#(aside from general tech issues)

[sodacowboy]

anyway I’m gonna list some good things that have happened to me/in my life in the tags

[etherealfilmstar]

– thunderbolts* headcanons; pt 2 i am not romantically shipping anyone btw !

part 1 - general part 3 - cleaning

theme; social media ════════════════════════════════════════════

JOHN WALKER

advocates that instagram reels is better than tiktok. will trash on you for being on tiktok. but he's also a reddit user. he tries to defend himself saying that he's the 'normal one' when he's really not. he loves those AITA stuff tho. his favorite thing to watch? idk why but i can see him as a dude who loves commentary channels. also he's a twitter/x keyboard warrior. he crashes out at memes making fun of him. probably blocked bucky's number.

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BUCKY BARNES

only uses youtube because it's the only thing he can navigate. he tried to get onto twitter/x but gave up because of the UI (me too bucky, me too). he's that parent that gets upset at your screentime. he constantly tells the others that they're online too much. he doesn't like youtube shorts much but he likes long documentaries. the others, including valentina, want to get rid of the cable tv but he wants to keep it 😭 don't get me wrong he's not completely grandpa, he knows how to use messaging apps like whatsapp. he has an instagram account just because yelena told him to make one, but he doesn't use or check it much. he still prefers sending emails.

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ALEXEI SHOSTAKOV

he loves memes. also will spam the whatsapp group chat with tiktoks. i feel like he'd be interested in conspiracy theories. sometimes he sends the others memes against them yet still laughs heartily at them. he doesn't take them that seriously. he also yells at his device if it's lagging or if the wifi is bugging. he watches those clickbait celebrity or online drama channels LOL. he has facebook too. but he loves sending yelena those wholesome posts like "my daughter is the light of my world" with floral backgrounds fshkdfhsfm

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AVA STARR

TUMBLR. SHE'S ON TUMBLR. you cannot change my mind. also ao3 is her guilty pleasure. she is def on twitter/x and has a john walker hate account. literally messages walker: "i hate you 98" "i hate you 99" "i hate you 98" "oh no i messed up." "i hate you 1" she calls people on twitter/x morons and idiots. i feel like she'd looove watching legitimate drama channels. enjoys looking at shopping online. and is defff a chill pinterest girl. she's also the girl that helps with all the tech issues. is also a discord mod and does nitro giveaways. constantly calls people out for using ai and mocks them. "oh poor baby 🥺🥺 do you need the robot to make you pictures? 🥺🥺 yeah? 🥺🥺" (og tweet from @/peterokii)

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BOB REYNOLDS

definitely watching baking and cooking videos. the one least on his device aside from bucky. he also likes watching puppy videos and shares them with yelena. he avoids blocking people as much as possible. is the guy in the comments who says 'guys pls dont argue.' defends himself against hate posts. trying to learn the online terminology ("why do people call me a pookie?") he also loves looking at art and stuff. he uses tiktok and instagram. he has trouble telling the difference between real and AI but when he does realize it's AI he reports it. he's not a complete softy though, he will call people out for posting disgusting things. also the guy who has 'dms open if u need to vent' in his bio. has a pinterest account where he posts those like 'everything will be okay' positivity posts with pictures of flowers or animals. definitely wants to use the internet to help people because he knows not everyone has a shoulder to lean on :) he also sometimes forgets to reply to people and leaves them on read unintentionally

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YELENA BELOVA

definitely a tiktok girly!!! she ADORES animal videos. also will spam the others' DMs with reels or tiktoks or memes. often times supports Ava, liking and retweeting/reblogging/reposting her stuff. is the person on pinterest that always puts in the comments the original poster if there aren't any credits. she definitely watches minecraft videos. bought walker a pair of cat ear headphones ("now you're a true redditor"). is the one in charge of hosting movie nights. she is obsessed with actor and broadway drama. always checking movie reviews. watches those 'lazy meal' videos. finds speed paints mesmerizing. she also listens to those like slime asmr videos. she likes to argue with people in twitter/x. always makes sure bob is staying safe on the internet (gotta take care of her little brother) but if he doesn't wanna share she doesn't push.

[timeagainreviews]

The Robot Revolution Will Be Televised

If headlines were anything to go by, pre-screened reviews of the latest episode of Doctor Who, “The Robot Revolution,” were mixed. The ending was referred to as “controversial.” My gut reaction was worry that it would be yet another lore change. I felt like the Babadook mum screaming, “Why can’t you just be normal?” There were a couple of moments that I felt could be divisive. Cat fanciers might have balked at the untimely demise of Lucy from number 7’s cat. Then there was the moment when our lovable robot pal, Scoot, vacuums up Alan at his most zygotic. But Lucy from number 7’s cat was quite literally RTD doing the opposite of saving the cat to let you know these robots are bad business. And the sperm and egg line is so camp that it’s going to be one of those “my girlfriend is a paving slab instances.” But we know the real reason this episode might spark controversy.

Was that the first cannon mention of sperm in Doctor Who? I certainly can’t recall another instance of the word in the show’s nearly 62 years of existence. The new Davies era has added quite a few new words to Doctor Who’s lexicon. We now have cosplay, sperm, and even incel. That’s two new additions in a single episode! Bravo! Jokes aside, it’s the incels who may or may not be mad about this episode. I’ve learned to turn down the volume of those types of people years ago. I often refer to it as background static because that’s what it is. The truth is, the only issue I have with Belinda Chandra saying “It’s the planet of the incels,” is that it’s a bit on the nose. But this episode is so camp that I’m not even upset.

The Chibnall era had the unfortunate knock-on effect on people’s perception of a woman Doctor. Because the show wasn’t very good, some people (idiots) blamed it on Jodie Whittaker’s gender. Another knock-on effect was how it made so any legitimate criticism of the era also had to first combat claims of sexism. It was a messy time in the fandom. But when the show is good and people are still complaining, then what is the complaint? No episode of Doctor Who is perfect, but this might be one of those times where if you didn’t like the episode, it’s probably because you’re an incel. You’d have to make one hell of an argument because, baby, I had fun!

My impression of Russell T Davies has always been that he’s a man who appreciates when Doctor Who is a little camp. He even refers to the Robots as “camp” on Doctor Who Unleashed. Part of Doctor Who’s charm is that it exists in a hyper-reality where Doctor Who is possible. This week, he leaned heavily on the retro-futurism of ‘50s B-movies, citing 1955’s “This Island Earth” as one of his main inspirations. Fans of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 will be well-acquainted with This Island Earth, as it’s the film they riff in the MST3K movie. It’s a gloriously corny bit of science fiction from Universal in their post-horror era. The AI Generator’s throne room could easily have existed on Metaluna.

However, the usage of retro-futurism here is also part of a growing trend in sci-fi to embrace vintage tech. In the Alien franchise, we’ve seen the return of the chonky mechanical keyboards of the Nostromo. The computers in Star Wars still look like absolute dogshit. And. I. Am. Here. For. It. It’s nice to see the Doctor using computer panels that resemble something the Second Doctor would have utterly destroyed. I’m reminded of “World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls,” when they took the look of the Cybermen from “The Tenth Planet,” and updated their texture and materials enough to make them seem realistic. Things don’t always need to look how you expect them to, they can look how they need to look. The Doctor doesn’t need to pull up a Tony Stark-type HUD of holographic buttons for me to believe he’s on an alien planet.

Grounding this fantastic wonderworld in a bit of much-needed reality is Varada Sethu as Belinda Chandra. Belinda is a nurse who works hard for the NHS. She lives off of the least spoiled items in a community fridge. She’s a no-nonsense type who treats her work with the utmost sincerity. For the most part, nobody needs to tell us that Belinda takes her job seriously because it’s evident through her actions. Belinda doesn’t just sleep soundly; she sleeps on her stomach over her covers, presumably where she collapsed in exhaustion the instant she got home. This is precisely the sort of character work I’ve been missing from RTD since he returned. His work crafting the Tyler household was so strong that you felt as though you knew Jackie and Rose. I hope he keeps developing Belinda in this fashion.

We first meet Belinda as a teenager, talking to her dickweed of a boyfriend, Alan Budd. It’s clear from the outset that Alan doesn’t respect or even particularly like Belinda. He wants to possess and control her. He names a star after her but needs to associate it with her marital status by adding “Miss” at the beginning of her name. He critiques how she tears open her gift. He also steals the world’s most awkward and unearned kiss from her. In part, Alan is a knob and she knows it.

I found it a bit odd that Belinda would keep the star certificate all of these years later. But despite the irksome “Miss,” or Alan’s name on the diploma, it is still a bit cool to have a star named after you. Alan, as it would turn out, was the least significant part of that equation. In the words of Bilbo Baggins, “Why not keep it?” The episode wastes no time bringing the Robots into Belinda’s life. They drop in, break down some walls, terrify some nurses, and vaporise Lucy from number 7’s cat. RIP kitty. But things don’t happen so fast as to deny us a brief moment with the enigmatic and fourth-wall-breaking Mrs Flood. She’s up to her usual spooky shit. Very little new to report there. The question one must ask, however, is whether Belinda lives near where Ruby lived, or does Mrs Flood get about?

The Doctor tries to save Belinda, but as he’s chasing her, both she and the Doctor experience a “schwup,” in the space-time continuum, causing them to arrive at their destination at different points in time. Their destination? Missbelindachandra One is a planet whose name I would have read as gibberish the first few times in a book but is simply Belinda’s name as it appears on the star certificate, sans spacing, plus one. The Robots are the merciless hatchetmen of an imbicilic AI Generator. This is one of those rare moments where Doctor Who referencing current events doesn’t feel painfully dated, as the AI debate still rages on. You’ll be happy to know that anything you ever read on my blog is always 100% me. Fuck AI.

