ok so, I approached my local library with a proposal to donate a mural as a way to A: build portfolio/gain practical experience and B: give back to a beloved public institution. The director was very enthusiastic about it and i've been working on it since the beginning of March. Come with me as I endeavor to paint what is in all honesty an excessive amount of birds
I wanted the birds to look like they were actually in the space so first thing after doing the draft was to do a lighting study
after that I covered the walls in letters in lieu of a projector/vr headset bc i have neither of those :) Then i take a picture of the section of wall and superimpose the lineart over top of it so I can pencil in the lines
et voila
and that was a whole week on it's own so next comes the paintin' >:)
my chains are broken i am FREE. although i did have a great deal of fun with this, the barring on the wings itself took me like four days and i am READY to move on
this was a week and a half of continuous work so please excuse me for getting a little emotional in the bg 🙏
BIRD NUMBER 10!!! The Male Mallard Duck, Anas platyrhynchos
the male and female ones are gonna be posted separately bc they're taking a lot longer lol but yea! super happy i was able to capture the iridescent green of the head, i found metallic green and blue paint at a craft store that really made his head POP. it looks better in person i promise
ALSO!! As this is the 10th one, BIG announcement. The end is in sight!!!!! I plan to finish within the next 3 weeks and there will be a small dedication ceremony/ unveiling happening at the library to commemorate its completion on the 16th of May. If you live in the Western New York region and want to check it out for yourself shoot me a dm!
Also thank you everyone for your kind words and support throughout this whole process, it's been a genuine treat thinking there are potentially thousands of you out there cheering me on while I paint this 🥹
we're movin right along with bird numero 11!! The lady Mallard!! Anas platyrhyncos
the 16th is looming in the distance so i'm trying to get thru these as quickly as i can so i can have as much time for the GBH as possible. i still need to do the names next to all of them so i've got about a week and a half to finish everything which is GREAT because i have adhd and nothing gets my ass in gear like a fuckin deadline, let me tell you
power couple that they are, here's bird number 12 and 13,
the Northern Cardinals, Cardinalis cardinalis
and NOW that they are complete, ITS GO TIME, in the next five days (library's closed for mother's day 😭😭) i need to have the GBH fully rendered, the names of the birds vectored, weeded, masked, applied to the wall, and then painted, plus additional cattails throughout. I may be able to get away with just getting the GBH done in time for the unveiling and then just have the names and cattails added later, but i'm gonna really try to get it all done in time. BUT, i have a plan. Part of why i take so long on these is because i really am just figuring it out as I do it lmao. there have been many a time where i am sitting on top of the ladder googling "how to paint birds" but I think if i take the time tomorro to do all that figuring out how to approach it beforehand, this will go a lot faster. I may also recruit some of my artist friends to help with the placing of the names... hrmm we'll see.
Anyways, shout out to the librarian who tracked down exactly the thing i needed so i could figure out where to place the highlights in my birds eyes, ur the real mvp
thank you to everyone who reached out or got excited about this project, it genuinely gave me the fuel i needed to keep going. In total, the 480+ total hrs it took me to cover this wall pales in comparison to how long its expected to spend on there, hopefully imparting a sense of beauty and love for the natural world to the next generation and here's hoping i'm only getting started with these.
i just finished book 6 ch 67 this week actually, talk to me abt your strategy + cards + where you're running into trouble, i'll give it my best shot!! 🫡
YES thank you so much your help even if it doesn’t work as we want is ten billion times appreciated
ok actual stuff below
ok so. i just use the auto feature bc i don’t know how any of the battling works……i just restarted the whole sector thingy bc last time i was able to beat 2/3 routes. so we’re kinda at a free slate. im usually fine until the final titan fights for all of the routes
i don’t know what’s gonna be helpful (i’m sorry) so here’s photos of most of my cards and their levels. sorry abt the buns photos also💔🫰
ALRIGHT WELCOME TO THE YAP ZONE. this got long as fuck bc there's a few options and i'd rather give you a bunch of choices and let you mess around with them in case i'm wrong about something. hopefully it's still legible. feel free to ask follow ups lmao
also bear in mind i've only been playing this game for like six months alksdjflkasjdf
for the purposes of this post i'll be referring to the skills as "Flora" / "Plant" (green), "Water" (blue), and "Fire" (red), just to be clear lol. i use "Plant" bc i abbreviate the spell types in my notes to just a letter and "Fire" and "Flora" both start with F, so i swapped Flora to P for plant to mitigate that. that might show up here lol.
