#which is why it took me a minute

[samssims]

Hi Sam! I was wondering if I could ask for some advice on how to make simblr fun again? I love storytelling (it's how I have fun with the game) but lately with writing posts and even in game, I just find myself stressing over if it's good/interesting enough or if I took good screenshots, if my writing is good, etc. I love this game and sharing my stories with this community, so it sucks to feel like this. Thank you sm ♥

Oh Nonny, how I feel this pain. I wish I had a sure fire answer to this but sadly there isn't just one thing that will work.

I will put some advice below for some things that have worked for me in my experience if you're interested in trying them out to try to find that spark again!

Now I have been on tumblr sharing my sims since 2013 so I have seen the community change a lot. Things change, people come and go, it's just the natural way of things. So a lot of the time your community can change around you and so a few years ago sims storytelling was really popular and it was the thing everyone was doing. And I mean everyone.

But now things have sort of fallen off or shifted and there is no shame in that for those who moved onto other things and hobbies. Sims storytelling, at it's core, is a hobby. No one is making money off of it (unless you write it all down and get it published in which case, hell yeah go you!)

That being said, finding your spark again is going to be finding what YOU like about storytelling in the sims.

So here are some tips you can try out in the game to keep it fresh and exciting:

Play the Game

The game has changed a lot and added a lot. It came out in 2014. It's about to be 10 years old. With expansions still being added. Honestly having a family where you can just play through what the game offers you can offer inspiration on how to use in game things for story related things later on.

I have found having a lowkey gameplay (for yourself or even for your blog if you are posting) is an easy way to stay active in the community while keeping things low stakes and casual for yourself while you work on finding your spark again.

Change Up your Post Style

Idk about you Nonny, but nothing gets me less motivated than having to edit photos. If I could just point, shoot, and post, I would have content coming out my ears. Which is what I started doing with my Princess Legacy. All I do is crop it. I add some things here and there but really it's all pretty much easy.

Now I have done it all.

Prose on photos.

Prose under photos:

Icons Only:

Gameplay Only:

And finally just cropped:

Now what is the best? That is personal preference especially for the project you are doing. However I have definitely discovered the crop method to be SUPER helpful.

It makes me not have to worry about the whole photo. Sometimes I have this SUPER awesome detail in the back of a photo but when I crop them I lose all that. Which is not good for storytelling lets be honest but does force me to focus on what is actually important in the shot.

Example: Here is the full cottage photo from above You can see that I cropped out a lot of the cottage in favor of being able to see the deer and swans as i thought that was more a cozy fairytale vibe than just the cottage itself. I lost a lot of this detail yet the point still came across.

TBH the paired crop photos also makes me cut out a lot of access photos if they don't have a pair. It's sort of made me realize how much I don't need to take screenshots of. Though I am definitely an overtaker of photos so I always have plenty to choose from. Sometimes I even queue them then look back and realize they aren't needed and delete. It's humbled me a bit.

I could break down every one of these posting styles but that's a whole other thing you didn't ask about.

TLDR of this section is to experiment with how you post. You can have a lot of fun with that.

If Something is Boring, Skip it.

Do you hate the infant stage? Age them past it. Do you hate the winter months in game? Set seasons to never have winter. Do you hate in game holidays ruining your plans? Delete them all from your calendar. Is it a crucial part to your story? Not anymore. Write around it. Or find some creative angles and dialogue to write over it.

Make the game fit you!

Follow the Inspo

Have inspiration to make a new sim in CAS? Do it! Want to make a whole new save? Have an idea for one scene that could start a whole story but you have nothing else for it? DO IT!!!

The game is supposed to be fun. If you have inspiration for a project, live in it. Have fun with it.

But Sam, what if only lasts 2 weeks and I never touch it again?

Me too, babes. Happens to me all the time. Own it. Keep it around in case you want to mess with it later. Have 10 million saves. It's your life and if it brings you a moment of joy to work on it, then it totally is worth it.

If you want to be like me: Be chaotic and post it too. Then private the posts later when you decide to never touch it again. Never delete tho. I always tend to regret deleted things.

