#BELIEVE me i get it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

delicatefury · 2 years

Text

I wonder how many people realize that the best way to support the cartoons they love is to… buy the merch?

The official merch.

It really is that simple. It’s why Transformers and My Little Pony keep coming back. It’s why there are so many Barbie movies. Why Kevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe failed but the 3D animated He-Man is thriving. Why Pokemon is the biggest money making franchise of all time and will never not have an anime. Why Bluey, Cocomelon, and other little kid cartoons are having money poured into them while other studios are being cut off ruthlessly. It’s why Frozen and Cars got fucking sequels while The Owl House was reduced to 3 specials for its final season.

Because, for those IPs, people buy the official merch.

Parents aren’t going on Etsy to get a hand-crochet plush of Bluey or Bingo. They’re picking one up at Target. The Transformers collector isn’t buying small batch stickers from a fanartist on redbubble, he’s buying an official hasbro figure at the comic store and his kids a sticker sheet at Walmart. Hand painted cards are never going to replace the Pokemon TCG.

And that’s where companies make their animation budget back. Not through advertisements. Not through subscriptions. Merch.

And it doesn’t matter if the fan stuff is better made. It doesn’t matter if you can commission exactly what you want. As much as it sucks, fan merch is copyright infringement, and the animation companies don’t see a single red cent from it.

You can sign all the petitions you want. You can stream every single one of these cartoons in the background on a repeat to falsify watch numbers, you can post all the fanart and fanfiction you want in an active fandom of millions and it won’t save your show. So long as the cartoon isn’t justifying the expense of animation from official merchandise sales, the companies have no incentive to keep making them.

I’m not saying those actions never work. But the surest way to make sure these companies stay invested in your favorite cartoon, is to make sure their investment in your favorite cartoon pays off.

Edit: it’s in a reblog, but I’m adding it here too.

I’m aware that these companies aren’t making that much merchandise for some of these shows. Definitely not at the level a bunch of shows from my childhood were. In which case we need to be asking three important questions:

Why do they not think these shows are marketable?

Why are they making these shows if they don’t think they are marketable?

How do we let them know we will buy official merch in a quantity that will get their attention?

Money talks to these corporations, so why are they cutting off their ears?

190 notes · View notes

lillotte17 · 14 days

Text

.

#I am so tired of that post dragging the astarion fan for thinking he'd do over the top romance things for them #and then accusing astarion fans of wanting him to be wyll #like first: it's a HC who tf cares #2nd there's no reason to think astarion is incapable of doing something Big and Romantic if the mood took him #I personally feel like Crime would have to be involved somewhere #but i still think it could happen #and last but DEFINITELY not least just...WHAT is with this fandom pitting different characters romances against each other???#jfc we're all here to have fun #if you prefer Wyll and ur mad that he got shafted for content i get it #BELIEVE me i get it #but it's not astarion fans' fault that that happened guys #even if you think they're annoying about the way they enjoy the game #like just...everyone calm tf down

6 notes · View notes

rotund-spheal · 6 months

Text

I’m fuming I’m seething I’m going to explode

#spheal rolls out #coworker came into work sick #not even wearing a fucking mask #I understand not being able to afford missing work #believe me I get it #but was it so hard to wear a fucking mask to work #YOU SIT RIGHT NEXT TO ME

3 notes · View notes

your-average-queer-teenage-mess · 1 day

Text

So like

I don't know who needs to hear this, but here's a nuanced idea:

It's okay to not be okay. AND IT'S ALSO JUST AS IF NOT MORE OKAY TO BE OKAY.

So, em, I'm now going to share all the examples I have personal experience with, just as a reminder.

For the ones with disordered eating: It doesn't make you a failure if you can't bring yourself to eat or find yourself purging. You also don't need to make yourself do these things on purpose to prove that you're sick.

For the ones who struggle with self care: it's okay to have a hard time sleeping or taking care of your hygiene. You also don't have to intentionally give it up out of shame whenever you do find the motivation in you just to prove you aren't having a good time.