like i said, this got long as fuck so i did some color coding to hopefully make it easier to read. purple is used to highlight characters that SHOULD / MUST be on the team, pink is used to mark characters that will end up being your choice. sometimes a character will have multiple options for which card of theirs to use, but if the character MUST be on your team, they'll still be marked in purple. it'll make sense once you see it in action (i hope) <3
generally speaking, our hope for these teams is to put at least one SSR with a duo on each team and pray for them to carry our damage output, with the rest of the team there to mop up after them. auto attack can be kinda stupid and not actually use the duo magic, so you might actually be better off running these fights manually--at least until you make sure to use the duo.
if the titan has a guaranteed cosmic attack lined up in the prediction bubbles on the left, try to use a skill that is NOT strong against the titan on that attack. save your strong attacks for the weaknesses wherever you can.
hasty screenshots to clarify lol; in the case of the screenshot with "Attack 1" hastily scribbled on it, i would select a fire / cosmic attack first, then a water. for the screenshot with "Attack 2", i would do the opposite (water, then fire / cosmic). if you notice there's a low chance of hitting the weakness (like, if the number of fire and cosmic at the bottom of the box in "Attack 1" was reversed to 3 cosmic and 1 fire) then use another neutral.
TEAM 1 : ICE TITAN
emphasis: Flora and Water skills
REQUIRED CHARACTERS: LEONA & JAMIL
Leona: Ceremonial Robe
Jamil: New Years Attire
Ruggie: Birthday Jacket (DUO: JADE)
Jade: New Years Attire
FOR THE FINAL CHARACTER, THERE'S ACTUALLY A FEW OPTIONS:
Malleus: Ceremonial Robe
pros: this card buddies with Leona (power boost) + New Years Jamil buddies with Malleus (health boost) + level 60
2. Jack: Ceremonial Robe
pros: Ceremonial Leona buddies with Jack (health boost) + level 52
3. Malleus: Seaside Suit
pros: has a "debuff removal for allies" on spell 2 at level 5 (the ice titan has a number of power drains) + New Years Jamil buddies with Malleus (health boost) + level 72
cons: spell 2 is a fire spell
4. Kalim: Ceremonial Robe
pros: this card buddies with Jamil (health boost) + Birthday Jacket Ruggie buddies with Kalim (health boost)
cons: currently level 37
5. Cater: Labwear
pros: New Years Jamil and New Years Jade buddy with Cater (health boost and power boost, respectively)
cons: currently level 38 + we need Cater for team 3 (more on that later)
these are ranked based on my personal choice, assuming they all have the same buddy levels + spell levels and assuming we won't be levelling them up. your actual choice should take buddy levels and spell levels into account, as well as if you're willing to spend time / resources to level up the card
EXTRA:
Ceremonial Leona has a 1 turn power boost on spell 1 (3 turns at spell level 5). you can use both his spells on the same turn to boost both attacks
^^^ note that i'm pretty sure the ice titan gives you a 3-turn freeze at the start of battle by default, so wait until that wears off to use this strategy lol (the freeze status effect prevents you from applying status effects. this includes power / damage boosts, and health regeneration)
Ceremonial Malleus ALSO has a 1 turn power boost on spell 1 (as well as spell 2 at spell level 5), so the same strategy applies if you end up using that card
this boss's power drain abilities can get a little nuts, so try to throw ruggie's duo before his spell 1 to avoid him getting hit by too many
TEAM 2: FIRE TITAN
emphasis: Water and Fire skills
REQUIRED CHARACTERS: RIDDLE & AZUL
there's some variation in this one as well, so i'll start with the cement and move into the iffy:
Azul: C&D Diner
Silver: Dawn Armor (DUO: LILIA)
Lilia: MULTIPLE OPTIONS ~
Labwear
pros: type advantage (two water spells)
cons: only level 32
C&D Diner
pros: this card buddies with Azul (power boost) + the higher level of the two recommended lilias (42)
cons: no type advantage (two fire spells)
Riddle: MULTIPLE OPTIONS ~
Night Sky's Chiffon
pros: SSR + this card buddies with Lilia (health boost) + level 82
cons: this card's spell 2 is Flora, which is weak to fire, so you would have to make sure to play it when the enemy uses cosmic to avoid the extra damage (this titan uses the burn status, so even a little extra health could be the difference between winning and dying)
Ceremonial Robes
pros: does not have a weak element (Fire and Water spells)
cons: level 30
once again, your final character is gonna depend on preference and previous choices, but here's a list with my personal ranking:
Idia: Labwear
pros: type advantage (two water spells) + Diner Azul buddies with Idia (power boost) + level 82.
