#over media analysis and stuff

[worldofgoo]

My philosophy about how I engage with and evaluate stories has shifted a lot over time but I do think fundamentally "did I enjoy this?" is still the main question I ask myself when coming out of it. It's just the things that make me enjoy something might sometimes be because it was interesting, thought provoking, etc. because those are things that are fun for me to turn around in my head and digest. So I am having fun in my own way critiquing and nitpicking things or watching/reading "dry" or "unpleasant" or "bad" things.

I guess I'm saying this because I just saw a post kind of framing the "I like to think about the things I engage with" in like a kind of condescending "I'm not like other girls" way but I feel like presenting it more as like. People have different hobbies and ways of thinking about things. I guess because explaining it that way can also help bridge the gap between you and somebody that doesn't enjoy things the way you do instead of you stewing in resentment/alienation about nobody getting you lol

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Movie Night (Clip of the scene here)

[💙Become a Ko-Fi member for Art raffles and bonus content!]

[tarczar]

objectum queen? taking this opportunity to tell you guys there's an audio drama story focused entirely on her and paracelsus ((slayer is also there <3)) also here's the english translation pdf

[mirror-imaged]

it's my niche microblogging platform and i get to talk about being frustrated with ai nirvana initiative again. heavy spoilers under the readmore for both aitsf games and zero escape. (i know i already did this i think i just have different points and feelings i'd like to articulate? in addition to the ones you can find here if you'd like to read them. this post is kind of... a sequel! crazy.)

i've had time to sit on aini, and the more i think about it the more upset i feel. i really REALLY liked the original aitsf, like, really obviously so. the character writing in that game all felt like it was in service of a greater narrative that - while it contains some issues - is one of the most memorable games i've experienced in the past decade. i honestly think it's my second favorite of uchikoshi's entire game library, right behind the original ds version of 999. the story is really interesting, it contains some super fascinating themes relating to the human mind and personhood, the complexities of family, and identity. uchikoshi's titles all feel like they're kind of put together out of the same building blocks mixed and matched, along with being utilized in different ways. the unique characters and settings really make them stand out as individually enjoyable stories, even if they share a lot of lifeblood. like, i notice parallels between titles of his i've already played that seem at first glance to have really similar stories if you read a plot summary, but the experience of sitting down to play them makes all the difference.

(side tangent here, but like, seriously. dastardly old man with deep personal connection and involvement in an event that happened X number of years ago - bonus points if it's a multiple of 3 - weaving together the lives of the main cast? uniquely preventable tragedy all in service of someone's greed? autistic weirdgirls with deep personal baggage? bodyswapping and mindfuckery outside of the range of the genre's conventions? anyway!)

i feel like so much of what came out of aini's story is really counterproductive to the point of the original game. in my original post, i compared a lot of it to virtue's last reward and the things i found particularly disappointing in that title, which i still stand by to a degree. i think some of the feelings i had about it overlap, for instance when i first played VLR i actually really disliked it. i was extremely upset with the way it treated the canon of a game i'd formed a deeply personal emotional attachment to, but my feelings have changed over time. it's a game i like conceptually and as a total product more than i like the actual experience of playing through it again. part of that emotional response is felt in aini as well, where i was so emotionally attached to specifically date, mizuki, and aiba that the fact that the story went in the direction of kicking date out of mizuki's life for another six years crushed me. not in a good or tragically heartbreaking way, kind of just in an irreverent way. i had really wanted to see mizuki and date happy in a way that worked with the story of the original game, with the conclusion it ended on.

partially, i think i needed to take a step back and let my emotions subside before i could start critically analyzing the bits and pieces there. that was what i'd needed before i started to enjoy VLR more, in fact. but still, there are so many parts of aini that feel unfulfilled to me and like they needed more time in the oven. i think my mutual cosmicpines put it best in the comments on my original post, actually:

"The plot twist isn't even not foreshadowed. It's just the game erodes away so much of your trust in the writing that you don't think the hints are hints. Why does Hitomi say she hasn't seen Date in years? Why does Mizuki not have more of a reaction to her parentage or to Date? Why does Boss absolutely lay it into Ryuki for not that big of a fuck up? All of that is supposed to be hints, but they all just feel like sloppy writing."

