#this is about pretty much every content creator btw

[weeb-cheese]

yet another content creator getting outed as a predator??? how fucking hard is it to not be weird with kids?

[lilybug-02]

The HK comic was very sweet and wholesome and I loved every second of reading it! :3

Also does Dewi give hornet back her thread? Im pretty sure she needs that for silksong when that eventually releases lol

Also to go off on an unrelated tangent/rant, people have been supposedly like up in arms about how "Silksong will never release!" and how "Its taking FORVEVER to come out!" But like.... First of all, its and indie studio. Secondly It was only announced in 2019, which, yeah, was 5 years ago, but with the way people were describing it I thought it was announced like way earlier. And hollow knight was released in 2017, but the way people talk about it makes me think its like a classic from early 2000's or something. Sure, its a good game, but why are people so stuck on the Silksong thing? Like at least you're pretty sure you're probably gonna get a full game when it releases. With other communities/fandoms you'd be lucky to get even an announcement. Like Deltarune for example. Not even Toby Fox was sure he was gonna be able to do it in the first place lol. And if you think 5 years is bad of a wait, imagine waiting for a new LITERALLY ANYTHING WHATSOEVER from Bethesda that isnt the 100th re-re-release gold ultra plus edition of fucking Skyrim again but now on the fucking smart watch or whatever. I'm 90% sure that most of Bethesda's existance as a company has been spent making something for Skyrim instead of working on anything new or original.

Sorry for the random rant btw

Anyways love your art, have a nice day, kay bye imma go die of awkwardness in the corner :)

First off thank you very very much. I am so glad to hear how much you like the Hollow Knight comic. And to answer your question, Hornet allowed Dewi to keep that thread. She gave it to him as a peace offering for helping the bugs get back home and to lead Dewi through the maze like cave. Don't worry, she has PLENTY of thread back in Hallownest.

And regarding the impatience of Silksong. I get it. I am the very lucky few to get into the game NOW. I haven't had to wait as long as the many other people waiting for Silksong to release, and in that regard I am quite spoiled. Yeah, Deltarune won't fully release in at least another 5 years, but I wouldn't want to say I'm morally better for my "patience". Waiting for a game or any kind of media SUCKS. The fandom keeps it alive, but even those can grow stagnant. As long as you aren't harassing the creators or fans of the project, you can be as angry or frustrated or sad as you want. I think it's normal and can help others feel less alone in their feelings as well.

Not to say your points of contention above aren't relevant!!! Patience and kindness are always important to keep in mind with artistic projects. Art is HARD and can be very taxing. I hope I'm not dampening your message. ❤️ Thanks for sharing

[sonderfairy]

tell me, are you scared of that tag coming to the TMP fanfics? I am. I won’t ever write it btw.

There's probably a lot of things you could mean by that LMFAO.

But if you're referring to what I think you are, then yes, I've always been stressed over that possibility. I've already had to delete countless comments (on both the english and spanish versions) that weren't age appropriate, to say the least. I am very dedicated to making sure that The Moth Prince is appropriate for kids of all ages, and that includes the comment sections.

Luckily, I've never come across any fan content of the sort. I pretty much stalk the tags on every social media and keep track of TMP content I can find on the internet, mostly out of curiosity, and to get excited over fanart, but also for that reason.

And so, I haven't had to post any sort of warning, announcement, or official message telling readers what my boundary is on fan works, and I will continue to hope and have faith that my readerbase wouldn't cross that line.

However...

Since TMP continues to grow, I will use this opportunity now (before it's too late) to say, officially, and clearly, that I will have absolutely no tolerance for any r34-type content of my characters. To many readers, and especially to me, they feel like real people, and should be treated as such, with respect. First and foremost, they are minors, and I shouldn't have to explain why that would be problematic. And secondly, they are my characters—they are a part of me, and anything that crosses that boundary with my characters also crosses that boundary with me. Other creators may be fine with any type of fan content their fans make, but I withdraw my consent when it comes to r34.

If anyone is still confused or would like further clarification or explanation from me, you may absolutely ask (even if you're just curious and weren't thinking of doing that, like op).

Like I said, no one's done this so far, but by having this officially put out there, people can't claim they weren't aware of my position on the matter. And if anyone who reads this ever sees that sort of content, they know how I feel about it and can inform them to take it down.

So, that's where I stand. Thank you for asking. /gen

[alatismeni-theitsa]

thank you for your response! i was originally thinking of getting “Σαυτὸν ἴσθι”

but i actually really like “Ηττώ υπέρ δικαίου” i think i may wear jewelry with the phrase carved into it firstly and then going from there. and i have seen your post on the misuse of Hellenismos! luckily; i was already made aware of this misuse of the word thanks to a content creator i like. i’ll definitely be keeping up with this blog to make sure i stay in my lane & respect Greek culture, while i’ve been practicing the Hellenic Polytheistic religion for many years i still have much to learn! such as, i had always been told online that modern Greeks don’t believe in or care about the “old religion” so it’s been really interesting to read about how that isn’t totally the case. :)

Ωωωω! Followup on the tattoo ask! :D Hello again! Hopefully you'll find the best way to carry the tenant with you!

Btw it grinds my gears when I see non-Greeks being so quick to say "modern Greeks don’t believe in or care about the gods anyway, why are they even talking".... Like BABE if it weren't for the Greeks who kept alive a large portion of the ancient texts on religion, philosophy, folk stories etc for more than a thousand years, you wouldn't have Greek myths to obsess over. There was indeed a time when Christians oppressed the Polytheists (also as a payback for the Polytheists doing the same to them in the past) but a few generations later people realized that this destruction would only make our ethnic memory and our heritage poorer, so they started copying and preserving the ancient texts.

Not to mention that Greece today has a huge archaeological sector, a ton of scholars, every town and city has its own archaeological museum, and we are taught the myths in context starting elementary school and analyze the epics and the ancient plays and other texts with classics professors and philologists from highschool already. Magazines frequently gift ancient plays, epics and philosophical texts, and you can find these editions pretty cheap in bookstores too, like 5 euros per play.

Our landscape is marked with ancient stories - everyone knows Zeus' mountains in Crete and Naxos, what Delos is to Apollo, what Cyprus is to Aphrodite, people continue living on Olympos as usual and we know it's considered the home of "our gods". (Instead of "Greek gods" we sometimes say "our gods" because... we are Greeks, so "our" and "Greek" are interchangeable in meaning.) Of course we consider the gods to be our important heritage figures. Even if a Greek feels like they don't have basic respect for the gods, they will still roll their eyes when seeing how the gods are portrayed in USAmerican media -meaning they have absorbed a type of respect for the deities through osmosis in Greece without realizing it.

Our public companies, streets, and groups/teams have names of gods and heroes. There are Christian Greeks baptized with the names of Greek gods, muses, and ancient heroes or play characters (Aphrodite, Athena, Ares, Demetra, Odysseus, Akhilleas, Patroklos, Dione, Thalia, Antigone etc) and that's not just a modern phenomenon. We just... kept our names through the ages.

Not every single Greek will be interested in those things because everyone has different passions and hobbies, but Greece as a whole continues to record and safekeep all things ancient. The Ottoman occupation was harsh for us and we lost access to education and the science of archaeology for a while but we started getting educated again on our past as soon as we were able to offer our people decent public education (when we gained our freedom).

