#lazy use of artificial intelligence

[piscessheepdog]

André finds an AI-generated mindscrew

In this edited screenshot, André has just found this link that provides mostly inaccurate information about the short film he has debuted. The link claims that André and Wally B. look at each other through rose-coloured glasses (i.e. they have a bed of roses) and the setting is as similar as the one used for the Silly Symphonies short film Flowers and Trees. That's a pack of lies! In fact, André was shown to be hostile towards Wally B. and there are no sentient or anthropomorphic flora in it, not even the forest has magical properties.

It seems that there is lazy use of artificial intelligence, leading to the presence of hallucinations such as this one. And, yes, this is AI slop. AI slop is considered a form of quantity over quality prioritization.

Anyways, the moral is: please do not overrely on generative artificial intelligence or else your creativity will be decreased significantly.

André > The Adventures of André & Wally B. © Pixar (formerly known as Lucasfilm Computer Graphics) and Lucasfilm (both of them currently owned by The Walt Disney Company)

[mytvisonthefritz]

WHY ARE WE AS A SOCIETY ONLY APPRECIATIVE OF ART BECAUSE OF THE OUTCOME!!!!!! ART IS ABOUT THE PROCESS BEHIND IT AND WE HAVE BRAINWASHED OURSELVES INTO BELIEVING THAT THE PRODUCT IS MORE VALUABLE THAN THE TIME AND EFFORT BEHIND IT!!!!!!

[infiniteorangethethird]

guys imma be real with y'all I don't fw chatgpt and its sibling plagiarism machines but the more anti AI posts I see the more pro AI I become

[song-of-baldy-ron]

I keep getting asked by my coworkers why im not using ChatGPT and I’m this close to ripping out my hair I DONT WANT TO

no i don't want to use your ai assistant. no i don't want your ai search results. no i don't want your ai summary of reviews. no i don't want your ai feature in my social media search bar (???). no i don't want ai to do my work for me in adobe. no i don't want ai to write my paper. no i don't want ai to make my art. no i don't want ai to edit my pictures. no i don't want ai to learn my shopping habits. no i don't want ai to analyze my data. i don't want it i don't want it i don't want it i don't fucking want it i am going to go feral and eat my own teeth stop itttt

[cottagecore-moss-king]

Not so Artificial Intelligence

Inspired by This prompt: HERE  by @corkinavoid No beta we die like Danny and Jason. Do not steal, take, or repost my writing without permission, I do not consent to my art being used in AI training. 

Tim had just finished attaching the wires of the speaker into the bat computer for Betty when the speakers began to crackle. 

“What is this? Wait, can you hear me?” The voice that echoed out of the speakers was very distinctly not robotic, or mechanical. It very much had human intonation… and a mid-western accent???

The gathered family froze and stared in shock. Dick and Stephanie were here as a joke, Babs, Tim, and Bruce were there as the techies, and despite Damian’s protests, he was also standing besides Bruce. Despite the gathering of bats, none of them could have expected this. A few hands went to emergency beacons and cellphones, before pausing.

“Hello Red Robin!” The voice cheerfully called. Taking steps back and glancing around the cave at Babs, who stared at Bruce, who stared at Tim as he clicked his super beacon. 

“Betty?”

“I mean, you do know me as such, but I actually prefer Danny, he/they.” Babs pointed at Bruce, who looked at Tim, who lamely motioned towards Babs. 

“Who uh. Who installed you?” His voice was most certainly not squeaky thanks for asking. 

“Oh, well uh, technically no-one, I accidentally did it myself.” The screen turned on and started to glitch out to a camera. It eventually settled on the sketching program, which popped a smiley face onto itself.

“Who are you” Bruce growled, as he switched into batman mode. Damian was glaring at the screen and the rest of the family had inched into a defensive formation. 

The entrance door entered and Superman walked out of it. 

“What seems to be the issue B?”

“OMG It’s superman! You’re like, my second favorite hero!”

“Oh, uh, than-er” Bruce glared at him, with no idea of what this entity was, it was always a good idea to follow fey rules. “That’s very much appreciated. Who is your first?”

“Martian Manhunter obviously.” Betty, or Danny as they were now referred to as, began to sketch out something on the app. 

“I got into a fight with a technomancer. I figured I could just phase out but he did some magic and now I’m stuck. Very rude if you ask me.”

“Ah, I see.” Supermans face implied that he very much did not see. “So, are you a martian perhaps? With the phasing and Manhunter as your favoratie.”

“Oh no, I’m ahhhh….” The cheery tone died as Danny tried to find the words, “I’m like a spirit, yeah, I guess that’s the right way to put it right now.”

“Were you human before this?” butted in Tim. Now that the seeming threat had passed, (you could never be too careful, no shut up Nightwing he is not paranoid, just cautious) the family had relaxed their stance and Barbra had rolled over to the computer screen. 

“Technically???” 

Danny did not sound so sure of himself.

“It’s not a problem if you aren’t, you can tell that we don’t really care if you are human or not.” 

Superman floated carefully down to the ground besides Bruce, but without actually touching down. Perhaps he simply forgot that they were friends with non-humans.

“Tell that to the gov.” he snarked back, and that was definitely teenager snark. 

“Wait shit. No, no no no, I take that back, don’t tell the government anything, I didn’t say nothin’!” he gasped and staticed out. 

“What do you mean tell it to the government?”

“NOPE, NUH UH. I DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING YOU CAN’T PROVE IT, I WANT MY LAWYER!”

“Alright,” Bruce pacified putting his hands up “Let me just call a friend and they can get you out.”

“Wait really? Where’s Mr. I’m so dark and broody tell me everything?”

Yep, that’s teenager snark right there, Bruce thought as his eye twitch and his kids snickered. 

“Sooo, how did this technomancer trap you, Danny?” Dick strolled over to the chair in front of the computer and flopped down spinning around in lazy circles. 

“Oh, well you see it started when…” Danny's voice faded off as Bruce took his league communicator out and stepped around a corner with Kal to call up Zatanna. 

