#Marketing backfires

[suffahplaceofknowledge]

What shady marketing tactic backfired? Shady marketing refers to unethical marketing practices used to promote products or services, often involving misleading information, false advertising claims, or manipulative tactics. These shady advertising techniques may include spam marketing, bait-and-switch tactics, hidden fees, and deceptive advertising aimed at exploiting consumer trust instead of delivering genuine value. Such questionable marketing strategies undermine consumer confidence and can result in significant brand reputation damage.

[shwoo]

Day 30 of Flooftober! The home stretch. I'll do the last one tomorrow because there's 16 characters and no such thing is the 32nd of October I think. I could've just left Floofty out of the potential characters for them to talk to, but that's no fun. Anyway, this one has Cromdo, and the the prompts are Ketchup/Ranch/Cheese/Hot/Chocolate. So sauces, basically. But I did name them all in the story.

(Prompt list)

Title: Focus on major safety concerns Summary: Cromdo asks Floofty for help with a new business venture. (Also on AO3)

.

"So, how much you charging for this?" said Cromdo.

"Oh?" said Floofty, who hadn't even considered money. Their PhD stipend wasn't much, but it was at least a steady income for the foreseeable future, something Cromdo still lacked. "No charge. Consider it a gift."

Cromdo waved his arms. "Whoa whoa whoa. I ain't going down that road again."

"The road of… cost reduction?" said Floofty, confused. Didn't Cromdo like money? That was just about all they would've been able to say about him in the past

"If I start taking 'gifts'," Cromdo made quotation fingers with both paws, "then suddenly they turn into 'I did so much for you, Cromdo, when're you doing something for me? We gotta square things up!' Feh! Let's figure all that out up front, huh? I'm giving Wambus a fair deal for his sauces, and I'm gonna give you a fair deal to tell me what's in 'em."

"Why would I…?" Floofty began, then sighed. Clearly they weren't the only Grumpus who didn't understand other people. "If you are so intent upon giving me money, I suppose I can accept. I will calculate a fair rate, and communicate to you it by the end of the day." Besides, if they didn't go along with Cromdo's confusing demand, he might change his mind about wanting their help.

"Great!" said Cromdo. "Pleasure doing business. Just you watch: Sauce cocktails are gonna be the next big thing! Cheese that never curdles? Liquid peanut butter? Ranch… Eh, I'll think of something for ranch."

"Will you be requiring an analysis of all known sauces?" said Floofty, curious. They didn't drink themself. They didn't see the appeal in deliberately making themself stupider. But mixed drink design was something they'd never really thought about before. It probably involved some level of skill. A lot of things did, they'd been learning. "Chocolate, ketchup, hot sauce?" Were there spicy cocktails? If so, why? Chocolate they could sort of see the appeal of.

"You kiddin'?" said Cromdo. "They're gonna be my go-tos! A little ketchup, a little hot sauce, and you're halfway to a Snaktooth Bloody Mewry! Uh, once you give the all clear."

"I must say, I hope I do," said Floofty. Would hot sauce really work in a Bloody Mewry, or any kind of mixed drink? Not that they were going to show their ignorance and ask.

[macaiv]

Giving his car wasn't even of their own volition. They were contractually obliged to give it to him lol

Source: Motorsport.com

so williams wanted to take este for the rest of the season, and alpine vetoed though they have done nothing but slander este's name the past months, and also with rumours of them benching or even firing him.

which makes it seem even more likely it was an unsuccessful smearing campaign by alpine since not only williams, but also haas and audi kept being interested in este.

giving him his 2021 race winning car seems like a small consolation for that, but it is like covering a gushing wound with a small bandaid.

plus este being now openly critical how the team ignores drivers' feedback, and how that has been a pattern for years. get their ass again for me, baby!

[peanutheaddd]

guy whos literally fucking crazy

au deets below cut

grin . this au takes place during the joseon dynasty LMMMMFFFAAOOOOOOOOOOOOO its not entirely accurate tho bc i change what i want . its js based off that era. also idk That much abt the joseon dynasty (im more of a 20th century history kinda peanut . u Might see a 20th century dm au from me at some point 😭😭😭😭 Knowing Me its Very much so a possibility) so .

the two middle drawings of petey wearing the clothes of the nobility . those are Nog his clothes he just stole them from some random nobles LMFAOOOOOO peteys part of the commoner class in this au . maybe the outcast class actually 😭😭😭😭

u can see from his straw shoes that hes Not a noble. shoes are harder to steal than clothes LOL .

despite this he can still read and write through sheer willpower and determination LMFAO esp when hangeul gets created petey learns it as soon as he can . i think hes js acutely aware of the importance of being literate . its js that at this point theres a caste system . so despite being literate he cant rlly do much w it since he would never get hired for any job that requires literacy bc of his caste/class whatever

similarliy to my fantasy au yolay is the monarch LOL the difference here tho is that in this au yolays alr ascended to the throne . she kinda takes on a role similar to that of irl king sejong LMFAAOOOOOOOOOOO

dm is a member of the imperial guard 👍👍 specifically the naegeumwi so like. the uhhh highest . level of imperial guard essentially

petey lieks to take advantage of the fact that he looks vaguely like a tiger . theres a lot of anti tiger sentiment in this au . lwk highkey Just racism 😭😭😭😭 theres lots of folklore where the main antagonist is a tiger LOL

this backfires(?!) on him tho bc one day after threatening someone theyre like ur a tiger?! please take this and they give him smth and petey thinks its js some kind of bribe or treasure so hes like lol thanks and after they run off he unwraps it BOOM tiger cub. thats lil petey LMFAOOOOOOOO

peteys abandonment of lil petey event happens in the form of him leaving him in the middle of the town market . dm finds him and they hang out . the townspeople are hostile to lil petey bc hes a tiger cub and dm happens to see that happening and hides him in his shirt so the situation doesnt escalate

people are probs Terrible to dm in this au bc of his existence as half dog so he probs felt a sense of familiarity to lil petey in that theyre both discriminated against just for existing 😭😭😭😭

there is an event where yolay wants to focus on scientific advancements and technology (like king sejong 💀💀💀💀) and dm vouches for petey .

i imagine that lil petey and the shenanigans he gets up to eliminate a huge portion of the anti tiger sentiment LOL

lil petey is still an artist in this au .

peteys criminal activity isnt as large scale and destrutive in this au unfortuantley . he just likes causing wide scale inconveniences

uhhh i cant rlly think of any thing else .

[bigfoots-biggest-fan]

Ladies and gentlemen, Slur Song's new marketing campaign for some reason

thankyou @reality-reblogs for the terrible suggestion that apparently i am now stuck with

Poll just to confirm this is really what the people want (we all know democracy has never backfired):

[kefiteria]

Hi! May i order a cup of overblot boys x fem reader who’s obsessed with cheese? I just had the most cheesiest bread and Oh God it tastes like heaven!! Perhaps reader keeps a lot of stock of cheese especially cheese string for light snacks (open her bag and you’ll see at least five cheese string inside her plastic container because this is exactly what i did) ^___^ Perhaps you can add a scenario when one day reader ran out of cheese AND the market/cafeteria ran out of them as well—she’s upset and sad and didn’t want to talk to anybody and only reply to their questions with short amounts of words (girly just becomes an alpha sigma skibidi toilet) 🙏🏻 can you make it headcanon as well if you don’t mind? Or like their reaction to reader’s obsession with cheese. THANK UU and btw i love your writing!! Have a wonderful day aheaddd

String Cheese and Emotional Damage

pairing: Overblot Boys x Fem!Reader

summary: You're dangerously obsessed with cheese—especially cheese strings. The Overblot boys react to your dairy-fueled habits, from snacking mid-lecture to emotional meltdowns when the cheese runs out. Chaos, fluff, and lactose-fueled affection ensue🧀

a/n : Apologies for the late upload ��� Thank you for loving my writing!! I appreciate it alot🩵 As I'm writing this, unfortunately, I am not living the dairy dream — I’m living the dairy delusion. I can’t afford cheese, so writing this fic was like describing heaven with only postcards. I had to research cheese like I was prepping for a dairy-themed final exam 🧀📖 This entire fic was powered by sheer imagination, unholy craving, and one blurry childhood memory of a fake cheese I once ate AHAHAHHAA! i also added a variety of cheese heree~

🃏Riddle Roseheart

When he first saw you pull out a snack-sized aged cheddar block mid-lecture and bite into it like an apple, he stopped in his tracks.

