#Video Course Generator Tool

[reazreviewzone]

ProductDyno Review - AI-Powered Membership & Licensing Platform & Create 1-Click Digital Product

Welcome to my honest review and ProductDyno Review. Now it is easier to create and sell your digital products. Recently launched a brand new software ( Matt Garrett ) that makes sells and delivers digital products, you can create and sell digital products with jam-packed content like text, audio, video, and downloadable files with ProductDyno Review.

What is ProductDyno? ProductDyno is an AI-powered creates and sells digital products software that helps you Create and Sell Memberships, Video Courses, And Digital Products, jam-packed content like text, audio, video, and downloadable files with ProductDyno. Choose your digital product from the list, then create and edit the content of your choice, and then make the intuitive content design. You’ll be able to integrate your payment processor and create favorite marketing tools at the product level with just a few clicks. ProductDyno review has a user-friendly platform that makes it easy to create, sell, and manage all your digital products from one convenient place or dashboard. ProductDyno Review provides you with a massive opportunity.

Get access here>>

Overview – ProductDyno First, a customer optimizes the products quality or benefits the site. Who is the person who built the app? Discount price: why build the app? And who is the best choice for it? Everything. That is an ideal customers quality. Don`t worry; I covered the part for an ideal person. I think you are an idealistic reader.

Author/vendor – Matt Garrett Product –ProductDyno Launce date – 6/03/25 Create Digital Product - highly recommended Official website – VISITE HERE Front-end price - $47 Business – ok Hosting Domain – Highly recommended Instantly Create Text Into High-Quality 4k HD Video Create Instantly Book – High recommended Watch/ Create Video – Any Language Social Media Marketing – Number One passive income – ok Recurring System – OK Payment – ONE Time Local Business – High Recommend Money-Back – 30 Days Money-Back Guarantee Funnel/Tool – Automated & Done-For-You Support – Effective Niche – Any Niche of your choice

How Does ProductDyno Work?

Every app works with a few simple steps like the ProductDyno review works on 3 simple steps.

Step 1. Sing up: Every app follows the role. This is an easy step to create an account.

Step 2. Collection Your Product: Then choose your digital products with 1000 free themes.

Step 3. Customize Design & Promote: Easily customize & promote your products easily and instantly viral worldwide.

Awesome Key Features Of ProdutDyno?

Software indeed depends on some valuable features. The software will be attractive because of its features. Besides, how to work the software features smoothly or effectively in the future. Firstly, a customer consideration before purchasing this app. Therefore, an agency builds any software`s features discerningly for a client. After pricing, an agency wants honesty and satisfaction from its customers. It has responsibilities or accountability to a customer. The software boosts your earnings 10x with its awesome and interesting features, I can say obviously. I described the software beautifully below.

-Software/SAAS module: The ProducDyno review provides a software/SAAS opportunity.

-Custom Link To Product: Easily customize any link to a product and promote it.

Labeling/Branding: A member can easily promote and brand their products.

-SSL Certificates: The ProductDyno Review gives you a commercial SSL license or certificates:

Unlimited File Upload: Upload unlimited files like text, video, and PLR.

Import Members Via CSV: You can join your circle member on this site.

Connect Your Storage: Connect your storage with AI-powered tools.

Included Current Standard Themes: They provide all done-for-you themes for their members.

-Zero Monthly Cost: One-time get access and auto-updates all features.

-Reporting and Analytics Dashboard: ProductDyno review built advanced quality reporting optimized dashboard.

Why Should Use The ProductDyno?

ProductDyno Review always helps & supports you create external content and hosted on other platforms. We can customize your digital products with different themes, colors, fonts, and even language translations with ProductDyno.

1 Delivery Content: The agency helps us Create And Sell Memberships, Video Courses, And Digital Products.

2 Sell Membership: Might get more profit selling your AI Membership.

3 Coding & Plugins System: We can easily customize your digital products with different themes, colors, fonts, and even language translations.

4 Design and Customize: ProductDyno provides all features including colors, fonts, and themes with the content designer.

5 Bundle Collection: ProductDyno is packed with 50+ native integrations & connects all your favorite tools for payments, emails, webinars, and file hosting.

6 All In One: We get in one platform like create videos, and courses, customize design, free themes.

7 Auto Updates: The agency provides auto updates without any fees.

8 Money-Back Guarantee: They give a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Why Is ProductDyno High Recommended?

Proven Results: Users report significant improvements in content quality, engagement, and ROI

AI-powered Smart Editor & Rewriter – Polish, rewrite, and enhance content with ProductDyno Live optimization.

One-Time Payment: No recurring fees or hidden costs.

Automate Repetitive Tasks: Set up workflows to automate tasks like email campaigns and social media posting.

Import Members Via CSV: You can join your circle members on this site.

Design and Customize: ProductDyno provides all features including colors, fonts, and themes with the content designer.

Coding & Plugins System: We can easily customize your digital products with different themes, colors, fonts, and even language translations.

Custom Link To Product: Easily customize any link to a product and promote it.

SSL Certificates: The ProductDyno Review gives you a commercial SSL license or certificates:

Why Choose ProductDyno?

Real-Time AI Web Access – Unlike most AI platforms, Workforce AI searches the live web for real-time data.

24/7 Support: Get assistance whenever you need it with round-the-clock customer support.

Multi Funnel: Promote affiliate links and products with video and text

Free Bonus: The agency gives their customer a lot of free bonus.

Custom: A member can custom CSS or third-party widgets

Free Template: The agency gives free templates to its members.

Free Commercial License - ProductDyno A free commercial license allows individuals or businesses to use, modify, and distribute software, content, or products without paying licensing fees, even for commercial purposes. Unlike personal-use-only licenses, it permits monetization, such as selling the product or incorporating it into commercial projects. Popular examples include open-source software under MIT or Apache 2.0 licenses. However, users must comply with specific terms, such as attributing the original creator or sharing modifications under the same license. Free commercial licenses foster innovation, collaboration, and accessibility, making them valuable for startups, developers, and creators seeking cost-effective solutions. Always review the license terms to ensure compliance and understand any restrictions.

Who Is ProductDyno Best For?

Affiliate Marketer: Easily promote digital products with AI tools.

List Builders: Generate a list and customize the template.

Email Marketer: Design a template for an email to a unique quality

Publisher: The ready-made template helps grow the business.

E-Come Sore Owner: Create high-quality products using their tools.

Agency: Built trust in any client of your agency.

Resale: Work with the owner of the app as a product resaler.

Money-Back Guarantee A 30-day money-back guarantee is a customer-friendly policy that allows buyers to request a full refund within 30 days of purchase if they are unsatisfied with a product or service. This policy builds trust and confidence, encouraging potential customers to purchase with minimal risk. It demonstrates the seller's commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. To claim a refund, customers typically need to return the product in its original condition or cancel the service within the specified period. This guarantee is commonly used in industries like software, e-commerce, and subscription services. While it can increase sales, businesses must ensure clear terms to prevent abuse. Overall, it’s a win-win, offering customers peace of mind and businesses a competitive edge.

