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ju1cyfru1t · 8 months

Note

hey!! if you are taking requests, i wanted to request the tmnt mm! boys having a crush on a fem! reader who’s EXACTLY like raph. she loves fighting, may or may not have anger issues, cursed with resting bitch face, BUT, she’s actually really sweet and outgoing. never afraid to speak her mind, so, she may come across as rude sometimes, but, she never really means to be. (lowkey a biased request but SSSHH, we’re not gonna talk about that)

MUTANT MAYHEM REQUEST��️⁉️ AYO THANK YOU

Mutant Mayhem! Mikey, Leo, Donnie, Raph x crush! fem! reader

tmnt mutant mayhem x reader

reader with a Raph-like personality

fluff! :D hcs, fem! reader, cursing

PSA: I HAVE ONLY SEEN THIS MOVIE LIKE TWICE SO I TRIED MY BEST 🤞🤞🤞

Let’s just set this up by saying you have a class with them in school and you get partnered for a project or sit next to each other or WHATEVER YOU WANT. Any class you want bae; math, English, science, idc. all of them IDC

Mikey 🍉

- the moment he met you, he made it his goal to make you laugh or at the very least smile

- “*insert dumbass joke here*, am I right? HAHAha…hah..ha…”

- Lowkey intimidated at first, he doesn’t really know what to say

- will not stfu tho

- ^not in like a bad way or anything. he’s just outgoing

- and when you finally show your outgoing side? pure relief for him

- really starts to like you after seeing your sweeter, softer side. he appreciates that you seem to trust him.

- again, he is not giving up until he can make you laugh or at least smile just a little bit, no matter how long it takes. 5 minutes? 5 days? NEVER BACK DOWN NEVER GIVE UP ‼️

- talks a lot, but is also a fairly good listener while you talk about your interests

- lots of compliments from him

- still a little intimidated by you and really does whatever you tell him to

- ^ “yes ma’am.”

- it’s giving golden retriever + black cat. sunshine + midnight rain. or a tornado or something

Leo

- You know that moment when he saw April in the movie? Shhhhh just pretend it was like that when he saw you

- except with your RBF

- nervous af but he’s trying his best

- “your number? for the project? uh, I mean, yeah that’s cool-“

- really wants to impress you in some way

- “I mean not to brag or anything, but-“

- AND you’re opening up to him? have mercy

- shocked at how actually nice you are despite your intense demeanor

- admires your confidence more than anything as he gets to know you

- “you like wrestling? yeah, my brother does that…it’s cool.”

- speaking of his brothers, they are FLAMING him

- him??? with a girl like YOU?? preposterous

- the type to agree with almost anything you say so you’ll like him. esp if you’re really outspoken and opinionated.

- if he ever saw you get into a fight, he is freaking tf out and not in a good way

- asks to borrows pencils or paper just to have an excuse to talk to you when he can’t think of anything else

- SIMP. he will walk you to class, would offer to carry your books, the whole shabang.

Donnie

- your RBF is really catching him off guard

- like, why are you looking at him like that???

- lowk scared of you but would never admit it, not even to himself

- the only way you’re really speaking for the first time is if you’re partnered for a project or if you talk to him or wtv, but he is not starting a conversation with you on his own

- IMMEDIATELY recognizes that you seem eerily similar to someone he knows really well…

- heaven forbid he find out you have a common interest. whether it be k-pop, anime, comics/manga, technology, ANYTHING. he is info dumping whether you want him to or not

- really prefers your nicer, outgoing side over your anger any day

- it would take a really long time for him to recognize that he’s interested in you

- I mean, it’s kind of unexpected for him to like someone who’s so…rugged? tough? intimidating?

- probably easy to argue with if you don’t agree on something

- thinks it’s hella funny to see you put someone in there place and thinks it’s so amazing to be able you can stand up for yourself like that

- unsure on how to express his emotions properly, but he’s trying his best. I mean, he’s not exactly experienced-

- videos any fight you get into while shouting “WORLD STAAAR”

Raph

- what a dream duo /sar

- being so for real, you would probably not get along at first. angry + angry does not mix well.

- he would start to like you after getting to know you better

- you know when you meet someone and you just have so much in common that it just like clicks???

- feels like you won’t judge him for his issues bc you’re the same way. not that he cares what others thinks, but it’s still nice yk?

- even though it is easy for you to get into stupid arguments but shhhhh

- DENIES DENIES DENIES

- “ ew, I do not like her.” even tho he totally does

- lowk rlly wants you to come to his wrestling matches after you talk about liking fighting

- “yeah, you could come watch sometime…or whatever.”

- utilizes the ‘playing it cool’ method. tries to at least.

- you’re getting into a fight? hit him up. TRUST he will be there

- ^cheers you on

- brags about all the crazy shit he and his brothers do to impress you even if you’re really not all that impressed

#tmnt mutant mayhem #teenage mutant ninja turtles #mutant mayhem #teenage mutant ninja turtles mutant mayhem #mutant mayhem leo #mutant mayhem mikey #mutant mayhem donnie #mutant mayhem raph #mutant mayhem x reader #mm leo #mm mikey #mm donnie #mm raph #mm x reader #mm Leo x reader #mm Donnie x reader #mm Mikey x reader #mm raph x reader #tmnt x reader

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sometipsygnostalgic · 29 days

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Yeah the Plow drama was WEIRD. Dozens of PSAs about how staff is racist, all based on a white TOH fan's unsourced viral post. The SPOP guy who announced his best friend's podcast canceled because he said the word "dykes" which is in the title. I even had mutuals saying that ND had the DUTY to step up and interrupt him. The constant videos about how ND is TRANSPHOBIC because Double Trouble is "sexualized" and "evil". Queer people are nuts.

So a couple of things here:

The Sow* stuff was real. The crew actually apologised for it and said that they didn't mean anything by it, but that nobody should excuse them for it. I appreciate this response. It was a whole thing. Also it all happened before The Owl House even started airing... (EDIT: Incorrect comment because TOH started airing seven months beforehand) but I don't want to pretend the Sow stuff was a big hubbaloo over nothing. It meant a lot to people and I think it demonstrated a lack of self awareness within the crew. There are other moments like this. The Entrapta leash gag was brought up a lot at the same time as another example of insensitivity, and I absolutely agree, but I do respect that the crew responded to the backlash the best way they could - by admitting their wrongdoing and saying theyll work on having a better perspective. I do think there are other areas they could've done better as well, like Mara turning "blonde", and all the characters having magical multicoloured hair instead of natural black hair, or even dark hair that was dyed a different colour. Some of those are handovers from dreamworks shera but it still sucks. *Sow, not Plow. We both forgot.

I don't know anything about the podcast. Never heard of it. However, if that is true, that's really unfortunate - Everyone has turned hard against "dirtier" terms like Dyke, despite how much work has gone into reclaiming them. Also, whether "queer" is a socially acceptable self-descriptor seems to vary on a year by year basis. People need to recognise other queer people are not slandering them by using these terms.

Double Trouble being an "evil nonbinary shapeshifter" right? Well, Nimona is also an evil nonbinary shapeshifter. Nimona being nonbinary is a new aspect of her presented in the movie too, not the original comics. And it's fucking awesome!!!! I think what people have been starting to realise is that evil nonbinary shapeshifters are the ultimate genderfluid power fantasy. I think it's fair and valid to want more visualisations of nonbinary people who can exist in a real world, who didn't "start off" with magical genderless abilities, but I also think there will always be a place for the nonbinary shapeshifter.

Your comments reminded me of some people's takes on Entrapta as autistic rep, and how she is seen as bad because she's the autistic savant. And yes, the autistic savant is a stereotype, but I feel that Entrapta subverts it aggressively. She's a genius but she's rather dense, she's VERY friendly unlike most "autistic savant" characters and her social problems are highly relatable. She isn't hyper competent, but autism IS a "strength" of hers, not so much because of her genius, but because it allows her to ignore or question social standards that exist to hold people back. She doesn't give a shit how important Hordak is, or what a Horde soldier or Rebellion princess is supposed to be like. She's free, and very much a power fantasy in the same way Double Trouble is. Hell even in aforementioned "leashing scenes" that I have problems with, she breaks free as soon as it starts to be annoying. I love her.

#she ra #spop #double trouble #bow #entrapta #racism #homophobia #ableism

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 8 months

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Psycho Analysis: Snowflame

(WARNING! This analysis contains C-C-C-COCAINE!)

Imagine this absurd concept: A supervillain cartel boss whose powers are fueled by him getting high off his own supply. Imagine too that this man wears a ridiculous outfit, and exists to be an anti-drug PSA that fails epically because he makes doing drugs look awesome. Now also imagine that everything about him is played completely straight without a single bit of acknowledgment of how absurd and campy the whole thing is.

That, my friends, is Snowflame.

The New Guardians is a comic series that would have been long forgotten as a crusty relic of the late 80s if not for giving the world the absolute coolest villain ever conceived. Snowflame has amassed a cult following the likes of which would make Jim Jones envious, due to the sheer absurdity of his existence and the pure unadulterated action movie villain charm of his dialogue. He’s perhaps one of the most minor villains out there with only a handful of appearances to his name, but he’s loved more than villains who’ve appeared twenty times as much as him.

I’m here to show you why.

Motivation/Goals: Snowflame is a cartel leader, and so he really wants to peddle drugs. Guess which drug is his forte. Go on, guess. And that’s really all there is to him! I need to reiterate that his threat as a cartel leader is played completely and utterly straight even as he spouts off the hammiest dialogue you’ve ever seen and literally gets a power up by snorting coke. This is the very core of his appeal, in that he is something genuinely terrifying and threatening but presented in a way only a comic book can pull off.

Of course, his true motivation is far, far simpler.

Look at this man. That is the face of a man who exists solely to snort illicit substances up his nose. He lives to be high. That is the extent of his desires, and all else is second to that simple goal. As long as he can ignite and continue to be the instrument of cocaine's will, he is satisfied.

Final Fate: Every single time Snowflame shows up, he dies. In his initial appearance, he apparently blows up, but three decades later, he makes his coke-fueled return to do battle with Catwoman, and despite inhaling enough cocaine to kill an elephant, a feat that should theoretically make him nigh invincible, he fucking dies.

