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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 day

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The specific process by which Google enshittified its search

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me SATURDAY (Apr 27) in MARIN COUNTY, then Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

All digital businesses have the technical capacity to enshittify: the ability to change the underlying functions of the business from moment to moment and user to user, allowing for the rapid transfer of value between business customers, end users and shareholders:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

Which raises an important question: why do companies enshittify at a specific moment, after refraining from enshittifying before? After all, a company always has the potential to benefit by treating its business customers and end users worse, by giving them a worse deal. If you charge more for your product and pay your suppliers less, that leaves more money on the table for your investors.

Of course, it's not that simple. While cheating, price-gouging, and degrading your product can produce gains, these tactics also threaten losses. You might lose customers to a rival, or get punished by a regulator, or face mass resignations from your employees who really believe in your product.

Companies choose not to enshittify their products…until they choose to do so. One theory to explain this is that companies are engaged in a process of continuous assessment, gathering data about their competitive risks, their regulators' mettle, their employees' boldness. When these assessments indicate that the conditions are favorable to enshittification, the CEO walks over to the big "enshittification" lever on the wall and yanks it all the way to MAX.

Some companies have certainly done this – and paid the price. Think of Myspace or Yahoo: companies that made themselves worse by reducing quality and gouging on price (be it measured in dollars or attention – that is, ads) before sinking into obscure senescence. These companies made a bet that they could get richer while getting worse, and they were wrong, and they lost out.

But this model doesn't explain the Great Enshittening, in which all the tech companies are enshittifying at the same time. Maybe all these companies are subscribing to the same business newsletter (or, more likely, buying advice from the same management consultancy) (cough McKinsey cough) that is a kind of industry-wide starter pistol for enshittification.

I think it's something else. I think the main job of a CEO is to show up for work every morning and yank on the enshittification lever as hard as you can, in hopes that you can eke out some incremental gains in your company's cost-basis and/or income by shifting value away from your suppliers and customers to yourself.

We get good digital services when the enshittification lever doesn't budge – when it is constrained: by competition, by regulation, by interoperable mods and hacks that undo enshittification (like alternative clients and ad-blockers) and by workers who have bargaining power thanks to a tight labor market or a powerful union:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain

When Google ordered its staff to build a secret Chinese search engine that would censor search results and rat out dissidents to the Chinese secret police, googlers revolted and refused, and the project died:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly_(search_engine)

When Google tried to win a US government contract to build AI for drones used to target and murder civilians far from the battlefield, googlers revolted and refused, and the project died:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/technology/google-pentagon-project-maven.html

What's happened since – what's behind all the tech companies enshittifying all at once – is that tech worker power has been smashed, especially at Google, where 12,000 workers were fired just months after a $80b stock buyback that would have paid their wages for the next 27 years. Likewise, competition has receded from tech bosses' worries, thanks to lax antitrust enforcement that saw most credible competitors merged into behemoths, or neutralized with predatory pricing schemes. Lax enforcement of other policies – privacy, labor and consumer protection – loosened up the enshittification lever even more. And the expansion of IP rights, which criminalize most kinds of reverse engineering and aftermarket modification, means that interoperability no longer applies friction to the enshittification lever.

Now that every tech boss has an enshittification lever that moves very freely, they can show up for work, yank the enshittification lever, and it goes all the way to MAX. When googlers protested the company's complicity in the genocide in Gaza, Google didn't kill the project – it mass-fired the workers:

https://medium.com/@notechforapartheid/statement-from-google-workers-with-the-no-tech-for-apartheid-campaign-on-googles-indiscriminate-28ba4c9b7ce8

Enshittification is a macroeconomic phenomenon, determined by the regulatory environment for competition, privacy, labor, consumer protection and IP. But enshittification is also a microeconomic phenomenon, the result of innumerable boardroom and product-planning fights within companies in which would-be enshittifiers try to do things that make the company's products and services shittier wrestle with rivals who want to keep things as they are, or make them better, whether out of principle or fear of the consequences.

Those microeconomic wrestling-matches are where we find enshittification's heroes and villains – the people who fight for the user or stand up for a fair deal, versus the people who want to cheat and wreck to make things better for the company and win bonuses and promotions for themselves:

https://locusmag.com/2023/11/commentary-by-cory-doctorow-dont-be-evil/

These microeconomic struggles are usually obscure, because companies are secretive institutions and our glimpses into their deliberations are normally limited to the odd leaked memo, whistleblower tell-all, or spectacular worker revolt. But when a company gets dragged into court, a new window opens into the company's internal operations. That's especially true when the plaintiff is the US government.

Which brings me back to Google, the poster-child for enshittification, a company that revolutionized the internet a quarter of a century ago with a search-engine that was so good that it felt like magic, which has decayed so badly and so rapidly that whole sections of the internet are disappearing from view for the 90% of users who rely on the search engine as their gateway to the internet.

Google is being sued by the DOJ's Antitrust Division, and that means we are getting a very deep look into the company, as its internal emails and memos come to light:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/03/not-feeling-lucky/#fundamental-laws-of-economics

Google is a tech company, and tech companies have literary cultures – they run on email and other forms of written communication, even for casual speech, which is more likely to take place in a chat program than at a water-cooler. This means that tech companies have giant databases full of confessions to every crime they've ever committed:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/03/big-tech-cant-stop-telling-on-itself/

Large pieces of Google's database-of-crimes are now on display – so much, in fact, that it's hard for anyone to parse through it all and understand what it means. But some people are trying, and coming up with gold. One of those successful prospectors is Ed Zitron, who has produced a staggering account of the precise moment at which Google search tipped over into enshittification, which names the executives at the very heart of the rot:

https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-men-who-killed-google/

Zitron tells the story of a boardroom struggle over search quality, in which Ben Gomes – a long-tenured googler who helped define the company during its best years – lost a fight with Prabhakar Raghavan, a computer scientist turned manager whose tactic for increasing the number of search queries (and thus the number of ads the company could show to searchers) was to decrease the quality of search. That way, searchers would have to spend more time on Google before they found what they were looking for.

Zitron contrasts the background of these two figures. Gomes, the hero, worked at Google for 19 years, solving fantastically hard technical scaling problems and eventually becoming the company's "search czar." Raghavan, the villain, "failed upwards" through his career, including a stint as Yahoo's head of search from 2005-12, a presiding over the collapse of Yahoo's search business. Under Raghavan's leadership, Yahoo's search market-share fell from 30.4% to 14%, and in the end, Yahoo jettisoned its search altogether and replaced it with Bing.

For Zitron, the memos show how Raghavan engineered the ouster of Gomes, with help from the company CEO, the ex-McKinseyite Sundar Pichai. It was a triumph for enshittification, a deliberate decision to make the product worse in order to make it more profitable, under the (correct) belief that the company's exclusivity deals to provide search everywhere from Iphones and Samsungs to Mozilla would mean that the business would face no consequences for doing so.

It a picture of a company that isn't just too big to fail – it's (as FTC Chair Lina Khan put it on The Daily Show) too big to care:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDTiWaYfcM

Zitron's done excellent sleuthing through the court exhibits here, and his writeup is incandescently brilliant. But there's one point I quibble with him on. Zitron writes that "It’s because the people running the tech industry are no longer those that built it."

I think that gets it backwards. I think that there were always enshittifiers in the C-suites of these companies. When Page and Brin brought in the war criminal Eric Schmidt to run the company, he surely started every day with a ritual, ferocious tug at that enshittification lever. The difference wasn't who was in the C-suite – the difference was how freely the lever moved.

On Saturday, I wrote:

The platforms used to treat us well and now treat us badly. That's not because they were setting a patient trap, luring us in with good treatment in the expectation of locking us in and turning on us. Tech bosses do not have the executive function to lie in wait for years and years.