The Doctor has ingratiated himself into society on Missbelindachandra One. He holds the prestigious title of historian, which, when you consider megalomanics and their attitude toward accurate history must have been torture to the Doctor. Can you imagine trying to spin the AI Generator’s status as a bronze Torbjorn main as something cool? The Doctor truly is selfless. I’d have been stealing shit from the office every day. Call it quiet quitting, I call it fighting the power. My wibbly wobbly timey wimey lunch breaks would redefine the meaning of thirty minutes. Though, I do find the timing all to be a bit off. The Doctor says it took him a long time to rise to the role of Historian, but he’d been there for 6 months before Sasha 55 discovered him. Though, as we’ve learned from the Eleventh Doctor, any time sitting still is interminable. In an episode so fucky, it’s ironic that that’s the only timeline that confuses me.

Spoilers for the 1994 Jean-Claude Van Damme action sci-fi movie “Timecop,” but this episode reminded me of Timecop. Particularly, the moment when the evil Senator MacComb touches himself from another timeline, and the two melt into a puddle. It left an impression on 11-year-old me as it was one more way, like quicksand, which could totally kill me. Previously on Doctor Who, two of the same object or person co-existing has a plethora of effects, especially when those two items or people touch. Rose Tyler holds baby Rose Tyler, and the walls of reality weaken. Amy Pond touches her younger self, and nothing happens. Two of the same sonic screwdriver throw sparks. These diplomas throw us into a trippy Troughtonesque psychedelia where people age in and out of form like a Chris Cunningham video. It's a stunning bit of film making, and that shit reminded me of Timecop. 

Much of this episode reminded me of other stories. We have echoes of “The Girl in the Fireplace,” with a society of automatons (and people) taking a name too literally. My sister and I are watching through modern Who at the moment, and we found weird parallels within “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.” The villainous Solomon even spurred my sister into saying “Incels make the best villains.” Too true, Rachelle. Too true. But the story which I thought of the most was the Seventh Doctor adventure, “Paradise Towers.” You have a dystopian future where society is thrown into chaos by an overzealous artificial intelligence. My friend Gerry and I both commented that the moment Manny showed up, we both thought of Pex. The big evil robot faces even compliment each other. I also thought of Futurama’s Femputer, which is really secretly a Fembot, which is itself a reference to The Wizard of Oz.

A man behind a curtain is exactly the issue. Alan Budd is our AI Generator. After Belinda inadvertently got Alan kidnapped ten years in the past (thanks to the schwup), he became a sadistic ruler over Missbelindachandrakind. However, due to a fault in programming, he runs on an 8-part cycle, rendering him and his robot thugs unable to hear every ninth word. Because of this, a rebellion was able to form against the AI Generator. But he too is fighting his own rebellion against himself, the Alan part of him that exists within every ninth moment yearns for death. He’s a pathetic figure, really. He’s an idiot’s idea of power. A very apt archetype for today’s leadership. I like to think it was a conscious decision on the effects department’s behalf to make one of his arms way bigger than the other. Alan is clearly working out at Onan’s Gym. It really is the cherry on top of an already stunning design.

Davies’ season openers are usually airier romps. Something to dip our toes back into the world of Doctor Who. Aspects reminded me of “Smith and Jones,” when the Judoon force the Doctor and his new companion into meeting through kidnapping. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” while initially praised as a return in tone to the Star Wars franchise, has since been reappraised (perhaps unfairly) as a rehash of the original film. Similar criticisms have been lobbied toward RTD, which accuse him of recycling older concepts from Doctor Who. It comes with the territory when a writer returns to a franchise. You’re bound to see some of the same themes. But Doctor Who does this a lot. “The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood” is basically a rehash of “The Silurians,” with a dash of “Frontios” thrown in for good measure. “Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel” is a reimagining of the origins of the Cybermen, swapping the mirrored “Tenth Planet” of Mondas for an alternate reality Earth. We’re in season two of this new version of the show, expect to see more “remixing” of the classics. You’re old now.

One thing which I hoped Davies would do is chill out a bit. Stop trying so hard and just let loose a little. This feels like that. When Rose Noble gave her speech about being non-binary in “The Star Beast,” I complained that it felt a bit clunky. It had that awkward David Lynch is your uncle telling transphobes to fix their hearts or die energy to it. It comes out a bit weird, but his heart is in the right place. But with this story, it felt more natural. Sure, lines like “You’ve taken coercive control and made it complete control of the whole planet,” are a bit on the nose, but as I said earlier, the camp tone affords those moments. This all feels very deliberate and considered.

Much of the script feels thoughtful, which in turn proves to be thought-provoking. One aspect to science fiction I’ve always wondered about was whether “humans” in things like Star Wars are like us. Belinda asks a question that you seldom hear come up in sci-fi, and that is whether or not Missbelindachandrakind share a similar physiology to humans. I love that not only does Davies ask the question, but he even takes the time to discuss the differences for no reason other than flavour. It’s nice to see Davies having fun with the ideas he’s bringing up. This tells me he’s engaging with his own concepts and developing them in a way that says, “Thank god we have more writers this year.” He’s not just in love with his ideas, he’s exploring them.

Some fans will have been disappointed that the skeletal ray gun effect from the trailers wasn’t the result of Daleks. I even saw fan theories that Alan’s golden form was the new look for Omega. This is exactly why I stay away from fan speculation as it’s never accurate. However, one clarification from the trailer for which I was grateful was the origin of the Doctor’s cream coloured costume. While the annoying side of the internet was busy melting down over the Doctor’s blue kilt, I was quietly hating on the cream coloured costume that he wears throughout this episode. Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor Who costumes have been rather varied, but generally keep to a few themes. We see a recurrence of tartan patterns, overcoats, and tight fitting shirts. His costume here is the only one from the trailer which felt wrong for the Doctor. So I am very pleased that there was a story reason he was dressed so drab.

Ncuti and Varada have believable chemistry. I like that it’s not so cut and dry. The Doctor is trying to be flashy and cryptic, whereas Belinda is reserved and direct. She doesn’t appreciate the Doctor’s showing off, which is a quality I have always admired in companions. If you read my article about older companions, you’ll know I appreciate their less-than-starry-eyed approach to the Doctor. Donna Noble, Evelyn Smythe, Ian and Barbara, Tegan; none had time for the Doctor’s shit. Belinda is in good company, and I like that she holds the Doctor to a higher standard. Belinda has a good head on her shoulders. She won’t put her skills as a nurse to waste. And she certainly won’t let someone die in her name. She’s also brave in a way I admire. She’s ready to sacrifice herself to save lives.

One aspect of the Doctor and Belinda’s relationship that I’m less into is something RTD seems to be doing more of recently. Instances where two characters experience a lifetime over a short period to insta-bond them is a weak story device. Whatever method they employ to fast-forward character bonding steals real moments of discovery between the actors and the audience. There’s showing, and there’s telling, and this was telling. It doesn’t feel earned, it feels hollow. It’s the weakest element of this episode and I wish they would stop doing this type of shit. What’s the hurry? Why does the Doctor need to state how much he cares about and knows Belinda now? What purpose does that serve other than to reveal too much of the Doctor’s interiority? Shouldn’t we, as an audience, trust the Doctor’s judgment in people by this point? It feels cheap because it is cheap.

Despite the episode’s daft energy, real stakes are established beyond a cartoonish cat skeleton disbursing into the ether. The Doctor’s friend Sasha 55 is unceremoniously cut down by Robots moments after discussing her future travels with the Doctor. The way she was talking to the Doctor like “Take me to the stars,” she may as well have painted a target on her back. It’s the Doctor Who equivalent of a policeman one day from retirement. For their sake, we pretend to be shocked when they die. But we knew. We knew. That isn’t to say that losing Sasha 55 wasn’t an effective moment- quite the opposite. Evelyn Miller gives an effective performance in the short time she’s onscreen. I know people give Ncuti grief for crying too easily, but here it’s totally appropriate. We’re reminded of other would-be companions who didn’t live to see the day. Lynda with a Y. Rita from “The God Complex.” Astrid Peth. And now Sasha 55. RIP Sasha 55. I liked you better than “Orphan 55.”

Watching Belinda walk toward her fate of marrying the AI Generator and becoming incased in gold gave me flashes of Han Solo on his way to the carbonite freezing chamber. The orange lighting pushing through the foggy clouds cast a brilliant glow on Varada’s face, convincing me that she was always meant to be a part of the Star Wars universe. This was her “Empire Strikes Back” moment for sure. The strength in the moment comes from Belinda’s choice not to hide. The Doctor and Manny were working out a plan that sounded foolhardy at best. Anyone within earshot would know it was a doomed mission. Belinda alerts the Robots to her location. She goes willingly. There’s a selflessness to her actions that screams Doctor Who companion far more than the Doctor witnessing her life could ever achieve. Her brand of self-sacrifice is heartbreaking to see, and I wonder if it's completely healthy. I hope they explore that.

The same sombre tone follows us into the ending of the story. When the Doctor fails to bring Belinda back to her own time, we’re shown images of a wrecked earth floating in space. Something or someone has removed or destroyed the earth, and it’s legitimately creepy. It’s giving “The Stolen Earth,” and I’m here for it, again. Though the “Planet of the Apes” style half Statue of Liberty must have been a massive blow to the Weeping Angels. That was like one of their tallest soldiers. I joke, but I also don’t joke. I had to sit through “The Angels Take Manhattan,” and now you’re telling me it meant nothing? It makes you ask the wrong questions in the moment. Questions like “Isn’t that thing alive?” “Is it dead now?” And “Why is it always the top of the statue? Why not the feet?”