“Is that—what are you—are you eating cheddar in alchemy class??”

“Aged 18 months. Sharp, with nutty undertones. Pairs well with existential dread.”

He tries to ban all “non-approved dairy” during House study sessions. It backfires. You counter with a cheese tasting board labeled ‘Revolutionary Forms of Calcium.’

Riddle now begrudgingly lets you eat Grana Padano during meetings—only because your stress-chewing actually helps you concentrate.

Cheese Crisis Day:

You stop talking and currently sitting in a chair facing the wall like a haunted doll.

“Is she okay?” someone whispers.

“She hasn’t spoken since the cheese strings ran out.”

Riddle panics and raids Mostro Lounge for a wedge of manchego. He kneels dramatically.

“Please. Say something. I have imported Spanish sheep’s cheese.”

🦁 Leona Kingscholar

Thinks your obsession is weird until he tries a slice of your double cream brie on a warm croissant. He immediately stops judging.

You teach him the art of pulling cheese strings dramatically, like sword unsheathing. It becomes your bonding ritual.

Casually steals your smoked gouda during naptime. “This one’s got a nice campfire kick.” he admits, lying in your lap.

Cheese Crisis Day:

“They took… everything.” You’re curled up in the sandpit of the botanical garden, hoodie over your head, muttering like a war widow.

Leona raises a brow in pure confusion. “You’re acting like someone died.”

You glance up with eyes hollow. “They did. Her name was Mozzarella.”

He exhales slowly, rubbing the bridge of his nose like dealing with a dramatic housecat.

Next thing you know, he’s gone for 40 minutes.

You’re still pouting under the tree when he returns, tossing a small wrapped parcel into your lap. Inside: buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil, and roasted tomato slices on warm grilled flatbread.

“I had to go to that overpriced café near the main gate for this.” he grumbles. “Paid actual madol. Be grateful.”

You gasp softly. “You… you bought me cheese?”

“Tch. Don’t make it weird.” He looks away, ears twitching only for those keen eyes to catch.

So you just take one bite and make a noise so happy he immediately shoves his hands in his pockets and pretends he can’t hear you.

🪙 Azul Ashengrotto

Sees your obsession and immediately tries to franchise it.

“A limited-edition ‘Seven Cheeses of the Coral Sea’ platter at Mostro Lounge, perhaps?”

You enthusiastically pitch in with names. Azul instantly regrets encouraging you.

Learns to identify cheese by scent just to keep up. “That’s Gruyère. Alpine. Melts with dignity.”

Tries to seduce you with a wheel of Comté, and it works. You called him “my dairy deity” once and he hasn’t recovered.

Cheese Crisis Day:

“I have no reason to swim forward.” You stare at the aquarium glass, unmoving in stillness like Mola Mola on the ocean surface...

Azul sends Floyd to hunt down contraband Taleggio from a merchant ship. Returns to you with a platter and a wine pairing suggestion.

“Come back to me, mon fromage perdu.”

🐍 Jamil Viper

Absolutely offended when you tried to sprinkle feta on his biryani.

“You do not cheese-spam centuries of cultural tradition.”

“But it’s tangy…”

Eventually accepts it—especially after you bake him spicy cheese-stuffed flatbread with paneer and harissa. He’s suspicious, but he eats five.

Starts lowkey enjoying sharp flavors like aged provolone, even though he insists, “It’s only because it pairs well with mint tea.”

Cheese Crisis Day:

“Everything I loved has melted away.” You sit in the kitchen pantry with a ladle and a thousand-yard stare.

“Okay, you need to calm down—”

He makes labneh from scratch with goat’s milk and herbs.

“...You made cheese for me?”

“Yes. And if you cry, I’ll revoke your cheese privileges.”

👑 Vil Schoenheit

Was mortified the first time he saw you gnawing on a Kraft cheese stick in the mirror hallway.

“Processed plastic. In public. With confidence?”

“Self-love comes in cheddar.”

Eventually starts guiding you through “refined” cheeses:

Boursin with rosemary for stress

Parmigiano-Reggiano slivers for skincare-approved calcium

And truffle goat cheese because “you deserve elegance, even in lactose.”

Begins preparing you little curated cheese boxes. You kiss his cheek after one and he nearly drops his Magicam ring light.

Cheese Crisis Day:

“No Brie. No more cheese strings. No life.” You show up to Pomefiore rehearsal in a hoodie and shades like a tragic celebrity.

Vil dramatically announces a cheese fund and hosts a “Fromage for the Soul” gala. You cry over a brie tartlet. (also extra cheese strings in the pantry)

👾Idia Shroud

Thinks your obsession is literally adorable and chaotic. “She’s like if a ratatouille girlbossed too close to the sun.”

Posts memes of you labeled: [Cheddar Gremlin at 2am]

(attached with no text, followed by)

“This is you.”

Gets emotionally attached to babybel minis because you like to “unwrap them dramatically like little dairy presents.”

Customizes your game avatars with cheese accessories. Creates a cheese-powered dating sim prototype featuring you and 37 different cheeses.

Cheese Crisis Day:

You go offline for 24 hours. Don’t log in. Don’t reply.

“Oh god. She’s reached maximum dairy despair.”

Idia codes a message into your favorite rhythm game that says:

“Please return. I made you an emotional support emmental.”

Sends a care package of 12 cheese plushies and one actual gruyère wedge via drone.

🐉 MALLEUS DRACONIA

Intrigued. “Cheese…string?”

You peel one in front of him. He gazes like it’s a celestial phenomenon.

Tells you tales of Briar Valley’s ancient cheeses—one supposedly made of moonlight and snow. You swoon.

Genuinely believes cheese is the sacred food of joy. Gifts you enchanted cheeses that sing lullabies or sparkle in the dark.

Cheese Crisis Day:

“Even Horntorn cannot save me now…” You lie in your bed and whispering to the ceiling dramatically.

A thunderclap. He appears with a mythical alpine cow that produces endless cheese.

“Her name is Araluen. You may milk her with reverence.”

“I knew you’d understand.” and yes, you did tear up in joy.

[musedeluce]

Money "Troubles" (Sylus x Reader)

A/N: Happy Birthday Sylus! (This has been an Idea of mine for a while lol I just so happened to write it now) I've seen other, lovely fics where Sylus spends money on MC and wants them to spend his money on themselves. But personally the thought of spending someone else's money is so distasteful to me, I really hate the thought of it. My idea of Luxury and Decadence is the same as MC in this fic, so I wondered how the LI's would deal with that. (l do plan to do the others!) Anyway - Some Musings about money, a pragmatic MC who’s definitions of Luxury differ from Sylus’s and how he deals with that. This is more like small vignettes tied together and not a full fic, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

“5 Million, otherwise they’ll think I’m broke.” Sylus’s deep voice sounded in your ear, and you couldn’t help but snort under your breath.

“Or they’ll think you’re stupid, for paying way more than it’s worth.” You whispered, knowing only he could hear it. But since it was his decision and his money, you bought the protocore for 5 million, ignoring the pit in your stomach at the thought of spending that much of someone else’s money. Little did you know, that small exchange would initiate a domino of events, a single thread in the tapestry of your relationship with Sylus.

