#otherwise i dont think you need any more context from that

[icecreampizzer]

Here's a little thing I made as a companion to this thing I wrote, whatever it is. Played around with the idea of Fabby and Prism bonding...Somehow.

#i expect you to die #ieytd #the fabricator #roxana prism #the fabricator x roxana prism #this kind of continues from the idea #that fabricator is like heartbroken over solaris leaving #otherwise i dont think you need any more context from that #gene art #gene writes #<- is a new tag im gonna be using?? eh???? #i have my own thoughts abt my own writing #no i wont talk about it <3 unless people ask lol #roxafabby

[malocaves]

hermitcraft fans when the bdubs sponsor segment comes on (he is whitewashing himself)

to be for real this post is not about genuinely whitewashed depictions of bdubs that make him look like his whole family tree is white europeans cause that is fucked up no argument. what i want to know is why so many people seem utterly opposed to any light skinned bdubs

cause look i know that a lot of people make hermit designs based primarily off the mc skins, with respect to the humans behind them so that bdubs' mc skin is to be interpreted as dark because his background is assyrian, and the same shades on joe hills (previous) mc skin are to be interpreted as light because his background is white american. it makes enough sense and if you dont want to think deeper about this with me then fine but can i just say that bdubs very much has light skin. you dont need to be afraid of saying it okay bdubs the guy very much has light skin. notice i am not saying white skin

sorry if 10 year old images are not the ideal but id think these give a much better frame of reference than the images of bdubs alone that dont really provide full lighting context, which people usually use, so heres a high light setting and low light setting example

(from here on out i will be regarding bdubs as a poc for the sake of the discussion, otherwise this recent moment makes me think the labeling is a personal decision to be made by himself)

i would say its pretty clear from images that his skin tone is not the same as his white peers, but this is more about hues than shades. his skin is not that much darker, it is mostly warmer. i think it would be nice to see the hermitcraft fanartist community work on showing the subtleties of skin tones like this so that artists can portray different people more accurately and so that others dont think bdubs is getting whitewashed if he's any lighter than steve.

why does this even matter? obviously the diversity of the server means a lot to the community, so we are happy there is a person of color on it and we want to represent that. but given that the ethnicity of the real bdubs is what you want to celebrate, why would you use the color of his mc skin rather than his real skin tone? regardless of intention the message that this choice sends is that racial diversity only matters if someone is dark skinned, along with the idea that light skinned poc are not ""poc"" enough. i dont have anything to wrap this up with its just some overly wordy food for thought maybe

#hermitcraft #hermitblr #bdoubleo100 #bdouble0

[edwad]

it’s not that you think marx should be read primarily as an economist. it’s that your project of contextualizing marx in terms of the economic thought that both predates and follows him is valuable, but it runs up against hard limits in terms of both explanatory power and ability to generate practice that you can only solve by situating marx in the context of the actual political movements that both produced and drew from him and the concrete actions that resulted (cont.)

you wont find the key to a systemic analysis of capitalism purely in the realm of ideas, whether they be economic, philosophical, or political, you need to connect your analysis to some sort of concrete political reality for it to have any teeth. sure, no movement has succeeded at ‘achieving communism’ but they have made undeniable gains in the anti-colonial struggle and general social welfare (cont.) the latter thing, despite what you say frustratingly often, is not simply reducible to social democracy, and it shows how little understanding you have of the actual material history (as opposed to ideological), that you think western social democracy is comparable to the social welfare achievements of socialist countries, and that’s without even taking to account that the former is directly predicated on imperialism and neo-colonial exploitation of the global south

im finally getting around to this 3-message wall of text which i should realistically ignore because its not really productive and its clear by the end that youre just typing your frustrations at me, but it gives me a chance to say a bit more about a particular angle of what im doing with marx.

you say:

"your project of contextualizing marx in terms of the economic thought that both predates and follows him [...] runs up against hard limits in terms of both explanatory power and ability to generate practice that you can only solve by situating marx in the context of the actual political movements that both produced and drew from him and the concrete actions that resulted"

what limits? and what explanatory power is lost here? you dont say, although your immediate pivot toward the need to "generate practice" implies that youre suggesting some sort of practice-oriented information. frankly, i dont really understand why this enters here. if marx is totally wrong (which is further than i would go!) and nothing can be salvaged from him whatsoever, you would be upset because this critique of him wouldnt generate immediate practice? on what grounds could that desire for practice even be justified? marxist ones? some new, un-marxist one which can only come out of this (assumed to be, for sake of argument) successful critique of marx which still, for some reason, is immediately interested in the development of practice (sounding an awful lot like marxism btw)? or is your problem simply that it fails to account for actual marxisms after marx? if its the last option, then thats a non-criticism if part of my point is that i am trying to say something new about marx. the fact that he might've been received otherwise would only work as a refutation of my criticism if it weren't a necessary part of the criticism itself (ie, id be wrong for agreeing with myself).

whichever one of these it is, it misses the point. however it works as a segue to what i imagine you really want to talk about, which is concrete struggles. your initial way of getting there is to try and make me reckon with a proper contextualization of marx in his political environment as well as those he influenced. the latter, as ive just said, isn't necessarily damning (because it is part of my point), but the former is definitely worth lingering on.

so you say in your second message

"you wont find the key to a systemic analysis of capitalism purely in the realm of ideas, whether they be economic, philosophical, or political, you need to connect your analysis to some sort of concrete political reality for it to have any teeth"

you seem to think i fail to do this. ironically, i see my chief criticism of marx to be that *he* fails to do this. he tries to identify the development of political economy out of patterns of class struggle, but he constantly gets the facts wrong on both counts. yet even if we could take him at his word and assume he got all of these things right (which is definitely necessary for coming to terms with the nature of marx's project as he saw it), then i would argue that he actually saw his political environment as being shaped, in large part, by the reception of political economy in the workers' movement. this is already clear from the radical/popular economic literature which, in his eyes, arose and declined alongside (and, to some extent, within) the ricardian school, which is why he deals with it at length in theories of surplus value (in a deliberately historical mode, for the record). the socialist appropriation of economic categories to explain the ills of capitalism is something which animates much of his work beginning in the 40s. for example, in the poverty of philosophy, he announces at the outset that he aims to "protest" the "double error" of seeing proudhon as a "good German philosopher" or "one of the ablest French economists" on the basis of marx's being both german and an economist. this goes to show the economic terrain of marx's approach to his socialist rivals and how significant the economic angle was to him and to the movement around him more broadly. the critique of his rivals (especially proudhon) as economic thinkers appears again in capital, as william clare roberts has demonstrated in his work.

but also, at a different level, he very deliberately intervenes in engels' anti-dühring by contributing a single chapter which is *specifically* designed to take dühring to task for his critical history of political economy, in large part (as reading the text makes obvious) because marx alleges that dühring gets the history wrong. this was because, among other things, dühring's work was having a large influence on the german socialist movement and several of marx and engels' peers. this wasn't some apolitical intervention, it had meaningful stakes for marx's practical work. clearly, the critique of political economy and the ability to properly account for the history of economic thought was politically significant for both marx and the socialist movement around him. if i am being accused of over-estimating this angle, then that would only serve as another criticism of marx himself.

however, you continue (or, really, you pivot entirely, but you continue talking)

"sure, no movement has succeeded at ‘achieving communism’ but they have made undeniable gains in the anti-colonial struggle and general social welfare[.] the latter thing, despite what you say frustratingly often, is not simply reducible to social democracy, and it shows how little understanding you have of the actual material history (as opposed to ideological), that you think western social democracy is comparable to the social welfare achievements of socialist countries, and that’s without even taking to account that the former is directly predicated on imperialism and neo-colonial exploitation of the global south

this has absolutely nothing to do with what im dealing with here, and its bizarre of you to include it in the first place, not least because you seem to think that by me criticizing communists around me for not having a political horizon capable of overcoming social democracy, that i am overly critical of socialist experiments in the 20th century for feeding themselves. if anything, i think the point of political theory should be to achieve the greatest possible "good" (whatever that might be taken to mean) for the greatest majority of people. despite their obvious flaws, i count the 20th century socialist experiments as among the greatest examples of social organization ever achieved and if communism were proven to be impossible tomorrow, i would be a dogmatic social democrat (ive actually said this for years).

im not the cartoonish ultra leftist that some of you think i am, as if i care more about establishing some magical bar for communism than i do about the people who are supposed to reach it and live in it. i dont say any of those things "frustratingly often", and youre unable to correctly attribute my own views to me, which i think is pretty telling. if anything, the things i try to talk about here dont stem from an allergy to anything less than whatever perfect ideal i might hold in my head, its out of a frustration with communists who dont even recognize that they might as well be social democrats. thats not necessarily an insult (ive worked with a lot of good social democrats in my life and will continue to do it as long as it produces worthwhile results), its just supposed to clarify the stakes and what i see as the limits to their analysis of the system (which ought to matter to them, even if i dont get much out of it!).

my focus on the history of economic thought as it relates to marx's critique of political economy, is admittedly pretty far removed from some of this stuff, but i dont take that distance between the two as a problem of my ability to reckon with the global south or the success-rate of communist movements around the world, i take it as an issue which only results from the overexertion of your stretched criticism to try and get me to talk about something else. next time you want my opinion on something other than what im posting about, you can just ask!

