#the things we know and experience as a generation are...

[14dayswithyou]

you can call me river's biggest fan at this point bc i keep questioning him and ren together 😂

i read all your previous answers and now i am a bit curious to know if there is any difference between river and ren yandere style. i know you said ren won't hurt angel but river will hurt bunny and i want to know if there is any more difference. you can include other npc characters too since i think leon is also a yandere? maybe i'm wrong tho, idk

always remember to drink water my dear cutiesai! 🐸💦

⌞♥⌝ FJKSFJK Once again, I do want to remind everyone that River is technically not my character. He belongs to @unsentmemory / @10chimes!

With that being said... Major 14DWY and UM spoilers below the cut! Some involve NSFW implications, but nothing explicit!

I wasn't sure what you meant by "yandere style", so I just provided a generic summary of certain characters and how they differ from each other. If this wasn't what you meant, please let me know!!

Yandere = Ren. While he does lean heavily towards the "dere" aspect of a yandere, he's still extremely obsessive over Angel, genuinely loves them to a terrifying degree, and is willing to commit violent acts in order to have them all to himself. I would like to quickly remind everyone that Ren will never physically harm Angel because he knows it won't make them love him (among other reasons).

Sadodere = Olivia. She's obsessed with manipulating other people's emotions, gets a rush from controlling others, and enjoys evoking feelings such as jealousy and envy from her victims. Although subtle, she does do a lot of things in 14DWY to get a rise out of Angel, Ren, and one other character (so far).

Yangire = River. He prioritises his lust and desire for violence over love and obsession. He toys with Bunny for his own pleasure and doesn't necessarily care whether they love him or not. The main reason River showed interest in them in the first place was because he felt envious of what Ren and Olivia had with Angel and [SPOILERS], so he pursued Bunny in an attempt to fill that void.

Leon was labelled as a "platonic yandere" purely for the lack of a better word. He's very protective of Angel — to the point where he'd genuinely consider killing someone if they posed a threat — however, he's not really that obsessive over them, nor does he want to have them all to himself. Or, at least, not to the degree that a typical yandere would. He does experience bouts of jealousy from time to time, but I wouldn't go so far as to call him a yandere now.

Regarding Olivia and River specifically: they aren't main characters in 14DWY, so their actions don't really hold much weight and tend to go under the radar. If/when their own spin-offs are announced, that's when they'll have their time to shine. I also want to remind everyone once more that 14DWY heavily focuses on Ren since it's (quite obviously) his game.

Regarding River: I'd also like to clarify that he originally started out as a generic serial killer* in 14DWY (with Bunny becoming his next victim), but once I gave Jesse creative control over him, they decided to make River a yandere instead. A year later, they decided River would be better off as a yangire, as it suited his actions and motives more (such as kidnapping Bunny for selfish reasons rather than out of obsession, harming them because he gets pleasure from it, etc). We both agreed that River didn't really do things to gain Bunny's love — but instead, his own enjoyment + the desire to have his very own "Angel/[SPOILER]" — thus no longer making him feel like a yandere in our eyes.

*= This does not mean River is the current killer in 14DWY.

[omnitrash]

Self aware Dmc where they can hear you or see you during cutscenes or during general gameplay. Not knowing how to feel about someone watching and even controlling them. Hell, you even talk to them as if they could hear you. I mean they could but you didn’t know that, and it’s not like they could respond if they wanted to.

Self aware Dmc where they slowly grow fond of you and the way you fawn or panic over them. Getting them more skills, sounding like you’re close to tears when they get hurt on accident and start apologizing. Or hearing you praise them for a job well done after a fight and even say “We did it! Or rather you did it…still! Good job!” and them chuckling internally since they know you didn’t include yourself due to not wanting to take any credit or something similar.

Self aware Dmc where the characters recognize you no matter what console you play in or no matter which game of the franchise it is. They’re glad to see you again and how excited you are to keep learning of their world.

Self aware Dmc where they love to see your reactions to certain things in cutscenes. Like finding the small numbers of each mission hidden in the cutscenes of Dmc 3 (you looked so cute when you got excited once you found the number). Or when you fought Vergil for the first time in Temen ni gru (he couldn’t help but be amused as you panicked when Dante almost died and when you started cheering once you got a hit in on him). Or when you looked so lost during Dmc 2 (Dante almost broke out of character when he uttered the lines “Do you have to ask?” and you just blew up and begged for answers due to the lack of context of the entire thing. How adorable). Or when you cried or teared during any emotional moment and worried over them (Lady still appreciates the concern you showed when she shot her father. And Nero and Kyrie are glad they had someone who cared so much for them when they were sealed in the Savior).

Self aware Dmc where they love seeing flustered over certain moments in the game too. It’s definitely their favorite thing to hear you shamelessly fawn over them, especially since you think they can’t hear you. If you happen to have a favorite from the cast, when you’re offline, they’d brag to the others on how much they fawn over them instead of anyone else. (Nero, for example, was extremely smug when he heard you sputter after saying “Gotta pay attention, sweetheart”. You could barely speak coherently, that’s too cute)

Self aware Dmc where they have to stay in character when they hear you cuss out any minor enemies or main antagonists during boss fights or cutscenes as if you’re arguing with them. Some of the insults aren’t half bad, they’ll give you that. Even if it barely makes sense to them.

Self aware Dmc where they feel bad when you get frustrated over a particular boss fight and can’t get through it after several tries. They don’t like seeing you beat yourself up for it and it makes them want to try even harder for your sake. Anything to make sure you don’t cry…again.

Self aware Dmc where they try to tweak some of the dialogue or cutscenes to give you more content or small 4th wall breaks. It’s endearing to see you so excited and flustered when they do.

Self aware Dmc where they eventually grow possessive of you, their dear player and want your attention all to themselves. How could they not, you’re just so sweet and caring towards them even if they’re just fictional characters to you. You treat and talk them like they could reply to your remarks (and they desperately want to. How they wish they could)

Self aware Dmc my beloved.

(I’ve never written headcannons or drabbles like this before, hope it’s good. And yes, most of these headcannons or scenarios were based on my own experiences when playing the games, sue me. There’s not enough self aware dmc content. WAHHH-)

[ginger-wayne]

TB* pride HCs pt 2!! now with more voidwalker!

yelena:

-will be spam-posting pride memes and infographics all through june, and honestly the rest of the year as well.

-bishova real and true spotted both living in new york. lots of fans shipping them before it becomes social media official.

-lots of fans shipping ava and yelena as well, because they often jokingly flirt and play into it, but they’re just friends. (shoutout starrlight nation i see u tho)

alexei:

-love him, but he is in fact cishet. that’s okay though! he’s the biggest ally ever and will repost almost everything yelena does.

-starts calling himself “THE GUARDIAN OF LESBIANS” and then a bunch of other sexyalities get tagged on so his display name ends up being super long like “THE GUARDIAN OF LESBIANS AND NONBINARY AND BISEXUALS AND ASEXUALS AND TRANS MEN AND TRANS WOMEN AND GAYS AND EVERYBODY ELSE”

-gives a discount on limo services to queer/trans people

ava:

-grew up in a lab with not much exposure to romance but now identifies as bisexual and nonbinary, will use just about any pronoun you feel like calling her.

-super casual about it, just randomly mentions being interested in people other than men during an interview and surprises a lot of people.

-doesn’t post as much as yelena or alexei in general, but will repost a good infographic of go off about a bad political take if she sees one.

-leaves the thirstiest comments on her friends ig posts without blinking but when it comes to an actual crush, she tends to overcompensate by turning up the sass even more

bucky:

-has been gay since the 1940s. watched silently as the world changed around him, and was so grateful he gets to be free in a time where it’s legal.

-lost the only man he thought he’d ever love (fuck you endgame steve) but found someone else in the process. sambucky we love you.

-tries to pass pro-lgbtq legislation but he’s lowkey a flop congressman so it doesn’t always work. will still be a really strong advocate for rights on socials and in speeches, parades, etc

-relationship with sam isn’t exactly public, and the whole name thing puts a strain on them, but they’ll pull through. they always do.

now do a sad one! okay!

john:

-canonically grew up in the deep south in a town literally named after a confederate general. yeah he’s got some deep-seated issues to work through. being friends with lemar helped him become more open-minded growing up, especially after lemar came out and made john realize that not all gay people were exactly the same.

