#warcats rants

[warcats-cat]

This isn't Twitter, this isn't Instagram, the only thing you're doing is annoying people looking for their specific tag. If your post doesn't specifically include or at least reference the character or thing you are tagging, then don't tag them in it.

Yes, I realize the irony of my saying this and then tagging every iteration of the tags I can think of for this fandom. But I'm frustrated, and I'm tired.

#warcats rants #sanders sides #sasi #ts sides #ts logan #ts roman #ts patton #ts virgil #ts janus #ts remus #logan sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #thomas sanders #nico flores #sasi logan #sasi roman #sasi patton #sasi virgil #sasi janus #sasi remus #ts morality #ts logic #ts creativity #ts anxiety #ts deciet #ts deceit

[lyendith]

Ciconia no Naku Koro ni Phase 1 : To You, The Replaceable Ones

I had planned to write this… review? analysis? of Ciconia Phase 1 right after finishing the game about two weeks after its release, but since then I've had trouble organizing my thoughts. The reason is that this first installment alone tackles a lot of themes: war, nationalism, technoscientism, media consumption and manipulation, the blurring limits between physical and virtual reality, education systems, generational gaps induced by technology, artificial procreation, old people robbing the youth of their dreams, the meaning of family and interpersonal bonds, and even transidentity (albeit briefly). And it is quite remarkable that almost all of those themes are represented by one object: the Gauntlet and the idea of “parallel processing” associated with it.

It's gonna be a long and messy review, I'll probably forget to mention some aspects of the story or overlook others, and I won't talk about every single character, but I'll try to cover the essential parts. Not easy considering how densely-packed the story is, but let's go!

So to start, I should probably focus on this VN's protagonist, Mitake Miyao. On a surface level, he's a bit of what you'd call a “tsundere”: harsh, a little irritable and sarcastic with his pals, but always well-meaning and easy to befriend in the end. One of the running threads of the story so far is that he's too well-meaning in fact, idealistic to a fault, which contributes to his odd charisma but also makes the increasing realization of his powerlessness all the more depressing. You don't want to see this guy fail, but because of the way the story is framed, you know he inevitably will.

For a while, the narration and dialogue like to repeat that “youngsters are each generation's main characters”, but that's a sentiment I couldn't quite share − in our real world, youngsters may be the ones will all the dreams, but they sure as hell aren't the ones making the decisions. The climate change crisis, for example, wouldn't be left unaddressed if that was the case. And sure enough, Ciconia isn't so naïve as to ignore that reality. Every single step of the way, Miyao thinks he can use his power to overturn the situation. Every single step of the way, he's reminded that in the end he's just a pawn moving however his higher-ups or other nebulous forces wish him to. That's a really powerful and relatable theme in this day and age, which raises the question of how far you can oppose a system you're an essential part of.

One thing that makes Miyao special, at least compared to his pals from the AOU, is that he's “ciconia-born” − born from natural procreation. Which means that unlike Jayden or Gunhild, he has bilogical family bonds but also hasn't been subjected to a genetic selection that would predetermine his path in life. At least supposedly, but we gradually learn that that may not quite be the case. In fact, that biological link to Toujirou ends up acting as a tether that robs Miyao of even more control on his own life than he thought, leading to the final tragedy of this first Phase.

There also lies this story's commentary on technology and man's increasing dependence on it − technology makes the kids' life easier, but it's also their undoing. One technology prevented an apocalypse that another caused, and the loss of the former brings about a new apocalypse. Humans created the 8MS but only a handful of scientists have a full understanding of how it works, just like today's technology are only fully understood by a small elite of technicians. We are increasingly dependent on tools whose principles are increasingly out of our grasp. Again, the Gauntlet is another reflection of that.

But back to Miyao and the Gauntlet Knights. In retrospect, it is clear that the way both the characters and readers learn about most dramatic developments through disincarnated news reports (with a goofy “news flash” alert by the frog AI Keropoyo to make it worse) is meant to build up that feeling of powerlessness, and also of disconnect. We should be alarmed that war is approaching, that terrible things are happening… but it all feels distant. After all, do you cry or tremble in fear when you learn that an eathquake killed a thousand people on the other side of the globe? No, you'll think “it's terrible” for a minute and then move on, because what can you do about it? Reading the second half of Ciconia felt a lot like that. And while that's part of the message, it is also to the detriment of the reading experience a lot of the time.

