#Free AI Picture Generator

[aitubo]

The Best AI Photo Generator: Go For It Without Second Thoughts

In the era of advanced technology, AI photo generators have become indispensable tools for transforming ideas into captivating visuals. Among the plethora of options, some stand out as the best in the field, and one noteworthy aspect is the ability to generate images from textual descriptions. In this blog, you can explore the leading AI photo generator and delve into the fascinating realm of transforming text into vivid images.

The Pinnacle of AI Photo Generation

Among the best AI photo generator available, certain platforms excel in seamlessly translating textual descriptions into striking visual compositions. These tools leverage advanced algorithms to interpret and understand text, transforming it into images that capture the essence of the provided descriptions. The AI photo generator from text is the best choice if you want to enjoy the creative world.

The standout feature of the Best AI Photo Generator lies in its capability to translate text into images. Users can input detailed textual descriptions, and the AI-driven system interprets this information to generate corresponding visuals. This not only streamlines the creative process but also opens up a world of possibilities for individuals who may not possess advanced graphic design skills. You should go for the AI photo generator from text as it is very easy and effortless to access.

These top-tier AI photo generators are celebrated for their versatility in bringing various visual concepts to life. Whether it's describing a scenic landscape, a bustling cityscape, or a fantastical scenario, AI excels in transforming abstract textual ideas into vibrant and realistic images. This versatility caters to a broad range of creative projects and applications.

The best AI photo generators prioritize realism and detailing in their image-generation process. Users can expect finely crafted visuals that not only reflect the essence of the provided text but also exhibit a level of detail that adds depth and authenticity to the generated images. This commitment to realism enhances the overall quality of the creative output.

The process of transforming text into images with the best AI photo generator is a seamless journey. Users can input descriptive text, specifying details, scenes, or scenarios. The AI interprets this textual input, bringing it to life through the generation of captivating visuals that align with the provided descriptions. This transformative process represents a revolutionary approach to visual storytelling and creative expression.

[local-queer-classicist]

Had to ask for a religious/ethical exemption for a digital art assignment to get out of having to use genAI. On an assignment. In university. I feel like I’m going insane.

The professor said he “wasn’t aware that there was any ethical issues with AI”, but that he had no problem coming up with an alternative assignment for me to do. Like I’m glad he’s accommodating but. Sir.

Ok. I understand some rando on the streets not being aware of the ethical issues surrounding genAI. Most people do not have the time and energy to devote to giving a fuck about things that don’t directly affect them and I can respect that. It’s rough out there. But you are a professional graphic designer, and a college professor, in digital art. How. How do you not know. How are you requiring your students to do this in class and just not knowing. Why are you shocked that a student might object to being required to use the Art Theft Glacier Melter 9000 for a grade. This should not be a surprise to you. Why is this a surprise. Am I fucking crazy

[lbulldesigns]

You know.

With all of the discourse with AI Art and everything, it's surprisingly difficult to actually get an AI generated picture that works for my needs.

I've been trying, through different sites, to get a picture of Silco from Arcane addressing a press conference (this is the actual description I've been using) for my AITAH Arcane AU, and so far have I not only not gotten Silco addressing a press conference; I also haven't seen a badly drawn Silco or anything.

I did find a man with Vi's hair and face tattoo

but it didn't really fit my needs. I wish I had taken a screenshot of it tho 😂😂😂

I don't know whether to be frustrated or relieved that AI isn't all that.

[icklewolfiekins]

so i spent way too much time researching this considering my skill level but anyway here is miss piggy and brett goldstein as i see them in the seminal Muppets classic, Piggy and Prejudice.

[freeaiartgenerators]

Virtual Virtuoso: AI Art Generator's Legacy

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital artistry, the legacy of AI art generators stands as a testament to the transformative power of artificial intelligence in the world of creativity. These groundbreaking tools, powered by advanced algorithms and machine learning techniques, have revolutionized the way artists create, perceive, and interact with art. With their ability to generate stunning artworks autonomously, AI art generators have left an indelible mark on the art world, shaping the future of visual expression and inspiring new generations of artists. Let's explore the virtual virtuoso legacy of AI art generators and the profound impact they have had on the art community.

Pioneering Innovation in Art

AI art generators have pioneered innovation in the field of art by introducing new techniques and methodologies that challenge traditional artistic norms and conventions. These tools leverage the power of artificial intelligence to analyze vast amounts of artistic data and generate new compositions that push the boundaries of creativity and imagination. By offering artists access to a diverse range of tools and resources, AI art generators have empowered them to explore new artistic frontiers and experiment with different styles, techniques, and concepts.

