#NO JOKE THESE ARE ACTUAL IMAGES FROM THE OFFICIAL TWITTER

[mysterygrl20]

pit babe said let me educate you on omegaverse

[translated by me using papago]

[ponett]

Any opinion on the Pokemon Gigaleak or nah?

I think seeing some of the WIP assets from when gen 3 was in development is kinda neat, because Game Freak is normally so secretive about that kind of thing. But beyond that I mostly just find this whole situation tiring.

Fans have a tendency to almost treat scrapped material as "more canon" than whatever actually made it into the finished product, in a way. It's treated as this pure, unfiltered insight into the creators' true vision. In reality, most of the time this stuff gets cut for a reason. Sometimes they very quickly realize it was a bad idea that was never gonna work, and they don't go very far with it. Sometimes it's a pitch from just one guy on the team that was never gonna get accepted. Sometimes they're just spitballing. Experimentation and iteration and knowing when to cut things are integral parts of the artistic process.

And hell, a lot of the time creators will just mess around with an idea purely as a creative exercise, or to get an idea out of their system, or to explore a crazy what-if scenario, or even just as a joke, with no intention of ever actually using those ideas. We recently saw this same thing happened with those leaked Rebecca Sugar sketches, where people were like "OMG Rebecca ships this, this is what they REALLY wanted to do with the show, this is canon, this was happening off-screen!!" And it's like, y'all have no idea how much crazy shit your favorite artists draw with their characters just to amuse themselves. The crew on Clarence had a not-so-secret Tumblr where they redrew scenes from Evangelion with Clarence characters. That doesn't mean they wanted to turn Clarence into Eva. They were just screwing around. This happens all the time, and with way more extreme examples than these. Lord knows how many Disney animators have drawn Mickey Mouse with his dick out over the years. That doesn't mean they ever actually wanted to make an official Mickey Mouse porno.

And, of course, there's the response to those myths that were never supposed to see the light of day. Anyone who's even passingly familiar with mythology from just about any part of the world shouldn't be surprised to hear fables about humans and animals having babies or whatever. But now people are responding to those unused stories and going "OMG Game Freak is a bunch of gooners who want humans and Pokemon to have sex!! This is canon!!!" It's so fucking tiring. So much of the modern internet, particularly Twitter, is driven by people who just want an excuse to whip out their favorite shocked/disgusted reaction image and ham up their reaction to something that isn't actually all that shocking. Everyone just wants to get their funny dunks in and feign moral superiority. It's childish. And it's because of reactions like this that this stuff was never supposed to see the light of day in the first place. But fans feel like they're owed every single shred of info from the development of their favorite franchises, so these leaks happen and people run wild with them.

(It also doesn't help that this is all just sourced back to a 4chan thread, so people were posting fake shit between the real leaks and muddying the waters. And also most of it is in Japanese, so people are just sticking documents through Google Translate and going "whooooaaaa this is canon")

[moonsaver]

Imagine instead of 4ggravate being a kpop boy group and reader being the fangirl, its the other way around

4ggravate forms a groupchat particularly because of you, their bias, who is also the least recognized in your group and is often overshadowed by others, leading to a desperate convergence of your fans in finding out the itty bitty stuff about you that's all on blast when it comes to the other idols in your group. They're like detectives trying to figure out whether you liked the specific flavor of ice cream on a show you participated in with your group. Each of them keep tabs on any official updates about you, recording and clipping parts of your group's lives in the tidbits where you come in, and forming a wall trying to defend you from majority of the fandom when you get backlash from false rumors. That's just how the group came to be.

Kaveh is the oldest fan amongst them – he's been there since day 1. Claims he knows the most out of all of them and tries to prove it via quizzes and guessing games. Sometimes he wins, most times he doesn't. Also the poorest of the four. He spent so much on buying your specific merchandise he didn't plan for the future concert you group was holding in his area, and ever since then he's had to tearfully decide constantly between buying albums, your photocards, new lightstick versions, etc.. and your concert that may or may not even be held in the area.

In the rare chance that he does attend your concert – he tries to get the most out of it. Front row, headbands, fanchant at the top of his head, lightsticks in both hands. When you notice him and exchange a few words over the loud crowd, he swears he's going to pass out, looking up at your crouched figure on the stage makes you look almost like an angel to him, the light highlighting your figure perfectly. Suffice to say, he eventually made an impression on you at least.. because he passed out and the crowd had to surf him to a security guard. He's deeply embarassed about it, and can't really escape it now that he's become a bit of an inside joke in your fandom

Cyno is the second older fan. Like Kaveh, he prides himself over having a good amount of knowledge about you that's not exactly easy to find – old, old, old images of other kpop idols in which you appear for a fraction of a second, spotting the products you use in your lives and being able to find out the brands is his specialty. If Kaveh has the knowledge, Cyno at least has the detective skills. He has his own individually run fanpage where most other fanpages, even your group's fanpages, refer to as a trusted source. Has also managed to create several fancams of you that were incredibly hard to get ahold of. He's those fanpages on twitter who thoroughly collect evidence and manage to pinpoint future events you're going to take part in before they're announced, and he manages to predict it correctly almost all the time. He's well known within the fandom, but due to how busy he is in 4ggravate trying to form a cumulative plan almost all the time, rarely does he find the time to respond to other fans and fanpages, and most other admins don't usually approach him either.

If anything, at least he's got more resources and money than Kaveh. I imagine he actually also is in a lot of other groups besides 4ggravate.

Alhaitham, out of everyone, is the one who's actually talked to you the most. He was originally just interested in the music, didn't really care until he realized how less and less your lines became the more songs your group churned out. So in his mind, to "make up for" the lack of lines on your end, he decides to simply just pay extra attention to your solo activities. It's not soon before you become his bias. Unlike Kaveh, he was pretty strategic and managed to plan ahead for scheduled fancalls, fanmeetings, appearances in public, etc..

he leaves a lasting impression because.. he doesn't show his appearance. At all. There's many fans out there who get your attention by doing strange things with their appearance, but Alhaitham refuses to even take off his mask just to talk to you. In fancalls, he decides to cover the cameras, always wears hoodies that cover him completely when he meets you in public. At some point, the fandom falls in love with him instead (which drives Kaveh insane), and it's not soon before there's all sorts of rumors about you two. The rumors get more wild when he only ever takes his hoodie off once when you meet him face to face. Personality wise, he sticks out because of how easily he's able to spot changes in choreography, voice, pitch, writing style, etc.. and even more so, because of how upfront about it he is, without actually being creepy about it. He gives good advice without making it sound like unwelcome criticism.

