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they/them. krita user. i program and i draw. im a one man army. Theseus Guide pt 2 progress ████████▒▒ 86% wordcount: 133k/153k

[stump-not-found]

hi everybody welcome to my blog . i do a lot of things

quick faq:

you never have to ask to write/draw stuff based off my stuff . not required to @ me but always appreciated

you can do whatever you want 4ever actually yipee . just use your personal discretion on what is or is not appropriate

if you have permission questions still, please ask in my DM's . i'm usually not gonna respond to anon's about that

here is a collection of my fun tags if u r curious yay

UNDER THE CUT

General Tags

general purpose tags used for organizing stuff made by meeee

#stump art general purpose tag for all art. use this to look at everything i've drawn

#stump dump i like to post lil scraps of upcoming comics here

#stump asks yaaay talk to me yayayaayayay

#stump fic i write stories sometimes . i shill for them constantly

#stump streams i draw on twitch every tues ! hang outttt

Long Form Stories

these are the stories which have multiple parts to them. go through the links to see em ! or don't !!

Can of Snakes STATUS: Hiatus no-strings attached sex romp with bill and ford . it's just a simple sexy time with no further emotions involved . no don't open that can of mixed nuts oh god oh no there's snakes everywhere now look what you d

Second or Third Contact STATUS: Complete bill and ford have a cultural exchange early on in their relationship. bill may or may not have ulterior motives.

Lab Negotiations STATUS: One-shot part of theseus' guide. ford needs a lab. bill needs some convincing. but like, in an average workplace kind of way

Theseus' Guide to Ruining a Perfectly Good Boat STATUS: In Progress my funny fic where stan gets to go on fun multiverse adventures with his family. everyone gets along immediately, and there are no problems yay . oh wait a minute i'm getting a psychic vision . oh fuck . guys, i think there might be problems yay

Theraprism Talent Night STATUS: One-shot bill sings a lovely song yay <3

A Lifetime Served in a Little Cup STATUS: Complete what if a gamer and a geek could fall in love -- a thought unrelated to this comic, which is just ford and bill having normal conversations about weddings and having normal opinions about it . because they are both healthy & well adjusted people

AU's and Such

I have brain worms so i like to make sure that's everyone else's problem too . these tags help keep the worms sorted and orderly

#gf nevermind all that 5 years post canon world where ford makes an uh-oh whoopsy and shakes the stupid statues hand . this is not a redemption story this is more adopting a feral animal that your entire family hates and is setting on fire story

#gf theseus' guide what if stan and the kids fell through the portal together and got to go on a lost in space adventure with their great uncle ford? what if your uncle decided it was a cool idea to let bill live inside his eye like the pervert he is? these are all questions people keep asking me & i don't know the fucking answer please leave me alo

[sailatina3]

[chips1977]

i heard my nephew got enslaved by cave bugs

[uncleleoofficialfanclub]

wait to post about this until you’ve confirmed it

[chips1977]

sorry

[van1llaskys]

[stemmmm]

In your opinion, what is TBoB about, 'thematically' for lack of a better word.

I'm very curious exactly what kind of answer you expected out of me here because this feels like a very vague question and coincidentally is one that perfectly hits my autism button in a way that makes me feel like you had a motive. I will answer this regardless

It's about being indoctrinated into a cult. I don't know that that's a "theme" per se, but I do think it's closer to the actual question you're asking.

There are other things involved like the background plot of Bill being a jilted lover, but the book is less about that so much as that aspect serves as flavor to emphasize the message of “don’t trust this guy, he will hurt you”. TBoB is about how even the worst person who you absolutely know is full of crap will suck you in by making you feel special and telling you that you can accomplish great things, but if you have a proper support structure in your life, you can get pulled out of it.

To an extent, I was always somewhat aware of this, but reading Combating Cult Mind Control for my piece in the @gfnonfictionzine really opened my eyes to the extent that the book follows the usual steps of cult recruitment and how well Bill is represented as a cult leader.

Join me now as I just tell you what happened in The Book of Bill, a book we all read 2 years ago 🤝

We open on Bill introducing himself, talking about his credentials, making himself sound big and important. He’s somebody who’s book you’re gonna wanna keep reading. By the way, do you have any idea how massive books are as cult recruitment materials? Anyways.

Once we’re introduced, he starts giving advice, showing us his superior view of the world, and it’s pretty clear he’s full of shit, but he’s also funny and entertaining, so you keep reading. You may come across a few things that you do actually agree with and you start to think hey, this guy kind of has a point? Now you’re gaining alignment with him. You’re thinking about him. Now he’s in your head.

Then he gives you his tragic backstory (which he can’t even do, funnily enough), explains his life, and lets you in on his mission, which you’re primed to agree with, right? He’s got all the best ideas and he deserves this, right? Weirdmageddon for Billy please? Please?

And usually that’s where a cult book ends, with you brought to their side and purchasing the next 17 volumes to learn more. If the book had gone the way it was supposed to, you may actually be on board, but the issue is that from the very beginning, we’ve been getting messages from Ford and the Pines family warning you against what he’s saying, throwing Bill off his game, and finally turning you against him completely.