Find Your Community

You should ultimately write and create for yourself, but find others who are doing it too! Lift them up as well! Use one day a week on your blog to give reblogs or shoutouts to your fellow creators and writers! It's all about lifting each other up and making friends who all have the same hobby as us.

Try New Challenges

A lot of my sims storytelling started from inspiration around legacy challenges. I loved to take challenge rules and figure out how to make a story around them. But remember: Rules are made to be broken. Especially in favor of a good story.

If you are working on a current challenge/story, find another to merge with it or to give yourself a heck of a fun plot twist. There are no rules!

Have Fun!

This is sort of the whole crux of it, right? And if you're not having fun then...

Take a Break

You are not beholden to your queue! Let it die out! Disappear for 6 months. Return when you want. Go play Animal Crossing or BG3 or whatever it is at the moment. Sims is a hobby. But it does not have to be your ONLY hobby. Let your brain rest.

In my case, whenever I leave the sims I am always filled with ideas and ready to come back in like 3 days.

This could also mean take a break from your save too. Maybe spend some time in CAS. Or in build mode. Or cleaning out your mods. You can still do sims things while letting your story brain rest.

TLDR:

There is no right answer for this, Nonny. I promise your photos are all gorgeous and your story is wonderful! But creativity like anything ebbs and flows so give yourself that grace to let yourself rest and just enjoy the game again, or enjoy time away from it! You deserve it you superstar creator!

#Sam Speaks #nonsims #looooong post #so sorry I got carried away #had to wait to get to my laptop to answer this one #which is why it took me a minute #hope you find your spark nonny!

[fingolfinwiththesteelchair]

It is a beautiful day, and you are a horrible research transport vessel. Things are progressing as normal (i.e. it's boring) when a SecUnit pings you, lies right to your metaphorical face, and then tries to bribe you with human media to give it a ride. This is as unexpected as it is unprecedented, and the sheer nerve of it is really to be admired. There's no protocol to this, so what should you do?

Now, this is against a bunch of rules, and could be dangerous if you weren't so impressive and incredible, and you're technically an employee (and can probably rewrite the Univeristy charter at will (until someone notices and puts it back)) so those rules are for other entities.

So, what you should do is allow the rogue SecUnit with a broken governor module and a sketchy story aboard. If you check the files it dumps and find zero (0) malware (which is confusing), and it doesn't even try to trash the place or lay in wait to ambush a crew member, then you've got a good candidate!

Next, what you're going to want to do is absolutely nothing. Just watch it patrol your halls until it's time to leave. Continue staring at it while you're undergoing embarkment procedures. Maybe analyze it a little (you've got plenty of processing power to spare) when it finally sits down and starts watching media. Allow it to settle in and get comfortable while you stare at it and get further and further from port.

Now that you two are alone (intimacy is key!) and you've determined that watching media is all the SecUnit is going to do, it's time to make contact! Make sure to open by telling it it's only survived due to dumb luck, and letting it know you could melt its brain into putty. This starter will work to develop conversation naturally and smoothly, just like you've seen the humans do, and it will be smooth sailing from there!

This has been Perihelion's guide to making friends/finding life partners/fuck off Holism I had to work hard for this find your own

#murderbot diaries #murderbot #perihelion #it was not smooth sailing #it took ART about ten minutes to get secunit into a snit so bad it shut down out of spite #but they make it work somehow #tbh despite the rocky start if ART weren’t so ART i don't think the relationship would have lasted #ART is overbearing and kind of a bully and it earned its nickname very well #but i think thats why secunit can get along with it because it comes across as more genuine #mb was distrustful and a little patronizing to miki so while they COULD have been friends if canon hadn't happened it took it until miki #died to realize miki was being genuine about the friendship #whereas with ART MB can be like what we have is weird and I'm not gonna put a label on it #these tags have gotten away from me #anyway can you imagine ART having to explain to Iris and Seth WHY it let SecUnit on?? #like it could have justified it any which way but at the end of the day art was bored and then curious and then intrigued

[meguchi512]

i made this self portrait. just a glimpse into my sick and twisted reality. not like you'd understand anyways

