#this is funny to me and only me because these videos were an integral part of my childhood and i do not remember the music at all

[woodfrogs]

help me why is the music like that

[literalgrill]

Do NOT Support Hard Drive On Patreon

You might see friends today suggesting you support Hard Drive on Patreon today. You know, the funny video games version of The Onion? As a journalist, I will firmly tell you DO NOT GIVE THEM A DIME.

The CEO has pushed out all former staff that have built the site up to its current greatness and has been pushing the use of AI. The staff begged to have a Patreon before basically all being pushed out, but the idea was refused until now, when it will only line the pockets of a single person instead of hard working writers.

I know they might have provided laughs before, but Hard Drive is a shell of what it was once. Let it die and support the people who actually made those moments of joy possible. Don't believe me? Check out what former employees are saying below:

Kevin Podas: Okay you know what, I would feel bad saying nothing about this, so here goes:🚨SAVE YOUR MONEY🚨

We passionately advocated for a Patreon at Hard Drive & were aggressively shot down. The talent & people who built the site were pushed out. To see this now is beyond upsetting. For the past few years or so I put a lot of myself into this website. I pitched a ton of jokes, got over 120 articles published, & met a lot of great people. I'm sure if you've been following me for some time you could easily see this.

However, there is a lot of misinformation. I was eventually promoted to Managing Editor of the site & was ecstatic. Grateful for the opportunity. Felt like all of my hard work in the comedy mines was finally paying off. But things took a turn for the worst, & each day there were new surprises that affected our livelihoods. These were all very avoidable surprises, mind you.

A patreon was going to be our hail mary, but alas, for some reason, the power that be did not want it. Causing us to leave a dream job behind. "At least we did all we could," we consoled ourselves afterwards. I put a lot of myself into this project. I pitched all sorts of ideas that could have helped-- we all did. Merch collaborations, Patreon-integrated YouTube content, so much more. And most of them were shot down out of sheer stubbornness and nothing more. To see lie after lie spread, and multiple big publications and YouTubers that I am a fan of promote this Patreon under these pretenses is incredibly upsetting. There are so many receipts.

Please share this and consider pulling out if you've already put money into this. On Hard Drive using AI, also from Kevin Podas: I can't personally confirm that part aside from some of the recent header images for articles on both Hard Drive and Hard Times are being made with AI. As far as writing, it's been mentioned in the past, but I personally do not know. Maybe others do, maybe not. MORE From Kevin Podas suggesting the owner denying a Patreon being set up earlier cost an artist a job that was replaced by AI: We had a social media person who was awesome! He made the images until this AI implementation. He had to leave because ad revenue was low and a Patreon was aggressively refused.

Luca Fisher: at the risk of burning some bridges, i have to back up kevin here. i've only been part-time, in-and-out of hard drive since i got in last year, but i can corroborate that management doubled and tripled down about not hosting a patreon/crowdfunding and that many other suggestions and ideas, including mine (and ones much smarter than mine!), were shot down in really long, apocalyptic threads of everyone left on deck desperately trying to come up with ways to keep the lights on. managerially it has been messy and sad

i've written for multiple publications that have long since died, ones that were in the process of dying, and ones that, in this case, are soon to be put in the ground. it is sad and sucks every time. i don't know what could have been done differently, but i do know that a lot of great writers and content creators were left shorthanded and unhappy by the way things have gone. and it is sort of puzzling to see the sudden championing of patreon after we were all told plenty of times that it couldn't work and we should move on also, just to add my own personal two cents here, i was really disappointed by the shuttering of many different article sections on the site over the past 6-8 months. i understand cutting corners in a deficit, and i know it had to be done. that said…

all in all, i'm really sad to see this all happen. i don't fault anyone, if only because i don't really know enough about how this all can happen to make sense of it. games journalism is in a sad, sorry state, and will likely no longer be a thing in the next decade

VideoSealMan: I'm gonna say this because I think I deserve to. For months, MONTHS on end I was bugging Hard Drive management about a Patreon. Often I got ignored for a week+, but when I actually got a response I was encouraged to - of all things, write up a Google Doc pitching the concept I did it regardless. I wasn't the only one trying to sway management on a Patreon, but so fiercely was I fighting for it that last night, I was accused of making this comment directly by the CEO! With no evidence whatsoever! After I'd been gone for over a month.

I vouched so hard for Patreon because I wanted all the writers and creatives working with Hard Drive including myself to get paid better. When I actually got a response, the idea was often shut down. Eventually due to the state of my company, my pay was cut for a second time I confronted management alongside a couple other important figureheads at the org and told them that if we couldn't do a Patreon - I could no longer financially justify staying there. The answer was still no, so I left. Baffled at the decision, but whatever.

It is unendingly frustrating to know that myself and many other people who put their soul into Hard Drive LEFT because of management's absolute refusal to compromise on a Patreon, to then see them launch one anyway a month later and get over 1000 people pledging money. I'm seeing a lot of things float around about greed and people being fired. No one was fired. Everyone who left, left because they were sick of management's decision-making. And honestly, management is a lot of things but I would not call them greedy. (From my experience.) They did genuinely make an effort to pay people as much as possible. I found the pay very fair for a while. I am not disputing that I was paid what I was owed - yet management frequently feels the need to remind critics of that. Lmao, yes. I was paid what I was owed. No one is disputing payment. You did the bare minimum a business owner should do and paid everyone their due, very well done. I make no allegations of greed, cheating or foul play. I make allegations of poor management and incompetence that has fucked over other people.

Basically the only people left at Hard Drive have been there for about 2 months. They will reap the rewards of this successful Patreon I and so many others passionately fought for for so long. We will not see a dime.

I do not know the new people at Hard Drive, But I feel bad for them. They were haphazardly thrust into Hard Drive's workplace with little to no explanation on how anything works, or given any context on the state of the place. Even now managements feeds them half-truths and misinformation about other people's grievances. I am broke and have been for a while. I had to move out of my flat in Reading and back with my family because of how little money I was making. This has basically doomed my flatmate to moving back in with abusive parents, which is something I feel guilty about every day. If we had gone with the Patreon I worked myself hoarse over back then, this could have been avoided. Some of my other good pals could also not have been fucked over.

It was a bad judgment call, but it's not a crime. It's just management getting it wrong.

So should you give to the Hard Drive Patreon? I don't know! I don't think any of the new people working there to patch up the holes left by the recent mass exodus have any bad intentions. Maybe they deserve it! But it is not the same site you knew a year ago, or even a month ago. Myself and many people who were there far longer than me and did far more for it than I did are all gone now because we could not deal with management's terrible decision-making and dogass communication any longer. That's what you should know, imo

I had an agreement in place with management that I would receive the next 8 months of revenue from the Hard Drive YT channel from my leaving in November. This was a deal I appreciated, and thought was very fair on management's behalf. So far, the deal has been honoured for 2 months. However as of last night I was removed from the Hard Drive Slack without warning, and as an editor for the YouTube channel. This means I no longer have any way of verifying how much I am owed, I just have to take their word for it. I'm sure management will make their own statements full of half-truths and weird language on the many cases being brought against them - I'd take everything they say with a pinch of salt if some of the screenshots I've seen of them talking about me are any indication lol

To management; I do not want to talk to you. I want you to DM me a screenshot of how much I'm owed every month and then send me the money per our agreement until June, then we can go our separate ways. Do that and admit to your mistakes, and maybe you can recover your reputation! That's it from me, lol. If they pull out of the deal and fuck me over I'll have more to say, but most of what I know is other people's stories of incompetence and poor decision-making, lol. I genuinely get no pleasure out of doing this; I do not think management is evil - I just think they're really bad at what they do and it's cost other, more talented people, lol. You should believe the writers imo

One last thing I wanna say btw, management did often stress that no one should try to make Hard Drive a full time thing. They were transparent about that, and that is fair. I was working on it because at a few points, I was lead to believe we actually were doing a Patreon. Many other ppl have similar stories of being strung along by management changing their minds and stop-starting shit every 2 weeks. We all made the fatal mistake of overestimating our manager - who would tell you one thing one day and something totally opposite the next week lol

Hunter R. Thompson:

I'm not your dad, but speaking as a Hard Drive writer, I don't know that funding Hard Drive on Patreon is worth it

The driving talent on the back end—behind the kickass site I joined in 2019—have peaced out over the years as the site's been (in our view) increasingly mismanaged. Mismanagement like, not setting up crowdfunding before the ship sank and all its best crew failed; or publishing a screenshot of Andy Ngo pedojacketing a trans writer, complete with her deadname; or a disgruntled ex-writer getting falsely accused of shit-talk, by actual staff. I'm grateful for the writing I've gotten to produce for HD (and will forever be kicking myself for not writing even more, in the four years I've had to do it!! i'm a dumbass!!!) but it is very much no longer the site I signed up for.

I don't want to resign as a contributor altogether, because I'm open to the idea of the site recovering and bad practices being retired as finances level out-- it would just be dishonest for potential backers to not be Aware Of The Circumstances, I think.