For the ones who deal with suicidal thoughts and feelings: it doesn't make you selfish if you feel like you can't keep pushing through. It also doesn't make you an attention seeking poser to decide, today, that life actually does have value.

For the ones who have a hard time maintaining relationships: this doesn't mean you are an evil antisocial person who's personality is just that repulsive. It also doesn't mean you need to keep pushing for those patterns intentionally just because you don't know what you are without them.

For the ones who are trans and deal with dysphoria: you aren't sexist or toxic or a truscum for feeling really intense disgust at being viewed, even by yourself, as your agab, or for feeling like you have to use your dysphoria to prove your identity. It also doesn't mean you have to inflict more and more forms of dysphoria upon yourself just to prove you really have the thing.

I really think you can apply this to so many things. You should be allowed to be happy without being treated, by yourself just as much as by others, as if you have lost your right to empathy or support.

#mental health #eating disoder trigger warning #self care #suicidality #unstable interpersonal relationships #gender dysphoria #transgender #it's okay to not be okay #IT'S ALSO OKAY TO BE OKAY #the burning desire to be sicker #believe me i GET IT #you want to prove you deserve the help more than you actually care about the help itself #and it's okay #it really is #but you shouldn't hold yourself back from trying to be better than this

1 note · View note

runawaymarbles · 2 months

Text

The midjourney stuff just reminds of when we were trying to find a new platform to host the ao3 donation form, and companies kept trying to tell me about all their "ai" features that would track donor engagement, and figure out the optimal pattern to email individual donors asking for follow up donations, and all the ways they suggest we manipulate people into staying on our websites. It was a great way to filter out who either wasn't listening to us when we described our ethics and donor base, or just didn't believe us.

Now granted ao3 is a unique case based on a) the amount of page views we get in any given time period and b) the fact that most donors absolutely do Not want to be identified as such anywhere, (the default "list of recent donors" module got nuked Immediately) but it surprised me some that the concept of "donors who value their privacy and would be furious at even the whiff of AI" is unique. Some of us really are just existing in different worlds.

#I just started dropping '2.5 Billion page views a month'#into conversations as early as possible bc they would Not believe me otherwise #it was right up there with having to say 'csam attacks' to get them to take my compartmentalization of information concerns seriously #turns out those are the magic words #otw #op

13K notes · View notes

apollos-boyfriend · 10 months

Text

so my younger cousin is flying in to visit from brazil on sunday, and will be staying here for like, the entirety of july. which, don't get me wrong, is super cool! i love the kid! but it felt like a super weird move, considering his parents are the SUPER strict and borderline helicopter parents. even the smallest prank/roughousing with him/his little sister would lead to a strict talking to from his parents, he couldn't ever do anything without their clear permission, that sort of stuff. so letting him fly at alone at 16 to a whole different country and stay there for a whole month seemed WILDLY out of character. additionally, it just felt like a super last-minute trip. it's not like we have any plans to do when he gets here, and the flight itself and stuff only got booked like, midway through june.

and i was talking to my mom about it, kind of trying to nudge some answers out of her, and after a while she went, "yeah, i think they're sending him over here to get away for his boyfriend. see if the distance breaks them off." which, first of all, surprised me because last i checked, they didn't KNOW he had a boyfriend. literally everyone in the family did EXCEPT for them because while that entire side of the family being semi-conservative, his parents (mostly his dad) are EXTREMELY old-fashioned. so clearly something already went wrong. and considering the only reason the rest of the family knew is because one person found out and it spread like wildfire, i have a sneaking suspicion he wasn't the one to tell them, either.

and second of all. they're sending him HERE. to try to make him forget his homosexuality. i couldn't do anything but just wordlessly gesture to the multiple pride flags scattered around my room, then to myself, because really? he has like two other cousins in the us and they're sending him to me? honey i am about to introduce this kid to queer scenes you have never even heard of. he'll be returning home with labels only shrimp can perceive

#icarus speaks #i fully believe she's correct btw #they are. not the brightest people. and honestly probably believe this is something that could work #cause i can see the logic of get him away and hopefully he'll realize it's a phase. which is Likely what they think #but oh honey you have a big storm coming #side note this is the SECOND time someone's been outed without permission on that side of the family 😭#bitches learned of my transgenderism SO quickly #also even if that's NOT why they sent him here. i will still be rocking his world #they have given me Infinite Power and i will use it to make this kid's life as queer as physically possible

23K notes · View notes

stromblessed · 5 months

Text

Mizu, femininity, and fallen sparrows

In my last post about Mizu and Akemi, I feel like I came across as overly critical of Mizu given that Mizu is a woman who - in her own words - has to live as a man in order to go down the path of revenge.

