hiya! I’m Ratt! I am 24, agender, and I use it/its pronouns exclusively.
all art I post to this blog is my own. my art tag is #artbones if you wanna take a look!
I have a variety of interests (currently in deltarune/spamtenna hell), but it’s a lotta indie RPGs, vocaloid, anime, and overall gay/trans shit. I’ve been trying not to sit myself into one little bubble for too long recently, so hopefully you’ll get to see me branch out even further!
commission info is here!
I also have a ko-fi if you like my art and wanna leave me a tip!
there is a zero tolerance policy here for hatred of any kind. if my existence, views, art, character pairings, or writing make you uncomfortable, I suggest the back button. thank you <3
the ending of backrooms feels so fucking bleak. to have Mary be this character who exists mostly in the background for the first half, who is there to solve the main character’s problems, who isn’t allowed to leave her house, who has her mother taken from her, who watches her home be torn down to make space for a building that will house her own demise… she’s like a husk that’s only allowed to truly make her own decisions in the last twenty minutes (give or take) of the movie. and that decision has to be whether or not to give this stupid evil company (that probably could’ve helped in some way, considering the cameras. they watched just to see what would happen, to see how much more they could learn from something awful that they likely helped accelerate) what they want from her just like everyone else in her life.
they took her home and then they took her life. and all that’s left is this broken memory of what she might’ve been. meaty drywall covered in a thick epidermis.
Clark is also an incredibly interesting character to me. to be so self-aware of your own inability to take responsibility for your own actions and change and look your own therapist in the eye and beg her to tell you you’re not evil. that is a type of person I’ve met. most would call this morally grey, most label him as such. but I feel it’s perhaps a very, very dark shade of grey.
it takes a truly awful sort of person to look at the monster you know you will become in the future should you choose to stay stuck in one moment forever. one moment with someone you claim to have loved, who you will blame for the awful situation you have put yourself in. to let that monster consume you, to fully give in to it knowing that it will hurt others. the Pirate killed Kat after all, and Clark kept her head in his fridge like it was nothing. he got scared hearing the Pirate coming, knowing it would do the same thing to Mary as it did to Kat (and maybe Bobby too, I didn’t see what grabbed him).
and what a beautiful character that makes. a man stuck in a loop of traveling through the obsessions he has with his own mind, with being stuck in stagnation and distorted memory. consumed by the same thing that consumed the people he brought down here with him. himself.
I loved this movie. every second of it. even the scenes that were “too long” (who gives a fucking shit how long the scene is <3). a bleak narrative that leaves you with more questions coming out of it than you did going in. I think it would be nice if the story had an eensy bit of hope thrown in there, but it’s just. not that kind of story. corporations suck. people suck. and sometimes, some people are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. they’re just unlucky. things happen. they know the wrong person. curiosity gets the best of them. whatever it is, it doesn’t always turn out for the best. it sucks. it made me uncomfortable. like something was missing, but my overall experience was complete.
when the Pirate comes after Mary, he… he chokes her right? tries to? and Kat’s head was fully just. separated from her body. he could’ve just. I mean theoretically. could’ve succeeded there where he failed with Mary.
and I mean. when Clark hears the Pirate coming, he chokes Mary until she passes out “for her own good.” like yeah technically he’s saving her life or whatever by keeping her quiet. but that “saving her” becomes null and void when he ties her up and screams at her, uses her to make himself feel better.
and um. I’m not exactly sure how Clark’s wife would’ve gotten HIS house in the divorce. she wasn’t paying for it, she was going to law school full time and he was paying the bills. but. he’s a violent alcoholic within what we’re shown.
I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.
I’m sure Clark regrets what happened with his wife to a degree. he didn’t try to get close to anyone else after the divorce. he clearly misses having his home. he’s going to therapy!
but he still refuses to change. that’s why the other still lifes in the room are chill and normal and formulaic to a degree. but his? Clark’s copy? he’s a monster. a man who takes and consumes and gives nothing in return.
why aren’t there more Papyrus Forgotten Man truthers
he’s. genuinely nowhere to be seen in deltarune and the only allusion to him is from sans. which is immediately redacted the next day. dude’s unavailable. but also no one else seems to know him. and the No Mercy UT description of “forgettable” feels. To Me. Perhaps. Close. To Something.