Tighnari is actually the normal one. He just generally likes the music and likes your voice specifically because he thinks your voice suits the concept the best, but because of a few injustices (which he sarcastically comments on many fancams, to which also many fans agree), he finds himself doing something similar to Alhaitham. Albeit, less.. detailed? Is what he thinks. He's actually a bit of a keyboard warrior when it comes down to it – replying to group threads that intentionally leave you out, having the sassiest comebacks to mean or rude comments about you, piecing together timelines and locations to prove false rumors wrong, working especially close with Cyno in these kinds of cases. If there's a fancam of you, Tighnari is under it fighting some or the other hater, or just blatantly commenting on the event itself that intentionally disrespects you or your group.

He's probably the only one who actually leaves a long lasting impression on you. When your car drives by a bunch of your excited fans, he's the normal one who's looking on calmly and waving to you with a stoic face. Whenever he comes to fanmeetings with Alhaitham, or has fancalls with you – it's fun! His humor is easy to accustom to, conversation goes lightly, and overall he's the tamest out of everyone. He gives you some skincare advice which you gladly accept, and somehow, despite not being as incriminating as the others when it came to detail, they're salty about how he seems to be the one who's closest to you. It's not unnoticeable the way out of all four of them, you recognize him by a first name basis. Ohhh boy.

[insanelyadd]

ONE MONTH UNTIL LET PAPYRUS SAY FUCK DAY (June 16th)!!!

Don't forget, it's now the third year of #LetPapyrusSayFuck ! I will be making an additional reminder about it a week from the day (so on the 9th of June)

Another wonderful year to celebrate Papyrus and his ever-present ability to say fuck! Before I talk about the day a bit more and give prompts as usual I would like to thank everyone who participated last year, especially those that showed your support for the additional #BringBackTheCoolDude campaign, which allowed the official cool dude shirts a limited re-release with a new easter egg on the inside referencing LPSFD!

(Image ID: a picture of the new cool dude shirt, folded and displayed in such a way to predominantly feature the "COOL DUDE" design on the front, with the easter egg from the inner back of the shirt being a small doodle of Papyrus with a speech bubble that says "FUNK!" end ID)

As far as I'm aware there's still some available to purchase if you want!

Okay so for Prompts!!

Papyrus saying fuck or other swear words of your choice (maybe his puzzle electrocuted him, maybe he stubbed his toe, maybe he is tired of Sans repeating the same joke to him for the 38th time in an hour)

Papyrus commits arson

Papyrus as the Ambassador of Monsters is tired of human's political BS

Anything else your heart desires!

Bonus!

Include another character, from UT or anything else, that you want to be saying fuck with Papyrus (Inspired by the @let-them-say-fuck-tournament ) If you do include another character from Undertale or another fandom, I encourage you to make a #Let(character)SayFuck tag (no spaces so it's the same on twitter and tumblr)

Papyrus is encouraging others who deserve to say fuck for whatever reason to join him on the wonderful #LetPapyrusSayFuck Day! I already have an idea for what to do with this prompt, in addition to a completely normal standalone of Papyrus.

Rules:

Tag your posts with #swearing (if that applies) #LetPapyrusSayFuck (regardless of whether he is or not) as well as #Papyrus #undertale and any other fandom or character tags that may apply.

You don't need to go all out and paint a masterpiece, you can draw a shitpost-y doodle, write a fic, knit a sweater?? Whatever you want! Just have fun. <3

If you aren't able to get your piece done for the actual day that's completely fine! Papyrus can swear any day of the year, and no matter what I'll be reblogging as many posts as I can to @letpapyrussayfuckofficial (which you are free to tag in your post!)

Don't forget to join the festivities by reblogging and liking other participants art, fics, whatever they've made! This is a fun communal event and I want it to be uplifting and supportive! :>

Have Fun!

[ventique18]

- Not twst, sort of rant -

Notice how the ones on twitter shouting that human translators/localizers should just be entirely replaced by AI don't know a lick of Japanese. Putting aside the obvious domino disaster that would happen to everyone if we let AI take over a career, Japanese is extremely different from English, to the point that making a stellar translation the likes of Ace Attorney requires that you be an even more stellar writer. Those who think translators don't deserve their pay are clearly too dumb to learn another language and too dumb to learn how to write above Elementary School level essays.

It's true that there are a few bad apples here and there who make questionable translation choices. But majority of those few did not even make the decision to publish that themselves; companies can and will censor and alter messages that they think will affect their image. That's why sometimes fan translations feel better than official ones. Fans just don't have the same level of restriction that official translators do. No translator worth their salt would willingly publish something that will ruin their reputation, especially if they're N1 certified (the highest level) and took years or decades to master the craft.

"But context gets lost when human translators do it--" And even more context will get lost if AI does it. I've watched my fair share of anime that are obviously AI translated and they're so bad you wouldn't even understand why it looks like everyone just heard a joke when you couldn't find where the punchline was. That rewatching it side by side with another publisher's human translation perfectly showcases the sheer difference between shitty writing of AI and someone who possibly earned a Master's or PHD. Example: AI translation of Shikanoko anime ep 1: "Don't tell me, you're a lady?" Actual translation: "So you're saying you're really a virgin?"

This out of control hatred for translators is just pure spite and petty envy, is all. I'll admit that I'm not the best in Japanese, but even with my intermediate skills I know exactly how hard the language is and how much time and effort it takes to even be remotely good at it.

[dearheart42regenerated]

MOTORCITY SEASON 2 MASTERPOST

once upon a time, over 10 years ago, just a few months after the announcement that Motorcity was officially canceled...the creators of the show took pity on their heartbroken fandom and gave us several glimpses of what season 2 might have been like. they saw how much we loved Motorcity and gave us every scrap of info they could at the time, so that we could use those scraps to imagine our own personal "Season 2" - whether it continue on in our fics, our fanart, or simply our own heads.

I'm making this masterpost so that none of this material will be lost or forgotten, and so any fanartists/fic writers still hanging around today can use it for inspiration. if there's any related material I've missed, PLEASE feel free to add it in a reblog or let me know in my inbox! I want this list to be as complete as we can make it! :)

--

The Season 2 That Never Was: A Comprehensive List

Motorcity Season 2 Rough Intro "Scratch audio by our very own Chris P." (x)

-> backup download

--

Season 2 Writer's Wall posted (and later deleted) by @chrisprynoski on twitter, and shared on tumblr by @peopleofmotorcity, these pictures of the writer's wall showed us a "rough sketch" of what could have been, and gave our imaginations SO many fun theories and possibilities to play with. every blurry sticky note was a treasure to us. :')

-> original tumblr posts: x x x x x x x x x x x x -> image masterpost -> google drive folder

--

Chris Prynoski's Fan Interview + Tumblr Q&A's this whole interview on youtube is a delight to listen to, and Part 2 in particular has some interesting bits about season 2. (skip to 17:10 for some good stuff about Texas and Chuck's backgrounds!)

-> Part 1 -> Part 2

Chris P also answered several juicy season 2 questions on tumblr. sadly his blog is deactivated now, but you can still read through all of them at the links below!

