#i didn't include the reference source on the other posts when i made them but i've gone back and added it to all of them now

[frutavel]

Mantra got laminitis as result of a poor diet. He deals with chronic pain because of that, and other than specialized gear (shoes + boots) he also uses a cane to help take some weight off his bad foot and alleviate it <3

This was referenced off a pose on adorkastock's website, as were the last 3 sketches I posted here, here and here <333

[cdlum]

I just wanted to say I think your art style is awesome! I was wondering if you had any tutorials on how you draw anatomy in your style (hips and legs especially)? Sorry if there's already one posted and I just didn't see it 🥲. Happy New Year :>

thanks for the kind words. i tend to draw people pretty stylized and then some so a good bit of artistic licence gets used. these tips are just what i use so feel free to take them with a grain of salt. with anatomy in particular you can kind of talk in circles because human/animal bodies are that complex so ill just zone in on the points you specified. here's a little image with a bunch of pointers:

the above image condenses a lot of the points I'd make, but basically the key parts are to start with the bare essentials and build up that complexity. using a line of action is a good way to get a quick, rough start. you draw a line out in the general direction of the pose and do your best to adhere to it to give the pose a sense of flow.

you can also draw smaller, thumbnail versions that throw a lot of caution to the wind but capture the basic energy of what you're going for. even having a tiny little stick figure version of your idea can make for a good guideline of where to take it forward.

when it comes to actual limbs, you wanna consider how they integrate and work together, kind of like how chains do. you can see on some of the parts of pear i've drawn out these wireframes to kind of portray how the mass of her legs works in a three dimensional space. for aspects like the waist/hips, i use that X technique i highlight above a lot, particularly for the lower torso. a lot of the times, even when drawing a character totally naked, imagining them wearing things like skintight underwear can help a lot to guide you in the right direction.

its also a good idea to consider things like gravity and weight to a degree. humans are essentially big meat sacks and gravity is always pulling down on that, but theres all kinds of aspects that effect that, such as character build or clothing. pear technically isn't naked in this, but i've tried to imagine her as such and take that into account.

if you are drawing digitally, don't be afraid to take advantage of the convenience you get with that workflow. you can retry and iterate on things a lot faster that pen and paper, and do things that aren't really feasible at all when it comes to editing and modifying your existing work. things like resizing certain bodyparts, instantly flipping the canvas, or using selection tools to completely adjust the positions of parts of your drawing. to give you an example heres a timelapse with all the little edits i made just to this demo drawing:

you don't have to use these techniques linearly, either. sometimes ill have a really solid idea for a piece in my head, and go back to basics with certain elements if they’re not coming out right or i just want to brush them up a bit more. some of the tutorial-y parts i added in i didn't actually use during the drawing but often do use so they're there just for demonstration. not every drawing i do starts as building blocks or a really basic version, often ill just start with a face and build it out from there.

i always encourage liberally using references (this can include yourself) and trying out stuff like life drawing or looking at things like existing photographs of real people/places/things if you can, the more you use learning material the better you'll draw up a mental inventory in your head that you can rely on more and more. some of these tips are things i've learned from other artists over the years (the chin one especially i remember seeing a tutorial about lol), so this is a lot of knowledge i've amassed from other sources over time myself. there are plenty of times ill use all sorts of reference material and its all in service of arriving at the final destination as smoothly as possible. learn by doing, as they say. hope this helps!

[matan4il]

To the Nonnie who wrote me about screenshots of two Palestinians talking, where one mentioned an exchange between his Palestinian American father and an IDF (implied Jewish) soldier from the US.

You rightly pointed out the duplicity in that exchange -

Why did he phrase it 'we had American citizenship', but the presumably Jewish idf soldier was just straight up American? As if to put distance between he and his father's American identity while framing the Jewish man as solely American and there fore undeserving of being in Israel.

I'll add to this, but first I wanna tell you that by chance, I saw the post you were talking about, and I have to raise the question of context. Because that's not just screenshots from any old conversation between two random Palestinians. That was taken from an anti-Zionist documentary. I've heard about it, I didn't watch it, I did see the trailer for it, which was pretty blatant in how one-sided it generally is. Any Jew who is pro-Israel is presented as a brainwashed, violent mad person, while only Jews who are anti-Zionists are presented as humane, and capable of showing concern for the Palestinians. Who cares if there are Jews, including Israeli ones, who are both? That docu is clearly not interested in letting the nuanced facts get in the way of its simplistic, one-sided conclusions.

That's incredibly antisemitic. To treat Jews who are aware of their history, of the Zionist nature of Judaism, of their native rights in Israel or their connection to Jewish communities everywhere, including in our ancestral land, as if they're motivated by nothing other than brainwashing and inhumane blindness, is at the very least to rob us of our agency, dignity and rights as Jews and as human beings.

I can also say that some of their more high profile interviewees are, in addition to being notorious anti-Zionists, quite unreliable in the way that they refer to the facts of this conflict. Oh, and one more thing about that docu is that it's guilty of spreading the libel that Jews only speak about antisemitism as a form of weaponizing it to protect Israel from criticism. This is such a dangerous form of delegitimizing the voices of a majority of Jews (including on this hellsite) which have spoken up about antisemitism of the anti-Zionist type because IT DOES ENDANGER JEWS. We speak up about it, not to protect Israel, but to protect our people (especially those of us who recognize that the intention to harm Israel has more to do with wanting to harm Jews than with any facts in this conflict, see this post as an example). It is gaslighting and antisemitic to undermine the voices of Jews when 90% of us raise them to speak up against antisemitism, just because we speak out against how anti-Zionism is inherently antisemitic and is so often used to harm us.

So I wouldn't be quick to take ANY material from such a biased, antisemitic documentary at face value, including the accusations against the Jewish soldier and his behavior. Is it possible that the Palestinian man talking about his dad and the soldier, was telling the whole truth about the exchange, and nothing but? Yes. But I recognize that, knowing this is filmed for a propaganda piece, some or maybe even all parts of the story might be distorted, exaggerated or even downright made up. I have no way of knowing, and I do not trust that the makers of such a propaganda piece (only pretending to be a documentary) did their journalistic duty, and verified the truthfulness of all anti-Israel sources. More than that, I've seen how easily anti-Zionists lie about Israelis when they think their story can't be verified, or they trust that they're talking to clueless foreigners (kinda like how they'll have pics with Palestinians dressed up as IDF soldiers committing atrocities, and Israelis would be able to tell immediately that the uniforms are fake, but foreigners wouldn't), so...

Back to the exchange you mentioned. I fully agree with what you said about the duplicity. I'd even add to it.

According to historical research, there is an 80% chance that this Palestinian man's father most likely chose to leave Israel when this country's Independence War was started by the Arab leadership (unlike around 150,000 Arabs who didn't leave, nor attacked the Jews. They became Israeli Arabs, as this man's father could have been, too). Then the speaker's father further chose to go the US (rather than Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, etc) and get citizenship there. Good on him, but that means that as an idea, there's less of a distance between that man and his American identity, which he chose to pursue, and the Jewish soldier who was born having one, and chose to make the difficult decision of relinquishing the safe and comfortable life he had in the US, come to Israel (a country where financially he would struggle more), enlist in the army (which is mandatory for any Jew moving here), and put his own life at risk, all because Israel is his ancestral land. It IS two-faced to act like the Jew's American identity deprives him of a connection to his ancestral land, while the Palestinian dad's doesn't subvert his connection and claim to this place, but it's even worse when you remember the Palestinian man chose to walk away and move specifically to the US, while the Jewish guy did not, and it's even further a reversal tactic, when you remember that while Israel IS the ancestral homeland of all Jews, Palestinians (as Arabs) can are not native to this land. They came from Arabia and COLONIZED the Land of Israel (many doing so as recently as the 19th or 20th century). This is just pure and antisemitic historic revisionism, choosing to replace Jews as the natives of Israel, much like many other forms of antisemitism have chosen one form or another of replacement theory when it comes to our people.

I also found the way the Palestinian man framed the motivation of the Jewish soldier to be very antisemitic, degrading and reductive. "He just wanted to play Cowboys and Indians." And apparently, this American Jew couldn't find a good enough paintball team, so he HAD to make his life much harder, not to mention put it at actual risk, because he just HAD to play pretend with guns. It's not that this Jewish guy feels a strong connection to Israel, it's not that maybe he experienced antisemitism in the US to the point where he realized he had no place anywhere other than in the Jewish ancestral land, it's not that he felt deep kinship with his siblings in Israel defending our native rights here, no... The Jewish soldier MUST have just had a complex where mommy didn't let him play enough with space robots or something, so he decided to play out such fights in real life. Tell me that's not an incredibly patronizing, dismissive, reductive view of Jewish people and why we come here, even when it can be so much easier to stay elsewhere. It's an inherent racism, of seeing Jews as brainless puppets of "someone who told them this is home..."

Like, I'm a gentile but this wording is so frustrating to me. It plays into the untrue idea that the majority of Israelis are European or American when that is false and that jews are not from Israel. It's such an underhanded tactic imo. It's like they don't think the bad things some idf do or the Israeli government does is bad enough unless they add something else to it. It can't be war, it has to be genocide. It can't be soldiers abusing their power (something every army has trouble with) it has to be evil foreign, colonizers that don't belong bullying the pure, innocent native population.

You're absolutely right. War is always bad, horrible things will always happen, no army can control 100% of its soldiers 100% of the time (and that doesn't negate that the overall purpose of said army can be a good, worthy one, like how the atrocities some allied soldiers committed during WWII do not cancel the fact that the allies WERE the good guys in defeating the Nazis), every government can be criticized. But the need to turn the Jewish army into THE WORST, the Jewish implementation of our right to self defense into no less than a genocide (so what if none of the facts support that), the Jewish state into the greatest perpetrator of humanitarian rights crimes (again, with little proof, and while ignoring actual atrocities taking place on much greater scale around the globe) is just another form of antisemitism, of taking Jewish collectives and vilifying them to the point where Jews just no longer have their rights, including at the end of the line, the right to exist.