If she is ever discovered to be female by the wrong person, she will not only be unable to complete her quest, but there's a good chance that she'll be arrested or killed.

So it makes complete sense for Mizu to distance herself as much as possible from any behavior that she feels like would make someone question her sex.

I felt so indignant toward Mizu on my first couple watchthroughs for this moment. Why couldn't Mizu bribe the woman and her child's way into the city too? If Mizu is presenting as a man, couldn't she claim to be the woman's escort?

However, this moment makes things pretty clear. Mizu knows all too well the plight of women in her society. She knows it so well that she cannot risk ever finding herself back in their position again. She helps in what little way she can - without drawing attention to herself.

Mizu is not a hero and she is not one to make of herself a martyr - she will not set herself on fire to keep others warm. There's room to argue that Mizu shouldn't prioritize her quest over people's lives, but given the collateral damage Mizu can live with in almost every episode of season 1, Mizu is simply not operating under that kind of morality at this point. ("You don't know what I've done to reach you," Mizu tells Fowler.)

And while I still feel like Mizu has an obvious and established blind spot when it comes to Akemi because of their differences in station, such that Mizu's judgment of Akemi and actions in episode 5 are the result of prejudice rather than the result of Mizu's caution, I also want to establish that Mizu is just as caged as Akemi is, despite her technically having more freedom while living as a man.

Mizu can hide her mixed race identity some of the time, and she can hide her sex almost all of the time, but being able to operate outside of her society's strict rules for women does not mean she cannot see their plight.

It does not mean she doesn't hurt for them.

Back to Mizu and collateral damage, remember that sparrow?

While Mizu is breaking into Boss Hamata's manse, she gets startled by a bird and kills it on reflex. She then cradles it in her hands - much more tenderly than we've seen Mizu treat almost anything up to this point in the season:

She then puts it in its nest, with its unhatched eggs. Almost like she's trying to make the death look natural. Or like an accident.

You see where I'm going with this.

When Mizu kills Kinuyo, Mizu lingers in the moment, holding the body tenderly:

And btw a lot of stuff about this show hit me hard, but this remains the biggest gut punch of them all for me, Mizu holding that poor girl's body close, GOD

When Mizu arranges the "scene of the crime," Kinuyo's body is delicate, birdlike. And Mizu is so shaken afterward that she gets sloppy. She's horrified at this kill to the point that she can't bring herself to take another innocent life - the boy who rats her out.

MIZU'S ONE MOMENT OF SOFTNESS AND MERCY, COMING ON THE HEELS OF HER NEEDING TO KILL A GIRL TO SPARE HER THE WORST FATE THAT THIS RIGID SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER WOMEN, AND TO SPARE A BROTHEL FULL OF INNOCENT WOMEN WHO ARE THE CASTOFFS OF SOCIETY, NEARLY RESULTS IN ALL OF THEIR DEATHS

No wonder Mizu is as stoic and cold as she is.

And no wonder Mizu has no patience for Akemi whatsoever right before the terrible reveal and the fight breaks out:

Speaking of Akemi - guess who else is compared to a bird!

The plumage is more colorful, a bit flashier. But a bird is a bird.

And, uh

Yeah.

I like to think that Mizu killing the sparrow is not only foreshadowing for what she must do to Kinuyo, but is also a representation of the choice she makes on Akemi's behalf. She decides to cage the bird because she believes the bird is "better off." Better off caged than... dead.

But because Mizu doesn't know Akemi or her situation, she of course doesn't realize that the bird is fated to die if it is caged and sent back home.

