#i mean it's a good one but i unfortunately do not have a mind catalogue of tv kisses sorry

[lurkingshan]

Japanese QL Corner

We are up to seven live airing QLs from Japan! Five of these are on Gaga and two are being generously provided via fansubs.

A brief interlude for me to climb on my soapbox: if you are a fan of Japanese queer media who is not based in Japan, you really should be supporting GagaOOLala. They are the sole international distributor of most of these shows and the only reason international fans can watch them as they release. They’re a queer-owned Taiwanese company specifically focused on providing international access to global queer media, and their monthly subscription is much cheaper than other streaming services. They’re not perfect but they are quite responsive to feedback about their catalogue and approach; please consider subscribing if you love these shows!

I’m really loving most of these shows and I highly recommend jumping in to the weekly watch!

Takara's Treasure

I fall more in love with these two every week. We finally got some answers on Takara's backstory, and as expected, it is the mother who abandoned him that has been harassing him. Taishin blazed in to give that lady a piece of his mind before even realizing who she was, and it only made Takara love him more. The revelation that Takara is holding back with Taishin because he doesn't want to be covetous like his mother sent me into a bit of a tailspin. I loved Taishin getting his moment to reciprocate Takara's care, as well as Takara's amusement that Taishin still hasn't pieced together what they are to each other. I'm excited for it to finally click for him soon.

Sugar Dog Life

I'll be honest, this first episode did not hit right for me. I always struggle with copaganda heavy romances, especially when the show is intentionally framing cops as benevolent and explicitly linking that to the romantic arc. But I liked the cooking parts of it a lot! We'll see how it proceeds. This one is being fan subbed, so if anyone is having trouble finding it feel free to hit me up in DMs and I'll point you.

Cosmetic Playlover

This one is coming in hot with two episodes a week, because Japan is trying to kill me. I like the concept and vibe but the execution is a bit all over the place; it feels like they want this to be a dark story but aren’t willing to fully commit to that, so dark things happen but then get treated too lightly. The pacing also feels a little wacky and we’re rushing through plot and relationship development in a way that leaves it all feeling a bit ungrounded. Sahashi went from harassing and threatening to out Natsume to kissing and claiming to be serious about him in the space of 15 minutes, and then suddenly in the next ep there’s a new villain and suspense plot. This one is just not clicking; I’m tilting my head with a furrowed brow.

I Hear the Sunspot

Sigh. I really didn’t need another arc about a third party interloper coming between the boys, but here we are. Maya is a throwback to the bad old femme fatale archetype steeped in misogyny and I don’t love it. She’s arrogant, manipulative, and mean for no good reason, and she doesn’t feel like she fits in this story about decent people trying their best. There was a way to do this plot with a more sympathetic portrayal of her, but unfortunately they didn't take that route. I’m disappointed that she’s with us for multiple episodes, and it’s hard to believe this rude little girl can really come between them. I said last week that it felt like they regressed Kohei and Taichi’s relationship in the time skip and I’m feeling that even more now. Aside from this mess, I really liked all of Taichi’s scenes with his friends this week as he continues trying to work out his feelings for Kohei. I hope we get back to Taichi and Kohei spending time together again soon; that’s the real heart of this show and I already miss it.

Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko

Sigh. Last week I was mad at the characters around Hiroko, but this week I am forced to be mad at the show for how it's dealing with this entire plot involving Hiroko's decisions about her privacy at work, Risa's inappropriate interference, and Ayaka's bizarre conclusion that she should announce her love for Hiroko to the whole office. This whole love triangle and forced outing plot was ill-considered and it's dragging the show down; we should not have had Risa being so wrong and manipulative or ventured into queer workplace politics at all if the show wasn't prepared to take it seriously. On the plus side, we finally got the backstory for Hiroko, and it was surprising in a good way. I hope this show can get back to the zany comedy it was doing so well before it got bogged down in all this mess.

Mr. Mitsuya's Planned Feeding

Episode 3 just went up on @isaksbestpillow's blog, and it's a fantastic one. I was howling watching Mitsuya wailing on his ex and poor Ishida trying to process this new rival on the scene. Shige continues to be the MVP and I loved the way he encouraged Ishida with a mix of sage advice and sexy sass (also loved that Mitsyua immediately knew that gossip ratted him out). And I screamed again when Ishida got worked up and confessed; I didn't expect that to happen so fast and it was excellent! This show feels so mature in the best way; I really feel like I'm watching adults who have lived.

Tagging @bengiyo to add the anime update!

[kates-dump]

My experience with Analog Horror/ARGs and why you should check them out

Marble Hornets: the classic, and a big favorite of mine for obvious reasons. I cannot stress enough how good and spooky that series is, and the ToTheArk videos gave me nightmares, love it! <3

If you're into Slenderman stories, you should definitely check it out. The acting is very well done and the story is awesome overall :)

The Sun Vanished: the ARG that started my interest for ARGs, and especially enigmas/internet puzzles. Unfortunately I was not smart enough to figure the stuff out by myself, so I just watched explanations on it. Highly recommended if you like post-apocalyptic settings and subtle horror.

The Mandela Catalogue: possibly the series that brought back my interest for these things. I have only watched the first two seasons of it, as I sadly lost interest after a while, but from what I have watched, I would recommend it to those of you who like horror with religious themes (which is a big thing for me) and most importantly, trust issues. Do keep in mind this series deals with more serious and dark topics, though you have probably heard it already.

Local58: the analog horror of all analog horrors, Local58 barged in before TMC took the spotlight. There is so much going on and all of it is very interesting and scary. America's pride leads to its doom, the moon can control electronic devices, and weird creatures spread through the world. If you like stories that leave you not understanding what the hell just happened but loving it anyway, you will love Local58.

Rocket Archives: A single-video series that has unfortunately been taken down for reasons I am not certain of. But if you're curious what it was about, the video presented a reality where us humans were forced to leave Earth with how hot it was getting, and moved to contained bubbles in space. Suddenly, uh oh! The sun's getting closer! Outer Wilds moment! Everything is melting! Humans are gone and the sun is... alive???

Analog Archives: made by the creator of Rocket Archives, has also been taken down but can still be found re-uploaded. The series is slightly similar to Local58, as in it also focuses on broadcast hijacking used for ending off humans. The series also includes a few religious topics that can get very dark. I love it. "Nature Show" makes me tear up with fear every time.

Gemini Home Entertainment: ALL-TIME FAVORITE MOMENT!!! I don't think I need to explain why I love this one so much. GHE leaves a lot to your imagination/speculation, while also twisting your head directly into the direction of the threat and forcing you to look at it while you squirm in fear. GHE is subtle in the most obvious way, obvious in the most subtle way, and most importantly, IT'S COSMIC HORROR, BABY!!! THERE IS A PLANET IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM THAT GOT HERE UNINVITED AND NOW IT WANTS TO EAT US!!! UGHHHH I can't put in words why I think it's so good, it just is. Watch it. The Gardeners are cute, I swear. There's even a plush of them.

Monument Mythos: something something alternate realities, something something time loops. I have not watched all of it, barely even half, but I deemed it a little bit too confusing for my brain. BUT! If you're into things that boogle your mind, you might really like this series! I mean, world monuments are alive, what could be scarier?

Vita Carnis: EW. (affectionate)

But, seriously, if you like gross, you are certainly going to like this series. It's meat, and it's alive. Although, I did stop watching it because it got a tad too graphic and violent for my taste, but if that doesn't bother you, then I recommend it a lot! The editing is soooo good, and some of the creatures are very likable and cute ^v^ (the others are gross and I do not want them near me I do not WANT FUCK OFF)

Don't Look at the Moon: Minecraft spooky. Do I need to say more?

[theredtours]

MASSIVE TAYLOR SWIFT CD SALE! INCLUDES NEW ITEMS

Hello, and happy holidays! I'm Chloe, a big Swiftie, and even bigger CD collector. I've been collecting for the better part of thirteen (!!) years now, and in that time, have managed to end up with a... few... duplicates in my hoard. It's time that those repeats go to new Swiftie homes, where they will hopefully bring as much joy to you as they once did to me, and what better time than right before the holidays? So before I post everything (which will be under the cut) I just kind of want to give an overview of how this will work. A sort of FAQ, if you will.

