#they look so similar and i wont take criticism

[mishiami]

🤨

[galactic-rhea]

i feel like padme would be just as feral about anakin if their genders were swapped: he'd be like that's my angry little wife who i love. we shall have a summer wedding and many feral little children (she is 100% down for this, although i feel like hiding a pregnancy as a jedi would be very hard)

Ooh no i'm sorry for taking so much to answer, i put this on draft and then i forgbot about my drafts dfnkgjnkfdg

Lmao, of course, their dynamic would change very little if anything at all 😂

The biggest change I can think of, besides the hidding the pregnancy thing, could probably be that Padmé would want to lift his messed up failure of a wife just-married-style and he can't, because their heights would be the same, but tbh, I think that's something canon Padmé would've liked to do too, pfff.

Also I like to think if Padmé were a guy, he would look extremelly and eerily close to Luke (well, more like Luke looks eerily close to Padmé), but withcurly and brown hair and eyes. And better makeup (tbh, I do already draw them with similar shapes/face structure, so it fits).

Also i'm totally going with t4t for this, i wont take criticism.

[what would absolutely totally change would be the audience and the fandom's perception and i shudder by just thinking about it, oof]

[burningvelvet]

Here are two of the most hilariously scalding letters from the 1800s that I have ever read. One is by the famous writer Lord Byron, and the other is by his daughter Ada Lovelace, the famous mathematician. Both are written to their respective business partners: Byron to his publisher John Murray, and Lovelace to her colleague Charles Babbage. It’s interesting to note how strikingly similar these letters are despite the fact that Ada and her father never knew each other, as her parents separated shortly after her birth and he died abroad when she was eight. Both were rebellious, fond of gambling, prone to tumultuous affairs, and both hated Lady Byron. These similarities may help to explain why her final wish was to be buried next to him instead of her family.

Lord Byron in a Letter to his publisher John Murray about the printing of his magnum opus, the poem Don Juan:

“Ra. August 31st. 1821.

Dear Sir

I have received the Juans – which are printed so carelessly especially the 5th. Canto – as to be disgraceful to me — & not creditable to you.

It really must be gone over again with the Manuscript – the errors are so gross – words added – changed – so as to make cacophony & nonsense. — You have been careless of this poem because some of your Synod don’t approve of it – but I tell you – it will be long before you see any thing half so good as poetry or writing. — Upon what principle have you omitted the note on Bacon & Voltaire? and one of the concluding stanzas sent as an addition? because it ended I suppose – with –

‘And do not link two virtuous souls for life Into that moral Centaur man & wife?’

Now I must say once for all – that I will not permit any human being to take such liberties with my writings – because I am absent. —

I desire the omissions to be replaced (except the stanza on Semiramis) particularly the stanza upon the Turkish marriages – and I request that the whole be carefully gone over with the M.S.S. –

I never saw such stuff as is printed – Gulleyaz – instead of Gulbeyaz &c. Are you aware that Gulbeyaz is a real name – and the other nonsense? – I copied the Cantos out carefully – so that there is no excuse – as the Printer reads or at least prints the M.S.S. of the plays without error. —

If you have no feeling for your own reputation pray have some little for mine. — I have read over the poem carefully – and I tell you it is poetry – Your little envious knot of parson-poets may say what they please — time will show that I am not in this instance mistaken. — Desire my friend Hobhouse to correct the press especially of the last Canto from the Manuscript – as it is – it is enough to drive one out of one’s senses – to see the infernal torture of words from the original. – For instance the line

‘And pair their rhymes as Venus yokes her doves’

Is printed

‘and praise their rhymes &c. –

also ‘precarious’ for ‘precocious’ – and this line. stanza 133.

‘And this strong extreme effect – to tire no longer’

Now do turn to the Manuscript – & see – if I ever made such a line – it is not verse. —

No wonder the poem should fail – (which however it wont you will see) with such things allowed to creep about it. – – Replace what is omitted – – & correct what is so shamefully misprinted, – and let the poem have fair play – – and I fear nothing. — I see in the last two Numbers of the Quarterly – a strong itching to assail me (see the review of the “Etonian”) let it – and see if they shan’t have enough of it. – – I don’t allude to Gifford – who has always been my friend – & whom I do not consider as responsible for the articles written by others. – But if I do not give Mr. Milman – Mr. Southey – & others of the crew something that shall occupy their dream! I am not what I was – that is all

I have not begun with the Quarterers – but let them look to it. – As for Milman (you well know I have not been unfair to his poetry ever) but I have lately had some information of his critical proceedings in the Quarterly which may bring that on him which he will be sorry for. – I happen to know that of him – Which would annihilate him – when he pretends to preach morality – not that he is immoral – because he isn’t – having in early life been once too much so. – And dares he set up for a preacher? let him go and be priest to Cybele. – why let

You will publish the plays – when ready — I am in such a humour about this printing of D.J. so inaccurately – that I must close this.

yrs. [scrawl]

P.S. I presume that you have not lost the stanza to which I allude? it was sent afterwards look over my letters – & find it. The Notes you can’t have lost – you acknowledged them – they included eight or little corrections of Bacon’s mistakes in the apothegms. – And now I ask once more if such liberties taken in a man’s absence – are fair or praise-worthy? – As for you you have no opinions of your own – & never had – but are blown about by the last thing said to you no matter by whom.”

[Separate page]

“Dear Sir

The enclosed letter is written in bad humour – but not without provocation. -

However – let it (that is the bad humour) go for little – but I must request your serious attention to the abuses of the printer which ought never to have been permitted. – You forget that all the fools in London (the chief purchasers of your publications) will condemn in me the stupidity of your printer. — For instance in the Notes to Canto fifth – ‘the Adriatic shore of the Bosphorus – instead of the Asiatic!! – All this may seem little to you – so fine a gentleman with your ministerial connections – but it is serious to me – who am thousands of miles off & have no opportunity of not proving myself the fool yr. printer makes me – except your pleasure & leisure forsooth.

The Gods prosper you — & forgive you, for I wont.

B.”

Ada Lovelace in a letter to her work partner Charles Babbage, who she helped invent the computer with:

“Tuesday Afternoon [1 August 1843] Ockham

. . . Note B has plagued me to death; altho' I have made but little alteration in it. Such alterations as there are however, happen to have been very tiresome & to have demanded minute consideration & very nice adjustments.

It is a very excellent Note.

I wish you were as accurate, & as much to be relied on, as I am myself. You might often save me much trouble, if you were; whereas you in reality add to my trouble not infrequently; and there is at any rate always the anxiety of doubting if you will not get me into a scrape; even when you don't.

By the way, I hope you do not take upon yourself to alter any of my corrections.

I must beg you not. They all have some very sufficient reason. And you have made a pretty mess & confusion in one or two places (which I will show you sometime), where you have ventured in my M.S's, to insert or alter a phrase or word; & have utterly muddled the sense.

I could not conceive at first in one or two places what had happened to my sentences; tho' I soon saw they were patchwork & not my own; and found it so, on referring to the M.S. I fear you will think this a very cross letter. Never mind. I am a good little thing, after all. Yours ever

A. A. L.

Later. P. S. It is impossible to send you anything but Notes B and C; (& this partly owing to some wrong references & blunderations of your own). — Do not be afraid, for I will work like the Devil early tomorrow morning. —“

[Separate Page]

“Wednesday, 4 o'clock [2 August 1843] Ockham

After working almost incessantly, since 7 o'clock this morning, until I am forced to give in from sheer inability to apply longer, I find only the sheet I enclose is quite completed. I shall however send a servant up tomorrow morning by a ten o' clock train, to take you all the rest; so that you will have it almost as soon as this letter.

You cannot conceive the trouble I have had with the trigonometrical Note E. — In fact no one but me, I really believe, would have doggedly stuck to it, as I have been doing, in all wearing minutiae.

I am very uneasy at not hearing from you, as I have expected to do both yesterday & today; & fear some disaster or other. I hope all of Note G is forthcoming; & I also hope you have received all my communications safely.

