#screaming from the rooftops

[thelittleoddling]

COZY GAMES ARE MEANT TO BE A LITTLE DARK

I keep getting videos on YouTube that talk about how cozy games are secretly not cozy because they have dark elements to them like the war in Stardew.

Apparently this is somehow meant to ruin the coziness? I hate to break it to you but THATS THE POINT.

These games do not exist in a cozy vacuum where nothing bad happens ever. That would frankly be a terrible game and an even worse story. Cozy games are not cozy in SPITE of their dark elements they are cozy BECAUSE of them.

In Stardew yes there's a war, and people have dysfunctional relationships and that's the point! you're in a shitty town living on a shitty farm but you're there to help. you make friendships, and you fix your farm, and you leave the town a little better than when you found it.

In Palia you're living under an oppressive government and everyone has lots of problems. Some people are just struggling to be a single parent, others are on the run from a cartel. It's not light and cheery! but you get to help these people as you work to find your place in the world. I could go on for hours about other games but I think these examples are enough to drive home what I'm going to say next. COZY GAMES ARE ABOUT COMMUNITY, LOVE, AND FRIENDSHIP.

You don't expect your real life friends and communities to be conflict free. Bonds are built on the back of hardship. Lifting each other up. Loving each other and being kind when things are hard.

villagers in both games give me advice on how to do what I need to so I can fix up my property and start life in their town, They send me gifts they think will help with my projects. And in turn I give them a relationship they need. I'm an understanding friend for Linus, or an open ear for Najuma.

WE SUPPORT EACHOTHER IN HARD TIMES.

[calkale]

never not thinking about this

[genderflouiid]

bottom james potter

[youabsolutewalnut]

Genuinely gutted that we won't see David Tennant with Jodie's ear cuff :(

[theshadowrealmitself]

Me: It sucks that I haven’t been as into Star Trek lately, I miss thinking about my blorbos

Unification (2024): Say no more, bbygrl, we got you

[grelleswife]

Rei-papa entrusts his growing locks to the most expert stylist he knows: His daughter. 💖

Source

[lu-sn]

[nataliescatorccio]

girl kisser rhaenyra targaryen!!!! i stay winning!!!!!

[charleslelurk]

BACK TO YELLOW FUUUUU—

[monards]

hoyo you'd be so sick in making rhine a parellel to furina's situation except where she never got a semblance of support or love (no matter how fake or masked it was) that furina got. while being labeled a sinner rather than god. (hoyo please)

[pxrxmoore]

BUCKTOMMY HUG I NEVER LOSE

[miusmusings]

WE'RE BACK IN BUSINESS BABY!!!

[rapunzelforlorn]

CHANCES ARE THEY ARE DOING IT BECAUSE IT RESONATES IN A WAY THAT ISNT OUR BUINSESS

[croissantk]

YUU ISNT DUMB FOR TRUSTING GUREN IN THE OSAKA ARC HES JUST MENTALLY ILLL!!!

[hinamie]

inflict

[thelittleoddling]

You just put my exact thoughts into words.

I’m 4’11 and have quite a round face. I am CONSTANTLY treated like a child or mistaken for one. People don’t take me getting upset seriously cause it’s “cute”. I’m asked if I’m lost. People make snide comments about the type of people who probably want to date me.

It’s demeaning and infantilizing and no one seems to give a shit cause it’s a silly joke, or an off handed comment to them.

I relate to chilchuck so deeply cause I’m finally seeing MY experience on screen.

Broke: Chilchuck Tims is child coded.

Woke: Chilchuck Tims isn't child coded, he's a middle-aged, divorced man with grown up children.

Bespoke: Chilchuck Tims cannot be accurately described as either "child coded" or "not child coded" because he is a deliberate commentary on the idea of "child coding" itself.

Chilchuck, and half-foots in Dungeon Meshi in general, are given significantly more neotenous proportions and appearances (e.g. larger heads and eyes, rounder faces) than the other races. This is not universal for depictions of hobbits / halflings in Tolkien / D&D inspired fantasy fiction. Compare Chilchuck relative to the "tallmen" (humans) in Dunmeshi to how small races are drawn in something like Legend of Vox Machina (many of those characters are gnomes but whatever) or in basically any official D&D art. It was an intentional artistic decision to make him look like that. This is reinforced when he's temporarily transformed into a tallman (human) and in addition to becoming much taller he gains features that make him look more visibly middle-aged (stubble, eye bags / wrinkles, a more oval face) that he doesn't have as a half-foot. See also Marcille's transformed form and supplemental drawings of what all of the main party would look like as other races. However they do NOT look indistinguishable from actual children as portrayed by Dunmeshi's artstyle and have distinguishing features e.g. larger ears.

Chilchuck is frequently mistaken for a child in-universe, or treated / perceived as one even by members of other races who know he's a half-foot, and he hates this. His infantilization and that of half-foots in general isn't just a running gag, it's a significant plot point and source of discrimination. Like when the party gets impersonated by shapeshifters copying everyone based on the others' memories of them, and most of the Chilchuck clones look and behave more childish than the real one, and they almost get away with it, even though his party should know better than to think of him as a kid.

The narrative consistently takes the position that the people infantilizing Chilchuck are wrong, and are being ignorant/racist.

Conclusion: Chilchuck is definitely not "child-coded" in the way that a 700 year old shapeshifter that looks and behaves indistinguishably from a little kid for contrived reasons. However, he is intentionally designed to make it seem plausible for people who know he's an adult to still not fully believe it and this can make the viewers fall for it too. Which I guess is "child-coding" in a sense. But the message the work is trying to send is very clearly "Don't decide that grown-ass adults are equivalent to children and treat them like children because they have physical characteristics that remind you of a child you dipshit."

While hobbits aren't real and Chilchuck's traits that get him mistaken for a child are exaggerated compared to the vast, vast majority of real people, infantilization of grown-ass adults due to ableism, racism, or just people being dumbasses who forget short people exist is a real issue, and if you start shit with people for shipping Divorced Dad Chilchuck Tims with other characters or whatever you are displaying the exact attitude that's being criticized.