TIODM You Are Glass animatic by lydia opinion
I watched the You Are Glass animatic by lydia and, while I liked the animation and art style, I couldn't help but feel like the roles of the verses should be switched. (Howard singing Phillip's lines and vice versa.)
In the song, the first singer mentions how the other one is "cold and brittle" and that they break from minor things which hurts the first person. While it's definitely not a minor thing, when Phil's sister, Katie Lou, died, he grieved heavily for her. No one could make him smile, except for Howard, something his parents were presumedly not able to do based on the dialogue from the game. He grieved so heavily that he knowingly sacrificed others just for the possibility of bringing back Katie. This behavior, although not exlplicitly mentioned, could've affected Phil's relationship with Howard and how he acted towards him. The first person also says that he wishes the other could see his point of view and, for Howard, he sees that Phillip is being insensitive towards him and was scared that he was leaving him by going to the island, so he wanted Phil to understand how much this affects him.
The second singer says that the first is thick and blurry, only seeing the worst. First of all, this could be a pun on how Howard used to wear glasses, but had outgrown them so he doesn't wear glasses even though he needs them still (mentioned in the QnA livestream.) Second, Howard is pretty self-centered, probably due to the fact that he's "slow" at understanding social stuff and that he was alone for most of his childhood after his mom died, so he sees himself in a better light than others. When Phil is chosen to go to the island instead of him, he mentions how he has better grades than Phil and how he should've been chosen, instead of being happy for his longtime best friend. When Phil sends him letters, in one where he's "apologizing", he says that they both share the blame even though their argument was caused by his own selfishness and even says that he should quit until they both get the job. Another example is before he went to the island, he says that Phillip would be crying for Howard to save him, showing that Howard doesnt see him as capable as he himself. The second then says the first is a pain and that he worries because of short tempered the they are. Howard is mentioned to be short tempered at the beginning by Phillip. Phillip cares for Howard and respects him, as said by Knowhere, he was ready to congratulate Howard if he ever got recruited, even though Howard doesn't respect him as much as he should. The second singer then says that the other wishes he could see their point of view, even though they only see their own other's point of view, as if the second singer was a mirror causing the first to see only themselves. As mentioned before, Howard is self-centered, but he's also not very empathetic at the start of the game. It's said by Octo that at the start of the game, he didn't care about others too much, only really thinking of himself and his goal of saving his friend, but as the game progresses, Howard slowly gains empathy for others. This could've also been a great opportunity to use the mirror from the end of the game where Howard faces the fact that he may not come back.
I would like to make an animatic with the swapped roles but I don't have the tools to make it and if I were to make it, I feel like it would just be copying off someone else's hard work, something I would not enjoy doing. This is my opinion, but I still like the animatic, bunch of kudos to lydia!
