#its weird to grow up posting your art on the internet

[imflyingfish]

hhhhhrrrrngggggggg

[grub-hut]

I don't use Tiktok, never will, In my opinion I think the app should shut down. [ But that will never happen... So I will cope.] But god are ya'll are insufferable on there. The fact you have this strong par asocial attachment to Sebastian and claim that Zerum is ""ruining the character"" is just blasphemy and shows you guys know nothing to zero about writing and do not play the game whats so ever. I've talked to Zerum; Ive talked to the devs and mods ; and all the false claims and misinformation that's being spread like a wildfire IS CRAZY. Everyone's so exhausted. It takes just a couple of minutes to prove it's false but that would actually require these people to literally sit down and fucking read. Zerum never banned anybody. Zerum doesn't handle the bans in the server. If you got banned or muted, it was most likely the automod in the server that they have implemented to avoid people saying anything weird or sexual... [ A friend of mine got muted because they sent a gif that had a weird name to it; nothing related to the gif, the gif was fine and they filed a ticket and got unmuted. Its just the bot doing its job.] and even then the mods probably banned you for something completely unrelated...

and even then, can we STOP normalizing this??

Like this GRINDS my gears, it fucking rusts, it makes me want to break down and combust into flames- Stop. Stop. YOU ARE THE ISSUE. Creators want to create. Either for ourselves or for others, whatever it maybe people enjoy letting their creativity flow because ITS FUN. IT SHOULD BE--- FUN!!! We are giving you literally something free and something to ENJOY because we enjoy it just as much! This stupid fucking mindset being so normalized makes me SO SICK. " whatever is put on the internet is free reign!" you guys have ZERO respect for any creator; even yourselves and its so BLATANTLY OBVIOUS. You guys preach about "respecting artists/creators" till it doesnt fit with your agenda, because we should just "expect" our works to be disrespected and used. Like our feelings never mattered. Are we going to ignore the discussion of AI art too? Or copyright, or literally anything of that sort here? Yes, its the internet, there WILL be people who are so drastically cruel and do something you will not like. I do agree its best to ignore those kinds of people but that does not mean we should just LET it happen. It does not mean we should suck it up and take the blows. This is how people stop creating, youre killing artists, youre shunning them away because "its the internet, lol, dont get mad if ppl -" Stop it, you're teaching younger generations that it does not matter if you have boundaries or not and that your voice doesnt mean anything. I mean fuck, you put your oc here I can use it however I want then! Because you shouldve expected the moment you click post for other people to use it! Who cares right?! its OUR oc now >:)!!! No matter what the character is from, by a indie game, a comic, a book, yadda yadda. If youre gonna be scum, you are gonna BE scum. Artists should be respected and be listened to. If Zerum ships her oc to her oc, so fucking what? She created him. YES. SHE CREATED HIM. Just because she is a """co-owner" You forget she wrote and designed him. You forget its STILL HER CHARACTER. WHICH BTW, HE WOULDNT EXIST IF IT WASNT FOR ZERUM!! ITS HER CHARACTER- Not yours, and if your first thing that comes to mind " oh but shes ruining her character" then so what, its not MADE for you. Hell, Sebastian is only like 1% of the whole entire game! ENJOY THE GAME, ENJOY THE ACTUAL LORE. MAKE YOUR OWN OCS, GO WACKY WOOHOO AND ENJOY IT WITH OTHERS. If you make headcanons for Sebastian or any other characters! Great! As long as you are respectful who literally cares. HAVE FUN! Stop harassing and bullying and literally spreading misinfo; I am so sick of people with this mindset! This is why the internet is such a shit place to begin with because we just let this stuff happen. Grow up! Like PAInter said.." YOURE NO FUN AT ALL!"

[bulbabutt]

i sure hope as a second mass exodus from twitter occurs (along with the overwhelming conservative nature of the world right now) we dont keep getting more people demanding purity culture. you cant demand every pervert on the internet 'kys' or else there will eventually be no one left on the internet. that window of acceptability will always swing back further and further until the idea of sharing a bed as a married couple is taboo once again.

this is one of the last bastions of peace we have where you can post queer or diverse or maybe just weird art without getting spotted by bigoted grifters trying to make money off outrage culture calling you a pervert or worse. and its entirely imperfect as a website with its own fucking problems, but i really hope the people on it dont start getting worse.

i dont care what you do so long as youre kind to others and respect their rights to exist, and their boundaries. that shouldnt be a controversial statement but i bet i lose followers over it again.

it should also go without question that this does not include people who celebrate fascism. those are the people you need to make clear do not belong in your spaces, people who wilfully wish harm on the more marginalized.

and i understand that i keep bringing this up, that i sound like a broken record and perhaps thats annoying, but im honestly worried about it. i think modern social media and the nature of needing to network to be found by an algorithm that doesnt like anything controversial makes everyone worse. makes you try to be as broadly acceptable as possible. but thats always going to be a losing battle as more and more things become less acceptable.

i think a lot of you just might not have been alive before 2008, but anonymity on the internet is so important. it keeps you safe. we lost that at some point, as the socials with your full name and phone number started forcibly adding your boss to your friends list. made everyone start locking down their shit, as a random meme about 'boss makes a dollar i make a dime' can get you fired.

theres a lot of outing and doxxing culture thats so fucking normalized, and as the world grows more hostile to people who make a stink about things, i hope you dont find any excuse to get them hurt just so you can separate yourselves from them. i want you to think about things like the hayes code, where being gay could get you labelled a pervert. so you might think 'its okay ive never done anything inappropriate on the internet' (which, i dont believe you about) maybe not yet, but as the ideals of whats socially acceptable turn back to the 1950s you will have. keeping at a witch hunt looking for anyone with immoral art is only feeding the fire that will eat you later.

[taikavaras-grimoire]

Scavenger Hunt Divination Set

New witch looking for divination tools? Broke witch unsure what to do? Old witch wanting something fun to do?

Look no further! In this post I am showing you how to make divination cards through a scavenger hunt!

All you will need are scissors and glue and access to trash. Maybe a pen.

