thefabledpheasant

[thefabledpheasant]

You know what? I’m choosing to hope about this election. I’m choosing to believe the left will win until the election proves or disproves that.

I’m sitting here basically hyperventilating over what feels like the inevitable win for republicans, but why? It’s not over yet. They want me to give up. They want us to give up.

Frankly, I have all the time in the world to freak out about America being set on fire if they actually do win the election, so what’s the point in letting it get to me now when they don’t even have it yet.

Im going to fight by being hopeful and supporting the Democratic Party in whatever way I can and I hope you will, too. We have to be united. This is extremely important. Lives both in and outside of America are on the line. Our political climate for literal generations is on the line.

Hope for it to be better, but most importantly, fight for it to be better. VOTE for it to be better.

[thefabledpheasant]

I want to talk about politics because I’m extremely scared about this election now more than ever, but I don’t want to talk about politics because the stress is going to make me throw up and potentially lose my last shred of hope

[thefabledpheasant]

You guys realize this means we ALL have to vote now. No "don't wanna vote biden" excuses now- if we don't vote our rights are going to be taken away.

[thefabledpheasant]

Diamond of the Day where everything is the same except Arthur's not wearing gloves

[thefabledpheasant]

I started reading The Song Of Achilles last night and honestly it’s giving Merlin and Arthur vibes for me. Achilles and Patroclus aren’t really like Arthur and Merlin but idk something about it is filling the Merthur need for me.

[thefabledpheasant]

[thefabledpheasant]

i'm just curious bc i'm watching How to Train Your Dragon and i always forget how happy and calm it makes me feel. i mean, i did name my cat after Toothless the dragon. but i also love Lion King, that's my Disney comfort movie. and my Ghibli comfort movie is Spirited Away. watching any of these when i'm in a foul mood or my anxiety is high always helps 🥰 but i watch them just for fun too, not only when i'm in a mood. what about you?

[thefabledpheasant]

[thefabledpheasant]

the only thing that gets me MAD at merlin is how he talked to arthur after gwen's banishment. like, imagine your fiancé cheats on you with one of your closest friends and then your BEST FRIEND is on HER SIDE????? I'd have been so mad if I was arthur it'd be ON SIGHTT

i know merlins pov but arthur doesn't???? so surely there is a better way to approach this with him, merlin???

[thefabledpheasant]

Arthur: Merlin, get the hell out of here! I can’t pretend I’d rather marry her than you when you keep coming over here!

bbc merlin - 04x11 The Hunter's Heart

unfortunately, he does come off as a jealous ex to anyone who doesn't know what his deal is....which is pretty much everyone

[thefabledpheasant]

I’ve been sick these last 4 days and it’s awful but it made me realize that we were robbed of sick Arthur.

He’d either be a giant baby about it or he’d try to pretend he was fine while basically dying. Probably the latter since we’ve seen him try to play off very bad wounds, but I’d like to see both versions honestly.

And then Merlins reaction would be wonderful. If Arthur’s being a baby about it, Merlin would be so annoyed and petty. But if Arthur was trying to pretend nothing is wrong while looking like a corpse, Merlin would also be very annoyed and petty, but in a completely different way. Like, “I care about you so much and am worried about you so I’m going to annoy you into admitting you’re sick so I can take care of you”

[thefabledpheasant]

Merlin blog recs?

am i not enough for you?

kidding, of course. it all depends on what you're looking for, really.

a lot of good gifs come from people like @atdawn @gvaine @godmerlin

writing/analysis: @tansyuduri @thefabledpheasant @that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction @regulusrules

art: @merthurogies @irishyuri @noodles-and-tea @whamber (the others are currently escaping me)

blogs with a little bit of everything that are incredible (i gave up on categories very quickly, didn't i): @adhd-merlin @witchmd13 @sexy-sapphic-sorcerer @agapantoblu @centurieslove @aemelia @enchanted-blade @princess-of-morkva @floating-on-avalon @247merthur @merlinoutofcontext

all of them are wonderful and the more specific categories are only one side of what those blogs are about! beyond that, there are many other great ones out there!

