#I’m not doing all this work so someone else can profit off it

[almostempty]

making this community inhospitable to racists does not mean posting another quarterly “fuck off racists” tag pls take a breath slow down and be serious for a minute instead of doing the circle jerk of performative outrage

If you have to clarify on your blog that you don’t want racists reading your fics think long and hard about that. Is that bumper sticker activism statement the ONLY thing alerting them that they’re unwelcome? Do you think they feel represented or find your blog relatable without that statement attached? It’s not about if you think you’re a good person or not

we’ve got an echo chamber of hypersensitive white women upholding the racist, colonial, patriarchal standard in their fics, in their art, in their reblogs, in their actions behaviors and the circles they cling to and strategically try to profit off of (in the form of attention bc literally what else are you getting from this???)

Who do you think is benefiting at the end of the day from the idolized trope of the small fragile quiet white coded female reader x hyper sexualized Latino ?

(Spoiler the answer isn’t even white women …it’s white men; they’re still the ones on top at the intersection of racism, imperialism, capitalism, and patriarchy.. don’t play yourself, they (systemically) want you to eat that shit up so they can keep their power)

instead of telling racists to get off your blog, stop catering to narratives that are designed to make white women feel comfy and special EVEN IF THAT MAKES YOU FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE

if it makes it hard for you to enjoy the fandom when you actively choose not to read those fics or engage with content that perpetuates the same stereotypes and you suddenly feel starved for content that’s the point, don’t let it go over your head

making the space inhospitable to racists means doing everything with intention so they CANNOT see themselves in the fics you write AND reblog, in the art, in the tags, or as your friend

the loud hate coming from anons is NOT going to be swayed by these posts

but you can change YOUR behavior to lessen the constant barrage of microaggressions our bipoc peers get pelted with when they open this app by not contributing or promoting more of the same

It’s like the same way ‘boundaries’ have been misconstrued from therapy speak, like you don’t set boundaries by telling someone else what they can’t do ..you set boundaries through YOUR actions.

Yell that you hate racism all day I guess, but if you’re gonna keep sharing work filled with racial stereotypes and hegemonic colonial masculinity disguised as kink, or putting white women on a pedestal then you’re still providing space for racists to feel cozy and justified and I’m so serious about that

Here have more to read:

What Fandom Racism Looks Like: Racist Fanworks, Done Out of Spite

What if we improved fandom somewhat?

From the second link:

If these posts annoy you say it out loud so *I* can remove *you* from my blog bc i don’t expect y’all to leave on your own bc that would require self-awareness

[linderosse]

ATTENTION: Someone stole my heckin’ artwork and put in on Redbubble on their own account 🫥

It’s not just the tote bag, too— they copied the design, uploaded it, and selected yes for every single product option, allowing folks to purchase any product with this design from their site.

Folks, please do not do this.

If you want the same tote bag in green, or a hat with the same design or something, just ask the artist. I’m sure I and many others would be happy to oblige.

If you’re thinking to save money, I regret to inform you that Redbubble keeps most of the profits anyways, so you’re still going to have to pay nearly full price for the product.

Most importantly, by reuploading someone else’s work under your own name, you’re depriving artists of the credit for their hard work.

I spent the eight days leading up to the release of Octopath 2 making those countdown icons in anticipation of playing a masterpiece.

I was thrilled that people liked the icons, and even more thrilled that folks wanted physical versions of them in the form of stickers or shirts or tote bags or whatever else. That’s why I made my Redbubble page in the first place: so the people who like my art get to keep it as a physical product while expressing their appreciation. Reuploading artwork not only robs me of the profit I’d earn, it also robs me of that knowledge that all artists covet: that folks out there love our work.

In short: Please don’t steal art, friends.

That said, this person also has some other fanart on their Redbubble page. It might be their own work, or it might not. If you’re an artist who has drawn Octopath Traveler fanart, please check it out. There’s a Zelda thing on there too— a fanart of Hestu from BotW/TotK.

I know people here are good folks and I probably don’t have to say this, but please *do not* harass the person who made this page. This is partly why I haven’t included a direct link. I’d like to think it was an honest mistake.

And last of all, shoutout to @8bitayla for letting me know that they found this page! I very much appreciate the notice.

Now I’m off to see if I can get the product with my stolen artwork taken down. Have a wonderful day, everyone!

[robertreich]

Should Billionaires Exist? 

Do billionaires have a right to exist?

America has driven more than 650 species to extinction. And it should do the same to billionaires.

Why? Because there are only five ways to become one, and they’re all bad for free-market capitalism:

1. Exploit a Monopoly.

Jamie Dimon is worth $2 billion today… but not because he succeeded in the “free market.” In 2008, the government bailed out his bank JPMorgan and other giant Wall Street banks, keeping them off the endangered species list.

This government “insurance policy” scored these struggling Mom-and-Pop megabanks an estimated $34 billion a year.

But doesn’t entrepreneur Jeff Bezos deserve his billions for building Amazon?

No, because he also built a monopoly that’s been charged by the federal government and 17 states for inflating prices, overcharging sellers, and stifling competition like a predator in the wild.

With better anti-monopoly enforcement, Bezos would be worth closer to his fair-market value.

2. Exploit Inside Information

Steven A. Cohen, worth roughly $20 billion headed a hedge fund charged by the Justice Department with insider trading “on a scale without known precedent.” Another innovator!

Taming insider trading would level the investing field between the C Suite and Main Street.

3.  Buy Off Politicians

That’s a great way to become a billionaire! The Koch family and Koch Industries saved roughly $1 billion a year from the Trump tax cut they and allies spent $20 million lobbying for. What a return on investment!

If we had tougher lobbying laws, political corruption would go extinct.

4. Defraud Investors

Adam Neumann conned investors out of hundreds of millions for WeWork, an office-sharing startup. WeWork didn’t make a nickel of profit, but Neumann still funded his extravagant lifestyle, including a $60 million private jet. Not exactly “sharing.”

Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of fraud for her blood-testing company, Theranos. So was Sam Bankman-Fried of crypto-exchange FTX. Remember a supposed billionaire named Donald Trump? He was also found to have committed fraud.

Presumably, if we had tougher anti-fraud laws, more would be caught and there’d be fewer billionaires to preserve.

5. Get Money From Rich Relatives

About 60 percent of all wealth in America today is inherited.

That’s because loopholes in U.S. tax law —lobbied for by the wealthy — allow rich families to avoid taxes on assets they inherit. And the estate tax has been so defanged that fewer than 0.2 percent of estates have paid it in recent years.