-> image masterpost -> google drive folder

--

Capri Chilton - Mike Chilton's long lost big sister! I can't remember where or when it was first revealed that they were considering giving Mike a secret older sister, and I haven't been able to track down the origin. that being said, when it was revealed, the fandom loved the idea so much that they begged the creators to make it canon. Chris P busted out the "magical canon stick", gave us this delightful concept sketch, and "Capri Chilton" was born!

--

The Motorcity Series Bible "To help you all understand what it is you are reading, this is the material that Titmouse used to help pitch Motorcity, and it was also a tool for writers to use when coming up with episodes to help understand who the characters were before there was any other reference. That being said, this was one of the very first documents about Motorcity, so many things have changed or evolved from these early concepts." (x)

-> original tumblr posts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 -> image backups -> PDF download

EDIT: the COMPLETE series bible has now been leaked by Lost Media Busters on X (Twitter) and helpfully shared by @waksworldrebooted!!

--> here is a google drive download for the full PDF file!

--

Motorcity Series Bible - Redacted Version (Pages 1, 2, 17, 19, 20) funfact: @peopleofmotorcity was the official? unofficial? tumblr blog for Motorcity, and it was run by a guy named Mac - an animator for the show who loved to tease and joke around with the fandom. before revealing the actual first 13 pages of the series bible, he posted this censored version as a prank - a mix of truth and trolling! it's up to the fandom to decide which is which. ;)

-> original tumblr posts: 1 2 17 19 20 -> image backups -> PDF download

--

MTV Era Motorcity Masterpost a fantastic collection of glimpses into the original pilot/pitch trailer that would evolve into the show we know and love today, found and compiled by @waksworldrebooted. "In 2000, Chris Prynoski pitched a cartoon called Motorcity. He made a card and a website promoting the show, which wouldn't see the light of day until the Walt Disney Company got their hands on it."

--> tumblr masterpost (including wayback links to the old website) --> twitter sources from Chris P himself :)

--

Motorcity Unaired Pilot - 2009 Disney Version Originally aired during Comic Con 2012, the pilot was recorded and then posted on YouTube by Allison Simmons in July of 2012, later being privatized in 2022. The video was re uploaded onto VKVideo 22 days after its original posting to YouTube and is still currently available to watch online. (x)

--> backup download --> also viewable here!

--

if I find more material, I will add it here! :)

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Magic: Return of the Asspull

So the word on Twitter is that there have been leaked reports of a new anime called "Dragon Ball Magic". I'm pretty sure it's all made-up bullshit, but I remember thinking Dragon Ball Super was a pipe dream too, and here we are. So I may as well discuss the topic here.

The whole thing comes across like a modern day Dragon Ball AF, where there seems to be a lot more emphasis on hype and speculation than tangible evidence. For example, there's a twitter account dedicated to gathering all the information available about the new series, but all it really does is amplify rumors and fanworks. When I search for the title on Twitter I mostly get skeptics making fun of the idea, or true believers talking about the show as if it were objective fact. Like AF, there's a lot of excitement but no clear picture of what the the thing actually is. The only real consensus I can find is the following:

Dragon Ball Magic will feature the Supreme Kai

Goku will be turned into a child, just like in Dragon Ball GT

Geekdom101 talked about this once, so that means it must be real.

And that's why I led off with the screenshot of the tail-yanking scene from GT, because I was trying to find an appropriate image of GT Goku and the Supreme Kai, and... yeah, that's it.

The more I think about it, the more this feels like something an internet troll would come up with. Like, someone started with the stupidest moment in the worst Dragon Ball series ever, and built a rumor around it. Oh, and also the rumor namedrops Geekdom101, just to make it extra absurd. It's the sort of thing gullible people would flock to while everyone in on the joke would have a laugh over it.

I don't know enough about Geekdom101 to insult him properly, but I'm like 90% sure he's an asshole. Back when Twitter actually worked properly, I'd see his name trending and there'd be a bunch of people in the fandom going "Dammit, what's he done this time?" Does he have inside sources in the anime industry? I dunno, maybe he does, but I think he's got a credibility problem. I mean, he calls himself "Geekdom101", and his avatar is Golden Frieza with a pair of glasses and holding a lightsaber. His YouTube videos look like a clickbait parody, with things like "Kai-o-ken EXPLAINED" and "WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR". Also plenty of what-if and who-would-win videos.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest that maybe this is a guy who makes a decent living off his fandom channel, and when there's not much going on, he'll cobble together a story just to keep the conversation going and draw more attention to his videos. Which... I mean, if that's profitable, so be it, but if Geekdom told me water was wet I'd want to double-check for myself.

As to the rest, even if Toei was really planning something like DB Magic, there's no guarantee they'd actually follow through with it. Plans change, and even if this were 100% legit, it means nothing without an official confirmation and a release date. That "Superman Lives!" movie with Nic Cage was a real thing... right until it wasn't.

But I find the concept too vague and too specific all at once. Like, okay, it's Supreme Kai and a de-aged Goku. Why them in particular? What are they going to do? It just feels like something someone made up to get a reaction from the fans. GT likers are supposed to get all excited or defensive about a potential GT reboot, and other fans are supposed to get upset that the Supreme Kai got the lead instead of their favorite C-lister.

Compare this to the early reveals for DBS: Superhero. Toei teased a few details, and gradually it became clear that the Red Ribbon Army was back somehow, and maybe there were some new androids, and there was a lot about Piccolo and Gohan, so it seemed like they'd be a big part of the story. It wasn't a complete picture, but it made sense from a promotional standpoint. People were more concerned with the CG animation than any of the characters or plot.

I mean, anyone can come up with this stuff. I mean, my uncle works for Nintendo, and he told me that the next anime is going to be called Dragon Ball Snazzy, and it'll be about Vegeta and 18 starting up a private detective agency. Or... I don't know, Dragon Ball Jazz, which is a prequel series featuring a young Dr. Brief and Gine as secret agents. Wait, how about Dragon Ball Spatula, starring Elder Guru and Launch as they explore the multiverse!

And you know, I'd probably watch any of these shows. Hell, I sat through GT, and it was awful! The bar's pretty low when it comes to making a Dragon Ball project that I'm willing to try out. But people have been clamoring for Dragon Ball Super II ever since the first series went off the air in 2018, and that was years ago. This Dragon Ball Magic business just sounds like the same old empty hype with a fresh coat of paint.

Or maybe the whole thing is real, but my advice is: Don't get your hopes up. Life's too short to get worked up over things that might never happen. If it actually comes to pass, then it'll still be just as much fun whether you believed it ahead of time or not.

[misskattylashes]

The Dichotomy of Being a Teenage Alex Turner Fan

In this article I look at why I think so many teenage fans direct so much hate towards Miles.

