#uncropped pictures at the source

[mxtxnet]

The Untamed cast: Xuan Lu

[awesomefringey]

https://twitter.com/ccopyof91s/status/1694891539330195676?t=qKGlrFhFfACfh_296uQuHA&s=19

Uhmmm was the original version posted somewhere else where they could have gotten it orrrrr ???

Huh. Well spotted!

I know HLD uses an app/a software to download content from IG.

That allowed them to retrieve uncropped pictures in the past which led people to wonder if HLD had different sources too.

Since it’s a similar “phenomenon”, AFHF and Louis may have uploaded a cropped version of the video and HLD got it in full? Someone pointed out how the extension happens at exactly 28 seconds in which makes me think this is a little Easter egg for us 😅 I hate him.

[perfecttenth]

Hakuga (AnxEyeTea) findings

So there's some more or less interesting stuff in the files.

Oddheader's most recent video about video games tied to cults oOOOooOOOoo showed up in my recommended, and Hakuga was the only game I didn't recognize. The original itch.io page claims that the game was created by the uploader's friend, who took his own life in 2017, and the parents of that friend gave his computer to the uploader, which contained the game in an unfinished state, so the uploader made it playable. Since it was made in Unity, you can extract the game's assets with AssetStudio. The first thing you'll notice upon extracting them is that the game contains actual photos of dead people. Most of them depict the victims of Unit 731, and are completely uncensored. The ones that are related to the unit are used in the "Museum of Shame" area in the game.

There are also some development screenshots ("Offline.png", "hokugescrin.png" and "hkgunity.png"). Note how in the second one the top and bottom are cropped, and in the third one parts of the top are obfuscated.

At some point, I found a file that was dated 2021, which would be 4 years after the creator allegedly passed away. And this graphic has multiple variations.

It wouldn't make any sense for the creator's friend to have put it there, since he said he wanted the game to stay the way the creator left it.

So then I looked at the audio files in the hopes that I could find the source for some of them, at least the ones that weren't taken from SDR2/Persona 5.

I reverse searched this one, and it actually led me to a result:

A soundcloud trap beat. Even though the track is now titled "20", the url still has the original title, which lines up with the filename.

Having looked at the game's files for as long as I did, there were some glaring similarities between them and the cover art. One featured the japanese Shin Godzilla logo that was also used in-game multiple times, another cover was present as-is in the files, another used the same anime girl in the same 3D program and another one had that exact same picture of Renamon uncropped, which was used as a texture. Overall, they had almost the exact same art style as the game.

After this was discovered and shared with the Oddheader discord, a "fixed" version of Hakuga with no other info was uploaded on AnxEyeTea's itch.io, being 57mb smaller than the first version.

The Soundcloud account's last activity was on March 10th, 2021. There's no way this account doesn't belong to the original creator of the game, especially when you consider there was no trace of this game on the internet prior to Halloween 2022. That, and the account has its location set to Japan even though a lot of the comments it wrote were either in English or French. What's noticeable is that 1. The syntax of these comments is typical for a native French speaker 2. There are spaces before exclaimation and question marks 3. The first person "I" is always lowercase And before that, I had already tried to compare the writing styles of the game's creator and his "friend", which were exactly the same. Some of the game's graphics were also titled "sans titre", "téléchargement" and "copie" which would indicate that the creator's first language is French.

This story of "My friend took his life 6 years ago and his parents gave me his stuff so I learned how to use Unity and made this game playable" reeked of bullshit from the start. My first thought was that the creator made up the story of him taking his own life in order to either be shielded from criticism or to make the game seem more interesting by getting people to believe he died.

And finally, by looking up "hakuga reddit" in order to find something else, I found this post. An AMA by the creator, Alex.V/"Akiba Tomoke", hidden in plain sight.

There's a chance this is fake and was made by a data miner or something (considering the "I" is actually uppercase this time), but this account uses the Akiba name that was only used in-game, and its profile picture is a slightly altered version of an image in the assets that I couldn't find a source for:

So there you have it. The backstory was fake, there's no real link to a cult, it was just another edgy ARG.