I think you had better do the second revise of the translation for me. If you will compare it carefully with my first revise, it can hardly be necessary I think for me to go over it again.

I suppose I ought to take it for granted that no news is good news; but I am in a sad fidget. — Yours ever

A. L.”

[dragonroilz]

Hey there! I've come across your art ever since I got into Risk of Rain 2 (better late than never, I've been sleeping on this game for years, jesus), and I'm enamoured with it, to say the least. Is there any advice you could perhaps give for an aspiring artist?

you're getting an essay whether you like it or not.

tl;dr of it if you dont want to read

- learn how to take critique

- dont skip fundamentals

- tracing is okay*

- be mindful when drawing

- you wont see good results for a long time

ok firstly, glad you like my art! i try my best on pretty much everything i make so the compliment is greatly appreciated!!

secondly, you have NO clue how much i love yapping about how to draw. im not an expert on how-to-draw-ology but i like to think i know enough to help other people not swing in the dark when it comes to getting better.

learning how to take criticism is THE most important part. not getting butthurt or at least listening to peoples critiques when they mean well is critical to improvement because its specialized advice for you. you have no clue how many young and/or new artists have gotten mad at me for giving critique when they specifically asked me for it. if youre looking to improve you gotta bite that bullet. not all criticism is valid(dont listen to people who are just tryna make you upset), but good and valid criticism can come from anyone. dont unvalidate someone's critique just because theyre not an artist or "not as good" as you. try and get as much feedback as you can and move onto the next piece instead of fixing something to perfection. you will get obsessed in a very destructive way.

learning fundamentals is another step to getting better. that means actually learning perspective, hands, anatomy, and all of the other stuff people hate drawing. its like lifting weights. most people dont like it but if you want to get stronger you need to put in the time to do the painful stuff.

chris christodoulou(ror's composer) actually made a similar comment about the topic of improvement in his field that was along the lines of "if you want to write music, stop playing video games and read a book". he got a lot of shit for saying that but honestly its true.

you need to treat art as a discipline if you want to get better at it. draw as much as you can for as long as you can before it becomes a health hazard. when im not resting i tend to draw at least three hours a day, not counting the 3 to 6 hours additional hours a day i draw during college. obviously a beginner doesn't need to draw that much but drawing daily is a good start.

if you want resources on where to look for fundamentals, Sinixdesign and Ethan Becker were who I turned to for advice that is relevant to the industry. There's definitely others out there but I tend to do more self studying so i don't know the more recent stuff.

something that they'll bring up is that tracing isn't bad AS LONG AS YOU DONT POST IT AND CLAIM IT AS YOUR OWN. it's a good way to see how other people deal with stylization, but its absolutely not okay to post that stuff online. treat it like how traditional painters do master studies. its for your own education, not clout. and you shouldn't be drawing for clout anyway.

last but not least, draw what you love and you'll always love drawing. dont be afraid to hyperfixate and lose interest in things. it will help you continue your art journey. a lot of people in my art school have little to no motivation to draw outside of college because they have no interest in drawing outside of assigned work, which is not a great relationship to have with art if you want to pursue it in the long run. draw what you want to draw when the motivation hits you. if that motivation is risk of rain? draw it. if it's leg muscles then fuck yeah draw that too.

you can stick fundamental practice into your casual art by being mindful of what you are drawing. that can be done by asking questions about what's going on to further the progress of your art. its kind of hard to explain in text, but its basically just keeping in mind how your lines influence the piece.

in the beginning youre going to have ideas and none of them are going to translate to paper. its going to take years before anything will ever compare to whats in your brain and thats just the sucky part. ive been drawing seriously for about 5 or 6 years and theres still a ton of shit i do NOT wanna touch but i have to if i want to improve.

we're all sisyphus pushing that goddamn stupidass boulder and the only thing we can do is acknowledge how far we've come while still knowing that there's more work to be done. but thats kind of the shit that i live for.

[metaljock]

There's talk of the Leafs extending Marner and half the fanbase is going to lose their minds over it. I don't mind it personally so long as they play some really hard hard ball with him in negotiations. Yes all the criticisms of him are fair, he's still one of the games elite passers and has consistently been one of if not the highest point getter on a team that includes Auston Matthews. Losing him means 100ish fewer points which could even end up being the difference between the playoffs and not making it with how compettitive the atlantic division is.

Plus if he doesn't want to waive his no trade clause then you lose one of your best players for nothing and there's no guarantee you can convince any similar calibre players from elsewhere to want to play under the ridiculous media microscope in toronto.

However they need to make it 100% clear he is either taking a discount to stay or he's looking somewhere else. They need to put down the number that makes sense for the team taking into account that his production flatlines in the playoffs and tell him to take it or have fun in Utah. I'm just glad it's not Kyle Dubas doing the negotiating anymore maybe the team wont get taken to the cleaners every contract negotiation anymore.

Also I still like Mitch I don't think he's worth 10-13 million dollars a year but I'd like to see him back on a team friendly deal....if it is possible.

[woomycritiques543]

As a lackadaisy fan who dropped helluva 5 episodes in, I think you’re overestimating the effect of the fandom has on things outside of itself because you are inmeshed in it. You don’t have the outside view. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds like a toxic shit show, but it doesn’t have a ‘monopoly’. If all it took to gain a monopoly in entertainment was to have a horribly rabid fanbase that won’t take the smallest bit of criticism, the history of indie entertainment would be very different.

(TW: LONG POST, mentions of Vivziepop's behavior, also if you're another lackadaisy fan that's curious about what's been happening over at the Hazbin fandom PLEASE DONT SKIP THIS POST!)

"If all it took to gain a monopoly in entertainment was to have a horribly rabid fanbase that won’t take the smallest bit of criticism, the history of indie entertainment would be very different."

Hm...

As a Helluva Boss fan who's seen how many views most indie projects have nowdays, plus what Vivziepop did here, especially since this wasnt just about the fanbase to begin with:

(Psst. Vivienne, these people got bills and families to pay for, so maybe dont try to push them away from other projects just because you like Hazbin Hotel? You can hire other people, you've done it millions of times before- let other projects thrive, and let them have different projects so they can be successful too! Far-Fetched barely has as any workers compared to you, so maybe stop being selfish and share the load so other projects can get all the help they can get? Especially when you rush out 5+ episodes a year and treat your staff like shit? So maybe... I dont know... treat them better so "A BUNCH!" of people from Spindlehorse wont think of even having to do so much extra work, day jobs and all, when there's 40+ million bucks sitting from your shows RIGHT THERE?! There's a reason why "a bunch" of people would be brought to do other projects at the same time. -and it's not because of all the red...)

I think it's pretty safe to say that theres an obvious monopoly going on. Why else would these episodes be getting 20+ million at a time, for years, while other just as good projects get next to none in comparison. Honestly, look at how much views, how many trends the shows follow, how much mainstream appeal, how much merchandising fills the "shelves" of Sharkrobot, how many episodes were shilled out in 2021 alone, how much it dominates the indie industry, and try to tell me that Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel are " not a monopoly!" Shilling out multiple Helluva Boss episodes full of softcore porn and bright colors a year to keep Spindlehorse's shows on top of the trending tag on Youtube EVERY YEAR SINCE 2019! -and end being what millions end up being reccomended. Though many people dont know that HB exists, many others do, and it's almost constantly being mentioned with indie animation while equally beautiful looking, or much better written projects get only 50,000+ views. Even in spite of Exxes and Oohs situation:

Season Two's premiere got 4+ million views in 15 hours.

While when I was watching the premiere of Exxes and Oohs with my freinds a couple of weeks ago after it premiered:

I noticed that it only had 1 million views in 5 hours, and then pretty much stayed that way throughout the entire week with only about 3 million for several days after Ep 1 had 4+ mil in only 15 hours.