Let's start with some notes:

1. In this post I talk about making a deck, but in this same way you can also collect a trinket/bone throwing set. It's the way I collected mine, but now want to try it out on a divination deck. 2. Don't look up "inspiration" pictures on the internet, that's not what we are doing here. We are here to dig through the trash, so setting expectations is just not what we want. 3. Don't look up "what symbolizes X" or "Y symbolism", this is an exercise to get to know yourself, your gut, your own expression and connections. What someone sees as symbol of something, might not be the same for you. 4. You will not make this deck in one day, it's a scavenger hunt, things will come to you at different times. This will teach you to keep your eye out for connections. 5. The deck will change as you go on. You will start with a baseline list, but trust me, that will change as you go. You will notice that some parts just don't fit for you or that you need to add something. This deck is not set on stone, and neither are you, so let it change along with you.

----Baseline----

First things first, we need to make a list of things we want. Simple things to start growing our deck.

I will make a list of examples to get you started. In the list might be things that are quite similar to each other, this is just to give options and to show there are many ways to show something. Pick what feels relevant to you, leave out anything that is not fitting, add anything you feel like you want in your deck. Personalise. Make it yours. This is also just a base line, your list can change as you get going and get an idea of what you need. Work on it as you go.

Love (romantic/platonic/friendship) Money / Success Home Health Family / Close circle of people Mother figure / Father figure / Sibling / Supporter / Child Work School / Studying / Learning / Lessons Obstacle Path / Journey / Travel Change / Beginning / End Growth Dream / Hope / Goal Warning / Keep an eye on Hobbies / Art / Music / Magic Hidden / Missing piece Key / Lock

Connection - Detachment Balance - Unbalance Stability - Instability Strength - Weakness Open path - Closed path Clear - Unclear Towards - Away from Negativity - Positivity Calm - Chaos Reward - Punishment Give - Take Danger - Safety

Some things can be presented by a card being upside down to mean the opposite, but if you shuffle your cards too controlled (like I do) that wont work, so I have chosen to list both options, choose what route fits you.

----Card Bases----

What do we make the cards on?

You could get a playing card deck from a second-hand shop if you feel like it, or if you or someone you know have weird worthless "collection" cards laying around you could use those. Paint sample cards from hardware stores are also good material to use. But some of those options might need money, so lets dig out some trash. Cereal boxes, or anything similar, are great for this. Depending on what size you want, you can measure and cut the cardboard to size, or trace with something like your bankcard or id.

As always, be careful with the scissors.

Make more than you have on your list, that way its easy to add more when needed or change things up.

You can either write the things you have chosen on the cards, or just keep the list on you (physical or digital).

----Let the Hunt begin----

Start finding. Start looking. Newspapers, advertisements, pamphlets, old wall calendars, magazines, receipts, old notebooks, anything.

You wont find everything right away, that's the point! Newspapers and magazines change with the seasons and you might come across something just walking on the street!

When you find something, cut it to size and glue it on your card base.

And these are fully YOUR cards, so feel free to write on the card the meaning. Human memory is fickle. This is your deck. Do what suits you, do what helps you.

Trouble seeing what fits? Consider taking a postcard or something, and cut in the middle the shape of your card. This helps you frame specific areas and to see better what would fit.

Don't focus on what looks "good", focus on what makes you think about the intended meaning of the card. This is also when you might come across something that makes you think of possible card meanings that you don't have om your list - add them. You might find unintended treasures on a scavenger hunt!

There you have it. Go forth, craft freely and play around. Feel free to tag me to any creations (or message me pictures of them!) because I would just love to see what all of you come up with.

Happy hunting!

[cupcraft]

Hot take but i really think adults that are so anti-enjoying kids cartoons and think any adult who does is Weird and Cringe and that they must Grow Up and Get a Job of Course are the ones that need to mature. It really just shows a lot of insecurity in themselves and their own maturity that they project that the Real Problem is adults who like kids cartoons or engage in Art and god forbid Community with the Things They Like. And i'm not even going to get into any of the the ableism aspects of it in this post, i just mean in general. There's nothing wrong with enjoying something harmlessly. There's nothing wrong for wanting to create art for it, talk about it, share things about it. God forbid, like i hope people realize many shows are even designed for adults to enjoy it too considering they're own kids may be watching it. Many shows are just comforting and not everyone has to watch the Ultra Serious Adult Show. And i hate the argument that many of these adults "dont have real jobs" because ignoring how that statement is just never acceptable/based and is rooted in a lot of conservatism and ableism and other things, its just like there are many adults with a "real job" who just enjoy things too like it doesn't preclude you to only like serious shows mygod.

I also see the argument often that by watching "kids shows" you will "ruin your media literacy". Which is also just not true, and people dont have to engage with media in a way that means they become master meta-ers and essayists. Many people just want to watch things that are enjoyable/comforting/escapism, whether that's kids shows or shows for adults. I personally like watching media and analyzing it but i know many people who don't. And kids cartoons are not going to erase your years of education and media literacy you'll be fine I promise.

Don't be afraid to enjoy things. Adulthood is about growing up, finding your identity, maturing, learning how to healthily navigate the world and people around you. But it's okay to watch a kids show you're going to be fine. You can be secure in yourself and enjoy a cartoon, and dear lord make art and talk about it on the internet in a normal way.

