The results are in for Match 10. The winner is…
Ananas “Agnes” Bayley, with a score of 72 to Guy Manuel-Mota’s 69!

Category	Winner	Point Totals	Comments
Popularity	BADD GUYS	18-12
Quality	Suburban Regalia	22-23	Reasoning
JoJolity	Suburban Regalia	22-24	Reasoning
Conduct	Tie	10-10

Amidst the sea of concrete snow that the stage had become, egged on by Agnes’ unusual encore request that Metra had agreed to, the killing intent of the self-styled villain and master mixologist had won out against the comparable brutality of the affable mercenary who had tried to take his life with just as much brutality.
The crowd, though annoyed by being utterly doused in carbonated everything, literally tossed around, literally watching their fellow partygoers exsanguinated and turned into meat puppets, did not allow it to ruin their fun, cheering on for Metra and her eclectic song choices. Agnes hopped off the makeshift surfboard he’d constructed, his opponent cut to pieces and speared and speared to hell, and it a testament to the sheer resilience of Guy-Manuel Mota that, even in such a gored, pulverized state, his opponent wondered if he was actually dead.
Regardless, he wasn’t getting back up, or reassembling, or pulling any more surprises or attempts to play possum. Realizing that it was over, Agnes was shaking. Breathing heavily. Hints of tears started to form in his eyes… but before he had a chance to cry, he arched back, laughing into a sea of concrete snow.
He’d won again.
“There you go, Metra, your show is saved or whatever,” he said with a mocking flippancy as she left the crowd to meet him backstage, “and I didn’t even kill any of these guys who paid to see you… They’ll just have to deal with sticky-wet clothes and some broken limbs.”
“Can’t believe this happened again… And I just had no choice but to keep singing and dancing.” Metra rubbed her hands on her arms, shaking her head. “I’m sick of this shit… I thought it was all almost over, but it’s just going to be forever in this city, huh?”
“Probably,” Agnes said, still half-laughing through a strained face, “just a constant, encroaching wave of ‘despair’ every waking moment… Way I see it, either you ride that shit as far as you can, or you let yourself drown. Doesn’t make a difference to me which you do.”
He glanced up at the ceiling then, cupping his hands. “Hey, fuckers! I won now! I beat the guy you sent! Get on the biggering or I’ll burn your casino down again!”
The game had, in fact, been won, and Agnes and Metra were the first to start to be free of its grasp, along with the spiked and bloodied separated bits of Guy, still pulsating ambiguously.
“He’s out for blood.” Tigran declared, warning the others Entertainment District highrollers observing, as he produced a deck of cards. “My Stand can’t hold him at that size much longer… But this whole place is about to be flooded with people, too. Duck into somewhere, and get away in the confusion.”
He spoke authoritatively, and even his sole superior, Fox, complied with his wishes after an urgent glance. “I… I’ll come for you! I promise I will!”
Tigran didn’t hear much more of that, then, beyond the sounds of Pork Soda’s Stand cry amplified by sonic boosts courtesy of Metra Doria. He fought impressively with little more than a deck of cards, but even then, could only buy his friends the seconds they needed to get away, live to gamble another day.
Tigran “Golden” Sins, User of ‘The Grid
Retired!
Face broken in nearly a dozen places by Agnes and TD/MD, the 48 year-old owner of Heartache Casino would be very quickly interned at Red Clay penitentiary, Metra insisting that her ally not kill him.
As thousands of confused concertgoers suddenly grew to full size and began to flood the halls of the Alexander Dickinson Amphitheater, the rest of his accomplices were able to escape the authorities yet again. Despite his extremely infamous protectiveness towards his face, he almost seemed to wear the damage with pride, knowing that this time, it represented having allowed the only man he considered greater than himself to run free yet again.
Red Clay Penitentiary - Industrial District
“Well, well, well, isn’t this a small world now? Tigran Sins, now in my care… Certainly less of a looker than I’d heard.” A dark-wavy-haired twenty-something sat snickering in the warden’s big swivel-chair, clad in a sleeveless velvet minidress, what of her flesh was exposed covered in flickering tattoos resembling closed eyes, flanked by uncanny-looking guards. “You don’t know me, but I’ve certainly heard of you… Of how you treated someone I hold dear very cruelly. Don’t you understand we’re all Stand Users trying to live our best life, Mr. Golden? I’m not the one who hurt you and threw you in here, and you’re not the one who said that I needed to be kept half-starved at all times so I couldn’t create anything.”
“Wh… Wait. Who the hell’re you?”
“Did my sweetheart never mention me, or do you just not pay attention to anyone but you and yours?” She leaned forward, bridging her fingers together. “I’m Palmer. I was a drama teacher at a small-town high school, but they kept overfunding football, one thing led to another, and now… I’ve got some serious vision.”
Tigran would be the last inmate admitted to Red Clay before a coup months in the making finally came to fruition.
Hey, yeah, Palmer! Remember that fun NPC? She was dating Mr. Jones and killed four people for him! Anyway, yeah, adjacent to him, an all-out meanspirited brawl in a sewer is taking place, feat. two chaotic clowns and two very frustrated young women.
What rotten luck this had been.
That leak, now of all days, when Being So Normal, Cairo Satori’s pet project that they had been slaving away at ever since setting foot in this series, had the deals with the devil that it had been built upon from the very beginning exposed for the world to see, and the city, which had loved every second of it before, had now been divided sharply between the loyal fans remaining and those protesting the entire thing, demanding the resignation of their producer, the cancellation of a show which had been picked up by so many streaming platforms, had already begun to make so much for the people who had made a livelihood of it all.
With the connection to Andrew Tiffany’s demise, even the oh-so-loyal Purple Flying Man resigned with only a short argument, and even the damage control removal of Caroline Jeffords, responsible for the worst of it, did little to contain the fact that Cairo knew about this, and Cairo allowed this to proceed nonetheless.
What, were they going to just throw it all away at the last minute? Ruin lives, tank companies, get how many people laid off? All over the failures of those close to them? Of course not.
“Cairo, dear,” the voice of that ever-troublesome producer, Million Dollars, muttered into a cell phone for them, “I’m going to need to go under the radar for awhile… People are beginning to look into my own affairs as well. But know that, as always, no matter what, you have my support. This show isn’t just a cash cow, Cairo… It’s an example. An example for the world to look to, and something for Stand Users to aspire to be better. I know you’re probably mad at us as well, but… You know that, don’t you?”
“Dollars… You’ve got a lot of nerve, trying to plead with me right now,” Cairo answered, tense in what had been their green room, sitting in the mall their producer had owned, “we definitely need to talk about our future… But we need to have one, too. Of course the show must go on… Nothing’s gonna jeopardize that!”
Free Viper Strip Mall, Suburban District
In recent times, the atmosphere at Free Viper was… somewhat dire. In fact, it had been on a rapid decline since that fateful day a couple months ago when Bert hijacked a ritual meant to challenge fate and did so, while murdering tens of thousands of people and injuring far more than that at the same time. Actually, Black Knight Penitentiary Album’s death and the realization that Remix was a serial killer came before that and weren’t very uplifting either, but what Bert did was somewhat hard to top.
Either way, the realization that he found one of the most morally bankrupt groups of people to team up with in Los Fortuna was one that Arthur Lifeson had reached not too long ago, and though it was somewhat of a painful thing to come to terms with, he had no choice but to do so and simply carry on. Bert had died, and the least Arthur could do from here on out would be to do his best to assist the city of Los Fortuna and bring justice to those who deserved it. The city certainly needed it, given all that was occurring right now.
For all the time Arthur spent in the city, he hadn’t gotten enough of note done yet… but that was soon to change. He had a plan in mind, one that would help keep the city and the world of stand users as a whole from devolving into further chaos. Before he could put it in place, however, he’d have to get some help.
Los Fortuna Shopping District, Sweet FA Mall - The Next Day
Nix Ripa had been in this city for months now, and in that time, all he had done was tear down walls, break buildings, break people who had dared to step all over the safety of others, of those too weak to bend fate to their whims.
It was despicable to him, and the icy Stand User was seething with hot rage. Those without the power to change the world themselves were pitiable, in their ways, yet at once, he knew they were not above help… That they needed to be driven higher, reach for the stars rather than wave to the heroes they saw in them!
When Arthur Lifeson discovered and contacted him, he did not hesitate to make his way to the megamall in which this was all set to culminate. Rather than in the comfortable solitude of the Black Hill Estate, where he could train without disruption, he’d even spent the night in an alley nearby, wanting to be able to spring out first thing in the morning!
When he did, then, as if on schedule, the older bearded man who had requested his help stood at the foot of Sweet FA, looking himself quite regal with that increasingly modified Medieval Times getup.
“Sir Ripa… It is an honor to meet in person, with yet another warrior of great acclaim.”
“Heh… I’ve seen you around,” Nix answered, stretching off the sleeping-on-a-dumpster aches and forcing out his hand, which Arthur, in turn, grabbed firmly, the pair locking fingers tightly and staring one another down intensely. “Did a damn fine number on those guys at this very mall awhile back… And it takes some guts to drive out into the Middle Finger for any reason! The mountains are where I do my most intense training of all!”
“Aye, I regrettably was fooled into following the glorious allure of Being So Normal… I lack even your good reason, of how you and your fallen brother-in-arms, Sir Rains, apprehended a true villain in the process of this fight, and even a black knight who would have put a past companion of mine to shame with her depravity.” He looked towards the space and shuddered. “The show, it refused to show the truth, but the wounds from that grueling battle, the burns… They were excruciating. That witch Jeffords, nothing she’s touched can be trusted as a truth to show the world.”
“So we’re in agreement then!” Nix said, finally letting the handshake go as Arthur’s hand began to grow numb, rolling his arms around and turning to face Sweet FA. “I looked into this place, their mission statement, their show, their producer… Set a good example my ass! They just want the whole damn world to think there’s nothing better than being a Stand User! That the ground we walk on should be kissed just for what we’ve got! Well… I’m no goddamn celebrity!”
“Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” Arthur agreed, “and this mockery… It will not do good for the world to learn of us this way. A knight’s honor is not something we seek for glory, for congratulation, but because there is no greater purpose than to slay evil, to protect those who cannot for themselves!”
“Heh… I like you. After this, we’re sparring ‘til one of us can’t move!”
Nix led the way in there, then, Arthur feeling pause for a moment at the sheer intensity of his companion. This was not of fear, however, or of a sudden feeling of inadequacy at someone so much younger, yet so much more driven than him.
Nay, he had been filled with more righteous determination than ever, and with a battle cry that led to a family with two kids in a stroller staring his way, he ran in after him!
…
…
As soon as they reached the main foyer of the mall, both of them realized, in tandem, and Nix spoke first, “…this place is huge as hell! Where do we even go to smash shit up?”
“I… That. That is a good point! Perhaps we should conduct a map kiosk, one which says ‘you are here!’ Ugh, those are always a pain to read…”
“I’ll help you.”
Both turned, then, to see a very fashionable teenager, clad in a purple aviator cap and goggles, slim and bearing a dour expression on his face. All who had hung around Cairo would recognize the Purple Flying Man from someplace or another, as well as all the extremely online and influencer-following of Los Fortuna.
“This show… They’ve done so much to capitalize on my uncle’s death. They’ve actively stopped the truth of whatever might have happened to him from being investigated with their frameup… And this conflict, I have lost two of my brothers to it all over again.”
He paused, then, and the two men seemed to trust him.
“You won’t be able to erase the show completely… It’s already had a limited run in this city. But masters, extra footage, content they were going to actually send out… There’s a storage space nearby… Most of the show’s data is backed up, of course, but that’s where everything is being saved. If your wish is to sabotage Being So Normal, to ruin its international release before it can cause any more harm to the outside world, that is where you go.”
“So you’ve had a change of heart yourself… I am thankful to hear that, Purple One…” Arthur snapped his fingers, then, as if remembering his name. “Right, now I remember! ‘Afton,’ wasn’t it?”
Purple’s face faulted. “Erm… N-no, eheh. It, uh… It wasn’t that. I haven’t been anything but ‘Purple’ for a very long time.”
“No matter what you’re called, an enemy of this show’s from within is just what we need to make this a little less of a pain in the ass!” Nix declared. “Lead the way!”
A Series of Backstage Halls Deep Within Sweet FA
Acrobatic and stealthy as he was, after leading the way in for those who had sought out this quest to begin with, Purple hurried along deeper inward, well aware that it was likely this place would not be unguarded, and meaning to scout ahead, maybe even fight a bit if he absolutely needed to.
He really, really did not want to, and so far, it wasn’t reassuring to him that nobody had interrupted them. No show staff, no Stand Users, not even some rent-a-cop had yet gotten into the way of this.
As he made his way to a security room, quietly bemoaning the fact that he would never live down infiltrating a security room with that damned nickname Bad Apples had given him, his worst fears were confirmed.
His friend, his confidante, Cairo Satori was sitting in a swivel chair, watching screens displaying the entire mall and idly leaning their head into a metal baseball bat.
“Purp…” They spoke up without even turning to face him. “Wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon! I mean, with everywhere you’ve blocked me, privated your accounts… I was under the impression you needed some time away from the show.”
Purple hopped down, then, walking closer towards the chair, clearing his throat and pondering his words clearly.
“The show needs time away from the show, Cairo… You know damn well why I brought myself back. Come on. You know this isn’t right… It doesn’t have to be this, and even just delaying could save-”
“Delay, huh?” They stood, twirling that bat they’d always carried around. It didn’t worry Purple. He’d never seen them actually using it. “C’mon… You know it’s not that simple, buddy. I’m just trying to make sure everyone has a good time… Already, I’m cutting toxic people out of the show! Even when they’ll make it harder to make anything going forward, Caroline is gone! I’ll keep that producer on a really short leash! I am doing everything in my power to make sure that this goes well… C’mon, can’t you look on the bright side?”
“You… You already know my answer to that. You’ve betrayed my trust, Cairo. The trust of my uncle, of everyone you’ve worked with… Of this whole city!” He shifted in place, then, becoming a much more avian humanoid figure with its pose. “I am its lavender courage, and I am your friend! And as both, I cannot abide by-”
Cairo swang their bat, and as they did, the arms of a Stand emerged from their own hand and struck it as well, multiple times in quick succession.
By the time the bat impacted Purple, it was with enough force for the deeply resilient eternally-young ghost to be sent hurtling towards a wall, literally impacting it hard enough to leave an impression in its form, embedded and unconscious in a single swing. He was alive, and would walk this off, but he wouldn’t be getting back up today.
“Sorry ‘bout that,” they said, standing with the bat over their shoulder, ‘Peach Pit’ manifesting more fully by their side (drawn by the artist Boy George, as usual), “but I can tell we don’t have time to chat… I’ll send you a gift basket from the launch party, yeah?”
Then, their attention turned towards the others on the security room screens, addressing their Stand in the meantime, “uh, hey, Peach…”
“I’m on it,” the Stand answered, “Arthur Lifeson and Nix Ripa… I’m excited for this, honestly.”
“And you don’t need to know that I am to, honestly…” Cairo moved to press the intercom button.
“I heard violence!” Nix called out, balling his fists. “Purple found someone!” He began to rush forward, then, Arthur preparing to make a blade, only to be stopped by the crackling of an intercom button.
“Hello again! Wow, it really isn’t all that often that Being So Normal has repeat appearances, but that’s, what, twice in this promotional cycle alone?” Cairo’s voice rang through, then, and they continued, “I figured we’d see some trouble here, so I gave most of staff the day off… I knew it’d be types like you two who showed up, and honestly, I gotta say, despite the circumstances, I’m a bit psyched!”
“Cairo Satori!” Arthur spoke up then, waving his hands. “Put this madness to a close, before I have to put you to my blade! You need not fall victim to this any longer… To fight us is a waste of time!”
“Well, I’ve got time to kill, and nobody to talk to, now that my friend’s taking a bit of a nap. And besides, you think I’m gonna just let you destroy everything we’ve been working to build up because you don’t like a couple of the crew members? C’mon, have a reality check here! No way I’m gonna allow that… Especially not right now! Look, why not come talk to me after I’ve completely closed this Netflix deal?”
There was silence, then, and then they spoke up again.
“Oh, who am I kidding? We both know that this is only gonna end one way! If you wanna stop me from sending this show out for the whole world to know and love, and not just be another little piece of Los Fortuna’s super storied, super amazing history, then STOP me! I’m already sending Peach your way, and there’s no way the two of us will just get walked all over!”
Arthur shut his eyes in frustration, but Nix shook his shoulder. “We knew from the start it’d come to this. C’mon… Any more talking this through will be a waste of all our breaths.”
“Yeah! This pre-battle stuff goes on way too long, I swear! So much to cut down in post without missing the meat of it… But enough talking shop, yeah? Let’s get to what we’re here for… You wanna say it with me? …no? Okay, suit yourself!”
“OPEN THE GAME!”
Location:
A hallway to several storage rooms in Sweet FA Mall. The area here is 40 by 80 meters with each tile being 2.5 by 2.5 meters. The white tiles are completely out of bounds for this match. The light magenta tiles are the main hallway, the purple tiles are side hallways, and the red tiles are the rooms. Each room has a number associated with it for convenience, as shown by the purple numbers. The ceiling is 8 meters tall. The doorways are denoted by the dotted lines between the rooms and hallways.
The players start at the left end of the hallway and Cairo starts in the security room (room 5) to the right of the bottom center. Cairo’s Stand starts in the middle of the main hallway.
The grey X marked circles are security cameras on the ceiling that connect to the monitors that are represented by the yellow notched rectangles in room 5. The light blue rectangles in the main hallway are 4 meter tall metal shelves that house stage set up equipment such as stepladders, light fixtures, microphones, extension cables, construction tools, and anything else needed to set up or tear down a stage. All shelves are bolted to the ground.
The yellow stars are disks, tapes, harddrives and other recordings of the footage shot by Cairo’s show.
The walls are drywall while the floor is ceramic tiled.
Now onto the different rooms:

