#anti-designer breeds

[searchingwardrobes]

DOG LOVERS! Please, please do NOT buy a "blue," "silver," "Isabella" or "hairless" dachshund. These are not "rare" coats, these are dogs suffering from a disease called color dilution alopecia. It leads to hair loss and painful skin rashes, lesions, and sores. There's no cure.

Reputable breeders will not breed a dog with cda. Sadly, this is becoming a new, trendy "designer" dog because people think the blue-coated puppies are cute and unique. You can find these puppies for sale online for hundreds of dollars more than a dachshund with a standard coat.

Please spread the word! No puppies should be bred to suffer just for a trend.

You can read more about it here.

[bunjywunjy]

The anti-pit bull crowd’s favorite argument is “pointers point, retrievers retrieve, pit bulls kill” as proof that pit bulls are genetically designed to be dangerous dogs. What’s the best counterargument for this argument?

have those people ever met a pointer or retriever?? they might be genetically predisposed towards a certain behavior but they still have to be trained into it to be competent.

if you take a random golden retriever into the woods and expect it to fetch a dead duck for you just because of its breed, it's gonna go roll around in the mud instead.

pitbulls aren't natural killers any more than any other dog in their size class is.

plus, all dogs are domesticated predators and can be trained to kill! pitbulls are NOT different or more dangerous because of their breed!!!

[honeytabbies]

OKAY. HERE WE GO. my black bulls doggies!!!! :D

there's definitely a noticeable difference in style/quality of some of these just due to time between each design and/or how i was feeling at the time of drawing them (these hot and rainy summer months have been super rough on me)

ALSO they were all done symmetrically so that i wouldn't burn out and could actually finish them LOL . OK EVERYBODY BELOW

starting off with asta, a husky/coyote mutt!! :D in my au, devil users end up becoming hybrids of whatever their devil is. so since liebe is a coyote, that's what asta is too!! (also, i haven't drawn him yet, but yuno is a malamute :D similar looking breeds but different since they're not actually related!)

(here's liebe too hehe, scrappy lil coyote!!)

then of course, noelle, who's a saluki!! a very regal breed for a very royal gal!! i thought making her pigtails into her ears was a fun idea HEHEHE

(+ an alternate design version!)

here's finral, he's a shetland sheepdog!! gentle and sweet and always trying to herd his people together :) you might notice that with some of my designs, i end up doing extra scarring; that's usually just personal headcanons, as i think some injuries would be too grievous to fully heal. though some (for instance, gauche) don't have a canon story behind them, i just think they're fitting

vanessa, who's a cavalier king charles spaniel!! her ears sorta blend into her hair lol, i had an alternate version where they were the same darker brown as her fur but i decided that them blending in looked better and fit the breed standard as well.

gauche, the ever wary american akita!! being a fiercely loyal and protective breed, but aloof and suspicious of strangers.

then there's grey, who's a long-haired chihuahua!! sweet and skittish HEHE, also i haven't drawn it yet but i've always imagined her big transformation disguise that she's first introduced as to be a rottweiler LOL

next up is luck, a jack russell terrier!! i've always thought this was a very fitting breed pick, intelligent but highly energetic and a little mischievous !!!

and of course, magna is never far behind luck; he's a dobermann pinscher!! similar to luck in energy and intelligence, but even more fiercely protective of his loved ones.

GORDON!!! actually one of my favourite black clover characters, he's a dalmatian not only because of the fitting aesthetic, but also because of his kind and sensitive personality!

the masked supermage zora, a german shepherd! watchful and sometimes stubborn but loyal nonetheless made this pick fairly easy to come to. though, before getting to see more of him, my initial pick was actually a kai ken!

charmy's design is one that i'm the most proud of for sure; i mentioned in an earlier post that the different peoples are different species of animals. well charmy is a half toy poodle, half american badger!! i thought a badger was a VERY fitting pick, as they are generally unbothered by much unless their food is threatened LOL

and finally, lastly (for now) is nero!! she's a bull terrier, but i really wanted to keep her twin tails from her anti-bird form! her outfit is definitely the one i edited the most, i just wanted to give her something more practical out of personal preference.

additionally, henry is an old english sheepdog, nacht is a black norwegian elkhound/fox, and yami is a wolfdog!

I HAVE SOME OTHER CHARACTERS DOODLED HERE AND THERE but nothing else really finished yet. if there's a specific character anyone would like to see i would be SO happy to draw/doodle them to show off!! i honestly have a huge list of dog/cat breeds picked out for every character i could think of; i just am hellishly indecisive and can never pick who to start on next AHDSJAGDJSDK

THE POSITIVE RECEPTION TO MY ART SO FAR HAS MADE ME SO HAPPY BTW AUAGGHHH i have no idea how/if im able to reply to people directly but just know that i keep reading over everyone's reblog tags and stimming like crazy IM SO HAPPY THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH AUHGHFEHGGRH

[felinefractious]

Final (hopefully) Notes on Moonpaw

So first off I’d like to specify this is not a Warriors blog.

The Warriors series was hugely important to me during my childhood so there’s a definite nostalgia factor there. I no longer read the books but I still interact with the material and community.

There is a hefty overlap between the cat genetics + phenotype community and Warriors fans. A non-insignificant portion of my followers are involved with the series to some extent.

As such the subject will occasionally come up. Going forward these instances will be tagged as #wc bullshit, even if the circumstances or nature of the discussion aren’t negative. It’s just better to have one consistent tan people can block.

But ultimately this is not and will never be a Warriors blog.

Now onto the matter at hand.

Let’s summarize.

Moonpaw is the protagonist of the upcoming series of Warriors. The official website recently released her design as well as her parents, which has caused a buzz within the community for multiple reasons.

She is labeled as a chimera in her description, which the authors represent with a split-face pattern. A notable aspect of her story is going to center around this and how unique and special this makes her…

Which only demonstrates the authors poor understanding of the subject, as the split-face pattern is a normal presentation of tortoiseshell coloration and something which would certainly have occured numerous time within the clans population prior to now.

One of the authors thought mackerel referred to a green-hued cat, though. So.

It is possible for Moonpaw to be a chimera in the same way it is possible for any character to be or have been a chimera, there is no singular way for chineric cats to look and phenotypically normal cats can be chimeric and it’s just not detected because no-one knows to look for it.

But the split-face in itself isn’t suggestive of being a chimera, this is a widely perpetuated myth.

The belief that split face = chimera may be a relatively benign misunderstanding but it’s somewhat concerning how devoted to this misbelief some people seem to be. It’s okay to be wrong, it’s okay to not have known something. If you’re given new information accept it, don’t come snapping back with “Why does it matter?”

It’s a slippery slope to try and decide what degree of misinformation is acceptable to spread and the way some people react to almost as if it’s a personal slight to be told is teetering dangerously close to anti-intellectualism, especially during a time where misinformation in general is on the rise a la AI.

