#like these are real people and they’re kind of being exploited for entertainment

[theamazingannie]

I like Chaz but his whole philosophy of “don’t ease into a conversation, get immediately into the emotional stuff, and if you don’t share your deep emotional traumas with a complete stranger on a televised show, then I can’t trust you and we can’t be friends” is a little over the top

[f0point5]

Between the new Madrid track being announced and that mess with Visa App or whatever it’s called, F1 is looking like a big joke! What happened to it being the pinnacle of motor sport?

It’s all so fake and cringey these days and the sport is being dumbed down to appeal to a young audience with stupid catch phrases and trying to keep up the latest trends on tik tok.

Any wonder Max isn’t happy with the way things are going and doesn’t see himself being there longer than he has to be. He can already see how the sport is going down the pan and doesn’t want to be part of the clown show. Money talks and and right now it’s laughing in the face of F1 and the real fans of the sport

It’s not what it used to be, that’s for sure.

It’s gone commercial. I get it, though. It was never an economically sustainable sport, it was a playground for old rich men to burn money, it wasn’t a business. They used to say, the only way to become a millionaire in F1 is to start as a billionaire.

People wanted it to be “accessible”, they wanted a younger audience, more “social awareness”, more entertainment…now this is what it is - a money farm come circus 🤷‍♀️

They are lucky drivers are young, because they’re on social media anyway (except Max), so they don’t mind it so much. But even as much as LH is not the one for me, I’m not surprised he opts out of being trotted out like a prize sow for YouTube challenge videos. Who signed up for this? Let drivers drive. And I say that as someone who consumes this content, and I enjoy it but you wouldn’t catch me participating. It’s borderline exploitative, these people aren’t influencers.

It’s kind of sad that this is what it’s come to

[anemoiashifts]

the exploitation of mental health within the shifting community.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

im saying this with the intention to not send a wave of hate to anyone but a shitoker with 50,000 followers who confessed (on reddit) to to lying about it shifting for about 2 years & has bragged about making just under $2000 in sponsorships & then goes onto call ppl who shift mentally ill, schizophrenic & delusional. they’ve also they know how easy it is to lie bc ppl are “wanting an escape”. they’ve entertained the idea that “to save their asses” they should — if they do confess to lying — to make it out like she was doing it as a way to get tiktok followers, as if that isn’t preying upon ppls desperation to get out of toxic & harmful situations & wanting of a better life.

taking this for what it is, I want to talk about the exploitation of ppls mental health within the shifting community — mainly shiftok.

it’s not secret 85% or shiftok is mentally ill kids who want to escape this reality out of loneliness or destructive & toxic situations. i take such an issue with this because of this reason specifically (other then the speed of misinformation & drowning out actual ppl who are educated / want to shift). if someone believes shifters are really just “mentally ill 13 year olds” — her words not mine — why not…idk ? try to squeeze in content trying to encourage ppl getting better ? but , no. ppl who lie about shifting can’t do that bc they’re blinded by numbers & profit & not the well being of children who are struggling deeply. if shifting is real & made up & “grown ass ppl who believe in it too, sadly” —again, her words not mine — believe in shifting , why are you knowingly profiting from mental problems ?

this isn’t simply ppl “lying about shifting”. it’s other children & adults build a platform & make profit from the exploitation of peoples desperation for a better life. we need to start looking at it this way.

the only ppl who are worse then anti-shifters are the ppl who knowingly lie for years. they’re the sick ones, not us.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

sorry if this brought the vibes down a tad. ive been looking for an excuse to speak up on this for a while. id like to expand upon this conversation more as there’s so many thoughts i have about it in the future.

to calm your worries , yes shifting is real. no , im not lying about shifting. all we can do is wish the best for these kind of ppl & hope they’re able to stop chronically lying & learn that their actions do have consequences.

again , please do not try & find this person. im not trying to ruin someone’s life as they’re fifteen themselves.

[horseforeplay]

hi! what do you make of ai art? im conflicted cause i see how its great for disabled people in many ways, but then i look back at the work people put into becoming artists and mastering the craft and feel many things lol i wish i could look at it similarly like i look at producers for example, where you have a vision and tools and you know how to use it well so you dont need the musical training background to be creative, but i cant help but feel like its more complicated with visual art? that theres a whole other side besides having a vision and good understanding of a shortcut tool. im very very torn and also sorry for all that on your succession blog but knowing youre a fantastic artist whos recently been dealing with this sort of impossibility to make art i wonder if you have some insight in this area.

sending love!

i appreciate u wanting to know my opinion on a Hot Topic such as this! i dunno man i have an aversion to any definition of art of any kind that requires effort or skill as essential features that make the art “real”. i think a lot of what is happening with AI discourse is that people are appropriately appalled by the way capitalism mangles creative output and even what kind of relationships artists can have with their work and with the rest of the world. i do not have a problem with a machine that digests and reconfigures information ��� a machine is just a machine. if one copied the way i make texture with colored pencil and produced an approximation of a new original work by me, i would be fascinated by what reactions i might have to it. would i feel threatened by it? would i be flattered? what might it open up for me, to see my work broken into a particular machine’s data? this is just a dream, though. i see many artists understandably frightened by what the exploiter class may choose to do with their new toys (and what they are already doing to us with them). it just sucks to see that very plain class antagonism passed over with arguments about the “purity” of human-made art, how it is somehow apparent to any observer when a work is truly endowed with a “soul” (if these arguments sound eerily like fascist aesthetic principles, it’s because they are fascistic).

and then to see people cheering for their own doom with this thing of mr. game of thrones & co suing chatGPT, complete with condescending explanations of how it’s not going to hurt fanfic writers because the problem these multimillionaires have is actually with people monetizing their work, and the true humble Fan would ne’er ask a but penny. do people really not see how this is making the divide between the “artist” and the “common person” greater? it is so goddamn expensive to survive right now, and the wealthy are using fear of technology as a tool to prevent you from making money, and yes, making art at all. only those with enough capital to protect their intellectual property with the force of the law are allowed to express themselves through art. yes, i think it should be well within your rights to bind and sell (for money, yes, money) your game of thrones fanfiction. so many of us are living in poverty right now, bombarded by entertainment but prevented from ever chewing it up or spitting it out. ed roth’s rat fink character had it right. fuck mickey mouse. like, we’re actually back to saying “fuck mickey mouse” being really cool. put him in a blender full of data, have it put him into a beach scene with BBW anime versions of lara croft and princess peach. intellectual property is a historically recent phenomenon. it is a tool to make the rich richer and get you well and squarely fucked. theoretically, yeah, it sounds good to have your work and livelihood honored and protected, but just like they’re trying to replace artists and actors and writers with AI, every single tool becomes a weapon in the hands of the rich. the hell people are worried they need more punishing copyright law to fix is already here. the woman who designed care bears & strawberry shortcake never saw a penny from it. AI art is only a threat in the hands of the corporations that happily do these things in the first place.

anyways. lol. i’m not very technologically minded in my own art practice — i’m not naturally drawn to new technology as a part of my work, and find many of the results i’ve seen from current AI art tech to be kind of aesthetically unpleasant. artwork contains unpleasantness, though. i’m not really interested in arguments over what artwork “should” contain, only what it does. i think the best AI art i’ve seen (ie: the stuff i’ve enjoyed the most) has been from alan resnick:

it is so terrifically disquieting. it leans into what makes AI-generated BBW lara croft kind of difficult to actually jack off to. the overlapping lines of bodies, the nonsense text. but then, if this work has merit, is that because alan resnick is uniquely special, thus proving the point that the technology is only valid in the hands of a “real artist”? can mr. resnick be said to be the “artist” of these images at all, because he trained a program to his own style and input interesting ides? does he deserve lots of money for his work creating iconic adult swim shorts like this house has people in it? well sure

or would this art only have value if somebody put a tremendous amount of labor into it? you know. my mother used to tell me, “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work”. she said she should nail the phrase to my forehead, like martin luther at the church doors. having very recently become disabled & chronically ill, i don’t believe it anymore. i believe we should be able to use technology to make ourselves more free. we should not be so financially insecure that we are threatened by anyone expressing themselves with something we made. the ultra-wealthy are threatened by infringement because they need everybody else to stay poor, and the poor are threatened because they do not want to be poor any longer. it’s got nothing to do with strange scrambled pictures. if i could take pictures of every work of art i’ve ever loved and put it into a machine that mixes it up and turns it into a monster, i would do it just for a bittersweet laugh at it.

