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practicalsolarpunk · 1 year

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is material consumption ok if it's for hobbies?

I want to start by thanking you for asking this question. It's an important one, and it leads to an idea that we don't really address much on practicalsolarpunk. But we definitely should discuss it more, and this is a good place to start. This may or may not be what you want to hear, anon, but I hope this helps a little bit. (Long post ahead.)

When I started this blog, most of the solarpunk content I could find was aesthetic, fiction, and political action. All of those are very important! Political action and resistance is how we will actually make changes on a systemic level. Aesthetic and fiction content are essential because it lets us imagine a better future, and it's impossible to create a future we can't imagine. But what I wanted was a blog of small things I could do right now or soon to reduce my consumption in general, learn new things, opt out in tiny ways, and make both the world and my own life a little better. This blog is about little things (and sometimes slightly bigger things) that we can do as individuals. Composting, gardening, foraging, and building community may make your life and the lives of those around you better, but they won't change the exploitative and destructive foundations of capitalist society.

practicalsolarpunk is not the definitive guide to solarpunk. It's not even the end goal. In my view, solarpunk has three interlocking aspects: Individual actions towards making a better future, building communities to make a better future together, and political action and resistance to move societal structures and systems towards a better future. On this blog, we mainly focus on individual actions and a little bit of community-building. Individual actions are great, but they can only go so far.

Coming back to your main concept, consumption: It's easy to come to the conclusion that consumption is bad, evil, wrong, destroying the environment, etc. If you hang out in solarpunk spaces, you've probably heard the "There is no ethical consumption under capitalism." And that's true - it is impossible to find anything created under capitalism that is not somehow exploiting the environment or people. However, consumption is required to survive. Eating food is consumption. Wearing clothes is consumption. Living indoors is consumption. Using any method of transportation besides walking is consumption. Even outside of capitalist systems, we must consume to live.

We are prone to black-and-white thinking. We want to sort things into "entirely good" and "entirely bad." When we have those boxes, we can do all of the things that make us good and none of the things that make us bad. It seems especially important to know what's good and what's bad to do when the future and the fate of the world are at stake. But in reality, almost nothing is fully good or fully bad. Everything is somewhere on the spectrum in between.

My guess is you want permission to buy things for your hobbies. (That's my guess because I have wanted the same thing - I hoped permission from someone who knew more than me about what was going on would help me feel less guilty about consuming.) And the reality is that I cannot give you that permission. There are reasonable arguments for either side. Material consumption for hobbies is good because hobbies are great for mental health and you can't change the world if your mental health is terrible. Material consumption for hobbies is bad because even though the consumption reduced is small it can build up to a greater effect over time.

Overconsumption is destroying the planet. We must consume to survive. There is no way to consume ethically under capitalism. All three of these statements are true. That means there is no "right" answer to your question. You can only make a decision based on your values, your needs, and your knowledge. I know what my choice would be in your situation, but I can't say what the best choice is for you.

I'm a huge fan of Maya Angelou's quote,: "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." Make the best decision you can with the information you have. If and when you get more information, you may need to reevaluate it. Perfection is impossible. Even when the stakes seem terrifyingly high, your best is good enough.

And one final note, because this question has reminded me a lot of myself and I don't want you to fall into the same trap I once did: Don't let guilt dictate this decision. Guilt tells you that you're doing the wrong things, you're not doing the right things, and you're definitely not doing enough. It says that making yourself happy is a moral failing, that it's wrong to do things just for fun while people are suffering and the world is burning, and that you are partially to blame for the state of the world because you chose to consume. Guilt is a liar, and you will destroy yourself before you ever do enough or sacrifice enough to satisfy it.

Ultimately, solarpunk is about creating a better future for people. A future where humans are extinct might save the environment from human overconsumption, but that's not a solarpunk future. Excessive material consumption isn't solarpunk, but denying yourself consumption that would improve your life isn't solarpunk either.

- Mod J

#asked and answered #ideas and theory #long post

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katy-l-wood · 11 months

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Delete your Threads account. You know what Meta as a company has done, you know the kind of person Mark Zuckerberg is. You've lived through Gamergate, the elections, covid, the fucking lot of it, and yet you're still willingly making an account on Threads. How can you possibly justify that?

Second ask: Scratch that, I hadn't read your most recent posts. Sorry for being so rude.

Third ask: "Still going to keep an eye on it" For what exactly? For it not to be as bad as it is? For it to get even worse before you decide it is wrong? You know who Mark Zuckerberg is. You know what Facebook is. Be up front: you don't actually care or stand for anything, you're only afraid of losing business. Have some dignity.

So you decided to be rude as fuck, "apologize," and then come back and be more rude?

I was incredibly clear in that post of why I am going to keep an eye on Threads, despite the concerns: Twitter was a valuable source of live news, especially during natural disasters, and Threads is the first potentially viable replacement for that. IDK if you actually follow me, but if you do you'll know I do a lot of work around natural disaster communication. Twitter was invaluable as a communication source during natural disasters. Full stop. It is not up for debate. But hey, if you want a source with more authority than a random tumblr blog, here, have a nice shiny research paper:

Mind you, that was written in 2010 and the importance of Twitter as a communications tool during natural disasters has only increased since then. There is no other tool out there, no other website--news or otherwise, that can provide such granular, specific updates when shit hits the fan as Twitter did. The only better, quicker source of information I have found during natural disasters is listening to actual radio chatter from the departments involved in whatever problem, and that can be very tricky to do if you don't know where to look or have the right equipment. There is no other site where I can go specifically follow so many of my local fire departments, my local emergency services, my local National Weather System stations, and get live pushed updates from them every single time they post.

When Twitter DDOSed itself last week and put a limit on the amount of tweets people could view and forced people to be logged in to view anything at all, the effect was immediate and BAD. People suddenly couldn't view things like missing person alerts, or weather alerts. I had people messaging me because they were trying to check the National Weather System autoalerts for their area on Twitter due to being caught in a sudden storm, but they couldn't get on to check.

Love it or hate it, Twitter had an immense amount of value and it got that value--at least in the case of natural disaster communication--because the stubborn ass government decided it was big enough to be trusted with official lines of information. Very, very few other social media sites have ever had that trust from the government. Look at how they banned TikTok on all government devices. But they DO trust Facebook, and Instagram, and Meta. Which means their chances of trusting Threads and migrating over there when Twitter finally takes its last breath are ASTRONOMICALLY higher than expecting them to go anywhere else.

We can debate the privacy and moral issues of the Metaverse and those involved until the cows come home, but it does not change the fact that if my mountain is on fire I'm gonna get information about where that fire is from wherever the fuck I can. I'm not going to wait around for it to maybe show up in a "live" updates news article from CNN from some reporter half a continent away in New York who doesn't know anything about where I live and gets the roads wrong because they just don't know. I'm going to go to the website full of my neighbors and local firefighters and see what's happening right that second.

Do we need to fix the privacy and moral issues? Yes. But we can't throw the baby out with the bathwater either. Not using Threads or any other Meta product isn't the answer here. Using them with extreme caution and only for very specific needs, for the time being, is. Long term, we need to be focusing on privacy based legislation that would finally put these companies in their place. But until then, again, I'm going to keep following my local fire departments wherever they go.

P.S.: If you're going to keep the shitty attitude, fuck right off and unfollow+block. You're not wanted here.

#Threads #I was honestly going to make this post anyway due to how some people are tagging the original post #So here #I could honestly debate this all day #lol #But I have shit to do today and right now that is breakfast #Natural Disaster Communication #Twitter #Death of Twitter

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arimiaromage · 4 months

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Strange house - DGM doujin fangame guide book scans

so in January I found a physical copy of a 2010 d.gray-man doujin visual novel called Strange house by the doujin group MOONLIGHT CAFE. the game is a romance visual novel where you play as Lavi and can date Kanda while out on a mission with him to, you guessed it, a strange house.

the game is completely in Japanese and almost all mention of it online has gone away as it's a 14 year old game, so suffice to say finding anything about this game has been difficult. it won't be a complete mystery now though as I have the game and the guide book!

so... let's look inside this guide book!

before we crack it open, here's the scans of the DVD cover slip. the outside is similar to the guide book (see above) but the inside is an adorable collection of chibis.

now let's look at the guide book! all of these scans are at a high dpi so open them up in a new tab if you'd like to see them up close. also, most of this is in Japanese and I won't be able to translate a majority of it. if you'd like to translate it, please feel free to and add it to the post!

D.Gray-man LaviYu Only

Windows only sound novel type adventure game

(side note- visual novels are usually called adventure games in Japan. sound novel is another term for them that was more popular to use years ago)

The next two pages go over the system menus- the main menu, the CG gallery (where you can view cut scene artwork), in game menu, save & load, and the options menus.

Now that we've gone over the system, it's on to the character bios! Lavi is up first as he's the player character followed by Kanda and the finder Doma.