if chosen, Ceremonial Riddle also buddies with Idia (power boost).
2. Malleus: Labwear
pros: this card buddies with Silver (health boost) + Dawn Armor Silver buddies with Malleus (health boost)
cons: only level 47 + keep in mind that Malleus might be better for the Ice Titan
3. Deuce: Night Sky's Chiffon
pros: this card buddies with Riddle (power boost)
if chosen, Night Sky's Chiffon Riddle buddies (power+health boost) & duos with Deuce; this can give you a good second duo.
cons: no type advantage (two fire spells) + level 35
if chosen, Night Sky's Chiffon Riddle's duo is Flora (weak to fire); you would have to use it when there is a guaranteed cosmic.
4. Cater: PE Uniform
pros: this card buddies with Azul (power boost) + Diner Azul buddies with Cater (power boost).
if chosen, Diner Lilia buddies with Cater (power boost)
if chosen, Ceremonial Robes Riddle buddies with Cater (power boost)
cons: R card + only level 30 + we need Cater for Team 3 (more on that later)
EXTRA:
the fire titan can apply a burn status to both characters you throw. however, if you only send out one character (i.e. use both spells from one character in the same turn), only one character will get the burn. that can minimize the damage you take if you predict it correctly (but like, don't worry too much about it; if you kill the titan fast enough + predict its moves right, the burn won't matter lmao)
dawn armor silver has a power boost on spell 1 for 1 turn (3 turns at spell level 5). i recommend using this to your advantage.
genuinely, my silver dawn armor carried his team. though, my silver is max buddy with lilia + max spells + level 83 and i had him on the team against the earth titan, so you may see varying results here. however, if you manage to set up right, with those specs his spell 1 can do around 10k damage and his duo does around 19k with the power boost from spell 1, so basically he can carry if it comes down to it. put him in, coach.
TEAM 3: EARTH TITAN
emphasis: Fire and Flora skills
REQUIRED CHARACTERS: VIL, ROOK, & EPEL
this one's gonna be rough, so we'll start with the cement and work our way down
Epel: Ceremonial Robe
Rook: MULTIPLE OPTIONS ~
PE Uniform
pros: one type advantage (spell 2 fire) + this card buddies with Epel (power boost)
cons: R card + probably very low level, if you have it (not pictured in your screenshots)
Labwear
pros: level 44
cons: no type advantage (two flora spells)
Cater: Dorm Uniform (DUO: TREY)
Trey: we HAVE to use trey; cater's duo is our major damage in this team. OUR OPTIONS ~
Ceremonial Robe
pros: this card buddies with Rook (power boost) + level 30
cons: no type advantage (flora and cosmic spells)
School Uniform (NOT dorm)
pros: this card buddies with Cater (power boost)
cons: R card + probably very low level, if you have it (not pictured in your screenshots)
Vil: MULTIPLE OPTIONS ~
Birthday Bloom
pros: SSR + spell 1 has a flora boost to allies
cons: we can't use this duo because we need Jade for team 1
Labwear
pros: this card buddies with Trey (power boost)
EXTRA:
yeah this one's gonna be rough, chief. you might have to take over the autopilot, WALL-E style, to make this one work
if you end up running Birthday Bloom Vil, i recommend using the spell 1 flora boost on the same turn as either Ceremonial Epel or Dorm Cater's flora spells. prioritize whichever one has the highest spell level (i don't have Dorm Cater so I can't test who does more damage :') )
Ceremonial Epel has a 1 turn power boost on spell 1. use both of his spells on the same turn to make use of this. (Trey's card options both have this as well, but you'll be using him for Cater's duo so don't worry about it)
uhhhh so yeah. that's the yapfest. extra extras:
you can raise a buddy level to 5 with only a day's worth of lessons, if you're sweaty about it (i set a timer lol). i recommend breadth over depth; don't bother levelling them beyond level 6 for this unless you think you'll use the card in the future.
