Source - _o_j_i_3_

People who purposely click on fanfics with tags they don't like and then go "omg this fic traumatized me"

I got bored *Shows you very cool blinkies i did using blinkies cafe*

What are your thoughts on TCOAAL mods? I tried watching one of Renee and Andrew but... I couldn't finish it due to the characters just not feeling like themselves anymore.

blatant plagiarism if you ask me, and probably would fall under that if nemlei decided to sue for copyright infringement. i have no interest in going near it. it’s taking nemlei’s story and her art and her characters and releasing an entirely different story, a version of the game where ashley’s sprite is replaced by renee’s and andrew wants to fuck his mom. nemlei herself seems a bit irked by it, judging by the piece of optional dialogue she included in the hallway scene:

so, simply put: i find these mods disrespectful because it’s certainly no longer nemlei’s story or nemlei’s characters as she wrote them in her game. and for what? to turn the game into meaningless “yay hot milf x her son” slop that doesn’t make any sense at all for the story?

no, it’s not the same as game mods that are, say, original cc and skins for your original character in dragon age or baldur’s gate. this is a visual novel, an interactive story, it’s the equivalent to dumping a pdf of a book into microsoft word, hitting ctrl+f and replacing “ashley” with “renee” (or your oc’s name, but at least that’s creating original fan content to some degree for your own enjoyment) and then publishing it online.

and no, it’s not comparable to fanfiction either, which is simply borrowing nemlei’s characters for writing purposes and creating original work— generally, in fandom, a way to show appreciation and with no lack of respect towards the original creator’s work.

all that said, i’m not the fbi, i really don’t care what people download onto their computer as long as it wouldn’t put you on a watch list.

back 2 my roots

The “That’s immoral you shouldn’t write that, we need to get that taken down” discourse on tiktok right now is PISSING ME OFFF

Wdym you want censorship for a literal ARCHIVE are you fucking stupid

Ao3 was literally founded to preserve works that were largely getting taken down due to censorship

Censorship is the opposite of what Archive of Our Own stands for

The TAGS and WARNINGS are there for a REASON. Use them and stop complaining

The universal rule—don’t like, don’t read

It’s THAT simple

I wonder if something could be said about Ashley's apparent penchant for drawing.

Leyley used to draw a lot. This, in itself, is nothing special: many kids draw as a hobby. The most noteworthy thing is that Leyley loved to draw so much, she'd do it on the walls, which Andy had to clean...

... and on Andy's notes, which made it difficult for him to study.

I don't need to say that this is just one of the many ways Leyley begged for attention and approval, which most surely had the opposite effect.

However, what made me pause a bit are three completely separate scenes.

This is in the very opening of the game:

We don't see Ashley drawing as an adult, but she doesn't seem to be very confident in herself. Then again, at this point in the game, it could be just goodhearted self-deprecation. It does say something, however, that she's still clinging onto that drawing, both because it's so old and not good-looking, and what it represents.

This is after Ashley, as a teen, has a meltdown over Andrew "seeing Julia":

Andrew is being mean, but to be fair to him, he's also angry and interprets the torn drawing as a way to make him feel bad, so I'll let it pass. The artstyle is so crude, I assume this is another old drawing: the lemon muffin is a reference to a way Andy celebrated Leyley's birthday when they were kids, so it's possible she drew it back then. And then kept it for years, before destroying it in a fit of heartbroken rage. It's how she conveyed her love for her brother, and it was that important to her, that apparently, she still had it in grabbing and tearing vicinity. Her hate for Nina is as important as her love for Andrew.

(the other option is, of course, that it's a much more recent drawing, and yes, this is a pretty abysmal way of drawing for a teen who apparently has been doing so for years. I still wouldn't call it garbage though, Andrew, she meant well :<)

Not much after that scene, Andrew also tells us this:

Whether Ashley still draws in her teen years or has stopped, at least we know it's more important to her than her homework, and enough for Andrew to comment on it.

And this is an offhand comment Renee makes to her mother while pretending she doesn't regret her life choices and children.

