#it should not be this fuckin hard

[pastadoughie]

[inkskinned]

oh you know it's all latestage capitalism but the thing is. how are you supposed to be a person inside of this. a person trying to be a better version of yourself.

oh, you started working young, which was kind of hard, but it's just the way stuff works sometimes. and it was 2008 and your family couldn't afford heat. but it's fine, you grow a spine and get used to the professional world and besides it was the suburbs we're talking about here, like, your life could have been actually hard, so what if your father lost his job and you can't afford to move or turn the lights back on. and once you start making money, it's good. you keep doing that. because now they're relying on you. so you have to do that.

oh you were in thousands of dollars of debt at 17 years old so that you could go to school, because you have to go to school if you want to get a "real" job. you even did it "right", you worked parttime and attended community college before you transferred to a public school. you were under so many merit scholarships.

which is fine. you pick yourself up and you say like, okay. i graduated college. i'm holding down a job. i'm doing the Adult Thing, which looks and acts like this, according to all the books i've read. you start with the shitty job and then you climb that corporate ladder.

but the shitty job doesn't cover rent and you stretch yourself too-thin so you get sick. good luck with that. the shitty job no longer pays for your meals. everyone asks why you don't just move, but there's nowhere to move to. and with what money are you going to be moving? and then the loans come back, because they were never going to forgive them, because you were 17 and trying to do the right thing, which was stupid. people are now saying you shouldn't have even gone to school.

which is fine. but because you have no other option, so you do the shitty job, and you apply every day for like 5 new ones, and despite the fact everyone says "there's no one who wants to work!" it's actually just that nobody is fucking hiring so you can either work for 13 dollars an hour in the shitty place you know (where at least you have a passingly friendly relationship with the manager) or you can start from scratch again with a different 13 dollars an hour without knowing how much abuse from the new job you'll be taking.

and if you quit you lose your insurance. if you quit you lose your housing. if you quit, you'll be another burnout kid. the lazy ones. these assholes, look at them!

and you come home to a family dinner and you hear from your father the same old thing. how he worked hard at his job and yes it sucked for a while but he was able to provide for the family and then the house and the dog and the rest of barbie's dream vacation. how the insurance did cover some of it. how you just really need to start speaking up more in manager conversations so they know you're a go-getter. you want to tell him - did you know we're actually doing more now hourly than any previous generation? - but you can't remember where you heard that statistic, and you're far too tired for the fucking argument. and then he starts in on his usual bit. where's the house? where's your kids? where's your ambition.

the same job the same money the same hours doesn't do it anymore. the same nose-to-the-grindstone now just shreds your face off. there's no such thing as upwards mobility, not really. and as far as you're aware, the money certainly is not trickling. you do the soulless stupid shit you signed up for because you fucking have to or else you literally risk your life (food, the apartment, the insurance), but it's not getting you anything. you download the stupid "save more" app and you budget and you do every right thing and then the price of eggs is 7 dollars and you say - oh great! another thing i have to fucking worry about now!

and you go to your stupid job and everyone in your father's generation just tells you to be better about being an adult. they have their homes and their savings account and their bailout and they say. well have you tried not drinking starbucks. well your generation just spends too much on clothing. well you might just be too addicted to travelling. and you - because you need the job - you bite your tongue and don't say i am being held prisoner and you're suggesting i stop pacing my cell if i don't like the scenery and you don't say what the fuck do you think i've been doing with my money and you don't say i haven't spent a cent on something nice in literally forever much less coffee you arrogant asshole. you open and close your bank app and check your loans and check your credit score and check fucking zillow and ziprecruiter and apartments.com just one time more. and still they give you that demeaning little grin and say - see, what you need is -

what you need is for your meds to stop being so fucking expensive. what you need is for the housing bubble to explode into dust. what you need is for billionaires to choke on their wealth. what you need is actual help. what you will get is more economic advice from people who are older-and-wiser.

and above you, almost in a glimmer, you can see the wedged smile of your debt getting toothier, wider.

