The Round Stable

you are cute

If only I could be the amorphous blob I've always dreamed of being. Then I'd really get to be cute.

Does that mean my Pokesona is a Ditto?

Perpetual Motion wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:17 am

If only I could be the amorphous blob I've always dreamed of being. Then I'd really get to be cute.

Does that mean my Pokesona is a Ditto?

slimes are hecka cute, you get double the cute points

same, OP

uwu

Fair

Perpetual Motion wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:17 am

Does that mean my Pokesona is a Ditto?

Consider that Ditto's main niche is in Pokemon breeding, first.

It's a lie!

Fizzbuzz wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 15, 2020 8:24 am

Consider that Ditto's main niche is in Pokemon breeding, first.

That's clearly species essentialism and I will not accept such stereotyping in my presence.

i like that dittos make the : I face

Pony & musical contribution

Perpetual Motion wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:17 am

If only I could be the amorphous blob I've always dreamed of being. Then I'd really get to be cute.

Does that mean my Pokesona is a Ditto?

I missed this but holy shit do it.

do iiiit

If you're dead-set on being a purplish pile of sludge, Ditto isn't your only option. There's also Muk!

Do what, exactly? Identifying with something with no permanent defining features kinda precludes character design, at the very least

Fizzbuzz wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 15, 2020 12:30 pm

If you're dead-set on being a purplish pile of sludge, Ditto isn't your only option. There's also Muk!

The ability to be whatever whenever and just physically self-define in general is the main appeal of being amorphous, IMO. Ditto can become solid as it pleases, Muk cannot.

put on a hat

I've only met one person with a ditto sona, surprisingly (no shortage of shapeshifters, though).

The ditto was actually one of the cooler folks I've ever encountered.

Basically do it

What if... they were a ditto who liked to transform into themselves... but with a hat. A different hat every day!

do it

duet

do

I, uh, still don't know what I'm supposed to be doing when told to "do it." Like, I've dabbled in character creation when it comes to writing, but "sonas" have literally never been a thing I've done. And again, the physical appearance aspect is pretty moot given the concept.

Ask people to draw your sona. Draw your own sona. I'll draw your sona. Ditto with a hat, right? Got a preference of hat? I hope not!

That's really kind of you, thanks.

I guess what my problem here is is that the whole idea is that my idealized self could look however I felt like looking at any given moment, and what's the point of -sona art if not to present an idealized version of yourself with a specific look/aesthetic? This is probably something to just keep in my head unless some sort of divine inspiration strikes

Perpetual Motion wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 15, 2020 7:57 pm

That's really kind of you, thanks.

I guess what my problem here is is that the whole idea is that my idealized self could look however I felt like looking at any given moment, and what's the point of -sona art if not to present an idealized version of yourself with a specific look/aesthetic? This is probably something to just keep in my head unless some sort of divine inspiration strikes

a 'sona does not have to be completely idealized, though. for me they've been a helpful way to lay out and assess my own flaws and insecurities by characterizing them

Negative Spice reflects a time in my life where i was cripplingly socially anxious and afraid of damn near everything. (i never even put a lot of thought into how she looked; her design is mostly based on a pony-modded minecraft skin i threw together in just a few minutes)

Peep reflects the present where i have overcome most of those anxieties and started to blossom into my own person, but one who is still very lonely and lacking the drive to accomplish much of anything. she is a succubunny instead of a regular bunny because my stupid brain is frequently clouded by fanciful and often lustful thoughts

the two are definitely idealized in the sense that i tried to maximize their cuteness from my point of view, (my appearance is not something i fret over much in the real world, so i didn't feel a need to place it among their issues) but if i had a fully idealized 'sona she would probably just be some perfectly benevolent mary sue with no struggles to speak of and that's honestly kind of boring in the long run. as limitations breed creativity, i would say that so too do personal shortcomings, but you have to be willing to wear them on your shoulder and confront them sometimes

I guess I just have trouble mapping myself to a character in that way? Like, I write fanfiction. That means I write using pre-established characters that I may relate to in some ways, but were in no way designed as reflections of myself, my personality, or my flaws. I create OCs for these stories, sure, but they're reflections of their settings/societies and the themes of the work, not myself.

If I try to think of the most self-indulgent self insert I could conceive, I get nothing. My perception of my own character is as this incredibly boring and undynamic person and I can't make them interesting (to me). So as I've spent the last day trying to characterize a 'sona, I just find the prospective character way less cool as a character than my other OCs. I can conceptualize myself as some shapeshifting creature because that's my metaphysical fantasy experience of choice, but they're either literally just me and not a character at all, or they're someone I find far more interesting because they're not like me save for a few general points of relatability. I dunno, maybe I'm just doing something wrong.

Perpetual Motion wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 16, 2020 5:24 am

literally just me and not a character at all

This is completely good and well, FYI. "Literally me if I were a pony" has always been the design principle I've followed.

Perpetual Motion wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 16, 2020 5:24 am

I dunno, maybe I'm just doing something wrong.

yeah: you're thinking about it too much

you can choose to represent yourself however you please. they need not be accurate. they need not be relatable. they need not even be interesting or original

i would think even a shapeshifter has a tendency to favor certain shapes above others. why not start there?

The whole topic of sonas and how they come about & are cultivated, and how (and how successfully) they convey the impression of a coherent, authentic personhood, is one that's of great intellectual interest and personal resonance to me.

I've encountered a lot of "shapeshifter" sonas over the years. Here's what I've come to observe about a lot of them (not yours, PM—I'll get back to this in a bit): they convey the impression of being a way to staple together multiple, separate sonas, when the player can't decide on just one. Oh, I decided I'm a dog. Oh, dragons are cool; I guess I've got a dragon form now. Hm, no, actually I'm a cheetah. What if my dog form, but with wings? And so on and so forth. The impression given is not so much that of a core identity that anchors and is able to holistically include all these different facets, but rather a casting-about for new novelty as soon as the shine has worn off the previous one. Of course, there is nothing wrong with actually wanting to create a multitude of different characters; authors, RPG designers, and so forth do it all the time, and it can be done very well. But there's a difference between creating characters for your stories and creating a sona or avatar. Some folks seem like they try to do the former when the situation or context calls for the latter, and when they perceive the dissonance thus created, try to tack up a curtain across the seam by going HURR I'S SHAPSHIFTR.

You (PM), on the other hand, I don't get that impression from. The way you've been talking about it in this thread, there seems to actually be a kernel of identity there that you're building off of. Affirmatively being a shapeshifter (especially one that defaults to an amorphous state most of the time) is different from hacking together a laundry basket of personas by saying that shapeshifting happens behind the curtain. To use the Pokemon example, there's a real and significant difference between saying "I want to be a Ditto" and saying "I want to be a Charizard this week, and an Absol this week, and a..."

If what calls to you is being a Ditto with cute hats ( ), be that. Be the best motherfucking hatditto there ever was.

good post

You're not like the other people here, in the trailer park.

Perpetual Motion wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:17 am

If only I could be the amorphous blob I've always dreamed of being. Then I'd really get to be cute.

Does that mean my Pokesona is a Ditto?

if you feel like garbage it's muk

Orange Fluffy Sheep wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 16, 2020 7:59 pm

if you feel like garbage it's muk

Garbodor might be more appropriate in the case of feeling like garbage.

Ditto have the advantage of being a Muk or Trubbish whenever their mood may call for it.