Are you planning on working on Slay the Static again one day?
It’s not shelved forever, just on hiatus while i work on STP Redrawn :>
which, speaking of, I realize I haven’t posted about on here at all much…
I think what I’ve been working on besides canon-adjacent projects is also not super visible considering I wiped my ao3 of my AU-based projects a while back (not for any big reason, the timelines and details were all just putting me in bad corners)
All of the slay the static chapter 2 princesses have been designed and mostly finalized— but I did put myself in a weird position by starting with Tomb, and her chapter 3 is…. Sure fun to draw 🥲
I decided to do some redesigns for the various non-human races for Recalled! I'll include my final designs, some sketches, as well as my general headcanons for each race!
Gorons-
Gorons are large reptiles that prefer to inhabit mountains, due to the rich minerals there
Gorons are omnivorous, eating whatever they feel like. They're called 'Rock-eaters', due to the fact that they seek out mineral deposits to eat.
They need to eat large amounts of minerals in order to grow their scales and shells
They reproduce asexually
Only one gender: Goron
master builders. They develop earthquake-proof buildings due to living on volcanos
Rito-
Rito have no sexual dimorphism. Rito genders are 'Warrior', 'Pilgrim', and 'Nester', and genders aren't determined by who can lay eggs and who can't.
Nester plumage is far more colorful, vibrant, and soft than Warrior plumage. Pilgrim plumage is the most dull/earth toned, and the most weather proof.
Rito plumage changes based on which gender they've assumed, and it's pretty common for Rito to flip between genders a lot throughout their lives
Rito have the best senses of sight and hearing out of any other race, though their night vision is non-existent
Rito are the best at archery/bow making, and weaving
Zora-
Zora have three genders, Male, Female, and Royal
Royals are the largest of the Zora. Any Zora can become a Royal, if they are chosen by the current Royal. If they become a Royal, they grow much larger, and their head fins grow longer.
Their Fins can retract, protecting them while they're on land and preventing them from drying out.
their large fins are used for swimming up waterfalls/through powerful currents.
Zora breathe through both gills, and absorbing oxygen into their skin. This limits their ability to travel, as they need to stay near bodies of water to prevent drying out.
Fins and spots are bioluminescent, and Zora use these lights, mixed with signing to communicate while under water.
Zora have the best stone/silver work out of all the races. due to their long lives, they take their time learning to perfect whatever craft they chose
Zonai-
Zonai are descendants of the Minish that returned to the sky
due to having lived in the Sacred Realm for so long, they are the most in-tune with magic out of any other race
most Zonai are born with general magic abilities (Ascend, Ultrahand, Fuse) but others are born with elemental magic, which then influences their coloration and horn growth.
they specialize in creative and scholarly crafts as well as alchemy and diplomacy
during the 200 years between when they descended from the heavens and the time of King Rauru, their race was slowly ravaged by diseases and plagues, due to them having little to no immune system(there's no illnesses in the Sacred Realm)
Let’s Talk About Reese’s Storyline: Ableism, Horror Tropes, and Chapter 4
Or, how Reese’s storyline relies on an ableist horror trope that frames real world disability symptoms as suspicious and monstrous, and the narrative fails to meaningfully subvert that trope.
I want to begin with a brief disclaimer, that this is my perspective as a chronically ill person. It’s not an attack on the writers, nor is it a judgment of disabled players who connect with Reese’s storyline. I’m focusing specifically on portrayals of physical disability, and I’m also not interested in framing physical disability as allegory for mental health conditions.
I am a chronically ill person who notably, has strechy skin, chronic pain, gastrointestinal issues, and a rare disease that affects roughly 1 in 100,000 people annually. My perspective is shaped by that lived experience. With that context and disclaimer established, here is my take:
Ableism and Horror Tropes
Ableism and horror, like many bigotries, have a long history. Horror as a genre often relies on fear of the body, and historically, disabled bodies have been framed as unsettling, deceptive, or morally corrupted. Disability becomes shorthand for villainy, or worse, a false mask of a villain or a monster.