EDIT: But wait, there's more. Somebody other than the OP replied to the AMA post, claiming to be the uploader.

These were up for about an hour until he deleted one of them and deactivated his account. At the same moment, this was posted to the itch.io page:

Somewhere in that timeframe, the Soundcloud account also got deleted. Strangely enough, the Twitter account from 2018 (which doesn't mention the friend AT ALL despite being created a year after his alleged passing) is still up. An hour after the intial text appeared on itch.io, some sections of it were rewritten multiple times (these are in chronological order, click for better quality):

You can see that after the third revision the archive.org link was removed, and right after that the itch.io download for the game was removed. After the last revision, the seperate page for Hakuga was completely deleted from AnxEyeTea's itch.io.

It should be mentioned that as soon as the "fixed" version of Hakuga was uploaded to the itch.io account, a review popped up on the old archived version, which got edited multiple times. Make of that what you will.

Certain aspects of the now deleted Soundcloud account actually led to the creator's professional design work, some of which still included assets and references to Hakuga. Nowadays he works on music videos, his last one was released in May of this year. I won't link to it here since I assume he doesn't want to be associated with Hakuga under this identity.

The Conclusion

A statement has been made on the itch.io page.

TL;DR: The creator of the game is still alive and well, nobody died. The premise of someone distributing his dead friend's unfinished Unity project was solely made up for the release of the game. Hakuga was a failed (collaborative?) ARG that utilized suicide, war, depression and drug symbolism as well as images of real dead people that were, in his words, intended to denounce and not forget what happened (specifically in relation to Unit 731). The usage of Japanese text is purely stylistic and mostly nonsensical.

Thanks to everyone on Discord and Reddit who contributed to debunking this.

[arcplaysgames]

noodling around with a fic idea

i might've thought of an AU and this is two short scenes to voice-test. cw for temporary character death. kinda. you'll see. or not. the working title is the ghost of you lingers (but I wish it wouldn't)

Takuto Maruki remembered the first time he saw Ren Amamiya.

He had been sitting in a tea shop in Stockholm, taking a break from the conference he'd been attending. The two kilometer radius around the convention center was flush with milling grad assistants and PhDs, every empty seat filled by people talking about everything from teen suicide rates to the best EMDR devices to comparing licensing requisites per country to asking how much Swedish krona was reasonable for a bottle of water.

Maruki sat in a tea shop, nursing a cup of kukicha at the window seat as he looked over the rest of the day's schedule of panels and demonstrations. He'd always been partial to the collision of woody and sweet that came from kukicha, and was curious about the experience of having a personal favorite eight thousand kilometers from home.

Oddly, he thought it tasted better here, and prodded that thought like a sore tooth. Was he overheating his water at home and making an inferior cup? Was this mildly overpriced tea shop sourcing better blends? Or was Maruki just intrinsically drawn to it as he often was to the particulars of the Western world? How unusual would it be to buy a tin of Stockholm kukicha to bring home, importing it in along with all of the other things he carried back with him?

Well. It was a better cup of tea than it was a metaphor, he decided as his phone buzzed on the table next to him.

A new alert illuminated his screen. Raising his cup to his mouth, Maruki read the little blurb.

He put his cup back down firmly and picked up his phone, and read about the tragic death of Ren Amamiya at the hands of prospective Prime Minister Masayoshi Shido. Inserted into the news article was an obviously candid photo of the boy. His arm as linked amicably through the arm of someone else who had be tactfully cropped out of the picture, his face turned with a smile, lips parted as he was captured mid-word, a joke frozen in an instance.

His eyes, though, were for some reason aimed right at the camera, as though he'd just noticed its presence. They were grey as a perfect  rainy day, and Maruki stared back into them for a moment.

What a shame, Maruki thought before continuing to read the article. And that might've been that.

On the final day of the conference, Maruki stood in his hotel room, carefully folding and rolling his clothes to fit into his carry-on bag along with the little souvenirs and interesting pamphlets and tins of imported tea he was bringing home. He was just trying to find a place for the box of famously luxurious Swedish chocolates he intended to surprise Rumi with when his phone lit up with another notification.

