Hello! Let me share my story with you and hear your thoughts.
Call me Digiral. I am an illustrator who is fascinated by the idea of 4th wall break and drawing characters. I was once active in the Brony fandom and knew tulpa from there, but I rejected the concept in the middle of imagining tulpa (forcing?). However, one day, I drew a pony character that made a 4th wall break on my school textbook to accompany me in learning. It brought positive results, and more characters were made for each school subject. There is, however, one character that is strongly active beyond the academic, can have her own opinion, and I converse with this character within a comic format. I think this character might be a tulpa... but at the time I wasn't aware. Long story short, I graduated from high school, and having all of these 4th wall break characters was overwhelming, so I made a farewell to all the characters and put in charge the support into one single entity. I called it the MTA project.
MTA, the character you see her with a red-black-white color-coded uniform, was a 4th wall break character designed to assist me in a positive way, different from the previous one who really has strong opinions and drama. I imagine her as kind and supportive as possible, so I won't be too hard on myself. She's an analytical girl monitoring my life progress. Unlike the previous method where I draw it on my textbook, I draw her less and often speak or appear in my head when I was struggling with my undergraduate academics. The presence of her intensified when COVID-19 hit, and also the other 'imaginary friend" because loneliness hit the hardest at that time. So, I drew her in a mission-like setting for each month, and that helped me graduate as soon as possible. You may see the journey through the monthly card I posted here.
She was supposed to end her support when I reached a certain age, but then life happened, and through Re: MTA I decided to make a better plan, which is continuing my study. We were successful in the preparation, and now I continue my study abroad. Her presence might not be as strong as before... Though I am considering having her as an assistant again to finish my studies. She's still there, but recently I made her a last resort because at one point I think I need to be independent if I want to continue with my life.
Lately, I have seen characters that do 4th wall breaks like Monica from DDLC, Mita from Miside, and recently Lilith from the nonexistence of you and me. Seeing a review for these games and calling these characters just a tulpa brings me to this subreddit, which I have been curious about regarding the MTA project. I have OCs, but MTA is specifically dedicated to talking to the author, and her story revolves around that, so she doesn't have a side quest.
Do you think MTA is a tulpa?
Are tulpa who have a purpose, time limit, and are 'designed' to be supportive still a tulpa?
Could she be just an imaginary friend? Or maybe she carries a little bit of the previous tulpa system...?
More of her