thank you to her for that, i hope it's okay for me to quote it in this. i'm really sorry to essentially be using this post as my game journalism career i'll never get to have because i'm going into psychology and am not seeking a career as a writer, i'm just autistic and love mystery media, but some of the stuff they pull in the story doesn't work for me at all. the writing feels disjointed, and i think part of what's upsetting is that yes, it is supposed to feel disjointed. but the fact that it is supposed to feel that way doesn't make the end result make sense, it makes it feel like it's pulling out excuses. with 999 and the original aitsf, there were these beautiful moments where i felt everything slotting into place as i made connections in my mind. there's this buildup that's absolutely palpable in the atmosphere and story's stakes, and when everything clicked it felt like a switch was flipped in my brain. aini doesn't have that 'eureka!' moment for me, it felt like a slow burn that kind of fizzled out at the end. and i played it over the course of about one week, too, so that's not on my dreadful schedules.

that doesn't even address specifics in the story. i've already been upset about the use of the prototype psync machine while also disregarding the thing that made it unique to the story in the first place (again, the word irreverence comes to mind...) but i'd also like to really stress something else that i've come to become more upset about in time: mizuki. in my original post, i'd felt that mizuki had been severely shafted by the writing and this huge loss of time in between the events at the cathedral and the present day. that doesn't account for the fact that she's splitting time with bibi, who is virtually an indistinguishable character from her. i want to reference another aitsf post about mizuki found here made by jackass-jones and their tags.

part of what is so impactful about mizuki and date's relationship in the wider context of the story's themes surrounding family is that, as they put it, the okiuras are what is considered "normal" by society at large. they are a 'biological,' 'heterosexual,' wealthy, (previously) married family. the purpose behind that in the first game is clearly that they are extremely dysfunctional, so it's showing that the norm isn't necessarily what's best for kids. now, this is called into question in multiple ways throughout the initial game (they get divorced, renju begins a new relationship that is NOT heterosexual, et cetera) so there's precedent for maybe using the fact that mizuki was adopted by them in a way that slots into that analysis. however, that's clearly not what the intent was in the original game, so it doesn't work at all and comes across as an obvious retcon. mizuki being taken in by date is very clearly framed as BOTH of them learning to understand that family can be more than just blood, because neither of them have ever known anything else. part of the reason this reads as the intention to me is also that most of the relationships in aitsf that ARE bound by blood are at least somewhat dysfunctional! saito and so, so and iris, manaka and iris, renju, shoko, and mizuki, moma and rohan, mayumi and ota, et cetera! the relationships in the story that come across as the most caring are born of circumstance, like iris and hitomi along with mizuki and date.

mizuki in aini being adopted is, moving past that, fine i guess, but bibi being directly her clone kind of throws a wrench into this entire central theme of the original story. it's upsetting to me. mizuki never gets to explore her own feelings about the fact that her foster father, somebody she clearly loves and cares about, just... disappeared for six years after she finally had stability. it feels like a big fuck-you to the audience who cared so deeply about their familial bond in the original story. there's even a way this kind of misery from fate can be done interestingly, and i think VLR does it better. when i was originally upset by the story's shattering of my view of 999, it was largely centered around akane and junpei's relationship. however, able to look back and read it from a thematic lens, it works much better for me. akane kurashiki is somebody who has spent her entire life suffering. she has never known anything but working toward an end goal greater than herself, because she has been cursed with a power that gives her knowledge greater than any one human should possess. it makes so much sense that by the end of VLR chronologically, she has become somebody who continues to dedicate her life to something greater than herself. it makes me wonder if she feels selfish for dedicating so much time and hurt from both herself and others to something like saving her own life. and with that, tenmyouji has become somebody who has spent forever chasing this image of her he's created in his head; unable to see her after years and years, he can only remember her based on the two brief periods of their lives they'd spent together. their relationship means a lot to me, it's one of the most interesting dynamics i've seen put forth in a story.