Another news blurb caught his attention, and this time, Maruki saw the headline DISCARDED SON OF SHIDO TO TESTIFY IN AMAMIYA MURDER.

Sinking down on the bed, Maruki opened the article to be greeted with the complete, uncropped photo of Ren Amamiya, revealing the other boy he was with, an equally amiable scowl directed at Amamiya, a hand lifted to brush honey-brown hair from his face.

Goro Akechi, the article revealed, had allegedly been at the scene of the equally-alleged murder and had been there to try desperately to save his friend's life as the ambulance took just too long.

"I had thought he'd already taken everything from me," Akechi was quoted as saying. "It's almost admirable, how Shido has proven me wrong. I will have justice paid with interest."

They were both fifteen.

Or, Ren Amamiya had been fifteen. What was the correct form of address here? Would he always been fifteen now?

Maruki flicked his thumb and looked at the provided photo again.

It wasn't fair, Maruki thought.

At the time, he had no idea how dangerous that thought could be.

===

Years later, Takuto Maruki unlocked the door to his rental and hung his bag up on the hook nearby. He kicked the door shut behind and barely had his shoes off before he looked up and said, "What are you doing?!"

Ren was twenty years old and standing on the kitchenette countertop, hands pressed firmly against the ceiling, his hair crushed down as he seemed to try to stand up despite the wooden boards clearly in his way. "It doesn't make any sense and it's making me crazy. Walls? Easy. I could trip through a wall. Doors? Suggestions at best. Windows? I have to be careful not to move through them, you know?" He hunched a bit then thumped his head against the ceiling. 

"Why are you on the counter? Get down," Maruki said. 

"You're not listening, Taku-tan," Ren said patiently. "Why can I go through some things and not other things? Why are ceiling's special?"

"Because other people live up there and it'd be unconscionably rude," Maruki told him on a sigh.

"Try again."

Inhaling deeply into his lungs, Maruki reconsidered. He had often wanted a cat; he always thought of himself as a cat person. It vexed him his whole life, how he never seemed to live in a place that allowed pets and never stayed in one place long enough to befriend the local strays.

Now, he knew better. Now, there was Ren, who was often close enough.

"Metaphysically, you should dictate most of your own ambulatory rules," Maruki offered slowly. "There is nothing different about walls and ceilings as far permeability goes, but you're forgetting that ceilings are also often floors."

"Oh, yeah." With an easy step off the counter, Ren dropped back down. "It would probably suck to trick my cognition into forgetting floors are a thing and then plummet to my not-death at the core of the earth."

"Probably," Maruki agreed. "Before we further explore the supernatural parameters of your existence, could I change into something more comfy?"

"Sure." There was an abundance of movement in him. Before Maruki even made it to the sliding door to his bedroom, Ren started loping around the smallish living area and casually tossed himself forward into a handspring, landing perfectly, albeit half-through the television.

When Maruki clapped, Ren gave him a sardonic look, waving him off. "What? It was wonderful form, Ren-chan."

The only response was a shrug as Ren turned away, rubbing the back of his neck.

Ren needed a nice, long night out. Maruki swallowed his sigh, silently accepting his own fate of turning in for bed extremely early. He could catch up on his reading another time.

After all, it was all Maruki's fault.

[quiescence90]

World Icons List PSD

Update 17 Mar 2024 : Added Tomarang and a different version (details added to end of post).

With huge credit to deevo's Image Viewer for Package Files which has a Packs Extractor tool. Similar to my Packs List PSD, this one is for the World icons. I've had this since April and never used it myself, but just in case someone would want this thing here it is updated to include Chestnut Ridge.