All of it is antisemitic and infuriating. I guess I'm just grateful that, even as a non-Jew, you can see right through most of that. Thank you for the ask, and I hope you're doing well! xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[vidavalor]

Hey Vida, I have some milk chocolate sea salt caramels to share. *Passes the canister*

Have you written about this moment yet? I'm guessing it has come up but I can't recall specifics.

The time loop hypothesis that includes the idea that Crowley figures out what is happening and starts actively trying to influence things helps me understand why Crowley would say this - that he would despair after having been unsuccessful in every attempt he'd made to change the final outcome, to save Aziraphale's life. I know Crowley has some timey-wimey stuff going on generally, like his knowing the future and making all sorts of references to things that don't exist yet... I am very curious to know what you think Crowley's deal is and what is happening for him here.

...

Also, do you think Aziraphale knows from the beginning of S2 that he has fallen? I mean, the other angels refer to Aziraphale as a former angel and principality right to his face, don't they? I remember wondering about this the first time I watched the second series. I kept waiting for the show to clarify just what exactly Aziraphale's status was...

Well, this is a more oddly worded question than I remembered. One cannot simply be "a bit of" a fallen angel wtf game are you guys (gn) playing at? Leave that perfectly frosted cinnamon roll alone!

...

Also, I am still full of so much anticipation wondering what I asked you last time! I am positive it had to do with innuendo lol

Hello to you, my fave @iammyownproblematicfave! 💕I am SO sorry about the other Ask-- I determined you asked about the innuendo in the "very nice" scene & I'm going to whip you up a batch of etymology around the insanely complicated history of the word "nice." It got lost in my Drafts folder for a little while there and I overlooked it-- will remedy that shortly! Here's thoughts on these questions and thanks for asking.

On Crowley, time & "too late" and Aziraphale, fallen angels & heavenly rank under the cut.

First, time loop idea and Crowley's "too late" comments... So, anything is possible, right? That said, I don't think it's a time loop because I think there are scenes that explain why Crowley says "too late" at the end of that episode. I wrote about how it ties to unicorns & Wee Morag a bit in another post and I'll link it at the bottom of this one.

Basically, Crowley's anxious in that scene where he threatens Gabriel and then says that "it's always too late." Crowley's memory is iffy-- he admits as much to Gabriel later in S2-- and even if he was lying to Saraqael and/or Furfur about not remembering them, we know he struggles to recall all of his memories from when he was an angel. One memory that he felt confident about was the one he told Beez earlier in the season-- that The Book of Life is bunk that he and Beez made up to tease some of the more innocent angels. It is likely that this memory of Crowley's is correct. I say that because Beez seemed to think it possible when they heard it-- but then Beez felt like a fool at the thought that they'd been threatened by Heaven with something that didn't exist and that they themselves and Crowley made up. They doubled-down and insisted to Crowley that The Book of Life was real.

Crowley suddenly thought that Beez might be right because, hey, they'd run Hell for so long, they'd know more than he would, right? He starts to doubt his own recollection and he rushes back to the bookshop to help protect Gabriel as a way of protecting Aziraphale because he now is terrified that Aziraphale could be erased from existence if he is caught helping Gabriel. He doesn't want to tell Aziraphale that Beez reached out to him because he knows Aziraphale is sensitive about the fact that none of the angels have talked to Aziraphale in years and that their only source of intel is a demon with a thing for Crowley (Shax) so Crowley doesn't ever tell Aziraphale how scared he is about The Book of Life. Meanwhile, even though Gabriel is basically on their side now, Crowley can't exactly ask him if it's real or not because dude only knows Buddy Holly songs for basically the whole season lol.

So, in addition to worrying that Aziraphale is spiraling (because he is) and that helping Gabriel could mean that Aziraphale is risking his mental health and a fall, Crowley is also now terrified that Aziraphale could be made to have never existed. It's on his mind so much that he growls at Gabriel in that episode-ending scene that Aziraphale could be "risking his existence" for Gabriel and then muses about how it might be "too late-- it's always too late..." I don't think this is a time loop indication. I think it's a reference to other times Crowley has said "too late" in the past, like the unicorns and when Wee Morag died. It's about how it might be too late for him and Aziraphale and they might be running out of time and be on a collision course with death while not knowing it-- like how Elspeth never saw the fact that it was her last night with Wee Morag coming. It's Crowley's anxiety talking. Crowley thinks it's too late to turn back now because they're already helping Gabriel and Shax is sniffing around and they might be nearly out of time.

Crowley does have some time-related stuff happening in his story and the ability to control it but it seems to me more likely that Crowley's ability to remember that he has control of it has been taken from him in the present in S2 than it is that he's in a time loop. In the disaster kiss scene with Aziraphale, Aziraphale is really obviously signaling to Crowley a request that he freeze time. (It's obvious to us, I mean-- Aziraphale hid it from The Metatron by curving his hand.) He was trying to get Crowley to do what he did on the tarmac in S1 when he stopped everything and took them and Adam to a little time out cloud to help Adam figure out how to deal with Satan.

Crowley, though, just kind of stares at Aziraphale, even though this is literally one of the most recognizable hand signals on the planet. He also didn't just do it himself at the start of the conversation. If I were the villains, I'd be damn sure that Crowley didn't remember that he could freeze time after S1 and Crowley was gone all night before this scene (which he also doesn't seem to totally realize, no matter how many people around him keep commenting on how it's now morning.) The story, to me, seems to be suggesting that the Crowley & time stuff in S2 is that he doesn't recall that he can control it.

re: Aziraphale and what his angelic status/rank is in S1-- the cherub/principality/"you've been a bit of a fallen angel" bit...

When Michael and the other angels corner Aziraphale in S1 and Michael says that they've been learning some "disturbing things" about Aziraphale and that he's "been a bit of a fallen angel", the disturbing things are, imo, the photos of Aziraphale and Crowley that Michael has dug up. (Hypocritical much on Michael's part? Their phone chats with Ligur? That Gabriel knows about and lets them get away with but Michael wants to go after Aziraphale for having a relationship with Crowley? Yeah. Gross.) Michael and Uriel are threatening Aziraphale with a fall in the scene when they corner him. Uriel says "and don't think your boyfriend in the dark sunglasses will get you special treatment in Hell." They're using their power to threaten to cast him out as a way of trying to intimidate Aziraphale, which is another way of showing how political falling is and how it's all kind of b.s..

A demon is a fallen angel, by definition. That's the definition of a demon. Heaven has socialized angels to believe that the demons are all evil-- that they're devout followers of Satan and horrible people and to associate with them is to sully yourself with their satanicness and all that lol. In reality, there are some evil demons-- Satan is evil, Ligur was pretty bad-- but there are also some evil as fuck angels... The Metatron at the top of that list. In reality, the demons are the angels who put notes in the metaphorical suggestion box. They stood up and spoke out and questioned things. They're the curious, free-thinking "troublemakers" whose questioning of authority threatened to crumble The Metatron's power so he reacted by ostracizing them. He made a sense of the demons being "other" and evil. He invented Hell and banished them all to it-- lumping curious rebels like Crowley in with evil like Lucifer/Satan and using them as examples of what happens to those who dare to question. There really is no such thing as "a demon"-- there are just angels who have been told they're no good and that they've been cast out and are part of the collective owned by and working for Satan.

In S2, we get another bit of info about a fall when Gabriel falls. The Metatron can't send Gabriel to Hell like he would other angels because he did that once with Lucifer/Satan-- the last one to have Gabriel's job before Gabriel-- and once is "a good story" (meaning, once is a cautionary tale that keeps angels in line) but twice would suggest "an institutional problem"... twice would cause a rebellion. Twice would show that the problem is really Heaven. But, The Metatron has to do something with Gabriel, so he's going to erase Gabriel's memories (he tries to before Gabriel enacts Operation Fly and saves his memories thanks to Beez) and cast him down to a new rank of angel that they've just added to the bottom of the pile-- just for Gabriel lol. It's all political, which is how Crowley and Beez fell back in the day as well. They were caught up with Lucifer and held up as examples of evil when it seems that they really were just looking for others who were questioning things, too.

Does Aziraphale realize he's falling in S2? I think there's some language in the kiss disaster scene that indicates he suspects he might be and that he doesn't fully trust in what The Metatron is offering him-- or that that's really The Metatron. I don't think he realized he was falling until that point. It's a question, though, of what a fall really is. There are many ways to fall. You can literally fall from a great height. You can fall in rank. Both of these things happen during a fall from Heaven, in Good Omens, from what we've been told, but there are other types of fall. You can also fall in love. You can fall into despair. These ones? Aziraphale knew about. He fell in love with Crowley a long time ago and despair is always something he's working at keeping at bay, sometimes more successfully than others. In the end, his fall from Heaven is tied to both of those other kinds of falls.

But is Aziraphale already something of a fallen angel, like you asked? What of the fact that he was a cherub at one point and is a principality? Which is higher rank? We are told in the book that people "make jokes" about the fact that Aziraphale has both of those ranks. The word 'joke' comes from the Latin jocus, which literally means 'wordplay' and I think maybe looking at the different kinds of rank in Heaven through that angle might be worth a look. (Me? Taking a wordplay angle? Who would've ever thought? lol)

Who outranks who can be shown to us by how the characters behave in the scenes but the ranks of angels are more about what the words mean than about exactly which level that rank is, I think. For instance, there is some evidence that a throne and a dominion are the same level of rank-- that an angel can be both at once... which makes more sense when you consider the power aspects of those words and that here's our throne/dominion leaving his chair to dominate his plants in S1:

People are complex and need more words than one title might allow.

