:^)

Okay so! Lets first address what we canonically know about Tamsy, his Vital Instrument, Tokushin, and the world.

Tamsy is a Sphereite. presumably up high in their hierarchy. Some believe he's a prince, I feel as though he could be a priest or noble of sort, but as of now, we don't know what role he plays up there. Just that he's high up there.

Tokushin is SAID to be a distaff. I call bullshit but that's what its called.

We don't know how the Sphere mass produces everything that inevitably gets thrown out.

Everyone on the Sphere wears thick white clothing with gold hardware. All seemingly made of the same materials between classes.

The Sphere has access to animals that are extinct/mutated on the Ground (Horses being one of them.)

Tamsy likes loose clothing. His uniform carries a lot of excessive amounts of fabric and flourishes, its by far one of the most elaborate/unique uniforms among the Cleaners.

Clothing from the Sphere sells for a pretty penny. Even when bloody or soiled, implying the quality is something that can't be easily replicated or replaced, or just sought after to be destroyed.

Now lets address some important things about fashion.

People tend to think of clothing as neutral, or unimportant but that isn't the case at all; its one of the most important inventions humans have ever made, and continues to be. They reflect everything about a person and society; what they value, what they don't, what they hope for, what they fear, etc, its political and can control perception of reality. Its just overlooked because well, A; its associated with vanity and women, and B; its so normalized that people take it for granted. Being able to understand clothing is like learning another language or how to read; its another way of conveying information quickly.

Fer example, in fashion design, there's this '20 year cycle' rule. Basically, every 20 years, old trends recycle into the current era, albeit changed to fit current sensibilities a bit. Its what makes things predictable. (though with globalization, the internet, and social media this cycle might be going 'faster'.) See; during the mid to late 2010s, the 80s and 90s were coming back with things like 'mom' jeans n scrunchies. The 2020s are all about the Y2K era, and were starting to see a 2010s revival in things like the color turquoise and coral.

Additionally; what becomes popular is a reaction to whats happening in the world.

Fer example; during the covid lockdowns, moral was low, people were dying and isolated, so naturally they gravitated to things that made them nostalgic for a safer time; y2k, cottage core, sparkles, sequins, plastic and fun kitschy or kiddie aesthetics.

Then, after that, people became jaded after the dust settled. Inorganic materials were out, utility wear, masks, uniforms (think office siren or practical workwear), wear and tear, visible mending, vintage, earthy or muted colors became more popular.

Now, theres a recession, multiple wars and atrocities, rising facism- food is becoming a luxury, so fruit and veggie prints are more popular as a sign of 'luxury'. That 'chinese time in their life' trend, they're reach more for other cultures and aesthetics and artisanal one of a kinds, despite propaganda to counter the antihuman war and ai. Although, many do so uncritically, and are actually just consuming other cultures and customs as costumes rather than appreciating the people they come from genuinely.

I bring this up, because Gachiakuta says a LOT with its fashion design alone. Almost too much, to the point it makes me question everything.

Fer instance; we know that August designs all the uniforms for the Cleaners in house. However, we're never told what they're actually made of. My guess would be thick, durable, heavy duty and flame resistant cotton like what we used in a factory in Mexico to make uniforms for municipality; gasoline workers, street workers, firefighters, etc. it matches the weight, stiffness and thickness of what we see.

But where does it come from? Who's making it? Who's farming it? Cotton takes a lot of water to grow, water that's likely scarce and precious on the surface.

What about Sphereite clothing? What is it made of, why does it look the way that it does? What does it say about the people who wear it and what they need it for? That's even more confusing to me.

Because currently, the fashion industry is one of the largest polluters on Earth, alongside war, fossil fuels, and industrial farming. We have more than enough clothing fer multiple generations, in piles so large you can see them from space marring Chile's deserts.

