#long rants

[donkeys-waffles]

Okay, listen I'm not all that convinced AFO is completely gone. And let's put DFO aside for a moment. His and Yoichi's story feels uncomplete, there are certain elements that were given the time to be graced on but never really elaborated on. Like for example, that possibility that certain elements of AFO's backstory were fabricated to accomplish a certain message.

It's very easy to read over his backstory and gather the idea that he was born evil. But after a deeper look, it's very clear that was the purpose. We are meant to believe AFO is evil because that's what he wants us to believe, that's what he sees in himself. I feel bittersweet towards his supposed 'end'. Because I hate how Bakugou delivered that end, for one. But on one hand I enjoy how he mentioned needing Yoichi, it starts with denial and ends with recognition. And even if this a hot take, I think it's a beautiful, emotional end to such a messed-up individual.

However, I have a weird feeling about two things. First, I'd like to say, one thing I've noticed in writing is if something is brought up randomly, it'll generally come back to bite you later. Nothing is left unsaid, otherwise you have plot holes.

I found it interesting how it's mentioned AFO wasn't able to use his last trick up his sleeve, without any elaboration as to what that would have been. And I would say this was done on purpose, maybe just used as another example of every dream he wasn't able to accomplish before he died. But bringing light to this does nothing to strengthen the impact of his death on the narrative. Another interesting detail was Yoichi's wish. His dream of AFO being the kindest quirk in the world, which I can see being used to cause a reaction in the reader, as if trying to make them feel some heartache for such a bastard. But even with that reasoning, that sentence in the end feels so empty. unfulfilling, and almost lack-luster. It seems odd to be brought up and this could be bias, but I feel like that sentence had more importance than just literary cannon fodder.

We know AFO's main goal, make everyone love him like Yoichi, and his midterm goal was to steal his brother back through OFA. Makes sense.

But I still have questions. I understand why he took Tomura, to get a strong enough host to steal OFA, makes sense. But how does leaving Gigantomachia in the mountains have anything to do with such a goal? For what? Retirement? What did that achieve, wouldn't it better if he kept him around? If he was planning on moving his consciousness to Tomua later, then keeping him around would be better, right? Afterall, he'd be able to meet the child and possibly have a better understanding of the situation. Gigantomachia is an incredibly strong asset (look how he took down SO many heroes in the first war); he could have possibly even used him as backup during his fight with All Might.

And why keep OFA at a distance when his entire goal is to steal said quirk? I'm referring to that one panel in Vigilantes. Thats the entire opposite of his entire 200-year-old goal.

And that whole thing with his copy of rewind... This man is 200 years old, with an extremely strong villain empire, who has earned the respect of a genius scientist... You don't achieve any of those things by being stupid. And now I'm not normally one for completely trusting the MHA Wiki, but I can't blame them for giving him a 6/5 intelligence. He's a genius, and is spectacular with quirk analysis, it's his thing ya feel me. But it does show his lack of self-preservation, which is against what he's supposed to be angry at All Might for.

All Might took his health and his empire; we know he didn't really care about his empire as much from Spinner. (I mean lack of self-preservation because he's using a quirk that will eventually rewind him out of existence, whether he transfers his quirk to Tomura entirely or not. There's a possibility that it won't work, he failed to take complete control the first time remember. Is that what this supposed 'trick up his sleeve' was supposed to remedy? This is the same man that gave himself immortality, the same man that ran away from All Might for years, the same man that has shown to rely on the strength of others instead of dealing wounds himself. And might I add the same man that is supposed to be angry about his health being diminished. Afterall if not his health or his empire what could he possibly be angry at All Might for that's so special, so unique compared to his predecessors?)

This brings me to my last point. Since when the hell did this bitch care about THE CHILDREN! This man literally stole quirks from children, killed thousands, and turned a crap tone into braindead nomu. And he's angry on behalf of the children. Are we ever going to get an explanation for that?

