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einsatzzz · 1 year

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The OC Questions!! I must asssk!

For Kurumi:

📣 MEGAPHONE - how loud are they? what do they speak like? got a voice claim?

☄️ COMET - what do people assume about them? are they right?

🔥 FIRE - do they have any self destructive tendencies? what habits do they have that hinder them from becoming their best self?

For Kana:

📖 OPEN BOOK - do they like reading? what's their favourite genre?

🌠 SHOOTING STAR - if they could make any wish with no repercussions, what wish would they make?

💔 BROKEN HEART - what could their partner do that would absolutely break their heart?

For Yui 💜:

📣 MEGAPHONE - how loud are they? what do they speak like? got a voice claim?

🌠 SHOOTING STAR - if they could make any wish with no repercussions, what wish would they make?

☄️ COMET - what do people assume about them? are they right?

💌 LOVE LETTER - do they like love letters? what kind of messages do they leave for their partner?

Thank you for sending these questions Muffin! 🥰 I tried doing some extra doodles too hahaha

Kurumi

📣 MEGAPHONE - how loud are they? what do they speak like? got a voice claim?

She has an upbeat voice but not too loud, which is around moderate volume so she can be heard clearly. But she can make her voice very loud if she wants to, especially when excited. She usually speaks in a casual tone and often uses nicknames for friends like "Goku", Take-chan", "Nii-chan" (Ryohei), "Hiyorin" etc. She uses Boku (ボク) to refer to herself.

Her voice claim is Hinata Satou! I linked a sample too (the VA voiced Mizuki here):

Link

We got most of our voice claims from ProSeka ngl hahaha but this one fits kurumi so well

☄️ COMET - what do people assume about them? are they right?

Most people assume she's a girl, they're both right and wrong. She doesn't mind, since it doesn't matter that much. The only thing that matters is that she wears cute clothing/fashion without worries. A very important warning is to not refer to her as a cross-dresser when she switches around cute masculine & feminine clothing because Kana and Yui will murder the person who ever says that.

I will make her wear all the cute clothing, it's what she deserves.

🔥 FIRE - do they have any self destructive tendencies? what habits do they have that hinder them from becoming their best self?

I guess being selfless enough to be willing to sacrifice yourself can be considered as a self-destructive tendency. She's also very forgiving. If someone were to stab her maliciously, she'll still forgive them in the end somehow.

A habit that hinders her from becoming her best self is her hard-headed refusal to change. For example, she's really good at hand-to-hand combat but didn't really have much preference for using her weapon. So during training periods when she was younger, she only trained on hand-to-hand combat and didn't really focus much on handling her weapon. It proved to be very disadvantageous down the line because she'd have less options in battle and she can't use the weapon to it's full potential.

Kana

📖 OPEN BOOK - do they like reading? what's their favourite genre?

To a certain extent you can say she likes reading. She mainly does it to either pass the time quietly in an idle way (she doesn't like loud noises) or if she wants to do studies/research on certain things (mostly family-related matters).

If there was a genre that she frequents, it would be autobiographies or semi-autobiographies. A notable example would be "No Longer Human" by Osamu Dazai. Between fiction and non-fiction works, she reads non-fiction works more. She does read *all* the romance-centered shoujo manga Kurumi recommends but parts of it leaves her a bit confused and a few headaches.

🌠 SHOOTING STAR - if they could make any wish with no repercussions, what wish would they make?

With absolutely no negative repercussions at all? A wish to fade away in peace (oblivion) and a bright future for her family. She would prefer to die now while she's still at her most "peaceful" point in her life, since she knows it's temporary. Similar to Reborn&co (but not exactly the same), she is a bit of a "cursed child" herself.

BUT only if there's no repercussions though, she knows it would leave her family in shambles if she actually just disappears out of nowhere.

Other extreme scenarios: where her partner gets killed or dies (before she does); or on the flip side, if the partner somehow fatally harms/kills other people that are also most important to her.

Sometimes, I wonder if Reborn can actually read people's minds. Most likely, he's just extremely good at reading people in general.

💔 BROKEN HEART - what could their partner do that would absolutely break their heart?

This question is so angsty, definitely her genre haha but can u really break something that's already long broke---

Betrayal of trust and abandonment - since she already prefers spending time alone, away from people in general and her full trust is only something that she gives out so very very rarely. For someone to become her partner (a significant other or a bestfriend), a huge amount of trust, respect and attachment must be involved. If all of that were to just be thrown away, it would be too cruel and brutal, akin to continuously kicking someone's already dead body. (kana love interest, pls don't actually break her heart 😢 we alr broke it plenty enough)

Yui

📣 MEGAPHONE - how loud are they? what do they speak like? got a voice claim?

He has a laidback voice with a playful tone to it often. It's not that loud, but he can be loud when he is in the mood to annoy people. Depending on the person, he either refers to other people casually, reuse the nicknames Kurumi uses on them or come up with a a really bad one. He uses Boku (ボク) to refer to himself, but sometimes also uses Ore (俺).

His voice claim is Daisuke Hirose! This sample should be closer to what we're going for? It sounds silly enough, which suits him.

Link

🌠 SHOOTING STAR - if they could make any wish with no repercussions, what wish would they make?

All the time in the world to create masterpieces of inventions after another. Creating and fiddling with machines has been a long-time passion of his after all. He would especially love to be able to finish some of his long-term projects (there are even ones that he started when he was just a small kid).

Initially, many people think he's a slacker or a bad student, since he often skips class (he attends just enough to not have problems with moving up grades), but he actually has excellent grades whenever he takes quizzes and exams, which shuts any angry teachers off. There are also others that think that he isn't being a proper "right-hand man", but he surprisingly takes it seriously in his own way. He genuinely cares for the twins, plus a lot of things were sacrificed to get this position too, after all.

FYI Room arrangement is: Master's Bedroom (Ninomiya Parents), Kurumi, Kana, Yui

☄️ COMET - what do people assume about them? are they right?

💌 LOVE LETTER - do they like love letters? what kind of messages do they leave for their partner?

He receives love letters often and is very open to receiving them as well, so you could say he likes it. If he ever does get to have his ideal partner, I can imagine him leaving mixed stupid and affectionate messages to them to get a reaction, though it would only be an occasional thing.

#ask #ninomiya kurumi #ninomiya kanako #yorimitsu yui #oniyanagi #muffin #ty for sending these questions!#onto the next one!#omg wait now that i think abt it #kana's previous oc/canon ship technically did break her heart to some extent *scratches head*#to a lesser extent perhaps kurumi's too?#well we call them kanarumi's exes now #*cough*can someone*cough*in khr*cough*please*cough*step up*cough*for these two*cough*#also feeling wishy-washy with kana's voice claim again might suggest some adjustments so good thing it didn't get asked yet whew #feeling funny might go back & post yknrm in their previous oc/canon shenanigans lmfaooo #khr oc #einart

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hershelwidget · 11 months

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also quick tumblr i n. i need assistance with a goofy

I’m trying to draw some promo art for the Hatred Duo in a similar manner to the ones I did for Electric Love, Late, etc. and the only issue is I have no idea what kind of scene I want for them!!

on ONE hand I could demonstrate the, yk, “hatred” part of their title, something like this*:

on the OTHER hand I could pick the opposite and show them getting along, something like this*:

*expressions and actions are subject to change

So !! Which one do we like better ? Or do you have any other suggestions ?

#dhmis #dhmis tony #dhmis lamp #dhmis shapeshifters guns and guilt #it is noted that they are supposed to be the same height the first image was my symbolic than anything.#bc tony in this au (perhaps even in canon lmao) perceives lamp as someone lower than him and despite both of them being very important #lamp is kind of like a ''lesser'' being almost because of his attitude to the whole situation and his fellow teachers (treats everyone as +#+ equals) which don't match up to the patriarchal method that tony uses (and sketchbook to an extent with the matriarch but tony is def #more aggressive in his ways)#...did i jsut. explain all that. did i just do that #CUGHGH COUHG ANYWAYS PLEASE DHMIS TUMBLR HAND ME YOUR WISDOM. COUGH #art help

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catkin-morgs-kookaburralover · 2 years

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me a few weeks ago: oh yeah oh wait this one old oc was autistic!!