Aziraphale can be a cherub and a principality because once you start to get into the meanings of all of these words, you can see that which ones are given to Crowley and Aziraphale are done because of how they support who the characters are-- and how they overlap. I have a meta that I've been playing with from time to time about the different meanings of principality/dominion/throne and how Crowley and Aziraphale are both really all of them. I'll try to finish that one up soon. If you look at wordplay around the word "rank" itself, though...

...a rank is a placement or a position in military order, yeah, but it's also a bad smell. Something that is rank is something that is foul and offensive. One of the themes of the show to me seems to be that, whether you're an angel or a demon or a human, you possess your own power and no one can take that away from you unless you let them. Empowerment and freedom is the realization of that. We're all equal beings. The characters who are the least interested with power systems-- the ones who have freed themselves from concern about it and live as independently as they are able-- are the ones who view others as autonomous beings and do not support oppression of others. They are the least rank because they are dismissive of the idea of rank itself.

So, while we're having fun with words here... those who are the least rank are also probably not rank in the scent sense of the word, too lol. This would be why we have a multiple scenes devoted to how everyone is in a faint over how great Crowley smells. He's the least rank of them all-- in every way possible. 😉

The other "too late"-related meta:

[urlknight]

Hi there, Love your work! I'm also doing stuff in Unreal and it feels like it's rarer to find other indie devs using it. I love how clean all your UI feels, and UI is something I seem to really struggle with.

Do you have any recommendations for workflows / tips / sources etc for getting better at UI?

Also I'd love to know more about the material / shader workflow for your latest post if you have more information anywhere.

Thanks :)

Hello there! Thank you!! I hope you don't mind me answering publicly as I feel like some people might be interested in the answer!

I really appreciate your UI (User Interface for those not knowing the acronym) compliment as it's something I've spent a long time working on and specializing in, in my career as a software engineer. UI/UX often goes completely unacknowledged or taken for granted even though it takes a lot of time and hard work to create and develop. In the engineering world I frequently had to advocate for and explain user experiences to those who didn't have as deep of an appreciation for UI or a very sophisticated understanding of why a good, visually appealing user experience makes, or on the flip side, can break everything. I think it's a very challenging, overwhelming topic to grasp and communicate, but just by being interested in it you're already way ahead!

There's a lot going on with UI. From visuals to knowing common design elements to successfully conveying a story to the user to implementation to testing to designing for accessibility to animation and I probably didn't cover everything with that run-on sentence. There's frontend engineers out there whose role is solely to maintain and improve UI component libraries for companies. And that's without throwing games, whose UIs are all uniquely visually tailored to their experiences, into the mix... I could keep going on about this honestly, but I'll get to what I think you can do personally! 1. Learn about common design patterns. What's a toast? What's pagination? What's a card? Little things like that. These apply to all software UI/UX, including video games- and knowing these off the top of your head will make it so much easier for you to invent your own UI designs and patterns.

2. Study the UI in the everyday applications you interact with. Step through menus and think about how you got from point A to point B. Take a moment to think about the why someone put a button where they did. Study the UI in your favorite video games, too! Take a lot of notes on what you think works really well and what you think doesn't. And also there's online resources that are great for inspiration. I personally spend a lot of time on the Game UI Database. - https://dribbble.com/ - https://www.gameuidatabase.com/ 3. Don't be afraid to start with basic sketches or even just simply representing everything with grey boxes. All my UI starts out as really crappy sketches on paper, or tablet sketches on top of screenshots. Visualize your ideas and then keep iterating on them until you've got something. For example, I went from this:

To this. (And come to think of it I might actually still want to make those cooler looking buttons in my sketch) 4. Break everything out into pieces and individual components. A good UI is made up of building blocks that you can reuse all over the place. That's how it stays consistent and also saves you a lot of stress when you need to go in and update components. Instead of a million different looking UI pieces, you just have to update the one! These individual components will make up your very own UI Component Library, which will be the standardized design system and source of reusable components for your project. This also applies to your visual elements that don't do anything (like I personally have a whole mini library of diamond and star shapes that I reuse everywhere).

For reference, here's a breakdown I made of my Inventory UI. On the right, I've labeled most of the individual components, and you might be able to see how I'm reusing them over and over again in multiple places.

5. Spend some time listening to designers talk, maybe befriend some designers! Many of them have an unique, interesting view of the world and how we interact with it even beyond just software. Their perspectives will inform yours.

6. Test your UI on users whenever you can. Get feedback from others. This is the best way for you to see what works and what doesn't. As game devs we spend so much time with our games it's easy for us to lose sight of the full picture.

7. Be patient and don't give up. Continue to be open to expanding your knowledge. These UI skills take time to develop. I personally am still learning even after like 10 years of doing it. Coming up with the visual elements is very challenging for me and I spend a lot of time rearranging things in photoshop before I actually start coding anything at all in Unreal.

Whew, that was a lot, but I hope that gives you some thoughts and a place to start!

I don't have any posts out there about Blender/Unreal shader workflows right now, but I'll consider making another post sometime soonish. I appreciate you asking and you're welcome! :)

[demonic-shadowlucifer]

LPSCon: How *NOT* to host an event

(Trigger Warning: Brief references to suicide/self-harm and gaslighting) Welp, I read about it, and knew it was something that needed to be talked about.

If you're an active member of the LPS Community, you might be familar with LPSCon. Maybe you've attended it before. Or at the very least heard the name. But for those who don't, put simply, LPSCon is a convention around Littlest Pet Shop (LPS) toys, and the community that surrounds it (Think LPSTube!). LPSCon has had issues, as all conventions do. However, this year was *especially* a disaster. Now, I have never attended LPSCon, and after the events and stories I've heard about this year's, I most likely will not ever attend. This is based on the experiences I have heard from multiple individuals, and sources will be linked at the end. What Went Wrong

For starters, the event took place during an incredibly hot day in Vegas. Vegas. In summer.

Of course, that went about as well as you'd expect. There was little to no shade, no water (And when there *was* water, people had to pay for it, which wouldn't be an issue IF NOT FOR THE FACT PEOPLE WERE DEHYDRATED AND EXHAUSTED FROM HEAT), and poor air conditioning, meaning that even indoors it was still very warm. People were fainting, some had to leave early due to the heat, and one attendee stated that a friend "basically got heat stroke" as a result.

As for food, there were only two food trucks. *Two*. And little variety. No outside food or drink was allowed, and the trucks eventually had to close due to overwhelming orders. I can only imagine how exhausted the staff at those food trucks were. Next, the venue. I'm just gonna cut to the chase on this one: The venue was an awful *awful* choice. It got overcrowded way too quickly, tables ran out of room. And the upper floors were reserved for VIP only, which didn't do anyone favors. It was also incredibly inaccessible, with the mics and hosts being extremely loud, which was overstimulating to some, and no way for wheelchair users to get around. On top of that, security was no help. At some point, they just gave up and let *anybody* in and barely did bag checks (Something that is INCREDIBLY fucking dangerous). On top of that, staff was rude and snarky to others, with one attendee being refused a slice of confetti cake very rudely during the cake-cutting event! As well as allegations of a diabetic attendee not being allowed food (or allowed to bring their own food?) On top of that, the event itself was a total disaster. During the event, there were goodie bags (Known as "swag bags") given out. Those bags were supposed to contain LPS toys, candy and other items. What most fans got were some G4 LPS that had missing heads, unwrapped candy that was most likely expired, a ton of random garbage, LPS that were *incredibly* dirty or broken, and some attendees got no LPS in their goodie bags at all!

Additionally, many people's items (Including LPS) were stolen or lost. And any attempts at getting them back were unsuccessful, with LPSCon not cooperating whatsoever. The prices on items were also *horrible*, with some LPS being unreasonably overpriced, and other items being unreasonably cheap, including raffle tickets.

And don't even get me started on the stupid foam party.

LPSCon's "Apology"

After the event, LPSCon "apologized" on their Instagram page. And I put "apologized" in quotes due to them failing to acknowledge the actual issues at hand.

They made a second post later on, that was arguably worse than the other. Instead of apologizing, not only did they double down, they also straight up made guilt-trippy comments.

Now, harassment is bad. I've made that clear many times before. But once you resort to gaslighting tactics, including a threat of SH or suicide, you lose all credibility.

In summary

LPSCon 2024 was a pathetic excuse of an event. Poor staff, awful prices, terrible prizes and management, and oh yeah did I mention that the organizers behind LPSCon may or may not be money-grabbing con artists?

We've seen many awful cons before. From Dashcon to whatever the fuck that Willy Wonka event was, this might be worse. This is a poorly planned event, and one that was all but doomed from the start. The organizers of LPSCon should be ashamed of themselves. And until there's changes made, I suggest you guys don't waste your money on this "convention".

Sources/accounts from others: LPSCon Experience Megathread on Reddit.

LPSCon 2024 was a Mess By ZombieXCorn.

What Really Happened at LPSCon by Sugar Diamond

Instagram post by felicitylps

Instagram posts by hudson_lps

Instagram post by written_wolf

[chutkiandchotte]

IPKKND Enneagram: Arnav Singh Raizada

Enneagram Type: 8 (The Challenger)

The Powerful, Dominating Type: Self-Confident, Decisive, Willful, and Confrontational

Arnav is strongly influenced by his basic type, with minimal wing influences from 7 and 9. Hence, I classify him as a pure Type 8, also called The Challenger or The Protector.

All gifs in this post are NOT by me, they're made by the these amazing people - @loveubarunsobti @phati-sari @jalebi-weds-bluetooth @arziaisfrench (also individually credited below each gif)

(if any of the folks above wish to have their gifs taken off this post, pls let me know, I'll do that!)

Here are some fun facts about type 8s. Tell me if it sounds familiar.

Basic Fear: Being controlled or harmed by others

Basic Desire: To protect themselves (to be in control of their own destiny)

At their best: Self- mastering, they use their strength to improve others' lives, becoming heroic, magnanimous, and inspiring. Caring, generous, and highly competent.