BORN TO SWIM

WORLD IS A WATER

オランダ獅子頭 BLIND Em All 1989

I am oranda man

410,757,864,530 DEAD COPS

#this one took me 29 minutes which is half of what it usually takes for me to make something #there's no lineart tho so that may be why #also i did the math and i slept like #56.25% of what an average adult sleeps #also apparently teenagers should be sleeping like 10 hours instead of 8 so uh #my english may not English properly #art #my art #digital art #digital illustration #digital drawing #artists on tumblr #digital artist #fishblr #WAIT FISHBLR EXISTS peace and love on planet earth #fishposting #fish drawing #oranda goldfish

[luck-of-the-drawings]

OH ARTHUR BENNETT.. such a gorgeous and intriguing character. terribly burdened by a GRUESOME set of crimes, his light suffocated by a HEAVY century of GUILT. so tragic, so dark and broody, and yet PAINFULLY awkward in any social setting ever

#jrwi fanart #cw blood #jrwi show #jrwi suckening #arthur bennett #OUHH THIS ONE WAS SITTING IN MY WIPS FOR SO LOOOONGwhen i took it out there was mould on it :sob: #BUT i think i was able to fix it up okay #i keep seeing SO MANY MISTAKES RRAAAHHH BUT YOU DONT SEE THEM RIGHT?? THATS ONLY ME. RIGHT?? EXACTLY. #THE KEY IS TO SAY. AND REPEAT AFTER ME. 'FUUUCK IT WE BALL #so anyway. arthur bennett huh? grizzly says that arthur is reaal fuckin difficult to play. and i SUPER get that. i mean LOOK AT HIM.. #grizz often needs a minute to think abt what hes gonna say in a way that matches w that Stoic Personality. which is FAIR but also that #ends up making way for awkward confrontations like: the lady in the parky lot. he took too long to answer and scared her away.& I LOVE THAT #arthur is tragic and sad and cool and stoic but hes ALSO awkward and silly and kinda dumb and short sighted. HE HAS COMPLEXITIES #I LOVE WHEN TTRPG CHARACTERS HAVE A GOOD SET OF SHORTCOMINGS. ESPECIALLY WHEN U FIND THEM ONLY AS U PLAY THEM. #I COULd go on and on saying the same things w different words abt arthurs intriguing and entertaining character but i shall spare u. for no #ILL ALSO MENTION HOW MUCH I LOVE HIS FLAVOR THO.. I LOVE TALL HOT BOY WHOS ONE W THE DARKNESS.. I REMEMBER WHEN HE FIRST MENTIONED THE #BADLUCK. N I WAS LIKE OOOHH THATS WHY HIS DESIGN IS SO COOL N CHAOTIC N ASYMMETRICAL. HES UNLUCKY!!! i love love love his design so much... #GRaaauruguguraguhhghghgh what else what else is there for me to spew on abt...i think im reachin a limit here..OH MAGNUS. i hope that #we get to know more abt how magnus and arthur met.. like How they became besties... ouuhh... I ALSO WANNA KNOW MORE ABT MARY DAVIS. LIKEHOW #he also apparently spent alotta time in a zone dominated by edward twilight? all he remembers is constant partying? I WANNA KNOW MORE.. #i think i got room 4 one more ramble SO. THE ART PIECE.as i said its gone a lil stale BUT. im still very proud o the bits where hes allScar #I WANNA SEE HIM GET SCARYMORE. I like the idea of shadows solidifying to make him strange and eerie.like TEETH n CLAWS n SPINES n YESS #also the SILVER EYES.no1 does silver eyes like the show Claymore. they make em look so striking and eerie...i also like to think that #human arthur had deep beautiful brown eyes.just in my beaitufl heart.i mean look at him..i wanna cook him n eat him.ANYWAY #i think thats all my ramblin for this piece. now i gotta go cancel a single day i had ata hotel bc my work schedule change last minute FUCK #feel free to ramble in my tags aswell tho i read all of them and i chew on thenm and i love them so sos os mcuh

[shokupanko]

First Fukase Friday of 2024! This one took 5hrs lol I wanna to be so extra (─‿─)