...Or does he? Snowflame returns yet again in Peacemaker Tries Hard! Here he does battle with, you guessed it,

...who puts a poison dart frog in his cocaine and kills him.

Maybe. My theory is that Snowflame is the Kenny of the DC universe, and whenever some bastard kills him his coke-fueled powers just respawn him the next day.

Best Scene: While his fight against Catwoman is unfortunately lackluster as ordained by the writers (Selina is not lasting two seconds against Snowflame and his coke-fueled powers under realistic circumstances), it gave us one of the most gorgeous and badass panels ever made:

Really brings a tear to your eye, doesn’t it?

Best Quote: Yeah, there’s no fucking contest here, it’s this:

Final Thoughts & Score: I think I speak for all of us when I say Snowflame is one of the greatest fucking characters ever conceived.

Everything about him is a towering testament to what makes the medium of comic books great. The best villains tend to be the wildest and most out-there concepts, like a giant alien starfish that mind controls people, or a gay gorilla in love with a brain in a jar, or a giant racist communist egg. And don’t even get me started on the villains the Doom Patrol fights! Snowflame is the epitome of that; he is what would happen if Tony Montana was a DC supervillain by way of Captain Planet. He is absurd, over-the-top, and so goddamn cool.

It’s very obvious they were trying to do an anti-drug PSA here given the time the comic was released, but it absolutely falls flat on its face when the strawman constructed to be defeated so that the lesson might be dispersed is an absolute lunatic who dresses in colorful spandex and spouts off the most epic lines to ever come out of a villain’s mouth. Everything about him is absurd, but unlike something like Egg Fu he’s absurd in a tasteful and cool way rather than a shockingly racist way. Snowflame is just a dude who snorts cocaine to gain superpowers, it’s as simple as that and yet it’s also completely bonkers.

It’s genuinely unsurprising that this guy managed to get such a massive cult following that he spawned a fanmade webcomic and then got to pop up in the comics again over three decades after his supposed death. And it’s said cult following that has allowed him to pop up time and time again, even getting an appearance in the fourth season of Harley Quinn. I’m sure you can guess that I’m part of that massive cult fanbase, and I can only dream of writing a villain as incredible and grandiose as this drug-addled madman. Infinity/10 isn’t a real score, so he’ll have to settle for a 10/10 instead.

...Oh yeah, remember in the Egg Fu review when I said I wasn’t going to review Hemo-Goblin?

Psycho Analysis: Hemo-Goblin

This is gonna be really short, because there is so little to this guy. He is a one-shot, but boy what a fucking shot he is. Hemo-Goblin is a racist vampire created by South African white supremacists to give members of the New Guardians AIDS. You read that right. This is a racist AIDS vampire.

Now, unlike Egg Fu, who was a horrible racist caricature created from topical anti-communist sentiments of the time, Hemo-Goblin was seemingly created with better intentions. But you know what they say about intentions; the road to Hell is paved with good ones. I get wanting to do a commentary on the AIDS crisis, and I don’t think it’s out of the question for a superhero book to handle such a thing, but maybe having an AIDS-powered vampire give HIV to a Jamaican woman and a gay man isn’t the most tasteful and nuanced way to do this.

Oh, and by the end of his only appearance, he dies of AIDS in jail.

I’m not gonna lie, guys: I kinda love this stupid fucking creature. His weird design, the absurdity of his concept, and the awful execution of his premise makes him memorable for all the wrong reasons, but he’s memorable nonetheless. I think if Snowflame didn’t exist and wasn’t the coolest villain ever, more people would talk about the insanity that is Hemo-Goblin, though having a single appearance before dying and never appearing again doesn’t help his case much. Still, he’s just cazy enough to earn himself a 3.5/10, so he’s got that going for him.

#Psycho Analysis #DC #Snowflame #Hemo-Goblin #The New Guardians

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0hmyg0th · 6 days

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( I doubt anybody will see this but whatever 😭 )

— but y’know usually I don’t entertain things like this but this is so comical that I have to indulge 💀 to give a crumb of attention to what this anon is clearly begging for 🤗 and it’s also clear that they want to be seen and heard by leaving a trail ( which is not even the half of it ) of what they think deem to be true. Just a disclaimer, all characters that’s in the jjk universe is fictional characters. that is a fact. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Instead of replying to anon I thought I would make a generalize statement about this. Recently, I put out smau type of fic of the jjk characters; mostly the men. and literally the title is called. “asking jjk men if you can peg them” or something along those lines. purely based off of a idea had in my head and instead of making a full fic I thought it would be cool to make it into a smau ! 😛. Assuming, anon felt like it wasn’t their cup of tea which lead them to start bombard me with messages stating their point of view of the idea of the jjk men being so oppose to the idea of “pegging” ( oh brother 🙄)

I’m not even gonna breakdown each message cuz at the end of the day it’s all repeating itself. However, what I am confuse on is when they said , “they would NEVER be in to pegging. Plus they are all confirmed straight” heavy on that never part apparently 🤣 my thing is, when did “pegging” had anything to do with sexuality????? I think something got lost in translation cuz i don’t understand. 🤡

And I also think IT IS NOT A FACT or not entirely true that men never put anything up their butts and they never will because at the end of the day, you can’t speak for all men. regardless if they are fictional or not. ATP I’m genuinely curious to see who’s behind anon like really 😭

I genuinely think this person have some sort of issues of their own that they need to work on cuz what even is this ??? Again, im not gonna breakdown everything. Yall can form yall own thoughts about this but in the end anon thinks that all jjk men are straight. Again I’m not seeing what pegging have to do with sexuality but whatever. 😭

just a psa for everybody including anon: all writers on this platform knows that everything that they create may not be everybody’s cup of tea. And that’s okay. but what’s not okay is flooding our inbox’s with shit like this and then just expected us to apologize like 🤣 if you don’t like something then don’t interact with that piece of writing. Just keep scrolling. Simple 🤗

Oh and another thing, adding megumi to your rant anon is fucking weird and disgusting. I never added megumi to that piece of writing nor will I ever. Megumi is NOT a man, Megumi is NOT a Dom, Megumi is a 16 year old BOY, Megumi is a fictional character just as well as gojo, Ken and anybody else you mentioned. Please get a grip onto life and maybe check in with a threpist. 💋

don’t ever let me catch you or anybody else doing this type of shit again. 😛💕 if you don’t like what I post then don’t read it.

#??? be so fr 😭#im going back to sleep #writers on tumblr #writing #𖤐 𓈒࣪ ᭡ ˖ my thoughts #writerscommunity #jujutsu kaisen smau #jujutsu kaisen

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angelpuns · 9 months

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Ranting anon will attempt to rant more about executive dysfunction but my brain is not working (probably because of that lol-) so this might not be the easiest to understand. So all three of working memory, cognitive flexibility and inhibition control are apart of "higher-level executive functions" executive functions themself are mostly your ability to control your behavior in almost every category.

Those three are the foundation of executive functions because they control if you chose to do something (inhibition), how you do it (working) and actually starting and finishing different tasks throughout the day (cognitive) all of which are your behavior. So doing things like problem solving, reasoning, planning, and again actually starting a task are controlled mostly by those things. And hyperfixations or special interests make dealing with those things even worse because those things take all of your attention which obviously affects your behavior, and we're back to the point of those three things being the core of your behavior. If all your attention is stuck on one thing, most of the things you do are going to be centered around that thing, reading about it, drawing, talking to people or creating your own stories regarding it (like comics lol.)

So because those things are sorta being centered around whatever it is you like, it makes doing anything else really hard and frustrating if it isn't related back to that thing. Hyperfixations and executive functions are connected like that, its why when you should be doing something else, you can't because all you want to do (inhibition control,) all you can think about (working memory) and all you can bring yourself to do easily (cognitive flexibility) is something that relates to whatever it is your interested in. It's all super complicated and hard to put into words because the brain is a very silly lil thing and it's different for everyone! It also can affect your emotions a lot because what you want to do isn't always what you actually do, you can want desperately to get up and go do something, but if it isn't something that excites you it's gonna be hard some days and that'll make you feel like shit, which makes it even harder. Your emotions and your behavior are very tightly linked, and if something you have to do doesn't get you those feel-good chemicals that make you happy, it ain't happening. And again because those behaviors are controlled by executive functions which aren't working the way their supposed to and get way too dependent on what you're hyperfocused on, it's gonna be a bad time.

Obviously, this sorta thing doesn't apply to every day, you can like something that isn't a hyperfixation and that makes it easy to still do that thing, but some days it's a lot harder than it is for someone who's executive functions aren't all outa wack and work the way they should (not as heavily reliant on you actually enjoying doing that thing.)

Most of this is sorta based off what I see happens with me and what i've connected to those issues and such, but a lot of the info I got for like what things actually are is from, again, the Cleveland Clinic website. And again, it isn't you being lazy, its your brain not doing what it's supposed to and making life harder! <3 (Again, psa, this may not be 100% accurate, do your own research if you want to, this is just what I've found and some of it is based off my experiences, some things you might not relate to, doesn't make you any less valid, it just means you have a unique experience, as does everyone else.)

Reading this from bed cause I can't get up BUT MAKES A LOT OF SENSE!!! When the happy juice isn't coming so you can't do the things you have to do smh

real and relatable asf!! Ty for the information download as usual RA <333

#i go back to sleep now #lmao #it is in fact one of those days

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lonelyhooves · 1 year

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A Quick PSA

Hey guys!

2022 was a hectic year, and 2023 is looking to be stressful in a whole different way. We're doing our best to get the ball rolling again (we love this story!) but it's difficult when we both keep having to take commission work just to keep the lights on.

While we can't really ask for money to support Lonely Hooves specifically, I'm pretty sure we can get away with panhandling other ways, so if you're interested in supporting us (and able - you need to eat too), here's what we've got going on elsewhere:

Kazzie runs character adopts! She does ponies a lot, but has started dabbling with anthros. You can keep up with her present offerings on her ych.art site (there's a couple running right now! They're very cute!)

