The Cat And The Human They Said They Didn't Want:

god he so cute, his whole family is so cute actually

[ID: A Mairimashita! Iruma-kin extra titled "Balam Sukima." It shows a young Balam, captioned "living at the dorms". Narration explains it's "the day Balam left home" as Balam's parents speak to him.

"You can come home whenever you feel lonely." Balam: "Okay." "Make sure you eat all your meals." "Don't just go chasing after creatures." "Okay." "Even if you're angry, don't ever hit anyone with all your strength." "Okay?"

Balam closes his eyes, starting to look frustrated, as they continue. "When you touch someone, do it gently, don't break any arms." "That's right, stop before they pass out." Balam is silent, and they exclaim, "Shichiro! Where's your answer?" Narration states, "They worry so much they still call twice a week." The last panel shows one parent touching his cheeks and a bright glow emanating as Balam, still a bit annoyed, says, "Okay." End ID] ID by @princess-of-purple-prose

it's not going to let me rest until i write about it, so tonight I want to talk about the TSP2 Expo in Ultra Deluxe, and why it's a thing at all, and what it means about the Narrator, and how deeply self-conscious he is.

The Expo is, and I say this without exaggeration, the Narrator's deep, desperate need to respond to the audience and the reviews from the Skip button ending. They say he's not funny; he makes "a whole lot of gags". He's still reactionary, he makes all of this in response to (and in my mind, in the downtime during) the Skip button, and it's the first thing you can find right after the game resets from the Skip button.

He's not over it.

TSPUD in general is in a big way about the relationship between an artist and their audience. (i swear on my life i've written those words before...) it's about how a creator can and does create for themself but does, on a real level, yearn for an audience to understand and appreciate, while also being scared that people wont get it, and also being scared about "needing" a reaction to begin with.

Create for oneself, sure, but you still want people to like the thing you made. You want them to experience it, this thing you put so much time into. You want them to laugh at the jokes, that's why the jokes are there, and you hope they hit right.

Elements of that have always been in TSP but they're at the forefront of TSPUD and especially all the Expo stuff. Even while the Narrator, in Skip button rants, berates the audience for wanting jokes and gags and bits to distract them, he immediately wants to please. He's yearning to be understood, and he thinks if he can just give the people what they want, then surely they'll find the meaning in his work.

And then there's that darn Bucket. And while the Bucket feels like, at times, a stand-in for the Narrator or a way for him to project, it's easier for me to see him trying to frame Stanley's bond to the Bucket as a parallel to his bond to Stanley, instead of the other way around.

Stanley is the thing that is here in this world and story to comfort the Narrator. But Stanley is also the thing that can crush the Narrator's spirit.

In the Press Conference Ending, Stanley's bold new approach to story-telling gets him lauded, gets him praise. In the Bucket version, he tries to make the Bucket understand him through other people understanding him, and it fails. It scans as the Narrator desperately trying to reach out to Stanley, even as he tries to get adoration from an audience. Stanley only has eyes for the Bucket in the Apartment ending; in the end, the Narrator only has Stanley for company, and he on some level wants Stanley to appreciate him. He asks for feedback in the Games ending. And while nothing will ever really make him happy, there, he still asks.

In the end, Stanley's the only audience that really matters. He wants Stanley to like the things he makes.

"Why did I create Stanley? Was I lonely?"

He was. And the audience he's looking for isn't one he can interact with.

TSPUD is about a creator's relationship with an audience, hoping they will play the game, and like the game, and understand the game, so that they'll keep playing. And the game "ends" when the creator says "okay. I think I'm ready to try something new. for real this time!"

And then he gets pulled right back, because the audience response is just so uproarious. How can you move on from a thing that did, on some level, garner you success? Shouldn't you just stick with the thing that made you successful? But how do you make it better, when it felt like a complete work?

When do you get to move on? When do you make that choice? Will the audience understand? Will they follow you? Or do they just want more of the same?

The answer isn't simple.

my dear Da-jeong

Parallels I noticed between Married in Red and other RachelDrawsThis games

Because im definitely so normal about this game... (lying out my ass)

Spoilers under cut!

Da-jeong's Bridesmaid NPC looks kind of familiar.... (or maybe its just the glasses haha)

This is absolutely not original but man does Bok-su look like Vincent

Speaking of Vince, He and Rody were invited to the wedding! This is litterally them, I mean, "Vince" is even smoking.

The red silhouette (+ swirls) is very much giving Cold Front.

Do i even need to explain myself for these? Same vibes.

anyways yeah im in love

new obsession acquired

spoilers for Married in Red

Bok Su is so special to me and I’m not sure if I can articulate why. I love the girlboss femme fatale murder character as much as the next guy, but it’s refreshing to see a woman take on the role of … how do I describe it? Eyebags, disheveled, the most pathetic wet cat alive and yet manages to yet buy on manipulation and cunning even though no one in their right mind should trust them.

^all these are generalizations. Women villain characters are usually (not always) dealt with differently and —— idk idk

Also her outfits >>>(only one shown here but. Yknow)

He is Yappatron 3000 🍺

Paratober 3 - Time

NOT my art! Credits: @/snifflesmp4 on Twitter (X). post 1 and 2

Hi SIG fans is this anything