-but being with olivia since high school, he never had to confront the part of himself that wanted to go against the traditional life he was taught to value. after spending time with the TBs though? seeing them all so comfortable makes him think it might actually be time to embrace it.

-will repost some of yelena/ava/others content in support, but mostly stays quiet on social media. unfortunately still reads everything about himself while lurking.

-comes out as bi to bob very randomly and awkwardly one night. bob just kinda shrugs and goes “okay, cool” but he’s actually really flattered john chose him out of everyone to come out to first. john came out to bob first because he wants to kiss him.

-he denies having a crush to himself for so long, but every time bob smiles at him, his heart tightens. he becomes a weird combo of sassier than usual and also uncharacteristically complimentary towards bob. basically, it’s obvious, and everyone on the team knows it. they call them out for constantly flirting via play fighting and both go red.

bob:

-pansexual with a stronger preference for men, genderqueer. surprisingly confident about it given that he’s confident about literally nothing else. has taken so much abuse for it and everything else about him that he’s kind of immune to anything nasty anybody could say to him online. already worked through his insecurities about his sexuality and is just chilling. has the most dating experience out of all of them, somehow.

-he has social media, but he tries to stay off of it as much as possible. will post one thing randomly and then stay offline for another 2 months. all of his reposts are in support of the other TBs though, he loves his friends. very occasionally puts a really funny gay meme or reaction image on his story and the people beg for more of his humor.

-thinks he caught feelings for john first. he didn’t. by the time bob realizes their fights have turned into playful bickering and he’s the only one john buys chocolate chips for to put in his pancakes, his teammate has already fallen for him a long time ago. john is strong and blond and bob stares at him far too often.

-ends up being the one to admit his feelings first, somewhat accidentally and in a very bob way. he’s all panicked before john leans in and kisses him. after that, the two are rarely separated. it’s not the easiest relationship; they’ve both got a lot of baggage, but they care so much for the other person that they’re both willing to work through it together.

[vasito-de-leche]

;R1999 A Study on Afflatus (I)

Analysis and theories regarding the concept of Afflatus within the universe of Reverse: 1999

if you're from the old r99 news server or the current r99 rp one (or if you've talked to me at any point about r99) then you might know how obsessed I am with afflatus analysis!

so after going feral on my main account about it, and seeing my afflatus thesis drafts just catch dust on my wips, I decided to just open a discussion about it in the fandom! just little by little as I get the thoughts out of my brain!

so yes, this is very much an invitation for people to discuss and theorize about smaller details of the game such as afflatus, medium and other things--there are many fun ways to interpret the way afflatus applies to characters, I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts! ping me in your posts, go feral in the reblogs or comments!

as usual, transcripts were taken from the R1999 Neocities transcript project!

During the first few months of GL's launch, "Afflatus" was generally considered an extradiegetic aspect of the game--a simple mechanic meant to facilitate gameplay for the player, without any relevance to the lore or the plot. Throughout the course of the following patches, namely within the main story, this idea was disproved in many ways, and there were plenty of clues that reinforced its existence in-universe from the very beginning. For the sake of those who have never noticed, I'll do my best to be thorough, but there may be some instances of Afflatus that I missed, feel free to let me know!

The very first time Afflatus is mentioned is in the main story; Chapter 01 - Stage 4 "Chicago Rescue," Sonetto is the one to bring it up during one of the battle tutorials.

Sonetto: That's quite a lot of critters! Timekeeper, we must do something to turn things around now. Remember what the instructor said in class? "Afflatus is a way to hunt in the world." "Observations of the minerals, plants, stars, and beasts as well as our experiences with the spirit and intelligence let us better understand our own existence." Sonetto: Select a proper target for me, Timekeeper. Sonetto: Use an incantation that is strong against the enemy's Afflatus to defeat them more quickly. You can take it from here, Timekeeper.

The fact that this conversation takes place during a game tutorial doesn't instantly render the contents discussed as "just meta," since we've had many different instances of game mechanics being relevant to the overall history and worldbuilding of the setting; Artificial Somnambulism Therapy is both a game mode and a type of therapy developed by Mesmer Jr's family, used extensively within Laplace, as well as a key plot point in Chapter 3 "Nouvelles et Textes pour Rien"; Picrasma Candy is a way for the player to continue playing and an actual medicine for arcanists developed by Medicine Pocket that Argus heavily depends on to use her own arcanum. Bluepoch makes a point to further develop their story through these mechanics, thus it is impossible to separate them from the story itself--battle conversations, daily tidbits, loading screens, items and other details can all be considered canon! Afflatus is no different.

Another early instance of Afflatus occurs in the Tutorial Notebook, which disappears forever once completed--so the following screenshot was taken from this video!

The text reads: 

Sometimes, our Afflatus is strong or weak against an enemy. We need to follow this principle and select the proper arcane skills based on the enemy. Strong or weak? Like a cat to a rat? The relationship between different Afflatuses is like the ecological cycle. When your Afflatus is strong against the target's, your incantation will deal more damage. ─ On Afflatus, Chapter 1

The sticky note implies the existence of a book or research on the subject ("On Afflatus, Chapter 1") which, in turn, supports Sonetto's dialogue about the Afflatus lessons she received in SPDM ("Remember what the instructor said in class?"). With this we can understand that Afflatus exists within the world to a degree that allows it to be studied, also eliminating one of the earliest theories in GL about how Vertin is the only person who can perceive Afflatus due to her status as the Timekeeper.

To my knowledge, there are no direct explanations nor clues as to why or how one would discern Afflatus in others as of writing this. What is the point of assigning Afflatus types in-universe? How can it be done? Sadly, I don't have answers to these questions in particular!

But let's analyze our current examples so far.

According to Sonetto's knowledge on the subject, Afflatus encompasses "observations of the minerals, plants, stars and beasts as well as our experiences with the spirit and intelligence," that allows people to understand themselves. This serves as a list of both Natural (Mineral, Plant, Star, Beast) and Primal (Spirit, Intellect) Afflatuses, while hinting towards the purpose of Afflatus as a tool of introspection.

With this, one may theorize that Afflatus can apply to every living being, as it tackles observations with the surrounding world (Natural Afflatus) and one's inner world (Primal Afflatus). This is partially true, there is a small yet important distinction to be made!

The 1.5 "Revival! The Uluru Games" patch explored the physiological and social differences between humans and arcanists through Ezra and Spathodea, and a new batch of loading screen tidbits were added, such as this one:

The text reads:

The arcanum's Afflatus categories do not apply to humans. However, factors such as personality and preferred instruments may cause certain individuals to have a closer affinity to a particular type of arcane Afflatus.

This daily tidbit confirms that arcanum's Afflatus categories do not apply to humans. The rest of tidbits emphasize on the contrast between the two groups in different aspects; humans cannot cast arcane skills, they use technology and commands rather than incantations, they're considered rational instead of passionate, reason vs instinct, etc etc.

But I believe there is an important distinction to be made! The first loading screen tidbit mentions "arcanum's Afflatus categories," rather than Afflatus itself. There is an aspect of Afflatus that is directly linked with arcanum, and thus it makes sense that it cannot be applied to humans.

We can see this happening in Greta Hoffman's report from the Special Chapter - "The Star" in which she explains her interactions with 37's mother, 77. Here are a few excerpts.

Writer of the Report: I'm not sure whether she was making fun of me or being serious, but I had this feeling that she was eager to tell me how she was granted the secret through a moment of afflatus. It seemed she just saw through the laws behind all things instead of finding them through logical deduction.

"HER": "The rhombus can't be seen with eyes. You shall close your eyes, hearken to the teaching of the supreme existence, and seize the moment of afflatus!" Writer of the Report: Of course, I didn't see anything, nor did I understand what a moment of afflatus was. Perhaps it's just another privilege enjoyed by arcanists, just like their right to be lunatic. Nevertheless, she reached the correct conclusion in a completely wrong way. Is it really possible?

Writer of the Report: But, if there is a god, why are you playing such a prank on us, after we had suffered from the collapse of all the existing orders and the failure of all the great laws? If this is what she called the glimpse of the supreme existence, the moment of afflatus, do you have to present it in such a cruel way?

Even Matilda brings up afflatus during this chapter, in reference to her job monitoring new members.

Matilda: &$#% ... I know she's a rookie, but even so, she's way too unbelievable! "Guide new members with caution and patience. Trigger their afflatus at the right time." Oh, I have to admit, Vertin is doing it better than me for now.

