#//he would not rat out one of his other kids he has unofficially adopted

[dragetunge]

@seachant sent: 👫 oh ohhhh

With Ariel's patience , Hiccup's fear of the ocean slowly becomes overcome. He is weary of it from the numerous times he's almost drowned in the sea itself. He trusts her judgement more than anything when it comes to it. He just complains about it being cold all the time.

Ariel is one of the few beings that Hiccup will allow to touch him. Extending to tight hugs and a pecks on the cheek. He often returns her hugs because he cannot say no. But he won't let anything beyond a platonic touch between them so people do not get the wrong idea.

Outside of Hiccup knowing Ariel's identity, Gobber (Hiccup's second dad) has figured it out on his own because he's extremely paranoid. He isn't surprised about his kid making friends with merpeople and has kept her secret because he knows the mayhem people would cause knowing something like that. He reassures them both that no one Berk would believe him anyway because he rambles like a mad man and no one pays much attention to them anyway.

Hiccup has Ariel's sisters names written down in his personal journal he keeps on hand so he remember their names and what they look like for when the time comes to meet them. Ariel quizzes him on it.

Send a 👫and I’ll write four headcanons I have about our muse’s relationship

[amostimprobabledream]

You know, I know people like to meme on Homelander like "bro is beefing with a baby haha", but with S4 Ep4 revealing more context to his backstory, it's really not surprising and adds an extra tragic layer. (Note this isn't excusing him, it's just a little analysis.)

We already know early on that Homelander's childhood is a public fabrication and that he was raised as a lab rat, with Vogelbaum being his primary father figure. Despite raising John from birth, though, Vogelbaum has never seen him as a son or even a child - he's a product, an experiment that needs to be managed. Every day, Vogelbaum would go to work, do experiments on Homelander with his team of scientists, Stan Edgar, Barbara, and then go home and play happy families. Billy Butcher manages to get Vogelbaum to give him intel on Homelander specifically by threatening to hurt Vogelbaum's daughter if he doesn't comply. Once again, Vogelbaum puts his biological child over the one he spent most of his time with, and doesn't bother warning him or Madelyn of what's coming.

We also know now that the scientists who tortured him also had families - Frank is forced to go in the oven because Homelander overtly threatens to burn them too if he doesn't. We don't know about Marty or Barbara but it's easy to assume they do too. But none of them thought anything of sticking a little boy in an oven or testing nuclear weapons on him.

Then you have Madelyn. And we don't know exactly how long they've known each other, but it seems like it must be a long time for Madelyn to be in the position she is in Vought and by how well she knows Homelander. She's the closest thing to a mother figure he's ever had, and his unofficial handler/mentor. Whatever Madelyn thinks of him, Homelander is close to her.

And then Madelyn gets pregnant.

Something that always stuck out to me in Season One was when Homelander comments that Madelyn's baby is just a prop to make her feel like a good person. This always seemed like a really astute and oddly specific, personal observation, because mostly Homelander seemed pretty selective with Madelyn's unsavoury qualities until she lies about something too major for him to ignore anymore. But it does seem, to me, that he was right - whether Madelyn felt genuine love for Teddy or not, it does seem like these scientists and other people who work at Vought use their loved ones to convince themselves that they aren't really bad people - look, they have a good relationship with their kids! They're happily married! Yes, they experimented on a child, but that was just a job. It's what he was made for. But that's not who they really are, right? In particular, Madelyn's determination to make Teddy breastfeed from her seemed less because it was what's best for him, health-wise, and more because she saw it as something she was failing at as a mother so early on, and because she wasn't happy about her motherhood plans being derailed by her baby's refusal to comply with them. I feel like down the line, Madelyn would have probably ended up being emotionally abusive or at least extremely manipulative as a mother - loving your child and being a controlling parent aren't mutually exclusive, after all.

Vogelbaum's affection for his daughter doesn't change what an awful person he is. Stan Edgar adopting and grooming Victoria into being, well, Victoria, doesn't mean he isn't a sociopath - he's fond of Victoria because she's a successful project he raised. He still fucked her up and turned her into a serial killer and Victoria has now demonstrated she's willing to violate Zoe's bodily autonomy if she thinks it's necessary (or rather, convinces herself it is.) Frank was a family man 'just doing his job', but that didn't save him from Homelander's wrath. Did their families know about the atrocities they were committing? If they didn't, would they be able to look at them the same way?

So no wonder Homelander hates Madelyn's baby - he finally had a parental figure in his life who didn't have a family taking away what he saw as the love and attention he deserved like Vogelbaum did, and then she goes and has a baby anyway, and once again, someone else is receiving all the affection and care that Homelander has never, ever been given by anyone.

tl;dr: Homelander hating Madelyn's baby makes perfect sense and makes me sad. EDIT: If I've made a some mistakes in this post it's because I haven't watched S1 & 2 in a while so my recollection is a bit fuzzy, excuse me for that lol.

[dotster001]

HCs for Ace, Deuce, and Epel with a reader like Toa Qelsum from Court of Darkness? I just think the chaos that will ensue with another uptight mf would be fun to read about

CW:Mentions of raising a family in Epel's part

3k followers event Masterlist

Other Versions: Rio Voleri Reader Dia Akedia Reader Lance Ira Reader-coming soon

God, you're such a stick in the mud. A high achiever, smart, and a strict rule follower? Barf. He's so happy that you were busy doing your…teleportation trick or whatever when he was hiding at the entrance ceremony cause he knows you would have ratted him out. He has no doubt you would've been sorted into Heartslaybul…for all the "wrong" reasons.

That said…there's something intriguing about the look behind your eyes. A look that screams, "I want to have fun! But no one has ever let me!" And Ace decides he's going to save you. By being the one to break you.

The rest of in game events proceed as normal, cause Ace will always be Ace. He still is an ass, he still causes trouble, he still makes you his best friend, still drops cryptic lines like "who knew you'd be my type, kidding ha ha!"

Is there any world, any mc, any Y/N, where Ace wouldn't fall for you? Be honest.

It's a "when did we start dating? Who the fuck knows they never even asked me out" kind of thing.

He's trying to break you so hard man. He's the devil in your ear, whispering about how wouldn't it just be…so fun if you stole that last slice of strawberry tart that Riddle thought he'd safely hidden in the freezer. He brings out the absolute worst in you…but sometimes you bring out the best in him.

You're the honors student he's always wanted to be. You really get your connection when he asks you to start tutoring him. You're hard on him, but it only makes him strive to do better! He doesn't want to let his favorite teacher down!

Ace teases him for months about how he's such a simp for you, and gets all blushy anytime you tell him he did a good job. Deuce tells him to shut his fucking mouth every single time. Until one fateful day. The words are on the tip of his tongue, but they don't come forward. Instead, his mind is filled with thoughts of you, your big brain, your soft smile. He reflects on his best friend and favorite teacher. And then it's all over for poor Deuce.

Naturally he does the honors student thing. He avoids you. He's terrible at it, but he does his best. Until one day, you show up and berate him for neglecting his responsibilities, and your friendship. In the midst of it, he goes delinquent mode, and angrily confesses his love. At your shock, he apologizes and is sweet again. And how can you say no to sweet Deuce?

Deuce becomes much more of a snuggle bug when you're dating. You still tutor him, but now reward him with kisses when he gets answers right, and makeout and cuddle sessions when his grades improve. 

Under your tutelage, he makes the dean's list. And ends school as an honors student, just as he dreamed. His mom couldn't love you any more.

You and Vil seem to have some sort of unspoken feud. Epel is living for it. Neither of you is ever outright hostile to the other, but the vibes…oof. It's like two very dominant personalities who should never have been left to try and work together. Epel is mad for you.

Lures you in with apple crumble 😉 

Once you're hooked onto him through your sweet tooth, he is able to express his admiration for you. He also has a dominant personality. But for you, he's willing to chill out a little. 

He's such an enabler. Oh sevens, anytime something about Vil pisses you off, he pushes you a step further. Sometimes, If Vil says something that hurts his pride a little bit, he'll stretch the truth, just to watch you go off on him. Sevens, he loves it. He can't help but feel so protected.

He takes you to visit his family with him…and is devastated when you're shocked by how kind and loving his family is. You deserve that love too! Meemaw unofficially adopts you as an extra grandkid, and makes sure that you get all the loving you have missed out on. Epel hopes you can trust him enough to have a family of your own one day, even if it is a small one.

[skeleton-in-a-hoodie]

Thinking about DDMG Raph and Splinter's relationship.

Under a readmore cause long

Their relationship starts out rocky. Part of it is Raph doesn't trust anyone who isn't his brothers, and Splinter not being able to share much information about himself does not help.

These two are also really similar (I will die on the hill that 2012 Raph took after Splinter, whilst Leo is more like how Saki was before everything went to hell/ if Saki was somewhat less of a thundering asshole) and that results in them butting heads the more time they spend around each other. They're both snarky with dry senses of humour, have a temper and love fighting. They're also both stubborn as mules, and telling them not to do something makes them more likely to do it. Both are romantics, who try to be realistic about things (see Splinter with DDMG Shen, Raph with Mona.)

There's other things at play there too. Raph has always had the unofficial job of protecting his bothers, usually by throwing himself in the firing line and taking the heavy hits in their place, but now the world is so much bigger than Raph ever thought it could be. There are monsters he can't hope to defeat, but Splinter can and Raph can feel his place in their family becoming unstable. Raph doesn't know who he is if not the one who protects his brothers, and he doesn't understand why they'd want him around if he can't do something for them.

Splinter meanwhile is not going to start fighting with an 11 year old. He's a grown man, and that's a struggling child, so even if him and Raph butt heads, he's going to be as compassionate and gentle with the kid as he can. He's old enough and has enough experience to know Raph is lashing out, though Splinter doesn't know the exact reasons why.

Which just freaks Raph out more, because surely his brothers will prefer the much calmer ghost to their brother who struggles to control his own temper. Raph has grown up being called a problem child and a nuisance, he's heard people say his brothers would have been adopted by now if it weren't for him. It's not true, but there's only so many times a child can hear stuff like that before they start to believe it, even if they consciously know it's wrong.

Things do get better between him and Splinter. They come to an understanding, Raph realises he's not being replaced, and Splinter figures out what's eating at Raph and so is able to address it.

Outside of Mikey, Raph calls Splinter father the most. Raph is a really affectionate kid, it's just it takes a while for him to decide if someone is worth the effort or not. But once he decides someone is one of his people, he's keeping them. That's his rat dad, he does not care about what other people think. (This is one of the things that convinces Mr Silver that Splinter and the boys are a good fit. Raph doesn't let just anyone in.)

I think realising Splinter is also an angry person helps Raph, because he gets a role model who has the same problems as him and can help him work through it. The water over stone conversation still happens, or at least a version of it, and they work on how Raph can deal with his emotions without throat punching that annoying asshole.

(I KNOW IT IS TEMPTING, BUT IT WILL CAUSE MORE PROBLEMS THAN IT SOLVES.

"Says the guy who punched Bradford."

... TOUCHE.)

Usually when Raph has had a rough day at school, he just has to ask Splinter to spar with him, and they'll go outside and fight for a bit until Raph feels better, and then they'll talk about it. Sometimes 'talk about it' just means Raph screams into the dirt, then rolls over, jumps to his feet and gets a snack.

Splinter also gradually realises that his own anger is not a bad thing. Whilst anger left unchecked can become self-destructive, anger isn't a bad thing on its own. A lot of emotions can become toxic and destructive, and having a 'bad' emotion doesn't mean you're a bad person. It's what you do with it that matters. It's something he and Raph learn from each other, and it starts to heal some old wounds Splinter didn't know he had.

[Redacted] was not a bad child because he was angry. He was simply a child who, like Raph, was struggling and needed help and didn't get it.

Sometimes, when either of them is annoyed about something, they'll text the other something along the lines of "Can I rant at you for a bit?" Raph does it more often than Splinter, because often the stuff that drives Splinter up the wall is official head ghost business that he doesn't feel comfortable sharing with his child, so he discusses that with his adult friends instead (this Splinter has other adults he talks to regularly, because 12 Splinter having no one makes me sad and i think explains a lot of his questionable decision making).

