#but it’s the principle of like… why do you talk to people this way online 😭 why do you think it’s okay or normal

[felixcatton]

it’s been awhile since i’ve had my “combative l*terati stan who doesn’t know how to blacklist things left a stupid comment on my post” eye twitch.

[good-chimes]

[HOTGUY!] HAS ONE NEW MAIL

Users with permissions to this shared mailbox:

Bdubs (role: Publicity & Comms for Scar Goodtimes, Actor). Last login: Today.

Cub (role: Hotguy PR Agent). Last login: Today.

Scar (role: IT’S ME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE ONE AND ONLY!). Last login: 215 days ago.

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

Subject: are you there?

is this hotguy’s email? i thought you were coming on patrol?

Why do you NEVER ANSWER YOUR PHONE

-cg

 ------------------------------------

To: Cub, Hotguy PR Agent

From: Bdubs

Subject: The VALUES AND PRINCIPLES of Scar Goodtimes Acting Enterprises

Dear Cub (if that’s your real name),

Now that you’ve been working for Scar for several weeks, I realized I never sent you any AGENCY INTRODUCTION documents. That’s okay! None of us are perfect, despite what you might feel when you look at me.

For your ENJOYMENT and EDUCATION, here are:

The Founding Principles of Scar Goodtimes Acting Enterprises

1.   Bdubs is Scar’s favorite employee.

1a.   Bdubs is also Hotguy’s favorite employee DESPITE the fact he does not technically work for Hotguy, and no upstart new PR agent is going to change that.

2.   Hotguy’s identity is a secret. You must never reveal that we both work for the same person. Take it to your grave if you have to.  

3.   However, if you see someone talking shit online about Hotguy or Scar you should immediately defend his honor. I often do this and you can see the results in the shared folder admin\arguments_bdubs_has_won. You might not be as good as me at winning debates on the internet—don’t worry!! I can give you tips.

4.   Here at the agency, we have the HIGHEST STANDARDS in responding to emails from the public. I noticed there are SEVERAL HUNDRED UNANSWERED EMAILS sent to Hotguy’s addresses that redirect to our shared mailbox. Scar is a very busy man! It is YOUR JOB to clear these out.

5.   We are open and helpful with everyone. Except hostile journalists. And the TCG. And the tax authorities. And anyone who might want Scar to do anything unreasonable like ‘be on time for something’. Keep this in mind as you go through the inbox.

All The Best!!!

Bdubs

P.S. I have noticed that admin\important_documents is now full of files called ‘virus1.exe’ ‘virus2 (gov encryption).exe’ ‘virus3 (might be sentient).exe’ etc. Explain this!?

 ------------------------------------

To: Bdubs, Publicity & Comms for Scar Goodtimes

From: Cub

Subject: RE: The VALUES AND PRINCIPLES of Scar Goodtimes Acting Enterprises

Yeah man cool this all sounds great

Scar seems to have a few email addresses that feed into here. i’ve sent replies according to which one the public emailed:

hotguy@hotguy.com — i replied to some of these but then i kinda got bored and started sending links to cool space facts instead. People will appreciate these i’m sure.

EMAIL_HOTGUY!!@hotguy.com — sent everyone a bulk reply of “Thank you for EMAILING_HOTGUY!! Hotguy loves you!”

FAN_LETTERS_THIS_WAY@hotguy.com — sent everyone a photo of Scar in his Hotguy costume

I_NEED_HOTGUY_NOW!@hotguy.com — sent everyone a photo of Scar in his Hotguy costume minus the shirt

super.cool.arrow.giveaway.for.fans@hotguy.com — sent everyone who gave their address some trick arrows. Only some of them will explode.

law.enforcement.collaboration@hotguy.com — redirected this one to spam

boring.tax.stuff@scargoodtimes.com — also redirected this one to spam. replying to the IRS just encourages them.

inbox zero, my friend. we’re ready for the next concerned citizen to write to us. Let’s go.

Cheers,

Cub

P.S. don’t worry about the viruses. Just a hobby. they’re in \important_documents because I needed a folder that scar never clicks on.

 ------------------------------------

To: Cub, Hotguy PR Agent

From: Bdubs

Subject: Re: The VALUES AND PRINCIPLES of Scar Goodtimes Acting Enterprises

Dear Cub,

Interesting. INTERESTING.

Don’t think you’re going to work your way into Scar’s affections with CLEVER VIRUSES and SHIRTLESS PICS OF HIMSELF. I see your game.

I’ve been Scar’s agent for years and I think when things heat up you might find this job too hot to handle.

All the Best!!!!

Bdubs

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: TCG Special Officer <vigilante.oversight@tcg.gov>

Subject: OFFICIAL REVIEW NOTIFICATION

Dear Hotguy (civilian identity unknown),

We are currently undertaking a review of your recent vigilante activities as ‘Hotguy’.

Vigilantes (‘heroes’) are encouraged to protect citizens and cooperate with the TCG. For this we require vigilantes to regularly communicate with their TCG liaisons, attend emergencies on request, and support law enforcement operations.

None of our emails to <law.enforcement.collaboration@hotguy.com> have been answered—I was going to say ‘in some time’, but I checked our file on you, and it turns out the right word is ‘ever’. You have never answered an email from the TCG. I am sure you can see why this is an issue.

We do admittedly have some difficulty getting vigilantes to ever listen to us, but this is a new low in obstructionism.

We have requested your assistance in investigating thefts from two biotech laboratories, vandalism at a local redstone supplies shop, and multiple call-outs to security incidents at Mumbocorp. You have completely ignored all of these requests. We note you have instead caused widespread chaos, disrupted several TCG operations, and at one point impersonated the Mayor in order to trick ‘Doctor M’ into purchasing a non-existent bridge. 

May I remind you that vigilante activity is only legal insofar as we decline to prosecute heroes for property damage. Kindly reach out to our liaison department immediately so we can work together on collaborative action under the direction of the correct authorities.

On behalf of Head Agent V. Berger,

Special Officer #49

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

Subject: Re: are you there?

who is answering hotguy’s emails and why have you sent me a list of top supernovas! this is NOT HELPFUL

 ------------------------------------

To: TCG Special Officer <vigilante.oversight@tcg.gov>

From: Cub

Subject: Re: OFFICIAL REVIEW NOTIFICATION

Dear Concerned Citizen,

Thank you for reaching out about the availability of Hotguy. Hotguy is unable to respond himself because he is rescuing kittens from tragically falling into rivers, an activity that has fully occupied him for the past eighteen months.

This is quite the list of criminal events, my friend. I thought the TCG had this kind of thing under control. It’s concerning that you don’t. Doesn’t make your TCG department look super great, huh?

Thinking about it, this really seems like something the Police Commissioner should know about. If you’ve lost the Commissioner’s email address, don’t worry. I found it on a forum.

Cheers,

Cub

Hotguy PR Agent

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: TCG Special Officer <vigilante.oversight@tcg.gov>

Subject: Re: OFFICIAL REVIEW NOTIFICATION

Dear Hotguy’s PR Agent,

I understand as a law-abiding Hermitopia resident, you may be alarmed at descriptions of disorder intended for Hotguy’s eyes only. Please do not be concerned.  We also strongly recommend you do not forward this chain to the Police Commissioner. As you will see from the news, the city is peaceful and everything is completely under control.

Kind Regards,

Special Officer #49

  ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

Subject: IS THIS HOTGUY’S EMAIL ANSWER RIGHT NOW

THERE ARE THREE HUNDRED CHICKENS WITH LASERS ON FIFTH STREET

tell hotguy to call me he’s not picking up!!!

-cg

  ------------------------------------

To: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

From: Cub

Subject: Re: IS THIS HOTGUY’S EMAIL ANSWER RIGHT NOW

Dear Concerned Citizen,

Regrettably Hotguy is not available as he is escorting orphans to the North Pole to tour Santa’s workshop.

Cheers,

Cub

Hotguy PR Agent

  ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

Subject: Re: IS THIS HOTGUY’S EMAIL ANSWER RIGHT NOW

it’s JULY

 ------------------------------------

To: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

From: Cub

Subject: Re: IS THIS HOTGUY’S EMAIL ANSWER RIGHT NOW

Hotguy believes in being prepared

is this really cuteguy? what’s going on?