(somehow Kanda ends up in a bridal gown in this game)

(she has doll arms and legs? it says she's the other guy's sister)

(I have no clue what her name is suppose to be. Yuno Moreta? Yunoo Moreeta?? I'm guessing it's trying to be like Yu Kanda??? Allen's bio here mentions him being the 14th and that he doesn't appear much as he wasn't assigned to this mission)

(Lenalee's basically says that she's an exorcist and Komui's younger sister, but mentions that she might be seen on the mission in front of Lavi? the guy on the right was apparently meant to be something like a love rival in the MVP [think beta build] for the game)

after the character bios is the route guides!

while not every visual novel has choices or multiple endings, visual novels that do have multiple endings refer to them as "routes" or "scenarios", i.e. the series of choices you make to reach each ending. this game has 4 routes, each with a different artist.

scenario A is called Dolly and written by 響夜 and illustrated by Guriko.

scenario B is called Coming Home and written by 響夜 and illustrated by Seiko and others.

scenario C is.... something about a bracelet? it's written by 秋吉 and illustrated by Bonnu.

scenario D is called lonely travels / loneliness while traveling and is written by 木花 and illustrated by ネコ科ノコ.

to be honest this is a lot more than I was expecting! we're already at 7 team members and haven't touched the programming or music aspects. I also have no clue how long this game is - there's only a few choices listed here to get each route so each ending could be 5k words (short) or over 50k words (long).

now onto staff!

sadly, I won't be able to translate these as it's a majority kanji, but here they are.

and that's it! there's a lot of cute art here that I hope will be saved on the internet now that the sites for MOONLIGHT CAFE's games are mostly defunct.

personally as a visual novel developer I find it amazing that they were able to not only make such a good looking fan visual novel in 2010 with multiple endings but to get so many people on board and make it all work out. and then to make a physical release of it! (side note- I'm still unsure what engine this was made in! I'm thinking kirikiri but I'm not sure)

I have the game set up and am able to play it, so at some point I'll share some footage of it on this tag on my blog. I'm hesitant to put the exe online as this was a paid game at one point and the doujin circle seems to be disbanded, but I might if there's interest (is this considered a no-no for doujins? I'm unfamiliar on etiquette for doujins, so some advice on that would be appreciated if you have any)

#dgm #dgrayman #d gray man #lavi bookman #kanda yu #yu kanda #yuu kanda #laviyuu #lavi #kanda yuu #dgm fangames #dgm fangame #fangames #fangame #moonlight cafe #I'll be honest. I'm neutral to laviyuu but I find this project so cool that I'm dedicated to getting all the endings

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f1llory · 7 months

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i know a lot of people think it's not that deep but idk, the constant desire for more gory stories of past hunger games rubs me the wrong way. don't get me wrong, i'm all for fanfics exploring that, but there's a reason there will never be novels detailing that.

the reason people want spinoffs for finnick and johanna is the fact that we love them. there is nothing that would be added to the universe if we had an official/canon account of their games. they're typical games and typical victors--which i think is the point of their character. they're different from each other in some ways, but their stories are so common among victors--because that's simply what the capitol does to people.

i'm not sure i agree with the people who think it's inherently bad for people to be interested in that. there's a reason people are interested in that. the characters and worldbuilding in the hunger games are so beautifully done that there's always something to notice, theorize about, explore, and expand on. i just think that having novels on things like this would be pointless--and detrimental to the message of the series. the point is not to show violence for violence's sake, the point is to show what it takes for people to become who they are, and how the choices they make can lead to either oppression or liberation. that being said, i'm all for exploring them in fanfic. i think fanfic is an incredible thing, i love reading and writing it, and there are so many things that fans of the series can explore and create.

i'm also all for new novels if they happen! i just think they would have to add a hell of a lot more to the world of panem than the gory details of a typical hunger games to satisfy people's curiosity. here's some things that i think would be cool to see:

-the life of an avox in the capitol. this would give a totally different outlook on life in the capitol, since we've only seen people who benefit from the system and not those who are punished by it. this could be some random unknown avox but because i'm me, i would LOVE to have a full pollux spinoff i'm literally in love with him

-a victor we've never seen and their life after the games. it could show their life after returning to their district, how they're viewed, how their view of their district has changed. this could also be an interesting way to see a little more of the mentoring process and the toll it takes

-something exploring life in any of the districts we haven't gotten to see. this could also be part of the previous idea, i just think it would be interesting since our knowledge of so many districts are limited. although maybe that's the point? all we know of panem is through the eyes of two deeply unreliable narrators

-the first rebellion, or anything set before the hunger games were created. how was panem different back then? and how did things get to the point of such a big rebellion?

-are there people living outside the bounds of the districts? obviously people like lavinia have been caught trying to escape, but there very well may be people living out there. i wonder what they'd think of what was going on, or if they'd come into contact with people escaping to district 13. and no i do not want this to involve lucy gray i never want confirmation on what happened to her

basically, there's so much more of panem i'd like to see explored, but there are some things that i don't want to see, or expect to see, in any offical continuation. i absolutely love fanfics exploring those things, or anything other fans find interesting. i just think that there are so many things that could be added to the canon and i don't understand the focus on the idea of novels that would really detract from the way suzanne collins approaches her work.

in conclusion i am simply losing my mind over tbosas and i’m using a blog i never use to yell into the void thank u for reading

#the hunger games #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #tbosas #lucy gray baird #coriolanus snow #thg #suzanne collins #tom blyth #rachel zegler

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darkleysgarden · 9 months

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Into The Alters

A Total Drama Analysis

INTRODUCTION

I have been obsessed with the whole system. I love them all sm. And because of this, I had to analyze them ofc. That's what I always do. I'll start with more general things and then deep dive into the alters and how they formed.

Disclaimer: I do not have DID, nor do I claim to know everything about the condition. I have done my best to try and learn about it and be as accurate as possible. If I make any mistakes or use incorrect terms, please tell me! I'm trying my best and genuinely hope to improve. Tyty.

WARNINGS: I will discuss ableism, child abuse, sexual abuse, overall trauma, potential murder/crimes, and other Total Drama typical things.

Also, whenever I say 'they' or 'them', I'm referring to all the alters or multiple of them.

OVERALL VIEW OF THE SYSTEM

DID often forms from trauma, and this system clearly did form that way. I'll get into it more on the alters individual parts, but the way they act and the roles they take on help prove that their pasts were very traumatic.

What is the goal of them going on Total Drama?: I believe that the goal is to move out. I rewatched it recently, and I remember no mention of the bodies parents, no mention of their pasts other than hints at juvie, nothing. But, Nico, how can you say that it's specifically to move out? Throughout the seasons, it's hinted at that Mike knows little about TD. He's heard of it. He knows general things. Yet, he doesn't understand more niche callbacks. Most of the new cast mentions being huge fans or watching the series before. Mike, to my memory, doesn't. Mike never points out his goal for the million dollars, and the last thing he wants is fame. He even goes against his psychiatrists wishes of going on the show. Why is a million dollars so important to get? To move out. The DID formed from something, right? The most obvious way to form would be because of parents or guardians. And if you don't believe me yet, the only reference as to what they will do with the money is by Mal. Mal says he wants to use the money to live out his life his way in a tower of his own. AKA, he's using the money to move into a new place and gain free will. And I'll go deeper into that in a moment.

EDIT: I just found out that it's basically canon that they were using it to move out. The Fresh TV official blog confirmed that Mike and Zoey moved in together shortly after All Stars. Obviously they would have used the money to do so.

Overall, what I am saying here is that they have a bad home life and are going onto Total Drama to escape that. Both while the show runs and when they win. They even went on two seasons even though the first was stressful enough and they weren't having a great time. When people come back, they have a reason that they detail. Fame or fortune. We never get that from Mike. Because it's personal. It's personal and not something he is willing to share on international TV.

WHAT DOES THE RESET BUTTON DO?

After much research, the reset button does not seem possible to me and I have a new theory on what it actually did.

Via my research, I could be wrong, you cannot get rid of DID entirely. Alters can not be killed. To get rid of Mal would have required Mal to comply with it, and Mal was not complying.

Integration is possible. Parts can be erased. Though, in the end, Mal would come back like seen in the show. He can not be entirely erased because that's just not how DID works. Even integration, forced dormancy, and letting go of alters would take a ton of work and time. Getting rid of Mal would be hard and would be one thing. But to erase all of them and get rid of DID entirely? It's impossible from what I've seen. It's hard to erase a single alter, especially if they don't want to go like Mal. Usually, they leave by decision or go into dormancy on their own. And it seems that usually, if an old alter is erased, a new alter usually will form that is very similar to the old one.

Alternative theory: What do I really think the reset button did? Dormancy.

This would be hard, but not impossible. Like I said before, it's a choice that leads to dormancy and erasure. Aside from Mal, they were all on board with the decision. They would be able to put themselves into hiding in the meantime while Mike sorts his life out. All 5 of them would likely be able to force Mal into dormancy together, especially considering that we know they did it before.