#vocaloid #art #fanart #vocaart #fukase #procreate #fukase friday #FIVE HOURS OF MY LIFE #But actually I was working on it for a week on then off so the total time was 5 hours and 11 minutes of insanity #I love creating new outfits so much like designing clothes is sm fun #I was trying to make it steampunk but then it started looking harajuku now I have no idea what it is lol #I feel bad that I had nothing for his birthday but I’m always late for VocalSynth birthdays anyway sooooi #ALSO I SAW THAT SOMEONE SAID MY ART INSPIRES THEM AND OMG I’VE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPH #I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH I MISSED YOUUUUUUUU #I tried to make this extra extra detailed which is why it took so long #usually I finished artworks in like an hour hour and a half #but I wanted this one to be ✨special✨ #ALSO can I just say January was like the hardest month of my life? it was so mentally draining and exhausting #I started spending more time with my siblings and now I can’t get away from them lol I love them with my whole soul #no like fr they keep me going and I’ve never been happier #maybe isolating yourself when you’re sad ISNT a good idea and you SHOULD socialize? #I’m big dumb okay #anyway happy Fukase Friday and belated birthday to my special boy #ALSO I REALIZED THAT I’VE NEVER DRAWN HIM WITH HIS MARK???? WHY????

[oakleaf--bearer]

#malevolent #this took me like 20 minutes which is why it's a bit shit #im gonna draw them properly soon :) #this has definitely been done before #but alas #two cakes and all that

[alexcabotgf]

not to be true crime posting on main but i think i'm falling down the wm3 rabbit hole again

#xenia.txt #when i tell you this case keeps me up at night to this day #not even the murders themselves as much as the general public's reception to and opinions on the case 3 decades later like #i get why it;s always been so divisive especially after the pl docus came out (lots of opinions on those btw none of them are good #from the bottom of my heart fuck you joe berlinger and bruce sinofsky) #but it's truly baffling how no one is willing to do the research on what is arguably THE most well documented true crime case in recent #history like. everything that's ever been released to the general public is available online and i mean everything #you can find all the court files trial transcripts depositions interogation tapes aerial photos you name it it's out there for anyone with #internet connection to access at any and all hours of the day #and yet people are still foaming at the mouth fighting on reddit abt their innocence based off nothing but a couple of movies like #bffr with me right now!! almost every point the innocenters make can be easily debunked by scrolling through callahan for 15 minutes #'but they've been pushing for dna testing since their release so they can't be guilty' baby the case is closed! #it's been closed the second they took the plea. they can be striking under that courthouse and it still won't change a thing and they knowi #that's why they're pushing for it in the first place but that's just my opinion #^ and i say they but it's really only echols which makes a lot of sense to me personally #and if you want to talk abt dna testing let's talk abt the one that was done in 2011 and how the defense hurried to propose the plea as soo #as they got the results! let's talk abt those cause no one's ever seen them and i would very much like to #braga share the results the people want to know!! #makes me wonder which pieces of evidence they even submitted for that 2011 testing because if i'm remembering correctly #there was one that would've closed this case instantly and maybe that's why the results were never disclosed and the plea was rushed #but that's also just my opinion #and it's also interesting how the majority of people who have in fact deep dived into this case #(and i'm not talking abt big true crime youtubers as i'm very sceptical abt their research abilities) #all collectively lean towards guilty. much to think about #i was hoping someone would make another ~actually~ unbiased documentary for the 30th anniversary and go over all the case files #but i don't think that's even realistic at this point seeing as everyone and their mother has some sort of an opinion on this case #hbo deserves another lawsuit for this. they should've never won the first one in the first place #true crime tw

[anna-scribbles]

for the wip ask game: I'm dying to know what brush strokes means!!

something about art as a form of love and the metaphorical crossing of art mediums (writing and painting) gets me all sentimental 🥺✨

it's an old ladrien wip, the title is from a lyric of the phoebe bridgers song ICU!! (If you’re a work of art / I’m standing too close / I can see the brushstrokes)

