FamilyCryptkeeper

TCOAAL fic writer who probably has way too much free time. AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FamilyCryptkeeper

[familycryptkeeper]

Do they look beautiful like Ashley Graves as Cleopatra and Andrew Graves as Julius Caesar?

Feel like Ptolemy would've been more fitting for Cleopatra's brother but honestly really nice designs.

[familycryptkeeper]

what do you think about crack fics

I don't read them very often. I think my brain just prefers some sense of internal logic to follow- even weird but consistent logic. But I don't have anything against them. It can sometimes be fun to see a story where literally anything goes.

[familycryptkeeper]

What if Nina was strong enough to break out of the box and managed to escape after Andrew and Ashley left?

They would be soooo fucked. I don't even know how fucked. Just fucked.

They're probably going to juvie or some sort of rehab. Andrew especially, since Renee seems to make him take responsibility for Ashley's actions and Andrew himself said he'd take the blame if she died (though Nina's testimony would likely get Ashley sent there too). Obviously everyone treats them like pariahs (more than in-game) and I doubt Julia's gonna be crushing on Andrew for very long after finding out what he did to Nina.

That said, an asthmatic kid who's strong enough to open a locked dusty box from the inside? If that happened I would rather go to juvie than remain free to face that mini-Terminator's wrath.

[familycryptkeeper]

Hi

*BOOM* westermarck fanart

(is still valentines trust)

Thanks so much for the art! I'm pretty pleased to get some Westermarck fanart.

And it's DEFINITELY still Valentine's Day, don't worry. Andrew & Ashley are probably still celebrating as we speak.

[familycryptkeeper]

first, could you enable anonymous asks pls

secondly, the TCOAAL community is running out of things to talk about and things to write about.

TCOAAL is a pretty good game centred entirely on 2 people in a toxic relationship. However, because it’s mostly focused on 2 people with little to no details on anyone else or even where the characters live. Every fanfic ends up focused on one of these 2 characters, most theories are focused on these 2 characters, most fan art is focused on Andrew and Ashley.

eventually, you run out of stuff to actually write about, fanfics start to feel like Groundhog Day as you start to notice the exact same plots and tropes in every fanfic. Every theory and analysis starts to feel like a rehash of the ones that came before it. All the fanart starts to blend together. Another thing I would like to mention is that the most popular OCs usually replace one of the siblings or are related to one of the siblings, because OCs that aren’t strongly related to the Graves in some way get ignored because this fandom only really cares about the Graves (because the game is all about the Graves siblings)

Didn't realize I didn't have anonymous asks on. But sure, they're on now.

I don't disagree with you, a lot of these are pretty valid points. I think an issue I have with a lot of analyses and theories is how many of them just retread old ground. Only so many "did anyone notice this detail" posts one can see before just saying "I got it the first time".

And I definitely realize that a lot of my own OCs' popularity stems from them being fankids, though I try my best to make them actual characters too.

Though I wouldn't say people who like OCs that replace one of the siblings actually care about the Graves siblings. They care about their idea of the Graves siblings and seem to not really like a lot of who they actually are, including the whole siblings-kissing-on-the-mouth thing.

[familycryptkeeper]

this one is for u (rush sketch, i was lazy so i didnt draw the hands)

Also does the fankids watch any cartoon?

I love this! Thanks so much for it! And totally get the hands part, I avoid drawing them if I can.

For cartoons? Alex would be a fan of the old DC shows, probably some of the new ones, and I can see her liking competition/challenge-based shows (someone on Strawpage suggested BFDI, though if we're keeping it strictly TV then I'm thinking of TDI). Aleister I can see being into the 2010's-era Cartoon Network lineup (mostly the early 2010's, like Adventure Time & Regular Show), though I also see him watching Infinity Train purely because it has a train in it. Lilith probably enjoys all those shows based on doll toylines (like Monster High, though I'm drawing a blank on the names of other examples).

