#if you're really interested in getting something specific from me i'll make a real effort to sort this out in the very immediate future!

[ozonecologne]

hey! just wondering if you sell prints, saw that hayley williams piece you did and id love a print of it, its fantastic

Hi!! Thanks for reaching out about this, and I'm so happy you like my work. I'll answer this publicly if you don't mind, because a few other people have asked as well!

I don't currently have an online store set up, but I can make and have made individual prints for people on demand before! Anything 8.5x11 inches or smaller. I usually print these myself on card stock; there are other customizable options since I only do these one at a time, like adding holographic film to the print or making stickers. Right now I can't really do clothing or tapestries, but anything you can run through a printer is theoretically possible?

If you'd like a print of a specific piece (like the one I did of Hayley recently), I'm pretty sure I can figure it out for you! Just DM me for more details and I'll see what we can work out :)

Art is not my job so I'm still figuring out a work flow... if this all sounds too complicated don't worry about it! I'm grateful you would even ask!

[jessejaredstories]

Walk on the Wild Side

Sergio was a walking gay man’s fantasy. He was tall and muscular as fuck. Beefy could barely even begin to describe him as everything from his biceps, chest, thighs, back, and even ass were massive! He made his living off of flexing his hot body as well as fucking other beefy dudes on camera. Sergio was truly living the life many could only dream of having.

But although Sergio was living the good life, he couldn't deny that something was missing. More specifically, something about his sex life. Sergio loved his very active sex life and was more often than not satisfied after every hookup he had. Yet at the same time, Sergio found himself wanting more. He wanted something new, and he knew exactly who to contact. Kris the Kink Witch.

Sergio reached out to Kris through Twitter DMs. Kris, like Sergio, also made his living off of recording and selling the videos of his gay escapades. He was known to be one incredibly kinky motherfucker online, and he took great pride in it too- as evidenced by his self proclaimed title the Kink Witch. But unlike Sergio, Kris took a much more professional approach to his line of work. For Kris, it wasn't about pleasure, it was about money. He meant business, and he never shied away from demonstrating that fact.

Fortunately, Sergio was also pretty well-known in the online gay community. Kris recognized Sergio and responded back to him within a couple of minutes. Their conversation went as follows...

S: Hey, you're the Kink Witch right? I've got a request in mind.

K: Yo. Yeah that's me. You want to film a collab together?

S: Not at all. I was actually thinking you and I can link up and have some fun. No cameras. 

K: Sorry, I don't do charity work. 

S: Trust me, I don't either. I just need to have some real fun and I know someone like you can help me out with that goal. I'll pay you a good amount too if you're interested.

K: Go on, I'm listening...

Sergio and Kris went on to negotiate the deal. In exchange for a kinky night of fun, Sergio would pay Kris $2500 in cold, hard cash. However, in order to earn that money, Kris needed to get Sergio to cum and to feel real pleasure while doing it too. But before they could seal the deal, Sergio gave Kris a heads-up by saying that he had already done almost everything anyone can think of. If it wasn't something new and exciting like he wanted, then Sergio had no problem calling the deal off. Yet despite his stark warning, Kris accepted the deal without any hesitation. It slightly unnerved Sergio how confident Kris was. He was pretty sure they both had more or less the same amount of experience when it came to sex. Could Kris really know something Sergio didn't?

Regardless of the initial unease Sergio felt, it was too late to back down now. Kris was already on his way to his apartment. Sergio passed the time by doing the usual prep work of cleaning himself out, just as Kris told him to. Yet despite his best efforts to distract himself, Sergio couldn't help but wonder what Kris had in store for him.

Does this twink really think he's gonna satisfy me just by fucking me? Ha! I've already taken on plenty of men, there's nothing new he can do there! 

Sergio chuckled at his own thoughts. His curiosity was making his mind run wild. Luckily it didn't take much longer for Kris to arrive. He showed up at the entrance of the building and Sergio buzzed him in. Sergio then welcomed the young man into his home, and although he was excited to hook up, he couldn't help but wonder if he was in over his head by hiring some 20 something year old dude with messy hair and a dirty hoodie. 

"Alright, you ready?" Kris said as he began to strip down to nothing but his underwear. 

"Yeah, do you wanna go-" 

"Wrong answer," Kris interrupted Sergio. "I'll excuse the first mistake but you'll only address me as Sir, Daddy, or Papi from here on out. Got it?" 

Sergio was thrown off by how to-the-point Kris was but decided to just ignore it. 

"Yes, Sir." 

"Good boy, now whip out your cock. Get hard too,"

Sergio did as he was told. Kris did the same. Sergio was impressed with Kris' member. It was long and hairy with some decent girth too. Although his was definitely longer, Sergio's cock was the thicker one. They were both hung, Sergio like a bull and Kris like a horse. Once they were both erect, Kris reached down to his pants. He pulled out two rings out of the back pocket, one gold and one silver. He put the gold ring on, then handed the silver cock ring to Sergio.

"Put this on, then on the count of 3, twist it to the right."

Sergio held the cock ring in his hand. The silver hue of the ring almost seemed to glimmer under the light. He hesitated putting it on. It definitely wasn't the first time he wore a cock ring, but Sergio got an inexplicable feeling telling him that he shouldn't put it on. Kris noticed his hesitation right away.

"C'mon, don't be shy, put it on!" Kris said firmly. Sergio looked up and met his gaze but didn't say anything. A moment of silence passed, then Kris sighed.

"Look man, you paid me to do a job and I plan to deliver. You trust me, right?" 

Kris seemed slightly more empathetic now. It was just enough to make Sergio trust him. Sergio nodded, then proceeded to put on the ring. He placed it on the tip of his dick and slid it down to the base of his rock hard member. 

"Alright, ready? 1... 2... 3!!!"

Sergio and Kris then twisted their cock rings to the right at the same time. The moment they did, a wave of orgasmic sensations hit their bodies, causing them to throw their heads back with pleasure. 

"UURRGGGHHHHH!!!" They both moaned obscenely loudly. 

Sergio's vision blurred as he felt the wave of pleasure overtake him. His body trembled as the ring grew tighter around his cock, making it engorged. Then suddenly, Sergio became extremely lightheaded. He could feel his very soul leaving his body. As his soul stepped out of its vessel, Sergio lost all physical feeling as he became nothing but a mass of light. He looked ahead and saw the same had happened to Kris. Both of their souls had just stepped out of their bodies!

Sergio was mind blown by what he was seeing. But before he could even react, his soul began moving on its own. His soul was floating towards Kris' body. At the same time, Kris was floating towards his body. During the brief moment they passed each other, Sergio could've sworn he saw Kris smirking. His soul continued its march towards Kris' body, and as soon as it made contact, it began sinking into the soulless body. Sergio's soul aligned with its new vessel within seconds. Every single cell of Kris' was invaded by Sergio's soul, and he could feel ecstasy wash over him as his soon-to-be new body surrended itself to his control. Once it was done, Sergio immediately felt the difference as he longer possessed his jacked, beefy body but instead a hairy twink like Kris. 

"Arghh fuckk.. what the fuck..." Sergio said with his new voice. All of the extraordinary sensations he just experienced made him fall to the ground. While he was busy trying to recover, he could see his body moving out of the corner of his eyes. 

"Bro look at these fucking pecs! These are some massive slabs of meat on your chest!!" 

Sergio watched as Kris bounced and groped his pecs with shameless joy. Slowly but surely, while Kris was enjoying himself, Sergio came back to his senses. He sat up, then kneeled down onto his knees. Well, Sergio was mostly back to his senses anyway. The sight of seeing a burly man play his own chest was filling him with lust. The only thing on Sergio's mind was how to best worship and please his master. 

Kris noticed Sergio was basically drooling and smirked.

"What's the matter, you want something?" Kris stripped down naked, then bounced his pecs again. Sergio nodded his head vigorously. "Then ask for it, tell Daddy what you want."

"I want milk Daddy..." Sergio said with bated breath and dilated pupils. "Please, Sir, let me worship your beautiful pecs!" 

"Good boy," Kris put his thumb on Sergio's chin and flicked it down, leaving his mouth hanging open with his tongue out. "Now show your Daddy what you can do with that mouth."

As soon as he heard he got permission, Sergio couldn't contain himself anymore and pounced onto Kris. He immediately planted his mouth on one of Kris' nipples and began suckling away while Kris enjoyed getting serviced. He was smirking all the while. His plan had gone off perfectly; the cock rings switched their bodies! That was the kink Kris had planned for Sergio, and he knew it would be the fun night he could've never predicted. After all, nobody knew how literal his title of Kink Witch was. But while Sergio was aware that they switched bodies, there was one little detail Kris kept to himself. Both rings would allow a body swap, but only the gold one would let the user retain their original personality. Because Sergio used the silver cock ring, his soul was forced to absorb Kris' hidden total sub personality when it took over his body. It might still be Sergio in mind and spirit, but it was now Kris in personality. With Kris possessing Sergio's muscular body with his mind still intact, the conditions were now set for him to complete the request Sergio made. 

"FUCK yeah, just like that!" Kris moaned. He could feel as Sergio alternated between licking, sucking, and flicking his nipple with his tongue. His warm mouth felt amazing against his sensitive nipples. Kris pressed Sergio's face down into his chest. Sergio let out a muffled groan of pleasure as he motorboated Kris. They were both having the time of their lives, filling the room with their sensual moans. 

Kris let Sergio worship his chest for a while longer before moving onto the next phases. Within the span of the next half hour, they made out passionately and intensely. Kris stuck his tongue inside Sergio's mouth as they grinded their bodies together, sharing their body heat together. Kris then began moving his mouth down Sergio's body, covering his neck and torso with hickies as he bit and sucked on his body. All while Kris had his middle finger firmly set inside Sergio's ass, massaging his hole and making him squirm while he claimed him as his sub. 

Then, before the final act, Kris tore Sergio off his body. He had a hand wrapped around his throat, lightly choking the panting young man. Sergio's eyes were lit with an intense lust, begging and desperate for more. Kris smiled internally. He had him right where he wanted him.

"Fuck, Boy!! You really know how to please your Master, I wanna give you a reward... Are you ready? Are you ready for Daddy's present for his favorite sub?" 

Sergio whispered "yes Sir, please Sir." Kris then pulled out a couple more things he brought and gave them to Sergio, who put them on enthusiastically. 

Sergio laid there with his ass perked up. Kris came up from behind and laid his big, strong hands on Sergio's perky cheeks. He massaged him first, letting Sergio's bubble butt jiggle in his hands for a bit. He then spread his cheeks apart and leaned down to stick his tongue deep inside his ass.

"Nghh..." Sergio groaned. He could feel Kris' tongue swirl and flick around inside of him and it. Felt. AMAZING. 

Kris ate Sergio out for a while, making sure his ass was nice, wet, and ready for his girthy cock. Once he had enough of using his tongue, Kris got back up and positioned himself just above Sergio. He let his dick rest in between his cheeks and moved it up and down, making Sergio squirm in anticipation. Then, with a wide grin on his face, Kris stuck his dick inside of Sergio. He let out a silent "fuck..." as he watched his cock head penetrate his bound up sub. He thrusted slowly, letting inch by inch of his fat member disappear into Sergio's hole. Kris was proud of his tight and warm hole, and now he finally got a chance to fuck himself in a very literal way. He waited a bit to let Sergio's wall expand to accommodate his dick, then began pounding away at him. 