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/22/kargo-kult-kaptialism/#dont-buy-it

Someone on Hacker News called that "silly," adding that "tech bosses do in fact have the executive function to lie in wait for years and years. That's literally the business model of most startups":

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40114339

That's not quite right, though. The business-model of the startup is to yank on the enshittification lever every day. Tech bosses don't lie in wait for the perfect moment to claw away all the value from their employees, users, business customers, and suppliers – they're always trying to get that value. It's only when they become too big to care that they succeed. That's the definition of being too big to care.

In antitrust circles, they sometimes say that "the process is the punishment." No matter what happens to the DOJ's case against Google, its internal workers have been made visible to the public. The secrecy surrounding the Google trial when it was underway meant that a lot of this stuff flew under the radar when it first appeared. But as Zitron's work shows, there is plenty of treasure to be found in that trove of documents that is now permanently in the public domain.

When future scholars study the enshittocene, they will look to accounts like Zitron's to mark the turning points from the old, good internet to the enshitternet. Let's hope those future scholars have a new, good internet on which to publish their findings.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

#pluralistic #ed zitron #google #microincentives #constraints #enshittification #rot economy #platform decay #search #ben gomes #code yellow #mckinsey #hacking engagement #Prabhakar Raghavan #yahoo #doj #antitrust #trustbusting

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justanotherlifeff · 10 hours

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Love is meaningless

[True form heian era Sukuna x reader. I may have taken many creative liberties with his backstory alongside certain spoilers so be warned!]

Love is meaningless, this was something Sukuna believed for most of his life. He can proclaim it precisely because he understands it. Being born a wretched curse by his foolish starving mother was not a start to life he had appreciated, but it was what it was. Fate was that he absorbed his twin for nourishment, fate was that he was born monstrous. One can only live with fate and become stronger, after all. Of course, he had to raise himself, of course he had to get stronger to survive. The golden age of Jujutsu meant many other cursed spirits, and of course, humans were no better. Weak people shouldn’t complain about their transgressions after all. That is simply how the world is built, to please the strong.

Yet, unexpected things happen, as it is part of life as well. Some people find it in their stupid, human, hearts to love a monster. And sometimes, something as meaningless as love creeps up in a monster’s heart too if they are weak enough. Sukuna wasn’t born the king of curses after all. It was a meaningless gesture that one might call kindness, something he believed that he didn’t deserve, that started it all. Just like his mother who birthed him, this foolish girl gave him an apple from her basket when he was starving. A foolish act of kindness from a human to a cursed being. He accepted nonetheless, as a starving man would, since this was before the days when he took whatever he wanted.

The days when he was weak enough to be considerate. For some reason, you kept coming back, with food every time, and for some reason, he didn’t leave the outskirts of that village after the first few encounters. He convinced himself that it was because your cooking was amazing, not because he wanted to see that smile on your face again, not because he was getting addicted to that kindness. Why would a human be kind to the likes of him after all? Surely, he was being delusional. However, weeks turned to months, and you wouldn’t stop visiting the small cave where he was living at, since no one would give him shelter or a job due to his monstrous features. Somehow you weren’t afraid of the four arms, the four eyes, the odd markings on his body. Somehow, you made conversation with him at one point as you watched him eagerly eat whatever food you brought him and somehow, he found himself replying. Hope was something that the weak shouldn’t have and yet, he found it in you, he made that mistake.

Looking at water in streams was something he hated, because it showed him his inhumanity and made the struggles he faced his entire life be something that was acceptable. Who would care for a monster after all? And yet, one day, you looked at him and called him beautiful with a blush on your pretty little face. He didn’t know how to reply to that, as someone who never encountered a situation like that before and yet, he couldn’t sleep all night, thinking of those words. He awkwardly called you beautiful too the next day.

Small compliments turned into teasing and at one point, neither you nor he had to say it out loud that you loved each other. It was simply something that happened. However, you had to keep it a secret from the village, and he understood why. Loving something like him had its consequences as they would kill you for being with a curse. He understood the consequences but his hunger for you was far too much to ignore. It started with kisses, and then he wanted more, so much more. And you let him take what he wanted with a smile on your face, that same smile he fell in love with. Even your old kimonos started looking like ones that queens would wear, your simple hairpin was better than the highest quality jade to him. You were beautiful and you were his and that was the best thing that happened in his wretched life at the time. Or at least, he was foolish and weak enough to believe so.

During his days as the king of curses, he saw the women he fucked as no more than pieces of meat that exist for his pleasure. One might think he wasn’t capable of being gentle, of having any other expression than the ruthless and deranged smile that adorns his face. Yet, his first time was so different, as he looked upon your beauty with nothing but wonder in his eyes, not believing his own luck as you were naked underneath him, that beautiful tint of red adorning your face. Perhaps that was when he found himself loving the color red so much, it was never about the blood of the thousands he killed later in life. You looked beautiful even with your old kimonos, but you looked divine without it, and he wasn’t shy enough to keep that opinion to himself, mostly because he wanted to see that blush on your face when he says it out loud. He wanted to hear you call out his name in that affectionate and yet pleasured voice when he was deep inside you. He wanted you, all of you, even if he didn’t deserve you.

The weak gets trampled on, it isn’t something they should complain about as it is the way of life. He almost had you, the day you came to him with a worried expression on your face and told him that you may be expecting his child. For a moment, he dreamed, despite being weak. He asked you to elope with him, that he would protect you. He knew that the child he sired would be cursed too, and that you were unmarried, so of course, overall, you would be killed if he left you alone. He loved you far too much to even consider that. “Come with me, Ill take you far from here and protect you. I’ll make sure nothing hurts you or our child. I’ll get stronger for you.” He told you with that gruff tone of his. To his surprise, you agreed. However, you were a kind little thing full of hope. You wanted to see your parents one last time before leaving with him forever. He didn’t understand it, but he wanted you to be happy, so he suggested making a binding vow. A part of him felt wary as all these felt too good to be true.

The vow was simple, it was to live as long as you can. He was still new to forming binding vows, so he forgot to acknowledge the fact that breaking the vow didn’t mean much if someone else killed you. Only that your death would be far more painful. Things were peaceful, too peaceful. He ate the food you cooked him, talked with you about a future together, looked at the sun set together. Like every day, you left him after that with a kiss on his cheek. Yet, he felt uneasy enough to sneak near the village that night after hearing the commotion.

It didn’t take long to find you, as you were right there, in the middle of the village square, or at least your severed head was. The blood splattered everywhere indicated the effects of the binding vow, your entire body exploded when your head was cut. Perhaps you were weak and ended up telling your parents, perhaps somehow, they found out that you were pregnant with his child, he would never know. That village burned that night and not a single person there survived. As he stood there, watching whatever was left of you burn with the village, it was almost as if he achieved enlightenment. The weak shouldn’t complain, so he wasn’t complaining. He would get stronger so that he would be the one taking, to fill the void that was created this day. His hunger was endless because he would never eat the food you cook again. Love is meaningless, because without you, this world lost its meaning.

#sukuna #sukuna ryomen #ryoumen sukuna #jjk sukuna #jujutsu kaisen sukuna #sukuna smut #sukuna x reader #sukuna x you #sukuna x y/n

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haveanateday · 1 day

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I think one of most fascinating aspects of the watcher subscription service debacle is how it kinda broke open the floodgates for people to voice their frustrations with the content that Watcher produces.

Some of the most frequent and popular comments and posts I saw on the matter were about how

-Watcher does not make TV quality content

-No one is happy with the high production budget of these new shows

-Pretty much everyone has been supporting them this whole time just because they enjoy the chemistry that Shane and Ryan had on Unsolved

-All anyone was asking for was Shane and Ryan bantering behind a desk tbh

But the outrage generated by "we want to make more stuff that our fans don't like so please give us more money to do that" let people feel justification to say "hey we never actually liked any of the decisions watcher was making we just wanted to support the creators we liked, even though we don't happen to like what they're creating right now"

Wonder if this whole thing will change how they approach creating content in the future

#watcher #watcher entertainment #shane madej #ryan bergara #steven lim #ghost files #buzzfeed unsolved

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ipushedthewrongbutton · 2 days

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Imma do this final vent and then I’ll shut up about it.