Many Greeks see the ancient religion as a level "behind" in human rights and religious philosophy, and like a stage we have overgrown as a nation. However, this doesn't contradict the basic respect one gets for the gods as soon as they do a basic study of the material readily available all around them, and the whole stance that the country keeps toward our gods.

I didn't intend to write that much but, ya know, I get very irritated just thinking how people with no idea about Greece's history make assumptions about us just to win an argument online.

Thank you for making it this far! It's great you are taking the initiative to ask and learn! Gaining knowledge of a different religion and culture is always a difficult but rewarding journey! For your patience, I will leave you with a few verses of one of our classic poems:

As you set out for Ithaka hope your road is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery. Laistrygonians, Cyclops, angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them: you’ll never find things like that on your way as long as you keep your thoughts raised high, as long as a rare excitement stirs your spirit and your body. [...]

Keep Ithaka always in your mind. Arriving there is what you’re destined for. But don’t hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts for years, so you’re old by the time you reach the island, wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way, not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you wouldn't have set out. She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you. Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, you’ll have understood by then what Ithakas mean.

(Ithaki , Konstantinos Kavafis, 1911)

[cecilebutcher]

Thank you Irene and Aubbie for the tags<3 I really appreciate it a shit ton.

Twst content spotlight

@azulashengrottospiano Amazing, and I cannot stress this enough, AMZING octatrio content. Her writing style is so fucking amazing yet so simple? Go check her out she’s so fucking cool.

@axvwriter such a fantastic mind. Their oc Bobo is adorable and their art is even more adorable. The creatures they make are so fucking cool and awesome.

@twitchers-column a new blog made, but so far the stuff nem posts on their are just, chefs kiss. Not much on their but I see so much potential for it(I want to, uh, help with it).

@nem0-nee probably my newest moot but she is so sweet and her art is so fucking cool! Her Oc’s are so amazing and fantastic <3

@jemmidraws also new, I mean very new, but her art is so beautiful! Again not much posted but I highly recommend checking her out(her comms are open btw!)

@daily-trey posts amazingly accurate Trey content. They also respond to stuff as Trey by drawing them, my favorite post of theirs is the newest cater x Trey angst^^ (their comms are also open!)

@moonlit-midnight also writes amazing octatrio content. But they also write for other dorms like Diasomnia. Btw go check out their master list cause, it’s so fucking pretty? Like bro, that shit is so pretty and amazing.

@drdepper her art, gives me life. No no listen. The art style, the colors, the line art. I’m gobbling it up so hard. She’s also in love with Vil, don’t understand why, but Love listening to her talk about it.

@robo-milky her twst yuu is so fucking cute!! She’s so freaking talented, like tf? Girl, keep some talent for the rest of us T^T I wanna hold cloche is my hand like a small bird, ya feel me?

@altshin his twst yuu is so freaking chaotic it’s amazing 😭 his art style is so simple to me but still so gorgeous. Fellow photographer mc o7

@the-v-lociraptor everyone move it’s the creator of Castor and Pollux!! If you can’t tell I love those two twins with all my heart. Her art style is so much, that it becomes perfect.

@harunayuuka2060 while they do write for twst they also do obey me, and let me tell you they are always so fucking good!! Their writing style is Character A:….. Character B:……. It’s so fucking cool! Go check their blog out I always have fun with their stuff!!

@mintmoth they’re art style is so cute😭 my favorite Kalim artist in every single platform ever. The way they draw him makes me so happy!!

@malleusgethomeplz just posts twst shitposts. No really, that’s it, nothing more nothing less. But it still always brings me joy. They are also so stupid that it’s the best ever.

@egophiliac my favorite Lilia artist. They’re art is so unique. Like everyone move! It’s the the best Diasomnia artist is in town! Go check them out.

@oepionie I love love LOVE their writing the way they write scratches that one spot in the back of my brain. They’re writing style is so fucking gorgeous!

@blackopals-world she writes for various types of yuu. The way you can tell that she puts so much effort and love into her work is amazing, love her work so so much.

@siphoklansan sippy!! You think you’ve see great art with so much love in it? Ha yea right, you haven’t seen shit until you’ve checked my girl sippy out B) her oc’s are so fucking pretty and interesting, my personal favorite is my beloved Charin, I wanna give him a kissy kiss.

@ashipiko fellow ace kisser o7 she is so sweet and I just love her so fucking much like you have no idea. Her art style is so pretty like girl, you’re making me tear up with how gorgeous everything looks.

@ceruleancattail their themes give me life. It’s so fucking pretty and gorgeous and beautiful. Their art style is also, chef’s kiss, my personal favorite stuff is anything butler or/and yandere related<3 I will also continue to defend the kisser cater allegations with my life o7

@oheyfox Renny<3 best Jack Howl art there is, you won’t find any better then here folks! Her female first years ever. Her art style is so fucking pretty too!! Go check it out, this is a threat.

@shinysparklesapphires her art is so pretty with such interesting and incredible oc’s!! A beloved moot of mine<3

@terristre their art is so simple yet so fucking cute and adorable. I really like the way they draw the Twst characters. They’re comics are so freaking cool!!

@yuurei20 they technically analyze Twst characters and their relationships with other characters and more. It’s so interesting reading their works:0 I 10000% recommend everyone to check them out.

@dibbledoodle her yuu is a wine aunt without the wine and I am here for it. I fuckinh love her art style so much. I love the way she draws Leona he looks so stupid T^T

@revivemyreverie the way they draw, gives me life. They have so many oc’s and each one is more interesting then the last, I can’t decide who I love most. That’s a lie, it’s Vegas, it’ll forever be Vegas.

@del-thetiredwriter I love love love LOVE their mafia AU. Hello? Why is it so good? I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for the next chapter. I took inspiration from them while writing my own mafia AU, go check them out<3

@twistedchatterbox the creator of this amazing thing✨ she’s amazing and I love her writing so fucking much<3 tbh if it weren’t for her April collab I would’ve never had the courage to post twst content on here. So Rubia, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for everything. I owe all of this to you, Love you girl<3

I originally was gonna put like 10 people but ended up putting waaay more😭 but you know what, I regret nothing. All these amazing people write and/or draw some of the best stuff ever. And I’m so fortunate to have come across their stuff because it is truly amazing<33

[thefirstknife]

Sorry to dump this rant in your inbox but the community’s attitude this entire season has legit got me tilted to the point I ignore pretty much the entire community outside of tumblr and a few irl friends. A lot of it has been frustrations I’ve had since Lightfall dropped wrt acting like the story was dogshit bc it didn’t give all the answers.

I legit got so fed up with Byf’s whole “oh all this season of the deep lore should have been in Lightfall” stuff bc like. My guy. You were one of the biggest complainers about the seasons having zero lore or story relevance. Fucking pick one or the other. Either seasons are all filled bullshit or you’re gonna get cliffhangered and expected to have some damn patience for storylines to get picked back up over time in the seasons after the main campaign of an expansion is done.

