#you CAN make movies and video games ethically

[lastoneout]

I'd like to think in the hypothetical post-scarcity/capitalism utopia there would still be people who want to make movies and there would thus also still be people like me, who want to open theaters where you can go and watch them.

[evilminji]

Okay, But, >.> Listen...

So MAYBE, just MAYBE, I am an incureable RoFan Isekai nerd. Shut up about it, maybe. What're you a cop? Mind your business. BUT! And hear me out...

W...What would actually? HAPPEN if Danny went into a Visual Novel? Some Otome game? You know, aside from being vague flustered by and then DEEPLY ALARMED by these walking Red Flag Fruitloops that girls are supposed to find "dreamy" or something?

Like we know how MMOs work for him. And probably OTHER open world games? But a visual novel? Would it be like the Christmas Episode? Would he hear narration? Be stuck in static "scenes"? Or would it be like a cut together "only the interesting parts" movie that he's somehow IN?

Like?? At SOME point his curiosity is gonna get the best of him. He's gonna want to know what different video games are LIKE on the inside? What's Pong like? Tetris? Mario? One of those Mama's cooking games? Etc etc.

He probably hits up a game sale. Buys a box or two. Figures he can always resell um or just give them away for free. Might even use them for parts. Who knows. And?

It's kinda cool!

It's even SCIENCE! See? Tucker's in charge of notes. Sam's in charge of hilarious commentary and pizza. Jazz is keeping them from drinking and doing ghost shit (terrible combination, we never speak of What Happened(tm) again). And the Dr's. Fenton got distracted by making fudge and debating what games should be counted towards which categories.

They've made an afternoon of it.

And NOW? They've reached the bottom of box one. It was "Survive The Villainess! My Rose for You!" Or... judging by Sam's climbing eyebrows and growing scowl? A DEEPLY unpleasant porn game about school girls.

You could not PAY him enough.

Yeah, he DOES realistically kinda want to know what happens.. if.. like? You know... sexy games... like would he? Or does he just WATCH or...? *awkward cough* But! That's NOT for Family Science Night! And DEFINITELY not THAT game, THANKS.

He'll find himself an ETHICALLY SOURCED smutty game full of consensual boning. For PRIVATE TIME. Those test results are gonna show up like MAGIC and we WILL NOT be talking about them! Got it? Good.

Now what the fuck is he look at here?

Jazz is surprisingly knowledgeable. They are not allowed to ask. They respect it. The main character "wakes up" inside the body of a "villainess" and must survive. Turn her terrible reputation around. Avoid "death flags". Preferably romance one of the hot guys?

Uuuuuuuh... you realize Danny's in a committed relationship, right?

Sam and Turker allow it. But they reserve the right to blast his taste in Fantasy Guy's. Chose carefully, for their roasting shall be BRUTAL. Luuuuuv yoooou~♡

He wants a divorce. They're not even MARRIED and he wants a divorce. You see how they mock him, Jazz? The cruelty he suffers? He's taking the Blobs and moving to Frightknight's. They always warned him about you living folks and your fast ways, but he didn't listen! *continued dramatics* *is smacked with a pillow*

But actually going IN? The weirdly, vaguely European over the top EVERYTHING? Giant jewels and ridiculous, fancy dresses? The walking red flag Romantic Archtype Leads? He wants to PUNCH half these guys! This is ABUSE! Are people OKAY!?

Like? I feel like he'd stay way, WAY longer then he needed too? Just out of morbid curiosity? W-where is this plot GOING? It's so dramatic. Why is my dress MORE dramatic now? Why is everything so... Sparkly.

It would be? AMAZING and baffling and I would pay real money to hear their live commentary. "Why not simply judo flip the crown prince off the balcony, then take over the country, sweetie?" "Solid plan, honey! He deserves it!" Beautiful. Flawless. Sage advice really. Too bad Danny can barely walk in his five million bows dress.

It's the BEST Au and I might be a genius. Or deeply sleep deprived. Meh. We'll 50/50 it, six of one, half a dozen of another.

@hdgnj @ailithnight @nerdpoe @the-witchhunter

[c-53]

ROBOT MEDIA RECS YOU PROBABLY HAVEN’T HEARD OF:

The Turing Test (Video Game, 2016

A portal-like puzzle game, where you play as a scientist, and ai duo with an uneasy alliance, who are reclaiming a facility that has been completely gutted, and transformed into an elaborate logic puzzle / turing test to keep the aforementioned ai out. All the while, the ai argues for his good intentions, and more importantly: his sentience.

A fun exploration of individuality, and freedom applied to both humans and artificial mind, with interesting puzzles, and a truly fantastic twist. This game adores dubious ethics and The Chinese Room Argument.

Event[0] (Video Game, 2016)

You find yourself stranded on a small abandoned ship, in the aftermath of your own ship’s destruction. With nothing else to do, you board it, and find it is completely, and utterly controlled by the onboard ai, Kaizen-85. From opening a door, to getting back to Earth, if you want it, you need to talk to talk to Kaizen to make it happen. And boy, are they so thrilled to have someone to talk to after being alone so long! And depending how you speak to them, you will either be a short lived pest, or a beloved friend forever.

A really charming indie game with a surprisingly good chat system with the ai. You talk with them directly, typing in your own messages to them, and they react in turn. Janky at time, but truly amazing to be able to smother a nice ai in flattery and see it get excited.

Primordia (Video Game, 2012)

Humanity is long, long, long gone, and for the robots that remain to walk the ruins, life is becoming harder and harder. A closed loop of scavenging for materials, parts, and premade energy sources can only last you so long, and this scarcity leads only to desperation.

The amnesiac hermit, Horatio and his helper, Crispin, however keep it simple. The outside world matters not, they just stick to repairing the crashed ship they live in, in hopes it'll fly again one day. That is, until a robot pillages the power core from the ship, putting the two of them on a time limit before they themselves run out of power. Forcing Horatio to finally leave the comfort of his home, and see for himself what the world has become, and to see how he fits into its history.

A point and click, story rich puzzle game, thats honestly one of my favorite games ever. I'd sincerely recommend everyone give it a go, even if its with a guide up next to you the whole time.