Tax reform would disrupt the circle of life for the rich, stopping them from automatically becoming billionaires at their birth, or someone else’s death.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not arguing against big rewards for entrepreneurs and inventors. But do today’s entrepreneurs really need billions of dollars? Couldn’t they survive on a measly hundred million?

Because they’re now using those billions to erode American institutions. They spent fortunes bringing Supreme Court justices with them into the wild.They treated news organizations and social media platforms like prey, and they turned their relationships with politicians into patronage troughs.

This has created an America where fewer than ever can become millionaires (or even thousandaires) through hard work and actual innovation.

If capitalism were working properly, billionaires would have gone the way of the dodo.

[fellshish]

I have a question, and my name is Sal.

I grew up watching Coraline as a kid. It was my jam. I loved that movie, and I will forever say Henry Selick deserved more attention for making it.

I like the Dresden Dolls and Evelyn Evelyn (Amanda Palmer projects) I still have the songs stuck in my head. You know where this is going.

I know you said that fans of works should still enjoy the work even if the creator sucks. And I can do that with Kubrick and Aaron Fechter, but that’s because Kubrick is dead, and most of Aaron Fechter’s IP got ripped away from him and is gladly in the hands of the public (despite how much he likes to sue).

Gaiman (and Palmer) are still alive and/or profiting off their stuff. Not to mention, I want to bring attention to the situation and help bring justice to the victims. Yet everytime I post about it or reblog what someone else put into words what I think, I feel like I’m virtue signalling.

How do I handle it and is it bad that I keep thinking of the art that influenced me by them instead of what they did (in a way to soften the blow to how horribly they abused these women)?

(You can respond to this publicly, as I am sure people are thinking the same thing somewhere. I am sorry for dumping all this on you.)

hi sal!

sorry, this got long. your ask was so genuine and i was afraid of getting it wrong. 

i want to start this off by saying i am not the boss of anyone’s fandom experience. everyone gets to decide for themselves how they proceed after learning about the numerous women who have come forward against neil gaiman.

the things you mention are things i’ve struggled with too — last year when i first learned about it, when i listened to the podcasts and recently again reading even more detailed (and horrifying) news reporting.

these are also struggles shared by many fans in many fandoms of creators who were accused and/or controversial and/or convicted. for example many (trans) people i know have grown up loving harry potter, and have had to deal with their favourite writer waging a vendetta against trans lives. some still participate in the hp fandom without supporting her. they can’t help their hyperfixation and still find a lot of good and a lot of friends in the fandom. 

because yes, i do believe that someone can stay in such a fandom as ethically as possible. as in: i try the best that i can to make sure no further financial gains go to the creator. that means i avoid watching official streams, buying official merch, going to official cons, going to plays based on his work etc. i also amplify the women’s voices by spreading the article. 

the thing to keep in mind is: there is a difference and a distance between a creator and a fandom of what they created. a huge wall even. fandom is about community, friendships, creativity, … i am on a playground playing with the characters with my friends. sharing art and fics and gifs etc. and what those characters and stories mean to me are positive things. 

the core is this: if you have to live your life only consuming art by morally pure people (and who determines that?!) then you will have very little left to enjoy. 

and of course i understand the urge to want to help the victims, and the guilt/worry about virtue signaling. i’m going to break those down separately.

i think the idea of ‘helping bring justice to the victims’ is good but it also puts an unreasonable amount of responsibility on your young shoulders. here’s what’s already happened: the women’s voices have been heard, there is now more widespread media covering, he has lost his reputation, hasn’t been on his platforms since last summer, he’s losing (film) projects of his work, … what else consequences are yet to come, legally or otherwise, we’ll have to see. the responsibility for that lies not with you as one single fan but with lawyers etc. and you might find it important to keep vigilant that the story doesn’t get buried (again). in that case reblogging isn’t virtue signalling but useful.

but it’s also unreasonable to expect someone to continually do that for days and days. that’s a quick ticket to depression. ultimately tumblr is, to many, a fandom space. some people use it only for pleasant fandom activities. and what if they do? you can’t know a person’s whole life: maybe they are survivors who are too triggered to participate, maybe they’ve donated to causes that help survivors, maybe they have shared the story on other platforms etc

you asked “is it bad that I keep thinking of the art that influenced me by them instead of what they did”, and i found that the most heartbreaking part of your ask. it isn’t helpful to you or to anyone to keep torturing yourself with guilt. you’re aware of the allegations, and that’s good. but don’t burn yourself out trying to live up to the impossible standard of a morally pure activist that doesn’t exist. please stop being your own thought police. 

i think the fact you struggle so deeply, shows what a beautiful person you are.

now you’re going to be reading a lot of opinions. some very different from mine. am i right in continuing in fandom? i don’t know. this is my first time living life too. but i AM right that you’re a good person.

that said: protect your heart. block freely and curate a fandom space that makes you happy. avoid engaging in endless internet discourse that is bad for your mental health. step away for a while if that is what you need.

these are some intense days but i promise it gets better. the kid who loved coraline can still love coraline, but is just more informed now. 

the main rule of fandom is: does it spark joy? if yes, embrace it, because that’s a wonderful and rare thing to have.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Copyright, Trademark, What They Do (and Don't Do)

Anonymous asked: I'm writing a comic script but I'm a slow writer/artist, so it won't be ready to post for quite a few years. Is there any way I can submit a list of character and place names and have them copyrighted/trademarked so no one else can use them besides me? I'm not talking generic names like "Thomas Bird" or "Blue Mountains." I mean very specific, unique names that I've personally created. There are a lot of names/places in my story that I’m extremely happy with, and I’m really worried someone else is will write a story before me with these names and then I won’t be able to use them, even though I’m the one that came up with them first.

[Ask edited for length]

Quick disclaimer: I'm not a copyright attorney, trademarking attorney, or any other kind of legal professional or representative. This advice comes from knowledge and experience gained in my many years as a writer and author.

Copyright, in the simplest of terms, means no one but you can copy, distribute, or profit from your work without your permission. It protects your work from plagiarism--someone else using your ideas in the exact same way you did and passing it off as their own-- but it does not protect the use of individual names, titles, fictional places, or ideas, none of which can be copyrighted.

Trademark, in the simplest of terms, protects symbols, words, or phrases that identify and distinguish your brand or business and the products or services associated with them. In order to trademark a symbol, word, or phrase, you would need to prove that consumers do (or would) strongly associate the symbol, word, character, or phrase with your brand/product/services, and that there would be confusion among consumers if this symbol, word, character, or phrase appeared in association with some other brand/product/service. So, we are talking symbols like the Nike logo, words like Kleenex, character names like Bugs Bunny or Spider-Man, and phrases like "Finger Lickin' Good," not your unusually named characters or fictional places.