Room 1: Contains racks and cardboard bins of merchandise. The brown rectangles are cardboard bins of plushies and hats. The red circles are racks of clothing merchandise.
Room 2: Contains a mountain of chairs and other furniture within a 5 meter tall metal storage fence as represented by the light blue rectangle and the junk inside it. Each side of the fence has a chain locked door.
Room 3: Contains various cooking appliances and peripherals. The white rectangles are 4 meter tall metal storage shelves and the magenta rectangles are 5 meter tall metal storage containers. Basically any appliance that doesn’t fit on a shelf is put into one of the three containers.
Room 4: Contains two long tables as represented by the grey L-shaped rectangles. On these tables are neatly laid out items that were used in Round 2 Match 4, this means Riot Shields, Fireworks Cannons, Magnetic Ray Guns, Grappling Hook Guns, smoke bombs, Tar filled paintball guns, mannequins, body armor, skateboards, net launchers, fire extinguishers, step ladders, marbles, bowling balls, trampolines, shovels, steel chairs, and blankets. Only the crystal ball is missing. The blue circle is a barrel of fencing foils and the yellow rectangle is a banged up motorcycle that while not completely totaled is in pretty bad shape.
Room 5: The security room. It is rather bare, only housing the monitors set-ups to the security cameras and three swivel chairs to go with them.

Goal: RETIRE your opponents!
Additional Information:
As a reminder, White Tile areas are out-of-bounds for this match. If you willingly traverse through them you will be retired by a pair of mall cops.
Here is a shortened version of Cairo’s character sheet with all relevant information, the full sheet is linked below
Name: Cairo Satori
Age: 21
Gender: None, whose business is that anyways?
Species: Human
Occupation: Beloved Media Icon
Equipment: The newest smartphone, two sets of wireless earbuds for communicating directly with [Peach Pit] quietly, a bag of weed mints, and a baseball bat.
User Stats:
Strength: 3 (Too much effort to get properly strong- Cairo can throw as much effort into a hit as they need to in order to finish someone off after being brought to near-retirement by [Peach Pit], and that’s about the maximum they need.)
Agility: 2 (Never had to run after or from anything.)
Endurance: 2 (Not one to hold up under sustained pressure for very long, hoping to duck back from any conflicts except where absolutely necessary.)
Conduction: 2 (Able to personally carry their Stand’s damaging energy through them, and has a general knowledge of how to apply it.)
Vibing: 3 (It's for vibe checks- the necessity of finishing an opponent off personally, in a fast and hard strike. The full force of their strength, loaded into one moment rather than a series of fests. Also, they do have good vibes.)
Stand Name: [Peach Pit]
Stand Appearance: On the bulkier side of stand builds, Peach Pit has some resemblance to a knight in plate armor- big, dark metallic pauldrons, a chestplate, an assortment of straps and buckles, etc. The surface of the stand looks very much like a sunset with its colors flipped around. Its face is smooth except for a simple minimalist icon of the sun, and the rest of the head is mostly covered by a knight's helmet as well. A gradient of sorts goes from the head of the stand down to its armored feet, starting with an orange-red and ending in black with white specks like stars in the night sky.
About/Oddities: The stand is dangerous, outright. The manifestation of an incredible will for a very specific life gave it incredibly high offensive might, and although Cairo has depleted its very low ‘potential,’ nothing else has decreased in the slightest.
Additionally, [Peach Pit] is sentient, and thinks of itself as a close friend and bodyguard to Cairo. Despite being able to dish out high damage, it is very much a friendly, calm and collected individual, having respect even for those it has to fight. As such, [Peach Pit] leaves RETIRING opponents up to its user completely. An enemy can be beaten down, but will still be able to pull together and carry on albeit impeded until Cairo personally finishes them off. This isn't simply a choice- if instructed to keep pressure on an opponent who's down but not out, its strikes can indefinitely inflict serious pain and yet never be quite enough to injure a foe to the point where they're considered RETIRED.
Due to the bold weakness in this, for how combat inefficient and easily hurt its user is, Peach doesn't have full damage transference. Instead, it can be destroyed repeatedly- Cairo takes one instance of C power damage upon its destruction, and it can be resummoned from Cairo's position after ten seconds.
Peach's presenting identity has been influenced by Cairo's insistence against defining things that way, to the point of being comfortably seen subjectively as anything. Peach will respond to any pronouns without questioning it.
Stand Stats:
Power: A(The stand can exert a great amount of power in its attacks)
Speed: A (Its movements are very fast and its attacks can travel just as quickly)
Range: B (50 meters)
Durability: E (Subpar durability, however when destroyed the user takes C power damage and the stand can be summoned back to Cairo’s side after 10 seconds.)
Precision: C (Generally decent in its movements, but its projectile attacks only move in a straight line once fired and can only be stored within conductive materials. In non-conductive materials it would keep traveling)
Ability: Peach Pit lacks a complex ability, as far as one would expect. Rather than intricate effects, its hits themselves can simply be conducted through material similarly the way that electricity does, with distinct variation based on the conductivity of the material. Within conductive material, damage is stored up much like a battery - the moment someone touches the "battery", the damage transfers directly to it on the point of contact. This means that if Peach were to punch a metal rod and someone were to touch it, they would feel the full brunt of Peach's attack the moment they do so. A battery remains charged for up to fifteen seconds, and at any point if it hasn’t been touched and discharged already, Cairo can pick any direction from where the battery is in contact with non-conductive materials to activate the next type of attack.
Within non-conductive material, either deployed through battery or direct strike, damage "travels", moving forwards in a straight line at A speed in the same direction it came from. This wave of damage can be seen as it travels, with slight shimmers of light and a crackling sound emanating from where it's currently positioned.
Damage cannot travel further than B range from Cairo.

Team	Combatant	JoJolity
Black Hill Regalia	Arthur Lifeson and Nix Ripa	“The thing in Hayato's hand was definitely a handy cam. It doesn't seem to be in this room right now...” This show is a sweet-sounding idea, but it’s so corrupt to its core that you can’t allow it to spread any further than it has. Destroy as many physical backings of the recordings Cairo has made for their show as you can over the course of your strat!
Being So Normal	Cairo Satori	“I even took a video of the cat-like plant you've got in the attic!” This show… You know it’s been an unsavory road, one you wish you could have managed differently, but the good it can do, the way the world might finally begin to understand the ugly and wonderful truths of Stand Users and appreciate them more as a part of their lives… You will celebrate that. Take creative inspiration from actions that took place in matches related officially to ‘Being So Normal!’ That is to say, these 5 matches, R1M5,R1M23,R1M29,R2M4, and R3M8!

Link to the Official Player Spreadsheet
Link to Match Schedule
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Social Influence, Tara Reade, Deplatforming, and /r/ChapoTrapHouse, Presented Through the Observations of a Former Poster

Chapo was banned a while ago, but my opinions have only been put together recently. I must put a trigger warning at the start of this post, as it involves discussion of both Tara Reade and my own trauma, as my beliefs on the Reade story were intensely intertwined with how I was processing my trauma at the time.
This won't have nearly as many sources as the usual effortpost, because a lot of the concepts in play are pretty straightforward and simple, a lot of them are things I've personally interacted with and implemented, and I'd be linking to a lot of wiki articles. The mechanics of how these concepts were used is the sneaky part, and building understanding of what any people in your life drifting to the extreme are feeling is important.
One source I do wish to share is one of the organizations whose research was used in developing my understanding of intentional social marketing while I was going to college, and while I don't think a lot of people are formally setting out saying "I'm going do social marketing interventions to get my audience/others I interact with online to hate Hillary Clinton and Emmanuel Macron," but I do think they're using a lot of the same principles to relatively powerful effect.
https://www.thensmc.com/content/what-social-marketing-1
https://www.thensmc.com/publications

TWs under this line

Sexual Assault, Emotional Manipulation, Mental Health, Emotional Abuse, Depression

And, without further ado:

Intro

I used to be incredibly hard left, briefly a Stalinist, cooled down to just being a person who screeches online about Nancy Pelosi, eventually realized a bunch of things that we'll get to in this post, and realized market forces are useful if directed properly. I don't actually know where I stand but it's somewhere in this realm (currently calling myself a centrist between neolibs and social dem) and this seems like the best forum to post this, because people should know how the mechanics of this aspect of the lefty propaganda influence machine works.
Anybody who manipulates others in bad faith, playing on their emotional vulnerabilities so they'll buy and push literal misinformation, is an enemy to discourse, and I'm fairly sure the vast majority of people here will agree with this premise.
One of the few things I'm actually qualified to talk a little bit about is social marketing, that is, marketing a product, belief, candidate, behavioral change, etc, vis-a-vis the real or perceived social interactions we have and the opinions we think others have about us. It's interacting with the beliefs we have, interacting with why people do behaviors, what social incentives and disincentives and other barriers they have to doing something. This is not about changing belief, but behavior.
I took three practicums in this shit in college, I fucking love it.
And so it hit me like a truck when I realized I believed that Biden was a literal fascist and rapist (WE'LL FUCKING GET TO THAT PARTICULAR ONE LATER) almost entirely because of the techniques that I had mostly seen utilized to get people to use less water and electricity, to attend a city council meeting, or recycle.

Social Expectations

What were these techniques? The ones I was most interested in were primarily based on establishing social expectations. In the context of recycling, it's things like depicting people who litter as irresponsible and uncaring, encouraging people not to leave the lights on when they leave their house since it looks wasteful and silly to do so.
These influences can be incredibly pervasive while remaining subtle in how they function. If you get the owner of every coffee shop in your town and also the public library and elementary school to have up a poster or sign about some issue, you aren't actually convincing people to do anything by the sign's presence and ability to be read alone.
The purpose of the signs is to show that the owners of the shops care, the members of the community care, the people you interact with care. In short, it gives you this subtle influence of thinking people around you care about it and are willing to say so and encourage others to do so publicly. It is expected that others will push it, encourage it. And then, you feel a little weird if you aren't doing it. Ever smoked a cigarette, drank a beer, hit a joint, that you didn't fully want to but still felt like it'd be socially best to? Ever donated to a charity you know nothing about and felt briefly indecisive on but then you thought of what the sad child in the picture would think and feel if you said "No, you're not worth three dollars?" It happened to you. It does every day, every time an ad plays on how cool a person in it is, every time sometime references a group identity while making a statement.
If you're an unethical propagandist, it can take the form of banning anybody who says a single positive word about Joe Biden from your community, or even anybody who thinks that any of the most hyperbolic critiques are absurd. Harassing people who don't fall in line, who express opinions outside of the explicitly approved list, etc. Again, this doesn't influence the people being shouted down. *It encourages onlookers who agree with the people acting this way to also act this way, to become more extreme." If someone sees that people who disagree get treated like garbage and they start getting hooks in this community, they start needing to believe it.
These methods are most effective on people that are already strongly in favor of something and need reinforcement to go actually do a behavior, OR people who are currently apathetic BUT are in a social context where people care about it and encourage others to do so as well. The effectiveness increases if they're emotionally vulnerable, if they're lonely and detached, if they don't feel super strongly about anything and are looking for meaning, all that. Effectively, people who are more vulnerable to outside influence are more vulnerable to everything that comes with it, and resultantly to the places they spend most of their time.

