from Closed to Semi-Open, closing the server & flour system

Hello everyone! This is Gin speaking. Today, I have some very important news: Mochibuns are becoming a semi-open species, flour is being phased out and the discord is being shut down. This will be a long bulletin with a lot of information. I encourage reading everything slowly to make sure no details are missed. Please be sure to also reread the species TOS when you have time, it has been updated to accommodate these new changes.

It’s been about three years since I made this closed species and a lot of things have changed since then There have been a lot of highs and lows, and a lot of major changes to community and species structure along the way. I’m grateful to everyone in the current community, from those who have stuck around since the early days to newer members. I can't say it's been easy, but I have genuinely enjoyed working on this species and community at many points. 

However, being the creator has been increasing draining for me. These past few months, I’ve felt less and less motivated to work on the species. While this species is still dear to me, the passion I had at the beginning isn’t there anymore-- and that means something needs to change. I was planning on doing something less final last month which was hinted about on the discord, but as I became busier with irl matters, I decided it wouldn’t be enough.

As those who've been in the community this year have experienced, there's been a slew of small but critical changes to the species lore. While I believe those changes ultimately helped, I also recognize they didn’t really solve issues with community structure. Rather than continuing to do smaller adjustments over time, I decided that doing a major structural change was best— this is the result.

Becoming a Semi-Open Species

One of the notable issues I and others have seen in this community is burn out. When community members made art to the point of frustration in order to get enough flour to purchase a MYO slot. Looking back, I do wholly admit that flour rates could have been fairer at the start. But even when flour prices did rise, there were still many community members who would burn out doing art.

If the flour earning rates were raised too high, I felt it would defeat the point of mochibuns being a closed species in the first place— if anyone could make a mochibun within a day if they put in the effort, the species might as well be an open species. Still, this species was not created with the intention to be for-profit. The solution that I decided on was to make this a semi-open species.

From now on, every month any TH member can make 1 Mochibun of any star rank for free. There is a limit of 1 Mochibun per person, those who use alternate accounts to try to make more will be penalized. Please see the design information page for more information! If one wants to make additional or special Mochibuns (hybrid, mochimono, corrupted), MYO tickets and Add-On(s) can be purchased with currency. An additional bulletin will be posted later with more information about Marketplace changes.

With this change to the species, the species TOS has been updated. I highly recommend reading it. One notable change is that appraisals are no longer needed to resell Mochibuns. Those looking to sell will still be bound to the designer's TOS-- if the designer has rules about reselling then those must be followed-- but you will be able to resell Mochibuns for currency within reason. TH links between Masterlist Entries and mochibun TH profiles are now being required for all new mochibuns. Mochibuns made before today will not be affected, but it is highly recommended to link them.

Why kill the server?

To be honest, I did consider killing or opening Mochibuns as a species. But the reason I've been holding on so long despite feeling unmotivated is because of the amount of effort and care I know multiple people have put into this species. For me, this species has always been about its community-- despite my personal failures with the community in the past. However, one of the biggest current issues with Mochibuns currently is that the discord is almost completely inactive. 

For months now the main active members were members of the mod team despite having over 100 members. The discord is not closing to punish the community as a whole for inactivity, but as a logical step. This was a decision that was made after a discussion with the mod team. There's no sense in having a discord for only 4-8 people to talk once a week. Since almost everyone on the discord is also on the TH world, we feel that all announcements that need to be made will be seen anyways. The Mochibun discord will be shut down to public access in one week's time (October 17th). A discord server may come back sometime in the future if a minimum threshold of activity is maintained on the TH world, but it is unlikely to be reestablished any time soon. Thank you to all the discord members, we hope you all enjoyed your stay!

Getting Rid of Flour

From the beginning, flour was created to be a server benefit. Since the discord server is being shut down, the mod team decided that flour should be discontinued. It is harder to organize and keep track of events on TH. While the flour system may come back in a different form later on, the current flour system was built for the discord server and isn't compatible with the new species direction. Add-On(s) will only be purchasable using currency for the foreseeable future, information given on a later bulletin.