and just for fun, these were my teams when i beat it. bear in mind only the SSRs, Lilia, Jade, and Riddle have their spells levelled at all. basically, it's totally possible to beat with just good old fashioned spit, gumption, one hard carry card, and a lottttt of history class. like a lot.
Have you ever been told something about a TWST character before you saw them in a main chapter / vignette / event, only to realize how untrue that was? I'm curious!
By the way, please mark spoilers regardless of how early the story content appears!
I'll go first! ( Book 5 Spoilers Below )
I was told that I shouldn't like Rook because he's a traitor, but it turns out he just voted objectively because his own team wasn't at 100% and the other team was. I actually ended up liking Rook MORE after reading Book 5, because it proved he has artistic integrity!
writers when they interrogate a character's motivation in-text and then realize even they don't know the answer anyway this post is about Ace Trappola re: how Ace feels about Riddle vs the Queen of Hearts AKA : a crash out disguised as an analysis. help me.
so for context, i've been writing one of those fairly standard "stuff an oc / sona into the twst player character and rewrite it" longfics (privately), and i have been stuck in book 1 hell for like. months. as is also standard for such fics. the problem i am facing at the current moment this:
my protag would absolutely point out the hypocrisy inherent in Ace saying "yeah the Queen of Hearts beheaded people for stepping out of line, she's so cool" and then turning around not 24 hours later complaining about Riddle doing the exact same thing. and i have NO IDEA how Ace would respond. (like, canonically)
in terms of unconscious thinking, the easy and obvious answer is that the Queen is a historical figure and therefore it's way easier to say she was super cool and awesome; her strictness hasn't negatively affected him yet and as a resident of the Queendom he's probably grown up with everyone saying how cool she was. plus there's the added aspect of how it's easy to say that it never WOULD negatively affect him; if he were in the Queen's court he wouldn't blow that opportunity (as he says in his second Chat).
out LOUD i'm inclined to think he would say something similar to what he says in the Prologue: the Queen needed to be that strict because who would obey a queen who's nice all the time?
the problem is then that obviously my protag would keep pushing on that, because Riddle is literally enforcing the Queen of Hearts's rules the exact same way the Queen would (BEHEADING), so what makes them different beyond the fact that Riddle's way of beheading doesn't KILL?? this is where i'm running into the biggggg problem, because obviously what the character says doesn't have to be what they actually think and therefore OUT LOUD i could have Ace double down on 'how cool the Queen is and how Riddle is nowhere near her level and she NEEDED to be strict but Riddle doesn't', but i genuinely don't know what he would actually THINK in response. because Ace is stubborn as shit, prideful, and pretty self-centered, especially in the earlier books, but he's also clever yknow? even if he doesn't recognize the comparisons himself, someone laying them out side-by-side in front of him like that would be hard to ignore, and even if he DOES stick his head in the sand initially and verbally (again, prideful) it's still going to make him think, right?? like, he would have to interrogate internally what makes Riddle different from the Queen, and i don't know what conclusion he'd come to.
tbh i think the problem is i'm inclined to think that he would AGREE that there's really no difference between the Queen and Riddle, when it's presented to him like that, but that kinda breaks some things bc i don't see Ace EVER taking that and going "man maybe Riddle's okay actually" lmfao so he would by right HAVE to go "maybe the Queen of Hearts isn't as cool as i thought" but i'm having trouble reconciling that conclusion mentally with like. the citizens of Twisted Wonderland loving the Great Seven so much. that feels almost integral to Ace's character, to the point where challenging it almost feels like i'm breaking him?? lol??