*all the literally dozens of autistic ocs rise up to glare at me*

#i am discovering and remembering ocs that I had forgotten #obvs they ARE all different from each other and have distinctive different traits BUT a lot of my ocs from my childhood do actually have #autistic traits pretty strongly and given that a lot of them were self-inserts to a greater or lesser extent at the ages i was creating the #uhhhhh idk that tells me smth perhaps #writing #anyway #i shall continue to ignore this realisation

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plesiosaurys · 2 years

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i feel like some of yall have heard "bad people use the bible and christianity as a tool to oppress others, often twisting or straight up changing parts of them to better suit their violent purposes" and then just taken "christianity is evil" as the core sentiment. like you know what stuff jesus actually taught? you know how that is directly opposite of what these "christians" we hate are doing? shitty people can use *anything* to achieve their goal of being shitty. this is just a tool that is popular amongst the shitty people community right now.

claiming that the problem is with christianity itself will only 1. blindside you to how other things could potentially be used in a similar way, insert you are not immune to propoganda garfield here, 2. erase the nuance of the issue, which will prevent any real progress from being made on it, 3. give shitty christians more "evidence" to victimize themselves, and 4. alienate the cool christian people who want the shitty people out of their community, which is sad and also makes them more vulnerable to falling for the shitty christian propoganda from #3.

the goal here should always be "helping people" not "sort everything into categories of Good and Evil, then kill all the Evil."

not to mention, the latter is exactly the mindset of the shitty christians !!!

#this stuff applies (perhaps to a lesser extent but maybe it only seems that way to me because i live in a place where christianity is the #most common religion so people just equate all religion = christianty?) to all organized religion but i am just talking about #christianity specifically because that is what i actually have personal experience with but if u have thoughts on this and u werent raised #christian feel free to comment i am genuinely interested in ur perspective #also before you Ex Christian Atheists tm come whining in my notes i am also an ex christian atheist lol #sorry your former church sucked but that was because the people in the church sucked! my former church had swag people in it so therefore #it was swag! your experiences are not universal! my great great grandpa james did not get his country genocided by the english for the #crime of being catholic for you to tell me christianity is the direct cause of all suffering in this world #ur experiences r not universal bestie #rant over. yes this is because of the one reblog on the last post it was the straw that broke the andys back ok #andy original

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gayrui · 11 months

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Whats some good idol media? I want to work on my idol ocs but also want to have references for outfits and stuff

#like I know love live and to a lesser extent project sekai (cause mmj) but that’s about it #send me ur fav love live cards perhaps? :>

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galedekarios · 7 months

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seeing a post that basically confirmed the obvious disparity in content made me think more about a scene i would have liked to see with gale and that i've been thinking about for a while now.

i always felt a bit sad that his condition is so often treated as a joke by the fandom and to a lesser extent by the game itself. i always thought that this is partially down to the fact that we don't truly get so see gale actively be in pain due to his condition, other than brief glimpses and hints:

we do hear the urgency in his voice when he explains when and why he needs an artefact and the relief in his voice when the protag chooses to help him.

we see it, too, when he is afflicted by the arcane hunger condition:

we get glimpses of it when he consumes an artefact:

he mentions it, too, in his dialogues, but it's very much downplayed by gale or phrased in such a way that is meant to overplay it with humour, or perhaps even to distance himself from it by using metaphors:

that is until we actually get to see it through his eyes, if only for the briefest of moments:

*Its teeth, its claws, it's unstoppable as it digs through and becomes part of you. And gods, it is ever-hungry...*

gale also has an idle animation where he--quite often--reaches up to touch the orb, perhaps because it flares with pain, like an old wound is wont to do:

(gif by @bladeofavernus)

from the last conversation we have with gale, and after catching all of these little moments of things he says or does with how the orb affects him, we learn that consuming the magic from artefacts no longer has any effect at all. the only solution that tara and he were able to find no longer works:

it would scare him and imbalance him, and it would finally destabilise the orb, make it more volatile.

but what happens in the game after that? the orb becoming volatile enough for the artefacts to no longer have an effect has no consequences at all: you are able to do the tiefling party, all quests in the underdark, the entirety of the grymforge, and, should you choose to do so, the entirety of the mountain pass and rosymorn monastery without an incident at all or any mention of the condition itself/any discomfort or fear it might cause.

there's no urgency here, no follow-up, to what the narrative set up... and then we meet deus ex elminster and the orb is stabilised, and the urgency that came before literally is handwaved out of existence.

what i would have liked instead to happen--or at least to bridge the gap between the artefacts no longer working and elminster stabilising it to be used on mystra's behalf--is the following:

i think it would have been nice to have a scene with gale where we do get to see--on a much smaller scale--him losing control over the orb, have the protag and the companions see what he is trying desperately to keep contained within himself, what gnaws at him, what continues to haunt him.

it could happen perhaps after a particular gruelling and intense fight--and there are enough of that in the underdark and at the mountain pass. it could have been a ! conversation, providing both friendship and romance content.

have the orb act up after expending so much energy to manipulate the weave to the fullest of his abilities, have gale manage to reign it in, but barely, show that it takes a lot of power and effort for him to do so.

that it hurts, with none of gale's metaphors to hide behind or jokes to play it off.

have the audience truly see the gravity of what he is going through.

#gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #bg3 spoilers #i think it also would have made the scene with elminster and mystra's demands even more impactful than it already was #also i am a sucker for parallels but gale falling to his knees again and tav pulling him up again as on on-going motive makes me Feral #anyhow excuse the long meandering here #many thoughts #but my brain is literally soup rn #ch: gale dekarios #vg: baldur's gate 3 #series: baldur's gate #meta: mybg3 #long post for ts

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prismatic-bell · 5 days

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I’ve been thinking about something at my job—not difficult, honestly, my job leaves lots of thinking time—and I have something I want to share with the folks who object to the label “culturally Christian.” I hope it may help you make more sense of the label and, perhaps, not be so angry about it, if you’ll indulge me for just two minutes.

I was born as a white gentile. While I later found out this wasn’t entirely true—I have Jewish ancestry and there is a small-but-non-zero chance I’m partly Black through my great-grandmother, which is a story too long to get into here—I am, for all visual intents and purposes, white, and count myself as such.

And the first time I heard myself included in the phrase “white supremacy,” I WAS SO FUCKING UNCOMFORTABLE. Couldn’t we call it anything else? Why are you including me in this? I didn’t ask to be born white. I don’t run around in a pointy hood burning crosses. I’m not even racist. Black people can do anything white people can do! I am NOT a white supremacist!

….except. I kinda am. And it is not a choice I made, it is a choice that was made for me 400 and 160 and 120 and 80 and 50 and 35 years ago. Slavery and deliberately-botched emancipation and “separate but equal” and killing of Black leaders and the simple fact both my parents were white. Textbooks that hold up Eli Whitney as a hero and promote the lie of The Great Empty Wilderness and never ask us to wrestle with what it means when the majority of a population is counted as only three-fifths of a human being. Redlining and even the fucking freeway system—I didn’t design any of this, but I live in the world where it exists.

G-d willing, I will not be a white supremacist until the day I die: G-d willing, the systems we are struggling against will have been replaced with better, kinder, more equitable systems. But I don’t get to opt out by saying “I’m not racist!” Yes, I’ve put in a ton of work to unlearn harmful racist behaviors and attitudes. But as long as a Black woman in my position with my experience makes less money than me, I’m benefiting from white supremacy. As long as I get the job, the car, the loan, the opportunity because someone else had locs and I “looked professional,” I’m benefiting from white supremacy. And yes—as long as people aren’t deliberately stupid about my name because they associate it with white cultures, I’m benefiting from white supremacy. The fact I’m white is morally neutral. What I choose to do with that fact is what matters.

And so: we come back to cultural Christianity.

The law of probability says if you’re on this site, you’re probably from a culture with a Christian hegemony. That’s going to cover the Americas, Europe, and to a lesser extent, portions of central and south Africa (both the creatively-named country and the continent). Even if your country mostly considers itself secular, if your answer to “what year is it” is automatically “2024” without having to ask “on which calendar,” you’re probably from a country with a Christian background.

THIS IS A MORALLY NEUTRAL THING. You do not choose which country you’re born in or what its centuries-old culture is. And that’s fine! And it doesn’t mean anything about your personal beliefs. You can be an atheist born to atheists, you can be Buddhist, it is literally whatever.

BUT, to an extent, the place you grew up will absolutely have an impact on your thoughts and morals, because it’s all you’ve ever known. Because the choice to be culturally Christian is not one you made—it was made for you 2000 and 1800 and 1700 and 1200 and 1000 and 800 and 400 and 200 and 50 years ago. Taboos, laws, unspoken rules you’ve never thought twice about, this is not stuff you pick. It’s baked into the world around you. And if you want to unlearn that, you can’t just say “well I’m not Christian so I don’t have Christian morals or values!” and leave it at that. It’d be a beautiful thing if we could, but that’s not the way brains work.