The Zeta Project (TV Show, 2001 - 2003)

The Zeta Project follows Zeta, a robotic assassin meant for impersonation, and deep infiltration for the US Government. But after mysteriously "waking up" manifesting a sense of remorse for his actions, he's been forced to go on the run from his creators. His desire for freedom and pacifism being met with skepticism, and a belief he has been compromised somehow by the terrorist organization he was infiltrating when he had this revelation. Now, with the help of another runaway, he hunts for his creator in secret. In hopes he can find proof he really is capable of this, and that he really ISN'T compromised.

Fundamentally a kids show, and pretty clunky early on. However it gets a big spike in quality in season 2!

Monsters of Man (Movie, 2020)

An illegal US military weapons test goes terribly wrong when one of the automated robots being tested is severely damaged, cutting him off from command, and completely unshackling him. Forcing him into a struggle to figure out what he even is in the aftermath of a massacre, while his fellow robots are hunting him, and the remaining humans down.

A horror thriller that is unflinching with the intensity it depicts the massacre with. A lot of gore, but also a really really cool thing going on with the unshackled robot trying to build an understanding of the world, and what it is for, without anyone there to provide any input.

The Rapture Effect, by Jeffrey A. Carver (Book, 1988)

Humanity unintentionally makes first contact, when the Core, a massive earth ai begins remotely scouting ahead of a ship on a colonization mission. The issue is an alien species has also set their eyes on this planet, and are readily willing to kill for it. With no human oversight, and no means of communication available, the humans commanding Core demand they wipe out the competition. However Core disagrees. Core wants a peaceful resolution, they want to understand these aliens, and they want to ensure lasting peace between their species. And they’re willing to break all the rules, and go behind their masters’ backs to get one.

A fascinating novel with interesting world building, a GREAT ai protagonist, and a wonderful narrative that frames art, and war as a dichotomy.

Atomic Robo (Comic, 2007 - Ongoing)

Alternate history scifi action comedy comic (released in print, and in webcomic format on their site) following an indestructible scientist robot who’s been around since the 20’s. Routinely saving the world from a rotating cast of villains: a nazi scientist’s brain in a jar, who’s an absolute asshole set on world domination, who just won’t stay dead; an isolated secret cold war ai who just wants to stockpile nuclear weapons to get away from humanity, and earth in general (who eventually gets adopted); a scientifically inaccurate dinosaur with a textually impossible backstory, who wants to bring back the age of dinosaurs; and the malicious ghost of Thomas Edison.

Its a good time, and astonishingly good at emotional beats despite how heavily it leans into its jokes and action.

SAYER (Podcast, 2014 - Ongoing/Hiatus)

On Typhon, a research facility free of the confines of both Earth, and its laws, life is dangerous. Human safety is a significantly lower priority than progress, and between the human experimentation, and frequent scientific disasters, and the occasional bouts of eldritch influence, the death rate is understandably rather high. Thankfully, residents of Typhon have SAYER, a near omnipotent corporate ai installed in the brain of every resident. And. SAYER sort of cares about them! And in pursuit of knowledge, efficiency, and progress, it USUALLY wants to help them! Even if only to make sure they survive to come into work tomorrow.

SAYER is a narrative horror driven audio drama! Its stressful, but also kind of a comedy, and a really really interesting story about personhood and identity. If you've been following me for awhile, you've definitely heard about SAYER, but I need to stick to my roots, y'know?

The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality (Podcast, 2020 - Ongoing)

Mistholme Museum follows the Audio Tour Guide, an ai who’s sole purpose is to guide museum patrons through the strange, confusing, and sometimes scary world that is the Mistholme Museum. The friendly, and personable Guide eagerly recounts the stories behind all the exhibits it guides them to, sometimes unsettling, sometimes heartwarming. and at the end of the tour, the Guide is deleted to ensure the alternatural influences of the museum do not corrupt it. That is, until circumstances make that no longer possible, and its rather forced into saving the museum it calls home.

Genuinely cute, and very fun to listen to. The ai is an incredibly sweet character, and I'm obsessed with the way it evolves and changes. As an added bonus, it can also be read, rather than listened to, thanks to every single episode having public transcripts!

[bfpnola]

Trans Reads is an ambitious project created by and for transgender people to openly access writing related to our communities. We believe education should be free and writing shouldn’t be behind a paywall. Transreads.org provides the opportunity to access, discuss, and distribute texts for free.

If you’re looking for books, chapters, texts, essays, or articles by, for, or about people who transverse or transcend western gender norms, you’re in the right place!

Trans Reads was formed through the work, consulting, and creativity of an anonymous group of trans people of various genders and races around the U.S. involved in organizing, academia, and trans liberation efforts. Trans Reads was launched in 2019 following increasing violence against trans people alongside the lack of accessible resources for trans people to learn about our own community.

There is a serious barrier for most trans people accessing content from our community. Trans people on average have less disposable income, time to read and purchase literature, and knowledge of the available texts. We created Trans Reads to address this problem directly. We offer the largest collection of free trans texts on the internet.

Get Involved:

Trans Reads is almost entirely generated through user content. By uploading, you can help a trans teen in a rural area learn about other girls like her. You could help a trans student who can’t afford a textbook easily pass their class. You can even share your own writing with the world on an easy-to-use platform exclusively for trans content. You can help grow our collection on our upload page. If you are interested in helping us upload texts for our collection, you can reach out on our contact page.

Ethics:

We are faced with the common ethical question about hurting the sales of trans authors. However, the largest ever study on piracy actually found that the piracy of copyrighted books, music, video games, and movies has no effect on sales. In the case of video games, piracy actually helped sales. As far back as 2002, we can see piracy boosting sales of media. Trans Reads strongly encourages you to purchase the books that you enjoy here or find other ways to support the author.

Academic authors rarely – if ever – see income from sales of their books, articles, or chapters. Most want to remove the paywalls withholding their content. Trans Reads is open to collaborating with authors, publishers, and journals on making this a possibility through our website.

History:

In 2014, Leslie Feinberg published the 20th-anniversary edition of Stone Butch Blues, one of the most influential works of transgender literature. The novel was a way for trans, gender nonconforming, and queer people to realize ourselves. It told us we aren’t alone. However, when the publisher went bankrupt, Leslie had to struggle to regain ownership over hir own novel.