[utilitycaster]

Would LOVE that essay on combat in dnd because full agree. But not even just for people watching live play, like, combat is an essential feature of dnd as a game system and it endlessly frustrates me when i see dms be like “yeah combat is just too complicated and no fun so i dont do it in my game :)!” Like i guess thats your right, but any non-caster class is gonna be miserable in your game. I saw a video recently talking about how dnd has kind of become the default ttrpg and is marketed as the perfect system for everyone and any style of play which is just. So not true. Combat in dnd is equally as integral as roleplay is and theres really no argument otherwise. Very valid if you hate dnd combat, it sure isnt for everyone, but in that case maybe play a different ttrpg where the characters arent constructed around combat abilities, i promise you’ll have more fun.

So this is one of those things that touches on maybe 99% of my feelings on Experiencing Fiction in general and actual play in particular; I apologize in advance for the length and digressions within this response.

Here are the reasons I have seen or I surmise why people don’t like D&D combat, either in actual play or in home games:

It can get crunchy and involves a lot of rules

There are long stretches in which individuals do not necessarily act (not exclusive to combat but I think this is a factor)

It contains violence

There is a potential for character death

Now, it’s fine if you aren’t interested in D&D-style combat, for whatever reason, when you play ttrpgs. It’s just that this is a core feature of D&D. As you say, this is what the martial classes are structured around - and, frankly, no small number of casting classes/subclasses as well. By avoiding it when you play D&D, you’re avoiding the bulk of the game, and there are plenty of ttrpgs that permit open RP that aren’t combat focused that would probably fit your needs better (eg: PbtA and Savage Worlds are both generic systems that can support a heroic fantasy like D&D without the emphasis on combat skills). I happen to love and prefer D&D, but that is specifically because I love combat, and yeah, there are other games and people should seek out those games if they don’t like combat.

When it comes to D&D actual play though…skipping combat is just straight-up stupid. And to be clear I mean fully skipping it and not watching it at all; while this is piggybacking off my post about spoilers, it’s fine if you are the sort of person who needs to know how combat ends in order to enjoy it! That’s just a personal preference that I respect even if I don’t share it.

D&D combat isn’t just an inherent part of the game; it’s an inherent part of the story. The idea of D&D being split into combat and RP is a false dichotomy. There is RP and crucial story within combat scenes, and you simply do not achieve the same effects by reading an after-the-fact summary. To use examples from Critical Role, consider one of the most famous RP moments from Campaign 1, when Scanlan uses his 9th level counterspell in the Vecna fight. The weight of that moment derives from mechanics and from the fact that it is in the midst of combat and well into a climatic final battle. Or for lighter examples, there’s a ton of Beau/Yasha and Fjord/Jester mid-combat flirting running through much of Campaign 2 that informs those relationships. Molly’s death? Caleb going into a fugue state when he kills humanoids with fire? Yasha destroying Obann? Fjord dying mid-deep scion fight? Those are all moments that have deep character weight and meaning that are within the context of combat, and you cannot divorce them from that context and hope to retain the same effect.

This is what dovetails into a larger discussion of Experiencing Fiction which is a (in my opinion) worrying tendency among some people to truly believe that you can cut up media into the palatable bits and pieces and push all of what you see as icky vegetables to the side of your plate. I fucking hate this. I think it’s what drives a lot of things including a distaste for combat. This is how you get, for example, people who dislike combat because Violence And Death Bad, which, do I think that in the real world violence is most often a thing to be avoided? Do I think that in the real world death is heartbreaking? Yes, but this is fiction. There’s that great Brennan Lee Mulligan quote about how TTRPGs like D&D allow people who usually must be conflict-avoidant in real life to let out their anger and frustration in a place where it is safe and harmless, and I believe that whole-heartedly. I want stories about death because I want to know I'm not alone in how I feel about death. I want stories in which people can express their rage in ways both healthy and unhealthy, because big same. (I also think it’s absolutely not coincidental that people who believe they are ‘protecting’ people by circumscribing what is acceptable in fiction tend to be strongly associated with either bigoted, violent policies in real life, or harassment and doxxing online; maybe enjoy a fucked up movie, as John Waters once said, and you'll calm down.)

This idea that you can cut up media and only consume what you like is also what I think is behind some of the really ill-considered and overly granular timestamped content warnings I’ve mentioned previously. It is fine if there are things you don’t want to watch or which will be upsetting or even triggering to watch! It’s fine if you as an individual don’t like violence! But I think there’s a problem when people believe they are entitled to be able to watch whatever they want and have it mold to their exact wants and needs (and that it’s a failing if it doesn’t), rather than taking on the responsibility of seeking out media that already fits the bill. Actual Play D&D will nearly always have violent encounters. If this will be an issue this is not for you. It is not gatekeeping to say “you can come through this gate, but the gate is in fact here for your specifically requested protection"; and yet people think that instead, gates should be placed around everything else. So (to give an example) this is why the warnings for D20’s Neverafter strike me as a symptom of this larger problem - if you have discomfort with violence towards animals and children, that’s fine, but you are watching a D&D horror series in which over half the player characters are either animals or children. This is not something where you can skip a few seconds of a flashing gif that might be a migraine or seizure trigger, or a case where an exceptionally rough scene of gaslighting can be read instead of watched; this is inherent to the show, and if this is not for you, you need to go elsewhere.

To give one last example, I was looking for fanart for Worlds Beyond Number, and came across a picture of Suvi with a caption of “Suvi but without the imperialism” and like…Aabria has said in interviews that this engagement with the empire is extremely deliberate; that Suvi is intended to be tied into the political structures of this world as an intentional contrast with Eursulon’s status as an outsider and Ame’s role at the smaller, community level. Suvi without imperialism is not identifiable as the same character and it throws the entire story off-kilter; she is of this empire and that is the fucking point. Any story worth telling is not just items thrown haphazardly into a bowl; they are combined and mixed. Someone is giving you a plate of brownies and you are acting like it’s physically possible to take out the cocoa powder without fucking the end result, and buddy, it’s not.

(Truly, I was not joking when I said this is like, the load-bearing pillar of most of my complaints about fiction consumption patterns in general. This is about how people will deny the flaws in characters even though any reasonably intelligent ten-year-old, and I know because I fucking was one once, understands that person vs. themself is one of the core conflicts and overcoming one’s flaws is in many cases the entire story and if you start out perfect there is nothing to be said. Like…I think a lot of people genuinely just want to watch a nonstop Monterey Bay Otter Cam of their sufficiently sanitized, focus-group-tested blorbos baking cookies together, and are affronted when people with the tiniest sliver of empathy and/or curiosity want a story with plot and character growth, which in turn require conflict.)

Anyway. I think the takeaways here are that there’s this awful entitlement people have in which they think that they can simply consume anything and it is the failure of that media if it doesn’t cater specifically to them, rather than a failure of them to seek out that which they would enjoy (and I could go on this rant indefinitely; it is truly the most constant theme among Takes I Think Are Dumb); and also I really want to bake something right now, given my choices of metaphor. Combat is part of D&D as a game and as a storytelling medium, and it is incumbent upon people who do not like combat to find something that doesn’t have D&D combat, rather than try to pull out the vital organs of the story.

#answered #faltermoth #long post #to continue with food metaphors it's really like. you are going to an italian restaurant and being mad there are tomatoes there #girl why are you at the devil's sacrament and so forth #i was going to make a joke about bombing all your coffee shop aus but actually i read a coffee shop au that was like. dark. and good. #(it was also professionally published in a work specifically about retellings though)

[discar]

HZD Terraforming Base-001 Text Communications Network

Chapter 23 | Prev chapter | Next chapter Chapter Index

Zo: Alva, I have questions about your empire's agriculture.

DIVINER: Well, I'm not an agriculturalist or a biologist, but I'll answer what questions I can!

Zo: Do you have land-gods? Machines that tend your fields?

DIVINER: No, we had to learn to do everything ourselves! Much of it was discovered in the labs belonging to Eileen Sasaki, which is why she's one of our most revered Ancestors. The Empire wouldn't exist if we couldn't expand our fields!

Zo: I suppose our reliance on our land-gods has limited our expansion.

DIVINER: Um, this might be an awkward question...

Zo: That's fine.

DIVINER: And by awkward, I mean insulting.

BoyNextDoor: Apologizing before the insult. Erend, you can learn a thing or two here.

HIMBO: IT'S NOT MY FAULT YOU'RE ALL TOO SENSITIVE!

Zo: Yes it is.