Mizu is clearly not happy, or pleased, or satisfied by allowing Akemi to be dragged back to her father:

But softness and mercy haven't gotten Mizu anywhere good, recently.

There is so much tragedy layered into Mizu's character, and it includes the things she has to witness and the choices she makes - or believes she has to make - involving women, when she herself can skirt around a lot of what her society throws at women. Although, I do believe that it comes at the cost of a part of Mizu's soul.

After all, I'm gonna be haunted for the rest of this show by Mizu's very first prayer in episode 1:

"LET" her die. Because as Ringo points out, she doesn't "know how" to die.

Kind of like another bird in this show:

#blue eye samurai #mizu #akemi #kinuyo #bes #women are birds okay they are BIRDS #the let me die line is so SCARY AND SAD like a part of Mizu wants death but she cant? she doesnt know how?? excuse you show???#when all these other delicate birds are dying all around her #akemis character gets more and more gutwrenching upon subsequent rewatches because whenever she says her life is in danger #NO ONE BELIEVES HER - certainly not other women #because shes rich and pampered and that means shes safe and is worrying about nothing right? right?????#and it turns out that all of akemis instincts were right and she was in danger the ENTIRE TIME #also I need to make a post just for kinuyo because I am sad

10K notes · View notes

drulalovescas · 1 month

Text

the parallels between the way their relationship started and ended might actually be the most beautiful in the history of tv

STARTED AND ENDED ON THE DEVIL'S TRAP

STARTED AND ENDED WITH A HANDPRINT

STARTED AND ENDED WITH CAS SAVING DEAN WINCHESTER

#the wings imagery gets me every time #listen i hate how their story ended #but i also believe theirs is the most beautiful love story ever #and i'm a sucker for all the parallels #destiel #supernatural #spn #spn 4x1 #spn 15x18

4K notes · View notes

hayden-christensen · 6 days

Text

STAR WARS WEEK 2024 DAY 3: I'LL TRY SPIN-OFFS! - FAVOURITE NON SKYWALKER SAGA MEDIA ▸ OBI-WAN KENOBI (2022) + trivia [insp]

The series features the return of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen to Star Wars after 17 years. Jimmy Smits, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Temuera Morrison, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Liam Neeson and James Earl Jones also reprise their roles from the prequels. It is the most-watched Disney Plus original series premiere globally to date, based on hours streamed in an opening weekend and was nominated for five Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.

3K notes · View notes

andthebeanstalk · 1 year

Text

Today my therapist introduced me to a concept surrounding disability that she called "hLep".

Which is when you - in this case, you are a disabled person - ask someone for help ("I can't drink almond milk so can you get me some whole milk?", or "Please call Donna and ask her to pick up the car for me."), and they say yes, and then they do something that is not what you asked for but is what they think you should have asked for ("I know you said you wanted whole, but I got you skim milk because it's better for you!", "I didn't want to ruin Donna's day by asking her that, so I spent your money on an expensive towing service!") And then if you get annoyed at them for ignoring what you actually asked for - and often it has already happened repeatedly - they get angry because they "were just helping you! You should be grateful!!"

And my therapist pointed out that this is not "help", it's "hLep".

Sure, it looks like help; it kind of sounds like help too; and if it was adjusted just a little bit, it could be help. But it's not help. It's hLep.

At its best, it is patronizing and makes a person feel unvalued and un-listened-to. Always, it reinforces the false idea that disabled people can't be trusted with our own care. And at its worst, it results in disabled people losing our freedom and control over our lives, and also being unable to actually access what we need to survive.

So please, when a disabled person asks you for help on something, don't be a hLeper, be a helper! In other words: they know better than you what they need, and the best way you can honor the trust they've put in you is to believe that!

Also, I want to be very clear that the "getting angry at a disabled person's attempts to point out harmful behavior" part of this makes the whole thing WAY worse. Like it'd be one thing if my roommate bought me some passive-aggressive skim milk, but then they heard what I had to say, and they apologized and did better in the future - our relationship could bounce back from that. But it is very much another thing to have a crying shouting match with someone who is furious at you for saying something they did was ableist. Like, Christ, Jessica, remind me to never ask for your support ever again! You make me feel like if I asked you to call 911, you'd order a pizza because you know I'll feel better once I eat something!!