My Own Experience On Chapo Before I Was Really, Really, REALLY into it

I've never been good at social interaction, have been Very Online since I was 13. I was an autistic trans kid at a conservative rural school with weird body language and loads of sensory issues, I understandably couldn't really interact with most of my peers very well.
In short, at this point in my life I felt like a dejected loser. I browsed a lot of online communities, made a lot of friends, felt better but drifted away from a lot of them from time to time, and in waxing and waning periods of more and less contact, I'd substitute that empty time with content. When Bernie showed up, it became boatloads of lefty content. A bit unclear on my timeline but it was people like Kulinski, Piker, TYT, all of "breadtube" from 2015 to midway through 2020.
This is tbh a bit embarrassing to admit given how I feel about it in retrospect, but...
I posted there fairly obsessively, or I should say browsed. Constantly. It was the first link in my bookmark bar and I clicked it a lot. I loved Chapo. I made a lot of comments far down in threads pulling "dunks" on people who were part far right fascists picking fights but also with a lot of people who were just frustrated with a hundred thousand jackasses larping in unison about their correctness. It was all about being the cool person, getting the approval, acting in a way that made me "good" by the standards set there.It didn't matter what the views I was arguing with were, it just mattered that I was right, and that they were wrong.
The Democratic Primaries were happening. Bernie started to lose. People started being massive doomers about everything. My mental health was in the gutter. I was withdrawing from friends I had in real life, I was a bit agoraphobic, all that.

My Breaking Point: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love their LARP

I will now put another TW and spoiler warning here as it is a description of bad, bad things an ex did that provide context but aren't strictly necessary to understand the post: The Tara Reade story broke. I had recently broken up with an incredibly horrifying ex, just a legit user. Most of my friends are convinced that she was a sociopath. She did deep and fundamentally violating things, both to my mind and body. She abused the fact that we were both trans women who had been abused to make me trust her to handle things. She had broken my ability to process a lot of my preexisting emotional issues without her, and she added a tat to my body that I won't describe here, as it is distinctive enough that you could identify me with it, as well as policing my body and behavior. I was violated a lot of times. That is all that needs to be said on her. Don't tell me if you do this, but dig back in my account to see my breakdown laid out in real time a year ago as I talk about everything happening, as well as some of what happened in my childhood that she took advantage of.
I was traumatized, as a result of what had happened to me, and I was re-traumatized by believing that the presumptive nominee of the Democratic ticket was someone that did things that awful. Chapo banned ANY dissent. If you mentioned anything pro-Biden or establishment or even fucking pro-lesser evil voting to avoid climate apocalypse death, you got banned.
A lot of the initial outrage was around this intercept article:
https://theintercept.com/2020/03/24/joe-biden-metoo-times-up/
And around the Soundcloud interview you can find by doing a ctrl+F for Katie Halper in that intercept article.
My opinion on the Tara Reade case now is that it's a blatant fabrication. The story changed over and over, every time to change a detail to look worse for Joe Biden or to make the story look credible again once a prior detail was shown to be false. Every witness who isn't personally connected to her denies the revamp of her story that makes it a full on sexual assault accusation. She has constantly and consistently lied for personal gain throughout her life and claimed to respect and admire the efforts of Joe Biden until 2019, changing a story she held stable for decades.
Here's a writeup that sums it up pretty well: https://medium.com/@macarthur.cliff/the-tara-reade-case-eight-things-the-media-wont-tell-you-27d3ca14978
I was depressed, traumatized, etc, and as such, I was incredibly vulnerable to influences. People in my life would get really concerned if I was browsing Chapo at all while I was talking to them because it kept sending me spiralling over my trauma, but I just couldn't stop going for it. Drowning myself in it. I was desperate to perpetually re-open the wound. I was falling away from everything. Friends. Religion. Relationships. My hobbies. My schoolwork. I barely passed my last semester, which was also mid-pandemic. Obsessively online.

My Part In Perpetuating This

After I got really deep in the shit, I got aggressively online. I got into arguments with literally hundreds of people about Joe Biden's rape accusations, across 3 or 4 platforms. I had it pushed into me that everyone who believes Joe isn't a literal monster is evil or ignorant and must be castigated or converted. I don't know how many people I convinced of this position but I do know that it's higher than 0. Than 5, 10. I turned this argument into part of my identity, as part of the way I dealt with and took power back from my abuser, and was treated with praise for doing so by a lot of people! I made compelling personal arguments about not voting out of protest for this man who I thought was as awful as the fucking literal sociopath who was manipulating me for years.
I privately encouraged a few other people to use me as a rhetorical weapon. To say "my friend was assaulted and is personally hurt by the concept that people who claim to support her and people like her will vote for Joe Biden." I had a sobbing breakdown the next time I was alone when my father didn't instantly buy it because "you know what happened to me."
I was making the social context and expectation manifest. By my aggression in establishing the expectation that people hate Joe, by letting others use me as an emblem of it, I was pushing it

Digging Out

This isn't the main point of the post, but I was asked elsewhere about it, so I should include here.
I dug out by improving my mental health, getting in contact with my non-dipshit-extremist-circlejerk supports again, getting back in therapy, doing things to feel self efficacy.
Also I watched a whole lot of Destiny videos and debates about leftism, and had a few people in my personal life talk to me about policy. (Lmao I'm still banned from Destiny's sub for being a former chapo user and they never respond to the unban request)
Watching people actually discuss concepts, especially people I used to look at as respectable or intelligent, and to see them get ripped apart was kind of a wake-up call. A big, big point in me realizing this was his debate with Pxie about the Tara Reade accusations, and how when I slowed down to look at everything I really, really didn't have a good reason to feel as strongly as I did other than other people encouraging me to.
Getting back into other hobbies, into religion, into other things I just enjoy engaging with and that actively improve my life, pulled me back from the edge of becoming just an ideologue.
I've stopped talking to a lot of the people who were my friends then. They were too committed to the bullshit. They were too mean to people who were outsiders, and I was one then. If you start expressing genuine doubt, pulling away, they'll either try to pull you in or kick you out if it's not working. Actually discussing the reality of the situation was a taboo. I don't know if it works for all other people like this but if people try to choose what I can and can't say for me it freaks me out. When I just said the same things they did I didn't notice.

Deplatforming

Another part of how I managed to get out was that one day I woke up and Chapo was just fucking gone. I was unironically weirdly aimless and listless for the next 3 days whenever I had downtime. I wasn't able to do my usual habit of triggering my PTSD by reading shitposts about Biden's evil or fake outrage about nonsense. I literally HAD TO do something else. There wasn't another place quite like Chapo, it had a unique vibe, a unique sense, a unique humor, and without it the aesthetic core of the bullshit I believed in was gone and my attachment to the issues Chapo cared most about slowly started to wane.

Miscellaneous Examples Of Establishing Social Expectations

I'm going to include here a few really obvious examples of people trying to clumsily make it so people think the only opinion it's acceptable to say it there.
Here's a TYT video about Amy Klobuchar where they lie and claim she said the opposite of what she did!
https://www.facebook.com/CenkUygurOfficial/videos/senator-amy-klobucharwhat-are-you-doing/734829663811319/
You see, they claim that anyone that agrees with her opinion is trying to "dumb their way out of helping Americans" and "just suck, just suck."
Her actual claim was that Trump showboating by threatening a veto on the 600 dollar checks when 2k checks weren't on the table was a threat to people because getting 600 dollars sucks less than getting 0 dollars, and getting continued unemployment is more relevant to a LOT of the people most affected by the pandemic.
By forcing the expectation that anyone who agrees with Klobuchar hates you and wants you to suffer, you make it so anyone who agrees with her gets attacked instantly.
https://youtu.be/vOvkPYqdjTE?t=3754
My next (this time timestamped!) example is Bri Joy-Gray debating Sam Seder about "Force the Vote," which I am including because it is content explicitly by and for the left, and Bri, as a former media director, is incredible at bowling people over rhetorically with performative outrage.
She is supposed to be talking to Sam Seder about the merits of forcing a Medicare for All vote by holding up the speakership. They both agree that the fundamental goal is to get a shared policy across. What does she do? She starts denouncing the way that Sam is unwilling to focus on the fight for the right of millions of people to healthcare. They already agree and she is both affecting strong emotion and acting unnecessarily aggressive at him claiming that trying to get your dream policy vote with a contingent of 6 people is probably unwise. She is again an example of creating and pushing an expectation that disagreeing makes you bad, and strongly agreeing makes you good.
The biggest whopper though, came recently. I don't need to give a single link because if you look at a single video on left youtube about stocks from a week ago, everybody I saw on the fucking PLANET but Destiny's stream and here were desperately promoting the working man's retail investment revolt, how it was fighting the man, getting one up on the big guys, and robinhood shutting down trades was just them STEALING IT from us. So I will link you one tweet in particular that epitomizes it.
https://twitter.com/KyleKulinski/status/1355573696119889921?s=20
Robinhood got the billion so it could OPEN UP TRADING AGAIN. Kyle is directly stating the opposite and follows it up by complaining that the critiques of him are pathetically stupid and need to try harder. If someone actually respected him and saw these takes they'd probably end up having some unpleasant kneejerk responses, and push them in casual conversation, pushing the cycle further.

Fin

Deplatforming people who spread misinformation in an inflammatory and manipulative way that actually screws people over generally does at least some good.
I might crash and go to sleep soon, but I will respond to anything when I wake up and for as long as I'm still up, though I can't promise the ability to go in deep on some of the stuff. But being able to identify when the driving force behind a political argument is social influence can be broadly useful to consider in understanding how a lot of beliefs spread.
edit for grammar.

An old guy hired me to manage his life-sized dollhouse, but some of the occupants are starting to freak me out

The ad was bizarre but straightforward enough.
Late fifties male seeks woman in twenties to manage large-scale dollhouse

Candidate needs to maintain a household of eleven Real Dolls by tending to the daily wardrobe, grooming, and other needs of the dolls.
Nothing inappropriate.
$250 paid in cash at the end of every shift.

A lot of women would be put off by that ad, but not me. Let’s just say, I’ve seen some shit in my life. I was finally starting to dig myself out of a trash pile of childhood trauma by getting into a good college, when the reality of tuition fees set in. I needed a part-time job to stay afloat, and creepy sex doll man would have to be it.
I tried calling the number on the ad, but nobody picked up. A few minutes later I got a text asking my name, age, and times of availability. Another text later, I was asked to start at nine the following day. I was surprised at the ease of the interview, if you could even call it that, but I didn’t feel like questioning it. Whatever the guy’s deal was, that was his business, not mine. As long as he didn’t breach any boundaries and paid me on time, we’d get along just fine.
I wasn’t stupid, though. I called my cousin Ronnie and told him what was going on and where I’d be the next day. Ronnie sighed but didn’t question my decision. We grew up with the same shitty guardians, and he knew I could handle myself.
“Just be careful, Lu,” he said at the end of the call, “pack the bag, okay?”
“Of course, Ronnie,” I smiled into the phone, “I’ll be in touch if anything happens.”
‘The bag’ was a backpack of essentials for any kid that was unfortunate enough to grow up in a neighborhood like mine. My bag contained pepper spray, a swiss army knife, drinking water, a couple of protein bars, and a cheap disposable phone with Ronnie’s number saved in contacts. I hoped for the best but prepared for the worst. Always.
I was at the given address at exactly 9 o’clock the next morning.
The house was breathtaking. A tall, asymmetrical two-story with whitewash walls and a multifaceted roof. The windows were different sizes and shapes, the panes a charming baby blue with glass that sparkled like morning dew on grass. I walked up the cobblestone path, admiring the clean-cut lawn and tulip flower beds that lined the perimeter.
Maybe this won’t be so bad, I thought, climbing the porch steps.
I couldn’t find a doorbell, only a large bronze knocker designed to look like some sort of horned creature, possibly a bull. It was as though the sculptor had chosen to make the beast in man’s image, the result being a grotesque blend of the two. I banged the knocker three times and waited. Nothing happened. I tried again. No one came to the door. I pulled my phone from my back pocket just as it received a message from the Craigslist number.
Go inside. The girls are on the second floor.
Whatever you’re into, buddy, I thought as I pulled the door open and stepped inside.
The entrance hall was everything the exterior suggested. Polished hardwood floors shimmered like glaciers on a sunny day. A needlessly large chandelier descended from somewhere far above my head. Quaint antique hall cupboards and paintings of flower pots tied the look together. It was all meant to be quite lovely but something felt off. The interior seemed almost too precise, as though crafted after the idea of an old Victorian home. The passing of time generally implied a dash of ruggedness, and this place had none.
A large-scale dollhouse, I thought, remembering the ad with a slight shudder.
I clutched at the straps of my backpack, straining to hear any hint of life within the house. There was only the slight echo of my sneakers scraping across the floor as I crossed the hall on my way to the grand staircase.
I lingered before taking the first step. It wasn’t too late to turn around and find something less creepy to do. Sure, the pay was excellent, but my gut was telling me there was something very wrong with the house. Determination and a hint of curiosity argued with my better instincts and won.
I walked up the carpeted steps.
“Hello?” I called upon reaching the second floor. No answer.
To my left, a door stood open, revealing an old-school parlor room. I stalled before entering, realizing that the distant concept of eleven life-sized dolls had been far more agreeable than the actual sight of them.
What can I say? The dolls were exquisite in a vacant, detached sort of way. Someone had dressed them in a variety of colorful nightgowns and bathrobes. Some faced windows, others were seated around a coffee table. All were positioned in poses that were meant to look natural. Their size was that of your basic, petite woman, with some evident variation in the hip and breast departments. There were blondes with blue eyes, sultry brunettes, a redhead, African Americans, Asians, you name it. One even had rainbow-colored hair and blue lips.
“Louisa,” a soft voice interrupted my doll-induced trance.
My right hand instantly went for the pepper spray as I whirled around in one swift, jumpy motion.
“Jesus,” I muttered, slipping the spray back in place, “You scared me, lady.”
The owner of the voice was a tall, thin woman well into her fifties. She wore a long, red cardigan that she buttoned over a lilac turtleneck and a full-length, plaid skirt. The entire outfit was so hideous that I barely even registered the fact that the woman herself was attractive for her age. She had a very dignified sort of face, with a dainty nose and knowledgeable eyes. A good amount of thick, greying hair was tied back in a low ponytail.
“My apologies, Lousia,” the woman smiled politely, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s Lu actually,” I mumbled, trying to compose myself.
“Nice to meet you, Lu,” the woman’s smile held, though her gaze sharpened, “My name is Mrs. Claymore and I am the mistress of Vanderley House.”
“First time I’ve been in a house with a name,” I replied, watching her face. Much like my surroundings, the woman carried herself in a manner of welcome, but it all felt a bit scripted.
“I believe my husband has given you the general gist of your duties here at Vanderley?”
“Well,” I surveyed the kinky mannequins lounging around the room, “The text messages mentioned I would have to watch the dolls.”
“Yes,” she spoke slowly as though addressing a small child, “You will be acting as the part-time manager of the household. In essence, you will be filling my shoes while I’m away.”
“I see,” I nodded, feeling uneasy.
For the next hour or so Mrs. Claymore took me around the house, showing me the different rooms and explaining my increasingly bizarre work tasks. Every morning, I was to change ‘the girls’ into their daytime outfits and carry them around the house, setting them up at their respective activities. I would learn the dolls’ names and activities from a chart. My shift would end around the time the so-called hygienist showed up to perform cleaning procedures on the dolls.
“If all that is clear,” Mrs. Claymore concluded, “I will leave you to your job.”
“Alright,” I nodded, struggling with my apprehensive feelings.
I let out a long breath as soon as Mrs. Claymore retreated downstairs. If ever there was a master at not asking questions, it was me. And yet, I had so many. Everything about Mrs. Claymore indicated that she was an intelligent, proper sort of woman, and I just couldn’t reconcile that image with the things she was saying. Was she unhinged? I half wished the husband had met me instead. A creepy old man with a sex doll fetish, while super gross, was something that I could understand and even turn a blind eye to. For the right amount of money, of course. But this? What the hell was this?
Walking back to the parlor room, I felt my resolve strengthen. Late morning sunshine spilled in through the sheer curtains, illuminating the dolls in a cool, gray light. Not a single speck of dust could be seen in the rays. The dead eyes of the dolls reflected my mood.
I studied the clipboard Mrs. Claymore had given me. It contained the aforementioned doll chart printed on a crisp, expensive-looking sheet of paper. Cynthia was the first doll on the list. With a flicker of dread, I stared at the tiny picture printed on the page. The photograph, while small and a little blurry, was clearly of a real person, not a doll. It showed a pretty redhead somewhere outside, with locks of hair lifted by a gust of wind.
I scanned the room, quickly locating Cynthia in a nearby armchair. The resemblance to the person in the picture was uncanny. I walked up to the doll and stared at her face, reaching out a hand to graze a cheek with my fingers. She was definitely a doll, not a person. Even so, the fact that her image was molded after a human being felt all sorts of wrong. I turned my attention back to the chart:

Cynthia - 21 y.o. - 5′7″/122lbs. - Biochemistry student - Plays violin - 11:00 AM violin lesson in drawing room - 12:30 quiet reading time in study;

What an oddly specific type of girl. Hardly your average boner inducer. Scanning the other five entries on the page disturbed me more than I could say.

Valeria - 20 y.o. - 5′7″ / 107 lbs - Athlete - Ballroom dancer - 11:00 AM dance lesson in drawing room - 12:30 yoga in downstairs hallway;
Gina - 22 y.o. - 5′6″ / 121 lbs - Barista - Cat lover - 11:00 disciplinary session in entrance hall - 12:30 quiet reading time in study;
Katryn - 25 y.o. - 5′5″ / 115 lbs - Nurse - Enjoys video games - 11:00 AM - dance lesson in drawing room - 12:30 yoga in downstairs hallway;
Angelique - 21 y.o. - 5′7″ / 135 lbs - Unemployed - Recreational drug user - 11:00 AM - double disciplinary session;
Madison - 28 y.o. - 5′6″ / 118lbs - Daycare teacher - Enjoys reading - 11:00 AM - dance lesson in drawing room - 12:30 quiet reading time in study;

My hands trembled as I finished reading the last entry on the page. There have been so many times in my life where I have felt helpless and afraid. While horrible, each instance had an identifiable source of danger. A drunken uncle, an abusive social worker, a school bully. It was easy to work through fear when you knew what to expect.
The place had me stumped. There was something very wrong about it, about Mrs. Claymore and her yet-to-be-seen husband. About the dolls that were meant to look like real people. I knew then that I should leave, but there was a part of me that didn’t want to. Call me the collector of evils, but I just had to know what sort of fucked up darkness lurked the serene halls of Vanderley House.
I left the parlor and located the closet, a room on the second floor which was dedicated to all eleven doll wardrobes. I’d caught a glimpse of it during the walkthrough, but didn’t get a chance to take it all in.
It was the size of a bedroom, with shelves of shoes, folded clothes, and hanging garments lining the walls to my left and right. The other end of the room consisted of a mirror wall. I stared at my small frame reflected in four distinct angles. A couple of jet-black curls fell loose from my ponytail and I tucked them behind an ear. I looked very pale, not unlike a doll myself. That thought sent a visible shiver through my reflection.
The shelves of the closet were an obsessive-compulsive dream come to life. Everything was sorted by clothing type and color. The chart hadn’t specified what the dolls should wear, so I trusted my better judgment in picking the outfits. There were few modern garments available, but there was a large variety of basics that would look decent on most people. I pulled some items from the shelves and went to pick out the shoes. Not many options there either, mostly pumps. I was about to head back to the parlor when another glance at the mirrors revealed a detail I had very nearly missed.
Though three of the full-length mirrors were visibly nailed to the wall, the one on the far right had no bolts in the corners of the frame. I tried wedging my fingers in the small crack between mirrors and pulling it, but that yielded nothing. After a second’s thought, I tried pushing instead and the hidden door popped open.
Inside was the first hint of the real Vanderley.
The mirror concealed a small, dusty room. A bare lightbulb dangled from a wire, revealing unfinished concrete walls and stacks of moving boxes. I approached the nearest box and looked inside. It was filled with clothes, but they were nothing like the garments in the outer closet. These were trendy crop tops, boy shorts, cocktail dresses.
A lump formed in my throat.
I opened more, finding high heels, hoodies, sunglasses, watches, trinkets. I had to stop myself then. There were a lot of boxes and I didn’t have time to ransack the place. Mrs. Claymore could find me at any moment, and I needed more proof of my growing suspicions.
I walked out to the front closet, closing the mirror door behind me. I did my best to wipe away the fingerprints that revealed my intrusion. I reached for the phone in my back pocket so I could call Ronnie, and found that it was missing.
Of course, I thought, reaching for the hidden zipper on the inner side of my backpack. I powered on the flip phone and auto dialed Ronnie. He picked up on the first ring.
“Code red,” I whispered into the passé gadget.
“I fucking knew it, Lu,” Ronnie reprimanded, “I’ll be there in forty, an hour tops. Keep safe.”
“Will do,” I promised, replacing the cell before picking up the pile of clothes I’d selected for the dolls.
Mrs. Claymore must have fished my phone out of my back jean pocket at some point during the walkthrough, but why? Was it to snoop on me, mess with me, potentially cause me harm? None of the answers quite fit the bill, but I had a feeling I would learn the truth soon enough.
I made sure to keep calm as I walked back to the parlor room. There was no use for panic, I needed to keep my thoughts clear. I set down the pile of clothes on the coffee table and approached Cynthia. I lifted her arms and pulled her nightgown off. Putting her arms back at her side, I took a step back and surveyed the dolls’ body.
There was no doubt in my mind that Cynthia was molded after a living, breathing young woman. While her body held true to the beauty standards of today, it was not perfect. Her large breasts hung low without the support of a push-up bra and there was a birthmark to the right of her bellybutton. Again, I felt the need to reach out and feel her, to make sure that she wasn’t alive. I placed my hand on her lean stomach. She felt plastic as ever. Room temperature, high-grade silicone, and yet.
There was an energy.
I’d had that feeling before in museums, on school trips where I snuck away from the crowd and stared at some old army general’s chair, or an early telephone set. I thought it was common, getting vibes from items, but Ronnie told me it wasn’t. I didn’t dwell on it much. To me, objects carried stories, just like people did.
So what was Cynthia’s?
I placed my other hand in her palm and an overwhelming sense of sorrow erupted inside me. The force of it made me fall to the floor, laying my head on Cynthia’s knees. I didn’t let go of her, I couldn’t. The doll was telling me her truth. One so awful that my limited imagination could only produce it in dull aches that ran through my body. The grief was insurmountable, and I let it flow through the both of us.
“What did they do to you?” I asked, choking back tears.
There was no reply as the immense darkness receded into heavy but manageable despair. It was then that I noticed the small tattoo on Cynthia’s inner left wrist. It was a black stencil of the bull-man I had seen on the entrance door of the Vanderley House.
I couldn’t waste time. I had to gather as much information as possible before Ronnie showed up.
I got up and started checking all the other dolls. Every one of them had the same tattoo. I picked up the doll chart, now fully convinced it was a list of victims. I needed to learn as much about them in the short amount of time I had left.
Cynthia. Valeria. Gina. Katryn. Angelique. Madison. They were all here. Each headshot contained a girl outside, not a doll. They were REAL, but were they alive?
I felt my breath falter as nausea threatened the scant contents of my breakfast. There were only six girls on this page. The truth hit me like a punch to the face as eleven sets of dead eyes stared at me. The link I always suspected, but couldn’t prove.
Until now.
With shaky hands, I unclipped the piece of paper and flipped it over. There were six more entries on the back, but my eyes instantly went to the last one on the page. Right there, beside a tiny, pixelated photograph of me standing outside Vanderley House that very morning, I read the following:

Louisa - 20 y.o. - 5′4″/115 lbs - ex tenebris lux - ex malo bonum - 11:00 AM - The Hygienist

A door slammed downstairs, and though I wished with all my being that it was Ronnie arriving early to get me out of this mess, the large Roman numeral clock on the wall of the parlor told me that it was far too soon to get my hopes up.
Heavy footfall ascended the stairs in a slow, confident stride. Echoes of the intruder carried through the house and into the parlor. I picked up the pepper spray and rummaged around my backpack for the swiss army knife. I slipped the spray in my back pocket and held the knife on the inside of my palm so it was out of view.
It was time for my appointment with the hygienist.
READ PART 2 HERE
^{This is part 1 |} ^{part 2} ^| ^{part 3} ^| ^{part 4}

Who blew up the community house?

[Discussion] A small lesson on the construction of the major scale, its modes, and its application to the guitar neck.

A Guide to The Weeknd's Discography

Since The Weeknd is performing at the Super Bowl Halftime show, I thought it’d be nice to post a little guide to his discography for anyone interested in looking to do a deep dive into his work. I would’ve posted this the day of the event, but I assume that some people would probably like to go through it over the weekend.
This shares a direct overview of his released material, talking about his career and the background of the music, the videos, the meanings and all. I’ve written this from a pop perspective, keeping in mind that his history might be fairly new for general pop fans.
I also go into the storyline of the red suit character, if your interested in catching up on that narrative before the Halftime show (which will continue the story), I’ve listed the chronological order below followed by an explanation of that narrative.
I wanna be clear that the interpretations/theories are not conclusive. Abel rarely shares the metaphors or meanings behind his music. This is based on widely based on fan discussion/mutual interpretation. Fans can feel free to expand on anything in the comments.
It is important to know about Abel's backstory to get a certain perspective of where he’s coming from, especially when discussing the songs that deal with substance abuse. These recent articles cover his early years really well and share an up-to-date point of view of his success.
Variety 2020
Billboard 2021 - Also a good source for getting to know his team.
So, an essential TL;DR is this: Abel Tesfaye came from a broken home, he was born to Ethiopian immigrant parents who split up when Tesfaye was less than seven. He then lived with his mother and grandmother, only rarely seeing his father but having a nice impression of him. His drug addiction started as soon as he was a high schooler, he turned to shoplifting to pay for this need of various substances. Soon he dropped out of high school, leaving his home the same weekend, which would later inspire his stage name, The Weeknd. The name is reference/homage to the weekend his life changed.
Quick side note, I didn’t think this post would nearly reach the character limit. So I’ve cut out excess detail and lists of producers (with the exception of After Hours since we’re in that era).
Table of contents

XO.
House of Balloons.
Thursday.
Echoes of Silence.
Trilogy.
Kiss Land.
King of the Fall.
Beauty Behind The Madness.
Starboy.
My Dear Melancholy.
After Hours.

XO.

XO is the record label that The Weeknd and co. created in order to publish the first mixtape (House of Balloons) and the ones that would follow afterwards. XO has a lot of meanings that have to do with what went into the music and what still goes into it. XO is what the fans call themselves, popularly with the phrase XO Till We OD (shortened to XOTWOD); another way of saying “we’re ride or die for The Weeknd and his team.”
While some argue that it could mean anything since there isn’t clear meaning to it, fans continue to associate the abbreviation with ecstasy (X) and oxycontin (O). That definition stems from XOTWOD, fans assume it’s true because of the team’s history of drug usage. While others take it as it’s classical definition “hugs and kisses” because of the consistent lyrical nature of The Weeknd’s songs.
Overtime the definition of XO is simply known as: the fans, the crew, and the label. The Weeknd is more than just one person, he comes with XO. For the sake of clarity in this writeup, I’m going to refer to his crew as XO and the fans as “the fans.”
XO still serves as a record label, the current roster is The Weeknd, Belly, Nav, and Black Atlass. It remains The Weeknd’s record label and was his first label before becoming a subsidiary of Republic Records.
Throughout his career, The Weeknd has worked with Illangelo, a Canadian producer who’s work the fans adore. Carlo “Illangelo” Montagnese was one of main the producers on The Weeknd’s Trilogy, he’s credited on each track. The fan base claims his work to be some of the most notable artistry in The Weeknd’s discography. Their work together continued with Beauty Behind The Madness, Illangelo worked on seven tracks for that album. He then returned for After Hours working on another seven tracks.
DaHeala, another Canadian producer, is another significant factor in The Weeknd’s music. Jason “DaHeala” Quenneville worked as lead producer on Kiss Land. He returned to work on six tracks for The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind The Madness, including the hit Earned It. DaHeala returned as a writer for six of the songs on Starboy. Then DaHeala worked on nine After Hours tracks, and worked as the only producewriter alongside The Weeknd for bonus tracks Missed You and Final Lullaby.

House of Balloons.