HIMBO: OH REALLY? GRANOLA GIRL?

Zo: …

Zo: So what was your question, Alva?

DIVINER: Do you um, know how to farm?? Without your land-gods, I mean!

DIVINER: Sorry!!

Zo: Oh, that. Yes, we do. Not all our villages are directly in the paths of the land-gods. We haven't expanded much, but we have some.

HIMBO: SHARING A BORDER WITH THE TENAKTH PROBABLY HELPED KEEP YOU GUYS FROM PUSHING OUT.

MARSHAL Kotallo: The Tenakth have always had fine relations with the Utaru.

HIMBO: YEAH, AND I'M GUESSING THAT ANY TIME ANYONE SUGGESTED EXPANDING, SOMEONE BROUGHT THAT UP.

Zo: One of the biggest problems my people have is that we are passive. The land-gods provide more than enough for what we need. Even in our outer villages, we rarely actually need to farm. It is always easier to just sit by and let nature take its course.

FlameHairSavior: In my experience, the people in power generally want things to stay the same.

Zo: True, the Chorus is the worst, but this is a problem common among the Utaru. As much as I wish otherwise, the Chorus are not forcing their own passivity on anyone. This is simply the way we are.

BoyNextDoor: Except for a few brave members of the tribe who will charge into a Cauldron with a couple of strangers.

Zo: You say the sweetest things.

HIMBO: EW, THEY'RE KISSING.

BoyNextDoor: How old are you, twelve?

β: flirt on your own time its science now

DIVINER: Right! Zo, did you have a reason you were asking about the Empire??

Zo: I found a story of the Old Ones about an empire making a colony. It just got me wondering if your people had the expertise to do something like that.

β: what story was it

Zo: Terra Nova.

β: i dont know that one

DIVINER: I don't either! But I'm guessing it's sci-fi?

Zo: What's sci-fi?

DIVINER: ...oh, wow, I just realized how much cultural context you're all missing.

FlameHairSavior: We are not having a movie night. At least not until I can go two consecutive days without having to put out literal fires.

DIVINER: I'm sorry to say, I don't think this is something that can be solved with a movie night!!

β: sure it can there are documentaries on film making or whatever

DIVINER: Oh, documentaries!! Those would be so useful!

DIVINER: I don't have any on my Focus, though!

β: nether do i

β: neither

HIMBO: WHAT'S A DOCUMENTARY?

DIVINER: It's a movie for teaching you about something!

HIMBO: SOUNDS HORRIFYING.

FlameHairSavior: I've changed my mind; we can watch one.

HIMBO: HEY!

FlameHairSavior: Though I do seriously need to find a day without an emergency.

FlameHairSavior: I found a Tenakth town in the desert that is flooded, and still doesn't have any drinking water.

BoyNextDoor: What were you doing back in the dessert?

FlameHairSavior: Okay, this was a while ago. Back when I was traveling to Vegas.

MARSHAL Kotallo: Many of our villages are suffering from such problems.

HIMBO: I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THAT SORT OF SLAG. DON'T YOU GET MOST OF YOUR FOOD FROM THE UTARU?

MARSHAL Kotallo: We still live off the land where possible, one way or the other. We don't just steal everything from our neighbors. We are not savages.

β: also raiding is not a sustainable long term economic practice

β: pirate nations never last long and aloy said all the bandits are always starving

FlameHairSavior: Yeah. That was back in the Sundom and the Sacred Lands, though. The rebels seem to have things a little more thought-out.

MARSHAL Kotallo: They are attempting to wrest control of Tenakth society. There is more to them than mindless raiding for supplies.

DIVINER: So! I've looked over the archive, and there aren't really any documentaries??

DIVINER: Well, there's one on the history of sourdough bread, but that's probably not going to be interesting to anyone??

MARSHAL Kotallo: What in the name of the Ten is sourdough bread? That sounds like something that has been fouled and is unsuitable for consumption.

DIVINER: I don't know! I haven't watched it!

β: aloy we have a new mission for you

FlameHairSavior: I don't know what sourdough bread is either, and I'm not finding any.

β: no not that you need to find the documentary on film making

FlameHairSavior: And where would I find that?

β: youre supposed to be the anointed chosen baby or whatever thats your job

FlameHairSavior: If there's an undamaged library or something out there, no one has told me about it.

DIVINER: There's one in the Quen lands! Well, not UNDAMAGED, but much less damaged! It's where we obtained much of the Legacy we still have today!

β: see there you go

FlameHairSavior: I'm not going to the Quen lands.

HIMBO: AND HERE I EXPECTED YOU TO SWIM ACROSS THE OCEAN.

FlameHairSavior: No, but I can come back to the base to smack you.

HIMBO: OW!

DIVINER: ...did Aloy somehow get all the way back to the base in seconds to smack Erend??

DIVINER: Oh, never mind, I see.

FlameHairSavior: What?

HIMBO: VARL SMACKED ME!

Zo: How WOULD you go about finding specific data, Aloy? Surely this has happened to you before.

FlameHairSavior: Usually, if it's important, I at least have a lead. I knew Faro was at the center of everything, so I went to Faro HQ. Then I found out about other bunkers and labs. That sort of thing.

DIVINER: All right! Then that just means you have to go to Hollywood!

FlameHairSavior: [Sigh.gif]

FlameHairSavior: Fine. Where is it?

ADMIN [GAIA]: The location of the former Hollywood Boulevard is approximately three hundred and thirty-six miles south-west of this facility. Assuming constant use of striders, and not accounting for detours or sleeping, it would be wise to budget at least forty hours for the outgoing trip.

FlameHairSavior: …

FlameHairSavior: I'm not riding forty hours straight to get you a movie.

DIVINER: Aw.

β: erend what are your plans for the weekend

HIMBO: HAHAHA NO.

Chapter 23 | Prev chapter | Next chapter Chapter Index

#horizon #horizon zero dawn #horizon forbidden west #HZDBaseChat #aloy #varl #zo #kotallo #alva #erend vanguardsman #beta horizon

[nedsseveredhead]

When you quit you should make a tiktok account sharing your “pro tips from an ex paint shop worker” and share how to do the paint mixing, stain stuff you’re good at, and like tips about pretty colors to request/that go together well. And I think you once posted about people stressing about whites and the light on it FOREVER ago and I learned it only matters in certain contexts (ex. Indoor painting vs exterior of a house) basically teach us all the secrets

Oh we dont gotta wait for my official last day, unfortunately theres no industry secrets when it comes to paint- atleast not on the sales floor level. But I can give some tips and stuff

1) Light colors will pull everything around them. So waiting last minute to pick your offwhite or grey or beige is a really bad idea. You need to bring a few chips home to see how they look in your lighting, because tinted paint is not returnable and you don't want to spend 90+ dollars on something you hate in this economy.

2) there is no True Grey. All greys (and all colors really) have a warm or cool cast. Warm casts are red, orange, and gold (think fire) and cool casts are blue, green, purple (think water). Most people think of cool greys when they think of grey, but thats why its turning blue on you in some lighting.

3) general rule of thumb is artificial light has a blue cast and natural light has an orange cast. So if you buy a cool gray and its turning out too blue, try grabbing a warm grey and see how that turns out.

4) All latex paint is paint and primer in one. All that means is over a previously painted surface, you do two coats (a "primer coat" and a "finish coat".) If you're going over something like drywall its more cost effective just to get primer, cause otherwise you will have to do more than two coats because drywall is unsealed and the paint sinks in. If youre doing something like tile or cabinets- any kind of shiney surface, you need to both lightly sand and use a special bonding primer.

5) Do not use oil paint if you can help it. Its already stopped production in Cali and New York but its slowly leaving the industry and in a year when you need to touch up something youre gonna have to do a lot more than you bargained for when you cant get oil paint anymore. Just get the latex now. Paints come a long way, its fine.

6) flat for ceilings. Yes even in bathrooms. Just make sure the ceiling paint you have is anti microbial. It usually is. And on that note, buy ceiling paint. Not wall paint. Save your wallet, unless youre making some kind of grand ceiling art, no ones looking up there and you dont need anything fancy.

7) when possible, just use extra white. Thats the white straight out of the can. Itll make touch up in the future much easier if its just something you can grab off the shelf.

8) tint mixes different than paint. We can always darken colors but never lighten. Thats because white tint doesnt lighten, its a place holder. Its all additive.

9) almost all the colors on the wall, but especially all greys and beiges and whites, are made of black, maroon, and deep gold. And that formula doesnt mean what youd think it means instinctively.

10) speaking of formulas, stain matches are.... Complicated. Temper your expectations now. If you want a stain match you need to bring in a piece of wood ur matching, a scrap piece ur staining, and we need time. Its all done by eye, and even the most trained at it need time to see how the wood takes the stain. I wish i could give advice on how to make these easier but its very much a you just have to do them a long time and eventually you learn to intuit it. Just be nice to the people doing ur stain match and plan atleast three days for them to do it.