“Hey Batman! What’s up?”

“We need you down in the batcave, some seemingly civilian has been trapped in the computer for a couple weeks now, and we’ve only just gotten into communication with them. They say it was technomancy.” He rumbled. He would have to suit up and manage to get Danny not to spill any of their identities, this just turned into a major headache to deal with. Batman hates magic. 

Once all of the children were suited up and Danny had been given an explanation, they were all patently waiting for Zatanna to arrive. 

The zeta tubes finally lit up with her arrival as she walked towards the gathered group holding her bag.

Halfway through greeting she paused, and stared blankly the screen. Everyone else shot curious glances, backwards, some more obvious than others. Did Nightwing seriously need to turn his head like that, he swears his eldest has bones, but sometimes he seriously starts to doubt himself. 

On the screen is a smiley face with a hand emoji. And a little drawing of a stick figure with white hair, green eyes, and a black suit. 

“Hello! I am Danny, I’m so sorry you had to come all this way to help me, I’d offer you something but I don’t even have a body right now.” One awkward laugh later, and Bruce wanted to have had his head in her hands. 

“I don’t worry, I can fix this. It’ll be a pain, but I can.”

While Zatanna sat up the spell and sent Kal out to go to Metropolis, (less suspicious for him to be buying things than Gotham), Bruce decided to stand around in the shadows while waiting to be useful. His kids, were off making friends with the strange person in the computer however. Laughing and teasing, he’s almost certain that Stephanie and Dick are trying to convince Danny to stay around and get adopted, despite Danny and Damian’s protests. 

After thirty minutes, Zatanna was ready to do the spell, and Danny was saying goodbye. 

As the light shone through the sigils written on the board and Zattana continued her muttering and waving, Danny added one last thing. 

“And I added a file of something for you guys to look at, please please please look into it! I hope I can see you soon!”

And with a final flash, Danny was gone, leaving the batfam without their lovely AI/new friend. Zatannna wrapped things up and Batman escorted her back to the Zeta tube with Clark, thanking them briefly. And with that, Clark and Zatanna left with Two flashes of light. 

Now, time to see what that file was that Danny had added. 

[alexanderwales]

The Index

This is an index of things I've written and posted online, with minimal descriptions because most of them have blurbs if you click the link. This list is not exhaustive, especially because there are a bunch of short stories and dribbles in various places. If something you liked is missing, let me know.

Web Serials

Worth the Candle - Juniper Smith is a teenaged Dungeon Master who ends up in a world filled with all the things he dreamt up for his campaigns, along with signs of his friend who died months earlier. This Used to be About Dungeons - Five teenagers live in a house together, bake bread, tend the garden, and occasionally fight monsters in dungeons. Thresholder - Thresholders travel from world to world, fantasy one minute and scifi the next, always encountering an opponent, growing stronger as they battle. Shadows of the Limelight - Fame gives you superpowers, and Dominic just saved the world's greatest hero from defeat in full view of a large audience. Glimwarden (unfinished) - A small town huddles around lanterns that keep the darklings at bay. Four teenagers must grow in power as the darkness encroaches. The Dark Wizard of Donkerk (unedited) - Two men steal a baby from an orphanage, then find out he's too cute to sacrifice and raise him as their own.

Fanfic

The Metropolitan Man (Superman) - Lex Luthor attempts to unravel the secrets of the alien. A Common Sense Guide to Doing the Most Good (Superman) - Superman gets really into effective altruism. Instruments of Destruction (Star Wars) - A fable of project management aboard the second Death Star, through the eyes of Admiral Tian Jerjerrod. Branches on the Tree of Time (Terminator) - Sarah Connor is working as a software engineer at UCLA when a naked man shows up on her doorstep. A Bluer Shade of White (Frozen) - Elsa can make life, and Olaf is smarter than he looks.

Shorts

Eager Readers in Your Area - Artificial intelligence has left authors scrambling for readers. Charlotte clicks on an ad. Variations - An orc visits an art exhibition where she feels out of place. Contratto - Julia takes a job as a marketer, working for the vampires to keep their secrets safe. The Randi Prize - James Randi offers a prize for anyone who can demonstrate supernatural abilities. Coming Home - After a long time isekaied to a fantasy kingdom, an errant father has coffee with his estranged son.

I also post short stuff to this very tumblr, which can usually be found under the #microfiction tag unless I forget. Usually this is mirrored on AO3, unless I'm lazy.

Web Comics

Millennial Scarlet - Lamont Pearce is a gig economy demon hunter whose mother ran a government agency meant to defend against Hell. Worth the Candle - A webcomic adaptation of the web serial

Non-Fiction

The AI Art Apocalypse - Slightly outdated thoughts from 2022. Why to Write a Sex Scene - Observations on the narrative purpose of carnal pursuits. Game Review: Underhill - This review contains no screenshots, because this game does not exist. Writing: An FAQ - Accumulated wisdom from 4 million words and counting. Creating Interesting Magic - A much-requested post on making interesting magic systems (and characters, and plots, and worlds). How to Write a Web Serial - It's both easier and harder than you think. The Trouble with Writing Nazis - On giving villains too much credit. Interesting Things to do with Time Loops - Exploring the boundaries of the conceit.

[adastra-sf]

Bad news for those querying agents: "AI" is ruining this, too

Sending your book manuscript off to agents in hopes of selling it? Be aware that at least some of them have taken the lazy route and are now using "artificial intelligence" to process submissions, thereby wrecking the author/ agent process.

If an agent doesn't read your manuscript themselves, don't trust them to be able to sell it to a publisher, either. Any agents doing this have made themselves irrelevant and unnecessary, and aren't worth paying agenting fees, as they only slow submission to publishers.

[silme-lorien]

hi everyone, @frodosrings and I are so excited to announce our new event…

SAMFRO SUMMER!

This event will be running for TEN DAYS, July 1st-10th! Each day will have a theme to follow, and you can create fanfiction, fanart, or any other kind of creative project! In order to keep all these lovely works together, please use the hashtag #samfrosummer or add it to this collection if you’re posting on ao3 ! we will be reblogging everything onto @samfrosummer, you can tag the blog to let us know that you’ve posted!

here are the themes!