Prior to the industrial revolution, everyone wore their clothes till they became rags, they knew how to make and repair their own clothes. Painstaking crafts like lacemaking, embroidery, dyeing were the backbone of many economies and cultures. Hell, even post the revolution, it was a rush to see who could make a machine to make these things faster w/o people to gain control of a market. Think the lacemaking machines in France, or how Indonesian Batik came to West Africa. Of course, they can't be entirely what people call 'machine made' since those machines are still operated or sewn by a person, its no less hand made then smth yer granma made ya. The only difference is the fact it was made in a sweat shop.

Which is why the situation around Sphereite clothing and Tamsy's Vital Instrument being a 'distaff' IS SO WEIRD.

For a culture so wasteful, you'd expect them to wear all kinds of fashions like us, that their clothing wouldn't be worth a lot on the Ground because its so common and cheap, reused for various purposes. Similar to how places like Ghana end up taking unwanted 'clothing donations' from places like the US.

But they aren't.

Its rare and valuable, meaning they almost never get thrown out; perhaps they're burned before getting thrown into the pit, except for when 'criminals' are dropped, since most of them have dirty or worn down clothing as opposed to what the Cityfolk wear and discard.

So that leads me to think that Spherites' clothing is actually well tailored and made, they must not have a fast trend cycle and maybe that implies a society that very rigid, conformist and against standing out; fitting, considering they all wear one colour, white, aside from gold embellishments. They don't make as much textile waste as we do; fashion wise at least. Their clothing also seems very tight and form fitting fer the most part, aside from the Tribesfolk (likely explained by being handme downs rather than tailor made.) We can see it in the structured pencil skirts and pants of the adults, and Tamsy's uniform. Through it seems like among children, big skirts and hoodies are more common. Capes/caplets are worn by all, but women's tend to be smaller then men's. Hats are still popular too, meaning that even if they have trucks and cars, their cities are more walkable considering the reason we stopped wearing them as much was because of car ceilings.

Other things of note; no one has body mods beyond a single pair of earlobe piercings, we never see any women wearing pants and they seemingly favour short hair or updos, nor are any men wearing skirts or tunics, and none have hair longer than their shoulders. Baggier or loose clothing is only for children, likely to grow into, Regto's the only person we see with tassled stoles until we see Tamsy having similar embellishments.

Tamsy's silhouette is much different to his uniform with the Cleaners. Oddly enough, he wears pants and a half skirt/apron as well as a half cape on opposite sides, its very asymmetric unlike other clothes we've seen. With his hair down, he's still a major outlier to other Sphereites blending feminine and masculine traits together, or breaking norms established. Other than Rudo, he's the only other Sphereite with two toned hair.

Judging by his comment about not being allowed to skate topside, his labret piercing, and how he presents on the Ground, its probably safe to say he goes against most Sphereite norms where he can get away with it and how he dresses on the Ground's more faithful to what he prefers.

Now, with everything we've broken down about the Sphere's and Tamsy's fashion, lets address his Vital Instrument, Tokushin.

Tokushin is said to be a distaff, but I genuinely think that's a lie, or has to be mistranslated, or they're just using it as a cooler name then spindle because THIS

Looks and functions a lot more like THIS, a Spindle.

Granted, there are some 'cage' distaffs I could find, but all of them were still much longer than his hand held one, and looked much different to his, and while it seemed noble women would have nicer, hand carved staffs, I can't really confirm the validity of this cage distaffs being real antiques or even used for this purpose. And even if they were, a distaff holds the unspun fibers on a long stick for the spinster to drop spin with a spindle. Prior to the invention of the spinning wheel, which made the process much faster and easier, drop spinning was the only way to make thread. Its an ancient craft, prehistoric even (remember how I said clothing is one of our greatest inventions?) weaving and spinning are often the subject of many myths and folktales (The Fates, Mayahuel or the tethers of Life, Sleeping Beauty as an example but THAT is an important tidbit for later.)

However, Tokushin clearly small and hand held, and uses spun threads and cordage, and it winds around like a bobbin or spool.

A distaff is tall, it wouldn't need to transform into a staff from like it does, the fibers would be loose and chaotic. Also, a distaff technically doesn't even have to be a staff, it could just be a bundle of fiber wrapped around your hand.