1. To claim an item, you will need to message me. And yes, I do mean mean "message," not "ask." This way ensures not only that Tumblr won't eat your request, as it loves to eat inbox mail, but also so that I can then have a conversation with you about where to send the item(s). 2. I will only accept Venmo/PayPal as forms of payment. Venmo is the preferred method, because they don't charge any sort of fees, but I am aware that Venmo is not available internationally, and PayPal is the safest alternative. Shipping for one single item across the US is about $5, so that's all I'll ask for it. 3. I will ship internationally, but you must prepare for delayed delivery. Since it is the holiday season, I cannot guarantee that anything sent overseas will arrive before Christmas. Please keep this in mind before ordering. Furthermore, in this case, I will ask for the cost of postage in a second payment, and then will provide you with a tracking number in return. 4. If you are buying more than one item, I will combine shipping. Because I cannot possibly guess the cost of shipping for multiple items, I will send a second invoice for the cost of shipping, along with a tracking number for your package. 5. No returns/refunds are allowed. All sales are final, as the whole idea behind this is for me to lighten the load. I have multiple pictures of each item (most of which will not be posted here to avoid making this post even longer), and will send them your way upon request.

Items will be marked as SOLD as they are purchased, so make sure you are checking the post on my blog and not just via reblogs before inquiring! All purchases will be mailed out within three business days of receiving payment. I will also message you to let you know exactly when they go out!

Thank you for taking the time to read this; merry Swiftmas!!

ITEMS FOR SALE

Taylor Swift (Promo Version) SOLD

Beautiful Eyes EP (Walmart Exclusive) SOLD

Fearless Platinum Edition (Target Exclusive) - $25 - TWO AVAILABLE This version of the album comes with additional DVD content--specifically, it's two of the songs she performed at Clear Channel Stripped! The case has some minor cracks and the "sticker" is just a reprint for identification purposes, but both discs and all inserts are in really good condition! The second copy is basically identical, but I can send pictures if you're interested in seeing it specifically.

Speak Now (Starbucks Exclusive) - $30 Nothing on the CD is different from other US versions of this album, but this one, sold exclusively at Starbucks back in the day, comes with a fancy "O-ring" slipcover! Not many were made, so it's considered to be on the rarer side.

Speak Now (Walmart Exclusive) - $15 This version was sold exclusively to Walmart and contained a cute little coupon for Covergirl products! Unfortunately, this copy did not come with the insert, which is why I'm selling it off. The only notable differences between it and any other standard copy of Speak Now are the catalogue number and UPC. All the songs are the same.

Red SOLD

Red (Starbucks Exclusive) - $30 This Starbucks exclusive "digipak" version of Red folds in the middle, much like a vinyl record! It does have a small fold in the cover (see the first photo), but the CD and booklet are in perfect condition. This copy was sent to me with the second disc from the Target version of Red, so it will also be included with this purchase. You're basically getting the deluxe version in a cool, rare case haha. :)

Red (Costco Exclusive) - $30 Yes, there are a few minor case cracks on the front side (thanks, kitties), but the album is still sealed and comes with its insert! What sets this rare version aside from its peers is the hype sticker on the front, and the inclusion of a flyer that, while no longer valid, once allowed you to download 3 additional Taylor Swift songs for free!

Red (Deluxe Edition) (Target Exclusive) SOLD folklore: "meet me behind the mall" edition - $15 This version was sold exclusively on Taylor's website! Though it's no different than the one you can get at Target content-wise, it does have a different catalogue number and UPC, so if you're into that sort of thing, this is a steal. Plus, it's brand new!

folklore: "in the weeds" edition - $20 I'm only charging a little extra for this one for two reasons. One, it is a little more sought-after, so if it doesn't sell here, it's going to eBay. Two, it's the EU version (which means nothing content-wise, just catalogue number and UPC-wise), so it cost a little more to get it to me. This one also was a website exclusive, and it's sealed!

TTPD: Down Bad (Acoustic Version) - $10 Back in June, this was one of two versions of TTPD posted exclusively to Taylor's website. My post office lost my order, so I ended up contacting the store to get a new one sent out. Months later, the package mysteriously arrives! Here's your chance to own that surprise CD!

TTPD: Guilty as Sin? (Acoustic Version) - $10 This CD was also part of the lost package! It too likely has mysterious teleportation powers*, and for the fine price of ten bucks, could also magically show up at your house soon! *This statement has not been proven as fact by the author.

TTPD: The Manuscript (Collector's Edition) - $30 This one was sent to me by mistake when ordering another item from the webstore. They let me keep it, but I don't need it. Again, their loss is your gain! It's also sealed!

More to come in the following days as I downsize, but this is a good place to start, yeah? Please reblog so this reaches as many genuine Swifties as possible! Thank you in advance!!

[wewerebornsextuplets]

idk how but you draw in the Oso-san style so good i need to know your secret please

HAHA thank you very much!! im glad you think so :D unfortunately im not very good at explaining how i work, but ill try my best to show what i mean!!

once again this is long as hell. you know the drill at this point

to be honest, half the battle i fight with drawing in the osmt style is just. Looking at it. the ososan art style actually fluctuates pretty wildly depending on what you're looking for, whether that be the mobile games (for instance, tabimatsu and hesowars look nothing alike in terms of style despite both being the same source material), official art and merch, or even the seasons of the show itself!

using ichi as my example here since i draw him the most, but its pretty easy to play spot the difference with the varying styles. even within a specific season you can do this across episodes, especially with season 1!

when i draw, i tend to be a bit sacrilege and use references across different media; usually ill use the show [especially season 2, if only because its a bit more "uniform"] as reference for the actual features and colors/poses/etc, but i like to use hesowars to reference proportions, since they seem to be most consistent there.

SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO NOTE: theres a WEALTH of fanartists that have styles that are INCREDIBLY similar to the show, so be careful to check your sources! these artists deserve credit for their hard work, which they often don't get since their work is reposted under the guise of being official art.

once you've pinned down the exact style you'd like to emulate, and the character you're looking to draw, its really just a matter of finding references, which is pretty easy! you can scrub through different episodes for good angles/shots, or if you're going for one of the game styles the AU wiki has most of the games catalogued to my knowledge. if you're looking to draw an oc, use characters you think they would look similar to in the show. if you really wanna waste your time, though, you can always scrub through crowd scenes in the show to see if any background characters might look like what you're going for; the season 3 episode Mt. Takao comes to mind, there were a lot of cute mob characters there.

using keiko as my example here, you can see that i pulled her features from multiple different characters to get her to look right in the style. with ocs, its important to reference a number of different characters, since the likelihood of a background character being a 1:1 for your little guy is unfortunately pretty low. there WILL, however, be a lot of characters that look KIND of like them. the key is to figure out what parts go where!

to this point, most prominent ososan women have very similar stock anime girl faces with very minor differences, so if youre looking to make a cute girl oc, most of the womens' faces can be used somewhat interchangeably. if you want your cute girl oc to have a more unique face, though, the movie gave us some women with more unique faces in the form of the NEETs' old classmates! theres also no harm in referencing male characters faces in this regard. #butchswag #kiruminikuya

BUT. going back to the assumption that you're drawing a canon character, today I'll be drawing oso for my example

when you're first getting a feel for the style, tracing some of your references can actually be a really great way to acclimate yourself to the characters proportions and features. think of like when you were a kid, and would trace over pictures of pokemon or cartoon characters so you could draw them better. its basically the same principle! this was especially helpful for me when it came to eyes; they vary the most wildly of any other trait that characters have in ososan, so going over the different shapes to get a feel for each of them was very important.

when you trace, though, I recommend doing so a bit more loosely, sort of like if you're doing a photo study for anatomy; block out the basic shapes and do small markers for different features (i.e small lines to denote where the eyes start and and, distance from nose to mouth, things like that), and from there draw the rest on your own.

after long enough you'll get a feel for the basic placement of where everything should go! the eyes and nose are undoubtedly the hardest when it comes to the sextuplets, since they shift around a LOT between games/seasons/etc. so don't feel bad if you have a hard time with that, since there isnt really a "right" answer with how frequently it changes. i still fuck it up all the time myself!

as for some basic tips, heres some stuff i try to keep in mind when drawing them that just helps the finished product look a bit nicer!

when drawing the hair + fringe line, its important to swoop it downwards a little bit; the flat across look Can work, but if you're not careful you risk showing the tops of their eyes, which is um. ew! ick! nast!

when a matsu is facing forward, their hair will usually tend towards one direction to keep the silhouette. in most screenshots i saw, the bowl cut points left! that said, dont be afraid to point rightwards if its better for your specific drawing!

and lastly: USE THE LIQUIFY TOOL. LIBERALLY. i am not joking when i say this has saved my ass so many times, its hard to get the placement right on the facial features and even harder to get everything to LOOK good, so if its available to you i HIGHLY suggest just squishing everything around with a liquify tool until it looks right. you can always go back and correct the blurry lines. its really a life saver

BUT YEAH! i dont know if this was very helpful but i hope you're at least able to gain something from it :-))

[victoriadallonfan]

Defining Amy as a "rapist" for mentally altering Victoria non-consensually and then altering her body non-consensually seems extreme. That would mean Rachel "rapes" her dogs. That Victoria herself is a "rapist" when she uses her aura. I think what Amy did is extremely wrong and unforgivable, but calling her a "rapist" is incorrect. And the reading of her as being othered by her nuclear family is a pretty valid reading of her character. It also doesn't excuse what she did, but it does explain it and make her a more sympathetic character. Which is basically what Worm is all about - making "villains" sympathetic. Sure, you can decide that still doesn't make you feel sympathy for her but it doesn't make a person "immoral" if they do. Also, pointing out how she feels like a bad lesbian stereotype doesn't actually place any judgement on her actions or the actions of her victim - just on the writer and text itself.