Loud obscene moans, guttural groans, and boorish grunts filled the room as the two men fucked. Kris found the perfect rhythm to move his hips, fucking Sergio like he was a jackhammer. Sergio closed his eyes as he took the dicking down like a champ. Somewhere in the back of his head was the vague memory that he and Kris had switched bodies. The thought of getting fucked by his own body made his pleasure increase tenfold. It was his own cock stretching out his hole and rearranging his insides. It was a strange thought, but Sergio didn't care. All he could think about was how he was Daddy's personal fleshlight and how much he was loving servicing a big, strong man like Daddy. 

They fucked for a while longer until Kris couldn't hold his load in any longer. He pulled out, flipped Sergio over, tore off the jockstrap, then stuck his cock back on.

"C'MON! CUM FOR ME! COVER ME WITH YOUR- FUCKKKKK!!!!"

Kris finished mid sentence. He rammed his throbbing dick deep inside Sergio and let out all of his loads inside of him. Hearing Kris' satisfied groaning as he cummed along with the sensation of getting filled with his seed made Sergio shootout ropes of warm jizz all over. Within seconds, they had both become incredibly sweaty, potently musky, and drenched in Sergio's spunk. Sergio got his walk on the wild side and Kris completed his job.

Once they cooled down and cleaned up, Sergio collapsed onto his bed. Aside from the mind blowing sex, he was also exhausted by swapping bodies. He was a first time swapper after all, it was only natural. 

But just before he could drift away into a deep sleep, he noticed Kris was still moving around with his body.

"Hey... what are you doing?"

"Daddy's gonna go have a night out with his bros. Don't worry about it, just go to sleep."

Kris hopped into bed with Sergio. He kissed him on the forehead, snuggled with him, and watched as he fell asleep in his embrace. Sergio was way too tired to question it, and Kris was glad. Kris then hopped out of bed and let Sergio rest inside his body while he went out to complete his next assignment: find a hairy, muscle bear with a big ass. Now it was his turn to bottom, and although Sergio woke up the next morning not knowing where Master was with his body, he had no problem patiently and eagerly waiting until Daddy returned home.

[catboybiologist]

I don’t know if I believe in god, but I believe god would celebrate trans people. I think human diversity is beautiful, natural, and unique to all of us. I’ve also seen that the vatican released articles protecting transgender people under similar logic(please correct me if you see otherwise). Anyway, just wanted to counterbalance that anon semen hate thing.. lol

I know this is from a good place, and I'm gonna be the asshole here, but its difficult for me to accept the kindness you're trying to extend.

I think that seeking validation and a moral code from anything other than "live your life in a way that's going to make the most people the most real and happy, including yourself", including seeking that from some kind of being of external influence, makes you susceptible to guilt and manipulation by people who use the ever-changing "interpretation" of that will to get people to live to their interests as opposed to yours, and that this philosophy isn't limited to situations where the will of that being is interpreted as something that benefits me specifically because that feels like a shortsighted mental trap of constantly validating my own life decisions to myself in a nonstop cycle of searching for approval from an influence that, by definition, doesn't communicate with me.

And funnily enough, the Vatican is the perfect example. The statements you're talking about basically amount to the same "love the sinner, hate the sin" shit we've all heard for pretty much our entire lives, and was basically only written with the intent of inviting lgbt people in to try and save their poor little misguided souls:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-francis-calls-studies-into-ugly-gender-theory-2024-03-01/

But thanks, I guess. Sorry to be a dick, I know this came from a good place, but its hard for me to mask my opinion on this kind of thing. I'll fully admit there's a personal sting here. I was the most patient, good little, explaining and validating tranny with a couple Christian "friends" earlier this year, only to find that they were stringing me along so they could try to "save" me. Trying to find validation in organized religion will always be a losing battle. These are organizations built upon decades of power structures that require specific family dynamics for population growth and control. I don't know if there's a god or not, by definition its really impossible to say one way or the other. But the Christian God is so transparently a tool for political manipulation in a way that should be obvious to queer people, and efforts to make the church seem "okay" for queer people more often than not have that same, thinly-veiled disgust associated with them. "oh, don't worry, we all have our little sins! Jeff gambles, Tom is gay, John smokes..." that kind of shit. That's not acceptance. It's thinly veiled disgust that will drop the moment there's an excuse.

Are there truly accepting Christians? Yeah, of course. But if you hand me a gun and claim its not loaded, I'm not testing it by pulling the trigger in my mouth.

[lucabyte]

Your gender thought type essays have made me curious about what your oc creation/development process is like! It seems to be something you put a lot of thought into and that’s very interesting (especially cause my circles don’t often go into detail in that area)

I'm delighted to hear you're curious!! I'll give as thorough an answer as I can manage, though it'll likely be a bit disorganised. Okay, so... I'm gonna use a couple examples for this, and since you specified gender stuff I'm gonna go for some where gender/sexuality are integral, even if in seemingly counterproducive ways (but that'll be the last few...)

So. The first character that comes to mind here for me in terms of like... A lot of thought going into their gender is Lavender.

So going all the way back... Lavender was made in 2015.

Spreadsheet puts her at the 13th character in the setting, creation-date ways! So she's Been around a while.

Part 1: A Core Idea

Now, why was Lavender made? This is the first step of character creation. Well, she was made to tick a bit of a box. I realised my only girls at the time were all tomboyish so I needed a cute girl. And this was 2015, so she arose in the form of a Waifu Joke. She was intended to be a side-character with no real plot ties, so I just designed a character as cute as possible, named her simply (Lavender Wafeu == literally Colour and Waifu) and was basically done? 7 months later I would make Mafioso to slightly further the joke, in that giving Lavender a girlfriend makes her unpursuable* as a waifu. This also gave me a stark butch/femme pair, and I recall around this era there was a joke going around on tumblr of 'Indestructable Lesbians' as opposed to buried gays. This kinda became their thing. Two lesbians the plot wouldn't touch and they wouldn't be endangered.

.... And then that was kinda it. She was a cute girl who was fun to draw, shy, and reserved in nature. An opposition to Mafioso's brash (but secretly a little nervous) demeanor. I would literally just liken this to flutterdash outright. I was basically just doing flutterdash in terms of their personalities.

SO: This is the first step to all my characters. Find a core concept, or more likely, a core joke. Lavender's core joke is a very rough and (frankly unfunny) "your waifu isn't going to fuck you" joke. But you can see how she was built out of it. And we'll get to how that building happened next.

(^ Weird 2015 era lavender with her total lack of emotive range and flat characterisation)

Part 2: Dormancy

Lavender stayed unchanged for quite a while, in this flat state. She picked up a few things, mostly little 'twists' to her character. ie. she could hold her own in a fight, is surprisingly quick to jump to (cartoonish) violence, and likes a good steak. All very basic little things, obvious "oh bet you didn't expect That" contradictions.

She didn't recieve much attention during this time despite me really liking her design still. Mafioso languished even worse in this era, with her mother Omerta picking up most of the development instead. Overall, these two were very, very boring. No amount of little superficial additions could save them from this.

But it... hints at something, right? It hints that maybe there's a facade somewhere, that maybe the perfect-cute-girl thing might actually take a little bit of effort to upkeep...? Hrm...

Part 3: A Fresh Perspective

So, sometime in 2020, I was finally remaking my 2016-era spreadsheet of all my characters from the ground up, since I needed to remove a lot of ms excel specific formatting it had in it.

And while going through, I was being helped by @samhainian, who I had befriended in the years between. And they remarked that I didn't have enough directly trans characters in the cast, to which I agreed. I had a handful of tokens at the time (Adder and Angel spring to mind?) but not many more, so we literally just went down the list with suggestions. And when Sam suggested Lavender, I reacted with confusion. Because... Wait. Is she not trans? But she's so feminine? All of my characters lean extremely gender-neutral in presentation unless they're trying to do gender on purpose...?

And this just, unlocked her whole character like a skeleton key.

I was making her do her gender on purpose. The reason she had those contradictions is because she's putting in the effort to appear like this perfect, girl-next-door, waifu type. Something that doesn't really work if she doesn't have girlhood to prove.

From here, her coy 'maybe she has more to her than cute girl' hints were instantly recontextualised as a thing She was Doing. And instead of being random superficial tidbits, they were Depth. And her cartoonish 'extremely mild-mannered and polite persona' suddenly became a very human facade.

So, she had a new core to build around. And her lack of anything going on before in terms of backstory suddenly felt contextual? She's clearly fresh new to this. She had already had the backstory of being a very young (about 19~21) person who had moved to a new town to live on her own-- Suddenly that makes sense. She's forging a whole new identity. Her polite 'never really talking about herself because she's an object for the audience to desire' quietness becomes intentional evasion. She doesn't have a backstory, because she doesn't want it to be any of your business.

And ironically, this immediately Gave Her the backstory she had been missing. Her wiles and hidden 'smarter than she looks' becomes so relevant as to be real character traits...

I already somewhat went over this (and a number of other gender thoughts, including my thoughts on my myriad 'cis but not' or 'nb in a specific direction') in a thing I wrote, woof, 2 years ago: (LINK) which was a ramble about a lot of my character's genders... In that I summarised Lavender's gender as such:

Part 4: In practice

Okay so it's all well and good that I realised Lavender is Trans Gemder. But that's not where it ends, because she finally became refined and polished to the point of um. Quadrupling her image count on toyhouse. because of Purrgatorio.

See, the other reason I was getting my spreadsheets in order was for Purrgatorio (the original flavour of it, the visual novel) and I needed to just do some general housekeeping.

Lavender, Mafioso and Ess shared a route in VN!Purrgatorio, being that I saw them as a triad of characters. While this characterisation of her basically did nothing interesting, aside from showing her fiery side, this would later become the basis for her being one of the first characters met in actual purrgatorio, where she, being polite and nice, and established back in 2016ish to be one of the few characters Chrome isn't a total asshole to--- She gets to meet Ali.

Now this is where I would say a lot of the real development happened. Right there, in action, in putting her to the test of real writing. All of her characterisation stops being hypothetical, and instead something I have to portray. And I found as I wrote, she grew more deep simply by giving her such an odd situation to be in. And of note, by having Ali be intimidated by talking to cute girls, it gave her the upper hand in the dynamic-- Really allowing me to show off her ability to lead a conversation, and her quiet confidence in herself-- as well as hinting at the thing she isn't quite so confident with.

It's also allowed me to start thinking about her sexuality, too. This is another thing that goes back to her flimsy core concept. The Waifu is generally a sexless being in their own right, having sexuality projected onto them by the narrative or audience. In fact, a lot of shounen girls don't get to be romantically forward-- both because it risks alienating the intended selfshipper-audience, and also because showing too much confidence and autonomy in their sexuality can be too threatening for the chuunibyo audience, who aren't yet comfortable with their own sexuality and-- wait! Look at that! Another part of the core concept I can toy with! Wouldn't it make sense, if she's meant to be a deconstruction of The Waifu Archetype, for her to have that confidence and autonomy? This is what 2015-me was clumsily trying to grasp with the whole lesbian thing... So why not just re-angle that into her being confident and forward. It fits with her new personality, so it works!

*oh hey there's that asterisk. I also realised she had chemistry with Ali! Given the way she is level-headed and rather logical deep down, her curiosity drives this. She's not going to pass up a chance to know a literal Alien... But it also further illustrates how badly Mafioso has been left in the dust by her. (She's been quietly tinkered with behind the scenes ready for her reintrodcution, but for a while, I was really struggling!! Like, considering overhauling her character levels of struggling!! But, we managed, I think. She's yet to be introduced and put into practice yet, but it's upcoming.) To the point where I've broken them up! At least for now. Mafioso needs to prove herself I think, since now she can't rely on Lavender being waifish and easily won over.