Note the distinction between capital A "Afflatus" and lowercase "afflatus." In this context, the "moment of afflatus" exists as its namesake implies--as an inspiration, a moment of divine impulse that only arcanists can utilize and, therefore, cannot be explained nor proved through human logic.

That is the basis for the tension between Greta Hoffman (a mixed whose arcane blood has been so diluted she can easily pass off as a pure-blooded human) and 77 (a pure-blooded arcanist from an isolated and ancient arcanist society) as two characters from vastly different groups that cannot reconcile nor find a middle ground in their differences. This is the arcane aspect of Afflatus as the 1.5's tidbit mentions, the part that cannot be applied to mankind. But Afflatus also exists as a tool of introspection as mentioned before, which encompasses aspects that any living being can relate to--therefore, it explains why we have both playable and non-playable humans with Afflatus types.

To further understand how non-arcane living beings can still lean towards different types of Afflatus, let's examine the enemies in the game.

The main story is very consistent with how they portray enemies, if you pay attention to their battle information you can see all the deliberate details Bluepoch has added; every enemy comes with a short description that might evolve and change along the story in future renditions of their fights, there are different card sets for different factions (Manus Vindictae's deep black and blue cards vs the Foundation's white and light blue cards), each attack/incantation is uniquely named, giving context and insight into the enemy you're fighting, some even have uniquely named traits/buffs/debuffs!

And as far as I know, every single enemy in the game, regardless of whether they're arcane in nature or not, has an Afflatus assigned to them. Let's look at arcane beings first.

We see that all three examples match their respective Afflatus; a Mineral Carbuncle with a Mineral Afflatus, a Dryad, commonly associated with nature has the Plant Afflatus, and Druvis III, a playable character, retains her Plant Afflatus even as a mysterious NPC boss fight in which her regular incantations have been switched to Manus Vindictae.

And we can also see continuity in Afflatus in other bosses, such as Matilda and Lilya in later chapters--they both retain their own Afflatus as playable characters, and much like Druvis, Matilda's cards are concealed as the default Foundation set for the sake of keeping their identities concealed. There is a clear intent behind these choices.

In the Surface levels of Artificial Somnambulism, the ones that directly correlate to the main story, also feature many other playable characters with their respective Afflatuses; La Source in "Misty Lake a"; The Fool, Bunny Bunny, Pavia, Satsuki and Tennant in "Floating Park a" ...

And I do want to mention that there are instances in which the game allows us to fight playable characters whose Afflatuses have been changed--but there is still an clear goal behind this.

The beta levels of Artificial Somnambulism feature the same aforementioned characters as the alpha ones, but a few of them have different Afflatus. This can be explained within the main story as the direct result of Vertin's mind being tampered with, as we see her struggle to remember and forget things clearly during her AST induced coma in Chapter 3.

???: Her traumatic segment has been reactivated. Increase the power, stabilize her psychube. Try the next dream. Z: The artificial somnambulism therapy may not work on her, Mesmer.

Mesmer Jr.: It means she had suffered the same traumatic experience repeatedly. Even so, she showed no behavioral or cognitive impairment. Back then, as we held her down and put the helmet on her, she even advised me in an extremely calm manner … “I agree with your judgment, but it’s just for this time.” … She was the bellwether of the “break-away” incident after all. I’ll say she’s been well-behaved this time. Sonetto: … I-I thought … Timekeeper is receiving for her low spirit. But you said you held her down … Mesmer Jr.: Oh, that’s just another description of the method used for the same purpose. The aim was to ensure Vertin was unconscious and taken back. That’s the direct order from the vice president of the committee, Constantine. The order from on high was given on the premise of rational thinking and consideration over pros and cons─you are not questioning the reasoning of mankind, are you?

A similar situation happens during UTTU Week, which features playable characters as different characters within the story that UTTU is attempting to share. For example, in 1.2 "Nightmare at Green Lake," the playable characters you fight in UTTU Week represent various different archetypes and tropes in horror.

These inconsistencies are done on purpose, as they're not meant to reflect the truth 1:1.

Now, let's look at human enemies. Here are the two human children from the beginning of the game who disrupt the suitcase--despite being humans, they both have Afflatus assigned to them, and not only that but different types as well, Star and Mineral respectively.

So, to backtrack again! Afflatus cannot be applied to humans from an arcane point of view, simply because humans cannot cast incantations. Therefore, their affinity for a specific type of Afflatus is based on something else, something that they share with arcane beings--such as personality, experiences and preferred instruments.

I want to propose the interpretation of Afflatus being the totality of one's experiences in life; depending on your experiences, the way they've shaped your thinking patterns, your instincts and your personality, you may have an affinity for one Afflatus or another.

This ties in with a different aspect of Afflatus: the idea that one's Afflatus type can change, as the person goes through big changes in their life that influence them in different ways.

If we acknowledge that these battle details are all deliberate and meant to add to the narrative, there are two outliers whose Afflatuses change. The first one is Kakania herself; her debut in 1.7 "E Lucevan le Stelle" includes a fight against her in Stage 8 "Mirror and Lantern" which clearly states her Afflatus is Intellect.

One could argue that this is not the true Kakania, as the battle involves fighting mirror versions of her--but as a reminder, the true one is, in fact, hidden among them! And furthermore, if the reflections are exact versions of the real Kakania, it makes sense that they would have the same battle information as her.

As we all know, when Kakania becomes playable in 1.9 "Vereinsamt," her Afflatus is not Intellect but Plant--I'd like to explain this change as the development Kakania goes through in this specific arc of the story.

Her idealistic views and activism, both for her city and her patients, are directly challenged as the story progresses. She realizes that none of her friends within The Circle were the people she thought them to be, namely Isolde whose complex life and struggles were both overlooked and impossible to discern in Kakania's eyes due to their close relationship, and she also sees the town she acknowledged as flawed but still worth fighting for, turn into violent patriots. Everything that Kakania stood for is gone in an instant, and we see her fighting spirit turn into a desperate near-suicidal attempt at making up for her perceived wrongs.

Such radical events like this would warrant a change in Afflatus, as Kakania adjusts her views due to her experiences.

And then on the other hand, we have The Guiding One's Harbringer boss fight in 1.9's Stage 21 "A Homage Paid"--one of its core mechanics is to change Afflatus to that of the last attack it received. Here we see that distinction from before, the lowercase afflatus referring to the arcane aspect, rather than the experiences a person goes through.

As far as I know, this section of the game also becomes unplayable (or is currently unplayable, I can't seem to access it anymore) so the following screenshots are taken from this video!

Kakania's Afflatus change is something that seems to be directly linked to her evolution as a character, while the Guiding One's Harbringer's Afflatus change is directly linked to its status as an arcane construct, using it as a "mimic strategy" during battle. The psychological aspect vs the arcane aspect of Afflatus respectively.

Next, I'd like to discuss some assumptions made about the different Afflatus types; we expect that Beast characters must have an affinity with animals or be animals themselves (Darley Clatter, Getian, Medicine Pocket, Nick Bottom ...) and we expect that Star characters are all related to celestial bodies or the skies (37, Lilya, Matilda, Lorelei, Voyager ...) due to the naming conventions of the Afflatus. And yes, there are motifs within the Afflatus types that match their naming conventions, but a quick look through the character list prove there is much more to offer, as a good chunk of characters don't align with this initial read of their themes.

We have Pickles, a literal dog, and Kaalaa Baunaa, an astronomer, both with Mineral Afflatus instead of what one would expect of them. It's similar to how fandom perceives Awakened as the sole category for sentient objects, when we have characters like Door and Darley Clatter who are undoubtedly objects, implied to have been given sentience, and thus fall within the group of pure-blooded Arcanists rather than Awakened.

I would also like to point out that these initial motifs have nothing to do with a character's Arcanum--another theory I've seen around is that Afflatus types influence an arcanist's arcanum, which can't be further from the truth. One could argue that Kaalaa Baunaa's arcanum (the summoning of meteors and planets) is related to her Mineral Afflatus--both relate to rocks, after all--but just like the previous assumptions, this falls apart when you examine other examples. Jiu Niangzi's arcanum has nothing to do with rocks nor minerals, but liquor. Ulu's arcanum revolves around fire, yet she's still Mineral.