I mentioned previously that I might try and write these reviews along with a corresponding Saturday morning cartoon. However, I believe it was my adherence to this bit that delayed this article. After I had watched “The Robot Revolution,” I felt a surge of positive energy about Doctor Who and I really just wanted to sit in silence for a bit. I usually take that as a good sign after watching something. When I sit there quietly absorbing everything I’ve just seen. But when I hit play on that episode of Spider-Woman, the moment ended. So I don’t want to do that anymore. It seemed a fun idea at the time, but I would rather just abide in the time and space allotted to me by Doctor Who. A time which might not always be there. A space so fantastic that Doctor Who can exist within it. Here’s to season three.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The reverse-centaur apocalypse is upon us

I'm coming to DEFCON! On Aug 9, I'm emceeing the EFF POKER TOURNAMENT (noon at the Horseshoe Poker Room), and appearing on the BRICKED AND ABANDONED panel (5PM, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01). On Aug 10, I'm giving a keynote called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification" (noon, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01).

In thinking about the relationship between tech and labor, one of the most useful conceptual frameworks is "centaurs" vs "reverse-centaurs":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/17/revenge-of-the-chickenized-reverse-centaurs/

A centaur is someone whose work is supercharged by automation: you are a human head atop the tireless body of a machine that lets you get more done than you could ever do on your own.

A reverse-centaur is someone who is harnessed to the machine, reduced to a mere peripheral for a cruelly tireless robotic overlord that directs you to do the work that it can't, at a robotic pace, until your body and mind are smashed.

Bosses love being centaurs. While workplace monitoring is as old as Taylorism – the "scientific management" of the previous century that saw labcoated frauds dictating the fine movements of working people in a kabuki of "efficiency" – the lockdowns saw an explosion of bossware, the digital tools that let bosses monitor employees to a degree and at a scale that far outstrips the capacity of any unassisted human being.

Armed with bossware, your boss becomes a centaur, able to monitor you down to your keystrokes, the movements of your eyes, even the ambient sound around you. It was this technology that transformed "work from home" into "live at work." But bossware doesn't just let your boss spy on you – it lets your boss control you. \

It turns you into a reverse-centaur.

"Data At Work" is a research project from Cracked Labs that dives deep into the use of surveillance and control technology in a variety of workplaces – including workers' own cars and homes:

https://crackedlabs.org/en/data-work

It consists of a series of papers that take deep dives into different vendors' bossware products, exploring how they are advertised, how they are used, and (crucially) how they make workers feel. There are also sections on how these interact with EU labor laws (the project is underwritten by the Austrian Arbeiterkammer), with the occasional aside about how weak US labor laws are.

The latest report in the series comes from Wolfie Christl, digging into Microsoft's "Dynamics 365," a suite of mobile apps designed to exert control over "field workers" – repair technicians, security guards, cleaners, and home help for ill, elderly and disabled people:

https://crackedlabs.org/dl/CrackedLabs_Christl_MobileWork.pdf

It's…not good. Microsoft advises its customers to use its products to track workers' location every "60 to 300 seconds." Workers are given tasks broken down into subtasks, each with its own expected time to completion. Workers are expected to use the app every time they arrive at a site, begin or complete a task or subtask, or start or end a break.

For bosses, all of this turns into a dashboard that shows how each worker is performing from instant to instant, whether they are meeting time targets, and whether they are spending more time on a task than the client's billing rate will pay for. Each work order has a clock showing elapsed seconds since it was issued.

For workers, the system generates new schedules with new work orders all day long, refreshing your work schedule as frequently as twice per hour. Bosses can flag workers as available for jobs that fall outside their territories and/or working hours, and the system will assign workers to jobs that require them to work in their off hours and travel long distances to do so.

Each task and subtask has a target time based on "AI" predictions. These are classic examples of Goodhart's Law: "any metric eventually becomes a target." The average time that workers take becomes the maximum time that a worker is allowed to take. Some jobs are easy, and can be completed in less time than assigned. When this happens, the average time to do a job shrinks, and the time allotted for normal (or difficult) jobs contracts.

Bosses get stack-ranks of workers showing which workers closed the most tickets, worked the fastest, spent the least time idle between jobs, and, of course, whether the client gave them five stars. Workers know it, creating an impossible bind: to do the job well, in a friendly fashion, the worker has to take time to talk with the client, understand their needs, and do the job. Anything less will generate unfavorable reports from clients. But doing this will blow through time quotas, which produces bad reports from the bossware. Heads you lose, tails the boss wins.

Predictably, Microsoft has shoveled "AI" into every corner of this product. Bosses don't just get charts showing them which workers are "underperforming" – they also get summaries of all the narrative aspects of the workers' reports (e.g. "My client was in severe pain so I took extra time to make her comfortable before leaving"), filled with the usual hallucinations and other botshit.

No boss could exert this kind of fine-grained, soul-destroying control over any workforce, much less a workforce that is out in the field all day, without Microsoft's automation tools. Armed with Dynamics 365, a boss becomes a true centaur, capable of superhuman feats of labor abuse.

And when workers are subjected to Dynamics 365, they become true reverse-centaurs, driven by "digital whips" to work at a pace that outstrips the long-term capacity of their minds and bodies to bear it. The enthnographic parts of the report veer between chilling and heartbreaking.

Microsoft strenuously objects to this characterization, insisting that their tool (which they advise bosses to use to check on workers' location every 60-300 seconds) is not a "surveillance" tool, it's a "coordination" tool. They say that all the AI in the tool is "Responsible AI," which is doubtless a great comfort to workers.

In Microsoft's (mild) defense, they are not unique. Other reports in the series show how retail workers and hotel housekeepers are subjected to "despot on demand" services provided by Oracle:

https://crackedlabs.org/en/data-work/publications/retail-hospitality

Call centers, are even worse. After all, most of this stuff started with call centers:

https://crackedlabs.org/en/data-work/publications/callcenter

I've written about Arise, a predatory "work from home" company that targets Black women to pay the company to work for it (they also have to pay if they quit!). Of course, they can be fired at will:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/29/impunity-corrodes/#arise-ye-prisoners

There's also a report about Celonis, a giant German company no one has ever heard of, which gathers a truly nightmarish quantity of information about white-collar workers' activities, subjecting them to AI phrenology to judge their "emotional quality" as well as other metrics:

https://crackedlabs.org/en/data-work/publications/processmining-algomanage

As Celonis shows, this stuff is coming for all of us. I've dubbed this process "the shitty technology adoption curve": the terrible things we do to prisoners, asylum seekers and people in mental institutions today gets repackaged tomorrow for students, parolees, Uber drivers and blue-collar workers. Then it works its way up the privilege gradient, until we're all being turned into reverse-centaurs under the "digital whip" of a centaur boss:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/25/the-peoples-amazon/#clippys-revenge

In mediating between asshole bosses and the workers they destroy, these bossware technologies do more than automate: they also insulate. Thanks to bossware, your boss doesn't have to look you in the eye (or come within range of your fists) to check in on you every 60 seconds and tell you that you've taken 11 seconds too long on a task. I recently learned a useful term for this: an "accountability sink," as described by Dan Davies in his new book, The Unaccountability Machine, which is high on my (very long) list of books to read:

https://profilebooks.com/work/the-unaccountability-machine/

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

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/2024/08/02/despotism-on-demand/#virtual-whips

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[class1akids]

Looking back at the manga now that MHA has ended, I wonder if it was HK’s intent all along to go with the ending he did.

Mangaka’s have to plan in advance right? Unless it works differently in Japan, don’t they have to provide a story board and such, along with the idea of what the end will be. Because looking at MhA as a whole, it makes it seem like there is hope in tragedy, the only issue is the execution because the pay off seemed underwhelming, even if the villains were killed. Idk how otherwise HK could have wrapped this manga off with the pay off people wanted.

As an example, looking at the Todoroki plot which is one of the more in depth aspects of the story. Looking back it does seem like Dabi was meant to die in the end, how he “stepped” in to the light with Hawks as I remember seeing metas on that symbolizing hope or such (and now I wonder if it just means Dabi literally stepped into the light.) Aside from that, HK didn’t really give us any signs in MvA, he just kept hammering in how “evil” the villains were, making it seem like they were too far gone, and in the end, it did come off that way where they had to die in order to find peace.

The point is, wouldn’t a mangaka have to have a defined goal in order to publish? Or is it solely based on the decision of an artist chapter by chapter. Apologies if what I said above comes off weird, I’m just frustrated with how it ended, and I just question if HK did intend for this ending all along. After all, why publish it if it wasn’t his intention? Killing the villains is so far on the other side of the bar compared to saving them, I wonder if he thought he was too far gone unthinking they could live in his planning unless Shonen didn’t allow it? But yet again looking at it, it would NOT have been hard to change it up at the end for them to live. He just chose not to. But like I said, maybe he intended for them to die all along with all this set up he was doing for the kids to save the villains hearts. It was never about keeping them alive and maybe people misinterpreted that? Because when exactly did people start talking about the villains being capable of being saved? Or was it just a bias that came up for villains stans.

I wish I could talk to HK and know what it was like. Because it seems like he’s happy with how his manga ended, so maybe it was his plan all along?

I think he needs to have a general plan, but it's not like the story was pre-written. Mangaka have to be ready to end it on short notice if their manga is not successful. Horikoshi at that point already had 2 of his previous manga axed and from interviews, we know he was very insecure and worried and kept changing things in accordance with reader feedback.

As for him changing his mind, we know of two examples that he talked about:

He wanted to have the Forest arc longer with more fights, and to reveal the traitor soon after, but did not do it, as readers' feedback was negative on the villains. So he cut that arc short.

He wanted Endeavor to die in the PLF war and decided to keep him alive - this is obviously one of those big swings between life or death that had impact on the entire story. And looking at Act 3, it's clear that he did not think through properly all of the impact it would have.