Download from source or link below:

SFS

1.  [quiescence90] World Icons List in .pdf and .xcf formats - as pictured above

2.  [quiescence90] Individual World Icons in .pdf and .xcf formats - this is the original sized images extracted from the game arranged and grouped together. You can move each layer as you please to create your own icons for the Worlds

3.  [quiescence90] 512px World Icons - .zip folder containing all the uncropped original sized World icons in .png format. I only arranged them to match how they appear in the World Selection Menu so a few of them will show blank/unfilled spots because EA did not bother to draw anything on that part of the layer. See example below:

(observe the bottom)

4.  ✨NEW!✨  [quiescence90] World List (by pack) in .pdf and .xcf formats - The worlds listed by pack icons as exemplified below:

I excluded basegame and Journey to Batuu for this one because this is meant for a "packs needed" kinda situation and I couldn't extract a bigger icon from JtB 🤷🏻‍♀️

[synfell]

bisexual dio icon. flag colorpicked from the original picture

just flag // just dio // original image (cropped) (uncropped source link)

[is-the-primate-vid-cute]

can you think of any images used a lot in the 'monke' meme genre that are actually cute?

There are some! While I have general unease with primate memes, the popularity of Orangutan Jungle School and other educational entertainment has given an ethical source for primate memes. siamang_gibbon on Instagram posts ethically sourced primate memes, and while most accounts have some degree of not good stuff mixed in, there are a few pics that are relatively common and cute.

This is a photo from BOS, the foundation behind orangutan jungle school. The full, uncropped image has one of the staff members in the frame.

This is another one I've seen, featuring Beni when he was a young banana thief. Other photos and videos common in memes are often sourced from zoos as they tend to be prolific posters-- this is advantageous for someone who runs a primate meme account as it would ensure a steady stream of new primate pics. As such, I have seen a good few memes with pictures I recognized from ACCI, BOS, IPPL, and others. They aren't all bad! The problem is that primate memes tend to be a mixed bag.

[dearings]

man i really would prefer it if people would post sources and uncropped pictures. it makes it so much easier to track things down and understand context.

[pillnus]

Catching tumblr dupe rats

Across all the tumblr dupe rats, this kind is one of the worst.

OP puts their nametag on the post, despite they are not the artist.

SomikoArts is the real artist.

Uncropped pictures were posted here with public twit in the source, dated Feb 14, 2022. Within days after that tumblr post this funny guy decides to crop it and repost it just like this, without the credits or source.

Many Tumblr blogs have engagement they don't deserves just because of constantly appearing in the search. People behind it are unable to find something interesting by themselves and can only parasite from smaller tumblrs.

It's frustrating enough. But why do you need to be even bigger asshole and get rid of the creator credits?

[mxtxnet]

The Untamed cast: Wang Zhuocheng [x]

[keelywolfe]

Drabble: Not A Side-Eye (baon)

Notes: Gilded_pleasure made a mention recently that they love the way everyone at the Embassy seems to be somewhat protective of Edge. That Edge thinks he's a complete hardass and everyone knows that beneath his pointy exterior lies the soul of a true marshmallow.

It's so true, poor boy, so of course they are all invested in his happiness.

Tags:  Spicyhoney, Established Relationship, Domestic Fluff

Part of the ‘by any other name’ series.

~~*~~

Read it on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

The Embassy was always a hub of activity during the day. On the first floor were meeting rooms for visitors, mostly Humans and Monsters without security clearance. As one went further into the building, entry was more limited. The higher the floor, the more clearance required, and the basement levels were the reverse, the deepest levels restricted to those with the most security access.

Edge’s office was on the third floor and despite the necessity of limiting access to the floor, there was always a flurry of activity around. Mailroom clerks delivering paperwork and carefully screened packages, personal assistants rushing from room to room to with time sensitive messages, even the occasional Monster from Security strolling through the floors at odd hours for inspections that were on a schedule privy to very few.

Edge could always tell which of the security personnel were personally trained by Red; their placid expressions were unreadable, their eyes coolly observant as they scanned their surroundings. And so, it was a good guess that his brother hadn’t trained the Monster who was looking at him now. They were all but staring, watching him make his slow way through the hallway.

“Can I help you?” Edge asked coolly. He refused to be self-conscious about his scooter, it was a necessary medical device, thank you, and not open for mockery.

“Huh? Oh, no,” the Monster waved him off with a self-conscious little laugh, another clear sign that Red hadn’t had a hand in his training. “Sorry, it was just…you know…” He lightly tapped the side of his face and Edge might have been further offended if it weren’t very clear that he didn’t mean the obvious crack in his socket.