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Pros & Cons – ProductDyno The part! Any app has some pros & cons. But such an app hasnt cons or bad sites. Accordingly, I covered the part that information an agency delivered to me. I hope you dont waste your quality time reading useless articles. I tried to write a more informative or helpful article for the reader. Now, I want to start with the pros and cons of the software.

Pros: ProductDyno Review -Generate Video Course -Affiliate link -Customize theme design -Optimize tools -Free Bonus -30-day money-back guarantee -Features auto-update -List Building -Promote any product -Create agency -Local business

Cons: ProductDyno Review -Limited time offer -Internet connection -Your idea -Use opportunity

Conclusion – ProductDyno In conclusion, ProductDyno review is a must-have tool for anyone looking to streamline their workflows, create high-quality content, and grow their business. With its Exclusive Bundle Deal, you can unlock the full potential of this powerful platform at an unbeatable price. Don’t wait—get ProductDyno today and start transforming your digital marketing efforts!

OTO & Pricing – ProductDyno

Front-End Price Starter Plan ($49)

. Import members via CSV . Link custom domains to products or collections .Software/SAAS licensing module .mport members via CSV .White labeling/branding removal .Complimentary SSL certificates

OTO1: VIP Platinum Upgrade ($967)

.Each DFY White Label Membership includes: .Hosting, Customization & Integrations .Monetization & Licensing .Student, Customer & Member Management .Personalized Certifications .Progress Tracking & Member Engagement Tools .Drip Content & Schedule Releases .Sell Digital Products .Create Checkout Pages .Create Landing Pages

OTO2: DFY Addon Bundle ($499)

.High-Ticket Course Creation .Affiliate Marketing & Sales Funnels .Email Marketing & List Building .Includes TWO Premium Add-Ons! .Downsell 1: Pro Plus+ Plan .ALL Features from Your Starter Plan, PLUS .These DFY memberships cover: .How They Are Distributed:

OTO3: AI Creator Suite Free Trial -$99/year

.AICS Now Covers Sub-Accounts – Works across all sub-accounts (NEW) .Marketing Automation – AI-powered sales video scripts, social media content, and content calendars .Sales Page & Email Writing – AI-powered content & promotions .Instant Course Creation – Push-button course generation

OTO 4 - VIP Platinum $997

.Each DFY White Label Membership includes: .Exclusive VIP Platinum BONUSES ($7,000+ Value!) .Hosting, Customization & Integrations .Monetization & Licensing .Advanced Marketing & Engagement Tools .Full Learning Management System (LMS) .ProductDyno VIP Platinum – The Ultimate Digital Product & Membership Platform .One-Time Payment for Lifetime Access

OTO 5 - DFY ADD ON BUNDLE:($499

.VIP Platinum members will receive 3 white-label memberships included. .These DFY memberships cover: .How They Are Distributed:

OTO 6 - AI Creator Suite Free Trial -$99/year

.Marketing Automation – AI-powered sales video scripts, social media content, and content calendars .Sales Page & Email Writing – AI-powered content & promotions .nstant Course Creation – Push-button course generation rent-

Free Bonus – ProductDyno There is a customer who gets a free valuable bonus from the agency. An agency wants to convenience their client, or they want to hold customers. Where do you get the free valuable bonus? But the agency gifts you a valuable bonus of a thousand dollars. The last word is that a customer can boost her earnings 10x with the app. Let`s see, what is the valuable bonus from the company.

1 Bonus - Membership Mavericks Course ($499+ Value) Get the Bonus and Membership Mavericks, you'll unlock the exact methods used by the most successful membership site. If you want to generate consistent, predictable income, this course is your roadmap instantly.

2 Bonus - Rapid Digital Products Course ($499+ Value) If you want selling digital products is one of the fastest ways to build an online business—but if you know what works. This course helps you through the entire process, from idea to execution, so you can churn out high-demand digital products in a few seconds.

3 Bonus - Digital Publishing Mastery Course ($499+ Value) This exclusive training reveals the same strategies that have helped PromoteLabs generate over $10M in digital product sales worldwide or in your selected place. You’ll discover how to launch, market, create video, design, use ready theme, and scale your digital products with high-converting funnels, automation strategies, and advanced audience growth techniques & more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Thousand of questions in a customer's mind. The app be good or bad? Have they a money-back guarantee? Have a bonus? Etc. I cleared your dude of mind. Particularly, a new customer has dude too much. Because they are a smart person of the current generation, generally, they don`t want to waste their valuable time. Ok, no problem, I clear dude questions of your mind. I covered some important questions that help customers buy the app or take the service. IS THERE A MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE? Yes, we offer a money-back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with the app within [specific time frame, e.g., 30 days], you can request a full refund. Please refer to our refund policy for more details.

WHY DO I INVEST IN THE APP? Investing in the app provides you with a powerful tool to [state the purpose of the app, e.g., streamline your business, improve productivity, or enhance user engagement]. It is designed to save you time, reduce costs, and deliver a high return on investment through its innovative features and user-friendly interface.

DO I NEED ANY TECH SKILLS? No, you don’t need any technical skills to use the app. It is designed to be intuitive and easy to navigate, making it accessible for users of all experience levels. However, if you have any questions, our support team is always available to assist you.

DO YOU PROVIDE ANY SUPPORT? Yes, we provide comprehensive support to ensure you have the best experience with the app. Our support team is available [state availability, e.g., 24/7 or during business hours] via [support channels, e.g., email, live chat, or phone]. Additionally, we offer a detailed knowledge base and tutorials to help you get started.

WILL YOU AUTO-UPDATE THE APP FEATURES? Yes, the app will automatically update to ensure you always have access to the latest features, security patches, and improvements. You don’t need to worry about manually updating the app—we handle everything for you to provide a seamless experience.

Affiliate disclaimer Thank you for reading my honest review. My honest opinion is shared in the review. An affiliate disclaimer is a statement to inform audiences that a company or individual may earn a commission or other compensation if they purchase products or services through links on their website, blog, social media, or other platforms. This disclaimer is essential for maintaining transparency and complying with legal requirements, such as those set by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States. It ensures readers or viewers know of any potential bias or financial incentive behind recommendations. Typically, the disclaimer is placed prominently, either at the beginning or end of content and clearly states the nature of the affiliate relationship. For example, "This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission if you purchase through my links at no extra cost." This builds trust with the audience while protecting the content creator from legal issues.

[torchickentacos]

I'm getting so sick and tired of AI. Someone needs to start mass-feeding it eng dub AG pokemon scripts only or something. Make it watch Spontaneous Combusken 87934573489 times. I think that would sufficiently poison its datasets if we could do it enough times.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

You’ve probably been asked this before, but do you have a specific view on ai-generated art. I’m doing a school project on artificial intelligence and if it’s okay, i would like to cite you

I mean, you're welcome to cite me if you like. I recently wrote a post under a reblog about AI, and I did a video about it a while back, before the full scale of AI hype had really started rolling over the Internet - I don't 100% agree with all my arguments from that video anymore, but you can cite it if you please.