"But Chester directly told us that-"

Chester is not reliable at all. Nobody else knew what it did. They were operating off of what he told them. Chester is shown to have shit memory and not know what he's talking about. He could have easily not explained the button entirely correctly.

I believe that once the show is over, Mike moves out, things settle down, the alters will slowly come out of dormancy as it feels right.

This is probably me being in denial that they're gone, but idc.

SVETLANA

Omg, Svetlana. I am her biggest fan !!!!!

Sorry.

Anyway. I suspect Svetlana is a fictive. Actually, my boyfriend came up with that. I'm stealing it from him. Ask him for more details. Idrk the details.

Basically, Svetlana is extremely detailed. She holds information and memories that seem to have come from outside of the systems experiences. She is too detailed to be a randomly formed alter.

How did she form?: So, I believe the character was off of a book character? I WASN'T THE ONE WHO CAME UP WITH THIS PART. I bet you're thinking, why aren't you researching this? I'm ranting to myself rn okay. I'm just also putting it on the internet for funsies. I'm operating off memory rn. All my research has been done off random questions I've had while pacing around my room at 3AM.

UPDATE: we've changed our minds. There's an Olympic Russian gymnast named Svetlana who has won TONS of awards and holds common references with her. She was also actively competing at the time Mike would have been a kid. So he could have been watching her and wanted to copy her acts. Svetlana Khorkina, if you're interested

Anyway. Young Mike is experimenting with himself. Because that's what every kid does. This doesn't necessarily mean that he's LGBTQ or anything. A boy can try on dresses without that being the case. People experiment with their identity, especially at a young age.

However, people don't like that. Because people are bitches fsr. Idk. And I already speculated before that the bodies' parents aren't great. An alter is forming off a book character he found relatable. The character being female is part of what gave him this interest in looking at feminine stuff. Yet, he got in trouble for it. In that situation, Svetlana would form off of the character, making her a fictive. Yet, she has also become a protector. She is now there to protect the physical aspect of the body. She's the one who works out with her gymnastics. She probably does skin care and that stuff. She knows how to get dressed well. She is there to protect the physical aspect and keep the body healthy.

And she won't fail to defend them from anybody who dislikes a boy wearing makeup or anything of the sorts. Those gymnastics muscles aren't fake bro.

Age speculation: so I don't feel like researching the book more. In fact, I can't even remember if it was a book. So I'm basing this entirely off of canon.

I think she is 14 or so. Though, with her, I can see a lot of fluctuation. I used to think she was more in her 20s. But, I think it makes much more sense for her to be a young teenager. Also, just saying this now, but my age headcanons are just headcanons. So, if I don't work with your ships, you can move them to a degree as long as it isn't weird. JUST DONT MOVE MANITOBA OR VITO MUCH AND ILL GET INTO THAT.

Back to Svetlana, though, she acts a lot like a young teenage girl. We know she has participated in many gymnastics events, and I feel like she wouldn't be so active in doing them if she didn't feel comfortable with the age group, if it wasn't very similar to her own. Which leads me to somewhere teenage. And then idk if it requires an explanation, but she gives 14 year old girl energy.

Also, I have a random silly hc that Svetlana was the only girl that could beat Skye in gymnastics. Svetlana had to participate somewhere, and they're both Canadian and probably would end up at the same competitions. There may be proof to disprove this, but all I've seen is "but the body is male," but Svetlana wouldn't participate in boys' competitions, and maybe people just aren't transphobic. Idk. SVETLANA HAS A TON OF AWARDS IN CANON. SHE ISN'T JUST SAYING THAT. IT'S IN THEIR ROOM. Sorry, I'm off topic.

MANITOBA

Another one of my favorites and another fictive WOOHOO.

So the creators, from what I've seen, have said Manitoba was based on Indiana Jones. And then they took Australian aspects from two non-fictional people.

That's why I've decided to call Manitoba and Indiana Jones fictive.

Formation: Nothing huge to this one. I believe Manitoba formed mostly off comfort. Indiana Jones was a comfort character. A cool explorer who could get out of any situation (I think. Admittedly, I've never actually watched it.)

We see constantly that Manitoba fronts specifically during tough situations that are hard to get out of. He's smarter than the others in many ways. He is always able to call out Mal's slip-ups and lies. He knows what he is doing and is able to protect and save the others from tough times. That is his main purpose as an alter.

Also, I think it's interesting to note that Manitoba says that Mike gets in the way of his relationships, and then Mike said that the alters would ruin his romantic relationships. I'm just saying that Manitoba probably had a love interest we didn't get to see. Idk. Just had to bring that up when talking about him. Listen, I'm analyzing them for the system, but I'm also doing general analysis, okay?

Age speculation: So... I see a lot of people speculating that he is like 20-40. I don't believe that. I placed him at about 18-19.

I couldn't figure out if fictives are always the same age as the character they form off of. But, let's say they are. In that case, I believe that it's highly likely Mike could have formed Manitoba off of the 13 year old Indiana Jones River Pheonix played. Then he continued to age.

The reason I don't like the older headcanons is mainly because he flirted with Zoey and was implied to be in past relationships. Obviously, these people wouldn't be far off from Mike's age. Going off of a 17 year old Mike, Manitoba is only 2 years older. I also just don't see it fitting for him to be much older? I can see him acting 20-25, but like I said I prefer it younger as it makes more sense with his relationships.

We never see Chester flirt with anyone for this reason. He's too old for them. It would be weird for Manitoba to flirt with them if it was the same case. And speaking of Chester...

CHESTER

Ima be so honest. I'm not hugely interested in Chester. Yet, I do think he's interesting in the aspect that he is different. And I believe he is an introject (if that's the correct term).

Mike's parents were shit in this speculation. He would search for someone outside of them. Like a grandparent. I also want to credit deranged_royal on tiktok as she formed most of my Chester headcanons and helped further my other analyses. She also has really cool cosplays. So follow her rn.

How he formed: Mike looked up to some kind of grandparent figure who ended up dying. He was hurt by this as he had nobody else to look up to. Therefore, an introject formed. It seems that introjects of people systems know in real life often form off of people that provide them comfort or have died. So, I think this makes sense.

Age speculation: 60-80

I feel like old people don't really act differently after they hit 60 or so, so I don't really know. He's probably older because of the issues he has.

Sorry, Chester is so short. I don't have too much to say about him. We don't get a lot of him, and I feel like he is very easy and simple to understand. I love his scenes, though. He's so silly.

VITO

So we all agree Vito is the sexual protector? All right. Thanks. This one goes more into sexual assault and sexual situations!!!

Formation: I actually have two separate theories for this. They both lie in sexual assault. But I'm leaning towards a sexually abusive ex over guardians.

The reason I think this is largely based on how he acts with Anne Maria. Also, the tiktoker I mentioned earlier also noted that he only fronts when the body becomes stripped of clothing. Interesting detail....

I love Annito. I'm their biggest fan, actually. I'm working on rewriting their entire wiki rn because all the system wikis are outdated. I love them sm. Break from the sadness. Look at the cuties.

Anyway. Have you ever noticed how attached Vito gets? He meets Anne Maria, and she is all he can think about from then on. He does anything even if it annoys him just to see her again. Assault survivors tend to get attached easily to those who show them positive attention. Also, they want to take charge of the more sexual aspects. Vito starts making out with Anne Maria within about 5 minutes of meeting.

Anne Maria gives him the interest, care, and control he seeks in a relationship. And now he clings to her. And they're healthy. I LOVE THEM AHHHHHH. Sorry. They're perfect together.

Age speculation: 17-18. This one is obvious to me. He acts like every high school senior. Plus, Anne Maria was 16 in roti. He's no more than 1-2 years older than her. Especially since she thought he was the host before the DID discovery. That means she thought he was about 16. Would be weird if he wasn't.

MIKE

Wowzers. We're at the host!

Okay. Mike, I get it you have internalized ableism. This issue, however, leads to a lot of mistreatment of his headmates. He acts like he owns them, which isn't a positive thing to do.

I love Mike a lot, but I will not erase his actions.

He never allows anyone to front unless it is for use. For example, Svetlana, if it's a physical situation. Then after he fronts immediately again. They even imply that he was never in headspace, meaning that he would only ever let them co front or would fully dissociate.

He didn't let them be their own people, which is really sad. He also didn't allow them their own relationships. Though they have as much of a right to those relationships as Mike does.

Just because Mike is the host or the 'first' doesn't mean that he isn't still an alter. He becomes an alter the second an alter forms for the first time. He is now only one of the people who shares the body.

Also, this may be controversial, but I don't like how Zoey treats Mike. 😕 I don't really have strong opinions outside of their relationship on her. But, I dislike how she, even after a year of dating, seems to not understand anything about his DID. Plus, she always brushes off every other alter and doesn't try to be friends with them or anything. Instead of helping with Mal, she just acted like Mike was lying to her. I like their friendship, but I can't ship Zoke for those reasons.

I could say more about that, but this isn't a Zoke hate post. Mb bros. I probably just lost a few of you. Too bad, so sad. Mal is the best part. You're gonna miss him.

