Love and Chickspace

This week we're assigning Pokémon types and evolutions to the LADS boys, and the results are unhinged. Is Rafayel a fire-type who "doesn't even need a reason to kill you with fire"? Is Sylus just a legendary who punches things in the face? We have opinions.

Then Nikki Tea puts on her Game Dev Battle Girlie hat and breaks down why Japan's LADS revenue is surging while downloads drop; the economics of gacha spending in a recession are weirder than you think. Plus: the "June 4th lockdown" in Chinese gaming. What it is, why social features get shut down every year, and how it affects global servers. If you've ever wondered why your profile randomly breaks in a gacha game around early June… this is the episode for you.

Also covered: the evolution of the boys' voice acting from first-kiss cards to now, why cloth simulation and soft engine physics make LADS look better than its competitors, and a brief but deeply scientific detour into why romance novel anatomy makes zero sense. (We cite Planned Parenthood. It's that kind of episode.)

⏱️ Timestamps: 

0:00 Sylus's ratio. We start here. 

3:03 Pokémon typing the LADS boys 

10:09 "I choose you, Relentless Conqueror" 

14:43 Reading habits exposed!! 

18:37 The Planned Parenthood citation incident 

25:54 First kiss cards with Entwined Shadows & voice acting evolution 

30:14 Tangent: One Time with Paul Bettany

38:01 Rafayel's best look (naked in body paint, obviously) 

41:55 Soft engines, cloth physics & why LADS looks so good 

46:35 LADS revenue deep dive: Japan's spending explosion and the May 2026 Gacha Revenue Numbers

55:51 Why game companies avoid holiday releases 

1:05:52 The June 4th lockdown explained

Subscribe for weekly LADS chaos, industry breakdowns, and emotionally damaged besties who've been arguing about games for 25+ years.

Music provided by Chillhop Music

Shin-Ski - In Your Arms

https://chll.to/299a28b3

Sylus: Kitten Included finally dropped and somehow Infold looked directly into the fanfic archives and said yes, all of it. In this episode, Mama Void spirals into full kitten-mittens chaos while Nikki somehow also delivers a legitimate academic lecture on butt physics. Yes, with citations. Because that's who we are.

This week we're breaking down:

• 🐱 Sylus: Kitten Included: the Billionaire Boyfriend trope, the kindled scene, the Cat Caretaker callback
• 🍑 Jiggle physics, explained, no really, from a dev perspective: secondary animation, Verlet Integration, bone-spring rigging, and why butt physics is harder to animate than breast physics (Team Ninja said it, not Nikki!)
• 🎮 Does working in game dev ruin games? Nikki Tea cannot look at denim the same way
• 🏆 The “Soft Engine” Rankings: Mama Void ran the experiments. She has the data.🩺 Breast density, explained: not just for jiggle physics! All four levels per the American College of Radiology. PSA: check your boobs, y’all.
• 😼 Sylus has chicken legs with a small ass and Nikki Tea will die on this hill.Someone worked hard for that cat to jiggle Sylus’s butt. We celebrate them here.

Chapters:

• 00:00 The Gauntlet has Been Thrown
• 07:56 Kitten Included Review and Reaction
• 30:21 The Important Conversation: Jiggle Physics from a Dev Perspective
• 51:53 The Hypothesis of the Jiggly Butt aka The Soft Engine Ranking
• 55:32 Health Awareness: The Importance of Breast Density

Additional Sources and Reading for Fun:

Secondary Animation. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_animation

What are Jiggle Physics, and How Do I Set Them Up in Godot? Codernunk: https://codernunk.com/tutorials/godot-jiggle-physics/Software: Breast Physics.

Handwiki: https://handwiki.org/wiki/Software:Breast_physicsGames with Butt Jiggle Physics.

Backloggd: https://backloggd.com/u/PlamzDooM/list/games-with-butt-jiggle-physics/Butt Jiggle, Concept.

Giantbomb: https://giantbomb.com/wiki/Concepts/Butt_Jiggle

Dead or Alive Xtreme PC will downgrade boob physics on low-end hardware.