Especially bc like. IMO anyone expecting anything not a cliffhanger from the end of Lightfall when we KNEW The Final Shape was coming after it was just setting themselves up for disappointment, you need big tension and shit like that before the final act and this way getting dripfed answers in the lead up feels less like we’re dicking around doing nothing useful for the entire year as we wait for TFS to drop. It legit felt like being a KH fan back when KH3 dropped who had payed attention and played all the games and knew wasn’t the end of the series, just the conclusion of an arc and anyone mad about the stuff left unfinished was being unreasonable when it was made pretty explicitly clear it would either be answered in the future bc this wasn’t the ending or had been answered ages ago and people just hadn’t bothered to pay attention to it. Lightfall was never going to have all the answers bc it wasn’t the ending, and Bungie has proven they’ll circle back around and answer questions and pick up story beats if you’d just have a little patience! I’ll agree it wasn’t done perfectly and could do with more focus on the Veil and less on Strand but come ON my guy!

Combine that with the general toxicity of non-story focused Destiny YouTubers, especially PvP only typesc about Destiny and the way their fans have behaved and I’m full on not watching Destiny content creators anymore. Genuinely never seen content creators who need to touch grass and maybe just. Take a break. I’m not saying Lightfall was perfect or that Bungie hasn’t fucked up but I’m honestly just. Extremely fucking tired of how the community outside of tumblr has reacted to everything. And I’m especially sick of crybaby crucibros being obnoxious. Much as I don’t actually think it’d be at all good for the game there’s a part of me that thinks the idea of them splitting PvP stuff and PvE stuff into separate Destiny games in the future might have some merit to it purely so those of us who just want to explore and enjoy the story in peace can never bother with them again

Go off, honestly. So true. I've felt the same and I've pretty much not watched any Destiny youtube content in months. I started a few of them, but then stopped because of how utterly annoying and just plain wrong they were. The Lightfall situation is such a shitshow, not because of Bungie or the expansion itself, but because I genuinely believe that Destiny is above the reading level of most gamers.

Obviously, I still have some issues with how some stuff was handled, just as you do. Literally nobody is saying that everything in Lightfall was perfect. And I extend that to all expansions btw. Every expansion had faults. None of them are perfect. I think Lightfall's mysterious storytelling could've been a little bit clearer. And make no mistake, Lightfall WAS clear that nobody knows about the Veil, it just wasn't as clear as it could've been. Nothing would've really changed about the mystery if this was made more obvious earlier on in the campaign.

But dear lord, the bullshit around it is so tiring. I get it. I was confused at first too. I even posted here that I found certain things not as good and that they made me a little annoyed! And like that's fine! Your first impressions are your first impressions. But please move on. Are you seriously deciding everything based on first impressions? Do you never look into things and see if maybe there were things you missed or were wrong about? Like, it's okay to be confused at first and then realise later that you missed things. That's how learning works.

And yeah, the whole "everything should've been in Lightfall's campaign right away" is not only annoying because of the stuff you said, it's also annoying because it ignores that there's too much content to fit inside of a single campaign and also that this content has a theme. The campaign is a self-contained story with a theme and a plot (and the plot is NOT "learn what the Veil is." The plot of Lightfall is "stop Calus and the Witness from destroying Neomuna" which has concluded perfectly well in the campaign). Post-campaign stuff, the Witness cutscene and the Veil Logs are all things that don't fit thematically with the high action 80s movie story about protecting a city from destruction. These things were deliberately spread out through the year to give us multiple stories to follow while we wait for TFS. It's a live service game. You're here for the whole year. And it's fine if that's not the storytelling type you like. It's fine! That doesn't mean the story is objectively bad.

But yeah, agreed with what you said. It helps to vent! There's definitely people out there who are in the same situation and who just want to enjoy the game as usual and not having to deal with crybabies who make the whole experience absolutely miserable and make it impossible to engage with anything. Luckily, there's also always people who are still engaging with the game normally. We like the game and we like engaging with the game. And when I stop liking it, I'll just stop engaging with it. I wish other people could do the same.

[rosemelon82]

i'm not going to pretend like i think nobody is interested cuz this is the best movie of 2023 and you cannot tell me otherwise and also everyone has been waiting for this for forever so

SPOILER WARNING I AM RANTING ABOUT SPIDERMAN ACROSS THE SPIDERVERSE SO BEWARE IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IT YET

im writing this because i wasnt able to fully rant to my friends and my family doesnt want to listen so i dont really care and im screaming out into the void of tumblr. will someone hear me? i wonder

ANYWAYS (listening to the fire soundtrack as i write this)

that was the best movie i've ever seen and arguably even better than the first one. i am simply obsessed with every single detail of this movie and i cannot stop thinking about it. also me and friend were basically freaking out about everything cuz it was so damn good i cannot even stop.

there was a huge amount of parallels to the other spiderman content that we've seen and i love the way they incorporated them. the way miles saved gwen when falling during that one fight scene with spot. the bus scene with pavitr and gayatri who btw i am totally obsessed with. the way all the words that O'Hara said to miles were basically opposite of what his mother said to him earlier in the movie. the way he was listening to music on his bed when gwen showed up. the scenes from other universes where its mcu canon??? the reference to earth 19999 from miguel??? and a ton more of course

because i am also desi (lore reveal!) and also just because he was done so well. im just sad that they did not include more of him in the movie after his earth canon event was disrupted. it felt pretty raw to see almost the same scene from no way home in across the spiderverse with pavitr instead of tom holland. i also like that regardless of what consequences it has later, even if he doesnt know yet, he's able to save inspector singh. also mentionable is that they switched from mira jain to gayatri singh. in the spiderman india comics they had mira jain and props to the creators for the rep for jains cuz they don't get seen in media very much or at all for whatever reason. maybe cuz most of it is now like gwen stacy canon or whatever? idk someone if u know explain to me please

not related to parallels i almost cried at gwen's speech just cuz it resonated with me so much. thats all about that anyways anyways anyways

the art

god i could go on about the art forever. HAVE YOU SEEN IT? TELL ME THAT IS NOT THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SCENE EVER!!!!!!!!!!! every single city scene just blew my mind and the coloring and style of every single spiderman and scene was just stunning and how was it the most amazing thing i've ever seen?????? i cannot get over the coloring for half the scenes. i love the cities differences and the way that everything falls together in each world. my friend pointed out that when miles put his jacket on in earth-42, it was colored purple and black instead of his usual colors, which indicated so much of how he was prowler in this world instead of spiderman. i think it was interesting also to see that switch of character and did you see the way that his face was much more aged as prowler? there were a lot more lines there and he looked more mature in a way. miles morales from earth-1610 had cleaner lines and a lot more chill vibe. also like the character design for miles morales earth 42 holy shit bro that was so cool i cannot even did u see the lines on his chest and the helmet/headpiece thing the way it opened and his hair and voice and omg

ughh don't even mention the ending cuz why did they have to leave on such a cliffhanger like that??? we have to wait until i think next year for the next movie and i will be in the theaters on that premeire night regardless of what i have to get done that night i dont care. im so excited to see what they will do next i can already imagine some of it and its gonna be so beautiful!!!!!!!!!! <333

thanks for reading to the end. i love you guys!

[eddwardtheseventhspacewizard]

I ranted a shit ton so summery: Updates are supposed to be free, fuck corps, yo ho ho, use that cash to support smaller groups and individual artists and the people actually working on the games you enjoy, and basic needs should be free btw.