The best way you can protect your unique character names and places prior to publishing is to make sure you don't share them widely, and share them only with people you trust.

Just because you have an idea now doesn't mean you're the one that came up with an idea first. For example, if someone publishes a comic next year with a same character name, they may have come up with that character name twenty years ago for all you know.

Either way, it's very unlikely someone would beat you to publication and have more than one unique character name or place in common with your comic, and even if they do have one character that has the same unique name, that doesn't mean you can't use it. Again, character names can't be copyrighted. As long as your character doesn't appear to be the same character with minor changes, you're fine. I really, really wouldn't worry about it, though.

One final note of advice... one of the hardest things about being a writer, which you must adjust to if you want to succeed, is understanding that your ideas aren't as special and unique as you think they are. I don't mean that to be mean, but it's a hard truth. You will see "your ideas" everywhere you look, because people will come up with the same ideas you do, and sometimes that means coming up with a similar unique name or location. But what matters is how you use those ideas, and how that differs from how they used them. That's what makes your stories unique. Not your ideas, names, places, etc. themselves, but how you use them. ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[odinsblog]

[re: this post]

The bad news is, I’m stranded because my condo has only one road in and out, and that’s 100% underwater rn

The other bad news is, my car is flooded even though I thought I moved it to higher ground

BUT … the heartening news is this:

This condo complex is roughly 2,500 units so tons of people live here. We were all without power from around 4pm yesterday until 10:30am today

So at daybreak everyone was outside surveying the damage and trying to figure out how to get their sunken cars started and how to get out (we’re just going to have to wait for the waters to recede iMho)

I took one look at my VERY RECENTLY PAID FOR CAR as it sat submerged, and started to head back inside. That’s when a neighbor I’d never met before asked me if my phone was charged. I told her no, it’s completely dead. She then directed me to another neighbor who found one outlet that, for some reason, still had power. There were about 10 or 15 people lined up and someone had gotten probably the longest extension cord w/outlets that I’ve ever seen in my life. If you weren’t already charging your phone on the outlet, there was one outlet spot where everyone was taking turns to get a quick 10 minute charge and make some calls. Apparently everyone had already voted to use one of the extension cord outlets full time for a coffee pot (because coffee, right?)

There was someone else outside whose car wasn’t submerged who was letting people use his car to charge their phones

And then I heard someone say, “Are there any elderly or disabled people living here who we need to go check on?” And I said, “OMG, what about the lady on the 7th floor? She’s in a wheelchair!” And someone else said that the elevator was out because of no power, and I was like, “So? Are the stairs broken? I can run up and go check on her.” And then someone else was like, “She died a couple of years ago.” And we were all like, “Ohhh.”

I’m rambling a bit, but the point is, it was super refreshing to see people working together and sharing and helping each other. This wasn’t a disaster by any stretch of the imagination. At worst, it has merely been a big inconvenience. But it was still nice to see neighbors (many of whom were strangers until this morning) being nice and helpful to each other

It reaffirms what I’ve always believed: in difficult times most people WILL work together—without any personal or monetary incentive. So please don’t believe greedy ass mutha fuckers when they opine about survival of the fittest and making a quick profit off of someone else’s suffering. It doesn’t have to be that way, and most often, it isn’t that way

And yeah, I know that my small experience wasn’t a dire situation and no lives were on the line (like they are where the hurricane actually made landfall), but I would like to believe that my microcosm is the norm for similar macrocosms

I believe that most people are good at heart, or at the very least, they WANT to be good and sometimes just need a nudge in the right direction

Anyway, I guess it’s about time for me to go do battle with my car insurance company (now talk about evil entities!) to see what up with my partially submerged vehicle

If anyone has done this insurance claim dance before, I’m open to some friendly advice bc this is brand new for me

Please have a great day today everyone ✌🏿

[bogwaterparasite]

Could you please do 2004 Tord x reader, pls? He's my comfort character x(

(btw, pls make him as an adult if ur comfy with that! The TeenTord headcanon makes me uncomfortable x(

(not forced!)

Hello why of course!! I’m gonna be completely honest, last I watched Eddsworld was back in 2014?? So my interpretation might not be the best 🙏🙏 either way I hope you enjoy!!!

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Pairing : 2004Tord x Reader

CW : none

Wc : 639 (wow so short)

A/N : I actually quite enjoyed this one? Im writing this at night and I didn’t have much of an idea of what else to do/ where to take it, but lowkey I can see it possibly becoming an actual story rather than a one shot. Who knows, maybe if I’m feeling inspired I’ll make it into a series

Sypnosis : You’re a mechanic working late one night when someone bursts into your workshop

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

The fluorescent lights flickered overhead, casting long shadows across the cluttered garage. It was well past midnight, one of those rare moments when the world seemed to pause, allowing you a precious slice of personal time. Your own projects—the ones that never made it to the top of the priority list—were finally getting some attention.

Being a mechanic wasn't just a job; it was a calling. Each day brought a wild mixture of characters: stubborn old men who looked at you with skeptical eyes, convinced that youth equated to incompetence; entitled customers who argued over every dollar; self-proclaimed experts who believed YouTube tutorials made them equivalent to professional technicians. You'd seen it all—or so you thought.

The sudden crash of the workshop door made you jump, your wrench clattering against the concrete floor. A lanky figure burst in, light brown hair slightly disheveled, eyes wild with an intensity that immediately set your internal alarms ringing. Your gaze shifted towards the window, the LED sign with the words “Open” was shut off.. there was no way he actually thought the shop was open.

Before you even had the chance to protest, to tell him that right now you weren’t under working hours, blueprints exploded across your workspace like a paper hurricane, accompanied by several heavy metal boxes that looked like they'd been "borrowed" from somewhere decidedly official. Immediately, your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, who the hell was this lunatic?

You didn’t have much time to question his theatrics as he soon began to explain his plan. Something about a robot.. approximately 10 meters tall? Looking down at the prints on your desk you weren’t able to tell if this was just some geeky fascination or something that you should genuinely be worried about. Regardless, it was something way out of your budget and league. Despite your interest and knowledge on cars, you weren’t so sure it applied to.. this..

"Look man, I dunno…" you started, your voice wavering between professional skepticism and genuine confusion. "I'm a mechanic, not a manufacturer. A twenty- thirty.. something foot robot? That's way beyond the standard automotive repair."

The stranger—dressed in a vibrant red hoodie that seemed almost too casual for the plans now scattered before you—let out a low chuckle. It was the kind of laugh that suggested he knew exactly how ridiculous this all seemed, and yet, didn't seem to care one bit.