For those currently holding flour, a tier exchange has been opened for Add-Ons that will be generated as TH comments. Details about all item types available can be seen at the marketplace and you can check your current flour by looking at the flour bank. Make sure to exchange your flour by November 30th or it will become unusable. 

You can only pick 1 option from the tier you qualify for. When exchanging for items within certain amounts, please specify which item you want or we won't know what to generate for you. Please comment on this bulletin to exchange!

• 0-500g of Flour
  • 3 items that cost 200g or less
  • 2 items that cost 300g or less
  • 1 item that costs 300g or less + 1 item that costs 200g or less
  • 1 Hybrid Slice
• 501-1000g of Flour
  • 4 items that cost 200g or less
  • 3 items that cost 300g or less
  • 2 Hybrid Slices
  • 1 Mochimono Passport + 1 item that costs 200g or less
  • 1 Corruption item + 1 item that costs 200g or less
• 1001-1500g of Flour
  • 5 items that cost 300g or less
  • 3 Hybrid Slices
  • 1 Mochimono Passport + 2 items that cost 200g or less
  • 1 Corruption item + 2 items that cost 200g or less
  • 1 Mochimono Passport + 1 item that costs 300g or less
  • 1 Corruption item + 1 item that costs 300g or less
  • 1 MYO slot (any star rank)
• 1501-2000g of Flour
  • 7 items that cost 300g or less
  • 4 Hybrid Slices
  • 1 MYO slot (any star rank) + 2 items that cost 200g or less
  • 1 MYO slot (any star rank) + 1 item that cost 300g or less
  • 1 Rotten MYO slot
  • 1 Mochimono MYO slot
• 2000g+ of Flour
  • 10 items that cost 300g or less
  • 1 Rotten MYO slot + 1 item that costs 200g or less
  • 1 Mochimono MYO slot + 1 item that costs 200g or less
  • 1 Hybrid MYO slot

Thank you to everyone for being a part of this community. If these changes are too much, we fully understand. This species has been through a lot and is very different from how it was at the start. Thank you for sticking around until now and best of luck. For those of you who are still sticking around, thank you so much for your continued support of the species. We hope to see you around despite the reduced community features and enjoy making new buns!

With a vote of over 50% option B from the corruption lore voting bulletin has gone into effect!

We apologize for the delay in getting the results out, thank you for your patience. We wanted to have the new lore fully written and published before officially announcing the results. From this point forward, the previous corruption lore is obsolete. Thank you to those who supported the old lore, we hope you will find the new corruption lore interesting! Previously corrupted mochibuns must follow the new corruption lore.

The corruption lore was completely rewritten following the proposed guidelines of option B. Corruption now is more general and major correlations to sensitive topics have been removed, including the major cult lore. While there is still worship of the Dark Emperor, the prominence of cults has been erased. Standard relationships between corrupted and uncorrupted mochibuns have also been altered to fit the new lore. The design guidelines have not been changed for corrupted mochibuns and the test is still required to make a corrupted mochibun (see corruption page).

Thank you to those who voted, your flour for voting has been deposited!

Read the new corruption lore today!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our survey!

Apologies for the delay in posting the results. We appreciate your feedback greatly, and hope you like the changes that will be happening! Flour has been deposited in the accounts of everyone who entered their TH names. Under the spoiler, you can see the specific results:

Rewriting Corruption Lore

During the last survey, it has come to attention that Corruption lore could benefit from a rewrite. Corruption lore was originally developed in 2019 due to the requests of community members at that time. It was intended to specifically be for "unhinged villains with no morals who choose to do terrible things" types of characters. It was written without much flexibility and that did work well enough for those interested in corruption within the community of the time.

But in the current 2022 community, there is a greater desire to corruption lore in more flexible ways than it currently allows. The corruption lore is currently rather heavy, which also is potentially causing disconnect. Due to the disconnect, we wanted to bring up rewriting corruption lore to better suit the current community.

Below you can see the details about the three options for voting on the voting form. The option with the highest amount of votes will be the direction of the corruption lore, even if there is only a 1 vote difference. Those who vote and give their TH username will receive 200g of flour. We look forward to your vote!

