MitD XII: This Space Intentionally Left Dark

[Ruck]

Again, like I said to Pelee:
This line of reasoning reads like
"If you can't succeed (by the rules), it's ok to cheat"

Rich COULD have chosen a NON-shapeshifting monster. Or a shapeshifting monster that does NOT change ALL THE TIME, involuntarily, unless specifically trying not to.

If he chooses a monster, which has, in its description "eyes change around all the time", and then proceeds to paint "eyes always the same", without giving a clue that the visual appearance might be misleading, then that feels like cheating, to me, yes.

And I think numerous explanations have been provided for why a Protean MitD's eyes wouldn't change, both Watsonian (all the stuff about fitting in and friendship and not liking people looking at him) and Doylist (if Rich wanted a Protean, he can't draw it in a way that would immediately give away the species and spoil the reveal).

It seems like you think "a species that has two yellow eyes unchanging by default" is more important than "a species that fits the themes of the character's journey and the story Rich wants to tell," and I don't.

I have read SoD. I was talking about what you posted. You said he didn't like how people reacted to his changing looks, when his changing looks made him friends with the Gobbo children. For me that's a dissonance, but make of that what you will.

It's not dissonant at all, and I feel like to think it so you have to stretch what I said to the point of "Literally every person MitD meets thinks he's ugly," which is a stretch to the point of dishonesty.