“I’m afraid I don’t know,” Edge let his voice drop from cool to icy, “would you care to explain?”

Once, that tone would have inspired fear in whoever it was directed at and while that wasn’t exactly his goal, it was dissatisfying for the Monster to only shake his head, muttering another apology smothered with amusement as he turned and walked down towards the elevators. Edge only watched him go, more perplexed than upset.

It might have irritated him more if it weren’t for the fact that he wasn’t the only Monster giving him strange looks this morning. There was nothing in them that Edge could pinpoint, no particular flick of eyes towards anyplace obvious, not even the fly of his pants which would at least prompt him to check his zipper. If he had to choose a word to describe it, he supposed he might call those glances fond, of all things, though why every person who passed him by today might give him such a look, he couldn’t begin to guess.

Edge could only shake his head and continued on his way back to his office, careful of the two cups secured in the front basket. He made a mental note to simply ask Janice for a refill the next time he wanted coffee.

Ah. Janice. She might be the key to all this that he needed.

She was sitting at her desk as Edge rolled back into the outer office, glancing up with a smile as he set her coffee cup on her desk. Her expression turned questioning when he didn’t go on to his own office.

“Why does everyone keep looking at me today?” Edge asked bluntly. “I thought it was the scooter, but they aren’t laughing at me or mocking, so what is it?”

“What do you mean?” Janice asked, her brow furrowing, “and I’m sure no one is laughing at you, everyone was very worried about you, they’re happy to have you back.”

That much was true. The morning he’d returned, he’d discovered a card on his desk, signed by nearly everyone in the Embassy, including Asgore. He’d been quite touched, and the card was sitting propped up on his desk, right next to his stuffed chicken, Pot Pie. He already had plans to spend some time this coming Saturday baking plenty of treats to bring in next week as a thank you.

As for right now, he’d spent enough time around Stretch to know when someone was hedging on the verge of a lie, buying time to come up with something reasonably believable.

Time was of the essence and he knew from experience that demands weren’t the route to take; better to make an attempt at appealing to her maternal instincts. Edge would never excel as an actor or a liar, that much he knew. Instead, he took all of his knowledge of his husband’s skills in that area and channeled it, letting it guide him into creating a perfectly pleading expression as he wheedled out, “Tell me?”

Janice wilted instantly beneath the force of his imploring gaze, surely this was a power that should be wielded with caution. “Well…it might be because of Stretch’s twitter post.”

Of course it was. Edge sighed, resigned to his fate, “What did he say?”

There was a certain sympathy in her smile, “It might be better if you check for yourself.”

He went to his office and dug out his phone. The twitter app was buried on the third menu, he rarely opened it since he only followed two people on it and only truly cared about one of them. He tapped the icon and the very first tweet leapt out at him.

had someone send me a message asking me what i do for a living. not much for the 9 to 5, i usually work my hardest trying to make my babycakes happy. it’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it!

It was followed by a flurry of emoticons, mostly of hearts and fireworks, along with a cake and the odd random chili pepper. Beneath the message was a picture of Stretch, a selfie in profile. He was pressing a spectacularly messy kiss against what Edge knew was his own cheekbone, but the picture was carefully cropped to show only a sliver of his face and one of his boots, tangled between Stretch’s sneakered feet.

More fodder for the internet speculators who were so strangely invested in their relationship. It seemed some of his co-workers were equally invested if those earlier looks meant anything.

He didn’t remember Stretch taking this picture, but then, he took so many that wasn’t unexpected. He supposed it should bother him, to have his private life so exposed, even in the periphery. Instead, all he felt was a swell of his own fondness, looking at that picture, at Stretch’s visible glee, the curve of his smile showing from around that kiss. Perhaps he could ask Stretch for an uncropped copy, assuming one existed.

Impulsively, he typed a reply, saying only, you’re a good worker, you should ask your boss for a raise. Then he closed the app before any other comments could pour in. There was only one he cared to see, and he suspected it would come as a text.