I put my rant under the cut so I don’t accidentally eat someone’s dash

I got really into Cult of The Lamb last month and an update recently came out. Before it came out I kept seeing people asking “how much will it cost”Like bestie, it’s an UPDATE. Updates are supposed to be free. If it’s not it’s dlc. I saw articles talking about how “crazy” it is that they’re giving us a “free update” like updates are supposed to be free! What world are you all from!!?? What games, what companies have done this to you!?!? Who tricked you into thinking dlcs and updates are the same?!?! Who is making you pay for everything??!! I was talking to my mom the other day and she plays the sims 4. She hasn’t been able to play for a year so now there’s a ton of packs and stuff. She was agonizing over what she wanted because “I already see over a hundred dollars of stuff I want!”. I have all the sims 4 content. You know why? I don’t respect EA. The internet is a marvelous thing with some smart people. People who also don’t respect EA. I’m not necessarily saying we should all become pirates but when companies get stupid and expect people to pay for stuff that should be pretty basic like seasons in a fucking life simulator I stop caring. I haven’t bought shit for the sims but I have payed for all the cosmetic packs in Cult of The Lamb. It’s almost like when you do good with your thing and don’t make basic shit and set it for 30 bucks people actually respect you. I’ve seen lots of other people say they’ve also bought all the packs for Cult of Them Lamb even if they don’t use them. Why? They like the game and the creators and want to support them. Hey, while I’m talking about piracy I’m gonna mention the bullshitery that is streaming services. I’m not fucking paying for three subscriptions to watch My Little Pony but you know what I will do? Find it online. Maybe if the whole show was in one spot I wouldn’t have turned to pirates. Maybe if companies didn’t try to get every penny from me I’d give them a few dollars. Maybe I respect smaller groups and individuals more than companies because I’ve personally seen them have a better track record with morality. Maybe it’s just that companies aren’t people and I don’t humanize them but I will do so with small teams. Idk, capitalism sucks the joy out of live and everyone deserves food, shelter, water, clothes, healthcare, and to fucking live. I wouldn’t be so mad about dumb ass prices on fun things if the things people literally need to live weren’t so damn expensive. Call me crazy but I don’t think things people will die without should have a price on them.

it really is unbelievable that gamers aren't the most anticapitalist demographic ever. like imagine if mobile game devs had their needs met and could make actual videogames instead of brainless filler between ads for other games that are also brainless filler between ads. imagine if games didn't need to be shoved out the door a year before they're ready filled with microtransactions because shareholders wanna see a line go up. imagine if studios were owned and run by the people making the games and not business bros who have never touched a videogame. how is this not an automatically won battle

[sunseabun]

Atlyss and denial: an essay

Every time a game like Atlyss comes out there will always be a group of people who dislike it because it features sexualized characters and for one reason or another they dislike that, which won't be the topic of this post. But coming immediately after these people are the people who are in deep and glaringly obvious denial about their love of the game in its entirety and who try to cherry pick the parts they approve of to look more appealing to those people. Atlyss had 0 advertisement, say for the creators twitter account and the people reposting their content. You didn't see any trailer on youtube or splash art on the side of a website. Which means people were keeping track of this game and paid the 10 dollars to purchase and play it. The creator didn't pull their punches, this game was and is meant for horny adult furries, looking for horny mature furry content. How are you as someone who most likely kept track of its development and purchased the game going to try separating it from what makes it- it?? Why are people so obsessed with trying to convince others they like a piece of media despite what makes that media what it is? They claim x character is "gooner bait" as if they all aren't (which exposes their preferences btw), and try cherry picking as saying "Well other than the miasma and swamp water of the swamp, the swamp is actually pretty nice!" Like brother no one told you to pay 10 dollars to go neck deep into the swamp, why are you even there? And that's the real question, why are you there?? If you don't like mature furry content, if you don't like mature content, why are you there? These people sound like the black and brown genshin players who see what the company thinks of them and still choose to stay and make videos complaining about their lack of rep and racist rep when it finally happens instead of just quitting the fucking game. They act like they're so much more mature and morally superior to the people who blatantly and openly enjoy the media or that they're so disgusted by the media they're consuming as if it makes them look better on video. To people with brains, they look like they're painfully in denial at what they like and feel the need to prove it to others. But why? Why this doublethink? Imo it all ropes back to puritan christian values and how certain groups are treated within online culture and what their treatment does to the people who see it (because everyone see's it). Furries, while more accepted than before, are still treated weirdly online, with every video of a furry creator that pops off there's always some ignorant person in the comments badgering them about their life choices. Porn, its consumption and most importantly- sex workers are also seen as taboo. Sex workers especially are an unprotected class of people and their dehumanization is the driving mechanism that men use to exploit them and that greater culture uses to both separate itself from them while cherry picking things it likes from them (unlike what the people of a certain game are doing right now). Sex worker customs, fashion, music and scenes are often co-opted by women who don't participate in sex worker culture but like certain aspects of it. And whenever sex workers come online and say "hey, when you wear a certain type of dress or fashion accessory in this area. you're sending signals to people that you might not want or mean to send, so you shouldn't be wearing that thing.", these women will go "NOOOO! It's not from you guys' culture!! It's just the trendssss, the trends, the fashion trendsss!"; as if trends pop out of nowhere with no relation to anything ever in a vacuum ever.

Now that we've established that, there are parallels. We can see that people tend to put themselves where they don't belong, and they don't fully like, (Black and brown people in Genshin, working class women in Sex Worker spaces and culture, people who dislike porn in mature spaces), but why? Why do they do this? There are different reasons for the different situations, the genshin players likely invested too much money to quit and feel chained or don't really care and want to moral-splain to everyone else about how good they are when they feel shame behind closed doors, the women in sw spaces like consuming sw culture without adding to it or getting their hands dirty (they're culture vultures), and the in-denial Atlyss players are just that I guess; in denial because of the puritain christian foundation of our society and culture. People feel pressured to conform and deny themselves the open and accurate pleasures of who they are and what they like in favor of looking good or "normal" to everyone else, as if breasts, mommy and daddy play and choking aren't a normalized fetish in popular culture. It's important to recognize the driving factors as to what's going on here too, it's all one big game of peer pressure with the anti gooner sentiment you see online. It doesn't actually critique how most porn is exploitative and trains the people who watch it (mostly men) to have increasingly violent tendencies towards women in bed. Rarely, when you ask someone who's anti gooner, what it really means and what they stand for, will they say what I said. Most of them just say horny cringe, I hate horny, horny bad. Which is a more modern simplification of the puritan Christian's "You must be pure and abstain from sex for it is the devil!". And the people who tout this message in comment sections likely are just doing so out of peer pressure, as well as the people making cherry picking videos in denial about what they like. They don't really mean it, they don't really believe in the messages they're touting.

