!!! Triggering / Disturbing / Suggestive !!! (Reposts to other platforms are appreciated) Watch me taking tf2 seriously
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Oblique-lane - Oblique Lane - Tumblr Blog
I wonder why, when it comes to the Clone Theory, it's very common to perceive clones as less human/ subhumans/ not real (among the authors and the audience)? Why is it such a big deal to know who are "originals" and who are clones?
I'm not telling people how they should write their stories (be free, do crimes), just personally, I think about this particular detail a lot.
What exactly does make clones lesser than human? The fact that their DNA was ripped off of someone else's? The fact that they weren't born from a human womb? The fact that they're someone's greatest experiment? ...Are they not humans because they were denied personhood?
Genuinely don't get that.
You know, I've never really read Frankenstein's monster but I'm starting to see similar motifs here...
Imagine one day the whole world finds out that the government was actively making clones of people for military purposes. "Who are the originals" wouldn't be a question to determine who's more or less worthy to stay alive. The "creators" of the clones already own everything to them just for the mere fact they've brought them to existence without their consent.
They ARE human by all means if they're sentient and they exist, and spreading the idea among them that "one is worthy, other is not" is just a tool to separate the oppressed (both sides) and make them clash with each other (instead of going against their oppressor), and to justificate just killing one side as to not to deal with the difficulties of leaving both sides be.
In the eyes of the system NONE of them is human, neither clones nor originals. That's what actually scary...
Things TF2 Fanfiction need to do:
• Have Sniper and Scout secretly bond over the Big Situation™ they don't have control over, because they're the only ones to know. They seek hope in eachother. "It's not as scary if we're doing this together."
• Leave readers emotionally drained and overstimulated to the point of a headache.
• That's all.
hiya, i really liked the pyro piece ya made !! I was wondering, how'd you get the glowing effect on the beam coming outta their head?
Easy ;)
Another take on the TF2 Clone Theory:
Continuation to this.
When I was talking to people about the clone theory, they were always asking me about who were originals and who were clones. I didn't understand why that matters; they're all same people with the same memories of their pre-service past, right?
What I didn't understand is that people had entirely different take on how clones are made than I do. I've never even thought about the fetus tubes until someone specifically pointed out that scene in Emesis Blue... (I also didn't know cloning was a real life thing?? Not just sci-fi trope??)
So yeah I've always thought cloning was instant because it would also explain how respawn works. Classic "resurrection" either isn't the thing (lame) or just takes too much time to commit. However, the super cool very scientific respawn machine will use your remains + storage bio supply to quickly rebuild a new body (as it was at the assigning day) and put your consciousness into that body so you feel like you're living nonstop.
(at least that's the theory)
Also, to answer these questions:
They do remember their connections, their past and their memories. Memories of the past are the same.
Their families were not cloned, they aren't involved in this business in any way. They don't know.
However, to keep this secret from the mercs... Of course if both of the clones will speak to their families they will soon spot some weird things and inconsistencies (talking about things that seemed to never happen). Not even talking about visiting family on holidays, that's an obvious no-no.
So... First of all, a big deal is to make REDs and BLUs lives and experiences here as similar (ideally identical) as possible.
And second: I think their connection to the world is just very limited/prohibited. The telephone connection is entirely controlled by the Administration (Sniper has to drive far away to sneak talk to his parents). Letters are monitored, censored and withhold if necessary (or copied if they are FROM the family). No going home until the contract is due (many years??) etc...
Which contradicts comics in s lot of ways but you know what? I don't even care. Comics are an unreliable narrator anyways. I mean uh... I uh. I'll talk about it some other time.
Holy shit i finished reading your tf2 fic yesterday and im so invested its literally all i can think about. your writing is AMAZING and so inspirational, and really thank you for diving into the horror of tf2 clone concept. ive always loved that concept, and thought it was such an underutilized idea. i mean, can you imagine how terrifying it is discovering you have a clone of yourself, without your knowledge?? or how even worse it is for the clone themself? its just so AAGGH its hard to describe in words,, but you did it perfectly
fic in question
https://youtu.be/TRNxVwK66PE?si=4bTKvzfpNo38uGD0
Here’s the animatic! Sorry for the couple hour wait
THIS IS SUCH A BIG GIFT GUYS!!!
I am mentally healing. I am ascending. I feel God's light flowing through my veins.
I wanted to let you know that I absolutely adore your artwork and your "Anomaly Diversion" fic, and I sincerely hope you continue it.
I understand that it's a huge undertaking to write something so detailed and beautiful, and there is no pressure for you to keep going if you can't, but I just wanted to tell you how much I love your work <3
This made me tear up... I feel so seen.
I really appreciate that you see how it is, indeed, very hard... But it's worth it. I've recently started making a Miro board for it (so I stop forgetting stuff...)
