So I saw this interesting post discussing the bashing of otome heroines, and the person i saw it from had some tags comparing the OBSCURA and Touchstarved mc's and the different fan response to them. Which go me thinking, but reposing to it there felt like it would have derailed that post, some I'm putting my thoughts here instead.

Basically the tags were an observation that OBSCURA's mc gets treated as their own character (Vesper) whose popularity is comparable to that of all the different love interests. Meanwhile Touchstarved's fandom doesn't seem to rally around one singular MC with everyone having own OC instead. This despite the fact that their both gender neutral blank slates you never even really see.

I'd noticed that too and got thinking of why that is, so here's my theory.

Name. Notice that I referred to OBSCURA's mc as Vesper, but didn't give a name to Touchstarved's mc? When asking what your name is OBSCURA auto suggests a name. There's a not insignificant number of people that when given an auto suggested name won't go to the effort of changing it. (ex My first time playing a Legend of Zelda game it didn't even occur to me to change Link's name despite it definitely being an option.) And despite still being a reader insert just the act of giving them name makes Vesper feel like a more defined then Touchstarved unnamed MC does.

Origins. Vesper is Vesper. Who they were before the start of OBSCURA doesn't really matter, no matter what you might hc they were like before the start of the story, they still enter the mountain with the skill set no matter what. Touchstarved's mc is deliberately fluid. They have three different possible backgrounds and which one you pick does effect the mc's skill set. Make your own oc is literally built into the game.

Presentation of information. Touchstarved is very upfront about their mc's motivations. You are cursed. It's very isolating and has caused you to hurt others unintentionally. You are looking for a cure. What your curse is is never really a question. That's a very different experience from playing OBSCURA. The games hook is "people don't go under the mountain unless they have a good reason, unfortunately you have a great reason" it does not say the reason, it's a great hook. So you play the game, you go under the mountain and you find out what you're looking for is . . . blue moon ichor. You have no context for what that is, it's not initially explained, but it makes people pity you. It's not until you meet one of the LI's that it's revealed you want the ichor. You only only learn about Vesper's motivations as they chose to reveal that information to others. It's an interesting story telling choice. For me, it was more engaging to have Vesper being just as much of a mystery as everything else, than Touchstarved approach of giving that information upfront, but it comes at a cost. The MC's are both supposed to be self inserts, but hiding that information puts distance you and Vesper again making them feel more like their own character than a self insert.

Choice. Atleast as far the demos go Vesper's choices matter more. Your choices change who you meet, if you get a partner to help you face the future, or if you fail to achieve your goal chapter one. The Touchstarved mc makes choices too, it gives you slightly different dialog and you then you move on with your day. The TS MC is a vehicle to meet that game's LI's, your choices change what side of them you get to see. In Obscura your choices affect Vesper first and fore most, which again gives Vesper a stronger sense of character.

Just to be clear, I don't want this to sound like me dunking on RedSpringStudios and say they can't make good characters. Boy can they! All five of their love interests are full of character and intrigue. It's like I said in point two, the "build your own oc" approach seems very purposeful. It's a fan response they've encouraged, even releasing bio templates that match the official bios of all the LI's. This is what they wanted.

What amuses me is that RottenRaccons did not seem to realize what they had done. They seem very surprised but pleased by how much fans are latching onto Vesper as their own character.

PRAYING FOR ISRAEL

There's so much to discuss since my last series of posts, but today I'm only going to focus on the devastating tragedy Israel suffered over this past weekend. If you haven't yet heard, Hamas attacked and infiltrated an area of Israel, killed hundreds of Israelis (some of which were live-streamed executions), and also kidnapped a significant number of citizens, including IDF soldiers, elderly civilians, women, and children.