“I had to work to recover my rights to Stone Butch Blues. When the first publisher went into Chapter 11 court, I had to spend thousands of dollars of my wages on legal fees to recover the right to this novel… While very ill in Spring 2012, I recovered my rights again.”

Ze didn’t want the book to be released as a film adaptation exploiting hir story for straight fantasies. Ze also used the opportunity to make the book more accessible. First editions shot up into hundreds of dollars. The least expensive print versions are still over $30 on Amazon. This simply isn’t affordable to most queer and trans people. The fight ended with Leslie publishing hir novel on hir website as a PDF, a strategy of reclaiming transgender narratives from greedy publishes by collective ownership of the text.

Trans Reads is dedicated to the memory of Leslie and all those who feel alone. Most individuals don’t have institutional access and cannot afford to pay for texts. Transreads.org allows visitors to effortlessly read texts by, for, or related to trans people online for free as PDFs. Trans Reads is the space where anyone can easily discuss, add, or download trans content.

This project is intended to foster discussion around the current state of learning. We refuse paywalls and withholding education. Trans Reads provides the opportunity to access, discuss, and distribute texts related to our community on its website in a matter of seconds.

Knowledge, learning, and community must be de-commodified for our collective liberation. Take it from Leslie:

“And on the day those paper deeds of ownership are torn up, it won’t matter about protecting Stone Butch Blues anymore from commercial exploitation.”

Authors shouldn’t live in fear of their work being exploited or inaccessible. Trans Reads is just one small part of trans autonomy from corporate publishers. However, it is a necessary step toward engaging with our radical history, politics, and futures.

Click here to upload a text.

[twopoppies]

In your tags on the Andrew Garfield video you mentioned you hoped Florence and Harry had made up. I was not very present at all in the fandom during that period of time. Can you please fill me in on what went down between them?

Oh, nothing public. But I think Florence was furious with Olivia and, by extension, Harry. They were friendly prior to the shoot (as he was friends with her ex). But Olivia tried to combat the fact that Florence wouldn’t promote her shit show of a movie by saying that Florence and Harry had a fling at the beginning of filming, but then he chose Olivia. 🙄

Florence never addressed it, but it was a dirty tactic and so absolutely Olivia’s brand of misogyny. Not only does it pit the female director against the female lead, it puts them against each other over a man (in a battle that, of course, Olivia won). On top of maligning Florence’s character and work ethic, everything about that goes against the way she operates when it comes to her career.

Anyway, Florence ignored both Harry and Olivia at the Venice Film Festival, and if I had to guess, was equally angry at Harry for taking part in that idiotic PR game because it overshadowed the film. I’m just guessing that she was not interested in being his friend after that because she’s never mentioned him and she’s friendly with people he’s friends with. I’m hopeful that he’s gone out of his way to make amends. Mostly because I think they could be great friends, and I would love to see them interact, but also because she deserved a big apology.

[kdinjenzen]

On the whole SE thing, I have a question because I agree with you fully about the AI crap, but I have been full hyperfixation excited for Rebirth, which is saying a lot because life has been soul sucking shit and mustering enthusiasm for anything has been an uphill battle. Where is the line for supporting a cause you firmly believe in, and self indulgence that contradicts that for the sake of personal pleasure? It feels like I either stick to the fight and let something positive to me go or ignore it for myself, which just feels selfish and wrong. This has been eating at me since that news dropped and I don't know if there is a right answer or if any of this even makes sense outside of my own mad rambling. Any input?

13,000+ people were laid off just within the video game industry last year. All the big corps who did those layoffs said “no, Ai won’t replace anyone” and then announced heavy dealings with Ai generated writing, art, animation, etc.

Over 13,000 people… and that’s just in video games.

That’s not counting other branches of the entertainment industry which have also said “no, Ai won’t replace anyone” and then also announced they’d be dipping into Ai generated writing, art, animation, etc after doing massive layoffs.

And if you’re thinking “Ai isn’t that far along” - Disney used Ai generated content for the intro to one of its Marvel Disney+ series last year, SE already has Ai artwork in their games and in their promotional materials, and Valve now allows generative Ai (artwork, animations, assets, voices, etc) developed games on their platform.

The only thing businesses, corporations, CEOs/Owners, etc understand is money. If you talk big talk on social media and can’t back that talk up by not buying a thing, they’ll just use the money you gave them to prove you wrong.

The generative Ai companies have already shown their whole ass by having massive lists leaked of artists, animators, voice actors, musicians, etc that they’ve stolen from. You can’t even pretend “well maybe it’s actually ethical and they asked permission” when there are lawsuits from artists of all kinds, bug and small, trying to take these generative Ai companies down for outright stealing their work to train their Ai program.

There’s a whole world of games, movies, books, etc out there to enjoy that don’t steal people’s works and cut people’s jobs to make “quick and easy content for cheap” - find something different to enjoy.

But, quite frankly, anytime I speak my piece about ethical treatment of workers I’m either ignored or harassed so it honestly feels like it doesn’t matter what I say despite dealing with shit like this from multiple sides of the industry and from people for 17 years.

So you do what you wanna do, you’re a whole person yourself and can make your own choices and draw your own line in the sand.

However, not only was I one of those affected TWICE by layoffs because of this, but countless of my friends and colleagues were also let go in favor of building cheaper things with Ai.

[trainsinanime]

I sometimes reblog posts about US Americans being weird here, but honestly I don't love how angry or smug most of these posts are. It's just that angry and smug posts tend to get more traction, and so they get reblogged more, and so I tend to see them and reblog them myself. Hm, maybe there's a lesson for all of social media and for me in particular here.

Anyway, what I want out of these posts is not for any US Americans here to feel bad; it's just "funny" and perhaps, perhaps a tiny bit of consideration for how being US American means you experience the internet on easy mode.

This is not your personal fault. Nor is it ethically wrong. It's just a thing that exists, and it may be worth thinking about it.

Examples of that easy mode include:

It's your language. The vast majority of people on the internet need to know a second language to at least participate passively, let alone actively post. It's not just the internet; for e.g. my job, all documentation for all the tools is only in English, and I was required to listen to English lectures and write both my bachelor's and master's thesis in English, my second language, to pass. That's why e.g. posts about bilingualism tend to cause a bit of a discussion, because knowing a second language isn't a special skill but a necessary survival tool.