The trope Reese's storyline is established in is rooted is a long running ableist trope. The act of having a disabled character turn out to secretly be a monster is a horror trope that is inherently routed in ableism, a villainization of disabled people and our experiences. This needs to be understood from the get go, as it is the biggest elephant in the room with this storyline, that its foundations are shakey to begin with.
That trope can be subverted. Horror can absolutely interrogate bodily fear in interesting ways. But subversion requires intentionality. It requires the narrative to actually challenge the idea that disabled people are inherently 'others', are dangerous, are not human.
The moment Reese was introduced in the game, I was already bracing myself. Not because of anything the game wanted me to suspect, but because I already know this pattern. Horror so often refuses to let chronically ill characters simply exist. There’s almost always a reveal, a corruption, a 'this isn’t what it looks like.' And in this case, that expectation was proven right. Disabled bodies are always a sight of dismisal or harm.
Reese’s storyline enters directly into that tradition. A character with visible, real world disability symptoms is eventually revealed to be something monstrous. While the choices are technically 'grey,' the framing leans heavily toward distrust. The narrative positions him as threatening and unstable — and the story continues to treat violence toward him as narratively justified.
That’s where the issues really begin. The problem isn’t just that he’s a monster. It’s that the symptoms we’re supposed to find "suspicious" are real-world symptoms being demonized.
Disability Symptoms and Experiences Are Not Suspicious
Reese's symptoms in the game are very much real-world disability symptoms. This is an extremely important distinction to make: Nothing about Reese's experience is inherently suspicious.
Image Descriptions: A screenshot of the game showing Reese's stretchy skin
Here is a link to google images for 'eds stretchy skin' to show this as a real world symptom [I was originally intending to show a direct image comparison here, but tumblr marked any portrayals of the skin as mature so i cannot due that. the irony here is not lost of me 🙃]
The stretchy skin. The difficulty keeping food down. The fatigue and itchiness. The deep frustration of not having a clear diagnosis. Being isolated and medically controlled by a caregiver.
None of this is a "hint" at a monster, nor a hint about poison; these are common, daily experiences for chronically ill people. In fact, if the storyline hadn't introduced supernatural elements, Reese’s situation would read as a heart-wrenching and accurate portrayal of chronic illness and caregiver abuse [And it still can for many, i'm sure!]. The isolation, the total dependency, and the sense of being "managed" rather than supported are real patterns of harm.
That's what gets to me about the writing. Because those are real symptoms. Real dynamics. Real patterns of abuse. And the narrative rewards you for having suspicions about the disability.
The player is repeatedly nudged toward doubt rather than concern. Dialogue options position the symptoms and experience as suspicious from the get go. And when the reveal happens, his disability is retroactively reframed as concealment. The symptoms become “evidence” that something was wrong all along.
Its not just that a disabled person turned out to be a monster, the problem is that real-world disability symptoms are treated as proof of deceit. The narrative does little to acknowledge that these are real-world symptoms experienced by many disabled people. This could be something easily corrected with aknowedlegment or a hint of awarness.
And the fact that no characters respond to your ableist dialogue options with anything but implied or explicit agreement is... concerning. If you play with the booksmart trait, its worse, as the narrative offers a specific, harmful label: Factitious Disorder.
The Misuse of 'Factitious Disorder'
One of the most jarring moments comes if you’re playing with the Book Smart trait. The game gives you a dialogue option, multiple times around the subject
Image Description: Text option with the book smart trait, "Have you ever heard of factitious disorder?"
Which, if you're not familiar with the term, is a huge can of worms. It's not just a throwaway line here. It’s framed as an intelligent deduction, an educated response to Reese’s situation. Not an expression on caregiver abuse directly, but jumping from real world disability symptoms to a misframing of a mental health condition.
For anyone unfamiliar factitious disorder is a real mental health condition involving the falsification or induction of illness. You may be more familiar with its original title 'Munchausen' , or 'Munchausen by proxy'. It is a very serious mental health condition, and it is mostly certain not just 'poisoning yourself or others to make them seem sick'. It is a heavily villainized disorder.