YOU MAKE ME [Sick]! MUTTERING YOUR [Lost Friends] NAMES AT THE BOTTOM OF A [Dumpster]! NO ONE'S GONNA HELP YOU!!! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR [Beautiful Head], YOU LITTLE [Worm]!
the ending of backrooms feels so fucking bleak. to have Mary be this character who exists mostly in the background for the first half, who is there to solve the main character’s problems, who isn’t allowed to leave her house, who has her mother taken from her, who watches her home be torn down to make space for a building that will house her own demise… she’s like a husk that’s only allowed to truly make her own decisions in the last twenty minutes (give or take) of the movie. and that decision has to be whether or not to give this stupid evil company (that probably could’ve helped in some way, considering the cameras. they watched just to see what would happen, to see how much more they could learn from something awful that they likely helped accelerate) what they want from her just like everyone else in her life.
they took her home and then they took her life. and all that’s left is this broken memory of what she might’ve been. meaty drywall covered in a thick epidermis.
Clark is also an incredibly interesting character to me. to be so self-aware of your own inability to take responsibility for your own actions and change and look your own therapist in the eye and beg her to tell you you’re not evil. that is a type of person I’ve met. most would call this morally grey, most label him as such. but I feel it’s perhaps a very, very dark shade of grey.
it takes a truly awful sort of person to look at the monster you know you will become in the future should you choose to stay stuck in one moment forever. one moment with someone you claim to have loved, who you will blame for the awful situation you have put yourself in. to let that monster consume you, to fully give in to it knowing that it will hurt others. the Pirate killed Kat after all, and Clark kept her head in his fridge like it was nothing. he got scared hearing the Pirate coming, knowing it would do the same thing to Mary as it did to Kat (and maybe Bobby too, I didn’t see what grabbed him).
and what a beautiful character that makes. a man stuck in a loop of traveling through the obsessions he has with his own mind, with being stuck in stagnation and distorted memory. consumed by the same thing that consumed the people he brought down here with him. himself.
I loved this movie. every second of it. even the scenes that were “too long” (who gives a fucking shit how long the scene is <3). a bleak narrative that leaves you with more questions coming out of it than you did going in. I think it would be nice if the story had an eensy bit of hope thrown in there, but it’s just. not that kind of story. corporations suck. people suck. and sometimes, some people are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. they’re just unlucky. things happen. they know the wrong person. curiosity gets the best of them. whatever it is, it doesn’t always turn out for the best. it sucks. it made me uncomfortable. like something was missing, but my overall experience was complete.
something i find so incredibly stupid about the whole "x studio is too big to be indie" is that none of these kids actually know what the word "independent means," nor do they know how much money it takes to actually get something made.
did you know that LAIKA studios is indie? LAIKA. the stop motion film studio. the one that made Coraline. did you know their films also only see audiences and film screens because the co-founder of Nike gave them funding to nepo his son an intern position? did you know the studio likely would've collapsed without that funding and we never would've gotten Coraline, Kubo, or Paranorman. they make zero money on their films, but because some guy gives them money, they get to make amazing art and still retain the vision of their projects.
im not a GLITCH or Spindlehorse meatrider, in fact i actively hate some of their shows. but either of them receiving the money they need to complete their projects from billion dollar companies and REMAINING INDEPENDENT is nothing new! it has historical precedence in the art space. trying to change the definitions of words just because it's attached to something you don't personally like is petty and childish.
i genuinely think that if you are an adult who cares about the success of art, you wouldn't be making up stupid bullshit arguments to "legitimately" hate something. who cares where the money comes from. if they don't get that money, the projects don't get made, end of discussion. as long as where the money comes from isn't affecting the original vision of the work, why do you care at all?
if it's that the companies specifically are evil then yeah, i totally agree. but then your problem is with the system of capitalism itself and that's an entirely separate discussion. find what your actual problem is before you start tearing independent art down for the sake of your own petty feelings.
