#it's bad for users and it's bad for developers

[barracuda-shark-games]

Q&A - The Bodyguard (Amis)

In chapter 1, players will meet 3 of 6 major characters in Bethroned with whom the MC will develop a relationship. Whether that relationship is platonic, romantic, or hostile in nature will depend on players' choices.

In case you missed it, a sneak peek into the first of those three characters, Amis the Bodyguard, dropped on Friday.

As promised, here are answers to some of the questions I have received since then, presented below the cut. The answers are free of story spoilers and mostly pertain to fun details. That said, questions that contain lore spoilers will be preceded by a warning.

Enjoy!

Spoiler-free answers:

Do you have a Pinterest board for Amis?

I do, but it's private because I mostly use it for my own inspiration. Pinterest is littered with a lot of AI art (of which I'm not fond) and its users can be bad about crediting artists; if I were to make it public, I'd want to make sure artists are credited, and I usually don't vet it when I'm simply saving an image to a board for inspiration and not to share. That being said, here are some credited images that kind of evoke him His appearance (note: his eyes are hazel) His armor (source: Loras Tyrell in GoT; specifically the cloak motif) Additionally, sometimes I reblog posts on tumblr that remind me of my characters. For Amis, you'd find any such posts tagged as #insp: amis.

Where would Amis fall on the McDonald's Alignment Chart?

He'd be somewhere between the kids shouting "McDonald's! McDonald's! McDonald's!" and the parent saying "We have food at home." Leaning more towards "McDonald's!" chanting, of course.

What's his D&D alignment?

Neutral good.

If Amis was an animal, what would he be?

A sea otter: cute, but capable of vicious brutality.

How does Amis best give and receive comfort?

When giving comfort, Amis prioritizes being physically present first, and offering the comfort of touch second. When he sees someone he cares for hurting, his immediate instinct is to hug them tight, but he's able to repress the urge in order to gauge what they're comfortable with. It physically pains him when he can't be present when someone needs him. Similarly, Amis feels comforted by presence and touch; it helps ground him more than words can. He especially feels comforted by having someone pet/play with his hair.

How would Amis react to a shy MC just nervously asking for a kiss while blushing up a storm and avoiding making eye contact with him?

If they'd never kissed before: He would break out into a delighted smile and reach for their hand. Once given, he'd bring their hand to his lips while bowing, looking at their face the whole time. If they proceeded to say that's not what they meant by a kiss, then he would gently ask them to look him in his eyes and ask him again. He'd want to see that they really want it. If they'd kissed before: He would reach out and gently tilt their head towards him and trace the bottom of their lip fondly. "Always," he'd say with a smile before softly meeting their lips with his own.

How would Amis react to a MC who is off in their own little world just playing with his hand before slotting both their hands together and holding it, just looking happy with themselves and not noticing that Amis was watching them?

He'd have a huge smile on his face and end up squeezing their hand without thinking about it. He'd be lost in his own little world, captivated by the MC.

Minor lore spoilers:

What would romanced Amis say if the MC asked him, "Would you still love me if I was a worm?"

(Assuming they meant if they were turned into a worm.) He would frown at the thought and say, "I would be really sad if you turned into a worm..." Then his eyes would light up. "Oh! But I'd know just where to take you. My sister owns a beautiful vineyard in Korcome and the soil would be so rich and wonderful for your needs! They get a decent amount of rain there, too." After a pause, he'd add, "Worms like rain, right?"

Can you tell us more about Amis' homeland?

Amis grew up in Korcome, which was absorbed into the Dawn Empire 7 years before the game takes place. Korcome is famed for its vineyards; it's soil is amazing for growing grapes. It's also known for its olive trees. Aesthetically speaking, its best real-world analogue is Greece. Korcome was never a kingdom or empire; it's always been a society bound by barons and wealthy land owners with alliances and their own private militaries. Basically, before joining the Dawn Empire, Korcome operated like feudalism only without a central figure. This contributed to instability and corruption at every level; crime guilds run rampant in Korcomian's biggest cities. This is, in part, why even the barons and baronesses of Korcome were eager to be absorbed into the Dawn Empire -- they knew that they would be able to hold onto their titles and deeds while being able to benefit from the Sun Throne's protection and leadership.