This was a dumb move, from every possible perspective.

In the og goodbye video, they really made it sound like they were doing the streaming service because they wanted to go bigger, make cooler videos, really see what they could do and let their creative vision take the lead.

Growing as an artist is what you do when you Already Have The Money To Do So. You don’t tell your audience “give me money and then I will use to it to make cooler bigger things”. That’s not a streaming service, that’s a kickstarter.

They didn’t have the numbers to pull a streaming service off either. “We think we’re ready for television quality content” no you don’t. Sorry, no you do not. Television quality content means 30-50 crew per project, means at least 4-5 production being worked on at the same time, and at least 4-5 productions being broadcast at the same time. Watcher has maybe 2 series they upload simultaneously and they have 25 employees TOTAL. Not even CLOSE to tv levels of content, who the fuck do you think you are???

Did they really think all 3 million of their subscribers were going to follow them on this? Including kids, whose spending is dependent on their parents? Including the casuals, who only subscribed for the occasional video? Including people for whom $6 dollars on another streaming service just isn’t an option? Why DIDN’T they poll this, was this being a surprise really that important??

AND why would you completely cut off another revenue? Even if YouTube is restrictive, it’s still another source of income. Cutting that off completely is… bold.

Especially since in the apology, they let it slip that no, actually, it’s because Watcher is on the brink of having to close up shop because they’re not making enough money with just the patreon, the merch sales, the ad reads, etc.

So… one of those is a lie. Or at least part of the truth.

But let’s assume they are in financial trouble, then this was still the dumbest they could’ve done.

Welcome to the entertainment industry where we follow 1 giant fucking rule: Kill Your Darlings.

Fellas, pals, amigos, bros, dudes. If your projects spend more than what they make, it’s time to downsize. Not upscale. Cut the shit that’s spending the most money, start concentrating on how you can conserve without having to fire your crew. Put the projects where you have to fly out and buy new stuff all the time on the back burner, you can get back to them once you actually have the money for them. Work with what you already have. You have a MASSIVE studio space, fuckin use it. You HAVE sets, you HAVE props, you HAVE talent and you have ideas. Start workshopping all the crazy and shit ideas you thought weren’t gonna work and start thinking how you could make them work with the lowest possible budget you can have. Your audience is there, they’ll watch whatever you throw at them. Now is the time to go crazy and see what sticks. You HAVE viewership. Collab. CONSTANTLY. Get it the fuck out there that you exist. A lot of people had no idea a patreon existed, mention it ALL THE TIME. To the point that it becomes annoying. Do it!

If your studio is becoming too expensive, get rid of it. Sorry, kill your darlings. Move some shit around in Steven Lim’s tesla garage, put up some green screens, this is where you work now until you can afford a studio in LA again, you dipshits. Editors can work from home, sound designers can work from home, writers and researchers can work from home, meetings can happen in someone’s kitchen or living room.

And finally: be transparent. Be honest to your audience and communicate. “We’re sorry to put Ghost Files on hiatus, however we can no longer justify the cost of traveling to locations.” The majority of your audience will understand and show patience. The part of your audience that matters will wait and enjoy your other wacky shit in the meantime. Hell, they might spontaneously start their own kickstarter because those who can, will want to support you financially, if you’re just hONEST WITH THEM.

As a business, you constantly have to choose between your financial stability and that of your employees, your vision and the future of your company and what you Want to do with it, and your integrity, the trust between you and your audience. (Especially that last one, businesses can’t pretend they don’t have a relationship with their audience, that’s not how business works, guys.)

When you’re in financial straits, one of those has to go. Watcher chose the latter, they should’ve picked the middle. Their grand television quality ideas can fucking wait, if money is a problem.

Look, I’m an artist too. I had a vision too. But it was either my creative vision or being able to afford food and rent. Creativity can wait, creativity will always be there once I can support it. Living comes ALWAYS first. Asking my audience to fund my huge artistic dreams though, with only the promise of something cool, NEVER even crossed my fucking mind. That’s what donations are for, that’s what the patreon is for.

They apologised. And good. But this was a dumb decision from the goddamn start. There were like 500 steps in between and they skipped all of it. And for what? For money? For grand ideas? For greed or for hubris? How many of their original subscribers are actually gonna come back? How much money did they lose with this stunt? If they really are in financial trouble, this MASSIVE risk -which is what it has always been- might just be their downfall. And it’d be 100% their own fucking fault.

#Watcher #Ok that’s ACTUALLY the last time i talk about this i need to move on #I dunno why this played in my mind so much #No i do know: it was boredom #But even as an outsider to whole streaming service just Felt Gross #And as someone who’s worked in the entertainment industry… i just.. SAW all the red flags #And it’s BAFFLING none of the so-called professionals at watcher entertainment stopped this #Or maybe that’s the hubris of the ceo’s talking who tf knows at this point #Anyway all of this was playing in my mind and i had to type it out to get my brain to hopefully shut up #Imma pirate some fucking tv shows now #If paying for it isn’t owning it then pirating isn’t stealing #Long post #like LONG-ASS FUCKIN POST

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simonjadis · 2 days

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Jesus christ. I'm scared to ask but... what the hell happened with The Watcher fandom?

I don't even go here, but here's my understanding

Several years ago, Shane and Ryan left Buzzfeed to launch their own company, teaming up with Steven Lim. Watcher has grown, producing multiple shows. Initially, people were supporting them on Patreon (for discord + early access) and YouTube. both of these are increasingly notorious platforms that take cuts from profits. YouTube payouts are massive if you're just 1-2 people getting a million views per video and a new successful video every week. but it doesn't cover a growing company's needs

To be blunt, for Watcher to continue as a company, they need cut out "middleman" services that both regulate their content and take a cut of their earnings. That means moving off of YouTube and it means changing the Patreon to just be for the podcast.

So, on Friday (April 19) Watcher announced that they're launching their own streaming model. Everything that they'd already shared would remain on YouTube, but future content was coming out on their own service for a $5.99 sub. Which in turn would be lower than or about the same as anyone subscribing on Patreon, and would also be without the horror of YouTube ads

(Again, I don't go here, but I will not watch advertisements voluntarily, least of all on yewchube. I have ublock origin/firefox and when it comes to streaming, I have the ad-free subscription or I don't watch it at all)

To be clear, they made this announcement well in advance of launching, and were making sure that international viewers would still be able to view (something that some major corporate streamers have not done). They also emphasized that they're unbothered by profile sharing, so that $5.99 per month could come down to $2 per month for three friends, or just (as I often do) one person buying it and sharing the login with friends.

Also you can gift subs. All of this is unfortunately moot, and it seems that many of the people reacting to the announcement did not learn or care about any of this.

The reaction to this news was, to be blunt, unhinged. Obviously, it's normal for some people who cannot afford $5.99 per month to feel disappointed. And any change can be unnerving for a fandom. But the vitriol (some of it, like the person who accused them of "ruining Taylor Swift's day," was admittedly very funny) was pretty vicious.

I think that a lot of it was disinformation based (unclear on where the idea that they were removing old content from YouTube originated, as it certainly was not from their announcement video) and a lot of it was (predominantly younger) viewers looking for social media clout by coming out with the coveted "worst new take" to impress their friends.

And so, SO much of it was racism. For some reason, a lot of people have invented a narrative where Shane is being held hostage by the other two co-owners, and desperately wants to release content for free to the detriment of his company, but Ryan and Steven have somehow conspired to make their company profitable so that they can continue to (evilly) pay their employees.

From what I can tell (again, I don't even go here), the bulk of the backlash ended up targeting Steven. People in the fandom are already weird about him and have an ugly tendency to invent mean things about him (a couple of years ago, some of these same ill-behaved "fans" decided that he was homophobic, not because of anything that he did or said).

