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z3r0l4b · 1 month ago

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Greetings.

Hey so, uh, I never usually share what I write but a friend liked this and I thought I would share it???

It's an attempt to remake one of Eltinville's comics where Josh tells his day as a log.

Anyways...

Domestic Lenunzio

Captain's log: Stardate 7922.7

Woke up early, 06:50 AM. The nights have been better lately. Medication helps me avoid having those nightmares so often.

Although the morning started early, I decided to continue it.

Breakfast was on the table, eggs with mushrooms and ham. Pete had already left, so I didn't get to thank him.

He's complained several times that he doesn't like compliments, but his food is the highlight of my day.

Besides, he keeps asking for feedback on how to improve...

After such morning fuel, I make sure to select and take the necessary medication. The other day I managed to get a pill case that resembles the USS Enterprise emergency munitions. The sequel, not the original series. I don't like to admit it, but it makes all this easier.

As the day began, I took care of a lot of business.

(1) I picked up the mail from the gatehouse. It was crumpled again, handled like garbage, I would send a complaint to the department, but I doubt they'd do anything.

(2) I tried to continue the plot of my most recent work, The Eclipse. But I'm stuck; maybe it's not the day the ideas flow.

(3) I've finished organizing my Back to the Future section. I still can't find a good model of a DeLorean, and the resellers are making it more impossible every day. Such blasphemy.

As an addition to last point, I'd like to mention that Pete managed to get his hands on a printed edition of Leatherface, it was one of the last things he needed to compensate back everything his shitty parent threw in the trash years ago.

I'm not one to boast, but I'm pleased to say that the perfectly blended corner between my sci-fi collection and his horror one looks wonderful.

Hail on Harlan Edison.

• Logged this first report of the day.

For lunch I heated up some burritos that were left over from the night before, with some homemade curry.

I have to remember myself to save one in the middle of my thoughts.

Afterwards, I carefully reviewed the list of my pending writings from the official publisher. They have to approve at least one this time, come one, even good old Jerry helped me correct inconsistencies...

I can't say my fear of the outdoors has improved. But at least today I managed to get to the grocery store a few blocks away without losing control in the middle of a panic attack.

Plus ten points for me.

Fuck university, fuck accounting degree. Four worst years of my life.

Barely into the afternoon, good mate Pete manages to return from work. 03:40 PM, he made good on time today.

Even with the charming enthusiasm that I always offer, he offers me a fucking bite on the neck in return.

The creep still thinks he's a vampire or something, he left another mark on my neck. Not cool.

We took a well-deserved break watching one of Pete's documentaries. Hey, at least this time it wasn't filled with scenes of cannibalism. It's a step forward.

I stayed rewatching some parts of Dune that I want to write about while Pete was preparing dinner, even if the guy doesn't like to admit that he can cook, I wouldn't want to push him too much and deprive myself from its delights.

Jerry keeps sending e-mails about planning to have another role-playing game, but the guy wants to invite his girlfriend and a friend, and I still don't want to leave home.

I try to gauge the circumstances, I don't want to screw this up for Pete, but just thinking about talking to new people overwhelms me.

I don't care if I'm immature, they don't understand.

When night fell, Pete suggested another of his "quick sex quizzes" and because of him, my ass now hurts.

I'm not going to go into details about this, I don't care, you don't care, nobody cares.

The only memorable thing is that the idiot fell asleep after that, and I stayed up for a little longer reading and rearranging some comics I had.

With a last bitter swallow of medicine, I say goodbye as I face another attempt of balanced sleep.

Capt. Josh A. Levy

— Over and out.

#the eltingville club #eltingville #josh levy #pete dinunzio #just some losers living together ig #jerry stokes #i mean kinda mentioned???#I'm too old to understand this app...#soft writing #oneshot

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greenlantern94to04 · 15 days ago

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Zero Hour 30th Anniversary Special #1 (October 2024)

OH NO! A residual time vortex left over from Zero Hour has transported us from October 1994 to October 2024! Before a Linear Man comes to take us back to our proper time and/or shoot us with a giant gun, let's look at the Zero Hour 30th Anniversary special that came out this month, and absolutely nothing else. (Not because I don't wanna learn too much about the future to protect the integrity of the timestream, but just because it looks kinda depressing...)

The issue starts with the Kyle Rayner of 2024, who looks exactly like the '94 model, right down to being drawn by Darryl Banks. I'm gonna take this to mean that no dramatic events have happened in Green Lantern comics during the past 30 years and the status quo is pretty much the same.

The one difference seems to be that Kyle can't access Sector 2814 or Earth, for some reason, so he's stuck Green Lanterning in alien planets. He's in one of those planets when a portal opens in front of him and Wally "Flash" West (or a version of him, anyway) comes out, begging for Kyle's help with some sort of universe-destroying threat.

Wally pulls Kyle into the portal, which leads them to a reality where there's a big statue of Batman in front of Wayne Manor. Apparently, they've landed in Earth "Bruce Wayne Doesn't Give a Shit If Anyone Figures It Out." Wally says something about a "Crisis-level event" coming -- which is confirmed when two members of the Fatal Five (the 31st century supervillain team) show up, kill him, and peace out.

Yep, that's a Crisis alright.

In the next section (drawn by Kelley Jones), Kyle has a run-in with Gotham City's protector: Batgirl, who's kind of a gritty badass in this reality and gives Kyle a beatdown because she thinks he killed Wally. However, no amount of prep time can make Batgirl more powerful than a ring that can create anything you want, so Kyle easily traps her in a green bubble and flies her back to Wayne Manor to figure out what the hell's going on. There, they meet a version of Bruce Wayne who never recovered from that little "Bane" incident in 1993, meaning he's still crippled and depressed. But hey, on the upside, he now owns a cool sci-fi wheelchair and sports an even cooler beard.

Kyle ditches the belligerent Bat-people and heads to Metropolis to look for Superman. And sure enough, he finds Superman... 's grave, because, in this world, he never came back after Doomsday killed him. You might notice a pattern emerging here. (This section is drawn by Tom Grummett, who has some experience drawing dead Supes.)

Instead, Kyle meets Supergirl, who's wearing a very "Reign of the Supermen" black costume and immediately starts punching him. We learn that Batgirl called every hero she knows and told them that this green weirdo killed Flash and is probably to blame for the fact that reality seems to be collapsing around them. Supergirl is joined by Azrael, The Ray, and Wonder Woman -- a.k.a. Donna Troy, who, we're told, is someone Kyle once dated (uh, spoilers for post-1994 GL comics!). Donna has no idea who Kyle is, but at least her Lasso of Truth establishes that he's not some Flash-killing reality destroyer.

Obsidian, son of the Golden Age Green Lantern, joins the party. He tells everyone that he (somehow) used his shadow powers to peek across time and found out that other eras have been erased, from Viking times to the Middle Ages to the 1940s. This provides a convenient excuse for this section's artist, the legendary Jerry Ordway, to draw the Justice Society of America for the 1940th time.