which in that case it would almost be better to take him down the route of "those rules were a good idea for the time they were written, but they're stupid now, and enforcing them makes you stupid too" which i think might be what the game is going for?? most of the time when ace and deuce push back against the rules in canon it's a lot of "these rules are ridiculous" but then again, Ace also spends a lot of time calling Riddle a tyrant and a wannabe for, again, doing the exact same thing Ace glazes the Queen of Hearts for (ruling with a policy of "NO MERCY"). and then of course the philosophical clash of the book takes the turn during the duel sequence where the crux of the argument changes to a lack of. . . i suppose initiative? independence? the idea that Riddle can't think for himself, more or less. ("Is that all you are? An extension of her [Mrs Rosehearts]? Can't you think for yourself?"), so. . . . . maybe that implies the difference is that Riddle didn't make the rules he enforces, and the Queen did?
plus, there's the additional issue of like. they keep FOLLOWING the rules Ace calls out as stupid even post-Book 1; the resolution seems to be being less strict about their enforcement, not "we should phase these out" (like, they're still painting roses, they're still wearing pink to feed the flamingos, and Trey at the end of Book 1 says "Let's try to set the bar at 'it's great if it's this way,' not 'it absolutely has to be this way' "). at which point it's like. huh?????? huh?????????
the meta conclusion i keep coming back to OVERALL is Ace likes the Queen of Hearts because her enforcement doesn't directly affect him, and Riddle's does. but THAT DOESN'T HELP ME because internally he is NOT going to be thinking that, even if that IS what he's operating under; he would NOT acknowledge that his motivations are self driven. he's not that self aware. so therefore i have to come up with the internal logic he's following that justifies his position
(at this point i'm sure you can surmise the circles i'm pacing. like a zoo animal. lmfao)
anyway. tl;dr fucking save me oh my god the more i write the more i realize i don't get these guys at all
sorry you can ignore me but the thing this actually make me think a lot about is how some people will ignore/deny certain things about history and historical figures because it doesn't fit their comfortable understanding of The Way Things Are. This isn't going to be well written but I'd like to take a crack at explaining what I mean
Icl the first thing I thought about in focusing on this is how people view MLK and non violent protest, especially when they find out he had socialist leanings. Though tbh I dont see this happening as much anymore, as there's been a spike in openness to anticapitalism, but this is a social blind spot I grew up with both in myself at first and then having to see reflected in people around me.
Another thing this makes me think of is how we try to fit historical figures into modern understanding. Specifically in terms of queerness, though that's just because of what I've been studying/reading.
Here's where things get tricky though. Because, for my Yuu, they still struggle with coming from our world and the full knowledge that the figures this society seems to uphold aren't just fictional characters, but are specifically the villains of a parable/story for children, and would also be looking at things through that bias.
And I think that's important. While there are some historical figures upheld that I, and I think most, view as objectively evil, most historical figures are not perfect and have their legacies whitewashed for simplicity. And I think that's something toyed with here, at least by player's meta knowledge on the original Disney film characters.
+
(Sorry also as a side note, I do not remember exactly but I think it's in someone's cards that actually interrogates the rules somewhat, that while some seem ridiculous, many have practical application. The example I think of boils down to an overspecific rule that, if applied broadly, equates to not consuming caffeine past a certain time to encourage better sleep. Though tbh my memory is hazy, I think it's from someone's card vignettes, and I think it's one of the heartsabyul students, but theres every chance that was from a fic and I've just internalized it, so take this with a grain of salt. Also sorry this is just me writing stream of consciousness in a break from the previous line of thought.)
Back to the original line of thought though. So 1) if we are to take seriously that the Queen of Hearts is a historical figure, which I think we must, we also are likely meant to assume her legacy has been whitewashed and simplified. 2) because of this, it's likely there's massive cultural blindspots instigated on purpose by those who write the history. And no, I do not mean as specifically conspiracy, this happens a lot in real life and that's. Honestly thats a whole other can of worms to get into, but tldr I'm not saying I think twst endgame is social revolution. 3) (and also as a slight aside) there's also probably reasonable argument that times were genuinely just different in the Queen of Hearts' life. That isn't to handwave everything, but I think could be reasonable argument in this discourse for the twst universe.