Democratizing Access to Artistic Tools

One of the most significant contributions of AI art generators is their role in democratizing access to artistic tools and resources. Traditionally, creating art required specialized skills, training, and resources, often limiting access to a select few. However, with the rise of AI art generators, anyone with a computer and an internet connection can create stunning artworks without the need for extensive technical knowledge or artistic expertise. This democratization of artistry has opened up new opportunities for aspiring artists from diverse backgrounds to explore their creativity and share their unique perspectives with the world.

Pushing the Boundaries of Creativity

AI art generators have pushed the boundaries of creativity by enabling artists to explore new artistic styles, techniques, and concepts that were previously inaccessible. These tools can analyze the works of famous artists and replicate their styles with remarkable accuracy, creating compositions that capture the essence of their artistic vision. By blurring the lines between human and machine creativity, AI art generators have inspired new forms of artistic expression and challenged traditional notions of creativity and artistic authorship.

Inspiring Collaboration and Community

AI art generators have inspired collaboration and community among artists by providing a shared platform for creative exchange and interaction. Artists can use these tools to generate visual concepts, share their work with others, and collaborate on projects in real-time. Whether it's collaborating on a digital art piece, providing feedback on a colleague's work, or participating in online art communities and forums, AI art generators foster a sense of camaraderie and collaboration among artists, enriching the creative process and inspiring new levels of innovation.

Shaping the Future of Art

Ultimately, the legacy of AI art generators lies in their profound impact on the future of art. These tools have revolutionized the way we create and perceive art, challenging traditional notions of creativity and artistic authorship, and inspiring new generations of artists to explore new artistic frontiers. As we continue to unlock the potential of AI art generators, we have the opportunity to redefine the way we create and appreciate art, inspiring new forms of artistic expression and pushing the boundaries of artistic imagination.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the legacy of AI art generators is one of pioneering innovation, democratizing access to artistic tools, pushing the boundaries of creativity, inspiring collaboration and community, and shaping the future of art. As we reflect on the virtual virtuoso legacy of AI art generators, we are reminded of their profound impact on the art world and the transformative power of artificial intelligence in the realm of creativity. As we continue to explore the possibilities of this transformative technology, we have the opportunity to unlock new levels of creativity and imagination, enriching the art world and inspiring future generations of artists.

[txttletale]

Saw a tweet that said something around:

"cannot emphasize enough how horrid chatgpt is, y'all. it's depleting our global power & water supply, stopping us from thinking or writing critically, plagiarizing human artists. today's students are worried they won't have jobs because of AI tools. this isn't a world we deserve"

I've seen some of your AI posts and they seem nuanced, but how would you respond do this? Cause it seems fairly-on point and like the crux of most worries. Sorry if this is a troublesome ask, just trying to learn so any input would be appreciated.

i would simply respond that almost none of that is true.

'depleting the global power and water supply'

something i've seen making the roudns on tumblr is that chatgpt queries use 3 watt-hours per query. wow, that sounds like a lot, especially with all the articles emphasizing that this is ten times as much as google search. let's check some other very common power uses:

running a microwave for ten minutes is 133 watt-hours

gaming on your ps5 for an hour is 200 watt-hours

watching an hour of netflix is 800 watt-hours

and those are just domestic consumer electricty uses!

a single streetlight's typical operation 1.2 kilowatt-hours a day (or 1200 watt-hours)

a digital billboard being on for an hour is 4.7 kilowatt-hours (or 4700 watt-hours)

i think i've proved my point, so let's move on to the bigger picture: there are estimates that AI is going to cause datacenters to double or even triple in power consumption in the next year or two! damn that sounds scary. hey, how significant as a percentage of global power consumption are datecenters?

1-1.5%.

ah. well. nevertheless!

what about that water? yeah, datacenters use a lot of water for cooling. 1.7 billion gallons (microsoft's usage figure for 2021) is a lot of water! of course, when you look at those huge and scary numbers, there's some important context missing. it's not like that water is shipped to venus: some of it is evaporated and the rest is generally recycled in cooling towers. also, not all of the water used is potable--some datacenters cool themselves with filtered wastewater.

most importantly, this number is for all data centers. there's no good way to separate the 'AI' out for that, except to make educated guesses based on power consumption and percentage changes. that water figure isn't all attributable to AI, plenty of it is necessary to simply run regular web servers.

but sure, just taking that number in isolation, i think we can all broadly agree that it's bad that, for example, people are being asked to reduce their household water usage while google waltzes in and takes billions of gallons from those same public reservoirs.

but again, let's put this in perspective: in 2017, coca cola used 289 billion liters of water--that's 7 billion gallons! bayer (formerly monsanto) in 2018 used 124 million cubic meters--that's 32 billion gallons!

so, like. yeah, AI uses electricity, and water, to do a bunch of stuff that is basically silly and frivolous, and that is broadly speaking, as someone who likes living on a planet that is less than 30% on fire, bad. but if you look at the overall numbers involved it is a miniscule drop in the ocean! it is a functional irrelevance! it is not in any way 'depleting' anything!