PCGamesN: https://www.pcgamesn.com/dead-or-alive-xtreme-venus-vacation-pc-specs

Jiggle Physics. TVTropes: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JigglePhysics

The new 5-star Sylus solo card "Kitten Included" drops May 22nd — and somehow Infold looked directly into the fanfic archives and said yes, all of it. In this episode, Nikki Tea and Mama Void spiral into full kitten-mittens hysteria while somehow also doing real analysis about the…death of the solo banner? Caleb Promise Angst! Game Economics?!. Because that's who we are.

This week we're breaking down:

• 🐱 Sylus "Kitten Included" — what's in the banner, the Meow Meowpark kitty cafe, and yes, you also become a kitten

• 💸 Solo vs. multi-banner vs. rerun vs. myth — what each banner type actually means for your wallet and your FOMO

• 📉 Cumulative wish reward changes — are we getting less? We did the math so you don't have to (sorta).

• 💔 Caleb's promise card decoded — Nikki Tea goes full game dev analyst, Mama Void builds a house of angst

• 🎨 Rafayel's promise card — the graffiti era, the chaotic energy, and the moment he said “homie”

• 🐾 Catleb predictions — when is the cat boy Caleb card dropping and are we manifesting it right now? Join us for a group manifestation exercise.

Whether you're a whale, an orca, or a broke fish trying to budget your deep space wishes — this one's for you.

Chapters:

00:00 OMG We're a Cat in Sylus: Kitten Included

11:38 Cumulative Wish Rewards and Game Mechanics

26:03 Fewer Solo Banners? A theory on the Games Economic Shift

44:42 The Infold IRL AU?

46:24 Caleb and Raf's Promise Cards - Are they Angsty?

01:00:06 Unhinged Sign-Off and Final Thoughts

Rafayel ripped Mama's heart out before we even hit record. Episode 19 is here, and we are not okay — but we showed up anyway, and we brought chaos.

We kick things off mid-trauma as Mama Void recovers from a Rafayel story event that had her crying before the podcast even started. Sylus gets called in for emotional support. Henry attacks the microphone. It's fine. Everything's fine.

Then we get into the cards and we have OPINIONS. Caleb's Lingering Lust gets a full breakdown including: apple basket logistics, chain kink confirmation, the Ghost pottery wheel scene but make it a mechanical arm, and what is now officially called his G-spot. Mama also recounts the floating island Garden of Eden arc, a lonely little robot, a vine that is definitely a metaphor, and the moment Caleb punched his V card. It's plot. It's accurate. It makes sense. 

Then Zayne shows up with a pool cue and Nikki Tea accidentally confesses to an entire era of her life. Chalk, lacquer, small towns, debate team, Renaissance art. We will not be elaborating. The internet lives forever.

We also cover the King of Darknight rerun — is it worth your pulls post-Lingering Lust bankruptcy? Nikki breaks down R1 vs R2 vs R3, battle resource management explained live with a confused Mama as the test subject, and why Lumiere is actually her spirit companion. Plus the full Daddy taxonomy: Star Daddy, Snow Daddy, Shadow Daddy, Ocean Daddy, and the simultaneous jinx that gave us Apple Daddy.

We close with EDS Awareness Month, because we contain multitudes, and Mama's outro is somehow the most coherent thing said in the entire episode.

This is Love and Chickspace — where the analysis is real, the chaos is mandatory, and someone should have chalked their cue.