They do have their differences though, because even if they're similar, they're not the same person. Splinter is more prone to severe bouts of depression and self loathing, and struggles to look after himself. His anger tends to point more inward, and that's not a good thing. Raph's anger is all over the place, and his opinion of himself tends to stay uniformly terrible with no major dips. Both gradually get better, but it's a tough journey and has more than a few setbacks.

Splinter sometimes hesitates to act, because he's aware his own impulse control is non-existent and it's caused problems in the past, plus he doesn't want to stifle his boys' independence; Raph will act without thinking and then overanalysing his actions and feeling bad about minor things.

Raph also likes King Kong more than Godzilla, and they had to agree to disagree on the matter. Very much a "I love him, but he's wrong." (Godzilla vs Kong caused so many arguments between these two.)

[sm-pantheon]

SMPantheon AU Information

Greetings, Tumblrer. Can I interest you in my Dream SMP God AU? Yes? Great. Hope you like reading.

I should clarify, before we begin, that there is one rule in the Pantheon: and that is not to date those in other classes. This rule is often broken due to the enforcer's blatant biases, so some people get off scott-free. This rule doesn't apply to dating humans, however, because of the need for classic zeus-style, demigod-bearing hijinks.

THE TRINITY

The creators of the universe, the dreamons. Gods of Chaos. Two have been replaced so far.

Dream XD The creator, the father, the man...god...thing Himself. Yes, that H is capitalized. He was the first god to exist, and every heavenly being stems from Him in some way. He enjoys seeing people suffer. He loves George in secret, even if He hasn't yet reciprocated. He stripped Captain Puffy of some of her power because He deemed the God of Order to be getting in the way of His chaos. His mask has the XD emoticon on it, fittingly enough.

Dream The 'son' of the Trinity, and the enforcer of the love law. His position was once filled by Mexican Dream, before he was demoted for being a dumbass. He later demoted Mamacita for falling in love with Mexican Dream, because they weren't in the same God class anymore. He is notoriously biased and nepotistic with his enforcing. He's also an asshole. His mask has the :) emoticon on it.

Drista The 'holy spirit' of the Trinity. A child. She causes chaos wherever she goes, whether intentionally or not, which makes DXD very proud. Her position was once filled by Mamacita, before she was demoted. She often hangs out with the demigods, most often Tommy. Wherever she goes, hijinks ensue. He mask has the >;P emoticon on it.

GREATER GODS

The most powerful gods, besides the Trinity.

Philza The God of Freedom. A ruthless killer, but a pretty good father figure. He was the first non-Trinity god, and appropriately he matches up with their chaos. He is most notably the god who invented angels, and personally made the first one, Clara. A long time ago he fought with Awesamdude because of their conflicting symbols and won, demoting Sam to the rank of a regular God. His wife is Kristin, a (dead) human, but one time he had a fling with a refridgerator. Confusing times. His sons are Tommy, Tubbo, and Wilbur, and his grandson is Fundy.

Technoblade The God of Violence, often regarded as the 'Blood God'. He is a force to be reckoned with, and you can probably trace him back to every world war in some way. He has a more stoic and calm side, which only Philza and his family can bring out. He acts as sort of an uncle and brother to them, sometimes caring for the kids. He would rather die than have his own, though. He feels an attachment to his friend Ranboo's son, Michael, because they are both pigmen. He plans to train him when he grows hold enough. His pride and joy is the section of the underworld he invented, which is the section where sinners burn eternally.

Antfrost The God of Love. Currently he is taking refuge on earth with his boyfriend Velvet, who is the third archangel. He's never been very friendly with Dream, so it would be inevitable that he would be punished for loving Velvet. To avoid this, he fleed to a small town on earth. He has had a long-time rivalry with Ponk because of his innate hatred of cats.

Foolish Gamers The God of Creation. He is a master builder, and has built the temples of all the Gods. One day, Sapnap, the God of Destruction, challenged him to a fight, and whoever lost would be demoted. He accepted and won, which is why his equal is now lower on the totem pole than he is. He created the earth with Hannah at the command of the Trinity. His best friend is Eret. He often enlists the help of the rock nymph HBomb for help with terraforming and foundation building.

Karl Jacobs The God of Time. He can control time by slowing it down, speeding it up, pausing it, rewinding, etc. However, he is only allowed to use it when the Trinity gives permission. Usually, he just sits around and helps his "not fiancés", Quackity and Sapnap, with their work. He was born soon after Philza.

GODS

Averagely powerful gods.

Sapnap The God of Destruction. He was originally a greater god, but lost a fight to Foolish and gave some power up as a result. He is responsible in part for all the natural disasters of the world.

Awesamdude He was stripped of some of his power by Philza (with assistance from Techno, although he'd never admit it). He acts as a father figure to some of the younger heavenly beings. He created Sam Nook, an altered clone of himself, to be a Nanny for Philza's children. He now takes care of young Fundy and Michael. Loves Ponk in secret.

Badboyhalo The God of Purity. Cannot do wrong, after all he is the only person who actually is dating someone and is following the rule. Has a public record stating he has never sworn. He's highly devoted to his pursuit of holiness... and also Skeppy.

Skeppy The God of Fortune. After all, he's made of diamond. He's a goofball, especially around Bad. He's Bad's best friend/boy friend, B.B.F., as he would say!

Captain Puffy The God of Order. She has always had a rivalry with the Trinity for directly contradicting them with her existence. Because of this, her dates with Niki have to remain a secret, or else she'll be demoted again. Currently she's filling the paws of Antfrost as God of Love until he comes back, or a new heir is born.

Hannahxxrose The God of Nature. She mostly hangs out on Earth, tending to gardens worldwide, but she stays in heaven an ample amount too. She was literally born from Foolish's idea to create nature for earth, which she then assisted in plans for.

JSchlatt The God of Sin. He was originally a Greater God, but he had to be demoted so that the human race wouldn't be absolutely fucked. He's technically in charge of the Underworld, but he doesn't do jack shit down there. He's a raging alcoholic, and is always complaining about heart problems. His best friend is Minx.

Eret The God of Power. He isn't part nymph or anything, but the nymphs respect him and have crowned him as their king. He gladly accepts this role. His best friend is Foolish.

MINIGODS

Less powerful gods.

GeorgeNotFound The God of Beauty. He is fully aware that DXD is in love with him, but he doesn't want to reciprocate for fear of the rule. Still, he hasn't ratted him out... yet. He often hangs out with Sapnap, and he used to hang out with Dream, but he has become more distant as of late.

Mamacita The God of Justice. Also known as Girl Dream. She was removed from the Trinity for loving Mexican Dream after he was demoted. Since she and him still have a lot of power, they've been tasked with running the Underworld. Her mask has the :/ emoticon on it.

Mexican Dream The God of Death. Was removed from the Trinity for generally being a dumbass. He co-runs the Underworld with his Mamacita. He has also adopted Quackity as a twin. His mask has the ;] emoticon on it.

Quackity The God of Humor. He doesn't do a whole lot, just hangs out with his fiancés and his unofficial twin. An absolute jokester.

Slimecicle The God of Joy. A lovable goof who has never done a thing wrong in his life. He has a human wife, Grace, and his son is Connor. He skips around heaven a lot, and often hangs out with the angels.

Ranboo The God of Identity. He is *platonically* married to Tubbo (so Dream can't technically punish him!) He has a son, Michael, and he often hangs out with the demigods. He is considered the least powerful full god. He has a habit of forgetting things and also a habit of stealing all the gender from the other members of the Pantheon.

Niki Nihachu The God of Grace. She mainly takes care of the children along with Sam Nook, and hangs around the water nymphs. Her best friend is Sally.

Jack Manifold The God of Spirit. Previously nicknamed 'Thunder', he is an epic gamer lad. He famously invented 3D glasses and also Britain.

Ponk The God of Bravery. Has had an age-old rivalry with Antfrost because of his fear of cats for eons, and he is quite happy that he's gone. He has a strained love for Sam, which they have to keep secret. Only Sam has seen the rest of his face, under the mask.

DEMIGODS

Half gods, half humans. They are free to travel between earth and heaven.

Tommyinnit The youngest son of Philza and Kristin. A rambunctious teenager who is quite popular among the gods, especially Drista. Often flirts with the goddesses, and always says he has a crush on the Queen of England.

Tubbo The middle son of Philza and Kristin. A chaotic man-child and also goat boy. He is absouletly adored by the Trinity. He has a "platonic" husband, Ranboo, and a son, Michael.

Wilbur The eldest son of Philza and Kristin. A musical prodigy, who is an adult but doesn't quite act like one. He has a wife, Sally the water nymph, and a son, Fundy.

ConnorEatsPants The only son of Slimecicle and Grace. He is a massive sonic fan. If you asked life advice from him, he would tell you that the only problem with being faster than light is that you can only live in darkness.

SEMIGODS

Demigods, except it's not a 50/50 split between God and human. Other races can also be added.

Fundy The son of Wilbur and Sally. He is 25% God, 25% Human, and 50% water nymph, but most importantly, 100% furry.

Michael The son of Ranboo and Tubbo. 75% God and 25% human. He's good friends with Technoblade because of their shared pigman-ness.

NYMPHS

Mythical and elemental creatures.

Sally A water nymph. Married to Wilbur and the mother of Fundy.

HBomb A rock nymph. Often helps Foolish with his builds.

Alyssa An air nymph. She's been wandering around the outskirts of heaven for an eon with Callahan.

Callahan An air nymph. Wandering with Alyssa.

Minx A fire nymph. Best friends with Schlatt and Niki.

ANGELS

Heavenly servants.

Punz First archangel. He's currently the Trinity's bitch, but if you offered him enough money he would absolutely betray them.

Purpled Second archangel. He just follows Punz around and helps him with his tasks. He isn't very devoted to his job. He was the one who came up with the idea of space.

Red Velvet Third archangel. He has fleed heaven with his boyfriend Antfrost. He's working as a baker on earth.

Michael McChill Replacement third archangel. He was created out of a necessity for three archangels, and he isn't very well adjusted. He has no motivation and has only talked to Philza.

Vikkstar The guardian angel of all the demi/semigods. When he's not watching over them, he is hanging out with Lazar.

Lazarbeam The general of the heavenly guard. He slacks off very much, and often hangs out with Vikkstar. Aggravated easily.

Clara The first angel, and the most wise. She is seen as an oracle and is prayed to as frequently as the gods. She often hangs out in Tommy's dreams.

Sam Nook An altered copy of Sam, made to be a nanny to Tommy, Tubbo, and Wilbur. Now he takes care of young Fundy and Michael.

HUMANS

Just like you and me. Except some are dead.

Kristin Married to Philza and mother of Tommy, Tubbo, and Wilbur. When she died, Mamacita offered her a job as the Grim Reaper so that she could hang out with Phil more often.

Grace Married to Slimecicle and mother to Connor. Is the second Grim Reaper, alongside Kristin.

Ghostbur Human clone of Wilbur that Foolish accidentally made when fooling around with the demigods. Has since died and chills out in the animal sector with his sheep, Friend.

Lani Tubbo's sister from his old foster family on earth, who he lives near. Knows everything about everyone in the Pantheon, somehow.

Corpse Husband The janitor of the Underworld. Was a massive sinner when he was alive, but managed to convince Mamacita to let him work for her instead of suffering for eternity.

Mr Beast A generous billionare who runs a private church for the rich in his town. He communes with Karl on the condition that he won't try to gain things for himself using him.

5up A turnip farmer who died and now hangs around Fundy.

.....

Alright. That's it. So. Much. Typing. My fingers hurt. I accidentally deleted all my progress around the halfway point but I persevered. Also, this blog will be used for designs of the AU characters I'll be making. Thanks for reading this far!

Bye. Thanks again.

Oh wait now I have to add a shit ton of tags ughhhh

[tangerinechar]

MDZS ML au??

seeing as how I'm way deep in mdzs hell already, I came up with a MDZS miraculous ladybug au. As if I don't have enough fics to write already.

-wei ying as Blackie, the holder of the Black Cat miraculous and adopted son of the powerful Jiang family.

-lan zhan as Ladybug, the holder of the eponymous Ladybug miraculous, spare heir to the Lan Corporation and new kid in school.

-jiang cheng as Monarch, the holder of the Butterfly miraculous and heir to the Jiang family, and jiang yanli as Honeycomb, the holder of the Bee miraculous and the heart of their three-person team.