I'm not in a very good place of mind right now which prevents me from working as efficiently as usual, but I'm working on it. Slowly but steadily. Thank you so much for checking </3
I couldn't draw much lately but here! Take these unfinished pics of a fic concept I was trying to explain lol
(CLONE THEORY 2nd Edition)
Observee
(Skyghost // Umbrella man from INTERLOPER ARG)
This is the biggest thing I am interested in at the moment. So sad that Interloper doesn't have a fandom in the conventional sense... We only have a Discord server for the investigations (a couple thousands of people who as confused at what's going on as I am) but there's... no FANDOM. You know what I mean?
There are many characters in this story who, as people (and not people?), are SO INTERESTING, yet there are barely any fanart or them. All with the biggest potential of telling the most heart-wrenching sad story that would compromise our understanding of "human-ness" as we know it... Come on, people?? I'm crying and climbing walls at the Anomidae//Eidamona parallel and the implications...
PLEASE let's make it a fandom. You, yes, you. GO watch it, all episodes, RIGHT NOW!!!
Not a question but your art and whole blog remind me of Goya’s black paintings. like if Goya was a tf2 fan. Keep it up brah
!??
TF2 Mugs
Because I can't stop thinking about their daily lifestyles!
Scout's one is a limited edition Benny The Rabbit™ cup, "high quality plastic", he says, "can hold cold AND hot drinks... NO, IT'S NOT FOR CHILDREN, Benny is clearly a cartoon for adults!"
Pyro, surprisingly, didn't make their mug themselves (they have problems at the "firing" part) but instead this one was obtained at the local thrift market. Pyro loved this one silly handmade clay mug so much and, not quite understanding how money works, they put on the counter a sum worth the salesgirl's entire year's work.
Engineer, apparently, doesn't use things (in this case, mugs) that he didn't make himself. We asked him why, expecting him to not trust the quality of mass market or something but it turned out to be much funnier: when something is not at hand he makes it himself, and then he loses this self-made one too, and the cycle repeats itself. There are several of these mugs lost on the base apparently...
Demo's mug Is a party mug! You can never know what's inside!.. Yeah no, of course you can. He got this one from that time he hanged out with hippies. It was all fun and chill and groovy until Demo mentioned where he works. Got kicked out immediately. Hurt, he took this mug with him as a revenge move.
Despite being otherwise tidy with everything, Medic never washes his mug. He says that the periods when there's no coffee inside are too short to pay attention to them. He also said that we should stop sticking our noses in his "abfalleimer". (Hold on, isn't it a beer mug..?)
And the Spy's cup is the most interesting... He never uses it outside of his room, no one saw him drink out of anything but glass. But this one is a starry tea cup. Why are there stars? Does it mean anything? Maybe there's a metaphor that he's far away but the bright star will always show him the way home... Someone is always waiting him behind the seven seas, someone who would pour him some tea in this cup... We will never know because when he found us breaking into his room, he kicked us out at the gunpoint.
(I want people to talk more about what the mercs' life on their base is like, more detailed headcanons about them being neighbours and stuff like that...)
Just read your fic after reading your entire blog and I must say that you have such a big sexy brain. I mean, the writing is immaculate, the character analysis is top-notch, and the art pieces filled with symbolism are also incredible. You truly are a blessing to this fandom.
uughuhhh wuuhuww huhuuh ughhuhwhuuu
Mourning what's not lost
Who are you, ugly face?
A scene from my fic...
Daisy, daisy...
Supervisor
(This is NOT a tsp blog! Please don't follow for The Stanley Parable!)
Just played tsp for the first time yesterday oh goooddd this is good. No, I mean, I knew it's gonna be good but I didn't think it would be LIKE THAT?? Like, that's more than just breaking the 4th wall, it's getting rid of it at the very beginning and talking to the player DIRECTLY directly. Complete lack of rules. They broke fucking everything that could be broken. There's also yaoi. How better can it be???
idk if youve done it yet but i would actually lose my mind if you did an analysis for demo
Aye aye captain 🫡 Time to overdramatize again!
Let's address Demo's wounds
(Demo's backstory was changed through the years but I'm sticking to the older version because I find it more grounded)
Demoman's story is easily one of the most tragic of all the mercs. Imagine you have been abandoned from birth, your parents simply rejected you for what you are. But luckily you have been adopted by some good people who replaced your parents and made you a relatively happy child.
And then you accidentally kill them. You're 6 years old. How does that feel?
I can't even imagine how a child's brain can't comprehend the idea of being a murderer. It was an accident, of course, they were blown up by a big explosion he created (genius kid found out how to do that, huh?) but still. His parents were dead and he knew it was his own fault. He learned he was dangerous as he is.
How was it like pondering about it in the orphanage?.. "I didn't want this! I want to go back and fix it, I'm so sorry", something like that. But he couldn't go back in time, so being covered in such an avalanche of guilt, he learned he needs to repress himself.
Demo have always had an explosive temper (no pun intended), it was his true nature, pure emotion: if he's happy, it's 100%; if he's angry, it's a full blown storm. If he loves, he loves with all of his heart, and he has a big one.