Chapters

00:00 Heartbreak and Humor

04:59 Caleb's Apple Bottom in Lingering Lust

25:19 Lingering Lust Final Thoughts and Delights

28:22 Exclusive Tutorial & Pool Cue Fun

39:22 King of Darknight Rerun and Xavier Companions Overview

45:47 KOD and Understanding Battle Resource Management

51:57 Lumiere vs KOD

55:54 The Unhinged Signoff

The boys hit the hot springs and we absolutely lost our minds. Episode 18 is here, y’all, and we have data, drama, and towel physics discourse.We also get into the Hot Springs event — Zayne, Sylus, and Caleb are out here making choices, and we have opinions about all of them. MANY opinions about them, and their little towels too… The Zayne Exclusive Tutorial event drops May 8-15 and we are braced for impact while NIkki learns she may have a…vibe…for certain cards. Exclusive Tutorial, No Defense Zone…She needed spreadsheets to recover from that revelation, so the April revenue report and Love and Deepspace pulled $40.7 million... and still fell to third place. We break down what happened, who's winning (Honkai Star Rail had an anniversary and it shows), and what the spending trends actually mean for the future of our favorite gacha boys. Plus: iOS vs Android revenue gaps, Chinese market dips, and why December is still the GOAT month. Then things get serious: YouTube is coming for Love and Deepspace content, and Nikki Tea breaks down exactly why she thinks it's trolls triggering automated takedowns — not Papergames. We also get into the age rating conversation: is a “PG-13 rating” (as Mama calls it) actually appropriate for this game anymore? We have thoughts.Plus: Mama Void recounts her hard pity trauma (13 cards, 740 pulls, zero chill), Nikki Tea survives 140 wishes with two cards and her dignity mostly intact, and we celebrate hitting 500 subscribers with the unhinged energy you would expect from us.This is Love and Chickspace — where the analysis is real and the chaos is mandatory.Chapters00:00 Welcome to a Live Recording!03:01 Navigating YouTube's Censorship and Content Creation Challenges10:09 Exclusive Tutorials and Upcoming Events14:27 Understanding Gacha Mechanics and Pity Systems22:15 Sylus and Zayne's Lingering Lust Cards Review33:04 Towel Clothing Logistics47:12 April 2026 Gacha Revenue53:39 Game Ratings and Content Appropriateness01:01:47 Unhinged Sign Off ;)

Hooooly Cupcakes…Lingering Lust is here and the towels are smaller than ever.

This week, Nikki Tea and Mama Void break down every outfit on the new banner– from Zayne's suspiciously tiny towel (and his lifelong obsession with neckwear, finally abandoned) to Caleb's mesh belt that can only be described as an “apple bottom protector.” Sylus brings a magical hoop chain and questionable towel logistics. Rafayel is serving full body-chain fashion. Xavier is also there between MC’s legs…again. We have thoughts.

Nikki also has her marketing professional theory on how the stick figure marketing came to be. Shout out to Stacy, wherever you are girl.

Then we pivot to the next Promise Event featuring Caleb: Spotlight Gaze and Rafayel: True Heart Flip. Mama walks you through her exact pulling strategy, protocore count trauma, and why her personal banner ranking is absolutely correct (Sylus stans, come fight her).

Nikki Tea closes with a real talk segment on Mental Health Awareness Month, why it matters in the gaming community, and how sometimes the healthiest choice is pixelated men.

New here? We are two besties who have been arguing about games for 25+ years. One of us is a 20-year industry veteran who breaks gacha monetization like a job. The other one chases emotional damage and thirsts over pixelated boyfriends with scientific precision. 

Full episodes every Thursday.

Chapters

00:00 Mama's in trouble

05:40 The Unhinged Story of these Hot Springs Cards

14:20 Lingering Lust Marketing

17:19 Lingering Lust Banner Overview and Tips

29:36 Raf and Caleb Promise Coming

34:36 Zayne's got a neck thing

44:18 Rafayel Always Looks Fabulous

46:19 A Final Fantasy Interlude?

50:54 Nikki and Rafayel Judge People Together

54:18 A Harem Girlie's Advice for a Multibanner

56:39 Legit: Mental Health Awareness Month

Two chaotic besties. One emotionally devastating Sea God myth. One full business school breakdown on why gacha reruns exist—and why they are working on you by design.

Mama Void cannot hold it together during Love and Depression. Nikki Tea cannot save her. The Sea God myth has claimed another victim and we are not even a little bit okay about it. But in the spirit of chaos and industry expertise, Nikki Tea puts on her Game Dev Battle Girlie hat and breaks down the cold, calculated business math behind reruns: customer acquisition costs, lifetime value, player retention, and why bringing back limited characters is one of the most financially sound moves a mobile game can make. This is not fan service. This is infrastructure.

We also go in on MC customization and accessibility: why diverse skin tone options and color blindness support are not optional extras for a global game, and why leaving money on the table this obvious is actually kind of wild.