I know I have more to say on him, but I am honestly blanking right now. It's hard to say more about him as he didn't form the same way as the others. I don't really know much about the first alter, so I don't really want to say more for that reason, too.

MAL

Oh, boy. Buckle up.

Idek where to start. I'll accidentally leave out sm because I have sm...

Formation: Mal was the first alter after Mike to form. I'm confident in this for sm reasons. For example, none of the other alters knew about if Mike or Mal formed first. Let's say Svetlana formed after Manitoba. Manitoba would know he was there before she formed as they all actively communicated with each other. Though, they all formed before juvie as they knew about that whole situation personally.

Therefore, I'd say that Mike and Mal have known each other since Mike was about 6. Which makes sense with the research I've done about formation ages. And this is why they know each other so well. Mal is able to imitate Mike extremely well. What gave him away was WHISTLING. And then the bracelet/necklace thing, but like, that has nothing to do with how well he knows Mike's personality.

He knows everything about Mike. And Mike NEEDED him. That is explicitly said by Mal and confirmed by Mike. Mal was formed to protect Mike from abusive or traumatic experiences. And that is why Mal is the way he is largely.

Mal experienced a traumatic childhood. And I believe he's younger than Mike. When Mike is 17, I believe he is only 13-15.

I believe that Mal is terrified of the fact that Mike doesn't need him anymore. So scared that when Mike is put under a ton of stress on the show, Mal fronts full time to take the situation into his hands. He still wants the same goal as the others, to move away. But he is doing it his own way. Also, notice how much he targeted Zoey? He hated anyone getting close to his headmates. He wants to protect them.

"How do you explain him being so rude?"

He is a kid who had a bad childhood. Because of this, he wants to take out the pain he received and push it onto others as well. That's why he's so aggressive. And part of it is just him being a devious 13 y/o.

And, don't forget that that kid was in jail.

Speaking of, he ran the place, right?

Of course, he would want to run the place. It's a whole jail troupe for a reason that you need to make yourself feared. If everyone was scared of him, nobody would hurt him.

That brings me to what I think got Mal into juvie.

Self protection murder.

From what I've seen of the laws, I believe he could go to juvie instead of adult jail for this based on the trial. And if it's self-protection against an abusive person, he could get off with less. I believe. I'm no expert on Canadian law or law in general.

Why do I think this?

Well, Mal had to do something pretty bad to have everyone fearing him. A young kid with a body at like 13 (my guess for body age when in jail), who committed murder. Everyone would stray away. Especially if Mal left out the details and claimed it was in cold blood.

Mal likely fronted most of the time during juvie. He had to go through that rough and scary situation. He went through all of this traumatic stuff.

And then...

Mike forced him into dormancy.

He loves Mike and wants to protect him. Yet, he holds a grudge against him. Mike formed him and made him suffer, and then now tries to get rid of him.

Of course Mal would be upset.

How he acts in All Stars is heavily based on a mix of his grudge against Mike, his trauma, his young age, his time in jail, and overall the nature of the alter he was formed to be.

Mal was formed to be someone stronger and more protective. He wasn't supposed to back down. He was supposed to save them all from that abuse.

But, he's still young and still his own person. It's going to take a toll on him. Especially if he only got to front during the bad times. He now only knows how to take out his anger as a way to protect himself and his headmates.

I know I have a lot more to say about Mal, too. But it's getting late and I'm tired and blanking.

EXTRA

I suspect that after juvie, they were placed into therapy and some sort of foster care. Even if they aren't in an actively abusive home now, they wouldn't trust that it couldn't turn bad. Plus, they would want their own space and control after everything.

So, I'm gonna end it here for now. It's midnight and I'm eepy.

Tell me if I made any mistakes please!!! On canon info or on DID or whatever

If you want more details on any headcanon or have any questions or anything put it in my asks. I love receiving asks. I'll gladly rant to whoever is interested.

Though, for now, I'm tired. Night night.

Live, laugh, love Svetlana.

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orionsangel86 · 1 month

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Saz's Sandman Masterpost

Hi there! It's about time I sorted out this blog and put all my Sandman posts in one place. If you're new here, I adore the Sandman in all its forms and my blog has become a bit of a love letter to this masterpiece of media lately. I mostly write meta analysis, love to discuss the work and the characters, and occassionally try my hand at running fandom events. My ask box is always open and I am always happy to answer any questions about Sandman so please do reach out to me if you like my meta :)

I welcome all fans of The Sandman here, though I can occassionally be NSFW so if that's not your jam make sure you have "NSFW" tag blacklisted. I'm a multishipper of the firm believe that Dream of the Endless should be passed around the other characters like a bowl of goth candy. I don't tolerate ship hate. It's all good here my loves.

I have a fairly decent tagging system. I tag all ships, characters, fanart, meta discussions, fanfiction, etc. You can find the list of common tags below.

My Meta Analysis

Masterpost of Dreamling meta - this is an eight part highly detailed analysis of Dreamling in the show and how it differs from the comic and audiobook, with a focus on how queercoding was used to emphasise a deeper relationship between Dream and Hob.

Hob Gadling - A Queer Romantic - a meta about unreliable narrators, Jim/Peggy and Hob's queer potential.

The Problem with Thessaly - an opinion piece on this problematic comic character and how the show could solve this issue.

Lucienne/Lucien - How the Librarian Became the Chief - a thorough analysis of Lucienne's character in the show and how she differs from the comic and makes everything so much more hopeful.

Tales in the Sand/Men of Good Fortune - How a small swap in story placement can drastically change the tone, and foreshadowing.

Dream of the Endless - A Romantic Fool - a deep analysis about Dream and his love of romance

How to Adapt Orpheus - Theories and discussions about how the show can navigate that particular element of the comics.

How to Adapt Orpheus x 2 - definitely worth reading all the discussions on this one as well.

Shipping comic!Morpheus and merging characters in the show - can I hear it for Morpheus/Pharamond PLEASE!

A Collaborative Post about Morpheus as the villain of the story

Could Morpheus ever be content to be single?

Morpheus and Sex - an analytical point of view

Obsessive Desire - Their complex feelings for Dream - an answered ask about the siblings relationship. (I have a draft meta in the works elaborating on this that I can't wait to finish).

Fandom Events

#Death Appreciation Week - To celebrate the release of Dead Boy Detectives which guest stars Death of the Endless, I ran a Death Appreciation Week where anyone could submit fanworks focused on Death. Follow the tag on my blog which also includes a lot of reblogged older works of Death, or follow the main tumblr tag to see just that work created for the event.

#Sandtober2023 - For inktober 2023, I ran a Sandman themed inktober event which was a huge success and inspired hundreds of amazing Sandman art pieces. You can check out the Sandtober2023 main tumblr tag here. I am probably going to run this event again in October 2024 so watch this space nearer the time for that! :)

If you have any ideas for Sandman fandom events you would like to see please send me a DM.

General Blog Tags

I have a relatively consistent tagging system on my blog so to cover the main ones:

#The Sandman - literally every post about the Sandman will include this tag, so if you are a loyal mutual from fandoms past and you want to block this tag you won't see me cluttering up your feed with Sandman stuff (and thank you for still following me even if you're not a Sandman fan!)

#Dreamling - tag for the Morpheus x Hob Gadling fandom ship. I will tag all things Dreamling - fanart, fanfics, fan theories, crack posts, gifsets etc.

#Sandman Meta - any analysis about Sandman will be tagged with this. This includes both my own analysis and reblogged analysis.

#Sandman Comic Spoilers - I tag for any posts that include Sandman story information not yet revealled in the show. In case there is anyone left on Tumblr who hasn't already been spoiled for this 30 year old comic story.

Character Tags - I generally tag for any characters I reblog or post about. So if you ever want to search for posts about a specific character, you can just find the character tag in my blog. For example #Dream of the Endless or #Johanna Constantine

Ship tags - like with character tags, I always tag fandom ships. Usually by the most popular fandom name for them. #morphanna #Gaultienne

Other fandoms - I will also always tag other fandoms. I have a very long running #destiel tag, I also tag for #good omens and #ineffable husbands and I will always tag the show name, abbreviation, and ship names for any other fandoms.

Other tags - I do try to tag for content warnings where I can, but usually only extreme things. Then again, it is rare for me to post about triggering content. Even squicky content is unlikely to be found on my blog. If you ever come across something on my blog that you feel isn't tagged appropriately please just DM me and I will correct that.

A bit about me

If my blog intro hasn't covered it so far let me clarify here. I am an adult, in my 30s and have never stopped being a passionate fan about the things I love. You don't stop loving things when you hit a certain age, you just find you have less time to devote to your hobbies because of work. I am a professional with a full time job, I come here to relax and unwind. I have been in fandom far too long to be remotely interested in fandom drama. Ship wars do not interest me. Weird anti-sex anti-kink purity policing has no power here. I am fiercely anti-censorship. If I hear the word "proship" in a negative sense I will roll my eyes and assume you are a minor who has been horribly mislead by puritanicals. I don't tolerate hate, accusational bullshit, bullying behaviour, cult-like fandom worship, or any form of fandom policing. I have no time for "big name fans" and the culture around them. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and the trauma. Learn your fandom history lest you be doomed to repeat it.

