I Need Anyone/Everyone With The Acrylic Standees to Look At The Constellations
It's been plaguing my mind since I saw the preview of them on the KS page(?).
[Image ID: Taken from Red Spring Studio's Kickstarter page for Touchstarved, it's an image of the main five LI's individual acrylic standees. From left to right: Ais, Vere, Leander, Mhin, and Kuras.
The background/back panel behind the LIs full body images is designed to look like a panel of stained glass—or something the equivalent of it—and there are various constellations sprinkled across each one]
These HAVE to be constellations. Whether or not they have real world equivalents, I will die on the hill that Eridia is a reference to the constellation of Eridanus, a river of mythological importance.
As it's a big feature in v1 and v2 of the demo, there's no way the naming of it is a coincidence.
On that note . . . can we get more eyes on trying to figure out IF the constellations on the standees actually have irl parallels? I've gotten a headache staring at the one I have as is (Mhin's!).
I have work off so I'm going full unhinged as a treat, I guess.
Re: my previous comment about this being two separate pieces of paper because they don't match up, if you (messily, on your phone in ClipStudio) split them into two separate layers, you can line up the radial chart. However, once you have the radial chart, if you follow the paper along the rip, nothing really lines up in a satisfactory way to create one piece of paper.
The paper is wrinkled, so you could make the argument that maybe if you smoothed it out it might line up better but... some of these paper 'teeth' are just never gonna fit together. (Even if you take into account the way that thick parchment tends to rip in what I'm gonna call 'pulp layers' this doesn't fit together as one piece of paper imo.)
I was originally going to show a pic of trying to match it up along the straight edges as well but I don't think it's necessary.
See above: Overlap & lack of overlap as seen when you try and put the pieces together with opacity turned down, if it helps make the visual more clear.
Again, this could just be looking into it too hard, but we have fun here.
When they were creating the artwork, they probably weren't thinking that people would attempt to see if they match, and that it was also just easier to do this way...but...it's also just so obviously not a match? Right??? If it was intentional that they don't match, I once again appreciate the implications!!! Very cool!
Bonus: Gif of me trying my hardest to make Ais' radial chart (almost) line up by using Kuras' as a guide -- I actually had to rotate both of Ais' pieces a little bit.
Image: Screenshot of an ask back in January 2024, with Red Spring Studios explaining the difference between Monsters and Soulless:
Caption: "How are Soulless different from Monsters?"
"Though they come from the same world, Soulless are feral beasts driven purely by bloodlust. No one knows why Soulless lack sapience, but there are some who believe that they’re sinners reborn as punishment for their wickedness."
To contrast with today's loredrop:
Caption: "Does the curse have long-term effects?"
When it comes to humans, MC’s touch results in the permanent destruction of the mind. Soulless are a different story. The curse seems to only pacify them for a short period of time.
SOULLESS WERE ONCE HUMAN/IS THAT WHAT'S GONNA BEFALL MHIN IF THEY CAN'T FIND A SOLUTION FOR THEMSELF?!
Please feel free to add to this y'all I am SCREAMING—
So the first instance we see of Leander's bare chest he's got a hoop piercing through his right nip back in August 2024—
[Image ID]: Screenshot of Leander's upper torso, focused on his chest. He's got a severe sunburn in the outline of a tank-top looking garment on his skin. Viewer's left side focuses on a hoop piercing through Leander's nipple. End ID]
Then with Today's reveal of him in is Cupid costume [Greek heritage shoutout, whoo!] he's got another piercing to complete the set!
[Image ID]: Screenshot of Leander's upper torso, focused on his chest. In honor of Red Spring Studio's grey monotone plus splashes of white, red and black, the image is colored thus. Viewer's right side focuses on both a lipstick kiss-print on his chest and a barbell piercing through Leander's nipple. End ID]
I really don't like looking at this man's chest anymore than necessary, BUT I noticed the piercing and had to throw my two cents in. LOL
Take it, Leander mains/lovers/girlies, have some more food!
Images belong to Red Spring Studio.
[Image ID: Two screenshots from different Red Spring Studio posts.
On the left, a chibi version of Ais is snoozing upon a white, cat-like cyclops. Said entity has what looks like an antenna or a very opaque looking halo above its head. It has what seems to be gray-ish sclera with a red(?) pupil, a drippy tear coming down it's . . . lack of a face.
On the right, an isolated screenshot of a chocolate or candy that was revealed in a series of Valentine's Day themed posts by Red Spring Studios. It's got a white outer shell/layer, with one single eye with mustard-ish yellow sclera and a red pupil. The pupil part is set in a melty chocolate center, it too dripping down the center of the candy's lack of a proper face. End of image ID]
WHAT'S THIS MEAAAAAAAAAAN!?
@sundayeleith Tagging you because we were theorizing on these before!
several months ago, you sent in your touchstarved MCs for my practice... and i proceeded to get hit by artblock for months on end LOLLL. anywho, thank you for entrusting your OCs! here's lyra, redrawn in an art nouveau poster. have a good day 🙂↕️
HOLY MOLY, she's absolutely RADIANT like this, thank you so much!
Unorganized Thoughts About Mhin and their Connection(s) to Lovent
Mhin's Red Choice and Alchemist!MC's Guess/Observation About Them Being A Scientist
It's already been established by the devs that Mhin helps Kuras out at the clinic. We don't know the full capacity in what way yet, but I have a feeling they help out in keeping an eye on patients or doing vitals and writing down what their complaints are before seeing Kuras.
[More under the cut!]
Mhin May Or May Not Be Centuries Old
If the MC asks Vere what he thinks of Mhin, he says that when they first encountered each other, it had happened during a Fogfall, where Mhin stabbed him in the chest with their antique dagger.
Vere is certainly an old(er) being, but what's an 'antique' to someone like Vere?
If Mhin got lost on an expedition to Lovent, could a Fogfall have displaced them in both time and space? It could move one to tears, the crushing loneliness of something like that.
Mhin May or May Not Be An Amalgamation of Other Members of the Research Expedition
This one is more than a stretch/something of a plot bunny that wandered into my brain, but what if in their Monster form, there's hints of other people imprinted into their skin, alongside a smattering of raven-like feathers and gooseflesh?
All I know for sure is that Mhin is basically a mess of multiple limbs and I can only imagine how painful the transformations would be . . .
Side note: The tan circles with question marks are me being unsure what kind of mashed-up anatomy they've got.
Is Mhin's human skull/head being consumed by whatever corvid their monstrous form is? Do they have legs/what does look like?
NOTE/EDIT: SO, I wrote this originally back in mid 2024—whoop how time does fly—I can say that the backing card of Mhin's chibi charm has the FULL silhouette of their monster form and I unfortunately and currently don't have the wherewithal to do a further deep dive/do justice to my thoughts to it currently.
Mhin May or May Not Have Been Originally With the Senobium
This goes hand in hand with who could've funded an expedition to a place such as that, and it seems in the current timeline at least, Eridia's Senobium being the "last true bastion of humanity" fits the bill alongside the first portion of this post.
A/N: This took a bit of time [I've had this in my drafts since JULY 2024—again, oops—, but thank you so much for your guys' patience!
Ais's Named Soulless (Aside From Princess) Thus Far!
I wanna thank RSS for providing names for three other Soulless under Ais's care by compiling some pics I found online of dogs doing the things described for Pebble, Bucket, and Happy!
