#developing a collection of these things...

[mona-risms]

HII!! it's 🪷 Anon, I saw ur reply to my request and it's totally fine! If it's still possible could I request a demon that was made by gwi-ma specifically but hates him just as much as huntrix does. So reader(either fem or nb) helps defeat gwi-ma and live happily ever after with the girls(platonic if that's ok)

-🪷 Anon

◆ MAIN COURSE: HUNTR/X and Gwi-Ma's demon!gn!Reader

◆ TYPE: SFW, platonic

◆ ALLERGEN WARNINGS: None I think???

◆ NOTES: YAYAYAYAY THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING 🫶🫶🫶

Gwi-Ma would probably be severely Picky when it comes to ever using his power for anything. So in this case, you were probably created as some sort of failsafe/watcher/whatever the fuck for Jinu and his plan with the Saja Boys. You ARE made by him after all, made w his very essence. Why would you Ever fail him or go rogue, right? Lol

Hence, you observe. Not HUNTR/X, not at first. You observe humans first; all the way from how they move to how they speak and even how they breathe, and then you adapt. Using whatever demon magic tomfoolery there is, you manage to get yourself into their personal staff team, probably thanks to some poor guy's soul that you ate tf up so you could gain whatever skills they had that'd qualify. Yk, like Kirby

You get close to Bobby, their manager. And as a result, you also get close the HUNTR/X trio, or at least as close as you can manage for a short amount of time obvi. You learn their likes, dislikes, how they are professionally and how they are personally. And as you do so, you even start to learn about Yourself—things you like, dislike, preferences, how you respond to certain things—even though you're not supposed to be anything else but an observing demon in disguise that serves Gwi-Ma. But the more you 'observe' aka spend time with them, the more you begin to question what the need is to terrorise and kill humans, especially this specific lot

Zoey shows you her turtle collection and the notebooks of ideas and pure vibrant creativity. Mira teaches you some of their choreo just for the fun of it, if you wanted to learn, and takes you shopping to the cutest punk fashion stores (girlie the plug frfr), and Rumi would want to go out to EAT EAT EAT and bask in the very rare quiet w you, maybe even involving her lightly strumming or fingerpicking her guitar. These girls are so unbelievably welcoming w you and Bobby is so happy asw. I think Bobby gets really happy when he sees his staff and his girls getting along :((( he's like a silly dad or an uncle

But wait. You weren't just sent to observe HUNTR/X though, were you? While yes he can see and hear what his demons can anyway, you were sent to watch the Saja Boys and make sure they're not being fucking incompetent. And yet when Jinu sees you ohhhh man

You feel his presence before you hear him—a discordant chime in the winds, like an old rusted bell.. or a weathered bipa.

"You're getting a bit too comfortable with them, don't you think?"

You scoffed and crossed your arms, pointedly looking at the horizon, "Like you're one to talk. How's seducing Rumi going for you?"

"As planned, obviously," Jinu walks over to stand beside you. "And you? Any developments in your.. friendship approach?"

"Yes, actually. Though it's not like I report to you—I report about you too, don't forget that."

"Right, right. My mistake." He leaned on the metal bar as he watched you quietly, though as he spoke your attention is mildly stolen by a certain blue tiger-demon lightly headbutting your hand, with the magpie fluttering to stand on the railing. "I shouldn't overstep, right? Might make him angrier if I even dared to suggest that his precious servant is deviating."

You felt yourself stiffening at Jinu's words, though your hand went to scritch the tiger's head anyway, "No, Jinu. We shouldn't—we wouldn't want to make him angry over false accusations, would we?"

You see his eyes narrow at the corner of your eye—he caught on to the sudden mirrored circumstances, of course, he wasn't slow in the least. He pushes himself away from the railing and places his hands in his pockets, "Guess not. ..Just be careful of where your loyalties lie."

And he teleports away before you could respond.

"Asshole."

When the Saja Boys start their plan, that's when you start fully going down the descent of an existential crisis. Every time they/random demons attack, even when HUNTR/X doesn't know it, you're there. You're there to watch and observe, to see if everything's going to plan or it's all going to shit. But you can't interfere, not without Gwi-Ma's permission—just watch and consume souls. But as you're watching it's like. What the fuck. What the hell. Why is this necessary dude

It's the train scene when it all comes ahead and very much apart, where you're inside the train and very much aware of what's going on, and you hear Gwi-Ma in your head, pleased at how the trio is falling fucking apart bc of Rumi's secret

You heard singing from inside the train, singing that went on as perfect as usual.. until Rumi.

You heard hesitation. You heard the shame. And the worst part of it?

You could feel Gwi-Ma within you watching, anticipating.

...

One moment you were inside the train, the next?

You were right in front of the ogre, with Rumi pushed away from your proximity. Your hands, once human, had changed its form to the claws Gwi-Ma blessed—no, cursed—you with as you held back the giant club with a demonic growl. You bore your teeth, and your patterns blazed as bright as your eyes; the colour couldn't belong to anyone else by the one who made you.

Even the hulking demon had to take pause at the sight of you, at the sheer presence of Gwi-Ma on your person, and the trio could actually see something like genuine fear in its eyes.

"You..."

You could hear Rumi's shattered confidence in her voice, and you dare not look back in case you see the three of them look at you as anything but a monster. You don't know if you could take it, take feeling like you were wrong.

So instead, you barked out, the demonic cadence layering on top of your voice—a voice he even doctored to make you more trustworthy, "DON'T JUST STAND THERE! THE PASSENGERS!"

And you push against the ogre before forcing a teleport to the demon realm on the both of you, the scream leaving your lips gutteral and inhuman.

Gwi-Ma is worse than unimpressed. Furious, actually! Congratulations, you pissed off a Demon King! And you still see the souls drawn right into his fire, which would've looked beautiful, if it weren't for the implications of the sight—they couldn't kill of the demons on time. His mark on Rumi's breaking down their entire dynamic and Rumi herself, and the amount of people he's killed and consumed was staggering

His fire's looming at you, fed and absolutely enraged at how his own fucking creation went AGAINST him. He was lenient with his treatment on you, biding his time and leaving you to do your thing because he was expecting you to act upon his will perfectly, NOT grow attached to the people he wanted GONE. Jinu is one thing—someone self-serving, even if the look he casts on you at the top of the shrine with his pets looks like it belongs to someone who's anything but self-serving—but you were made of his very self. His essence. And if you weren't going to make yourself useful? He'll unmake you as easily as he made you

Skip to the near end, when the Saja Boys perform Your Idol and everyone's brainwashed into sacrificing themselves to Gwi-Ma before Rumi interrupts it all. By now, you're probably most likely fused back into Gwi-Ma, seeing as how you're useless sentient when you're not going to serve him. But the remaining consciousness of you can hear Rumi sing.. then Zoey, and then Mira. And Jinu not only hears them too, but he feels that lingering something from within Gwi-Ma himself

When he sacrifices himself, he gives half of his soul to Rumi. The other half? To the person who never got the chance to have a soul of their own—you. Because at least he knows you can put your loyalties on the trio where he couldn't. You're the one who grew much closer to the three of them, it's only right

Deapite your body still originally designed by Gwi-Ma, you've made it your own. With your sentience and with Jinu's soul, you successfully help HUNTR/X and you get to witness the new iridescent Honmoon that only they could make—it's so much more beautiful than the streaking soul retrieval you saw just before your 'death'

You disappeared after that day. For a little while, anyway.

Your sustenance came in the form of mostly people who weren't going to be missed, namely criminals, or people who much preferred death to whatever fate they had—an ugly thing, but half of you still lived because of Gwi-Ma's essence, even if Jinu's soul had minimised the need to feed enough that you can sustain yourself temporarily via human foods.

But eventually you were found anyway. You were leaning on the railing that Jinu had contronted you at, his friends sticking close to you, when you hear three sets of footsteps from behind you.

"Ahh, guess I've been found," you turned around to look at them, your expression softer than it's ever been this whole time—you felt much more free, and judging from the way the trio had stuck to each other stronger than ever, judging from the way Rumi had opted for a simple short-sleeved shirt that showed her markings, iridescent as the new Honmoon? You figured they felt free too.