There's a lot wrong with this Ask, but I choose to believe you are simply forgetting key details and misremembering others, so I will explain why this post is unfortunately incorrect.

Firstly, best to not start off with, "I think what X character did was bad but-" and then follow up with downplaying what the character did, because it sets the tone that you don't actually think what character did was bad. It's a common phrasing used by a lot of rape apologists, nazi dog-whistling, anti-lgtbq+ posts etc etc. Not just in fiction, but RL discussion.

(Spoilers below for Ward and Late-Worm)

Secondly, you quite literally admitted that Amy non-consensually violated Victoria's body, multiple times. She not only made Victoria fall in love with her, not only paralyzed Victoria to operate on her without consent, not only mind-controlled Victoria to use as a puppet, not only kidnapped her (twice), not only kept her as a play toy for 3-4 days...

But she admits to Carol, outright, that she saw Victoria "just lying there" and decided to "use her" for "closure" (aka pleasure), on and off for days, and then fucked with Victoria's memories so Victoria would not remember the details of what Amy did to her (raping her). Which we see of in more detail in Ward, as another mental power unlocked those memories in Victoria's mind.

Note that this was after Amy had already healed Victoria via the fucked-up sarcophagus (that Amy modeled after Victoria's body). Amy just couldn't resist Victoria's unconscious (and probably nude from the acid destroying the costume) body.

Amy raped Victoria several times in Worm, not just in power, but in every way possible. And then she molests Victoria again in Ward by making her love Amy and by kissing her while she's unconscious (and basically psychologically abuses her in arc 14). She also preys on a 14 year old child because she happens to somewhat look like Victoria, both in the hopes of manipulating Victoria to visit said girl (and be forced to thank Amy for "helping" her) and possibly even planning on grooming her into a surrogate Victoria figure.

Amy is rapist. End of discussion.

Thirdly, your use of Bitch's power as a comparison is flawed but still interesting to discuss. For one thing, we know from Brutus interlude that this transformation is not sexual in nature nor does it mentally assault the dog's mind; Brutus compares it to the good feeling of stretching in his limbs, like dogs do all the time. There is nothing said about this power altering their minds.

That being said, what Bitch does with her dogs can indeed be argued to be catalogued as abuse; there has been many a discussion where readers have pointed out that Bitch putting her dogs into these dangerous situations, attacking and crippling people, means that it is more likely for these dogs to be hurt or killed in them defending themselves. Armsmaster outright calls Bitch out on this, funny enough, telling her he doesn't want to keep hurting dogs for their owner's mistakes. One can even argue it's meant to be a dark irony that Bitch spends so much time busting up dog-fighting rings, yet she also constantly puts her dogs in danger.

Fourthly, Victoria's aura: A.) can be resisted just by being stubborn as we see with several characters like Lisa, B.) the idea that she is constantly blasting people with aura is pure fanon, with what we see in Worm and Ward being that she uses it for fights 99% of the time, and C.) the story actively points out that she has to be careful with aura use, and characters in story openly discuss when and when not to use it, or discuss with her how they feel she misused it. To which she often acknowledges them to be correct, tries to adjust herself to do better (with or without success depending on the situation).

It is in fact quite notable that Taylor - when comparing character powers to Heartbreaker (possibly the most well-known rapist in the world) - she compares Regent, Amy, and Gallant. Despite the fact that Taylor never met Gallant and has actively fought Glory Girl, Victoria never once enters her mind as a comparison. Because GG's power is not mind-control or even seen as mind-alteration in the setting; it's treated by those who feel it and fight it as a small obstacle to deal with, rather than anything that feels invasive or sexually exploitative.

That is not to say that they treat her aura use lightly, of course. The two most notable moments are the BBQ and Hard Boil aura use, where the aura is treated as a quite literal symbol of Victoria's PTSD: both times the person (Carol and Hanzo) are actively engaging in behavior that triggers Victoria's trauma (Carol lied to Victoria about Amy being around and make's Victoria paranoid about her being compromised by Amy; Hamza actively victim blames Victoria for not only the death of her boyfriend but also graphically detailing what Amy's molestations of Victoria did to her on live television).

(I also just remembered that Snag forcing Victoria to relive being in the Asylum as the Wretch caused Victoria to go into a screaming PTSD episode that had her blaring the aura as a defense mechanism)

In both these cases, the aura use is treated not as an attempt from Victoria as a means of violating a person's consent for her own pleasure, domination, or objectification of said individual, but rather as a defense mechanism she uses to try and regain mental/emotional footing as her PTSD episode briefly takes control of her actions (we also see this occur with the forcefield re: Valefor, but it occurs far less often). Even then, Carol is actively shocked that Victoria would use her aura like that (implying that Victoria doing so was a surprising faux pau AND also showcasing just how badly Carol fucked up), and Hamza and company are equally upset that Victoria would use her power on them (though Capricorn was quick to point out that this only happened because they triggered her PTSD and the crowd seemed split on blame). Sveta also point blank tells Victoria to not use the aura around her unless it's for emergencies, as it hurts her own power use/body autonomy (which Victoria does respect). In any case, comparing Victoria's aura to Amy is flawed in multiple ways: Victoria never used her power as a means of sexual exploitation, objectifying an individual for her own pleasure, nor as a means to mutilate/molest/aid in the rape of another human being.

Amy actively views and uses her power as a means of violating body autonomy as a means of gaining sexual pleasure, objectifying an individual for her own pleasure, and as a means to mutilate/molest/aid in the rape of another human being, and has done so multiple times throughout the franchise. Even when characters actively tell her that they do not consent to being touch or Amy invading their biology to discuss their sexual/mental health (see; Yamada), Amy instead views it as a means of gaining power over an individual for her own use.

Obviously, enjoying a character who is Evil does not make the reader evil by proxy. I doubt most Darth Vader fans really want to murder elementary school children or strangle pregnant women (though some people do get upset when you point out the Empire is a Fascist Regime, but that's a separate discussion).

Likewise, Amy being one's favorite character does not mean a reader must be a rapist themselves. I myself quite enjoy Amy as a character and have recommended one of the best Amy centric fanfics before (Wound by SprialHelix) on this site.

But there is a difference between liking a character and white-washing them to the point that it becomes victim blaming.

Finally: I have never once voiced an opinion on the "nuclear family" discussion.

The closest I ever came to that discussion was mocking some user for trying to defend Incest as being cool and claiming that Incest Supporters are being targeted unfairly and compared them to the LGTBQ+ defenders.

Which, I must say, is fucking insulting to compare the struggles of the LGTBQ+ to those who want to fuck their children/siblings/parents/cousins etc etc

I hope this clarification helps you understand the point I stand in regard to reminding people that Amy Dallon is a rapist, and how dangerous it can be to fall for those who wish to white-wash her actions in favor of demonizing her rape victim, rather than accept her characters as the actual character she is.