Meanwhile, Sera (me! hi!) is running an 18+ Patreon where you can get access to a lot of goodies for a couple bucks a month. There's a couple sporadically updated comic things here, but it's mostly pin-ups at the moment, with the exception of my first proper foray into non-comics writing in... quite a long time! If you like the storytelling of Lonely Hooves and don't mind an original setting where things get pretty spicy on a regular basis, the first couple chapters of Witches' Thralls are already live over there, and I'd love to hear what folks think! There's also Hare Moon, an 18+ MLP smutfic comic where Angel turns into some sort of raging werebunny and needs certain needs addressed. Some of that's public, but half of it isn't, and you can find that over here too! And just, like, so many boobies. (Seriously! Over 18 only!!)

I also take commissions but am pretty bogged down at this exact moment. Kaz can do pony ref sheets and all sorts of things though, and her turn-around makes me jealous as hell. your best bet to get in touch with us about that kind of thing is probably the community Discord, but even if you're not there to throw money at the screen we'd love to have you! We don't bite, usually! Unless... you're into that?? 😳

Okay! That's enough of that for now!

The next page is already sketched, and I'm very excited to finally be sharing this next scene with you all! I hope you all enjoy Muse becoming a bit less of an enigma!

See you soon!

Z (Sera)

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athenaschild5 · 11 months

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hi!! i hope your day is going great/was amazing! if you have the time:

spiderman across the spiderverse review!!! (if you havent seen it tell me your predictions)

omg hiiii! this ask made it so much better so thank you for that

ok so spiderman review:

PSA: yes im a spiderman fan but i havent read all of the comics so they mustve been thing i might have missed

ok so starting off by the most obvious thing the animation its wonderful and amazing the colors are magnificent and the different type of animation depending on the characters is beautiful iespcially liked the animation regarding gwens character the colors were beautiful and what i liked the most was that depending on the emotions that gwen was feeling was the range of colors in the scene it was a nice touch that i likes

now the themes of the movie from the get go we get that this movie is going to be about family, loyalty and trust litteraly i the first scene is miles talking with his parents at his school and the new dynamic he has with his parents we see throughout the movie that he is getting in a tricky spot with his parents because hes starting to break his promises and keep a lot of secrets and then the whole debacle with the spider society and gwen and peter b and miguel (btw hobie brown i love you pavitr i love you you guys are my boys) and miles feels like his loyalty has been broken by gwen and peter and i mean totally fair and i hope they get a great redemption arc but i also get why they did (in this case didnt do) and the script is wonderful i mean being able to make a superhero movie has its serious and drama moments while being comedic and keeping it lighthearted bcs its spiderman its incredible

overall o think its my favorite spiderman movie it had a great ending tha characters were wonderful and amazing there arent enough words in the english language to say how amazing this movie was i give this movie 2099/10 lol

but yeah idk if this is what you wanted thank you so much for asking if you wanted more of a 'my favorites scene' type of review well all you have to do is ask and ill do it

#this is a lot sorry #but yeah i mean if you guys want more review of movies please just ask i loved doing this #spiderman into the spiderverse #spiderman across the spider verse spoilers #spiderman across the spiderverse #miles morales #gwen stacy #peter b parker #hobie brown #spider punk #pavitr prabhakar #miguel o'hara #spiderman 2099 #movie review

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smileposting · 2 years

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trying to make sense of my 3-year-long special interest in smile for me: a retrospective.

Foreword

jeezus creezus, what a journey this has been! if you’ve been following this blog for the past couple of months, you’ll recall that this was originally supposed to be a video essay - unfortunately, once i hit the video editing stage, it quickly became apparent that this was not feasible with the setup that i currently have now and the timeframe that i was working with. still, i was determined to get this out on may 31st somehow. i originally planned to publish this on another blog and then reblog it here, but most of the hype i’ve generated for this retrospective was generated on this blog, so i figured i might as well cut out the middle man and maybe reupload this on a neocities page some time in the future.

first of all, a quick content warning: this retrospective contains discussions of mental health, suicide, implied homophobia, dental malpractice, and obviously, spoilers for smile for me and its epilogue. also casual profanity. i don’t think anyone who follows me really cares about that last one, though.

secondly, i believe some thanks are in order! thank you to my friends arthur, freddie, gaby, and bri, as well as my wonderful girlfriend clover, for proofreading this back when it was a script! thank you to @coelpts for agreeing to answer a couple questions that ended up having a huge role in influencing how a certain section of this essay played out. and lastly, i thank all of you for giving me the confidence to see this retrospective to the very end, even if it wasn’t in the original format i was aiming for. i may gripe and grumble a lot, but i really do think starting this sideblog was one of the better decisions i’ve made in my adult life. getting to share my thoughts with people has done wonders for my confidence and my willingness to connect with others, even if it’s about a video game.

so. happy third anniversary! some of the stuff i talk about in this retrospective is stuff i’ve mentioned in perhaps less detail on this blog, some of it i think might be new, but i hope you enjoy it regardless. (and i promise there’s proper capitalization under the cut.)

1. The Descent

For a number of reasons, I wasn’t a very happy or well-adjusted kid throughout middle and high school. That’s not to say all of it was miserable, just that between the increasing demands of academia and spending the rest of my time in a semi-dissociative haze only occasionally broken up by whatever comic I was into at any given moment, I didn’t have much time or desire to cultivate a sense of self. It was only when I graduated high school in 2019 that I really began to consider the idea of being a person, not only because I actually had time to do so, but because college kind of demanded that I do so. And it was during the emotionally tumultuous but also enlightening summer of 2019 that I first encountered Smile For Me, the point-and-click debut of independent game studio LimboLane Games, founded by Yugo Limbo and Day Lane.

Smile For Me was released on May 31st, 2019, and on the surface, is a fairly simple game where you play as a flower delivery person visiting a wellness retreat known as the Habitat in the distant year of 1994. You have no known age, gender, or any other defining characteristics, and can only communicate by nodding or shaking your head. As you carry out a series of odd requests from the Habitat’s various residents and employees (collectively known as Habiticians) you learn more about the Habitat’s even more eccentric owner, Dr. Boris Habit - namely, that he is fucking weird. “Makes daily PSAs using a puppet of himself instead of his actual face” weird. "Divulges intimate details of his childhood trauma within minutes of meeting a Habitician" weird. "Cleans rusty machinery with toothbrushes and then gets mad at his employees for not keeping their teeth clean" weird - you get the idea. Eventually, you piece together that Dr. Habit’s master plan lies in the mysterious Big Event, in which he plans to harvest every Habitician’s teeth so he can use them to cheer up the world (somehow) and thus cure himself of his aforementioned childhood trauma forever (somehow.) Of course, it doesn’t really pan out the way he wants it to. With the Habiticians already having been cheered up prior thanks to your interference, they have no reason to stick around, and thus have promptly skedaddled the night prior. You face off with Habit while trying not to succumb to the effects of the laughing gas in the air, he yanks out a few of your teeth while monologuing about how this is for the greater good, then leaves to supposedly find a piece of medical equipment that he needs to finish you off, leaving you to free yourself and finally smack some sense into him, either literally or metaphorically. Depending on what items you use on him (either a punching glove, a kiss, or a lily) you can get a few different endings, but all of them end with him realizing “Oh, shit, this was a really bad idea, actually. Maybe I was just being kind of insane. Sorry about that. You should leave.” You do, and the game ends.

If that ending seems almost absurdly anticlimactic, you wouldn’t be the first to think so, and you most likely won’t be the last, either. Whether this is enough to break the game entirely depends on the individual, but it is by far its most divisive aspect. However, I’m less interested in dissecting other people’s reactions to Smile For Me, and more interested in why I myself became so fixated on it, especially when I can’t shake the impression that I should’ve gotten bored of this game ages ago.

I have to emphasize here that by no means did I go into Smile For Me expecting it to have the ripple effect that it did on the next three years of my life - it wasn’t like I hated the game, but at first, I wasn’t exactly in love with it. There just didn't seem to be enough to fall in love with; I liked the characters, the puzzles, the themes, but I found the pacing to be all over the place, and while I found the story unsettling and sweet in equal measure, its world felt two sizes too small for it.

But then I blinked, and suddenly three years had passed, and in that time I had joined and left like five separate Discord servers for the game, and had written fanfic for it when I hadn’t finished a single piece of prose writing in years, and I had bitched about every fan interpretation under the sun, and I had an entirely new friend group and a girlfriend(?!?!?) that I met through said game before we eventually kinda branched off into doing our own thing. And then when I got burnt out on Smile For Me, it only lasted a couple months before I came crawling back to it on my hands and knees, because fandoms scare me and I needed one that was small enough that I could feasibly scoop up a few friends and shut the rest of it out for my own peace of mind.

Shit, I probably said to myself at some point. This game has had an irreversible impact on my life, hasn’t it? Whether or not I realized the extent of it, I was forever changed by this game, or at least by my fixation on it. My views on relationships, on analysis, on indie media, on myself - before I knew it, all of them had either been shaped by this game or by friends and loved ones I had found through it.

So, why this game of all games? I’m legitimately asking - I’m just hoping that by writing all of this out, I’ll finally understand why, but I have to reiterate that it’s been three years, and I still have yet to come up with a single comprehensive answer that doesn’t make me feel like some kind of insecure womanchild who thinks everything she likes has to be Super Deep or else it’s cringe, so when she likes a goofy cartoon game she needs some way to make it sound like an underrated masterpiece so she can feel justified in continuing to like it. But I really do think this game has a lot of intrigue to it; something that could become really beautiful in future LimboLane works - is still beautiful in Smile For Me, and I’m tired of letting my own insecurities hold me back from explaining where that intrigue comes from. So without further ado, let’s dive in.

2. The Great Divide (Pt. 1)

As basic as it sounds, I think the first thing about Smile For Me that got my attention and kept it there was not only thematic consistency, but the presentation of its themes. Indie games with quirky art styles that are about the importance of mental health and empathy and helping others are about a dime a dozen these days, as are adventure games where the main setting is called something like Happy Fun Time Fun Land but the plot is some shit straight out of Soylent Green meets Black Swan, but I have yet to encounter any other instances where those are the same game. And as it turns out, combining those two premises makes for a pretty effective comedy - one that isn’t afraid to poke fun at its cast of weirdos and their various neuroses, but never puts them down for having those neuroses, and isn’t afraid to be sincere when it counts, either. I won’t act like I don’t think it could have been done better, but I think that duality, if not at the core of Smile For Me’s appeal, is definitely very close to it.