And I think it's stupid. Furries who enjoy adult content will always be niche, and engaging in bipartisan tactics is not going to make the people who see furries or porn as weird- like you. You, like the token minority in a white friend group, will always dance for a people who hates you; and like a token, you will used up and thrown away for the next shiny coin. The people who have lasted the longest online in spaces like these are the people who are unabashedly themselves and walk without fear in the online space. Sex workers who engage in their craft and don't try to explain or argue with anyone, mature artists who simply put their work out there and furry content creators who dance and prance in their cute goofy suits all day long. These people, while not perfect, are the one's who have persevered through different generations of the internet. While every month or so, you have another youtuber or artist on the chopping block by their hyper consumerist child audiences, constantly looking to prop up the next big creator that stands for their christian, white supremacist values, and when that person eventually stumbles and fails because they were pretending all along, they're eaten and bullied off of their platform or they have to face the music, pivot to who they actually are and rebrand and end up as another "problematic" creator in their original audiences eyes. I'll touch on this concept in another post as there's more nuance to it and the different interactions that happen within it. But for now I'll conclude that people need to actually participate in counter culture and be who they want to be. F@scism (I don't know if it's censored on this site, cut me some slack) is and has been on the rise (it never really left, just laid underground and fostered an audience young, uneducated, conservative, white-men to make it's return) , and with that, the peer pressure from systems of power and the peers around us who subscribe and bow down to them. Everyone is conforming ahead of time because they think it will protect them from it's violence, and it doesn't and never will. The only thing that will save you and us as a collective is being open and honest and forming a community based upon that. That's why fandoms around blatantly taboo topics are still alive and healthy today- honesty. There is no way to deny what those pieces of media represent; It's why if you go a few months back onto r/lobotomyKaisen, when the anime had released and it was in it's height, you'll see reaction images in several comment sections featuring Utena Hiiragi from Gushing over magical girls with the text "absolute cinema" and other reaction images from the anime and manga under it. Because that fandom, and many others, while away from the mainstream, are still alive and healthy today.

I would love to touch on porn, rad fems, terfs, and liberal tactics by bad actors another time though because it's related, and also how all of the behaviors I've talked about in this essay are conservative tactics and ways of thought that haven't been unlearned by the people in these spaces. Have good day, thank you for reading, :)

[prismit]

you dont.. get anything for completing every quest???? huh?

[feeshies]

For those who don't know, Finn Mckenty/Punk Rock MBA is/was a marketing major and music content creator on youtube who made videos focusing on punk and metal music. Turns out, he never had any interest in music and he only did this channel for the money, and most of his videos were just him repeating stuff from Wikipedia into the camera without ever actually listening to the music. And now that he made enough money, he's calling it quits and focusing on Linkedin because he thinks music and the people who make music and like music it are stupid.

That isn't me twisting his words and interpreting them in the most bad-faith way. That's pretty much what he said on a podcast interview. Just about every video talking about this situation includes the clip so yeah. Fantano has a more even-handed response if you're into that sort of thing. Personally I really like the Beyond ARTV response because he's so fucking vindicated by this situation and I find it infectious lol.

Anyway, I'm only adding this context because I found something really funny.

Mic The Snare (a really good music youtuber btw), who mostly covers pop and indie music who admitted to having trouble getting into metal, has officially listened to more metal than the guy who made a career talking about metal.

babe wake up, punk and metal music youtuber james somerton just dropped

[tawneybel]

Note: Ten favorite monsters, part seven. Part six. To be clear, do to past confusion, these are not lists of monsters I’d bang. Adult-content creator =/= turned-on 24/7.  ._.  Sometimes I just like to talk about character design and review media I like.

I pretty much like every kind of dragon, from friendly to terrifying. If we’re going off of scary, my favorite’s maybe from The Mists of Avalon. A lot of my fave monsters are literary, but don’t have official art. :(

1. Cat in the Hat from The Cat in the Cat

The Cat in the Hat’s more enjoyable if you view it as demonic horror. There’s a lot of elements I like. Quirky architecture, jokes that go over kids’ heads, goofy magic companion, fun costumes. Yet it’s not a good movie, even by my standards. Audrey Geisel was so disgusted by it, any plans for future live-action adaptations of Theodor’s works were nixed.

I’m kind of glad TCITH was the bad live-action, early ‘00s Seuss movie instead of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Imagine how horrifying they could have made the Grinch.

2-4. “Girly girl” dragons

Barbie As Rapunzel: I have the Penelope plushie, whose design I actually prefer to the movie’s.

Dragon Tales: Before FIM Fluttershy, Cassie was THE shy pink and yellow creature. Dragon Land’s just one of various portal fantasy realms I wanted to visit so badly as a tot. Still do.  

Raya and the Last Dragon: People were way critical of Sisu’s design, calling it Elsa’s scalesona. Like Disney hasn’t reused/referenced old designs, jokingly or not. Not that their human(oid) designs are always unique… But Ghibli gets more leniency in that regard. (Haku’s a great dragon design, btw.)

5. the Moving Finger from Nightmares & Dreamscapes

Horror doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective.

6. Jean Jacket from Nope

Take elements of UFOlogy, meteorology, marine biology, and animal exploitation, then produce the most terrifying movie monster ever.

7. Stuff from The Stuff

Metaphor for frozen yogurt? Diet food craze?

8. Scary Lion from The Teletubbies

A good example of how audio can determine whether something is cute or terrifying. 

9. Wild Things from Where the Wild Things Are

One elementary art class, we got to make our own chimeric Wild Things. Wish I knew where mine was. They’re grotesque, like to party, and actually pretty wholesome.

10. subway station from The Wiz

The Wiz is an interesting localization of The (Wonderful) Wizard of Oz. Garland!Dorothy is taken from Kansas to a mostly unfamiliar fantastical land. (I say “mostly,” because some of the Ozians have Kansan counterparts.) Ross!Dorothy is taken from NYC to fantastical NYC.

Originally, I considered using the book Kalidahs ‘cause I love mix-’n’-match critters. Then I watched this scene. That and the Munchkins coming out of graffiti like ghosts out of chalk outlines was oneiric as fuck. Anyway, the station isn’t just a liminal space, but another architectural monster. The train itself never appears, but we see trash bins and columns advance on Dorothy and co. There’s seemingly non-automated gates and prehensile electrical wires. Also, that peddler with his growing marionettes…

Note: The pic for “The Moving Finger” is actually from the show Monsters, but I only found out it was adapted after deciding to include it. Nightmares & Dreamscapes has one of my favorite covers, even if it’s deceptive. No scarecrow stories.

Unfortunately, the last gif can’t convey the awesome liminal horror that is the Ozified Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets station. Fun fact, it was also used in The Warriors. 

[atinyladybug-daydreams]

Btw major tom aint made by the author so its not confirmed cannon that adam and evelyn are abuse,ffs yall just want to make them seem more evil,yes theire negligent since sarah was born they had no choice but to use tj to heal her but they were in mourning

First reaction:

Now onto the actual essay, research and resources. Jump towards the bottom at the General Conclusion if you wish to skip the entire essay:

Part 1: The concept of Canon in SCP

The fundamentals to the SCP fandom is that there is NO canon in SCP. This has been stated over and over by the authors, wiki staff, content creators and even fans of the SCP wiki. Some prominent figures of high standing who agreed to this and had contributed to the wiki and the fandom on a large scale itself are Dr.Sherman from Site-42 and Author Raddhager- writer and creator of the Find Us Alive podcast.

SCP Canon is fluid. Period. There is no "One Truth Above All". Articles, tales, series and canons had time and time again, constantly contradict each other because everything is based on the authors' interpretation and canon- which, surprise, the authors are in fact the consumers itself.

Such incidents of contradiction can be seen in the multiple canons, the existence of the few dozens of SCP-001s and every other article that follows its canon (Factory and its lore, Daybreak and its lore, etc) and even who are on the O5 council.

If we're going on the logic of "Everything written in an article is canon", then let me propose a question. What if two articles using the same character/SCiP are contradictory towards each other? Does it mean that one article is "canon" and the other is "a headcanon"?

And this isn't a thought or a what-if situation because this has actually happened in multiple SCP articles. One I can bring up is literally the article for SCP-963.