While the premeire of Season Two passed 4+ million in LESS THEN TWENTY FOUR HOURS! -and the last episode is barely over it's despite being over 5 months apart. It's been a whole month, yet Seeing Star's views are still similar to when it was released and Exxes and Oohs is barely surpassing Seeing Stars despite a whole month having passed, while for Season One, in 5 months there would be 20+ million views and at times... more!

-and just to make this worse...

Hazbin Hotel.. a show with a pilot with over 70+ million views:

It's anniversary/sneak peak into the official show got only-

Get this...

THREE MILLION VIEWS!

-when FIVE WHOLE MONTHS have already passed and the fandom's still popular! While most of the previews for the pilot got OVER 3.5 million and the most popular being 20+ mil!

So it's really just people not caring to see the literal anniversary of the show since most were turned off by Helluva Boss or moved on because they grew out of all the stereotypes. It's got only about 0.8% of the views Hazbin's pilot has gotten despite the fact that people have been waiting for this show for THREE YEARS now and the fandom is bigger than ever. So even for that monopoly, it's slowly falling, and people barely cared about Hazbin's anniversary and release date reveal despite having waited for 3+ years.

So "Seeing Stars's" views has barely budged since release, Season Two's premiere has 20+ mil, but has also been that way since over three months ago, Exxes and Oohs only had 1 mil after even 5+ hours and onward, and Hazbin Hotel, a show with billions of fans, it's anniversary got only 3 mil- while the past season made OVER A YEAR AGO continues to receive views regularly. Meanwhile, Lackadaisy, had 6+ million in only TWO WEEKS while Exxes and Oohs barely got passed that in that time period (I remember it having maybe 5+ mil in about two weeks last time I checked, or even less that that.) and has been stagnant in views for 3+ weeks while Lackadaisy got over half of that in only 2+ weeks.

Which now makes it Helluva Boss's very first competitor.

While Murder Drones has Seeing Star's level of views after an ENTIRE YEAR so this is really saying something about the quality of Helluva Boss's latest episodes as Season One still skyrockets, the latest episodes stay stagnant even after 3+ weeks, and Helluva Boss now has a direct competitior due to this lowering in quality and just how many reviews are now criticizing it while Lackadaisy's reviews are majority positive with little to no hiccups in between.

Not joking, the first thing you get when you search "Seeing Stars Review" is thousands of negative reviews because of Vivienne, Adam, and Brandon Rodger's refusing to improve in their WRITING- you know... WHAT THEY WROTE ON A DOCUMENT?! The thing people have been CRITIQUEING?! Not "a personal, useless preference" but ACTUAL CRITICISM that they keep ignoring to look "near perfect" and to keep the monopoly going while other indie shows continue to get mediocure level views in comparison to Helluva Boss.

The views have been stagnant since near release. I remember seeing 17 million 3 weeks after it came out- and now it wont budge!

Yeah, im sure those statistics and thousands of people getting upset for actual reasons are "bad faith!" too. Adam- FUCK OFF! People aren't "bad faith" for telling you that using anti-black and fatphobic stereotypes in your show is awful! Also- you're show is now getting genuine competition so I suggest not being an egotistical jerk to your own fans and to actually listen to them for once before shit hits the fan and you have to further get hit by your own karma!

While look at all of the positive reviews Lackadaisy's getting!

Lackadaisy has almost all positive reviews, is catching up with Helluva Boss's latest episodes, all the other episodes in Season Two are also still static in views and Season One continues to get thousands on a daily basis, and yet is still- and I mean- still, Barely scratching Daisy's success! In comparison to how you'd think these "still being rewatched a lot" last episodes would be doing since this is HB, the monopoly of indie animation, that we're talking about!

So i'd say that Helluva Boss Season Two has been getting it really rough for the past 8 months in comparison to the success Season One still has, and even then, the first episode still has 54+ mil and yet most of the episodes continued to decrease by the millions each release. So even in Season One, the signs that people were losing interest were already there. -and Ozzies and Truth Seekers have just now caught up with Season Two's first episode (You know... the one people got hyped as all hell by but then lost interest once the episode started getting slammed for how terrible it was?) despite being the ones that are praised often, while Season Two's premiere has barely budged for the past year- making this a receipe for MILLIONS of lost views in total, and this is a fandom that constantly says "I binge watch the episodes a ton!" and yet Season One has barely budged in one and a half years. Its been in 30+ mil I think since last year... it's April now. -and they're now all catching up to each other and are about the same views, which would mean that they're barely going up by the thousands for ENTIRE MONTHS and Season Two, is getting even less because of the negative reviews from not a "useless personal opinion" but OBJECTIVELY BAD WRITING!

Season Two stays stagnant in views even after 5+ weeks and onward since the difference in views is that small.

THEY NOW HAVE A COMPETITOR! So Vivienne really needs to start giving a shit or WOOAH boy things are going to get intense!

So though Helluva Boss is still on top, it's falling over, and now has competition to worry about after only two weeks.

-and even then, it's still on top, because of Vivienne manipulating both her audience and staff into meeting constant demands and giving it constant praise regardless of quality under the threat of being seen as a "bad person" for not doing so.

Helluva Boss having almost billions of dollars in merch, 40+ million views with many of their episodes, a majority celebrity cast with little to no indie actors, Vivziepop having basically tried to put down Far Fetch from having any actual success by trying to not get her team with a show of BILLIONS of views to not work on it just because Hazbin is her "favorite project!" when these people have BILLS TO PAY and a FAMILY that can't be held up just by one project- which is why people like Erin had to work extra jobs, overnight, despite this show getting millions of dollars each day, in the first place! Yet to Vivienne, what mattered the most was her project, and not their lives. Which is the reason why she overworks her staff, and according to people who worked there, aren't even actually allowed to work on other projects, including Far-Fetched, either. While Far Fetched has not nearly as many people working on it and everything we see there has with has 100,000+ or less while Helluva Boss continues to monopolize the industry. (in case you're asking: Yes, it was also her supervisor's fault, but she's a million dollar creator, can't she just hire someone else instead of getting in the way of other people's lives other a cartoon show? Most freelancers do multiple projects, how else are they going to pay the bills?)

Yeah, Erin was lifted from a few things- but did they still have to work an extra job just to support themselves despite working for a 40+ million dollar show, did most people in Spindlehorse end up having to suffer even worse to meet those kinds of demands?

YES!

So does that make all the "Erin's not a real victim" or "Erin Frost's mistakes, as a human being, makes everything people say about Vivienne's behavior "not true" just because we beleive people who bootlick Vivienne but not people that she's hurt despite both people "only" using word of mouth. Except no, because no the ex-staff have evidence and yet the current staff who threatened to punch the people who spoke out about Vivziepop's behavior have nothing but word of mouth but we'll still beleive them just because they give us softcore porn! :D" comments now complete bullshit?

YES!

-and with Ashley Nichols in particular:

You'd think that Vivziepop would try to help Ashley... A LOT!

-since Ashley gave her projects millions of views in publicity and support with Hunicast and having actually worked on Hazbin!

But instead, Viv prioritized herself in the situation, fired all of her indie voice actors and replaced most of them with celebrities when she could have easily found other indie vcs but choose to use her status to get an actor from Grey's Anatomy and NORMAN REEDUS- and most likely will get more celeberties for Hazbin just because "famous = don't accociate with indie actors." appparently despite her main thing being "Support indie creators guys! :("

Vivziepop, again, pulling herself up while she's already been the top of the indie industry for the past 4+ years, while other projects continue to be pushed into the mud of a "cult classic" grave.

So in reality- Helluva Boss isnt "helping" the indie industry grow stronger, it's causing a monopoly which gets in the way of people's shows, their careers, their jobs, and even their mental health.

-and many people having little to no mentions of other projects outside of "Look at this pretty cool project I found- Ok, BACK TO HELLUVA BOSS AND HAZBIN HOTEL WOOOOAH LOOK THIS IS THE BEST INDIE SHOW EVAR!1!" is a literal monopoly in it's most capitalistic, trend serving, overproduced form.