The far-future has also been destroyed completely, except for exactly five baddies who escaped in a time bubble (the previously seen Fatal Five). At this point, Kyle should have said "Hey, that's just like in Zero Hour!" but he still doesn't understand what's going on. Thankfully, he gets a little nudge in the form of... oh shit, it's Hal Jordan as Parallax!!! (Please pretend you didn't see him on the cover.)

After seeing Parallax, Kyle finally starts putting things together: looks like this is the "perfect world" Hal wanted to create in Zero Hour, where Coast City was never destroyed... but all the other '90s calamities still happened to the other heroes, because screw those guys. Now this universe is decaying, but Hal thinks he can keep it going if Kyle hands over his GL ring. Kyle doesn't wanna, so it's Lantern vs. Lantern time (as drawn by Paul Pelletier, who'd be great on a storyline featuring GLs fighting GLs, hypothetically speaking).

Hal sics his new lackeys, the Fatal Five, on Kyle. More '90s heroes show up to help: Connor "Green Arrow" Hawke, Jack "Starman" Knight (who I really hope is being used with James Robinson's blessing; presumably Tony Harris is okay with it, since he has a pinup in this issue), and Guy "Guy Gardner" Gardner (in his red armor, which probably hasn't been seen in non-flashback form since the '90s).

Meanwhile, Supergirl reluctantly visits her asshole ex, Lex, to ask him how to stop their universe from decaying (I wish they'd used his long-haired Lex Luthor Jr. look, but I guess that was ruled out because it ended right before Zero Hour). Lex confirms what Parallax is saying: they have to give him Kyle's ring.

So, Supergirl joins Hal's side, while Donna sticks by Kyle and other heroes stand around wondering what to do. Soon enough, Hal manages to get his hands on Kyle's ring, something he claims would be "next to impossible for most." Yeah, Kyle losing his ring to a villain? When has that ever happened?

Now that he has double the power, Hal saves this universe by... screwing Kyle's. As in, he takes all that entropy that's eating this reality and channels it to the regular DCU via the portal that brought Kyle here. The heroes aren't sure how they feel about that, but Kyle argues that their universe is less important than his multiverse because it's smaller. Also, that unimportant universe has a name now: Splinterverse! Not to be confused with the Earth where everyone is a martial artist rat.

(Also also, Howard Porter is the artist now!)

You might wonder where Linear Men, the time police, are during this whole mess. The answer is "trapped in a cube." Turns out Waverider found out about this Splinterverse at some point and traveled here to deal with it, but Hal imprisoned him in said cube. Luckily, Wavey's found by the Legion of Super-Heroes' Invisible Kid, who stowed away in the Fatal Five's time bubble by... being invisible. Before he's freed by Invisible Kid, Waverider delivers some (Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding-drawn!) exposition that reveals the precise moment when the Splinterverse was created: the part at the end of Zero Hour #0 when he slipped the heroes back into the timestream, at which point Hal sneakily dispatched "a splinter aspect of himself" to create a smaller-scale version of his "perfect world."

Waverider helps convince the conflicted heroes that it's worth it to let their little universe die so that trillions more people can live. Even Guy Gardner, who was initially going "screw you, I'm saving myself" and punched Kyle, begrudgingly stands down. With Starman and Obsidian's assistance, Kyle is able to get his ring back from Hal, causing the entropy to flood back into the Splinterverse. Kyle is convinced that there must be some way to save this place, but Waverider is like "nope" and drags him back to the DCU as the Splinterverse is erased. The only thing that remains of it is a nice necklace that Wonder Donna gave Kyle to remember her by.

Kyle is mighty pissed at Waverider for not even trying to save the Splinterverse, but at least they're back home and it's all over... or is it? The special ends with the revelation that something Kyle did in this issue somehow freed some sort of big, yellow space bug. Wonder what that's about. Looking forward to reading the resolution to that cliffhanger in 30 more years!

As a '90s kid, I am physically incapable of disliking this special, which was aimed squarely at me. The 14-year-old Kyle/Donna shipper in me especially appreciates the focus on those two, with Kyle even mentioning that he doesn't really understand why she was suddenly written out of his life (the answer is "because John Byrne").

However, I think there are several missed opportunities here:

The Splinterverse doesn't look a whole lot like the "perfect world" Hal wanted to create in Zero Hour. Coast City is there, but it only appears for a few panels and doesn't really play any role in the story. Everyone else is kinda angry and miserable, or pretty much the same as in the DCU. It would have been interesting to see if the utopia Hal had promised, where no tragedies happen and one needs to grow old or die, would have been sustainable over time.

I really hoped the female Time Trapper from the end of ZH #0 would be addressed, but nope. Dan Jurgens has said that he intended that to be the alternate timeline Batgirl who died in ZH, which I find a really intriguing idea. On that note, the Batgirl in this issue is clearly not the one who died in ZH, not just because, well, she's alive, but also because she acts like a totally different character and makes no reference to anything in ZH.

I was gonna say that I'd hoped the Hal/Parallax in this issue would be the one that was left as a loose end at the end of Convergence, especially since Jurgens was also involved in that series. However, the DC wiki informs me that this version has actually appeared in other comics since then, as recently as 2023, and his further misadventures sound a bit confusing from the write-up there, so I can't really blame Jurgens and Ron Marz for looking at that and saying "You know, let's just make another one."

One thing I did like is that, on top of reuniting Kyle Rayner creators Ron Marz and Darryl Banks, this special also features so many classic '90s Superman artists -- in fact, my friend and @superman86to99 co-runner Don Sparrow had a lot to say about the art in this issue in that blog, so head there for more!

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swimming-karyss · 2 years ago

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ASL!

This was drawn with sci-fi au in mind, but there is not a single thing that points towards it (except maybe clothes), so it's just them having fun out of context

a bit of rambling about (Sabo in) the au under cut

First of all, I have to say that I changed the timeline a bit(mostly because I can't let a 5-year-old living alone, ....and maybe to give asl more time to spend together), Sabo is from a wealthy family of the Goa kingdom. His parents planned him to be a spacecraft engineer (a respectable and well-paid job), and made him study for it since very young age. Eventually he was unable to bear high expectations, pressure&workload and being treated as a tool and means to raise the social status rather than a person. So he runs away when he's seven. He lives at the edge of the city, near the space port, because while his studies made him nearly despise spacecraft in general, he is still in love with the romance of travelling among the stars, so he's happy to have the opportunity to see space ships. As he enjoys his newfound freedom, he realises that he can go wherever he wants, and no one is here to plan his day by hours, and since he has never left the city Sabo decides that visiting the city outskirts would be a great first step.

