#i used to think this was the coolest thing ever

[jadeharleyinc]

right i think we're mostly in agreement! if some of my points made you reconsider some aspects of the question then i'm very honored. i was a little abrasive in my first response but it's always nice to have a chill conversation about art on the internet. (and i appreciate your patience with my extremely long replies lol)

if it helps, in my opinion, "trying to evade the efforts needed to get your idea into reality and using it as a short cut" is a very exciting activity! i've brought up my relationship to programming before, for me using shortcuts and "being lazy" and doing less work for the same final product is satisfying. personally i don't usually find meaning in the labor/process/effort/fine decisionmaking, instead i mostly make art to put Things out into the world and Make Them Exist.

sometimes that even means letting go of control and handing some or all of it to a friend, to a robot, to dice rolls, etc so that i can be surprised by the result. sort of like the joy of generating a world in Minecraft according to your parameters, if that makes sense. it's a very specific way to approach creation, so i don't want to convince you that it's the coolest thing ever, but maybe that will help you understand the emotional appeal?

honestly if we can shut up the dumb CEOs who are too programmer-brained to understand that not everyone wants to offload tasks to a program, and if the folks who find AI art (or other kinds of art really, like conceptual art) dumb and meaningless can tolerate it then i will be very happy! there's really not much else i want out of these conversations, just peace and love on planet earth \o/

as for Marcel Duchamp, essentially what he did was buy a urinal at a shop. like today's urinals, this one was mass-produced in a factory by workers operating machines, and sold as a mere object to be pissed into and never thought about - "slop", one could say. Duchamp then signed it, named it Fountain, and submitted it to an art expo.

his goal was to say, pretty much, "you can't define art". he criticized limiting art to "retinal art", art that mainly stimulates the senses and appeals to people's tastes. to him, Fountain was "an everyday object raised to the dignity of a work of art by the artist's act of choice". he didn't do any work, he didn't make the urinal, etc., but there wasn't really anything for him to "steal" right?

in the end most people agree that he "made" the final piece and that it was art. which is why i think Fountain is very relevant today. when we're asking "but how can anyone get ugly slop made by a machine with none of their input, and call it art? their art??", well Duchamp and the dadaists answered that question back in 1917! and it is still being answered by current-day conceptual artists who experiment with AI (i can list a few but this post is already really long OOPS), and i think that's really, really cool.

As gen-AI becomes more normalized (Chappell Roan encouraging it, grifters on the rise, young artists using it), I wanna express how I will never turn to it because it fundamentally bores me to my core. There is no reason for me to want to use gen-AI because I will never want to give up my autonomy in creating art. I never want to become reliant on an inhuman object for expression, least of all if that object is created and controlled by tech companies. I draw not because I want a drawing but because I love the process of drawing. So even in a future where everyone’s accepted it, I’m never gonna sway on this.

[ask-the-koopa-family]

A little story where Bowser Jr gets jealous...

Art/story/OC are mine dont cooy/repost

Bowser’s Castle, the Courtyard

Bowser Jr. sits on a bench in the castle’s courtyard, arms crossed, glaring at the ground. Bowser strides toward him, his heavy footsteps making the ground tremble slightly. Kamek follows close behind, his expression calm but curious. Cherry is nowhere to be seen yet.

Bowser: (gruffly) "Alright, Jr., what’s the deal? Skipping training, stomping around the castle—what’s going on with you?"

Bowser Jr.: (huffing, avoiding eye contact) "Nothing."

Bowser: (raising an eyebrow) "Doesn’t look like nothing. Spill it."

Bowser Jr.: (exploding) "Why do you care? You’re always too busy with Cleo or the kingdom anyway!"

Bowser blinks, his brows furrowing in confusion. Kamek steps forward, adjusting his glasses.

Kamek: (calmly) "Master Jr., your father does care about you. He’s here, isn’t he?"