His phone chimed right on time, but not from the expected source. His brother sent him a text, curt and to the point.

don’t worry ‘bout earlier, boss, it’ll get handled.

Well, it looked like the security Monster from earlier would be getting a little personal training from Red, after all. Meanly vindicated, Edge sat down at his desk with his coffee to get back to work. He could use some time to prepare himself for any looks he got on his way down to lunch.

-fin

[horansqueen]

Saw a lot of people saying that the picture of Niall was take during June (apparently the beginning of June) but idk, didn't see real source about it so who knows

yea i didnt see a source either. i hate when ppl do that. someone told me this is a cropped version when i mentioned it was probably flipped. they said it was flipped because of the uncropped version there was a logo and it was flipped. but i still have no idea who the picture belongs to.

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

Wait you take PICTURES of the covers? Is it the same with the panels you comment? I thought you took them from somewhere online, how do you make them look so clean?!

ahahaha yeah! pretty much all the pictures on this blog are just taken directly out of my paper copies with my phone and the nearest direct light source and then cropped until they look decent

for comparison, here’s the uncropped version of the last one i posted:

[tyk-tyk-tyk]

🍁 Delving Into The Assets

Again, huge thanks to @eyesofflora for ripping these and putting them up for public download. If you haven’t already, you should totally grab it. It’s posted through Google Drive. 

This post is going to be focusing on a lot, except for the Fragments of Reality. I want to break those down into separate posts.

I won’t be covering every single asset, it’s a lot and I think it’s worth it to look through it all yourself. I’m mostly covering the interesting names found within the assets. Otherwise, I also call to light interesting unused content. Most of this post is focused around The Guests.

buka1_body

buka1_head_spring

Assets used for the giant monster when on the path to the stay inside ending. The interesting thing is there’s also voice files titled “spring”. 

buka_2_tex

buka_2_winter_tex

An interesting thing to note is the color changes between the (giant) little girl. One is tagged with ‘winter’, which audio files are also tagged with. It’s possible the game was aiming to have different seasons as a whole, based on different backgrounds tagged with “autumn”, “summer”, and “winter”. Both are also prefaced with “Buka”. I’ve seen different takes on this, directly translating Buka (бука) tells us that this is another term for the boogeyman. An interesting Urban Dictionary insert says that Buka is an old woman who steals away children. This is, however, Urban Dictionary, anyone can put in anything unfortunately. 

dashenka_tex

The guest that sobs and makes it difficult to hear your surroundings. I wasn’t able to find much about “dashenka”, it seems to be a Russian name, or maybe another way to say “she/her”. This would make sense as the voice that sobs when this guest is present is female.

invalid_tex

Another guest, it’s possible that ‘invalid’ was a replacement for the word void or null. It’s interesting considering that the guests don’t have heads, despite screenshots and trailers showing otherwise. 

pugalka_face_tex

The next few guests are prefaced with the word “pugalka”, which in direct translation seems to mean “scarecrow”. 

pugalka_yashik_text

Hilariously, the translation for ‘yashik’ is “box”. Kind of anti-climactic.

pugalki_uley_tex

“Pugalki” seems to be the plural form of scarecrow, “scarecrows”. Uley translates to “beehive”. I also don’t recall seeing this guest throughout the game, it may be a background character to a Fragment of Reality or unused content.

hero_light_tex.png

The light sources The Lodger holds throughout the game. The final lamp is either a concept or unused.

hero_head_hide.png

Spooky transparent heads of The Lodger. His eyes are on a different png, seems they switched to full heads later on in development. These heads are also used for the hide animation, spliced with a set of eyes found in the files. 

hero_head_tex.png

All of The Lodger’s expressions. I’ve never seen him shift his eyes in game, I think it would have added nicely to the idle animation.

splash_image

Not the most interesting, but this is the biggest, uncropped picture of the usual Knock-Knock banner or cover. I never even noticed the main guest lurking in the background. Also note how The Lodger is casually holding a candle with no handle or lantern. This man is asking to get wax all over himself.

Congratulations for making it to the bottom. You get a brownie point.