'stopping us from thinking or writing critically'

this is the same old reactionary canard we hear over and over again in different forms. when was this mythic golden age when everyone was thinking and writing critically? surely we have all heard these same complaints about tiktok, about phones, about the internet itself? if we had been around a few hundred years earlier, we could have heard that "The free access which many young people have to romances, novels, and plays has poisoned the mind and corrupted the morals of many a promising youth."

it is a reactionary narrative of societal degeneration with no basis in anything. yes, it is very funny that laywers have lost the bar for trusting chatgpt to cite cases for them. but if you think that chatgpt somehow prevented them from thinking critically about its output, you're accusing the tail of wagging the dog.

nobody who says shit like "oh wow chatgpt can write every novel and movie now. yiou can just ask chatgpt to give you opinions and ideas and then use them its so great" was, like, sitting in the symposium debating the nature of the sublime before chatgpt released. there is no 'decay', there is no 'decline'. you should be suspicious of those narratives wherever you see them, especially if you are inclined to agree!

plagiarizing human artists

nah. i've been over this ad infinitum--nothing 'AI art' does could be considered plagiarism without a definition so preposterously expansive that it would curtail huge swathes of human creative expression.

AI art models do not contain or reproduce any images. the result of them being trained on images is a very very complex statistical model that contains a lot of large-scale statistical data about all those images put together (and no data about any of those individual images).

to draw a very tortured comparison, imagine you had a great idea for how to make the next Great American Painting. you loaded up a big file of every norman rockwell painting, and you made a gigantic excel spreadsheet. in this spreadsheet you noticed how regularly elements recurred: in each cell you would have something like "naturalistic lighting" or "sexually unawakened farmers" and the % of times it appears in his paintings. from this, you then drew links between these cells--what % of paintings containing sexually unawakened farmers also contained naturalistic lighting? what % also contained a white guy?

then, if you told someone else with moderately competent skill at painting to use your excel spreadsheet to generate a Great American Painting, you would likely end up with something that is recognizably similar to a Norman Rockwell painting: but any charge of 'plagiarism' would be absolutely fucking absurd!

this is a gross oversimplification, of course, but it is much closer to how AI art works than the 'collage machine' description most people who are all het up about plagiarism talk about--and if it were a collage machine, it would still not be plagiarising because collages aren't plagiarism.

(for a better and smarter explanation of the process from soneone who actually understands it check out this great twitter thread by @reachartwork)

today's students are worried they won't have jobs because of AI tools

i mean, this is true! AI tools are definitely going to destroy livelihoods. they will increase productivty for skilled writers and artists who learn to use them, which will immiserate those jobs--they will outright replace a lot of artists and writers for whom quality is not actually important to the work they do (this has already essentially happened to the SEO slop website industry and is in the process of happening to stock images).

jobs in, for example, product support are being cut for chatgpt. and that sucks for everyone involved. but this isn't some unique evil of chatgpt or machine learning, this is just the effect that technological innovation has on industries under capitalism!

there are plenty of innovations that wiped out other job sectors overnight. the camera was disastrous for portrait artists. the spinning jenny was famously disastrous for the hand-textile workers from which the luddites drew their ranks. retail work was hit hard by self-checkout machines. this is the shape of every single innovation that can increase productivity, as marx explains in wage labour and capital:

“The greater division of labour enables one labourer to accomplish the work of five, 10, or 20 labourers; it therefore increases competition among the labourers fivefold, tenfold, or twentyfold. The labourers compete not only by selling themselves one cheaper than the other, but also by one doing the work of five, 10, or 20; and they are forced to compete in this manner by the division of labour, which is introduced and steadily improved by capital. Furthermore, to the same degree in which the division of labour increases, is the labour simplified. The special skill of the labourer becomes worthless. He becomes transformed into a simple monotonous force of production, with neither physical nor mental elasticity. His work becomes accessible to all; therefore competitors press upon him from all sides. Moreover, it must be remembered that the more simple, the more easily learned the work is, so much the less is its cost to production, the expense of its acquisition, and so much the lower must the wages sink – for, like the price of any other commodity, they are determined by the cost of production. Therefore, in the same manner in which labour becomes more unsatisfactory, more repulsive, do competition increase and wages decrease”

this is the process by which every technological advancement is used to increase the domination of the owning class over the working class. not due to some inherent flaw or malice of the technology itself, but due to the material realtions of production.

so again the overarching point is that none of this is uniquely symptomatic of AI art or whatever ever most recent technological innovation. it is symptomatic of capitalism. we remember the luddites primarily for failing and not accomplishing anything of meaning.

if you think it's bad that this new technology is being used with no consideration for the planet, for social good, for the flourishing of human beings, then i agree with you! but then your problem shouldn't be with the technology--it should be with the economic system under which its use is controlled and dictated by the bourgeoisie.

