SEBASTIAN STAN SHARPER (2023)

I posted this as a comment on a Reddit thread earlier thread but decided to delete it and make a post bc it's tl;dr for a comment. Then it became tl;dr for a Reddit post, too, so I'm bringing it to my tumblr. Disclaimer that these are just my thoughts as a fan and an observer re: Watcher's shift to streaming.

So I've long thought that YouTube isn't the right platform for Watcher, bc their biggest problem is that they don't function the way that "modern" YouTube requires. Back in the day, it was easier to turn a profit on YouTube but these days, to be successful, you have to utilize the tools YouTube gives you to make money, which are channel memberships, livestreams, and sponsored ads. Watcher doesn't do any of those things which hurts them as those are huge opportunities for revenue that are just being ignored. Their video game series is perfect content to be held via livestream, for example; so are the debriefs. Even if they did a monthly livestream with Superchats and memberships, they'd rake in so much money. I don't know why they don't.

But on top of that, Watcher doesn't work with The Algorithm, which - I don't like The Algorithm, but it's a fact that content creators have to lean into it in order to build their audience. YouTubers who are successful now not only do the memberships et al. but they also upload consistently, usually once or twice a week. Videos come out pretty quickly after they're filmed, and they're usually centered around a specific thing. The variety of Watcher is a big draw bc it pulls in a lot of people who are there for different things, but it works against them too, bc they only post weekly when they're in an active season of a show, and so the audience that only tunes in for 8 weeks of Mystery Files, for example, may not visit the channel again for another year or six months whenever the next season comes out. It's hard to keep a consistent audience to provide the numbers needed when the content appeals to all kinds of people and their model of "seasons" that are shot in advance and go through a long post-production process works against them.

So I can see why they want to move away from YouTube. They don't want to be just another cookie-cutter channel, and I feel like they especially want to distance themselves from the oversaturated (and frankly cringe) YouTube ghost-hunting genre that's exploded recently (Ryan keeps throwing shade at probably Sam and Colby, plus while I enjoyed the last season of GF, I also found it uncomfortable to watch at times bc Shane's disdain for all of it was just hard to sit through, for me; it wasn't fun). But they don't seem to realize that, in creating their niche, they've really painted themselves into a corner where their content doesn't work anywhere but YouTube.

So instead of trying to launch a whole new streaming service, they need to be willing to change up their model to make it more adaptable to YouTube. A more flexible "upload model" - with memberships, livestreams, and ad sponsors - would give them the revenue they're looking for, but that would also require them to dial back the production value and lose some employees, and their unwillingness to do that is what's going to ultimately make them fail. And it's weird bc their audience doesn't even care about production value! GF would be a lot better if they changed up the format and didn't bring 10 people on location, so it's like - clearly they're the ones who want the better production value, not us. It's not for us but they want us to pay for it? Bruh???

I feel like it's really such a shame, and as much as I love Watcher, I don't want to pay for another streaming service and I'm so goddamn sick of paywalls on literally the entire internet that I just cannot. I'm tired of not being able to use a website or even browse without having to make an account, I'm tired of having to make an account and then only being able to use one or two features if I don't also pay, or getting slammed by ads that essentially make the website unusable bc there's ads all over it, I'm tired of websites that pop up with that godawful "you're using an adblocker, please disable to proceed to our website!" message. I'm tired of things being locked up and inaccessible and while I understand that people should be paid for their work, there are ways Watcher can make money and get paid that don't involve trying to hustle their audience to pay for a streaming service to access like 12 episodes of content a year. Just ugh.

Saw this on facebook and didn't realize it was an actual promo ad for a tv show at first; I just saw it and my first thought was, it's color theory lol.

You can check out of tumblr any time you like, but you can never leave.

@gia-selene-baczewska It was so nice to receive this comment last night, my friend! I haven't done much with them bc I'm frustrated with trying to get LokiSim to look like Loki, and in retrospect Thor is giving Uncanny Valley (I mean, I like hyper-realistic Sims but I've since learned that's unpopular on the internet, so I didn't plan to share any further posts in general and just continue being a weirdo privately), but in general they're still just hanging out in-game with their science baby.

Fun fact: The Sims makes you build romantic relationships from the total start, so a few hijinks:

- They started the game as already living together, and they're not set to brothers

- They had a science baby together (which is the Sims version of - not a surrogate, exactly, but more like a literal test tube baby from both of their DNA lmao) so they are each literally their baby's father

- There is only ONE BED

... and yet despite all of this, I had them skinny dipping in their pool at like 3am and Loki went to make a move on Thor and got shot down! Thor was like "oh sorry I don't like guys" lmaooooo. Because apparently the game just defaults to Sims being straight unless you specify otherwise.

So I had to go and make Thor bisexual, as per my headcanon, and then they went skinny dipping again and when Thor tried to make a move on Loki, Loki was just like, "No thanks, I'm not interested" for no other reason than bc he was salty at being rejected before.

Last time I left them, they weren't too pleased with one another, and then Loki randomly showed up as the guy who stands around playing the guitar at festivals in the city, with a tip box and everything, so we've discovered Loki apparently plays the guitar in my Sims universe version.

(I don't know how familiar you are with the Sims so I hope these updates make sense.)

So yeah, there we are. I will have to check in on them today to see how they're doing; since I originally posted this, I've created and started to play even more households, so sometimes I forget about the boys :(

I hope you're doing well!