I don’t really see this talked about even among people who are also inexplicably obsessed with Smile For Me, but Dr. Habit kinda sucks at being a villain. Not in the sense that he struggles with being antagonistic towards the player - he spends most of the game antagonizing you - but in the sense that he sucks at being the kind of villain he wants to be. He tries to project the image of this demented Willy Wonka-esque cult leader; unknowable, untouchable, invulnerable, but hardly anybody seems to be buying it, at least not in the sense of “demented = powerful”. Boris Habit as a person is an emotionally driven, insecure wreck, one who’s constantly getting sidelined by his own paranoia and projection onto others, and this divide is felt everywhere in how the Habitat is structured. Everything about the Habitat as an actual location feels like a subconscious cry for help, from the haphazard fever dream architecture full of machinery that looks like it’s going to fall apart if you look at it cross-eyed, to the eerie self-portraits and PSAs, to the crumpled-up diary pages, to the secret area displaying a wall-to-wall recreation of Habit’s own childhood abuse, to the fact that the plans for the Big Event itself has more holes than a fine swiss cheese and straight up can’t happen at all until you manually trigger it. There’s something cruelly ironic, almost comical, about the fact that Habit is willing to go to these lengths to signal that he’s unwell, but unlike the Habiticians, he isn’t willing to actually work with people to get better, at least not until the game’s conclusion.

Speaking of divides, there’s a line somewhere in the game where Dr. Habit tells the player that you remind him of his younger self, and he hates that about you. At first, I thought this was just window dressing that the devs tacked on at the last minute to make his character look deeper than it actually is, but upon rewatching, I realized that this perceived dichotomy between you as the player and him as the antagonist is actually kind of the crux of how the game’s story unfolds. Think of what little information you're given about yourself within the context of Smile For Me: you’re a florist, everybody either likes you from the get-go or warms up to you eventually, and most importantly, you know how to make people happy even when your environment not only doesn’t make it easy, but is actively working against you. You are everything Dr. Habit wanted to be when he was younger - everything he still wants to be, right down to the florist bit - but feels he can never become because as far as he’s concerned, it’s too late for him. You aren’t weighed down by the ghosts of an abusive past like he is; in fact, as far as he knows, you barely even have a past. Or any other defining characteristics for that matter - you can’t even talk. Your presence in the game is defined solely by the impact you have on other characters. You’re a nobody, and to Habit, that means that unlike him, you can be anybody. Is it any wonder that he feels so threatened by you? Is it any wonder that the Lily ending is about him realizing that he has options outside of being a Big Bad Evil Guy? That he’s not too broken to become a good person, however abrupt that realization may have been?

I don’t know if this is a popular interpretation of the game, but it doesn’t exactly feel like a hot take to suggest that Smile For Me isn’t meant to be read 100% literally, and is instead at its strongest when read as an exploration of the downward spiral following and/or leading up to a mental health crisis, and how one chooses to resolve it. So, if the Lily ending is meant to represent the gap between Habit and the player - the dysfunctional but undeniably real self and the wonderful but painfully intangible ideal self - finally beginning to close, what do the other endings represent?

I think the Kiss ending, especially since it’s outright acknowledged as an anticlimax and you are explicitly warned to leave before Habit changes his mind, is meant to reflect no ending at all. Sometimes, when you’re at a low point in your life and you’ve pushed away pretty much anyone who might be capable or at least interested in helping you, you don’t always stumble across a life-changing epiphany that makes you realize you’ve been doing everything wrong and from this moment onward you’ll try to become the person you’ve always wanted to be but gave up on for some reason. Sometimes you just think to yourself, “Wow. I’m kind of an asshole.” And then nothing else really happens, because you don’t know how to stop being an asshole and you were never given the tools to figure it out. This is more likely to happen several times over until you finally have enough experience to have that aforementioned epiphany and at least try to start getting your shit together.

As for the Punch ending, considering it’s the only ending in which you can actually kill Habit by punching him off a balcony, and he immediately accepts death the first time you punch him to the point of actually getting a little frustrated if you hesitate long enough - with this reading in mind, it’s difficult for me to not read this scene as at least a symbolic suicide, and even then, with very big air quotes around “symbolic.” I don’t really care to dwell on this for longer than I have to, lest I run the risk of overdramatizing what is otherwise a very quietly tragic moment in-game and trivializing some deeply painful subject matter in any context, so let’s move on. I’ve seen a few people say they prefer the Kiss ending because it feels more realistic, or more rarely, the Punch ending because why should we have to be nice to someone who pulled some of our teeth out for his stupid mad scientist scheme that he’s literally too mentally ill to carry out anyway. But now that I’m looking at all three endings laid out like this, I’m kind of shocked at how well they work in conjunction with each other - even moreso after finding out that some of it wasn’t even intentional. According to episode 91.2 of the indie(Radio); podcast by indie(Function);, the Kiss ending was a last minute addition compared to the other two endings, because playtesters apparently really wanted to know what would happen if you kissed Habit. Without that knowledge, though, I would’ve thought it was part of the plan from day one because it’s such a perfect midpoint between the Punch ending and the Lily ending. The only wrench in that reading is that I haven’t actually seen anyone play the game in anything resembling a Punch-Kiss-Lily order? Most playthroughs just go for a completionist run from the get-go and thus ending up getting the Lily ending on the first try. Speaking of lilies, though:

2.5. Are You Guys LGBT Or Something?

At the risk of coming across as redundant, Smile For Me has a lot of gay shit in it.

It’s never super overt in the base game - you can tell the devs were still trying to figure out just how much they could get away with - but it’s still just enough to be noteworthy. It’s also a lot more blatant in supplementary material like the Steam trading cards and the anniversary epilogue. By no means is this the result of creators wanting the praise that comes with daring to include queer characters without having to actually follow through on it, either. Both of LimboLane’s founders either have been openly LGBT+ before the game’s release or have since come out as such. As for how this relates to the cast of Smile For Me, and in particular, Dr. Habit - like many other aspects of his character, it’s complicated. There apparently was a Team Egg Troop stream in which they talked about being fans of the idea that Habit could be trans, but from what I hear it was in a very “you can interpret him or any other character however you want and there’s technically nothing in canon that can stop you, wink wink nudge nudge” way, and the stream itself has since been privated on YouTube so I can’t even go back to hear exactly what they said. It’s not a huge loss, but I knew if I didn’t mention it, it would bug the shit out of me forever, so there you go. Regardless of the stream’s legitimacy in canon, there is indeed an abundance of subtext pointing to the idea that This Dentist Is Not Cishet, to the point where people can and have made readings of Smile For Me as an inherently LGBT+ narrative. I’m not just bringing this up as a non-sequitur, either; I think it adds a lot to Habit’s characterization as someone struggling to accept the fact that as long as he exists as himself, the world that he’s trying to be a part of will always reject him, and also that by trying to conform to that world’s desires anyway, he has become a more miserable person.

Probably the most blatant evidence of this in the actual game itself is in that aforementioned recreation of Habit’s own childhood abuse (aptly called the Trauma Room), in particular a memory of Habit as a child being beaten for doting on his favorite flower, a lily. Said lily is always referred to with he/him pronouns in Habit's letters, and when I say that he was caught doting on it, I mean that he was kissing it. In his final conversation with the player, he talks about being pressured by his family to abandon his interest in flowers for a more profitable - and more importantly, socially acceptable - career in medicine. He specifically uses the phrasing "I thought I destroyed all those seeds. Squashed them flat and buried them deep, deep where they wouldn't resurface," which seems almost deliberately chosen to invoke the idea of some kind of forced repression. There's also whatever's going on with Martha; the one we know in-game is a piece of machinery built by Habit, but it was named after a high school classmate whom we know next to nothing about. But whenever Habit talks about Martha the machine, this mascot, this thing that he runs himself ragged trying to keep looking presentable, he refers to it the same way one would refer to a girlfriend or a wife, almost like he's trying to prove something. But unlike his other creations like the Carnival Attendants or the Cowboy Bed, there’s nothing to suggest that Martha the machine is even alive. In general, a lot of the grief Habit causes for both himself and others seems to come from his attempts at embodying his idea of what a Traditionally Successful Man looks like (or perhaps what other people have told him it looks like) and his ensuing frustration with the fact that for Whatever Reason, he never seems to be able to get it quite right, nor does he ever stop to think that maybe he can just chill out and not do that if it’s not giving him any personal fulfillment, at least not until the ending rolls around.

[Image ID: A tweet from @DrHabit that simply reads “Gay”. I still don’t know if this counts as confirmation.]

I think it’s important to note, though, that this is never used to make Habit look more “deviant” than he would have otherwise, nor is he the only LGBT+ character in the game (not to mention that nearly every other character who falls under that umbrella is a lot more explicit about it than him.) In fact, it’s easier to argue that this side of Habit is tied more closely to his yearning for a sense of belonging and normalcy. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the only character besides A Literal Flower with whom Habit has any kind of romantic subtext, albeit mostly in supplementary material, is not only a man, but one who appears to be one of the most normal characters in the game. Kamal Bora doesn’t have a technicolor skin tone, or a name that sounds like you put two stereotypical rural American names in a blender, or a job that’s totally out of place for a supposedly professionally-run wellness retreat, and actually, why don’t we talk more about Kamal?

3. Kamal Gets His Own Section And I Refuse To Apologize For This

No, really, why don't we talk more about Kamal? He's decently popular among fans, and there's certainly much talk about his relationships with other characters, namely Dr. Habit, but until recently, it was hard to find nearly as much discussion about the man himself. "What else is there to say?" you might argue, to which I would reply that as a matter of fact, there's a lot to say, and also that you should go to hell. Because not only is there more to say about Kamal and his role in the thematic narrative that Smile For Me weaves, he is one of the most fascinating supporting characters in the game, period.