Didn't wanna make this NSFW, so here's the super clean edited cover

This is a happy house. We’re happy here. (House of Balloons/Glass Table Girls)

One of the most iconic title tracks of all time. House of Balloons is about a lifestyle of drugs, sex, and partying; all in effort to drown out self-doubt. It comes from a place of wanting to make it big while doing what you can to survive, all while pretending everything’s alright. The mixtape describes various sorts of women, how they’ve had impacted the life of someone who’s already down on his luck.
Fans often refer to House of Balloons as The Weeknd’s best work. The mixtape was the first introduction the world got of XO, and it was one hell of a way to make an impression. It’s personal for the fans and Abel because it’s the only piece of work known to be based on his life. At the end of the day he’s a songwriter, with many of his albums he creates scenarios and world that he likes to explore through the music. But House of Balloons is known to be based entirely on his life. It remains The Weeknd’s most critically acclaimed work.
House of Balloons was crafted through the influences of Hip-Hip/Indie-Rock with the main focus on R&B. Through the genius of Ilangelo, the record was—and is—mesmerizing capturing the essence of a lifestyle that The Weeknd described as “anti-everything.”
House of Balloons assisted The Weeknd in gaining the attention of Republic Records, which would then host The Weeknd’s own label XO. Though hesitant at first, XO decided to partner with Republic after the co-founding brothers Monte and Avery Lipman kept coming back to Toronto solely for The Weeknd.
House of Balloons received three videos, The Knowing, Wicked Games and Twenty Eight. The Knowing was the very first video The Weeknd made, so of course it’d be something other-worldly; it essentially reflects the song itself but in a sci-fi setting. Twenty Eight represents Abel’s life after fame but also his remorse of letting captivating women into his life.
Fun fact— House of Balloons is an actual place in Toronto, it was where him and his crew lived after he dropped out of high school. They’d host parties, call girls, do drugs, and to make it less depressing they’d fill it with balloons.

Thursday.

Valerie on the cover

Welcome to the other side. (Life of the Party)

Thursday consists of the same themes as HoB; sex and drugs. But there’s a twist, he’s in a semi-relationship with this girl Valerie. She’s the only one on his mind, even though they meet only one day of the week, any guesses on what day that could be? Through The Weeknd’s phenomenal voice and the insane production, we’re also presented with this story of a toxic relationship where Valerie used to have the upper hand but she no longer does when she falls for The Weeknd.
While Thursday isn’t entirely about the relationship of The Weeknd and Valerie, it consists of reflections to Abel’s life after the release of House of Balloons. The song Rolling Stone notably has a double meaning, in which Abel asks his fans if they’ll stick with him when he gets mainstream appeal and decides to change his sound.
The track Valerie wasn’t on the original release of Thursday, it added when Trilogy was released. Ending the mixtape with Heaven or Las Vegas meant that The Weeknd’s actions with and without Valerie were a result of his fatherless childhood, making him push anyone away. That meaning behind Thursday doesn’t change when Valerie is added to the track list, it just means that both want the toxic relationship back.
The Zone (feat. Drake) was the first feature The Weeknd had on any of his work, the video for it was released in November of 2012. Rolling Stone had also received a video in October of 2012. Both were directed by The Weeknd and reflect the two different aspects of Thursday. The Zone has Valerie living it up in the House of Balloons. And Rolling Stone has The Weeknd doing a photoshoot for Trilogy, reflective of the song itself.
Fun Fact— the female voice heard in Lonely Star is The Weeknd’s, he pitched his voice to make it sound like a woman’s.

Echoes of Silence.

Diana on the cover

Laisse tomber les filles. Un jour c'est toi qu'on laissera. [Leave the girls alone. One day it’ll be you they will leave.] (Montreal)

Out of a dark introductory into the early life of The Weeknd, Echoes of Silence is the darkest work of his Trilogy. Let’s be honest the story here isn’t entirely ethical at times but makes for one hell of a mixtape.
Similar to Thursday, Echoes of Silence follows a storyline. After accumulating success, The Weeknd gains the attention of various women. There was this one woman (D.D.) who he liked but she initially rejected him (Montreal). The woman came back to him for his fame status and evidently fell in love with him (Outside), but now that he’s got the upper hand he treats him like a groupie (XO/The Host) and lets... bad things happen to her; she’s gotta pass a test before she can get with him. This test is either drugs or his crew (Initiation). He ultimately tells this woman that he’s not exactly longterm-relationship material, perhaps because her love is temporary (Same Old Song), because he’s Next. With the end of Echoes of Silence (originally ending on the title track) the listener is left to wonder why The Weeknd left her if he’d simply want her to stay.
As a side note— Initiation should not be condoned. It remains true that The Weeknd is a songwriter and the progression of time has changed perspectives. But a song that makes such suggestions as Initiation should not be ethically/morally claimed or celebrated.
The mixtape follows The Weeknd’s lifestyle after he’s gained all this success, he’s still the same person but now he’s gotten everything he wanted. Some tracks such as The Fall continue to emphasize his journey into stardom and his acceptance of fame being temporary. With the added Till Dawn (Here Comes The Sun), The Weeknd acknowledges the changes in his life, realizing that the old lifestyle is no longer there for him or his past lovers.
Echoes of Silence is known as an underrated gem of The Weeknd’s discography, it’s well received by fans and critically acclaimed but often brushed under the rug in discussion of his work. A lot of fans and casual listeners play the mixtapes through Trilogy rather than their respective albums. This often leads to people not playing EoS either at all or only the first few tracks, this is predominantly due to the nature of the compilation being nearly three hours long.
Fun fact— D.D. is a cover of Michael Jackson’s iconic Dirty Diana. Fans have named the woman in Echoes of Silence Diana because of this track. Various theories argue that the mixtape itself is based on the Dirty Diana itself with exaggerations of the truth, or whether or not it’s a story The Weeknd crafted based on the song.

Trilogy.

Rolling Stone video doubled as a shoot

You don’t know what’s in store. (High For This.)

Trilogy is a compilation of The Weeknd’s mixtapes, House of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes of Silence. These three mixtapes were released 3-4 months apart from one another for free digital download in 2011, they gained quite a lot of attention from various industry executives.
Prior to the release of Trilogy, The Weeknd featured on Drake’s Take Care with Crew Love. The song was Abel’s first exposure to a Rap crowd/Rap fans, more people began listening to his music after the release of Take Care. The Weeknd then featured on Wiz Khalifa’s Remember You, which served as the second single off Wiz Khalifa’s O.N.I.F.C. Following those two releases, The Weeknd released Wicked Games as the first single off Trilogy.
Trilogy was formed after The Weeknd came under Republic Records’ management. The compilation album reached a debut/peak position of 4 on the Billboard 200 while reaching number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It’s a well received album with the highlight said to be House of Balloons, which arguably went on to influence various sorts of R&B music of the 2010s.
Videos for Trilogy

Kiss Land.

Iconic

I went from starin' at the same four walls for 21 years. To seein' the whole world in just 12 months. (Kiss Land)

Kiss Land is based on The Weeknd’s tour life. Visiting unfamiliar places gave Abel horror movie vibes. A guy who used to own the city (Toronto) he lived in is now a small fish in the ocean of the entire world. The Weeknd’s first studio album was a great introduction into the sound he would soon get well acquainted with.
While continuing the R&B sound with the essence of Dark Wave, the album explores emptiness and regret throughout the lyrics—or what pop fans could categorize as dark pop—. The Japanese aesthetic used for various videos and the single covers/booklet reflects the themes of feeling overwhelmed by such a loud world that there’s no point in being if you don’t belong.
The album explores the real-world and the women in it as well as regrets regarding past actions, namely letting go of women who could’ve been the one in Adaptation. The Weeknd attempts to find that satisfaction in other women and past lovers, but accidentally falls for a sex worker in Belong To The World. With Wanderlust he accepts and expresses that love in the modern world isn’t entirely possible. While continuing to tour the world he enjoys these new experiences with XO (Live For feat. Drake), as well as the new women in his life (Kiss Land). And when he’s back home, he accepts the loss of the relationship he cherished.
Kiss Land debuted and peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. It was fairly acclaimed but gained a massive cult following. There were four videos for made for the album, the title track, Belong To the World, Live For (feat. Drake), and Pretty. Those four songs received interesting visuals that kept up with their respective themes while Belong To the World/Kiss Land got visuals that matched the aesthetic of the album. To this day fans ask Abel for a part two to the horror-movie-inspired album after he said it’s the only album he would have a sequel for.
Videos for Kiss Land
Fun Fact— The video for Kiss Land on YouTube is an extremely edited version of the actual video shot for the song. The directors cut further explores the erotic-horror themes if the album.

King of the Fall.

King of the Fall 2020 cover (even though I talk about three other songs here)

Driving by the streets we used to walk through like a triumph. (King of the Fall)

These next few song were released between the Kiss Land and Beauty Behind the Madness era. Some fans would classify them as part of the Beauty Behind the Madness era—I’d say the same tbh—but they stand apart on the basis of success and acclaim. It’s a transition between The Weeknd being an underrated R&B musician to being a mainstream artist with massive recognition and appreciation.
The first of these four songs is King of the Fall. A fan favourite and a standout in The Weeknd’s discography. This is one of The Weeknd’s few Rap tracks, it gained a lot of attention within the Rap sphere. It was the way in which XO would announce that they’ve made it, little did they know that this was just the start.
Prior to the release of Beauty Behind the Madness (BBTM), The Weeknd gained mainstream attention. The Weeknd’s exposure to mainstream music was uphill, it wasn’t overnight. The first taste of BBTM came from Often, a song that reflected the themes of sex that Abel was known for. The track was released more than a year before BBTM’s release and had made it onto the trackless unlike King of the Fall. Slowly but surely The Weeknd gained exposure, his main sources of exposure were through a collaboration and a soundtrack.
Most pop fans heard about The Weeknd through his hit collaboration with Ariana Grande, Love Me Harder. The collab was made through Republic when The Weeknd said he wanted more than what he had gotten through Kiss Land. Ariana and Abel had formed a real bond cough The Hills cough, their bond assisted the song in becoming a memorable hit for both artists. Love Me Harder was a top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Later that year, The Weeknd was featured on the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack with Earned It, as well as Where You Belong. Earned It became a massive hit peaking at 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and receiving an Oscar nomination for The Weeknd; a massive milestone for XO. Earned It kept up with Abel’s signature lyrics but the production differed heavily from the sort of R&B he was known for.
Videos from that era

Beauty Behind the Madness.

I can hear this image

I'm that ***** with the hair singin' 'bout poppin' pills, fuckin' bitches, livin' life so trill. (Tell Your Friends)

Following the success of Love Me Harder and Earned It, the Beauty Behind the Madness era began with The Hills. This was The Weeknd’s first number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Along with the video, The Hills became an addictive classic. The production and lyrics mirror a mature version of the sound that was originally found on Trilogy. It was truly in keeping with The Weeknd’s character, the only difference was his haircut.
Next came Can’t Feel My Face, a Max Martin production that differed greatly from anything The Weeknd put out in the past. In past songs, Abel had expressed his fear of losing his following if he went mainstream simultaneously asking his fans if they’d stay. He repeats that sentiment in the Can’t Feel My Face video. The sound has changed, the lyrics stay the same but now he’s a pop-star. The song became a hit as it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. With this massive bop previous fans still stayed, The Weeknd becoming a pop singer didn’t at all alter his image or sound; he mastered it.
In The Night and Acquainted were released as singles on the same day, the were the only singles to come after the release of Beauty Behind The Madness. The former received a music video treatment that followed the theme of the song itself while also starring Abel’s girlfriend at the time, Bella Hadid. Acquainted was robbed of a video even though Abel had shown off the fact that a video was in development; the song kept in the tone of The Weeknd’s work prior to BBTM.
Beauty Behind the Madness captures a Hollywood-based reality that The Weeknd came to understand: the dark aspects of your life will continue to follow you wherever you are. Real Life, Losers (feat. Labrinth), Tell Your Friends, Dark Times (feat. Ed Sheeran), and Prisoner (feat. Lana Del Rey) all capture a nihilistic view of a dream achieved.
Most of the videos of Beauty Behind The Madness have a mysterious white man. He’s featured in The Hills, Can’t Feel My Face, and Tell Your Friends. That man represents the devil. Throughout his journey in those videos, (The Hills) Abel runs into the devil after his car crash, (Can’t Feel My Face) he’s at the club then lights him on fire. The significance behind the fire could be selling his soul to the devil, BBTM is about Hollywood and a popular Hollywood myth is that celebrities sell their souls to the devil in exchange for fame. So in the Can’t Feel My Face video, Abel changes his sound to Pop (from R&B) thus leaving his signature sound in order to become famous, everyone starts enjoying his music once he’s sold his soul.
Then we see The Weeknd burying himself in Tell Your Friends, perhaps leaving the old Abel behind after the deal with the devil. However, instead of thanking the devil, Abel takes his revenge and shoots him. But wait, there’s more! The album trailer for BBTM features the devil burning a billboard with The Weeknd’s face on it, revealing Beauty Behind The Madness. HOWEVER, the final cut for the video features the devil being arrested while The Weeknd watches. This is a more realistic form of karma that the devil gets.
Videos for BBTM

Starboy.

Filled with bops

If I could, I'd trade it all, trade it for a halo. And she said that she'll pray for me, I said, "It's too late for me.” (Ordinary Life)

After the massive success of Beauty Behind the Madness, there was a lot of hype around what The Weeknd would do next; evidently he decided to explore Pop. The fandom he had gained wasn’t entirely based in the Pop sphere, his fans consisted of general Rap fans, but Starboy attracted the Pop audience.
Initially, most of his older fans couldn’t get behind Starboy, it differed greatly from the previous sound. It was crazy to think that the guy who made Trilogy managed to make such a Pop-centric album. But this was Abel expressing his versatility.
Since this is where most pop fans found out about Abel’s work and became fans I won’t talk too much about the singles, rather more about the album itself. His work with Daft Punk cemented this album in an efficient mix between Pop and R&B, where Beauty Behind the Madness was more R&B with Pop, Starboy was considered Pop with R&B.
Beyond the genres, Starboy explores two evident themes. One being his life with fame and recognition. The next being his love life in Hollywood, this aspect of the album came from his relationship with Bella Hadid which ended after the release of the album.
The cross became the symbol for that era and appeared in the album’s photoshoot as well as the videos. There was never any conclusive word on the use of the cross but there are various theories about it, something to note is that Abel was raised Christian, it could perhaps be a reflection of his past.
The cross he uses to destroy his accolades (Starboy video) is assisting him rather than something that’s holding him back. Abel’s upbringing was rough but now he’s celebrating it rather than feeling bad for himself. The cross continues to come up in the Party Monster video, this time it’s in the party house he’s making his way through. Then it shows up in the video for Reminder, this time in the form of his merch, the people wearing it are perhaps representative of his fans. Then we see it in the False Alarm video, both Abel and the girl are wearing it; the notable thing being that Abel holds his cross up before dying. Then in the brilliant video for Secrets, after giving up on the girl he’s with he leaves the building to find a giant cross. And finally in the I Feel It Coming video, The Weeknd sports a shiny cross necklace, and Daft Punk find it years and years after Abel froze.
The videos tell us that the cross is an evident piece of his story. This could mean that his past will always be with him, no matter what sort of fame he’s experiencing he’ll always be who he once was.
Also, I’m gonna take this moment to once again the genius that is the Secrets (both the song and the video). Yes it’s my favourite song/video off of Starboy but it’s so underrated.
Videos for Starboy, Secrets video bottom right
Fun Fact— Most demos of the tracks on Starboy weren’t as pop as they became, they started off R&B but became pop after production.