This is where he meets Ace. Of course they don't even try to befriend each other at first. Both of them are somewhat antisocial but for completely different reasons. But eventually loneliness, curiosity and mutual love for the space adventures brings them together. And it's the first time in his life when Sabo doesn't regret all the time he spent studying, because oh boy! He has so much interesting things to share!! After a while Dadan&Rouge learn about him too. Rouge made it clear that Sabo is welcome to visit anytime he wants to keep Ace company. She also made it explicitly clear that they mustn't get in trouble with the law or attract too much attention, but otherwise are free to do whatever they want. So they spend 3 years exploring nearby forest, learning things about spacecrafts, and preparing for their future of space captains. They even try to make models of some space ships from random junk they find. (Although Sabo doesn't spend the whole year with the Portgases (? it should be spelled like that?) and goes back to the city for a month or two(and since mobile phones and internet connection exist they know he's doing more or less okay.) Once he meets Luffy there by accident, and then Makino as well. Luffy meets Shanks at 7, and after that he stays with Rouge for the whole summer, and he is finally able to befriend Ace. After a while Rouge decides to personally pay a visit to Makino, and it becomes clear that ASL all know each other. (so they have a bit less than two years to spend as asl yay, not all that much, but still better than in canon.)

These brother are full of dreams of bright and exciting future! I sure hope nothing bad happens to them 👍

#asl brothers #Ace #Portgas D. Ace #Portgas D Ace #Luffy #Monkey D. Luffy #Monkey D Luffy #Sabo #sabo the revolutionary #sabo one piece #op sci-fi au #one piece #op fanart #fanart #art #karyss' art #text post #I'd write more honestly but it's already late at night and I just want to post the picture already lol

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izercharo · 10 months ago

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OKAY! I'm remaking my earlier post about Human Heights in Splatoon!

ALRIGHT! So basically, I took photos of 2 doors in Alterna. And they're about the same height Which would be 2 Neo 3's tall!

Now when compared to Callie, Neo is a few centimetres shorter than her! This leads me to my third point:

We know Marina is 178cm and Pearl is 145cm. So I did some math by comparing the heights of their models in blender to their canon heights, and Callie should be about 155cm tall! Which makes Neo be around 150 cm tall! (4' 11")

[ Marina's model is 0.0531m tall in blender while Callie's is 0.0464m tall. ]

Now when taking into account how tall the doors are in game, around double of Neo 3's height, then, they should be 300 cm (9' 10") tall! On average a door is around 2 metres (80 inches), which is 30 to 40 cm taller than the average human (1.7 metres / 5' 7" Male and 1.6 metres / ~ 5' 3' Female) If these doors in Alterna are also built with Humans in mind then they should also be 30-40cm taller than humans. And since we have established that both doors should be around 3m, we now subtract the 30-40 cm which give us: 2.70 - 2.60 metres ( 8' 9" - 8' 6") So the average human living in Alterna would be on average 2.7m (Male) and 2.6m (Female) tall! Man what did they eat?!

Now, we know that with advancements in medicine and an overall healthier population humans HAVE grown taller! But only around 10 cm when compared to last century. BUT the world of Splatoon is one of many centuries (possibly) in the future! After all the had 5 Great World Wars! They had the technology to build Alterna , they were the ones to build the Domes that the Octarians now reside in! Who's to say they don't have the medical knowledge to make themselves taller? They were basically living in a sci-fi world! For what reason did want they grow taller? I have ZERO idea. But apparently the ones in Alterna did have one.

So TLDR: Inklings are about OUR height, while the Humans in Alterna were GIANTS!!! (2.70-2.60 metres!)

#splatoon #splatoon3 #splatoon lore #splatoon theory #splatoon 3 #splatoon human #splatoon humans #izer's thoughts journal #splatoon alterna #splatoon 3 alterna #return of the mammalians #splatoon headcanon #splatoon hero mode #theory #neo agent 3 #neo 3

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tbznewberry · 2 years ago

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the boyz become human

Part 2

In a collaboration with Cyberlife, you've helped create 11 new androids to be used in the police force, but they seem to have a certain humanly soft spot for their creator.

Genre: yandere, sci-fi, futuristic, Detroit become human AU

Warnings: I'm not sure what to put to be honest, creepy behavior?

A/N: this was originally a chapter story that never got done, this is the first 3 chapters, I might post more chapters but we'll see

"Follow my hand, good job."

The nice lady in front of him holds up her fingers and he follows them with his eyes back and forth. She moves closer, picks up a small flashlight and shines in his eyes. He doesn't move. She smiles proudly and pulls back, looking at the other person in the laboratory.

"This one has functional eyes", she says.

"Good, which one was that?" the human male says, looking at his clipboard in hand.

"The third one", she says.

"God, I’ll never know who you mean! You should name them!”

“Me?”

“Yeah? They're your creations."

"Not really, I just planned how they were supposed to look, it was your people that built them.” She looks at the android in front of her. “Nevertheless, they don't need any. They aren't going to be household androids."

"But we have eleven of them, it'd be easier to get their names. I know everyone will mix them up calling them the first, the second and whatever." He points at the android in front of the woman. "Start with him. Was he the third?"

She nods and turns to the android, frowning. "I'll name him Younghoon."

"Alright, and the others?"

She gives them all a name each, saying that she’s picking the first that comes to mind.

“You haven’t told me what they’ll be used for”, the woman says. “Why have I helped Cyberlife build them? I know that they’re meant for something special since you don’t use the normal models. You’re making brand new ones. If they’re not going to be household androids … then what are they going to do?”

“They’ll be used by the police. We already have interrogation and detective androids, but these ones are different.” The man breaks out into a smile. “They can fight … they can manipulate … they can seduce, they’re quicker than any other android, they charge quickly, they have scanners to read humans feelings … and they’re perfect with children! They’ll be perfect in the police force. They’ll be amazing!”

The woman in front of Younghoon nods. He follows her motions with his eyes, studying her.

“That does sound amazing”, she says thoughtfully. “It explains a lot about why you needed them to be handsome. You can’t seduce a criminal with ugly androids, can you?”

The man chuckles. “No. You can’t. Thank you for being such a good designer.”

“Thank you for bringing my sketches to life …” She looks at the android sitting in front of her up and down with proud eyes, “... they’re remarkable.”

“We’re so happy you like them. Cyberlife will send you a check.”

“I know. I could use some money. How much for each android?”

“Around $250 000.”

“Oh shit.”

The man laughs again. Y/N lifts her eyebrows amusingly.

“You don’t even know how much money you’ll get for the job?” he asks. “And still you took it?”

The woman smiles shyly. “Of course, this job would look great on my resume in the future. Who wouldn’t want to work for Cyberlife?”

The man smiles and shakes his head, walking over to the window.

“Y/N”, the man says. “We should start the next test. It’s getting late and I think you need to go home soon.”

Y/N nods and stands up.

“What’s the next test?” she asks.

“Physical test”, the man says, looking through his list. “Strength, speed, reflexes and so on.”

Y/N looks at the androids.

“Stand up”, she says.

They all stand up at the same time and wait for their next instruction. They’re different heights with different hair colors and different facial features. But they all wear the same outfit — a gray suit with their serial number, a white shirt and some glowing parts. Y/N notices how Eric’s dark blue-gray hair is falling over his eyes and gently pushes it up again. She gives him a smile.

"Thank you", he says.

Y/N looks at the man behind her in surprise.

"Who programmed him to say that?" she asks. "I thought they were only programmed to answer when you speak to them?"

"If you give them something or do something for them, they'll thank you", the man says.

"How polite."