-Cub

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

Subject: Re: IS THIS HOTGUY’S EMAIL ANSWER RIGHT NOW

i was coming back from patrol and going to pick up my pizza. i always get pizza, cub, you have to understand this is an important part of patrol.

when i turn the corner to my normal pizza place there are

AT LEAST FIVE HUNDRED CHICKENS WITH BEAK-MOUNTED LASERS

ALL OVER THE STREET

BETWEEN ME AND MY PIZZA

they’re milling around and scratching like someone just dumped them here. whenever they squawk they burn a tiny hole in the nearest wall. i tried to get near one to look at the device on their beaks and i nearly got my finger burned off.

now i’m on a roof. i want my PIZZA, cub. i’m a close-range fighter and i’m not getting up close with a laser chicken. this seems like a hotguy problem!

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Pearl Moon <Pearl@hermitherald.com>

Subject: Hotguy appearance? (press enquiry)

Helloooo,

My name is Pearl Moon, and I’m a reporter with the Hermit Herald. I heard Hotguy has a new PR agent at this address. I’m not going to lie, I’m delighted. Hotguy’s a great guy for a quote, obviously, but getting hold of him is kind of a nightmare.

I’m at the scene of the Eighth Annual Fried Donut Festival. I’m contacting you because a citizen running a stall has allegedly just seen a, I quote, “weaponized chicken”.

According to them, it shot an “adorable laser” into their supplies, punctured a hole in their fruit toppings cooler, and ran under the stalls. I’ve been on this beat for a while and this sounds like a Doctor Monster or a Zedaph special to me. Personally, my money’s on Doc.

I know your client and Doctor Monster go back a long way, so I was wondering if we might see Hotguy himself swooping in?

Yours in pursuit of the truth,

Pearl Moon

  ------------------------------------

To: Pearl Moon <Pearl@hermitherald.com>

From: Cub

Subject: Re: Hotguy appearance? (press enquiry)

Dear Concerned Journalist,

Thank you for your email. As you know, Hotguy is currently in Canada fighting smallpox by shooting individual bacteria with a special crossbow, for which he has received a commendation from their Prime Minister.

I’ve just contacted him to get a quote about the chicken and he definitely said, “Seems bad.”

Enjoy the festival! Feel free to send Hotguy a souvenir donut box to my address.

Cheers,

Cub

Hotguy PR Agent

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

Subject: Re: IS THIS HOTGUY’S EMAIL ANSWER RIGHT NOW

there’s some kind of festival with crowds of civilians going on in the next street. the chickens are wandering towards it. to make everything worse, i think i saw a newsreader van.

this is funny but also very bad.

i’m going to see if i can lead the chickens away from the festival with some bait, since hotguy’s obviously too busy admiring his own biceps in the mirror to help. i’ve got half a granola bar and an apple core. this is going to work really well for eight hundred chickens. here goes nothing.

if hotguy wakes up from his afternoon nap, you can tell him we didn’t even need him.

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Pearl Moon <Pearl@hermitherald.com>

Subject: Re: Hotguy appearance? (press enquiry)

Dear Cub,

I’m pretty sure Canada doesn’t have smallpox anymore. I don’t think anywhere has smallpox.

New update: Several hundred chickens have just erupted into the festival from a side street. They all appear to have lasers. The sheer weight of poultry has overturned two artisan donut stalls, which has caused what I’m going to describe as “mass panic” as people try and avoid the laser beams. People screaming, people running, everything coated in a fine layer of powdered sugar. No injuries yet, but it looks like the Prize-Winning Triple Marshmallow Churro Donut display will never be the same again.

Also, I swear I just saw Cuteguy.

Yours in pursuit of the truth,

Pearl Moon

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

Subject: Re: IS THIS HOTGUY’S EMAIL ANSWER RIGHT NOW

i got ONE chicken with the granola bar and NOW IT’S DECIDED IT’S MY BEST FRIEND. it keeps trying to fly into my arms! this is not helping!!

its friends are now all over the stalls. the laser chicken breed has discovered a new staple food and it’s fried donuts. this is NOT my fault. clearly none of this is my fault.

oh god now there’s two TCG agents coming over to see what all the shouting is about. the chicken radius is growing. there’s a folk band on a bicycle and a chicken just launched itself into their tuba.

i’m going to try and round the rest of them up. keep the TCG off my back and tell hotguy to do ANYTHING HELPFUL AT ALL.

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Pearl Moon <Pearl@hermitherald.com>

Subject: Re: Hotguy appearance? (press enquiry)

Situation update: Cuteguy is in the middle of a huge crowd of shouting people and appears to be clutching a chicken. Also, Doctor Monster has turned up. He’s trying to give a dramatic speech about his “evolved chickens” from a nearby rooftop through a loudhailer, but I’ll be honest, everyone seems more interested in Cuteguy.

#laserchickendisaster and #whereishotguy are trending on Chatter, but no sign of Hotguy yet! Sure he doesn’t want to give us a longer quote?

Yours in pursuit of the truth,

Pearl Moon

 ------------------------------------

To: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

From: Cub

Subject: Re: IS THIS HOTGUY’S EMAIL ANSWER RIGHT NOW

I have a cool contraption that you could probably use for catching chickens. downside is you do need some plutonium. Not much but, like, not a legal amount.

Alternately i also have a great recipe for roast chicken

-Cub

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

Subject: Re: IS THIS HOTGUY’S EMAIL ANSWER RIGHT NOW

we are not roasting these chickens, cub, the chickens have done nothing wrong!! And WHY DO YOU HAVE PLUTONIUM, WE TOLD YOU TO STOP THE DARK SCIENCE. DO SOMETHING USEFUL ABOUT THIS FESTIVAL SITUATION INSTEAD.

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Pearl Moon <Pearl@hermitherald.com>

Subject: Re: Hotguy appearance? (press enquiry)

Situation update: Doctor Monster has now turned his loudhailer on Cuteguy and accused him of stealing his evolved chickens. He seems very upset. The Doctor has declined an interview, but I’ve got some incredible photos and the powdered sugar really suits him.

I’m trying to get a quote from Cuteguy but it’s quite difficult to even see him through the crowd, and the chickens, and the German street band, and the displaced donut vendors, and the TCG agents who are trying quite earnestly to get to him, and—did I mention—the chickens.

My camera team is getting some great footage, but do you know what his plan was here?

Yours in pursuit of the truth,

Pearl Moon

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

Subject: Re: IS THIS HOTGUY’S EMAIL ANSWER RIGHT NOW

everyone in the crowd thinks i own these chickens!! one of the chickens has set fire to a hot oil vat and a journalist is after me and an old lady keeps trying to hit me with her handbag!!!

DOC IS NOW TAKING POT SHOTS AT ME FOR NO REASON AT ALL. I HATE THIS JOB.

i’m behind cover

it won’t last

if you don’t get hotguy here now i’m never speaking to him again

 ------------------------------------

To: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

From: Cub

Subject: Re: IS THIS HOTGUY’S EMAIL ANSWER RIGHT NOW

nooo you’re doing great man, knocking it out the park. Doesn’t sound like you need Hotguy.

you’re a hero too, right?

-Cub

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

Subject: Re: IS THIS HOTGUY’S EMAIL ANSWER RIGHT NOW

okay cub listen.

i don’t WANT hotguy. if i could fix this chicken situation without the city’s most annoying vigilante turning up to take the credit, believe me, i would have done it already.

but you know what hotguy can do? he can win the crowd. hotguy’s always on the right side. nobody would ever accuse hotguy of owning fifteen hundred laser chickens. he tells people about hope and teamwork stuff and they believe him.

oh god

the TCG are here and i’m apparently target number one.

they’ve just spotted me on this gazebo and i’ve got no good roof to jump to. i’ll have to make a run for it. if you don’t hear from me again, i might have got arrested.

hotguy spouts all that rubbish about teamwork, but hey, it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t believe in it himself!

 ------------------------------------

To: Bdubs, Publicity & Comms for Scar Goodtimes

From: Cub

Subject: what I’m about to suggest is legal

we should help him huh

do you know where scar is? like which cell phone towers might be close. I’ve got a map of the towers if you can give me a location.

-Cub

 ------------------------------------

To: Cub, Hotguy PR Agent

From: Bdubs

Subject: this sounds NOT legal

BDUBS TO THE RESCUE, AS ALWAYS. You’re welcome.

Scar is actually recording a snack commercial over on Twelfth Street. Details in projects\casting_directors_bdubs_is_not_feuding_with\dumb_projects_we_have_to_book_for_money\Sparkle!Cereal!

  ------------------------------------

To: Bdubs, Publicity & Comms for Scar Goodtimes

From: Cub

Subject: this is 100% legal white hat hacking definitely

okay I’ve remotely accessed Scar’s phone and put a klaxon on it. Should be audible two hundred yards away.

I’m gonna call him now.

-Cub

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Pearl Moon <Pearl@hermitherald.com>

Subject: Re: Hotguy appearance? (press enquiry)

Situation update from your reporter on the ground (still no quote from the guy himself?)