Equal parts emotional damage and business school. That is what we do here. Don’t worry there’s a CAC vs Cock joke in there to temper it all.

If you are new…welcome to Love and Chickspace, where two best friends with 25+ years of friendship break down Love and Deepspace from every angle: the lore, the mechanics, the spending strategy, and the absolute chaos. Subscribe so you never miss a breakdown (emotional or otherwise)

Chapters:

00:00 Emotional Narration and Performance Dynamics

04:45 Battle Theme Song: 80 and Awakened

08:37 3rd Myth Character Designs

13:24 All the 3rd Myth Connections

24:26 The Gacha Game Economics of Reruns

46:16 Studies say: Personalization and Cultural Representation is Important...rly

52:48 LADS Fails in Accessibility

59:00 Why there's a webstore Epic vs Apple

01:04:39 You Apologize to that Platypus

01:05:59 Unhinged Signoff

Additional Sources: 

Liftoff/SocialPeta "Guide to Growing Chinese Gaming Apps Overseas" (2024) - https://info.liftoff.ai/2024-growing-chinese-gaming-apps

Segwise "Understanding the LTV to CAC Ratio in Gaming Apps" (Feb 2025) - https://segwise.ai/blog/ltv-to-cac-ratio-gaming-apps-guide

Deloitte "Unlocking Player Lifetime Value" (2024) - https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/services/consulting/articles/lifetime-value-player-retention.html

Mistplay "7 Mobile Gaming Trends Set to Define 2026" (Feb 2026) - https://business.mistplay.com/resources/mobile-game-trends-2026

It was Sylus’ birthday and we are not okay 🖤.In this episode, Mama Void ugly cried through Rainlit Night (twice), Nikki Tea clocked the broken nose (again), and somehow we ended up deep in a roller derby AU for all five boys. This is fine. Everything is fine.This week we cover:🎂 Sylus's Birthday Memory: Rainlit Night: Plan A through Plan F, a 100-year-old pipe organ, a chip slipped into a back pocket, and a skyline that lights up just for him. "So your gift is being the first thing that I've seen." We're done. We're so done.🐱 Cat Boys, Cat Ears & Cat Patat: Zayne with cat ears. Sylus with cat ears. A sexual awakening in one's late thirties. You're welcome.💪 The Great Physique Debate: V-lines. Dimples of Venus. Renaissance hips. Caleb has a bakery somehow. Xavier is CUT. We are not taking questions.🛼 Roller Derby AU (Yes, Really): Full positions, derby names, and penalties for all five boys. Rafayel commits illegal procedures. Zayne sits on someone’s thigh. Red Zeppelin is real.🎰 Banner Talk including Lingering Gaze and other multibanners, Executive Tutorial rerun speculation, and the eternal prayer for Cat Caleb.😤 Carter remains the villain. That is all.If you made it this far, you are one of us. Subscribe so you never miss two chaotic besties arguing about games — and occasionally buying pipe organ restoration companies.New episodes every Thursday. Clips and Shorts all week long.Chapters:00:00 Cuddles and Cat Ears: A Birthday Celebration04:10 Sylus Birthday Reaction30:04 Fashion Choices: Distressed Jeans and Classy Holes34:07 Comparing Vlines Because, why not?50:59 LADS Roller Derby AU01:02:40 Next Banner and Cat Caretaker Revolt01:09:07 Sylus Birthday Event Mini Games01:13:23 The Unhinged Signoff

 LADS made $40.7 MILLION in March 2026. We're processing it by talking about Caleb's ass cheeks. You're welcome.

Nikki Tea and Mama Void are back with the receipts, the revenue reports, and the kind of emotional damage only Zayne's Foreseer Myth can inflict.

This week: Sylus got put in a beanie (and we have opinions), Xavier is getting ANOTHER rerun sandwiched between heavy hitting content (poor Starchild) and we explain Netherlord combat mechanics using anatomy. It's a lot. Subscribe or miss out.

🌈 THIS WEEK ON CHICKSPACE:

• Sylus's beanie era + birthday speculation (crane game incoming??)