ANYWAYS IM A 'TOKUSHIN IS A SPINDLE NOT A DISTAFF' TRUTHER FROM HERE ON OUT.

(Logically, I think, The reason its called a distaff is bc its much more audibly and visually appealing as an actual staff like object, and they just meshed its function with that of a spindle so they wouldn't have to give him two instruments. Its just using magic logic for the fibers to be spun already but that detail really bothers me. It could've also maybe been a mistake? since the two tools can be conflated sometimes but not that often. I could see someone unfamiliar with them thinking they're the same.)

A friend has suggested that Tokushin is actually from a broken spinning wheel and other theories, which I would be receptive to reading about if that's the case, but anyways;

Back on track since we've established Tokushin is actually a spindle. Spinning takes a helluva long time to do, it requires a lot of focus, patience and practice to do without thinking since yer trying to make sure everything distributes evenly for quality thread. Its the exact opposite of how Tamsy can be; a tad impulsive, self indulgent, risky, impatient. As I've pointed out in another post about his character.

Although it wasn't uncommon for noble women to spin like their poorer counterparts, It was something that happened more in the Medieval era I wanna say than like. Later, it was more likely for noble women to take up embroidery or lacemaking as a craft. Men were also spinners, however they tended to be artisans not nobles.

As the spinning wheel rose to prominence, and even later with industrialization, fewer people learned how to do this. Judging by the fact the Sphere does seem to have automation; trucks, garbage disposal, electric poles, its safe to assume the higher classes/cityfolk don't need to spin their own textiles themselves by hand. Especially not someone as high up the ladder with elaborate clothing such as Tamsy.

SO WHY THE HELL IS HIS VITAL INSTRUMENT A SPINDLE???

Someone of his status, let alone as a man, shouldn't even know what it is, or care about it. Especially enough to cherish it so much.

I assume we'll actually get a backstory behind this choice later down the line but lets see what this potentially says about him;

He's an artisan. Like, he likes art. and being creative. Which falls in line with liking music, how he presents himself, his liking for passionate people. It actually explains he must legitimately hate how wasteful and conformist the Sphere is; perhaps being able to make his own clothes, in different shapes and colors then what was provided to him to match the rest. To dress how you like enables a sense of autonomy he may not get up there. It speaks to a sense of respect and appreciation for artisanal crafts which is antithetical to fast fashion, consumerism, and colonialism as a whole. (Not necessarily saying he is against all those things? but his love of what he handmade or fixed himself might've been when turned him against the Sphere when didn't approve of it and opened his eyes to how it treats people too.)

The fact that he doesn't align with the male or female aesthetics of the Sphere, combined with this craft leads me to believe its also tied to his own gender identity and expression too, obvi.

Tokushin, his vital instrument might be what humanizes him the most to me, artisan to artisan, fibre artist to fibre artist. It makes me believe he's not just doing all this for the hell of it and actually cares about other people to an extent. Since fiber arts, in my opinion and experience, are so tethered to community and humanity itself. Sure, we've got puppet masters and spiders making traps but; spinsters and weavers created clothing to keep each other warm, bandages for our wounds, nets to catch food, and even were responsible for computers and modern tech as we know it.

Personally; Part of my own goal is learning how to harvest and spin, and weave so that I may teach it to other generations. Currently I organize and teach others how to sew and embroider because I want to lift my people from poverty and reconnect them with our cultural practices and the land beneath out feet. Although he's done atrocious things, when i hear he's never been understood his entire life, and yet has a spindle as an instrument, I can't help but think Tamsy started out wanted to do the same as me at some point before the threads got all tangled. Getting into fiber arts was what gave me a solid community i could rely on and give back to, and identity and style too even.

Anyways, I think I've said my peace fer now. I do want to make maybe a second part or companion piece to this about the mythical/folklore connections he and his Vital Instrument have. Namely to the various Sleeping Beauty stories, and how he's a subversion of them, but das another story fer another day. Later yall, stay frosty, I hope you learned smth neat today from me.