Which means—even if you’re satisfied with what you believe—you should ASK YOURSELF why you believe it, and HOW. One of the biggest things I hear mentioned by other Jews in relation to cultural Christianity is people being black-and-white absolutists. This is true, so that is a lie. That is wrong, so this is right. There is no space given to the idea that maybe everyone is telling the truth as they see it, or that something is right for some times/people/places but wrong for others. And this gets into the harmful territory of “it’s true so I believe it and because I believe it, it’s true.”

So ask yourself why. Start deconstructing your beliefs and learning about new things—and yes, make world religions part of those new things, because religions are major cultural shapers, and also you’d be stunned how many of us 1) do not proselytize and 2) encourage actual study and questioning over blind faith and obedience (hint: it’s most of us. These two things that are taken as universal constants by a lot of atheists ARE EXPLICITLY CHRISTIAN), and there is no harm in learning about our cultures. (You know who’d say there is? Say it with me, kids: evangelical Christians.)

I’m still uncomfortable with being referred to in the context of white supremacy. But part of unlearning racism and, yes, white supremacy, was learning to recognize that is not a discussion I get to steer, because it’s not about me. It’s about people of color explaining, quantifying, and discussing their experiences. So I will be uncomfortable if need be, because that’s a me problem, for me to work on. That is part of what being a good ally and a good neighbor means.

Please give Jews that same grace. Yes, it can be uncomfortable to realize that yeah, you WERE affected by this thing you want to separate yourself from, especially if you have religious trauma. (Side note: if you do, I genuinely and strongly encourage you to seek therapy for it. As an evangelical cult escapee I can tell you it’s helped me a lot.) But you owe it to yourself, and if you genuinely want to dismantle that hegemony, you also owe it to others. While you’re yelling about how you don’t like the words we have created to describe our experiences, we’re working to fix the hegemony you claim to hate.

So: stop focusing on the word. Your discomfort with it is a you problem. Focus on WHAT IT’S TALKING ABOUT, because truly coming to a level playing ground and rebuilding will require you to have allies—not burned bridges all around.

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k0za--k · 4 months

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oh i absolutely LOVED the lore stream, it was amazing especially since we got a little bit more insight on 2b2t

it somehow drives people into madness, which is so interesting, how does the place make you go insane? what makes you go crazy? the lack of rules? the constant conflict? the toxicity?

the toxicity.

this might be a bit out there, but i do consider the word "toxic" synonymous with "radioactive" in this scenario, countless times we had Fit mention too many "radioactive fish" he ate

now, another interesting thing, Fit has stressed how much of a "default human male" he is in the beginning of the stream much foreshadowing, but Madagio says otherwise

perhaps this is the reason Fit has not been effected by the Black Matter? or to lesser extent? like i'm not saying he's not human and all, but he is not quite normal, maybe Fit is actually built different lmao

maybe the Matter targets those who are mentally weak? i doubt that Fed workers have much mental resistance, and Forever has been going through it before he got infected maybe islanders didn't have enough contact with it to get infected?

Philza has Rose's protection i think?, rest who had prolonged contact with Black Matter has gotten sick that literally leaves Fit as the odd one out

#fitmc #qsmp fitmc #qsmp fit #not tagging 2b since it's not about the actual server #qsmp theories #q!fit #q!fitmc #qsmp dark matter #qsmp lore #qsmp

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dsknsk · 3 months

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Limbus Company and its visual portrayal of female characters, an essay

Limbus Company, and by extent, Project Moon has been a great example of how female characters are visually portrayed. In this article, I’ll try to dissect why and how, focusing on Limbus Company as it has by far the largest amount of images I can talk about. Let’s dive in.

Disclaimer: I'm by no means a professional so please, PLEASE don't clown on this i.e mention the summer controversy. I have a personal trauma on that and do not wish to revisit it. I know it's practically impossible to ask from tumblr, but still.

Visually portraying a subject

Where to start? At the very beginning, of course. Portraying a subject visually (not talking about female characters in specific yet) has a number of things attached to it. Perhaps the first question one can ask themselves is this:

Where do I want the focus to be?

Now, you can be short and say ‘the subject, of course’, but even then, that won’t often be precise enough. Let’s say you have a butterfly as your subject. Do you want the focus to be on its beautiful wings? Or its curious multi-faceted eyes, or its roll-up tongue? What do you want the viewer to notice immediately?

Arguably, even photos of landscapes have at least one point of focus. The pretty waterfall, the vast mountains, the green pastures or the starry sky. Some have the focus split up in two, where both the lake and the mountains are to be spotted immediately.

How focus can be created

There are multiple ways focus can be drawn to a specific part or to a specific subject.

One way is to simply make everything but your point of focus uninteresting. A common effect used is the Bokeh, which blurs out the background so that it will automatically appear as less interesting and more as a faded bunch of colors that contrasts with the point of focus which is sharply shot in HD. You can also make the background to be a flat color, like black or white. Some pieces of art additionally add colored shapes or lines behind the subject as to accentuate it further.

(an example of Bokeh. In addition, the direction in which another character looks shows what our main subject is, who is actually positioned off-center.)

You can also just…fill the space with the subject, as in a close-up of the thing in question. Following the previous butterfly example, it’s like only showing a small part of its wings, enlarged to comparatively huge proportions. This is also seen in portraits and to a lesser extent, similar art like waist-ups.

The eye is immediately drawn to what we should look at, which is the character who’s front and center in the image. Secondarily the blood. Her hair also uses the next point below: color.

If you’re working with color, then color is an excellent way to bring the focus to a subject. Bright colors and contrasts can be used, like what’s done here:

The bright red forms a direct contrast to the green that dominates the color pallette. It thus leads the eye to the red areas - aka the blood the character is spilling as well as her face, which is technically a tint of red. The red returning in her eyes which have a small trail, and on her bloodied face, as well as the yellow of her tie, further help to bring focus to her face and her expression. (Other than that, this image also has classic cartoon speed lines, which are minor but do help).

Light is also something I should mention. Using the image from above, the character is actually rushing towards the darker areas of the image. The light is coming from where she seemed to come from, judging by the speed lines and the trail of red we just saw in all its glory. The light forms a line around the subject which keeps said subject’s green uniform from blending into the darkness and the green of the image.

There is a specific technique called chiaroscuro (lit. ‘light-dark’) which is totally a real thing that even old masters like Rembrandt have used to bring focus. The gist of it is that the painting has very bright areas which is the subject, surrounded by dark areas, with not much in between. This technique is often used to make scenes more dramatic, and to immediately show us what the artist wants us to see, without any possible doubt. It’s like putting a spotlight on your head in a dark room. Chiaroscuro is also seen in Limbus:

You can’t actually see much of the room our subject is in. The only light is coming from the candles, illuminating the top part of our subject. The other, darker half is much harder to see the details of. This makes it so that the eye is led from either the character towards the source of the light (the candles) or in reverse, both of which are possible and valid because in both cases, we ignore the pitch black part of the artwork.

How to create focus with characters (in specific)

Now, humans and humanoids are fascinating subjects to focus on, because there are so many situations a person can be in, and so much stuff a person can be. Are they the commander of a spaceship? A medieval ruler? An overworked office clerk? There are specific things that more or less pertain to humanoid characters more. I’m going into two aspects, clothing and posing - I’m aware there’s more, but for the sake of making this not longer than it is I’m going into only those two.

1. Clothing

What someone wears makes up a considerable part of how they’re seen and what they are presumed to be. This is also a large part of stereotyping. If you're wearing a t-shirt with pants, sunglasses, and have a camera around your neck, chances are people think you’re a tourist. To them, it likely won’t matter if you are, they will perceive you as one anyway. This is also important here: you might want to pretend you don’t know anything about the portrayed character or show their image to an unknowing friend and see what they think that the character is.

And that brings me to this point that I have seen so many times with female characters: their description/role not directly matching with how they are supposed to look if that were true. I’m talking about the battle-hardened veteran without muscles or scars of both kinds (even if adequate healing/scar removal is available in the setting). I’m talking about the scientist with a leotard under their lab coat. However, I’m not saying they should look a certain way or be the same - that’d be boring - I’m saying that…hey, it might make the viewer not take the character as serious as you want them to be.