Don’t get me wrong, deliberate information can be fun to play with because it involves some degree of understanding that it isn’t true. Goncharov is an excellent example of “Yes, and” and sometimes I’ll assigned completely fabricated breeds to followers cats as part of a game.

This is different than sincere ignornance.

And we’re already seeing the inevitable conclusion of this behavior, I’ve seen swaths of misinformation about chimerism stemming from this which are not as benign as the initial split-face misbelief.

Chimerism occurs when two zygotes fuse into one organism… and that’s all chimerism is.

Chimerism is not a and is not related to any disability. It is actually so benign that we don’t know how common it actually is because most remain undiagnosed because there’s no inclination to test for it.

In instances where it is tested for this usually isn’t due to any medical complication for the individual, rather reproductive anomalies seem to be the most common instigator for testing, such as someone failing a parental DNA test.

So of course Moonpaw could be disabled but in the same way literally any character could be disabled. There’s been nothing in her design or the rest of the source material we’ve seen thus far that indicates she’s canonically disabled. Her chimerism is irrelevant to this subject.

Chimerism is also not inherently an intersex condition, although it absolutely can be. Intersex conditions occur when there are chromosomal, hormonal or anatomical variations that deviate from the narrowly defined social norm of one sex or another.

Ezra is a well-known chimera who with 96% XX and 4% XY chromosomes in blood but 100/% XY chromosomes in skin which means Ezra is intersex… but if the zygotes that fused were both XX or XY the individual would not be intersex due to their chimerism, though.

Discrimination of intersex people is a real problem.

But it has nothing to do with Moonpaw as a chimera.

Of course Moonpaw could be intersex, the same as any character could be intersex. Moonpaw can even be intersex as a direct result of her chimerism, as is the case with Ezra! But being a chimera in and of itself isn’t an indication that she’s intersex, it is entirely possible for her to be a chimera and still be endosex.

So once again there is nothing present in the canon we’ve been presented with thus far to indicate she’s canonically intersex, and if she is intersex then her chimerism may or may not be relevant.

And finally… the inbreeding issue.

I’d like to emphasize that Moonpaw being inbred was not a deliberate choice made by the authors and is not intended to represent individuals born from a consanguineous union. The cast of these books are tremendous and they fail to keep track of the family tree, frequently resulting in related characters being paired essentially due to sloppy record keeping.

So with this in mind nothing has been included in the canon thus far to indicate Moonpaw canonically experiences any adverse effects due to her lineage.

Anyways, it seems that people learned about the Habsburg family in 9th grade and that they had health kssues attributed to inbreeding and that… is where their knowledge on the subject ends, I guess?

The problem with inbreeding from a strictly biological perspective is that recessive traitd are retained and perpetuated. This article from BBC Earth does a pretty good job of breaking down the jist of the issue in a language that’s pretty accessible to the layperson.

Speaking of the Habsburg I’ve seen Moonpaw’s situation related to them a few times so I plugged Moonpaw’s family and the Habsburg family into a calculator to see how similar their COI (coefficient of inbreeding) is.

Moonpaw has a COI of 11.62% which is about the same degree of relatedness as first cousins while Charles II of the Habsburg family had a COI of 25.20% which is the same degree of relatedness as half-siblings.

So if Moonpaw were to display characteristics of inbreeding they would most likely be hypertyping (essentially extreme preservation of family traits), recessive traits (which may be benign) or inherited disorders such as PK Deficiency.

Other characteristics of inbreeding in cats that we’ve seen come through the clinic include pectus excavatum, abnormal testicular and lymphatic tissue, bilateral or unilateral cryptorchidism, or non-severe structural abnormalities such as a syndactyl digit or additional, small tail vertebrae.

So there’s no reason to believe Moonpaw would resemble the mother from Barbarian (2022) and real people born of incest don’t actually look and act like that either. It’s a horror movie myth and acting like it’s an accurate representation does a disservice to those genuinely born into and disabled due to such circumstances.

Side Note: Jokes about incest aren’t funny and stereotypes about inbreeding in rural areas are deeply rooted in classism.

A final note that the inbreeding is entirely unrelated to the chimerism, there is no evidence that inbreeding increases the likelihood of chimerism occuring. So logically and canonically her chimerism and her inbreeding exist completely independent of each other.

So TL;DR

Moonpaw could be a chimera but the premise that her split-face is indicative of being a chimera is based in misinformation.

Moonpaw being a chimera is not and is not related to a disability.

Moonpaw being a chimera can cause her to be intersex but her being intersex is not a given based solely on her being a chimera.

Moonpaw is inbred due to author negligence but the way people visualize the effects of this are grossly sensationalized.

Moonpaw being inbred and Moonpaw being a chimera are unrelated.

Chimera, disability and intersex headcanons are awesome for any and all characters indepent of canon. Go wild!

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

This week, the fascist counterinsurgency against the international anti-imperialist, anti-zionist movement escalated to a new phase. It is more important than ever that this movement prepares for a strong counter-repression strategy and studies up on ongoing and historical counterinsurgencies. 

In recent days and months, the imperialist ruling class has designated Samidoun Palestinian Political Prisoner Solidarity Network as a “terrorist” entity, raided the house of Electronic Intifada journalist Asa Winstanley in the UK, detained other journalists including Richard Medhurst, Richard Lofreddo, and Scott Ritter, restricted the 🔻 emoji and the word “zionist” on Meta, banned Resistance News Network in the EU, martyred Palestinian resistance leader Yahya Sinwar, and more.

The purpose of all this repression is to scare us, to intimidate us, to break our souls and crush our spirits. The imperialist ruling class is cracking down on our movement because we are strong, because we outnumber them, because they are paper tigers.

Let repression breed more resistance!

Unity of Fields shares these resources, for educational purposes only:

[1] Facing Charges

[2] Grand Jury Resistance

[3] Ongoing & Historical Counterinsurgencies

[4] Digital Security

[theworldoffostering]

This is your friendly political reminder:

1. We have a child who immigrated to the United States. It was difficult to do so, and my guess is those of you referring to people as “illegals,” don’t have a very good understanding of the cost or the process. Additionally, there seems to be a severe lack of compassion and understanding that human beings are human, and we are called to love one another. People are suffering all over the world. Jesus did not call you to “take care of your own.”

2. We have three children in the local school district with IEPs. I’ve spent most of the fall vigorously advocating that they get what they need WITH their IEPs in place. Those of you looking to see the Department of Education dismantled might be lucky enough to not need any of the safeguards that we need in order to ensure that our children can learn. Five of our kids went to HeadStart. One is currently receiving a Pell Grant for college. Please step in alongside me to attend IEP meetings, drive my children to school to receive services (today alone I will do 12 pick up/drop offs at four different schools), or offer private tutoring in the form of specially designed instruction, tutoring, or OT, all of which are needed.