In SCP-963, the amulet containing Dr.Bright is confirmed and tested to be indestructible. Yet in SCP-6170, an anomalous incident has caused the amulet to crack (and fucking up Dr.Bright in the process). This isn't the first incident where 963 is damage or Bright dies. In the tale for Yesterday in the Resurrection Canon (re: CANON), Clef "kills" Bright by sending the amulet towards the sun. The arguement of "it's a tale" doesn't work here as well because in SCP-6170, an SCP article, 963 begans showing cracks upon the death of the anomaly (6170)- which should be impossible if "SCP-963 is indestructible". Also the argument that 6170 affecting all anomalies in general so 963 being affected isn't wrong can't be brought up cause in many cases, 963 has been pretty much an item that doesn't follow reality's rules

Part 2: The Bright Family, lore and Author Bright. Trigger warning for this part for rape, incest, pedophilia, racism and ableism

The actual canon of the Bright family written by the author is really fucked up and if you wanna kiss their ass and make that canon, be my guest but keep in mind that the Bright family is canonically incestual, openly support rape, pedophiliac and ableist.

I won't go much about all that but @canorrus made a pretty good post collecting all the parts here. [a big tw of rape, incest, pedophilia, racism and ableism before you click the link.]

Anyways if you are standing on the hill where canon can only be confirmed by author bright that means you are in full support of the canon that the bright family is incestual, rape-positive, pedophiliac and ableist. These aren't my rules love, they're yours <3

Also I don't know how to tell you, having YOUR LIVING SON who can heal people heal your DEAD DAUGHTER is fucked up. TJ's anomaly comes in the form of absorbing their injuries and making it his. Are you telling me that the risk of TJ absorbing Sarah's DEATH to revive Sarah is a form of love? Are you telling me that Adam Bright, in his grief of losing his daughter, making the decision to sacrifice ONE LIVING CHILD to bring back a CHILD WHO NEVER LIVED, is not fucked up?

I don't know how to put it in words to tell you that sacrificing a living child to bring back a dead child is not fuck up and grief and mourning doesn't excuse literally hurting a child <3

You wanna know what choice they had towards Sarah's death? NOT USE THEIR OTHER SON TO RAISE THE DEAD.

Part 3: The topic of abuse with Adam and Evelyn Bright. As such, big TW on Abuse

According to Google, abuse refers to "cruel and violent treatment of a person or animal." There's roughly 11 types of abuse towards children which are:

Bullying and cyberbullying

Child sexual explotation

Child trafficking

Criminal exploitation and gangs

Domestic Abuse

Emotional Abuse

Female genital mutilation

Grooming

Neglect

Non-recent abuse

Online Abuse

Physical Abuse

Sexual Abuse

As you can see form the list that I've gotten here, then you can clearly see that Neglect is a form of abuse. Therefore, putting two and two together would make Adam and Evelyn canonically abusive if they had committed neglect towards their 4 children prior to Sarah's birth.

This isn't a thing the fandom came up with, smartass. This is an actual fact that they are abusive

Abuse comes in many different ways and just because Adam and Evelyn don't hit their kids, they still fucked them up severely. Abuse is abuse. There is no "neglect isn't that bad".

If it weren't "that bad", it wouldn't be on the fucking list, genius.

My thoughts:

First of all, so what if we want to make Adam and Evelyn more evil? There is nothing wrong with that in a fandom that has no canon (refer to Part 1). Everything is up to interpretation and if you're being a pissbaby about a majority of the fandom agreeing that Evelyn and Adam Bright are shitty parents, then maybe don't interact with them.

Don't like? Don't interact. If you don't like my canons and interpretations of the Bright family, then kindly please remove your presence from my blog before I do it for you. The block button is right there. Stop shitting on my canons, interpretations and headcanons.

Also like, if you're like "Nothing is canon unless the author of that character makes it canon" then SCP is not the right fandom for you because again, please refer to Part 1 of this entire essay to get it through your thick skull that EVERYTHING and NOTHING is canon and it's up to readers' and writers' interpretation.

SCP and the wiki uses the creative commons license. That means everyone is free to use, distribute, remixed and BUILD ON what is posted in the site and surprise surpsrise, the Bright family were. Don't get your knickers in a twist because what people had build on isn't what you wanted or expected, love.

Oh, one more thing, just because they're mourning doesn't give them an excuse of using their son to bring back their dead daughter. Yes, grief absolutely changes and causes people to act irrationally but at the end of the day, you are still using a paying a living, breathing child to bring back a stillborn, dead daughter. I apologise for the cold and rough wording but I want to be absolutely clear and straightforward with this situation.

General conclusion/tl;dr

Firstly, SCP Canon has never been canon and it belongs to the people and how people interpret it. Canon is cherry picked and nothing is certain.

In addition, canon Bright family is fucked up thanks to the author and if you deem only what Author Bright write as canon, you need to self reflect on some of your personal values and critical thinking.

Plus, Neglect is still abuse. Therefore, Adam and Evelyn are abusive.

Lastly, SCP runs on a creative commons license so everyone's interpretation is valid. Respect other peoples' interpretation and canons and if you don't like it, move on.

Resources, links, other explanations:

SCP Articles & Tales brought up here:

Authors and Content Creators Mentioned who can explain better than me:

Site-42/Dr Sherman:

Wiki Profile

TikTok

YouTube

Author Raddhager:

Wiki Profile

TikTok

General/Other Resources:

NSPCC Types of Abuse

Creative Commons License

Your move.

[itsfullofstars]

Revisiting The Terminator on the Big Screen

Got to see The Terminator on a big screen for the first time ever at a special screening at the newly-refurbished former Arclight in Culver City, now called The Culver Theater.

First off, it's always a joy to see a great film in theater. And it's wonderful to see this particular theater open up again. The Arclight was always special. And now Amazon has taken it over but the intention is to treat it like a proper studio-agnostic theater and run films from all the studios, plus they have converted one of their screens to be 8K. I really hope people show up and keep the lights on.

Even having seen this film easily 30+ times, watching it on a proper screen with great sound was a revelation. The Terminator blew me away like it hadn't since I first watched it in high school on VHS.

Everything about it is brilliantly realized. The concept, story, pacing, action, cinematography, dialogue, even the FX which are a bit clunky at times are perfectly executed for the era and budget. It's also subversively funny, and at times darkly hysterical.

And not to mention, it's visceral and scary. I remember when it first came out, it was considered more like a horror film than a sci-fi action film, at least among my friends. It was, along with Jaws and Alien, a movie you had to be brave to watch.

But even more so...

Linda Hamilton's performance is simply outstanding. The Terminator doesn't work without her. Without her as the lead, you have a solid sci-fi action thriller that's an 80s footnote. It's her movie, equally as much as Arnold's, and she doesn't get nearly enough credit for it.

She's sweet and cute, vulnerable, relatable, and yet you feel there's something more going on, an underlying fire and strength to Sarah Connor...

Which makes it possible to believe that she not only could survive this incredible, terrifying situation, but that she will rise to the occasion and become a great leader.

The scene in the motel with her and Reese, well frankly for the first time I've ever experienced with this film, I got emotional. You feel how sad she feels for him, how scared she is, and how attracted she is to him, even having only met him the night before.

She makes you believe a sensible waitress would fall for this crazy future man under the circumstances, and not have it be exploitative or feel creepy or weird when they fall into bed. And she's pretty damn dreamy too. You believe that Reese has been in love with her forever from just an old photo, and threw his life away to meet and protect her.