In short, I think generative AI art

Is art, real art, and it's silly to argue otherwise, the question is what KIND of art it is and what that art DOES in the world. Generally, it is boring and bland art which makes the world a more stressful, unpleasant and miserable place to be.

AI generated art is structurally and inherently limited by its nature. It is by necessity averages generated from data-sets, and so it inherits EVERY bias of its training data and EVERY bias of its training data validators and creators. It naturally tends towards the lowest common denominator in all areas, and it is structurally biased towards reinforcing and reaffirming the status quo of everything it is turned to.

It tends to be all surface, no substance. As in, it carries the superficial aesthetic of very high-quality rendering, but only insofar as it reproduces whatever signifiers of "quality" are most prized in its weighted training data. It cannot understand the structures and principles of what it is creating. Ask it for a horse and it does not know what a "horse" is, all it knows is what parts of it training data are tagged as "horse" and which general data patterns are likely to lead an observer to identify its output also as "horse." People sometimes describe this limitation as "a lack of soul" but it's perhaps more useful to think of it as a lack of comprehension.

Due to this lack of comprehension, AI art cannot communicate anything - or rather, the output tends to attempt to communicate everything, at random, all at once, and it's the visual equivalent of a kind of white noise. It lacks focus.

Human operators of AI generative tools can imbue communicative meaning into the outputs, and whip the models towards some sort of focus, because humans can do that with literally anything they turn their directed attention towards. Human beings can make art with paint spatters and bits of gum stuck under tennis shoes, of course a dedicated human putting tons of time into a process of trial and error can produce something meaningful with genAI tools.

The nature of genAI as a tool of creation is uniquely limited and uniquely constrained, a genAI tool can only ever output some mixture of whatever is in its training data (and what's in its training data is biased by the data that its creators valued enough to include), and it can only ever output that mixture according to the weights and biases of its programming and data set, which is fully within the control of whoever created the tool in the first place. Consequently, genAI is a tool whose full creative capacity is always, always, always going to be owned by corporations, the only entities with the resources and capacity to produce the most powerful models. And those models, thus, will always only create according to corporate interest. An individual human can use a pencil to draw whatever the hell they want, but an individual human can never use Midjourney to create anything except that which Midjourney allows them to create. GenAI art is thus limited not only by its mathematical tendency to bias the lowest common denominator, but also by an ideological bias inherited from whoever holds the leash on its creation. The necessary decision of which data gets included in a training set vs which data gets left out will, always and forever, impose de facto censorship on what a model is capable of expressing, and the power to make that decision is never in the hands of the artist attempting to use the tool.

tl;dr genAI art has a tendency to produce ideologically limited and intrinsically censored outputs, while defaulting to lowest common denominators that reproduce and reinforce status quos.

... on top of which its promulgation is an explicit plot by oligarchic industry to drive millions of people deeper into poverty and collapse wages in order to further concentrate wealth in the hands of the 0.01%. But that's just a bonus reason to dislike it.

[keynotespeakeraj]

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[little-saw]

ᯓ★ tips for hidden/closeted littles . ݁₊ ⊹ . 🌞

note: There is nothing wrong with your regression, but I understand the need to hide it from others. But please know you are not gross, wrong, or bad for regressing. These are tips I've gathered as a closeted regressor myself, hope they help<3

╰┈➤ look into mobile games, they're great for regressing! There's lots of cute and soft games on the appstore and google that can help with regression and slipping into little space.

╰┈➤ im big on asmr. as a tool to relax, unwind, and regress. linked here and here are two videos I think are great for littles who would like to try asmr to help their regression!

╰┈➤ if you're older, look into adult coloring books and other crafts and hobbies. Sewing, crocheting, etc. are good options! Creating, in general, is a fantastic way to slip into little space!

╰┈➤ if you have a form of control over when you regress, try to regress when you're alone and safe to limit being caught.

╰┈➤ ring pops are a good alternative to paci's, and water bottles with straws work well, too!

╰┈➤ try purchasing gear at second-hand shops, make sure to clean and sanitize everything, of course! My baby bottle, rattle, and plushies are from a second-hand shop!

╰┈➤ make yourself a regression playlist of songs that help you feel small or fit the vibe you'd like to experience when regressed

╰┈➤ watch your favorite kids' shows! Or shows you watched when you were physically younger!

[inthelittlewood]

Since Duolingo is going all-AI I wanna switch apps to learn Japanese, I know you've answered a question like this before, but I can't find the post anymore :(

So uhhhhh, any recommendations? ':D

ありがとう、マーティンさん :D

Lingodeer I found a much better alternative to Duolingo in general

I've recently seen Bunpo recommended by one or two Japanese language tiktokers I follow, I tend to trust their judgement

Game Gengo on YouTube is a phenomenal source for Japanese learning with videos ranging from Genki 1 in full, through to singular nouns and the game playthoughs where he translates every single speech bubble

Then for some flashcard Kanji learning, WaniKani is great (so much so I've bought a lifetime membership on it)

Paul Noble's books - well I listened to the audiobook that has a pdf accompanying it - are great for getting sentence structure and phrases down for typical tourist interactions you'd have when visiting there

Then if you're old enough, apps like HelloTalk or even just finding local courses at a college can be super beneficial

Oh! Also once you've got some foundations down, reading and slowly translating books yourself meant for kids can be fun. Even low complexity manga like Polar Bear Cafe, Doraemon and the like can be good.

I also play stuff like Yokai Watch, Shin Chan and Pokémon to do slow translation stuff too due to repeated mechanics and phrases. Any game with furigana is a winner

I personally don't have the time or same benefit from watching shows or listening to podcasts. Sure it helps learn tone and inflections for some words, but it really is just a wall of noise where I'll occasionally know one sound. Feels pointless to me lol

Would love to hear anybody else's learning tools, hit em up! 🤙

[ms-demeanor]

Why reblog machine-generated art?

When I was ten years old I took a photography class where we developed black and white photos by projecting light on papers bathed in chemicals. If we wanted to change something in the image, we had to go through a gradual, arduous process called dodging and burning.

When I was fifteen years old I used photoshop for the first time, and I remember clicking on the clone tool or the blur tool and feeling like I was cheating.

When I was twenty eight I got my first smartphone. The phone could edit photos. A few taps with my thumb were enough to apply filters and change contrast and even spot correct. I was holding in my hand something more powerful than the huge light machines I'd first used to edit images.

When I was thirty six, just a few weeks ago, I took a photo class that used Lightroom Classic and again, it felt like cheating. It made me really understand how much the color profiles of popular web images I'd been seeing for years had been pumped and tweaked and layered with local edits to make something that, to my eyes, didn't much resemble photography. To me, photography is light on paper. It's what you capture in the lens. It's not automatic skin smoothing and a local filter to boost the sky. This reminded me a lot more of the photomanipulations my friend used to make on deviantart; layered things with unnatural colors that put wings on buildings or turned an eye into a swimming pool. It didn't remake the images to that extent, obviously, but it tipped into the uncanny valley. More real than real, more saturated more sharp and more present than the actual world my lens saw. And that was before I found the AI assisted filters and the tool that would identify the whole sky for you, picking pieces of it out from between leaves.