Jeremy Kaplowitz: i truly don't want to start shit, but feel compelled to say: i want to see Hard Drive succeed w/o resorting to throwing former writers & editors, myself included, under the bus. surely there's a way to save the site without building it over the corpses of those who left. my $0.02 i don't blame anyone who wants to sign up for the HD patreon and i support the website, but that includes those who worked on it for years, have complaints, and don't deserve to be treated like bitter assholes like this kind of stuff is just objectively true, meanwhile there's these new writers who joined the site after i left (meaning, in the last ~3 months) claiming people are liars. decide for yourself if you care, but this is what happened! [Quotes this Tweet]

Seth Finkelstein: Writing for Hard Drive has been a privilege the past few years, and it makes me so angry to see people I looked up to get jerked around behind the scenes. The amount of grenades the editors jumped on our behalf is immense, and I don't think the way they're being treated is right.

Other Bits On AI: We do know for sure however that AI art has been used by the site. Its fucking owner confirms it here:https://twitter.com/MattSaincome/status/1743040541603123622. Seems the owner pushed AI written articles as well! TayFabe: My vaguetweet is making the rounds & these made me apoplectic. - owner regularly lobbied using ai. Once he tested it & said ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. - ai images were used on the site & socials w/o consulting the team or disclosing it publicly I found the ai bit relevant to include bc 1) it illuminates a stark change in HD's current direction & leadership, 2) ai images have previously been used on the site and (since deleted) ig posts, 3) ai content fucking sucks, and repeatedly pushing to use it is a telling quality The "handful of writers who chose to leave" includes 2 editors-in-chief (both cofounders who wrote a combined total of >1,000 articles & defined the voice of HD), & at least 3 other editors. These guys put in WORK since 2017, so cool to be corrected by ppl who joined in Nov 2023 [Link to mentioned vague tweet from post.] More from TayFabe: owner continuously lobbied for using ai in every possible way. No one else wanted to do it, but he kept on, saying ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. Also, ai images were used on the site & socials without public disclosure or consulting the team.

The owner has responded now multiple times in a private discord... Thank you for people sharing screenshots! First Screenshot:

Kevin's Response: He banned me from the server for speaking out, so no, I didn't see it. And he gave no indication of a timeline, it was just "we'll do one when *I* say so" and gave every inclination he was totally against it. It bred an environment that pushed our hands to have to leave. Screenshot Round Two:

Kevin's Response: "Starting one in 3 months" is an absolute lie. He denied it, I have screenshots and others who can confirm. No timeline was given. Just "this is what it is now" and like, I couldn't live off of that. I wanted to do more but he was allergic to good ideas from others around him.

Matt, owner of Hard Drive, responds publicly on Twitter.

Matt: Kevin, the patreon launch was delayed because I didn't think it would work. Everyone is happy that it did work. Everyone who left the site because we didn't have money to pay for creative content which didn't revenue is welcome to return home. But unclear why the hostility.

Hard Drive paid out literally every dollar it had, then a bunch more, to creative people who worked on the site. When we ran out of money, we couldn't pay anymore. We did our best.

Kevin: Right, and my point of this thread was that it was completely and totally avoidable. This is reasonable to be upset about. How could I have been any more clear?

Matt: If we knew with 100% certainly that the community would have supported us via patreon, we would have done that. We didn't know. We had tried 4 years ago and got no support. We were wrong this time. We did our best to figure it out. We paid all the money we could.

Kevin: So you knew with 100% certainty this time? Or you took a leap of faith?

Matt: It was a last gasp panic effort after ad rates got cut in half on january 1st due to seasonal spending changes. We didn't know it would work. We were embarrassed to ask for support. We wanted to figure it out.

Kevin: Every site has a Patreon. Every YouTuber, comedy group, etc. But you insisted that nobody cared about Hard Drive. Which is wildly untrue. I know you see that now, but again, I think you can see why I and many others are pretty upset. A last ditch panic effort was long overdue. A couple more things from Matt:

It was about the size of the hole we needed plugged budget wise, the time I had left of personal resources, and the past data I had about us trying a patreon (which turned out to be a bad indicator). I didn't think the Patreon would help us fast enough. I made a bad estimation

aka "if we make $1000 more dollars a month via patreon, which would be 10x what we got last time, we will not solve any of our problems. If instead we try to plow down path B, we might make it out in time." That was the thinking. I chose the wrong path, but didn't mean to Kevin also retweeted this comment from the user Matt was responding to: So you're saying that you're bad at running the business, didn't listen to any of your employees until after they were forced to leave their jobs, and now you're going to get more of the money from the Patreon that was their idea in the first place? Matt's Response: Respectfully, I made a mistake delaying the patreon decision. But keeping a comedy site alive for 9 years is not easy, there are lots of potential ideas, and think overall we've done a good and honorable job. Will leave this thread in peace now to allow people their space.

Sorry for linking to Elon's hellsite (derogatory), but sources need links so...

[soft5ku11]

The discourse around palworld is not and has never been "we need to feel bad for Nintendo! Justice for Gamefreak!"

It's about artistic integrity and setting a president for dealing with obvious plagiarism.

All the people who spent the last few months allegedly on the side of artists against AI better put your money where your mouth is, unless you only took part in that whole conversation because you wanted someone to attack mindlessly on the internet and stupid AI shaggers were the most popular and low hanging target to get your superiority complex fed.

If you actually care about artists and protecting art and artist rights, you'd make it known now, but a lot of you aren't. You're too busy playing The Funny Pokémon Gun Game in your own little bubble of "this doesn't affect me" to give a shit.

Guess what? If we let Ai generated images become the norm online, all the """art""" of your favourite characters and series will look the same.

All the same.

Never innovating.

All the same.

Always the same.

Because AI image gen doesn't and never has had the ability to create, only to sift through an alarmingly huge box of stolen works, rip them apart and blend them together into something a little different. All it does is replicate.

If we let lazy and blatantly scammy art theft and plagiarism like this go unchecked without consequence, guess what again? Shit's gonna get stolen way more often.

But you don't care, you're not an artist.

You will care though.

It's extremely discouraging for creatives to continue creating when they know their hard work is going to be stolen and trivialised by some lazy cunt who wants to make a quick buck or gain attention and followers online from plagiarism. Your favourite artist might just have had enough. You never know which theft or ""drama"" will be anyone's final straw.

Your favourite artist may have had enough. They'll give up on their passion for art.

All we ask for as artists is respect. If you respect artists, you'd call this shit out when you see it. Make a riot. Stand up because not every artist has the power that Nintendo might do to sue the pants off people.

Supporting this practice of plagiarism monetarily by buying palworld shows not only these developers, but the greater creative industries as a whole, not just video games, that this shit is easy. It will be rewarded. They can do it and get away with it.

It's disgusting.

I know this devolved into something else than my main point, but I believe it's the root issue. Sitting back and letting this shit happen only perpetuates the issue. It allows it to happen again because thieves think they can get away with it.

[lusi-raul]

I’ve mentioned it on a reblog post before but since Slime might be returning soon I’ll say it again.

Forever’s theory about the eggs might have some credibility to it. He said that the eggs might be the people who were once inhabiting this island who were captured by the federation and made to act like eggs wiping off their memory? At first it might sound crazy but people keep on overlooking one thing. Gegg and q!Biden. Yes I know that people know very well who Gegg is, q!Biden? I don’t know but even Gegg made it to the twitter eggstatistics. People have just been treating Gegg like a goofy side character of Slime but if we look deeper into it we see that we have overlooked alot of details regarding this “egg”.

I think it is quite clear that q!Biden and q!Gegg are actually Maxo and Slime disguising as eggs. But lore-wise how can we explain how they can do that? They are different from other CCs who have other characters like Melissa is actually Roier’s cousin (I don’t know how true this is) and his Grandfather (I can’t find an explanation as to how they got into the island in the first place but another time for another topic) or Quackity and El quackity. Gegg was not introduced as a separate character from q!Slime and the same for Maxo as Roier is in on the plan of Maxo infiltrating the school.

If admins within the server are part of the federation, it means that they have the power to transform the island inhabitants into eggs via Gegg and q!Biden and probably into other entities too. It’s not like Slime and Maxo are like “I want to be egg” and poof they are egg. Someone had to have the power to transform them into one. Maybe q!Biden’s case can be a different story since he is the only egg who visually looks so different from the rest of the eggs but for Gegg? He looks so much like an actual egg that he passes as a real one. He was even provided with the signs the eggs initially had. Someone in charge behind the existence of the eggs must have been the same one who gave Slime the ability to turn into one.

Also we haven’t been able to discover the remnants of the existence of the Dragon within the island. I know the Dragon mother left but what about the traces of its existence? A dragon cave or a dragon scale? The nest which the baby eggs were left in? Where could be this dragon’s home before it left? The video that played when they introduced the eggs specifically said the dragon lived within the island. Not in another dimension like the end.

It could just be impulsive story telling where the writer writes the story as it goes without an outline but even if it is, this can be good to be explored and considered by the ones in charge of the overall lore.

I will repeat how funny it is for me that Slime and Maxo probably just thought of a funny bit and went through with it without realizing its potential to affect the overall lore. Like they just thought it’d be fun to act as eggs in a stream not knowing how integral it could be to the story. Imagine a funny bit turning into the hidden backstory of the eggs’ existence all because Slime wanted to be an egg for a stream to troll people.