I do not engage in performative social justice. I have my beliefs, my politics, and they generally revolve around the concept that people should be fucking decent human beings and let people be free to live as they choose. Don't come at me for not yelling about the next big world ending event. The world is always ending, people are always dying, there is always a genocide happening, its fucking exhausting. Just do what you can in your actual lives, donate where you can manage, provide support to those in need, and vote out the bastards who fucked it all up.

If you've read this far and are still here welcome! I hope you love my blog and want to be fandom friends. Come send me an ask, a DM, reply to my posts, engage with my meta, and just generally scream at me about Sandman. I always love it when people scream at me about Sandman. :)

#meta masterpost #the sandman #about me #welcome to my blog #blog intro #pinned post #introduction post

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wildissylupus · 9 months

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I'm going to share a D.VA streaming head canon.

After the events of New Bloods #5, when ever Hana streams at Gibraltar her fans start asking about Cassidy, Baptiste, Zarya and Pharah, because after they helped the MEKA squad they became somewhat popular amoung D.VA's fan base. So she ends up bringing a couple of them on stream.

It starts off with just her bringing them on to say "hi" but then it progresses to her doing full streams with them. The people who shows up the most are Cassidy and Baptiste, since they're the more relaxed of the group. Pharah and Zarya do hop on stream if it's workout/sport related, or in Pharah's case they're pranking Cassidy and/or Genji.

Cassidy also manages to get an old gaming system that he had in one of the Blackwatch bases and helps her get a game room set up in Gibraltar. The gaming system wasn't really used by him, he got it because Pharah and Genji would chill in his room most of the time and he knew they like video games so he got a gaming system set up in his room.

This leads Hana to give Cassidy a new gaming system for his room in Gibraltar, which he initally thinks is her assuming he games a lot, but he soon realises she just does what Genji and Pharah do and just chills in his room sometimes to game, sometimes she even streams in there too.

All this leads to her fans doing the fan thing and going "OMG they're such found family coded", which get's worse once Cassidy and Pharah refer to each other as siblings on stream. There are a few arguments on who's in what role but the one thing they agree on is the Cassidy and Baptiste are the parents and D.VA is their kid.

This also leads to Hana bringing Cassidy and Baptiste onto more streams together as the three of them together get the most views (she also like spending time with them). Which does fuel the Cassidy and Baptiste are Hana's parents thing going on in her fanbase.

This all comes to a head when Baptiste and Cassidy are referred to as DILF's. Cassidy, who isn't online besides his coffee blog doesn't know what the fuck that means, while Hana is laughing her ass off and Baptiste, who's best friend is Sombra, is a bit horrified. Cassidy is told by a very amused Genji what DILF means.

No one on Gibraltar ever let them live it down.

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littlethingwithfeathers · 2 months

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How to Use A03 if you're used to Algorithm Fed Content: A kind primer.

There's a post making the rounds where someone, I'm going to assume earnestly, asks the question, "How do people figure out what's good to read on AO3?" And predictably, while there have been some people trying to answer that question assuming that it's being asked in good faith, there have been some people ridiculing this person. Basically, spewing out the fandom equivalent of "git gud noob." Like I said... I'm assuming this person was asking out of actual ignorance and curiosity, mostly because I see a lot of people also lamenting the fact that algorithm-fed apps and fandom spaces are creating a generation of fans who don't know how to actively search for and curate the content they consume. So when they get on a place like AO3 or even Tumblr to an extent, they don't know how to find the things they want and how to curate their experience. And so I guess that's why I pulled up short when this person's question has been getting so much snark. Here's a teachable moment. Even if they are being a troll in this case (which I doubt) here's the chance to give the facts on how AO3 works so they can use this amazing archive themselves. And not just them but anyone who happens upon the post. So... I'm not an AO3 whiz by any means. I don't spend a lot of time digging around in the tags and tools and bells and whistles of the search engine. If someone else wants to reblog with some tips there, go for it. It's the best thing about AO3 in my opinion... other than the lack of censorship. But here's my tips on how to find something you'll like. This is pretty much what I do.

-Go to your fandom of choice's tag. Filter for the rating you want (Teen, Explicit, etc), and then just start scrolling. Take a peek at things that sound interesting from the tags or summaries. You might have to scroll for a bit, and you might hit some stuff that's not for you, but you'll find something eventually. Especially if it's a bigger fandom like SPN, MCU, Hannibal, or Critical Role. -If you discover/know that there's something that bothers you (unfinished work, ABO dynamics, whatever) you can filter for those tags! This is how you curate your experience. It's an active process and there are no shadow-bans or anything in place to keep sensitive content corralled into a certain area. There's a rating system, and there's tags, but nothing to actually make those mean anything unless the user blocks them. While it takes more thought than mindless scrolling, you get to play a role in actively searching out new things for yourself that an algorithm might gloss over. -Likewise, if there's something you really like or are in the mood for, search for that tag in particular. Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Coffee Shop AU... whatever your jam is. -Be careful using metrics like views, comments, and kudos as benchmarks. They fluctuate wildly by pairing, and from fandom to fandom, and are heavily influenced by date of publishing. And just because the majority of people like something, doesn't mean it's for you. If something sounds interesting... read a few paragraphs and see what's up! -Check out the Collections page under the "Browse" tabs. Often these are curated lists either from individual fans or from fanfic writing events like Big Bangs, Zines, and gift exchanges. Fanfic events like these often attract pretty experienced writers so not only is the quality likely to be very good, it's also likely to have some pretty prolific authors -When you find an author you like, and have read your fill of their offerings, see what they have bookmarked or what collections their works are in. You might find some similarly interesting stuff. It's also worth seeing if they have a blog or other social media listed on their about page. They might post some links there or be part of communities elsewhere on the internet that can open up new search avenues for you. -Don't be afraid to read old stuff. Fandoms change and evolve. There's a golden age of MCU fanfic in the 2010s that's just unlike anything else. And the Hannibal fandom has been and always will be a trip, but man it's been a wild ride through some interesting places and obsessions. -And lastly... for the love of god, comment on old stuff. It's not creepy or weird. In fact, if you like someone's writing who hasn't written in a bit, leave them a nice comment. There's this magical thing that happens when you do. Sometimes... THEY START WRITING AGAIN! (saying this from experience here.) Remember... the A in AO3 stands for Archive. It's not a social media platform. It's a library. There is -supposed- to be old stuff there. And you are absolutely allowed to read it and enjoy it and tell the author that. In fact... please do. As I said, feel free to add on if you want to give tips of your own. But be kind. I see a lot of talk about how algorithms are changing the face of fandom and how people interact with fan made content. Let's reach out and educate instead of ridicule.

#fanfiction #fanfic #archive of our own #a03

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mariacallous · 2 months

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As AI tools become increasingly sophisticated and accessible, so too has one of its worst applications: non-consensual deepfake pornography. While much of this content is hosted on dedicated sites, more and more it’s finding its way onto social platforms. Today, the Meta Oversight Board announced that it was taking on cases that could force the company to reckon with how it deals with deepfake porn.

The board, which is an independent body that can issue both binding decisions and recommendations to Meta, will focus on two deepfake porn cases, both regarding celebrities who had their images altered to create explicit content. In one case about an unnamed American celebrity, deepfake porn depicting the celebrity was removed from Facebook after it had already been flagged elsewhere on the platform. The post was also added to Meta’s Media Matching Service Bank, an automated system that finds and removes images that have already been flagged as violating Meta’s policies, to keep it off the platform.

In the other case, a deepfake image of an unnamed Indian celebrity remained up on Instagram, even after users reported it for violating Meta’s policies on pornography. The deepfake of the Indian celebrity was removed once the board took up the case, according to the announcement.

In both cases, the images were removed for violating Meta’s policies on bullying and harassment, and did not fall under Meta’s policies on porn. Meta, however, prohibits “content that depicts, threatens or promotes sexual violence, sexual assault or sexual exploitation” and does not allow porn or sexually explicit ads on its platforms. In a blog post released in tandem with the announcement of the cases, Meta said it removed the posts for violating the “derogatory sexualized photoshops or drawings” portion of its bullying and harassment policy, and that it also “determined that it violated [Meta's] adult nudity and sexual activity policy.”

The board hopes to use these cases to examine Meta’s policies and systems to detect and remove nonconsensual deepfake pornography, according to Julie Owono, an Oversight Board member. “I can tentatively already say that the main problem is probably detection,” she says. “Detection is not as perfect or at least is not as efficient as we would wish.”

Meta has also long faced criticism for its approach to moderating content outside the US and Western Europe. For this case, the board already voiced concerns that the American celebrity and Indian celebrity received different treatment in response to their deepfakes appearing on the platform.