[thursdaygirlmp3]

big day for media business girlies now that watcher is trying to go the dropout route - some thoughts below the cut

>big L on the fact that they don't have first mover advantage as a lot of their audience already has crossover with other paid subscriptions for independent productions (eg. Dropout, Nebula etc) and they still have a fairly young audience who don't have enough purchase power to subscribe to multiple services past a certain point. my sense is that the average viewer will put watcher on the chopping block - their output unfortunately simply isn't high enough to justify it as a good deal for most folks

>I do understand why they would make this move given how high their production quality is. one only has to assume that their 11k patreon supporters were not enough to meet their P&L. i'm assuming an 80% conversion of patreon subscribers to watcher subscribers will probably happen

>they've had 2 rounds of funding from what I remember, I'm sure there was some push from the investors also to meet their profit line so they could see returns. if they drop a few business focused interviews (hoping for a colin and samir episode, they're one of the best in the YouTube business news space) I'll have a little more to work with in terms of understanding why they did the damn thing

>bigger L on putting their back catalogue behind a 50$ paywall - a bad move both in a business and viewer satisfaction sense

>the value for subscription looks? okay? it's not tooo bad. but if I had to make a choice, i probably wouldn't want to dish out the money for this singular service. superfans probably won't mind but as someone who has become a moderate-to-casual fan, it's just not worth it for me, even to access a few comfort episodes of their back catalogue. it's YouTube, someone will have it backed up on a drive link somewhere.

>i'm hoping for the best for them because more independent creators being able to properly fund the work they'd like to do is ultimately a good thing, but media and entertainment is very much an economies of scale business - you need be certain you have a very high and dedicated viewership to undertake large projects which cost a lot of money. if they don't have enough supporters immediately they'll be unable to launch at the scale at which they want to, which also means it'll take longer and harder for new viewers to pour in. it's not company-ending stuff, but it's a tough journey and i wish them the best

will probably reblog this with more thoughts as more details come out

[opalfairy]

A crossover was revealed to me in a fever dream: Scum Villain but there are Alternates à la Mandela Catalogue.

(Quick note: I have only watched the first volume of The Mandela Catalogue, and I'm not up to date with the lore [I'm using the Mandela Catalogue wiki to check information] but that's ok, I can simply put Airplane in the same boat as me and problem solved)

Ok so, from what I can remember of this dream, Airplane had added Alternates in his notes, maybe even thinking of an Alternate wife, but decided to delete them because let's be honest... most readers of them fantasy harems catered to hetero men are cowards that only like their monster girls when they look A. Conventionally pretty and B. Are not too monstrous.

Deleting the notes, unfortunately, did nothing to actually deleting Alternates from the PIDW world and so, when a certain Cucumber transmigrated, he did so into the role of Shen Qingqiu. It is important to note, however, that role and body do not necessarily mean the same thing and, unfortunately, Shen Jiu had already been supplanted once.

(Now, when was he supplanted, that's for you to decide, it can range from a week ago to when he was a little child and therefore the Shen Jiu we know has always been an Alternate)

Anyways, back to the present: So, Peerless Cucumber, now Shen Qingqiu, goes through the plot as normal without even realizing that he is most definitely not human... at least at first. But then the evidence starts to pile up and the direction it points to is not "classic cultivator/Airplane bullshit"

Because floating without a sword sounds improbable but plausible; but then one day, in the privacy of his room, he mockingly repeats something the system just said and it sounds exactly the same as that nightmare google translate voice. And what about the time when he was practicing cultivation in the bamboo forest and after hearing a sudden noise and, scared of being caught, he simply appeared inside the bamboo house? He's pretty sure teleportation is a power reserved only for Luo Binghe and Mobei Jun???? Since when can the scum villain teleport???????? System????????? Explain??????????????

And what about the demon invasion? Sure, at the time he thought he had gotten lucky and that the poisoned thorns of Elder Sky Hammer's armor had missed him, but now that he thinks about it he did feel a light pressure on impact, and his poor sleeve had been pierced, so why did nothing happen to him?

But the weirdest thing so far was that he could now see a person and, if he concentrated enough, he would know exactly what to say, what strings to pull and buttons to push for them to fall into despair, and the worst part was that he wanted to do it! Some part of his being wanted to cause this suffering and the only two things stopping him were his morals and his self preservation! At first he had thought that this was some weird fucked-up residual part of the original goods, but now he wasn't so sure...

All of this culminates in Shen Qingqiu looking at his reflection on a bronze mirror while getting ready for bed after a very bad day (maybe, through his fucked up ability, he had looked at his zhangmen-shixiong and knew that it would be so easy to push this strong, kind, man into a never-ending abyss inhabited exclusively by his heart demons and himself. He had turned around and all but bolted to his bamboo house, least he do something that he would regret for the rest of his life) when all of the pressure and fear of being trapped in this situation came crashing down on him, and, looking closely at his cold, immutable reflection, he wished that his calm outside could reflect the storm raging inside...

...not a second passed after such thought had sprouted in his mind when his exterior started to change. His eyes, his mouth, his limbs, all of them started to elongate and contort impossibly. And Shen Qingqiu's mind, at first filled with horror, soon realized that there was something familiar in the grotesque display he was witnessing through his mirror. You see, before he died, Shen Yuan, Pearless Cucumber, used to be a chronically online consumer of internet media. And what he was looking at felt indeed very, very, familiar.

After a few minutes of freaking out (and telling Binghe that "Everything is fine, this master doesn't need any help, yes Binghe I'm sure, do not open the door") Shen Qingqiu managed to return to the form of the original goods (can it even be called that? Since the body was most definitely not Shen Qingqiu's. This was not part of the original novel!) while processing that yes, this was actually happening wtf? wtf?? wtf???????

A few extra notes that my brain decided to just ad while I was redacting this:

• In moments of extreme distress, Shen Qingqiu's face distorts if he isn't careful. After he discovers he is an Alternate, it happens less, but it may still happen

• Following that, during the demon invasion, when Shen Qingqiu saved Binghe from big spiky demon man, his face did distort, but it was too little and most people were not that close so only someone who was paying attention to Shizun's face (cough cough Binghe cough) rather than all that had just happened would notice

• Another moment of face distortion happens during the abyss yeeting scene.

• SQQ finds out SQH is Airplane because during the conference, the Alternate Instincts (as I've decided to dub the compulsion to cause M.A.D. in people) tell him that a good way to start the spiraling on the other is to tell him how worthless he is, that even in a world of his own cration nobody has, nor will appreciate him as anything more than a tool. This, of course, leads to SQQ realizing that Airplane is right there! And he has severe self-esteem issues!

• Because of this, after Cucumber confronts Airplane he makes sure to never treat him as worthless or useless. He does insult him (that's how their friendship works) but never devaluating his worth as a human being.

• After confronting SQH, the first thing Cucumber asks is how long the original goods has been an Alternate. Airplane is very confused, up until SQQ does the face distortion party trick, then he is just unconscious.

• Talking about cumplane friendship, because Alternates can mimic not just voices but also music, these two abuse the hell out of said power by listening to modern music together.

• Binghe, knowing that his Shizun is not what he sais he is (an immortal master cultivator) since at least the demon invasion (SQQ probably slipped a few times over the years and Binghe absolutely noticed).

• Does he know that he is specifically an Alternate, though? I mean... probably? He did have access to the entire Qing Jing Peak library, plus Meng Mo, plus all the during/after abyss treasures and tomes of the demon realm

• That said, following Binghe's Shizun kink, and taking in account that he, unlike the average monster girl harem male reader, is not a coward... he would totally be into unhinged Alternate non human form if his Shizun would just let him! Please! He is ready to act as pathetic as necessary if it will get him the privilege of looking at his Shizun in all his analogue horror glory!

[humming-pokemon-helpers]

“So, Vanilla, what have you been up to? You’ve been awfully quiet lately.”

Excellent question, person I made up in my head. I’ve been watching each and every one of the Pawmark Dash to Delibird Day movies released in The Year Of The Twin Dragons 2023. There are 42 of them, which deeply unsettles me.

But unfortunately I dedicated myself to the art of cataloguing Pawmark movies when I was a much sadder and lonelier Zorperson, and I’m too stubborn to quit now. (That, and they’re a guilty pleasure; sue me.)

So, below the cut is my ratings of some of them. About 10. Not all 42, I still have some semblance of a life. I did watch all of them though, so I guess if there's any Pawmark enthusiasts who really need to know my thoughts, you can send me an ask? Or you can ask me in-person. At my New Year's party. Which is still happening tomorrow. (Psst. Here's a link if you're interested: https://discord.gg/PkmkQEVF)

1. Celebi With You: Young career businesswoman comes back to her old hometown devoted to Delibird Day and nothing else. Grandpa asks her to take over the shop. She refuses because she has a career. Local childhood-friend-man in flannel gets sad. A Celebi takes her back in time to watch her grandparents’ romance as they open the shop. She changes her mind, gets with the male lead in a very rushed side plot, everyone’s happy.