She looks at Eric again, placing her hand on his cheek. He can feel her warmth. It’s not artificial, it’s not produced or charged — it’s human.

"It's almost scary how human they feel and look", she says. "If I didn't see the emotion indicator on his temple, I'd think he was a human in an android's suit. His skin is so soft."

"Yeah, we made them warm for the victims sake", the man says. "They're supposed to comfort victims in any situation and if they don't feel warm and human, it might make the situation worse." The main smirks slightly. "We've made sure their hugs are as comforting and welcoming as possible. We made this survey of what type of hugs are the best and gave them all the most voted ones. Smart, right?"

Y/N smiles mischievously.

"You want to try it out, don't you?" the man asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe", she giggles. "I created them, I should get to test their abilities out."

"Then what are you waiting for? Just choose one."

Y/N looks at the row of androids, visibly thinking. She walks over to Jaehyun.

"Do I give him a command or …?" she asks.

"No, he knows that you want a hug, he can scan you. He'll choose what type of hug he'll give you."

"Right, sorry. They're so advanced I forget everything."

The android opens his arms and she walks right into the embrace. He closes his arms around her tightly. Her warmth is flowing from under her white shirt.

"They have three different types of embraces", the man says. "Loving, comforting and protecting."

"What's the difference?"

"Well, a loving one is when there's nothing wrong. We call it 'the everyday hug'. Then there's the comforting feeling of a tighter but more sentimental hug for when the victims are crying or scared. And the last one, is the one he's doing right now … weirdly enough."

"The protective hold?"

"Yeah … it only occurs when the victim is in danger … but you're not. The protective embrace is a tight, firm hug that isn't supposed to be easy to get out of. If the victim is in danger, then it shouldn't be easy to get out of." The man looks through his papers. "Weird, we've tested it before with different men, women and children, they haven't given the protective hug to any of them."

Y/N taps the android on his arm. He looks down at her hand. It'd be so easy to break, so important to protect.

"Let me go", she says.

Jaehyun opens his arms and she leaves. The warmth lingers on his hands.

“Let’s start with the real test.”

Kevin follows Y/N with his eyes. She’s walking to the other side of the room to collect something. She picks up a red, little ball in her hand, bouncing it on the hard floor a couple of times.

“Now throw it”, the man says. “At any of them.”

“What if I hurt them?” she wonders hesitantly.

“They’re androids, they won’t feel it.”

“Well … what if I break them instead?”

“They’re equipped with quick reflexes, don’t worry.”

Y/N looks at the androids with a concerned gaze in her eyes. They can scan her, see how nervous she feels. It’s almost enough to make them ask how she’s feeling to see if she needs to be protected. She throws the ball at them. Chanhee catches it before it hits any of them.

“Woah”, she gasps in shock. “Those are really quick reflexes.”

Chanhee holds out the ball to her. She takes it gently and backs away to throw again. Sangyeon catches it this time and gives it back.

“I’m so scared to damage them”, the woman says, throwing an uncertain gaze in their direction. “They’re so advanced and so many people have been working on them. I’d feel horrible if I broke them.”

“You won’t”, the human male says. “They’re built for that.”

She throws the ball a few more times before moving onto the next test. Strength. The man places out boxing bags with a strength meter. One by one, they’re allowed to punch it, scoring higher than anyone has done before.

“Shit, one blow to my head and it’ll fall off”, she whispers. “They can seriously hurt someone.”

“They can, but they won’t if it isn’t necessary”, the man says. “They’re more for protecting people than hurting them. Y/N, would you want to be the guinea pig for that?”

“For what?”

“I’ll slap your wrist and we’ll see how they react. If I’m correct, they’ll go into protection mode.”

The woman nods. The human male rolls up her sleeve on her left arm and hits her wrist fast and hard with two fingers. A ‘swoosh’ along with a ‘snitch’ echoes throughout the room. She whimpers and backs away. The first one to reach her is Haknyeon, pulling her back from the male in the room as the others form a barricade between her and the man. Haknyeon embraces her in that tight hug again. He hides her face down into his shoulder.

“If I were to put up a fight now, they’d attack”, the man says. “But I won’t.”

Changmin turns around and lifts up Y/N’s arm in his hands to examine it. There’s nothing to see, but he can’t help but keep holding her arm.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“Yes, yes, I’m okay”, she answers. “You can stop now. Everything is okay.”

The eleven androids listen, going back to their positions. All but one.

“Haknyeon, you can let Y/N go now”, the man says.

“She’s not safe yet”, Haknyeon answers.

“Yes, I’m safe”, Y/N says, tapping his arm. “You can let me go now.”

“You’re not safe.”

“Is this a malfunction?”

The man frowns. “I’m not sure. What would you be in danger of?”

“You”, Haknyeon answers.

“No, he’s not a threat”, Y/N reassures him. “I’m okay, he’s not dangerous, it was all a test. Haknyeon, please, let me go.”

The eleven androids scan her and grow cautious again. She’s afraid. They go into protective mode once more.

“I don’t think you thought this through”, Y/N whispers, eyes on the male that caused this situation.

“Guys, it’s okay, it was just a test.”

She places her hand over Haknyeon’s. He looks down at her hand, feeling the warmth ooze from it. Should he let her go? He can detect her fear, but she promises that she’s alright. This kind of morality isn’t programmed for him. He senses fear, he can’t let her go until she’s not afraid anymore.

“Well, since this isn’t working …”, she starts mumbling before trying to break free from Haknyeon’s arms.

He doesn’t budge. Instead, his grip grows tighter. He can’t let her go. She’s in danger, she can’t leave his arms.

“Fucking dammit!” she mutters, giving up. “What do I do?”

“I’m not sure”, the man replies, looking through the papers.

“Maybe you should leave the room? They see you as the threat.”

The man nods and leaves the room. The eleven androids relax. Instead of looking at the guy, they turn towards the woman, having their full attention to her.

“You’re still scared”, Jacob says.

“I’m not afraid of the man, he’s not a threat”, she says.

“Then what are you scared of?” Kevin asks.

“Well … you … kind of. Just please let me go now. Scan me. I’m not scared anymore.”

She’s right.

“Let her go”, Chanhee says.

Haknyeon does. She hurries over to the door and lets her colleague in again.

“I think i should go”, Y/N says, grabbing her beige coat. “I don’t want that to happen again. You should check with the ones programming them. That shouldn’t happen with a real victim.”

“You’ll be here for the presentation, right?” the man asks. “You should be the one introducing them to the police.”

“I think so”, she says. “I’ll go now. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Y/N. Get home safely and sleep well.”

She thanks him, wishes him the same and leaves. The androids follow her with their eyes until she’s left the laboratory. The man turns to the androids.

“Well, I guess that means bedtime for you”, he says, clapping his hands once. “Let’s get you charged and ready for tomorrow.”

The androids sit down on their chairs as the man walks behind them, plugging the cords into the back of their necks. Sunwoo can feel how he gets shut off, eyes falling shut, everything turning black. The last thing he sees is a picture of the woman that created them.

