#its a GOOD little twist too

[separatist-apologist]

I just got a chance to read the new chapter of LIBTM and omggg there were so many lil hints!!! The fact that Az missed completely that there’s a high lord visiting cause he was drunk in love but also hints at Gwyn’s bottling and not telling Az why she stopped training!!! I want to know so badly and my initial thought was that the bond had snapped for her but not him and she barely feels worthy of her LIFE let alone a MATE so k thought that was it but in reading your reply to that ask saying that you like the male’s bond to snap first (I agree and Az is the perfect candidate to be hot and dumb about it) now it’s gotta be something else UGH I love Gwyn, she and her secret keeping and I are so similar and it’s nice to see yourself in fmcs cause it makes my own shortcomings seem more manageable and less like I’m gonna die alone because of them 😌 so thank you for this story!!! I’m clearly over analyzing and having a great time doing it ✊🏻🥰

You'll find out at literal the worst moment what that secret is. I am so desperate to get to this moment because it was the whole reason I started writing this fic to begin with

[offorestsongs]

and someone buy me roses and someone burned the church we're hanging out with corpses and driving in this hearse and someone save my soul tonight please save my soul

[pencilofawesomeness]

What is Twisted Wonderland and how would you sell someone on it?

Ohoho. Ohohohoho. Anon. You have activated my trap card >:D

(I'm about to be soooo annoying/unhinged and I'm sorry. I'm not.)

Alright, so:

Twisted Wonderland is a Disney mobile game made in Japan and co-produced by Aniplex. (Yes, that Aniplex.) I'm not here to sell you on the game, so much as the story, but it is a sort of story-book rpg with turned based fights and rhythm games, where you build character units from a gacha pull. As far as gameplay goes, it's very simple, and most of the emphasis lies on the characters and the story. And it's wonderful.

The on-the-box description of this game doesn't do it justice, per se, but that might be because Disney has a little bit of influence on it and they suck at knowing who their target audience is. It is about a high school based on classic Disney villains—but no, not in the way you're thinking, because I once made that mistake too. It is not a villain school. Rather, the world of Twisted Wonderland is its own entity, with characters built as sort of nods or foils to classic Disney characters. The world itself is somewhat built with these films as its past, and history has become so twisted (ha) that modern society views some of these classic villains as the heroes or supporting characters of their stories, and respect them as The Great Seven. (The seven in question being the Queen of Hearts, Scar, Ursula, Jafar, the Evil/Raven Queen, Hades, and Maleficent. None of them are remembered by name, though.)

The game takes place in the modern era, a society with both technology and magic. Specifically, it takes place in a magic high school called Night Raven College, an all-boys dormitory prep school where the only requirement to get in is a magic mirror that peers into your soul and determines whether or not you can a) do magic and b) kin the Great Seven. And, of course, the player character is a regular-ass human who gets isekai'd in and gets stuck with a talking magic cat direbeast named Grim.

Now. That is the general synopsis. I, on the other hand, affectionately call this the Mental Breakdown game.

See, here's the kicker. The magic system is pretty nifty; while it's functions as a standard magic-is-magic sort of soft system, it has ✨consequences✨

Magic has this byproduct called blot. It's this icky stuff that builds up when you a) use too much magic and/or b) are emotionally distressed. But less so in a "I'm panicked right now" sort of way and more so in a "I have chronic depression and/or anxiety" sort of way. And, when a mage is powerful enough, and sad boi enough, and then goes and uses way too much magic and sad boi juice in one sitting, this amazing phenomenon occurs called "overblot"—which is pretty much a super-powered evil form that turns the mage into the darkest form of themselves and then uses magic until they die.

Naturally, this happens in the game. A lot. The formula is pretty much that each "book" of the story, there is an overblot. One for each of the seven dorms, which are based off of the seven villains/the movies they come from. (And "based on" is pretty loose. Yes you can see the similarities, but these are dumb teenage boys with their own hopes and aspirations, and, sometimes, the game completely lies to you about what character they emulate the most. The guy who's Jafar? Well yes but he's actually just a really stressed out Genie stand in. The Hades guy? Whoops that's Meg. Is that a card soldier or the White Rabbit? Doesn't matter, he's got problems.)