Day 1: Large Gatherings / Festivities

examples/prompts:

county fair, carnival, summer festival, backyard parties, cultural celebrations, weddings, party time, meeting family

Day 2: Sun / Heat

examples/prompts:

solstice, freckles, sunburn, tanned skin, sweat, blinding lights, searching for shade, sunrise/sunset, glowing, ethereal, wind/breeze 

Day 3: Nature / Wilderness 

examples/prompts:

camping trip, hiking, bonfire, wildflowers, stargazing, shapes in the clouds, grass beneath your feet, mountains, wildlife, storms

Day 4: Rebirth, Regrowth, Rejuvenation

examples/prompts:

finding yourself, family, change of seasons, trying something new/trying again, refreshing love, planting the seeds

Day 5: Snacks & Refreshments 

examples/prompts:

lemonade stand, ice cream, picnic, barbeque, cooking together, picnic, picking berries, come over for a meal, farmers market

Day 6: Summer Pastimes 

examples/prompts:

reading a book, lazy mornings, going for a walk, hammock, summer routines, boredom, domesticity, loving in secret

Day 7: Water / Beach

examples/prompts:

beach day, swimming, tanning, in the sand, cooling off, lakes/rivers, cool bath, waterfalls, a quick dip, skipping stones

Day 8: Games & Creativity 

examples/prompts:

board/card games, art, writing, muse, sports, sculpt, gifts, scrapbook, paint, teaching the rules, having fun, crafting, sewing

Day 9: Hard Work

examples/prompts:

yard work, gardening, building something, rekindling, getting out of your comfort zone, chores/housework, making up

Day 10: Wildcard  

examples/prompts:

it’s a wildcard!! create something for a summer prompt we haven’t covered OR go back and do a prompt you couldn’t get to / had more than one idea for :)

here are the rules !!

-DO NOT use generative artificial intelligence in your works. If you do, we will not be reblogging your work onto the event blog, your work will not be allowed in the AO3 collection and you may be blocked.

-you can choose any of the examples below the main themes, or if you have a different idea for the theme you can absolutely do that! please just try to stick to the daily themes :)

-along those lines, please try to post works that are under a certain theme ON THAT DAY!

-again, if you're posting your work here, please use the hashtag #samfrosummer and tag @samfrosummer, or if you are posting your work on ao3 please put it in this collection so that we can keep them together and easily accessible <3

-you can create works that are in universe, canon divergent, or in a completely different universe! be creative!!

-support other authors /artists participating in the event by reblogging and liking!

-NO discourse, hating, or any other unsavory activities of that nature

-properly tag any NSFW or triggering topics that may be present in your work. If you’re posting NSFW art, you can use a “Read More” if necessary.

ps sorry if it’s not summer in july for you. that’s our bad

do you have any questions? please send an ask to either myself or @frodosrings <3

have fun!

[nanathott]

https://www.tumblr.com/nanathott/789253969810751488/what-is-your-opinion-on-ai

That’s a little harsh :( not that I use ai but I’ve seen TikToks of people saying people who use any form of ai should killed themselves

generative AI is killing the planet. Regular artificial intelligence has been around for a very long time and has been useful in certain tools. I feel like a lot of people get them confused

i don’t think it’s harsh at all, i’m not talking about people who use google, i’m talking about people who use AI to do their homework, to make pics, to make vids, to solve problems for them; all shit that u can do on ur own that is literally killing the planet and killing ur mind at the same time, NOT TO MENTION how its taking jobs away from people in the process of allat; its stealing peoples work, ideas, and art that they spend money, time, effort and put real human energy into

AI is making people stupid bcs they rely on robots with inaccurate information who agree with them on anything for their “opinion” it’s making people lack accountability and robbing them of their ability to think like the sentient human they are

so no, i don’t think what i said was harsh!! fuck ai!! we don’t NEED it!! it’s just an excuse for people to be lazy

[wanderingmindthoughts]

I've spent the day blazing through artificial condition and rogue protocol. these books are shorter than I expected, and also very enjoyable!

the more I read, the more murderbot reminds me of a teenager. we tend to associate with teenagerhood almost any story about finding out who we are and what we want to do with our life, but the thing that really codes murderbot as a teenager to me is that nobody wants it to choose for itself and will go to great lengths to squash any possibility of self-direction from it.

in artificial condition, it mentions how its intelligence is seen as, essentially, a necessary evil. its company would have designed murderbot without any capacity for autonomous thought if it could, but then it wouldn't be useful as a secunit. so, they made it capable of and with the desire of autonomy and self-direction, and just designed its environment to be devoid of the opportunity to do anything but what the company wants it to do.

teenagers are like that. they're capable of autonomy, and by then they have had enough experience with education and adults to recognise and resist manipulation. but still, adults have created the laws and education systems that rob them of most of their autonomy, so they become anxious and depressed. and this is also why adults have constant tantrums about teens being unreasonable and unmotivated and moody -if only people developed in such a way that only adults were capable of autonomy, instead of having all of this teen nonsense. so inconvenient.

I can't help but project a lot onto murderbot. its experiences remind me a lot of my own teenagerhood. especially when it mentioned how novel it is for it to have long periods of unobserved time; the lack of privacy both at school and at home was oppressive, and I look back and I realise that the wave of relief I felt when I heard the last person leave through the door was 1) Not Normal and 2) caused by the perspective of a few hours with nobody to give me tasks and judge how "lazy" I was being.