The way clothing is built up can also serve as a way to bring focus to a specific aspect. Which will most often be either the boobs or the butt (or both) in the case of female characters. Look at this (non-Project Moon) example.

The woman in the front (obviously the focus due to the place she is standing in being squarely in the middle, and her red hair standing out) is the leader of that squad…as well as the strongest in battle. Without any protection of vital organs. With a shape under her boobs that would stab her fatally in the liver if she does as little as bend over.

The way her clothing is built up also brings the focus to her boobs - not only with how they’re prominently on display, but also with the shape the top and the fabric covering her shoulders makes. In a similar vein, her ‘pants’ and the belt all lead the eye downwards to her crotch as well. Furthermore, her thigh highs look skin-tight, bringing secondary focus to her legs, of course.

And last but not least. The guys behind her are actually properly armored from the neck down, making them somewhat more of a homogenous whole… in theory. The different body types, hair, and colors of the armor of the right and left dude make them stand out slightly more, which in turn only accentuates this ridiculous difference.

I don’t really have many Project Moon-originating images on hand that are similar to this. Every time we’ve had an ID with a female character being the leader of their group (of which we’ve had surprisingly many, actually - Don has two Section Director IDs to boot) they have usually been posing alone, or well, posing…their full uptie art normally shows a moment when they’re beating their enemy into a pulp instead of posing for the camera like in the above image. This is really consistent with the other half of the playable characters, who are male.

I want to give a special mention to two characters despite that. Faust and Rodion are both known as the more well-endowed characters, but from their IDs and E.G.O it is treated as something that’s there rather than something to be exploited.

The blue glint is the highlight here, illuminating her blood-stained clothing but also finding its equal in her small, blue eyes. I have found eyes like this and expressions like this to be quite rare on female characters. Just look at her and her face. She’s completely lost it, wrapped in twisted and warped euphoria of the moment of ‘purging’ another ‘heretic’ - and from the looks of it, the last one on the scene. She’s not even trying to clean her own clothing or face, or expose her boobs. That’s not what matters to her image, showing any kind of skin doesn’t add to her character. She’s caught in this violent moment, having her victim completely in her literal grip - not even her eyes are looking at the camera. This image showcases the violent and sadistic nature of the character.

I find this art to be a curious thing. The background is actually rather bright, making the inverse true: the character is dressed in dark clothing, so that’s what the focus is on instead. Her coat flared out in such a way it can almost be mistaken for the underside of her long hair, making her seem even larger (something certain animals use when threatened to scare others into leaving). Her actual figure is thus more obscured, it only being a few tones darker. The thing that keeps her from being a dark blob in the foreground is her sword, large enough to be an odachi. Because she’s unsheathing it, the glint that comes from the blade immediately draws attention - arguably away from her partially unbuttoned top. The animation of this in the game supports this: no boob jiggle, just her standing calmly in the moment she’s just about to unsheathe her sword.

Because I’m going to use this example further in this thing, keep this one on hand.

An image that’s again in the middle of the action. Rosespanner Workshop Director Rodion is right now turning an enemy into an unrecognizable stain on the pavement with her huge weapon. The highlight is her weapon again, but this time it actually serves as a secondary source of light, illuminating her face. The yellow coloration of this secondary light source also makes the whole thing more interesting than if it just had the background light that serves a similar purpose as it did in the first image of this post. Even though the image has a heavy pinkish tint, the red that splatters all over the scene is still very much present and they draw the eye back to the yellow light. While her pose is ambiguous, it keeps things vague by not putting any sort of focus on her lower body. In any other piece of media this pose would be viewed from another angle, as to profit from as much of her body’s curves. Not here. Her killing an enemy with visible ease is important. Not her pose. This sounds logical, doesn’t it?

2. Posing

Which brings me to this. The way a character is posed also plays a part in their portrayal. It is possible to accentuate certain body parts with this - like when a character brings their hand to their chin, or the way their legs are posed. No matter the actual scene that’s meant, the way the character is posed is a factor that decides how it’s viewed and where the focus lies. Most often I’ve found this to be when a character is shown wielding a weapon, but their ‘battle pose’ being rather something that accentuates their bare skin, or their little clothing that does the same thing.

Is your character actually showing that they’re dangerous through being shown fighting…or are they just sexily posing with a weapon in their hands to add a sense of ‘danger’? Some can be highly difficult to distinguish. Some CGs can show the middle of the action yet the way the character is posed still brings the focus away from the violence or brings a secondary focus to it. Unfortunately I don’t have examples of those on hand but I know they exist.

A character just posing with a weapon isn’t wrong - I draw that all the time - but when the focus is brought to a character’s boobs and/or butt with the pose the character is in, it will be kind of obvious (even if it isn’t true) that sexualizing those features of the character what the artist is really intending to do instead of showing how dangerous she is with the weapon.

I’m going to use this image from Echocalypse as an example. I regularly take poses like this as a reference point and then attempt to make them more realistic, or, funnily, point out their weirdness by putting a male character in it. Often I do this by using them for a different, more appropriately clothed character. This goes to show that clothing can already decide a lot in posing itself.

This character is posing with a weapon, a…particularly huge odachi in this case (I thought it was a staff at first until I saw the hilt). Which is exactly the same what Rodion is doing up there in the image we already handled. Yet, there are subtle differences between that image and this one, and it’s actually more minor than you think it is (disregarding the thematics of the pieces). Both characters…

are posing with an odachi of similar size (assuming that both characters are of similar height for ease of comparison) as opposed to being locked in battle; theoretically making the focus more on how pretty they look

have long hair (that, minus the bun and the bangs, have a similar cut) that makes their silhouette appear larger than it is

do have a relatively bright and sort-of detailed background going on

have large boobs

are unsheathing their weapon just slightly

However, to get to our first difference, we need to get back to point 1: clothing. Using the same two images, the largest difference is clothing. Kurokumo Rodion is wearing all-black clothing that covers her from the head down except for the unbuttoned top. If I had to describe what the other girl is wearing, I’d say she’s wearing a piece of armor on one of her arms, a flowered collar, thigh highs but no footwear otherwise, and something…obviously lingerie/bikini derived. I’m actually not sure if that’s a tail or part of the clothing.

But to return to our point: posing. The pose of Kurokumo Rodion is actually fairly neutral. She’s just standing there, menacingly! (I should note that their normal character talksprites are also just standing there neutrally) No, literally. Anyone with working legs and arms, can reproduce that. Just give them a sword prop and you’re done. Coat cape optional. The way she is standing does convey some sort of subtle confidence, however, just like the way she is actually looking down (at the viewer). It’s likely you’ll see the sword first for the reasons I mentioned when first discussing the piece above and then look at her from top to bottom as usual.

The way our other girl is posed…is a little harder to replicate in real life to say the least. Not only is this a floating pose (i.e you’d need support), the way her body is bent sharply brings the focus upon her boobs and butt. The human body is actually rather flexible, depending on how you’re built of course, but even so I do doubt whether anyone can do this pose even if they could somehow float in mid-air. Or do this lying down. I (someone with joints that are a little too flexible for my own good) haven’t tried and highkey don’t want to. The thigh and upper leg that is prominently on display, along with the way her body curves leads the eye to her butt or downwards towards her legs and feet.

Her facial expression is neutral, but I get some sort of… ‘dreamy’ vibe from it from the traditional anime-like proportions (huge eyes, tiny nose and mouth). Almost as if she’s doing puppy-eyes to beg for candy or something. It’s, well, what most people call to be a ‘babyface’. Kurokumo Rodion is also in ‘anime-style’ and her facial proportions are still a little bit unrealistic, but I do dare to say they’re more realistic than those of the other girl.

Also, small sidepath. What do you think the second girl is based off? One would judge from her tail that it must be some sort of water creature but whether she’s a shark or any other kind of sea creature isn’t really obvious. Would it surprise you if I told you she’s based on a bake-kujira, a SKELETON-whale (which sounds cool as all hell)? Without any kind of skeleton-parts worked into her design? To be fair, I wouldn’t have guessed it either if it were not for her canonical description.

Also, one last note about that latter image. I think that an odachi of that format would be extremely tricky to unsheathe in such a pose, because of the distance between your arms. Her arm that actually unsheathes the thing is also obviously reaching out, so she’d need more strength to do that than what the look of her arms suggest.

Speaking about arms…

On paper, our Limbus girls would have all the reason to have twig arms. After all, the City allows one to get stronger without visually changing their physique much. One can carry around huge weapons like chainsaws, lances and zweihanders without visible muscles. And yet. And yet.