Although, my crazy theory that I pulled out of my ass is, maybe Slime did it on purpose to find out what really happened to Flippa in order to bring her back. He went undercover convincing the feds to give him the power and information to infiltrate them more successful than even Cellbit ever did because the feds underestimated Slime’s potential to destroy them and bring them to light. That could explain his disappearance and he succeeds and saves the other eggs and reunites with Flippa?

Naaaaah. I’m just losing it rn CAUSE I JUST WANT FLIPPA BACK AND I CAN’T STOP MAKING UP SCENARIOS IN MY HEAD THINKING OF WAYS WE CAN HAVE THE DEAD EGGS BACK WHERE IT MAKES SENSE TO THE LORE. Bobby, Flippa come back pls 😢

[thewaltcrew]

Imagineer Rolly Crump (February 27, 1930 – March 12, 2023) in "Disneyland's 10th Anniversary" from the anthology series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, aired January 3, 1965

Roland "Rolly" Crump started his career at Disney as an animator in his 20s. The man who ran the animation department at the time of Crump's hiring reportedly told him years later that "what you showed us was the worst portfolio of anyone ever hired in animation."

His first three years as at WED Enterprises provided little interaction with Walt.

Crump: All I did was absorb. I watched how everyone reacted to Walt, and the strengths and the weaknesses of the different guys. I studied Walt Disney and what it was like to work with him, but I wasn't participating until after three years. That's when I started talking. I learned that if you show something to Walt, it has to be something he hasn't seen before.

He called the period working with Walt "the happiest time of my life."

Crump: It was a great job. You were thrilled to do what you were doing. I was, anyway.

Rolly Crump's strange, bold, chaotic, and graphic style stands out strongly among his Imagineering peers. With his distinct touch, Crump was able to create some of the most visually memorable iconography for Disneyland, including the façade of It's a Small World (based on Mary Blair's styling) and the tiki god and goddess statues in the Enchanted Tiki Room.

Always a man who was protective of artist identity and integrity, he would often refer to rides by their primary visionary. The Haunted Mansion was Yale Gracey's ride, It's a Small World was Mary Blair's.

Crump: I was given the job of kind of supervising It's a Small World. I knew it was only going to work if everything looked like Mary Blair. As far as I was concerned, this is a Mary Blair ride.

And had the Museum of the Weird been built, it would've been Rolly Crump's.

It started out with Crump creating drawings and concepts for the Haunted Mansion. All the strange objects he describes in the "10th Anniversary" episode are all ideas and visuals he came up with. His peers told him his ideas would be "too weird" for Walt but after a presentation to the boss, Crump found Walt sitting in his office chair the next morning.

Crump: The first thing he said to me was, "You son of a bitch. All that stuff you showed me yesterday? I couldn't sleep."

Crump: The next day, what happened was Walt came in and said, "OK, we're going to do a Museum of the Weird, that's where we're going to use all that funny stuff you showed me yesterday." All he had to do was go home and spend some time with himself and he'd come up with everything. He was a delight to work with... You never felt like you worked for Walt. You felt like you worked with Walt because that's the way he made you feel. He encouraged your creativity. He was part of the magic. He was part of everything we did.

Unfortunately, the project died with Walt. After his unexpected passing, the project was dropped.

Crump: Management didn't like it. Walt passed, and he took the museum with him. No one else wanted to fool with it.

But the Museum of the Weird lives on. Marvel created a comic book based on the attraction called Seekers of the Weird. The fortune teller character Crump designed, Madame Zarkov, is referenced in Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and was written into the the elaborate Easter egg SEA (the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, a fictional secret society incorporated in many Disney attractions to tie their lore). And the window on Main Street USA that honors Crump for his work features three of his most famous pieces: the Tower of the Four Winds from It's a Small World (built for the 1964 World's Fair and unfortunately torn down because it was too big to move to Disneyland), Maui from the Enchanted Tiki Room, and the coffin clock.

video source [x] photo sources [x][x] research source [x][x][x]

[thelyingjoke]

hello mx bow today i cannot stop thinking about the motive video watchparty _(:」∠)_ it started w/ me thinking about how sad it is that gonta *agreed* to help kokichi show everyone the motive videos, and then kokichi lost his trust because he chose to lie abt everyone hating bugs *on top* of that...sir please stop self destructing all your personal relationships bc of your paranoia it hurts my feelings :[

but then i couldn't stop thinking about the plan WORKING nd how that would change the entire trajectory of the story...obv ryoma and kirumi would get A Lot of attention from the group but (unsurprisingly) i can't stop thinkin abt how it would affect kokichi...being outed as a pacifist w/ a small organization that just does silly hijinks would crush most of the villain plan. and he was *willing* to do that!! i don't remember where i was going with this. wah. kokichi being more integrated into the group is spinning in my head at all times forever.

SOSOSOSOOOOOO REAL

the plan working would lead to so many changes……..i love kokichi working in the main group scenarios it gets my brain going. especially with this scenario because it’s not just his word they’re relying on, they have more evidence that they can actually trust him!!! think how the group dynamics would change!!!!!! they’d still think he was annoying (he is) but they’d actually know he wouldn’t mean any harm. he can’t play himself up as a villain anymore and he’s fine with that because now he knows this current plan (the nicer plan) is working! not to mention ryoma & kirumi would be able to get the support they need. it’s not likely kirumi would try to kill again any time soon because at this point she’d be too obvious and hopefully everyone would convince her out of it

something interesting as well, i think, would be how everyone sees maki. how would people react to learning her talent from her video while also knowing kokichi is someone they can trust? would they distrust her more than canon? would some people sympathize with her, given that her orphanage was likely in her video, or would everyone focus on the assassin part? it also of course depends on how much of the situation the video gives away, if her being an assassin is even mentioned to be because of her worry for her orphanage in it at all. people were already a little wary of her in canon, after deciding to believe in her during the trial and her talent being revealed by a guy not many of them are fond of, and it makes me wonder what would have changed in these circumstances

it’s also funny to me to think about how MAD tsumugi would be at this. what the hell! this little shit foiled her heartwrenching murder of the chapter!! she came up with such good motives too!!! she can’t even try to villainize him later. what the fuck you were supposed to be the antagonist who fits with the season’s themes asshole we gave you a whole rivalry with kaito and everything stop breaking the script. she can’t just let everything stop before the chapter 2 murder! she’s definitely going to try her darndest to get people to kill. and given the new information about him, it may be hard to try and get someone to kill kokichi as much as it would be convenient for her. someone would probably eventually kill though, it’s important for the ratings, but also can you imagine how crushing that’d be

kokichi went and had the PERFECT plan that was working! he even showed himself to be trustworthy!! he gave up his villain plan for this!!! and then someone went and killed anyway. dude. Why Did They Do That. IT WOULD BE SO PAINFUL !! ohand imagine . he’s gained the trust of the group but then his trust towards them starts to be broken even more from this. he already had trust issues before but now it seems like they’re being confirmed. his nice peaceful plan only prevented one murder just for another to happen??? did he throw away the mastermind plan for nothing? he still believed there was a mastermind, and it seems even more definite now that someone in their group is working against them. he just doesn’t know who. in his mind it even further confirms his idea that cooperation will be punished. oughhh……… this scenario is so full of opportunities for both kokichi fluff & angst i am consuming it so hard even though it’s only mere crumbs i made up in my head

SPEAKING OF TRUST ISSUESSSSSSSS i am so with you on the gonta bit. stop it dude DON’T TELL A NEEDLESS LIE THAT WILL ONLY ALIENATE YOUR CLOSEST ALLY IN THE END. YOU ARE KILLING ME. although i also wonder if maybe it has something to do with the way he grows increasingly frustrated at gonta over the course of those 3 strategy meeting pre-fte dialogues! in the first one, if you invite kokichi, he’s hesitant about it before he receives the OK from gonta, while if you invite gonta, he’s very polite about letting gonta hang out with shuichi and saying they can meet later. in the second one, inviting kokichi has him expressing hesitance since he’s with gonta again—however, when you invite gonta, he gets more aggressive and goes “i get it, i’m not wanted!” after gonta mentions he’d been falling asleep. by the third one, kokichi doesn’t hesitate to hang out at all, and just says he’s got a plan, and inviting gonta has him go “i don’t mind, take him off my hands”. to me it seems like he was trying to explain everything, but gonta found it hard to follow—hard-to-follow things make gonta fall asleep, and kokichi took that the same as gonta calling him boring, which he hates. if you invite gonta the second time it merely comes out earlier, and kokichi probably notices it later if you decide to invite him instead, which irritates him. he gets tired of trying to explain it and decides lying to him would be easier, which is the plan he figures out by that third event. maybe a combination of all that and his paranoia made him do that? idk i’m just kinda spitballing ideas here . i’m very not normal about motive video watchparty !