aini doesn't do that. aini sidelines mizuki in what was supposed to be her own story. hell, it even sidelines ryuki, who gets the most screentime out of every main cast member. i like ryuki! i think he's great! it's just that outside of his route, you kind of... barely see him. i don't particularly mind the way the story has ambitions of using him as an unreliable narrator based on his own wonky perception of time, in fact i think it could be used really well if they'd done it better. but they don't! so i continue to be frustrated about it! i wish mizuki and ryuki got to have a relationship on-screen, especially considering the way that plays into her not getting allowed to process her feelings about losing date. he is partially responsible for what happened, and i don't know, i wish she got to feel some kind of way about that! even if it was unjustified anger, that would at least make some amount of sense? mizuki and date have always been bad at communicating directly with each other, even if they do both really care about each other. even so, mizuki has been shown to have big feelings! she hides them from people because her mother literally physically abused her when she showed them, but that doesn't change that she does! mizuki getting aiba as a partner was really interesting to me, not just because they both had a preexisting relationship with date, but also because they had great chemistry as a working pair. but there, in my eyes based on this decision, is another place where the story just fumbles so spectacularly this extremely easy opportunity to have interesting character dynamics due to that no-spoiler rule. aiba has been updated with counseling software in the literal UI of the game. this makes sense for ryuki and tama, but with mizuki and aiba it is just a huge chance for them to have mizuki open up to aiba - someone who also knows date very well - about her emotions related to his disappearance! it would make sense with the mechanics they literally added onto this game separate from the first one! but they didn't!

i don't know how to wrap up this post. i've already written... uh... well, 1.5k words in the last post, and currently over 2k words in this one. this is longer than some of my college essays. this is longer than some of the fanfiction i have written, and honestly it is kind of fanfic about a game i wish aini could have been. thank you for reading if you have! i know this is extremely long, so massive props once again to both of the people who i've mentioned that have made me think lots about this game. i hope i make any amount of sense and am not just babbling into the void, because truly, a lot of these ideas are things i've said out loud to myself in the shower.

[syncrovoid-presents]

Wally and the Colour RED

Wally and the colour Red have an interesting relationship in Welcome Home. This is a rambling/analysis of different things I've found that makes me believe it's an important detail moving forwards with the Welcome Home Mystery!

First! Why do I think this matters?

There's a few reasons why I think this matters! First, while all the members of the cast seem to be tied to a colour, none is as focused or as consistent as Wally and the colour red! The two primary examples I'll use to cover this is one that we've had for a while, and two that we got in this update. Those being the signatures at the bottom of the guestbook, the interactable telephone, and the name graphics on the transcript page!

Interestingly, all of the cast are directly tied to a specific colour! The signatures at the bottom of the Guestpage and the colours of the "calls" on the telephone are the same for each character. This being pink for Julie, orange for Sally, yellow for Frank, green for Poppy, turquoise for Howdy, blue for Barnaby, purple for Eddie, and red for Wally. This is consistent (and possibly something to pay attention for in the future?)

Notably however, Home is signed by Wally, while the audio file for Wally's "call" recording is also called "duet" when you open it in another tab. Audio files with "duet" is a sign that Home is present. This means that red is not strictly a Wally colour, but also the colour for Home!

(if you're curious, the other audio called "duet" is Wally's little song he sings)

This is interesting, because Wally and Home are often treated as a duo, moreso than any other characters of Welcome Home. I would also like to point out another detail, one that I think ties into this tie between Wally, Home and the colour red.

The Records

All the records from Wally's hidden message ("I will help you understand neighbor, I will find a way soon.") are red! Sure, some are glitched, but they are all red. As is this record with the strange audio (has anyone decoded this yet?). This audio is directly tied to Wally, as it's called "(DRAWING?) WITH WALLY DARLING".

However the hidden one's may not just be Wally. Though they are all name the tab "answer" when opened, I'm tempted to say that "answer" is wally prompting us to answer (or, alternatively, Wally is trying to answer us, however he perceives us).

I believe that Home is there too in the audio. If you listen to all of them in a row, turning up the audio will reveal that there is a heart beat in the background. This, I want to say, is Home and not Wally, as Wally does not seem to register them. It peaks about halfway through with Neighbor, coincidentally the audio that is both glitching and is made of a series of clicks rather than voice lines.

I have seen people say that this is "Help Me" or "Hello" in morse code. I do not know which is the agreed translation is (to me it sounds like "…. . ..-.. .. -.. ---", which translates to "HEĘIDO", which is not a word. However it most resembles "…. . .-.. .-.. ---" which translates to "HELLO")

Regardless of what Home may be saying, it shows that the hidden recordings can be put together into a timeline that sounds like one recording, which means it's most likely all recorded at the same place. Ergo, Home is in the hidden recordings as well!