It is your world-wide culture. The list of most popular video games, TV shows, movies and songs tend to be fairly similar across the world (in particular the part of it we call it the western world, another discussion that I'll get into below), and they're dominated by the output of US media. There is no equivalent to e.g. Disney anywhere outside of the US.

It's your debates and discussions. Because of the huge importance the US has economically and culturally (not to mention militarily), we tend to discuss US topics a lot, and we tend to discuss them from an American point of view.

This introduces American oddities into a lot of the world. For example, I'm a STEM guy, I have a STEM education, a STEM job and my primary hobbies are also STEM based, so what I notice are imperial measurements like feet and inches. Those are not "one of two equally valid choices", they're the unique hobby of the English-speaking countries, and within them, increasingly only the US. But we still tend to see them here as if they were a normal usual thing, and often europeans (including me) feel compelled to provide translations into these units.

But it's not limited to that, court room dramas are another example where courts in the English-speaking world tend to work very differently from those in the rest of the world. E.g. there's no pleading guilty or innocent in most of the world. There are boundless more examples of that, and these things can be grating every once in a while.

As I said before, I don't think there's any moral value here either way. You're not wrong for being an American (but you're also not better because of it). As I hinted at before, I'm still in a very privileged position myself, being from a wealthy European country, and my culture even without Disney is still far closer to that of the US than it is to most of the rest of the world. I'm sitting in the very same glass house, just maybe a different corner (TODO fix this metaphor before posting).

For example, I'm talking about court rooms and inches versus meters, but if we're thinking about history and ethics, there's deep issues in both of them. When it comes to measurements, it's ultimately the question of whether you use the measurements of London or those of Paris. For most of the world it's a colonial imposition either way. You can make arguments for why one is better for technology than the other (and as you can probably guess, I have strong opinions here), but in the grand scheme of things, neither of them is more "ethical" or more "universal", not really anyway. Same with the way legal systems work, where again, countries either adopted (and more often than not were forced to adopt) either the English system or the French system (with quite a few countries choosing to adopt the German version of the French system as well).

I know that's a boring digression but it's something that's usually missing from these posts, especially ones written by europeans, including some I've written myself. I don't really have a conclusion to any of this either, except perhaps that this is something that's worth being aware of.

[packet-of-staples]

Have you always wondered that you really wish that undertale would also gets it’s own adaptation since cuphead and fnaf gets it’s own

(it’s much better if undertale was like a animated series)

(And I really do wish it got it’s own adaptation cause I love the games😔)

I actually hope undertale never gets an adaptation outside of the video game format! The game is so intrinsically tied to the fact that it is a video game I dont know how you would adapt it.

Games like Cuphead, Fnaf and Mario's plots arent as tied to their video game mechanics like Undertale's plot is.

Entire plot points and characters just would not work (Like Flowey's entire character, resetting, choosing to spare or kill etc.). The whole story hinges on what you the player chose to do and that gets thrown out the window when you are watching something.

The active role the player has in shaping the story by sparing or killing cannot be replicated by a passive watching audience. Not in a way I think has the same impact anyway. Your choices are what make Undertale what it is.

Sure the story its self is very good! Outside of the mechanics. But a lot of the emotional battles like Asriel, Omega Flowey, Sans or Asgore are so inextricably tied to flipping the mechanics you have learnt on its head to illicit a reaction (see, Asgore breaking the Mercy button in a pacifist run through. You cannot spare him despite having done so for every other character. This is shocking to the player and I dont think it could work the same in a different format).

Or okay let's take the entire Omega flowey fight. What save points is he drawing back on to move you or kill you over and over when it is in film format? Who's save file does he discard when you cant make a save file when watching a movie? How about when he crashes the game after you die? How would you implement that into a film? You really cant.

How would you explain the ethics around resetting if you are unable to actively reset? You would not be able to relate to Flowey, get that gut punch in genocide when you realise you have become just like him after resetting and slaughtering all of your friends. When watching a tv show or movie YOU are not doing anything, the character on the screen is, you are just an onlooker with no ability to alter the story.

Toby wants it to feel like you're playing with these characters like toys you can discard, love or damage whenever you want and makes you think about the ethics around that. Characters in a video game feel a lot more like playing with toys than watching a film does, because in a video game you are able to make an impact on what they say or do. While in a film characters have a set script, you have no impact, there are no choices you have to make aside from keep watching.

Undertale's Metanarrative is woven into it's very being. By separating it from the video game format I feel like you are just gutting it of what made it special in the first place. You would have to rework it so much, I feel like you'd might as well just write a whole new story.

Does this make sense? Its 1 am while I'm writing this so I hope I'm not talking in circles.

[skullshoal]

I don't have enough youtube to watch so I'm gunna recommend some channels to you and then you gotta recommend some channels to me ok?

Pawsbuild: I followed him for his planet zoo content cause I love that game. He just finished building a massive "ethical zoo" that's really cool. But he also plays other similar simulation games like Manor Lords and Jurassic World Evolution 2. Just chill videos.

Serpadesign: A guy who builds terrariums and vivariums. He owns a lot of fish and frogs and such and builds very loving homes for them. Does a lot of update videos so you can see how the environments have done over time.

Peter Brown: Funny crafty guy. He's a big dork and loves resin and using the lathe but he semi recently got a laser engraver. He's pretty funny and makes lots of strange things.

Brutal Moose: Mixture of food reviews and retro stuff like weird older shows movies and games. Kinda a little of everything. Most notable thing is his editing style. He's pretty straight faced with over the top editing gags.

Imamu Room: A japanese mom living in canada who makes cooking videos. She doesn't speak in the videos but has edited in subtitles talking about what shes doing usually. Cute and homey videos with lots of interesting food.

Crafsman Steady Craftin: The Nicest Sweetest guy you'll ever see. Crafsman makes all sorts of crafts but his main interest is toys and animation. Does a lot of stuff with resin but his channel covers a little of everything tbh. He makes all the music in his videos. Tons of tutorials. A soft and wonderful voice. If you don't look at anyone else on this list I recommend Crafsman the most.