11) when you come in and say you need paint, we are going to ask four things: what color, which kind, what sheen, and what account are we putting it on. Be prepared to answer these questions.

12) when it comes to picking a color, find the whitest surface you can (most Sherman Billiams stores have to have a bright white table by the color wall), and lay your colors on there. It helps find what under tones it has. Trust YOUR eye. Everyones cones n rods n whatever are different. Youre the one who has to live there and see it every day, and the person behind the counter both doesnt care and also can not pick colors for you.

13) Sherman has sales more often than they dont. If they just came off one, wait a week. 40% sales happen, usually, four times a year (this year theres been an ungodly amount tho so like who knows). If youre in a "paint emergency" and theres no sale, there is ALWAYS a ten dollar off fifty coupon online. Most stores have it behind the counter but if the manager is particularly stingy about budget they might not be allowrd to use it so just have it on ur phone.

14) if youve caught the tail end of a sale but you havnt decided a color yet, you can buy paint untinted and bring it in to tint for free later. You can also return untinted paint if you dont use it.

Thats all i can think of atm?? But idk if u have questions feel free to ask Ill answer if i can lmao

#i wish i had trade secrets to spill but paints pretty straight forward

[deathzgf]

( almost ) ALL MY AMREV + FREV WIPS ( 12 october - 5 november 2023 ) ! ! ! ! !

WARNING : long ass post jFDSFLKJSLF ( will all be under the cut )

NOTE : not everything is here ! a lot of my amrev + frev drawings are doodles ive done in class ( which i cant find ) + i Do Not Like a lot of them + Tumblr only allows so many images T___T

ah yes . . . the doodle that started it all . . . my good omens sona in the french revolution ! except i had no idea what i was doing at ALL and had no historical context ! which i now do have and it makes me ENRAGED for how good omens handled that era . . . why are they in the bastille in 1793 . . . ANYWAYS ! YEAH !

aaand because of that doodle , i researched frev fashion ! and guess what ! that robespierre fashion video came up ! wooo robespierre ! and then this was the first fucking thing i drew of him i cant . I WAS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW THE FUCK HE MISSED SO BAD + HOW THE BULLET WOULD LOOK

BECAUSE after that i drew this ! pookie ! ! !

first saint just drawing . i was listening to angel with a shotgun on loop . . . and i thought . . . angel with a guillotine . . . get it cuz hes . hes angel of the terror . and . and . a

i dont have any explanation for this

i hate this . but first robespierre AND saint just drawing wahoo

first frev oc except the hair on that one drawing is red because i went back and changed it cuz i made their name Jules Le Roux and . You know . Red hair . yeah

jules and calixte ! ! ! calixte is @toastytrusty ' s oc and my sweet sweet little baby i love them dearly

. . . saint just doodle i forgor to come back to

JULES AND CALIXTE LORE

miku binder robespierre

saint just painting robespierres nails because :3

WE INTO THE AMREV NOW WOOO . anyways me when ive married and icarus and hes flown too close to the sun lol ( his wings are meant to be burning letters btw . yeah )

jules , calixte , and leonard interaction ! ! ! ! !

which didnt go well

this turned out gayer than intended i genuinely dont know what happened here

i wanted to continue this so bad but i fucking forgot about it but Uhhh uhhhhh uhhh

you know those vamp ! robespierre and vamp hunter ! saint just aus ? yeah

PLEASE STOP SAYING IT LOOKS LIKE A DICK IVE NEVER DRAWN A VIOLIN BEFORE PLEASE LEAVE HIM ALONE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE . anyways he playsss theee violinnn he tucks it right underr hisss chinnnnn

winning the idgaf war . unbothered . living his best life

theres a storytime for this drawing but ill save that for later . john adams ( 2008 ) scene redraw but instead of jefferson grabbing adams elbow its his waist except it looks awful and i need to redo it soo baddd

vamp ! robespierre and saint just ( ? ? ? i guess vamp hunter ! saint just cuz thats usually what goes with vamp ! robespierre but idk man ) . they were meant to be on like some moonlit picnic or some shit but then class ended and i forgor about this

donald trump , alexander hamilton , and thomas jefferson . need i say more ?

the ORIGINAL toxic doomed yaoi ( hamburr )

burr . boobies :3

that one scene from saint just et la forces des choses BUT AGAIN this turned out gayer than intended . why do they keep doing this

hey girl i think theres something wrong with your leg

semi modern band ! gay trio . . . thing . . . ? girl idk . but i gave up

making jules a proper ref ! who cheered !

AAAND THATS IT !

let me know if . you want me to finish any of these because otherwise theyre probably going to rot in my gallery HELP

#frev #amrev #art #artists on tumblr #wip #art wip #frev art #amrev art #oc #oc art #good omens #good omens art #technically #cuz the first one was my good omens sona #robespierre #saint just #hamilton #historical hamilton #musical hamilton #jefferson #historical jefferson #1776 jefferson #1776 adams #hes there #hes not refined but hes there #john adams #like the 2008 show #trump #cant believe im tagging that #burr

[blueskittlesart]

ooo i’m here for another google doc essay thesis on all the zelda trans narratives <33 lol cited sources and everything (if you have time of course, i love reading all of your headcanons on loz)

god. okay this is every mainline game ive played (excluding sequels with the same characters) except skyward sword because i forgot about it at first and now im tired. here

oot/mm

Basically the entirety of oot is a super-intense wartime coming-of-age story, dealing specifically with the trauma of losing one’s childhood to war/being a child in wartime. Any coming-of-age can be easily analyzed through a trans lens imo, but oot lends itself particularly well to this reading.

For the first nine years of his life, link is told that he is a kokiri. He spends all of his childhood trying desperately to fit in with the kokiri, even though he and the kokiri he grows up with can tell that he is out of place somehow. When he leaves the forest and grows up, it clicks into place that he was never kokiri. And it HURTS. He was lied to. But he suddenly finds himself BELONGING for the first time, among hylians. One of the most impactful npcs in the series is, imo, malon, who link bonds with, feels connected to, and who GROWS UP just like him. She is a representation of everything link gains by leaving the forest. The chance to grow up, and the chance to be among people like himself and understand for the first time who he truly is. 

I don’t think i have to explain the subtext i'm getting at here. Replace kokiri with gender-at-birth and you have yourself a trans story. 

There are also, of course, points to be made about link’s lack of bodily autonomy throughout the story and his reclamation of it in mm. Link is, in the eyes of basically every adult in oot, a pawn to be used to win a war. He is something to be molded into the shape THEY need him to be. This is a common conflict in loz--the hero NEEDS to be the hero, and so he is given no room to define himself otherwise. 

Again. Do i have to explain the trans reading of this?? Adults who feel entitled to you for whatever reason refusing to let you define yourself in a way that doesn’t appeal to them, and viewing you as an object to be shaped into THEIR perfect image. Classic trans kid experience. 

Zelda i think is even more obvious because she literally physically transes her gender in the game. For no reason. A female ninja would have been fine. Female ninjas exist in this world. Impa is the obvious example. Zelda became a boy because he wanted to be a boy. This is factual, canonical story. I dont even NEED to go on but i WILL because i can.

The subtextual reading of trans zelda is even more fun imo. This is a kid who grew up functionally powerless. She KNEW ganon was going to destroy hyrule but she could not make adults hear her, and when things went wrong it was her fault. Sheik is, in many ways, a rejection of zelda. She does away with the ancestral name denoting wisdom because she was not wise enough to save her kingdom from ruin. he chooses sheik instead, a name derived from the historic guardians of hylia, and by extension hyrule. he reclaims the power he lost by, again, defining himself where he was never allowed to before. 

Personally i consider oot zel to be nonbinary and use she/he and the names sheik and zelda interchangeably. I really love the idea of a kid who grew up with so little control over anything in her life taking it all back and then deliberately fucking with some established rules anyway, just as a little show of power now that he has it. It’s what she deserves. 

Alttp

A LOT of my reading in this is totally rooted in subtext/analysis rather than actual canon material. If you haven’t read my analysis of alttp in my analysis doc i suggest you do bc some of that context may be needed to explain what i say here, since alttp is an older game so there’s much less actual canon characterization to go off of. 

There is a moment in this game, once you have gone through several dungeons and claimed the master sword and fought the secondary antagonist twice, where link is transported into the dark world. A mirror dimension in which his human form is distorted into a form that “reflects his inner self.” He looks into the mirror and he does not recognize the person looking back at him. 

The form he takes is a rabbit, which is, in my opinion, a reflection of his inner fear and the fact that he doesn’t want to be a hero. This link is a young boy who basically loses the only family he has and is then instantly thrown into the midst of a conflict he doesn’t fully understand. 

There are two points to be drawn from this. The first is the distorted self-image revealed in the dark world, which. The connection to transgenderism should probably be obvious from here. I’d say looking in the mirror and not quite recognizing yourself is a near-universal trans experience. 