At their worst: Vengeful, ruthless, dictatorial, destructive, emotionally shut off. Use any means, including blackmail or violence, to get obedience from those around them, and recklessly over extend themselves in pursuit of their goals.

(Sidenote: I didn't paraphrase any of this...its taken verbatim from various sites...did the IPK makers refer to Enneagram type 8 when writing Arnav??? lol)

Understanding Arnav's Core Personality as an 8

As their name suggests, 8s love challenges. This is where they shine, this is what they enjoy. Arnav completely embodies this - he thrives when he is fighting to prove himself, loves setting challenges for others, and admires those who manage to compete at his level. I mean, this is basically the entirety of Arshi's courtship lmao.

Another one of Arnav's most 8-esque qualities is that he is a tremendously charismatic leader with a natural tendency towards taking charge and the innate ability to inspire people to follow him. 8s act quickly and decisively in stressful situations, seeking out logical, practical solutions, and taking charge of dealing with troubles. Hence, they often become the rock to cling on to in tough times. They are willing to take the heat for unpopular decisions that they judge to be right. Full of natural confidence, resourceful thinking and common sense, they strive to use their abilities to take care of everyone dependent on them. If they are the head of a family, fairly looking after everyone's needs is important to them. All of this is why he is the Raizada HBIC when he has like 5 elders in line before him. It's not just about the fact that he is AR Designs CEO/billionaire. The Raizadas implicitly trust him to take the right decisions for them because he has proved to be a worthy leader in crisis periods.

At the same time, a source of great annoyance for his family is another of his classic type 8 qualities - 8s do not fear public opinions and can easily defy disapproval if necessary. They will refuse to give in to social conventions that do not suit them, with zero shame or fear of consequences, which can seem inspiring, intimidating, or even infuriating, depending on where you stand lol.

Also like a typical 8, he is extremely ambitious and has impressive willpower which drives him to set, and usually achieve, big goals for himself. Be it his professional ambitions (successful) or his idiotic commitment to fighting his feelings for Khushi (vv unsuccesful; try again next time).

Arnav's shares both of the core fears of an 8. First, he fears being harmed by others. This doesn't imply Arnav is a coward who runs from a physical fight...the opposite. In fact, 8s have tremendous physical endurance, to the point where they are often harmfully negligent of their own health. Arnav has shown this trait repeatedly - the hot tea incident, the multiple times he fainted due to neglect etc etc. So Arnav's fear of harm is not about physical blows but more to do with emotional harm, specifically betrayal or abandonment. 8s absolutely hate the idea of being emotionally dependent on any one and often construct strong emotional armours to push people away and hide their paradoxical inner emotional vulnerability. Ummm...yeah. The turning his head away to hide his face any time a conversation with Anjali (or later Khushi) enters remotely emotional territory. How he makes it a point of pride that Arnav Singh Raizada NEVER says "sorry" or "happy birthday". And of course, the MANY times the extent of his passion towards Khushi freaks him out and he responds by pushing her away by any means possible.

Their second fear is that 8s are terrified of giving any one any power over them - be it social, psychological, sexual or physical. No matter what their sphere of life, retaining and increasing their power is extremely important to them. And Arnav is absolutely obsessed with power and control especially in the romantic/sexual/emotional realm. The most obvious example of this, of course, is how he seeks out romantic relationships that allow him to be minimally emotionally engaged, and where he has much of the control. After the first break up with Lavanya, his indifferent reaction may seem cold and almost cruel to us (and Khushi lol) but from his perspective, that's exactly his ideal relationship - where he remains totally unaffected by being dumped and his heart isn't involved at all. And then OF COURSE his entire relationship with Khushi is defined by this fear. So many of his actions in the show are motivated by a deep fear of the sheer intensity of what Khushi, the girl he is supposed to look down on/ignore/hate, makes him feel.

He is triggered as all hell whenever Khushi proves her totally unconscious power over him (physical or emotional). Such as Diwali when the feelings he has for her almost made him cheat, an action that is abhorrent to him and he is staggered, HORRIFIED by this fact. How does he react? By doing his DAMNDEST to re-exert a measure of control over the situation. The tremendous anger he feels there comes from a place of absolute fear at his loss of control because of the Khushi feelings. Her questions about the poolside moment and the payal highlight to him just how much power she has over him and how close she is to discovering it. And he launches his campaign of trying to "win" over those feelings, trying to erase them and revert to a position of absolute indifference to her and control over himself and his surroundings. Trying to double down on his commitment to the "safe" relationship with Lavanya, one that doesn't threaten his emotional safety one bit, that keeps his heart safe and sound locked away in a dungeon somewhere. Its an absolutely classic type 8 move to pursue a course of action that is not only harmful to others, but also to your own self and in opposition to your other priorities, just so you can prove a point to yourself about control control control. He does NOT believe in marriage or want to be married, certainly not to Lavanya; he doesn't want to be rude to and hurt Khushi and doing so hurts him also; he feels pain when she thinks badly of him or cries due to him - YET - he commits to this very course. He chooses to prioritize his ego, his need for control, over all other considerations, including his own happiness and peace of mind. While on this trip, the utmost need in his mind is to prove that those feelings for Khushi DO NOT control him, even if that means he keeps making choices that are deeply emotionally painful for him and everyone around him.

And if he can't erase or control the feelings, well, at the very least, NO ONE, least of all Khushi, the dangerous wielder of that scary power, should know any thing about them. That's why he does everything to push her away, down to hurling at her that IT DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING. The gentleman doth protest too much.

This reading can be applied to so many of Arnav's actions, especially some of the cruellest ways he lashes out at Khushi when she has done nothing (at that moment) to really earn it. Like during the contract marriage, he is tortured by the fact that no matter how hard he tries, how much he intellectually loathes her, emotionally, he still feels concern for her. She betrayed him! The worst happened - his worst fear came true - he gave someone power over him and they used it to hurt him emotionally - and he can't even escape the cycle of pain, he has to live in it, every day he has to content with the fact that he harbours intense feelings that keep growing against his will for this traitorous person. It is a nightmare situation for an 8.

The more she starts affecting his mental, emotional and physical reactions in ways that shock him, the more triggered he gets and the more he either pushes her away or pulls her into toxic power games. This is his classic pattern from early on in their whatever-ship, from the increasingly unhinged office challenges post the red sari scene, to the farak padta hai games, to forcing her to marry him, to the entirety of the contract marriage.

It's also because of these core fears that 8s dislike any type of manipulative or lying behaviour. They do not appreciate being made a fool of or being emotionally blackmailed and will immediately be extremely suspicious of any outsider who attempts such things with them. The reason is that they ARE very vulnerable to emotional manipulation from loved ones - so they want to ensure they don't let people in who would take advantage of this weakness.

Arnav as a Stressed/Unhealthy 8

After the first Lavanya break up, Khushi hits a little too close to the truth when she asks Arnav "did you ever even love her at all? are you that heartless?" and Arnav's responds (in essence) "yes, I am heartless, and everything that has happened proved me right. love is a stupid illision and causes nothing but pain, we're better off without it". This is a CLASSIC unhealthy 8 that is totally blocked in his ability to love. Because love requires vulnerability and giving the other person power over you, which contradicts their basic drive for emotional autonomy. An unhealthy 8 is dominated by their core fears and that stops them from experiencing or expressing love in a healthy way.

An 8's hard working and ambitious nature, combined with their emotionally distant tendencies makes them prone to being workaholics and emotionally negligent. This can lead to dissatisfaction and complaints of neglect amongst loved ones. We saw Anjali complain about this multiple times, but it really hits home with Khushi post the kidnapping. After calling her the biggest mistake of his life, all he had to do was say sorry, I love you, I want to stay married to you forever, and Khushi would have forgiven and forgotten everything in an instant. His silence on the matter combined with his emotionally distant/volatile actions fans her insecurities to the point that she first attempts to, and then leaves. This breach is eventually healed only when they are able to have an honest, emotionally vulnerable communication about the nature of his feelings for her and their marriage (this is what the pearl necklace scene is supposed to be - there wasn't much verbal conversation but you know what I mean lol).

The funny thing is, underneath all that emotional coldness, 8s have a potent fear of rejection and abandonment. Subsequently, they are sensitive to any such indicators of dissatisfaction in loved ones. They hate to feel that a loved one is dissatisfied with them or misunderstanding them. This kicks in their fear that they have lost control of the situation - they may be about to be rejected and can do nothing about it. When in an unhealthy space, where they are still ruled by their core fears, they often react by resorting to bullying behaviours to assert their dominance and control over the situation. Even once Arnav, to a degree, accepts his feelings for Khushi, he still choses to woo her through "challenges" (the 24 hour track), blackmail (Buaji's house rent) and threats (I'll pick you up and take you with me if needed Khushi!). It's still extremely difficult for him to be emotionally vulnerable and communicative and leave himself open to being rejected. He prefers power games and challenges. He wants all the cards to always be in his hands.

Stressed 8s often become secretive, fearful, and guarded in their behaviours. The most terrifying thing an 8 can imagine is not merely to be cheated in love - it's to be cheated in love and then have that loved one mockingly laugh at their "victory" over them. I think Arnav does fear confronting Khushi about Shyam because, among other reasons, he can't face it if she also does a turn face like Shyam and starts a villain monologue laughing at him. He definitely knows they had some kind of flirtationship during the Payash wedding and he now believes that was her manipulating him in order to distract him - and it would be torturous to hear this confirmed from her mouth.

It's not just in the love/romance arena that Arnav's unhealthy 8 traits manifest. The Arnav we see in the beginning might be tremendously successful but he isn't exactly a mature, evolved professional. His extreme egoistic behaviour is proof of this. 8s often build up their ego as a defence against the world, becoming extremely sensitive to "slights" to their authority or self-respect. Combative and intimidating to anyone they perceive as a threat, they can become increasingly hard-hearted and cruel in a quest to retain power and "win" against threats. This is ASR at his worst.