There is nuance to this discussion of course as i didn't really talk about everything, so you're always free to add on

[v-anrouge]

UGIGIUGI APOLOGY POST (that doesn't actually apologize for shit lmfao)

this is hopefully the last post ill be making about this because finally she decided to do something other than ignore everything so i thought this is a good way to end the situation officially

so yeah fandom drama down below just scroll if u don't enjoy seeing things like this

i apologize for any english mistakes or any errors in this post my tumblr and keyboard are very silly goofers

let's start this off by saying that ugigiugi already started this shit wrong because she posted that apology while all sorts of contact anyone could have with her was cut down which means she doesn't actually care if she's forgiven or not she just wants to get away with her shit

now onto the screenshots

the apology post already starts off wrong cuz how the fuck do you apologize and then say the things you're apologizing for are only accusations like bro?? make this make sense and not only that but IMMEDIATELY after posting the apology she already started throwing excuses the

"I've seen worse" excuse DOES NOTHING, it doesn't fucking matter if you've seen worse that doesn't make it okay it never did its seriously hilarious to me how a person that is almost 30 really thought that this was an good thing to post on a post that was supposed to be apologizing for her MULTIPLE disgusting actions. also i don't fucking care if japanese "culture" is full of hentai girl you're Italian not japanese and this is happening in the fucking english fandom😭😭 and don't act like people don't criticize the multiple fucked up things about japan porn industry EVERYONE does, once again your attempt to excuse yourself makes absolutely no sense. stop fucking acting like this whole situation isn't people asking your ALMOST 30 ass to take accountability and fucking delete the art u made with the tweels because your oc is fucking 26 and the tweels are 17. if your art was in an aged up au things would've been very different but instead for some reason you thought it would be a good idea to age yourself down a few years, still keep it illegal, and make pedophilic porn between a 26 year old and 2/3 17 year olds, you're acting as if ppl calling u out were a little grouo that randomly decided to start attacking and harassing you for no reason when the reality is people just wanted for you to apologize for your mistakes but instead you kept avoiding the situation which made the whole thing get worse, the size of this mess is entirely YOUR fault because if you had apologized and moved on with your life people would've stayed quiet instead u decided to act like a oppressed victim being cyber bullied

once again you hit us with the failed attempts to excuse yourself, idk what goes on with people but the minute yall enter the internet u guys expect to get away with everything u do and the moment someone calls you out yall immediately start acting like you're getting harassed attacked hunted down being chased down the streets like bro no💀 idk if this is an america thing or what but i feel like some of you just completely forget the concept of "owning up to your mistakes and accepting getting called out because that is the way you learn and grow as person"

the second argument is also a fail because 1- that doesn't excuse shit 2- you could've aged them up.

the transphobia thingy i wont be commenting because me personally i gave never seen the screenshots of you being transphobic but what the fuck does yaoi have to do with it 💀

i also don't understand that politics part idk why it's being brought up idk what the fuck that anon is on but it's really fucking weird

the last part genuinely made me laugh because of how pathetic it is 😭😭 you're acting like you're being attacked unfairly by a bunch of 12 year olds for idk stealing a crayon when in reality you called poor people annoying and said that working to survive is embarassing and people that do so have no self respect, compared poor people TO SLAVES. copied MULTIPLE artists never gave credit WHATSOEVER and made pedophilic porn. second of all you DID NOT apologize 💀💀💀 this whole post is you trying to have a "gotcha" moment trying (and failing miserably) to come up with excuses to try an seem like a better person and you think you apologized cuz u started this joke of a post with "i apologized"

i don't think i need to repeat myself on how you're acting like the victims but it really shows the type of person you are when you actively ignore your mistakes try to delete evidence cut of all sorts of interaction with the ppl except those who are foolish enough to defend you and act like all of your actions weren't bad at all and you shouldn't be held accountable, you know what's childish ugigiugi? turning off asks, comments and reblogs so that you can finally escape the very valid claims with proof everyone has of you because you can't accept the fact that you are in fact a bad person, that's embarassing, you call us childish and say that ppl attacking you aren't mature yet you're almost 30 and running away from your mistakes crying and sobbing acting like the victim of the situation

1/10 apology - didn't actually apologize for shit brought up stupid arguments to try and excuse herself, gets a point simply because it was funny how bad this is

[cainightfics]

these anons are so annoying, it also frustrates me because tyrelliot is nowhere near as bad as some ships that came from this show (like people who shipped elliot and mr robot) and yet some self righteous people compare the two like it's even remotely the same thing. sorry to mention that people who shipped elliot and mr robot even existed but god I really don't understand why people conflate it with tyrelliot. mr robot is the alter that elliot developed because of his sexual abuse growing up, and tyrell is an evil guy who was in love with him. I wish people would direct their attention elsewhere when there are much worse things being written in this fandom. feel free to not share this btw, it's reasonable to not want to make any posts where people might start arguing about mr robot x elliot. just wanted to share my thoughts. TLDR, tyrelliot shouldn't be argued about as being problematic when there are much worse popular ships in this fandom, and your fics are really good

adding more to my message from before sorry; also don't think that I mean anybody deserves harassment, I'm just saying that when there are actual upsetting and distasteful fics about elliot being abused, you of all people definitely don't deserve harassment under the guise of being upset that you write fic about "Elliot and his abuser" when those fics absolutely exist and you do not write them. anyway have a good night

thanks for your input. im pretty much a live and let live sort of person with this, since the internet makes it pretty easy to just block out anything you dont want to see, and i wish other people did the same. i honestly dont think tyrelliot is bad like... AT ALL LMFAO. but i guess some people do, which is fine. i just dont see the point in messaging me about it numerous times a week for over a month lol. thats just so weird and corny to me

but yeah like in the end my issue with this whole thing is that separating ships into morally and objectively "good" vs "bad" leads to this atomization of intent and characterization where 1) the definition of what is "bad" becomes a slippery slope where anything can become "problematic" and 2) it promotes and uplifts pairings or situations where everything is perfect and conflict doesnt exist-- the antithesis of good/interesting writing. like i have literally no interest whatsoever in "good representation" or "wholesome ships" because thats frankly not what i watch tv or read books for lol. it will never be my thing. also i am just SO FUCKING BORED of rating art based off of whether it lives up to someones (very subjective!) ideas of morality. like can we PLEASEEEEE talk about something else

also, i know what that person is trying to do when they call me a proshipper. everybody knows that that word is synonymous with being a pedo these days lmfao, given that thats central to the idea of pro vs anti shipping (besides incest). i think its pretty wild to insinuate im like... aligned with pedophiles in any way given that if you read my fics you would know i have a whole chapter dedicated to tyrell and elliot MURDERING A PEDOPHILE lol.

i could go on and on about how this very lazy way of thinking thats currently dominating fanspaces is the result of neoliberal identity politics, or consumption as morals, or the capitalist drive to increase both social division and profit by making people identify with brands, groups, or media properties. i wont be an annoying marxist rn and get into all that, but ill say im pretty much in agreement with john paul brammer here:

[selfkaiharness]

It’s sad to see the internet as we know it is now a skeleton of its former self. I grew up in the early 2000s and it used to have a semblence of a bright soul. Full of life and color from weird websites, fun flash/shockwave games, and overall leaves my mind bursting with imagination. Nowadays, the internet is now a dead corpse with no substance, overwhelming boredom and bland colors, and over optimization of search engines exploiting your own minds with bland shit you don’t want. This used to be an escape from reality, now it is switched to reality is an escape from the internet. I’m not kidding when i say that. Things change from bad to worse when Twitter experiences what i call ‘The Day Twitter Died’ event from yesterday.