Look at this image search I did on Alex’s name. First person whose name comes up ‘Miles Kane’, first other person he is in another picture with, Miles...before a puff piece about Louise or Taylor. It’s Miles. There are more results with Miles than anyone else. Whether people like it or not, Miles and Alex are intrinsically linked.

In the words of the big man himself ‘stop and wait a sec’...... imagine Miles was Mila, a constant female companion of Alex’s who he had been close to for nearly twenty years. Had been at his side more than any other woman, had done two duets with him and whilst touring the second one, their performances were so sexually charged you thought any moment soon they were actually going to have sex on stage. What would you think? You would think they were or had been in a romantic relationship. And even though you haven’t seen much of them together over the past few years, Mila constantly talks lovingly about Alex in her interviews, and Alex invites Mila to be the support act for the final days of a very long world tour, and on one of the dates he lets Mila stand side-stage (something his official girlfriend doesn’t get to do) and throughout the set he sings to Mila and can’t stop glancing at her. People would be enamoured with their love story and desperate for them to be together.

So why is it different just because Miles is a guy?

Of course there is the obvious. If Alex is gay, then the teenage fans stand no chance with him, which would be upsetting. But even me, as a creaky old Gen X-er, had gay pop stars who were attractive and sexy – Holly Johnson and Paul Rutherford from Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Andy Bell from Erasure, even Boy George got screamed at, but we accepted they were gay and we didn’t stand a chance and that was it.

Of course, there was no social media then, but did we write hateful letters to them or their partners, or put up posters on street corners saying how disgusting they were? (the 80s equivalent to posting all over Twitter) No.

So why the anger towards Miles?

Unfortunately when I was growing up, homophobia was acceptable. Gay people were constantly the butt of jokes, straight comedians would pretend to be effette just for laughs. At school we even had the reprehensible Section 28, imposed by Thatcher’s government where any mention of homosexuality was banned, even books featuring gay characters, to apparently help prevent us from experimenting and catching AIDS (yes I grew up in the Dark Ages)

But there comes the rub. Because homophobia was acceptable, any negative feelings we had towards our gay pop stars or their partners wasn’t something we felt bad about so we felt no need to pick on anyone as a way of dealing with our own conflicted emotions

Fast forward to 2023. Gay people have rights, can marry, have children, are positively represented in the media, we have Pride, which is on the point of becoming too commercialised, and to be homophobic is to most young people not cool or acceptable.

Those same girls who spew hate towards Miles probably paint rainbows on their pencil cases during Pride, have male gay friends at school and would have a go at anyone who doesn’t support trans rights.

But then there is the fact that the celebrity they desire has a constant male companion, who he has been more publicly intimate with then any of the girlfriends he has had. Scratch beneath the surface and you can spot the differences in them when they fell out after EYCTE -both a shell of their former self. When there was a brief break in Lockdown in the UK, who did Alex choose to meet? Miles. Whether the fangirls consciously or subconsciously think there is something going on, it makes them feel uncomfortable with themselves. The presence of Miles Kane makes them realise they’re not necessarily that right-on girl who is into gay rights, because when they actually think about it, and think about what men do, they don’t like it.

But instead of realising that this is just part of being a grown up – we all have things about ourselves we don’t like, they direct their anger and frustration at Miles, as if he didn’t exist then they wouldn’t be confronted by these unpleasant feelings they have.

So, what I am trying to say is whilst I find the comments about Miles disgusting and cruel, just remember with these girls the person they really hate is themselves, while Miles lives his lovely life with his career and his friends and Alex and Maxie.

I think we know who is the winner here.

[skyburger]

LOVE when people reblog things but say in the tags like they disagree with the main point of it or "um op is wrong actuwlly" cause idk if its just how i personally see tumblr tags working but thats like. why did you re-share a post to your followers if you dont like or agree with it at all and you didnt even add commentary on it. Like why would u reblog a post saying "i hope u mean the opposite of this actually..??" no thats not what op meant hello. i havent seen anyone do this recently but i just remembered people do this and its a little funny to me like why would u do that.

Anyway unrelated but this is my official announcement statement whatever (most important of all time):

Just because i reblog a picture of some food does not mean i actually like the ingredients or the dish. sometimes i think it looks good until i read that they put fucking lavender or some shit in a cake. why would uou do that i dont want to eat lavender i dont really want to smell it most of the time but even if it was mt fave smell ever why would i want to eat that. hello? and also sometimes im like i know i would hate that hut it looks really pretty. Anyway this is my PSA:

Please do not assume i like such heinous foods as "mint" "peanut butter" or "asparagus" because i do not. sometimes i will reblog food becaus it looks nice and i do not endorse these ingreidents going in my tummy they are NOT yummy. to me.

i dont knwo why i would reblog asparagus because that Looks gross too tbh but. u know what i mean hipefully i got my point across

peace and love. here is an image i saved from cropped mgs memes on twitter when i scrolled through their entire account again the other day. i miss you twitter user bigbossbigmemes. i showed my mom some of them because i accidentiwlly said "i cannot believe i am living in a world"

↑ i cannot believe i am living in a world

and her favorite of the ones i sent her was this one

share if you dont think!

unrelated i asked my mom if she "kinned" big boss once as a joke like three years ago and i dont think she remembers this at all but i still think about it sorry to my mom. she said something like "yeah sure because he looks like a warrior and im strong too" which fair enouhh i just dont think she knows about the war crimes. i dont think she knows what kinning is either i dont remmeber how i explained it to her but i bet it was poorly. if she was big boss and me andnmy siblings were the shit twins + ex-president george sears i would be liquid snake my sister would be solid snake and my little brother would be solidus snake its important to me that you all know this. i havent actuwlly thought about thet in a while but its true to me ok.

unrelated: someone remind me to post a picture of my metal gear shower curtain at some point. idk if i ever shared it but its pretty awesome.

but thatse just abtheory. a game theory!!'matpat out!

[jayessar]

Instead of fully being an annoying boomer loser who isn't happy about the new things, I'll make some sort of a masterpost about cool JSR and JSRF information sources and other neat thingies. Probably will be updated if i find anything else worth including.

So, first of all:

•Official websites for JSR and JSRF. JSRF website has an English version, but it's barely archived and doesn't have much information on it anyway. JSR one is really awesome though, a lot of cool tidbits, character bios(they include one new trivia for some characters ) and game tips!!

•A whole bunch of guidebooks, meaning JSR Perfect Guide, JSRF Perfect Guidebook and the JGR Sybex's Official Strategies & Secrets . Only one of them is in English, but they're still useful for maps and Graffiti Soul collecting. If you can read these then even better lol. Keep in mind, that the JSR Perfect Guide only covers the original Japanese release, which is different from the later one's.

• Sexy as hell manuals for JGR, De La JSR, JSR for GBA and JSRF. Always good to know about these.