-nie huaisang as Kitsune, holder of the Fox miraculous and the biggest source of gossip at the Rich Kid(tm) academy they all attend.

+Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue as supportive older brothers who know their siblings' superhero identities

-Wen Ning as Tortoiseshell, the holder of the Turtle miraculous and the shyest theater kid you'll ever meet. Wen Qing as the one girl who knows everybody's identities.

-she acts as technical support and backup for the superheroes

-(and used to be their medical support, too, before Ladybug showed up)

-Jin Zixuan is given the Peacock miraculous by jiang yanli, much to wei ying and jiang cheng's amusement, and becomes Iridescent.

-Lan Xichen, Nie Mingjue, and Jin Guangyao form the Venerated Triad of the intersection of academics, arts, and athletics... they all attend the same college

-lan xichen as the prodigal student who's studying to become an international diplomat, nie mingjue as the captain of the martial arts team and future world champion, jin guangyao as the stunning musical talent (and holder of the rat miraculous.)

-some of the miraculouses are passed down by families, the jiang fam has the butterfly miraculous, the Jin family has the rat, etc.

-the Stunning Six (or the superhero seven, after lan zhan enters the picture) as they might be called, protect Shanghai and are pretty high-profile. Despite that, they manage to keep their identities well hidden.

-thanks to the magic of the miraculous, it'll stay that way

-nobody in the superhero group knows who Ladybug is

-except Wei Ying, who found out purely by accident

-aside from that, jiang yanli keeps her identity hidden from her teammates (except her brothers and Jin Zixuan) because she doesn't want word to get back to her parents

-Jiang Cheng uses his powers to create a body double of jiang yanli, because their parents would never allow her to moonlight as a superhero

-but everybody knows anyways, from how wei ying and jiang cheng are so protective of her.

-aside from jiang cheng, wen ning, and jin zixuan, the miraculouses were found hidden in their schoolbags or in their rooms one day.

-along with a note that warned them of unrest in shanghai and the danger to come, and a brief explanation of the miraculouses.

-everyone you meet either loves Ladybug or loves Blackie or both, and most everyone ships it too

-Ladybug is like

-the last person you'd imagine to be the co-leader of the superhero group, and so popular with the general public as well

-he's cold and stone-faced and super efficient, and has 0 tolerance for the media

-Blackie is charismatic and knows exactly what to say at all times and loves talking to his fans, on the other hand

-so they become the twin symbols of peace very quickly, Blackie being the sun, reassuring and comforting and confident, while Ladybug is the moon, scarily powerful and distant.

-jiang cheng, jiang yanli, wei ying, and lan zhan are the offensive

-nie huaisang, jin zixuan, and wen ning are the defensive

-out of all of them, Wen Qing, Nie huaisang, wei ying, and lan zhan end up doing the strategy and plans

-jiang yanli and wen ning provide moral support and food

-if anything goes wrong, the jiang family home is the unofficial meeting place for planning

-jin guangyao uses the miraculous of the rat

-he's the heir to the Jin family, but he has more nefarious plans in place to ensure his succession and consolidate his power

-the main superhero gang is in a rich kid high school

-can you imagine the efforts they go through to conceal their identities

-I mean, once things start going south they have to find a place to transform and deal with any new developments, trying to stop jin guangyao's underhanded plans

-all without skipping class or breaking any rules

-the place ends up being the empty science classroom on the second floor

-Blackie is the biggest flirt ever, but once Ladybug arrives he only has eyes for him

-half the net ships them ("look at how Done Monarch is with them! And how supportive honeycomb is being here! Don't you dare tell me they aren't trying to set Blackie up with LB.") And the other half is thoroughly convinced that they hate each other.

-But no matter what your view is, you can't deny that their teamwork is amazing

-Honeycomb is an actual goddess

-who knows, maybe lan xichen gets the dragon miraculous and nie mingjue gets the tiger, if they ever end up needing more backup

-Wei ying's costume is black with red accents around the ears, tail and gloves. Along with his baton, he carries a flute with him that, when used with his miraculous, can speak to animals. 

-Lan Zhan's costume is also mostly black, with red areas cut out on his sides, spirals decorating the legs and his neck. His hair gets tied up in a ponytail during the transformation, but he keeps the white and blue ribbon. his costume comes with a circular shield on the back that expands to become a pair of wings. his mask is black with red swirls.

-jiang cheng has a very practical outfit, with a violet tuxedo jacket that flares in the back, dark grey pants and fitted black boots, a sword at his side, a protective leather vest and a darker purple shirt with white tie. his hair is adorned with a braid and bun held in place by a butterfly clip.

-jiang yanli has a poofy sunflower yellow skirt that has two layers - a gauzy yellow layer and a solid black inner - along with a yellow top that has fluted quarter sleeves with black swirls, black gloves and leggings, and rusty golden boots. she also gets translucent wings that let her fly. Her mask has a honeycomb pattern.

-instead of a flute, nie huaisang gets a fan. he can attack with it, creating gusts of wind, and create illusions by flipping it. he gets decked out in full-on fantasy robes that vary from pale orange and yellow (outer robe and pants) to white (inner shirt and boots) to vivid sunset orange (inner robe). his mask has paw-prints under each eye.

-wen ning's costume is mainly a deep emerald green with lighter accents in shell patterns on the sides of his legs, arms, and stomach. His shield covers much of his back, like lan zhan's, and can be used to fly. His hair gets swept into a bun.

-jin zixuan's costume is much like nie huaisang's, except with a darker blue-green-brown color scheme and less inconvenient. his robes turn colorful as they reach the ground, and his mask fans out on the sides of his head like a peacock's tail.

-you can often spot Honeycomb and Ladybug soaring through the air at night, accompanied by Monarch and Blackie if you squint hard enough

-superhero gang getting up to shenanigans around the city and Nie Huaisang filming it all, uploading it to his weibo account

-Nie Huaisang, after videotaping a transformed jiang cheng falling into a river and Blackie hissing at it while Monarch yells for help: I have no regrets

-they all frequent this one tiny bubble tea shop, both as students and superheroes

-Wei Ying, uploading a group photo of them on a skyscraper at sunset, drinking bubble tea: the secret to gaining superpowers is good bubble tea

-Wen Qing doubles as their social media manager

-just, superhero!mdzs gang being happy

...my hand slipped.

[jojen-hewitt]

Here's my @aftgexchange summer gift for @boydsten , who asked for Andreil with kids!

I hope you like it!

I've included some personal headcanons about this particular Minyard-Josten child under the cut, but I will also recommend these two amazing kidfics; A Legacy of Two by ninaalegre and Noah Minyard-Josten by Aleekae, if you haven't read them yet. Admittedly a few of my headcanons are borrowed or inspired by them so.. Yeah.

Happy Summer! :D

I have a lot of headcanons about Andreil and this kid, and sweet heavens this became really long and rambley, but I think I got the important stuff covered, so enjoy at your leisure. 

His name is was Kyle Wicker (now Minyard-Josten) and he was brought to them when he was seven after he was abandoned by his adoptive parents at Renee's church.

She lives a couple cities over and when she realizes her two former teammates actually live closer to Kyle's old school, she gets it cleared with all authorities to have him reside there until other arrangements can be made.

Andrew tells her not to get any clever ideas, it's just temporary (he gets one look at how scared, scarred, and young he is, Andrew and Neil's inner Wymacks kick in, and rather suddenly he turns back on his statement to Renee)

Kyle is freaked out by people bigger than him, (when he first meets Kevin he actually cries, but Matt went smoother just because Matt is ... Matt) so the rather short heights work in their favour; although it takes a while for him to open up or trust them.

He first does with Andrew after he has a nightmare a few days in and Andrew just makes him a hot chocolate and they don't really talk in detail about anything, but they kind of reach an understanding that Andrew gets him and he's safe here. He knows not to touch Andrew and Andrew returns that in kind until they just naturally accept casual contact from each other. He understands Andrews blank nature and doesn't take the apathy personally as he gets older.

With Neil, the bonding is a bit easier (despite Neil's discomfort with kids for the most part) since they automatically connect through the Exy thing ("Good Christ, not another one.") and their similar burn scars (not going into detail, but his old foster parents' extremely sick sense of humour and his last name Wicker lead to some pretty permanent reminders of those years with them). The two share stories and Neil feels like he's playing the Truth game all over again, but it fits nicely.

Once Kyle learns partially how Neil got his scars/his past, the kid just embraces Neil as his own personal Batman or James Bond, fighting the evil mob bosses and surviving to roast someone on tv the next day. Neil is a little proud of this (at least he doesn’t scare the kid).

Neil and Andrew have a rocky start taking him in and adjusting; something that would have been much worse if they didn't already have some experience babysitting the other Fox kids. They both are relatively new to the whole idea of "happy" or "safe" or "family" so providing that to another, smaller, more easily affected human being with his own personal baggage (that may or may not bring back up their personal baggage) is, to put it simply, tough. It's not the easiest ride for any of them, but they find a way to adjust and live together in relative peace and comfort.

Also Kyle loves the cats. Like LOVES them! He accepted himself as one of them the minute they first came into his new/then guest room to cuddle. When he's older he tells people that the cats raised him (to which Andrew says than the cats can buy him his new fucking racquet next time, but he only half means it).

He calls Neil Dad (and Neil at first and for a long time kinda freaks out inside and with Andrew about it, but he's fine now... seriously fine too, not Neil fine) and he calls Andrew Vati (because papa and the like just sounded off directed at Andrew, but so did just calling him Andrew, so when he learnt from Nicky that Vati or Vater is dad in German, they all collective decided that worked)

When they adopt him, and he opens up a bit more, they find he grows up to be like a scary combination of Neil's snark (Exy gods help the press that harass this boy; they already call him Josten 2.0), Andrew's immovable patience and blunt honesty, and Matt's carefree smiles and kindness - towards people he likes at least ("How did he come out so nice?" "I don't know, Aaron. Almost like he grew up in a decent place and has the genetic material of other people, huh?")

Speaking of, Aaron and Matt are tied for favourite uncle (Aaron sneaking by because he's most like Andrew, personality wise, and also he gets him cool books for Christmases and birthdays)

He likes Nicky too, since Nicky helped him learn some important facts and phrases about Germany for a school project and Kyle agrees to rat to him whenever he catches Vati smile, so fast friends 

(even though there was that brief stunt where Andrew and Aaron -with Neil's help, the traitor- had straight face convinced Kyle Nicky preferred to only be referred to as Uncle Pavo... which is rude, and Nicky rightfully would've bitched at his cousins if Kyle didn't look so happy and confidant saying it when they meet).

Obviously he loves the girls (and he would be pressed to argue who his favourite Aunt is, but it would probably be Renee because she gave him this life to begin with technically. Plus she died his hair orange and white when he was 16 for his school championships -and to help grease the wheels for Aunt Dan, but more on that later-)

(Also, as pictured above, Andrew knew and was chill with it till he saw the colour... Damn orange will haunt him for life. Neil didn't know, but loved the colours. They're a balanced family, you see.)

Grandpa Wymack and Grandma Abby take a while to earn those titles just because he's still rather nervous around older, taller, and in Wymack's case, tougher looking people when they meet the first few times (and they don't Skype like the rest of the Fox family, so it takes a while for him to accumulate to them), but they eventually become the go to confidants about anything he doesn't want to bother Andrew and Neil with (from secret gifts for the dads to "I'm scared I'm making the wrong choice in courses" to "oh my god I don't know how to ask this person out and Vati said just threaten to shove them off a roof, help!")

and they have the couch to crash on when he's in South Carolina

Jean and Jeremy are the cool family friends who send nice cards and sometimes French hot chocolate and strangely, but rather full heartedly, encourage the "cats raised you" mentality (Jeremy because he thinks it's adorable and Jean because he laughs at how indignant Neil gets when he hears it).

He's cool with Kevin (despite the crying and the vague starstruck attitude he first had with him), but - and maybe this is the Andrew influence talking - he sometimes finds the constant Exy talk to get too overwhelming. He's known to just call it Stickball around Kevin's family with all seriousness just to annoy them (Andrew sneaks him extra dessert when he does) He gets along with Kevin's offspring too, even if he has also adapted his dads' tolerance for being bossed around the Exy court (or backyard court) by a Day; see: none.