[shroomlightruins]

Cleo snake?

[xray-vex]

hey remember when the OFMD s2 teaser video dropped and there were people who were somehow CONVINCED that Stede was referring to Izzy when he said "I don't care what any of you say, he's actually a good guy" and not, y'know, Ed, whom they were literally just talking about in this scene?

like what the hell was that about

[dykedvonte]

The second fic idea is a what-if scenerio where Jimmy dies in the crash due to and altercation with Curly and how Curly would navigate being Captain once he has to notice the little things and how he and Anya's relationship develop as he adopts an identical view point to hers rather than just keeping the peace.

And maybe i will write it but only time will tell tbh but it's stuck in my brain dome for the time being.

[jaythelay]

Nintendo filed for the patent after Palworld was already out. In fact, the feature was already in several games before Pokemon.

So they legally stole an idea and are suing people for using such a broad concept of said idea.

Oh! And now they're taking down people's Channels for making videos about emulation (This (Emulation) has long be established as Legal? Legal. Bastards.)

If Nintendo wins this lawsuit, Japanese companies are going to patent Eeeverything and start suing Eeeeveryooone.

Nintendo Needs To Lose So Hard They Lose The Patent. Genuinely anything else? Kills the games industry.

Nintendo is willing to, Once, Again, Throw the entire Industry under the bus for Just A Bit More Money. These fuckers aren't even competing with Anyone, they just want to destroy competition. Remember what became the ESRB trials? Did you watch those? Because that was the first time Nintendo put the industry into uncertainty and censorship Just To Spite Their One Competition, Sega. Had the US government not been reasonable? And say "regulate yourselves" Gaming would have died.

Nintendo is absolutely disgusting, pathetic, incapable of competing with even it's own fans without pulling a gun on them, but hell has no fury like Nintendo's legal team seeing anything thay challenges Nintendo's perfect little image.

Please. Do Not Support Nintendo Anymore. If you care about Art, Creation, people's Careers, yourself and your friends, you will choose to harm Nintendo'a BottomLine by no longer giving them money, by talking shit online. Nothing else will work.

If Japanese courts take Nintendo's side, nothing will stop companies from patenting first person shooters, from patenting platformers, from patenting MOBA's, nothing is safe.

What Nintendo has effectively started is quite literally the end of gaming. They're Attacking Indie developers, they're attacking all artists of all sectors, they're attacking your ability to create, they're attacking people's livelihood, they're attacking everything built up over the course of nearly 6 decades, just to spite One Fucking Game.

[breadandblankets]

something I think u have to do if you make everyone else in the batfam a meta/magic user/bender/special abilities haver of some variation is make Duke the inverse

listen he's the only meta right? the only one with powers? if you make everyone Else have powers than what's his schtick??

(I mean other than being a genius teen activist and hero well in his own rights before Batman even sneezed in his direction but you and I both know no one cares about that -_-)

its about the Contrast okay

[unexpectedbrickattack]

experimentin w shit heehee

[flingza-roller]

woah ok ive been seeing an insane amount of hate for side order so yknow what fuck you. this blog is a safe space i love octo expansion and i also love side order im having a very good time with this game. set urself free, release expectations, embrace fun

[proxentauri]

i love minecraft bats. they have no idea what's going on. empty head no self preservation. he just like me fr

[luck-of-the-drawings]

OOH YEAH BABY! PARTY TIME BABY! MUSIC! DRINKS! SOCIAL PRESSURE & A PSYCHEDELIC BREAK DOWN! WELCOME TO VAMPIRE SOCIETY MOTHERFUCKER! ARE YOU SCARED? DO YOU UNDERSTAND YET? ITS OKAY IF NOT. FIRE DISSOLVED IT! ITS ALL GONE NOW. HAVE FUN!