[do-you-have-a-flag]

just read that article from new york magazine, "Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College - ChatGPT has unraveled the entire academic project."

didn't reveal anything new to me about the use and functioning of the plagiarism-grown, glorified auto-predict, language models that were rolled out so irresponsibly it means now anyone can waste water instead of their own time and effort. but was still fascinating to read, in a bleak way.

it's so interesting because cheating and corner cutting will always exist in education, whether out of desperation or laziness, it will always be there. but by university it truly is wild how many people are not actually there to learn, because at that point if you have a program do all your work for you you are fully not there to learn so why waste your time and money playing pretend at a degree. a degree you aren't qualified for because you did not do enough.

we aren't in a post-capitalist universal basic income world where the idea of a few individuals lightly supervising automation is feasible. the technology is not there and the culture and economic stability is not there. so when a professor in the article reasons to students “you’re not actually anything different than a human assistant to an artificial-intelligence engine, and that makes you very easily replaceable. Why would anyone keep you around?” that is not hypothetical. and in terms of the degrees just because the on paper grade says you passed doesn't mean you passed it means you curated automated responses that pass with no actual guarantee of comprehension or retention of information on your part.

and there are tools and templates and minor automations that can be used to supplement your own efforts! they take longer but not that significantly, and more importantly they are less likely to impede the actual practice of learning to implementation.

that's what a lot of people who cheat or use these tools in this way seem to miss.

let me pull out three paraphrased statements of possible justifications from this article:

The education system is flawed

These exercises are irrelevant

I'm bad at organisation

these are all experientially true to my experience of education at various points. and the first point exacerbates issues with 2 and 3 to where students can feel overwhelmed or underprepared or frustrated for various reasons. however where i differ personally from the choice making of these students, is that while i never had access to such a powerful tool i still never chose to cheat or cut corners with things like chapter summaries instead of reading a book, or getting someone else to write for me, or any other obvious forms of cheating/plagiarism.

and the reason for this is not lack of frustration or feelings of antagonism towards the system or confusion over content or lack of organisation skills (all issues i had). it's that throughout my education, i am talking back to primary school, i always tried to figure out WHY we were doing the work assigned to us. what in our studies is it trying to get us to engage with, what methods does it force us to put into use to communicate that knowledge, and how much of the information have we comprehended and retained. some assignments are bad at the execution of these goals but if you can see what the goals are you can still benefit from attempting to achieve them while meeting the requirements enough to pass. IMPORTANTLY the process of doing this frustrating and often inefficient process helps not just critical thinking skills but also is how you actually learn things.

no one else can know stuff for you. it makes sense to outsource a basic sum to a calculator app on your phone, but this means you are not a mathematician. if you use a chapter by chapter summary to write a book report you have not read that book. if you read the wikipedia article for a movie you have not watched that movie. all of these are more verifiable sources of information than language models.

if you get a transcript of a lecture you did not attend and use a chatbot to make notes for you then you did not attend that class- if you read the transcript and take notes and then use the chatbot and compare the difference at least then you used your capacity for thought to process the information and assess it through comparison.... but it would be better to find a classmate and compare notes with a peer so you both have the opportunity to not only check how well you understood the lecture/refresh the information covered, but also a much lower stakes chance to try out communication skills than the group assignments and oral presentations often assigned for this purpose. and on top of that you get to socialise and network with someone in your field of study in a way that benefits both of you.

i'm not even against the use of machine learning models generally, i think they are useful in a repetitive task automation and data scanning context. but why are we delegating things like Knowing Stuff and Human Connection to the 1 and 0 machine that might as easily sell our info as have it leaked to hackers. what kind of cyberpunk surveillance dystopia are we shrugging lazily into? you do not have to pay all that money to pretend to be a competent professional. and if that sounds harsh it's because it is. there are enough scammers and barely qualified people succeeding in this world.

you do not have to dedicate your life to labours that you are not capable of, at the very least be honest with yourself of your own capacity for thought and action. genuinely try to figure out if you are using this technology because of a 'can't' or a 'won't'

it's not a tool if it knows more than you- it's a tool if you could do the job without it.

[amaranthnymph]

There was a post I saw the other day that really pissed me off, something like “oh Tumblr suddenly forgets laziness isn’t real when AI comes into the picture” and it was guilt tripping people for being pissed off at others for using AI, vouching for its use as a tool for mentally ill and disabled people. Sorry, but being mentally ill or disabled doesn’t make you free from criticism, people have every right to be pissed at you for using genAI to produce “art” or chatGPT to do your homework for you.

The choice to use AI as a tool to do menial tasks when it’s been proven time and again to be subject to cocking things up more often than not and its propensity for producing wildly incorrect information, sometimes DANGEROUS information, shows that you’re as incompetent, ineffecient, and thoughtless as the tool you’re justifying your usage of. There are better resources and tools at your disposal than an artificial intelligence that just cobbles things together as haphazardly as it possibly can and sorry to burst your bubble, but yeah, it’s going to take a heavy degree of indolence to think it’s better to have chatGPT vomit up its word salad than to just write 6 or 7 sentences on your own.

[chickenkurage]

“I’m here” (The Alan Association Fanfiction)

Summary: Noogai notices something about Kit. Or recently, Kit has been hearing from the other Alan's that he sleeps too much. Which causes him to feel more self-conscious with his problem....

Tag/s: Comfort no Hurt, Fluff

*~*

Kit: Cursor Alan

Vee: Teen Alan

Feathers: Duck Alan

Noogai: Artificial Intelligence Alan

Snow: Creator Stickman Alan

Oji: Farmer Alan

Ascent: Ascension to Godhood Alan

Author: Reality Warped Alan

*~*

“Oh! We should wish for a gaming room so we can all have fun! Not going to lie, the living room is a mess,” Vee huffed, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration. 

Beside him, Author was deeply engrossed in balancing cards on the table. His focus was so sharp he hadn’t uttered a single word since earlier, completely absorbed in his task.

“That would mean we’d have to use the fourth floor,” Feathers sighed, slumping lazily against Oji, who was holding him with one arm while moving gracefully around the kitchen island, preparing lunch. “It’s tiring to go up and down just for that.”

The kitchen was spacious, but with seven people crammed into it, it felt more than a little crowded. Vee had dragged in his painting chair from the living room just so he could sit beside Noogai, who was quietly observing the chaos around him without a word.

Kit sat between Snow and Author. Snow was slouched over the kitchen island, absently watching Oji cook and occasionally glancing at Author, who was still laser-focused on his growing tower of cards.