[poohsticksbridge]

In the midst of a largely enjoyable season of Amazon Prime’s/Sony Pictures’ adaptation of The Wheel of Time series, delivered by an outstanding cast and crew all deserving of acclaim (and renewal for future seasons), I see a lot of people responding with annoyance or dismissal of viewers’ issues (‘nitpicks’/‘complaints’) with certain season 2 character arcs.

Permit me to explain where one dense & annoying complainer (i.e., yours truly) is coming from. Because Nynaeve’s S2 show arc is potentially triggering for anyone who has lived experience with pregnancy or child loss.

Despite putting this assertion out there, I have seen — and been directly subject — to a range of responses that range from patronizing to downright heartless. These include:

How can anyone (read: these idiots) NOT see the character development that’s being set up?

People who criticize don’t understand/lack empathy for trauma survivors.

Critics who are (over)reacting need to shut up and deal with their own unresolved trauma.

And the evergreen refrain: they’re just fictional characters. Get a life. 🙄

As someone who has lost multiple pregnancies, and supported loved ones through child loss, excuse me when I say: hold my mother’s milk in a fucking cup.

Nynaeve’s arc this season was especially difficult to watch and process because she was the only character who went through it without genuine support or a single onscreen ray of hope for resolution/closure. The fact this will probably come 18-24 months from now, does not ease the immediate pain.

Let me offer a hypothetical comparator: picture the reaction from Egwene stans & the fandom as a whole, if the season had ended on episode 5. I can only imagine how that might have gone down.

As hard as I found Nynaeve’s arc, I was inclined to process it privately — until these kinds of comments started to show up in other’s posts and threads. Because I find the toxic positivity, fanlier-than-thouism and callous dismissal of others’ feelings even more triggering than Nynaeve’s arc.

Why? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself, because I too generally find fandom drama tiring. Here’s what I realized:

Such responses are trivializing and isolating. Very much the way grieving parents (or almost parents) feel after their loss, because so few people are able to relate. (Despite the growing exploration/exploitation of pregnancy and child loss in ‘entertainment,’ there’s still a very real societal taboo when it comes to talking about RL experiences.)

If you find my criticism, posts and replies to comments about Nynaeve’s arc tiresome, offensive or otherwise upsetting, feel free to ignore/delete/block/move along. Or, by all means, respond thoughtfully. But don’t tell me I don’t see/understand what the writers are doing (I’m not an idiot). Don’t tell me I don’t understand/lack empathy for trauma survivors. Don’t tell me to cool down/get over it/get (more) therapy. Don’t tell me I need to get a life. (My rainbow kid keeps me plenty busy, thanks.) And don’t expect me to shut up about my criticisms of a cherished character’s unrelenting suffering, and how it has been portrayed as robbing her of her signature competence and common sense.

If you’re still reading, thank you very much for enduring my rant. May those with differing perspectives enjoy their S3 longing, while I busy myself with fix-it fanfics and gratuitous Laneave smut.

[selchwife]

Voice of man reading emetwol fic again. some thoughts.

ive seen like two fics like this thus far and am beginning to suspect it may be a subgenre: WoL, in the timeline where black rose happened, is still alive for some reason and is essentially coerced into marrying emet in order to assure it is not used, all while the garlean empire is occupying like, peak wealth and status rather than slowly cannibalizing itself like a pack of miserable wolves delirious from the stress of long-term captivity.

am noticing a pattern (inasmuch as noticing the same element present twice is “noticing a pattern”) where in these fics wol is presented with like extremely desirable material goods and services but turns them down or chafes against them because they’re extensions of emet’s hospitality, and she kind of hates him. this in and of itself is kind of part of a repeated theme i see with him where he’s able to provide all sorts of material items or benefits and has no real compunctions about giving extremely lavish gifts, but in order to maintain the illusion of social propriety and lack of materialism these are usually forced on WoL rather than graciously accepted by her.

and it kind of makes me think, like, certainly i agree being materialistic is not a desirable trait, but what’s wrong with appreciating things that people offer you? i have a bunch of like…extenuating circumstances, in my case, that can make accepting generosity (especially of the material sort) difficult, because i’m an abuse victim and spent a lot of my formative years in poverty, and i think the idea that accepting gifts or wanting anything at all makes you materialist is certainly a contributing factor (interesting also how often it’s accompanied by the idea that resigning oneself to poverty is morally aspirational, something something propaganda!)

ultimately im kind of at the point where like. Reluctance in accepting gifts is real, especially in people for whom gifts were weaponized somehow or who don’t value themselves or are uncomfortable with extravagant gifts because of prior experiences with poverty or who have moral OCD about materialistic behavior or whatever else, and i don’t mind that in fiction or whatever, but i do think maybe in a more general sense shaming material desires or playing coy about them isn’t the way, either. I’ll Admit It: as a poor and disabled person, even given my difficulties around receiving or accepting gifts (depending on the person giving this can range from mild guilt to legitimate panic attacks), i would love to have nice things to wear, and an attractive and well-kept place to live, and total food security, and help with tasks of daily living, and the occasional totally useless pretty trinket. That would be awesome. why should i not want that, and why should i not entertain a fantasy where a loving and safe person can provide those things to me out of a simple desire to see me be well, without coercion or abuse involved?

and yes, like, I do understand that in the case of fic about emet and garlemald those are all certainly ill-gotten gains, but the framing is almost always like UGH, MY GILDED CAGE! i GUESS i’ll eat this delicious food and wear this beautiful dress and sleep in this wonderfully appointed safe and warm shelter :/ as opposed to like Wow, this is the luxury he’s killing the world for!, so im fairly sure that is not the reason for the heroine-as-extension-of-author’s rejection of said wealth

like idk just. Having people who are eager to do nice stuff for me and trying to balance my weird neuroses with not wanting to let them down is starting to highlight for me not only the flaws in them but the way i think typical platitudes about materialism are in effect less often used to chide the economically comfortable and more often used to dissuade the poor from wanting to like, escape the hand-to-mouth living and exploitation that comes with being part of the have-not underclass in society

[unoisveimved-un-proffesional]

You know, thinking about it all, I have to ask myself, are studios and entertainment corpo scum bags increasing public hate towards women and minorities with the release of these sub-par shows that try to pass off as progressive? I don’t think so, but there’s a case to be made. I think the release of shit like She-Hulk and Velma don’t actually cause people to hate women, just allows people who already do and some who just aren’t outwardly misogynistic to have a spotlight and a couple good points about the media being terrible, and say it’s because of sjw’s ruining everything with minority representation.

Also, Velma was apparently supposed to be a completely original IP, but the higher ups don’t want to take that kind of risk. Still, it’s not a defense for the show, but it gives insight into how it came to be. It’s still damaging to minorities as a whole when shit like this happens because it makes somewhat of a mockery of them in the public eye and allows more bigoted ideas to flourish because they have something to pivot off of, like how conservatives love to rush to a gay pedophile, a trans rapist, or a black thief for proof that all these people are terrible.

If we lived in an any better society, shit like She-Hulk and Velma not only wouldn’t have the place to exist, because in a better society strong women and minorities in shows and movies wouldn’t be an anomaly to flex at the media with, but also because people would just see a bad show and move on. Couple that with disrespect for the source material and universe, and you have the perfect media hate storm, and maybe that’s what executives want. Why make something good when something bad with minorities in it will get so much more attention? Honestly kinda of saddening this is the landscape of media and entertainment, because it’s about publicity now instead of actually being entertaining.