Like I would understand if he killed the children that he apparently gave heroic ideals to. Like Ha! You will pay for passing on your ideals to children by watching me steal their quirks and kill them. But that's not what he means, or he would've stolen Tokoyami's quirk, killed Jiro instead of leaving her with a broken eardrum, and blasted Izuku away with deadly force instead of holding back in the first war. We have no answers for such behavior from a man known for exhibiting zero humanity (and making that behavior his ENTIRE personality.) Need I remind you this man stole Tomura (possibly gave him the quirk that killed his entire family,) and groomed him just to possess him later alright. He also turned Tsubasa into a nomu for shits and giggles, which we have never talked about once! Tsubasa, need I remind, was a small child and was the Doctor's grandson (which you'd think give him immunity to this kind of sick shit but apparently not.)

There are so many questions left unanswered, many of which Yoichi himself can't even answer. Like with all their human experimentation they do on a daily basis, the clone theory wouldn't really surprise me. It would make a lot of sense for his character as well. And even if that theory doesn't pan out, the vestige behind the locked door (which is entirely separate rant honestly,) or even Tomura's AFO vestige maybe. Though I feel if Izuku really saves Tomura in this war, then we might never hear much of anything from that vestige. Especially since their first priority would be to cancel it out as soon as possible. A lot of people bring up how the story is almost over, and they are probably right. But the end date was supposed to be 2022 originally, right? Then it was moved to 2023, now it's 2024-2025. Like yeah it is almost over, but there's still story that needs wrapping up clearly because that deadline has been pushed back multiple times. Too many times to make it a valid counterclaim anymore. Either way, I don't think we are in the clear of the Demon King's superiority complex anytime soon.

[thinkdust]

August 13th, 2024

I tried not to relate to a lot of the "your 20s are this and that" crowd noise because I felt it to be too generic or label-defining. But in the past few months, it feels like I understand that sense of rush of accomplishing all your goals at once, and simultaneous drag as you watch people around you do everything better, faster and easier than you.

While you just wait, for some happenstance, some miracle to finally push you into overdrive. No matter how much of a hermit-like existence you try to achieve, unaffected by the humdrum of the world, you still get caught up in it's ever-expanding web and before long, you're at the epicentre of chaos, just flailing arms and a bobbing head, struggling to breathe barely enough to survive.

My own 20s are I feel, like this noose round my neck that keeps tightening itself and the more I try to push away and ask for some leeway, the harsher it pulls.

To achieve academically, professionally, financially, socially, maritally, every-fuckin-thing-ally before this unfaithful clock runs out, it's just too much. It's too much of everything, and everything that's wrong.

No wonder people make some of their worst mistakes in these years, but what choice do we have? It's like you were spat out of the womb in your teens and onto an inclined full-speed treadmill in your 20s.

Uncooked, unprepared, unfinished, just navigating through life-altering decisions left, right and centre.

And for those that had or have it easy, well, they're the ones that will shine the brightest and burn the fastest, but hey, that's what counts right? Now or never! It's Carpe Diem not "Carpe at-your-own-pace"!

These are the scariest years and all that we were promised, all the luxury of freedom and adventure, well, turns out mostly it was either a far-fetched dream or a reality just for a select few with the premium subscription on Life™!

And as we tread through these unknown waters, where everything we knew is constantly changing at a rate nearly impossible to keep up with, our only lifeline, we've been told is "ourselves". I wouldn't trust myself to take care of an inanimate object without breaking it let alone a barely-functioning human being.

But hey, all the advice we can get is "C'est la vie though, right?" And I can't explain just how hard it gets when it feels like the universe is hell-bent against you, to "make you learn important life-lessons firsthand and early on", whatever that bullshit is.

And how every day that you make through feels like a boulder collapsing on your head with a catastrophic degree of regret of unlived lives, while simultaneously lifting its weight from us as the release of inevitable death draws nearer.

So maybe the other side of this gets easier and less painful but hey, that's if we make it out alive, and last I checked, the chances of that happening are lowering as we speak.