What does he do in most of his free time?

Amis really enjoys baking, and he's quite good at it. He's especially talented at baking sweet treats! He doesn't get much opportunity to bake, however, seeing as he doesn't have his own kitchen and the royal kitchens are often busy. Instead, he mostly spends his free time reading new cookbooks, and writing letters to his mom and sisters back in Korcome. He also likes to go out into the city and peruse bakeries and market stalls for inspiration.

What are his thoughts on the war and the MC's betrothal?

Amis doesn't really know much about the war so he doesn't have much of an opinion. He's just glad it's over. Similarly, he doesn't know much about the betrothal or how noble alliances work. If he doesn't understand of have firsthand knowledge about something, he's unlikely to develop a strong opinion on it.

How does Amis feel about the Dawn Empire?

He likes the Dawn Empire well enough, especially because things have become safer back home for his mom and sisters. The stability has been such a relief; it's part of why he was happy to join the Dawnguard.

Has Amis ever been in love before? How much experience does he have?

Amis develops crushes quite easily, but he's never been in love. He's had a few relationships in his time, but none have lasted particularly long. He prefers committed relationships to casual flings.

Job title aside, if he could save only one, would he choose the MC or the world?

Ohhh now this is a tough one. I'm going to have to say it depends on whether or not his mom and sisters are still around. If he didn't have his family to worry about and he was in love with the MC, he would absolutely choose the MC.

[valle-de-sombra-de-muerte]

Homestuck Reread: Act 5-1, Part 1/5 (p. 1989-2099)

Read the previous post here.

Well the last post got a much more positive reception than I expected, so that's a relief. Anyway, get the grey face paint ready, because it's time for Act 5-1.

Alternian script is the Daedric alphabet from The Elder Scrolls series flipped upside down, which I'm sure most fans know already. The user tries entering "Turdodor Fuckball" for the planet's name.

Interestingly, the correct name is not "Alternia" but "Trollplanet." Is that what Alternia translates to into English? There's like zero discussion at all about troll language because Hussie did not give a single shit about developing this alien society beyond "grey violent humans with horns."

Right out the gate, Karkat's intro leads with his key character trait: his crippling self-loathing. Everything about him, from how he excessively plays up his competence and knowledge to his naturally angry and defensive disposition, stems from the fact that he views himself as a defective freak that constantly needs to prove himself.

His interests are similar to John's. He likes bad movies, specifically romcoms, which ties into his greater passion for romance and the study of interpersonal relationships as a whole. He also has an inexplicable interest in programming. It's at least implied that Karkat only attempts to learn so he can try to compete with Sollux in a futile rivalry. The reason why John likes to program is anyone's guess.

His greatest dream is to join the Alternian military, which is probably the only viable career path for someone of his pariah status. He's constantly in danger of being culled, so he wants to prove to the Empire that he's more valuable to them alive rather than dead. In order to preserve his life, he's willing to serve them and become a tool they can use to further their intergalactic conquests.

"Trolls think fashion is stupid." A simple phrase that is regularly ignored by people who create fantrolls with garish and elaborate outfits.

A good programmer would have no trouble with this modus, so Karkat forces himself to use it until he gets good. Even though it's frustrating and causes him misery, he's so stubborn to prove himself as a good programmer that it reaches the point where Sollux has to take it away from him. Probably because it has become too much of a hindrance. IDK, we never see much of the trolls' session to find out, which is a fucking shame.

Karkat's stubbornness is also a key part of his character. See also: his trolling scheme of trolling John backwards through time is something he admits is stupid, but he continues to go through with it. He will admit he's wrong, often begrudgingly and self-deprecatingly, but will double down and refuse to change course despite that. Giving up is synonymous with failure, something he is deathly afraid of.