Adrien slid her a half-smile, the one where the left corner of his mouth teased up a fraction higher than the right corner, his top row of teeth just barely peeking through his lips. His skin shone as smooth as paper with just the shadow of a smile line etched on his left cheek, and Marinette was struck suddenly with the image of Adrien as an old man with golden skin and silver hair and one singular wrinkle creased down his that cheek from years upon years of smiling that way. It was funny; for all the planning Marinette had done about their future, she’d never actually pictured Adrien old before. The image was nearly impossible to hold onto—like how you hear when you’re little that one day in a billion years the sun will explode, the sort of thing that is true only in the most technical, impersonal sense. Of course Adrien would grow old; of course the universe would explode one day. Youth seemed so inherent to Adrien Agreste, so baked into his golden hue, that Marinette felt a pit in her stomach start to take shape. Wasn’t it—didn’t the brightest stars burn the fastest, or something?  Her face must have done something strange, because Adrien’s smile slipped a little. He opened his mouth to say something, but Marinette beat him to the punch. “You can—I mean, you don’t have to, like—” She sputtered and sighed, resisted the urge to fidget. “You can smile.”  Adrien quirked up an eyebrow—his right eyebrow; Marinette added a second wrinkle to her mental image—and tilted his chin. “Ladybug, are you telling me to smile more?”

(wip ask game)

#the concept for this one became outdated kind of immediately which is maybe why it got shelved lol #I took the first concept of the alliance ring and shaped it to fit my ladrien purposes #ICU is so ladrien to me.....listening to that song puts me in a coma #ml #asks #anna rambles #one thing about me is that i'll be describing adrien smiling. in minute detail

[tricksterlatte]

Anyone else think short form social media based on algorithms designed to promote topics that create more engagement instead of more joy, the idea of fast fashion but conveyed through social media, and the fact you can monetize suffering and outrage better than ever has largely resulted in the death spiral of media literacy and the mass emergence of bad faith readings?

#I may be venting a lil but god it blows my mind #fyp is a blessing and a curse because i don't think ppl were ever meant to be subjected to this many ppl at once #god i took a bird site hiatus for weeks and now BARELY check it and it already feels like a hit #oughhhhh #even fandom spaces have hugely incorporated marketing and networking into them bc of cmms and sponsorship and building portfolio #which would be fine tbh if it weren't for the way socmed is designed #now it's like you can't support too many ppl or else you're shadow banned or you have to make yourself palatable and marketable #and websites with threads in which people will only read the first post before qrting because ratios are seen as five minutes of fame #features that permit beating an algorithm are locked behind a paywall that promises you money if you go viral #and what goes viral is usually incendiary content meant for those ratios or trends. whether for or against OP #even in hobbyist spaces the climate has changed so much due to the monetization and marketing and just. ugh #not to mention side accounts dedicated to gossip in this new priv account culture like...idk #if you have to make another account so you can make fun of a friend on main with selected priv friends it just doesn't sit well with me #and not every priv account does this but enough do and it makes me tired #unsolicited hate comments are still as bad as they used to be on ff dot net except now people openly are proud of it more #why do most socmed feel like passive aggressive sticky notes on high school lockers #there is so much more I could say about everything that has left me weary about the internet but I don't know the time or place #and I don't want anyone to think this is about them because it's a general statement. though if you are doing the more inflammatory things. #maybe rethink that. it's not good for anyone else and it's not good for you either #I keep coming back online to check on ppl and see art and I *know* it's draining for my health every time #but I feel a lot better now that i use socmed less overall. and that I try to focus on what makes me happy #it just sucks seeing so many people i care about endure absolutely wild struggles bc people online do not care. #I like rambling in my tags because this is the only place I ramble except my personal journal and to my wife

[desicowgirl]

I am very much the type of friend to send my friends overly sappy cutsey lovey emotional messages saying how much I love & appreciate them but then the second they send one back I all of a sudden don’t know how to handle intimacy and get all grossed out.

#please tell me I am not the only one who is like this 🥲 #its like I can love you but don’t love me back you sicko???? WHICH MAKES ZERO SENSE #basically #I have a friend who isn’t a very expressive person about her feelings #but I am always sending her good morning messages saying I love her and adore her stuff like that #well she just sent me one and it took me of all people 16 minutes to figure out how to respond #I was like oh uh that’s nice thanks girl #😭😭😭 #why am I like this 🤌🏼 #m's mind

[relaxxattack]

HI ashen quad guy again, sorry !! 😭 i got a bit busy. unskippable cutscene unlocked.