As far as we know, arcanum is something that can be inherited through bloodlines or lineage--think of Mesmer Jr's 01 Story in her Cover Profile, which states “Nobody is more talented in this than Mesmer Jr. Her bloodline gives her outstanding ability and keen senses, which makes everything clear and intelligible to her” in the context of performing AST, or Tennant, whose 02 Story hints towards her father performing the same type of arcanum she's known for--but it's also something that can be taught. We see this most clearly within students of SPDM such as Sonetto, as her skill set matches that of the SPDM students fought during Chapter 3, portraying the "standard" arcanum taught to all arcanist children.

But not only that, arcanum can be influenced by other factors, such as a character's situation and interests--Blonney's arcanum revolves around making drawings come to life, which correlates with her love for storytelling and horror as a child. Pavia's shadow arcanum is hinted to have been formed out of necessity or as a result of his childhood in a dark basement. Tooth Fairy utilizes the fairies she traps.

We also know that arcanists from the same family may not inherit the same level of arcane power, as seen in Shamane and Kumar; the latter was cast out of her family due to her weak arcane power. In all of these cases, Afflatus has nothing to do with arcanum.

So what exactly do Afflatus types tackle?

These are the Afflatus as I've analyzed them, as much as I could summarize it for easier digestion!

With this interpretation, we can see that Star relates to celestial objects and the skies, but also trailblazer geniuses and unstoppable forces, that which is out of reach for common people. Mineral relates to solid materials and stability in permanence, but also the rigidness of strict systems or traditions or stagnancy. Beast relates to wild animals and creatures found in the world, but also the survival of the individual, the struggle to find a place for oneself no matter what. And Plant relates to the flora and the natural cycles in the world, but also the safety of a collective, that which is inherent to the world such as community or change.

This is why these belong to the Natural category of Afflatus: they are concepts that already existed on the world or were manifested into it, from the ground we touch, the people we interact with, to the ideals and beliefs that influence and create societies or bring people together.

On the other hand we have Spirit, relating to the soul, the supernatural and the spiritual aspect of things, but also the unknown, to follow one's gut instinct or embrace the inexplicable. "The way I see the world is unconventional, because I feel these different things about why and how things are the way they are." And then Intellect, relating to the mind and the logical aspect of things, but also the different mindsets and patterns of thought one can have to rationalize things. "The way I see the world is unconventional, because I have these different rules about why and how things are the way they are."

This is why they belong to the Primal category of Afflatus: they are, as the name implies, ancient impulses and habits that mostly exist within ourselves, our thoughts and our feelings.

The Tutorial Notebook also mentions an "ecological cycle," there is a relationship between the different categories that explains why some are strong or weak against others. It's rather easy to understand for the Primal Afflatus, as it's the classic fight between hearts and minds, but Natural Afflatus is a little harder to grasp.

We see the relationship between Beast and Mineral; the former is weak against the latter, the latter is strong against the former. You may read the Natural Afflatus wheel clockwise or counter clockwise.

Using the previous explanations, let us examine this cycle!

Beast is strong against Plant, because it's the disruption of a community or the harmony of the world through a single individual desperately fighting to change their current situation. A desperate animal does not think about the consequences its actions has on the environment while it tries to survive. Plant is strong against Star, because it's a tight-knit collective that embraces change and thus, the lone genius cannot shine above the rest. In an environment that welcomes everyone and everything, there is no way to stand out. Star is strong against Mineral, because it's a single individual choosing to disrupt the status quo, the stability of their society, for the sake of a dream or ideal. A single genius can topple over entire societies. And Mineral is strong against Beast, because a rigid set of rules or traditions leave no place for those who don't fit inside of it or who oppose it. A government that advocates for mankind's superiority leaves no room for arcanists and their rights, it forces them to assimilate within their established rules.

And this cycle goes backwards and forwards!

But I would also like to propose a different type of relation: we understand the aspect of having advantage or disadvantage, but what about Afflatuses that directly mirror each other?

Beast and Star are two Afflatus that directly correlate to an individual against a collective, whereas Mineral and Plant are two Afflatus that directly correlate to a collective against the individual. They're foils of each other; Beast is the underdog, Star is the genius, while Mineral is the stagnant and rigid yet stable and secure systems while Plant is the ever-changing and adaptive nature of the world.

We may also see this in a more precise way: the ecological cycle and Afflatus relationships exist because someone of Mineral Afflatus who is stuck in their ways and refuses to change can be easily upset by someone of Star Afflatus whose nature is to radically change traditions and offer different paths. This is why Semmelweis, a Mineral Afflatus who is hellbent on clinging to the human aspect of herself and sticks to her stubborn mindsets, has such a fascination with Lorelei. Or rather, why Lorelei has such an effect on Semmelweis, as she is a Star Afflatus that begins Semmelweis' journey of self-discovery and acceptance within Series of Dusks.

We can also see previous themes discussed within this post here: one would think that such a radical change is enough to cause Semmelweis to change Afflatus, but we see through her gamemode and the different endings presented that this change is still very much in line with her mindsets and behaviour, Semmelweis remains stubbornly adaptive and pragmatic to the very end, and choosing to follow Lorelei has brought her a deeper insight to understand herself without radically changing who she truly is.

Another example would be Forget Me Not and Druvis III; we know that Forget Me Not is Mineral Afflatus due to his boss fight in Chapter 2 - Stage 13 "Documentary" and Druvis III is Plant Afflatus.

We see the foil dynamics of Afflatus that don't directly interact with each other: the reason Forget Me Not and Druvis III seem to have this type of relationship can be explained through their Afflatus, with Forget Me Not insisting that she perpetuates the very same cycle of revenge and pain, to never move on and continue in the same spot of grieving and mourning for her family. While Druvis III's entire development throughout the Chicago arc--and even leading into the next chapters--tackles her desire to grow and move on, to finally let go of the worst night of her life that took her family away and begin healing from it. It's exactly what Vertin notices within her, and why she's able to connect with Druvis III.

Vertin: Once you dispel the arcanum, it would not be what it is now. I think you are clear, Ms. Druvis, that … Every tree lives for tomorrow.

And that's where I'll leave this extremely long introduction to my study on Afflatus! I'm planning on discussing other themes in the future, such as the way a character's Medium serves as a bridge between their Afflatus and Arcanum, and analysis of the cover profule, but also proper in-depth analysis of each individual Afflatus!

There is so much to look at when discussing Afflatus, every single Insight material has its own description, and each stage for each Afflatus tells a story that relates to their themes!

Please don't be afraid to reach out with your own ideas or observations, I look forward to what everyone else thinks! And congratulations for making it this far <3

[joejhang]

can you elaborate on why you think jeremy is nora's best written character? i'm having a bit of a hard time appreciating his pov so i'm curious what you like about it 👀

ok i've already written a couple of posts about why i love his characterisation and pov so much but i'm always happy to yap about jeremy and aftg so i'll sorta summarise my thoughts here:

jeremy is such a unique narrator and character in aftg bc he just stands so separately from all the other characters we know and love (including characters we don't have povs for i.e. andrew, kevin). he doesn't have the same category of "traumatic past" as jean, neil, kevin and andrew bc his own backstory is so ostensibly ordinary (this is NOT me invalidating his struggles in any way i just mean it's can't be "classified" the same way the others' can bc theirs is a lot more extreme involving crime, murder, cults and the literal mafia). he's also a very stereotypically "sunshine" character and at first glance very obviously fits into that archetype of character, but nora subverts the expectations and stereotype so well by making him so layered and honestly really fucking mysterious. despite him seeming like a super happy-go-lucky, sunshine character, this perception of him externally is juxtaposed by a generally pretty depressing internal monologue. especially in tgr, jeremy's thoughts and narration has pretty strong undertones of self-loathing, regret, guilt, shame and avoidance. and it's not even in a way that's like, he's a sunshine character that puts on a facade so others won't see what's going on. while it is somewhat like that, it's also a lot deeper, because he doesn't even seem to be consciously faking it. his bright smiles and sunny disposition are so clinically separate from what's going on in his own head it's very interesting and psychological.

to me at least, jeremy is the most REAL out of nora's pov characters. this is a very high bar, bc i think nora is very good at writing realistic, complex characters, but to me jeremy is just so fucking tangible. like bc of the way he narrates (very avoidant, very secretive and mysterious, refuses to give context/explanations for things that happen) he feels very distant from the reader. i've described reading his pov like standing next to someone and experiencing everything they experience without knowing what they know and feel. whereas w neil and jean we're very much in their heads, w jeremy it feels like there's a layer of separation there which makes him feel like a real person that you can never fully know bc you're not in the heads of real life people. also because of his avoidant and mysterious as fuck narration, when he does do things that we don't anticipate or expect bc he hasn't told us about it (e.g. hooking up w leo/faser, his fight w bryson), it adds more engagement and interest bc it makes the reader want to know more, want to see more, because he's been holding out on us this whole time. if that makes sense.