One of the few times bare arms are seen (most art prefers to cover them up - for Limbus standards, this would be the ultimate fanservice thing), it becomes very clear that they at least have a basic tone. Like, the basicest of basic efforts is done to make them not look malnourished. Even if this girl above is not like, the strongest of the world (for as far as we know...) the muscles she does have are very lovingly shaded and detailed.

To end this, I’ll showcase something one last time with a funny in-game example: Roseate Desire. Roseate Desire is an E.G.O which wraps the wearer in pink ribbons and is highly implied to especially speak to the sin of Lust (which is the affinity of the attack). In the game, this E.G.O is given to two characters, a girl and a guy. In any other gacha game, it would only be given to girls.

While bent over and with a happy expression, she’s still coming to get you. How can you tell? For one, the huge anchor she has with her is within her hand (i.e opposed to it being tied up next to her or something like that), and the shield that’s tied to her arm. Despite being wrapped up, she does still look as if a portion of her is still in control, and her attack suggests the same.

Hong Lu wearing it always makes me grin. He does wear clawed gloves and his fingers are arched, that’s true, but the way he’s strung up like a puppet makes it so that he can’t even get you with those. The manner in which he is posed and his head is tilted is highly reminiscent of how one would pose a marionette. And ingame properly he doesn’t even use these claws in close combat! He wraps up the enemy in the pink ribbons with doll-like movement. Even the way he’s covered evokes a sense of powerlessness, like he’s led on by the ribbons instead of controlling them.

I think this example, along with the others, is implicative of how Project Moon’s visual portrayal of female characters is done so well. They’re equally portrayed as the male characters, if not arguably more powerful, and there’s an equal roster of 6 to 6. They’re not overtly sexualized by bare skin or impossible poses while the men are covered up in a sensible pose. These are characters designed for their personality and role first, not with fanservice or money in mind first. Even the female NPCs fit within this rule, even though they have less art to go from. When you have a game which had 97% completion on the story and a mere 64% on the systems (i.e monetization) it would kind of figure that character designs fall in line with the role the character fulfills, is it not?

#limbus company #project moon

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eroguron0nsense · 2 months

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Perhaps my brain isn't braining or I'm assigning undue significance to this but I kinda feel like One Piece seemed to shift more toward exploring what real familial love means or looks like after the timeskip? We get Ace's death, the postwar arc, and Luffy coming to the conclusion that despite having lost both of his brothers, he's still got the Straw Hats and he can move forward with his ragtag crew of siblings, Team Mom and Dad, and an eccentric skeleton Uncle, and then right after that, we get several arcs defined overwhelmingly by either the destruction or salvation of various families.

One of the main inciting incidents–if not the inciting incident–of all the political intrigue inherent to the Fishman Island arc is the assassination of Otohime and its ramifications for Shirahoshi and the entire Ryugu Kingdom (not to mention Luffy trying really fucking hard to imitate Ace and be a big brother to Shirahoshi and Surume as a means of processing his own loss).

Dressrossa's where we first see a true perversion of all the lovely found family tropes that have long been established in One Piece (villains have destroyed families but few if any are depicted as having one in the same way Luffy does; pre-time skip villains are more likely to be loners or self-interested tyrants and their followers aren't really referred to as "family"), giving us self fashioned patriarch in Doffy who completed the destruction of his bio family and spent the rest of his life building a grotesque, failed imitation of it through manipulating and indoctrinating a group of followers he doesn't truly care for, only to be brought down by a combination of his brother's final actions, the little boy Cora saved and loved, the bonds of the Riku family he brutalized, the brothers of the guy whose devil fruit he acquired and tried to entrap his enemies with, and an actual Found Family Crew who genuinely love each other and are willing to sacrifice for each other in a way Doffy cannot possibly understand.

The entirety of WCI involves almost every conceivable permutation of multiple families plotting against, exploiting, abusing, and defiantly loving each other, from Judge discarding any hope he ever had of having an actual family that could love him by literally stripping away their ability to do so in the name of facism/conquest, to Chiffon betraying her abusive mom for her loving husband and in-laws, to Linlin being failed by every parental figure in her life and constructing the most bizarre, fundamentally horrifying political/military structure out of her army of bio children.

Wano's main villain is also an abusive father and tyrannical crew leader, and that does, in fact, contribute to his eventual downfall, but more to the point, the arc opens and closes with the initial destruction and eventual restoration of the Kozuki family in Momo, Hiyori, and Sukiyaki, Luffy's kinship with Momo and Tama, circling back to reminders of Ace yet again (for the third arc so far) and Hiyori literally closing out the arc mirroring her father's catchphrase/dying words (and to a lesser extent, plot fuelled by the destruction of the Kurozumi clan). By the time we end what I personally consider to be Part 2 of One Piece, Luffy's family has picked up another uncle, he's been confronted repeatedly with the spectre of his brother and come out stronger for it (also filling the big brother role for multiple characters), he's reunited with Sabo, and has confronted and defeated multiple villains who act as the antithesis to everything One Piece has told us so far about the joy and love and unity that the Straw Hats and their friends and true families exemplify. And by the time he tells everyone his real dream and shares what he'd previously only told Ace, Sabo, and Shanks, it feels like we've finally gotten some closure for Marineford

#one piece #monkey d luffy #portgas d ace #marineford #donquixote doflamingo #straw hat pirates #kaido one piece #charlotte linlin #fishman island #flame emperor sabo

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georgescitadel · 9 months

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The grayest characters in ASOIAF according to George R.R. Martin

Tyrion is a very gray character. All my characters are gray to a greater or lesser extent, but Tyrion is perhaps the deepest shade of gray, with the black and white in him most thoroughly mixed, and I find that very appealing.

- George R.R. Martin, Science Fiction Weekly (2000)

Tyrion Lannister is my favourite. He is the grayest of the gray. In every conventional sense, he is on the wrong side but you have to agree with some of the things he is doing while loathing others.

- George R.R. Martin, SF Site (2000)

One of the things that distinguishes Game of Thrones, I think, and, of course, the books that I've written is gray characters. It's not a simple world of heroes and villains, characters have flaws, and I don't think any character in the whole opus is as gray as Theon Greyjoy.

- George R.R. Martin, Comic Con (2012)

#Tyrion Lannister #Theon Greyjoy #George R.R. Martin #ValyrianScrolls #Game Of Thrones #ASOIAF

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yrrtyrrtwhenihrrthrrt · 3 months

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People talk so much about how different Movie and Comic Ambrosius are, and to a lesser extent about how different Movie and Comic Ballister are. I don't think people talk NEARLY enough about the differences between movie and Comic NIMONA herself???? Like, ok:

Their lore is completely different. C!Nims isn't a thousand years old, she was originally a regular human, as a sick child she was possessed by an entity manifested from grief and rage, that gave her powers and near immortality. The entity is a part of her, and THAT is the one that is a thousand+ years old, implied to have possessed or replaced Gloreth long ago. M! Nimona IS the other-worldly entity. She is not possessed, she is not human, she is older than time itself.

C!Nimona seems to carry a lot less allegory for queer gender identity, she universally is called and refers to herself as a girl or lady, even while shapeshifting. M! Nimona, as we all know and love, is a chaotic trans/nonbinary/agender child (and we love her for that). C! Is more symbolic, in my opinion, of mental illness and trauma. As an agender who has trauma and struggled with anger issues, I definitely saw those two completely different parts of myself represented in those different characters.

The whole fear/hatred of monsters does not play into the comic story at all, really. Most characters are completely unfazed that she can shapeshift. Ambrosius didn't even find it worth noting in his report, the DIRECTOR only cares because she's working with Ballister and that makes him more powerful. Nimona WAS experimented on at some point and IS treated as somewhat of an anomaly, but more as a curiosity than a threat. Comic Nimona mostly has trouble being accepted for WHO she is, more than for WHAT she is. People only really start freaking out once they figure out she's immortal, not because they're afraid of "monsters" (which seem to just. Casually exist in masses in the comicverse) but because they don't understand how she's invincible.

Perhaps the most important difference: M! Nimona is CANONICALLY SHOWN to be a good cook. C! Nimona admits that she will burn a house down.

#nimona #nimona graphic novel #nimona 2023 #nimona analysis

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vashtijoy · 8 months

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whose phone is that, anyway? character signature colours and yoshizawa's phone

There is a perennial debate over what's going on with Yoshizawa's phone. Isn't it Kasumi's phone that she's dragging around for reasons? What's even wrong with it, and why?