Cuteguy has been showing great stamina in the chase that’s been going on. The camera crew is impressed!

He is currently being pursued by:

1.   Doc

2.   Doc’s cyborg guard robot

3.   Two TCG agents

4.   Three hundred and sixty chickens (approx.), one of which believes Cuteguy is its best friend

5.   Several animal activists attempting to recapture the chickens

6.   A bar crawl that seems to think they’re doing a parade and wanted to join in

7.   A German band on a long bicycle with two clarinets and a man trying to shake a chicken out of his tuba

Cuteguy is…looking back over his shoulder?

Oh, wait! Situation update paused!

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Cuteguy <cuteguy@freemail.com>

Subject: Re: IS THIS HOTGUY’S EMAIL ANSWER RIGHT NOW

HE’S HERE

HE’S ACTUALLY HERE

FINALLY

 ------------------------------------

To: Hotguy <hotguy@hotguy.com>

From: Pearl Moon <Pearl@hermitherald.com>

Subject: Re: Hotguy appearance? (press enquiry)

Hotguy has arrived!

He’s swooped in with three trick arrow shots that set off fireworks above the crowd, rappelled straight up to Doc on the roof, and started a fist fight with him. It’s very dramatic. I’m not sure he’s actually landing any of those blows.

Helpfully for Cuteguy, no one is looking at him anymore. He’s surreptitiously putting distance between himself and the TCG agents.

Doc is now making another speech while fighting Hotguy. If I’m honest, he seems pretty happy he’s finally getting the credit for his own evil plot. We’ve got a close-up on him. Doc would like us all to know that this is the future of poultry, the future of lasers, and possibly the future of donuts? Last part a bit unclear as at that point Hotguy threw his loudhailer off the roof.

Meanwhile, Cuteguy is trying to lure the chickens away from the civilians with pieces of donut. This would be working better if the crowd weren’t all shoving forwards to try to get a better look at Doc.

Doc has taken off on a jetpack declaring he’ll “be back!”. Hotguy has given him a thumbs up.

Oh, now Hotguy has finally caught on to what Cuteguy is trying to do and is chivvying the crowd to help herd the chickens away with donuts for bait. Donuts are flying. The crowd is now enthusiastically participating in this donut-tossing activity. The chickens are delighted. Hotguy has spotted our camera team chasing him and we’re getting a lot of that action-shot this-is-my-good-side pose.

Hotguy and Cuteguy work together pretty well when they get going, huh?

Now Hotguy has swung down to land in the middle of the crowd and put an arm around each of the TCG agents, who are heavily dusted in sugar and look somewhat sheepish. What a nicely framed shot! Almost as if Hotguy pushed them into position for the cameras.

Well, I suppose I’m writing an article about how much Hotguy helps the TCG.

Your client owes me one.

Doc’s guard robot has rounded up the chickens that Hotguy and Cuteguy have funneled back into a nearby alley. It seems to be putting them in large nets. The local pizza place has a sign that says RIGATONI JONES PIZZA: CLOSED DUE TO CHICKEN EMERGENCY, and for some reason Cuteguy seems upset about this. Excitement over, I suppose?

I do hope you tell Hotguy how helpful the Herald was! Next time he’s got a tip-off to share, just tell him to remember your friendly local journalist Pearl Moon.

He knows where to find me ;)

Yours in pursuit of the truth,

Pearl Moon

 ------------------------------------

To: Cub, Hotguy PR Agent

From: Bdubs

Subject: hmm

You know, Cub, I’ve been thinking. That wasn’t bad, how you got hold of Scar. NOT BAD AT ALL. I am starting to think you might be a useful type of person to have around.

All The Best

Bdubs

 ------------------------------------

To: Bdubs, Publicity & Comms for Scar Goodtimes

From: Cub

Subject: Re: hmm

cheers man

i’ve rigged the klaxon so it plays when either of us or cuteguy calls scar. if he waits too long to answer it starts to play the whole Lilo and Stitch movie audio. if anyone asks this is not technically a virus.

-Cub

 ------------------------------------

To: Cub, Hotguy PR Agent

From: Bdubs

Subject: Re: hmm

I LOVE it. I love it.

You know, I have a whole list of casting directors I think you could test some virus development on. It would do them good. Keep them on their toes!! (I believe this is called…“white hat”).

I am HEREBY going to let you into my most SECRET FOLDER.

<Bdubs@scargoodtimes.com> has shared admin\nemesis_list

Maybe start with ‘casting_directors_who_do_not_recognise_bdubs_talent-spotting_genius’ and ‘producers_who_were_rude_to_scar’

 ------------------------------------

To: Bdubs, Publicity & Comms for Scar Goodtimes

From: Cub

Subject: Re: hmm

leave it to me, man

we’re gonna go far

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ START | PREVIOUS | NEXT ] [ MERCH ] [ MISC ]

My piece for the Hotguy comic zinethology! Thank you so much to editor @antimony-medusa and designer @cocoabats (I have used tumblr’s format for most of it because my eyes are too bad for pdf scaling on my phone, but for the FULL INCREDIBLE HOTGUY EXPERIENCE you will want to download the actual zine at @hotguycomiczine!!)

[utilitycaster]

Hot take: with the way the campaign is going, Ashton is getting dangerously close to turning into someone who has a "don't tread on me" flag. Fully "the reason I am upset by people getting stepped on by the boots of those in power is because the 'little guy' (me) doesn't have the opportunity to be the boot". Which makes all of the people at the beginning of the campaign acting like Ashton was a 'true leftist' punk instead of a bitter and angry person with no direction in life and next to no principles hilarious in retrospect. People love to forget that sometimes the ones rebelling against those in power have a busted view of what power is, does, and who is currently wielding it.

Hi anon!

So I'm broadly in agreement. I don't think this is a terribly hot take not because it's wrong but because I've just reblogged like 5 pretty popular posts that are all saying "Ashton's teetering on the edge of full manifest destiny/blood and soil/humans are the virus ideologies" which all go rather further than just a shitty libertarian flag*.

I have a post in queue somewhere to this effect but there's a weird very Tumblr/Twitter/otherwise terminally online belief that anyone who's experienced systemic oppression is automatically going to have Good Politics from it when that's simply not true. Plenty of people look for someone else to blame, and they blame another oppressed group they don't happen to belong to, or something utterly unrelated. Like, I think a lot of punks are genuinely trying to live in a world that is unkind to them, but a lot of punks do so by taking a fuckload of drugs and kicking the shit out of someone who looks weird. I made this post YEARS ago, literally, very early in the campaign; it is ahistoric to act like punk automatically equals leftist when it started as an aesthetic to sell clothes at a London boutique and when homophobic, misogynistic, and racist subcultures were rampant within it. We remember and uplift the punks who weren't like that, but something that really gets me is like. I know some metalheads and a lot of them are REALLY open about having to learn to spot the metalheads who are here to talk about Norse Superiority vs. the people who just want to scream about Satan for fun. For some reason a lot of people in the CR fandom acted like punks were exempted from this and that's a fast track to being very easily swayed into these ideologies; it's literally "you are not immune to propaganda, but I am" and like. bud. you're not.

It feels related to the weird way people treat Liliana. I am still, to be honest, low-key furious that several white southerners are like nooooooo you should be sympathetic to people in cults, because it could happen to anyone and it's like. well. you see. I am Jewish. I am not hanging around anyone who is white and southern and in a cult long enough to find out if they want to kill me, and it's appalling and indicative of how sheltered and ignorant you are of other perspectives that you would have the gall to demand this. They're entitled people who demand that people most at risk from violence do the work of dismantling it - not them, oh certainly no, they're too busy playing Elden Ring or some shit. There's a certain kind of Tumblr user that claims to be leftist and yet extends a thousand times more sympathy and understanding to their neighbor down the road who openly flies a Confederate flag and definitely voted to deny them medical care, than to people who have a cringe "childless cat lady" bumper sticker and voted to reinstate said care and will bad-faith cherrypick why this is actually very radical of them (if not outright lie) and they have rather transparently claimed Ashton as one of their own.