•The JSR and JSRF articles on Sega Retro. You probably noticed me linking them for the manuals and whatnot. If you want to find out stuff about these games, this is second best source for it (first one is playing the games lol). But it has some weird statements like saying that Beat is the leader of the GGs, even though it doesn't make any logical sense, and claiming that JSRF is a sequel game, but then also saying that it's not in the actual JSRF article.

It's probably the obvious thing that could've been noted, so now to less obvious one's.

• Jet Set Radio Wiki. Okay, this website had a bad reputation and all and was filled with creepy comments and lies, now it's all good. I swear. New admin didn't just remove all the misinformation, but also regularly writes new articles! Like how we have Ollie King related pages there now(while it's a different game, making a separate wiki for it would be kind of an overkill so it's there). Anyways yeah, it's good now. But still always check the sources! It's good to do no matter where you are.

While these little things suck, they're completely overshadowed by the sheer amount of fucking information included. Scans, art, documentation of which magazine had articles regarding the games and on which page AND EVERYTHING IS WITH SOURCES AND IMAGES. This is really strong and you'll be there for hours just staring in wonder at all this compiled info.

• JSR Archives. This is a community dedicated for archiving and categorising all the stuff JSR related. One of their members was the one who posted the Sybex guide on the internet.(whoahaaa they got a tumblr FOLLOW THEM!!)

• TCRF article on JGR. While this article wasn't updated in quite some time and is missing a whole bunch of stuff (like the leaked prototypes), it's still a very nice read.

• A whole bunch of prototypes. I included only those i consider noteworthy, if you wanna get the other's, they're there as well.

• JSRF Inside. A certified hood classic if we're talking about JSRF modding.

• Best source for JSRF speedrunning information.

• An extremely really detailed playthrough/guide of JSR. Includes cool trivia like regional differences and instructions for character unlocking.

• Less detailed, but still very useful video guide for unlocking all of the secret JSRF characters.

• Playlist of JSR/JSRF music, and anything related to them, like different remixes and stuff. Read the description for more details. It also has a link to a text document containing a lot of cool trivia about the artist featured in the games and other JSR related media.

• Video with all the dialogue and special interactions in JSRF.

• Kind of a joke entry, but also Hideki Naganuma's twitter account is worth checking out. Not his new tweets, but really old one's. In the past he was more involved with the fanbase and shared some neat trivia. Not related to him but one of the Castle Logical ppl confirmed that the lyrics in Mischievous Boy say "chameleon machine" and it fucks me up so much.

• This goofy ass official IGN guide for JSR. Why i didn't put it with the rest of the official guides? Well, the reason is that the writer for this thing, Aki, is a real silly goose and they decided to spice up some of the character descriptions. While these are probably based on some legitimate information, like Beat being from Fukuoka(which was confirmed by a Beat TUBBZ figurine of all things), you can't trust these due to its silliness. Like they gave DJ K a backstory, which just ruins his whole deal AND contradicts the game manual. They also consistently get the names for locations wrong. As a game guide it's pretty good?? You can use it. Just don't go around calling Gum a "brownface girl" after reading it.

That's everything i can remember so far, hope this helps.

[kafus]

oh hey ive been meaning to ask is there an easy or preferred way to get into kamitsubaki lore esp for vwp. ive tried to skim the website like 3 separate times & only picked up the very very basics

ok so the problem with kamitsubaki lore is that literally like Most of it that is direct and not just implied thru music videos/twitter posts happened in a fuckign ARG that is... kind of lost media kind of not. the kamitsubaki city ARG took place on a website where players were given new... riddles and tasks called Qs every day for the month of october in 2021 and that website is now inaccessible but people i know archived and translated all the content they could so it's still viewable in some fashion. a couple of my friends practically singlehandedly edit the kamitsubaki fandom wiki and you can find all the "story fragments" (cutscenes from the ARG with direct story) translated here (oh and there's also lost media from before the ARG from kaf's old fanbox page that is now inactive/lost media... i have all of the images from that but they aren't all typeset yet so i'd have to get back to you on that one. it's dubious whether all that stuff is still canon anyways, a lot of it seemed conceptual before kamicity was properly outlined. one day i'll compile all this shit somewhere for everyone to have easy access since the wiki is kinda eh for it)

when you said "skim the website" i assume you're talking about the website for the narrative TTRPG stuff? perhaps? sorry kamitsubaki has websites all over the place it's kind of a disaster. i can't give too much information on this one honestly, my japanese isn't good enough and i'm a little bit behind, but afaik other than the tutorial after you sign up which walks you through a scenario with one of the girls as TTRPG practice, the rest is just... TTRPG stuff. like you making up stories with other players within the setting and whatnot. you'd have to browse through it. (eventually there's going to be some sort of small video game related to all of this. exciting. who knows when that'll happen)

there is also some stuff to do with the cr/ypto project that's loosely correlated with kamitsubaki city i guess but not really you can ignore that. and i would ignore it. i do

otherwise it's kind of like vocaloid song series where the VWP music videos contain hints to lore/metaphorically show what's happening. occasionally art is posted to the hashtag # STORY_VWP on twitter too which contains art correlated with the actual story of kamicity.

if you want my basic breakdown and understanding, tldr the girls r summoned from elsewhere by a mysterious organization called the Restoration Foundation to use magic singing powers to restore life to a city, but the city is doomed to end in apocalypse from fishlike creatures called Tessaracters every single time and they're like. in a time loop with varying amounts of memory retrieval trying to save kamitsubaki city and go home. there seems to be a lot of significance with what clothes the girls are wearing in different media and etc etc

Sorry i'm sleepy and this is probably too long and also a mess. the reason it's a mess though is because VWP lore is a mess and that's part of the fun for me. if you have more specific questions about specific parts i probably can help with an answer though! i'm not as into it as some other people but the lore is still fun to theorize on and i like seeing symbolism in the music videos.

this isn't even touching on like. how there's the kaf membership manga canon which is just an official comic where vwp is in high school together. or otogibanashi which was a series of... spoken skits? that kaf put on at her concerts for a while and has yet to be concluded and is a completely different universe from the rest of the vwp lore. Truly an enigma

by the way look at this video of one of my fandom friends posting a shitpost gif we made into the japanese kamicity ARG discord chat during a livestream. we made kaf laugh. the joke is that parrot was so annoying you don't want to know. i am so proud of this communityjsfdksdf

[faisdm]

The one downside to Tumblr, compared to say, Twitter, is that Tumblr just doesn’t care about your original works. It is painfully difficult to get people on Tumblr to give even a single shit about an original comic, story or game. It’s not a new thing, of course, it’s been like that for over a decade... but it’s always disappointing, and if you’re new here and thinking “maybe someday if I get really good and get published, or get really popular in a fandom, they’ll care!” No... sorry, they won’t, and you need to know that, or you’ll keep trying to please them and slowly get worn down by it as nothing you do seems to get you anywhere, even if you’re giving them everything they loudly proclaim they want.