Kamal Bora is first introduced to us as Dr. Habit’s former assistant, having exiled himself to the terrace to get some time away from his ex-boss and/or stew in his own personal failings, and definitely not also because he’s afraid of stairwells. His anxious exterior belies a surprisingly snarky and observant personality, and thus establishes a core tenet of Kamal’s characterization in the game: that he is constantly at odds with himself. Kamal’s feelings are complicated and don’t always make sense, least of all to Kamal. Whenever he talks about other people - especially Dr. Habit - he tends to flip-flop between apprehension, exasperation, and begrudging but genuine concern, sometimes within the same sentence. You get the idea that this is someone who is intimately aware of how much of a fucking disaster Habit is as a person, but has long since reached his limit when it comes to trying to accommodate for him, and justifiably so. One of Habit’s many failings as the cartoon supervillain that he tries to be is that he is an absolute dogshit boss, with an extensive list of nonsensical demands for his employees but absolutely no interest in doing anything that would garner the respect necessary for them to carry those demands out, except for maybe providing them with a decent salary. No matter how concerned someone may be for their employer’s mental health, any reasonable person would eventually decide that enough is enough, and that’s before getting into the planned dental malpractice.

But, as mentioned earlier, this section is not about Habit’s side of the story. If Habit and the player are two sides of the same coin, in the sense that they are essentially the same person on two very different walks of life, then I think Kamal wound up being Habit’s inverse. What I mean by that is that in direct contrast to Habit, who seems to want to help other people but doesn’t want to put in the effort of understanding their specific needs, because that could mean getting vulnerable, and he can’t have that, Kamal seems to find most people to be a nuisance but still constantly goes out of his way to look out for them, albeit in odd or indirect ways. He reassures the player, if they tell him they’re nervous about facing off with Habit. He tells them to be gentle with the janitor Wallus, because they’re friends and he knows how sensitive he is. He’s the one who sets up the reunion in the epilogue (which we’ll talk about in more detail later) and is usually the one who prompts the more sentimental messages from the other characters. And even with his resentment towards his ex-boss, Kamal’s ultimate goal in the game is not to get revenge, but to get said ex-boss help before worse comes to worst, since he knows that he’s in no condition to provide it himself. Kamal gets people, more than he seems to realize - he thinks they’re strange, infuriating, and even scary, but none of those feelings stem from him being unwilling to understand them. It just so happens that as we see him in Smile For Me, he is very much out of his depth, and he knows it.

There’s something else about Kamal that I want to talk about, though. Something more… out of bounds, if you will.

You see, Kamal is one of the most adamant about stopping Dr. Habit before he gets either someone else or himself hurt, and is definitely wary of what he might be capable of, but he rarely seems to fear for his own safety, just that of the other Habiticians, as though somehow the possibility that he could get hurt rarely crosses his mind - and indeed, he can’t. He’s among the 11 Habiticians that are absolutely necessary to cheer up in order to progress the game. One of the only times he seems to even consider the idea of it is in the Punch ending, when Habit is already dead. And speaking of endings, he’s also weirdly casual about you killing Habit in the Punch ending - Habit, the guy that Kamal insisted we try to talk things out peacefully with, and he barely bats an eye at his death/implied suicide by cop. And in the Lily Ending, where we actually do (kind of) talk things out with Habit, Kamal is nowhere to be found. Why? Was it to emphasize the parallels between the player and Habit by making it so that they’re the only two characters left? Were the devs just that pressed for time or didn’t think it through all the way? And take a look at some of his dialogue - “Don’t breathe in too deeply tomorrow,” he says when we decide we’re ready to confront Habit, when no other character thus far has ever brought up the possibility of Habit involving laughing gas in his plans. “I think we were too late this time,” he bemoans when we tell him we don’t think things couldn’t have resolved any other way in the Punch ending. “Maybe next time’s the charm,” he sighs in the Kiss ending, and yeah, I’m dragging this out way longer than I need to - my point is that it is really, really tempting to think that Kamal is maybe about 60% aware that he’s an exposition NPC who’s there to encourage you to find other endings until you get to the Lily ending.

I say it’s tempting to think that and not that it’s what the game implies, because while I have seen people talk about these particular lines, I’ve never seen the fanbase come to a true conclusion on whether or not this was meant to be intentional or anything more than a throwaway gag. And even then, Kamal’s status as the only character to even lean on the fourth wall gets dropped in the epilogue, when everybody starts doing it. Still, it’s interesting - and if I’m being honest, pretty funny - how much of Kamal’s behavior is recontextualized through this reading. There’s something oddly endearing about a self-aware video game character who, instead of falling into existential depression or going murder crazy, just kinda shrugs their shoulders and says “Okay, so? Don’t you think I have enough to worry about already? I don’t have time to dwell in the existential dread of whether or not I’m real to God, because real or not, this shit still affects me.”

Even if none of this is really intentional and I’ve gone fully into Pepe Silvia territory, I still stand by the idea that Kamal is a way more compelling character than a lot of people give him credit for. Something about his general attitude of “Is this entire situation, objectively speaking, really dumb and undignified? Yes. Am I above that? Not even a little bit. Am I still wholeheartedly invested in making sure that everyone comes out of this bullshit relatively okay? Unfortunately, yes,” really resonates with me - it’s the anthem of every debilitatingly self-aware nerd who knows that they sound completely unhinged to anyone who isn’t in the know, but also knows that isn’t going to be enough to deter them, and it’s the position I found myself in with regards to this game by the time I had gotten to the terrace. Kamal’s apparent lack of proactivity in the base game feels less like a contractual obligation by way of being an NPC, and more like an implicit dilemma of how much self-awareness is too much self-awareness; at what point does someone become so aware of every minute possibility that it becomes more of a hindrance than a help and they just shut down, unable to really do anything until someone with a more linear point of view comes by to help them?

And like, look - I don’t fault people for getting invested in Kamal’s relationships with other characters, nor will I act like enjoying a ship and making genuinely insightful observations of the dynamic between two characters is mutually exclusive. When it comes to the Habitat’s staff in particular, there was clearly meant to be some intrigue there, a lot of which goes unanswered by both the game and the epilogue. Like, how close were Habit and Kamal before Habit’s condition began to deteriorate faster than Kamal could keep up with? How did whatever relationship they have begin to recover from that in time for the epilogue? Was Wallus quitting to go hide in the walls of the boiler room a deciding factor in Kamal quitting? Wallus did say they were planning to quit together, after all. And for that matter, how close were he and Wallus? How did the rest of the staff respond to these conflicts, if they knew about them at all? It’s legitimately very fascinating to think about! But I sometimes fear that approaching those questions purely from the angle of whatever is the most “shippable” runs the risk of doing a pretty huge disservice to the characters involved.

TL;DR: Kamal is a really good character. A great one, even. And to end this section on a high note, I’m going to share maybe one of my favorite facts about him, which is that not only is he not considered a Tumblr Sexyman despite his popularity, but in fact the Sexypedia Wiki has effectively banned him from ever being considered as such by placing him on their list of forbidden characters, an act that is either akin to defamation of character or being placed in witness protection, depending on how you look at things.

[Image ID: A photo of Kamal Bora, followed by his name and the title of the game he’s from. Kamal Bora is a South Asian man with wavy chin-length hair, a rectangular head, and a near-constant expression of vague discomfort. The reason given for his being on this list is as follows: “Because, let’s be real, some of these aren’t sexymen. They’re just your favorite characters you wanted to slap the label onto.”]

4. The Great Divide (Pt. 2)

Now, if you’ve gotten this far into the essay and you’re familiar with the game at all, you might have the question, “Hey, so, I played/watched the game, and I liked it, but what if I don’t really give a shit about any of this? What if my favorite character is the vampire dad, or the regular dad, or their respective bastard children, or that thing in the stairwell who really, really wants you to dump some pickle juice on him?” Which, in case I haven’t made it clear, is a totally valid reason to enjoy the game; there’s a reason that most players ended up doing a completionist run on their first try. The Habitat may be structured around Boris Habit’s psyche, but the game itself would be nothing without the Habiticians to breathe life into it. I’ve used the word “weird” to describe several things in this essay by now, but seriously - the Habiticians are just so weird, and I mean that in the most positive way imaginable. There’s something so effortless and more importantly, shameless about the way they’re written; more often than not, they’re simple folks with simple desires, but they believe in those desires with such conviction you can’t help but be convinced that there’s something deeper to it, and it makes you want to help fulfill them just so you can get one step closer to understanding whatever that something is. Long before I cared or even knew what Habit’s deal was, I was gushing over Nat admitting she still loved her dad and feeling oddly proud of Dallas’ character development over the course of the game and making note of each character’s relationships to each other in case they came into play somehow - which they do, in a sense.

Should you fail to cheer up a Habitician before triggering the climax of the game, they will appear during the Big Event - not as the characters we have come to know over the course of the game, but as eerie, collaged object head versions of themselves, delirious and only able to be considered ‘happy” by way of forgetting what they were initially upset about. It’s unclear if these collaged forms are real or only a gas-induced hallucination, nor is it clear what happens to them once the credits roll. Getting an 11/22 ending, in which you only help Habiticians that are absolutely necessary to progress the game without any regard for which ending you might get, involves splitting up several positive relationships that can develop or existed prior to the events of the game - both parent-child relationships, both potential romances, both past romances, and so on. This is another way the game tries to incentivize you to complete as many quest lines as you can, and in order to communicate how effective these methods are, and in turn how easy it was for people to fall in love with these characters, I’m going to share a piece of information that I learned just as I had begun writing this section of the retrospective:

You don’t need to do a completionist run - ever. It is possible to achieve the Lily ending with only 13 out of 22 Habiticians cheered up - only two off from a Punch ending.

I first stumbled across this thanks to a post by Tumblr user coelpts, who pointed out that there are exactly five Habiticians who don’t give you any reward for completing their quests (among other very concerning statistics) but didn’t seem to have posted any follow ups confirming whether or not this meant they were really optional. And when I saw it, I didn’t really know how to feel. It just felt like such a major oversight, especially for a game that I had previously praised for keeping its themes strong and consistent. In a game that’s about the importance of helping others, why wouldn’t you make it so that the best ending can only be unlocked by helping everyone? For a while, I wondered if I should even bother completing this retrospective at all. I already knew the game wasn’t perfect, but this was the only time in recent memory that I could remember being scared that this would ruin every point I was trying to make about it being good.