Ashley even saw Vivienne trying to blacklist yet another staff member just because that staff member was upset about how much they were being rushed and overworked in order to meet even near the same demands, even with a few things being lifted since they have ADHD, they were still overworked, and for the rest of the staff it was even worse since they were overworked and bullied in order to meet the demands of said monopoly and stay in Spindlehorse.

Far Fetched got announced years ago- yet Vivziepop hasnt even mentioned it once as far as ive seen, she fired Ashley's partner and seeing how HB is, is likely going to replace him with an non-indie voice actor when apparently she could have easily kept them if she just paid a fee, when she has MILLIONS of dollars in support for her show now, lives in LA, and could easily use her platform to support THOUSANDS of indie projects. But as usual, she pulls herself up, bullies her own fandom by saying that they're "NOT A WRITER!" and "CANT UNDERSTAND WRITING!" for giving her any feedback and has basically manipulated her audience into seeing her and her shows as "NEAR PERFECT!" to continue said monopoly with HB's continous trending and high reviews regardless of quality. While other projects are only "secondairy". -and despite having worked on Hazbin Hotel, Far Fetched has gotten the average amount of acknowledgement for indie animation- Which, isnt much... at all.

Compared to that of mainstream shows, and especially Hazbin Hotel!

Yet as usual, Vivziepop manipulates her followers into contuining to put her on top regardless of her channel's ever reducing quality, and even views since it's lost millions since debut. With people constantly making excuses such as "ITS JUST BEEN UP LONGER!" and "ITS NOT LOSING VIEWS THE PANDEMIC HAS JUST ENDED AND PEOPLE ARE OFFLINE MORE NOW!"

Yeah-

Say that to how Lackadaisy has 6+ million in only two weeks despite being another show altogether, despite the show also having been produced in the pandemic since 2019.

It's been only two weeks yet it already has almost just as many views, and if this keeps up, will likely even have more than HB's latest episode while "EXXES AND OOHS!" has been only at 13+ since it was released. It barely has moved on inch in a entire month while Lackadaisy keeps going... and going... and going...

While Helluva Boss's latest episode has barely scratched the surface despite being just as new with only a month difference.

It's honestly messed up how Ashley was shafted after supporting Vivziepop and working for her after all this time. Same for all the other artists who worked for her. -and as Erin said:

-and seeing how Far Fetched is doing right now, this couldnt be any more evident of just how much of a capitalistic, worker mistreating, monopoly that Vivziepop's channel has become to the point where people who worked with her FOR YEARS still end up getting the short end of the stick or even outright harassed by her and her fandom, and she doesnt even defend them, she just... let's the bullying happen, let's her ex staff get slandered, let's her staff threaten to HIT THEM while only caring about shippings involving literal FICTIONAL CHARACTERS! -and last time I checked... going to the levels of not just trying to manipulate people into thinking that Vivienne is a "perfect little lamb" to gaslight people into not looking into how she treats her staff- but also THREATENING VIOLENCE over the fact that someone was actually honest about what was happening in Spindlehorse- Isnt exactly what i'd like to call "good treatment" of your staff since Vivienne let you do this to people. Hell- is- IS THIS EVEN ALLOWED ON TWITTER?! Is it even allowed for people on the platform to threaten to hurt someone on Twitter in their guidelines, hell, is it even legal to threaten to hurt someone like this at all?! Especially if it's being used to threaten people into not speaking out about actual workplace mistreatment?!

HOLY SHIT! Just let these people tell you that you need to do better, and going to the levels of threatening to hit someone for critiqueing Vivienne for her behavior even once and then going out of your way to call them "GLASS JAWED MOTHER FUCKERS!" is genuine hostility and honestly, I dont even think it's even legal to verbally harass and threaten people to this extent. WHAT THE FUCK?!

I looked into this and... yeah! What Monica did was against Twitter guidelines by threatening to hit people who were in the studio that said anything about how Viv was actually acting.

I also checked to make sure, but.... yeah, she actually wanted to hit people for saying that Vivienne was overworking her own staff by rushing and also having to work full day jobs despite Helluva Boss continuisly ranking in millions of dollars. Which means that they were getting a small percentage of pay compared to what ends up being used for Vivziepop's "spectacle!" animation. So this isn't just acephobia, but also threatening genuine violence towards people for saying that they don't deserve to be mistreated. This is vile.

Hell, even without those guidelines- it's disgusting that Vivienne let her staff talk to people this way and then also mistreated Spindlehose for all these years too. NO ONE deserves to be treat this way for speaking out, especially if all they're doing is saying what happened to them in a studio that they worked in, and the fact that everyone demonizes Erin Frost for a few mistakes but then lets Vivziepop's "favorites" threaten to HIT SOMEONE is actually horrifying.

Honestly.

Helluva Boss isnt even "INDIE" anymore, it just fills up space in the indie community while clearly being a million dollar, mainstream show that has Norman Reedus and other celebrities in it to give the "We're indie so we can do what we want just because we're smaller than Disney!" excuse to be assholes to other people for even saying something as simple as "tone down the saturation a bit."

It's a monopoly. A monopoly built on years of breaking trust, threats, more bullying, betrayal, prioritizing in fame over indie creators, worker mistreatment, rushed projects, fanbase manipulation, and it's why I have so much faith in Lackadaisy. It gives me hope, it gives me hope that one day Vivienne will finally get told to "WAKE UP!" through all that's been happening. That the monopoly will end, that the indie industry will become more balanced again, that freelance artists will be treated better and receive more respect for their craft instead of just being used to meet corperate demands. That hope... is why, that though I like Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, that I also wish for other creators to get the spotlight and that one day... maybe... just maybe... that a new franchise will take Helluva Boss's place.

So to answer your question:

Yes. By defintion Helluva Boss has become a monopoly. It's taking a large chunk of the indie animation industry, and the creators overworked their staff to meet high demands for it to get trending almost every year through high amounts of demand and episodes in 2021 alone. It's taken a large amount of control over the industry and it's come to a point where creators have to rely on supporting Vivziepop to even get a piece of what HB has. Honestly, how is that fair? How is it "fair" to overwork her staff and appeal to even the bottom of the barrels of trends to keep her show trending while most of the other indie shows on Youtube suffer for it?!

It's making the indie animation community almost as corperate as the very companies that caused these people to steer towards indie animation in the first place. Which is such a shame, because there's so many good projects out there- yet to be discovered by most people. -and yet HB gets the trending almost every time because it appeals to as many mainstream trends and porn accounts as possible through all it's fetish and ship bait content and mass amounts of merchandising, and from mass amounts I mean HUNDREDS OF PIECES OF MERCHANDISING every year, even after the show already has 40+ million dollars in it's budget so it's just capitalism and mainstream pandering at this point. The indie community went from going against corperations and capitalism to BECOMING corperate and capitalistic.

It makes me miss back when all we had mostly were just fun short films and play dough animations. It's like people in the indie community have forgotten why we even make all these animations in the first place.. Not just for money and sucess....

But for fun, to animate away from corperations... for fun.