So this was an excuse for these vicious little beasts to let loose. They were leaving abhorrent comments on his loved ones' Instagram photos -- some from months ago.

On the less overtly racist front, backlash included people saying that they just want Shane and Ryan sitting in a room talking about stuff. It is unusual for creatives to not care about the quality of what they make; of course Shane and Ryan and Steven care about production quality, about being able to film ghost-hunting and other shows. They're not 23-year-olds scraping by, they're artists and storytellers and they are also employers.

I don't know these men and I don't generally feel sorry for men, as a rule, but it must have been pretty devastating to find out how many of their most vocal "fans" seem to despise them, feel entitled to their art for free, and will rage against them like this.

Which leads to Monday's grim announcement, which as I understand it was that they're going to put new Watcher content up on YouTube with a delay. I'm not saying that it's a bad policy; I'm saying that it means that they remain tethered to YouTube for what content they can include, and it's showing these rancid trolls that their cruelty works.

I'm not going to say that this is "letting the terrorists win" because I'm not trying to victim-blame Watcher here. But I worry about what these rotten little beasts will do now that they've felt the rush of victory.

I cannot emphasize enough that I do not even go here. plenty of people very much go here and have written at greater length and in greater detail than i have. I'm just horrified. I don't even go here

#watcher #watcher entertainment #I don't even go here #anon #ask #anon ask

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kieiswrite · 11 hours

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Here’s why I love convex:

They’re friends.

And yes, yes, the weird goofy disturbing nonsensical storylines from seasons five and six of possession and pranks and corporate domination compel me to this day, and after that they’ve been members of mayoral office and king’s court, allies and adversaries and roommates, but friendship is what ties it all together.

The extent of it is not always obvious on videos, because both of them tend to cut out much of the more casual interactions, but every time one of them streams, the other will be there. Scar will try (and fail) to murder Cub by spleef and they’ll start talking of anything and everything. They’ll go threaten Joe or sneak to the forbidden areas in Decked Out 2 and all the while there is an ease to every interaction; taking each other for granted in a good way. Scar compliments Cub’s genius and Cub leaves a sweet little message at the top of Scar’s castle. Always the first to comment on each other’s tweets, getting along in person swimmingly as well, these guys have been friends for years and years and it shows.

There are many wonderful friendships on Hermitcraft, of course - a lot of different flavors, and many that I enjoy. There’s a couple reasons why I especially like watching Scar and Cub together. One of those reasons is, weird enough, how understated their relationship is from the content creation standpoint. They hardly ever call attention to it; it’s just there. (Though to be fair, Cub does appear to be plenty obsessed with HotGuy.) They are always willing to run with each other’s bits, a great quality common on the server. I also very much enjoy how between them, there’s an assumption of competence (or at least no stated assumption of incompetence) - even if it might be unwarranted! Scar is prone to silliness but Cub rarely makes fun of him for it, and rarely calls attention to any mispronunciations or the like. Now, hermits making fun of each other is funny and never ill-intended, and I wouldn’t want every relationship to be like this, but the convex way of utmost mutual respect until suddenly an attempted murder is much to my taste.

Okay. Okay Kie we get it, they are friends. So why ship it?

Right. So this is a real friendship between real life people. My interest does not lie in RPF - and even though HC sometimes skirts the line, especially with Convex there are many, many explicitly character bits. They may not have called it roleplay -

(Forgive the side note but, bless these ccs the mcyt as a whole has a very muddled idea of what roleplaying even is. Here’s Iskall85 on stream talking about his planned murder mystery game saying he hates roleplay because these scripted scenes don’t interest him but if there’s just a character he could embody, and pretend to be, without a script then he might enjoy that... Sir, acting out scripted scenes is called acting, what you describe is roleplay. Okay side not done)

So what they did on s5, they may not have called it roleplay but they wore vex heads and did voices and had a whirly transition to when the vex take them over, so I have a very easy time thinking of them as characters. And the friendship the players have happens to be the basis for how the characters act with each other. So I imagine characters Scar and Cub having this implicit respect, closeness and shared understanding. And clearly they like each other.

So let’s turn closeness to commitment to, if we want, devotion.

Why I make it romantic is simply because I like fictional romance and for me, the building blocks for friendship or romance are not much at all different. They’re repeatedly (business) partners, they live together, that’s enough for me. My own relationships have started from close friendships and I’d be hard pressed to explain what the “romance” component even is, so that surely colors my view.

Also. Minecraft men are known for flirting with each other and they do it too - but that is not the main draw for me. I don’t need that, though I enjoy it when it happens.

Also! All this talk about friendship doesn’t mean I’d mainly write them friends to lovers, or in a kind of relationship that I would want. I am a great enjoyer of the more messed up parts of their stories, Convex as villains, as corrupted, as possessed. Mutual respect and care can be twisted or taken to an unhealthy extreme. But the dynamic between them is what drew me to them and what keeps me enjoying them together.

You’ve slept in the drafts for months. Now go, my rant, roam the world. Be free!

#convex #cubfan135 #goodtimeswithscar #hermitshipping #i need to study so naturally i'm writing essays on tumblr

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steven--lim · 2 days

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I mean... "Watcher is a production studio that is focused on creating television-caliber, unscripted series in the digital space". A streaming service as the end goal always made sense to me - knowing full well if it happened I might not be able to pay for it.

I mean GMM has been around for over a decade but they're also a show within a production company that belongs to Mythical Entertainment. They have mythical society (which is paid), mythical kitchen, a cookbook, a cereal brand, sporked, they bought Smosh, they have annual ticketed events, they go on tour, etc. And they've chosen to remain on YouTube but because they're backed by so many other stuff.

I've seen so many people say they don't want quality content, they just want Ryan and Shane sitting in folding chairs in the dark. Well then go back to watching Unsolved. They wanna grow up in their careers and why shouldn't they get to? They left buzzfeed for a reason. If you can't see that for what it is then their content it's for you, Watcher is not for you. If you can't be happy "your favorite content creator" wants a better career for himself then just leave them alone.

Many followed Shane and Ryan to Watcher to only keep watching them, completely ignoring the fact that they have a production studio. The idea has always been to keep adding new talent. To hire other hosts. They even had to explicitly say that in yesterday's video as if it wasn't obvious already.

Guys, Shane and Ryan (and Steven) are not YouTubers. They're not David Dobrik or Cody Ko. They're creators, writers, directors, executive producers, editors (etc) of their own series on their own production company.

Now does that mean they're exempt from making financial mistakes? No, they're not. This is their first time running a company. Mistakes are always gonna be made and maybe they could've handled the news better but your response as "fans" could've been A LOT better too.

#i know they're just people on a screen but they're people on a screen that have brought me laughter for many years #i needed to get this off my chest #steven lim #ryan bergara #shane madej #watcher

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raapija · 3 days

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Apologies if you've gone over this already but I would like to know how you think Fernando and Lance would spend quality time with the older kids. I'm especially curious about what kind of activities Lance and Carlos would do together for a fun bonding experience

Ooohh, good one... 😍

With Carlos I think he'd go golfing a lot. Lance would be the only one to give him a proper challenge, since Lando would always end up just goofing around, Oscar will not touch a golf club with a ten foot stick and Fernando would just get pissed off when he's losing 😭 Carlos would never admit it, but he enjoys spending time with Lance and getting to hear all the newest gossip while there's no-one else around to bother them.

With Oscar, Lance would bundle up with him on the couch and watch tiktoks for 3 hours straight, giggling and crying at how dumb Oscar's fyp is. Lance would also take Oscar around for coffee etc. to get an update on the family because Oscar knows EVERYTHING that happens around here. He's like Lance's little spy that tells him about all the insane shit the others are doing 😭

Lando is a tricky one... I feel like him and Lance would probably play video games (with Lance losing horribly) and just hang out. They'd have their own inside jokes no-one else in the fam understands and laugh at the most stupid things. Lance really likes Lando's sarcasm and dry humour 🤧✌️

This turned into just Lance spending time with them, but yk, Fernando is hovering in the background 😭👍 Okay, no, we need Nando interaction with the kids also!!!