Edit: crediting my therapist by name with her permission - this term was coined by Nahime Aguirre Mtanous!

Edit again: I made an optional follow-up to this post after seeing the responses. Might help somebody. CW for me frankly talking about how dangerous hLep really is.

#hlep #original #mental health #my sympathies and empathies to anyone who has to rely on this kind of hlep to get what they need.#the people in my life who most need to see this post are my family but even if they did I sincerely doubt they would internalize it #i've tried to break thru to them so many times it makes my head hurt. so i am focusing on boundaries and on finding other forms of support #and this thing i learned today helps me validate those boundaries. the example with the milk was from my therapist.#the example with the towing company was a real thing that happened with my parents a few months ago while I was age 28. 28!#a full adult age! it is so infantilizing as a disabled adult to seek assistance and support from ableist parents.#they were real mad i was mad tho. and the spoons i spent trying to explain it were only the latest in a long line of #huge family-related spoon expenditures. distance and the ability to enforce boundaries helps. haven't talked to sisters for literally the #longest period of my whole life. people really believe that if they love you and try to help you they can do no wrong.#and those people are NOT great allies to the chronically sick folks in their lives.#you can adore someone and still fuck up and hurt them so bad. will your pride refuse to accept what you've done and lash out instead?#or will you have courage and be kind? will you learn and grow? all of us have prejudices and practices we are not yet aware of.#no one is pure. but will you be kind? will you be a good friend? will you grow? i hope i grow. i hope i always make the choice to grow.#i hope with every year i age i get better and better at making people feel the opposite of how my family's ableism has made me feel #i will see them seen and hear them heard and smile at their smiles. make them feel smart and held and strong.#just like i do now but even better! i am always learning better ways to be kind so i don't see why i would stop

17K notes · View notes

acertainmoshke · 7 months

Text

I've been having a tough time lately, and when I don't have the energy for everything keeping up with social media is one of the first things I slip on. But I still care about all my writing buddies, so:

Reblog if you're not offended when people take a long time to answer asks, forget to reply to your replies, lag behind in tag games, or skip several weekly ask games.

#writeblr is so important to me and I get so scared people will think I'm a bad friend or don't care #but I can barely keep up with my own actual life right now #moshke writes #writeblr #also I'm not judging anyone for not reblogging this I don't believe in reblog bait #but I hope a few people who are up for it do

7K notes · View notes

inkskinned · 5 months

Text

the problem is that being single is seen as the consolidation prize, and not the natural neutral state of being-a-person. at the end of the movie or the book or the poetry, there is a person waiting for you at the altar, and they love you. if the play is a comedy, everyone gets married. the metaphor is about how you are not-whole. the metaphor is about how everyone is going to be happily-ever-after. the metaphor is that romantic love is the most important resource on the planet, not just all-love. all-love is not a thing, that is a disappointment. the treasure is not the friends we made along the way. the treasure is the girl you landed.

the metaphor is that you cannot be alone, that means you are broken. are you getting over someone? that is acceptable, you can be getting over someone, but not for long. you must be single because you would rather not be single. you must be single and looking to not-be-single. you must want to date, eventually.

friendship and community are never seen as being equal-to or even-better than romantic connection. that person is your one! you need to find them. you need to hunt through the sand particles until you can shift out some kind of gem. this is regardless to your own experience of the beach and the sun. you need to be somewhere with someone.

if you are taking this time alone to heal, that is so sad. everyone gives you this little pitying look. the understanding is that you are not actually happier than you were before you were single. it is seen as a sort of pity - oh, you are choosing yourself, making yourself the priority? - that isn't quite right. you must mean that you are making yourself ready for the right person. you are just laying the bed better this time. open up your heart. you'll find them, we promise!

what do you mean you're really-truly genuinely-very happy? you are probably misremembering what it was like to be in a relationship. and besides, once you meet your person, that time will look grey and bland and wasted. your person is the only way for you to see in color. so what if you have taken this time - for the first time in your entire life - to actually-for-real do the fucking work. you can be proud of yourself, sure. but the way we need to know that you got better is that you get a partner. you're healed enough for the next bad part!