For a while (around the 60-to-80% portion of the game, roughly) we get a lot of redundant dialogue about commenting the news and Miyao rambling on about how they're all COMRADES MAINTAINING THE WALLS OF PEACE, again and again and again, to the point it becomes annoying. That's my only real gripe with the game − the feeling that, at times, Ryukishi forgot he was writing a story and went into political or philosophical essays about its themes instead. Maybe a manga or anime adaptation could help make these parts more… show-don't-telly. But as it is, it could have used some serious trimming down. That's hardly something entirely new − who can forget Krauss' tangent about 1986 Japan's economic situation or Beatrice's explanation of Hempel's crow? But in Ciconia the narration doesn't seem to come from any specific point of view except that of the author (and even on that front, the opening disclaimer warns us that the views expressed don't necessarily reflect the author's opinions), so those parts become all the more conspicuous. Unless this all turns out to be part of a Witch's game, which wouldn't be surprising.

Where Ciconia shines however, is at weaving a web of connections between the characters, one by one, to make you care about some and suspicious of others, sometimes both, and deliberately confuse you about who really controls whom. First we have the kids, with Warcat and Grave Mole which instantly grew on me (the slice-of-life TIPS focused on them had some of my favorite scenes actually), then the other kette with their own quirky charms… then the “villains”, with Toujirou and Seshat, then the Three Kings and Jestress who has a delightful dynamic with Toujirou, and then Toujirou is revealed to be Miyao's father, etc... It's a testament to how well all of those characters are established that I could remember almost all of them very quickly despite their massive number. Save for the Cairo Squad maybe. They're just kinda there. The (mostly) gorgeous character designs certainly help, even if Ryukishi still has a somewhat loose grasp of body proportions and of the… number of fingers on human hands. There's some improvement even in that department though.

While Miyao is for the most part the center of the cast, at least on the kids' side, that doesn't mean the others aren't interesting in their own right. Jayden is your classic “best buddy dudebro” whose easygoingness lets him bounce off Miyao's more strait-laced personality in a fun way, but his relationship with Meow, Miyao's “little sister” who shares the same body, allows him to show more sensitivity and shyness he would otherwise have. Speaking of Meow, she brings about another interesting element of worldbuilding − the existence of “Congenital Parallel Processors”, or CPPs, i.e. people born with multiple personalities, who are not considered mentally ill but a full-fledged minority with its own issues and “coming outs”. Although that aspect isn't developped much (Meow herself kind of disappears from the radar in the second half), we do get other examples of how it can manifest, notably with the character of Naima, whose unnamed alter-ego is violently protective of her, or Rukshana who's prone to abrupt personality changes when she laughs. The way Jayden kinda walks on eggs but genuinely tris to to treat Meow as her as her own person while respecting her and Miyao's privacy is frankly adorable, and I almost wish we got more of that at least in the TIPs!

The kette I found the most interesting, though, was Grave Mole, composed of Chloe, Lilja and Koshka. While a lot of characters have issues, all three of these girls are complete mental wrecks to some degree. Koshka spends her time between grumpily taking part in Kizuna chat rooms and horrific body experiments (usually simultaneously) when she's not training, Lilja has to take drugs to pretend like she's a happy, cute and mischievous cat-girl for the sake of making Koshka a more-or-less functional human being, and Chloe has to constantly deal with unfair punishments and a constantly battered self-esteem. As comedic as Okonogi's angry rants and karate-chops are played (and as much as I like this version of Okonogi, strangely enough), that scene where she gleefully lets Lilja be killed in battle makes it clear that her mental state is just as unstable as the other two's.

On the antagonists' side, things are a lot more blurry: a lot of them utter the arc phrase “All is in the name of guiding humanity down the right path.” However, what the right path is seems to vary depending on who says it. That's where a lot of the mystery lies − be it with Jestress, Seshat or Toushirou, their goals seem contradictory, and Tak… I mean Vier Dreissig doesn't even seem to have a goal beyond SCIENCE. But a big part of Phase 1's hook is that constant uncertainty as to who is playing whom and for what purpose. Even the Three Kings, who seem like your bog standard Illuminati knock-offs, might not be as much in control as they seem − hell, one of the big catastrophes (the fatal damage to the atmospheric 8MS) happens completely outside of their control, in an almost comically sudden way.

Speaking of comical… let's get to what I found personally fascinating but what other readers might have gripes with: the brutal tonal shifts and dissonances throughout the story. A cheery scene to announce the big success of a plan for the Order of the Public Bath? Keropoyo pops up to gleefully announce… an avalanche of terrible news that make the success from a minute ago meaningless. A big conference for peace where World War IV will most certainly be stopped? All of its participant die in an “accidental” explosion. Not to mention characters that are walking balls of tone dissonance like Chloe (who has many comical scenes but is clearly broken beyond repair) or the Yeladot Shavit girls (who by the end are forced to spew out fanatical bullshit with the same sparkly smile they sport when gushing about yuri ships).