[aropride]

wrt that poll abt tone indicators thats going around.w ell first of all tbh i think some of the hatred for them comes from cringe culture. but second of all. some of the criticism is totally fair like there are a fuckton of tone indicators and sometimes . there really dont need to be. and the abbreviations can be confusing i try to type out ones that arent s srs or j. tho i feel like most of the newer ones were popularized on twt so itmakes sense they wouldnt be written all the way out

like i think my prolem is when theres SO many and theyre redundant. i found a carrd with a fuckton of them that im gonna comment on To entertain myself sorry

like these 3 all feel redundant .. why do u need a different tone tag for Mostly joking than Half joking ? or for a Coping joke ? just use /j or combine with with like, /neg or something to get the tone across yknow? and /ji - first of all looks like /ij (inside joke), second of all why not just use /j

and like. why half serious or mostly serious or not serious when /j or /hj exist ? why /ns when it looks so similar to /nsrs, which means the opposite ? ive been using /s since like 2015 and /srs since like 2018 so ivegot those down and dont confuse them but i see why could be for some one who hasnt used them b4, why make it more complicated?

i like /g or /gen in theory- ppl have said its confusing bc gen could be general which i get, but for ppl familiar w tone tags tend to know what it means. genq is one ive used just bc. its fun to type tbh. and i think ppl get what it means but its not really Necessary. BUt genep and genc feel unnecessary when /g and /srs exist, and /gene is just, a word. that's just a word ! 😭

ojh my god. i should do a tone indicator tier list

as you can see my adhd meds are working

/nbr is funny bc half the time when some1 says theyre not being rude they definitely are. also there's already /g /srs and /lh. /nm is either helpful or deeply confusing Bc i try to take it at face value but sometimes i see it and im like. Why would i be mad ? and i start overthinking. but thats a me problem

i like this one i use it when i complain a lot Bc i dont want ppl to think im vagueing them i just love complaining

i love these ones. tone indicators for Being Mean To Someone. dunno if its on this list but ive seen /pa and /sbh (/passive aggressive & /somebody here, respectively) which is SO funny. i dont think theyre helpful really though except /neg Bc again. these all mean very similar things !!! why not just clarify extra things with a parenthetical

THESE R ALL THE SAME TONE !!! why not jsut use one single tone indicator for this !!! or none at all and just type the word !!!

need /nfl on a shirt in the aro colors so poeple know im not fucking interested in them. that aside. 1. whywould u need this ever !!! why not use again just /j if necessary.and 2. isnt the nfl a football thing

these r similar but i do like them, i think typing out a whole word again is a better solution so u dont have to scavenge google for the meaning but i think its helpful to clarify this and isnt synonymous with /j or /s or /lh

i think these ones are almost all just from the op's discord server or w/e, i won't bash that cuz if it works for them it works, that being said i dont think This many tone indicators for these types of things r helpful outside of that specific context yknow? also, /fx is really funny

ok i wont say that typing tics dont exist bc tics can be complex and vary by situation etc so im sure they can, but is that happening That much that u need a tone tag for it ? and also like. for /unin just delete the msg or say "oops sent too early hang on" or smth.. and as for vocal stim. first of all why is it /vt ? and second of all . why ... would u need that to type out ? bc if ur vocal stimming that would be. out loud? i.e. not in a chat where youre typing ???????@????>?,//???? BAFFLING. also in what situation is /gib necessary i genuinely cant think of one

ANYWAY.

None of this is to rag on tone indicators (/genuine) i think they can be helpful + i am always being gensrs when i use them. i just think some r a little silly & a lot from longer lists are unhelpful Bc theyre supposed to make communication Easier and Clearer + haveing So many tone indicators with Different Implied Tones WITHIN the indicators !!! makes it harder imo. bc if theyre to clarify tone why should i have to fight for my life deciphering why someone went from /mj to /hj yknow.

like this is all my Opinion and imsure these r all helpful for Someone otherwise they wouldnt exist but i rly feel like the system could be condensed a bit yk.

do i have a system in mind to suggest here ? well.

(also. this whole post is /genuine, /lighthearted, /not upset, and /not passive aggressive. and a bit /silly)

[jaeger-bombastard]

some of the palworld redesigns are genuinely better than the original pokemon i hate ai art and as an artist i can tell when something looks like ai (it does not)

I don't think the actual legit models are ai art, I think they used the same concept of copy/paste/trace over with filter to make them. They didn't reinterpret similar concepts into a new style to make their own world in a familiar genre. They just recolored it like a old deviantart sonic OC.

For example, this is a wolf:

These are different ways artists have depicted wolves in a cartoonish style. Some emphasize ears, some teeth. Some are realistic, some are cartoonish. Some have heavy lineart and some have light.

This is a fucking recolored lycanroc. It's not a coincidence. There are millions of ways to stylize a wolf. This is what they came up with.

And I have heard tons of people telling me that some of the palworld designs are better and some are original and really good.

If they were capable of making good and unique designs, then they should have actually made ALL of them good and unique designs. So they have the ability, but are too lazy? That should make you *more* angry. Because instead of a new game with genuinely new and thought out designs, this is what they gave you.

I don't even know the names of these things. I typed in "palworld Eevee, Palworld Meowth, palworld luxray" because they're not inspiration take, these are direct knock offs of individual pokemon. Also like....they're legit less creative than the pokemon? It's just "what if eevee was an electric type, and lets make the cat more cat-like and the lion more lion-like"

2) Are a few good designs worth supporting a company that is showing other companies they can get away with ai-like low creativity and frankendolling designs together? Genuinely, truly. Would you even like that lion on the right if you didn't get attached to Luxray as a kid?

Baldurs Gate 3 won GOTY by being a smaller company who went beyond what most massive companies couldn't do. BG3 has blown DA4 out of the water and it hasn't even come out yet. BG3 is making big companies sweat because they proved that fans of games are fans of art, appreciate and recognize high quality, and that hard work and love for a passion project has benefits.

And people are shitting it all away for a couple weeks of "Pokemon with guns" simulator instead of, idk, modding ARK?

Also, I want to be clear. I am not advocating for copyrighting of art styles because that will be bad for everyone. I am begging and pleading people who are not artists and just consume content to appreciate the work that does into it so we don't end up with all of this for the foreseeable future. The layoffs are already happening and you'd not be wise to think that this wont include artists with AI imagery on the rise.

And if you are an artist, I really wish for you to look at this very critically, because our livelihoods are being threatened and you're paying for it to happen.

[battiegutz]

bruh never look at th comments when trying to wind down with cat videos

i understand being concerned for animals but you only see the one video of this cat and cant know how they are taken care of day to day. its good to educate people but you dont have to be agressive abt it bc its just going to make people angry and not actually think abt why its important to know this thing and they wont think critically about similar things either

also its a pupcup man the cat isnt going to explode. and the cat is a kitten so its possible it hasnt lost the ability to process lactose yet (if thats what they were even concerned abt, ppl who yell at ppl abt how to take care of their pets on the internet rarely if ever elaborate why something isnt a good idea) you dont know this cats life story

[stampgwifeyera]

Wolfpire introduction/timeline:

Introduction:

Uhhhhh idk how to introduce things i barely got a C in english but the idea behind wolfpire is like a dark fantasy au of community. the big changes are:

This all takes place in and around Aberystwyth(A-buh-rist-wuth),wales because I'm welsh and also america perplexes me.

Troy is now a werewolf,he lives in his family's pack (it's like a small village in the countryside) after his mom died he was made the leader against his will by his dad since he wanted Troy to grow up faster and become more responsible. Oh and troys ftm now because ik him better then harmon.(also ill be referring to younger troy as troy i wont be giving him a deadname or anything like that because i think thats kinda weird tbh)

Abed is a half vampire, his mom is a human and his dad is a vampire,his mom left (i've said before that she died but i’m changing that) due to similar reasons in the show, abed was always alone since he was home-schooled (as a protective measure), and since he couldn't go to the movies (overstimulation makes it impossible to hide his vampiric side) abed reads screenplays and re-enacts/draws scenes he thinks would be cool. also Since he didn't go to Greendale he instead works at his dads cafe which doubles as a normal cafe but also has a V.I.P area for any other monsters in town who need a place to go and don't need to hide themselves.

Annie wasn't able to go to rehab due to her parents, she's constantly tired from all nighters she has to pull for her straight A+’s (or else her parents will kick her out) it doesn't help that she doesn't have a study group to help her.

Other characters pending….

Greendale community college is now ‘greendale paranormal investigators’ a (not so successful) agency that investigates,documents and “takes care of” any paranormal/supernatural activity, it also has a trainee/apprenticeship program.

