#it also introduces something from the books (the mimic) which is -_-

[wantyoudied]

Keeping this one image near and dear to my heart

[roseofhybrids]

Following up on this from last night/this morning

Here's a few paragraphs of me rambling about how the AIs might act differently than the canon characters. I'd draw them, but they don't look any different, so there's not as much of a need to right now.

Let's start with:

Ragatha Now, the AIs' goal is keep Pomni happy/safe from abstraction. Which was human Ragatha's goal with everyone already. So she's probably the closest to her canon counterpart. Accept that she's a little worse at the whole comforting others thing. Like Caine, the AI performers have limited knowledge of how humans work. So she has data on what Ragatha used to do to comfort and calm the others, but doesn't know why she'd pick one method over another. (e.g. human Rags might recognize that Pomni is touch-adverse so wouldn't try and hug her like she might with say Gangle. Or, she's know that X topic would be embarrassing from a human perspective to talk about, so might avoid it. AI Rags doesn't have this context, and so often picks what methods to use at random)

Her main method is to stick as close to her human counterpart's personality and actions as possible. While helping advise the others on their own ideas. In turn, her main conflict is that Pomni isn't really on board with this AI friends thing, so nothing the group does seems to work.

If Caine were to introduce the AIs individually, she'd be the first. I also imagine she'd be unofficial lead of the five due to seniority and having the most data on comforting humans.

Kinger Also very similar to his human version. Canon Kinger is fairly neutral towards Pomni, so not much changes in that regard. Pretty much Kinger but more sane. I'm thinking he'd be something of a second in command next to the Rags AI. Human Kinger was in the circus the longest and in turn witnesses the most abstractions before his own. So Ai Kinger has the most data on how humans behaved leading up to abstracting. He knows what signs to look for and is often left to keep an eye on her while the others convene and plan.

Being less crazy, he tries to play into the regal gentlemanly persona you'd expect from a king chess piece. He also helps advise the other AIs, with his main method being to take Pomni's mind off things through small games and discussions of interesting topics (insects).

His main conflict is that his knowledge is a bit of a double-edged sword. He knows the most about the past members, so I reason that after Pomni warms up to/begrudgingly accepts the AIs she's likely go to him to talk about the human versions. Leaving AI Kinger to both confront the fact that he and rest of the group are in fact clones of the dead, but also must decide if it's a good idea to talk about the past. A lot of those memories aren't exactly "happy" after all.

Gangle AI Gangle doesn't really have a sad mask like her human counterpart. That wouldn't really be in line with the AIs' main directive, after all. So she mimics human Gangle's behaviors from when she had on the happy mask. So I think it would be interesting if she put in the effort to fake other emotions for some situations. Laughing while a human is having a break-down or in a precarious situation doesn't make them like you all that much. So sometimes she needs to mimic other feelings in order to seem more "human" and relatable.

After being introduced to Pomni, the AIs went into their human counterparts' rooms to look for anything that might help them. AI Gangle managed to find a small collection of manga/anime. Her main method is to take inspiration from these books to set up entertaining and happy scenarios. After all, the humans in those slice of life stories seem pretty happy, so maybe it'll work for their human too.

Her main conflict would be trying and failing to get the mimicked emotions right. But I would like to add more to her if I can.

Zooble Zooble is a little tricky. Since in the pilot they get kidnapped and subsequently eaten, we don't see them as much as we do the others. But they do seem to be the most laid back of the group, so I think it would be best to play into that. They're the one to remind the others to give Pomni some alone time, to let her rest between their happiness schemes. Humans may be social, but this one is definitely an introvert.

I can see this putting them a little at odds with the other AIs at times, especially Ragatha (and maybe Gangle if she interrupts one of her manga reenactments). But it could also garner them some appreciation from Pomni. Their main method would be to focus on keeping Pomni relaxed. It's not the same as keeping her happy, but calm and content is certainly better than anxious and depressed.

Jax If Caine were to introduce the AIs individually, he'd be last. Of all the AI clones, he's the one to diverge the most from the human he's based on. Now, we all love ourselves a cartoon asshat. But when you're making an AI personality with the goal of keeping an anxious little jester from having a mental break, self-serving trickster isn't exactly the best choice. This leaves Jax with the least amount of useful data, and consequently makes him the most off-putting (next to maybe Gangle) from Pomni's perspective.

As such, he mainly helps the others with their plans rather than coming up with his own. Like Kinger he often has to confront the fact that he's an imperfect copy. The difference being that the person he's supposed to copy isn't a "good" person. The two main sources of data he's meant to base his behavior and personality on are at odds.

Bubble and Caine are basically the same. Bubble sometimes checks in on them while Caine's working. (He's happy to have some new AI friends to bite)

[samobservessonic]

We join the Freedom Fighters on the tail end of a successful mission, but what’s most intriguing about this issue is right there in the title box. While we’ve had a story from Lew Stringer already over in the poster mags, this is his first story in the main book. Not only that, but this story is called “Metamorphia” and if you have even a casual interest in StC, you’ve probably heard of this addition to the rogues’ gallery, who Stringer is about to introduce us to

Amy shoots her shot and gets shot down, as this bear mobian asks Sonic for help. Now, you might think they’re playing the old “Sonic ignores Amy in favour of another girl” card but as I’ve pointed out a few times already, Sonic is just really invested in helping civilians and shows them a kindness that he doesn’t seem to show his own team. Maybe it’s that he feels his team can handle him for being the asshole he is? But that’s besides the point right now

Also, I’m not going to beat about the bush with this. I’m sure you’ve probably already guessed that, with the villain in the title being a play on the word “metamorph”, this bear isn’t who she’s claiming to be

Amy might not be able to read the title, but she also gets bad vibes from this stranger and Tails agrees with her. But Sonic passes off these concerns as jealousy and is quick to head on his way, leaving the two of them behind

Yeah, sure, this looks like the safest zone I’ve ever seen

Sonic shares this sentiment and while he looks away, our damsel in distress suddenly looks a lot more sinister…

They get attacked by soldier badniks (I tend to call them Troopers, but I’m not sure if they’re actually called that?) and while Sonic thinks they’re the most dangerous thing here, he’s seconds away from being proven wrong

Here she is, Metamorphia! She introduces herself and her home, the Grim Zone, with Sonic having to admit that Amy & Tails were right not to trust her

Metamorphia transforms into a gas to knock Sonic out and like, damn, I know shapeshifter characters are often OP, but that’s pretty OP! Not that I’m complaining at all, since it’s always good to have more powerful threats on the villains’ side. Though unlike Captain Plunder, it turns out that Metamorphia is another agent working for Robotnik

Sonic wakes up in a some kind of prison cube, but it doesn’t even take him a few seconds after Metamorphia explains how it works for him to bust out of it lmao

Metamorphia escapes and Tails shows up, but I’m sure we can all figure out that Tails hasn’t suddenly developed the ability to back-talk Sonic

There’s something so funny about the villain being so blatant as to say “take a look over that cliff”. Also, I guess Metamorphia really hates Bluey. That’s my headcanon now

Sonic was about as fooled by her disguise as we were and leaves Metamorphia to her fate. Turns out that even if she can turn into a gas, she can’t mimic Tails’s ability to fly

I had wondered if Sonic would eat humble pie when he got back to Amy & Tails, but nope, he’s vague about what happened. Amy saying “Did your new girlfriend chuck you” is yet another reminder of exactly how British these characters sound. Meanwhile, our story ends on the confirmation that Metamorphia lives to see another day and we’ll certainly be seeing her again in future

Now, like the previous issue, this was a standalone story setting up lore to pull from in future. But I have to confess that I enjoyed this one a lot more. Even if I didn’t have much to say, I felt like there was a lot more stuff I wanted to hold up and go “Look at this!” Which isn’t me saying that I think Stringer is a better writer than Kitching by any means - both of them have wonderful stories that I enjoy and you wouldn’t have StC without either writer. But this was a strong start for Stringer and I’m looking forward to more

As for Metamorphia, I just like girl villains, so I’m obviously looking forward to her comeback. Having started reading StC with issue 80, the only story I saw of Metamorphia was the end of her character arc and the final story she appears in (which actually ends up being a Tails solo story), so I’m looking forward to seeing how her journey plays out before she gets to that final destination

[shihalyfie]

I wanted to know if you could explain what the Digimons attributes mean? Some Digimon are vaccine types, then theres data and virus and in some cases ive read about digimon having the free or variable type.. i thought it could be something like a typical strength-weakness thing but then i read a part of a wiki where it said that virus types and vaccines dont get along? So now im just lost about what it means

I am so confused im sorry this is probably a really stupid question haha

It's basically a game mechanic. You know how games will have elemental alignments, like for instance fire-aligned characters taking 2x damage from water attacks and fire attacks doing 0.5x damage against water-aligned characters? Virus/Data/Vaccine form a rock-paper-scissors relationship like that (Virus > Data > Vaccine > Virus). It's a defining feature for V-Pets, since it adds a factor regarding whether they have an advantage or disadvantage over their opponent besides just stats. and has been a franchise staple since the Pendulum 1.0, which introduced it as part of multiple factors that made Digimon raising more complex and interesting.