- thinkdust 💌

P.S. felt a rant boiling up in my cranium so here's the word vomit

[lyssified]

what do you usually do when you work on plays?

wow this is such an old ask but i'm back in theater again so i'm finally motivated 2 answer it :)

i usually do costumes, makeup, and hair!! i started out w my current theater company wanting to act as i had some experience acting/singing before but i don't really think that's for me so i ended up on costumes crew and really liking it

my favorite part is definitely hair because a lot of the costuming work we do is thrifting and altering which is kinda boring.. i've had major hair jobs in all my shows so far, my favorite kind of thing to do is period hairstyles, i'm slowly becoming a nerd at vintage curling and styling techniques & would love to post about that sometime on here

honestly stage hair is one of my favorite things to do because it has to be so bold and dramatic to read for the audience as what it's supposed to be and there are so many factors like movement and micing and costume changes and just in general not fucking up the actors' natural hair too much, it's such a fantastic creative challenge and i love getting to style hair in a way that's not explicitly for beauty if that makes sense. like with makeup a lot of people know that it can be an art form but not a lot of people see hair in that way..

i love getting to design hairstyles and teach them, and honestly i feel hair is the most overlooked aspect of helping people get into character like i know so many actors that see themselves in full hair for the first time and how it completely changes the way they behave and how they feel because they just look so different and i think that's super cool to get to do, like there's nothing i like more than being told go mess around with that actor's hair and see what kind of shapes and styles we can get :)

[lonelywriter26]

Okay. So I think I've established I'm mentally ill. And I'm thinking about a character, so I'm forcing the people who follow me to hear about them. Cool? Cool.

I've got this little OC named The Groundskeeper. They started as a joke. They are no longer a joke. I love them. Here we go.

Avery "Aster" Hatchaway, probably like, mid 20s. He/They pronouns, he will take your gender and you can DEAL WITH IT. He worked at a flower shop right out of college and really liked it, made some good friends, got a little apartment, life is good. The flower shop ends up closing and he's like "Shit, I need a new job."

So he looks for jobs, finds out he can get a job as a groundskeeper at a local cemetery. Sure. Why not. He can still do all his planting that he likes while listening to music, the pay is shockingly good, and he needs a new job anyway. He goes, gets the interview, and gets the job. Before he does though, the interviewer (who's the old groundskeeper) is like "Hey, so you're going to have to work nights sometimes and it might get weird" and Avery is like "Sure, whatever, I can do that."

So they go and start working. Job is good, they're good at it. One thing they don't realize: Because they aren't talking to anybody, they don't realize they've begun to refer to themselves as "The Groundskeeper" while in the graveyard. They forget about their name while on the clock. But they don't exactly realize it, and they spend like, a week with the job.

Then, their first nightshift comes. And it's fine for like, an hour or two. They're mostly just confused on why they've been stuck there at night, but fine, why not fuck up their sleep schedule for the day. Then, they hear things. Long story short, paranormal shit happens, the Groundskeeper, reasonably, tries to leave, only to find the gate locked and a note there (Hello Jon, apologies for the deception-💥) basically explaining they can't leave yet, cause yada yada keep the supernatural stuff in check.

So, The Groundskeeper survives. Clearly. And after their shift they immediately go to the old groundskeeper and is like "Why the FUCK wouldn't you tell me??" "I did warn you." "You didn't warn me of SHIT-"

They're mad. They're terrified of the ghosts. But they also need money, so they keep the job, and eventually fall into the rhythm of keeping the supernatural entities who live in the graveyard in check while also maintaining the place. It's fun. They're basically Jon from TMA on a smaller scale. (In the sense that they signed themselves up to deal with paranormal bullshit, I haven't actually finished the podcast so don't come at me-)

Okay. Backstory rant over. Here's some facts about them:

-They have a little toolbelt that holds: A supernatural book they found, a flashlight, extra batteries, scissors, a screwdriver, their phone, and their earbuds.

-They got lost in a liminal space beneath a crypt once because of a ghost trying to fuck with them.

-They got thrown down the stairs of an underground crypt once and needed stitches after.

-They really fucking hate crypts (I wonder why.)

-They dislike coffee and rely on sugar to stay awake.

-The book they keep on them can light things on fire. No, they don't know how it does that.

-They're a cat person, but they think dogs are cute.

-They had to perform an exorcism on a kid who snuck in one night, played with an ouija board, and got possessed.