This one’s a shaky 5/10. Points for not focusing the modern romance first and foremost, but it’s so sloppily done. There's no lead-up to the kiss. And I mean, it's Pawmark. There usually isn't. But give us some level of flirtation! Grandma and gramps are cute, though. Shame grandma’s dead for no reason other than “there must be at least one dead relative in a Pawmark movie”. Also, the CGI Celebi looks TERRIBLE. Like, eye-bleedingly so. That is an onion and a few pipe cleaner legs. I know they can’t get a real Celebi, but at least get a Ditto instead!

2. A Little Holiday Maschiff: The obligatory “turn your brain off and watch cute puppies” movie. Female lead recently lost her Stoutland. Somebody leaves a box of Maschiff puppies on her step in the winter cold. She takes them to the “hunk” at the Pokémon shelter, because she’s not ready to open her heart again, but the shelter’s on the brink of being shut down. They co-pup-parent and create a Delibird Day Pokémon Pageant to fundraise and save the shelter. Get in a fight because the male lead thinks she’s actually trying to get the shelter sold. They make up. They kiss. They adopt like 3 Maschiff puppies. The end.

8/10, but not because of the plot. The “fight” they have is absolutely idiotic. No, the reason I say 8/10 is because I can understand everything those little Maschiff have to say and their commentary is worth their weight in gold. Even if 90% of it is “Am I a good boy? Can I go for a walk after this? Why am I in a box again?”. So good. 4/10 for anybody who doesn’t understand Pokémon. At least the puppies are still cute to look at.

3. Snow Warning: Short summary here because it’s so generic. F!Lead gets caught in once-in-a-lifetime blizzard on her way home. Flight cancelled. Has to share a hotel room with smarmy male lead who looks down on her job as a novelist (and is also a wildly successful businessman). The two roadtrip their way down to F!Lead’s hometown so she can go see her sick dad. Grow a begrudging respect. Eventually they kiss for some reason. Also there’s a side-plot about how the guy actually pissed off an Abomasnow and caused the whole thing, but that wasn’t really interesting. ...Somehow. How do you mess that up?

2/10. The chemistry’s off. I get going for “you hate me so bad you want to kiss me” tension, but it really just comes off like the female lead ought to sock her "date" in the face already. Instead we get a weak “Sorry I called your books stupid. I read one page of your debut novel and it’s not. Can we kiss now?”. Yawn. Also, he never apologizes for the whole Abomasnow thing, which seems like a pretty massive oversight? If we're being realistic here, that's getting held over that man's head for at least a good five years.

4. Sawsbuck’s Greetings: A movie focused around the female lead, who runs a Sawsbuck farm that’s been passed down for generations, and the male lead, who kicks puppies for a living and wants to put a golf course there. But don’t worry, he learns after she makes a deal with him that if he stays on the farm for 30 days and doesn’t see the value of it, he can buy it. Because that’s how buying real estate works. The guy actually has some traumatic history with Pokémon that the saintly female lead helps him overcome. He cuts ties with his company, moves into the Sawsbuck farm, and they have the Pawmark Kiss.

3.5/10 for me. Not even the bored Sawsbuck save this (they are so, so bored). There’s no interesting side characters anywhere! No life! Also, I will say it once again: love does not heal trauma. They try to make it seem like this man goes from erring 50 feet away from “those horrid beasts” to snuggling up with a Deerling in the early AM all thanks to a woman's love. That is not how that works. Get therapy. (I say this knowing full well I would not be as critical if it were gay. Know your biases, folks.)

5. The Chingling Ring: This is one of their “Deli-Day Wedding” movies. A sequel to last year’s “The Chingling Sing”. Female lead gets cold feet about marrying male lead. They nearly break up to all of their friends’ constant dismay. But the woman's Chimecho works with her fiance to gather 25 Chingling to show her 25 places all key to her relationship with her soon-to-be husband. Of course he’s waiting at the 25th, they kiss, make up, happy wedding, baby at the end of it.

Surprisingly, a 6.5/10. The concept is a decent one, if only they didn’t have to stick to 25 arcdamn places instead of… five? Even 12, if you’re looking for something holiday-like but smaller. Each place gets no focus at all, because of course they don’t. It’s an 80-minute movie! The gesture is really romantic though. Chingling are so so adorable. And the male lead is genuinely sympathetic throughout. Just… agh, the rush. Also, do we always need a baby at the end of the wedding ones?

6. Special Delivery: Sort of a mystery movie, on the first female lead's side. (Yes, 1/2!) She, a detective, starts receiving mysterious gifts via Delibird from a ‘secret admirer’. Determined to figure out more, she goes on a hunt through the specifics of the gifts, the places they’re ordered from, and even tracks a Delibird itself. Along the way, she keeps confiding in her best friend, the second lead, about the situation. First lead thinks it's from her coworker, but no, it's a red herring. Lo and behold, it turns out the gifts are secretly coming from... the second lead! There’s a decent coming out/confession scene, which is a compliment for a film studio where movies are produced in 5 weeks. Pawmark Kiss. End film. (Too soon.)

I promise this is not just my lesbian bias (it is), but 7/10. The two leads truly understand the power of pining. Of yearning! …The gift situation is so blatantly obvious that it very much feels like the movie spins its wheels for a while, though. I feel like they were trying to have a twist, because the male lead's pretty heavily marketed, but he also falls flat as a character other than "hey, he's there, and he probably likes you". As a result, though, I thought I was going insane for thinking the leads had chemistry for the first 50 minutes until this film fully vindicated me, something that is incredibly rare with a Pawmark movie. They’d better make a sequel. That’s up-front about its being gay, and at least halfway decent.

7. Deck The Royal Halls: What would Pawmark be without its annual foreign prince movie. This time from the made-up kingdom of “Britain”. Where are they even pulling these names from now? Bog-standard, except the two leads also have to work together to handle the King getting possessed by the legendary Calyrex along the way. Because apparently the “old family heirloom” Hometown Female Lead brings as a gift to His Highness is actually its crown. Anyways, Calyrex demands the two of them get married in the name of the kingdom. They waver on this in some royal courtship, get into a fight, and eventually agree. Happily ever after.

4.5/10: This movie is so cluttered. There’s no good justification for why the female lead is there, why her family has this ancient treasure, and why it is so absolutely crucial she marry The Prince. Calyrex’s VA is very funny during the possession scenes though. So the movie gets an extra point. Calyrex trying to give Mr. Prince Guy a confession pep talk is genuinely one of the better written comedy bits I’ve seen on the channel in a while. Shame the CGI for Calyrex is... not very good. There's no way its head is that big.

8. A Champion Chrismas: So this is what they've had Champion Leon up to since he lost his title. The Battle Tower and paying him to take part in mass-produced rom-coms. Anyways, unfortunately for the female lead, who is absolutely trying her best, this movie is entirely about Leon--or Levi, and how the self-insert (AKA, female lead) saves him from his battling slump when he comes home for the holiday season to his totally-not-Postwick small town with his totally-not-Hop little brother. (who is, actually, played by Hop Laventon. How did they get all of these people???) Anyways, the female lead shows Le-whoever the "joy of Delibird Day" again, they kiss, Le-guy wins a big championship match with his Charizard for her and shouts her out on live TV.

6/10, purely because it's fun to see how non-acting celebrities deal with acting. Also, this is 100% somebody's Leon x Reader fanfiction that got brought to Pawmark's writing room and approved without a second thought. I love that for whoever that was. (Though pretending that definitely isn't Leon and he totally isn't dating Raihan is a bit ingenuous.) Anyways, the writing sucks. The poor heroine is the epitome of a self-insert, for very obvious reasons. But I will admit, I can see why Leon has so many fangirls. He's great at playing that sort of "charming, down to earth" guy. His little brother's pretty good at acting too! Even if he really got shoved to the side for the sake of the love plot. Always seems to be the case for that poor kid...