As I said during Downfall, some of it is people who love the taste of the boot as long as they think it might end up on their foot one day but some of it is just people who are so nihilist they'll let the world burn and ignore that perhaps other people are also living there. Like, a big reason why, even when Dorian was angry at the gods, I never felt the same way about him as I did for Ashton is because Dorian was angry about what happened to Opal and Cyrus. Dorian wanted an option that would hurt the fewest people, and his main experience was seeing a god overtake Opal and hurt people! And as he saw new perspectives and heard from others he incorporated that, and I don't agree with everything he says but he really has been thinking about people other than himself, and increasingly I can't say the same for Ashton. The moment at the end, where they say that apologizing would be for them, was promising; but it also feels like Ashton learned this lesson with the shard and completely forgot it and was like "THE GODS WILL KILL US SPECIFICALLY" and the fact that the gods they literally met in person didn't do so seems to have failed to sink in. This is a character obsessed with their own highly specific experiences, insistent that there is someone ALIVE to blame and not their shitty dead parents, and defined by refusing to hear anything that will conflict with what they already believe, and that's REALLY fucking bad for a hero and a fast track to right-wing reactionary politics.

*ngl the Don't Tread on Me flag is darkly hilarious to me because it's available as a vanity Virginia license plate, which means there's a LOT of people who are like "I shall express my distaste for the government by paying the government 25 unnecessary dollars per year solely to have a customized license plate." Deeply indicative, frankly, of this mentality. I mean I don't hang around anyone who has one because they're probably fucking shitty, but I am going to laugh about it in private.

[catgirlforeskin]

Since Wizards of the Coast is torpedoing all the good-will they have with DnD to wring more money out of it, I want to make a guide for people who recognize they should jump ship, but don’t know alternatives.

If you’re deeply invested in DnD and want something as similar as possible, Pathfinder 2 is what you want. It’s the next biggest game in the tabletop scene (in the US), you can find physical copies in stores easily, and Paizo allows free resources online to exist without constant threat of being taken down like WotC does. It will remain free to play on any VTT while DnD will require you to subscribe to their proprietary one.

Most importantly, though, it improves on almost every aspect of DnD. Combat and class balance is extremely well thought out and makes all combats engaging and difficult in a fun way, requiring teamwork and clever thinking. Roleplay is integrated into character creation and play better, and you no longer have to choose between being good in combat or exploration or roleplay, you get to play and feel useful during all aspects of the game. It’s hard to emphasize how much better it is without just playing, if you still want something like DnD, play Pathfinder 2.

If you like high fantasy adventuring but are willing to get more out there, Fellowship and Dungeon World are good options. Fellowship is a more free-form adventure game focused on creating a cinematic experience over getting bogged-down in rules-heavy play. If you want to play a Lord of the Rings style campaign and have it feel like the movies, Fellowship is the way to go.

Dungeon World is called “Powered by the Apocalypse” which means it was inspired by Apocalypse World, an amazing ttrpg that revolutionized the scene and became the gold standard for interweaving roleplay and gameplay. Dungeon World is meant to be a bridge between DnD and indie rpgs, and it’s good for that, though there are better PbtA games. It’s a good introduction to principles like failing forward and playing to find out what happens (and hell, a good introduction to games having principles lol). There’s also an Avatar the Last Airbender licensed PbtA game that’s very good, if that’s your thing!

Speaking of licensed games, Free League Publishing sets the benchmark for rpgs built for existing intellectual properties, and while I haven’t played all of their games, I’m a big fan of what I have played. They also have independent settings, like Twilight 2000, a really good apocalypse survival game set in a collapsing warfront between an alternate-history NATO and Soviet Union as the two dying empires bring all of society down in their death spiral. I’m using it as the base for my Halo rpg, it’s very good.

Blades in the Dark is another big name in the indie scene, and for good reason. It’s a heist game that has been adapted to lots of other settings (games that say they’re “Forged in the Dark” take inspiration here) and it’s clear to see why so many have used it as a foundation once you’ve played, it’s an exciting crime procedural where you play a group of scoundrels punching above your weight and facing the consequences

There’s a million other amazing rpgs I could mention here, and I’m sure people will talk about plenty of lovely ones I’ve missed in the notes, but I think the most important thing I want to convey with this is that there’s a whole world of diverse and interesting rpgs at all levels of production, from big corporate teams to one girl with a laptop who barely knows how to make a pdf, and there’s no better time to start exploring them.

A common refrain is that DnD can be modified to do anything, but once you’ve played other rpgs you’ll see why that’s not true, and why those creative efforts would be better spent in other systems. Hacking rpgs is as old a tradition as rpgs themselves, but if the only tools you know are DnD, you’re being limited with what you can create more than you could possibly know. There’s no better time to leave this Plato’s Cave and see the beauty and wonder of the whole ttrpg scene

[purpledemonlilyposting]

Lily is making throwaways to talk to herself now cause she's too afraid to turn anons back on.

[Lily's post]

There are so many golden nuggets in here. Since these are both most likely Lily lets look at a few!

Lily's media takes are beyond just bad, she asserts that the creators of children's cartoons are dangerous extremists for perceived bad messaging in their works that Lily just makes up.

Even without that Lily's takes on symbolism, metaphor, and just basic narrative structure are worth examining because they are some of the most bizarre and ignorant many of us have ever encountered.

But no one "orients their life around you", Lily. It just feels that way because you sit in your subsidized apartment on the internet all day ordering Door Dash from a Subway you could easily walk to. I'd say get some sun but you'd probably turn to ash like a vampire.

As for me? I do something you're incapable of: putting on a show.

No one cares you're trans, Lily. Get over it. Plenty of trans people exist in online nerd culture. You can't hide from the consequences of your own words and actions by using your demographic as shield.

Pfft. They could try. Go ahead. Make videos about me. Hell, Lily, unlike you I don't even hold or delete comments. The little anklebiters who like to lecture me in my comment section don't seem to realize I'm the one allowing them to be there expressing their stupid ignorant opinions because that aligns with my principles.

Lily doesn't make a video about me because she knows I'd just react to and laugh at it. And with any luck YouTube has taken her ability to copyright strike away because she's used it maliciously 9 times.

Also retard. Just say retard, Lily. Not "tradigrade" not "child left behind" not "fetal alcohol syndrome". Just say retard.

You clearly want to. And are bitter you can't because of the insular audience you've cultivated.

This is how I know it's you because only Lily Orchard could be upset I criticized the bland Antarctica anime for being a bland Antarctica anime the sole focus of which is to get 4 teenage moeblobs on a big technical ship. Which is written by a middle aged man who does nothing but moeblob shows and directed by a woman who does nothing but moeblob shows. They both worked on No Game No Life, Lily. You know. This:

The one with the 11 year old loli in love with her step brother. Actually Lily it sounds right up your alley. You should watch it next.

Antarctica show is so full of so many plot contrivances. Why does Shirase just carry her wad of Antarctica cash everywhere and dropped it so carelessly? It's sure convenient that her and Kimari just happen to go to the same school and Kimari happens to hear her loudly wailing about the money in the bathroom. How does Hinata, a 16 year old high school drop out who works in a convenience store think she can even hope to afford this trip? Where are her parents in this anyway? We never see them.

The girls only get on the trip in the first place because another girl who is a child star vlogger just happens to be also going and just happens to contact them wanting them to go in her stead. And after making friends with them she tells her mother that she won't go without the other 3 girls but... the rest of the expedition that adamantly refused to let them on before just suddenly agrees to take them? Because this one minor celebrity and her manager mom who isn't even going said so? Takako only wanted to go to Antarctica because it just sounded neat, she's not an artic researcher, or engineer, or anything that would justify her being out there (a woman in STEM? Perish the thought says 50 year old Jukki Hanada I guess) and she died out in a blizzard trying to get a laptop to email her daughter who she has now left motherless for no good reason. And this is only ever treated as heartwarming and not idiotic.

Face it Lily. The entire show exists just to get 4 teenage girls on a big ship so otaku men can enjoy both brainless moeblobs and technical ship porn. The show sure likes to emphasize over and over how the girls are joshi kosei too. Why couldn't the show have been about the trip of the adult women (who incidentally also act like brainless teenage girls in the show)?

Yeah you guys aren't winning against me on Utena lol. Here, have my post where I have the video walking people through the episode itself. If you want to ignore the actual text of the series in order to appear morally forthright that's your own problem:

And everyone on the bus clapped, and that Asian woman's name? Albert Einstein. What does this have to do with anything except poisoning the well by linking this unsourced incident in peoples' minds to Ant and I?

Also it's Twitter. So Twitter is bad and unreasonable here, but they're not bad and unreasonable when they're squawking at me over a classic anime they've never even watched. Or squawking at Ant cause "L-L-Lily is totes a Native trans woman?? So you can't criticize any of the batshittery that spews constantly from her face hole??"

Ah now we're on to Lily's response to herself.

Oh look out Ant, Lily's got damning screenshots she just can't show anybody right now.

Probably similar to when she happily accepted a screenshot from Poppy of Poppy being creepy to Courtney and tried to blame Courtney for it.