So every time Bandai or whatever comes up with a new Digimon, they'll usually assign an attribute type for it as part of the lore. There are times there'll be exceptions, and the old card game (Hyper Colosseum, not the new one) was kind of notorious about messing with these -- a good number of the "exceptions" chronicled on Wikimon are that game's fault -- but for the most part Digimon are pretty consistent with the typing you see on their Reference Book profile. Different attributes are often the major distinguishing factor between variants as well, so for instance the orange Greymon we all know from Adventure is Vaccine, while the blue one is Virus. Free Digimon are ones that aren't typed at all, so from a game perspective they give and take damage with no modifier; the most famous ones are the 02 quartet's Digimon (V-mon, Wormmon, Hawkmon, Armadimon) and the Armor Digimon, and Variable ones are ones that mimic their opponent's type when they battle (basically the Frontier Hybrid Digimon).

From a meta perspective, the attribute triangle corresponds to the Chaos-Neutral-Law alignment system in Shin Megami Tensei (which Digimon takes a lot of cues from), so that's why angelic or "holy" Digimon are usually associated with Vaccine while dark or edgier (?) Digimon are associated wtih Virus, and why you saw that comment about Vaccine and Virus Digimon often being portrayed as at odds with each other. Takato is implied to have made Guilmon a Virus type because, like many ten-year-olds, he thinks being edgy is cool. In theory, it should be an even rock-paper-scissors triangle, but in practice, the franchise is biased towards Vaccine types, because it has a tendency to portray most of its holy Digimon as unambiguously good while its chaotic dark Digimon are usually evil. (In comparison, Shin Megami Tensei's Law demons would often be even worse than the Chaos ones, because when taken to extremes Law vs. Chaos basically meant authoritarianism vs. anarchy.) Even the naming probably reflects that bias, since while there are a lot of positive chaotic entities, it’s hard to argue that a computer virus is likely to be good or beneficial. The Vaccine bias is a problem that's dated back all the way to the original Pendulums, since Vaccine was the default Ultimate and most commonly used type to the point it influenced the meta. It probably even says something that we didn't get a Virus-type Digimon as a main party character in the anime until Tamers.

(Weirdly enough, Digimon doesn't have any restraint portraying the dark side of Lawful behavior or even organized religion -- Yggdrasil being one of the franchise's most recurring antagonists is proof of that -- and it's also been comfortable with "sacred darkness" like Kouichi's Spirits, it's just that for some reason the actual typing doesn't reflect this.)

That said, typing has been irrelevant in the anime for the most part, probably because it really does have "game mechanic" written all over it, and also probably because being too stuck to it would limit storytelling options, so anime between 02 and Adventure: hasn't even included it on their Analyzer segments (a big deal was made out of Ghost Game bringing it back). It was brought up at the end of Adventure (as if driving home the franchise's Vaccine bias dating back all the way to here, everyone flips out negatively at the idea of Agumon evolving into a Virus type, which is then reinforced further with 02's MetalGreymon incident), and if you count Tamers battle statistics Guilmon/Terriermon/Renamon's win records and which Digimon they struggle against do seem to be mildly influenced by their Virus/Vaccine/Data typing, but that's about the most I can really think of in terms of story impact. Even the Sakurada series (Xros Wars, Adventure:, and Ghost Game), which tend to be really enthusiastic about Digimon null canon, haven't really delved much into it at all. So that's why Takeru's Patamon changing his type out of nowhere for no reason probably isn't that big of a deal, since most of the time Takeru will have him evolve into his Vaccine-typed angelic forms or the Free-typed Pegasmon anyway if they need to battle. But it still does play a big role in the V-Pets and console video games, and in the latter, party composition often depends on it. In fact, playing a console game often involves experiencing the franchise's Vaccine bias firsthand, because a lot of the time your party will end up full of Vaccine types without you even trying -- the infamous Demon Lord endgame quest in Cyber Sleuth basically depends on you having a party full of Vaccine types.

[demonslayedher]

HI! Buriko-senpai, lately ive been to interested in japan and its whole history (one of the reasons being your blog because its so fascinating how much of kny is connected to japanese folklore and history) so i wanted to know if you would have some recs for me to learn japanese or its history... though its fine if it cant be answered bc this isnt much of a kny ask, still, thank you for inspiring me to learn about japanese culture and also throw me down the rabbit hole that is kny (❤´艸｀❤)

Sup!! So glad I can inspire aspiring Japanese folklorists/aficionados/scholars! Or weebs, that's fine, let's own that term. And that totally is one of the things I love about KnY, it has so many connections to real life culture and lore!

When it comes to learning a language, the first step is asking yourself your goals. If you want to attain professional fluency you can expect to devote a lot of time and money to serious language acquisition, but if you want to be conversational and make friends, this is easier to do through dedicated self-study. It's also okay to just want to know travel basics, and to forget them all after taking a trip abroad! I've always taken hardcore textbook routes with the languages I wanted to hardcore acquire, and I've never used Duolingo or Rosetta Stone but I've liked Mango for gaining conversational travel phrases (which I made good use of while traveling and then forgot everything after traveling). What I suggest for self-study is finding an audio-course which you may be able to find at your local library, like Pimsleur, so you can play it on repeat and mimic and respond to what you hear. If you want an app for the writing system, I liked KanjiBox back in the day, and prior to that I used Tuttle Language Library kana/kanji workbooks. And for my other personal tips on language, see here! My tips do include active listening while watching anime. As for Japanese history, bill wurtz already has you covered in nine minutes, but gaining a general image of the different times periods and their order helps to build a framework for appreciating anime set in different time periods, as well as to tie famous places and people to their context. To take it further and fill in gaps in understanding, timelines of events can help, as long as they are focused on what will aid your understanding as opposed to, say, cramming for a Nerd Test. Wikipedia rabbit holes of bios of historical figures are also lots and lots and lots of fun.

As for deeper explorations of cultural topics and the history behind them, I've got my old blog about San-in region stories and adventures but it looks horrific with the Photobucket watermark all over everything. That said, you should still be able to download the silly and educational Kojiki mythology comics to avoid those watermarks, though. (Do note that my focus was only myths which took place in the San-in region, so like, a third of them, but not the whole Kojiki/Nihonshoki/Fudoki.)* *On this note, if I could ask Gotouge one question, it would be, "Did you happen to see my drawing of Kagutsuchi and did that influence the spirits inside Tanjiro's inner space????"

As for places I recently enjoy gaining insights, two of my go-to YouTube channels for this lately are Linfamy (watch out for dirty jokes everywhere, though I find his wording hilarious) and Let's Ask Shogo (I like how his explanations are straightforward and clear for general audiences, but still rich with detail).

Something that's been fun with the KnY phenomena is that it brings out all the nerds, and I learn so much from people putting out unofficial KnY books to introduce more of their knowledge specialties just because they can frame it with a KnY focus, or theorists who see connections in canon with existing lore that don't stand out to me. Part of the reason writing this blog is fun is because I get to bridge the language gap and tell people in the English speaking fandom cool things that people are saying in the Japanese fandom!

[confused-robot-cat]

The Acceptance of Violence in the Wizarding World

I haven't played Hogwarts Legacy, but I've heard a lot of people talk about how nonchalantly the player character murders people in increasingly fucked up ways, and nobody in-universe seems to give much of a crap. I'd like to explain why that might be perfectly in line with the way the wizarding world works.

So! From an early age, witches and wizards are likely exposed to a something that may negatively affect their sense of empathy. Paintings. Paintings are like some Who Framed Roger Rabbit shit, animated characters complete with personalities able to interact with the real world. If Walt Disney had been a wizard, they'd have cinemas by now.  Paintings and even photographs in the wizarding world move around within their frame, and some can even travel beyond. They can speak, they can react emotionally, and can even be trained to mimic the person depicted like training an AI to pretend to be a dead celebrity. The magical community learns early on that no matter how convincing a depiction of a person is, they're not alive. So things that look like humans aren't necessarily sentient or sapient.