My best attempt at a timeline of events(this'll be short for now because i don't have too many events “planned” in my head):

Troy and abed first met when they're younger like 5-7, Abed was in his backyard re-enacting a scene from a screenplay with some pebble/rock statues he made, when troy who got lost on a field trip with his family and found abed playing in his backyard and got excited to see another kid his age so he jumped into his backyard and thats when they first met, they talked for hours and hours troy was happy to finally have a person who didn't judge or criticize him and abed was happy to have someone to talk to who wasn't “too busy” to listen to him. I also feel like abed did that speech thing with jeff in ep1 but with troy.

Periodically when he can troy would sneak away and visit abed at least once a week after a while abed starts baking snacks he thinks troy will like, introducing him to Gobi who was worried for troy but also happy that his son had someone to talk and specificity looking for screenplays he knows troy will like so they can re-enact them together. After about 5-6months of this happening though abed notices that troys coming less and less and eventually he stops coming at all… Yeah thats kinda it  😅 i don't actually have much of any other ideas bouncing strong enough around my head sadly :(  if you cant tell already this is still a very massive work in progress.

Where the idea came from:

basically back in October i got a an idea after watching Danny in dywtsadb and wanted to relate that to community so i made abed a vampire (instead of a cannibal but i mean those are basically the same anyway) and i also wanted troy to be a sexy monster but i didn't want him to also be a vamp and the next thing my brain thought of was a werewolf, i feel like that tells you a lot about who i am as a person. link to google doc with all this

[anthraxplus]

ok whatever im gonna ramble about that stupid disco elysium take

what shocks me, truly, is that all these wholesome witchcore uwu beans should really... like what DE discusses. what i got from the game was a story about change, growth, choosing to be better even when it's hard. it's a game about discovering (or rediscovering) the cruelty of the world around you and choosing to act in opposition to it. it's a game about how our past doesn't have to dictate our future. it's a game about the world that is possible if we believe in it and act on those beliefs. all these narrative foci would be right at home in some wholesome story about witches, but the difference is that the wholesome story jumps straight to the conclusion - DE doesn't. in DE, you have to do the work.

this, i think, is what gets the wholesome-brained to shut down. they love the witchcore stuff because it's pure escapism. i can't really fault people for wanting to get away from the grim reality we find ourselves in, but too much escapism gets you to a point where you forget some critical points about our world. the escapism doesn't change anything about the world - it keeps getting worse as you distract yourself. eventually it might get to be so bad that you can stand it less and less, and you try to escape more and more. before you know it, you're looking at the world through the lens of what you escaped to, and you become upset when it isn't (and can't be) as tidy. this is how we get people with extremely rigid morals obsessed with purity/wholesomeness.

oddly enough, this is basically what happened to harry. he couldn't handle what he was dealing with and fell headfirst into addiction to escape his pain. but every time he sobered up, he would have to face reality yet again. it got to be too much and he drank himself into nearly total oblivion. this didn't fix anything, though, as he still had to face reality but with none of his previous knowledge. this is why he can react with shock and horror to things people tell him are a part of daily life. like, "sorry that this is the first you're hearing about this, but we've been dealing with it every day of our lives."

and, yknow, this probably wont be news to anyone who's reading this, but DE is one of many victims of a sanitization that all RPGs with sizeable reach end up going through. the actual story, the actual content, is glossed over for the possibility of using it as a loose AU framing/projection for your own thoughts. it's best exemplified by all the fanart that pushes the focus as being "funny game where the two main characters are gay 😳" and stopping there. or worse yet, they view the game as a delivery system for funny jokes and other stuff on the side. it's almost a conscious refusal to listen to what the game is talking about. this, too, is escapism. the thing from which the audience member is escaping is a serious exploration of serious topics. that isn't as fun as saying "i want to have fuck with you." that isn't as fun as using harry and kim as dolls you push together saying "now kiss." that isn't as fun as going around screaming about the end of the world to everyone after you pop back three different pills.

ultimately, i just think it's interesting how the refusal to engage with DE on its own terms is itself similar to the core issue harry faces. it's really a testament to the greatness of the writing, similar to how the changes ZA/UM has gone through are echoes of discussions the game had. it sucks that we see these parallels with stupid bullshit though, as opposed to, like, the revolutionary politics.

side note: i'd almost be interested in this hypothetical wholesome witchcore DE-style game if the scope expanded beyond that and the wholesome nature turned out to be something only the upper class gets to live with, and our wholesome witch has to grapple with the fact that her comfortable living is only possible due to unspeakable amounts of exploitation and abuse of lower classes. they'd never make that game, though. but a girl can dream.

[riceball1759]

A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) Review

I did not plan on reading this book. Hype books don’t really work for me, but I’ve started listening to the podcast, Those Forking Fangirls, and they have this segment called ‘Chapter Chat’. They decided to reread ACOTAR and have a 20-ish minute talk about the next chapter near the end of each episode. So, I’m listening to this for a few episodes and thinking, “ok this sounds at least somewhat interesting”. ADHD dopamine kick started: let’s read a sample on Libby and see if it’s worth it. Because this book is so dang long (my opinion), I was able to reach midway through chapter 4. So, I became intrigued enough and got a physical copy from the library (Libby’s wait was stupid long). Read it in a few sittings. I went in expecting nothing. Why? Years later, the fandom-fueled hype is still going strong and I like to make up my own mind instead of expecting it to go one way or the other from the start. Well, I definitely formed my own opinions.

Here we go! This was extremely easy to read (this is NOT a negative criticism). I’d been mulling over this for over a week since finishing so I could explain this as best I can. Maas -at least in this instance- writes in a style similar to James Patterson. DON’T GO IN AN UPROAR! Hear me out:

the language isn’t a complex prose that is what I consider “typical fantasy verbiage”;

she writes in first person POV (Feyre is talking to you as her best friend);

it’s plot-driven: no multitude of literary devices, timelines, and backstories to distract you from what’s really important;

the chapters are easy to read through (not too long, not too short) and end in a way that encourages you to keep going;

plenty of conflict and dialogue, but nothing over-the-top or unnecessary; and finally,

Maas definitely did her research when creating a world based on Anglo-Irish folk religion and she seamlessly created an easy-to-digest world that she owns.

If you don’t believe me, just google “James Patterson writing style”. I’m sure I can’t be the first reader to experience this, but I might be the first to quasi rabbit-hole like this. It makes so much sense, though! I was only 5 chapters in when I realized that I wasn’t having my typical waning interest (as I’m wont to have when I read high fantasy) and was actually engaged in the story. AND I was BLASTING through like a hurricane! This never happens when I read higher-than-middle-grade-level fantasy. Generally: I pause, take a break, pick it up later…or never. Fantasy and SciFi require a lot of active reading from me (looking for plot devices, etc.), but ACOTAR didn’t. It’s easily digestible in that it doesn’t require any more from me than to just sit back and enjoy the show. If that doesn’t fit your bill, then this book is not for you.

Continuing the review: I love me a good fairy tale retelling and ACOTAR is an interesting take on ‘Beauty and the Beast’ without it being too obvious at first look. Here are the elements (I’m going to try to keep my snark from taking over): girl gets taken ‘prisoner’ by beast, she gets the awkward “welcome to your new home” speech, she learns about a curse affecting the land and told not to ask too many questions, she finds out that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and falls in love because you know why, he sends her back to keep her safe, she can’t stay away because she knows something’s wrong and returns to find him in danger. I think you know where I’m going with this. ANYWAY, that’s the skeleton outline. Everything else is completely made up by Maas and is brilliantly done. Do I want to get into more detail about the characters and other literary devices? Not really. There’s so much of that in other reviews that I think I’d be repetitive. In brief, I really liked the characters’ personalities and can see how they’ve endeared themselves to the ACOTAR fans. All the beauty/beast elements were woven into a unique story that I genuinely enjoyed. Will I read the next one? Most likely.