-They like to draw but aren't good at it.

-They'd have a tumblr account.

-They aren't afraid of the dark, but if they're alone and they think too much about it, they'll get paranoid.

-They definitely saw the FNAF movie.

-They're a gamer.

-They're traumatized but certainly not as bad as they could be.

-They have not told any of their friends about what this job actually entails.

-They're on good terms with a few supernatural entities, including some ghosts and the Näcken that lives in the pond. It's a big cemetery. There's a pond.

Look. It's them. They're probably half awake.

[cat-eclipse-m]

another addition (which may not be wanted but still) is that this doesnt have to be with parents, it can be your siblings, younger OR older, the difference is trivial.

i say this as someone who barely got any privacy + respect from my younger brother from a young age. as in he would always watch me a lot and want to be in the same room as me really often, he didn't see the problem with being in the same room as i am when i change, he would look through all my work and important files (sometimes he'd delete things he knew i needed, although this was rare.) and he would also check all my emails without me knowing (which is how he once found out i was in a relationship, albeit he didn't figure that all out and i was actually in a really bad headspace.)

his excuses were that he "cares" about me, didnt feel "safe" without me, and that the only reason im hiding things is because i hate him. he believed that i never needed privacy, that it was selfish of me, even though he was being hypocritical as he hated when i even looked at shared emails with him. he was a control freak, and when i tell people that they laugh and say "oh its fine, hes just younger, and you practically raised him lol" yeah sure, because my parents were emotionally absent for a long while growing up so i had to raise a literal baby at the age of like 5.

honestly, if you look through people's stuff without permission, like their sketchbook/emails, if you want to constantly track their location/be with them 24/7/365, etc, please take a good look at yourself, reflect on your actions. are the wants/intentions behind your actions good-willed? is the way you perform them in an unintrusive manner or are you constantly probing at your loved one's privacy? ask yourself that and come back.

hey parents: there is literally no non-abusive reason a person would want the ability to read someone’s emails, track their location, and go through their calls and text messages without their knowledge or consent.

[catmask]

when u go to write a mentally ill person in ur story you are presented two options. the first option is to write your mental illness realistically as you actually experience it with all the ups and downs and people who are like you will resonate with it and feel seen. except every person who reads instagram infographics on mental health that uses the phrase narcicisst for anyone who does anything that crosses them and unironically call themself a dark empath will call you scary and tell you that youre demonizing mentally ill people

the second option is to lie and write inspiration porn for those people to get hard to

[emmeriex]

girls when they remember that sally named percy after the only greek hero with a happy ending and beryl named jason after a hero who died alone and unhappy to appease a wrathful goddess.

[honeypleasejustkillme]

i thought i was at my lowest but holy shit it gets lower

[hasellia]

What drives me up the fucking wall with the way people talk about Christine Chandler and others like Terry Davis and Gene Ray is that there is a word for what those online communities did to them.

It's grooming.

I'm not talking about CC's transition.

Don't let transphobes obsfucate a word meant to identify a hard to pin down tool for abuse. I'll briefly touch on that at the end.

These people were in need of higher support and wanted to have that one thing from blackfoot philosophy that Maslow forgot to appropriate for his heirarchy of needs. Community. It's something that almost everyone craves, should be a human right and why solitary confinement is a punishment. So, like I'm sure most of us reading this will relate, they found it on the internet. The internet is full of people looking either for a community to belong to, or a place within a community to find their own value within themselves.

For a lot of people, that 'place in the community' is being the source or peddler for entertainment. So they set up links and aggregates for others to find funny content and get a dopamine rush from every website specific point metric gained and every comment saying"thanks! this is hilarious!" For others, it's to be 'security' to be a protector of their community. To riddicule, shame and otherwse harrass others aways from their comfortable social spaces on the internet (individualistic cancelling, as opposed to political deplatforming or corportate boycotting). Lolcow farmers find a in their communities being both while herding their campaign target into the former catagory. If the individual their abusing thinks it's their place in the community to get abused, they'll often stick to that role as it's more stabilizing and fufilling than being lonely without any form of social assistance.