・・・

Sylus sighed, looking down at his phone, the notification from his bank taunting him. Earlier, he had given you his card, insisting you go out and buy clothes for an upcoming event in the N109 Zone - Black market gala, information hub, the usual for his line of work. You would be accompanying him of course, as your goals aligned. He made sure of that. Apparently, the implication that there was no limit to what you could spend was lost on you. In fact, he wanted you to get whatever expensive designer clothes and accessories your heart desired. Which is why the notification that you spent 187 dollars at a thrift store bothered him so. When you arrived for the mission prep at his place, he took the opportunity to tease you.

“187 dollars? Who knew you had such expensive tastes, Kitten.” It backfired for him, though, as you winced.

“I’m sorry, I tried to keep the cost as low as possible. I can pay you back!” Sylus internally facepalmed. There was no way he was going to have you pay back that paltry amount, especially when it had been such a battle to get you to use his card for this in the first place. He only succeeded when he framed it as work expenses, as if he had hired you, and listed out all the practical reasons for you to use his card, such as making sure your purchase history couldn’t be linked to activity in the N109 zone. (Which was why you mostly used cash when you where there.)

He had to admit though, that your money sense was impressive. The outfit you had managed to put together from the thrift store was absolutely stunning. Everyone around you would be intimidated and impressed by you, as they should be. It probably would have cost at least 2,000 dollars, designer label and brand new. He supposed the cost didn’t really matter as long as you were happy, but he ached to see you in the lap of luxury, as he thought you deserved. As he looked at you though, he was love-struck. Sylus felt incredibly lucky to be at your side, and happy that you wanted him there.

・・・

Concerned, you look at Sylus, who’s expression is displeased, as if he had just swallowed a lemon. Raising an eyebrow you asked him - “Are you alright?”

“Sweetie, you live on how much a month?” He was appalled, and you didn’t help the situation by misunderstanding the reason for his dismay.

“Oh, don’t worry. It’s really low, all things considered. With my hunter’s salary it’s easily doable and I have enough to put in savings, an emergency fund and for fun afterwards.” Your smile is radiant as you continue. “I’m grateful to be in a comfortable position.” A smile grows across Sylus’s face in response, because he really does admire you and is proud of the work you do. He just thinks you deserve any luxury you could ever want.

“Of course you have everything handled. I’d expect nothing less of you, kitten.”

・・・

The crux of the matter was, of course, that you and Sylus had very different ideas of luxury and decadence. To you, things like buying the more expensive foods while grocery shopping, splurging on small treats, and sometimes going out were all luxuries to you. But for him, things like a private chef, the newest model motorcycles, designer clothes, state of the art technology, and so on were all luxuries that he wanted to share with you.

His least favorite words to hear from your mouth are “I don’t need it.” You say it almost all the time when he tries to spend his money on you. It’s not a lie though, you genuinely are refusing his attempts to buy you some of these things because you truly do not need or want them. But sometimes, you graciously accept them. He loved it when you did. It made him feel wanted and accepted, as well as triumphant because he felt that you were receiving what you deserved.

・・・

The key was to figure out the common denominators when you accepted his gifts, which was easy enough as Sylus was a smart man, and one who paid particular attention to you. It was a fun game he played with himself, teasing you in the process.

You almost never turned down gifts, as long as you didn’t see him buy them, and as long as you didn’t feel like it was excessive. A single expensive bottle of a perfume you loved? A single set of jewelry? Small treats? Expensive dinners and outings he invited you to? All of those you’d let him pay, and accept. Buying the company that makes the perfume or all the jewelry he thought would suit you? Not accepted.

Every time he tried to get you to use his card it was a battle. You’d almost always refuse, only acquiescing if he framed it as necessary for work or as something you could do in order to help him.

You were loath to spend more for things that you thought they were worth. A designer name meant nothing to you. Multiple versions of something when you only needed one? Out of the question.

It seemed to come down to a balance, anything he provided seemed to be fine as long as it wasn’t something that made you feel obligated, or manipulated, something you thought he might use against you. (Not that he would, but you, your memories gone, didn’t know that.) The two of you were still learning about each other, it just so happened that he knew more right now.

・・・

It was simple - all he had to do was treat you as you deserved, like his most treasured connection, his partner, equal in all things and deserving only the best. He’d give you gifts that you would accept, things you found useful, things you wanted, never making you feel trapped. It was all up to you. Eventually you’d get used to it, and eventually he’d make sure you rose your standards, and wouldn’t question when he treated you to only the best. You’d come to expect it, as you should, he’d make sure of that. Sylus had resolved to be with you, his partner, his equal and he would always treat you like the treasured person you were to him, who deserved only the best that he could offer, happy to spend his days with you, and that would never change.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

[collapsedsquid]

So whenever the Moldovan government annoyed or offended Putin… or whenever he just wanted to yank their chain… the Russian Ministry of Health would suddenly discover that there was a “problem” with Moldovan wine. And imports would be frozen until the “problem” could be resolved. Since wine was Moldova’s biggest export, and most wine went to Russia, this meant that Russia could inflict crippling damage on Moldova’s economy literally at will. This went on for over a decade, with multiple Moldovan governments having to defer to Moscow rather than face crippling economic damage. Enter USAID. Over a period of a dozen years or so, USAID funded several projects to restructure the Moldovan wine industry. [...] And in the end it was a huge damn success. With USAID help, the Moldovan wine industry was completely restructured. Moldova now exports about $150 million of wine per year, which is a lot for a small country — it’s over $50 per Moldovan. And it went from exporting around 80% of its wine to Russia, to around 15%. Most Moldovan wine (around 60%) now goes to the EU, with an increasing share going to Turkey and the Middle East. (If you’re curious: their market niche is medium to high end vins du table. Not plonk, not fancy, just good midlist wines. I can personally recommend the dryer reds, which are often much better than you’d expect at their price point.) Russia tried the “ooh we found a sanitary problem” trick one last time a few years ago. It fell completely flat. Putting aside that it was an obvious lie — if something is safe for the EU, believe me, it is safe for Russia — Moldovan wine exporters had now diversified their markets to the point that losing Russian sales was merely a nuisance. In fact, the attempt backfired: it encouraged the Moldovans to shift their exports even further away from Russia and towards the EU.

Good to have a USAID story that is between "saving orphans" and "overthrowing governments"

[sporesgalaxy]

hey I updated the Pierre Document. The document with all the information about which version of events I consider canon to Pierre. the Pierre document where i write down random shit all the time. that document.

posting this as im on the verge of passing out so i dont have time ti regret it yayyyyyyy

•••

Pierra's family are avid travelers, possible for mild-mannered citizens like them due to their home island Old Tool's status as a travel hub and their family history of working in the Marine shipbuilding and sailing industry. Thus, Pierra being taken along on a pleasure cruise with the rest of her family would be an unheard of luxury in most of the world, but it wasn't originally all that big a deal to Pierra.

Things took an unexpected turn after the cruise ship Pierra was on had already crossed the Grand Line (using sea prism stone technology) and entered the East Blue.

Since the East is supposedly the safest of the four blues, the hired Marine guards were lazy in their security measures, drinking and partying to congratulate themselves on crossing the Grand Line without incident.

Therefore the ship's protectors were woefully unprepared when the Buggy Pirates suddenly attacked! The Pirates were on their way to Reverse Mountain, and energized after reuniting with their captain and escaping Marine custody!

The pirate attack happened while Pierra was avoiding her family (and especially her mother) on a quiet part of the ship and quietlt spiralling into despair about how she has no idea what to do with her life. The terrifying pirate attack was almost a welcome distraction.

With no one she knew close at hand to worry about the safety of, Pierra's first instinct was to hide, and she was scared enough to employ the devil fruit powers she swore never to use in order to hide in an impossibly small space! This gambit backfired however, and to Pierra's acute horror, her hiding spot inside a crate of alcohol was taken aboard the Big Top as loot.

Pierra managed to stay hidden as a stowaway on the Bigtop for at least a couple of weeks. Then, the Buggy Pirates met Portugaz D. Ace, who managed to be the first person to notice the giant red centipede sneaking around the ship. Luckily for Pierra (who spur-of-the-moment decided to go by Pierre and "pretend" to be a guy), Ace is nice and believes Pierre when he says that he never meant to cause any trouble. And luckily for the Buggy Pirates, Pierre is down to his very core desperate for approval and has a lot of chitinous helping hands he's delighted to lend as long as you tell him he did a good job.