But then I messaged him, curious to see if he ever went through with trying to test this theory, and he said:

“I WANT to say that I did [...] but I just documented it in a Discord server that I did rather than a tumblr post. I DISTINCTLY remember watching the ending slideshow with a 13/22 Lily ending and remembering it being just Extremely Cursed because so many were missing but Habit wasn’t.”

It was the choice to use the word “cursed” that piqued my interest - and as he went into more detail during our (admittedly brief) conversation, even replaying the game just to confirm that it was possible, he kept saying similar things. That it was “eerie,” “utterly surreal” - that it just felt wrong. And I felt it, too. Before this conversation, I was even kind of hoping it wasn’t true, because even considering the possibility of it felt like a sin. It certainly hasn’t been acknowledged in any supplementary canon material. And the more I dwelled on this, the more I started to feel like there was something strangely fitting about it.

Before uncovering this information, my outlook on Smile For Me’s story looked something like this: Broadly speaking, there are two concrete sides that run parallel to each other. If Side A is a game about meeting a quirky ensemble cast of ragtag misfits with not particularly deep but certainly very memorable issues, then Side B is a game about learning all about one person’s psychological trauma, how everything in the setting was built to remind himself of it day after day after day, and what he chooses to do with it. And for a long time, my one greatest criticism of the game was that I wish there had been more to tie these two halves together, to bridge the gap between them, so that the final act of the game felt a little less abrupt and people would have more reason to care about whether or not everyone gets their shit together, Habit included.

But what if this is the game’s way of uniting those two halves? Trying to fulfill one while neglecting the other results in an ending that feels hollow and disingenuous; of course it does. Focusing on Habit’s happiness exclusively and only cheering up as many people as you need to in order to ensure it feels just as wrong as cheering up all 22 Habiticians only to punch Habit off the balcony at the end, if not even moreso. It makes the relationship between Side A and Side B feel less like two storylines just existing in the same space and more like a symbiotic relationship, one that needs an equal amount of attention on both ends to feel complete. Even the Punch ending feels more likely to result from a player who just isn’t particularly invested in either side of the story. And again, there’s that idea of being presented with some kind of divide to mend.

So, does that ever culminate in anything? Do we actually get to see what happens after we mend the divide - between the ideal and the real self, between what’s real to us and what’s real to others, between Side A and Side B?

5. The Epilogue (Of the Game)

Smile For Today is a free browser-based interactive epilogue released on May 31st, 2020, a full year after the release of Smile For Me. It was created primarily to celebrate the game’s one-year anniversary and its overwhelmingly positive reception, being a showcase for fanart, fanzines, and let’s plays that boosted its popularity. I really like how they chose to canonize these, by the way; a zine is now a memoir, a let’s play is a dramatic retelling, fan-made characters are people that the player’s met since their time in the Habitat, Habit’s Twitter fans are - well, those are just Twitter fans. As far as I can tell, the continuity of the official Dr Habit Twitter is whatever Day Lane feels like it is that day.

This isn’t to say there isn’t any closure for the characters themselves; the in-universe justification for the epilogue is that it’s a virtual reunion set up by Kamal exactly one year after the events of the game so that the Habiticians can catch up with one another. And they’re doing really well! Characters who were more closed off in-game are more than willing to interact with others here, relationships that were emotionally strained or just beginning in the base game have blossomed into something really beautiful here. That photographer who spent most of the game scheduling meetings with herself to avoid conversation? She talks to people now - willingly! Two other characters who were exes in the game are now going on tour together as friends. This macho sitcom dad encourages his son to be open about his emotions for once. Kamal readily takes charge of the situation, being the one who organized it in the first place, and his relationship with Habit seems a lot more equal and mutually supportive. Habit comes out of hiding to apologize, but doesn’t overstay his welcome, and he’s finally got a gig as a florist. Everyone’s doing really, really well - and they’d love to know how you’re doing, too.

Where Smile For Me was a story about providing some sort of support for a cast of odd but generally well-intentioned randos, Smile For Today is about those same randos paying that kindness back and being there for you. In return for giving them an outlet to voice their wants, their needs, their insecurities, they make sure that you know that your kindness, however small it was, was not in vain. You watch them thrive and congregate amongst themselves for most of the epilogue, no longer needing you to act as a proxy for them. They acknowledge the new experiences you’ve created since your time at the Habitat and the hand they might have had in them, but make it clear that it was always up to you. They play you a song, because words can’t do justice for how much you’ve helped them. The final message is left entirely up to you to write, because after spending so long as a silent, endlessly selfless benefactor, it’s only right that you get to express your desires for once.

[Image ID: A message from Tiff Webber, which reads “We wrote you a song. Sure, that’s cheesy, but sometimes you need to be a little cheesy to be sincere, don’t you think? Give it a listen. Please?” followed by a link to the song itself.]

That line right there is the heart of Smile For Me as a whole, the linchpin of its appeal. It’s strange and goofy and at times, corny and cliche’d, but fuck, at least it’s honest about it. I’d much rather have this version of Smile For Me instead of a game that constantly apologizes for itself by winking and nodding at the player in a desperate attempt to convince you that it’s not like other quirky indie games about mental health - it’s self aware. Smile For Me knows what it is, and isn’t afraid to just exist as itself for anyone who might want or need it.

There’s no telling what will happen to you or the Habiticians when this reunion ends. They probably won’t resort to crackpot supervillainy, but nothing truly lasts forever. What happened in the Habitat probably wasn’t the first roadblock the majority of them have ever faced, nor will it be the last, and the same can be said for you. But with the right support systems, you can weather that storm, and moments like these are what make it worth weathering to begin with. Right now, in this moment, you’re okay. All of you are okay. Sometimes, that’s all you can really ask for.

6. Conclusion (The Actual Epilogue)

So, is Smile For Me a good game? …Eh.

Obviously, I don’t mean to say it was actually horrible all along - I just made a whole retrospective talking about why I like it. But even now, with the impact it’s had on me and so many others, I can admit that I still find some parts of it lacking; sometimes the original game doesn’t seem to know if it wants a blank slate protagonist or someone with a pre-existing role and relationships to the characters (though the epilogue makes it clear it’s at least intended to be the former) Habit's redemption happens way too suddenly to really feel rewarding if you're not actively hoping for it, and yeah, I think the Lily ending would have been stronger if you actually were required to help everyone in order to achieve it. It just feels like there should be more here.

But here's the thing: assessing Smile For Me based solely on the premise of "objectively good" or "objectively bad," in my opinion, would have made for an incredibly boring essay. I think it's far more eye-opening to look at Smile For Me as "ground zero" in the eventual larger body of LimboLane's work. It feels very much a test drive, one that heavily prioritizes thematic resonance over concrete, real-world logic; a way to see what they were capable of on a base level before honing their specific skills in future works. To crib another line from the epilogue:

“It's just a demo... but everything starts that way, doesn't it? Maybe someday it'll be a full fledged production, with a 10-part band and a trio of vocalists. A fancy illustration and a dozen remixes.”

And whenever a work that I like has that quality - that sense of urgency to say whatever it needs to say as loudly or as effectively as it can, coherency be damned, because its creators don't know when they'll have the chance do it again - I can’t help but be drawn to it even more, not only because I find it compelling, but also because I find it freeing. I’ve struggled with anxiety issues and perfectionism for almost as long as I can remember. I still struggle a lot with opening up about my hobbies and interests in real life, because the fear that I might be misunderstood usually speaks louder than my desire to find common ground with other people. But the idea that even if the reception is mixed, even if I end up holding back or saying too much, there will be someone out there with whom my work resonates and who will want to see more, is what keeps me going. And if I was able to convey even a fraction of how instrumental Smile For Me was in letting myself be comfortable with that realization, then I’m happy.

I’m really, really happy.

#smile for me #smile for me game #s4m #retrospective #my writing

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starrbar · 1 year

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Isn't it funny how when rad-antis do their cute little "PSA" thing, and their target tries to defend/explain themself, the ones doing the callouts take common, true, scientifically-backed statements and call them "red flags"?

I've seen so many posts going "Oh god guys, we'd better watch out for this dangerous person. 😨" and their evidence is just a screenshot of the "Fiction doesn't equal reality" bullet on their profile/Carrd, or a similar statement in a rebuttal against claims that they're a Literal Child Rapist™ because of their Pixiv bookmarks.

Like, "how DARE you say the most obvious response to the garbage I'm spewing that's been debunked time and time again?" Next, they'll be saying that citing doctors and professionals to back up their points is a "red flag". xD (I don't remember the exact wordings, but I 99% sure I've actually seen one of them say something like that.)

And okay... to play devil's advocate, this makes sense when you consider, for example, how phrases like "free speech" and "anti censorship" mean very different things coming from a Conservative vs. a Progressive, and those are also simple concepts that I think should be supported for their true meanings, but it still looks quite ridiculous when you start saying that phrases like "anti-harassment" and "fiction ≠ reality 1:1" are "proship dogwhistles", as if there is no context in which those statements have any merit.

(and then I started ranting)

❝ No, of course, only CHILD PREDATORS think that abusing and bullying people is wrong, because the ONLY time anybody ever gets bullied is when they've done something to DESERVE it, right?? There are no people on this earth who hurt innocents. Justice is always served. Therefore, "anti-harassment" is a pro-abuser stance! ❞ /s

❝ And obviously "fiction ≠ reality" is always code for "I just really like Stonetoss comics and drawing porn of child actors, but those are just pictures, so they don't mean anything!" It's definitely not like many people who make the former statement would immediately recoil in disgust and block anyone who uses it that way. Nah, we're all just secret predators who formed a club where we worship sexual abuse and bigotry. ❞ /sss

See, that, up there, is why I've started specifically referring to "radical antis" because they ACTUALLY embody these extreme stances, and they have repeatedly blown my mind with how exaggerated they can be, but they're 100% serious.