With Carlos, he'd go cycling and sightseeing around Oviedo, constantly telling the same stories about growing up there. Carlos would always listen and not interrupt, because his dad would get so excited to tell him 😭🫶

With Lando, I think Fernando likes to do more random stuff, whatever pops into their minds. Skydiving? Sure. Go wakeboarding? Sure. Break into Lance's wine cabinet and steal the most expensive bottle? Sure. They would never tell Lance what they're doing and he'd find out later from Oscar snitching them out and give them and earful 🤧

When it comes to Oscar, Fernando just enjoys every moment with him. He missed a lot of years with him being in Australia, so he tries to make up for the time now. Fernando tries his best not to show how sad it makes him when Oscar tells him about all the things he and Mark do, the things he missed out on. Now this became depressing, nooo 😭😭

#ask #pookie au #nando and his mcnuggets #strollonso

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hazbinfallinginaspiral · 2 days

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Hello fellow Vox Simp!

Have you ever considered Vox with a gamer partner? Or a Hacker partner?

The Gamer would have to be a soft Vox, picture them just hiding out in his penthouse waiting to give Vox attention whenever he's around. They would try cooking food from games but hey it's the thought that counts right. Maybe they have game related powers. Could happily aid Vox with getting VoxTech into the gaming market.

Hacker could be any kinda Vox. Vox struggles with code, Hacker can handle it. Someone trying to compete in the tech market, give the Hacker ten minutes and Voxtech owns that company.

Anything you write from these ideas I'm sure would be amazing!

Thanks! 🦈

I’m gonna be honest… this threw me off for a moment lol. I love it, my brain just isn’t working! You know how finals season can be. Anyway, sorry for the late reply but here’s what I’ve got! (Feel free to request again or clarify if I misunderstood anything!)

Game Over (Vox x Hacker!Reader)

-You knew coding better than most- not that it was hard, considering it wasn’t a particularly common skill. What was a surprise was your understanding of Vocode, a coding language Vox made up specifically for Voxtek. It’s indecipherable to most, and even himself sometimes, yet you’ve managed to get a perfect understanding of it.

-You didn’t really use your knowledge for good. You were in Hell for a reason, after all.

-Maybe you were hired for your proficiency in coding. Maybe you tried to hack into Voxtek systems. Either way, Vox had you on lock and key.

-You found that you didn’t mind too much. He used your skills for his own gain and supplied you with high quality tech, something you’d never have gotten otherwise.

-Of course, you’re more than ‘business’ partners now. Your relationship goes beyond that.

-He was nice enough, when it came to you. You weren’t exempt from his bad moods or anything, but he was kinder towards you. He made an effort, and that’s what counts.

-He often overworked himself, lashing out when he was frustrated. You could recognize these moods easily, and always went through the Voxtek systems to see who had fucked up to get him in a bad mood this time. You took care of it for him.

-Vox struggled with Vocode sometimes, and often called you in to help him. He’d be in a huff and demand you show him how you did it, explaining every step. And so you did.

-He sat in your lap as you worked, insisting it was because he didn’t want to miss a single thing. You noticed his system ran a bit hotter when this happened. Not overheating, but he seemed to like it.

-So he sat there like a cat, stubborn. You explained the ins and outs as best you could, but he seemed distracted as you moved. You shifted him a little to reach what you needed to better. He seemed less interested in actually learning and more interested in just being near you.

-Sometimes you suspected he wasn’t having a problem with the code and that he just wanted to spend time with you. You didn’t mind. It was endearing.

Bonus!

As I sat at my desk, immersed in lines of code, Vox's loomed over me like a comforting shadow. He leaned against my chair, his screen resting on my shoulder as he watched me work with keen interest.

"What are you working on?" he asked, his voice soft and curious.

I glanced up at him, a small smile tugging at the corners of my lips. "Just some maintenance on the Vocode compiler," I said, gesturing to the screen filled with lines of complex code.

Vox had previously seemed to be admiring something- and it wasn’t the code. Now his gaze shifted to the screen as he studied the intricate patterns of code on the screen. "You never cease to amaze me," he murmured, his voice filled with genuine awe.

I felt a warm flush of pride spread through me at his words. He didn’t hand out compliments, usually he didn’t like to acknowledge that he had any attachment to anyone- he saw that as weakness. The fact he’d be so open with me was nice, something I was still getting used to.

"Thank you," I said, quieter than before. I had a small, sort of happy and content smile on my face.

Without another word, Vox pulled me into his lap, his arms wrapping around me in a tight embrace. I leaned back against his chest, reveling in the warmth of his presence as I continued to work. The soft hum of his screen head was comforting, as was the white noise that accompanied it when I took a break to give him a kiss or compliment him.

Together, we made the perfect team, in my opinion. Absolute power couple. As the hours passed we switched positions a little so I could work easier.

As the soft glow of the computer screen illuminated the dimly lit room, I sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by a tangle of wires and circuit boards. Vox sat comfortably in my lap, his head resting against my chest as he watched me work with a mixture of fascination and admiration.

"So, let me get this straight," Vox said, his voice tinged with awe. "You're telling me that by bypassing this firewall and rerouting the encrypted data through this server, we can access their entire database?"

I nodded, a small smile playing at the corners of my lips. "That's right," I said lightly. I gave him a quick kiss,” my fingers flying across the keyboard with practiced ease. "With a little bit of my coding magic, we'll have everything we need to give Voxtek the upper hand."

Vox leaned back against me, his body relaxed against mine as he watched the code scroll across the screen. "You're incredible," he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.

I felt a warmth spread through me at his words, a sense of pride swelling in my chest. "I just do what I can to help," I said with a grin, though secretly pleased by his praise.

And as the night wore on and the lines of code blurred together in a whirlwind of binary, I knew that there was nowhere else I'd rather be than right here, with Vox in my arms, making magic happen one line of code at a time.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel vox #hazbin vox #vox #ao3 writer #my writing #vox x reader #writing #reader insert #reqs open #asks open #thanks anon!

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monstersw1thv1bes · 2 days

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so guys how are we feeling? i have a few things to say. my thoughts, in no particular order:

steven said very, very little. ryan and Shane were mostly speaking. but honestly with the hate he's been receiving? i don't blame him. nobody had any proof Steven made the decision on his own and yet the internet unanimously decided thats what happened.

saying you're close to shutting down the company when you've literally just hired new people you didn't need? i mean, that doesn't necessarily mean it's a lie, but it shows very, very poor management at the least.

they need to hire less creative people rn. hire someone to run finance. hire someone to run marketing. hire people who actually know what the fuck they're doing when it comes to making sure a business thrives if you're going to hire new people at all.

you want to be a business, you need to stop thinking like a youtube channel. this is why you can't just start a company with your friends if none of you have business experience in this day and age.

unfortunately when you run a business, you have to lay off people you don't need sometimes. better yet: train people you don't need to do the job you want to hire somebody else to do (my boss does this so you can't tell me it doesn't work). loyalty to your employees breeds loyalty to your company, but you can't just let people keep doing something you don't need them to do if you want to run a succesful business.

if you can't pay your staff, why can you drop 55k on your wedding?

if you can't pay your staff, why can you afford to travel abroad and eat literal gold?

if you can't pay your staff, why are you compromising on your integrity instead of literally any of the expensive things your company is doing?

i love how they didn't once adress that they could literally save money by dropping the shows nobody wants to see. if you have so many loyal fans and some of your shows aren't doing well, you can't just blame the youtube algorithm: that is people actively making a choice not to watch something.

they didn't say anything about the high quality production of shows, either. they would have been completely in their right to say "our goal was always to produce TV-quality content and while we know you guys don't need that from us, we don't want to compromise on that goal" (even though I disagree on them always needing that quality, i would have accepted such a statement) but i feel like not mentioning it at all makes the video feel more like damage control than them actually listening to their fans.

the changes they've now made should have been how they went about this from the start if they were dead set on a streaming service.

i'm curious to see how others respond to this. to me it genuinely does feel like damage control. i'm probably not going to watch them anymore. we'll see how i feel when new content does make it to the plebs who get to watch it for free /j.