Now others are escaping from Twitter to other websites en masse due to this. While some gave up on the internet entirely (which i’m happy for them.) others tread onward to a life outside Twitter. Some escaped to Tumblr, while others entered other ‘social’ media. Isn’t this tragic that corporate zombies killed the fun and weird parts of the internet to intentionally fill it with ads we don’t want? It is and i think its starting to hit the tipping point where the internet will face two separate outcomes: The Rennissance era or The Great Internet Decay of the mid-2020s. I have a growing feeling we may have to resort back into making our own webrings again as well as bringing back the weird and fun parts on what the internet supposed to be. However, i am a very optimistic person and i don’t doom post at all in my own time. I like to see that the future holds for me is very bright, although passing through trials can get nearly overwhelming for me and others. In the end, it’ll be all worth it if we decided we can get our act together to recreate our own internet. Time will tell but i feel this is likely the beginning of the end for all of social media. A new form of internet will be reborn when all of this blows over soon. 

We can all hope for a better future and a better version of our internet where only the users can run it, not the zombie corpses who runs everything to the ground with over-monetized garbage. We want art of the internet to be full of color not blandness. So let’s make sure we stand together to hold the line as one. We’re not out of the storm yet, in fact we haven’t seen much of this.

“Unity is key of success. Separation is the key of failure. Two sides are opposite of each other. Only one will stand the test of humanity’s will. Will us as a species will either unite as a family or separate ourselves and becoming criminals? Time will answer if we act sooner or later.”

[cleasiart]

New Year, New Shtick. ☽ ·

Honestly, I'll pretend like this is the internet of the 2000s, writing to no one, for absolutely no one but myself. Then again, it always has been me and my corner on the internet. And I never feel like my old posts ever blew up, but then- as I scrolled, I realized some did.

Not that those mattered in terms of utmost priority, but it's funny that I never noticed them when they were under my noses. Lol. Like, as if I was blind in whatever pursuit or goal I was seeking in some naivé hyperactivity. It's kind of honestly sad to think about...

So, I've no idea if posting art on the internet is for vanity. But, recently, I haven't really had a place to share my art anymore. For... recent reasons.

But, well, I feel like I have to start something new so I don't crash and burn into a pot of boiling fudge. So, consider this my new home for the time being. For however how long I'll remain active here this time around. :)

Growing up, I feel like I was somewhat a weird kid. I do things. And they were very, ah, because I'm supposed to do it this way kind of things, right? Like, the formatting of my old post, I don't understand why I had them and it sort of had a charm to what sort of "perfection" or satisfaction that I was trying to gain from it. But I was kind of miserable. Not always, though it was never clear to me why I was doing the things I did. In a way, I was kind of searching for an answer on the way of doing whatever it is I was trying to do. I wish I had a sort of voice, an influence. Just something that makes this thing special while I also goof off and had fun with the things I did. So, not all of them were bad. And as the years went on the first reason kind of just, waned away. I think I just want to make stuff that makes me happy. And I happen to write about it in whatever manner of a safespace Tumblr might be. Because, somehow, Tumblr is still alive and... it isn't as bad as the other places on the interwebsites, to be honest? So, for what it stands in its current state, I'm going to say it's not so bad and move on with my life. Especially when it's a site to both write and share pictures, or do whatever you'd like with it. It feels like a relic when all other sites are shoving short, video-reels down your throat every now and there or, ooo, check-out our newest subscription server or something.

So, I hope whatever carcass I dig up from this place would live on for more than five minutes. And I'm slowing down, taking life at my own pace and finding what matters to me. And, despite everything, I feel like I can't shook off the feeling of being an artist to some extent. So, here's to the next few post, to whatever I post next, for however long I post them :). Anyways, I've really been into Epic lately, and the rest of the blog travels directly to here:

[hika-pluto]

For the Love of Posting

A mirror post about apps, social media, enshittification, and the numbers game from my self-hosted blog.

Dead Bird

It’s weird watching people more or less beg and plead for Twitter to continue being the Internet's public square despite Elon being ableist, a transphobe and a COVID-denier, and ruining Twitter since its purchase of it (like, hello? The removal of being able to receive DMs from non-mutuals is just the tip of the iceberg). The main reasons for “This-Is-Fine”-dog-ing tend to be:

Twitter’s one of the few NSFW-friendly sites. (Go to Pixiv or CoHost. Or ask me to put you on my BlueSky invite waitlist.)

A lot of creators’ existing audiences are on Twitter, and they like being able to post to one place with a ton of reach. (Though that reach has been rapidly tanking.)

What’s even more odd is seeing artists big and small try to shame, clown, and dunk other sites in attempts to prevent their audience from leaving. It’s okay to be fed up and draw a line in the sand. The real issue is certain artists choosing to put all their eggs in one basket and refusing to diversify despite the growing elephant in the room (understandably, diversifying one’s online presence is not easy).

Spread Your Wings, I Guess?

Crosspost! Crosspost, crosspost, crosspost! At any moment, a site could disappear! The site can fall victim to enshittification! The algorithm could turn to garbage! The CEO can turn out to be a ‘phobe! At literally any moment! Your connection to your audience shouldn’t live or die on one site.

I currently use Buffer and PostyBirb to crosspost: Buffer for the “big” social media places, and PostyBirb for the art sites and sites with API tools more accessible to the developer. I write my captions and hashtags locally using LibreOffice Writer and simply paste them into Buffer and PB per post.