Now, as for I think Ace would react. I think at first he'd be like, "no way, that's totally different!" Though not be able to express exactly why. However, I think ultimately this would end up being for Ace what it is to a lot of kids who grew up thinking MLK NEVER endorsed or entertained violent protest or resistance. He'd be somewhat radicalized, and more likely to question popular history. This could potentially lead to headaches of massive changes/developments to Ace's character, but I mean. That depends on how you want to grow his character I suppose. I think there is a way to leave him at a place where he continues to question, but in the moreso— forgive me I don't know how else to put this— generalized teenage boy angsty contrarian way. However, this is why I brought up that sidenote about justification for the rules.
This is where my chosen comparison starts to break down. I know there are better examples, I am again not taking as much time to think through and structure as I could. But. Radicalizing myself and understanding more of MLK as a historical figure led me to a much more extreme conclusion I think than is necessary. I decided "the narrative I was taught is wrong, and violent resistance is sometimes necessary." Also, "capitalism is bad, actually." And went even further than that, actually. And I don't think that'd be the same takeaway for Ace, nor do I think it would make sense to narratively speaking. Unlike this real world example, there's (probably) not really a need to throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. Even if Ace decides maybe the Queen of Hearts isn't this paragon he's been taught to believe, I think he could still justify the whole while being more critical of the details. Overall, the Queen of Hearts represents a kind of stability. Whether or not I or my Yuu or anyone else agrees that that kind of stability is good in the long run is, I think, beyond this conversation. (Another side note, a lot of my twst yuusona's story also involves a few other ocs who are the sort of radicals who would question the fundamentals of the historical narratives they've been indoctrinated with, because that's what it is and thats something I find interesting to engage with.)
So how does he change? As much as you want to write, honestly. Though that probably isn't satisfying. I think there's also something to say that is also interesting/relevant here, as yet another side note, that most of these characters are specifically at an age where they are interrogating their moral compasses like specifically in terms of social development, so there is a lot of interesting what-if's there for me.
But! I think Ace doesn't have to change much at all, outwardly speaking. Sorry for the long rant and ultimately probably a not very satisfying reply but 😭 this has been making me think thoughts and been in my drafts. Again I hope you don't mind OP.
writers when they interrogate a character's motivation in-text and then realize even they don't know the answer anyway this post is about Ace Trappola re: how Ace feels about Riddle vs the Queen of Hearts AKA : a crash out disguised as an analysis. help me.
so for context, i've been writing one of those fairly standard "stuff an oc / sona into the twst player character and rewrite it" longfics (privately), and i have been stuck in book 1 hell for like. months. as is also standard for such fics. the problem i am facing at the current moment this:
my protag would absolutely point out the hypocrisy inherent in Ace saying "yeah the Queen of Hearts beheaded people for stepping out of line, she's so cool" and then turning around not 24 hours later complaining about Riddle doing the exact same thing. and i have NO IDEA how Ace would respond. (like, canonically)
in terms of unconscious thinking, the easy and obvious answer is that the Queen is a historical figure and therefore it's way easier to say she was super cool and awesome; her strictness hasn't negatively affected him yet and as a resident of the Queendom he's probably grown up with everyone saying how cool she was. plus there's the added aspect of how it's easy to say that it never WOULD negatively affect him; if he were in the Queen's court he wouldn't blow that opportunity (as he says in his second Chat).
out LOUD i'm inclined to think he would say something similar to what he says in the Prologue: the Queen needed to be that strict because who would obey a queen who's nice all the time?
the problem is then that obviously my protag would keep pushing on that, because Riddle is literally enforcing the Queen of Hearts's rules the exact same way the Queen would (BEHEADING), so what makes them different beyond the fact that Riddle's way of beheading doesn't KILL?? this is where i'm running into the biggggg problem, because obviously what the character says doesn't have to be what they actually think and therefore OUT LOUD i could have Ace double down on 'how cool the Queen is and how Riddle is nowhere near her level and she NEEDED to be strict but Riddle doesn't', but i genuinely don't know what he would actually THINK in response. because Ace is stubborn as shit, prideful, and pretty self-centered, especially in the earlier books, but he's also clever yknow? even if he doesn't recognize the comparisons himself, someone laying them out side-by-side in front of him like that would be hard to ignore, and even if he DOES stick his head in the sand initially and verbally (again, prideful) it's still going to make him think, right?? like, he would have to interrogate internally what makes Riddle different from the Queen, and i don't know what conclusion he'd come to.