OPTION A: Dark Emperor

• In this option, mochibuns become corrupt by worshipping the Dark Emperor.
  • See corruption & cults page for more information about the Dark Emperor.
  • All corrupted buns must believe in the Dark Emperor. While they don't have to join a cult, they must all believe in the Dark Emperor.
• All corrupted buns are stronger than uncorrupted buns.
• Rituals will still be required to become corrupt.
  • Rituals can be non-violent.
  • Corruption is a conscious choice and it is impossible to force others to become corrupt.
• They are still viewed the same way as current corruption lore, but with less violence/major persecution.
• PARTIAL corruption will be reversible but FULL corruption will not be.
  • Partially corrupted will slowly become less corrupt if they stop doing rituals, slowly losing power until they revert back to their original state.
  • Fully corrupted buns cannot stop doing rituals, if they stop they will die. The rituals have changed their biology.
• There would be no lore required mental side effects, but mental side effects will still be present in corruption lore due to the religious/cult/zealot aspect. 

OPTION B: Cursed

• In this option, mochibuns become corrupt by being exposed to cursed energy, dark magic, taboo powers, etc.
  • Something extreme is done to fundamentally alter their biology. Their fundamental alignment is changed from light to dark.
• Corruption can be intentionally done by the bun or something that is done to them against their will.
• Rituals are not required but are a way that mochibuns can intentionally become corrupt.
• Belief in the Dark Emperor is not required, but corruption is still associated with him. 
• Corruption can make them stronger OR weaker than uncorrupted buns.
• The corrupt are highly stigmatized, but can remain members of greater mochibun society without being persecuted.
• Neither partial or full corruption is reversible. 
• There would be no lore required mental side effects, but mental side effects will still be present in corruption lore due to the inherent trauma of having one’s life irreversibly altered, cursed objects/items, etc. 

OPTION C: No Change

• In this option, the corruption lore is not changed at all, see corruption & cults page for more information.

Voting on the Corruption Lore will close on July 31st, 10 PM CST

New Survey

At the above link is a new survey for the species that includes voting on certain things, including on mochibun age and some traits. With enough votes, these changes will go through-- or not depending on how things go. The survey is open until July 13th at 5 PM CST and participating in voting will result in 200g of flour for those who mention their TH name at the end of the form. Voting results will be released on either the 14th or 15th. Please keep an eye out as some notable changes may go into effect as a result of voting. We hope to see you vote, your opinion matters to us!

In other news, Saku will be removed as an NPC because they do not have a major role in the greater mochibun lore, nor do they represent a specific aspect of mochibun society. They also have not been an NPC of great interest to the community as a whole, so we felt that removing them from being an NPC was the best option.

The Free MYO Event will be closing in 24 hours! Event ends June 10th at 11:59 PM CST. 

Please make sure to check your time zone to compare to when the event ends. MYO tickets will automatically expire June 11th 12 AM CST. If you submit a design before that date and are asked to do edits, your design will still be approved after the edits are done! However, if you have not submitted anything before the deadline your design will not be approved unless you obtain another MYO ticket.

In some other news, we have added a Mochimono MYO Slot and a Crossbreed Passport to the marketplace! The Mochimono MYO ticket allows one to make a mochimono of any star rank and can only be obtained using cash. The Crossbreed Passport will allow the holder to make a mochibun that has traits from another closed species.

qriztanium also rejoined the mod team earlier this month and is back as a discord mod!

Hello to everyone, both old and new! We hope you've been enjoying the free MYO event. In light of the event, and some of the questions we've gotten, a need for some reorganization became apparent. The following changes have occurred to the world pages, which can be seen on the sidebar to the left:

• The formatting of sections has changed slightly, specifically the style of headers and spoilers.
• Due to confusion, the trait of Unique Flavor which allows the holder to make an original ear pattern has been changed to Special Flavor.
• The trait guide has turned into the design and trait guide.
  • Previously, the trait guide served as an introduction to the main species traits but did not specify various small designing notes. Now, that page is specifically about traits in relation to designing (and redesigning) mochibun characters. All information that isn't design specific has moved to the biology page.
• The place to see the flavor patterns has been split off of the trait guide to be its own page, the flavor guide.
  • This update includes brand new references for flavor patterns that are bigger in size!
  • Points of variance within patterns is also given more detail.
• The former design/redesign page has been changed into a section called design submission guide that discusses MYO tickets and submitting designs for approval.
• Some new wording has been added to the corruption lore page, with the intention of clarifying some nuances that were previously vaguer.
  • The specific reason for why corrupted mochibuns cannot voluntarily become uncorrupt is now more explicit.
  • The mental effects of corruption are more nuanced-- previously it could be read that a loss of empathy was required. Now it's emphasized that other mental changes also can occur that aren't related to empathy.
• The marketplace has been moved to a page.
  • This was done in hopes of later potentially making the shop layouts more interactive with code!
  • Items from the marketplace will now be purchased from a new bulletin.
• The flour storehouse center, which has not really been used, and the place to transfer flour has been combined with the place to purchase shop items.
• The inventory and MYO slot tracker have also been recreated!
  • All MYO tickets and inventory items on the old trackers are still valid.
  • The only difference between old and new trackers is that any new items generated after this point will be on the new tracker.

IF you're interested in getting a new mochibun of your own, make sure to check out the free MYO event or go to the TH world home page and check the toggle for all our currently open adopts. We have 3 OTAs open currently and one set price resell.

Inventory

• A place to keep track of add on items that aren't applied to tickets or already made mochibuns.
• You can buy add on items at the marketplace or get them as prizes on the discord server. 
  • It is the responsibility of the item holder to keep track of their item ticket.
• There is a 3 day cooldown before transferring any item to a new owner. 
  • If transferring an item, make sure to @ the new owner & have the new owner respond to confirm! Transferred item tickets cannot be used or transferred to a new owner if the current owner has not confirmed the ownership transfer.
• Item comments are deleted after a minimum of 1 day of being used/applied to an MYO ticket.
• All items on the old inventory are still valid.
  • The difference between the old and new inventories is that all items generated after May 7th are here!

Bakery

Best Sellers /// Specialty Goods /// Custom Orders

Hex Shop

Curses & Conditions /// Emperor's Choice

MYO Slot Tracker

• It is the responsibility of the ticket holder to keep track of their MYO ticket.
• There is a 3 day cooldown before transferring any MYO ticket to a new owner.
• If transferring a ticket, make sure to @ the new owner & have the new owner respond to confirm! 
  • Transferred MYO tickets cannot be used or transferred to a new owner if the current owner has not confirmed the ownership transfer.
• Slot comments are deleted after the holder's submitted design has been approved & uploaded to mochibun_station after a minimum of 7 days.
• All MYO tickets generated before May 7th, 2022 can be found here.
  • All slots on the old tracker are valid.

• If the desired location is inventory, a comment will be generated and the link must be given when submitting.
• If applying to already made mochibun, please link that mochibun's Masterlist Entry.
• If applying to MYO ticket, please link MYO ticket.
• Add-ons applied to MYO tickets are unremovable. If you transfer the ticket to somebody else, they will get that add-on (s) with the ticket.
• If applying to an existing design, they will be Event Locked. This means you will not be able to use them in an event until a design with the add-on is approved.

FORM FOR MARKETPLACE PURCHASE:

Item(s):

Cost:

Location:

• You can check your current flour here.
  • Flour is organized alphabetically by TH username.
  • On the second tab is a sheet that keeps track of any transfers of flour.
• Flour can be transferred to others as a gift, in exchange for mochibun related items, or for art/commissions.
• Transferred flour is non refundable by house in situations where one is scammed.
• Flour cannot be transferred for currency (USD, DA points, etc).
  • Anyone found to be involved in a transfer of flour for currency will receive penalties.

FORM FOR FLOUR TRANSFER:

Amount:

Recipient:

Reason:

Free MYO Event

With all our recent changes, we figured it was time for another one of these! From now until June 10th, you can make your own mochibun by following the simple steps outlined below, 1 MYO slot per person. The mochibun you make can be 2, 3, or 4 star rank. Any flavor can be used, but no add-on traits can be used unless you use your own flour to purchase them or do the optional step below. Please make sure to see the design & trait guide and design submission guide before starting your design. The trait guide has all of the ear patterns as well!