jeremy is honestly just so complex and layered. this is nothing new for nora, bc she's so fucking good at writing characters, but i think she rlly hit a peak w jeremy. and this is because neil and jean are very easily paralleled and compared as characters and narrators, bc of similarish experiences and their preexisting links to each other, whereas jeremy is like a character that's entirely separate from the world of the moriyamas and the foxes. he's a completely new character that we only ever see once in the og trilogy and never get any background info on. he's also ostensibly a lot more "normal" than any of the other characters we've come to know, at least considerably better adjusted, but he also has sm unresolved issues in his own head for the reader to unpack. he's a character with a naturally sunshiney personality combined with a pretty devastating backstory which has created lingering issues (i.e. unresolved guilt, grief, tension w family, and more) that he doesn't really deal with properly. throughout tsc and tgr, nora peels away more and more of the layers that hide and conceal and make up jeremy knox and reveal more and more about him, so he's gone from a glossy, perfectly sunny, idealistic, archetypal character, to a character that feels like a real person, with complex and realistic struggles and weaknesses and failures.

anyway idk if this has convinced u to like/enjoy jeremy more but hopefully it's given u some food for thought. maybe i overcompensated i just love yapping about jeremy he's my baby.

[unifybullseye]

Shuake & Komahina and their similar important dynamics

Someone on strawpage on twitter asked "I saw a hot take on my TL that AkeShu fans make-up their dynamic and has little actual canon basis and I need to know your thoughts" and I thought the best way to say that I disagree with that wholeheartedly was compare shuake to kmhn LOL so here that is. I wanted to post it here too cause it's more easily consumable.

Shuake and komahina plays out is in very similar story beats. they both follow the same baseline which is the matter of understanding each other. while of course different, it follows -> nice charming guy front -> something happens to reveal the facade and the way they interact with the protagonist changes -> the big ending to it all.

The thing that stays consistent no matter what goro/nagito does is that the protagonist wants to understand them and cares about them as a person despite everything they know. Both protagonists experience betrayal with the other.

These characters are character foils to the protag, which pretty much automatically puts their story and motivations relying on the protagonist to progress their story. their stories are built off of one another and are a fundamental importance to both characters and the plot. From this, their dynamic is easily obtained through the player, and their relationship becomes a major part of the story and the protagonist's motivations.

I mean, the whole first plot twist in persona 5 wouldn't be possible without knowing what we did about Akechi's and Ren's relationship. A lot of plot is driven off of Akechi's viewing of Ren and how their justice collides. The player also retains the information on both of these ships in similar ways. That being, optional justice confidant and optional free time in DR. Confidant rank ups + Free time is like the #1 way to get to know the character better but it's up for the player to decide. getting a "canon basis" for them both can change based on the experience you have in the game.

But there is a fundamental layer of what they are despite doing them or not because once again, the story would not progress without their relationship.

I also want to say that "filling in the blanks" is a literary device and not a failure of writing. Whether it is a book or a show or what have it, good things will make the audience fill in the blanks, aka, infer what's happening or what the story is telling you not directly. Like we can infer that Ren thinks about Akechi in the time between 11/20 and third sem more than we are shown, due to his actions in third sem and his thoughts after the engine room. we can infer that Hajime thought about Nagito more than shown due to how he acts in the last trial.

so it is less "making up" their dynamic and more so just thinking about them in a way the story actually is giving us in a "show don't tell" way.

another similarity is that both of the pairs interactions are just a smaller part of the 100 hour games (despite them overlooming the narrative entirely) due to the fact it's a video game, fandoms of both have their "top tier" quotes, sort of say, lol. Quotes that are a few dialogues here and there but reveal a lot. It's simply just a different media consumption and how shipping works.

TLDR no I don't think its fair to say they have little canon basis/everything is made up when the protag/antag role of the ships is a huge part of the narrative/their interactions reveal a lot in general/we can infer things from the story based on the way the characters act. they are IMPORTANT!

[murderbot-moodboard]

Thoughts on Episode 6 *rubs hands together gleefully*:

Okay, tonight I'm going to do a general summary post, and later I might make another post about all the little parts of the episode and thoughts about them. But of all the episodes so far, episode 6 feels the most thematically unified, and I think that's intentional. I think the main themes of the episode can be illustrated with two memes (which I conveniently whipped up on my old friend imgflip.com). Here's the first one (the gun doesn't normally have any meaning in the meme and in this case is just a coincidence):

Throughout the episode, we see Murderbot demonstrating that it is not human: its reactions to damage, the fluids it leaks, the fact that it can plug into the hopper to receive lubricant and that it can use part of its nerve fiber to repair the hopper. It's a machine and it's generally pragmatic about that fact, about its function of protecting its clients, and about doing whatever needs to be done to fulfill its function.

Its pragmatism when it comes to killing, however, takes most of Preservation Aux by surprise. It was easier for them to view Murderbot as a machine until they found out it had a face. Similarly, it was easier for Pin-Lee and Arada to move on from killing a SecUnit in full uniform, when they couldn't see its face, than to move on from watching Murderbot shoot off the visible face of a human who they'd spent some time with. Arguably, since LeeBeeBee was the one trying to kill them all in the first place, while the governed SecUnit had no choice but to follow her orders, LeeBeeBee deserved to die more than her SecUnit did. But most of Preservation Aux aren't used to thinking that the humans they interact with are just waiting to take advantage of them and even hurt them to get what they want. (Gurathin, however, *is* used to this mindset, and his caution throughout his interactions with LeeBeeBee was shown to be justified.)

However, I think this second meme also applies:

During this episode, as Murderbot is demonstrating to Mensah how not-human it is, it's also inadvertently demonstrating how much it is a person she can relate to on some level. It uses Sanctuary Moon to calm itself down when it's panicking and tries to do the same for Mensah, and it guides her through a tricky bit of construct surgery and then makes jokes. Mensah comes to see that even though she doesn't always understand right away why Murderbot does the things it does, Murderbot does have reasons for its actions, and its construct body holds the consciousness of a person who is trying its best with the limited experience and resources at its disposal.

So when Mensah walks in to find Murderbot has shot LeeBeeBee's head off, her reaction is different from the rest of Preservation Aux (minus Gurathin). She's a little shocked, but her world has not been shattered (granted she also didn't watch the shooting happening, which probably helps). But she knows Murderbot is a person who's lived a violent, pragmatic life, and I think she's also spent enough time with it to give it the benefit of the doubt about its use of violence in this case. As leader of the team, she also was doubtless afraid for the lives of her teammates, and having seen herself and Murderbot almost blown up by the beacon, she recognized that LeeBeeBee was a real threat to her team's lives, and Murderbot neutralized that threat to protect the team. As others on Preservation Aux struggle to reconcile the fact that this person who they trusted and thought they understood is capable of extreme violence, I suspect Mensah will be key in helping them understand that Murderbot is still on their side and still deserving of some trust.

Final note: I feel like there may be a thematic connection I'm not quite getting yet between what's happening in the episode and what's happening in the Sanctuary Moon episode that Murderbot watches throughout. But my brain is tired now, so I'll give it some more thought after I've had some sleep. Until later! 👋

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

Splatoon 3 Version 10.0.0 patch notes breakdown

Took them a good while to get them translated to English, but the patch notes are here! Let's grab that list and take a look at it together, shall we?

First off, Switch 2 enhancements!

These come primarily in the form of higher frame rates, even in the hubs (which on the regular Switch runs at 30 FPS compared to the 60 FPS of multiplayer matches.

To ensure that the framerate is consistent in cross-console matches, the game is going to remove some background elements in ranked matches when played on the Switch. Which is a shame, but let's be realistic, we likely won't notice most of the time. Additionally, no changes will be made when in recon, so the backdrops for your photoshoots will be untouched.

Now, onto the new content!

As shown, Urchin Underpass is joining the fray, and from previews looks almost completely unchanged from it's Splatoon 1 incarnation. And then there's of course all the new Barazushi and Emberz weapons. Nothing surprising here. Let's move onto balance changes!