This is of course embodied by the incredible climax where all the Gauntlet Knights celebrate their comraderie together in a virtual room… while their real selves are busy killing each other lest they're court-martialed for treason. The moment where all of Miyao's ideals are brutally trashed and scattered in a battle we don't even know the purpose of. The moment where the kids' taent for “parallel processing” becomes their sole mean of escaping the horror of their situation. The moment where all the absurdity, all the unfairness explodes in a depressing flourish. The moment also where the thematic resonance with Umineko becomes fully apparent − how can we not be reminded of Sayo and Maria escaping their shitty lives through their magic? Though of course Rose Guns Days also constantly came to mind, with the focus on war and nationalism, Japan being divided between a union led by the US and one led by China, and two of Miyao's closest friends being the American Jayden and the Chinese Lingji; as well as Miyao being an idealistic and charismatic leader-by-circumstance whose dreams crash into a wall much like Rose's in RGD.

So…

All in all, Ciconia might not entirely be what I expected from a When They Cry game, but it is certainly what I expect from a 07th Expansion game: a thought-provoking experience. Again, I finished my reading shocked and confused. Although it might seem like it shows its cards more explicitly than the openers of Higurashi and Umineko, deception still plays a big part in the story, even if the interaction with the reader is less direct.

Now there might be no murder mystery for the reader to solve, but that won't stop me from speculating! The invisible turning point to me is the “Proof of a Program” chapter, where Blue Miyao tells Miyao that he'll show him someone's face, and that that will activate Miyao's murder program instantly. Miyao first laughs it off, but then the scene brutally cuts to something that might be a flashback, a flash-forward or a nightmare, maybe all of that at once… The most graphically horrifying scene of the entire game, to the point it's almost at odds with the rest. And then… it's never mentioned again. Not even when Miyao meets again with Blue Miyao. Like it never happened. My theory is that everything Miyao experiences from that point onward is some kind of simulation, and that's where the obligatory When They Cry time loop will come from this time. See you in May for the answer?

That is all for today, folks!

#Ciconia no naku koro ni #Review #Back to Trianthology soon!

[warcats-cat]

Friends. Fellows. Countryfolk. Can we

Please

Go back to tagging for unsympathetic sides? Or even just side negativity? Please?

I'm so tired of going into a tag for a comfort character and seeing a bunch of negativity; and I don't mean like call-out posts. If your fic has unsympathetic sides PLEASE tag it!!!! There are people trying to filter that out because they don't want to see it, like any other squick or trigger!!!

Thank you 💜

#warcats rants #sanders sides #thomas sanders #sanders sides fic #ts fic #virgil sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #ts logan #ts virgil #ts patton #ts roman #ts janus #ts remus #please im literally begging #i dont want to start reading something and get whacked in theel face with a squick #its not a good feeling #just like i always invite people to ask me to add tags to my own fic #tumblr fic

[warcats-cat]

Am sick send cookie

#warcats rambles #warcats rants #tw sick mention #im coughing and hacking #i hate being sick sm #my mom came home and just coughed on everything #and she coughs *into her hands* so it gets everywhere #its so gross #and i keep askin her to stop #and she just says “im forgetful” and doesnt even try

[warcats-cat]

Please don't tag characters that aren't in your fic. Tumblr and AO3 are not Twitter and Instagram. It's just rude.

#warcats rants #fanfic #fanfic writing #yet another rant about tagging things #sanders sides #thomas sanders #sanders sides fic #*exhausted sigh*

[warcats-cat]

Ok y'all. I'm mad.

See, Youtooz teased the mini plushies a while ago, and I've been super excited. But then, I realized they would probably be sold as blind boxes, which is annoying, but whatever. I figured I could buy a few and then find other fanders to trade with.

And THEN, I see the preorder page, and I see this shit.

$29.99 USD. For ONE 6 inch plushie, that you don't even get to pick. Anyone remember how much the original 9 inch plushies cost? Because I do!

What kind of ass backwards entitled bullshit is this?????? They really want to charge us almost $30 USD for MINIATURE plushies THAT WE DON'T EVEN GET TO PICK?????? AND THEN HAVE THE AUDACITY TO OFFER A "DISCOUNT" IF YOU BUY THE FULL SET OF FIVE FOR $100 USD.

And look, I don't know or care if this is directly Thomas's fault. Maybe it's just Youtooz being a shitty greedy company. I remember the FNAF Sun and Moon plushies were $30 each. But those also had magnets in them, so you could pin them to your shoulders/bags/whatever and show them off; so I figured that's what caused the higher price tag.

It just astounds me that a creator like Thomas who claims to be so fan focused would agree to so much of a rip off. I really really hope for his sake and the sake of us as a fandom that this decision wasn't his, because it's gonna reflect really badly if it was.