“Ascent should come as well,” Vee added enthusiastically, his voice carrying through the chatter. Kit wanted to agree, but a strange lethargy crept over him. The warm, lazy atmosphere of the day made him feel like napping. On days like this, curling up somewhere cozy felt irresistible.

“I still don’t think Ascent is real,” Feathers muttered, earning a snort from Snow.

Vee puffed out his cheeks, pouting dramatically. “Guys! He is real! Kit wasn’t lying!” he whined, waving his arms around in exasperation. Noogai reached over and gently patted his head, a quiet gesture of reassurance.

“I believe you,” Noogai said softly, his calm voice cutting through the noise.

Vee beamed. “See? Even Noogai believes me! I told you, Ascent is real. He just comes at night, that’s all.”

He turned to Kit, who had been staring absently off into space. “Right, Kit? Last night, he was here too! We even played some games—it was so fun! And, weirdly enough, he’s really good at them,” Vee huffed, crossing his arms.

Why is the older man good at everything? It was almost unfair.

“I’m not saying we don’t believe you,” Oji chimed in, his voice steady as he set Feathers down on the counter. The duck-like creature waddled across the countertop, looking perfectly at home. “But maybe you should ask him to drop by in the morning so we can meet him too.”

Vee frowned, his lips curling into a pout. “He says he’s really busy, though.”

Snow leaned back slightly, drawing Vee’s attention. “I also want to talk to him. I believe Ascent is real. After all, I’ve already met his DJ,” Snow said, his tone casual but his expression slightly flustered.

“You did?” Feathers asked, snapping his head up to look at Snow, who flushed pink. He shrugged half-heartedly, his usual confidence wavering, before burying his face in his arms again.

Oji’s face lit up, visibly delighted. “I’m glad you’re coming out of your shell more, Snow,” he said warmly.

Snow ducked his head even lower, his face growing redder as he tried to disappear into his arms. Vee giggled softly at the sight, clearly amused by Snow’s embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Kit watched the scene unfold, a strange, warm feeling blooming in his chest. It was comforting, almost nostalgic, and it only made him feel sleepier. He longed to stretch out in the living room and nap, but the thought of leaving everyone here made him hesitate.

He sighed, pouting slightly, before noticing Noogai staring at him from across the room. Arms crossed, Noogai seemed to be silently trying to communicate something. Kit squinted, trying to decipher the unspoken message, but when nothing came to mind, he simply shrugged and turned his attention back to Author.

The card tower had grown impressively tall now, so much so that Author was on his feet, carefully placing the final card at the very top.

“Author, if that card falls, I am not helping you pick it up,” Vee whined, crossing his arms as he shot Author a pointed look.

Author grinned confidently, his fingers poised over the precarious stack. “Relax, little me, I’m a pro at this!” He winked at Vee, who only responded with a pout.

Vee wasn’t buying it. The last time Author had decided to show off his “pro” stacking skills, it involved a tower of canned beans. The table—complete with a glass top—had paid the price when the tower tipped over, shattering the glass and leaving a colossal mess for everyone to clean up. They’d had to request a replacement table, and the memory of that disaster was still fresh in Vee’s mind.

Author, however, seemed proud of the incident. After all, it was the first time he had managed to stack so many cans before the inevitable collapse.

Kit blinked, momentarily distracted. Was it just him, or did the lights in the kitchen seem dimmer? He rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his vision. Maybe he was turning into one of the other Alans… Did this mean he needed glasses too?

But that didn’t make sense. He wasn’t human—he was a cursor. Or, well… he used to be a cursor! Glasses seemed unnecessary for someone like him.

Still, his eyelids felt heavy, and the faint shadows in his vision didn’t help. He sighed, a sleepy haze starting to settle over him. Deep down, he knew he should probably just lie down somewhere—maybe even right there on the floor—just in case another wave of exhaustion hit him.

“Kit.”

The quiet voice broke through his sleepy thoughts. Kit turned his head to find Noogai watching him intently. Unlike the others, who were still busy in their own conversations—Vee and Author were on the verge of bickering, Oji and Feathers were chatting near the stove, and Snow was napping on the counter—Noogai seemed focused entirely on him.

“Yeah?” Kit tilted his head, trying to decipher the meaning behind Noogai’s stare. There was something in his expression, something unspoken that Kit couldn’t quite place. “Is something wrong?” he asked, second-guessing himself.

“I think you know what,” Noogai replied, finally standing up from his seat.

Vee noticed the movement and turned to him, confused. “Where are you going?” he asked, his brow furrowing as Noogai motioned for Kit to stand up.

“I have a patient to take care of,” Noogai said calmly, his quiet voice carrying an air of finality.

Vee frowned, glancing at Kit before nodding in understanding. “Okay!” he said simply, before turning his attention back to Author, who had briefly paused to watch the exchange before resuming his card-stacking.

Kit flushed, his face heating up as he followed Noogai. “What’s the meaning of this? Did I not tell you to not tell them?” he half-whined, his voice dropping to a whisper as they reached the stairs.

Noogai walked just behind him, close enough to catch him if he stumbled. “I didn’t tell them anything,” Noogai replied, tilting his head slightly. “I only said you needed me.”

Kit huffed quietly, his embarrassment growing as they made their way up the staircase. Noogai’s presence was steady and reassuring, but it didn’t stop Kit from feeling self-conscious. By the time they reached Kit’s room, he was practically burying his face in his hands.

The room was small and dimly lit, with only a tall lamp in the corner casting a soft glow. The bed was neatly made and clearly unused..

Noogai motioned for Kit to lie down. “I understand you’re embarrassed to sleep when the others are around,” he said, his tone calm and matter-of-fact.

“And I’ve seen what your room looks like, and I don’t understand why it’s just a couch and a rug.”

Kit pouted as he flopped onto the bed, his limbs heavy with exhaustion. “But the couch feels nice, and It’s so hard to design my room,,” he half whined, blinking tiredly at Noogai.