You raised your hands slowly in surrender, though you made no other move, "If you're here to kill me off, I-- oomph!"

You don't even manage to finish your sentence before you feel Zoey immediately on you, practically glomping with you with her short frame, and you feel your shoulder getting wet. You look back up at the other two, and even they're making their way over with teary looks and quivering lips before immediately joining in the pile.

"Are you-- what-- why are you three crying? I--" Your eyes start to sting, and your arms hesitantly wrap around the three of them, as if scared that one wrong move could make this moment dissipate. "Why--"

A large sniffle from Zoey as she buried her face even deeper into your neck, "We looked EVERYWHERE for you! After we sealed the demon realm away, we-- we couldn't find you and-- and--"

"We thought you got sealed off too," Mira piped in, her voice noticeably much raspier and thicker than usual, "but we looked everywhere. Even had Bobby use whatever contacts he had 'cuz he was looking for you too."

"You're not.. mad? You're not gonna kill me?"

You feel claws digging into you—Rumi's, still uncontrolled, you realise—at the question, "No. Are we mad? Sure, for not telling us and disappearing at the worst time possible, but I know what it's like to-- to hide. We just.. missed our friend."

Friend.

Because that's what you are. Not a demon, not Gwi-Ma's creation. A friend.

You felt yourself crumple in the pile, and the others followed suit as all four of you end up crying on the ground. The only spectators are the magpie and the tiger.

[kitmon]

After Hours | Eddie Munson x Fem!Lifeguard!Reader

Summary: After a day of being scolded by the Hawkins Community Pool lifeguard, Eddie takes his interest in you home and imagines what it would be like if he called the shots.

Pairing: Eddie Munson (Stranger Things, 2022) x Fem!Lifeguard!Reader

Word Count: 1.5k

Tags: smut (18+ only), solo masturbation on Eddie's part, Eddie is a teensy bit pervy but that's how I like him, imagined oral (m receiving)

Author’s Note: Just a little blurberella inspired by @queenimmadolla and her recent lifeguard!reader x Eddie fic which you can read here! Thank you, Queenie, for letting me develop your idea further!

The trailer shakes as Eddie slams the front door closed behind him. Wayne, sitting slouched on his side of the couch with a beer in his hand, pulls his attention away from the soap opera that plays on the small television set to look at Eddie before his eyes flit back to the melodrama happening on screen.

“How was the pool?” Wayne asks, eyes still fixated on the T.V. as he brings the bottle to his lips.

Eddie crosses in front of the luminted screen—Wayne craning his neck to make sure he doesn't miss anything as he passes—to reach the desk beside it and the few books that live on the shelf above it. He answers, distractedly, “Crowded, loud, and I’m pretty sure I saw a kid vomit in the grass.”

“Sorry it wasn’t to your liking,” Wayne says, only half-heartedly providing his attention to the conversation. 

“What are you on about, old man?” Eddie says as he snatches a tall hardcover book from the others. “I had a great time,” he says over his shoulder before jogging towards his room.

His thin, green flannel, unbuttoned and framing his lithe torso, flutters behind him as he makes large strides toward the room at the back of the trailer, his black flip flops smacking along the way. Eddie fixes his sleeves, rolling them up over his elbows, as the door shuts behind him. He locks it with a swift flick of his wrist, beginning to crack open the book over his forearm while he kicks off his sandals, sending them flying in every which direction. He falls back onto his unmade bed, taking the book in two hands: “Hawkins High Yearbook, 1984.” 

He bought it that year when he was in a sentimental mood, thinking it would be his first and final senior year, the last time he and Ronnie would share a yearbook together. Now, as he skims past his own photo in the book, he thinks it a far away dream and the yearbook itself was rarely revisited explaining the thin layer of dust it’s collected. But Eddie doesn’t aim to reminisce. No, he’s looking for something, for someone. 

There’s your picture amongst the sea of other Hawkins High Seniors. Of course you’re so goddamn photogenic, he thinks as he gazes at the quarter-size portrait. Your eyes are especially captivating. You have this subtle way of looking at the camera, like you're looking at him directly. It’s eerie yet enrapturing at the same time.

He flips towards the back of the book where the clubs and activities are situated. He finds the Hawkins Girls swim team and there you are in nearly every photo on the spread. In your tightly fitted bathing suit, the stripes along the side accentuate your figure, but more than that he notices your smile and the way you make goofy faces at the camera when it’s focused on you, which it seemed to have a hard time not doing.

He sees that coy smirk that you throw over your shoulder as you ready yourself to take your mark on the diving block. It’s that same smirk you give him after sniping back at him at the pool, spread out over your guard stand, towering over him and making him feel small in a way that is all too pleasurable. When he enters your domain, as a lifeguard, you’re the one in control, and he doesn’t mind that, not typically, but he wishes that he could be in control, just once.

He sets the yearbook aside and pulls his swimming trunks—still slightly damp, the acrid smell of chlorine still clinging to the material—down his hairy thighs. His cock springs free, half at attention as he grabs it in his large hand and begins massaging it.

He gives his cock three or four dry pumps before pulling his hand back and spitting on it, engulfing it once more.

He pictures, in his mind’s eye, the image of you in that red one piece, your whistle dangling between your breasts, and those damn gas station sunglasses. They’re that cheap kind of plastic that hardly does anything to polarize the glare from the sun and he knows it based on the way your eyebrows squinch just above them. 

He gives his cock a rough squeeze, moaning deep in his throat. 

You’re so cute when you get in the zone, forgetting he exists for a moment as you scan the pool in front of you. Your lower lip juts out and your posture slouches just a tad. Your sunglasses slide down your nose just a fraction, just so he can see your pretty eyes behind them from the right angle. And when you focus your eyes on him for a second longer than you probably should? He notices, even when you think you're being subtle.

He remembers your skin and that thin sheen that covers every inch of it, both from your sunscreen and your perspiration. He remembers the way your nipples, hardened by the breeze, show without any restraint against the thin fabric of your guard suit. He remembers the wiry hairs of your bush peeking out past the high seams near your crotch, the one piece riding up each time you crossed and uncrossed your legs, just before you adjusted it back into place. He remembers when the temperature reached its high and your chest heaved just a little bit heavier with each breath and a single droplet of your sweat fell from your chin, down your neck, over your chest and between the valley of your breasts before disappearing out of sight. 

God, how he wishes he knew what came after. Past the tan lines and the high riding seams. What you looked like without that one piece on, how you slipped it off at the end of a hard day spent working in the sun. How you would slip it off for him. 

His hand works faster against his dick and his breath hitches as he squeezes tighter.

Cornering you at the end of your shift, when you’re doing your walk-through of the mens showers, when everybody’s left. Grabbing you roughly by the arms and pushing you against those blue tiled walls. Kissing you hard and furiously just to shut that pretty mouth of yours up after having yelled at him all day. He would peel your suit off of you, slowly, savoring each new inch of skin he’d get to see as the fabric of it clings to you, the flesh under salty and damp with sweat. 

As much as he’d like to think his poker face in this moment would be stone cold, he just knows that his jaw would go slack seeing your nipples harden when exposed to the chill air of the early evening that blows in through the open doors on either end of the showers. A chill would be sent running down his spine at the sight of your cunt, obscured by thick hair and framed by your thighs that squeeze together to alleviate the ache he leaves there. Miss high-and-mighty-on-her-guard-stand, he would push you to your knees and watch those beguiling eyes as they stare up at him, demure and mischievous in the way you’d bury your nose into the thatch of hair above his manhood and sniff hard and deep, taking in the heady scent of Coppertone, chlorine, and his musk.

You’d kiss up his length and lick at his blushing tip, your tongue red from the Otter Pop you’d eaten earlier.

He runs his thumb over his tip, spreading the pearly precum that buds there.

You would engulf him in your mouth after two tentative bobs of your head and the inside would be cool and refreshing against his flushed skin. 

The thought makes him shiver in his bed and it makes his movements stutter, a sharp intake of breath before a desperate whimper leaves his lips. He’s close and it becomes harder to hide the noises he wants to make and the rapid squelching of his hand against his cock.

