c!tommy/fandom neg, im serious, i tried hard to word things nicely but this might come off as kinda insensitive. If you like. Relate really really hard to c!tommy maybe seriously dont read it? Or at least like.. try to read it charitably?
All characters, all rp, not discussing the ccs at all here.
It seems like a lot of people have very visceral reactions to tommy trauma because they relate to him, well i relate a lot to phil as hes been presented so far, so....
Things are not more important than people, they just arent. Symbols are not more important than the thing they are supposed to be symbolizing. I feel like this is such an obvious truth that I was extreamly confused as to why so many people were saying phil's advice was bad.
I understand that the Rapple burning reminded people a lot of Dream's treatment of Tommy during exile, and i think thats where a lot of the "this was bad advice" is coming from. I mean. The timing wasnt great. Doesnt really mean its not good advice. Its also like... the kind of advice you would expect phil to give tommy when you consider what phil has observed of tommy and where his problems seem to come from. Something i think he's expressed multiple times. And it wasnt like phil was trying to intentionally trigger tommy or somthing. I actually think tommy had an unexpectedly underwhelmed reaction given the circumstances. One that highlights the differences of these situations. Dream was doing what he did to keep tommy under his control. To try to remove any sense of power he had by undermining things that he had worked for. To show that it was all pointless to try to make him feel powerless. It was the intent behind the actions that was turbo fucked up. Phil was/is trying to show tommy that he has his own power. That he has the strength to rely on himself. That he doesnt need symbols. That his reliance on them, while understandable, it holding him back and plays a part in making his life worse. That without these symbols the things that made them important will exist. Unless they dont. And that the pain of loosing a thing cannot compair to the pain of loosing a person and how the pain or frustration of loosing a thing will disapate. Something that someone like the immortal "ive watched kingdoms crumble and lost countless friends and also my son" Philza would probably understand.
Also yes burning the rapple was painful on a meta level. I was there for a lot of the Rapple journeys. But it made it a stronger beat in the story to actually destroy something of practical and sentimental value.
I just dont think the take away, regardless of trauma, should be: hold onto things that make you feel (emphasis on feel) safe at the expense of things that can actually improve your situation, ie bonds with people, your own strength. I understand that can be a very hard thing to hear. Trust me i really really do. And Phil's timing might not have been the best but Tommy tends to go in circles, so its somewhat clear, to me at least, that he needs some kind of change.
I guess i just... over the years I think ive thought a lot about posession and ownership and the value people place on external systems. and if there is value or practicality inherent to those ideas. And i think in very very many cases there isnt, or there doesnt need to be, and that they've ended up being a self-perpetuating machine that keeps people thinking they need them. But i understand the emotional implulse to hold on. Because.. our things give us something we can control, something physical thats proof of something. But... none of that is inherently true of objects or external systems, its symbolisim that we assign to them as a way to cope with various things. Cope with traumas that are often caused by those objects and systems !!! And coping is important! I personally am in posession of lots and lots of cope!!! But you've gotta know when you're letting the cope take presedence over things that are truly irreplaceable.
Im gonna be honest, the fact the tommy did hesitate on saving tubbo's life for the disks made him a wildly unlikable dude to me. I get that its out of some kind of trauma, but the other characters are all traumatized, even if its not as apparent as it is in tommy's case. I dunno, i guess it's just a visceral reaction I have to seeing someone consider trading the life of their best friend away for a symbolic object wow 🤪🤪🤪
(I do think Tommy is an interesting character still, i kinda just resent the fandom treatment of him, and of other characters on his behalf without like... thinking about stuff...)
If you all read that here's my interpretation(s) of the furnace thing, as a.. treat..?
I think Phil was trying to give an example of like... shit happens, life moves on, we all keep persisting, its like the circle of life maannn, the cycle of stone break, cobble furnace, stone place, stone break again. Life's a cycle of ups and downs. Which is the kind of thing thats like... true, but hard to say in a way that actually registers because its often repeated. And its hard to see the truth of that when you're in the thick of a trauma response or a bad situation. So trying to give a very physical representation of that kinda makes sense.
For me its also like. Man. Giving advice is hard. You might horribly fuck up and say the wrong thing, not even because thats what you mean but just that your words come out wrong. And its a horrible feeling to let down someone that relies on you. And it can be hard to tell people things in a way they'll understand. Sometimes being a little obtuse feels like the only thing you can really do. Especially if youve already tried the direct approch.