#watcher #ryan bergara #shane madej #steven lim

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waywardmillennial · 2 days

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watchergate & where we go from here...

To start at the end, I purchased my annual Watcher TV subscription on April 20th because I wanted to support them when it felt like so many others were not. I'm cancelling another subscription to make this work with my budget, and I'm very happy with this!

Watcher has always made high quality, entertaining content that I love, and I'm happy to support them as they try to grow like they've always wanted to so they can bring on more creators and give us more diverse art.

So, moving forward, I'm going to be posting about Watcher TV when it comes out - spoiler parties with the sexy moots! - and I'll be blocking any and all haters I see. 💜💜💜

(read more bc ofc this got long)

To walk this back and give a little history/context, *ahem* [sotto Byron voice]

April 12, 2024: Watcher announced they had a surprise coming for us in a week's time. The news came in the form of a very spirited ad-read in the Mystery Files s2 finale. And afterwards there were a few blogs posting about it, but I commented to a friend that my dash had been devoid of Watcher posts (oh, how that sweet summer child would grow to long for a day such as that).

There were some corkboard theories, and I broke down the new logo design, but nothing big happened until the following Thursday.

April 18, 2024: I saw the leak for the announcement. It was on reddit and a sock tumblr blog was made sending the link out to people. I didn't post it or share it because it wasn't my news to share. I wanted to wait to see how they were going to explain it.

Maybe I should have said at the time (but it's fine if you don't believe me now I guess) but I was hoping Watcher TV would become like their enhanced Patreon replacement, where the new shows like "Puppet History Karaoke" and "Road Files" would be exclusive, and some other perks like early access. [note: if Apollo is laughing at him right now, I'd kindly request he stuff that red ball somewhere Helios doesn't shine]

I imagined some people would be mad at the streaming news but it didn't prepare me for how bad it would get...

April 19, 2024: Most of us know what happened. The announcement was not well received. Watcher's silence right after wasn't helping, but I don't think many people were willing to give them any grace for their pre-planned trip to the UK and instead demanded answers immediately.

Do I think maybe their announcement could have been timed better? Or maybe given a different tone? Perhaps. But either way what they were trying to communicate was not what people chose to hear, and the response from many viewers was, to choose a very formal phrase here, absolute bonker banana balls insane.

The main anti-streamer "arguments" I saw basically boiled down into these categories:

"high production tv quality content is what they want to make, but we don't want that - we only want them to sit in a blank room and talk to each other with blue and yellow text like the bfu days!!"

"Steven's the one behind all this bc he's rich and greedy and only eats gold"

"they already make enough money off their patreon why are they doing this?? they should have consulted [insert other yt-er here]"

"they've become the capitalist elite that we swore to destroy! so we have to tear them down from their thrones!!"

Even now, feeling better than I have in days, I don't have the energy to say why each of those takes completely misses the point of who they are as a company, as creators, and as human beings. But there are some eloquent posts in my #watchergate tag, or my other post, if you're interested.

April 22, 2024: We got the Watcher update - giving people access to all videos after a month on the new streamer - and that seemed to placate a lot of viewers and those on the fence. But it was also the day I learned about that horrible petition against Steven, and I'd been following all this drama for several days (foregoing some self-care) and so I had a little meltdown...

Even though the new setup is closer to what I'd hoped for like 10 days ago, I hate how we arrived at it. It's shown people that they can bully creators to get them to compromise on their company. In fact, I've seen accounts celebrating this.

Opinions like this have given me trust issues when it comes to the Watcher fandom at large now. As many of my beloved mutuals have said, I'm going to be wary of accounts that follow me and be applying that blocking feature liberally.

I can also only imagine how things like this must have broken some of the trust that the Watcher crew feels for us - fightingfuries really said it best. If they do start distancing themselves on socials and things, I wouldn't really blame them.

I don't have more to say, other than I'm going to support them as much as I can, for as long as they continue to make content. I'm going to send the team a care package. And I hope in time we'll earn back their trust.

Now I'll let Ryan Bergara play me out...

As for the question of why we decided to launch our own platform, when we started Watcher in 2020, we wanted to create shows that we were proud of, that we had ownership over, and that would provide you the caliber of content that we felt you deserved. However, we were finding it harder and harder to stay relevant to advertisers and the constantly changing YouTube landscape. We faced some incredibly challenging decisions. We didn't want to compromise our content to ensure they met advertising requirements. And we definitely did not want to lay people off that have brought Watcher to life behind the scenes. And we didn't want to bring Watcher to a close, which would have happened if we stayed solely on YouTube. - An Update, April 22, 2024

#watchergate #I needed to wrap up some feelings #but closing the tag now #onto posting about happier things!#and I have a little idea/project I want to work on next for any of you who are watcher tv members #vi rants #we now return to my normally scheduled queue

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priceseyes · 2 days

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wasteland lovers: lucy/charlie/cooper relationship headcanons, fallout (tv).

summary: as the tile suggests, these are headcanons for the poly relationship between my fallout oc, charlie alongside lucy maclean and cooper howard!

warnings: 18+, minors dni. wlw relationships + f/m relationships. f/f/m relationships. poly dynamics. fluff. mentions of swearing. semi-smut (kinda?? i don't go into full on detail but it's there).

notes: these were super fun to make and I hope to make more for these three in the future, hope y'all enjoy!

wasteland lovers, fallout tag.

First things first: top or bottom? I headcanon Lucy to be somewhat of a switch, Charlie is a top but doesn't mind being submissive here and there and Cooper's a full-on top.

The two biggest tropes in this relationship include love at first sight and enemies to lovers. The former is between Charlie and Lucy, Charlie had heart eyes for the vault dweller from the moment she entered the shop and the ladder is with Charlie and Cooper, such a hot head Cooper was with her.

While Charlie and Lucy got along great, it was hard for Charlie and Cooper as they'd bicker 24/7, it was practically their love language for a time.

The first time Charlie confessed her feelings for Lucy was during a shootout oddly enough, think like the chaotic marriage between Elizabeth and Will in POTC. It wasn't ideal but, it was so worth it for the two.

Charlie's love confession for Cooper was quite the opposite, calm funnily enough. Overtime, Cooper warmed up to both she and Lucy and Charlie had realized that and figured it'd be a perfect time to tell Coop how she really felt about him.

It was during a night watch, Charlie couldn't sleep while Lucy was sleeping like a baby. Cooper was the one to keep watch and decided to join him which later turned into her confessing her feelings.

Cooper didn't think he'd ever love again but, it did happen with both Charlie and Lucy.

Cooper has pet names for both the girls, those being: My girls, Sweetheart, Darlin', the usual. Charlie will go for calling Cooper Coop and Lucy 'Luc at times.

Both Cooper and Charlie are big spoons while Lucy is a little spoon though, she does like being big spoon with Charlie from time to time.

Charlie sometimes likes to wear Cooper's hat, she think it looks sweet on her (Cooper and Lucy couldn't agree more).

Love Languages? Charlie's is physical touch, Lucy's is affirmations and Cooper's is a mixture of physical touch and quality time (the last one especially the more he grows fond of the two women).

Charlie loooooves giving cheek and forehead kisses, Lucy likes the cheek kisses and Cooper prefers neck and regular mouth kisses.

Lucy likes wearing Charlie's jacket from time to time, if she's off on a supply run on her own or just feels like wearing it, it reminds her that she has a part of Charlie with her, she too also likes wearing Cooper's hat here and there.