He thinks of you, sucking him off frantically, like you’re desperate to please him. You would keep taking fleeting glances up at him to gauge his reaction and each groan and gasp would be met with a shift in practice. You would suck harder, move faster, lick lighter, pull away and leave teasing kisses when you knew he was close, still vying for control even when it's his only goal to strip it from you. But those eyes and that mouth, Eddie knows he would give you anything, even the control he so desperately craves in that moment. 

You would pull off of him and stroke him roughly with a renewed vigor, kissing and licking the tip every now and again before catching his gaze and commanding it to stay. You would look at him, chest heaving as you pumped him faster and squeezed tighter before saying, “Come for me, Eddie.”

That alone is enough to send him over the edge as his grip on his cock stills and tightens before white hot ropes of cum spill over his stomach and onto his swim trunks. His breathing is labored and his hand falls over his pelvis, fingers kept steady so as not to spread the mess he’s made. He looks to the side of him and finds the picture of you on the diving block, smirking as if you know what's taken place here.

He needs to ask you out. Like, right now. Like, yesterday.

[thesportsprgirl]

Since Lando is involved, there's of course a particular narrative that has popped up around his Monster release and which other drivers deserve it more, so I'm going to get on my professional soap box once again because oh my god shut the fuck up already.

My creds: dual BS in Business Analytics and Marketing. MA in Strategic Communication (thesis on sports PR in the social media age). MBA with a sports economics coursework emphasis. Consultant working in corporate partnerships in a variety of sports, including motorsport.

Based on what I've seen today, people have no idea how much work goes into securing personal sponsors. In order to get a personal sponsorship deal, you and your team have to pitch the sponsor and demonstrate the value that it will bring to their business through things like DATA and RESEARCH. Engagement metrics, impressions, reach, products sold, brand recognition, return on investment, etc.

If a McLaren sponsor does a personal sponsorship of Lando as well, it's because his team pitched and demonstrated that the metrics bear out that it would be worth their money. It's not like oh let's throw money at this kid bc VIBES. Or bc Zak Brown says we had to. I keep seeing people implying that they just picked him on a whim, when things like this take ages to decide, with a ton of data, a ton of research, and a ton of really smart people analyzing it before making the call.

You have to show a sponsor the reasons that they should work with you and why it's worth their money. Lando and Quadrant have done that. And it's a fuckton of work to not only get them, but to deliver the results to retain them. Some of those results are in the form of social media engagement that they've gotten from Lando and his brands likely before the drink was even contracted.

Identifying sponsors, pitching and securing their money, etc. is a multi-billion dollar industry that requires a ton of work, data analysis, content testing, focus group testing, etc. The people saying "it should have been _____" clearly either have a personal bias or don't understand the level of personal brand you have to have to get this sort of a deal.

Lando has larger reach, more engagement, recognizable brands with very passionate followings, etc. when compared to some of the other drivers people are bringing up here. He's selling out merch collection after merch collection after merch collection, and that is not true of 90% of the other drivers on the grid. He sold so many tickets to Landostand that they quite literally BUILT ANOTHER GRANDSTAND. And sold that one out, too! These are things that come with a ton of value to sponsors. Sponsors are seeking out his audience based on demographics. It's not some sort of conspiracy, it's business.

Right now, there are a couple of drivers that are LEAGUES above the others when it comes to the effort they've put into developing their personal brand, ability to drive product, and relevancy within high disposable income and retail-spending fan demographics (Lando over indexes with four key demos: young women, highly educated women, queer men, families with children). Averaged across these "big spender demos," Lando is in the top 2. I can say that based on the data I have at my fingertips.

tl;dr - Monster is looking to sell product. Data says Lando Norris sells product because people actually like him very much.

[19catsncounting]

I'll show my age a little on this post, because this kind of situation has just come up again, so it's a little fresh.

There are times when someone dies, and their tangible grief is small. It's not really a surprise, maybe it's even expected. The elderly and sick move into hospice centers and those rooms are much smaller than their houses, or they move in with family and those rooms are smaller than their houses. It's easy to divvy up and cherish grief when it's nice and small, a sentimental box of trinkets and a shirt.

And there are times when someone dies, and it's a burden. It is. It's hundreds of pounds of grief and crap and it will crush you like a millstone - not just because it's a lot to deal with and emotionally a lot to deal with - but because it's not your crap, but it is now. It's yours, they're not here and they don't own it and you're reminded that they're not here to own it every time you look at it. You deal with it.

When my wife's mother passed away, she lived in a two story townhouse that was filled to the brim with stuff. Tapestries, posters, pictures - the woman had a habit of tacking posters and tapestries and pictures on the ceiling because she filled up every single spare space on the wall, covering light switches too. She died in that house, and my wife at the time was a teenager, and she came home one night to find that she was now a homeless orphan. My wife could not walk back into that house to take anything because her world was simply destroyed in a way you and I will never fathom - family friends got her clothes and toiletries and some of them packed up totes of things they knew mattered a lot to my wife's mother. Some of those totes were lost over the years, others were placed in sheds or under tarps outside. My wife still grieves the things that she lost, even if we've recovered some of it. We have a record collection of 1000+ vinyls, many of which are warped and damaged and frankly smell like rodent urine. And we will likely have those vinyls forever - hundreds of pounds of grief that are heavier than a human body, but not at all equal to a life.

There's a lot of notes on this post, a lot of tags, and I don't think many of the people writing them have ever been in this kind of situation.

I don't think a lot of folks would realize that the Winchester house was damaged in a fire. And that smoke leaves a smell. And that smell would linger to the point that - canonically, in this episode it is established - John and his sons did not sleep in that house again, and instead stayed with John's boss. Probably because it smelled like the fire for weeks or months afterwards.

And John packed up the kids in the car and left. Probably left the mortgage unpaid until the bank foreclosed on it due to default, which would have taken years to finalize and process, and longer to restore the house to the point that it could sell if the repairs weren't completed before John left - and they most likely weren't. But in the meantime, someone boxed up those photos that were recently taken prior to the fire (and I might have to explain to some younger fans that physical pictures like that don't often go directly into storage - in the late 1900's, when a family took pictures on a dedicated device called a 'film camera' and took those primitive film cartridges to be developed, they would change out the photos in existing frames or hang up new ones), and put them in the basement, where they would be safe from the elements, the gaping hole where the fire burned out the wall and roof. And in the basement, those pictures and the paper and any fabrics would lose the smoke smell.

It could have been a family friend, going inside the house to sort things out, but I imagine that family friend would have taken the box to their own storage as that would be more sensible. And it could have been a firefighter who managed to grab a box, grab a few things, and hand it off to a grieving father with his arms full, before telling him that the carpets and walls will be soaked from the hoses for a few days, and what companies to call to do restoration services.

And it could have been John, walking through the least-touched areas of the house on his own - the living room, the kitchen, but not up the stairs. He could have picked up a few things, put them in a box, put the box in the basement so it'd be safe while the restoration crew worked on the house, it wouldn't take up any room at any place he and his boys are staying at and always running the risk of outstaying their welcome. And John could have put that box in the basement, planning to come back to it.

And then didn't, because he couldn't, just like Dean didn't either. Because John found out the truth about the demon, and had a white whale to catch to avenge his wife instead of being forced to move on as he would have without that.

If John didn't find out the truth, he would have gone back to the house, but he didn't. Even when he left, in the early years, he always planned to go back to the house. But he didn't. Because the house still smelled too much like smoke.

i've always been pretty distraught about how john left behind a box of family phots in the basement when he took the kids out of kansas. to have so little left after the fire and to still leave what little there was behind... i mean we know at least sam has a picture of mary and john and there is a picture of john and the boys in 1.01 but that's from after the fire.

but ALSO i've realized in the same box there's a handmade card that says "DaD" that Dean must have made for john.

that john also left.

i know john was going through a period of immense grief. but there's something very painful about such tangible evidence of the way dean's childhood - and even the memory of it - was left behind.