In order for the lolcow farmer to maintain their position in the community, they must maintain the social position of their victim. So, they reinforce behaviour that will humiliate and isolate their target from outside communities. For neurodiverce targets. it's often "icks" or beviour that is seen as socially unnaceptable by their surrounding culture. These behaviours are usually harmless, but the stigma surrounding them by those with a low tolerance for atypical behaviour (usually a skill issue in ignoring what they find annoying) of what has been their culturally sheltered norm, keeps the victims from seeking fufilment in other, safer communities.

So the LCfamer tells the victim exactly what they NEED to hear for social enrichment, while also keeping the victim under a constant state of low-duress. As such, they can peddle their emotional outburst and atypical behaviours as content in order to validate their social position and fufill their own needs for enrichment and social security. An almost mercantile trade of othering. This is done by dividing the tasks of abuse and social-provider amongst the LCfarmer community. One member harrasses, the other provides. This cycle of abuse and need is repeated internally within the LCfarmer communites since the abusers are typically unware of bullying tendancies or the fulfilment they are seeking within these communities.

So yeah, pretty textbook grooming,

I also believe that conservatives missusing the word "grooming" was done purposefully to obsfucate the word in order to hide this kind of behaviour. At least, initially online before other conservative fell for the bait and started using that meaning with no idea of what actual grooming looks like.

Clarification that this whole post is opinion based. I'm not a professional anything. I haven't worked nor talked to anyone who has been either a groomer or groomed. These are all based on what I've seen as a heavy internet user. My apologies if I seem to go into more colder language as the post goes on, I eepy

I think stalking and harassing someone and constantly obsessing over them is not healthy for both parties and it just makes you a fucking dickhead that genuinely needs to log off and seek love and comfort from other people.

i've been dealing with mass stalking since I was a child and as paranoid as it makes me I'm not really scared to speak up about it and call it all bullshit.

[fnafs-ex-boyfriend]

People shipping aroace characters because “uuu there’s no angst if no ship uuu” well fuck that because remember the “what the fuck is wrong with me” angst. Remember the “oh fuck this person likes me but I don’t like them back” angst. The “should I pretend to date this person so as not to hurt their feelings” angst. The

[aashiqeddiediaz]

you know what boils my blood.

over the last 2 weeks, i've seen countless patients walk into my urgent care center, symptomatic for so many things, refusing to get tested for covid and flu, citing that they don't want to knowingly bring it to their holiday tables. i had a patient tell me, verbatim, "i don't want to test for covid, because i don't want to be the asshole who brings it on a plane."

i understand that - i understand that holidays are times where people look forward to meeting loved ones that they might only see once a year, or where they get a break from the hectic back and forth of their lives.

but here's the thing - whether they get tested or not, they will bring whatever they have to their holiday tables. it's pure recklessness to know that you're sick, and walk into someone else's house spreading the disease.

today, january 2, i saw 91 patients, many of them who have tested positive for covid and flu. many of these patients are the same ones who didn't want testing 3 days ago, until their events were over, and now, they will have to reach out to everyone they know to let them know that they were positive because they were showing symptoms well before their event.

the next week or two? we're going to see many, many more, all people with symptoms that started around christmas. these are the only two viruses we test for rapidly in our office, but they are potent and can be fatal in many people.

so here's why i wrote this post, and maybe it's a little late, but - if you care about your loved ones, please get tested if you know you're sick. it doesn't have to be at a clinic if you don't want it to, because the over-the-counter tests work just fine too (if you test within 5-7 days of symptom onset). just...please don't try to run from the knowledge that you might have covid, because immunocompromised people, elderly people, people with co-morbidities like asthma, pregnancy, diabetes, etc...many of them may not recover. and they may not be sitting at your holiday table in the future because of it.