• Xavier rerun discourse (we're tired, bestie)

• Netherlord mechanics explained via Caleb's ass cheeks (Lotus Ass method, patent pending)

• Senior Hunt Contest war stories — who survived, who suffered

• March 2026 Gacha Revenue Report but what does that mean in context of gaming?

• Nikki talks the IGN Japan interview with LADS producer Lizi Cheng: https://www.ign.com/articles/exclusive-interview-how-love-and-deepspace-harnessed-the-science-behind-love-at-first-sight

• Gacha is a mechanic, NOT a genre and Nikki goes industry nerd explains why comparing LADS to Genshin is not entirely correct

• Digital ownership, DLC licensing & being an informed consumer

• Testicular Cancer Awareness Month PSA — yes, really, we're doing this. Just because you play with pixelated boys doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn about this: https://www.testicularcancerawarenessfoundation.org/tc-awareness-month

Special treat: Nikki's keyboard ASMR as she crashes out.

We're two chaotic besties who've been arguing about games for 25+ years. Nikki Tea is a 20-year gaming industry veteran who breaks gacha monetization so you spend smarter. Mama Void chases emotional damage and thiiiirsts over pixelated boyfriends. Subscribe if you want industry analysis delivered with chaos energy and zero chill. 💜🖤

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 — Intro / Typing Like a Crime Lord (ASMR Edition)

04:22 — LADS Schedule Predictions & Sylus Birthday Watch

09:30 — What Is a Polymarket (An Education)

16:28 — How to Play Netherlord (Feat. Caleb's Ass)

20:19 — Senior Hunt Contest Recap & Mama Void's R3 Flex

38:42 — March 2026 Gacha Revenue Report

43:02 — How to Pull Smart (& When NOT to Spend)

47:07 — Is the Gacha Market Actually That Big?

52:14 — The IGN Producer Interview & LADS as a Live Service Game

57:07 — Gacha Is a Mechanic, Not a Genre: Super & Sub Genres Explained

1:09:08 — Be an Informed Consumer (She's a Bad Man)

1:10:00 — Spank Zayne Daddy: The Closing Ceremony

1:16:18 — Testicular Cancer PSA & Outro

Caleb didn't die for you; he became the Netherlord so you wouldn't have to and that's somehow so, so, SO much worse. 💔

Mama Void goes full mythology Google spiral on Caleb's Nether Lord myth, and we are NOT okay. This one broke her live on stream so of course, we had to sit down and talk about it.

In this longer-than-normal Voidside Chat style episode:

• Android vs. Netherlord: why dying together is actually the happy ending (and alive-but-separated is the cruelest fate) 
• Nuwa & Fuxi decoded: the Chinese creation myth secretly woven into everything Caleb does 
• Yin, Yang, and cosmic imbalance in Daoism
• A Sober Toast and why the forgetting doesn't work on Caleb and MC
• Lotus symbolism + the Lotus Sutra in Buddhism 
• The only human LI: why Caleb's myths hit different when every other love interest is a god, a ghost, or something worse 
• BONUS: battle voice lines are actually audio cues! Nikki Tea drops industry knowledge and it changes how you play the game (if you didn’t know)

We promise, we talk about the other boys too in there…

We are chaotic. We are crying. We have too many opinions about pixelated men. This is the show. 💜🫧

New here? Nikki Tea is a 20-year game industry veteran who breaks down gacha mechanics and mythology without losing the simp energy. Mama Void chases emotional damage and calls out wise men. Together we are too much. Subscribe if this is your kind of unhinged. 🔔

📌Chapters:

00:00 Nether Lord Alternative Outfit isn't White?!

01:35 Talking to your "Discord Friends?"

04:43 Secret Times and the Art of Audio Direction

11:10 Nether Lord got us in the Feels

13:15 Comparing Myths: Caleb vs. Android

15:51 Netherlord Vs Android Caleb Thoughts

19:59 The Nature of Sacrifice and Separation

29:35 Divine Siblings and Cosmic Connections

54:11 But is each LI Divine?

01:05:06 Zayne and Caleb Play Warhammer Together

01:07:48 A review of Caleb's Battle Companions

01:18:05 The Importance of Audio Cues in Battle

01:27:39 Go get your netherlord!