[morphogenetic]

Mediaposting 2024, #11: Professor Layton and the Last Specter

Completed: June 16th, 2024

Time to Complete: 19 hours, 55 minutes (~20 hours, basically)

alright, I have to be honest here. i've never really been a huge layton fan. i actually did like curious village quite a bit - and it held up when i replayed it, so i know it wasn't just from nostalgia - but diabolical box was a bit of a mess. i did actually like plvsaa but it was more for the AA part and less for the PL part (though it was funny how most of the story is just them doing curious village again). and then. uh. unwound future definitely does some cool things but unwriting and then rewriting its own plot twist to be non-canon/canon again kind of turned me off. it's not even just the plots being buckwild as hell.

however. oh my god. last specter is just. bad. rest of this is under the cut because i dont want to make people mad who actually like this game but the TL;DR is that emmy is good but this game is bad in a boring, lazy writing way and not even in a FUN way which has made it the most painful of the layton games for me to get through up to this point.

the puzzle difficulty balance is off, for one thing - i would say 10% of the puzzles at MOST feel adequately difficulty balanced, and the rest are either way too easy, have instructions so poorly written that I needed to check a guide to make sure i even understood what they were asking me, or they were hard as fuck for no reason. it feels like they get worse and worse with this with every layton game and im PRAYING that miracle mask does not get worse about this because i need to finish this series and i don't think i could handle another group of puzzles like this.

also......i know layton plots are buckwild but this one both a) drags too long and b) is SO LAZILY WRITTEN. every single twist is either fucking blatantly obvious or they made 0 effort to even foreshadow it at all (LOCH NESS MONSTER RIPOFF IM LOOKING AT YOU). it feels like they genuinely did not even write a story for this until AFTER they made everything else, which i know can't actually be true because story-focused games like this aren't written like that, but........man. dude. this is not a good video game. there was absolutely no reason it needed to be 20 fucking hours long. i think they could have cut the story of this one down SIGNIFICANTLY, and/or spent more time on actua

really, the only good thing i can say about this game is that emmy is great and i like her a lot. i'm glad she doesn't get relegated to useless girl who gets kidnapped like flora (unforunately.....) does so, so much. it does annoy me that her entire backstory is in those little bonus story things - side note, why did they not INTEGRATE THOSE WITH THE FUCKING GAME - but it could be worse. would like to know more about her but at least she has a fun dynamic with layton and luke.

praying that miracle mask is better because guys i NEED a more interesting plot than this. even if it's layton insanity. because this one didnt even COMMIT to being insane enough it just felt very dull and gray and like a waste of my fucking time

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

hey, I'm writing to you because you seem to be a very trusted person, and I don't have anyone with whom I could talk about it in rl. exactly 3 years ago I discovered bts, and I still believe that those first weeks of watching their content were the best time of my life, those videos with their funny moments became my escape from the real world. Before I knew it, I became so attached to bts that at one point they were an integral part of me. However, at the beginning of 2022 I slowly started to lose interest, I thought that I would finally move on with my life and forget about them. But then their hiatus and military enlistment were announced. that's when I realized that I had been taking them for granted and that I hadn't appreciated them when they were still in the band together. I think this break is needed, both for the bts members and for ourselves, because we can analyze why we became bts fans in the first place and why we want to continue to stay with them.

Hey! Trusted by whom haha? Thank you! The only person I talk about BTS irl with is my mom, but she doesn't really get it, so I feel you.

I understand what you mean. I felt a growing distance from BTS in 2021 when most of the content we got were ads and campaigns - so many of them, and so random, like they were trying to build their own Amazon with just with their sponsors' products and services. There was minimal music, Bangtan Bombs, performances, etc. to carry us through, and let's just say PTD was not my favorite song. The "hiatus" announcement also "pulled me back in", though I'd never left, but I became a lot more focused on BTS again. I don't believe I'd been taking them for granted, but BTS being sort of "broken down" into its essential parts - each of the members - forced us all to look at each of the seven, as well as the whole group, in a new light, and thus our relationship with the members and BTS naturally shifted. Army itself is different now and the solo era revealed a lot about the fandom that used to be hidden or less obvious when we were all united under a common goal - we still have many shared goals, obviously, and we've always had our own agendas as well, but now almost every faction of the fandom has its own agenda and they mostly don't coincide.

Solo era isn't making me reconsider why I like BTS and why I want to stay a fan, apart from reinforcing why I love the seven the most and why their group dynamics are essential to me being Army. It's also making me miss them more. I guess. unconsciously, I can't abandon them now, even I wanted to, because I have to stay with them until they reunite and prove my loyalty? But I have been reflecting on my relationship with Jungkook, in particular, since I don't have the same kind of attachment with anyone else and, honestly, no one else has revealed himself so much as Jungkook. The other members are mostly still a mystery while Jungkook has been peeling back the layers to expose himself in a way that has us reeling tbh. It's very weird with Jungkook because it feels like I'm "losing" him yet also like I've never felt so close to him, because we're connecting as people, and less as fan/artist?

Anyway, I understand why you might feel this way and I hope you found a way to reconnect with BTS. As Army, we don't want to feel like we've "abandoned" BTS and walk away from years of devotion and loving them - I get that completely -, but you don't have to force yourself to hold on to them if you don't want to, and it almost seems like you might feel a bit pressured to?

Thanks for the ask! You can come vent anytime! I guess people really do feel comfortable talking to me and I'm really grateful for that.

[lazaruspiss]

Justice League x RW/BY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen (Part One)

gonna be honest i kinda keep forgetting that this movie exists. the animation and music is very... rw/by. for better or for worse. corny quippy one liners. it's very corny. adding a cut bc this'll probably get a bit rambly.

AHHH THE FLASHBACK IS A STILL FRAME. the first thing to make me laugh wasnt even a joke it was the single still frame flashback. well. there was a slight zoom?

it's trying to be funny so bad its trying so hard. the serious dialogue is corny but could be worse. overall its better than the crossover comics? making the DC characters teenagers seems pointless.

oh god the dialogue is so hammy. the fists are hammed. weiss good and weiss dad bad yes i noticed. christ im only 8 minutes in. physically recoiling at some of the jokes. like its nothing jokes its nothinggg.

IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE BRUCE? he's been on screen for like 10 seconds and he already sounds and acts like "wealthy teenage tiktok star tries to pander to the less ~economically privileged~" and god it keeps going it hasnt even been a minute yet. did they make them teenagers bc otherwise bruce wouldve run off and found some little boy to help him solve everything without the help of anyone else. is that why. bc honestly yeah adult bruce is hard to write into a team setting.

bruce continues to be embarrassing but also. im learning that the still image flashbacks are just a thing thats gonna happen in this movie. style wise its very much a rw/by movie, so its just probably not gonna hit for me. its the kind of show i watched in middle school and grew out of by 8th grade. even then, my interest kind of started and ended with the character design and the basic world building elements. emphasis on basic, trying to understand the more in depth aspects is a bit of a waste of time.

oh and im still at the 10 minute mark. "ive already gone through all the other dc x rw/by content" i thought, "might as well watch the movies" i thought.

i think theyre trying to write bruce doing a smart detective thing? unfortunately rw/by is very bad at writing people doing smart things. 1) cant stand bruces voice in this 2) god hes so annoying and this whole scene is embarrassing to watch.

GAHH. THE SAME FLASHBACK FRAME CLARK HAD BUT ZOOMED OUT THIS TIME. true cinema. and i think theyre alluding to time travel as well as dimension travel, so even the rw/by girls get to have weird "we're not where we should be" flashbacks.

diana manhandles the small boy, fun. it also rife with required reading bc if you arent fully dedicated to keeping track of all rw/by lore then fuck you. these movies dont seem to require much DC knowledge but they cram in a lot of references to rw/by lore that i only know from video essays put out by ex-fans.

hey guys did u remember that yang is lesbian. pretty cool right? right?? this movie is going by so slow.

MARI IS THAT YOU?? and jess... girls u deserve a better movie. oh vic got braids? nice. also that joke was nothing. all the jokes are nothing.

the best jokes so far have been. the ones about how convoluted and hard to get into rw/by is. because of course. sigh. i do think the DC characters are better utilized and integrated than they were in the comics at least. seeing mari and jess get animated is really cool, and overall i like the redesigns. a few of the characters have commented on suddenly being deaged but mari's acknowledgement of it is the first to feel like a natural line of dialogue rather than exposition.

montage of bruce learning to use his bat powers so that they can get that out of the way before he joins the rest of the group. separate things that were already discussed being re-discussed so that we can have a "everyone talks at once scene". they. what. huh? they had a normal conversation that landed on "lets split into groups since theres enough of us to reasonably do that. then they have an argument which ends at the exact same conclusion.

are they really gonna have a "yang thinks diana is hot and blake gets jealous" plot line? really? and another love triangle. cy tries to ask nora to explain this worlds weapons, noras boyfriend(?) gets mad and then cy gets mad back and ends up being the one everyone gets upset with. it feels a bit. just. super uncomfortable. cy wasnt flirting he was just. talking to nora.

oh thank god that bit is over. now back to jess! possibly the most interesting character here. her design is probably my least favorite of the bunch tho, just because it feel a bit... too anime? it reminds me too much of my danganronpa phase, lol.

jaune doing plot device things. jess introspection. its not the most interesting thing but its better than uh. whatever happened with cy earlier. sorry im still thinking about that. i think they were just going for hormonal and temperamental teenager moment but it uh. came off weird.

plot twist everything was uh. void. ptsd monster things. the plots about to get convoluted isnt it.

diana is pretty decently fleshed out in this one. and it looks like they didnt lean into the diana being hot as a source of relationship conflict that much aside from a few jokes, thank god.

for fucks sake shut up jaune i dont care about your dead girlfriend.

back to the monster fighting group, dear god theyre doing one of those. 2 guys fight over girl who goes "umm i can take care of myself >:(". GOD SHUT UP. FUCK. ITS A JEALOUS LOVE TRIANGLE PLOT. please let this die sooner rather than later.