[u3pxx]

EDIT: CLOSED NOW! thank you everyone

---

will be closing on JAN 29, 9 AM PHT/JAN 28, 5 PM PST

thank you so much to those who donated! i wasn't expecting to have a considerable backlog from just the 3 days since i've posted this, that's why i mentioned before that i'll be leaving this up for a week. still, i'm afraid i'll have to cut this short since i've lots more drawings to do and i unfortunately have college to juggle at the same time.

i am extremely thankful for all the generous people who have emailed me about donating! i'll be closing this at 9 am tomorrow (my time) since, again, busy. so if you've been thinking about donating and getting a doodle from me, there's a little bit of time left!

---

hello there! i’ll be doing character doodles for donations (donations done after i post this) for gaza!

what will these doodles look like?

the characters will be drawn from the shoulders up! the higher the donation, the more polish that doodle’s gonna get!

what do you need to do for a doodle?

you could either:

donate e-sims to palestine (starting from sims priced 14+ usd). the post linked includes tutorials, relevant links, and discount codes you can find in the replies. instructions can be also found on https://gazaesims.com/ (you can donate another/more sims for an extra doodle or more polish, you decide)

donate 14+ usd to care for gaza. you can donate to them via paypal over here

or donate 14+ usd to palestine children's relief fund

afterward, take a screenshot that you’ve successfully donated to any of the ones mentioned above and send the proof of donation to u3pxx.contact@gmail.com as well as:

the amount you've spent/donated in usd

the name/reference pictures of the character you want me to doodle (ocs included!)

now, please note that my work is for personal use only, not for commercial use/profit/merch/ai training/nfts. you can use it on icons, headers, etc. but please credit me and do not crop/edit out my signature.

i'll end up being a lot busier in the following weeks so this will be available for a limited time, i'll announce it here once i close this. thank you so much, free palestine!

[cutebroccoli]

A quick guide to identifying bots in the asexual tag

How they look like:

-Some of them are pictures of naked or semi-naked people in "sexy" poses. Most (if not all) of those are probably AI generated, heavily photoshopped or stolen.

-Some of them will tell you of job opportunities, tell you to buy something or to join a discord server. Recently I've seen a few that promised free YouTube subscribers and FedEx home office jobs. If they contain a link, do not click on it!

-Some of them are just downright weird and don't seem to make any sense.

-Except for the "buy/download/apply for this job" kind of post they will not include long texts.

If you go to their page, there might be either no other posts at all or a few of the same kind of posts.

What tags they use:

If you're unsure, look at the tags. Most bots just tag as many trending or popular tags, regardless of relevance to their post. If you see a wild mix of unrelated tags, this is a bot. Examples include:

If you have the spoons, happy hunting.

Stay safe out there.

@staff Please help us ban those bots still active in the #asexual tag. Some of us are minors and/or sex-repulsed and just want their safe space back.

[aitubo]

The Free AI Picture Generator For Convinience

In the dynamic realm of digital artistry, Aitubo emerges as a beacon of creative possibilities, offering a host of benefits to users seeking to transform their images into captivating visual wonders. Let's explore the unique advantages that make Aitubo a standout AI picture generator.

Unleashing Creativity

The free AI image generator Aitubo is gaining much fame for its effortless features. Aitubo is a gateway to boundless creative exploration. Through its intuitive interface, users can effortlessly experiment with various artistic styles and filters, breathing new life into their images. The platform's user-friendly design ensures that the creative process is accessible to individuals with diverse levels of technical expertise. One of Aitubo's key benefits lies in its ability to transfer different artistic styles onto photos. Users can effortlessly reimagine their images with styles ranging from classic paintings to modern abstract expressions. This versatility empowers users to tailor their visual narratives according to their unique artistic preferences. The Free AI Picture Generator is popular for many reasons.

Free AI picture generator can provide a truly impressive experience. Beyond stylistic transformations, Aitubo offers robust image enhancement tools. Users can fine-tune critical parameters such as brightness, contrast, and color balance, achieving professional-looking results effortlessly. This capability ensures that images not only reflect artistic expression but also exhibit a refined visual appeal.

Aitubo simplifies the creative process, allowing users to upload their images, select desired styles or filters, and witness the AI-driven transformation in real time. The platform's user-friendly features facilitate on-the-fly adjustments, enabling users to tailor the artistic outcome to match their unique vision seamlessly. Aitubo stands as a champion of democratizing artistic expression. By providing advanced AI image generation capabilities for free, the platform ensures that creative opportunities are accessible to all. This commitment fosters a diverse community of creators, encouraging a rich exchange of ideas and perspectives in the digital art space. The free AI image generator Aitubo is making many lives easy in this modern world.