9. Operation: Present: A movie about... Santa from the future? I think somebody saw Iron Bundle and ran away with it a bit too much. (Also, they have a real Iron Bundle there. This scares me.) Anyways, in this movie, Santa's son appears in front of a social media "influencer" with an Iron Bundle and tells her that if she doesn't convince the world Santa is real, they'll fall into a dark timeline...? I'm so lost as to who wrote this. Is this still Pawmark? I guess it's tangentially Delibird Day-related. Anyways, these two go on a... social media campaign... to spark belief in Santa. Livestreams, Chatters, anything a 60-year-old exec believes is part of social media usage, it's there. But actually, Ms. Influencer doesn't even believe in Santa herself, so they get in this big fight, until Santa's Son gets this notification that Christmas is saved or whatever. They make up. They kiss. I am so lost.

2/10, I am relatively sure this movie was made by drawing ideas out of a hat? And shoving them together? So it's a time-travel, social-media, robot-Delibird, Santa's son, romance movie? Why did they not pick an angle. Any one of those could have worked as an angle. As it is, I feel like I'm going insane even trying to describe the plot. ...And yet I feel as though I know several people this could happen to. Such is the reality of our multiverse.

10. Don't Have A Bird: Okay, they clearly used all of their ideas on the last movie. Because this one is about a woman who works at an Unfezant tip line. As in, a tip line on how to cook Unfezant at the holidays. (Which feels more like a Thanksgiving movie, but I digress!) And a man. Who is trying to cook an Unfezant. That's... the entire plot. The whole thing. Though the woman is also secretly romancing the man in real life! ...And on... the Unfezant tip line. That feels like a blatant violation of phone line policy, but what do I know! The Unfezant Guy feels betrayed by this until The Unfezant Girl brings by a perfect Unfezant, and the day is saved. Hooray.

1.5/10. Who wrote this. Who approved this. Why is it about an arcdamn Unfezant Tip Line. How far down do you have to dig for this idea. Who in the writing room called in to figure out how to unfuck their completely dry, flavorless Unfezant, and thought "You know what would be romantic?" On the bright side, absolutely none of the actors take this movie seriously, thus warranting an extra .5 points. They earned it. Nothing else did. (//Mod note. Based on a real fucking Hallmark movie.)

[stedes-incredible-library]

Hi! Same anon asking for fave lists, I’d love to hear from all the mods!

Hello! Here are some of our favourites in no particular order (mind the tags and also check the pairings!)

stuck in second gear by tediousdelusion [E], 69k nice

“I want a divorce.” Izzy’s said the words more times than once in the past eighteen years of marriage, but he means them this time. More than he ever has before, anyway. At the prow of the very expensive and very unnecessary boat parked in the driveway, Edward - Izzy’s idiot (soon-to-be-ex) husband - sighs and rolls his eyes. “Come on, Iz!” Ed shouts. He’s wearing a stupid fucking captain’s hat and has one foot propped against the rail. “The boat is an investment! And it’ll be fun.” Or, how Izzy Hands saves his marriage (and gains a boyfriend) by getting a divorce.

would you worship gravity by bitethehands [E], 60k

At precisely the seven-and-a-half hour mark, Izzy prepares the cabin for landing. Ed’s crackly voice buzzes over the loudspeaker with the announcement. He’s not thinking specifically of Finance Consultant Guy, nor of anything bar the inevitable banality of deboarding, so it genuinely catches him off-guard when a hand closes over his wrist. “Apologies for being forward, but what are you doing after this?” - Izzy is a flight attendant. Edward is a pilot. Stede is the first-class passenger who won’t stop chasing after them both.

piña coladas by faeeebaeee [E], WIP

The 80s are in full swing, and the golden decade of Nintendo Gameboys’ and Sony Walkmans’ has never looked better. In the neon jungle, Stede Bonnet, a young salaryman, meets enigmatic mechanic apprentice Edward Teach, and the pair strike up an unlikely friendship via fax machine, page beepers and gifts in the mail.

~Mod N

What Kind of Pirate Has a Friend? by @thetardigrape [E], 31k pre-canon

A story of Edward Teach and Jack Rackham, the two youngest pirates in Captain Hornigold's crew. Friendship, fucking, and fighting. Maybe some fuckery.

The Body Knows by @veeagainsttheday [M], 21k canon adjacent, magical realism, spooky vibes

Stede Bonnet thought he was finally free by faking his own death with a fuckery and leaving everything to his widow and children. He was wrong.

The World Beyond by @veeagainsttheday [E], 43k Alternate Universe

The Colorado River runs dry and sparks thirty years of Water Wars. Blackbeard is the most legendary water pirate in the desert; the Gentleman Pirate broke his heart. Now Stede is searching for the love of his life and Ed is planning his retirement. Unfortunately the remaining Cinco Gallos are still looking for Jim and the cults might be right about the biggest conspiracy theory of the last three decades...

~Mod A (I have a wildly hard time picking favorites of anything. What I've done here is pare down a selection of favorite authors, then shuffled through those for fics that truly haven't left me alone since I read them, then spun that down until I had the three that had the fewest hits. All three are by authors whose entire fandom catalogue I would recommend.)

tastes so sweet it hurts a little by florence_after_midnight [E], 8.3k

“Suits you,” Izzy says, hoping Ed hears the reverence in his voice. “You think?” Ed says, in a playful tone that makes it clear she’s not looking for reassurance but shamelessly fishing for compliments. Fair, Izzy thinks, she deserves all the praise in the world. He’s never been good with words, so he tries to put it all into the simple act of touching her. You’re the most beautiful woman in the fucking world, says the finger tracing the floral pattern of the lace. I’ve never loved anyone like I love you, says his thumb running up her sternum. I’d gladly worship at your feet all day, says his left hand finding hers, lacing their fingers together and squeezing tight. or: The one where Ed buys lingerie and Izzy loses his mind about it.

take the pain, take the pleasure by @shatteredhourglass [E], 10k

“If I didn’t know better,” Ed says, hand tracing down Jack’s arm slowly, deceptively gentle, “I’d think you were fucking around with my things, Jack.” In which Ed and Izzy collectively menace the men who choose to get involved with them. Or, five times someone wasn't allowed to fuck Izzy Hands' pussy, and one time they were

everybody's got their limits (nobody's found mine) by @oopshidaisyy [E], 16k

After 153 days, killing Stede Bonnet had begun to lose its appeal. (Or: Izzy gets stuck in a time loop.)

~Mod 🐁

[businesstiramisu]

Hi! How are you? Your ask box is open again! Would you like to see cats? What is the difference between Ayin and Tsaddik? How did you make the Dreamwidth captcha thing? It looks very professional! I got the book "Witch King" by Martha Wells! Unfortunately, it seems that the Murderbot Diaries are colluding against me to prevent me from reading it. Also your tagging system is very great! I love it!

Hello! I don't remember why I closed it, but usually if it's been a while and it's not open it's b/c I forgot indeed *that* I closed it, and you can ask me to open it again (that's what happened here lol).

Ayin vs. Tsaddik (Romanization/spelling varies) -- re: this post

As you can see, they are slightly similar looking letters. I expect no one actually literate in Hebrew would make this mistake (any more than you would mix-up lower-case 'a' and lower-case 'c') but lots of us are not literate in Hebrew. Hence the humor of the mis-spelled mug. My tags were b/c I tend to make a game out of trying to read all foreign-language text I come across, if I've got the time. I'm actually pretty good at sounding out Russian, now, and sometimes also Japanese (I blame all the weebs on here). But I'm absolutely terrible with Hebrew, and part of me feels I ought to be better b/c I have relatives who speak it. (I don't talk to those relatives nearly as much as I read weeb things online, though, so it only make sense). I don't remember for sure but I think with that post I also mixed up Bet with something stupid like Nun or even Resh.

2. Dreamwidth captcha -- re: this post -- INSPECT ELEMENT BAYBEEEE Seriously, it looks professional because it literally just the dreamwidth website with one word added by me. Two clicks and a bit of time poking around CSS you, too, can use this knowledge for evil

3. The Witch King by Martha Wells-- Oh, nice!! I actually read quite a bit of Wells' fantasy catalogue this month, and i've been meaning to write up a post reviewing and comparing them. Wells definitely has some favorite motifs that she keeps returning to (e.g. prominent ruins of past societies) and it would be fun to compare them. I really enjoyed The Witch King, but I will say as one fan of Unsounded to another, I actually really recommend The Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy! I think it has some overlapping setitng and characterization stuff that I think might especially appeal to an Unsounded fan. (TREMAINE. LOVE TREMAINE)

Though you should really keep trying to get Murderbot b/c those are by far her best work IMO (not to say any of her fantasy is bad, just Murderbot is 11/10 for me on so many axes). (How is reality colluding against you, if you don't mind sharing? sounds like a story lol)

4. Tagging -- thank you!! i do it for myself b/c I like to find my old things but glad it's working for you too <3

[dirt-nerd]

The game uses a particularly annoying and difficult to crack DRM protection so pirating it is not very easy esp for a casual user. And, considering how antisemetic the central story is and many of the elements are, it just feels gross to play. The whole game is pretty tainted, money or not.