Artists that have web-stores or take commissions: consider having your repeat customers subscribe to mailing lists so they’re always in the loop. (No advice for good mailing list platforms cause I currently don’t need ‘em.)

Connections over Numbers

My advice for existing on social media is to think of the 1-3 sites you find most enjoyable to scroll on and genuinely interact with other people’s work. Let them know what aspects of their work you find awesome (this can also be a good way to find things you want to improve on). Give likes, and if you can afford to share their work without making your own profile page messy, do so! But, make sure you’re doing it with the goal of just-plain-being-nice and hopefully brightening someone’s day, lest your brain become poisoned by… The Numbers…

The Numbers

The numbers suck. They’re what make execs enshittify websites and what kill the spirits of creatives. Most importantly, they’re the gears in every site with an algorithm.

It’s like this: execs and shareholders (of the big-name sites, this doesn’t apply to indie-socmed like Mastodon,) want people to stay and scroll through their ads for longer. They figure they’re able to do this by showing you content they think you’ll want to see in-between, and the content they think you want to see is the stuff that already has thousands, millions, and billions of likes from people with thousands, millions, and billions of followers, and that’s why discovery on most algorithm-driven sites is garbage.

Ironically enough, I like social media for the connection, and would sit through more ads if it meant I could interact and form allyships with artists of my skill level and follower count.

What Now?

And yeah. Those are just my thoughts, as it stands, I guess. Elon bought Twitter in like, November of `22, but the snowball that is the SocMed-pocalypse feels like it’s rolling at its fastest right now.

IDK what happens next, and that’s why you can find me most anywhere @HikaTamika. It’s also why you can find me, on my website.

[uncircumcisedgirlboss]

In recent times, I have had a reckoning with how stifled my creativity is. Almost nothing about my life has personality to it. My bedroom is a featureless wasteland, most of my clothes are bland, I can't even think of a third thing to put here.

I wish I had nurtured my creative spirit more growing up. I wish I had written cringy fanfics, I wish I had drawn cringy art. I remember this self-insert character I had as child, Zach. The name may have been inspired by The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, but I'm not sure. The main thing about Zach is that he had natural black and white hair, a characteristic inspired by that Cartoon Network show about a cryptid-hunting family (The Secret Saturdays).

I would imagine Zach inserted into basically all media I consumed, from Percy Jackson to Family Guy. I would fantasize about being friends with Brian and Stewie Griffin via Zach.

Several times throughout my childhood, I came close to writing a story about Zach but Executive Dysfunction would beat my ass every time. As an adult, I desperately wish I had been more resilient.

I spend a lot of my time on the internet. I spend a lot of my time on YouTube specifically. The platform has such a grip on me that I can confidently say that if I quit watching it forever tomorrow, it would continue to be the form of media I have consumed the most five years from now. The reason for this is simple: YouTube is easy. Too easy, actually. YouTube is so easy, it has had a massively negative impact on my life.

For most of my time online, I have been a lurker. I didn't post. I didn't try to talk to people or make friends. I only passively consumed content.

Being a lurker on YouTube has given me the ability to get a simulacrum of social interaction without having to put myself out there. I don't need to develop a personality because I never have to speak. I can just sit back, relax, and form a parasocial bond with a stranger as they talk at me.

I have definitely avoided the most egregious and socially harmful ways parasocial relationships can affect your brain. I never felt like creators I followed should treat me like I'm their friend, for example. However, I still have some weird brainworms from my time on the website.

My entire life, I have tried to detach myself from reality in a myriad of ways, and one of them is by always living in the future and never the present. I would imagine a better life in some vague future where I had accomplished my dreams, and one of my dreams was to become friends with the youtubers I watched. Even nowadays, I sometimes still want that.

I have gotten about all of these things recently. I'm reading books again. I'm starting to talk to people more often (only online, though. Touching grass is scary. There are BUGS!).

I think Tumblr has been a good influence on me these past few months. It's relatively healthier and less toxic when compared to the social media sites I have used in the past. It's mainly text-based like Twitter, meaning it has a low barrier of entry. However, unlike Twitter, it doesn't have a 280-character limit, meaning I can write out my thoughts in full without having to make a thread. It also feels easier to get people to see my posts. Prior to my blog being labeled as spam because of a glitch, if I posted in popular tags, my posts would get a handful of notes. All in all, this site has been better for me than others of its kind.

Yeah, I have sunken so deep into the depths of social media brainpoisoning that frequenting a different app is an improvement for me. I see posts about touching grass and getting hobbies that involve consuming media all the time, and I am over here wishing I had the willpower to watch a movie.

[triplejumpster]

I've been here for like a month and already all these posts going around that amount to "if you don't like something just say its good but isn't for you and shut up :>" are annoying me because 1. People use "good" and "bad" as shorthand for "I liked it" and "I didn't like it" 2. This assumes some kind of Objective Meaning as to what "good" and "bad" mean for art, like what's the difference between these two categories you've tried to circle out? Even in a famous so-bad-its-good case well like its so bad its *good*, as in enjoyable to watch 3. Why is "just move on" the only thing you're allowed to do if you like something? Why is it ok to talk about why something is for you but not why something isn't?

Something being or not being for you or liking or not liking or being "good" or "bad" is not a magical prescription embedded into us from birth, it is a process of judgement, feeling, and mood and its incredibly cry baby to ask people to be open about one side but not the other because people not liking things (which always happen to be about the things any given op of these "just say it isn't for you :]" posts like by pure coincedence) annoys you. Grow some skin or learn to have a conversation or like complain how they're wrong privately or something. Its good to be a hater, its good, healthy, and fun to flex your critical muscles and analyze things you do *and* don't like and to see why other people feel differently.

I've said before that all internet spaces turn into love bombing cliques where all criticism or even just "analysis" is tantamount to a hate crime or an argument zone where everyone is constantly yelling at each other and while these are intentionally extreme dialectical positions made up in hopes of striking a healthy balance, if I really had to pick between them I'd much prefer we all yell over this weird position where people on here claim to love themes and motifs and complain about how no one can read anymore but flip out when someone talks about why they don't like whatever Starz show is being called queer today or something.

