert, he would hand feed you some fresh fruits ♡

YUJUN ☆

"What, no you arent." Would be yujuns first words but he knows words dont matter actions do

So with lots of kisses, he would drag you to the bathroom

Makes up a self care plan for you to do everyday, teaching you to love your body just like how he loves you

Speaking of love, he looks at you with so much love in his eyes, you feel like melting

And if you let him, he would kiss every part of your body, and pressing extra ones in the places you feel insecure ♡

HUNTER ☆

We all know how hunter journals his emotions just when hes about to go to bed

And so he requests that you do the same

Writing down your feelings makes you feel more connected to yourself, and pinpoints how you started feeling this way

And just like yujun, if you let him, he would kiss all the places where you feel insecure

And cuddles you, whispering in your ear that you are so beautiful and you should not think of yourself that way. And even if you do, hunter would do everything in his power to change your mind ♡

YECHAN ☆

Yechan thought you were joking at first

But his smile immediately drops when he finds out that you werent

Yechan would spend the next few days talking about self acceptance. Making you talk out your feelings and acknowledge your abilities

Would give examples on how this relates to him too, like when he was younger, he thought his rap was terrible

But would reassure you that what youre feeling will not last forever, and that you will see some happier days ♡

[lightleckrereins]

I feel like we’re all getting our hopes up about the new costume variations. If they had intended to use orange pants and shorts only for the full run last time (and didn’t bother replacing the pants when something presumably went wrong), I doubt they’re going to have a new variation designed this time. And if Cristina is still going to function as an if-necessary back up (which seems to be implied by ‘alternate swing’) I can’t imagine they’re going to design new alt variations for her. (I know it’s unlikely Zara’s costume is still wearable, but why would they give her the pink costume instead of silver if there wasn’t a practical reason like reusing a costume instead of making a new one?) I want new variations as much as anyone so I’m mostly hoping you can convince me lol

How about a really long answer (under the cut)

I think in this case the most likely scenario is a middle point. No suddenly getting all the missing variations but also no only one costume either.

So first. We know Cristina is pink. She wore pink for the color coded promo shoot for the color coded show. If she was going to wear silver her promo outfit would have been silver.

And costumes will be new. The original costumes are almost five years old, worn, and designs are not up to date. Even for returning cast in the same role they are due for a new costume. Specifically about Cristina she will probably get a new pink costume with only the main variation. I don't think there is any chance she gets an old one refited. There is a small chance she ends up wearing Zara's costume again with the whole alternate swing thing. But I think the most likely scenario is a new costume. All UK alt costumes made since reopening are now their alt stock so those arent free to take to AUS.

And she will have her own costume. It falls in the same category as the alt costumes in the UK or the cruise alt costumes or even the swing variations (when those are made). Some costumes are not expected to be worn many times but that doesn't mean necessary things won't be made.

It is not really fair to compare the situation AUS was in at reopening vs now. Then it was a popular but small show that last time it was active it had to refund months of advance ticket sales because of the pandemic. Now it is the highly anticipated return of a hit show thats selling out months before opening.

Back then money was tight, borders were closed or restricted and there were major supply chain issues. We don't really know the details of their situation but from what we do know they made smart choices. Phoenix got a new costume made with the materials available at the moment (including a different vinyl color). Chelsea got a new top and Chiara a new peplum but otherwise they inherited Courtney and Ella's costumes. Everything else just got minor alterations. Chiara did have the pants and wore them up to tech, my guess is they ended up being uncomfortable for her to wear with no easy alteration to fix them. But she did have two variations to wear which covered all queens so things were left like that. Compare that to what happened in the UK and US. All new costumes in the US, a lot new to take all UK principals to some version of the updated designs, major alterations as necessary for everyone else, many new wigs crowns and hairpieces. Completely different situations.

The new AUS cast is best compared to the Canada opening. New costumes for the entire cast, a lot of work put into hair alternatives in the months leading up to CAN, lower heels introduced. AUS will get the same new and shiny treatment.

With the alt costumes it gets tricky. Everyone is confirmed as swing and announced with an alt color. The easy guess from that is they are getting alt costumes only over principal costumes for two roles and alt costumes for everything else like the UK alts. The costume system is the question.

Back in the good old costume days (read 2019) the alt costume system was, with a few variations, alts get 1-3 costume variations meant for their first covers and wear whatever worked best if they had to go on for second or third covers. The strenght of that system is versatility: one main top with two different bottoms goes a long way with creating different looks that fit each role. Add different sleeves, crowns and hairstyles and they are set.