It’s bizarre; people on Tumblr would rather invent an entire non-existent movie by rich cishet people and pretend it has gay subtext- subtext! Not even text!- than read original queer works by queer creators and discuss and celebrate them! Like, FFS, Tumblr, LOVE YOURSELVES. The best you can imagine for yourselves is hypothetically being queerbaited!?

And don’t get me wrong, I love the shared creativity of all the posters and things and the in-joke of the made up gangster movie, but coming back to Tumblr after a while on Twitter, hoping for a “better place” I’m inevitably reminded of why I always end up drifting off it. I want people to read my work; I put a lot of effort into it, and spending time on a platform that aggressively doesn’t give a shit while proclaiming “boy, I wish there were more things like [describes exactly my work]... but there aren’t, so we’ll just have to pretend the characters from this straight series by straight people might have maybe not been straight!” is just....EUGH. It’s tiresome! People on twitter will take a chance on it! People on Tiktok will give it a go, and even Facebook! It has thousands of subscribers, it’s on a Tapas program, it ran a pretty successful Kickstarter, and I’ve been published multiple times, so it’s clearly not a bad comic... and it has everything Tumblr claims to like in it! Sword lesbians, political metaphors, meme jokes, autistic and nonbinary representation, positive bisexual rep... AND it’s made by a long-time Tumblr person from the fucking Homestuck fandom! (over ten years as admin and VA on one of the biggest Homestuck projects that exists, an artist on not just fan albums, but two of the official albums!) What more can I give you to convince you this comic is for you, Tumblr!? I made it for you!

The problem with Tumblr is that everyone talks like they’re super open-minded and totally interested in supporting marginalised people... but they’re really not? They’re actually interested in curating an image, and if “supporting marginalised people” is part of that image, somebody will reblog content about the concept of supporting marginalised people. But you’re marginalised in publishing and hoping Tumblr will actually support your work focused on themes and groups underrepresented in media? Tumblr won’t help you, because people on Tumblr people only care about a thing if you can make it fit within the narrow band of “on brand” things that they’re already into. So you actually have to have a massive fandom already before Tumblr will feel like your fandom’s content has an audience and so is safe to share as part of the brand you’ve curated.

...and sadly, that’s why for original creators, Tumblr can never replace Twitter, even though Twitter is the worst; because we need to find people who will actually try new things, and Tumblr people don’t. They’ll just sit there, reblogging the same stuff about “what if these two canonically straight white men in suits cuddled a little bit?” And then make the tired excuse that “Well, I HAVE to do this because nobody provides the real queer content I would totally consume if it was real!” and waving that very real queer content in their faces will just result in them pretending not to see it.

[fearsmagazine]

FANGS OUT - Review

DISTRIBUTOR: Stadium Media

SYNOPSIS:  A Group of college students head to Mexico for some cheap plastic surgery. There they meet Dr. Pavor, a creepy surgeon who is actually a vampire, harvesting victims for his blood cartel. Aided by his blood thirsty nurses he systematically carries out his evil plan. When a detective looking for his missing daughter arrives - all hell breaks loose in a bloody combustible conclusion.

REVIEW: Filmmaker Dennis Devine to date has over 30 credits to his name, beginning with the first feature he directed in 1989, “Fatal Images.” That film was a genre film about a haunted camera possessed by a serial killer, and over the years he’s made numerous genre films, quite a few in the vampire genre. In FANGS OUT the head vampire uses the cover of a Mexican plastic surgery clinic to lure victims in.

The plot is a fun idea that begins to fall apart with burdensome cliches, bad one liners and tons of sexual innuendos and references that could have benefited from a polish by a female screenwriter. It amounts to soft-porn without the visuals. Three of the friends are there for the surgery and one is there for moral support. Almost every scene contains a moment where she questions the shadiness of the clinic. She also is a lesbian catholic school reject that the head vampire has an affinity for. Talk about back loading a character to fill plot holes! Once you get past the initial setup the story delivers everything you expect it to with no real surprises. The story attempts satire, possibly humor, but it tries too hard to get those laughs and the jokes fall like a lead balloon. There is a scene with nurse Anna and a random character that feels like a gag they shoehorned into the plot that could have been cut without any impact on the story.

The production values are uneven. There are times the cinematography is too hot. There are numerous annoying rough edits. There are scenes in the same location where there is an air unit running and as they cut between characters the background sound appears and disappears. The costumes look like bagged outfits from a ninety-nine cents store. The makeup on nurse Anna is bad, as are all the prosthetic fangs that look like bad dentures. The production design utilizes lots of fabric or sheets to turn rooms into operating rooms, in addition to protect the vampires from sunlight.

The performances are monotone. I’ve seen better performances in a porn films and I’m not talking about the sex scenes. It feels like they are all in on the joke and are nodding to each other thinking the audience won’t notice. There are a few times when actress Stacy Aung’s work rises above the rest for a moment, but it quickly degrades back to the same level as the rest of the cast. With the fangs in, it becomes difficult to understand what they are saying and it looks like they might spit them out any second.

FANGS OUT takes a timely topic and never hits its mark as it is stiffelled by lackluster production values, poor acting, and some sloppy writing. I’m a bit surprised because being familiar with some of director Dennis Devine’s other films, FANGS OUT feels rushed. Many of his films have that B movie feel, but there are good B movies and bad ones. Much like the character of Madison, I’m here to warn you that this is a bit shady.

Intentional or not, I did find it funny that many of the names in the cast sound like the names of porn stars and Veronica Ricci has done her share of them.

CAST: Stacy Aung, Samuel Code, Heidi Hemlock, Angel Juarez, Marlene McCohen, Jessie Vane, Brian Easter Jr, Desiree Estrada, Robert Rhine, Randy Oppenheimer and Veronica Ricci. CREW: Director/Cinematographer/Editor - Dennis Devine; Screenplay - Drake Cola & Dennis Devine; Producers - David S. Sterling & Randy Oppenheimer; Production Designer/Special Effects - Richard Calderon; Digital Effects - Jeff Leroy OFFICIAL: fangs-out.com FACEBOOK: N.A. TWITTER:  N.A. TRAILER: https://youtu.be/6MmtSXKjeT4 RELEASE DATE: On digital May 23rd, 2023

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on digital platforms - 👍 (Like), 👌 (It’s just okay),  or 👎 (Dislike)

Reviewed by Joseph B Mauceri

[pomrania]

[Twitter thread by Rebecca Makkal @/rebeccamakkai, about the shared etymology for "nacho" and "Nazi". Transcription follows.]

This is a thread about a) how the word "nacho" and the word "Nazi" come from the same source, and what it has to do with this guy; and b) one of my biggest historical accuracy pet peeves.

[picture of a monk or saint]

First of all, the guy in the picture is St. Ignatius of Loyola, who helped popularize the name Iganatius and its various forms (Ignaz, Ignacz, I guess eventually Iggy) around Europe.