You know, it's funny, when people talk about artists who might lose their jobs to AI they don't talk about the people who have already had to move on from their photo editing work because of technology. You used to be able to get paid for basic photo manipulation, you know? If you were quick with a lasso or skilled with masks you could get a pretty decent chunk of change by pulling subjects out of backgrounds for family holiday cards or isolating the pies on the menu for a mom and pop. Not a lot, but enough to help. But, of course, you can just do that on your phone now. There's no need to pay a human for it, even if they might do a better job or be more considerate toward the aesthetic of an image.

And they certainly don't talk about all the development labs that went away, or the way that you could have trained to be a studio photographer if you wanted to take good photos of your family to hang on the walls and that digital photography allowed in a parade of amateurs who can make dozens of iterations of the same bad photo until they hit on a good one by sheer volume and luck; if you want to be a good photographer everyone can do that why didn't you train for it and spend a long time taking photos on film and being okay with bad photography don't you know that digital photography drove thousands of people out of their jobs.

My dad told me that he plays with AI the other day. He hosts a movie podcast and he puts up thumbnails for the downloads. In the past, he'd just take a screengrab from the film. Now he tells the Bing AI to make him little vignettes. A cowboy running away from a rhino, a dragon arm-wrestling a teddy bear. That kind of thing. Usually based on a joke that was made on the show, or about the subject of the film and an interest of the guest.

People talk about "well AI art doesn't allow people to create things, people were already able to create things, if they wanted to create things they should learn to create things." Not everyone wants to make good art that's creative. Even fewer people want to put the effort into making bad art for something that they aren't passionate about. Some people want filler to go on the cover of their youtube video. My dad isn't going to learn to draw, and as the person who he used to ask to photoshop him as Ant-Man because he certainly couldn't pay anyone for that kind of thing, I think this is a great use case for AI art. This senior citizen isn't going to start cartooning and at two recordings a week with a one-day editing turnaround he doesn't even really have the time for something like a Fiverr commission. This is a great use of AI art, actually.

I also know an artist who is going Hog Fucking Wild creating AI art of their blorbos. They're genuinely an incredibly talented artist who happens to want to see their niche interest represented visually without having to draw it all themself. They're posting the funny and good results to a small circle of mutuals on socials with clear information about the source of the images; they aren't trying to sell any of the images, they're basically using them as inserts for custom memes. Who is harmed by this person saying "i would like to see my blorbo lasciviously eating an ice cream cone in the is this a pigeon meme"?

The way I use machine-generated art, as an artist, is to proof things. Can I get an explosion to look like this. What would a wall of dead computer monitors look like. Would a ballerina leaping over the grand canyon look cool? Sometimes I use AI art to generate copyright free objects that I can snip for a collage. A lot of the time I use it to generate ideas. I start naming random things and seeing what it shows me and I start getting inspired. I can ask CrAIon for pose reference, I can ask it to show me the interior of spaces from a specific angle.

I profoundly dislike the antipathy that tumblr has for AI art. I understand if people don't want their art used in training pools. I understand if people don't want AI trained on their art to mimic their style. You should absolutely use those tools that poison datasets if you don't want your art included in AI training. I think that's an incredibly appropriate action to take as an artist who doesn't want AI learning from your work.

However I'm pretty fucking aggressively opposed to copyright and most of the "solid" arguments against AI art come down to "the AIs viewed and learned from people's copyrighted artwork and therefore AI is theft rather than fair use" and that's a losing argument for me. In. Like. A lot of ways. Primarily because it is saying that not only is copying someone's art theft, it is saying that looking at and learning from someone's art can be defined as theft rather than fair use.

Also because it's just patently untrue.

But that doesn't really answer your question. Why reblog machine-generated art? Because I liked that piece of art.

It was made by a machine that had looked at billions of images - some copyrighted, some not, some new, some old, some interesting, many boring - and guided by a human and I liked it. It was pretty. It communicated something to me. I looked at an image a machine made - an artificial picture, a total construct, something with no intrinsic meaning - and I felt a sense of quiet and loss and nostalgia. I looked at a collection of automatically arranged pixels and tasted salt and smelled the humidity in the air.

I liked it.

I don't think that all AI art is ugly. I don't think that AI art is all soulless (i actually think that 'having soul' is a bizarre descriptor for art and that lacking soul is an equally bizarre criticism). I don't think that AI art is bad for artists. I think the problem that people have with AI art is capitalism and I don't think that's a problem that can really be laid at the feet of people curating an aesthetic AI art blog on tumblr.

Machine learning isn't the fucking problem the problem is massive corporations have been trying hard not to pay artists for as long as massive corporations have existed (isn't that a b-plot in the shape of water? the neighbor who draws ads gets pushed out of his job by product photography? did you know that as recently as ten years ago NewEgg had in-house photographers who would take pictures of the products so users wouldn't have to rely on the manufacturer photos? I want you to guess what killed that job and I'll give you a hint: it wasn't AI)

Am I putting a human out of a job because I reblogged an AI-generated "photo" of curtains waving in the pale green waters of an imaginary beach? Who would have taken this photo of a place that doesn't exist? Who would have painted this hypersurrealistic image? What meaning would it have had if they had painted it or would it have just been for the aesthetic? Would someone have paid for it or would it be like so many of the things that artists on this site have spent dozens of hours on only to get no attention or value for their work?

My worst ratio of hours to notes is an 8-page hand-drawn detailed ink comic about getting assaulted at a concert and the complicated feelings that evoked that took me weeks of daily drawing after work with something like 54 notes after 8 years; should I be offended if something generated from a prompt has more notes than me? What does that actually get the blogger? Clout? I believe someone said that popularity on tumblr gets you one thing and that is yelled at.

What do you get out of this? Are you helping artists right now? You're helping me, and I'm an artist. I've wanted to unload this opinion for a while because I'm sick of the argument that all Real Artists think AI is bullshit. I'm a Real Artist. I've been paid for Real Art. I've been commissioned as an artist.

And I find a hell of a lot of AI art a lot more interesting than I find human-generated corporate art or Thomas Kincaid (but then, I repeat myself).

There are plenty of people who don't like AI art and don't want to interact with it. I am not one of those people. I thought the gay sex cats were funny and looked good and that shitposting is the ideal use of a machine image generation: to make uncopyrightable images to laugh at.

I think that tumblr has decided to take a principled stand against something that most people making the argument don't understand. I think tumblr's loathing for AI has, generally speaking, thrown weight behind a bunch of ideas that I think are going to be incredibly harmful *to artists specifically* in the long run.

Anyway. If you hate AI art and you don't want to interact with people who interact with it, block me.