It is also frequently weaponized against chronically ill people who struggle to get diagnoses. Spend any amount of time in chronic illness communities and you will find story after story of patients being dismissed as exaggerating, fabricating, or inducing their own symptoms. The label becomes a shortcut for disbelief, and for medical profesionals to dismiss chronically ill patients.
So when the game introduces “factitious disorder” as a plausible explanation for a character displaying very real, very common chronic illness symptoms, it doesn’t land... well. For me. It comes across to me as perpetuating real world medical gaslighting and dismisial.
This isn't even a case of facititious disorder imposed on another. Even within the story’s own logic, this does not cleanly align with factitious disorder imposed on another. Simply poisoning someone does not automatically constitute that diagnosis. The term feels imprecise at best, and harmful at worst.
This term could have been avoided all together if they had to point out poisoning as a topic. Instead, its just again another point to bad portrayals of illness.
Caregiver Abuse
Dr Kelly is an abusive caregiver. The narrative tries to justify her situation with the background and Reese being a monster, but that is still what is being portrayed here.
Reese is extremely isolated and controlled by his mother. Even without the poison - and in fact ignoring the poison here -
Caregiver abuse doesn’t always look like overt violence. It often looks like control. Like limiting access to outside perspectives. Like deciding what information is shared and what isn’t. Like positioning the disabled person as unreliable or unstable. That they have to be harmed and locked away 'for the greater good'.
Now, obviouslly we're supposed to be left feeling grey choices here and what is and isn't acceptable. But..... the game is basically asking you to decide if abuse is okay if someone is a monster.
The reveal reframes earlier control as reasonable, at least to some peoples interepretations of it. When the disabled character turns out to be dangerous, the narrative validates the idea that restriction, surveillance, and distrust were necessary all along.
It stops being “is this caregiver overstepping?” and becomes “maybe he needed to be controlled.”
That shift reinforces the same underlying trope: that the disabled body is not just vulnerable, it is potentially dangerous.
Obviouslly theyre aiming for moral ambiguity here, but that doesn't change the pontential underlying message.
Why Portrayals Matter
Why does any of this matter, you may ask, as you get to the end here. Horror is allowed to cover dark topics, and not all portrayals of disability need to be sanatized. Sure, yea of course. I think there are still inherent values to the character and the narrative.
This video game didnt invent ableistic tropes, even if it is continuing them.
I don’t think this storyline will suddenly make someone ableist. But when suspicion of disabled bodies is already normalized, reinforcing that suspicion as narratively correct is not neutral.
This is a game made only by two people, and there are a lot of spots where that shows. This storyline would have greatly benefited from a sensitivty reader, by a long shot. Simple things that, while the trope still inherently has backage, could have lessened the blow. Not misuing the terms for factitious disorder, focusing on immediate suspicion just of dr kelly and not of the disability, exploring any feelings of reese being connected/disconnected from the disability community, having people in the game push back at ableist dialogue options, or even just... aknowledging real world symptoms could have made a world of difference.
its not an inherently harmful portrayal, but it does reaffirm some harmful issues. I think a re-write of the booksmart portions of chapter 4 especially is a much needed contribution. As it stands, Chapter 4 doesn’t feel subversive to me. It feels like a missed opportunity.
Critique doesn’t negate appreciation, I still enjoy the game. But when media tackles disability, especially in today's ableist landscape, it carries weight. And that deserves care
i really think scarlet hollow could benefit from sensitivity readers or consultants. it’s something I’ve seen as a critique from other fans for a while (alongside my own critiques) especially when it comes to how racism and ableism are tackled in the game, but it feels like with chapter 5, the cracks are really showing more than before. there needs to be an outside person who gives advice about this because there’s only so much that two people can cover with such a hugely branching game and extensive script. it’s important to ask for help especially when tackling these topics.
idk ever since the chapter came out and I’ve seen so many of the takes that i agree with about the sloppy handling of the Black characters’ stories, it’s been bothering me a lot and I don’t think it’s something that should go unaddressed by the devs. especially when some POC are saying they don’t feel like they can recommend this game in good conscience because of the poor handling of POC characters’ stories. same with the handling of ableism against disabled and mentally ill characters.
its sad because I love this game, so so so much. its one of my favorite if not my absolute favorite game ive played. it’s been a huge part of my life for nearly 5 years. and i just want to see it reach the full potential i know it can, and that includes listening to marginalized voices when they tell you something needs to be worked on.