Other spots where red is brought up

There are other instances of red being tied to Wally. Some are obvious, like his love of apples (red ones specifically), the Wally prints/finger paint on the bottom of the guestbook, the background of the "i <3 Wally" gif/sticker in the sticker section of the site (also shared with Home. Wally's character description is also shared by home!), Wally himself in the "so-below" page, among other things. Such as the Wally themed telephone being red, despite his more iconic blue swirled hair (or blue and yellow-trimed sweater), his clothing in multiple official artworks, the Wally cereal box, and more.

(Like something I've noticed, which is that Home is the only house that's a solid colour (red!) without any pattern breaking it up, plus the most "standout" red that Wally typically wears being tied around his neck (symbolism?). Plus the "W" of Welcome Home is red! That's fun too!

There's also some... stranger ones. Such as this hidden piece of morse code found by this person, which spells out ".. -- .-. . -..", or "IM RED" when translated to english.

And more hidden ones too, that tie into the hidden staff page (I have a post breaking that down that you can find here!! I cover everything I could find plus went through the website code, if you want to know everything about the secret staff site check it out!)

There is the red safe, which has in WHRP universe lore!! I delve into this in my other post, just know that it is something that exists both in the secret website (it is what introduces you to the hidden website!) AND it exists in the WHRP world, both written about in printed emails and as a physical object seen within The Room:tm:. You may also notice everyone is represented by their original colours, except for home, who is now white (or blank?).

There's also scrap pieces of red paper spilled on the ground in The Room:tm: (that have drawn spirals), a red clock in the style of Wally's red car, a red painting of some sort on the wall of The Room:tm: (that we never get a good look at, though it may have a drawn yellow eye in the upper center), a red apple, and most importantly of all, this:

The Red Notebook

This is no ordinary notebook. This here is the notebook that the WHRP team have "loaned" the Question Answerer, also known as the Head Curator of Question Answer! according to the printed emails. This book is very important because there are multiple signs that it was written by Wally. Inside is a sketchpad attached to the lefthand interior bookcase with little paintings and a handprint suspiciously similar to that on the bottom of the GuestBook page and doodles in the styles Wally has used (spirals, finger paint smiley face, the drawn apple, etc).

(by the way, if you're interested in what the note says the most accurate translation I've found is by Tumblr user truckfreaks

"Hello,

My name doesn't matter. I am here to catalogue something I'm not sure is fully real. But it must be. I'm holding all the evidence in my hands. Pictures. Characters. Text I can barely read. It's called "Welcome Home" and it looks like it might've been a children's book? Like I said, I can't tell.

It was sopping wet when I found it. When I first reached into one of the brightly colored envelopes, my hand was already covered in some gross, [unknown - possibly “oozing”] material. It feels like antiques are always covered in some kind of grime. I'm trying to clean up what I have and do a little more digging.

There's only one name I can make out right now... Wally. Probably important, but like I said, I'll keep looking.

XOXO"

The wrap up (don't want to make this too long!)

Regardless of what you make of this, it shows that there is even more proof of Wally, not just the character but the Wally ""haunting"" the website and the Wally within the WHRP universe, all being tied to the colour red. (Quick clarification: The Wally we see in branding, clips of the show, etc are all Wally, however he isn't current Wally. He is the Wally of the past, the original Wally, the base Wallly, whatever you want to call him. Therefore I separate him from the "now" Wally. It's unconfirmed whether the Wally that's seemingly trying to communicate with us through the website is the same as the Wally that seems to be related to all the objects being sent to Question Answerer, who is the same Wally that is constantly calling them. If so, then there is only one "now" Wally. If they are separate, then there are two, possibly one in the website itself and one focusing on Question Answerer. Please note, this is all speculation).

While it's true that red is Wally's favourite colour, I believe that it's far more than just that tying Wally and the color red together. Going forwards, anything red that isn't immediately branded as a Wally related object should be considered important, at least I think so.

As for the connection between Wally and Home, both sharing the colour Red? I think this primarily is a display of how the two characters either rely on each other or are, in the vaguest of ways, tied together by fate.

Good bye for now!

[shoechoe]

i don't understand how some ppl in fandom will go "if fan content upsets you you can just avoid it" then not realize the exact same thing applies to criticism of their favorite media lol

[daggryet]

what were you doing in 2022 ?

[nightmareyuki]

Quickly addressing the elephant in the room when it comes to similarities between two of my favorite characters, Ned and Simon: similar outfits and character designs in general.