Arnav's Journey to a Healthy 8

Khushi's love for him AND his love for her, plays a huge role in Arnav's journey to healing. 8s feel most content and secure when a loved one knows them, and accepts them unconditionally, as they are, no qualification or complaints; they are happiest with a partner, and a family, that has an instinctive understanding of their actions, their feelings, their motivations, without them having to say any of it out loud.

This is why Khushi's words "I know (that you love me) (you don't have to say it)" - both after he apologizes and before they consummate their relationship - hold so much meaning, and affect him so deeply. This is the assurance that he craves, someone who innately just gets him.

Arnav's decision making process on his second wedding day truly embody the moves of a healing 8. Healthy 8s who have overcome their deepest fears, can recognize their paranoia for what it is. They move towards devaluing the importance of "power" and "control" especially in their personal life and make a conscious choice to prioritize real needs (their own and others) over their ego or their fears. Arnav choses love over hatred, hope over fear, and that's an 8 stepping into their best self.

Evolved 8s are open-hearted and caring; they channel the best of their abilities to become passionate yet generous, resourceful yet empathetic, and authoritative yet honourable; a true leader worth following.

Wings - 7 or 9?

Like I said earlier, I classify Arnav as a purer type 8 with minimal influence of his wings. However, between the two, I would say he has a greater influence of his "9" wing than "7" wing.

The 7 wing adds a taste for experiencing life to the fullest and a gregarious, extroverted, risk-taking side to an 8s personality. I considered 8w7 for Arnav because I do think he has a taste for the finer things in life, he has a powerful charismatic aura, and is comfortable with taking risks; but ultimately I discounted it because I don't think any one in their right mind could call him "extroverted" or "gregarious" in the slightest. I also don't think he is experience-oriented like a 8w7 would be, his ambitions are more concerned with his own business, his family, and his power, not with "living life to the fullest".

The 9 wing too does not appear to be a great fit at first glance - 9s are pretty much the opposite of 8s, being peaceful, conflict-avoidant and complacent. These aren't words I associate with ASR lol. Yet, this is what I chose ultimately. The 9 wing supposedly adds a soothing, family-oriented effect to the dominating and wilful 8 personality. Arnav is definitely very family-oriented. Additionally unhealthy 8w9s often exhibit an almost scary duality - a calm, gentle nature with loved ones and then an aggressive mode when faced with threats, at work, etc. ASR/Chotte/Arnavji. Rakshas/Rajkumar. And remember Khushi's comically shocked face when she saw ASR-at-home avatar for the first time?

Early days office Arnav reminds me a lot of 8w9s. 8w9s often combine indifference with aggression, often employing cold, depersonalized violence to exert control over others. Behind their calm and seemingly emotionless demeanour hides an explosive and unpredictable temper. Check and check.

Consider the name of the 8w9: The Bear. Aggressive and scary to outsiders, cuddly with their loved ones. Firm and decisive, but also measured and cooperative. Isn't that Arnav? Especially the Arnav we are left with at the end of the show? I believe Arnav started out a strong 8 with a slight 9 wing influence, but as he matured over time, his natural tendency for the 9 wing also developed in a healthy manner, and he became calmer, more accommodating, more openly loving.

[ober-affen-geil]

@januarydivide this one is for you!

In this post that I added to yesterday I talked about some of what a library degree encompasses, and other people have added in the notes about even more. Also in that post, I said that when I was in college I chose to pursue an archive specialty under the Information Science umbrella, so I'm going to talk about what being an archivist actually is!

First, like STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), there is actually an acronym that covers the Information Science professions: GLAM or GLAMR, Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums and sometimes Records depending on who is using the acronym. I bring this up because explaining what an archive is, and what an archivist does, I've found works best if I compare it to things people already are familiar with.

If anyone has any questions, either about something I didn't answer or something I didn't clarify, please ask! Also, if there are any archivists out there who see this and want to add commentary please do so!

Anyhow. Museums, Libraries, and Archives.

Museums are (mostly) public places you can visit that hold collections made up of objects that visitors can look at but not touch (usually), nor can they be taken home.

Libraries are (mostly) public places you can visit that keep collections of published media that visitors can look at, touch, and take home.

Archives are (mostly) public places you can visit that store collections of unpublished, unique primary source material that visitors can look at, usually touch, but can't take home. Things you will typically find in an archive include letters, diaries, scrapbooks, photos, memos, unpublished drafts, and more. Often "special collections" areas include newspaper archives (sometimes on microfilm) and rare books that are old enough or unique enough that they need specialized care or restricted handling. Just like specialized subject libraries like law libraries or medical libraries, there are archives that are specific to mediums like audio/visual (A/V) archives and digital archives.

The most important thing to keep in mind is, because archive collection materials are by nature completely unique, no archive is the same.

So. What does an archivist do? For perspective, my background is primarily in university collections that are mostly paper based but have a smattering of other materials. Currently I work in a historic home that has a significant paper collection as well as an object collection.

Ultimately, it is the archivist's job to a) make sure the collection materials are actually useable by patrons, b) help people trying to use the collection access it, and c) ensure the long term safety/security of the collection by caring for the materials. (All while remembering that the collection creators were people and their agency needs to be part of the ethical balance.)

Let's break that down.

Making the collection useable. With paper collections, the big step here is what's called "processing"; trying to determine if there is an "original order" that the creator of the collection kept and creating one if there isn't. This also includes shifting the materials into acid free folders and boxes, assigning them internal unique identifiers/shelf locations, and creating a "finding aid" that is similar to the index of a book that has a top-level summary of what's in the boxes/folders. Most times (but not always), this includes creating what's called "metadata" that covers descriptors that helps to catalog the material internally and makes the collection material searchable externally. For A/V material this can also include creating subtitles/transcripts.

Help people access the collection. This is mostly down to being as knowledgeable as possible about the collection(s) that are in the archive, and also a little bit of other collections that have related material. Sometimes people come to the archive knowing exactly what they want, usually tracking a reference from a published source. This is incredibly rare. Usually what happens is people are working on a project and they have a subject area they know they need to research. The archivist's job at that point is to recommend which materials, if any in the collection, would be most helpful for them to look at. Archives are typically also what's called "closed stacks", meaning that the physical materials in the collection are not accessible by anyone but the staff. Requested material is brought out individually to the visitor, and it's the archivist that does this. If the person needs to use special equipment to access the material (a microfilm machine, a reel to reel player, etc) or if the material has special needs associated with it (a book cradle, photographs out of sleeves, textiles or objects, etc) it's the archivist's job to facilitate that.

Caring for the collection. I've put this last, but it is without at doubt the most important part of an archivist's job. This encompasses everything from monitoring for pest activity, ensuring the temperature and humidity of the collection storage area is constant and safe for the materials, cleaning/maintaining materials, and sometimes advocating for funding from within or without the organization that the archive is part of. This can also include raising public awareness of the collection materials by creating exhibits and/or creating handout materials, leading educational sessions/workshops, and maintaining a social media presence.

This is by no means a comprehensive overview of everything that being an archivist is, but it's a taste of some of the things I've been responsible for while I've been one.

[implausiblyjosh]

Did The DVD Drive Help Sell PS2s?

This is a repost of a cohost post from AUG 13, 2024:

Someone made a weird claim on twitter about the PS2 and how important DVD playback was in late 2000, claiming that DVD players were under $100 by the end of 2000. It didn't smell right, but this screenshot they kept posting didn't make sense to me. Where was it coming from, who was saying this about DVD players?

I went to try and find where this screenshot comes from, and it's the Wikipedia page for "DVD player". I went and skimmed the 5 refs included in that article, and as far as I can tell, of the 1 webpage, 1 service manual, and 3 articles, none of them say this about pricing. Here's the specific version of the article I was looking at.

The closest we get is the EETimes reference in that wikipedia article, an article from May 2002 which has "With DVD player prices on track to drop to about $70 by year's end". That's not super helpful because it doesn't tell us where the prices are in May 2002.

The remaining four sources aren't very helpful either. The service manual PDF is lots of circuit boards, no prices. The webpage and and the other two articles are talking about the first year of the DVD player & format, which is about 1997. So that doesn't help us. Where'd this number even come from?

I checked the Talk page for the article, I'm seeing someone point out in 2008 that there were 0 sources on this article, and I'm not digging in the edit logs of the article itself to see when/where the references came from. So we know sometime between 2008 and 2024 these five sources were added, but none of the sources back the claim.

Trying to find articles about pricing from the time, I google "dvd player price in 2000" and get an IGN article from August 2000 that lists prices ranging from $270 to $3,000. To confirm my knowledge of the PS2 launch (because now I'm doubting what I know lol) I find a GameSpot article from May 2000 announcing the price and launch of the PS2, which is October 26, 2000 for $299 USD.

If your entry level DVD player is $300 in August 2000, I don't know how easy it was to find players "under $100" by the end of the year, and definitely not by the PS2's launch date of late October 2000. Based on looking through some articles at the time, we're looking at something that cost the same as a budget Sony DVD player at the time, but also played video games. It's hard to say how much that drove sales, but I did a quick search for "ps2 launch sales", looking for articles before 2001. I found a CNN article from the PS2's launch day that says:

Perhaps the most important perk, the PS2 can play digital versatile disc (DVD) movies, a feature that Sony hopes will make the $299 console a standard appliance in North American homes. The game pad controls the DVD functions with a relatively rudimentary interface, allowing users to skip ahead, pause or view special features.

In Japan, the presence of the movie player has reportedly driven up sales of DVD movies.

Based on quick searches from articles at the time, T\the evidence that the DVD feature helped PS2 sales is way more evidenced than the idea of $100 DVD players by the end of 2000. Hell, trying to find something that gets me close to that pricing claim is a CNET article from 2002 which says:

The cost of DVD players fell more than $200 within two years of their introduction in 1997 for nearly $500, according to Peddie Research. And the price slide hasn't stopped. Although the Consumer Electronics Association says the average price of a DVD player was $193 last year, consumers can now find players for less than $100.