My Dear Melancholy.

Note the comma

They said our love is just a game, I don't care what they say. But I'ma drink the pain away, I'll be back to my old ways. (Privilege)

Oof (but in a good way, this whole thing is a bop). For this one I’m gonna talk extensively about The Weeknd’s relationships, which personally feels really invasive but it’s but it’s essential when talking about these sad boy anthems. Beyond that I’d just like to state that though they are part of the narrative both Bella Hadid and Selena Gomez deserve respect/privacy.
So when it comes to Pop music fans I think it’s safe to say that we all know a lot about this one. My Dear Melancholy (MDM) came after the very public relationship of The Weeknd and Selena Gomez. However it’s not just about Selena, some songs reflect his relationship with Bella Hadid (whom he got back with a month after MDM’s release).
My Dear Melancholy consists with The Weeknd’s exploration/mastery of merging Pop and R&B together. The EP was praised by fans for its lyrics and production, many went on to theorize that it was his most personal project since House of Balloons. The EP was the shortest album to reach number one on the Billboard 200.
My Dear Melancholy and fan conspiracies; name a better duo. The first theory being that the EP is entirely about Selena Gomez which wasn’t too much of a mystery since the lyric “I almost cut a piece of myself for your life” exists. Not only did MDM come after Abel’s relationship with Selena Gomez but also after his relationship with Bella Hadid. As far as fans were aware those two relationships were the most important relationships Abel had ever been in.
In theory, the songs about Bella and Selena can be categorized. Call Out My Name, Try Me, and Privilege are likely about Selena. Wasted Times, and Hurt You are likely about Bella. Leaving I Was Never There to act as an introspective look into The Weeknd’s life, basically making him hop back on his vices for comfort.
Another popular theory was that My Dear Melancholy was the first of another trilogy. This rumour was widely believed due to the comma at the end of the title on the album cover. But the fans soon gained a real reason to believe this theory, since the CEO of XO (the record label), Sal had liked an Instagram post that featured the cover and alleged date. Since Trilogy is a fan favourite this conspiracy spread like wild fire, so much so that fake titles and covers were made. The name of this trilogy would be: (1)My Dear Melancholy, (2)We’re Alone Together, (3)Abel.
Only one song served as a single for the EP. Call Out My Name was released nearly two months prior to the actual release of the album, it debuted/peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The mysterious video captures The Weeknd in various atmospheric places that reflect the tone of the EP, a haunting yet unexplained reality that the listener is to reflect on.
From the cover, to the music, to the video, to lyrics, My Dear Melancholy is an introspective reflection of heartbreak.
Call out my name video

After Hours.

Talented, Brilliant, Incredible, etc.

My darkest hours. (After Hours)

After Hours comes after success but references two lows in The Weeknd’s life. The album welcomes darkness and leads the listener towards a dead-end. The Weeknd’s past two albums (Beauty Behind The Madness and Starboy) ended on hopeful notes, they left the listener with a sense of hope but all hope his lost with After Hours.
Fans compare After Hours to House of Balloons—a rare occurrence considering House of Balloons’ acclaim—arguing that both albums are on the same level. Debate continues on whether or not both albums are on the same caliber. The belief that After Hours stems from reality does a lot to help its side of the argument.
The era began with Mercedes-Benz commercial that featured Blinding Lights, that was our first taste of the everlasting bop. Heartless was premiered on an episode of Memento Mori hours before its release on the 27 of November (2019), Blinding Lights was released two days later. Both videos were as brain melting as promised and the served as the tip of the iceberg.
After Hours was released nine days after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, there was a massive risk in releasing an album that would not have a lot of promotion after it’s release (other than magazine coverage). There was no telling whether or not people would pay attention to the album during the height of the fear surrounding the pandemic, but it was a massive success. After Hours debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with singles Heartless and Blinding Lights topping the Billboard Hot 100.
The album is layered with haunting productions that remains predominantly R&B but dives deep into Pop with some of the tracks. Max Martin produced the massive hit Blinding Lights as well as In Your Eyes, Save Your Tears, Hardest to Love, and Scared to Live which samples Elton John’s Your Song. Other notable producers include Metro Boomin who worked on the hit Heartless as well as Escape from LA, Faith, and Until I Bleed Out. With Kevin Parker on the interlude Repeat After Me.
Beyond the production are the narrative driven lyrics. In theory the album references two significant events in Abel’s life, his second breakup with Bella Hadid and his arrest in Las Vegas. The latter was due to his misbehaviour; in January 2015 he punched a cop in Vegas, lmao. Which means that After Hours is a recollection of The Weeknd’s first few years in LA. He merges the concept of his breakup with the idea of being an upcoming star, feeling free in the city of lights all while diving deep into the meaninglessness of those lights.
While After Hours starts with loneliness and a second chance it leads up to Abel returning to his vices of lust. In Alone Again his loneliness caught up to him and he’s asking for a second chance. He acknowledges his mistakes and situation in Too Late/Hardest to Love, in Scared to Live his ex then returns to him for a second time. He remembers his past ways in Snowchild and the way in which it lead to better days, but where do you go after such highs? In Escape From LA he faces the superficial reality of Hollywood, glad that he got that he got back with his ex, while continuing to question if it’s worth it. But he fucks up the second chance when she pulls up to the studio.
Who is she? Much like the other mysteries surrounding The Weeknd’s music, we may never know. Is it all more of The Weeknd’s songwriting ability or is it driven by reality? Fans found a merge between the two to be more accurate, After Hours is about heartbreak and a return to the vices that held The Weeknd back.
Heartless is when The Weeknd is once again back to his ways, he may have been in a serious relationship but after throwing that away he spirals back to the way he once was. It’s sad but it’s one hell of a song. Speaking of brilliant songs, Faith is when Abel admits that he’s back on his vices, he states that he needs his ex back with him till the end; he’s back to self-loathing.
So when he says he’s blinded by the lights, there’s two meanings to it. The Faith outro tells us that he’s in a car with flashing lights, a cop car (as confirmed by Abel) to be exact. Then Blinding Lights tells us that while he’s watching the bright lights of Vegas pass him by he calls out for the girl that he regrets losing. That is the peak of the After Hours narrative. He’s behaving badly over the loss of the girl he loved and is now at the worst position trying to find her and gain her trust for a third time.
Following Blinding Lights is In Your Eyes, this is where The Weeknd vows not to judge her; he can see right through her but will never do anything to make her upset. Does this mean their back together? Not exactly. Save Your Tears details a sort of moving-on that The Weeknd isn’t ready for but tries to help her move on, blind to his own inability to move on. Does it work? Not really. Repeat After Me (Interlude) shows that he’s still trying to convince himself that he’s unfazed by the loss of a meaningful relationship.
Then you hear a true masterpiece. The title track is a spiral into true regret and an apology for his actions, he admits that his ex girlfriend is the only reason he lives. In a dark lonely city she’s the only one keeping him sane. But his pleas fail, Until I Bleed Out is when The Weeknd no longer wants her in his life so much so that he wants to erase his memory of anything related to her. The bonus tracks then echo the final sentiment.
It’s one sad ass album, ain’t it. But here’s where the Red Suit Character comes in.
Shoutout to the makeup department
The album isn’t the only narrative to follow with After Hours. The videos for the album follow their own sort of narrative. The story follows an unnamed guy that goes by “red suit character” according to The Weeknd.
There’s a lot of confusion and endless theories surrounding this character’s story, after The Weeknd confirmed that it’s about a decent into Hollywood culture it makes more sense… kind of. I’m gonna discuss the storyline without talking about the movies that have influenced it, this way the focus remains on the character.
The order of these videos is Heartless / Blinding Lights / Blinding Lights (Live on Kimmel)* / After Hours short film / In Your Eyes / Until I Bleed Out / Snowchild / Too Late / Live at AMAs* / Save Your Tears
*Though all live performances could count as part of the narrative, these one relate directly with the videos that follow.
He’s is first seen in Vegas with Metro Boomin (Heartless), intoxicated on various substances. He dives deeper into his high until he licks a frog, after that he faces the true effects of this high. He’s frightened by the result and runs far away from Vegas. (Blinding Lights) He’s then found in LA, where he’s dancing in the street, hypnotized by the singer, beat up by guards, and races past all those bright lights in his Benz. Ultimately realizing the shallowness of the Los Angeles fantasy.
(Blinding Lights Live on Kimmel) We then find him performing Blinding Lights live, while he attempts to find more reason in within the madness city; he couldn’t find it on the streets so he goes to the stage. (After Hours short film) Even then there’s no meaning to anything in the city, he mindlessly wanders into the depth of the subway where he’s dragged by the reality of it all and ends up possessed. (In Your Eyes) After being possessed he chases the woman whose boyfriend he just murdered, she runs into a club falls deeper into the After Hours fantasy, in a successful attempt to defend herself she beheads the red suit character and dances all over LA with his head, iconic behaviour.
(Until I Bleed Out) Then in an ethereal dreamscape, red suit character finds himself in a House of Balloons. He’s trying to escape, but the people there keep pulling him in; he’s getting higher while observing Glass Table Girls. He spirals into the antarctic, the other side of the world. From Heatless to this point in his story, his vices lead him back to the lowest point in Abel’s life. Is it Hell, Heaven or Las Vegas? (Snowchild) He relives his career up until the point where his story began. Considering he’s dead, his life basically flashed before his eyes.
(Too Late) LA girls find the red suit character’s head and live their best life. They wanna have sex with him so they find the best boy parts by calling up a stripper who could be the body. The stitch the head up with the body and do what they want. But now he’s brought back to life. (Live at AMAs) He’s had work done… He went in to get his nose fixed and the doctor said “you sure that’s all you want?” The red suit character’s face is healing while he tries to celebrate his life on top of a bridge.
(Save Your Tears) Surrounded by a masked cult he debut’s his new face. Do they like it? Are they impressed? Not instantly, their masks translate no expression so how’s he to know? Is any of this worth it? Nope red suit character continues to die inside. He finds a maskless girl in the crowd, she’s lively unlike the rest; but even then, nothing on the inside nothing on the outside. He wants death again, somehow a second chance with this city is still pointless. He tries to kill himself via the girl and himself but it’s all a facade; theatrics.
His story continues but that’s all we know so far.
The videos make a lot of film references. This post by explain these references very well, as well as past album references here (part one) and here (part two).
After Hours is inspired by a lot of movies, since Abel is in fact a cinephile. The main movies that inspired the aesthetic and storytelling are believed to be Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Casino (1995), Joker (2019), Uncut Gems (2020), and After Hours (1985). The album tells two sad narratives but remains one of The Weeknd’s best works yet. He’s expanded his videography and enhanced the interest of people who casually enjoy his music and of course his fans.
But the era isn’t over, by the time this is posted his Super Bowl Halftime show is yet to happen. And it’ll continue the red suit character’s story.
Videos for After Hours (so far)
Fun Fact—The Heartless video features a reference to Thursday. When he’s trying to run from Vegas, a sign behind him flashes “Heartless / Heaven or Las Vegas.” This could be a reference to Abel running from his past, after all Heartless is about him returning to his vices.

END.

Thank you for reading this, again, I didn’t realize it would end up being this long. But I hope this this served as a nice refresher for any fans who wanted to revisit Abel’s work before the Super Bowl.
And I really hope that anyone interested in getting into his music finds this helpful. Once again, the theories/interpretations mentioned aren’t conclusive, they’re widely based on fan discussion/mutual interpretation.
Due to the character limit I couldn’t add too links to the albums, so here are some artist links.
Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube | The Weeknd’s Shop | Tidal | Genius

After today I never want to buy name brand again... (RepFam discovery story)