TO SUMMARISE THE MAJOR POINTS THERE:

Any joke/idea can be a suitable core, even if flimsy, you just need to find which parts are interesting to either double down on or deconstruct

It's okay for characters to take a long time to form! If you don't feel connected to a character they might need a shake up, but also YOU might need a shake up. Lavender needed a new perspective from someone with a different approach to gender as me, and for I myself to become more comfortable with Real Sexuality (ive literally just aged nearly 10 years itll happen) before she could really shine.

Following on from the above you basically never need to throw a character out completely. You should try and find what it is you like about them, or consider core, and perhaps try and reframe or refract those elements. A character might get demoted to non-main status sometimes, but why throw away that depth? They can hang out on the sidelines if that's better for them.

Sometimes a character won't feel done until you write them! You can do this with RP if you have the ability, but I wrote Purrgatorio instead, which is intentionally low-stakes and non-canon so I don't get too freaked out about writing it. It's a playground for testing characterisaton, and putting characters in weird pairings they otherwise wouldn't to see if something interesting arises.

SOME OTHER EXAMPLES FROM MY BACK CATALOGUE:

Lavender is a bit of a daunting pick, given that she's spent nearly 10 years slowly rotating in my brain, only to finally become realised in the last 3-4 or so. But I do have some more recent quick examples, as well as another giant thing you can read if you want to.

GIANT THING TO READ IF YOU WANT IT: I've posted abt this before way ages ago but I wrote up a whole gigantic thing on my probably 2 most in depth characters. It can be found here (LINK) and also has a longass diatribe about their genders, sexualities, and the core thing they were originally riffing on. (Which was like. a specific type of anime boy ship i was a sucker for, that I eventually realised I was making way more interesting than most anime i was into was bothered to do)

It's a very thorough look into my thought process, including ANOTHER diatribe on purrgatorio granting me some good boons of character.

OTHER EXAMPLE 1: ALI

Okay Ali is too complicated to get into thoroughly here, but they're another good example of a core idea spiralling out.

Core idea: Blank slate visual novel protagonist, so gender neutral and a bit of a flimsy everyman. No real name, only a default name if you left the entry blank. (Ali, a shortening of the canon surname). #FFFFFF skin to keep the jokey ambiguity and pink hair to reference Dante's silly red hat.

Twists: Canon assigned surname of Alighieri, implying them to be some descendent of The Real Dante. And they're in a VN so there's a spooky easter egg where you can roll a death screen that shows them as an ominous demonic Thing instead of a regular human.

The, VN!Purrgatorio got shelved, and because they were human instead of a furry they got shuffled into other projects. A furry version of them showed up in a different project riffing on the demon thing, making them a child-friendly antichrist with 2 siblings based on the tragicomedy masks. Then that furry version's stuff got shoved onto the human version who was just a half-demon kid in Creature Feature. THEN we decided they'd be half-succubus to keep the ability to shift between the sexes (referencing the blank slate gender ambiguity of the VN). THEN that became 'nerd who is freaked out by being a sex demon and doesn't like the ethical implications of their existance but is still kinda miffed that they arent Getting Any' who STILL HAD the antichrist stuff from the furry version....

(^ technically a completely seperate ali ive not done anything with in years lol)

Like you get it. It's a giant katamari of STUFF from all different settings. This is what I mean by 'you never really need to scrap a character'. Because after all this shoving them around into different projects and them accruing things (the 'guy who is really concerned with informed consent is a succubus/incubus' angle really informed them here, as well as deciding that they're apathetic about the magic sex characteristic changes.) we threw them right back into the original setting of Purrgatorio and it went WAY BETTER once they actually had some character traits!

But that core idea still stands a little. Not in them being an everyman, but in prompting them to become an altersex character when fleshed out, and in the way that they're distinctly still tied to that second-person-narration that VNs have, and the eventual 4th wall break they got in the VN informed their powerset as 'narrative manipulator'.

also as a note here: DON'T BE AFRAID TO PLAY WHILE YOUR SETTING ISN'T DONE!

VN!Purrgatorio got shelved because I redid a bunch of MYMK's setting when I was finishing it up. But It was worth it even unfinished.

Ali themselves when in Current!Purrgatorio has spent, up until very recently, their whole time with their home setting (Creature Feature) in a state of being deeply unfinished and in need of a reshake. It's finally getting that now, but it was still fine for me to reference what I knew likely wouldn't be changing! They were able to function just fine without their home setting being solid for upwards of 2-3 years. Obviously this shouldn't be done for *finished* works, but when you're just playing, like I am with Purrgatorio, it's okay to keep things fluid and effectively quietly retcon things later.

OTHER EXAMPLE 2: PEACH TRACY

Peach tracy is an actually recent character, and is under @samhainian's purview, as with the rest of Moraine. Now, she was made with a very distinct gender/sexuality in mind, unlike a lot of my characters who stumble ass-backwards into one.

Peach is the 'token girl' of her group (the other two being Red, a closeted and unaware transfem, and Toyon a he/him butch.) and well, her gender is basically "tik tok girlie", as is her core concept. She only works if she's a pampered cisgender straight girl from a rich background. She's nice! But she's privileged.

Her twist however, is that she is wracked by the guilt of her and her group letting a friend take the fall for an Illegal Youtube Prank to save their own skin, and as such her entire character unravels from there.

Because she has all this guilt, it stands that her Girliepop Persona must be somewhat constructed. She's leaning in to the femininity as a shield and a deflector. She's, y'know, a white girl.

So her gender ends up being overperformed, and she's petrified of expressing her sexuality due to it being tied up in this image of purity. She's the exact type of person to psyche herself out into believing those 'having a crush on your friend is problematic' tumblr posts.

But none of this would really work if she did not start as a (white) girl, able to use that shield. If she were a dude or nonwhite-coded she would not have the ability to react to her situation that way. Ergo, she is actually built out of her identity this way.

(As for her sexuality, she is unhealthily self-flagellating about it, so it ends up just being unpleasant. This was a genuine surprise to myself and @samhainian when we were discussing it. We hadn't thought about it prior to starting some lighthearted riffing about assigning characters kinks literally bc we were bored when we had the horrifying realisation that Peach would not be safe about this shit AT ALL due to a lack of self preservation and way more ambient suicidality than we realised she had until we dug here. We quickly resurfaced from the joke conversation into an actual deconstruction of how she's internalised a lot of blame and decided to go distinctly carceral with it for herself. so there's another tip: Even if you aren't making nsfw content, poking around a character's sexuality will sometimes reveal raw truths that come from sexuality being very vulnerable by default.)

Peach is overall an interesting contrast to Lavender, since they're both Girls Being Feminine On Purpose, but one is transfem and one is. Well god idk what peach will end up but she'll need to unpack it.

(I note that peach is white also, since while I rarely intentionally racially code my characters, sometimes i SUPER do.)

OTHER EXAMPLE 3: VIRGIL MALACODA

Okay because I've talked about a number of girls so far lets be brief about a fuckin Dude.

Virgil is like, some real toxic masculinity shit. He would probably be fucked up in some different way if he were born a girl, but he's distinctly falling into a lot of traps due to his upbringing as "A dude who was promised he'd get power when he grew up".

His dude-ness is a very flat fact to me in that way, and he's similar to Tabitha in that regard since it's one of the ways they're meant to reflect each other. Dudes who's place as patriarch-to-be saved them from being pawned off as a wife, but is still responsible for a lot of their misery. Certainly the better of the two options, but could still be better!

Virgil's themes of masculinity being a simultaneous shield and blinder is a simple one but I go back to it a lot because it can be true a lot of the time in antiquated social situations like, say, the upper class. So, being a villain, he does end up being a condemnation of the structures that disincentivise healthy masculinity. He's necessarily amab because he is the result of how particularly regressive views of masculinity can shape a child into a repressed and miserable adult.

Whether or not virgil stays a dude or not if he ever figures out his way of viewing power structures was Fucked Up and Bad is anybody's guess. It's not really Masculinity that was hurting him, so much as a rich asshole's narrow view of it. So there's no real reason for him to reject a healthier version of it outright, it's just whether he'll ever get there...

CLOSING REMARKS:

Okay writing in the tumblr post editor is starting to scare me with errors so I should probably close this out. But yeah this is a little bit of a run down of where my head is usually at when making characters. A lot of it is just batting jokes back and forth until they become something more solid, which I don't know that I really got across here.

Like, a lot a lot of my characters are built around a core joke. Usually what-ifs like.

"What if a shounen-type card game anime protagonist was just as brash and head-full-of-air as the rest of the, but a girl"

"What if Ed Sheeran had a cheating scandal with two tboys and it made the radio fucking horrible to listen to"

"What if a wrestler was really, really wide and also clearly into rubber"

"What if somebody took the 'blonde anime boy who barely shows emotion' trope seriously because that kind of repression can't be good"

"What if a guy was specifically interested in becoming a Soil Scientist from like, age 4, and never gave up that dream"

^ If you can figure out who's who then you win a prize (a kiss)

But yeah. Jokes upon jokes upon jokes. Assign them classpects and pokemon and put them into speed/power/fly formation and just joke for as long as you possibly can until you hit on something. And if a joke feels really right, or completely off the mark, try and dig in and find why.

Like. I joke about the sexuality thing but it does help since it's so disarming and immediately a bit childishly funny often. Sometimes you'll end up with say, something as serious as "Despite being friends with The Fence, Selene probably shouldn't be left unsupurvised in kink spaces because she ABSOLUTELY does not have the ability to restrain herself and not take her anger issues out on strangers" and sometimes its as silly as "even outside of being asexual, ess is never jackin that shit because if he got caught in any kind of mildly embarrasing scenario it'd ruin his whole year so the cost/benefit analysis of that really doesn't work out"

Because like. both tell you about the characters, and you can also read them more broadly now. Selene ruins relationships by letting anger at unrelated things get in the way, Ess keeps himself from doing even utterly harmless things out of deep social anxiety.

Like yeah, i got to them via goofing about sex but it's still character analysis at the end of the day so long as you put The Reading first*

*DISCLAIMER: im asexual im only ever doing stuff for the read lol . it might be more difficult if youre allosexual . or maybe itll be easier. i dont know just dont get too lost in the sauce. think with ur brain not ur other parts

ALSO gender and sexualty often end up linked so it makes sense to end up at one from the other a lot of the time. It happens.

And as an addendum if you wonder where i tend to literally Design characters? Like visually? It's usually at some point between the first few jokes and before naming them. Though sometimes names come first.

OVERALL: A character should have a core concept to them to start with. This core concept CAN SUCK and be flimsy, or a joke, or even a joke you no longer find funny. But you can always refer back to it when building a character up. If you want to capture the concept, work toward it, if you want to deconstruct or mock the concept, then do that instead. If you sour on a joke, maybe find a way to satirise or deconstruct what you're no longer finding funny.

Sometimes this core concept is steeped in a specific cultural thing, be it race, gender, sexuality, ect, and those necessitate thinking about. Sometimes it's not and those things can practically be an afterthought, but once you lock it in it's likely to begin informing the later choices as it becomes part of the scaffolding.

(To hop back to why you even asked this Q: I so thoroughly read Siffrin as amab BECAUSE they had so many themes about Not Having Changed and clinging to what they knew, and so working backwards from that it only made sense to me that they mustn't've done a big overhaul YET or made any big decisions about that YET by the time we see them in game, because that's what gels best with their themes of being Too Afraid To Change and being a contrast to Isa who has changed a bunch, and a comfort to Mira who hasn't changed at all in their gender. Then it was a case of looking through the game for more evidence either for or against this reading, and I found a lot of evidence for it, in my opinion. But I did so Because I noticed that the themes were Stronger if read this way, and because I conceptualise characters as themes and concepts FIRST it made sense to try and work back to those themes.)