We also know that often he did things last minute - for example, Nagant's design and her backstory came from him watching the movie Wanted like 2 weeks before he published the chapter. So obviously that means he changed stuff about the HPSC plot as well compared to what he had originally planned.

As for WSJ meddling: I'm not sure how much influence the editors had. We know that even though he wanted originally Deku to be a quirkless tech-based character, and an adult, the editors at the time forced him to put it into the high school setting and give Deku a power.

But towards the end, he always said that his editors were basically inexperienced yes-men who just cheered him on with whatever he wanted to do. So I'm not sure that WSJ "forced" him to kill the villains, or told him to end with a hetero romance.

But the editors pre-screen the fan mail - so knowing how much Horikoshi was influenced by reader feedback, obviously an editor would be able to manipulate him depending which feedback is given to him.

And in the end, I think he was just burnt out and wanted to end it. I feel like with how abruptly the fight ended after AFO came back in 419, it's not necessarily the big epic scene he had planned, but had no energy to execute whatever he had originally in mind and just finished it. That's the only way I can read why he'd give his MC such a whimper-like ending for his big fight.

[maehwajuuuu-chu]

ough got overwhelmed asf and just yeeted out the Natlan rewrite plans I've been doing the past few months and put it in a scrap bin, I— (a long ass vent abt Natlan below - I really don't like complaining at all, but man) (also personal thoughts ig - if you disagree, please just ignore lol)

Asides from the colourism and whitewashing, the really modern high-tech stuff the playables use really makes me feel iffy. The problem isn't that its high-tech, its just poorly designed and doesn't fit in with Teyvat in a sense. Fantasy can be advanced in tech, but it's usually made to fit in the world and also seem quite seperate from reality (e.g Sending stones in dnd — they're kinda like phones, but in a fantasy setting and definitely do not look like an irl phone, they're a pair of stones that can be used to call someone — the Akasha is another example of advanced tech done well). Mavuika's bike, Chasca's flying gun and etc are often explained with the availability of Phlogiston and the inability of the Natlan people to leave Natlan, which is why its contained inside Natlan. But, there's still people from other nations visiting? There's still trade and merchants, which would cause tech like a motorbike or flying guns to expand across Teyvat — you'd only need a blueprint and instructions on how to make it. Natlan is not a contained nation at all - in fact, they're regularly welcoming people from other nations. Which brings up the problem of this tech not being spread across Teyvat. Then there's the issue of Xilonen being able to make pretty much everything, but there's nearly none of this tech shown anywhere else in Natlan other than the playable characters. Which makes it even more jarring — it causes the playable characters to be unable to fit in their own nation (specifically pointed at Mavuika and Varesa's designs).

Moreover, if she could make a flying gun, why isn't there a plane already? If there is a motorbike, why are there no cars speeding around Teyvat already? Sure, it's knowledge from the dragons that used to be around Natlan — but if they have access to that, this kind of tech would have more variety as well. Honestly, they could have made the aesthetic of the tech be less immersion breaking and made it fit inside the Fantasy genre more. My point is that Natlan's tech can be 'explained' by lore, but it was still executed poorly.

Another design issue that I came across was how little the Natlan characters had any of their relevant lore or daily jobs reflect in their designs and playstyles. I get told Xilonen is a blacksmith, but she just looks like an average DJ girl to me - she just skates and pulls out a DJ board - there's nothing that tells me who she is or what she does. I mistook Mavuika as a commentator for the pilgrimage in the first Natlan trailer, because of her underwhelming design, and I wouldn't have known Citlali was a shaman unless I read her lore, because of how she only floats around her pillows in her playstyle (I'd be honest, the pillows suit Mizuki a lot more). Natlan was a nation where I'd have expected to see designs and playstyles that were a lot more serious and heavily leaning to fantasy, and honestly, super cool - but it feels like its rather corporate and made to just sell in a sense?

Another issue I came across was the multitudes of cultures just mixed into one nation in a way that's considered quite lazy (a problem that Genshin has in nations that are not Liyue). It reminds me of China, Japan and South Korea being mashed into one country cause 'eh, they look similar enough,' but the thing is they are actually really different? It's also just plain damn difficult when I'm trying to do a rewrite and end up having to research 30 different cultures at the same time by myself (I look at everything from traditional clothing, food, traditions, languages, history, music, people and etc — I generally adore doing this, it's my favourite thing to do, but not when its in the double digits, cause it's a lot). It's also a bit sad, cause all of the cultures they used are really beautiful and awesome — I often paused just to admire and appreciate ngl. But, they lost a lot of potential by not focusing on one or two and not going really in-depth — like they chose quantity over quality. Honestly, the whole nation turned out to be a lot more difficult with each update in terms of doing a rewrite and it's quite frustrating, cause I had planned quite a lot ngl — but, oh well. I'm still gonna yap about my Natlan ocs in the future and do redesigns cause those are super fun — but a rewrite is definitely off the table now KJHDKJHDKJ (and besides I have more time to focus on my own oc fics hehe)

[elencelebrindal]

Let's talk about Natlan's technology (and a bit about Natlan in general)

I know, at this point you've heard everything about this nation, good and bad, but since we're approaching Nod-Krai I thought it would be time for me to write an actual, well though-out comment here.

I'm not going to talk about how badly they butchered the cultural representation. That would need an entire post all by itself, and I'm not here for that. My only comment on this is that they messed up so much you can't even tell the inspiration of many characters just by looking at them (coff coff Ororon coff coff). The blatant disrespect towards the culture they've taken, the fact they added colonizers as a way to "represent" more, and the lack of people of color is just insulting and disappointing. And as someone who has seen someone very close suffer because of this lack of representation, I can only get mad at them for this.

Now, onto what I want to talk about, which is the awful representation of technology.

I've seen far TOO MANY people trying to defend Natlan's technology by using Khaenri'ah, Fontaine, or Sumeru as an example, and that's so ridiculous I don't even know where to start. Premise: I'm not saying Natlan shouldn't have had technology. People who are upset at this nation being technologically advanced don't understand the importance of how much humans learned from the dragon civilization, and many are simply projecting obvious (and wrong) stereotypes.

The problem with Natlan's technology is not the fact that it's advanced, it's the fact that it looks too modern and too close to realistic types of tech we have in real life. Most technology in present-day Natlan just looks like recolors of real life items, with little to no fantasy elements added to it.

And I'm not just talking about Mavuika's motorcycle or Chasca's giant ass flying gun (which are an issue on their own), I'm also including the little things. I'm including the fact that DJs exist in Natlan, too. That's a concept that's WAY too modern for a game like Genshin, which yes is not medieval fantasy and is slowly adding some sci-fiesque elements to it, but this is crossing the line. Some concepts are out of place, and the DJ is one of them. If anything, including this kind of profession could have been done by changing the name at least, adapting it to the setting, but honestly it just doesn't fit in.

The clothes are going to be included too. Leaving aside the lack of cultural aspects, or the very little representation of them, they're way too modern and have too few fantasy elements to them. Ororon and Xilonen straight up wearing jeans is terrible, relying on urban streetwear too much is not going to have the characters fit in with the overall vibe of the game (which is often seen mixing fantasy or traditional elements with modern ones), Kinich's pixels are COMPLETELY out of place and would fit a lot better in a game like Honkai Star Rail. I could go on with all characters, and Mavuika is by far one of the worst ones. She doesn't look like an archon (and she's probably the worst out of everyone, they made her a goddamn Mary Sue), that latex suit is so ridiculous I can't even understand what the hell went through their minds while designing her. She's supposed to be an archon, and yet she has close to NO representation of the culture around her, just a latex suit with two or three symbols slapped on her. A Maori-inspired archon should have been COMPLETELY different, period.

And what about the motorcycle? I hate that thing so much I never used it even when I was forced to use Mavuika in game. And you know what? If done well, that motorcycle would have made sense, because we did have the mention of a bike already in Genshin. By Xianyun, when she was recalling he race with Moon Carver (Grus Serena Chapter)

The way this was described evoked a motorcycle fully adapted to fantasy, and knowing adeptal devices, it was easy to have a mental image of this that fits Genshin's worldbuilding. Mavuika's motorcyle doesn't fit into this, and it's such an outrageous excuse to say that it was "tech from the dragons". The ancient technology of the dragons doesn't fit the realistic modernity of Natlan (which in turn doesn't fit the game), it fits Genshin's fantasy type much better, it's reminiscent of the technology you see related to Khaenri'ah or to Deshret's Civilization. Advanced, but still fantasy. There can even be more sci-fiesque components to the game, what's important is that they're implemented well into the already existing style.

Natlan doesn't do this.

Another example, and I'm keeping small here, is the jetpack in Chasca's quest, that I even redesigned to give it a more Genshin-like vibe. Straight up using a modern-looking jetpack is an awful design choice, especially when you have wind gliders as a starting base. Use saurian wings attached to the packs to make them more fantasy; they're still advanced, because they're miles away from wind gliders that can only make you glide down, but they keep that fantasy vibe instead of losing it to a bland-looking item that's just a realistic piece of tech recolored to "fit" the nation.

These are the phlogiston wings I made, based on the in-game design. Still advanced, but a lot more similar to the other pieces of tech we already have in Teyvat. And what if the phlogiston wings wanted to prioritize small dimensions and portability? Well, the design could have been adapted better into the context is in. Unfortunately, the fantasy element gets lost not because it's not a good design, but because the surrounding elements make it stand out too much in a negative way.

Chasca's gun is an entirely worse problem. It's so obnoxious and out of place, it's literally somethign you would see in any other game that's not Genshin. It doesn't fit, and the fact it just references colonizers and cowboys is... not good. Not in a nation that's supposed to be inspired by Mesoamerican culture. There are other things they shouldn't have added, considering the colonizing aspect, but the entire Flower-Feather Clan is by far the worst one.

