# Pastebin 79JzBAMt 12:03 PM <%red3> Cool. So what are our first thoughts on this article? 12:03 PM → Popsioak joined (uid397494@frozen.garden) 12:03 PM <+cybersqyd> hm 12:04 PM <+cybersqyd> i'm, somewhat iffy on this 12:04 PM <+cybersqyd> idk why; there's a lot of really dope horror imagery in here 12:04 PM <+cybersqyd> and it's existence lead to a dope tale 12:04 PM <+cybersqyd> but there's something kinda, unsatisfying here? 12:04 PM <%red3> Yeah. On one hand, there's some great buildup in the ConProcs and the Description, and I also enjoyed the idea of an entity breaking apart a family by having each member commit terrible acts to one another, but all of the horror comes from a really boring place. 12:06 PM <+cybersqyd> i wouldn't have said the horror comes from a boring place so much as it feels...lacking in closure? 12:06 PM → Karakatt132 joined (uid439972@synIRC-6116F9BF.highgate.irccloud.com) 12:06 PM At first read, it was quite horrifying and it put me off of reading other skips when I was a fair bit younger. Now its lost its more horror glamour here to me. I enjoy the idea that an entity can cause this much havoc for no clear purpose at religious events such as baptasms but now, to me at least, it didn't hit the same cords it once did for me 12:06 PM <%red3> In every event, people kill themselves, eat something disgusting, and something bad happens to children. That's the status quo of this article. And since it doesn't really change, the only thing that can really freak me out is the level that it goes to to achieve that horror. That feels boring to me, just changing the thing the people eat from the flesh of babies to, like, the flesh of the anomaly. 12:07 PM <+cybersqyd> hm 12:07 PM <%red3> cybersqyd: Do you mean that it feels like the horror doesn't have a purpose or? 12:07 PM <+cybersqyd> yeah i can see that 12:07 PM <+cybersqyd> red3, kinda; it feels like there's a lot setting up what this does and then it just...ends/ 12:07 PM <+cybersqyd> it's all escalation and no final payoff for it? 12:08 PM <%red3> Well, I think the payoff is meant to be the Black Event. The article sets everything up as "Oh, you thought this event was bad? Just wait until we get to the *lightning strike in background* BLACK EVENT". 12:08 PM <+cybersqyd> yeah 12:09 PM Mhm 12:09 PM <%red3> But then once we get there, it just feels like "Oh, it's the same thing that we did earlier BUT WITH CHILDREN". 12:09 PM <+cybersqyd> mmm 12:10 PM <%red3> The only thing I really enjoyed about the horror of this is the idea that, like, one incredibly weird event can cause an entire family to spiral apart. Weddings and baptisms and funerals are meant to be times when the family grows more close, and the anomaly actually helps them do so in a weird way, but then they start to drift apart and do gruesome things to one another. 12:11 PM <+cybersqyd> yeah 12:11 PM <%red3> Parents have miscarriages or their babies are stillborn, the children become antisocial and start killing animals, etc. And that would be a really interesting angle to take using something like interview logs, but this chooses to stick strictly to the "Gore, gore, gore!" style of horror that doesn't have any substance to it beyond the initial shock. 12:14 PM tbh there isn't much to say from me, you guys are speaking my thoughts here hehe 12:14 PM <%red3> Should we move onto our final opinions on this? 12:14 PM <+cybersqyd> see i don't mind that so much; cos it really feels like it could all be in purpose of something 12:14 PM <+cybersqyd> except it's not 12:14 PM <%red3> What did you think it was building up to? 12:15 PM <+cybersqyd> no idea 12:15 PM <+cybersqyd> some kind of reveal about the purpose of what cousin johnny is up to or something like that 12:15 PM <+cybersqyd> something to contextualise why 12:15 PM <+cybersqyd> not even like, necessarily explicitly so much as for it to imply in some kind of direction 12:16 PM <%red3> Like, show at least whether the anomaly enjoys what it's doing, feels guilty, something like that? 12:17 PM <+cybersqyd> yeah maybe something like that; not necessarily so much 'how does the anomaly feel about this' as 'why does the anomaly do this' 12:19 PM but then, consider this sqyd, it would lose some of its mystique. Like we are left with not much as to its purpose cause if we gave it a purpose, then its less fearful 12:20 PM <%red3> Mm. At this point, I think we're just getting into what we'd personally like to see from this. This reminds me both of those ultraviolent 70s horror movies where every character does horrible things and those creepypastas that try to supplement good buildup by just saying "So I saw [INSERT RECOGNIZABLE DISNEY CHARACTER HERE], but it was... different. Blood was pouring out of its eyes, and its smiles was larger than it 12:20 PM <%red3> was usually". 12:20 PM <%red3> *smile 12:20 PM <+cybersqyd> yeah 12:21 PM <%red3> I do agree with Blue, though. I like the way that the anomaly is just introduced without reason and does horrible shit. 12:22 PM <%red3> Are there any other points we'd like to bring up or should we move onto our final opinions? 12:22 PM Mhm, I say this cause that was what red's problem was with the sloth last week from interviews with the infected. Simply knowing the purpose means its lost some scare factor CAUSE we can understand it a bit 12:23 PM — +cybersqyd shrugs 12:23 PM <+cybersqyd> i mean explaining why wouldn't necessarily be the only way for this to feel rounded out but it might help. 12:23 PM I mean, hey, its an interesting skip. So I'm gonna upvote this one if I hadn't already 12:24 PM <+cybersqyd> im torn here 12:24 PM <+cybersqyd> on the one hand, it does a lot of stuff really effectively 12:24 PM <+cybersqyd> on the other hand, it left me feeling unsatisfied 12:26 PM <%red3> This is going to be a downvote from me. While I do enjoy my fair share of senseless violence, this just seems to be a really shallow attempt to shock the reader instead of crafting something that'll stick in their minds.