[exeggcute]

this isn't the first time we've seen evidence that the current climate of anti-trans panic in the US has largely been manufactured by (or at the very least, stoked by) a small number of conservative interest groups, but the leaked materials from this group do make it pretty clear that trans people are being used a wedge issue to increase republican turnout:

In a member briefing video, one of Ziklag’s spiritual advisers outlined a plan to “deliver swing states” by using an anti-transgender message to motivate conservative voters who are exhausted with Trump.

although it does seem like they believe their own rhetoric and aren't "just" willing to turn trans people into collateral damange:

Other internal Ziklag documents voice strong opposition to same-sex marriage and transgender rights. One reads: “transgender acceptance = Final sign before imminent collapse.”

and somehow this is only the tip of the iceberg here:

a charity funded by mega-wealthy christian donors who think that secular mega-wealthy donors are more generous than christians (much to unpack there lol) and want to close that gap

the fact that it's set up a tax-exempt 5013c org but 100% operating as a PAC, which according to a little group called the IRS is super duper illegal

general christian nationalist shit, including a belief that “the biblical role of government is to promote good and punish evil” and that “the word of god and prayer play a significant role in policy decisions"

using a tool called eagleAI that "claim[s] to use artificial intelligence to automate and speed up the process of challenging ineligible voters" in a bid to kick 100k+ voters off the rolls in swing states

a seven-pronged plan that extends into non-political avenues like the entertainment industry, like a goal to make 80% of movies produced either have a G or PG rating and offer a tidy moral

the hobby lobby family is here because of course they are

[imsobadatnicknames2]

Tbh i feel like nfts really exposed the absurdity of IP or copyright being applied to the net, like it's just a complete blind spot of how computers and well the net works which is just wireless communication of data be it text,image,video,code, or programs that can be copied endlessly or at least long enough where the average person doesn't have to worry about it, like people can add as many protections as they want but they can all be circumvented with (in nfts case) a simple right click and save as and u got a copy of that image in general media,tools to crack copy protection in terms of software DRM have been around for years (of course some is harder than others but people have done that in the past, so i don't see how someone couldn't in the present with enough know how or time) it's like people taking a old tool to a completely new situation that it just won't work completely or in the ways people want.

100% agreed like. I've said it a couple times before, trying to enforce copyright in a digital environment where things can be endlessly replicated and copied with no physical production cost is essentially trying to artifically impose scarcity in an environment where by definition it can't exist. NFTs were the most blatant attempt at it (i.e. not even trying to pretend that they were anything but an attempt to create artificial scarcity) and they were rightfully mocked to hell and back for it. I just wish people were able to extrapolate the same contempt to other forms of attempted digital landlordism.

[antiyourwokehomophobia2]

I wish women did not feel so strongly about the fact men, on average, are physically stronger than them. I feel like women have such negative feelings about this that it drives them to ridiculousness. Listen, I get it. I get it, I get it, I get it. The fact men are stronger is frightening. It’s scary to know that if a man decided to physically attack you then you are probably fucked. The USWNT, women who have spent years honing their skills on the field, lost to teenage boys who—when compared to the women—were basically just beginning to develop their talents. I understand how demeaning that can feel to every woman who hears this fact. I can imagine how demeaning it was for the USWNT. I’m sure every woman has been in a situation, playful or threatening, where they have tested their strength against a man and lost miserably. I’ve seen videos where women hit and slapped men with genuine rage and fury and the man barely even flinched. I understand how embarrassing and scary it can be to come to terms with the strength disparity between men and women, but you simply must come to terms with it. Far too many women have taken to pretending that it's not there—this is not a good approach.

Women choose to pretend it's not there because acknowledging that it's there makes them feel inferior. I ask women to remember that this world was built with the ideals of men in mind and to cater to their specific strengths. Men value strength and violence so of course the world is going to seem like those two things are all that’s valued in it. It's no coincidence that many male heroes are physically strong/easily able to cause harm—such as Naruto or John Wick or the Avengers. Of course it feels shitty, as a woman who inhabits this world, to have to acknowledge that your biology generally prevents you from being able to have the ‘can beat anyone in a fight’ type of strength that gets constantly praised.

However, I implore women to consider that men being physically stronger than them is no more of a significant fact than women being able to give birth while men cannot. Women also have biological advantages over men but when was the last time you saw a man calling himself inferior because of them? Imagine if the world was built with female advantages in mind. Imagine a world where the ability to give birth was seen as some sort of pinnacle of human worth. I mean, the ability to give birth is crazy. You are literally creating a whole new life. The female body is capable of providing the necessary tools to bring about a whole new person. Every brain that has thought of something life changing and every hand that has built something new was brought into existence by a woman’s reproductive system. Every single person that has ever so much as breathed was brought to life by a woman, but men never think women are superior for this fact.

Oh, but women couldn’t get pregnant without men, right? No. IVF exists. But even without it, the correct thing to say would be that women cannot get pregnant without sperm. A woman can get artificially inseminated. She never has to go out and find a man to have sex with. Is that not an advantage? Because, I mean, what can a man do if he wants to have a child but no woman is willing to give him one? Hire a surrogate? That comes with a list of complications, is far more intimate than artificial insemination, and is incredibly expensive. How is that not a disadvantage of being male? You may be thinking that you, as a woman, never want to become pregnant, but that is not the point!  The point is that it's arbitrary to look at biological advantages as anything other than completely neutral.

Women also survive famine better and live longer than men. Imagine a world where women held this over men’s heads? But we don’t live in that world. In this world, I’m certain a man would say that they die sooner because of being braver, taking more risks, and doing dangerous jobs. However, if it were women putting themselves in danger and dying as a result, men would not be quick to call us brave; they'd call us the opposite. Idiotic. Foolhardy. Too stupid to take the necessary precautions to keep ourselves alive.

It is just so painful to see women lamenting over the physical disparity between men and women. Let it go. Consider being neutral on the subject of biological advantage. Consider that male strength isn't something to pretend doesn't exist and isn’t something that proves women are inferior.

I understand that acknowledging vulnerability is against the survival Instinct—I get it—but come on. How can we let this get to a point where we’re saying it’s okay for males to enter female sports and beat the absolute crap out of/wipe the floor with women? Them being stronger is neutral! It does not mean anything! But it’s fact. Pretending it’s not only serves to put women in a losing position. Pretending it’s not only serves to make women into a laughing stock. Men will gladly collect medals that belong to women—they’ve been doing that forever. If there was no reason for male and female leagues then there wouldn’t be any. You cannot deny your way into something being true. I also wish it were true that the average woman was evenly matched against the average man, but it’s simply not reality. In the same way that it’s not reality that the average woman is taller than the average man.

I am begging women to think neutrally about this topic instead of being in such deep turmoil over it that they open the door for men to walk all over us.

[ariaste]

Do you have any advice on how to get funnier? Do you bounce jokes/plots/etc. off other people to see what hits? Do you just write what you find funny? I feel like I'm funny enough in real life, but it's hard to translate that to the page.

Oh gosh, this is a toughie. HOW TO FUNNY.