Bowser Jr.: (ignoring Kamek, pointing accusingly at Bowser) "You only care about Cleo now! Before she came, I was the one you cared about the most. Now I’m just… nothing."

Bowser’s face darkens, not in anger but in frustration, as he struggles to find the right words. Before he can speak, Cherry appears from the castle, having overheard part of the argument. She walks over quickly but hesitates when she sees Bowser and Jr.

Cherry: "What’s going on here?"

Bowser: (sighing, gesturing to Jr.) "The kid thinks he’s been replaced."

Bowser Jr.: (spinning toward Cherry, shouting) "I have been! Ever since Cleo came, it’s all about her! And you’re just as bad as him! You’re always with her, Cherry! You don’t even care about me anymore!"

Cherry: (stunned) "Jr., that’s not true."

Bowser Jr.: (cutting her off, shouting louder) "You’re not even my real mom, so why do you pretend like you are?!"

The words hang in the air, echoing in the quiet courtyard. Cherry’s face falls, and even Bowser looks taken aback. Kamek clears his throat awkwardly, stepping back to give them space. Bowser places a firm hand on Jr.’s shoulder, his voice low and stern.

Bowser: "That’s enough, Jr. You don’t talk to Cherry like that."

Bowser Jr.: (tearing up, voice trembling) "But it’s true… She’s not my real mom."

Cherry: (kneeling down to his level, her voice soft but steady) "You’re right, Jr. I’m not your mom. I’ve never tried to take her place. But I’ve been here for you ever since you were little. I’ve cared for you, looked out for you, because I love you like family."

Bowser Jr.: (sniffling) "But it feels like no one cares about me anymore. Before Cleo, I was the one everyone noticed. Now it’s like I don’t matter."

Bowser: (firmly) "That’s not true, and you know it. You’re still my son. You’ll always matter to me."

Cherry: (nodding) "And to me too. Cleo isn’t replacing you, Jr. She’s your little sister, and she looks up to you. Do you know how often she asks about you when you’re not around?"

Bowser Jr.: (wiping his eyes) "She does?"

Cherry: (smiling gently) "She does. She thinks you’re the coolest big brother ever."

Kamek finally steps forward, his voice calm and wise.

Kamek: "Master Jr., when Cleo was born, it didn’t make you less important. It just means there’s more family to share the love with. And as the big brother, you have an important role to play in her life."

Bowser: (nodding) "And don’t think for a second that we’ve stopped caring about you. You’re still the prince of this kingdom, Jr., the heir to the throne! And nothing’s going to change that."

Bowser Jr.: (looking down) "I- I..didn’t mean to say you’re not my mom, Cherry. I was just… mad...I'm sorry.."

Cherry: (smiling, pulling him into a gentle hug) "I know, Jr. And I forgive you. But I hope you know I’ll always care about you, no matter what."

Bowser: (gruffly, crossing his arms) "And next time, come talk to us instead of sulking out here, alright? We’re a family. We work through things together."

Bowser Jr.: (nodding) "Okay… "

Cherry ruffles his hair affectionately, and Bowser places a heavy but reassuring hand on Jr.’s shoulder. The three of them stand together, the tension easing as Kamek smiles faintly in the background.

Kamek: "Well, now that that’s settled, perhaps it’s time for Master Jr. to return to his training?"

Bowser Jr.: (managing a small smile) "Yeah, I guess."

Bowser: (smirking) "Good. And maybe I’ll join you. Let’s see if you’ve still got what it takes to beat your old man."

Jr. chuckles lightly as the family heads back inside, the atmosphere lighter now.

THE END

[fuckingfandomfreak]

the complete mischaracterization of early season merlin (every season merlin actually 🙄) gets me so bad in fanfics bc he actually had the funniest crush of all time on arthur. he’s such a fucking loser teenage boy with a crush. like obviously there was that rivals thing that last for like not even 48 hours, but also merlins complete ranting about how arthur thinks himself so cool and smart and tough (and handsome) when MERLIN is the one who is cool and smart and tough (and handsome).

why doesn’t arthur think he’s the coolest, smartest, toughest, (most handsome) man ever? how could he be so blind? gaius, let me tell you about all the times I was the coolest, smartest, toughest, (most handsome) man ever like when I saved arthur’s life 4 times this week. see, arthur really should just acknowledge how superior I am to him in every way (and swoon at my feet).