Yeah I get modern games are harder to crack, although I also think that piracy has lost the arms race and is just less well known/common so people lack the tools to do it. A good copy of a pirated game used to come with instructions and sometimes extra tools in the download. You played around with things until you got them working- and if it didn't work not the end of the world.

As for the content; well have you actually played the game? Keep in mind that the internet is not reliable and has a tendancy to blow things out of proportion sometimes.

The story could be truly disgusting and anti semetic or there could just be some unfortunate implications from people who didn't think things through/lacked the knowledge to even know it was anti semetic to begin with. I mean I certainly didnt know the whole goblins = jewish people thing for a long time, and I'm pretty sure most people who use goblins in a fantasy setting don't. Either way you can't actually be certain relying solely off internet discourse to inform you.

Also to be frank; I don't know about you but I didn't join a bloody cult so have no interest in self censorship. There is a big difference between actually giving financial support/publicity to a potentially toxic piece of media, and just checking it out and deciding for yourself.

Not that I'm actually recommending the game lol. Honestly there is an infinite back catalogue of fantastic indie games out there deserving of support so one probably mediocre AAA is not really worth the effort to pirate. But if someone did want to look at the game for whatever reason, its more productive to say "just don't give them money" rather than "this game I have never actually played is bad and you are bad for looking at it".

[gachaparadise]

okaaay day 2 in the wu/wa trenches 🫡

got very verbose with this one... woops.

unfortunately i was under a time constraint once again today so i STILL haven't gotten to play as much as I'd like. everything here is initial impressions off 4ish hours of gameplay.

the movement is growing on me. there's no way to say this without sounding insane but. i just need to look at it more from a "this is a video game" perspective. like to compare, genshin is going for that immersive feel. sure it takes 5 minutes to get up this mountain but it feels RIGHT you know? whereas in wuwa it takes 3 seconds. why should it take longer this is a video game. we both know you have places to be get up there Rover :)

that sounds demented written out but I know what I mean so i'll leave it in i guess. i appreciate the expediency with which you can get around is the point i'm trying to make. it makes the animation a little clunkier and the world a little less immersive but from a moment to moment gameplay perspective it works.

the combat goes hard. its so flashy and feels good but... i need to test it against anything other then random mobs i found in the trash to see how deep it actually goes. i want to try parrying and stuff but everything keeps dying orz.

some of the button mapping on controller continues to be... eugh. the combo to get to the grapple especially i have trouble with. it's literally the same combo as the one for genshin but it just doesn't activate with the same certainty. sometimes it just keeps whipping out the sensor instead of the hook and i'm like. do you want me dead?

Scar gets his own paragraph. he came. he saw. he served cunt. he left. gamechangingly cute and charming. literally takes the game up a full point from a (preliminary)6 to a 7 he's so fucking good. his design ATE. his va SERVED. his message CRYPTIC. his little wink as he leaves CUTE AS FUCK. the way he called his little tête-à-tête with the Rover a date GAY. he's great. no notes that's a perfect man.

the va (with the exception of Scar) is just... okay. I really do not care for yangyang's voice (not her vas fault i just don't like it) and she's the person we've spent the most time with so far so that kinda sucks. i'm literally thinking about switching to jp instead orz. but some of the text boxes are still broken and there's no log function so i'm worried i'm gonna miss stuff, especially with how fast i'm whipping through some of this story.

on that note the story is just OK. it's not good, i can't say its really hooked me yet. its a little... generic. post magical disaster world wherein humans cling to life and have special powers. nothing wrong with that but so far it's just been a lot of throwing words at me. the characters themselves are also pretty bland (minus Scar). i really hope i will get to know them better in the future because chars are MAKE or BREAK for gacha games. the designs are also a little hit or miss. they're fine i guess but they don't really compel me.

also. they did just ape genshin whole cloth for like. basically everything. like the world puzzles where you follow little wispy things (seelies) and the glowing floaty things you collect (anemoculus) and the over world puzzles that are "get to the chest in time" or "shoot the targets" are just... from genshin. hoyo doesn't own those ideas! for sure! but. they're in THIS game because of genshin don't kid yourself. and thats not to mention the battelpass and banner and event and guide structures that are just. the same.

ARGH! all this makes it sound like i dislike the game. I don't!! i'm having fun!! it's just easier to catalogue things i disliked in detail. i don't have as much to say about the parts i liked. combat good. echoes cool. Rover cute. I'm having a pretty good time. thats about it orz.

i don't think I'll have anything new to report tomorrow? i can't see myself changing my mind on anything i've written so far. i might update in a week or two and see if the game grew on me or lost me completely. i could see it going either way. it's fun but i'm not sure i can see myself committing to it long term you know? but who knows. maybe it's just launch day growing pains and thing will look up soon.

[samuelroukin]

What are some of your favorite movie/TV kisses?

i can honestly say i have no idea,, the only one coming to mind is this brokeback mountain one

[inkskinned]

i both firmly believe that self-diagnosing saved my life and i think that the way tiktok and instagram have recently been spreading misinformation about mental illness/neurodivergence is incredibly harmful.

people who are looking for answers are already people who are in a vulnerable situation.

much of the misinformation appears logically sound; and is presented as definitive fact (prefaced with claims such as "research shows"). it's imperative we remember correlation does not prove causation. it is incredibly dangerous to make definitive statements like "if X happened in your childhood, you now Z as an adult." real scientists will almost always use may or other less-definitive terms. similarly, equating one behavior/experience with any single condition is also unsafe. many conditions have overlapping symptoms; and many people "mask" their key symptoms, even to themselves.

we cannot discern from a singular data point any conclusion. in official diagnosis, for a behavior/experience to be considered a symptom, it must significantly influence your life. many people enjoy an organized space. that is a preference. disrupting your daily life even at personal cost in order to prioritize organization is more likely a symptom.

again, a single data point is not an effective diagnostic tool. it is necessary and important work to catalogue and consider all unwanted/distressing behaviors in order to understand a complete picture of the person.

i will see creators in paid partnerships make generalized behavioral/emotional claims that apply to a large portion of a community, and then they will suggest that the "solution" to that behavior is through their paid partner/through their personal support. "follow for more psych tips/facts" is an incredibly evil marketing tactic. i very rarely see unpartnered/unbranded content on how to aid/comfort those behaviors and feelings.

much of the misinformation employs a subtle technique (called confirmation bias) of setting up a conclusion before "proving" the conclusion. "you know you have X when you experience A,B, and C." no person's experience of their conditions/behaviors will look exactly the same as another's. while knowing certain things might be a sign/symptom of a condition, it is irresponsible to consider it definitive.

confirmation bias is unfortunately extremely effective on tiktok specifically. the algorithm will notice that you interacted longer with the video that "proves" (through a singular video) that you "have" a condition. it will continue to feed you related videos that further confirm what you believe.

this is dangerous because we are, unfortunately, not good at knowing ourselves. i did not know it was unusual to vividly nightmare every night; i didn't consider it a symptom. i was similarly dismissive also of any other signs of my PTSD - i incorrectly assigned them to anxiety/adhd. on the small scale, this can mean a longer journey to healing. on the larger scale, it can mean people with extremely difficult situations are unable to get the help they need.

please, if you can, and you're looking to self-diagnose: be careful about what you assume about yourself. try to keep an honest journal of what you're thinking/feeling/doing for a few days.

do not go in with an assumption. try to keep an open mind. i think we all "suspect" we have something - but like i said, i completely missed my own PTSD symptoms, because i suspected the ADHD the most, and only "saw" those symptoms.

do your own research. if the tiktok says "research shows", google that research. figure out who paid for that research. do further research related to that study - has it ever been repeated? is it peer reviewed? do other researchers seem to accept it as conclusive?

if you feel you really resonate with the materials of one person's experience with a condition, find other examples. see if you relate to other creators who identify similarly.

and please - please do not stop once you come to a conclusion. i fully believe that the diagnostic process should be seen as a first step, not a destination. by knowing what you might be struggling with, you gain an incredibly powerful tool on how to gain peace with that condition.