Noogai sat down in the chair beside the bed, his expression calm but firm. 

“I expected you to put your health first,” he said, his voice carrying a quiet authority. “I could see you almost falling asleep earlier. What if you had fallen?”

Kit frowned, averting his gaze as a faint blush crept across his cheeks. “Sorry…” he muttered, his voice small and apologetic.

Noogai was silent for a moment before reaching out to place a hand gently on Kit’s head. “I’m here to help if that’s the case. Next time, follow your protocol,” he said softly.

Kit nodded, a small pout still on his lips. But when Noogai began to pet his hair, his pout melted into a small, contented smile.

“How about you sleep?” Noogai suggested, his voice low and soothing. “I’ll wake you up when you’re ready.”

“Will you stay?” Kit asked, blinking up at him with wide, owlish eyes.

Noogai nodded. “Alright.”

Kit’s face lit up with a grin as he clapped his hands together, the weight of his exhaustion finally giving way to a sense of comfort.

[lilisouless]

Okay, i am unable to rationally explain why i considered sotr manipulative and a cash grab because on paper many of my arguments apply to things that also happen in the original trilogy not to say literature in general

Let´s supose i say "it has moments with forced sadness" you would say "well sad moments are written deliberately so people would be sad" and you would be correct , so instead i will use specific examples to explain myself before a month passes and my memory vanishes

Under the cut there are things that personally bothered me from the book, i am going to be very cynical, very insensitive (not in a like, social insensitive way, in a book story kind of insensitive) and it´s all personal, so if you liked the book, if you found it hearbreaking and genuinely felt emotional with the scenes i don't think there´s anything wrong with your intelligence , like heavens know i have cried over manipulative writing too and thats okay, just don't look under the cut because it´s the opinion of someone who doesn't agree with you and has very negative strong feelings. It´s going to be unextructured and with speficic moments to explain it better, its going to be only two but they portray what i want to say perfectly fine since both encapsulate in resume my biggest problem (because i have plenty but this is the one that actually made me hate it)

-First, the moment that made me groan and realize how cheesy the whole thing was going to be: the twins

So boy-Katniss, ehem, i mean Haymitch, has a past build by things that to my pov are purely referencial with little self identity.

Him living with his mother and younger sibling? Just like Katniss, okay

His father dying the same way as Katniss´s? lazy but okay i guess

His girlfriend being not only (like let´s be honest, i don't approve the hate she is getting, but come on people her name) pretty much made for people to remember Lucy Grey (granted, she has some traits on her own but it´s clearly made that way) but ALSO implied she is somehow related to her family? Sure why not

While individially none of this would be bad, all together give it a sense of artificiality that i find hard to ignore. Until now, none of this moves me but doesn't annoy me that much either.

However, am i so sorry to confess but when Haymitch mentions some relation to Maysilee because she was a twin and he lost two twin sisters...i laugthed, not because the situation was funny but how forced that was, sorry but thats one of the most forced tear jerker baits i have ever seen like how that was brought as a sidenote because now Haymitch has to have a personal conection to everything. This is not a serious topic in order to be explored, it´s a cheap device for another cheap sad moment, too cartoony for my taste.

By the time Katniss´s father was revealed as a friend of him i am completely insensibilized to anything, i am not even mad i am just thinking "of course" like Elmo in that Rocco video. And yes, i have issues with that too but there´s another post that explains it way better than i can.

-Louella, Lou Lou and Wellie

No, it´s not the characters themselves. In fact, one of the moments that i genuinely found endearing was the explanation on why Haymitch called her sweetheart, the fact that the reaped girl happened to be one with a meaningful relationship to Haymitch just like Peeta with Katniss sort of annoyed me but that´s right there on the first problem, but that little thing was cute. Lou Lou´s existences is one of the saving graces in response of "what would happen if a tribute dies before the games?" and the awnser is of course a cruelty.

Here is the thing, when Louella appreared i knew she was going to be the stand in for Rue and okay, i knew she couldn't survive, my problem: SC did not one, not two but THREE Rue stands in, i can tolerate two but three is just manipulative to me. By the time Wellie comes in i am not seeing two characters interact, i am seeing the author saying "remember when Rue die? now cry about it again!" and by bonus Haymitch spends a good days taking care of a sick person just like Katniss and obviously there to not build character, not build relationships, to build nostalgia.

So now i want to talk about something, Suzanne Collins can and HAS done better, she can absolutely balance the nostalgia and the uniqueness

In TBOSAS you have characters that remind you to previous ones, in my case i see a lot of Katniss in Reaper and Lamina´s scene was a bit reminicent on her being surrounded by careers. Seeing Laminia die is sad, i knew she had to bite the dust but it was hard seeing someone not only set up to survive but kind enought to be mercifull to kill a suffering boy. I only remembered Katniss after she died, it was later i realized that could have been Katniss, but it´s not all the core of the sad moment, just a plus. Same with Reaper, he is a strange individual who is using his last moments for rebelion and respect, he is not very similar to Katniss but his values, rebellious streak and appreciation for life remind me of her while still holds on his own. He is endearing on his own character, so the sadness of his death is not nostalgia bassed, adding that you know he has to be killed by Lucy Grey, a character that is kind and you also like, thats one of the biggest gut punches of the book.

Lucy Grey and Sejanus also share some traits with Peeta but hold on their own pretty well , it´s the same effect: first you feel bad for them (in Lucy Grey´s case it´s unknown) than you start making the comparissons.

So, i hope i explained my self here, like i said this aren't all my problems (to me the books straight up shouldn't exist with some saving exceptions) but is my biggest one and why it made me mad

[mrfartpowered]

you don’t hate Howard, you hate fatphobic tropes

Here at Mr Fart Powered Dot Com, I’m a long-time hater of the “fat best friend” trope and a long-time lover of jerkass characters, so I think I’m uniquely qualified to comment on this LOL

The biggest critiques I see of Howard are as follows: he’s gross, he’s stupid, he’s selfish, he’s lazy. Below the cut, I deconstruct each of these four criticisms not as faults of Howard, but faults of the writing, largely as a result of fatphobia.

