u/Da_Kartoon1st

This isn't gonna be my most well researched post and its gonna be kind of a rant, but I think I should at least start discussion over this topic.

So I made a post you might have seen, you can check it out yourself if you really care, it doesn't really matter outside of it leading to one type of comment: "skins aren't canon." This got me thinking: "is that true?"

Now, I don't think this is an unreasonable thing to say. Its what I would've said if it weren't for a few complications I'll talk about. But it seems like a reasonable belief, it really does. I mean, Toons often change in ways that wouldn't be easy, if not borderline impossible (for example, Blot is snow white in his pinguin skin, which I doubt is easy to do).

But, I feel like there are some skins that don't fit that description. Take Toodles' dog plush onesie. Its exactly her, just with a different outfit. And Dandy and Dyle's outfits they wear, are those canon? If they are, does that make Bunny Wabbit Pebble canon, since its likely Dandy dressed him up to match with him.

Speaking of matching, you know who are really good at complicating all of this? Sprout and Cosmo. And Ginger a little bit. Time to open up another can of worms! Are the shorts canon (I'm talking about the animated ones, not any announcements, just to be clear)? In all of the animated shorts, things are normal and make sense. Then you get to whats essentially a tradition at this point every event, being Halloween, Christmas and Easter baking, where instead of Sprout and Cosmo's (and Ginger in the one she appears in) default skins like in literally every other short (except for one that showcases some skins for the Halloween event, although you can argue its moreso for promotional reasons and not canon), they use skins.

But you can argue that what happens in the '_ baking' shorts are canon, just not with the skins, it are just the events of the shorts that are canon, but theres 1 small issue when it comes to Halloween baking specifically: the skin Sprout wears directly influences the events of the short. Sprouts Berry Beast skin has a particle effect, since its one of the 2 first skins that has double the cost and costs ichor on top of that. That effect being electricity. In the short, Sprout gets electrocuted at some point. Unless it came from a source that isn't visible, the particle effects, and thus Sprout's skin had an effect on the short, meaning it would be weird if that wasn't what he was wearing.

Are none of the shorts canon? Are all of them canon? Are they all canon except for the '_ baking' shorts? I don't know! I think only the developers themselves can give a concrete answer to this.

Personally, this is just my perspective, but I think that this is the best explanation I can come up with: Skins are canon when they want to be, and skins can say something about a certain Toon. Obviously something like Research Mobile Rodger or Fairy Godmother Shrimpo were made as a joke and likely don't have a reason to exist for any other reason other than to get a laugh out of the players, nothing wrong with that. But Dog plush onesie Toodles would be pretty believeable in universe for instance.

But, what are your thoughts? I still don't know, I'm gonna be real, I'm mostly just throwing my thoughts out. Maybe I'm overthinking everything. I don't know. Let me know your thoughts. I'm tired and I can't think straight anymore. Thanks for reading.

Tried something different with my art this time :3

If it wasn't shown in their skins that they aren't practically glued to eachother, that would kinda not be fitting for their characters, would it?

I think something we can all agree on is that Dandy's World isn't a scary game despite its horror elements. But why is this the case? I'll be going into what makes something scary, why Dandy's World isn't, and why its not something that I myself personally don't really mind too much.

Now, I will be talking about some psychological things here, and I am not an expert on this topic, I am just mostly going off what I can find online, so take everything with a bag of salt. Like seriously, I am not that smart.

1. Unexpectedness - Why are jumpscares often scary? Because you don't expect them to happen. If you think nothing will happen, but something suddenly appears, especially if its something potentionally dangerous, you will probably end up being startled. Dandy's World doesn't really much like this. You can very often see Twisteds from a distance, well before they see you. That doesn't mean that Dandy's World doesn't have unexpected moments, I mean, there's a solid change you've gotten hit because you didn't pay attention and Twisted Boxten appears out of nowhere, which may have startled you, because it wasn't expected. One thing I do wanna mention is that I've seen a lot of people mention getting startled because of Twisted Squirm, who, if you're not paying attention to the ceiling, kind of appears out of nowhere. He's the closest we have to a jumpscare in the game, and even then, if you pay attention to the ceiling, you can be prepared for him. Although you never know what will spawn on the next floor, its not difficult to know what you need to do, since to even just get full research on everyone, you'll end up needing to encounter them at least 15 times (assuming Rodger is never used), so even though Twisted Shelly for example might be scary at first, after seeing her for the 15th time, you'll know she's mostly just Toodles with a longer attention span and you'll know what to do a lot better.