"Not asking for mass production," he said, his accent carrying a hint of something Nordic—Norwegian, maybe? "Just one. Perfect prototype. Think of it as... a special order." His hands remained casually stuffed in his hoodie pockets, but there was nothing casual about the calculation behind his eyes.

The blueprints were meticulously detailed. Intricate mechanical designs intertwined with what looked like weaponry specifications. It was.. almost scary, how someone as simple as he looked was able to acquire such things, ones of such magnitude to say the least. This wasn't just a robot; this was something more. Something potentially dangerous.

"Split the profits," he continued, watching you carefully. "Fifty-fifty. All I need is your technical expertise and this workspace for a few weeks."

Something told you this was more than a simple business proposition. The boxes of materials, the precise blueprints, the way he'd so easily found his way into a private workshop, everything screamed of a deeper, more complex story.

And yet, a part of you was intrigued. Curiosity had always been your weakness, and this stranger had just presented a puzzle too compelling to dismiss.

"Who are you?" you found yourself asking, knowing the answer would likely raise more questions than it would resolve.

The smile that crossed his face was equal parts charming and dangerous—the smile of someone who knew exactly how this conversation would end, even if you didn't.

“My name is Tord, What about you, Stranger?”

[90shaladriel]

AI Manipulations of Rings of Power. (Longish)

Saw the AI edits of Haladriel scenes being altered by GenAI to make the characters* kiss. I have seen chatter about it and the negative implications of creating or interacting with AI generated content.

At the risk of being nuanced, (feel free to block or scroll past this) it interests me what exactly is the concern with it and why. To be clear, I do work in an industry that is both working to incorporate and profit off AIs while simultaneously my own job is increasingly at risk by the same products or we are forced to use them for productivity reasons.

Some reasons that make sense to me that you would not want AI content would be

1. Legal and copyright infringement of the ownership of the art or source material used to train the AI models. Stolen work, no credit or payment to artists

2. It’s generally shitty, sloppy, uncanny valley. Which aesthetically I think most people would be against

3. It directly competes against manual labor of a human, devalues work, replaces jobs, or floods the market so creators never can be separated, investment in a skill or art form isnt worth it.

4. It extremely energy intensive, the environmental implications can he huge with the climate crisis.

5. Its being shoveled in our faces by overhyped tech bros because they think its cool and can find gullible investors for, like NFTs and crypto curriencies

6. Deep fake abuse with AI, making up fake news, abusing a real person image in a degrading way without consent.

I think all of these are serious issues with AI.

The stuff that was shared about Sauron and Galadriel kissing does it materialize those concerns? I’m going to assume that it may for the first one, legal and copyright ownership of training data. Im not a lawyer, and there are also some AI models trained on legally owner content or public domain / open source content. I have no way of knowing what models were used by the GenAI that made those haladriel kisses, so we probably have to assume they may have questionable provenance, and I think by that alone we should boycott those.

Now what if someone used a more solidly vetted model or genAI service without those legal issues? What if the artists do get paid or some form of royalties?

The kiss videos themselves were ok, maybe halfway believable, there were obviously the weird uncanny ai artifacts and stuff. It’s objectively worse than if ROP had actually filmed a kiss with live actors in the show proper. But who am I to judge whether that slop is aesthetically pleasing to someone else or not? Sometimes I have found AI art that is truly bizarre in that this is too weird surrealness quality like looking into a dream while being awake. I’m not sure that this feeling is necessarily wrong to enjoy on its own.

Regarding the AI replacing jobs argument. I suppose it depends what we mean. They were never going to remake ROP Season 1 or 2. Morfydd and Charlie won’t be offered the same role if another company were to buy the rights and make Rings of Power reboot. We will never get those kisses on screen. Maybe you can say that if people were fed content for Haladriel you could give them that almost infinitely by GenAI and then those people would be less likely to consume or pay for some other newer media that might otherwise give a satisfactory ETL with backstory and build up equivalent to what ROP has done with Haladriel? I’m not sure how to weigh that, it might be true? I tend to think these AI kisses arent replacing any creative workers in the film/tv industry. I don’t think we say that fanfic reusing known characters competes with original written stories (or do people argue this?) although i suppose it does on some level. Do people boycott fanfiction?

Along these lines, what about the actors consent and deep fake aspects? Personally, I don’t see how the AI images are more offensive or harmful than fanart which uses the actors depictions to do all sorts of things, stabbing, killing, kissing, screwing and everything and everyone in between. Or fan edits which use clever editing and overlay soundtracks with pointed lyrics which completely change the artistic intent of the actors /creatives who made the original in a particular way, say make two characters have a romantic chemistry that wasn’t there in the original? Or even the old photoshop manipulation stuff? I thought we’re ok with this in the fandom world, is this that different?

I’m not saying I like AI or you need to. I probably wont interact with it and try to avoid it personally wherever I can. But I do wonder if the arguments people are making against ROP AI edits are actually in good faith? Because then i question why other kinds of fan creations are acceptable?

[invisibleicewands]

Michael Sheen says 'I'm not getting paid for this' as he launches most ambitious project yet

Fair play to Michael Sheen, he doesn't half set himself some challenges. After a decades-long career in Hollywood and British films and TV the 56-year-old Port Talbot raised star has embarked on his latest project - resurrecting Wales' national theatre company .

The RADA alumni clearly gets a huge buzz from creating, collaborating and acting with likeminded people. And his launch of the Welsh National Theatre this week is his most recent chapter in a series of projects intended to uplift and assist both the Welsh culture and people.

Since becoming a 'not for profit' actor on the back of selling his house in the US and the UK to bankroll the 2019 Homeless World Cup, held in Cardiff, he's fronted a Channel 4 documentary in which he used £100,000 of his own money to write off £1m worth of debts for a group of people in south Wales. This follows his 2017 move of setting up the End High Cost Credit Alliance to help people find more affordable ways of borrowing money. This year he's also launching book A Home For Spark The Dragon which he co-wrote and will help to raise funds for homelessness charity, Shelter, when it is released on June 5.

Now he, and a group of creative talent from across Wales have focused the spotlight on theatre in Wales after the Arts Council of Wales pulled all the funding for National Theatre Wales, which officially came to an end in December of last year.

Describing the launch of the Welsh National Theatre as a "new dawn for theatre in Wales" he, as its artistic director, also reflects on what a "huge loss" it would be to never have a national theatre in Wales again, or at least for a long time. It came to a head and the inspiration train was boarded at the rehearsals for Nye - the critically accclaimed original play about Aneurin Bevan and the creation of the NHS Sheen lead for the National Theatre (UK-wide) and Wales Millennium Centre last year.