The Mikes, Mike, and "Mike": One Chance Housed Between Two Worlds
i have to say this absurd sentence somewhere before i write my silly Twin Peaks Deltarune theory
Mike is Mike. not literally but metaphorically.
this will likely make no sense if you haven't seen Twin Peaks. some details are presented out of context with the intent of reapproaching with textual evidence at a later date.
I present to you three Mikes. a green die disguised as a microphone, a shadowguy in a cat costume with microphones for hands and feet, and a TV remote in a cowboy hat.
i also present to you Mike, an "inhabiting spirit" split into three parts. Mike the inhabiting spirit, BOB who is a manufactured inhabiting spirit (also referred to as "the evil that men do"), and The Arm who is an entity formed directly from Mike in an attempt to rid himself/his vessel of BOB. after being formed, he takes the appearance of a small man/dwarf and makes some kind of deal with BOB. one he seems to atone for by helping the protagonist.
Battat, the Pipins, the die, is green. would you like to know who else is associated with green, seems to enjoy experiments (perhaps also thought of as games of chance with a scientific probability), and mirrors the player? Gaster, the reason for our connection to this world. Mike, the original.
Pluey, the Shadowguy is dressed as a cat with yellow and pink eyes, making him the most instantly identifiable stand-in here. a creature made almost entirely of shadow cloaked in the shape of a cat. it's IMAGE_FRIEND. BOB, the evil dwelling in the dark.
as for Jongler. the TV remote. this is my most brainrotted one but stick with me for a moment. you know what i'm gonna say. cowboy hat -> Woody Toy Story -> Friend Inside Me. FRIEND inside me. Spamton, much like The Arm and BOB making some sort of deal over the ring, made a deal with "Mike"/FRIEND, agreeing to do whatever it says in secrecy in exchange for success. a deal that leaves him destitute and divorced. one which would lead him to help the protagonist rather than being an antagonist himself. his green strings are still attached. The Arm is still attached to the body, its creator, in a way. even if not directly.
it's not all 1:1 and i have far, far, far more to say actually, there's so much evidence connecting Twin Peaks to Deltarune and so much more i wanna say about each of the Mikes, this is just an idea that's been EATING ME ALIVE. yes i know there's a video about twin peaks and deltarune already. i like it it's good. it's just not nearly as insane as i wanted it to be (and Twin Peaks is highly up to viewer interpretation, so naturally i have a few disagreements) so i'm going to be the insane guy.
post chapter 5, if my theory isn't completely totally and entirely annihilated by Secret Boss Mike-Rophone that Asgore took to his flower shop in the divorce, i will put together an actual theory backed up by text and evidence. you will see my thesis about the parallels between The Black Lodge and Darkness and the ring and an actual proper explanation of Mike in case you haven't seen Twin Peaks (which i'm assuming is a good majority of the fandom), my theory about why the strings are still attached to Spamton and why they're a separate thing from the deal, all sorts of shit i've got tumbling around in my brain about it.
this is not that kind of blog but I’m just curious.
is there anybody else out there that suffers from the way people censor themselves on social media? like the word, “grape,” for example being used in place of sexual assault. or “cheese pizza” or “pdf file.” every time I see these, it immediately sends my brain into what is associated with it, even if it’s like. literal genuine grapes in my fridge.
it’s just starting to piss me off and I was wondering if it’s messed with anyone else too.
also if you do this I actually hate you and I’m not kidding. have some fucking respect for victims. words mean things and they have impact and consequence. do your best to try and grow a spine instead of resorting to speaking like a toddler while you’re talking about sexual assault.
listen, this isn't even about aziracrow or the human thing. i just hate the message man. it feels so cynical in comparison to what we were given in the book.
crowley was right the whole time and there's nothing anyone can do to actually change anything, so they have to do the apocalypse anyway (the thing they were trying to avoid for the entire series) and reset everything. he and aziraphale and everyone else, including god and satan, are all gone so they can start fresh and make everything better because now humans can choose for real. religion is bad because it doesn't actually allow you the capacity for free will, so that shit's gone now and everybody can be miraculously queer in peace because of it.
what the fuck kind of message is that. i get that it's contained within universe, but the idea of removing abrahamic religion from existence being framed as the solution to the inner conflict of human beings is genuinely insane to me as a message within the context of it being a fictional story. and that's obviously not what the writers are trying to say (or at least i'd hope not?), that's just how it comes off. but it comes of bad. and that's coming from somebody who is generally cynical toward religion.