It’s so fucking FUNNY. he’s so immature. like im actually convinced that merlin used to fantasize about revealing his magic to arthur in some grand, over dramatic sacrifice, and the main point of the fantasy was arthur crying over merlin’s dead (preferably injured but thinking he’s dead) body and lamenting how stupid he was for never realizing how awesome (and good-looking) merlin was, and could merlin forgive him? gaius is looking at this boy daydreaming like bsffr rn

[venush0llows]

jaycecait friendship/siblingism is VERY important to me so here are some headcanons :

1) caitlyn hated being an only child, always bored and wanting somebody to look up to and confide in (especially because she struggled to make friends as a pretty shy kid). so when her parents introduced her to jayce she jumped at the opportunity to have someone older than her that she could look up to as a role model. she would go to his lab and pester him about his research, ask if he needed help studying or if she could quiz him. at first he finds her annoying, but not wanting to be rude since she’s his sponsors’ daughter, but eventully he becomes used to her company (even enjoys it) and gets worried when she doesn’t visit for a while. he realises he quite likes being an older brother figure (since he’s also an only child) and giving her advice, helping her with homework etc. he secretly takes a lot of pride in how much she looks up to him.

2) caitlyn is initially lowkey in awe of jayce. she thinks he’s like the coolest person she’s ever met, and is always wanting to be helpful and is constantly bragging to people that she’s his assistant. but as cait gets older she grows out of this, and very quickly goes from being in awe of him to just making fun of him constantly. she mimics his mannerisms and speech, dresses up as him and does very unflattering impressions (which viktor finds hilarious). jayce starts to get genuinely annoyed by it, because caitlyn knows exactly how to get under his skin, and he starts to tease her too in a very brotherly way. like the ‘not touching can’t get mad!’ kinda teasing, it’s really stupid.

3) to continue with them teasing each other i’m imagining them at a fancy dinner party at the kiramman house, and everyone around them is politely talking meanwhile jayce and caitlyn are sitting at the far end of the table balancing spoons on their noses, flicking stuff at each other, stealing each other’s food etc. cassandra always fixes them a look and they go ‘he/she started it!’ and point fingers. they’re just so sweet i can’t deal anyways

4) jayce was one of the people who helped caitlyn realise she was a lesbian. she was sitting in his office and unloading her tween problems about how all of the girls at her school were obsessed with the boys and how annoying she found it, doing the classic young queer thing of ‘why do girls want boyfriends so much they’re grossss, hanging out with girls is so much better?’. and jayce is like are you not interested in the boys at school? and cait is like ew no. and he’s like have you ever thought you might like girls? and caitlyn is then like… huh, interesting. they then don’t talk about it again until a couple of months later when caitlyn develops a huge crush on one of the girls at her school, and she tells jayce EVERYTHING. she goes to his lab every day and fills him in on all of the drama, like ‘she smiled at me today!’. he listens attentively to all of it.

5) jayce introduces caitlyn to viktor as his sister, which is the first time he has ever referred to her as that. he doesn’t even notice that he did it, but it means so much to caitlyn. she gives him a huge hug before saying goodbye that day which surprises jayce a little. viktor later says something like ‘your sister seems nice’, and jayce is like oh she’s not my sister she’s just the kid of my sponsors. and viktor is like but you introduced her to me as your little sister? this is the moment jayce kinda realises how important caitlyn is to him too, since he’s also an only child who never experienced having a sibling, and he fully accepts his big brother role with caitlyn.