She makes you believe she believes this is happening. That a normal woman is being targeted by a cyborg assassin from a post-nuclear future, and that some day her un-conceived son will lead a rebellion against the robot overlords. And then, knowing how much she evolves by the next film, into something completely unrecognizable to her earlier self, adds a level of emotion and poignancy to the whole story.

And btw, Michael Biehn and Arnold SchSchwarzenegger are excellent as well. Nearly everyone is. Even the smaller roles are memorable, like the overly talkative cop played by Lance Henricksen, and his jaded boss, Paul Winfield. No moment is wasted. No scene overplays its welcome. And by the time Sarah Connor is crawling away from the relentless metal endoskeleton with the glowing red eyes, you're breathless even though you know exactly how it ends.

It's just a terrific film on every level. Exciting and inspiring as a writer, filmmaker, content creator, creative.

Now get out there and go to the movies, people! Do it!

#film #movies #scifi #sciencefiction #filmmaking #hollywood #horror #terminator

[rnelodyy]

c!Dream and the rules

(/dsmp /rp, all names refer to characters, not content creators)

I think one of the most striking parts of Exile is something that I rarely see talked about, and it’s Dream’s rules. Or rather, how his rules were made to be used as justification to hurt Tommy.

The thing about exile is that, outside of the initial rule of “Don’t go back to L’Manburg”, Dream never told Tommy the rules, yet constantly operated under the assumption that Tommy already knew them, and had accepted them. The rules also changed constantly, without Tommy ever being notified until he was already in trouble.

The second time Dream told Tommy to put his armor in the hole, he didn’t tell Tommy to do that right away. Instead, the conversation went like this (slightly edited to remove stammering and unrelated dialogue).

Dream: Do you have, uh… something you wanna put on the floor here? Tommy: Yes. (drops two pieces of red concrete as Dream digs a hole) Dre-eam! You’re evil. You’re evil. Dream: Anything else, Tommy? Tommy: Nope! Dream: Oh c’mon, I know there’s something else you wanna drop down here. Tommy: (panicking slightly) No, there… (messages BBH “take this and run”, throws him the disc BBH had gifted him earlier) Um… I don’t reckon there is! (pause) Dream: Okay, are you suuuure? Tommy: YES. Dream: Alright… How ‘bout your armor, Tommy? Tommy: Well, no, this is- I actually earned this myself. Dream: I know you did! Tommy: Leave me alone. Dream: Just drop it in the hole, Tommy. Tommy: Wh- no, NO, you can’t just come and demand things from me! I’ve been exiled, I’ve done your shit, what do you mean?! Dream: (sing-song) Tommy… Tommy: What? (Dream hits Tommy with his axe, taking over half his health) Tommy: (screams, drops his armor) OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY!

The only rule Tommy was aware of at this time was that he wasn’t allowed to go back to L’Manburg. Dream had taken his armor the night before, but there was no indication that he expected Tommy to do this constantly. Taking his armor upon initially arriving at Logstedshire made some kind of sense, allowing Tommy to keep it would run the risk of him trying to fight his way back into L’Manburg. Taking his new, very shitty armor (seriously it was an iron chestplate and a pair of golden leggings he got from a ruined portal chest) made no sense at all, so the fact that Tommy was confused and refused to cooperate at first isn’t unexpected in the slightest.

And the thing is… Dream was aware of this fact. Throughout the conversation, he never really sounded annoyed, and was actively teasing Tommy at times. This isn’t a good thing btw, it’s a sign that he was fully aware that Tommy didn’t know what he wanted from him, and that that would create a situation where Dream could “put him in his place” as it were.

If you’re a parent, and your kid does something that’s not allowed, without knowing it’s not allowed, you don’t start off with a beating. You sit them down, calmly explain the rules to them and explain why those rules are there, then send them on their way with the knowledge that they shouldn't do it again.

This interaction wasn’t an instance of Tommy acting out and Dream correcting him. This interaction was a trap. Dream set Tommy up to fail by not telling him the rules beforehand, and when Tommy offered even the slightest bit of resistance and asked why he needed to drop his armor, Dream jumped straight to beating him. It’s a powerplay, plain and simple.

This is demonstrated again with the destruction of Logstedshire. Dream got pissed that Tommy disobeyed him by having hidden chests with gear under his house, and retaliated by destroying everything Tommy had built, destroying every item he’d collected, killing his pet and only foodsource, barring him from the Nether, banning everyone except himself from visiting, and telling him to start over from scratch after a whole lecture about how Tommy betrayed him.

Again, I wanna point out some specific lines from this lecture that illustrate my point very well.

Dream: You were lying to me! You were lying to me. Tommy: No- Why was I lying?! Dream: What do you mean, why were you lying?! Tommy: I wasn’t hi- I wasn’t- Dream: You hid things in a chest knowing they were things I wouldn’t want you to have! And you hid it in a way that way I would never find it!

Except Tommy didn’t know that. The contents of the stash were all items that Tommy had obtained previously without any issue (diamonds, emeralds, iron, ender pearls, some pickaxes, and some purely sentimental items like flowers, a jukebox, and pictures of Tubbo and L’Manburg). In fact, the vast majority of them came from Tommy’s aboveground storage, which Dream had full access to, and had looked through before!

Dream also never said Tommy wasn’t allowed to hide stuff, and there was nothing to suggest he didn’t want Tommy to keep secrets from him.

There’s been a theory floating around for a while that Dream knew about Tommy’s item stash beforehand, since it was a very strange place to dig a hole (like, right in front of the house in the center of Logstedshire itself, instead of out in the plains where the TNT wouldn’t damage any structures), and Tommy had previously forgotten to cover up the entrance ladder. While Dream hadn’t looked inside the house, he would’ve definitely heard Tommy place the block back.

If this theory is correct, then this was yet another trap. Dream knew Tommy had a hidden room, and instead of just saying “hey, I don’t want you to have a hidden stash, go put this back and fill in the room” (which would’ve still been bullshit btw), he went COMPLETELY ballistic, destroyed EVERYTHING Tommy had, and while doing it, kept admonishing Tommy for betraying him, said shit like “I thought we were friends”, and even accused him of preparing to attack Dream. Again, a powerplay.

Hell, even the exile conflict itself is this! Tommy was exiled for griefing the king’s property while being a high-ranking official in L’Manburg. Except Fundy, the then-president’s son, CONSTANTLY griefed Eret’s shit after the L’Manburg war, ranging from ripping down one of their towers to “shrink” it, filling another tower with water, and multiple elaborate plots to steal the throne from under their nose. But apparently, between all of that shit and the exile-conflict, the rules were silently changed, meaning Dream could exile Tommy for breaking a couple blocks and placing some rude signs in George’s house. Even the punishment itself was changed without warning, as Tommy went from being exiled from L’Manburg to exiled from “everywhere that’s ever been touched.”

...I was originally gonna make a different point here. I may put it in the reblogs, because I still think it’s very interesting. But, in the middle of writing this essay I had to stop because it was late, then I spent the entire next day packing up because I’m in the middle of a move. It's now the next evening, I'm sat in my new room, on my camping bed, I opened this doc because I pretty much forgot what I typed, I reread it, and then I realized… This isn’t an isolated series of events. This is a pattern for Dream.