The second is that, although this game is much less obvious about it, this link is in a very similar situation to oot link, in that he has been thrown into a conflict he doesn't understand and doesn’t really have any stake in, in order to be used as a pawn to win a war. (worth noting that if we follow the timeline, oot link has to DIE for this game to happen. They never fucking learn ig) so we have a repeat of the same situation in which link’s autonomy is taken from him by adults who want him to be a hero. Ive already explained the trans reading of this. You get the idea

Im skipping zelda in this one because it came out in 1991 so zelda is barely a character. Shes trans because i say so. Next 

Tp

Twilight princess did not do very well on a multitude of things. We all know how i feel. HOWEVER. There is something to be said for the fact that when link approaches people in wolf form they recoil in fear and disgust. And he canonically doesn’t expect this. It disturbs him. He KNOWS these people. He’s still the same person inside. Nothing has changed for him except the way he looks. But now no one will so much as look at him. 

To be quite honest. The wolf form was a bit of a thematic L in my opinion. I don’t think it had much narrative purpose and my best guess is that it was there to give tp a “brand-new fun gameplay” draw. But the fact that everyone is TERRIFIED of you was a good choice imo. I wish it had been followed through on thematically but I digress. There is transgenderism here. When you go back to your hometown and nothing has changed, as far as you’re concerned, but people avoid your eyes now. You haven’t changed, not really. You just look a little different. But the people either hate you or don’t recognize you now, and in some ways you’re glad, but in other ways you feel… alien.  

Zelda also isn’t a real character in this game but it doesn’t get an excuse because it came out in fucking 2006. We knew women were people by then guys come on. Anyways shes also trans because i say so. I dont feel like thinking about twilight princess any longer lol sorry

Ww

Im going to start with zelda/tetra here because i have a lot more to say about her lmao

Tetra is a wild, loud, stubborn, angry pirate. She is the exact opposite of what your average hylian might imagine a goddess-blood princess to be. She’s rude, she’s volatile, she looks out for herself and no one else. This is an image she has curated. But she is also kind. She lets link on her ship when he begs her to help him save his sister. she slips him a good-luck charm before he storms the fortress. She takes aryll home and never asks for payment. She is a pirate, but she does these things that seem so strangely… at odds with herself. I think a lot of her tough exterior is a curated image, for the benefit of her crew, yes, but also herself. If she is stubborn and loud and angry and unlikable then she is less likely to get hurt.  

Tetra learns who she is, and she is suddenly a new person, a different person. She’s zelda. And she’s so CONFUSED. She tries her hand at being a princess. She sits and waits patiently for her hero to come back to her. But in the end, she can’t even do THAT right. Things go wrong again, all because of her.

During the final battle of this game, zelda fights alongside you with the bow of light. I believe this was one of the first games in which she does this. 

This is a nonbinary narrative. Tetra tries so hard to fit into one box or the other, princess or pirate, but can never quite master either. During the final confrontation, though, she finds a happy medium. She is kind, wise zelda, in her regalia with her hair untied, but she is also stubborn, angry tetra drawing her bow to fight alongside link. She will not be defined. 

she/they tetra ftw lol. anyways

Wind waker link honestly has much less textual evidence for me than like. Any other link because imo wind waker is almost completely a clear-cut coming-of-age. It’s very easy to read (almost) any coming-of-age as a trans narrative but much less easy to actually explain that read. 

My stance kind of boils down to this: link has a clear-cut arc of growth in this story from a weak, inexperienced kid into a soldier who is capable of taking on ganon. This arc is kickstarted by him leaving home and no longer being confined by the limited perspectives of the people he grew up around. Unlike other links, this one doesn’t have too much pressure on him to be a hero. In fact, I would consider his growth into a hero to be framed very positively in this game as it gives him the agency he lacked at the beginning. This is an interesting departure from most other games in which link lacks a lot of agency. 

Basically, i think that while most other games can be read as kind of… tragic trans stories, about the struggles of not being allowed to define yourself, etc, wind waker link is the story of a kid who is finally GETTING to define himself. It’s more similar to Majora's mask in that way, in that this kid has already HAD the chapter where he’s confined to other people’s expectations and is now beginning to break out of it and reclaim his own identity. 

Botw

Jesus. God almighty. Okay

Like. not to keep beating a dead horse but this link is the most obviously negatively affected by the expectations and perceptions of those around him. He explicitly goes mute BECAUSE he knows people expect him to be a hero above all else, and it will be easier to conform to that expectation if he keeps quiet. This poor boy is so terrified to be imperfect, to be something that hyrule might not like, that he SHUTS DOWN. he is essentially nothing BUT what hyrule wanted him to be, because he never allowed himself to be anything else. 

I have already explained the trans read of this. Reread ocarina of time’s segment. Holy SHIT. he is so transgender. Also he’s 5’2 and has shoulder-length hair come on

Side note but i think botw is cool because it explores BOTH facets of the usual loz narrative (lack of agency/reclamation of agency) within the same game, while most other games go for one or the other. When link loses his memories he is FORCED to define himself, as he has nothing to go on anymore, which is a reclamation of the agency he had lost pre-calamity. Essentially pre-calamity is the oot segment and post-calamity is the mm segment of the narrative. It’s cool. Anyways

Zelda. GOD.

She is not the daughter her father wanted. She knows this. She tries SO HARD for SO LONG to be the daughter her father wanted. But she can’t. She will never be good enough in his eyes. Eventually she gives up on doing exactly what he wants. She hopes she can win his approval in other ways, with things she is good at. Things she CAN do right. But it’s never enough for him because all he sees is the daughter he wanted. The daughter she should have been. He doesn’t care that she can’t. He only cares that she Is Not. she knows she will never win his approval but she keeps trying anyway. 

Do i really need to explain this. Babygirl you are so trans gender

#if this doesnt auto-compress i am so sorry. this was 5 pages in google docs btw i am insane #zelda analysis #asks #THE FORMATTING. SHIT #i swear this was originally readable guys idk why the formatting is fucked

[arttrampbelle]

Now that we see of liu kang ending and all of the garbage trainwreck of the new mk game

I bet y'all thinking

"Hmmm. Maybe shang tsung's ending in mk11 wasn't actually that bad and maybe he was *gasp* actually right all along about some things?!"

I mean this isn't just me as a shang tsimp.

This is sadly kinda true. I'd rather take my chances with big shangus. Then a pompus(and pooly and backhanded written) fire god liu kang. (Which in itself is sad. Because he never wanted that. Forcing him into a role making him miserable. Completely bastardizing his character. All for what?! Not my liu kang nrs. Not my liu kang.)

Anyways. Back to shang.

Liu kang vs shang is a klassic rivalry. But its as only as good as you actually write them on equal footing. But the have never truly done that. Liu kang has always had plot armor saving him and shang tsung has the unfortunate boxing in of "bad guy i beat up. Twirly mustache" which is horrible because that's not what he actually is. (Worse more when tagawa-sama never wanted that character he played,nor any villain he plays to be that way. Its always some nuance to his characters he portrays. And he said in an interview. He grew up with wimpy asian bad guys. He never wanted to ever see that again. So if he IS gonna be a buy guy. He is gonna be THE BAD GUY. Plus he hated seeing so many stereotypes but he had to trudge thru to be able to help make a better representation and positive impact. Tho nowadays he plays sweethearts,like himself mostly. Great actor,AMAZING man. Really cool. But for them to continue to make shang a "wimp" or to be "beat up by the "good" guys" is awful and a backhanded slap to the character as a whole even outside of the amazing cary hiroyuki tagawas portrayal.)

Again liu kang should be able to barely BARELY win against shang. Even if granted god powers. Shang is a stronk ass mofo. Bad,mean,nasty,in a fight. He wasn't champion formerly for nothing. He wasn't mk tournament master for nothing. He wasn't granted a seat under shao kahns heelboot for nothing. Granted that wasn't much of a choice but survival. But thats for another post. Like shang tsung is a BEAST! Not a heavy hitter. Not a beast in a way thats a tank. But a cunning,ruthless,and calculator. An opportunist fighter. He's cold in a fight. Like gives you chills. The serpentine gaze ready to strike. You gotta be quick...or you'll die. You gonna be careful and level headed otherwise he'll take full advantage of that opening and your soul? Is definitely his.

Look shang dont fucking play. (There is nuance and context depending on the situation but for the most part depends on who he's fighting and what the story is doing but overall he is not to be underestimated at all!)

Shang tsung Wasn't an og big bad for nothing!!!!!

Shao kahn was only a bigger bad and problems later. Then it became.

Better the devil you know then someone worse. Then we start to see.

Well fuck shang tsung actually is the only thing preventing shit from getting worse!

So yeah....you kill him....