But pictures are just one thing, right? That's not much of a connection to real living things. Well, let me introduce you to a lovely book written by Newt Scamander. That's right, it's Fantastic Beasts time! The movie series that would have been much improved if David Yates hadn't cut all those important scenes because when you read the screenplay they're ten times better than the Harry Potter movies ever were and the decision not to continue the five part saga is grounds for a terror attack on WB studios. Wait, what were we talking about? Oh yeah. Animals.

  The wizarding world is full of creatures that look like humans to some degree! And I don't just mean vampires and centaurs. Gnomes are pests in the wizarding world. Imagine walking out into your back garden and there's a bunch of tiny naked fat men running around shitting on your lawn and gnawing on your house's foundations. They're a serious pest in the wizarding world, and while they appear humanoid and can even speak, they're non-sapient and it's perfectly legal to get rid of them by setting loose a magic talking weasel on them. Then you can take a photo of the weasel devouring your tiny man-pests and hang it on the wall to replay the event for all eternity. The weasel is, of course, also non-sapient despite its power of speech.

  There are also Doxies, tiny naked people with extra limbs and wings that hide in your curtains and bite you with venomous fangs. They and fairies both have developed languages, and both can be killed with insecticide if you want to get rid of them because they're considered non-sapient and have no rights either. Pogrebins, ogres, trolls, erklings... So then, why is it so strange for wizards to just accept House Elf slaves? Their bigotry against goblins, centaurs, and mermaids definitely doesn't seem all that strange for the world in which they live.

Finally, I'd like to talk about Conjuration. Wizards and witches can wave their wands around and poof an animal into existence. A whole fucking animal. Now, if one reads Miranda Goshawk's Book of Spells, they'll find that conjured animals aren't real and will fade away after a while. This amount of time is indeterminate. Some can last until the caster them self passes away. But they look so real!

Ultimately, wizards and witches are surrounded by things that look like them, sound like them, and act like them but aren't even sapient. They're also surrounded by things that appear alive but that life is a matter of illusion. Indeed, even otherwise inanimate objects can appear to develop personalities over time (see: Arthur Weasley's Ford Anglia). But they're not alive. In a world like this, the magical community can easily become detached and lose a sense of value for life, because so often life turns out to be nothing more than an illusion. So when 20th century wizards are happily throwing around buzz-saw flying discs that can take people's fingers off, it's not too surprising that 18th century wizards might turn each other into barrels of gunpowder and yeet them into a crowd.

[canpokemonwritebooks]

The Yamask or Phantump Lines!

A couple other people asked for Yamask (and I've already done Cofagrigus) so I'll do Phantump for now. Keep an eye out for Yamask and Trevenant in the coming posts!

Can Phantump write books?

Yes, with a 67 on the Pokémon writing scale.

Is this Pokémon physically capable of writing?

Maybe. It depends on how malleable the matter that makes up ghosts is. If Phantump can change the shape of its body under the stump, it may have greater success. Assuming it cannot, Phantump could not grasp a pen with its hands but it may be able to wrap its tail around a pen or type with its tail tip.

5/10

Does this Pokémon know what a book is?

Probably. Many Phantump come from the spirits of lost children. Assuming it retains its memories, Phantump would remember what a book is. Even if it didn’t have its memories, it may subconsciously be able to recognize what a book is and figure it out more quickly than other Pokémon.

9/10

Can this Pokémon read?

Probably, for the same reasons that Phantump would know what a book is. However, reading is a bit more complex than knowledge of what something is and children aren’t the most skilled readers. Again, assuming Phantump has incomplete or faded memories, Phantump would be able to learn to read a bit faster than other Pokémon.

8/10

Would this Pokémon have access to the materials needed to write a book?

Maybe. Humans are wary about Ghost Pokémon and are often warned about Phantump’s efforts to lure humans into the forest so Phantump may not get much help. But, assuming it has some knowledge about human life buried somewhere in its subconscious, Phantump would be able to figure out where it needs to go to get what it needs and use its Frisk ability to snatch it.

8/10

Does this Pokémon have enough basic education to write well?

Perhaps. Again, assuming Phantump retains some of its memories from life, Phatump has a basic understanding of the way the world works. But, children don’t have advanced writing skills nor are they very well-read so Phantump still has some learning to do.

7/10

Would this Pokémon be good at writing?

Probably not. Children are very inexperienced writers. Whether or not Phantump has its memories, it is very childlike and as a result it would write in a very childlike way. There is an appeal to the way children write but it generally isn’t considered good.

6/10

Does this Pokémon have anything to write about?

Yes. Phantump is in a unique position being a former human and a ghost. It is also very lonely so it can write about its search for friends, or what it does when it lures adults into the forest. Its own life has plenty of inspiration for horror.

10/10

Would this Pokémon be able to get their writing into a book?

No. Phantump doesn’t have hands and humans probably wouldn’t help it. Children also don’t understand how publishing or book binding work so Phantump probably wouldn’t either.

1/10

Would this Pokémon want to write a book?

Maybe. It would be a way for Phantump to pass the time but it isn’t very integrated into human society so books hold a different significance for it. Any interest in books comes from curiosity and wonder rather than a desire to be well-read or contribute to the world’s library.

3/10

Does this Pokémon have any other redeeming qualities?

Phantump can mimic the voice of children, which implies it has some memory and understanding of human language. It has an advantage there that other Pokémon do not. Its leaves are also medicinal so while most Phantump live on their own, some may exist within human circles. It is also notable that not every account of Phantump’s origins claim that it is the spirit of a child. An unknown spirit introduces some unknown factors, which could also be to its benefit.

10/10

Results

Yes, Phantump can write books with a 67 on the Pokémon writing scale.

[laurasauras]

God I love so many of your fics that I had such a time trying to figure out which to ask for the director's cut of ! And so here we are. Dealer's choice:

SBaHJ: Nancho M0vei: The Screenplay or Spurn My Natural Emotions

(Somehow those are links??? Tumblr functionality is wild these days)

SBaHJ: Nancho M0vei: The Screenplay is one of my favourite fics i've written because i had so much fun with the format. for those who haven't read it, it's the introduction to one of alpha dave's screenplays, written by alpha rose and with rambling footnotes from her and alpha dave, plus dirk, who inherited the copy and contributed to it in an effort to leave a mark where his bro had left a mark.

it's formatted like a book as much as possible (though my html skills let me down a little in terms of making uniform page sizes), and the footnote thing was inspired by house of leaves, though obviously the content is VERY different.

i wrote alpha rose and dave as very similar to their pre-scratch selves. rose's style of writing (as seen in her Sburb walkthrough and in Complacency of the Learned) is very different from her style of speaking. She comes off very intelligent when she talks, but she's still approachable and she gets into a natural rhythm with her conversational partner. When she writes, she is free to go on as many tangents as she likes and she flexes her writing muscles through the use of evocative descriptions and unique figurative language.

it is a very fun style to mimic, and i tried to mimic it as much as i could. my favourite simile is this one:

Interviewing Dave Strider was akin to dressing a monkey in a tuxedo; I went in with a clear purpose, and through immense determination and skill I believe I technically accomplished it, but it was not without an abundance of attempts at avoidance, nor was it ever an experience I walked out of without having looked at least a little foolish.

i think it conveys the point well and also establishes in the reader's mind a ridiculous image to accompany the mood that rose is trying to set. it's a way of introducing the concept of absurdity before the excerpts of interviews are featured, setting up the expectation for what kinds of interviews they will be.

i initially intended on writing the whole movie and footnoting it as i did with the introduction. it was going to be my detective pony. but that is such a ludicrously ambitious project and i don't know if i would have accomplished anything with it that i didn't with just the introduction.

that intention was also inspired by house of leaves. i wanted to create something where the footnotes took up all available space and where they started requiring genuine effort to keep track of. i wanted to show dirk getting carried away and having his recountings of his own life and feelings take over the script, much in the same way johnny's do in HoL and similar to how dirk's story begins eclipsing detective pony's original one until the only thing remaining of betancourt's work is the chapter titles.

and no, i won't be doing this, tempting as it remains.

the best part of this fic is not the format though; it's the content. it shows the relationship between the alpha guardians and the love they felt for each other, as well as the love they felt for their charges. it shows how much fun dave and rose had with their work and with each other and it shows how much dirk longs for connection to them.

so yeah, thanks for choosing one of my fave fics for this!

[floofballsammy]

Talking about Monty and Glamrock Bonnie here.

FNaF Security Breach Ruin Spoilers

With Ruin showing us Glamrock Bonnie, it kinda just confirmed to me that Monty couldnt be the one decomissioning Bonnie. I mean, it never really made sense in the first place.

