#followed by them sharing links to videos that cropped him out like it's hell out here pt. 2

[94erz]

Taehyun's new web show is really cute. It definitely has the intention of appealing to their younger fanbase, but it's got elements for adults if you just like learning about stuff, just with the flare of a pretty k-pop boy.

1st episode was only 15 minutes and I'm just going to assume that'll be the same across future episodes. We also have no idea how many episodes were filmed, but I hope for at least the same amount as other shows featuring idols, so about 9-10.

Best/funniest part was when the girls were telling him their ult group was Seventeen but that they liked TXT but all of their bias was Soobin, like damn, really took him down on his own show LOL

[tinderboxofsillyideas]

ARTISTS! COMIC DUBBERS! ATTENTION, PLEASE!

I have a story for y'all and this story is not so bright and beautiful. I thought I would not talk about it in public, but I can't leave the situation like this, because it's important. I just have to do that, because I don't want people get in the same situation.

I will talk about you @undertalecomictv​. No offence.

One year ago I get a message from David - owner of "Undertale Comic TV” and "Sans Comic TV" on YouTube. He asked me about promotion and using my videos (animations and memes) on his channels. I had a terrible headache at that day and this offer was a little bit strange to me. I asked to clarify how it supposed to work and for some reasons I said "yes" at the end. That was a dumb decision, because I didn't realize what I'll get and why I even said yes. But I don't have any regrets, because I can say a lot of things now. This how our first dialogue looked like:

I have to mention – we DID NOT talk about comic dubs as well, I just made a suggestion like "It will be cool to see comic dubs from you in the future, but that's just a thoughts". We did not talk about any agreement, I just said it and that's all. After half of the year, I got a message with dub of one of my Kustard comics. I was happy to see it, because this dub was very cool and this was the first time when somebody made a dub for me. I was too happy and did not see what I missed. I just… enjoyed. They leaved a links on me in the description and in the video too, so that was totally fine and I shared this dub with my followers in both communities – foreign and Russian.

All was good, I got a couple of more dubs, and I loved them really much, but in one day I saw something what made me feel like "???".  I saw a video on SCTV with a frame from my animation (Bloom meme). It was used as a thumbnail, with erased reply from echo flowers. This video contained comic of my friend @nsfwgarbagedump​

The most important – there was a several pages what me and @hakkids has colored. In this video was no credits in description. Only nicknames of Crude and me (Hakki was not even included but we worked together on coloring and we're still making colors for the rest of the pages). I was confused, because frame from animation was cropped out of my video (I did not post this pic anywhere, I remember that). When I gave a permission to use my videos I did not think they will be used in this way. That's just not nice.

I saw a part two and there was my art again, but none of my content in the video. There was rest of b&w pages and I can't understand why my art was used for the thumbnail if there's none of my stuff in the video. They could use one of the pages or frames from comic for a thumbnail, but they used my stuff because it looks good? That's a clickbait, you know?

Crude had a conversation with them and after that they deleted their comic, both of the parts. I was sad about the fact they did not leave the credits on us like LINKS, because some of the people having a problems with searching artists, and that would be better to leave the links, not only nicknames:

I was too disappointed and had a thought about ask them to stop making dubs on my stuff. I messaged them with this offer, even if I loved their dubs before – there was no way out. I got an answer like this:

After that, I was confused a bit more. They made a dub of our modified Kustard before in one of the compilations. I was happy to see that at first, but Hakki told me one thing, which turned all the tables. They messed up with voices and some specific details, includes the fact they DID NOT asked about permission from Hakki about using Ras (modified Red) in the dubs. Yes, those comics was made by me, but Ras belongs to Hakki and I got a permission to use him in my stories, because hell – we are friends, so we allowed to use our boys in our comics.

If somebody giving you a permission to make comic dubs (but they did not get a permission from me on this either if we look at the situation a bit closer) you have to ask again before using Fan-Characters/Original Characters in dubs. They can have some specific differences and it's always better to ask. Much better to send SAMPLES too, because some people can be picky. If you don't want to make all those "difficult" stuff – just do not touch FC's and OC's. And ask ALL the artists if you want to make dubs with two (or more) characters which belongs to different people. The first one can say "yes, sure!" and the second one can be against it. Respect people! Ask them about their characters!

I asked to delete all the videos with our modified Kustard (or at least cut out the fragments with them), and when I told this was not only my desire, I got a message which made me super confused and angry at the same time. I got an excuse like "we worked so hard, give our permission to keep your videos". I was triggered about it, because I'm already told about the reasons why I asked to delete those videos.

I told about that again and said about I worked hard too, because that's true. Artists spend a lot of time when they working on one picture, so that's no need to talk about making comics or animations. So I had to ask to delete the modified Kustard, OR I'll ask to delete ALL my stuff from the channels. If they'll refuse – I'll strike them down. You can see my full answer below:

And who knows what I will get on my simple ask to delete only modifications…

I don't know, maybe I'm cruel piece of garbage or what, but I HATE when people use excuses like family and stuff. That's super lame and I can explain why I think in that way. You know, all of us have families, somebody has children too but people didn't use this fact as an excuse to make shit and break the rules. If you have a sweetheart and babies – how can you use them like this? It looks like you're only worrying about yourself, and did not want to pay attention to feeling of the artists which works you're using in dubs. I can understand all those things, because I have a family too, just like other artists do. I even have some ill people in my family and we have to pay big amounts to help them, plus bills, buying food, etc. BUT! I DID NOT use all this stuff for this kind of situations! I just continue to work and that's all!

That's the same situation like ask the artist to make you an art for free because you're poor little creature and you have no money to pay for your bills, clothes, etc. NOBODY have to work for free and nobody have to break the low to get something what they want! That's an awful shit, don't do that!

About monetization, huh? You know I don't like liars, I disrespect them, but I disrespect the greedy ones liars even more. My videos was monetized on those channels and NOBODY WARNED ME ABOUT THAT. I just got an excuse like "I asked some artists in the past and they was okay with monetization". Well duh? If one person said "yes" that doesn't mean you can just being a sly shit and don't ask people about monetization their content ever again. You HAVE TO ask artists about that! Somebody can be against it! This content is NOT YOURS, so that's terrible to make moneys on works of artists who probably get NOTHING for their works. Nothing but love and appreciation, and sometimes they even doesn't have this too. And that's sad.

I can understand you have to pay dubbers for their voices and work, David, but you had to ask about monetization anyway. That's just not cool. I don't know about people in your crew and I don't know are they even know about that, but I'm really disappointed. I can say thanks to Jordan Woollen for his voice. Btw – he's good in voice acting and I can be grateful to him for those minutes of happiness. I don’t think that is his fault.

If keeping of these channels is too hard for you – maybe you should find something what will fits you more? Something where you will not need to lie to people or making something like this. I dunno, maybe you can be a better person? Or you just like to make people feel bad or thinks about they're cruel with you… Who knows? You told my stuff has been deleted from your channels, but you didn't. Some of the videos are hidden, and I can see that because I have links. So why are you lying to me again? Just delete them, I'll not allow to bring them back. Because I can't trust you now.

Limited is not the same thing as deleted, my friend.

That was heartbreaking. I LOVED those dubs with all my soul and I couldn't even imagine all will end like this. I just disappointed and this story was broke me on a couple of days. But after I recovered myself, I decided to make this post. I just can't hold it in my soul anymore…

If I got a true apology with something like "yes, I understand how hard to be an artist and how much strength you spent to make arts and comics, so I'm sorry. It was my mistake that I did not tell you" maybe I could allow you to continue to make dubs. But you started to feed me with excuses about how hard that was for you. You totally forgot about my feelings. I don't have any hate to you, David. And I don't call people to hate you for what you've done. I just told them my story. Maybe you lied some of them as you done with me, and now they will decide what to do by themselves. But think about it and stop acting like this to people. Please.

Dear voice actors, I begging you – please, ask permissions before making dubs, talk with artists about all the issues. Ask them about monetization, about their characters, credits, etc. Please, respect their feelings and make a good things! I love dubs and I'm always want to support good dubbers, so don't play with feelings of people. We're doing are best to make a cool stories which you could dub. And some of us ready to pay you for this. Because you’re bring some good vibes with your dubs when you making them with love and desire.

Dear artists – be careful with some kind of offers. Talk with dubbers and ask them about everything. Do not be shy to make it, and if you don't like something – tell them about it before it's too late. Don't be such a softie like I was.

Guys, do not be a dicks, respect each other and try to become better on the next year. Artists, comic dubbers – y'all great while you respect the work of each other. We all have hard work, so be good people and don't lie to anybody. Thank you for your attention, Marry Chrysler and happy holidays!

[chaosd1]

You know, when I reblogged that, it was mostly to showcase an issue that’s been present for YEARS, but keeps cropping up every now and then because most of Channel Awesome’s fans still think it’s 2010. If I had a Patreon dollar for every person who asked me something about “____ DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY!” despite that not being a thing I’ve done for over half a decade, I would probably not have to worry about paying off that damaged tire, or any future repairs to my car and/or PC. Long story short, they aren’t very good at letting things go.

I know people who want me to share my story are hoping for the same level of juicy gossip or levels of hypocrisy or betrayal that have accompanied so many of these other stories but I’m sorry to say it’s not quite that interesting, or even remotely “gotcha” in any sense of the word. If anything it’s more a reveal of how the company feels about its low-tier producers, and symptomatic of the larger issue that they clearly DON’T want anyone but the Chicago crew, or anyone that’s possibly bringing in their own audience. Remember when JonTron and PBG posted on Blistered Thumbs? I’m pretty sure they’re still kicking themselves over that one. As a bit of background, I always wanted to be on the CA site in some form, and by the time I had a show to offer up, I was already pretty close friends with a lot of the producers. In fact, it was Julien (Sad Panda) who decided to post up one of my videos in his schedule slot as a way to offer me a test spot. It was well recieved enough, but video games were almost always relegated to BT at the point, so off I went.

Despite being the more “respected” site by some audiences, all snafu’s aside, I felt that Channel Awesome treated Blistered Thumbs producers as second class citizens. Posting on there was like the Wild West. You put up whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, and as often as you wanted, and hoped someone with a show that consisted of a three-hour long livestream split up into 15 minute increments wouldn’t end up pushing your video off the main page slider within the next few hours. It was very much for that reason I pursued some means to get myself listed on the main site by cleaning up the YEARS worth of spam and reported comments. After bringing it to the right people, I was permitted to post videos on the main site as well. It went well enough... for a while.

Once BT was shut down, a few of my friends (specifically MegaGWolf) were unceremoniously let go without an ounce of communication. (Most everyone on BT who wasn’t brought on to the CA “merger” had to find out via friends, as Michaud didn’t directly inform them.) Despite the promise of rebranding and stronger promotion, the BT audience didn’t really follow over to CA as the site didn’t really fit their desires, and the core CA audience was basically “NC, Linkara,and that’s it.” Views tanked and it was around the time I decided to move over to Youtube as the Blip waters were already pretty troubled.

At some point I started doing relatively well on Youtube, to the point CA felt like an annoying afterthought. I had to make special titlecards for CA as they had a ridiculous format I’d purposefully ignore later on just to see if they were paying attention. For example, the images were all supposed to be JPGS, though I always made them PNG, and since they were hotlinking them from my site anyway, WHY DID IT FUCKING MATTER?! It most felt like this ridiculous push for control and a power play that no one bothered to enforce anyway. Each time we scheduled we had to provide a link, a title, and a link to a special made titlecard. Did you have a special instruction or link you wanted to include when posting on CA? Good fucking luck they would ever include it, or spell half that shit correctly. Hell after a while, I figured it was pretty non-coincidental that after changing the title format from “MMO Grinder: Name of Game” to “Name of Game - ChaosD1,” views coming from CA were barely a percentile of the overall views I’d get from every other source. It wasn’t worth making them a stupid special title card and hopping onto a painfully broken scheduling site (a site that, by the way was designed for Sporting Events, and was so filled with non-updated dead links I occasionally would troll them by posting my category as “Blistered Thumbs” and “The Inebriati” both still available in the category dropdown menu. I’ll bet you they are still there to this day.

My issue didn’t come about until a sudden rule change. A rule I didn’t really have an issue with until the market started dying down, and my constant crushing depression over winter and my wife’s illness kicked in. Basically, “Post one video a month, or you’re stricken from the site.” later on that was changed to TWO videos per month and my show was almost always a ONCE per month deal. Seemed a bit suspect and draconian. There were people who didn’t post videos for several MONTHS that were still listed on the site, but they suspiciously had pretty strong followings elsewhere. Still I figured some form of warning or amnesty would take place to some extent. So in April of 2017 it was a pretty shitty month. Most of it was spent working on Eternal Crusade which was such a miserable slog none of us felt like doing much of anything else, there were no games to Sidequest for the suddenly required 2nd video per month, and I was pretty sure I was going to get some flak for it.Keep this in mind, I was WELL AWARE of the risk I was taking by not posting a second video, despite me rather often saying my show was monthly at the most. I figured they might know this, I’d get a warning, and that’d be the end of it. However, I was able to get out Eternal Crusade at the very end of April, but didn’t get around to posting it on the schedule until May 1st. May 1st rolls around, I check the site for any feedback and comments, and notice the video isn’t posted at all.... and I can’t access the scheduler anymore. One day late of posting consistently for 5 fucking years, and I’m locked out of the site like I stole a laptop from the studio. So I hopped on Twitter. Partially to express dismay, and partially because... I noticed I didn’t really have an audience on Channel Awesome anymore. I asked this very specific question and joked with some of the replies, most of whom confirmed my suspicion. They really only watched me on my site or my YT channel.

Still in talking with the CA chat in Skype, (I’d be on that Producer’s chat more often if I didn’t basically swear off Skype after Discord included screenshare. The producers and former producers really should make a Discord channel already.) they informed me that they’d probably reverse their decision if I just contacted Greg. While I didn’t think it was likely worth the effort, I figured I would anyway. Maybe pipe dreams of being included in an anniversary special some day. I just couldn’t wait to be the guy sitting slightly out of camera range in every shot with the one exception of getting to say “What should we do now, Critic?” for my first and only line in the movie. So I contacted Greg. It went a little something like this (for the Skype uninitiated, my words in Blue, Greg’s in grey):

So yeah, always fun to have to wait several days for a sentencing to the crime of being a day late on a post.

Of course, I cropped out the rest of the image, because the response without any contact in-between immediately afterward was this:

Yes I was being a sarcast there. I’m a sarcast... but when I’m last told “we’ll go through everything” and that is immediately followed up by “Sorry I took so long to get back, but... get lost scrub” I’m probably going to be a bit miffed about it. Of course this is CA and you can’t talk bad about them... or post something on Twitter they presume is talking bad about them, as this was the response to my sarcastic reply:

So yeah, Greg not quite understanding the concept of linear time (again I posted the tweet BEFORE I sent him the Skype message, not after) apparently you can’t even ask your audience where they still watch your videos most. They take it as a personal insult, like I didn’t enough appreciate those generous table scraps us low-tier producers had to fight over.

All things considered though, I knew the risk of not posting a second video in that month, and I valued my sanity over tossing out content for the sake of a suddenly imposed deadline. Could I have contacted Greg? Yeah, I suppose so, but why should I even have to? To be only a day late and have everything stricken without warning, like a robot looked over the feed and said “Well a month has passed, and there was only one so fired lel” without considering why, or even checking in on the employee in question, is the kind of corporate "numbers-only” bullshit that I swore off retail for. It’s fitting so many people in charge of Channel Awesome used to work at Circuit City is all I’m saying.

So that’s it. Nothing major, something I basically brought on myself, but still a fairly telling story of how you’d be treated as a content producer on that site.

And to all the current and remaining producers that aren’t showing up to the studio every day, or have a sizable enough audience to make a dent if you were to leave... they don’t WANT you there. They do not care about you. You are a liability. The very second they have a logical-to-them reason to cut your ass from the site, they will. Why put yourself through all that stress for a job that makes demands of you, without even paying you, promoting you, or benefiting you in any way? You know they don’t care about that site now that they are where they are with their YouTube channel. (Currently there are two producers that haven’t posted since December, that are still listed on the site. I must have been a special exception, or maybe it doesn’t matter if you don’t have a video as long as you keep telling them you don’t.) You’re white noise to them. Stay or go. As much as you think it might, it probably won’t make a difference to you... 

...but it definitely won’t make a difference to them.

[thesoundofnat]

New Habits

Jim/Spock

Summary: Jim rushes onto the Bridge during an emergency wearing a crop top, and things become a little strange and loaded after that.

A/N: Boys in crops tops. Specifically Jim Kirk in crop tops. That is all.

I shared a sneak peek of this here (the post about Jim and Spock blushing being like a Christmas tree) and a few people showed interest in this and asked for the link, so I’m pleased to say I’ve finally finished it, so I hope you enjoy if you do end up reading it!

@narcissusneverknewme @cuteasafrog @ringdingaling are the ones that specifically asked for the link, so I hope it’s okay that I tag you! Thank you for the love xx

[Read it on AO3]

Words: 2 253

Jim had never been shy about showing his body. Everyone close to him knew that, but being Captain of course came with respectability, and he wouldn’t walk around wearing just anything, so the closest to revealing clothes he’d ever worn around the crew was a tight tank top and shorts reaching his knees that’d he’d been working out in when they’d found themselves in an emergency and he’d had to rush to the Bridge.

But sometimes he would wear something slightly less appropriate behind closed doors. He really needed to think one extra time before doing crap like this.

An emergency had him almost tripping over his own legs in order to get to the Bridge. It wasn’t late, but he’d been in his room to try to get an hour of sleep before returning, but of course something had to rip him out of his comfortable bed. While he was wearing only boxers and a crop top. And it really was a crop top. It barely covered any part of his stomach.

He was in such a rush that he barely gave it any thought as he burst into the Bridge to try to prevent a random species on a planet close by from attacking them for passing. It wasn’t very hard once he and the leader understood each other, but the stress had left him a shaky mess afterwards anyway.

“We were just flying by,” he mumbled to himself once they’d ceased the connection. “How is that a crime?”

“Captain.”

Jim looked up. “What is it, Spock?”

“I would suggest that you - as humans say - cover up. Not only is it not appropriate, but the probability of you catching a cold due to your weak immune system and lack of clothing is high.”

Jim’s face was on fire.

“Uh, right.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll go do that. Or actually, I think I’ll go finish my nap first. I think my nerves will need it. Will you guys be fine without me for half an hour?”

“Yes, Captain,” they all echoed back, and when Jim looked at them in order to re-establish a bit of his authority or whatever he found them either very much avoiding to look at him or looking away quickly.

Interesting.

And inappropriate.

He turned back to Spock. “You know what to do, Mr Spock.” But Spock had turned an interesting shade of green, and combined with Jim’s flush they might as well have been a Christmas tree.

Jim left the Bridge, not knowing what the hell to do with his exposed limbs.

This had been a Day.

***

He started wearing that shirt more often, though of course only to bed, but something about the whole experience made him feel a certain way while wearing the shirt. A way he hadn’t felt since the last time he’d been intimate with someone, which was ridiculously long ago.

It was strange to say the way his crew had been looking at him felt intimate, and it wasn’t anything he would ever tell anyone, but that was how he felt, and it was slightly overwhelming.

Jim reckoned this was like being a new parent, in a way. Just the smallest bit of attention and you suddenly felt like the sexiest person in the world after feeling like a human equivalent of a wreck for the past few years.

He liked this too much than he was willing to admit.

He never wore it around anyone else, except maybe Bones who was used to it from olden days anyway. But the idea of something happening and him having to rush out of his quarters again while wearing it was thrilling enough that he wore it every time he spent more than fifteen minutes in his room, and he always made sure to wash it early in the day so that it would dry by the time he returned.

Maybe he had a bit of a problem.

Bones pointed out the recent usage of the shirt once. “Is your room too warm lately or something?”

Jim tried to will himself to not blush. He knew Bones knew him like the back of his hand, but surely this was bizarre enough that he wouldn’t figure it out?

“It just makes me feel oddly at ease.”

“Uh huh. Whatever you say, kid.”

“Listen, Bones. Once you wear a crop top you’ll know.”

“The trouble with that sentence is that I’ll never ever wear one.”

“Coward.”

Bones reached over and tweaked his bare side and that was that.

In the end Jim grabbed an old t-shirt that he barely used and cut off the lower part of it. Wearing crop tops had become an addiction, and he needed more than one if he was to do it regularly.

He was wearing that new shirt, the light blue color matching his eyes in a very complimentary way in his opinion, when he was awoken to a voice calling him to the Bridge. Another emergency. Really, it couldn’t wait. Not even for a moment so that he could change into another shirt.

Jim rushed out of his room.

Negotiating with this king took longer, and Jim was very much aware of exactly how he looked now, though Uhura had been smart enough to throw a clipboard in his direction that he could hold in his lap to cover up his bare midriff just in case it would offend the king, who had insisted on them video chatting.

But Jim knew that his skin was visible from all other sides, and that if one of the crew glanced in his direction they would see it clearly. The thrill of that notion made him unsure if he wanted the negotiation to end quickly or drag on.

He was a mess, he had to admit.

Maybe he needed to get laid.

“Yes, I understand that,” he was saying as the king once again told him that they should’ve warned them before arriving. “But we never planned on landing on your planet. We still don’t plan on doing it. We just had to fly slightly too close in order to avoid a meteor.”

The king grumbled something untranslatable, but in the end they ceased the connection with an agreement to not attack each other. Jim was relieved.

“It’s like we have a reputation of attacking everyone we come across,” Jim said, casually putting the clipboard aside. “Do I look like the type of person to be that heartless?”

“Appearances do not matter in these circumstances,” Spock said. “They cannot know if we are enemies or friends, and they only act logically in the hopes of protecting their people.”

Jim turned to him with a grin he couldn’t help. “I was joking, Spock.”

Spock absolutely refused to look at him, which was interesting since the Vulcan didn’t usually care if staring was appropriate or not. Jim wanted him to look, but he knew that him not looking was the biggest compliment he could get from him. He felt his face heat up, which it had been doing quite often lately, especially around Spock.

He was happy Bones wasn’t around, because he would for sure notice, that bastard.

He cleared his throat. “Well, I should probably go change.”

“That would be the appropriate option.”

“You do know not everything needs to be appropriate, don’t you, Spock?”

Spock met his gaze now, and Jim could see something in his face that he couldn’t entirely pinpoint. “It does when we are in a professional environment.”

Oh.

Okay then.

Jim swallowed thickly. “The Bridge is indeed a professional environment,” he replied lamely, getting up and refusing to look at anyone. The atmosphere suddenly felt loaded with something. Something he hadn’t felt in forever.

He left the room. Spock didn’t follow. Jim really really wanted him to follow.

***

Jim didn’t wear his crop tops for two weeks, instead opting for baggy t-shirts or sweaters when he was out of his work clothes. Anything that wouldn’t make anyone look at him twice. He wasn’t sure attention was what he needed.

At least not from just anyone.

When he was called onto the Bridge during another emergency he was wearing a gray t-shirt that could basically be a short dress if he opted to style it that way. He felt sloppy sitting in his chair once the emergency was over, but he reckoned it was better than feeling attractive during the wrong time. No one so much as batted an eye at his attire.

Maybe it was for the better.

“Are you cold now all of a sudden?” Bones asked him one evening, pointing at his navy blue sweater.

“My soul is cold.”

“Okay, drama queen.” He stabbed at his dinner. “No, seriously. I know something’s been up. Just can’t really pinpoint what, exactly.”

“Don’t sweat it, Bones. It’s nothing serious.”

“If it becomes serious, you’d tell me, right?”

“Right.”

Bones hook his head. “You won’t tell me a word, will you?”

Jim shot him a smile. “No comment.”

But Bones wasn’t the only one who had noticed that something was up, even if some of his crew members simply commented on his surprisingly large collection of various sweaters. Jim wished they would all leave his wardrobe out of this, but he knew it was mostly his own fault anyway.

The two weeks of sweaters and t-shirts came to an end when Spock visited him in his quarters one evening. Jim was in the middle of changing out of his work clothes when he was alerted to a knock on the door, and he’d been so certain it was Bones that he went to open it without putting his sleep shirt on.

To say both he and Spock were surprised would be an understatement.

“Spock!” he exclaimed, his voice more high pitched than he would ever admit. “What are you doing here? I mean, not that I’m not happy to see you. I mean-” He broke eye contact to grin incredulously at his own flustered babbling. “I didn’t expect you to show up at this hour.”

Spock hadn’t moved a muscle, but Jim could somehow tell he wasn’t as calm as he seemed. “I apologize for the time, Jim.” He didn’t offer any sort of explanation to why he was here, so Jim just stepped aside to let him in.

Jim pulled on a t-shirt and they had tea, which was a strange thing to be drinking when you felt as if your heart was trying to escape from your chest. Jim wasn’t sure why he felt that.

Spock didn’t say much, so Jim started talking way too much to compensate. It was a mess.

He could tell that Spock wanted to bring something up, but wasn’t. He hadn’t ever seen the Vulcan not say what was on his mind.

Something had to be wrong.

He kept sipping on his tea.

“The temperature of the room does not come across as neither cold nor warm to me,” Spock suddenly said.

Jim put his cup down. “What do you mean?” he asked, knowing full well what he was indicating.

“Your usage of certain pieces of attire does not seem logical, if the temperature has been the main reason.”

Jim licked his lips. “It hasn’t.”

Spock blinked. “Then, if I may ask-”

“It’s… complicated.”

“I am certain there must be a logical explanation.”

“Oh, there is. I just don’t think it’s very logical to anyone but myself.”

“I must say I never noticed your choice of clothing until-”

“Until I started wearing crop tops.”

Spock took slightly too long to reply. “Yes.”

Jim averted his eyes. “Neither did I. I never used to care too much, and then… then I guess I cared too much. I was much too aware of how others would look at me depending on what I wore. It’s stupid, I know.”

“It is simply human.”

“Was that an insult?”

“I can assure you it was not.”

Jim grinned, and Spock’s face seemed to soften.

“I felt this weird need to show off my body, if only to myself. Now I feel the opposite. I guess I became too self conscious.” If he and Spock hadn’t gotten so much closer during the past year he would never have admitted this, but Spock drank his words as if he hadn’t ever tasted anything sweeter.

“Jim, I-” Spock cut himself off, which was intriguing enough for Jim to finally look at him properly again.

“Yes, Spock?”

“I have an illogical urge to make a confession.”

“You don’t have to be a slave to logic at all times, you know.”

“I prefer your other choice of attire.”

The Christmas tree was back in full force, only this time it didn’t seem as if it was about to turn off anytime soon. Despite an overwhelming need to look away, Jim kept his gaze on Spock who seemed to be going through the same struggle. None of them moved.

“Is that so?” Jim finally breathed out, aware of how easily their Christmas tree could catch fire with how loaded the room felt.

“Illogical,” Spock said. “But yes.”

“It’s not illogical. It’s natural.” He licked his lips. “Should I go change into one of them?”

“I prefer the blue one.”

“The blue one it is.”

Jim changed, feeling strangely free being back in a crop top, but also insanely self conscious with how hungrily Spock was looking at him.

Once Jim fully realized what that hunger meant they stopped going against their urges.

[n3rdlif343va]

11 Questions TURNED INTO 55!!

Everyone, I love you, but I am not this interesting!! These questions were definitely interesting though, proving once again that you are all more creative than me ;) I was tagged by @yuuris-piano @gothandtired @fullmetalkarneval13 and @d2diamond (3 times because you are trolling me and I would still snuggle you. I think that’s love lol)

@yuuris-piano and @gothandtired questions are above the cut and then I put the rest under the cut, because the other two have potty mouths lol Alright, here we go!!

1.       What kind of person would be your roommate? Someone who contribute to chores and can easily exist in the same space as me without needing a lot of attention.

2.       Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Hopefully still alive

3.       Form of media you can’t stand? I don’t watch the mainstream news.

4.       Is Love pain? No. Real love has its painful moments, but love should never be painful all the time. You are doing it wrong if it is

5.       If you were a dragon, what kind of dragon would you be? Toothless and I would immediately find Hiccup ;)

6.       Ideal home. Not cluttered, with lots of pictures on the walls, and lived in/comfortable. I don’t want to live in a museum

7.       Ideal book/story to read. Personal growth. A character discovering themselves through adventure or mundane.

8.       How many blankets do you sleep with? 2 to 4

9.       Any veggies you dislike? Nope, I love all veggies and fruit!

10.   If you were a superhero/villain, what would be your power? Superhero, I would want the power to heal. Both hearts and injuries/illnesses. I would want to inspire kindness and love in others.

11.   Who is your inspiration? The world.

@gothandtired:

1.         Perfect date? October 31st ;) 2.         What are you looking forward to right now? Finishing a lot of my WIPs,  @phichitzine, Christmas

3.         Biggest pet peeve? Meanness. People who are unnecessarily mean grate on my nerves 4.         Movie that you could watch over and over? The Little Mermaid and Shawshank Redemption 5.         If you could learn another language without restraint, what would it be? I would get back to Hebrew and French, and I would try German 6.         Last thing you read? Article, book, fanfic, etc I reread A Wrinkle in Time, and I am once again trying to get through Casual Vacancy (after 8 tries, if I can’t get through it this time, I quit) 7.         Most comfy clothes you own? My black oversized sweatpants and my robe that looks and feels like a giant white puffy teddy bear 8.         Something you “can’t” do, but lots of people “can” do? I can’t skip. At all. 9.         3 things you need to have if you were stranded on an island? Pen and Paper, fresh water 10.       Favorite toy when you were a kid? My dollhouse or my babydoll named Twinkle (don’t make fun of her name, a kid did that in 4th grade and I threw him down a hill. 2 weeks on crutches for that guy) 11.       What is something that your friends will never let you live down? Crotching Victor. The fact that I once dressed up as a nurse for Halloween, the costume was not decent and I regret my life every time the pictures crop back up.

 @d2diamond 1st Questions

1.       Describe your idea perfect partner for life? “Perfect” is not a thing. Laughter, hugging me when I’m upset, honesty, and knowing when I need space, those are ideal qualities

2.       Your favorite dessert? Eclairs!!!

3.       What’s your favorite kind of music to dance too? *hangs head in shame* Pop music…

4.       Fess up, did you ever insert yourself into a story? (Mary-Sueism) No, I purposely keep myself out of my stories

5.       What is your favorite holiday trope to read about? Being snowed in together. Does that count?

6.       Have you ever kissed anyone under the mistletoe? Yes.

7.       Kiss me, I’m not Irish! Would you? Hell yeah, get over here!

8.       Out of all your favorite characters, who would you Kiss, F**k, and Marry? LANGUAGE! But for YOI, Kiss Phichit, F Chris, and Marry Seung-gil

9.       What’s your favorite flower? *is confused* I’m not a flowers kind of girl. I killed a cactus once and bamboo. No one trusts me with flowers

10.   *Holds out hand* Dance with me? *immediately starts doing the cabbage patch*

11.   ABO/Omegaverse: Hell YEAH! or F**K NO! Get that nasty shit away from me? LANGUAGE! Lol Also, I don’t get it lol

 @fullmetalkarneval13 questions:

1: What was the first fic you ever read? Like ever ever? Not sure, but it was probably Kim Possible or Dawson’s Creek related (don’t judge me! *hides*)

2: Have you ever received a gift you had to fake a smile at? Yes. A pink sweater with a tiger striped flower on it. I mean honestly, what the hell

3: What’s your favorite fic at the moment? UMMMMM I like all of mine ha ha but outside of that? Maybe…. This one:  we know the game and we're gonna play it or  take my heart (I don't need it anyway) ( @katsukifatale)

4: Have you ever been out of the country? Yesum, France and England :)

5: Right back at ya. Kiss Marry F**k? Seriously with the potty mouths!! LMAO. I already answered this one, see above!

6: Would you rather ride a unicorn or swim with mermaids? MERMAIDS!

7: Favorite pastime? Writing, staring into the void pretending that it counts as writing

8: How many words can you write in a day without being interrupted? The most words I ever wrote in one sitting, as in continuous writing without stopping or getting up from the computer was a little over 7,400. Yes I am a beast (*hides as everyone eyeballs my lack of updates*)

9: *holds out hand* Go skydiving with me? Been there, done that, would love to do it again

10: What’s your favorite video game if you play them? Anything Professor Layton. Kingdom Hearts. Disney Infinity. I like Minecraft and I like Rocket League even though I am super bad

11: Do you watch tv, if you do, what is your favorite tv show? BROOKLYN 99!!!!! And I loved New Girl. And Bones. And Miraculous Ladybug

Diamond Second Questions

1.       Which do you prefer best? Dark, Milk or White Chocolate? Dark chocolate for SURE

2.       How many pillows on your bed? (or Nest) 6 lol

3.       Have you been keeping up with @lucycamui and @crimson-chains Siren AU? Nope, I struggle to follow things on Tumblr lol

4.       On a scale of 0 to F**K ME NOW, how sexy do you think Otabek Altin would look like as a pirate?  I’m not really into the pirate thing. I have reasons for this, which I would answer only if prodded.

5.       KISS, F**k, or Marry - Guang Hong, Leo & Seung-gil. UMMM, I would kiss Guang Hong on the cheek, and the last two for Seung-gil. Sorry, Leo, you can give GH a proper kiss if you would like

6.       Can I add you to my story as an extra? (If so, please send me your characters physical description in my ask box!) As long as I am super extra! You know what I look like silly bean :p

7.       What is your Patronus? A field mouse. I don’t know, ask Pottermore

8.       If you are an animagus, what is your animal? A hamster

9.       What musical instrument can you play? If not, which one would you like to learn? Baritone horn, trumpet, trombone, piano, bass guitar and a couple of cadences on snare drum. I don’t think my brain could learn anything new at this point

10.   What’s your all-time favorite movie? The Little Mermaid and Shawshank Redemption, live action Beauty and the Beast is probably third tied with Wonder Woman

11.   How many licks DOES it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? I don’t know, I don’t like lollipops because they have to stay in your mouth too long

 Diamond 3rd Questions

1.       Shameless plug time: Link to a story you’ve written that you would like to see turned into a movie. (If not written, then read, or made art for).  Be my chef, Yuuri or the rancher AU that no one has seen yet

2.       I feel like having some pancakes. Share some with me? Absolutely! I’ll even make you my blueberry panacakes!

3.       You’re a Prince/ss, describe your kingdom. Everyone works together so that we can all succeed together. And I don’t have to wear dresses.

4.       Where is your most ideal place to sit and read? Outside in the woods

5.       Harry Potter or Twilight? (Yes, I’m bringing this back) Harry Potter, get out of here with the sparkly ill-developed vampires!

6.       What school would you attend in the Harry Potter Universe? Hogwarts although technically I guess I would have to go to school in America. Lame.

7.       What house in that school would you be in? Gryffindor! Sorted by Pottermore :)

8.       Create a Holiday! What day or time of the year… UMMMM June 15th

9.       What does everyone celebrate? Kindness!!

10.   How does everyone celebrate your holiday? By doing random acts of kindness for a whole day!

11.   Post for me below, the cutest picture you have. You get a GIF

[attract-mode-collective]

Finally, The ET Video Game That You’ve Been Waiting For

Since there was no proper game culture wrap-up last week (again, sorry about that), along with how I’m filing this at the end of the week instead of the beginning (there’s… stuff happening, so consider this one of the more minor examples), there’s a lot to cover this time around. Including a bunch of happenings from the word of art.

So kicking things off is the latest from Amanda Visel X Michelle Valigura. Much like their Star Wars, Beetlejuice, and Heathers cabinets, here we their ideas of what arcade games based upon ET and Aliens could and should look like. And yeah, playing as Gertie is an approach that could salvage its reputation in the video game sphere, plus I totally want an Alien/Aliens video game starring Newt.

Actually, hasn’t something similar already happened? Sorry, haven’t kept up with the video adaptations; last one I played was for the Jaguar. Anyhow, and unfortunately, both pieces are sold out online. Though… and I’m not 100% certain, but… they’re both at the Thailand Toy Expo, so maybe they brought a few extras with them?

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan to be exact, are not just one but two other notable shows, and both focused on electronic entertainment. First is something you’re probably familiar with, the My Famicase Exhibition, and not just because it’s been around for 13 years. As of this writing, the entire assortment has yet to be shared officially, so you’ll have to turn to Twitter to see the participants boasting their own handiwork.

[UPDATE: 5/7/17] Actually, all the pieces are finally viewable on the Famicase homepage proper. Here are my faves…

… I particularly love Saturdays’s flavor text: “The gateway opens once a week. Tomorrow I’m going in.”

… You kinda need to see the actual cart in the wild to understand; here’s a pic courtesy of @mandimappy…

And finally...

… It’s maybe pointing out that the artist responsible for the concept above also did a piece for last year’s event as well, which ended up becoming something that’s actually playable! Hope history repeats itself cuz I really want a game about an all cat band with gross lyrics.

Now, the other show is something you may know nothing about, cuz a. the 16 Bit Models Exhibition has only been around for two years and b, was only open for just one day, hence why it’s fallen under many radars.

Admittedly, I found last year’s assortment a bit more up my alley, most due to my affinity for the obscure. Yet I can still appreciate this very realistic take on the Super Mario Bros (btw, am also sorry that I don’t know who’s responsible for what)…

Along with this realistic take on Pauline and Donkey Kong…

Yet the exhibition was a reminder that not every Nintendo game out there has been paid tribute to death, specifically Urban Champion…

The dioramas are easily the best parts of the 16 Bit Models Exhibition. Here’s an equally impressive one, featuring Castlevania…

Though once again, the obscurer the better, so this tribute to Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa gets a thumbs up from me…

Which is the lesser known game: Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa or City Connection? The latter at least was released on the NES at the time. Then again…

Moving onto fashion, UNIQLO recently unveiled an upcoming line based upon Mario and company. As one might expect from UNIQLO, they look quite nice! Here’s the campaign movie from Japan…

The best part is that UNIQLO’s entire line is headed towards the US! Was not expecting that. Alas, certain designs are not available to everyone, and I know more than a few adults who wouldn’t mind that Kirby tee. So here comes YUMMY MART to the rescue…

Somewhat along the same lines is Namco enlisting the talents of PAYNUS, who represents some of the esoteric offerings in the Pac-Store…

The constant reference to pizza is something that’s present in both the PAYNUS designs and Namco’s own in-house efforts…

Meanwhile, back at METEOR, in addition to the latest Famicase exhibit, they’ve also been busy with a collab with THUNDERBOX (which I highlighted just a few weeks ago). And from the looks of miki800.com’s post, MOUNTAIN GRAPHICS is also involved? Talk about a holy trinity…

Whereas the previous combination makes sense, the following is… unexpected. Recently discovered that R23X has teamed up with the The Yetee of all folks to produce a line of shirts showcasing glitched VHS stills. Including one that’s game related (technically two; there’s also a crop top version as well)…

Looks neat and all, but I’m less of a Final Fantasy 7 fan and more of a Wave Race 64 aficionado, and would therefore love to see this on a tee…

I’d also love to get my hands on one of these 100 yen pins that @rgb_club posted a couple weeks back, though no word on when it might be available…

Here’s another thing that’s not for sale, mostly cuz there was only one, which is of this baseball player made to look like a Street Fighter…

Which had the better Spinning Bird Kick; Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li…

Or City Hunter (yup, that’s Jackie Chan; via tenshokyaku)…

Sticking with leggy video game stars, thanks to thevideogameartarchive, we finally have an answer as to whether Link is boxers or briefs…

And sticking with Link for just a bit more, I particularly dig nozovis’s summary of the fun times him and Zelda have in Breath of the Wild…

Along those same lines is a zine that @WPR_haru made that’s filled with all the photos he took, one that I’d love to have a copy of…

Which fan art featuring a character from behind do you prefer; this Breath of the Wild piece by James Kochalka…

Or this Overwatch piece by some unknown artist (if anyone knows, plz let me know)…

Here we have @RAStyle85’s Astro City with a lots of buttons, for playing whatever game that requires that many inputs…

And here we have former Taito graphic designer Atsushi Iwata’s custom-built device, for producing pixel graphics!

Such things were used in other places, like SNK. Here we have a quote from someone who worked there, courtesy of videogamesdensetsu…

“The sprite editor used by artists for a number of SNK fighting games (Art Box) was written for the Neo-Geo, and uses the Neo-Geo as the interface. As in, you would use the joystick and the buttons to draw the sprite. He didn’t believe this when he started there, until one of the higher ups showed him by firing up one of the machines and drawing a kickass sprite of Robert Garcia in like 10 minutes”.

Does the Art Box sound familiar? Well, it should be.

The latest from The Gaming Historian, on the creation of the d-pad, answers the one question I’ve had for ages: if Nintendo was able to patent the control input, how were Sega and others able to get away with something seemingly similar?

Remember the 8bit Harmonica from last week? Well here’s another project involving the Famicom by Ugoita that’s a bit more… random?

This post has gone on for far too long without any Sega. Time to fix that with some gifs of Sonic from Sega Saturn de Hakken!! Tamagotchi Park, which as you may have guessed is a Tamagotchi title in which you can raise Sonic (and sorry, chilli dogs was Sonic’s fave food in the US, though I believe Sonic Generations would later recon that; via pr0jectneedlemouse)…

Though you can also raise other Sega personalities, like Opa Opa and Alex Kidd, plus even a Mega Drive cart (via grooveonfight)?

Super obscure Sega humor doesn’t get more obscure than this folks (note to self: on the next car trip, bring along the soundtrack to Super Hang-On cuz repeated plays of OutRun and Daytona USA tunes can get old after a while; via dnopls)…

I know the following has been shared liked crazy (hell, even NPR posted the damn thing), and for good reason. All I can say is, Pikachu #14, get your sh*t together…

Speaking of Pikachu and his pals, The Pokemon Center released a line of Ditto Gachapon figures that are supa kawaii (via retrogamerblog)…

Though the one piece of plastic I want the most is the also recently unveiled Samus from Metroid Prime figure by Good Smile Company, which looks hella cooler than the previously released Other M Figma…

Am embarrassed to admit that I have no idea where this following screenshot is from, nor the tune that accompanies it, both courtesy of radicalhelmet. If anyone would be kind enough to clue me in, would be supremely appreciated…

I wonder what the cover girl of this issue of Spoon is playing (via sixteen-bit)…

And this week’s recommended reading comes courtesy of mah boi Don Miller, and is actually something that Oliver at Minus World also picked up on, which is a book produced by the creator of LSD: Dream Emulator, among other things, and someone I’ve mentioned quite a few times around these parts. It’s called The Art of Computer Designing: A Black and White Approach and is available via archive.org…

As someone who has always planned on transforming an old iMac into a fish tank, thanks to Phazed, I know have other ideas…

And finally, and I also know that I’ve been saying the same thing over and over again, but Super Attractive Club members will be receiving another round up game culture snapshots, hopefully very soon! Until then, please enjoy this still life courtesy of peazy86…

BTW, peazy86 also does music, plus music videos…

Don’t forget: Attract Mode is now on Medium! There you can subscribe to keep up to date, as well as enjoy some “best of” content you might have missed the first time around, plus be spared of the technical issues that’s starting to overtake Tumblr.

[defiantscribe]

The Return of the Mack

I'm far from being a "mack" by any means of the definition, but it felt like it was appropriate for my age demographic and title.

I've found a need to write again.  I've been having all kinds of stupid drama at my job crop up and I've just felt the need to start spewing my opinion for no good reason than everyone else on the internet does it, so why the hell shouldn't I?

Plus, it gives me a reason to write.  I used to love writing.  I'm not awesome enough to write a story.  I've still got a story in my head from when I was 15.  After 20 plus years, I still have no real desire to get it out of my head and out into the world.  Honestly, just thinking about it right now, it might be better done via animation (most likely japanese anime) than any other way.  I just can't see having some of those ideas of mine perverted, "changed" or compromised because of limitations.  If you can draw that shit, you can make my vision a proper reality.  Still haven't ironed out all the kinks and for as much as I like to write, I don't read books, so following some sort of format that would be accepted by any sort of editor would be like trying to push a boulder up hill.

So, what to cheese about?  I used to have a very constant source of information when I worked in news.  The AP Newswire was a place where if you knew where to look, you could find some pretty obscure stories.  I would love to share those again and talk about them, but I'm having a bit of trouble with finding a good source or at least finding something worth saying something about.

I could always try to talk about actual, important current events, but I'm not a news outlet and unless it's really striking a cord with me or upsetting me in some fashion, that's other people problems that will eventually happen, not happen, or not affect me in the slightest.

Okay, let's talk about clickbait.  Now, for the most part, if OP can deliver on the image I'm clicking on in at least a little bit of fashion, you've not duped me 100% and I won't feel like a complete sucker for clicking your link.  But, here's where I have an issue with it.  I just came across this gem on Yahoo's front page.

That's fucking Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys.  Try not to gasp when I see what he looks like now?  He doesn't look like that in real fucking life, ya dumbshit.  He looks like this in real life:

These types of clickbait are the worst, but the problem of them remains because there's at least a possible million dumbshits out there that will click the link, only to be redirected and be bombarded with a shit ton of spam.  I'm the 1,467,896th visitor; yet I won something because of that stupid ass number?  I don't think so.  Humans are about symmetry, we do NOT give a prize like that for such. We may give the 1,500,000th visitor something, but that's a nice, even, calm number.

Despite all that, what kind of sucker believes that shit?  I'm a sucker, sure, but even I'm not so deluded into thinking that I've won something on the internet.  That's like having a Canadian girlfriend.  When I had one (I had two, actually.  Well, one was sort of a girlfriend and the other was an infatuation), people wouldn't have ever believed me because that was the stigma.  

Me: "I got a girlfriend from Canada..."

Other People: "Right...."

I'm sure there are people who win legit contests held by reputable companies, but some random webpage I visited with some random flashing link?  Says I can win 2 iPads?  Yeah.... only thing I'm winning is a call from "Microsoft" and the dubious pleasure of taking my PC to a local tech shop after "letting them into my computer to find the viruses."

But back to clickbait.  It's a powerful advertising tool.  I still find myself being a victim of it, but it's only if the accompanying text draws me in.  If not, or if it's a blatant "we didn't even try with this shit...", fuck that.... I'll drive AROUND your ass to avoid your bullshit.

Truth be told, this first blog post is pretty weak sauce.  Even my ass can see that.  Not only that, but full disclosure, my body is trying to force me into my "after work armchair nap" and is mildly winning.  I'm trying to stay straight and not sleep, which fucks up my sleep schedule, but right now all I can do is finish typing these sentences in between "resting my eyes" sessions.

I was honestly getting ready to give up on finding a fun little news story from today or at least the last few days and was just going to post a link to a youtube video that constantly makes me laugh, when I think I hit internet GOLD.  Fuck, this desire to sleep is real, but I'm trying, I swear.

http://www.waow.com/story/35855686/2017/07/11/police-woman-sets-boyfriend-on-fire-then-dumps-urine-on-him

Police: Woman sets boyfriend on fire then dumps urine on him

PENN HILLS, Pa. (ABC) -

A Pennsylvania woman is accused of setting her boyfriend on fire and then dousing him with urine because she was angry, police said.

Leigh Ann Sepelyak, 38, faces charges including attempted homicide and arson for the incident early Sunday morning.

Penn Hills police said Sepelyak and her boyfriend were involved in an argument in the bottom floor of a home on Lime Hollow Road. When the boyfriend fell asleep, investigators said Sepelyak poured gasoline on him and set it on fire with a lit match.

“The gas ignited, and the boyfriend caught fire from the waist down,” Penn Hills Police Chief Howard Burton told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4.

Authorities said Sepelyak then decided to put the fire out, but instead of using water, grabbed a bucket of urine that the couple had been using in place of a bathroom and poured it onto the victim.

People who live above the couple drove the victim to UPMC Mercy, where he’s said to have burns to at least 25 percent of his lower body.

Penn Hills police said they had no prior interactions with the couple, and Sepelyak would only explain the incident by saying that she was angry.

What the actual fuck?!  First, this lady is a looker (click the link to go to the story), but what kind of fucked up do you have to be to first, set someone on fire because you're mad.  Not only are you mad, but the fight has ended (somewhat) because the other person is SLEEPING, but number two (no pun intended), you're pissing in a bucket.  What the hell is wrong with your toilet that you're pissing in a bucket?  Not only that, but one you have just handy for putting out boyfriend fires?  

You know, just when I think the world can't get any more bizarre, stories like this help to make me feel like my sloppy lifestyle is what these people would classify as "fancy".

Christ, lady.... get some god damn help.

Well, I'm going to wrap this up for now.  Hopefully I'll have something a little more juicy to talk about later.  I may update with some work related stuff, but I do have work people who could potentially read this, so I must choose my words wisely if I decide to dance down that road.  

Cheers, and thanks for reading.  It's fun to write again.

For the 90s kids.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB1D9wWxd2w