[thefabledpheasant]

daily pre-training warm up for percival includes a fun little game called "how many squats can you do holding each knight"

[thefabledpheasant]

Not to go all doomed Yuri & doomed Yaoi on you guys, but picture this:

Arthur regularly says Merlin’s name in his sleep, but he has no idea he does that. Gwen’s heard him do it many times.

Gwen regularly says Morgana’s name in her sleep, but she has no idea she does that. Arthur’s heard her do it many times.

Neither one of them ever brings up that they heard the other. They just pretend like they don’t know the other is yearning for someone else.

[thefabledpheasant]

Merlin 2x02 The Once and Future Queen

[thefabledpheasant]

1. Audio Manips

I mean personally, I don’t really jive with the edits of actors having sex even without AI, but that’s not the point anyway. This is about AI. It’s about using AI to clone a human being. If it had been made without AI, I wouldn’t have said anything and instead just blocked them.

2. Actor Consent

Actors are aware and accept that when they play a character, people will engage with creating different kinds of art of the characters that have their face and body.

That doesn't mean there isn't a line in the sand. That doesn't mean they agree and accept that their voices/faces will be cloned.

This is the thing, a real persons rights are being infringed on when you do this. Arthur is not real, but Bradley James is. That is Bradley James’ voice. You aren’t just simply editing together words he spoke on screen, you are literally attempting to clone his voice and speech patterns so you can hear him say whatever you want. You are creating a voice puppet of him without his consent. The visual equivalent is digitally cloning his face/body to have him do whatever you want in a scene.

3. AI and creative spaces

I don’t really understand why something being done in the name of “fandom” creates this gray area. Infringing on the rights of human beings cannot be justified by the fact that it makes your fandom experience more enjoyable.

The reason I brought this up in the first place is because AI in the art world will make people lose their jobs if it’s normalized. These companies don’t want to just use it as a tool, they want to replace you. They want to take the humans out of human art because it gives the billionaires even more money. AI as a tool to help with non-creative related tasks is great, but that’s not what it’s being used for.

Idk if you're aware, but there was the biggest actors and writer strike in history very recently, mostly because the studios wanted actors to agree to Al replicas of them and the actors didn't want it. And they wanted the writers to be okay with AI being used so heavily it would make most of them obsolete.

4. What is “morally ok”

I mentioned before in my message I have always followed the rule of just ignoring what I don’t like because not everything is for me and that’s fine.

But this is about the use of AI and the way it’s shaping the world. Specifically the world for artists like us. Specifically in using peoples faces/works without consent to make its own “art”. This is actively harming the future for artists and performers. I already basically said in the other paragraphs why AI is not okay, but to recap:

any kind of AI cloning is infringing on that persons right when they haven’t consented to it. Their face and bodies are their identities and that shouldn’t be taken lightly. The other problem with AI is companies don’t want them as tools, they want to replace humans because it saves them money. AI is not art and completely removes what makes art human. Normalizing AI for art is genuinely detrimental to our future.

I never pushed the issue through DMs. I sent both of you one ask each trying to explain why this is harmful, and when they responded I just decided to drop it because I could tell we’d go in circles, though the other blog agreed with me the smut was too far. I did not send multiple post replies. I made two separate posts about the issue of AI voice cloning but I didn’t tag or name anyone involved because I wasn’t trying to send hate but instead talk about a topic that is extremely detrimental to our futures if we don’t impose lines in the sand.

Alright, I just saw a post using voice cloning of Colin Morgan and Bradley James for a smutty Arthur x Merlin fanfic scene and it’s not ok. I’m going to message the creator and the author of the fanfic and explain why it shouldn’t be on there, but please if you see it do not reblog it or endorse it.

AI voice cloning is not ok. AI has no business in art. The actors did not consent.

I truly don’t wish any hate to anyone, but this is not a topic that should be taken lightly. It’s not an issue of “oh it’s just not for me” it’s an issue of consent and what is morally ok to do.

[thefabledpheasant]

in other news, writing fanfiction still takes a lot longer than i expect it to.