Speaking of Exy, Kyle loves it (in the 7 year old way of he loves the sport, likes his favourite team, but has no clue who any player is but Kevin and Kayleigh Day, so was shocked and kinda in love with the fact that Neil used to play for said favourite team), but he never played himself until he moved in with Andreil.

He started his first couple years of little league as a striker - he's great at it and this makes Neil smile more than he thought it would (damn Kevin for being right, it is kinda great watching a future champion grow up) - but switches to goalkeeper when he's 10/11.

(which Neil complains about only a couple of times ("But he was so good, Andrew." "Yeah, so? You were a backliner in little league. The kid changed his mind, accept it." "You're right you're right... Just he's so fast." "Ugh!") but he accepts that it's still Exy and at least Kyle and Andrew can bond more.)

Plus even if it wasn't Exy, they would've been cool with it.

Plus plus, he's an even better goalkeeper than striker, as a mix of Minyard tactics with Josten Exy enthusiasm. 

Foxes are Kyle's favourite animal aside from cats (even before he meet the team, but it definitely amplified once he did).

He stole his dads old fox merch (mainly Neil's) when they officially adopted him, even when it was too big for him.

He painted his room orange and white. He had a bunch of stuffed foxes (all unofficially named after former team members).

He watched almost every Fox game of his dads' years, especially the ones against the Trojans and the Ravens.

He almost chose to have Fox as a middle name when they gave him the option during the adoption (he went with Robin though; 1) Aunt Robin is awesome 2) He's kinda a not so secret Batman nerd and when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up the answer was "An Exy player or Nightwing" and 3) because like hell Andrew was allowing the obsession to go that far).

He wants to the join the Foxes when he's in college.

But, like the rest of the Foxes, and despite Neil's fears (and Andrew's hesitance in his capabilities as a caretaker), he's turned out to not qualify for a spot on the team.

So of course he tried other tactics like the hair and he once tried to plead to Aunt Dan that in fact the first five years of life that he can remember should be enough reason to allow him to join ("Sorry kiddo, no dice. You're too Kit now to be a Fox.")

Sorta side note, the children of the old Foxes are all called Kits and Allison sends them all handmade "Palmetto State Kits" jerseys with their parents numbers (Kyle got 13 because 10 and 3; a number he carries through all his Exy teams) When he's young, he wears his to school whenever he can and only stops when it needs a wash or he grows out of it.

He's very close with Matt and Dan's family. Their middle child is his age and they talk all the time. When their teams face each other in Exy matches, they always run and talk to each other in the middle of the court between goals and halves. Basically Boyd/Josten Brotp 2.0

Matt usually sits with Neil in the crowd during these games (when they can) and cries every time the game brings them close ("Oh my God!! Neil, did you see your baby block my baby's shot?!” “Yeah Matt! I saw! Beautiful.” “That was beautiful! Holy shit! It happened again! Are you seeing this?! They highfived!!" “KYLE! Hug the competition after the game not when they make a goal!” “That was a great goal though!” “Agreed, but still!”)

they still hug it out whenever one of them does a cool thing. Their teams hate when they play each other because of it.  Not like they don’t try to slaughter each other game wise, but again, they celebrate each other’s badass moments without pause. And when one wins, you would think the other was on their team too with the exuberance they congratulate the other.

He grows up to be about Kevin's height, much to the shock to some who were expecting another tiny Minyard-Josten.

He also inherits Andrew's sweet tooth to the point where Neil's kinda convinced he's never going to win the "should we get ice cream on the way home from practice" debate ever again.

I'll stop there. Again, there is a lot more, but I definitely have already rambled enough. Sorry.

[littlesmartart]

so like two months ago for my Hellish Day of Travelling an anon requested “some post-ending shakarian fluff” and because I am mORTIFYINGLY SLOW the sketch I started on that day in response...is now finally finished!! I got carried away and kept making it more complicated and it just took longer and longer... but yeah! finally done! here are the shepard-vakarians and their post-destroy adopted family. as usual, BIG BIG thanks to @masseffectgayliens for being a total babe and letting me blather at them to figure out headcanons :)

DEETS BELOW THE CUT - 

after she physically recovers enough to persuade miranda and chakwas to let her out of her hospital bed, shepard sets back off in the normandy with garrus at her side. hackett, knowing that even if she “retires” shepard is still gonna kick ass and take names and generally cause a fuss (plus, he needs to justify to the council why he’s let an apparently retired spectre waltz off with the galaxy’s most advanced ship, because throwing his hands up and saying well do YOU want to try and stop her??? apparently isn’t enough for them), unofficially assigns her the job of galactic peacekeeper/diplomat. essentially, she is to fly about and just...be herself; the idea being that due to her reputation and just how many powerful friends she has, people are suddenly and mysteriously happy to solve issues peacefully when they hear that Commander Fucking Shepard has just pulled into spaceport. 

years later, garrus comments that given her tendency to compulsively adopt crewmembers, he’s not sure why he was surprised that shepard did exactly the same with children. alvea, a seven year old turian, was the orphaned sole survivor of a science vessel attacked by pirates who is initially meant to be returned to palaven to be looked after by family, but after liara spends a couple weeks digging and garrus calls up his hierarchy contacts, they discover that her only living relative is a totally disinterested second cousin, so they keep her with them on the normandy as they finish up the investigation and try to decide what to do with her. 

lydia, an eleven year old ex-duct rat, is found on the pirates’ ship when the crew mutinies against the captain in favour of surrendering to the normandy (finding you are being pursued by Commander Fucking Shepard is enough to make anyone think twice). she was recruited to work in their engine room in the midst of the reaper war due to her competence with machinery and ability to fit into tiny spaces. she and alvea get on so well, and make themselves such a happy home on the normandy after the trauma of their pasts, that shepard and garrus decide that the best course for everyone is for them to adopt the girls officially. 

alvea’s facial markings are a combination of garrus’, to show her joining of the vakarian family, and her mother’s, to honour her parents’ memory. lydia’s oversized hood is a custom design; when she first leaves the pirates’ vessel, the bright lights and loud sounds and many moving people immediately overstiumlate her and she can only leave the airlock with shepard’s hoodie over her head. the big custom hood lets her leave the normandy with her family without fear of sensory-related meltdown.

they don’t intend to adopt anyone else, but then wrex approaches shepard about fostering some krogan who he thinks have particular promise, because its important that this new bountiful generation learn how to use their heads for something other than headbutting. as krogan lifespans are so long that having someone look after your kids for a couple years is just the equivalent of sending them to summer camp, and because shepard is a decorated war hero, the fostering system becomes a highly popular endeavour and many krogan parents compete to have their kids mentored by the shepard-vakarians...much to shepard’s bewilderment and garrus’ amusement. so many of the new krogan generation consider them krantt that grunt tries to urge shepard to start her own clan (it would be so powerful! and grunt promises he’d desert clan urdnot for her if she did). though initially he pretends to be disinterested in the kids, he quickly and easily falls into the role of big brother and dotes on them all. he’s the one who bought the little krogans their dino/shark onesies.

the varren is called bill. he’s a rescue varren from the fighting pits on tuchanka. the name was decided by lydia for no other reason than that she liked it, and as no one could come up with anything better, it stuck.

[bobbynolanios88]

Venmo, Girl Scouts, Bitcoin: Unexpected Upsides

Venmo, Girl Scouts, Bitcoin: Unexpected Upsides

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Usually when we talk about unintended consequences here at PYMNTS, we are talking about something that has gone terribly wrong, or at least failed to perform as well as desired because of some unforeseen side effect. The goal might be noble – but pursuing a noble goal the wrong way can quickly have byproducts that make the cure worse than the disease.

Usually, an unforeseen consequence is a bad thing.

But not always.

From time to time, one comes along that is delightful.

For example, Karen Webster noted that attempts to rid the island of Borneo of malaria led to a series of terrible after-effects from messing with the local ecosystem by killing mosquitoes with DDT spray. That list included collapsing roofs, an explosion in the local rat population and a typhus outbreak.

But there was also at least one somewhat delightful outcome – and it turned out to be the solution to the cascading series of problems unleashed by the attempted malaria remedy. It was a solution that no one could have foreseen, summed up in two words:

Cat paratroopers.

And while there were no documented cases of skydiving felines in the payments and commerce news to our knowledge this week, there were a few almost equally delightful unexpected outcomes and bugs that turned out to be fabulous features.

Because, as it turns out, Venmo might just be able to help cure a broken heart (or make one worse), the big bitcoin price drop might have been a boon for cybersecurity, and Girl Scout cookies might just be the reason you see more healthy eating options advertised over the next few weeks.

Feeling confused about what connections there could possibly be? Don’t worry, it’s probably weirder than you think…

Living Well Is the Best Revenge (And Venmo Can Help You Prove It)

There are a lot of Venmo uses that devotees can rattle off if asked. Sending funds to friends, splitting up checks, paying rent, contributing to group gifts or spending in stores (particularly with their newly released line of cards) – over the last several years, Venmo has evolved from a simple P2P payments platform into a robust set of financial services tools for its users.

But Venmo, as it turns out, has an even more useful feature that, until now, has gone totally unadvertised: It can be used to make your ex miserable.

The magic that makes it happen is the social media part of the Venmo platform, which allows users to list a live feed of their transactions  in an easily digestible, scrollable, emoji-filled form. And what one sees, noted Elle Huerta, CEO and founder of popular breakup app Mend, says it is “usually just enough information out of context to drive themselves crazy with.”

“It’s one thing to think about your ex moving on, but it’s quite another to see that they had $34 of delicious sushi last night with a name you don’t recognize,” she said. “And that’s why Venmo transactions can make your heart stop: Each one is a tiny glimpse into a world where your ex is continuing to walk the earth and live their life without you. That hurts.”

It’s an experience one Women’s Health writer had directly, when an ex-boyfriend arrived at her door a year after their split demanding that she make her Venmo feed more private, as it was causing him agony. Particularly, she noted, because everything he saw was out of context.

“He could see Venmo transactions showing how much I was enjoying my life – whether it was going out to brunch, or paying someone back via little red-wine emojis for happy hour,” she continued. “He could see that I went to a concert with my sister, as I sent a Venmo for ‘Best Coast’ with music notes, that I paid a friend for drinks the night before, and that I bought someone named Joe a breakfast sandwich (which he brought up during the aforementioned Venmo outburst). But he couldn’t see that I wasn’t dating Joe – that I was actually eating with him and 10 other people after our Saturday group run, and bought him a sandwich because he forgot his credit card.”

The writer, incidentally, did not acquiesce to her ex’s request, though the whole incident did make her reconsider how much of her spending life she wanted to make public.

Psychologists recommend that people who have been through recent break-ups treat Venmo like any other social media platform and stop following their exes on them, as digital stalking remains a terrible way to get over someone.

Bitcoin’s Price Busts, So Hackers Change Tactics

The last few months have been tough for bitcoin enthusiasts, who have watched the cryptocurrency bleed value for over a year at this point. The past week has looked a bit stronger, and some think that bitcoin’s price might get back above $4,000 within the next week. But considering that its price at this time last year was just shy of $10,000, the bigger story surrounding the world’s best-known cryptocurrency has been one about loss.

Which has been rough sledding for bitcoin investors, traders and miners, but might have ended up as a blessing in disguise for everyday internet users who were somewhat less likely to find themselves pegged by a ransomware attack over the last year.

Ransomware attacks, when launched against individuals or institutions, see cyber criminals gain access and control of a user’s computer, which they essentially hold hostage until a ransom is paid out in cryptocurrency. Sometimes, if the data being held is particularly sensitive, they will threaten to release it unless they are paid.

The good news, according to Symantec, is that ransomware attacks are down 20 percent year-on-year. The reason? The attacks are difficult and time-consuming to set up – and not worth the payouts, with bitcoin trading at increasingly low price points.

But lest anyone get too excited at their newfound security, there are two things to keep in mind. The first is that cybercriminals simply moved onto greener pastures, revenue wise, and have now adopted a new form of hacking called formjacking, which harvests credit card data directly from retail sites. They also persist in “cryptojacking,” an easy and accessible hack that allows cybercriminals to capture other people’s computers and task them with mining cryptocurrency.

So the fall of bitcoin’s price did have an unexpected upside – but only for as long as it took hackers to find a suitable replacement.