And if you like She-Hulk or Velma, good for you, but I know it’s not even in your top 10 favorite pieces of media, come on now, you don’t actually think they’re quality shows let’s be real here, but it’s okay if you like them, but I don’t think that was the point. I think the point was to get people angry and talking, which is kind of scummy, cause if that was the point, they’re hanging up women and minorities as rage bait for people to throw their rotten tomatoes at and get more hate publicity, which directly puts more hate on the people you string up as a selling point in your media.

It’s obviously not coming from a genuine place of even social justice, the people who green light these shows and market them aren’t doing if for social justice or whatever, they’re doing it to rage bait anti-sjw’s and get cultishly left leaning sjw type people on board for people to hate even more (I am not some “enlightened centrist” I am a very left leaning person, but you know who the kind of people they want on board to be, if they want anyone, it could all just be for hate!). And it especially saddens me that the way companies can get rage bait now is from having minorities in their media, and oh boy they are exploiting the hate for minorities. It’s not about the ratings anymore, in this new landscape of media, it’s about the publicity, and you don’t get people talking more than when you fuck up, and they’re going to tape themselves fucking up for the whole world to see like clowns in a live circus.

It’s frankly disgusting, especially because it’s working. You’re not helping by giving bad shows publicity! You should look towards good shows instead and show companies you’re eyes aren’t magnetized to shit, because they’re just gonna keep making shit for you to gawk at if that’s all they see you doing! And if you’re not paying attention to or contributing to the publicity of a good show? They’re gonna fucking cancel it! Because they’re scum bag fucking corpo bastards who don’t care about you or what they do to the world! Fuck.

[arent-i-the-fairest]

𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

crowley is (finally) allowing you the choice of leaving ramshackle to move to whichever dorm you please, but you’re still unsure which one to choose. knowing that, everyone is trying to win you over.

author’s note : out of curiousity— of the 7 dorms, which would you choose to live at and why?

part 2 here!

“so, prefect! tell me, which dorm would you like to move to?”

you froze up. you have to make the decision now? “w-way to put me on the spot..” you muttered under your breath, nervously looking at crowley who was expecting an answer. you like all the dorms! how are you supposed to choose just one?

“i’ll go with… heartslabyul? no, no, scarabia! wait, scratch that, i’ll move to pomefi—”

crowley put a hand in front of you, stopping you from speaking any further. “it seems to me that you’re unsure, but it’s no problem! because i’m so very kind, i will give you as much time as you need to consider.”

“thank you, i’ll be thinking things over!” you waved before exiting his office. the door closed and crowley grinned, spinning around in his chair and rubbing his hands together.

“and i will be informing all your little friends that you’re still uncertain on which dorm to move to— a headmaster must keep himself entertained somehow!”

heartslabyul

riddle is stressed, brainstorming different ways to convince you to come. he totally might just make a powerpoint presentation on why heartslabyul is the ideal dorm to be in, which is gold.

cater is just acting like he always does. he feels no need to do anything extra, isn’t he charming enough as is to bring you to heartslabyul? besides, everyone else doing the most. look at them!

ace “you and me are best friends” trappola. he absolutely exploits the fact that he’s one of the closest people to you, if not the closest. he bugs you about it so much though, it’s kinda becoming counterproductive. not that he realizes it.

like most other times, deuce is dragged into ace’s scheme. and he totally buys that it’ll work too! they have the same logic of “we’re best friends, so they’ll choose us” and they’re gonna die on that hill. of course, until it comes out that you don’t choose them.

trey’s just caught up in the mess. he’s said “riddle, calm down”, “ace, leave them alone— you too, deuce”, and “thank god you’re so chill, cater” so many times.

savanaclaw

leona doesn’t put in a lot of effort— he’s already certain you’re gonna choose his dorm. he’s not overbearing in the slightest, you’re given a lot of free rein, and though other dorm members can be pretty combative, he’ll drive ‘em away if they try to mess with you. it just makes sense that you’d pick them.

ruggie has nowhere near as much confidence as leona does about this, so he’s going overboard with giving you gifts, doing little acts of service for you, buttering you up with praise, anything that might make you gravitate towards picking savanaclaw.

as per ruggie’s request, jack is trying to act sweeter than he normally is. keyword is trying. but he’s struggling real hard— it’s way too embarrassing for him. he just ends up acting like the regular old him. (but the guy is just so likeable, it’s fine.)

octavinelle

persuasion? it’s azul’s time to shine. he’s a master at this stuff, but there’s one mistake he’s making— he’s being so damn persistent and borderline annoying about it! the number one way to drive away customers! unless you’re a fan of that kind of clingy behavior.

but you think it’s hard to catch a break from azul? pfft, he’s got nothing on floyd. there’s hardly any breathing room with him, literally and figuratively. he’s squeezing you nearly every second he’s with you and he’s squeezing hard. you think you’ll have to get your ribs checked to make sure none of them are cracked.

jade just watches from the sidelines. he’s restraining himself from laughing as he sees azul trailing after you as you desperately try to shake him off or floyd tackling you to the ground. when you’re tired of their antics and manage to get away, he’ll pour you a cup of tea (on the house btw), asking if you’re alright. it feels as though he’s octavinelle’s only hope.

scarabia

kalim is basically like, “i don’t wanna sway your opinion, BUT—” he’ll tell you the most amazing things about living in scarabia and how cool the dorm and their members are with the biggest grin on his face. he hypes it up so much it’s sounding like the perfect place.

there’s not a lot left for jamil to do is doing since kalim’s doing pretty much all the work. just to pull you in a little closer though, he’ll flash you a pretty smile and give you more treats (baked lovingly by him) during the day, sometimes reminding you that you could have his cooking every day if you lived at scarabia.

pomefiore

now, vil is sure you already have your sights set on pomefiore— but he is not going take any chances! so he sends rook and epel to spend some time with you. or in other words, advertise their dorm. he’s expecting to see you with luggage soon, asking where their spare room is.

rook is having a field day, he’s probably having the most fun out of everyone here. he’s reciting poems he wrote just for the occasion and practically throwing flower bouquets at you, all while epel…

epel is just chilling. he thinks rook will take care of everything, but no. he freezes up when told by rook to “tell the prefect what you have to offer!” and his brain malfunctions as he tries to put together a poetic sentence. all that came out was, “i’ll.. cut apple slices for you..?” not quite what rook had in mind, but it’s beautiful in it’s own way.

ignihyde

idia is extremely anxious— he wants you to pick his dorm, but has no idea how to convince you into doing it. or even how to make his dorm look like an appealing place to be. he feels like the greatness of his dorm pales in comparison to the other ones, so he kinda just hopes a miracle will happen and you’ll choose ignihyde.

diasomnia

oh, malleus is dead set on having you in diasomnia, you have no idea— he’s pulling out all the stops, pulling so many strings. wins “the most desperate” trophy by a landslide. you just can’t tell because externally he seems so nonchalant. every time he thinks you’re gravitating towards another dorm, he’ll up his game.

everyone’s trying so hard, it’s amusing, lilia thinks. it all looked like a ton of fun, so of course he was gonna hop onto the “winning you over” bandwagon! he’ll recount all the fun stories he and his dorm mates have had at diasomnia! such as studying gargoyles, and training, and the horrific yet oddly comedic injuries had during training… you question if lilia is throwing you off on purpose.

sebek is bugging you whenever he gets the chance, boasting about his dorm. diasomnia is the best dorm all around! not only do you have the pleasure of worshipping the young lord, there’s plenty of fun things to do— don’t mind the dark, intimidating atmosphere! now, why don’t you just go and tell the headmaster your choice already?

silver honestly doesn’t know what he’s doing, he’s just goin’ with the flow.��when sebek sent him after you, it was a bit awkward. he just said, “you can protect malleus with us and take naps with me :)” and called it a day.

you let out a groan as you slumped on top of your bed, grim following after you.

“these guys have been draggin’ you all around! they’re treatin’ this like war!”

“no kidding.” you sighed, turning over on your back. “crowley just had to tell them, didn’t he? now they’re all trying so hard, it’s just making deciding on only one of them more difficult. i don’t wanna hurt any feelings… should i just eeny-meeny-miny-moe it?”