bruce describes everything that was just established. bruce is emo. weiss tries to be nice. then back to jess and jaune. "i didnt realize how much i miss this place" yeah well i sure dont miss it. oh pyrra, however your name is spelled, you were the only character death that meant anything. now if only they didnt degrade her story into being all about jaune even in death.

have weiss and bruce just been on the computer this whole time. at least they eventually get a fight scene. lesbians to the rescue time. stuff and things. i still dont care and jaune. fuckin. creator self insert ass. he was originally comic relief/audience surrogate but turned into way too much of a main character. god jess deserves her own movie.

weiss please stop trying to recruit him this is just embarrassing. is this gonna be a whole thing? bruce deciding between earth and remnant? and god you cant put anime style gags in the middle of a serious scene. oh god theyre making bruce insecure about not having powers like the rest of the league. man who could've seen that coming. christ theres still 20 minutes left. FUCK AND A WHOLE SECOND MOVIE.

jess remains the coolest bitch in this movie. god why couldnt it be a jess green lantern movie.

lesbians on motorcycles, blah blah fight scene. oh god we're pretending batman is cool. fake flash? wheres real barry then :/ christ. they think this is a cool twist. tho possessed barry is pretty fun. god the actual canon explanation for making them teens was bc kilg%re figured the hormones would make them easier to fuck with.

obligatory "even teens can be leaders" speech. the determination of humanity or whatever.

HAAA BRUCE AND BARRY MORSE CODE COMMUNICATION. ok thats cute.

so smth smth final battle but theres a mysterious second bad guy so that they still have content for a second movie. i like how they show vixen's powers, that parts fun. jess does main character thing and kills big bad. bruces conflict about going home is resolved. cy goes and makes amends with nora and guy who likes nora, despite guy who likes nora being the one to cause all the conflict in the first place. they make the go home portals. set up for next movie.

[if-you-like-pina-colada-s]

Because I'm such a huge music nerd, I've contemplated some kind of indoor percussion au for the Hetalia characters several times, and even though I'll probably never go through with actually making something for it, I NEED to share my vision with yall.

I've been going in circles about who I'd assign to what instrument. Thankfully most of them seem pretty obvious, and if not then it's at least narrowed down to two options. But I know one for certain. One I CANNOT and WILL NOT negotiate. And that is America being snare one. He is center snare no matter what. I've considered other characters for sure, but no one else exudes center snare energy like he does. Some other considerations I've had:

Germany on drumset

Japan on either vibraphone or snare

Russia on marimba one

China on tenors

France on tenors

Italy on cymbals or glockenspiel/bells

Canada on marimba two

England on snare or a base guitar

I also think I'd have Austria as the director of the group. Just cause he's the canon music-nerd-guy. But really I'd like it to be a collaborative, team working kinda thing. But Austria can be the one with the final word, is what I wanna say. He can compose and arrange their music. (Oh and BTW, yes I'd like to include all characters in this, at the very least all canon characters, I mean I want the whole group but it can only be so big.)

If this were an actual full-fledged au, I do have some background... lore? I guess? to consider. I'd like this to be a nationverse au (as in not a human au). For one, there's the comedic factor.... actually that's it. That's the only reason. Cause it's funny. Like imagine one day the nations just randomly decide "hey, what's a better way to kill time than participate in WGI competitions?" Where do they get all the instruments and equipment from? Who knows! Even better. Imagine being in another group, walking into world championships or whatever, and seeing that your competition is literally the personifications of the nations of the world. I'd be very intimidated, personally. And like, to me it makes sense they're at that level (as in, international level). Maybe they don't start there, but I feel like they'd be able to work their way up there, yknow? After all, it'd be stupid if they lived that long and didn't at least pick up on an instrument here and there. Hell, some of them were probably there when they invented the fucking church modes and shit. But I digress, I'm just saying the immortal being had time to practice and learn how to play, read, and understand music.

I think the Hetalia characters forming an indoor percussion group would be sick af. For a variety of reasons really. Though it really boils down to what I really love about music; that it's something everyone, no matter what culture you come from, has in common. Music is such an integral part of every culture, of everyone's lives. So imagine how cool and fun it would be to see the nations of the world playing music together and having fun. Oh and, I just wanna add, I mainly aimed for percussion specifically because yes I am a biased percussionist, and also I made a poll recently about what instrument family the nations remind yall of and the majority voted percussion (spontaneous, wild, the impactful, and most importantly, the heartbeat). And I have to say, I do agree. The nations really are, in a nutshell, the heartbeat, the culture itself, the core identity. What better way to show that than through music? The universal language.

Anyway, I've been talking for way too long. If you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about when I say "WGI" or "indoor percussion", look it up on Google or YouTube, there are some pretty cool videos or performances, I highly recommend looking more into it. And there's many different levels to look at too.

Okthatsitbye!

[evsvolunteerstotem]

30.01.2023

We are on the last day of January and it seems like only yesterday that I met Hannah, Totem and Pilsen for the first time. Sometimes I have the feeling that times go so fast, and I still have to accomplish many of my goals. Other times, I look at it with perspective sitting on the bed in my room and think: all this has happened to me in only 5 months? That’s crazy!

I am 24 years old (I turned 24 on December 2nd in Pilsen) and I have already had the experience of living abroad, specifically in Aarhus (Denmark). I thought that the experience would be more or less the same but it’s totally different. And I really like this feeling. Starting a new life in a country that it’s kind of different compared to yours: language, lifestyle, food, prices, behaviour… but that’s for me the funniest part. You learn a lot about yourself, where are your limits and goals.

When we arrived on September the city was crowded and a lot of things were happening around. It was very fun to spend those days with Hannah and some new people that we were meeting in the city. Sometimes it seems hard to get in touch with new people, but everything it’s easier when you realized that you landed here alone and you have to work from yourself! Of course I was lucky because doing this process with Hannah was a lot easier!

We had this first month of getting the first impression of the city, totem and co-workers. We started the conversation lesson on October and I remember that I was a bit nervous. I was afraid that the senior were distant with us or something like that. But, after 5 months I can say that they are really close people and talking with them it’s such a pleasure. I love to listen all the stories that they want to tell us, not only because they have really funny stories, but also because you can learn a lot about the Czech culture. During all these months we have joined to the dancing classes, bakery, Nordic walking, yoga… there’s always things going on in Totem. But, don’t get distracted! You have to prepare the videos and the rozcestnik! Oh my god! The videos can be really funny and stressful at the same time (hahaha) you never get what you have in mind.

I don’t want to leave without talking about the leisure time. You will have time for yourself, to enjoy the city and meet with new people. Here in Pilsen there’s a lot of life night and events going on, where you can go to have fun. I feel very grateful to have been able to meet such a good and fun people. Because of this, I was able to do some weekend travels like: Amsterdam, Brussels, Berlin, Nuremberg, Bucharest, Vienna and the cities around Pilsen!! There are a lot of beautiful villages Český Krumlov, české budějovice, Mariánské Lázně… going outside and explore the country where you live can be very interesting! Sometimes we think that we need to go far away to learn new things and have fun, but on my point of view you can have the best experience in your neighbourhood if you feel like!!! By the way, Bolevec it’s the best neighbourhood in Pilsen!!! Probably nobody that you will meet is living here and at the beginning you will be kind of sad, but after 2 months you will realize that it’s a really good place to life. And there’s one reason for this, which I will not tell you… you just have to guess and explore!!

Just as a reminder for myself:

I like the days at Bolevec doing almost nothing, I love having breakfast slowly, chatting with Hannah about life, eating good and warm food, going out with some friends, walking around the forest, joining into a spontaneous travel, suddenly be in a concert that you even didn’t know who are the artist but having the best night of your life, talking in “your Czech” with real Czech people (because, you have to try to get integrated into the Czech lifestyle but you are not Czech ahah), dancing and singing as it was the last day on earth with people you just met two months ago, watching the snow falling and complaining about the same thing at the same time (hahaha), getting lost in the middle of a foreign city, feeling lucky because you have seen the sun 3 minutes, asking Kuba for some help in Český, talking with the co-workers at Totem (because… of course it’s important to learn Czech but at the beginning I guess you will need the hands also to communicate! Ahahhaha so, don’t forget that you have a mouth to speak and a body to express!! It’s easy and funny to talk with them). And some other things that would be on this list but I will keep it for myself.

As Hannah said, this was my turn to talk with you and I hope I can write you as soon as possible. Maybe with some new news!! I will also try to improve my writing English!!

If there’s something you need to know, here I am, just Blau.

See you soon,

[bellaphomet3]

1. Kid Icarus Uprising - my brother had this game on the 3DS and I constantly stole it and played it myself because we both loved it so much despite how terrible the controls are (literally just put it on the switch having 2 joysticks would fix everything you don’t even need to upscale it’s graphics I don’t care if on the big screen the polygons look like shit I just wanna play the game with 2 sticks). The twist after defeating Medusa shocked me as much as the twist in DDLC. It along with Percy Jackson made me and my brother love mythology enough that we took Latin as as our foreign language and my brother spent 3 years in college trying to major in classics (before his program was shut down by the school and he had to switch to history). My mom sold the game to game stop for 3 dollars without telling either of us. I’m still trying to find a version online that’s affordable so I can play it again or get a laptop strong enough to pirate it because my current laptop lags playing snes games, much less 3DS games.