2. Ambiguity - What comes to mind when you see a character who's scary to you? Very often they're not really 'known' if that makes sense. Ghosts, zombies and vampires don't exist in real life. We don't know much about them. Not knowing is scary. If you were to ask someone who fears the future why they do, most like it'll be because they're uncertain about things, they don't know. Although Toon's are very much not something that exists in real life, with stuff like information cards (not for mains however), gossip, elevator dialouges and more, you can get a pretty solid understanding of a certain Toon. You know about them. And Twisteds are to some extend just the Toons; they often look very similar, are often sad, and they often have traces of their previous selves still in them. They're moreso tragic than scary, even some of the main characters, the most changed ones appearancewise (maybe excluding lethals). Twisted Sprout is a good example of this. He clearly wants to be there even less than you; he calls for his best friend he misses a lot, he compares himself to how he was previously, he's crying a lot, when I see Twisted Sprout, I don't feel scared of him, I feel sorry for him. This point also kind of goes hand in hand with the last part; once you know how the Twisteds work mechanically, they're less scary, since you know how they work.

3. Scariest when you don't see them - A lot of horror media doesn't explicitly show a monster. The reason why is because whatever your mind will think off is probably gonna be more scary than whatever will be on screen. This is not something that happens in Dandy's World. I know I sound like a broken record, but it remains true; you very explicitly see the Twisteds, you know their deal and what they're gonna do, and you know how to avoid them. I'll try not to mention something along the lines of "not knowing is part of the reason something is scary" too much going forward, but I think thats the main reason the game isn't scary.

4. Offness - Ever heard of the uncanny valley? Its when something looks almost human, but isn't, which can make something feel off, which most find eerie or offputting. I don't know why I need to explain why this isn't something that really happens in Dandy's World. I feel like this game goes for artistic consistancy over making Twisteds scary. The Toons are, well, cartoony. They have a lot of appeal visually, and a lot of people find them very cute. The Twisteds also look very cartoony because of this. One thing I wanna point out is that whenever I see someone try to make Twisteds look more scary, they always end up looking more realistic. Nothing wrong with that of course, I just want to point this out.

5. Undercutting potantionally moments - Twisted Cocoa has the potential to really jumpscare you; there's a solid change she could just appear out of nowhere. She has a cartoony "boing!" sound effect, making it more comedic than scary. Instead of, whenever you reach 0 hp, you get a "You died.", you get a somewhat silly "Thats a wrap!", like they say in some shows at the end, usually in cartoons.

6. Lack of danger - The Twisteds are generally not that difficult to deal with. Most are easily able to be outran by almost any Toon, and you get help with escaping in the form of abilities (for some Toons) and items. This point especially holds true early on when the Twisteds will almost certainly not be an issue. Most will probably feel way more tension when they're on a floor with a blackout and with Twisted Pebble and Goob, because they're way more threatning than Twisted Poppy and Looey on a regular floor.

So why did I say at the start its not that big of a deal in my opinion that the game isn't scary? Well, although I don't find it a scary game, someone younger does might end up finding it scary, and I think this game being a way for younger kids to have this as their first game classified as a horror game isn't a bad thing. Everyone has to start somewhere after all, even if that means not being particularly scary for people with a double digit age count. And besides, there's more to Dandy's World than just being kinda scary. I mean, why do you play the game, or at the very least engage with it? Maybe you just enjoy trying to survive for a long time, or enjoy getting everything, or find the Toons very fun for one reason or another, and all of those reasons are a valid reason to play! Even if the horror aspects fall flat for you, there are still reasons to play. Hell, although I've stated "knowing makes something less scary" many times, I think I would've been less of a fan if there was nothing to know. Do you think I would be the #1 Twisted Sprout fan if he was a dangerous monster and not much more outside of that? Probably not.