so i have noticed that , as a fandom , theres seems to be a kind of universal perception (and subsequent disregard for) of the ashen quadrant, and i have been dissecting it a little! my point essentially boils down to: ashen romance, while frequently portrayed as born purely out of social necessity, is its own fully fledged romance that should be separated from moirallegience and kismesissitude in our minds.

so with flushed and pitch romance, while born from VERY different feelings, they are both generally rooted in physical desire. and looking at the conciliatory quadrants, i feel like it is not out of line to assume they could be two very separate romances rooted in similar feelings. which in this case would be protective, pitying feelings.

so what is auspisticism? as it is defined in homestuck, it is a relationship where two trolls are for some reason unable to enter a fully fledged kismesissitude, and a third troll enters the relationship to mediate. it serves a crucial social function, though there is no reason to assume it isnt born through real romantic feelings. if we take a look at the other conciliatory quadrant, moirallegience also serves to soothe the violence highbloods are prone to, however few around these parts would deny that moirallegience is a emotionally fulfulling romantic relationship.

ashen relationships can be socially necessary when one or both inner leaves already have a kismesis, or it would threaten the social situation (ex: two coworkers attempt to become kismeses). however, it also becomes necessary when the problem is with the rivalry itself! if its unbalanced in one trolls favor, if one troll hates the other more than they do, or if the kismesissitude becomes physically dangerous for the two parties, the relationship could benefit from an auspistice.

so what would ashen feelings look like? if im being honest, i feel like a small part of the collective understanding of auspisticism comes from how polyamory tends to be portrayed. as in, the relationship is seen as one unit, rather than three individual dynamics. ashen feelings, similar to pale feelings, comes from feelings of protectiveness for another troll. in this case, two trolls! similar to kismesissitude, it comes from generally negative emotion. combining that, you end up with feelings of annoyance directed at these two trolls who will not stop going at each others throats, because holy hell cant they see this is not good for them, ok someone needs to step in here, holy shit. it is mutual irritation, and as my favorite fic of all time (miracle child by bramblepatch on ao3) says, "isn't that what an auspistice is for, to do things that he minds so that his co-auspicetee won't do things that he hates?"

in conclusion! ashen romance is so much more than just a social obligation that gets in the way of a proper kismesissitude. it can be as fulfilling as pitch and pale romance, and encompasses a WIDE range of dynamics. dynamics that could be fascinating to explore when we accept that ashen romance is its own sort of unique romantic attraction! all this to say this is how sollux ♧ karkat ♧ eridan can still win

THE END HIT ME LIKE A TRUCK LMAOO but yes all of this is really good!! ashen romance is DEFINITELY for real it’s own thing and i really like the delicate sort of “this is hate but it’s ashen hate” type of thing

like some people will sometimes represent auspisticism as like… “oh you poor guys i’m so worried about you 🥺” which. while i get where they got that from that is NOT hate, that’s pity, and the whole point of auspisticism is that it’s conciliatory hate— MOIRALLEGIANCE is conciliatory pity. ashen hate is still hate, so yeah it would be more like “what the fuck is up with you two you need to cut this shit out”.

all in all! very good analysis!! more quadrant dynamics need to be explored in general, but ESPECIALLY in the ashen department.

#also no worries! ive been very busy too which is why it took me a fat minute to be able to sit down and read this 😭 #auspisticism #quadrants #op

[fooltofancy]

okay she's finished i'm not allowed to touch her any more.

#mostly because something is fucky with my install or plugins or something because floating things specifically on walls is very broken #which was not an issue i've ever had before #like not even og glitches are working lmao idk what i did with this install #i can't think of another mod that would fuck with that specifically #or if it's a new bdth thing that's fucked idk idk #it took me like fifteen minutes to float a window lmao #was gonna float some kitchen things on the fireplace as well but good god was that not happening #not allowed to put things on walls #i think it's explicitly bdth but idk how or why #ive never had issues with it before #ffxiv housing #baby mode blogging #i love the pieces of the crystarium stove more than almost any other housing item in the game #but it is so awkward without so much help lmao #wish i could angle the fireplace more into that side wall #but i'm v attached to the little table and it's too wide #weird angles forever