[familycryptkeeper]

The image proper because wow the ask shrunk it:

[familycryptkeeper]

this one is for u (rush sketch, i was lazy so i didnt draw the hands)

Also does the fankids watch any cartoon?

I love this! Thanks so much for it! And totally get the hands part, I avoid drawing them if I can.

For cartoons? Alex would be a fan of the old DC shows, probably some of the new ones, and I can see her liking competition/challenge-based shows (someone on Strawpage suggested BFDI, though if we're keeping it strictly TV then I'm thinking of TDI). Aleister I can see being into the 2010's-era Cartoon Network lineup (mostly the early 2010's, like Adventure Time & Regular Show), though I also see him watching Infinity Train purely because it has a train in it. Lilith probably enjoys all those shows based on doll toylines (like Monster High, though I'm drawing a blank on the names of other examples).

[familycryptkeeper]

TCOAAL seems to have fans nearly everywhere and from various political ideologies. I’ve seen white nationalists like it, I’ve seen anarchist communists like it, I’ve seen both old and young people like it. I once checked the profile of a 30+ year old Muslim from Saudis Arabia who liked TCOAAL, also found another guy from Pakistan who also liked it. And another case where an anti-Semitic Christian nationalist also liked TCOAAL.

How does this game attract people who logically should hate it? It’s degenerate and weird but for some reason has a sizable portion of Nazis and religious people, aka the kind of people would hate a game like this.

Tbh, I can unfortunately guess for the neo-Nazis. No purer bloodline than incest, and all of the characters have light skin (given the whole game tends towards monochrome).

Also, have you seen how much incest is in religious stuff? They're basically coming home.

(As for why they think Nemlei would be cool with them given all the demon shit in TCOAAL and the gay ending in Better Half: who knows but I wish all the bigots in this fandom would fuck off)

[incorrect-gravescest]

Howdy! A little bit I asked on the tcoaal subreddit why the siblings (at least in the fan content I see) mostly have a daughter if they have one child. Familycryptkeeper responded saying they had a placeholder for Alex’s gender and hers just came naturally and then referenced using Lilith which is your Gravescest kid. So my question is what was your process for creating Lilith?

Good question, Anon! It started when I found this fanart of a genderbent/Rule 63 version of Andrew.

But when I saw it for the first time, my mind processed it as a mix of both Siblingspouses, not just R63 Andrew, so I turned it into a "face claim" for a Gravescest daughter.

But first I needed a name, so I thought about it and playing into the occult undertones of TCOAAL, I was researching everything from demonology to Kabbalah and everything in between when I suddenly remembered reading about Lilith from Jewish mythology and suddenly I had her name. I could see Ashley picking that for a name since Lilith defied God and stood up for herself by refusing to be subservient to Adam and thinking it would be a great name for her daughter. Of course, she wouldn't tell Andrew where she got the name from, but she was relieved when Andrew liked it. From there, it was just a matter of fleshing out her personality. I tend to think she's more like Andrew than Ashley, but she can be impulsive sometimes like dear old Mom.

She only showed up in one fic of mine, The Talk but FamilyCryptKeeper writes a younger Lilith in his excellent Family Crypt story that has two other Gravescest fankids , Aleister and Alex.

Honestly, I really should write more with Lilith as I've been neglecting her a bit.

[familycryptkeeper]

are you on the Tcoaal subreddit? There’s this guy with the username u/JohnnyUnderTheBed who is genuinely losing his mind. At first people thought he was just kidding around but he’s been slowly getting more and more insane over the past MONTHS and the stuff he types out sounds way too specific and personal to just be bait.

I’m wondering what your personal thoughts on this guy is assuming you’ve seen his posts. If not then go check them out.

I go on the subreddit once in a blue moon whenever a friend shares a post. Even then I almost never say anything unless I really feel the need, it's gone too downhill for my liking.

I haven't heard of this guy, but if I knew more about him I'd be able to say something.