Lily you attract attention when people talk about you because the wider nerdy internet knows your takes are insanely bad. And they know your takes are all tangled up in your personal dramas and heinous actions. They can tell. You're not as subtle as you think you are.

I cut together my response to your bad Utena takes in your 2023 Steven Universe video on a whim and slapped it on my completely unestablished personal YouTube account. It got 5k views in a few days. That's how disliked you are.

Nobody knows who I am but you sure copyright struck 4 of my livestream VODs trying to take my channel down. The 4 VODs where I most talk about your blatantly obvious incest fetish at that. Nobody knows who I am but I've gained 10k subs in 6 months primarily from dunking on you. Because I'm better at YouTube than you are.

And people do bitch at me for saying retard constantly. And you know why I keep doing it? Because the ones who most often tell me not to are some of the most annoying, entitled, self-righteous, puritanical control freaks and it's an easy way to weed them out.

By the way have fun trying to find a lawyer within 10 days who will tell you "Why yes, Lily, you can absolutely copyright these videos of yours full of footage that belong to Viacom, Netflix, Amazon, Toei Animation, Dreamworks, Activision-Blizzard, and many more!"

[dukeofankh]

Almost everybody has at least a *little* bit of a point.

Yeah. Even them. And being wrong about everything else doesn't actually change that. They might not know how that point should actually be interpreted, they might come to foolish or even actively harmful conclusions from that point. They might radically overstate how prevalent or important the point is. But don't fall into the trap of refusing to acknowledge things that are true just because a bad person says them.

I cannot tell you how many times I've seen someone from a group I belong to dunking on someone from some outgroup, even a very harmful outgroup, and in doing so, denying basically true things that we would absolutely agree with if we were talking about them in private.

I dunno. Maybe it bugs me for neurodivergent reasons. Maybe I'm a pedantic ass.

The other day I got into a massive fight online with a guy in a feminist group because he was squabbling with a bit of a dipshit who pointed out that men are under a lot of pressure to become financially successful, and that's why they do stupid shit like get into crypto.

And like... rather than say "yeah, men are still expected under hegemonic masculinity to be breadwinners, despite the advances of women into the workforce, the economy being in shambles and the middle class having been whittled to a toothpick at this point. We need to work as feminists to challenge that gendered expectation, and as leftists to rebuild the power of labour to allow everyone, both men and women, to have a living wage that can allow for a family and a dignified life." This other feminist guy decided instead that, since the concept of men being pressured to be economic providers was being used in a way that sounded like it was suggesting that women only want to date rich men, it was redpill propaganda and, therefore, fascist misinformation. He went with, "what are you talking about, Gen X killed the concept of corporate success as marker of personal worth, everyone agrees that being a workaholic is bad and unattractive now. The idea that you think you'll be judged for being poor is a lie spread by the right to radicalize you into hating women." He did not react well when I pointed out that he was just as wrong as the other guy was. More wrong, actually.

And like...you can build multiple arguments from the same data point. Some are well reasoned, some aren't. Someone can feel pressure and assume it's much more widespread than it is, or that it takes a much more extreme form than it really does. But if you're going to coherently argue against an idea, you have to honestly appraise the situation and figure out what grains of truth it has in it. You have to acknowledge that core root of truth and show them how it means something else.

If, instead of doing that, you just deny the true thing because the other person's argument is built on it and you want to stamp it out? Because, hey, they interpreted it wrong, it's not like they really believe something true? You act as though a fact used to support a lie is also a lie. And if you do that, and argue against the facts because their conclusions are stupid, you construct a little world where, in refusing to accept both their flawed argument AND the fact it's based on, you become more wrong than they are. And you make the deeply foolish choice of picking a fight in that world. And if it's on the internet, that little world can become pretty big. Tactically, it's about the dumbest thing you could do. It ensures that they will keep fighting you because...you're fucking obviously wrong? It radicalizes people, because suddenly the only people who will acknowledge the truth on this thing they care about are other terrible people. It makes your side look dogmatic and ignorant. And apart from all of that...it gets things completely backwards.

Your principles are what you want to use to change the world for the better. You believe them because you honestly believe that following your principles improves things, because they are based on a solid grasp of how the world works. Your beliefs follow from what is true. If you flip it so that whether something is true is based on whether it supports your beliefs...that's a bad road to go down.

[hvenart]

I’ve seen some people (on TikTok mostly I don’t actually know about tumblr cus I avoided the tag for spoilers) hating on Simon and saying he didn’t try to understand Willhelm and his situation enough and I’m just like HELLOO??? DID WE WATCH THE SAME SHOW. I already found season two hate about Simon ridiculous BUT FOR SEASON THREE???

Simon has been so understanding and has sacrificed so much. He deleted his socials and all the memories with his friends online for the royal court. He thought the protest of the students was stupid but still joined for Willhelm. He sat down with the people who mock him for his activism despite them doing the same thing for lesser reasons. I would go as far to say he gave up his IDEOLOGIES for Willhelm. He has a lot of political opinions about social issues and the royal court but he’s not allowed to express any of them. He sometimes slips out a negative comment but he has been holding it in for the entire season. He knows he can make an actual difference and is close to someone who can but he can’t do anything about it. His partner doesn’t even seem to care about the issues he’s so passionate about and dismisses them. Yes Wilhelm has his own personal problems but the way he talked about LGBTQ+ issues was honestly hard to watch and you can tell Simon was hurt. He must’ve had bad opinions about Erik after he heard about the initiation thing but he didn’t say anything negative about him because he knows how important he is to Willhelm.

And I think NONE of these are the reasons why he broke up with Willhelm (atleast not the main ones). Simon saw how much the title of crown Prince damaged Willhelm. How broken it made the relationship between him and his mother and how broken he became. Willhelm changed for the crown and lost himself in the process. Simon finally stands on his principles and decides that he no longer wants to support the system that hurt both him and the boy he loves so much. Their relationship can’t survive with that toxic title being held above their own personal feelings

Can you really blame him for not wanting to fully understand the system that is so flawed and damaging to everyone around him?

[purecommemasolitude]

There’ve been criticisms about Darry being too mean or too cruel in the musical, and I get where those people are coming from, but — and speaking as someone who hasn’t seen or listened to it but has listened to the soundtrack and follows the information account like the paper — I think this phenomenon stems from two things

First, on the side of the discussers, a lack of exposure to the musical as an actual piece of material instead of (occasionally very out of context) lines or screenshots. Obviously seeing the musical, even if one lived in New York, would be expensive as all get out, and even audios and boots are pretty hard to find for this show, but there are many details and contexts that change how lines on the page should be interpreted that simply cannot be gleaned through, well, lines on the page. As someone who has dabbled in acting & directing, and has spent time analyzing play texts in depth, delivery and direction can change everything. The entire sentiment of a line can be the opposite of what you’d expect if you took the line at face value, and unless that’s explicit in the stage directions, it can go unrealized if one is merely reading the script (which, as an aside, is exactly why I find analyzing play excerpts tricky — because without a performance or direction, scripts are often so ambiguous and versatile that they could go any way). And honestly, despite also being someone who unfortunately does not benefit from first hand knowledge of the musical, I feel like this is very evident in discussion of Darry in the show. For example, none of his lines in, say, Runs in the Family (Reprise) should be taken at face value, because if you’ve even listened to the song you can tell he’s completely spiralling and hitting a breaking point. This is a state that, historically, causes people to say things they’d never believe in real life. We’re not meant to believe Darry would ever walk out on his brothers, we’re meant to hear him talk about it and understand how deep of a breakdown he is having. As a less obvious example, from what people online have said, Darry spends the last twenty or so minutes of the musical in tears. Again, the things he says here aren’t necessarily the things he believes, or things that he’s expressing coolly or off-handedly because they line up 1:1 with his worldview, they’re things he says when he’s desperate and struggling and has no idea what the correct path is when his brother & responsibility has effectively been comatose since the deaths

Which brings me to my next point!