[grape-juice-explosion-murder]

Im going to actually take the time to respond to this because i thought it was interesting enough. None of this is really any sort of personal attack and if It might be easier for you to read it, to consider my responses to be outward statements to the internet as a whole and your post just being a prompt for me to respond to.

First of all i cannot comment on hirokoshi himself because i don’t know him as a person or how he treats real people but drawing fictional characters in perverted/sexual scenarios will never be morally wrong or an actual example of a persons actions or wants in reality. With that logic all the people who like murderer characters actually murder people. Hannibal fans actually want to eat people. It’s illogical and a moot point. THE WAY SOMEONE TREATS REAL PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS MATTER MORE THAN WHATEVER FICTIONAL CONTENT THEY CREATE OR CONSUME IS. I think half of what the guy says and does when it comes to sexual stuff and his characters is weird but it’s not a comment on his moral character.

But yes Criticisms of over-sexualisation in anime and manga is respectable a d understandable but MHA isn’t really the one to be having this conversation about, as the VAST majority of “sexualisation” is played for comedy and/or has an explainable reason in canon- such as the hero costumes. Like most of it is just… stuff teenagers do, even some (SOME NOT ALL, OR MOST. SOME) of the stuff mineta says and does is just a weird horny teen boy puberty shit. I know internet fiction purists don’t want to hear this but… teenagers aren’t inherently asexual. They do sexual shit, they get into sexual situations, and theres nothing wrong with portraying that in FICTION.

But the biggest thing that made me want to respond to this and i know it was a single line but.… Mineta does actually face consequences. I don’t know if you’ve actually paid any amount of attention to the show/manga but he NEVER gets away with anything he does and no one except Denki ever excuses it (and often Sero joins in until he takes it too far). He gets slapped, tied up, pushed, thrown, kicked, told off, everything EVERY TIME. the story never once tries to portray what he does as “right” its always explicitly wrong. Being played for comedy ≠ being shown as an okay thing to do.

Mineta saying that thing to eri, man yeah its a weird as fuck thing to say but… it’s literally a thing ppl say. Its just a compliment to the kid, like personally i think its cringey as fuck and needs to stop but majority of the time when someone says it they mean it like “wow youre gonna be so handsome/pretty when you grow up, you should be proud!” And not “i want to fuck you. I cant wait until its socially/legally acceptable for me to fuck you.” Personally i think mineta was too socially stupid to think it wouldn’t come off the wrong way. People def misunderstood it which is 100% the fault of mineta being the one to say it, when, at the time, his character was one to say that sort of thing with a literal sense. if anyone else had said it the fandom would have recognised it as just that weird thing people say and see it as the joke it was lets be real.

I think hagikure cover is weird as a cover but its a very pretty picture, people are so weird about it but by this point you know my opinion on sexualising anime characters. It was def not the right choice and should have stayed a random bit of extra art.

I think the sexualisation being toned down is more about the story’s tone itself changing rather than criticism, tho there was def changes made to fit it. The characters dont have enough time to be horny with everything that was going on in the story, and horikoshi probably realised the story came off better without it. Mineta probably has gotten revisions due to fan reception, but it feels more like he was always intended to change and horikoshi just rushed it and never really explained it other than mina hypnotising him or whatever the hell she did.

Mineta was never a bad person, he was just genuine, and socially ignorant. But even while he was openly sexualising women he never came of as sexist, at least to me, he has a respect for female pro heros as much as he finds them attractive, and consistently takes his female classmates seriously on the battlefield. Like yes he sometimes manipulates a situation to benefit himself (which, again, always ends with him being punished for it) but he still gives them their own agency and doesn’t try to actually control them or belittle them. He comes off as someone who simply…loves women, and that love coupled with a general misunderstanding of socially acceptable responses makes him stupid as fuck.

To finish i guess:

I’m fully in support of people not enjoying the sexualisation of the characters, and how Mineta contributes to that. I am more than aware that I’m indifferent to it at best. Thats a fully valid reason to dislike him! But there are a lot of misunderstandings to do with him, his place in the cast, and the stories intention with him.

I generally agree with you but i thought… maybe you’d think an opposing view would be interesting? Or rather a view coming from someone who liked him from the start?

Honestly i legit know nothing about horikoshi, I’m someone who wants nothing to do with the creators of things outside of their actual work, like that concept of don’t meet your heroes y���know. But as a girl horny about her own characters, i will defend that man’s horniness for his own characters until i die idc.

If you’d like me to explain something better, or tell you my opinion on something i missed feel free to ask i dont mind.

[NOTE: This is long! This is an actual ask about Mineta and among other things that I thought maybe some of you may be interested in reading, but because the font is in orange (due to Tumblr glitching out on Anon and their autism) I'm posting it like this. I'm not too bothered by the color, but I'm sure there are others who may find it unreadable. Now, you do not have to read it. And if you do read it, you may comment or just send me an ask ONLY if you're polite. Don't attack anyone over this. No matter how you may feel about Mineta, BNHA, Horikoshi, a dog, a cat, ANYTHING or ANYONE... DO NOT BE DISRESPECTFUL. Please keep any of your comments that you know are rude to yourself. And now, you may proceed if you choose to.]