So yeah, thats possibly why Dandy's World isn't scary to most, and why I personally don't think its that big of a deal if we're looking at the game as a whole. I hope you enjoyed this post and that you didn't notice me running out of motivation to write, and thanks for reading!

not 100% sure on everyone

Cocoa could probably go in the same tier as Sprout and Cosmo if she could make bonbons all year and not just while she's not isolating herself

This is not particularly well researched and kind of a rant, so I'm sorry if I missed anything, and I'll probably forget to mention a lot of sources of where some information came from. Sorry.

Brusha and Tisha's relation have paralles to Sprout and Cosmo's relation. Both were close with eachother in the show (as Dandy mentioned in his gossip about Brusha, and I don't think I need to mention evidence for Sprout and Cosmo), possibly the 2 closest bonds any Toon has, maybe outside of some siblings, and being eachothers friend likely is/was a decent chunk of their personality (although on Tisha and Brusha's side its moreso speculation). The different is that one worked out in real life, but the other didn't.

So why did Brusha and Tisha's relation didn't work out? I think 1 reason is that they failed to bond in real life. I mean cleaning and painting aren't hobby's that particularly mix well together. Shelly and Tisha worked out because 1. they likely weren't as close, being moreso good friends rather than the best friend ever, and 2. digging up fossils and cleaning are 2 hobby's that go together really well! Shelly digs up fossils, and Tisha cleans them. Painting and cleaning don't compliment eachother that well, even if Brusha doesn't seem that messy. She even wears a white sweater, something I highly do not recommend doing if you're gonna paint. Another reason I think they didn't work out is because of clashing personalities. I think that Brusha became irritable, but Tisha never really tried to stop her, even if she would get annoyed at Brusha. Tisha gives Vee the silent treatment or is very vague when talking about what Vee does wrong. Tisha just kinda lets it happen, and if she were to talk about it, it'd be so unspecific that Brusha still can't see what she did wrong.

I think part of the reason why Cosmo and Sprout still are close is because 1. they share a hobby. Both like to bake and almost certainly also cook with eachother (although the cooking aspect is rarely touched uppon, especially on Cosmo's side), and they might have to be forced to do that often since they're 2 of the only Toon's who can actually prepare food, and 2. I feel like their personalities would just go well, as well as both being very caring of others, but less to themselves; they keep eachother in check to some extend. Sprout having someone who looks out for him since he really doesn't prioritizes his own well being is good for Sprout. And remember when I said that Brusha and Tisha don't keep eachothers flaws in check? Sprout mentions to Cosmo he shouldn't give Pebble as many dog treats (Cosmo and Pebble interaction), and Cosmo often gets a little annoyed at Sprout (as seen in the _ baking shorts). They give eachother a heads up when the other does something wrong. Brusha and Tisha just kinda don't do that.

So thats why one worked out, but not the other. But why did I mention that both were set up for failure? Both Toons in each relation are likely at least a little bit incomplete without eachother. Despite having a pretty massive fallout, I feel like even if indirectly, Tisha and Brusha still seek eachother out (Tisha asking Brusha if she wants something to keep her bristles out of her face and Brusha asking Tisha to check out her art, as well as trying to compliment her), even if they don't wanna (Brusha clearly seems to want to break out of the role she was given in the show, yet she still returns to Tisha, although I'm not taking it out of consideration that she wants to be friends again regardless on whether the show told her or not). The fact that they don't connect as well in real life as in the show is honestly kind of an in universe writing flaw; the show has 2 Toons be friends who don't have it in them to be like that in real life.