Raising a White Flag Over Q1 Cookie Sales

The season of the cookie is upon us: specifically, the Girl Scout cookie.

Though there is no official date range for the sale of cookies – that decision is left to local troop councils – the unofficial season runs between January and March each year, as millions of Girl Scouts start hustling boxes in workplaces, in front of grocery stores and walking door-to-door in suburban neighborhoods across the country.

And the 1.8 million Girl Scouts who are hitting the streets with their treats are insanely good at selling them. One anonymous San Diego scout sold more than 300 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in less than six hours. Of course, she had the good sense to set up shop outside a marijuana dispensary and pretty much let the cookies sell themselves for a few hours.

We eagerly await that girl’s future as the CEO of Amazon after Jeff Bezos retires to live on the moon full time.

“The traditional way of selling Girl Scout cookies is trying to go door to door, or utilizing friends and family networks,” marketing executive Kyle Boze told MarketWatch. “This girl used creativity to find a new market that hasn’t been tapped [as much] yet.”

And while not everyone has that level of marketing genius, Girl Scout cookies are big business in the U.S. – worth about $800 million in sales. That is more than Oreo and Chips Ahoy plus Milano, in case one is wondering. Among the 10 top-selling cookie varieties in America, five of them are Girl Scout cookies. And, again, they are generally only sold once a year for six to eight weeks.

But for those six to eight weeks, the Girl Scouts have managed to achieve near-unilateral surrender from the rest of the industry. No one wants to take on the little girls in the green sashes.

“The annual Girl Scout cookie sale is a force of nature at the national level,” said John Frank, a Mintel food analyst. “Big companies like Kraft know it’s coming, and they’ve learned to live with it. It’s like a storm and there’s nothing they can do but wait for it to pass, because there is no upside to marketing against the Girl Scouts.”

So what do big brands do, if they can’t counter-sell?

Some adhere to: “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Keebler, a rival cookie brand, is the owner and operator of  Little Brownie Bakers, one of two licensed industrial bakeries that make Girl Scout Cookies.

Incidentally, Keebler also makes lookalike, taste-alike cookies under its own branding in the same factories where it makes the Girl Scout Cookies. The Keebler Grasshopper is made by the exact same people who make the Girl Scouts Thin Mint. You might think this would affect the sale of Girl Scout cookies, since you can literally buy the exact same cookie baked in the exact same place for half the price year-round.

It does not make the slightest difference. The similar cookies don’t have any effect on Girl Scout cookie sales, and the original cookies vastly outsell the identical copies.

“Girl Scout consumers love our cookies, but they purchase them because they are supporting girls,” noted Amanda Hamaker, manager of product sales for the Girl Scouts. “That’s not happening at the supermarket.”

Other large brands – Kraft, notably – just give up the cookie ground entirely during the early part of the calendar year, and instead focus on countering programs. That includes advertising more savory snacks – macaroni and cheese, particularly – and more public service-oriented ads reminding kids about the importance of healthy eating. (Because if kids aren’t eating their cookies anyway, they may as well remind parents that they really shouldn’t be eating so many cookies.)

It might not be the best reason, but they might make a valid point. But given their sales, it seems fair to assume that Girl Scout cookies likely won’t be where people will make their first big calorie cuts.

Still, it’s unexpected to see a seasonal jump in healthy food advertising in response to scouts selling cookies.

But it is one of the more pleasant unexpected surprises, of the sort more likely to make one chuckle than cringe with concern. And given that it is not normally the way things happen in payments and commerce – where things going unexpectedly awry can be the wrong kind of explosive more often than the right kind – it is always nice when the week or season coughs up a few that are more amusing that worrisome.

——————————–

Latest Insights: 

Our data and analytics team has developed a number of creative methodologies and frameworks that measure and benchmark the innovation that’s reshaping the payments and commerce ecosystem. Check out the February 2019 PYMNTS Digital Fraud Tracker Report

Original Source https://ift.tt/2SXvhYC

[adrianjenkins952wblr]

Venmo, Girl Scouts, Bitcoin: Unexpected Upsides

Venmo, Girl Scouts, Bitcoin: Unexpected Upsides

1 Share

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Share

Print

Email

Usually when we talk about unintended consequences here at PYMNTS, we are talking about something that has gone terribly wrong, or at least failed to perform as well as desired because of some unforeseen side effect. The goal might be noble – but pursuing a noble goal the wrong way can quickly have byproducts that make the cure worse than the disease.

Usually, an unforeseen consequence is a bad thing.

But not always.

From time to time, one comes along that is delightful.

For example, Karen Webster noted that attempts to rid the island of Borneo of malaria led to a series of terrible after-effects from messing with the local ecosystem by killing mosquitoes with DDT spray. That list included collapsing roofs, an explosion in the local rat population and a typhus outbreak.

But there was also at least one somewhat delightful outcome – and it turned out to be the solution to the cascading series of problems unleashed by the attempted malaria remedy. It was a solution that no one could have foreseen, summed up in two words:

Cat paratroopers.

And while there were no documented cases of skydiving felines in the payments and commerce news to our knowledge this week, there were a few almost equally delightful unexpected outcomes and bugs that turned out to be fabulous features.

Because, as it turns out, Venmo might just be able to help cure a broken heart (or make one worse), the big bitcoin price drop might have been a boon for cybersecurity, and Girl Scout cookies might just be the reason you see more healthy eating options advertised over the next few weeks.

Feeling confused about what connections there could possibly be? Don’t worry, it’s probably weirder than you think…

Living Well Is the Best Revenge (And Venmo Can Help You Prove It)

There are a lot of Venmo uses that devotees can rattle off if asked. Sending funds to friends, splitting up checks, paying rent, contributing to group gifts or spending in stores (particularly with their newly released line of cards) – over the last several years, Venmo has evolved from a simple P2P payments platform into a robust set of financial services tools for its users.

But Venmo, as it turns out, has an even more useful feature that, until now, has gone totally unadvertised: It can be used to make your ex miserable.

The magic that makes it happen is the social media part of the Venmo platform, which allows users to list a live feed of their transactions  in an easily digestible, scrollable, emoji-filled form. And what one sees, noted Elle Huerta, CEO and founder of popular breakup app Mend, says it is “usually just enough information out of context to drive themselves crazy with.”

“It’s one thing to think about your ex moving on, but it’s quite another to see that they had $34 of delicious sushi last night with a name you don’t recognize,” she said. “And that’s why Venmo transactions can make your heart stop: Each one is a tiny glimpse into a world where your ex is continuing to walk the earth and live their life without you. That hurts.”

It’s an experience one Women’s Health writer had directly, when an ex-boyfriend arrived at her door a year after their split demanding that she make her Venmo feed more private, as it was causing him agony. Particularly, she noted, because everything he saw was out of context.

“He could see Venmo transactions showing how much I was enjoying my life – whether it was going out to brunch, or paying someone back via little red-wine emojis for happy hour,” she continued. “He could see that I went to a concert with my sister, as I sent a Venmo for ‘Best Coast’ with music notes, that I paid a friend for drinks the night before, and that I bought someone named Joe a breakfast sandwich (which he brought up during the aforementioned Venmo outburst). But he couldn’t see that I wasn’t dating Joe – that I was actually eating with him and 10 other people after our Saturday group run, and bought him a sandwich because he forgot his credit card.”

The writer, incidentally, did not acquiesce to her ex’s request, though the whole incident did make her reconsider how much of her spending life she wanted to make public.

Psychologists recommend that people who have been through recent break-ups treat Venmo like any other social media platform and stop following their exes on them, as digital stalking remains a terrible way to get over someone.

Bitcoin’s Price Busts, So Hackers Change Tactics

The last few months have been tough for bitcoin enthusiasts, who have watched the cryptocurrency bleed value for over a year at this point. The past week has looked a bit stronger, and some think that bitcoin’s price might get back above $4,000 within the next week. But considering that its price at this time last year was just shy of $10,000, the bigger story surrounding the world’s best-known cryptocurrency has been one about loss.

Which has been rough sledding for bitcoin investors, traders and miners, but might have ended up as a blessing in disguise for everyday internet users who were somewhat less likely to find themselves pegged by a ransomware attack over the last year.

Ransomware attacks, when launched against individuals or institutions, see cyber criminals gain access and control of a user’s computer, which they essentially hold hostage until a ransom is paid out in cryptocurrency. Sometimes, if the data being held is particularly sensitive, they will threaten to release it unless they are paid.

The good news, according to Symantec, is that ransomware attacks are down 20 percent year-on-year. The reason? The attacks are difficult and time-consuming to set up – and not worth the payouts, with bitcoin trading at increasingly low price points.

But lest anyone get too excited at their newfound security, there are two things to keep in mind. The first is that cybercriminals simply moved onto greener pastures, revenue wise, and have now adopted a new form of hacking called formjacking, which harvests credit card data directly from retail sites. They also persist in “cryptojacking,” an easy and accessible hack that allows cybercriminals to capture other people’s computers and task them with mining cryptocurrency.

So the fall of bitcoin’s price did have an unexpected upside – but only for as long as it took hackers to find a suitable replacement.

Raising a White Flag Over Q1 Cookie Sales

The season of the cookie is upon us: specifically, the Girl Scout cookie.

Though there is no official date range for the sale of cookies – that decision is left to local troop councils – the unofficial season runs between January and March each year, as millions of Girl Scouts start hustling boxes in workplaces, in front of grocery stores and walking door-to-door in suburban neighborhoods across the country.

And the 1.8 million Girl Scouts who are hitting the streets with their treats are insanely good at selling them. One anonymous San Diego scout sold more than 300 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in less than six hours. Of course, she had the good sense to set up shop outside a marijuana dispensary and pretty much let the cookies sell themselves for a few hours.

We eagerly await that girl’s future as the CEO of Amazon after Jeff Bezos retires to live on the moon full time.

“The traditional way of selling Girl Scout cookies is trying to go door to door, or utilizing friends and family networks,” marketing executive Kyle Boze told MarketWatch. “This girl used creativity to find a new market that hasn’t been tapped [as much] yet.”

And while not everyone has that level of marketing genius, Girl Scout cookies are big business in the U.S. – worth about $800 million in sales. That is more than Oreo and Chips Ahoy plus Milano, in case one is wondering. Among the 10 top-selling cookie varieties in America, five of them are Girl Scout cookies. And, again, they are generally only sold once a year for six to eight weeks.

But for those six to eight weeks, the Girl Scouts have managed to achieve near-unilateral surrender from the rest of the industry. No one wants to take on the little girls in the green sashes.

“The annual Girl Scout cookie sale is a force of nature at the national level,” said John Frank, a Mintel food analyst. “Big companies like Kraft know it’s coming, and they’ve learned to live with it. It’s like a storm and there’s nothing they can do but wait for it to pass, because there is no upside to marketing against the Girl Scouts.”

So what do big brands do, if they can’t counter-sell?

Some adhere to: “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Keebler, a rival cookie brand, is the owner and operator of  Little Brownie Bakers, one of two licensed industrial bakeries that make Girl Scout Cookies.

Incidentally, Keebler also makes lookalike, taste-alike cookies under its own branding in the same factories where it makes the Girl Scout Cookies. The Keebler Grasshopper is made by the exact same people who make the Girl Scouts Thin Mint. You might think this would affect the sale of Girl Scout cookies, since you can literally buy the exact same cookie baked in the exact same place for half the price year-round.

It does not make the slightest difference. The similar cookies don’t have any effect on Girl Scout cookie sales, and the original cookies vastly outsell the identical copies.

“Girl Scout consumers love our cookies, but they purchase them because they are supporting girls,” noted Amanda Hamaker, manager of product sales for the Girl Scouts. “That’s not happening at the supermarket.”

Other large brands – Kraft, notably – just give up the cookie ground entirely during the early part of the calendar year, and instead focus on countering programs. That includes advertising more savory snacks – macaroni and cheese, particularly – and more public service-oriented ads reminding kids about the importance of healthy eating. (Because if kids aren’t eating their cookies anyway, they may as well remind parents that they really shouldn’t be eating so many cookies.)

It might not be the best reason, but they might make a valid point. But given their sales, it seems fair to assume that Girl Scout cookies likely won’t be where people will make their first big calorie cuts.

Still, it’s unexpected to see a seasonal jump in healthy food advertising in response to scouts selling cookies.