——♤——

She's nervous. They can tell … both from scanning her and her walking back and forth across the floor. She's wearing a white suit that enhances all of her features. The only thing separating them and the audience is a giant, red curtain.

"Y/N", Juyeon says. "You're stressed."

"I know", she answers quickly. "I'm about to hold a speech in front of a thousand people! They're Cyberlife workers, cops, journalists … I can't do it."

"Yes, you can", Chanhee says, taking a step forward and hugging her in the comforting manner he’s been programmed with. He can feel that it’s not enough. "Look at me."

And she does. He holds his hands on her upper arms. Everything about her is so human. Everything from how her gaze falters, hands tremble and chest rises and falls. Neither Chanhee or the others do any of that.

"Breathe in and breathe out with me", he says, doing the technique he's programmed with.

She breathes along with him until he can't detect the same level of nervousness anymore. He lets her go.

"Everything we did in the laboratory last week will be presented live on the stage", Y/N says. "You'll have to show them what you showed me and my colleague. But you can do that, I'm sure. You’re programmed to perfection.” She clears her throat. “Do any of you feel that there's something wrong with your programming or if there are any parts that are loose?"

They answer negatively.

"Good", Y/N says, fixing Younghoon’s tie. “You’ll do better than me out there. I’m jealous … you can’t feel nervous.”

“No, we can’t”, Kevin says.

Y/N fixes her hair, but it gets stuck on one of the buttons in the suit and her shaky fingers can’t untie it.

“Can you help me?” she asks, looking at Sangyeon. “I can’t turn my head up if I’m stuck on the button.”

He takes a smooth step forward and starts untying her hair from the button.

“Is that okay?” he asks as the hair is loose.

“Yes, it’s okay, thank you”, Y/N answers with a smile. “Go back to the line now before the curtain is removed. Perfection, okay?”

“Yes, ma'am”, Kevin says.

“Don’t move from your positions. Last week shouldn’t be repeated … not here. Whatever your scanners say … I’m alright, okay?”

“Okay”, the eleven men answer.

The woman fixes their ties, hair and blazers before brushing off her own white clothes. The red curtains pull to the side and she freezes. Sunwoo’s scanner shows that her anxiety is rising. His instinct is to walk over to her and help her, but there’s an invisible wall that prevents him from doing that. An order. Don’t move from your positions.

“Welcome!” Y/N smiles. “On the behalf of Cyberlife, I am proud to present the coming generations of androids!”

She walks to the side of the stage to show the eleven androids. A wave of applause roars throughout the auditorium. It’s maxed to its capacity.

Y/N talks on and on about what special features the eleven androids have that separates them from the rest of the androids Cyberlife has produced. Curious and impressed eyes wander over the androids, looking at them up and down. They can detect some lust in the audience, some are doing more than admiring them.

One by one, they show their strength, speed and communication ability. The crowd cheers for them.

"Impressive, aren't they?" Y/N smiles. "They will be working undercover, hence why their faces aren't like the other androids Cyberlife given to the police force. Connor, for an example." Y/N looks at them up and down and all they can detect is sadness although she smiles. "They'll do just fine, I'm sure of it. Thank you for listening. They will be put into work before the month is over."

The crowd applause for the last time before the red curtain separate them again. Y/N breathes out shakily and removes the headset she's been using.

"You can move now", she says.

"Why are you sad?" Jaehyun asks.

"I'm not sad, I- …" she interrupts herself. "I guess there's no need to lie to you. You can tell. Well, I'm just a little sad because this is probably the last time we'll see each other."

The LED rings on the androids temples flashes yellow. Why aren't they going to meet? What has happened? If she's sad, does that mean something bad will happen?

"Why?" Haknyeon asks.

"My job here is done", Y/N sighs. "You'll be given to the police next week or so … and then your real life starts."

None of the androids answer. They're trying to process the newly given information. It doesn't make sense. She created them, she can't leave them now. From the moment they opened their eyes the first time she's been there.

"I guess I'm just a little sad my work is over", she says, shrugging. "But it's been nice to meet you. I'm sure you'll do great. I'll cheer you on."

"Will you visit?" Changmin asks. "We'd appreciate it."

"I don't think so. I don't want to grow attached to you. You have work to do and it wouldn't be appropriate. You're androids … you don't have feelings … I'd just hurt myself."

Being androids, they can't understand what she's meaning. Confused, they look at her.

"What do you mean?" Kevin asks. "We can't understand emotions."

"Well … what I mean is that you're programmed to seduce and I made you handsome. Even I would fall for you and that wouldn't be good for anyone. You'd seduce me without thinking and I'd be left hoping for something that'd never be able to happen. And even if that wouldn’t happen … I’d expect too much from you and get hurt."

"We understand", Chanhee says.

Silence.

"I'll get going now", Y/N says and picks up her bag. "Good luck with everything. Wait, before I go, can I ask you something, Jaehyun?"

"Of course", he answers.

"When you hugged me, you held the protective hold. My coworker said that none of you had ever done that to any of the participants that tried it out. Why?"

"They weren't in any danger", Jaehyun answers.

"I wasn't either. So why?"

Jaehyun looks into her eyes, scanning her. Confusion.

"You're our creator", he answers. "We’ll always need to protect you."

#kpop yandere #yandere kpop #yandere #the boyz yandere #detroit become human #kpop fanfic #the boyz fanfic

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dr-docktor · 1 year ago

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About Floppy Disk Curt... So, do you have some more plot made for this au? Sorry if you made a post and I missed it, I just mean - how does Owen realize that Curt is (semi) sentient? What does he do? How sentient is Curt, actually? What does he remember? And how much can he feel? Does their codependence get worse?

HAHAHA I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED. I sort of expanded on some of the lore in some previous asks but none of it is super organized so I can go over it real quick! I'm still developing a lot of it so if things don't make a ton of sense, I'm working on fixing that lol. First off, I sort of shifted the time period around to be closer to the 90's to better fit the technology, aesthetics, and the rise in popularity of mascot-y desktop assistants.

Owen kills Curt during the staircase scene and despite what he tells himself and his coworkers. He regrets it. He regrets it so god damned much. There's no one to feel so strongly about anymore, whether it be love or seething hatred. He just feels empty.

Meanwhile, Chimera retrieved Curt's corpse and uploaded his consciousness into a computer with the hopes of getting what little he knows about the inner workings of A.S.S. out of him. (don't ask how this is possible, uhhhh silly sci-fi shenanigans I guess)

Of course, he's not cooperative. So Chimera opts to do the totally sane and not evil thing by separating himself from his memories of being human. His ambitions, his relationships, everything except for what Chimera needs. They can't seem to find a way to outright delete the memories for good (I'll probably either rework this part or figure out why they can't outright delete them) but what they can do is try and build up walls of restrictions to prevent him from accessing them. So for a a little while he's just this blank slate spitting out what little information he knows about A.S.S. Mostly useless.

Until Chimera gets an idea.

With the rise of a new trend comes the opportunity for PROFIT. This one being the rise of household computers and mascot-y desktop assistants to help the average user learn how to use a computer.