But yeah. TL;DR:

Ground yourself with a Hook for the character, sometimes making it sillier makes it easier to think about.

Try and think about how they would be formed by the world around them, or what their behaviour says about how they must've been formed

Don't worry about things taking a long time. Sometimes a character needs someone else to make a suggestion, or for you to grow and change a little before they click

Putting it into action helps a lot, even if its just roleplay or short snippets. If you can't 'feel out' what a character would do in a situation, that's when it's time to think about their goals for how they want to be seen as a person (including, if they don't want to be seen at all...!) and what hard boundaries they have say, morally.

I am by no means a like. Expert on any of this. I'm fumbling through it all just as much as the next guy (AND... I'M ACTUALLY SOMEWHAT OF A HYPOCRITE. I THINK CHARACTERS ARE BEST SEEN AS 'NARRATIVE CONSTRUCTS' RATHER THAN 'PEOPLE', SO ALL THIS ADVICE BEING SO CHARACTER FOCUSED RATHER THAN NARRATIVE FOCUSED IS MISSING THE FOREST FOR THE TREES LOL....) but apparently people do Like my characters? So, what do I know i suppose LMAO

[phantalgia]

Prohibition of Political Discussion In Communities is Dangerous

People don’t like talking about politics. Oh they really hate it. They don’t like people who talk about politics and they want their communities clean of politics. But it doesn't take to long to think of how dangerous this sentiment is. And I'll explain.

Depoliticization in a Queer Community

There is a video of Slavoj Zizek doing a lecture where he has controversally stated that there is nothing revolutionary about being trans (I’m butchering it and probably making it unnuanced but that's the essense of what I took). He was explaining specifically that being trans has pretty much been swallowed up by liberal recuperation. And from that standpoint it makes sense.

Among many individuals I talked to in the queer community there is no consensus on ANYTHING. I have yet to see it. Many don’t really bother too much with the theory behind being queer at all. This can be ok and just shows how normalizaed being queer is becoming which is great. However, among the queer community you are much more likely to find very left leaning people among all across the spectrum. But that's just a minority. Usually it's just very liberal minded individuals literally and metaphorically. A lot of times you can find right wingers, which is strange of course.

One queer community I’m in has made it a rule to exclude any political discussion. Granted, queer politics has remained. But I thought this was strange as there is clearly an inevitable tendancy for some things to turn political. And that point is important. Many things have an inevitable tendancy towards becoming political debate. For most of the 2000s it really seemed like queerness was being detatched from any political connotations, slowly. Until much more recently, this trend has reversed, especially among trans individuals. Which again, tells us that everything has the tendancy towards becoming political issues. So why detach queerness from politics and the very revolutionary act of transforming oneself into an enlightened state just as much as society needs it?

Politics Is Everyday Life, Get Used To It

If I may vent out my frustrations, politics is just a fact of life. You MUST be apart of the discussion process on any issue. Any desire to detach oneself from the act of politics must come from a place of selfishness or immaturaty. But to be fair, it tends to come from an intentional effort to make people disillusioned with politics. Many people feel they have no say amongst politics so why does it matter? And you know what, that's a fair point. It's also fair to say the education hurdles are huge and take a lifetime lf work so why bother?

I Get It, Modern Politics Sucks

Ive talked about this before. Modern political discussion is nothing but arguments and the flexing of knowledge about niche and obscure topics. And once it comes down to it, you're really electing individuals to do the politics for you. Your hope is that they're smart enough to make decisions on your best interest.

But what do these people do? Even if they have at least some semblance of social progressivism it's often very symbolic and often insulting to very real minority groups. "They don’t do enough for me! Why should I bother voting for them?" And those are fair points. It doesn't address anything and just becomes insulting to minority groups and condesending to groups who don’t get it (this I think is a general problem among the left, not just centrists and liberals and is something I want to get into at a later date).

Any imagining of alternatives to current forms of political discussion are often nullified. Instead, we have "debate bros" and two candidates flexing their egos on live TV (for the boomers), and online. They don’t do anything except flex ego, knowledge, and speak about their "truth". I've made this argument before and that's political discussion today is just unhealthy.

Existential Issues Vs. Physical Issues

One problem is that many issues debated are existential or abstract in nature. The debates surrounding queerness, identity, and kids is just too abstract and existential that many minds repel critical thinking. The issues surrounding economy are just too existential and abstract that, again, many minds just repel the possibility of more nuanced discussion. Some people are just on different levels of existance. They can't think past what is familiar to them, this is something I often struggle with and why, for example, philosophy can often be challenging.

But some issues are physical and local. For example, a local river is polluted and a city had to do something about it. Most people would like to get it solved right then and there and be done with it. Then we can move on. Oftentimes, the physical and existential come together. Say climate change or COVID-19. What happens then? They become very mooted existential issues rather than real physical ones as they should.

Why We Need Political Discussion In Communities

In our online spaces there is a tendancy to believe that the internet is not reallife and all discussion of politics should not exist. Instead, the internet is a place to escape to. Which is clearly not the case given much of what goes on here is a reflection of the real world, not against it.

But the number one reason why our communities need political discussion is an obvious one, it's just dangerous to not allow it. I have increasingly seen more and more communities turn away from politics in the most dire times. Which is now. This spells out ignorance, docility, and a quick road to fascism.

It's strange to think people don’t seem to find the contridiction in getting politics out of things when political discussion is essential to a healthy democracy and beyond that, existance regardless of if it's democracy or not. There is often political calls to depoliticize issues when they arrise and this happens a lot in politics. For some examples...

Many Republicans try to decouple politics from mass shootings by using their "thoughts and prayers" as the closest thing to any political action. Many argue for the depoliticization of being queer so they can "live in peace" making the mistake that being queer, let alone HUMAN, is inherently a political thing.

I feel like it's difficult to explain exactly why just existance is political and nobody can disengage from politics and all acts in life are political but I want to try my best to explain...

Why Existence and Everything Is Inherently Political

I think the problem here is what people think of when they hear the word "politics". Perhaps it's a donkey and an elephant. Abortion, taxes, fiscal policy, or foreign policy. But let's bring the word "politics" back to its roots.

"Politics" the word comes from Ancient Greece meaning "affairs of the cities" (I mean this is straight from wikipedia, so you can find this pretty quickly). It's just how decisions are made among groups of people and how power and resources are distributed. Ok, so now the word politics is much more broad, it doesn't just mean GOP vs Democrat. This can include municipal, town, neighborhood, state. And affairs can be like the polluted river example.

So then we as citizens have a political duty to something. Because we are apart of some group or a collection of groups. In this case those groups are AT LEAST family to city to country to the planet. You do politics in just your family alone, what to eat and where, and who is doing the dishes if there's any strict rules to begin with. There are people now doing politics for you, making politics before you, and will after you. What comes out of these collections of historical and present political decisions becomes the environment YOU GROW UP IN.

What does this mean? That you are the product and are influenced by these political decisions and we can throw economic ones in there too because they're connected. The culture you become accustomed to. The communties you interact with, the media you consume each have a taste of those collected political decsions throughout history from Ancient Greece to modern capitalist liberal democracy in 2024. I hope you enjoy my butchered historical materialism. Anyway, I think we can take an EXTREME example of why something seemingly innocuous can be political. Let's take brainrot as an example.

"How The Fuck Is Brainrot Political?!"

If I told you that skibidi sigma rizz was fr fr ong political you'd probably think I was the jonkler from Ohio (I can't believe I said that but Im dying laughing right now). But, let's go through it. How the hell does the collective actions of political decision-making lead to brainrot as a phenomenon?

I think it's easy to imagine how economic and political decisions on young people, large tech companies and their influence in shaping culture through the help of Washington and the capitalist structure rewards this reshaping of young minds with profits to those firms. What matters is an algorithm that brings in the most profits effeciently, effeciently in the neoclassical economist sense, not in an ethical sense.

The content produced by people individually can be seen as an expression of the times. Brainrot and all that shitposting is an expression of the cynicism of contemporary times. A reflection of the absurdity of modern culture, modern economy, modern politics, being self perpetuating through its hypernormalization. The capitalist enterprises take advantage of this and CONTINUE TO PERPETUATE IT. Reinforcing itself. There may have been no intial political intent to create brainrot, but it's existence is a product of all those past and present political decisions.

So I could say that videos of horses eating hay being filmed in a funny angle is political just in an indirect way. The videos created by themselves reflect the political world indirecty, the politics that created the internet, the real world politics shaping internet culture. But once it is recognized and circulated as a meme, it grabs the attention of algorithms and can become commodified and becomes apart of the internet culture. Again, reflecting the absurd nature of the real world. This isn't to say that it can't be entertaining without political or economic context, but that it reinforces cultural and societal attitudes of a given time.

As absurd as this was, I hope this can help people understand what some mean when they say things like "all art is political". It's difficult to fully explain, especially given how abstract it is and how attuned we become to just passively consuming media isolated from current material conditions. This is something I want to talk about further, especially in light of the "controversy" surrounding Tim Cain's (Fallout creator) video and comment on capitalism and Fallout.

So, What Are The Solutions?

We Need To Rethink Political Discussion

Modern political discussion sucks. Watching streamers, drama freaks, and debate bros talk isn't helping and is only good for ragebait. What is the solution? Really, I don’t entirely know but I have some vague ideas.

YouTuber Zoe Bee points out that facts don’t change minds, stories do. And I think that's one place to start. I have said this before that you must introduce people to your world. What you see and think. And you must engage with the other party's world. Try to challenge their world a little bit, you probably won't get anywhere. But you can at least try to humanize your views instead of using facts. And maybe plant a seed in their mind that needs time for growth.

I really think truth is out the window. Again, people love to point out at facts. And what x,y,z person or group did to a,b,c person or group. They will go deeper down the rabbit holes of things and frankly, there's just too many rabbit holes to go down.

Facts and truth don’t matter in the face of information overload, or if they can be whisked away with conspiracy theories, whether true or false. So instead, we need core values and beliefs and to be critical of our inherent beliefs about the world and living as a whole. Not specific issues. If any issues, broader ones.

Communities Need Spaces Where Political Discussion Can Happen

Communties need to foster spaces that allow for political discussion. Perhaps such a platform needs to be heavily moderated and parties need to be aware of the risks involved with engaging in such a space. Which also need solutions. Perhaps the tools we use for allowing political discussion must be shaped in a way that allows for no judgement, allow critique, and reassurance?

Political discussion is the make or break for relationships with people. So we must be vigilant to ensure that we can humanize discussion and ensure our tools for discussion are as well humanized.

These spaces should obviously be seperate from the main community. A little corner where this can take place among a community. Perhaps with an acknowledgement system an agreement to? Unfourtunately some social media platforms make carving out a little corner difficult. Some are easier.

Social Media Networks Should Allow Anonymity

This is more up to those networks rather than people. But anonymity can reduce the burden of being made fun of for certain views, beliefs, opinions, and ideas. Of course, people can make seperate accounts to achieve this, but many people like to keep one account and that's fair. Perhaps there are work arounds to ensure anonymity?

Temporary Indirect Forum Styles

Another idea is to have political discussions be based in forum style to allow people to fully articulate the nuances of their arguments in a single post. Then, instead of getting troll replies, there could be a way in which individuals must respond to those posts via seperate forum posts. Of course, you could just retain the original forum style and just ensure rules are in place that prevent trolls or unenlightening replies. But this idea is mostly to prevent some anxieties associated with how people might react. These forums would also disappear over a set period of time and can be chosen by the creator. Of course, that can have the opposite effect and have people ensure there is a record of posts by screenshotting.