BUT, since he was Spanish, his actual name was Inigo.

[image of Inigo Montoya from 'The Princess Bride']

One of the reasons he's a saint is that he had visions when he was in the hospital. He saw something that "seemed to have the shape of a serpent and had many things that shone like eyes, but were not eyes… When the object vanished he became disconsolate."

Good enough for me! Make that man a saint and name a bunch of colleges after him!

Anyway, the name remained popular. (Also as a last name. My Hungarian grandmother's last name was Ignácz, so I've got a horse in this race. Or, like, a snake in this hospital.)

Okay, so nachos first, and I think more people know this part of the story: This lovely man, Ignacio Anaya Garcia, went by the logical nickname Nacho.

[black-and-white photo of a man]

He was working at a restaurant in Texas near the border and in 1943 a bunch of hungry army wives came in, but the chef was out, so Nacho threw a bunch of stuff together and they loved it, and then there were nachos throughout the land, hallelujah.

But MEANWHILE, in Germany…

…the name Ignaz (pronounced Ignatz) had somehow become a pejorative nickname connoting an uneducated peasant. Basically, it was the "Cletus" of early 20th century Germany.

Or rather -- sorry, I'm tired and wrote that wrong and I won't pay Elno for the edit option. Ignaz as a name was commonly used. But its common nickname, Nazi, was the Cletus equivalent.

There was (and still is) a left-wing German political party called the Social Democratic Party of Germany (but, like, in German). As an abbreviation of Sozialdemokrat, members were called Sozis (pronounced Sotzis).

Enter the Nationalsozialisten (National Socialist) party. (In German, that would be pronounced nat-zi-o-nal etc.) You might know them from such members as the very short Joseph Goebbels and the one-nutted Ad*lf H*tler [sic].

People quickly realized that a great way to mock them was to abbreviate their name to parallel Sozi -- which made them "Nazis", AKA Cletuses.

In the early days of the party, a few members embraced it -- kind of like Trumpers calling themselves Deplorables on Twitter. But you know who had absolutely NO sense of humor about this stuff? Mr. One-Nut.

After he came to power, Austrian anti-Nazis continued to use the term (because they got the Cletus joke) and then it spread to the US and elsewhere. But using it in Germany would be asking to get shot.

When referring to themselves, Nazis would use the term Parteigenosse (m) or Parteigenossin (f), meaning "party member".

And the party itself they would have called the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers' Party) or NSDAP.

This brings me to my huge historical pet peeve, which I want to put out there for anyone writing historical fiction or a screenplay or whatever: Nazis DID NOT CALL THEMSELVES that.

Now that you know, see how many times you're watching a movie and some Nazi official is like "We are proud Nazis!" or "Here in Nazi Germany…"

But I also fucking LOVE that neo-nazis who call themselves that are unwittingly insulting themselves. It's really kind of perfect.

I'm normally a "call people what they ask to be called" person, but in this case it's pretty great that those guys will forever be remembered with their pejorative nickname. It's like if in 100 years everyone thought Trump's real name was Mango Mussolini.

Oh, here's a fun graphic that I did not make. I like it, but it leaves off the nickname-for-Ignaz part.

[flowchart which shows "Sozialist" (socialist) leading to "Sozi", which along with "Nati" and "Nationalsozialist" (national socialist) leads to "Nazi"]

Let's put a moral on the story. When you find yourself living through the 1940s, you can either be such a dick that the world will forget your real name, or you can melt some cheese and be a nice guy and make the world better.

[black and white photo of a man, presumably the same person as the earlier photo]

(He had a better mustache, too.)

[the following is a reply to the above thread, by big richard ii energy @/angevin2]

"Fascism" and "fajitas" also come from the same root! The root in question being the Latin fascis for bundle of sticks (primarily but not exclusively the one that served as a Roman symbol of authority). From this comes Spanish 'faja' for 'strip' and thence the diminutive 'fajita'.

It's kind of amazing that there are no less than two instances in which horrible dictatorships and delicious Tex-Mex cuisine are etymologically related.

[End description.]

[aleyalea]

From Memes to Political: How Jokes Shape Our Views

MDA2009 DIGITAL COMMUNITIES

!! Friendly reminder: Before you read and begin with this week's discussion, let me warn you guys real quick that I am not  a “biG FaN” of Politic (I’m being serious and not even joking). If you spot any errors or have fun facts to share, let me know!

Now, let me kick off with some big facts that memes are everywhere these days, especially in Malaysia. For example, you can easily get your daily meme dose through MGAG Instagram page where they will share anything that is viral from day to day and share it to the audience just to make people smile after going through a hard week.  Whether it’s a joke about politicians flip-flopping on policies or a sarcastic take on the latest political scandal, memes have taken over our news feeds. If I’m being honest, politics isn’t just confined to parliament anymore, it’s right there, in front of our phone screen through WhatsApp group chat, Facebook and Twitter (X) timelines, mixed with viral videos and jokes that will leave us laughing and wondering, “Hold up, is this actually true?”.

example MGAG meme picture cr: MGAG

Here’s the big question,

Do these “memes offer” any real insight into politics, or are they just a distraction? Well spoiler alert, I think it's both for me. Memes might seem like harmless fun, but they play a serious role in shaping public opinion and political engagement, especially for the younger generations.

Where does the word Meme, Meem or Meh-may, come from?

I know some people are wondering what does memes mean? According to (Benveniste, 2022), the term "meme" has appeared in the New York Times Crossword a remarkable 60 times since its debut in the 1940s (Benveniste, 2022). While pinpointing the very first meme is challenging, British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins is credited with coining the term in his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene. Dawkins originally likened a "meme" to a "phoneme," which is the smallest sound unit in speech, or a "morpheme," the smallest meaningful component of a word, according to Kirby Conrod, a linguistics professor at Swarthmore College (Benveniste, 2022). 

At first, memes were all about humor, silly jokes that went viral for no reason. But over time, they evolved into a kind of social commentary. Consider Malaysia as an example. Memes like “Malu Apa Bossku”, connected to Najib Razak, the former sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia, helped rebrand him with a more approachable image despite his involvement in scandals. Political parties and leaders use social media as a tool to promote as well as condemn rival parties and leaders, including character assassination (Zamri et al., 2020). Memes simplify complicated political situations and make them easier to understand, especially for you people.

Then we have Zunar, a political cartoonist and total legend in space, who uses his work to push back against Malaysia's repressive structures. His cartoons go beyond humor; they provide an alternative view of Malaysian history and national identity, challenging official narratives around culture, nationhood, and citizenship (Yean, 2011).

Through his art, Zunar takes bold jabs at politicians and policies, crafting cartoons that often spread widely as memes. These memes not only reimagine politics with humor but can also foster a sense of togetherness, shaping identities and highlighting the divide between 'us' and 'them' in political discourse (Mortensen & Neumayer, 2021). Zunar’s work highlights what many people are feeling and gets them talking about important issues. His cartoons are a perfect example of how humor can be a form of protest and resistance.