[blockgamepirate]

Anyway there really isn't that much new information in the Twitch income leaks, and this post isn't anything I haven't said before, but for the record:

Focusing on "rich people" is a distraction from the problems of capitalism. The problem isn't that some people are rich, the problem is that people, animals and nature in general are being exploited to make a select few people rich.

And like I get feeling bitter about people making money just by being popular on Twitch (or YouTube for that matter) because it doesn't feel fair and it isn't fair, but it's honestly just kind of irrelevant actually. I mean if the streamers get manipulative, which is a very real concern to be fair, that's a problem, but if they're just getting voluntary subs and donos, that's not all that exploitative actually. It's less exploitative than wage labour tbh. And even the more exploitative part of it is usually on the websites themselves, trying to use any possible psychological trick they can to make people spend more money on stream.

But streamers are in fact workers themselves, they're entertainment workers, specifically. It's not under a traditional employer-emplyee contract, but what is, these days? So yes, sometimes workers can get rich, as it turns out, it's just that only a small percentage is lucky enough to get that chance. Is the inequality a problem? Obviously it is! But the rich streamers themselves are not creating or even really perpetuating that inequality, they're just benefitting from it, which is kinda fair enough. And they're not benefiting nearly as much as Amazon or Google are.

[glowingbadger]

Can I get some SFW and nsfw modern day Kaeya and Diluc stuff? Ty ty!

Damn I hadn't even thought about ModernAU Genshin before lol should be interesting- lesgoooo~

Side note- Genshin refuses to make actual sense of any of the ages of its characters, so I'm going with, like... mid-20's, semi-recently out of college for these two.

Kaeya, Diluc x GN Reader - ModernAU! headcanons

SFW (nsfw below the cut)

Kaeya:

- He's in law school, and has a real knack for discovering hilarious and exploitable legal loopholes. It's also a field that suits him for a number of reasons- it makes use of his infectious natural charm, and keeps him entertained with the 'stories' you happen upon working with people's legal and personal problems. He's also the best dressed in any of his classes, and in any given courtroom. Those who know luxury clothing when they see it can't help incredulously wondering how he affords his wardrobe while still technically a student.

- Kaeya is such a shitposter. He habitually 'likes' any and everything you post on any and all social media platforms- but he'll also comment "mmm who's that sexy thing" beneath the most innocuous images of you. He sends you dumb memes at concerning hours of the night- frequently while intoxicated, and especially when you've had a stressful day.

- As a partner, Kaeya is surprisingly loyal. His friends (and yours) will joke about him being a total slut, how you must have to keep him on such a short leash. He doesn't take offense to this though, and in a way, he gets a kick out of being perceived this way. But in truth, since he's been with you, he's never once considered anyone else. When you're alone together, there's a warmth in his gaze and a gentleness to his touch that no one else has ever seen.

- Everywhere Kaeya goes, he seems to "know a guy." He's always got an in- and an elaborate story of how he met this person and why they're, frankly, worryingly open to doing him favors. It's rare that a date with Kaeya goes by without you being offered free drinks, free desserts, a better seat at a restaurant or theatre, etc. Generally, when pressed, he'll wave a hand and say, "Babe come on, you know me- I just love making friends." Though you've heard whispers that some of his "friends" are just people who can't afford to be on his bad side.

Diluc:

- Was on track to become a police officer for some time, but it took barely a month from completing his training for him to become entirely disillusioned with the entire system. He quit (bluntly and forcefully, I might add) and now works as a P.I. His quietly thoughtful and serious nature puts clients at ease while allowing him to examine each case efficiently and effectively. I also figure we'd still carry over the "bartending at night" angle from the games- it's a great way to network and gain intel while undercover.

- His phone is basically a device for work, the news, and sometimes for contacting you, and absolutely nothing else. He hates the constant noise of social media, and refuses to jump on trends when things move too fast to get meaningfully invested in anything. Still, while he tries to angle his screen so you won't see it, he has set a picture of you as his wallpaper.

- Diluc loves the quiet, domestic side of your relationship. He treasures things like cooking together, cuddling on the couch with a movie, or even working on chores and projects together. He comes from money (though he doesn't talk about it much), so the more down to earth life that he's made with you is precious to him, and he appreciates all of the little moments that reaffirm your bond. That said, he does have an excellent memory for things like birthdays, anniversaries and such, and he is not shy about spending some cash on such occasions.

- Your friends all think he's super hot (and they're right), but are also a bit intimidated by him. Once, you tried showing them a sweet message he sent you drowning in heart emojis and they insisted that couldn't be him. Now there's a running joke in your friend group about your secret side-guy who leaves you nice voicemails when you've had a bad day and has flowers sent to your work- since they're convinced someone as serious and put-together as Diluc couldn't be your incredibly affectionate boyfriend.

NSFW 18+ v

Kaeya:

- Kaeya loves showing you off, especially in an outfit he bought just for you. It seriously turns him on to watch you over a nice dinner out wearing something a bit risque that he selected for you, noting the appreciative glances in your direction from others nearby, and knowing that you're his. The way his line of sight wanders your body all night makes it exceedingly clear that he can't wait to tear that lovely outfit off of you when he has you alone.

- Definitely the adventurous and experimental sort when it comes to kink, and he especially enjoys a bit of exhibitionism or semi-public fooling around. During a similar date night, with you looking so positively delicious across the table, he'll watch with a wolfish smirk as you squirm from the vibrations of a toy he pushed inside of you earlier that evening. He reclines in his seat and levels his gaze on you, saying, "My, darling, are you feeling alright? You look a bit flushed..." as his hand fiddles with the toy's remote. Then, once he gets you home or- even better -to a hotel, he'll press you against the window as he fucks you into panting, mindless bliss. Sometimes he doesn't even want to wait that long, and he'll find somewhere to park his car and fuck you in his back seat

- Kaeya has sending dick pics and lewd selfies down to an art. Seriously, his pictures are beautiful- of course helped by the fact that his body is gorgeous as well. Naturally, he loves to receive erotic images of you as well, and will save each and every one of them for "later use." If you're into it, he'll gladly send you a video of himself stroking his cock just for you, while describing every filthy thing he imagines doing to you in explicit detail.

Diluc:

- Generally speaking, Diluc wants to wine and dine you before the spicy business. He's a romantic at heart, and he wants you to know that he adores every part of you- and your body just happens to be one item on that list. He's not as obvious with his desires as some, but lingering gazes across the dinner table, or a hand at the small of your back trailing around your waist, all make his intentions clear. There's no doubt your lovely evening together will end with his strong body pressing you against his matress, his lips at your throat and your thighs clinging around his hips.

- He's generally fairly private about his sex life- not shy, per say, but insistent that your mutual pleasure is something for only the two of you. He's also not likely to sext or send lewd photos unless you really, really want them (and he's kind of adorably awkward about it at first even if he does try for you)- but if you tease him by sending him something naughty, his mind short circuits. His face burns crimson and he stops whatever he was doing and just stares at your beautiful body on the screen, as though he can already feel you in his hands.

- Diluc is a busy man, so there's likely to be stretches when the time and energy for sex simply isn't there. But once he's wrapped up a case and he finally has some time to breathe, you can bet he'll lift you into his arms and carry you to the bedroom the first chance he gets. You might even start to suspect that it's a way for him to vent his work stress when his thick cock pounds into you so nice and steady and deep- but you're certainly not about to complain, especially when you've been without him for so long.

[angelizs]

Hello :D back again with more rambles !!! So as much as the Leech twins say they don’t care about Azul and would leave him; I have a hard time believing they genuinely would. I mean yes they clearly don’t have a traditional friendship but they definitely have one. The twins seem closer to each other but they often shadow over Azul even when he does things that seem boring. Playing more on the thought I mentioned in my Floyd ask, I think they might not say they’re friends because it could be exploited? Of course the twins are obvious with how close they are, but they can protect themselves. Meanwhile, Azul is powerful but not so much in the physical parts. They could avoid showing their friendship simply because it would make them seem “weaker” or that someone could harm Azul to harm them. Their dynamic is interesting because it breaks the stereotype of having 2 loyal servants. The twins are free to do whatever they want and deny a request unlike in other shows. Overall I think they have a friendship it’s just different than a traditional one- 🦭

HIII 🦭 ANON HOW ARE U?? I'm so sorry for taking so long to answer, life has been real busy lately, but I'm powering through!! thank you for sending your thoughts again!!