2. Fnaf - my first introduction to horror, also met some friends through it, got a lot closer to other friends through it. Genuinely an integral part of my journey from homophobic to trans lesbian. Only one on this list I still actively participate in the community of.

3. DDLC - what actually made me into a fan of horror (yuri why I have a terrible fear of knives). I’m biased because I watched it before it got really popular so I didn’t know the scares were coming. Also a pretty big part of my journey from homophobic to trans lesbian for reasons to long to get into.

4. Super Smash Bros Ultimate - met a lot of friends through this game. I still remember the day after Steve came out when everyone in my high school’s super smash bros club was playing Steve except for one guy who just wanted to keep playing Wolf and got pissed everyone else was just playing the new guy, and because I played a zoner (King Dedede rhe funny penguin) I was able to figure out rough basics of how to use Steve better than others, and so I just started repeatedly kicking his ass no matter how many times he rematched me. He was definitively better than me, and especially is now because I never cared about competitive and stopped playing 3 years ago while he is still active in the local competitive scene, but we still hold it over his head. Every time anyone other than him complains about how broken Steve is they get sympathy, when he does we just say he’s still butthurt from when I kicked his ass. Also made me watch Alpharad who was also a pretty big part in my journey from homophobic to trans lesbian, and most of the friends I made playing it wound up being gay/trans. This is a weird pattern I’m just now noticing.

5. Super Mario Galaxy 2 - first video game I ever “played” (me and my brother traded being player 2 while we forced our dad to play for us because we were so young)

Honorable Mentions

Celeste - I, a trans woman, played this game incredibly early in my transition if not before (I don’t quite remember). I also played it again later on in my transition. I felt fucking nothing. Everyone else talks about how much the game means to them and I was just like “yeah, really fun, tough platformer, don’t get anything else you’re saying.” Somehow between of Five Nights at Freddy’s, Doki Doki Literature Club, Celeste, and Super Smash Bros Ultimate, the game about self acceptance staring a trans woman as its main character is the one that had zero affect on me being trans whatsoever. I don’t fucking get it. Great Game tho

Minecraft, DDLC, Yandere Sim, FNAF, and Animal Jam 🫡

[cathyintheurbanworld]

Before this class, I don’t think I realized how important spaces, what’s in a space, and how a space is constructed were. And that’s basically what cities are: giant spaces with identities tied to what they contain and contribute, and sometimes how they were created. I was actually used to thinking entirely separate from spaces and cities, and thinking about the politics of groups and their direct relationships with each other, and what kind of access to what all of them had. With that framework, the only significance that cities had to me were how in the P of POET(S), population, particularly population demographics and diversity, and the political implications of that. But industry and technology are such driving factors of the types of people a city attracts. So it’s really hard for me to tell what I think the future of cities is, besides hopefully acting accordingly to how diverse they’re becoming.

By the way, “diversity” is such a buzz word, I was skeptical each time someone said it in the “Urban Future with a Purpose” video. The stock videos they had of diverse friend groups and co-workers didn’t seem realistic to me. It’s ideal, but it’s not easily attainable to have that level of integration. I mean, none of the visions for future cities are easily attainable, but I think it’s rather flat to view diversity as simply racial diversity. 

The question, “What is an American city?” is a little funny to me because I’m currently taking a class called “What is a teenager?” and as much as the answer felt a little plain and simple before taking the class, I quickly realized that the question is more complex than “an age group.” (Fun fact: our first reading was co-written by Michael Katz, “Youth and Early Industrialization in a Canadian City”) It’s a complex question that a lot of moving parts and perspectives; the closest we got was someone that could be treated or pointed out as both an adult and a child, depending on the situation, since society loves to treat a teenager like an adult when they’re acting immaturely and like a child when they want to be more mature. I wonder if we can say the same with American cities, if it’s really all a matter of perspective and how to navigate that.

[sagau-my-beloved]

Okay but imagine showing Venti memes and viral videos and doing try not to laugh challenges xD

I wonder what he’d think about modern humor

Modern humor is just so broken, not that I'm saying that's particularly a bad thing, but with the amount of slang you would practically have to act as a translator, and everyone knows that a joke isn't as funny when you have to explain it-

I'll be honest, as somebody who didn't really get into internet communities and modern humor until I was in early high school, mainly due to strict parents (I wasn't allowed on YouTube till like 8th grade, that was also the same year I learned "fuck" had an alternate meeting than just an announcement of displeasure), I have a bit of a different perspective on it all

Like I literally had to learn it, and that includes even slang in texting, it used to take me a couple minutes to respond because I actually had to cross Google search what exactly some of those words were, for the longest time I thought ftw stood for "fuck the world", legitimately, and for some reason the definition for smh had a hard time sticking, so I translated it more to just a feeling than an actual discernible sentence, meaning now whenever I see that phrase I mentally pronounce it as the letters sound together instead of the actual sentence

So my point in all this is that I can kind of interpret, just based off of my learning experience, which really wasn't that long ago—, what that process would be like for someone else who knows next to nothing

And the biggest struggles were 1: things that referenced other Internet culture things completely flying over my head, a lot of those jokes are like three layers deep, even the ones that you wouldn't think are because slang is an entire level by itself, so I wasn't kidding about that translator part

And 2: it was kind of hard to get into because of how crude a lot of is was, I wouldn't call myself "heavily sheltered" or anything but it really did surprise me, I'm all for stupid jokes but I really felt like there should have been at least a level of nuance when the punch line was simply some form of "sex", "sexual act", "porn", "disgusting imagery that's funny for shock factor" etc., of course I'm way more used to it now so that's not really even a factor anymore, but it was definitely a barrier because a lot of it was kind of cringey, like second hand embarrassment level, and then dark humor is a whole nother topic—

I do think Venti is probably the only Archon, and really one of the only characters, that you might actually be able to get invested in that because of how he's versatile, he has a lot of experience changing with the times and I think he would pick up on that stuff pretty quickly

I mean imagine how much language changes in a couple centuries, and he's kind of known for going into long periods of sleep and then waking up a couple hundred years later, then just refitting into the local population, I highly doubt this would be the first time he's had to pick up on new terminology in order to seem normal

Neither Zhongli or Ei have a whole lot of experience constantly having to refit themselves into a modern society, Zhongli is obviously trying now but his whole traditional mindset hinders that a bit, and Ei has been shown numerous times to seclude herself entirely from her people, and then all of the other characters are too young to have had to do that multiple times

So I think there is a very good argument to be made that Venti would be one of the best people when it comes to integrating him with your world, Internet trends, humor, slang, and all

Idk why but Venti just fits that role so perfectly like,,, I could probably go on another multi paragraph tangent for all the reasons why but I really think he is the perfect character in Genshin to come to our world if there ever was one

[senadimell]

evil western capitalism ruins maoist propaganda

[ID: a screenshot of a youtube video that is unavailable due to a copyright block.]

[ID: A screenshot of the video title and stats. It is The East is Red (1964) and has had 116,200 views since its uploading on April 27, 2011. End ID]

.

.

Do you know how funny this is to me?

The East is Red is the most propaganda-y propaganda you can imagine. It’s about two hours worth of communist ballet and starts with a song glorifying Mao as dancers figuratively depict his birth by emerging from a flower. There is everything. There is a ballet of guerilla soldiers in a cornfield singing about how the people love them so much that they never want for anything.

literally, it starts out by saying something to the effect of “The East is red, the sun rises, China has Mao Zedong” (more literally, ‘china has birthed/produced a Mao Zedong. It rhymes a lot better in Mandarin).

Then two hours of the “history” of the PRC with a full-scale orchestra, a choir of probably at least 200 people (idk, I can’t estimate crowds) and an entire auditorium of people was filmed watching it. The ballet is intense. Massive cast. Truly amazing. The epitome of state-communist extravaganza.

It’s also a very imperialist text (esp. the depiction of Tibet).

Anyways, I cannot express how funny it is to me that it’s been struck down on a copyright claim from *check’s notes* YB media, which is apparently an digital marketing company.

what in the name of mao does YB media have copyrighted in this film? and why? you’re literally the ultimate bogeyman of films like this: a western capitalist advertising company. The only thing that could make it worse is if you were a  KMT-member-led western capitalist advertising company.

Anyways, this reminds me that I need to update The East is Red’s Wikipedia page because it currently says:

“The East is Red was the first occurrence of Han Chinese and ethnic minorities in China dancing together on the same stage. It has formed a vivid, emotional and specific national image in the hearts of the people of all ethnic groups, and achieved the integration of marginal culture and central culture. In this musical and dance epic, we can see the emotional expression of many ethnic minorities and Han Chinese, such as the meeting between Tseten Dolma, one of the leaders of ethnic minorities, and Zhou Enlai. In the whole music and dance epic, the image of ethnic minorities is related to singing and dancing with a sense of joy and optimism. For more than 40 years since then, the image of ethnic minorities has basically been defined in this expression, without much change. The expression of the image of China's ethnic minorities is closely linked with the expression of the image of the country. Ethnic minorities are considered to be an integral part of China, and the unity and harmony of all ethnic groups have become the basis of the image of the country.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_East_Is_Red_(1965_film)

Yeah, so I can’t actually argue with the bolded part’s factuality. It just neglects to mention that it’s kinda a problem to depict your “55 ethnic minorities” for more than 40 years as happy-go-lucky ethnic dancers with special costumes who adore their savior, the CCP, and are not oppressed or targeted at all, ever, because the government is so benevolent and supportive.

so, uh...yeah this is a world where Tibetans sing happy pretty songs of praise to their CCP allies and saviors and would never, ever consider self-immolation in protest.