3. Five of our children came to us through adoption. Being anti-abortion while trying to strip away all of the things our kids and family needs in order to stay afloat with our children that are very much alive, but need additional help in various areas (like healthcare and education) is inconsistent at best. Please volunteer to help me out at home. Many people are single issue voters, but are not actually taking kids into their home that survived birth, but don’t have a home in the world. We are managing mental health diagnoses, former police contact (monthly at one point), a prior CPS investigation (now closed), complex medication management, attachment trauma, the inability to spend time together as a couple, and so much community judgement. It’s hurtful. I am an all-in parent, but it’s impossible to do alone.

4. All seven of our kids have utilized state insurance, and currently six of them have it. It sure saved us financially when we had a child that needed to be life flighted to a hospital with a fractured skull and brain bleed. It has also allowed for countless in-patient stays for mental health.

5. Being a foster parent for 16 years has unfortunately provided me with an up close seat to see the impact of sexual abuse on children and teens, some of whom are now adults. Sexual assault is never okay. Being willing to overlook sexual assault as a means to justify the end, is also not okay. Ever.

Policies have real impact on real people. This fall has been one of the hardest yet for me as I work to meet everyone’s needs both personally and professionally. Our family is already isolated as is often the case when trying to walk through life against the grain. Last fall a local family (a mom in her 40s) told one of our older daughters that their entire church here in town hated me, and that I needed professional help. (You may report back that I do have a therapist because anyone processing this much secondary trauma over 15 years needs one.) This is awfully difficult stuff to endure in a small town both as an adult, and a child, and yet endure we must, because there is no other choice.

Hate breeds hate. Please choose differently. We are just trying to survive in our small corner of the world here. It’s already incredibly challenging, and would be less so by having people to circle around us to support us, love us, and encourage us. At the end of the day, isn’t that what most people need?

[blueboyluca]

Hello and welcome to this blog for Luca the Schipperke, Marceline the Papillon and Topaz the Borderpap. We live in northern tropical Australia on the lands of the Larrakia people. My name is Grace and my pronouns are she/her/hers.

You will find photos and posts about the dogs under #Luca, #Marceline and #Topaz.

Other tags of interest: #dog books – all book content goes here including quotes, photos and reviews #dog agility – agility training videos and anything related to the sport #video edit – all my edited dog videos #street dogs – dogs from around the world I’ve seen on my travels #dog history – dog stories from history #old dog photos – photos of dogs from the past #dog thoughts – my rambling thoughts about dogs

Some posts where I share my dog thoughts: Quality over quantity Respecting my dog as an individual My dog is a dog and he does dog things Spending time with dogs Be better when I know better Stella If you let a dog into your heart it will make itself at home What has your dog taught you? Pessimism in dogs The closest thing I have to religion is dogs Dogs need access to off-leash spaces I am baffled by people who claim their dogs have some kind of hierarchy Punishment first Why did you get a dog at that particular time in your life? Leadership and dogs Children are for people who can’t have dogs The future of dog breeding Dogs are unique Changing your training Community pet hub Ethical frameworks Deradicalisation Small feelings Dog-shaped niche Dog training affirmations Nobody's dog is cared for perfectly

Sometimes I write dog poems (or dog song parodies): Little Boy Blue Not Perfect Maybe I could give you warmth You are a special kind of alive Luca dog on a voyage to the nursing home That Puppy Feeling In the morning she makes the tea Every day I make offerings to the little gods in my home

I also occasionally post things of a more informational nature: Living with a schipperke Schipperke history Schipperke coat colours Living with a schipperke (again) Engagement building through play Managing Luca’s reactivity Living with a schipperke (once more, with feeling) Reflections on reactivity Why I’m against greyhound racing in Australia Designing a dog park Introducing Luca and Marceline Fussy Eater Why I hate dog buttons Dog book recommendations Emotionally intelligent dog media

And some other miscellaneous posts that I like: Photo recreation 1 Photo recreation 2 Blue Boy Blues, an album by Blueboy Luca "Why Not Visit?" Edit 1 "Why Not Visit?" Edit 2 Luca’s Theme My bikejoring set up Dog–human co-evolutionary partnership My dogs as Björk songs My dogs as Björk albums Luca’s Spotify playlist Marceline’s Spotify playlist Topaz’s Spotify playlist My pitches for Designer Dogs

Please note that my dogs are primarily self-interested amoral creatures, and their behaviour is reflective of their environmental conditions. They are also anti-fascists who support the liberation and celebrate the diversity of all people. They value animal welfare and advocate for least intrusive, positive reinforcement-based interactions between humans and animals. My dogs invite good faith communication and do not tolerate bad faith engagement. My dogs are explicitly pro-abortion and tell me so every day. Know this when you interact with their media on this blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

[crystal-moon-101]

(This is a redesign of the Alewhishts, I shifted the design to look like demons instead to respect the original culture that the old design took inspiration from.)

Species: Alewhisht Homeplanet: Anur System (Most common on Anur Phaetos) Life-Span: 300 - 450 Habitat: Forests, Caves, Mountains Diet: Carnivorous Breeding: Sexual Reproduction Sexual Dimorphism: Female Alewhisht are taller and stronger than the males, while the males are smaller, but tend to have longer/bigger horns. Children are hard to tell as these common traits appear as they get older.

Behaviour/Bio: Alewhishts are one of the most dangerous aliens in the Anur System, feared by all the other species, particularly Ectonurites. They evolved alongside the ghostly aliens, and have been their natural predators for years, not stopping even as they became more sapient. Alewhishts are strangely naturally aggressive, easily triggered by outsiders and even members of their own kind. Though they live in multiple smallish groups, often away from settlements of the other species, often due to the fear the other aliens have towards them. These groups tend to be run by a leading female.

There are theories as to why Alewhishts behave the way they do, many suggesting that, unlike other Anur System beings, when Alewhists evolved alongside corrodium, something messed up in terms of their biology, mostly mental wise. This would explain why they’re quite hostile and lash out all the time, but these are only theories.

Unfortunately, due to some poor planning and mis-travels, you can find Alewhists on almost all planets of the Anur System, though they originated from Anur Phaetos, having preyed on Ectonurites for as long as anyone can remember. However, they are also dangerous to the other members of the Anur System, meaning no one had a simple solution on how to deal with them. The only ones who can put up a decent fight are Transylian, as Alewhishts do not have a proper defence against their electricity, thus when one of these creatures does wander into cities, towns and villages, normally a Transylian will deal with them.

Many forests in the Anur System have been claimed by these creatures, and the locals have put up many warning signs, daring people to not enter. Alewhishts don’t tend to venture far from woodland territories, and their constant territorial nature on one another does keep their population in check mostly. Those who have taken the risk to research them have noted they have the ability to work together, and aren’t as animalistic as most would think, even if they live primitive lives. Some have even spoken to members of the species, but these are rare occurrences and they may still have to run for their lives after interviews.