Looking at it all, it seems like the DVD functionality was a selling point according to Sony and articles at the time of the launch, so. Idk, seems like the DVD feature was important to sales of the PS2!

The above was adapted from a thread I made on Twitter. I'm adding the following new thoughts!

I woulda been 6-ish when the PS2 launched, so what I know first-hand of the era is skewed. Listening to people I trust talk about games has given me the impression the DVD drive and playback was important to the PS2's sales and initial success, making for a solid foundation for people to develop a shit ton of amazing, system-seller titles for the platform. It's a hand-in-hand situation, not an either-or situation. Based on what I remember growing up, the PS2 was a good investment for a video game household that loved movies but didn't have the funds to get a DVD player and get a game console. For us, the PS2 was a best of both worlds situation.

But that's kinda... not the point? It wasn't difficult to find these sources talking about price, but it shoulda been easier. Articles talking about DVD player prices should have been in the Wikipedia article, but weren't. That's super strange to me, a wikipedia article about a large and important type of media player has only 5 sources, and more than half of them are talking about it's first year. Google search should have been a lot better to allow me to find more sources from the time, because it was hard to find any coverage of the launch day vibes of the PS2. Thinking about this more after the fact, I think I need to learn how to search magazine scans because I know gaming print magazines at the time would have said something about DVD playback and how important it may or may not have been!

Idk where to end this. Seems like there's a weird bit of misinfo on the DVD player Wikipedia page, which seems hard to correct because I'm not sure where to look for better sourcing. Someone should do something about this I think!

[putschki1969]

『Wakana 5th Anniversary “Prologue” ～Premium Online Live～』

An exclusive streaming event will be held for fan club members to celebrate Wakana's 5th anniversary as a solo artist. She will be joined by Hirotaka Sakurada on piano. Please be sure to tune in!

‖Event details “Wakana 5th Anniversary “Prologue” ~Premium Online Live~” Date: February 6, 2024 Time: 18:30~ Starring: Wakana, Hirotaka Sakurada (Piano)

‖Ticket details Ticket sales: Bitfan Tickets Live streaming: Bitfan Live [Purchase period] January 10th to February 12th ●Event viewing ticket ¥3,800 (tax included) ※For FC members ONLY ※An archived version will be available for viewing at the streaming URL after the live broadcast. You can watch it until February 13th. ❗ Join her FAN CLUB NOW! Check out my detailed TUTORIAL ❗ In order to buy a ticket, please refer to the tutorial provided by Botanical Land! I have also written my own tutorial for a previous FC event so feel free to check that out! Bitfan is a very foreigner-friendly platform so be sure to use this opportunity!

Oh yes, I am excited for this. I think Wakana is planning to do a lot for her 5th Anniversary. Hopefully she can hold a proper tour. This event will definitely be a perfect "prologue". Also happy to see Saku-chan again.

2024/01/10 Blog post by Wakana おしゃべ���ガーデン第５回目！〜その１〜

❗This is Fan Club EXCLUSIVE content❗ ❗PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ Do ❗NOT SHARE❗ on other sites ❗Join her FAN CLUB! Check out my detailed TUTORIAL ❗

Talk Garden Vol. 5！〜Part 1〜

"Wakana's Talk Garden Vol.5" has been uploaded! This time, I intended to talk about both the messages I received on the talk theme and the comments on my latest blog post...but I just didn't have enough time😂💦 Just talking about the comments from my blog post ended up taking 45 minutes...😅 I didn't even mention the messages for the regular talk theme...😅 It's all because I don't prepare in advance with some sort of script or rough schedule🫠🫠I'm so sorry! ! 😂💦

Due to the length, I made a “Vol#5 Part①” in which I only talk about the blog comments🤣 “Vol#5 Part②” will be uploaded at a later date, on that podcast I will be focusing on reading the messages for the original talk theme 🧚✨

The comment section was full of everyone's thoughts and feelings, I had a really hard time reading through all of them, I actually cried so many times that I had a stuffy nose. Despite that, I am happy that you shared your thoughts with me, I felt like I could relate to everyone in my own way. Thank you so much.

When I read that many of you are seeking music as a source of comfort in times like this, I wanted nothing more than to sing for you right away. Which is why I was more than happy to be able to announce an online broadcast for February 6th. I would like to have a fun time with everyone at my first live show of this year, February 6th marks the 5th anniversary of my solo debut. I'm really looking forward to it! ! (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))

Oh, by the way. I forgot to announce the next talk theme during the new episode, the talk theme for "Talk Garden Vol.6" scheduled to air on February 10th will be: "Memories of Valentine's Day"! I can't wait to read all your sweet and funny stories, of course you can also send me all of your sad stories ! ＼��\\٩( 'ω' )و //／／

Well, please enjoy the episode even though it's long♪

Until next time~☆( *'▽’*)／

＊＊＊Wakana＊＊＊

Wakana’s Talk Garden #4 & #5

❗This is Fan Club EXCLUSIVE content❗ ❗PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ Do ❗NOT SHARE❗ on other sites ❗Join her FAN CLUB! Check out my detailed TUTORIAL ❗

Episode #4 »»—— CLICK ME 🎁 CLICK ME ——«« Episode #5 Part 1 »»—— CLICK ME 🎁 CLICK ME ——««

Vol 4 Topic “Things I should do before the end of they year but somehow, I turn a blind eye to it”

Vol 5 Topic "Please let me hear your current thoughts"

For next month’s episode which is scheduled to air on February 10th, the topic is “Memories of Valentine's Day.” The submission deadline is 01/31.

[gem-tavvy]

IMPROMPTU TAVROS NITRAM WRITING COURSE

VOL. 2 ~ OF HEROES AND VILLAINS

(note: originally this was not gonna be a fully fledged tavros writing post. it started as just talking about tavros' culpability in jake harley's death, but later i get into some heavier stuff that i feel is worth addressing. in order to write tavros, you have to understand what he goes through in canon itself.

a lot of people will tell you that tavros was "done dirty" by homestuck, or that hussie didn't do a good job of writing him. i will not ever say this. i believe that in order to understand and appreciate tavros, you need to understand and appreciate what happens to him in canon. even the bad.

if all you see in tavros is his nice interactions with other characters, you are missing the point. tavros is a deeply tragic character who interacts deeply with a lot of homestuck's greater themes. childhood and adulthood, loss of innocence, abuse, trauma, heroism, independence. all of it.

i don't think homestuck would have been better if all the bad stuff that happened to tavros didn't happen. that would have made it a far less interesting and impactful story. and even if i would have enjoyed a happier ending for him, i understand that that was not what the author wanted to write and portray. because in the end, i did not write homestuck. neither did you. all we can do is enjoy and analyze it. we cannot demand any more from it.

before i get to the actual post, i also wanna state for the record that i think the idea that tavros didn't get a satisfying arc is just flat-out wrong. but i'll save that topic for when i get the chance to delve into GHOST tavros, because that storyline is very dear to me.)

all i'm saying is that the idea that tavros "killed" grandpa harley feels like a misunderstanding. technically speaking, the only thing tavros DID was commune with bec to redirect a bullet!

think about his wording here. "aS A WONDERFUL BONUS AND COINCIDENCE," "aND AS FORTUNE WOULD HAVE IT,"

tavros's only intent was to save jade's life. we should REALLY be blaming bec here for jake's death, not tavros. imagine if you told or asked someone to save another person from being crushed by a falling piano, and in order to do that, they threw another innocent bystander under it instead. is it YOUR fault that the person you delegated to thought a murder was the best way to achieve your goal? probably not!

and of course, when tavros recounted this tale to jade, he spoke about it as if it was a good thing. culturally speaking, for trolls - a child and a lusus is a natural familial unit, and adults are fucking SCARY. his nonchalance about the situation was understandable up until jade explained it to him.

now, what tavros is REALLY guilty of is being incredibly awkward when trying to ask a girl out. i see a lot of people take this part in a really bad faith and uncharitable light. they see him as a creepy, predatory weirdo, but that's deeply unfair.

you have to remember how much bullshit he's gone through at this point. he spent a lot of time being harassed by vriska, but when aradiabot beat her to near-death and she tried to psychically convince him to put her out of her misery, he became deeply traumatized, and fell into a deep depression for the remainder of the game. he spent more time asleep on prospit than awake.

after the trolls had to hide away in the veil, kanaya and equius collaborated to saw off tavros's legs ahd replace them with robotic ones.

this was very explicitly not something tavros asked for, but something imposed on him for "his best interest," as it were. desperate for something to ground himself, tavros hyperfocuses on his new legs as a source of self esteem. he feels awful after the vriska god-tier incident, but maybe if he can be more like her, robot prosthesis included, he'll be better! she kept making fun of him for the disability she caused. she wanted him to be like her. now he is!

that's why he tries to meddle in jade's past. why he starts referring to himself with the ableist, derogatory terms vriska used against him. why he rejects rufio and proclaims his utter fakeness. tavros is completely unraveling at this point in the story. this conversation is deeply uncomfortable to witness, not just because tavros is coming across as an awkward creep, but because this is the compounded culmination of everything vriska did to him. all her tormenting, her manipulation, over all the time she's known him. tavros is at his rock bottom, and is trying to emulate vriska in a last-ditch effort to regain some control over his life.

after tavros gets to experience the singular sensation of being on the other side of his experience with vriska's domineering advances, (though i should reinforce here that tavros backed down pretty quickly after jade's rejection and understood her feelings) he gets contacted by vriska herself.