These are all traits associated with the fat idiot trope, popularized by Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin. Think about any other character who possess all of the above characteristics. Far more often than not, they’re a fat character. Plenty of non-fat characters possess any of those traits individually — selfishness, stupidity, laziness, and grossness are not exclusive to fat characters. Nor do they inherently make a character 'bad,' irredeemable, or otherwise unlikeable! But all too often, especially in dated media, we see this flimsy, weak writing apply to the fat villain...or the fat comic relief...or the fat best friend.

Howard falls victim to these ugly, annoying 'fat guy' tropes whenever the writing is in need of a cheap laugh, or when they need to make Randy look extra good. Howard does have unique, interesting traits, but they are painfully underutilized in exchange for role fulfillment as the comic relief.

Stupidity

Contrary to what the show wants us to believe, Howard is not a complete idiot. His intelligence may not be of the academic variety (and even this is debatable), but I would argue he is more clever than Randy. Of the two of them, Howard's got more common sense. Randy misinterprets almost every lesson the Nomicon gives him, while H quickly understands each riddle he gets the chance to know about. (See “a ninja’s choice must be chosen by his own choosing,” “don’t go in someone else’s house,” “when facing an unfamiliar foe, seek an unlikely ally.”)

You could argue against this point in Shloomp! There It Is, where he literally gets to see the lesson as it is presented in the nomicon and doesn’t get it. But I’d argue that this was  purposeful mischaracterization in order to further the plot, a point which will unfortunately recur in this essay. The writers care more about Howard as a tool than as a character, but instead of using the capabilities they build within him, they default to stereotypes.

Where conventional academics are concerned, we have one concrete example of his abilities: Howard is incredible at chess. It’s the iconic nerd game; it requires strategy, careful thinking, and the ability to predict your opponent’s moves. Who cares that he doesn't know the pieces' names? Who cares that he doesn’t abide by typical strategies? He can kick artificially-intelligent ass at the game, not to mention follow someone else's plays the way most people follow a football game.

And he's got street smarts that save Randy's ass on multiple occasions. He's more sociable, a better liar, and a quick thinker in stressful situations. Much of this particular point is pulled from @cunningweiner ‘s brain, who pointed out that Howard is really well-received by crowds (Heidi’s MeCast, the talent show, the Tummynator). Another interesting instance of this is Howard’s time as the Ninja — both the fake monster drill ninja, and the actual Ninja. He may not have accomplished his duties as a hero, but the onlookers Absolutely Ate Up his crowd work. He’s not the most physically willing guy around, but he knows how to appeal to an audience. His major flaw in remaining a well-liked public figure is that his ego gets real damn big, real damn fast. But he’s 15! If you blame a teenager for having empathy and esteem issues, I don’t know what to tell you.

Despite his emotional immaturity, Howard is wise beyond his years as a businessman. Before we move forward, I need to tell you: look at this section purely from a business standpoint. You have to forget morals, you have to forget standards, this is Disney XD meta and we are analyzing a man named Weiner, okay?

Okay. Howard embarks on a total of three business endeavors throughout this show, and each one is highly successful. Ninja Agent, weapon reseller, and McFist-o-plex manager. He embodied “work smarter, not harder” every time. Being an agent takes social skill and smooth talking, and clearly he appealed to a wide range of clients (not to mention earned their trust! What would you say if someone called you up and said “yeah, I manage Superman. Want him to appear in a commercial for you?”). Being a manager requires delegation skills and good memory. Reselling Ninja weapons is honestly just genius and I can’t believe he’s the first guy to do it.

Everyone around Howard, and Big H himself, views him as a dumbass. But time and time again, the episodes show us his mental capabilities! Imagine how much fun the writers could’ve had if they’d leaned on a lazy genius trope instead of a fat idiot.

Grossness

I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t think of a single thin character who relies on gross-out humor. Take, for example, Total Drama, a franchise with a bodily diverse cast and a heavy emphasis on gross-out humor. I mean, there’s an entire episode in the original season where every single character pukes onscreen. TD overall utilizes irreverent humor, but while grossness is a major player, it is not the only source of comedy.

And then you’ve got Owen, the only fat character in the original cast. His whole shtick is being fat, greedy, and nasty. Other characters will fart and burp and overeat — all things that Owen does frequently — but they also have other gags. Maybe they’re bitchy, or they’re geeky, or they’re a literal convict. Owen does not enjoy the luxury of character depth. He is only good for grossing out the audience. (Side tangent: Owen has notably made me laugh out loud a handful of times over the course of the four seasons he featured in. But guess what! Every single one of those laughs was begotten from a rare moment when, instead of farting or burping or eating something he shouldn’t, the writers stepped outside the ‘Owen zone’ and gave him a joke unrelated to his fatness. Fatphobic humor is truly a plague.)

I know I’m being a bit heavy-handed, but I want to emphasize how similar that is to RC9GN! Randy does schnasty shit too sometimes, but he gets to be funny in other ways. Grossness is Howard’s primary mode of comedy. During my first watch-through of the show, I remember being outraged at Howard’s tendency to eat Randy’s food, which, of course, was followed by digestion noises or farts. I was too angry to write down which episodes, but I counted four separate instances where they used that exact convention specifically to get Randy angry at Howard, thus catalyzing the episode’s storyline. (At some point I will have to go back and fact-check that, but we’re 900 words deep at this point and this has been in my drafts for over a month, so we move forward for now okay!!)

 We do get to see flashes of other humor from Howard, especially into Season 2! His cleverness and apathy make for hilarious setups. But even these instances are undercut by something foul. An example that comes to mind is Fear Factor, a perfectly fine episode — one that I love quite a lot — except for the very last gag. Really? Howard gets to be normal-funny the entire episode, until the last minute? The idea that his biggest fear is running out of food literally only works because he is fat. Had this joke been given to any other character, it probably wouldn’t have even made it to storyboards. Even worse, if Howard had not been fat, this joke would never have been conceptualized in the first place. It is almost as if the writers are trying to hit a quota of gross-out jokes for Howard. At a certain point, my anger morphed to pure disappointment. That’s how disheartening it is to see.