Alewhishts are known to wear skulls of the local wildlife, other anur aliens or even members of their own kind they kill. This keeps them relatively calm, if you can believe it. If they lose their mask or it is heavily damaged, they will go into a berserker mode, striking and killing everything around them, even if they’re not hungry. No one knows exactly why the skulls help, as it is rather hard to research these things from a distance, let alone ask them. Skulls aren’t a requirement though, as some members have been seen wearing other objects as masks. They do tend to decorate their masks with veils and items they make, along with carving symbols into them that all have their own meanings.

It is recommended to leave this species alone and make no contact, as there is nothing to gain from talking to them. Even the great Zs'Skayr is terrified of these monsters.

Abilities:

Anti-Intangible Claws - An ability specifically evolved for Ectonurites, they have the ability to create an anti-energy through their claws, and anything else made of the same material, and grab those that have gone intangible, rendering the ability useless, and an easy way to catch tricky prey.

Night Vision - Because they live in caves and thick forests, along with the Anur System being quite a dark place in many areas, they have developed a strong night vision to hunt in the dark.

High-Pitched Shrieking - They are able to produce an ear-deathing scream that can leave your hearing disoriented and burning. In some cases this is used as a warning, or a way to mess with their foes to get the jump on them. Members have been known to scream at each other, as an intimidation tactic.

Berserker Mode - As mentioned above, if an Alewhisht is to lose or have their wearable skull broken, they lose all sense of any kind of calmness, and go on a wild rampage, an unstoppable killing machine. Even members of their own kind don’t aim for the skull when fighting each other, and in some ways it may be considered disrespectful in their loose culture.

Tough Skin - Despite their lanky and tall bodies, their skin is actually quite tough, and can tank even bullets and blades. Drawing blood from them in battle is quite the challenge. Heightened Senses - Sight, smell and hearing for the Alewhishts are at an extreme, able to locate prey very easily, which is how they keep track of where an Ectonurite was last before they go invisible.

Alien Mind - Because of their unusual biology and minds, if one were to try and read their thoughts, you’d just get a massive headache out of it, as their thought processes are too untamed to understand. Even mind-control can prove to be difficult, perhaps even making their aggressive nature worse. This was even the reason why something like Vladats even struggled to deal with, as they simply couldn’t use their mind control powers on such creatures.

Voice Mimic - Perhaps one of their more creepy and unnerving abilities, they are able to mimic the sounds or voices of others, perhaps the song of a bird, or the voice of a little girl crying out for help. If you know what you’re looking for, it’s not too hard to catch on what’s real and what's mimicking, but people have been known to fall for it, or at the very least be frightened by the ability.

Flight - With their wings they can take flight. While they aren’t fast in the air, they are often known to use it to help in quick leaps to get the drop on people, a known tactic being to launch themselves into the air before stomping down on their foes or prey.

Prehensile Tail - The tails attached to their heads can be freely moved around, acting as an extra limb, especially during fights or carrying items.

Weaknesses: Requires a mask to keep themselves somewhat calm. Can easily get into fights with others of their kind, even killing one another, which is why their population is small compared to other members of the Anur System. While they can be intelligent, they do have a primitive culture, which can cause problems towards outsiders and can hardly be reasoned with, along with not being an advanced species. Despite their tough skin, they are weak against fire and heat, and will be frightened by its light. Blood drives them wild. Quick movement, loud noises and nervous behaviour can set them off, or make them twitchy. Because of their night vision, their sight doesn’t do so well in the day, or anywhere with bright enough lights. If any parts of their horns, spikes or claws are broken, they can only grow so much back.

[racefortheironthrone]

Kinda of random but what do you think of Alan's Moore comments about people liking comic book movies could lead into fascism? Seems like bitter old man territory but what do you think?

I think it's fair to say that fascism has been something of an obsession of Alan Moore's and a recurring although not omnipresent theme in many of his works.

While Miracleman is technically an expy of Captain Marvel, I would argue that the series is Moore's most extended commentary on Superman instead and especially the idea of the ubermensch. In Miracleman, our protagonist is initially thought to have been made into a superhero by a benevolent enlightened scientist, but eventually we learn that Miracleman is the product of an Operation Paperclip Nazi science project called the Zarathusa Project designed to create the literal Nietzschean Ubermensch, complete with a fixation on "blond gods" and a eugenicist breeding program. A superhero fight in the midle of London causes mass civilian casualties on the scale of an atomic bomb going off. Ultimately, Miracleman effectively overthrows Thatcher's government and rules as an enlightened despot before eventually leaving Earth for space.

Likewise, I think Watchmen is Moore's most extended commentary on masked vigilantism and thus on Batman. In Watchmen, the phenomenon of vigilantism is repeatedly associated with right-wing politics: Hooded Justice is a German circus strongman who has pro-Nazi politics; Captain Metropolis wanted his superhero teams to target "black unrest," "campus subversion," and "anti-war demos;" and the Comedian is a brutal nihilist who ultimately joins the U.S security state where he cheerfully follows orders to assassinate JFK and Woodward and Bernstein, commit atrocities in Vietnam, kill protesting hippies, etc. Finally, there's Rorschach, Moore's most famous mis-interpreted creation - Rorschach is a paranoid conspiracy theorist who's an anti-communist, anti-liberal, militant and militaristic nationalist, homophobe, misogynist, and avid follower of the John Birch Society-like New Frontiersman.

And then there's V for Vendetta, which I would argue is Moore's attempt to create a masked vigilante superhero with his own anarchist politics. In this story, the vigilante isn't a crimefighter but rather a revolutionary who seeks the overthrow of a fascist state and the creation of an anarchist utopia.

Moreover, his more recent comments about comic book movies being linked to fascism are arguably just part of his much longer-running commentary that superheroes as a concept are at the very least proto-fascist.

Having read a lot of Moore's work and interviews on the subject, I don't find his critique compelling. I think his definition of fascism is far too loose, I think his lens on the superhero genre is overly narrow, and I think his mode of analysis tends to neglect the vital area of historical context.

Definitions

So let's start with Moore's definition of fascism. I think Moore tends to really over-emphasize the whole idea of the Nietzschean ubermensch and the use of force to solve problems, and more recently he's been on this weird kick of saying that nostalgia and a childlike desire for easy solutions leads to fascism. I have several problems with this definition:

the first is that, as I've talked about in the past, fascism is a very complex historical phenomenon that can't be boiled down to a single idea, and in particular the idea of the ubermensch is a pretty small part of the German case (and even then how do you balance it against Nazism's more anti-individualistic aspects, like the mass party and the mass party organization).

the second is that the idea of a larger-than-life individual using physical prowess to solve problems is not unique to fascism. After all, during the 30s, you also had the Soviet Union promoting the heroic ideal of Stakhanovitism and the depiction of the heroic male factory worker in socialist realism. More importantly, the idea of a "larger-than-life individual using physical prowess to solve problems" is basically the same description for any number of literary figures from pulp cowboys to the Greek heroes of the Iliad and the Oddessy to the epic of Gilgamesh.

the third is that I think Moore's definition overlooks the actual drivers of the rise of contemporary fascism. Anti-semitism, racism, homophobia and transphobia, misogyny - all of these are real social and cultural forces that are actually motivating people to join the ranks of the alt-right, to commit massacres, to riot at the Capitol, and so forth. It is incredibly self-involved to think that superheroes and superhero movies are worth discussing in the same breath. At the end of the day, they're harmless entertainment compared to the real political issues that need to be tackled.