SIDE NOTE: this is technically New Adult: it features characters over 18 (consenting adults) and is considered a YA-Adult crossover. I’m not pro-censorship, but I do like giving honest feedback on what I think the true ‘age-audience’ is for books that have high crossover appeal. “Guided reading levels” just make for difficult and awkward conversations (remember, I’m a Teen Librarian). I prefer general age ratings similar to manga and video games: this would be 16+ (Older Teens).

Thank you for reading^_^ Have a good one!

[camerawhoisalsocam]

You agree with Adel Aka on V9?

You lose all credibility.

Call yourself a critic, you're just another illiterate when it comes to media analysis.

Yes I do, as well as most others. I know Adel made more of a meme based on the similarities so I knew it wasnt all too serious. I agree with someones opinion, that means that all my other takes and criticisms mean nothing? Okay guess this means nothing.

Your a bonified moron and you should realise that agreeing with someone doesn't make you a fool

Unless Adel Aka is actually a very shitty person I will retract my statements, until then I will agree with him on RWBY. And if it turns out he's a bad person? I still wont like rwby, I also wont like him.

And I do call myself a critic even if it isn't an official title. I dont have a degree or any certification or anything, im a guy on the internet, your right. But that being said. Im a guy on the internet! Literally anybody here can make an opinion and call themselves a critic. Especially if they give an actual analysis on a peice of media they enjoy or used to enjoy.

Plus with how much I write I damn well know im not illiterate. You wanna talk illiteracy look at your ask anon and then look at the last one, you need to step up your game your looking a bit illiterate yourself.

[wolfpiretrobed]

Introduction: (if youve seen this already its becuase im moving blogs)

Uhhhhh idk how to introduce things i barely got a C in english but the idea behind wolfpire is like a dark fantasy au of community. the big changes are:

This all takes place in and around Aberystwyth(A-buh-rist-wuth),wales because I'm welsh and also america perplexes me.

Troy is now a werewolf,he lives in his family's pack (it's like a small village in the countryside) after his mom died he was made the leader against his will by his dad since he wanted Troy to grow up faster and become more responsible. Oh and troys ftm now because ik him better then harmon.(also ill be referring to younger troy as troy i wont be giving him a deadname or anything like that because i think thats kinda weird tbh)

Abed is a half vampire, his mom is a human and his dad is a vampire,his mom left (i've said before that she died but i’m changing that) due to similar reasons in the show, abed was always alone since he was home-schooled (as a protective measure), and since he couldn't go to the movies (overstimulation makes it impossible to hide his vampiric side) abed reads screenplays and re-enacts/draws scenes he thinks would be cool. also Since he didn't go to Greendale he instead works at his dads cafe which doubles as a normal cafe but also has a V.I.P area for any other monsters in town who need a place to go and don't need to hide themselves.

Annie wasn't able to go to rehab due to her parents, she's constantly tired from all nighters she has to pull for her straight A+’s (or else her parents will kick her out) it doesn't help that she doesn't have a study group to help her.

Other characters pending….

Greendale community college is now ‘greendale paranormal investigators’ a (not so successful) agency that investigates,documents and “takes care of” any paranormal/supernatural activity, it also has a trainee/apprenticeship program.

My best attempt at a timeline of events(this'll be short for now because i don't have too many events “planned” in my head):

Troy and abed first met when they're younger like 5-7, Abed was in his backyard re-enacting a scene from a screenplay with some pebble/rock statues he made, when troy who got lost on a field trip with his family and found abed playing in his backyard and got excited to see another kid his age so he jumped into his backyard and thats when they first met, they talked for hours and hours troy was happy to finally have a person who didn't judge or criticize him and abed was happy to have someone to talk to who wasn't “too busy” to listen to him. I also feel like abed did that speech thing with jeff in ep1 but with troy.

Periodically when he can troy would sneak away and visit abed at least once a week after a while abed starts baking snacks he thinks troy will like, introducing him to Gobi who was worried for troy but also happy that his son had someone to talk and specificity looking for screenplays he knows troy will like so they can re-enact them together. After about 5-6months of this happening though abed notices that troys coming less and less and eventually he stops coming at all… Yeah thats kinda it  😅 i don't actually have much of any other ideas bouncing strong enough around my head sadly :(  if you cant tell already this is still a very massive work in progress.

Where the idea came from:

basically back in October i got a an idea after watching Danny in dywtsadb and wanted to relate that to community so i made abed a vampire (instead of a cannibal but i mean those are basically the same anyway) and i also wanted troy to be a sexy monster but i didn't want him to also be a vamp and the next thing my brain thought of was a werewolf, i feel like that tells you a lot about who i am as a person.

link to google doc with all this

[phaeton-flier]

@loving-n0t-heyting

There havent been elections since 2006 bc the ruling party of the PA, Fatah, wont allow them for fear of hamas gaining an advantage. As of march palestinians in both the west bank and gaza have in polls expressed a preference for hamas over fatah, and have in particular consistently expressed extreme distrust of fatahs current head and dictator of thr PA

So let's paper over questions like "to what extent was did Abbas' decree banning militants from running for office justify Hamas militarily overthrowing the government in Gaza"-even that one statement being an oversimiplification of a lot of background-and round it off to "Wow, Israel and others actions pushed Fatah and Hamas into bad places, leading to escalating back-and-forth reprisals that both can point to"

It still remains that Hamas has been de facto ruling Gaza (up the limits of Israeli involvement, similar to the West Bank) for over 15 years. And Gaza has not had elections since 2006. Neither has the West Bank, and I won't pretend it does, but even if we take the framing of Hamas, that they were pre-empting a coup for the sake of democracy, past a certain point you are just running a dictatorship.

I would feel a lot more sympathy (for specifically Hamas, on specifically this issue; For the general treatment of Palestinians I have as much sympathy as one can have while not being there) if there was anything like a democratic mandate here. If there was a clear way people could criticize the current regime without fear of reprisal. Now, the PA does not have the high ground here by any means. From a poll done by Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, June 22-25:

42% of West Bankers think people in the West Bank can criticize the PA without fear while 54% think they cannot. In the Gaza Strip, 38% think people in the Strip can criticize Hamas’ authorities without fear and 62% think they cannot.

But either way I do not look at this situation and go "well, they were pushed to the brink and choose what path they could" because it sure doesn't look like they even had a choice of bad choices.

Discussions about how much support Hamas has always take it as a given that the population of Gaza have an open choice between Hamas and alternatives, but Hamas has had military control since 2007 and there haven't been elections since 2006 and they shoot opposition leaders;

Like "Palestinians repeatedly tried peaceful protest and got shot by the IDF, so now they are left with armed resistance or a slow death in an open air prison" is one thing, "And therefore Hamas is justified as a ruling theocratic government" is another

[esther-dot]

How likely do you think it is that ADOS is going to have a very similar trajectory for Dany, Jon and Sansa? Dany and Jon are destabilized when his biological parents are uncovered and Sansa then reveals the information, messing up Dany's psyche and maybe creating even more political havoc than what we saw in the show? I think its logical given Sansa's endpoint as QITN.

Book wise, it has never seemed feasible to me that someone invading with armies and dragons would be viewed as anything other than a dire threat. Jon viewed the FF as a serious threat, and they didn't have flying monsters who burned shit. They were also on the other side of the Wall, and yet Jon took the threat of invasion seriously and understood that it would mean the death of everyone he loved.

Martin does have Jon spend time with and develop feelings for the FF, so we can’t say simply by virtue of being a threat Dany would be someone Jon couldn’t come to care for. However, the big distinction is that the FF have some valid complaints against the North. The J/Y relationship is part of allowing Jon to bond with and see the humanity in the FF in spite of the threat they are to his people/family. When he thinks of Ygrrite, the two sides of her, the singing, the way she smiled and kissed him juxtaposed with how she slit a man’s throat, well, it’s clear that her function in the story is to be the embodiment of the FF. There is beauty there, there is also death. Some of what they believe/live by is incompatible with the North, but, at times she has criticisms of the North and I believe Martin wants us to take them seriously. The FF have a point.