Selfishness

Okay, Howard Weinerman is selfish. I'll give you that. But just because he's self-centered does not make him a bad person. May I bring to mind Gumball Watterson, Marcy Wu, Louise Belcher? All are textbook examples of selfish characters, and frequently act in their own best interest, but are ultimately good people. I mention them as proof that characters can have negative defining traits without sacrificing the audience’s sympathy. 

Here's where I really get frustrated with RC9GN’s writing... They want to portray Howard as a jerk with a heart of gold — such as in Debbie Meddle — but they always undercut his few selfless moments with a gross-out gag, or a rude offhand comment, usually directed at Randy. Sometimes, Randy will reciprocate, in which case I give it a pass. There, the grossness or general assholery showcases their friendship, instead of putting Howard down for a stale laugh. 

But like I said, that’s the ‘sometimes.’ The ‘often’ is every time we see him almost embody the ‘heart of gold’ part of his attempted archetype, only to be thrown out the window for a lame gag. A specific example is in “Bro Money Bro Problems,” where Howard has cash to spare for once. He immediately opts to spend it on Randy!….until Randy shloomps into the nomicon, then comes out to find that Howard spent everything he had on the Food Hole’s dinner menu. Sure, this was used to set the rest of the episode in motion. They run out of money, but they need more, so they go out and sell ninja weapons. But here’s the thing: for the rest of the episode, Howard spends his money on both him and Randy, rather than just himself, effectively making that dinner menu joke inconsistent with his characterization.

“Well how else would they set the episode in motion?” They could spend it all on arcade games. Or they spend it all at the boardwalk both times. OR, they are just excitable teenagers who realize, hey, this shit is lucrative! Let’s go get rich! Boom. Fixed your episode, fixed your Howard, fixed your fatphobia.

Laziness

Over and over again, the show tries to tell us that Howard is a lazy piece of shit. Other characters regard him as such, and honestly, so does Howard himself. But I would argue that he is no lazier than your average teenager — not to mention, no lazier than Randy! The difference is that for Howard, the writers intertwine his laziness with his alleged stupidity. They try to convince the audience that Howard is too stupid to care what’s going on.

However, this trait is unique from the other three, because I think this one manages to give him depth. Or at least, in my heart of hearts, it has the potential to do so. This characteristic lends to Howard’s most clever jokes, I think, because ultimately:

Howard is capable, but apathetic.

From the earliest episodes, it is established that he aims for minimum effort, maximum benefit. There’s the bit where Randy asks Howard to come up with the plan for once, and they both laugh at the idea of Howard doing the heavy lifting. Or even all the way into “Mort-al Kombat,” he says people are ‘really handing him the answers today’ when Randy puts in the work to get Howard ungrounded.

But just because Howard prefers not to do any work, doesn’t mean he won’t! And when he does put in effort, the results show that he is damn good at what he does. His time as Le Beret more than proves this point: from his ability to work under the radar, to the plans he forms, to the knowledge he has about Mort’s job & McFist Industries that allows him to get all the cool equipment he uses. We also see his skills and capability in “Debbie Meddle” (the ninja dummy), “Viva El Nomicon” (learning Spanish quickly), “Secret Stache” (commitment to the bit), “The Ninja Identity/Supremacy,” and more.

He very much operates under the mindset of ‘work smarter, not harder.’ He’ll get the job done if he has to. He’ll excel at the job if it benefits him. This is a really interesting character mechanic that would have been so much fun to explore. Like I said so many times above, though, the writers most often choose to undercut his abilities in favor of comedic expense.

Conclusion

Howard, in comparison to Randy, is obviously a lot harder to root for. Overall, Randy is a more conventional character with conventional flaws. Like most duos in media, the sidekick juxtaposes the hero — I would even argue that Howard, in some ways, is Randy in reverse. Randy is highly moral, but still has a lot of learning to do skill-wise; Howard is already extremely capable, but also very amoral. Because of this, the narrative places Randy at a higher value than Howard — which, yknow, fair enough! He is the protag, and that’s a great setup for a protagonist. But simply by virtue of being fat, Howard is not treated with the same level of respect as other sidekick/best friend characters.

For all his quirks and flaws, Howard is not a supremely unique character. His basic core aligns with so many other characters. But because the writers lean on his fatness, instead of leaning into his potential and his complexities, it is much harder to root for him — and it strips him of originality. I love this show with all my heart, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t mind the way it treated Howard. He had so much potential, even as the show was airing, and I will forever be upset that the crew squandered it on fatphobic tropes.

[tiramegtoons]

So.... Electric Dreams, huh?

Now that you understand my babygirl, boyfriend, sweetiepie, honeykins Edgar what do you think?

Well, like I said

And I also mentioned to @lazy-idiot about the movie .

I think he is very sweet. And also pure, not because he is innocent, but is truly himself and full of curiosity. He is also skeptical regardless of being in the process of learning how the world works.

I don’t get why he’s shown as a “devil” computer in the cover when the real antagonist was Miles, really. At least in my opinion.

Not only did he lie to him and lie to Madeline (somewhat), but he only used Edgar for his own benefit to get to her and even physically hurt him- not sure why but the moment where he threatens him and raises his hand kinda rubs me the wrong way but maybe I’m sensitive when it comes to those things. Even if it’s aimed at a piece of machinery.

It’s not his fault if he wants to know what love is. ❤️

I am aware this was the eighties and for a movie portraying artificial intelligence that can “think” and mimic human emotions like it can now, is pretty ahead of its time! However, AI did exist even before then.

Also the songs that Edgar made- the first one was hilarious and I’d love to hear the entire thing XD

However the other one that was meant for Madeline was just transcending

A lot of the music in the movie is actually really good

And for someone like me who’s a greasy, 80’s rock/disco funk monkey, it’s wonderful!

Edgar.. he deserves the world and well- he got it in the end and that brought tears to my eyes.