vriska, of course, sees his attempts to emulate her for what it is. on some level i am sure it burned her just a little to know that that's how he saw her - if that's how he tried to mimic her. with jade not reinforcing vriska's method with reciprocation and vriska herself tearing him down definitively (and reinforcing the idea that she isn't really even worthy of emulation; she helped create bec noir, endangering everyone) tavros doesn't have anything left. all the walls are torn down. his childhood innocence was destroyed. his chance at a normal life, gone. romance, utterly tainted. every single fantasy and bit of joy he could prop himself up on was systematically burned to a crisp, and he had only one thing left.

anger. pure, righteous anger, the kind he should have been feeling this whole time.

it took her a long time, but she did it. she got tavros to "grow up," in some way or another. his whole life, he's just wanted to keep to himself. to play games, to rap, to have fun. to be a kid. but she paralyzed him. she traumatized him. and when the last fantasy he was clinging on to was the idea that maybe vriska was right, that she was a good person all along, that she was helping him - she disillusioned him.

this part of [s] wake is kind of the perfect summation to this. the host plush: a symbol of his childhood innocence. a game he used to play that made him happy. fiduspawn - a game in which the host plush is destroyed in order to give the a fiduspawn life. by decapitating it, tavros is at last symbolically shedding his childhood, and by using it to threaten vriska with death, also shedding his natural aversion to conflict and violence.

if this were any other story, tavros would have triumphed over vriska, slaying the treacherous bully and being all the more heroic because of it. but this is homestuck. tavros was heroic, sure, but being heroic isn't always a good thing. sometimes being a hero is the worst thing you can be. vriska was a hero. bro strider was a hero. bro strider's heroism broke dave - made him loathe the idea of heroism. sure, dave never accomplished his destiny, but he's happier.

tavros was being heroic in this scene. but there's a reason that gods in homestuck can only ever be killed by heroic means or just. heroism is a heavy burden.

that's one of the most important lessons in homestuck.

[inimitablereel]

2023 Fic+Vid recs

A variety of things I liked this year, made this year. Once again, this got long, so fic recs and fandom-specific recs for dmbj are below the cut. But first a few miscellaneous vids

[vid] Cockroach Motherfuckers by eruthros, thingswithwings multifandom Immortal queer characters multi-vid! This is exactly as much fun and hopeful as it sounds. I've seen maybe 2 of the sources so you know, you don't have to have seen them all.

(We) Didn't Just Come Here to Dance [Fanvid] by FairestCat fandom: Newsies I haven't actually seen newsies, but I really liked this vid. Taking the (very dramatic) musical theater dancing and putting it to a Carly Rae Jepsen song works SUPER well, visually very fun time. Also, unions!

[Vid] Oceanographer's Choice by absternr fandom: Heroes (cdrama 2022) Bai Choufei, Su Mengzhen, and Lei Chun's fucked up relationship(s)/falling apart bad times. This vid is deeply upsetting, just a real exploration of sometimes caring a lot about each other makes everything worse. For maximum sad times, this goes well with absternr's other heroes vid, hey, I just met you, which is the meet-cutes that led to this whole mess.

[AMV] The Draw by Lovely Goblin fandom: Revolutionary Girl Utena Black Rose Arc! I've watched this vid so many times really good weird and creepy black rose arc vibes really good parallels between all the different duelists

Also blanket rec that if you've seen Everything Everywhere All at Once, consider looking for vids for it. There's a bunch on ao3 (which can be easier to navigate than youtube, though there are definitely more total vids on youtube) and they're pretty much all spectacular? I was going to include one or two in this rec post and couldn't decide

The wild phonemes of 40 Eridani Keid by astronicht Fandom: Star Trek (aos/tos mashup canon) relationship: Spirk ~10k words rated E You know if you'd told me a year ago I'd be reccing a spirk fic in 2023 I would have been a bit surprised. This is not particularly my fandom wheelhouse. But you know, they're always good, and this fic is really great. This is almost an episode-fic except that nothing really happens plot-wise. But instead of a plot we get a lot of musing about geology and diplomacy and clever references to current events as history in that very trek kind of way and Spock being bitchy just for fun.

fuori dal mondo by bladedweaponsandswishycoats fandom: Qi Ye relationship: Beiyuan/Wu Xi, Beiyuan/Zhou Zishu (more plot than ship focused) ~60k words rated E This is a retelling of Qi Ye except Beiyuan is... some kind of eldritch horror, part-time. It pretty much goes beat for beat through canon (which I appreciate, I loved that book and do not like any of the current tls enough to reread) but with the added layer of whatever is going on with this eldritch thing, which is very cool and tied into canon so don't let me spoil it for you.

We're Leaving Our Shadows Behind Us by lady_ragnell fandom: Tortall - Protector of the Small relationship: Kel/Neal/Yuki ~70k words rated T Canon retelling of Squire and Lady Knight but from Neal's POV. This fic really digs into Neal as a character and the details of the worldbuilding of Tortall, especially the chamber of the ordeal. Also somewhere along the way it sold me on this ship, which I wasn't exactly rooting for when I read the books the first time.

The Untamed/MDZS

a harmony between qin and se by Alaceron relationship: Wangxian ~60k words rated E This is a gender-bent (to make it a het romance) no magic historical drama au where Wei Wuxian is a woman who's arranged to marry Lan Wangji. Honestly this is pretty far from the untamed, especially in terms of themes, though some plot elements will be familiar, but mostly it's just a really great compellingly written historical drama, that happens to have main characters with some familiar characteristics.

Like a Game of Chess by countingcr0ws relationship: Wangxian ~40k words rated T Modern au: influencer Wei Wuxian runs into Lan Wangji on a trip to Taiwan and they travel around together. I love all the little details of their trip - it's like getting to see a new place without going anywhere. Also sometimes I forget that wangxian are very cute? They're a good ship brant

The Epic Highs and Lows of High School Zine Production by el_em_en_oh_pee relationship: Jin Ling & Jiang Cheng, Jin Ling & the mdzs juniors ~7k words rated G Modern au: High schooler Jin Ling has big feelings about a lot of things, including zines, gender, and family. One of those juniors-centric fics that makes me say oh they are Teens huh.

DMBJ

A Little Hole in the Wall by MountainRose gen, Liu Sang centric ~8k words rated G Honestly I would rec this fic even to people who know nothing about tomb shows. One thing that really draws me to a book is descriptions of food (I have read multiple food memoirs this year), and this restaurant au has AMAZING food (and food prep) in it. Not too plotty, mostly just descriptions of delicious things and characterization via cooking.

green with an attitude by ilgaksu relationship: heihua ~8k words rated T If you are in the English language dmbj fandom and you care at all about heihua you probably have already checked out ilgaksu's fic, which has basically defined heihua for the English language fandom. My favorite heihua moments are when other people show up and give you that foil to realize how weird they are, and this fic has that both via Xiuxiu and Wu Xie. Also, a fic about dancing!

making anything last, keeping anything safe by A (mumblemutter) relationship: Wu Xie/Xiao Bai (background pingxie) ~8k words rated M Post canon Xiao Bai takes Wu Xie to explore a tomb that should be perfectly safe... (They set off a sex pollen trap.) I don't particularly ship this, but this fic was extremely well done and kind of sold me on the ship. Fun tomb, really fun characterization for everyone involved.

A World Made Over, Fresh and New by Thimblerig gen, iron triangle, Wu Xie & Li Cu ~1k words rated G If you've ever gotten specific dmbj fic recs from me, it's probably included something by Thimblerig, they're amazing at pulling in very specific canon snippets in under 5k words and I'd generally recommend going through their work by tags if you're looking for fic with underloved side characters or fic set during a part of canon that isn't UN or post-canon, which are generally easier to find. That said, this particular fic is in fact the fandom staple of post-reboot let's go look at a tomb and pulling in a big ensemble cast including some reboot folks. But it's a staple because it's a good vibe, and this is a really well done sliver of friendship and relationship building and perhaps even a tomb trap?

[Vid] Still Into You by absternr iron triangle ot3 This vid is a bop! Multi-tomb show iron triangle being in love, through the years! I've got this bookmark tagged as "joyful"

[vid] When He Died by teyla Wu Sanxing-centric This vid really leans into the weird tomb nonsense and conspiracies and builds to something quite odd, meant in the best possible way. A concentrated version of what tomb shows want to be at their best, from a horror/strange spooky things perspective. Mind the tags.

[Vid] Before I Do by absternr Xiuxiu character study A vid all about Xiuxiu being a badass - she's so clever and cunning and she will figure out and surpass her family history.

[evilwickedme]

that 88% statistic literally comes from a poll conducted in january by tel aviv university called the peace index survey. if you google anything along the lines of israeli support plus 88% the first result is a nyt article that cites it with a link to the study. it took literally two seconds to find. 88% of jewish israelis surveyed believe that the number of palestinian casualties, including both deaths and injuries, is justified. it also found 94% believe the idf has used adequate or too little force in the war (43% believe it’s too little!). this survey was taken at a time when 20000 palestinians had already been killed and much of gaza leveled 

unless you’re going to claim that tel aviv university is disreputable/has anti israeli bias/is antisemitic, this clearly shows overwhelming israeli support for the level of death and destruction in gaza. the fact that netanyahu is unpopular is completely irrelevant and i’m not even sure why that was included in your post as some sort of evidence that the 88% stat must be untrue. support for the war clearly goes far beyond just the right wing parties

also the fact that so many in the notes of that post talk about the importance of sources but made 0 effort to even look up the original statistic and claimed with 0 evidence that it was made up is. very telling.

Dude, I wrote in the post itself that I might have googled the wrong terms. I googled variatiojs "destruction in Gaza + 88%" instead, because that's how I saw it quoted. I went on a Google deep dive, and still left doubt in my post BECAUSE I COULD HAVE BEEN WRONG.

The post covered two different subjects because I wanted to talk about two different subjects - the fact that people don't understand how the Israeli government works, statistics regarding that, and that since I saw the statistic quoted multiple times unsourced, including in a professionally published piece, I decided to talk about statistics literacy in general. This isn't an academic article - it's my own personal blog.