The girls love holding each other's hands no matt what is they're doing or wear they are, they'll hold onto each other's hands.

Both girls don't mind PDA but Cooper's a little eh about it, he's possessive of the two and if PDA is involved, it's usually as a way of showing that they're his women, other than that he usually prefers private displays of affection.

Lucy likes to hug her partners from behind, it comforts both Charlie and Cooper.

While Cooper does get hot-headed, it's usually Charlie that calms him down easily. She knows what it's like to get easily frustrated and worked up but overtime, she's gotten better at trying to stay calm and she passes that calmness to Cooper.

If there's a nice, non-poisonous lake, Charlie and Lucy will usually bathe there together, they'll laugh and clean each other off and just stay in the presence of each other.

Charlie and Lucy also like to clean up each other's wounds and bandage each other up. Coop will also engage in bandaging the two up from time to time.

As mentioned earlier, Cooper can get quite possessive, he's VERY possessive of his girls. If someone bats an eye or even dares to think about touching his girls, he's on their asses quite quickly.

While Lucy is more a what the fudge kind of girl, both Charlie and Cooper have quite the mouth of cusses from fuck, shit, motherfucker, etc.

Cooper has a rope kink through and through, need I say more.

Cooper does catch the girls touching themselves and each other from time to time and, when he does, they're in for a wild night.

He loves giving them dirty talk.

He'll worship their bodies like crazy and is only soft around them, he'll praise the hell out of them too.

Calling them 'good girls' as he rawdogs them into oblivion.

He's into soft BDSM with them as well, that is if they can find the right stuff to work with. they do manage.

Afterwards, both Charlie and Cooper will cuddle into him, he allows it and doesn't mind.

Overall, the three work well together as a poly couple, they balance each other out and equal love is spilt all around.

notes: this probably isn't the best but I had fun writing these headcanons out and, as stated earlier, I hope to do more headcanons for these three in the future. anywho! feel free to spill your thoughts below if you'd like or whatever!

hope you guys enjoyed! <33

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oddishfeeling · 2 days

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nothing is ever happening to me bc i don’t do anything 😭 i go to work and i finish class assignments so that i can do nothing!! on my days off, i usually do chores around the house bc i find it extremely soothing even if it is just a different type of distraction. and by the time im done with that, im tired. 😴 idk how to find time for my soul needs when it seems to require so much of me to keep on top of these things. i feel like there’s a sacrifice to make every time and i tend to pick the practical route bc im always going to need clothes to go to work. so i do laundry. i’ll need to eat. so i do the groceries and i make dinner. i do the dishes. i get 10k steps in and then watch too many episodes of a show i dont particularly like. i’ll shower and wash my hair. i’ll do my skincare. i’ll take the magnesium supplements before bed. and i hope and pray for a good nights sleep. also it’s worth mentioning that i don’t think there’s anything wrong with this little life. there’s beauty in and all around it. i get to share it with my partner and our cat and our dog. dotted and sprinkled with quality time spent with my friends and my family. but i would be lying if i said that i didn’t want more, that my soul is being pulled firmly and more intensely everyday. that i have no idea where to or to what or who i’ll be where i finally find it. but truthfully it’s just a feeling that washes over me, like the suds on a dinner plate. like shampoo down the drain. like the flies trapped by the daddy long leg in my kitchen window. they just come and go. they don’t interfere much except when i’m still and i’m quiet between tasks. then i feel like it like a draft. like an old friend from the future. inviting me to a place i belong but haven’t been to yet.

#words #dear diary #rant

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the-s1lly-corner · 1 day

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May we get some general dating headcanons with Ticci Toby Masky and Hoodie please :)?

Dating the proxies

I'm more than sure that I've written these hcs for masky and hoodie before like way back when this blog was first made but ykw imma make new ones.. or not, idk I'm not rereading my old posts LMAO

Characters: Masky, Hoodie, and Toby

Notes: reader is GN

CWs: None

Masky

Semi verbal- he talks every now and then but like hoodie hes more of a listener than anything

Hovers around you when hes home, let's you ramble about what you've been up to because theres no way in hell hes going to tell you what hes done- at least overtime he learns to give you a headsup before he vanishes

It's almost like having a cat tbh...

Very defensive about the mask, he'll pull it up when hes ready..

Actually wait he really is like a cat because it's best to let him seek out touch and affection- he does lean into it if you show signs, though..

Acts of service and quality time, he may be absent for a few days at a time every now and then but he does try to make up for it

Jealous, but not as much as toby- VERY possessive though.. it's almost like a 6th sense when you're in danger or when someone tries to make moves on you.. he almost just.. spawns/hj

Hoodie

Gentle and sweet with you, but very firm when setting boundaries and honors them

More of a listener than a talker, however he does engage in conversations via sign

Speaking of, he's more than willing to teach you so you can better communicate with him instead of having to rely off of writing

Loooves stealing a kiss from you before he has to head out to do something, you usually only ever see the lower half of his face though

Compared to masky hes more likely to take the mask off, though

Very warm! Great for snuggling up to him when its colder out!

Very physically affectionate, loves holding you.. will linger or graze his hands on you as he passes by.. also acts of service- that's another thing he does to show his love!

The least jealous out of the three

Toby

You're definitely his first partner. The nature of his work doesnt exactly leave him much room to interact with many people, and before that he didnt have that large of a social circle

I bring this up to stress that he is very new to this, this is a learning experience for him and.. actually all things considered hes not doing that bad!

He can be a bit of an asshole every now and then, but ultimately hes so hyper focused to make sure you feel comfortable and happy around him, subconsciously he doesnt want you to feel like how he did when he was surrounded by the people in his old life

Very clingy, but he does his best to try to mind your personal space and boundaries, as well as this he tends to be jealous- overtime you do get him to talk about it rather than react or isolate

Hes soft for you, absolutely spoils you and anything ever happened to you he would scorch the earth if it meant making it right

Let's you borrow his jackets, sometimes to his detriment due to not being able to appropriately gauge how cold it is out- though hes naturally a physically cold person in general..

#creepypasta x reader #creepypasta x you #creepypasta imagine #masky x reader #masky x you #masky imagine #hoodie x reader #hoodie x you #hoodie imagine #ticci toby x reader #ticci toby x you #ticci toby imagine

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universitysunflowers · 1 day

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Ok here's my limited thoughts (TBB Spoilers)

I think I was right, if we get a CX-2 reveal at all, no matter who it is, it will be in the finale (obviously thats the only episode left). I don't want to think it's Tech and not have it be Tech, but at the same time we all know that is Tech I don't know who else Mr Domicile would have the audacity to be at this point.

I need to know what happened to Cody and Wolffe we still don't have answers for either of them?? I keep seeing things about a clone rebellion show as a follow up and the farther we get into season 3 the more I need that to become reality there are so many things we still need to see.

"Did Rampart make it?" "unfortunately yes" that killed me they are so done with his buffoonery please feel free to toss him around like a sack of wet flour anytime boys.

We got more quality Echo! Yes I am ignoring the terrifying implications of that!

I didn't know how the scene with Emerie catching him would go but I was happy with how it turned out. Yes there is still a ton of animosity there after the things she's done but she is finally starting to turn her back on the empire and help the other clones/kids (great to finally see it after the implications of identity crisis). I definitely think any potential team up between Emerie and Echo (and maybe Omega?) will lead to some interesting dynamics for the finale.