One of the most known things about the musical, even to people who aren’t very familiar with it, is that it goes more in-depth on Darry’s trials and tribulations, so to speak. He gets one solo at status quo, another (mostly) solo when he gets his breakdown, and a (mostly) duet in his own self-described darkest hour during Pony’s absence. All three of these songs go into detail about what his life is like and how much he’s been struggling, and even songs that aren’t about him emphasize this feature of his more than in the book: his description by Ponyboy in Tulsa ’67 & Great Expectations reminding the audience of his life’s path, his verse in GGAH making it clear that his life is a very different one with arguably more severe burdens compared to the other boys. Other than the three most important characters of the original narrative, he is now undoubtedly the most important and developed character — which makes sense in a musical format, because with the story of The Outsiders it would’ve been pretty much impossible to do a true ensemble cast other than the main three while doing any of them justice, especially if they’d kept Steve as a principle (rip king). But I digress. In my opinion, being clearer on Darry’s hardships actually gives the musical space to show him as saying crueller things, to have him make more mistakes and mess up worse. In the book, we’re clearly meant to sympathize with him by the end, but we only get Ponyboy’s infamously flawed and unreliable narration as the lense through which to view him. As such, if we went too hard into Darry messing up, while 3/4 of the book have Ponyboy going “yeah Darry’s a rock and doesn’t love me or anyone”, he ultimately would’ve come across a lot worse and a lot harder to “redeem” in the eyes of the reader (personally I never disliked him, but I’ve seen enough accounts of people who hated him on their first go at the story to know it is not an uncommon sentiment). He already slaps his brother and argues with him all the time; it would’ve been even more legwork to make him liked if he’d also been saying harsher things and making more mistakes. In the musical, however, we get that objective perspective that’s missing in the book. Ponyboy’s not narrating to us the lyrics of Throwing in the Towel, he’s not even present for the events of Throwing in the Towel! It’s a lot easier to understand and forgive mistakes if one is familiar with the psyche behind those mistakes, and the musical delivers that psyche to us at every turn. Because the audience understands Darry Curtis and how hard it is for him to hold on, the audience also has more understanding and forgiveness for when he’s spiralling. It’s also just a more specific proof of his plight — three songs with first-hand, emotionally explicit lyrics penetrate the uninvested understanding a lot easier than a second-party description of circumstances. Due to its nature and promotion of Darry’s importance, the musical simply gets more freedom to show an arguably more realistic version of him.

Also, I do believe that Darry in the musical is just that much closer to the edge than he is in the book, which is a valid character choice in an inherently emotional and transformative medium such as the musical adaptation 🤷🏻‍♀️

[fictionstudent]

You've misunderstood what "realistic dialogues" are

Create realistic dialogues—it’s a basic advice that most of the writers have heard. Doesn’t matter if you’re writing novels, short-stories, screenplays, comics, or anything else, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard it somewhere. It’s the first advice writers generally hear when they are starting out.

But what I think is that most of us kinda misunderstand it. At least, I did until really recently. And I feel many of us do—just because we don’t really scrutinize every single word those online articles say.

I want to get deeper into this advice of characters and dialogues being realistic, what it actually means, and what people make out of it.

Because in most of the novels and movies that I’ve seen, characters are never comparable to real people. But what’s the difference? That’s the question I’m trying to answer.

***

Problems

You must have heard another piece of advice related to characters and dialogues—­observe real people’s interactions. And then you do. And you begin mimicking these interactions in your stories—whatever you’re writing.

But the thing is that this advice doesn’t work. But why is that, you might ask. Well, the reason is simple—most of us speak in odd ways. And if you take those interactions as they are, and try to publish them, you’d never get anywhere. You’d never get published.

See, there’s a lot of problems in the way we people generally talk to each other—we repeat certain phrases a lot, we stutter a lot, we don’t follow grammar most of the time, we don’t pronounce each and every word completely fine, we sometimes also make up words.

And we’re always hopping from one topic to another when we talk. Sometimes, we may even talk about two-three topics at once—especially when more than three people are involved in the conversation. And we also don’t complete our sentences. And the list goes on.

But the main thing is—we don’t speak perfectly. Most of our speech is full of defects that go against the rules of grammar or principles of style—we shouldn’t repeat phrases often when we write, we should use perfect grammar.

And we as writers should make sure our characters are talking about a single topic, and not deviating from it too much during their conversation. That’s because of the fact that the dialogues should have a purpose, the scenes should have a purpose, and if your characters are always shifting topics, the readers feel that you, the writer, is confused about the scene, that you don’t know what this conversation is about, that you don’t know your characters well, that you don’t want to advance the plot with these dialogues, thus rendering them purposeless.

We also stutter a lot, and use a lot of ellipsis when we speak. But readers don’t like them. It takes away their flow. And no one likes to read choppy prose.

We also don’t complete our sentences. Sometimes, we half-bake our sentences in our head and begin speaking them, and then get stuck midway because now we don’t know how to say the ideas in our head in a grammatically correct way. For example, you might have wanted to say, “Not everything is in our hands,” but you might say, “In our hands… Not everything is in our hands.”

For a second, you speak out the first words in your head, then realize the sentence should have begun from another word, and then maybe repeat the correct sentence or just stop midway because you’ve given enough clues in your sentence that the other party has understood you. You do this many times when you speak. I do this when I speak a lot. And I’ve observed others do this too. But if you write such sentences in your story, the readers won’t like it.

***

Solutions

Now you might ask—how do you write dialogues that are good enough to get published? The answer is quite simple, actually.

Maintain a balance between realism and perfection.

You see, your characters are not real because of if they stutter like real people or not, or if their speech is filled with defects like a real person’s speech’s defects or not. Your characters are not supposed to be real, remember. They are supposed to be realistic—they should not be real, they should act real. And that happens when you give their unreal speech the characteristics of a real speech, while making sure you’re weeding out stuff that breaks the principles of style.

Let’s suppose you’ve made a character. Write how they’d speak. And then take out all the imperfections—the stutters, uhms, and all that stuff that we talked about. Not all of them, but most of them. All that shouldn’t repeat often.

Also make sure your characters are talking about topics that are relevant to your story. There’s another advice—know the ending before you begin a story. Do that with each scene too. Know how the scene will end, and what purpose will the scene serve, before you begin writing it. Plot it out a little—roughly. It’d help you write dialogues that are not jumping around random topics.

Like I said, take out most of the imperfections of daily-use speech from your dialogues, while not taking out the characteristics of the character. Maintain a thin line between realism—these imperfections—and perfection.

The characters should have realistic characteristics, and distinct speech. This distinct speech and characteristics is where you give them differences—each character is different from other in how they speak and what words they use, after all. That’s where you give your characters realisticity—and that’s different from realism, even though it’s a word I just made. I’d define realisticity as something that’s real-like, but not real.

Best way to learn writing dialogues is to not just observe real-life interactions, but to learn from other comics, novels, and movies too. Especially movies. Movies are great at such dialogues—the actors generally sprinkle a lot of realism to their dialogues when they act it out. They are low on rea

Also, learn from texting. Head over to Discord, Reddit, or Instagram, talk to new people, and observe how they type. Most of us don’t really type out the uhms too much when we type, and make complete sentences before we send them. Texting is a good way to learn writing dialogues.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Sorry but "Not mean just rude" AU musing regarding Lady Wfi:

When Nino rounded the corner, he was surprised to bump into Adrien who seemed just as surprised to bump into him. Evidently they'd both been stomping in a state.

It was Adrien who recovered first though, normally placid expression marred by real anger.

"Nino, what is this I ear about your & Alya breaking into Chloe's locker?"

"Dude, you're seriously mad about that!? Chloe got Alya suspended over it!"

Surprisingly, Adrien just folded his arms, expression unchanged, "I'm amazed she didn't push for expulsion."

"Are you playing me right now man?" He'd thought Adrien was cool, much cooler than this!

"Why wouldn't she?" Before Nino could speak, Adrien let out a deep, pained breath, "Look, Nino. Dude. Chloe & I have been having reporters, strangers, co-workers and 'friends' doing everything from breaking into our homes, going through our trash, selling literally 'anything' we might have once worn online and even try to plant things just to make a story. So like..."

Nino only realized now that Adrien didn't have his arms folded, he was hugging himself, and doing so tighter.

"So yeah, I'm not at all angry with Chloe for snapping when two of her classmates, one of whom is a reporter broke into her locker. Or that the principle just told her to get over it. Why shouldn't we be mad?"

Nino had, had something to say, none exactly a bullet pointed list, but a strong general vibe and through line about horrible behavior and how much it hurt others.

Unfortunately, even as he opened his mouth, a single digit raised as if to begin counting off he found no sounds coming out.

He tried again, Adrien's eyebrow arching up as he watched Nino try & fail to form words.

"You... Yeah I guess its fair you're upset man."

"And Chloe, I'm just angry on her behalf, she's the one who's got reason to be upset."

"She didn't seem upset-" Nino cut himself off as Adrien started hugging himself again and looking ready to run. "But hey, what do I know? We don't talk."

"We all get upset differently, Chloe... She can't explain things to you like I just did, or barely can and I... I'm not good at being angry, Chloe usually did that for both of us. Its always been like that, we look out for each other."

Anger tabled for the moment, Nino was, honestly stumbling around in the dark, this was the most Adrien had ever said about himself that seemed so... Vulnerable.