Anyways, off to at least flag the article as problematic.

(here’s the taken down video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbSQc6btIQc )

[dukeofonions]

The Problem With Asides

Before I get into anything I want to clarify that this is not going to be a criticism of the two Asides episodes we’ve gotten so far. This is a critique of the concept of Sanders Asides as a separate series from the original Sanders Sides. A second note I want to make is that this is, just as all my other posts are, a personal opinion. This is not meant to be an attack on anyone, just a general criticism from a confused writer and viewer of the show. 

And final disclaimer: A lot of what I’m going to say is based on information that I no longer have available. It’ll mostly be me recalling things I heard and if I at any point get something wrong please feel free to let me know. 

That being said, let’s get into this, shall we? 

(Fair warning this post is very long hence why I’ve divided it into parts so feel free to read then come back as you wish)

Part One: The Concept of Asides

Some time ago last year, I believe shortly after Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts came out, was when the idea for Sanders Asides was first announced. The basic concept of it being shorter, more lighthearted videos focusing on the Sides outside of the main storyline. This format would allow them to give us more Sides content in between the long waits for the main series since those episodes were beginning to take more time to produce. 

Of course, everyone was eager for more Sides, so the majority of people were excited. Not only that but due to the main series tackling heavier themes, the episodes were becoming more angsty with less time for the characters to just relax and goof off with each other. The idea of having episodes reminiscent of the low stakes, sillier, happier content of season one was a welcome break from the more complex episodes and would be a nice return to form for the series. 

We were also informed that these episodes would be much simpler than their main series counterparts and wouldn’t disrupt the work being done on Sanders Sides, which meant we didn’t have to worry about long gaps between the main story episodes, right? 

(Another disclaimer: I am perfectly aware of the main reason why we were not given as much content last year and am not blaming Thomas or the team for doing what was necessary to keep themselves safe and hope they continue to do so as this continues into the new year)

Jump to November 22, 2019, where we got our first official episode of Sanders Asides, roughly five months after DWIT came out. Which, for this fandom, was record time to get more content and I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly they were able to get this out. Though at the same time, I wondered why it took five months to make what was meant to be a short, simple episode. 

So imagine my surprise when I went to watch the episode and saw it was nearly 20 minutes long. Which, okay, isn’t that bad when you compare it to the lengths of the more recent Sanders Sides episodes. But at the time, I was under the impression that the Asides would be, well, much shorter. The longest I expected would be maybe 15 minutes, but you know what? It’s the first episode and it has been a while since we’ve had Sides content, so maybe they wanted to give us a little extra due to the long wait. 

I started the episode and at first, I was overjoyed when I saw the first shot of all the Sides sitting in the living room in their onesies about to have a movie night. This was exactly what I’d been hoping to see from this series! It’s pretty much a staple thing in the fandom for the Sides to have movie nights together, and now it was happening in canon! 

At the moment, I had high hopes for this series and was filled with joy. 

Then that hope and joy were immediately crushed when I realized this was yet just another Virgil-centric angst episode. In fact, this entire episode was, well, exactly like a regular Sanders Sides episode. Sure, there were some jokes here and there, but the tone of the episode was no lighter than the last Sanders Sides episode. If anything DWIT felt lighter in comparison to this one. 

Which leads me to ask, what the heck happened? 

Part Two: Literally the Same Show

At this point in time, we’ve only had two episodes of Asides. Usually, I try to hold off my judgment of a series until I’ve had at least one other episode to see if my original criticisms still stand. 

To be fair, I did think Flirting With Social Anxiety was a step in the right direction. More comedy, a lighter tone, yes. Perfect. But again, just like with Are There Healthy Distractions? This episode quickly dove right back into the angst pool, and just like ATHD it was a pretty long episode, clocking in at almost 25 minutes. 

Not only that but again, both FWSA and ATHD don’t feel any different from the episodes we’ve been getting in Sanders Sides. 

1. They’re just as angsty.

2. Roughly the same length as Sanders Sides episodes.

3. Take about just as long to produce.

4. Contain a lesson to be learned. 

Which, okay, you can have lessons in lighter shows too, but we’re already getting that in Sanders Sides and Sanders Asides was described as, well, being less plot heavy. Yet so far both episodes are still tied in with the main plot. 

ATHD deals with the aftermath of DWIT, not directly but it’s pretty obvious that the whole thing with Virgil’s reveal at the end of that episode is being addressed in the background. Which, kind of takes away the impact of that ending, but I’ll get to that later. 

Then FWSA takes place after Putting Others First and again, is dealing with things from that episode in the background. Again though, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It makes sense to see the characters dealing with things from past events.

So why is it a problem here? Because, again, Sanders Asides is meant to be a separate series, and all the subtext brought on from the episodes in Sanders Sides makes the plots in these two episodes confusing. 

For example, I was perplexed during my first watch of FWSA because I couldn’t understand why the focus of the conflict was lying. I didn’t understand why Virgil and Roman came to the conclusion that Thomas’ reason for being unable to approach Nico was because he was lying to himself, when both the title of the episode and what we were shown points more to, well, social anxiety being the problem. 

(Quick note: One could argue that this was done purposefully to have Virgil putting the blame on Janus since he doesn’t like him and wouldn’t want to admit that he was the one responsible, but this series has had a bad habit of favoring Virgil in the past so until we get more answers I’m gonna leave this on the backburner) 

It didn’t help that I had no idea when this episode was meant to take place in the timeline, and I originally thought it could take place a bit after season two since Roman and Virgil seemed to be doing better, but more on them later.

All of this bugged me until I found out that FWSA takes place after POF, and after watching the live stream that followed and getting some more context, the lying thing made a bit more sense, but the fact that I was as confused as I was just caused more frustration to build up. And I wasn’t the only one who got thrown off by the “Lying is wrong” message of FWSA so I had to ask again, why was this episode a Sanders Asides when apparently, you need information from the last Sanders Sides episode in order to understand it?

So you’re telling me, that the second episode in what is supposed to be a separate series that isn’t meant to be a part of the main plot, is now integral to the plot of the main story you’re telling in what is, as you have said, a separate show? How does that make any sense? 

Okay, one could argue that Thomas getting a love interest doesn’t really fit with the current storyline that’s going on in Sanders Sides, and that is a fair point. The problem with that is, FWSA takes place right after Putting Others First. 

You all remember what happened at the end of that episode, right?

Part Three: Intrusive Plots

At this point we’ve all become rather accustomed to the long waits in between videos, it’s nothing new to us, and for the most part they haven’t done anything to harm the current plot of Sanders Sides. Sure, the length of time between videos can cause people to lose interest, but for the most part the tone of the last three episodes of Sanders Sides hasn’t differed much and the story flow is still going along smoothly. 

Let’s start with Selfishness vs Selflessness, which is the episode that sets up the big climax for season two. It’s still got its jokes and funny moments, but the overall tone is far more serious than previous episodes have been. This carries on into DWIT where Thomas has been so stressed out lately that he’s begun to have trouble with his intrusive thoughts. 

Virgil even gives a pretty good summary of Thomas’ current mental state: “He recently realized he’s a bigger liar than he thought he was, he doesn’t understand himself, he’s committed to skipping a big callback, and he’s sleep-deprived. So yeah, he feels like a piece of dirt who has no control over his life.”

And all that was a direct result of the ending of SVS, despite DWIT not being the direct follow up to that episode the two are still intertwined. Remember that for later.

DWIT ends with the long awaited reveal of Virgil having been a “Dark Side.” Even though the majority of the fandom had figured it out by as early as Can Lying Be Good? That didn’t take away from the emotional gut punch that this scene was and it’s one of my favorite moments from the series. I may have to make a whole post breaking that scene down but what matters is that this scene was a turning point for Virgil’s character.

We’ve seen him trying to hide the truth from Thomas ever since Janus and Remus started popping up, and there were close calls with both of them nearly revealing it themselves and continuously dropping hints to Thomas. Only for Virgil to admit it to Thomas himself, and leave before Thomas can even say a word. 

We don’t know for sure how Thomas is feeling in this moment, but it’s clear he’s been shaken by this. He doesn’t really have a lot of time to process it before he remembers to acknowledge the audience and close out the video. 

This comes up again once we finally get to the monster of an episode that is POF, the follow up to SVS that everyone had been waiting over a year for. Right away we see that Patton and Roman will be at the forefront of this discussion with Logan popping up every now and then, but who doesn’t show up in this episode despite having played a role in SVS? 

Virgil. 

He’s nowhere to be seen and his absence is definitely felt. Why wouldn’t he be part of this discussion? He was there in SVS and had a lot to say on the matter, he was even part of the decision to choose the wedding over the callback! So why wasn’t he there? 

