@backroomsonline I strongly disagree, if anything, seeing corporations jump on the bandwagon is incredibly fitting for the setting since it's both:
A. Very compatible with the backrooms as a representation of a decaying "stuck culture" and
B. Kinda literally what async tried to do in the text lol
@TornadoAltar1@BLOX@shathesheep123 I figured it was cos he had a broken chair leg laying around since all his furniture kept collapsing and decided to put it to use but didn't have enough cash to fully redo the branding lol
@MikeMacRaeMike A lot of people are calling it a trauma movie and while they're close, I think it's more about CBT and self improvement generally rather than specifically trauma.
IDK how to slot this neatly into my previous points but transference seems to play a major part.
Also *conscience
@MikeMacRaeMike This is why I think the captain only killed him when he came to the conclusion he didn't need to change, the tiny remaining part of him that could escape the loop was gone, snuffed out by the symbol of his raging alcoholism, abuse of others, and utterly unchecked self pity.
@octoshell For sure but despite not being the focal point of this post I can't help but notice that belt is killer.
Got a NATO watch strap vibe but less fudd-y if that makes sense.
@sablemoded This is not to say that "hdg is intentionally fascist evil problematic medias", just that many fics contain attitudes and trends reflecting those that motivate fascists, likely due to being written by liberal authors in the imperial core with many of the same material concerns.
@sablemoded Even if they're not particularly my jam, I find both the original fic and the offshoots a fascinating look at what drives fascism.
Imo a lot of the appeal appears to be driven by a yearning for pre-2008 dream childhood. Very consumerist despite being on the surface anticapital.
@7girls1car Also felt weird as hell that there's a pretty strong chance players end up converting the one black character in the main cast into a crimson skinned fantasy devil if they don't wanna kill another major character but I'm white so maybe I'm out of my lane with that assertion.
@marsibun@AuthorialGail Low-key I feel like it's only a consequence of a design philosophy that centres player agency over everything else. Like, villagers aren't called human NPCs, they're caller "villagers", treated as creatures to be corralled and manipulated rather than a stand in for other people.