Horikoshi said once in some interview that mineta is essentially a self-insert. Coincidentally, early-mha horikoshi had some pretty pervy tendencies (much like mineta—probably why he thought it would be cool to have such a character never really face consequences). The most famous example of this is probably the girls hero costumes, most notably Yaoyorozu. He mentions in an aside very early on in the story (volume three or something?) that he can’t seem to help himself and her boob window always gets bigger every time he draws it. Then there’s uraraka saying she didn’t want such a tight costume, Hagakure being naked, etc. When the anime started airing there was another interview where he said he really appreciated them making uraraka curvier than in the manga, because he likes curvy women. One could also use midnight and mount lady as examples of this but I’d say it’s more of a way of discussing mature themes surrounding hero society and all of its consequences rather than actual sexualisation. Something that sets him apart, even at this early stage, from other shonen mangakas is that he doesn’t only do this to the women, but the men as well. If Yaoyorozus hero costume is revealing, what about kirishimas (this comparison is my favourite because they both need skin showing for their quirks to function well, so why is one considered bad and the other fine? Because one is a boy and one is a girl? Please keep in mind I am not trying to say that kirishima is sexualized. It’s just food for thought)? If urarakas suit is considered too tight, then look at all might. You could probably see the outline of his dick from fifteen yards away when he wears that costume. Then there’s mineta, who makes certain comments regarding the women in his class. But what about mount lady and how she treats shoto? Or one of the wild wild pussy cats asking the boys in class 1-A how old they are to see how long til she can marry them? Unlike basically every other shonen out there, the sexualisation (at least as far as I can tell) is not based in sexism. It’s across the board, and we only notice it more when it happens to women because we are used to it happening to women.

For a long time, I hated horikoshi for the same reasons I hated mineta (it was a love-hate relationship for obvious reasons). He was openly perverted and seemingly one of *those* guys. You know, the ones I’d be afraid to walk near after dark. Or before dark. But I still loved mha and really appreciated what he was doing within the story. As a side note, he writes the women very well, which is rare in shonen (again—love hate relationship with dear old horikoshi). But if you’ll notice, the farther along in the story you look, the less sexualisation there is. It’s gradual so you hardly notice, but compare volume four or five to volume thirty. The difference is stark. It’s not really that mineta has less lines (although since the war started that has been the case) he still talks, just differently.

I think what happened is, when mha started getting popular, horikoshi started seeing huge pushback to minetas character, which probably all came to a head when the anime made him say something super fucked up to eri. I don’t recall if it was in dub or sub or both, but reading back through the manga it’s a bit different and honestly could’ve been poor translation or my own misinterpretation. But in the anime it was clear what he meant. He can’t wait for eri to be older, for exactly the reason you’re thinking now. The process of horikoshi realizing his mistakes started long before this, though, and gradually you can watch him patch up the holes if you pay attention. The anime does a poor job of this, at least until season six. But around the time that season four ends (and this is present in the manga too) there is a scene of Mina tying mineta to a chair and forcing him to watch something. After that, the sexualisation in the manga is gone for good. I’d like to interpret this as horikoshi finalizing his realization and own personal character development. He is no longer pervy, just like mineta is no longer pervy.

The one exception to this rule is that infamous chapter cover. The one with Hagakure on the front? Yeah, when I saw that, it made me rethink all of this. For about two weeks I was convinced that I’d been wrong about it, and he really is just a pervert after all. But lo and behold, he said in an interview that he was running behind and didn’t have time to draw or pick a chapter cover. He handed a bunch of old concept art to one of the higher ups and told them to pick something. He said he was never expecting that drawing to see the light of day, and he figured they’d choose something a little more suited to the story. (A little fucked up that he drew that? Yes, I think so. But keep in mind, these are *old* drawings. People are allowed to change and, following this metric, I think horikoshi has changed quite a bit.)

All of this is to say, mineta is not really a bad person anymore, and also has incredible writing (whether it was purposeful from the beginning or a last minute change) which just goes to show how talented horikoshi really is.

[tyzzieee]

im going to uni in september & my little brother doesnt have a phone so im really struggling trying to figure out what social media i should encourage him to get so i can stay in contact w him

[girlgerard]

hi! what are your thoughts on this post/thread? just genuinely curious!

well first of all i think it’s a little weird that whenever something about racial dynamics gets brought up, i and the few other active poc mcr blogs all get asks about it. i don’t think you meant anything bad by it, but it feels quite tokenizing. second, yeah i think they’re right, somewhat. don’t think i’m going to simply say boohoo they’re wrong, gerard is my blorbo. gerard is chronically white and goyische, in a way that’s extremely cloying if you look at their writing and general interests. they themselves have actually commented on this, expressing that they regret almost exclusively writing white characters in their comics cause it was, in all honesty, a stupid fucking decision. yes, gerard is incapable of writing characters that are not self-inserts, and they are in fact a white person, but they’ve consistently demonstrated ignorance in racial diversity, something that’s juxtaposed harshly against their welcoming inclusive nature of queer and trans characters. so yeah, i think the basic points that post made made have a lot of truth in them.

i do, however, disagree with the general conclusion and motivation behind the post. it starts off with a statement that people should acknowledge that everyones ‘faves’ are problematic, which is true. ‘your faves are problematic’ is a clumsy twitter way of saying that no one is infallible and everyone has biases blind spots and fuck ups, and understanding that is important for growth and progression. the way the post is written, however, does not follow that model. the post is essentially singling out gerard as irredeemable and A Racist, which i disagree with. gerard writes like every other white person raised in a conservative white town with zero bias training. they are not a rare breed in terms of racial ignorance

i understand op’s anger - absolutely i do. being a brown person in this fan space is fucking garbage, to be quite honest, and the band has never made that any easier. it’s good to point out gerard’s inadequacies in their writing and the harmful stereotypes they weave into their narratives, because they should learn and grow from those criticisms. it’s irritating and disappointing that its taken them fifteen years to even start learning about racial dynamics in storytelling. it’s also good to tamp down on the hero worship. i love gerard, obviously, more than i’ve loved any figure i’ve never met. i am also incredibly aware of their white goyischeness. even their stupidass white wicca phase makes me uncomfortable, as well as the fact that they’re into surface-level conspiracy and goddamned morrissey. though i love their comics, the distinct lack of brown folk has always pissed me the fuck off. it’s glaring and transparently ignorant. however, calling them a straight up bad person for not understanding how to peer outside their own racial bubble is unproductive. once again - read any white comic writer’s material. they’re all like this. that doesn’t mean it sucks any less, believe me it hurts, but it does mean that gerard is not unique in this. it’s not an Isolated Gerard Issue - it’s an issue with their whiteness and their general ignorance at how that affects their artwork.

basically, i agree with many of the points op made, i disagree with their tone and conclusion, i empathize with what they’re feeling as a brown person and a jew in a white culturally christian fandom, and attempting to discredit all of gerard’s art because of their chronic and irritating whiteness is unproductive and inflammatory. acknowledge and criticize their faults; they have many, believe me. however, criticizing is different than crucifying.

white people do not add your own thoughts to this post. god knows you’ve said enough. and please please think before you ask random brown people on the internet what their thoughts are on a controversy simply because it’s about a Brown Topic. it’s quite exhausting. we are not here simply to answer questions this white fandom panics in the face of. i answered this ask because i got no less than five asks about this topic, and i thought it was important enough to respond to, but please think before you tokenize

also please don’t tag op or smth lol i’m not arguing with them i’m just saying i think their conclusion is unproductive while also agreeing with their calling out of important shortcomings people in this fandom ignore.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Twilight if Bella was Death in the same way as Lily/Harry/Azrael? I feel like Bella has unique interpretation of the world that is somewhat like Lily's and a sense of denial not unlike your Harry's. Thanks I love your metas!