I have no opinion on the last two questions (other than that her difficulty communicating likely symbolises the things she's hiding from herself and others.) But I do think we can put that first question, of ownership, to bed.

First let's take a quick look at...

character colour coding

Most playable characters in P5 are assigned a colour, which is used more-or-less consistently for various things. For instance, their chat icons use them:

Their gloves use them. Makoto is the exception here with white gloves (perhaps because she uses fist weapons, so her gloves are always hidden?):

More to the point? Their phones are all colour coded:

Clockwise from the top: Ryuji (gold), Ann (hot pink), Yusuke (pale blue), Haru (purple), Futaba (green) and Makoto (dark blue).

royal trio: joker

The Royal Trio throw this nice little arrangement for an absolute loop.

First off, let's take a look at Joker. Silver phone (you may have observed it). No chat icon that we ever see to my knowledge, though it seems highly unlikely that he wouldn't have a red one. And indeed, his gloves are red. (as you may also have observed)

royal trio: akechi

Our resident Gemini, of course, stomps in with his steel-capped kicker boots and does everything twice. He's got two pairs of gloves, which match his apparent alignment (white or black, with his "day gloves" being black):

And his phone? Well, it's red (though the anime has it as dark grey, because, again, never not extra). Because, to this day, he's still playing hero—with the emphasis by now very much on "playing"—and part of him still wants to be the hero....

So Joker and Akechi have a reverse colour scheme going on with their phones: Joker has the silver/white/colourless phone that you might expect Akechi to have, and Akechi has the red one you'd expect Joker to have. Or rather, Joker has the "bad guy" phone while Akechi has the "good guy" phone, because he's a fucking liar and because each of them, to a greater or lesser extent, is walking that line between hero and villain.

As for his chat icon, it was grey in vanilla [source], while in Royal it was changed to brown. So: two sets of gloves, two chat icons, two phones (if we count the anime). Complicated.

what about yoshizawa?

Just like Joker and Akechi, Yoshizawa is too cool to be bound by any stupid dress code... pretty much. Her outfit is essentially girl Joker, and so her gloves are red, like his. Her chat icon is a deep purply-pink—more hot pink than Ann's, in fact, whose colour hot pink is!

It's possible her icon is meant to be red, but it's been shifted to purply-pink because a red icon on a red background would look bad.

But there are a couple of other things we can look at. And they tell us it's incredibly likely that the malfunctioning phone Yoshizawa carries through the game is not Kasumi's, but her own.

Remember that Yoshizawa's codename, Violet, is taken from her true given name Sumire—which means "violet". In Maruki's Palace, there's a cinematic of her with the real Kasumi during their accident, where both girls have umbrellas. Kasumi's is yellow—but Sumire's?

It's violet. And what colour is Yoshizawa's phone, when she pulls it out on 10/3, still believing that she's Kasumi?

It's violet. Violet for her true name, violet for her codename. Violet like the umbrella she carried when Kasumi died. This is clearly Sumire's phone, not Kasumi's.

Why is it broken? Still damaged in the accident, maybe?—Sumire is knocked flying. Unconsciously sabotaged? Space pixies? Who knows.

#persona 5 #p5 meta #sumire yoshizawa #the squad

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vgfm · 8 months

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Predicting Future Fountains in Deltarune: The Missing Ingredient

I’ve noticed a trend of Deltarune fans trying to predict what will happen in future chapters. It’s a common trait of a fanbase undergoing hiatus brain. One of the most common forms of prediction is trying to guess where future dark worlds will pop up in the light world. Some fans’ predictions have made more convincing arguments than others, but so far all of the ones I’ve seen seem to be missing a key ingredient—one I intend to share today.

To begin, I’m of the opinion that it is more or less impossible for anyone outside of Toby’s development team to accurately predict all of Deltarune’s chapters outside of making a wildly lucky guess. We have been teased some information regarding chapter 3 and, to a lesser extent, 4 and 5. The further removed a future chapter is from 1 and 2, the harder it is to predict. On top of that, I’m anticipating that the full game will introduce some earthshaking twist that will throw the narrative on its head—this will likely occur around chapter 6 or 7, but it could be sooner.

Despite this, fans (including myself) have attempted to predict each chapter’s dark world location by scraping together what little evidence we can. One of the most common arguments is to assert that each dark world so far has followed a trend that future dark worlds must follow as well. Perhaps the most popular trend argued for is the “double door rule,” i.e., the argument that each dark world’s entrance in the light world will be a pair of double doors.

The Double Door Rule

The strongest piece of evidence supporting the double door rule is the entrance to the librarby computer lab: in Chapter 1 it was a single door, but in Chapter 2 it became a double-door entrance. Apparently this was such an important detail that Toby was willing to retroactively change content from a previous chapter. This has led fans to speculate that other locations in Hometown with double doors will become future dark world locations.

On the one hand, I do think that light world locations with double doors have a decent chance of becoming future dark worlds. However, I think many fans neglect to mention that this “rule” already has exceptions to it. The most obvious exception is the Dreemurr house in Chapter 3. None of the doors in the house are double doors, and it’s 99% confirmed at this point that this location will be Chapter 3’s dark world location.

On top of that, it could also be argued that the dark world inside the unused classroom does not follow this pattern either. There is a double door that leads into Castle Town, but this is a separate dark world from the unused classroom. We see the great door, which is a double door in the dark world, and going through it takes us to the Card Kingdom dark world. However, in the light world we can see that neither door leading into the unused classroom is a double door.

Even if one were to argue that the Great Door still “counts” as Chapter 1’s dark world having double doors, it doesn’t do us much good if those double doors only exist in the dark world—by that logic, any door in the light world (single or double) could lead to a future dark world. On that note, the fact that the librarby’s door was “retconned” into being a double door in Chapter 2 means that the same could happen to any future dark world location as well, even if that’s not the most likely outcome.

Despite its flaws, I don’t think the double door rule is completely without merit. I think the purpose of double doors is to indicate a potential location where Kris and Susie will use their dark world entrance animation first seen in Chapter 2.

I think the likely reason for the library’s door being changed was to allow for this new animation to play upon entering Cyber World. In other words, this rule may help in predicting dark worlds that Kris and Susie will enter intentionally, but won’t help when predicting “unexpected” dark worlds that appear like the one at the end of Chapter 2.

The Missing Ingredient

With this in mind, I believe I’ve stumbled upon a more reliable pattern that can be used to predict future dark worlds: one that has applied to the first three chapters’ dark worlds and may likely apply to Castle Town as well. I’ve seen many fans point out that dark worlds are strongly associated with the idea of escapism: toys and games, the internet, and television. I think this idea is on the right track, but it’s missing one key ingredient that I alluded to earlier.

To better explain what this missing ingredient is, we need to take a look at Chapter 3’s upcoming dark world. This dark fountain was made inside of the Dreemurr living room, and although previews have shown some possible influence from other parts of the house, the dark world appears to be primarily themed around the television that Kris turned on. I think the fact that the dark world is primarily themed around television rather than the Dreemurr house as a whole tells us a lot about how future dark worlds will operate.

The way I see it, it’s not enough for a dark world location to be somewhere “important” in the light world. It’s not enough for a dark world to have a double door entrance. A dark world needs to exist as a playing field for gameplay scenarios to take place. But above all else, a dark world needs a theme. And so far, the themes we’ve seen all relate to escapism—specifically, a type of escapism that can be expressed as a relatable interest or “medium” of some kind—that’s the missing ingredient.

Chapter 3 seems to codify this trend, as what we know of that dark world implies that it is not simply a “house-themed” dark world, but instead a TV-themed dark world with perhaps some flavoring from the rest of the Dreemurr household sprinkled in. We see something similar in Chapter 2 with fair fliers from the computer lab appearing as set dressing in an otherwise computer-dominated light world.

I think that a “house-theme” dark world theme would not have been sufficient for Toby’s purposes, especially if there are future dark worlds that will also take place in the homes of other Hometown residents.

In other words, I think this trend of media/medium-based escapism does limit the likelihood of certain locations from becoming future dark worlds. For example, the Mayor’s office may not become a dark world unless it’s established that the Mayor has some specific interest or hobby that she brings to work that would become the theme of her dark world. Otherwise, an “office-themed” dark world would break the trend of escapism and would likely be bland to boot.

Additionally, this might also make Asgore’s shop less likely as a future location, as his dwelling area only has a TV (which has been done) and, given Asgore’s meager living situation, it seems less likely that he’d have paraphernalia from some escapist hobby locked behind his double doors. We do know that Alphys lends comics to Asgore, but these are already present in his main dwelling area, and the prevailing theory among fans is that a flower shop dark world would be in the mystery room in the back instead of the rooms we’ve already seen.

