A statement regarding forms

[Cjero]

When speaking of forms many bring out a pretty picture of the Internet or another character. When I discuss with individuals regarding forms, the reasoning behind it is usually in the essence 'I enjoy the artwork' which then they claim that character, piece of art and so forth as theirs. I am sure plenty of you do not fall for this though there are a fair bit of tulpamancers that get into this: that form is not yours even if your tulpa has it. Try not to simply look at a well made picture and smack your tulpas' soul into it. What I am trying to say is: having a tulpa is not a way for you to claim a character or a piece of art and does not justify it nor your frustration if somebody else uses it.

 

Many tulpamancers seem to forget that a form is there to interact with them! To stimulate their senses to develop them even more. I urge you to ask yourself this; is your tulpa just a pretty picture or another individual?

[glitchthe3rd]

Most of us lack artistic ability, so if we want to share what our tulpa looks like the easiest way to do that is to find a picture that looks similar to them. And making a tulpa based off of a pre-existing character doesn't allow someone to claim them, rather, they are simply creating an image of that character. The source material remains unchanged, but the tulpa is free to deviate from the form she was given if she so chooses.

[Ashmo]

Bud made up his own form, so I'm pretty sure we're safe.

 

As for the message you're trying on convey, I agree wholeheartedly. The form is simply there as a medium of inaction.

[Guest Anonymous]

I think a tulpa, if it is a real tulpa and not just a visualization or day dream, will definitely do some deviation and sort of show you who they are. An image may help at first but only as a base. That is just the way it seems to me thinking about it. Dozens or even hundreds of images of women and girls amalgamated into my Melian. She just chose the parts she liked the most from each, or that is, my unconscious mind did. Her form has pretty much remained unchanged for almost four decades.

 

Pretty pictures? Yes, Melian is based on pretty images of girls and women, but not any specific one. She is like an assemblage of the best of the best traits from every actress or model I liked up to the point she appeared in my mind. But in the end, she chose her final form, not me.

[Luminesce]

Try not to simply look at a well made picture and smack your tulpas' soul into it.

 

I actually do the opposite; my visualization skills are still horrid to this day many years after my original tulpas' creations, so I've used well-made pictures of them to help solidify their forms for myself. I've seen many thousands of images made of the characters my tulpas were based off of, and I've saved less than 50 that resonated with what I felt they should look like. Namely the peaceful, happy, and loving ones. These images actually helped shape their personalities and other traits, too, not just forms. They've been incredibly useful for someone with no artistic ability, especially someone who can barely imagine a physical image.

 

Anyways, I've never had waifu syndrome despite my tulpas whom I love being based off Touhou characters. That's because I don't treat my tulpas.. like Touhou characters. I'm happy to see others who use profile pictures/names referencing them, and even the very rare fellow Touhou-tulpa. And I'm not disgusted by the porn I have to sift through to find good images, because I'm not constantly identifying "Reisen" as my tulpa Reisen. I don't see her in every image of the character, I see the character. My Reisen is her own person, and the images I have of the character were handpicked to help my visualization.

 

I may have developed this mindset out of good practice, but it may also have had to do with Flandre's depiction in fanon. No one knows exactly what the character is like, so her art ranges from bloody monster to psycho to chibi loli to normal girl. I obviously couldn't say "That's Flandre, and that's Flandre, and that's Flandre..." to each one, so I developed my handpicking habit from there. Only images I like and they agree with influence them, or are identified with them.

 

 

That being said I understand your point. I think it falls under the "People aren't taking tulpas seriously enough/putting enough depth into the phenomenon" issue, and this is a fairly specific way of showing that. Maybe a tiny bit offensive, since that one line about "falling for this" spurred me to write this whole post, but I got your point.

[glitchthe3rd]

words

 

This is more or less what I was trying to say with my post, but argued for from a different direction. Wish I had that image of the Miku tulpas to post, because that would sum up my thoughts on the matter perfectly.

[Luminesce]

Also worth noting I think, my tulpas are a lot less reliant on pictures for their forms now. Even though my visualization is still really bad, my tulpas have general forms and feelings to those forms that I don't necessarily have pictures of. For example, Tewi is taller/older looking than most pictures I can find of her, as is Flandre. Not too much so, but enough that I find myself unable to say "My tulpas look like this" and give a picture anymore. But I think the differences are minute enough the images will work well enough for others still. I just know that they look slightly different in my mind.

 

 

... This is probably really weird to read for those who have always had really good visualization. It's like trying to imagine being extremely nearsighted when you have perfect vision. I don't know how to explain a lack of a sense to you guys, but suffice it to say I really do have trouble picturing my tulpas in my mind. I can feel them like you feel mindvoice - whereas mindvoice has audible traits, you more feel it than hear it, my visualization has physical traits, but I more feel their forms than see them. Even though the image in my head is blurry, I know what they look like.

Okay well that probably didn't help, I'm done.