[familycryptkeeper]

how much do you like the ship of Andy x leyley

I’m not a fan of the ship but cute fanart

(PS: if they weren’t family related it would be ok

for me)

*Looks at my backlog of Andrew/Ashley fics*

*Looks at the three Andrew/Ashley fankids I created or helped write*

...

...It's okay, I guess.

[familycryptkeeper]

What is your prediction for the "stars align" vision?

For me it's one of the biggest indicators of a good ending, since the stars are granted by choices that strengthen the bond between Andrew and Ashley and it's specifically stated to be a vision of the future as opposed to a different timeline like the Olive brach vision.

If nothing else, the vision being of the future means Andrew & Ashley are alive and likely together in some capacity. And it's probably something we would want to see, given we have to work to get it. You usually don't have to work to get a worse ending.

I'd obviously prefer if they had kids, but I can be fine without as long as there's still a chance.

That said if Nemlei just dropped a kid who looked like Alex into the vision I might actually combust.

[sphacelating]

i can’t deny that hanging out in this fandom space where people put a pair of very, very well written fictional abuse victims under a microscope, pick a favorite (so, pick a side, even if you claim not to), write analytic thinkpieces that invalidate the siblings’ trauma at the hands of each other and vilify one in the other’s defense, is sucking the fun out of this. you think that as long as you add “the siblings are both bad people” in there somewhere, you can unload criticism onto only one of them without taking the actions of the other into heavy consideration, or that if you preface your victim blaming with “i’m not saying they deserved it, but—“ that somehow negates the victim blaming that follows.

and watching tcoaal fans treat obvious trauma responses (you know, irrational responses to pain) as if these are rational and subject to the exact same moral critique as normal behavior, in order to decide which circle of hell these two belong in, is… uncomfortable, to say the least.

[galaxy-ramblings]

Now that I won't be bashed in for saying this, I want to question why the Ashley Graves is asexual theory ever came to be.

It's surprising just how popular this theory was that it ended up being asked on the Q&A

Like, in the game she's seen to be the one to bring it up every single time. It's never been Andrew.

(and yes, this includes the devlog doodle too)

Like, it always made more sense to me that she was demi. She literally doesn't care about other people except Andrew. (Maybe other people too if they never got in her way of being with Andrew, as in, perhaps she'd give a shit if they didn't bully her or try to steal him away from her, but 🤷🏻‍♀️ we don't know)

Anyway, seriously, I'm really happy about the demisexual representation because this means Ashley Graves is the FIRST canonical demisexual character EVER represented in a video game.

Congratulations to her and oh my god, I will never stop talking about this.

[familycryptkeeper]

People always insist that she views it as transactional and love to cite the callgirl and soda scenes. But that relies on people taking the former scene completely seriously while treating the later as Ashley making a joke.

Like... it's the other way around. She explicitly says leaving her number was a joke but only backs off about offering Andrew her virginity because Andrew himself gets uncomfortable. There's no "just a prank bro" afterwards.

I won't say she isn't transactional about her view of it in some aspects, but she's transactional about a lot of things besides sex- her view of life in general is pretty much quid pro quo- and in fact it's primarily when it isn't related to Andrew. When it is related to Andrew, we get the questionable ending, where she pursues the idea of them as lovers of her own accord.

And guess what- demisexual fits that description perfectly. She wants Andrew and only Andrew- anyone else can go shove it.

"Ashley is ace" just seems to be Tumblr shorthand for "I want to ship Ashley with someone besides Andrew." Especially now that Nemlei has all but said she isn't.

[galaxy-ramblings]

I want to talk about this here.

So, we know that she isn't disinterested in sex. (Honestly, I kinda figured as much since throughout the game she's been the one to bring it up.)

But this does show that she's projecting all her needs onto Andrew. Shocker. Who would've thought abuse, neglect, and bullying at home and at school would do this?