Well, for one thing, being funny in writing is a lot harder than being funny in person, because in person you're generally talking to people that you've built a rapport with (friends, acquaintances, coworkers). Humor is one of those instinctive evolutionary tools that we developed in order to help form social bonds. Like how our brains register babies as cute because or evolutionary development requires us to be really invested in caretaking. That's how an adult bonds to an infant, yes? But then there is also an evolutionary advantage in adults forming bonds with other adults. Sometimes this happens with physical traits like cuteness or hotness (romantic/sexual attraction is one type of bond), sometimes with vulnerability and "this person needs me" (caretaking is another type of bond)... There are lots of bonds. Leadership. Respect. Solidarity. Community.

But then humor is a REALLY effective form of bonding -- arguably the MOST effective, because it can trump any other of the other bonds any day of the week, and twice on Tuesdays. We have all met someone who was physically not that spectacular to look at, just sort of a Normal Looking Human, but then you find out that they are SO FUNNY and suddenly they are the "hottest" person in the room. We have all heard of a situation where someone was the leader of a clique and had managed to get everyone to worship them... Until a new jokester entered the social circle and suddenly the leadership-bond is not nearly so compelling as THIS GUY WHO MAKES EVERYONE LAUGH (and the leader gets huffy and grouchy about it, and suddenly everyone notices that the emperor has no clothes and that the leader were faking it the whole time. And then the local jester has won the day).

So how to GET FUNNIER? And how do I advise you, when comedy is so individual and what you find funny might be different than what I find funny?

First, study funny shit. Study it like a bug. Read funny books or watch comedy shows with an eye of "How are these jokes constructed? What is making it funny?" Frequently you will notice that some comedians aren't actually all that funny, they're just snarky and good at building rapport with the audience, so the audience laughs as an expression of the social bond, not because the joke was legitimately hilarious. (Here is my "this made me Actually Laugh out loud" tag if you want some insight into my comedy style and possible raw material to study)

Second, a lot of writers like Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams have written about the art of writing comedy, and I'm sure that there are how-to books for comedians as well.

There are a couple main things that make something funny: The juxtaposition of things, the element of surprise, anticipation that pays off, repetition of an established joke, and comedic timing. (Notice that surprise and anticipation are OPPOSITES -- sometimes a thing can be funny when we see it coming a mile away. Sometimes a thing is funny when it is unexpected.)

Examples: In this video, the comedy is coming from the juxtaposition of the background song against the long shot of the Oreos. We see the punchline coming from a mile away (the oreo package says "MOST STUF" and yet he takes the oreos apart to increase the stuf, thereby disproving the package's claim), and so it reasserts something that many people already know and have experienced for themselves. It's the "we've all been there" effect. This would probably not be a funny to people who did not grow up eating Oreos, or who for some reason did not go through the spontaneous phenomenon of "take them apart for MORE SUGAR".

Comedic timing is, of course, the king of comedy techniques, and it is the hardest to pull off in writing. Or, well, people say that it is the hardest. It's not actually the hardest, because it's just a subcategory of the technique of Pacing, both on a story level and on a sentence level. If you can figure out how to take control of the reader's mind and ride them like they're a jaeger and you're the pilot, then you can make them laugh. This is done by controlling the SPEED that they're reading at and the rhythm -- control their speed and rhythm and you control comedic timing. Controlling a reader's speed is done with relatively simple techniques, of which there are two big ones:

Sentence length. Really short sentences read fast. Use a lot of short sentences. Your readers will read quickly. This style is easy to skim. Unfortunately, it can also get boring. See what I'm doing here? Lots of short sentences. On the other hand, as everyone knows and as you have probably experienced for yourself, longer sentences give the impression of a longer and more complex and nuanced thought, even if not as much information is being conveyed; it's a simple matter of hanging a lot of dependent clauses off of one main thing and seeing how long you can go before you hit that final full stop. Varying your sentence length varies your timing and starts to unlock some of the timing control necessary to generate comedy. You can put something in a joke rhythm with this and then it will read like a joke.

Forcing a pause. A pause is the alpha and the omega of comedy. Thus, do not underestimate the comedic potential of a strategic paragraph break. The human brain works so quickly that even the NANOSECONDS it takes for your eyes to physically move from one line, through the strategic paragraph break, to the punchline -- that alone is enough time for the brain to register a pause and for the reader to then feel "surprised". Strategic paragraph break is perhaps the king of comedic writing techniques, IMO. (Careful not to overuse it!)

There are other mechanical techniques involved, but these are the big ones for timing. With these, you can take an otherwise unfunny scene and adjust it through nothing but timing alone to suddenly be funny.

Finally, a fun fact: When I am writing comedy, I am writing with a dead straight face. I am a cold and ruthless joke-engineering machine. I nearly never laugh at my own jokes. There is ONE (1) joke that got me to crack when I was writing Running Close to the Wind, and that was someone talking about Avra "scuttling up a tree like a little rat that's got something badly wrong with it". Still makes me grin to this day. Idk man.

Anyway I hope that helped!! wow this got long

[hiding-under-the-willow]

This is too short to justify posting on Ao3 but I think it's silly so. Here's a little impulsive scene I wrote based on a bit from Joe's video today where he commented on the fact Helsknight cards keep ending up in booster packs despite the randomizer

*****

"I think your machine's haunted." Joe says one day, unprompted, pressing buttons on the card randomizer to throw together a booster pack, restock the machines upstairs.

Etho looks up from the line of redstone he's plucking away at, brows furrowed.

"What?"

"Or maybe Beef's game," He shrugs nonchalantly, "One or the other, though."

Etho puts down his tools, turns his attention fully to Joe from his place on the floor as the green haired man wanders across the room to the spot where the newly made booster pack had been deposited.

"Why do you say that?" He asks, head tilted to the side as the poet lifts open the lid of the shulker, a look of discontent settling on his face.

Joe reaches into the box, begins to fish something out, "Because I keep pulling Helsknight cards." He says, tone all matter-of-fact annoyance, as, with a flourish of his hand, he produces a card depicting the knight from the box, holds it up for Etho to see.

Etho frowns, the edges of his mask pulling downward, "Helsknight’s not dead. He can't exactly do much haunting without being a ghost in the first place."

Joe places the card back in its place in the shulker, "Hey now, you don't have to be dead to haunt things." He states, closing the box and tucking it away in his inventory, "Ghost is more a state of mind than a state of being, and I would know." He wiggles a few fingers in front of himself performatively as he walks back across the room to hit more buttons, and for a brief moment his hand is translucent and blue, almost glowing.

And then he wanders over and punches the hermits card button, hand looking as human as it had before.

"I don't think that's exactly how it works for most people, Joe." Etho laughs nervously, picks at the edge of his gloves, tries to suppress the chill that threatens to run up his spine.

"Well, I'm pulling Helsknight cards more often than not either way." He says with a huff, walking over to the next button, "and I know there's not any more of those than there are any other cards, cause I made the damn things."

Etho shrugs, "True randomness doesn't always look random to the human eye." He flashes Joe a mischievous look as the man wanders by him towards the next button, "Hey, maybe he's made his own cards, stacked the system with them solely to annoy you." He teases.

Joe scoffs, "I could care less if he was so intent on haunting the narrative, to each their own and such. I'm just worried about the other hermits getting annoyed when they keep pulling him in their packs." He punches the button, hesitates as it makes its various beeps and dings, "Besides," He says sheepishly, glancing back over his shoulder at the engineer, "I checked for that already. Perfectly normal number of cards in there."