--------

Tiny Pierra lets ants crawl all over her. She watches them tear apart a dying grasshopper in the garden, piece by piece.

Pierra looks with wonder in her eyes at a rotting fish covered with maggots. At a dead baby bird that fell from its nest too soon. At a bag full of bloody ducks her father shot.

Pierra gets too upset sometimes, and too frightened frequently.

Pierra hides as often as possible.

When Pierra starts getting big, she wishes she was still small. She used to like squeezing into tight spaces; inside a box, under a small desk, under a bed. She doesn't fit anymore. Sometimes she feels like she's stopped fitting anywhere at all.

Pierra sneaks into other people's rooms when she's alone in the house, just to look around without disturbing anything. Just to hear the silence.

Pierra takes food she is not supposed to eat, just to get away with it. Just to test how far she can go without being noticed. Just to be unnoticed and forgotten on purpose, instead of as a reflex.

When Pierra is 16, she goes to the market with her mother. While her mother speaks to someone, Pierra breaks off a tiny piece of the most interesting fruit at the stand. No one notices her do it this time. Pierra chews and swallows the piece of fruit, and it tastes bad, but Pierra is pleased to have learned what it tastes like without permission.

Later that evening, alone in her room, Pierra thinks she is dreaming, or maybe losing her mind. She wonders half-heartedly if the fruit was poisonous and she is dying-- but she doesn't want to disturb anyone if she's wrong again.

So, she does what she always does when she thinks she is losing her mind: distracts herself and waits for it to pass.

It passes, eventually, but this won't be the last time. She learns that it's not madness, but the curse of a Devil. She learns she can't swim anymore. She prays for forgiveness. She tells nobody.

When Pierra gets too upset and admits it her mother a year later, she is begged never to transform again. To hide it forever, for her own safety. Human traffickers could be anywhere, her mother says, and Devil Fruit users fetch a high price. Pierra promises to keep hiding. Pierra wonders if it will be easier now, having someone who understands.

Pierra's mother goes back to acting like nothing ever happened. It doesn't get much easier.

---

"It'll be okay," says Pierra's mother gently, drawing her daughter into her arms. Pierra wraps her arms around her mother as well, because she is supposed to.

"We'll figure this out..." her mother continues, "...we can fix this."

Pierra stares over her mother's shoulder as she feels the last remains of her hope crumble away in silence.

That's it, then. Despite everything, despite so many years of cyclical disappointment and pain... Pierra's mother would not give up on "fixing" her.

She and her mother had been repeating this painful exercise for Pierra's entire life. Over and over, every year, every month, every week, for as long as Pierra could remember.

Pierra is so tired of trying to be fixed. She is tired of trying to be something she isn't. She is tired, so so tired, of letting down people who see something in her.

She had hoped that after such a spectacular failure as this one, her mother might finally give up on fixing her. She had hoped that her mother might start trying to learn how to forgive her, instead.

That hope was gone now.

Now, Pierra can see that her mother will never stop waiting for someone less disappointing to take Pierra's place. Pierra can see that her mother's pity will always be directed at the less disappointing person Pierra is certain she can never be.

Wrapped in her mother's arms, Pierra has never felt more alone.

"We'll figure it out together," her mother adds, squeezing Pierra's shoulders tighter.

----

Humans have to be taught everything. We're very good at learning. It's what we evolved to do.

Some animals have to be taught how to do things. How to hunt, where to go.

But many animals exhibit behaviors that are never taught to them.

Humans have a precious few. Holding our breath underwater, hanging on with our arms.

The less social the animal, the less learning it tends to do.

The more its behavior is ruled by instinct.

-----

Most Observation Haki users learn to tune out the auras of nonaggressive bugs, consciously or unconsciously.

Otherwise, their senses would be overwhelmed by spiritual "noise" from hundreds of tiny auras. The glut of information can make it harder to notice actual threats, and the easiest solution is to ignore typically irrelevant details-- i.e., bugs.

It's something like mentally tuning out the sound of cicadas in a forest when you are listening for a distinctive bird call.

In his centipede form, because of his skittish nature and typical lack of malicious intent paired with centipede instincts from his Zoan abilities, Pierre's aura usually registers as a genuine nonaggressive bug aura. It can therefore go easily overlooked, despite Pierre's large size.

Like if our proverbial birder was listening for bird calls, but Pierre was a bird whose call almost perfectly mimicked a cicada.

It takes a very skilled Observation Haki user and a very sharp mind to take in ALL auras in an area without tuning out small details like harmless bugs. To these sort of people, centipede Pierre can be detected just as well as anything else, and his large size will even cause him to stick out.

In the cicada metaphor, these people are sharp enough to identify any bird calls and count the number of cicadas calling at the same time. And Pierre sounds like a cicada...but not a species of cicada the expert listening recognizes. Thus, Pierre sticks out.

Pierre's attitude can also ruin his bug aura camoflauge. If he is too focused on anything besides his own survival, his aura ceases to be nonthreatening or buglike enough and he will no longer go overlooked.

For bird-Pierre, this would be like accidentally letting out a distinctly bird-ish squawk rather than the mimic-cicada call.

-------

B: [unlocking a chest] This poster better be the best thing since sliced bread or I am completely SCREW--

[Pierre is revealed to be inside the chest. Buggy gawks at him.]

P: I- I know how this looks!

P: But it's not the same as last time!! I'll leave as soon as I--!

B: [snotty, sobbing, frantically grabbing Pierre's shoulders] NO!!!!!! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!!!!

P: !!!! [Pierre is wide-eyed and speechless]

B: [stops sobbing] wait a second.

B: [shaking Pierre by his lapels, angry now] Where the HELL have you been, Chucklehead?!!!

P: [being comically shaken around too much to form a response]

B: I haven't seen you since we got arrested on--!!!

B: [stops shaking Pierre, squints at him] .....OHHHHH.

[Pierre has no idea whats going on, is still being grabbed by the lapels]

B: [angry smile] [lets go of P and crosses arms] I see what happened!!!!

B: [vindictive] The government took back your pardon because they abolished Warlords!

B: [pokes Pierre in the chest] So after two years of thinking you're BETTER than me,

[Pierre's eyes widen]

B: You had no choice but to come crawling back!!! [flicks Pierre's nose] GYAHAHAHAA!!!

B: [patting Pierre's head condescendingly] Don't worry Chucklehead, I won't make you grovel. Much. [mean grin]

P: Wait, what?! [earnest] I-I'm not-- I don't think I'm above you, Buggy!! That would be crazy!!

B: [smug aura cracks slightly] Eh?

P: [sheepish] I'm surprised you even remember my name! A famous pirate like you must meet so many amazing people, I didn't think I'd stick out at all...

[Buggy gets smug again, and a bit flustered]

B: Well, heh heh...

B: [remembers he's mad] Then why'd you ditch me?!!

P: I-I didn't ditch you!

B: Like hell!!! All the Buggy Pirates got pardoned when I became a warlord, but YOU never came back!!

P: Because I'm not a Buggy Pirate?! I was a stowaway!

B: [gawks again, like "are you serious??"]

P: ...you...wanted me to come back??

B: [dodging the question] YOU'RE DODGING THE QUESTION!!!

B: What were you even doing for th last two years that was so much better than ME-- MY CREW!!!!!!

[FLASHBACK PANEL: Pierre on the Snail. He is saying "No, Mom-- I-- I DO want to be here. The science is really interesting, I just--"]

P: ...Well, keheh... [drags hands down face] ...Ugh. Trust me, I did NOT wanna be there.

P: So, when the navy caught the Buggy Pirates, they saw my Devil Fruit power.

P: [before Buggy can ask] I know I told you I've had this since I was a kid, but I never used it before I was with you. It was always this big secret.