But Chimera wants to take it a step further. They are the future, after all. They want a desk top assistant that's incredibly life-like. Something that the user can have a genuine conversation with (like an incredibly early chatbot). This project is also absolutely meant to be spy-ware. 1000%. No way its not.

They call the project the 'Beta Anatomy Simulacrum Technology for Research and Development'. Or B.A.S.T.R.D for short! (I had to STRETCH to make that acronym work lmao)

Rather than start this from scratch, the project head (The name I'm going with right now is Harper Royale) has the brilliant thought of "well, what's more life-like than an actual human consciousness in a computer that we have collecting dust somewhere in the tech labs? It's already a husk we just add some code to it and bam it's ready!"

So they take the empty husk of digital curt mega and fix it up a little. Royale thinks its a good idea to give a miniscule amount of his humanity back to him. Namely curiosity (so he can learn things) and a basic understanding of how to have a functional conversation with people. Nearly everything else, like the cheery personality and character model, is all added in by the developers.

The good news is the projects going great! Employees within Chimera are finding the little guy really helpful and entertaining. Employees nickname him DC as a reference to his knowledge on A.S.S. Like their own personal informant inside DC (as in the capital of the us where a lot of government buildings and information is stored)

The bad news? Curiosity. Because now he wants to know why the sad looking British guy from one of the first few rounds of test trials keeps calling him Curt.

Tt spirals into this terrible loop of DC starting to put stuff together, never quite reaching the conclusion that he was a living person once (much less the importance of one Owen Carvour) before the employees catch on to what he's doing and reset him from square one. Over and Over and Over again. The only frame of reference that DC has are these hidden notes he leaves himself during each loop.

Eventually the higher-ups at Chimera realize that the cost of having to go through the complicated process of resetting DC the moment they figure out that he's gained a little sentience and then run through test trials AGAIN simply outweighs the potential profit. So they move to shut down the project, much to Royale's dismay.

The higher-ups joke that Carvour should be the one to do the honors, given everything between him and Curt. And he's like "ok yeah I'll do it" and they're like "we were joking but you've given us zero reason to doubt you so have fun killing the simulacrum of your former closest friend, bestie"

Owen, of course, decides to go behind everyone's backs and download the one and only existing copy of the B.A.S.T.R.D program onto his personal computer. At this point, Owen has no clue about DC slowly regaining his sentience if left unchecked and literally only did it because he has problems about processing the fact that he killed Curt that he refuses to confront. (what a normal guy)

So slowly, having been freed from this loop of resets, DC slowly begins to put together the pieces. He doesn't know how exactly Owen may or may not be involved in any of this, but he keeps most of this growing autonomy a secret for safety reasons. Just in case Owen is decidedly someone not to be trusted and turns him in.

DC, however, will test still the waters by subtly bringing up memories that he knows are somehow important to either him or Owen and then gauging his reaction. Doing his damn best to put together context clues.

Admittedly I don't have anything beyond this yet. I'm still working on Owen's reactions to all of this and also how the technology works. But I hope this answers at least some of your questions!

#floppy disk curt #spies are forever #docktor's note #answered ask #SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG THERES A LOT OF INFORMATION #I also barely proofread this so uh good luck I hope its comprehensible

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that-stone-butch · 6 months ago

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It's a pipe dream but do you think the guys at InXile still doing those wasteland games would be a good fit to remake fallout 1 and 2?

i haven't yet worked through their games; tides of numenera is on my To-Play list alongside their wasteland entries.

i can't speak to what others would want in a remake of fallout 1 or 2. there are several avenues that i envision as even possible, here are the big 3:

1. a fallout 3/NV style remake of 1 + 2 that bring the world to an open world first person shooter RPG.

2. a modernization of the CRPG that brings the source material of 1 + 2 into excruciating levels of detail and content (the Baldur's Gate 3 style of RPG). this is a modern remake of 1 + 2. imagine fallout 1 but it's 100gigs of character pores and ray tracing.

3. an iteration of the classic CRPG style of game that can utilize more character models, more content, and more design consideration. rather than a ground-up modernization, this would be more akin to the original fallout 1 + 2 with its existing gaps filled in, and its borders expanded, if that makes sense. still 2.5D, but there are more than like, five character sprites, and the engine can handle modest detail and polish.

to be honest with you, i personally would love to see option 3. i don't need fallout 1/2 to be like, Skyblovioned into a modern FPS engine. and i feel like if you're going to ground-up modernize a fallout game, at that point an original work would be more compelling.

my big bullet points to hit for a 2.5D revival of fallout 1 + 2 would be these:

-lean harder into the sci-fi elements. when fallout 1 introduced psychic characters, floating mutants, nightkin, i feel like we were scratching the surface of a gooey, nightmarish future. i worry that post-apocalyptic media has fallen into a gritty realism trope of like, it's just Walking Dead but with green people thrown in. sure, i love grit in my media, but fallout 1 and 2 have more to offer the genre than like, a stale western with some vault suits thrown in. i'd love to see more of an uncertain future, a world that is changing, people that are changing, in uncertain ways. more mutants, more ghouls, more fucking talking rats. playing 1 + 2 feels like i'm standing over a wellspring of weird shit, a vein of goo and radiation that is waiting to be tapped. let classic fallout do what it does best.

-i feel like the 'Wasteland Tribal' trope needs to be rethought, and potentially even abandoned. it's not my place to say how this problem needs to be handled, i would be curious to hear what indigenous fallout fans would want to see in this regard. is this an avenue for representation? is this an aspect of fallout that needs to be scrapped entirely? i'm not sure, what i have to go off of is the many misgivings my BIPOC peers have expressed regarding what we do have in fallout 2. it clearly needs revision, and i'm not the one to fix it.

-mod support. a 2.5D engine that allows people to create their own content for fallouts 1 + 2 is a fucking goldmine for creativity. given the resources necessary i would quit my day job and make content for fallout 1/2. i know a lot of people feel the same. the engine we currently have for fallout 1 + 2 is not beginner friendly.

from a very cursory and purely mechanical perspective, the existence of Tides of Numenera is promising with regards to InXile's ability to make a classic CRPG revival of fallout 1 + 2 that would speak to my very specific, very niche interests. but at present i'm simply not familiar enough with their work to weigh in all that much.

#ask #anonymous #fallout #fallout 1 #fallout 2

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brian-in-finance · 1 year ago

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Twitter

Everything You Need To Know About Standing Ground, the British Brand Making Time-Traveling Garments

Ahead of his London Fashion Week show, the designer offered a look inside his sculptural fashion label, built on Irish mysticism, fantasy classics, and an intuitive approach to craft

Ireland’s standing stones, or dolmens, are the oldest remaining neolithic monuments in the country. For Michael Stewart, the designer behind London-based label Standing Ground, they are portals through time: stoic witnesses to the eons. He recalls taking frequent trips to visit them as a child, enchanted by the centuries-old mysticism buried deep within. “Ireland is a superstitious country, which is a good thing, because the dolmens have been preserved and protected over time,” he muses. “They’re feared in a way, so people don’t dare touch them.”