“We know that Meta is quicker and more effective at moderating content in some markets and languages than others. By taking one case from the United States and one from India, we want to see if Meta is protecting all women globally in a fair way,” says Oversight Board cochair Helle Thorning-Schmidt. “It’s critical that this matter is addressed, and the board looks forward to exploring whether Meta’s policies and enforcement practices are effective at addressing this problem.”

The board declined to name the Indian and American celebrities whose images spurred the complaints, but pornographic deepfakes of celebrities have become rampant. A recent Channel 4 investigation found deepfakes of more than 4,000 celebrities. In January, a nonconsensual deepfake of Taylor Swift went viral on Facebook, Instagram, and especially X, where one post garnered more than 45 million views. X resorted to restricting the singer’s name from its search function, but posts continued to circulate. And while platforms struggled to remove that content, it was Swift’s fans who reportedly took to reporting and blocking the accounts that shared the image. In March, NBC News reported that ads for a deepfake app that ran on Facebook and Instagram featured the images of an undressed, underaged Jenna Ortega. In India, deepfakes have targeted major Bollywood actresses including Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Alia Bhatt, and Rashmika Mandann.

Ever since deepfakes emerged half a decade ago, research has found that nonconsensual deepfake pornography overwhelmingly targets women—and it has continued to explode. Last year, reporting from WIRED found that 244,625 videos had been uploaded to the top 35 deepfake porn hosting sites—more than any previous year. And it doesn’t take much to make a deepfake. In 2019, VICE found that just 15 seconds of an Instagram story is enough to create a reliable deepfake, and the technology has only gotten more accessible. Last month, a school in Beverly Hills expelled five students who had made nonconsensual deepfakes of 16 of their classmates.

“Deepfake pornography is a growing cause of gender-based harassment online and is increasingly used to target, silence, and intimidate women on- and offline,” says Thorning-Schmidt. “Multiple studies show that deepfake pornography overwhelmingly targets women. This content can be extremely harmful for victims, and the tools used for creating it are becoming more sophisticated and accessible.”

In January, legislators introduced the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits, or DEFIANCE Act, that would allow people whose images were used in deepfake porn to sue if they could show that it was made without their consent. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who sponsored the bill, was herself the target of deepfake pornography earlier this year.

“Victims of nonconsensual pornographic deepfakes have waited too long for federal legislation to hold perpetrators accountable,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement at the time. “As deepfakes become easier to access and create—96 percent of deepfake videos circulating online are nonconsensual pornography—Congress needs to act to show victims that they won’t be left behind.”

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beautifulpersonpeach · 1 year

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Hi BPP,

You must have seen the solo versus OT7 drama that’s been happening on Twitter or seen discussions relating to this on Tumblr. I’d like you to weigh in with your opinion on this.

To those fans who are new to this fandom, say post hiatus or just slightly pre hiatus, this could seem to be very toxic; although, it could be these same new fans who are pushing back 💁🏻‍♀️

Ultimately, the BTS anti wins - seeing a solid fandom crumble in this manner. It seems as though some of these OT7s are Sacrificing Jimin to make a point.

I hope though that Jimin does make the sales he needs and has the impact we think he shall have and that antis don’t win at pulling him down.

***

Hi Anon,

Oh I saw it. Not on Tumblr (I’m yet to see any of those discussions here thank goodness), but definitely on Twitter.

This is one of those situations that causes me to rub my temples because it reveals stupidity everywhere, like tech bros inducing a global banking collapse-type stupid, and there’s plenty of blame to go around. But these exact sort of situations are what’s expected to happen given how the fandom has changed since 2020, and it’s why the byline of my blog references a fandom implosion. Because it’s coming. It just has to. Lol.

I referenced 2020 for a reason. This isn’t the first time the fandom has had to navigate supporting solo work. We’ve done it in 2015, 2016, and 2020, but because of how the fandom has changed since 2020, conflict and implosion is nearly guaranteed.

Many things changed in the fandom in 2020, but one major thing that happened is we had a huge influx of k-pop noobs into the fandom. We all know many of these people happened to be from Western/European countries and typically skewed female, white, and opinionated. According to that ARMY soc med survey, these people now account for roughly 50% of the fandom, and I reckon roughly the same amount found their way into solo stan and shipper spaces. Most of these people aren’t bad in any real sense, but what I’ve observed is they lack the history to have an understanding of the 2nd and 3rd order implications of certain actions within a k-pop space. This is something solo stans are notorious for, for example not understanding the 2nd order implications of sending a truck to HYBE claiming HYBE is mistreating your favourite member, or the 3rd order consequences of trending hashtags to make a point, as another example. Ordered thinking can be intuitive to some people, but to most people they need to have experienced a history that shows what happens 2 or 3 steps down the line when you’re only concerned with the immediate reward, forgetting that nothing in k-pop happens in a vacuum.

Anyway, I’ll say what I think on each player in the drama yesterday.

The Solo Stans

Pre-2020, solo stans would have had the sense to not even make that request to ARMYs in the first place. That was their first mistake. Those funds would have eventually made it into ARMY buying channels (because ARMYs have the widest and most efficient systems for chart placements, solo stans do not, despite their enthusiasm), but no solo stan in their right mind would blatantly publicly request ARMY participation - it would’ve moved through DMs or solos creating ARMY cosplay accounts for that purpose. Pre-2020.

You might be wondering, what’s the damage? What’s the big deal in just telling ARMYs there’s 10 grand sitting somewhere that they can request? Shouldn’t we all put aside our ego to support Jimin?

Lol.

The thing is, Solo stans are fundamentally different from ARMYs in that they view the other members as rivals that must be defeated (1). ARMYs are inclined to support any member who needs it. And so, many solo stans simply do not trust ARMYs to spend the funds only on Jimin. And they’re right to have that fear. Most ARMYs obviously would use it for Jimin and what I’ve seen is trusted ARMY buyers and funders are responsible and provide thorough accounts of their activities, but it would be stupid to ignore that hyung-line diet solos, shippers (aka taekookers), etc, would take advantage as well. PJMs were only setting themselves up for grief by doing what they did.

Another reason it was plain moronic to publicly and blatantly announce the funds available and demand ARMY partnership with solos, is that it would set the precedent for Taehyung and Jungkook solo stans during their debuts. And I promise you, $10,000 will only be the starting amount. PJMs didn’t think beyond putting that amount of money to work, forgetting that they’ve now created a situation that demands ARMY working with taekook solos to the tune of $50,000 at least (that’s the amount I recall seeing by their fanbase in 2021 earmarked for their debuts). Nobody was paying closer attention to that drama yesterday, than other akgaes and antis. There's a lot of eyes on the fandom. PJMs, bless their heart, are often just loud, uncouth, and myopic in their thinking.

Because:

At the end of the day that money isn’t going to be sitting somewhere idle. It will definitely be spent on Jimin during his debut. Solo stans of previous eras would have had the sense to privately approach ARMY buyers and use the rest of those funds (because of course most of it will be used to get Jimin’s high chart placements in the 1st week), to support the release from week 3 which is when streams/radio typically fall off, supporting the efforts from the core of the fandom, to give Jimin’s tracks more longevity, and stronger support - a better indicator for a song’s success on the charts. But the only thinking present here yesterday was to get as many 1st week buyers with those funds to make the biggest splash as possible at debut.

The ARMYs

As I’ve said before, too many ARMYs are just plain stupid. It’s not an insult, just the facts of the matter I’m afraid. Going by how ARMY typically operates, over the course of this week (week of the release), ARMYs would have raised well over $10,000. Obviously. It’s not something the fandom typically advertises (another key difference between ARMY and solos), but anyone who has worked within these channels would tell you a lot of money gets generated in a very short amount of time and there’s a literal army of buyers in those networks. For pre-2020 ARMYs, it would’ve been enough to say, “we’re good supporting Jimin, thanks.” And blocked the solo stans right away because they’d kick up a stink the moment you actually engaged with them and lead to the exact same situation that happened yesterday. It’s the same playbook to use with taekook shippers. But that’s not what happened, which again, is another key difference between how pre-2020 ARMYs would’ve handled this vs. newer ARMYs.

ARMYs are generally wary of working extensively with solo stans because of (1) above, as it guarantees that solos will weaponize any and all achievements to tear down the other members. As an ARMY (who could bias any member) it makes zero sense to work with anyone who literally actually wants to see another member leave the group, using any solo success over their bandmates as reasons that member should do so. A second reason is that solo stans often belong to rival fandoms a.k.a. Blinks, NCTzens, Shawols, Exols, etc. and the unfortunate reality of what goes down in k-pop fandoms is that people’s lives can get ruined over pointless shit. An Egyptian ARMY who is a dental student in Egypt, was doxxed by Blinks four days ago for saying Yoongi dances better than Jennie. She’s had her living address, family address, faculty information, and medical conditions leaked by Blinks on Twitter. And one traced the leak to providing her information for a BlackPink album giveaway last year. We can joke about how these online fights are silly but ARMYs have seen enough to have more reasons against working with solos and akgaes, than they do to work with them.