Aitubo's benefits extend far beyond its technical capabilities. It serves as a catalyst for unlocking creative freedom, allowing users to explore diverse stylistic expressions, innovative filters, and professional-grade enhancements. With its streamlined creative process and commitment to democratizing artistic expression, Aitubo emerges as a powerful tool for those seeking to elevate their visual storytelling in the world of digital art.

[vkelleyart]

“It’s the least ridiculous hat I’ve ever been given,” Henry tells him. “It doesn’t even come with a matching tailcoat.”

“Nah, but maybe we can get you some Wranglers,” Alex says.

“Some chaps, perhaps.”

“I just told you not to talk dirty to me.”

- RED WHITE & ROYAL BLUE [Collector’s Edition] by Casey McQuiston

This piece was commissioned by the generous and wonderful Jonathan L who won my contribution for the Latinx Kidlit Festival auction: a free commission of two characters! I was so happy to have an excuse to revisit Alex and Henry last month, and share the final image in time for ACD’s birthday!

This picture has some additional goodies for fans of the books—and movies. With Jonathan’s help, I’ve planted TWELVE Easter eggs in this picture; see if you can find them all!

Happy Birthday, ACD (and a happy belated birthday to HFMW)! 🎉🎂🤠

PS: This picture is protected by Nightshade, which accounts for some articulation in the close-up. Steal it for AI at your peril. 😇

[leidensygdom]

Something I really don't understand about AI companies buying the rights to steal content from social media to feed their data training sets is, well. It's illegal as hell.

That content does not belong to the social media companies to start with. Personal data is a bit nebulous as it is, and some countries have better protection about it than others, but posting a picture on tumblr doesn't mean that Automatic automatically has the right to use, distribute and sell it as it sees fit.

I mean. Official accounts for big companies like Disney use social media for advertising. But posting a picture of Elsa on Twitter doesn't mean they're giving Twitter the right to use and sell that picture. But suddenly Twitter sells the nebulous ability to "scrape content from Twitter for AI training", so now Midjourney owns that picture of Elsa? What's the fucking ruling there?

People own the rights of what they have created even without officially registering it for trademarking (which is expensive as hell, by the way). Social media selling content means that they are selling copyrighted material created by its users- Some of it coming from big companies that have trademarked the shit out of everything, some of it coming from small creators who STILL have the rights to what they've created even without a trademark.

Curently, what you produce through AI generators is not actually copyrighted, since it was not made by a human, but what gets fed into the data training sets is often copyrighted material from unconsenting people. It basically is a copyright laundering scheme.

I do wholeheartedly hope that some regulations will be put in place, and hoping that big companies will, at least, do their best to help this case even if its just to protect their own IPs and property. Given how overprotective have Disney, Nintendo and other big names been about their content, I can't expect they'll be happy having it being sold to Midjourney, OpenAI and other crap for free, without their consent.

[bi-writes]

whats wrong with ai?? genuinely curious <3

okay let's break it down. i'm an engineer, so i'm going to come at you from a perspective that may be different than someone else's.

i don't hate ai in every aspect. in theory, there are a lot of instances where, in fact, ai can help us do things a lot better without. here's a few examples:

ai detecting cancer

ai sorting recycling

some practical housekeeping that gemini (google ai) can do

all of the above examples are ways in which ai works with humans to do things in parallel with us. it's not overstepping--it's sorting, using pixels at a micro-level to detect abnormalities that we as humans can not, fixing a list. these are all really small, helpful ways that ai can work with us.

everything else about ai works against us. in general, ai is a huge consumer of natural resources. every prompt that you put into character.ai, chatgpt? this wastes water + energy. it's not free. a machine somewhere in the world has to swallow your prompt, call on a model to feed data into it and process more data, and then has to generate an answer for you all in a relatively short amount of time.

that is crazy expensive. someone is paying for that, and if it isn't you with your own money, it's the strain on the power grid, the water that cools the computers, the A/C that cools the data centers. and you aren't the only person using ai. chatgpt alone gets millions of users every single day, with probably thousands of prompts per second, so multiply your personal consumption by millions, and you can start to see how the picture is becoming overwhelming.

that is energy consumption alone. we haven't even talked about how problematic ai is ethically. there is currently no regulation in the united states about how ai should be developed, deployed, or used.

what does this mean for you?

it means that anything you post online is subject to data mining by an ai model (because why would they need to ask if there's no laws to stop them? wtf does it matter what it means to you to some idiot software engineer in the back room of an office making 3x your salary?). oh, that little fic you posted to wattpad that got a lot of attention? well now it's being used to teach ai how to write. oh, that sketch you made using adobe that you want to sell? adobe didn't tell you that anything you save to the cloud is now subject to being used for their ai models, so now your art is being replicated to generate ai images in photoshop, without crediting you (they have since said they don't do this...but privacy policies were never made to be human-readable, and i can't imagine they are the only company to sneakily try this). oh, your apartment just installed a new system that will use facial recognition to let their residents inside? oh, they didn't train their model with anyone but white people, so now all the black people living in that apartment building can't get into their homes. oh, you want to apply for a new job? the ai model that scans resumes learned from historical data that more men work that role than women (so the model basically thinks men are better than women), so now your resume is getting thrown out because you're a woman.

