#feelings from ai were 100% confirmed

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

Things from the ruin dlc that keep me up at night.

Spoilers under the cut.

SERIOUSLY DO NOT READ IF YOU'RE AVOIDING SPOILERS.

Disclaimer: I wrote this before I had seen Everything the DLC has to offer or all the endings yet. I was on the wrong track, but I think my cooking before I knew everything was good cooking. I have more concrete theories now under #danachan's rants

Something that I was 100% right about that I was going to write into Lofi eventually.... But I guess I'll talk about it now since the dlc confirmed it.

But Balloon Boy world was literally Eclipses cage as I suspected. It was suppressing them. It wasn't an evil arcade or Eclipse was living in there. Eclipse's AI was being suppressed in the arcade cabinet.

Eclipse is how they talk to eachother, and Eclipse was asleep and completely blocked off from the Virus. So Sun and Moon had no communication with eachother anymore. Which is why they were both so stressed and lost.

I was astounded I got that completely correct in regards to what Eclipse is, and what the balloon boy game is.

(the dlc does not explain the Dcas weird connection to Vanessa and why the arcade cabinet was in Afton's boss fight room though)

Bonus points Moon talks exactly how I write him when speaking about the Sun and the Moon.

Another thing that has been mind-blowing me that all the comic book endings are scenarios that GREGORY DREW.

And according to the dlc....

The Afton Burntrap Blob ending is another one of those endings that he drew.

Which means Peepaw Afton and the Blob were never real in the first place.

Which is why no one could really figure out what the blob is.

It doesn't exist.

Princess Quest ending was the canon ending.

Vanessa leaving the Pizzaplex with Gregory is the canon ending.

The ending where you fight Afton in the basement.... Never happened and was just Gregory attempting to make sense of the FNAF lore that Vanessa probably explained to him. Since in the DLC, we do find a book about Fazbear History in Vanny's room.

I honestly don't know if Steel Wool retroactively made Burntrap non-canon due to everyone making fun of him, not taking him seriously and hating the blob, or if this was always the case. Because despite the Afton ending being the hardest to get.... It's still a two star ending.

So it's hard and too early for me to tell if I want to give them points for that soft retcon. I mean I don't blame them honestly.

But yeah. Skeleton man Afton in the basement and his best friend the Blob isn't actually real, and neither is Freddy's "I am not me" speech either.... Which honestly makes sense. Because it's all Gregory's comic book trying to make sense of FNAF Lore he doesn't understand.

Also, I can say definitively, and finally, Afton is not the Mimic. Glitchtrap exists as its own entity in this, and the Mimic seems to have its own agenda. It's unclear if Afton is possessing the Mimic via virus corruption, but for now, I believe the Mimic is acting of its own will.

And man oh man. I feel so sorry for people who haven't been keeping up with Tales of the Pizzaplex Books.

The ending of the dlc is just really "who's Henry???" From pizzasim all over again huh....

Anyways. Those are my thoughts. I will be streaming the dlc again tomorrow. Gonna try and get a better ending, but I have a suspicion they're all sad.

[unicornjoking1111]

Don't believe that void state exist? I got you!

So believing in something were whatever u desire will happen instantly is a really shocking and unbelievable thing to hear! Especially the ongoing experiences we face throughout our life which can be frustrating and unbelievable.... I will make it simple!

I am not sure if you will believe in void state.. but I will tell you what made me believe in void state!

The success stories!!!

There are a lot! I mean alot of success stories present here regarding void state! But lemme tell you a few questions!

Is all these success stories real?

Maybe! Because anyone can fake a success stories and us people have a really good knowledge regarding the void state aren't we 😂? But there are millions of success stories here and you think all the people waste their time into putting a fake success stories for views and attention? If you say that yes all the success stories aren't real.. then think again cause we all have brains everyone use it!

Nevielle goddard!!

Do you believe in him? Of Course because this community wouldn't exist without him 🙃🙃 so u might be aware that the void state is also came from him! (I might be wrong cause there are some people who knew about the void state before nevielle) but instead of void state he used "I am" and also gave his method on how to use it! This is the post I saw! The creator of this community itself explained about the void state what more could u expect 😭😭😭

Moonlighth0pe!!

For me personally! One of the mind blowing success stories and one of the person who made me shift from a loa girly to a void girly is due to her! Not only did she managed to get into the void state with such hard challenges but she also inspired almost everyone! Also the success stories with her photos made me believe her so much because the photos are not from any social media so can confirm that this is real and also the success story is truly shocking and exciting! Because she has her desired body, luxury (such as yacht,shoes,trips and also her dress which I really loved 😍) these are hard real evidences she posted which made me believe in the void. Even if you don't believe her or some people will say AI or some bullshit! Why would a person like her be on the Tumblr if she has everything she wanted? Think about it! Like you have a luxury yacht,trips and a type of body she has and so on... Why would she wanna be here anyway? She would lived her life to the fullest!

Our bloggers!

The knowledge and effort the void bloggers make are truly helpful and hands off to them! But there are some bloggers who have been exposed to lying for "entering the void"! But just because they lie does that mean the void is not real? Think again! Because this world is truly imagination and nothing can stop you! The void state is real no matter if you believe it or not! Even if you still don't believe it the only way to make u believe is to test it yourself! Try it! Would u like to do it no matter what? Or just be a Hatter and roam around?

At last me!!

I believe that void state is real 💯 because I tried it out myself and I am gonna say that this is real because I felt the symptoms of how the void state feels like such (no senses, floating) I believed like about 85% now I believe 100% that this is real. This might lead to another question! Just because I had symptoms of entering the void state doesn't mean the void state is real cause u didn't manifest anything? My answer is....

I believed it! I am still gonna believe it no matter what! Cause that's how much trust I have in myself! Plus all these hard facts I have given and still u refuse to believe it shows how much limitation and immaturity u have about yourself and not seeing the beauty of what actually life is all about...

If this post really made u believe it! Don't be so frustrated if u didn't get into the void state! And also if you didn't enter the void state don't overthink about how void state isn't real and shit! Just come back to this post and remind yourself!

I have given you all the logic stuff I could have given you! To prove that this is real! If you still don't believe... try it yourself! It's your path and I know for sure it's going to be wonderful 😍😍😁😁😁

Once I enter the void I will make sure I will show you the luxury stuffs (since I am very materialistic than I ever imagined lol and also I am living in luxury so... Why not more 😅) I will make sure I will get into the void no matter what and be the next success story! And you will be too 😄😄😍

For now goodbye...

[yuseirra]

I've actually become really.. Even more confident with my hikaai analyses (until I get proven wrong..haha) hear me out on why I feel this way, okay?

In the latest chapter, it was revealed that Ai's boyfriend is someone who offers things for Ai, and falls into ruin because of it. He believes there is some kind of destiny for himself. That much, we can all agree with, huh?

If that’s the case, then "Fatal" is this person’s song.

In that case, I’ve already secured the basic points if this were a test, and now I’m just waiting to collect the extra points!

It’s not really about me trying to convince myself...this is really true!

From the start, I always predicted that Hikaru’s breakdown only happened after Ai’s death. The question was never whether he fell apart, but rather how much. He’s always been such an ambiguous character whose exact actions were left unclear.

I got this part right, and honestly, it was the most important part. It wasn’t this person who harmed Ai. (So actually, Aqua’s target for revenge is no longer this person. It’s easy to miss this since the story moves so quickly.)

It’s also confirmed that he was originally a genuinely good person. This part was validated when the god herself confirmed he had a noble and refined soul.

This means Hikaru is not the kind of person who falls into ruin just because something bad happens to him. It was Ai’s death that led to his downfall. In fact, considering everything this character has been through, this makes him closer to "kind," and his mental fortitude is incredibly strong. The idea of him being "noble" aligns well with this. So, ultimately, this confirms that the personality depicted in the flashbacks(the movie arc) is accurate to his true character.

If this is the case, it also explains why Ai liked him so much and wanted to save him, making everything fall into place.

Now, the only question that remains is whether he will actually be saved or if he will remain a terrible criminal. (And honestly, this is the same situation the character was in before the movie arc—it’s like we’ve come full circle. However, now there’s the added advantage of two key pieces of information: Ai wanted to save him, and he really was originally a good person.)

To be honest... I feel like we need to see how the character himself acts before we can properly judge him.

It’s similar to judging a real person.

I feel it’s still too early to jump to conclusions just from seeing a text that goes he's a terrible guy who's killed a lot of people. There hasn’t been a single image of him doing anything specific yet... So, while we can take it into consideration, it is only when we get more detailed flashbacks or scenes where the character himself expresses his own thoughts, that will likely confirm everything.

Given that everything I predicted so far has been right(I really, really did get so many things accurately), it feels highly likely that the story will go the way Ai hoped, with this character being saved.

I’ve been following closely, and I've noticed that even in his "ruined" state, this character still shows a lot of kindness. Plus, he’s an actor and just as much of a liar as Ai was, so you have to really pay attention to interpret him correctly. You can’t just believe what you see!

Right now, I’ve scored over 70 points out of 100 if this were to be a test, but I feel confident that I’ll end up with over 90.

Since we’ve already established that he didn’t hurt Ai and that Ai genuinely wanted to help him, this means there’s a strong narrative push in that direction, and my conclusions about the character are likely to be right, which makes me feel even more confident.

If "Fatal" really is this character’s song, then yes, the emotions in that song—desire, disappointment, despair—are definitely present.

But surprisingly, the song has much less selfishness or possessiveness than one might expect. So, I felt like it wasn’t such a bad kind of love, which is why I’ve depicted that couple so much.

It’s a love where you give and give, without expecting much in return. You just want to hear their voice, to catch their gaze, to have them comfort your pain again. The lyrics even mention that their "fatale" belongs to "no one". It’s a kind of selfless love where you want them so desperately that you can’t live without them, while offering up everything you have, but asking for so little in return. This is a very devoted love. If it were one-sided, it might feel overwhelming or creepy, but with Ai and Hikaru, it’s mutual.

If you look at Hikaru’s actions in Chapter 160 (his testimony is likely the truth, even if Tsukuyomi’s stated goal is real, that kind of motivation would only arise after Ai’s death.) It means this person didn’t have confidence that Ai loved him, so he desperately craved her love in this way. That makes it pitiful. He makes a pass to be Ai's lover, in my book. He seems like a good person. And I take love VERY seriously... haha... I believe love isn’t about receiving, but more about giving. It’s about giving without regret... The narrators of "Mephisto" and "Fatal" embody this a lot.

They don’t ask for much from the other person while giving everything they have. That’s the kind of love Ai’s boyfriend has. What he gives may be a question,(or questionable) but I doubt Ai would have failed to notice a guy capable of harming Ruby(their own daughter for goodness sake) or involved in serial killings... haha. Plus, if he’s described as once having been "noble", a person like that probably wouldn’t cross that final line. Ruby didn't, and I find Ruby having taken after his character quite a bit, they make the same expressions. There’s a higher chance he kept his boundaries intact.

Things will unfold the way Ai wanted them to. The things this person has actually done are quite different from what’s been said about him.

He’s not someone who acts strongly or aggressively—he’s too gentle for that. It’s not that he’s pretending to be kind while having a foul heart; rather, I see he’s pretending to be dark when he’s actually not, which is why his true nature shows through.

It’s true that Ai found and fell in love with a genuinely good person, and they had a period where they were happily together. So I can already see the story heading towards him being saved after being broken by her loss. Ai wants to save the boy who's been deeply suffering and is straying far off after what's happened to her. That's the narrative the story is heading towards, it's the most natural path and I see it coming. Ai is right. She found someone REALLY sweet and he got destroyed, so she wants to help him get back to the way he was.

I’ve gotten the overall structure right, and now I just need to collect the extra points :)

[merryfortune]

full spectre event finale thoughts thread

i genuinely cried during the finale

spoilers abound under the cut

Tiny tot Spectre!!!!!! He is so precious!!!!!! A cutie patootie a babbu

But Spectre being able to return to where he belongs, even briefly, made me so happy, I'm so happy for him!!!!!

Ok a little heart-breaking, I remember you, I care about you but I know I don't count since there's no player avatar in duel links but please remember cross duel, you were my biggest weakness!!! But ok cool recapping what we know about how memories criss-cross with ressurection and stuff like that in duel links

WE LOVE A KING WITH SELF CONFIDENCE AND HIGH SELF ESTEEM

This was so moe of Spectre................................. i love him, life may not be a fairy tale for him but consider. it is and he is cinderella.

But, more importantly, this is confirmation that he is still searching for Earth. He is *wishing* for Earth. I am over the moon but in a bittersweet way.

I can finally forgive Duel Links for SB stealing Playmaker's spotlight as Spectre's narrative foil but this is to enhance and create a parallel to them both with Ai and Flame with their partnerships. He is so envious of them in that regard my word.

I've seen speculation from Japanese players that this could also be referring to a possible Dr Kogami ressurection and honestly? since it'll piss off a lot of western fans, I am on their side. A Dr kogami appearance would slap. But even aside from that interpretation more Ignis speculation my beloved.

the one soulburner screenshot lmao but here is what had me crying. I have had this exact sentiment yelled at me as a teen and its a contributing factor to why I latched onto Spectre so hard. Seeing a character who is so joyfully against the grain, is a freak, it means so much to me. I genuinely felt so *seen* by this line but I am worried that I am assuming malice here other people are not. like everyone wants to coddle sb and that's fine/understandable but spectre deserves to have his spotlight and to air his feelings on the trauma he's experienced. like i don't want to pull the bad victim/good victim dichotomy card here but its tempting

Oops I didn't grab screenshots of Revolver's dramatic entrance. Loved it by the way! I think its very funny that he gave Spectre a solemm scoleding for going too far and that Spectre genuinely knocks it off afterwards. It gives us a hint to whether or not Spectre knows if Revolver was the whistleblower, how they function interpersonally despite their diametrically opposing views on the incident. Excellent stuff.

boyfriends..................... the master and servant dynamic...... foaming at the mouth I froth....................... their conflicting feelings o the ignis. i hope we get earth so bad

thread end

this finale was 99.9% perfect for me, the remaining 0.01% would have been if Earth had been name dropped. Let's see where the story picks up next year with Akira. Looking forward to 100%'ing the rerun event too

Edit: crying again because I thought too hard about how Spectre would never betray Revolver and how ryoken gave him a home 😭

[dangopango00]

After Last Night (2)

Waking up with him after a hookup

Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 |

FAT/LBC men x gn reader (Ayn and cael)

CW: Suggestive, cael (sorry i like him i just happen to also like hating on him), ok genuinely cael but its the fact that in his blurb MC is kind of your daughter

A/N: Ayn is my fave but i dint do him in part one to keep me motivated to finish part two 💀💀 mind games also im acc so obsessed with step parent reader wtf thats so cute

more utc

AYN / AI YIN (艾因）

- SCENARIO: Ayn is very aloof and he doesn’t drink so he’s not sleeping with anyone he doesn’t know well; you two are very close. You’re in the music club and trying to pick up/get better at an instrument and you pestered Ayn into giving you tips until you became so close that he basically acted as your tutor. Tbh you’re probably already in a situationship and you’ve probably kissed a few times but nothing crazy, you’ve never pushed it that far— well that is until last night. You hadn’t seen each other in a long time just because you were both busy and Ayn missed you so he had you come to his hideout and well shit happened

- He wakes up first but is incredibly out of it like there’s still drool dribbling out of his mouth and he’s only really half awake; he kinda looks dead in his stupor

- He’d probably just pull you closer, lay on you and go back to sleep to be so honest; he can order takeout for the two of you later

- He tangles himself with you like unbrushed hair. His legs and arms are all wrapped around you and he’s trying to get as close to you as possible and his breath is tickling your neck with how much he nudges his head against you and gives you a quick kiss before he goes back to sleep

- His bedhead usually isn’t messy because he doesn’t move a lot in his sleep but after last night his hair is more messy than usual because of how much he’s pushing his head against you lol

- Even if you wake up he won’t let you get up. Go back to bed, he missed you; he just kisses you until you give up but if you’re hungry he’ll order something from his phone

- Likes if you trace parts of his body while you’re laying down like his collarbones or running your thumb down his chest. Keep it below the head though, otherwise the ticklish feeling will bother him while he’s trying to sleep (he’s such a princess 🙄)

- Is actually pretty chill about the whole thing; it was only a matter of time in his opinion and will be a little confused if you’re super embarrassed because you’ve already made out before it’s not that crazy

- He thinks the situation is pretty simple honestly he’s just gonna invite you on dates and confess which does admittedly take a bit of time because he wants to do something special and you’re a little nervous when he doesn’t confess or anything but when he does it makes the wait 100% worth it

CAEL / YE XUAN (叶瑄）

- SCENARIO: OKAY. I’ve thought about this one deeply because Cael is like I think a confirmed virgin so he would have to be suuuperr close with you to want to hook up. So in my delusional little head you are a very old friend of his who helped him basically raise MC. You weren’t formally her step parent but you helped out where you could and ended up becoming close with the two. At first Cael was just grateful to have you for help and as a dear friend but as time went on he started to notice you more and more. You lived together and seeing you do random domestic things or just normal mundane things like doing laundry or gardening or sth was driving him insane. It just built up and randomly one day when you were getting ready for the day he suddenly kissed the back of your neck and confessed and things just escalated

- You wake up first and Cael is just lying so peacefully. He’s never felt more refreshed to be honest

- His bedhead is a little messy but it’s not really noticeable except for the bangs and he snores but he doesn’t really drool, doesn’t move much either; moves in between long intervals

- You run your fingers through his hair and kiss his forehead as he sleeps and you notice him crack a smile (he woke up a few minutes after you but he wanted to see what you’d do while he slept so he could tease you later)

- He loves it when you hold his face in your hands. His cheeks heat up and he has a small smile as he opens his eyes; such a small form of affection makes him feel so warm inside and he can’t help it

- He’d take your hands in his and kiss them then leading you to the kitchen so you can make breakfast together

- After all. That his infatuation is boosted like x10 like he starts drawing you just doing normal activities, thinking about you while in the middle of a battle among many other things

- However, he hasn’t slept with you since that night because he’s really worried

- He doesn’t really know how nor does he think he should pursue a committed relationship with you because tbh he could die at any moment and he has enough responsibility as is; it sounds harsh but he doesn’t want to have to worry about you and vice versa. It’ll take a lot of convincing and persistence to get him to realize that no matter what you’ll be by his side and that you want to take care of him and MC too— that you will always care about him no matter how much he distances himself

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

if you're interested to know about the show- you really didn't miss much lol especially you having been a fan for so long what they showed in AYS wasn't anything we haven't seen before except for not hiding their bodies like they usually do. The show didn't show me anything new about their dynamic or them as people. They spent 80% of the time at restaurants or just eating the other 10% was actual activities 5% of them talking (which by the way they really have nothing substantial to talk about it which was probably the only surprising thing about this show- their conversations were either bringing up the other members or them bickering about something dumb) you can tell there was alot of dead silence that was edited out because one moment they're talking then it gets quiet then it cuts to them on their phone lol the last 5% i would say was what people consider typical jikook like jimin being affectionate playful touches yadda yadda yadda

all in all it was kind of eh. I feel as though tbe target audience was for heavily jikook biased only because as an outsider I can't imagine how boring it must have been- even for an army I bet it was okay for them.

Hi, thank you. It's okay, though 😅

After so many years I've learned how to navigate through content and watch only the parts I'm interested in, and that's basically what I did to watch Jimin's clips because I wanted to see what he looked like, or some of his opinions.

I can also tell when something might be relevant or it could be new information, so I watch that too. I'm also able to realize if I need more context around a clip or gif, and in that case I usually look for a longer clip, subtitles, translations, etc. I might even go to the source and watch the episode myself, which is what I did for example when taekook had that conversation in ITS 1. I never watched the show, but I have watched that episode. Gifs, pictures and clips without context are reactionary mostly, and people post them for fun or whatever. But when you go to the source content more often than not is not that impressive after getting the full picture.

As for the show, there's a post I made months ago, around the time it was announced, where I said I had questions about 2022, 2023, and they weren't going to give me answers, so I couldn't bring myself to be interested. And nothing has proven me wrong so far. Them saying they didn't really meet up in 2023 wasn't one of my questions, I was already certain of that so it was more of a confirmation. All in all, I knew how they were going to act because I've been watching them every single day for the past 7 years.

Watching Jimin listen to his music was probably the most relevant thing to me lol. Because we hadn't really seen that! He basically went MIA a while after face, and besides from the hot 100 live, we didn't get to see many of his reactions to his own music. I'm not talking about reacting to achievements but him just listening and appreciating his songs.

Also, his body. Like. I really thought we'd never ever see his full moon tattoo that way.

I've started watching the last episode because it's one of the last stuff Jimin filmed before enlisting, so I want to see it. I still haven't finished it, but yeah I'm watching that just fyi.

I disagree that Jimin was touchy, though. In fact I've noticed he's rather reserved in his interactions with Jungkook, compared to what he used to be like up to 2021ish. But that's also something that's been noticeable for a couple of years. For the record, I don't think any of them were touchy or clingy or none of that stuff. There's a reason the only clip people I've seen people use of them touching is the one from the first or second episode 😭 that's like 1 minute out of 9 hours of content.

[yyh4ever]

Netflix Japan is holding many events and lotteries to celebrate the Yu Yu Hakusho Live Action. Don't forget to follow Netflix Japan X Official Account.

December 13, 2023 (Eve of the World Premiere)

Live Streaming of the Premier Event

As I posted before, a Yu Yu Hakusho Event featuring the cast and screening of the first episode will take place in Tokyo, on the Evening of December 13. Fortunately, for those who didn't win tickets, they will be broadcasting it live on YouTube, X, and TikTok. It starts at 18h30 (JST).

Nobuyuki Sakuma and Suzu Yamanouchi will be live broadcasting the entire event on the eve of the global distribution!

Navigator: Nobuyuki Sakuma, Suzu Yamanouchi

MC: Akihisa Shoguchi

Reporter: Hisanori Yoshida

Speakers (cast and director): Takumi Kitamura, Jun Shison, Kanata Hongo, Shuhei Uesugi, Sei Shiraishi, Kotone Furukawa, Ai Mikami, Hiroya Shimizu, Keita Machida, Meiko Kaji, Kenichi Takito, Go Ayano, Director Sho Tsukikawa. Good news is that Kotone Furukawa (Botan) has been confirmed on stage too.

Win a trip around the world 🌏

Reply the campaign post that will be posted on Netflix Japan X account at 19:00 (JST) on December 13 with the hashtag #世界一周霊丸 (around the world spirit gun).

The prize is a 16-day trip around the world (4 nights in each city+breakfast): departing from Tokyo (Narita or Haneda Airport) - New York - Rio de Janeiro - London - Bangkok - back to Tokyo (Narita or Haneda Airport).

Unfortunately, according to the rules, this lottery is only for residents of Japan. I wish they were advertising and working together with other Netflix around the world, like they've been doing with One Piece.

Edit: Takumi Kitamura (Yusuke Urameshi) shot a spirit gun during the live action premier that traversed the world in real time.

December 14, 2013 (Day of World Premier on Netflix)

Binge-watching the 5 episodes

Starting at 19:00 (JST) on Thursday, December 14, a Watch Party to watch all 5 episodes at once will be held on X.

All you have to do is add the hashtag #幽遊白書一気見 (yu yu hakusho binge-watching) to your posts when writing your impressions about the series. Many original goods such as posters and special boxes will be given to a total of 100 people by lottery.

Yu Yu Hakusho Ad-Truck Campaign until December 17

All you have to do is find an ad-truck! 🚛

120 people will be randomly selected to win a gift code for 3 months of Netflix. How to apply:

❶ Follow @NetflixJP

❷ Post a photo or video of one of the 12 character trucks with the hashtag #幽白トラック (Yuhaku Truck) until December 17, 23h59 (JST).

Departing from Sapporo, Nagoya, Osaka and Hakata on December 4, the trucks will be touring around various places until December 10, then they will be heading to Tokyo on December 11. They are scheduled to run around Shibuya from December 13 to 14, and within Tokyo from December 15 to 17.

Sapporo: Kazuma Kuwabara/Koenma/Toguro Brother

Nagoya: Kurama/Toguro Brother/Genkai

Osaka: Yusuke Urameshi/Keiko Yukimura/Botan

Hakata (Fukuoka): Hiei/Sakyo/Yukina

Infiltrating the filming location of Yu Yu Hakusho Cast

Special photos of the cast taken by Maciej Kucia (AVGVST) will be released on December 14.

The main cast of the live-action will be on the special edition cover of the famous anan magazine. There's going to be a 16-page special feature about the live action, including exclusive photos and interviews with the cast and staff.

In solo interviews and roundtable discussions with the four main cast members, they were asked about their thoughts and feelings when they were chosen to appear in the series, behind-the-scenes stories of shooting, and their thoughts to take on the challenge of a work that has been loved for many years.

In addition to the four guys, anan also interviewed Go Ayano and Kenichi Takito, who play the Toguro Brothers, the biggest enemies who have many fans from the original work. They talk about the difficulties and joys of playing characters that required highly difficult acting as they filmed using CG.

In an interview with director Sho Tsukikawa , he was asked about his thoughts on producing "Yu Yu Hakusho" in this era.

Here's a sneak peek of the guys during the magazine cover shot.

It's so cute when they all start chanting: "Yu Yu Hakusho". At the end, Kanata Hongo says Hiei's famous line: do not underestimate the power of the evil eye.

Edit: Netflix Japan released special photos of the actors:

Yusuke Vs Younger Toguro Mural Showdown

"The showdown between Yusuke and Younger Toguro will break out in Shibuya!? Witness the spirit gun!"

I am curious to see that. From what we've seen from the trailer, Yusuke VS Toguro will be an epic confrontation!

Edit: The mural is at the Shibuya Crossing. They used blue lights to simulate Yusuke's spirit gun, and on the other side there's Toguro taking it!

Something else will happen in Shibuya?

Something will happen on the day of the live action premier...?

I am super curious. From this image, we can understand that all the ad-trucks that departed from Sapporo, Nagoya, Osaka and Hakata will be arriving in Shibuya on the 14th, but what will happen? Some kind of big announcement? 😱

Edit: It was just a big promo at the Shibuya Crossing!

Source: Netflix Japan

[fnaffersblog]

Hee Hoo

Spoilers for 'Eclipse is DYING in VRChat' below!

(TW for: Swearing, as per usual)

Oh he does NOT sound good

Eclipse has been through the fuckin ringer. He needs a break too. Shit.

NEW COMPUTER LETS GO collecting them like shiny rocks

Okay, so is he building/ creating new bodies and they keep wearing out? Or is he still using Solar Flare's body and it's failing? Because the idea of him making bodies and them just decaying under the weight of the star's power to the point that he's racing to make new forms to sustain it sounds REALLY cool to me.

Oh.

Never mind. ;-; lol

"What's stopping the thing from going? I can do it, just tell me what it is."

I have thoughts about this line. It's very...

Like, the way he

He's dying. He's in pain. He's on the ground, because he's exhausted. But when the AI tells him there's a problem, he pulls himself up anyway. He's still insistent he can do everything himself? It was almost desperate sounding.

I dunno. I kinda, like,

It reminded me of Sun. A little bit.

So way the heck back, right after Eclipse 'killed' Solar Flare, there was this really tiny moment where Solar Flare broke through again and Eclipse was like 'I'm still working on eradicating his code completely. It'll be finished soon or something.' but we never really 100% got confirmation that Solar Flare died died, so I'm not super surprised they're back. I won't say I anticipated it, I forget about Solar Flare a lot (poor dude got five minutes of screen time rip) but I'm not surprised because that small moment explicitly left it up in the air that they were probably alive.

Good for them. Good for Solar Flare. This is a concrete attempt at taking Eclipse down and one of the most solid attempts I've seen so far. Taking Eclipse out while he's weak. Solar Flare is stuck in Eclipse's body, scattered and ruined but still kicking, and they're gonna make that Eclipses problem. They got handed a short end of the stick but by god their gonna make sure to use what they got.

We got so little of Solar Flare, for meta and lore reasons alike, so this feels like a vindication for the character. A 'Your time to shine was taken from you unfairly for reasons out of your control, so this? This is for you.'

Good shit.

He's nervous about confronting Solar Flare. He's unsure of himself, which is so cool to see from a character like Eclipse who is usually so self-assured in the way he talks, in the way he carries himself. He's running on empty, time is running out, and he KNOWS it. He's fumbling.

Which changes completely when he turns and starts talking to the AI! Before he goes into his mindscape.

That annoyance! That bravado! That smooth talking confidence! IS he working himself up to talk to Solar Flare? Is there some other reason he's nervous? It was a very distinct change in demeanor.

One one hand, I like specific numbers. I'd like to know how many uses Eclipse has out of the star.

On the OTHER hand

ANY use of the star could be his last. So now we, as the viewers, are sitting here waiting to see which Jenga block is the one that topples the fuckin tower and isn't that just SO MUCH MORE ENTERTAINING??

Also, quick aside, what IS Eclipse doing with the Star? Like, we've only seen him use it a couple times right? We've seen him teleport, he wiped everyone's memories of himself and Sun and Moon and replaced them and he's teleported other people. He's GOT to be doing something else with it if he's at the point that he's right at the edge of irrevocably damaging himself. Right? Or is the star really just that draining?

Insert various quotes about the prodigal son.

It's been THREE MINUTES Faffers sit down and watch the damn episode already!

He's banking on being scary. He HAS to be scary. IT's all he has, but Solar Flare can read him so easily.

Solar Flare is interesting. He started gaining self consciousness at the point he was 'killed'. but he was also still very much a product of his programmed functions. We left off with him taking the first steps towards full self-functionality like the rest of the animatronics but he never quite got the chance to fully blossom into his own person beyond being a robot. If... any of that makes sense.

It's cool that he's STILL THERE in terms of growth. He's been stagnated all this time inside Eclipse. He's still a robot, built for a coded purpose (protecting Killcode), still teetering on the verge of becoming more than that.

ECLIPSE IS SO FUCKIN BITTER OVER BEING BETRAYED

He's so upset about being fucked over by his creations. He's got so much hatred for them.

It's

Like.

I don't know WHY Eclipse needs Sun and Moon alive.

But he is a creation of there's whether he sees it as an intentional creation or not.

I wonder if he's jealous that he needs them but his creations don't need him?

Good Shit

Good Shit

Good Shit

Good Shit

Good Shit

Eclipse has fucked over a LOT of people.

But I'd say, more than anyone, he's fucked over Lunar and Solar Flare.

Watching one of the major victims of his torment stand up and say, 'You do not scare me anymore. You do not have power over me anymore'

If ANYONE gets to make Eclipse face his actions, however that comes about, it should be those two.

Mutually assured destruction, with no hesitation it's so fucking good this whole thing is fucking great im going insane

Good Shit

GOOD. SHIT.

'It's like talking to a goddamn brick wall with you!'

Eclipse

Honey

Please

(like father, like son hmm?)

That's not a very good deal bro.

Like, Solar Flare literally just explained WHY he wasn't going to let Eclipse go into his own body.

Eclipses response was literally just, "But what if did anyway?"

And he didn't even offer anything like bro that was such a shitty deal my duuude

I am adopting 'piss ant' into my vocabulary of insults

I was literally in a call with other people when he said that and I started laughing and we agreed that that is such a CHILDISH insult

I'm getting

"But you won't"

"Bitch"

Vibes from Solar Flare. Lol

Seriously now.

What is he using the star for?

He could build a new body, eradicate Solar Flare, and do so in a way that prevents any damage to himself. Continue using the star, experimenting until he figures out how to use it completely, like Lord Eclipse from the other universe. He could wipe Sun and Moon from the face of existence, eradicate even the memory of them, subject them to their worst torments for eternity for his amusement, tear apart worlds to fit his image, torment those who oppose him or even those who just perturb him. The star has always been upheld as this object of ultimate power and Eclipse has it IN HIS HANDS! ANY problem he has could be solved with the power of the star SO WHAT IS HOLDING HIM BACK??

Is he.. really just that incompetent? Or have I just misunderstood the actual power of the star at this point?

There HAS to be something else. Right? Like, there HAS to be??

'Who taught you to cuss?'

'You did.'

LOL

He gets read like a book at the end and tries to bare his teeth in response and Solar Flare shuts that shit down.

He's so reliant on being scary, on being in control, that even when he's turning tail and leaving, he's still acting like he has any hold over Solar Flare. Because he needs it. He's wrestling for ANY sense of control right now.

He's been so affected by the people around him betraying him

His creators abandoned him. So he made others to love him. But they betrayed him because of who he was. And now he's worried everyone will. It folds into his plans, so much so he's afraid the AI he made to serve him will turn on him too.

I'm excited to see how he's going to give them 'false hope'.

Oh hey, I just noticed Eclipse has these little spikes on the back of his upper arms, that's cute.

[fancyshooting]

I got a few asks after my post explaining why I wasn't entirely convinced ocelot was canonically in love with bb. I'm not going to answer any of them. sorry. we'd be going round in circles and I don't want to drag this out or have it become a big THING. interpreting their relationship/ocelot's feelings as romantic is not without basis but it's not really how I see it anymore after reading so much about him, especially after learning that all of the japanese words for love used in relation to ocelot do not have exclusively romantic connotations and carry more nuance than eg. "fallen for him?" does in english. there are other examples of this from guidebooks/interviews, etc. that have come up while putting japanese text through online translators. in the mgs3 scenario book, the script note (all major ocelot script notes here) on ocelot's feelings after snake defeats his entire unit and lectures him on his technique is:

オセロットはこの時の強烈すぎる屈辱でスネークに惹かれる。

The initial result from deepl is:

"Ocelot is attracted to Snake because of the intense humiliation of this moment."

if the words "attracted to" were used in english, the implication would be pretty clear in this context - ocelot has a crush on bb. however, if you look up the japanese word used here - 惹かれる -the meaning is actually closer to charmed by/fascinated by/captivated by/drawn to - none of which are exclusively romantic. "attracted to" still technically fits but is a very literal translation. a more suitable choice would be one of the above because an english audience would commonly associate the phrase "attracted to" with romantic or sexual feelings

if ocelot could ever be described as having a crush, it would be in mgs3, when he first meets bb. in japanese, that type of passionate love would apparently be described as 恋 (koi). this is never used to describe ocelot but it is used to describe volgin and raikov, who are confirmed lovers:

大佐とイワン少佐は恋仲。

"Colonel and Major Ivan are in love."

恋仲 - being in love with each other

when ocelot is described as "longing for snake", the word for "longing" used is 憧れる, the main meaning of which relates to admiration. according to this page, it can also have romantic connotations but 焦がれる is more frequently used to express that

it seems a deliberate choice to make ocelot's feelings ambiguous by selecting words that convey a complex range of emotions rather than stating them to be outright romantic. the words used always have alternate meanings unrelated to romantic love, which is why I'm hesitant to acknowledge "ocelot is in love with bb" as solid concrete definite 100% canon, seeing as I'm incapable of understanding the nuance of japanese as a native english speaker. as far as I'm able to understand, it's up to individual interpretation imo

whether you believe ocelot's feelings for bb were romantic or not, we can still agree that everything he did for him was out of some form of love, that type being 愛 (ai) - the deep, unconditional love that might drive a person to dedicate their entire life to another and alter their mind and body to enact their will of eternal global warfare. aww <3

[beevean]

https://www.rockman-corner.com/2019/07/remastered-tracks-rockman-zero-telos_17.html

So according to this interview there’s a possibility that Omega’s AI may not have been completely made by Weil from scratch, but may actually be Zero’s original, Wily-made personality before he became good.

Given their wording it’s not necessarily 100% confirmed but it’s a possibility

Reply: very interesting review! I especially liked the description of how it is to live in Neo Arcadia, since we don’t see it in the games, or the role of the planned Fake Ciel.

Suzuki: You were the one asking us the whole time, so how about we ask something to you, the Sound Team? Omega’s 3rd form words, what is he saying? Yamada: He’s saying “I am the Messiah!”. Terrorist and anarchists often say stuff like “I am God!” or the likes, no? I wanted to give out that feeling. The words by themselves have no meaning but I think they work to express his cruelty and ferocity in a single line.  By the way, what’s the setting for the personality of Omega’s 3rd form? Yabe: The personality program (Cyber Elf) of Omega’s 3rd form was programmed by Vile as a Messiah. Well then, Omega’s 3rd form’s… Original Zero’s personality… We can’t affirm for sure that all of it is made by Vile. Itou: We can’t deny the possibility that the original personality of Zero, made by “the scientist who tried to take over the world many times” remained in the original body and that personality has won over… Yabe: Let’s leave that up to the users’ imaginations (laughs).

Yeah, they left it vague on purpose lol. Still, it would make sense, and fit with what we’ve seen of Awakened Zero in X5. Certainly would give Omega a more interesting personality than he has in Z3.

[rnisa]

I posted 2,414 times in 2022

That's 2,375 more posts than 2021!

343 posts created (14%)

2,071 posts reblogged (86%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@13eyond13

@nateriverswife

@natelove

@rnisa

@balsemicvinegar

I tagged 797 of my posts in 2022

#death note - 506 posts

#p - 72 posts

#l lawliet - 68 posts

#death note x reader - 63 posts

#light yagami - 63 posts

#ask - 62 posts

#near - 51 posts

#anon - 51 posts

#misa amane - 46 posts

#beyond birthday - 27 posts

Longest Tag: 129 characters

#ryuk then says ''you seem to be enjoying this light'' and light says ''not really (because i leave the death note here at home)''

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

death note x mind reader!reader

Howdy, and thank you for my first DN request! Oooh, this is a cute idea. No specific characters were listed, so I'm just going to do whomever I happen to get ideas for. And no pronouns asked so reader will be gender neutral.

Death Note Characters on Dating Someone Who Can Read Minds

★ Reader has Gender Neutral Pronouns

★ SFW

꒷˚︶︶꒦꒷︶꒦︶꒷꒦˚꒷˚︶˚︶︶꒦꒷

L Lawliet

★ Assuming you don't make it obvious and tell him, "hey, I can read minds!" and are careful what you say, you will still find yourself having a hard time laying low with L around.

★ A lot of this depends on who you are and how you act, so I'm giving only one take on it

★ If you are reading L's mind and you say out loud something that he was getting to, it won't stun him right away.

★ But if this happens consistently, repeatedly? That will strike his curiosity. "...Yes. That's just what I was about to say," he'd tell you, all the while his eyes not leaving you.

★ If you're trying to get his attention, then not being subtle is definitely the way to go.

★ He might be paranoid; he knows something's up. Was he just getting too predictable? This could be worrisome for him.

★ Sure other people are able to figure out what L is thinking from time to time, but to repeat his thoughts, word for word? Now it was just getting very, very strange.

★ L jokes and calls you a mind reader. You just giggle. No confirming nor denying it.

★ So L decides to test his theory - it wasn't so hard, really - he decided to try and trick you, and himself, into thinking something, but then saying something completely different.

★ "So, can you really read minds? Or do you just have incredible intuition?" After some pressure, you come clean and admit that you can in fact, read minds. No wonder you didn't say it - most would think you're crazy. But L, being himself, is a bit unorthodox himself.

★ He then requests that you repeat each and every thought he has over the course of a minute, and you agree. Each moment L gets more and more intrigued. He's a fair mix of being confused, and shocked but it doesn't show.

★ After it's been completely proven (even with him going so far as to think of an obscure childhood memory there's no possible way you could have known otherwise), and once he's satisfied with confirming this 100%, he would think about it for a bit.

★ I can see him requesting you for help every so often with a case or problem. Although "mind reading" isn't sound enough evidence in court, it could definitely be useful in getting information out of criminals. Without you have to interact with them, you could potentially help tip off L and give him important information.

★ To be honest I feel like being with someone who is a mind reader 24/7 would be frustrating for L. He's very mysterious and leads a very private life. Having that wall is important to him as is protecting himself - if you were able to read into his mind constantly ai think that would leave him feeling vulnerable and uncomfortable.

★ However with trust, it may be possible.

See the full post

237 notes - Posted April 5, 2022

#4

NSFW Death Note Headcanons 

content warnings: hard kinks and fetishes - there may be content you do not like to see. if that’s the case, don’t read it if you cannot separate fantasy from reality. i am entirely self-projecting LOL

characters included: Light, L, Misa, Near, Mikami

a/n: i headcanon every charatcer as bisexual = me projecting again, but i genuinely don’t really care about sexualities much. but you can h/c them as whatever you like when you read. very few headcanons may be gender-specific! if one doesn’t apply to you then just skip over. important: assume these are all kinks between healthy individuals that have discussed it prior. you can be  kinky & healthy. consent is sexy. if you can’t understand that, then i don’t know why you are still reading...

˖ ⁺ .︶꒷꒦︶︶꒷꒦︶︶꒷꒦˖ ⁺ .

Light Yagami

★ I gave my content warnings, so I mind as well do the worst of them first: Light has a misogyny kink for sure. He doesn’t really hate women; it’s about the power dynamic. 

★ He very much craves control, and it gets him off. As such he likes most kinks where there is a power dynamic. 

★ He swears he isn’t into petplay, but Light would love to have you leashed up, tugging on your collar to pull you closer to him. Whether he just does it for the heck of it, or he’s using it to push himself deeper into your mouth, he loves it.

★ Not into being called “d addy” or anything, but he loves being called “Sir,”.

★ Light is very good at what he does, I would never want to hurt you so much, but he thinks you could do with some ‘gentle’ choking.

★ Loves to manhandle his partners: he’s pretty strong, so between throwing you on the bed and picking you up to f uck you against the wall, expect to be moved around like a doll, a bit.

★ Prefers the “reward” system. If you’re “good” and do as he says, he will in turn reward you with the things you want. 

★ If you’re “bad”, he will consistently edge you and refuse to let you cum.

★ If Light was extra satisfied, you will be rewarded in cuddles without you needing to ask him.

★ Good/Not Kira Light will have mostly similar kinks but actually be loving and gentle with you during the daytime.

★ With prior consent, he would ask if you wouldn’t mind waking each other up by doing something sexy. I.e., you touching him to wake him up in the morning, and him doing the same for you in return.

˖ ⁺ .︶꒷꒦︶︶꒷꒦︶︶꒷꒦˖ ⁺ .

L Lawliet

★ L’s libido is honestly very low. 

★ His kinks are a bit more... unique? Just like he is, I suppose.

★ L would love to just watch you play with yourself - whether he’s in the same room as you or watching you through cameras, or a hole in the wall - sometimes he will touch himself, other times he will not.

★ He gets his spiciest usually when you’re the most tired, for some reason. 1-4am are peak h orny on main hours for him.

★ Loves to tease you in public, subtly. If you’re sitting next to or across from him and he knows he can get away with discreetly touching you underneath the table, he will. He won’t have an expression, but you will.

★ Really, really likes phone s ex. For him touch is great and all, but the most important thing is the buildup. L likes a lot of unique kinds of foreplay.

★ Foot f etish. No I don’t have one but that shit’s funny as fuck.

★ Most of L’s enjoyment, as I said before does come from foreplay. He enjoys touching you the most with his hands, he loves to tease you to see his reaction. 

˖ ⁺ .︶꒷꒦︶︶꒷꒦︶︶꒷꒦˖ ⁺ . Misa Amane ★ PEGGING!!! Misa loves to peg, or get pegged. When she’s in a more dominant mood, she loves the idea of someone much bigger than her being the submissive one. 

★ Now Misa is a switch, hands down.

★ Bottom? Top? She will switch right in the middle sometimes.

See the full post

244 notes - Posted May 2, 2022

#3

Hey! Idk if you write for the Wammy’s house boys (L, Near, Matt and Mello) from Death Note, but if you do, could I request them (separately) with a S/O who is really clumsy, and gets hurt a lot?

Hello friend! Thank you for this cute request! Absolutely, though to be honest I can't really remember a whole lot about Matt! I'm in the process of rewatching & re-reading the series after maaany many years and I don't wanna half-ass it! So for now I will just right for the other three, and I'll try to do something for Matt in the future once I have a better understanding of him. I hope this is okay and that you are able to enjoy the rest, regardless! ˖ ⁺ .︶꒷꒦︶︶꒷꒦︶︶꒷꒦˖ ⁺ . ˖ ⁺ .︶꒷꒦︶︶꒷꒦︶︶꒷꒦˖ ⁺ . Wammy Boys x Clumsy Reader

Mello ★ He actually cringes whenever you happen to fall down. He doesn't like seeing you get hurt, but it also annoys him because it makes him worry too much.

★ Mello's a bit dramatic (hurrhurr) and might make a bigger deal out of you falling than it needs to be.

★ He will most definitely scold you, raising his voice a little; "Why can't you watch where you're going?! Be careful, you're gonna give me a heart attack."

★ If need be, Mello will bandage you up and tend to your wounds - cleaning them, as he continues to scold you and complain for you getting hurt in the first place.

★ He's not mad because it's an inconvenience to him or anything, he just feels bad.

See the full post

366 notes - Posted April 25, 2022

#2

Thinking about Near in the Razer Kitty headset...in pink...yeah he'd definitely wear that.

635 notes - Posted September 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Light and L on a sleepover with their s/o? 🥺♥️

This is so cute and wholesome eeep! I'm assuming this is meant to be separate? Just let me know!~ I'm not sure during what time you wanted Light's part to be in, since he changes so dramatically throughout the show. So I'm writing this when he enters college. He's still a mass murderer but he's still very much human by this point in the story so it just made more sense to me. I was assuming you wanted something more on the wholesome side ahaha. I hope that's okay! If you wanted something darker feel free to ask again with Light after L dies.

L and Light on a Sleepover with Their S/O

˖ ⁺ .︶꒷꒦︶︶꒷꒦︶︶꒷꒦˖ ⁺ .

Light Yagami

★ Light actually didn't want you to sleep over at his home - it's not that he didn't want you there, it's moreso he was worried about what his family would think.

★ Sayu would eavesdrop and "ooh", and "aah", and give their mom a play-by-play of what she could hear happening.

★ Mama Yagami wasn't particularly happy with it... sure, she liked you, a lot! She was actually counting the days for when you'd become Light's partner, his first serious real relationship. However...like any parent, she just didn't like the thought of her kid doing anything like that! Despite being a grown man, she would still baby him.

★ One day, you were over Light's house and spent several hours there. Playing video games was your treat after you did good on the mini-quiz he gave you after helping you to study.

★ The two of you sat on his bed - which made you nervous, despite dating for a few months, you were still too ne - and listened to the rain as you watched a cheesy crime show.

★ You were supposed to leave by the time it got dark, however the gentle rain turned into a horribly loud and destructive storm, and it was no longer safe for you to sleep over. Light was happy about this, in a way, because now you had no choice but to stay over. Sayu and his mom couldn't tease him about you sleeping over if you're literally forced to be there, right?

★ He's amused by you being scared of the weather, and happily plays the tough boyfriend role. He tells you it's nothing, but lets you snuggle up to him nonetheless.

★ Light uses this to his advantage for you to get more comfortable with him physically, because he wants nothing more than for you to be all over him.

★ Naturally, when it's time for bed you use the guest room (do they have one? I'unno, but for story purposes I'm saying they do). You clean up, and borrow one of his t-shirts to use as nightwear.

★ Light knew you'd come crawling to his door once everyone was asleep - the lightning was just too scary for you alone in that room by yourself. He smirks when he hears his door creek, you sheepishly standing there and complaining that you can't sleep.

★ And that's the first time you spend the night together! Now if you're DTF then Light absolutely is. He wouldn't instigate or push anything, but he would gauge how you feel about it and take it from there. lmk if you want a nsfw continuation 👀

See the full post

843 notes - Posted May 31, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[darkysilverwing]

I find it hard to believe that it’s the freedom ending. If Chaz’s words are to be(e) believed, then every core pulled out is a person killed. From there it’d be hard to go to VVR2, since Butter’s headsets show people like Elon still alive. There’s two ways to merge, either through accepting Chaz’s offer and losing the fight. I’d feel it’s likely to be the former, since both the aforementioned people still living, and I don’t think the employees of Activitude would be particularly happy about working with someone who killed their peers. There’s also the fact that the freedom ending was also called the murder ending in either the alpha or beta, though it may not matter since it didn’t make it to the finished game.

I’m pretty sure it’s said somewhere that Eliza was brought over to Scottsdale? Like Hernandez, although I forget where it’s said. I guess that means she’s dead, with the whole deletion.

I personally don’t agree with the whole coin flip SOMA thing. The Board made copies of the citizens before the shutdown, which would mean that the originals experience the shutdown while the copies would only have the memories up until around the announcement. I also feel if it was like that, there’d be less panic, and despair and more hints to such. There’s also confirmation of a soul of sorts, with Gavin’s body and all. As for Bee, that may just be because Bee is inhabiting an avatar, kind of like with all of those Chaz in the ping pong(?) room. It would also kind of make Marty’s whole speech somewhat invalid, which I don’t think the game would make.

Also, fun fact! Cryogenic freezing would destroy your body just as much as the other choices. It would destroy your cells, as the water inside you would freeze and expand. Of course, we don’t know what other advancements the world in VVR has made, but since all other options seem like a final goodbye to the body, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the same.

I enjoy talking about vvr with you, so I hope this doesn’t come of as negatively argumentative.

I'm sensing no negative arguments here lol ^^ but I can break down some of these arguments.

Like if you start removing cores chaz starts sounding quite desperate to have you merge, now this might be because merging will stop you from destroying everything but at the same time if you merge with every core but one removed or you don't remove any core and just let him merge you at the start all the same characters are there and bee is still allowed to do work, which makes me think that death might not be the same in virtual space and they're fine working with a murderer after maybe a few tweaks to some base programming.

I mean in either ending we basically murder Hernandez but in vvr2 he's up and kicking, so it's possible that as long as chaz is online there's ways to bring them back. A bit of temporary murder. As for the reset ending I do find it difficult to determine if it could be cannon to the second game. There might be ways to frame that narrative but the more I look at it the more unlikely it seems.

I do think bee deserves a little murder though, as a treat.

As for the soma thing, in soma the humans kinda decided that the humans in the machine were no less them than they were, and thus it was kinda like a coin flip, heads they'd be in the machine, tails they'd still be outside. Then the humans would "Rig the coin flip" by entering the machine, having their minds copied over, and then as soon as the copying was finished they'd kill themselves in a weird philosophical mentality of maintaining continuity. However this is just a philosophical standpoint, one I'm sure the AI would have been on board with if deletion were instantaneous and not a slow, drawn out apocalypse.

I'm not 100% sure what you mean by the revelation of a soul via gavin's body? And the bee interpretation seems a bit weird, like bee's inhabiting an avatar, which then gets destroyed and then they just... rubber band into chaz once they're no longer bound inside of that avatar? I mean you could possibly make an argument for that but the tone shift made it feel a bit more serious from my perspective.

And as for Marty's little speech about them being upset because the humans trusted them and now they're being murdered, it could all be a bit of digital philosophy that also comes with the idea of copying an individual. I mean the original and the copy are no less real from eachother, both feel real to themselves, and so murdering one or the other is still a terrible thing to do even if there is a backup. Kinda like murdering a twin I guess.

Now onto Cryogenic freezing, when you pick that option the techs actually tell you that the particular option chosen is actually unavailable because no one ever comes back, which implies that there's the option to come back but since everyone chooses cryogenics "Just in case" they've probably got way too many bodies. So I think Cryogenics are a viable option in this universe.

An few equally fun facts about cryogenics though are the facts that there's a type of frog that can secrete a chemical that freezes the frog very slowly and instead of developing sharp ice crystals the frog produces more rounded ice crystals, which allow it to stay frozen 8 months out of the year. Research is being done to see if this process can be applied to humans but may take several years of testing and tweaking.

Also, it's sometimes suggested that one of the first ever microwaves were designed to help thaw out cryogenically frozen hamsters, because the previous method of warming them up with red hot spoons did work, but it also caused serious burns. The hamsters could survive having up to 60% of the water in their body freezing and still come out basically unharmed. This is why I sometimes fantasize about colony ships where humans are sent out in space to explore the cosmos, but instead of humans the people on the mission just transfer their minds into that of hamsters and we get little intergalactic hamster astronauts.

[errant-ezra]

I work in IT and have some recommendations that can help prevent scams like this!

1. Never follow a direct link unless you’re 100% sure it goes where it says it will go (for example, if you just signed up for a service and it sent you a confirmation link, that’s ok because it’s one that you are expecting. Even then, I recommend hovering over the link if you’re on desktop to make sure the url matches what it says it is). If you’re not sure, go to your browser and go to the site directly instead of clicking the link.

2. Make sure everything lines up. Are there misspellings? Does the email address make sense? When you hover over the sender, does it match what it says it should be? If it’s from a certain service, should that service have access to this email account (ex: I don’t have any social media connected to my work account, so any emails from them sent there would be suspicious)? If any of this feels off, dig a bit deeper before going ahead with it.

3. If it’s a phone call from the bank/anything else that seems urgent but requires personal info to validate, call them directly. You can even save the phone number so that if you get a call from someone who isn’t that number but claims to be, you know something might be up.

3b. If it’s a message or call from a family member or friend, but is very vague/asks for personal info/requires you to click a link, contact them directly. I keep seeing these Facebook posts that friends get tagged in which are just a link to a “video” with a caption like “is this you?” Or “I can’t believe they’re gone.” If you see anything like that, definitely let the friend/family member who posted it know so they can change their passwords. This is less common, but I’ve also seen people talking about AI voice replications being used to scam people- calling and pretending to be a family member in an emergency. I’m not sure if this is something that’s actually happening or more of an urban legend, but if you do get a call like this, obviously don’t send them any money or share any personal info unless they’re able to first provide proof that they are who they say they are. Personally, if any of my family members were in an emergency, I doubt they would be asking for money or my card info.

4. Scams and phishing are built on social psychology. It’s much easier to feed off a person’s fear/stress than it is to hack into a system externally. Are you being given an urgent call to action? Is there a threat of negative consequences if you don’t act quickly? If so, you are very likely being scammed. Once again, try to access whatever it is from an external source (call/go to the website yourself) to validate whether the issue is real. Bank calling about fraudulent charges? Check your online banking app or call the bank back. Subscription is lapsing and you should renew now to get 20% off? Go to the site and see for yourself if that’s the case. Login from an unrecognized device? Go to the page, change the password and log out from all devices.

5. If you ever get a double login screen, close out of the site, retype the url and try again. If you click a link and it takes you to a login screen (I’m sure you’ve all realized the pattern here by now) go to the site directly and login from there.

6. If you’re at all concerned that you may have fallen for a scam, that’s ok! It happens! It’s time to change your passwords, logout of the service on all devices, and (if it’s a bank or something else with sensitive info) contact the service and inform them of the potential issue.

7. Trust your gut. While you may not be consciously aware that something is off, a lot of times there are cues that we pick up on without even realizing. If it seems even remotely fishy, it’s *always* better to be safe than sorry.

How I got scammed

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/05/cyber-dunning-kruger/#swiss-cheese-security

I wuz robbed.

More specifically, I was tricked by a phone-phisher pretending to be from my bank, and he convinced me to hand over my credit-card number, then did $8,000+ worth of fraud with it before I figured out what happened. And then he tried to do it again, a week later!

Here's what happened. Over the Christmas holiday, I traveled to New Orleans. The day we landed, I hit a Chase ATM in the French Quarter for some cash, but the machine declined the transaction. Later in the day, we passed a little credit-union's ATM and I used that one instead (I bank with a one-branch credit union and generally there's no fee to use another CU's ATM).

A couple days later, I got a call from my credit union. It was a weekend, during the holiday, and the guy who called was obviously working for my little CU's after-hours fraud contractor. I'd dealt with these folks before – they service a ton of little credit unions, and generally the call quality isn't great and the staff will often make mistakes like mispronouncing my credit union's name.

That's what happened here – the guy was on a terrible VOIP line and I had to ask him to readjust his mic before I could even understand him. He mispronounced my bank's name and then asked if I'd attempted to spend $1,000 at an Apple Store in NYC that day. No, I said, and groaned inwardly. What a pain in the ass. Obviously, I'd had my ATM card skimmed – either at the Chase ATM (maybe that was why the transaction failed), or at the other credit union's ATM (it had been a very cheap looking system).

I told the guy to block my card and we started going through the tedious business of running through recent transactions, verifying my identity, and so on. It dragged on and on. These were my last hours in New Orleans, and I'd left my family at home and gone out to see some of the pre-Mardi Gras krewe celebrations and get a muffalata, and I could tell that I was going to run out of time before I finished talking to this guy.

"Look," I said, "you've got all my details, you've frozen the card. I gotta go home and meet my family and head to the airport. I'll call you back on the after-hours number once I'm through security, all right?"

He was frustrated, but that was his problem. I hung up, got my sandwich, went to the airport, and we checked in. It was total chaos: an Alaska Air 737 Max had just lost its door-plug in mid-air and every Max in every airline's fleet had been grounded, so the check in was crammed with people trying to rebook. We got through to the gate and I sat down to call the CU's after-hours line. The person on the other end told me that she could only handle lost and stolen cards, not fraud, and given that I'd already frozen the card, I should just drop by the branch on Monday to get a new card.

We flew home, and later the next day, I logged into my account and made a list of all the fraudulent transactions and printed them out, and on Monday morning, I drove to the bank to deal with all the paperwork. The folks at the CU were even more pissed than I was. The fraud that run up to more than $8,000, and if Visa refused to take it out of the merchants where the card had been used, my little credit union would have to eat the loss.

I agreed and commiserated. I also pointed out that their outsource, after-hours fraud center bore some blame here: I'd canceled the card on Saturday but most of the fraud had taken place on Sunday. Something had gone wrong.

One cool thing about banking at a tiny credit-union is that you end up talking to people who have actual authority, responsibility and agency. It turned out the the woman who was processing my fraud paperwork was a VP, and she decided to look into it. A few minutes later she came back and told me that the fraud center had no record of having called me on Saturday.

"That was the fraudster," she said.

Oh, shit. I frantically rewound my conversation, trying to figure out if this could possibly be true. I hadn't given him anything apart from some very anodyne info, like what city I live in (which is in my Wikipedia entry), my date of birth (ditto), and the last four digits of my card.

Wait a sec.

He hadn't asked for the last four digits. He'd asked for the last seven digits. At the time, I'd found that very frustrating, but now – "The first nine digits are the same for every card you issue, right?" I asked the VP.

I'd given him my entire card number.

Goddammit.

The thing is, I know a lot about fraud. I'm writing an entire series of novels about this kind of scam:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

And most summers, I go to Defcon, and I always go to the "social engineering" competitions where an audience listens as a hacker in a soundproof booth cold-calls merchants (with the owner's permission) and tries to con whoever answers the phone into giving up important information.

But I'd been conned.

Now look, I knew I could be conned. I'd been conned before, 13 years ago, by a Twitter worm that successfully phished out of my password via DM:

https://locusmag.com/2010/05/cory-doctorow-persistence-pays-parasites/

That scam had required a miracle of timing. It started the day before, when I'd reset my phone to factory defaults and reinstalled all my apps. That same day, I'd published two big online features that a lot of people were talking about. The next morning, we were late getting out of the house, so by the time my wife and I dropped the kid at daycare and went to the coffee shop, it had a long line. Rather than wait in line with me, my wife sat down to read a newspaper, and so I pulled out my phone and found a Twitter DM from a friend asking "is this you?" with a URL.

Assuming this was something to do with those articles I'd published the day before, I clicked the link and got prompted for my Twitter login again. This had been happening all day because I'd done that mobile reinstall the day before and all my stored passwords had been wiped. I entered it but the page timed out. By that time, the coffees were ready. We sat and chatted for a bit, then went our own ways.

I was on my way to the office when I checked my phone again. I had a whole string of DMs from other friends. Each one read "is this you?" and had a URL.

Oh, shit, I'd been phished.

If I hadn't reinstalled my mobile OS the day before. If I hadn't published a pair of big articles the day before. If we hadn't been late getting out the door. If we had been a little more late getting out the door (so that I'd have seen the multiple DMs, which would have tipped me off).

There's a name for this in security circles: "Swiss-cheese security." Imagine multiple slices of Swiss cheese all stacked up, the holes in one slice blocked by the slice below it. All the slices move around and every now and again, a hole opens up that goes all the way through the stack. Zap!

The fraudster who tricked me out of my credit card number had Swiss cheese security on his side. Yes, he spoofed my bank's caller ID, but that wouldn't have been enough to fool me if I hadn't been on vacation, having just used a pair of dodgy ATMs, in a hurry and distracted. If the 737 Max disaster hadn't happened that day and I'd had more time at the gate, I'd have called my bank back. If my bank didn't use a slightly crappy outsource/out-of-hours fraud center that I'd already had sub-par experiences with. If, if, if.

The next Friday night, at 5:30PM, the fraudster called me back, pretending to be the bank's after-hours center. He told me my card had been compromised again. But: I hadn't removed my card from my wallet since I'd had it replaced. Also, it was half an hour after the bank closed for the long weekend, a very fraud-friendly time. And when I told him I'd call him back and asked for the after-hours fraud number, he got very threatening and warned me that because I'd now been notified about the fraud that any losses the bank suffered after I hung up the phone without completing the fraud protocol would be billed to me. I hung up on him. He called me back immediately. I hung up on him again and put my phone into do-not-disturb.

The following Tuesday, I called my bank and spoke to their head of risk-management. I went through everything I'd figured out about the fraudsters, and she told me that credit unions across America were being hit by this scam, by fraudsters who somehow knew CU customers' phone numbers and names, and which CU they banked at. This was key: my phone number is a reasonably well-kept secret. You can get it by spending money with Equifax or another nonconsensual doxing giant, but you can't just google it or get it at any of the free services. The fact that the fraudsters knew where I banked, knew my name, and had my phone number had really caused me to let down my guard.

The risk management person and I talked about how the credit union could mitigate this attack: for example, by better-training the after-hours card-loss staff to be on the alert for calls from people who had been contacted about supposed card fraud. We also went through the confusing phone-menu that had funneled me to the wrong department when I called in, and worked through alternate wording for the menu system that would be clearer (this is the best part about banking with a small CU – you can talk directly to the responsible person and have a productive discussion!). I even convinced her to buy a ticket to next summer's Defcon to attend the social engineering competitions.

There's a leak somewhere in the CU systems' supply chain. Maybe it's Zelle, or the small number of corresponding banks that CUs rely on for SWIFT transaction forwarding. Maybe it's even those after-hours fraud/card-loss centers. But all across the USA, CU customers are getting calls with spoofed caller IDs from fraudsters who know their registered phone numbers and where they bank.

I've been mulling this over for most of a month now, and one thing has really been eating at me: the way that AI is going to make this kind of problem much worse.

Not because AI is going to commit fraud, though.

One of the truest things I know about AI is: "we're nowhere near a place where bots can steal your job, we're certainly at the point where your boss can be suckered into firing you and replacing you with a bot that fails at doing your job":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/15/passive-income-brainworms/#four-hour-work-week

I trusted this fraudster specifically because I knew that the outsource, out-of-hours contractors my bank uses have crummy headsets, don't know how to pronounce my bank's name, and have long-ass, tedious, and pointless standardized questionnaires they run through when taking fraud reports. All of this created cover for the fraudster, whose plausibility was enhanced by the rough edges in his pitch - they didn't raise red flags.

As this kind of fraud reporting and fraud contacting is increasingly outsourced to AI, bank customers will be conditioned to dealing with semi-automated systems that make stupid mistakes, force you to repeat yourself, ask you questions they should already know the answers to, and so on. In other words, AI will groom bank customers to be phishing victims.

This is a mistake the finance sector keeps making. 15 years ago, Ben Laurie excoriated the UK banks for their "Verified By Visa" system, which validated credit card transactions by taking users to a third party site and requiring them to re-enter parts of their password there:

https://web.archive.org/web/20090331094020/http://www.links.org/?p=591

This is exactly how a phishing attack works. As Laurie pointed out, this was the banks training their customers to be phished.

I came close to getting phished again today, as it happens. I got back from Berlin on Friday and my suitcase was damaged in transit. I've been dealing with the airline, which means I've really been dealing with their third-party, outsource luggage-damage service. They have a terrible website, their emails are incoherent, and they officiously demand the same information over and over again.

This morning, I got a scam email asking me for more information to complete my damaged luggage claim. It was a terrible email, from a noreply@ email address, and it was vague, officious, and dishearteningly bureaucratic. For just a moment, my finger hovered over the phishing link, and then I looked a little closer.

On any other day, it wouldn't have had a chance. Today – right after I had my luggage wrecked, while I'm still jetlagged, and after days of dealing with my airline's terrible outsource partner – it almost worked.

So much fraud is a Swiss-cheese attack, and while companies can't close all the holes, they can stop creating new ones.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to post about it whenever I get scammed. I find the inner workings of scams to be fascinating, and it's also important to remind people that everyone is vulnerable sometimes, and scammers are willing to try endless variations until an attack lands at just the right place, at just the right time, in just the right way. If you think you can't get scammed, that makes you especially vulnerable:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[sa7abnews]

The Precarious Online Lives of Young Men

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/16/the-precarious-online-lives-of-young-men/

The Precarious Online Lives of Young Men

As the new school year is upon us, parents are worried about their children’s mental health—and they should be. The latest CDC data from the largest ongoing study on youth well-being finds high rates of helplessness, suicidal ideas, bullying, among other forms of violence. For girls, the rates are often higher. But boys are far less likely to seek help when they need it, and are more likely to take out their problems on others.

In recent years, lots of young men feel adrift—and as a result, oftentimes find solace in misogynist and anti-democratic spaces online. That’s the alarm being raised by experts, including the U.S. Surgeon General, who recently called for warning labels on social media platforms.

The crisis among young men is real. Equimundo (the organization one of us, Gary Barker, leads) carried out a 2023 national study of 18 to 45-year-old men in the United States, which found that two out of three 18-23 year olds said “No one really knows me well.” In addition, 30% of the youngest men said they see no one outside their home on a weekly basis. And about 40% thought about suicide in the past two weeks.

Read More: Why America’s Fathers Aren’t Living Up to Expectations

As leaders of two organizations concerned about young men’s mental health and working to prevent violence online and off, these findings gave us pause. In the study, nearly half of men said their online lives are more interesting than their offline lives. Forty five percent of the youngest men said they trust one of the many angry, racist, misogynist, anti-democratic voices online. More trust Andrew Tate than the President. How do we hold a democracy together in light of that?

We recently shared these statistics with a group of high school boys of various ethnicities and income groups from the Washington, DC area. In response, the boys shared fears, doubts, frustrations about adults who judge and don’t understand, confusion about what it is to be a man, and concerns for despondent peers. They also told us about their search for friends, deeper relationships, and intimate partners—for just about everything—online.

In 2024, we followed up on that survey with a six-month long study of young men’s online lives, including an AI-assisted analysis of over 40 hours of Twitch streams, over 1.5 million lines of chat logs and 36,963 lines of Discord chat logs, and spent more than 100 hours observing the six largest male-dominated digital channels. And the results were striking: What we found was that, for young men, there is little distinction between “in real life” (IRL) and “online life.” Our review of young men’s online world confirms that their online communities dwarf their real-life spaces by a factor of at least a thousand. YouTube, the mothership of online platforms for young men, has about 2.49 billion monthly active users, between 55%-65% of which are men. Fantasy Football has 75 million users, more than two-thirds men. By contrast, 750,000 young men belong to U.S. fraternities and more than 1.1 million are in Scouting America. The upshot is that young men’s largest gathering spaces are online and much of their lives are spent in virtual meeting spaces. This means that we have to pay attention to what’s happening there—the positive, the harmful, and the in between.

Despite what we often think of the “manosphere,” YouTube, Reddit, Fantasy Football, and other sites popular with young men lean more positive than negative. Queries like this one, posted by a young man on Reddit, speak volumes: “Hey other dudes. How many of you are dealing with the existential dread of not being able to afford it like our fathers and grandfathers were able to?” Thousands posted “likes” to that question in agreement and solidarity. From economic stress to gaming, being loveless to being a “lookmaxxer” seeking to improve physical appearance, young men feel that the internet gets them and their deepest fears.

In reality, the absence of real-life connections in the manosphere often becomes a space where misogyny and conspiracy theories feed real-life violence or self-harm. The pathway from clicking on or following the dark sides of the web—and engaging in violence or self-harm because of it— is, of course, complex. And while the majority of visitors in even the most misogynist spaces don’t carry out harm, frequent internet use has been associated with loneliness, poor communication with family, and depression. These unhealthy online spaces don’t just mirror those feelings—they often exacerbate them.

How can parents, educators, and media content makers help? First, we need to trust the boys. Young men (and young women) can be critical consumers and citizens in their online worlds. Start with a belief that young men’s engagement with dubious content online is not an automatic pathway to self-harm and violence.

Second, talk to young men. Researchers at the University of Liverpool developed a “Men for Change” curriculum that engages young men in conversations about what they consume online and were able to measure important attitude shifts. Parents, business leaders, and organizations have to get in the conversation, too. Vodafone’s AI “aggro-rithms” campaign, for instance, raises awareness about how harmful AI algorithms target Britain’s boys and included a toolkit that supports parents in having online safety conversations with their children.

Read More: Parents Need to Talk to Their Sons About Care

Third, build on the many influencers and spaces that already connect positively with young men. Such influencers are out there and can be engaged—we need to turn up the traffic to those spaces, as the men’s health group Movember has done.

Finally, guide young men to safer spaces—in real life— particularly when they are on the cusp of going down the rabbit hole to one of the angry, dark spaces, and are on the verge of causing harm to themselves or others. The group Diverting Hate, for instance, uses redirection campaigns—essentially buying ads linking to healthy manhood messages. Their results show that about 50% of users on platforms with harmful content looked at the ads, and in one setting they measured an increase in interest in positive off-line spaces for men.

Our work tells us that harmed young men, cut off from others, too often harm themselves or others. But if we engage them, care for them, listen to them, understand what they consume online, they both live better lives and they become better allies for others—for women’s rights, for racial justice, for our democracy—they will find their way. Let’s stay in the room for the difficult talks. Engage. Listen more. Don’t panic.

[douxlen]

The Precarious Online Lives of Young Men

New Post has been published on https://douxle.com/2024/08/14/the-precarious-online-lives-of-young-men/

The Precarious Online Lives of Young Men

As the new school year is upon us, parents are worried about their children’s mental health—and they should be. The latest CDC data from the largest ongoing study on youth well-being finds high rates of helplessness, suicidal ideas, bullying, among other forms of violence. For girls, the rates are often higher. But boys are far less likely to seek help when they need it, and are more likely to take out their problems on others.

In recent years, lots of young men feel adrift—and as a result, oftentimes find solace in misogynist and anti-democratic spaces online. That’s the alarm being raised by experts, including the U.S. Surgeon General, who recently called for warning labels on social media platforms.

The crisis among young men is real. Equimundo (the organization one of us, Gary Barker, leads) carried out a 2023 national study of 18 to 45-year-old men in the United States, which found that two out of three 18-23 year olds said “No one really knows me well.” In addition, 30% of the youngest men said they see no one outside their home on a weekly basis. And about 40% thought about suicide in the past two weeks.

Read More: Why America’s Fathers Aren’t Living Up to Expectations

As leaders of two organizations concerned about young men’s mental health and working to prevent violence online and off, these findings gave us pause. In the study, nearly half of men said their online lives are more interesting than their offline lives. Forty five percent of the youngest men said they trust one of the many angry, racist, misogynist, anti-democratic voices online. More trust Andrew Tate than the President. How do we hold a democracy together in light of that?

We recently shared these statistics with a group of high school boys of various ethnicities and income groups from the Washington, DC area. In response, the boys shared fears, doubts, frustrations about adults who judge and don’t understand, confusion about what it is to be a man, and concerns for despondent peers. They also told us about their search for friends, deeper relationships, and intimate partners—for just about everything—online.

In 2024, we followed up on that survey with a six-month long study of young men’s online lives, including an AI-assisted analysis of over 40 hours of Twitch streams, over 1.5 million lines of chat logs and 36,963 lines of Discord chat logs, and spent more than 100 hours observing the six largest male-dominated digital channels. And the results were striking: What we found was that, for young men, there is little distinction between “in real life” (IRL) and “online life.” Our review of young men’s online world confirms that their online communities dwarf their real-life spaces by a factor of at least a thousand. YouTube, the mothership of online platforms for young men, has about 2.49 billion monthly active users, between 55%-65% of which are men. Fantasy Football has 75 million users, more than two-thirds men. By contrast, 750,000 young men belong to U.S. fraternities and more than 1.1 million are in Scouting America. The upshot is that young men’s largest gathering spaces are online and much of their lives are spent in virtual meeting spaces. This means that we have to pay attention to what’s happening there—the positive, the harmful, and the in between.

Despite what we often think of the “manosphere,” YouTube, Reddit, Fantasy Football, and other sites popular with young men lean more positive than negative. Queries like this one, posted by a young man on Reddit, speak volumes: “Hey other dudes. How many of you are dealing with the existential dread of not being able to afford it like our fathers and grandfathers were able to?” Thousands posted “likes” to that question in agreement and solidarity. From economic stress to gaming, being loveless to being a “lookmaxxer” seeking to improve physical appearance, young men feel that the internet gets them and their deepest fears.

In reality, the absence of real-life connections in the manosphere often becomes a space where misogyny and conspiracy theories feed real-life violence or self-harm. The pathway from clicking on or following the dark sides of the web—and engaging in violence or self-harm because of it— is, of course, complex. And while the majority of visitors in even the most misogynist spaces don’t carry out harm, frequent internet use has been associated with loneliness, poor communication with family, and depression. These unhealthy online spaces don’t just mirror those feelings—they often exacerbate them.

How can parents, educators, and media content makers help? First, we need to trust the boys. Young men (and young women) can be critical consumers and citizens in their online worlds. Start with a belief that young men’s engagement with dubious content online is not an automatic pathway to self-harm and violence.

Second, talk to young men. Researchers at the University of Liverpool developed a “Men for Change” curriculum that engages young men in conversations about what they consume online and were able to measure important attitude shifts. Parents, business leaders, and organizations have to get in the conversation, too. Vodafone’s AI “aggro-rithms” campaign, for instance, raises awareness about how harmful AI algorithms target Britain’s boys and included a toolkit that supports parents in having online safety conversations with their children.

Read More: Parents Need to Talk to Their Sons About Care

Third, build on the many influencers and spaces that already connect positively with young men. Such influencers are out there and can be engaged—we need to turn up the traffic to those spaces, as the men’s health group Movember has done.

Finally, guide young men to safer spaces—in real life— particularly when they are on the cusp of going down the rabbit hole to one of the angry, dark spaces, and are on the verge of causing harm to themselves or others. The group Diverting Hate, for instance, uses redirection campaigns—essentially buying ads linking to healthy manhood messages. Their results show that about 50% of users on platforms with harmful content looked at the ads, and in one setting they measured an increase in interest in positive off-line spaces for men.

Our work tells us that harmed young men, cut off from others, too often harm themselves or others. But if we engage them, care for them, listen to them, understand what they consume online, they both live better lives and they become better allies for others—for women’s rights, for racial justice, for our democracy—they will find their way. Let’s stay in the room for the difficult talks. Engage. Listen more. Don’t panic.

[speedyposts]

Australian writer Yang Hengjun sentenced to death on China spy charges

Australian writer Yang Hengjun, who was detained in China on espionage charges in 2019, has been handed a suspended death sentence by a court in Beijing.

The terms of the sentence mean Yang’s sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment for good behaviour.

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Satya Nadella & Sam Altman: Dawn of the AI Wars | The Circuit with Emily Chang

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“The Australian government is appalled by this outcome,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters as she confirmed the sentence, the SBS News outlet reported.

Wong said Canberra would be responding “in the strongest terms” including by summoning the Chinese ambassador.

“I want to acknowledge the acute distress that Dr Yang and his family will be feeling today, coming after years of uncertainty,” she said.

Yang, a 58-year-old blogger and pro-democracy activist, was arrested in January 2019 when he arrived at Guangzhou airport with his wife, and was accused of having “endangered national security with particularly serious harm to the country and the people”.

Yang, a Chinese-born Australian, has denied the charges against him, as have his friends and family. A previous Australian government described the writer’s detention as “unacceptable”.

On Monday, supporters reacted with dismay to the sentence,

“He is punished by the Chinese government for his criticism of human rights abuses in China and his advocacy for universal values such as human rights, democracy and the rule of law,” friend and colleague Feng Chongyi was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Feng said Yang’s family, who were in court, had told him of the sentence.

Feng previously told Al Jazeera that Yang worked for the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) at the provincial level for 14 years and began writing spy novels as he became more frustrated with his work.

He moved to Australia in 2000 and five years later, began studying under Feng at the University of Technology Sydney, where he “transformed himself into a liberal”. At the time of his detention, he was working in New York.

Yang was put on trial in May 2021, having had limited access to lawyers. China has not revealed the exact charges against him or which country he is alleged to have been spying for.

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