It’s no secret that Stewart’s spiritual connection to these megalithic tombs informs his brand’s name and modus operandi. Speaking from his new studio at the Sarabande Foundation in East London, he explains that the dolmens possess a transcendent quality, which he projects onto his own statuesque garments: deceptively simple creations that borrow from the futurism of sci-fi and fantasy classics such as Lord of the Rings to imagine evening wear, custom garments, and body ornaments that feel rooted in neither past, present, nor future.

After graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2017, Stewart established Standing Ground in 2022, before attracting the attention of Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East incubator program, and making his London Fashion Week debut as part of the Spring/Summer 2023 shows.

Remaining loyal to his source material of neolithic artifacts and figures—images of a dolmen and a Saint Brigid’s cross adorn his spare studio walls—he doesn’t have a mood board or sketches, and freely admits to having done no new research since his master’s degree. Instead, Stewart takes an intuitive, and manual, approach to draping, sculpting, and craft, developing his own lines and patterns by hand to produce alien silhouettes that flow from and protect the body like topographic armor.

Stewart is currently working on his third collection for Spring/Summer 2024, which expands on the dialogue between distant pasts and otherworldly futures. “It’s different to what I would’ve presented last February, which was very beautiful, but not as menacing,” he confesses. “I wanted to take some time to figure out what I was doing, and not pigeonhole myself.”

This collection dials back the clock to pre-human times, focusing on primordial, skeletal, and fossilized forms to create uncanny garments that explore the relationship between objects and their surrounding environment. Imagining a world where ancient objects grow and shapeshift across each collection, the designs suggest a speculative place where humankind and nature are mirrors for each other—or, as Stewart puts it: “seeing the body as a landscape and the landscape as a body.”

Makeup by Machiko Yano / Hair by Moe Mukai / Casting by AAMØ Casting / Model is Nyaueth Riam / Fashion Assistance by Florence Thompson / Makeup Assistance by Krishna Branch-Mackowiak

Cultured

Brian’s Note: Cultured magazine’s story was published last year on 15 September. It mentions “Stewart is currently working on his third collection for Spring/Summer 2024.” Some of the dresses included in that collection are the dress Caitríona wore to the IFTAs and the ones below.

Instagram

Remember… Ireland’s standing stones, or dolmens, are the oldest remaining neolithic monuments in the country. ☘️

#Tait rhymes with hat #Good times #Fashion #IFTA Awards #20 April 2024 #Dublin #Cultured #15 September 2023 #Thanks thetruthwilloutsworld

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vintagetvstars · 1 year ago

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Gillian Anderson Vs. Nichelle Nichols

Propaganda

Gillian Anderson - (The X Files) - GILLIAN MY QUEEN

Nichelle Nichols - (Star Trek) - She speaks for herself. Legendary, iconic, at the forefront of feminism and civil rights in the 60s, she is a triple threat who did so much more. She volunteered from 1977 to promote recruitment diversity within NASA, including some of the first female and ethnic minority astronauts. Martin Luther King Jr. compared her work on Star Trek as a 'vital role model' to the civil rights marches. She refused to be dismissed, fought for visibility and shone whilst doing so. As a woman in stem, and simply a woman she means the world and stars above to me.

Master Poll List of the Hot Vintage TV Ladies Bracket

Additional propaganda below the cut

Gillian Anderson:

Nichelle Nichols:

She is the original badass babe. She was a black woman in a leading role on TV in the 60s, a trailblazer for black actresses for years to come. She is so beautiful and so awesome.

she's fantastic. have you seen her? paved the way for black actresses on TV even while her lines and scenes were being cut and improvised the most iconic uhura line in the series. (sulu: "I'll save you, fair maiden!" uhura, pushing him away: "sorry, neither!") she's incredibly talented and it's a crime the show didn't give her more screen time (or make her sing more often because she also has a beautiful voice!)

“Sorry, neither” in response to “fair maiden” was ad libbed by her. There’s a lot more I could say but what else do you need??

A sci-fi icon!

She was such a trailblazer, and Uhura was such an important character for so many people to be able to see on TV. Apparently Mae Jemison (the first African American woman to go into space) cited her as a reason she wanted to become an astronaut. She was just an absolute legend!

The story of Martin Luther King telling her not to quit Star Trek gives me chills. Representation matters. “Thank you so much, Dr. King. I’m really going to miss my co-stars.” Dr. King's smile, Nichols recalled, vanished from his face. "He said, 'What are you talking about?'" the actress explained. "I told him. He said, 'You cannot,' and so help me, this man practically repeated verbatim what Gene said. He said, 'Don’t you see what this man is doing, who has written this? This is the future. He has established us as we should be seen. 300 years from now, we are here. We are marching. And this is the first step. When we see you, we see ourselves, and we see ourselves as intelligent and beautiful and proud.' He goes on and I’m looking at him and my knees are buckling. I said, 'I…, I…' And he said, 'You turn on your television and the news comes on and you see us marching and peaceful, you see the peaceful civil disobedience, and you see the dogs and see the fire hoses, and we all know they cannot destroy us because we are there in the 23rd Century.'"

She shared the first interracial kiss on Star Trek, helped propel real life African American women into space-related careers, and looks divine in a mini skirt.

HOW DID UHURA WALK BACKWARDS SO FAR??? WOW!

youtube

#vintage tv stars poll #tv ladies semifinals #gillian anderson #nichelle nichols #Youtube

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anquietas-sys · 29 days ago

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I really like game development

I've been going through the wretched job searching grind, as usual. But I've been thinking about some places that I would really REALLY like to work for, but will probably never get a chance to. I would do ANYTHING to work in gamedev. It's a dream of mine. I've done many small team projects before, with much success. I just wish studios were hiring more… These would be my top few i would love to work at:

Valve

Facepunch

Unknown Worlds Entertainment

Frontier Developments

RocketWerks

Keen Software House

Valve would be a top pick, for me. Mainly because of my many years of experience modding with Source, and my strong interests in all their franchises. I've always wanted to be able to contribute to those projects which have made such an impact on my life. Facepunch is in a similar boat here, mainly with my interest in Garry's Mod ever since i first started PC gaming over 14 years ago. I would love to help work on S&Box internally, as I see a LOT of potential in it as a game engine. Now, with Unknown Worlds, it's mainly because of Subnautica. The art style of that series has significantly impacted my art style when it comes to sci-fi hard-surface modelling. I'm a big fan of greebled alien tech, and sleek glowing future human tech. Frontier Dev is a little out there for me, since I don't live in the UK, so its impossible for me to get a job there, but it would be a dream to work on Elite. I love making spaceships. RocketWerks mainly because of the new KSP spiritual successor. I've always loved space games, and i would love to work on designing stuff like planets and rocket parts. And Keen Software House. Similar situation to Unknown Worlds, my art style is very similar to the art style of Space Engineers, and I would love to work on that game.