Also I saw someone make the parallel between Fives and Echo both wearing plain white trooper uniforms and I really need that to not mean what I think it means... *still ignoring the foreshadowing*

This show is one of the only things getting me through finals season what am I supposed to do when it ends

#tbb #the bad batch #i have spent far to much time on this post #i have so much work to do #tbb season 3 #tbb s3 e14 #tbb echo #tbb tech #tbb emerie #star wars #star wars tbb #tbb omega #might have to edit this later

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clovdgyu · 2 days

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hii just a small request. father!zongli x adoptedson!reader (preferably age 10)? like reader came home after a bad day and he doesn't really show it but zhongli can tell something's wrong and just a lot of nice father and son fluff

#father!zhongli x son!reader #fluff #zhongli being the best father

#xiao and reader are brothers, xiao is biologically zhongli's son, bullying, zhongli is still considered an "archon" or of some sort

#hello, anon! idrk if this what you expected or if this meets your expectations but i hope you'll like it <3

for the nth time that day, you sighed again, playing with the food zhongli has set up for you on the table with your fork. at first, your father thought it was just you being tired after a long day at school but he's heard you sigh for several times. something was wrong. "m/n? buddy? is something the matter? you seem a little upset," zhongli asked, worry evident in his eyes.

you looked at your father and pursed your lips, hesitating. thoughts swirled around your mind before you eventually shook your head and answered a small "no". xiao, who was seated next to you, stopped eating his favorite almond tofu and offered it to you, answering him with a small smile before shaking your head.

zhongli tilted his head before sitting in front of you, your brother taking this as a sign to get you two some alone time. "m/n, what happened at school today? did…something bad happen? tell me," he coaxed, tears suddenly flowing down your eyes after you placed your utensils down.

"it's…just. the other kids in my class kept bullying me because i don't look like xiao. i mean, i obviously won't but i didn't know how to answer it which got me frustrated. in the end, i stuck bubble gum to his hair…the person who started it," you explained with a frown, hoping your father wouldn't get mad at you. "are you disappointed in me?"

"what? no, no i'm not. why would i ever be disappointed in my own son? sure, what you did was…surprising, but he deserved it," zhongli answered with a chuckle, a smile on his face. you reflected the smile on yours and laughed. "look, m/n. i know it's hard for you, but just know that you're not alone. you have a father and an older brother."

you nodded at him and continued to eat your meal. zhongli smiled at you and patted your hair. "dad, i want to eat ice cream," you stated after you've finished your meal, your father nodding as he removed the apron he was wearing.

as you and zhongli got ready, xiao came down from the stairs with an empty plate in his hands. "where are you going?" he asked you while your father was cleaning in the kitchen. you looked up at your brother.

"to get ice cream. wanna come?" you offered. it was tempting, but he heard the whole conversation you had with zhongli so he shook his head, thinking it was best for you and your father to spend some more quality time.

besides, xiao has already experienced being spoiled by zhongli back when he was just as little as you. this time, it was your turn to feel his fatherly love. "it's alright. thanks," xiao answered, a blank expression on his face before turning towards the kitchen where the sink was.

you and zhongli walked side by side in liyue harbor, buying things that seemed interesting to you. the brunette would watch you with a smile as you looked at the kites in the sky. "wow, so pretty," you muttered, eyes practically twinkling.

"do you want to fly one, m/n?" he asked which got your attention as you turned your head towards him and nodded eagerly. zhongli smiled and walked towards a stall nearby, you following beside him like a little chick.

the lady in the stall offered a welcoming grin and clasped her hands together. "good day, mr. zhongli. oh, you're with your son? must be a father-and-son hangout. what may i be of service?" she asked.

your eyes were glued on the crane-like kite, your hands on top of the counter as you stared at the kite with interest. "mhm? it seems the little one like this kite," she stated, you nodding and looked up at your father.

"it looks like auntie xianyun, dad!" you pointed out, zhongli coughing as he smiled awkwardly at the lady and paid for the kite, the woman in front of you two nodding before watching you two walk towards an area to fly the kite.

the brunette looked at the place before he crouched down and looked at you. "this is a good place to set the kite," he stated before standing back up then connected the string to the kite, you watching in excitement.

after, zhongli raised it, waiting for the wind to take it high up in the sky. luckily, the area was super windy so it was easy to get the kite up. you looked at it then held onto the hem of your father's shirt. "pretty," you mumbled.

then, when he finally had enough of it, zhongli gave the string to you and watched you. you took the string from him and let out a happy chuckle when you controlled it, loving the way the kite flew. "dad! i'm flying a kite!"

zhongli nodded as he silently picture your smile and chuckles in his brain, wanting to treasure it forever. "you're doing great, m/n. even better than xiao," zhongli uttered which made you purse your lips as you looked at your father.

"xiao wouldn't want to hear that, dad," you pointed out before focusing back on the kite. your dad chuckled at your words then agreed with a small "you're right".

as the day progressed, you and zhongli formed a much deeper father-and-son relationship. honestly, you felt like you were accepted by both your brother and your father no matter how far you looked like from them.

you realized that you weren't alone and that you have people who'd trust you to an extent.

the day was spent with sharing stories, exploring the town, buying things, laughters, and such. it was fun if you had to be honest. back at the orphanage, the only place you've always visited was the convent and the greenhouse that was located at the back of the convent.

the world was actually big and you had so much to explore. zhongli was the best father you could ever ask for. "huh? traveler, look! it's zhongli." upon hearing your father's name, your ears perked and looked up to see who called him.

mentioned male looked towards the direction of the person who called. "ah, it's paimon and the traveler," zhongli said, your eyes turning curious as you looked at your father.

"what are you doing here, zhongli? and…" the blond male who was sheathing his sword looked down at you and his eyes literally sparkled. "woah! zhongli, who's this cute little fella?" he asked as he crouched down to level your height. "i'm aether, but others prefer to call me the traveler. and the one beside me is the best companion, paimon."

you looked at the male and offered a sweet smile, offering a hand for him to shake. "hello, my name's m/n. zhongli's my dad. nice to meet you," you said, aether's sparkling eyes turning wide as well as paimon's.

both aether and paimon looked at zhongli then back at you. paimon flew swiftly beside the blonde male and hummed. "zhongli, we didn't know you had a younger son," she said, a smile on her lips as she looked at you.

aether shook your hand and stood back up. "how come you never told us about m/n? you know, we would have been more than willing to babysit him if you were busy at the wangsheng funeral parlor."

"actually, i'm adopted," you opened up, both paimon and aether letting out a surprised 'oh'. "is there something wrong?"

the blonde male shook his head and patted your head. "no, nothing's wrong with that. we just didn't know zhongli had an adopted son. yet, you don't look as gloomy as xiao. which is a good thing honestly. xiao would obviously need some sunshine in his life."

you smiled at him and looked back at zhongli who showed you the same sweet smile. "well, m/n and zhongli, we don't want to interrupt your family bonding so we should go," paimon stated, smiling before patting your head with her small hands. "we'll see you again soon, m/n!" she exclaimed as she and aether went towards the docks.

"seems like the traveler and paimon took a liking to you, m/n," zhongli spoke up, your heart beating in excitement, wanting to see the two of them again. "hm, i feel like we're forgetting something."

"ice cream! let's buy almond tofu ice cream for xiao, dad!"

"sure, anything for my little one."

after buying the desserts you oh-so love, you and zhongli finally made your way towards your home where xiao was probably waiting. "i had fun today, dad. i like the meeting with mr. aether and ms. paimon! i want them to visit soon," you opened up, a smile on your face after eating the last bite of your favorite popsicle ice cream.

the brunette smiled and hummed. "they will, m/n. but ptobably not soon. the traveler and paimon have lots of wonders to explore around teyvat," he reasoned out. he expected you to feel sad but you only chuckled and nodded at his statement.

"it's alright. i'll be waiting for them here in liyue," you answered with a smile etched on your face. upon seeing your house nearby, you ran towards the direction of your humble abode and knocked, waiting for xiao to open the door.

a few seconds after, the door creaked open and you were engulfed in a tight hug by your older brother. "hm? xiao? did something happen while dad and i was gone?" you asked the taller boy before zhongli joined and hugged you both. at that, you felt the warmth of your family's love.

though you may not be related to them by blood, their love for you was strong enough to tell you that you belonged, that you were their family.

#fluff #genshin impact x male reader #genshin impact #genshin #m!reader #x male reader #male reader #zhongli x son!reader

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