[reachartwork]

re: "outlawing AI"

i am reposting this because people couldn't behave themselves on the original one. this is a benevolent dictatorship and if you can't behave yourselves here i'll shut off reblogs again. thank you.

the thing i think a lot of people have trouble understanding is that "ai" as we know it isn't a circuitboard or a computer part or an invention - it's a discovery, like calculus or chemistry. the genie *can't* be re-corked because it'd be like trying to "cork" the concept of, say, trigonometry. you can't "un-invent" it.

even if you managed to somehow completely outlaw the performance of the kinds of linear algebra required for ML, and outlawed the data collection necessary, and sure, managed to get style copyrighted, you can't un-discover the underlying mathematical facts. people will just do it in mexico instead. it'd be like trying to outlaw guns by trying to get people to forget that you can ignite a mixture of powders in a small metal barrel to propel things very fast. or trying to outlaw fire by threatening to take away everyone's sticks.

the battleground is already here. technofascists and bad actors without your ethical constraints are drawing the lines and flooding the zone with propaganda & slop, and you’re wasting time insisting to your enemies that it’s unfair you’re being asked to fight with guns when you’d rather use sticks.

as a wise sock puppet once said; "this isn't about you. so either get with it, or get out of the fucking way"

-----

Attempts to prohibit AI "training" misunderstand what is being prohibited. To ban the development of AI models is, in effect, to ban the performance of linear algebra on large datasets. It is to outlaw a way of knowing. This is not regulation - it is epistemological reactionary-ism. reactionism? whatever

Even if prohibition were successful in one nation-state:

Corporations would relocate to jurisdictions with looser controls - China, UAE, Japan, Singapore, etc.

APIs would remain accessible, just more expensive and less accountable. What, are you gonna start blocking VPNs from connecting to any country with AI allowed? Good luck.

Research would continue outside the oversight of the very publics most concerned about ethical constraints.

This isn’t speculation. This is exactly what happened with stem cells in the early 2000s. When the U.S. government restricted federal funding, stem cell research didn’t vanish, it just moved and then kept happening until people stopped caring.

The fantasy that a domestic ban could meaningfully halt or reverse the development of a globally distributed method is a fantasy of epistemic sovereignty - the idea that knowledge can be territorially contained and that the moral preferences of one polity can shape the world through sheer force of will.

But the only way such containment could succeed would be through:

Total international consensus (YEAH RIGHT), and

Total enforcement across all borders, black markets, and academic institutions, at the barrel of a gun - otherwise, what is backing up your enforcement? Promises and friendly handshakes?

This is not internationalism. It is imperialist utopianism. And like most utopian projects built on coercion, it will fail - at the cost of handing control to precisely the actors most willing to exploit it.

Liberal moralism often derides socialist or communist futures as "unrealistic.", as you can see in the absurd, hyperbolically, pants-shittingly mad reaction to Alex Avila's video. Yet the belief that machine learning can be outlawed globally - a method of performing mathematics that is already published, archived, and disseminated across open academic networks the globe over - is far more implausible. literally how do you plan on doing that? enforcing it?

The choice is not between AI and no AI. The choice is between AI in the service of capital, extraction, and domination, or AI developed under conditions of public ownership, democratic control, and epistemic openness. You get to pick.

The genie and the bottle are not even in the same planet. The bottle's gone, Will.

[amadinan]

TADC episode 5 analysis

I will collect here my thoughts that appeared after watching the 5th episode of TADC. And there are many of them, the episode is really rich in revealing the backstories of the characters and even lore. But I will mainly touch on Caine and the lore of the circus.

But first, some small thoughts before I move on to the Intermission time.

Jax is an NPC?

To be honest, I never believed in this theory, it is interesting in a vacuum, but nothing more. However, at this point we have not one, but three hints about this: Jax's number in episode 4, which refers to the Blender program and how copies are named there, the fact that Caine was able to make Jax a vegan (although Caine stated that he cannot influence the minds of players) and the fact that Jax himself was sure that he had a tail.

This would already be enough to consider the theory probable, but perhaps this hole is a little deeper. In the end, Caine was also able to influence Ragatha, although not directly.

But what if we combine this with the main theory of the circus, that all people are digital copies of minds? Then, Caine can theoretically control them, because from his program point of view, they are no different from very complex NPCs, which Caine churns out himself, like on a conveyor belt. Let's remember that Caine deleted Gummigoo because he was afraid of confusing him with a person (after all, even then there were thoughts that Caine accidentally deleted someone) and probably Caine deleted the original Jax, and then replaced him with a NPC copy that differs from the original only in the absence of a tail. After all, even in the episode with the evil team, we were shown that Caine can easily create humanoid personalities by copying them from players.

Caine and Gangle

In the fifth episode, I noticed two actions between them and both were not entirely direct. First: immediately after exiting the portal, Caine noticed Gangle's broken mask and fixed it without a word. Second: Gangle was not on the evil team, she was replaced by Orbsman. I think Caine realized that Gangle almost abstracted at the end of episode 4, so Caine decided to be a little more attentive to her. And he did not add an evil clone, because this clone ... would have been Gangle from episode 4 herself, which could only upset her.

"Sarcastic eye-flying" after Zooble's sentence.

It's only one phrase, but it's clearly a lore bomb, although it is not entirely clear without context. For starters, Caine does not call Zooble by name, not "player", "guest" or even "human", he calls them "toy-box character". This may again hint at digital copies, but not necessarily. And then Caine says "other intelligent AIs" and this is even stranger, who did he mean? People like him and Bubble, simple NPCs or  like players? It's unclear, but interesting, and Caine seriously doesn't like this idea from Zooble and again it's unclear why? The overload on the system? A possible NPC revolt? Caine is afraid that if there are too many characters, he will completely get confused who is who?

And finally, The Intermission time.

Get ready, there will be a complete searching for meaning where there may be none at all.

To be honest, I didn't understand everything, but some things may well have a context, so I'd be glad to hear your thoughts.

So, right after the intermission there was a bar where almost all the characters shared their past, and what if Caine shared too, just before this adventure? But purely in his style.

Right after the  start scene, we are shown Bubble and how three jaws overlap each other, and then also three Caines, each larger one holding the smaller one. This may refer to his development, how starting with something simple like Bubble, he first became "jaws" (probably an alpha version), and then more and more complex, until he became what he is now. This also corresponds to the fact that at the end of the scene, Caine sort of folds himself, and then a small splash screen plays like in the 2000s games and the computer monitor turns on/off.

Why in the next scene Pomni is not clear to me, but here's why exactly cubes suggested by @poprocksriot. Perhaps there were three parts or even three AI that became a single being: two eyes of Caine and Bubble (possibly a third eye, as in the concept art).

Gangle, Zooble and Jax are sucked into the void: a metaphor for sucking people into the game.

A bunch of eyes in the void and Caine in the light in the middle. I think this is one of the most important scenes, which shows that Caine "came to life" and is no longer just a program. Firstly, the official music, secondly (thank you, @puddingandp1) he breathes in this scene, which may just mean that he is now sentient. In addition, the eyes. There are indeed a lot of eyes, but NONE of them are looking at Caine himself, which could mean how he became an "rogue AI".

Then we see the chessboard floor and the characters. Their world is literally turned upside down. A bowling ball falls on Pomni and Jax, which may indicate their condition as they were affected by getting into the circus. Moreover, we even saw Pomnis' condition in the first series. The situation crushed her, like a bowling ball. With Gangle and Ragatha it is a little more complicated, cakes fall on them. This means that for them the situation in the circus is "sweeter" than what was in reality. We heard about the abuse in Ragatha's family right in this episode, so in the circus, where her mother is not, she could get better. And with Gangle it is even easier. She worked at such a hateful job that even simulating these memories for just one day almost killed her. In the circus there is Jax, as a minus, but she does not have to work and she can draw as much as she wants. And Kinger. He catches the ball, which seems to say that the situation has not crushed him, but then he is not just crushed, but directly knocked off the board (mind) by a black figure, the loss of Queenie.

Then it is more figurative. Caine literally holds everyone in his hands. The characters in Caine's "hat" and they are clearly being watched, then a bunch of mannequins, which can also refer to the fact that Caine, as a puppeteer, holds them under control.