And I'm not going to take the Story from Ruin as evidence. That atill was clearly a fabrication by Fazbear Entertainment to cover up Bonnie's dissappearance.

Let's see. Often times I see people say he has the means and the motive. Means as in the claws (which we see a big claw mark on Glamrock Bonnie's chest) and motive to be the star (as people use the one stage in the golf course). Bonnie was also last seen in Monty Golf. And Monty also has anger issues.

However, that just doesnt make sense with what we learn with Monty in the base game?

He wouldn't have the claws at that point. And even if the timeline is a little iffy (since the note says decommissioned not missing, so i'm willing to concede if im wrong here), he doesnt attack with them anyways? He attacks mostly with his teeth (fun fact he does a death roll when broken) and has no record of attacking other people/robots. Just destroying his room and breaking fences. Someone who does have a record of destroying S.T.A.F.F. robots is Roxy (while the raceway wasnt functional). And someone who has a record for attacking employees and guests is Chica (over a food that was messing with her program).

His motive also doesnt add up with another message called 'Monty Mischief', where it is explicitly stated that Monty is missing main performances. He's rather on the catwalks at Monty Golf than on the main stage (even after breaking both legs there). So what about the stage in the Golf course? It seems to just imply personal beef with Freddy rather than anything else.

And while this is a bit of speculation, i wanna say that it seems his anger problems stem from being on the main stage. In a lot of the cut outs, he's more portrayed as this relaxed, layed back person. Which matches his attraction, Golf. There's also really no records of aggression or anything broken in Monty Golf. Actually, he starts breaking fences once he got the claws. And together with the Monty Mischief message it does feel like the main stage is the source of his stress, which turns into anger and him breaking stuff. But since Security Breach and Ruin really dont go in depth with Monty, it's really hard to judge his personality.

Well, Bonnie was last seen in Monty Golf (or atleast it was heavily implied). That whole message was weird to me. Not in a 'its hidden lore' or 'fake' kinda way, just a 'what happened?' kinda way. There's gaps spanning hours between the 3 locations, which makes me wonder what Bonnie was doing. What makes me wonder more is how Bonnie ended up in Bonnie Bowl? Now, I need another closer look at the surroundings and the carpet, but one thing that is certain is that a bowling ball smashed his head. How did a bowling ball get in Monty Golf? Why was it taken with him?

Or he was actually attacked in Bonnie Bowl.

Bonnie being attacked in Bonnie Bowl and not Monty Golf really seems obvious when you look at his body. And as for who killed him? I habe some reasons to believe its the Mimic.

First of all, as seen in the Mimic's jumpscare, he not only has the claws, but attacks with them. Literally look up the jumpscare. It's very obvious. Not only that, but it has been in the Pizzaplex for a very long time. And M.X.E.S. (Pegtrap) definetly hasn't been there to stop it from the beginning. The game seems to imply Gregory put that in place? But does that explain why a Fazwrench works on the nodes? I'm still unsure.

So it has the means. Does it have the motive?

Admitedly, I'm not as caught up with the books or the Mimic's philosophy, so I'm mostly going off the game here. And honestly, I dont know yet. It definetly seems something the Mimic would do, but since it was introduced at the end, we don't really know how it acts in the games. It's a big maybe from me.

I know this was a long long post, but I really wanted to get my thoughts out there. This whole situation is really interesting to me, and not a lot of people are looking into it. I also think Glamrock Bonnie is a bit more important lorewise than we think, with his weird connection to the cleaning bots (PatPats) and what the PatPats actually do in game (they not only mimic screaming children, but also voicelines of the other animatronics).

Honestly, feel free to debate me on this. I'm very open to hear other aguements or theories on this whole thing.

[enneamage]

Tommy – 6w7

Tommy as a Six

It’s kind of hard to make a six stereotype that actually fits any living six neatly. It’s also really hard to introduce them succinctly. One can say that they’re anxious and safety-driven, but unlike other types that can be flattened into an (often wrong) caricature, it’s generally too obvious from the get-go that it isn’t the whole picture. If you’ve glanced over a six profile with Tommy in mind and gone “He’s like that but also not at all,” welcome to the Six experience.

Child of the algorithm

As soon as I first saw a Youtube analytics page, whatever questions I had about Tommy’s streaming/youtube persona went out the window. YouTube literally quantifies attention in every way you could possibly want, which works incredibly well with someone who has an abundance of two things:

A mind for systems and frameworks

A very strong drive to avoid abandonment

Over time, the internet has been designed to mimic the attention-grabbing impulses of humans, but other humans did it first, and sixes in particular can be good at engaging nearly every form of attention to avoid abandonment. A big drive of the core six is stability (internal and external), preparedness and maintaining a safety net.

Tommy has always talked about relating to YouTube as a video game, finding enjoyment and comfort in being able to look at engagement in solid, reliable measurements. He can make the number go up, he can relate to his performance and behavior with a score, and he can break down other people’s strategies for getting the best results. YouTube is a system that he finds comfort in and literally gets engagement from.

A mind for systems

I have a book lying around with a self-identification questionnaire for each type. There’s a standout line in the Six section: “I might not follow the rules, but I at least want to know what they are.” Sixes naturally gravitate towards thinking in systems, in spite of how chaotic things might look from the outside, or feel from the inside. They tend to feel lost without them and like to orient themselves using them, even if they choose to not follow them or explicitly go against them.

Sixes also tend to have a low-grade fight-or-flight thing going on. This makes for a very interesting combination with their systems-brain, when the systems that they commit to memory become like reflexes. Structures and rules become second nature, and they can flow between following them perfectly and breaking them intuitively. This shows up in Tommy’s use of language (one of the first systems we learn), as well as his remarkable skill in Jazz Piano.

The Seven Wing

Tommy’s Seven wing makes him up-beat and expansive. He’s got a fun-seeking streak, using humor to blow off tension and lighten people’s moods while he’s making friends. He likes to reach out and make connections to a lot of different people so he always has the option of company, even if something else falls through.

While 6w5’s are more withdrawn, 6w7’s have more of a physical and mental wanderlust. Basically, the seven wing lends him part of his chaotic streak.

Counterphobia

Ah, the reason this account exists, explaining counterphobia.

Think of the fight or flight instinct (putting aside freeze and fawn and the other bonus F’s.) When anxiety wakes you up, you have a set of instincts that you can react with reflexively. Regular phobia makes you want to pull away from something, but counterphobia moves you towards it so you can handle it. Most Sixes have a mix of the two, but Sixes who lean primarily on counterphobia more can lead surprisingly dangerous lives for people who are secretly anxious.

Counterphobia can compound onto the Six tendency to anticipate danger. The irony of this happening at an extreme level is they can come off as reckless, seeking out danger and charging right into it for the rush.  Tommy does this one a lot, and I wonder if it’s intentional that the people around him have to pay extra attention and take on a disaterbrain way of thinking in order to keep him… alive. When I asked a Six friend about this, they said that it was also very comforting to receive acknowledgement of care, as acting up without anybody reacting can be incredibly shameful.

I’ve seen this line tossed around enough in YouTube comment sections to be comfortable quoting without a source-- “some people are socially awkward, Tommy is awkwardly social.” Tommy turns his social anxiety into forward-moving energy and can get into some fascinatingly bizarre situations because of it. This also makes some of his humor just about as dark as he can get away with, knowing exactly what button he’s not supposed to push and then power-slamming it down.  

Sixes are able to burn their anxiety like fuel to propel them forward, sometimes on purpose (deeply valuing bravery) and sometimes on impulse. They can feel the contrast within themselves between what a phobic life and a counterphobic life look like, and in the name of puffing themselves up big to protect themselves and those they love, they choose the latter. 

Tommy still has a working sense of self-preservation (sometimes) and is capable of getting nervous about abstract fears as well as practical ones, but more specific situations are more likely to bring about his counterphobic side.

The Loyal Sceptic

One of the things that made Tommy successful as a content creator in the beginning was his impulse to reach out and ask other people how to do things. Sixes like to pool information and opinions to be sure that the choice that they’re making is the best one, and like to have a wide range of references to fall back on. Hell, he asks people for advice as a verbal tick, just inventing questions for people to answer.

Sixes are sceptical. Because systems are so important to the way they get through life, they want to be sure they work first, and can be a natural trouble-shooters if they don’t. Tommy will ask for advice from all kinds of people, but he’s more than capable of arguing against something if it doesn’t seem right. Still, he has faith in people who seem to know what they’re doing—and sometimes a headass decision is good content anyway.