GO1 (and the book by extension) has a fairly clear message through all the absurdism: there is no such thing as inherent evil. we are all, no matter our background (be you angel, demon, or human), morally grey by default and it is up to the individual to make their own choices. Those choices shouldn't be hindered by rigid standards outside their control. Simple and easy to digest.
contrast that with GO3: Everyone except for maybe two people organizing heaven suck ass and the whole religion is fucked. don't pay any attention to jesus at all this isn't about him (in fact here's me lamp-shading the fact that him being here at all was kinda pointless a la "seems like i never get much time"), everything he said was valuable for humanity as a whole but it doesn't matter or amount to anything. it has to be erased in order for humanity to truly be happy.
and i just don't believe that's true, actually. there are plenty of people in my life who are fulfilled by their ties to things like this without being cruel or judgmental or warmonger-y. it's not something you can just slap a sticker on that says "bad" and call it a day. and it's not like i'm blinded by the fact that religion is used to hurt people, my father is a christian nationalist. a good portion of my childhood trauma stems from fundamentalist churches. i know firsthand what it is like to be hurt by christianity and be pushed as far away from it as possible. and that's part of my point. this ending, this "solution" ignores the fact that all these bad parts of religion are still people. people wrote the fucking books that spread the religion in the first place. people don't "not have a fair shot" because they're going to hell if they fuck up, they don't have a fair shot because we're not all born on equal footing and getting rid of an afterlife doesn't fix that. this solution for humanity is entirely fictional and ignores everything about the problems the fiction is inspired by in the first place, including the fact that all that cruelty stems from us and NOT some force outside our control.
religion is a reflection of humanity, not the other way around. it is how some humans find meaning within their existence, some way to make sense of the universe none of us really understand and how it came to be, a set of values and guidelines to follow in order to keep oneself grounded. and just like people, it is messy and complicated and cruel at times, but there are also parts of it which are immeasurably thoughtful and kind and beautiful and i don't believe the "right thing to do" is to throw all of it away. and i don't think the book thought so either.
you can frame all of this as being the solution for their universe and their sets of rules specifically but for god's sake good omens is literally a critique on the way christianity functions as a whole and the different things people take from it (especially revalation), it is inseparable from our understanding of real-world religion. but there's nothing to take from it, nothing left to critique if it's gone, right? none of that ever happened and humanity is somehow miraculously better for it. it just feels like it's either ignoring the point for the sake of fanservice or it didn't care. fanfiction with no message that misunderstands its source material.
also this finale frames God as this cynical author who just did things because she wanted to see what would happen. they retconned the Good Omens universe God into fucking W. D. Gaster but lame. "I'm torturing my specialest little guy because it's funny when he puts himself in scenarios." i'm so mad.
AND ANOTHER THING. THE WHOLE THING WITH THE CASINO OWNER GETTING CROWLEY'S BENTLEY VIA A GAME OF MONOPOLY. ANOTHER CLEAR CRITIQUE ON CAPITALISM SPECIFICALLY WHICH IS AN ENTIRELY HUMAN FORCE OF CRUELTY THAT GOES ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE. LIKE CROWLEY SPECIFICALLY KNOWS CAPITALISM IS A HUGE ISSUE (S2 with the grave robbing for money) AND DIRECTLY PART OF THE PROBLEM OF HUMANS NOT ACTUALLY HAVING GENUINE FREE WILL. WHY HAVE THIS SCENE AND BRING UP MONOPOLY AT ALL IF YOU'RE GOING TO IGNORE IT OHHHHH MY GODDDDDD DUDE
listen, this isn't even about aziracrow or the human thing. i just hate the message man. it feels so cynical in comparison to what we were given in the book.