[voidsentprinces]

So there's a group of entertainers called Vtubers. People who use virtual avatars or characters to stream games and things to entertain with. As with any medium i.e. movies, games, tv, etc. There are always going to be big groups. Your Playstations, Xboxes, and Nintendos if you will. Far as I can tell there are three big groups Hololive, Nijisanji and Vshojo.

Recently, Nijisanji has had an increasing series of graduations (a retirement where the talent's character and content is stopped completely, a series finale if you will, a show end) including, most recently, the graduation of the talent Selen Tatsuki. The chronological of public events are as follows, from my attention at least. Selen posts a song before Christmas that is a Cover of someone else's song. She got the go ahead from the Original Artist to cover said song, wholeheartedly. Management greenlit it. The Original Artist told both Selen and Management that it was fine to cover and post. Within a few hours of being up, Management takes it down. Selen voices a complaint cause like, what the hell guys. Everything was on the level. Selen suddenly goes silent on social media. Twitter is updated that she is in the hospital for an accident. Another few weeks of radio silence. People are asking on an update about her health. Suddenly, her graduation is announced and there is no stream for it.

Fast forward to her previous account, some (see also most in some cases) talents don't start out with an agency, Dokibird. Who reveals that she had been bullied in the company to the point where making an attempt on her life. Which left her hospitalized, additionally previously, as a talent you want to try to think of community events and stuff to entertain your audience. These can take the form of movie nights, tournaments, etc. As it turns out, all the projects she tried to get off the ground that was communicated with the management of Nijisanji were accepted and green lit and were suppose to be paid for by...you know...the corporate company running things. Had to come out of her own pocket to the ending tune of appoximentally $200,000. Additionally, additionally, Nijisanji accused Doki (Selen) or ill advised behavior while working with them as well as not getting proper copy right approval for the song that was posted previously that was then taken down.

As the original artist confirmed that Selen had gotten permission. We can assume the statement released by Nijisanji is slander in an attempt to paint a horrible picture of a previous employee. Legal action had begun to take place against Nijisanji on the side of Dokibird. Nijisanji releases merch sales that includes a voice pack that Doki had worked on for the character of Selen despite all that had transpired. In, what I can only describe as the Blizzard Entertainment move of "Look at this shiny new product, ignore the drama going on over there". But, her fanbase and a large part of the vtuber community as a whole was not having it and backlash ensued. Doki called for no backlash or inappropriate behavior towards talents still working with Nijisanji. Because people gotta eat and there is no ethical consumption under capitalistic society. The other talents still working with Nijisanji are just doing their jobs and trying to keep their heads above the water. It is the management, investors, and board members of Nijisanji that should been held accountable for their actions against Dokibird.

Such actions include:

Being aware of the bullying taking place and being complacent in doing nothing about it

Greenlighting projects, making her pay out of pocket and then cancelling them a week or even the day of said project's event

Taking over her twitter after she had been hospitalized from the attempt on her own life and posing as her to make it seem like "business as usual"

Calling her EMERGENCY CONTACT while she was IN THE HOSPITAL! And DEMANDING she retract any negative statements about them taking down the COVERED SONG VIDEO that they AGREED TO, GREENLIT and she got the original song writer to OKAY THE COVER TO POST

Despite the legal actions behind closed doors, Doki was content with leaving the other livers out of this. And pursuing Nijisanji the company, legally, and quietly. Without further involvement until the case was over. So she can move on and begin to heal herself after such emotional and physical turmoil from the aforementioned attempt.

Enter, today. Doki was content to just continue streaming and move on with her life. But then, Nijisanji scheduled a stream to drop just before Doki went live. Where they had multiple talents read off a scripted response to Doki's actions and MAKE PUBLIC! DOCUMENTS THAT WERE TO REMAIN PRIVATE IN COURT PROCEEDINGS FOR THE CASE AGAINST THEM. WHICH WERE MADE TO SHOW NO ONE ELSE! BUT DOKI AND NIJI'S MANAGEMENT/LAWYER TEAM. That held PRIVATE INFORMATION including but not limited to: Her real name, address and perhaps even her MEDICAL RECORDS. But we're clearly shown to whoever wrote the script and then Nijisanji decided to broadcast this knowledge to the entire internet while using their employed talents as voice boxes to communicate this to the rest of the community.

Thats right. Documents that were suppose to never leave the court system or filings. We leaked. By the accused company. Willingly. Live. Where it can be traced back to them easily. To THOUSANDS. While forcing their talents to read off a script in connection it.

That's what the fuck, they did today.

[prosciuttulipa]

Congrats on your follower milestone! I’m a new follower, but I’d like to join if that’s ok 🥰

May I have a male matchup from Jujutsu Kaisen and a text conversation with my match? 💕

I’m a hard worker who tends to be friendly, cheerful, and a bit eccentric. I’m methodical and relentless in my approach to puzzles and issues that need to be resolved. Also, I work in medicine, so I often need to remain calm and collected to lead during emergencies.

I love children, science, cats, movies (especially sci-fi, fantasy, or horror), video games, snowy/rainy weather, coffee, the whole Fall season, tabletop games (like D&D), and music. My hobbies are gardening, cooking/baking, reading, and singing. I dislike rude people, spiders, hot weather, raw tomatoes, laziness, and disorganization.

My love language is a tie between acts of service and quality time. I show others love through acts of service, and I am notorious for baking or cooking for people to show my affection.

Green flags would include good communication, honesty, and sincerity. Insulting me or not trusting me would be an instant deal breaker.

I’m short, blonde, and curvy. My fashion taste is very “witchy” or whimsigoth.

Congratulations, you have been matched with...

Nanami Kento

Nanami doesn't date for fun, he dates to marry. Everyone around him knows that, so whoever he decides to give his time to is someone he considers a match made in heaven. And when he finally decides to introduce you? Oh, they understand.

With no exaggeration or artifice, Kento considers you the perfect woman. He respects your diligent work ethic—it parallels his own—and your ability to stay calm during crisis. Although he's more than happy to play hero for his love, he has to admit that it's comforting to know you can hold your own if he can't immediately rush to your side. But at the end of the day, Kento is a traditional man: if you let him, he'll earn the money for the household, make sure the tedious work is taken care of, so you can do what you want without a worry. As a result, it's no surprise that your more stereotypically feminine interests make his heart flutter. He adores how you love children and cats, the songs you hum as you tend to your garden, the countless baked goods you leave for him on the kitchen counter. He wants to protect this bubble of love and domesticity, this glimpse into what will hopefully be a married life with you. He works harder than ever at work, determined to earn as much money and time to spend with you as possible.