Also, chill. I cited multiple sources ranging a wide range of subjects, and didn't even conclude that Israelis don't support the destruction in Gaza at all.

Now I have found the source you're referring to and am looking at it. It covers a lot of questions, such as a majority doubting that the war in Gaza even has a purpose (52%). You're right on the 94% percent and the way it's divided.

I however once again point out that the (actually slightly less, but that's frankly irrelevant, I'm just a pedant) 88% you're citing IS DIVIDED INTO TWO CAMPS. Relatively justified is 21.3%, which still has doubts.

I also clarified again and again in my original post and in other posts *that I'm opposed to the war in Gaza*. I've also clarified that I think that people on both sides of the conflict are people even if they have opinions that I find horrific, such as MOST OF THE OPINIONS I cited. My point, overall, was to view people complexly.

Support for Hamas has increased in Gaza and more than trippled in the West Bank since the war started. Does that mean that Palestinians are all evil? That I should avoid viewing them complexly, say they should all die, call for a second nakba? Because I see people on the website and irl calling all Israelis (and really all Jews) evil, saying they should all die, and calling for another intifada.

My post, same as everything else I post, talks about viewing all people as people. And also about citing your sources and showing how I cross reference multiple sources, not that I suppose that matters to you.

I think it's very telling you're on anon, and I think I know the kind of content I'd see on your blog. And that's the last thing I'll say on that.

[solarwynd]

https://www.tumblr.com/solarwynd/747649625022955520/kinda-unpopular-opinion-but-many-pjms-care-too?source=share

Anon don't project what you think of the members as how jm must be feeling, you think they're just co-worker and he's got "real" frnds outside when you don't know that. he's spent 11+ yrs around them, the first ones he made after coming here and still together. They're more than just co-workers for him. I don't like any of them apart from jin,hobi and RM occasionally doens't mean I'm gonna think that's how jm feel towards them.

People just want them to return the same energy as jm gives them, pjms would have acted same way if it were frnds outside the group. Beacuse we want him to get love the way he deserves and gives others cause we're not around him but these people are and we want him to have all the support and love from people around him in person. Pjms thanked V when he asked jm to come to his fanmeet cause intentions be damned but pjms were happy that the crowd sang happy birthday for jimin, they were happy cause he got to be near fans which jm loves the most also because jm was the only one who didn't get to have a fanmeet like that before it. Despite many of them not liking tae they made thanked him in their posts. It's all about giving and taking. You give respect to someone you expect same in return. It's also all about his happiness. Jimin's birthday is the biggest bday celebrated by fans out of any other idols/celebraties in sk including all the members all beacuse pjms wants him to feel loved.

Also another reason pjms talk about it sometimes is because other solos use jimin's kindness and his support to drag him. Even that day they were making tweets like "jm is so pathetic no one wants him" which pjms hate that others use his kindness against him. Like look at jjks they have been using jm's kindness towards jk as a hyung against jm for a decade saying jm is always after jk and what not.

“I kinda understand that anon we have 10 yrs of consistent one sidedness from the members esp tgk so at some point pjms need to stop wishing and let go, they simply don’t value jm as a friend and take him for granted and that’s never gonna change”

Both of these sentiments have truth. When I refer to members that are lacking I’m almost always specifically referring to TGK. And I’ve said before that I don’t expect much from those 3, but that’s still not gonna stop me from wanting them to be better towards Jimin considering how much he seems to still value their friendship. How ever “wishing for rain in a desert” that is. That’s really the only reason I care about it cause Jimin’s too good to/for them anyway. I also believe that BTS have never been just “coworkers”. There are groups where you can tell that they’re not close and are just together because they have to be, but BTS never gave that. Dynamics have definitely shifted in the group, but I still do genuinely believe they’re all friends.

I don’t care what other solos have to say in regards to jimin’s unconditional kindness. They relish in the idea of the member they stan being self centered assholes while at the same time still expecting jimin to kiss their ass. Especially jjks. Jimin being a good person is not a weakness and I’m certainly not trying to get TGK to properly reciprocate it so they don’t have anything to drag Jimin for on that front.

[aurora-313]

Sometimes characters with just one scene become extremely popular. Why do you think that Masaki took off and has a huge fanbase, while our dear boy Kaien has like 3 fans total? Why isn't he insanely popular?

I admit that personally I have strange tastes, not to be a hipster, for example I liked the chemistry between Fin and Rey and so no romance between Kylo and Rey, and to the internet I'm of apparently disgustingly wrong opinion.

I can't say I have the definitive answer but I can give my two cents:

Masaki has the advantage of being Ichigo's mother and the circumstances surrounding her death are somewhat mysterious.

Ichigo is the main character and she functionally serves as a major source of his angst for... extremely questionable, vague plot and character reasons. (mostly because the plot can't function if anyone bothered to tell Ichigo literally everything he has every fucking right to know, but hey... -.- )

But if I may tangent for a moment: Masaki being a Quincy is something that still has me seeing red. There's a whole other plot progression that could've made more sense and been far more concise without unnecessarily dragging a boring Quincy cast and an Aizen knock-off with a bad mustache out of the dumpster. Which would've also tied everything up in a bow with Aizen's defeat without destroying every modicum of Ichigo's agency... but that's another post for another time.

Circling back to your question: I think if the anime adapted the scenes more faithfully, especially in Soul Society, we'd have seen a larger fanbase for Kaien. A lot of Kaien's references were simply omitted. EG; Ukitake wondering what Kaien would do in the whole scenario (up to and including likely literally kicking Byakuya's ass), Rukia asks his memory why would people come for her, Byakuya flashing back with disgust and a modicum of respect when he compares Ichigo's ferocious will with Kaien's and the abandoned implied reincarnation storyline Kubo set up then abandoned during the Aizen confrontation then we'd have a lot more fans of him.

A majority of fans got into Bleach through the anime, and the anime omitted massive parts of the story that removed meaning from Kaien's character. Worst still, the last thing we see of him is an Arrancar puppeting his corpse. Which means a lot of his 'personality' is relegated to some doppelganger twisting him into monstrous parody. What a note to end on, right?

At the same time, I can see why his presence was so diminished across the manga. He entered the narrative as Rukia's source of guilt, as Ukitake's source of inspiration, as Ichigo's spiritual predecessor, as the one who introduced the concept of heart to Rukia and then gracefully bow out when Rukia allowed herself to take his final lessons to heart (pun intended) and absolve herself of guilt, symbolized in her third Zanpakutou power. (I am shocked however that given Rukia's fight with As Nodt, that we didn't get a cameo in that fear cage, especially considering given, canonically, her most horrific memory was of Metastacia!Kaien... but hey.)

But given how Kubo forgot the Visoreds were the ideal counter to the Quincy and forgot they had their masks, reducing them to chumps, how could I expect him to remember someone like Kaien...?

...

Wow. You admit to liking those characters? I'd delete them all in a heartbeat if I got Kyle Katarn, Jan Ors and Mara Jade instead... but I wouldn't trust Lucas Fims to write their way out of a paper bag if their life depended on it right now.

[billboard-hotties-tourney]

I just wanted to reassure people about the stress around moral superiority around autism, cos it seemed like some people were feeling genuinely bad

the only propaganda that was submitted in the OP for that individual was literally the word autism so i think ppl prolly felt like they were playing into a joke that op made?

like, obvi the submission for the other person was more passionate and included more details - and this is out of your hands as the person who's taking submissions, putting them in a randomizer and doing hard work compiling, tracking and posting everything - but the contrast between the two becomes funny

referring to this individual as a funky autistic man is a pretty common meme in the autism and new wave communities (and the considerable ven diagram overlap therein), and it's likely the submission was made by an autistic person - but at the same time part of what makes that individual attractive is the way he's so unapologetically himself, and the way that manifests is in how he dances, moves, talks and sings - in a way that people call weird but in a way that a lot of autistic people have done in the privacy of our own spaces - even been shamed for if we do it publically. some of the ways he sings is really reminiscent of a lot of vocal stimming for a lot of folks, for example, and his more jittery movements are very relatable so the autism is both a bit of a meme, but also a way that we feel seen - and that individual being (almost certainly) autistic and mainsteam people knowing about it and valuing him and finding him attractive and talented is a source of pride/hope in a lot of ways. There's many musicians, especially in alternate scenes like postpunk/new wave who seem pretty autistic to a practiced eye, but this individual has actually discussed the way he relates to that experience. i understand how, without that context, one could be genuinely worried that people believed that if you didn't vote for him you're abelist - but i really think that it's more of a lack of communication/understanding about how this is joked about in the relevant community, if that makes sense like, no-ones genuinally tracking down who voted for what and taking u to task for it. it's fundamentally a contest about who's hotter, and for some people this particular individual being [likely] autistic is relevant and makes him hotter - in the same way one might find an individual hotter if you enjoy or relate to their music, even if the person they're versed up against is objectively more attractive (if attraction can even be measured objectively, free of social practices/norms!) - and the fact that the only piece of propaganda was the word autism means that if you don't vote for him it must be because you hate the only thing that was mentioned about him is funny because it's so ott, but also cathartic for autistic people to joke about because so many of us have experienced hatred due to having autism. it's nice for that to be something funny and relevant in a real but also absurdist sort of way its very liberating, honestly, for an autistic person to be considered hot (being so often infantilised), so its this sense of pride in it too i guess - it can be okay to move in the world in a way that doesnt hurt and isnt tiring and brings you joy, and not only okay and normal but even desirable i hope this makes sense, i just wanted to reassure people that no-ones actually making a moral judgement, it is a meme but there's also something serious there too and it just seems like a joke that's not translating between communities i appreciate all the work that you've put into this tourney!!!! it's been very fun and i'm excited to keep on voting!

I was so worried when I saw such a long ask, but honestly, very well-put. Glad you're excited to participate!