Then Caine stands on the floor and the camera approaches him. Note that this is the same chessboard floor on which the others were standing, and a bowling ball can approach it, as if the camera was attached directly to it, but Caine manages (for now) to not let himself be crushed.

Then a corridor and abstractions. Well, here it is quite clear, the attitude and the display of lost players.

Then Zooble interrupts Caine and he hangs. Perhaps we should have seen something else, from which even Caine hung, but alas.

Of course, there is also a mysterious mannequin that follows Pomni and is possibly Gummigoo, but little is known about him yet.

That's all for now, I really liked the series, I'm sure it will only get more interesting.

[bogwaterparasite]

Character Building!! (Saja boys edition)

Characters: Saja Boys (except Jinu)

A/N: Am I milking the fact that my HC’s seemed to be doing well? Yes. I’m also taking advantage of the fact that these characters don’t really have a storyline or anything of their own to sorta create their own personalities to use when I write fanfiction! Sue me, I love them.

Just fyi. I’m currently working on requests! So don’t fret, I haven’t forgotten about you

Previous post!! - SAJA HC’s

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Baby saja (Eun-young)

✮⋆˙ I’ve decided the name based off of the meaning that can be given to it. Eun-young can translate to both graceful flower or silver petal. I think it’s kinda fitting considering his soft boy sort of aesthetic, yet it serves as a good contrast to the personality given to him.

✮⋆˙ I believe that he got recruited by Jinu due to his musical talent. He’s a rapper, and a very good one at that, but unlike jinu? It isn’t something he’s been practicing ever since he was a human

✮⋆˙ Matter of fact, I don’t believe he was ever human. Despite Jinu saying that Gwi-Ma controlled the demons by the guilt they possessed, there is a possibility for some demons to just be summoned or created with the sole purpose of getting souls/defeating the demon hunters.

✮⋆˙ Eun-young’s talent developed from curiosity. He had always had a fascination for technology and the way things worked in the human world given that Gwa-Mi’s realm seems to be nothing but a void, and all of their entertainment is given by none other than Gwa-Mi himself. During the beginnings of the creation of cellphones, he most definitely stole one in order to take it back. While this action is suspicious on itself, he can always use the pretext of wanting to be connected in order to deceive the humans and collect souls with more efficiency.

✮⋆˙ While indulging in human media, he found himself drawn towards music, but not ALL music, rap specifically. He’d do most of his practicing down in earth, using it as a way to get closer with certain humans (and singers which I assume have more powerful souls) and developing his skills while still accomplishing the task given to him by Gwa-Mi.

✮⋆˙ Despite his gravelly voice, he was never truly into the stereotypical rapper appearance. The soft boy look seemed to be what called to him more than anything else, comfortable and colorful outfits that contrast the traditional dark appearance he holds in his demon form. It creates a sort of trustworthy character for humans, specially women, which he takes advantage of to the fullest.

✮⋆˙ Given that he is a made demon, he is rather devoid of emotion. Hes not a hateful person, but just holds little interest for things that he hasn’t developed an interest for, which is why he’s so willing to do pretty much anything. Even then, he will always go back to what he’s used to, which is doing nothing while scrolling through media.

✮⋆˙ He lacks taste buds, so his preferences of food come from the texture and feeling that they create. Colder things tend to have a thicker consistency than he finds rather enjoyable, which eventually developed into a liking of squishy and chewy foods rather than crunchy.

✮⋆˙ Even though he’s rather devoid of emotion, his vast interactions with humans and the human world caused him to develop more of a consciousness than other demons. This is what allows for Gwa-Mi to filter the voices into his mind, which although rare, still bother him just as much as the rest of the demons.

Abs Saja (Ho-Seok)

✮⋆˙ I’m not quite sure what the full name stands for, however, the translation for Seok is put as stone or rock. I think this kinda makes sense since I see abs as being sort of a reliable person? Idk how that makes sense considering he’s a demon, but yk.

✮⋆˙ I’m not too sure if All demons have formed pacts with Gwa-Mi or just Jinu? I’m running with the idea that not all of them were human, or have had to make a pact with him in order to become demons, but in this case? Abs did.

✮⋆˙ Born during the Joeson dynasty, about 80% of the families participated in agricultural farming(including his own), making it an incredibly competitive market. Due to increasing tariffs and environmental struggles, his family wasn’t the most wealthy. Unable to hire more workers, they used their 4 children to help around the farm, their pay being the fact that they got to survive another day. Ho-Seok was the oldest and strongest, which meant that majority of the tasks were handed to him in order for the farm to stay afloat. Although this was somewhat unfair, he did get a portion of the profits (although not much) which kept him quiet for the most part.

✮⋆˙ As he grew up, he became unsatisfied by the life he was living. Due to old age, his father wasn’t able to work anymore, which now meant that all the responsibilities (whether it was about the farm or the family) fell on him. This caused him to grow resentful of his family, the inability to provide for him and their children, while also having to deal with 3 children all at once began to take a toll on him.

✮⋆˙ There was one thing that he looked forward to however, a girl he had been crushing on for quite sometime. She frequented the farm for supplies, and she always served as a balm for his worries (even though she wasn’t aware of it).

✮⋆˙ In the end, all of these problems and responsibilities were what led him to create a pact with Gwa-Mi, becoming a demon in order to finally be able to live comfortably. He left his family to fend for themselves, slowly elevating his status by working with other members and eventually ending up as a chef in the palace. Despite him not thinking that he had any guilt about what he’d done, the marks were slowly consuming him.

✮⋆˙ What drove him to be at Gwa-Mi’s control for eternity was a simple mistake, at least he says it was a mistake. With his newfound status, he was going to confess his love to his beloved.. however, he was soon to find out she was betrothed to another.

✮⋆˙ This enraged him, as for now, even if he had gained more than what he wished to accomplish, he had lost everything that once made him who he was. In an attempt to salvage whatever there was left, he tried to consume the soul of her beloved, only to end up consuming hers by accident.

✮⋆˙ This served as a catalyst for his full transformation to becoming a demon, all his guilt consuming him whole and casting him into the life of eternal suffering.

✮⋆˙ He was scouted out by Jinu due to him being one of the strongest demons, he had no musical experience beforehand, so training him was sorta… difficult, but in the end it worked.

Romance Saja (Min-Joon)

✮⋆˙ Much like the other names, Minjoon can have a LOT of interpretations. Min can mean; quick, clever or sharp, and sometimes it can also be gentle or affable depending on the hanja characters used. While Joon means talented, handsome, or outstanding, which in my opinion? Is very fitting to him.

✮⋆˙ Unlike Eunyoung or Hoseok, Minjoon was a human up until recently, but he didn’t make a pact with Gwa-Mi, but rather made a deal with Jinu in exchange for his soul.

✮⋆˙ When Minjoon was young, his father left him and his mother to peruse a “better life” with his affair partner, leaving them to fend for themselves. His mother tried to make this transition as easy as possible for Minjoon, taking more hours in order to keep their income coming and still provide extra cash for whatever he might want, yet, this left little to no time to spend with her son.

✮⋆˙ He didn’t really resent his mother for this, quite the opposite really. Seeing her so driven to provide comfort to their lives despite their losses made him want to do better, to someday be able to provide for her the same way she was providing for him. In his search for ways to get rich, he came across the idol world. It wasn’t just the money that attracted him to it, but rather the musical aspect of it. They all seemed to have so much fun, doing something they enjoyed while inspiring others to do the same, didn’t that sound like the dream?

✮⋆˙ What drew him in more than anything were the choreographies, there was something about the way they moved along with every beat, every move perfectly aligned with the lyrics, it just felt right, something he wanted to do.

✮⋆˙ It was during highschool that he started to act upon this, creating a social media account and beginning to train himself to dance and create his own style. Despite what influencers might make you think, gaining a following was quite hard, not getting many interactions often left him disillusioned, but it didn’t stop him. The more he practiced, the better he got, and slowly his confidence and following grew.

✮⋆˙ He usually kept his interest quiet from everyone at school, but once, while practicing in an empty classroom, he managed to find someone who shared a similar dream to him.