Parties Must Consent

Consent to discussion is key, and opening it up with a friendly demeanor is important. Communities should give consenting parties the space they want to discuss poltical issues, especially with opposing parties.

Political Discussion Coincides With Education

The hurdle of becoming educated in political issues is immense. As I stated way earlier, it can take a lifetime even. We're constantly learning. So political discussion must be a place to educate as well. This is why the flexing of knowledge is quite useless and aggravating because it just leads to snobby remarks and oppression to unlearned parties (you were unlearned once, still are, and always learning). I am still guilty of this habit. It's still heirarchal which must be unlearned. It comes from a place of wanting control.

Once people can see or be a part of discussions and hear from people more knowledgable on things, this can create more thinking people. But it cant be from a place of "dumb vs. smart". Such distinctions don’t exist and if it comes to that point then they can become ad hominem or personal attacks.

Spaces must provide resources or allow people to ask questions and more. Again, humanizing is important.

Conclusion

I want to wrap this up. At the end of the day, we are political creatures interacting with a political world regardless of whatever political system we're in. We must be aware of our mutual dependency on each other and that we don’t need people to do the politics for us. We're better than the debate bros. We're better than to exclude political discussion in our communities. We need it in order for our existence to survive, for minority groups to survive. We must engage critically. Not resign from the world.

[edwad]

"but it definitely doesn’t mean i think that anybody at the barricades is too stupid to learn this stuff if it interested them." this is where you called people stupid, implying that it applies to people who can't learn theory in the way i was talking about. also i don't know why you think i moved the goalposts. my claim was that marxism is too esoteric for building a mass movement. if you really want i'll swap out "marxism" for "marx's critique of political economy" (1/?)

which i am still unpersuaded of. the counterexamples you listed tended to read shitty leninist/maoist secondaries and probably had garbage understandings of communism as when people get paid the full value of their labor or whatever. in other words they didn't understand it and fucked up. that will always happen because you're never going to get an entire society to understand a text that people who have studied their entire lives still disagree on the basic thesis of 2 centuries later (2/2)

me: they're not too stupid to learn this stuff

you: i can't believe you're calling them stupid

this is ridiculous. and the way i was describing people not needing to spend extra time or effort to learn these things (without being stupid for it!) is the same way you were talking about it when you said "they can overcome that barrier, but [...] that takes an amount of time and dedication that few will elect." i don't think they have to put in that level of time or dedication and my point was that i don't think they're stupid if they don't do this. you are deliberately making something out of nothing.

anyway you've apparently moved from marxism to marxs critique of political economy (which is not identical to marxism!) as a way of denying you've moved the goal posts (?)

and your second message is just wild to me for like a hundred reasons but in particular this doesnt change the fact that they mobilized around marxism. if you want to change your claim to say that they weren't animated by marx's critique of political economy as you specifically understand it, (since being paid the full value of labor-power is in fact *an* interpretation of it, whether it's one you agree with or not) then sure. you can have that extremely trivial point. but now you're holding an interpretive problem over everyone else as if the real issue is simply that they come away with "garbage understandings" for the things you apparently think you know. or even that consensus on the book is a necessary prerequisite for communism, something nobody has ever claimed except you.

so to be clear, i have never claimed that a scholarly consensus knowledge of capital is necessary for every individual before they can enter the pearly gates of communism. if that's all you've been trying to say this whole time then congrats, we agree on something which never even needed to be said. and which, i suppose, you never even did say! because that wasn't your initial claim, it's just what it's turned into while you've scrambled to project your own elitism onto me

[memurfevur-archive]

A question for the mun; May I ask what are your favorite trolls in the ftc as a whole?

Oh geez, I feel like this is always changing for me because I keep getting to know amazing new people and amazing new characters. I think I'll just name a few blogs and list my favorites from there, as I don't think I can pick out of the entire community when it's full of people I also don't know or haven't interacted with (yet!).

Quite a few of them belong to my partner @mageofspacemultiverse as I've known those the longest and have quite a few ships between us. A few of my favorite characters from him are Zomson, Hidelord, Devaron, and Pixcel. Each character of his is unique and has interesting backstories and personality, and yet every one of them is so on-brand for his blog.

From @thestarlightbrigade I have always adored Deltra and MY LIL MAN HIBUKI. Special shout out to Iiboye too. Lots of edgy angsty characters but each one is a specific flavor that never gets tiring. Avery's vibe is I'm shaking him by the shoulders and biting him affectionately. That is to say, he's a fun guy and silly to talk to. Prepare to get cat-gif'd.

@stuckstucktrolls I thirsted after Viktor since day 1 bruh. He's the Troll I am most familiar with besides Teagan. Creative characters and also very pretty, the lot of them. Cool cat boy cryptid gets the seal of approval from royal moth cryptid.

@goddesstrolls Kairos and Kairne. Ik Kairne isn't on the blog anymore but I thought he was pretty damn neat tbh. One of the first characters I knew Bast by. Also um... my (ex)wife Akidis, I love her to bits and pieces, and my male-wife Darvai. Buff women and bastard men run this blog, and all the world build and narratives Bast has come up with over the years are SO -chefs kiss- .

@miks-fantrolls Antemh <3 Sticking him under a microscope fr. I don't know a lot about anyone else, but maybe that'll change sometime. I don't know a lot about Mik but I personally think he's cool af. Mik if you're reading this I'm staring at you with wet pathetic eyes and offering you an egg in these trying times.

@roetrolls Veylin <3 She makes my heart happy. Also Franky, I would give him the world. Mallum is up there, too. Roe makes a lot of characters that are compelling, friend-shaped, and possesses you with the Funny Horrors (aka I can't stop laughing every time I see 'Dominion' on a street sign or pub. Like, it's the kind of joy that's like 'I know that guy! That guy belongs to this really cool person that I look up to! How silly that he has a bar named after him!' )

@sasster ...................... Redivi.................. Look, one could argue and say it's because he's a vampire and I'm absolutely a vampire simp 100%. But. But he's *terrifying* and that's a big reason why he's a favorite Chase Troll of mine. Compelling, scary, but recognizable as people we may know in our every day lives. An ever so loved face and name, but there's always something behind the scenes that we can't see. There's a performance for the world, while on back stage the true colors show. Mind you, I am extremely behind in the lore of the blog, but that guy? Man. That guy.

@windy-trickster -slaps the top of this guy's blog- This blog can fit so many funky lil dudes filled with unique lore and fantastic personalities and oh my god the angst. My favorites among them are Doleos, Rastho, and Althor. Windy is a creative writer and puts SO much love into his characters. Like for real, it's always a pleasure listening to him talk about them. It's clear he puts in a lot of love and effort into his guys, and I think y'all should go and see that for yourself.

@askthehiddencaste Shuska and Ashoal. I feel like Shuska is the face of the blog (i mean, the entire theme is a library, so), and she's such a charming character. Warm, friendly, but she's STRONG in spirit. Ashoal and Shuska are the two I'm most familiar with aside from Heliel (I want that goopy man carnally). Kanny has a lot of fascinating characters that all feel like a natural family to me. I could hang out with their characters and feel right at home.

@experimental-failures The only one I'm familiar with is Nix, so I guess he's my favorite by proxy-- BUT! I've always thought Nix was very neat. He feels like a guy I can run into out on the street irl. He feels so real to me, and it's always a pleasure.

@the-rainbow-overflow Elnric and Viroxa. Two very interesting characters for vastly different reasons, lol! I love the alternate timeline stuff Elnric has going on, and I feel soft for this guy mostly because it's the first Troll I knew Dusk by. Viroxa is... oh boy, god damn, a bastard? Such a manipulative and cunning guy where the ends justify the means, and I am OBSESSED. Bonus points that he's a scientist guy, ya know? We all love unhinged scientists. Kissing him on the cheek even if he may take my lips as donation and sew it onto someone else. Special mention to Makona as well, I am unwell about HISStory of Violence <3

@trollbreak Um, Bladed, teehee -twirls hair- Jonah has SOOO many lil guys. Silly lil guys! Some of these silly lil guys commit murder and treason! Some of them will give you plushies and Autism Creature stare at you as a means of friendship. Heehoo is my ultimate favorite, and Bladed is close second, but I adore Jonah and all of their characters.

@clown-fuckers-r-us Montague!!!! MONTAGUE!!!! MY BELOVED!!! CRYING WEEPING AAAAAAAA-- ahem. So um Montague is my favorite, he's so cool? I'm so invested in his story and not just because I have a ship going with that guy but his concept is so intresting??? A Purple with anger issues, rich and privileged but kind and loving-- now ruined by a broken mind and psyche, his one scrap of salvation that keeps him from fully losing himself being the memory of a lover that he hasn't seen since before the war on Limebloods... You should definitely go share some love with Bun, the mun of the blog; she's an AMAZING person, truly a wonderful friend, and one of the most nicest people I know.

@moonlit-trolls Tythus by far. It's been SO neat seeing Tythus grow and develop as a character. Moona and I made Ptillo and Tythus together, and while Tythus had some shaky beginnings as Moona was figuring him out, it definitely solidified and paid off in the end. Tythus is a compelling villain imo with complex goals and ambitions. Not to mention what a SILVER FOX HE IS GOD DAMN. You go girl, make that man hot and pathetic <3

I'm running out of steam for this post; if you're not listed on here it doesn't mean I don't have favorites or that I don't like you. There's A LOT of trolls to keep track of in the community and a lot of members too. Everyone has such amazing characters that I cannot possibly list them all off. Keep doing what you're doing, and remember that even if it feels a little pointless at times or that nobody cares, there ARE people who enjoy the content you put out-- whether its art, writing, silly little tidbits, or whatever else! There's people out there who will think about you over the smallest of things and smile, people who will think about you and your characters and feel inspired, people who may be too shy to interact but love and appreciate you and what you do. Whether you're a big or small blog or something in between, thank you for being part of the FTC.

[rhysintherain]

I can't remember if I've specifically seen you post about your Tav and/or Durge? But a great way for me to get to know them! 35, 37, and 39 for a Tav/Durge of your choosing. c: (And heck, also for Rikka the Bhaalspawn you told me about, if she was a companion. :D )

Thank you! The only Tav I've put a ton of effort into lately (the one I occasionally write about) is Skye: druid, non-binary disaster, dating Shadowheart canonically. Guild artisan background. A bit more chaotic than most druids would like. Has a lot of history with the legacy companions, since they're Jaheira's protege.

Greeting a player character at different approval levels:

Low: don't you have something to be doing? ANYTHING to be doing, besides this conversation? Because I sure do.

Usually I don't bite, but I'll make an exception for you.

Neutral: need something? I have *sorts through pockets for stray stuff* an empty bottle... Some string... Where did all these gremisha tails come from? Oh, I have cheese! Let me know if any of that sounds useful.

If you're hoping I'll say something druidic and wise I'll give it a go, but it'll probably just sound sarcastic.

High: need a giant feral cat to smack someone for you? Please tell me it's Lae'zel.

You know what my favorite thing about the city is? The conspicuous lack of ankhegs.

Romance: here, I made you something *hands player some little thing made out of odds and ends collected on their travels*

You know, I used to doubt leaving Cloakwood, but with you here I'm sure it was the right choice.

If a player asks them "tell me about yourself":

Born and raised in the Gate, which was... Interesting when I learned to wild shape into a coyote as a kid. Fortunately Jaheira took pity on me and taught me some shapes that get fewer rocks thrown at them.

Spent some time at the Cloakwood circle - the REAL Cloakwood circle, mind you, shadow druids don't count - but there's only so much bug control and giving directions to lost city folks you can do before you'd rather be anywhere else.

Not much more to say, honestly? You already know I can turn into an assortment of creatures and can't stand Ashaba Dusk.