Out of all the characters in Natlan that have items with them, the one that fits the most is Kachina. As much as I don't like her (she looks like she'd fit in Pokemon rather than Genshin), her elemental skill is the only one that has a transportation method actually designed to fit the environment of Genshin. Mualani's surfboard could be fine, but the overall design of it is what makes it wrong, and the plastic floaties and balls are way too much. I was mad at Ayato's bubble tea cup for the same exact reason, it's not just Natlan characters that break fantasy with that. I'm not even going to talk about Citlali, they did her so dirty that I'm mad just thinking about her (and her design has the most potential out of all of them, excluding Iansan who is genuinely a perfect mix of fantasy/traditional and modern).

And now, just because I'm tired of people comparing Natlan's tech to other nations just to say "no you're wrong Natlan is fine", let me address some things.

Fontaine's advanced technology is fantasy-esque, and people who deny this are probably missing the whole steampunk inspiration behind it. Also, people using Fontaine as a mean of comparison just to say "if Fontaine is this advanced Natlan can be too" are just annoying to me. Of course both nations can be advanced. The difference lies in how the technology is adapted to the setting of a fantasy game. Because Genshin Impact, regardless of what those Honkai fans say, is a fantasy game with many elements mixed into it. It's not a fully sci-fi or futuristi-esque game. The main elements are classic fantasy, they've been for most of the nations and excusing the sudden change by using other games as a comparison just because they fit into the same universe is foolish. This is the game's vibe, not the universe as a whole.

Back to the topic, Fontaine's advanced technology is rooted in steampunk automatons and mechanical machines. The designs, eben the more modern pieces of tech, are adapted well to the environment, and the technology blends in exceptionally well. People and scenery are all equally involved with the technology used in Fontaine, and the playable characters don't look out of place when putting them amongst NPCs.

Next, another popular comparison I see is Scaramouche's giant ass robot. Well, there you have it. Is a giant ass robot. It's advanced, yes, but its sci-fi elements are blended well in the fantasy environoment. It doesn't look out of place, and it takes elements from both Khaenri'ah, Inazuma, and Sumeru all together. It's designed in a way that, while it seems too much, it's actually not and it fits the surrounding environment of the game perfectly.

Sumeru's advanced technology? Man, that's the most perfect blend of tech and fantasy I've ever seen. Nahida's attacks are literally a mouse and keyboard, and they don't look out of place at all becayse they're designed keeping in mind the background of the game. Alhaitham's headphones, Mehrak, even the Akasha, these are all highly technological items that are lean more in the sci-fi field but are still adapted to a fantasy environment. The Akasha might be the most genius example of them all, being a fantasy version of internet. Hell, Irminsul itself is akin to a giant computer connecting all the different entities in Teyvat, and yet it doesn't feel out of place. Why? Because it's adapted to the environment of both the nation AND the game.

The elephant in the room, Khaenri'ah? They literally have computer screens, there's no going around it. But does that tech feel out of place? Does it feel like it belongs to a different setting? NO, it doesn't. It's ADAPTED. I wouldn't be surprised to see Khaenri'ahns with goddamn cellphones at this point, the most important thing is that the technology IS ADAPTED TO THE SETTING.

The argument most people make is that advanced technology exists everywhere, so why is everyone mad at Natlan? The response to to that is "technology is adapted to the setting everywhere but in present-day Natlan". That's why I'm mad, and that's why many many people are mad.

The dragon civilization is done extremely well. Tollan and Ochkanatlan are probably the best places in all of Natlan when it comes to technology. Everything blends well with the environoment and the characters (the non-playable characters, let me specify), and it's advanced in a way that feels advanced but also fantasy.

Everything that they did in present-day Natlan can work in Genshin if adapted better. Mavuika's motorcycle, the phlogiston wings, most other means of transportation used in characters' skills, the items found in the settlements. It doesn't work now because they slapped some color over a copy-pasted item from the real world and called it a day. The technology feels so out of place in Natlan because it's not even present in the nation itself; it's not blended in with the environment, and most of the times you only see it on the playables.

Advanced should not mean realistically modern. And that's my general take on it.

I could have talked about many more things, but I'm cutting it short here to not make a giant post that's boring to read. Of course, this is mainly my opinion at the end of the day, so you're allowed to disagree, but it's what I'm seeing when looking at the difference between Natlan and the other nations.

[crustaceousfaggot]

So... Idk maybe this was obvious to everyone and there's no point in me bringing it up. But can we talk about Ballister's armor?

The plate that the knights wear is standardized. It's their uniform. All the knights we see in the film are wearing the same armor and use the same swords. They're standard issue. With a couple exceptions.

Ambrosius gets much flashier armor, with the obvious gold and white colour scheme and the lion (?) design on his chest plate. He also has large lions on the sides of his pauldrons with embedded sapphire eyes, which - wow, talk about ostentatious. This is presumably because of his connections to Gloreth - his blood is special enough that he gets an entirely different and considerably flashier set of armor. Is it a family heirloom? Was it commissioned specifically for him? We'll never know. But the Institute designated this little boy Special enough to be exempt from the dress code in order to demonstrate his status as the Specialist Boy.

Todd gets a slightly altered version of the uniform, with black bottoms instead of grey, and larger pauldrons. If we assume Ambrosius gets fancy armour because of his family connections, then that seems to imply Todd also has some ancestry notable enough to set him aside slightly from the rest of the knights. Not anywhere near as famed as Gloreth of course, but maybe a notable general or war hero or something along those lines. That would explain some of the ego. Whatever.

Both of them seem to still be using the standardized swords though.

And then there's Ballister. With his black armor.

In the book I just sort of assumed he chose that armor in order to compliment the whole aesthetic he's got going on. But in the movie that is explicitly not true. They gave him that armor, to signify in the most literal and inconspicuous way possible that he is the black sheep. He does not belong and he never will, no matter how hard he tries, because the Institute will make sure everyone who sees him immediately recognizes him as other. Street trash who has been graciously permitted into their ranks, but will never be allowed to wear the untainted, pure colours of their order, the divine white and gold. It was decided for him, before he even became a knight, that no matter what he did he would never escape that shadow. That he was let in, not born in. Allowed to exist. Always on their terms.

He doesn't even get to use their swords. He gets a black sword to match his armor, one which (by the looks of it) is significantly lower-tech than the standard issue swords, at least until it was tampered with.

The Queen could have stopped this, but she didn't, which indicates to me more than ever that, to her, Ballister was first and foremost a token. A gesture meant to inspire loyalty and goodwill from her subjects, to prove that she was willing to change. Slowly. And only so long as people remembered who really had the power. Am I saying she was evil or whatever? No. We haven't seen enough of her as a ruler to make those kinds of judgements. But to me she represents a very milquetoast, left-of-center, "Equal-rights-for-everyone-so-long-as-it-doesn't-negatively-affect-me-or-my-standing-in-any-way" kind of leader.

There was no way he could have ever been one of them. Never. And they made sure knew it.

[ronearoundblindly]

I’m feeling angsty 😈

For F.R.I Steve can I get

6. How do they make up/apologize after an argument?

18. How do they care for each other when one of them is wounded/sick

And 40. Do they have any regrets in their relationship

Question are from this ask game and for the Fools Rush In series with Steve Rogers x lab tech!Reader.

Angst? You want angst, you say? I shall endeavor to deliver...

*This series deals with mature and/or sexual themes not suitable for all-ages, and these drabble-answers are no exception! Also, sorry this took forever.

6

Well, there was that time when you called Steve a 'himbo,' or when Steve was repelled by the smell of a lab accident, or when you finally snap at too many classified secrets stacked between you and Steve. You have arguments, but not all of them are knock-down drag-outs.

It's important that you two do talk in order to come to an understanding of what is truly wrong or upsetting because, as we all know, sometimes neither of you starts off by saying exactly that.

Time together alone is critical. You two are not public in almost any sense of the word, so you are skilled is setting whatever feelings there are aside until you can openly speak. Being alone sometimes still means being physically separate. Touching can be distracting and avoids the crux of the issue (usually, except the first like half a year you dated, whoops), so sorting through your feelings and putting them into words may take a while but ends up best.

There have been arguments that even take alone-alone time, where you two have some space before coming together again. It's rare, but when frustrations run really high, Steve is not a fan of that energy bleeding into physical touch or everyday tasks. He hates associating any negativity with you. (You're human. He knows that. So is he. Just...no more than absolutely necessary.)

After all that--and only after all that is worked out--Steve and you are very tender to each other. You ease back into each other. Proximity is intimacy. Steve favorite small gesture is to put his arm over you while you two read on the couch. Yours is to tuck him to your chest as you fall asleep.

It's devastating to you that Steve censors his own future.

We all like to imagine the good in our lives lasting forever, and Steve does that, too. He simply...doesn't imagine ever getting any more of you than he does now. He doesn't think to expect that part of you two together ever evolves because that would be somehow demanding...anything. He feels ungrateful for how far you've come, and that is so much more than he ever hoped to have.

Thus, he censors what he could want and expect from you. Happy homecomings, enthusiastic reunions, intense and escalating sexual relations (yes, I know that sounds clinical, but that's how his brain thinks of these things) are, each time, welcome events. He refuses to explore his desires. Steve guilts himself into being grateful and that's it.

I mention this in conjunction with arguments and making up because it's not something you can be angry at other than it's a shame he cannot incorporate his physical satisfaction with general life.

(That gets explored in 'Not A Perfect Soldier But A Good Man,' a sex pollen exposure that breaks down Steve's defenses around that.)

18

Ack, ok, wounds are...yikes. Steve fusses an unbelievable amount, even if only internally. He will plan out like six levels of 'how much to help' as you recover from something. If he is the one who got hurt (because he doesn't get sick, nope, never), then just ignore it; he'll be fine in no time. The serum is the serum is the serum. He has no business needing to be taken care of.