When the 2019 AUS costume teasers started everyone assumed that would be the case, each alt had two very specific costume variations that accounted for all six queens. They ended up being all swings with no official cover order. But if you look into performance numbers there ended up being an unnoficial cover priority in place (different to what the costumes said tho). I think that will be the case again. No hard cover order but a priority of who goes on for what to play to their strenghts.

And that priority is the most important thing in here. If it is stablished already, which is possible considering Chiara is returning, and Gabriella did a different production already so they know what works best for them, they might go for variations that favor that priority. If not they will probably go for whatever is the most versatile. My current guess is 2-3 variations for everyone except Cristina with whoever is priority Cleves getting the jacket and likely reveal which was mentioned as a possibility in the casting call.

And here is where the fun starts. Multiple black variations have been worn since reopening and without a surprise return of the B/H skirts we know how the uptated black variations look. But for teal and orange nothing has been touched since 2019 except the pants. Even if the AUS swings get just two variations, and even if it is same designs as before just with new materials updates need to happen. And here I start asking questions (because that is how I design alt variations):

Orange Cleves will probably stay mostly the same with added studs for the cutouts, but the shorts have fur. Will they switch that for vinyl to reflect updated cleves and work better for other queens? Will they alter the shoulders to do spikes? How about teal Cleves, the jacket is too plain for current six costume standards. How will the cutouts look? If there is a priority Cleves cover does she have a reveal? And the teal open skirt? There are three potential designs, would it be any of those with more studs or a completely new one? How does a potential orange open skirt look like? Peplum or no peplum? Which cut for Seymour skirts? If there is a priority Boleyn cover does she get that skirt? Teal has two designs already. Is it either of those? Do they add tabs like the ones on the peplum? And orange Boleyn, there are different cutout options. Which wins?

I could go on and on. But my point is. Only alt costumes says its very likely the swings get more than one variation if only to give them a better look range for all six queens. And just making those in 2024 vs 2019 means things have to change to some degree.

[quinnkdev]

Just wanted to say, I'm looking forward to when you write about why you stopped using RPG Maker 2003! It sounds like a very interesting read to me, as I myself eventually want to write about why I keep crawling back to it, ha! (It's mostly how it comes with the most out of the box compared to later RPGMs, whose scripting capabilities are useless if one doesn't feel up to learning the code... at that point I may as well start coding from scratch, which is exactly the path you seem to have taken, fittingly enough! It's not satisfying to try and master an RPG engine when know I can't do anything remotely cool with it without learning something completely different.. I boil it down to 'you can't make Yume Nikki with newer RPGM default tools', but I definitely want to expand more on the thought) I haven't had the time or energy to try any of your games yet, but I'm p sure we used to be in a Discord server together, and looking over periodically and seeing how much progress you've made has been really cool, so I'm excited to get around to trying them! Someday I too want to learn a proper coding language and move away from RPG Maker, but until then it gets the job done for me (especially with the recent Maniacs Patch mod that greatly expands what it can do).

Wishing you luck on your current project in the meantime!!

hey, i had this lying around in my inbox for entirely too long - and for that i apologise, i wasnt really sure who you were until i followed a context-cue from your blog to your art-stuff just now. good to have heard from you again, and no hard feelings :,)

rm2k3 is decidedly a development space that makes sense. hell, on the side, i am currently making a small game in it again with a friend (no ETA yet). something nice about a path of less resistence towards something neat youve been thinking about.

the maniacs patch is definitely something i took note of out of the corner of my eye (and in watching riggy2k3's streams on occasion), but having released two games in the engine on steam, i kind of dont think that i can take it on board as the future of my commercial game efforts.

as much as it hurts to admit, i cant think of game development as my fun art anymore - i have to sell the things i make in it now, and rm2k3 games arent very well equipped for that. they dont interlock well with steam, meaning you can't give players achievements or even let them take screenshots through the platform (something a lot of them are VERY unhappy about). that, and tons of QOL problems (one time, somebody refunded a game of mine because it was "too small, hard to see" - rather than realising there was a way to fullscreen it).

regarding yume nikki likes in newer rpg maker versions - i mean, id say "swollen to bursting until i am disappearing on purpose" by december 7th does an admirable job of being one made in rpg maker mv! but of course that one uses tons of plug-ins.

bottom line: programming isnt desperately needed if you primarily like making games for the fun of it (and seeing that you predominantly make fanworks, id wager thats your main objective! good! :] ). if you need to earn a living (like... me :( ) then you may have to bite the bullet.