#warcats rants #ts criticism #ts critical #thomas sanders #thomas sanders critical #youtooz #greed #tw language #so angry right now #i knew it i knew they would be blind boxes #literally the shittiest way to sell merch #might as well tell people you only see them as cash flow #i hope so so much he didnt set the price #i know youtooz is the manufacturer #but i also know thomas gets a cut of the profit #watch me post this at midnight #then go to bed and wake up with death threats in my inbox #brb gotta turn off anon #does anyone else see this as sketchy? #or just me? #>.> #sanders sides #sanders sides plushies #also i have a gut feeling #theres gonna be a lot of mini thomas's on ebay #a few months after release #which -not sorry- that would be so funny #how to tell what your audience really wants #there were two for sale on mercari after the original size plushies dropped #literally the day after i got my first delivery

[warcats-cat]

Tumblr is a functioning app....

These don't go away unless I purposely dismiss them and even then they shrink down into a tray. I timed one out for twenty minutes and it didn't budge.

What the fuck.

#warcats rants #tumblr code #bad tumblr #bad tumblr functions #bad features #hellsite derogatory #staff fix your shit #also get rid of Tumblr live #no one wants it

[warcats-cat]

I think I'd be ok with some aliens keeping me as a pet or a zoo animal as long as I could get some damn enrichment in my enclosure 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

#warcats rants #i need enrichment!!! #and tasty healthy food!!! #and my bank account is currently -12!!!! #because student loans are stupid!!!! #and medical debt is stupid!!!!! #i wanna be a cat!!! #or a guinea pig!!!! #fuck this being human capitalism shit!!!! #or a chinchilla!!!!!

[warcats-cat]

I'm gonna cry someone left two day old shrump soup in the bucket at work and I volunteered to clean it out because my coworker is allergic and then the lid came off the bucket and the soup went everywhere including all over me and I have no change of clothes so I'm just a mess and I smell like rotten soup

#warcats rants #crying actually

[warcats-cat]

Thank you @staff for changing the Tumblr Live snooze from 7 to 30 days....

And then just. *Not* removing it on mobile when you try to "snooze" it....

Really appreciate the fake features <3

#warcats rants #shitty tumblr updates #tumblr live #snooze tumblr live #mobile vs desktop #why cant they just make it go away #staff why

[warcats-cat]

The fact that each of these came in individual shipping boxes and has a tear-open seal doesn't bode well to me. I spent the upcharge to get one of each, guaranteed.

I didn't even get a notice from youtooz that these had *been* shipped, I had to email their support team and ask about it. If they all have been shipped, I should get two more.

The only thing giving me a little bit of confidence is that all of the boxes have a UPC code ending in a different number, which theoretically means they're each a different product. It might kill me but I'm going to wait on the other two before opening any of them, and in the meantime I'm going to email youtooz support again.

Has anyone else received theirs? Any news?

#warcats rambles #warcats rants #could be either lol #thomas sanders #sanders sides #sanders sides plush #ts plush #ts plushies

[warcats-cat]

Tw illness/whining:

My mom came home sick and coughed into her hands for two days because she claims to be "from a different generation" and "not know any better" so of course because she was touching everything in the house and my immune system reacts like water on a grease fire I also have whatever the fuck it is, and I have it way *worse* than she did, and now I've already missed one day of work and might miss two.

Which wouldn't be terrible if I didn't have the immune system of a little Victorian boy that makes me dizzy and pass out when the wind blows too hard, so I've already missed like one day a week every other week since December.

And let's not even *talk* about December...

I have to work today I have no coverage but I know I'm gonna get there, my boss is gonna hear me cough *once* and send me home as a health and safety hazard. So I'm gonna waste that gas that I can't afford.

I hate being sick I hate having been socialized to push through illness and weakness for *the greater good* of the company masters who don't give a shit about me. All I wanna do is curl up with a blankie and be cuddled a little. Is that really so much to ask???

#warcats rants #tw illness #my eyes are leaking non stop #i literally cant see because i cant wear ky glasses #i put a thick mask on because it makes the air warmer #hoping that would help my sinuses a little #i want to die

[warcats-cat]

Could do with some good news tonight friends.

#warcats rants #feeling the bad

[warcats-cat]

Congratulations buddy that's the worst anybody's ever done it.

#warcats rants #spam bots #spam dm #clearly the emojis didnt translate #opening thus was low key hilarious

[warcats-cat]

>.> Love it when Tumblr just. Doesn't filter out the post with the exact tag I have asked it to filter. Same spelling and spaces and everything. Really appreciate that just so much.

#warcats rants

[warcats-cat]

Anybody else when they get overloaded and someone talking to you all slow and whisper-y just makes you more anxious because I'm having an Anxiety Attack and it's 2 am so I'd like to sleep but all the guided meditation/calm down videos are making it significantly Worse.

#warcats rants #i can feel my muscles twitching #i am doing deep breathing but thats making me more anxous avout my breathing #i just want to sleep