Anyway, I've really taken this to mean that my headcanon of Ashley being demisexual, not asexual, is true.

Meaning she enjoys sex if it's with a person/type of person she has feelings for. Which just so happens to be, as stated here: Andrew.

Though, according to this, it's not really something she thought about much, she doesn't want to grow up. Which is something I predicted??? More of the fact that I said that I think Burial will be about her growing up and accepting it, burying Andy and Leyley.

Anyway, here's to my headcanon of demisexual Ashley! 🥂

[familycryptkeeper]

Some people are so salty that Andrew has a big dick and that Ashley isn't disgusted at the thought of it.

Demisexual fits way more than asexual, the latter just felt like an excuse to ship Ashley with people besides Andrew and I never saw any actual asexual people agree with it.

[galaxy-ramblings]

Fun fact, I'm demisexual. So, when I noticed my own traits in Ms Ashley Graves here, I started headcanonning her as such.

And yeah, I'm not at all going to lie, it actually frustrated me that people kept calling her asexual. Demisexual is on the ace spectrum, don't get me wrong. But I couldn't really tell people that their own headcanon was wrong because:

It's a headcanon. There's no proof one way or the other without the author literally coming in and proving or disproving as such, and in this case, I'd say the author did just that.

People could use my argument as being acephobic when in reality, I would've been using in-game evidence.

I'm glad the author basically confirmed my headcanon and yeah.

(as for big dick Andrew, I'm not entirely sure why there's so much frustration. Like... it doesn't affect anyone here? It's Andrew's burden to bare if he even finds it a burden.)

(Also we kinda already could guestimate his size because of Burial Ashley. Her run down makeup definitely shows she was in tears at one point, probably from how big his dick was, but we also know from verbal confirmation from her that it's small enough to fit perfectly in her mouth.)

(Also also, I'm more upset at the fact that the author says Ashley's boobs are smaller than advertised, like, c'mon, we can see her size in the pictures! Her tits are big.)

[familycryptkeeper]

A lot of ace people I know actually agree with the whole demisexual thing. There is something Ashley feels for Andrew and Nemlei's finally all but outright said it.

Not only was ace Ashley always a headcanon, one that I felt was never really supported by the game, but I always felt it was selectively enforced. It came across as an excuse for people to say "oh she's not into Andrew" only to never apply it if any other character, canon or original, came along. You'll never see people saying Ashley is ace if she's shipped with Julia or an OC, it's just Andrew for some reason.

I also don't get why Andrew having a big dick is so upsetting either? Like some people really hated the idea that you could view it without a microscope- and honestly? I like him having a big dick purely to spite them. It's such a weird thing to lose your mind about, not like we're ever gonna get to see it.

Shame about the tits, though.

[galaxy-ramblings]

I want to talk about this here.

So, we know that she isn't disinterested in sex. (Honestly, I kinda figured as much since throughout the game she's been the one to bring it up.)

But this does show that she's projecting all her needs onto Andrew. Shocker. Who would've thought abuse, neglect, and bullying at home and at school would do this?

Anyway, I've really taken this to mean that my headcanon of Ashley being demisexual, not asexual, is true.

Meaning she enjoys sex if it's with a person/type of person she has feelings for. Which just so happens to be, as stated here: Andrew.

Though, according to this, it's not really something she thought about much, she doesn't want to grow up. Which is something I predicted??? More of the fact that I said that I think Burial will be about her growing up and accepting it, burying Andy and Leyley.

Anyway, here's to my headcanon of demisexual Ashley! 🥂

[familycryptkeeper]

Some people are so salty that Andrew has a big dick and that Ashley isn't disgusted at the thought of it.

Demisexual fits way more than asexual, the latter just felt like an excuse to ship Ashley with people besides Andrew and I never saw any actual asexual people agree with it.

[familycryptkeeper]

Tumblr's being real finicky with the link, but Chapter 6 of Family Crypt is up!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55819630/chapters/157723099