Cosmo and Sprout seem to have a nice relation at first, and to an extend thats the case. I don't think either forces the other to do something they don't like for their own personal gain, seem happy to be around eachother, and despite it being in character for both to kindly ask the other to leave them alone if they wanted to stop being around, they never do, because being with the other makes eachother happy. But there's 1 problem that I should adress; they've grown to be very dependant on eachother. Sprout feels incomplete without Cosmo, and he likely became even more attached to him after having spend so much time with him. And its likely that this is mutual, since Cosmo is outright stated to have turned Twisted due to seperation in his Twisted description (which is technically only implied with Sprout, but its the same for him, lets be real), the reason Cosmo mentions Sprout a bit less often is probably because he doesn't have to overcompensate for months of feeling incomplete, because Cosmo has never been in a world where Sprout wasn't there with him, but its still wrong to assume Cosmo doesn't enjoy Sprouts company, even if they didn't realize how harmful seperation would be until it was too late.

So in short, Brusha and Tisha were set up for failure because they just don't have it in them to be friends in real life, and Cosmo and Sprout were set up for failure because they've grown so attached to eachother to the point that seperation was the reason they Twisted.

I'm sorry if this was really incoherant, I just wanted to get my thoughts out. So yeah, if you're best friends in the show, it'll either not work out, or you'll grow way too attached to eachother to the point of causing harm, even if you won't notice. Thanks for reading.

No, the game has not fallen off, nor has it gotten boring, at least for newer players. Sure, you may think the game hasn't changed enough, thats a different story, but fallen off is something very different.

Name 3 things added to the game in the last year that made the game strictly worse. No, more skins don't count, having more options isn't a bad thing, nor are they focusing on skins over gameplay, because the people who work on gameplay and modeling and skin concepts are completely different people. The only thing that I think the game was strictly worse off is the increased Twisted cap to 8. I can't think of anything else that made the game worse. If you think development is too stagent, I can see your point, but it defenitly hasn't fallen off. If the devs were to add several micro transactions you need to buy in order to even play without it sucking or making the game essentially pay to win, then yes, the game would've fallen off, but I would say that everything added is overal a net positive. Having more options that you're not required to complete or do (unless you want 100%) is not a bad thing in my opinion.

And, although I kinda agree with the game not being as fun to me as it was around the Dyle update, I've done everything. For a new player, the game isn't gonna be as boring, because they haven't done as much. Has the game gotten boring, or has the novelty for you gone away? If you were to discover the game today and started playing, would you have less fun then when you were new? I made a post on my previous account thats now hacked why the game being less fun when you have everything is a non issue, which I'll link here.

But that post in short, is the game less fun when you have everything? Yes. I used to play almost daily, which has gone to playing closer to weekly. But just like almost every game in existence, if you've done everything, theres less fun to be had. I'm not gonna say the game is boring because now I don't have fun with it anymore, ignoring the probably over 200 hours where I did have fun getting every toon, completing mastery's, getting every skin, checking out floors, doing quests, ect. Its okay to not find the game as fun as you had with it a couple months ago, but I don't think thats an issue

And I'm not trying to overglaze the game, if enough people want me to, I can make a list of critiques I have with the game and how I'd change them. Its just that saying the game is "boring now" or "has fallen off" are complaints that are just stupid in my opinion.

I might swallow my words when the game exits Alpha, but I'm gonna wait at least 2 months when 4-6 TOTW's have passed to see if the devs will do something cool with it (the only one we have now is Sprout's, and he didn't need any changes (maybe outside of his trinket being able to get a benefit from being able to be used a few more times than just once, but whatever)), so I still have hope.

So to every single one of you who thinks the game is awful now for some reason despite objectively not being in a worse state than a year ago, wait at least a little bit longer. Wait like 1 or 2 months. And, I really don't wanna be that guy, but if you're only gonna complain, consider moving on to something you actually enjoy, its for the better for you, trust me, surrounding yourself with negativity does a toll on you mental health sooner or later. Thanks for reading.