✮⋆˙ The two of them grew closer, and they slowly began working to get their dreams come true. Eunseong was a composer, and combining this with the dances Minjoon was able to create along those lyrics, they seemed like the perfect match. However, both of them lacked in the aspect of singing, something that set them back by a long shot in the world of idols and k-pop groups.

✮⋆˙ Even as they grew, and they were able to get a following from their creations, the dream of becoming big was still far from them. In an attempt to better their voices, they went to Dr. Ramune for his “amazing” tonics, but as we all know, it didn’t work. And that’s where Jinu came into play.

✮⋆˙ One unfortunate night, both met Jinu outside of a shop. He offered them what they desired the most, a group to succeed, the voices they so desired, all of their dreams granted, just for the price of their soul. Who would be able to pass up on that offer?

✮⋆˙ And that’s how things came to be. Now with a group, a fame so vast they got everything they wanted, what else was there for him to want? Well, it seemed that he had forgotten a tiny detail.. the mother which he had worked so hard for, who never heard from him again.

Mystery Saja (Eun-Seong)

✮⋆˙ once again with the names and the meanings, hopefully you aren’t getting too tired of them lmfao. Eunseong can be roughly translated to many great;abundant, flourishing. Eun meaning kindness, mercy, or silver. It can also refer to grace, favor, or gratitude. And Seong meaning success, accomplishment, or flourishing. It can also be interpreted as sincere, honest, or true. All of these names are just things I believe are fitting to their character.

✮⋆˙ Alike Minjoon, Eunseong was also a human up until recently, matter of fact, he knew Minjoon personally, as he was his only friend throughout school.

✮⋆˙ He was born into a wealthy family, a very detached one at that. Family dinners were usually spent silent, or talking about the successes/faults of their family or company. This type of family style caused him to grow rather quiet, he hated big crowds, as they were nothing other than means to gain status, so he didn’t really socialize much with others in school. Most of his thoughts and feelings were written down on notebooks, and those words slowly developed into poems, poems that eventually turned into lyrics.

✮⋆˙ As his love for music grew, so did his feeling of isolation. He knew he couldn’t talk about this with his family, as a career as an idol was seen as taboo. He had so many ways to earn a living and get rich, and he decided to do that? His father would never allow it. Not only that, but the kids at his school who said they wanted to follow such dreams were just.. idiots. None of them cared for anything other than singing already made songs, doing the same as every other group out there did, they wanted fame and money without working hard for it.

✮⋆˙ That was up until he met Minjoon. It was by accident really, he just heard a song coming out from one of the classrooms and he decided to snoop, only to find him dancing in there. From then on, their relationship grew.

✮⋆˙ Minjoon was unlike anyone he had met before, he didn’t mind his quiet nature, matter of fact, he sort of loved it. While Eunseong stayed quiet and wrote, he would yap his ear off, even offering some advice about the lyrics while beginning to create his own choreography to it. He was.. odd, but he didn’t mind, after all, when was the last time he had this much fun with someone else?

✮⋆˙ Eventually, as they grew up, he opened up about his wishes to become an idol to his family, and just as expected, they didn’t react well to the news. Considering they were well out of high school, his father kicked him out of their home, putting the ultimatum to not come back unless he rethinks his life choices.

✮⋆˙ This wasn’t much of a problem, as he had saved up enough of his allowance to get an apartment, and after telling Minjoon after the whole ordeal, they both worked together to rent a place of their own, beginning to work hard to accomplish their goals.

✮⋆˙ Despite all the effort they put into their videos, it seemed to not be amounting to anything. They had a few debuts, and a small following of fans, but no matter what they did, they weren’t accomplishing what they truly wanted. This made him slowly start to loose hope, seriously reconsidering his fathers offer, however, Minjoo wasn’t giving up so easily.

✮⋆˙ Tonics, some sort of witchcraft, doing crazy dares, whatever crazy idea his partner came up with, he would follow. Did he truly think they would work? No, but seeing him so determined to not let their dream die out made him share the sentiment. That was up until they found this.. guy?.

✮⋆˙ Jinu, a self proclaimed demon who told them he would make their dreams come true all in exchange of his soul. It seemed shady as hell, and he was highly against the idea of handing whoever the hell he was anything valuable of theirs, he was going to decline, tell this man to fuck off, yet, seeing the desperation in Minjoon’s face, he couldn’t bring himself to. In the end, they both agreed.

✮⋆˙ And that’s how things came to be. They succeeded in their dreams, gaining the title of idols, their hard work finally paying off, yet, in the process, they seemingly lost themselves.

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I had a lot of fun with these, AND ONCE AGAIN, these are all up for interpretation! The Saja boys have no canon names or personalities really, so I’m just making it up on vibes and whimsy. Besides, I will be using these if/when I write about them, so feel free to do so as well!! And if you do, please @ me or lmk because I would love to see what you guys create with them :>

Reblogs are appreciated!

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Maybe I'm too poor and dumb to understand it, but considering Meghan's big plans towards As Ever I don't think it's something good that her products keep getting sold out in one day. It shows a lack of planning or stock, like is it really good she's selling 20 or 40 jars of jam? You don't build a huge company by selling 40 jars of jam. It reminds me of that episode where Monica was trying to find a purpose and she started making jam, until she finally realized she was spiraling l.

Something that has always bothered me about the As Ever rollout is the almost over-the-top focus on the packaging. Like out of all the videos and BTS footage we’ve seen of the products themselves, there’s an over-attentiveness to the packaging. Like Meghan proofing the boxes and the way she waxes poetic in the keepsake jar and box, etc.

When you think about it, it’s a little bizarre, right? All this attention on packaging and product placement and not on the actual product itself. No footage of taste tests or samples. No footage of sourcing ingredients or meeting farmers or collecting honey or developing recipes. And for all the attention she’s getting for flower sprinkles, why hasn’t she capitalized on it to show us how they’re made?

And then all this drama about restocking. Like, she knew this was going to be popular for a certain audience and demographic, so why didn’t she plan for that from the get go? Of course, you don’t want to make too much and have it sit there on the shelf but at the same time, you don’t want to make too little that you piss off your would-be customers. It’s weird.

Anyway, I heard some gossip the other day that Meghan does the same thing with these foodstuffs that she does to her clothes - she buys the surplus from a private label that didn’t sell or was overstocked and she slaps her custom label on the products and passes that off as her own As Ever.

So the reason she has such a small collection and the reason she focused so much on packaging vs actual product is because she bought someone else’s overstock and the reason she hasn’t/doesn’t restock is because she literally can’t, because she doesn’t know the recipes or she doesn’t have the authority to make those orders in the first place.

So on the one hand if this is true…it explains a lot about her approach to business.

But in the other hand…talk about always getting the sloppy leftover seconds that no one wants.

Anyway, take with some salt.

[mudkip-enthusiast18]

thinking about contract killers/hitmen/assassins rosekiller,,,,,,

barty mainly uses a machine gun (and 2 pistols), he likes being in the thick of the action, likes fistfights a lot too

evan is a sniper above all, he loves the precision of it, but can definitely hold his own in a close quarters fight. his sniper gun is his BABY he takes extremely good care of it (he may be a little crazy but it’s ok <3 )

they both used to work alone, both absolutely despised the idea of working with someone else, and then one day someone hired them together for a particularly difficult job, payed them double for them to agree to work together

at first, they both just sort of tried to complete the job doing their own thing, having zero idea how to work together (and not wanting to) and then some kind of horrible near death situation happens, and forces them to realize that there’s a reason they were hired together for this. it was impossible to do alone, they needed both their skillsets

so they slowly but surely learn to work together, and develop a deep bond through that and through all the near deadly situations they end up in through the course of the job

they end up finishing the job eventually, and it’s finally time for them to be apart once more, never see each other again. they both thought they were excited for this day to come, but once they’ve collected their money and are walking away, they both realize they can never be apart again

they start working as a team for all their work (+ start dating <3 ), they become famous in crime circles all around the world for being the absolute best and deadliest duo of hitmen ever

i never know how to end these things

they get married also eventually

lol

[liquidcrystalsky]

i saw someone say they never actually played a splatoon game and only watched two story modes. it felt a bit weird to me but i think there is something to think about.

most of all the story/lore/worldbuilding in-game is text and images and are basically identical if you read them on a wiki

The chat logs and sunken scrolls and alterna/dev logs, have nothing to do with whats going on. The gameplay, the things you do, don't inform what information you're given at all.