ai learns from data. and data is flawed. data is human. and as humans, we are racist, homophobic, misogynistic, transphobic, divided. so the ai models we train will learn from this. ai learns from people's creative works--their personal and artistic property. and now it's scrambling them all up to spit out generated images and written works that no one would ever want to read (because it's no longer a labor of love), and they're using that to make money. they're profiting off of people, and there's no one to stop them. they're also using generated images as marketing tools, to trick idiots on facebook, to make it so hard to be media literate that we have to question every single thing we see because now we don't know what's real and what's not.

the problem with ai is that it's doing more harm than good. and we as a society aren't doing our due diligence to understand the unintended consequences of it all. we aren't angry enough. we're too scared of stifling innovation that we're letting it regulate itself (aka letting companies decide), which has never been a good idea. we see it do one cool thing, and somehow that makes up for all the rest of the bullshit?

[ppeonppeonhan]

The Sexiest 2023 BL Scenes

I think we can all agree that there is an art to executing a sex scene -- and not everybody's an artist. This year, we (and, by that, I mean you) gif'd a couple of masterpieces that range from romantic to...educational. Here are the ones that live in my head rent free, in order of PG-13 to NC-17:

BEST ROLE-PLAY SEX: Bed Friend

If you had told me last year that incorporating cat ears into foreplay would result in one of the hottest scenes in BL, I would've given you bombastic side-eye. But James, the actor who plays Uea, pulled it off, and is probably responsible for a lot of Amazon orders till this day. (Episode 6)

BEST BEACH-SIDE SEX: The Eighth Sense

This entire sequence was so beautifully lit in golden tones, with soft touches, and romantic moments. It almost made you forget about the depression plot. Almost. (Episode 6)

LONG-AWAITED SEX: Hidden Agenda

Joke yearned for Zo in a way that was borderline comical. From the moment Zo kissed Joke like he was trying to give him CPR and then promptly shoved him out of his apartment, I knew every kiss after that would have to come with a parental warning. I'm surprised Joke didn't move in. (Episode 8)

DO-OVER SEX: Love Class 2

The music for this sex scene was so perfectly matched with the caressing and hand closeups. And the fact that it happened after the initially-ghosted Joo Hyuk got Sung Min to reconsider made it even sweeter. (Episode 9)

BEST WET SEX SCENE: Kiseki: Dear to Me

I may have enjoyed Ai Di and Chen Yi's love story more, but Fan Ze Rui and Bai Zong Yi were helping us all live out our tall boy fantasies. When he mounted him with a soft bounce, I knew the gif Gods would giveth. (Episode 7)

BEST EUPHORIC SEX: Only Friends

Ray looked like he reached nirvana when he made love to Sand in that sardine can of trailer, so of all their sex scenes, this was my fave. (Episode 9)

BEST INSECURITY-INDUCED SEX: Only Friends

Say what you will about Boston -- and the fandom has said a lot lol -- but if you had to choose a cast member to get you off, you'd choose him in a heartbeat. And yes, this scene was grimey. He f*cked his friend's potential boyfriend in the backseat of his car after manipulating him into believing he was cheated on, but can you blame him? He was probably tired of always having to give and never receive. Plus, Top did this vibrating move that made me wonder who told Force to do that... (Episode 3)

GIF by wanderlust-in-my-soul

BEST CENSORED SEX: Wedding Plan

I'm still mad that this scene wasn't in the Youtube cut. It paints an entirely different picture of their dynamic and their personalities. But thank God for the gif'ers, otherwise I would've missed how ravenous they were when they weren't...wedding planning. 😳 (Episode 6)

BEST WHIPLASH SEX: Be Mine Superstar

To be clear, WE were the ones getting whiplash. One minute, we were watching a sweet love story between an innocent college kid and his idol crush, and the next minute we were watching a masterclass on how to bang your one-night stand (consensually) until he agrees to date you. It's like...Sir, I'm on the train. Could you give a bitch a heads up? (Episode 8)

***

While I am generally envious of every single one of these experiences, I'm even more envious of everyone's knee strength and flexibility. I could never. Rollerblading has ruined me. If I tried half of these positions, I'd have to get physical therapy. 🙃

[lackadaisycats]

Some insight into the designs and fashion of the 20s would be so cool, especially since it's kinda hard these days to sift through just costume listing :'0

Yeah, sadly, the usefulness of a Google search is greatly diminished these days. You can still find articles written by actual human beings and genuine historical garments, but you have to wade through a lot of junky costumes and AI bullshit to get there. I can't possibly fully explain 1920s fashion here, though. It's a broad enough topic to write a sizable book about...which is why people have written many books about it. Check out some books. There are things you can get pretty cheap from resellers, everything from academic screeds about the politics behind the fashion trends of the time, to clothing catalogue compilations from the 20s, to giant coffee table books full of glorious photos.