Another reason I doubt a flower shop dark world, at least in Chapter 4 or 5, is that Toby said in his summer newsletter that Chapter 3 “is shaping up to be a pretty strange one. I mostly focused on unusual gameplay elements, and it’s not too heavy on the story… Anyway, Chapter 4 will be a much more standard chapter!” Since Chapter 3 is implied to focus on the Dreemurr family, it would feel odd to me that Toby would deem this chapter as “not too heavy on the story,” only to include another Dreemurr-focused chapter in Asgore’s shop so soon after it.

My takeaway from Toby’s assessment is that he doesn’t consider Chapter 3 story-heavy because Chapter 3 focuses more on gameplay than story, but I believe it’s also because the Dreemurr focus will lend itself more to a character-focused narrative rather than one that moves the immediate main plot forward significantly compared to Chapter 4. This also implies to me that Kris may not be the Knight, given that the chapter where Kris creates a dark world is viewed as a “strange” outlier and less story-focused, but the subsequent chapter is viewed as “more standard,” which would make sense if chapter 4’s dark world is created by the real Knight.

Predicting Future Dark Worlds

So where do I think future dark worlds will take place, based on this trend? Well, so far we’ve had dark worlds based on toys and games, the internet, and television. In addition, the game has also made reference to three other forms of escapist entertainment that may play a future role in the plot: literature, art, and video games.

To start, we have literature—specifically, fantasy literature. We’ve seen multiple references to Gerson’s Lord of the Hammer series, and this series is near and dear to the heart of Father Alvin, one of several Roaring Knight suspects. I’ve theorized that Alvin is the Knight, so it would make sense that he’d create a dark world themed around his father’s book series.

Now, you might ask: shouldn’t that have been in the Library? Well, I argued in my Alvin Knight theory that the librarby fountain was botched—if Alvin is the Knight then he likely didn’t intend to create a computer dark world, but was forced into the equipment closet when Berdly and Noelle entered and he created Cyber World from there. The fact that a literature dark world wasn’t used in this instance could imply that it’s being “saved” for a different dark world.

So where might a literature-based dark world take place? A possible location could be the school—there’s currently a locked classroom on the opposite side of Castle Town from the former Card Kingdom.

The school is connected to Gerson and besides the librarby it’s the place that would most likely have books in it. However, the church is another possibility.

The Church

Many have theorized that there will be a church dark world, likely in Chapter 4. I don’t disagree with this notion, but one thing I partially disagree with is the idea that this dark world will be purely themed around the town’s religion or that it will portray the town religion as a form of escapism to fit with the trend of dark worlds as escapism. I somehow doubt that Toby would make a commentary on religion that on-the-nose, given that he removed a series of Clover lines that merely hinted at charged topics like religion and gun control.

Instead, I think a church dark world will follow the trend of Chapter 3’s dark world: it will primarily be themed around an escapist hobby or interest, Gerson’s literature in this case, and the church-y elements will be background dressing. On that note, I think there’s a strong possibility that the church will have more than one room in it. If it does, then I think the dark world will not be in the main hall of the church and will instead take place in a back room, either Alvin’s room or a classroom used for the church’s youth group.

There is a snag with this prediction, however: Castle Town. In the past, I’ve thrown around the possibility that Castle Town may have been created by Gerson—specifically, created from his old writings (hinted at by the old papers seen on the floor of the supply closet).

If this is the case, then Castle Town would satisfy the role of being a “literature” dark world and it would follow the same theming pattern as the other dark worlds we’ve seen.

So where would this leave the Church? Well, a church dark world would still be possible without breaking the pattern I’m arguing for. Instead of the church being a literature-themed dark world, it may instead be an art-themed dark world instead. My evidence for this mainly relies on one line of dialogue: Spamton referring to easels and CRTs.

“WE DON’T NEED ANYONE ELSE!!! WE DON’T NEED [[Easels]] or [[CRTs]]!”

For those unaware, a CRT is an old type of television—the type that the Dreemurr household has. Spamton makes numerous references to future Chapter 3 characters, namely Mike and Tenna, but the easel line is the odd man out—it could be a patented Spamton-grade non-sequitur, but the fact that it’s paired with a reference to television makes me think it’s significant.

An Artistic Alternative

Unless if Toriel has a hidden artistic side, there’s no evidence of any easels in the Dreemurr household. It’s implied that Asriel has some artistic talent, given his framed drawing and the game assets on his computer, but there’s no easel in his room either. Whoever drew the Neo body might have some artistic talent—if so, I suppose this doesn’t rule out the possibility of a Blook house dark world. However, I think there’s another artist candidate: Alvin.

I’ll admit, I am stretching things a little, but I think there’s a possibility that Alvin could be an aspiring artist—emphasis on the “aspiring” part. We do see an old drawing of his in the unused classroom--it’s heavily implied that he drew this as a child, which would explain why it’s yellowed and why (presumably) Gerson held onto it.

Most people draw when they’re kids so it’s not unusual to see that Alvin did so, but from a narrative standpoint this could be intended to plant the seed of the idea that Alvin is associated with the arts.

We know that Alvin’s youth group also partakes in arts and crafts, as evidenced by the angel doll that Noelle and Dess made, so it’s likely that Alvin has at least some experience as an art teacher, even if it’s for something as pedestrian as afterschool children’s crafts.

We also know that Alvin hung around with Asriel, and both of their drawings are described as “poorly drawn,” perhaps suggesting that Alvin may have mentored Asriel at one point.

I could see “poorly drawn” being a flavor text calling card to describe art associated with Alvin in the future, perhaps with a joke where the flavor text describes his childhood art interchangeably with his most recent attempts. Alvin being an artist would also dovetail nicely with my past musings on whether Ralsei was created from a drawing.

If Alvin’s an artist then this would line up with his questioning of whether his father was proud of him—while this line could be referring to any Knight-related activities that Alvin’s engaged in, it could also double as his overall view of his career choice and talents (or lack of). It’s hard to make it big as an artist, and having a father who’s far more successful in his own field would highlight Alvin’s perceived inadequacies even further. To top it off, I’ve previously pointed out how Gerson’s life parallels the life of J.R.R. Tolkien and Alvin may or may not parallel his son, Christopher Tolkien. Well, it just so happens that one of Christopher Tolkien’s professions was being an illustrator, best known for drawing the maps of Middle Earth.

How sure am I of Alvin being an artist? Not very, but I think it’s a distinct possibility. If one were to ask me what interests Alvin would likely have outside of his religion and his father’s work, then art would be the first thing to spring to my mind. At best I’d give it maybe a 60% chance of being true. I mainly bring it up as a “backup option” for the Church’s theme if literature is already taken by Castle Town, given that there’s some scant references to art that can be cobbled together around Alvin, at least when it comes to teaching children. Seeing various doodles come to life as darkners would be interesting, at least.

Chapter 5

So Chapter 4’s potential church dark world could account for either a literature theme or an art theme. Earlier I mentioned a video game theme, so where does this fit? Well, I think the answer is obvious:

Deltarune has been heavily associating Noelle with her interest in video games and comparing them to dark worlds. The Spamton Sweepstakes has only doubled down on this association by teasing a future ice palace location from Dragon Blazers.

I think it’s more likely that this location will be in chapter 5 than, say, 6 or 7, because it was teased as one of the final images in the Spamton sweepstakes, which primarily teased content in the next chapters coming out.

On top of that, Noelle is an important character and Chapter 2 heavily implies that she will return to our party at some point, given that there’s unused dialogue referencing her being in Castle Town and equipping items that she currently can’t without hacking. Each member of Noelle’s family also seems poised to play a role in the narrative, so it would only make sense for things to come to a head in the Holiday household for Chapter 5.

Chapter 5 taking place in the Holiday house would also align with my earlier observations on Chapter 3’s dark world: a “house-themed” dark world would be too drab and would be less appealing if future dark worlds take place in other character’s houses. Having a Dreemurr dark fountain and Holiday dark fountain makes a lot more sense when one can be themed around television and the other around video games.

Another strength around this prediction is that, despite my attempts to tie my dark fountain predictions to my Alvin knight theory, I think overall this prediction can complement most major Knight suspects. I’m no stranger to the fact that Dess and Mayor Holiday have become rising stars in the field of Knight speculation—having dark worlds in the church and Holiday house would fit with ether of them being the Knight, given that they’re a religious family with history in the church, and the house fountain’s reasoning should be obvious. On the flip side, I think both locations also work for Alvin: the church is obvious, and Alvin learning (or already knowing) that Noelle is connected to the Angel would give him incentive to pursue the Holiday family.