But it is one of the more pleasant unexpected surprises, of the sort more likely to make one chuckle than cringe with concern. And given that it is not normally the way things happen in payments and commerce – where things going unexpectedly awry can be the wrong kind of explosive more often than the right kind – it is always nice when the week or season coughs up a few that are more amusing that worrisome.

——————————–

Latest Insights: 

Our data and analytics team has developed a number of creative methodologies and frameworks that measure and benchmark the innovation that’s reshaping the payments and commerce ecosystem. Check out the February 2019 PYMNTS Digital Fraud Tracker Report

Original Source https://ift.tt/2SXvhYC

[mccartneynathxzw83]

Venmo, Girl Scouts, Bitcoin: Unexpected Upsides

Venmo, Girl Scouts, Bitcoin: Unexpected Upsides

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Usually when we talk about unintended consequences here at PYMNTS, we are talking about something that has gone terribly wrong, or at least failed to perform as well as desired because of some unforeseen side effect. The goal might be noble – but pursuing a noble goal the wrong way can quickly have byproducts that make the cure worse than the disease.

Usually, an unforeseen consequence is a bad thing.

But not always.

From time to time, one comes along that is delightful.

For example, Karen Webster noted that attempts to rid the island of Borneo of malaria led to a series of terrible after-effects from messing with the local ecosystem by killing mosquitoes with DDT spray. That list included collapsing roofs, an explosion in the local rat population and a typhus outbreak.

But there was also at least one somewhat delightful outcome – and it turned out to be the solution to the cascading series of problems unleashed by the attempted malaria remedy. It was a solution that no one could have foreseen, summed up in two words:

Cat paratroopers.

And while there were no documented cases of skydiving felines in the payments and commerce news to our knowledge this week, there were a few almost equally delightful unexpected outcomes and bugs that turned out to be fabulous features.

Because, as it turns out, Venmo might just be able to help cure a broken heart (or make one worse), the big bitcoin price drop might have been a boon for cybersecurity, and Girl Scout cookies might just be the reason you see more healthy eating options advertised over the next few weeks.

Feeling confused about what connections there could possibly be? Don’t worry, it’s probably weirder than you think…

Living Well Is the Best Revenge (And Venmo Can Help You Prove It)

There are a lot of Venmo uses that devotees can rattle off if asked. Sending funds to friends, splitting up checks, paying rent, contributing to group gifts or spending in stores (particularly with their newly released line of cards) – over the last several years, Venmo has evolved from a simple P2P payments platform into a robust set of financial services tools for its users.

But Venmo, as it turns out, has an even more useful feature that, until now, has gone totally unadvertised: It can be used to make your ex miserable.

The magic that makes it happen is the social media part of the Venmo platform, which allows users to list a live feed of their transactions  in an easily digestible, scrollable, emoji-filled form. And what one sees, noted Elle Huerta, CEO and founder of popular breakup app Mend, says it is “usually just enough information out of context to drive themselves crazy with.”

“It’s one thing to think about your ex moving on, but it’s quite another to see that they had $34 of delicious sushi last night with a name you don’t recognize,” she said. “And that’s why Venmo transactions can make your heart stop: Each one is a tiny glimpse into a world where your ex is continuing to walk the earth and live their life without you. That hurts.”

It’s an experience one Women’s Health writer had directly, when an ex-boyfriend arrived at her door a year after their split demanding that she make her Venmo feed more private, as it was causing him agony. Particularly, she noted, because everything he saw was out of context.

“He could see Venmo transactions showing how much I was enjoying my life – whether it was going out to brunch, or paying someone back via little red-wine emojis for happy hour,” she continued. “He could see that I went to a concert with my sister, as I sent a Venmo for ‘Best Coast’ with music notes, that I paid a friend for drinks the night before, and that I bought someone named Joe a breakfast sandwich (which he brought up during the aforementioned Venmo outburst). But he couldn’t see that I wasn’t dating Joe – that I was actually eating with him and 10 other people after our Saturday group run, and bought him a sandwich because he forgot his credit card.”

The writer, incidentally, did not acquiesce to her ex’s request, though the whole incident did make her reconsider how much of her spending life she wanted to make public.

Psychologists recommend that people who have been through recent break-ups treat Venmo like any other social media platform and stop following their exes on them, as digital stalking remains a terrible way to get over someone.

Bitcoin’s Price Busts, So Hackers Change Tactics

The last few months have been tough for bitcoin enthusiasts, who have watched the cryptocurrency bleed value for over a year at this point. The past week has looked a bit stronger, and some think that bitcoin’s price might get back above $4,000 within the next week. But considering that its price at this time last year was just shy of $10,000, the bigger story surrounding the world’s best-known cryptocurrency has been one about loss.

Which has been rough sledding for bitcoin investors, traders and miners, but might have ended up as a blessing in disguise for everyday internet users who were somewhat less likely to find themselves pegged by a ransomware attack over the last year.

Ransomware attacks, when launched against individuals or institutions, see cyber criminals gain access and control of a user’s computer, which they essentially hold hostage until a ransom is paid out in cryptocurrency. Sometimes, if the data being held is particularly sensitive, they will threaten to release it unless they are paid.

The good news, according to Symantec, is that ransomware attacks are down 20 percent year-on-year. The reason? The attacks are difficult and time-consuming to set up – and not worth the payouts, with bitcoin trading at increasingly low price points.

But lest anyone get too excited at their newfound security, there are two things to keep in mind. The first is that cybercriminals simply moved onto greener pastures, revenue wise, and have now adopted a new form of hacking called formjacking, which harvests credit card data directly from retail sites. They also persist in “cryptojacking,” an easy and accessible hack that allows cybercriminals to capture other people’s computers and task them with mining cryptocurrency.

So the fall of bitcoin’s price did have an unexpected upside – but only for as long as it took hackers to find a suitable replacement.

Raising a White Flag Over Q1 Cookie Sales

The season of the cookie is upon us: specifically, the Girl Scout cookie.

Though there is no official date range for the sale of cookies – that decision is left to local troop councils – the unofficial season runs between January and March each year, as millions of Girl Scouts start hustling boxes in workplaces, in front of grocery stores and walking door-to-door in suburban neighborhoods across the country.

And the 1.8 million Girl Scouts who are hitting the streets with their treats are insanely good at selling them. One anonymous San Diego scout sold more than 300 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in less than six hours. Of course, she had the good sense to set up shop outside a marijuana dispensary and pretty much let the cookies sell themselves for a few hours.

We eagerly await that girl’s future as the CEO of Amazon after Jeff Bezos retires to live on the moon full time.

“The traditional way of selling Girl Scout cookies is trying to go door to door, or utilizing friends and family networks,” marketing executive Kyle Boze told MarketWatch. “This girl used creativity to find a new market that hasn’t been tapped [as much] yet.”

And while not everyone has that level of marketing genius, Girl Scout cookies are big business in the U.S. – worth about $800 million in sales. That is more than Oreo and Chips Ahoy plus Milano, in case one is wondering. Among the 10 top-selling cookie varieties in America, five of them are Girl Scout cookies. And, again, they are generally only sold once a year for six to eight weeks.

But for those six to eight weeks, the Girl Scouts have managed to achieve near-unilateral surrender from the rest of the industry. No one wants to take on the little girls in the green sashes.

“The annual Girl Scout cookie sale is a force of nature at the national level,” said John Frank, a Mintel food analyst. “Big companies like Kraft know it’s coming, and they’ve learned to live with it. It’s like a storm and there’s nothing they can do but wait for it to pass, because there is no upside to marketing against the Girl Scouts.”

So what do big brands do, if they can’t counter-sell?

Some adhere to: “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Keebler, a rival cookie brand, is the owner and operator of  Little Brownie Bakers, one of two licensed industrial bakeries that make Girl Scout Cookies.

Incidentally, Keebler also makes lookalike, taste-alike cookies under its own branding in the same factories where it makes the Girl Scout Cookies. The Keebler Grasshopper is made by the exact same people who make the Girl Scouts Thin Mint. You might think this would affect the sale of Girl Scout cookies, since you can literally buy the exact same cookie baked in the exact same place for half the price year-round.

It does not make the slightest difference. The similar cookies don’t have any effect on Girl Scout cookie sales, and the original cookies vastly outsell the identical copies.

“Girl Scout consumers love our cookies, but they purchase them because they are supporting girls,” noted Amanda Hamaker, manager of product sales for the Girl Scouts. “That’s not happening at the supermarket.”

Other large brands – Kraft, notably – just give up the cookie ground entirely during the early part of the calendar year, and instead focus on countering programs. That includes advertising more savory snacks – macaroni and cheese, particularly – and more public service-oriented ads reminding kids about the importance of healthy eating. (Because if kids aren’t eating their cookies anyway, they may as well remind parents that they really shouldn’t be eating so many cookies.)

It might not be the best reason, but they might make a valid point. But given their sales, it seems fair to assume that Girl Scout cookies likely won’t be where people will make their first big calorie cuts.

Still, it’s unexpected to see a seasonal jump in healthy food advertising in response to scouts selling cookies.

But it is one of the more pleasant unexpected surprises, of the sort more likely to make one chuckle than cringe with concern. And given that it is not normally the way things happen in payments and commerce – where things going unexpectedly awry can be the wrong kind of explosive more often than the right kind – it is always nice when the week or season coughs up a few that are more amusing that worrisome.

——————————–

Latest Insights: 

Our data and analytics team has developed a number of creative methodologies and frameworks that measure and benchmark the innovation that’s reshaping the payments and commerce ecosystem. Check out the February 2019 PYMNTS Digital Fraud Tracker Report

Original Source https://ift.tt/2SXvhYC

[teiraymondmccoy78]

Venmo, Girl Scouts, Bitcoin: Unexpected Upsides

Venmo, Girl Scouts, Bitcoin: Unexpected Upsides

1 Share

Share

Tweet

Share

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Usually when we talk about unintended consequences here at PYMNTS, we are talking about something that has gone terribly wrong, or at least failed to perform as well as desired because of some unforeseen side effect. The goal might be noble – but pursuing a noble goal the wrong way can quickly have byproducts that make the cure worse than the disease.

Usually, an unforeseen consequence is a bad thing.

But not always.

From time to time, one comes along that is delightful.

For example, Karen Webster noted that attempts to rid the island of Borneo of malaria led to a series of terrible after-effects from messing with the local ecosystem by killing mosquitoes with DDT spray. That list included collapsing roofs, an explosion in the local rat population and a typhus outbreak.

But there was also at least one somewhat delightful outcome – and it turned out to be the solution to the cascading series of problems unleashed by the attempted malaria remedy. It was a solution that no one could have foreseen, summed up in two words:

Cat paratroopers.

And while there were no documented cases of skydiving felines in the payments and commerce news to our knowledge this week, there were a few almost equally delightful unexpected outcomes and bugs that turned out to be fabulous features.

Because, as it turns out, Venmo might just be able to help cure a broken heart (or make one worse), the big bitcoin price drop might have been a boon for cybersecurity, and Girl Scout cookies might just be the reason you see more healthy eating options advertised over the next few weeks.

Feeling confused about what connections there could possibly be? Don’t worry, it’s probably weirder than you think…

Living Well Is the Best Revenge (And Venmo Can Help You Prove It)

There are a lot of Venmo uses that devotees can rattle off if asked. Sending funds to friends, splitting up checks, paying rent, contributing to group gifts or spending in stores (particularly with their newly released line of cards) – over the last several years, Venmo has evolved from a simple P2P payments platform into a robust set of financial services tools for its users.

But Venmo, as it turns out, has an even more useful feature that, until now, has gone totally unadvertised: It can be used to make your ex miserable.

The magic that makes it happen is the social media part of the Venmo platform, which allows users to list a live feed of their transactions  in an easily digestible, scrollable, emoji-filled form. And what one sees, noted Elle Huerta, CEO and founder of popular breakup app Mend, says it is “usually just enough information out of context to drive themselves crazy with.”

“It’s one thing to think about your ex moving on, but it’s quite another to see that they had $34 of delicious sushi last night with a name you don’t recognize,” she said. “And that’s why Venmo transactions can make your heart stop: Each one is a tiny glimpse into a world where your ex is continuing to walk the earth and live their life without you. That hurts.”