6) viktor also initially doesn’t like cait and thinks she’s disruptive and distracts jayce, but jayce seems to enjoy her company so viktor doesn’t mind. but eventually they both bond over swapping embarrassing jayce stories, and viktor loves explaining their research to her because of how genuinely interested she is by it and they basically just nerd out together. jayce loves how well they get along, as they’re both such important people to him, and sometimes he sits back while they talk and just watches them all proud and giddy (until they gang up and start making fun of him, then he doesn’t like it so much).

7) caitlyn IMMEDIATELY picked up on the jayvik tension. she met viktor literally once and hung out in the lab with them for a bit, and when viktor left the room she immediately says to jayce okay what the hell is going on there? and jayce gets all flustered, and she teases him being like jayce has a cruuuuush!

8) jayce is often on the receiving end of all of caitlyn’s girl troubles, and one time after she got broken up with he came over with comfort food, and they sat and talked for a whole evening just eating and crying and laughing.

9) caitlyn mourned jayce heavily after the war, his loss had a huge effect on her. she lived in denial for a while, not wanting to worry or burden vi, but when going through some of her old things she finds an old picture of them. it’s her as a kid in jayce’s lab, and they’re both grinning at the camera (viktor is taking the photo). she breaks down sobbing when she sees it and vi comes running in. she hugs her and looks at the photo in cait’s hand, realising instantly what was going on. they sit in a crumpled heap on the floor as caitlyn cries and vi strokes her hair, her own tears falling silently. it hits for both of them in that moment : they’d both lost a sibling.

10) caitlyn wrote jayce’s name on her slip of paper.

the end i might add more idk

[phillipfancypants]

Also: I want to add something based on my experience being in my undergrad through all of this. When I started college in 2021, AI was Not A Thing. Like, I used CleverBot in middle school but got bored with it by high school. Then in my sophomore year we saw the rise of ChatGPT and DALL-E and everything was flipped on its head.

Writing and History professors started getting rid of take home essays, opting to switch to oral exams, in-class papers, or handwritten essays. Some CS professors straight up banned AI code, other professors encouraged it (but made project prompts harder). No one knew what to do.

I saw the bad sides of AI first. I lost a science-related art contest to an AI-generated work. I had to redo entire sections of a group project during my study abroad because my group member was using AI to solve things (poorly) and didn’t think to tell us. I had to make the call as a TA grader on whether a student used AI to write code, or whether they really were just that dumb.

But slowly, I started to see some good sides too. And that was scary. I held off for a long time and started off small. I realized I could use Chat-GPT as a sophisticated Ctrl-F when wading through hour-long interviews for my student newspaper (i.e. I could ask it “Give me a direct quote from this interview that relates to X-topic"). I also started to use it as a tip-of-my-tongue thesaurus at times. You can tell it "I want a word that is similar to these words/concepts" and it's a lot better than finding something "close enough" using a single synonym.

I also took a class last semester called "Cognition in Writing" that changed my worldview in many ways. The professor was one of the coolest people I know—they did their undergrad in Computer science and linguistics and then went on to get a Brain and Cognitive Science PhD with a focus on how the brain is able to create words and thoughts. The bulk of her graduate research was literally the science that Chat-GPT was built on. And so she knows *exactly* what it can and cannot do. They're now a professor in my school's writing department and are very involved in discussions over what is and isn't okay in terms of using Chat-GPT in the department.

She was the first person I ever heard using the term bullshit in an academic context—in AI study, it's a term used to explain the fact that AI Cannot Think. It can regurgitate information it's been given, but it cannot think for itself. Across that course, they would often give 2 options for each homework assignment. One that encouraged us to try out generative AI and think for ourselves about what it got right/wrong and another option that explicitly did not use AI, for those of us with ethical or environmental concerns. (I mainly did the non-ai because I found AI to be too much of a hassle to deal with).