Quan chi gets more power. Shao kahn gets free range. Onaga....welp. you're screwed. Dont even get started on shinnok! Oof. All the other bads?! Yeah they are gonna get WORSE AND MORE TOUGH AND BE MORE OF A PROBLEM. and honestly it would make things harder for everyone.

Yeah so think about it.

Take shang out ,you fuck up a whole ecosystem.

He only feeds on souls and of what he needs. Dont prevoke the man he wont steal your soul and go on a killing spree sucking souls for spite.

For the most part shang is best left tf alone. So as long as he has plenty in his soul well. He'll be fine. But the man is paranoid,traumatized due to shao kahn,many other things perhaps from his past. Oof cue my backstory for the death of his mother and his attachment issues and fear of decay,meaningless deaths,etc

But for the most part if you are respectful to shang. He'll be respectful back. Be genuine,be honest,and it will get you far. Dont be easy gotten either. Make it a challenge. Again this man likes a reasonable chase. Likes intelligence(not necessarily book smarts but people smarts,emotional intelligence) he values these things.

I could go on about this characters brain soup. I could add n talk about so much character analysis for shang. Unf 💖

But I'll leave it simple

Nrs fucked up a perfectly good rivalry. A potentially amazing story arch. And two amazing characters.

In short....i bet that shang tsung ending sounds really good about now right?

#mortal kombat #vent #yeah im gonna be salty till the day i die #they did both sooooooo dirty #they did everything and everyone dirty #smfh #shang tsung

[hornsketch]

hey there! ive finally made an art blog! im going to try post more just… stuff, as usually i reserve my art posts for either special occaisions or specifically public-oriented works, and it kinda bums me out to not just have a place to dump my art anymore, so here you go!

(more details and helpful info below!)

who are you?

in hopes of providing some relevant lenses to view my work through, ill give some personal details here. if these lenses dont suit your interpretation of the work, thats alright! view as you please, though i do still think these will always be important context in said viewings.

my name is zelda (she/her) and im a queer jewish 20something who struggles quite a bit with illness both physical and mental.

ive always been kind of enthralled by impressionism and what it really means to use suggestion and spirit as a stronger tool than portrayal and form.

i have a particular draw to fantasy and magical aesthetics, especially the world-building within.

i am a serial overthinker, and tend to see alot of meaning and symbolism in things that plainly do not have them.

while yes i am jewish, my relation to faith is complicated. if you see me type “god” im using it in a turn of phrase with no meaning. if you see me type out “g-d” i am being religious. yes i know thats not how its supposed to work. its meaningful to me.

what will you post?

as previously mentioned, here im trying to make a concerted effort to post a broader variety of things with a wide selection in quality and topic, so unfortunately here the only real uniting theme is going to have to be that i made it. still! to help navigate the space, listed below will be a list of tags i will try to keep to, all of which this post will also be tagged as, since i know tumblr search can be finicky.

#the self and the other

these will be about me, my friends and loved ones, or possibly both

#differing mediums

these pertain to other works or universes, as well as fan content

#harsh tones

this is gonna be the rough stuff. topics will be tagged as needed.

#jaunty doodles

funny business. shenanigans, even.

#lesssfw

listen this blog is for a wide breadth of content, so please if you do not want to, or otherwise should not be seeing mild to moderate nsfw content (i dont rlly plan on posting straight up porn here) block this tag.

do you take commissions?

yeah, usually. im not really at the point where i have to close and open them for availability reasons, so shoot me a dm and ill usually be able to give you a response pretty quick on.

price tends to vary by project, and i always set $20 per hour of canvas time as my baseline, but generally simpler stuff like limited detail icons and emojis run in the $20-$30 range, while fully detailed halfbodies tend to run in the $40-$50 range, and fully done fullbodies range more $70-$80. aside from that, backgrounds are a little too context dependent to put a full price estimate on and extra characters can and will cost extra.

usually whatll happen is after laying out the basic price range we’ll talk, and ill thumbnail until we have smth we can agree on, and once weve got an idea of what were going for ill give an estimate that ill try to stick close to, barring any major changes or complications. from then on ill try to send updates whenever i work, and then when im relatively close to finished ill ask for the payment either through paypal or cashapp, after which ill send on the finished piece and any expected variations. in some cases, this may be changed, and payment may be done half at the start, and half when relatively close to completion.

#the self and the other #differing mediums #harsh tones #jaunty doodles #lesssfw #the amazing moving picture

[mdpikachu]

yes this is the dante theory list for those who liked this post but im also making it my pinned

First; Hi, I'm Md (they/it/she) and welcome to my autism hole. Boops you. HERE is my art blog, HERE is my eldritch sideblog, HERE is my berserkerlot sideblog, and HERE is my photoblog, HERE is my AO3, HERE is my Flight Rising, HERE is my BlueSky. Okay, now back to the actual post.

Md's hot hot list of Dante limbus theories that I've been sitting on since I started playing

ONE OF THESE WILL BE RIGHT. MAYBE. cut for length. discuss in the comments. contains ruina and lobocorp spoilers. maybe even leviathan spoilers. assume spoilers for the newest content. pinning so i can keep adding to it in the future. (edited 4/7) (up to canto 6.3)

Theory 1, from early march 2023- Dante has the option to get their head back, takes it. Human Dante is shown. except clearly hiding unfamiliarity with the sinners. The clock head is still alive. A clock doesnt need a body to live. Human evil dante uses the golden whatever to cause Problems and has the sinners chained to them. vergil is free tho so he can beat down evil dante. (this now works with a canto 5 tidbit where vergil said he'd only step in if "all sinners dead, dante is beaten, and the hands of the clock are about to be torn off".)

T2, 3/12- 9 circles of hell, Dante, and a few subsections. Dante is sinner 10. Charon is also in the divine comedy so she'll get a section. Dante are u lucifer. who is the lucifer of the setting?? i'm saying pre-dante Dante until otherwise noted. (not personally fond of this one)

T3, 3/15- iori saw limbus going a certain way and guaranteed it by making sure Dante got factory reset by force. villain to cause heroism. (dont know enough about Iori for this one)

**T4- Backwards clock relation possible. (possibly canon validated) (even more possible connection as of 6.3)

T5- Saying Dante had a significant other named Beatrice is way too low bar but It's a necessary one. ech

T6- Dante IS Beatrice and given the name of someone else. (too ez)

T7, 3/17- future Dante guaranteeing the future changes by getting past Dante's head removed. issue solved. This one is based on the opening and reading the lyrics real goodly.

T8, 3/20- Dante's head has a lil bit of angelas ai in there. or ayin data. benjamin. any of them. carmen even. fuck whatever. maybe hokma bc ticking in ruina theme. (this one lead to some Better Ideas. see later) (4/7) POSSIBLY SUPPORTED BY 6.2. WHY DID THEY SEE THAT.

T9, 3/23- The three censored letters. B E A, S I N, E G O, A L I, who knows. v e r. could be anything this one is nothing

T10, 3/26- Faust VERY SPECIFICALLY says that brains cant be replaced-- so even if Dante gets their head back, it's incompatible now. (!! this is a Top Theory)

T11, 3/28- Beatrice or someone else died around Christmas, which makes Dante sad even without their memories. The pain exists but the context is missing. (They also seem to know Christmas music without any issue, able to sing along with Charon in their head. This is not addressed in canon.)

T12, 3/30- Beatrice was one of the orphans that died in Leviathan :) the time period matches up. It was around Christmas.

T13, 3/31- HARD LOBOCORP SPOILER. Thinking about In Hell We Live (Lament). "Each loop we live/die thru"? How many times? How many times has Dante done this? Or Pre-Dante, anyway. Faust is probably in on it. The new L corp took one look at what Ayin was doing and went "we can do that too lmao". Losing their memory was a base requirement to prevent madness. I rewrote this theory on 9/19 but added "to prevent a paradox"

T14, 4/18- Less a HC and more a suggestion, just use F Corp's shit to Unlock Dante's memory. If we ever visit District F, you KNOW Faust is gonna keep them on one hell of a tight leash.

T15- Is the Star a Singularity? Did Dante STEAL it? Are THEY the singularity? The clock? This one's too easy too though.

T16, 5/8- WAT IF THE STAR IS LUCIFER. MORNING STAR. CAN MANIPULATE SOULS IN HELL. (weak but proj moon loves their Christian imagery. this will come back repeatedly) not this one

T17, 5/10- Dante is either connected to whitenight OR a jesus figure (12 apostles, sin, not dying when killed, revives people, etc. the christianity again. it will continue. i already drew plague doc dante.) (4/7, possible but carmen is the lucifer adjacent if 6-34 is anything to go by. jesus is still open.)

**T18. 5/16- Dante's clock hands are made from a Golden Bough. ez. LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOO canto 5.2

T19. 6/16- This has 0 canon basis but what if Dante was a Bloodfiend, would that be cool or what? They already don't need to eat, but is that from the clock or something else? Do they get IVs with nutrients? How does this work? Idk. I just want Dante to cut their hand open, make giant claws and rip a man apart before eating dirt. Dante can chew on a Sinner as a treat. c:

T20- Wouldn't it be fucked up if Dante found their head and it had either Distorted or was an Abnormality??