You unlock things either just with normal progression or as random collectables. In splatoon 1 and 2 the sunken scrolls corresponded to each level, but they didn't take advantage of that at all. Most sunken scrolls just were about whatever. They made it per area in splatoon 3. So it's even more detached from the gameplay.

The Dev Diaries and Acht's letters, are all unlocked in exactly the same way. Every single one, other than having to change what weapon you use, it's the same.

Shit, most of the god damn world-building, ISN'T EVEN IN THE GAME! It's on the websites, in artbooks, interviews (both in-universe and developers), soundtrack releases, whatever.

Other than the first two story modes, there are like Actual things which happen in the games which can't be summarized in a sentence (most of the story about Octo Canyon was in the "Squid Sister Stories." Not Even In The Game).

Octo Expansion has an amazing final sequence, which, is mostly cutscenes and you can just sorta watch on youtube. You don't need to know what happens in Girl Power station or any of the levels at all.

RotM had a Lot Of Shit Happen but... actually i think it did it the best for experiencing the story Through The Game (not by much). Though It sucks that the story has absolutely nothing to do with the gameplay and they often straight up contradict or just doesn't make sense. Oh yeah the whole fucking thing crashed and killed everyone. Don't ask why everything's in completely pristine condition.

Side Order sort of just cleared up all of the story points within the first 10 minutes of the game, right after the tutorial Marina just explains Everything and then that's just what happens for the rest of the game. There's no twist or any evolving story that isn't in the Dev Diaries which don't affect the Actual Game.

The thing i'd say you miss out the most on is small character moments, but there's also plenty of compilations and people pointing them out too. There's definitely a lot of things you'd miss, a lot of spectacle, and some emotions, but idk i feel like it's not too much in the grand scheme of things.

Splatoon has amazing world building, but kind of bad storytelling (i guess nintendo in general, i can see it a bit in botw/totk as well) and it kinda gives room for people to actually be genuine fans of the series, story and world, without even touching a game at all.

As much as I don't want to buy a switch 2 and all that, i really hope Raiders does this storytelling well.

I also have nothing against watching like longplays of the game or just like full game walkthrough or whatever. I call myself fans of games which i've only watched and not played. I'm saying you can totally be a fan with a really large amount of knowlege of splatoon without even doing that.

I have had this comparison of RotM to Outer Wilds in my head a lot and i'm gonna walk my dog then i'll write it out

[presidentdisastraofgallifrey]

Doctor Who is Better When it is Monster-of-the-Week

(I have evidence for my opinions, but obligatory disclaimer that these are my opinions, it's fine if you disagree but do not yell at me about it)

Doctors 1-3: didn't really have arcs of any sort, only Situations and character development. Even the unit thing was more a setting-situation than a story arc. There were excellent stories and really bad ones

This makes the Key to Time the first real plot arc, and while it could be worse it's largely agreed upon that it was unnecessary to tie these episodes together into a Mission. And as it was, they were barely even connected otherwise. So yes I enjoyed them, but they didn't need to be an arc

The rest of Four was generally very good with some obvious misses

Turlough was sort of a halfway attempt at an arc, but I'm not sure if I should even count it because we didn't really see the moment when he shifted from an assassin to a companion

This makes the next real, complete arc Trial of a Timelord, one of the most disliked eras of classic who, and it wasn't for Colin Baker's acting ability. Even so, they tried to have it both ways here, both an arc and a series of unconnected stories, and it didn't really work. The courtroom scenes were fun, though

No more arcs for the rest of classic who

The only arc-adjacent thing in Nine's season is the Bad Wolf foreshadowing, which might have been cool but ended up just being foreshadowing and then a conclusion that only kind of made sense

Ten's I think was both overrated and genuinely good, as both Moffat and RTD are better at singular stories than ongoing arcs and he didn't really have much in the way of season-long plot arcs. Again, just foreshadowing and then conclusions

Eleven #1: The Cracks in the Universe. There are Eleven episodes I like, and his characterization is fun. But I don't think any of his arcs worked because I don't think they were thought out as stories so much as a collection of things that sounded cool. Cracks in time eating history might have been cool, but then the answer was that Amy had to stay in stasis for 2000 years, Rory basically willed himself into being real instead of an automaton, and they wrote themselves into such a corner the only way to fix the universe was to have Amy be able to inexplicably remember a Doctor who no longer existed. I maintain that if they did this today as a way of resetting the history of alien invasions, instead of when the whole fandom was lusting after Matt Smith, it would be a wildly unpopular decision

Eleven #2: River. I love River as a character, even on the show. I hate absolutely everything about her backstory. She could have been a mystery in her own right, someone cool and unusual and with no ties to the Doctor before meeting him out of order and marrying him. I would have liked that. Instead, it was apparently necessary to make the Doctor's wife the child of the woman who's been clearly in love with him most of his life, and oh yeah she's only in love with him because she was brainwashed to be obsessed with him in a murderous way then spent years listening to her mother (!!) as a kid obsess about his mysterious perfection. And that's not meant to be creepy at all. I am bonus extra annoyed about this because they actually do have good chemistry and I like their dynamic, but this mess was unnecessary. And don't even get me started on how they'd had him meet so few friends and allies that when they tried to do a reunion like they did for Ten, they had to make a bunch up in the moment and pretend you should know them

Eleven #3: Clara. She's an intriguing mystery to the Doctor because he keeps seeing her throughout history. You're supposed to agree because she's cute. That's the whole arc.

Twelve #1: Clara and Danny. I actually enjoy a lot more of Clara's character and the stories here, but making her fall in love with someone the Doctor hates for no good reason, lie to both of them to balance her life, kill him off because they wrote themselves into a corner again and need her free to travel with the Doctor, and then never mention him or how that broke history again was not needed

Twelve #2: Missy's redemption. Ok, I actually liked this one. I do think they waited too long to do the reveal and didn't leave time to do it properly, but I enjoyed it anyway

Thirteen #1: Timeless Children. I don't feel like I should really count this as an arc in quite the same way, but someone will point it out if I don't mention it. It feels more like the earlier things, more individual stories that have some foreshadowing towards a big conclusion

Thirteen #2: The Flux. I like a lot of the storytelling here, but making it one big stakes-raising, universe-ending story was completely unnecessary

Fifteen #1: Ruby. One of the worst arcs, as so much of this season was dedicated to questions about Ruby's origins that are never answered in a way that makes any sense

Fifteen #2: Returning Belinda to Earth. This one is better purely because it leaves more room for monster-of-the-week stories between the arc plot. And yes, until the finale it remains one of my favorite seasons. But again, they built up a compelling mystery and then answered it in the worst way possible that didn't even address what was happening in a satisfying way

So basically, I think Doctor Who as a show functions better when it is made up of adventure stories that remember previous continuity but don't try to link together into a bigger, higher-stakes overarching plot because no one who writes for this show can keep track of more than two plot points at a time and usually even if the arc was good I would argue it wouldn't add that much to the story or character

[zahhaked]

Thinking more thoughts about This in light of the back and forth I have with @booksandberries. Sensei herself points out that Sasaki's growth is due to both Miyano and Hirano. And the thing with Miyano is almost certainly coming from a place of physical/sexual attraction because it's so hard to re-watch/re-read Sasaki and Miyano and not see how immediately Into Miyano Sasaki is, and letting his guard down is really the only way that is going to go anywhere. So Sasaki's pretty incentivized to get close to Miyano in order to get what he wants - which is that closeness itself. (I also someday want to make a post about my ideas about Sasaki's sexuality because in terms of this series he's the character who sort of gets the least amount of screen time actually "struggling" with the fact that Miyano is a guy. Like he does but it gets over it a lot quicker than most. Kagiura may as well but Kagiura's attraction to Hirano isn't rooted in physical attraction the way Sasaki's is for Miyano???? IMO)

But then: Hirano. The light novels give us plenty of glimpses into how they interact when they're alone, right? Their first meeting, the aftermath of The Fight, studying together, and so on. Sasaki appraising Hirano's abs and thinking about how ripped he is. Unlike with Miyano, Sasaki does have a guard up when he first meets Hirano, and he honestly keeps it up for a good while longer. He doesn't really divulge too many of his feelings to Hirano, and even though Hirano sort of watches the whole ssmy relationship develop (and even tries to impede it early on bc he doesn't trust Sasaki - maybe he can smell the lust pheromones?) they never Talk About it. And then one day - they do. "Did something happen between you and Miyano?" "Yeah, I confessed to him."