Sheen told WalesOnline: "I was in a rehearsal room with a bunch of Welsh actors talking inevitably about how it looked like we had lost our National Theatre in Wales. There was a lot of talk of why that might have happened, the rights and wrongs of it and what went wrong - and all that kind of stuff.

"But ultimately, we were faced with the possibility of not having a National Theatre in Wales. It was such a tortuous process for us to get to that point that we started with in the first place. There was a real fear that maybe that would be it. That we would never have one again or it would take a very long time for that to happen."

He adds that it would be a huge loss to Wales if the country, famous for its performative heritage of the Mabinogion, Hedd Wyn, RS Thomas, Richard Burton and everything we have poured into 100s of years of culture, lost its country-wide outlet for theatre, acting, writing and directing - but he never had a plan to dive in - until he did.

"Even though it was not in any way something that I was planning to do, at a certain point in talking about it, I realised - 'well, if I don’t step up, how do I expect anyone else to?' he added, going onto speak about the challenges and how he's not getting any salary gain from the project. "The circumstances were so challenging I think - that it needed someone who had their own resources, brought certain qualities to the role that would allow it to happen. I’m not getting paid, I am able to collaborate and partner up with various organisations because of my work as an actor and my profile, I can get certain doors to open, I can get people on board - it felt like that’s what it sort of what people needed, otherwise it was going to be impossible.

"I think there was a window of time before the opportunity would dry up. That’s the why now. What made me take it on is ultimately, I heard myself arguing for what it should be and I was talking about something that only really me could do at this moment of time."

Writers Gary Owen, Russell T Davies and Time Price, directors Francesca Goodridge and CEO Sharon Gilburd, are already involved and the WNT will be building a network of talent scouts, too, who will be keeping an eye on youth, amateur and professional theatre productions. Dubbed "The Welsh Net" it's a play on the term "Welsh Not" which stifled Welsh expression and language - but the Welsh Net will champion new talent, voices and creativity.

"Part of the success of any organisation, I think, is collaboration and allowing people to take on responsibility and to grow and thrive in those situations as well as having a very strong vision at the heart of it. I hope I’m establishing certain kinds of values and beliefs and a way of looking at things and aspirations, but the team - it’s only going to work if the team is able to thrive in that," said the star who's known globally for his roles in Twilight, Frost/Nixon and Good Omens.

One other desire for the new national theatre company is that it will give space for actors, writers and directors to remain in Wales and still take on ambitious projects of scale. "One of the difficulties I think is bringing directors through, and being able to give directors, up and coming directors, the chance not to just work in studio spaces but on main stages and get them working on that kind of scale and level," he said, adding that Wales produces a strong stream of actors but many of them, including himself, leave to pursue their careers elsewhere.. He continued: "I think with writers, again, we’ve always had fantastic writers but having an incentive to write bold, ambitious plays about our country, that you know is going to get a chance of a production rather than writing a play that you know has no chance of being produced as it’s going to be too expensive."

Talking about bold productions, one of Welsh National Theatre's first productions will be an original play from Gary Owen, Owain & Henry, which promises to be an "epic" new play that focuses on the 15th century rebellion against the English crown by the outlawed prince, Owain Glyndŵr.

"There’s not many people who can put that on - and if the Welsh National Theatre is not going to put that on then no one is," Sheen, who will play Owain, mused. When asked where Owain Glyndŵr would rank in the list of iconic roles he has played, he said: "It’s not just the opportunity to play that role - but to have started a company that puts that production on and tell that story on the sort of scale that we’re looking at here, at the Millennium Centre, and to know that there’s an audience out there who might be finding out about this story for the first time... that’s going to start a conversation, so I’m really excited."

[felassan]

A former BioWare Design Director has tweeted his take on the recent BioWare and SW:TOR news. tweet compilation, as it's interesting and illuminating insight:

"My take on the SWTOR/BioWare split For SWTOR: This is a Good Thing For BioWare: This is a Big Loss A thread:

My point of view is someone who worked for BioWare Austin on SWTOR from 2009 as an Assistant World Designer through 2022 as Design Director (with some Anthem, Shadow Realms, and <NDA> years sprinkled about).

BioWare Austin (BWA) was its own studio for many years, founded in order to make that game. MMO’s are expensive, y’all.

We didn’t really collaborate with BioWare Edmonton (BWE) on the dev side much, because there was no need to (with some exceptions – they had built the original on-rails space shooting component, for example).

As a business, in this model all revenue and expenses roll up into the greater whole (BioWare), which then roll into EA’s Group, and so on.

After many years, this model shifted and changed, for a large variety of reasons I won’t get into. BWA would no longer be a separate entity, but under the same core leadership as BWE – One BioWare (BW).

What this meant realistically was you had a boxed product business that had been tried and true for years, combined with a live service MMO business that wasn’t really understood by the boxed product folks. Arguably by EA either, to be fair.

You see, MMO’s can be fairly predictable if they run long enough. We knew the SWTOR business very well. We knew how to turn every dollar invested in the game into several more. SWTOR was (and continues to be) a very profitable business, with loads of heart behind it.

But an older game isn’t sexy. It’s not new. It doesn’t get marketing orgs excited or social media teams jazzed. It’s a ‘legacy game’, despite the mountains of income coming in that other franchises are built off of.

And you FELT it, as a member of the team. It’s a fantastic dev team, filled with incredible talent. How then, with such a close-knit team, did you always feel less-than?

Well, just take a look around. Look at BW’s social media posts and count the proportion of SWTOR game/fan/anything posts compared to ME or DA. Remember that BioWare 25th anniversary book? The beautiful 328 page recollection of BioWare’s history, and celebration of all franchises?

For a game like SWTOR that had been live already for 9 of those 25 years at the time of publication, how many pages, dear reader, do you think had any SWTOR imagery or content at all? Ten. Teams notice this. They feel it, and it feels like shit.

Does BW despise SWTOR? I don’t think so – they don’t understand it, and it was someone else’s game. Does EA despise SWTOR? I don’t think so – it’s a legacy live service, and again, was someone else’s game.

As a dev on SWTOR, you feel like your game is a burden to all of the layers above you, but you persist. You put so much heart and passion into the game, and you thrive on the fans and tremendous partnership with LucasFilm.

So to bring us back to current news, imagine a team excited about a game, with incredible plans, that have felt ‘less-than’ by their own studio and company for years, being unleashed.

Being part of an org that KNOWS the MMO business, and understands those player communities and the incredible stories and connections they form.