P: Anyways, I was really afraid that I'd get in trouble for hiding it, so I told them I got the Devil Fruit on your ship and that I was a hostage.

[Buggy squints at Pierre. It's a good thing Buggy likes him and is exactly as cowardly]

P: They believed it, and I was hoping they would just let me go home, but they really wanted my Zoan powers, so I ended up stuck with the Marines...

[FLASHBACK PANEL: Marine representative says "You've got a unique ability, Ms. Pierra. Opportunities like this shouldn't be wasted! Please, consider our offer, at least--" Pierre interrupts: "I'll do it." He looks terrified and miserable as he says it. What's his problem?]

P: And that's where I've been for...two whole years.

[FLASHBACK PANELS: Pierre thinking "I have to get out of here." "I hate this." "I can't do this anymore." Pierre talking on the snail again, "Yeah, I'll look into research positions." "No, I haven't looked yet." "I've been really busy..." "I just haven't gotten around to it." "I still wanna do something different."]

B: Okay. So how the hell did you end up in my closet???

P: Uh.

P: They sent me with the guys who were supposed to arrest you, actually, but I ditched them.

[FLASHBACK PANEL: Pierre is on a Marine ship looking miserable and indecisive. Suddenly it is chopped in half by Crocodile. Pierre survives by hiding in a barrel & manages to paddle ashore.]

B: And you snuck all the way in here? On an island full of bounty hunters??

P: [manic grin] ...I guess!

P: I'm kind of just trying to not die right now!

P: Thanks for not killing me, by the way! Kehaha!

B: Kill you?? Of COUUURSE not, Pierro-chan!!!

B: [claps Pierre on the back] Why would I kill my own PERSONAL bodyguard!!!

P: ........HUH?

[misstycloud]

Platonic. Fae father

Fae father! Who loves you more than anything. He’d trade his immortality and beauty a million times if it meant saving you. It’s worth nothing if he can’t be with you.

Fae father! Who originally wasn’t very interested in you but simply didn’t have the heart to throw you to the wolves like he would if it’d been any other baby- you were his, after all. But as time passed, he found himself more enamoured with you for every second you spent together. Before he knew it, you were an irreplaceable part of his life. He can’t imagine how he managed to live for centuries without you.

Fae father! Who is very protective and while he knows you’re safer inside his territory than you’d ever be anywhere else, there’s still a possibility something could happen you you. He can’t have that happen! What if you accidentally trip on a root and scrape your knee? Sure he can heal you with his magic, but he’d rather spare you the unnecessary pain and tears.

Fae father! Is scared that you’ll leave him eventually. This is especially regarding when you’ll have grown up. He never hid your half-human side(you were bound to find out anyway, considering you didn’t have magic in the same sense as him, and your ears were slightly rounded unlike his purely pointed ones), but he’s beginning to think it was a mistake. His attempt at good parenting could backfire and you would become naturally curious as you got older. Then you would request to leave the safety and familiarity of the forest you grew up in, to go adventure beyond it and come into contact with your human side.

Fae father! Who thought about how horrible that would be. He knew the cruelty of humans. They were greedy beyond imagination and an ugly stain on the world; truly a mistake of creation. He thought about what they could potentially do to you, a wonderful, kind yet naive child. His child. You were part fae and that was obvious- if he had to be honest, he had always been happy you appeared more fae than human, it made him feel more connected to you- the price that you would go for on a market was immense. Fae father nearly faints at what kind of filth could be wanting to get their hands on you.

Fae father! Who wove to protect you at all costs- even lying and misleading you. The only way he saw to do that is to keep you in the forest; your childhood home and his domain.

“Father, what’s beyond the forest? Are there really human towns? The animals tell me they are bustling with life- and there’s so many strange and new things!” You asked your father. You two were in your favourite meadow, you sat up in the lush grass, making a flower crown.

Your father had laid down a while ago and was content with the relaxation the summer weather brought. However, the moment you began talking about humans and your curiosity for the outside world, his eyes snapped open and he, too, sat up.

He gave you a soft smile, “The animals told you that?”

You nodded vigorously. He reminded himself to warn the animals to not tell you about such things, afterwards. If he had to guess, it was most likely that damn squirrel friend of yours that didn’t know when to shut up.

“Well, dear-“ he said, finding the way you were hooked on every word incredibly endearing, “yes, there there are human settlements outside these woods. But I do not want you going anywhere near them, you hear? It’s simply not safe for you.” Your father ended the sentence with booping you on the nose.

“What? What do you mean?” You exclaimed.

He chuckled, “I am older- I have many tricks to defend myself with; you do not.”

Pouting, you crossed your arms and said in defiance, “Why would you have to defend yourself? You’re not fighting, are you?”

You father ran his hand through his long locks with a sigh. “Dear, I am afraid that might not be the case.” You looked at him in confusion. “You see, we- as in magical kind- have not been on good terms with mannkind for centuries- maybe even ever.”

You were silent, pondering over what this meant as your protector watched. Had it not been a serious subject, he would have thought about how cute you look whenever you are thoroughly grumbling over something. He took it upon himself to expand his reasonings while combing through your hair.

“We are rare, beautiful, immortal and have powers they could only dream of.” To prove his point, your father held out a seed in the palm of his hand. He closed it for a second and a green light flashed. Opening his palm again, the little seed quickly grew into a wonderful, fully grown flower in a matter of moments. “See, if they had the means to do this, then a new war would break loose every day. They are greedy and selfish and struggle because of it, while we live away from such mundane troubles.”

“But what about all those amazing things they have invented? I hear they sing and dance just like us. They have families too, just like us. They can’t all be bad!” You protested. If all those things your friends had told you were true, then you needed to know and find a way to see them for yourself.

Your father sighed once more. He appeared to be doing that a lot during your conversation. He grabbed a hold of your hand and squeezed it tight. “I understand your curiosity regarding humans- trust me, I do. I was young once upon a time, as well. You believe that I did not sneak away to peek at the towns myself?”

“You have gone there yourself?”

He nodded to confirm your question. “However, they are far from what your little friends have been tricking you into believing. They are not fun and do not sing nor dance. Like I said, they are selfish and horrible, you best stay away from them.”

“But-“ you tried.

He cut you off immediately. “-No ‘buts’. You stay away from the town, alright? Simply stay here where you’re safe. I won’t tolerate any violation of the rules when it comes to this.” He took notice of your gloomy expression and added, “It’s for your safety, nothing else. Oh, sweetie, I do wish the world was different. However, this is a truth we must face. You do understand, correct?”

Seeing your worrying father’s serious demeanor as he urged you for an answer, you looked down before saying, “Yes, Father. I won’t go into human towns. I’ll stay out of trouble.”

He sighed in relief. “Good child. Remember, I am only looking after you. I’m your father, I know what’s best for you.

[tangibletechnomancy]

The reason I took interest in AI as an art medium is that I've always been interested in experimenting with novel and unconventional art media - I started incorporating power tools into a lot of my physical processes younger than most people were even allowed to breathe near them, and I took to digital art like a duck to water when it was the big, relatively new, controversial thing too, so really this just seems like the logical next step. More than that, it's exciting - it's not every day that we just invent an entirely new never-before-seen art medium! I have always been one to go fucking wild for that shit.

Which is, ironically, a huge part of why I almost reflexively recoil at how it's used in the corporate world: because the world of business, particularly the entertainment industry, has what often seems like less than zero interest in appreciating it as a novel medium.

And I often wonder how much less that would be the case - and, by extension, how much less vitriolic the discussion around it would be, and how many fewer well-meaning people would be falling for reactionary mythologies about where exactly the problems lie - if it hadn't reached the point of...at least an illusion of commercial viability, at exactly the moment it did.