I dunno, thats at least how i see it. I think theres lots of room for other interpretations and like, maybe we'll get some more clarification.
I hope that this manga actually has guns eventually. I think that would be really funny.
This girl saves them from the slime and also a dog and her name is one letter rearangment from the helpful npc guide so she's probably an ai or a developer or something.
She's also a speed-bridger
2b2t
Also she's kinda talking like people have been playing this game for months. But its still a beta test, so i dont think anyone has had it for ten real-world days, let alone months. I guess she means in game time. But why would it be a crime in the real world. The fact that they are being cagey about if people actually die when they are killed is making me think there is going to be a way to revive people. But its still ???
I do like that theres a pysical description of a game mechanic. Its neat. Also the main guy throws a block at something to place it far away which i think is cool too.
HOLY!!!!!!!SHIT!!!!!!!!!
Anyways the rest of it is fine enough. They go mining and fail at fighting a fire lizard and a creepo player killer guy who also enslaves women shows up. Which is something.
Cool. /s
(This is an annoying theme to me, even for a villan to espouse, for lots of reasons. But what ever depends on where they go with it. I just dont think it actually makes sense, especially if this is like minecraft where resources are unlimited. And time is also essentially unlimited so ???)
He and Noa, the girl, used to hang out i guess. She ends up going with him again for self-sacrificial reasons and the volume ends.
Final thoughts:
Its ok, i think I'd prefer a little more cube and a little less (sword) arts. There were a lot of parts that felt like they were in any-old fantasy game, and i think a generally more stylized look to the backgrounds would have helped. But i did really appreciate the parts that felt particularly minecrafty, or were more original explorations of how cube based game mechanics might work with a human body instead of a controller.
Characters were.. fine. The main boy is Not A Kirito, which i appriciate. A lot of the dialog was exposition, which is fine, but it didnt leave a ton of time for character stuff. I kinda hope they get to chill out in the next volume.
Well. If you like video game isekai you would probably enjoy this. If you only really like minecraft its probably better to just watch Last Life or something. It is really funny to me that this exists.
Blood and decapitation warning, this actually gets a bit dark.
Not a cube, but still beautiful
Phenomenal, show stopping, incredible
It decapatates the responsable friend. I still love it.
Im actually pretty suprised something 13+ has such a clear depiction of decapitation, given how that tends to get pretty heavily censored in japan.
Also the slimes on the cover are cubes, so i kinda wonder if its going to be a plot point that this slime is not cube. Like its a virus or something.
The time honored technique. Dig yourself a hole to escape.
If you die in the game you die for real!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I understand why a lot of game based isekai do this sort of thing, to have narrative stakes and stuff. But respawn mechanics can also be fun. Oh, the log out function is also not working.
Aww, thats actually pretty cute. They all end up at a village (that's more like an mmo town than a minecraft village) where they're at tower that people are supposed to respawn at. And they make a sign for their friend.
No one respawns when they're supposed to tho
Crumb Cuptoast cameo
I dont know, i might have a problem because this sounds like a dream come true to me. I guess it sucks that its seemingly on hardcore mode, but they dont know that for sure and some stuff has implied that people who die are maybe not all the way dead. I have this issue with lots of isekai stuff where i would just not be that mad about being there. This also has the extra bonus of not wasting much time in the real world. I would play for 6 hours anyways
They're actually playing in a tommyinnit modded minecraft video
You only get respawn mechanics after you already die and go to hell i guess.
Also this dude gets stabbed by the non-cube slime and pulled into the danger zone two pages later.
(Part 1 of the liveblog below, it is indeed Sword art online plus minecraft)
gotta be about highschoolers. I wonder if theres a real in-story reason or if its just lampshade hanging. Can you imagine the shitstorm if mojang were like "ok, we're releasing the deep dark into beta, but only high schoolers can play it."
Cubes. Its honestly kinda hilarious to see manga style leaves and "realistic shading" on blocky cartoony structures. Its a similar vibe as those hyper realistic minecraft shaders. Someone should make a comic/manga shader for minecraft. That would be cool.
This is the only thing that matters.
I feel like... people would use this technology for lots of things that arent video games and more for """productivity""". Oh well. Wish fufilment achived i guess.
It pulls him in with his real clothes. Its a dreaming style "full dive" headset thing so i guess it makes some sense for him to look how he pictures himself but... i dont know i feel like having a character customization thing for this sort of story makes more sense... though that sort of mechanic being explored in a story could be cool. Could be gendery.
He.
Acurate starter base. The grass is still killing me tho.