tbh i think the problem is i'm inclined to think that he would AGREE that there's really no difference between the Queen and Riddle, when it's presented to him like that, but that kinda breaks some things bc i don't see Ace EVER taking that and going "man maybe Riddle's okay actually" lmfao so he would by right HAVE to go "maybe the Queen of Hearts isn't as cool as i thought" but i'm having trouble reconciling that conclusion mentally with like. the citizens of Twisted Wonderland loving the Great Seven so much. that feels almost integral to Ace's character, to the point where challenging it almost feels like i'm breaking him?? lol??
which in that case it would almost be better to take him down the route of "those rules were a good idea for the time they were written, but they're stupid now, and enforcing them makes you stupid too" which i think might be what the game is going for?? most of the time when ace and deuce push back against the rules in canon it's a lot of "these rules are ridiculous" but then again, Ace also spends a lot of time calling Riddle a tyrant and a wannabe for, again, doing the exact same thing Ace glazes the Queen of Hearts for (ruling with a policy of "NO MERCY"). and then of course the philosophical clash of the book takes the turn during the duel sequence where the crux of the argument changes to a lack of. . . i suppose initiative? independence? the idea that Riddle can't think for himself, more or less. ("Is that all you are? An extension of her [Mrs Rosehearts]? Can't you think for yourself?"), so. . . . . maybe that implies the difference is that Riddle didn't make the rules he enforces, and the Queen did?
plus, there's the additional issue of like. they keep FOLLOWING the rules Ace calls out as stupid even post-Book 1; the resolution seems to be being less strict about their enforcement, not "we should phase these out" (like, they're still painting roses, they're still wearing pink to feed the flamingos, and Trey at the end of Book 1 says "Let's try to set the bar at 'it's great if it's this way,' not 'it absolutely has to be this way' "). at which point it's like. huh?????? huh?????????
the meta conclusion i keep coming back to OVERALL is Ace likes the Queen of Hearts because her enforcement doesn't directly affect him, and Riddle's does. but THAT DOESN'T HELP ME because internally he is NOT going to be thinking that, even if that IS what he's operating under; he would NOT acknowledge that his motivations are self driven. he's not that self aware. so therefore i have to come up with the internal logic he's following that justifies his position
(at this point i'm sure you can surmise the circles i'm pacing. like a zoo animal. lmfao)
anyway. tl;dr fucking save me oh my god the more i write the more i realize i don't get these guys at all
can't stop thinking about the fact that overblot wasn't described as something that happens only once in a mage's lifetime
like, blot is just a natural byproduct of using magic; doesn't matter what kinda mage you are or what spells you use.
overblot is when a mage goes past their limits.
phantoms form not only from overblot, but "mage's negative energy" as well - and imo, if any mage is in a situation where they go past their limit, there's bound to be something negative in them.
soon as a phantom forms, a mage is on a fast track to dying unless someone intervenes.
but being brought back from the overblot state doesn't seem to grant you overblot immunity
like, you're still a mage. you're still accumulating blot when you're using magic. you still need to put in the work not to go past your limit and overblot again.
but potentially, you could
Idia mentioned that one of STYX research topics is whether blot can be used for energy or whatever.
I wonder if someone tried making blot/blot crystal farms in the past.
also, i wonder why weaker mages don't need to worry about overblot as much?
i mean, i know why from a gameplay/story perspective it's more satisfying to deal with a few strong guys rather than a bunch of mooks
but like? a weaker mage would have less magic to cast spells, meaning they'd burn through their reserves faster, meaning they'd hit their limit faster as well; wouldn't it make sense that they're more likely to overblot?
also? none of this isn't widely taught?? Ace and Deuce needed to be pulled aside by Crowley to explain what blot is and why it's so dangerous??? when it makes all the sense to be the very first mandatory lecture every budding mage gets on their first day of magic school????? "blot bad, blot deadly bad; pay close attention to your magestones, and learn to pace yourself"???????
wrt "wouldn't weaker mages ob faster" i think it's mentioned in Book 2 when crowley first explains blot as a concept that while not every mage has the same magical reserves, they all have the same blot capacity. so, say everyone can safely generate up to a gallon of blot without ob'ing, but most people can't even generate a pint without exhausting their reserves... at least that's how i'm understanding it.