Moore's Model of Superheroes

Here's where I'm going to say something that's going to be a bit controversial - I don't think Alan Moore has read widely enough in the superhero genre to make an accurate assessment of its relationship to fascism. If we look at his comics work, and we look at his writings, and we look at his interviews, Moore's mental model of the superhero really only includes two figures, Superman as the representative of the superpowered ubermensch and Batman as the representative of the masked vigilante crimefighter. Notably, Moore hasn't really touched the last of the Big Three - Wonder Woman, a superhero with a strong legacy of radical left-wing politics. I do think we have to mention, given Moore's somewhat troubled history when it comes to issues of gender, that Moore's model of the superhero doesn't include any female superheroes (or for that matter, any superheroes of color or queer superheroes). (EDIT: I should clarify - Promethea is Moore's version of Wonder Woman, but she doesn't really come up in his discussions of fascism, and her thematic profile has more to do with Moore's interests in magic.)

And other than Captain Britain, Moore never worked with any Marvel character and basically ignores them.

To me, this is like having a career as a painter and never working with colors. Moore's model of the superhero leaves out the Fantastic Four and how their flawed psychologies revolutionized the industry and the whole idea of the superhero-as-explorer, it leaves out Spider-Man and the idea of the superhero-as-everyman whose central struggle is about work-life balance and altruism, and most importantly it leaves out the X-Men and the idea of the mutant metaphor.

If as a critic you're going to make grand pronouncements about something as morally evil as fascism, I think it really is incumbent on you to have read and analyzed widely rather than cherry-picking a couple of case studies. Especially if you have something of a tendency to mis-characterize those case studies by ignoring historical context.

Historical Context

So let's talk about Superman and Batman and their emergence in the 1930s. One vital bit of context is that the U.S experienced a significant crime wave in the 1920s and 1930s as Prohibition encouraged the rise of organized crime and then the Great Depression spurred the rise of kidnapping and bank robbery gangs. Moreover, municipal police forces tended to be wildly corrupt, accepting bribes from organized crime to let them operate with impunity, while not letting up in the slightest in their brutal oppression of workers and minorities.

In this context, I think the idea of vigilantism - while it has an undeniably racist legacy dating back to Reconstruction - is not purely a conservative phenomena. It's also an expression of a desire for help from somebody, anybody when the powers that be are of no help. And at the end of the day, unsanctioned use of force can equally be traced back to left-wing self-defense efforts from the Panthers back to the Communist Party's streetfighting corps to unions packing two-by-fours on the picket line - so I don't think we can simply equate punching a bad guy with racist lynch mobs and call it a day.

So let's talk about Superman and the ubermensch. I think Moore has a bad tendency to focus on his nightmare scenrio of a godlike being tyrannizing and destroying hapless humanity, while minimizing the actual ideas of Siegel and Shuster. He tends to take their use of the Nietzschean as a straighforward invocation instead of the clear subversion it was intended to be - rather than a blond god who imposed tyrannical rule with horrific violence, Siegel and Schuster made their Superman a dark-haired Moses allegory, who rather than solely fighting crime acted to stop wife-beaters, war profiteers, and save the life of death row inmates, and whose secret identity was of a crusading journalist who uncovered corrupt politicians.

To be fair, Alan Moore admits that Superman started out as "very much a New Deal American” - but because this kind of does near-fatal damage to his argument, he quickly minimizes that by saying that Superman got co-opted and thus it doesn't count. This is some No True Scotsman bullshit - Moore knows that his example just imploded so he tries to wriggle out of it by arguing that Superman sold out to the Man. If we go back to the actual historical evidence, we can see that at the outset of the Red Scare, the Superman radio show went on a crusade against the Klan, and throughout the conservative 1950s, Superman was used to propagandize liberal values of religious and racial equality:

So much for selling out.

On the other hand, Batman is a tougher case, given that his whole deal is being a masked vigilante who wages an unending war on crime to avenge his murdered parents. So is Batman an inherently fascist figure, a wealthy sadist who spends his time brutally beating the poor and the mentally ill when he could be using his riches to tackle social issues? I would argue that this version of Batman is actually pretty recent - very much a legacy of the work of Frank Miller and then the post-9/11 writings of Christopher Nolan, Johnathan Nolan, and David Goyer - and that there have been many different Batmen with very different thematic foci.

For example, the early Batman was as much a figure of horror as he was of superheroics - he fought Frankensteins and Draculas, he killed with silver bullets, etc. Then in the 40s and 50s, you got the much more cartoony and light-hearted Batman who pretty much exclusively fought equally oddball supervillains in such a heightened world of riddles and giant pennies and mechanical T-Rexes that I don't think you can particularly describe it as "crime-fighting." Then in the 1960s, you have the titanic influence of the Batman TV show, where Adam West as Batman was officially licensed by the Gotham P.D (so much for vigilantism) and extolled the virtues of constitutional due process and the Equal Pay Act in PSAs and episodes alike. You can call the 1966 Batman a lot of things, but fascist isn't one of them.

Conclusion

I want to emphasize at the end of the day that I'm a huge Alan Moore fan; I've read most of his vast bibliography, I find him a fascinating if very odd thinker and critic, I've even tried to read his mammoth novel Jerusalem (which is not easy reading, let me tell you). At the same time, it's important not to treat creators, even the very titans of the medium, as incapable of error. And in this case, I think Alan Moore is simply wrong about fascism and superheroes and people should really stop asking him about it, because I don't think he has anything new to say about it.

[intogenshin]

capitalism does breed innovation in Fontaine

I find it very funny (positive) that Genshin in Sumeru is like “capitalism is bad” and then in Fontaine they’re like “but...” and they give credit where it’s due —it does sneak lukewarm criticism, but they’re not trying to push an agenda (at least not one unfounded)

Chiori’s quest is all about the unregulated competition of free market, the miracle of capitalism. It’s not even subtle, just a representation of it, like it’s very in your face about it.

It also confirms my suspicion that the local entity acting as police force (matra/gardes) are an allegory for the role of the state in terms of how it interacts (or not) with the market under capitalism.

Interpret the relationships between designers in Chiori’s quest as the market: was it regulated in any form? Uther didn’t hold back in the dirty tricks he used against his competitor (these are characters in a story, so of course his motivations are more personal than just profit), especially using the power of public opinion against Chiori’s brand (which I find hilarious, considering why mob mentality was addressed in Alhaitham’s sq - but that’s a different conversation). At the same time, Chiori has an agreement with Chevreuse that allows her to deal with these issues independently so that the Gardes don’t interfere. It’s pretty much a nod to self regulated market.