This feels like an exciting new chapter to me, and I’m optimistic about what this means for that team and the game. SWTOR is, to the best of my knowledge, the longest-running Star Wars anything, ever. It’s a special game and I’m so happy to see where the team takes it.

As far as BW, it would have certainly be in their best interest as a business to maximize exposure and support for SWTOR publicly over the years, since the SWTOR revenue has allowed for the…unusually long…dev cycles to continue for the last several games.

But now without SWTOR, there will be less places to hide heads, R&D, and time. You’ve got blockbuster single-player experiences hitting high Metacritic scores with…2-3 year dev cycles? And the BW pattern has been…double? Triple that?

I think it will be interesting to see how the EA/BW relationship continues to evolve in this new world. /end"

[source]

[duplicitywrites]

I only really read fanfics from fandoms that are either old as hell ( so a lot of the people writing and reading in it have been here a while ) or dead as hell ( which…yeah ) so when I saw posts here on tumblr about comments and fandom engagement decreasing as a whole I did agree because, yeah even in older fandoms there’s a decrease. But man. after almost five years of staving it off I dipped my toe into the marauders fandom and a) wow this thing is popular people are posting SO MANY FICS on a daily basis on ao3 and b) nobody is commenting. It’s so weird. The fic can be fantastic and there’ll be maybe 1 comment. You can see the fic is popular- there’s kudos and hits but like. No one is commenting. I’m regularly surprised by fics where I go to read the comments cause I like doing that and there’s…nothing???? Another thing I noticed, and this is probably only a marauders thing, is that most fics are wildly long. Regularly over a 100k. And they still don’t have as many comments as they should. I’m losing my mind

that is terrifying to hear not gonna lie 😭 i fear for what the world is becoming, where people only know how to be passive readers ("consumers") and do not know how to engage or interact with a community.

fandom is homogenising much in the way that irl media is. packaging itself for mass consumption, rehashing the same popular ideas that are considered "safe", to the point where anything else is either seen as bad, or not seen at all. and on top of that, caring more about quantity, posting as much as quickly as possible to gain "views", rather than aiming to create and curate work that is unique and specific to an audience.

fanfic has always been a labour of love both ways. writers who write what they love, and readers who read what they love, and a community bonding over that mutual affection. it is not a service, not for "consumption", not for profit. it is meant to be shared! i think it's absolutely bananas that we've reached a point where someone can post 100k and not get comments 😭

i really hope some of these people will reconsider the way they view fandom, and understand that when writers ask for comments they are not just asking for encouragement but also for connection 💕

[notsocheezy]

Brain Curd #319

Brain Curds are lightly edited daily writing - usually flash fiction and sometimes terrible on purpose.

Thanks for letting us be frank with you. Read the rest of The Frank Program here on Tumblr!

“Welcome back to The Frank Program -”

“Wait, Daryl, hold it.”

“What is it, Mike?”

“Last night, the phone wouldn’t stop ringing. I went to take it off the hook and I heard someone breathing. And shivering.”

“So?”

“He knows where I live, man!”

“Who?”

“You know who.”

Daryl rolled his eyes. “You’re paranoid.”

“Am not!”

“Well, it’s me he doesn’t like, so just let it go.”

“Oh…” Big Mike gripped his head on both sides. “Oh, man! You’re in danger, dude! I gotta call the cops!”

Daryl scowled. “It can wait. Ahem…” Daryl took a deep breath and put on a smile. “Welcome back to The Frank Program, where today we have another very special guest. If you’re the type of person who listens to this podcast, you’ve probably heard of her: Adult entertainer extraordinaire, Alaska James!”

She smiled and leaned into the microphone. “Hey everybody.”

“Thank you so much for being here, Miss James.”

“It’s a pleasure.”

“Speaking of pleasure, what’s it like working in your industry? Is it fun, or is it as miserable as some uptight folks might have us believe?”

“Uh… I’m sorry, aren’t you a teenager? I’m not sure I should be talking about this…”

“Oh, no need to be concerned. Calling in this episode is my father, the original host, Frank. So I’ve got parental supervision.”

“Howdy, Miss Alaska.” Frank’s fuzzy voice piped through the mixing board. “We’re both big fans. Can’t speak for Mikey, though.”

Mike blushed. “I, uh… I was married until recently. So I didn’t… partake in your form of… performance.”

“Christ, Mikey, ya can say the word ‘porn’. It’s an internet show. Now, Missy, you can stop actin’ like an ‘are you 18’ pop-up and start talkin’.”

“Um… Okay then.” She brushed her hair back. “Well, I will say a lot of people tend to look down on sex workers. They either think we’re dirty, or we’re taking the easy way out, but it’s hard work. We aren’t just having sex, we’re actors.”

Frank chuckled. “Not the best actin’ I ever seen if I’m bein’ honest.”

“Oh yeah? You try making it look like you’re having an orgasm five takes in a row. We have ten, twelve hour shoots some days. It’s exhausting. The money is good, but not great. You know? I live in an apartment with two roommates just like anyone else who works for a living.”

“Hot. Tell me, Missy, how often do ya ‘rehearse’ with your sexy roommates?”

She scowled. “My roommates aren’t in the business. They’re a cashier and a mail woman. And all three of us come home every day sore from work, but the difference is that I had fun doing it. Who’s really selling their body here? I may not be able to walk the day after a long, hard shoot, but they’re the ones who’ll be in wheelchairs when and if they get to retire.”

“Oh, shit, Daryl!” Mike laughed. “You caught us a live pinko, right by her pinko!”

Daryl sighed. “Quit the name-calling, Dad. She’s right. The economy is fucked.”

“Not just the economy, the whole system.” Alaska leaned on the desk. “I’m lucky that I enjoy my work. Not everyone does. And not to throw stones, but… Chuck Tangent just bought the website where I get half of my income.”

“VideoBox?” Daryl raised an eyebrow. “The subscription-based media site known mostly for hosting independently produced pornography?”

Mike leaned on his hand. “I’m pretty sure everyone listening knows what it is, kid.”

“The same,” Alaska nodded. “He says it’s not profitable enough as-is so he wants to turn it into a YouTube competitor for conservatives and ban all porn. He’s even changing the name.”

“Why’d he buy it if he doesn’t want to keep the user base or the name?”

“Because he’s an asshole, probably. And I’ve seen a lot of them.” She gulped. “Oops, sorry. I know you guys like him. But VideoBox is important to me and I hope so-called ‘VidBo’ dies a horrible death.”

“Hmm.” Daryl leaned back in his chair. “Maybe we should get Chuck in here and see what he has to say to defend himself.”