It’s an experience one Women’s Health writer had directly, when an ex-boyfriend arrived at her door a year after their split demanding that she make her Venmo feed more private, as it was causing him agony. Particularly, she noted, because everything he saw was out of context.

“He could see Venmo transactions showing how much I was enjoying my life – whether it was going out to brunch, or paying someone back via little red-wine emojis for happy hour,” she continued. “He could see that I went to a concert with my sister, as I sent a Venmo for ‘Best Coast’ with music notes, that I paid a friend for drinks the night before, and that I bought someone named Joe a breakfast sandwich (which he brought up during the aforementioned Venmo outburst). But he couldn’t see that I wasn’t dating Joe – that I was actually eating with him and 10 other people after our Saturday group run, and bought him a sandwich because he forgot his credit card.”

The writer, incidentally, did not acquiesce to her ex’s request, though the whole incident did make her reconsider how much of her spending life she wanted to make public.

Psychologists recommend that people who have been through recent break-ups treat Venmo like any other social media platform and stop following their exes on them, as digital stalking remains a terrible way to get over someone.

Bitcoin’s Price Busts, So Hackers Change Tactics

The last few months have been tough for bitcoin enthusiasts, who have watched the cryptocurrency bleed value for over a year at this point. The past week has looked a bit stronger, and some think that bitcoin’s price might get back above $4,000 within the next week. But considering that its price at this time last year was just shy of $10,000, the bigger story surrounding the world’s best-known cryptocurrency has been one about loss.

Which has been rough sledding for bitcoin investors, traders and miners, but might have ended up as a blessing in disguise for everyday internet users who were somewhat less likely to find themselves pegged by a ransomware attack over the last year.

Ransomware attacks, when launched against individuals or institutions, see cyber criminals gain access and control of a user’s computer, which they essentially hold hostage until a ransom is paid out in cryptocurrency. Sometimes, if the data being held is particularly sensitive, they will threaten to release it unless they are paid.

The good news, according to Symantec, is that ransomware attacks are down 20 percent year-on-year. The reason? The attacks are difficult and time-consuming to set up – and not worth the payouts, with bitcoin trading at increasingly low price points.

But lest anyone get too excited at their newfound security, there are two things to keep in mind. The first is that cybercriminals simply moved onto greener pastures, revenue wise, and have now adopted a new form of hacking called formjacking, which harvests credit card data directly from retail sites. They also persist in “cryptojacking,” an easy and accessible hack that allows cybercriminals to capture other people’s computers and task them with mining cryptocurrency.

So the fall of bitcoin’s price did have an unexpected upside – but only for as long as it took hackers to find a suitable replacement.

Raising a White Flag Over Q1 Cookie Sales

The season of the cookie is upon us: specifically, the Girl Scout cookie.

Though there is no official date range for the sale of cookies – that decision is left to local troop councils – the unofficial season runs between January and March each year, as millions of Girl Scouts start hustling boxes in workplaces, in front of grocery stores and walking door-to-door in suburban neighborhoods across the country.

And the 1.8 million Girl Scouts who are hitting the streets with their treats are insanely good at selling them. One anonymous San Diego scout sold more than 300 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in less than six hours. Of course, she had the good sense to set up shop outside a marijuana dispensary and pretty much let the cookies sell themselves for a few hours.

We eagerly await that girl’s future as the CEO of Amazon after Jeff Bezos retires to live on the moon full time.

“The traditional way of selling Girl Scout cookies is trying to go door to door, or utilizing friends and family networks,” marketing executive Kyle Boze told MarketWatch. “This girl used creativity to find a new market that hasn’t been tapped [as much] yet.”

And while not everyone has that level of marketing genius, Girl Scout cookies are big business in the U.S. – worth about $800 million in sales. That is more than Oreo and Chips Ahoy plus Milano, in case one is wondering. Among the 10 top-selling cookie varieties in America, five of them are Girl Scout cookies. And, again, they are generally only sold once a year for six to eight weeks.

But for those six to eight weeks, the Girl Scouts have managed to achieve near-unilateral surrender from the rest of the industry. No one wants to take on the little girls in the green sashes.

“The annual Girl Scout cookie sale is a force of nature at the national level,” said John Frank, a Mintel food analyst. “Big companies like Kraft know it’s coming, and they’ve learned to live with it. It’s like a storm and there’s nothing they can do but wait for it to pass, because there is no upside to marketing against the Girl Scouts.”

So what do big brands do, if they can’t counter-sell?

Some adhere to: “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Keebler, a rival cookie brand, is the owner and operator of  Little Brownie Bakers, one of two licensed industrial bakeries that make Girl Scout Cookies.

Incidentally, Keebler also makes lookalike, taste-alike cookies under its own branding in the same factories where it makes the Girl Scout Cookies. The Keebler Grasshopper is made by the exact same people who make the Girl Scouts Thin Mint. You might think this would affect the sale of Girl Scout cookies, since you can literally buy the exact same cookie baked in the exact same place for half the price year-round.

It does not make the slightest difference. The similar cookies don’t have any effect on Girl Scout cookie sales, and the original cookies vastly outsell the identical copies.

“Girl Scout consumers love our cookies, but they purchase them because they are supporting girls,” noted Amanda Hamaker, manager of product sales for the Girl Scouts. “That’s not happening at the supermarket.”

Other large brands – Kraft, notably – just give up the cookie ground entirely during the early part of the calendar year, and instead focus on countering programs. That includes advertising more savory snacks – macaroni and cheese, particularly – and more public service-oriented ads reminding kids about the importance of healthy eating. (Because if kids aren’t eating their cookies anyway, they may as well remind parents that they really shouldn’t be eating so many cookies.)

It might not be the best reason, but they might make a valid point. But given their sales, it seems fair to assume that Girl Scout cookies likely won’t be where people will make their first big calorie cuts.

Still, it’s unexpected to see a seasonal jump in healthy food advertising in response to scouts selling cookies.

But it is one of the more pleasant unexpected surprises, of the sort more likely to make one chuckle than cringe with concern. And given that it is not normally the way things happen in payments and commerce – where things going unexpectedly awry can be the wrong kind of explosive more often than the right kind – it is always nice when the week or season coughs up a few that are more amusing that worrisome.

——————————–

Latest Insights: 

Our data and analytics team has developed a number of creative methodologies and frameworks that measure and benchmark the innovation that’s reshaping the payments and commerce ecosystem. Check out the February 2019 PYMNTS Digital Fraud Tracker Report

Original Source https://ift.tt/2SXvhYC

[vanessawestwcrtr5]

Venmo, Girl Scouts, Bitcoin: Unexpected Upsides

Venmo, Girl Scouts, Bitcoin: Unexpected Upsides

1 Share

Share

Tweet

Share

Share

Share

Print

Email

Usually when we talk about unintended consequences here at PYMNTS, we are talking about something that has gone terribly wrong, or at least failed to perform as well as desired because of some unforeseen side effect. The goal might be noble – but pursuing a noble goal the wrong way can quickly have byproducts that make the cure worse than the disease.

Usually, an unforeseen consequence is a bad thing.

But not always.

From time to time, one comes along that is delightful.

For example, Karen Webster noted that attempts to rid the island of Borneo of malaria led to a series of terrible after-effects from messing with the local ecosystem by killing mosquitoes with DDT spray. That list included collapsing roofs, an explosion in the local rat population and a typhus outbreak.

But there was also at least one somewhat delightful outcome – and it turned out to be the solution to the cascading series of problems unleashed by the attempted malaria remedy. It was a solution that no one could have foreseen, summed up in two words:

Cat paratroopers.

And while there were no documented cases of skydiving felines in the payments and commerce news to our knowledge this week, there were a few almost equally delightful unexpected outcomes and bugs that turned out to be fabulous features.

Because, as it turns out, Venmo might just be able to help cure a broken heart (or make one worse), the big bitcoin price drop might have been a boon for cybersecurity, and Girl Scout cookies might just be the reason you see more healthy eating options advertised over the next few weeks.

Feeling confused about what connections there could possibly be? Don’t worry, it’s probably weirder than you think…

Living Well Is the Best Revenge (And Venmo Can Help You Prove It)

There are a lot of Venmo uses that devotees can rattle off if asked. Sending funds to friends, splitting up checks, paying rent, contributing to group gifts or spending in stores (particularly with their newly released line of cards) – over the last several years, Venmo has evolved from a simple P2P payments platform into a robust set of financial services tools for its users.

But Venmo, as it turns out, has an even more useful feature that, until now, has gone totally unadvertised: It can be used to make your ex miserable.

The magic that makes it happen is the social media part of the Venmo platform, which allows users to list a live feed of their transactions  in an easily digestible, scrollable, emoji-filled form. And what one sees, noted Elle Huerta, CEO and founder of popular breakup app Mend, says it is “usually just enough information out of context to drive themselves crazy with.”

“It’s one thing to think about your ex moving on, but it’s quite another to see that they had $34 of delicious sushi last night with a name you don’t recognize,” she said. “And that’s why Venmo transactions can make your heart stop: Each one is a tiny glimpse into a world where your ex is continuing to walk the earth and live their life without you. That hurts.”

It’s an experience one Women’s Health writer had directly, when an ex-boyfriend arrived at her door a year after their split demanding that she make her Venmo feed more private, as it was causing him agony. Particularly, she noted, because everything he saw was out of context.

“He could see Venmo transactions showing how much I was enjoying my life – whether it was going out to brunch, or paying someone back via little red-wine emojis for happy hour,” she continued. “He could see that I went to a concert with my sister, as I sent a Venmo for ‘Best Coast’ with music notes, that I paid a friend for drinks the night before, and that I bought someone named Joe a breakfast sandwich (which he brought up during the aforementioned Venmo outburst). But he couldn’t see that I wasn’t dating Joe – that I was actually eating with him and 10 other people after our Saturday group run, and bought him a sandwich because he forgot his credit card.”

The writer, incidentally, did not acquiesce to her ex’s request, though the whole incident did make her reconsider how much of her spending life she wanted to make public.

Psychologists recommend that people who have been through recent break-ups treat Venmo like any other social media platform and stop following their exes on them, as digital stalking remains a terrible way to get over someone.

Bitcoin’s Price Busts, So Hackers Change Tactics

The last few months have been tough for bitcoin enthusiasts, who have watched the cryptocurrency bleed value for over a year at this point. The past week has looked a bit stronger, and some think that bitcoin’s price might get back above $4,000 within the next week. But considering that its price at this time last year was just shy of $10,000, the bigger story surrounding the world’s best-known cryptocurrency has been one about loss.

Which has been rough sledding for bitcoin investors, traders and miners, but might have ended up as a blessing in disguise for everyday internet users who were somewhat less likely to find themselves pegged by a ransomware attack over the last year.

Ransomware attacks, when launched against individuals or institutions, see cyber criminals gain access and control of a user’s computer, which they essentially hold hostage until a ransom is paid out in cryptocurrency. Sometimes, if the data being held is particularly sensitive, they will threaten to release it unless they are paid.

The good news, according to Symantec, is that ransomware attacks are down 20 percent year-on-year. The reason? The attacks are difficult and time-consuming to set up – and not worth the payouts, with bitcoin trading at increasingly low price points.

But lest anyone get too excited at their newfound security, there are two things to keep in mind. The first is that cybercriminals simply moved onto greener pastures, revenue wise, and have now adopted a new form of hacking called formjacking, which harvests credit card data directly from retail sites. They also persist in “cryptojacking,” an easy and accessible hack that allows cybercriminals to capture other people’s computers and task them with mining cryptocurrency.

So the fall of bitcoin’s price did have an unexpected upside – but only for as long as it took hackers to find a suitable replacement.

Raising a White Flag Over Q1 Cookie Sales

The season of the cookie is upon us: specifically, the Girl Scout cookie.

Though there is no official date range for the sale of cookies – that decision is left to local troop councils – the unofficial season runs between January and March each year, as millions of Girl Scouts start hustling boxes in workplaces, in front of grocery stores and walking door-to-door in suburban neighborhoods across the country.

And the 1.8 million Girl Scouts who are hitting the streets with their treats are insanely good at selling them. One anonymous San Diego scout sold more than 300 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in less than six hours. Of course, she had the good sense to set up shop outside a marijuana dispensary and pretty much let the cookies sell themselves for a few hours.