I agree with you, the twins and Azul are not only friends, but also very close ones! they've stayed with Azul for years and have watched him grow into the person he's now, being by his side the whole time! they all know each other on a very deep level, thus they also care about each other, in their own eccentric ways.

the twins, at first, only stayed because Azul was different from others (as this is the reason he was bullied in the first place). because of that, they didn't know what to expect with him, thus making him insteresting to be around. they ended up actually becoming friends though, and stayed together after that, following each other from dephts of the cold ocean to the lands of the warm earth.

of course, they say they'd leave should Azul start to bore them, but I don't think Azul would ever get boring, not with his witty intelect and shady schemes. Azul says he doesn't control the twins, which is absolutely true, but that doesn't mean they won't stay by his side. as they said themselves, they don't care about the money, as long as they're kept entertained.

naturally, the twins are closer, as they've been working together since their birth, only them against the cold and cruel sea. they always been odd ones as well, so that's why they clicked with Azul so well, but they're still different brands of weird.

hmm, I could see that! with the line of business Azul conducts, it might be dangerous to have weak points such as a soft spot for his two closest and most competent employees. not only that, but being openly friendly with people that are supposed to obey him, as their boss, could crack his intimidating untouchable image, thus making him seem weaker.

still, Azul isn't weaker, as he seems to be! he's actually stronger than the twins, as Floyd mentions on beans fest, so he's got strong magic, strong muscles and a strong brain. I think it'd be hard for anyone to harm him, unless they could get under his skin by attacking his more emotional side. Azul's got an amazing mask of indifference and faux confidence, but he's still very insecure about his past, which could be one way to get to him that would involve the twins.

I personally think that their refusal to be seen as friends might have come from old habits they carry from their home. as I see the Coral Sea, if it's anything like real sea life at all, it's a dog eat dog world, where everyone lives by themselves and protect their own. sea life can be very cruel, even to their own kind, so it would make sense for them not want to appear weak. it also is related to their own personalities, as they're not very open and emotional people, like Kalim for example, and they don't like showing their hand, prefering to keep their cards close to their chest.

their dynamic reflects that of Ursula and Flotsam and Jetsam very well! differently from other disney villains, who are cruel to their minions and oftentimes only put up with them for their own gain, Ursula genuinely likes the eels, as they are her beloved pets, not her servants. the eels are very cunning and like to create trouble, aiding Ursula in her evil schemes. when they are accidently killed by the end of the movie, Ursula gets furious, going on a rampage and attacking the ships. (see background part of the wiki!)

also, I really like this meme that sums up what you said really well lol

their relationship is very insteresting indeed! since they individually are already so fascinating, as part of a dynamic they have even more potential. a non traditional friendship like theirs is a nice break of stereotypes that TWST does once more!

[sheepwasfound]

Hi! I'm really curious what are your thoughts on dnf "queerbaiting" their audience? I know this topic is quite often been discussed, but it seems like many people don't see it as a baiting at all, while it is very obvious in some cases (for example, their texts, tweets, sometimes "jeoulosy" thing seems kinda off, "some interactions are seemingly staged - the one where dream "didn't know" that george was streaming etc). Don't get me wrong, I don't want to bring any negativity, but their relationship really confuse me - sometimes it is obviously geniune flirting, sometimes they very clearly exploit this topic for clout. And well it's hard to blame them for this, I mean it's not really their fault that the audience got so invested in whatever happens between them, but sometimes the "staged" part seem a bit too much tbh. I just really wonder to what amount this whole thing is real. Because well I feel like if you "play pretend" as a couple so much with someone it may start feeling odd, weird, somewhat real and then you may start questioning your own feelings. Idk, it kinda feels like what is happening with them, but maybe they are just really really good actors.

eh, i think it's a mix, but the parts that i personally find shippable about them are not something they do for show imo. however, i do think they occasionally do play things up for fun.

first of all, they're actual people and actual friends so they can't "queerbait" (as a bi i hate that misconception with a passion but that'd be another essay), but if we ignore that and just consider what you're talking about as them...playing things up because they think it's funny and it'll get a reaction from the audience. that's just something entertainers do. one example of this is when dream said "well, obviously we're gonna kiss" when asked about what they'll do when they meet. ofc i don't know their motivations, but i'm guessing a fair bit of the reason they make those kinds of comments is because they themselves find it funny. many friends do this. dream's also said they did it before youtube. maybe they also find the audience's reaction funny. it's still not queerbaiting. i don't think they do it consciously as some kind of marketing ploy, cus let's be real -- they don't need it. i'm pretty sure they just plain enjoy that shit. they have a fun time doing it. and the audience has a fun time watching it.

the texts you mentioned btw, those are just between them, how could it even be "for clout"? if you think they plan out texting each other stuff like that and then posting it a few weeks later, i think that's going pretty far for two cc's who have a huge following and piles of money completely independently from their ship. they literally do not need to do that. i think a more likely reason is they have a fun time doing it. so yes, i do believe they sometimes play stuff up, but i think the reason they do it is because it’s fun for them, and they do it whether they have an audience or not. it’s not “staged”, they’re just having fun.

to top it off, as a shipper i'm not a huge fan of those very over-the-top lines or whatever, cus they pretty clearly come off as jokes. ofc...well...making jokes like that is also a way to flirt...and figure stuff out...and lines can blur... but anyway, the parts i like most about them are the ones they don't play up. their dedication to each other. their dumbass bickering while they're still obviously having the time of their lives. being able to talk all day and not get sick of each other. wanting to live together. always being hyperaware of each other. knowing every tiny detail about each other. most of these are just...things that super close friends do too. for me, that's what i like about them. and that is absolutely real.

still, when it comes to shipping them romantically, the thing that gets me beyond the friendshipy things isn't the over-the-top dnf jokes and whatever that they do (though like i said, that can be flirting too), it's the goddamn tension they have sometimes. such close friends that are so familiar and so comfortable with each other, how do they still get moments where they...well, get quiet. awkward. sometimes you can see george bite his lip and let out a little giggle cus he doesn't know what to say, and you hear dream's voice get even lower. it's like you can hear their hearts beating and thoughts racing. their acting ain't that fricking good anon

[turtleflurple]

My headcanon of Donnie and Leo’s relationship when growing up together

Okay, so when thinking about the boys being a little younger, I can’t help but imagine Leo taking on a bit of a more antagonistic role in the family when growing up. Not that they’re not close as brothers, but I do find myself thinking that Leo could have been a bit more of a bully when younger.

Leo can be a bit of a jerk towards his brothers in the series, and especially looking at his behavior in Lair Games and Air Turtle, he kind of has the bad habit of lording his own superiority over his brothers and milking his winning for all it’s worth. We also know that Leo being a poor winner is a very old and known behavior. Leo is also very focused on being better than other people (going with how small social circle was before the show, this probably mostly meant his brothers when growing up), and while he’s very sure of himself he also has bouts of severe insecurity where he’s very desperate for reaffirmation.

Where as with Donnie, I find his behavior currently fits very well with a very sensitive child being picked on a lot when younger and over time hardening more into this “emotionally unavailable bad boy”. To me Donatello is always a very emotional individual, only he has trouble connecting and explaining himself to other people especially because he’s so intellectually gifted. I can see Donnie in Rise being a bit of a crybaby and pushover when he was younger, something that I see keen eyed Leonardo focusing in on and exploiting. This would create a relationship were Leo would rile Donnie up a lot since Donnie would be such an easy target and always guarantee a reaction.