Does Dany? Is Martin saying that things would be better if people would just happily accept being conquered? To him, are we to admire the man/woman who will burn cities and kill countless people in order to rule, or are we to respect the man who kneels in order to save his people?

Also, Jon is a lot more hot tempered than Ned, whether it’s his wolf blood or a hint of his Targ blood, and our good, compassionate Ned said he’d fight Dany and oust her from Westeros. Wouldn’t Jon at a minimum think that? Only, for Jon, this person will seem more threatening because she now has dragons in addition to armies.

I wasn’t a Jonsa before s7, I didn’t even know it was a thing, but I was so flabbergasted by J/D in s7 that I got online during the long hiatus and started reading fandom stuff for the first time in my life. Even for show Jon, the relationship made no sense, and book Jon is much smarter, loves the Starks even more, is angrier and more violent...it just makes less sense for him than it did for show Jon and that made no sense! So, I am very skeptical that mutual J/D could happen. The show brainwashed the fandom with that “break the wheel” line of Dany’s, to justify her conquest, but there isn’t anything like that in the books, so what will be the thing that could possibly make Jon think Dany has anything remotely sympathetic about her conquest?

Westeros is already anti slavery, it’s something we learn very early on in the series at the same time that slavery is being used to fund Dany’s war, and she will be arriving with a man who was a slaver, who Ned specifically tried to chase down, who Mormont specifically tells Jon about. Considering how desperately Jon wants to be a worthy son to Ned and have honor, this seemed like a very pointed effort on the author’s part to create yet another reason for Jon to look at team Dany askance. Dany has an army that, whether she thinks they’re free or not, what will the Westerosi believe? What would Jon believe when she is accompanied by a slaver Ned wanted to bring to justice?

There is so much to overcome here before we even get to what Dany’s actions will be in Westeros ie killing Aegon and burning KL. D&D took a “sacrifice Jon and manipulate the fandom” approach to Dany, but Martin wont, so how could he write a genuine connection between Jon and Dany?

Jon hates the Lannisters, so this could be “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” situation, except, the show didn’t have Aegon. In the books, Aegon may take out the Lannisters, so Dany wont even have that going for her. One of my anons suggested Aegon won’t take the throne, that the Lannisters will defeat him, but that still leaves us with the problems of, ya know, Jon liking a mass murderer. 

If Dany has burned KL and Jon has retaken Winterfell, and he still needs help with the Others, I suppose he could go to her thinking she might view helping him as a way to regain the good graces of Westeros, but that seems like a really difficult story to tell. Like, writing Jon believing that’s possible doesn’t work for me post KL. Jon risking it all to get help, that’s possible, but Jon trusting such a person? Having a genuine respect for such a person? I don’t see it.Ygritte slitting a man’s throat bothered him, how the heck is he gonna be fine with a woman who burned countless children alive?

I know I’ve gotten messages about the idea of Dany going North first, before attacking KL, and I’ve always wondered if that might happen too. If J/D is to happen, that may be the way it needs to go because it would be prior to burning KL, fits in with that idea of enemies becoming friends and not viewing people in a simplistic way, and Dany agreeing to fight with them would be the one thing she can offer Jon that may give her points in his eyes. When Martin wrote about dragons suffering in the cold/not being willing to fly beyond the Wall, it could have been done thinking of Dany going North,and setting the groundwork for why this would be a bad thing for Dany. Losing a dragon would be destabilizing for her. But won’t that be happening with Euron? He is looming large, and I feel like what happens with him and Dany may be the catalyst you’re looking for in regards to Dany’s downfall.

In the show, the big function of Jon’s parentage was to present him as the alternative ruler to Dany and let Dany know, no one would choose her as they had another option. It was burn people into submission or deal with unrest and attempts to replace her with Jon. The issue is, book Jon wouldn’t go after the iron throne which is why I think Aegon will serve as the “the people love this leader and will never accept me” idea. So, book Jon’s identity won’t work as the destabilizing thing for Dany imo, and if Jon had met her/loved her, I’m not sure that her being his aunt is enough in the books to end their relationship as there are some of those kinds of marriages in the family tree. Uncles marrying nieces etc. So the two things the show emphasized...I’m not sure that I buy them playing out in the books. We have the succession crisis brewing in the North, and I think that’s where Jon’s parentage will wreak the most havoc. I’m still shocked the show ignored that issue. So much potential drama just ignored.

Also, if Dany doesn’t go North, I don’t see how she will meet Sansa and how that dynamic would matter at all. I wish the show had leaned into the Sansa v Cersei thing because that’s longstanding, there was so much history there audiences would have really enjoyed a reunion, but I don’t think Sansa would go South again in the books, so I don’t think she will interact with Cersei again, and that means, if there is any interaction with Dany, it would have to be in the North. it’s hard to believe that could happen, although one big reason to think it might is that Sansa’s marriage to Tyrion needs resolution and while that doesn’t require face to face interaction, Tyrion’s obsession with her feels like it’s there for a reason.

I guess I feel like there are hints in the show to what we will be getting, but we can’t base spec on the show because we don’t know what was D&D and what was something they took from Martin and mangled until it made no sense. All the same, I did think it was very very odd that Tyrion and Jon both turn on Dany not only for a general love of their families, but for Sansa. I mean, we all kinda raised our eyebrows at Tyrion bringing up Sansa to Jon, and then when he was bitter about Sansa abandoning him in KL when he sees her in 8x01, and then him bringing up the idea of them still being/getting remarried in 8x03...it was weird, but then he went and warned Sansa about her behavior regarding Dany and then he brought up Sansa to Jon in the finale...it was a very odd choice for D&D when ya know, the need to stop Dany because of the mass murder issue was right there. Those choices went against the “good guy” Tyrion they had created, and Sansa as the motivation for stabbity stab seemed totally unnecessary. Sansa didn’t need to feature in J/D convos which happened repeatedly in s8, Tyrion didn’t need to talk about Sansa with Jon in s7&8. It was weird, so while I don’t see a path for Dany going North, I don’t dismiss it. I definitely understand where you’re coming from because it felt like there was something there that D&D were hinting at. But, if Sansa is QitN and has made it clear they won’t kneel, we don’t need face to face interaction for someone to kill Dany in order to protect her.

It seems more natural to me that Dany does shit in the South, the Starks work out things in the North, and then they have to face each other. But Jon wouldn't be calm about it. In fact, if Jon’s ending is exile, then perhaps that’s the narrative punishment for doing something rash and violent the author doesn’t want to glamorize. I’ve always thought that with the implosion of his life, Jon would likely make a miscalculation in the aftermath. Jon's wish for a dragon and being warned off felt like a seed Martin might grow into Jon wanting a dragon, getting a dragon, and it blowing up in his face, but I still don’t see how the timeline works.

Season eight really did make me worried about Jon being coerced into a sexual relationship with Dany at some point, that fear is ever present for me, but timing wise, it’s hard to imagine. Jon has to wakey wakey, reunite with Sansa, and retake Winterfell; Dany has to wrap things up and head to Westeros. She also has Euron and Aegon to deal with. I don't see the room for much development of a J/D relationship, and certainly not space for them to get over the enemies and become lovers only to learn about the aunty thing only to then be estranged only to then be reconciled only for Dany to die. It’s just a lot considering all the plot they each still have to get through.

Also, Aegon being in Westeros undermines the impact of yet another one of her nephews popping up for Dany, but R+L=J will upend the Starks view of their father. It’s of personal significance to them that their father didn’t have a bastard but did commit treason to protect his nephew, not to mention, learning more about their aunt, so the idea that Jon learns this and it’s about Dany and his relationship feels like a small view of what it means, whereas, if Jon learns about this with the Starks, there is so much fallout and so many conversations and feelings to be had and so many callbacks to the beginning of the series to be made with talk about Ned. It’s expansive, so many angles to write it from. That just seems like a more meaningful context to me, so while I can’t say your idea is impossible, I sure hope that isn’t one of the things D&D got from Martin!