Etho rolls his eyes, "Of course you did."

"Diligence is the mother of good fortune." He says brightly, skipping a step as he bounds towards the next randomizer, "Anyways, like I said, haunted. Your machine or the game."

He pauses, hums thoughtfully.

"Maybe just Beef in general, actually."

"What, just cause it's his game?" Etho asks, picking his tools back up to return to his work on the redstone, realizing this wasn't a conversation that would be over with quickly.

"Well, I mean, yeah, the game was his creation, and, I mean, if you wanna get technical with it, so was Helsknight." Joe moves across the room, "Did you see his starter deck was a PVP type? Hels is in there, too."

Etho rolls his eyes, "You sent those out." He says, tactfully choosing to ignore the first half of the statement.

"Randomly." Joe reminds him, walking up to the next newly created booster pack, "Don't make this out to be my fault."

"Yeah, just as randomly as those booster packs are being created." Etho snorts, tinkering with a new wire.

"I'm gonna choose to take that as you complimenting my randomization ability and not you insulting your own redstone." Joe pulls open the box, "and anyways, believe whatever you'd like, but," He leans down into the box, pulls out another card, and tosses it towards Etho with practiced precision.

Etho fumbles with his tools to free up a hand to catch the card as it flies towards him, and when he does manage to snatch it out of the air, see who's on the front, he frowns.

"Obviously, something or someone's getting haunted."

"Hm." He stares down at the freshly pulled Helsknight card, "Not sure how fond I am of ghosts.”

[rorynn]

Can I request rotmnt with anger issues teen!reader (gn, 15-16) who has difficulty with expressing that they see the turtles as their sibling figure? They don't wanna admit on how they see the turtles cuz if they said that the reader would be embarrassed due to how they were treated by their bio siblings about it so they just don't say anything, only that they are just friends.

A/N: Of course! Here's a set of headcanons for the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (ROTTMNT) with an angry, reserved teen reader who secretly sees the turtles as sibling figures but has difficulty expressing it. I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!!

General Dynamics

The Turtles’ Initial Perception: At first, the turtles assume you’re just a moody, tough teenager who prefers to keep things casual. They respect your boundaries but are curious about the walls you’ve built around yourself

Your Struggles: You often lash out when things get too emotional or personal, fearing vulnerability might lead to mockery or rejection, like what you experienced with your biological siblings.

Silent Acts of Care: Despite your reluctance to express your feelings, you show you care in subtle ways—fixing things they break, grabbing their favorite snacks, or patching up their gear without being asked.

Individual Turtle Dynamics

Leonardo:

Leo teases you constantly, but he’s careful not to push too far when he senses you’re genuinely upset.

He makes lighthearted jokes about you being “the angsty middle sibling” to see if you’ll slip up and admit you see them as family.

When you’re overwhelmed, Leo offers distractions rather than deep talks—movies, video games, or spontaneous rooftop hangouts.

Raphael

Raph is incredibly protective of you, even if he doesn’t fully understand your emotional struggles. He sees you as part of the team, even if you insist you’re just “friends.”

He’s the first to notice your hidden acts of kindness, like repairing his punching bag or leaving protein bars in his gym bag.

During heated moments, Raph is the one to remind you it’s okay to be angry, but he also encourages you to channel it productively—sparring matches become your shared thing.

Donatello

Donnie appreciates how you quietly help out with his experiments or organize his tools when he’s too busy to do it himself. He doesn’t say it outright, but he considers it your way of bonding.

He’s great at giving you space when you need it but will also deliver blunt truths if he thinks you’re being too hard on yourself.

Donnie surprises you by creating small gadgets that help manage your anger—like stress-relief tools or a punching dummy that fights back (lightly).

Michelangelo

Mikey makes it his mission to break through your emotional barriers with kindness and persistence.

He often pulls you into group activities like cooking, painting, or prank wars, subtly reminding you that you’re part of their “family unit.”

Mikey is the one who comforts you during rare moments of vulnerability, assuring you that it’s okay to care about them without fear of rejection.

The turtles, being who they are, would likely accept you with open arms, helping you work through your anger and fears while showing you that family isn’t about blood—it’s about love and loyalty.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

Okay, here’s an interesting one.

Before seeing your content, I’d basically only ever heard the term “power fantasy” used as a derogatory term to describe over-the-top protagonists who are strong and cool, but also boringly devoid of personality so the audience can project onto them. But then some of your League videos talked about skins letting characters like Gragas “inhabit more interesting power fantasies.”

So… when are power fantasies a good thing? The best I’ve got is that it only works in interactive media like video games so that the audience can more directly engage with the fantasy (essentially: Dante from DMC works, Kirito from SAO does not)

I mean, power fantasies are just endemic to storytelling as a whole. There isn't really a hard "this is when they're good, this is when they're bad," they are core to several genres of media and can't be extracted from them. Most video games are power fantasies, just by nature of their mechanics.

Power fantasy isn't a genre (usually), it is just a tool, same as any other trope or convention. It is a means to engage the audience with a story.

An RPG where you level up and become stronger to defeat more difficult enemies? That's a power fantasy. Undertale where you get the best ending by finding some way to spare absolutely every monster and end every fight mercifully? Power fantasy. The Tomb Raider reboot games that take an almost sadistic glee in putting Lara Croft through absolute hell both physically and emotionally? Those are power fantasies about overcoming and surviving those impossible challenges.

They're not just power fantasies, they have lots of other stuff going on, but power fantasy is an inherent part of them. Romance stories also often include power fantasies, specifically about the power of love. "He's broody, dark and broken, but my love can fix him" is a power fantasy, for example, as is "an unjust society keeps us apart, but we will defy everything to be together!"

Even being The Final Girl who beats the horror monster and walks away at the end of the movie can be a power fantasy, if a rather grim one.

If there is a general case where power fantasies become "bad," I think it is when the power fantasy is all there is, and it subsumes all other parts of the story. Shonen manga often runs into this as they get longer, and the power system and escalating battles against ever more powerful foes become the overriding driving force of the story, to the exclusion of everything else. Shaman King comes to mind for me as a particularly egregious example, or Bleach.

Isekai is also riven with this. You can't walk two steps these days without tripping on a "TRANSPORTED TO ANOTHER WORLD WITH MY SUPER OP CHEAT SKILL" premise, where the entire purpose of the story is simply to act out unchallenged wish fulfilment with no friction or tension or character development. Those stories get boring very very fast... unless of course the power fantasy being played out is your specific power fantasy. Yes, OP protagonists winning everything with no challenge is boring, but this OP protagonist is building a sapphic cottagecore witch polycule with an ever-expanding harem of emotionally damaged lesbians, so... y'know. Maybe I'll give it a pass.