If Karkat is so afraid of letting his blood color become known, why does he have candy-red awnings outside his hive? He might as well have a big sign alerting everyone that a mutant lives there.

Everything about Karkat has to be big, flashy, and important. His huge ambitions compensate for his self-loathing so that others don't view him as the worthless mutant he sees himself as. He has to prove that he is a good programmer, he is a strong leader, and he will be the best threshecutioner in the whole military!

This pretty much summarizes what Karkat wants in life: to overcome caste discrimination and gain prestige and respect.

It's tempting to call Will Smith Karkat's "patron black celebrity" but I won't because 1) that whole thing doesn't carry over to the trolls, and 2) this is actually relevant to Karkat's character and not some bizarre, nonsense """joke""" like with the kids.

I've always been a big fan of "angry/uptight guy" and "goofy dumb guy" dynamics, and Karkat and Gamzee fit that to a T. Even though Karkat is extremely rude to Gamzee, he doesn't ever dispute the notion that they are in fact friends. Their friendship is being treated as an established fact, something Karkat uses an excuse to further whinge about how much his life sucks.

Gamzee drops his typing quirk momentarily. This doesn't happen often in the comic, but it's something trolls only ever do when they're close to someone, if they want to express something serious, or both.

Even before the introduction of quadrants, we see hints of a pale dynamic between them. Gamzee is the perfect sounding board for Karkat's vents, doesn't object to the verbal abuse being slung his way, and is implied much later on to be a somewhat of a calming source for Karkat. Yes of course I ship them pale. I just think they're neat, okay? <> :)

Gamzee very inelegantly changes the subject after mentioning Sollux and Karkat's friendship. Karkat may be Gamzee's best friend, but Sollux is Karkat's best friend. That must be a sore spot for him. But beyond this, we never ever see what Sollux and Gamzee's relationship might be like. It would've been nice if Gamzee was more jealous and protective of his best friend/moirail and not like it when Karkat shows more favor to anyone else.

Gamzee and Karkat's dynamic is something that I believe Hussie wanted to set up throughout the Act so that their eventual confrontation would have a bigger payoff, but he fumbled massively with the execution. Either because he doesn't really give a shit about Gamzee, or through sheer inept writing, I can't say. But it sucks because there's definitely a lot of potential here.

They're the first trolls to interact in this new Act, but they don't really ever talk much after this point. They're only ever seen together sporadically and it's implied a handful of times that they're closer than Karkat is willing to let on, but there's never anything beyond that. They really needed to speak more so their relationship could be fleshed out. I'll talk more about this as I move along because this lives in my brain rent-free.

It's really dumb how Gamzee's "rather obscure cult" ended up turning into a religion that pretty much every purple blood follows, but I'm not going to talk about post-canon garbage. I get a headache just thinking about it.

I do like the Joker Card posters in his room. I had that Riddle Box one in my own room for a time.

He likes to "chat a lot" with Karkat. So I guess they just talk to each other way more than what's shown in the text. Thanks, Hussie.

Gamzee never received a proper upbringing from his guardian and had to essentially raise himself. In the process of this, he became addicted to mind-altering substances. To everyone who says Bro is the worst guardian in the story, I gladly point you all to Goat Dad.

Terezi is being intentionally annoying. I know most of the trolls are assholes, but why do any of them waste their time with Terezi when she makes it a point to be obnoxious? It's even more baffling when people try to paint her as one of the more "well-adjusted" trolls.

Karkat fantasizes about making doomsday viruses, huh? I'm going to keep a pin in this for l8r I mean later...

It's funny how Karkat both admires and envies Sollux. Their relationship is also one that doesn't get a lot of attention, despite ostensibly being the "John" and "Dave" parallels of the troll cast. Oh wait, I guess John and Dave's friendship ended up being really shallow and one-sided too. So this tracks, actually.