Well, just look at the ending of DWIT and there’s your answer. Of course he isn’t about to show his face after that. Not when Thomas is already under so much stress already and he isn’t sure how Thomas will react to seeing him-

*insert random voice whispering off to the side*

 Wait, Virgil has seen Thomas since DWIT? When? 

*whispers continue*

Oh, right, they interacted in Sanders Asides. How did that go again? 

*whispers explain*

Huh? Thomas said he’s cool with Virgil despite revealing that he’s been hiding something from him this whole time? That “something” being the fact that Virgil was once considered part of the others that were currently making Thomas’ life miserable?

*whispers confirm*

Really? They’re both okay with each other now? Well, good for them. 

So wait, then why didn’t Virgil show up in POF? He was there during the first discussion and honestly he’d have more of a reason to show up than Logan who wasn’t really present at all in SVS. 

*whispers explain* 

He just wasn’t need there? Hm, alright. Guess that makes sense… 

Well okay, Virgil and Thomas are on good terms once POF rolls around, Virgil isn’t present during the conversation because he isn’t needed and I suppose his presence would make things worse. Especially once Janus revealed himself, he wouldn’t allow him to get a word in. Even though Janus could probably silence him but I digress. 

Fast forward towards the ending of POF, remember when I said to remember how SVS and DWIT were connected? Well DWIT is just as important to POF, acting as a bit of bridge between to the two episodes. 

Janus brings up Remus (both directly and indirectly) twice in this episode.

First here:

 Notice how Roman’s breakdown is already being foreshadowed here, the camera focusing on him while “Logan” says this isn’t an accident. 

The second time Remus is brought up is at the very end after Janus has revealed his name:

“Oh, Roman thank God you don’t have a mustache. Otherwise between you and Remus, I wouldn’t know who the evil twin is.” 

(No I am not posting screenshots of this scene I already got emotional over the last one)

As we saw at the end of DWIT, Roman does not have a good relationship with is brother. So much so that when Thomas refers to Remus as such, Roman creates a different analogy that compares Remus to a mirror, reflecting everything Roman doesn’t want to be. 

Roman desperately wants to distance himself from Remus, not wanting anything to do with him. We’ve only gotten a glimpse of just how far this loathing goes, and part of that comes from Roman finally breaking down after being told by Janus that if it wasn’t for a mustache there’d be no difference between him and Remus.

This shook Roman more than anything else in the show has so far, moreso than him being the one to decide that Thomas should give up the callback. He was the one that pushed Thomas to make that decision, believing it was the noble thing to do, only for it to only make Thomas feel worse and then be told by Janus that his “noble sacrifice” was all for nothing. 

Janus, the one who had been supporting Roman throughout SVS, buttering him up and encouraging him to go after his dream, told him that his sacrifice was worthless. Then to top it all off Janus admits what he did and brushes it off as a joke. He doesn’t apologize to Roman, leaving him in the dust, then when Roman responds by laughing at his name he’s shot down even lower. 

And when he looks to Thomas and Patton for help, for answers, anything.

They stay silent.

Patton tries to reassure him, telling Roman that they love him, but he doesn’t believe it. He sinks out, and that’s the last we see of him.

Selfishness vs Selflessness, Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts, and Putting Others First are three of the biggest (and dare I say most important) episodes in the series. The three almost act like a trilogy, with POF leading to something bigger, the season finale. Which will be culmination of all three of these episodes. 

We’ll be seeing Virgil’s reaction to Janus having been accepted by Patton and facing his own past as a “Dark Side.” Then we’ll find out what has become of Roman after he disappeared at the end of POF, and how it now affects his relationship with Thomas.

*whispers return and begin to whisper*

I’m sorry what?

*whispers repeat*

Virgil already knows about Janus getting somewhat accepted? Well okay I guess he would, wish we could have seen his reaction to that but oh well, no big deal. At least we got the Roman and Thomas confrontation to look forward to. 

*whispers whisper*

Roman has already interacted with Thomas since POF? When?!

*whisper* 

In FWSA? Oh yeah, how did that go again? It was super awkward right? Since Roman doesn’t really trust that Thomas loves or values him?

*whisperly whisper*

They get along just fine as if nothing happened? 

*whispersty*

It looks like he might still be upset with him since he’s being a bit passive aggressive? 

*whisper* 

Can’t really tell because the three are too busy trying to talk to a cute guy at the mall? 

Okay, I guess that all makes sense… 

Looks like Roman and Virgil still aren’t on the best terms with Thomas but are able to push that aside to help him talk to this handsome stranger, and hey, it worked! Thomas now has a boyfriend! Just look at Roman and Virgil at the end, they’re both so happy with Thomas! 

Looks like now they can focus on this new chapter in their life and leave the events of POF behind them. I mean, now that Roman and Virgil seem pretty cool with Thomas it would just feel weird to suddenly have them angry with him again, wouldn’t it?

Part Four: The Problem

Sanders Asides was originally described as being a series separate from the main storyline of Sanders Sides. Promising us shorter, less complicated episodes to give us a little something in between the longer, heavier episodes in Sanders Sides. This was a great idea that ended up falling apart the moment it began. 

When I was going through SVS, DWIT, and POF I mentioned that the three of them felt like a trilogy. All three of them link together to tell one bigger story, and on their own they get the job done. They set up the season finale perfectly to the point where you have an idea of what to expect and what to look forward to. 

The main things being the aftermath of Virgil’s reveal and Roman’s breakdown, which would most likely cultivate in them teaming up against Janus. This would also involve Virgil coming to terms with his past and Roman having to face Remus. 

Of course, none of this has been officially confirmed, but given everything we’ve seen up to this point it just makes sense. 

The story for season two is nearly complete, all we’re missing is the conclusion. 

Then Sanders Asides showed up and threw everything off course. What was supposed to be its own thing crept into a story that was already (for all we knew) set up and being put into place. 

We were told that the Asides wouldn’t do anything to disrupt the flow of Sanders Sides, yet it’s been confirmed that there will be one or two more episodes of Asides before we get the season finale. 

Why? Why are these episodes necessary when everything was set to move forward after POF? If these episodes are that important that they absolutely have to be made before the finale then why are they simply not part of the main series? 

You could say “Well they’re not directly tied to the main plot, that’s why.” But need I remind you that Asides as a concept was just intriduced after DWIT came out? These episodes were written specifcally for Asides, which unless I’m wrong means that they were just added into the main story with no planning whatsoever. 

FWSA honestly feels like it should have been the start of season three, something that should have waited to be introduced after season two wrapped up because it’s just too much. 

We already have so much to unpack from SVS, DWIT, and POF now we also have a new love interest on top of that? 

Virgil and Thomas’ resolution doesn’t even feel all that special because it wasn’t talked about directly between them. Thomas was indirectly letting Virgil know they were still okay, so what does that leave for us? All that build up about Virgil being a “Dark Side” only for it to be brushed over like it was nothing, and this happened in an Asides episode, not even in the main series. 

It also makes Virgil’s absence in POF confusing when they had already set up the perfect reason for him to be absent in DWIT, but according to the first episode of ATHD Virgil and Thomas are okay with each other. Sure, Virgil being there might have made things worse but at that point everyone was making things worse. 

We no longer have a confrontation between Thomas and Roman to look forward to because in FWSA we see them interacting as normal. Even the passive agressiveness isn’t anything new to Roman and really, it all just sounds super petty which he had been known to behave like that even when nothing is seriously wrong. Not only that Roman is overjoyed at the end, having finally gotten something he desperately wanted, the happy ending he deserved.

All that’s left for him is to fave his feelings towards Remus, but what would even happen there?

The problem with Asides isn’t the quality of the episodes, FWSA is actually one of my favorite episodes. The problem with Asides is that the team is taking what should have been something small and turning it into a far too elaborate for what its original purpose was: To give us more lighthearted content to enjoy in between the waits for the heavier episodes.

Instead it just feels like they’re adding onto something that really didn’t need adding on to, creating more work for themselves when it just isn’t necessary, and that worries me.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, it’s hard for me to make all these judgments when no one has any idea what the finale is going to be like. And usually, the team is able to excede my expectations and create something amazing. 

But with all these new Asides episodes that feel like they’re just being crammed in at the last second, it makes me wonder how the rest of the series will go if they continue down this road. 

Season two started September 1st, 2017, it is now January 3rd, 2021. Throughout season two the production of episodes became more elaborate, and there have been complications that arose from trying to make these videos as a result that sent production screeching to a halt. And on top of that, these Sanders Asides have been added to create even more work for Thomas and the team.

I don’t understand why they’d do this to themselves when it’s already become more difficult than ever to make videos in general, not just Sanders Sides. 

We were offered something simple that would have satisfied everyone during the difficult times, only to be given something that honestly, wasn’t even needed. I do appreciate Thomas trying to get us more content, but I don’t think he or the team realizes just how content we’d all be with just a five minute video of the characters we love just doing something as simple as hanging out and having fun, especially with how dark things have become all around us. 

We don’t always have to be watching these characters struggle, sometimes we just need to see them be genuinely happy.

(Thanks to everyone who took time to read this monster of a post, I did not mean for it to get this long but it’s been dwelling on my mind for a while and I wanted to make sure I got out everything I wanted to say. Again, this is all just a personal opinions and you are not obligated to agree with me. If you have an objecting opinion I would not mind hearing it but please keep any discussions civil.)