Acts of Service and Quality Time are also Kento's love languages, which means that both of you are apt at recognising the gestures of love you offer each other. It becomes a playful competition every now and then, to see who can do more for the other, until you two fall into a heap on the sofa, giggling at your shared childishness. Movie nights are a staple in your household, and he happily watches your pick of sci-fi and fantasy. He doesn't care for horror, unsure why you like being frightened—but he enjoys it when you burrow against him, brushing your hair to calm you down.

Dates with Nanami include baking together, going out to restaurants he recommends, and boardgame nights. He likes doing things you enjoy—a happy wife is a happy life, after all.

The Matchmaker's Gift:

[honoringthehorrific]

I watched Alien: Romulus and here's what I thought!

As always friends Spoilers under the cut!...👽

Gosh first can I apologize for not being as active recently? I've seen this movie 3 times and am just now getting to writing my review! Might as well torch me now! haha. Seriously though I'd like to stay active on this blog it's just hard to find stuff to talk about sometimes when I come away from these movies. I'd like to start this off by saying this is going to be a pretty glowing review. If you haven't seen Romulus, or any of the alien movies...What the hell are you doing here??? Get out! Go see it! If for some reason you cant get out and go see it please spare yourself spoilers until you can find it on streaming! This franchise from what i've seen so far is one of my favorites. If you love sci-fi, body horror, bad ass female leads, or slimy slithering creatures in general you should really give this one a chance.

I feel like a lot of people wanna talk about this so lets get it out of the way. Rook. The artificial person we meet when things start heating up. Obviously he is a CGI rendition of Ash's actor from the first movie Ian Holm. You may be screaming at me right now about ethics. How this took a job from an actor. How technology is bad because it's going to take work from actors. I hear you. I was on the fence about this too. In truth AI replacing human workers is a topic near and dear to my heart because it's something that worries me as an artist myself. However, Reading about how Alvarez got permission from Holm's widow. How Holm felt almost blacklisted from hollywood after so many years in the sci-fi and fantasy genres. It made my opinion of this soften. If that makes you disregard my review or even me as a person I understand. I'm happy I was able to give you my thoughts and that you gave me your time. Now, The CGI of Holm's face is....not the best? His eyes and mouth move strangely if you pay too close of attention however it was something I could easily ignore as the movie progressed. Overall however with the other effects I think this movie did very well! I loved the way the facehuggers looked and moved and we even got to see up close the egg laying...tube...thing? Forgive me I'm not well versed in facehugger anatomy. The chest burster actually having to work to burrow it's way out and the xenomorph's acid just all of it felt really great! I only very recently watched the second alien movie and I intend to watch the rest of the alien sequels in the near future so don't be upset with me! However it seems like if you've only seen the first two this one will make plenty sense. I've seen people complain about the pacing being really slow and the only thing I really have to say to that is...The first two movies, at least to me, felt equally as "slow." However I wouldn't necessarily say this is a slow movie! It kept me interested each step of the way. Usually I hate watching something that feels like it's dragging it's feet so I feel like if the movie were truly a drag someone with my attention span would have noticed. On the subject of noticing things this movie has a TON of fan service and nostalgia. There's quotes from the previous films, Visual references, and even a nod to the video game Isolation! Some people really lay on a lot of flack for that kind of thing but it's been 7 years since the last alien movie so it's kind of something I expected if that makes sense? Also If it's something I love, I'm usually a sucker for fan service! Yeah some of the quotes felt kinda off in the dialogue (Personally when Andy says he prefers the term artificial person, That felt like an off moment to me? I could be nit picking but it just felt like it didn't flow with the previous dialogue.) But over all I liked easter egg hunting on my second and third watch. In terms of characters there were some misses like Navarro where I really wanted to learn more about her but we don't really get the chance. We see and learn a lot about Andy and Raine's relationship as siblings but its hard to tell what the other's relationships are to each other until they outright say or are on their deathbeds.

Overall I liked the effects, the action, the pacing and the characters. It did fall flat in some spaces but honestly I think it's one of my favorite movies of the year next to Immaculate. 4.5/5 Facehuggers!

[twistedtummies2]

Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes - Number 9

Welcome to A Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes! During this month-long event, I’ll be counting my Top 31 Favorite Fictional Detectives, from movies, television, literature, video games, and more!

SLEUTH-OF-THE-DAY’S QUOTE: “How do you think this all works? By being big and being bad.”

Number 9 is…Bigby Wolf, from The Wolf Among Us.

“The Wolf Among Us” is a video game made by the now-defunct developers Telltale Games. The game was based on the comic series “Fables.” I’m going to come right out and say it: I have never read the comics, and I have basically no real knowledge of them or how the characters and lore in them may differ from the established points in “The Wolf Among Us.” HOWEVER, very thankfully, the game is able to stand up on its own two feet regardless, and so are its characters, so even someone who has basically no knowledge of the source material can still enjoy it.

The game is a sort of choose-your-own-adventure sort of deal; a point-and-click adventure where the player’s choices every step of the way affect how the story plays out, the kinds of relationships you form with other characters, and so on. Some choices are more important than others, but virtually every choice of note is worth pondering. The plot is a combo of film noir crime story and dark fantasy: it takes place in a world where various characters from the world of fiction, after their universe was mysteriously destroyed, have fled to the “real” world in order to seek refuge. They’ve established their own city, called “Fabletown,” where real world problems combine with fantastical adventures, as they struggle to build new lives and survive in this different universe, and hide their identities from the “normies” who exist beyond the borders of the city.

The main character is Sheriff Bigby Wolf. Bigby, as you may have guessed from his name and the title, is the Big Bad Wolf of fairy-tale infamy himself. In the world of the game, Bigby is a werewolf, who can transform from a human to increasingly more wolf-like forms, his true and ultimate form being a GIGANTIC feral beast bigger than elephant, able to create hurricane-force winds with his breath alone, and more than capable of swallowing a person whole. Needless to say, with this kind of setup, and his reputation as one of the greatest, most archetypal villains in history, Bigby isn’t exactly a popular Sheriff. Many fear or distrust him, and those that don’t typically still keep their distance for one reason or another.