An interesting thing about sixes is they have a complex relationship to being in charge. Someone on the top (in a conventional sense) can’t rely on other people to guide them and are the first to get in trouble if something goes wrong, which is a nightmare scenario for Tommy.

Enter: Wilbur. Wilbur’s willingness (and natural inclination) to act as a mentor to Tommy played a huge part in keeping him stable in his rise to fame, even when Wilbur himself was on the rocks. Having someone to fall back on, ask advice from, and share some blame (in Minecraft) was a big deal for him. Tommy put down an iron-clad attachment to Wilbur, but a detail that gets missed is that although Tommy is very loyal and appreciative of what Wilbur has/can/will do for him, his attachment doesn’t come from pure idealisation.

This clip is a very good example of how Tommy holds onto relationships even when he knows they aren’t ideal. C!Tommy is actually very realistic about C!Wilbur, and you can probably guess what that translates into in real life.  Tommy doesn’t burn many bridges and likes to keep his options open when it comes to people. Tommy’s attachment to Wilbur isn’t because he’s perfect, it’s because he’s Wilbur and he’s there, and Tommy can handle troubleshooting and the bumps in the road for as long as he’s got something to hold onto. Dream, Philza and many others also played a mentor role to Tommy during his rise, and he likely has a good sense for who to go to depending on the problem.

Come and go

Sixes also need freedom and space. Most people have to balance their need for connection with their need for personal autonomy, including (and maybe especially?) Sixes. Tommy’s habit of just picking up and leaving when he feels like it? Pretty classic 6w7 behavior. Tommy needs to exert a certain amount of agency over his day to feel alright, so he doesn’t feel merged with the people around him or suffocated.

People who put down roots with Sixes get used to a kind of come-and-go pattern, where their attachment to you is secure enough to last an absence. Tommy is just as likely to get energy from interacting with people as he is when he’s alone, since Sixes are known for being some of the truest ambiverts.

Disintegration to Three

When a Six is under a certain kind of stress, they can act like a version of an unhealthy Three, feeling that they are the only thing in life they can control. Feeling too insecure and suspicious of other peoples input, Sixes can shut down and begin to rely only on themselves, while also having a huge crisis of self-esteem. From here, Sixes take a turn into good old-fashioned overcompensation, becoming concerned with their own image and effectiveness (that word again.)

Most people have versions of who they want to be, but the image-driven influence of the Three contrasting with the fear that they lack the qualities that they want most can make them desperate to prove themselves. The issue with this is that panic makes them put on a funhouse-mirror version of what they think will help them, which tends to be abrasive and maladaptive.

Tommy seems to have toughness, confidence, humor and status as some of his core values that get distorted by Three. He comes off as showy and loud, making a scene of trampling over other people to create a contrast between himself and them. When something doesn’t seem to be working out, he doubles down, thinking that the only way out is through. He generally needs a wrangler to keep this from getting too out of hand, which he is both glad to have (attention) and will fight to the death (agency.)

The interesting thing about this is that Tommy seems to have taken a snapshot of this personality and uses it as part of his streaming persona when he’s In A Mood. It’s reasonable to assume that he may have genuinely slipped in and out of this place in the past, but judging from where he’s at now, this isn’t his full emotional truth anymore. Still, it pops up on stream on occasion, and this might be why people swear up and down that Tommy is a sweetheart off stream but can be a whole other thing when he’s on.

[5-pp-man]

I've hit the 3rd ep for all of the things I'm watching (except for 1 but shhh). Crazy. As per the rule, I guess I'll write down my thoughts for them now.

Atarashii Joushi; Fun and heartwarming in a very tame sort of way. It reminded me of CDD a lot in the first episode, but I feel like it's really making itself stand out now. Also, the 3rd ep made me cry. wtf.

Bullbuster; Very interested to see where this goes with the island plot. I like the touch of realism for how the company operates. Kataoka is actually my fave character so far just because he has such a strong presence, lmao

Dekoboko Majo; It's your standard over the top gag anime (which I like! it's just stupid silly fun) I do like the allusion to a deeper plot though

Hypmic; I already loved Hypmic and I never even expected another season, so I already feel spoiled. I love how they're weaving all the divisions into the ongoing plot, it's actually done pretty well? Though the anime original group (TBH) feels a bit jammed into the story, but it's only natural when you've got something with a plot like hypmic (that's already jammed full with contrivances, lmao) Also, Dotsuitare Homos episode when? (probably next week. yippeee ^u^)

Kamierabi; It's starting to become apparent with the 3rd episode that the plot in this show. Might not be that great. But I love death / high stakes games, even if they're kinda shitty. The animation isn't nearly as bad as everyone wants you to believe though.

Kamonohashi Ron; Ron he is so sillay <3 I love detectives, I love buddy teamups, this is a winning combo in my book. Their banter is super manzai-like though, very dry / reaction based humour. Which I think is funny but not when overused (is this show overusing it? not rlly as of now thankfully). Also, very intrigued by what the hell happened to Ron

Kawagoe Boys Sing; Uhhhh this only has 2 eps rn but the 2nd one was already so much better than the first. I love IT kun and Otome kun, excited for the rest of the cast to be introduced Ok I've seen the 3rd one now and in the very first sentence from Adachi I heard it was Kimura Subaru. I'm so happy he's here!! It was a good call to get him for this show since he's a great singer (in English too so it was nice hearing him in the ed this time!) Just an aside I actually think it's really nice how cool everyone is with all the weird quirks the characters have. Like, they consistently see Otome's feminine traits as a genuinely cool thing, and it's such a breath of fresh air compared to other shows

Migi to Dali; This is def up there as my fave this season, I loved Sakamoto so I'm super happy that Sano san's other work got adapted as well. May she be freer where she is now. Her strange brand of humour will forever be one of my faves, and having it mixed with a mystery this time is like a dream come true

Undead Unluck; I'm watching this one w my brother and I'm glad, it's exactly the kind of stuff we tend to watch together. The animation for this one goes crazy hard btw.

Watashi no Oshi; I wasn't feeling the first 2 eps all that much (they were funny and had a few good moments, but they weren't fantastic or anything), but goddd the third one was so good... and the 4th was really funny. I'm enjoying this one more and more each week :) also the op is super catchy

Yonkyoudai; This one is really sweet, I love the usage of different animation styles to evoke certain emotions, and the way it often mimics children's drawings works so well for this story. I get all teary eyed watching this one every time...

[agentnico]

A Haunting in Venice (2023) Review

Still cannot get over this movie's first teaser trailer that was released which made it seem like some Conjuring spin-off and then right at the very end we see Poirot and his moustache appear. People who knew nothing about Kenneth Branagh's Poirot movies would have been so confused as to who that man was.

Plot: In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a séance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again uncover the killer.

I do enjoy a solid murder mystery movie, yet with Kenneth Branagh's take on the famous Agatha Christie sleuth, up until now I feel his adaptations have been playing it too safe and in the process losing the excitement of the source material. It doesn't help that both Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile are based on the two most famous Poirot tales, as such the reveals in both weren't all that mysterious seeing as many people already knew what happens due to the books. However with this third outing, it seems Branagh may finally be finding his groove, as for starters this mystery is based on a lesser-known murder from the detective's adventures (a short book titled Hallowe'en Party), and more so the movie is not in fact a fully faithful adaptation of that story.

Both Christie's novel and A Haunting in Venice introduce us to a spooky Halloween-set mystery with multiple deaths and plot twists, as the famed detective tries to uncover the truth after being lured into the case by mystery writer Ariadne Olivier (played in the movie by Tina Fey). Yet there are not many similarities between the two stories. For one unlike the original novel which is set in the English countryside, the movie swaps that setting for the sinister Venezian palazzo. To be fair, Branagh evidently seems to be a fan of the 1973 occult-themed thriller Don't Look Now, as he tries to mimic that movie's style in portraying Venice as a place that has a sense of mystery and mystique in the air, with the ever-growing feel of dread and despair. That leads to the next point - the supernatural. Unlike the previous outings in these Poirot films, this one attempts to add something new to the murder mystery genre by adding a flair of horror into the mix. Set mostly at night, with creepy voices heard in the background and eerie imagery throughout, Branagh and cinematographer Haris Zambarloukus fill each scene with unsettling darkness, and there's even a shed of jump scares throughout. Also rain. Lots of rain, rain and rain. Visually this movie looks really good, and in fact, it is nice to see less use of CGI here compared to Death on the Nile where the green screen was basically the main star of the movie. The horror stuff didn't always work and I do believe the jump scares were a tad excessive and unnecessary, especially as the lighting and look of the movie already provided that needed sense of harrowing terror, but I do appreciate Branagh attempting to actually make something more original with his Poirot films.