It’s frankly not really about ego. It involves money and personal information and there’s real risk here.

Now, why did I say ARMYs are stupid? Because they opened an avenue to have this discussions publicly in the first place. Nothing good comes from hashing things out on the TL (there's too many eyes on the fandom), much less an issue as nuanced as this and even more so when ARMYs had already worked with Hobi and other member funding bases before on previous releases. (But on significantly smaller amounts and not directly through the largest ARMY funding bases.)

It’s not easy to explain all that in a tweet, and I doubt a lot of newer ARMYs even understand the real issues - I suspect many of them just move in a herd and think “solos bad” without fully understanding why it’s a bad idea to approach things the way solos suggested yesterday - so those ARMYs instead used nonsensical arguments like bringing up the Hanbok issue in early 2021, that solos want to take ‘credit’, and the ARMYs who have nowhere to tuck in their insecurities as it concerns Jimin (because there are definitely ARMYs - usually hyung-line and other maknae-line biases - who are extremely sensitive to any mention of how Jimin differs from the rest) let it all hang out yesterday.

Pre-2020, ARMYs would have shut down that argument on the TL as soon as it happened (and that’s if it would’ve happened in the first place), blocking solo stans which would’ve caused (pre-2020) solos to make cosplay accounts and deal with this all in DMs. It’s easier to develop trust and hold accounts accountable (lol) one on one. That’s one way the fandom did this in 2015 with Joon’s solo, in 2016 with Jimin’s Lie and other solos, and in 2020 (although for BE, solo stans tried to sabotage that release by boycotting the album… but like I said, these sort of changes started in 2020).

The Exiles

I describe the Exiles as those within the fandom who think they’re not in the fandom. We’ve all seen them, in fact I suspect some of my followers are them - they’re people who constantly think the fandom makes them ‘look bad’ and so they don’t want to be associated with its label. Many of them are sympathetic to solo stan arguments though they wouldn’t call themselves solo stans and could even despise solos for the same reason they hate ARMYs. But at the end of the day, the Exiles still play a role. Because of course they do. Most of the Exiles today also joined the fandom around 2020, and many of them haven’t ever really participated fully in supporting a release, and so they don’t have a real understanding of what goes down, and why it’s a bad idea to do exactly what Jimin’s solos were publicly requesting yesterday. But these types are often very opinionated and just fanned the flames yesterday lmao. But the plus side is this group of people will end up being the bridge when D-day arrives. It’s what I saw happen with Hobi-biased people who don’t consider themselves part of ARMY, for On The Street.

The Takeaway

Consider that mess the dress rehearsal for Taehyung and Jungkook’s solo debut, and we have PJMs to thank for that. Taekook solos would have demanded ARMYs support either way, but now they have additional ammo thanks to PJMs and they’re significantly more in number than any other member’s solo stans. More vicious too. And the core of the fandom will be in worse shape by their debut in the sense that it will be more fragmented because I’m sure yesterday’s mess left a nasty dent on some more impressionable people. These kinds of things are bound to happen given the players that have become dominant in the fandom in the last three years. What I suggest is focusing on the small pockets of followers and friends within the fandom that you know and trust - whether you’re a solo stan, ARMY, or Exile. If you’ve never participated in buying/funding, ask those people questions. Get into the habit of streaming on multiple platforms, and for God’s sake learn how to resolve shit in the DMs.

Jimin will have a lot of competition on March 17th and 24th. The deck is already stacked against him. And maybe I’m weird but all that does is make me excited because whenever things are like this for Jimin, he just… he blows it all out of the water. Contrary to popular belief, most people in the fandom, whether they bias Jimin or not, actually love him. It’s impossible not to. And they will give this release everything they’ve got. I’m already seeing it happening, ARMYs just don’t advertise it publicly because all eyes, including journalists, are on the fandom. Focus on what you can control, find a group of people who love him as much as you do, and enjoy the music when it comes.

#jimin #park jimin #bts army #bts fandom #fandom behaviour #kpop

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montydollcrew2 · 11 months

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Back in April I got to take Cygnus to Tenshi no Sato in Kyoto! I’ve been wanting to do this for ages and it was a really nice experience. So here’s a recap!

It was actually the second time I’d been to Sato, the first time was back in 2017 which I wrote about on my old doll blog. I was new to SD then but now 6 years later I not only was able to better appreciate the museum and the significance of a lot of the dolls in there, but I also got to experience it with a doll I really, really treasure (that’s not to say Finn (Renee at the time) isn’t important, I had just literally only just got that doll at the time).

Anyway, just like last time there are limited areas where photos are allowed, which unfortunately means no photos of the museum floor again. This is a shame because there were a lot more dolls this time - including boyhood Cecile, so it would have been cute to have a pic of Cygnus in front of his original form. It was cool to see all the Oath of Silver Coin dolls together though - it was also the first time I’d seen SD17 Captain Cecile in person, and I still want him really bad ;-;

Anyway here’s the requisite pics of Cygnus in the main meeting area at the big table. Sato changes out the flowers seasonally, and the ones during my visit were gerbera.

But the main reason I took him to Sato was to do the Omukae ceremony with him. In the 2017 post about Sato I did on my old blog, I misunderstood the Omukae Ceremony as something you could only do for Full Choice System dolls when you go to pick them up. But it’s actually something you can do for any Volks dolls regardless of when or how you got it. So what is it? It’s kind of the culmination of a lot of the fan culture surrounding Volks dolls as being alive or extensions of yourself - it’s essentially a ceremony to celebrate the bond you have with a doll. Like you’re being soul-bonded to them on the astral plane or…something. It’s incredibly extra, but I always found it fascinating and kind of charming so after a friend did it a few years back I decided that I would too at some point, because I like being able to experience the many things Volks offers. At first though I didn’t know if I’d ever have a doll important enough for me to be fitting for the sheer level of pomp and circumstance, but Cygnus definitely fits the bill.

The Ceremony is actually available at any Volks store - I witnessed one in the Fukuoka showroom several years back. It’s just a lot more special at either Sato, or Tenshi no Mado in Harajuku first due to the alters being more decorated but also due to having more space. Plus Sato has the veiled statue of Mother SD behind the alter so it is absolutely the most extra of all location options.

When the ceremony begins, they actually close the doors to the main hall to prevent people randomly coming in and potentially ruining it (especially because this part of Sato is right at the entrance). This also means that anyone currently in that area is stuck there and forced to watch the ceremony happen (although they are given warning). The doll is put on the alter by the owner, who then sits on a chair in front of it. Here is Cygnus politely wondering what is going on when he was placed on the alter.

The lights are dimmed and the Doll Advisor (abbreviated to DAD on the certificate which tickles me) enters wearing a robe. The lights are dimmed in the room, they draw the hanging curtains around the doll to hide it from view and light candles on either side of the alter, and recite a very flowery speech about your beautiful amazing bond with your beautiful amazing doll. The speech is the same for everyone other than the names of you and your doll (which can also be your nickname or handlename, so my friend got to do theirs being constantly referred to as ‘Beby-sama’), and you receive a copy of it as a souvenir card with your names written in the spaces. I had my back to the table here because of being in the seat, but when the lights were dimmed I realised I could see the table in the reflection of the glass by the alter and there were more people than I expected, and I really hope they knew the ceremony was a thing beforehand because I can’t imagine how it would feel to suddenly be witnessing this if you had no idea what was going on.

The DAD then instructs the owner to blow out the candles, which symbolises blowing life into the doll. Then the owner opens the curtains up and picks up their soul bonded doll and turns to face whatever audience has gathered. But the thing is. While they are doing the speech and all, the music is just some gentle Ave Maria type thing, but specifically at the moment the ceremony is complete - when you pick up your doll, the song changes to a different one. The Shigetas (the couple who run Volks) have very particular music tastes and have songs and playlists they use for things - the playlist at Dolpa events is stuff like Dancing Queen and other oldies on repeat and it never changes. The song they have chosen for the omukae ceremony that has apparently been unchanged since its inception is, I shit you not, ‘Tonight I Celebrate My Love’ by Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack. And -specifically!!!!!- the part that says ‘when I make love to you tonight’. This is a legendary injoke with English speaking volks fans so I did already know about this but I still wasn’t prepared for the exact cocktail of emotions you get when you’re having an extremely weird, almost cult-like ceremony and it’s weird but also touching because your OC means that much to you and then right at the end that song kicks in. I had a mask on which concealed my expression but I still couldn’t help but double over slightly when I picked Cygnus up, which I hope the staff interpreted as a sign of me being touched by the proceeding and not just me losing it at the stunningly inappropriate song. Here is Cygnus after the ceremony with the lights still dimmed politely wondering what just happened.

After that, my friend and I went to the cafe. The Sato cafe only has cakes and drinks, but the cakes are always cute and change seasonably. This time I was able to get a cute sakura roll cake. Cygnus watches on from the basket the staff give you to carry your dolls around the facility like baby kittens.