Alaska began breathing heavily. “Oh, oh god, is he here?”

“No…” Daryl looked at her with sympathy. “Did he do something to you?”

“Uh…”

Frank cleared his throat. “I think we ought’ drop this line of inquiry, son.”

“But…”

“Let it go.”

Daryl frowned and gritted his teeth. “Sure thing, Dad. I guess that’ll wrap up today’s episode.” He saw the pain hidden in Alaska’s eyes and grew determined to find the truth, regardless of what his father wanted. It wasn’t right to pull his punches and let jerks like that get away with their crimes. “This has been The Frank Program. Thanks for letting us be frank with you… especially when it counts. See you next time.”

Please comment, reblog, like, and follow if you enjoyed - I'd love to know what you think! See you again tomorrow.

[ask-postcrash-curly]

Being realistic and having in count the mental situation and the food and oxigen left in the ship... The prospects of survival are low for anyone that doesn't get inside a cryopod. If they don't die from the food or oxygen, there is a big chance they go insane (Low-key Jimmy already is going down that path)

The good thing is that going inside a cryopod is a secure survival rate. This ships is transporting cargo, not extremely valueble but is still the profits of some company. Once the date of delivery arrives and the Tulpar is not there, they are gonna be mad and want pony express to explain where is their product.

So even if they wish they could just shove it under the rough, unless pony express wants to lose more money in paying damages to the company that contract them, they HAVE to search for the Tulpar. They are probably gonna do it just for the cargo and see if there is something that can save heir corporate butt cheeks, but they are still gonna search for you all.

So even in the scenario of none surviving, at least they are gonna find the ship and be able to bring some closure to everyone's family and friends. (And hopefully drag pony Express down even more since this incident would make noticeable all the fucked up things Pony express puts their worked through.)

There is no justice for what Jimmy did, but at least is gonna be justice for Pony Express making even more difficult to help you and Anya do something about Jimmy. To Daisuke being brought here last minute as not accomodations for him. For all of you getting fired by fax. To all those years with their messed up rules.

There is gonna be some justice at least.

Justice won’t change anything. Pony Express is already going down the drain. I don’t want my crew’s deaths to serve as the last nail in the coffin. Hell, searching for us might be more expensive than coughing up the compensation.

I’m sorry. You’re trying to help. I shouldn’t be dismissive.

The cryopods... I’ve heard the crew talking about Utility being foamed up. They could be damaged, even destroyed, or completely trapped under the foam. If the crew can cut them all out without killing us and Swansea can fix them up, that’s four. One for each of them.

It’s no surprise, yeah? A captain should go down with his ship. From the start, I’ve known what would happen if we needed the pods. It’s okay. …Well, no, it isn’t. They didn’t tell me to stay behind in case of emergency, you know? (Then they’d have to bump up my risk pay. Hah.) A different crew could have broken into violence over who would be left behind. And we really shouldn’t have been in this scenario at all! There should have been five!

Sorry. Still pisses me off. Anyway, what was I saying? Right. Four pods, one for each of them. The captain goes down with the ship. I’m the most logical to leave behind, too— I have the highest chance of dying in stasis. Plus they think I tried to kill them and myself, so I’m not exactly number one on the rescue list. Maybe if they knew the truth about the crash, but… I can’t go there.

There’s one saving grace for me. I’m not all that big these days. Maybe I could squeeze into someone else’s pod. Two for the price of one. They’d have to decide I was worth the risk of making the pod work improperly, though…

Enough hypotheticals. We could be found by a passing ship any day. We’ll either be rescued or we won’t. End of story.

[alittlefrenchtree]

I obviously don't think he has to be online 24/7 so as not to be forgotten, it doesn't make sense and his job isn't even one that requires this of him. However, I think that his agent and his team are doing a poor job and should do much more. They didn't profit in the slightest by taking advantage of the hype that rwrb would bring.

I know the strike wasn't expected, but Nicholas for example was able to capitalize on the popularity due to the film with two projects he's promoting now that he's made post rwrb and his name is everywhere thanks to it. They should have done something similar too, he should be super busy by now thanks to the popularity of that movie and maybe for me it's more important what he does than how he uses social media (no hate, I just think his team should do more better)

To be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to post and answer your ask. There is something quite bizarre about posting something I disagree with entirely on my blog. But I’m still going to try if I can manage to answer this clearly and quickly (spoiler: it’s not quick) and if I like my answer enough. If you’re reading this, I guess I’ve managed to do it somehow.

I don’t know if you know, but people have been coming to my inbox to talk about the bad job agent and PR team were doing since 2019 or 2020. Do you know who they were talking about back then? Timothée Chalamet. Since the guy is having a pretty decent career so far, I'm guessing wasn't so bad after all. So even if I’m not comparing Taylor to Timothée, because no one can be compared to Timothée right now, you’ll understand that I’ve already learned that they aren’t many experts around here. But the thing that came off all of the talks back then is: you might not like what you see (or don’t see) but it doesn’t mean they’re doing a bad job. 

Secondly, there is still no point of comparing one people to another or to ask of someone to be more like someone else or do the same kind of things as someone else. Nick and Taylor are different people, at different stages of their careers, with different careers and backgrounds, and certainly with different aspirations and needs so wishing the people around them would have done "something similar" is a bit of a non sense for me. They’re doing the same job and worked on the same movie but it doesn’t mean they should follow similar path. To carry on with the Chalamet example, I don’t see people going around blaming Calah Lane for not being Timothée Chalamet, Hugh Grant or Olivia Colman yet after the success of Wonka. It doesn't make sense.

Thirdly, you got some your dates wrong. Nick is actually capitalizing on projects he did before rwrb right now. To be fair, he’s probably more capitalizing on freaking Cinderella than anything else at the moment. He does that beautifully but it’s really something he’s been building up from way longer than the last 7 months or so. And yes, Starz was probably delighted to see his popularity explode during the summer with RWRB and Bottoms but it means they got a few more bucks for promotion and a few more interviews requests. It didn't give the actual job to Nick. And well, all respect to Nick but I’m pretty sure Anne Hathaway and Harry Styles would have make all the buzz around pre-premiere The Idea of You all by themselves. Nick did bring most of the enthusiastic cheerleaders to the premiere but his impact on the movie and how much he can capitalize will come after the release of the said thing. For now, the project and the lead are bigger than him.

I know some people will only read half of my words but I’m obviously not diminishing any of Nick’s work or talent. He’s very talented and is doing amazingly and I’m both very happy and proud to see him shine but some of the things I read about him are clearly lacking of perspective in the grand scheme of things.