(1 gallon = 8 pints btw; the exact numbers don't really matter, the point is a pint is smaller lmao)
it's definitely p weird that ace+deuce don't know about it, like on a meta level i understand the choice so that the player has someone to ask all the questions they want to without needing the mostly silent protagonist to speak, but like. that's grim's role lmao. honestly even an exchange from them during the meeting with crowley (like deuce chiding ace for not paying attention during some orientation class, and ace shooting back abt how deuce didn't remember it either) could have gone a long way for that lol at least it would be explicit fault on the part of our boys and not the school. though i don't mind so much if blot/overblot isn't common knowledge outside magic schools if it's supposed to be super rare (and it's possible that styx has been using the lethe program to erase all previous incidents from the public consciousness so it might be more common than the public actually realizes....... but that's getting into headcanon territory lol)
magestone tangent under the cut lmfao
yknow another thing abt blot lore that bugs me is everything introduced in camp vargas lmfao like they kept saying how using their signature spell even once could induce overblot but some students are implied to have developed their signature spells before NRC? like we meet Jack in october and he already has and knows how to use his and i don't think he had easy access to magestones the way sebek or leona might have, and ernesto/fellow from playful land DEFINITELY didn't have a stone so how does that work? plus deuce expresses that summoning one cauldron without a magestone exhausted his reserves, except in the white rabbit event he has the nickname "Cauldron Deuce", which would be a little silly if he could only summon one cauldron before having to rest for a while. i doubt deuce had access to a magestone in a single parent household unless i'm wildly overestimating the value of a magestone (crowley implied they were rare in the prologue and ruggie seemed convinced the small stones they got from the mines would make him some money, but i'm not sure i can generalize with just that lol)
in my own personal writing surrounding this stuff i've chosen to interpret it as like, magestones are there to both catch the blot and channel the magic somehow so they can do more while using less magic and thus generating less blot, but canon doesn't really give me an indication on that lol i might have to go back and check the event again
you ever think about how the camp vargas events imply that the people who got caught during the final challenge weren't told anything until sunrise. like they just got knocked out by some unknown shadow monster and then woke up tied to a tree and nobody explained anything until dawn. like, did anybody try to escape?? were the ghosts there like "no guys just chill it's fine we'll explain later" or did they just leave them there? did it trigger kalim's ptsd? no seriously did it trigger kalim's ptsd? DID IT TRIGGER KALIM'S-
holy shit what is with the new fucking bot surge. open the comments on any piece of art and there's like three comments like "do you take commissions? dm me" or "i tried to message you about your account but i can't and idk whyy" (always with two y's lol??) like jesus. my sincerest condolences for my art posting friends because if those make up the entirety of your post's engagement.... like. man. that's almost worse than getting nothing. idek how to report an account for having been hacked lmao.
anyway while i'm complaining:
I have something important to tell you its about to your account, but i cant message you idk whyy?? please send me a message
"please send me a message" is new, but the entire rest of the message has been the same since the scam's inception. don't reply, do not message, and if someone tells you they accidentally reported your account it's a scam. remember that tumblr staff will never contact you through discord or tumblr dms. please don't lose your account lol i haven't seen many people falling victim recently but since they haven't given up it's probably still working at least a little.
compiling the references to disney stories and disney characters in the history of twisted wonderland is an exercise in futility but baby call me sisyphus because i'm rolling the damn boulder
A while ago, I put my roommates through a "Real or Fake TWST Event?" Kahoot. I'm light on new art since finals are consuming all my time and my hand is still healing, so here are some of my personal favorite fake events I came up with, all based on various Disney movies.
annaxmalina
2087
izzy806
pixelskylines
baratheonpilled
dededos
kaledo-art
romaincrisis