It's generally less interesting and useful to observe THAT something is a power fantasy, than it is to observe WHAT KIND of power is being fantasized about. Zombie apocalypse stories are often power fantasies, for example, but there's a pretty noticeable difference between stories where the power fantasy is banding together and building a life with a found family in horrible circumstances, stealing joy from the end of the world in spite of everything... and stories where the zombie apocalypse is an excuse to enact paranoid right-wing prepper fantasies where the hero protects their property (home, land and women) against the verminous hordes of the monstrous Other, and is reified and uplifted by the employment of brutal violence.

[ivegotyourbackbuddie]

I would love if there’s an episode of season 8 called “The Buzz” which of course starts with a bee emergency. But the thing about the emergency that gets to everyone is that a man was beekeeping for several years in the shed in his backyard, but he never told his partner.

So, when said partner finally went to check out what was so important in the tool shed or maybe they needed something, they panicked when they discovered the bees and started swatting at them. Long story short… lots of bee stings and 911 is called.

After the 118 treats the spouse, they ask the husband, “Why did you keep this from your partner for so long?”

And the man simply answers, “Everyone keeps secrets from their partner. If they say they don’t, they’re just lying.”

When they get back, it sits uneasy with everyone and unfortunately for all of them, their shift is very very quiet. So much so that Bobby secretly goes off and whispers “quiet,” to try and keep everyone from going stir crazy. It does not work.

Of course, the stir crazy leads to 118 asking what’s the worst thing they kept from their partner and if they ever kept a secret from each other. And when they ask Buck, Eddie laughs and says, “No, he’s horrible at keeping secrets. He’s never kept anything from me for too long.”

And Buck kind of looks around uncomfortably and says, “Uh… actually I have.”

Chimney then turns to Hen and asks if she’s kept anything from him, but Hen gets distracted by Buck abruptly getting up and leaving, offering them an awkward excuse about something he needs to do.

As soon as he’s gone, Chimney, Hen, and Ravi all start gossiping about what it is that Buck could be keeping from Eddie which generates a lot of buzz. But the main rumor that takes Eddie off guard is the possibility that Buck had a crush on him when he first joined the 118.

Of course, at the end of their shift, after many crazy accusations - including one about Buck secretly being British - Eddie finally asks Buck what he kept from him.

Buck blushes a bit before finally mumbling, “I don’t actually like video games that much. Yeah! I love playing them with you and Chris but on my own… I don’t know.”

And Eddie lets out a huge breath of relief and confesses, “I didn’t really like them until Christopher, but hey, we can always switch it up a bit and play more board games.”

Buck just kind of smiles at the answer but then narrows his eyes at Eddie. “What did you think I was going to say? Obviously you had something else in mind.”

Eddie just laughs and shakes his head while grabbing his stuff out of his locker. “I don’t know. Honestly, we were theorizing about it all day.”

“And what was the main theory?” Buck asks, leaning against his locker with his arms crossed, a curious smile on his face.

Eddie sends him a nervous glance and shrugs. “That you had a crush on me when I first got here, but I know that’s ridiculous.”

Only, Buck doesn’t laugh in the way he does when he finds something ridiculous. He merely gets a pinched look on his face, the same look he’d have when he helped Chris with math - pre lightning incident.

Some clarity washes over his face, then Buck laughs and says, “You know, I thought I was jealous of you, but the crush kind of makes sense. I mean, it explains why I was so obsessed with you, always showing off in front of you, watching your every move on the job and back at the station. I even got this fluttery feeling in my chest when I first saw you, but I thought that was like… my heart skipping a beat in jealousy. Which is really dumb.” And Buck just flushes a little and laughs again as if this confession isn’t literally sending Eddie spiraling. “I guess I did have a crush on you when you joined. Just didn’t know I was keeping it a secret from you.”

Eddie just stares at him and swallows hard. He tries to get some words out, but he doesn’t even know what to say.

Then, Buck puts on his coat and grabs his stuff asking, “We’re still good for the zoo tomorrow at nine?”

And all Eddie can do is nod and plaster on a smile, performing as always.

“Great. I’ll see you then.”

Then, Buck’s gone, and Eddie is left reeling in the confession. He suddenly understands why partners keep stuff from each other.

Later when Buck texts hey I forgot to ask. have you ever kept something from me? something I never found out about?

Eddie quickly replies I’m sure I have, but nothing too life altering.

But he’s absolutely lying because he’s pretty sure his own feelings for Buck that he’s always kept under the surface are, in fact, very life altering.

[girlcowboy1]

I think gen z ultimately lost the war against mental illness when they decided to adapt the older generations rhetoric of "mentally ill ppl who have noticeable symptoms are bad and evil and must be avoided at all costs, they deserve to be alone and die alone" which... most people are not saying that outright, but that IS what they're saying, whether they realize it or not, when they choose to discuss these issues based on personal concepts of morality and punishment instead of approaching it with a mix of empathy and an understanding of science, and how the brain operates.

"Having a mental illness isn't an excuse" is true to a certain extent, but I think a lot of people don't understand that to an extent, it also IS an excuse. The only reason people like to believe that it isn't in any capacity is because mental illness is an invisible disability, and if there's one thing that people love to dismiss the impact of, it's invisible disabilities. Because we can't see what's going on beneath the surface, we struggle to understand the issue, we struggle to empathize with the affected person, whom we may prefer to instead write off as being lazy or malicious, when in reality they are in pain and/or are missing an important tool that helps them function the way they'd like to.

Before getting on medication, I felt and (still sometimes feel) as though I existed behind an invisible glass that separated me from everyone else. I could not understand the point of a lot of mundane things, I couldn't relate to those around me, I felt like my existence was a mistake that should have never happened and the universe was attempting to expunge me by making my life so hard I would kill myself.

And then I got on medication, and suddenly I was able to see things that I had never seen before but had existed in front of me the whole time. I was able to be kinder to people, to be more patient, to talk myself out of bad thoughts I would previously ruminate about for days and weeks. I was able to communicate more coherently, to express my feelings in a way I couldn't before. I wanted to do things again. I wanted to dress up, look nice. I wanted to BE nice.

Of course, these are all still things I struggle with. Like with most tools for disability, medication is helpful in giving me the ability to function in a way that makes life more enjoyable— but it doesn't completely cure the issue. The point is. I tried so hard, time and time again, to change on my own. I tried taking supplements, I tried mindfulness, I tried changing the way I eat, I tried self-help videos/books. But I was a deeply depressed, deeply agitated person whose brain was not wired the way it should have been. So none of what I tried would stick. I would act out in ways I KNEW was wrong, but when you get into a certain state of mind, it's difficult to speak to yourself, to talk yourself down from doing or saying things you know you probably shouldn't. Especially when you feel so isolated from others, and struggle to see the point in anything.

It was only after medication that I made long-term improvements. It was only after my brain chemistry was physically altered in a positive way that my brain could begin to function better, and that my outward behavior improved.

How the anatomy of the brain effects a person is a crucial part of mental health that gets left out of relating discussions too often, I think, and its where I believe gen z unfortunately tends to overlap with gen x and boomers. The brain is an organ like any other, and if it is damaged, or sick, or lacking somewhere in its anatomy.... it will not function properly. The person whose body it inhabits will not function properly.