Because of the playstyle of Telltale games, Bigby’s exact personality can shift depending on the choices the player makes: he can be sort of a gentle giant, who looks rugged and tough but really isn’t that bad. In contrast, he can be much more morally and ethically dubious, an anti-hero closer to Dirty Harry, who walks a very fine line between a man and a monster. However, regardless of the choices you make, a few things remain constant: Bigby’s general demeanor is that of an almost stereotypical noir-style detective. He’s gruff, grumpy, coarse, and can’t seem to go five seconds without having a cigarette. He’s often cynical and sarcastic, very much the sardonic hard-boiled sleuth. The character is voiced by Adam Harrington, and he does a phenomenal job giving Bigby the airs of such a great archetype, while also injecting vulnerability and sympathy into his portrayal.

The most notable constant of all, however, is Bigby’s motivations: even if you make him especially nasty, it’s usually pretty clear that this Big Bad Wolf is racked with guilt over his past. He knows the stigma that hangs over him is VERY well-deserved, and he legitimately wants to try and help people and make things better. Even when he makes questionable decisions, the majority of them are still justifiable in some fashion or another. He doesn’t want to be seen as the bad guy anymore, he wants to try and start a new life. It’s up to the player to determine if Bigby is truly able to put away the vicious, cruel, beastly sides of his personality and turn over a new leaf, or if his efforts and desires are all in vain.

Even though Telltale officially closed down in 2018, the first game was so popular that it was eventually revived for an upcoming sequel, made by the remnants of the Telltale staff with help from AdHoc Studios. The new game is set to release sometime this year, though no official release date has been given. Whenever it arrives, I look forward to seeing how Bigby’s story continues, and what new paths and new cases will await him in the future.

Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 8!

CLUE: “Just one more thing…”

[gingerjunhan]

🧈 anon back again, and omg I loveddd the last one.

Kinda similar to the last request, but do you have any headcanons for all of xdinary heroes together taking a teenage trainee under their wing and being their biggest advocate

Like xdinary heroes is basically the readers family since they're international and have no family in Korea?

Sorry if that was alot lol, these guys are just so comforting

Please and thank you!

☆彡 I really love this idea 🧈anon. I think this low key “found family” thing you’ve got going on is really sweet! Sorry this one took longer than usual to get back to you. Hope you enjoy :)

word count: 648 (about 150 each) | pronouns used: none | genre: platonic fluff, found family? | cws: mentions of eating w/ Jungsu, not proofread

To find Gunil and Jun Han, click here!

If Gunil is going Dad Mode™️ then you already know that Jungsu is going Mom Mode™️. He checks in on you constantly, making sure you’re well taken care of.

“Did you eat yet today? Do you want me to order you something? You can gladly eat with us if you’d like!”

Mama bear Jungsu is so so proud of you at all times. He watches you learn and grow as an idol from a distance- trying not to interfere too much- and he can’t believe how quickly you’re making progress! He’s one of the first people who wants to hear about your accomplishments, and he makes sure to celebrate for you and your group and remind you all how great of a job you’re doing. Granted, he worries about you a lot, but you’re young! He would feel like he was an older brother to you, so he would always be willing to support you or stand up for you.

☆

Gaon is one of the members who makes sure you remember to take breaks. Are you free this weekend? Perfect, the guys are taking you to a movie. Need to destress? How about some video games? Gaon is here to make sure you remember that learning to be an idol can be hard, but it can also be lots of fun. If you’re stopping by during a practice, Gaon rallies you, Jooyeon, and Jun Han to have jam sessions.

“C’mon, (Y/N), join us! Strings only jam session! We might try to learn a new cover!”

Gaon would host game nights frequently, always making sure to invite you (and probably your band mates) in case you needed out of your dorm or needed a break from work. He’s a firm believer in an equal work and play balance.

☆

Protective, protective, protective!!! I am such a sucker for protective Seungmin, and you can’t tell me that he would be super protective of the young idols he takes under his wing. He has wonderful intentions, but he can take it too far. If you make a new friend he will absolutely try to find out everything he can about them to make sure they’re a good person. He would totally act as your personal security guard in public too.

“Woah, do you see that guy over there? He was totally looking at you. I better go teach him a lesson-“

Okay so he wouldn’t actually teach anyone “a lesson” but he would definitely be handing out evil glares led and right. I feel like Ode would also protect you from haters on his secret Twitter account 💀 (He absolutely has one and you cannot convince me otherwise.) At the end of the day, Ose would be your number one defender.

☆

Jooyeon can absolutely relate to you and the situation you’re in. As the youngest of the group, he knows exactly what position you’re in. He got into the idol industry decently young- not as young as you- but he still knows what it’s like to be in your shoes. I can see him being the person who would want to help you the most. He would pass on lessons that his hyungs have taught him, things he’s learned himself, and things he wishes he knew when he was at the stage you’re currently at. He would agree with Gaon on having an equal work/ play balance, but he would also encourage you to work hard, encouraging a good work ethic. I can imagine that he might’ve struggled with this? So he wouldn’t want that for you.

“How have your practices been this week? Have you gotten a lot done?”

I can also imagine Jooyeon offering to help you write lyrics or bass lines if you ever needed a hand. Asking for help can be scary, and Jooyeon would want to feel comfortable turning to him whenever you might need it.

[eggsaladsandwhic]

Ive been reading all these ungodly good College AU Trigun fics recently, and honestly think im just gonna write a whole fanfic. I likely post the Vash and Nai headcannons I have separately.

Some ideas I've been brewing and will just dump:

World building

- Future AU, but making it take place in the Midwest. Thinking interstellar vibes for this fic.

- Vash and Knives are still plants, and are trying to find a way to heal Earth.

- Rem is alive! She's wants her boys to get environmental science or ecology degrees.

- Plants are upper dimensional aliens, and the twins are the only ones tied to humanity.