Living on the impulse, all or nothing, that crucial accident revealed that letting his true nature go will only end up as destruction in the end. Irreparable damage.
We don't know what exactly was happening to him during his orphanage years, but if I'm to guess, repressing everything about him: his interests, his character, his whole nature, was a thing to choose. He thought that he had to become still and quiet as to not to repeat that kind of tragedy ever again. He probably didn't have people to be friends with either, either because people rejected him for his past, or he avoided them himself due to his internalized shame, at least that's a guess.
But everything repressed returns to the surface sooner or later. As a child, living for so long under overwhelming guilt, grief, hate, pain and sadness, under the skies that are almost never sunny in a all-year-long damp and coldness of the Ullapool. Incomprehensibly grey. It was depriving.
He was always fascinated with explosions. He didn't touch it for a long time, but maybe something like seeing fireworks again one day made something inside him tremble... And to remember.
Explosions. Launch... Acceleration... Release. And every time the release happens, his soul fills with excitement, the body feels lighter and shivers go up the spine. Release happens inside his head too, for the explosions make his worries and pain go away for a moment.
He couldn't find another way to release his bottled up emotions, so gradually he returned to make explosives again.
It was something like an addiction. Similar to pyromania, except no one bothered to research this one. At the moment of explosion he could let his anger out, he could scream, he could run around freely, he could sense heat in his chest; he could be himself. As he once was.
Everything was cold. But the explosions were hot.
He thought it was under control, just a little bit of KABOOM after school, but he craved more and more every time, more vivid, more violent...
That's how he lost his eye. (...Was it a subconscious act of selfharm?)
The missing eye was a forever reminder of how deviated he actually was. He learned that he couldn't repress or change what he truly is - a monster. A Black Scottish Cyclops, wether it were his peers who called him like that or he himself, out of misery. There was indeed something seriously wrong with him.
It seemed like the only thing he was capable of is destruction. Destruction is the only environment he's comfortable with. Peace was always so anxious and depriving, and breaking things felt calming, so he figured it must be right.
And then his birth mother came and took him back, "now that's he's a worthy DeGroot". It was unexpected but... Pleasant. So he wasn't THAT worthless after all, huh? Turns out, it was really familial, the destruction thing. At least he found out that there was a reason behind all of this.
His new mom was, saying honestly, pretty cruel with words. She was not at all gentle, she was very strict, demanding and straight up abusive. It was never enough for her no matter what Demo did. She didn't want results from his work, she's just always wanted to mess with his brain.
And for whatever reason... This setup felt right for him. To be thrown around like that, to be humiliated harshly, it felt fitting, it wasn't causing anxiety or anything. He has to be a scapegoat, he had to forget about being a child and to start working as an adult, at the same time somehow replacing a father he still didn't have, but it felt good enough. Confusing relationships felt good enough.
Destruction was his habitat, and his heart could no longer accept anything else.
Cruelty wasn't warm though, just familiar, just an environment to not to go insane. But he craved warmness so badly... Yet every time he would get close to someone and receive a little gentleness and care, it would feel sickening. It felt unnatural, it reminded him of his lost parents and of everything that's wrong about him.
The only warmness his body could accept was alcohol, making him bubbly and comfortable and relaxed. He almost felt normal, happy even. Alcohol heat made him melt, and he felt so fulfilled as if he was in paradise, back to the womb.
Yet after the effect wears off, he feels lonely as ever. Quickly, existing without alcohol becomes pain. Existing at all. He became an addict.
Not that everyone he met rejected him, rather, he subconsciously reached out to those who would be cruel to him. Again, gentleness hurts wether he knows it or not. He's only good in destruction.
Lonely and clingy, ready to overshare, overall mess yet carrying a big baggage of love that has no one to give it to. Maybe because he can't give it to himself in the first place. There's so many issues unresolved because he can't handle them alone, yet there's no one to help since he was already trapped in a closed circuit of self sabotage.
He will keep acting like a party beast, always crazily emotional and overdone upbeat, a simple drunken man who will not be taken seriously that way. Maybe that's what he wanted, to not be seen as deep by anyone for not be reminded of his misery once again.
Seems like we bought that too.
...
The enemy Soldier might be an exception though. The man he really treasures his friendship with turned out to be an enemy; repeating the rule again: it's only acceptable when dangerous. Soldier deeply cares for Demo, however he's not gentle or pitying, he's as destructive and explosive as Demo is, and these two are a very rare perfect combination of destructing each other in the act of love. Both broken beyond repair, soul on soul, forever to be misunderstood by the outsiders. This is something about this relationship that looks like a golden lining.
They will not fix each other, but they sure are going to have a good time!
Jesus fucking Christ????????
Every time you post art 20 years gets added to my lifespan it’s so good !
Oh my that's a lotta years I'm sorry you're trapped in this flesh for so long because of me