Kids just kinda tend to be mean to one another sometimes, especially they get bored and/or want attention. Just look at the dynamic between Mikey and Raph in the 2003 series. Mikey picks on Raph constantly, because it’s easy and it gets a reaction. If Raph wouldn’t react to Mikey constantly goading him on, Mikey would probably find something else to entertain himself with and leave Raph alone for the most part. But Raph can’t really keep a lid on it since he has a very explosive temper and gets swept up easily in his emotions. But yeah, I can see how in Rise this dynamic growing up could have shifted more to have been between Leo and Donnie. But instead of growing angry like Raph, Donnie instead would mostly just get very emotional in general.

I think that as a sensitive kid, regularly being picked on would turn that up to eleven, thus making Donnie hypersensitive. You know the kind I’m talking about, the kinda kid that’s so easily triggered by any perceived hostile behavior that they tear up over the smallest of things and constantly run over to their caretaker for comfort, a type of behavior that tends to grow a bit tiring after a while. Since it’s obvious that the person Donnie would run to most of the time would be Splinter, I think Splinter would in turn grow to be a bit desensitized by Donnie’s tears and claims of teasing, maybe even get exasperated from time to time. Here you have four very rowdy children that you have to run after constantly to make sure they don’t end up killing themselves and/or each other, and one of them keeps crying out that the others are being mean to him. I would understand if you would just get a bit done with it all after a while.

So in this situation Splinter would mostly apprehend Leo for picking on his brothers in the beginning, and especially for picking on Donnie, but after a while would also more turn to Donnie and tell him to deal with the issue himself instead of always running to Splinter to hide behind. Not in a mean way, but more in an “I can’t be the one to keep solving all your problems, Purple” kinda way. But I think this would send the wrong message to Donnie and he will instead interpret Splinter’s words more as a command not to bother him anymore with his issues. As a result he will act more emotionally distant towards his father after I think, and tough it out more when he’s overwhelmed and/or feeling vulnerable, maybe even isolate himself more.

With Leo and Donnie I think it first grew a lot worse before it got better again. I think focusing in on Donnie and picking on him a lot grew into a bit of a habit for Leo, as it was funny to him since it always garnered a reaction. Donnie would grow increasingly upset, much to Leo’s delight, until the day that Donnie wouldn’t take it anymore and snap. He’d attack, cuss out or accuse Leo of being a bully, and Leo would be so taken off guard by the accusation that he wouldn’t know what to say or do. Leo wouldn’t see himself as a bully, even tho I think he would have kinda been one over that span of time, and this conflicting image of himself would shock him so much that he would be forced to reflect on his behavior and his relationship with his brothers, with the focus laying mostly on Donnie. I think that after this altercation Leo would have gone to Donnie and apologize but deny being a bit of a bully while still validating his feelings to a certain extend and promising to stop teasing him so much. Donnie would accept the apology, but the damage would already be done. Donnie would be a lot more emotionally closed off, since until that day it kind of taught him that those many emotions of his can and will be used against him. He would have become more aggressive and guarded, but over time mellow out more into the more familiar teenage Donnie we all know and love with his dry humor, sarcastic snark and anti-social tendencies.

I think that this would have played out when Leo and Donnie were between the ages of 7 to 10, and when they both grow older they will actually realize what had happened and heal. Leo will apologize for real, and Donnie would have already forgiven him. I think Leo would never have meant any harm, he had just been bored and Donnie was just sure to be entertainment. Donnie didn’t know how to handle himself back then and I’m sure that in between Leo picking on him he was nasty back as well (since I do believe Donnie can be a bit vindictive if he wants to). They were both younger, and when you’re a kid it’s difficult to think of others and the consequences of your actions.

But yeah! That’s what I think Donnie and Leo’s relationship tended to be like when they were a bit younger! And it’s not the case that in between the ribbing they didn’t also play around with each other, would tussle and take comfort in one another. But you know what I mean when you have siblings. It’s very easy to simultaneously dislike and love them, forgive and forget when you’re having fun, and honestly, there never were any mal-intentions. Just kids figuring out how to better take care of each other.

[gch1995]

I’m 25 going on 26 now, and I grew up loving the classic Powerpuff Girls cartoon series when I was a kid. Even now when I rewatch it as an adult, it’s still a cute and funny cartoon, especially now that I’m old enough to recognize all of the adult jokes. Like, there’s no way it was a coincidence that Professor Utonium’s despicably dishonest, greedy, lazy, manipulative, selfish, and sleazy former roommate from college was given the name Professor Dick Hardly by accident.

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup actually are pretty relatable little girls who have believable flaws and insecurities. They make believable bad choices for little girls. Those issues actually get dealt with seriously, rather than just being brushed aside as no big deal with no negative consequences. They are still endearing and sympathetic in spite of their flaws.

While he had a few OOC moments of bad parenting in some bad episodes here and there, generally speaking, Professor Utonium from the classic Powerpuff Girls is actually one of the best dads in cartoons that I’ve ever seen, which is sadly pretty rare in most cartoon sitcoms, even the ones that are actually aimed at a children audience.

Most cartoon dads are abusive, lazy, neglectful, selfish, and stupid oafs. Granted, those type of dads in cartoon sitcoms can actually be entertaining and funny to watch when they are actually being well-written as shitty and slow-witted, but still essentially well-meaning people in regards to their families, such as S1-S8 Homer Simpson from The Simpsons and even S1-S3 Peter Griffin from Family Guy. However, the entertainment quality of those shitty, but well-meaning cartoon dads was mostly lost when the writers flanderdized their negative traits to the point of making Homer and especially Peter downright despicable with little to no redeeming or sympathetic qualities much of the time anymore. They went from being shitty, but essentially well-meaning parents and husbands to downright bratty and spoiled man-children who were much more intentionally abusive, childish, cruel, neglectful, petty, and selfish in regards to their families and others around them with little to no sympathetic or redeeming qualities much of the time anymore, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why The Simpsons went downhill in quality after S8, and why Family Guy went downhill in quality after S3.

Nonetheless, even as they were originally written on their shows pre-flanderdization when they were still well-meaning, but misguided parents and spouses, cartoon dads like Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin, weren’t good dads on the whole. There were still plenty of recurring plot lines and/or gags of them being abusive, lazy, neglectful, reckless, and selfish. Back in early seasons pre-flanderdization, it was more forgivable, though, because they also still had their fair share of kind and selfless moments with their families, and their shittiness as parents wasn’t intentionally abusive, malicious, premeditated, and selfish in nature, which balanced them out enough to still be entertaining and likable characters in spite of their flaws.

Realistically speaking, though, dads like Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson would be better off having their kids taken away from them by CPS. Their good qualities and lack of malicious intent, particularly in earlier seasons pre-flanderdization, would still not hold up as legitimate excuse as to why they should be allowed to keep their kids. Bart would have bruises all over his neck, fractures in his neck, and he could possibly be killed if Homer strangled him hard enough to actually break his neck and/or cut off his air supply long enough in real life just once. Meg, Chris, and even Stewie would not only be injured, but actually outright killed in real life from some of the abuse and neglect that Peter and Lois put them through in later seasons of FG. All of these kids, especially Meg, would have serious self-esteem issues for the rest of their lives because Peter, Lois’, and Homer’s abuse and neglect of their kids went beyond just a pattern of being physical in nature, but emotionally and verbally abusive as well.

So yeah, Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson are really not good fathers who you’d ever want to deal with for a parent in real life, even pre-flanderdization. The major reoccurrence of the abusive, bumbling, idiotic, lazy, drunken, neglectful, and selfish dad trope in cartoon sitcoms is exactly why I really love Professor Utonium from the classic PPG cartoon. I don’t necessarily mind it in absurdist cartoon sitcoms when it’s done well as a trope, but I’m also getting tired of mostly just seeing bad and stupid dads in cartoon sitcoms, and not enough good ones.

For the most part, the OG Professor Utonium is a great dad who goes above and beyond to make sure Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup are happy, healthy, disciplined, and safe. He’s usually the parent most of us wish we could have in real life, if we don’t already. It’s refreshing to actually see a good dad in an animated sitcom for once.