Reblog and put in the tags if you make "your mom" jokes or not

Damn right, I’m hot.

some of yall need to understand that "my body, my choice" also applies to:

addicts in active addiction with no intention of quitting

phys disabled people who deny medical treatment

neurodivergent people who deny psychiatric treatment (yes, including schizophrenic people and people with personality disorders)

trans people who want or don't want to medically transition (yes, including trans masc lesbians with top surgery and trans women without bottom surgery, yall are so weird to them wtf)

and if you can't understand that, then you don't get to use the phrase

It's gonna be such a funny mess when Donald Trump dies of a stroke on April 1st, 2024.

Naturally everybody will think it's fake because of the date only to lose their minds (both positively and negatively based on their opinion of trump) when realizing it's real

There will be massive celebrations in the streets and on social media and lots of predictable "don't speak ill of the dead" discourse about those celebrations

Weird evangelicals will pull some weird number trick talking about how Jesus was conceived on April 1st and that makes Trump a sort of messiah and people will make fun of that

The Republicans (after they're done with the faux-sadness and faux-outrage) will stomp over each other to be his successor but none of them will succeed. They'll tear each other apart and have no single nominee for the November elections.

There will be discourse about if Biden and the living former presidents should go to his funeral (they won't, he was a traitor insurrectionist)

The Ukraine-Russia War immediately goes in favor of Ukraine as morale in the Kremlin is reduced. China similarly backs off from its threats on Taiwan.

Ten thousand new memes are made, some sticking around for years to come.

Not a month later a bunch of unofficial biographies of Trump hit the bookshelves, many with new details about just how awful he was.

Tom Hiddleston thanks Zawe Ashton while accepting the win for Best Sci- Fi/Fantasy Show for "Loki" at the 2024 People's Choice Awards

Anyone have any short prompts or idea nuggets for a short story with a creepy, spooky theme (ghosts, specifically)?

Asking for a friend.

Surfacing from my Sims rabbit hole to share my current version of Loki and Thor; they have evolved since November as I've been learning how to use all the custom content tools and mods to make my game 1000 times better.

Thor looks as legit as he's going to get, whereas Loki still needs work to look like Tom Hiddleston. (Note - Thor is the result of a pre-made Chris Hemsworth mask someone else made; I just modified it with other tools to make him my Thor. I am looking for a similarly amazing mask for Loki.)

So, in my game, they live in-world with the 17 or so other households I am actively playing, so I haven't done too much else with them besides played with their appearance. But after they did this little selfie photoshoot, I had them make a science baby together, so they're now the proud parents of Constance Brodinson. Which means I get to build a nursery and play with cute baby clothes, so ... back to the rabbit hole I go.

Ryan Bergara is the hyperfixation representation we all need. He collected root-beer bottles to the point that he had a full shelf of them and kept them in his room, organized by favorite in front, so he could think about them every so often cause they made him happy. He gets so obsessed with things that he forgets to do anything else. He has an entire podcast where he infodumps about amusement parks. I love him. He’s so me I fear.

a few reminders because i’m tired and angry

fandom is a hobby, not a form of activism

adult women aren’t inherently creepy for being in fandom and having hobbies apart from raising babies and doing taxes

the vast majority of people pushing back against the worrying trend of instigating harassment over fictional characters and relationships aren’t incest supporters or pedophiles, actually

liking a m/f ship doesn’t make someone a dirty heterosexual invading your space

preferring gay ships doesn’t make you ‘’woke’’ and good

no one owes you a disclaimer that they are a good person who recognizes that their favorite fictional villain’s actions are evil and that they don’t condone those actions irl

liking a fictional villain is in no way comparable to advocating abuse/murder/genocide/etc and you’re a fucking idiot if you believe that

just because a woman is attracted to a fictional villain doesn’t mean she’s promoting toxic relationships or going to end up in a toxic relationship. assuming women can’t tell fiction and reality apart stinks of internalized misogyny 

some rando’s a/b/o fanfics have none of the level of influence that popular tv shows and movies spreading propaganda have

no one owes you a detailed description of their traumas and mental health problems

abusive relationships are not the same as enemies to lovers ships

y’all need to chill the fuck out over people, relationships, actions and events that don’t actually exist and learn how to enjoy and discuss them like normal people

fandom is a hobby, not a form of activism

feel free to add more

Sims 4 - Ashley Spinelli (Recess)

it really is so annoying how ppl in the west so clearly understand that their own civilians are distinct from their governments and that wherever a fascist rises there are swaths of people living in that country who hate them and resist them and are first and foremost victimized by them but everywhere outside of the holy light of personhood is just full of mindless barbarians who worship fascism

I've been in a Sims 4 spiral for a few days (which happens every few years) and I spent like 12 hours designing Thor and Loki's dorm room from Set the Fractured Bone. The entire time I was doing it, though, this little voice in the back of my head was telling me how I'm wasting my time, this is stupid, people don't care about this, why am I not being productive, etc.

Then today I got a comment on the story from a reader, asking if I planned to finish the story. And it was like a fun little mood booster and a reminder that if I still have a story to tell (which I do), and aspects about it to share, then it's not a waste of time. And, I don't know, I just found it weirdly validating, so the moral of the story is, leave comments on stories even if they haven't been updated in years. (Nice comments, not entitled ones.) Chances are your comments make a difference to the author.

Tom and Zawe attend the “Evening Standard Theatre Awards”