Fontaine might have gotten its name possibly from the novel The Fountainhead, written by a woman with a boner for capitalism and anti-socialism, where the climax of the story happens in a court that the protagonist defends his 🗽freedom🗽 in and it’s basically an allegory for free market (a dumb one, but an allegory at that). So I promise I’m not pushing ideological nonsense into a gacha game on my own, I’m an innocent bystander.

In contrast, much of Sumeru’s narrative argues for solutions based on collectivism and integration. It comes across as a society where you can see the walls of the capitalist promise collapsing. It is also a capitalist society where market is regulated: Dori is a caricature of the market working against the regulations of the state, choosing to carry out illegal business instead. The matra in this case are representative of the state.

Back to Chiori’s sq, it does make an interesting point about the meaning of wearing fashion (we replace fashion with any good or service in the market) and how the consumers of a product give value to it. Chiori’s brand suffers a smear campaign that claims her clothes are worn by prisoners in Meropide, but it doesn’t go into it, instead choosing to highlight the virtues of those who succeed in the capitalist market: unlike her ex-partner who gave up in the industry and chose to go for conventional designs, Chiori chose to stand by her innovations despite all the risks and setbacks. She’s described as brave and committed to her dreams, unlike this bitter man who started the same as her but gave up. Capitalism is a game that only the bravest and most hardworking talented individuals win, after all 🙄

I have no complaints about the ideological exploration of capitalist theory, and it does good in using a character like Chiori who comes from a background where she was intended to serve the aristocracy exclusively and under strict tradition, so she finds the 🗽freedom🗽 of Fontaine more fitting for her goals.

I am, however, frustrated with the refusal to address more interesting topics within the narrative itself. Chiori’s quest goes briefly into it, but only as a mention: the cost of this freedom, the class inequality between the surface and the underground. Chiori’s brand fell in popularity precisely because people believed prisoners liked it.

Genshin still refuses to address the issue of ex-convicts staying in Meropide after finishing their sentences due to the prejudice they face in the “overworld”, and this is something the aq itself introduced (it is that deep, it’s not my fault). The overall existence of people living in the underground is quite awkward. It’s that tradition Genshin has of introducing very interesting topics and then never touching them, it’s getting boring.

I do hope this is a matter for a future event involving Kaveh, whose mother currently lives in Fontaine. Achieving a market in which innovation is appreciated in art is his dream, after all, but this contrasted with the reality of the cost in austerity kind of corroborates that his dream is an impossible ideal. He rejected Sachin’s research once, so I doubt he’d willingly accept this at all, he’s an idealist, but if there’s any reason to explore this part of the narrative in Fontaine he’s a strong one.

Since Sumeru is failed capitalism and Fontaine is idealistic capitalism, I hope Natlan turns out to be actual socialism.

[murdermepeacefully]

Billy Lenz Headcanons

Working on my first Dead Dove fic ever, and figured I'd do some headcanons for the lovely canon character in it~ Most of them ended up on the spicy side, so....sorry about that!

As before, these are of course my own personal opinion, but feel free to reblog, add onto them, ask questions about them, or add them to the ones you accept yourself! I absolutely love hearing from others on their thoughts.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

Things based on the movies: Note: While I know the movies do not all feature the same Billy, I do pull from the 1974 film as well for some of these.

Definitely has a thing for eyes in general. [Think imagery, eye contact, etc. Tends to notice someone's eyes before anything else]

Collects false eyes due to this. [Especially antique ones or ones with unique designs.]

Not a huge fan of Christmas time, but can still enjoy some parts. Definitely likes the lights, cookies, candy, and Santa Claus parts, but not the tree or gift giving parts.

Doesn't stay in childhood home, but instead moves to random houses. Can end up in non-sorority houses as a result.

Prefers the attic wherever he ends up, but absolutely finds a way to sneak around the entire house.

Tends to go for older houses so any creaking from him moving through the house can be excused as just 'the house settling'

Things based on Fandom content and interaction:

Keeps his collection of fake eyes in a jar and shakes it like marbles, but will sort them by color, style, or other categorization method if he wants to just focus on something for a while. [Thanks to @fingersinmyhair for this one! 💕]

Carries one in his pocket if he goes out as a comfort item.

Wears PJs/PJ-Adjacent clothing a lot. [Think sweat pants and oversized sweaters/sweatshirts]

Random Just Because Ones:

Very much likes drinking in the scent of those he's infatuated with/curious about.

Likes to steal little things from them to put in his hideaway.

Spicy ones 🌶️🔞

He absolutely loves biting/licking/drinking the blood of partners, during sex or not.

He will lick the bite if you show signs of it hurting, as if in apology.

He gets turned on by being the one in control/on top.

If you're fucking you best believe he's fucking you hard, pulling your hair to arch your head to the side so he has access to your neck and shoulders for biting and leaving marks.

Likes pulling his partner's hair in general tbh

ABSOLUTELY would give you a necklace of bite marks along your collarbone

Will mastrubate using your clothes if he can get away with it [Prefers shirts/dresses/etc to underwear, however, so he can imagine he's fucking you while you wear it.]

If there is an anti-breeding kink, he has it.

He does not like being on the bottom, but on the off chance that he is, it's a much softer, sweeter sort of fucking. Lots of gentle reassurances and kisses and the like, more nibbling than full on biting. Likely works out a signal for his partner, be it a word or a gesture, for when he wants to top and start speeding things up.

Hardcore into sexting/phone sex, but absolutely expect him to jerk off while on the phone with you or send video of him doing it.

Would absolutely get one of those O ring gags that force the wearer to have their mouth open, especially if their partner is a drooling, whimpering mess while wearing it.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

batman recommendation anon!

i've been looking to get back into comics lately so i'd be up for a bigger series

i prefer a more serious tone but typically try to avoid gore simply for the sake of it

i don't know if this is canon to the comic books, but i like the kind of partnership between catwoman and batman in some of the movies

oh, ideal! this is such helpful information, thank you!

bearing in mind that these are some personal preferences, my taste is what it is, more recs are welcome but nobody give me shit about my shit:

Batman: Year One (Frank Miller and Mazzuchelli, 1987) - this is a short, 4-part series that locked down the new official origin story for Batman after Crisis on Infinite Earths. it's pretty serious but not gory, following Bruce and Gordon as joint protagonists as they each struggle through their first year protecting Gotham. Selina is also present whooping Bruce's ass before they ever become Batman or Catwoman, and if you want to see more of her side of things there's a Catwoman mini-series (Mindy Newell, J.J. Birch, and Michael Blair, 1989) that takes place alongside the events of Year One (warning for that one dealing much more heavily with the violence Selina was facing as a sex worker!). also I don't know how important the art is to you but I LOVE the art in year one, it's so moody and evocative and really makes the most of an extremely minimalist palette.