T21, 9/29- Religious Bastard Dieci Dante Aligheri.

T22- Dante has gotten Very Attached to the Sinners as their only form of contact while they've gotten themselves together. They recently realized many Sinners are doing this for the end goals, not to be a team. This seemed to upset them. UPSET THEM MORE. DISTORT THEM. DANTE REALIZES THEY'LL ALL LEAVE WITHOUT A CARE IN THE WORLD. Carmen! Come get this bitch.

T23- Actually, Dante should distort for any reason. I Absolutely Understand the Mechanics (lying). Got too depressed, hit -45 SAN and decided they're just a useless tool instead of a person? Absolutely. You're now a piece of equipment. (when Heath asks if they're okay in canto 5 bc they got injured, dante responds "the clocks fine so who cares?") (I now understand the mechanics but want it anyway) They won't.

T24- Building off the previous, they're really starting to believe they're just a tool like how Gregor thinks he's a bug. That Is Not Good For Your Mental Health (garry ib icon.png)

T25- Putting this here just before my fav one, their skin. We never see it, so a list of potential possibilities excluding Being White bc that's BORING: Any POC, ashy skin (like vergil), dark ashy (charon), pure black or close to (a lot of people do this, me included), dark and covered in stars, very tattooed, very mechanical, just outright a robot, bloodfiend again, ETC. Based on the few images we have that show anything, it's just pitch black under there unless it's a skinsuit. the rest of them may be any of the above but for now most of these are defunct.

T26- My Current Top Theory of All Time- Dante is an AI. They have never been human, just machine. At least one of their creators cared enough to do better than Ayin ever fucking did, fostering curiosity and a desire to live in the little AI. Thing is, after Angela, AI became Very Illegal. There's no way their creators survived. L Corp New got them. Old AI Dante was, at their core, still an unfeeling machine that made decisions based purely on cold logic. New Dante is a person that is learning and growing, refusing to follow the colder path at times.

Is the clock part of them? Unsure. That can work either way.

But they're definitely becoming a person who doesn't want every encounter to end in bloodshed and death. Good for them. (this part is correct)

T27- Dante is not Ruina Dante. they didn't get booked. I think they'd throw hands on sight.

T28- Verg/Dante that's all glory to yaoiville

**T29- Dante navigator skills IM SO FUCKING HAPPY I WIN FOREVER MOM HOLY FUCK

T30- I missed one! Their eyes with a human head. This has a few that rotate. Red eyes, Gold eyes, Gold with the star, heterochromia with only one gold/star and red, pitch black (pre-d), or night sky/star. mix and match. who cares?

T31- I personally like the idea of Dante being a redhead (real red not ginger like ish) but realize it doesn't make much sense. Black hair works too, esp smoky, but they need more color. maybe fire streaks? if POC, maybe dreads?

T32- I am now also accepting heathcliff/dante post canto 5.1 he care so much.... actually just sinner polycule is valid. so is sinner family. both work. the only part I dont like is dante/faust. doesn't feel right. Charon excluded. that is our child.

T33- Forgot an old one where I figured Dante was a hacker that got into a Lot of trouble and being sinner #10 was meant to be a suicide mission.

T34- Dante being an ai part 2, having been planted in a body. maybe even a body they knew.

T35- another i forgot but dante being all scarred up or stitches or frankensteiny and-- [etc]

T36- Memory loss being fully intentional to kill their previous self and only carry over the necessary. A new start.

T37- Yknow how we never SAW Dante being an upper torso and arm in canto 3? Why? What is being hidden that's so important? robot parts? are you a robot? are you a -

T38- Dante being an artist of any kind. musician, poet, painter, etc. even post amnesia. give em a hobby

T39- Somewhere else I discussed forms that'd be fun for a Dante Distortion but i cant find it so ill reiterate: coffin spider, all around helper clock, useless fucking thing. all of which have gold chains suffocating them and it doesnt fight back. give it morphine

T40- this one's insane but dante's og self being the Player. thats why they were "me" and not "dante" we're not them. but we also are.

T41- This ones a joke but og dantes name actually just being "Me". (but not pronounced that way) (alternatively it was a nickname)

T42- Dante being an interviewer or reporter- A big name one. No wonder they keep secrets like K corps singularity. They can release that publicly later... if they choose to.

T43- RECREATE CARMEN. DO IT PUSSY. That 5.5 Blade scene is Damning as all hell. That or the bough + the monolith had an Interaction.

T44- Dante's internal programming knows the City Lore but Dante isn't allowed to know. The fact so much of that scene was censored...

T45- Dante is Bongbong

T46- I haven't beaten Ruina so I don't know a lot about Constructs or Librarians but like. Maybe they were one of those.

T47- Dante is going to eventually explode (figuratively). Even they can only take so much abuse and bullshit. Self-esteem can only go so low.

T48- Dante being a disaster chimera of stuff. AI made of someone else's brain, in someone else's body, with other stuff installed, etc, etc, etc.

T49- The Star reminds me too much of Blue Star, talking about Sin and such. Maybe it's an abno relating to that. who knows.

T50- Dante is an ID and there's a mirror in their head keeping them active. I hope they do a Charon/Lapis and totally overwrite the og bc the og's an asshole.

T51- Dante's the first successful "new human"

T52- Dante IS fucked up but something in their head hides the fuckedupness from everyone else.

#mddttxt #limbus company #project moon #dante lcb #pinn'd post

[monstrousproductions]

hey, I wanna write a thing about fairly chill ghosts (specifically the ghost of a flapper), I think it would be cute as a podcast mini series, any tips?

ooh what an exciting idea! I think my main tips are that you dont need to fret tootoo much about getting expensive equipment right out the gate, the main thing is tothink about the space you're recording in.

And when you're writing, try to think carefully about how what you write translates into sound. Try writing the sound rather than the action, to train yourself into thinking that way.

Also consider whether that sound will actually be comprehensible without visual context!

This is a weird example but in MA when Mab gives the Presenter a painkiller for their headache, she takes them out of a bottle of pills even though blister packs are more common in the UK, because the sound of a pill being popped out of a blister pack doesnt "read" as obviously as a bottle! I'm sure other podcasters who have more SFX in their stuff can make better examples lol

Otherwise, my best tip is that the podcasting world is absolutely ridiculously keen on helping people! There are tons of resources out there that can give you advice on everything from writing and production to social media, and if you ask nicely (like you did here!) then generally speaking people will be happy to help.

Anyone else got other tips they want to add?

#monstrous askbox

[vyl3tpwny]

I've been wanting to learn how to play piano but I have absolutely no idea where to start. Do you have any tips for this?

i never had lessons and have no idea how to actually play piano properly no matter how good it MIGHT seem i am at it. i just play by ear so i dont rlly know whats happening LOL.

best advice i can give is learn how to play fifth chords. pick any note on a keyboard and then whatever note is 7 semitones (keys, including the black ones) up from it, add that. play both notes at the same time and that's a fifth chord. then experiment with adding a note in the middle of those two notes. play around and see how each combination feels. once you've gotten that down, move the notes up and down octaves. say you have a fifth minor chord, ADD the lowest note of that (root note) and move it to the lower octave (12 semitones down). that adds a lot of extra fullness to it because you're enforcing the chord with a bass note essentially.

once you have a good idea on how to play chords using this method, you can start to experiment with putting chords together in sequence, i.e; a progression. there really aren't any rules for any of this, but there are lots of progressions and chord pairings that obviously work for different contexts. just play around by choosing one chord and then finding a chord that should come next. play them in sequence and see how it makes you feel. then choose another one to add on. and so forth.

once you have some experience making progressions, you can start to get more noodly and fiddly with your progressions. that chord you're playing, instead of playing it as one sustained thing, dance your fingers around and see about making those chords move around within their legal notes. add that to whenever you play out a progression.

this is pretty much how i learned how to play piano i taught myself by ear and have no formal training and i dont even know that much traditional 'music theory' aside from some otherwise necessary terminology. i even decided to just pretend i knew how to play jazz piano at one point by playing big complex chords even if they sounded wrong or dissonant. eventually, i developed a muscle memory for things that sounded good and can somehow play some reasonable jazz piano now i guess. trial and error, fake it till you make it really.

heres a video i put up on twitter a few days ago of my own piano playing. again, no formal training, entirely self taught. my advice is probably super ill informed and a very incorrect method to learning piano but it worked for me i think. even if it isn't everything you personally need to learn, maybe it's a cool jumping off point idk. thanks for asking!

[discluded]

On MA and fanservice. Seems like discussion in anglophone spaces misses cultural expectations - many things MA do and say are expected of them as being a cp (even for het cp). Many actors in the thai BL world are very obviously queer - they dont hide, they just dont come out. Unpopular opinion, I honestly do think these couples (when both are queer) are getting together at the same rates as the het cps. Its human nature to like a person who is compatible with you and shares your interests.