Professor Utonium in the classic PPG cartoon is generally a very kind, loving, selfless, and supportive dad to girls. However, he also knows when he has to discipline them and be strict without ever being mean about it. He gives them good advice. He’s very selfless, and even though the girls are superheroes with superhuman abilities, he’ll still risk and/or sacrifice anything to protect them when they’re unable to protect themselves with their powers, including his own life. He didn’t need to be the stereotypical cartoon sitcom abusive, bumbling, dumb, and neglectful dad in order to be funny either. He was funny because he could sometimes be overprotective of the girls, and he could sometimes embarrass them by calling them sickly sweet terms of endearment and telling embarrassing stories that he shouldn’t have about them in public. He was socially awkward. These are relatable flaws in parents that even the best ones have.

While the girls don’t have a mother, Ms. Bellum and Ms. Keane were very brave, kind, and intelligent strong women who were good role models.

Also, the Professor did many activities with the girls and chores around the house that get gender-coded as “mother’s work.” Some of these things include begrudgingly playing dress up as Bubbles to make her happy when she was playing PowerPuff Girls with Buttercup and Blossom on a rainy day inside of no crime when he saw that she was upset that no one wanted to be her, cooking, cleaning, and actually sitting down to talk with the girls, listen to them, emotionally support them, and give them advice. He’s also not afraid to be openly affectionate, doting, and emotional with the girls. There’s just not enough good dads in cartoon sitcoms, which is why I really like Professor Utonium from the OG PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie. He mostly defied all the bad dad stereotypes, and was a really great one to the girls more often than not.

The main villains from the classic PowerPuff Girls cartoon are incredibly entertaining, especially MoJo JoJo. Him was always the creepiest to me because he was the most devious, insidious, and manipulative one. All of the psychological abuse and manipulation he put the girls and Townsville through was always the scariest to me when I was a kid because out of all the villains on the show, the torment that he wreaked upon the girls and Townsville by brainwashing them, gaslighting them, and/or exploiting their fears and insecurities often was played as dead serious with really scary results, especially in early seasons of classic PPG. While Him had a few human moments here and there, for the most part, he was pretty consistently played off as being seriously scary and dangerous.

MoJo JoJo was an egomaniacal asshole hellbent on destroying the PowerPuff Girls and world domination, and on a few occasions, he actually came close to succeeding. On a few occasions, he genuinely was more scary than camp evil. But he still had a lot of humorous, human, fallible, and relatable moments, too. My favorite MoJo moments are the ones where he is making jokes, irritably going grocery shopping to get eggs, getting too frustrated by the girls antics and childish behaviors and reactions to actually go through with his plans to destroy them at certain points, and getting angry and jealous enough to actually destroy the alien/robot invader from another planet who was destroying Townsville in all the evil ways that he always wanted to himself. He was highly intelligent at coming up with clever schemes and inventions with all his science and technology to take over the world, destroy Townsville, and/or destroy the PowerPuff Girls. However, his arrogance, impatience, and impulsivity always doomed him to fail to succeed in the end, though he did come pretty close on a few occasions, especially in the 2002 prequel origin story movie, and he did actually get to rule the world in “The PowerPuff Girls Rule the World!” Surprisingly, he actually was a kindhearted ruler who did good things, but then he gave it all up and went back to being evil because he got bored.

Originally, MoJo was a well-intentioned extremist who wanted to create a utopia ruled by primates where they would never be controlled or rejected by humans again. As much as Professor Utonium’s irritation with JoJo for being a destructive chimp lab assistant was completely justified, it’s also hard not to feel kind of sorry for Mojo Jojo and understand where he’s coming from in his motivations to become evil, particularly in the 2002 prequel movie because originally all he really wanted was to be loved by his owner, too. He understandably felt rejected when Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup became the center of his universe instead. Of course, that doesn’t excuse him for choosing to respond to the Professor’s rejection by becoming an arrogant, evil, cruel, hateful, hypocritical, domineering, manipulative, petty, selfish, and vengeful villain going on a quest for world domination, attempting to commit homicide several times, probably committing voluntary manslaughter of citizens several times that we didn’t see on screen when destroying Townsville all those times, turning the rest of the world into dogs to try to take over the world, and trying to destroy the girls. However, you understand why Mojo became the villain he did with his backstory. He’s relatable. Occasionally, he does have some genuinely sympathetic moments where he’s actually willing to be friendly with the girls, team up with them, and do the right thing.

HIM was just the personification of evil for no other reason than the fact that he was satan. While MoJo was a complex, human, and relatable anti-villain with his origin story as the Professor’s lab chimp, who gained genius-level human intellect from having Chemical X splashed on his brain, and then chose to become evil after feeling rejected by the Professor when he saw how he pretty much forget about him once the girls became the center of his universe instead, HIM was evil, manipulative, and hateful for no other reason than the fact that those traits were a part of his nature as the very embodiment of evil. Many times, a fictional villain being portrayed as one-dimensional with no sympathetic qualities or relatable motivations will annoy me, but with HIM being evil just because that’s who he is, it actually works because he is literally Satan. There doesn’t need to be a deeper sympathetic story behind why he is evil. Committing crimes, wreaking havoc, corrupting people, manipulating people, turning people against others, exploiting the fears of others, and deceiving others for his own amusement is just who he is, and in the early seasons of classic PPG in particular, that made him really scary to me when I was a six year old little girl watching the cartoon on TV.

You get the idea...The classic PowerPuff Girls was a fantastic cartoon, particularly the first four seasons. Granted, there was some series seasonal rot going on in the writing in S5 and S6 after the 2002 prequel movie, and Craig Mcracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure from the crew. Like, the characterizations of the characters and/or storylines in S5 and S6 felt comparably flanderdized, ooc, immature, inconsistent, pointless, shallow, and underwhelming at certain times to fit the plot, such as in the episodes “Keen on Keane,” “Pee Pee G’s,” “Seed No Evil,” “Reeking Havoc,” “Toast of the Town,” “Say Uncle,” “City of Clipsville,” “”Bubble Boy,” A Made Up Story,” “Mo’linguish,” and “Simian Says.” Even the good episodes of S5-S6 still didn’t ever reach the same level of greatness of the ones from S1-S4. However, the seasonal rot in the classic PPG cartoon of S5-S6 after Craig McCracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure still wasn’t nearly as bad as the seasonal rot on The Simpsons after S8, Family Guy after S3, and SpongeBob SquarePants post S3–S4 ish, so I’m still willing to consider most of S5-S6 of classic PPG legit canon.

However, it sounds like the 2016 PPG reboot fucked up everything that was originally good about it to go for a more slapstick comedic feel without substance without consistency, depth, and intelligence. Now, I hear that the CW is making a live-action TV show spin-off of the PowerPuff Girls being jaded and resentful young women who’ve given up crime fighting as result! No, no, no! Why? Why does the CW keep making dark, nitty, and gritty live action teen soap operas out of beloved childhood cartoons?

Yeah, the original PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie had dark moments. The girls could be bratty and make bad choices sometimes. However, it was still very much a fun show about normal little girls born with superpowers, which they chose to use to defend their father, their city, and on some occasions, the whole world, from crime. No one ultimately forced them to be superheroes for everyone in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. They chose to do it because they had brave and selfless hearts. There was ultimately no obligation for them to be superheroes in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. Sure, they got tired of fighting crime at times, but they still ultimately enjoyed doing it when push came to shove. They weren’t weighed down by the darkness of the world, hatred, and resentment. They still were relatively normal little girls with happy, peaceful, and normal lives of little girls whenever they weren’t fighting crime after the events of the prequel movie about their origins. That’s what made the PowerPuff Girls classic cartoon so special.

By turning Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup into jaded young women, who have given up on being superheroes because they’ve grown resentful of “losing the normal childhood to crime fighting” that they basically are shown to have in the original series for the most part in their spare time aside from having superpowers that they chose to use to fight crime to defend their dad and Townsville from, anyway, where is the fun in that?

[bakujho]

A rant about some shady eels...

Let’s talk about Floyd and Jade… like really talk about them. I see a lot of things that paint them in a very different light than they’re presented in canon and I’m not sure if their character is just being missed all together, or it’s been collectively decided by the fandom that they’re too shady so lets all pretend they’re cute, kind, and cuddly… or something. 