for serious, self-contained stories you really can't do better that Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's triptych of the Long Halloween (1996), Dark Victory (2000), and When in Rome (2004). the Long Halloween is iconic for a reason, taking you on a tour through Gotham's rogues gallery early in Batman's career when costumed villains are just starting to overtake the old mob families with a newer, much more unpredictable breed of crime. the story is fairly simple - an unknown killer strikes each month on a holiday, and Batman, Gordon, and Harvey Dent are on the case - but sweeping and atmospheric. the sequel, Dark Victory, sees young Dick Grayson added to the Bat-family, and When in Rome follows Selina on a solo adventure to Italy seeking out information about Carmine Falcone. you only need a broad strokes understanding of Batman lore to follow along with the plots here, and Bruce and Selina's relationship in here is interesting and tense because they only know each other as Bruce and Selina, while Batman and Catwoman are still unsure how much they're on the same side. also I just really like how Loeb writes Selina, especially when she gets to be the star in When in Rome.

for a story that is part of the larger Batman narrative at the time but can be read as a standalone, I like Heat (Doug Moench and Russ Heath, 1993)! It's a 4-part story from Legends of the Dark Knight, a series whose rotating cast of writers and artists could introduce a brand new Batman story every few months. Heat is a pretty grounded crime story, featuring Batman, Catwoman, and Gordon all chasing a cat-themed serial killer while Gotham is in the grip of a crushing heatwave. aside from the costumed vigilantism of it all it's a relatively grounded story, with Catwoman dealing with the fallout of being a suspected murderer and Gordon having to quell racial tensions that arise in the city when the serial killer is suspected of being a Black man.

skipping WAY ahead in time, can I tell you about Their Dark Designs (James Tynion IV, Tony S. Daniel, Danny Miki, and Tomeu Morey, 2020). TDD runs from Batman vol. 3 issue #86-94 and is SUCH a fun story, centering on old plans that the Batman's fab four - Catwoman, Joker, Riddler, and Penguin - made in the early days of their crime careers coming back to bite everyone in the ass and rock Gotham to its fucking core. Bruce and Selina's relationship is very central, as she's officially made the leap to be more hero than anti-hero as she works alongside him, and it's very grounded in well-known characters while still serving up just a heap of premium bananagrams comic book bullshit. the plot is convoluted but a lot of fun, I had a great time with it and I infamously don't care for modern comics. this is important: you will be tempted to read what comes immediately after this. it's Joker War, and it's very bad. do not say you weren't warned.

lastly, if you want to get Catwoman-heavy I cannot recommend Catwoman: Lonely City (Cliff Chiang, 2022) nearly enough. although it takes place in a Gotham 20 years after Batman's death, Selina is still heavily influenced by her relationship with him and spends much of the series trying to puzzle out the legacy he left behind. it follows her fresh out of prison in a Gotham where Mayor Harvey Dent has outlawed costumed vigilantes and criminals alike, and you get to see Selina fighting to rebuild her life when the entire world around her has changed. you get middle-aged versions of classic characters - Selina, Dent, Barbara Gordon, Killer Croc, the Riddler - and some sparkling original characters - Edie Nygma, my beloved!!! - taking on a world after Batman, once again requiring very minimal knowledge on behalf of the reader to just sit back and enjoy the world. also, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Cliff Chiang's art if fucking gorgeous.

[tessathegamefreak]

info on Kaneko?

Of course, I will gladly provide info on Kaneko!

To start, Kaneko is the fusion of @nintendoneko64’s OC Neko and my Fix-ItFelixJrAU!Kane Candy.

For reference here’s:

Full body sketch on DA

Digital drawing on DA

And a bonus drawing of @redscorpiocat’s EJ petting Kaneko

To understand at FFJAU!Kane Candy, he is Turbo if he didn’t try to delete Vanellope and he instead became the glitch of Sugar Rush. As the same case is with FFJAU!Turbo, FFJAU!Kane Candy still suffers from PTSD and he is very reserved socially, but he has made progress in separating himself from his past.

In the same way that FFJAU!Turbo does in fusions, Kane also brings the element of his PTSD into his fusion, making the bond slightly tensed. The reason Kaneko has an arm more than the Dib and FFJAU!Turbo fusion Cassette is because Kane’s preferred anti-social lifestyle actually conflicts with Neko’s excitable personality. Though the fusion isn’t so dangerously unstable, it’s not the most compatible either. The bond is just right there in the middle of stable and unstable.

Functionality wise, the upper arms are controlled by Neko, while the lower arms are controlled by Kane. It should be noted that both the hands on the lower arms only have a total of 4 fingers, thumb included. As for the features of Kaneko’s cat ears and tail, they are designed after the American Shorthair breed of cat.

It should be noted that Kaneko leans more feminine in their fusion. If she were to have a voice actress, it’d probably be Tress MacNeille- preferably her Dot Warner voice.

Any questions? :3

[cgcgs43046]

Call to all Multifandom Writers 🗣🔥

Welcome to my corner of the woods! Here, we’re reshaping and enhancing the Hellaverse by rewriting key moments, giving beloved characters a fresh look, and adding mythological, biblical, and theological depth to the lore. We’ll also explore personal rewrites of the core themes that drive the story.

This community is now also space for roleplays, sharing fics, AUs, and creative re-imaginations. You can showcase your work, discuss it with readers, share ideas, and recommend fics. And is now also multifandom.

We're seeking writers, artists, and concept designers to join in. While writing is the main focus, all contributions are welcome. I’ve drawn inspiration from creators like LovesArt23, Kaldeya, and others, and I’m blending in my own characters and lore.

Animators and concept artists won’t have too much work since this project focuses on writing, but fresh visuals are always appreciated!

This server is strictly 18+ due to the nature of the original show. If you’re underage, you’ll be banned for safety reasons. Once you're 18, you're welcome to return!

Rules below:

NO MINORS

This server is intended for individuals who are 18 years old or older. If a minor is found using this server, they will be banned. It is illegal for underage individuals to access adult content. Please adhere to this rule for your safety and the safety of the adults involved. If you are underage and are caught using this server, there could be legal consequences for both you and us. Please be honest about your age, and thank you!

Always engage with fellow server members respectfully and kindly. This server is a community built on mutual respect and collaborative spirit. Any form of bullying or disrespectful behavior will lead to an immediate ban.

No slurs or derogatory language will be tolerated under any circumstances.

Engage in communications that uplift and respect all individuals.

Please keep the server focused on media critique and related discussions. If you wish to engage in political discussions or other potentially divisive topics, kindly do so through direct messages (DMs) rather than in public channels.

Explicit NSFW content is allowed. Artistic expressions such as nudity in art, pinups, and sex-related jokes are permitted as well but must provided they are preceded by a clear content warning to respect the sensibilities of all members or with a spoiler tag.