This event stops on June 10th at 11:59 CST. Any slots given through this event will become invalid after that day. If you turn in a design on the 10th and do not receive a reply on that day, your design will still be valid! But if you turn in the design after June 10th at 11:59 CST it will not be approved. So make sure you start early! 

To qualify for making your ticket you need to...

1. Join our TH World, Discord Server, or both (only one required, discord recommended).
2. Make a bulletin on your TH profile with a link to this bulletin sharing it.
3. Comment here with a link to the bulletin you made.
4. [OPTIONAL] Ping 2 people who you think would be interested in participating on this bulletin in your comment.
   1. Pings are done by typing @ and then their username with no space between the @ and the username. Pings are case sensitive, so make sure the usernames are exact! 
   2. Doing this step will get you any 1 item worth 200g of flour or less from the marketplace's Bakery Best Seller Shelf toggle.
   3. Please make sure to specify what add-on you would like if you take this step, or nothing will be added since we will not know what you want!

That's it! Afterward, a mod will respond to your comment on this bulletin with a slot comment. the mod given slot comment will be your MYO ticket for the event. It is important to save the link of the slot comment, as you will need this link during design approval later. If you are interested in getting some add-ons to your slot comment for this event, please consider the optional step! Number 4 is NOT required to get participate in this myo event, only the first three steps are mandatory. Only 1 slot per person will be given for this event.

If for any reason you need to edit your comment, please do so as a response to your original comment and not as a direct edit to your original comment. The original comment should not be edited before a slot is given. It is fine to delete and repost comments that do not have a slot comment response! If there is a slot comment response, deleting the original will also delete the slot comment response. Editing is not allowed to make sure any pings done for step 4 go through. Pings added after original comments have been made do not notify the person.

Submitting Designs for approval:

Designs can be sent to the mochibun_station using the proper form or submitted on the discord in the correct channel. It is recommended to submit on the discord for the fastest response time, as sending to the account can take 1-5 days. The form to submit on discord can be seen pinned on the discord channel. For submitting to TH, please see the design submission guide for more information. Every mochibun design also must follow the species TOS, it is your responsibility as future or current mochibun owner to have read the mochibun TOS! It is also highly recommended to read the design & trait guide and design submission guide before starting your design.

All designs must be...

• Fullbody. Chibi is okay! References that are only a bust are no longer accepted.
• Have color. The amount of color doesn't have to be complex, but some color should be present.
  • Skin must have some blush or gradient present so it is not completely white, as white skin is a hybrid trait.
• Sketchier references and on-base art is accepted.
  • Please note: It is not possible to update a reference purely for art later on, so the art should be something you're okay with having public!
• The only nudity allowed for references is barbie doll nudity, otherwise please add censors.
  • It is fine to have an uncensored version of your reference/etc, but the reference summitted for approval be.
• Here are some questions to ask yourself before submitting:
  • Is the ear pattern visible and clear? Ear pattern references may be required depending on the angle of the ear.
  • Is the pupil shape visible? In many cases, we request people add an eye close-up to the reference we submit.

The approval process:

• A reference must be submitted using the proper form to mochibun_station or in the correct channel on the discord. If you want to use add-ons purchased with flour, please link them as well when submitting. 
  • The form for submitting through TH can be found at the bottom of the design submission guide.
• The reference will either be approved or some edit will be asked for before approval can be given. 
• After approval, a link to the TH account must be sent so we can set up the Masterlist Entry.
  • A TH account can be made before approval, but must be hidden so only you can see it.
  • If you want to expedite the process, you're free to send a key to the hidden TH profile.
• After you get the Masterlist link, you'll be all set with your new mochibun! 
  • It's recommended to request a link to the Masterlist Entry through your mochibun's profile or copy the link and have it saved somewhere on the mochibun's profile.

It is highly recommended to read the design & trait guide, the design submission guide and species TOS before designing.