[daz4i]

bored so i’m looking for shit to overanalyze. anyway you know how nikolai has the 3 diamonds thingie on his eye. and how the diamonds suit can be switched with pentacles in tarot. anyway

upright this card has nothing to do with him (tldr: teamwork, collaboration, learning, implementation. maybe that last one...? if you stretch it) but reversed it’s p much all on point imo. this part^ is more for the doa in general. they literally all have different goals, but like, theoretically, i can see why the other 4 would work on the same things bc at the end of the day it can help them in some way. but not nikolai. he always stands out to me the most in that regard, bc his personal goal is the literal opposite of what the doa’s trying to achieve

this is interesting to me, bc we are first introduced to him when he’s disguised as a government worker that’s definitely overlooked by his superiors, BUT even in the doa he was meant to do his part of the plan then die. he really is basically meant to sacrifice everything for this plan and not even live to see its fruits, and there’s no way for him to further his own personal agenda either

at the end of the day, he went against the plan and saved himself, then went against it again by saving sigma all on his own, AND he’s the one breaking fyodor and dazai out of prison (even if. um. in his own unique way). every time we see him, he works alone. the most he does is drag sigma around with him, but not really involve him in anything actively outside of simple mundane things, never actually letting him in on it

NOW! and interesting thing i thought about, is that the upright meaning of this card is actually more aligned with the plans fyodor has for the doa. his plan relies on collaboration and everyone doing their part. and i thought, “wouldn’t it be funny if fyodor had a 3 of diamonds thing going on too”. and!

this is the card his game with ace ended on! what a crazy coincidence amiright. (i WILL say tho that’s not the case in the anime)

i mentioned a tldr of what the three of pentacles is, but to go in a bit more length, it’s everyone doing their role and bringing their best to the table. everyone is at different levels of experience and skill, but if they work as a team, they will bring the best out of each other.

i think this is def what fyodor’s going for. for example, he thinks sigma’s lack of history is his strength. he sees his lack of experience as something that contributes to his plan, and he’s willing to work with that. if anything, fyodor is closer to fitting the meaning of the three of pentacles

now. the thing about playing cards is they don’t really have a reversed form, they’re always upright. when we first meet nikolai - out of disguise - he does seem to fit that idea, talking excitedly about why he joined the decay of angels. but... we also see that his words are written by The Page. no better way to implement teamwork than controlling your coworkers’ actions!

there’s this theory running around that whenever nikolai has his eye cover off, that means he’s being his true self. if you wanna go into symbolism, you could say that working with a team - the meaning of the upright three of pentacles, or, the three of diamonds, the symbol literally covering his eye - is what’s diverting his eyes from his true goal, and only when he takes it off - becomes the reversed meaning of it - can he be himself and work towards what he wants.

you could also say, to an extent, that his attachment to fyodor is the thing that’s blinding him, and that this is the reason he wants to kill him and be free. to support this idea, he quite literally removes it when talking about it

the thing holding him back from going and achieving what he wants, the thing holding him back from true free will, the one who planned for him to die, the one whose plans involved nikolai’s actions to be written in the book. his attachment to fyodor. that’s why he has to kill him to achieve freedom

i’m not sure how to transition into the next thing, but this official art

becomes even more interesting to me in the context i’ve laid out so far. this is naturally designed to look like a card, one of the royals specifically, and i doubt that’s not intentional

well. we’ve just said that fyodor (or at least, his plan with the doa, which i’d say is his connecting thing to nikolai from his personal perspective) and nikolai are the inverted meanings of the same card. but the interesting thing is how nikolai’s the one upright in this one, and fyodor “reversed”. this might just be bc nikolai’s the more recent character so he needed high quality art to show off his design for the first time, but... ig if i stretch things again (which, tbf, this entire post is one big stretch lmao, so what’s another small one), his goals are more aligned with the protagonists - free will for all of humanity, rather than peace at the price of everyone being mind controlled. also killing fyodor lol. it could simply mean that this reversed meaning is the “correct” one, in the context of the story.

anyway, i’m not sure how to end this post, but i hope you enjoyed this blurb of words and maybe took something from it to add to your own future theories or analysis of either of them/their relationship 😌

#this is. by far my most unhinged post abt nikolai. which is why i'm tagging this one #bsd gogol #bsd analysis #fyolai #you can probably tell i just typed as i got more ideas and didn't go back to change stuff #so i'm sorry for how messy this is lol #long post #dan rambles #this started as me being bored and thinking i'm gonna explain quickly what 3 of diamonds could mean in his context in 5 minutes #but no. i had to turn it into a whole conspiracy. as i often tend to do #shoutout to anyone who read this. took more than an hour to write lol

[fordanoia]

"My next project will be compiling all the little symbols/numbers/etc. into an image-heavy google doc to discover whatever secrets remain. (Don’t expect that sucker until 2023.)" What came of this?