See, the groundwork was laid in 2020, back during covid lockdowns, when we saw a massive spike in people relying on TV, games, books, movies, etc. to compensate for the lack of outdoor, physical, social entertainment. This was, seemingly, wonderful for the whole industry - but under late-stage capitalism, it was as much of a curse as it was a gift. When industries are run by people whose sole brain process is "line-go-up", tiny factors like "we're not going to be in lockdown forever" don't matter. CEOs got dollar signs in their eyes. Shareholders demanded not only perpetual growth, but perpetual growth at this rate or better. Even though everyone with an ounce of common sense was screaming "this is an aberration, this is not sustainable" - it didn't matter. The business bros refused to believe it. This was their new normal, they were determined to prove -

And they, predictably, failed to prove it.

So now the business bros are in a pickle. They're beholden to the shareholders to do everything within their power to maintain the infinite growth they promised, in a world with finite resources. In fact, by precedent, they're beholden to this by law. Fiduciary duty has been interpreted in court to mean that, given the choice between offering a better product and ensuring maximum returns for shareholders, the latter MUST be a higher priority; reinvesting too much in the business instead of trying to make the share value increase as much as possible, as fast as possible, can result in a lawsuit - that a board member or CEO can lose, and have lost before - because it's not acting in the best interest of shareholders. If that unsustainable explosive growth was promised forever, all the more so.

And now, 2-3-4 years on, that impossibility hangs like a sword of Damocles over the heads of these media company CEOs. The market is fully saturated; the number of new potential customers left to onboard is negligible. Some companies began trying to "solve" this "problem" by violating consumer privacy and charging per household member, which (also predictably) backfired because those of us who live in reality and not statsland were not exactly thrilled about the concept of being told we couldn't watch TV with our own families. Shareholders are getting antsy, because their (however predictably impossible) infinite lockdown-level profits...aren't coming, and someone's gotta make up for that, right? So they had already started enshittifying, making excuses for layoffs, for cutting employee pay, for duty creep, for increasing crunch, for lean-staffing, for tightening turnarounds-

And that was when we got the first iterations of AI image generation that were actually somewhat useful for things like rapid first drafts, moodboards, and conceptualizing.

Lo! A savior! It might as well have been the digital messiah to the business bros, and their eyes turned back into dollar signs. More than that, they were being promised that this...both was, and wasn't art at the same time. It was good enough for their final product, or if not it would be within a year or two, but it required no skill whatsoever to make! Soon, you could fire ALL your creatives and just have Susan from accounting write your scripts and make your concept art with all the effort that it takes to get lunch from a Star Trek replicator!

This is every bit as much bullshit as the promise of infinite lockdown-level growth, of course, but with shareholders clamoring for the money they were recklessly promised, executives are looking for anything, even the slightest glimmer of a new possibility, that just might work as a life raft from this sinking ship.

So where are we now? Well, we're exiting the "fucking around" phase and entering "finding out". According to anecdotes I've read, companies are, allegedly, already hiring prompt engineers (or "prompters" - can't give them a job title that implies there's skill or thought involved, now can we, that just might imply they deserve enough money to survive!)...and most of them not only lack the skill to manually post-process their works, but don't even know how (or perhaps aren't given access) to fully use the software they specialize in, being blissfully unaware of (or perhaps not able/allowed to use) features such as inpainting or img2img. It has been observed many times that LLMs are being used to flood once-reputable information outlets with hallucinated garbage. I can verify - as can nearly everyone who was online in the aftermath of the Glasgow Willy Wonka Dashcon Experience - that the results are often outright comically bad.

To anyone who was paying attention to anything other than please-line-go-up-faster-please-line-go-please (or buying so heavily into reactionary mythologies about why AI can be dangerous in industry that they bought the tech companies' false promises too and just thought it was a bad thing), this was entirely predictable. Unfortunately for everyone in the blast radius, common sense has never been an executive's strong suit when so much money is on the line.

Much like CGI before it, what we have here is a whole new medium that is seldom being treated as a new medium with its own unique strengths, but more often being used as a replacement for more expensive labor, no matter how bad the result may be - nor, for that matter, how unjust it may be that the labor is so much cheaper.

And it's all because of timing. It's all because it came about in the perfect moment to look like a life raft in a moment of late-stage capitalist panic. Any port in a storm, after all - even if that port is a non-Euclidean labyrinth of soggy, rotten botshit garbage.

Any port in a storm, right? ...right?

All images generated using Simple Stable, under the Code of Ethics of Are We Art Yet?

[jimin-bangtan]

The Grit & Persistence of Jimin & His Fans

NOTE: Feel free to skip down to the Jimin-specific section below the fold.

BTS is the only reason I am involved in KPop. All of the traditions and vocabulary of Kpop were new to me when I became their fan. I was aware of Kpop but never engaged with it. I had heard a bit about it, and what I had heard wasn't flattering. Mainly I was concerned about the training process and the pressure that seemed to be put on the young artists.

I have written in my BTS experience post (See my Archive or Masterlist.) that my sister found BTS first and introduced me, mainly through performances. I found them all extremely talented and interesting. I happen to continually find myself watching Jimin.

I got to know BTS's story and about how challenging their plight had been. I heard of the unfair treatment and disregard that was cast upon them. I also learned of the intentional sabotage and harm that was done to them in the music industry. Still, they continued to succeed.

I found out more about Jimin too. I found out about his short training period, his misdirected start as a rapper, and his lack of vocal lessons in spite of the piercing high notes he was given to sing. I was concerned for all of their wellbeing and safety as I watched documentaries and saw how hard they worked.

Over time, I discovered more about the unprofessional and disrespectful treatment they received from the media, Kpop colleagues and their fans, as well as the general public. To the present time, more and more information continues to come out about intentional actions done against them.

One of those intentional actions was the Break Wings project, which was a plan designed by some fandoms, companies, or entities to attempt to ruin BTS's achievement for their coming Wings album and beyond. The planners basically were attempting to erase BTS from the competition. BTS was, after all, from a new company that would be competing against the 3 longstanding, "big" Kpop companies. Up to that point, BTS had not yet broken through but had made an impression and their potential was obvious.

BREAK WINGS PROJECT (2016)

credit: Sonyeonstan

The organized project, dispersed throughout social media and in private communications, not only put a target on BTS's back, but it also instructed competing fan groups, or just the general public, exactly how they could unite in force to tear down anything BTS attempted. It really is a hateful way to use energy.

Instead of using their energy to focus on their own groups to help them rise and conquer. They expended their energy trying to destroy BTS. And boy, did it backfire - OR maybe it worked exactly as the poorly devised plan should have. With their energy off of their own groups and on BTS, BTS kept thriving. In comparison, their groups kept declining in achievement and relevance, which caused the targeted hate to escalate.

The relentless hate caused BTS to choose to turn toward each other in closer unity and to work even harder. Their performances were innovative and astonishing. Their plans were intricate and well-designed. They got more and more attention. They won more and more awards, and they broke through more and more barriers. Their achievements have far surpassed anything Kpop had or has ever achieved, even now reaching into the Western market and opening the doors for others to follow. Their records are historic and exceptional.

Surprisingly, now in 2025, the hate against BTS still has not subsided. They have earned more respect, even if begrudgingly, but the industry, competing fans, and the media still attempt to minimize BTS's achievements and mere presence at times. After all of the economic, cultural, and political gains BTS has made for Korea, Kpop, and Asia, there is still animosity and overall jealousy and contempt for them. And what's worse is that I can't figure out anything BTS did to earn this reaction - except to exist and succeed.

SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH JIMIN?

Well, if you read the strategy above of the Break Wings project, the tactics sound very much like the organized actions that have been used against Jimin for years. And what is really shocking to me is that as I became more involved in the fandom, I realized it was coming not from people outside of the fandom but literally from within the same OT7 ("We love all 7 members.") fandom that I had once read took on abusers and foes of BTS, in unison. I was so impressed in reading how the fandom had unified to become such a productive force for BTS. BTS always spoke of this fandom with such pride and love because they appreciated all that the fandom did while they were struggling to survive.

I shake my head as I write.