If you're an anti and the above obnoxious strawman doesn't apply to you, you may very well be just fine. But I'm really just tired of essentialist dickheads spear-heading one harassment campaign after another in the name of "reducing harm", and sadly those people take your genuine beliefs and warp them to create those situations.

I'm sorry you have to be associated with them tbh! /gen

I genuinely don't know how things ended up like this, but unfortunately there are people with genuine, valid concerns about fiction's affect on reality who aren't being taken seriously because a bunch of abusers take those concerns and mangle them until they're unrecognizable, probably on purpose so they can justify torturing other people for fun.

Sad day for survivors all across the board, huh? :/

#anti vs. pro stuff #rant #fandom discourse #shipping discourse #peacefic #neutralship #neufic #neuship #starrspeaks #profic #proship #Idk I guess I'll use all the tags unless I'm being super critical of proshippers in the post??#ehehe extra sarcasm tone tags look like snake sounds

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blujaymi · 1 year

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this might be something with pretty obvious answers, but i wanted to start doing digital art

any tips? thank you

hello anon and congrats on being my 2nd ever ask!!

I'm the absolute worst person to ask about this, but I'll try my best.

Disclaimer: Actually blending and painting digitally is a whole other topic. If you wanted me to talk about painting: I'm sorry!! But, I can make a post about that specifically if you want. For this post though I'll be talking about more easy basic stuffs since you said you were just starting out (I still do mention shading tho).

This post ended up being lengthier than I thought, so I'll leave my thoughts under the cut.

In terms of getting started hardware wise, I've only ever had one drawing tablet (its a huion, but I can't recall what specific model) so I'm not sure I can make any good recommendations but I know there are many ppl on yt who have more experience with various tablets than I do if you don't have one yet!

However, in terms of software, I currently use medibang paint simply because it's free and suits my (very) simple needs. That being said I think it's pretty decent and is definitely more than enough for just starting out. There's also firealpaca, which is essentially the same program but with a focus on animation and comics at the cost of less brushes. Both can be used for basic illustration and have pretty much the same basic brushes and functionality, so either are good starting programs imo.

Besides all that, I'm guessing you're asking more about the actual art side. I don't know if you're transferring to digital from traditional art or just starting to draw in general, but hopefully I can help regardless. There's a lot of beginner digital art tip videos by people way more qualified than me out there so I'm gonna try to give tips I feel like aren't talked about as much.

1. Canvas size is important

When setting up your canvas size, it should definitely be at least 1920x1080 pixels (standard HD size). my canvas is usually 3000x3000 or just a large square. This is mostly because I'm indecisive, draw small, and don't know exactly how I want my canvas oriented until I start drawing; however, I find it to be a good starting point in general as it's big enough to be cropped and preserve quality. Basically, just don't accidentally make your art too small (which sounds obvious but it is something I have done before and haven't really seen artists talk about for beginners. It's a really easy thing to overlook).

2. Save ALL of the time

This isn't really an art tip as much as it is a PSA to prevent disaster. I don't think I've seen an artist that HASN'T lost drawings or parts of drawings from their software crashing or forgetting to save. A lot of if not all art programs do have an autosave feature but it's definitely not meant to be relied on. Especially when you're starting out and are likely spending a LOT of time learning and experimenting with your drawings, just make sure to hit CTRL+S often and make it a habit.

And as a side note, save your art in dated folders of each year/month. It makes the process of backing up your art or uploading it to a drive a lot easier. Safe art is good :]

3. Take advantage of EVERYTHING

Okay, moving on from that sort of off topic PSA, If you're used to traditional art, or just not familiar with your art program, it's easy to forget how many tools you actually have at your disposal to make the drawing process easier and/or faster. So I have compiled a list of essential tools that are in every art program that you might want to experiment and become familiar with before just diving into the deep end and making a drawing (which is fine too, but it can be a little overwhelming).

Layers and clipping

Generally, you want a layer for each unique element of the drawing, such as:

Sketch

Lineart

Color

Shadows

Lighting

I typically divide the color layer into a layer for each color so I can shade them individually (not doing so makes your colors susceptible to getting in each other's way and is just kind of a pain). For example, I'd probably split the color layer of a portrait of a person into a skin, hair, and eye layer. I know when it comes to painting specifically having 39178319 layers is usually criticized, but I think it provides good organization and a bit of a safety net, especially if you're new to digital art and will likely be indecisive in the beginning about things like color.

Speaking of being indecisive about color, one of the most important features of an art program is clipping.

Essentially, whatever you draw on a clipping layer will only show up within the layer that's below it (which as I'm typing this I've realized makes way more sense when you see it than through words). There's usually a checkbox to enable clipping on a layer in the layer window, and its usually called just clipping or clipping mask across software I've seen.

(Clipping off)

(Clipping on)

One of the main things you can use this for is quickly changing the color of a layer without having to be decisive about it and permanently change it. You can have multiple clipping layers over one layer and simply hide the ones you aren't using.

The more prominent thing clipping is used for, however, is shading. Basically, you add a clipping layer to your base color and color in your shadows without having to worry about "going outside the lines". I really wouldn't recommend doing shading any other way unless you're just freehand painting. Clipping is definitely the easiest approach.

Blend modes

I don't really know how to define what a blend mode exactly is, but I can tell you what the two most useful ones are. There's a lot of them depending on what program you use, but the most important (imo) and universal ones are called multiply and add.

What multiply does is intensifies the darks and completely gets rid of the lights on whatever layer you apply it to. In simpler terms, it casts itself as a shadow on the layer below it, hence it is used most often for basic shading.

Because of the nature of the blend mode it is common to choose colors like dark purple or dark red as the tone for the shadows. I honestly really love purple/cool shading, but you can experiment with various tones of shadows and find which fits the vibe of your piece. A general rule of thumb is to not just use a darker version of the color you are shading (unless that's the look you're going for), but also shift the hue on the color wheel a bit to add more v i b e s. For example, shading red with maroon/purple-toned red or green with a slightly blue-green.

Add is the opposite of multiply. It intensifies the lights and completely gets rid of the darks on whatever layer you apply it to. It casts a glowy looking highlight on whatever is below it, and is used for intense lighting or making stuff look cool and glowy (my favorite thing).

As somewhat of a side note, each layer also has an opacity (how opaque/transparent the layer is) setting. Lowering the opacity from 100% will make the layer more transparent (very useful for adjusting the intensity of the shadow or highlight layer, and to draw over your sketch).

Conclusion

There is a LOT more I can talk about regarding this but I think most of it has already been said by much more qualified artists. Also this post is hellishly long and I think any more advice would be overwhelming (if it wasn't already). Hopefully everything I mentioned above can help you start your digital art journey. I'm down to make a part 2 of more obscure tips if I can think of enough.

Best of luck anon and sorry for making you read all of this!

#j answers #asks #my lovely anons

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ran-orimoto · 1 year

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[Merry Christmas, my Tumblr cupcakes! Buon Natale! The Shibayama family and me all wish you a wonderful Natale. So much peace, happiness, joy, harmony in your households💕.

Hm, I usually hate crossposting but I will make another exception for Christmas💕. I think here Kou has received so much love in these months? I know he’s the most popular kid among my Ocs on IG, but on Twitter it’s definitely Ran.

Anyway, short long story. My Christmas comic sketches lack sense every year and this is what I like about them🤣. ]

Kou doesn’t really hate singing. Indeed, when he lived in Italy he was so into singing, as much as Junpei, and he also used to sing during Zecchino D’Oro.

Zecchino d’Oro is a musical festival where chorus of children sing original kids songs. When I was younger, I had so many DVDs featuring musical videos dedicated to children and I admit I still listen to some old songs when I feel like doing it ahahah. They are very adorable and pure, and there also ton of Christmas songs (both original and cute revisitations). During the competion lot of famous singers join and I believe Junpei would love having fun with kids too. So I do headcanon he will eventually end up there too someday, and Kou would be so happy and proud💕🤣.

However, when Kou starts living in Japan, his classmates will begin making him uncomfortable about Junpei, due to how big he is. This will lead Kou to becoming colder in Junpei’s regards and detesting singing as well, because it’s something that’s connected with Junpei. This is the reason why every Christmas isn’t that appreciated by Kou🤣.

Even if Izumi is busy with the restaurant, Junpei will always give his best to stay with the children as much as he can, also to fill those times of the year he couldn’t be there. Moreover, he knows he isn’t going to stay with them on New Year, so he obviously wants to give them his whole attention. A tradition in the Shibayama ‘s household is to sing Christmas songs while Junpei (tries🤣) plays them on the piano. Needless to say Kou doesn’t really like this activity at all, or better, he does like it but he is too torn to admit it.

So he will walk away this year as well, while someone is wishing upon a Christmas star to get a precious desire of his fulfilled. Digiworld has got no concept of time…It can connect dimensions but also people living in different time layers. Uhhh, Junpei, I don’t think you have wished to get a Kou for on Christmas Eve’s night ahahahahahahah.

“My wish is to get to stay with Izumi-Chan forever…~~~”

✨✨✨✨✨

Kou…Isn’t exactly what he wished for, okay? 🤣 Or maybe he is, in some kind of way?

PSA That I thank Joseph for still making me discover Junzumi official stuff at the end of 2022. I was kinda inspired from the “More More Happy Christmas” Frontier song ahahahZ

#junzumi #junpei shibayama #digimon frontier #junpei #kou #I’m so stupid #but Kou is more c’mon #and maybe bby Junpei too #I love Junpei dressed in that silly way for Christmas #even if his nose fell smh #ahahahahahahhahah #OPS #zura’s sketches

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yassifiedwelder · 11 months

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I have been brainstorming soooo much for this #Spidersona thing I have been doing research and working out character arcs and designs and back stories with friends. I really want music to have a major roll in this. I’m thinking I could create a playlist and mess around with those Spotify codes to create a code in the book each person could scan and that song could play as they read through the next couple of panels.

I think I’m mainly posting about this to record it. I’ve never felt this was about a project or idea and I really think I could flush this out into something tangible. I technically have all of the knowledge and skill to work through this and create a physical copy of this graphic novel/idk “interactive” multimedia experience lmao.