So far, post-RWRB actually brought very similar things to Taylor and Nick actually: invitations to a shit loads of fancy parties and both apparently working on unknown projects we know nothing about. (And delicate talks about a potential sequel).

People also needs to understand that Taylor’s career in movies has started in 2020. He’s a freaking baby. And since covid killed most of the impact TBK could have had and the his sister died of cancer and then the strikes happened, half of the years since 2020 doesn't really count. Thinking where he is now isn’t already huge giving the circumstances (and everything else we’ve already talked about here) is madness. And we actually don't know what his team is doing right now. Might be a poor job. Might be ok. I have no clue.

God I hate what you made me do. I might regret answering it for all the people who will read this and find nothing better to write that something like "there is this Tumblr blog saying Nick owes all of his success to Camila Cabello and Harry Styles and that he did nothing compared to TZP, imagine the delulu 💀" but yeah.

TLDR; (not specifically for you, Nonny. Just some general thoughts with way less words)

Stop comparing artists. Stop comparing people all together.

Stop asking middle schooler to be high schooler.

Stop thinking high schooler is worth more than the middle schooler because they’re in high school. They’ve been doing that student thing for way longer, it’s normal.

Stop thinking you’re the only target audience of PR work. You’re already obsessed, they doesn’t need to get you on board.

Stop thinking movies are made from scratch to finish in 5 months. Scripts go around for years. People are casted, then leave projects because pre-production takes forever, because there isn’t enough money and then other people are casted and pre-production starts again, and things get delayed and everything takes a freaking long time (and even more luck) to actually happen.

Having too much expectations will kill the fun eventually. Wait for things to happen. Go play video games or something in the meantime. I don’t know.

(I’m not sure what I’ll do with the follow up of this conversation. I’ll read everything but I might not answer to most. I’m not sure).

And like previous ask, sorry if it came out harsher that it should have been. No harm intended 🙏

[sewmice]

Thanks for the reblog, I just hope people can clear this and come away still playing… this event is enough to make anyone want to scream into the abyss. I’m almost impressed at the thought process behind this design, no wonder Broccoli changed from Shining Live, this is so much more profitable… for them.

This event being...something. The previous ones all having issues. And up until this huge login bonus, rewards just not being enough for pulls has been not a great start for the game. And with the player base, and hell just Utapri fanbase, just being lower than back when Shining Live started, it makes a mistake way more likely to ruin the game's chance at thriving. Also having a harsher event after the Session Lives and Tokiya's were pretty nice is....rough. And definitely might run people off who are already getting annoyed with the other issues.

Granted, the fanbase is still kicking pretty well, more so in Japan. The whales are still whaling. Tickets are still a fight. But like...we know it's gone down.

The move away from Shining Live is obviously more complicated than Broccoli wanting more money. The game was getting stagnant. It was developed by KLab, who was well moving away from rhythm games and have their own issues. The player base was declining. The spark was gone. I kinda wish Broccoli had leaned more into what made SL great when they took over, but the changing of games was kinda necessary. And it got Heavens fans their boys. Adding them to SL would have required heavy changes. Easier to start from scratch.

I do want to point out what has been great about Live Emotion so far! Reasons why we should stay encouraged and hope Broccoli keeps making good changes (because they have! We just had a qol update! They're giving us the 5000 login bonus too!) And this post is gonna get long lol

The boys in SL....got bland? They were only their idol sides, because even the backstage stuff was on camera. We stopped really seeing their depth and personalities, and that's the whole point of Utapri! To see them and work with them behind the screen! The idol stuff was supposed to be secondary! But since season 4 ended, all we've had is SL, movies, and other side projects that are JUST their idol side (aside from the Starish OVA).

But Live Emotion has us as Haruka again! We're by their side when they're actually being themselves! We get to romance them again! We're seeing Utapri as it was again! And as someone who has been here since 2012, god it feels so nice?? Like old times?

We're acknowledging and even having other characters in the stories. Both presidents have already shown up! And while no one else aside from them is listed in the voice cast yet, surely others will show soon? At least Ringo and Ryuuya. (they should've been in Starish's chapter at the school but whatever) Fucking Rodriguez has a mention in the event?? Like, the world is alive again! It's not just our 11 to 18 main boys (depending on content)

Old content and outfits are being used which will help with the concept fatigue SL had. And also it's just nice to see really good old designs not just be forgotten! I'm not a huge fan as to how Ultra Blast is being handled. It feels weird to have some people get SRs. In the same way I didn't like Oodorokiman and Shining Romance/Force Live being mixed SRs and URs. But I've seen other people upset and in the same way SL stopped doing that, hopefully Live Emotion will too.

And again Broccoli has been listening to feedback and making changes. There's still...a lot of work to do. But SL also made a lot of changes over time. So hopefully they keep listening and things get better. Because there's parts of this game worth protecting and wanting to continue. I loved how SL did stuff too. I wish we had everything about how SL did stuff with gachas and event mechanics, but the story and character quality of Live Emotion. We just gotta...push Broccoli in that direction.

I really hope the event doesn't scare people off! We're on 2 full months of the game. The first of this event type. Stuff can still change!!!

[sharpth1ng]

hi! so i stumbled across a post you made about how a few people have printed your fanfic (via sites like epubli and probably lulu, that's a popular one) which is awesome in theory! but also very illegal :( any money being profited over a fanfic (when names, references, etc to the original source material aren't changed) breaches copyright using the intellectual property of someone else and could get you, the author, in trouble.

of course a lot of people do it regardless, because they don't realise that it's a crime, but i just wanted to make sure you were aware! a lot of people do it without getting caught, but the risk is always there and the repercussions can be hefty.

you are allowed to print and bind a fan fiction for yourself or have someone do it for you as long as you don’t pay them to do it. its the exchange of money that is a big no-no. i just wanted to make sure your readers were aware! :)

if you still want to have it printed by one of these companies regardless i'd say just don't post about it and be careful showing people 😅 goes for any and all fanfictions

i hope this didn't come off as rude i mean no harm i just thought people might be ill-informed ❤️ i love your work

I am aware of the copyright law and I have made no profit off of my work, people who have printed it did not pay me anything for it.

My understanding is that is that it’s legal for people to print fanfics for their personal private use, it’s only illegal for me to profit off and distribute it, which I do not do. I’ve made no profit off of my fanfiction, which is the illegal part as far as I’m aware.

It’s possible I’m wrong about this as this kind of law has a lot of grey area. But yeah to be clear I am not selling printed copies of my work, I don’t do fanfic commissions, and the shirts I sell are all my own original artwork, I’ve tried to be pretty careful about that kind of stuff.