Anyway, this is all a roundabout way of saying that, as far as my current education has taught me, these taggers are doing exactly the right thing. One of the biggest ideas that my professor wanted us to walk away with when it came to AI was to disclose not only when but how AI was used. In the screenshot, notice how the tags range in severity. Some tag options say that AI was used only to write the title. Others say that they used AI to translate some phrases/sentences into other languages. Some people cited that an AI conversation was the inspiration for their fic, but that the text itself was human-written. Some people cited using AI grammar checkers. And of course, some people said that whole chapters or sections were AI written.

The important thing is that almost every tag was specific and honest. And at least in academia now, that's what we're being taught to do. Keep logs and screenshots of every conversation. Mention when and how AI was used. Because in academia, your use of AI is your responsibility. If it screws up, that's on you.

I fully support this tagging system because it allows people to decide what they're comfortable with reading. To me, that limit is probably that I don't want the text of the body to be AI-generated and I don't want to read things that are re-writes of character-AI interactions. I'm fine with an AI title or a bit of translation here and there. As long as the author is honest. You might have a different limit--perhaps you have environmental/art theft concerns that mean you don't want AI to be involved at any stage of the process. Or maybe you're fine with any/all AI usage. The important thing is that people are tagging their usage and that we can read those tags before we start reading.

OP asks if these people "have no shame" and that's an unfair assumption to make. In the grey areas of "just the title" or "just some translation," I'd much rather have people be upfront about it. Readers deserve to know what they're about to read and make decisions for themselves.

do people have no shame anymore?

[vajelis]

I really think we should start using Extreme Dinosaur terms in real life. "I'm gonna carnivate this lasagne" or "I'll fossilize you" if you want to threaten someone

[ruushes]

companions re-classed part 3 - shadowheart 🌌🌚🌝

*shadowdancer isn't a 5e rogue subclass, it's a 3.5e rogue-based prestige class, but it suits her so well and when i played 3.5e as a kid i thought it was the coolest thing ever lol so i wanted to use it

karlach 🔥 wyll ⚔️

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

What a lovely family portrait👨🏻‍👨🏻‍👦🏻🖼️

Enhanced image of A-Yuan's first sword flight.

[novelconcepts]

wait wait wait, so we had: a gorgeously diverse, complicated story about the folly of the Jedi, set against the backdrop of truly fascinating Force witch lore and a potential deep-dive into the real fallout of suppressing emotion, complete with totally rad lightsaber fights, grayscale characters all around, and the coolest fucking helmet in the history of the franchise, all tucked into the world of Star Wars, which makes money simply by existing--and they cancelled it?? i am going to explode

[mossy-paws]

Subspace doodles (PHIGHTING! Mermaid au)

so I was thinking more about the PHIGHTING mermaid au I’m doing and. What if subspaces’ gas- instead of being like actual gas, was polluted oil? I think that could make for a really cool trope if I ever were to redesign him for it :3!

For the design notes in specific:

When out of control, his “gas” takes the form of polluted oil, in control (as in wearing his mask and tank) it gets filtered into something akin to toxic brine (in which long exposure to can cause a lot of issues, specifically different types of shock, breathing issues, etc). Although the brine isn’t too dangerous to be around in small amounts, it can be harmful over time.

for those wondering what ACTUAL brine water (or more specifically brine pools) are, it’s pretty much a large accumulation of highly concentrated saltwater (which usually is around 10 times saltier then the ocean surrounding it) For most sea animals this brine means instant death due to the fact that is has no oxygen in it as well as the high saline levels.

(Im hyper fixating again can you tell)

[kj-beastboy]

Are we going to see demenica and 505 soon

highly unlikely, I don't care for anything other than Flug. Black Hat a little bit too.

Miss Heed perhaps? but I don't see enough in any other characters yet.

Masterpost for request status on Flug-unrelated things

I feel like atp I barely care for the canon cartoon at all, I just have a very strong fixation on Flug. I should really mention that. I have given up trying to stay in-character and basically use him like my OC. I would LIKE to move on and not be in fandom spaces anymore but sadly my autism does not let me. my brain just refuses; kicking and screaming; to be interested in a single other thing on earth than Flug since nearly 8 years.

it's insanity.