Sollux disparages Gamzee's religion and expresses disgust when he suspects Karkat might be a convert. So again, I think there's definitely some conflict between these two. Two of the trolls that Karkat is closest to don't seem to like each other. It makes me kind of wish we got some auspistice action between the three of them.

Even though Karkat is regularly rude to his friends, he still values their company deep down. He might be one of the most personable trolls despite his grouchy attitude. He not only tolerates the obnoxious people in his contacts, he actually considers them his close friends. Gamzee is a total dullard and Sollux is crass and moody, but they're also the ones he's closest to. Out of the main cast of trolls, there's only one whom Karkat actively dislikes and makes no real attempt at being sociable with. I'll talk about that when I reach that part.

"Orchestrating the demise of the wicked" yeah I'm sure John was guilty of being very wicked and dastardly when she sent him to his death.

Terezi has a passion for justice, but keep in mind that "justice" on Alternia is equivalent to sentencing people to death for the pettiest of reasons. So no, she is not at all some moral, upstanding heroine. She's a psychotic gremlin who enjoys killing people if they violate her draconian interpretation of the law. She does not care for defending victims of injustice, she enforces the will of the state.

Part of Terezi's core conceit is that she's this half-assed Daredevil parody. She's 1) blind and has super senses 2) uses a cane to fight, and 3) is a "lawyer." Aside from that, she shares nothing else in common with Daredevil. I imagine Hussie does not know anything about superheroes beyond superficial, pop culture knowledge.

I remember when people loved to portray Nepeta and Terezi as good friends, but Terezi doesn't actually like role playing with her. She treats her like a joke, much like everyone else. Poor Nepeta gets such a raw deal.

In Nepeta's very first speaking appearance, we get a glimpse of her horrible relationship with Equius. Despite the physical distance between them, she's so browbeaten into subservience that she feels the need to ask him for "purrmission" before doing anything. She is scared about expressing her honest desires around him, preferring to skirt around the issue and just blindly hoping that things will work out and he won't get mad at her. It feels like someone trying to wear kid gloves around an abusive partner or parent. Despite Terezi's concerns, Nepeta tries to downplay the issue and pretend everything's fine.

This conversation is honestly sad to read. "But nooo they are bestest friends!" I hear the fans cry as they flock around the flanderized, fluffy art of Nepeta and Equius. Is that why she straight up admits that she's scared of him? Fuck Meowrails. I hate that shit so much. I'm going to spit so much acid every time it rears its ugly head.

We have to constantly be reminded of Terezi's blindness since it really doesn't impact her character in a meaningful way. Sure she can't see, but she can navigate the world around her so adeptly with her super senses that it's a non-issue. Nobody would even notice that she's blind if she wasn't always pointing it out.

Eridan is mentioned as being part of this inner circle that's in the know about Sgrub. Huh.

I'm old enough to remember when Eridan had yet to be revealed and the only information about him was this page. Some people thought he'd be some kind of environmental activist. It's funny to think about now, but I really miss the days when fans would theorize about future updates and unseen characters. All that guesswork and theorycrafting led to some really fun discussions and fanworks. The boundless creativity shown by the fans was what made the Homestuck fandom something really special in those days. And it's something we lost once the comic was finished and Hussie's completed product didn't measure up to the fans' expectations.

I really really miss 2010-11, you guys...

I really have to question the logistics of this convoluted reproduction cycle. If the adult trolls are off-world, how long does it take the drones to transport the genetic material back to Alternia? Are they just zipping all across the galaxy to do constant jizz runs?

None of this really matters because as previously established, the main trolls were not born in this manner. They're all slime constructs born from an entirely separate incestuous slurry from natural trolls. I think Hussie just has an obsession with creatures being birthed from goo or something.