if you feel yourself emotionally respond to a tiktok/etc that suggests something that might be true about yourself, i'm glad you had that experience. but it's also important to not relax into the "easy" answer. interrogate it. start googling what else that could mean; what ways you could work on healing that wound.

healing does not "belong" to any one condition. i want you to begin to look into healing no matter if you have "proven" you have a condition or not. it is never selfish to practice responsible self-care. even if you don't relate to having adhd, you are not harming me by using adhd-inspired study tips. it is not making my condition worse for you to seek peace by asking for more time on tests. even if it was - the fault would be with the system, not in your need of something the system makes inaccessible.

remind yourself that everything you experience is real. and because it is real, it is complicated. while things might be related - even sometimes clearly related - a stranger on the internet cannot make that discernment for you. you as a person deserve the work, attention, and care that goes into the process of unravelling the harm that has been done to you.

it makes me very, very upset to see how popular these videos have become, because they're so irresponsible. and they clearly are targeting a vulnerable group. for example, making generalized claims about children of unloving caretakers is targeting those who have experienced neglect. there is no way to use 30 second videos to correctly analyze what that neglect might have caused in your adult life. i'm sorry, but it's snake oil.

i know it is so powerful soothing to recognize that you aren't broken. that others exist like you out there. i want every person looking for answers to find their answer. i want you to feel seen and heard and understood. i want you to find your community.

i just want it to happen safely.

[crow-stars]

❝HEAR IT FROM ME❞

❦ summary; a person's voice, so unique and custom to them and only them. it's familiar to those who know it and sought after to those who love it.

♪the characters in this story; cater diamond, gn!reader

✎word count; 822

☛the author's notes; nothing to note...

☪look at the catalogue?

The phone rang once, no answer. Twice, no answer. Three times, and the call was picked up.

“H... Hello?”

He smiled at the sound of your voice and answered quickly. “Morning cutie! Did you sleep well?”

Cater hears you groan into the phone, probably dragging a hand down your face to try and wake yourself up a bit more.

“Cater, it is five am where I am right now. You could’ve at least texted me.”

He chuckles a bit at your tired voice, but is still smiling regardless. “Oh, I know, but I’m excited to hear your voice! I’m-”

You’re quick to interrupt him. “‘Coming back today and can’t wait to see you.’ I know Cay, you’ve been calling me almost everyday since you got the notice.” There’s a small little affectionate chuckle from you and it makes Cater melt.

Cater was a senior now, with you not being a senior. As a senior, Cater had to go off campus to get some real world experience and get some internships. Fortunately, he had gotten a few offers that he was happy to accept but, unfortunately, the ones he wanted were all quite a bit away from NRC and Sage’s Island. That also meant being away from you.

He whined and despaired about this, and Cater was very tempted to take some of the closer options. But you, ever the angel, persuaded him to take the ones that he wanted. You told him you’d be fine without him and that it was only a year, that the two of you could always call and text one another.

While not the most preferred situation, Cater did do his best to keep in contact with you, calling more than texting, despite you telling him to just text you and not do a minute call talking about his lunch. He still insisted on calling though, and he was thankful that you put up with him for so long.

“Anyway, how’s class these days?”

He hears shuffling on the other end and a small sigh before your answer.

“Could be better, could be worse. Trying to get better grades in Crewel’s classes.”

Cater giggles lightly. “If you want, I could help.”

He hears you laugh now and it makes Cater smile wide.

“Sweet, but no. I’ll be fine, Cay.”

“Aww. Oh well then.”

“How long until you get here?”

Cater pulls the phone away from his ear and checks the time. It’s 5:17 am and, from how fast his transport is going, he estimated a good hour or so, if he’s lucky.

“I’ll probably get here at maybe six, six twenty.”

You smile and chuckle lightly. “That’s good. This means I have an hour to sleep. Night night.”

Your words make Cater panic, and he doesn’t want you to hang up on him. “Wait, wait, wait! Don’t hang up, please!”

“What?”

His cheeks flush red and he grips the phone a bit tighter. Seven, that was embarrassing to say out loud and your confused what doesn’t help a lot either.

Cater hears more shuffling, more movement and you sound much more awake now. “Why don’t you want me to hang up, Cater?”

“Haha it’s just... y’know...” His voice got quieter and quieter, this wasn’t like him at all and he wished that you could read minds so he wouldn’t say all this aloud. Maybe he should’ve just texted you, to avoid this.

“No Cay, I don’t know.” Your voice, it’s gentle, soft and caring. It makes Cater’s chest fill with emotions that he wants to bask in. “You can tell me, I won’t judge.”

The words are there in his chest, ready to slip past his lips, and he just wants to screw his lips shut. But he doesn’t want to say no to you, to lie to you.

“I like your voice...”

There’s a pause, he hears you suck in a sharp breath and he waits for your answer, fingers curling in a tight fist. He dreads anything negative that may come from your lips, but he just wants to hear you say something, just anything.

“You...” Another pause, you suck in a breath. “You like my voice.”

Cater makes an affirming noise. You let out a breathy laugh and he hopes that it’s a good thing.

“Cater.” He hears you giggle and his heart soars at the sound. “Cater, you are one interesting person, you know.”

“Cay-Cay knows it best, cutie!”

You laugh and he smiles, happy that you didn’t berate him or call him odd. You only keep accepting and accepting him. All of him.

“Alright, I guess I can stay on call for a bit longer, since I’m already awake.”

Cater grins, humming happily. “Yay! Thank you~” As the two of you continue talking, he grips the small little bouquet of flowers in his hands. As cheesy as it is, he just hopes you’ll accept it as you keep doing with him.

[byah-freecs]

About the new information related to nen

Togashi released this news about nen a while ago and I decided to make some observations about it, including Gon's nen change.

For those who don't know, I refer to this image:

First of all it is interesting to see that many users that we thought were specialist actually belong to other categories. For example, Komugi is an enhancer, no specialist. This probably means that people belonging to this category are not limited to defense and physical strength, but instead can also choose to improve their mind. This explains why she could quickly learn and memorize the positions of the game pieces. This revelation leaves me with a few questions, the main one being:

1. What is the limit of enhancement? Can users of this category upgrade everything? That is: mind, attack, defense, weapons, and we have even been shown users who have improved their healing ability. Can Enhancers enjoy all these functions or is it impossible for the same individual to enhance all of them? I am not saying that anyone in the series will do this, it just aroused curiosity in me.

Another surprise was some of the characters that were placed as transmuters. Youpi and Bisky are good examples, I always imagined they were enhancers. Tsubone is also close to transmutation.

Analyzing what these three characters have in common we can assume that this category can not only change the user's nen, but also their body.

Another interesting discovery is about Melody, who is in between emission and manipulation. Considering the origin of her ability, I always imagined she would be a specialist, but now that I think about it, that position makes sense! When she reassures Kurapika with the sound of her flute she is using manipulation, and when she hears sounds from a long distance she uses emission. Or can her hearing ability not be catalogued, and in fact the range of the flute's sound that is considered emission? I can't say for sure, but there is logic to it!

About Gon, there has been a change of nen. Yes, he is still an enhancer, but it is important to emphasize a comment from Biscuit in Greed Island. In this picture she says that "he should be between an enhancer and an emission type".

Unfortunately I only found the picture in Portuguese, because I'm Brazilian and I couldn't find the manga in English (even if my English is confusing and makes no sense, that's the reason, I don't know English lol). Along with this line, it is shown where Gon's nen was possibly positioned in the graphic and in this new image Gon doesn't have this slant for emission, he is 100% enhancer. This subtle difference indicates that Togashi still has plans for his return.

More things I'd like to add briefly:

1. Meruem is emission, this means that his ability to absorb the power of whoever he eats is not his hatsu, it was probably just something inherited from his own nature as a chimera ant.

2. The nen categories have levels, and they are: natural, skilled, excellent and extreme. Netero and Meruem are catalogued at the extreme level of their respective categories, so I deduce that to be considered extreme it is necessary for the user to be very good in different categories besides their dominant category.

3. Milluki is as manipulation with expert leaning. What does this mean? What does it mean to be somewhat of an specialist? Unlike Kurapika who has scarlet eyes Milluki doesn't seem to have any different characteristics to be in that position. This means that for users close to the specialization it is possible to somehow get close. What does this tilt change about Milluki's manipulation?

Anyway, I can (and intend to) speculate more about the information in this image in the future, but for now this is all I have to add. Thanks for reading and again I apologize for my bad English!!! <3