Well, on purpose at least. The boy did not realize just how messed up some of the stuff he thought was normal was, and this only drove the point further home.

Shrugging, Nino floated a thought the blonde's way, "Chloe's not a famous model, did she really get as much attention as you?"

"Her dads in politics and she's around celebrities all the time, and actually had a public profile. Plus, she did model with me for a year or so, but then her baby fat came off at twelve so she had to stop."

"Stop?" Nino was pretty sure most models wanted to be skinny right?

Adrien shrugged, "Dad said she was too razor edged and gaunt to appeal to anyone and her mother said she looked like a shrew and should stop wasting pixels. So yeah, she stopped."

Adrien said that with the same banal tone he always delivered these little nuggets or negging nightmares with.

It left Nino with little more to add than an, "I... See..."

'What the hell is wrong with these people?' It certainly put some things in a slightly different light. Slightly.

"So, I did my part, why am I meant to be upset for Alya & not angry at you both?" Adrien asked, this time his tone was more searching and genuinely flummoxed.

"You're asking?"

"I am, we're friends, and I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, and its like I said. Chloe's the fighter, I'm the chatty one," he said with a slightly forced smirk.

YEAH GET THEIR ASSES.

Like I love Alya and Nino but GOD they were in the wrong this episode.

[hey-i-am-trying]

So, as someone who was watching the stream and watches many of Roiers specifically, but is not Hispanic, first it was clear from when the admin logged on it was someone different than who had been (07) for almost a week. After a bit of the admin playing as a more solitary egg and more standoffish, they told roier to "leave them alone", then roier tried talking with them and explaining how things had been during the week (him trying to explain stuff lore and week events Roier & pepito had)

the admin then said, "You smell like ass too, you son of a bitch. No one asked you"

After Roier let the admin leave to do whatever, after spending at max 30 minutes together, he was clearly uncomfortable being called things, especially by someone he had had no interactions with. He did his own things for a little bit longer.

But afterwards, Aldo, who was watching, spoke about how it wasnt okay specifically. Many tripoiers were thinking Roier would scold chat the next stream, for speaking out against how this admin was acting, but he didnt just. And then later said that they day just wasnt canon anymore. So many believe, he personally reached out to the admin team or Q about it.

From what has been explained to me, by Hispanic friends and other fans, the main issue is that this was obviously said in an insulting manner to Roier, but even if they were trying to "rp" or jokingly say it this admin had 0 relationship with Roier prior to this. Saying these things out of nowhere is never okay and was not okay.

And saying the reason they acted this way was because they were sick and Roier spoke too fast, which aggravated the situation?

And their "apology"? " i never realized that it wasnt in rp that you were uncomfortable "? But they had been online seeing the things said about the situation?

Thank your for explaining! I was no aware it was this bad! It is not anyone else 's place to forgive the admin but Roier, so really I can't say much.

It was definetly rude, and while I will again say we can't make a judgement of a complete person for a moment, in my opinion Roier deserves a better apology.

I can't go inside the admin's mind and say for sure if they meant what they say in rp or not, because I had in the past stumble on social norms like a train rack and I get it not realizing how rude you are sounding in the moment. But again, I would apologize after I realize how I acted.

And about not seeing the posts online, I can't say for sure. I will give an example of a situation I actually saw unfold and why assume that someone saw posts, not metter how "viral" it was or how many they were, is honestly a bad idea.

When Empanada was first introduced, there was a sever moment of hesitation in the brazilian qsmp community, Bagi was one of the most active brazilian players and people liked to go to her stream to just have a portuguse speaking player to listen, but since Bagi has become Em's mom, she barely would speak portuguse and would mostly talk in english with her.

Some brazilians fans expressed very politely why they were feeling bad with this situation, explaining how it made them feel like they were "losing" a portuguese speaker, and in a smp where the principle was having the ccs being able to speak their native languages, it felt like their language was being side line again.

At the same time, they were people not so politely saying what a dumb decision was to give a german egg to a brazilian cc, that they should kill Empanada or fire her admin and hire a brazilian admin for the role.

Bagi's and Em's admin saw the rude posts and not the polite ones. So when they decided to talk about in stream, Bagi was obviously furious about it and was very harsh.

That generated a lot of hate to them and especially to Em because believe that was their answear to the polite posts.

Bagi later read the more polite thread and talked about it in a calmer manner, her and Empanada try to use more of the translator to speak in their respective languages.

I know this feels like a unrealed rant at the end, but I wanted to just give an actually example of how making assumption of what people saw or did not saw is kinda useless and even harmful because we can not actually be sure about it, yes they metion the twitter posts on their letter, but who knows what tweets they actually saw.

Coming back to the situation. They said they are an autistic person, which while not an excuse to be an asshole to someone, can explain losing the grasp social norms, and being unware of what was crossing rp lines, that happens. Not an excuse but an explanation, they are an adult and after understanding they were rude they should have apologize properly.

Life is a bit more complicated than black and white, being an asshole once to somebody doesn't mark them as an asshole for the rest of their lives, I hope the admin can get something out of this situation and learn, hopefully they will reach out to Roier to say sorry.

[anarchywoofwoof]

Hello! So, when I was looking at your twitch, I noticed you had Hasan and Yugo as recommended streamers. I'm not going to tell you that you should stop watching them or anything like that, I just wanted to tell you both of those people are really big tankies. Hasan has trash talked anarchists a lot before, and I'm pretty sure yugo is a ML. Just saying cause I thought you would like to know. Have a nice day!

thanks, but can i be perfectly honest with you? i really don't give a shit.

this is why i have considered taking anarchy out of my blog name completely. because some of the people who follow this blog are so deep in their obsessive compulsive, chronically online nature to be as ideologically pure as possible that it makes the rest of us (anarchists and leftists) look really fucking weird to outside observers. you just insist on purity testing all of my posts and everything i do.

are you really hand wringing over how good of an anarchist that i am because of who i watch stream on twitch??? do you realize that this is why anarchists get made fun of to begin with???

the global proletariat revolution is not likely to happen in our lifetimes. i live in the united states. Anarchist thought has never and is never going to be the prevailing way of thinking. does it make up the foundations of my own personal belief systems? yes. but that doesn't mean that i completely shun anything and everyone who doesn't prescribe to my way of thinking.

if you are following this blog looking for some kind of revolutionary ideologically pure anarchist vanguard, you are surely fucked. i am an imperfect hypocrite who believes that power corrupts and that you should aim to deconstruct hierarchy wherever possible. i do my best to live these principles. that's all that i can do.

when Hasan or Mike from PA or Yugopnik or whoever else has shit to say about anarchists, i either push back or shrug and move on because in the long run, it really doesn't fucking matter. neither Marxism-Leninism nor Anarchism will ever take hold in a pre-collapse American society, so stop fucking concern trolling me in my asks about it.

[space-specs]

Your Guide To Voting in 2024

Yes, you may feel like everything is horrible and hopeless, and you don't want to vote. I'm here to not do that, and give you tips and info on why. Ultimately, I do not care what you actually vote only that you try to go and fill out something.

Make Sure You Are Registered to Vote

Check your registration status. This site has a drop down to select your state, which will link you to the website to check and see if you're registered.

Not registered? Go here. This site will tell you how to get registered in your state and will link you directly to the online registration if your state offers it.

Make sure you have a government issued photo ID. Driver's license, state ID, passport, etc. Many states require to you to present some form of ID to vote. Find out what counts in your state (and exceptions and provisional ballot rules) here.

Know you'll have difficulty making it to the ballot box? Check the rules for voting by mail/absentee voting in your state and see if you qualify.

Look up your sample ballot ahead of time! Lots of places provide a sample ballot which allows you to see what all the issues are ahead of time. Since this will vary by local elections, the best way to this is to look up "[your county name] sample ballot", possibly with the year tacked on to the end of the search. This may not be available until closer to election day, but it is a great way to get prepared for voting.

Other Voting Tips

This is where I get into the bit where it matters more to me that you vote than who you vote for. This is a personal principle of mine: everyone has the right to vote regardless of if I agree with what you choose to do with that vote.

You do not have to fill out every box on the ballot. You can leave some blank! Don't want to vote on President this year? Fine! Only want to vote on President and don't want to research other issues? Also fine. In fact, you can turn in a completely blank ballot if you want, and that is a political action, too. (Tip: parties note a blank box on issues because it indicates to them you were dissatisfied with your options)

You can bring notes with you! Too many issues to keep track of? Write yourself a note, print out a sample ballot and fill it out in advance to copy over, finding a voting guide and print it. As long as it is ON PAPER, you can bring it with you. (I verified this is universally allowed here)

Don't know where to start on research? The sample ballot is a great place to start just looking up candidates, but I also recommend checking out your local chapter of League of Women Voters. They put out a voters guides for each election that list pros and cons to various issues on the ballot.

The most important and most neglected elections are your local ones. Real grassroots change might be possible in your city, if you pay attention. Too overwhelmed by all this? Pick a few local issues to focus on, like the school board or city council. My city passed a trans-inclusive non-discrimination ordinance in a red state because people rallied around a handful of progressive city council members that swayed the vote. Even if everything feels hopeless, you make things better for yourself and your loved ones by actively engaging in your local politics.

Remember it's voting AND not voting OR. I know a lot of people are extremely dissatisfied with their options for this year's election, especially at the national level. Don't stop doing what you're doing. Don't stop protesting and boycotting and donating and talking about the things that matter to you. Get involved in your community. Find ways to make a difference. But also, go vote. Please.

Thank you for reading this. I hope something in here was helpful for you, and if it was, please consider reblogging this so that others can find it as well. If I've forgotten anything important, I welcome any helpful additions and will do my best to reblog those or add them to the original post as needed!

[system-of-a-feather]

Basic Conversational Respects / Boundaries

I figured since we are a lot more selective with what kind of content we engage with on tumblr dot com and what sorts of conversation we are willing to participate, these are some foundational basic assumptions and general principles I intend to address people with on here that I would like to be reflected back. This is Part 1 or 2 of the general "Boundaries" that will be added to my pinned post.

These are also some values I hope #sysconversation picks up. I am not the "creator" of the tag as it was a group effort of few individuals, not all of which I remember, but I do like to take some interest in cultivating the culture of the tag, so I'll share this there too.

Unless there is clear evidence otherwise and/or repeated lack of consideration, assume that the person you are talking to is meaning well and does not mean malice or harm; some people have trouble regulating their emotions and/or communicating in an effective and productive manner and a lot of people are not informed on certain topics; its best to assume that people have good intent but are struggling to phrase what they mean in a way that is "best" because of a number of potential things that can make it difficult; this is especially important in conversations with populations of neurodiverse and traumatized individuals as language, emotional regulation, and communication can be particular difficulties

If someone is reporting something from their existence, assume they are being truthful to the best that they can with the language and words that they know. If someone is using a term that is "not appropriate" or "the right usage" without clear derogatory intent, assume that they either 1) don't know the context or information of it or 2) have reasonable and understandable justification as to why they have found / felt that the word fits and meet them at that place to develop understanding

A person knows themselves best, first and foremost, ESPECIALLY compared to online strangers

Attempt to minimize the amount you assume about a person - especially regarding culture, mental health experiences, life experiences and trauma history. Labels that they use do not mean they fit into the stereotypes of other people in that group and every topic is a complex and multilayered topic that intersects with a lot of cultural dynamics.

Arguing, personal attacks, and debating who is "right and wrong" or "good and bad" is unproductive and helps little to no one. If the discussion becomes a point of arguing who is better than the other or assigning value to positions and discussion, its best to disengage rather than to waste the energy.

[stylecouncil]

also it’s kind of amazing the level to which you can get your average (specifically working class because let’s be real I’m not talking to people with a lot of money on a daily basis, like salt of the earth) trump voter to agree with extremely left ideas just by how you phrase it or how you appeal to their wants etc. like there’s this weird dissonance there which is why I think it’s weird when some people try to frame every trump voter as some rabid fascist caricature. as someone who actually gets out of their house and has to interact with a population of about 95 percent deep red state trump voters, I think it’s a little more complicated than that/the average american is completely lacking in a coherent set of political ideals. what I’m saying is that people are extremely stupid and self interested but I don’t think they’re as just broad strokes evil as you make them out to be (but isn’t that also the scariest part, that people kind of don’t even know or care what they’re actually voting for half the time or too doggedly adhering to some useless label they’ve tied their identity too they don’t actually consider the issues…..I mean all of this barely matters with the choices the american system usually gives you but you know what I mean. there’s probably some larger point to be made here but I’m not trying to make a point) and mainly that I think that if I were like 5 percent less principled I could pull the george santos esque grift of all time if I wanted to. anyways I think maybe exploiting that ideological dissonance / centering working class issues in a real way (labor focus etc etc) would have maybe been a better idea than trying to appeal to absolutely no one but what do I know. again it doesn’t even matter because nobody actually has any vested interest in changing anything anyways. but like on a pure campaigning level you can’t fight charismatic populism with……black holes of charisma appealing in no absolute way to anyone. no I’m not writing a think piece that I think you should pay attention to or making any sort of definitive statement about anything this is just my online stream of consciousness diary.

[izicodes]

Hi Loa! You said you started off with HTML/CSS/JavaScript, and you post a lot about your website projects. So I wanted to ask if you have any advice for the process of designing a website and making various graphics. I enjoy coding a whole lot, but I've avoided front-end stuff until now because looking into design and tools for it made me feel a little overwhelmed. What would you do if you were to start learning anew web design for your coding job and hobby projects? Thank you a lot :)

Hiya! 💗

I'd be happy to share some advice on designing a website and creating graphics. It's great that you enjoy coding and want to explore front-end development and design, and don't worry, though I love frontend stuff a lot, I still find some things overwhelming e.g. I'm currently learning Django which I have put off from learning because it looked "hard" but now I love learning it. Just give yourself a little push and you'll enjoy it! 😉🙌🏾

Web Design Inspiration

Two key places I get inspiration for my website designs are Pinterest and Behance!

For instance, when I was, and still am, researching Old Web GUI designs, I made a Pinterest board of images relating to what I wanted to design and I used that as a reference when building the design in HTML and CSS. So, I would look at the picture and think "Okay in terms of HTML elements and CSS styling, how can I replicate this? 😉👍🏾". You can check out these boards: board 1 | board 2

Pinterest is the main inspiration place, and Behance is for more in-depth web design components. What I mean is if I need inspiration for a navbar design or a certain card design, I would use Behance.

Now I don't particularly do this, which is bad, but I do recommend making a wireframe for your web designs. I talked about wireframes in a previous post, but to sum it up; wireframes are good because they allow you to stick to your design plans and not go off on a tangent. These are especially good when working in a team at work, for example.

The reason why I don't particularly do them as often as I should is because I see things in my head vividly enough that I won't forget where everything should be - no super power but that's the main reason I don't make wireframes. As well, I change ideas halfway through so there's no real need for me to keep making wireframes if I will change the design 2 minutes later! 😭💔

But that's just me, but you should totally start designing wireframes. Practising drawing up some wireframes will definitely help with being creative in your designs. Take everything around you as an inspiration. The way I think of it is to think like an artist who is capable of painting anything - all you have to do is look around and paint. You can do the same with web development - everything is an inspiration. I saw a person make a whole webpage with amazing graphics... just about water. You can do the same.

If you need help on that part, definitely look into graphic design. I took extra classes in Graphics (which was just graphic design) when in school which involved looking at graphic artists and studying their work, then replicating something with our own twist. You can do the same with web design - study websites online, some you like or random ones. Look at a piece of the website and try and replicate it. That's why I like projects which are like "make a Google clone" or "make a Netflix clone" because it gives you the chance to study other people's codes and you can keep that knowledge for any future projects!

And lastly, study web design principles. There are some principles that good websites all put into their design that make the user's experience good. Read this article about it and this should even give hints to how you could design your next website! Learn about fundamental design principles such as colour theory, typography, layout, and composition. Understanding these principles will help you create aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly designs.

Web Design Tools I Use

Now, what do I use every time I start a new "project", what online tools do I use? I literally have these on my browser's bookmarks, ready to go!

Pinterest (inspiration) - LINK

Behance (inspiration) - LINK

Coolors (colour palette generator) - LINK

CSS Gradient Generator (because I'm lazy) - LINK

Google Fonts (main source for fonts) - LINK

Font Palace (fonts I want but not on Google Fonts) - LINK

Font Awesome (for the little icons) - LINK

Image Colour Picker (if I have an image and I want to pick the colour from it) - LINK

Optional tools:

Bootstrap 4/5 (sometimes I use this for personal projects, definitely use it at work) - LINK

Pattern.css (creates a patterned background for you, again I'm lazy) - LINK

Storyset on Freepik (people graphic images) - LINK

Pexels (stock background and even fake product images) - LINK

Unsplash (same as Pexel) - LINK

LottieFiles (set animations) - LINK

TinyPNG (makes image sizes smaller so less space) - LINK

CSSmatic (4 cool CSS generators) - LINK

That's all I have to say, if I didn't help with your question, message me to help you further but I do hope this helps you!! Good luck! 🥰🙌🏾💗