One of the biggest problems with Act 5-1 is this rushed tone it has. It's weird to say because I remember how often people complained about how long the Act was taking to wrap up, but it's true! Hussie really wants to zip through these character introductions without elaborating on any of the worldbuilding he touches upon along the way. It's what makes troll society as a whole feel so shallow and not well thought out.

These characters really needed their own story divorced from that of the kids and Sburb. A story where the Alternia setting could be allowed to breathe and be explored more thoroughly and thoughtfully. I think that would've made for a more entertaining read.

Sollux gets this fake-out intro that's basically a retread of Dave's. Aside from being kind of standoffish and tech-savvy, this parallel doesn't go anywhere. There's little else that connects Sollux with Dave because Sollux is hardly a main character. He is the tech guy who has mood swings, doesn't like to be involved with shenanigans, and has visions of doom that make him depressed. He's a glorified background character.

Okay, "beenary code" is kind of a lame pun, but I do think "silicomb" is clever.

Kanaya lives near the ruins of Alternia's frog temple. Both she and Aradia are kind of the "Jade" of the trolls' session. Aradia by means of doing background plot stuff, and Kanaya through... I suppose theming? Both she and Jade are isolated, considered "outliers" in their culture/friend group, receive regular visions from Skaia, and are the teams' Space players.

It's worth noting how both the "Jade" trolls wind up being the most stoic, unflappable characters of the cast and mostly serve the purpose of being exposition-dumpers and plot devices. Kinda like Jade herself, except instead of being deadpan she's quirky and all over the place.

I feel like this post could've been a lot longer, but I'm limiting myself to only five posts for this Act. I don't want to stretch this project out too long, lest I be yapping about the trolls until the end of time.

[trainsinanime]

The Apple vs. Twitter thing is another one of those "two statement can and should coexist" situations. Funny how they keep cropping up; you might almost think that this the normal state of the world.

On the one hand, it is good that there is some instance mandating at least the tiniest bit of accountability for the modern web world. We saw with Kiwifarms how difficult it can be to deal with truly awful things. Also, it's always fun to see Elon go crazy.

At the same time, Apple should absolutely not be that last control instance, and neither should Google for that matter. For one, Apple is not doing a good job; their methods are capricious, their standards non-existent, and every single iOS app developer has a story of how the Apple store rules and their crazy enforcement have hurt them personally.

And even if that weren't the case, Apple should not hold that much power over so much of the world. No single company should; hell, even for single governments it can be questionable.

Sadly, we only ever have these debates over truly bad examples. When we discuss this, it's always about, "is it good that this white millionaire creates a safe haven where fascists connect and spread? Hard to say", and sadly never about the many other cases.

The most famous case here is, of course, sex and nudity, and how Apple's app store forced Tumblr to get rid of those things, annoying millions, but also genuinely hurting a lot of people like sex workers. And don't forget that people like to lump sexuality and gender identity in with these topics and block them as well.

The conclusion is that there is no conclusion. It's bad if Elon gets what he wants, and it's bad that Apple has the power to stop him. If you want any conclusion, I guess both sides are examples of how corporations and the rich people leading them have way, way too much power to control all our lives. But even that is only a quick oversimplification. It's all rather frustrating.

[rinisdrawing]

cozy summer afternoons

[noecoded]

i dont know anything about obey me but the way you and ttvck draw that pink hair girl named asmo is so pretty and cute and sweet aaaaa shes so gender to me i love her so much <333

mr president . the general public is starting to believe asmo is a girl

[darkwood-sleddog]

once again i am asking tumblr to hold public polls for users to vote on potential changes. imagine if you were the 'respect our users opinion website'. like that could be us but apparently not.

[whippedcloudsofcream]

Asajj isn’t a high level Jedi, but she’s a threat in her own right. She casually shows, once again, how even professionals in the Star Wars universe are outclassed by a well trained Force User. Much akin to when Luke executed the Dark Troopers without even straining himself.

[magebird]

Sometimes I feel like the discourse about AI art misses the actual point of why it’s not a good tool to use.