I don't mean to sound too dramatic but today I had one of worst shopping experiences of my life. It was down right embarrassing and would not end. Looking back on it, I can't help but wonder if I was on the set of some TV show. Anyways there are some things about me I feel you should know before I begin: I grew up poor. I'm in college. I'm smart with my money and usually buy things on sale. Now if any of that sounded crazy or upset you, you should probably go to the Adidas outlet and polish the floor with your tongue because that's where our story takes place and it's also where you belong.
Going to outlet stores is a normal practice for me when I want new shoes or clothes because the products cost less and you can find great deals. My local Adidas outlet is known to carry Yeezy products from time to time so I'm always excited to check and see what they have. Upon entering the store, I squeezed past a woman who smelled like she smokes a pack an hour, cursing at her toddler for spilling gumballs all over the floor. Today it seemed like they were having a "Buy two, get one free" deal on every item in the store. Sweet! Before I started picking things out, I walked over to their hype section to see what they had. After moving around some boxes, to my surprise I found a pair of Inertias. Last time I came, they only had a couple of Desert Rats. 700s aren't entirely my kind of shoe but that didn't matter because there was only one pair and they weren't my size. However , I picked them up as a bday present because they were my girlfriend's size and she's talked about liking them in the past. At this point I was ready to just checkout and leave with the shoes. I was about to buy some Yeezys for RETAIL for the love of my life. Pure sunshine poured out of my eyes and I sported a smile as wide as Anthony Davis's unibrow. Nothing could kill my mood, or so I thought.
It only lasted a couple seconds until I noticed every employee in the store was glaring at me like I was scum on Earth. I honestly can't describe in words how much tension there was in that store. The way the employees were positioned made it feel like a movie. Multiple guards, blocking me from getting to the register. I tried to ignore them on my walk to the register and was immediately bombarded with comments and questions. "Yo homie, I don't think those are your size. If you want I can measure your feet for you". "Did you know we have a 3 for 2 sale going on right now?". "We just got some Adidas techwear in" , "Is there anything I can help you with today". I awkwardly brushed them off and finally got to the register to pay for the shoes. Now this is the part that got me angry. When I put the shoes on the register, the cashier paused, pulled out his phone, went on Stock X then told me the shoes would be 600 dollars. I'll have you know, there was literally a price sticker ON THE BOX THAT SAID $300. After calling him out on his BS, he immediately became hostile and told me there was an employee code on the side of the box that he looked up and that the sticker on the box was from another shoe. This almost made my soul leave my body. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. On a bad day, I might have believed him if I hadn't seen the StockX website on his phone on the reflection of the mirror he was standing in front of. (also saw it on the reflection of his glasses) After calling him out a second time he gets on the intercom, calls his manager and says on the phone for the entire store to hear, "we have another begger at the front" Great, now everyone in the store is staring at me. My anger turned to embarrassment and I could feel my cheeks burning from blushing. The manager waddled out of the back room, shouted at me for being "being broke" and "asking for handouts" for a hot minute while I tried to explain the situation. He pulled the, "are you calling my employee a liar?" card, took the shoes and waddled back to wherever he came from with them. I was left with no shoes and a bunch of smirking Adidas employees so I left quickly and made a smooth exit....which is what I wish I could say.
Remember that kid from the beginning? It's ok if you don't, because I definitely do. While storming out, I slipped on one of his steel, jumbo gumballs and landed flat on my back. I just laid there for a couple seconds in pain , until an Angel of the Lord appeared and offered me a helping a hand. Who knew Angels wore all black and Travis Scott SB Dunk lows. He asked me if I was ok and started walking with me along the strip outside. After a little chatting we got to laughing about what happened in the store and he told me how much he hated the place. I was a little confused because he was in the store as well but he explained he was just picking up an online order for a friend and was now waiting to be picked up. I decided to wait with my savior until then and found a nice spot to sit down. He caught me staring at his shoes and asked if I wanted to get a closer look, already taking one of them off. I thought it was strange at first but little did I know he had great plans for me. After nerding out over the shoes, I handed them back and he casually said, "Yea they aren't real". My jaw dropped and he was cheesing it up. You guys probably already know this but they were perfect. I didn't know fakes could be this high quality. I wish I could've gotten more information but his ride pulled up and cut our conversation short. He could see my interest and one of the last words he said was to google "repfam". I did just that and here I am writing this super long Ted Talk.
Bro, if you're reading this, I really appreciate you vibing with me for a little bit after that circus show. DM me so we can exchange contact information! I could kick myself for not getting your number.
Anyways, if you made it this far into this story, I really appreciate it! It took a long time to write this all down. As far as my Rep journey goes. I'm not really sure where to start. I'm seeing alot of DHgate videos on YouTube so I'll probably start there and get some lowkey pieces and work my way up!
Quick side note: I by no means have money to be dropping $300 on a pair of shoes like that. I put a small amount of my paycheck aside to get my family and friends gifts. (Usually just get my mom things to help out) Just wanted to clarify that because I take pride in my frugality. I'm budgeting now to give myself a brighter future and all that good stuff. If I was able to get those shoes, I wouldn't be buying myself stuff for a while.
TLDR: Terrible shopping experience. A repfam member appeared from the shadows, showing me kindness and putting me on.
Edit: Thanks to everyone reaching out and being so open to a complete beginner! With your advice, I will not be purchasing my first reps from DHgate. I appreciate all the tips! Scokui Thanks for silver <3
Edit 2: GEEZ I didn't expect so many people to read such a long post. Thank you to everyone who is reaching out advice on replicas and the situation, I appreciate it. Originally I wasn't going to do anything because I'm more of a forgive and forget kind of person and I have bigger things to deal with at the moment. However, your comments motivated me in telling someone who would, my mom. I told her this morning and I'm pretty sure it ruined her day but she's going to email, call cooperate and I wouldn't be surprised if she sent heat seeking missile to the store. If anything significant happens, I'll update the post for now, I'll just chatting it up in the comments and dms. <3
Edit 3: I just checked my DMs. I have about 15 people telling me that they were the guy at the outlet LOL.

How democracy was strangled in it's cradle by two greedy men

During his time as president, Jschlatt was hated, he was seen as a ruthless dictator, and later as a senile tyrant, and I personally think that although this was how he was seen at the moment, the history books will see things significantly differently. This is because, looking in retrospect, Jschlatt was L'Manburg's best president.

Under Jschlatt, L'Manburg was effectively an ascendant power, rising meteorically towards Dream's position as superpower of the server. Although Jschlatt was rather shit internally to be fair, being the reason he is mostly remembered as just some tyrant, Wilbur's significantly more successful (internally) presidency gave him the steam he needed to go for a pretty long while, and had things been different, he could've gone MUCH longer. Why? because while internally he was rather weak, externally he was a juggernaut that literally lost zero battles except the very final one. At every turn, Pogtopia was helped by everyone including the strongest person on the server indirectly and the other strongest person on the server was fighting with them directly. Despite this, Jschlatt managed to keep up the appearance that he was untouchable significantly more effectively than Dream has so far. During his presidency, he consistently outwitted Pogtopia, beat them without even fighting, divided them while punishing a traitor, his attacks against them were calculated, always hitting the mark and doing devastating damage, to the point the leader of the rebellion against him literally turned insane due to a combination of what he did, what he ordered others do, and what a few others he really cared about did. He is titanically underrated in this regard I believe, especially seeing how much praise Dream gets in the meantime doing simpler and normally less effective tactics and even had his plans blow up in his face spectacularly as his oldest allies, George and Sapnap, turned against him due to his plans. Jschlatt was easily Dream's equal in terms of non-combat related warfare, if not his better, and this was massive for L'Manburg.

During Schlatt's presidency, Dream was near totally silent, aside from the few times he showed up to help Pogtopia in their fight against him, and this was very much for a reason. The reason? Jschlatt had Dream in a checkmate the entire time. Was Dream to try something even a QUARTER as disrespectful and aggressive as he did to Tubbo against Jschlatt, he would've been straight up gone to put it bluntly. This is because all Jschlatt needed to create a Manburgian tide of growth was an enemy to rally the people against. If Dream were to make a single move, he would become that threat, and people would much more easily side with Jschlatt, their own president, despite all of his flaws, then with Dream who actively tried to destroy L'Manburg. JSchlatt would've used this to rally the entire nation around him, effectively gaining the support of the nation through Dream. And after that? After that the entire power of the at the time ascendant L'Manburg would've been able to properly barrel down upon Dream, and if he didn't straight up die, he would've been pushed back significantly if not to the point of being incapable of properly full-blown attacking L'Manburg as he just did. L'Manburg would become the de facto superpower of the SMP at that point, with Jschlatt being remembered as the president that transformed Manburg from an upstart rebellion into a proper nation that defeated the strongest military force in the world.

So, the question then, WHO is to blame for L'Manburg becoming a massive crater instead of a superpower? Is it Dream? Maybe Technoblade? No. It's Pogtopia, that's who. Had Wilbur and Tommy been logical, they would've just cut off ties with L'Manburg most likely, or even still continued endorsing it although criticizing Jschlatt's over-authoritarianism if they truly cared about the nation they had built and it's stability. What did they do instead? They started a bloody revolution against the just and fairly elected president because they didn't like the fact that the nation THEY built was being run by someone else and they were forced outside of it. And in the end, I think this was the very reason Schlatt even exiled them in the first place. He knew they wouldn't accept their defeat, and wanted them as far away as possible to ensure they'd have as little influence as possible in screwing with his presidency. And the worst part is this is barely the surface of the pogger egoism and greed that caused the fall of L'Manburg.

Due to Pogtopia, Dream had an outlet to attack the ascendant and now unable to be attacked by normal means Manburg through them. With his support, they unraveled the power of the nation, they kept on feeding the nation about how tyrannical and terrible he is, and because of their revolution, many were spies secretly against Schlatt instead of true loyal citizens as they should've been. Due to this, instead of pushing outwards, putting Dream on the backfoot for once, Schlatt was forced to keep on fighting against the pogger threat on the inside that kept on trying to take over his nation that he lawfully became president of because they wouldn't accept him. The entire pogger rebellion only used up Manburgian resources, effectively wasted them against an internal threat that didn't need to exist. With this, Manburg's growth was slowed down significantly, it's power weakened, and slowly but surely most of the citizens started supporting the rebellion.

This, this was the first strike to L'Manburg's power and the first tightening of the grip onto the neck of democracy within it's cradle, but had this been all, L'Manburg could've likely continued, still beaten back Dream, still grown into a bastion of freedom for all. The problem? The revolutionaries were ungrateful to easily the most important portion of their entire revolution, Technoblade. Yes, they were not forced to just suddenly create an anarchistic state instead of L'Manburg because Technoblade made a lot of work in the name of the revolution WITHOUT asking them. Yes, they made all of their points about wanting to just take over the government, not destroy it, extremely clear to Technoblade. However, this does not excuse or make what they did any less ungrateful and stupid. What they should've done? A compromise, that would've been the easiest way to fix all of the problems really. Some say that Technoblade wasn't willing to compromise, that he would've wanted only anarchy and nothing else would've satisfied him. That, however, I believe to be wrong. I think that had the poggers done something as simple as waiting a bit before recreating the government, seeing what everyone thought of the old administration and genuinely trying to keep the mistakes of the past from happening again, they could've then created a direct democracy instead of a representative democracy with a president dictator as it has always been currently. Had they changed it to a direct democracy, it would've shown Technoblade that he was not merely a weapon to them, that they genuinely did listen to him and didn't want a repeat of what had just happened, and that they appreciated all of the hard work he'd put in for them. Not only that, but a direct democracy would've significantly changed Techno's perspective on L'Manburg, as now it would truly be a significantly freer country, where although laws exist, they are created by the people for the people, voted upon by everybody, with any "president" being more a figurehead of the state instead of a dictator. This would be a significantly better government in Technoblade's eyes most certainly, and could be seen as a compromise between the dictator president of old l'manburg and Technoblade's idea of anarchy. Had this happened, it's likely either 1. Wilbur wouldn't have been able to/wanted to blow it all up or 2. Technoblade would've stayed with them and helped them rebuild, making the rebuilding process and everything after significantly better and easier.

However, here was not the killing blow dealt by the poggers either. This significantly weakened L'Manburg as it was blown up and the strongest players on the server attacked them. While Jschlatt being overthrown transformed L'Manburg from a meteoric ascandant power into merely an ascendant power, this effectively broke it's back. However, it could've recovered, hell, in both scenarios had the pogtopian rebellion not been the way it was, it could've even built itself back up into the meteoric ascendancy it had previously reached. The problem, however, was Tubbo.

Tubbo, effectively, was the exact opposite of Jschlatt. Whereas Jschlatt was a stubborn, powerful ruler who kept all external threats at bay and even on the backfoot constantly, a heavily underappreciated ruler who didn't have his people's support even after all he fought for them and could've sent them into a genuine golden age; Tubbo had the total support of the nation, hell, he was L'Manburg's innocent golden boy and, after the festival, it's martyr too, but he was like a goddamn slug with how much he lacked any bones, ESPECIALLY a backbone. During Tubbo's presidency L'Manburg went into a meteoric dive downwards. He had good intentions, I'll give him that, but you can't just coast off of good intentions while being a terrible president. His biggest mistake was giving in to Dream the very first time, when exiling Tommy. Dream had puffed hot air about how he'd destroy L'Manburg, but he was still weak after Jschlatt's presidency, not to mention doing what he threatened would put a target on his back for literally everyone, ESPECIALLY Technoblade, to attack him. His threats were empty and full of lies, and Tommy's proposal of trying to get Technoblade on their side was easily the best chance they had even without this. Despite all of this, Tubbo chose to grow a backbone for exactly one second for his entire presidency, and why? Because of a single damned sentence from Dream, because of just a single sentence, he went against what everyone advised him to do, and while claiming that he was choosing "The only logical option, the best option", he was in truth making the most illogical choice possible and thinking with his heart more than his brain, wanting to prove that he was nobody's puppet while playing along to Dream's tune like a muppet. Because of this decision, for the rest of his presidency Tubbo became an actual puppet because his best friend on the council that was protecting him was gone, leaving him ripe for everybody else's influence

His second mistake and another sign of ungratefulness during his presidency? Agreeing to the butcher army. By this point, he was completely a puppet of the council, especially Quackity, and this was also a titanic mistake of his presidency. By this time, Techno had swore off violence,went extremely far away from L'Manburg, and was a complete non-threat at the moment. The smart move would've been to simply accept that he had changed and let him be. It doesn't matter if you think he betrayed them or they betrayed him in this situation, what matters is that had the butcher army not done the things it did, Techno would no longer have a justification to fight them, Philza would just literally be on their side and would likely keep Techno at bay, as he'd have no reason to dislike the L'Manburg government without them raiding his house and putting him under house arrest for not telling them where Techno was, proving how they were becoming more corrupt. With this, it's even possibly Techno would've never gone against L'Manburg, which would've significantly hurt Dream's plans. Even worse, it's likely Techno would've focused on his plans of creating a anarchist utopia in the arctic to prove that he was right. With this being his main goal, Tommy (who shouldn't have been exiled, as I just said) wouldn't have any reason to betray Techno, as he would just be vibing in the arctic not minding L'Manburg, and even if he did go back to L'Manburg it would be significantly less hurtful to Techno and wouldn't cause him to team with Dream. At worst, this just puts Technoblade out of the picture. At best, this puts Technoblade effectively WITH L'Manburg in fighting Dream because he would still be helping Tommy get his discs back. Instead, due to Tubbo being such a carpet and a puppet, the butcher army was founded, which ended up resulting in Technoblade and Philza fighting against them.
In the end, it should be rathe obvious that Tubbo's presidency was monstrously terrible, and it was L'Manburg's killing blow, by this point, L'Manburg was doomed to be destroyed.

To put just how fucked this is into perspective, let's look at an alternate world: Let us assume that Tommy and Wilbur weren't so selfish and greedy, and they chose to still actively endorse L'Manburg even if they disagreed with the way Jschlatt did things, because they didn't care about him, they cared about the nation they had built, and if there was a way to get back into it later while still currently helping it, they should take it, after all, there will still be elections eventually, and if Jschlatt pushes too far they can even work to demand new elections somewhere approximately as long as it had taken Wilbur to do some elections himself.