Here's a PDF version of one of those clothing catalog collections. There's an entire preface about 1920s fashion in general too.

There are some pretty well made blogs about the topic out there as well. Vintage Dancer is one of them. The front of the site is unfortunately kind of cluttered with ads for costume apparel and modern clothing inspired by the 20s, but scroll past that to the historical bits and you'll find pertinent things.

There are some great fashion YouTubers too, like Karolina Zebrowska. Although she's not focused heavily on 1920s fashion, she talks a lot about early 20th century fashion in general. She also talks a lot about the historical context of those fashions.

Also, try online museum displays. The Met Museum has a searchable collection, for instance. Look up 1920s fashion, 1920s dresses, 1920s suits, etc.

Cameras were popular and accessible in the 1920s. Look at pictures of what people actually wore. You can find these images in free government photo archives, or licensing libraries like Getty Images (you don't have to license anything to look at it). And there's always Shorpy. Poor old, underappreciated Shorpy. Their archive is searchable.

[littlealienproducts]

AI and PDF Crochet Patterns

AI generated images can be great for inspiring projects, but most of the time it's used online to generate revenue for scammers and the like.

Just scrolling through Etsy rn looking for crochet patterns, I've come across several listings (some with false 5 star reviews to boost engagement/trust) where the patterns and images are clearly AI generated and people, unfortunately, have fallen for the listings.

Some of the images might look totally obvious to you, but to the untrained eye they can be convincing.

SOOO, how do you spot AI crochet patterns?

Look at the stitches. Are there pieces that don't seem to stitch into one another? Are the lengths and sizes inconsistent? Some are more obvious than others, but AI fails to replicate consistent textures.

Lighting and saturation. AI images often are vibrant and cartoon-ish. Especially the eyes of projects - usually this is a pretty good giveaway. Additionally, is the image smooth? What's in the background? Does it make sense?

Limited photos on listing. Most legitimate shops are going to have multiple photos of the finished project on the listing - AI is fairly advanced, but not the best at recreating exact images. Does the listing only have one photo? Does it have multiple but with variants between projects (that are meant to be the same)? Are there any videos?

Is it even possible? This can be tricky if you are new to crochet, but as above, take a moment to look at the stitches and the overall shape of the project. Does it look plausable? Especially if they projects say 'no sew'. Additionally, if you have already purchased the pattern - does it tell you how much material you need, and does it make sense? Does it tell you crochet hook size?

Legit photo but AI generated pattern. Sometimes the images are real - but they've been stolen from another creators account and the scam shop has simply asked AI (such as ChatGPT) to write up a crochet pattern. These are less obvious at a glance, but most reputable shops will have social media, consistent themes of crochet projects and reviews with pictures of finished products uploaded by customers.

6. Ok, but what if they use AI but the reviews seem legit? Crochet Baby Duck - this is an AI generated picture and pattern, and while the shop has posted several pictures of the finished project it is clear that it does not match up with the AI generated duck pictured in the listing. The hat, feet, and bill are all different sizes and this is even noted in some of the customer reviews. While this isn't as scammy as straight up using AI generated images/patterns without showing how the finished project looks - it is still taking away from legitimate pattern makers. Being able to design and execute good patterns is a skill, and the prices of legitimate patterns often reflect this. Why does the shop even use AI pictures if they post the real life projects anyway? Cus it drives traffic, and lets be real - the real life plush dolls look no where near as good as the AI images.

This is the same as the walrus - AI generated image and pattern, this is even endoresed by Etsy so you cannot rely on 'Etsy picks' being legitimate as they choose profits over morals.

These patterns are not just limited to Etsy, they are often on Pinterest or websites for 'free' to generate traffic and collect data (asking for your e-mail for the free pattern). Such as this Peacock Crochet IRL figure by u/Echo-o_0 on Reddit.

This is not just limited to crochet, I've seen it in sewing, knitting, and any other PDF downloads that you can purchase or get for free. Unfortunately, it is a simple way for people to make a quick but and face little to no consequences as their store *might* get deleted and even then, they can just start a new one up.

[elaine19day]

Alright guys, I'm here today to address the pictures of the alleged 'new merch' that had been circling around in the English fandom for a few days. See how I said 'English fandom'? Because nobody really addressed it on weibo and XHS yet… at least not to that extent. (Sorry, I have seen these screencaps on tumblr, insta, X and discord, and I have no idea who originally took them, I don't claim to have taken those screenshots, merely providing them here so you know what I'm talking about.)