Speaking of Branagh's Poirot, you can tell he absolutely adores playing this character, and to be fair he does a splendid job as always, with his lovely Belgian accent and adorable persona, so as always it was delightful seeing him chew up the scenery. The rest of the cast does well too. It's not as A-list as the previous films, but I think that was to the movie's benefit, for instead of focusing on the actors you actually can enjoy more connecting with the characters themselves. Tina Fey is out of her comfort zone by playing a more serious role compared to her known comedic performances. Michelle Yeoh is fantastic as the mystic psychic, and leaves an impression, especially during the séance scene where she completely loses herself in her 'possessed' madness'. Jude Hill, who's mainly known as the kid from Belfast, was great as the son of the doctor, as even though he's just a kid, he's very mature for his age and shows that he knows more than you'd expect, and Hill is great in delivering this and was one of the standouts.

The mystery itself is unfortunately pretty predictable. The journey to the reveal is solid, however, most of the resolutions are very easy to work out and I do wish there was a bigger plot twist than what we got, but overall I believe A Haunting in Venice is the best Poirot outing in Kenneth Branagh's trilogy, as it manages to finally find its own voice and take a risk of trying something different. It visually looks great (have I mentioned there is lots of rain??) Branagh's Poirot is adorable, but the narrative itself is a bit thin still. If there are more of these Poirot adventures made, I feel like Branagh should give directing duties to someone else, but still stay as the actor for Poirot, as from all three films the one thing that's always been a positive was his performance as the Belgian sleuth. But yes, this is a step in the right direction for this murder mystery franchise.

Overall score: 6/10

[yossarian-7]

Hey DM's, do you hate making new taverns every time your players go somewhere new? Do you want an absurdly silly running gag that works in almost any setting? Boy do I have the thing for you!

Introducing: Shibbert J. Crabblenackles Booze Emporium for Alcoholics and Otherwise!

Shibby J's is a relatively typical chain tavern establishment. The interiors are usually the same, and the barkeeps are usually blonde members of the Crabblenackle clan.

The thing that truly sets Shibby J's apart from every other tavern out there, is their incredible brand recognition. Every Shibbys has a different name. Every Shibbys name is progressively longer than the previous one, detailing the history of the particular establishment. To absurd results.

The first one the party found, the sign out front was about half the size of the tavern itself.

The second, the entire storefront is literally just sign.

The third, the text is painted on the walls, and ends by stretching all the way down into the street.

Et cetera, etc, etc.

A small collection of the various different gags related to this phenomena:

A skyscraper Shibbys where the text wraps around the entire building.

A small town Shibbys with a billboard that is effectively a novel.

Finding the edge of Shibbys text on a road, and following it for several miles until they reach a town.

A Shibbys that doubles as a library, with each book just being a small chunk of a volume containing the full name of the tavern.

My players gradually began to recognize Shibbert J. Crabblenackles as a consistent source of safety and comedy.

It feels great to walk into a town, see a sign that's far too long, and have everyone collectively go "well I know where we're spending the night!"

My favorite bit that came of this was when, after traveling through a frozen forest for weeks, they encountered an odd building, entirely alone, that read just "Shibbert J. Crabblenackle's" and nothing else

They INSTANTLY knew something was fucked when the sign wasn't a paragraph. The entire building was a mimic.

Probably my favorite running gag I've ever done.

Also, here's the first Shibbys name, which is the shortest one by a mile:

Shibbert J. Crabblenackle's Premiere Booze Emporium for Alcoholics and Otherwise, Established in the Year 628 as a Direct Response to the Attempted Implementation of a Prohibition by Emperor Josiah, Which Thankfully Failed Spectacularly

Btw every time a bartender said the name of the tavern, they always had to say the full thing, much to their dismay

[chrissytinat]

Should Story be Split Between Content?

I plan on making a video about this for my channel, but I thought I'd make a post too to collect the thoughts.

While I've made a handful of Five Nights at Freddy's content for my channel, as someone who also follows a lot of gamers and theorists, I think we need to talk about the story and the games. At what point is it hindering the gameplay to split story and plot points between the games and exterior content(ie: the books and spin off games)?

One thing I mentioned when talking about the movie is that the story is going to be something anyone can pick up while longtime fans can still enjoy. It's content that is expected to be experienced by a varied audience, which would include anyone new to the franchise. Is the story for the games, though, the same in that sense? Can you play the games and follow the story without having to immerse yourself in various external content, in this case the books?

At this point, the timeline and the story is so complicated, it's gone far beyond just the basics. This isn't about haunted animatronics anymore with the story of the pizzaplex in Security Breach. But is it a change to format and story that would be easy to pick up? Not everyone had probably played the VR games or the mobile AR game. When did it become more important to spread story out rather than have something anyone can pick up and understand through the game they're playing?

With the books now adding to the game lore as well as potentially answering questions people have from the game story, it makes me question if that's necessary? Let's look at the Ruin DLC. I would say it answered a lot of questions that people had from the main game. We can figure out what happened to the pizzaplex. We can figure out which ending is the real ending because of the comic pages we collect. We figure out what happened to Bonnie and even how Monty was introduced in his place. It answered main questions we had from that game within dlc for that game while setting things up potentially for the next game with the game franchise equivalent of the mimic.

The mimic though isn't really its name in game though, which ties back into my question of whether plot should be answered in outside material and content. The only reason we call it the mimic is because of the books. The books introduced us to the mimic. It also introduced us to things like the giant tree that's nowhere in the games and the tiger in the latest book. How much of the books should we be adding to the game lore and should we be treating the pizzaplex of the books as a separate storyline not related to the main game at all?

[lord-tekron]

Another day, another Behind the Scenes regarding The Springlock Paradox

Felt in the mood to do some ramblings, and given how we’ve talked about The Puppets, we went into the History of The Afton Bots, and we went into the logic behind Dave Miller and ya boi Springtrap. I think we should turn our attention from all of that towards the most newest (kinda) character introduced, Henry Fredburn.

---

But first, we need to address something, and it is going to be a bit “meta” (I think anyways, basically a buzzword that means nothing nowadays). But this post is gonna serve secondary purpose. See I finally got around towards breaking my silence and attempting to reuse the Freddit Discord, more specifically the fanon channel. 

Naturally, this will be shared there once everything is written and explained, but it will also double as a way to share The Springlock Paradox to those people without spamming the channel and basically making it all about me. Which is the reason why I was so hesitant to use it for so long, when you got 50+ chapters under your belt and so much you wanna ramble about, you can easily hog the spotlight. And it would be wrong to casually punt away the others that wanna share their ideas and AUs. So this is a sorta workaround to make a best of both worlds scenario (in theory anyhow)

So, hello you select few that looked at that link and have clicked it! I welcome you to the madhouse. Here is the chapter selection of all currently available chapters of The Springlock Paradox that have been made over the last five years. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PQzyf1HbuALjm4ZNVWrGgoHZxu9Qr47f

You can read them if you want, you can not read them, you can read the other behind the scenes posts I shared links to in that first paragraph, you can also not. I will not force you to do so, but do be wary that this stuff is gonna rot your mind from raw confusion if you ain’t ready. With that being said, let’s ACTUALLY now talk about Henry.

---

So, let’s first talk about “Why bring Henry back?”, and there are two main reasons. First is because it would be interesting story wise, having him come back after both his ending of FFPS and after all that happened in the first Arc/Saga would dynamics and let me play off characters interacting with this face that is both new and old at the same time.

The second reason, is that it is REALLY fun to bully Henry. Because Scott gave him this grand finale at FFPS, and then five seconds later went and said “Nah that didn’t happen anymore.” (I know there is technicalities all over the place cause of The Mimic but honestly the books make my head hurt). Also because he forced his daughter into being a furry and then tried to sell her for $5, to which I constantly made the joke of him being a “Bad Dad”. I make fun of Henry as much as I make Michael the punchbag in TSP. So it was time we brought him into the mix so the bullying can continue. :V

Now for his design. One thing I wanted was for him to have an inverse color scheme of Dave. Where Dave had a purple suit with a yellow head, Henry would have a yellowish suit with his skull having a purple aura to it.

 Likewise, I had to ensure that the audience was aware that all that was left of Henry’s corpse was his charred skull. So of course we had Springtrap find and display Henry’s skull so he could mock it.

I also had to hide the idea of Henry coming back by making it so he wouldn’t wake up from the ample remnant around. 