I will admit that I realize that the Break Wings project included a plan to infiltrate BTS's ARMY fandom and to pretend to be them and start trouble and create strife in different places, including within the fandom. I do now believe that some of what is happening to Jimin is because of outside forces pretending to be BTS fans. HOWEVER, where is that protective, loving, united force I had once read about? Why are they not unifying to protect all of their members EQUALLY? Why are they silent when any one of their 7 is being attacked - and with death threats!!! Where are they when family members of any member are being attacked? Where are they when support is being withheld to prevent any BTS member from achieving? EQUALLY!

Since I have been a part of the BTS scene, I have even seen the fandom do it for other members or at occasional times, but I noticed that it did not happen equally and for all members. Early on, I had asked my sister a few times, as I was watching material, why it appeared that Jimin was treated a bit differently. She never could explain. She still can't. I can't either.

I can only imagine that it's for the same reason BTS was targeted. Because he dared to exist and succeed.

The companies back then saw young BTS's grit, talent, and fight and were afraid. (Research current conversation about SM's plan against BTS's American Hustle Life appearance) Before they tried to destroy BTS, they first attempted to obtain them as their own. When that didn't work, they moved on to destruction. As much as people may hate BangPD for other things he has or has not done, he did not fold on BTS when money was tight, pressure was high, or circumstances seemed bleak. BTS did not fold, and Jimin did not fold. In fact, Jimin, like BTS, excelled and exceeded all expectations for him in the group and during this solo era.

Like with BTS, in spite of Jimin's contributions to the group and the attention they received because of him, the hate continues. Remember the forces were trying to tear down BTS. What better way than to tear down members one by one and start with the ones whose loss would change the dynamic, attention, or work of BTS?

This long overdue post is because Jimin has recently been nominated for an AMA, an AMERICAN Music Award (Favorite KPop Artist). Both of his solo albums were huge successes in America (U.S.), and his main track from his most current solo album just went quadruple (4X) platinum in the U.S. That same song, WHO, became the longest charting Kpop song ever on the AMERICAN Billboard Hot100 chart. Yet the "fans" are plotting to vote against him for this award. They are plotting to NOT vote for a BTS member to guarantee he loses to another nominated BTS member or, I suspect, to anyone else. I get the sense that they really don't want him to win again. Their idea is not to let the chips fall where they may but to intentionally plot his loss. I wish I could say this was the first time.

And worse, the plotters are trying to appear noble by using excuses that sound justifiable to those who may not think it through, so it seems like a reasonable consideration. "He's won enough awards." "He would want his bandmate to win instead of him." Wouldn't his bandmate also be happy for Jimin to win too? Has Jimin not earned his nomination and possible win - with receipts?

While the achievements in the U.S. are not comparable, Jimin's bandmate, RM, also deserves his nomination for his creative, alternative rap album, and people are free to vote for him too. My problem would not be RM winning legitimately. My problem is the organized plot to vote AGAINST Jimin - just like the Break Wings project. If these current people think they are in any way better than those who participated in that plot against BTS, they are wrong - and they are worse - especially if they actually believe themselves to be true BTS fans.

It is exhausting being Jimin's fan, and it's not because of Jimin. He actually makes it easy to love and support him and his work. It is because of BTS's fandom that really has disappointed me in some ways. These hateful "fans" do NOT represent the BTS members I have come to know. BTS would not condone or accept this as part of the message they have worked to present. They have loved and supported each other through all the turmoil. They worked tirelessly to cultivate this fandom and to succeed. The OT7 idea for this fandom, at this point, appears to be a myth.

All of the shipping divisiveness, hateful comments to BTS members and to other fans during Lives and on social media, organizing plots against BTS's own members, and the harassment of members' families are just distasteful demonstrations. This is just not the BTS way. At least that's what I thought.

Again, I shake my head.

Jimin's fans will continue to fight for him, using his attitude and efforts as models. It would be great to feel he was supported by the entire fandom, as all the members should be, but in honesty, I have seen too many situations where that does not seem to be true.

I am not a solo. I truly love and support all the guys. My support for Jimin does not include hating on the other members. I wish them all well and appreciate the work they do. (That doesn't mean I can't have honest thoughts about what they do or say, including Jimin.). However, I understand the feeling of solos - those who do not hate on or damage other members or the group - even if they don't actively support the other guys. It has been a tough journey watching from a Jimin supporter's point of view. The fandom can do better. It should do better - for all of the members.

I am presently working on a post where I explain that I feel it is time for BTS to address their fandom. It is out of hand, and it is costing them new fans, old fans, positive fan experiences, their reputation, and their legacy. If the problems are mostly from those outside of the fandom, the fans within should not allow this to be the atmosphere of this legendary group's fanbase. BTS should not be diminished by their own fandom by either actions of destruction or by inaction of allowing the destruction to remain unchecked.

[gilmorenights]

Okay so I know he's out Vat7k exclusive but he is in team radical so what are your Varian headcanons??

YAYYY VARIAN MY BELOVED

Used to love when it snowed because it meant he got to go sledding with his dad, but then he developed an intense fear/hatred of snow because of the events during queen for a day

First reaction was to not trust Nuru because of how much she reminds him of Rapunzel. Even though the two of them had mostly mended things at that point, there was still a part of him deep down that blamed Raps and expected Nuru to betray the rest of the team for her kingdom

Had to put up a sign declaring his lab an “anti-Eugene” zone due to how often Eugene just barges in without warning. When it didn’t work, Varian changed it to say “Anti-Horace” just to piss him off

Keira and Catalina were his first friends that were actually around his age

Calls Hugo “pretty boy” as an insult (backfires cuz Hugo thinks they’re flirting)

Thrives in warm/hot weather but the moment the temperature drops, Varian refuses to go outside and wears thick clothing until it’s spring/summer again

He’s a snob about produce due to his dad being a farmer, and it’s a nightmare to go food shopping with him. What’s supposed to take an hour at most turns into an entire afternoon wasted at the market because the tomatoes are too soft or the apples aren’t the right color or the celery doesn’t snap right. Hugo, who grew up eating whatever he could get his hands on, has to physically restrain himself from strangling Varian

He had freckles everywhere

Exchanges letters with Rapunzel throughout his journey as a way of mending their relationship further (they both still feel super guilty about everything that happened and blame themselves) so no matter how far Varian travels, he’ll always have someone from home to guide him

Doodles Team Radical in the margins of his journal when he’s bored (caught himself making a very detailed sketch of Hugo’s face and was ashamed of himself for days)

Inconsistent sleep schedule due to nightmares, which often leads to him sitting outside by the campfire late at night. Because of this, he and Hugo are alone together a lot of the time because Hugo is usually the last of the team to go to bed

Insane sweet tooth, genuinely can’t get through the day without consuming something sweet

First to see Hugo with his hair down and was a flustered mess about it for hours after

Hugo was the first one he told about his past as the Alchemist

Has the Saporian emblem on his body somewhere (either tattooed or branded idk) because everyone in that group has it as a way to pledge their loyalty

Slight country accent that surfaces only when he’s really fired up (you can pry this hc from my cold dead hands cuz I think it’s so funny that he becomes a cowboy when he’s angry)

“Accidentally” leaves goo traps in the castle halls where he knows Nigel and/or Frederick will be walking

Forgets to eat all the time. People will remind him, but he’ll just wave it off and forget until someone shoves a ham sandwich in his face and threatens to reorganize his beaker drawer

Despises coffee and makes fun of Eugene for drinking an “old man” drink, but he will drink it if he’s pulling an all nighter and is desperate for something to keep him awake

Realized he was bisexual at some point during the journey. I feel like he wouldn’t care about romance after becoming royal engineer and getting over his crush on Cassandra, so it wouldn’t really occur to him that he likes both guys and girls until he’s on the road with too much time to think

Tries to emulate his dad when taking charge of the group cuz even away from home, he looks up to his dad

Wrist scars from the handcuffs during his prison era, whether they’re prominent or barely visible