Major spoilers for Scarlet Hollow Ep. 5 (both parts) below.
As much as I adore the character work in Toxic Yuri, Miles getting his emotional scene, the post-estate Stellamance, and convincing Kaneeka, I have to say the handling of the clinic's aftermath and Carmilla is wildly disappointing.
Matricide and Obedience feel barely distinguishable despite the contrast you could already see in Ep. 4. On the other end of the dilemma, MC and Tabitha can say some of the most vile lines in the entire game in front of Dr. Kelly while she watches her son's agonizing death, and she'll forget all that before she can finish a sentence because you look agitated. I get that the budget for branching is limited, and the devs were really up against the clock, but putting the dilemma that spawned Reesecourse so low on the list of priorities is baffling.
As for Carmilla, I have no issues with the broader concept. Kaneeka having her spirit broken until she's willing to be absorbed by her mother is wonderfully grim, and the result has all sorts of opportunities to be unsettling. However, holy hell, did you really have to replace her with a skinny white woman? They're clearly accustomed to drawing boundaries for the horror to operate in given the thorough content warnings, so I don't understand them reaching for "what if one of the routes felt a little racist and fatphobic?" to try and squeeze a little extra shock out.
It just feels like the end result is the enabling of the most dreadful parts of the community. The kind of casual ableism that kept igniting Reesecourse on the official Discord was already getting endlessly excused, and now those people are just being fed more ammunition. The design of the episode's second dilemma means that, even with the trait save, you are given greater rewards for functionally removing the outspoken black woman from the story. I'm just shocked that the devs that made the first 4 episodes did this. Hell, they used to make fun of negative Steam reviews complaining about the lack of slurs ruining their immersion, and now some characters are getting bigoted dialogue out of nowhere.
I guess all I can do at this point is hope my heart out that the last two episodes stick closer to the game's strengths, but it's hard to feel optimistic.
from the same convo, courtesy of a friend: wild 100% thinks fury is the same age as her while fury's actually a couple decades younger and fully into the older lady thing
some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.
hehe what if we made out and slowly fused together and you felt my heart beating against yours and that made your heart beat faster and mine catches up to join yours and your body becomes mine, mine becomes yours, and then when we're done we have trouble untangling our bodies from one another and it's a little awkward and very cute and you let out a breathy little giggle at me that makes my heart swell all over again and we were both girls
asking for praise for a thing you made feels so humiliating like oooh look at me I’m a little animal and I did a trick and made a thing can I have pets and treats about it. and then somebody tells you it’s good and you understand why golden retrievers are the way they are
adding my chapter 2 girls to the lineup results in 15 chapter 2 princesses, which brought the concept of revamping the Heart Princess a little, four main hearts instead of two. These three would result in the Sweet Heart (heh) basically what Soft Heart already is
Damsel; it’s damsel
Maiden; slay ch1 soft bladeless
Hostage; give ch1 soft the blade
The Maiden has her first two chapters up on my ao3, here
Okay see, Cold is so mellow during the Drowned Grey, he usually doesn't show much interest in the deeper mysteries around him because what he wants is to see new stuff and wring that shit dry of enrichment, but then Skeptic comes around and says there are still answers they need to seek and suddenly he's just nodding solemnly and saying "So true bestie, we gotta solve the mystery"
This is so well put, I love it! There's something so adorable about Skeptic not even noticing he's feeding Cold the good food, it makes me think of the other Voices asking him thíngs like "How do you even deal with that guy, he's so freaky!" and Skeptic just
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