Cause reading and rereading the cards really drives home the disconnect between the majority of fandom eels vs canon eels and it drives me fucking nuts. So where do I start with this? I guess we can start at the ‘please actually read the stories that have the eels in them’. Pretty low bar, but here we are. Read the main story. Then the event stories. Then every card story they’re present in. Twstarchives has a list of who appears in what story and that makes it REAL easy. If y’all have read the stories and still wanna disagree with what I’ve got to say, I’m happy to discuss. Also, If you’re cool with OOC eels, feel free to continue on and enjoy the content how you will.

I think imma have to start with Jade cause I see SO much of him being the perfect butler and gentleman, which of course he is, but it’s always missing the underlying cunning. Jade isn’t a docile little slave following orders because he enjoys it. He likes people watching, and doesn’t like when people pay attention to him. How better to go about unnoticed than to stand beside someone like Floyd or Azul who draw attention to themselves simply by existing? He’s almost always planning *something* it’s just not always clear what, and has made it clear that people are easier to manipulate if they trust you.

Jade likes chaos just as much as Floyd does, he’s just better at maintaining his composure about it, which makes him a better architect for it. The poise and grace is an act in order to completely charm and manipulate. That’s why him and Floyd are a team, they’re like the good cop bad cop, both out to get you, but have very different parts to play. His voice lines make it really obvious that he’s got a running interest in causing problems too, “...I would never say that. Yes, ‘I’ wouldn’t”, “Whenever I see someone heavily concentrating on something, I get the urge to start talking to them...”, “...I simply enjoy anything that entertains me” etc etc Him and Floyd both enjoy playing with people, and watching them struggle. 

Let’s talk some Jade facts:

Observant as fuck

Manages to pull one over on Vil, who KNOWS Jade is up to something, but still isn’t able to figure out what.

Tells off Floyd for threatening the students too early...and reminds him that they’re much easier to manipulate if they trust you first. 

Has dirt on LITERALLY every student in the school

Has ZERO problems exploiting Floyd for Azul to fulfil his contract (contrary to the ‘they are inseparable and never fight’ line of thought)

Blackmail is an eels best friend. 

Happily dishes out backhanded compliments

Utterly willing (and probably very ready) to completely destroy someone if he felt the need to.

Now, Floyd is a bit harder to get a read on because his moods flip so easily, but I always feel like he’s portrayed as too childish, too stupid, and too passive. One of our first introductions to Floyd in his SSR is him telling Jade threatening people with words takes too long and it’s SO MUCH EASIER TO JUST BREAK THEIR BONES. Gentle reminder, that literally every single instance Floyd has said he’s going to squeeze someone it has been a THREAT. It’s been shown MULTIPLE times that the other students are terrified of getting on his bad side, he picks fights with people constantly, and he literally harasses people for fun . Floyd is “the muscle” of Octavinelle, and doesn’t bother with all the planning and scheming like Jade, he’s much quicker to violence and clearly loves the thrill of the chase. He’s going to have fun, and it’s very likely at your expense. 

Floyd says on multiple occasions that he does whatever he thinks is fun, and no one can control his moods. Azul and Jade both get annoyed when he starts being a brat, but still can’t control him to do anything that he doesn’t want to do when he’s in said mood. He’s shown multiple times to simply do what he thinks is fun, fuck everyone else and what they’re trying to do. Who cares if basketball club doesn’t mean dodgeball club, he wants to play dodgeball, so get out of the way or you’re getting hit with a ball. The end. There’s no controlling what he does, and he’s not likely to sit and play nice with anyone for hours on end because that’s BORING. All he does he does because it’s fun, and the second he gets bored of something he’s off to do the next thing. He doesn’t like following orders and has been shown getting hostile after being told what to do by “humans”, and doesn’t even follow directions in classes because it’s boring. I can literally not stress enough that Floyd does what Floyd wants, fuck everyone else. 

So here’s some quick floyd facts:

will do what he wants, every single time.If it’s boring, he’s done with it.

is brilliant… if he feels like putting in the work

can be kind...if he’s in the right mood

enjoys playing with people and watching them struggle

doles out threats like they’re candy

has said Azul looks delicious in Octopus form twice (reminder both him and Jades favourite food is octopus)

Okay, so we’ve determined that both the twins like to play with people in their own ways, but what about their relationship with each other and Azul? They’re obviously very close, but not without issues. Floyds mood swings still frustrate Jade and Jade’s compliments often come off as antagonistic to Floyd to the point he picks fights with him. It says that they chose to live together, and are both glad of it cause they each keep things interesting...Which is where their relationship with Azul comes in. They say they knew OF him as children, but didn’t really take an interest in him until middle school and decided to stick with him because he was interesting. Floyd says a  lot of things to do with the Coral Sea is boring, so I suspect an ambitious octopus was intriguing enough for the both of them to force their friendship on him.

...That being said, Jade doesn’t 100% trust Azul. He says he’d never be willing to give him his unique magic for any reason, cause Azul could make up any excuse to get his hands on it (Floyd of course, is much more casual with his magic and has said he could live without it so doesn’t care as much). The twins mention that they continue to stick around with him because he’s entertaining, and the second he’s no longer interesting they’ll challenge him/drop him, whichever is more beneficial to them at the time. So while the three of them seem inseparable, it really is the duo+Azul on the side, and while I personally can’t see them dropping him anytime soon, the threat is still there. (Of course, all of this could be taken as jest as well, so this is just my interpretation here) 

To tie it up, I’ll leave you with the voice lines from their duo magic, in case you still thought they weren’t shady murder eels.

Floyd: “Ahahaha! We’re gonna do ‘em in, Jade~!”

Jade: “As long as you’re having fun, Floyd.”

And

Jade: May I ask that you entrust me with this today, Floyd?

Floyd: ‘Kay~ Jade. What’re you going to do~?

[thetaekookcloset]

How do you feel about fanservice? I struggle with my opinion on it because fanservice within groups, in many Asian groups, is meant to be for entertainment and mess around which the companies and idols obviously benefit from (financially/exposure wise) but realistically they come from conservative countries that aren't quite up to date on LGBTQ rights. So I hate how they exploit such a concept for their benefit yet many probably still do hold traditional ideals. Holland, a gay idol, has addressed fanservice in the past and I have to agree with him. Being part of the LGBTQ community myself, it's something I struggle with because of course it can be cute to see but knowing the reality just hurts.

Yeah, any kind of fanservice that intentionally plays with the concept of queerness or gayness for entertainment while also not supporting, or even condemning, the reality and validity of queer lives is pretty grotesque, in my opinion.

I think it can be complicated to talk about because for one thing, that sort of fanservice isn’t the only kind that there is, and also, unlike with fiction and fictional characters, we’re talking about real people having real interactions, so it can be hard to determine which of those real interactions is actually genuine, or if it’s a mix of genuine and entirely fabricated for the fans, then how much is it of one versus the other?

For the most part, I kind of think there are two ways to tell: one is if the entertainers openly talk about it (like, for example, if they do things like make out with a bandmate on stage, or do something similarly suggestive and then talk in interviews about how they’re totally straight and the fans are silly for thinking otherwise, or that kind of thing); and the other is just that it can be obvious when someone isn’t being genuine, especially if what they’re doing is really over the top.

We’ve all seen examples of this kind of thing, I feel like, where the entertainers are clearly playing it up for laughs.  I would also categorize things like game shows where people have to “act gay” as part of the game, or interviews where idols, for example, are asked to kiss each other.  Those are situations where the interactions clearly aren’t genuine, or are visibly being pressured from the outside.

This is why I don’t really feel like BTS does this kind of fanservice, because their interactions are definitely more subtle, which makes them seem far more likely to be genuine, especially since we’ve seen them resist the pressure to act in ways they aren’t comfortable with when it comes to their interactions with each other.

But as for the industry standard, “playing gay” sort of fanservice, yeah I think it’s gross and messed up to exploit something for laughs and entertainment that you think is wrong or shameful and that is part of someone else’s already-stigmatized lived experience.