Before Tommy first joined the server, there were only three set rules: no stealing, no griefing, and no killing people. Except by that point, those rules weren’t enforced at all. In fact, Dream broke all three at once at one point, by killing George and burning his diamond armor because he didn’t feel it was fair that George got to run around in full diamond when everyone else still had iron.

Tommy joined the server, and broke the rules like everyone else. He stole shit, broke shit, killed George for funsies… and he got exiled for it. Seriously, they dumped him in an empty snowfield for breaking rules that nobody had enforced for weeks. So technically, the Exile-arc isn’t even the first time something like this has happened to him!

During the events that would eventually spark the Disc War, Sapnap stole a bunch of Tommy’s items (including the only Netherite chestplate on the server at the time), and told him he’d only give the stuff back if Tommy helped him with a conflict he had with Ponk. Long story short, Dream tried to intervene and was killed by Tommy and Sapnap, and Dream stole Tommy’s discs to force him to apologize. He then kept the discs, and the Disc War followed. Sapnap, despite being the aggressor and arguably forcing Tommy to participate in the conflict, was never punished.

This proves not only that the rules can change whenever Dream feels like it, but that they’re arbitrarily enforced. Dream refuses to punish his friends for the same crimes he endlessly fucks over Tommy for.

L’Manburg was created in part because of the fact that the rules were unevenly enforced. Tommy, Wilbur, and later Tubbo were repeatedly killed, stolen from, imprisoned, and even held hostage for very minor crimes, while the people killing, imprisoning, kidnapping and stealing from them were able to do so without impunity.

This was also the point where Dream just started making up new rules; there was no rule against having governments on the server, or making a separate area where Dream’s rules wouldn’t apply, so Dream banned governments, and used this new rule as an excuse to kill them, take their items, and tear their land to shreds.

And that’s another thing: the punishments for breaking Dream’s rules are INCREDIBLY harsh.

Kill him non-canonically one time? Your most prized possessions will now be dangled over your head and used to hurt you for the next few months.

Make a country with different laws that doesn’t infringe on anyone’s territory, has no desire to expand, is explicitly pacifistic and open to trade negotiations? You’ll be forced to fight a war you’re in no way equipped to fight, you’ll be betrayed and murdered and have your land destroyed in front of your very eyes until you literally have no choice but to surrender.

Mildly vandalize the king’s house, which nobody else has ever been punished for? You’ll be dragged into court, exiled from your home, and subjected to weeks of abuse until you believe that all of your friends hate you and you actively want to kill yourself.

Hide some stuff in a secret chest? Your only shelter will be exploded, your pet/only food source will be killed, all your items will be destroyed, you’ll be banned from the Nether, and none of your friends will be allowed to come see you.

This is all such disproportionate retribution it’s ridiculous. It’s like punishing someone for speeding by blowing up their car with a ballistic missile.

So to sum up: Dream’s rules are arbitrarily enforced, and he can just straight up make them up on the spot if he feels like it. Sometimes, he won’t tell you a rule exists until you’ve already broken it, and you’re treated as if you broke it out of malice instead of genuine ignorance. And if you do break a rule, and he decides you have to be punished, it will always be a punishment so harsh it doesn’t even ATTEMPT to fit the crime.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty fucking corrupt and tyrannical to me.

When people say Tommy deserved exile, or made Dream spiral into villainy, or abused Dream somehow (seriously I’ve seen this take multiple times and every time it makes my brain melt) by breaking the rules, I would invite them to take a step back and ask themselves, why did that rule exist? Did Tommy know it existed? Was it enforced for everyone other than him as well? Does the punishment fit the crime?

Dream has a bad habit of making up rules, or enforcing old ones that were never enforced before, to punish those who threaten his power. None of the Dream Team were ever punished for anything, despite committing the same crimes as the L’Manburgians. That is, until they founded Mexican L’Manburg (i.e. went against Dream’s rule), at which point they were attacked by Dream and George was dethroned for “not being neutral enough.”

Tommy should’ve faced consequences for what he did. But those consequences should’ve come naturally, and been carried out by the people he hurt. Like, if Dream hadn’t intervened, griefing George’s house would’ve resulted in George griefing Tommy back in revenge. In fact, he DID do that, by turning Tommy’s entire house into granite and putting the Jump In The Cadillac picture on his front lawn.

These are natural, proportionate consequences. Exile was none of that. The Disc War was none of that. Everything that happened to L’Manburg was none of that.

Dream’s rules and how he enforces them are inherently corrupt and tyrannical. To pretend it’s anything but is disingenuous at best.

[carpisuns]

you know, as a creator, i actually don’t consider myself that “creative.” that’s not rly intended to be self-deprecating btw—what I mean is that i am better at repurposing or expanding on other people’s ideas rather than coming up with my own. i’m “creative” because i create, but i have a hard time creating ex nihilo. I have to have a starting point. i can think outside the box, but there has to be a box first. (this checks out because I work as an editor lol. the main focus of my job is to polish or build on something that’s already there.)

that’s one reason that fan creation appeals so much to me. I have a hard time coming up with my own stories, but I love writing fanfic because it’s like I have a sandbox to play in and there are lot of possibilities I can explore. and I’ve never made up an art OC, but I love drawing my favorite fictional characters to improve my skills and stretch my creative muscles. fandom creation is so valuable for creators like me and to a lot of other types of creative minds too. people sometimes ask me why I don’t do more original work and the answer is that I haven’t yet been able to create something on my own that inspires me to keep creating the way my favorite stories do. and I don’t think that’s really a bad thing? inspiration comes in many forms and I will create based on whatever inspiration I receive. And right now that inspiration happens to come from a kid’s cartoon, or a book series, or some other already-told story.

even within fandom i kind of see a division of creators. There are the ones who come up with cool AUs/headcanons or interpret the story and characters in a fresh, unique way, and then there are the ones like me who mostly stick to canon and create based off that. and both are good! I get involved in fandom because I genuinely really enjoy the source content, so I usually don’t feel the need to give it a makeover lol. because of that I tend to keep my work pretty canon compliant (altho not always/not entirely). but I often really admire the creativity of the fan creators who do push past the boundaries of canon to make room for their own ideas and reinterpretation. I think it’s cool to have a mix and representation of many different types of creators/creation.

maybe the kind of creativity I’m talking about is a skill you can develop—a muscle you can build—or maybe it just depends on how your brain is wired. either way, if you’re a “non-creative” creator like me and you feel like your work doesn’t means anything because it’s not unique enough, just know that creation is creation no matter what and that your creation is still unique and cool just because you made it, and no one creates exactly the way you do. you might feel like you aren’t offering much to the world but you don’t know how you might inspire someone else or just make them smile. and that is worth it all on its own, at least to me. idk about you but i can’t imagine myself ever saying, “oh man, another drawing of my absolute favorite character that sparks joy just to think about :/ boring” or “lame, I found yet another fic featuring my favorite ship and my favorite trope that always makes me go bonkers :/” haha. my stuff may not not always be super original but I know people still enjoy it and I enjoy creating so that’s what really matters tbh

I’m really grateful for the creators who inspire me to create—whether it’s a source creator or a fellow fan creator. I truly am extremely inspired by fan creators every day and I feel honored and thrilled to be able to share the same creative space with them! thank you for sharing your work, even if you feel a little insecure about it. life is a richer experience for you and others because of what you create.