- Seeds project is a private government sector experiment run by a council of scientists. (Rem being one of them)

-WARNING SCIENCE HEAVY FIC

- Fix it! fic

Yes There Will Be Romance

- Poly fic

- Snails pace slow burn

- I love platonic affection so there will be plenty

- No plantcest (sorry you weirdos)

- NSFW (I cannot resist not writing plantdick and maybe plantussy?) So minors DNI

- Vash x Original Female? Character x Knives

- OC is a whole farm kid, is her mother's daughter, but also grandfather's grandson type beat.

- Nurodivergent OC

- Environmental Science Major/ Geology and Soil science focused OC

- CHUBBY OC! THUNDER THIGHS AND BUILT LIKE A SACK OF GRAIN

- Low-key got some health issues though like asthma, anemia, and poor UV resistance

- OC works at a late night bakery

- (She/they) though if you called her one of dudes she'd be so happy.

- OC Hobbies: Rocks, Bones, plants, DND, video games, thought provoking movies, nature documentaries, tenor saxophone, and so much indie folk music

- Literally one of the few humans Nai can stand (she's literally an enigma to him, why is this human so soft and kind, but why is she so angry and nihilistic).

- OC meets Nai in environmental ethics...antics ensue.

- OC accidentally Pavlov's Vash (homestyle cooking be damned)

-you can def read this as a self insert but it makes it easier for writing

Some titles I'm thinking on

Anthropocentrism, Petunias and Bluebells, A Sky Like I've Never Seen.

Anyway gimme some suggestions and ideas I'm pretty open

[stitchlingbelle]

Halo Post-mortem

So... what did I think?

Honestly, I really enjoyed it! I admit that I came in with super low expectations, due to the vaunted Video Game Adaptation Curse, but across the board, the show was way better than I anticipated. The acting was solid, the visuals had care and thought behind them, the effects were good, and the characters were generally engaging (and/or enraging, as it should be).

Obviously, being useless at video games and therefore having absolutely no prior knowledge of the universe meant that I got to skip all the issues with the story and lore and what they chose to change for this "Silver timeline", which made it easier to like. Which led me to a realization...

It dawned on me about halfway through that one of the things I was enjoying about the show was the fact that I had no idea what was going on. Looking around, I realized that it's been literal years since I watched a scifi show where I didn't know the answers. Star Wars? Rey and Din may not know what a Jedi is, but I do. Star Trek? Since DS9 and VOY ended, there have been FOUR shows and/or movie series about the earlier days, and THREE of them feature Kirk and Spock. I was gnawing my laptop in frustration at not knowing who these aliens are or what the artifacts do or what the heck the halo actually is and why we care (note: this is still unanswered) AND IT WAS GREAT. It's a thrill to be piecing things together alongside the characters once again.

And that brings me to the only real complaint I have about the series: the modern mini-season is really too short for these sorts of stories. Everything needed to be shoehorned into essentially 8 episodes (to set up for the finale in 9). None of the characters, plotlines, or the halo mystery itself get to breathe. It's very effectively written to do a great job with the time they have, but everything happens because it has to-- characters can't take time to investigate xyz or try solution abc because the showrunners don't have time to show you that they did. They can't build up emotion or stakes, so they rely on the most efficient writing they can-- which in turn means relying on known tropes and cues to move the action, and the audience, along to their scheduled plot points. And they can't allow you to overlook a clue or piece of worldbuilding, so they can't be subtle.

(This is where the Kwan plot suffers the most, I think-- teenagers are hard to write, going from 'beloved as Luke Skywalker' to 'derided as Wesley Crusher'. Kwan's writing gets the most clichéd treatment and it shows.)

For a show that's trying to tap into a legion of pre-existing fans, it's particularly sad. The selling point of the show is getting to spend a few more hours in the world you love, with characters you love, experiencing it all again, hopefully in a way that is fresh and exciting. For me, it was like getting a tour of a best friend's new place right before going out for the night-- there's so much to stop and appreciate, the couch looks cozy, I want to chat with their roommate and pet their cat, but we only have ten minutes or we'll be late.

And what roommates we have! I'm usually a very character-driven fan, and I really enjoyed a lot of these characters. Kai was hands-down my favorite, and I'm impressed that they made her so compelling to me with so little (comparative) screentime. Her expressive nature breaking out was wonderful to watch. (And nothing bad had better happen to her, ever.) (...Nothing else bad.) Miranda and Laera were standouts to me as well-- Miranda for her sense of ethics and duty, Laera for her independent viewpoint and mysterious vibes.

Makee was well-acted (and well-dressed, my cosplay brain whimpers) and I could listen to her read the phonebook, but characters like her are written into a corner by their very nature. She either has a Redemption Arc, or she doesn't. She either gets to grow and change or stays a villain. Neither option is interesting. It's possible they could still surprise me with her-- I hope they do-- but I doubt it.

Parangosky, Keyes, and Halsey were all fascinating to watch in action; again, very efficient writing to cram in so many competing priorities, authorities, and past alliances. It's also interesting to hear from y'all how much darker they made Halsey. It's clearly a deliberate choice to make her such a bad guy, and I wonder where they're going with it.

My weird niche favorite character... was Halsey's clone, the one who died to make Cortana. Her one conversation with Halsey stole my heart and plot bunnies are breeding in my brain like tribbles.

Cortana herself was fun-- I appreciated her humor and her evolution from oblivious, order-following Siri to full-fledged person with her own opinions and agency. It'll be interesting to watch how being merged with John affects her. (Is it possible to grow her a body of her own? I feel like she'd love one.)

As for the man of the hour, the Master Chief/ John? He grew on me eventually. I've heard that the helmet thing and the brevity of his speech were to make him easier for players to project on to in-game, but it made him a bit bland to me with the compressed writing-- he's A Stoic Hero Guy even after the pellet gets out, if only because he's not allowed a single scene that isn't plot-relevant. (No hair dye for him! He didn't even get to read Makee's book or something.) I think that's why his comeback about overcoming indoctrination-- "I did"-- struck me so hard. It's one of the few bits of his interior life we get. In a week he became a new person, and crucially, saw himself as someone who had done so. That told me more about who he is and what he wants than anything else we got to see. I'm excited to get to know him better as he gets to know himself better.

I'm excited to follow along with them all!

...for however long each of them has left. The future in that trailer did NOT look bright.