Bullocks.

Obviously, Steve is completely full of shit on this subject.

Once you get past his guarded dismissal, he needs tender, loving care. Steve needs reminding that not only is he still human but that being human is enough, even if he heals quickly.

In all honestly, his worst wounds are psychological. Those take patience and encouragement to speak openly.

Though unrealistic about his own health needs, Steve is (usually) thorough in his focus on your healing. At first, in the very early days, he had to be subtle, like when you hurt your hand...twice, and he's been fine accessing your mental health needs since the beginning. Seriously that's...pretty much the whole setup to this series...

There are times--adjacent to the heat of battle, let's say--when Steve does default to trusting your own strength while he continues to handle something urgent. You're an adult; he doesn't baby you. He's just gentle and as doting as possible when you two have time to be alone.

There are ongoing snippy-convos, not arguments, about taking medications for various things. He isn't fond of you dismissing your own pain--ex: you have a headache but won't take a pill--but respects your choice to treat your body how you wish. (Healthy, though, because ((and he will use this language)) he won't fucking stand for disordered eating to control your appearance. Media can fuck off in this regard.)

40

No deep-seated regrets, no. There's little things, things you both wish you'd gotten over faster or learned earlier, but all-in-all, everything that happens to you and in your relationship happens for a reason and exactly when it's supposed to happen. Lord knows, the excitement and the sorrow of the life of an Avenger leaves very little desire to spice up your world much more.

Thank you for asking!

[Main Masterlist; Light Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

[subroutine-fic]

"TRON: Ares will feature characters going into the real world"

Tron's biggest issue aside from Disney's horrendous timing (for anniversaries or reboots) and inability to actually promote the IP, is that computers and the very concept of the internet are no longer the mysteries they once were back in the 80s and 90s.

Where TRON failed to capitalize on a very young audience's curiosity about the internet (and technology), things like ReBoot and other series like Digimon, Batman Beyond, and Code Lyoko, occupied that space to different degrees.

(I think TRON 2.0. was in a place to capitalize on my demographic, but the lack of promotion and prerequisite of having to watch the original film was probably a bigger barrier to entry than desirable in the 2000s. Being an FPS probably didn't help either given the era was more third-person or platform-geared.)

I think the growing computer and internet literacy issue hitting later generations rn (intentionally manufactured by tech companies) is something I think a TRON story could use to its advantage. Ain't nobody thinking that deeply, though.

Digital characters entering the real world was always an idea I thought shattered the suspension of disbelief for an already out-there concept. That TRON: Legacy never actually got the chance to execute that goofiness was a blessing in disguise.

Alas, Disney's obsession with pushing IP in directions that don't suit it remains steadfast.

[mariacallous]

As digital scamming explodes in Southeast Asia, including so called “pig butchering” investment scams, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued a comprehensive report this week with a dire warning about the rapid growth of this criminal ecosystem. Many digital scams have traditionally relied on social engineering, or tricking victims into giving away their money willingly, rather than leaning on malware or other highly technical methods. But researchers have increasingly sounded the alarm that scammers are incorporating generative AI content and deepfakes to expand the scale and effectiveness of their operations. And the UN report offers the clearest evidence yet that these high tech tools are turning an already urgent situation into a crisis.

In addition to buying written scripts to use with potential victims or relying on templates for malicious websites, attackers have increasingly been leaning on generative AI platforms to create communication content in multiple languages and deepfake generators that can create photos or even video of nonexistent people to show victims and enhance verisimilitude. Scammers have also been expanding their use of tools that can drain a victim’s cryptocurrency wallets, have been manipulating transaction records to trick targets into sending cryptocurrency to the wrong places, and are compromising smart contracts to steal cryptocurrency. And in some cases, they’ve been purchasing Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet systems to help power their efforts.

“Agile criminal networks are integrating these new technologies faster than anticipated, driven by new online marketplaces and service providers which have supercharged the illicit service economy,” John Wojcik, a UNODC regional analyst, tells WIRED. “These developments have not only expanded the scope and efficiency of cyber-enabled fraud and cybercrime, but they have also lowered the barriers to entry for criminal networks that previously lacked the technical skills to exploit more sophisticated and profitable methods.”

For years, China-linked criminals have trafficked people into gigantic compounds in Southeast Asia, where they are often forced to run scams, held against their will, and beaten if they refuse instructions. Around 200,000 people, from at least 60 countries, have been trafficked to compounds largely in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos over the last five years. However, as WIRED reporting has shown, these operations are spreading globally—with scamming infrastructure emerging in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and West Africa.

Most prominently, these organized crime operations have run pig butchering scams, where they build intimate relationships with victims before introducing an “investment opportunity” and asking for money. Criminal organizations may have conned people out of around $75 billion through pig butchering scams. Aside from pig butchering, according to the UN report, criminals across Southeast Asia are also running job scams, law enforcement impersonation, asset recovery scams, virtual kidnappings, sextortion, loan scams, business email compromise, and other illicit schemes. Criminal networks in the region earned up to $37 billion last year, UN officials estimate. Perhaps unsurprisingly, all of this revenue is allowing scammers to expand their operations and diversify, incorporating new infrastructure and technology into their systems in the hope of making them more efficient and brutally effective.

For example, scammers are often constrained by their language skills and ability to keep up conversations with potentially hundreds of victims at a time in numerous languages and dialects. However, generative AI developments within the last two years—including the launch of writing tools such as ChatGPT—are making it easier for criminals to break down language barriers and create the content needed for scamming.

The UN’s report says AI can be used for automating phishing attacks that ensnare victims, the creation of fake identities and online profiles, and the crafting of personalized scripts to trick victims while messaging them in different languages. “These developments have not only expanded the scope and efficiency of cyber-enabled fraud and cybercrime, but they have also lowered the barriers to entry for criminal networks that previously lacked the technical skills to exploit sophisticated and profitable methods,” the report says.

Stephanie Baroud, a criminal intelligence analyst in Interpol’s human trafficking unit, says the impact of AI needs to be considered as part of a pig butchering scammer’s tactics going forward. Baroud, who spoke with WIRED in an interview before the publication of the UN report, says the criminal’s recruitment ads that lure people into being trafficked to scamming compounds used to be “very generic” and full of grammatical errors. However, AI is now making them appear more polished and compelling, Baroud says. “It is really making it easier to create a very realistic job offer,” she says. “Unfortunately, this will make it much more difficult to identify which is the real and which is the fake ads.”

Perhaps the biggest AI paradigm shift in such digital attacks comes from deepfakes. Scammers are increasingly using machine-learning systems to allow for real-time face-swapping. This technology, which has also been used by romance scammers in West Africa, allows criminals to change their appearance on calls with their victims, making them realistically appear to be a different person. The technology is allowing “one-click” face swaps and high-resolution video feeds, the UN’s report states. Such services are a game changer for scammers, because they allow attackers to “prove” to victims in photos or real-time video calls that they are who they claim to be.

Using these setups, however, can require stable internet connections, which can be harder to maintain within some regions where pig butchering compounds and other scamming have flourished. There has been a “notable” increase in cops seizing Starlink satellite dishes in recent months in Southeast Asia, the UN says—80 units were seized between April and June this year. In one such operation carried out in June, Thai police confiscated 58 Starlink devices. In another instance, law enforcement seized 10 Starlink devices and 4,998 preregistered SIM cards while criminals were in the process of moving their operations from Myanmar to Laos. Starlink did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

“Obviously using real people has been working for them very well, but using the tech could be cheaper after they have the required computers” and connectivity, says Troy Gochenour, a volunteer with the Global Anti-Scam Organization (GASO), a US-based nonprofit that fights human-trafficking and cybercrime operations in Southeast Asia.

Gochenour’s research involves tracking trends on Chinese-language Telegram channels related to carrying out pig butchering scams. And he says that it is increasingly common to see people applying to be AI models for scam content.

In addition to AI services, attackers have increasingly leaned on other technical solutions as well. One tool that has been increasingly common in digital scamming is so-called “crypto drainers,” a type of malware that has particularly been deployed against victims in Southeast Asia. Drainers can be more or less technically sophisticated, but their common goal is to “drain” funds from a target’s cryptocurrency wallets and redirect the currency to wallets controlled by attackers. Rather than stealing the credentials to access the target wallet directly, drainers are typically designed to look like a legitimate service—either by impersonating an actual platform or creating a plausible brand. Once a victim has been tricked into connecting their wallet to the drainer, they are then manipulated into approving one or a few transactions that grant attackers unintended access to all the funds in the wallet.

Drainers can be used in many contexts and with many fronts. They can be a component of pig butchering investment scams, or promoted to potential victims through compromised social media accounts, phishing campaigns, and malvertizing. Researchers from the firm ScamSniffer, for example, published findings in December about sponsored social media and search engine ads linked to malicious websites that contained a cryptocurrency drainer. The campaign, which ran from March to December 2023 reportedly stole about $59 million from more than 63,000 victims around the world.

Far from the low-tech days of doing everything through social engineering by building a rapport with potential victims and crafting tricky emails and text messages, today’s scammers are taking a hybrid approach to make their operations as efficient and lucrative as possible, UN researchers say. And even if they aren’t developing sophisticated malware themselves in most cases, scammers are increasingly in the market to use these malicious tools, prompting malware authors to adapt or create hacking tools for scams like pig butchering.

Researchers say that scammers have been seen using infostealers and even remote access trojans that essentially create a backdoor in a victim’s system that can be utilized in other types of attacks. And scammers are also expanding their use of malicious smart contracts that appear to programmatically establish a certain agreed-upon transaction or set of transactions, but actually does much more. “Infostealer logs and underground data markets have also been critical to ongoing market expansion, with access to unprecedented amounts of sensitive data serving as a major catalyst,” Wojcik, from the UNODC, says.