Anywho, if anyone happens to see this please drop some songs/playlists for inspiration below. Go obscure, I’m talking like 3 weird recordings on YouTube from a German club obscure, but also I don’t mind the classics (I do plan to have a badass helicopter scene involving all of these mutant freedom fighters to #CCR .)

Here’s some songs I have ideas for rn

THESE ARE THE VIBESSS!

If anyone bothers to read this far hello! Welcome to this virtual project log. I have a tendency to ramble when I’m in a creative mood so after I have that time I like to sit back and reflect on what I’ve learned and write it all down and share it looking for comments questions and ideas. So I hope you like it!

The first video is the amount of pages so far, (the post right before this) I am planning on trying to digitize and rewrite the first “Issue” as a readable post on here so I’m gonna get started on that’s soon. I’m taking a lot of inspirations from Zine culture and alternative comics, body horror ideas from things like the Fly and Johnny the Homocidal maniac, all set to a soundtrack built off of the foundations of rock and the oddity’s of today. The color palate is as if the album cover for the Mountains Goats’ “Goths” came to life, with a formatting similar to one of my favorite books “My favorite thing is monsters” (look it uppppp)

Also, HEY MR. MOUSE! I’m not trying to make money off this, I’m just trying to make some fun art and share it with the world. BUT if you wanna use my characters,hmu (I am delusional) we can work out a deal, have your People call my people.

But that also goes to anyone else out there who wants to work together, my dms are open . . . (Mostly to bots rn)

OH Kay back to it . . . .

In the next pictures are some character designs that are very very very very much inspired by my friends. They’re strange enough that unless you know me by name then you would never get it Lmao . . . But the characters are kinda cool. I really tried to use actual habits and adaptations that these animals have in real life compared to how the human body would have to accommodate for its ability to defy nature. Planning for this to be kinda gory. I’m excited.

Also PSA I know I’m not an amazing artist, I’m going more for story and style over photo realism idk, this is just for my enjoyment, thank you for your time 💖💖💖 to help keep track I’m gonna tag all of these with #OnetaAquatica I’m excited to explore this story and world.

#Spotify #music reccomendations #anti war #historical fiction #fanmade story #Oneta aquatica #spidersona #spider oc #spiderverse

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cobaltstarling · 1 year

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I was pondering putting this on my writing blog, but while it's a PSA, it's not related to writing. Or at least, not ENTIRELY related to writing.

Some people will say that there is no sense in getting mad over 'something silly'. Or no point in getting mad at all, you should stay calm and argue your case.

...I'm here to tell you that's bullshit.

If it's important to you, get mad. Yell. Get angry. Kick up a fuss. Protest. I would say to draw the line at physical violence but that's mostly because I don't want to endorse people doing anything violent.

But, within reason, do whatever you want. Whatever you can to MAKE PEOPLE TAKE NOTICE.

Because sometimes people are not going to stop doing something or change something unless there is pushback. Unless there is unrest. They're not going to stop doing something or change something they're doing until it becomes more of a hassle for them to deal with people getting angry than it is worth, and change their ways.

That's literally how protesting works, isn't it? You cause enough of a fuss and a mess that people will change things to try and make you shut up. This is one of the times when 'The end justifies the means' applies.

Be a nuisance, cause as much noise and trouble as you can until people change things for the better.

This applies for less serious things, like fandoms and tv show cancellations...

And it also applies for more serious things, like politics and social issues.

Because sometimes people will think it's more trouble than it's worth changing things until they get slapped in the face and told that people are NOT ok with it.

So, whether you're angry about your favourite comic being canned, or the rights that some people should get but don't...

Be angry. Make a fuss. Make people take notice.

You may find that more people are willing to take a stand on these sort of things but lack the courage to start things.

#PSA

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magnetic-regent-magneto · 2 years

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Short infos and psa

MAX EISENHARDT, ERIK LENSHERR, || MAGNETO ||.

INDEPENDENT, MOSTLY SERIOUS, LITERATE & SELECTIVE ROLEPLAY BLOG BASED ON DIVERGENT EARTH-616 CANON (and 616 only), NO MCU CONTENT PRESENT!. FOR MAGNETO ERAS SEE BELOW. (CURRENTLY) PRIMARILY FOCUSES ON OWN AND CURRENT (Ewing) CHARACTERIZATION WITH HEAVY INFLUENCE FROM OLD RUNS (Depending on the era being RPed), BUT OVERALL VERY HEAVILY CRITICAL OF MARVEL & THE WRITING THAT TYPICALLY FOCUSES AROUND MAGS. WRITTEN BY FENNIA, 21+. SHE / HER.

─ My Erik is more heavily based in his faith

─ Pietro, Wanda and Lorna are his children

|| ⸻ TAGS: .

─ #muse:magneto

─ #-- ask/prompts ||

─ #--GOD IS BRUTAL || AESTHETIC/EDITS

─ #--WHO WILL LISTEN || MUSIC

─ #--FEAR BREEDS RAGE || RP

─ #--HATE AS YOU BREATHE || HEADCANONS

─ #--MAGNETIC SEDUCTION || 18+ NSFW

─ #-- Alternate RP Verses ||

─ #-- mun art ||

|| ⸻ MAIN ERAS AND STORYLINES: .

Short infos and psa My Magneto RP lives off of an overarching continuity, and anyone is welcome to request plotting to start lasting story lines that could be integrated into it or during the plotting process add their respective insight.

Though these are main eras listed, these are the ones I have actively RPed before and I am also willing to RP any other as well as specific alternate eras.

─ ‘97 Animation Magneto: “Oh, to play by the rules and still they come for you.” || #--series || old testament

─ 90′s MAGNETO: “She always did say I would bring violence to her.” || #--90s || agenda m

─ MAGNETO 2014 (BUNN ERA): “Only my actions ... what I do in the name of all mutants ... hold any real meaning. .[...] The past often plots the course of one’s future.” || #--2014 || exodus

─ CYCLOP’S UTOPIA/MUTANT REVOLUTION/CHILDREN’S CRUSADE: “Which is why I think it’s time you boys met your grandfather, MAGNETO.” || #--UTOPIA || appeasement

─ UNCANNY X-MEN (2016)/X-MEN BLUE: “They have forgotten ... I have forgotten ... who I am.” || #--UXBLUE || anarchy

─ KRAKOA (in ways heavily rewritten): “Broken metal with sharp edges ... Whatever will I do with that? [...]” || #--KRAKOA || paradise

─ ARRAKO: “I thought Arrako frowned on weakness...” || #--ARRAKO || red planet

You can find a load of alternate storylines, possible plots or RP Events here:

─ Alternate RP Verses

|| ⸻ RP PSA!! : .

─ mutuals only. 21+.

─ Heavy subject matter present including but not limited to: gore, pain, death, possible but rare implications of sexual content, Holocaust references

─ MCU/XMCU Content and certain comic runs (Trial of Magneto (2021)) will be ignored. I am highly critical of marvel and will voice my discontent openly with various decisions made in any context.

─ You show support for antisemitism, racism, homophobia or any of these within the MCU (i.g. Elizabxth Olsxn) or try to fight me over a character, I will report and block you.

─ Basic rp etiquette and common sense applies

─ I have certain mains for different characters and though your headcanon’s for them may be different, my RP will be based on them.

─ I have a busy real life and will reply very slow. That does not mean I have forgotten or dropped our interactions in any way!

─ Character and RP are canon-based but heavily influenced by years upon years of RP, developed headcanons and the people I interact with. RP can include non-canon and therefore very own story lines and own development as I do not always fully agree with writer’s work.

─ Please do not annoy me with ships. Especially Cherik. As nice as the ship is, if I get too fed up with people spamming me about it, I will block it.

─ I will make jokes about ships but there will be no shipping on this blog in any way.

─ Edits, unless reblogged, are of my own making. Do not steal!

#|| pinned #muse:magneto #-- MUN ||

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rederiswrites · 2 years

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A friend just posted a little personal ad for a cat waiting for adoption, with the tag #adoptdontshop, and it reminded me of something I’ve been mulling on lately, which is only tangentially related to cats.

You know the wonderful comic, the one with the goblin-looking dudes and the airships, and Goblin A couldn’t understand why Goblin B didn’t make airy, colorful, pretty airships like everyone else--but the balance of the comic shows that those dark, heavy airships reached down into the dark crevices of the world, and were a lifeline to different people? I don’t quite have the words yet, but to do my best--it works the other way around, too. Not that sometimes we are too “high up” to reach people, but simply that we’re too far apart.

#adoptdontshop is a message that a lot of people probably need to hear, but honestly it took me years to really grasp that. I thought it was a rather trite and silly message, actually. Because I had never shopped for a cat and wouldn’t even know how to go about it. I don’t think that as a kid I knew anyone who had gotten their cat from anywhere more official than the Humane Society. Nearly every cat I’ve ever had started out as a stray or child of a stray. The idea of buying a purebred cat was rich people nonsense, up there with $50 steaks and gold paperclips, and not to be considered as a statistically significant thing. #adoptdontshop was a message that fundamentally wasn’t for me.

Sometimes I look at someone’s blog, or a post, and I think--this person is suffering, but I don’t think I can speak to them. I don’t think we have enough in common for me to reach them.

Take depression, for another example. Some of us are ready to hear messages about “Shower. Get some exercise. Eat breakfast. You’ll feel better.” To some, those messages are just infuriating. These people are desperate. They don’t feel able. They need outside help, to give them a foothold. Since they may have despaired of that as well, almost any message of hope might be received negatively. Maybe, maybe, after counselling or medication or a change in life circumstances, they will be in a slightly better position to hear basic advice for maintaining their bodies and minds. Depression is a good example because so many of us find ourselves on multiple points of the spectrum at different times. I know I’ve been both of the people above.

Your art, your story, your carefully crafted PSA, will only reach some people. That’s okay. There are a great many people in the world. Some may still be a lot, applied over large populations. But also, if someone’s creation doesn’t reach you, that doesn’t mean it was bad or wrong. It may just not be for you.

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