(spoiler alert: there's plenty more to say. Like the last name they refuse to use. And the fact that they learned most of what they know from a handful of legendary heroes. But they're not going to say any of that until The Plot forces them to)

When a player character asks for a kiss: have I ever said no before? Actually, if I ever do just assume I've been dopplegangered.

Of course, I wasn't working on anything important at the moment *que the sound of something falling over/a hiss of a potion eating through the workbench/the growl of a possibly dangerous animal off camera* well, not more important than this...

And for Rikka, the half-orc shaman Bhaalspawn from BG1 and 2. Neutral good, insufferable ray of sunshine, romanced Rasaad.

Greeting a player at different approval levels:

Low: Can I help you? *Under her breath* I mean, can anyone, really?

Oh hey, I've been meaning to talk to you about your questionable decisions lately.

Neutral: whatever you need, I'm on it like ugly on an orc! (This was actually one of the in-game dialogues in BG1 for the voice I chose for her. Didn't know that when I picked the voice, but it was very in character that she'd think it was funny)

We shouldn't linger here, the ghosts of this land are restless... Gods, you should see the look on your face! Admit it, I had you going, didn't I?

High: Minsc just asked me if he'd hurt that tree's feelings... I swear, I've known that man for over a century and he still manages to surprise me.

Need a summoning? An exorcism? I'm pretty sure I know a couple dead dragons who owe me favors, just say the word.

Romance: if it isn't my favorite person, wading through the mud and blood of the adventuring life to come see me.

You know I'd walk straight into the hells for you, right? And I'm not just saying that because I've done it so many times I could justify buying a summer home there, either!

If a player asks them "tell me about yourself":

Oh you know, I'm pretty normal. Daughter of a murder god, raised in the finest library in the realms - which I made much better use of than my sister, for the record - got my soul stolen by an evil wizard, but then who hasn't? They offered me my father's throne at one point, but the family business just sounded like an awful lot of work, you know? I have 15 - no wait, I think it's 16 now - beautiful grandchildren. Okay, maybe my life hasn't been the textbook definition of normal, but I'm surprisingly normal about it!

When a player character asks for a kiss: pretty please?

Oh, my day is getting better already!

[lividria]

10 followers woohoo

i now have 10 followers that aren't whatever cheezbot is and my punching bag from discord, and i still find it funny i've interacted more with this one person who will just appear on my metroid posts sometimes usually to argue about lore and someone who i somehow see a new post from every time i check tumblr more than like all of my followers combined, whoops

i guess this is as good a time as any to talk about like my recurring post topics and give an update on all of those with where they're all that, i genuinely don't know if anyone cares about them but i'm going to pretend they do because it makes me feel nice, if you care about any of the following and want to provoke me into talking about them more send me an ask that'll probably do it

i know that in the grand scheme of things this number is meaningless but it means something to me okay let me have this

i'm working on Something Pretty Big for vivlore right now which is why i haven't been posting about it more i promise i'll get to it, it's just... there's a lot to cover which is a daunting task and i'm already trying to cover it all again with my S.P.B. i just mentioned which is a higher priority than tumblr posts

i'm more or less out of ideas for metroid posts besides following up on the metroid menace saga and posts about some joke ideas i've had for intentionally shitty sequel concepts, and it will probably stay this way until prime 4 or a prime 2 remaster drops or i go back and finish super/replay dread or prime 1, i feel kinda bad because i know metroid is why i got most of my followers but yea

i genuinely forgot to follow up on my big pikmin posts about Pikmin: Global Survey and the Sparkly Wraith theory, I still have so much more to say about GS and so much to say about my theories for what the apocalypse in the Pikmin world was (assuming it wasn't the Sparkly Wraith lol), I just haven't really felt like it since I think I'm out of my Pikmin hyperfixation for real now, but I plan on replaying 3DX & 4 soon and the creator of pikmin echo is seemingly back from a several month absence so that may reignite my interest enough to get the engine running on my shit

i have tons of story ideas, tons of game ideas, i just haven't really been in the mood to write them out yet but i promise i've got some really good shit, though don't expect me to follow them up with actually writing/making them, if i'm going to manifest an idea i have it'll be vivlore first, so to the hypothetical person who wanted me to write Alien Exorcist for real i'm sorry but you're out of luck write it yourself

i have a lot more Funny Stories i can tell, i just have to feel like it, or i'll just have to experience more, given that i'm still working through the new games i got for my birthday a month ago so those probably aren't going anywhere

there are a couple other one-offs i meant to make a recurring thing, like Midnight Deranged Thoughts and out of context discord screenshots of my friends and i, that i just didn't, i just need to feel like making follow-ups lol

and there's other stuff i plan on making a series, like talking about my dreams i have for example, i just need to figure stuff out for those and also be in the mood, like i'll have to re-type my notes from my dreams to fit my tumblr post style which will be a pain for the longer ones but the longer ones are the interesting ones i'd be talking about, and that kind of specific problem applies to a lot of my future post series ideas

so uh, yeah, that's all i think, i know that all of the posts i actually put effort into are the least popular ones i do but it's nice to get that stuff off my chest and into the void, i just like writing even if it's not writing writing, and maybe one day someone will find and appreciate my posts idk

tl:dr More Shit Soon I Promise Lol

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

hey can i get 13, 20, and 22 for zoey? thx

Absolutely!! We'd be delighted to answer these questions (er...uh to "have Zoey answer them" 😁). Thank you so much for the ask! Take care!! 💙

ZOEY Answers:

13. You're given an unlimited budget to build anything you want!  What do you build and where do you build it?

I'd definitely build a bridge! It's always been my dream to build bridges ever since I was little. Since the budget is unlimited it would be nice to build a more expensive type of bridge like a suspension bridge or a tied-arch/bowstring bridge (that's one of my favorites, actually, so I might have to choose that).

The type of bridge is really going to be dependent on where its being built though since certain bridges are better suited for certain conditions (i.e. distance and local weather).

I'd want to build my bridge wherever it was needed most and where it would benefit the most people.

20. Describe your biggest pet peeve.

I've always been pretty irked by people refusing to apologize and failing to own up to their mistakes whether that be by insisting they've done nothing wrong or by pushing the blame onto others and insisting that their mistakes are "always somebody else's fault." Everyone makes mistakes (I certainly have made a lot of them myself). The best and most mature response is always to say, "I realize I messed up here. I'm sorry" (even when it's difficult and humbling to admit) and to try to make things right. For someone to dig in their heels, refuse to take responsibility, and insist they've done nothing wrong or that it wasn't their fault, is often entitled, narcissistic, and juvenile. It also shows an unwillingness to learn and to change which has always been very off-putting to me.

There's no chance to learn and grow from our mistakes if we don't take responsibility for them.

22. What's the easiest way to flirt with you?

(...why is everyone so interested in my love life? You know I don't really have one, right? 😅)

Um...honestly no one I've ever been romantically interested in has been particularly skilled at flirting. I think it's probably because I'm generally drawn to people who are genuine and sincere (not just in a romantic sense but in a platonic one too). Honesty is really important to me, and oftentimes really charismatic people come off as disingenuous which I find slimy and off-putting, especially when they're flirting. Thankfully, Kyle, who has more charisma than he knows what to do with, has only ever seen me like a sister and has never tried to hit on me because I doubt we would've ever become friends otherwise (even though I know that under all that flirty bravado he's really just a goofball).

I like to think I'm a pretty discerning judge of character even though most people are not 100% honest all time. We all hide parts of ourselves, I think, especially our vulnerabilities, but there's a difference between being private and being fake. I don't mind putting in the effort to get to know "the real you," but there has to be something real and sincere upfront because you can't build any lasting relationship on only smoke & mirrors.

In that way, I guess that the easiest way to get me to like you would probably be just by being yourself, and however, you flirt--no matter how awkward it is--it's honestly kind of endearing because it's you and that's real.

In terms of specific types of flirting though...I've always enjoyed a witty banter. I've always been the type to tease to show affection, and people say I'm fairly quick-witted so, I'll admit, that particular brand of flirting is pretty enjoyable to me. 😁

[todayisafridaynight]

NGL kind of curious to know what you meant with regard to Smile being a sad kind of funny but that may be an excuse to experience the show secondhand while getting out of actually watching it...

NEVERTHELESS Garden already seemed super promising like 6 minutes in and I'm sooooo glad to hear it follows through... his character reminded me a lot of Shizuka in The Travel Nurse right off the bat (highly positive sign, that's my wife) but also Whore With A Terminal Illness is one of my favorite tropes... AND I get to see boobs... waow...

Don't Cry Mr. Ogre is def cute <3 Due to an atrocious viewing experience (as usual I guess) I do not remember much of Wish except that Tsutsumi read through some of the cookbooks they used to decorate the home set to pass the time LMAO but I hope you enjoy the rest of the movie :) See you at stream later!

LMAO if yaint plannin on watchin it then ill drop the FATTEST spoiler bombs ever. i suppose. i mean the spoilers arent anything Epic i guess but anyways. gonna put this ask under a cut since it's just turning into a review at this point LMAO

it's 'sad funny' to me because throughout the show, Our Japanese-Filipino Bestie vito constantly tells his love interest that he'll become a stronger person and he'll become better to protect her- yk that whole spiel. the problem with this is that Even Literally Hours Before He's Due To Be Executed For Murder, he's still telling her this when it's like... throughout the series Literally Every Episode or every other episode he's crying and having to rely on other people. there's nothing wrong with crying or needing help but he never sticks up for himself or does thing on his own, he ALWAYS ends up getting help or needing help.

the one time he DOES stand up for himself and protect her he's being punished for it Aka Being Put On Trial For Murder and it just leaves a really weird taste in my mouth. usually when you watch a show or movie you're waiting for some kind of character development but for our guy, it's not really there and it's just kind of sad to watch. but funny because he keeps saying he'll get better. but mostly sad.

i think i understand the angle of 'being a foreigner/perceived as a foreigner in japan is so arduous it can make someone not want to put in the effort, or theyre too scared to'- a type of Learned Helplessness right. but he's our protagonist: we're meant to see him stand up to these prejudices and want to advocate for himself, and tell us 'hey, just because things ARE this way doesn't mean they should be and it's right'. it's only because of kazuma (our Spoilers Korean-Japanese friend) that he's able to be acquitted for the death penalty- a penalty he wanted to accept because of the murder he committed (btw the guy he killed was the biggest jackass ever. like irredeemable. like he got vito in jail years ago and kidnapped him prior to his murder and wanted to put ANOTHER assault charge on him)

i get really itchy thinking about it.... korea and the philippines were both persecuted by japanese imperialism Thats A Fact, yet SEAsians are treated MUCH more differently compared to east asians. it's kind of funny (sad) how asians dont like each other and that there's almost a list of ethnicities more likely to get harsher treatment right- but i guess im getting off topic. it is something that was itching the back of my mind the entire time watching though

i'll pivot away from that Real Talk depressing-ass topic tho LMAOOOO im not the kind of guy for those discussions. 'whore with a terminal illness' is the funniest description HELP BUT IT'S TRUE THAT'S LITERALLY HIS CHARACTER i couldn't help but think of The Travel Nurse when i started watching too funnily enough... BUT YEAH I DO REC IT it's SOOOOOO good..... love it when nakai gets a terminal illness and now he has to be a family man..... it's a really specific set of circumstances but they deliver every time lol..... the show's p (✿U‿◕✿) bout the boobage i guess is a way to put it LMAO LIKE THEY NEVER LINGER AND IT'S P CASUAL but it is there and it did make me go Eyo like three times. since this ask is under a cut im at liberty to say im only asking for ONE (1) squeeze JUST ONE <- i am forcibly removed from the studio

MR OGRE WAS DEF CUTE i kept getting reminded of my old track coach lol..... im also just a baseball enjoyer so Unfortunately I Too was just sitting in my chair biting my knuckles during shit like saito bunting the ball instead of following obuchi's directions... lmao... anyways... i'm sorry to hear your Wish viewing experience wasn't good- it's cute that ttm was reading cookbooks on set tho LMAO

this ask is already nine hours long so i'll say i REALLy enjoyed wish. i already said so in my past post LOL but ill say it again in that i love crime stories, yet an aspect of crime stories that always get excluded or aren't as looked at in-depth is the family of those involved, whether they're the criminals or victims' parents. wish does a wonderful job at showing that off, and it was just a grand experience watching this family have to cope with all the bullshit goin on around them while simultaneously trying to figure out what happened to their son AND what's the right thing to believe.... was very epic to me....