The changing tactics are significant as global law enforcement scrambles to deter digital scamming. But they are just one piece of the larger picture, which is increasingly urgent and bleak for forced laborers and victims of these crimes.

“It is now increasingly clear that a potentially irreversible displacement and spillover has taken place in which organized crime are able to pick, choose, and move value and jurisdictions as needed, with the resulting situation rapidly outpacing the capacity of governments to contain it,” UN officials wrote in the report. “Failure to address this ecosystem will have consequences for Southeast Asia and other regions.”

[abbysimsfun]

Sims In Bloom: Generation 1 Pt. 18 (He's Getting Married?!)

The Nesbitts returned from their winter getaway in Oasis Springs in time for New Year’s Eve – Heather, Holly, and River invited all their friends to the Gnome’s Arms to watch the countdown and dance all night, and they didn’t mind at all that their parents snuck across the street for some fun of their own. Heather learned Everett proposed to Spencer over the break, and despite any issues they may have had, Spencer accepted. The news hit Heather hard, and she cried it out alone under her covers, but she knew Everett was devoted to his religion. Heather knew he felt this was right, to marry young and walk along the path set out before him. Though her heart begged him to see her, she wouldn’t let herself say it.

On New Year’s Day, Heather and her family took the polar bear plunge for the first time. It was frigid, but invigorating. The shock to the system Heather needed. Setting aside her heartbroken ego, she congratulated Everett and Spencer on the engagement, and meant it when she said she couldn’t wait for the wedding.

(NOTE: Once again, no one's more upset than me that I was lazy on the screenshots over New Year's! I was also trying to hide the fact that I started a NYE party but could only host it in a nightclub, which Henford doesn't have, so it meant everyone was in Windenburg but that wasn't my headcanon.)

Holly confided in her older sister when she lost her virginity to Kris. They were seventeen, but they’d been together for years and knew it was right. Heather encouraged her sister to be safe, and even though she was a nineteen-year-old virgin pining for her own best friend, she was happy for her little sister. Kris was a sweet guy and he and Holly wanted the same things. She was sure it was only a matter of time before they were engaged, just like Everett and Spencer.

(NOTE: I genuinely like to leave townies alone but I have always changed Alexander's nose and I'm sorry for anyone who finds it shameful that I don't embrace the nose the devs gave him.)

On a visit to Cassandra in Brindleton Bay, River brought Hazel and her friend Lydia Kim-Lewis – Spencer’s younger sister. Lydia’s parents had finally given in to her desire for a kitten, and River and Hazel knew the Goths had more cats than they knew what to do with. Their Siamese, Socks – who already had a daughter named Spatula – had twins Victory and Fabio with their rescue cat, Frankie. Lydia was instantly taken with Victory, but she was even more taken with Cassandra’s younger brother, Alexander. It wasn’t long before Lydia was spending less time with Hazel and more time with her new boyfriend. Hazel wanted to be jealous, but she was happy for her friend.

(NOTE: This is Emi Kudo, a random sim assigned as a vet tech at Brindleton Pawspital. The backstory my sims were on the vet lot with their pets and Emi randomly started making out with the former creature keeper, Hayes Harms, who was absolutely cheating on his wife. I played with MCCC to make Emi pregnant by Hayes but had to move her onto a lot so the kid would age. I moved her to Evergreen Harbor and found her 'the dad who stepped up' from sims I had saved in my gallery - a modernized version of @rinseesims perfect sim creation from her incredible Ultimate Decades Challenge, and In Bloom, on YouTube. Usually known as Leoric and/or Leon, in this timeline he's Layne Wise and he adopted Emi's twin sons (yes she had two!) before he married her. With Gen. 3 set to take place in Evergeen Harbor, this is definitely not the last we'll see of him!)

On another trip to Brindleton Bay to take Boomer for his annual checkup, Daisy noticed that Emi Kudo, one of the vet assistants her pets always loved, was gone. The head vet, Sorrel Jackson, explained Emi got pregnant but then got depressed, quit her job, and left town without a trace before giving birth. No one had seen her. Daisy ran into Abby Goldbloom Harms at the clinic, and they embraced as old friends. They exchanged stories about their kids, but when Daisy brought up the sudden disappearance of Emi Kudo, Abby stiffly blew her off. She was surprised but didn’t press further. Despite the fact the new vet assistant was nowhere near as good as Emi had been, she trusted Brindleton Pawspital for all their family pets – Tut, Boomer, and Bernadette.

They adopted a one-year-old Shar Pei/Field Spaniel mix from the Delgatos in Brindleton Bay, after they, too, had a surprise litter with the family dog, Blue. Bernadette was adventurous and friendly and more inclined to fight with the cats than Ralph had ever been, but the family delighted in welcoming her into their home. They’d never replace Ralph, but they had so much love to give another four-legged friend – especially dog lover Neal, who took Ralph’s loss harder than anyone.

Daisy had known Surpriya Delgato for years, having met while both their dogs were at the vet, but now their children were old enough to meet each other. Hazel made fast friends with Surpriya and her husband Justin’s eldest son, Pierce, and had plenty of time for Pierce’s little sister, Evie. But her closest friends were Lydia Kim-Lewis and Nicola Moody-McMillan, and she loved spending time with them during and after school.

Would Heather really be able to accept her best friends' impending nuptials? ->

<- Previous Chapter | From the Beginning

WCIF: Desert Springs Oasis Spa by sawdust123 in Sims gallery | Layne/Leoric by kayroonsee in Sims gallery (Include Custom Content!)

[ecargmura]

Kowloon Generic Romance Episode 3 Review - My Eyes Are On You

Viewers and manga readers should play Tales of the Abyss for a good experience with a main character that has similar issues with Kujirai. Yes, I’m shamelessly promoting the game that was released in 2005 for the Playstation 2 (and also has a 3DS port), but I can’t help but to notice the similarities. I wonder if the author ever played the game…

I do feel bad that Kujirai is essentially on the verge of having an identity crisis as her life isn’t hers but Kujirai-B’s. But, there are still a lot of differences between them. I think the most unfair thing is that no one is giving Kujirai a chance to be herself. They’re always comparing her to Kujirai-B against her will. Sure, she looks identical to the original, but she’s a different person, even if she looks the same and have similar quirks. Just who is the real Kujirai? There’s so much about her, yet why she’s this important is never stated. All that is known is that a lot of people adored her, especially Kudo.

Heck, I feel like this entire episode (and maybe the anime) is full of identity secrets. First, there’s Hebinuma who forcefully kisses Kujirai, yet he’s a germaphobe and sleeps with the mysterious masked man. He’s also caught up in some sort of identity swap where he’s rumored to be adopted as the supposedly real son of his father died in an accident alongside the mother. There’s also Gwen who looks like the bartender from the Goldfish Teahouse, yet he’s not. What is his deal with confronting Kujirai?

I feel like the only ‘normal’ person is Xiaohei, but even I can’t be too sure about that because this anime is making me suspect everyone as suspicious. If Kujirai’s not going to be super wary about everyone in Kowloon, then I’ll do it for her. Is there anyone to trust in this story aside from Success the Goldfish or am I going to start suspecting the fish too?

What is with Kudo’s attitude though? Like, I understand that he’s still not over Kujirai-B’s death, but he doesn’t need to be an ass about the things Kujirai does like giving him a sunflower or telling her he hates her. She’s in a situation that she cannot control, and Kudo should know this better than anyone.

I still love the atmosphere of the anime and how everything is colored. Also, my theory about Kowloon being a simulation is still present because of the door. Like I mentioned last episode, Yaomei is the only one with a high tech door while everyone else got a normal rundown door with a knob. Heck, old doors are often seen in this episode. I also theorize it being a simulation because no person who buys an apartment can just delete their entire information about it. There is clearly something going on.

Hebinuma’s voice actor Ryotaro Okiayu did a great job with how creepy he makes his character to be. Man, I get creeped out every time he shows up on screen. The tongue noise doesn’t help either… But yeah, this isn’t the first time Okiayu plays a supposedly gay character as he’s been in BL before—one of his known BL roles is of Asahina from Junjou Romantica. Despite that, Hebinuma is a character shrouded with mystery and I can’t wait to know more—heck, I can’t wait to know more about what the heck is going on.

Also, congrats to Kowloon for getting an English dub! The leads are going to be voiced by Lauren Landa and Ben Balamecia (I hope I spelled that right). Both are great voice actors and I hope they do a great job! Let me know your thoughts on this episode!

[lennalefay]

Sorry for the long read, but I'd appreciate it if we've ever talked or I've been able to enrich your day in any way before. I would rather do just about anything than do this and I feel sick to my stomach doing it, so I'm only going to do it once here.

Earlier this year, immediately after tariffs were announced, I was laid off from my remote tech job of 6 years.

This was a job I loved, one I was good at doing, and I was very thankful to have such a good team that I was able to even transition during my time there with absolutely no pain or frustration whatsoever.

I say this specifically because I haven't had to look at IT jobs since I transitioned, and I learned firsthand between the tech-bro AI nightmare-scape that is the industry right now and the fact that I'm trans, I've had nothing but issues getting back on board with a company despite nearly two decades in the industry, up to and including being actively and intentionally mocked in calls with recruiters. So with that said, I have three things to try in the meantime:

[1] I will be opening commissions for stream layout and logo design work in probably a week or so. I won't be taking many commissions, since I know my mental state right now, but I will be sure to take ones that I can get done in a timely manner and at a good price. Once that's ready I'll post again in here.