[context]

FOR THE RECORD, I think most of his research happened in 2021 or early 2022 so like, MileApo would not be a blip on his radar during the time he would be talking to industry insiders. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Also hilariously just, take his big-headed declarations with a grain of salt. Appreciate it for what it is, but he got into a feud with one of my RL friends about Johnny's fandom a couple of months ago so 🤣 he's very self-important about how he has ~insider access too

Friend, I don't feel comfortable legislating morality. When it's a matter of fandom history / context with multiple perspectives discussed, sure, but in many instances, I don't know you might extrapolate approval or disapproval.

Also, this is not chastisement so don't take it as such, but I want to encourage everyone to be more confident in their own opinions.

If you don't feel it's wrong, like the tone of your message implies, then you don't need my or anyone's approval. And if not seeking validation of your opinions is hard for you sometimes, then practice!

I feel strongly about mentioning this since your message came in the context of me mentioning HP fandom history and toxic fandom participants, and I have no qualms highlighting who some of these people are and what they did when they took advantage of others with their more assertive personalities.

One such individual is thanfict!on (lol don't want them to find me) but this person not only caused drama in HP and other fandoms but also led a cult that eventually led to the deaths of some cult members. (See the fanlore article I linked about them.)

In regards to practicing cult/groupthink protective behaviors, it also help buffer against political propaganda.

But to answer your question: 1) it's not criminal in any way nor is it hurting anyone to believe such a thing and 2) as long as you are aware that an opinion about the people's relationships [general] is irrelevant to how those relationships actually are and don't get angry when there's evidence pointing to otherwise, then it's fine. A . absolutely asinine example of this was I once saw a person said their "opinion" was that Mile was closer to Build than to Apo... *makes Oprah "see" gesture*. Or the toxic solos who keep insisting that Mile and Apo barely tolerate each other, though their narrative is always a mess.

In many cases, we don't know the specifics of people's relationships with each other, and as long as you understand your own opinion has no effect on that actual relationship, there's no problem if you think one way or another. 🤷🏻‍♀️

For the record, I think my opinion is perfectly clear :) I trust y'all ability in reading comprehension. I just don't believe in telling people how to think or guiding them to a conclusion. I have faith in your abilities to do what's right for yourself.

The lovely thing about having differing opinions but civil conversation is that we can still respect each other and disagree! No harm, no foul. Some things set me off more than others, and we all come from contexts in which certain things are more sensitive than others.

[thewertsearch]

You are always up to your nook in the newest and hottest games. It is hard to walk around the place without squishing them. Whenever that happens you are screwed, and you have to grow a new one from scratch. Or just pirate it you guess.

See, here’s the thing. I know the idea of ‘pirating’ a grub is probably just a throwaway line, but the implications here are killing me.

Like, ok, a game is stored on a grub, which is an ambiguously living thing. These creatures serve as biological storage, which you have to grow yourself. Presumably this at least saves on cost, since you can cultivate these grubs in your own home.

But apparently if you pirate a grub, you don’t have to grow it. How the hell does that work? Is he physically ordering these illegal, black-market game grubs to his house, or is he loading a pirated copy of the game onto an already existing grub? Why does he need to pirate the game again, then, can’t he just load it from a backup? Why grubs, Alternia?

Ahem.

GC: OBVIOUSLY YOU WERE GOING TO SET UP RED AND BLUE TEAMS COME ON TA: you dont know what im going two do, stop being as though you can read my mind. TA: its not a power you have, your strengths are being blind and tricking people about stuff.

Terezi essentially does read minds, but it’s not a power - she does it the hard way, with actual logic and intuition.

That, or she’s got some Seer of Mind magic working to her advantage - but I like the former explanation better. I love superpowers, but you have to give your characters actual skills, too, or they’re just a vessel for your worldbuilding.

GC: HOW EXACTLY ARE WE SAVING THE WORLD? TA: i dont know yet. TA: i just know what ive seen in my visions. TA: that the world will end and our whole race dies and this is how we save it.

So, which untrustworthy well of knowledge is our latest oracle drawing from?

The Horrorterrors generally dispense whispers, but there’s no reason they couldn’t also show him images. We don’t know what they’re capable of.

As I mentioned before, Sollux could be awake on Prospit. This is just the kind of ‘technically true but misleading’ stunt that those clouds would pull. 

He could be getting information from the ‘imminently deceased’ - aka, one or more of the millions of Alternians who are about to die by meteors. He could even be tapping the other Players for information, because, as he points out in a second, they’re all going to die, too.  

Whatever’s leading him, I don’t think he’s being quite as badly misled as I thought. Sollux is fully aware that the world is ending today, but he seems to be under the impression that Sburb can prevent or mitigate this somehow. 

In principle, he’s correct, in that it can save twelve of them, but it can’t save their entire race. Like - technically, yes, they could probably Paradox Clone the troll race back from the brink with Veil tech, but I really don’t think that’s sustainable. They don’t have a planet any more, for starters. 

No, Sollux is obviously missing a ton of context here. If he knew what was actually happening, he wouldn’t be facilitating it. 

TA: i am going two die. TA: i mean we all are. TA: but especially me. TA: i am going two get my ass served two me twofold.

I mean, he’s not wrong.

All the trolls are going to die, but all of them - save one - will survive, as well. It sounds like only Sollux will die for real.

He was alright when he was helping Terezi and GA out, so he was either resurrected, or his second death isn’t until much later. 

TA: but before i die, im going two go blind like you. TA: it has two happen like that. TA: im not sure why, but i think its like... TA: fulfilling some requirement for a true prophet of doom.

If Sollux isn’t a Space Player, by the way, I think he’s a Doom Player. The guy’s all about doom, which seems to hang over him like a dark cloud.

Prophet doesn’t match the single-syllable pattern of all the Classes we’ve seen, and the otherwise obvious Seer is already taken by the Mind Player. Like I said, it’s be a little too messy if Titles could double up like that, so I think he’s something else. 

TA: in order for the visions two be right, that has two happen, and the universe will make sure it will.

Poor Sollux. Knowing about the predestination doesn't make things much easier, does it? It doesn’t stop you looking over your shoulder, it just means you know exactly what you’re looking for. 

#2081 #homestuck liveblog #full liveblog #act 5 #s5

[deafeninggardenerpanda]

Sorry if this is more of a redundant question or related to one that you already did, but what is your opinion on people claiming that ships with little evidence or up to interpretation are "canon"?

I believe you mentioned this somewhat with FranFlam, but what about with other ships that you like where this seems to be common with like Metadede? Or is it the case of "it's fine as long as they aren't attacking people who think otherwise"?

under the cut! nah totally valid q anon i love talking about stuff like this:

tbh i think kirby is just a series that should not have romance in it at all. innocent things like ribbon and kirby in 64 is like fine because i personally dont take kid relationships too seriously but like anything else i just dont think its the place for it. for metadede in particular, ofc i love shipping and i like to scream with other shippers and pick out things and see it in a shippy context but i absolutely dont think metadede is canon, will ever be canon, or even particularly Should be canon actually. im just gonna stick to metadede and franflam like your examples for this because you dont really see people trying to claim any particular (fanon) m/f ship as canon in this fandom but hey even tho i think a lot of us can agree nintendo makes some great games, nintendo is also a big soulless corporation that does not care about us. if youre someone desperate to find a cake in the crumbs on the floor in terms of canon main/major character queer rep, anything nintendo is absolutely not the place for that

to answer your question, that sums up how i feel about other people who try to make canon ship claims too. i try to think the best of people because the lines get really blurred when a lot of people just like making jokes about ships being canon vs Actually genuinely thinking that, but for anyone who legitimately does try to push their ship as canon its just kinda like Mmmm. that gets a thumbs down from me... its not like problematic in of itself (unless you try to claim that people who dont like the ship are homophobic by default or something. youre getting thrown in the grain silo and you probably need to go outside) so like technically i guess i dont care, but i sure do think its obnoxious as hell and also absolutely REEKS of "FRIENDS dont DO that!! people who arent dating dont DO that!!!!! so they must be dating!!!!" and then the thing in question is the two characters like holding hands sometimes. of course theres something to be said about Writer intent but cmon this is a series where people kiss each other on the lips platonically all the time i cannot take canon ship claims seriously. why is so much of peoples worth in a ship staked in whether its "canon" anyways? it just comes off as wanting a reason to lord over others why a certain ship is better than everyone elses. unless two characters make out in a cutscene complete with blushing afterwards prefaced by a lot of romantic tension through the entire game previously its not canon. thats my hot take lol. we have a rare series where canon romance isnt in your face and shoved down your throat every moment and yet some bad folks in the fandom will try to do that for you still. unbelievable

#asks #anonymous #ask to tag