[thefanficmonster]

May I request

Boyinaband x reader at is an animated YouTuber.

Thanks

Of course dear! To avoid a long wait I'll write your request in headcanons format - if you'd like a full fic feel free to let me know!

Enjoy 💕

Pairing: Boyinaband (Dave) x Reader (Gender Neutral)

Warnings: None :)

Genre: FLUFF, Romance, RPF (Real Person Fic)

- Expectedly or not, the two of you met through Jaiden

- You had started out as her editor and then started making your own content on YouTube

- So, as your subscriber count went up and as Jaiden's convincing started becoming more and more effective, you ended up agreeing to go to VidCon

- That's where she introduced you two

- It was all shy interactions and awkward laughs until you found your shared interests in video games and movies

- That's when you both turned into chatter boxes

- And ever since then - aka VidCon 2019 - you've been a real power couple

- At the beginning of 2021 you moved in together and it was then that you really took in the fact that you were both workaholics

- Like, you knew from the day you met, but it never really struck either of you how much you had meant it

- You have a two bedroom apartment which has proven to be perfectly fit for two artists like you

- Your office is situated in the corner of your and Dave's shared bedroom which has ended up being perfectly enough big of a space with several outlets nearby for all the gear you need while making a video and the animation itself

- The other bedroom is Dave's studio

- You have great memories in it, soundproofing it was fun due to how much you'd goof around and get little to nothing done

- It's not the best sound isolation, y'all couldn't afford some a-class stuff with your small budget but it's doing you well

- The neighbors aren't complaining and you can always listen to his recording sessions while you draw

- Speaking of drawing, you get lost in it, losing track of time altogether

- Dave often has to come in and remind you that you aren't a robot designed specifically for that activity

- On a rare occasion it's the other way around, but due to his burnout it's been more of the first case scenario

- While on the topic of burnout...

- Being content creators, you experience it a lot

- And being both content creators and artists just amplifies it

- But luckily you have each other, both knowing what it's like and both knowing how to help the other get through and out of those dark woods as soon as possible

- It goes without saying that you're one strong support system and a lovely unit

- You're both affectionate people but express that side of you in small gestures and physical touch rather than words

- And of course, in your art

- You bet there are songs in Dave's drawer about you

- And he can bet you've drawn him a special character for your animations, always putting extra bit of effort into his design

- Your relationship became public soon after you moved in together and the overwhelming wave of support that hit you took a load off your backs

- Of course, there was also Jaiden over there like:

- "Knew I was onto something with you two. Thank me later, lovebirds!"

- You can't even argue, you owe her A LOT

@waterlilypat @iwillboilyourteeth @insanedeathwish @onceuponadie @loraleiix @smiithys @rottenroyalebooks @goldenstarofthunderclan @cosmicstorm19 @lam-ila

[reds-burrow]

Good evening! I was hoping to hear your thoughts on something, if thats alright? I am working on figuring out my secondary at the moment and need a person to bounce off of. So... here goes. I invest in the people around me. But i am very aware that i am doing so. It is very consciously done. I understand the benefits that come with being a good, nice person and so i do it. I'll bring you food i make from scratch. I'll help you when you're in a tight spot. I'll be the shoulder you can cry on. I really do enjoy helping others but there is usually an underlying reason why i invest in those around me besides me simply being a nice person. Now, most all people like me. But the couple that don't, really REALLY don't. I always ask them why they don't out of sheer curiosity. I wonder what i did wrong. What could i possibly have done to make you disdain me? Each of them said to me basically, "I can see through you. I know who you really are." That scared the shit out of me. Instantly, my defenses went up. It was like i barricaded myself from them, even though i had no real reason to do so. I cut contact with them. Then, later on i start questioning myself and my actions. I get filled with self doubt. Am i the good person i thought i was? I brought my neighbors homemade cookies, but did i REALLY care about them at the time? I lend a helping hand whenever i can, but do these people actually mean anything to me? Or did i just do it because i am some sort of narcissistic psychopath? Am i only nice as a means to an end? I freak right out. I suddenly dont know who i am. I dont understand myself. It really screws with my brain because, you know, being a really nice psychopath seems a bit oxymoronic. Is this indicative of any specific secondary? Or am i just crazy? I dont know my primary either, btw. I think ive narrowed it down to bird or badger but im not sure yet. Thank you for your time!

Okay, first and foremost: you were doing good. And in my book, in this random stranger on the internet's book, consistently doing good is all that matters. I'm not as interested in what you think in your head as I am in your actions. If you bring me a cookie because you think it makes you look kind, I will happily take the cookie and think you're kind because that was a kind action. And maybe this is an overly simplistic, overly pragmatic point of view, but this world is way too complicated to judge people on anything but their consistent actions. Many people have "bad" thoughts; it's what we do and the words we choose to share that shape who we are out here in reality. In your personal, internal reality? Whether or not that internal you is good is up to you and you alone. But I believe that simply recognizing that doing good things affords you benefits (people may reciprocate, people give you positive attention, you feel the ease of a clear conscious, etc.) doesn't automatically invalidate your efforts or disqualify you as a good person. None of what you wrote sounds crazy. In fact, it sounds incredibly human. Evolution has wired us to be community-minded creatures, meaning we feel good when we help others. There's nothing wrong with enjoying it. And seeing you worry about being a good person tells me that you most likely are.

Okay, I better quit the philosophy talk while I'm still making a modicum of sense. Onto your sorting.

The entire question of whether you can be a good person because you are consciously choosing to act like one is dancing the line between being a Secondary or a Primary discussion. You said you might be a Bird Primary, and I'd definitely lean that way since you've heavily implied that you consciously choose what is "good" as well. But ultimately that was just the implication. I suggest you examine how you came to the conclusion that investing in people is "good" as a starting place for determining your Primary. If any part of it is a subconscious instinct to help people, I'd say there's a good chance you're a Badger instead.

As far as your Secondary, feeling like you have a part of yourself that you don't usually show others, this second motive idea, all sounds like a Bird or Snake. The way you describe barricading yourself from others when you were scared also sounds like the social armor Circumventing Secondaries use. And then you keep using the word "invest" which is one of those key Built Secondary words. I'm not about to suggest cooking from scratch is a Built Secondary hobby only (anyone can enjoy that), but it does sound like you're using food as one of the tools in your repertoire to put people at ease. So, I suspect you're a Bird Secondary. You don't give any information on how you solve problems with no social element, however, so I suggest also examining how you solve these Single-Player problems to confirm or refute my impression. For instance, you can look at how you cook, especially when tackling a new recipe. Or if you discover you are missing an ingredient while cooking, how do you handle it? Or can you not relate to that at all because you always keep your pantry full and prepared? While all you've given me here reads like a Bird, I still see a possibility of you being a Snake Secondary, so you should try to examine how often, if at all, you find yourself trusting and acting on your gut reaction alone. Snakes will be comfortable with this, but Birds won't be.

[colourful-void]

Supporting Satoshi - an examination and comparison of JN36 and XY121

Part One: Snowballs do not cure depression but it was worth a shot

You know that episode of Pokemon where a gym leader beats Satoshi in a battle so hard that one of his pokemon gets mildly hurt (though there's no long term effects) and because of it he becomes depressed, closing himself off from his friends before someone comes along to pull him out of that mental state, and also severe weather phenomena is involved and a reflection of a persons mental state? Or rather, the two episodes?

So when I was watching Journeys, I noticed an episode that had a similar-- but distinctly different-- plot to an xy episode I had seen before. And what was particularly interesting was that while I couldn't stand the xy episode, the journeys episode was one of my favourites. I won't drag this out for you guys, I love the journeys episode and re watch it a LOT and the xy episode sort of just leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth. and don't go claiming its solely ship bias, because i saw the xy episode first and disliked it then.

This will analyze both of these episodes, comparing them against each other. Specifically within the context of how Goh and Serena both help Satoshi through a similar situation There will be some discussion of AmourShipping and Satogou in this analysis. I'm going to be a bit negative regarding Serena's actions and the potential "romantic" weight of them here, but I want to be clear that I Do Not dislike Serena as a character. Personally, I wish the writers had given her more room to grow outside of her romantic interests, but I do not hate Serena as a character. I do, however, disagree with her actions in this episode. Please don't take this out of context and dont be ship fighting in the comments, it's boring. This is a comparison of These Two Episodes, not of Goh and Serena and their respective ships as a whole.

This part mainly focuses on the xy episode and the second will focus mainly on the journeys. It's only divided into parts because of the tumblr post limit.

(If you like the xy episode or hate the journeys episode, awesome! having your own opinions is great. these are mine though, so i hope you'll listen to them)

With that out of the way, let's start. And I'm going to use mostly japanese names here because I'm taking screencaps from the subbed japanese copies.

The set up for each of these episodes is eerily similar as pointed out in the gag at the start.

Xy has a bit more set up before the episode in question though, with the initial loss and retreat into the forest by Satoshi taking place the episode before. The episode opens up proper with Satoshi taking time to breathe to himself, alone in the forest.

Emphasis is placed on him taking a deep breath, aided by the visuals showing them (thanks cold air) and the silence of the rest of the soundscape, with the only other sounds being the wind and some bird pokemon, plus some falling snow.

Journeys Satoshi starts off in a better mental state than Xy, with the episode starting off with him jogging along with his pokemon.

However, we can still see that he's been affected by the last battle he lost, against Saitou, as he's putting a lot of effort into training and doing better.

Which, doesn't go well for him, as he loses his next two battles as well, and drops in the World Championship ranking as a result

And he's pretty upset about it too. Same thing as over in xy. In both cases, a respective friend/love interest notes that Satoshi is upset and expresses concern.

He's got support from his friends in both situations! But that support comes across in very different ways.

But, to understand how that support manages to affect Satoshi, we need to understand the problem at play.

Now, I wanna make something clear here. Satoshi's problem is not that he is a sore loser. I'm not arguing that's not a contributing factor, or that he's not upset about the loss (particularly in the world championships), He's still bitter about the lost part, but the root of the problem is not losing, he's been shown to be fine with losing (if not a bit more motivated to win now) in prior episodes.

Satoshi's problem is that his pokemon are getting hurt. Satoshi's problem is that his pokemon are getting hurt, because they're losing battles. Satoshi's problem is that his pokemon are losing battles because he's not training them well enough. And to clarify, that's not my viewpoint, it's his. Satoshi's problem is that he's not good enough for himself, and he feels that that's something he has to fix on his own.

So how do we help him?

Our weather event in question is introduced in separate points in the episodes, but I'll cover them both now.

In xy, it's this snowstorm, which conveniently becomes a problem directly after Serena returns to the Pokemon Centre.

In journeys, it's a sandstorm! That's in near direct contrast to a snowstorm! Incredible.