[186-3]

courting antisemitism

so i recently decided to take a look at the latest stonetoss comics (probably because i love suffering). and while i was expecting some content on the israel palestine conflict, what i did not expect was how... standard it seemed. well, most of it at least, but i'll get to that in a second.

for context, if you don't know what stonetoss is, it's a (poorly drawn) webcomic known for having radical alt-right views - meaning it's incredibly racist, homophobic, transphobic, islamophobic, antisemitic. all that fun stuff.

so while i was expecting to see bad stuff, one of the first things i saw on the topic of israel was this:

terrible art aside, this comic is making a point that i usually see in left wing circles: that israel is pinkwashing genocide.

curious if there was more like this, i kept looking, and the comic right before that one was this:

again, this makes points that i usually see in left wing circles. that american healthcare is crazy expensive, that canada tells poor people to commit suicide, and that israel is bombing hospitals.

why does stonetoss, this well known alt-right nutjob, now seem to be bringing up left-wing talking points?

curious, i kept going deeper:

well this is... odd. clearly, stonetoss is trying to say that israel is on another level of bad, even worse than russia, iran, and north korea. i can possibly see someone on the left making the argument that the russian invasion of ukraine isn't as bad as what israel is doing in gaza, or that at least north korea isn't invading any other countries, but... iran??? the country that has a police force designed to enforce religious law, and gets away with murdering women who do not properly cover their hair? the country that props up paramilitary groups in countries all over the middle east, including lebanon, yemen, and yes, palestine?? that's completely ridiculous

but, given how much more israel is in the news nowadays than any of these other countries, i could see why someone would buy this

and now, we're starting to get to the crux of what stonetoss is trying to do. when someone sees this, they might be inclined to agree with it. they might begin to think that israel is the worst country on the planet

and that might not seem so bad at first. but the more you hate israel, especially irrationally, the more you feel allowed to dehumanize those who support it. the more you might be willing to agree with this comic, which came out two days prior to the one above

this comic says that jews, as a whole have no desire to exist with other people. it is blatantly antisemitic

i'm sure you could imagine some young leftist who sees the comics above this one and thinks, "this guy makes some good points". and then, when they get to this one, they might realize that this is antisemitism

or, they may not.

and that would start them down the road to becoming an antisemite.

this is what stonetoss and other alt-right nutjobs are hoping to achieve. to take left wing fury at israel, and direct it at jews.

we saw it with those neo-nazis at the palestine rally, and we're seeing it again here.

and if you've found yourself agreeing with what stonetoss has said so far, i would like you to see the last comic stonetoss put out before october 7th:

this horrifically racist comic is in reference to an environmental activist who was murdered by a black man in early october. this blatantly racist garbage is the kind of stuff stonetoss usually puts out.

but as soon as october 7th happened? these were his next two comics:

stonetoss completely changed the comic's tone as soon as the current crisis started. why?

to get as many people as possible to get on board with hating jews.

and i know many of you might be thinking that "well, everyone knows that stonetoss is racist garbage. nobody is going to fall for this"

except, as we saw with the neo-nazis at the rally for palestine, it's not always that obvious who the antisemites are and who is just rallying for peace. they are often a lot better at disguising it than stonetoss is.

AND EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE AWARE OF THAT

EVERYONE, no matter HOW much experience you have, can fall victim to propoganda. EVERYONE needs to be aware of what people around them are saying, and able to pick out hateful rhetoric, because even the stuff that is just kind of toeing the line of what's hateful is still putting your foot in the door

be cautious, everyone. and stomp out hate where you see it.

[official-lucifers-child]

it’s so indicative of some peoples’ views of disabled people (and disabilities in general) that they’ll think their PETS are faking a disability. i just saw a video (tiktok of course) where the creator said “every time i start to think my cat is faking his blindness, he does something like this” and the video was of a cat trying to get down from a low shelf. he was unable to reach out and feel the floor with his paws, so was extraordinarily hesitant to jump down. and i had a moment of “aw poor kitty” and immediately followed by the thought: “why the fuck would anyone think a CAT was faking BLINDNESS?”

it’s completely nonsensical, right? how could a cat fake any disability? the vets diagnosed the cat with blindness for a reason. and why? why would a cat fake blindness? for what purpose would a CAT have to fake blindness? it’s a cat. IT IS A LITERAL CAT.

and then i realised that the creator of the video was projecting their beliefs regarding disabled humans onto their cat. clearly, they must believe that at least some disabled people are “faking it” and therefore their cat must be “faking it” too. i can only imagine that the cat has adapted to his blindness and is able to navigate well enough that it can appear as though the cat can see, similarly to how blind people learn their house/workplace/etc so well that they can navigate without the aid of a cane or other assistance.

and obviously that means that the cat (and, therefore, disabled people) must be faking it.

