the gang when the death strands ^-^ big long ver under cut

In a more festive reality...maybe..

Death Stranding (2019)

Målingen

Since I'm particularly proud of it, I want to post this edit of Mama/Målingen here too💚

So uhh I finished Death Strading all achievements...

Mama, the inverted stillmother

Kojima loves his parallels. Higgs and Sam (the "tom and jerry" archetype he made a tweet about), the two Lous (self explanatory), Amelie and Cliff (the parents at war). Mama herself already has a natural double in her twin, Lockne.

but she's also an inversion of a concept the game doesn't mention much: stillmothers.

a stillmother is where BBs come from, a pregnant brain-dead woman whose fetus is removed and sealed in a pod. this teetering between life and death, the unborn child taken from a functionally dead mother, is what allows the BBs to function like they do, making a bridge between the living and the dead and not only seeing BTs but allowing others to see them too via a connection with the umbilical cord. the stillmother and BB maintain their connection through womb data, which is essential to the BBs continued health, as it must always believe it is in its mother's womb.

Mama is the opposite: a mother birthing a child that dies in the same instance, a BT before the umbilical cord was even cut. this tethers the BT to her instead of the other side, but it also holds her in stasis. she's not dead but not really living either, and the tension of the cord pulling in both directions is the only thing that's keeping her breathing. once it's cut, the snap back kills her.

where BBs are in constant portable motion, facilitating connection, Mama is stationary, solitary, disconnected from her sister because of her condition. both metaphorically and literally, Mama lives for the dead. in a way, she's also a more extreme reflection of Sam, or maybe a warning to him, where reconnection with the living literally saves her soul.

the BT baby is literally an attempt at connection gone wrong. the baby that was meant to be raised by both Lockne and Malingen, that was meant to bridge the divide between living a dead by being made from what was left of Lockne's lover, died, severing all of those connections permanently. that this is practically the only other child character we see in the game apart from Sam and BB seems important. Sam and the BT baby were both children that were meant to create personal bonds at their birth/ removal from the pod, Cliff and Lisa (and even a severing of bonds if we consider Cliff Vs Bridget and in lesser part, John/ Die-Hardman), the BT connecting the the sisters and the dead husband. but BB 28 is collective child, impersonal, working for the future of the whole. only once BB 28 has completed her job and reconnected the whole of America is she allowed to become Lou, the personal child, only required to connect herself and Sam.

children connect the collective, but cannot be relied upon to connect the personal for anyone but their own sake, maybe?

in any case, Mama is fooling herself, same as the BB must be fooled to continue on. she knows her child must return to the other side, that she is no longer the BT baby's mother in anything but name only, but she holds onto that umbilical cord with both hands, until she literally can't anymore, until she realises that her connection with the living has to be rekindled for the sake of America and the chiral network, her life's work.

“Bridges will unite us.”

Ey, I found a way to place all the main characters in one illustration ;) (except Higgs).

mama <3

Black Screen Records have just restocked both their Death Stranding soundtrack vinyls!

If you're are like me and you only just started collecting vinyls, then you might have figured out that once they are sold out, they are basically gone forever with little to no way to buy them again, unless you want to spend hundreds of bucks😩 and since not everyone has twitter I thought why not share that they are available again!! They ship from Germany!

I think Plusle and Minun kinda fit them?

Hundreds of hours spent building highways. [ID: Three black and white digital drawings featuring characters from the video game Death Stranding. First, a drawing of Fragile facing the horizon, looking back towards the viewer. She is holding up her umbrella. Two birds are flying in the distance. Second, a drawing of Mama posed as if she is cradling a baby. Behind her is an impression of Lockne drawn in scant, loose lines. Third, a drawing of Higgs Monaghan seated facing the viewer. His head rests against the palm of his left hand, while his right hand is held up towards his mouth gesturing to hush. The lower half of his face is covered by a skull-like mask, while his eyes drip with black fluid. His forehead is scribbled with indiscernible writing. End ID]

Death Stranding (2019)

Several Death Stranding doodles with light spoilers ahead in the image descriptions. [ID: Four digital doodles based on the video game Death Stranding. The first is an image of Higgs Monaghan raising BTs from the ground. The second is an image of Malingen with her floating BT baby standing beside Lockne. The third is an image of Deadman standing fully clothed in a running shower while Sam Bridges looks at him perplexed. The fourth is an image of Sam Bridges bathing in a natural hot spring while playing with his BB, while Malingen lies on the ground in her corpse disposal suit, asking, "Sam?" out loud. End ID]

Målingen, Lockne