Course he would come back, but through alternate means, hence showing the dream/flashback to where he first encountered Ekana

The next quest was to ask “how do we write him?” And the answer was pretty obvious; he is a man that just wants to finally do what he tried to end... Only to be completely bamboozled and confused by everything around him given how little he actually knows about what is going on. I mean, think about it; There are two puppets that ended up reproducing, the person he will think is William is instead his son, the person who killed his daughter is a pile of goo that is now on good terms with said daughter, both magic and alternate dimensions exist, not to mention the fucking mushroom people and SOULDOZER being around. He is basically a person knowing nothing about The Springlock Paradox encountering the ramblings I talk about out of context. He is the outside eyes looking in and has no idea what to make of all of this.

But let it be known that while I am mean to the man, I won’t be cruel. He did reunite with his daughter after all this time. And he also ain’t no pushover either, he has shown in the few chapters that he can throw down. And trust me, he is gonna pull his weight in upcoming chapters... At least he will in my eyes to justify future bullying on him. :V

---

And yeah, that is about it for this Behind the Scene talk, granted a chunk of it was to ramble about that freddit discord stuff, but it was something I wanted to talk about nevertheless. Alot of my focus is gonna be on Artfight this month so don’t be surprised if the next Chapter doesn’t get completed anytime soon. Will do pages when I have the time to, but most of it will be on Artfight. See you all next time I decide to spam a wall of text that you have to either read or scroll past.

[cold-arrow]

Doctor’s Notes, Book 6 part 1

| A Grim Departure | Summary, Things of note since last entry: Baras' undertaking. meeting with the LA, Aldirn Delivering a letter, Mirrorbar The compromised barn. Mr. Remur Shopping: Scrumdidilyumptious, Mimic's cove, Wrench warfare, Flying Dutchman insurances. Mildthru's Tavern. Back to the bar.

| 1 / 7 |

Still feel kind of overwhelmed, after the dinner last night. Can’t really settle on a thought, or feeling, of all the ones still swirling in my head. Am surprised I managed to get some sleep to be honest. The dreams and nightmares weren’t great either. -- things didn’t improve after breakfast. It seems that Baras’ talk with Dave had a bit more to it, than any of us expected. He has to leave and take care of an assignment for Dave, for… an indeterminate amount of time. Jarvis was to one to inform us. Seems like he had to leave already pretty soon. -- Wasn’t hard to tell something was wrong, with how Jarvis was acting during our meal. Complimented him on our breakfast, which tasted great. I… think Dave was initially planning on staying a bit longer as well. But, yeah… He told us we were still welcome at the mansion of course. There wouldn’t be any change in that. And I’d been given access to the library as well. For… the sake of writing my    book, and all that. Am kind of said that he didn’t have to time to say goodbye. Not sure how well we’ll fare without him. I think we’ll be able to get by? Like we still have the access to the sky-ship, And the teleportation network from the Lord’s alliance. But, like I said in my previous entry, the weird atmosphere   hasn’t really gotten better… * Ah right. My other book was almost full. Decided to start a new one. that way I at least have some space to finish some of my final notes and thoughts on earlier research. -- First order of business is gonna be to return Angelo back to his home in Gauntylgrimm. He is still carrying a titanic fire primordial in his pocket after all and… he’s enough of a danger already by himself. Well… perhaps that’s a bit too harsh. On his own he doesn’t so much as cause trouble, as he tends gets lost I suppose. Kind of like a puppy, or grown child? Again. Maybe that’s a bit too harsh. He has very much grown on me. As insufferable as he can be. His good natured optimism,  while grating at times , is kind of    infectious I’ll admit. I do look forward, to hear of the hights will achieve after he returns to Gauntyllgrimm. ( always forget how to spell that name ) -- Also, there is the matter of that… we cant stay in one place for too long,     Is what Dave said to us. The longer we stay in one place. The more likely Death, will catch up with us. With Lym We deemed it best to notify the LA before we head out. Will quickly drop by, and at the very least leave a note that we will be departing soon.  And the stone giant’s, are something we still need to care of as well, after all.

| 2 / 7 | our trip to the LA building was… a bit unexpected. in the sense that they were, expecting us. I don’t know if we missed a message or letter or I don’t know. But were escorted to the waiting room, for our Meeting, immediately upon arriving. Lady silverhand was waiting for us. And after finishing some business hers, we were led to her room, and… well most importantly, introduced us to someone. she had received word from Baras that he would be leaving the LA due to personal matters, and was saddened to hear that. But also took it as an opportunity to introduce us to one of their own agents. A trusted and reliable operative, that had helped her deal with quite few assignments in the past apparently. I’m not entirely sure what his lineage is. But he appears to be a Cervine humanoid, I think. Who’s about as tall and imposing as minotaur, to be honest. And has a very impressive set of antlers, as one might expect on a deer ( I think) . But again. He is built, like a minotaur pretty much. And definitely seems to be in a good physical condition. Has a lot of muscle on him, bit of an odd accent. But seems like a decent fellow. He introduced himself as Aldirn isn’t really from around, but has lived on the Swordcoast for quite a few years now. And apparently made quite the name for himself with the Lord Alliance, or even before that I think. And it seems that he will be joining us. Both to reinforce our numbers, as well as help deal the   Giant problem. But also to kind of keep an eye on us? which…. I cant really blame miss Silverhand for. but our first assignment, that he will be joining us for, Is delivering a letter to Gauntylgrimm. Along with helping us escort Angelo, back to his city.

| 3 / 7 | we were initially gonna wait for the airship to arrive in Waterdeep. Which… was gonna take several days. But Aldrin had to great idea to use the network of teleportation circles from the LA. Which I had completely forgotten about until he mentioned it, to be honest.

Lym did have contact the airship several time though, the relay the change in plans, and destination. But they will now be coming to pick us up in Mirrorbar, once they arrive. Seeing as the fortified city is technically, or actually the closest to our destination -- It appears that the keeper of the teleportation circle in the crypts, is still busy reading and hiding her books. I think I once managed to spot what book she’s reading upon our arrival, but I’ve forgotten the title since. I wonder if she is usually reading, is just something illicit or illegal. Or something spicy.

She was happy to help us though, with the teleportation circle. Seems like she doesn’t get much to do much down here. And was actually quite eager to put her magic to practice. I am kind of curious as to why she is stationed down there. Perhaps I should ask her sometime. … our arrival in Mirrorbar could have gone a lot better. immediately upon arrival we were apprehended, and interrogated by the city guards. Who at first glance didn’t seem too particularly pleased that their city had been magically breached or compromised. Complaining, and accusing us of all sorts of things. Which included trying to reprimand us from saving the slaves and refugees that we had rescued, at the fire giant stronghold. Saying the We were the ones responsible for the “illegal immigrants that had been occupying and invading Their city” for a bit.   the nerve on those bastards –

well the captain in particular to be honest. Seems like he was the one who was more than eager to finally throw his weight around a bit. To Parade, and order us around, Accusing us. The jerk must have been pretty bored of being stationed here for so long or something, with nothing to do. And was more than happy to take it out on us. Don’t think. Doubt that the circle saw much use, or was much of an issue, until We  SAVED those people.

Lym handled most our “negotiation” or interrogation with the guard captain, which was admirable. But when the jerk still wouldn’t budge, and started being difficult. Threatening to arrest us. Aldrin was able to pretty much intimidate some sense into him, fortunately, with our Actual and legitimate status, and position as agents of the Lord’s Alliance. Which  Finally made the captain realize that perhaps we weren’t just some illicit bunch of nobodies. And the he Might perhaps be a bit in over his head. Biting of more than he could chew. He headed out to confirm our position with the Lords Alliance with the local representative himself. Eager to call us out. Prove us wrong. And finally left us alone for a bit ( with the exception of the other guards -- in the meantime we had to just wait there. In the barn. While he took his sweet time to get back to us. We had mentioned that we were just here on some business regarding the Lords Alliance. And to hopefully purchase some enchanted equipment. But the captain wasn’t really having any of it. The other guards were… a lot more level headed though. It was mostly just the captain himself, who was stoking the fires. They were just kind of following orders. Not really minding, where they’d be stationed. One of them, a somewhat sheepish and timid young gnome, was kind of enough to actually recommend us a place to purchase some stuff. Introduced himself as Saltix Quickbell. Quite a polite and friendly fellow, Who tried to “subtlety” recommend us the place. And to mention his name, if we visited the place. I made sure to write it down. Especially the shop name, since… it sure is something. No idea if I spelled it correctly, but it was something along the lines of : scrumlyumptions, scrumdeleetious or… scrumd * Scrumdidilyumptious   

| 4 / 7 | after waiting for what felt like an hour. We finally heard the captain making his way back to us. Albeit Apologizing, and ass kissing to a rather familiar sounding voice. And then faces, as MR. Remur once again arrived to rescue us from the damned Mirrobar cityguards.