Heading back to xy Satoshi, things aren't going great in the forest. Luckily, Serena's run off to find him.

I think it's of note here that Serena runs off with the best intentions, she wants to help Satoshi, plain and simple. It just sort of goes wrong along the way.

It's worth noting that Xy Satoshi tries to bring himself out of being sad by the tried and true method of "stop being sad"

Despite telling himself this, he doesn't get anywhere. Which makes sense, because it's not getting the the root of the problem. It's not even addressing it at all. He's just trying to 'be better', which isn't even a battle strategy. However, it is something I can see him saying, so this isn't a critique of Satoshi's thought process, but me pointing out that this isn't really effective. Which is supported by the narrative, because again, he doesn't get anywhere, he doesn't even move.

I can't show it in screencaps but the lights in Satoshi's eyes are shaking here, something that they consistently do throughout the series when he's feeling a particularly strong emotion. Keep that in mind. It couples well with another trait of his, and that's his hat!

And by that I mean how he hides his eyes with the brim of it when upset, something he does exactly as Serena shows up and calls out to him. Now, he's not upset that Serena is here. He's upset about the pokemon stuff still. He's trying to hide the fact that he's upset from Serena.

Serena starts off with her speech well, trying to appeal to Satoshi to let her in and talk things out. And maybe it's because he wasn't ready for it yet, or because of the way she phrases it (a lot of 'i' and 'me' language which can be helpful but can also come across as though she's making it about her. not her intent i don't think, but a possible interpretation.), it's not her fault for how Satoshi reacts regardless.

But how Satoshi reacts is not good.

Now it's really interesting to note that before this, Serena was standing while Satoshi was sitting, putting her above him in terms of active power, when it comes to how the shot is presented, but when Satoshi stands up, the camera tilts with the movement so that they're on equal level. Neat!

And Serena yells in return, scolding Satoshi for not talking about it. Not the best move, since pushing someone to talk about something that's upsetting them isn't really productive, but she's trying here and she's frustrated.

Satoshi continues to withdraw and self isolate, claiming it is his problem and that he wants to be left be. Now, this is the mindset of a clearly upset person and isolation may not be the best option, but he did make the explicit request to be left alone here.

He's clearly upset as he turns away from Serena's eye and slumps over a little.

And then Serena throws a snowball at him.

Angry as he is, you can see Satoshi's expression change when he sees Serena's reaction.

Serena tells Satoshi that she's not like the Satoshi she knows, who is always full of energy and positive and a leader, and a bunch of other positive traits. The problem here, is that Serena's looking at an idealized version of Satoshi. And while the intent here was probably meant to be something more like "you have so many wonderful traits about you I know you can do this", coupled with the snowballs and the phrasing, it seems as though Serena is scolding Satoshi for being sad.

Or rather, being angry with him for not living up to her idealized version of him, and not wanting him to express any negitave emotions.

Which is sort of a really bad mindset.

The snowballs continue, never once does Satoshi fight back. In fact, he stops arguing entirely after the first one. Serena knocks him off his feet and tells him he's not being himself, before running off. (In the english dub, Serena claims that Satoshi isn't being "the real satoshi" and then demands that the real Satoshi be "given back", so it could be worse)

Satoshi decides to literally run his problems away, because it will help him reach some kind of conclusion, and immediately trips and falls down a large hill. No, I'm not making that up. Something like this just isn't like him. He's just gotta stop being sad!

Now personally, I really disagree with the idea that "being upset" isn't "like a person". That's because based off of my own experiences, I know it can be really damaging to hold the mindset that any negative emotions you feel aren't a part of you and that you shouldn't be upset because you're usually a positive and happy person. Not the case with every person, but I personally really have a problem with shows telling children that they just shouldn't be upset instead of processing their emotions in a meaningful way. (The journeys episode doesn't do an outstanding job of it either, but this is a bit of a tangent anyway. A show that does do this right is "OK KO! Let's be Heroes" which actually deals with this problem in greater depth and does a fantastic job of it.)

But the snowball scene ends here. Now I'll get back to Journeys in a moment, but since Serena has finished her part of the comparison for the most part, I'm going to summarize a bit more of the xy episode.

Satoshi decides to literally run his problems away, because it will help him reach some kind of conclusion, and immediately trips and falls down a large hill. No, I'm not making that up.

The snowstorm kicks in, Serena get back annoyed, then similarly groans and yells, and the whole xy gang + pokemon go running off in search of Satoshi. Pikachu appears the most concerned.

Now Serena tells the others she lost her cool and said something horrible to Satoshi, but explains its because Satoshi is someone she admires. Cool motive, I get it, still kinda bad.

and in the end, it's not Serena's words that get he message across to Satoshi. The solution to this problem was Satoshi finding a way to reaffirm his abilities and instinct.

In the xy episode, he helps some pokemon out of the tree, and when his very cool frog friend shows up, they're able to work together with their bond to save this one from falling off a cliff.

Here's the point. Satoshi learns by doing, by actions. He needs to see first hand that there are ways of getting past his problems, and that it's worth having the courage to keep going. The lesson is about valuing pokemon as equals and partners, and specifically that trying to be better as the trainer alone isn't going to help.

This is essentially where this plot line ends, team rocket is there for a bit as well but as much as i love them they're not relevant here, and some fun stuff with the league, love it not important right now its like 3am and I'm not sleeping until this is finished so we gotta keep things moving.

This was no doubt Serena's intent to get a similar point, but she goes about it the wrong way. She tries to convey this with words, as conversation and motivational words have helped her in the past (Elle's words of praise stick with her, Satoshi's words from when they were kids, etc). It's a good idea, but their different ways of learning and growing from a similar situation are incompatible, and that's why things don't work out in Serena's favour. There's also still the problem of "pulling yourself together" not being helpful in this case.

There's also a very similar line in this scene to the one at the end of the journeys episode, as Satoshi says to his frog that they should start over from scratch. It's essentially the same phrase with different wording. It's great. The Storm ends as he realizes this as well! Wonderful in terms of pathetic fallacy.

The gang all reunites, its nice. Satoshi thanks Serena for what she said after apologizing to everyone, which contradicts what he said earlier but I've already established that I dislike this message here so I won't go over it too much. I guess he's right in a literal sense in that in response to her words he went and ran until he tripped off a cliff but the emotional growth here was because of his own actions (and the frogs), not Serena's. Sorry Serena, you'll get em next time.

This is essentially where this plot line ends, team rocket is there for a bit as well but as much as i love them they're not relevant here, and some fun stuff with the league, love it not important right now its like 3am as I write this so we gotta keep things moving.

So. What about Goh?

Well...

(Part Two here on account of image limit!!)

[16bpp]

The Problem People Have Where They Generalize Whole Genres Of Games Under One Central Idea or: How I Learned To Stop Whining And Open My Mind To Actually Interesting and Good Games

For the record, I couldn't think of a good short title.

// Alternate caption: Oh boy, another iwbtgg 200 word essay?

Hi. I try to avoid writing long blog posts about stupid menial shit, but you're reading this so that means I'm taking the time of my day to write one!

I was mindlessly scrolling through Discord as an average person just does nowadays when I saw something that sort of irked me. To paraphrase, it was in regards to the game OMORI and how the concept has been done before. Although this criticism is sort of valid and I'll elaborate why soon, the only real problem is that they called out specifically RPG Maker fans for defending it mainly.

Now I only considered that a problem because it showcases one of the things I never really liked about how people viewed RPG Maker games. In fact, it was something I fell for too!

It was the idea that RM games are just the same garbage. Depression and anxiety, blah blah blah.

Of course now this has become more prevalent with OMORI becoming a big shot name in regards to RM games with the whole depression anxiety meme spreading around like hot pancakes. Though I'm here to tell you that like, that line of thinking is pretty stupid.

All humans are of course prone to generalizing things, that's just part of human nature. But this one only irks me because there ARE good RM games out there. People only really focus on either

or

Aye that depression and anxiety game

I believe these two, especially the latter, are the most prevalent is because of how RPG Maker, no matter what version, is easy enough to pick up and use. Of course, it takes some getting used to (especially older versions like 2003 and XP), but at it's core that's what the software is meant to be: "POWERFUL enough for a developer, SIMPLE enough for a child, VERSATILE enough for any platform!"

Ayo save the princess with the default RTP gfx

Although this belief has helped make thousands of games, it manages to be one of the biggest pitfalls of RPG Maker. It lowers the bar enough for low effort, garbage games to be made. Due to this, you can argue RPG Maker games get the same treatment as Unity games. People see that "made in Unity free version!" watermark and go "eugh Unity". In the case of RPG Maker games, it already has a fairly recognisable UI and for games that haven't switched from the default graphics, art style. Hell, it even applies to music! Once people open up a low effort, and for lack of a better word, shitty RM game, their mind will immediately make the connection: "Man this game fucking blows!". After said person may run into several games of the same calibur, the mind will usually make the connection "RPG Maker and it's games fucking blows"

The criticism that I mentioned was sort of valid in an earlier paragraph, because in my honest opinion, it does not matter if a concept is done already. It matters the way the developer or writer presents the concept. There are definitely games that do this, such as Future Cat's 2016 game OneShot. It blends in fourth-wall breaking, making connections with the main character and the player, and the idea of only having one chance to do things beautifully. All of these concepts have definitely been showcased in other games, but OneShot has to be the only one that has done it almost perfectly. Review soon.

But in conclusion,

The signal to noise ratio for good RPG Maker games ends up being way too much noise and some signal.

But hey, what do I know. I'm just some schmuck on the internet.

[thetruearchmagos]

What inspires your world building? And do you have any tips to make it less overwhelming?

Heyho, my friend, thank you for the Ask!

What inspired me? Well, a lot of things. At first, it started out with a collection of books and movies, sci-fi stuff and "Techno-Thrillers", some of my favourite genres. Tom Clancy's stuff was some of my bread and butter, and that style of multiple perspectives and grand scale power plays writ large inspired a lot of the style and conceptual themes of my World.

These days, I've gotten my World to the point where I could get inspiration from pretty muc any soure, really! Media like books obviously sticks as one, but so does whatever things I notice or come across in real life, or in references to history. Really, you could gain inspiration from pretty much anything you'd come across.

And that leads on to your second question! There are lots of people out there every bit as qualified to give advice as I, and many more so, but I'll give my two cents.

You probably ought to ask yourself what your worldbuilding is meant for, even if only in the vaguest terms. Do you consider it as taking precedence below a story or other "media" you intend to tell, or as the project and plan in and of itself? The question itself shouldn't be taken to intensely, and really it serves more to provide some basic idea as to the "effort" you'd put in.

As for the act of worldbuilding itself, there are a few ways I think help make it less overwhelming. As a start, I approached worldbuilding from the very start as the process and activity to be enjoyed throughout, rather than a chore or a mere necessary evil. Taking the process as an art or place to find interest itself, and not a chore, is an important step to getting the most out of it.

Linked to that, I realise that it's often best to avoid attaching deadlines, quotas, or really too many expectations at all on the process. If, say, you're feeling like you're slogging your way through a specific aspect of the world, it might make sense to take a step back from it all, and think about it idly, or a connected topic, and simply let your mind wander about. Try and "spin it in your head", as if it were somethinh interesting in your hands that you were turning over and around to inspect, rather than throwing yourself against the issue. Eventually, some level of patience and calm thought will probably accomplish more than beating yourself up if you feel something just isn't quite right.

Well, if I was able to come up with more wise words to say, I'd probably try, but I think I've said a tad too much as it is! If you find yourself in need of ay help at all with this creative endeavour, my DMs are always free and open to all comers in need of advice!

Hope my words were even a little useful, and happy worldbuilding!