I've Rarely Seen A More Validating Sentence In My Entire Life.

Some of my favorite songs from gaming

made a small army of usagi ringo (rabbit apple slices!)

I only applied a clear glaze to the "apple skin" part, so there's extra contrast between the matte body and glossy skin

cis, heteroromantic aces and cis, heterosexual aros are still part of the queer community because being asexual and aromantic are queer identities. include them in your pride

Torches-The Oh Hellos

My personal analysis of this song and how I interpret this song based on my knowledge and experience as an ex-Christian and Songwriter. Thanks @greatcelestialhieroglyphs for the idea to do this add this to the Masterlist or reboot if u want.

Trigger Warning for Religious intolerance, racism, Pedo mention, & general fear/hate mongering. This is a very eye opening song when looking at the lyrics and I’m glad a Christian band is willing to show the ugly side and it’s negative effects.

Lyrics in full: (my analysis in this color)

I got a venom like a snake running out of my mouth (Running out of my mouth, running out of my mouth) These first words show hateful words spewing unfiltered. I see this as hateful rhetoric.

It's got you burning at the stake. Innocent or not, you're not a bet I care to take A recall to the witch trials a time were paranoia and fear born out of the horrible lie spread by a man who hated a particular women. Taking the lives of thousands. The Oh Hellos are Christian and are against such hateful words when their religion is one of healing and forgiveness.

And Father Ignorance will make brothers of us all (Brothers of us all, brothers of us all) Again ignorance to fact leading to such a mob mentality.

As he sets our torch aflame. Witch-hunt and the modern day incident of white nationalists marching with Tiki torches in Charlottesville, Va.

Chasing down the flimsy specters that we co-create Making of a strawman enemy.

Over and over, again We keep that old wheel turning We spin it around This is a trend in history and now.

I got a terror I can't shake pushing down on my lungs (Pushing down on my lungs, pushing down on my lungs) Either an act of terror through verbal abuse or a feeling of terror that causes one to act aggressively and irrationally.

It's got me lying there awake with a hand On a gun while turning shadows into shapes Making a crowd restless and willing to commit grave acts of violence.

Mother Fortuna, O, she makes sisters of us all (Sisters of us all, sisters of us all) I don’t know

When the faces in her wake Look more like our own than the effigies we immolate I see this as the monsters become among the people than the others that are demonized. An example are Pedos often being youth pastors when drag queens are demonized as such.

Over and over, again We keep that old wheel turning Over and over, again We lay the next spoke down Over and over, again (oceans will roll in) Over and over, again We spin it around How the cycle continues

How this song weaves and hides the message of your not looking carefully enough:

Basically, this song is very beautiful and has a lot of call and repeat with Maggie calling and the rest repeating. Even I didn’t understand the lyrics cuz I was caught in the beauty of the song. I don’t know if it was intentional or not but it shows how such nasty elements can be hidden, either by ignorance (not a bad thing as long as your willing to learn) or getting caught up in what one believes in. Like getting caught up in the beauty of the song.

Once you realize what this song is trying to say, it brings a new perspective. I’m not christan but I love The Oh Hellos and how they are willing to face the monsters in one’s own group. I know my community aren’t made of saints but for others it’s harder. Passerine is also another song with similar themes.

-ALoe

Additional Scrapnik Illustrations

A compilation of my magical ocean-themed illustrations - all of these and more are available as prints until Nov 26th in my store here!

I also found a new way to read Madoka after my latest rewatch. The friend I was showing it to pointed out that even the simplest of actions are super exaggerated and I thought “huh, they usually do that in stage plays when so the audience in the back can see better” ex:

Then I realized: this is on purpose. The way the whole story is told is privy to a stage play.

The very first things that happen are the curtains opening and Madoka entering centre stage.

The sets, too. Ik the chairs are symbolic but it also is very much spread out like it’s on a stage

Especially the shadow play with Kyubey, it’s a common thing utilized in stage plays.

Most of all, Walpurgisnacht is LITERALLY THE STAGE-CONSTRUCTING WITCH.

Walpy puts the play in action by killing Madoka and Mami in the first timeline. From then on, Homura is forced to act out the same play over and over again helplessly for times lines and time lines. Her lines become scripted, she’s become an actor and in the theatre witches play.

kris and noelle discuss critically acclaimed fps game half dead 2, their missing siblings, and obscure human musicians like claude debussy