So what happened? A few days ago a random shop on taobao created new listings that offered a new series of badges and prints/acrylics - not just featuring the 4 main boys, but also He Cheng, Qiu, She Li and… Cun Tou…..?! Now let's take a moment and sit back and think about this for a while. First of all: Why would a random shop that's NOT affiliated with mosspaca in any way post new 'official' merchandise? (Because we can see there's the mosspaca copyright writing on the badges and acrylics, just like it used to be on the previous badge series) Why would this random shop post these things while neither OldXian herself nor her boss, moss, have posted or announced anything via weibo/XHS? Don't you think this is sort of fishy? You don't find this strange, you don't question that at all? Sure, some people said: It's leaked and it will be available on the upcoming signing event on the 29th which OX announced on her weibo. Sure. There is a possibility, of course. They could have a leak in mosspaca studio and some person got their hands on some undisclosed merch and decided to make bank by making a new shop and listing the items for pre-order, hoping they could cash in. NOT a smart choice if you wanna keep your job because such incidents get investigated thoroughly and we all know by now that moss himself is very strict about these things and already has taken legal action against shops before when they sell fake merch as official merch. The other possibility? Old Xian's apple account has been hacked by an outsider and then the same scenario as before applies - that person wanted to cash in before it officially releases.

Now. How has OX handled merchandise before? It was always announced before an event and sometimes even months(!) in advance when they were pre-order items. Also. Have you ever seen Old Xian making merch for Cheng, Qiu, She Li and Buzzcut? Sure, the first 3 have been on some old postcards way back in the day, plus they are depicted in some of the artbooks, okay. But actual merch with them separately? The last badge series had a very limited special edition button with He Cheng. That was super rare. And now OX suddenly makes merch of the 2 adults, plus She Li AND Buzzcut, who's a minor character which barely makes an appearance? (Sorry, Buzzcut fans, not trying to be mean, just wanting to drive home the point that OX creating merch of him is highly unlikely - unfortunately.)

So what can we take home from all the stuff I just pointed out? Yep, there is a high chance that this is not official. It might be fake merch, sold by a random person who used generative AI tools and editing skills to create these things. I mean, sure, some of the pictures look highly convincing, I give you that. But then again, there are fanartists out there who can perfectly mimic Old Xian's style and edit/draw the boys in new poses that make it seem 'real' and official. But then there's THIS. Please take a close look at the way the faces are 'drawn', the way that the eyes are sort of smudged, same as some of the abs, the way Mo's face is contorted in a weird angle, the way the hands look chunky and unreal, and so on. (click on image to enlarge it and see it in more detail)

Weird, right? Well, it's a very common, typical thing for pictures that are generated with free AI tools. Everyone who has tried one or the other and has fcked around with one of those tools out of curiosity will notice.

Also - have you noticed the sheer AMOUNT of things posted from this one random seller? 10 different badges, 12 different long bookmarks (acrylic boards?), 4 couple cards, plus a LOT of other random new things which all feature very old panels from the manhua… When has Old Xian ever released SO MUCH merch at once? Yep. Never. Plus the re-using of old pictures for new merch? Also doesn't make much sense. And there's a lot of the older illustrations being used for these supposed new things here.

So if you take all of this into account, you might conclude that someone is tryna pull your leg here, selling fake merch disguised as official by even slapping the logo onto it to make it more convincing and mimicking how it looked the last time around. Of course - there might be the odd chance that mosspaca suddenly took a 180° turn and completely changed their modus operandi and decided to do things completely different compared to before and that it was leaked after all and meant as a surprise for the new autograph event etc etc etc. Yep. There's a chance that all this is true after all. But there's also a chance that I step out of my house tomorrow and an airplane crashes onto my head. Of course, that chance is *extremely* small. But the chance is there… So there you have it. All I'm asking you here, is to take a moment to think it through logically when you see these things online. And that you don't instantly believe everything that other people post who are always so eager to spread false information just for the sake of stirring up the fandom without ever taking the time to verify their sources. (No, I'm NOT taking a jab at anyone here who posted/reposted these pictures and was confused and/or asked about it. I was just as puzzled as you guys. But I am criticizing those who post it and announce that it's definitely new, official merchandise…) In conclusion: Might be true, but chances are very slim, all things considered. Let's wait until Tuesday when the event takes place and keep an eye on weibo and XHS - let's see which pictures the CN fandom will post when showing their autographs. Then you can check if there's new merch present. If not - well, then it's pretty safe to say that this was definitely fake. (And if this turns out to be real after all, I will make a follow-up post, regarding the AI-looking faces. But you might not like that 'lore' so I will not mention it for now, to prevent possible drama.)