[wow-sofa-art]

He's so normal, guys. I promise. He's sooooo normal. Normalest guy ever. (Lying)

[bixels]

In the past, people in the Animal Crossing community would make fun of Tom Nook as a sleazy landlord. Since then, he's really rehabilitated his image as this 'heart of gold' businessman (he's the one who puts bells and furniture in trees for you to find! he adopted orphans! he donates to charity!), but New Horizons genuinely paints the most devious version of him.

He's successfully privatized settler colonialism: you pay HIM to move to a "deserted island" (which apparently the oceans in the AC world are just full of) and start a colony that he is directly invested in. At best he's running a weird vacation package scam (you arrive on the island with no money and in debt for "using his services"). At worst, he's using you to set up company towns. For god's sake, he literally has his own fake currency that he forces you to use to pay off your debt. But don't worry, he's repackaged it in a way that definitely doesn't sound like an MLM scam: the Nook Mileage Program!

You're no longer just his tenant or his temporary part-timer, you're his business lackey. The entire tutorial section of the game has you spending actual weeks running around completing tasks and doing hard labor to set up his colony. You're even tasked with preparing his properties and finding buyers for them. No, you aren't a tenant anymore. You work for the landlord. You are directly responsible for finding tenants for him. And he doesn't even fucking pay you. Not for setting up town hall and museum, or his nephew's shop –– which is the ONLY store on the entire island that sells necessities –– or bringing KK Slider to town, or helping populate his town. Not a single cent. No, actually, you have to pay HIM to BUY infrastructure like bridges and stairs and park benches. And all the while, he's telling you're the "resident representative"; you get to call the shots! That the reward is the community's progress. That what you're doing is in everyone's best interest (but most importantly, his).

Since NH's release, people have done a lot of legwork to say that Tom Nook isn't a capitalist while the game shows him at his very worst. He owns the only general store in town. You're forced to use a phone that he modified and branded as his own. Buy Nook-branded furniture and merchandise at the self-serve kiosk in the town hall, a governmental building! There's no conflict of interest here!

But hey, if you're tired of being the landlord/business mogul's goon, you can also find work as a deluxe resort home designer for a company that also pays you in their special company currency that can only be used to buy their products instead of a real salary! Because that's what the Animal Crossing franchise needs! More vacation homes!!!

[leandrocrossard]

something really cool happened today that i wanted to share:

my nephew is 9 years old, and a stereotypical little boy. he likes dinosaurs, minecraft, and ninjas.

today i walked in on him excitedly watching Nimona with my dad. (minor spoiler warning!)

i had never heard of it, but i sat down and watched some of it, just to see why he was so happy.

he started narrating it, anticipating parts of it, almost as if he’d seen it before. he had.

we didn’t get to finish it, but i watched it on my own, because it looked fun and i wanted to see how it ended.

and i loved it. it was a fun, exciting, fantastical adventure about the importance of acceptance people who are different to us.

and it had a very clear queer subplot.

one that my nephew hadn’t mentioned at all in his explanation of the film. his summary was “it’s about a monster who helps a knight that was framed for killing the queen”.

and honestly yeah, that is what the film was about.

before sharing it with us, he had watched it all, engrossed himself in the story, took it in entirely, and the part he cared about most was whether Nimona got her acceptance. he wasn’t indoctrinated, or confused, or questioning anything about himself.

he didn’t bat an eyelid over a gay love confession. he just enjoyed the film, raved about it, made my 60 year old dad watch the movie about the monster who didn’t fit in.

he’s still the same little boy who’s been asking us how to get a girlfriend.

the only thing a movie centred around queer and queer-coded characters taught my nephew was that those who are different to him are not monsters. that’s it.

and that dragons are really cool.