“AI art isn’t ‘real’ art.” —> opinion-based, echoes the same false commentary about digital art in general, just ends up in a ‘if you can’t make your own store-bought is fine’ conversation, implies that if art isn’t done a certain way it lacks some moral/ethical value, relies on the emotional component of what art is considered “real” or not which is wildly subjective

“AI art steals from existing artists without credit.” —> fact-based, highlights the actual damage of the tool, isn’t relying on an emotional plea, can actually lead to legally stopping overuse of AI tools and/or the development of AI tools that don’t have this problem, doesn’t get bogged down in the ‘but what if they caaaaan’t make art some other way’ argument

Like I get that people who don’t give a shit about plagiarism aren’t going to be swayed, but they weren’t going to be swayed by the first argument either. And the argument of “oh well AI art can’t do hands/isn’t as good/can’t do this thing I have decided indicates True Human Creativity” will eventually erode since… the AI tools are getting better and will be able to emulate that in time. It just gets me annoyed when the argument is trying to base itself on “oh this isn’t GOOD art” when AI does produce interesting and appealing images and the argument worth having is much more about the intrinsic value of artists than the perceived value of the works that are produced.

[obstinatecondolement]

It feels like every day I read attempts to debunk the social model of disability that fundamentally misunderstand what the social model of disability is and who the people who developed that model were, including what the nature of their disabilities was, and I want to scream.

But I don't, because yelling at people on the internet is basically pointless. Instead I check to see that I'm not mutuals with whoever reblogged said misunderstanding and vague about it.

[yuanwang]

hiiii <3 <3 <3 twirls hair

[honestlyvan]

Let me be absolutely clear -- the problems with Tumblr will keep getting worse if the disabled minority and the trans people and the people frothing at the mouth at the opportunity to yell at a transphobe, keep @’ing staff and the developers on this site, tell them to kys, because in the meanwhile the transphobes and racists and white supremacists will keep using the actual tools Tumblr provides for blocking and reporting, further poisoning the datasets used for moderation, and encouraging the idea that using the official tools does nothing to basically ensure the only statistically meaningful data available to Automattic is poisoned, poisoned all the way down, poisoned beyond usability.

Hatespeech and bias needs to be reported for it to be considered statstically significant to act on from a developer point of view. Suicide baiting and spamming any of the official means of communication will get you eliminated as a spammer, even if you’re peppering legitimate criticism within your ventpost about how you hate the new thing. You are playing the TE/RFs game.

[effervescent-fool]

i think one of my biggest (and only) gripes with procreate is that they dont have like. a masterlist of features their app has to offer. a full thorough ui navigation. because ive been using procreate for a couple years now and im still discovering preexisting features because they just. dont mention it anywhere

[dorkylittleweirdo]

Do you still play zr?

Not really tbh. I stopped liking it at all when I got to s7 and despised the last two seasons so there's really no reason for me to keep listening at this point when it's not gonna get any better for me personally. And it seems like Peter might not be in it much/at all going forward which gives me an easy out since he's the only regular character left that I like lmao. Maybe I'll try some of the other stories they've come out with if my friends tell me they're any good but other than that I'm kinda done with it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[nthflower]

Tumblr is always like social norms are evil and stupid and hurt people that doesn't fit in (which is extremely true and I say this all the time too)

But the moment someone do something here stupid everybody is like turn into hive mind and bully them.(not racism or bigoted stuff like terfs idk I am talking about just weird things)

Like people preach be yourself, current social norms are fucked up then mock you for not following Tumblr culture or whatever.

[punk-pins]

tumblr live update on mobile: it now has the option to snooze the live streams at the top of the dashboard for 30 days, but the video icon for the tumblr live tab in the middle of the footer can’t be disabled at all :/

[nightopianfoxgirl]

i’ve been reconnected to one of my childhood app games and slowly rebuilding my empire or elegant horses

there are two now, but soon i shall have them all OwO