[itissadbutitsmy-artblog]

it's as done as im going to make it tbh. inconsistent, not perfect, but done :)

i'd say "sorry about this" but if i found a silly three minute wizards city fan animatic id lose my mind so im not sorry in the least

[silliness-inc]

lers that do the shit where they mock u + coo at u CANSOMEODY PUT ME DOWN

[aces-to-apples]

Frankly I think Alistair being mildly shitty to that mage in Ostagar seems pretty in-character for the guy he is before the massive, life-altering trauma that is the Ostagar massacre wherein he sees all of his Grey Warden comrades, his beloved mentor/father figure, and his beloathed half-brother/convenient-target-of-projection absolutely torn to shreds by literal Thedas boogeymen. IIRC Morrigan and Flemeth both comment on his wack behavior after Ostagar and then by the time we get to Lothering Alistair just fully surrenders any and all responsibility (and, frankly, agency) to the player's Warden for the foreseeable future. It can then take anywhere from a couple IRL hours to the entire second act of the game for him to retake almost any amount of it back. And depending on the player's choices in dialogue, and especially whether or not they choose to romance him, we may only see flashes of that guy we met at Ostagar before he potentially morphs into almost someone else entirely (hardened!King!Alistair). All that to say, I don't actually think it's a useful criticism of "characterization" to bring up Alistair's glibness as compared to his behavior in the majority of the game because from where I'm standing (looking directly at his snottiness about Cailan, his complaints about being assigned to the Tower of Ishal, his Templar-esque focusing on Morrigan and Flemeth being apostates, his generally pretty brusque manner with the Warden recruits) it seems fairly in-line with the rest of his behavior at Ostagar.

[yellowocaballero]

i know it's been an age since you've been involved with the tma fandom but i was rereading some of your web!jon fics and was wondering what your opinion was on web-martin and/or annabelle cane in general

Oh wow interesting question. Disclaimer to say that I never finished S5 so whatever was up with Annabelle at the end I have, like, no idea.

I...think I would have more developed and interesting opinions on this if you had asked me a few years ago, lol. I think there's a lot of interesting conversations you could have (and that were had!) about what makes somebody an Avatar in the first place. I do think fundamental to somebody becoming an Avatar is one of several things: a) the Entity victimizing you as a child or adult (Mike Crew, Michael and Helen), b) needing the Entity as fuel for your own sins and worst instincts (Daisy, Jude), or c) loving the Entity (Jane Prentiss).

I think Martin leaned on the Web-related stuff in his lying and everything but I don't think he ever got addicted to it, or needed it. In a lot of ways he rejected it, and in a lot of other ways he's a very honest person, even as he does lie and manipulate a bit when he finds it necessary. But of course this is a really interesting possibility to explore with him and definitely wouldn't be against who he fundamentally is.

Personally, I was never interested because I found it too easy? I was more interested in, "How the fuck does JON, of all people, be a Web avatar". Or, "Martin as Avatar of the Slaughter is both so incongruent but also makes so much sense and is so so funny". I liked freestyling with TMA, since the amorphous nature of the worldbuilding meant that you could do basically whatever. Entities are like the Force: a complete handwave so you can just do what you want.

Annabelle Cane...I remember liking her a lot! I definitely thought she was very different from the other Avatars, and that she seemed to be thinking more big picture and was less rabid than them. Also less monologing. I was definitely interested enough to make her a major character twice over, and as a villain I think she's far more interesting than Jonah because her motives could be a lot more complicated. I always write her as symbolic of a lot (neoliberalism or allonormativity or etc). Don't remember exactly why though...I think...I just thought she was cool...?

Sorry, it's been a while and this is all off the cuff, don't hold me to any of this lol. Glad people are still reading the TMA stuff though. And still leaving me 'wow this is like a fever dream' comments on Fahrenheit 101. Where did I LOSE YOU.

[cadybear420]

COP 3 really bringing out the worst of the "female coded MCs" takes on Choices Reddit. Lord please yeet me into Mount Atropo.