In terms of buffs and nerfs this is a very small, with the most notable change being some surgical-precision strikes against S-BLAST. It's currently THE go-to weapon in competitive play, and Nintendo's looking to take it down a peg with a big ink consumption nerf and increased endlag between shots so that the weapon has more windows of vulnerability.

Toxic Mist gets 5% cheaper, but also takes more time to begin recovering ink after use by about four frames (if my math adds up), which Nintendo mentions is because they want to avoid people spamming it, but that feels unnecessary to me since Toxic Mist is... not good. Regardless this is a net positive.

As for Specials, there's a lot of Crab Tank nerfs in here, I guess they didn't feel comfortable putting so many more Crab Tanks without that. Triple Inkstrike and Booyah Bomb are now going to more or less instantly destroy Crab Tanks, and Crab Tank's cannon shot does 10 less damage on a direct hit. These are not big nerfs, but as a Crab Tank you've now gotta be on the lookout for enemy Specials that can shred you.

Additionally, Wave Breaker is now 20% more durable, and all Splatanas now deal half as much damage as they used to. Stamper used to able to straight-up oneshot Wave Breaker with a single charged slash, and now it'll take at least two, maybe three, depending on how the math shakes up. Wave Breaker needed some buffs, and this is a good solid step in the right direction.

Now, let's talk about ranked changes!

The biggest change of all of these is that in Rank S and above, your weapons are now ranked individually, meaning they have separate power rankings, meaning that doing well with one weapon won't affect your rank when playing others. This means you can use weapons you're worse while playing ranked and not be judged by your strongest performances. Feel free to experiment and mix things up!

Additionally, ranked points earned and lost in Open have been massively increased, from 8 points per win and 4 points per loss to 20 and 10, respectively. Playing Open to rank up is still going to be slower than Series, but it's significantly more feasible than it was before.

Finally, and this is a bit of a strange change, in X rank lobbies, players will now be anonymized, with their names getting replaced by temporary "call signs" generated based on your gear (amongst other things), with your actual ID not being visible to the other players until after the fact.

This might seem out of nowhere to most of you, but it seems to be a reaction to a recent controversy involving the Japanese competitive player Chocopero. I'll fully admit I do not know exactly what happened, but to my understanding Chocopero was on the cusp of getting 5000 X Power, a tremendous achievement, when people in his lobbies began griefing his matches, intentionally throwing matches while on his team, and I've even heard other say he got DDoS'ed at some point. This new call sign system seems to be an attempt to anonymize players so targeting specific people for in-match harassment becomes harder.

And honestly it's kind of a fun way to go about it? I am really curious how many different call signs there are and what they react to. What call signs will my various outfits get? I'm really curious to see when the patch drops.

Rounding out this summary, we've got the other changes!

Weapon freshness now goes all the way up to 10 stars, with new badges to with the new freshness level. If you had previously hit max freshness on a weapon then any additional freshness you'd earned will be retroactively applied, so nothing goes to waste. Additionally there's now badges rewarded for having many weapons at freshness 4 and higher.

Finally, people you play with in Series and Splatfest Pro will not show up in the "Users You Have Played With" section of your Friends menu. This is likely another anti-harassment tactic, as there's been reports of people changing their account nicknames to rude and/or offensive phrases and sending friend requests to other players maliciously. This is why we can't have nice things, man.

And with that we're done with the patch notes! Version 10.0.0 should be releasing very soon as of the time of writing, so not long now until we get to try out all those new weapons!

[heroesbyler]

Nosferatu 1979 Parallels in Stranger Things: They Love Some Vampire Shit<3

Hello everyone! I decided to watch Nosferatu 1979 after the new remake blew my mind with how good it was, and I realised how insanely the Duffers have been inspired by it in the show. Let's dive in:

The nightmare curse

Firstly, we get this scene of our main character Lucy.

I dont even have to say much on this: the mindflayer's/vecna's curse is heavily inspired by Nosferatu's curse, which is also something hinted with the subtlety of a truck hitting you by all the vampire stuff re: Vecna and the existence of demobats this season. As the classic tale of Dracula/Nosferatu goes, Jonathan, the love interest, goes to Nosferatu's castle to close the deal for selling a house to him, and strange shit is afoot. He reads up on it in old books, and learns about this curse.

The Creel house and General Vecna and One connections

Moving on. In the brief amount of time we get to see Dracula's castle, we see almost all the Vecna/Creel house-attic memorabilia hits. We have the grandfather clock, candles and mirrors. Moreover, Dracula appearance and characteristic hand shape/gesture and milky eyes were obviously the blueprint for Vecna's.

Jonathan is straight up having a bad time over there, obviously, being tormented by the horrors, while Lucy is likewise, also having a pretty bad time back in their city. But before going to them, let's talk about the actual Nosferatu figure here.

In this version, Nosferatu is the most sympathetic version of the Classic Antagonist in this story. We get to feel his desparation, his loneliness and emptiness, we get to experience the pain that is driving his decisions. We get his insight on the curse of immortality, something other Dracula figures dont really dwell upon:

Which is something I consider to be referenced in the Iconic Nina monologue:

Some general shot/line parallels

Back to Jonathan now. He is using a makeshift rope out of his sheets to escape, something we already see connected with the UD AND Vecna visions through the Hawkins gang scenes:

Lucy, ever the Supernaturally Afflicted Knower Of Situations, is serving s2 Will realness in general with her psychic connection to Nosferatu, but in this particular case has an almost word for word parallel to Nancy:

And then we have the whole Master of the Rats thing in Nosferatu which directly corresponds to the flayed rats/fleshflayer situation. And then, having Master of Puppets as a prominent UD moment...The demodog herd being called the Mindflayer's army...Subtlety level? Dustin voice: sub..zero.

The rats in Nosferatu parallel both the flayed rats and the spiders in Vecna visions as we have seen them so far, including this visual reference:

While Nosferatu tries to win Lucy over, the city suffers with the Black Plague, and Jonathan is desperate to save her. The townspeople, and particularly the doctor of the village, brush off Lucy's prophetic concerns as childish, even though she knows that the Plague is caused by Nosferatu. It is giving 'Or is it like the doctors said, all in your head?'/'Where others saw order, I saw a straitjacket'.

Nosferatu's main motivation being the absence of and need for love and some Byler speculation

After all this catastrophe, Nosferatu confesses his love to her after once again talking about how much he suffers for having no one and living forever, and how envious he is of Lucy and Jonathan's love, while also continuing to torment Jonathan as a pressure point for Lucy, causing his memories to be tampered with, and forgeting her (Hello Birthdaygate<3 yes this is all very Byler-y speculation mind you. To me. ).

He asks her to be his ally and go to him in order to save Jonathan, but she refuses, by explaining that he needs to save himself instead of relying on her.

It is abundantly clear that Nosferatu is written as a tormented creature and love is the only thing that could have saved him and he wants (which is exactly why the only way to kill him is for Lucy to accept his love and truly see him, because that lowers his defenses enough to let sunlight in. Talk about that POTO, Dracula, Nosferatu Tragedy TM, oof).

He leaves her alone for a little while, and she continues trying to find the way to defeat him in old books.

Mike at the scene of the crime once again in the weirdest parallel her+ more Nosferatu-Shadow coding

This one goes to my fellow 'What is up with that Wheeler boy' Mike fans that always want to know why tf he gets the weirdest, most ominous, mindflayer-y parallels ever, because this is just BEYOND.

We get this scene of Lucy reading a book about Nosferatu while trying to learn how to defeat him. In the background, we see Jonathan, because in film language, Lucy is talking about Jonathan as well now, as he has already turned into a vampire because of Nosferatu.

demoBats, shadows, demodogs wolves, blood and no reflections, demogorgons stretching the wall penetrating walls, this has it all when it comes to Mindflayer symbolism. Bullseye, truly. Even the undead thing is spot on for Vecna:

Now this is all well and good etc. But can someone please tell me why we have that Lucy / Vampire!Jonathan scene paralleled to a T..........in s1 with Mike and Dustin? Call this a coincidence to my face, lol. Mike baby you are in some deep shit, and no one knows what it means.

Even the freaking book says 'Mike' outside like WHAT in the film language are they saying to me. And yes this is cornplating BUT can't get over that the flowers on the table in Nosferatu's scene are the same colour as the ones Mike brings El. You can't make this shit up.

While Vecna's identity and the Mindflayer situation and origin remains more hazy and uncertain than ever, seeing a Monster that is both humanised but also distinctly alien and inhuman be the inspiration for both the flaying and Vecna's curse strongly hints in the Vecna that we know being a combination of them in some form, something strongly backed by TFS as well (with many asterisks re: its direct canon-ness).