crowley was right the whole time and there's nothing anyone can do to actually change anything, so they have to do the apocalypse anyway (the thing they were trying to avoid for the entire series) and reset everything. he and aziraphale and everyone else, including god and satan, are all gone so they can start fresh and make everything better because now humans can choose for real. religion is bad because it doesn't actually allow you the capacity for free will, so that shit's gone now and everybody can be miraculously queer in peace because of it.
what the fuck kind of message is that. i get that it's contained within universe, but the idea of removing abrahamic religion from existence being framed as the solution to the inner conflict of human beings is genuinely insane to me as a message within the context of it being a fictional story. and that's obviously not what the writers are trying to say (or at least i'd hope not?), that's just how it comes off. but it comes of bad. and that's coming from somebody who is generally cynical toward religion.
GO1 (and the book by extension) has a fairly clear message through all the absurdism: there is no such thing as inherent evil. we are all, no matter our background (be you angel, demon, or human), morally grey by default and it is up to the individual to make their own choices. Those choices shouldn't be hindered by rigid standards outside their control. Simple and easy to digest.
contrast that with GO3: Everyone except for maybe two people organizing heaven suck ass and the whole religion is fucked. don't pay any attention to jesus at all this isn't about him (in fact here's me lamp-shading the fact that him being here at all was kinda pointless a la "seems like i never get much time"), everything he said was valuable for humanity as a whole but it doesn't matter or amount to anything. it has to be erased in order for humanity to truly be happy.
and i just don't believe that's true, actually. there are plenty of people in my life who are fulfilled by their ties to things like this without being cruel or judgmental or warmonger-y. it's not something you can just slap a sticker on that says "bad" and call it a day. and it's not like i'm blinded by the fact that religion is used to hurt people, my father is a christian nationalist. a good portion of my childhood trauma stems from fundamentalist churches. i know firsthand what it is like to be hurt by christianity and be pushed as far away from it as possible. and that's part of my point. this ending, this "solution" ignores the fact that all these bad parts of religion are still people. people wrote the fucking books that spread the religion in the first place. people don't "not have a fair shot" because they're going to hell if they fuck up, they don't have a fair shot because we're not all born on equal footing and getting rid of an afterlife doesn't fix that. this solution for humanity is entirely fictional and ignores everything about the problems the fiction is inspired by in the first place, including the fact that all that cruelty stems from us and NOT some force outside our control.
religion is a reflection of humanity, not the other way around. it is how some humans find meaning within their existence, some way to make sense of the universe none of us really understand and how it came to be, a set of values and guidelines to follow in order to keep oneself grounded. and just like people, it is messy and complicated and cruel at times, but there are also parts of it which are immeasurably thoughtful and kind and beautiful and i don't believe the "right thing to do" is to throw all of it away. and i don't think the book thought so either.
you can frame all of this as being the solution for their universe and their sets of rules specifically but for god's sake good omens is literally a critique on the way christianity functions as a whole and the different things people take from it (especially revalation), it is inseparable from our understanding of real-world religion. but there's nothing to take from it, nothing left to critique if it's gone, right? none of that ever happened and humanity is somehow miraculously better for it. it just feels like it's either ignoring the point for the sake of fanservice or it didn't care. fanfiction with no message that misunderstands its source material.
also this finale frames God as this cynical author who just did things because she wanted to see what would happen. they retconned the Good Omens universe God into fucking W. D. Gaster but lame. "I'm torturing my specialest little guy because it's funny when he puts himself in scenarios." i'm so mad.
Applications are still ongoing until June 1st!!! They've been fixed to send response copies upon request, so feel free to re-apply as well if you'd like to have that for yourself now!
Thank you guys so much for the response you've given it so far, i've been absolutely floored by everyone's submissions and i'm indescribably excited to work on this project as many of you as i can!!!
just realized the only tracks in all caps on the Undertale soundtrack are, in order, “NGAHHH!!” “CORE,” and “MEGALOVANIA.” that’s crazy bro I wonder why that is I can’t think of anything
just realized the only tracks in all caps on the Undertale soundtrack are, in order, “NGAHHH!!” “CORE,” and “MEGALOVANIA.” that’s crazy bro I wonder why that is I can’t think of anything