Left-handed. Why? I dunno, it just makes sense to me

Hot chocolate snob. He’ll drink almost all kinds of hot chocolate, but he has a preference for the high quality stuff they keep in the castle and can tell the difference between different kinds (judges people who make it with water instead of milk)

When he’s in a particularly sour mood, he’ll shut off all the hot water in Corona just to be petty (usually does it when Frederick pisses him off)

Yong called him his brother once and he didn’t stop crying for an hour

Made fun of Hugo for not knowing how to swim until Varian has to save him from drowning in the water trial

Gets offended when people call Ruddiger fat or say he’s overweight (he’s basically a bowling ball that waddles around the castle but Varian isn’t ready for that conversation yet)

Refuses to let people take care of him when he’s sick because they “have better things to do”

Hugo is the only one he will voluntarily share a lab space with. Anyone else and he’d rather throw himself out a window

I have so much more but this is definitely long enough jansosiwbsoishwnsksoaisj I love him

Thank you for the ask <333

[pissvortex]

Imperialism under Biden/Harris:

- Started war with Russia over natural gas

- Sponsors genocide in Palestine

- Continued attempts to overthrow social democrats in Latin America

- Continued sabre rattling against China and the DPRK

Imperialism under Trump:

- Continued sabre rattling against China (except Trump seems fine not propping up Taiwan)

- Continued attempts to overthrow social democrats in Latin America

- Assassinated Qasem Soleimani

- Bombed Syria

So, overall, it's two spur of the moment bombings versus two entire wars. Plus Trump negotiated with the DPRK and wants to dismantle NATO. For idiotic reasons, obviously, but he's objectively the anti-imperialist option.

you seem serious so: You have a very juvenile understanding of imperialism that seemingly only includes military action. Even if Trump did dismantle NATO it would not change America’s status as the finance capital / usury state of the world - I see no reason to doubt what he says openly is his intention when he says this move would actually increase American financial domination. That is imperialism, albeit a deviation from the current neoliberal global partnership imperialism because Trump is an American exceptionalist and (perhaps naively) believes in total American domination. He doesn’t really care about traditional conservative/liberal notions of diplomacy or world relations, he just likes watching the numbers go up. Every time there was a dip in the stock market he would just pump it with a trillion more dollars from the federal reserve. He correctly identifies America as the world’s money printer, and since the world has a U.S. currency standard, he has no reason to fear this backfiring. It’s why he’s pursuing this idiotic tariff idea, he knows the rest of the world will take a lot of punishment to continue to be “in” on American finance and he can make his petit bourgeois constituents happy with free money for hare-brained small business. He leaves the actual big finance and megacorporations alone and lets small businesses live in this fantasy realm of free government funding forever. It’s like a fake economy for complacency layered under the real one. This is not anti-imperialist, it’s petit-bourgeois populism and it isn’t better by any means.

[krispydelusionfury]

Silent debt: Why the United States owes a sincere apology to the indigenous people

I. Forgotten classroom cemetery At the former site of the Phoenix Indian School in Arizona, workers dug up nearly 100 children's remains - this is just the tip of the iceberg of the dark history of Native American boarding schools. The playgrounds of these "schools" are buried under the country's most shameful secrets: The more than 500 children's graves confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior are just the beginning. Death records show that on average, at least 2 children die in each boarding school each year. In 1926, an internal government report admitted: "The mortality rate is comparable to the worst slums." II. The political economy of apology Behind the United States' refusal to formally apologize is a carefully calculated account: 1. Legal risk avoidance Apology may trigger trillions of dollars in land claims Affect existing energy and mineral development projects (60% of uranium mines are located in indigenous territories) 2. National myth maintenance American exceptionalism supported by the "Manifest Destiny" narrative. Acknowledging genocide will shake the foundation of the country. 3. Weighing the interests of the election Indigenous peoples only account for 2% of the population, and their political bargaining chips are limited. Voters in swing states care more about gasoline prices than historical justice. 3. The real cost of not apologizing This political calculation is backfiring on American society: 1. The bankruptcy of democratic credibility Isolated in the vote on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (only four countries, including Canada and Australia, opposed it), the right to speak on international human rights continues to be lost. 2. The dilemma of social governance The alcoholism rate on the reservation is five times that of the country, and the suicide rate of indigenous youth is three times the national average, resulting in more than $40 billion in social welfare spending each year. 3. Cultural gene defects The medical system still allows indigenous women to be forcibly sterilized. Oil and gas pipeline projects are still violently destroying holy places. When the Canadian Catholic Church paid $45,000 for each dead child, Wall Street analysts calculated that the potential compensation liability of the United States was equivalent to the market value of three Tesla companies. Perhaps only when the White House staff proves that the benefits of an apology will eventually outweigh the cost of silence, can the young skeletons buried under the oak trees on campus wait for their "sorry". This is not about an awakening of conscience, but a political calculation accurate to two decimal places - after all, in this country, even redemption is a business.

[emperorcandy]

You are encouraging us in the tags to ask about your OCs, and I would love to hear about them! I know asking in a generalised way like this is not easy to answer, but I don't know what better question to ask yet; please tell us some about them!

Okay i spent some time on this ask because i really didn't know where to begin with but now i can bring this out

okay so the Henry Stickmin Series has this organization called the CCC(Center for chaos containment) in the background "Their goal is to prevent further escalation of chaos and eliminate them but often this backfires and just makes it worse that's all you really hear from them outside of the secret ending in completing the mission but i digress

my dear friends @loafthecat and @randomgasleak (Mainly Leaks to be honest, that man has crafted somewhat of a mythos out of this) amongst others have expanded on this, in our version, turning them into pretty much a cult(and i do mean cult) version of the SCP foundation amongst other things connected to concealing Chaos.

Enter Andy Frankenstein

Andy is the many times great niece of good old Victor Frankenstein via his younger brother Ernest(who is a real character in mary's shelly's Frankenstein and the sole surviving Frankenstein at the end of the book)

now she used to work for someone named Sophie Grant(Leaks) who was one of her closest friends(that to put it mildly she was enamoured with sophie like really obsessed ) until Sophie disappeared(at the likely hands of CEO Alex Cerington also played by leaks ) and got replaced with new Guy Trevor Acidller (Loaf)

now Trevor what can i say about Trevor? other then he's an asshat just the absolute worse

he's the kind of guy who takes your lunch and replaces it with moldy food,he's the kind of guy who won't stop sucking up to the boss and complains about all his co-workers in the hopes of getting them fired,he's the kind of guy with just the most self smug and self centered attitude a place like this can make. he's the kind of guy with a secret(not so secret) laboratory under the ground where he experiments on people.

so yeah nobody at the CCC(with one or two exceptions) likes Trevor. Anyway back to Andy's role in this(it is her explanation after all) so Andy gets demoted to serving under Trevor as the highest ranking of three Assistants herself, Augustus Walton(Another reference to the novel(Robert Walton), who keeps being really strange about the unnamed Conquering queen whoever that is but i'm sure it's fine) Martin Grant(Sophie's younger brother) (Reference to the Jurassic park franchise with Marty Gutierrez from the first novel and Alan grant) and getting roped in is Narrator(A guy who got kidnapped by the CCC and turned being an all seeing observer into a personality trait AKA Guy who tries to be a ecstatic business man but really is just a fanfiction writer with attachment issues( thank you for that btw loaf if you're reading this) who is the head of the marketing department and has to help clean up Trevor's mess with Andy and Andy while she likes her fellow assistants does not like being under Trevor like this and is trying to find her beloved Sophie again

Andy believes herself to the last true representative of the CCC's founding values,trying her best to(in her eyes) restore rationality to the CCC untainted by tyrants like her superiors and naivety of those that think chaos can live untouched. she also will put her hair in a ponytail like Sophie did because can you tell she's attached to Sophie?

she likes playing cards when Trevor leaves her alone

she's early middle aged(around 45) and she's also in the somewhat early stages of post-egg cracking.