We eagerly await that girl’s future as the CEO of Amazon after Jeff Bezos retires to live on the moon full time.

“The traditional way of selling Girl Scout cookies is trying to go door to door, or utilizing friends and family networks,” marketing executive Kyle Boze told MarketWatch. “This girl used creativity to find a new market that hasn’t been tapped [as much] yet.”

And while not everyone has that level of marketing genius, Girl Scout cookies are big business in the U.S. – worth about $800 million in sales. That is more than Oreo and Chips Ahoy plus Milano, in case one is wondering. Among the 10 top-selling cookie varieties in America, five of them are Girl Scout cookies. And, again, they are generally only sold once a year for six to eight weeks.

But for those six to eight weeks, the Girl Scouts have managed to achieve near-unilateral surrender from the rest of the industry. No one wants to take on the little girls in the green sashes.

“The annual Girl Scout cookie sale is a force of nature at the national level,” said John Frank, a Mintel food analyst. “Big companies like Kraft know it’s coming, and they’ve learned to live with it. It’s like a storm and there’s nothing they can do but wait for it to pass, because there is no upside to marketing against the Girl Scouts.”

So what do big brands do, if they can’t counter-sell?

Some adhere to: “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Keebler, a rival cookie brand, is the owner and operator of  Little Brownie Bakers, one of two licensed industrial bakeries that make Girl Scout Cookies.

Incidentally, Keebler also makes lookalike, taste-alike cookies under its own branding in the same factories where it makes the Girl Scout Cookies. The Keebler Grasshopper is made by the exact same people who make the Girl Scouts Thin Mint. You might think this would affect the sale of Girl Scout cookies, since you can literally buy the exact same cookie baked in the exact same place for half the price year-round.

It does not make the slightest difference. The similar cookies don’t have any effect on Girl Scout cookie sales, and the original cookies vastly outsell the identical copies.

“Girl Scout consumers love our cookies, but they purchase them because they are supporting girls,” noted Amanda Hamaker, manager of product sales for the Girl Scouts. “That’s not happening at the supermarket.”

Other large brands – Kraft, notably – just give up the cookie ground entirely during the early part of the calendar year, and instead focus on countering programs. That includes advertising more savory snacks – macaroni and cheese, particularly – and more public service-oriented ads reminding kids about the importance of healthy eating. (Because if kids aren’t eating their cookies anyway, they may as well remind parents that they really shouldn’t be eating so many cookies.)

It might not be the best reason, but they might make a valid point. But given their sales, it seems fair to assume that Girl Scout cookies likely won’t be where people will make their first big calorie cuts.

Still, it’s unexpected to see a seasonal jump in healthy food advertising in response to scouts selling cookies.

But it is one of the more pleasant unexpected surprises, of the sort more likely to make one chuckle than cringe with concern. And given that it is not normally the way things happen in payments and commerce – where things going unexpectedly awry can be the wrong kind of explosive more often than the right kind – it is always nice when the week or season coughs up a few that are more amusing that worrisome.

——————————–

Latest Insights: 

Our data and analytics team has developed a number of creative methodologies and frameworks that measure and benchmark the innovation that’s reshaping the payments and commerce ecosystem. Check out the February 2019 PYMNTS Digital Fraud Tracker Report

Original Source https://ift.tt/2SXvhYC

[courtneyvbrooks87]

Venmo, Girl Scouts, Bitcoin: Unexpected Upsides

Venmo, Girl Scouts, Bitcoin: Unexpected Upsides

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Usually when we talk about unintended consequences here at PYMNTS, we are talking about something that has gone terribly wrong, or at least failed to perform as well as desired because of some unforeseen side effect. The goal might be noble – but pursuing a noble goal the wrong way can quickly have byproducts that make the cure worse than the disease.

Usually, an unforeseen consequence is a bad thing.

But not always.

From time to time, one comes along that is delightful.

For example, Karen Webster noted that attempts to rid the island of Borneo of malaria led to a series of terrible after-effects from messing with the local ecosystem by killing mosquitoes with DDT spray. That list included collapsing roofs, an explosion in the local rat population and a typhus outbreak.

But there was also at least one somewhat delightful outcome – and it turned out to be the solution to the cascading series of problems unleashed by the attempted malaria remedy. It was a solution that no one could have foreseen, summed up in two words:

Cat paratroopers.

And while there were no documented cases of skydiving felines in the payments and commerce news to our knowledge this week, there were a few almost equally delightful unexpected outcomes and bugs that turned out to be fabulous features.

Because, as it turns out, Venmo might just be able to help cure a broken heart (or make one worse), the big bitcoin price drop might have been a boon for cybersecurity, and Girl Scout cookies might just be the reason you see more healthy eating options advertised over the next few weeks.

Feeling confused about what connections there could possibly be? Don’t worry, it’s probably weirder than you think…

Living Well Is the Best Revenge (And Venmo Can Help You Prove It)

There are a lot of Venmo uses that devotees can rattle off if asked. Sending funds to friends, splitting up checks, paying rent, contributing to group gifts or spending in stores (particularly with their newly released line of cards) – over the last several years, Venmo has evolved from a simple P2P payments platform into a robust set of financial services tools for its users.

But Venmo, as it turns out, has an even more useful feature that, until now, has gone totally unadvertised: It can be used to make your ex miserable.

The magic that makes it happen is the social media part of the Venmo platform, which allows users to list a live feed of their transactions  in an easily digestible, scrollable, emoji-filled form. And what one sees, noted Elle Huerta, CEO and founder of popular breakup app Mend, says it is “usually just enough information out of context to drive themselves crazy with.”

“It’s one thing to think about your ex moving on, but it’s quite another to see that they had $34 of delicious sushi last night with a name you don’t recognize,” she said. “And that’s why Venmo transactions can make your heart stop: Each one is a tiny glimpse into a world where your ex is continuing to walk the earth and live their life without you. That hurts.”

It’s an experience one Women’s Health writer had directly, when an ex-boyfriend arrived at her door a year after their split demanding that she make her Venmo feed more private, as it was causing him agony. Particularly, she noted, because everything he saw was out of context.

“He could see Venmo transactions showing how much I was enjoying my life – whether it was going out to brunch, or paying someone back via little red-wine emojis for happy hour,” she continued. “He could see that I went to a concert with my sister, as I sent a Venmo for ‘Best Coast’ with music notes, that I paid a friend for drinks the night before, and that I bought someone named Joe a breakfast sandwich (which he brought up during the aforementioned Venmo outburst). But he couldn’t see that I wasn’t dating Joe – that I was actually eating with him and 10 other people after our Saturday group run, and bought him a sandwich because he forgot his credit card.”

The writer, incidentally, did not acquiesce to her ex’s request, though the whole incident did make her reconsider how much of her spending life she wanted to make public.

Psychologists recommend that people who have been through recent break-ups treat Venmo like any other social media platform and stop following their exes on them, as digital stalking remains a terrible way to get over someone.

Bitcoin’s Price Busts, So Hackers Change Tactics

The last few months have been tough for bitcoin enthusiasts, who have watched the cryptocurrency bleed value for over a year at this point. The past week has looked a bit stronger, and some think that bitcoin’s price might get back above $4,000 within the next week. But considering that its price at this time last year was just shy of $10,000, the bigger story surrounding the world’s best-known cryptocurrency has been one about loss.

Which has been rough sledding for bitcoin investors, traders and miners, but might have ended up as a blessing in disguise for everyday internet users who were somewhat less likely to find themselves pegged by a ransomware attack over the last year.

Ransomware attacks, when launched against individuals or institutions, see cyber criminals gain access and control of a user’s computer, which they essentially hold hostage until a ransom is paid out in cryptocurrency. Sometimes, if the data being held is particularly sensitive, they will threaten to release it unless they are paid.

The good news, according to Symantec, is that ransomware attacks are down 20 percent year-on-year. The reason? The attacks are difficult and time-consuming to set up – and not worth the payouts, with bitcoin trading at increasingly low price points.

But lest anyone get too excited at their newfound security, there are two things to keep in mind. The first is that cybercriminals simply moved onto greener pastures, revenue wise, and have now adopted a new form of hacking called formjacking, which harvests credit card data directly from retail sites. They also persist in “cryptojacking,” an easy and accessible hack that allows cybercriminals to capture other people’s computers and task them with mining cryptocurrency.

So the fall of bitcoin’s price did have an unexpected upside – but only for as long as it took hackers to find a suitable replacement.

Raising a White Flag Over Q1 Cookie Sales

The season of the cookie is upon us: specifically, the Girl Scout cookie.

Though there is no official date range for the sale of cookies – that decision is left to local troop councils – the unofficial season runs between January and March each year, as millions of Girl Scouts start hustling boxes in workplaces, in front of grocery stores and walking door-to-door in suburban neighborhoods across the country.

And the 1.8 million Girl Scouts who are hitting the streets with their treats are insanely good at selling them. One anonymous San Diego scout sold more than 300 boxes of Girl Scout cookies in less than six hours. Of course, she had the good sense to set up shop outside a marijuana dispensary and pretty much let the cookies sell themselves for a few hours.

We eagerly await that girl’s future as the CEO of Amazon after Jeff Bezos retires to live on the moon full time.

“The traditional way of selling Girl Scout cookies is trying to go door to door, or utilizing friends and family networks,” marketing executive Kyle Boze told MarketWatch. “This girl used creativity to find a new market that hasn’t been tapped [as much] yet.”

And while not everyone has that level of marketing genius, Girl Scout cookies are big business in the U.S. – worth about $800 million in sales. That is more than Oreo and Chips Ahoy plus Milano, in case one is wondering. Among the 10 top-selling cookie varieties in America, five of them are Girl Scout cookies. And, again, they are generally only sold once a year for six to eight weeks.

But for those six to eight weeks, the Girl Scouts have managed to achieve near-unilateral surrender from the rest of the industry. No one wants to take on the little girls in the green sashes.

“The annual Girl Scout cookie sale is a force of nature at the national level,” said John Frank, a Mintel food analyst. “Big companies like Kraft know it’s coming, and they’ve learned to live with it. It’s like a storm and there’s nothing they can do but wait for it to pass, because there is no upside to marketing against the Girl Scouts.”

So what do big brands do, if they can’t counter-sell?

Some adhere to: “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Keebler, a rival cookie brand, is the owner and operator of  Little Brownie Bakers, one of two licensed industrial bakeries that make Girl Scout Cookies.

Incidentally, Keebler also makes lookalike, taste-alike cookies under its own branding in the same factories where it makes the Girl Scout Cookies. The Keebler Grasshopper is made by the exact same people who make the Girl Scouts Thin Mint. You might think this would affect the sale of Girl Scout cookies, since you can literally buy the exact same cookie baked in the exact same place for half the price year-round.

It does not make the slightest difference. The similar cookies don’t have any effect on Girl Scout cookie sales, and the original cookies vastly outsell the identical copies.

“Girl Scout consumers love our cookies, but they purchase them because they are supporting girls,” noted Amanda Hamaker, manager of product sales for the Girl Scouts. “That’s not happening at the supermarket.”

Other large brands – Kraft, notably – just give up the cookie ground entirely during the early part of the calendar year, and instead focus on countering programs. That includes advertising more savory snacks – macaroni and cheese, particularly – and more public service-oriented ads reminding kids about the importance of healthy eating. (Because if kids aren’t eating their cookies anyway, they may as well remind parents that they really shouldn’t be eating so many cookies.)

It might not be the best reason, but they might make a valid point. But given their sales, it seems fair to assume that Girl Scout cookies likely won’t be where people will make their first big calorie cuts.

Still, it’s unexpected to see a seasonal jump in healthy food advertising in response to scouts selling cookies.

But it is one of the more pleasant unexpected surprises, of the sort more likely to make one chuckle than cringe with concern. And given that it is not normally the way things happen in payments and commerce – where things going unexpectedly awry can be the wrong kind of explosive more often than the right kind – it is always nice when the week or season coughs up a few that are more amusing that worrisome.

——————————–

Latest Insights: 

Our data and analytics team has developed a number of creative methodologies and frameworks that measure and benchmark the innovation that’s reshaping the payments and commerce ecosystem. Check out the February 2019 PYMNTS Digital Fraud Tracker Report

Original Source https://ift.tt/2SXvhYC