[2] If you know of any remote work that you might be able to recommend, I would appreciate a DM to chat about any of it. I'm a multidisciplinary IT professional with experience in data conversion/ETL, web design (mainly frontend but enough backend to be dangerous), graphic/ad design, project management, fleet management, merchant services/ISO (mainly POS design and provisioning), and general technical support. I will also take any recommendations for simple things like office/data entry too at this point; I'm not picky and I can start immediately.

[3] If you have the means, just this once, any financial help to bridge that gap would be incredible. I was thankful to have savings set aside, but those run out in about 20 days, including some money that I will basically have to float. I also understand the time we're in and how that makes this tough, but I figure I'll swallow my pride this once and ask.

ko-fi.com/lennalefay

Cashapp: $naph71 / Venmo: @ lennalefay

Thanks for taking the time to read this. And hey, please stay safe out there if you're protesting this weekend. Love y'all.

[kindheart525]

Now for the long-awaited Glep x Marge horde! Ever since I first started working on this next gen as a serious project, I knew these two would have a whole horde of kids because of how madly in love I think they are. Glep has that raw bad boy edge and Marge is smoking hot so of course they have a big family to prove how much time they’ve spent loving each other if you catch my drift. They may have seven whole kids, but they’re just as youthful and energized as ever, which is far more than what can be said about Pim and his four kids. To outsiders, Glep looks like he’s fooling around on an iPad all day, but he’s somehow managing to give each of his kids proper attention AND keep Marge relaxed and satisfied. He’s got to be warping time itself to do all of that because I don’t know how you can have time for a full-time job AND seven kids AND a stable marriage without it wearing on you. Who knows how Glep does it.

As for the kids themselves, from right to left we have:

Blep inherited her mom’s supermodel looks but has an aesthetic all her own, going for a goth look that makes her look almost otherworldly combined with her unnaturally green skin. This combined with her speaking exclusively in her dad’s Wingon tongue leads people to make a lot of assumptions about her, that she’s weird or even scary, but the truth is that she’s very nice and sociable. She sometimes joins Kip and Dottie as a third to their trio, as aside from their common interests, both girls can relate to having assumptions made about them based on their looks.

Suzy, to many, looks like a hairball sliding around on the ground, but she would feel utterly insulted if you described her that way. She has her dad’s body and her mom’s luscious locks, though most don’t know where the hair ends and body begins. Despite her face being completely concealed, she’s so eloquent in her speech and mannerisms that you could completely forget that she’s basically a pile of hair as you become entranced in a conversation with her. She’s a classy lady and every unusual part of her only adds to her allure.

Gola is a model at some high-end agency, with an unbreakable confidence and an insatiable need to make sure the whole world knows how sharp her style is. She is quite sassy but can also be kind of dumb, arguing until she’s blue in the face to defend a claim that is flat out wrong just so she can have the satisfaction of being right. She’s also picked up a lot of her speech patterns from her dad’s friend Allan, so catch her comically mispronouncing a lot of words as well.

Chad is a pretty normal guy. As engaged in meme culture as any of his generation and especially as a child of the tech savvy Glep, so sometimes the family will be hit with a “skill issue” or “had to do it to em.” He likes to act like he doesn’t care what people think of him and will often lounge around in socks and sandals when not cosplaying as a meme. Sarcasm and jokes get a good laugh out of him but not when they’re at his expense, like when his siblings compare him to Stuart Little because of his abnormally short, less-than-two-foot stature. 

Giorno is a total gym rat, who cannot get through a single day without going through his elaborate full-body routine. He lives off of whey smoothies and many speculate lots of steroids, but he won’t confirm or deny that. School and work hardly matter to him as long as there’s gym. Workout stuff aside he has a sharp sense of humor and can engage in some good witty banter, especially with his best friend, favorite workout buddy, and love interest, Ell Pimling.

Eep, in contrast to her more eloquent and self-assured twin Suzy, is a shy little thing whose personality is as small as her stature. She is super sweet and loving with the people and critters she trusts most, and almost everyone she meets finds her very likable. This agreeability is something she finds joy in, but she has a hard time speaking up for herself when she wants something or disagrees. Her “speaking” sounds more like a squeaky dog toy than actual speech, but just like everyone can understand Glep’s Wingon tongue, she is perfectly clear to everyone when she does express herself.

Glorp is the least imposing critter you will ever meet. He is practically a background character. Every time he opens his mouth one of his siblings, parents, or peers starts speaking, so nobody knows what his voice sounds like or what his personality is. He doesn’t put up any fuss as he walks or slithers around with his noodly body, so everyone assumes he is perfectly content with the way things are. Nobody has asked him but he would probably agree based on his facial expression. 

[viktorviolettaenterprises]

SOVIET M69 Uniforms Collection

DOWNLOAD

"Wishing you and your family a blessed Eid filled with love, happiness, and prosperity. May this Eid bring joy, laughter, and warmth to your life, and may you continue to be blessed with Allah's grace. Eid Mubarak!" -VVE Team

Disclaimer: Happy Eid-El Fitr, everyone! I'm glad to see our beloved customers once again. I must say, I've missed you all. My apologies for the long hiatus; March was not a good month for me. Aside from Ramadan, it took me a while to return to the game after my grandma's passing. I was fully devastated by the loss and felt hope fading away. But I realized I must stay strong and never give up hope. Anyway that's hella of Disclaimer tho.. So Let's Cut the Chase.

Tech Specs

Converted From "Call Of Duty:Black Ops Cold War" Credits belongs to Activision and Treyach Interactive

Most Set Got 7 Color Swatch (Most of Them Just A Rank From Lower to Highest)

Age Range: Teen-Elder

Male Only

Category:Costume

Some Color Swatches:

Overview

The M69 (Obr.69) uniform, part of the 1969 Uniform reforms for the Soviet Armed Forces, included Summer and Winter variants. Summer uniforms, made from M43/Obr.43 Gymnastyorka material, featured branch-specific insignia for garrison duty. In 1973, the uniform was updated with thicker cotton and "CA" shoulder boards. The Winter version, made from Wool Gaberdine, was worn with Ushanka hats and full insignia. Troops in hot climates had Tropical versions, and a Dress version was used for formal occasions. Standard until the late 1980s, it was eventually replaced by the M88/Obr.88 "Afghanka" pattern. I Must say it was My Personal Favorite Of Soviet Outfit After Gymnastyorka and Afghanka Despite This one Less Popular Than The two.

Battle Dress Uniform

Base Uniform:Basically Just Regular Uniform, perfect for Non Combat Situation.

Strap-On:The regular Uniform With Tactical Strap. nothing special

Squad Leader: Uniform Used By Squad Leader at the Field. containing the Holster For Makarov Pistol (Thank you For @natalia-auditore For The Gun pose. I Love it)

Battle Configuration

Light Configuration: Just Common Configuration that Most Soviet Soldier that Time Used. Only Contained the Essentials Such As AK Pouches and Some Grenade.

Afghan Set: This Set Particulary Used by Soviet Soldier During Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989) Equipped by Poyas-A Tactical Pouches. such A Common Sights until it was Replaced by More Modern Afghanka M88.

Heavy Set: When Sheet Hit the Fan. in Case of Invasion of America The Soviet Troops are eqipped with more Sophicated Gears for ensuring the Winning the Battle

Officers

Some Officer Dress inside Soviet Army, It Actually appeared only Lieutenant Colonel. But I Edited the Mesh Myself To Expand more Variety

Majór (Major):One Star At Shoulder Board. Wearing Trousers. Equipped with Makarov Pistol's Holster Only

Podpolkóvnik (Lieutenant colonel):Two Star At Shoulder Board. Wearing Trousers. Equipped with Makarov Pistol's Holster & Map case

Polkóvnik (Colonel):Wearing Jodhpurs pants, Three Stars At Shoulder Board, Only Equipped with Makarov Pistol's Holster.

Specials

Standard Issue Winter Coat Used by Soviet Army During Cold War

HEADWEAR

Thank you For @sarkana-sims For Lending some of Her OC to me for become A Showcasing Model!

Soviet Army Peaked Cap: Intially worn just by Motorized Rifle generals, this pattern and color combination expanded in 1980 to include Medical, Veterinary, Intendance and Special Troops' generals. Externally virtually identical to a standard officer's service cap; it differs only in the all-gilt cockade and the general style buttons. Inspection of the inside construction - with its kid leather sweatband with interweaved ribbon, silk (or rayon) lining, and manufacturer's label - is a more certain means of identification. Note that you will sometimes see these general-grade caps with the standard officer cockade and star-embossed buttons, probably indicating use by colonels anticipating promotion! Although really any officer could wear these if they wanted to pay for the higher quality

M35 Pilotka:The M35 Pilotka is a type of military cap used by the Soviet Union during the mid-20th century. It was introduced in 1935 and became a standard part of the Soviet uniform during World War II. The Pilotka features a soft, foldable design with a small visor at the front and is typically made of wool. It often included a red star insignia on the front to signify its Soviet origin. The Pilotka was worn by enlisted personnel and officers across various branches of the Soviet Armed Forces. Officers Variation Exist Featuring more Extravagants Insignia apart from Standard Red Star with Hammer & Sickle:

SSh-40 Combat Helmet: The SSh-40 is like the classic car of Soviet helmets, a true workhorse that saw action during World War II and beyond. It's that iconic steel dome-shaped headgear you often see in old war footage. Made of good ol' sturdy steel, it offered decent protection against shrapnel and small arms fire. Plus, it had those distinctive flared-out sides to cover your ears, giving you that unmistakable Soviet soldier look. It might not have been the most comfortable thing to wear, but hey, it did the job, and it looked badass while doing it. This Particular Model Is Got Strapped off Above the head.

Thank you!

@ts4history @ts4historyccfinds @sims4historicalccfinds @historicalsims4 @exzentra-reblog @exzentra