The shirt, the glasses, the shoes, literally the whole outfit is similar. Not exactly the same, but it’s close. I’m sure it’s pure coincidence but I’ve thought about this for so long it’s not even funny.

I even made a full-color edit of Simon using Ned’s color palette to prove that point.

The fact that both characters have a main gimmick of traveling to imaginary worlds to escape reality sticks with me too, although each character does so through different means and for different reasons, with Ned exploring and trying to conquer his nightmares while Simon has his chalk drawing world. It’s a freaky coincidence if you think about it. /pos

Anywho just a funni analysis of two of my favorite cartoons before bed ig

[mourn-and-watch]

the wildest thing about the state of reading comprehension these days is reading some meta on your dash and thinking yeah that's good. op is totally right. but like. why does it need to be said. isn't that already painfully obvious. but then you find out that op was actually debunking the most popular character misconception that is basically accepted by the fandom and is used for all kinds of memes headcanons and fanart as (sometimes the only one) valid canon characterisation and yeah. it doesn't only need to be said loud and clear but also speaker is recommended as well as writing all of that in bold font on the biggest most visible banner possible

[which-hospital]

the Holby rewatch has devolved into a drunk Holby rewatch but am I reading into it too much or did they really foreshadow the stuff with Roxanna and Henrik and John quite a lot in earlier series 20?

[thevegetablewhichnoonedaresname]

.

[moooooolnp]

“Their writing was offensive!!”

*long sigh*

YOU PEOPLE HAVE NO MEDIA LITERACY ITS PISSING ME OFF PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE TO WROTE ABOUT THINGS YOURE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH, THE WORLD DOESNT REVOLVE AROUND YOUR LACK OF BEING ABLE TO UNDERSTAND A SIMPLE METAPHOR YOU STUPID MOTHER FUCKERS

[ohitslen]

Will always remain confused as to why people will fight over ships as if we weren’t all wrong about them, except for the incredibly rare occasions where the ship becomes canon, and even then you should just mind your damn business because in all seriousness. Why wouldn’t you.

[300foxholecourtt]

Anytime someone reminds me of Karlie kloss’ outfits to the MET gala I take it as a personal attack like why does she wear the things she does

[chomfoolery]

want to talk about thing i like vs eternally scared of saying something stupid

[hr-hottie]

Stolen from an internet comment:

I mean think about it. Republicans got the endorsement of almost nobody. Kid Rock and Hulk Hogan were their front runners. Vance’s approval rating was like 30%. They had so many people vocally against them from media to celebrities to public figures.

Then in swoops the richest guy in the world who goes full bananas MAGA and puts his entire reputation on the line for Trump’s promise of a seat in the White House. Why risk it all unless you knew that promise was going to happen?

Why did Trump routinely say to not bother voting because they had all the votes? Why did Trump insist the only way Dems would win is if they cheated, is it because he knew he rigged it already so literally the only way Harris could win is if she somehow cheated and undid/redid the rigging? What was the “little secret”? Why did it seem like nobody on Trump’s team was excited to win and they took the stage like nothing happened, is it because they knew it was going to happen? How did states like Florida get called almost instantaneously? Why were there numerous bomb threats from Russia at only heavily Democratic polling stations? Why was there numerous reports of tabulators malfunctioning at only heavily Democratic polling stations? Why was every single person who has accurately predicted elections over the last 5-10-15-20+ years wrong? Not one or two, all of them were wrong, how?

How is it that none of the heinous stuff Trump did matter? Jan 6, felonies, racism, misogyny, questioning when Harris turned black in front of a room of black people, threatening to jail or kill people that didn’t support him, calling Puerto Ricans garbage, calling the military losers and suckers, saying Haitian immigrants are eating dogs, I mean you name it. How can he do all of the stuff over the last 4 years that would have sunk any politician’s career dead in the water and yet he gained supporters from literally everywhere?

How does sentiment analysis show Democrats with the highest voter enthusiasm and engagement since Obama and yet deliver an absolute abysmal showing in the election? How does Harris/Walz sellout enormous stadiums multiple times a day all over the country while Trump can barely fill a 2,000 seat auditorium, yet that translates into not even winning the popular vote?

Maybe they didn’t cheat. But you ask yourself the above questions and you really start to wonder if they did…