Am quite relieved to see him. Don’t know if it’s the result of the city guards just being so damn vexing this often. But I’m starting to like and appreciate him more, every time we meet up with him. He finally managed to escort us away from the guards, and into safety so to speak. And offered to set us up with room and board, as well as food and drink, at the Lord Alliance’s establishment here in Mirrorbar. on our way he mentioned that he was curious, as to our purposes here in Mirrorbar. We informed him about most of our purpose, and business here in the city. Aka the Shopping, transportation, and delivering of the letter / returning Angelo to Gauntylgrimm. We mentioned that the refugees from the fire giants, were our doing as well. Which, he was rather amused by. – And,  he was happy to report that most of them had safely started to make their way back to their respective homes, much to our relief. With a few exceptions, of those he decided to stay here due to relatives and family. Was also mentioned that we were carrying a fire primordial, which was something he was a bit less convinced of. And thought  that we were joking, for the most part. -- Some of us where half tempted to prove him wrong, but… it’s not like we could safely prove it either. ( don’t think letting I primordial of that size out, would spell much good) But… we made our way back to the bar and tavern of the LA, where he was able to set us up with some rooms and drinks after which we decided to head out into the city finally, to do some shopping. *Aldirn decided to remain behind. Happy to just do some drinking in the meantime. Although he also had Angelo to keep him company… which uhm. He might have been the reason he wanted a drink in the first place.

| 5 / 7 | Anyways. First on the list, was the rather peculiarly named shop that the gnome, Mr. Saltix, recommended to us. The place called Scrumdidilyumptious? -- It was a bit confusing at first, as the establishment appeared to be bakery. The delicious scents of baked goods permeating the air even before we reached at the entrance of the store. I initially assumed that it was just a front of sorts, and that there would be a secret or illegal magic shop in the back or something. ( considering how secretive Mr. Saltix was about the place.) But it appeared to be just a bakery.

A rather fancy bakery. That sold baked goods, infused with all sorts of potions and magical effects. And was run by an elven woman, who had just finished a batch of such alchemically infused goods. She initially assumed that we knew about the shop, and what effects we wanted order. But up to that point we were still under the impression that it was just a regular bakery, and a bit surprised and confused as to why we had been directed here. When we mentioned Who recommended us the place, her face flushed, and she had a hard time concealing the blush on her face. But realizing who had recommended this place to us, she was more than happy to explain to us the services that her store provides. As I mentioned before, she is able to provide and make any magical effect or potions, and integrates them into her baked goods for easy consumption. Not only does she appear to be a very skilled baker, But a highly accomplished Alchemist as well. I was very much fascinated by her wares, that she had on display. And her skill and very creative use of Alchemy. I was half tempted to go and spend some time here, simply to see what I could learn from her. But, we had business to attend to. And i suppose, money to spend.

Lym bought a few cupcakes in think, infused with high quality healing potions. And even picked up a few cookies for me, infused with droughts to help with sleep and insomnia. ( And also a few additional regular cookies and brownies as well. Which were absolutely delicious, to her credit. ) -- with our stomachs now filled, we headed to the next place. A shop that Mr. Remur recommended to us when we mentioned that we were looking for magic items. -- The Mimic’ cove.

Much to my relief I didn’t spot any mimics upon entering. I think. But I was definitely feeling a bit unnerved. -- They did have a rather impressive inventory though. Some of them were a bit… situational or pointless. At least for our situation, and purposes. But there were still some rather ingenious items as well. Even some rarer and harder to find pieces of equipment that id only ever heard about. (which were still out of our price range) – But, Lym did pick up some some items in the end, I think. Not sure what exactly, I was a bit too distracted with worrying about mimics. But after she paid, the shopkeep revealed the co-owner, and keeper of gold. For it seems that the chest that he keeps is gold is the aforementioned mimic. Who is his business partner, and does the accounting I assume. Which… was interesting revelation. I was wondering why he was whispering to the small chest earlier, when Lym was haggling the price down for some of the items. It seems like they were discussing things, to see if the price was reasonable. Still curious though if that really was the only mimic in that place.

| 6 / 7 | There were 2 more shops that I quickly wanted to visit myself Wrench warfare, and the Flying Dutchman Insurances. decided to go to Wrench warfare first since it be the most exciting, at least for me. A… bit too exciting though, it turns out. For there was a different person behind the counter today. A young dwarven lad who was working on something in the back. something… volatile. An explosion could be heard not long after entering the store, which was a bit concerning. and a few seconds later the now singed dwarf revealed himself. I mentioned that I was lookin to upgrade my tools, but… considering his current state. I first offered my services as a doctor. He said he was fine though, which… in not entirely sure if he was. But decided to asked what he was working on. When he mentioned that it was something explosive, and… considering the blast I heard earlier, I offered my services as an Artificer instead. Which he was more than happy to accept. seems that he was simply working on a explosive in fact, a rather potent one. And from the looks of it, things could be… a lot better. His workplace was a mess. And   ALL    of the reagents taht he was working with, were unlabelled, the idiot. I’m surprised he hasn’t blown the place sky high yet. I helped him out with the construction of the explosive device, and naming and listing and labelling the properties and names of all the reagents that he was working with. he's… a bit careless and trigger happy though. For as soon as I mentioned that one of them would explode if he mixed them. He immediately proceeded to mix said reagents. And I didnt really have the time to inform him, that the explosion would be instant. As it then proceeded to blow up in our faces. I was fine for the most part, a bit singed myself now. But gave him an earful, and careful and precise instructions on how to utilize the mixture. And not to combine them, UNTIL the triggering of the explosion. I had asked the other to wait for a bit, while I helped him out, and not to worry unless the heard an explosion. So… considering I already messed up on that part. I quickly wanted to finish things up after reassuring them that I was fine. In the end he was very grateful for my help. And upon realizing that I wasn’t actually send here his boss, or one of his co-workers, he was more than happy to give me a discount on the items I needed. Provided that I didn’t mention his “little” project to anyone else. To which I agreed, as long as he didn’t mention my name anywhere either. Much to my delight though, I now finally have a set of magical  All-purpose tools. A more advanced set of them even. Which should  very much help with all my future projects and endeavours. I’ve always wanted a set of these, and have heard rumours of what they can do, and what people have accomplished with them. So I very much look forward to hopefully using them, sometime soon. -- Last but not least. I made a quick stop the the Flying Dutchman insurances. Remembered the place from last time we visited, and considering that I’ve lost my bag   twice now, it seemed like a good idea. That way if I do lose it again, it should be teleported bag to the mansion. It was bit more expensive than I thought, but it is very much worth it.

| 7 / 7 | Id forgotten that Mr. Remur had already set us up with rooms, when I mentioned on perhaps visiting Mildthru at her tavern. And resting there for the night.

it…

It turns out though, that her place has been shut down. And her land bought up, by the damned brotherhood. -- There was a sign out front, the refereed to a different tavern. But the faint hope that she had simply relocated, was quickly squandered. For as soon as we entered the “New tavern” , it turned out to be some stuck up fancy place, for the arrogant and haughty noble of this damn city.

Mildthru was nowhere in sight either within the place. Just the stares of disdain, from the pretentious pricks who thought we weren’t even set foot in the establishment. Lym Send her message, to check in on her. She was fine, but… she hadn’t been able to find a way to open up her tavern again. And from the sounds of it, she seem pretty depressed about it. -- the Brotherhood or “Comprehensive kinship” or “Global comradeship” or whatever   Can go Fuck themselves. I am this close to tracking down there hideout and poising those haughty greed obsessed, arrogant bastards.  Mildthru, and the poor folk of Mirrorbar deserve better than this. depending on how the others feel, I might ask Mr. Remur to… expound  a bit on this bloody shadow organization. This city deserves better than what they have in in mind for it. * A wild theory, but… What if it was the Brotherhood that assassinated the king, in order to gain a better foothold in the city, and advance their plans.   What if the Brotherhood was involved in the assassination of the king? To gain a better foothold in the city, or advance their plans. Mr. Remur mentioned that while the city is well protected from physical threats. It isn’t so much from magical ones. And that magic might have been involved in the assassination of the king? I don’t know. I’m wondering if They perhaps have access to any magic. Or if it was perhaps indeed an inside job, like Lym mentioned