This is how Renee chooses to paint Ashley in a good light: by praising her art. Which is a lie, of course, because even back then she wasn't exactly Leonardo Da Vinci, but hey, grandma doesn't need to know about that. Worthy of note is that, despite doing everything in her power to interact with her daughter as little as possible, she did notice how much Leyley likes to draw (although afawk it could be because she once saw her drawing on the walls, so it's even more of a backhanded compliment).

So I suppose Leyley's cry for attention did work, in part.

It's a running gag that Ashley is a pretty bad artist. More than once, people point out she struggles to draw circles.

Speaking of attention seeking behavior, and how Renee keeps denying it.

So, what do I take from this?

That Ashley had a predisposition for drawing, clearly enjoying it regardless of her talent, and partially did so as a way to yell "look at me! I'm a person too! I have feelings, here they are!" at the world; but that predisposition was never nurtured, neglected as she was. Her art was ugly at best, a bother at worst. So she never developed her artistic skills, stagnated, and now she's a "bad" artist, which she resents. It's quite a shame, because of all the ways you could vent your feelings, art is by far the healthiest. Perhaps she would have been less destructive.

Naturally, this is part of one of the game's key themes: Ashley never grew up. She wasn't given the tools to, and now, she doesn't even want to. So she never developed past the "Leyley" phase of her life, still drawing in a childish way, still "playing" with her bunny plushies in her mind, still clinging onto her child self when Andrew wants nothing more than to grow up (or so he says). Much like her art, she too was seen mostly as an embarrassment, and so never improved. But every scrap of attention Andrew gives her? Means the world to her. And that's why she keeps going.

Lastly: every ending of the game comes with a crude crayon drawing.

It makes me believe that Ashley's art, ugly and childish as it is, is an important part of her, and her perception of the world.

Andrew/Ashley and Fumus/Satanick being locked up in jail together for committing worse things than incest and cannibalism:

I'm not into articles like these, but this had me cackling

Bro she was supposed to become her LoL character in season 2. That was the whole point of her development and trauma, she was MEANT to no longer give a fuck of it and do shit her way despite everyone else. She wasn't meant to be humanized the way she is and the fandom makes her be. She was my favourite female character because she doesn't give a fuck. If she wants to blow up a city, she will. Why? Because she just can.

me because I have an unhealthy addiction to characters being evil

One of the things I love about Vi in s1 is how unafraid she is of Jinx. Sure, she's afraid Jinx has done/will do bad things, but she isn't afraid to get in close. Jinx holds a mini gun to her face, and she knocks it away like it's not a big deal. She watches Jinx look like she's having fun trying to kill the firelights and she's not afraid of her, she's concerned about how much she's changed and goes to run towards her.

Jinx shot at her and caitlyn, set off all those firelight bombs on the bridge, but Vi still came running back to get her sister after she set caitlyn down. Jinx kidnaped her and had her tied up in the dark with her pistol, and Vi isn't afraid her sister is going to hurt her. She is afraid she'll hurt someone else. That she’ll leave. That she won't believe she loves her.

Sure Vi thinks she can "get powder back," but she still loves her even though this person she met after 7 years of being apart is so different.Vi defies everyone who says her sister isnt there anymore. Vi doesn't blame jinx for being how she is, she blames herself for not being there. She needs to be as close to Jinx as possible to let her know she doesn’t want to go anywhere.

At that tea party, even after everything that happened Vi is still asking Jinx to be with her. Telling Jinx the only reason she could keep going in prison is the thought of getting back to her. She's afraid of a lot of things but not her sister. Not of loving her. She's never afraid of loving her. She's afraid of losing her again. And when Jinx leaves her there, that's the beginning of the end for her.

She has all of this love for Jinx and gets rejected. She's left behind with only caitlyn to fill the void. The one thing that hasn't changed since everything else around her is different. The one purpose she had for 7 years was to get back to her sister, and it was shattered after Jinx rejected her. In s2 Vi is finally afraid to love her sister because she knows it might not be enough. That throws her whole sense of self off balance, and then Vi is clinging to anything to keep her grounded even if it goes against everything she's ever believed in.