Anon is referring to Lily and the Art of Being Sisyphus, October, and probably When Harry Met Tom. Also, hello meta people, before I vomited opinions onto the internet I used to write seriously weird fanfiction. I still do.

To recap for those that don't read my fanfiction: in these stories Harry (or Ellie in the case of "Lily") is "Death", a mysterious figure with even more mysterious and seemingly unlimited power over the universe. A god, essentially.

Anon points out that Bella has some marked similarities between "Lily's" Lily, in her strange perspective on the world and all the players in it, and Harry from "When Harry Met Tom" who is convinced she's absolutely normal and everything is fine and you can light evildoers on fire with your bare hands and "the power of friendship".

Anon's... not wrong.

So, with that, what if Bella was a god?

Bella the Goddess: The Pretty Much Canon Route

Well... potentially, nothing changes. Lily in her fic notices her abilities because she rises from the dead and, from an early age, meets those who point it out to her. Sure, reality also seems to be falling apart, but that has nothing to do with her and everything to do with reality.

Bella, in a lot of ways, is a lot more oblivious than a five-year-old Ellie Potter.

Bella meets aliens in the cafeteria that no one else seems to notice and learns they're vampires who aren't actually vampires. Bella has prophetic slayer dreams every now and then. Bella hallucinates Edward Cullen who occasionally feeds her information she might not actually have known before hand. Bella's brain is silent. Bella used her gift to protect an army from the most powerful gifts in the world in only a month.

Bella could potentially be far more powerful than she is (this is probably the case, actually, Bella's gift is terrifying) and she... just... never notices.

But that's boring. We already have canon, clearly this ask was meant to get us, well, not canon.

Bella and the Art of Being Sisyphus

Bella has some fatal accident when she's a child. She drank drain cleaner from Renee's non-childproof cupboard. However, because Bella's an immortal god, she comes back from the dead.

Bella thus grows up being very confused. Bella knows she's definitely died several times throughout her childhood thanks to just a) childhood accidents b) various misadventures fueled by a lack of sense of any caution but everyone keeps talking about this dying stuff.

Bella realizes fairly quickly that most people, most organic life... doesn't come back like she does.

By the time Bella's in early elementary school she probably realizes she's an alien.

She may look like a combination of Charlie and Renee (and this disturbs her greatly as that can't be right) but something is funky town in Bella's gene pool. Renee assures Bella that she did not take part in any government experiments while pregnant.

And after too many Saturday morning cartoons involving alien invaders, dissections, etc., Bella becomes terrified of doctors and DNA tests. She is convinced her life will turn into ET at any moment now and she's going to have to escape from people dressed in space suits on a flying bike.

(And yes, she checked, she can make the bike fly.)

Bella probably tries to phone home a number of times and... it probably works. Because this is Twilight, a beautiful, strange, universe with all sorts of things in it.

Bella spends a year in space, it goes poorly, and returns to Earth with none the wiser and very traumatized/learned from her experience.

I imagine her life is filled with very strange misadventures that Bella just thinks are normal. Or, at least, normal for her. That time Bella travelled in time, stepped on a butterfly, and then there were Frog People for half a day until Bella fixed it? Yeah, that was a thing.

That time some poor boy asked Bella on a date in middle school and joined her for an underwater quest where they tried to see if James Cameron's Abyss was real or not? Yeah, he hasn't spoken to her since. He's also terrified of fish now. And megaladons.

Beautiful marble people in the Forks cafeteria? Bella assumes that one's her fault. She doesn't know how, she doesn't know what she did, but she is 100% certain that the Cullens (and the fact that everyone thinks they're human) is her fault somehow.

She must have stepped on another butterfly when she wasn't looking.

Bella's very candid about all of this with Edward (which of course horrifies him because THE SECRET) but Bella has absolutely no sense of self preservation. Dying's obnoxious, and sometimes painful, but she's been there and done that.

Edward somehow still convinces himself that Bella's a beautiful maiden in need of his protection. This is even after Bella shows off her own totally awesome gift(s). "You see, Edward, I just made a dimension of shrimp. Not sure when anyone's ever going to need that. But wouldn't it be awesome?"

Edward thinks that's nice, hamburger thinks its special.

Bella can't believe she has friends. Even if they're blood drinking aliens. This. Is. Amazing.

She takes the Cullens to space and pointedly doesn't visit her alien friends. They don't talk about that adventure. It did not go well. By the way, did you know that Bella is worshipped in the Andromeda star system? Yeah, that's a thing. But we're not talking about it.

Carlisle starts becoming very concerned that Bella might, in fact, be a clueless second coming. Because there's gifted humans then there's, well, this.

Edward is still convinced he's a danger to Bella and that Bella is an ordinary human with an over active imaginaton.

Whenever Bella does come across the Volturi, Aro's very tempted, but also for once recognizes that this might be too spicy. Bella's this powerful now, what the hell will happen when she becomes a vampire? Caius' vote is an adamant no for the same reason. They decide to classify her as a supernatural creature/give her a pass on the law because. Well. The immortality thing.

And yeah, things like that.

This is one of those ideas that's really better written as a fic than it is as a rambling tumblr post. But know I just picture zany misadventures, Edward being Edward, and all of that good stuff.