I have no NOTP or disliked dynamic, I will consume anything. paperlizard is cute. but it's a combination of me not being interested enough and others also not being interested enough so I feel it is not worth it to make this content rn. the fandom is ultra turbo dead.

I don't want massive attention -godspeed I don't- but an artist that doesn't get any response is a demotivated one. I know no one who is interested (enough) in these characters.

I would never make fanart of those characters alone¹, I couldn't get my unmedicated ADHD to focus on smth my heart doesn't 110% want to do from pure passion. I take no commissions, I don't draw for money.

you can basically expect to see one and the same thing for a decade straight from me

if I draw them in the future it will be heavily Flug-focused. HEAVILY.

(¹one exception is if a close friend of mine suddenly wants to see one of them)

so that's basically all you need to know! I don't consider myself a member of this fandom anymore since months

[sonknuxadow]

something so beautiful about how shadow with huge demon wings is probably something that would have been widely made fun of a few years ago but the general consensus on it now is that its the coolest thing to ever happen . peace and love on the black comet

[variksel]

dungeons and daddies areas tour dublin live show highlights bcs i Can Not believe i forgot to post this before now:

-anthony going "hold on, i forgot something", going off stage, and bringing out his steam deck

-them doing the pledge of allegiance because "customs told them to" and eeeevery irish person in the crowd booing them

-a grenade got thrown on board of their boat and glenn IMMIDEATLY kicked it towards the nearest npc (he exploded. RIP evan dungeonsanddaddiesareastourdublin)

-anthonys dad fact: "i hate the english" got the most applause ive ever heard in my life

-NPC: "say sorry to me in irish. heres the google translate version of the phrase" ron: "this language is so easy guys!" "ahem. skibidi toilet"

-glenn did a rap break in the middle of the irish national anthem, he went "the socioeconomic factors behind the english fucking you guys over" and then did airhorn sounds. again the most applause i have heard since the anthony dad fact

-matt running a darryl vs. dolphin combat by himself for himself when anthony dissappeared behind the scenes again

-darryl accidentally killing a mermaid that was stuck in the motor of their boat and not telling the other dads. then later, when the mermaid army attacked them (by throwing a grenade on board, of course,) trying to fib that he isnt darryl wilson

-glenn, the boat owner/boat captain 🫡 (oh captain MY captain)

-anthony eating real life sushi off of real life william f. campos' dick

-will constantly going behind the scenes and coming out in different shirts, trying to convince different NPCs that he was a different person

personal ones because I Loved These ngl:

-anthony doing the sign of the cross when, during stuff signing, i told him i was cosplaying tony collette "in memoriam"

-i told freddie tony is my favourite character, then course corrected and said "oh well, WAS" and he said pretty much "oh yeah lmao"

-will fistbumping me after my partner gave him the fanart prints i made for the show (i was toooooooo fuckin nervous and they knew i prolly wouldnt have done it unless they had LMAO it was so cute of them)

-every cast member signing my partners trudy cosplays apron (an apron they had made for the show themselves!!! by hand!!! my partners so mf cool wtf u guys)

-anthony being. ngl so short that he had to do the biggest neck move in history to fit into most pictures and he did it even when he didnt have to lmao (he wouldve fit. just fine into ours without straining his neck but i dont think he saw our phone screen and he was used to it so 😭🫡 thank u king)

-literally everything from the show its been almost a week i cant believe it mfs we saw The Guys in real life!!

[machiavelli]

people need to understand that a buzzcut is only fitting to a very small demographic of this planet.

[boxwinebaddie]

this selena cover is the cd song ever of all time jysk :*

[vounoura]

my special interest is death practices and I'm doing a dual diploma in funeral directing and embalming. and honestly once you start looking into the incredibly vast and fascinating subject of funerary customs you start to notice just how much of of what is considered weird and transgressive in stuff like fantasy is practiced by real actual people in ways that are significant