Anyway this Longass Post has come to an end. We love some copy pasting from horror movies on popular show stranger things<3 Thank you for reading teehee

[genderqueer-butch]

There is a Problem with transition timelines that people post online, doctors, etc. making it seem like trans men/transmascs were on testosterone for like a year or something and "fully look like cis men."

And this has led to a lot of trans men and transmascs (and anyone who may not identify this way) ending up feeling sad/bad/discouraged when taking testosterone when they don't "fully passing" after a year or so.

When people say "trans men pass easier", they are reinforcing this exact kind of misinformation.

It's not that there are absolutely no trans men who "fully pass" after about a year on hormones, but the generalization of it is FACTUALLY untrue. Like, this is just genuinely incorrect, and in fact, it would actually quite literally be impossible to make such a generalization in the first place.

Because once again, every single human being is different, with different biology, different physical traits. I have read about so many trans women who have deeply, deeply struggled to pass, even after being on hormones for many years, and I have read about so many trans men who have deeply, deeply struggled to pass, even after being on hormones for many years. I have also read about many trans women who have talked about how they've actually always been pretty feminine and actually often was "mistaken" for a woman before being on hormones, just as I have read about many trans men who have talked about how they've actually always been pretty masculine and actually often were "mistaken" for a man before being on hormones.

I mean, fucks sake, women of color in particular have spoken plenty about the ways many of them are masculinized and are mistaken as men and called men, etc. due to racism. Asian men are frequently feminized and seen as feminine and treated as weak. Intersex people who are assigned on sex, but grow up being treated as the opposite sex. This happens to white, cis, perisex people too. We literally have news articles about cis women - women of color and white women alike - being mistaken as men in women's bathrooms and being harassed as a result.

And if you know any of this, if you know any of the stuff I just described above about how everyone is different and how plenty of people - trans men and trans women alike - have spoken about all sorts of experiences, from being able to easily 'pass' to struggling to ever 'pass' and more, then I do not understand how or why anyone could think that saying "it's easier for (this group of trans people) to pass than it is for (this other group of trans people) to pass" is a true and correct statement.

"Trans men pass easier" can never be a true statement and can never be factually "proven" for these exact reasons. To make such a generalization inherently reinforces the idea that there are two sexes: because if you believe that trans men pass easier, you are relying on the idea that trans man = afab, which means having xyz physical traits, instead of the fact that literally any human can look any kind of way - people can be short, tall, have a lot of body hair, have short hair, have long hair, have facial hair, etc. and be literally any gender and that sex is not a binary and 'afab' is essentially meaningless when it comes to discussing actual human beings, actual biology, actual physical human traits and biological traits. As I said - there are many experiences from trans people in which they talk about things like a trans woman who was frequently "mistaken" for a girl as a child, a trans man who was frequently "mistaken" as a boy as a child, and so on.

To make such a generalization is to assume that human beings' biology generally works the same amongst two sexes, regardless of ethnicity, regardless of physical health conditions, regardless of anything else. It's a statement that is so incorrect, so provably and obviously wrong that I can't wrap my head around believing it.

[paperclipps7]

Experiment 67: The Radio

After a (quite frankly, very frustrating) series of failed portals, exploding generators, and broken doorframes, Flyte came to me saying, and I quote:

"Perhaps slow down with the mad scientist thing and try something simpler."

I brushed him off in the moment, but after sleeping on it, I realized he was right. I cannot leap directly into portals and doorways. My skills simply are not used to this world's bizarre technology. I needed to make something simple. Something small. Really get my gears wrapped around this mess.

We found a beat up old radio in some of the ruins. I would have liked something nicer, but Shelly and her murder robot were in the area. I took what I could get my hands on, and will work with what I have.

I spent the next few days tinkering with it, patching it up. I got the reciever functional, now I just needed to find a signal.

Well. I found one alright. Cosmo had suffered his first death, so we had returned to the portal to wait for him, and that is where it happened! A signal came through! Was it because the portal was our gateway here?! Is it because this is the center of the Dead End?! I dont know! Maybe I'll run this by Rodger.

Even still, I could only think on that after the fact, I was too focused on what I was hearing from the other side. It was a conversation, and it rattled my whole view of this terrifying world.

What this place is, why it exists? I have some more theories now, but I need to run them by the others. I just fear that, because of the nature of what I had heard, something is coming...

Something Big.

(Below is my attempt to transcribe what was heard, may not be fully accurate.)

"Are you sure this is all necessary?

"Yes. This is what I am here for. Did you forget that?"

"I just think that... maybe this is a bit too far?"

"You want your world to be sound? Your little project to be perfect? We need to do all of this testing to make sure it is perfect."

"... Sometimes it just seems like youre doing this for your own entertainment, rather than for my sake."

"I do not find this entertaining. This is purely for scientific discovery."

". . . And?"

"And your passion project, yes. I know."

"Whatever you say... All for the future, yeah?"

"All for the future... now..."

[ladyprydian]

We were talking about Gen AI in a library staff meeting last week and something that came up was toxic positivity. Toxic positivity is the is the act of avoiding, suppressing, or rejecting negative emotions or experiences. It happens when people believe that negative thoughts about anything should be avoided. Even in response to events that should invoke sadness, such as a loss or a hardship.

There's been a change in Gen AI recently, where the responses use positive reinforcement language in the answers when it's queried. Phrases such as "good job" or "great question" are added to the summary answer. Different from the way search engines work; which shows you results lists.

This is a larger thing myself and my colleagues have noticed in the students that are coming into post-secondary. They have difficulty responding to criticism or critique. One of my coworkers told us how they had a student practically in tears because of the critiques they were given on an assignment. It was legitimate critiques with examples of how to correct the mistake. Such as "this is a sentence fragment" or "less use of the passive voice". The student couldn't understand why their instructor praised them on some aspects while showing them where they could improve.

I don't really know the answer to this or where I'm even going with the idea but I worry, in the long run, this won't be mentally healthy for the generations coming.

One thing I’ve noticed about AI users is that they are completely repulsed by the notion of feeling bad or frustrated for even the slightest moment

[akajustmerry]

I've been thinking about the ending of Wicked, at least the ending of the stage show. I think it will be received as quite impotent if they go with the same ending for the movie. Wicked ends with Elphaba and the revolutionaries in forced exile, with Glinda taking power but ultimately maintaining anti-revolutionary propaganda against Elphaba. The Wizard doesn't even experience consequences for any of it, Madame Morrible does. It's gonna be interesting, given how much part 1's politics resonated with general audiences, whether they view the ending as something realistic or somewhat insulting given the Times™. afterall as much as I love Wicked, I don't know if a story that ultimately sends a very clear message about how ineffective leftists are is what we as a society need. this is part of why I personally didn't want a Black actress playing Elphaba and a white actress playing Glinda because then this dichotomy between the more revolutionary but ultimately failed leftist and the GOOD liberal is then also racialised. And sure if you were being generous you could try to argue that this is meant to be a reflection of real life. But you and I both know that we as the audience are not meant to side with Elphaba by the end because why else do they make her admit she's entirely powerless and was wrong during the For Good sequence??? We're meant to see Glinda as the ultimate culmination of the "best" of these people simply because she's a centrist, literally between the Wizard and Elphaba. Maybe the movie will change the ending somehow to be a little more radical but I doubt it!!! We're really gonna watch a Black woman playing a character othered for her skintone who becomes a radical leftist to fight for the rights of the most marginalised be like, "actually ykw I was so silly for thinking I could change the world with radical protest, but thank god that you a beautiful white woman can actually do things simply because you are inherently good because you followed all the rules you were told to follow unlike me who will now effectively die because I didn't do that". great message for the current era huh!!! great dynamic to racialise huh!!!!

[ckret2]

I was thinking about your "She/Her Aku". Do you think she would change her voice to be more feminine? If yes, what would it sounds like? Like Ikra voice or maybe something completely different?