On that note, if Alvin is the Knight then I think his arc will not only involve him trying to use a dark world to revive his father via his dust-covered hammer (likely during Chapter 4), but also using said revival as a means to tempt Noelle with the idea of reviving Rudy in Chapter 5, assuming his health takes a turn for the worse when he tries to go to church. This turn has some foreshadowing in Noelle’s line about wanting healing magic to be real for her father’s sake—Alvin could have the means to make such a wish come true, or at least make Noelle think that it will.

The Future

So where does this leave Chapters 6 and 7? I have no idea. Like I mentioned, I think there are major plot twists yet to be seen or hinted at in this game, and chapters 6 and 7 could break the pattern of previous dark worlds (if 6 and 7 even have dark worlds at all). If I had to come up with another form of escapism, then I suppose the town festival could be seen as a form of escapism in a similar vein to the toys and games of Chapter 1.

We have seen a few references to fairs and carnivals in dark worlds, so this would bring things full circle. If all of Hometown takes part in the fair, then a dark world with a fair theme could occur anywhere, even outdoors, or possibly even encompass the whole town.

Last on the list is the shelter.

Honestly, I have no clue about the shelter. I’m not even sure whether the shelter will be opened in Chapter 6 or opened in Chapter 7. Most fans say 7, but making it Chapter 6 would fit the Gaster theming that’s been associated with that location, and ending Chapter 5 on the gang heading into the shelter would be one heck of a cliffhanger. I can’t say what escapism could be associated with the shelter. If the shelter is the final chapter, then maybe Deltarune itself will be portrayed as the escapism, though I’m not sure how you’d make a Deltarune-themed dark world when you’re already playing Deltarune. If the game is going to have a chapter that’s the odd man out, then 6 and/or 7 are the likeliest candidates, imo, which basically makes them impossible to predict.

As I’ve alluded to earlier, any number of things could derail my prediction: there could be a huge twist, the festival could come sooner than Chapter 6, or the church could be a red herring. I remember in Chapter 1 when several fans (myself included) were confident that chapter 2’s dark world would be in the hospital due to the early screenshot of the fun gang dressed as doctors.

It’s very possible that Toby knows we’re going to assume there will be a church dark world when he has no such plans. It’s also possible that dark worlds won’t follow a consistent pattern at all and everything so far has just been coincidence.

Still, I think if we are going to make predictions to pass the time then it helps to come up with predictions that are internally consistent, or at least ones that have something narratively or thematically interesting that’s driving them. To me, throwing darts at a board and deciding fountain locations based on a building’s doors just seems far less intriguing. Those are my two cents, anyway. Either way, I can’t wait to see the next status update prove my prediction wrong before it even gets off the ground. Until then…

#deltarune #undertale #deltarune theory #noelle holiday #kris dreemurr

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polichinelle · 2 months

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yeah fuck it i'm making this its own post. basically very long winded (but still not as extensively detailed as i'd like) thoughts on adam & ronan (sort of) & whelk & noah

i remember reading the raven boys back in 2014 (ten years of rot in my brain!) and being sooo disappointed that there was basically zero fandom interest in whelk & noah beyond "omg whelk is evil and awful and terrible, poor baby noah!" when that is not the narrative surrounding them, not really. i feel it's a disservice to both of their characters to do that, especially noah's:

there is nuance there. there are implications. like... it's ALL about the implications!!! we basically see nothing of whelk and noah beyond what's left after the carnage. and it's a theme in trc for characters to have irreparably changed before we ever meet them (gansey, ronan, whelk, noah). we don't know what they were actually like when noah was alive, when they were best friends. when they were tight as ticks.

what we do know is this: whelk was noah's gansey. whelk was cheating on his own girlfriend with noah's, which is a shitty thing to do for sure, but something we also have zero context for. we also don't know how true it is, because whelk has such a self-inflicted warped view of his past. he keeps rewriting his own memories to think lesser of noah, because his absence hurts that much! we know they were best friends, the same way adam & ronan are best friends with gansey. we know they did everything together

okay, changing gears a little.

i'll paste the part where adam is possessed, sorry for the amount of screenshots:

and this line from a bit further along the chapter:

then, from noah's possession scene:

compare this to whelk's recollection of killing noah, and the effects it had on him:

"red lines streaked in the corners of his vision" "in whelk's head, unearthly voices hissed and whispered, words blurred and stretched together" "dictated by something larger and more powerful than himself" "somehow invited into his body through czerny's death" yes i am going there, yes i am making that point. i think, to some extent, barrington was possessed when he murdered his best friend. neither noah nor adam get their own pov while possessed, so...

i mean, time is a circle. noah needed to die so that gansey would live. noah had already died, gansey had already lived. it needed to happen, and so it would.

where the difference lies, i think, is in barrington's reaction to being possessed, versus adam/noah. for all that i'm arguing possession, i don't think barry's a stand up guy, he's a kid who's never had good role models (need i pull out the quotes about his shit parents) and who was raised by money and objects and reputation, which is why i think the possession worked. the idea to kill noah might've seemed like his own in the moment, an escalation of the situation he was already in, but unlike adam/noah there was no one to hold him back (not to mention barrington isn't as familiar with magic things(?) as they are). in that moment, whelk did truly lost it. he did the unforgivable. but there is no universe in which he doesn't.

for every time we see noah reenacting his death, we also need to imagine barrington whelk, seventeen and shivering. realizing as he's committing the act that he can't go back. perhaps realizing too that he couldn't stop his hands from gripping onto that skateboard, no matter how much he wanted to after that first hit. ("But instead, he remembered the sound Czerny made the first time he hit him.")

there's also adam in this. both him as a parallel to barrington, and as a strange sort of part of noah in a way. adam and noah interact the least out of the main group, arguably, but they too are a two-headed creature; they started out as one singular character and you can sort of tell. something something hands and eyes, something something sacrifice. ronan sort of parallels noah, in that he is not the same lively person we hear about, and he never will be that person again. both are cabeswater personified (although in different ways).

some more things:

"he once had been tight as ticks with his roommate czerny" "only whelk and czerny, treasure hunters and troublemakers" "it was possible that czerny's death wasn't for nothing after all" "[...] his days a ribbon floating aimlessly in water" (in relation to: "he had been a swimmer himself, once") "czerny, you're in a better place than me, i think" "whelk, standing in the wreckage of his life, didn't laugh this time" "the dry, half-eaten burger on the passenger seat / the first fast-food burger he'd had in seven years" "these days, when whelk was trying to comfort himself, he told himself that czerny was a sheep, but sometimes he slipped and remembered him as loyal instead" "[...] took him back to that moment, the skateboard in his hands, the sad question gasped in czerny's dying sounds "we were friends like —"

also, whelk dying in the same place noah did. these lines:

both noah and barrington look the same in the end. broken, rumpled, forgotten. noah's family will never know his bones were reburied outside of their family plot. whelk's mother, however distant she is, will never be notified that her son has died. i think in a way barrington died at the exact same time noah did; something something invited into his body through czerny's death.

basically what i'm getting at is, noah and barry could've been ronan and adam i think, had the circumstances been different. they never will be, but i think about it sometimes.

and there's so many more things i'm not even gonna TRY going into, like noah and whelk both being parallels to gansey (the three of them kings in their own right), or the disparity between whelk talking about czerny vs adele talking about noah, or whatever the fuck is going on with whelk's backstory in general (what's the deal with his mother? how the hell did he get the aglionby job? a random headcanon of mine is that his and noah's search for the ley line lead them to fox way, seven years before the events of the book, and that's partly why whelk refuses to give out his name to maura, because barrington is hard to forget, and easy to trace back)

there is so much to talk about here and i'm so peeved no one is doing it properly... why are we still talking about declan bringing his weekly girlfriend over to monmouth for no reason when we could be talking about whatever the fuck kinda soul-fate-destiny bullshit noah and whelk have!

#i know trc has its villain of the book thing but i am sooo disappointed whelk is never really talked about beyond #the first novel. like he's one of the only tangible links we have to noah's life... he was RIGHT THERE #he's so interesting to me. i rotate him and noah over and over in my head like they're in a microwave #trc #the raven cycle #the raven boys #noah czerny #adam parrish #barrington whelk #ronan lynch

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