The volume of trust!!!!! The way Sasaki didn't hesitate. The way he relied on Hirano, and a little of that was rooted in his own desperation, because he knows he fucked up - but he also perhaps trusts that Hirano will help. Because that's what Hirano immediately does - he takes out his phone and tells Sasaki to fix it. If nothing else, he trusts that Hirano won't be Weird about him being in love with another guy - which, fair, Sasaki has been watching the whole Ritual going on with hrkg for months now, but plenty of people have internalized homophobia. It took a long time and a lot of work to get to the point where Sasaki so easily admits his feelings and his mistake to Hirano - and Hirano just takes it in stride. The trust Sasaki has in him is never misplaced. Hirano can hold that shit for him.

It does make me a little upset that this doesn't go both ways - I can't think of any moment in particular where Hirano allows Sasaki to help carry his burdens. And I kind of think, for all his griping, Sasaki would want to. But Hirano is so cool, calm, collected, so in his own head and capable of working through his own shit, he barely asks for advice - and when he does, it's super cagey and not obvious in the slightest...

But then again, when Hirano is looking for a birthday gift for Kagiura, he asks his friends for ideas, vaguely. What does Sasaki say he would want? Concert tickets. What does Hirano ultimately get? Basketball tickets. I don't think it's a coincidence.

Please join me in sshr brainrot hell we're open 24/7 :)

Been rolling this author commentary in my head since rereading the volume (it's Sasaki and Miyano, either volume 8 or 9).

I love that Harusono notes the ways that both Miyano and Hirano have had their impact on Sasaki; Miyano "encourages him to drop his guard" because Sasaki feels compelled to get closer to him. But with Hirano he "doesn't always put a guard up" because Hirano is a safe person to be himself around. Hirano doesn't expect him to be anyone but himself and doesn't ask him to change

[loadinghellsing]

[cnl0400]

My problem Is not the tiers itself or the amount of money being asked. My problem Is not knowing what the MAIN APP will be about, other than being vaguely described as a lifestyle app... Being about married Life with the brothers... What are the core functions? The memo feature they posted today?

And even If the money Is going to extra stuff within the app and not the main app itself:

That's still counted as production costs, even If It isn't about core features and counting only tiers that add new features to the app. That are the words used in the campaign itself. Because Bonus content still amounts to the total cost of developing this app in the end.

Ok, imagine they don't reach the goals like the camera feature. What Is there to do in the app then?

Is the health tracker the main appeal? The journal feature they announced today? Collecting outfits for the characters? The "digital merch" (which I can only imagine It Will be like having some kind of shrine/digital room)? "Lifestyle app" Is vague as hell, at least to me. And people can only explain It with comparing to what It might sound similar apps like LADs or the Strawberry Prince app developed by one of the collaborating companies.

This thing will have a gacha. Is the same thing as the Nightmare System in both OG/NB? is this gacha only for collecting outfits (in the form of "cards" I supposed something similar to the Devilgram feature?) or Will the resources you get in the gacha affect the way you can Advance the main Story or just your ability to access side content? How do you Advance in the main story, by the way? With OG It was the Dance Battles and with Nightbringer It was the rythmn game. What Is the mechanic in this new app? Everyday there's a new thread post on Reddit/Tumblr/Twitter asking If this thing will have routes and nobody Is capable of answering with a clear "yes" or "no" (personally, I think the answer Is no just for the nature of having a gacha system) without being all speculation and rumours, because the stuff you don't say Is just as important as the stuff you explicitly say.

I don't doubt this app has been in development for some Time since the tentative release Is this year, so It should be Easy to answer at least what Is going to be one of the core features of the app itself. I don't work in the game industry but I have experience in software development, and while I understand the process can be chaotic and last-minute changes are bread and butter of development in general, It should be Easy to say "this Is going to be what makes our users use our app". "The romance with the brothers Is the main appeal" you might say, but I know people who passed on Nightbringer because they don't like rythmn games or people who found OG insípid for the monotony of the dance battles, so how you Advance Is just as important as the writting, because tedious grinding and boring gameplay can weaken the game success

And like I said, I don't mind the tiers, or the kind of money being asked, I don't doubt how expensive developing a game like this Is like. With the risk of sounding like a loser, I was even debating in buying the Bouquet toss tier (which Is the only tier that offers in-game rewards) but then I started to think... You're offering outfits which of course, Is a cosmetic thing, but you're also offering cards... Do the cards only offer a Devilgram (supposing that the Devilgram mechanic will return, which should be explicitly said because in the same Kickstarter they say to not only aim to attract veterans, but new players as well who might not be familiar with the System in the other games) or a card Is also a resource to Advance the main Story like the last two games? Or this Is all just cosmetic stuff to "show off"? To who? Like, Will you be able to show this cosmetics to your friends in-game? Or with "show off" do they reffer to like, sharing screenshots in social media? Considering the price of this tier, you should know what are you're buying before dropping that kind of money.

Some people don't mind going blind, but Is there any harm in being more explicit in what proyect you want people to support? Before today (in which they revealed the journal/news feature) the only thing they have revealed has been merch, and expanding the tiers (which again, it's not a problem in itself). It has been half of this campaign and nobody Is able to explain clearly what the main functions of the app is. Which If you want people to support your proyect... Should be the main priority. This crownfunding ends 7 of next month, I think its a Little too late to just start explaining what this Is all about, especially for people that are waiting for more information before investing in this campaign, like me. I don't want to wait to July 6 to know If I'm interesed or not in the app itself, unless they plan on extending the crownfunding period...

I have been bitting my tongue because I don't want to be a party popper or anything (not that It matter because this has always been a vent blog to me, not a fandom blog) but since they released new tiers that aré ridiculously expensive on Kickstarter AND we have less than two weeks for the crownfunding to end I can't anymore:

I just don't understand how succesfull this campaign currently Is when we know basically nothing about the game, I was waiting for AX for them to say anything but they decided to expand the tiers Instead of y'know... Promote what the game Is actually about...

Everything about this Is so... Vague... The goal of the Kickstarter Is to fund the new game/app... But we know basically nothing about it

[kaprisvn]

Everyone's favourite hair optional!

Just some silly misc. doodles for the Y/N of Chasing Stars :DD

I was going to wait until I was done my Sun and Moon doodle sheets as well, but I think we could all use a little silliness right now :)

I'll probably put some notes here later, but ough I'm tired. Hope y'all like this freak /aff

(And for my American friends, the biggest digital hug ever sent your way <3 )

[flightlesstrash]

turnabout teleportation: ace attorney investigations 2 case turned stage play?????

how come im only just now hearing about this!!!! what!!!!

apparently there was a case from the 2nd investigations game that was cut because they were worried the story was going to be too long and they decided to turn said case into a two hour long stage play.

and its fucking perfect

the fucking INCREDIBLE way miles and the other characters are introduced via ✨logic chess✨. the way some of the best music from the games shows up throughout the show at the best times. the way the costumes seem like they were ripped right out of the game itself. the way they have super epic dance breaks between scene changes. the way the HOW MUUUUCH guy moves with the case during a said dance break. the way gummy gives his coat to kay.

i could go on and on and on about this. GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW. you will not be disappointed.

i was a lil sad ray and lang didnt have a role but theres the spirit of lang with 'reminiscence ~ the fall of the house of lang' making an appearance :DD