(context, we're talking about this post.)

honestly, if aku were transfem, I think her voice would stay the same for the same reasons I headcanon she wouldn't change her appearance:

the words used to try to describe what the hell aku is include "all-powerful wizard," "demon sorcerer," and "tree ogre." aku is the scion/reincarnation/continuation of "the black mass." not included in this list of things-that-aku-is is "human being." are we so sure aku would care about human standards of femininity?

and, conversely: what the hell are aku's standards of femininity? we don't know! Could be anything! in canon he interacts with like four female characters in the entire show, and doesn't even acknowledge two of them as female.

aku was born with a fully-formed personality, no peers, no parents, no superiors, and immediately started conquering the world. aku's whole life has been spent interacting with slaves/prisoners, shadow-demon servants, and groveling underlings. aku has never been in a position to receive masculine gender socialization, nor suffer any consequences for defying it; so aku's current appearance, mannerisms, voice, etc. aren't the result of social coercion, but personal preference.

aku has tyrannically ruled the world for longer than anyone can recall, in spite of strenuous objections from just about everybody. she is beholden to no human laws, traditions, taboos, or phobias. if she wanted to substantially alter her appearance/presentation, she wouldn't have seen any reason NOT to.

aku has existed in her current form for thousands of years. if she wanted to substantially alter her appearance/presentation, she would have realized that by now and acted on it.

aku is a shapeshifter. no hormones, surgeries, or voice training needed. if she wanted to substantially alter her appearance/presentation, she could have already done so, instantaneously, the moment the urge arose.

in whatever timeline, whatever scenario, i think that aku looks and sounds exactly the way aku WANTS to look and sound.

so in a scenario where aku's been using drag as a way to microdose on being a girl, i don't think the egg crack comes from "wait a second... i want to look like ikra & jill." i think it comes from "wait a second... what i want is to be perceived all the time the way people perceive me when i look like ikra & jill." gender euphoria located not in the mirror but in the stranger calling her "ma'am." she doesn't want to change herself, she wants to change how other people see her.

if she were a mere mortal human living on early 21st century earth, that might require being forced to perform an unnecessarily high "minimum level" of femininity to appease the gender binary police who are withholding her pronouns until she's met their arbitrary & silly standards.

but she's not a mere mortal human living on early 21st century earth. she's aku. she owns the planet. she can and would decree that anyone caught misgendering her gets the death penalty. the old fogeys will grumble but the next generation will be told from birth that the tyrant ruling their planet is female and they'll just be like okay, sure.

she is only obligated to perform as much conventional human-style femininity as she feels like performing; and i think if she were interested in performing more femininity than she currently is, she'd already be doing it.

disclaimer that this is all just a thought experiment to me. i don't actually headcanon aku as transfem. (though i do headcanon him as You Cannot Gender Me In A Way That Matters.) however if i WERE seriously headcanoning aku as transfem it would be like this. as a fantasy character she's in a very unique situation where NO social or biological factors are holding her back from looking/sounding/acting EXACTLY the way she WANTS to look/sound/act. ergo we must assume she's already perfected her appearance & presentation; and therefore transition must happen on a different axis.

[sirfrogsworth]

To My Yelp Reviewers

I have been struggling to find the energy to write personal thank yous to everyone who wrote a nice thing about me to show to my uncles. Between photo restorations, fixing my A/C, an ear infection, doctor appointments, and just a lot of annoying life stuff, I've had my attention split a hundred different ways.

I've decided maybe the best way to show my appreciation is to share what I wrote in the letter about the people in this community who have supported me over the years.

I have a section I call "The Caregiving Avengers" in which I talk about my support system. And the last entry is about all of you.

------------------------

The Internet - Motivational Cheerleader Collective

It’s hard to describe what it’s like to have half a million people following along with your personal story. Most of them just watch from afar and never say a word. They just add a little heart to your posts. But there are many who send messages and replies and comments. At times thousands of people would send me words of encouragement. I used my personal website to talk about the care I gave to my parents. I talked about when I failed. I talked about when I succeeded. And when I had some intractable problem I couldn’t find a solution for, my collective audience usually came through with helpful information. They gave me advice on products that could make caregiving a little easier. They gave me tips for how to accomplish laborious tasks with very little energy. But most of all they saw me. They saw my pain and struggles and heartbreak and trauma and they kept me from falling into a dark hole of despair.

There is always a time when a caregiver fears they can’t continue. The experience overwhelms the body and mind and everything in you just wants to shut down. The urge to give up poisons your mind and you feel guilty and ashamed for even entertaining the idea. But then hundreds of people, strangers on the internet, come together and say, “We love you. We got you. You can do this.” It put the wind back in my sails every single time.

I built this community over 16 years. My followers are some of the kindest and most generous people in my life. And I don’t even know most of their names. They were my caregiving cheerleaders and one day I’ll figure out how to dispense 500,000 thank yous.

----------------------------------

To the following specific people who wrote something for me...

@lindamaria @greytune @dreamofbecoming @chippish @nounsy @dalekpoetryreading @theotherdibbler-blog @mathcat345 @pinkangel725 Jason @boyslit Hayley @zthroo

I actually had trouble reading your kind words on my own and had to have Katrina read them aloud. I've been quite emotional lately and I read two sentences before my eyes filled with tears and I couldn't actually see the words.

Thank you so much.

[localcoffeeshop]

Analysis on HoldBreath & Breathing in Deltarune (chapters 3+4 spoilers ahead)

Holding your breath comes up in both chapter 3 and 4, as well as the spamton sweepstakes... So does the more general notion of breathing. We even SEE kris, despite being a pixel sprite, breathing on at least two occasions, and we're told once more by susie that they're breathing heavily if you think about Noelle during a weird route in chapter 4. so Kris has a lot of relevancy to the idea of holding your breath, but so does Noelle, who holds her breath to brave intense emotions when discovering video game secrets.

I think holding your breath might relate to the idea of going darker than dark, as the only time anyone really HAS to hold their breath is when they're underwater... which we've seen that ocean imagery relates to Dark Worlds and the game as a whole multiple times by now

Darker than Dark

to that extent, i think we can speculate on the act of going darker than dark in the context of the game experience. i think of the device theory ruling that we can go even deeper into layers of "fiction"... then we've got IMAGE_FRIEND who seems to exist in the darker than dark and we largely only encounter it in gameplay when we catch it in out of bounds areas or find it in "video game secret" areas you need to unlock and play very specifically and intentionally. that is to say, the "darker than dark" where you can "start to see things" that ralsei cautions about seems to be at least ASSOCIATED with hidden off-the-beaten-path fights and secrets in video games... like the eggs from the forgotten man.

its also unclear if Kris "remembers" our encounters with the Forgotten Man behind the tree after they happen. of course we the player remember these experiences outside the game. but there's a possibility Kris is forgetting as the forgotten man seems to say they do. I'd also go as far to say that there's a chance Kris AND Noelle have BOTH encountered the Forgotten Man, and that he's also behind Noelle's strange unreplicable ability to encounter video game secrets? especially because one of those secrets literally has to do with eggs?

Kris' Struggle for Autonomy and Control

finally, i also think the use of holding your breath as an act also relates to the themes of control and autonomy for Kris.

breathing is a form of expression for Kris. they display fear visibly to the player when they're breathing heavily, and this is how we come to understand how Kris feels about what we're making them do and what they're seeing. we can command Kris in a lot of ways, but we don't command them to breathe... they just do it. they breathe autonomously and automatically, as any living, breathing thing would... it becomes a shorthand for their limited autonomy - something the player shouldn't and doesn't have a say over (as part of our Video Game Experience... it would suck if we had to command Kris to breathe - and we know to some extent Gaster/the narrative is treating this as a game program we are engaging with).

they take "deep breaths" when thinking about susie, both before praying for her and playing the organ.

Susie is the ultimate embodiment of autonomy in deltarune. she does not want to relinquish control to anyone but herself - especially in the early chapters she overrides the player's decisions and speaks for herself. Kris taking a deep breath when thinking of Susie twice in the same chapter is a specific image... to take a deep breath is the opposite of holding your breath. the act of taking in air becomes a way of expressing their autonomy in susie's wake. ESPECIALLY during the organ playing scene.

Ultimately, when we command Kris to hold their breath, we also take the most guaranteed living action away from them. we command them to not do something, to not breathe. I think there's something to be said about taking breath away from Kris in terms of their struggle against us, even when we don't do the weird route, or we act as benevolently as possible towards them, we also know they're terrified of being a puppet on our string and they want control. imagine a higher being telling you to hold your breath. imagine the feeling of knowing something or someone could force you to hold your breath for as long as they want... until they use you up.

To breathe deeply on your own vs. to hold your breath and go darker than dark..... i think the full picture will come into view when we know more of where kris' head is at and what their goal is.