Engage freely, share your interests, and have fun! This is a space for you to enjoy and feel part of a welcoming community.

P.S.:

As more people join this server, everyone needs to maintain a civil and respectful environment. I don't want this space to become a breeding ground for negativity or hostility. Over time, I've learned to engage more thoughtfully with those who hold differing opinions.

To clarify, there are generally four types of individuals in any fandom:

Antis: Actively dislike a show, often vocal about its flaws, and criticize its fanbase.

Critics: Provide balanced reviews, acknowledging both strengths and weaknesses without personal attachment.

Fans: Enjoy the show and appreciate its characters and story while being open to minor criticisms.

Stans: Deeply dedicated to the show, defend it passionately, and often overlook flaws.

Personally, I consider myself more of a critic than a fan. While I may occasionally critique strongly, I don't want to hurt anyone.

If you're interested in participating in the writing process, please read this document carefully to understand my criteria. If you believe this aligns with your skills, send me a direct message so we can discuss it further. Make sure you fully understand the content before reaching out.

The document above is a work in progress. New disclaimers and specific information will be added periodically.

If you’re not interested in actively writing, that’s perfectly fine! Feel free to simply observe and enjoy the writing process. If you’re an artist and feel inspired, you can also draw your own interpretations of my character redesigns based on the descriptions I provide. Feel free to explore ideas, backgrounds, props, or anything else that brings the characters to life. And please don’t worry about perfection. This is your interpretation of my description, and people have different ideas—that’s totally fine! So relax and have fun with it. :)

Looking forward to working w/ you guys :)

Byeeee~ :D

Oh, and here's the link to the actual fic:

[santae-salt]

disclaimer that im not super well versed in santae so pls correct me if im wrong or out of the loop on things /genuine i would love to hear back on what im about to word salad about as it has been rattling in my brain for a minute.

idk how much of a fair comparison this is but i feel like pawborough is the antithesis or at least a sort of mirror to santae in the way both are projects spearheaded by a single person. i think a major source of santae's problems is the fact that it has been in development for over 10 years and is operating with some extremely outdated philosophies. i know they aren't in the same petsim niches (neoclone versus rpg), but things like the premium renaming on santae feel indicative of that. i cant think of any RECENT petsim that has taken that direction. it could be just that i'm not looking in the right places, (neoclones never interested me) but a lot of the examples of sites that have renaming cost premium i've seen mentioned even on this blog are also on the older side. the fact that artists are getting paid at such low rates also feels like a holdover from the early days of petsims when things were much cheaper to produce (though i've heard people say rates THAT low were always considered pretty bad even back then).

definitely correct me if im wrong here, but i feel like the only new thing santae has really done is present itself as vehemently anti-retirement and not have a lot of KS exclusives. i'm pretty sure all the KS campaigns of petsims post-FR that i've ever heard of used some kind of exclusivity model, including pawborough. how this will eventually play out for santae is something that intrigues me, and if it proves to be a boon and not a detriment, i'll likely be happy to see future projects do something similar. but outside of that, santae to me sounds like its trying to be a modernized version of older style petsims, but it hasn't fully let go of aspects that more recent games have let go of/improved upon for good reason.

meanwhile, and i fully admit im biased because this is the project i've been following more closely, pawborough has always felt like it's trying to be more fresh and innovative. it started as a "FRclone" so to speak (three poses per breed, three slots for colors, each slot having different patterning genes, a color wheel for breeding, and some early web layout mockups were very similar to FR). it had its own stuff going on yes but personally, that was a big part of the appeal in pawborough at the time of the KS. i liked FR and i liked cats, why not have both? but over the course of its development so much has changed. theres a new color system for breeding, the site layout doesnt scream FR anymore, there's a stronger focus on the rpg mechanics, and much more. plus, if staff is to be believed, they have always paid their artists significantly better, allegedly starting at $50 per asset. and that number has gone up recently with plans to pay them even more once the site launches with premium purchases. now i will say some changes on pawborough has led some to people say it went from copying FR to copying another cat based rpg, Pixel Cat's End, and ehhh while I can see it my main point is that pawborough has evolved significantly since it started development, and i think it has benefited from it. not to mention, MANY of these changes were results of user feedback. (which isnt to say i haven't heard of santae changing things in response to feedback either, but it sounds like theres usually some initial resistance while with pawborough feedback generally feels like its being taken in stride and is seriously being considered.)

again, people who have been following santae for longer i would love to hear about their development journey and what they're trying improve on in the petsim landscape. i would love to check out a fresher take on a neopets style game with allll the QOL 2020s web design can provide. i just dont want to get in the discord or trawl through old posts on socials which are mostly just promotional adverts from what i can tell. sorry if this all sounds stupid i should be sleeping but i needed to get this out of my head!!! thank you fellow saltheads 💜

☁️

[ultraericthered]

Unpopular Opinion Re: Konosuba

I've seen it said of KonoSuba that when it fires on all cylinders of entertainment, it's peak comedy, but when it's not, it's just cringe. Like, VERY very cringe. Having watched the show, I'd have to agree. However, I believe KonoSuba to be a rare breed of satirical and raunchy comedy show that's so dumb it's brilliant AND "just dumb".

The majority of the time, even when KonoSuba is being cringe, it's well-meaning cringe. I don't think it has ever at any point had the deliberate intention of "incel-pandering" or dabbling in alt-right sexual politics for comedy. Kazuma, the MC, is an explicit Anti-Role Model in what a hopeless loser and skeevy, morally hypocritical little creep he is, and more than half the jokes in the show will come directly at his expense. He's not an incel wish fulfillment power fantasy like Rudeus Greyrat, neither is he heavily flawed in a way that is tailor-made for character development like Subaru Natsuki; he is the Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist through and through. What KonoSuba is always trying to specialize in doing is to take all the stupid stuff about the isekai genre that the majority of isekai series' parade around thinking is NOT stupid and play them up in ways that are unironically stupid, in ways the show is well aware are stupid. To provocatively say to all the viewers "hey, if you're enjoying this dumb stuff but feel you can't admit to enjoying in public without being justifiably judged by everyone around you because it is so trashy, tasteless and stupid as to be embarrassing, then you might want to hold all those other isekai anime to the same standard 'cause they are shamelessly just as trashy, tasteless and stupid without any ounce of self-awareness to really embrace and run with that dumbness for black comedy purposes like we do." And that intent for their comedic set-ups and payoff gags is one I can respect. It's just that some of the humor lands, some of it doesn't, as it often goes in comedic works.

And yes, there are plenty of works out there that are willingly, gleefully stupid garbage displays NOT out of any oversights but by design, due to calculated choice and intent by the creatives. There exists a type of stupid that can only be brought about by the creatives being smart about it, paradoxical as that may seem. Which, again, is par the course for comedic works. So if anyone thinks to trash KonoSuba on the grounds of being "too dumb, distasteful and even offensive" to be "proper good humor", I'd hit them with this nugget: