#i am a niche market

[hellenhighwater]

Mother is enabling me. Unfortunately now I have to remember how to do basic upholstery, source some dark bluey-teal short pile non-stretch velvet, and get some HTV gold stars to transfer on so I can make myself a Wizard Throne to sit in at my kitchen table.

This shall be a summer project.

[perfectly-clear-from-here]

tranquility base hotel + casino concept ads because i love this album more than anything and i have an incurable urge to create:

inspired by!!: x - x - x

[msburgundy]

i do try not to be a loathsome jim green simp, but rn no one else is making barefoot boots of the same quality and durability, especially that also look good

[quietwingsinthesky]

which is sort of but not really tied into why i’m sort of ???? about the particular kind of fic writers that will write like. Exclusively niche stuff that they enjoy specifically (rarepairs, weirds AUs, specific kinks) and then get upset that they don’t get much interaction in comments or kudos. like, my guy, this is what we signed up for when we wrote the ship only three people know about. you can’t be upset that you’re not raking in hundreds of clicks when you specifically chose to do the unpopular thing you were interested in. it’s fine not to have a lot of attention, you gotta get used to it happening, even if you think you worked real hard on a fic and it deserves it.

[lazycranberrydoodles]

every time i make a post that is kind of specific i get so happy when the target audience finds it. yes, i made this especially for you, the 3 people that have gone insane in the tags

[crimeronan]

earlier today i realized i have a weird complex about how i have to reply to all the comments on a chapter (or oneshot) on ao3 all in one sitting. and i realized the reason for this was that somehow i was envisioning people sitting there endlessly refreshing the comments page specifically for some godforsaken reason literal months after leaving a comment and if they saw that i had replied to other comments but not theirs bc i'd spaced out replies over a few days, this random ao3 refresher would think i was spurning them and did not care about what they had to say and

in conclusion. probably gonna start hacking away at replies to the big popular longfic tonight.

[sprucetreeconspiracy]

thinking about it sex work isnt inherently less safe than doing any other 1:1 meeting work (a thing youd do a lot in home care as a nurse for example), it's the structures and stigma that make it less so

[princess-viola]

the reason why the left will never fucking succeed at anything isn't because of whatever BS the right and liberals love to claim like how 'socialism is unworkable' or 'communism always leads to totalitarianism and suffering' but because far too many people on the left care too much about ideological purity and will just try to cast out other leftists just because they disagree with them on one or two aspects

like of course, if someone's ideology is completely incompatible with your own, that's a different thing. i couldn't imagine allying with someone who supports authoritarian dictatorships with centrally planned economies considering that is basically the complete opposite of my own views but like if i'm talking to another anti-authoritarian leftist and we agree on 95% of things, i'm not going to cast them out because of that minor difference of opinion

hell i'll just talk to them about it so we can both see why we support what we do. and nearly 100% of the time when that happens, we both come away understanding why the other views something the way they do and respect that.

[hurdygurdywizard]

Watching handmade shoe cobbling videos at an ungodly hour and lamenting the industrial revolution. I should've been an artisan. Nowadays it's all machines.

[kyouka-supremacy]

( •_• )

[thephantombelow]

long annoying rant about a niche topic sorry

ffxiv "concerts" are all really impressive in what they do but also fundmentally ffxiv as a platform really really really struggles this really simple concept called "audio mixing", at least for the bard "musicians". for some reason thesec "concerts" and "bands" will go out and can be bought for like 10s of millions of gil for even a small venue and like I get the appeal for RP venues and the like but holy shit it sounds sooooo bad. all of these bands, due to the limitations of how it all works -- and like, the instrumentation that the bard performance mode gives is just, hm. off key? out of tune? utterly tone deaf? not sure. the way these bands work is just putting midi files into an auto performance bot and even when these bands all make a lot of compromises with the songs they choose it is all like, this sucks, right? it speaks to a larger truth of the issues with ffxiv rp venues, housing, and general non PvE or PvP events within ffxiv. they all have to take a real obnoxious amount of compromises for them to work. even with a really impressive amount of work put into making these songs work within these limitation and adjusting the instrumentation to work with these song bots it just doesn't sound good at the end of the day no matter how much effort is put in it. the stark contrast of the fully composed songs throughout the game to the literal midi renditions of pop songs, popular game songs, etc. that people port into these bands is like, really, really staggering.

and again -- these songs are all fucking covers. the original versions of every single one of these songs covered just plain sound better. why would I listen to a cover of wonderwall performed in midi form by a travelling gang of lalafells when I can just, I don't man, listen to wonderwall? it still sounds like shit either way but that is besides the point the good sounds covered sound like shit too.

so in summary: - people are paying tens of millions of gil for bands of bots that play midi covers of songs from pop rock, various other RPGs, etc and they all sound at best passable covers but at worst just aggressively mediocre and just plain rough covers that you can really feel that midi instrumentation in

the audio mixing is nonexistent, oftentimes helping to ruin the quality of the songs even further than the midi instrumentation will already do so.

none of this is like, surprising, right? holding on to limitations and poor quality is the essence of the general housing scene in ffxiv.

the limitations are what have made the housing, rp scenes, etc., feel as jank as they feel.

unlike the housing scene and the rp scene, the bard orch bands cannot even be "fixed" with plugins and mods, or even optimized. they just have been automated with them.

this sucks.

[honeybeeofficial]

plenty of people have said this better than I will but I love it (read: it's very annoying) when people suggest turning a craft hobby into a side business. There is no succinct way to explain to non-crafters, in a casual conversation, that for high-quality handmade goods, the amount of physical labor required already puts the cost of those goods far beyond what regular people would be willing or able to pay for those items. the cost of materials alone is sometimes more than what people would be willing to pay. not to mention the labor required to market yourself, especially if it's a fairly niche thing.

I told a friend about the horseshoe crab backpack I'm making and he made this comment about turning it into a side business. and. I know it's intended to be encouraging and supportive, but like.

Including materials, and given a very optimistic assumption that I will finish this project in another ~3 hours of work,

Charging at the federal minimum hourly wage of $7.25 for my labor, this backpack would cost approximately $203.

Charging at the somewhat more "acceptable" $15 hourly wage, it would cost $395.

Charging at $25/hr for a wage that actually values my labor beyond simple survival, it would cost $615 or more.

I'm not going to finish it in another 3 hours. And I am undeniably an amateur– the finished product isn't going to be perfect and crisp the way something "should" be to cost that much, so it won't be "worth" the amount it's technically worth.

Projects like this that I do for fun I am absolutely willing to replicate for close friends at a significantly lower price as a "gift" (asking for cost of materials and/or only a partial cost of labor). But there's no reasonable way to actually monetize a hobby like this.

Anyway, look at my crab.

[sugarcoated-wishes]

I am treating u with a brine shramps. Happy Halloween 👻

Oh!!! Shramps!! A tank of friends!!

I used to follow a guy who posted about weird Sea Monkey™ things from back in the day, so you’ve managed to happen across a little niche interest of mine!

[mirror-to-the-past]

Oh, hey! A post that also thinks what I was thinking about... awesome!

There's absolutely something to be said about the distinction between charisma versus those who view people as an almost compulsive puzzle to be solved. Kabru is clearly charismatic, but that charisma is evidently a result of an awkward medley of analyzing sorting people into traits and backgrounds.

The way he boils Mithrun's real-life backstory down to a streamlined version as to make it more understandable 'to others' is very telling to me. There are no 'others,' really, when it comes to the very sensitive situation of literally pouring out your sad backstory to someone... that's just evident of how Kabru has learned to handle other people's personalities and their emotions. He doesn't simply nod his head and go "wow, that's tough, I understand/I'm sorry that happened to you," he goes "okay, so this is clearly a relevant childhood event that shaped [A] aspect of your personality, so I'll mentally lock that in as a trait of yours to focus on." Every person is a sort of narrative to him- falling into archetypes that both give them their individualism and purpose in Kabru's eyes, and Kabru views them through his 'hero's journey' distinctions by which to further understand them. People joke about his "main character energy," but I truly think it a deliberate self-modelling of his personality. He *wants* to be the main character in his hero's journey, able to best emulate what he thinks are good morals and behaviors that allow him to achieve his lofty goals. So, he appeals to others based off of that, trying to be a mirror to what best bounces off of them- his fellow characters in their collective stories.

As a semi-side note, this way of processing the feelings and stories around him is why I tentatively disagree, at least in my own personal reading (everyone is entitled to their own understanding of these characters), that Kabru is necessarily an empathetic individual. I think that he is indeed someone who cares about others, and has goals that are very humanitarian and advocate for the well-being of as many people as possible. He actively aids others in personalized ways to help them better themselves, as seen through your example with Kuro and the common language lessons. Does that mean that Kabru necessarily internalizes the emotions of others in a personalized sense- as in allowing their reactions and feelings to bleed into his own? No, I don't think so. He considers other people's reactions and emotions like something to be anticipated- an aspect of an equation- and he reacts accordingly. You can absolutely care about others without having to personally understand where they're coming from. You can also understand how a machine works without feeling the cogs whirring and pistons pumping. Similarly, someone who dedicates themselves immensely to how people tick can see the cause-and-effect relationship between someone's external stimuli, their personality, their background, etc. and why they might feel or react a certain way about something. It's a certain flavor of understanding that certainly gets the job done, often even to an extent that others truly feel like they are being considered and understood, but is largely a deliberate concoction of mirroring.

I believe this is why I've seen people saying that Kabru is manipulative, and I won't even say that they're wrong, but rather, I'd ask them to reconsider the often-demonized idea of "manipulation" when looking at context. I truly do think that this kind of "manipulation," especially when used by neurodivergent people who may be very low-empathy, allows them to better help the people they care for in their lives. By acting in a way that allows them to feel like they have a safe space or are understood when others talk to them, individuals like Kabru are able to utilize their internal dismantling of other's personalities to best meld their own responses to their unique troubles in a way that suits the people in their lives to their benefit. It's an altruistic masking, is how I've always seen it. Is is disconcerting to many neurotypical people when neurodivergent people explain this way of thinking to them? Yes! I've personally encountered it, and have had people tell me that I'm off-kilter or a bit robotic. Is it uncaring/cruel, or trying to take advantage of others? No, not really. Think about it this way: when we tell a joke in a tense room, are we not knowingly manipulating people to feel happier? Anywho, I'll cease the philosophizing and return to the character analysis...

So, revisiting the 'hero's journey' outlook he tries to apply to other's (and his own) personalities, I also find it funny how Kabru's clearly developed a general social script for himself he considers successful enough to follow. He doesn't "read the room" to try to instinctually realize if he can charm someone or not with his signature "Kabru smile," he just does it anyway, because that's what he's devised as a habit for himself, and then immediately tries to adjust and furiously figure out what went wrong when he sees it isn't successful (see Laios and Mithrun).

In line with his storybook-like thinking, Kabru can be very black-and-white, as seen through his internal judgment of characters like Laios who are on the "bad side" in his agenda, his difficulties with the elves' behavior, and situations such as when he fully vouches for the man who controlled the underbelly of the Dungeon (because y'know, he's on *their* side, the side of the common man! he couldn't fall to corruption!). He often refrains from expressing this outwardly, although he becomes notably more vocal about his honest qualms and thoughts near the end of the series, and instead acts as a passive wallflower when interacting with those he is displeased with, giving the impression he's more accepting than he really is with those he hasn't yet fit into his social schemata.

It's so true that the "people special interest" gets passed off as nonexistent due to its acceptability as opposed to other special interests, and that's because it can manifest exactly like how Kabru comes across to multiple characters throughout the manga (played off as a joke, often, but still poignant nevertheless): a social chameleon, accepting, unremarkable and unmemorable. A perfect mirror to whoever happens to be looking at him- they are seeing and hearing someone echoing their traits back to them in such an everyman way, that they don't really realize that this person is inwardly taking note of each and every one of their otherwise insignificant and overlooked moves as though it's the key to an ancient riddle. And people like to have attention; people like to feel understood and have others echo their sentiments and the things they like- that's why these kinds of neurodivergent people may be spared in many ways (at first glance) from the social ostracization many other autistic people would otherwise receive.

So yeah, Kabru cool. TL;DR, I pretty much agree. Pretty spiffy, OP.

I firmly believe that Kabru is autistic but masks so hard that he’s convinced himself and (almost) everyone around him that he’s neurotypical.

That man’s special interest is people and how they work, but he just thinks it’s him Being So Good At Socializing — like he doesn’t spend 95% of his time people watching and adjusting his personality in response to the traits he witnesses and obsessing over the intricacies of human interaction while mapping an ever growing relationship chart in his head. For fun. He even admits it in the manga!

Like, look at him!!!

It’s such a shame that — because he’s the narrative foil to Laios and his interest is generally considered more “socially acceptable” in both their world and our own — more people don’t realize this about him. He’s constantly misinterpreted as a horribly manipulative person who only acts the way he does to use the people around him, when that’s explicitly shown to not be the case at all. Kabru is naturally empathetic and is almost always thinking about other people, regardless of whether or not they’re right there with him or a thousand miles away.

I mean, his most defining motivation is his desire to do everything he can to avoid another tragedy like the one at Utaya. Someone who doesn’t care wouldn’t have a goal like that, and they most certainly wouldn’t go about it the way he does. He’s constantly working to help people who can help everyone else and tries so hard to make sure that anyone who seems like a threat is actually someone he needs to worry about before doing anything about it. His supposed aversion to Laios is only because of the ridiculous trolley problem he’s set up in his own head.

Outside of that, he (rather justifiably) hates monsters but is desperate to understand Laios’ love for them and his apparently most selfish goal in getting close to the guy was literally just to become friends with him.

When he’s interacting with the canaries and they imply that they’re going to take him and all of his friends to the West, his first thought is of Rin and how much she’d hate to be stuck in the place that gave her so many bad memories.

He helps Kuro learn Common when Mickbell is asleep and firmly looks forward to the day that the half-foot and Kuro can communicate properly so that their relationship can get properly started without any miscommunication.

And he understands Mithrun with only a handful of weeks AT BEST interacting with him, getting enraged when the elf seems to give up and immediately trying to help him find a new motivation for life.

I’m excited just thinking about the day that Kabru starts unmasking more and more around his friends — both new and old — because if being with my current friend group has taught me anything, it’s that hanging out with anyone so unabashedly themselves is bound to make you more comfortable with yourself too. It’s part of the reason why I like Labru so much! There’s something nice about imagining them hanging out in the throne room or laying in the grass outside and talking for hours on end about their special interests. They might not strictly understand what the other finds so fascinating about monsters or people, but they can grasp that shared feeling of love.

They probably influence each other in really good ways too, with Kabru helping Laios figure out what people are thinking even when it doesn’t make sense or Laios helping Kabru understand that not everyone and everything needs to be analyzed a thousand times over. They both get to learn that there are people like them and people who will love them without them ever having to change a thing about themselves. They deserve to know that they’re fine the way they are.

[swampdrive]

Specific gripe but hwrow capitalism really crushes art

[kingoftheu]

NEPman, free markets are a go.

I said, NEPman, you can start growing your dough

You can profit, and I'm sure you will find

Enough cash to have a good time

It's the twenties in the USSR

It's the twenties in the USSR