With this, Dream is incapable of indirectly attacking L'Manburg by supporting Pogtopia, because it does not exist, at least not as a rebellion, just a little home for Tommy and Wilbur while they wait in exile for someone to beat Schlatt in the next election and unexile them. Thus, Dream is forced to make a move, lest he keep himself in this checkmate position while Jschlatt has free reign to do whatever he wants and push him back further and further into a corner. If L'Manburg is blown up again or not, I do not know, all I know is that whatever he would do, it would rally Manburg against him, as it's citizens would see the threat Dream poses to their livelihood as significantly worse than Jschlatt's almost certainly temporary tyranny, and thus the nation would rally behind him.

With this, L'Manburg is able to begin pushing Dream backwards further and further with Jschlatt at it's helm directing all of Manburg's constantly growing strength against Dream, which as stated further above, JSchlatt would likely win against Dream in this matchup against Dream with Manburg's full support and resources at his disposal, after all, in our timeline Jschlatt had no resources or support but still won literally every battle (as far as I'm aware) against Pogtopia, which had Technoblade in it which is a arguable rather bad opponent knowing how hard the man can tunnel vision. Also another side-effect of Tommy and Wilbur simply not being so selfish after their exile, Technobldae never joins, this meaning that Dream is the only giant threat to them and there is never the possibility of the double whammy Techno-Dream team-up we just had.

By the end of this all, Dream would've been either pushed to the very brink or outright defeated to the point where he wouldn't be able to do anything at all against anybody, especially Manburg. Meanwhile, Jschlatt would be remembered as Manburg's very best president that took Manburg from the fledgeling state it was to a superpower that could take anybody on, in fact, it's likely we could go as far as to see a Schlatt2021 victory in fact, and even see Wilbur and Tommy come back of Schlatt's own accord deciding they aren't a threat really due to their patriotism and due to likely being significantly less stubborn and constantly under the influence of either drugs or alcohol as he was in our timeline due to a significantly better presidency and nobody really betraying him, allowing him to be significantly less on-guard for traitors and more open to suggestions, especially as he'd be significantly happier.

Effectively, TLDR, Schlatt could've made Manburg into a superpower and defeated Dream if people actually supported him, and all it really would've taken for that to happen was Tommy and Wilbur not creating a rebellion instantly after being exiled because they were butthurt they weren't the rulers of L'Manburg anymore. Instead, now after all of the pogtopian traitors have had their way with the fledgling democracy of L'Manburg, what could've been a superpower and bastion of freedom, has been strangled in it's crib by it's very people, and left merely a crater in the ground, a reminder of the greatness that could've been had things been just a bit different, even if you weren't to go with Jschlatt and agree with the pogger rebellion.

"Oh, and your families were killed in front of you" - A story of how I will never trust my friend again with picking roleplays

Hello again, I'm writing this post the second time cus when I was nearly finished with it, my phone crashed on me and I lost everything - so now I'm on my laptop and I can finally make the text nice and pwetty. Anyway. Obligatory "English is not my first language" and "This is a long one bud"; so let's start, shall we?
So, if any of you remember me from my stories or me vibing in the comments, I'm a public DRRPer of 3/4 years with Discord being my one and only platform as of now. I found my community and I get on with everyone there great, even if I'm closer to others more but that's natural, no? Regardless, I need to provide some context as to why I even got myself into this mess.
Back in 2018/2019, I joined a server with few of my friends which solidified our current community and friend group. I've met one of my close friends who we will call K for the sake of anonymity. So, the two of us immediately click and we have a splendid time with our characters and others. His character was a Big Meme Bro type of character while mine was a Sunshine child that didn't know anything better and was just a cinnamon roll, so the two of them grew very close. Everything was ruined though when it was revealed he was the Mastermind, breaking her and me mentally - but it was a great twist, one of the best MMs I've seen in my career so again, gj if you are reading this K - but we decided that we will re-apply them someday so they can just be siblings without any of them being a mastermind or traitor or anything like that; just pure, platonic sibling relationship.
So, our story begins around two weeks ago? At least at the time of making this post. So. I hit a dry wall with RPs as I was only modding my own one and the ones I was in I was either dead in or they have finished - so I started becoming bored and more burnout due to not having a proper way of focusing on something that wasn't college, irl and modding. So, me and K are vibing in VC one night and he mentioned that he found a Summer Resort RP and that he's gonna app his character there - that we will call Kai - and I asked if he ould send me the link too. So I get the link, join the server and o h b o i
The amount of red flags that I've got hit with from the very start is not to be underestimated, ESPECIALLY since they just kept coming and they wouldn't stop coming.
Red flag number 1, Big Trigger List; now, I'm not an asshole, I know people have different lives and different things happened that would make their triggers be triggers, but there's a fine line between a genuine trigger and being ridiculous. In my eyes, if you are in a fandom and your trigger is gore when the fandom and game/book/film/etc is gory, it poses a problem, no? Or when your trigger is simply mentioning a character from that fandom. I am GENUIENLY concerned for anyone who upon seeing name 'Kaede' or 'Kokichi' have a full on panic attack, and I am not meaning to be an ass when I say that if it's something that happens to you you REALLY need to find help. But that's a vent for another time, point is, the trigger list is a long and ridicolous one seeing as this was a DRRP, which is about teens/young adults killing each other in horrible ways and being killed themselves in over the top executions.
Red flag number 2, No Lore Doc; there was no doc or channel telling us about the universe - nothing, nic, nada. We didn't know if the world is in ruin, what year it was, if the events of canon DR were a thing here, what effects did the Season 1 had on the world - there was absolutely nothing to go off of. This will be important later on, so keep this in mind.
Red flag number 3, Google Form Apps; so, for context, there are several ways I saw people app to DRRPs: via a discord message by filling up a template, using google docs or google forms. Now, all oft those have advantages in their own rights, except for Google Forms as let me tell you, they aren't good for apps AT ALL. The word limit is impossible to work with if you are someone that goes into a lot of detail, you need to do everything in one go which is impossible if you are busy, you can't save progress for later nor edit it and you can't access it unless you will be given the perms to see ALL of the forms, and that's not good for obvious reasons. There were several people - along with me - that complained about losing our apps cus of how the forms worked and few even HAD to ping the mod to ask about THEIR character info because they couldn't access their form app.
Red flag number 4, A shitton of bots; not such a big issue, but it makes you wonder why the server needs a bot for everything and yet doesn't have a bot SPECIFICALLY made for DRRPs(Ultimate Assistant is dope and saves so much time, pass it on) especially when one of them just... Randomly reacts to your messages for no reason??? Idk, whenever I see too many bots I just grow sus of the place.
Red flag number 5, Overuse of TupperBox; for those uninitiated, TupperBox is a bot made for roleplaying where you can make your messages have different characters. I don't mind it as much? I know my friends have mixed opinions on it but for me, as long as it's not exsessive and isn't all around the place I can live with it? What's the problem here though is, is that a lot of people useit for OOC chat and it's jsut really, REALLY hard to figure out who the fuck is talking when the only profile that pops up is that of TupperBox.
Red flag number 6, Apps for Protag/Support/Antag; this just screams 'App to have a plot armour of some sort!' to me. Having apps for this just underwhelms the roles in my opinion, cus the characters are supposed to develop or fill those roles naturally, not becuase they apped for it. It's much more satisfying to look at the rp at the end and be like "Wow, this character really was a great antagonist with their development and reasoning". Also, even if they said that they will just "give them things to do", isn't that something the players should instigate? If they are interested in messing up a crime scene, they should go into the DMs and ask if that's possible - at least that's my opinion.
Red flag number 7, My Gut; not a really worthy red flag, but I always trust my gut. Of course, there was one or two instances it was wrong, but usually, it is right when there's a sketchy RP on the horizon.
There were other red flags, but those are all the ones I can remember from the top of my head. But regardless of those, I still decided to app because K said it will be fine and I trusted him with it. So, me, him and three of our other friends - that I will introduce later - decide to app together which creates the meme of our group being called "RP name + DLC" due to the four of us apping charaters from the RP where we all met and our friend just tagging along with their own character. Everyone was getting fishy vibes, but we simply gave the rp BOD, and vibed there.
So, some time passes and I check the general and I see that the host says how they dislike docs, so I both jokingly and genuienly comment that I never seen anyone that disliked Docs so much - because I really never met anyone that felt so strongly about Docs - and the host snapped at me as if I did something wrong? Luckily, K was there to defend me and help escalate the situation down, because knowing me I'd just accidentally snap back at them.
So that was fun; since then, I felt as if I were walking on egg shells, which was both bad for my anxiety but also good overall cus I though that would make me less probable to be accepted, and at that point I just wanted an excuse to fuck right off.
So, the next few days are calm; I'm focusing on a FCFS RP that my friend set up - that is so much more fun than this one, which is ironic without context - as the cast reveal date rolls closer. Me, K, M and S are in VC together, with others that decided to join the server just to spectate it, and are just vibing together when we saw that someone commented something along the lines of "Oh I'm not gonna get in because I didn't write a backstory" and we just looked at it, then at 'eachother' and laughed. I am still dumbfounded as to how can someone forget to write a backstory, especially when the form is forcing you to put something in every category; remember this.
So. Cast rolls around, a bunch of people I don't know and then K's character gets accepted so we woop for him, just for me to see a ping, meaning I also got accepted! Yay, such achievement. Regardless, I go back to the channel just to see something very off.
So, my character has a fake name - who calls their child Fiyu Chimo after all - and she hides it to protect her family from cops and all; I made sure to mention it both on the google doc I initially sent and google form, and yet the host put in her real name. Everyone was so confused cus her new name was a new addition I added to her rewritten and improved version. Adding that to "Secrets that were revealed too soon by the hosts" hole. Regardless, my friends told me to not argue about it because it's not worth it - and quite honestly, they were right, it's not like her name being fake was a big secret, it is rather obvious seeing the name she goes by - and I simply left a snarky comment in the character discussion channel where I wrote "welp, guess thats one secret gone".
So, everything else goes by; the other two people from our friend group get accepted, some other peeps I don't know about and then that guy. What guy? The "I didn't write anything for the backstory" guy. They got in somehow when our friend, S, didn't. As someone who rped with S before and saw his apps, I am CERTAIN that bias caused him to not get in - either that or his character cus he was an antagonist and not a really nice person, but a VERY good character. Anyway, we are laughing about it, congratulating S on escaping the shithole until we see a notification in the general.
What was it, you migth be asking? It was the host pinging S to ask him about his character's name and talent. Apparently one of the accepted decided to immediately dip cus they didn't want to rp, and he got their spot? What's even weird - and became another red flag - was that they literally went into the public chat and asked him for the info that THEY should have; after all, they had his app and all. So, S provides the deets and he's in with the gang. I believe it is the time to introduce the main gang so here we go!
-Fiyu, aka me, Ultimate Chimney Sweeper; -Kai, aka K, Ultimate Memeticist; -Min, aka M, Ultimate Informative Hacktivist; -San, aka S, Ultimte Luck; -Oda, aka P, Ultimate Shogun.
Everyone in this gang got in and we are just screaming internally, but we decide to give this RP a shot and do our best - after all, perhaps it just had rough beginnings? Some RPs I was in had rough beginnings and were awesome at the end. So anyway, I make a relationship chart, some people fill it up, others don't etc etc we vibing and then the RP starts - yesterday, at the time of this post - and we are just sweating internally, ready for everything that could happen.
So, before the prologue happens, we notice that there's a new channel called 'lore', where the host just started to put in the lore. Was it our lore? Nope. It was Season 1 lore. So, few minutes before the RP starts, we just learn there was a killing game before??? And we are like: "uhhh wouldn't everyone know about it then-" but we are too tired by it to question it.
Still no lore for our Season though, but be patient, I'm getting to it.
So, prologue starts - everyone leaves the boat and vibe on the deck. We are allowed to interact for a short while, so I IMMEDIATELY claim Kai seeing as K also wanted to interact with Fiyu - additional person also joined in, who's character we will call Yuu and the admin we will call Y. Apparently, M met them before, and tbh with the time I rped with them, they are such a good person. Probably one of the small number of people that I actually enjoy on that server.
At the same time, we suddenly check a ping in the character discussion, which was from the host themselves. They pinged us to say that everyone is fucking dead. I'm not kidding, they said that all of the characters' families were KILLED in front of them at a very young age, and that was the tipping scale for me. I didn't 'mind' the name being revealed because it wasn't that importnat, but this? OH BOY LEMME TELL YOU A STORY!
So, Fiyu is a very family-orientated person; her entire concept is that she's dependant on her family due to her circumstance, and she spent all of her time with her foster family when her parents left her in their care due to having to travel abroad. If her entire family would be killed - as the host said - she would already be dead. She CAN NOT survive on her own due to her being overly sick, malnurished, ignorant of the world and the like. She doesn't even know how to read and write, how on hell would she survive???
And the host WOULD KNOW THAT BECAUSE THEY HAVE HER APP! If all the families were fucking murdered in front of the charaters, why would they accept someone that has a backstory that contradicts that to hell and back? I'm not even gonna go into details as to how such event will change EVERY character because this isn't the time for it. So, obviously, me and my friends were pissed and I decided to explode. I said nicely(and by that, I mean I was passive aggressive which was probably a bad move on my side but can you blame me?) that this would mean that Fiyu wouldn't be alive and that her backstory and character relies too much on her family, and the host just replied "fine then i guess her family wasn't killed".
I'm proud of myself, I finally stood up for myself. But still, this is why you REVEAL THE LORE BEFORE YOU EVEN START ACCEPTING APPS! All of this could have been avoided if you simply told us what the setting and lore was of the universe, and not just walk in in the middle of a prologue being like "haha your families are dead l o l".
Regardless of that... The three of us go to the beach as we make it clear we are claiming it, and we start talking there. Except not even few SECONDS LATER, people start invading it; at the end, there were like 6 people there interacting at the same time, and it was getting chaotic. At this time, me and my friends are just shaking and screaming in another server because everything is just a chaotic mess. It wasn't even an entertaining mess of "it's so bad it's good", it was just B A D.
So, after like, 20 minutes, we are called back to the deck for some reason. So everyone goes there, me, K and Y arrive there late cus we had to wait for each other to respond but we manage to get there. So we just vibing as we stare at the fucking chaos that was happening. Apparently there was a helicopter that nuked the ship? Some kids jump off the plane announcing that they are sons of the last MM? They shoot someone and then they fuck off... So that happened.
So, after that happened, me, K and Y just moved away again to continue our interaction, and to be honest the few lines we managed to get in before all of us went to bed were so much better than the entire prologue.
I just can't wait for the murders and motives, cus if the prolog was such a mess, those will be a disaster; I might make an update post about it as it will continue, if people would be interested lol.

TLDR; me and my friends apply to an RP with deveral big red flags and get the biggest dumpsterfire we ever experienced in our RPing careers.

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