The characters are so well written. I could gush about them forever, and they are the driving points of this plot and it means everything to me. They are some of the most traumatized and messed up individuals, but also, they are dumb teenage boys who do dumb teenage boys things. It is all incredibly well balanced and startlingly realistic for a game that amounts to beating the emotional constipation around people. Mostly because it cannot be beat out of them. The blot can, but they have to deal with their emotions with their own two hands, with varying levels of success.

And the shenanigans!!!! Oh, the shenanigans. I call this the Emotional Trauma game but I have once laughed so hard someone heard me through the floor. It's not all doom and gloom for sure. Sometimes you're watching your friend fall apart because his toxic mother instilled debilitating perfectionism and slowly start making enemies of everyone and sometimes you're sending three of the most gremlin students plus one cinnamon roll to infiltrate a gala that a bunch of weather fairies are throwing in the greenhouse because they stole your temperature regulating magestone to be shiny jewelry and you want it to stop snowing inside your dorm room. And sometimes you can have the exact same character who experienced losing his little brother right in front of him gush about a magical girl sledding anime and all of his gacha games. It is the best of both worlds.

And, that's not all! No, no. We get amazing character interactions. Not just pre-determined friend group interactions, but also random interactions. Yana Toboso (the writer/artist) really likes to stick names in a jar sometimes and make them interact and it is the best thing ever. Every single one of these characters I hold in my hands. Every single one of them gets to have their moment to shine. You can emotionally invest in all of them and be rewarded for it.

The game itself is free and pretty easy to get into. There's not really a bad power creep so you can get through it with what you got. Of course the fun part of collecting cards is that there are stories attached to them that you can watch, and those are also sources of joy. (And it's well documented, so you can find things online pretty easily to catch up and see more.)

I just think it's neat. (Read: I accidentally became wholly obsessed with this game and its characters and they are all blorbos to me.)

You should definitely fall into this rabbit hole with me :))) It's so worth it :)))

[volfoss]

First time doing a jumbo muffin w/o explicit package instructions for the time so um. Good god I'm a little scared about it....

[onewingedangels]

us: hi this guy goes thru gifmakers' entire page to copy and "remake" their gifs from detail to detail even replicating the same coloring, doesn't ask for consent and if he does he doesn't wait for an answer, and doesn't reblog from the people he copies from.

them: OH so you OWN 🙄 the character now? we can't gif the same character anymore? 😡 now you OWN the scenes too? 😡 we can't gif the same scenes anymore? I'm sorry that happened to you 🥺 but also I don't care about the situation 😌 but will involve myself into this anyway 😏

[tomboyyyaoi]

o i wanted to make a post that im honestly not smart enough to actually sit down and think out but i like the way meryls trauma doesnt completely woobify her character but does still affect her, it just feels nice to see a female charcater not be completely reduced to a wet soggy mess bc of trauma but also not to (very unrealistically) just Get Over It i think trigun has a nice balance and its refreshing

[ambagel]

Only three parts in and everyone is slandering everyone

Actually I LIKE matching with him thank you very much Ace 🤺 This event is perfect so far

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

HEAVY BREATHING HEAVY BREATHING HEAVY BREATHING HEAVY BREA

[toastsnaffler]

not that this means anything to anyone but v4 (yellow) I'm rly proud of finally fucking getting at the gym today its taken me 3 visits over the last 3 weeks to nail it. woof......

[blueskittlesart]

persona 5 is so well written <3 <3 /negative

[clorofolle]

Lemons! From my little lemon tree

[tartppola]

twisted wonderland i think u twisted a bit too far in this one

[volfoss]

I think the hunt for the mystery head has given me the motivation to start tackling eye making. And the neck I need to modify (again 😑) but we will be finally making progress I think ..

[robocops-a-christ-allegory]

I havent seen anyone else say it and Im wondering if its because its actually a really obvious read we all know of but. I think season 2 of dont hug me im scared is representative of the main characters as Actors being contractually stuck in one of those shows thats been running for like 30 years and not able to get out of it

[wolfiestars]

weird urge to play through thieves in time again even tho i know it will just make me angry >:(

[lucyshypemaster]

you guys I just finished watching "missing" and it was SOOOOOO GOOD WTF LIKE my expectations was low- I only watched it bc many people hyped it up on tiktok and I CANNOT BELIEVE IT TOOK ME THIS LONG TO WATCH THE MOVIE