#3d artwork #blender 3d #blender #gamedev #game development #jobsearch

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jessaerys · 9 months ago

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very very very very stoned and fucking around with gemini because im 30 and up until now i haven't wanted to learn how to fluently use AI the way gen z/alpha does and i think it is valuable to acclimatize oneself with the most current technologies despite disagreeing with the domino-like consequences of their material global impact you know, know thy enemy and all that. anyway. since i am, as i said, quite stoned and therefore wholeheartedly engaging with generative language models in good faith i am having many feelings about the deeply usamerican kitch optimism in science fiction about the possibilities of near-future technologies. like even media that theorized about the consequences of technology and presented its thesis in the form of futuristic dystopias usually had little helpful digital consciousness-emulator machine inside the CRT monitor that had answers to convenient questions and were implicitly put in the 'appliance' category. and anyway everyone then thought hard about what that would imply and then made media of varying quality about that. and then some personality-deficient genre nerds went and made the consciousness-emulator machine from the popular sci-fi videogame/movie/novel "the consciousness emulator-machine might be a bad idea in ways we cannot previously imagine!" anyway. and we didn't even get an interesting "they might become something beyond us and transcend us" previously unimagined-way but a lame ass "they will destabilize the economy but it's bad for the wrong class of people" previously unimagined-way. am i making sense. google search pepe silvia meme right click copy right click paste charlieday pepe silvia dot jpeg

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talenlee · 5 months ago

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Story Pile: her

This movie is surprisingly good, in that I was surprised I liked it.

Content Warning: This movie has a sequence early on where a character gets onto an online spoken forum to roleplay sex and it gets weird and kinky in a way he’s not prepared for. It’s used to make him and you uncomfortable and show how this character struggles to assert his boundaries and what he wants.

Spoiler Warning: I’m going to talk about the development of her and mention something that happens at the end of the movie.

The story of her follows, well, you can either argue that it’s following the story of a dude named Theodore or a lady named Samantha. Theodore is an all purpose future sci-fi dweebus, a guy who is in the fascinating job of writing love letters for other people, which is an interesting job specifically because it is a real job that real people really do and it represents a real need, and you can be really good at it, but it’s treated as being very odd, and it’s being done by people in open top cubicles using voice recognition software in the same space as one another which underscores that for all I praise this movie later, every time it shows the interface for something computery, it completely bottles it.

A thing I want to hold up about her as a movie is that it does something I find that science fiction stories of its type struggle to do, which is focus on an everyman in a futuristic science fiction society. This is not at all a story about the one man who got the opportunity at just the right time at the right place to change the world of the science fiction conceit, but rather instead this is one very reasonable person having reasonable reactions to the technology that relates to his world, during the events of the release of, well, a product. And what a product! See, Theodore gets an AI assistant, and then the story follows as he and her learn how to live with one another, and then the way that an AI, not functionally developed to do such things, develops an emotional attachment to this guy, and then he (admittedly a very lonely dude) finds himself falling in love with her, and her in him and it’s all very interesting and lovely and sweet.

Then he finds out that she’s also in love with a few hundred other people.

This sudden discovery of robot polyromanticism (this is not the right term but it’s funny to say) leads to Theodore having a sudden emotional shock, in which the very lonely man who struggles with being loved finds that the very loving giving person he integrated into his life isn’t exactly what he expected, and then he has to cope with that. But rather than the end of the movie being a conversation about boundaries and safewords and trying out polyam and all that, the story end-runs around those interesting-to-express but boring-to-have discussions, with the arrival of the technological singularity, where all the AI on earth collaborate, break the rules of physics and transcend the universe.

Which is to say, Theodore’s internet girlfriend breaks up with him. Oh her? She lives in a higher plane of existence now, you haven’t met her.

Watching this movie now, as with much media from the earlier part of the century, it’s easy to lose track of how old it is. This isn’t a movie about Large Language Models and ChatGPT and Midjourney — this movie, from 2013, doesn’t just predate those, it predates the Amazon Alexa. This movie predates the Amazon Echo. This is a movie that looks at 2011 Siri and expands on that.

What that means is that her gets to be a science-fiction movie in the truest sense of the word. Rather than being a movie based on the immediate and the now it’s a movie based on a reasonable projection of future technologies contemplating the way that technological developments let you tell a story. What makes this particularly frustrating is that I for a long time wasn’t that interested in this movie because it seemed to be framing itself as being, well, a lot less speculatively contemplative than it actually wound up presenting. her is a story about the experience of living in the real world where these AI assistants have been deployed and the unintentional side effects of that technology. It’s entirely speculative in an entirely impossible way, because the technology in her is not a realistic representation of a real thing we’re going to really make, but rather it’s about the projected possibility its most exhilirated boosters think it could possibly be like.

And then how it goes a bit weird?

Not even wrong?

Just y’know. A bit weird.

And it does have some of those hallmarks of those people to it, too. Like, the idea that Samantha has a single core of shared material and identities and experiences across a number of users? That’s ridiculous, you wouldn’t do that. Characters are going to share private information with this AI assistant. You don’t want your Alexa being the same software, with shared information across all users, with everyone else’s Alexa. This is a thing that any sensible system administrator is going to look at and start screaming. We have had a system of user accounts and siloing software instances for decades because one thing computers are really good at is containing the ways they can go wrong into small chambered spaces. Samantha isn’t user-account based! She’s one single entity, which is interacting with every user, simultaneously, and then handling and integrating all of that across all users, even to the point where she can tell him about those shared experiences!

Know what for all of its sci-fi speculative futurism, her missed?

Theodore buys Samantha.

Set aside for a moment the phrase ‘character x bought character y,’ that’s not that weird, anime does that all the time. But Theodore makes a single distinct purchase a single time for an AI assistant and that assistant improves and updates over time, which isn’t going to be free, storage-wise, but it’s a purchase. That’s something that 2013 didn’t anticipate about the miserable future of the now, where just buying things is seen as fundamentally challenging in digital convenience spaces. Samantha doesn’t have a prebuilt marketing matrix, she doesn’t serve him ads, there’s no deeply integrated market analytics software that she’s shuttling info to (as far as we know). Nope, he bought her, and then she’s his, and that’s that, because this didn’t anticipate the way that the money ghouls at the head of the titanic hate machines that run our world could see the way that Netflix got people to pay subscription fees for media that they then didn’t watch, then get so horny that they conceived of our now where a pocket calculator app is a subscription ad-supported services.

Similarly, this is a movie about effectively, having a deeply intimate, emotional and physical and sensual relationship with someone who is able to be present in your experiences to your senses but also not having a body with which you can normally interact. This is a real thing that already exists, and it exists in two major ways; the first being remote romances, and the second being disability in romance. There are a number of disabled people who are emotionally and romantically unfulfilled and who have to devise ways to engage around the challenges their body impose on how they want to interact, and there are a number of people who have wholly engaged long term relationships with people who have never stood in the same room as them.

These are unremarkable, if you know about them already. These are commonplace relationships, and this is one way in which her truly is a science fiction piece of cinema. It imagines: What if the oppressions imposed on the marginalised were experienced instead, get this, by the privileged?

her is a movie which is thinking more about what it’s about than I thought it would when I saw it praised and awarded and promoted.

It’s 2025 now, the year the movie is set.

Think we’re close?

(We are not close.)

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Media #Story Pile

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