Zunar's artwork about political

Why Memes Work and Their Limits in Political Understanding

Memes are effective because they make politics feel less intimidating, fostering solidarity among like-minded individuals and making political critiques more accessible. However, while this humor fosters engagement, there’s also a risk of trivializing serious issues or fueling hyper-polarization, which can sometimes limit how widely these memes circulate and may push users toward other forms of civic engagement (Penney, 2019).

For many young Malaysians, memes simplify complex issues and make them more relatable, turning topics that might seem overwhelming into something fun and shareable. This helps build a sense of connection, where people feel they’re not alone in their views.

However, while memes can grab attention, their humor can also trivialize serious issues, reducing complex political discussions to jokes. This can lead to hyper-polarization, where people take sides quickly, hindering meaningful conversation. Additionally, memes often rely on emotions like sarcasm or anger, which can rally people but are less conducive to in-depth discussion.

For a lot of young Malaysians who might not follow every move in parliament, memes break down complicated stuff in a way that’s fun and relatable. They turn big topics into things you actually want to share and chat about. So in the end, memes don’t just make politics easier to follow but they make it something you actually want to talk about with your friends.

Final Thoughts,

Do you think memes help us understand politics? Well it's a yes and no. They’re a quick, entertaining way to engage with issues, but memes alone aren't enough, we need to look beyond the jokes and dig into the fact too.

Political memes, like Zunar’s art, can be entertaining, educate, and inspire change. However, they should be seen as a starting point, not the entire story. While memes can make us laugh, it's important to dig deeper and stay informed.

References

Abdul Latif, R., & Elgarrai, S. (2021). The Power of Political Cartoons: A Case Study of Zunar’s “Twit Twit Cincin.” Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 37(1), 146–180. https://doi.org/10.17576/jkmjc-2021-3701-09

Benveniste, A. (2022, January 26). The Meaning and History of Memes. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/26/crosswords/what-is-a-meme.html

Mortensen, M., & Neumayer, C. (2021). The playful politics of memes. Information, Communication & Society, 24(16), 2367–2377. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2021.1979622

Penney, J. (2019). “It’s So Hard Not to be Funny in This Situation”: Memes and Humor in U.S. Youth Online Political Expression. Television & New Media, 21(8), 152747641988606. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476419886068

Yean, S. C. (2011). A cartoonist’s resistance. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 12(3), 420–429. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649373.2011.578805Zamri, M., Anuar, Z., & Jalli, N. (2020). “Malu Apa Bossku?” Najib Razak’s Political Rhetoric on Facebook Post 2018 General Election. Forum Komunikasi, 15(1). https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/42134/1/42134.pdf

[macro-microcosm]

Description/transcription under a read more because there are so many images and I transcribed the entire reddit post.

For my two cents, I think this is all just a scam at best and at worst a bid for personal information. I don't think that there are any actual products being sold here, just oblique jokes meant to mock the trans community and attempts at preying on the vulnerable.

As for the aforementioned TERF, well, the identity of the owner was traced to a Neo-Nazi. Oopsie poopsie.

[Image descriptions:

First image: A paid tweet from Twitter user QueerQuirk.com (@TheQueerQuirk). It reads: "We're officially the [plug emoji] to get HRT style pills without a doctor's note." Attached to the tweet is a link to estrolabs.com titled "I Can't Believe It's Not Estrogen | OTC alternative to estrogen pills."

Second image: A screen shot from the estrolabs website about the above-mentioned product. It reads: "And let's talk about the benefits! 'I Can't Believe It's Not Estrogen' is like your ver own magical, hormone-boosting fairy godmother. Whether you're hitting high notes in the voice pitch app, or casually perusing r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns while sneaking glances at your developing chest bumps, these estrogen-enhancing essentials are just the right spice to add to your transformation stew. So go ahead, mix it up, let 'I Can't Believe It's Not Estrogen' lead the cha-cha-cha of your life. After all, who needs a fairy godmother when you've got Ashwagandha by your side?"

Third image: A screen shot from the estrolabs website of the shop entry for a product called "Femboy Tummy Pills," costing $44.95 USD. The image of the product depicts a white bottle with a pink label with a purple-haired anime character on it with purple eyes, a yellow crescent moon clip, and black sweats, holding up the black crop-top-style sweater to show their flat stomach. The estrolabs logo above the character nearly runs off of the top of the label. Bold white text over the character reads "femboy tummy pills." Further text reads "with MCT." The image resolution is too low to read the remaining text on the label. There are 3 large white capsules in front of the bottle.

Third and fourth images: Screenshots of part of a reddit post. It reads:

"This website is selling a product they call 'I can't believe it's not estrogen' and the marketing is clearly such that it is targeted at transgender women who do not have access to hormone therapy. There are testimonials claiming how well it works and all kinds of other nonsense.

Ashwaghanda as a natural root/drug raises your normal levels of LH. Luteinizing hormone acts on whatever gonads you have to increase their output.

As a result, a pre-HRT transgender woman taking the supplement would literally produce more testosterone on it than they would normally produce, inducing the literal opposite effects of what is advertised.

This has been sent to me now by both a friend and a patient asking if it was a good idea for them to take to help with their transition. It is not, not only is it terrible for an MTF that's pre-HRT, it's just a flat-out evil and cruel thing to do.

Normally I don't make warnings on stuff like this but this is trending on Twitter right now and I want to make sure that nobody that comes here is ever fooled by some nonsense like this. Please be very careful when it comes to taking supplements that can alter your hormones.

This post they have made, it's been viewed over a million times. I shudder to think how many people who don't have access to gender affirming therapy or who have lost it in states like Florida will be fooled by this and end up making their situation even worse so that someone else can profit off of their suffering.

Supplements that claim that they will boost your estrogen often do the exact inverse effect if you are an MTF because the way that they function is to increase the output of gonads. So for cisgender women, yes, that is exactly what it will do. But if you have testicles, it's just going to make you make more testosterone.

Link to their Twitter post: {link.}

Edit: finally Twitter is starting to show some evidence that this would do the exact opposite of what it's claiming to do."

Fifth image: A presumably AI-generated image of a black person. Their hair is in long pink, red and purple dreads, they are wearing a floral button-up shirt under a pink-and-black plaid jacket and a silver necklace. They are wearing dark lipstick. One of their eyes has pink and purple eye shadow with a thinner brow and eye shape than their other, unmade eye. Their shirt merges in a fleshy-and-floral-colored blur into a black, geometric tattoo on their neck that appears to read "EAIUE."

End descriptions.]

This site has been going around Twitter trans accounts quite a bit lately, so just pointing out here too that it'll do fuck all, they're exploiting trans people at a time when hrt is particularly hard to access and please don't give them your money