people don't choose to be single, they just say they're choosing to be single - they actually mean "nobody wants to date me." it doesn't matter how many people you have gently rejected or how many times you've talked it over carefully in therapy. what matters is that you are single, and by all accounts - that means you are something worth our pity. your successes and life all seem pale in the sunlight. sure, you have done amazing things and finally found your way in life. what matters is that there wasn't a person in the room with you while you did it.

you want to tell them - that's the whole thing. i didn't know how to be alone in the room. i didn't know how to handle the silence. every moment was so sharp, and i kept choosing the wrong way to close the door. i have spent my entire life in the empty well, living in the ricochet of someone else's cruelty. for once i have built myself a ladder. for once everything i taste is all mine, every bite of sunshine and laughter. i have learned how to sleep out in the open with my memories. recently, they have started to purr.

your father rolls his eyes. listen. this isn't about you. i just want a grandchild in my future.

#writeblr #i actually didn't want a girlfriend before nat #and my dad recently said to me - raquel. i don't approve of the promiscuity #1. i am 30.#2. i had casually dated about 4 people over 18 months.#3. i do believe he was just mad that i get more girls than he ever did #i had to look this 60 yr old deacon in the eye and say. okay so i have a girlfriend first of all im just not tellin yall about her #and secondly.#OKAY???? OLD MAN I DONT EVEN LIVE HERE WHAT ARE U GONNA DO ABOUT IT #briefly considered asking nat if i could pretend we were a one night stand kind of a thing

4K notes · View notes

luppiart · 9 months

Text

Hihi haha hoho huhu *im insane

#what just happened #thanks gaiman for pulling my hair and dragging me on the floor #can’t believe i waited 14 years to get punched #brb gonna process all this #coffee theory my beloved #good omens #aziraphale #crowley #otp #fanart #de bons présages #a/c #drawing #sketch #goodomens2 #such pain #Spotify

9K notes · View notes

machinerot · 4 months

Text

#my art #harry du bois #kim kitsuragi #disco elysium #disco elysium fanart #harrykim #kimharry #or whatever they're called #let this man have happiness or so help me #im a firm believer in harry getting a slow post-recovery glow up alright. it's the least i can do for the guy.#man i was listening to so many banger songs while making this #im still getting back in the flow of painting so most of my stuff is kinda messy still #but i suspect ill find a middle ground between this and my last piece style-wise #gearing up to drawing kim in all his glory too now that ive finished two different side profiles of him. only a matter of time now #also fun little fact. i drew over half of this (~4 ? hours) using just my finger on the trackpad of my laptop lol #sometimes it helps me to just put shapes and colors down. when ive got a pen i get too nitpicky about being perfect/using fancy techniques #sometimes all you need is. finger 🫶#OH!! i forgot to mention someone spotted it in the tags—yes this is based on that one leyendecker piece!!

4K notes · View notes

cosmicgamer · 11 days

Text

The way Luz's thank you drawing got rejected by the person it was for when she thought she finally found someone who wouldn't make fun of her for her eccentric behavior, that she is worthless..and then the drawing does get recognized, that it's beautiful and why would it get thrown away. She was finally understood (I am in shambles help-)

#My post #The Owl House #Luz Noceda #I have so many thoughts about this pilot I might make another post down the line #But this. Holy shit it got me good-#She thought she finally found someone who'll understand her considering they seemingly stood up for her #And it absolutely gets her; the way her eyes sparkle because she believes she won't be totally alone anymore #But no. She also makes fun of Luz for trying to show her way of thanks #But then Luz does find someone who actually understands; an outcast like her #(New tag but I just realized Amity said that the drawing was beautiful but in a half-assed tone meanwhile Eda means it genuinely aaaaaaaa-)

2K notes · View notes

qiinamii · 9 months

Text

"Xiao does things" (and friends) twitter log part 2

-- UPDATE: removed some of the arts to make its own individual post since I am bad at organizing, sorry! (but the last one is new lol) xD

7K notes · View notes