Some, like myself, are wondering how the Palestinians were able to stage such a large operation without Israel's Defense forces having known about it in advance. And others are also quick to point out there's a high likelihood that a state-sponsor of terrorism such as Iran was involved in providing military assistance and in planning the infiltration. (How in the world did the Palestinians get the rockets used in this attack if Gaza is supposed to be under a blockade?) So many questions to be answered. And perhaps it's also well past time for the U.S. to re-examine its foreign policy preference of eagerly releasing billions of dollars to Iran, which has occurred both under former President Obama and President Biden's current administration*. Many experts contend that such money is in effect fungible, even if it would be supposedly "restricted to" humanitarian uses. Whether or not Iran aided in these terrorist attacks, it's no secret that in the past, Iran has developed drones, IEDs, etc., that have even killed American troops.

And that leads me to my next point. Let's call the detestable actions of Hamas exactly what they are: acts of terrorism. When Hamas & the Palestinians target, maim, and torture innocent & defenseless civilians, there can be no other moniker applied to them. They're not freedom fighters and the term "militants" (as some in the mainstream media like to call them) is grossly misleading. They're terrorists. And that makes me wonder. Do the Palestinians still celebrate and give each other gifts whenever Israelis are killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber? Does Hamas (which was elected by the Palestinian people) still offer monetary compensation to such suicide bombers? Even some members of Congress, specifically left-leaning members of "The Squad", have whitewashed these terrorist actions in the past, and even after this weekend's attack, some of them are calling for a cease-fire, which is in effect an unacceptably toned-down response against the terrorists. A few have even called for the U.S. to end military aid to our ally Israel!! Completely ludicrous. (And some people claim the right has a problem with anti-Semitism!...)

I don't know how long Israel's war against Hamas will last. I pray that all those innocent civilians that were kidnapped are returned safe and unharmed to their loved ones in Israel. I pray that Israel would ultimately have victory over those who seek their total destruction. And I pray that the Palestinians would see that terrorism never has been and never will be an effective way for airing grievances or for advancing a cause.

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* (Edited on 10/11/23) I don't usually go back & edit my posts here, even though I realize these rough drafts are less than ideally written. However, this time I did go back and make a spelling correction, as well as substitute a phrase or two.

I also wanted to address something that has repeatedly come up in the mainstream media in the past few days regarding the subjects covered in my second paragraph above. When I wrote that, I was fully aware that Iran had not yet withdrawn any of the $6 billion that the Biden administration had released to them last month in exchange for the American hostages. But somewhere amidst all the clutter floating around in my mind, I had recalled hearing about a previous similar arrangement in the past year. So in order to be completely accurate, here's that info: On March 24, 2023, Freebeacon reported that the Biden administration had waived sanctions against Iran to allow them to receive a utility payment from Iraq. (Although Iran claims that amounted to $500 million, I'm not sure if that exact quantity can be trusted.) And on June 10, 2023, Reuters reported that the Biden administration again waived economic sanctions for Iran in order for them to receive a $2.76 billion gas payment.

It's unbelievable how the mainstream media continues to cover for the Biden administration, and blatantly ignores inconvenient facts such as the ones above. And some of them are even denying Iran's involvement in training or supporting Hamas' recent acts of terrorism. So let's briefly break that down. Do the Palestinians have numerous mines of metal ore there in the Gaza strip? Do they have metal refineries or processes for smelting the same? If not, where are they getting the metal for their rockets? Does Hamas have a production factory there for rocket launch triggers or for paragliding equipment as we saw in these recent attacks? If not, then the logical conclusion is that someone (or some country) is providing them with armaments and with corresponding training.

I realize that, unfortunately, championing pro-Israel views or even posing a semblance of criticism against "The Squad" or Democrats or President Biden is becoming more and more unpopular in America. (Just one example of the growing thug culture among those in power was the familiar local black helicopter that rushed to find me when I went out after Monday's post. It intentionally flew right above me in the parking lot, again flying just a little too close to the tree line...) But there are certain things that cannot remain unspoken, even in the face of criticism or opposition.