Anyway! That’s the omukae ceremony, amazing experience, unintentionally hilarious, I really enjoyed it, potentially confusing as all hell for any newcomer in my audience who saw it unprepared.

If you also want to get soul bonded to your super dollfie to questionable music choices, email Volks to inquire and make a reservation. If you want to do it at Sato, check the opening dates on the Sato calendar (it’s only open on weekends and a few other days each month) and send Volks an email, well in advance as they can only do a certain number of ceremonies per day.

#super dollfie cecile #ball jointed doll #volks doll #super dollfie #sd cygnus #bjd #sd cecile #tenshi no sato #event report

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satoshi-mochida · 9 months

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Final Fantasy VII Rebirth first hands-on previews, gameplay, and screenshots

Gematsu Source

Media outlets have gone up with the first hands-on previews of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which include new gameplay footage and screenshots of the Final Fantasy VII Remake sequel.

English previews are available at the following links: Checkpoint Gaming, Digital Trends, Eurogamer, Game Informer, GameSpot, GamingTrend, IGN, PlayStation Blog, Shacknews (2), TechRaptor, and VG247.

Japanese previews are available at the following links: 4Gamer.net (2), Dengeki Online (2), Famitsu (2), Gamer.ne.jp, GAME Watch (2), and PlayStation Blog.

Here is an overview of the game, via Square Enix:

The Unknown Journey Continues…

After escaping from the dystopian city of Midgar, Cloud and his friends set out on a journey across the planet. New adventures await in a vibrant and vast world—sprint across grassy plains on a Chocobo and explore expansive environments.

An Expansive World

As the party searches for Sephiroth, you will explore the beautiful, expansive regions of the world and open up new areas to discover. Dig deeper into the world of Final Fantasy VII with rewarding side content and mini-games, plus various unique forms of transportation to navigate the world.

An Evolved Battle System

Combine strategic thinking with thrilling action combat alongside your comrades, including newly added characters. Deepen their relationships to unleash powerful team-based combos.

Beyond the Walls of Fate

In this standalone adventure for fans and newcomers, Cloud and his comrades venture across the planet, their fates unwritten, making each step outside the dystopian city of Midgar fresh and mysterious.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is due out for PlayStation 5 on February 29, 2024.

Watch the footage below. View the screenshots at the gallery.

Gameplay

Bahamut

youtube

Dengeki Online

youtube

Easy Allies

youtube

Famitsu

youtube

Gamespot

youtube

IGN

youtube

Kinda Funny Games

youtube

#Final Fantasy VII Rebirth #Final Fantasy VII Remake #Final Fantasy VII #Final Fantasy #Square Enix #Gematsu #Youtube

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transmasc-wizard · 2 years

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do you want to Rant about harry potter worldbuilding?

Yes. Yes, I do.

Preface

I love two things. Those things are any opportunity to dunk on JKR & everything she's made, and good worldbuilding.

There is only one thing that I love in this discussion, and it is not #2.

This will be split up into sections; hogwarts & its houses, magic, bigotry/things that make me go hmmmmm, and things that just generally don't make sense.

And just a note: Harry Potter fans? Get Off My (Blog's) Lawn.

With that out of the way:

Hogwarts & its Houses

I cannot stress enough that even when I was in my HP phase, I thought the houses were fucking stupid. You're telling me the four types of people are brave, smart, nice, and ambitious and there are no mixes or other options? You're gonna say that with a straight face? At 10 years old I was mapping out percentages of how I thought I and my friends/family members would fall, and none of them would fit concretely into just one house.

Like. If you know me moderately well, you know I have gripes with V. Roth's Divergent, due to the premise being "most people only have one personality trait and the protagonist is special because she has three". But at least Divergent showed people who broke out of that restriction. In Harry Potter, no one questions why people are sorted into groups that represent their core personality & values when they're ELEVEN YEARS OLD. (The closest thing to "mixing" houses would be the fact that the Hat had trouble sorting Harry, but like... in the end, it decided based off of his 11-year-old mind that bravery was his defining character trait.)

They can never even change, and they are expected to base their personalities around it enough that the Hogwarts house of grown adults who haven't been to school in 40 years is still relevant.

I hope I don't have to explain why even if people were built in a way that they all had the defining trait of brave, smart, nice, or ambitious, it would be extremely unlikely for that trait to stay the same from age 11 until the day they die. I really, really hope I don't have to explain how that's ridiculous.

Like. IIRC, the whole reason the Houses are like that in the first place is because four people founded it and based the houses on their own personalities. You cannot??? Categorize all of humanity based on one friend group??? Hufflepuff is extraordinarily unbalanced/messy because of this, imo; Rowling realized "hey, not everyone fits into these 4 categories" and so she made anyone who wasn't brave, smart, ambitious, or the typical Hufflepuff nice into Hufflepuff anyway.

Magic

there is no magic system in Harry Potter lol. Calling it that is way too generous. Magic works because it needs to for the plot. It is almost never inconvenient for the characters--it's just exactly what they need. (There's barely even any boundaries to what it can do except for... summon food? I think? idk.)

There's no information given on how spells are made, why they work, why you need a wand, why some people can do magic without wands, why you need to use potions for some things and spells for others, whatever the fuck is going on with Divination, how new spells get known/popular, literally how the fucking planets are involved (Harry takes astronomy and it's supposed to be relevant), how the magic of magical creatures is different or similar to the magic of humans, how people can do magic accidentally & without wands as children, how magic is viewed in different cultural contexts, how ALL OF THE TIME TRAVEL MAGIC was stored in one fucking place, where magic comes from, or even how magic itself works beyond "wave wand, say magic word, bam! spell".

For fuck's sake, you don't even learn why magic is colourful.

This isn't inherently a bad thing. There are well-done fantasy stories with super vague magic systems. But if you are going to have a story about a magic school where magic people learn how to do magic tricks, YOU HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE MAGIC BEYOND JUST LISTING SOME SPELLS AND POTIONS.

Other people have said this more eloquently, but like. It's why Harry sucks so much. (See the joke of "no one's favourite HP character is Harry" that used to be vaguely (?) popular, at least where I was hanging around in my HP fan days.)

Harry is passive and does not notice or do anything even remotely related to the actual premise of a magic school where you learn magic, because then JKR would have had to actually think about how her magic works. He just cheats off of people or learns things in lessons she never describes because he was, like, staring out the window or talking to his friends or whatever.

Bigotry/Things That Make Me Go Hmmmmm

the race of slaves who like being slaves and whose rights are a joke that only one character genuinely cares about

the whole shit with "Native American wizards were so primitive and weird with their magic until European wizards came along and taught them to do better" (this is in companion material, not the OG series, btw)

similarly: using creatures from Native American legends as backdrops for her History of Magic in North America thingy, but not actually... talking to Natives or having Natives star in the story. (see: using the Pukwudgie as a Ilvermorny house name but not talking about the Wampanoag tribe, which it's from.)

the goblins, who are hooked-nosed greedy creatures that control all the money and hate the Wizards, and who also literally have a Star of David on their bank floor in one of the movies

the date rape potion that gets frequently mentioned that no one says is a date rape drug (makes the person think they're in love with whoever brewed it, or smth like that. when it wears off, they realize what happened. may i say: what the fuck?)

Unicorns only approaching girls because they're "safer" and "purer"; this is r*dfem rhetoric and gender essentialism. (No I am not saying misandry is real or that she's being sexist against men, I am saying this is the same foundation T3RFs use to hate trans women & TIRFs use to hate trans men)

Things That Just Don't Make Sense

Truth potions exist. They work 100% of the time. No one thought to use this in Sirius Black's trial, or any other criminal trials in the wizarding world, because JKR doesn't think about things.

luck potions exist. They work 100% of the time. No one thought to use this to shoot Voldemort in the face, because JKR doesn't think about things.

Time travel magic literally all being destroyed in one go. You're saying you cannot make more time turners??? They're just gone?? And you're saying every single one was in the Ministry basement?? yeah ok sure.

How that "taboo" thing works. Yeah that falls in magic in general but I hate this one specifically so it gets its own spot

The logistics of skill level in magic. Again, this falls under magic, but it deserves a special note. I have no idea what is easier or harder to do when it comes to magic, and it is never explained in a sensible way.

the logistics of having a fucking giant squid in a lake. what does it eat. does it eat the mermaids

how come humans can make babies w/some magical creatures (see: Fleur being quarter Veela) but not others, e.g. goblins?? (or,,, can they also have babies with goblins....? Never mind i don't want this one answered)

SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK DO THE PLANETS HAVE TO DO WITH MAGIC AND HOW IT WORKS. FUCKING TELL ME PLEASE

In Conclusion

JK Rowling's Harry Potter series has weak as shit worldbuilding and a 12-year-old with a hyperfixation on unicorns or something could do better than she ever will. thank you and goodnight

#harry potter tw #fuck jkr #worldbuilding #asks #will/lee #nico rants

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