The thing about cults is that they prey on lonely and vulnerable people who are lacking something in their life, be it purpose or security or most importantly, community. Cults are alluring because they promise instant, unconditional love and support, something deeply lacking in our modern lives due to a large number of reasons. The problem with cults is that the love and support is VERY conditional. You are not cared for, and because you are desperate to be cared for, they’re going to manipulate you into doing anything they want in order to get that diminishing return. At the end of TBoB, Bill promises you that you’ll get to rule alongside him in the same breath that he says he’s not sure if making a deal with him won’t instantly kill both of you– it’s an empty promise because he’s desperate to get what he wants. Much like any other cult, he doesn’t care about you, just about what you can get him.

What’s so particularly hilarious about this last point is going back to the jilted lover subplot, because the biggest thing (among many other things, to be clear) that shows Bill is an unreliable narrator is the fact that he failed step 1: don’t fall in love with the mark. Through his love for Ford, he reveals how he’s a fallible person rather than an all knowing god, he shows far more completely unrestrained vulnerability than anywhere else in the book (why share that police transcript??), and he reveals how easily he can be stopped. Like he blows up his own recruitment attempt just so he can bitch about his ex wife because even after 30 years, even after DYING, he’s too messed up to cope.

But getting back on topic, I don’t really know why Alex decided to make this book when he did, but the fact that it was made in the United States post Trump is pretty telling. Cults are bad right now, though cults here have always been bad. This place has been run by a death cult since its founding and only recently has fully started to drop the mask. To have a book like this come out aimed at younger audiences I think is a really wonderful thing. I hope it’s something that’s been helpful to people, and I have to assume it has been given the number of people who would come up to our Ciphertologist cosplay group to talk about the cults they personally escaped from.

You don’t get out of these situations without awareness and education, because the systems intentionally work to keep you too isolated and exhausted to think that there might be something better for you outside of it. More than anything though, you need support and community to keep you safe, which is why I really love the way the book posits the Pines family as a support structure and encourages people to be open about the things they struggle with and the people who have harmed them. Sharing keeps you from being isolated, it gets you out of the mental spiral that cult mentality relies on. Being loved by people really does save you.

And this is why Ford needs to break Bill out of the–

[holedyke]

obsessed with this pic from the wiki for kneading (cats)...eternal sweetness....

[sashimi55]

Human bodies are so weird like the upper half consists of every single vital organ and the lower half is legs

[dambiex]

[fetchthebolts]

maniac + cinematography

[wizardarchetypes]

i think avoidance is such a little-recognized ocd compulsion. all the time i talk to people with ocd who are like "i was always having intrusive thoughts about using kitchen knives and harming myself or others but i'm okay now because i just stopped using knives ever 👍 so i'm good now"

and i'm like unfortunately i have bad news.

[wizardarchetypes]

if you don't know why this doesn't work, the issue is that ocd never stops when you implement a compulsion. it evolves. today you've "solved" it by never using a knife again (and losing access to an important cooking tool, thus limiting an aspect of your life) but in a few months or a year it'll be that forks are dangerous too. and hey, isn't it risky to use the stove? avoidance will even begin to manifest in places you might not recognize.

the point is that OCD compulsions are never solutions, they're actually the problems. the intrusive thoughts SEEM like the problem and the compulsions FEEL like the solution. and that's how it getsya.

[wizardarchetypes]

i once saw a serial killer on the news wearing green and became fixated on the obsession that if i wore green it would like. hypnotize me into serial killing in my sleep (???) so i didn't wear the color green for an entire year. and of course being OCD i knew how "stupid" that was and that i wouldn't actually be effected by green clothes. i didn't actually believe that! but the fear didn't need to be real; the distress was real.

looking back it's so funny. like. dude my eyes are green. i was never safe hahahaaaa

[wingdingle]

[c-130jsuperhercules]

[wizzardhat]

[gravitybrawls]

bill cipher

I think unironically that he'd be good with children. Would I trust him with kids? no. good with kids means a different thing. He would radicalize and minionize any child under 7. He could very easily get on their level. They'd love him. He'd probably get very attached. It would end badly for everyone.

[tempusedax-rerum]

nerds Ford, you delight me

[fishpondfish]

it is impossible to watch a movie. every night i think i want to watch a movie. no movie gets watched. because it's not possible

[mousidy]

and yet they keep making movies with the hopes that one day humanity will discover a way to watch them. it's so inspiring

[7violetmadness7]

Bisexual hands

[sludgebitch]

"🥪" is shorthand for "🍞🧀🍅🥬🍞"

[tiredyaoi]

bih

[marveledparticles]

can you believe this art is a year old? not like you could fact-check, i haven’t shown it here yet! Please Trust Me.

This was inspired by me finding a blue and red crayon at the grocery store (From Germany apparently?) and feeling a Strong Sense of Urgency that if i didn’t take them home id be a Bad Person. Please enjoy the sloppy background