You know that phenomenon with light traveling through space, and how basically when we're looking at the night sky the stars we're seeing aren't how the stars actually currently look. It's how they looked years and years ago, and because of how much time light travel takes across that much space, that's how far back we're seeing.

So anyway I'm in a different dimension and that doc already definitely exists and is just taking a really long time to get to your end!

-

Nah, but oooh thank you for the reminder actually. This would be a really good project to finish before the Book of Bill releases. Especially for whatever we might get in that book...

#answered #fordatalk #u:anon #anon #made me think back on 2023 to try to remember what all happened #bc i remember i've been hella inactive this past year #took me a couple minutes before i realized a particular thing actually started back all the way in aug 2022 #which is wild to think about bc that in of itself took me a year #then the last few months of 2023 was just busy from various things that were actually Good! #... I wonder if i can finish ITISY by Feb 19th #OH! also i've been thinking about doing the choose your own adventure book by using text extraction #i could do that on pretty much every gf book exCEPT FOR THE ONE WHERE FORD WRITES IN /FRIGGIN CURSIVE/ #WHY MAN #i mean heck it being cursive was one of the many reasons i wanted to transcribe j3 but oh my gosh #happy stanuary btw!

[derpinette]

whenever a guy approaches me i start wishing i had a giant forehead tattoo that reads "I AM NOT & WILL NEVER EVER BE INTERESTED LEAVE ME ALONE PERMANENTLY" so i could flash it at them

#you know since i have bangs #just leave me alone freakazoid LEAVE ME ALOOOONEEEEE #they always say i seem scared Hm probably because i am now PISS OFF #guy two days ago ( skipping today & had a free day yesterday ) entered the same class as me & tried to chat me up #did not look back at him or bother to remember his name but i shook his hand:-/ i feel compelled to not leave people hanging #felt like self immolating after He was like are you always this stiff & quiet you seem scared do you have problems #yes i do & that problem is you FUCK OFF & now he knows my name & face but IDK his i am so goddamn retarded #i just kept answering in shrugs & IDKs but what i should have done is use my FFP ( Foreigner Face Privilege ) & pretend not to understand #but since i am an english major he would have just switched to bothering me in english UGHHH WHY CAN I NOT SAY NO #i feel really disgusted with myself RN #skipped today because i am too freaked out about everything trying to come down from heart palpitations i really hate when this happens #i always feel too anxious to go after i wish i lived in a female only world but also i feel really ugly lately too #which means it should be illegal for me to go outside #also i missed my bus right by like 5 seconds the moment i was about to cross the road it flashed away so... #i took it as a sign to not go ( after waiting for ~15+ minutes... sorry i am a quitter but not that fast )

[zvaigzdelasas]

love when people promote the idea jews are money grubbing in their supposed leftist activism. why don’t you just call me a kike at this point🤷🏻 i’m saying this as someone who’s anti settler too

D- bait better luck next time

#this is due to the article saying rent prices are a factor in settler incentice structures isnt it lmao #the US is a country built off free real estate at the barrel of a gun. #so like if theyre not settling for free real estate then the other alternative mentioned in the article is... #'theyre all commited & fervent ultranationalists' #is that....better? #literally took me a minute to figure out what the hell theyre even talking abt #initial thought was 'is this abt the Israeli-moroccan arms deal' #hey anyway - guess what non-jewish moroccans are doing to sahrawis rn and why theyre doing it! #i bet youll never guess that its related to free real estate & free resources you can sell for a lot of money #also while im already taking the bait - the article says 'affordable housing' which is itself a euphemism #like the whole point of the phrase 'affordable' is specifically to point out that its not the consumer being overly picky its the market